#I’d want to rewatch the show- specifically season 2 and 3

[wow-an-unfunny-joke]

Bungo stray dogs. Right off the dome, I’ll give the presentation about Dazai- specifically his story, specifically the presentation will be going through his time line beat by beat

[fatalism-and-villainy]

Rewatching season 2 had me really struck by the sheer amount of time Will spends performing for other people, and how few fully authentic interactions he has. In fact, I’d say one of the biggest through lines between the first and second halves of the season is Will learning how to wear masks, and then actively deploying that for the purpose of catching Hannibal.

(And how fitting is it that the promo for season 2 had Will wearing the iconic hockey mask? Not just a franchise in-joke, but a reflection of the fact that he “becomes” Hannibal in this season, begins to symbolically merge with him, to the point in which his own goals become clouded to him.)

It's a natural extension of season 1's establishment of his empathic abilities, where he begins to more actively use his ability to read other people and discern their motivations as a tool, or weapon. Simply telling the truth about his innocence doesn’t serve him - so he adapts a façade very quickly, in his faked tears for Hannibal and Alana. All of his interactions with others while in prison - Chilton, Lounds, Matthew Brown, etc. - are very deliberately engineered, and lean into what Will knows (or thinks) each person wants to hear - all setting the stage for him doing the same thing to Hannibal. Every word, everything about his intonation, is so precise - something that specifically struck me in this stretch of episodes was when he talks to Gideon and very carefully leans forward as he’s trying to drive his point home:

(And the body language, interestingly enough, is not just persuasive, but also mirrors the way Gideon sometimes leans/dangles his arms out of the cage when talking to others - and it reminds me of Will also mirroring Hannibal’s body language during the “not now that I finally find you interesting” scene, when he bites his lip in the way Hannibal so often does.)

It really highlights how so much of how he interacts with others during this entire stretch of the plot is a very carefully crafted performance, with so many of Will’s actual feelings and motivations subsumed into his manipulations. I remember watching the DVD commentary on Su-zakana, and they talk about how Will’s visible surliness with Hannibal was meant to stem from the fact that he didn’t want to be too friendly with Hannibal right away, because it would look suspicious. And I think that gets at something that’s present with how both Will and Hannibal manipulate others - they’re not necessarily lying about their feelings, just consciously using genuine feelings or motivations as a method of influencing others. With Hannibal, he frequently does feel genuine affection for others, and his care for them stems from that, but it’s also often used to put them at ease, serve his own ends. Will, for his part, is genuinely angry with Hannibal, but actively uses those feelings to fashion an aura of standoffishness. And of course, Hannibal has a genuine pull for him, and he deliberately leans into and cultivates that enjoyment for the sake of entrapping Hannibal. …Which of course leads to a situation where he has to put on a show for Jack as well, in which he downplays how deep into it he’s getting.

So it’s entirely fitting that the opening of Mizumono features the two halves of Will’s face - the front he’s presenting to Hannibal, and the front he’s presenting to Jack - merging, mask-like, in the middle of the screen.

They’re both the real him, and they’re both masks - and he gets so subsumed into his performances for others, the modulation and accentuation and sublimation of his feelings that they require, that he gets lost to himself (and is also terribly lonely and isolated). No wonder he’s confused and unmoored in early season 3.

[ripeteeth]

Self-rec time! What are your favorite five fics that you've written and why? After replying to this ask, feel free to pass on to five other writers to spread the love. 💗"

Thanks, @danpuff-ao3! You’re always a treat to see on the dash and I hope you’ve been having a lovely break <3.

I’m always a bit awkward with these, both from an itching sort of discomfort with staring my own artwork in the face, and I think from a lifetime habit of denying compliments out of a feeling of guilt or fear. So! I’ve had a glass of wine (and an edible) and I’m going to try to kinder to myself. I might be in the mood to talk right now. (Honestly, that’s a good sign. One of the big elements of my recent writer’s block has been an inability to express myself in any written way, even tumblr posts and comments. Maybe this is why I hit twitter so hard.)

My five favorite fics. Not my five best fics. Not my five most popular fics. My favorites. Hmm.

5. blood, bones, and butter | MDZS/The Untamed] SongXueXiao | E, 12,443

“A relationship, deconstructed. Served three ways.”

Ah, Yi City, that deliciously painful Shakespearean tragedy echoing Wangxian’s romance. The specific notes of obsession, revenge, love, and grief that run through these three make me completely unhinged. I love the quiet service and stoic devotion of Song Lan, the otherworldliness and power of Xiao Xingchen, the unchecked brilliance and cruelty that fill up Xue Yang. The Yi City fandom is easily one of the most incredible fandoms I’ve ever been a part of, full of uniquely talented and deranged writers and artists who love to really explore the dark edges and nitty-gritty of these character and let them be their fucked-up selves. The appeal of SongXueXiao isn’t to make it better for them, it’s to see how much you can make it worse.

It’s two pretty classic tropes: a first time after meeting at a bar, and also a story told from alternating POVs. I really wanted to focus on trying to carve out distinctive interiorities, like their motivations, their assumptions, their fears, their memories, and allow the reader to draw their own conclusions without spelling these all out outright. I’d recently rewatched Rashomon, and I love how the understanding of an event can be so differently shaped by each person’s POV and I wanted to show their first night together in that way, moving the lens over the night a few times, before it gets clear. It was a really fun process to focus on and I think it’s one of my best pieces of recent writing.

4. in search of the wind | Good Omens | Crowley/Aziraphale | E, 27,112

After the World Doesn't End, Aziraphale is not returned to his body. Crowley tries to find a way to get to Heaven's fast-shut gates. Aziraphale tries to find his way back from the sky (and back in time).

I remember writing this almost immediately after the show aired, in that heady summer of 2019, when I feel head over sweaty heels for that charming demon and his delicious epicure of an angel. This is essentially how I saw canon going on, this is the headcanon of my soul. Maybe that’s why I haven’t seen season 2 yet? It was a pleasure to write, almost like knitting together different scenes, different pieces of history, like an extended version of the s1s3 cold open. It’s Aziraphale without a body, unmoored in time, turning up at different points along his and Crowley’s history, and realizing that his friend is in love with him. That his friend is heartrendingly in love with him. I love stories that play with structure, striking different chords each time.

I couldn’t write this kind of story again. This belongs to a very specific time.

3. White Light, White Heat | Harry Potter | Snape/Harry | E, 32,107

“In 1347, Benedictine monk and scholar Severus Snape goes to fetch a young man joining the abbey. In 1347, rumors come of a strange and unrelenting plague from the east.”

An AU set in a fourteenth-century Benedictine monastery in Britain during the period of the Black Death where the two men develop a bond through a special sort of crucible. Snape, as always, falls in love with all the grace of a cat being given a bath. As dark as the material is, this was a pleasure to write. I had so much fun describing the setting, peppering fun little facts like a Pop Up Video of Medieval History. I wrote this in a fever-fueled three weeks, absolutely obsessed with getting it down exactly as it was in my head. I loved writing the monster theme and using it as almost a leitmotif for Snape. There’s probably a literary term for that. Is there? Anyway.

2. the body as anagram | The Terror | Crozier/Fitzjames, Crozier/Ross] | E, 3090

“In the dark, it doesn't matter which James is in his bed. As long as Ross doesn't speak, the illusion holds true.”

I took the title from a passage on J.G. Ballard’s Crash by Baudrillard in Simulacra and Simulation: “Technology is never grasped except in the (automobile) accident, that is to say in the violence done to technology itself and in the violence done to the body. It is the same: any shock, any blow, any impact, all the metallurgy of the accident can be read in the semiurgy of the body — neither an anatomy nor a physiology, but a semiurgy of contusions, scars, mutilations, wounds that are so many new sexual organs opened on the body. In this way, gathering the body as labor in the order of production is opposed to the dispersion of the body as anagram in the order of mutilation.”

There’s something a bit haunting about the parallels of the two men who held the intimacy of Francis Crozier’s friendship. The name. The confidence. The bravery. The charming manner and handsome face. I love the idea of a Francis who sails out pining for one man and returns home loving another, switching between true love and placeholder. And I’m notoriously a slut for both proxyfucking and Gremlin!Francis, who just can’t stop pressing on the wound of his grief. It’s not the drink but it may as well be, for all this is good for either he or Ross, but Francis is a fool in love with a dead man and he does what he does to get by.

Something about this came together, from concept to finish, in a way I’m quite happy with. It was fun to play with concepts and free associate from them, focusing less on plot, but more on the vast empty grief in Francis’ chest. Everyone here knows this is a bad idea. No one is having a good time.

1. Revachol Calling | Disco Elysium | Karry/Kim | E, 35,321 [WIP]

“Somewhere in Jamrock, a church burns. A study in Kim Kitsuragi.”

Sometimes you just feel the next part of the story in your bones. When I first played Disco Elysium in 2021 it hit me in an incredibly familiar, emotional way. There’s something somber and hopeful about it. The writing is sardonic, dark and humorous. It’s nearly cynical but it’s cynical with a sad old smile, because cynicism is born through disappointment, and through not quite being ready to give up. I think we can all find ourselves in it, in one way or another and, like many, I’m hopelessly in love with Kim Kitsuragi, a wild creature who’s built himself within thousands of rules. I can’t play the game without craving his side of the story, his interiority, his history, so I grab at the little crystals of information, such as his secret love of Speedfreaks FM and his past with Eyes, and I try to imagine it might go. This is my sequel to the game and, more than anything, this is my love song to Revachol, a character of a city, and one that echoes vastly in all those of post-Communist country and family.

For some reason, this fic is extremely visual for me and usually in a Wong Kar-Wai sort of fashion. Think the saturated aquamarines of a neon diner sign. Think a studio apartment with cheap wallpaper and the yellow-orange flicker of sodium lights. It comes alive at night, when Kim is left alone with his thoughts, running out of rules to keep him safely in. I love that Disco Elysium has such a vast world to explore. It’s an endless playbox.

And this is also, in a way, a bit of an elegy to a belief I’d once held in a motherland, and do not anymore.

I’m almost done with Chapter 8, so hopefully it will be up soon <3

Tagging! @jaggededges123 @soft-october-night @wildcard47 @rcmclachlan @brawlite @zaxal @pearwaldorf @kiingbooooo @darcylindbergh @et-in-arkadia @itsevidentvery @iodhadh @iamwestiec @mia-ugly @laurashapiro-noreally @pinehutch and anyone else who wishes to!

[deer0skullz]

Does anyone else feel like Umbrella Academy, What We Do in the Shadows and Our Flag Means Death went down very similar paths or is that just me?

To preface, this is mostly based on how I felt as I watched the shows but also on some of the opinions I picked up from the fandoms.

Also, I’m not going to go back and rewatch all of these shows for the sake of a Tumblr post so I’m working from memory and if you feel like I’ve misremembered any of the plot/ characters let me know.

1. Started as well-received and highly acclaimed live-action fantasy shows with ensemble casts.

Based on my own opinions and what I remember from other fans, UA seasons 1-2 were fairly well received, as were WWDITS seasons 1-3/4 and OFMD season 1.

They’re all definitely different genres of fantasy but I’d say they still all fit under the label. And they obviously all have ensemble casts, with the Hargreeves in UA, the vampires (and Guillermo) in WWDITS and the pirates in OFMD. Even though the plots and characters can be quite different they all have similar vibes.

2. Noted for having open queer representation.

Klaus and Viktor in UA, pretty much the entire main cast of WWDITS, and multiple main characters in OFMD.

3. Tied to already established and respected creators.

UA is based on the comics written by Gerard Way who, of course, is also well known for My Chemical Romance. WWDITS is based on the film by Jermaine Clement and Taika Waititi, who are both executive producers of the show. Taika was also involved in OFMD as the actor for Blackbeard and as an executive producer. He has his name tied to many acclaimed films like Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor Ragnorok and Jojo Rabbit.

These are obviously not the only famous people tied to these projects but it’s just a sample of the talent involved in these shows. I feel like the fact that there was so much talent working on these shows makes my next point more interesting.

4. Experienced drops in quality and/ or introduced problematic elements that caused fans to lose interest or respect.

Again, this is opinion based and if you still liked the shows during these seasons then more power to you.

My overall feeling about all of these shows is that they lost a lot of the joy from their initial season(s) as they went on. Like, they just got significantly less fun to watch. But they also had more specific individual issues that I would like to get into.

I stopped watching UA during season 3 and don’t plan on watching season 4. I feel like a lot of people will already know what I might be referring to with this but yeah, the scene where Allison *did that* to Luther made me so sick. I feel like that season absolutely destroyed her character, and as I said, it just wasn’t anywhere near as fun as seasons 1 or 2.

WWDITS is probably the most successful of the three in my eyes but I could still apply the same argument about loss of enjoyment. The “Guillermo wants to be a vampire” plot line got very stale for me, especially with how they “resolved” (?) it. Saying “oh he’s a vampire now oh nevermind he doesn’t actually like being a vampire and also can’t be one anyway so everything’s back to normal” felt like such a waste of time for me. I know a lot of people also criticised the show for queerbaiting because of the Nandermo plot lines and teases. I wouldn’t necessarily call it queerbaiting but I would agree that the “will they, won’t they” is very played out at this point. Another big criticism I have of the later seasons is how Marwa was treated. The fact that she had no autonomy and was being forcibly changed mentally and physically to appeal to Nandor was treated as like, a running joke and I just found it kind of disturbing. Dark humour is pretty common throughout the show, but given how often her character appeared it felt a lot more, significant than throwaway jokes about drinking human blood. I feel like they could have done so much better with her character.

OFMD is probably the most egregious example of the 3. Season 2 was just not good. I’m not saying it was the worst thing I’ve ever watched but it was incredibly disappointing. The pacing was off, the characters were off, the dynamics were off. It was all just very off. The huge cliffhanger ending with Evil Blackbeard felt like it was resolved way too quickly and everything else in the season felt equally rushed. A lot of the character dynamics, but especially Ed and Stede, just felt wrong to me. From what I understand there were production issues or something so I’m not saying the writers just woke up one day and decided to be bad at their jobs but I can only really judge a show by what I saw on my screen, and what I saw was so far removed from the quality of season 1.

5. Finished on a sour note.

UA ended after 4 seasons, with the fourth being released on Netflix today. I haven’t seen anything that indicates whether this was the intended endpoint or whether it was cancelled. WWDITS will end after season 6 which comes out in October. Again, I can’t find anything indicating whether this was the intended endpoint. OFMD was cancelled just a few months after the release of season 2 in October 2023.

I can’t tell other fans how they should feel but for me I’m incredibly disappointed that 3 shows I really enjoyed saw a gradual (or not so gradual for OFMD) drop in quality that ultimately culminated in them just… ending.

Like I said, I have no interest in US season 4, but I am still somewhat hopeful for WWDITS. I would be really happy if they could bring it back to what it was.

Conclusion

I don’t know what the point of writing this was other than the fact that I’ve always associated these shows as having the same vibes and I feel like it’s interesting that they have a lot of similarities and went down similar paths. Also I just like yapping.

[marley-manson]

due South for the fandom ask meme, if you haven't been asked already <3

Thank you 💖

my favorite female character

I honestly can't decide between Victoria and Frannie. I loooove Victoria, I think she's a fantastic villain, very sympathetic imo, and extremely effective at highlighting Fraser's tragic flaws. And I love that she got away in the end.

I also adore Frannie and while she's less of a perfectly written character, she's in more episodes and she's so endearing and loveable. If we had to have a Fraser het ship teased in season 2 I wish it had been Fraser/Frannie rather than Fraser/Thatcher, both because I like Frannie more and would've loved to see more of her before season 3, and because I think it would've been more interesting thematically. In the episode Heaven and Earth she functionally represents Earth and Fraser's capacity to be more human and less "divine" or untouchable, and I love that.

my favorite male character

Ray Vecchio! I love him, I love the way he talks and complains and feels like everything is unfair to him and always steps up and puts his own comfort second anyway; I love his relationship with his family, from the good heartwarming stuff, to the bitchy sibling stuff, to the darker abusive father who still literally haunts him stuff; I love his fashion sense; I love his sheer loyalty to Fraser; I love that in the Pilot he sought Fraser out specifically to apologize for accidentally being insensitive about his father and invite him to dinner; I love his ridiculous love for his car and that he sacrificed it twice for Fraser... nothing I don't love tbh.

my favorite book/season/etc

Season 1, hands down. Extremely solid television right there.

my favorite episode (if its a tv show)

SO hard to choose between The Deal and Victoria's Secret, but I think Ray's episode gets the edge so let's go with The Deal.

my favorite cast member

I don't really know anything about the cast so idk.

my favorite ship

Fraser/RayV. Ship of my heart. I can read basically any ship featuring Ray, including het even, but Ray loves Fraser best therefore Ray/Fraser is the best ship.

a character I’d die defending

Ray. Thankfully the Ray Wars are over so I don't have to, but I'm ngl I can understand why the fandom was so batshit back then. I see someone casually say they can't ship F/V because they see him as too straight and Kill Bill sirens go off in my head and I have to take a deep breath lol. I would not have survived the 90s.

Also Victoria though. Fraser dug his own grave when he didn't let her go the first time, acab, obviously spending 10 years in prison would make her both a better criminal and angry that's what you fucking get for loving the system so much Fraser, and I'm on her side during the whole finale lol.

a character I just can’t sympathize with

One of Due South's biggest strengths is making just about every character sympathetic in some way. Ray's dad was a good answer to this though, got no sympathy there.

Ooh, also: Bob Fraser. The show did want me to sympathize with him at times lol, but I don't. He sucks, he's emblematic of every flaw Fraser has, he's a terrible father and a pretty shitty person, and the fact that the show wanted me to like him and often brushes all that aside makes me dislike him more than I otherwise might. He's still often entertaining and funny, but I do not have any sympathy for him. Hope Caroline divorces him in the afterlife.

a character I grew to love

Idk, most of my character opinions have been static since I first watched the show in high school...

Okay, Ian lol. The most annoying man in the world, but still somehow loveable. It did take me at least one rewatch to start to like him.

my anti otp

Sorry to the fandom lol but it is Fraser/Ray K. I got into the show specifically for them, because I wanted to read all the good fic everyone recced everywhere, and I did everything I could to try to like them including watching season 3 concurrently with season 2 so missing Ray V wouldn't colour my opinions, but it just didn't happen. They are not for me, they don't have the kind of chemistry I enjoy, I don't like the show after season 2 much in general, and my irrational love for Ray V makes me mad on his behalf to see Fraser getting together with his replacement lol.

I'm not usually that emotion driven when it comes to my fandom interests but due south is always kind of an exception there. I am at least self aware enough to find my irrational resentment funny rather than taking it seriously though. Like, I have 0 beef with F/K shippers, I respect your interests and I can definitely see why it was a fandom juggernaut back in its day. I'll just never read it.

ask meme

[drlectertho]

Hello dearest Hannibal community,

Thanks to all the peeps who are still following me after like 10ish years of more or less complete inactivity on here.

I did have a lil‘ peak now and then, looked at old posts of mine and reblogged some that didn’t feel all too cringe. Also scrolled through my feed and hannibal tags and found that actually not all too much has changed in this fandom - same humour, same love for the show, same insanity, same kind of lovely people… heck, some of you veterans from back in the day are STILL active! I very much applaud your committment! 👏🏻

I‘m actually writing this post because I thought I‘d give an update on what‘s been going on in my life in hopes that some of you also comment a wee update about themselves or make a post and tag me (and others from the community) 🫶🏻

I‘ll try and make this not too long (Spoiler: it got longer than expected):

Basically, Hannibal (@nbchannibal) fundamentally influenced the trajectory of my life.

I went to med school because of that show and got my medical degree few years ago. Never in my life thought about becoming a medical doctor until I watched Hannibal, more specifally after watching Season 3.

I‘ve always been fascinated by sciences, human anatomy, forensics, horror, the dark and obscure. But also loved arts and creative work, and for the longest time I’d wanted to make that my profession. I was planning on studying Digital Animation right up until I finished my last year of high school. At this point, I didn‘t really have a portfolio for uni application and was doubting my creative skills/potential.

When Season 3 of Hannibal aired, I‘d watched it 2 times in a row and then rewatched Hannibal all together (since have rewatched the whole series again about 3 times). I realized that I didn’t solely love the show because of the (b)romances, its story and its goriness, but because of the psychological and medical aspects of it. Really, really loved the „sassy forensics team“ and their work (even though it was very fantastical at times and surely not the most realistic portayal of forensic medicine). Suddenly, I had the epiphany of becoming a forensic pathologist. Silly me didn‘t know that meant that I’d have to do 6 years of medical school, get a medical degree and then do another 6 years of residency in forensic medicine. But applied for medical school anyways, passed the „big“ entrance test and sure enough, I fell in love with medicine.

My dream of forensic medicine was pretty much crushed right away, since I was told that there were only few residency options in the city where lived (and wanted to continue to live) and hardly ever any open positions in this niche specialty. Also job market was rather saturated - and still is.

Did a pathology internship during uni and found it very intrigueing but couldn‘t really cope with the smells, even though seeing, touching and cutting (recently) deceased bodies was no trouble at all. I then thought, maybe forensics would‘nt have worked for me anyways and abandoned the idea completely.

Last year of medical school I did an internship in psychiatry, enjoyed it, apparently did well enough and was encourage by my attending to pursue a career in that feeld. Before that internship I had again recently rewatched Hannibal, and rather unknowingly paid closer attention to the psychiatrists and psychologists portrayed in that show. Hereby became more and more fascinated by the subject of mental health and mental disorders. I was aware, however, that most psychiatrists in Hannibal almost exclusively performed some form of psychotherapy and hardly any clinical/medical psychiatry was shown.

Ultimately, I got a job at the very same psychiatric clinic I did the internship at and am still doing my residency there. I like my specialty very much, love and care for my patients deeply, and my work definitely gives me some sense of purpose. Do I feel completely fulfilled? No. But who really is, am I right?

As of late, I‘ve been entertaining the idea of forensic medicine again and changing my current specialty. I guess, I have not been able to let it go completely after all…

Anyways, did Hannibal affect your life also in some or great way as it did mine? If so, I‘d be curious to hear your stories! :)

Thanks and best wishes to those who read the whole thing or even just a small part of it. ❤️

- M.

[writebackatya]

DuckTales Team Ideas:

You know what love about DuckTales?! A lot of things. But more specifically the found family aspect of the show and all of its characters!! I love that within this found family are groups/teams built up from this group of badass adventurers. You got your Team Science, Webby and her friends, the Duck Boys, the Original Three, etc. But you know what? We can make even more teams out of these fun characters! So here’s a list of team up ideas that I think would be fun! Post-canon stuff up ahead so beware of spoilers:

Rules for teams:

1. Must consist of at least three people, cause Disney loves their trios

2. Must have a team name

3. A third rule, cause trios

The Moon Crew: Della, Selene, and Penumbra

I made a post about this team up before but I’ll post it again. We need Della to go on adventure with her badass Amazon girlfriends. It’d be fun. Personally I think the adventure should be a fish out of water story in Duckburg. I mean think about it, one’s a goddess, one’s a moon lander, and the final member hasn’t been on earth for an entire decade. Imagine the shenanigans! Well I can, I’m working on a story about that. Well not about that particularly but it’s an aspect of the story. Anyway moving on

Team Webby: Dewey, Lena, and Violet

Do you know what I’d like to see? Webby’s best friends (yeah I don’t care what Scrooge said, Dewey can be Webby’s family and best friend) team-up to save Webby from Magica. I think it’d make for a fun adventure.

(Also at one point Dewey needs to say Bippity Boppity Dew! Like at the moment the group stops Magica and her evil plan)

SEA-Nior Junior Woodchucks: Fethry, Huey, and Violet (Also Launchpad and BOYD, but I’m picking main threes here cause trios)

Who doesn’t love these three? Jerks! That’s who! We need more Fethry! Huey is great! Violet is underrated! They’re all Junior Woodchucks! And they need to go on a sea related adventure! Also they’re all…

Bad Bit Rebel Squad: Gandra, Gosalyn, and Lena

Stop me if you heard this one before: a good natured loving hero gets paired up with a snarky street smart loner. Anyway. What if we put all that sass together in one killer trio? No villain would be able to stand up to that much sass

Bad Bitches would be a group that consists of Della, Gandra, Gosalyn, Lena, Penumbra, and Goldie. And you know what? Throw Louie in there as well

Spy Team: Dewey, Gandra, and Webby

So…anybody else think it would’ve been so great to see these three team-up? They all have a spy background! Webby’s granny is a spy, Gandra is a spy, Dewey dew-geared Double O Duck with Launchpad*. It would be cool to see Webby and Gandra fight on the same side. Plus I think Dewey and Gandra has great comedic potential [shameful fanfic plug] Also you Beakley and Launchpad could also be a part of that team. Now the question is: Would the Beakley and Gandra dynamic be more Beakley and Lena 2.0 or Beakley and Della 2.0? Only you can decide!

The Yahoo Community: Della, Gyro, Huey, and Manny

Larry, all these actors were on DuckTales and Season 6 of Community

SIX SEASONS AND A MOVIE!

Clone McDucks: May, June, and Webby

Yeah, we needed to see these three get in their own adventure together. It would’ve been great. I think they’d embrace the fact that they’re clones but they’re own person. Also Clone McDuck sounds similar to Clan McDuck. I thought it was cute. Also I really just want to drive the point home that they’re clones just to irk those reading this who didn’t care for the final twist. I mean I thought it was cool and I loved rewatching the entire series a second time while knowing the twist. It gave me a whole new perspective on the series and they really foreshadowed in parts I didn’t notice on my first watch through but hey everyone is entitled to their own opinion

The Justice Ducks: Darkwing Duck, Gizmoduck, Storkules, Penumbra

Any fan of the original Darkwing Duck should be familiar with the Justice Ducks. Well I always thought if that team were to ever be brought into the DuckTales 2017 universe that both Storkules and Penumbra would fit in perfectly with that group. Both Penumbra and Storkules are warriors that fought for their people and have struggled to fit in with the world, so why not have a job that involves doing what they do best? Fighting for those they care about

The Tremendous Triplets: Huey, Dewey, June, Louie, May, and Webby

It’s twice the amount of triplets! The six of them would be unstoppable!! This show needed more than three seasons damn it!!!

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this rambling! If you have any team ideas please share them! They don’t all have to be trios and if you can come up with a name too, that would be great! Also if you come up with a better name for any of the groups I made up, please share them! I know The Tremendous Trios isn’t that great. I just love alliteration and thought it would be cool if their name had 3 T’s cause…trios.

[tallmadgeandtea]

Turnsgiving 2023: Day 2

Least Favorites

To me, Turn is Perfect but Also Not Perfect but also The Greatest Show of All Time, so finding me dissing it only happens once in a blue moon.

Over the course of Turn and Tea, I’ve only watched seasons 3 and 4 once— I just only recently finished s3 for the second time. Not because I think they’re bad television, but because there are some moments that I don’t find as exciting to revisit.

My two nitpicks deal with Abe and Robert Rogers. In s1, Rogers was an intriguing character and watching him is fun! He’s a Scottish brute whose survival skills rival only Simcoe’s and he’s a foil for Washington, who he knew during the Seven Years War. I do wish they went into his historical dealings, specifically with the capture of Nathan Hale, but his and Ben’s face off is still a great moment in the show.

Rogers and Caleb’s scavenger hunt at the beginning of s2 was still fun, but after he leaves at the end to find the “Northwest Passage” I excepted to never see him again. And honestly? It should’ve remained that way. I avoided rewatching s3 for a couple reasons, but one of the was that I didn’t care to see Rogers and Abe fighting in a hole in the ground! If I wanted to watch men fight in dark holes, I’d go watch Poldark or a war drama! Okay… well… a different war drama!

Speaking of war and Abe Woodhull, that leads me to my next point. Private Woodhull. PRIVATE WOODHULL. What even WAS this?! Who ALLOWED THIS?! And to drag a poor Dragoon in it… Sergeant Champe I’m so sorry! You did that all on your own and they made you work with Private Tintin instead and forced me to watch it! #savethehorsegirls

But the most ridiculous part was having him to be shot at Yorktown! YORKTOWN. The most main character moment EVER. I get they wanted the gang all together but god… at what cost!!

Anyways. That’s two of my gripes with the show. I’m normal now. We all know I’m president of the Richard Woodhull Hate Club, but that’s just another day at Headquarters.

(S4 will be the next season I rewatch. Why did I only watch it once? Because I had a breakdown when I finished it but that’s digressing.)

[titsgirlbuffy]

hey sorry if you've gotten a million alerts about me liking way too many of your posts!! i'm currently rewatching Buffy and Angel for the first time in over a decade (i first watched both shows between ages 10 and 13 so this has been an eye opening rewatch) and the hyperfixation has returned big time! I've been scouring the internet for meta and all of yours that i've read resonate with me a lot.

if you ever feel like writing them out (no pressure of course!) i'd love to read some more of your gay Wesley thoughts -- i've also always read him as gay, and i have such a strange time going into his tag on tumblr because soooo much of it is Wes/Lilah content. i'm particularly curious about your thoughts on how a gay reading of Wesley impacts his storylines with Lilah, Fred, and maybe Virginia. also sorry if all this is weird from a non-Buffy-blog stranger!!

Omg Thank You for sending this! It’s been sitting in my inbox for a while cause I needed to actually think about it in words rather than just. Autistic screeching. And also cause I wanted to see more of the Wesley/Lilah relationship to make sure my first thoughts weren’t totally baseless (if anything they’re being proven further). Just watched Apocalypse Now-ish so there’s probably later stuff I’d add in if I’d seen the whole show.

I’m really surprised by how many fans read him as straight (no offense but we have different eyes). Wesley’s coded as queer pretty often – part of it’s just the queer-coding of the Buffyverse supernatural in general (see This Old Gang of Mine for a questionable but really clear-cut example), but there’s also tons where it’s him specifically (in Sanctuary where the council’s kill squad call him out on his “perverted” relationship with Angel and also call him a ponce, Wesley stopping Angel in that same episode before the fight to make sure he knows he gave up a chance to go home and be accepted by his father and culture For Angel, multiple times in season one when outsiders assume he and Angel are together, that time Angel gets possessed by an old guy who assumes Wesley is his boyfriend and tries to let him down gently but freaks out when Wesley goes to touch him… etc etc etc). Plus the way he looked up to Angel in early seasons absolutely comes across as a crush, he and Gunn were So into each other but Wesley especially was repressed about it (running theme, man radiates internalised homophobia), and all his relationships with women… well, there’s Layers going on.

So his early relationship with Cordelia was the first time (if you don’t count just. Looking at him) I solidly thought Wesley must be gay, rather than any other label. To me that’s absolutely a comphet relationship on his part. The crucial parts of the Cordelia/Wesley relationship is that 1. He sees himself as “a bad, bad man” for wanting to pursue anything with Cordelia, and as such 2. She is completely unattainable, but 3. When it’s proven that she’s Not unobtainable actually, the relationship falls apart the instant they try to do anything about it. He’s attracted to Cordelia because it’s a safely straight crush where he’s not Allowed to actually follow through on anything (and panics the moment he does anyway), and to an extent because a relationship would give him a reason to stay in California.

I headcanon Wesley as actually working out that he’s gay between seasons 1 and 2 – purely because he’s the one who introduces the group to Caritas and was visiting it between seasons, which… do I need to explain why Caritas is a gay bar? Please feel to ask me to explain that if anyone doesn’t get it, but for now, trust me, as a frequenter of gay karaoke bars, Caritas is 100% a gay karaoke bar. This is also around the time he starts dressing differently, stops wearing multi-piece fully buttoned suits year round in California. He’s getting more comfortable being himself.

Which all makes his relationship with Virginia really interesting. They met when he was mimicking Angel’s Straight Man Persona (literally in the same episode where Angel was getting therapy and being told that his manly persona is an act and that it’s hurting him. Yeah), and I’m not totally sure if she was a beard or a purposefully chosen Public Relationship. She was a billionaire socialite – again, Wesley’s internalised homophobia is off the charts, and this is a relationship that got into the papers (and would definitely get back to his family, if they made any effort to look). Sidenote, I’m genuinely certain that he was just homeless until they got together. Wesley is established as Broke™, starts dating a billionaire, and suddenly has a large swank apartment? In LA? I am simply drawing connections. So yeah, while I’m undecided about how much Virginia knew this, their relationship reads as one based on public persona and just social climbing generally.

Fred’s the most complicated of his relationships with women. The rivalry with Gunn is probably a part of it, but actually I think a bigger part is Billy. As in, Billy, the guy who made any guy who touched him (or his blood, sorry Wes) become violently misogynistic. Side eyeing the writers for that one, but still, it Really fucked Wesley up. Fred was fine, she doesn’t blame him, but after the spell wore off Wesley literally hid in his room for a week then told her “I don’t know what kind of man I am anymore” then Cut His Hair Short Again. Some sort of closeness to Fred had been alluded to before this (protecting her in This Old Gang Of Mine despite her very much being able to protect herself, suddenly being given an interest in science despite being a linguist), but that was really the turning point for this being a textual Attraction. Even then, similar to the Cordelia thing, Wesley never makes a move (assuring everyone who asked that he would when he was ready. Okay), and when he talks about it, it’s an attraction to a Fred that literally doesn’t exist.

Fred doesn’t need anyone making a shovel talk on her behalf – she can and will just kill them herself (at the point I’m at, she and Gunn might break up because He killed someone when she’d wanted to do it on her own). There was a great moment when Lilah dressed up as “Fred”, complete with schoolgirl outfit and glasses, and the shot cut to Fred, hair down, glasses free, ready to hunt a ghost with Gunn. The irony is that the Fred who actually Does exist has way more in common with Wesley (it’s honestly just the gender that’s the issue here), but in a combo of self hatred and need to redeem himself post-Billy, Wesley’s created this sweet innocent young scientist who he needs to Protect™. Is that love? Well, he didn’t make a move when he thought it was.

I can see why people like his relationship with Lilah. They’re awful. Literally the first time they slept together it was because Wesley was So depressed and was hoping he wouldn’t regret it until the morning (didn’t work. Regretted it instantly). He doesn’t have a job, and Lilah’s trying to recruit him to W&H. I said, the second time we saw them on screen, that he was prostituting himself. I was joking! But uh. Canon jokes about how “giving” Lilah is. Expensive bribes (“gifts”, Lilah insists) Wesley could never afford. He makes a bet with her for ONE DOLLAR, loses, she MAKES HIM SIGN THE DOLLAR, and then LEAVES IT WITH HIM. They’re in bed for this. I just. I was joking. I wasn’t expecting an actual scene of them in bed with a dollar bill between them. What the fuck. Anyway, that aside, he really does just hate himself right now, tangibly depressed post-baby-theft, and Lilah is There. Caritas doesn’t exist any more and there’s no plausible deniability in a non-demon gay bar.

Thanks again for reading my stuff @lostupst8 <3 never apologise for spamming me, I crave attention

[rwgroup]

2022 Send-Off Challenge

Hey everyone! @serenalunera​ here. It’s been a while. Not sure how many of you still lurk on here, but I thought I'd ask just in case. Since the show is ending this Sunday, I was thinking we could do a little something to celebrate the end of a long road.

I have to admit I kinda fell out of love with the show for a while there (also life happened and we all know how that goes), but I spent these past few months rewatching everything from the start in preparation for this final ark. And even if it's not the same as it was a few years ago when the fandom was active and the RWG was booming, I find myself feeling very nostalgic about Rickyl, and about what we had here at the RWG. I figured I'm probably not the only one, so here's my question: would anyone be interested in a little old-school RWG challenge as a send-off for the show?

I know we're all busy so I'll keep things simple. The idea would be to produce fanworks (fic, art, music, etc.) based on one (or more) of these prompts:

Prompt 1: Days Gone Bye Look to the past for inspiration: your favorite scene, episode, season, or even a specific fic or type of fic you used to love. Take that as inspiration to write something new!

Prompt 2: What Comes After Look toward the future and imagine a life for Rick, Daryl, or any of the characters. Whether it be canon-compliant, canon-divergent, or completely AU, as long as it takes place in the future, the world is your oyster!

Prompt 3: The First Day of the Rest of Your Life You're not satisfied with the ending or you don't like the direction the show went in at some point? Rewrite it! Erase that character, remove that death, change that relationship... You do you. It's your story now!

I realize some of us don't exactly have a lot of time on our hands these days, so feel free to write however many words you want/can if you do decide to write something. As for the deadline, I was thinking the 31st of December to end the year on a bright note but I can always push it back if you need more time. This is open to everyone, RWG member or not. If you plan on posting on AO3, don't forget to add the tag RWG Send-off Challenge 2022 so I can add your work to the collection (or post your work directly to the collection here).

If you have any questions, feel free to send an ask here or @serenalunera, and I’ll answer you to the best of my ability!

[dollwritesarchive]

Since we’re asking top 5’s and you’re writing for anime rn -

Top 5 anime you’ve watched so far!!

OOOH okay so I have to do like recently watched BECAUSE I have some that are my all time faves like aot, death note, naruto, etc etc

1. JJBA

I cannot thank @stellarmagu and @allthefandomstogether ENOUGH for getting me into this show IT IS PROBABLY MY 2nd FAVE EVER NOW. I still have to finish stone ocean because I KNOW I’m behind BUT I’m taking my time because I don’t want it to end :(((

2. DEMON SLAYER

It has made me sob until my eyes were puffy and the lump in my throat literally ACHED it handles grief and emotional trauma extremely well. Plus, all the demons are hot

3. DIABOLIK LOVERS

I don’t think I have to explain this one. it was curated specifically for me, I feel.

4. JUJUTSU KAISEN

I have my reasons why this is not higher on the list, it’s difficult for me to rewatch the eps over and over because I feel like there was a lot of filler I really didn’t care that much about BUT I’m very excited to become reobsessed when the next season comes out !!!

5. HUNTER X HUNTER ( the one I am currently watching )

I REALLY THOUGHT THIS WAS A KIDS SHOW AT FIRST LMFAOOOO @chxrrysangel really sent me spiraling into this black hole and I cannot get out. Killua is my son and I am carrying him in my backpack ❤️❤️❤️

CAN I PUT SOME HONORABLE MENTIONS ( I am anyways )

GANGSTA

could’ve been #1, but it cuts off too soon 😭😭😭

GINTAMA

i usually don’t like comedies, this is an exception ( but I can’t marathon it because I get annoyed )

FIRE FORCE

ITS GREAT IT REALLY IS but I feel like I’d love it more if I cared about soul eater

KAMIGAMI NO ASOBI

UNDERRATTTEEEDDD

DURARARA!!

i feel like it was made for big brains and alas I am a dumbass so I never finished it BUT I would highly recommend it for the smart people

[returning-spring]

8 shows to get to know me

thanks @impending-doom-lol​ for tagging me!

does your mind ever boggle at the sheer amount of tv shows you watch? I had to sift through so many memories to come up with this list. anyway tagging whoever might want to play! @weaverhawk @blackwatervial @asterdust @saturnskyline @kerasines

1) KinnPorsche

My current obsession. Of course it has to go on here. I was in such a writing slump last summer: I had a million wips, but I’d stopped working on any of them for a few months (to be fair, that was partly because they got derailed by my newfound obsession with horror audio dramas, which I mention later in this post). Then I watched KPTS, and I’ve been writing consistently since then because the story and characters are so to my taste that it’s hard to believe any work of tv media could be so perfect for me. And I’ve made some great friends in this fandom; there are so many cool and funny people here. The memes are fantastic

2) Black Sails

There are other queer shows on this list, but this really is so important to me for its political and revolutionary themes, the variety of queer and polyamorous relationships and characters, and my childhood love of pirate stories. I don’t really know how to describe this show, but it moved me so much. I collected all four seasons in dvd this year because I want to keep it forever, and also because I don’t trust entertainment companies in 2023 to preserve shows online. Anyway Anne Bonny character of all time (there are so many characters of all time in this show)

3) Killjoys

I LOVE SCIFI, and if you love themes about revolution and fighting against oppressive regimes, this show is good for that. This show also gave me my favourite amoral lesbians ship in Delle Seyah and Aneela. It gave me queer models of family, including multiple characters parenting a child and forming a found family. Actually, found family is a big theme in general with Dutch and Johnny, whose relationship is really central to the show. Also this show is just genuinely fucking funny, it turns into a straight up comedy after season 1 when they found the tone they wanted to go with for the show

4) The Magnus Archives

Hey it’s the show that kicked off my horror obsession in 2022! I’d always enjoyed horror, but it’d been a casual thing prior to that. Maybe it’s the fact that the medium was still somewhat new to me, and I fell in love with it (I’d listened to a couple audio dramas before, but the habit hadn’t stuck; I mostly listened to nonfiction podcasts). Maybe it’s the fact that the show was queer, and I was very new to queer horror - specifically, horror that was queer on purpose, and explicitly so - not just subtext. The fic in this fandom is so fucking good, I had a blast last summer

5) SHL

This gets a shoutout for kicking off possibly the longest fandom brainrot I’ve ever had (we’ll see if KPTS will surpass it). It’s the fandom I’ve written the most for: I really can’t explain the hold it had on me in 2021. I’ve never felt so inspired to write. It also got me into participating in fandom projects, and I helped create two zines for the fandom

Also this is the show that got me really into genderbends and mommy kink lmao, enough to even write it

6) Luther

We’re reaching far into the formative shows of Scoop’s youth here. Luther and Alice are the blueprint of fucked up people in love/obsession with each other for me. You can draw a clear line from my love for Luther/Alice to Delle Seyah/Aneela to Wenzhou to VegasPete (and many, many other ships)

7) Story of Yanxi Palace

I love palace dramas so much. I watched this in 2020, and it was a delight. Wei Yingluo is in my top fictional characters ever: she’s clever, cunning, funny, and so vulnerable even though she doesn’t always let herself feel it. Also I wanted her to fuck all the women on that show, my god they had so much chemistry. The show is long, but really worth it

8) Schitt's Creek

This is the show I rewatch random episodes of when I don’t know what to watch, or when I need a laugh, when I need to watch something funny and sweet. The family relationships and friendships are really fantastic. Moira Rose is mother

[malinthebodyguard]

I posted 1,386 times in 2022

That's 292 more posts than 2021!

85 posts created (6%)

1,301 posts reblogged (94%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@myauroraborealis

@omar-rudeberg

@royalsomar

@missmeganlee

@myyoungroyalsblog

I tagged 506 of my posts in 2022

#not yr - 83 posts

#yr season 2 spoilers - 46 posts

#malin says - 39 posts

#yr season 2 - 27 posts

#yr spoilers - 18 posts

#yr s2 spoilers - 17 posts

#young royals season 2 - 14 posts

#young royals - 12 posts

#lmao - 10 posts

#young royals spoilers - 8 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#it's an interesting contrast because the relationships they have with wille and simon respectively  are more grounded in that genuine identi

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

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46 notes - Posted November 1, 2022

#4

I’ve just noticed how Simon’s plate is completely untouched. It’s placed as far away from him as it could possibly go. Contrast this with Rosh and Ayub, who are both close to their plates and glasses, and it’s clear that they’ve had something to eat and drink.

Maybe Rosh started eating a satsuma to see if it’d entice Simon into eating one too? There’s an unpeeled one on table.

The thing is Simon must be starving. Last time we see him having food is when he’s at the dinning hall in episode 5.  But, quite unlike what we’ve seen with Simon before (did they have to feed Omar in between takes?) we don’t actually see him eat anything. This is even more highlighted in the scene by everyone else at the table seemly playing with the food while he stares into nothing.

See the full post

56 notes - Posted December 12, 2022

#3

August Quotes the Godfather (again): Performing Power

So, a few weeks ago I made this post, going off on a rant about August’ quoting of The Godfather in the first episode of season one. I’d basically concluded that the quote was both indicating to us the kind of figure August linked himself to (powerful, violent, mafia boss) as well as providing

I was oh-so excited when I saw August quoting The Godfather again in Season 2 Quoting the Godfather once? Understandable, most of the films one-liners have become expressions onto themselves. Quoting The Godfather twice?? That’s some 1970s Pacino fanboy behavior.

See the full post

59 notes - Posted November 17, 2022

#2

Heavy is the head:The Crown and Young Royals

PSA: Any mentions of Queen Elizabeth and other members of the BRF in this post refer exclusively to their fictional characters in The Crown and not the actual people. I’m not a real PPO and I don’t know these people.

As a fan of both shows, I’ve always felt that Young Royals borrowed a lot from Queen Elizabeth’s characterization in The Crown for Kristina’s character. After rewatching a few scenes from The Crown, not only am I convinced that this is the case, but that I also wanted to compare how these two shows represent monarchy. 

One of the central themes of The Crown is the idea that ‘heavy is the head that holds the crown. In order to be Queen, Elizabeth has to sacrifice herself. This is explicitly stated by Elizabeth’s grandmother in a letter she sends the new Queen after her father’s death in the first season:

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98 notes - Posted April 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

August Quotes the Godfather: betrayal, vengeance, and loneliness

I’ve always just slightly annoyed at August saying this, whenever someone asks why the Erikssons  are at the party : 

And yes, I know 80% of the things he says are slightly annoying and goddamn Malte for his excellent delivery of the shittiest comments. 

But still, he’s quoting the Godfather at a Gen Z High School party. Of course,  ‘Keep your friends close but your enemies closer’ is now  just a phrase people say, often with no connection to the film that made it popular. 

 But the fact he’s specifically saying it in English makes me think that August was intentionally quoting the film. And it makes sense that he’d know this films enough to reference them. The protagonist is a sly, attractive man, wealthy enough to disregard the law, all while wearing a stylishly pulled-back hairdo  These films are the stories of  rich men, who control everyone and everything around them. Men who make offers that cannot be refused. Men whose pulse doesn’t shake if they have to avenge their father or kill the brother that betrayed him. Female character are either objects of desire or victims of violence, with little to no agency. 

 August quoting this is telling us, the audience, that he’s the kind of person that values and admires this kind of film. But also that to a certain degree that he wants the people around him to know that of him. He knows these movies, and wants to be perceived as someone similar to its leads not just by quoting the film, but by claiming to adopt one of its most famous tenets. 

 We as the audience also know that  this is a performance for him . August didn’t invite Simon and Sara  so he could ‘keep his enemies closer’. His motivation for lying here is strange to me. Yes, Simon is someone he considers below him, but having Simon get him booze from outside is not something that preposterous. It’s even something that another character suggests. But August had asked Simon that favour out of desperation, because he had no way out. I think his unwillingness to admit that is telling about how much August values his perceived power and ability to get what he wants. We also see how meticulous he can be about maintaining it. 

But I think this quote is also a foreshadowing for what’s to come for August. The quote is something Michael Corleone says in Godfather II, a film that examines the rise and downfall of the Corleone family. Betrayal and revenge are some of the key themes of this story. Michael is betrayed by some of the most important people in his life.  The biggest betrayal of all is his brother Fredo’s. 

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147 notes - Posted October 4, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[nothingneverforever]

Marcella (Season 2,2018) and Dead to Me (Season 1, 2019): The flipside of two sympathetic, explosively volatile women and what it means for me

Before Season 3 of Dead to Me was released earlier in November, I rewatched seasons 1 and 2 and saw a crucial parallel to another series I’ve rewatched multiple times over: Marcella (only seasons 1 and 2 because season 3 wasn’t real tbh). I’m not reviewing these shows today, especially not Dead to Me because I can imagine that everything good to be said about it is already out there, and Marcella, well, because season 3 kind of made me not want to talk about the show ever again. But there is a small connecting thread between the lead characters Jen (Dead to Me) and Marcella (Marcella) that I’d like to talk a little about, especially because of how it relates to me and my expressions of self. 

I believe one of the three people reading this blog has not seen these shows, so for some context, I looked for some description of these two characters where their anger or more socially unacceptable demeanors are described as their key traits: 

Dead to Me 

So, every aspect of the show is absolutely fucking phenomenal, but the writing and acting in particular are off-the-charts flawless. Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini play Jen Harding and Judy Hale, an unlikely pair united by a web of tragedy and bad decisions made by good people. Free-spirited Judy befriends cynical Jen at a grief group after Jen’s husband is hit and killed in a hit-and-run accident, and chaos ensues.

[...]   I think the thing in Dead to Me I connect to more than anything else though, is Jen Harding’s unfettered rage. [...] She’s just generally over people’s bullshit and expresses it in ways most of us either can’t or won’t. I mean, at one point she literally bludgeons someone to death when he pushes her too far with his woman-hating bullshit. Is there a woman out there who hasn’t entertained this fantasy? Jen’s honest, naked fury is the reason I think so many have fallen in love with the show and with this character in particular.

https://www.scarymommy.com/jen-dead-to-me-unfiltered-rage-queen

Marcella 

DS Marcella Backland, played with coiled spring intensity by Anna Friel – isn’t the chirpiest of characters. And nor is she all that fun loving or easy going, either. In fact, it’s a small wonder anyone in her life likes her at all, really.

Actually, come to think of it… No one really does. Her soon-to-be ex-husband Jason has now moved out properly and is due to marry his new girlfriend. Her children seem to tolerate more than love her. And she still runs about her place of work, barking at colleagues, undermining her boss and harassing suspects. Even her on/off boyfriend, colleague Jamie Bamber, seems to have a few issues with her behaviour.

In a way, it’s kind of reassuring to see that Marcella the person is still just as thoroughly brusque, surly and uncivil as ever. Just as reassuring as it is to see that Marcella the TV programme is still just as thoroughly dark, distressing and downright depressing as ever.

https://www.deadgoodbooks.co.uk/seasons/marcella-series-2-review/

So it is precisely in how ‘unlikable’ Jen and Marcella are that they charm and engage, where it is a welcome experience to bask in the fantasy of uncouth (yet highly successful), seething (but understandably so), feminist women. Aside from how they are generally in their day-to-day interactions and in their perspectives on the happenings in their lives, I am speaking specifically about how this ‘anger’ (generalising here because I can’t be bothered to explain all the way this manifests or all the different undercurrents, all the layers of the submerged iceberg beneath this anger, so just imagine a very very very deep and complicated and moving and sad and hurt compounded anger) led these two characters to committing irreversibly tragic actions. Jen, in a fit of misdirected hurt/rage/annoyance kills her best friend’s ex-boyfriend (as bolded in the text above), and Marcella, whose anger mostly seems self-directed, smashes the head of her loving, warm (and handsome hehe) colleague who had moments before just stopped her from attempting suicide, chains him to a toilet stall, cuts all her hair off and slices through the sides of her mouth (think Joker-but cooler idk I’ve never seen Joker or Batman lol), before living under a bridge for weeks in the cold. (See pic below for the shocking, terrifying iconicity of Marcella’s self-harm.) While the manifestations of these unprocessed, unmanaged unhelpful emotions are different, both Jen and Marcella are clearly volatile, “unhinged” women. 

A few nights ago I was in the car giving my colleague a lift home after work, and it’s a long drive so we usually have good time to start and finish serious topics before she gets off, and this is a part of my week-day routines I have come to enjoy very much. So on this particular drive, my colleague gave a recent stressful experience in her life as an example of how anger does not sit well with her, both in her personal and professional selves, and how sadness is something she’d much rather languish in. And I commented that I am very much the opposite, not that I am avoidant of sadness, but rather anger feels comfortable and nature and very much like something core to who I am. I have thrown cups and bottles on the ground and my phone more times than I can remember, I have smushed my pen-tip into my diaries since I was a teenager causing ink to bleed out, and slamming doors is something so easy for me to resort to, any day any time. And I know that certain media makes it seem empowering for women, otherwise discouraged from expressing non-warm/loving emotions, to start showing these types of behaviours as a supposed reclamation of that which we have had to abstain from with much intentional restraint, but we know honestly that there are not healthy or respectful methods of coping / managing. 

Back to Jen and Marcella, being me watching these two beautiful, strong, epic, swaggilicious women behave in the ways they do without thinking twice.... of course that’s immediately inspiring and relatable, right? Because it’s something I can already see myself doing, see myself being if given free rein. But my post today, the important point that has been on my mind for months, is why this isn’t okay. Doing the work that I have done (just for 2+ years but hopefully many many many more to come!!) and also just generally maturing as a young adult has shown me that it’s not cool for anyone to cause distress in others through such expressions; it’s not cool to “lost control” (itself a myth mostly), and it’s not cool to ummmm murder haha or to attempt it... 

Which is precisely why Jen and Marcella had to go to such extreme lengths. Let’s imagine that these two women continued about with their lives as the cool, iconic, irreverent, highly intelligent, brave legends that they are, and express themselves with the rudeness/disrespect/”craziness” that they do, save for killing someone/attempting to kill others+themselves. If that was it, then it would really have been so, so so easy to continue to pedestalize them as the women most of us other women dream to be. It would be so easy to think hey I could be like that too, and in fact I should because I deserve to! And this is not wrong either. There are a million ways in which women can act that would likely benefit all of society, with such freedom of expression. But the peak of the mountain (murder, to generalize) should never be reached; that is not a height to be scaled and I think that’s why it was so important that it was.  Do you know what I mean? What I mean when I say the shocking brutalities* are necessary is that audiences needed to realise that there is always a flipside to being this ‘cool angry bih’. And sometimes that can include awful awful awful tragedies. Me most of all, I needed to realise it too. 

* - Dead to Me invested a lot into showing the hurt caused by Jen’s murderous action, where the shock and realisation of how immoral and unacceptable it was doesn’t come all at once, but slowly through the impact shown on many many lives. And ultimately we (and authorities) forgive her for it, but the weight is always known. 

I might come back and add on to this in a while, but it’s a Sunday night now and as always I’m anxious about starting the work week because more often than not it includes weights I am not prepared to carry. But I’d like to say most importantly more so than the non-revolutionary singular point I’ve made in the too-many words above, that I love love love love love both of these shows. Finishing season 3 of Dead to Me last week, I cried on the way back home a few days later suddenly thinking about how sad and vast and simple it was. 

Love you all! 

------------------------

Update:

Omg I just realised something hilarious hahahaha I was scrolling through my few-and-far-between old posts and saw that I had very roughly talked about Dead to Me in May 2021, and omg... I am part of the fucking problem guys!!! 

This is so funny omg.... ignore everything I said pls hahahahaha.... Killing an innocent man is not ok wtf!! Maya wake up!!!! 

Ok but saying “you can die” when someone asks you what they can do to help is still quite iconic ngl. 

[object-show-analysis]

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO BUILT ROBOT BOW PLS I NEED TO KNOW IM SO CONFUSED AND EXCITED

I do! I have a solid theory that I’m pretty confident in and I’d love to share it.

Who Built Robot Bow

“Who built robot bow” seems to be the biggest question circling the ii community currently. And it’s a perfectly valid question! Especially considering the history that this series has regarding robots. But before we answer who Could be responsible, let’s talk about who’s definitely Not responsible.

I’ve seen many people suggest that villains such as Steve Cobs or Taco are somehow linked to the creation of Robot Bow. As interesting as that would be, we know this couldn’t be true, because the creators have outright confirmed that season 3 will not be linked to any major plot development in season 2, and that it’s meant to be a more lighthearted season. Taco specifically has been confirmed to not be making an appearance in season 3, as she won the popularity vote to get in, but she isn’t part of the cast because she still has things to do in season 2.

I’ve also seen some theories linking it to be either Walkie Talkie or MePhone. Which very well could be possible, but given MePhone’s surprise when Bow first showed up, in addition to the fact that until episode 3 of season 3 he didn’t want her around, I’m inclined to believe it’s not him. Walkie Talkie could supposedly be responsible, but there’s really no evidence to suggest that they are. So until anything else comes up, there’s really no room to speculate.

Personally I believe there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that TestTube is responsible for the existence of Robot Bow.

We know that TestTube is capable of making a robot such as this. She’s certainly made more complex projects in the past. But what really made things obvious for me was her reaction to Bow glitching out at the mention of chairs in the most recent episode

TestTube doesn’t seem concerned or confused for Bow at all. When Cabby notices that there’s something wrong with Bow, TestTube looks concerned at Cabby, and immediately interrupts her, grabbing her attention away. It’s very clear in this scene that she’s making an effort to keep Cabby from taking notes on Bow.

(TestTube later gives paintbrush the same worried expression when they notice something is up, but without the other evidence, this could just be read as concern for Bow)

We see no signs of TestTube’s own curious nature when Bow begins to glitch. It seems obvious to me that she knows something in this scene that no one else knows. She drags Bow away and tells her to “cool off” (interesting choice of wording) and it’s only after this that she really seems to want to get Cabby off of the show.

Obviously I cannot describe the full moment word for word but I do encourage others to rewatch the scene with the mindset that TestTube is displaying suspicious behavior.

It wasn’t just this episode that made me think that TestTube was somehow related to Bow’s reappearance. What really got me suspicious of TestTube was Fan’s elimination, in which he seems to whisper the words “you have to tell her”

(Lip reading was done by me)

The clip cuts to Cabby. But we know the “her” couldn’t have been referring to Cabby, because she’s no longer in the game. Her story is over (unless she rejoins, but there’s no guarantee of that) Therefore it makes the most sense for this to be in reference to Bow, the one who Cabby was studying earlier that episode.

I think that’s more than enough evidence to say TestTube is most likely involved, but I have seen some other people point out that we saw a Bow related machine built by TestTube back in season 2. Perhaps this also has some relation to Bow’s reappearance?

I definitely believe it was TestTube who is responsible for the creation of Robot Bow. Out of all the theories I’ve seen, it has the most evidence to stand on.

I’ve got a lot of thoughts on Robot Bow, and I can’t wait to share them in future posts (soon to be posted!)

[inverts]

Sam watched Tiger & Bunny 2 and HAS GOT SOME THOUGHTS

so! the latter half of Tiger & Bunny 2 released yesterday, so of course I spent every free moment i could watching it instantly. i’m going to put my thoughts behind a cut, but i am at least going to preface it with: i had a really fun time with this season! if you’re worried about watching it b/c you think it might not be good b/c many times, let’s be real, sequels suck, i want to say that it was enjoyable and i think really maintains the spirit of the first show.

there are, of course, more specific positives and negatives of this season, but that’s SPOILERS CITY so you gotta click the read more for that shit.

these are all my initial takes--i may come back feeling differently after rewatches, or discussion with other ppl who’ve watched! i would LOVE some discussion but just please use cuts to spare ppl from seeing spoilers, this shit came out like less than 48 hours ago and not everyone is as feral as i am for it.

SO i think this season, far more than season 1, was an ensemble piece. this is neither bad NOR without precedence--the movie The Rising, for example, is basically Tiger & Bunny & Fire Emblem, almost even more than it’s Tiger & Bunny & Ryan, lmfao. and the first half of season 1 had a lot of focus episodes to give many of the heroes a chance to shine on their own--even a couple eps of the second half of s1 did this as well. so it’s certainly fitting for the second season to also give the secondary characters a lot of chances to shine.

the negative of this, i think, is simply that our titular characters have less _time_ to shine. that’s ok--in some ways they don’t need it. they’ve got a balanced relationship, they understand each other. they still are flawed individuals and they still trip each other up, but their bond is truly unshakeable and there are several times where this gets a nice spotlight.

however, i’m not going to lie--i think the biggest downside of kotetsu and barnaby being benched so much is that the ending feels flat. i almost wanted to give it another episode to really dig into kotetsu and barnaby’s feelings. they’re really the two whose arcs somehow _don’t_ feel resolved at the end. is this because sunrise is angling for a THIRD season? it would honestly make more sense with the lack of emotional closure we get with kotetsu and barnaby in the final episode. as an act 2 out of 3, it feels sensible. as a finale, it feels... anticlimactic.

the positive, however, is that a lot of other characters give us SO much good development. i took particular joy in everything with blue rose and ryan. Karina’s character development made me scream, squeal, and cheer. Her growth and maturity is phenomenal. She’s still the young woman in love with Kotetsu, but she’s aware of herself, she understands her emotions and desires, and it’s EXACTLY the development of a natural crush on an older, unattainable figure that many young people go through. She really comes into her own and i LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! also, Ryan’s steady descent into falling completely head over heels for her is so fucking good. the balance between these two! the dynamic! THANK YOU FOR THE FOOD, SUNRISE!

likewise, origami and rock bison, sky high and fire emblem... seeing their relationships grow, struggle, and become stronger was a delight every time. Dragon Kid and Magical Cat were also personal favourites of mine. I could write about every beat of their story I loved, but I’d just be summarizing every beat of their story. They’re really good!

Sadly I didn’t really care much for He Is Thomas or Mr. Black... I don’t even remember their civilian names. I can see why Sunrise decided to add them, but truthfully, I wish that some parts of the story had been pared down and they’d been cut in order to give Kotetsu and Barnaby more time. But I can also see how that would have had quite a ripple effect on other parts of the story... still, I think they were sadly the weakest part of season 2.

And another character who really got a big spotlight that many fans of season 1 were surely hoping to see....... LUNATIC MY GUY

I’m gonna talk about my negative impressions of Lunatic’s arc and then work my way into my positive impressions. The biggest negative is that the moment he hallucinated that resolution with his father, I knew the story was going to kill him off. Rather than put in the effort of him attempting to atone for his various murders, or deal with guilt or shame at the fact that perhaps he DIDN’T handle things in the best way, I knew the show was going to simply ... not get into that any further. I was sad to be proven right. It’s true that the Next who possesses him says that his body is fuckin done for right when she abandons ship, so it’s possible that he might have died even if he hadn’t tossed himself off a million foot high overpass. But the story still wrote him choosing suicide rather than face his actions. Is it consistent with his character? In many ways, yes. It can’t be understated how he’s still grieving for his mother--more on that in a bit. Also, he now sees himself as an unjust murderer, and must deal with himself accordingly. But it also feels contradictory to the ways in which he’s learning and changing--the fact that he sees his actions as unjust, but is now going to continue those actions against himself.... Of course, emotions often contradict logic, so I guess this is fair as well. In the end, this is simply a trope I hate--the “villain” experiences regret, or determines that they were wrong after all, and then dies.

another place where i feel that the character actions and story direction are giving mixed messages is when Yuri confronts kotetsu with the knowledge that kotetsu’s hero Mr Legend beat his wife and child behind closed doors. kotetsu at least has the wherewithal to realize that what he’s said to yuri at the end there was fucked up and uncalled for. however kotetsu says ‘because it would piss him off,’ essentially. but kotetsu he’s pissed off b/c u literally said “rip to ur dad but i’m different” LIKE WHAT THE FUCK MAN. “i’m sure ur dad wouldn’t have beat ur wife if he’d just had a friend like i do” KOTETSU STOP. PLEASE STOP.

--but on the other hand, like, it’s true that having any kind of support network could have helped legend. kotetsu’s depression when he started to lose his powers in season 1 is largely helped b/c he has people around him who care and who know it sometimes happens to ppl, that kotetsu isn’t the first person it’s happened to, and also kotetsu isn’t the single great hero that everyone is looking up to. there are others to share the burden. additionally, ur wife should not be ur therapist--i’m sure yuri’s mom tried to support legend when things were going down, but it was 1) not her job to shoulder ALL his baggage and 2) she’s not like a trained therapist? frankly all the portrayals of yuri’s family when yuri is a child feel like toxic nuclear 1950s family dynamics, wholesome on screen, vile behind closed doors. if this is a purposeful critique--and it may well be--then it’s frankly muddied by kotetsu’s hero worship. i also think that considering the ham fisted nature of some of the other storytelling in this show, it would be okay to hammer messages like this a little harder, too. it’s ok to say legend was a victim of circumstance but it’s not ok to say it in a way that absolves him of responsibility for abusing his family, if that makes sense.

i don’t think yuri hallucinating a resolution from his dad muddies the message or story in any way--tho unfortunately it’s set up as prompted by Kotetsu’s shitty words. but of COURSE yuri wants approval from his dad. i’m not going to get too deep into this but it’s entirely consistent and makes a lot of sense to me that he’d crave that kind of validation, acknowledgement, and forgiveness--ESPECIALLY because he can’t get it from his mother.

Speaking of! the portrayal of his and his mother’s relationship really hit me. It’s clear across both seasons that he wants to protect his mom--he’s always wanted to protect her--but he also winds up hurting her when he does this. He is angered by her delusions and her selective memory of their mutual abuser. Hiring a caretaker for her--specifically one that the show demonstrates is an actual kind, gentle person who is good at their job--is a good solution. It gives Yuri the distance so he can allow her to have her delusions (which IIRC is really the best way to deal with someone who has dementia anyway, rather than arguing with their perceptions) as well as knowing she’s as safe and cared for as she can be.... at least until she’s not.

I find this family dynamic to be portrayed really well, at least in my experience. There are sometimes families who hurt each other despite their best intentions, and constantly return to each other for more of the same. It’s rather understated, but Yuri’s decision to hire a caretaker and allow his mother her delusions breaks that cycle and allows a fragile peace. It’s clear he’s still not wholly content with it--perhaps what he really wants is for his mother to hate his father as he does--to validate and justify how Yuri accidentally killed Legend. It’s clear it still hurts him, but he’s choosing to take that hurt to allow his mom peace in her final years. And how he grieves in the kitchen that he hasn’t yet been able to clean up after her murder--fuck, man, everything about this just personally hit me really hard. I still don’t like how it all ended but I’m really, really glad that Lunatic got this spotlight, and personally I found it to be really well handled. YMMV i guess but that’s my initial take.

hey that was a lot about lunatic. let’s talk about some other characters, lol

KAEDE! i loved kaede and kotetsu’s relationship, especially in the first half of the series. they’re getting closer although she is still not letting him off the hook for a lot of the shit he did when she was younger--and honestly GOOD FOR HER, he deserves to be held accountable more! The final episodes tho felt like a little bit of a let down with Kaede--almost like they were setting her up to take SOME action, but then ran out of time? Add “Kaede gets to do things” to the list of stuff I wish had happened instead of Mr Black and Thomas, lmao.

also let’s talk about Agnes. I was holding off commenting on this in the first half of the season, but I love that they had Agnes gain weight. I feel like her body type is one i see RARELY in anime--she’s got proportions I see regularly, every day, and I think that she’s drawn very well (barring some shots where the animators didn’t quite keep her on model, but that happens to everyone in the cast at various points). The reason I didn’t want to say anything in the first half of the season is that the narration has multiple characters comment on her weight gain, and I was afraid that the series wanted to point it out so that later there would be a reveal that she was an impostor or something, and surprise, skinny agnes would show back up. But no! This is Agnes all the time, she’s EXACTLY the same person, she’s beautiful and desirable and she gets shit done, she has feelings for Kotetsu, meanwhile Antonio has a crush on her, it’s GREAT. she just happens to have more body fat now and it changes _nothing_. (also, iirc the people who comment on her weight are Ryan, who would have been out of town and wouldn’t have noticed a gradual change, and Saito, who likewise doesn’t often interact with Agnes as he’s often in the R&D department while Agnes is in the Hero TV van, so it’s actually pretty logical for both of those characters to be like, “huh?” Having them comment on her weight may have simply been sunrise’s way of telling the viewers, no, youre not misremembering what she looked like before, but we changed it and it was on purpose, now get on with the show.)

i was also very glad that Mattia and Little Aurora 1) weren’t evil and 2) didn’t die, lol. in the case of Mattia, it’s so rare that Barnaby gets to have ppl he cares about who DON’T die or turn evil, so i was very glad mattia got to live, lmfao. with Aurora i actually at one point hypothesized that she was the head of ouroboros, but i was wrong! that was neat.

overall i feel like s2 does a good job carrying on the spirit and feelings of s1. both halves of s2 are even structured very similarly to both halves of s1, with the first half being mainly focus episodes for 8 or so eps, and then 4 or so eps of a bigger storyline that concludes foreshadowing put down in the first 8. and then the second half becomes one very big storyarc. around ep 17 or 19 i was like “this is really good, i’m having a lot of fun, but i don’t know if anything can really compete with the emotional intensity of everyone forgetting about kotetsu and he goes on the run from them, etc.” and then i ate those words! i think the final arc was really exciting! now, emotionally, i think i do still prefer the final arc of s1, because let’s face it, i love when kotetsu suffers a little bit. i love him. but i think in terms of raising the stakes and interest and rising action, s2 is an entirely fair entry to the series, i loved watching it, and i think i will love rewatching it with friends.

but the ending.....

the ending really feels like they want a season 3. and personally, i kind of wanted to just end things at season 2, because i don’t want to wait another eleven years for a third season. unless we get season 3 next year.... 2023 will, after all, be the year of the rabbit once more.

but that scene when all the heroes are standing together, agreeing to have dinner togehter, and then they just... part ways? and then barnaby’s like “so my leg didn’t fall off so i’m going to keep being a hero” like SIR you still don’t know what’s WRONG WITH IT!!!! that fistbump between kotetsu and barnaby just feels so, so lackluster after everything! so lukewarm!

“sam did you just want them to kiss”

I don’t think that’s it? i mean not gonna lie, i would have LOVED it--the show has multiple canon queer characters, like of course there’s Fire Emblem who basically got a whole movie to flaunt being the best okama ever, but there was also the one lesbian NEXT who was sad that her hot butch girlfriend had dumped her, and then Ruby has two dads if I parsed that correctly, and then there’s Pao-Lin and Lara--

but no i don’t think that’s it. it’s just. these two are so important to each other, whether it’s romantic or not. and their partnership is ending. and that’s just. that’s that? that’s it? no scene of bunny out there heroing on his own while kotetsu and kaede fondly watch? they even set the stage for bunny to take over the wild tiger mantle and then did NOTHING with it. (though props to one friend for being like “hell yeah barnaby was inside tiger” fuck yes)

(ALSO FUCK YES KOTETSU GOT TO PRINCESS CARRY BUNNY FOR LIKE 5 SECONDS??? and their relationship is so solid that neither of them even comment on it???? I LOVE THEM)

so while there’s that last little clip with the image of tiger and barnaby in the hero museum, emotionally it just feels like the real ending was chopped off. like the studio is holding something back. and certainly there’s more of ouroboros we could explore. but where do we even go from here? kotetsu has NO MORE POWERS (which, btw, ballsy move on sunrise’s part, i’m genuinely impressed, but i’m also scared of what they’ll do in s3 because a lot of anime haaate actually committing to taking powers away from their characters and will then bend over backwards to return their powers or equivalent to them. please do NOT let mattia develop a drug that gives kotetsu his power back, do NOT, i don’t want that. make kotetsu deal with his body taking its course dammit!)

so like, idk. i really enjoyed this second season a lot, and while i don’t think they fucked up the ending, i don’t think i can confidently say they stuck it, either. :(

but that’s only if this is meant to be the conclusion to the series. if they _are_ gunning for a third season....

well i hope they fuckin get it then and i hope they do a damn good job and i hope kotetsu and barnaby fuckin KISS! FUCK!