#I'm just rambling here but it was a very fun episode and i wanted to gush about it

[a-commas-a-pause]

watching leverage (for the first time, but feel free to spoil things for me because I actually am fine with spoilers) and one thing that struck me watching The Order 23 Job (s2e3) is that it takes the "unexpected side effects" thing that tickled me so much in Going Postal (that speech where Mr Pump explains to reformed conman Moist Von Lipwig that he's actually killed 2.338 people as a consequence of pulling various cons on them) and like... Flips it?

Like there's an entire side-plot in that episode where Elliot notices a kid who's getting beaten up by his dad and goes out of his way to help him, and while it briefly endangers the main con in the end they end up using the stuff they did in the main con to solve the kid's problem to everyone's satisfaction as well. Not only do they fix the problem they went in to fix, they fix like three other problems on their way past as well just you know, since they're in the area.

I don't have a point here it's just like. Narratively satisfying to me. And very wish-fulfillment-y in a very pleasant way given the current News. Like yeah you DO get to have your cake and eat it when it comes to helping people, you CAN save everyone actually, and you get to do it by being very very clever. Moist thought he wasn't hurting anyone with his schemes, but that's because he only looked about two moves ahead at any one time and didn't think about the longer term consequences of his actions. Meanwhile the leverage team are out here playing 4D chess in a hospital and they're not even keeping the money because they've correctly identified that it's not actually the money they want but the thrill of the game.

[sskk-manifesto]

Finally got around to watching ep 11 (´；ω；｀)

[ask-the-rag-dolly]

edit : i'm sorry but this post is messy i don't like how this is the ramble that got the most attention shhffs please check out the addendum in the reblogs if you want a more clearer analysis

-

FIRST OF ALL the thing about the paint huffing - Other than that it's funny - is that we were getting ragatha at her most honest . she's more reflective and reveals her mind more which is a Lot considering that she has shown herself to be a people pleaser trying to avoid conflict . this is Literally The Last thing she wants

and honestly it would be fun to see the fallout of this in episode 5 when she would inevitably sober up and be Mortified about that fact considering she said This to gangle here

like . interesting ragatha . is that why you Do Not Stop Jax when he goes to bully gangle . other than not wanting him to hate you you also prefer it if gangle is in her tragedy state . is that it . Is That It -

also you guys don't know how much i fucking screamed at these scenes okay . there's nothing i love more than nice characters that show their less than desirable traits . my favorite thing about ragatha is not that she's a sweetheart but that she's Dishonest . even to the point that gangle mentions it in her talk with pomni

like my ongoing theory right now for the ' evil ragatha ' comment gooseworx made for episode 5 is that ragatha's going to say or do the Most Morally Ambiguous thing possible that will send the entire fandom on fire . like we're talking Arguments on whether she's in the right or wrong Even though this is a show that invites nuance instead of black and white views , and it'll be so fucking marvelous to witness

NOW . i really don't think she's faking being nice ! i believe with all my heart that ragatha's inherently Good and i will throw hands at anyone who thinks otherwise . it's just that she's just Repressing What She Thinks About The Others because , again , Avoiding Conflict ! which is shown by how annoyed she got with pomni talking to gummigoo ( gayass ) , what she said to gangle , and what she said to zooble

yes i screamed about the toybox interaction i knew that ragatha was going to not like zooble's grouchiness But I Digress .

all of this is interesting because . again , ragatha's a people pleaser trying to avoid conflict . i think her reasons for being nice and helpful are both selfless and selfish . selfless - she doesn't want anyone to go through the stress and pain of feeling alone , and selfish - she doesn't want anyone to hate her . they're like a smoothie , she's not one or the other . it's just that the latter reason ... has a lot more influences on her thought processes than she'd like to admit .

and that's showcased if you look at episode 2 with her conversation with kinger . she was worried about pomni going through something traumatizing , yes , but she added that she thinks pomni doesn't like her that much . which . it's a small piece of dialogue but it really shows how much ragatha's Gripping That Fucking Fawn Response . yes , her concern is everyone's wellbeing , but she also Would Not Like It If Anyone Hates Her , to the point that it'll stick to her . and she'll try So Hard to compensate for it .

like . she is really a nice person but she's dishonest because she doesn't want to be hated which is very much a selfish reason . she's falling into that pitfall of ' a friend to all is a friend to none ' . argh . why is she so complicated god i'm going to put her in that deepfryer again

[mrabubu]

How do you think the turtles from ROTMNT would deal with their feelings if they were in love with someone (be it human, mutant, Yokai, etc.)?

Oh man... Hmmm...

I really hope that wouldn't be a problem if I mostly ramble about Leo (I'M SORRY GUYS THE BLUE TURTLE LIVES IN MY MIND RENT FREE), and maybe a couple of words about the rest. I'll also be talking about both young and adult Leos, so, here we go.

I'll give short opinions on other turtles before Leo:

Donnie: Would be neglecting his feelings and emotions at first. Even though, in my opinion, he was established as the one prone to romance, I think when he'd actually feel anything towards anyone, he'd be really conflicted, because it's one thing to see this stuff on the TV and all, and another when it's in real life. But once he'll deal with all this mess in his head, he's a real gentleman.

With Raph and Mikey I'm going to refer to @souperwrites words, I hope they don't mind xd

"Mikey is confident and lovey dovey." And I totally agree with it. I feel like he would be the one who'd have the least problems with his feelings.

"Raph is shy but very genuine in his affection but also super nervous because of his size and the potential harm he could cause without meaning to." But honestly, I think my friend @daysofmoron could also give their opinion, since they love the red turtle. xd OKAY, NOW MY BOY LEO.

If start with young Leo, in the show he was always all "EWW!" whenever any sign of romantic love is shown, be it Big Mama and Splinter or Warren and Hypno (at least I remember them being all cuddly, and Leo's was just barfing at them on the background), but I imagine once his own heart goes "doki-doki" for Y/N (let it be Y/N or "you" for now), he's a total mess at first. Remember that episode when they met Jupiter Jim actor, and Leo couldn't even put the syllables together? Yeah, that's him at the start, especially if Y/N doesn't know about his feelings towards them. He'll be trying to impress Y/N but since his emotions are all over the place, he messes up more than usual, maybe even ending up hurting himself (like, he'd try to impress you with his skateboarding skills, but ends up eating concrete because he's too distracted).

And here I'm going to add a bit of my own ideas, because I've been thinking of some scenarios, like, if taking that previous idea with skateboarding, or, more easily, let's take the episode "The Longest Fight" when he fell, I imagine if on the contrary from others you'd actually show any genuine concern about if he's hurt, he'd be like "Oh..." and blushing, because usually his brothers would make fun if him, and here comes in you who doesn't laugh at his failure and worries if he needs help. I think after a moment like this he could begin to feel something.

And with Future Leo HO OHO I have an entire game reference on how I imagine him handling a romance.

First of all, I think as an adult he would be more confident with his feelings if he ever feels anything towards anyone, because, well, he's an adult now, and because when you at war you kinda already went through a lot to be all this blushing mess over feeling butterflies in your stomach.

So, as a reference, whenever I thought of him in a relationship, I though of a romance with Garrus from Mass Effect. I imagine Leo being kinda awkward, trying to make jokes at first that are much more sloppy than usual. Especially if talking about Garrus, I always think of that scene from Mass Effect 2, when he comes into Shepard's room before the final mission, trying to lighten up the mood, flirt and all, but ends up just being an awkward (but adorable) mess, and saying: "I've seen so many things have gone wrong... I want something to go right. Just once. Just..."

And it's just really easy for me to imagine Leo say that. And instead of touching scars you touch his prosthetic.

And also that dialogue with Liara after "The Lair of the Shadow Broker" DLC, when she asks if you fight for giving Garrus some peace, and you say that he's been hurt and deserves something better.

But once Leo's over all the awkwardness and let himself relax, he's just enjoying this new experience with you, having fun.

This scene with Garrus and Shepard trying the "first date" thing which ends up them dancing tango together. With all the teasing and all, I can easily imagine Leo would do something like that.

Honestly, I think that's it? There are more scenes in Mass Effect with Garrus and Shepard where I could easily imagine Leo would do something like that, but it's a lot. If you know, you know, If don't, well, I hope I was able to gave you an idea.

[justin-chapmanswers]

Howdy! I wanted to start off by saying I'm a HUGE fan of the show - you guys have been a massive inspiration for me, and II as a whole has become one of my main comfort shows! (Paintbrush in particular is my favourite - never thought I could relate to a fictional paintbrush as much as I do, but they've honestly helped me realise things about myself, such as healthy ways to deal with anger, as well as a huge one - the fact that I'm nonbinary! 💙)

I was wondering - are there any plans for future BFDI/II meetup tours in other countries? I'd love to go to one, but I live in the UK and travel isn't the easiest unfortunately :( (one day though, I swear I'll be there!)

Also, are there any plans to release bloopers or more behind the scenes content, maybe after the season 2 finale? I know some cast members like Jazzy do, and it's super fun to watch the VAs goofing around and having fun!

Thanks for all that you guys do - it's amazing to look at how far the show has come, and it's plain to see how much every member of the team loves what they do. From the phenominal storytelling, to the charming art style - every detail is made with the utmost care and attention, and that becomes apparent with each episode you guys release :)

I'll stop rambling now, but I'm super hyped for the finale! Here's to our two finalists, and the much-deserved conclusion of season 2! 💙

(P.S. please tell Silver and MePad I think they're awesome!)

- Rei :3

Hihi Rei!

So glad the show could be of comfort and inspiration yay yay! If we continue to do the tours I'm not sure if we'll be expanding outside of the US just yet- but we'd definitely love to! Just wanna make sure we really get a firm grip on the multi-city trip here before complicating it. But whether it'd be this upcoming year or the next or whenever, I do think it has a decent chance of happening at some point! I'd imagine England and Canada would be our next stops, but we'll see in the future!

As for behind-the-scenes content, right now we're very focused on moving through work on the finale, itself, but we definitely have some bts concepts in mind! I recorded a video for my final II2 voice session, for one. After I'm done with finale work I'll look back at the footage and see if it feels useable. There's a lot of content to work with, but I probably wasn't on my A-game in terms of providing goofs 'n such for the camera because I needed to be really reeeeeally in-the-zone emotionally. Fuuuuun times.

[notafragilething]

Late Night Buck & Tommy Rambles: Vertigo Week

Happy Sunday evening. I'm on the cusp of an insanely busy week but I wanted to spend my last calm evening sharing some of my thoughts on Buck and Tommy with all of you. So let's get into the highlights of the weekend.

Let's start with the hospital kiss Instagram reels data. Right now the video is at 921k and 83k in likes. It did get passed by the Happy Birthday Gavin post but who can blame that. But strangely enough, it still holds the 9th overall place because the video of Oliver making a basket on set of episode 4 is now gone. I'm really not sure what happened to that one. With that said, there is now only a 26k difference between it and video 8 and I do think at some point in the coming weeks it will pass that. I'm probably not going to be checking this everyday anymore since the views has slowed so much (which is to be expected). I'll probably check in once a week until it hits a million or until another Tevan reel is posted.

The Vertigo Poster nonsense that happened late last night and early this morning. I already made a post talking about this here so please go check that out if you want to know my thoughts on it. But to quickly summarize: it was made by a friend and posted on Tim's private Facebook. I'm not personally going to be putting much thought into it or using it for any theories because I don't think there is anything more to it then being a fun spoof poster made by a friend.

After seeing the second round of interviews with Ryan coming out on Friday I am now fully confident that marketing is doing a hard-kill on pushing Buddie. I was predicting this in my last ramble but now I'm fairly confident I was right. Ryan repeatedly hit the same key points in multiple interviews by explicitly saying that Eddie is straight. At this point, that seems to be intentional and seemed to be a talking point that marketing wanted out there. There also seemed to be far less buddie questions so I'm fairly sure they're not approving or limiting how many interviewers can ask.

Next weeks episode prediction: We will not be seeing Tommy...and possibly not Eddie or Buck. The summary only focuses on Bobby's storyline and the preview only showed him (and Athena). This might be an episode where the rest of the cast isn't there and is solely focused on what is happening with Bobby and Athena. If it does include the rest of the cast, it looks like there only going to appear in very short segments and are definitely not the focus. Which does mean the Eddie storyline is either on pause for next week or marketing is really, really killing anything involving Buck or Eddie.

Final thoughts: I don't predict anymore interviews with Oliver or Lou until the finale. Probably not anymore for Ryan either that haven't already been done. Marketing in general seems to have massively pulled back after the mess with the bachelor party. I think we won't get anything about this week until Thursday (just like last week).

[monstrousproductions]

Hi! Sorry to bother you, but I had just finished the latest tsv episode and. well first of all I wanted to congratulate you on the absolute stellar performance of getting drowned. Very disturbing (overwhelmingly positive)

I can't stop thinking about why Rane would get in the water with a shark. You knew he tried to drown himself before and now you stand before him (the other Faulkner, his warped reflection, the bride to his trawlerman) and he's asking you to get in, it's fine, the water isn't even that deep here!

The faith! The trust! Like Faulkner said, it's eating them all but he's the only one awake to hear the bones crunch. I truly believe Rane expected him to do something unhinged in that pool, but either trusted him enough to believe the katabasian bait or thought themself physically able to overwhelm him should the need arise. Except they didn't know he's done that before! How could they? And they still tapped his arm even when they knew he had murdered Mason.

The anglerfishery of it all.

This is the best death for Rane I could imagine. They're one of my favourite characters: a pragmatic fanatic, so terribly faithful and treacherous at the same time, utterly fascinating in their devotion.

I wish that when Faulkner looked down at Rane through the mirror of the surface, he finally saw something other than his own face. I don't think that's the case though, and that, too - him taking away their personhood during the last moments of their life, is part of Rane's tragedy. This is his revenge - for killing Carpenter, for making him into a hollow mouthpiece, for pulling him out of that tank. And they're not even allowed to die as Rane - they die as Charlie, as Faulkner 2, as Mason, as sister Thurox. Terrible! I love it!

Sorry for the ramblings. I just really, really enjoyed Rane. Once again congrats!

No need to apologise, I'm certainly not going to complain about people messaging me to be nice about my performance! Thank you so much 💖

Honestly I think Jon deserves so much praise for Rane - all his characters feel so rich, even if we don't see that much of them "on screen" so to speak. It's easy to feel like even the relatively small roles in TSV are fully realised, fleshed-out people with rich inner lives, even if we never really see that side of them. And I think he's made a show that invites you engage in that if you want to, so that you can approach Rane and ask what their motivations are and why they might make the choices they do, and have fun chewing on that.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, and again for being so kind about the performance! I loved playing Rane, can't wait to revive the character in The Tequila Verses, the upcoming TSV spin-off sit-com set in Rane's crab-themed, beachfront cocktail bar they open after surviving Faulkner's attack.

[thelaurenshippen]

Hello! Not sure if you already talked about this but I'm really curious about the production of New Year's Day podcast regarding the writing and recording.

Have all the episodes been prewritten and prerecorded and just automatically comes out each new year or is it prewritten and each episode recorded a little before each new year (or perhaps some other combination)?

In terms of recording I was thinking on the one hand because they are immortal recording them all at once would make sense because they would physically sound the same (ie the voice actors voice wouldn't change overtime) but then again having the voice actors record over a long period of time can definitely add to the character development of the way the characters speak.

Anyway sorry for the rambling I've been musing on this wonderful podcast quite a lot <3

thank you so much for this question, it's a great one!! I actually have a pretty firm schedule in my asana (my task app) that breaks down as follows:

between the 11th and 13th of every month, I have "work on newsletter" - I always write the first draft long hand and usually type it up on the 14th to go out to everyone on the 15th

every june, I have a "work on script" task pop up. I really only have one year to go on here, so who knows what this will be in future, but this past june, I opened up a blank finaldraft and typed up a few lines - the setting, one of the topics they touch on, etc. but it wasn't a whole lot.

then, in october, another "work on script" task pops up. I chip away at it a little more, integrating some of the stuff that's happened in the newsletter.

then, november I finish up the script.

december, we record! in between christmas and new year's, I post-produce the whole thing.

so, in short, it is VERY contemporaneous with the release of the podcast. part of why we wanted to do this was to have a touchstone for our friendship every year and as a fun writing exercise for me, to see how my writing grows over the next ten years. and, to your point, it leaves a lot more room for character growth as the actors grow!

thank you so much for listening!!!

[parentsday]

Hiii! Since you asked about headcanons/analysis stuff:

There's a common interpretation on the fandom about Max's treatment of David in the early episodes coming, at least partially, from trust issues regarding adults/authority figures. And I've seen push back against it, too. People who say it's just because David is annoyingly positive. Nothing else.

And sure, I can see that. But Nikki also acts in a cheerful manner and mostly enjoys camp, and Max doesn't treat her with the level of rudeness he treated David in season one. This could be due to her being his little partner in crime, but idk. I always interpreted it as him thinking that David is some fake nice adult who will just let him down if he allows it.

And, while I was thinking about this, I realized how this interpretation of Max's behaviour towards David adds another heartbreaking layer to Parents day.

Max's perception of David started changing after Order of the sparrow, specifically after the "Somebody fucking has to" moment. For just a moment, the annoying, overly positive persona drops, and Max is able to see a nuanced human being. And it's clear that he starts understanding David a little more, because in Cult camp (literally the next episode), he allows himself to be brainwashed and trusts that David will save the camp (btw, we as a fandom don’t talk about this aspect of this episode enough).

So yeah, his perception of David changes for the better.

But then, parents day happens.

And David spends most of the episode being an absolute jerk, even if he doesn't realize it.

He pushes SO HARD to try and make the day perfect, basically ignores Max when he states that his parents aren't coming, gets way too serious about playing the role of Max's dad for the day, forces Max into the activities and then, at the end of a day that was already shitty for Max, he yells at him.

I think the context of Max's opinion on David finnaly becoming more positive makes this episode so much sadder.

Because it ceases to be just about Max's neglectful parents.

Now it's also about the closest thing he has to a trustworthy adult making him uncomfortable, ignoring his feelings and then yelling at him and telling him that he "has a bad attitude" and "brings everyone else down instead of trying just a little bit to have fun".

(Which are things he must have heard from adults before, if he behaves the way he does at camp in school and other places)

Remember in Friends like these when he said "Life's just one dissapointment after another. I can't belive I let myself forget it"? I think he might have had the same train of thought here: "I can't believe I let myself forget David is an asshole that only cares about impressing Campbell and making this stupid camp look good". Or: "I can't believe I let myself forget that every single adult thinks I'm a bad kid and a lost cause."

And I know it gets fixed quickly, with David apologizing shortly after, but still. I think the idea of Max being dissapointed at David in Parents day, even if it was just for some moments, is so good.

I also think this is the episode that comfirms to Max that David is genuinely a good person trying his best. He spent the entire day having to think about the fact that his parents suck, and then there's David, who is kind, apologizes for upsetting him and takes him to eat pizza and have a little heartfelt talk.

When was the last time his parents apologized to him, or cared about what he wanted/needed, or talked to him so gently?

The contrast between his parents and David is so big, and I think that's what makes Max finnaly go "Yeah, this guy isn't actually that bad."

(Sorry for rambling, omg.)

hi first of all thank u for an ask and such insightful one at it too !! this was an incredibly pleasant read and a lot of the stuff you say i personally find very good analysis of the show and agree with, however i do have some stuff to say abt it soo here we go ^-^ (this will be a long one so sorry about this in advance)

as i said in some previous reply, max is an incredibly peculiar guy when it comes to the way this show treats his trauma and the way he himself behaves as a result of it, and that’s by design! a lot of the thing he says and does in the first two seasons when it comes to david are there for reasons of narrative set up, and are later masterfully recontextualized by parents day later, leaving very little room for interpretation when it comes to how and why he operates. im gonna go out on a limb and say that i don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that most of his actions towards david in the early show stem from the childish born-from-trauma need for attention and also from his need for societal reinforcement of his own ego’s right to exist. when it comes to the first one i see most people agree (bc it’s a basic child psychology fact), but turn their noses in reference to the second one.

contrary to popular belief, max being in need of constant affirmation that he, as a person with little self value, deserves to exist next to other people is something that we see examples of constantly and is not a terrible part of his character that needs to be ignored. max is a neglect victim who from our knowledge is given very little attention by his parents, as a result of it he is a pessimistic asshole kid whose ego suffers from the very thing that made it this way. its in his strained relationship with nikki and neil, its in him arguing with david to put himself in the position of an adult, its him putting himself above others when it’s not needed and its in him putting his own egos safety first when time comes to accept that things are moving forward (two final episodes from both s3 and s4 are good examples of this). its not an inherently positive trait, but it is one okay for him to have by the virtue of being a young abused child with no support system, and denying it will leave him devoid of this characterization. in freudian (ugh) terms, we cannot separate his character’s superego from his id in a way that won’t harm the way he was intentionally written. Id, ego and superego are all influenced by our relationship with our parents, the amount of nurturing of a child's emotional and psychological needs parents does will result in the child’s psychological state forming a certain way, max as a character who is heavily reliant of his lackluster relationship with his parents is not devoid of this and it affects his relationship with david too. and the reason i’m saying all of this is exactly due to this.

david, when put in most simple terms, is a character who’s an adult figure present and mature enough in max’s current social position that it allows him to treat max as a child, something max is not used to. not used to to such an extent that it puts a strain on his ego in the process. david feeds his need for any form of attention, positive or not, just as much as he clips away at max’s need to be seen as socially important and in a position of an adult. it’s arguable if both of these are good or not but the main thing they are in relation to is obvious: max feels that being an adult who meets both of his psychological needs in ways that are unfamiliar to him makes david an untrustworthy person, thats exactly where you interpretation comes in clutch.

max and his behavior towards david cannot be separated from david being an adult, that is made clear with the way he treats nikki as an equal just because she is a person his age, despite her sharing a lot of david’s traits. going through the episodes you mentioned, order of the sparrow episode lets max see david perspective for the very first time. max is allowed to peek into the reason why david acts the way he does, however it alone doesn’t make him see david in a good light, if anything it makes him appear genuine in his actions. it also lets max have something for david that he didn’t have before: trust. it ends up being used in cult camp as a confirmation of it being something david can live up to (you are absolutely right, we really don’t talk abt this episode and it’s narrative weight enough). all of this has been adding onto the way max himself perceives david, parents day, however, lets both of them internalize the sentiment of mutual understanding towards each other together. parents day does this by lampshading max and david parallelism, making this whole episode consist of max seeing his parents in david just as much as david sees himself in max through the whole show and putting them in each others shoes by the end of it. the episode ends with david choosing max as a priority, he is still acting selfishly (once again david is an asshole) but choosing to do so towards max because the situation allows him to understand max the way s1 finale let max understand him. and with the final turning point in their dynamic, max understands that both his ego and need for attention can exist without them being reinforced by an adult treating him like he is an adult too. max was chosen as a priority for the very first time and that alone made him feel of more value than the treatment he initially yearned for would have. above all else parents day makes max see david as someone he can look up to as a person in emotional way, not only in a life or death situations, the shot of david from his perspective in the end making sure that we don’t miss it.

most of this is not me disagreeing with you, on the opposite i think a lot of the arguments you make are nice and are mindful interaction with the media. gold star for enjoying meta analysis to both of us i guess ⭐️. my main problem is, however, the fact that using all of this to basically say ‘maxs parents suck so he has a distain for david because of it’ is a heavy oversimplification that you somehow go against in your initial statement too and that i, personally, just don’t enjoy. this alone does not make your interpretation wrong though, if anything just reinforces your general idea into a more concrete argument rather than a collection of bits and pieces of evidence pointing to it. hope all of this made sense

tldr; man idk no summing up this one as to not take away from the overall statement im making with this. read the post 🫶

[cordysys]

.are you interested in a timeline of everything* that happens in 17776 and 20020? you're getting a timeline of everything* that happens in 17776 and 20020.

.if you just want the sheet and don't care about the rambling, here ya go: [bam there's the link]. if you DO want to hear more check out the bits under the cut

.ALRIGHT i see you're still here. so let's talk about the deal with this sheet. first off, the asterisk on everything. that's because obviously i will not be tracking literally every single event ever. some other fanatic can figure out how many times that guy ran 50k yards in a year or whatever, but my sheet is mainly just for stuff that could be genuinely useful to know if you need a refresher on like... plot?

.if the "found" section is confusing: A refers to series A (17776), B refers to series B (20020). B has no intermissions and i wasn't keeping track of which part of intermission had what info so i just wrote INT down. that's all in series A though.

.A04 notes: Ten and Juice are mentioned to have been awake before the nanos were good enough to stop people from getting hurt by rakes. Juice in particular mentions having watched this for about 200 years. theres literally no other details so do whatever you want forever i guess [- note cleaned up by Pye]

.A05 notes: The "Garbage Football" podcast, which seems to update weekly, is on its 400th episode. Whether this does or doesn't include the premium episodes is unclear. If that number is only free episodes, the podcast could have begun early October of 17768. If that number includes premium episodes, it might be early September 17772? It's not very clear. I'll leave this one up in the air. [- note cleaned up by Pye]

.A10 notes: Juice states that precise tracking on the Game 27 ball was disabled "thousands of years ago." It is unclear when, exactly. [- note cleaned up by Pye]

.NOW THE DOUBLE ASTERISKS. man i had a time figuring this out. B starts off just stating that it's... 20020. which is very nondescript. yeah i knew from the title, thanks (/silly). HOWEVER, taking my notes from as i rambled on discord:

- B01 obviously revealed the year, but nothing else. - B05 has Ten's console logs, which reveal it has to be after May20 and before Nov8. [juice and ten's bdays passed, nine's hasnt] - Lastly, B12 reveals that the current date is Oct23. - In 17776, Nine was up for 2, MAYBE 3, days.

. ...so i'm pretty darn sure that, when nine wakes up in 20020, the date is either Oct21 or Oct22.

.i do also have a note i took when i was tired commenting on how juice says "after 17000 years i finally spoke to someone..." at the time i took this to mean juice had to have been up before 3020 but the evidence is kind of flimsy. do whatever you want man have fun

.THANK YOU FOR READING THIS. if you have any events you want added, speculation on the parts i'm unsure about, etc etc, let me know. this was neat but also i don't doubt i missed something. chip out, enjoy your day ^^

[pascallatte]

Mando's Lover?

Pairing: Pedro Pascal x Actress!reader

Summary: The Mandalorian interview but why are you included? (read to find out 😉)

Date: August 2019

Taglist: @benonlinear, @t-stark35, @heyitsme-2, @elleeeee21, @holmesstrange, @tagakalat, @flyestvenustrap, @oldermenaremyreligion, @cherryred444, @avengersheart, @guacala, @pukka-latte, @hobiismyhopeu, @lilvampirina, @ilovehotdadsandshit

A/N: AAAAA we're almost entering my favourite part of the series, but, I might post some throwbacks before we head to that though so stay tuned and like always, enjoy!! also kind of a late post but you know. hehe

Series Masterlist

The pair are seen on the red carpet during this year’s D23 Expo on The Mandalorian, which was to be released three months from now.

“Ok I'm gonna recreate your reaction to-being-casted celebration,” the interviewer, Ash, said as she shook hands with Pedro. She recreated his celebratory reaction making Pedro watch as she continued.

“That’s right. It was- it was a three-act event react play. Yeah, it was like “Oh thank you thank you”.. pass out,” He said also reenacting with an exaggerated crying look on his face, clearly having fun at what was happening.

She brings the mic closer to her to ask him her second question, “But can you walk me through actually finding out you were cast as The Mandalorian.” Pedro who was once looking at her intently, turned to look downwards remembering how that day went. 

“Well I got a call and the actual words were “Jon Favreau wants to talk to you about something Star Wars” and so I said absolutely and I went out to meet him at his offices in Playa Vista and he invited me into a room where he introduced me to Dave Filoni and in this room, it was wall-to-wall, immaculate illustrations of this series which is everything Star Wars-”

He continues to share his precious moments before the final revelation, “-And so being a Star Wars fan myself I was like, “oh what’s this” and “oh I remember that” and “what are you gonna do here” and “what do you want me to do?”” Pedro rambles on about asking them what creature, robot, or whatever role they wanted him to audition for before taking a deep breath.

“-and they looked confused and basically pointed to the- this incredible like silhouette of The Mandalorian. He said you’re the, you’re The Mandalorian. So yeah that’s why I- that’s why I sort of died inside of joy.”

Nodding at his response Ash looks at him,” Who was the first person you ever told when you got the job? Since the role became like a very important one for you.”

Scratching the back of his neck, “Well, y/n was picking me up from Jon’s place, so naturally, I told her fir-actually, I freaked out on her. I kept blabbering on things I can’t even remember you know, it must be the adrenaline I felt at that moment. And then- just then did I call my sister, who is a big Star Wars fan, saying how I’m a part of the huge franchise that she loves and now we’ve done and are about to release the first season, it makes me really happy.” Ending his response with a content smile.

“How could you not? I mean, you mentioned you were a Star Wars fan, so what’s your earliest Star Wars memory? Do you remember like-“ Ash inquired once again, wanting to know more about him and his experience as an interviewer.

Pedro enthusiastically blurted out,” I saw Star Wars- I saw episode four in the movie theatre. I was very young so I don’t remember the experience of being in the theatre for it as well as I do the empire strikes back which is burned into my childhood imagination and  I remember like three attempts to get tickets for return of the Jedi and getting my heart broken every time because it was sold out, and then finally getting the tickets and literally you know like staring at the poster being like I’m finally seeing this movie so it was highly present in my childhood. All the toys you know and all the stories yeah.”

“And now you’re in it,” Ash said, seemingly into his history with Star Wars.

Agreeing with her, “And now I’m in it. it’s weird, leading the series”

“Now, back to being an avid Star Wars watcher. What was your reaction when you were first introduced to your now-girlfriend, Y/n L/n, who played the character Sabe in the phantom menace?"

Pedro looks at her with a look that he knows what she was up to and decides to keep it short, "Yeah well like I knew it was her when we first met but I didn’t like barging into her space telling her that I’ve watched her in Star Wars and loved it because that would be weird coming from this guy you’ve never met before. But now, I can say that we’re now also together in another galaxy."

"Did you ever think you would ever meet her in person or like be with her all those years ago?"

Crossing his arms, thinking for a moment, "I didn’t really well- but to start it off I didn’t even think I would be able to meet her in any way, since she was like in the spotlight already at such a young age so I didn’t really think about it. That was until we got introduced that is and it was one of the best moments in my life," finishing it off with a shy smile.

“That’s sweet, do you think we’ll ever see Y/n as part of your series, The Mandalorian?”

“Good question but we haven’t thought about it really. But with the number of times she’s been on set they should’ve made a character just for her don’t you think?” Pedro said laughing. “Last question, what role from The Mandalorian would you think y/n would fit in if she were to be cast?” she quickly stated as their time's almost up.

Pedro gave her a teasing knowing look, “Ummm Mando’s lover, no I'm joking. But maybe someone in the ranks, probably not a Mandalorian cause she'll look-" he makes a tiny sign from his hands, laughing at himself, "-wearing the armour. Maybe a Jedi, we don’t know really, she can play herself actually. She’ll take whatever they give her.”

[sskk-manifesto]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[the-cat-sorcerer]

Alright I want to talk about caine, I'm gonna be rambling A LOT so good luck if you decide to read lol

Small spoilers for tadc episode 3 btw

Alright no idea where yo start so let's start with the fact that people villanise him way too much when in reality he hasn't really done anything THAT bad all things considered. I have proof for this below so let's get into it!

The adventures:

The people in the game and a few people irl are saying that caines adventures are bad but in all honesty they seem fun and if it weren't for the groups collective stupidity they'd be pretty fun if I say so myself. Ep 1 they had the task go follow the gloinks to find the gloink queen and defeat her (seems pretty fun all things considered and the only thing that really went wrong was abstracted kaufmo coming in). Ep 2 they go to the candy Kingdom and need to stop the bandits stealing whatever ot was and bring it back yo the Kingdom (if it weren't for the gand pushing the gummi gangs truck into a wall making gummigoo and pomni clip out and subsequently becoming friends which led yo gummigoos traumatic poofing that adventure would have been great). And finally Ep 3 they had to go through a haunted house and exit on the other side (yes the horror path kinger and pomni took was scary as hell but caine made it that way to try and get zooble to participate and if kinger hadn't jumped in they all could have walked through the safe part). And even after he had a whole mental break learning that the others hate the only thing he's good at by zooble from what we know he's changing his tactics, the next episode looks like the gang will work at a fast food restaurant and the one after that them possibly playing baseball? He is trying to make the adventures more like something the gang would have done irl!

Next up, his feelings:

Well done if you are still reading, now. Caine is very limited when it comes to what emotions he is able to feel and he literally can't tell what others are feeling as told by gooseworx when she said he lacked empathy, this leads me yo think he doesn't know what abstraction means to the humans, he probably assumes it os just the people leaving the game or smg but the gang see it as literal death, Have they told him that? Has ANY of them sat down and talked to him about what abstraction is like to them, hell have they even had a normal conversation with him? I bet a fuck ton of their problems would be nonexistent if they talked to caine about how they hate what has happened to them, what grief is and how to help them. 'OH BuT hE wIlL jUsT bReAk DoWn If ThEy SaY aNyThInG bAd LiKe LaSt TiMe', constructive criticism exists my friend they can explain what they dislike and give him ways to improve.

Caine isn't a bad guy, buy this doesn't stop him from doing bad things. He has made many mistakes and the others are allowed to be mad about that but I feel like they can only be mad in the same way you can be mad at a child for doing something wrong, because Caine doesn't know any better, he never got the opportunity to learn.

Thank you for coming yo my Ted talk here's a cookie for making it all the way through 🍪

[jasperaptor]

post-episode 9 rambles (this might be my favourite episode so far) 🎣

Like. A whole episode, entirely carried by the immaculate chemistry between the whole gang? I'm gonna just ramble for a sec about my thoughts so...

I just love how simple the setup is. Everyone is stuck in one room and we just watch how they hang out. And they were all so goofy!! Like...

Just. Doing random shit with your friends and laughing about way too hard is just so real and down to earth and relatable. I don't have the words but watching this episode just made me really happy and I'm hoping to finally be able to do some writing. Wich like... I've been struggling with portraying their group dynamic and this episode was basically a master class on just that.

Am I the only one who thought that call was sus? Maybe it's just me overthinking because I really want that background info on Takaaki. Speaking of Takaaki...

I know that this wasn't intended like that but... Look at the way he looks at Hiro T-T They make me F E E L things okay. I love him so much. They're literally golden retriever boyfriend and cat also boyfriend. IT'S CANON TRUST ME BRO

Also just happy Tsunehiro. All that talk about how he feels about fishing? I just. Idk. I said this before but it was just so relatable. Not about fishing specifically, but doing something tedious and feeling that content kind of tired? Yeah. That hit home for me somehow.

I just kept finding myself thinking "Yeah. I've been there. I felt like that before" over and over and over again. Even in the smaller moments. For example when they all start eating together and Arua is still at the stove. He doesn't feel disconnected from them. When we focus on him we can still hear the other in the background, just like he is and. Yeah. I've been there. Standing in the kitchen, cooking for friends while they talk and goof off and I'm just content inhabiting the same space. I've sat in a car and everyone is talking over each other and I just realize how fun this moment is. And ugh. They just feal so tangible to me.

The episode was also just plain funny imo. The three loan sharks showing up? And they pull groceries out of literally nowhere?? It's so unserious and I love it. Also love the loan sharks (do we know their names??)

Yeah. I think... That's all the immediate rambles I have. Definetly my favourite episode so far. I fucking love how this episode is basically a character study.

That being said... This episode also established their current status quo. Everyone feels good and content. I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. The whole "I have only two years to live"-thing is just hovering above everything and the longer they don't address it the more it stresses me out.

Because yes. They're friends and close and enjoy each other's company... But one thing I noticed this episode is that Hiro doesn't call Hana and Takaaki by their given names. He still calls them Tsutsujimori and Ayukawa, while they call him Tsunehiro (or just Hiro in Takaaki's case). It feels very symbolic to me of how he's not ready to really let them in yet. But I don't know if this has been a consitent thing or not. It just stood out to me when the three of them were talking.

I really love this show man so thank you for indulging my first impression rambles. Now, I feel like there's a cute missing scene here where Takaaki and Hiro go home together after this. We'll see if I can finally get over my block and finish another One-Shot.. Wish me luck! 🎣🎣

[ketterdamskaelishprince]

lenore and the yellow wallpaper (a ramble)

so this is all one entire big and large ramble session from me, so ignore if you want because this has no actual point, and i also haven't touched the yellow wallpaper since i handed it in with my coursework so i'm bound to get things wrong. this is no high-brow analysis, this is just be rambling. i've finally gotten the courage as well to go on the big scary tumblr and speak so be nice please :)

anyways, now we have that out of the way– i bring you my observation.

so i've been rereading nevermore (because i am deep in the trenches of my hyperfixation on it right now and have firmly planted myself there) and i noticed something in episode 21 that i remember noticing the first time.

just for a recap, episode 21 is when they're facing the dementophobia trial, and lenore has gotten herself sucked into a hallucination. through this, we (presumably along with her) are shown parts of her past, and the fallout of her brother dying. in a long scene, we basically see the attic which lenore is forced to 'rest' in.

sorry if this is like an obvious tell, but my little rat brain was vibrating out of my seat to say this.

well, first off, let me just give you a little summary of the yellow wallpaper. we have this nameless woman (who's married) who's also our narrator, her husband: john who's a doctor and we also have john's sister: jennie. jennie isn't too important in the summary but she exists and stuff and there's loads of journals out there probably that could tell you super interesting things about her role in the story.

anyways, i digress. the narrator has been diagnosed with slight nervous tendencies and is given the rest cure therapy as treatment. she ends up slowly going insane in the attic (?) which doubles as a nursery, and there's this fugly yellow wallpaper, which the narrator comments to be basically like a crime to art and to colour in general. anyways, the more she stares at this wallpaper and the longer she stays in the attic, she starts to see a woman behind the wallpaper– and the short story ends with her ripping the wallpaper off and freeing the woman but then also, the story ends essentially with her throwing herself out of the window of the attic and yeah, suicide. there's like allusions to the woman behind the wallpaper and her being one at the end, but WE AREN'T FOCUSSING ON THAT, i've rambled enough.

anyways, how does this all link to nevermore?

THIS PANEL RIGHT HERE.

idk, the act of ripping off the wallpaper just distinctly reminded me of the yellow wallpaper, and i have no idea if the creators drew inspo from the yellow wallpaper for this or if it was one of poe's works (i'm not heavily versed in all of his works, but i have a collection of his stuff i should probably sift through and read). but yeah, thought it was cute.

i know thematically they probably vary, but there is something to be said that both of them are in a situation where society wants so badly to silence them and punishes their defiance with the diagnosis 'madness'.

i dunno, just a nice little thought. there's also the whole rest cure therapy too, and the fact that they're both in the attics of their homes– and i presume lenore is in a secluded countryside place here like the narrator of the yellow wallpaper is. so, you know– other connections!

also, as a side note–

this bad boy right here? ether? well some ether smells sweet, so i thought maybe (as a very dumb end to this ramble) that maybe, lenore associates the sweet smelling scent of what she used to be knocked out with to the sweet scent of flowers– i have no idea if that's why she hates flowers but i thought that was a fun little mention. food for thought, you know?

anyways, if you disagree that is totally ok, i truly don't know what i'm talking about half the time, but this has been bouncing on my tiny brain for the past few days and i decided i needed to let it out before i start plaguing the people i know in real life with my obsession. and also, friends, feel free to correct me if i'm disgustingly wrong on anything– i love to learn <3

and... yeah, that's all folks. gonna go rot now :)

[aihoshiino]

Hi there! This is from an ask from quite a while ago. I sent it before but I think Tumblr ate it once again.

"Honestly Ai's relationship with like, sex and intimacy and sex in the context of a loving relationship being healing and reclaiming for her is one of those things I have so much fun writing in the context of RP and stuff but if I continued rambling about it here I would go on all day lol and this post is already so long. IN ANOTHER ASK, PERHAPS ……."

I would like to hear your thoughts and ramblings about this please 人´∀｀)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE ANON… I've been sitting on this ask for so long and I've had so many half finished responses to it written up kgjhhsfkg This is just one of those topics where I have so much to say every time I tried to start I got overwhelmed and didn't know where to start… BUT WE'RE SO BACK…!!!

(Also, this is basically part 2/a follow up to this post if anyone wants/needs some extra context)

Honestly Ai's relationship to sex and the role it plays in her character arc is one of the most fascinating parts of Oshi no Ko to me and I'm always really surprised that it basically never comes up in fandom discussions surrounding her? Part of that is just folks wanting to talk about/speculate more on the characters who are alive and present in the series (or have ship wars about them) but even when people DO go back and talk about her it tends to be kind of surface level or just, the worst takes you've ever seen in your life (if I never have to see another Secretly Evil Ai theory it will be too soon) but like… the sex stuff is also pretty surface level! That friction between Ai of B-Komachi's assumed obligate virginal purity and the reality of Ai Hoshino as a person who has had and desires sex basically IS the entire premise of the series. It's the core conflict around which so much of everything else revolves - it's the reason the twins have to keep quiet on their connection to her and moreover, it's the reason she dies. But honestly given how this fandom gets about sex sometimes maybe that's a blessing in disguise lol

It is SO refreshing to have a lead heroine like Ai, though - like I said, the reality of her as a person who has had Probably A Lot Of Sex is pretty much the premise of the series and at no point does the narrative ever take on a shaming tone towards her. Hell, the explicitly stated thesis of the story is that it's everyone who has a problem with this who should be ashamed. Gotanda literally says it himself - Ai's tragedy is the fault of the people who refused to accept her as the hurting, broken, dirty and impure person that the real her was.

In fact, the series is shockingly respectful of Ai and her body in general. This is very much a "the bar is in hell" moment but I'm so used to anime taking every opportunity it can get for lowbrow cumbrained fanservice that the series just being, like, normal about Ai was a breath of fresh fucking air. It's so easy to imagine an infinitely worse version of the series that uses Aqua's access to her body (as both Gorou and Aqua) to frame and leer at her in some really repulsive ways, but it literally never happens. It's one of those things the first chapter/episode does that earns it a lot of goodwill in the long run which it does honestly need lol. The initial premise of the series asks a lot of the viewer, especially given that Mushoku Tensei exists and very much does use the protagonist's plausibly deniable access to the bodies of women and girls around him for some truly putrid and degrading shit. BUT BACK TO MY ACTUAL POINT…

That pointed absence of shaming in the narrative is why it stands out to me so strongly when Ai does direct this kind of shaming language towards herself. Ai engages in a lot of negative self-talk in general because of how utterly pants her self-esteem is, but it's never quite as pointed as in these circumstances. Her death scene is honestly the best and most heartbreaking example of it - the anime trims a few slivers from it to the benefit of the scene as a whole imo, but it does retain the most important line:

But there's another part from slightly earlier on that didn't make it into the anime that equally breaks my heart:

All that Ai refutes of Ryosuke's words is his conclusion that she never cared about her fans. In other words, when Ryosuke slings slutshaming misogyny at her, Ai agrees with him.

And like… why wouldn't she? Society at large already has very strong opinions about women who have and enjoy sex and Ai is an idol - that's purity culture on Berserk Eclipse Difficulty. To make matters worse, Ai's entire life has been defined by her being denied the right to control her own body or being blamed for the way other people respond to it. Not only was Ayumi physically and emotionally abusive towards her for basically her whole life, but she also victim blamed her when her stepfather turned out to have a inappropriate interest in her. Even when she was literally a child, she was not allowed to simply exist without being subjected to other people's gaze and objectification.

It's also worth noting that the abuse Ai grew up experiencing - Ayumi's violence and neglect and living with the possibility of sexual assault at her stepfather's hands - are all things that can contribute to hypersexuality in puberty or at the very least, being prematurely sexually active and/or partaking in risky sexual behaviour and I think all of these are true for Ai as well, to varying degrees. My read has always been that the twins' father was not her first or only sexual partner (though he was her last) and I think this is something the work itself supports as well - Akane identifies Ai as having behavioral issues typical of someone who began having sex during puberty (and she does specifically say 'puberty' in Japanese, not just 'as a teen') but that this behaviour mostly tapered off by the time she was 15 and credits it by inference to Kamiki. So obviously, if the 'unbalanced behaviour' as the result of sex predates her meeting Kamiki… you know?

I also just personally find that a more compelling read of Ai for a variety of reasons - and it just sort of makes sense to me, to imagine her as this girl desperately trying to figure out how to love people, wanting to connect with people but not knowing how to do it, someone defined by the ways she contorts herself to respond to the dirty desires of the people around her… idk, it just feels Correct to me in light of everything to assume that she went through a few boyfriends before Kamiki, all relationships that went very fast, escalated to intimacy at light speed then just sort of fell apart after. And we know from what Ayumi admitted - and from some of the things Ai has said - that Ayumi absolutely was slutshaming and victim blaming Ai when she was in her care. So much of what Ayumi did to her forms the foundation of the present day Ai's self-loathing and self-image issues, so I imagine she felt a lot of prebaked guilt and shame when she did actually start having sex, especially at a young age and outside the bounds of a what society regards as an acceptable circumstance for a girl to be having sex. So add idol culture on top of all that, and…

I don't think Ai's relationship with sex is necessarily the main issue she struggles with but it does feed off and into a lot of the other things that cause her pain and being able to untangle that would represent an earthshattering breakthrough for her. This is why it's so important that Oshi no Ko never ones tries to debunk or disprove Ai's assertion that she is 'impure' or 'dirty' and why I do not think a positive character arc for her could never come from someone trying to convince her that she isn't. Because that doesn't actually disprove anything - it still frames purity and virginity as a state of grace that can be fallen from and reinforces Ai's view of herself that she only has value, that she only deserves to be treated with respect so long as she's still 'pure'. Even if you could convince her that she's 'pure', she would inevitably be stained again and hate herself all the more for it. The only way out is to break out of this method of thinking altogether, to realize that 'purity' and 'impurity' don't mean anything - and more importantly, that even though she is dirty, impure and all the rest of it, she is still capable and deserving of loving others and being loved in return.

To quote something I've said before on this topic: "Love, for Ai, is a person seeing her most wretched and unacceptable self, her self hate and avoidance and everything about her she thinks is filthy and wrong, and actively choosing to accept her as she is, warts and all. […] There's this very strong underlying current in Ai's arc of self-directed shame and self-hate in relation to her sexuality that fuels perception of herself as 'dirty' and 'impure' - all because she is a person who wants and enjoys sex. I really enjoy getting to have Ai work through that specific hangup with a partner who loves her - not from the angle of 'of course you're not dirty' but 'even if you are, I want you anyway'."

So much of what hurts Ai is other people refusing to accept 'Ai Hoshino' and even being actively repelled and repulsed by her, choosing instead to believe so fervently in the inhumanly perfect 'Ai of B-Komachi' that they convince themselves the real Ai is just a trick of the light. Sex is basically the ultimate refutation to that - it's someone saying they actively choose the dirty, broken real thing which is what Ai has desperately been searching for her entire life. It's also the inverse of the plastic. sanitized intimacy Ai sells as an idol - rather that pretty lies of love, it's dirty, physical intimacy, something she can do as much for herself as the person with her, something that can only ever be hers as Ai Hoshino because it's antithetical to everything Ai of B-Komachi is.

what i'm saying is: can this girl PLEASE get some good dick. i don't know how much of anything it would fix but it would make her calm down at least a little.

ALL JOKING ASIDE……. thank you again for your patience anon and i'm sorry this was so rambly lKNDKSCXSNDS. like i said up top, this is a topic i have a lot of thoughts on and i wanted to get them all out into this post. i hope this was interesting to read…!