#Ludo's grown so much as a character

[sagesilentfire]

Hello, everyone. It's so strange to be saying this, but the last part of SAMATFOE is imminent, and we're getting closer and closer to the End. It's been a really fun five years. (Four to ya'll, but I've been working on this for longer than I've been talking about it publicly!) The cast of characters has expanded dramatically, I've gotten much better as a writer and artist, and I feel I've grown as a person too. I won't stop stalking the svtfoe tag or talking about svtfoe after this is done, don't worry, but I have a lot of non-svtfoe related plans in the future, so if you like Sílthéy and her weird siblings, don't stop following when SAMATFOE is over. 

But as for the actual contents of s5, well, I've got lots of plans. We've got a dark magic plague that's an incredibly transparent metaphor for climate change. We've got Mina playing the oil barons and trying to stop everyone from saving the world for her own personal gain. We've got Glossaryck (capitalism). We've even got the answers to a lot of mysteries and character arcs. Like, so many character arcs. It has been incredibly difficult to stuff all these character arcs into this far-too-short piece of fanfiction. But I hope I did that adequately. 

On a personal note, while hiring a beta/sensitivity reader for a piece as massive as SAMATFOE proved impossible for someone who does not own their own money, I have done a lot more research than I had at seventeen. I wanted the monsters to be more than just badly-done allegories for Native Americans – I wanted them to be people with their own culture, history, and ideas. People who are inspired by real-world Indigenous cultures, but, because they're literally nonhuman, are distinct from them. Whether or not they could count as Indigenous is discussed in-text, but I do not come to an actual conclusion because I want my readers to draw their own. It's not my place to say whether colonized space aliens could be Indigenous. And their connection to the land and to magic is drawn from their shared knowledge, not mysticism, and their culture is idealized because a caring godlike entity helped them to that, not because they're better than anyone. I hope to demonstrate that they are all people, first and foremost. Because we're going to be spending time in Septarsis! So much time! And Toffee has officially been promoted to main character status! It's Star and Marcie AND the Forces of Evil, babey!

But there's a lot of characters here. So, for the second and final time, 

Dramatis Personae:

Star - Star doesn't know what to do. She has everything she ever wanted, even if she doesn't realize it. She has no future responsibilities, having passed that to Eclipsa, but she is still special and important, being the most powerful magic-user ever to exist and the only one who can fix the dark magic, and Toffee doesn't even seem to hate her. Sílthéy does, though, and that is a sticking point. Star is much less oblivious now, though even her oblivious former self would probably pick up on the bad vibes Sílthéy is actively sending her way. She wants everyone to see how hard she's working to make everything better, but Sílthéy doesn't, and that is unbearable. Add that to Shinjai avoiding her and Marcie growing distant, and she has very little time for introspection, even if that would help fix things.

Marcie - Marcie is done with Mewni. She can't believe she believed the Butterflys' lies for so long. She's going to devote herself to Septarsis as fervently as she did Mewni. She just... she doesn't want to bother anyone, or take anyone's time. Why should she get attention paid to her, when there are stronger and smarter magic users out there who could do so much to actually help the world? Marcie is small and useless, and clearly so easily tricked. Better to work on herself before she brings anyone else into her orbit. Also, Star keeps making bad decisions, and Marcie's boundaries are pushing her away too... maybe it's better to do everything alone.

Ludo - Ludo is having a great time! He's earned the trust of some of the monsters in the Avarius village, his plumbing has been fixed, and Pemma is teaching him how to use the Avarius Beacon! Certainly nothing bad is going to happen to him or anyone he cares about! :D

Buff Frog - I'll confess here: Buff Frog is not a huge part of s5. He'll appear in the finale, but he's not a fighter anymore, and lives a peaceful life in Septarsis. He still has fond feelings for Star, but he's not too worried about her. She's strong, and he has twelve young froglets to take care of. She'll be fine on her own... right?

Toffee - Una'met Co'tzin-Nekohtzaca, Last Child of Old Septarsis, The Forces of Evil, Kéta'cha For the Dragon of Space, is doing FINE. They're definitely not five bad seconds away from a total mental breakdown, definitely not, that would be bad for everyone involved, and they are a calm, peaceful, certified not-doing-bad-things-er. The fact that everyone is almost certainly going to die a horrible death from dark magic is fine. They just have to cram thirty-plus years of training into the rapidly-dwindling time before the entire multiverse is dead. They barely know Star Butterfly, except that she's too good for things like "basic training" and "reading." How are they going to do this? And why won't Sílthéy tell them why she caused this in the first place? Well, they do know one thing, which is they can't tell Star about that.

Jackie - Jackie is done with Star Butterfly. She's talked to... someone, and done some digging, and that only served to verify the book she was given in s4. She doesn't know anything about Mewni save for what the book told her, but she can't believe that she trusted the family that doomed her dimension.

Janna - Janna doesn't like this apocalypse. No chance of survival is boring. So she's going to do what she can to help out. Also, she's been keeping her own secrets, secrets that might hold the key to survival.

Tom - Tom isn't angry anymore. He's not angry at Eclipsa for keeping Miquiz locked up, he's not angry for the Butterflys for spreading the dark magic that's thrown the Underworld into chaos, he's not angry that he keeps being left out of things. He's. Not. Angry. Anymore!

Moon - Moon didn't kill her mother. She didn't. It was Toffee, Toffee who couldn't come up with some loophole, Toffee who couldn't forget a conversation that happened when they were a child, Toffee who aimed the arrow at Comet's chest. And her holding onto anger isn't what's driving Star away from her, it's Toffee. They're the one driving her daughter away from her! But as cold reality and remaining dark secrets loom behind her, her brittle facade is beginning to crumble.

Glossaryck - Glossaryck misses when he and Star got along. Yeah, he's destroying her dimension, and everyone in it, and her, all to win kudos from his family, but it really sucks that Star won't give him the time of day anymore. He used to be her wise old mentor! Geez, she was going to die anyways, that's what mortals do! Might as well get along before it happens!

River - River is tired of being left out of the loop. He doesn't know what's going on. He doesn't know what to do. Moon barely speaks to him, she's always busy with Eclipsa, or whatever. But he might be the thing Moon needs, if she would only let him in.

Angie - Angie doesn't know if she should have had Mariposa. Sure, Mari is wonderful, and she loves her, and she DID NOT have a baby to replace Marcie dear god why were the svtfoe writers like that – *ahem* but the multiverse is ending, and Mariposa is just a baby... she didn't want to bring a baby into this world just to have them all die.

Rafael - Rafael is worried about Star. He's worried there's nothing he and Angie can do to help her. He's worried about Marcie. She seems really stressed about the dark magic. But he's the calm, goofy dad, so he's going to keep being that, and praying it'll help somehow. 

Mariposa - Mariposa is fresh to the world, and doesn't understand much of anything yet. But everyone is worried she won't survive long enough to understand the world at all.

Kelly - Kelly is chilling. Apparently Star and Marcie are off on a trip to Septarsis, but that's none of her business as long as art classes and hangouts with Nova and Jorby go well. She might drop by to visit, though.

Miss Heinous - Saint Olga is dead. Miss Heinous's one reason for existing, her greatest love and greatest enemy, the robot who raised her, is dead. What does Miss Heinous do now?

Meteora - Meteora's doing great. She's won popular opinion, she's training to be a true Crown Princess, or at least a high-ranking official, if Sílthéy's democracy takes off. She's stepped into her role as a leader, far more than her mother could claim. But that's fine. Not everyone is suited for leadership.

Eclipsa - Eclipsa has an albatross around her neck. She is doing her best to ignore it, to be a good queen, to love her people, but... she cannot get away from the child she killed. Would it be easier if she was just always evil, not done one evil act out of rage and grief? Well, she knows what happened to her mother. What does she do now?

Globgor - Globgor is doing his best. He's a little miffed by Sílthéy mistrusting him, as her first big act of s5 will be to demonstrate how little he's valued as a Legitimate Voice of the Monsters, but really, who can complain. There's so much else going on, who cares if he fades into the background?

Shinjai - Shinjai gets the wand. Shinjai does not want the wand, and the circumstances surrounding her getting the wand are ridiculous, but she gets it, and she hates it, and she can't control it. Unlike Star, her inability to control the wand makes her not want to use the wand at all lest she hurt someone with it. Oh, and Star keeps wanting to teach her fun spells now that she's been handed this nuclear bomb of a magic wand, and Shinjai does not want to deal with Star. She hasn't forgiven Star. She doesn't want to forgive Star. She'll ignore Star as much as she can, and focus instead on Alice and the teen militia, which is much more fun. She loves Alice. She loves learning to fight, learning to battle the most dangerous people in the multiverse and win WITHOUT the help of a wand. She'd be doing great, if her past would stop knocking at her door.

Rasticore - Rasticore's worried about his partner. Una is fraying at the seams trying to fix everything, and he has the feeling they're not telling him something. But what else is new? He'll wait. He has friends to make, a new teenage militia to help train, and a Miss Heinous to keep from destroying Septarsis stone by stone. He's endlessly patient. When Una wants to talk to him, he'll be there for them. He just... has... to... wait...

Mina - Mina is trying to destroy the world. She doesn't tell her followers that, no, they don't even know the dark magic is a thing, but she wants Glossaryck to win and the Solarian Age, of which she is the last remnant, to end everything with it. So she'll destroy the world, and fulfill Solaria's dream of taking the Forces of Evil with her.

Lilacia - Lilacia is, somehow, a spoiler. Like, legitimately, the Princess Formerly Known as Ponyhead's role in s5 is a spoiler, and not for magic power-up speech cliché reasons. But she's still her dumb, ditzy self, of course.

Still Unnamed Mystery Character - "Stella" is still mysterious, but I promise you we'll get who she is and her backstory in this part ;)

Alice - Alice is wary of the new Mewman presence on the outskirts of Septarsis. She knows why they're there, but she's still extremely suspicious. She does not want them to hurt Septarsis. But she doesn't know that the true danger comes a little closer to home.

Teyauh - Teyauh is also a spoiler, but she'll be there!

Linda - Linda loves her wife, and will follow her anywhere, but Teyauh will have to accept that her knees don't work how they used to, so Linda will have to follow in a suit of POWER ARMOR, BABY!

Nova - Nova is part of the Nuxalkmc, an Indigenous tribe native to the Northwestern Turtle Island, and she loves that about herself. Now that Kelly and her dimensional scissors are here, she can finally explore the multiverse to find new places and see if they're anything like home. Septarsis is one of those places, and she loves it at first sight.

Dr. Edevane - Dr. Edevane is a doctor. He and Toffee have a lot to nerd out talk about together. He will be useful, too.

Dennis - Dennis is busy reigning in dozens of siblings, including Ludo. It's a busy life, but a happy one. Nothing bad whatsoever will happen to him! (I'm lying)

Chloe - Chloe doesn't know this "Star Butterfly" person, but she's very suspicious. But man, Mewni would be such a cool place to visit... so much magic! ...No, she needs to concentrate on being mad. And she is mad. She wants Earth to be like Mewni, like it deserves to be.

Hekapoo - Hekapoo doesn't like her dad's plan. He says it'll work out, it's fine, but the plan is... questionable. She doesn't like it. And she definitely isn't getting conflicting feelings about puppeteering her brother around, either...

Rhombulus - Ṯ̶̡̧̧̡̧̠͉̻̦̜̭͚̰̪̣̬̠̦̲̹̯̯̮̹̰̺̣̳̬̳̬͙̙̞̹͚͖̼̲̰̼̻̭͇̘̻̹͔̝͌͐̀̇̓̀́̄̇̓̊̚ͅH̶̛̠̽̎̇̽̉̃̔͒̽̈́͌͝Ȩ̸̢̧̛̛͔̭͍̪͈͚̮̘͙̭̳͍̺͖̗͇͍̘̱̉̽͑̆̌̓̆͛̓̌̈́̐̾͑̅͂͗̔̽̌̋̈́̎̈́́̓̓͌̆̄͐̀̋̅͂̒̓̔͗̈͊̊͆̄̒͘͘̚͘͝͝͠͠͠͠ͅ ̷̧̪̰͈̺̯̳̙̳̹̙̣͔̗̜̫̗̲̠̙̝̠̯̻̯̩͈͇͉̞̙͙͈̲̻̹̰̳̣̤̣̀́̐͆͜͜͜ͅͅK̵̨͎̙̩͓̘͇̳̩̲̝̳̼̖̯̘͖̹͙̪̰͙͔̤̭̘͖̖̪̬͓͚̫̦̝̠͍̙̊͛̏̈́͛́̒̈́͂͜͜͜͝ͅÍ̸̡̧̨̨̥͍̮̮͇̟͈͙̩̥͙̥͖͚͉̬̟̻̹̰̟̘͓̪̦̹͈̺̤̜̣̺͉̘͕̮̲͓̳͍͈͍̜̯̯̘̪͙̩͛́̐̆̈́͗͋̔̐̒̌̚͜ͅT̵̨̟̲̑̅̑̕̚T̶̨̨̨̛̞͖̻̖̞̹̜͉̦͓̣̠̗̘̣̺̲̹̘̻͎̤̝̤̜̞̜̳̭͎̲͙̮͓͕̼͇̘̃̈́̑̅͐̆͛͊̎̀̈́̔̐̂͛͒̎̕͜͜Ę̴̟̻͍͓̲̙͙̬̺̖̘͎̺̯͐̍̀͊̊̃̃̐̒̊̽̅̉̒̇̎̒͗͆̓͋͂̍̎̈̓́́͌̈͌̕͘̕̕͜͝͝͠͝͝Ņ̷̡̥͕̞̘͙͇̪̺̯͕̪͖̗̙͖̭̻̳͙͖̯̺̟̳̟̪̼̤̞̘̯̘̥̏́̊̾̓̀͐̑̈́͛͊͜͝͝͝S̸̨̨̨̡̤͕͚͈̻̯̫̯̦̖̣͈͔͉͚̠̪̮͚̳͈͇̯̱̯̙̙̬͎̝̪̬̦̙͇̝̲̤̰̃͒̓͒̾̀̋̎̊̈̀́̐̎̇͜͝ͅ ̵̧̧̛̣͉͕̤̻͔̰̜̺̮̘̞̠͓͚̹̗͒͐̽́̆̈́́̏̀̎̋͌̔́̌͗̎̍̉̀̃͌͂̎̽̿̃͂̎̽̌̈́̄́̀́̓̿̅́̎͆̾̆͑͌̔̿̑́́̕̕̕͝͝͝M̸̢̡̨̭͓̘͙̟̩̦͎̤̟̮̤͍͔̝̑̀̅̊̑̊́̂̈͑̽͋̃̑͋͐̆͆͊̈́́̋͑̋͜͝I̸̡̛̖̺͇͎͕̗̹̦̦̻̻̙͈͔̮̭̤̺͚͙͙͖̱̙͚̣̼̠̺̘̐̄͋͒̒͗̎̓͐͗͛̊̀̓̄̅̆̇̐͒̄̌̔͗̒̎̃̒̊̍̋͐̊͛͘͠͝͝͠S̴̨̡̡̨̲̖̺̭̺̱̰͎͓͇̰̙͙̩̯̺̖̲̥̜͖̦̙̹̜̻͙̠͉͇̲̲͍̞͚̭̯͕͋͐̌̾̈́̄͐̇̔͜͝͝Ş̴̢̨̢̝̬̤̯̗̞̳̟̞̲̠̮͇̻͙͖̻̜̺̘̑̑̆̈́̇͋͗͒͒́̅́́̚̕͝ ̷̨̡̡̛̛͚̩̣̠̠̹̘̟̼̘̤͇͖͓̙̺̙̮͚̫̺͖̠͇͙̏̆̋̆̀̅̓̔͋̐̐͛̃̾̃̿̓́̑̇̏̈̉͊̂̍̾͑̐̈́̀̑͑̈́̏͗̇͋̀̆́̍̊̃̀͐͘̚̚͝͝͝͠͝ͅͅḨ̶̨̧̻̺̟͚̠͍̗͙̗̹͇̗̦͔͕̮̦͖͔̝͚̟̖̖͉̾̔͒̓̋̀̔̅̿̈̑͆̀̇̇̄̈́́͋̿͐͆̔̂̈́͋̈́̊̊̈́̓̈́͋̕͘͝͝͝I̷̡̡̢̨̹͎̼̻̖̗̭̫̩̣̬̻̦̠̗̰̥͕̗̟̯̰͉͙̯͖̦͚̟̖̞͍̦̙̯̲̲̖̲̲̜͚̓̍͜ͅM̶̧̡̢̧̧̙̥̭̲̖̦͙̘̙͈͓͖̩̜̦͍̦̘͍̘͕̳̜̱͚̥̹͓͕͉͔͕̫̺̮͕̳͖͉̭̺͙̠͖̥͕͖͙̜̉͑͛̎̓̈́͐͋̐̀̏̊̀̽͋̈́͊̄͌̋̌̐̓̄̉̓͒̕̕͝͠͠͝ͅͅͅ

Reynaldo - Reynaldo looks and looks and he does and does, but he does not win this bet. It is the thing he wants most, that he will do all sorts of terrible, horrible-things-that-make-him-want-to-throw-up to get. What is it? 

Omnitraxus Prime - Omni will do anything to protect the multiverse. Including trusting zir dad, who is looking more untrustworthy by the day, and trusting Mina, who was never trustworthy in the first place. Mina has much more training than Star, and strong magical ability from spending three hundred years close to the wand, and it's the best option... right?

Necahua - Necahua is a mess currently, and being a mess leaves you more open to mistakes. Uh oh! Una still loves them, though. 

In fact, I made a short story in my creative writing class about the relationships between Una'met, Necahua, and Cayeto, since I feel they got overlooked in the main story. Yes, no one in my class had any idea what was going on. I'll post it next, before chapters 1 and 2 of s5.

Cayeto - Cayeto is also in the short story. He doesn't play a huge role in the main plot, but he is just another reason Toffee does the things they do. He died hoping that Una and Necahua, specifically, survived, and Necahua died, so he does not have the best grip on reality.

Xocochiapal - Xoco is the de-facto ghost leader of the ghosts now. No legislation without representation, right? Toffee does most of the work, but she's in charge when they can't address a thing right away. She was right despite everyone else blindly going to their deaths, and now everyone knows it. She also was the highest-ranked Septarian to become a ghost, and her hatred of the Mewman occupation is a clear and strong motivation.

Tecoloa - Tecoloa is the voice of reason. The good one. She died protecting her elementary school class from the worst of the heat, and that caring nature has translated into protecting everyone she can. 

Sílthéy - Sílthéy is a character now, and OH BOY is she happy about it. She hates Star and will never get over it, and she loves to remind Star of that fact. She feels immense guilt for what happened with Septarsis, and will never get over that, either. She is a mess, but she's been hiding her messiness for 0/0 years, so she's a pro. And it's not like anyone here can stop her from being a mess, can they? So she'll go on being a mess in her corner, and she'll be fine. Her hobbies include storytelling, dissing Star, and doing the most bizarre stuff in the background of any given scene. She owns her weirdness. She's annoying, but that just makes her more fun to write.

Mocel - Mocel is mad at Eclipsa. She's mad at all Mewmans, really. She cares a lot about Miquiz, and she hates that he's locked up while she, with her lightweight ash body, can sneak out whenever she likes. The world isn't fair, and she knows it.

Miquiz - Miquiz is dying a second time. The dark magic wound on his chest is expanding. He doesn't want to leave, not without seeing the sun again, but he may not have a choice. He doesn't want to leave without saying something to Eclipsa, but again, no choice. He doesn't know what to do.

Tecolo - Tecolo is just vibin. He wants to see Ludo again, and he will, but he's mostly busy having fun with his dead and living relatives after centuries floating in the void.

[butterflyeffectiveless]

rambling, random, ship

I have no idea why i am talking about this but had random impulse to say anything. I don’t think what i’ll be saying is actually what I believe in, maybe it’s a random thing, my mind is always wandering. Maybe some people will judge me but i no longer care tbh.

Reasons why I ship Ludoffee:

- Nostalgia. Perhaps my longing for old days and that ships takes me closer to those days that felt better back then. Pretty much personal selfish thing. It’s like keeping an old stuffed animal from childhood , to give the analogy.

- Both are villains whose stories were not fullly realized in canon.

- A cool composed and self-restrained man in a suit likes a short and emotional awkward guy - it’s kind of cute. (ok not “kind of”.. deep down I like this dynamic because that difference is kind of wholesome)

- Many ways to explore the dynamic in unusual ways (aka the “stereotyped as incompetent” guy turns out to be more emotionally mature in ways the cool guy isnt and can do great things which impresses the “cool” guy)

- Its pretty much Venomous and Boxman but as monsters.. (if they were not the way they were in canon)

- There was a lot of canon detail in season 1 (confirmed liking from Ludo toward Toffee. But uh, it wasn’t actually great tbh (including Ludo’s attitude; if Toffee were not manipulative and geniunely worked for him Ludo would be the problematic one I feel))

___

I kinda ship Eclipsafee, but the reason I do is probably because I thought that Eclipsa would date him and her personality would go in interesting ways with his. It’s also kind of a “sweet x goth” dynamic which is like a blueprint for a cool ship (”is toffee the goth and Eclipsa is sweet or Eclipsa is sweet and Toffee is goth?” - yes) .

- They Both give off a vibe “cool uncle or aunt”. Both are grown adults who seem mature (but aren’t)

- Making up their banter and dialogue would be fun (one is gloomy and other is sassy)

- A “used to know each other in teens years and met again years later and found out how much they changed” dynamic is cool. + Potential for writing: changes caused them to develop new perspectives on one another.

- Dark purple + dark purple

- Eclipsa could bond with Toffee because she was seen as monster too

- A dynamic where they don’t end up together because Eclipsa has her true love Globgor sounds interesting as well. All hail lone Toffee (a cool mysterious man in a suit who is not married and is single and likes it that way but sometimes stares at a lady he used to love and her husband being happy.). Also it’d be bittersweet to headcanon (in an au, Not canon) that Eclipsa does have some feelings for Toffee despite her living her new life fully.

__ Moontoffee

I used to avoid it at all costs for reasons i have already said in past. Mainly bc of second had embarrassment and fear that it will sink. But after everything ended I felt more free in trying to look at it.

- I wouldnt ship them as a royal Butterfly family but I would ship them as rivals from different peoples who stayed that way but somehow changed their views on one another.

- I would rather ship them in an au where Toffee didn’t kill Moon’s mother. But still.. I may be hated for this but I’ve seen dynamics where one character killed other’s parent and still at the end they made amends and worked out as a team. So I don’t know. I understand that in Moon’s case her mother’s death greatly affected her and I have hard time seeing her ever forgiving that so its better to make an au where Toffee had nothing to do with it.

- The fact that Toffee can be drawn in Moon’s color palette is kind of sus.. Their palettes are almost the same..

- I always liked to associate Toffee with the moon (not Moon Butterfly but.. moon, the moon) and water. And knowing that water is associated with the moon, it feels almost symbolic in my imagination that he would look interesting with Moon (even as a platonic duo)

- They are.. pretty similar (both are leaders who are ready to become the devil for their own people and who want to keep their status at all costs). Also in canon they turned into less likable characters at the end.

- Funny headcanon of mine: Many monsters liked to call Toffee “Moony” and that caused a lot of confusion and some monsters ( and Toffee  as well ) thought they mockingly called him after Moon Butterfly - a princess they all hated. But in reality “Moony” among monsters means “Lunatic who is dependant on the moon”, so they mockingly called him a lunatic who is obsessed with Moon (by obsession I mean that Toffee couldnt let go of resentment and remembered what Moon did to him)

“Oh hello general Moony”

“It’s Toffee. I am Not like that mewman princess”

“No, I dont mean Moon. I mean Moony.”

- In all honesty I dont want to ship them in canon universe. I’d ship them if they were not as violent to one another and had to unite against greater threat. (i.e. they both disagreed with their bosses and superiors and bonded over that. Also a nice potential for them changing their views on each others’ kind and learning that the other is not evil)

- I think I would ship them platonically, as friends. Enemies to friends. It’s kind of hard for me to imagine them as a romantic pair who’d caress another’s cheek.

[fordarkisthesuede]

Star Watch - Bon Bon the Birthday Clown

Ah finally, here we are! The episode that kicked off the mid-season hiatus and made the entire fandom cry at once. I have waited patiently. I know what lies ahead at the very end, but I don’t know the journey there. I have a feeling we’re going to have a lot of screenshots... 

Aww, Bon Bon’s design is so cute! And that’s something to be said - not every animated clown can pull off “cute”. For most people, it’s more along the lines of “terrifying” or “traumatizing” or “why did I ever watch IT oh god why”.

In the case of the SVtFoE universe, it’s “he’s a WITCH!” 

Poor Bon Bon! That’s a very disturbing way to draw someone in a cast. And why is his nose still there? Shouldn’t it be under the wrappings, too? (Is he Captain Buggy’s lost relative???)

OH GODS.

“In 100 years [he]’ll return just like [his] candles”? So, uh... He’s going to flicker in and out of existence until he explodes? Still a positive guy up until the very end...

“I just saw a HUGE rat in the air duct!”

Oh ho ho, oh Marco, you worrywart! Public schools always have some kind of vermin infestation! Rats, mice, flying cockroaches - it’s nbd! Just tell the janitor so they can lay down some traps and go on you’re merry way. I’m sure a giant rat isn’t significant in any way! *wink wink!*

Janna made a handmade cake for Bon Bon? Aww, Janna, that’s so sweet! I’m sure he’ll appreciate it when you’re little séance rises him from the grave!

In Janna’s defense, I remember the night I had a séance with my friends as a pre-teen a lot more than any school dance I ever attended. 

MARCO I’M HAPPY JACKIE ASKED YOU OUT BUT PLEASE STOP MAKING THAT UNCANNY-VALLEY SMILE

Why does no one ever knock on doors in Marco’s house?? I mean come on Janna, it’s his bathroom, wtf

aaaahhhhhhh

aaaaHHHHHHHHHH

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH IT’S TOO PRECIOUS!!!!!

Oh hey, look! Rats are popping up again! Do you hear the plot-siren blaring, or are my headphones messed up again?

Glossaryck’s head-stone isn’t natural? I wonder why he put it there... To enhance his powers, perhaps? Or does it seal something instead...?

Even Bon Bon’s grave is cheerful and cute! This guy!

I like seeing Marco get super nervous about dating Jackie, but I’m surprised he didn’t think about the consequences of interrupting her so often. Marco, buddy, that’s not how you talk to people, let alone dates.

MARCO, MY BOY, YOU LEVELED UP SOMEHOW!!!!! WOOOT GO MARCO!

Actually, wait - WOOOT, GO JACKIE, YOU FORWARD-THINKER!!!! (Man, she’s really forgiving about all the mishaps here! Is she just super understanding, or does she like Marco that much? Hmm...)

You know, are Janna and Star trying to follow a guide for this seance, or are they just doing half-guesswork and half-researched seance rites? Because that shrine is a sweet gesture, but it doesn’t hold the symbolic meaning of the cake, and I’m pretty sure any shrine you make for calling a specific member of the dead back has to include a personal item of theirs... 

What am I saying, Bon Bon’s so upbeat I bet he’d love that shrine anyway!

GLOSSARYK DON’T JUST DESTROY RANDOM PAGES FROM THE BOOK! YOU’RE PROBABLY GOING TO NEED THAT LATER!

(I wonder if it was a spell for controlling rats? My second guess is “conjuring rat minions” but I like the idea of a controlling spell instead, as it makes Star’s rash decisions more of a foil against herself.)

It’s cute that despite Marco’s awkwardness and failings at their date, both of them are still having a good time. It’s a really sweet part of this episode, regardless of whether or not you ship Jarco.

Shrine went from 0-100 real quick

Also, Star, I know you’re feeling lonely and everything, but calling someone a billion times makes you look either super creepy or like you’re in danger...

Hey, Star’s wand looks a lot like her ancestors’ wands now... You know, that’s something I wondered about - why is it a star-symbol during the resting period all the time for her, but in all the paintings we saw of Star’s ancestors, they all had eyes instead of stars? Curious...

Star’s magic is influenced by her emotions, but this time her negativity - specifically her jealousy - deliberately put Jackie and Marco in harm’s way by tampering with Jackie’s skateboard. Thankfully, she was still upset by it and was even caught off guard, not being sure it was her who did it. 

More rats! Aww, I’m going to name them all! That one’s Squeakers, that one’s Jellybean, that one’s Crow, that one’s-

No wait, something’s happening.

Could it be...?

ANOTHER GREAT VILLAIN ENTRANCE???!!! Ludo, you just went up to a 7/10 on the character list!! Congrats, little man!! I’m so proud of you! Look at you, carefully planning and plotting and pulling out the dramatics! ;w; You even pulled a “did you miss me, Princess?” line! 

But why worry about Star when there’s JARCO KISSING HAPPENING OMFG

Wow the Jarco fans have official ship art now, good for them!

But the Blood Moon(tm) isn’t happy about it. I guess it’s a Starco shipper for life after it entwined their souls for eternity. Take a chill pill, Blood Moon, people can ship whatever they want.

EVERYONE KNOWS FIGHTING MOVES AREN’T VERY EFFECTIVE TOWARDS FLYING TYPES!  I CALL HACKS!

Bon Bon!! You’re back! And still so cheerful!! :D

D: Bon Bon noooooo

Interesting that Star’s momentary distraction by Jackie and Marco caused her magic to warp the spell into reverse. Her darker emotions are really getting the better of her without the other half of the wand.

Speaking of which, the wands are like ying and yang at this point. Star can do both “good” and “evil” magic (using the terms loosely) with her current half of the wand, but all we’ve seen from Ludo’s wand is “evil” magic. Does his half of the wand have the potential for “good” magic, too?

Speaking of - dang it all, he was so good in this episode! He came after Star entirely for the book so he can further learn how to use the wand AND leave her demoralized and somewhat defenseless. He had great lines, great motives, great use of all his minions, and I swear his villain laugh was A+ this ep! Ludo, I’ve decided - you’re officially a 8/10! Congratulations!!! *throws confetti* 

Oh, speaking of ratings - this episode is a solid 10/10! I’m impressed! Excellent in terms of pacing, tone-setting, surprise twist (for those that weren’t spoiled), and character development! Since the Star Strike starts in...8 hours, it’s good to look back on where we all last left off and think eagerly about what’s to come now that Star’s lost not only the gateway to new magic, but a valuable ally and friend. I’m especially looking forward to seeing Ludo and Glossaryk interact - I’m really hoping we’ll learn more about Eclipsa and her chapter! I think it would be the one chapter in the whole book Ludo would excel at, given his emotional ties to the wand’s magic. 

And who knows, maybe Eclipsa is the one giving him whispered pointers...

[aion-rsa]

Labyrinth: How Did Jareth Become the Goblin King? His Comic Book Origin Story Explains

https://ift.tt/3DPFnil

Warning: contains spoilers for the Labyrinth: Coronation Comics.

Maybe yours is the kind of mind that’s never worried about why in the 1986 film Labyrinth, Goblin King Jareth – ostensibly a human man, albeit one who can turn into an owl – rules a species with which he shares zero physical characteristics. If so, then go in peace, friend, and enjoy life. You likely already are. If, however, yours is the sort of mind that regularly lets you leave home in slippers because it’s busy wondering how they get the horses to the Olympics, then step this way. The Labyrinth mystery has been answered!

In March 2018, Boom! Studios published the first of Simon Spurrier and Daniel Bayliss’ delightful 12-part Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Coronation series. The solicitation trailed the books as the untold history of the Goblin King, offering “a striking look into the history of the Labyrinth itself, and what happens to the little boys who don’t get rescued.” That’s right, “little boys who don’t get rescued”. Prepare to forgive Jareth for kidnapping that baby and trying to get its teenage sister to be his slave; that poor puff-haired sexpot didn’t know any better. 

Fans of Labyrinth should absolutely read the Spurrier/Bayliss series (Spurrier also wrote another Henson film sequel series for Boom! Studios in The Power of the Dark Crystal). Coronation cannily weaves itself around the film’s existing plot, retelling it from a different angle while layering a prequel story over the top. It’s an extremely pretty companion piece to the film, with glints of Labyrinth’s pythonesque humour (one of the characters, for instance, is a sentient rose bush) and brims with love for the original (there’s an evil Ludo!). Story spoilers for it start below.

Jareth and Toby in Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Coronation (Spurrier/Bayliss)

Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Coronation is set in the Goblin Castle within the timeline of the film. It goes behind the scenes to show what Jareth was up to while Sarah was arguing with door knockers and getting down with the Fireys. As a framing narrative, Jareth tells baby Toby a story about another young woman who fought her way to the Goblin Castle to take back a stolen child. Only this one – Maria – wouldn’t succeed.

Jareth’s story starts in Venice in 1797, with troubled young English nobleman Lord Albert Tyton (‘Tyto’ is the genus of birds that make up the barn owl family, linking Jareth’s paternal line to owls. It also sounds pleasingly like ‘Titan’, suggesting the family’s social status). He’s spent the past year on a hedonistic gad around Europe, avoiding familial responsibility and his stern father, who is demanding his return home. Deep in gambling debt with nowhere to turn, Albert accepted a magical deal from the Goblins, who want him to live in their realm. The Owl King who rules the Labyrinth, is ancient, say the Goblins, and needs an heir. They covet Albert’s good looks and noble bloodline and want him to assume the Goblin throne. 

Read more

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In Europe, Albert had an illegitimate son with a taverna linen maid named Maria. In Venetian society, they’d been living as man and wife, count and countess, but it was all an unofficial fantasy. When Albert finally ran out of money and options, he made the desperate decision to return to England and leave Maria behind, knowing that his cruel father would never accept her. He told Maria that their son will be placed in an orphanage, so she won’t be able to use him to bring scandal on the family name, but instead offered the baby to the Goblins to rule in his stead. They transported the child in Maria’s arms to the Labyrinth, where the Owl King snatched him and sent Maria back to the real world.

Maria didn’t give up. She begged the Owl King, who relented and struck a deal: she has 13 hours to solve the Labyrinth until her baby son becomes one of them forever. Thus begins a packed adventure in which Maria learns about the Labyrinth’s cruelty and whimsy, and the extent of her own power, and finds herself a motley crew of companions to help her quest, just like Sarah in the film. It all plays out against the political backdrop of a simmering Goblin rebellion against the tyrannical Owl King, who stands for stifling control and surrounds himself with steampunk machinery, in contrast to the Goblins’ natural love of fun. 

Maria in Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Coronation (Spurrier/Bayliss)

In the final issue, Maria makes it to the castle, where we see that the Owl King had no intention of making baby Jareth his heir. He uses a crystal orb device to start to drain Jareth’s youth, enabling the Owl King to rule forever. Maria and her companions manage to break the Owl King’s spell, but not before the clock strikes 13. She’s too late. The Labyrinth has already started to change Jareth, and it’s explained that if she takes him back to the real world, they’re destined for a tragic end in which Albert drowns and Maria and the boy are destitute until Albert’s cruel father snatches the child and raises him in his image, without Maria. 

Maria takes baby Jareth through a portal, and he soon returns fully grown and ready to assume the Goblin throne. Some doubt is cast on the reliability of Jareth’s narrative, and a few fun options are suggested for what happened in the interim. We’re shown, however, that Maria and an ersatz version of Albert who’d been conjured by the Owl King as part of a trick to stop Maria from solving the Labyrinth, have spent their time living in a fantasy ballroom inside a crystal orb – the same fantasy masquerade ball Sarah escapes from in the film. They’ve been there, not ageing, for three hundred years, meaning that two of the masked dancers at Sarah’s masquerade ball are actually Jareth’s parents. Unlike Sarah, Maria failed in her quest, and so choose fantasy – and a fantasy version of the lover who’d betrayed and spurned her – over reality. 

So that’s the story of the first time a wish was made to the Goblins and a baby boy was taken to the Labyrinth, and now we know Jareth’s full name: he’s the Lord Jareth Tyton, Goblin King. Unlike Toby, who probably grew up to be an accountant plagued by some really odd dreams, little Jareth was never rescued and was changed forever by the magic of the Labyrinth, where he’s lived for centuries. When Sarah wished for the Goblins to take her baby brother away, history repeated itself as Jareth attempted to trap Sarah and Toby in the Labyrinth with him. Read much more about it all in the Spurrier/Bayliss spin-off comics. And in case you were still wondering: they just put them on planes. The horses. For the Olympics. 

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Labyrinth is out now on Netflix.

The post Labyrinth: How Did Jareth Become the Goblin King? His Comic Book Origin Story Explains appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3n6kucE

[skamamoroma]

I can’t believe that we got everything this season but also FILIPPO SAVA. I don’t feel like I’ve talked about him enough

He was SO PRESENT this season too (how did they all feel so present?! The talent, Ludo) and is always this perfect comic relief but also gave such a poignant moment to us at the end

I love so many moments:

Grandma “febre” Filo all wrapped up in his robe with a cup of tea still finding the strength to assess the “corpse” for his hotness 😂 he would

The way he arrived at Sana’s party all adorably and gave her a Christmas card but he said Eid Mubarak before she did! 🥺

The way he cuddled into Gio’s arm outside of Silvia’s room listening to Marti and Nico all excited and then basically told Fede she was a newbie where experimental sex is concerned

The “wtf I’m not playing hide and seek” and then because Luchino hits him, his “oh yeah hide and seek, amazing game” response hahaha

The casual way (and I’m obsessed with how Ludo always includes the casual stuff) he asks Sana to assess his outfit before he leaves

The “because you’re a paranoid and jealous idiot Marti!” Followed by “but we’ll talk tomorrow ok”. Like, bambino I love you but you’re an idiot but that doesn’t mean I won’t help your stupid ass

The way he was and is clearly lonely as hell. I related to the poor guy’s isolation and feeling grown but alone... and the way he was welcomed into every party and so many moments

The “hey now, you have to be nice your landlord” to Elia and his adorable excitement at setting up a projector

The way he loves Marti and teases him and lets him lie like a dumbass on his sofa eating pizza... and you KNOW that blanket came from Filo. He’d be like “tesoro, you are talking shit but you need to be warm” 🥺

The stealing Marti’s phone to send Sana shady messages to tell her to stop cutting people out of her life!

The fact he practically operates a home for lost souls!!!

The way he decided a pink vibrator in a box was the best gift for Silvia

The absolute joy he must have felt being carried off on the beach by multiple handsome men!!!

All of this we got from this season for FILO! As if we’re supposed to be gifted this much for side characters... but god we were spoiled and I have so much affection for him it’s unreal!

[dreamychick]

Shit noticed on this go around in Goblet of Fire when I re read it as an adult.

Harry wore them but was not as excited for those socks Dobby made as he should have been. They sounded awesome. He made them by hand and was something he knew you loved Harry. Be more grateful.

We've said it before but. Fred and Angelina really go to the Ball together. Only for her to get married to George after Fred dies in the end. So. This moment means nothing.

All of the Champions either are or take a Quidditch player to the Ball.

Harry

Cedric

Krum

And Fleur takes the Ravenclaw Captain. What the hell is up with that? Jocks united? Only Quidditch stars can go as champions? Jesus.

What are the fucking odds that Harry actually saw Rita skeeter bug and just didnt know it at the time? Like he actually was right next to her. In the WHOLE garden. She was just. Right there huh.

When they go off to Hogsmead before Ludo offers to help him with the egg they see Krum dive into the lake, he probably had the clue figured out at that point. That's why he was going in. To practice swimming in the lake itself right?

When Harry takes a bath to figure out the egg there is a Mermaid portrait in the room. There is a portrait in the bathroom. Portraits are alive. They can speak to you. This sentient mermaid can watch underage children bathe and that makes me uncomfortable thinking what other kinds of paintings are in other bathrooms.

Myrtle helps harry alot with his egg clue and hes pretty rude to her. I mean shes a bit of a pervert sure. But she does close her eyes when he goes in and out so shes not looking at anything she shouldnt. But when she just asks for him to visit he completly blows her off. Like what an ass.

After he gets stuck in the trick stair and almost gets caught the not Mad eye tells him he should be an Auror. He says "Interesting idea....he'd like to check how scarred the rest of them were before he chose it as a career."

And then he just.....chooses it as a career? Really?

Snape reads a whole gossip collum about a student out loud to the class just to humiliate him. And then moves him to sit in front of him to quietly intimidate him so noone else can hear him. Teacher of the fuckin year.

Sirius loves Harry so much he lives off rats to survive just to be near him just in case hes needed. Thats fucking love bitch.

Teenagers are bitches they really sent Hermione hate mail because of an article that she was being a two-timer on Harry. I'm not saying it's not realistic I'm just saying the teenagers are bitches.

Nifflers are fluffy black creatures with long snouts thank you for that description once again and for confirming that what I said all along was true. In what universe is that platypus looking thing a niffler? He is very cute but he's not a niffler.

Nothing electrical Works no computers nothing with electricity they say so does that mean that I wouldn't have a phone or an iPod or anyting? How the hell do I listen to my music when I'm studying do I have to learn how to Magic my iPod to work without electricity? Cuz that's going to be the first goddamn spell I learn.

We know how protective Mrs. Weasley is of harry because she thinks of him as another son but is she really the type to listen to gossip from someone like Rita Skeeter? Like she sent hermione an Easter basket basically out of spite of a tiny little Easter egg because she thought that Hermione was cheating on Harry like come on now Mrs. Weasley is like the nicest person ever she wouldn't do that. That just seems super out of character

I just realized again that when Krum takes Harry aside to ask if he and Hermione are together, Harry says he feels he and the 18 year old Proffessional Quidditch player are equals.

Krum is 18 years old. Hermione is 14. Im......not ok with that. Its only a 4 year age difference and theyre not doing anything like, sexual. But even so. Im still super not alright with that when you put it like that. Him being a student doesnt change the fact that hes a whole almost grown man and shes still just a child. Yikes. And this from someone who likes Krum.

When they're going to send their letter they meet up with Fred and George who are off to Blackmail or considering blackmail and George tells Ron that he's traveling down the road to become a prefect and Ron gets so offended and says that he's not and I just think that it's so funny because he ends up becoming one and that literally is all of the boys in the family became a prefect except for the twins

When Harry falls into the pensive you hear that Snape was a Voldemort supporter but he turned spy before Voldemort's downfall at Great personal risk. Wasn't the only reason he turned spy literally because he found out that Harry Potter's family was being targeted? So Snape was willingly a Death Eater like he made the choice to become a Death Eater that's not just oh I was a bullied kid you should feel bad for me this is like you're legitimately a Death Eater. Like my bro Death Eaters kill people and they torture them and they do a lot of not nice things. You can't use being bullied as an excuse for everything so you willingly became a Death Eater that was your choice and yes Dumbledore gave you a second chance that does not negate the fact that you made that choice in the first place and that you were a terrible person. And what are you doing with your second chance? You're still being a terrible person. You're not killing people, but you're psychologically torturing teenagers so.....

They saw Draco talking into his hands out the window. And isnt it convenient they always happen to be lopking out windows at exactly the right time to catch the things they need to catch?

Fleur is in love with Bill at first sight, and even oblivious Harry picked up on that. And yet another age gap. 5 years this time. Sigh. At least this one is graduating in a month. I guess thats better. (I do like them together. I honestly think they do have a cute love. But when you notice a pattern it starts being weird. Cuz then its tonks and Remus and that age gap is waaay more. Like the gaps just grow and Im just not cool with it.)

I was gonna wait to post this til I finished rereading. But. I stopped rereading and started other things and Im not going back for a while and ky notes are taking up space on my phone. And my phone is old. So here it is.

I still love Harry Potter. But when you reread it as an adult you do start to see things you never saw before.

[popculturebuffet]

Animation Reviews:Star Vs: Mr.Candle Cares

Tom is back! Yeah I know this took about a month, with the pride month reviews and life being kind of chaotic, I put these next two tom reviews on the back burner, even doing another star review in the meantime for Father’s Day. But with Pride Month winding down and our next episode up being gaytatstic, it was time to come back. It’s just a shame it had to be this one.  We’re in Season 2 now, and early in it, with this being only the third episode and the first to not involve the main plot, as the first two dealt with the fallout of the first season finale, and set up some of the main conflicts for the season. I WILL cover those arcs eventually and recap parts of them if necessary but for now they have zero impact on what happens here. That being said just because it dosen’t tie into the main arc with Ludo and Toffee-Wand, dosen’t mean it’s not important, as this episode both marks a major turning point for tom and also digs into the recurring theme for the next two seasons of star grappling with her responsiblities.. in this case future ones. We also get a peak into her mom’s personality. So with not much exposition to cover, I will see you under the cut.. please?

We open at school and it’s career day, something my school didn’t have for whatever reason, but is a common thing as new Gudiance Counsler mr candle has so far been giving everyone really great advice that fits what they want. Star is eager to have her turn and soon does.  Inside the office Star is offered Candy, which she politley refuses before we find out, unsuprisingly, Star thinks he’s a fourtune teller. A great bit. The mood quickly drops deep into the basement when Candle hammers into star that her destiny is to be queen and it’s carved in stone despite what other plans she may have. THen things get.. a bit creepy with Mr.Candle asking if Star’s dating marco and when she says no and that i’d be weird to date given they live together he urges her to start thinking about her future husband.  And yes I’m aware Tom probably wrote his script, and Tom knows about as much about school as star Does or else Mr Candle would’ve been suspended, at least for this, it’s still unnerving to hear a grown man not only before this tell a teenager she has no choice in her future, but then try and set her up with an unstable teenager in the creepiest way possible and somehow not get fired. It’s hard to watch Star leaves depressed and it’s marco’s turn.. and once again Mr.Candle proves to be a pretty terrible minon, suggesting Marco be a janitor on garbage island. Now as probably isn’t a shock to you given most of you have probably seen this ep, and we’ll find out in a minute anyway, Tom is behind this: trying to keep star and marco apart and get her back with him. And while parts of this do stink of Tom’s own lack of understanding of star, more on that later, and hatred of Marco, as well as not getting earth, as we’ve seen Mr.Candle is actually godo at his job and we see a bit of a real session that’s not part of an emo’s poorly thought out scheme that proves it. He could EASILY manipulate both, or at least try to with marco, but instead just goes along with a script written by a teenager that instead makes one of his targets depressed and the other instantly ready to tell him off or , had Candle been less lucky, go to the principal with this. Now granted this level of gross incompence is another day at echo creek, but it just dosen’t work. I don’t buy that tom couldn’t of found someone more competent with the giant amoutns of money he has to throw around. Then again Tom is really bad at evil when you think about it: I mean sure he can throw hands, as we’ll see in later episodes, but his evil schemes are poorly thought out at best and i’m certain if he had stayed a bad guy after this episode, he would’ve dropped to just proposing to star every time he sees her like teddy from brooklyn nine nine. 

So naturally Marco and Star talk about this with Star really depressed about seemingly being trapped becoming queen, while Marco gushes about how great being queen would be from his perspective... including never having to pick out clothes, fair enough, and never having people not like you, which is depressing. Poor boy. I missed this Marco: Awkward, insecure, but likeable. and also very much possibly gender fluid. Why they threw that out i’ll never know, but it’s canon for me now at least.  Anyways, Marco decides to confront candle int he bathroom because why not. It’s not any more awkward than Candle trying to convince star to make out with tom without saying tom’s name. But yeah as I let out of the bag early above, Marco finds Candle talking to tom via the toilet, and tom is livid he didn’t mention his name, while Candle insists he’s working on it and that Starco, and he uses that word exactly to Marco’s confusion and my delight as I do like when writers latch on to fan terms and poke a bit of fun at them, is platonic. Tom tells him to be sure and Mr Candle dismises him. Before tom can get too mad about this, Candle reveals i’ts becaue he has to pee and tom insists he flushes first. A really great gag.  So to try and compete with tom and candle for dumbest person this episode, Marco has his own stupid plan: Brag about being “smooch buddiess” with star to piss him off.  I assume the next two steps are ???? and profit. I”d also like to note for those unaware that this clip was used in the promo and assumed it was a love spell or some sort of altered mind thing, as it was way too early in the series for them to get together, and smacked of “let’s bait the shippers and hope they don’t get too pissed”. Given I did ship them at the time, it was massively annoying knowing this was obviously out of context, but it’s better than when I watched avatar first run and any hint of kataang was played up and an entire fucking episode was dedicated to fucking with shippers heads. I really need to rewatch avatar on netflix I have NOOOO excuse. Anyways naturlaly the obvious happened; A pissed off tom, who Need I remind you last time nearly killed marco and only didn’t because star used freeze dry and it was super effective, who drags marco away to a tourture wheel. Meanwhile, Star goes to her mom for support. So I get to talk about Moon: Star’s distant mother who’s her exact oppsite: strict, stone faced and in control at all times. And she does LOVE her daughter and get some development later on, but it still dosen’t change her core and she still has real issues actually listening to star that, like some of star’s own issues, she never really grows past. So natrually this goes about as well as trying to get a cat to do anything: She confirms star is kinda stuck inherting the throne before , in an oddly sad moment.. being genuinely confused when Star asks if she’s happy. It’s... a really good character moment to be honest, and sets up her character well now she’s being fleshed out better this season: Moon just.. really dosen’t care about herself or her own hapiness. I mean her marriage is , paradoxically, one of the only marriages in the mewni queenship that not only lasted but is very healthy, but otherwise she just dosen’t care. The kingdom comes first... and to me it comes from the later revlation she was orphaned around 15. She just spent most of her life putting the kingdom FIRST, just like she figured her mother would’ve and probably did, and putting her heart and soul intot hat. And thus she can’t really fahtom someone being SCARED of all that responsiblity and drudgery when for her, it was just a fact she had to accept at star’s age. She probably woudl never be happy but the kingdom’s what important. The thing is A) that’s deeply unhealthyt o begin with and B) it’s easier to accept something like that when you’ve lost your mom, your dad’s never been around and you have only one other person in your life supporting you. Star has LOTS Of other things to her life: friends, hobbies things moon never had a shot at. Not only that but Star’s lived her life iwth a mother who, rather than be supremley happy and beloved like moon’s own mother, seemd miserable, strict and a workaholic.. things star wants to avoid being. Their very strained relationshp probably isn’t helping this. Moon quickly leaves the conversation, but it instead just makes Star spiral further and decide to do something.. drastic.  Meanwhile in hell. 

Okay not that bad. Let’s try this agian meanwhile in hell. 

I said not THAT bad. Jesus. 

Close enough. So in hell, specifically Tom’s room. Marco admits he was just getting tom’s goat, which his goat skull objects to, and while Tom is oddly mad Marco lied marco actually gets to tom by countering he lied to star... which is true not just this time but last episode too. Tom relases marco from his pain wheel. 

And states that he can’t let him go, he knows too much etc etc, and challenges marco to a fight to the death, which marco acccepts.. inping pong. However tom is really great at ping pong and destroys him.  Back with star she’s gotten a great punk makeover. I do wish that star had a permanent outfit change at some point as her temporary looks are always great, and it woudln’t of killed them to do it in season 3 when they had to change over the intro anyway. Alas. She plans to do something drastic.. we’ll find out why in ab it. Back at ping point Marco challenges for double or nothing, despite tom having multiple paddles and him having none and the scorring demon begging him to stop. Tom obliges him, and the two.. actually start to bond. We’ll get way more of that next time. Btu the two bond over how star just tends to cheat, making up rules or changing them to win at the last minute, and how she just does what she wants.. and it’s then.. Marco FINALLY gets through to tom and points out the obvious: Star won’t get back together with him unless it’s what Star wants and Tom gives a face that screams ‘my god what have I done” realizing both how hew’s screwed up and how for now at least, he may never get her back and no amount of scheming will fix it. It’s a great character moment: Tom finally realizes that he can’t just.. MAKE star love him. You can’t MAKE someone love you, they have to want it too. And star dosen’t want him right now and his stalking is only hurting her.  It’s here Tom turns a corner. This episode was his lowest moment for sure, as while the blood moon ball scheme was sleazy, trying to make her love him via a magic moon thing was creepy, it wasn’t horribly intentioned and while I do think tom knew it’dmake her love him again I don’t think he knew the full extent of the moon’s magic or how it’d tear her apart inside if she say loved someone else, as ended up happening since it didn’t let her let go of her feelings for marco while with tom himself. Here he knows what he’s doing is wrong,  as Marco’s comment makes clear, but is so desperate he’s gone with an insane, dumb and really creepy and manipulative scheme. He TRIED being nice, that didns’t work so he probably felt he had to get more creative and more manipulative... i’ts just he didn’t realize while he LOVES being Royalty, star hates it. While Tom’s parents, who we’ll get into more in a review or two, were loving and supportive, even if his dad may not have been at this stage again we’ll get to his parents when they show up, are fully loving and supportive star’s are loving.. but one of them as we saw just dosen’t GET HER. So while to tom the crown is a great thing to star it’s not so mucha nd given he has trouble with empathy, Tom simplyc an’t understand how much he hurt her until marco spells it out for him And it isn’t just in the text either; As I said in the previous tom review, the writers clearly weren’t wure which way to go with tom, so this episode was the turning point: would tom get worse and become star’s enemy fully.. or would he do the unexpected, at the time anyway, and truly try to change and become another loveable member of her inner circle? And honestly.. I feel they made the right decision. Tom really dosen’t fit into the mewman oppresion cycle as neatlya s the other antagonists who are either the opressors or the result of them. He’s a privlaged kid on the outside of it, as , again , i’ll dig into more in the future. And the show kind of.. outgrew recurring antagonists by season 3. They had a few set up this season, but most either faded away or went all the way up to big bad, and I feel the writers realized that tom just.. didn’t work as that and worked better as a kid struggling with being better than as an incel douchebag antagonist. And given he’s one of the two things that helped prop the show up during it’s worse moments in the latter half, it was the right call and the reason i’m doing this arc at all.  Anyways Tom and Marco head back to the diaz house where Star.. has a mermaid and is complteplating chopping off her tail so she can legally never become queen... yeah I meant what I said when I said drastic. Tom however reveals his deception, and .. genuinely apologizes, another sign of growth, letting star go for now. He does get a WELLLLL earned slap, as I said his actions this episode were the lowest he’d sink and still really creeptastic.. but accepts his apology after that, appricating that he at least apologized and grew a bit.  Star, while now not going to disfigure someone to save herself, I mean that sort of thinking did give us the doom patrol but still, is still bummed about being queen when Marco, in a good bit of ship tease back when this ship wasn’t in my nightmares, tells her that yeah she’s stuck being queen.. but tid osen’t mean she has to be miserable. Don’t do it like moon, do it like you. They hug, and Tom, in another great bit of growth, just smiles and heads off, letting them have this moment and letting star go.  We get one final scnee where candle bails on local alpha bitch britney after tom recalls him which sends her into a depressive spiral later in the series. Ha ha... why did they bring this character back for Season 4?  Final Thoughts:  This episode is the queen of mixed bags. Seriously on one hand there IS some really damn good character stuff, with Star confronted with the hard truth of her becoming queen and begining this and next season’s theme of star building up to her future, and Tom going from 1 and a half dimensoinal douchey stalker to the complex and relatable character he’d become in future episodes. However the good is smothered like bad.. just like smokey the bear had to smother his joint before each PSA. Like “Red Action to the Future: over in my OK KO reviews, it feels like wasted potetial: the idea of both Star and Marco rexamining their future and Star being confronted with having a fixed path and trying to avoid becoming queen are great.. it’s just Star ends up being a supporting player in the episode, and I feel it would’ve been better if moon had been forced to deal with the effect of her words on her daughter, as she’s gone after her scene and what she nearly caused star to do never has any effect. And Mr.Candle is just an.. awful character. Incompitent, even if parts of that are on tom, unfunny, kinda creepy.. ther’es just nothing really enjoyable about him and it makes the first  few minutes a slog as he gaslights two teenagers for money and we never learn just what the hell he is or what his deal is. He just drags the episode down.  Really whiel i’ts not TERRIBLE like some of the series worst episodes (Lint Catcher, Stump Day, Marco Jr, Mama Star), it just feels like it could’ve been better paced or made a half hour so star and moon could have more of a plot.  If you enjoyed this you know the dril; like, reblog etc and if there’s a star or other animated show or movie you want me to review , just shoot me a suggestion or comission it outright for 3 bucks! I’ll get back to tom this weekend hopefully with freindenimeis and hopefully get to my last two reviews before pride lets up. Until we meet again, later days. 

[hillnerd]

Au headcanon of Ron Weasley and Hermes Granger

Ended up being a bit over 7k words, this one! And hey, just in time for pride month! :)  Romione but m/m! :)

 This has Hermes struggling to come to terms with his sexuality. Again, as with the f/f Romione story, I was inspired a lot by my experiences when I was younger. Also has a guest appearance by Ace!Charlie Weasley :) This is set in the 90s, so things aren’t quite as smooth as they would be if this story was set in the present day. People weren’t as sensitive to the needs of the LGBTQIA+ community then, weren’t as equipped with the vocab or knowing what to say etc. It was before my time, but I want to be as true to that as I can.

Trigger warnings: character being outted, homophobia, internalized homophobia

rated PG-13 for cursing and homophobia

RON AND HERMES

BEFORE HOGWARTS

Hermes Granger had never been a popular child growing up. He wasn’t sure if it was because his nose was always in a book, or if his nose was in a book because they were much more friendly company than the children around him. He was always seen as odd, and he supposed they were right. He wasn’t quite like the other boys his age. He preferred reading to sports, preferred the teachers to the other children, and he inexplicably had strange things happen around him.

Owls and cats seemed to listen to him. He could make any electronic short circuit when he got frustrated. He’d wish for things to happen– impossible poetic vengeful things, as we all are wont to do when someone is being particularly cruel or unjust– and a lot of the time they would happen. 

Philip Pickering, the biggest bully in their class, had taken Hermes’s diorama and poured paint all up inside it, ruining all the hard work he’d put in. Hermes wished someone would pour paint in something Philip liked, and then a horrible accident happened in art class- a whole wall of paint cans tipped over and covered Philip, and only Philip, head to toe in paint. His Air Jordans were ruined, along with everything else he was wearing, and even all the homework in his rucksack. Hermes was delighted, but also a bit afraid of how his darker wishes could come true. From that moment on he did his best to keep such wishes from coming true, and did an alright job of it.

When he found out he was a wizard it all sort of fell into place. He was odd because he was magical, but he’d find his place soon enough once surrounded by other wizards and witches at Hogwarts!

–

FIRST YEAR

It took time to find his place. At first he found his bookish ways and penchant for telling people what to do were just as disliked there as they’d been at his Muggle school. He’d been quite hopeful of making a friendship with two boys in particular- Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Harry was an important person in so many books, and that made him a fascinating person to meet and analyze. And then there was Ron- he wasn’t sure why he liked to look at him so much, but there was something different about him that make Hermes want to be his friend.

A few months of spats, and a culmination of taking down a mountain troll,  cemented his friendships with the other boys, and Hermes finally had close friends for the first time in his life. Not just close; Best friends. Wonderful friends, who made him smile every day, and gave him something to fight for that meant much more than just grades.

–

SECOND YEAR

Meeting Harry and Dumbledore, two people from books who had done great things, had been something special, but it paled in comparison to meeting a real life author. Hermes had only met a few authors in his life before, all Muggle at his local library, but Gilderoy Lockhart? He was something very very different. He was a hero. He had done great feats and had written about his exploits in many volumes. He also was very handsome, which Hermes hadn’t initially noticed, but after seeing him just a few times, it was hard to not notice it when so many of the girls were sighing over him. He felt a thrill when Professor Lockhart gave him another five points for answering another question right.

Hermes had never really noticed men being handsome like this before, and when Ron noted how many of the girls were taken with Lockhart, it finally clicked into place. Hermes was looking at Lockhart like the girls were…. Well, maybe he was? He wasn’t sure… I mean, who was sure of anything at thirteen? It felt like he was too young to know. He’d never looked at girls at anyone that way, boy or girl. He could tell if someone was good looking or not, of course- but that wasn’t quite the same as that feeling of having a crush on someone.

He’d always been different from everyone else, but this? Oh he couldn’t be that way. It was too different, probably even for the Wizarding world. Hermes hadn’t read about any gay wizards. He’d never read about gay anyone, really, other than Oscar Wilde, and things hadn’t exactly gone well for that Author.

Fleetingly he thought about talking about it with Harry and Ron- but the idea that they would look at him different, or get freaked out and not want to share a dorm with him? It was too much to bear.

No. He’d have to sit on it and tell no one. It’s not like it mattered, really. He was just a kid- and no one was expected to do much dating before they were grown. It’s not like he liked anyone he could actually date anyway. And this was probably just an anomaly of some sort…

–

THIRD YEAR

“You gonna eat that?”

Hermes looked up from the seventh study guide he’d made himself to see Ron pointing at his plate.

“You can have it, I’m busy,” Hemes grunted. Why had he signed up for so many classes? It was absolute madness. He could barely keep up with what day of the week it was anymore, and had so many different exams coming up, and he just knew he’d fail everything, and have to go back home and be alone forever and–

“No, mate. You need to eat up. You’ve barely eaten anything and the meal’s gonna vanish in like ten minutes,” Ron said, pushing his plate over the parchment Hermes had strewn about him.

“No, I need to study! I have boat-loads of work to do, and no matter what I can’t seem to make myself the time to do it all properly, and I just know I’ll be expelled and my parents will never forgive me for disappointing them!”

“Look,” said Ron, gently stopping Hermes’s hands from gathering papers. “I don’t know what’s going on with you and this mad schedule of yours, but you’ve got to take care of yourself.”

Hermes looked up into Ron’s earnest face, and the freckled hands holding his own in place, and felt himself begin to blush.

“I… Erm-” Hermes said, flustered in a way he hadn’t ever been with Ron before. “Yes… Yes I need energy… yes…. But I also need to study.”

Ron rolled his eyes.

“You’re the smartest person I know, so you’ll be brilliant no matter what- but you can’t study without any energy to do it, right?”

Hermes nodded, his mind buzzing and blank as Ron peered at him.

“How ‘bout this. You finish your plate, and I quiz you while you eat?”

“Alright… I suppose I can do that.”

Ron gave a lopsided smile in return, and the nervous flush worked its way down Hermes’s spine again. He really did need to eat something, because his stomach was starting to lurch and he felt a bit dizzy as Ron grinned at him.

—-

FOURTH YEAR

Hermes had never been much for Quidditch, but the World Quidditch Cup would be an excellent way to learn about other Magical communities, and also it would give Hermes the opportunity to spend time at the Weasley household that summer. 

Mr Weasley had scored them some great seats at the top of the stadium, and Hermes couldn’t deny it was rather thrilling to be at such a large stadium like this.

“And now,” Ludo Bagman announced to the stadium, “without further ado, allow me to introduce… the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!”

“I wonder what they brought,” said Mrs Weasley, before leaning forward and polishing his glasses in a flury. “Aaah! Veela!”

“What are veel–?” Harry began to ask, but he trailed off as he looked down at the field. Hermes began to tell Harry exactly what Veela were, but stopped himself when he realized his speech was falling on deaf ears. Harry was staring down at the creatures on the field with a rapturous hungry look that made Hermes roll his eyes. He was about to nudge Ron so they could tease their friend, but strangely Ron was just as taken with the the Veela as Harry. In fact it felt like all the men in the box were looking similarly glassy eyed as they stared down at the women on the field. As the women began to dance the whole stadium’s population of men went mad. It felt like every male was looking on a bit agog, or starting to do something particularly embarrassing to get the Veelas’s attention. All of them except for Hermes.

Harry looked like he was about to fling himself from the box before Hermes stopped him, and Ron was pulled back from a dive by Charlie. The Veela were ushered off the field, and another mascot show of Leprechauns was brought out onto the field- but Hermes paid them no mind. He had a chill running through him. Why hadn’t the Veela affected him?

They’d made Harry and everyone else go mad… Ron too… But not Hermes.

As everyone gleefully scrambled for gold that was raining upon them, Hermes excused himself to the loo.

Since the match was beginning in moments, the room was blissfully empty, and Hermes had a moment to put water on his face and gather himself in total privacy.

“You alright, Hermes?”

He turned about to see Charlie Weasley leaning against the door frame.

“I’m… I’m fine. Just a bit overheated up there.”

“Yeah… energetic lot they are. Either they’re all going mad over gold that’ll disappear in an hour, or Veela are throwing ‘em into a frenzy,” Charlie said with a nod.

Hermes nodded unable to think of anything to say.

“Sure you’re alright? You started looking a bit pale after the Veela left.”

“Well…” Hermes let out, mind reeling for an answer. “Well, Harry and Ron nearly threw themselves from the top of the stadium box. It was quite frightening.”

“We stopped ‘em before making too big of arses of themselves,” Charlie said with a smile. “Even if we hadn’t, there are spells to keep them from falling off, so they weren’t in any real danger.”

“You!” Hermes exclaimed, practically pointing at Charlie, and feeling almost giddy relief. “You weren’t trying to jump out the box. You were able to keep your head like I did!” 

“Yeah… I’m not affected by Veela Magic.”

“So Veela… They don’t affect everyone the same then?” Hermes said, a smile on his face. He wasn’t broken or something. It was normal!

“That’s right...”

“Why is that?”

“Well, er…” Charlie said, a hand to the nape of his neck the same way Ron did when he was worried about something. “Veela magic only affects men who are attracted to women.” 

The cold feeling in Hermes’s gut was back tenfold. Hermes wanted the floor to swallow him up. He felt like crying.

“I… I’m-- I’m… I thought… So that means…” Hermes let out nonsensically.

“Doesn’t have to mean anything you don’t want it to mean,” Charlie said, coming close and putting a comforting hand on Hermes’s shoulder.  “In my case I’m not really attracted to, well, anyone, so I’m spared the whole Veela horndog nonsense. And you… You’re young and don’t have to have it all figured out right this moment. You can figure out who you are, and who you like, or don’t like, at your own pace. You’ve got plenty of time.”

Hermes swiped at his eyes, feeling tears trying to make their way down his face.

“Did- did anyone else notice?” Hermes murmured as he gave a sniff.

“Notice what? You not reacting? I don’t think so. They were all much more intent on making spectacles of themselves for the Veelas,” Charlie said with a smile.

“I’m already so different from everyone… Muggleborn and a-a bookworm… I don’t want this too!”

“I know…” Charlie said with a sympathetic look. “Want me to escort you back to the tent and make an excuse that you’re ill? Or hang here a bit then go back to the game? Whatever you need, we’ll do.”

Hermes thought a moment before deciding to go back to the game. Charlie did a spell to make Hermes’s face not be so obviously swollen from tears (’Handy spell that! Don’t want the other dragon wranglers to see you cry over a baby dragon being hatched!’)  and they decided the excuse for their absence would be they decided to use the loo before the game got going and the crowds got so thick.

As Hermes slid into his seat, Ron handed over his omnioculars for him to use.

“Recorded their entrances for you. Blimey, Hermes, I know you don’t care much for Quidditch, but this is one of the best parts!” he smiled, showing him the cool moves the different players did as they burst into the stadium and describing each one in detail. “And check out Krum! He’s the absolute best player in the world! And practically our age! We could know him. Can you imagine?”

Hermes played along with Ron’s enthusiasm for the game, and found it quickly became real. Ron didn’t seem to have noticed anything, and Hermes felt his body ease with relief. If anyone would notice something was amok with him, it’d be Ron. He felt a warm comfort as his friend put their heads together so he could describe each of the players for Hermes as they looked into the omnioculars. Ron was always so thoughtful that way… And his hair smelled something divine.

—-

FIFTH YEAR

“So… I’m gay.”

“I know.”

“What?” Hermes let out, staring agog at Ginny. “How did you know?”

“Well, I didn’t know-know, but I was pretty certain,” she replied with a shrug, leaning back on the dusty fourposter they sat on. They hadn’t gotten around to cleaning this Grimmauld room yet, they were so busy with their conversation. “I mean, Ron and Harry each have noticed their fair share of girls by now, between Veelas, and Cho… And you never have seemed to notice any girls.”

Ginny and Hermes had been a touch closer since attending the Yule Ball together the previous year, and his fourth year at Hogwarts had made him take the time to figure out who he was, and who he liked, just as Charlie had said he would.

Who was he?  Hermes Granger. Muggleborn. Gay. Who did he like? men, it seemed. And one in particular. Hermes kept trying to quiet the crush he’d been growing, but he could no longer deny the feelings that had been growing for Ron since third year.

“I haven’t told anyone else… Well, Charlie knows I’m not straight because of that whole Veela incident. And Viktor knows since, well… We snogged and all…”

“Hah, yeah, I’d say that’d lead to him knowing!” Ginny snorted with a good-natured grin. “Are you planning on telling Harry and Ron?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Hermes fretted, biting his lower lip. “It could change a lot of things…”

“Want me to feel it out for you? Not you being gay, but gay people in general? Just make sure you feel extra safe?”

“I don’t know that you need to do that. It’’s one thing for it to be gay people in theory, but quite another for it to be your friend and dormmate, so I’m not sure how much security I’d get with it. Thank you for the offer though.”

“Of course!” said Ginny before giving Hermes a hug. “Thank you so much for trusting me with this. I’m sure it will all go fine, though! I mean, it’s Harry and Ron!”

“Yes, I’m sure….”

“If they give you crap I’ll hex them.”

“I can hex them myself, but thank you for the offer.”

“Hex who?” came Ron’s voice from the hall coming into the bedroom.

“Snape, “ Ginny coolly lied. “How long you been out there.”

“Just escaped, haven’t I?” he said sitting on the bed beside Hermes. He was a bit covered in dust and sweaty. “Oh! This is a brilliant way to escape Mum. She won’t want to have to huff it up five flights.”

“She can just Apparate, can’t she?” Hermes suggested.

“She doesn’t like Apparition all that much, so hopefully she won’t. I just want to hang out with my mate, and I guess you too Ginny.”

“Thanks much, Ron,” Ginny said with a two fingered salute he returned. “I’ll go see what the twins are up to.”

“Maybe she’ll lay off a bit when Harry gets here?”

“She didn’t when I got here,” Hermes noted.

“Oh right.” Ron laid back on the bed and put his arms behind his head. He’d grown even taller over the summer, and laid out as he was Hermes found it hard to think straight. “Well, at least for now we get some time just you and me. We need to make sure to keep a habit of it this year. I miss it when we don’t have that. ”

“You do?”

“‘Course I do,” Ron said, giving a punch to Hermes’s arm that hurt a bit, but made him smile. “I know this isn’t much of a vacation for you, but I’m glad you came.”

Hermes couldn’t imagine being anywhere else, really. Even though Grimmauld place was dusty, dark and highly disturbing, it was worth sacrificing any trip with his parents to spend more time with Ron. And Harry too, of course.

–

SIXTH YEAR

Hermes had been feeling rather giddy that evening. He had successfully asked Ron to the Slug Club Christmas Party earlier that week, and he’d been thoroughly blissed out ever since. Sure, it wasn’t really a date. He couldn’t very well say it was one, of course- Ron was straight and Hermes hadn’t told anyone but Ginny he was gay…  But this certainly felt like a date and he could pretend, dammit. Ron looked happy to be his guest for the party, and Hermes was looking forward to seeing him in the dress robes the twins had gotten him.

“Hermes?”

He looked up from his homework to see a teary eyed Ginny approaching him in the common room. Dean had come in not long before, but had made a beeline for their dormitory.

“Are you alright?” he said standing from his chair, hoping Dean hadn’t done something to hurt her.

“I need to talk to you in private.”

“Okay…” He quickly gathered his work into his bookbag and followed her down the cooridor.

“Hermes. I’m… You’ll never forgive me, and you shouldn’t… But I can’t let you walk into this without knowing. I’m… I’m so so so sorry!”

“What are you sorry for?”

“I… I got into a fight with Ron. He and Harry walked in on me and Dean snogging, and he was doing his usual overprotective brother act and trying to shame me for kissing my effing boyfriend… And I was popping off- and then I… I told him he was the only one who thought it was disgusting because he had no experience, then I said Harry had snogged Cho and… I mentioned. Oh fuck–”

“What?”

“I said you had snogged Viktor! I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking and now they know. I’m so so so sorry!”

Hermes couldn’t breath.

“I’m so sorry, I said it and then not a second later I realized what it meant for me to have said it. I pointed my wand at them and told them not to tell anyone- I don’t know how to obliviate someone safely or I would. I’m so so sorry, Hermes. I didn’t mean to tell your secret.”

“Did… What did they say?”

“Not much. After I told them not to tell anyone, Harry said they wouldn’t, and Ron nodded- and then I ran straight here to tell you what happened.”

Hermes quietly leaned against the wall and slid to the ground, numb.

“No one else knows. I’m so sorry. Can I do anything?”

Hermes shook his head. Nothing could be done. They knew. Harry and Ron knew. He was out.

Hermes waited up as late as he could in the Common Room before slipping into his four poster. He set a tempus spell to wake him so he could avoid Harry and Ron that morning as well. He got up before them, went to the kitchens to eat, and then went straight back to his four poster. He didn’t have it in him to go to class, and instead spent most of the day getting ahead on homework, conjuring a flock of birds, and napping.  

“Hermes?” he heard Harry’s voice outside his fourposter. The room was quite dark. He must have slept a good portion of the day away.  He couldn’t answer, for fear that his voice would wobble and give out.

“We have sandwiches,” came Ron’s voice.

Hermes had to admit, breakfast was at least twelve hours away and his stomach was growling. He opened the curtains to see his best friends.

“Sandwich?” asked Harry, giving Ron a nudge that prompted him to proffer a napkin full of what must have been sandwiches. Hermes gave a shrug and took the proffered bundle of sandwiches.

“You missed class today,” said Harry.

“Yes I did.”

“Mind if we sit?”

Hermes shook his head. Harry sat on the edge of the bed, while Ron stood by looking for a place to put his hands, finally settling on his pockets.

“So…” Hermes began, deciding it best not to delay the inevitable. “Ginny told you that… That-”

“That you snogged Viktor Krum,” Ron finished for him, frowning at the floor.

“Yes… that,” Hermes said with a rough swallow.

“So does that mean you’re gay then? Or…” Harry trailed off.

Hermes slowly nodded.

“How’d you know?” Ron asked, sharply looking Hermes in the eye for the first time.

“Oh, erm…” said Hermes, thinking back to the Veelas he’d seen a few years prior. “I suppose at the Quidditch World Cup.”

“Oh… When you… Was it seeing Krum?” Ron frowned, while Harry nervously looked between the two of them.

Hermes was about to protest it was the Veela, but Harry interrupted with a–

“And that’s fine!” Harry said, looking like he wanted the conversation to end quickly, as he normally did whenever anyone talked about anything remotely personal. “You know it doesn’t matter that you’re… you’re gay or whatever, right? Not to us.”

They looked to Ron, who nodded as well.

“I promise, this won’t affect our friendship. Things between us all are completely platonic,” Hermes said, almost desperate to make eye contact with Ron especially. “You mean so much to me, and I just… I don’t know what’d I’d do if you stopped being my friends…”

He felt himself wanting to cry and swiped at his eyes before he could properly start.

“We’re still your friends, you daft bugger,” Ron said, before putting a hand to his mouth. “Can I say that? I’m sorry.”

“As long as we can call you that, I think I’ll let it slide” Hermes said with a smile.

“Oh like you ever swear,” Ron teased back. Peace seemed to have been restored, but Ron still looked a bit down. “Well… I’m gonna go off for a bit…”

Ron left the room without another word.

“Do you think he’s really ok with this?” Hermes asked Harry.

“Sandwiches are from him,” Harry said rather vaguely. This was as close to talking about feelings he and Harry had ever gotten, and neither were comfortable with that prospect. Harry continued to look at Hermes in a plaintive sort of way. “Er, well…. Maybe Ginny would explain it better.”

“Ginny’s done more than enough ‘explaining’ thank you very much,” Hermes said crossing his arms. “Why don’t you join Ron. I’ll be awful company.”

“You’ll come to class tomorrow, though, right?”

“I suppose I must. Thank Ron for the sandwiches.”

—-

The next morning Hermes woke early again, but instead of running away he waited for Ron and Harry in the common room. A feeling of deep relaxation had seeped into him. He was reminded of when he’d try to bring all the groceries into the house in one go for his parents- the bags cutting into his fingers as he precariously tried to balance them and not drop anything, and the strange elation he felt upon reached the kitchen island without dropping anything.

The triumphant unencumbered feeling was quashed rather quickly as he made his way to breakfast with Harry and Ron. Harry seemed his normal self, but Ron was in a dark mood no one could escape. He sat at breakfast stabbing his potatoes with much more violence than any starchy vegetable required, was being oddly icy and indifferent with Hermes during class, and even went to Quidditch practice snarling at everyone as if they too were errant potatoes that needed a lesson taught to them.

By the morning of the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin Hermes had enough and was barely able to be in Ron’s grouchy presence. Upon walking into the Great Hall, though, Hermes couldn’t resist checking to make sure Ron was doing alright with his pre-game jitters. As usual Ron’s nerves were shot, until Harry seemingly had put luck potion into the redhead’s juice. Hermes couldn’t believe Harry would stoop so low, and all through the game Hermes glowered as Ron played amazingly well, culminating in a fantastic Gryffindor victory. The whole of Gryffindor was so ecstatic they decided to throw a victory party.

Hermes couldn’t be happy for them, knowing Harry and Ron had cheated, but when he went to call them out Harry revealed there was no potion used at all. It was merely a trick to get Ron into a better mindset for the game.

“You added Felix Felixis to Ron’s juice this morning, that’s why he saved everything!” Ron said imitating Hermes’s uppish tone well. “See! I can save goals without help. Might not be an International Quidditch star, but I can play well.”

“I never said you couldn’t– Ron, You thought you’ve been given it too!“

Ron strode past Hermes without acknowledging him, broomstick on his wide shoulders.

“Er, shall… shall we go up to the party then?” Harry asked.

“You go! I’m sick of Ron at the moment,” he said storming out of the changing rooms. Why was Ron acting this way? They’d been getting on just fine, hadn’t they? Ron didn’t mind that Hermes was gay, did he? Even if he did, why would he be in a such a foul mood with everyone else?

Hermes went to the common room, where the party was in full swing. Alcohol was definitely involved creating a scene Hermes had little interest in. He was about to go up to his dorm room when he spotted Ron, wrapped in Lavender Brown’s arms, the two snogging as if it were the end of the world. A sickening sensation of falling came over Hermes, though he still stood on his feet quite steadily. Heart in his throat, and too many bodies between him and his dorm room, Hermes fled from the Common room to a small classroom down the hall.

Hermes had always known there was no chance between him and Ron. Ron liked Veela. He liked Madame Rosmerta. And now, he liked Lavender Brown. Buxom beautiful blonde women, that’s what Ron liked; Not bookish, brown, blokes. Not Hermes.

Hermes conjured some bird around him, hoping route spellwork might calm his flayed nerves, but any plans to gather himself together were quickly quashed when the door behind him burst open.

Ron came in laughing, pulling Lavender by the hand. “Oh,” he said, drawing up short at the sight of Hermes.

“Oops!” said Lavender as she backed out of the room giggling.

The door swung shut behind her. There was a horrible, swelling, billowing silence. Hermes stared at Ron, who refused to look at him, but said with an of mixture of bravado and awkwardness, “Hi… Didn’t see you at the party!”

Hermes didn’t know what possessed him to do it, but before he could think he shouted ‘Oppugno!’ and the birds he’d conjured rained down upon Ron like a hail of bullets, scratching and pecking at him as he yelped and covered his face with his hands.

Hermes didn’t care if boys shouldn’t cry. He ran down the hall to find another room and sobbed, unable to stop himself.

—

The next day the whole school was talking about it. Lavender had told Parvati, who had told Susan and Padma, who had told other people- and finally the whole school knew.

Hermes was jealous of Lavender. Hermes was gay for Ron.

He’d been straight up asked if he was gay by a Ravenclaw, and instead of lying he said yes. He hadn’t meant to, but he was so used to answering questions first and accurately that he’d shocked himself when he said it. 

Now everyone’s eyes were on him as he went through the halls the next few weeks. 

In class Ron ignored him, while Lavender pawed at him. Harry doggedly looked ahead and tried to act like nothing was happening, or glared at onlookers, but it was a bit hard for Hermes to ignore the whispers. Perhaps Harry was better at it as he was so used to rumors flying about him. Hermes was used to being ignored, and the sudden lack of anonymity was jarring.

Ginny made a point of walking with Hermes, and got as many friends as she could to do the same. Much of Gryffindor had rallied around him for meals, and it was a good thing too, because the rumor mill was getting particularly vicious one night at dinner.

“I mean are any of us actually surprised he’s a flaming homosexual?” said Zacharias Smith rather loudly at the Hufflepuff table. “He’s always been a bit of a limp-wristed bookworm. Don’t drop your soap around him! I heard he’s tried to go down on like all the male professors to get such good grades.”

“That’s it! I’m gonna remove your balls, Smith!” Ginny growled, bursting up from the table in a fury. Harry had similarly raised his wand, as well as a few other students.

“Don’t!” Hermes let out, but behind them there was a blur  of someone who kept moving forward, and Smith was on the ground in moments his face bleeding.

“You shut your fucking mouth, Smith! You shut your fucking mouth!” Ron was growling as he continued to pummel the blonde. Smith didn’t take it lying completely down, and rolled Ron’s head into the bench seat as he tried to punch and kick back.

“Mr Weasley! Mr Smith! What are you doing? Stop fighting this instant!” came the cry of Professor McGonagall, as she and a few other teachers flew from the Head Table. Ron punched the Hufflepuff a few more times until Harry and Neville pulled him off.

“‘E attaged me for no reason a’ all!” Smith lied as he wiped the blood from his mouth.

“That’s not true, professor, he was saying absolutely atrocious things about Hermes!” Lavender said, and many other students were nodding alongside her from the tables.

“I’d do it again!” Ron spat, wiping at the blood dripping down from his eyebrow.

“Yes, I’m sure you would,” McGonagall said, and Hermes was certain he saw a small smirk cross her thin mouth.

“Well, twenty points from both houses,” Sprout said.

“Bud he jumbt me!” Smith complained.

“Yes, that’s why we’re only taking the twenty from our house for your bullying, Smith,” Sprout said. “Best get you both to the hospital wing.”

“I don’t need to go to the hospital wing,” Ron said, swiping at his eyebrow.

“I’ll accompany them to my office for detention assignments as well as the hospital,” said McGonagall.

Hermes and Harry went to follow, but McGonagall stopped them with a quick gesture.

Just as many students were looking at Hermes as before, but he felt impervious to the stares. The only eyes that mattered were Ron’s as he glanced back at Hermes while being escorted from the Great Hall.

Later that night Harry and Hermes waited for Ron to come back, and when it was quite late he came through the portrait hole, a black eye forming.

“Oh no!” Hermes let out. “I thought you were going to go to the hospital wing.”

“I did. Fight like a Muggle get healed like a Muggle. Should’ve hexed his stupid mouth off,” Ron muttered sitting next to Hermes on the settee.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Of course I did!” Ron said, looking to Harry for back up.

Harry fervently nodded in agreement. “Of course he did!”

“Well, at least let me heal you up. I’ll get some dittany.”

“I’ll get it,” Harry said, going up the stairs, leaving Ron and Hermes behind.

“You can’t go about fighting everyone. You two are ridiculous,” Hermes said, sitting back in his chair. 

“We’re not! People can’t talk that way about you, Hermes!” Ron said, his large fists balled so tight his bruised knuckles had gone white. Hermes took one of Ron’s hand to inspect the knuckles.

“I’m used to bullying because of what I am already,” he hummed. “This isn’t all that different really.”

“They didn’t try to say you don’t earn your grades because you’re Muggleborn, though. They didn’t try to make you out as some kind of… I don’t even know what word there is for it. It was sick.”

“Well, please don’t punch the next person who says something. You could get hurt more seriously than you already did,” Hermes said, thumb grazing near Ron’s cut in his eyebrow. Ron shut his eyes a moment and the two of them sat, just listening to each other’s breaths  “Thank you, though. For-- for standing up for me like that. I’m glad you… you still care.”

“Are you mad? Of course I care!” Ron said with a roll of his eyes.

“Well… After everything, you’ve been so mad at me, and then I attacked you, and now the rumors about me…”

“Which rumors?” Ron asked, expression closed, all except his eyes that pierced through any composure Hermes had.

“Well, the one really. The one about how I’m…” Hermes had to gather his courage to finish his sentence, “I’m jealous of Lavender.”

Ron’s breath seemed to stop, and so did Hermes’s.

“People are saying I’m jealous of Lavender and that’s why I attacked you with birds,” Hermes said, feeling his face begin to heat up. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done it.”

“Why did you then?”

“What?”

“Why’d you attack me with the birds if you weren’t jealous.”

“Well… The truth is…” Hermes couldn’t think of a good answer for that that would pass true muster. Ron was looking at him so fervently he decided lying made little sense. Even if it came to nothing, Hermes couldn’t keep up his facade with Ron a moment longer. He’d been hiding enough of himself. “The truth is, I am jealous.”

Ron’s eyebrows disappeared into his fringe, and his mouth almost hung open. “You said... You said it was platonic between us.”

“I’m sorry,” Hermes said quickly before pressing on. “I’ve… I’ve fancied you for ages, but I know you don’t feel the same. That’s why I’ve never said anything til now. Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry… I know you’re not… like me, and this doesn’t change anything in our friendship and–”

Ron’s lips met his, and Hermes froze in surprise. It was the tenderest most beautiful kiss he could have imagined. It ended all too soon though, as Harry’s footsteps echoed into the room, and they wrenched apart right before he rounded the corner.

He looked between his friends in a curious manner, before placing the dittany and a flannel between them.

“I’m a bit tired. Going off to Bedfordshire,” he let out, wincing at himself before leaving.

They were both red in the face and nervously began to laugh.

“I guess I better fix you up, then,” said Hermes, taking the flannel and applying  dittany to Ron’s wounds. Ron gave a small hiss as the wound closed up in his eyebrow.

“Thanks.”

“Not a problem,” said Hermes, stopping up the bottle again. “I suppose we ought to go to bed then?”

“Not yet, no,” Ron said, leaning over to gently hold Hermes’s chin and bring him in for another kiss. Hermes gratefully returned it, and was surprised at how quickly it became heated, burning through him, and growing a deep hunger within him that had nothing to do with food. As they came up for a bit more air, Ron let out snort.

“What’s so funny?”

“How daft the two of us are. You jealous over Lavender, and me over Krum.”

“Viktor? That was two years ago!”

“Well I didn’t know that! I only found out a month ago. He’s an international Quidditch player, and you snogged him. Plus, he was your ‘sexual awakening’ or whatever.”

“He was not!”

“You said you figured out you were gay at the Quidditch World Cup.”

“That was because I had no interest in the Veela. Not because of Viktor. I didn’t even know Viktor then.”

“Doesn’t stop you from thinking he’s good looking,” Ron said with a shrug, putting a hand on his neck.

“Oh ho! Who had a sexual awakening over Krum now?” Hermes laughed, delighted at the way Ron’s ears flamed up. “Frankly I was more distracted by you at the World Cup as you shared your omnioculars with me…”

“You were?” Ron smiled broadly.

“Yes,” Hermes smiled back, before it faltered. “So… I said I fancy you, but you haven’t actually said anything like that to me…”

“I was just kissing you!”

“You’ve been doing plenty of kissing lately,” Hermes said archly.

“Okay, that’s fair enough…” Ron said putting his head down. “I just… I was feeling down, and thought maybe it’d be easier to get over you if I tried things out with Lavender… She was there and believed in me… You were into famous Quidditch players, and said it was platonic between us- while she fancied me, of all people. I hadn’t a clue you might like me back. ”

“I do like you. Quite a lot, actually.”

“And I’ve fancied you for ages. Never thought it could actually happen though. Was bloody brilliant kissing you, finally.”

“It was bloody brilliant,” Hermes grinned.

“Let’s make a habit of it,” Ron said leaning in for another kiss.

“Are we… Are we going to be a couple then?” Hermes whispered as Ron’s mouth made its way down the column of his neck.

“Yeah,” Ron whispered back against his skin. “

“Publicly?”

“Is there another way to be a couple?” Ron asked, perplexed.

Hermes leaned back to stare at Ron, and take him all in. “You’re bloody brilliant, you are.”

“That’s my line,” Ron replied, before quieting Hermes with a kiss.

—-

just to be clear, Lavender wasn’t maliciously trying to out Hermes- this was the 90s and people were less aware of how to treat things like this then. 

So hope you guys liked it! If you did, let me know in the tags or comments! :D

[toddandersvn]

I see a lot of people don’t liking skam italia S3 I didn’t watch it live so I don’t know what was being said during the season but why do a lot of people think it didn’t live up to the potential?

hey anon!

quick disclaimer: i liked season 3, but it’s definitely not my fave out of all of the ‘noora’ seasons, like season 2 was for the ‘isak’ season.

quick disclaimer bis.: this is my opinion. If any of you are reading this and want to add your opinion in the replies or reblogs or tell me why you think i’m wrong, feel free:)

and i’m a blabble mouth so it’s all under the cut because i dont wanna clog the tag and feeds🌻

basically, i loved incantava in s1, i loved the banter they had. If you remember Besse changed edo’s line after ele said ‘what a nice person you are’. In the og he said ‘who are you’ or something along those lines, but besse made him say ‘thank you’ and ele bounced right ofg that line into her perfect roast. Even the ‘sei bellissima cazzo’ clip had the same level of banter and chemistry. ‘you haven’t answered my texts’ ‘yeah’, but also the way she kept sayin ‘ahhh’ when he was talking. What I think changed the most in their dynamic for me was the long wait and how nervous edo looked before saying it, like you could feel the nerves and that he really meant it and by that point they had everything I had and I was hyped.

Then came the summer, i’m setting the scene here: i log on to twitter, to see there are rumours that skamit may have decided to swap s2 and s3, cue the_best_of_both_worlds_hannahmontana.mp3 because it was. It, for one, meant that i would get martino’s season sooner (but that’s not what you asked) and two, that incantava’s dynamic would be different. It meant that when the season would start they would have known each other for a year, grown together, talked more, their friendship or banter would have evolved. perfection. i kept imagining scenarios in my head even though i knew i probably wouldn’t see much as it was a boysquad season but still, i was hyped and my imagination was going wild.

Then came season two, such a good season, yes you can ask antis and they would tell you otherwise but i can tell you what i know, this season did so much for me, and it means so much to me. It helped me through so much and i’m really glad i watched it live. Besse did some minor changes that in the end changed the story but still made sense and made me want to walk through fire if it meant any of the characters would never be hurting again.

And even though ele essentially wasn’t in s2 i think that her talk with edo during the first clip again showed how well they worked together and how great they could have been

Then s3. In my opinion too many changes happened at once so it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where things sorta fell through but, just a reminder, timvision (the production company) changed ceo or ceo-equivalent to a greedy money hungry guy who didn’t want to produce anything for free (aka a show like skam) so skamit became private and only for people who paid for a specific italian streaming service and besse was too busy editing and working on s2 so he hired ludovico di martino aka ludo 2.0 to direct on s3. And he did great, honestly props to the man because artistically s3 is amazing. but it’s not a skam.

For s3 most of the episodes were under 16 minutes, probably due to money hungry McGee (but maybe not) but different directors have different views so having the show be seen from someone else’s point of view, the outcome was bound to be different from besse’s. We don’t know exactly how much besse worked on s3, we know he edited some of it, but maybe he wrote it and did the storyboard and s3 would have had the same outcome if he shot it himself, but that is still a mystery.

As far as scenario goes, because the episodes were so short, and t*mvision gave up on the transmedia entirely and we barely got chats, the show (at least to me) felt empty. It felt like nothing really happened because we got like 4 minutes of clips during the week and a longer one on fridays, but since so many seasons were going at the same time, 6 epsiodes dropped on fridays and skamit sort of got lost under the pile because it just wasn’t really exciting? i dont know if that’s the right word but yeah. ALSO i have to say i have not done a full rewatch of s3 yet, i have only rewatched clips and parts i really liked, but i’ve heard it does better as a tv show than as a “skam format” which makes sense to me when i look at the way season three has been filmed. Basically a mutual of mine (hi elle if you’re reading this!!) has said that it actually works when you watch it as episodes as a whole and don’t wait for clips. So that, anon, is probably why you don’t see what we saw watching it live.

To conclude (yes i’m writing a conclusion, it feels appropriate), i think the reason why we live-watchers were disappointed and thought it didn’t live up to its potential was because they were set up so well in season one and two, but also we saw season one and two and how good those were so our expectations were so high, and maybe that’s where we fell through. If we didn’t have expectations we probably would have *loved* this season, but we expected martino, but dude this ain’t it. Also ele was like one of my favourite skamverse characters because i see so much of myself in her and i think i just wanted the best for her because i was projecting?

so yeah anyways that’s my very long take on it, i never wrote anything about it before but it felt good to write:) if you have anymore follow up questions or things weren’t clear feel free to drop by my ask, i’d be so happy to answer🌻

[moonasheschevalier]

Svtfoe ended and that’s good.

- This show was called “Star vs the Forces of Evil”. Basically there were no forces of evil. Never at all. Perhaps only... Glossaryck or every human being in the show. It’s not even the irony. - Every so called “villain” wasn’t really a villain, but some “positive“ characters were pictured as total a*****es suddenly. Why? Cuz obviosly the writers needed a temporary solution to the sh*t-we-got-no-villains-problem. Nicely done... by ruining some other characters totally. Like Moon. (Ludo who suffered from the abuse, Toffee who just was protecting his people but never betrayed his kind, Mina who was just an insane one who needed some mental help and was ignored betrayed by Solaria in the end; While the whole HMC were abominations, and Moon? No matter how hard you try to show through flashbacks that she’s good what she did in the end was so gross and completely OOC that I want to forget everything I know after the finale “arc”). Some people say “but that’s good!11 that means the things aren’t always just black or white, there’s always something in between“. I suppose some people don’t understand the difference between “not always b/w thingy“ and “bad writing/complete OOC/rushed endings/horrible examples of teens behavior and bad messages to the young audience“. - Magic as a source of all the problems/war conflicts? Yeah, sure, just as a nuclear weapon or any weapon that people use in wars to obtain power/ destroy the enemy in the real world, our sweet real human world. Oh, by the way, those worlds in the shows? Just collided. Is there any like nuclear Glossaryck to kill so the humanity might live happily ever after? - Like mewmans won’t fight with monsters in the future. Like there won’t be any fights/wars between real humans, mewmans and monsters. And don’t forget demons. WHAT A HAPPY ENDING. - Seems like Glossaryck wanted to commit a suicide all these years. - I just love how Solaria did not give a f*** about Mina.  - Those ghosts-queens never did anything except helping to destroy the magic in the end. Where were they? They could’ve helped their flesh and blood every time they’ve got stuck in the Magic Dimension. Ghosts-Queens were used in the end just as what, a good looking but totally senseless scene? Or just to make a point to the fans for buying useless svtfoe books? (Actually I prefer the books over the second half of the last season so they are not so useless tbh). - Where were the creators of the show with the “Toffee was right” when a lot of Toffee fans were attacked by the toxic part of the fandom? All this madness all the deaths of the mewmans/monsters could be avoided but Glossaryck never tried to talk out the things normally with others. But, of course, better to destroy all the audience who ever shipped Moontoffee with the “He killed my mother“ bs. Now we all know that Glossaryck was there all along knowing everything not telling anything.  - Svtfoe crew did see that people liked Moontoffee ship, nobody hated or was against the canon MoonRiver, we all were ok with AUs but... you know, you better treat your audience nicely. Instead the creators destroyed every reason to like those two characters, the shippers were treated by the fandom badly for shipping pairing that had an “abuse”. Kinda. Now it’s Moon is the baddy and Toffee is a gooddie. Lmao. - Oh, remember the time when we wanted to see more Janna and Jackie...and just to get them in the end for... I don’t understand for what.  - “The Marco Harem” thingy makes me wanna ship only yuri ships.  - The “shipping drama” you call it? Let’s call it a “shipping bs”. - All ships were ruined and butchered. Ecxept St*rco. Well, they were ruined too, and became most gross canon I ever know. Probably MoonRiver are close to it now too (does River even know?)... I suppose nobody hated the shipping more that the SVTFOE crew did. - All ships: Jantom, Manna, Tomstar, Kellco, Markapoo etc., were used to keep the audience till the end at least with something. Cuz the main story became such a huge mess that without shipping, the greatest distraction tool in the history, that was impossible to watch the show. - It’s good that Star is bisexual, it’s bad she still ended up with a guy. What is worse - with a wrong guy. Who, thanks to the wonderful writing skills of the writers, was a liar and cheater. - It’s good that Jackie got a girlfriend, it’a bad that’s wrong gf. It should’ve been Star. - In the end we got forced St*rco. But with at what price? Personally I can’t stand Marco and Star both now, after all the crap, lie and pain they caused to their exes and their families. I’ve been waiting for a latin lead character in a show like this for years and now both characters dissapointed me greatly. - The Beach Day episode had no sense. Two worlds collided JUST BECAUSE. And no apocalypse happened, no one got killed, nothing was destroyed. Two worlds should’ve been staying separately forever, as Marco and Star. But two cheating and lying teens wanted to be together so badly so f*** the logic. - The happy but bitter and well handled ending was possible. I remember “His Dark Materials”, trilogy of fantasy novels by Sir Philip Pullman, where in the end [SPOILER] Lyra and her boyfriend are separated forever, because it’s impossible for them to live in the different world/universe. But they promised to remember each other. The Beach Day photo and the memento point of St*rco love could be just as beautiful as in “His Dark Materials”.  - It is stated that Svtfoe takes a great resemble of Sailor Moon which had a lot of its own flaws. Instead of taking the best from SM, Sv takes the worst, like UsagiSeya love which was better and so more realistic than UsaMamo (Tomstar = UsaSeya; St*rco = UsaMamo), making even a worse copy of UsaMamo canon you can’t stand. - Want a better example? Miraculous Ladybug. The way this show handles shipping and caring for its audince is so better and different from Sv! And despite Adriaenette are the endgame and everybody knows that, it’s a good ship that isn’t rushed, which gets a proper development in every episode. And you know what? I can ship them and Alyaenette, and Lucanette and feel absolutely great about it.  - There are so many other problems with SVTFOE, I wish I could remember and mention it here, but there’s no point, the show is dead, thank goodness. I was kinda done with show after they butchered Toffee/Moontoffee, and now completely done after they forced St*rco and ruining them too, killing off all the amazing development of Tomstar. And, most importantly - destroyed a lot of characters (MHC, Gloss, Moon etc). - Tbvh, the show had so much potential and instead they just used the shipping and handled it horribly on every possible level. - Svtfoe was an amazing, great explosion of the ideas, beautiful designs, characters (Eclipsa’s family) and worlds. Now I can thank this show only for one thing: for the creativity of its fandom. Your OCs are magnigicent, people, and your stories about them are so much... better than the canon. - TEENS ARE NOT THAT DUMB. And I’m saying it as a grown up, dangit. P.S. That’s an opinion, and if you feel personally attacked by it - don’t, I wanted to rant, and so I did. You enjoyed the show? Good for you, don’t waste your time on trying to prove me being wrong. The show is dead, this opinion doesn’t affect anything or anybody from the crew. Cuz as far ad it seems to me, they’ve been/blind deaf enough all the time.  Also, if anyone considers it as a disrespect towards show creators - it’s a critical response nothing more, nothing less.

[isaackuo]

My Predictions for Doop-Doop ... Gone Baby Gone

We have episode descriptions, but some of them have been deceptive and at least one (A Spell with No Name) was just completely wrong. So whatever, I think it's still fun to make guesses about what will happen.

Doop-Doop

My early guess was that this had to do with Ludo playing basketball with Dennis. However, we've already seen that clip in Ludo's last episode, so thankfully that won't be the case. Ugh ... I really haven't enjoyed these Ludo episodes much, and it feels like they aren't really going anywhere. The upcoming episode descriptions don't sound like there's much room for Ludo's story to converge again with the main story. If Quasar Caterpillar was really it for Ludo? I guess that's an adequate amount of closure for his character, but it's disappointing it took so many Ludo episodes to reach it.

Star attempts to figure out what to do with her life after she is not responsible for Mewni any longer.

This sure sounds like a straightforward episode description, and it mirrors Marco figuring out what to do with his life in Knight Shift. And of course, it makes perfect sense given Star's breakup with Eclipsa in The Monster and the Queen (to recap - after Star found out Eclipsa had lied to her, violated her with dark magic, and stole private secret stuff from her, Star ended things - offering to do just one last favor by throwing a proper coronation for her).

Okay, the events in Cornonation softened Star's attitude to Eclipsa, but also - Eclipsa has a new closest adviser. And frankly, Globgor is a lot wiser than Star Butterfly, and even more self-less. With Globgor to guide her, Queen Eclipsa truly does not need Star. So Star is free to do what she wants, free of pressing obligations for the first time in ... well, a long time.

But what the heck is the deal with the title "Doop-Doop"? "Knight Shift" made sense, but "Doop-Doop"? The fact that it makes no obvious sense is a bit ominous to me. I think we've been spoiled to something where some of the characters lose their memory from magic goop. That sounds like "Doop-Doop". But then ... meh, we've been deceived by these things before.

Well, I can't go back to my original guess. That guess makes no sense for sure. So I'll just have to bite the bullet and make a new guess, even though it's tainted by possibly deceptive released details:

Hmm ... I'm guessing Star will try to go back to just being a teenager, but she'll find that she can't. Once you grow up, you can never go back. And this may be a point of friction with Tom, who is still just a teenager. In Monster Bash, Tom noted Star should enjoy being a teenager while she could, since she'd be Queen soon enough. Well, maybe it's too late now.

Okay, I'll go out on a limb and guess that Marco is not in this episode. Maybe Marco is still in the castle being a Knight (for now), while Star first goes to her parent's Yurt home and then maybe somewhere with Tom. But throughout, she can't stop missing Marco, which complicates her thoughts about what she wants to do with herself in the future. If she's not a princess and Marco isn't a princess's squire, then there's not really a good excuse to drag Marco along with her.

But in the end? Maybe Star will figure out she doesn't really need any excuse to bring Marco along anywhere. They're still best friends after all, right?

Yeah, yeah ... just wild guesses. Probably waaaaay off.

Britta's Tacos

Marco is determined to consume 50 tacos in order to win a special prize that is being offered at Britta's Tacos restaurant.

I've long had this crazy guess that Marco will run into Jackie Lynn Thomas in this episode, and they'll hit it off (but ultimately not get together again at the end of the episode). It's not really based on anything other than I think it would be really cool and romantically dramatic, and it would show how much Marco has learned and grown.

You know what? I'm sticking with this crazy guess. At this point, it might serve as a comparison with Tom and Star. The question is - is it important to have common interests, or can the love of your life be someone you don't really have much in common with?

For the longest time, Marco Diaz had a crush on Jackie not really knowing much of anything about her. He wasn't so much in love with Jackie herself, but the idea of Jackie (he was entirely aware of this, having explained it in the Box of Truth). Well, Jackie gave Marco a shot, and they definitely had generic fun together while it lasted. But they never really connected the way Marco has connected with those he has fun fighting alongside (Star, Hekapoo, Kelly). The day Star showed up and Marco got to fight monsters alongside her? That was the biggest thrill he'd ever had.

Ironically, Marco would have been even more into Star had he met her just a few months earlier. The whole maniacally destructive "magical princess" thing actually freaked him out at first (too much like Janna?). But Star was actually into fighting monsters with swords and other weapons long before she ever got the wand. That would have fit Marco perfectly.

But neither Jackie nor Tom share this passion for fighting. The difference is experience. Jackie's been around enough to know she doesn't have to settle for Marco (and vice versa). There's other fish in the sea.

Tom hasn't figured this out yet. He's still star-struck, the way Marco had a crush on Jackie. And Tom's less life experienced than Star is, the way Marco was less life experienced than Jackie was.

Okay, it's a bit different now; maybe right now Marco and Jackie are actually about equal in life experience and maturity. And Marco's gotten pretty smooth (if he can make an accidental fart look cool, he can make stuffing his face with dozens of tacos look cool). So they could make a good couple, basically.

But they won't do it. The underlying reason they broke up in the first place is still there ... even stronger than ever.

Hahaha ... what a crazy crazy guess. Yeah, whatever. It's just a wild wacky guess. Maybe Britta's Tacos is just what it sounds like - silly Urusei Yatsura style comedic fluff similar to Out of Business.

Beach Day

Star gets ready to actually have the day at the beach with Marco.

Regardless of the episode description, this is likely the infamous Beach Day of the Beach Day photo. The episode description for Cornonation was that Star was preparing for Eclipsa's coronation. Of course it wasn't just the preparation, it was the whole thing. Could it be a fake out? Sure, anything's possible. But look at the remaining schedule of episodes. There doesn't seem to be much room to squeeze in actual "Beach Day" in there.

I had previously guessed that Kelly would still be with Marco and Star would still be with Tom, on the assumption that Star had learned to be happy for Marco being happy. Could Jackie be with Marco? Haha, no way. Star wouldn't be so happy looking in that case, she'd be in some sort of shell shock.

No, at this point it could be a heck of a lot simpler. Star's happy because she has the status quo she's enjoyed for so long - she gets to have Tom and Marco. And Marco's happy just because he's no longer stressing himself out with trying so hard to get over Star.

And why should Marco be worried anyway? He's gotten together with at least three great girlfriends already. If he gets over Star, he can find someone else.

So everyone's happy. Star's happy. Marco's happy. Tom's happy. Until ...

Okay here's my guess. My guess is that Tom takes the Beach Day photo, and he's so excited he got such a great shot that he goes and checks how well it matches the photo in Star's purse. But Beach Day isn't the only photo in Star's purse. She also has the photo booth kiss. And that's when Tom sees Star and Marco's kiss.

And it's not like how Marco described. It doesn't look forced at all. Star and Marco both wanted to kiss. They're in love with each other and Tom can see it. He looks up at Star and Marco playing together on the beach ... and he can see it. They're freaking still in love with each other.

I'm guessing it goes down like this, because it would aesthetically mirror Just Friends and Lava Lake Beach.

In Just Friends, Star saw Marco kissing Jackie for the first time, and Star did not take it well.

In Lava Lake Beach, Marco saw Star kissing Tom for the first time, and Marco did not take it well.

In Beach Day, Tom will see Star kissing Marco for the first time, and Tom will not take it well.

Gone Baby Gone

My early guess for this episode was that it had to do with Festivia and Hekapoo. This is ruled out unless the episode description is as wrong as A Spell With No Name. (I had actually guessed it would be an "inside the wand" episode based only on the name, but this seemed to be directly contradicted by the episode description.)

Marco misplaces both Mariposa and Meteora somewhere in Hekapoo's dimension.

Assuming this episode description is correct, what is there to guess? Well, obviously we can guess how much they age in Hekapoo's dimension. That could lead to some ... uh ... awkward decisions if they'll be babies again upon return.

But also, we can guess about how much Meteora remembers of her previous life. Meteora didn't hiss at Marco at all in Cornonation, suggesting her memories/impressions from her previous life have gradually been forgotten. So, I guess this means she will have forgotten her vendetta against Princess Marco Turdina.

As for how much Meteora will age in Hekapoo's dimension? I don't know, but I'm going to guess they age to adults. I just would really love to hear Jessica Walter voice a happier kinder Princess Meteora Butterfly.

[kotoharuofficial]

The Ending of Star

So, with the final episode of Star vs. the Forces of Evil, I have to say that my disappointment with the lack in quality the show went through is astronomically high. Keep in mind, I am not a “shipper” in this show, so my opinions on it aren’t related to “who ended up with who” (though like others have said, I do have some issues with the pacing of the end game pair, however pacing is what I’m mainly going to be talking about here).

So, there are a lot of things I could mention about the ending of Star, but I’d like to take this time to say that Star vs the Forces of Evil (along with a certain other show), really is unable to like, execute having a villain in the story. In this post I’m going to be discussing the “major” villains that have been seen through out the arcs. 

Before I begin, while I am not including Ludo in this list, Ludo shows some of the greatest character development along with Buff Frog as far as “Villains” in the show go. However, Ludo is never portrayed as himself as the main dangerous villain of the show. Ludo is usually used for the more comical aspects of the show, thought there are instances like with his family where he is portrayed as a more sympathetic than evil character.

The characters I’m going to be talking about are Toffe,

Ms. Heinous (Meteora before rebirth)

And Mina Loveberry 

Toffee

Toffee is the first major villain that we are introduced to, all the way back in season one. Firstly, out of all of these villains, Toffee is the best one that was implemented in the show in both his arc and his “first death”. At the point in the series that Toffee is introduced, we are unaware of the past Mewmin’s have had with the monsters until Mewnipendence Day, and even then we’re just given a slight glimpse into the problem of monsters and Mewni. The episodes prior to Buff Frog and Ludo being kicked out of the castle as Toffee takes control of Ludo’s minions is a great set up to Star’s first interaction with Toffee, and Toffee’s first death. I will add too, that if Toffee was only a minor villain in the series, and this was his permanent defeat at this point, I feel that this would be a satisfying ending to his arc. However, Toffee is a major villain so the arc continues, and again, I think this is great. Toffee lives inside the other broken half of the wand’s star, and throughout the season, Toffee takes possession of Ludo in order to regain his form, trap star inside her wand, and destroying the other half of the wand. I appreciate the build up to all of this, until he actually dies forever. Now this isn’t a decry saying that “Toffee shouldn’t have died”, because I think he totally should have. Despite that fact that the monsters had a right to feel angry over their treatment from the Mewmans, Toffee’s way of trying to achieve vengeance and freedom for his people was the wrong way of doing so. My issue is one of the first examples of pacing in Star vs not being so great. The fight between Star and Toffee was nothing, and by the time Toffee returned to his original body, he was only alive for a couple minutes afterwards. If the arc would have finished off with more of a fight, then I feel like people wouldn’t have been hoping for, and imagining that Toffee was probably going to be returning before the series is over. Over all, I think that while Toffee has some of the best villain character moments, the execution of his character at the very end fell on deaf ears as far as pacing and subtly goes. 

Ms. Heinous (Meteora)

Now we move on to a villain that I am definitely not crazy about what happened to them. I don’t really see the appeal of baby Meteora. I appreciate the fact that now Eclipsa and Globgor have a chance of raising her as a family, however, I feel like the execution of her character ended up really sloppy. 

Heinous is set up as the result of the whole world being against Eclipsa, and it shows the cruelty of Mewmans and the High Council. I understand the purpose of Heinous losing control of her monster powers when she comes back to the castle because of all of the years of repressing and not being able to express herself. Additionally, Heinous is tired. She’s tired of having to repress what she is, especially when she actually learns who she is. Unfortunately, because of her inexperience with her monster abilities, she loses control of them quite easily. Now here’s where I completely disagree with the decisions being taken towards the character of Ms. Heinous/Meteora. Instead of reaching a conclusion with Heinous’ character arc here, the character arc is merely stopped in its tracks. By making the decision to turn Heinous back into an infant, it not only “erases the damage” that was done to Meteora, but it also means that all the previous issues raised are topics that will never be discussed further. To make it short, Instead of any kind of character development, they just reset the character. Heinous and Meteora are no longer the same person, only really Meteora’s dislike of Marco stays the same. 

Mina Loveberry

Oh boy, Mina as a final villain. 

So Mina started out fine enough, she was seen as a warrior and a fighter. We learn that she’s a Solarian warrior and no one can defeat her. I wont get into my issues with “destroying the magic”, but regardless; Mina’s “defeat” was not only a let down, but it was the one moment in the show were she wasn’t really “defeated”. She lost her abilities, sure, however she still is same old Mina and no one is willing to do anything to stop her. Again, it’s slightly harder to talk about Mina’s ending arc because some of my issues involving the Solarian warrior army stem from other characters and events in SVTFoE, however the amount of “dead time” in the episode that could have been used to fill up the fight with something was frustrating to say the least. Lastly, I’m not saying that I wanted Mina to turn good, but even after watching as her former Queen’s ghost refused to help her, Mina seems to have learned nothing. There isn’t a sign of anything indicating that she has any sort of feelings of being betrayed by Solaria. Sure on one hand you can say that “Mina is crazy, so she wouldn’t change her ways”, but I counter “Mina is forever loyal to someone that she cherished more than her own life, and her response to that is nothing?” Sure this all would have worked out better maybe even if there were a few extra moments dedicated to the actual fighting in the episode.

All of this being said, the main issue with Star has ALWAYS been its take on pacing. I understand that this last season particularly was rushed in certain points, however this has never been a new problem with Star. The thing that frustrates me the most with SVTFoE, is that every time a compelling story element appears, it is wither resolved in the most anti-climatic way possible, or it’s thrown to the side, never to be heard from again. I really wish that there was an expansion or rework done on certain villains, but at least I can say that some individual characters had the ability to grown nicely throughout the seasons. I will always have much love for Tom, and I’m happy with the direction he slowly traveled in. 

[wolfinshipclothing]

Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell

-Ok, it was a bit of a dick move to name this episode after a character that appears TWO MINUTES and is not even the centre of the episode. HOWEVER i kinda see the point? The whole episode is about Ludo not letting go of his Wand-Stealing past, so the episode is named about another princess/alternate version of Star (who is cutie by the way) whose wand Ludo is trying to take. Its about Ludo running in circles and not going forward!

Or perhaps the crew wanted to troll us. Still, dick move.

-You know, i love Dennis. I REALLY DO! I think he is one of the top 5 underused characters of this series (even tho he doesn’t really bring much to the table). BUT his idea of helping Ludo move on with his life is... bring him back to the old Avarius Castle? GRANTED, maybe Dennis didn’t knew how difficcult it was for Ludo to stop trying to get the wand, so he didn’t knew how much it will hurt for him to go back to the castle... but still, Dennis should have thought about it more.

-Also, is Dennis RICH? Or did he used his parents’ money to buy the castle or what?

-It seems that Ludo’s henchmen actually does respect him and are happy to go back to work for him? Or maybe they are just being nice to him cause, you know, he is the Boss. But it felt sicnere to me? I mean, Buffrog was a criminal before going to work for Ludo (at least that what i understood), so these monsters are probably thugs too, so the whole “steal the wand” was a normal thing for them?

-Its sweet that Dennis tries to “see the best in people”, specially for someone that went tru so much abuse and negligence. That doesn’t take away the fact he is a bit innocent tho. Kind of a moral opposite of Ludo, even. 

-Ludo said he “waged war againts the Butterfly Castle for years”. So that means he had tried to take over the wand FOR YEARS withouth success? Talking about not giving up.

- “His heart is in a better place know” 

BRUTAL.

-I loved this episode, specially the ending! Ludo is one of the characters that has grown more under the course of the series, and it hasnt been easy. Ever since loosing the castle, everything Ludo has done was running in circles. When he was in the wild, he went back to trying to destroy Mewni. When that didn’t worked, he created a twisted version of his family home, all with his parents and all. And when that didn’t worked, he went back to trying to take over the wand.

Now, it seems he is FINALLY moving forward, and trying to rediscover himself... And he starts that by rebuilding his home AND reuniting with his brothers and sisters! 

God, i love that stinky bird. 10/10.

[douxreviews]

Labyrinth (1986) Review

By Juliette

There isn't anything specifically Christmas-related about Labyrinth, but I've always thought of it as a Christmas movie. We recorded it on the Christmas we first got a VCR (carefully labelled by Father Christmas as a present for Mum and Dad) and the combination of fantasy, Henson workshop creatures and a story about love and friendship certainly makes it feel Christmassy to me.

The story of Labyrinth is simple enough; young Sarah, fed up of babysitting, wishes the goblins would come and take her baby brother away, and they do. Sarah didn't mean it of course, and has to travel through the mysterious Labyrinth to rescue baby Toby from the Goblin King (not actually a goblin, but David Bowie in very tight tights). There's a pretty dark undertone to this story, as the reason the goblins take Toby away is that the Goblin King, a much older man, is in love with 14-year-old Sarah, but it manages to stay on the right side of creepy, with the shadows just giving it an edge rather than rendering it unpleasant or inappropriate.

The screenplay was written by Terry Jones, based on a story by Jim Henson and Dennis Lee. Watching the film as a child, it just seems funny and exciting, but as an adult, you can start to see the marks of Python on the film, in the best way. Who else would introduce a major character by showing him peeing into an ornamental pond? And follow that up by showing him shooting mean-spirited fairies? And who else could have written the wonderful concept of the Bog of Eternal Stench - an absurdly perfect threat for a children's movie, not too horrific, but at the same time something that sounds utterly terrible in an entertaining way to a small child.

The story is also full of the sweetness needed in these films as well. Ultimately, it's a story about friendship (though it slips in a few pleas to children to understand that life isn't fair along the way). Jones' sharp screenplay gives it bite, but its heart is soft and sweet, with gentle giant Ludo, noble Sir Didymus and scarred, lonely Hoggle reminding Sarah of the wonders of childhood even as she undergoes a rite of passage and throws away childish things, realising that childhood demons have no power over her.

The film is also both hilarious (as you'd expect) and exciting. As young children, my brother and I used to jump around on the sofa pretending to be trying not to fall into the Bog of Eternal Stench, or cower under the table calling 'Call the rocks!' And I think every little girl my age desperately wanted to be Sarah in the beautiful, just-creepy-enough ballroom dream scene, complete with magnificently 1980s huge, white, puffy ballgown and big hair (dancing choreographed by Star Trek: The Next Generation's Gates/Cheryl McFadden).

And for the grown-ups, David Bowie in eyeliner and aforementioned very tight tights. I shall say no more.

Brought alive by the great songs (of course, it's Bowie), Jones' witty script highlighted with the great voices of the Henson workshop ('Its so stimulating being your head!') and culminating in a fabulous MC Escher-inspired set-piece which we also tried unsuccessfully to replicate in the living room, Labyrinth is one of my favourite holiday films. I only hope one day, if I ever have kids, they enjoy it as much as I did!

Quotes

Sarah: I can bear it no longer! Goblin King! Goblin King! Wherever you may be take this child of mine far away from me! Goblin: That's not it! Where did she get that rubbish? It doesn't even start with "I wish!"

Worm: 'Allo. Sarah: Did you say... hello? Worm: No, I said "'allo," but that's close enough.

Goblin Cannonball: I hit something! Yes? No?

Jareth (singing): Everything I've done, I've done for you. I move the stars for no one.

Juliette Harrisson is a freelance writer, classicist and ancient historian who blogs about Greek and Roman Things in Stuff at Pop Classics.

[drac2la]

Sorry to go off, but something I’ve been thinking about.

I’ve noticed people made comments about Ludo “being a badass now” due to the new episode, but he already was? I know Toffee took the credit on half the things Ludo did in season 2, which is fair. But he’s stll carried work out on his own, to claim he doesn’t have smarts or the ability to fight would be false.

Toffee was NOT in control of Ludo, during Ludo in the WIld. That was him alone until the very end, and he conquered nature [or at least two creatures of nature] by himself with no manipulation. He used the enviorment and wits during the battle with Spider, and learned to survive. 

Ludo has grown so much as a character, and I admit he’s grown even more great in one episode alone in S4. He HAS become tougher than he was in Ludo in the Wild and I love that.

[skamamoroma]

Please tell me how you remain so positive! Negativity doesn't seem to bother you and I'm jealous tbh haha I wish I could not let it bother me when people shit on shows/characters I love but I take it so personally and I don't know how to stop it. Do you have any advice? It's just because I know how this fandom operates sometimes I watch clips and instead of enjoying the content, I end up thinking about how the fandom is gonna misconstrued certain bits of it to be ~problematic~ sigh.

Ah love. It makes me sad that your fandom experience isn’t as fun as it should be!

First of all, I haven’t seen any pointless negativity for a long while which means I must have blocked well. That’s a tool. Use it! There’s no shame in it. Fandom is a subjective experience and it’s meant to be fun! If it isn’t for whatever reason then try to solve that. You dictate your own fandom experience to a large extent.

Also, I am long in the tooth. I’ve been on tumblr since 2009. I’ve been in fandoms for way longer than that too. It’s a fun part of my day and I don’t allow it to be anything other than that. Fandoms are based on (for the most part) fictional stuff. That’s supposed to be fun and creative and thought provoking. If fictional stuff starts to become too serious then I think people need to assess their approach.

Some fandom things ARE important and do bring up very serious and tricky topics. That’s a wonderful thing. For example, mental health or sexuality to use the ones for s3 but also so so much stuff that people have experience with or that they find hard to discuss or have VERY ingrained opinions about. There are certain things I DO NOT touch because I have views which have been dictated by personal experience (one of the reasons why some elements of s6 of Skam France atm are a no go for me) and I know many will not share my view! But that’s ok. People go through things and yes that part of it means people will have opinions. That’s a great thing! It ISN’T when those opinions are forced upon others. I’m all up for constructive criticism and for important chats in fandom, also for ensuring spaces are safe and behaviour appropriate. I’m NOT up for anything that goes beyond that into pointless negativity etc. It’s not fun for me so I leave it behind or remove it.

I guess, look at it this way. If you’re in a cafe with all of your friends and you are all going to order. You say you’re getting an iced latte and everyone else doesn’t like them. Does that stop you from getting one? Does it make you like it less? Someone tells you they had a really disgusting one once and they’re bad for you. You know you drink them in moderation and love them and they are a treat for you. Should you let that one person stop you from enjoying that treat?

Apply that same logic to fandom! It’s a kinda cheesy analogy but I hope it helps!

“Problematic” is a word I wish would be removed from modern speech as well as “discourse” and a few others. True “problematic” stuff should absolutely be raised. Most stuff labelled as “problematic” is not at all. It is someone not agreeing, not liking it, not applying objectivity. If there’s a legitimate reason why something is “problematic” then I’m all for chatting about it because perhaps I have something to learn! I have learned a lot from folks in fandoms. As Elia in Skam It said, we shouldn’t be talking about stuff we don’t know anything about. We can offer a view but those who KNOW should talk about it.

No show is perfect. None. I adore Skam Italia s2 but I still recognise a few issues, for example. It doesn’t destroy my love. I recognise that cultures and countries and approaches are different, language is different, people may not approach stuff on the same way and shows should be open to criticism (which is why I think what Wtfock have done a few times is really cool of them). It’s not a crime! Being wrong isn’t a bad thing. If you’re grown up enough to realise you maybe don’t know everything and can use it as a way to learn... then use it! And shows should take the same approach if criticism is valid and constructive... so that part of fandom is a great thing I think. It’s why I’ve always been honest about, for example, the way Ludo Bessegato or David H as show runners have really not done themselves any favours at times (if we’re sticking with Skam as an example!). Does it mean I hate them?! No! Ludo Besse is someone I have great respect for in many ways, he cares a shit ton, he has serious talent but I fully recognise he can be dramatic and also huffy and can fail to receive constructive criticism at times. Doesn’t stop him being a great dude! I am sure I stuff up at times too!!

Where it is toxic and unhelpful... it is often folks taking fictional stuff far too seriously, imposing their own views which do not require consensus, failing to see nuance or simply because they wish to be cruel. None of that is helpful and if you don’t wish to see it, you don’t have to.

I guess I’m also older. Look, I’m tired 😂 all the time. I also have a mental health condition for which distraction can help MASSIVELY. Fandom is a part of my day alongside all other stuff that adds a bit of fun and creativity and you get to meet lovely people. If that’s not what fandom is to you then try hard to make it so! I think I’ve seen it all at this point. I also recognise that I am a bit older and so maybe things don’t affect me as much. I don’t give a shit what people think. Genuinely! I am entirely who I am and love what I love with all of the important caveats that needs... and so I guess this is all the advice I have! I hope it helps and that you can enjoy fandom the way it should be enjoyed.

Life is hard as hell at the moment in MANY ways. Don’t make something designed for fun and escape into another issue to tackle. Come chat any time ❤️