#Michel : before the timeline

[aaartemisia]

I still do hope that Michel would have been put in Netflix (and also a live action adaptation as well; if the series runs well with casting accuracy and story, I rather see a sequel and a prequel for Michel)

[lizzybeeee]

Someone on reddit posted a pic of the concept art characters from the DATV artbook and I'm just...so tired and disappointed.

We could have had Calpernia as a companion, not even mentioning Imshael.

This clearly shows that they initially - in whatever iteration of the game it is - cared about incorporating aspects of previous games. Imagine having Calpernia, Harding, and Imshael as companions and not having them comment/acknowledge the events of Inquisition! Imagine Calpernia talking and giving insight into Corypheous or Samson, or arguing with Harding in banter! Imagine Imshael talking about Michel deChevin or complaining that the Inquisitor stabbed them! Not to mention the other concept art that had Dorian and Isabela interacting - try making anything like that happen without acknowledging DA2 or DAI!

Can you imagine having all these characters in the game, then having the nerve to drop 'the south of Thedas is blighted and destroyed now lol' in a letter? No!

We live in the worst timeline with DATV - a game that utterly watered down, sanitized, and obliterated everything that came before it. A game that removed all mystery and intrigue, condensing it to "solas and the ancient elves did it lol' - telling us with no gravitas, bluntly stating it with the subtly and care of a fucking dragon in a tea shop. A game that, with no shame, went scorched earth with Ferelden, Kirkwall, and Orlais with the sole intent of clearing the board so that they can cultivate some new IP with the existing Dragon Age name.

What a fucking waste.

[lizardsfromspace]

Whenever people criticize Mirror Georgiou you get the response that, well, it was cool to have Michelle Yeoh on the show! And it was, but Mirror Georgiou was often such a waste of Yeoh, because for a solid two seasons her role on the show was usually to wander into a room and say something Dark. "In my timeline, I ate you," Mirror Georgiou wanders into a scene to announce for no reason, bye Mirror Georgiou! Now it's time for an action scene and an awkward attempt at pathos between you and Michael even though you're not only not Michael's mentor but a cartoon supervillain

That's the problem, really. Yeoh had a three-dimensional character to play for two episodes, and then they gave her a one-note cartoon character to play for two and a half seasons, but one whose role was often just reminding you she was there as set-up for the time travel two-parter where she kinda gets some development before going back in time for the Space CIA series movie. But also the writing was just...weird. She wasn't some edgelord saying dark things to shock everyone, she was a genocidal dictator responsible for the deaths of trillions and the extinction of entire species. But nobody in-story treated her like that. It took place in another dimension so it's okay, and Michael is just happy to be in the presence of a ghoulish monster wearing her dead mentor's face, so. It's fine.

[taylorklosscomeout138]

Where does swiftgron fit in your timeline? I thought kaylor was from 2012-13

I used to believe all love songs on Red had to be about Swiftgron because based on the Kaylor officially met in 2013 false narrative, it was impossible for songs to be about Karlie

But then I discovered the video where Taylor confirms she met Karlie at the 2008 Young Hollywood Awards so pretty much they lied about the entire tl to cover their tracks

(This is going to be a long wild ride but it's worth the read so please bare with me)

That led me to discover the 10000% proof that Begin Again is about Karlie because her full name and birth year is hidden on a car license plate in the MV. (That also led to me finding out many Red songs are about Karlie)

Taylor started officially dating Karlie in 2011, Kaylor began before Swiftgron. But by Summer of 2012 Kaylor and Swiftgron overlap. And thus we get the Folklore love triangle. "Chase 2 girls lose the 1" and she swears to Betty it was "just a summer thing"

(Which I need to fact check this for clarity, Betty August Rebekah are all Karlie. August is not a seperate person that was a bait and switch. Dianna Agron is Inez. The person Betty heard the rumours that James cheated from... how did Inez know if it was a secret? Because she was the other party in the affair. Inez derives from the Latin name AGnes)

Okay so back to "just a summer thing", well the actual confirmed Swiftgron timeline literally is called "The Swiftgron Summer" of 2012. So this makes it very obvious that the "summer thing" is when she started seeing Dianna despite being with Karlie. It is explained in Folklore that this ended their relationship initially

So now the timeline makes sm sense when you know How You Get The Girl was written about Taylor losing Karlie for 6 months due to this. And showing up to her doorstep to make it up to her after officially leaving Dianna in the Fall.

The 6 months would span the beginning of Summer, to November of 2012. I believe this is also why Red TV was released in Nov 2021. It is quite literally the same date, just rearranged.

So let's reflect back, because if Swiftgron really was only official in Summer of 2012 (which is also made apparent by Dianna and Lea Michele's timeline) and Red came out in Oct of 2012, then makes it impossible that Red songs could actually be about Dianna Agron besides the potential of a couple last minute love songs, but even then, albums are turned in months prior to the release.

Therefore, Red is likely only Liz Huett and Karlie Kloss. I was not apart of the fandom during Swiftgron, I joined way later, so I honestly do not understand how anyone ever concluded Red is about Swiftgron and didn't question that when even the masterpost makes it clear Swiftgron was mainly just a summer thing in 2012 and Dianna was with Lea Michele still in 2011. I can understand thinking Red was about her though based on just not having any other fitting muse due to the lie narrative about Kaylor.

But my friend even fact checked the one lyric on Red everyone thought to 100% be about Dianna from Holy Ground "I left a note on the door with a joke we made"

But the evidence comes from Dianna's birthday party at the end of April 2012. Whereas Taylor factually wrote Holy Ground in Feb 2012, 2 months prior to that.... which I also have no idea how that never got fact checked and was ran with.

I even believed it up until my friend told me about it a few weeks ago but that's because I've never looked into facts about the Swiftgron timeline much until finding out that the entire timeline as we knew it was a false public narrative timeline used to cover up Kaylor history of the past. So needless to say.... very shocking. And it changes everything

This basically means that Swiftgron doesn't even officially get a song until 1989- and even then it's half Karlie half Dianna as confirmed by Kimby Kloss in her messy era when she liked a post of someone saying YAIL is the Kaylor anthem and Wonderland is the Swiftgron anthem.

So there you have it. Honestly this isn't even beginning to scratch the surface because there is so many things about the timeline that have been misunderstood for so long.

Including that Enchanted off of Speak Now was the first ever song written about Karlie. It was just a fantasy song at the time, but the reason we all believed it to be about Emma Stone was because that's what she was going for. Why? Because when Taylor met Karlie for the first time in 2008 it was at the same time she met Emma Stone. The guy who introduced them said he brought Karlie and Emma over her to her at the same time. Hence why on Speak Now TV she coded Karlie as Emma with "When Emma Falls In Love".

I can definitely get into the breakdown of Red as to what songs are about Liz Huett and what songs are about Karlie if that's something you or anyone else would like! Me and my discord have already reassessed the whole album through this lens awhile ago

[sl-walker]

Self-Promotion as Distraction

Want something to read? Here's my stuff that I'd rec, along with what kind of mood it's good for. Feedback adored if you read any of these and wanna give it.

Supernatural - The (Second) Book of James - Long Good if you like stories written before Season 9, tons of angel lore and metaphysics, angel-vessel relations, Jimmy Novak, a story told backwards-and-forwards, and something with a very bittersweet ending that is not actually the ending. Some warning for tragedy, of a sort. If you love Cas and Jimmy, though, it's a hell of an adventure, especially if you like Cas as a total badass.

Star Trek: The Original Series - The Arc of the Wolf - Long Good if you love your Trek stories very grounded and humanistic. Pretty much the life story of Montgomery Scott, it's very much a Scotty story first and a Trek story only sometime after that. There's drama, humor, high seas piracy, friendship, found family and even if you don't actually know Trek very well, I've been told you don't need to in order to enjoy it.

Star Wars - Witness me - Long Good if you like Maul and specifically Obimaul, especially with the more Legends lean on Maul's characterization. Basically an AU where Maul was captured after Theed, the series doesn't ignore the fact that Maul was cut in half, so it's very heavy on the psychology and relationship building. It also has a whole gamut of emotions explored, and beyond the Obimaul, you also have found family and friendship building and an absolutely awesome cast of clones in Blackbirds: Year One. Probably my most popular work, and not entirely without reason.

Star Wars - Undersong - Long-ish Good if you like id-fic! A Sith AU where both Obi-Wan and Maul are raised by Sidious before escaping together, it's largely written in a serial format, with short chapters and a lot of momentum. Good if you don't like long, dense chapters, but do like a story with some real rollercoaster emotion. I enjoyed the hell out of the supporting cast, and so does everyone who reads it, too.

DC Comics/JLI - Past Resolution's Power - Mid-length Good if you want a shorter tale but with teeth. The prequel series to Stardust, this one primarily looks at the short span of time between the book Justice League: Generation Lost (and Booster Gold Vol. 2) and Flashpoint, mostly centered around Booster, but also with Rani and Rip and Michelle and Guy. It's a pretty heavy and genuinely mature story, though it's got its light spots, too. Also called the Mk. I timeline, as its the first.

DC Comics/JLI - Carbon Cycle - Long Good if you want something long, involved, sometimes incredibly fluffy and definitely filled with warmth. The Mk. III timeline -- meaning the third reboot, versus the Mk. I timeline above -- takes place mostly around DC's Rebirth era, on the notion that the characters aren't getting cleanly reset every time and instead that there are these echoes from past lives. The main story, Stardust, is Booster/Beetle slowburn, lots of funny but also lots of sincerity, and later on some heavier stuff creeping in, but the supporting cast has some serious screentime, too.

How about you, Tumblr? GIVE US YOUR DISTRACTION RECS.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

LOTR Newsletter - January 11

Today is the arrival at Caradhras and the start of the ascent, but I want to jump back to events in the Shire as some context for what's going on in the rest of the timeline.

This is from "The Scouring of the Shire", with events recounted by Farmer Cotton. Previously, in the autumn, things had already started to get back: Lotho Sackville-Baggins has previously acquired a lot of land in the Southfarthing, and was exporting not just a lot of pipeweed but so much food (to Isengard) that the Shire began to run short. Then Men, ruffians (also from Isengard and its allies) also began to come to the Shire in growing numbers.

“Things began to get short, and winter coming on, too. Folk got angry, but he [Lotho] had his answer. A lot of Men, ruffians mostly, came with great waggons, some to carry off the goods south-away, and others to say. And more came. And before we knew where we were they were planted here and there all over the Shire, and were felling trees and digging and building themselves sheds and house just as they liked. At first goods and damage was paid for by Pimple [Lotho]; but soon they began lording it around and taking what they wanted.

“Then there was a bit of trouble, but not enough. Old Will the Mayor set off for Bag End to protest, but he never got there. Ruffians laid hands on him and took and locked him up in a hole in Michel Delving, and there he is now. And after that, it would be soon after New Year, there weren’t no more Mayor, and Pimple called himself Chief Shirriff, or just Chief, and did as he liked; and if anyone got ‘uppish’ as they called it, they followed Will. So things went from bad to worse.  There wasn’t no smoke left, save for the Men; and the Chief didn’t hold with beer, save for his Men, and closed all the inns; and everything except Rules got shorter and shorter, unless one could hide a bit of one’s own when the ruffians went round gathering stuff up ‘for fair distribution’: which meant they got it and we didn’t, except for the leavings which you could have at the Shirriff-houses, if you could stomach them. All very bad.”           

The bolded bit is a literal coup d'etat: the legitimate mayor of the Shire removed and imprisoned by paramilitary forces working for Lotho, and Lotho setting himself up as dictator and taking political prisoners. This is important to me, because we only see the impacts on the Shire once Saruman is there, so it's easy to attribute most or all of the damage to Saruman. But Saruman doesn't show up until late September! Lotho's coup happens before the Fellowship even reach Moria, and the majority of the time between January and November, what is going on in the Shire is Lotho's dictatorship, only indirectly influenced by Isengard.

[fishfooddude]

Fatherhood: Carmy Berzatto

I did a similar post for Billy Hargrove a while back. Why not do one with our favorite chef? This also may be an intro to a new series.

The Bear MasterList

Directory

In early 2018, Carmy lived with his cousin Michelle and her long-term boyfriend, Steven. He enjoyed spending time with her before finding a SOU position at some hot shot’s new restaurant. He enjoyed his time there- at least as much as Carmy could.

After moving out of her guest bedroom, he found a decent apartment near The French Laundry. This led him to meet Amanda at a local coffee shop.

Amanda was Carmy’s polar opposite. She was a model/influencer/actress who found Carmy interesting enough during their initial meeting. Finding out he was a ‘celebrity’ chef made her pursue him. 

The two didn’t have a lot in common, but Carmy being the stupid horny 25-year-old he was, didn’t particularly mind. She was something to keep his mind busy when he wasn’t cooking.

The two hadn’t been together long when Amanda sent him a picture of a positive pregnancy test and a Venmo request for half the cost of an abortion. He couldn’t do it. His sweet Nonna’s voice echoed in his head, going on about how life began at conception and how abortion was the ultimate insult to God- he didn’t intentionally try to guilt Amanda or force her into doing anything she didn’t want to do, but listening to his sweet promises of raising a baby together was… convincing. At least at first. 

COVID shutdowns proved difficult for the two. Amanda felt like a shut-in. Carmy was getting on her nerves more and more every day. Although the pregnancy content she was getting out of this arrangement was a bankroll, Carmy turned from her hot celebrity chef boy toy to her ‘controlling’ baby daddy. Every like she got on Instagram, every brand deal, every positive comment, and well-wish almost made it worth it.

Carmy ensured she was eating well and living a relatively low-stress life. He did everything he could to make this pregnancy as smooth as possible.

Michelle was the only person he’d told about Amanda and their baby. She, of course, told Natalie and the other cousins. At first, Natalie didn’t believe her. Carmy hadn’t dated in high school, and truthfully, she wasn’t sure about the escapades he’d gotten himself into when he lived in Europe, but she couldn’t see her baby brother as some international playboy. Of course she Instagram stalked Amanda for weeks, trying to figure out their ‘relationship’ timeline. Natalie decided she hated Amanda- she’d been using her baby brother to up her own status. 

Carmy was nervous when the two found out the baby was a boy. Growing up without his Dad and Mikey as a father figure- he didn’t think he could be a Dad. He devoted hours of his life reading everything he could to prepare for this new role.

Amanda went into labor early. Thirty hours later, Wyatt Arlo Berzatto was born. Carmy was in love with him the moment he saw him.

Parenthood was more challenging than Carmy originally thought. With New York reopening, The French Laundry was determined to get back in the green. Carmy worked 14-18 hours a day, and for the remaining hours of his days, he dedicated himself to being the best Dad he could be. He had a routine for the most part. He’d take care of Wyatt’s first feeding and change him before getting some morning snuggles in. At work, he turned his brain off. He was a machine; every plate was perfect, and every chop was precise. After work, Carmy would go home to a crying baby and a crying pseudo-girlfriend. He took care of Wyatt while Amanda locked herself away in the bedroom. Carmy got used to it; he didn’t realize what was happening until it happened.

The day Amanda abandoned them was a memory burned into Carmy’s head, not because of his feelings toward Amanda but because she’d left his eight-month-old son alone for who knows how long. He walked into the apartment to hear Wyatt’s crying- it didn’t register at first; this was a different cry. It was a high-pitched, intense wailing that Carmy had never heard. He scrambled into the nursery. He wasn’t sure how long Wyatt had been crying. Carmy had scooped him up in his arms and tried his best to soothe him. Wyatt hadn’t eaten or been changed since that morning. Carmy wasn’t sure how long Amanda had left Wyatt alone; all he knew was she was gone. 

With Amanda's limited support, fatherhood had been hard enough, but it was a whole other can of worms without it. He was worried that Wyatt would be traumatized for the rest of his life because of his mother’s actions.

As soon as Carmy had finally gotten into a normal routine again, he got the call. Natalie had been bugging him to come home to visit with Wyatt. Carmy was going to ignore her call that night while he lay in bed with one of Wyatt’s feet in his face, but his gut said to answer. Mikey was gone. Carmy sobbed; he felt like he was going to throw up until he was met with a stubby finger poking his eye. 

Wyatt didn’t know what was happening, in his short life, he’d never seen his dad like this. He poked Carmy’s eye again before pushing his stuffed duck in Carmy’s direction, babbling something before screaming ‘Dada’ at the top of his lungs. Carmy watched his son throw himself against his chest as tears poured from his eyes; he had to be strong for him.

[27goldensun]

Harry, Loewe and Stunting

So everyone must have noticed by now that I’m a timeline and numbers freak, and, with a fresh stunt coming right up, I’ve decided to take a look at Harry’s latest fashion trends and how a Loewe collaboration seems to be imminent and connected to his latest ‘gf’

Here’s a visual representation of Harry’s non-concert outfits for the past 6 months (I’m excluding the fits he wears on stage since Love on Tour is deeply connected to Gucci)

Loewe is the single brand he is wearing repeatedly, more than any other, and its a pattern seen before in 2016, when he began having a more serious relationship with Gucci:

June 2016: Harry follows Alessandro Michele (Gucci’s creative director at the time) on Instagram

2017: Harry and Gucci officially start collaborating

For 2023 we have this timeline of events

March 25th, 2023: Harry EmRata kissing video

June 23rd, 2023: Harry and T. Russel museum photos (first time they’re connected, but her identity isn’t confirmed yet)

June 28th, 2023: Harry follows JW Anderson on Instagram (current creative director for Loewe)

July 9th, 2023: Confirmation of T. Russel’s identity following her presence at Harry’s show and their walk around Vienna (July 8th)

As most things regarding Harry, it usually comes with its share of stunting, which began earlier this year with the EmRata kissing video. Emily Ratojowski isn’t an ambassador for Loewe, but seems to have her share of connection to the brand, always present at their Shows and having a few shoots with them.

Who is a Loewe ambassador though? You guessed it right: Taylor Russel. So this latest stunt seems to come to fruition as Harry begins distancing himself from Gucci and moving towards a partnership/collaboration with Loewe (aside from the ‘usual’ stunt reasons such as he’ll be away from touring and needs to stay in the public eye, and she has a play coming up next month in London to promote) the choice of the new girlfriend seems logical and, as always, predictable.

Bonus: as I was creating this timeline I looked at the brilliant @twopoppies page and this post of hers made me laugh with her foreshadowing (following the EmRata kiss):

So, as with any stunt, this isn’t organic or natural (took those words right from Louis), but rather quite obviously planned. Let’s just sit back and watch how it unfolds

[ainxis]

Angsty Boostle AU that lives in my head!

Okay so everything preflashpoint stays +/- the same except Booster blames himself for Teds death because he thinks that if he wasn't friends with Ted the league would have treated him more seriously and would help him with Max's situation when he came to them for help.

So when the timeline resets Booster who remembers everything (including all that happened in Booster Gold vol.2) tries to stay away from him even though he's still madly in love with his former best friend. Ted on the other hand doesn't remember much from before so he only knows that they used to be teammates.

Ted joins the Justice League as one of the main members, while Booster is more of a "in case of emergency, sometimes visits the watchtower if he's needed member". So they interact from time to time on the job, but Boost always either avoids him or acts like a jerk. And Ted has no idea why this guy has a problem with him and why does some other superheroes give him weird glances every time they interact.

Meanwhile Booster continues his job as "the greatest hero you've never heard of" joggling superheroing and photoshoots with secretly raising Rani (14y) and Rip (1,5y) and trying to keep a current timeline safe alongside Michelle. Rip Hunter is still active but keeps his distance from them for obvious reasons.

There is more (including big Rani section) if anyone's interested...

[little-demy]

Triplets of Hallownest

An AU for my AE OCs Johanna (MQ; green one), Joanne (DF; blue one), ans Jeannette (AQW, purple one) as a character from Hollow Knight instead because I love mixing up my characters in different fandoms. Also a bonus of Arc as a vessel✨

I have a whole setting, lore, and in game gameplay stuff like quest below, please bear my crazy self indulging idea

Updated version of bugified michel trio + arc but with some rambles because I can't just stop at just one design somehow and I cannot not share the idea I have in my mind

**Johanna**

- was once one of the scholar from Fog Canyon, studied under Monomon alongside Quirrel. She's far more interested with the existence of void and received an approval to study it (in hope her research can help with the infection and the vessel project).

- bad news, since long exposure of void is bad for them. Soon enough Johanna started to be poisoned.

- As for in game timeline, she lives in a small hut in Greenpath area, known as "Swallowtail Laboratory". This place is Johanna's reclused home to continue studying the void so she won't expose anyone else and especially her sisters with void.

- Will have mini quest for Knight/Ghost to send letters to her sisters if the player have met her before she died (she will die after forgotten crossroad become infected crossroad).

**Joanne**

- travelling mercenary kind of character. A wanderer, so she can be found in several location. Her location is hinted by sound of a flute, the closer player to her place the louder the flute is.

- travel with her adopted son, a vessel known as Arc.

- first seen in Greenpath, after that player can meet her on other map (except ancient basin and abyss). She won't play her flute in deepnest or resting ground

- after receiving Johanna's letter, she disappeared from any other map and can only be found by Johanna's hut, sitting and playing solemn music by Johanna's grave with Arc asleep om her lap

**Arc**

- a living vessel. His pronouns are he/him

- older than he seems. He's growing in a slow pace.

- very protective of his mother. When seen from afar, he's asleep while leaning on his mother. Once approached he will woke up and stand with his nail ready. He won't fight you though

**Jeannette**

- Can be found in Kingdom's Edge. Attacked player once they arrived and start a boss fight immediately. After winning, player can finally talk to her. If you have met Joanne, she will talked about her and Arc.

- after receiving Johanna's letter, she will disappear from her area in the edge and appeared by Johanna's grave, taking care of her weapon silently.

**Additional Setting**

If player/Ghost didn't do the letter quest, Joanne and Jeannette will spawn by their own in Johanna's hut. Entering the hut will turn them hostile and start a boss battle with the two of them. Defeating them will turn them friendly again and they're both back vibing and minding their own business in the hut.

[noangeleither]

think i finally figured out sydney’s age using real evidence and not just vibes and voices in my head. and it’s crazy bc i guessed sydney was 26/27. and I wasn’t that far.

Sydney earned her culinary arts degree at CIA located in upstate NY. Apparently, it takes less than two years to earn that degree. Assuming she graduated high school at 17/18, this would put her at about 19/20 when she graduates and also when she goes to NYC for a food tour.

i got to this conclusion trying to make a timeline for carmys career (which made my head hurt). We know Carmy is 28-30 bc he’s the same age as claire a doctor who’s in her residency and that’s usually the age at which you start. I was confused about how long he spent at EMP. Fishes takes place about five years before s2 , and carmy is said to be in Copenhagen working at NOMA, putting him at 24/25 in this episode.

His cousin Michelle offered for him to come to NYC. So assuming he made the change in the following year that would mean he was at EMP for about 4 years until he has to go back to chicago after his brother dies.

I still dont know where the french laundry or any other of the places or cities carmy has worked at fit into this timeline. I know he leaves his house after high school and doesn't go to college or culinary school i believe so I wonder how he got his start, to be featured in food and wine at 21 and also work at the best restaurant in the world by the time he's 24....insane. i hope we get a clearer picture in upcoming seasons.

back to syd....

So we know about 4/5 years before the start of the story, Sydney and Carmy are in NYC. Sydney is 19/20 and Carmy is 24/25. They have about a 5 year age gap. Therefore Sydney currently is 24/25, possibly 26. And I only say 26 because i cant believe she worked at so many places (including Michelin star restaurants), drove for UPS (or was that when she was at school? after?), started a business, and then had that business fail all in the span of 4 years. crazy. my girl needs a hug

also makes me wonder how far removed she is from Sheridan Road? like when she applies to be a sous chef at the Beef was this something that happened a couple months before? a year?

all things will be clearer with future episodes i guess.

i just find their lives before they met extremly intresting and love how intertwined they are 5 years before they even laid eyes on one another. fated fr

i want a flashback episode of sydney herself but i also think a flashback episode of the day sydney went to EMP would be cool too. Like dual POV we see Carmy being miserable, Sydney becoming inspired. also would be cool if they really played into the fated aspect. have them cross paths without ever meeting. like have Carmy get on the subway the same time sydney leaves it to get off at a stop (SCREAM).

[anthurak]

Roseknightshipping in ARC-V Ideas (using heavy AU/rewrite elements)

Imagining Roseknightshipping in ARC-V is really fun and silly thanks to the existing AU setting causing an apparent lack of Yliaster and a definite lack of Yusei Fudo. Meaning that all we really have to go off of is Aki’s and Sherry’s shared Rose/Flower/Knight motif and potential for mutually fucked up backstories.

So for my now-rapidly-snowballing ARC-V AU/Rewrite, I’m having Aki and Sherry show up to the Friendship Cup in Neo Domino as basically the ultimate wildcards. Their backstory is that they were both in the same fucked-up Boarding School/Duel Academy that was run by this timelines version of the Arcadia Movement and basically went through a whole-ass Revolutionary Girl Utena plot together before finally hooking up, blowing up the academy, feeding Divine to Black Rose Dragon and riding off into the sunset together.

And now they’ve entered the Friendship cup together as the big mysterious wildcard duelists who nobody is quite sure where they stand. Like they’re clearly not working with Shinji or any of the other Commons, but definitely want to make a lot of trouble for the Topsiders. Maybe Aki is using a retooled version of her ‘Black Rose Witch’ masked-persona, with Sherry possibly using her own take on a secret identity.

Aki and Sherry here both use the fully-expanded ‘Rose Dragon’ and ‘Fleur’ archetypes, with Black Rose Dragon and Chevaliar de Fleur as their ace monsters. Along with using Ruddy Rose Dragon and Baronne de Fleur as super-aces.

(Alternatively, in a similar vein to how Jack uses an alternate version of Red Dragon Archfiend in ARC-V, Aki could use a similarly retrained version of BRD. Say, ‘Black Rose Revolution Dragon’, for obvious reasons XD)

They also have a shared ultimate-ace that they summon when dueling together that is basically Baronne riding Ruddy Rose. It also uses their own flashy gimmick take on Synchro Summoning similar to Accel Synchro or Double Tuning that I admittedly haven’t fully thought out yet. Thoughts so far is that it’s a ‘Hybrid Synchro’ method that uses two Synchro monsters that are both also tuners.

Either way, it’s definitely meant to be a VERY unsubtle metaphor for lesbian sex and both Aki and Sherry being switches XD

Ultimately it’s revealed that the Roseknight duo’s motivations are that Jean Michel Roget was the one behind this version of Arcadia, or at least co-opted/bankrolled them as part of his plan to take over Neo-Domino and betray Academia (somewhat paralleling how Arcadia in 5Ds was trying to oppose Yliaster), and Aki and Sherry are here to completely wreck his shit. Which they do in epic fashion during the climax of the Synchro arc (probably replacing Reiji’s/Declan’s duel with Roget in this version of events) before also feeding him to Ruddy Rose Dragon and mysteriously vanish into the night.

Notably, Sherry and Aki don’t really ‘join’ the heroes following the events of the Synchro arc. Mostly because I made them a just a bit too OP and having them stick around makes thing a bit too easy for the heroes. I mean Sherry runs Baronne for Ra’s sake!

Instead, in this version of events Aki and Sherry are meant to show up, be awesome/hot, kick ass, make every girl in sight start questioning her sexuality, leave and refuse to elaborate. And then make a triumphant reappearance in the final battle to help beat down Zarc.

Again, it is honestly kind of funny just how EASILY you can make a whole-ass Utena-AU with Sherry as Utena and Aki as Anthy:

Sherry LeBlanc is a new student at the prestigious/mysterious/overlydramatic ‘Arcadia Duel Academy’, gets into a duel with some seemingly random asshole, kicks his ass, and suddenly finds herself engaged to the mysterious ‘Rose Bride’; Aki Izayoi and just like that we’re off to the races. Just replace ‘sword duels’ with ‘Monster Duels’ (though Sherry can still do a bit of swordfighting, as a treat) and maybe have Sherry driven to be a Knight rather than a Prince, and we’re set XD

I mean if you think about it, Aki is kind of PERFECT as an equivalent to Anthy? Rose-themed, mysterious powers, super-traumatic past, manipulated by a total scumbag, the true ‘power’ at the center of the academy that everyone is fighting over, she even has a secret identity!

Heck, because we’re in the Synchro-verse, we can easily switch out RGU’s fixation on cars for 5D’s fixation on motorcycles! Maybe not with Sherry or Aki actually turning into a motorcycle, but maybe Black Rose Dragon can do that instead?

As for more specific/random character interactions, ideas and headcanons;

In the present of the show, Aki ends up playing a key role in Rin’s new arc/role/focus as the Synchro-protag and wielder/partner of Clear Wing Synchro Dragon (for a reminder, in this AU, Yugo got kidnapped by Yuri/Academia instead of Rin) as an older, more experienced rival/mentor figure. Essentially paralleling Jack’s role in Yuya’s arc.

Like Rin’s route in this version of the Friendship Cup at first has a very similar trajectory to what Yugo did, with Rin dueling Celina and pulling off a win via Clear Wing evolving into Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon much like what happened with Yugo. Only for Rin to then go up against Aki and get completely trounced, forcing her into some character development.

Specifically; Rin goes into her duel against Aki riding high off her previous victory, believing that Crystal Wing combined with Windwitch – Snow Bell is unbeatable. And in fairness, a Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon with effect-destruction protection IS pretty hard to deal with.

Only for Aki to slap down Mark of the Rose to take control of Crystal Wing. Which incidentally, is visualized through a rather homoerotic sequence of the spirit of Black Rose Dragon basically seducing Crystal Wing XD

And if that wasn’t bad enough, after blasting Rin with a direct attack that drops her lifepoints nearly to 0, Aki proceeds to get around having to give Crystal Wing back next turn by using CWSD as synchro-material to summon Ruddy Rose Dragon. Which to add more injury to injury, banishes Rin’s entire graveyard, including Crystal Wing, plus all the Windwitches that Rin was going to use for her burn strategy. Leaving Rin with quite literally NO way of dealing with the 3200 ATK Rose Dragon.

On her next turn, Rin tries to restart her burn combo using Windwitch – Winter Bell, which she also summons in defense to buy time. Only for Aki to use Thorn of Malice (which has been retooled to work with any Rose Dragon) to give Ruddy Rose Dragon piercing damage and finish Rin off.

Later, Rin as well as Celina end up running into both Aki and Sherry, leading to Aki giving Rin the character-development advice she needs. As well dropping cryptic, mysterious and juicy hints regarding her connection with Black Rose Dragon that parallel Rin’s developing bond with Clear/Crystal Wing, which actually parallels some additional advice Jack gives Yuya.

In this setting, it turns out that both Aki and Jack have variations of their Dragon Signer marks, but rather then representing them being chosen by the Crimson Dragon, they instead represent the bond each of them have with their respective dragon partner. Which is made even more interesting by the fact that Rin has had her own mark ever since she summoned Clear Wing for the first time, while Yuya has had a mark flickering on and off for some time now.

Basically, it’s all meant to imply that Black Rose Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend are similar to the four Dimension Dragons as powerful monster spirits in their own right, and hint as to what might come later for the characters.

Also, the whole meeting definitely starts with Rin and Celina accidentally walking in on Aki and Sherry making out and the OTHER half of the conversation comprises of Rin and Celina learning that girls can like girls. After the whole discussion, Rin has a whole HOST of new thoughts weighing on her; how to improve as a duelist, this strange bond she has with Clear Wing, and also girls might be hot now?

Meanwhile, all that Celina is thinking comprises of ‘Holy shit, girls are hot’, ‘How long have girls been hot?’, ‘Holy shit all the girls in my deck are hot’, ‘I want to make out with girls now’, ‘Can I smooch the girls in my deck?’, ‘Hey Rin do you wanna make out?’ and ‘Oh shit I said that out loud, didn’t I?’

Needless to say, things get a bit awkward XD

[that-left-turn]

Please would you be able to give some insight into why zabel plans the show in 12 episode blocks and then splits them across two seasons? Like, for what reason would he do that? I've never heard of it before.

And you said that after s3, AMC won't be tied into the same contracts. But could there be a different understanding with the showrunner if he's planned the 6 episodes for s4 already (since he plans in 12 episode blocks)?

You've never heard of it before because it isn't something anyone should do. From a practical, showrunning perspective, it's poor management because you never know if you'll get that second season, even though you're signed for two. The studio might cancel on you. From a storytelling perspective, it implies that Zabel doesn't know how to tell a contained story. His experience is from broadcast TV with 20+ episode seasons where you can have an extended timeline for the plot.

As is standard, Zabel got a 2-year deal and was told both seasons would shoot in France. It's hard to tell a good story in six 42-minute installments. Really hard. You can't waste any screentime, so you have to think about how to plot in a completely different way from when you have 9, 10 or 12 episodes. American TV writers aren't used to operating within those parameters, so short-season shows end up with truncated timelines and strange time jumps, which shortchange the narrative.

It lessens viewers' emotional investment when they don't get to journey with the characters and only see the arrival at the destination. We've seen it time and again when the flagship show had time jumps: chunks of time during which the characters developed and the audience is forced to play catch-up, like the time jump between the farm and the prison, or the boomerang timeline during the Gimple era when the pacing completely stalled.

Anyway, my point about Zabel is that he probably thought, oh, I get 12 episodes in France! I can use all of them for the main plot. He should've used the first six episodes on a plot to establish the new supporting characters and develop a believable reason for Daryl to get involved. Isabelle's group could have faced an existential threat from the new variant walkers. Some piece of knowledge about Jenner and his research, which Genet could be using, could've been circulating among the French. Daryl would recognize his name. The Mont-Saint-Michel cult could be in disagreement on how to fight the new threat rather than have a hokey goal of child sacrifice to offer up a Messiah to the world.

The underground nightclub, Demimonde, could've been a hotbed for the resistance to both ideological groups: Genet's followers, who want do scientific experiments to harness the potential that bioengineered walkers can provide humanity, and Losang's group, who believe that a person's soul might still be trapped inside the vessel and that humanity needs a spiritual awakening rather than another industrial revolution.

Quinn and Anna would've seen the real need of humans, running the black market and interacting with people from all walks of life. They wouldn't be concerned with philosophy, just a practical purpose and maybe they're driven by commercialism as their vice? Codron could've been caught and conflicted between the two schools of thought as he had to put his brother's walker down—in doing so, did Codron condemn his little brother's soul? That arc would have made him the ideal support character for Carol in S2.

If I can pitch a concept in the time it takes me to write a response to an ask, Zabel should theoretically manage to recalibrate his brain into considering plot in more appetizer-sized bites too. He had months to break the story for the French arc.

A showrunner can plan for future seasons—you have to, because you need to lay the groundwork for them—but they should never be taken for granted. Showrunners have to make sure that the story has a satisfying conclusion if the season finale ends up being the series finale. Hence, a seasonal arc. Zabel spoke about plotting two season in one go, for both France and Spain, but his statement and self-assurance later changed. He stopped mentioning an extended arc for Spain. I assume that there was some kind of conversation happening with the studio. They signed him for two seasons, but they are free to release him after one (S3) if he can't produce what they need. He can't leave an arc at its mid-point for some other writer to inherit and an anthology season would force Zabel into reducing the scope of his plot.

Anyway, I hope that sheds some light on things. Sorry about the long example pitch in the middle of the explanation 😬

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

All the talk today about a man having the luxury of dating younger while getting older to delay growing up (marriage, kids, etc.) reminds me of George Clooney. He had a short marriage when he was in his late 20s/early 30s (before his career blew up) and then was known as the most eligible bachelor and even made bets with people like Nicole Kidman and Michelle Pfieffer that he'd never get married again. He dated many women, some of which were even older than him, but the majority were not. He became engaged when he was 53 and his future wife 36. On paper, it seems like she's "old" but he is 17 years older than her. He became a first-time father at the ripe old age of 56. He could do this because he is a man. Who did not have to worry about aging like a woman. Or having children in his 50s.

Hollywood (and the world in general) is full of stories like that. Men have the luxury of time that women don’t in that situation. They have the luxury of getting their shit together (or not) on their own timeline. It’s sad and unfair but also true, and I have seen this happen in my real life with friends.

I feel a whole rant, or at least stream of consciousness, brewing about the ways in which people of childbearing age who wish to experience that are in just such a no-win situation, especially in the public eye. Voice that you want it and you may get labelled desperate or traditional or whatever. Voice that you don’t and you’re attacked as a threat to society or immature. It makes it so hard to have discussions (eg in relation to TTPD or Taylor’s discography at large) because it’s so fraught and involves all kinds of sociological constructs. And again: it’s something that isn’t given a second thought for men.

[tarasdiary]

gamora & peter (guardians of the galaxy 3) SPOILERS

if you're a starmora fan like me, you'll also understand the pain right now

we know for a fact gamora was falling in love all over again, and the thing that people are forgetting is that this is just gamora from the past and not a completely different gamora from an alternative dimension. because its just gamora from another timeline, her personality is still the same, and she can still fall in love with peter like she did before

there were hints of gamora slowly regaining those feelings, where she's looking through peter's stuff and fighting alongside peter again, the moment she was smiling looking up at peter where he fell on top of her on accident (like the first film) and then the ending...

the ending killed me. part of her didn't want to leave. she does have a new family now and i'm happy for her, but she seriously struggled to leave peter there. "I bet we were fun". she was FALLING. she really wishes she had those memories of her future self that passed.

she wouldn't move ahead till nebula initiated her to go

it was such a missed opportunity where peter was out in space about to die and gamora could have been the one to save him like he did for her in the first film. i understand the point of this scene was to give adam some redemption, but i seriously wish it was gamora who saved peter instead

and also when everyone was hugging peter, gamora was the only one standing aside and walked away literally, i wish somehow the creators could of just gave those 2 a moment there as gamora showed relief that peter lived

sadly i know marvel isn't much on romance (as they literally ruined every pairing we loved) - wanda & vision, thor & jane, tony & pepper, peter & Michelle etc. just hope we could have a happy ending for 1 pairing one day

[violettaxsoyluna]

Soy Luna - Season 3

This season was...something else. I liked it; I truly did, but at some point it just got so annoying. They repeated the same things or did similar things that have already happened in the other seasons. I was really disappointed, though, that it was 60 episodes, and I didn't understand why. They could've at least solved a few problems earlier in the show if they had made it shorter. A lot of things happened way too fast, and I would've loved to see more of healthy Lutteo and Simbar. Or, for example, how Simon and Matteo reacted when they got to know what happened to the villa and the girls. Benicio and Emilia changed too quickly. It just feels rushed and repetitive, but I still liked it.

Luna: I really liked her in this season. She was very positive and nice, just like in the first season, but had clear boundaries and stood up for herself when it was needed.

Oh, but how much I hated the whole "I think I'm in love with Simon" thing. I was like, "Haven't we done this before?" But at least in the first season it made sense, but here... Why would she fall in love with him now? I guess she actually didn't fall in love with him, since she realized she just confused the two things. It felt like they just used it as a space-taker since they didn't want to start the Emilia timeline that early on, and they obviously didn't want to get Matteo and her together that soon.

I also really liked how she handled when Matteo was self-conscious about the whole singing thing. I didn't really like how she reacted to this kind of issue in the second season, but in this one I think she heard him out and tried to help him rather than just wanting him to stay positive and be mad at him because he was sad or disappointed.

I didn't fully agree with how she handled the whole Matteo-Emilia thing. I know he hurt her, and I know he wasn't the best boyfriend and person, especially in the second season, but I do think she could've at least heard him out, especially after he actually had proof and wanted to show it to her. But obviously Matteo falling down wasn't on her, and it wasn't her fault. I loved that she shared more things with him, that she shared her fears and dreams with him; it was so great to see, since he was really hurt in the previous season that she didn't tell him about her past.

I didn't really like her and Michel together, but mostly because Michel had that exact same personality trait I never liked in Luna (being late, being clumsy). I also didn't like how he kissed her when I don't think she gave him a single sign she is into him. I also didn't like how he wanted Matteo's blessing or permission. Like, go and ask Luna first whether she likes you or not, or whether she wants to be with you or not, since her opinion is the most important.

I really felt bad for her because of Sharon. I can't even imagine how scared and terrified she was knowing she was out there trying to hurt her. I probably wouldn't have been capable of sleeping on my own.

I also really loved their friendship with Ambar and that they become friends and cousins at the end. But I have to admit that I probably didn't share my inheritance with her, at least not all of it. It's not that I wouldn't trust her, but I think that was a rushed decision, and I don't know if I were Luna, I would be able to fully trust her.

All in all, I really liked her in this season and her personality. I'm glad he got her happy ending after all. She really deserves it.

Simon: I also really liked him in this season. It was great to see that he isn't as perfect as everybody thinks he is. It was so refreshing because even though I really liked his character, it was so annoying that he was this perfect man who doesn't do anything wrong, who doesn't even exist.

I obviously didn't agree with him lying to Luna, and while I get why he wanted Ambar to be the one to tell her, I still understand why Luna was mad at him. As I said before, it was refreshing to see that he is not perfect, and I love non-perfect characters.

I really loved how he was the only one who believed in Ambar, and he wasn't afraid of telling it to people he does. He was never ashamed of speaking about how he believes in her, and I really loved that. He made her want to become a better person, and I'm so happy that they got together at the end.

Matteo: I definitely liked him the best in this season, and it was so great to see how much he's changed, and it was a constant thing. He didn't just change for a few episodes or at the very end of the season. No. He was a different person through the whole season. It was really great to see how selfless he was in this season. With Luna, with the guys. He truly changed, and I really loved that for him.

It was so great to see their friendship with Simon and with the others as well. I really liked him in the band, and it was really nice of him that he didn't want to ditch them for his solo career. And it was also so nice of them that he asked for them to be on his album. It again just showed how much he changed.

He was very different with Luna as well. I always loved in him how much he wanted to get back with Luna, how much he wanted to show it to her that she is different. I didn't fully agree with him not telling Luna what Emilia had done. It would've solved so many problems, but who knows whether Luna believes him or not in that case as well? I felt really bad for him, though, because he didn't deserve the treatment he got. Not from Simon, not from Luna, not from everyone. As I said before, I got that he wasn't the best person, but saying he didn't change and he is just like he'd always been didn't really sit well with me, since he proved not once, or twice, that he'd changed. And even when he wasn't at his best, when did he do something like this? Trying to date two girls and kissing someone while he wants to get together with Luna? And yeah, people saw him with Emilia, but they were always arguing, and you could see that Matteo was always really frustrated with her. I also didn't agree with him agreeing to say those things to Emilia, but that showed again how much he loved Luna and how much he wanted to prove to her that Emilia played them. It was interesting to see how Ambar immediately saw through Matteo; it just shows that she truly knows her. I still don't understand why people believed that. I get that he said it, but it was so out of character for him, and people who have known him for years should've known that. Just like in Violetta when Diego kissed her without her consent, people downplayed it; I was angry here as well. He told people she kind of forced herself onto him, and most people didn't believe him. Again, I know he wasn't always the best person, but still. He didn't deserve that kind of treatment. Maybe climbing that fence wasn't the best idea, but it showed how much he loves Luna and how much he wanted to show her the truth. It was also really nice of him that he wanted her to be happy, even if it was without him. He didn't want to be in the way of her happiness. Again, one more thing that showed that he changed. I was really happy that they got together at the end, and they shared some sweet moments. I just wished we would've gotten more of them.

I also felt sorry for him after the accident. I can imagine how self-conscious he was since he didn't remember the accords and lyrics. That could've meant the end of his career. It was great to see how he overcame his issues and that he let Luna help him. He was definitely more receptive this time.

All in all, it was so great to see him change, and I love the person he has become.

Ambar: She also changed a lot, and it was so great to see that. She did some nasty stuff at the very beginning, but she truly became a better person, or I should rather say her true self.

I was really happy for her and Simon, and it was so great to see how she was always so soft with him. She truly was capable of being herself with him, even on her worst days.

I felt really sorry for her because of Sharon. She used her, and she didn't deserve that treatment. She tried to help her to become a better person, and I was so proud of her when she told the truth. I understood why she wasn't capable of doing that sooner; Sharon is the closest to a family she's ever had. It must be tough to let that go. But I'm happy Mónica and the others were so kind to her. She got the family she deserves.

All in all, I really loved it towards the end of the season. I still didn't agree with her behavior at the very beginning, but she got her happy ending as well. She is the person who changed the most (the second best is Matteo).

I didn't really like Nina and Eric together. They agreed to stay together with Gatón, and then they broke up after like a few episodes. I get that Agus didn't want to be in the third season, but they could've solved it to keep them together despite that. I also didn't like how much the four girls spent together (Luna, Nina, Yim, and Jam). I like the two groups of friends together, but the four of them were so annoying. The constant forcing to admit Luna likes Michel was so annoying. She said it multiple times that she doesn't like him, but they kept asking and forcing it. Just because someone seems like a good choice doesn't mean they are or that they have feelings for them. It doesn't work like that. It was okay when they asked once or twice, but after the 100th time, I was so annoyed. I think Nina was always so reasonable and so supportive; that's why I liked her as a friend, which I kind of miss in this season. I wanted more Luna and Nina time, just the two of them. Nina was always so chill, and the others were always so impulsive. I think they sometimes didn't have the best influence on Luna and Nina. Benicio and Emilia changed too fast. One thing happened, and they said, "We should become better," and that was it.

All in all, it was a good season, but mostly because I loved seeing how much Matteo and Ambar changed. And the development of the two ships, other than it was a bit more repetitive and annoying.