#THAT is the tragedy that is the fucking tragedy i love b3

[lakesbian]

taps mic. 

the thing about grace and simon is that, when season three starts, they are both terrible people who do terrible things every day of their lives. 

they are also people who were stolen from their homes, from the world, when they were tiny children by a force they could not comprehend. the train. and it told them nothing. it didn’t tell them why they were there. it didn’t tell them what the glowing numbers tattooed on their palms were. it didn’t tell them that if they got unlucky they could be faced with miles-long stretches of cars without food or water. it kidnapped them, it terrified them, and it offered them no explanation. 

so of course they misunderstood. of course the bad tucked away in their hearts got worse. of course they bonded over their terror, over their twisted interpretation of the train. in book three episode one? their relationship is codependent. their relationship is mutual enabling. their relationship is what happens when two people grow up in a lonely hell with nothing to rely upon but each other.

the circumstances of the train brought them together, pushed them into a scenario where they know each other better than anyone else, can communicate perfectly without a word and are convinced they’re ride or die forever.

simon has a little unrequited crush on grace, one that’s never gone anywhere and he knows will never really go anywhere. grace knows about the crush and is alright with it--she teases him sometimes, probably, but for the most part it’s an innocuous background note in their relationship. because they’re more than just friends or best friends. they’re a team, they’re partners, they’re grace and simon versus the train. there is no one word strong enough to describe their decade-long bond. they need each other. their life is built around each other. they interact with the same effortlessness it takes to breathe. they have their years-long inside jokes, their intimate teases, their constant physical affection, their perfect reads of each others body language, their endless companionship.

here’s the fun part, though. the really fun part. they’re different in one fundamental way, and as of s3e1, neither of them know it: grace is doing bad things for what she thinks are the right reasons, the caring reasons. simon is doing bad things because he likes hurting other people. simon is doing bad things because he thinks he’s superior. 

season three isn’t about a good relationship going bad. it’s about a relationship that was rotten all along, and the tragedy is in the realizing. 

they know each other better than anyone, and they’re still about to go through the life-rending agony of realizing that they never really knew each other.

Literally what is their dynamic in Book 3 episode 1 because it’s never stated to be romantic (it’s definitely toxic)

[ace-and-ranty]

The funny thing is, The Cruel Prince made me absolutely feral when I first read it. HOWEVER. It was not because I gave a fuck about Cardan. Because I didn't. I didn't give it a single fuck.

I was too busy having ENORMOUS feelings about Jude and her step-father.

Like?? I'm sorry?? You ruined my life, and yet that is simply your nature?? When you took me in you were being responsible, and you tried your best to love me, but in the process your ruined me for the human world?? Your murdered my mom, but you read me bedtime stories??

WHO CARES ABOUT CARDEN, ARE YOU GUYS FUCKING SEEING THIS???

[thisweekingundamwing]

This Week in Gundam Wing 23-29 May 2021

I’m so on the ball with this lately... >_> Sorry. Here’s this week’s roundup! May 23rd - 29th!

Remember to give your content creators some love! Be sure to join in on the events at the bottom! And remember to send in any new works you see or make next week!

~Mod Hel

Fanfiction/Snippets/AU Ideas:

@bobo-is-tha-bomb

The Preventer Calendar https://archiveofourown.org/works/31561295

Gen, Reader, Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, Chang Wufei, Zechs Merquise, OC - Character

Mature, No Archive Warnings Apply, Humor, Partial Nudity, Reader-Insert, Nudity, A teeny hint of TrowaxReader, Rating because of some gratuitous nudity on Trowa's side

Twelve models, twelve shoots, twelve different locations in the Ardennes, and all of it in two fucking days. Because Preventer couldn’t spare you their agents any longer than that.

Why had you agreed to do this project again?

It's all for the arts.

boxofhatebrains

Helping Hand https://archiveofourown.org/works/31620146

M/M, Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy

Explicit, No Archive Warnings Apply, Light Angst, Comfort/Angst, Minor Injuries, Implied/Referenced Blow Jobs, Not Gundam Wing: Frozen Teardrop Compliant, after series, Flirting, Not Beta Read, slight reference to Episode Zero, Swearing

Duo realizes that Heero comes around whenever he damn well feels like it. They’ve been in contact for the last seven years after the Mariemaia incident, but generally at Heero’s own whim. Duo stays in the same place, it’s Heero who gravitates.

This time is no different.

@duointherain

Silent Menace https://duointherain.tumblr.com/post/652120818915115009/fic-silent-menace-11

1x2x1

Warnings: Mute Duo. Drugged and injured Heero.

Une always had the dark side of the job. She’d let others give out goodness, but bad news she owned herself. Duo had come to the conclusion that she was trying to take responsibility, trying to be a decent person. He could vibe with that.

@lifeaftermeteor

Touched by the Stars (Ch. 7) https://archiveofourown.org/works/26314657/chapters/77885468

M/M, Chang Wufei/Duo Maxwell, Chang Wufei/Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton/Chang Wufei, Chang Wufei/Quatre Raberba Winner

Explicit, Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, thar be porn, Dubious Consent, Aliens, Alien Abduction, Alternate Universe, mention of MPREG, everyone takes a turn with Wufei, alien anatomy and interesting dicks, Tentacles, Monster Boys, Slime, Double Cocks, Cum Inflation, Knotting, Oral, multiple dicks, Xeno, Spitroasting, Oviposition, Body Modification, Polyamory, Unbirthing, Triple Penetration, Cervical Penetration

University instructor Chang Wufei didn't even believe in aliens, much less intentionally attract their attention. But that doesn't mean much when they decided he'd be the ideal final mate for their group and scoop him off of the planet to take home to their queen. Enjoying him on the trip there, of course. 

@noirangetrois

Of the Sea (Ch. 10) https://archiveofourown.org/works/12749670/chapters/78205124

M/M, Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy

Mature, No Archive Warnings Apply, fairytale my way, Meroctopus!Dorothy, Slow Burn, Multi POV, POV Third Person Limited, merman au, MerMay, Fantasy Politics, mentions of abuse, Unnatural November

Heero Yuy will soon be reaching the age of majority, at which time he will ascend the throne of Wingaria. Before such time, he must needs choose a bride. But what if there are no good choices? What if someone else has captured his heart?

The Story of Wrong (Ch. 8) https://archiveofourown.org/works/13849020/chapters/77856332

M/M, Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy

Explicit, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Duo POV, Angst, Drama, Tragedy, Spoilers, very dark, Heero and Duo don’t die, I promise, Yaoi, slowburn, Mental Instability, Mental Health Issues, Mental Breakdown, If those are in any way an issue for you then go ahead and skip this, Eventual Smut, VERY eventual, this is mostly canon-compliant but I’ve changed a couple things here and there

Duo recounts his experiences during the war in order to explain… well, why he was wrong.

simulacraryn

love me like (tomorrow we’re) stardust https://archiveofourown.org/works/31458119/chapters/77811359

M/F, Treize Khushrenada/Lady Une

Treize Khushrenada, Lady Une, Original Characters, Hot Dog (gundam wing)

Explicit, Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Angst, Near Death Experiences, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, unredeemable villain, Sex, Smut, consent is fucking sexy, Spoiler: He wore the Astro Suit at last!, Newtypes (Gundam Wing), no predators or prey here, intact brains

The World Nation would face off against the White Fang to bring about an end to all conflict between the Colonies and Earth. The plan had called for the bitter end of the last bastion of the old regime, Treize Khushrenada. However, as with every play on the stage of war, the actors have chosen to adlib. Effectively throwing the course of history off the rails, the director finds himself faced with a new road to choose.

@zaganthi

Jiu Jie https://archiveofourown.org/works/31413956

M/M, M/F, Duo Maxwell/Quatre Raberba Winner; Treize Khushrenada/Quatre Raberba Winner; Treize Khushrenada/Duo Maxwell; Duo Maxwell/Hilde Schbeiker

Explicit, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Relationship Negotiation; Polyamorous Character; Quatre Raberba’s Uchuu no Kokoro | Space Heart; Aged-Up Character(s); Newtypes (Gundam Wing); Past Relationship(s); Jealousy; Awkward Flirting; Bathing/Washing; Cuddling & Snuggling; Museums; talking about feelings; Psychic Bond; Dealing with exes; Ex Sex; Colonists exploring earth

Hilde waved goodbye as she left and Duo went to look for Treize and Quatre. What the hell was wrong with him. His body seemed to be saying yes but his mind was definitely not in that space at all. What the everlasting hell was going on. He wanted to see her again but why?

Treize passed him a picture of tree frogs, apparently feeling the confusion as Duo half jogged through the aquarium to catch back up. What the hell. Just what the hell.

It took him a while to get there, but the moment he got close, Quatre saw him, beamed a happy smile and the link opened up with a rush and he was surrounded again in emotional warmth. It was addictive and a relief, and there wasn’t, there wasn’t any recrimination from either of them. Just run off and see an old flame, it’s cool, we’ll be here when you get back vibes.

Lebensmüde https://archiveofourown.org/works/31413278

M/M, Duo Maxwell/Quatre Raberba Winner; Treize Khushrenada/Quatre Raberba Winner; Treize Khushrenada/Duo Maxwell

Explicit, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Aged-Up Character(s); Quatre Raberba’s Uchuu no Kokoro | Space Heart; Newtypes (Gundam Wing); Preventers (Gundam Wing); Cameos; Therapy; Aftermath of Torture; Aftermath of Violence; Rape Aftermath; Physical Disability; Gratuitous Smut; Psychic Bond; Psychic Abilities; Domestic; Injury Recovery

Treize remembered the discussion of gunpowder residue on his head; it was one of the things John had been livid about after everything, and unable to explain any more than Treize had at the time. Seeing it written down… was something else. Treize closed the book over his finger, gently tapping it on his thigh as he looked up at Quatre.

“The first hot chocolate of the season,” Quatre said sitting down next to him, comfort flowing over the link. “I really wanted something sweet.” He paused. “I can feel something is…oh.” He noticed the book in Treize’s hand.

“Adding to the list of things we need to probably talk about,” he said quietly, contemplating it as he reached with his other hand to take the cocoa. “Have you written everything up?”

Fanart/Crafts/Photo Manips:

@2pcbart

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31618103

Recollect - Trowa/WuFei, comic style

@alphaikaros

https://alphaikaros.tumblr.com/post/651358650733150208/little-angry-boi

WuFei Chang, fanart

@bettertasting

https://bettertasting.tumblr.com/post/652303436314017792/something-spicy-for-the-dash-im-really-digging

Heero/Duo, fanart, nsfw

@bobo-is-tha-bomb

https://bobo-is-tha-bomb.tumblr.com/post/652089738925359104/%F0%9D%98%9B%F0%9D%98%A9%F0%9D%98%AA%F0%9D%98%B4-%F0%9D%98%AA%F0%9D%98%B4-%F0%9D%98%97%F0%9D%98%B3%F0%9D%98%A6%F0%9D%98%B7%F0%9D%98%A6%F0%9D%98%AF%F0%9D%98%B5%F0%9D%98%A6%F0%9D%98%B3-%F0%9D%98%9E%F0%9D%98%AA%F0%9D%98%AF%F0%9D%98%A5-%F0%9D%98%A4%F0%9D%98%A2%F0%9D%98%AD%F0%9D%98%AD%F0%9D%98%AA%F0%9D%98%AF%F0%9D%98%A8-zechs-merquise

Tallgeese, gunpla

https://bobo-is-tha-bomb.tumblr.com/post/652448694036316160/sd-wing-gundam-ew

Wing, gunpla

@judaru

https://judaru.tumblr.com/post/651257960922857472/im-20-years-late-but-ive-been-reading-a-lot-of

Duo Maxwell, fanart

@keiko1183

https://keiko1183.tumblr.com/post/652327422940807168/completed-with-pencils-might-be-doing-the-acrylics

Trowa/Quatre, fanart

@not-so-dead-fandoms

https://not-so-dead-fandoms.tumblr.com/post/651085636504272896/mermay-01

Heero Yuy, fanart

https://not-so-dead-fandoms.tumblr.com/post/651494132071661568/mermay-02-duo-as-a-betta-fish-merlad

Duo Maxwell, fanart

https://not-so-dead-fandoms.tumblr.com/post/652283083819810816/mermay-03-of-course-i-made-trowa-a-clownfish

Trowa Barton, fanart

@pineappleglazedham

https://pineappleglazedham.tumblr.com/post/651759824584966144

Trieze/Une, fanart, fanfiction, playlist

Photosets/Gifsets/Screenshots/Manga Pages:

@clair-audients

https://clair-audients.tumblr.com/post/652114120696594432

Wing & Altron, gif

@disturbed02girl

https://disturbed02girl.tumblr.com/post/617456995130294273/thoughtful-quatre-thursday

Quatre, manga page

@meggie-stardust

https://meggie-stardust.tumblr.com/post/652350439669547008/same-energy

Epyon is an icon.

Fandom Discourse:

@bobo-is-tha-bomb

https://bobo-is-tha-bomb.tumblr.com/post/651423437954433024/a-homage-to-the-reader-insert

Reader Insert Homage

@cuteciboulette

https://cuteciboulette.tumblr.com/post/652076342033170432/shinigamis-coming-to-town-d-duo-just

Duo Maxwell, doujinshi

Quotes:

@incorrectgundamwingquotes

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/652102805897805825/in-the-groupchat-trowa-why-tf-do-we-have-20

Trowa & WuFei

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/652356366558806016/heero-yeah-but-as-far-as-plans-go-this-is-not-a

Heero & Quatre

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/651830976331251712/duo-gesturing-to-heero-dont-worry-weve-got-an

Duo, Heero, & WuFei

Calendar Events:

@gundamzine

Rhythm Generation 2021

Meet the Mods: https://gundamzine.tumblr.com/post/636708854145613824/come-on-over-a-meet-your-2021-zine-mod-team-head

Check out the blog for the Zine schedule!

@gundam-wing-pride

Gundam Wing Pride 2k21 https://gundam-wing-pride.tumblr.com/post/648237909672083456/incoming-transmission-faq

A Beautiful Rainbow of Prompts https://gundam-wing-pride.tumblr.com/post/649898271517573120/a-beautiful-rainbow-of-prompts

@gwartserver

Month of WuFei https://gwartserver.tumblr.com/post/649995521569767424/month-of-wufei

Shooting Stars (online convention) https://gwartserver.tumblr.com/post/650013463432888320/once-upon-a-time-lifeaftermeteor-and-myself

@gwcocktailfriday

Cocktail Fridays!

Post responses on Friday, during Happy Hour between 3 & 5 pm in your own timezone.

Here’s the prompt for Friday, !

In need of Summer/Fall(Autumn) prompts!

(I’ll um... fix these when I have time to find more prompts.)

@gwlemonyshenanigans

May 23rd’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/651999227800600576/may-23rd-submission

May 24th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652131130827571200/may-24th-submissions

May 25th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652252350922342400/may-25th-submissions

May 26th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652312096032342016/may-26th-submissions

May 27th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652433653693136896/may-27th-submissions

May 28th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652434486286548992/may-28th-submission

May 29th’s Submissions https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652648408588353536/may-29th-submissions

Friday Spotlight! https://gwlemonyshenanigans.tumblr.com/post/652439213602684928/the-lastspotlight-friday

@oztober-rust

Welcome to Oztober Rust

We’re an up and coming Gundam Wing event with a slight twist! This page is still a work in progress, but you’re welcome to join us over on discord and get a feel for the event.

Have discord, will fan. https://oztober-rust.tumblr.com/post/647568110262566912/i-see-a-nice-and-steady-following-we-do-have-a

@seasons-of-gundamwing

Summer Event Voting https://seasons-of-gundamwing.tumblr.com/post/646220556727877633/seasons-of-gundamwing-okay-wingers-its-time-to

@thisweekingundamevents

Events Calendar https://thisweekingundamevents.tumblr.com/post/644080386309275648/events-calendar-update

If you are hosting an event currently, or are planning on one, hit us up with links and dates! We’ll add them to the Calendar and reblog your notices to get the word out!

[infinitewatchlistt-blog]

Some Mother’s Failson: AJ Soprano and the Millennial Condition

In upper- and upper-middle class American culture, receiving a new car on your sixteenth birthday is a cherished rite of passage. Countless episodes of My Super Sweet Sixteen, a seminal work of the early 2000s (known in some online circles as the "McBling" era), feature an eager, bouncing teen rejoicing as her parents hand off the keys to a new convertible or SUV. Mom and Dad grin as they point out all the great safety features of the new car, while daughter or son caress the leather interiors and fantasize about how great the car will look in the parking lot of their school or the background of their MySpace pics. For thousands of teens growing up before the recession, their first car was a material signifier of both adult responsibility and enviable status. Fictional teenager AJ Soprano, from David Chase's masterpiece HBO series, is no exception.

For some participants of "weird Twitter", meme groups, and other obsessive online media-consumption communities, AJ Soprano has become a symbol for the beloved "failson" - a millennial who is pitiable and ironically hilarious for his constant inability to make anything of himself. Though many AJ fans were likely too young to watch The Sopranos when it initially aired, the show's continued popularity and presence on streaming services has led many young people (self included) to revisit the show. Those in the millennial age group - commonly recognized as those born between 1981 and 1997 - are likely to recognize many of the material goods that occupy AJ's adolescence: Mario Kart, metal posters, skate apparel, a personal computer kept in the bedroom (perfect for shirtless message board posting). These are items cherished by those who, unable to fit in with the more socially-adept "cool kids" (ie. those featured on shows like My Super Sweet Sixteen), retreated into a more insular world of teenage angst and video games. But AJ was not just any awkward mid-2000s teenager: he was the son of a wealthy mobster, and thanks to that, he will receive a car.

In the season five episode "All Happy Families", Tony interrupts one of AJ's belabored tutoring sessions to present him with a brand new Nissan Xterra SUV. AJ's face lights up when he sees the car, while his father tells him about "sensors in the seatbelts" and Nissan's "triple-safety philosophy". Though he notes that SUVs are less environmentally friendly, AJ is as pleased as any disaffected teen can be; but his expression changes when Tony tells him that the car will stay in the garage until he can bring his grades up to a "C". It's an attempt on Tony's part to motivate his son, but AJ immediately expresses annoyance at his parents, irritated that the gift has a catch. As in other episodes of the Sopranos, Tony and Carmela attempt to set standards for AJ, but in their materially-obsessed lives, their hopes for his success can only be expressed through expensive goods. By giving AJ a car dependent only on his continued studying and eventual attainment of good grades, Tony provides a physical representation of the gap between AJ's current self and what his parents expect him to be.

It's no wonder, then, that after the car catches fire in the series finale "Made in America", AJ tells his therapist that he feels "cleansed" by watching it explode. On a subconscious level, AJ is able to recognize the chasm of expectation that the car represents. Just moments before the car was destroyed, he was making out with a beautiful young model and listening to Bob Dylan's "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), claiming to finally "get" Dylan's music. AJ was experiencing a sense of pleasure and accomplishment at having matured in a way that had nothing to do with his parents' vision of his future. Though it was accidental, setting the car on fire was a both a dumb mistake and a youthful "fuck you!", allowing the real AJ to stick it to the imagined one that hangs over each of his failures.

This imagined AJ heavily influenced his family's view of him, but it also had an overpowering effect on how AJ saw himself. Like many teenagers, AJ strived for adulthood, sneaking into clubs, doing drugs, and trying to shrug off his parents at every turn. But AJ didn't completely reject the nuclear family he was born into: the ideal of the strong, mature head of household - someone like AJ's father - led him to pursue Blanca, a young single mother he met at one of Tony's construction sites. Blanca and her three-year-old son Hector were a ready-made family unit, practically an adult male starter pack. When AJ and Blanca start dating, he immediately jumps into the idea of caring and providing for them. Early in the relationship, he attempts to scare off men making noise outside Blanca's apartment because that's what Hector's father used to do. He takes Hector to the Puerto Rican day parade, keeps a baby seat in the back of his Nissan, and invites them to all Sopranos family functions, much to his mother's barely suppressed chagrin. AJ is so enamored with the idea of settling down with Blanca that he proposes to her, presenting a diamond ring of McBling-appropriate bigness. Blanca is unsure, and though AJ tries to convince her by saying that he'll soon be night manager at the pizzeria where he works, she ultimately declines the engagement and breaks off the relationship. This sends AJ into a deep depression, one that culminates in a suicide attempt and hospitalization. Though his father and sister try to give him perspective and insist that he'll recover from the heartbreak, AJ's failure to build a family and achieve this benchmark of male adulthood devastates him. The viewer (and AJ's more mature loved ones) is able to recognize that AJ did not put in the time and effort a nuclear family typically requires. As with the relationship between the SUV and AJ's academic performance, AJ has put the cart before the horse, and thus failed again to meet the standard provided for him.

Cognitive dissonance is the fuel that keeps the Soprano crime family running. Throughout the series, characters are constantly embroiled in petty arguments or obsessed with minor slights while downplaying the violence, death, and destruction that keeps their pockets lined. Though AJ does not participate in his father's "business", he is aware of it, often seeing news reports and internet articles about the mob's crimes. Instead of turning his burgeoning moral consciousness on the Sopranos family's actions, he fixates on other political concerns: the environment, the Israel-Palestine conflict, factory farming. Millennials recognize AJ becoming "woke" and may guiltily relate to the scenes of AJ sitting at the dinner table, claiming the steak his mother cooked with sprayed with pesticides and insisting that his father read the newspaper. AJ is so divorced from the real tragedy in his life that, just weeks after losing his cousin, he snottily tells Tony to "just bury his head in the sand" regarding the injustices of the world. As the privileged son of a well-to-do family, AJ's political concerns are linked more to his youth and his depression than to any real relationship to these struggles - it seems unlikely that he would care so much about the plight of displaced Palestinians if he had a good job and stable relationship.

Thinking that you're the only person who really understands the world is a classic symptom of youth, and AJ is a perfect symbol of perpetual adolescence. Though he's able to spend thousands of dollars on Cristal at the club, his life is largely a monotony of 9:00 AM cartoons, afternoons working at Blockbuster, and “lincoln log sandwiches” prepared by his mother. Robert Iler's round, wide-eyed face always looks thirteen-years-old, even after AJ grows a hideous chinstrap beard. His continued presence in his childhood home and constant in-and-out of academic institutions prevents him - and the viewer - from establishing a clear timeline for his life; in later seasons, I have little sense of how old AJ is from episode to episode. It's difficult to imagine him ever fully extricating himself from the comfortable life that his parents provided for him. Though the viewer sees the ways in which AJ is forced to grow and change, the series suggests that he - like every other character, and like all of us - will always be stuck in the same framework he was raised with. The last scene of AJ's story (diner scene not included) shows him leaving his job at Little Carmine's film company - a gig that his father got for him - in a new BMW M3, driving to pick up his hot model girlfriend. He tells a friend over the phone that, compared to the old SUV, the new car's environmental impact is "not that bad". The girlfriend gets in the car, and they drive off to one of David Chase's pitch-perfect music cues, as the Noisettes sing to "scratch your name into the fabric of this world."

AJ would be 31-years-old in 2017. When his father was that age, he already had a wife and two children. He had a clear career path and a strong foundation for the rest of his life - a foundation built on bodies buried in backyard, but a foundation nonetheless. We cannot know for certain what AJ Soprano’s life is like ten years after the events of the series finale - David Chase, in the handful of post-finale interviews where he isn’t frustratingly coy, hasn’t given indication about where AJ’s life may have lead. The viewer may speculate that, having seen his father die right in front of him, AJ decided to avenge him. It’s possible that he managed to continue his father's legacy as Don, running the Bada Bing stripclub and ruling New Jersey with an iron fist. For this viewer, it's difficult to really imagine sweet, sensitive AJ, the “happy little boy” Carmela remembered him as, the prodigal son whose father tried desperately to steer him away from a life of crime, following in the family tradition. The perpetual adolescent can never truly progress into the realm of adulthood he so long imaged. Here's a more likely scenario: AJ Soprano, 31-years-old, living with roommates, or a live-in girlfriend, piecing together a life working for Little Carmine’s production company, blowing thousands of dollars on today’s fashionable equivalent of Cristal (high-end mezcal? Humboldt County kush?), and still, always, sensing that great chasm, knowing that he can never progress to being the man his father was, or return to the child he used to be.