#The third one in my seasonal cats series | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mirrorball-leclerc · 1 year ago

Text

big reputations - part five

series masterlist // previous // next

ASKING DANIEL RICCIARDO THE MOST POPULAR F1 FAN QUESTIONS

comments

user1 this interview further proves that max is daniel’s emotional support boyfriend.

↳ user2 was that ever up for debate?

↳ user1 no, but you get what i mean.

user3 oh, he’s got those stupid stars in his eyes again. this man is down bad.

user4 i love how he never brushes off questions about daphne. every single time he answers the questions about her

↳ user5 take notes joe alwyn. this is how you talk about mother daphne.

↳ user4 the shade towards joe. this fandom will never let him rest.

user6 these two are never beating the dating allegations.

↳ user7 i don't think they want to

↳ user6 oh for sure, these two want to know how far this whole thing is going to go

user8 even if they aren't dating it's such an adorable friendship

↳ user9 it'll be official when he meets ryan and blake. that's when you know they are actually dating.

↳ user8 or when she meets christian and max, oh wait.

↳ user9 that's actually a good point

user10 someone stop this man from being so down bad for daphne.

user11 i am loving that max is daphne and daniel's third wheel.

↳ user12 i'm living for max teasing daniel. you know this man does it constantly and never let's daniel rest

↳ user11 oh i know max has never given him a moment of peace.

george russell everyday i am reminded that daphne jones fans are a different breed.

lando norris i would ask why but i have been on twitter today. apparently dts is trending on netflix

alex albon charles, mate, you've got the daphne fans crying.

charles leclerc oh god, what did i do now?

fernando alonso season 1 episode 8 charles leclerc oh.

daniel ricciardo is that why we're trending? i thought old tweets of mine were found and i was getting cancelled

esteban ocon have you said things that’ll get you cancelled?

daniel ricciardo no, but it’s a genuine fear estie! max verstappen at the ‘girlies’ have joined in on our mutual hatred for zak (oscar and lando you saw nothing) oscar piastri never thought i would see the day max verstappen said ‘girlies’

yuki tsunoda added one person

yuki tsunoda speaking of daphne jones ARE YOU TWO DATING RICCIARDO??

george russell yuki who did you add??

unknown number hello, it's liam lawson. george russell oh cool.

daniel ricciardo i don't feel like i have to expose my personal life to you people. i already see you too much.

max verstappen stop being a pussy and ask her out.

daniel ricciardo how about you shut the fuck up for once?

charles leclerc in the words of arthur, 'uh oh, the girls are fighting'

logan sargeant arthur's chronically online so it doesn't surprise me that he knows what that is.

valtteri bottas have you asked her out daniel?

nico hülkenberg i have to admit this is the highlight of my year, have you done it yet ricciardo??

kevin magnussen yes, have you?

mark webber MAN UP RICCIARDO! FUCKING DO IT ALREADY!

jenson button no pressure or anything, but have you?

daniel ricciardo oh for fucks sake. i hate all of you.

liam lawson i'm so confused.

liam lawson i thought they were dating already? considering what ajdbfwei

max verstappen sorry, liam is currently out of commission.

george russell why is that so fucking threatening? what did you do verstappen?

max verstappen nothing. liam is just out of it for the next 20-30 minutes

sergio perez i have never seen max's body move so fast. i fear liam is unconscious.

carlos sainz what the hell is happening?

daniel ricciardo what the hell did you do to liam? is he okay?

max verstappen liam is okay. i pinky swear it.

daphne jones what happened?

max verstappen i was not going to let liam ruin the magnificent plan that i made. he had to be silenced.

daniel ricciardo you make it sound like you killed the poor guy

daphne jones he makes it sound like he's a mafia hitman

max verstappen i could totally be a hitman.

daniel ricciardo cat-dad verstappen could never be a hitman. mad-max however is a different story.

max verstappen i could be a hitman who loves cats. hitmen have many sides to them daniel.

daniel ricciardo do you think this man could be a hitman?

daphne jones that man could never be a hitman

daniel ricciardo could max be a hitman?

charles leclerc absolutely not oscar piastri no fucking way sabrina carpenter i'm going to need context but the answer is no

max verstappen fuck you guys. i could be hitman.

daphne jones face it max, you could never be one.

sabrina carpenter however this version of max and charles could totally be hitmen

charles leclerc how the hell?

sabrina carpenter tiktok is a wonderful place.

daphne jones i thought it was the countless twitter tags asking if you had seen it already? sabrina carpenter oh no it came up on my for you page. it was a video called f1 quotes i quote on the daily. i, of course spiralled when i saw that specific part.

sabrina carpenter my favorite driver is kimi.

charles leclerc well he's retired. so who's your favorite driver on the grid right now?

sabrina carpenter fernando alonso

daniel ricciardo wow, that's so mean.

oscar piastri i would've said the same thing just to annoy you.

daniel ricciardo look who's no longer my favorite grid son

charles leclerc what the fuck? i'm a part of this group chat too.

daniel ricciardo you're on thin fucking ice until you tell xavi off or someone at ferrari.

max verstappen you can't seriously still be bitter about singapore

daniel ricciardo OF COURSE I CAN! HE WAS SACRIFICED MAX! LIKE A LAMB TO SLAUGHTER! I CAN BE BITTER IF HE WON'T!

sabrina carpenter i think charles has no choice but to enter his reputation era.

oscar piastri not yet, he hasn't hit rock bottom yet. charles leclerc and, in the rookie's opinion, what is rock bottom? oscar piastri dnf, dns, dsq max verstappen if at any point charles gets dsq'd i will be calling oscar a psychic. daniel ricciardo WHY WOULD YOU PUT THAT OUT THERE OSCAR??

sabrina carpenter so, mom, dad, are we going to qatar??

oscar piastri yeah, mom and dad, will you be at qatar?

max verstappen they went from being two strangers to mom and dad to three children in span of a few months.

charles leclerc he's only a few years older than me, how is he my father?

sabrina carpenter you dare argue with the twitter giriles?

charles leclerc no?

sabrina carpenter then congrats, you are now mine and oscar's older brother.

oscar piastri charles right now

max verstappen he should save that energy for xavi and ferrari

charles leclerc don't tempt me to crash into you max. i'll do it. then we'll have to wait another weekend to see you crowned world champion again

daphne jones THAT'S THIS WEEKEND? OH WE DEFINITELY HAVE TO BE A QATAR!

sabrina carpenter via air max?

max verstappen who told the pop girl about air max?

sabrina carpenter once again, tiktok is a wonderful place max verstappen once again, i hate you so much sabrina carpenter stay pressed sid. i'm their child and you are simply daniel's mistress. oscar piastri what is it the twitter people say? gagged him.

taglist: @glow-ish @agustdpeach @msolbesg @spilled-coffee-cup @1nt3rnetgf @six-call

¡leclerc-s speaks! can you tell i started rewatching dts now that the season is over? i actually do cry everytime i watch episode 8 of season 1. personally, i love suzuka, but i think the fia's choices with putting tractors on the track has given it a bad history. anyways, hope you enjoyed this, it's a little sad but i never write sad stuff so this is new.

¡disclaimer! this is in no way making assumptions about the people involved in this story, this is all fake. it is a fanfiction please don't take any of what is said seriously. this is all for entertainment purposes and as a creative outlet. enjoy!

#leclerc-s #big reputations series #daniel ricciardo #daniel ricciardo x female oc #formula 1 #formula 1 fic #fanfic #fanfiction #f1 #f1 smau #f1 social media au #f1 instagram au #f1 fic

280 notes · View notes

couldpolyamorysavethem · 6 months ago

Text

ELIZABETH BURKE, PETER BURKE, and NEAL CAFFREY from WHITE COLLAR

Justification:

"okay listen this might already be in the queue but i sincerely believe the last three seasons of the show would've gone in a completely different direction if peter got that last little push away from his bullshit cop behaviour by neal pulling some grand romantic gesture for him + el. like, come on man, you've already come to peace with legality not being the same as morality after you ran all those cons and let neal cut and run, but he's so convinced the ONLY way to do good in the world is being an fbi agent that he like, actively makes things worse for neal (AND HIMSELF? AND ELIZABETH?) over and over again just so he can preserve the status quo of neal being his CI + while peter's an active field agent. would kissing about his devotion to their dynamic and neal's rehabilitation and peter's complicity in neal's dehumanisation by the state solve that? maybe not! but considering the alternative is neal fucking dying (he got better) about it i think we should give it a shot!

that previous paragraph was more or less me preaching to the choir wrt this relationship but still here's my pitch:

neal is essentially already the third in elizabeth + peter's marriage, with how much he lives in peter's brain during pre-series sequences, how INVESTED he is in their relationship (reminding peter of anniversaries), and then IN the actual series that only increases when he's coming around to their place all the time

each pair within this trio have supporting but distinct relationships w one another that they all benefit from (and they often need the support of all three dynamics to get through Issues™)

that one episode where peter ends up on the run w another fbi agent and neal gets paired up with that guy's CI, and there's just an unbelievable amount of parallels between the two pairs and their relationship, even after its established that those two are in a romantic relationship and peter and neal 'aren't'. like peter says he'd go to neal first if he was ever in trouble LIKEEE

fucking everything about the run up to the finale of season 2 where we hear over and over again that the only two ways conmen end up are with 'one last score' (which inevitably leads to the next, because they can't help themselves), or going to prison. OR, the 'true love' option, where an ex-conman is able to genuinely settle down and go straight (more or less). this 'secret third option' is literally even spelled out to us IN an episode about a trio of thieves (byron june and ford) who meant the world to each other!

neal uses the engagement ring he was GOING to give to his TEXTUAL 'true love' in order to pay for peter's ransom that one time and isn't even cut up about it??

also like the episode before that neal and peter switch identities (very well) and neal acts like elizabeth's wife, and the only issue peter (or anyone) has with it is that he's also committing the crime of impersonating a federal agent.

season three finale where peter asks why neal didn't run when he just got the score of his life and the first thing he says is 'you, elizabeth', before listing literally anything else. INCLUDING HIS CURRENT ROMANTIC INTEREST?

also the scene before that where neal immediately folds from his season long cat and mouse game with peter and hiding the treasure because elizabeth's in danger! and peter only believes he's not lying abt any of it bc it's elizabeth!

that one shot in the pilot where neal and elizabeth look up at peter and you can so clearly see he has a type.

literally everything about elizabeth + neal's interactions in s1. get you a girl who sneaks you into her house past dozens of fbi agents so you can talk to your handler personally about being framed for a crime that she has no reason to suspect you didn't do other than believe in your and her husband's relationship!

im losing track of my argument at this point. anyway can someone please knock peter upside the head with some kind of bi awakening for the love of god this homoerotic 'partners' situation has an unbelievably high body count not to mention all the violation of civil liberties and frankly you could've all moved to paris and started a detective agency YEARS ago and this show would become slice of life" - @time-is-restored

#could polyamory have saved them #polls #white collar #elizabeth burke #peter burke #neal caffrey #polyamory #polyamorous #nonmonogamy #time-is-restored

73 notes · View notes

lgbtqiapnfreak · 7 months ago

Text

Why I think Byler is endgame

Before we start, you must know I'm really skeptical about theories and all. I like to read and have fun with them, but believe them? It's really hard for me as a 20 years old queer person. Since young I've suffered being queerbaited by mainstream series, Stranger Things wouldn't be the first nor the last to do that.

I know today things are a little bit better, but for the sake of my poor broken heart, I'm always expecting a deception. Yet, I can see byler happening in season 5.

Here we go to the reasons why.

The existence of Robin

I've heard a lot of straight people say, before season 4 and even now, that "Will can't be gay because Robin is the gay person in the show. There is no reason for another one".

Like? The show can have 38272 straight, developed and important for the plot characters, all of them with love interests and happy endings, and one gay character inserted as a comic relief is fine. Two? To much to deal with.

I know, I know, disgusting. BUT what if I say that Robin was not a character added to the show only for a comic relief or identity representation at all? That she was presented for the watchers to consider the existence of a gay character in the show. For them to recognize some queer coded things that, without Robin, they wouldn't be able to?

Robin was presented to us in Season 3. As we must know, the third season of the show is mainly dedicated to character and relationships development. Thanks to it, we got to see the characters way more cylindrically, their fears, mistakes, who they are in their normal daily life. Mike, El, Hopper, Joyce, Erica and Steve gained many new layers in this season, but Will had the most special one: the first explicit hint of his sexuality.

And then, Robin appears. At first we are conditioned to think she likes Steve, the Duffers play a game with the watchers' heteronormativity using the dubiousness of their dialogs. And then, boom! She is lesbian. Not only lesbian but repressedly in love with a girl - at least was - and jealous of Steve.

Thanks to this coming out scene

The interpretation door was open to see this as Will being in love with a boy, repressing his feelings and being jealous of the girl the boy is dating with.

Will's jealousy and feelings for Mike back then stamped the background of everything, it was being slowly built inside the show - but not inside the character, remember the Snow Ball script? It was always there, just unseen.

Until here we are only remarking that Will is gay. But what Robin has to do with byler as a ship?

Well, if she is the queer character created to open this door for Will, created to gain the sympathy of the general public as comic relief character who bonded with two of the most popular characters of the show - Dustin and Steve - since s3, showing the watchers the struggles of a queer person in the 80's in a "light" way and making the viewers to cheer for her love life, of course her character holds a big role with byler building a romantic relationship.

Robin appeared in Season 3 because the viewers wanted Milven to happen in season 2 - thanks to the heteronormativity and kids sexualization I may say - when it wasn't going to, it wasn't scripted like this and it's not going to be endgame. So Robin's creating a scape route for the writers.

The hints given about Will being called a f@g and Mike over protective and supportive behavior with Will were not enough to create this bridge between friends and lovers as we know very well.

Movie Date and Schrodinger Cat

Moving on. We know Will is gay. Okay. What is still uncertain in the show is Mike's sexuality and required feelings towards Will. Here, we are focusing in the required feelings part.

I read a lot of analysis about the "movie date scene". I remember people discussing the blushing frame and the holding hands theory even before s4 coming out and at the time it sounded like joke to me - as I said I'm really skeptical. Yet, after rewatch the part and reading a lot (especially @greenfiend 's one about the holding hands thing), I feel like I finally understood why the scene is so spoken of.

It's pretty simple, it's another open door. Not like Robin who is there to guide us to read between the lines but as something that is open to interpret and rely on when they finally get together. It was made for when people start to question "where did this relationship came from?" and create assumptions like "it came out of the nowhere".

In the scene, Lucas, Max, Mike and Will go to Starcourt's movie theater to watch a horror movie together. When arguing about Mike's behavior, Lucas remarks that he is spending romantic time with his girlfriend by going there. When they are finally inside, lumax and byler sits separately, then things start to get really fishy.

The construction of the whole next part, when they are inside the movie theater, from the beginning of the movie to the black out and end of the scene, are basically hands. Hands everywhere. In the close ups, in the people around them and even in the movie. Why? For us to see it, to think of it, to imagine. To imagine what? It's up to you of course, but we know people hold hands at movie theaters, specially when watching a horror movie, and we also know byler is the main focus on that scene for some reason.

But they didn't show us their hands, did them? No. Because of that, no one can really say they were holding hands, but the same can't be said about them not holding their hands. The construction of the scene deliberately leads us to question the possibility, however there is no true answer. Like the Schorodinger Cat, they are holding and not-holding their hands.

Also, the "are you okay?" Mike says, the camera play and Noah's acting leads us to think that, if they are holding their hands, it was Mike's initiative, not Will's.

The whole scene is purposefully dubious.

Noah looks down at his hand at the end of the interaction, up again, and then smiles. It's there but they don't show us! At the same time, if it was an unromantic moment, they would've shown us they were holding hands as they did before, so why not? Why do they keep the whole thing subtle, calculated, and masked by the MF plot if not to hold a secret meaning behind it all. A secret meaning for us to discover yet.

Like pleaseee, I swear this is some kind of torture for us gay people.

Mike's character construction and Finn's acting

I'm a ST fan since the beginning. I was here when the major public liked Jonathan better than Steve, when Mike was the favorite member of the party, and Finn was treated as one of the best child actors of the show. Looking back, it's pretty obvious things changed a lot since the third season.

Why things changed? In the last two seasons, Finn was accused of being "out of the character" and "having a bad acting". And Mike turned into a douchebag in public eyes.

The truth is: the way the writers had chosen to show us Mike changed. He still is the same insecure, paranoic, loyal, compassionate character who is a jerk sometimes from the beginning, but we didn't get the chance to see his POV since s2.

Mike is a character trapped in the expectations of the viewers. They expected him to date El, to love El as a girlfriend, to treat her the way she deserves - what he can do, but clearly not as a boyfriend. Their relationship wasn't scripted the way it happened, so his character needed to go through some changes to remain himself. And, of course, for mlvn to end, the viewers needed to hate his version with El. Again, it is a scape route.

His character is still the same, but the way we see him is different. The truth is the viewers expected Mike to acts towards El the way he did with Will after they started dating: unconditionally supportive, trusting, and understanding, but guess what? This was never on Mike's character to begin with.

He doesn't understand, trust, or support people unconditionally. They are showing how much he is inflexible and selective in what he wants to believe since the very first episode, we can see that in the relationship with his family and friends. Just remember his fights with Lucas in s1, s2 and s4 and Dustin in s2 and s3, they are his CHILDHOOD FRIENDS, but even them don't have the pleasure of Mike's unconditionally support and trust. The only character he is truly open to is Will.

These changes were made for us to see the difference between Will and the rest of the world for Mike. In season 3, when he appears to be a jerk to everyone, no exception at all, the only person he seems to retract this behavior for is Will. In season 4, Mike fights El and Will, but again, the only one he seems to understand and retract from his defenses for is Will. Again, the only person he is really open with.

Now, speaking about sexuality, the other reason for people to blame Finn's acting is the awkwardness in kissing and intimate scenes - like the first I love you he heard from his girlfriend.

I don't know about you, but for me, it is almost painful to watch them kissing. Not only kissing, the whole dating thing looks like a performance, and it's not a good one, if I may say. But here is the thing, it's on purpose! The same goes for the looks he gives Will's and Eddie's body.

Don't even think that every look, expression, or camera play is not calculated. These people spend so much money in the show for it to be half assed by bad acting or misinterpretation of the script.

#byler endgame #mike wheeler #will byers #i have a trip early in the morning but here i am #byler analysis #byler #byler nation #stranger things 5 #stranger things spoilers

135 notes · View notes

lightdancingwords · 1 month ago

Text

Come Find Me - Part Nine

Pairing: Beau Arlen x F. Reader

Series Summary: You are a new arrival to Big Sky, Montana, and found gainful employment with the local insurance department next door to the sheriff’s department. A whole new life with your past haunting you, while Beau is still dealing with the entanglements with his ex-wife. Can either of you succeed in overcoming your ghosts?

Word Count: 3,062

Tags/Warnings: Fluff, mentions domestic violence/intimate partner violence, a little bit of angst, profanity, discussion of sex (18+ character), trauma, holiday stuff

A/N: Comments, Likes, Reblogs, Kind feedback are always highly appreciated. Please let me know if you want to be added to the tag list! Please see this post regarding future story posts. I believe Chapter Ten will be the last of this series! I have a Supernatural one in mind for my next series!

Divider: credit to @tsunami-of-tears

Chapter Nine: Merry Christmas

The holiday season was in full force. Christmas decorations were everywhere. Doris even took over The Big Guy with lights, wreaths and garlands. Beau advised you to just surrender to the force of nature that was Doris, and you were glad did, because the decorations were beautiful. They brightened your day in the Montana snow when you had to come to work.

Amusingly, Doris even decorated the exterior of the sheriff department. Beau took one look, heaved a sigh, and resigned himself to the season. You actually had to stifle a giggle at his expression.

As for you and Beau… you had a third date. And a fourth. And well, quite a few by then. Each one left you feeling giddy, your heart swelling with love. Not to mention the kisses, oh God…. Each and every kiss was more intense than the last. Hell, the most recent date had the two of you in a full-blown make out session and your neck covered in hickeys. Beau was very smug about that.

The two of you still hadn’t had sex. Beau was incredibly patient with you over that. Oh, he’d do some light caresses, always stopping if you voiced a request for him to stop. Beau had the patience of a monk, even though you could see the desire every time he looked at you. It wasn’t the desire for sex so much as a desire for you, to be with you. You knew it, felt it,… you just….

It took a therapy session for you to realize it wasn’t just because of the scar. Beau’s statement during your official first date reassured you that he didn’t care if you had a scar. That’s when you realized that the issue wasn’t the scar; it was the lingering effects of your relationship with Mark. Sex had been a weapon in that relationship, rarely a loving experience. It traumatized you, left a mark on you.

You debated telling Beau, but weren’t sure how to bring it up. After all, would he actually be okay with never having sex? Or waiting longer than he anticipated? God… relationships were hard sometimes.

“Hey darlin’,” Beau said, surprising you as he entered the office with a ridiculous merry chime of the door. He paused, glanced at the door. “Did that chime change?”

“Believe it or not, Arthur gave Doris permission to change the chime for Christmas,” you said with a rueful grin. “I kind of wish he asked me if I wanted to hear Jingle Bells every time someone came in the office.”

Beau laughed, came over and gave you a soft kiss. “Be glad I ain’t singin’, darlin’,” he said, grabbing the customer chair and dragged it over closer to you. “Em described it as a group of alley cats yowlin’ down the way.”

You grinned wryly. “Now I can’t decide if I want to hear you sing or not.”

“Not, darlin’,” he said with a laugh. “Definitely not.”

“So, not that I’m complaining,” you said with a smile, “but what brings you by?”

“Tomorrow’s Christmas,” he said, catching up one of your hands. “I wanna invite ya over.”

Your heart skipped a beat. “What? But you said Emily was staying for Christmas and it’s your day.”

“Emily’s idea,” Beau said with a goofy smile. You couldn’t help it, you found yourself smiling as well. “She said we could spend time in the mornin’, and then she can go to her mother’s in the afternoon. Leavin’ us… together.”

Your eyes widened. “Really? Beau, it’s Christmas, I don’t want to—”

He placed a finger over your lips, silencing you. “Darlin’… I’m tellin’ ya the truth. Emily set this up, so we both get Christmas with her. And I’m glad she did. I’d love to spend Christmas alone with you too.”

You smiled slowly, and he moved his finger away. You saw the matching smile on his face. “I’d love to spend Christmas with you, Beau,” you said. The thought of your first holiday together warmed your heart.

“Good. Come by the trailer at around 8,” he said, framing your face with his hands. He gave you a lingering soft kiss before he got up from the chair. “I’ll see you tomorrow mornin’.”

You rose as well. “Hang on.” Beau raised his eyebrows at you, questioning you. “I… Beau, I have to ask…”

He immediately knew what you were asking about and shook his head. “No, darlin’… it’s ain’t about that. Not until you’re ready. I meant it.”

You bit your lower lip, hesitating. “I just… it’s been weeks.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you… are you sure you’re okay with waiting a bit longer?” you asked, uncertain.

His expression softened. “Darlin’…” He pulled you closer, kissed your forehead. “I’m not gonna lie. It’s not always easy, especially when I look at ya. But you’re worth waitin’ for.”

“Beau…” You took a deep breath. “What if I’m never ready?”

He tilted his head and furrowed his brow. “Darlin’… what’s goin’ on?”

“I… it’s Mark,” you said slowly, sitting back down. Beau dragged the chair closer, sitting next to you with a look of worry. “During my relationship with him, when we… slept together, it was largely me trying to prove to him that I love him, especially after a fight. Or he’d guilt-trip me, claim I was no longer attracted to him. It was awful.”

“God, darlin’…”

“I just…” You met Beau’s eyes, nearly drowned in the sea of moss green. “We’ve been doing so great together, I don’t want to lose this. You.”

“God, darlin’,” Beau said, clasping your hands in his. “You won’t lose me because we don’t have sex. If we have to wait a year, I’ll wait a year.”

“But what if…” You swallowed hard, forced the next words out in a whisper. “What if it’s never?”

Beau gently brushed back a strand of your hair, infinite kindness in his gaze and touch. You very nearly told him you loved him, he was so gentle in that moment. “I ain’t gonna pretend that I’m not a man of needs, darlin’,” he murmured, “but I’d never punish you, force you, or even guilt-trip ya. I want you, God yes, but I want ya willin’. Sex ain’t no fun if my partner is only doin’ it to keep me happy.”

You met his gaze and felt as though your heart was fit to burst, you loved him so much. He must have seen something in your eyes as he bent to kiss you, soft and sweet and oh so tender.

When the kiss finally broke, you let out a sigh, a soft hum really, that was full of pleasure. When you opened your eyes, you saw his face, his expression, and nearly confessed your feelings all over again.

“I’ll see ya tomorrow, okay, darlin’?” He asked softly, his hand caressing your cheek.

“Absolutely,” you murmured. “Should I bring an overnight bag?”

He smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “I’d love that.”

—

You were on Cloud Nine or, as Doris put it, Cloud Heaven. You barely slept that night, left early to arrive at Beau’s trailer with plenty of time.

When you arrived, Beau and Emily were outside, wrapped in plush blankets, sitting around a merry fire. You grinned when you got out of your car.

“Am I looking at a pair of icicles or are my eyes deceiving me?” you asked, approaching them with several gift wrapped boxes in hand.

“Hey darlin’,” Beau said with a smile, getting up from his cozy seat. He gave you a quick kiss and took the boxes. “We were just enjoyin’ some hot chocolate while we waited for ya.”

Your brows rose in surprise. “You were waiting on me?”

“I wanted to,” Emily spoke up with a smile. “Dad’s been grumbling the whole time.”

You chuckled, sat at the third chair. “You didn’t have to. I’d been fine.”

Emily shrugged a shoulder, then smiled. “It’s Christmas. It means spending time with people you care about. Right, dad?”

Beau nodded, kissed the top of Emily’s head. “Darn right.” He glanced up at you. “Have ya eaten, darlin’?”

You nodded. “I did.” You hesitated. There was an air of awkwardness, and you weren’t sure why. “By the way, Emily, I wanted to thank you for inviting me to this. It’s really sweet of you.”

“No problem.” Emily rolled her eyes at her father and nudged him. “Dad… she doesn’t have a blanket.”

Beau blinked and realized she was right. “Ah shi-shoot,” he said, catching himself before he could swear. “I’ll be right back, darlin’.”

You couldn’t even get a word out that you were fine before he ducked into the trailer. Emily watched the door shut before turned back to you with a conspiratorial air.

“I told dad I wanted you here because I knew if I didn’t, he’d just mope and feel sorry for himself,” she admitted.

Startled, you stared. “You what? Surely it wouldn’t have been that bad, Emily.”

“Yeah… it would have. Last year was so bad. He was upset mom took me to Texas and the only reason she changed her mind this year was because Grant, her boyfriend, had to cancel last minute,” she said quietly, picking at her blanket.

You blinked, blinked again. “Just how bad was it last year..?”

Emily pulled an aggrieved face. “He texted and called for hours, wanting to make sure I was okay. I know… I know the kidnapping and all messed things up, but he got super-clingy.”

“And you think if I wasn’t here…”

Emily was nodding half-way through your sentence. “Dad’s super-intense sometimes. I thought if you were here… he’d be okay.”

“It’s not your job to make sure he’s okay, Emily,” you said gently, your heart aching at this too-mature 18 year old girl. “But. I’m glad you asked me to be here. I would’ve been lonely at my home.”

Emily smiled a bit. “Two problems, one solution.”

“Solution to what?” Beau asked as he nudged the trailer door open and wrangled a rather large, comfortably soft blanket over to you. “Here ya go, darlin’.”

You took the blanket gratefully and wrapped it around yourself. “I was just telling Emily I was grateful for the invite as I’d be home all alone, miserable.”

“Never, darlin’,” he said, giving you a quick peck. “I probably would’ve came over and scooped ya for another gentleman round.”

Emily’s gaze flickered between the two of you uncertainly. “Is that a sex game..?”

“Oh Jesus, Em!” Beau was blushing and you were torn between hysterical laughter and blushing as well. “Hell no. It’s just somethin’ I did for Y/N on our first date. I scooped her up and I carried her all around in the snow.”

Emily grinned, realizing she made her father swear again. “Aw, dad, that sounds so mushy.”

You clamped your teeth down a giggle and cleared your throat. “Is it all right we did gift exchanges before Beau starts cussing again?”

Emily giggled, dark eyes dancing. “I’m okay with it.”

Beau huffed and nodded. “Yeah. Lemme grab them too.”

You waited until the trailer door closed again and laughed. “God, Emily… the liberties you take sometimes.”

“I really thought it was the two of you trying to be sneaky around the kid,” she admitted with a grin.

You shook your head, smiling. “With the internet at your fingertips,… hardly.”

Beau returned with a small pile of gift wrapped boxes, set them down. Your brows threatened to fly off in surprise. One of them was irregularly shaped, like maybe it was a blanket.

Beau handed several of his gifts to Emily and she eyed them with suspicion. You watched as she unwrapped them, revealing a laptop—“For college, Em”—a laptop traveling case, and a book on videography and multimedia.

Emily was stunned, so much so she very nearly wrecked her brand new laptop in her lunge to hug her father in gratitude. Her speech was so garbled with emotion, but the gist was clear: he’d listened to his daughter and got her exactly what her passions needed.

Then he handed you the irregular shaped present, surprising you. “For you, darlin’. Merry Christmas.”

Slowly, you unwrapped the carefully wrapped present, and your eyes widened upon what it was he was gifting you. At first you were puzzled, then memory came back to you.

He’d gotten you silk flowers, in red and white. They were beautifully tied together in a bouquet, held by a light blue silk bow.

“Beau… I…” You were stunned speechless. He’d said he thought you’d have flowers everywhere in your bedroom. Now he was giving you some, eternal ones. “They’re beautiful,” you whispered, emotions welling in your eyes.

He smiled, pleased. “You deserve flowers everywhere, darlin’.” He nodded to the bouquet. “Check the card.”

Intrigued, you found the little card inside the bouquet, much like how a florist would deliver it. You opened the card and your breath was stolen away. It was a sonnet by Pablo Neruda.

Sonnet XVII

I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz, or arrow of carnations that propagate fire: I love you as one loves certain obscure things, secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself, and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose from the earth lives dimly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where, I love you directly without problems or pride: I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love, except in this form in which I am not nor are you, so close that your hand upon my chest is mine, so close that your eyes close with my dreams.

“Beau…” He’d remembered you mentioning once that you loved Neruda’s poetry. An innocent throwaway in the discovery of each other. “I don’t have the words. It’s beautiful.”

“So are you, darlin’,” he murmured.

You felt the knot inside you loosen further. This man was so capable of setting you as ease, comfortable, that it constantly left you breathless.

“Ahem.” Emily loudly and deliberately interrupted. “Teenager still here… before you two decided to start groping each other.”

You burst out laughing as Beau hung his head. “Christ, Emily.”

“She’s not wrong,” you said, laughter bubbling in your voice. Had Emily not spoke up when she did, you suspected you would have dragged Beau into a make out session, bare minimum.

Beau shook his head with a rueful smile.

You cleared your throat and grabbed Emily’s present. “For you.”

“Y/N… you didn’t have to,” she said, reaching for the box.

“I wanted to.”

Emily unwrapped the gift and her eyes widened. She threw you a wild look and then showed her father. You’d gotten her a multimedia kit, complete with a decent microphone, the beginnings of software editor programs, and another book.

Beau gave you an incredulous look. “Darlin’…”

“I want to make it clear: this isn’t me trying to buy your favoritism or affection. It’s yours, to keep,” you said firmly.

“I love it! Thank you! And this is even what I’ll need for U of T, too,” Emily gushed, hugging the kit to her chest.

You smiled, relieved and pleased. “Good. I was hoping it’d be useful.” You’d bugged the Geek Squad over at the Best Buy about it, persistent in your search for an appropriate, practical gift for Emily.

Beau took one of your hands and bestowed a kiss on your knuckles, touched by your generosity. Your smile quaked, the gesture romantic and tender.

You met his gaze, the sonnet echoing in your mind. Could he wait forever, you’d asked. Until you were ready. His answer had been consistently ‘yes’.

And so was yours, you realized. Yes, you loved him. God, so much. More… you realized in the moment, the only remaining obstacle to you being fully together with Beau was you. Not Mark, not the scar, not the trauma; you.

Emily observed the sudden silence between the two of you, her perceptive if inexperienced eyes noticing a great deal. Something shifted in her expression, finally understanding what it meant to know when something was right between two people who loved each other.

Loudly, hating she had to do it, but knew it was necessary to interrupt—again. “Uh, dad, why don’t you open the gift Y/N got you?”

The moment broken, for the moment, he blinked and glanced down at the remaining box. “All right,” he muttered, tearing the gift wrapping.

And blinked. “Darlin’…”

You’d wrestled with it for weeks, what to get him. Yes, you hadn’t been dating long, but there was so much between the two of you, so much love and understanding and respect.

You’d gotten him a coat. Not just any coat, but one he’d mentioned his father had and wanted. However, after Beau’s father had passed sway, the coat couldn’t be found. He’d been bitter when he muttered that it was likely stolen by one of the hospital staff. It meant so much to him.

You recalled seeing a photo of his father in said coat, snapped a photo of it, and went digging online. It had been a leather coat, Winston style. When you found it on eBay, you immediately bought it.

Beau took that coat out of the box, reverence in every gesture. “God, darlin’,” he whispered. He pulled you into a passionate, intense kiss. So intense you were convinced your brain melted out of your ears. You clung to him, returning the kiss with fervor. The love you had for him bloomed, deepened, took root.

He broke the kiss, breathing heavily, resting his forehead against yours. “Thank you, darlin’.”

Emily cleared her throat—again. You stifled a grin, feeling your cheeks burn once more. Poor girl had to stop the two of you from pawing at each other like horny teenagers. “Um, dad, it’s noon. I gotta go to mom’s.”

“Right.” He looked at you. “You’ll be all right until I get back?”

“Yes,” you murmured, lightly touching his cheek.

“Come on, Em,” Beau said, rising to his feet. “Let’s go to your mom’s.”

You watched them leave in Beau’s truck and knew, just knew, you were in love.

Tag List: @spxideyver, @deadlymistletoe, @bitchykittenconnoisseur, @aarpfashionvictim, @stoneyggirl2

@foxyjwls007, @katastrophicmind

44 notes · View notes

lady-of-ocs · 1 month ago

Text

hey babe guess who finished season two

I DID! I DID!

I’m HYPED AS FUCK TO SEE THE SHIRATORIZAWA MATCH. And disappointed to discover there’s only ten episodes this season. I’m already half done with the series help-

I mentioned that I’ve been on my winter break and haven’t been posting my reactions, but I’ve been watching! And oh, OH OH OH, I HAVE THOUGHTS.

Let’s get my favorite scene from today’s episode out of the way:

Please observe the cuties. I love them, each and every one. Someone fucking sedate me. lmao look at Kags fighting demons back there.

So I scrolled back through my notes and read through to get my big points or exclamations. In order of the episodes since the one after Daichi’s death:

THE SCENE WHERE UKAI FUCKING THREW TAKEDA OFF THE BENCH TO SAVE HINATA FROM CRASHING WAS A DELIGHT TO WATCH. Look at that man fly! How much do these benches weigh because I know at my high school they weren’t super heavy but I’m pretty sure you usually grabbed them from the middle at least (just to balance the weight). I don’t know. He’s just a good coach and I appreciate him. RIP Takeda say hi to Daichi for me

Daichi lives!!! Obviously I knew that already but it was good to see him back! I wasn’t totally sure how many matches he’d be out for, but I’m glad he was back for the Seijou match. No shade to Ennoshita but I don’t think Karasuno would’ve won without Daichi. Also RIP the rest of Daichi’s body because Suga and Nishinoya fully attacked him when they saw he was okay

The Seijou-Date Tech match was wild to see too. KOGANE!!! I know you only vaguely but I love this giant boy already. He’s trying his hardest, alright! And it’s always good to see Aone! This man is one of my favorite giants in the show. He’s a silent sweetie. But anyway, the match itself was ooooooh. Not Asahi calling Oikawa a “cool cat” in the English dub- I love this man. I need to marry this man. I obviously knew Seijou was gonna win but PIERCING THROUGH THE IRON WALL HOLY SHIT. IWAIZUMI HAJIME THE MAN THAT YOU ARE-

As I’ve mentioned several times, I’m a Tsukkiyama enjoyer. But that Tadashi and Yachi scene was adorable, alright. Bless my babies and the hands that drew them into existence. I love my anxiety children, they just like me fr fr

OH ALSO I FORGOT ABOUT THIS AND IDK WHAT EPISODE IT’S FROM BUT THE LITTLE MOMENT WHERE THEY SCORE A POINT OR SOMETHING AND ASAHI LIFTS HINATA UP LIKE IT’S NOTHING? I need to lie down.

I love how Seijou is this big shot team with seemingly no-nonsense players but they are entirely unserious. That one guy trying to get Yachi’s attention by tossing a ball in her direction and then running after it? Comedy gold. Hajime and the other two third years picking on Oikawa about his serves? Friendship at its finest (I love them). Mad Dog not listening to Oikawa for almost the entire match? Only respect for my rowdy king who I now ship with Seijou’s number six. I read a fic for them last night and enjoyed it very much, thank you. Iwaizumi being the only person (until 6 confronts him) who Mad Dog respects because he’s the only one who can beat him? Love this pack dynamic. They’re so unserious and they seriously grew on me in this match (and the last one, but that was lessened by them beating Karasuno).

Serious expressions >:| Except for Noya because of course not. An agent of chaos. A short king

I spent a lot of time in the Seijou match just screaming and flailing about. There were some wicked cool plays in this game. Asanoya did their own attack (Noya setting to Asahi and him spiking it), Tsukki had some incredible blocks, Daichi was digging up balls all over the place, Kagehina and their fucking quick attacks, just Hinata on his own, SUGA’S BIG PLAY OH MY GOD, Tanaka had a lot of great moments and I was right there screaming with Saeko, aND WE CANNOT FORGET THE BOY HIMSELF: MY DEAREST YAMAGUCHI AND HIS MANY SERVICE ACES. I WAS SO FUCKING PROUD OF HIM LOOK AT HIM FUCKING GO OH MY GOD. He brought us back from the dead and I was HYPED. AND HE AND SUGA WEREN’T THE ONLY ONES WITH GREAT SERVES. ASAHI GOT HIS SERVICE ACE TOO LET’S GOOOOOO!!!

*singsong voice* Oikawa’s serves fucking scare me. And while we’re at it so do Mad Dog’s unholy spikes. Nah but seriously. Oikawa would go up to serve and I’d be sitting here like “I hear boss music. Why the fuck do I hear literal boss music.”

There were some really great Tsukki-encouraging-Yamaguchi-but-in-the-way-that-only-Tsukki-can moments in the last few episodes. Like, my Tsukkiyama heart aside, he really pays attention to Tadashi. He knew how hard he’d been working. He actively encouraged him multiple times. And Yamaguchi really gets him and they are so BEAUTIFUL. SLAMMING MY HANDS DOWN ON THE NONEXISTENT TABLE

A quote from my document: “They really cut my son off like that- Hajime I love you but HEADS GONNA ROLL” But Yamaguchi’s serve was legitimately ART. If Iwaizumi were even a fractionally worse player, Yams would have nailed that point and it would’ve been over. But unfortunately, Iwa’s an excellent ace

I was literally just vibrating through those last two plays. Shaking me to my core, my heart was racing, the whole thing. This match was bad for my health. That being said, OH MY GOD KAGEYAMA’S SETTER DUMP AND THEN HINATA GETTING THE FINAL POINT AND MANAGING TO GET IT PAST OIKAWA BECAUSE OF SEIJOU’S OWN BLOCKERS- AHHHHHHHH

nah but Seijou being so broken up over the loss actually hurt me a little. Where do I find the scene where they’re in a gym and Oikawa walks up and thanks them for the three years before everyone starts crying? Is that next season somewhere? I know it’s not in season 4 because the animation matches seasons 1-3. Also Iwa being upset at himself and his friends just smacking him on the back in silent encouragement and comfort (literally just hug each other like normal people. Fucking MEN am I right /j) just- Hajime is my favorite on Seijou. I think Oikawa is the fan favorite for them, but I like Iwazumi Hajime. That’s my guy right there.

THE GROUP KARASUNO HUG TURNED INTO A BIG PILE GOD BLESS. They have to end up in a pile once a season I guess. I also loved how much everyone was supporting them. Saeko’s enthusiasm was delightful to watch (speaking of, lucky Yachi if you know what I mean- ). And then all of those students and teachers sticking around to celebrate their win!! My boys are getting the recognition they deserve! Except from the news but that’s not surprising.

I have ten episodes to become endeared to Ushijima and Shiratorizawa (aside from Tendou who I already love). We will see how I feel. But when that confrontation between Ushijima and Oikawa happened I was just like YOU FUCKING TELL HIM TŌRU. GET HIS ASS. NOW STRUT OFF LIKE THE BAD BITCH YOU ARE- YEAHHHHHHH

I love the fact that Hinata and Kageyama stayed to practice more. That’s just so very them. Thems my idiot sons. And Yachi is just a victim to their magnetic enthusiasm. And the little fist bump at the end!!! They’re so cute. Besties. Boyfriends, even. BOYS THAT CONFRONT USHIWAKA TOGETHER STAY TOGETHER WOOOOO

Idk if I’ll make another of these immediately but I’ll definitely make one when I finish season 3! Good seeing you all! Be back soon!

#haikyuu #sawamura daichi #asahi azumane #nishinoya yū #tsukishima kei #yamaguchi tadashi #sugawara koushi #oikawa tooru #iwaizumi hajime #hinata shouyou #asanoya mention #asanoya #tsukkiyama mention #tsukkiyama #karasuno #aoba johsai #hq #haikyuu rambling #lady rants and rambles

28 notes · View notes

z0mbiew00d · 21 days ago

Text

Life series hybrid headcanons I really like that aren’t the main headcanon for each charachter

Cleo:

Mainly a zombie, but I really adore mouse Cleo. It’s kinda random and obscure but I was just throwing things at the wall with random hybrids ages ago for those hybrid swap posts and came up with mouse Cleo and now she’s one of my fave hcs ever.

Scar:

Mainly a vex, but I see him as a moobloom. The flowers are related to each season, Third Life being lilacs, Last Life being poppies, Double Life is cornflowers, limited life I’m not sure on, Secret Life is sunflowers, real life he’s a mooshroom, and Wild Life it’s bamboo.

Pearl:

This one’s hard because the main one is definitely moth, but wolf is too popular to put as my “uncommon headcanon” so imma go with cat. Cat pearl is really funny to me, especially in the context of Double Life. Kitty in charge of a pack of wolves, peak humour.

Martyn:

Another tricky one but this time because there’s no real commonly agreed on headcanon for him from what I’ve seen. Everyone really makes him a human or some random hybrid. Personally I usually see him as a phantom hybrid (I could ramble about phantom Martyn for ages <3 I love him <33) but also cat Martyn is super fun, especially in Secret Life. He also just has wet cat vibes.

Etho:

I see arctic fox Etho or eldritch being Etho the most, but personally I see him as a snow lynx. I just think it fits him and it looks good with his white hair. Also snow lynx in a white castle in Third Life then the snow fort in Last Life? It fits so good imo.

Jimmy:

Canary Jimmy is obvious the most common one, and I totally understand why, but with the canary curse being gone it’s opened my eyes to breeze Jimmy. It was the first thing that popped into my head when I thought about hybrids for him, and I think it’s such a cool concept. It also matches with Tango in Double Life, blaze and breeze, I love it. Begging y’all to see my vision here.

Lizzie:

Fairy Lizzie is the common one, and tbh it’s mine too, but my uncommon hc for her is cat! (Wow there’s a lot of cats on this list it’s almost like they’re my fave animal-). She’s skittish, cute, awkward at times, but can be incredibly deadly when she feels like it and locks in. Also empires season 2 reference ;3

BigB:

This is same as Martyn, there’s no popularly agreed headcanon for him, but I guess I’ll use creaking since it got super popular from Wild Life, but I’ve not seen it much outside of Wild Life. My rare headcanon for him is curly haired mouse! I don’t have a lot of reasoning for this one I just think it’s cute.

Tango:

Everyone’s seen blaze Tango, it’s the universal headcanon by everyone, but holy shit bee Tango is so fun. That one post about it has blown my mind, he’s so cool. Angry lil bee. I love him.

Scott:

Scotts a tricky one (again) cause like the others there’s no super common one, but I see him with pointed ears a LOT so I guess elf is the main one. My rare hc for him is unicorn, which is so insane to me that that’s rare. It’s so obvious?? It’s so perfect???? Why do people not see the vision…

Mumbo:

Vampire Mumbo is obviously the most popular one and again it’s my normal hc for him but bat Mumbo is my guilty pleasure. Not vampire bat, just bat. He’s got lil bat wings and lil fangs, he has those claw hook things on his inner wrists. He’s just a lil guy. I love him <3

Skizz:

I don’t watch Skizz much but from fanart I’ve seen him as an angel the most. I really like angel Skizz and it’s probs my main hc for him, but butterfly Skizz <3 he’s so silly. Huge buff scarred man screaming LETS DANCE at you and then he’s got huge butterfly wings. What a guy!

Bdubs:

Obviously moss/glare is the common one, and mine too, but holy shit sniffer Bdubs. Please. Looks super similar in design but I think him impulsively finding flowers and plants for Impulse and Etho and Cleo and such is super funny.

These nexts ones were REALLY hard, I struggled to think of something for these ones cause I see them so strongly as the popular ones.

Joel:

He doesn’t necessarily have an agree upon one other than bug but I can’t use ogre as the rare one cause I feel like that’s also super popular. I don’t really like tiger Joel all that much personally so that can’t be my rare one so idk 😭. Fairy I guess, matching with fairy Lizzie. Also it’s funny that he’s this scary evil guy, and then he’s sparkly and has fairy wings.

Gem:

Deer and fox are the popular ones and honestly it’s perfect I wouldn’t change a thing. There’s nothing here that can be improved upon, it’s perfect.

Grian:

Grian is so avian I can’t think of anything else, he’s just a fuckass bird. What do you want from me /lh! Also Watcher obv.

Ren:

Okay what do you want from me here. He’s a dog, he’s a wolf, he’s renDOG. What am I supposed to do here. Anything else doesn’t fit 😭😭!! I couldn’t come up with something for him. He’s just a dog.

Impulse:

Same as Ren, he’s IMPulse what do ya want me to do LMAO. I did see cow Impulse once and I think that’s really cool so I guess that’s my rare one for him ;3

#life series #trafficblr #third life #last life #double life #limited life #secret life #real life #wild life #I’m not tagging everyone #fuck you #mcyt #mcytblr

32 notes · View notes

brucebocchi · 7 months ago

Text

Spring 2024 anime, Pt. 1: Ongoing/returning shows and the bench

yo! i also post this on my ko-fi! this is very much a labor of love, so if you liked what i wrote consider throwing a few bucks my way! thanks!

And we are back! This one came a little later because I'm much busier now than I was three months ago, but that's a good thing. It'll be a bit longer before I cover last season's new anime, so bear with me. I'm happy to say, though, that I didn't hate anything I watched this season! So there's that.

As always, the OP is linked in the title of each show. Check them out, there were some good ones this season!

Here we go:

Continuing & returning shows:

Delicious in Dungeon, second cour

Ahh, Dungeon Meshi. At the start of my review of its debut cour, I said that Dungeon Meshi is a difficult anime for me to talk about unprompted because it’s such a complete, self-assured work that saying anything about it besides “PLEASE WATCH THIS ANIME IT’S SO FUCKING GOOD” feels like a fait accompli. After twelve more episodes and spending the better part of a weekend binging the entire manga, I’m left with little else to say besides please watch this anime (and read the manga), it’s so fucking good.

Our adventuring party has managed to slay (and cook) the red dragon and resurrect Falin from its belly, but the victory came at a cost: They have managed to not only invoke the ire of the dungeon’s ruler, the “lunatic magician” Thistle, but Marcille’s use of forbidden resurrection magic has also raised another number of hackles. Reunions aren’t all happy ones and the dungeon is getting weirder.

This line break represents where I wanted to add so much more and just kept falling short. This continues to be an exceptional adaptation of an exceptional manga. For all the silly gags, for all the goofy potshots everyone takes at each other, Dungeon Meshi is a series with a beating heart worn permanently on its sleeve. The group dynamic remains superb, and no less so for the standoffish half-girl-half-cat Izutsumi joining the gang (my joy at seeing her added to the OP was indescribable). The ways in which everything interconnects make up only a fraction of this series’ unmatched worldbuilding; much hay has been made about how Ryoko Kui designed the dungeon as a living, breathing ecosystem, but there’s so much more of that within the human element as well, and the latter aspect looks to only improve when the show returns for the next season.

Dungeon Meshi is, without question, the best anime of 2024 so far, and I will be impressed if anything manages to overtake it in this year’s latter half. The manga became one of my favorites in record time, and I have little doubt that by the end of the second (and almost certainly final) season, one of my favorite anime of all time will indeed be Dungeon Meshi. Ahh, Dungeon Meshi.

KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!, season 3

When I reviewed last year’s Megumin-centric spinoff, I mentioned that I’m not quite as high on KonoSuba as other anime fans. I always thought it was a perfectly serviceable comedy isekai, nothing too special, but mostly worth the watch. Even after the letdown that was An Explosion on this Wonderful World! last year, I was still looking forward to the long-overdue third season. And pretty much as expected, what we got was fine. Just fine.

That said, I was instantly delighted to see Megumin once again surrounded by Kazuma, Aqua, and Darkness. And as is frequently the case when those four are together, shit goes south fast. Kazuma, hoping to heal the mental wounds he incurred in the Legend of Crimson film, gets his groove back when he’s invited to regale the adorable Princess Iris with tales of his exploits. As a noble herself, Darkness is mortified throughout this ordeal, scrambling to ensure that Kazuma doesn’t get beheaded for being a loudmouthed freak, and also that Aqua and Megumin don’t accidentally burn the palace down in their revelry.

KonoSuba gets a lot of comparisons to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, in that both are ensemble comedies in which the entire main group consists of awful people who don’t entirely like or trust one another. It’s a fair enough comparison, but what makes the group dynamic work for both shows is that the moral center is never a fixed point; the “voice of reason” among either group changes along with the situation to ensure the comedy stays fresh. And the fact that Lalatina Dustiness goddamn Ford has to be the voice of reason for the majority of this season should mortify you.

Darkness losing her mind aside, I didn’t really care for this arc. There was some interesting worldbuilding happening toward the middle of the season, but Kazuma acting way too eager about having a tiny, prepubescent girl calling him “onii-chan” just made my skin crawl, and I’m otherwise pretty much immune to the bog-standard “hey, laugh at this man because he’s a pervert” anime trope at this point. Fortunately, it only lasted for half the season, but unfortunately, it still felt an episode or two too long. The second half of the season followed Darkness’ forced betrothal to a gross noble from an earlier episode, and that arc also felt an episode or two too long.

Season 3 felt like KonoSuba both at its best and worst. The character dynamics are as rich as ever, even as Aqua and Megumin largely fell to the margins in favor of the larger stories. The smaller moments with the main four just bumming around their mansion are always just as entertaining as their larger exploits. The narrative seems to want to continue pushing Kazuma and Megumin together, nurturing the seeds planted in the movie, but later episodes also make a pretty good case for Kazuma and Darkness getting together; for better and for worse, those two absolutely match one another’s freak. Some of the gags this season were pretty darn good as well: This anime’s facials are already the stuff of legend, and we got some bangers here too (see above). For as loud as it often got, there were a few gags that centered on prolonged, uncomfortable silences like a late episode of Evangelion. And for as bored as I started to grow with the last arc, the punchline at the very end of the season almost made the whole thing worth it.

On the other hand, this show somehow got noisier. Some of Explosion’s funnier moments last year came from Megumin’s shrieking outbursts, so Studio Drive (taking over the main series from Deen) seemed to think that everyone needed to yell all the time now. It felt jarring; like watching season 4 of SpongeBob for the first time. I’m also not impressed by the fact that this series still seems to think sexual assault is just the funniest when it happens to men. It was a serious lowlight of the Legend of Crimson movie, and it just seemed to double down this time for a completely unnecessary segment in which Kazuma helps Dust get back at a creep, only for it to backfire on Dust and only on Dust. That shit sucks!

At the same time, it’s still KonoSuba, so ESH. If you made it this far, you’re pretty much along for the ride until it breaks down, so you take the good with the bad. Neither particularly outweighs the other, nor are they enough to push me towards declaring this show as either essential or unwatchable. It’s KonoSuba, and KonoSuba is fine.

Laid-Back Camp, season 3

The reigning champion of Cute Girls Doing Cute Things anime returns to the present day after the 10-years-later film, and it’s in fighting shape. Though the third season of Yuru Camp (another anime I refuse to call by its official English title) is in the hands of a new studio, it’s still full to bursting with all the gorgeous countryside scenery, tantalizing food porn, and whimsical music you’ve come to expect by now.

This is one that was on my backlog for the better part of a couple years, so I figured there was no better time to catch up than to time it with a new season hitting the air. Through two seasons and an original movie, Yuru Camp was peak slice-of-life: Low on conflict, heavy on cuteness, and brimming with personality. It does what it says on the tin; it’s a show about high school girls going camping, and by God are you getting high school girls going camping. And in the meantime, you, the viewer, get to learn the ins and outs of camping while discovering all these real-life, lovely spots along the Japanese countryside with Mt. Fuji always in view, and maybe help boost the local tourism economies once you go outside and touch grass.

The previous two seasons largely followed the girls’ exploits at school and out in the open as individuals and smaller groups before building to a big destination trip with all five of them, but season 3 takes a more, uh, laid-back approach. The first half follows Rin’s bike trip along with Nadeshiko’s hometown bestie, Ayano, until they meet up with Nadeshiko after her own solo excursion. We also get a quick peek at a heavily-fictionalized retelling of Chiaki, Aoi, and Ena’s outing with Toba-sensei, as well as a cherry blossom viewing trip with Nadeshiko and her sister, before the girls all come together once more for a nighttime hanami outing. It’s more of the same, and that’s exactly what you’re here for.

That said, the character work is the glue that holds Yuru Camp together, and it’s as wonderful as ever. Rin and Nadeshiko’s friendship remains a delight, and Hazel covered it better and more succinctly than I ever could in the Yuru Camp segment in her phenomenal video on countryside scenery in anime. Watching Rin bond with Ayano one-on-one on their own trip was a real highlight; they’d hit it off quickly in the first season, and it was lovely seeing Ayano working at Rin’s go-to bike shop in the movie, so I was overjoyed to see more of these two. More than anything, though, seeing a habitual loner like Rin connect so naturally with another person (and one who isn’t Nadeshiko, no less) just warms my cold, dead heart. The looser plotting also gives us the time and space to take in how the girls individually spend their downtime. Nadeshiko’s quickly becoming as much of an expert solo traveler as Rin, and her youthful enthusiasm about everything remains as endearing as ever. We even get to watch her becoming a train nerd in real time!

At the same time, the communal aspect of camping is a huge part of what makes this show click. Part of that, of course, has been watching Rin’s social circle expanding, but also in seeing how readily campers observe and aid one another. Nobody is “the best” at camping (except maybe Rin’s granddad), so none of the campers in this show have any reservations about going out of their way to help one another. Even an expert solo camper like Rin was a greenhorn at one point, so she’s always happy to give and receive help. The various campers the girls run into along their journeys are always ready with local information about good spots to eat, relax, and take in a good view as well. Even camping on your own, you’re never truly alone.

In that same vein, Yuru Camp is as educational as ever. Along the girls’ travels, we learn plenty about the myriad suspension bridges over the Oi River drainage basin, the various types of passenger trains connecting the countryside, torii gates along the mountains, and clever ways to build a camping menu around local crops. Yes, Yuru Camp is as much food porn as it is nature porn, and the dishes are sumptuous. On that note, my favorite thing I learned this season came from Nadeshiko’s drooling outbursts during the other OutClub girls’ camp retelling: It turns out that there’s an equivalent Japanese colloquialism to what we call food porn, specifically in the act of taunting people about delicious food they can’t have right now, and that is “meshitero,” or “food terrorism.” That is just terrific.

Yuru Camp is in the hands of a new studio for its third season, and the difference is mostly negligible. This is a show that trades largely in vibes, and the vibes remain impeccable. Almost everything still looks and sounds great, but season 3 leans a little more heavily on CG for moving bikes and cars, and they do look markedly worse. Not immersion-shattering, but definitely distracting. The scenery largely looks less hand-painted in favor of a more photorealistic style, which does make me wonder about the actual level of artistry put into it, but that could just be me splitting hairs. Otherwise, it still looks like Yuru Camp, which is all you can ask for.

This show still rules though. I don’t often get intense in my praise of slice-of-life anime, and the ones that get me acting like that are the ones that go to wild lengths for the sake of a joke, like Nichijou and Kaguya-sama. I don’t know what it is about a show as lowkey as Yuru Camp that has me wanting to scream from the rooftops that “THIS FUCKING SHOW WHIPS ASS,” but I’m not questioning it. Maybe it’s cuteness aggression.

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, season 2, part 2

And we’re back with more of the best-made anime that I can’t recommend in good faith to just about anyone.

The latter half of season 2 surrounds Rudeus’ aims for a quiet domestic life, settling down with Sylphiette and at the request of his father, Paul, taking his little sisters Aisha and Norn into their home (along with a very welcome reunion with their escort). Aisha takes after her mother, Lilia, and is eager to please and help around the house, but Norn’s last memory of Rudeus is of his violent reunion with their father. Norn idolizes Paul, so she doesn’t trust Rudeus and refuses to open up to him. While Aisha is content with working around the house, Norn wants to keep her distance, so she decides to enroll and board at the magic academy.

Norn’s apprehension towards Rudy and the mental anguish it causes her becomes an isolating factor in her daily life, leading Rudeus to believe that she’s being bullied, much as he was in his previous life. Rudy’s attempts at sticking up for his sister fall flat and lead him to realize he’s been projecting on her this entire time rather than actually reaching out to her. It’s these moments of learning and unlearning that nearly make all of this worth it; this was easily one of the best episodes of Mushoku Tensei’s second season, and frankly one of the best episodes of anime I watched all season. Another episode near the end also earned that distinction, but it got weird afterwards. Even in its lower moments, this season traded very well in the themes of family, growth, and loss, and those aren’t always tidy subjects to handle.

Because this is Mushoku Tensei, the cozy home life can’t last forever. Paul’s attempts at saving his wife have continued to fall short, so he calls on Rudeus and Elinalise to come and help rescue Zenith. Rudeus is conflicted; though he finally has the opportunity to save his mother and face his father as a man, Sylphie is now pregnant and he doesn’t want to abandon his wife and future child. As often happens at times like this, Rudy gets some face time with the Man-God who has been seemingly invested in his journey, and for once Rudy flouts his advice to venture out. Many reunions are had, including one that had been teased all season, and a lot of things go south from there. I was spoiled on some of what would happen in later parts of the series, so it didn’t come as a massive shock to me, but it still got weird, it wasn’t really addressed all that well, and people were rightfully put off by it.

On that note, I’ve given up on the idea of this series being about Rudeus improving as a person, because he’s done just about as much “improving” as he’s going to by now. As I’ve said before, he’s not quite the drooling pervert he used to be (he was actually doing great for more than half of this cour before a succubus attack briefly got the better of him), but his moral compass, even in his best moments, still seems to be poorly calibrated. I do see a side of him now that genuinely cares for others and actively wants to help, but it doesn’t erase his questionable acts, nor do I get any sense that he deserves to get the things he wants. I particularly don’t care for what’s already looking like a formula wherein sex seems to be his cosmic reward whenever he hits a low point or achieves something great. For a series that genuinely has such excellent worldbuilding and storytelling, that part feels cheap enough to undermine everything else.

But hey, a rapist died, so it’s not all bad.

I’m not sure I’d necessarily put Mushoki Tensei on the level of Frieren or Dungeon Meshi, certainly not thematically, but with all three off the air this upcoming Summer season, it’s been a minute since we’ve had a season of anime without one of those three lovingly-made fantasy series on the air. It feels like anime has a massive fantasy void now, and I desperately hope I’m proven wrong soon.

Urusei Yatsura (2022), season 2, second cour

The final run of the remade Urusei Yatsura ended on a strong note with an honest-to-God story arc! Lum and Ataru’s tempestuous situationship is put into stark relief with the fate of the world in the balance, except not really; Lum just wants him to think that because she’s fed up with his shit and that’s just how she operates.

Even as disjointed as this run has been prior to the final arc, there were still some gems this season. The time-travel segment where the gang tries to undo Mendo’s fear of the dark was a certified banger, Asuka’s violent androphobia is as funny as ever, and the introduction of Nagisa as a means of further muddying Ryunosuke’s whole gender situation was the most quintessentially Rumiko Takahashi shit I’ve ever seen. It’s the character comedy that makes Urusei Yatsura what it is just as much as the central will-they-won’t-they, and it was just as potent as always before the series hurtled towards its finale.

The four-episode arc to close out the all-stars run, similarly to the final arc of the manga and the final movie of the original anime run, centers on a blowup between our romantic leads over a colossal misunderstanding (sasuga Takahashi-sensei) involving a unilaterally-fated marriage between Lum and the prince of a dark planet, Rupa. Though Ataru and fellow dark-planeter Karula (basically Rupa’s own equivalent Lum) foil the wedding, a carbon copy of Lum created to ensure a proper exchange of vows tells Ataru that she’s over him. Ataru’s feelings are genuinely hurt, and he tells the real Lum that they’re through, and he returns to Earth with Karula, accidentally spreading spores of the dark planet’s enormous mushrooms.

Said mushrooms rapidly grow enormous when exposed to sunlight, so Earth is already in certain danger. Lum sees an opportunity to manipulate convince Ataru to finally get serious, so she sets familiar stakes: She’ll enlist Rupa’s help in destroying the mushrooms, but only if Ataru can beat her in a ten-day game of tag by grabbing her horns, just like when they first met. More importantly, though, she’ll let it all go if he can just say out loud that he loves her. And you know damn well by now that these two are both as stubborn as they come.

As I’ve said before, this is a shorter run, so we may not have the benefit of the entirety of Urusei Yatsura up to this point to be properly salivating for the finale, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t still hit like a freight train. The emotional climax was still meaty and satisfying in ways that made all of this worth it. Half of the joke of this series is that Ataru’s never going to get serious about Lum in a way that matters, but every time the mask slips is a well-earned shot to the heart. The ending is no different, and it made the shorter run still feel worthwhile.

And with that, that’s a wrap on a modern (if truncated) retelling of a legendary comedy manga. I’ll be forever grateful to this iteration of Urusei Yatsura for finally pushing me into getting into Rumiko Takahashi’s classic works, and I’m beyond excited that there’s also a Ranma ½ remake on the way. If David Production takes that one on as well, it’ll be in great hands.

Anime I Watched Two Episodes of and Will Probably Get Back to Later

I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince So I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability

I mean, you read the title.

This is less an isekai and more of a lateral reincarnation story; magic already very much exists in this fantasy kingdom, but this is about a guy who is very obsessed with magic but sucked at it suddenly gaining a wealth of talent and the opportunity to go absolutely sicko mode.

Lloyd’s existing knowledge of magic serves him well, and he becomes a virtuoso at a young age. He manages to subjugate a demon lurking in the palace’s library and turn him into an adorable familiar (and having the demon go from being voiced by Akio Otsuka to Fairouz Ai was a brilliant move) and just terrorize the poor little shit with his experiments and travails. The kid could basically do a Hollow Purple by the second episode. He’s kind of psychotic, and I love that for him.

This is definitely a comedy, but the comedy is kind of all over the place early on. Prince Lloyd is surrounded by beautiful young ladies-in-waiting who, uh, seem way too into him, and that kinda sucks. Lloyd himself is drawn and animated a little too lovingly for a child as well. It’s definitely uncomfortable in parts early on, but I’ve heard it lightens up on that and gets crazier in the parts that matter, so I’ll be coming back.

And it started with a menacing monologue from Takehito Koyasu himself, so of course my interest was piqued from the jump.

Oblivion Battery

It’s weird, I love both anime and sports, but sports anime was just something I never sought out too much until I picked up Blue Box recently (also please read Blue Box, it whips ass and the anime is gonna be incredible). Oblivion Battery’s debut coincided with the start of the American baseball season, so it seemed like a great time to hop in.

I can’t say I was too intrigued by the premise, though. The intentionally generically-named Taro Yamada quit baseball after middle school after getting utterly rinsed by the high-powered battery of pitcher Haruka Kiyomine and catcher Kei Kaname, so he enrolls in a high school without a baseball club, only to find that his classmates are… Haruka and Kei. Kei, as it turns out, took a bad hit to the head and has completely forgotten all about baseball, and now spends all of his time trying to be a comedy boke for unwilling participants. Taro and Haruka would like Kei to learn about baseball again, so they start up a new club, alongside other classmates who also quit baseball because of the titular battery.

Fine premise, but eh. The hook wasn’t enough of a hook for me, and even MAPPA handling the animation didn’t keep my attention for long. I’ll probably get back to it eventually, but I ended up watching plenty of other anime this season that felt like higher priorities.

Also, I’m pretty sure Oblivion Battery’s manga introduced a character named Aoi Todo before Jujutsu Kaisen did. I still prefer the latter.

YATAGARASU: The Raven Does Not Choose its Master

See, this one I probably should’ve picked up sooner, because it seems like it’s very much my jam, and I’ve seen plenty of praise for it. It’s a dense one, though, and I’d rather not cram it just to turn around and review it a few days later.

I won’t even go into the details because even two episodes in, there are darn near too many of them. This is a massive ensemble cast in and around a succession battle in a fictionalized, imperial Japan-esque kingdom created and ruled by yokai. We’ve got a battle of brides-to-be vying for the hand of an embattled prince, a cunning but resentful empress overseeing the proceedings, a possible spy or two, and a rambunctious little shit who looks like he got plucked out of Avatar: The Last Airbender getting roped into working in the palace. It’s a lot of moving parts, but I’m curious to see how they tie together.

Two episodes in and this show looks good, but probably not as great as it could. I know I’m spoiled on The Apothecary Diaries, but something like this already feels like it deserves better than some of the stiff character animation I saw early on. I’ll reserve my judgments for now.

YATAGARASU is continuing into the summer season, so I’ll take my time catching up on it. This one feels like it deserves to be sipped slowly, not chugged, and I’ll have my tasting notes in due time.

#anime reviews

61 notes · View notes

seventeenlovesthree · 28 days ago

Text

So I've been discussing the idea of "having a hard time" diving back into old shows - particularly those I was obsessive about in the past.

One of those shows - was Bakuten Shoot Beyblade. I believe I've mentioned it a few times before, but from approximately 2003 to 2009, this was my absolute JAM. After Digimon Tamers, it was the very first anime I was "active" about in German forums, I wrote RPGs, I wrote fanfiction, I drew fanart... You name it. And while I thought I had the main cast down to a T, I am pretty sure that, after being out of the series for so long, I would analyze them a little bit differently today. Heck, I think even my preferred shipping choices have changed somewhat from how they were back then... (To be fair, I have always liked every single combination between the main four, but I would definitely say that some of those are more dear to me than others.)

I think I'd really like to write some character analysis for them at some point. I always enjoyed taking apart their respective tropes and see how their traumas unfolded. And, looking at how even modern depictions of them go, I seem to not have been that far off after all!

To keep it as shortly as possible:

Takao may, at first glance, strike you as your typical shounen protagonist who loves to eat a lot and believes in the power of friendship to succeed - and while these aspects about him are certainly true, it's interesting to watch how it all unfolds between the first and third season. There is a fine line between his genuinely good heart, a passion for what he loves and an ego he has to overcome sometimes. I would even argue that he is one of the most misunderstood characters out there; because due to his family background, he does have severe abandonment issues, fearing to be left behind and thus he doesn't react well to situations like that - either he turns into a wounded puppy or covers it up with a mask of cockiness. He can be brash and hotheaded - but he genuinely loves his friends and believes in the good in people (and thus he really gives me magical girl vibes). He knows how to pull others with him, has an incredibly charming and attractive energy and other people feel naturally drawn to him... It's beautiful.

The stereotype Max has always been dealing with was that of the "sugar high ray of sunshine" - and I am delighted to see how wide-spread the idea has become that, while he absolutely IS a positive, open and physical person, he is also masking a lot of his own insecurities and abandonment issues with cocky phrases and a never-ending smile. Because he feels like he has to - to keep the band together, to not lose the sense of togetherness and to not be abandoned and replaced again. Just like with Takao, family-related trauma is at play here. His defensively smart Blading style is oftentimes ridiculed and overlooked, thus kinda playing into him trying to overcome his own inferiority complexes. Both him and Takao adore their newly found family to the core and it's no surprise that they easily click with one another - and that Max seems to have an easy time getting through to almost everyone in the team as well.

Rei - oh my Lord, I will try to keep this one short as well, because he was definitely my fave back in the day. And what's not to love about human-cat-hybrid (good old Neko-Jin days, how I miss thee) with a yin/yang theme going on who has a hard time choosing between his mind and his heart, traditions and freedom, and continuously gets himself into trouble because of that? One may also argue that he's getting the shortest end of the stick because of his inner and outer conflicts A LOT... And despite that, he is just as prone to cockiness, probably also trying to mask his own attachment issues by doing that. The burden of expectations that are constantly thrown at him drives him to the need to find his own path - so he tends to run away and changes direction a lot. Like a true cat does... Man, I love that absolute disaster child, always torn between his values and needs, who, even though loyalty absolutely does play a role for his character, has an even harder time conveying how much his found family means to him. In that regard, he is only topped by one particular character (no pun intended...).

Kai, oh Kai. Edgelord of the century, or, like we used to call him, mister ice cube. Essays upon essays have been written about his character - the cold exterior that was formed by years and years of child abuse (at least in the anime, the manga is an entirely different beast to cover, but even there, the subject of abandonment issues is present again). A cold and cruel mask, a brilliant Blader with an aura of, dare I say it, sadistic fun when it comes to destroying his opponents... And yet, there is that other side of him. The side that is incredibly protective and, in his very own way, supportive. Giving advice through harsh words, claiming that he only has his own interests in mind... But is that really the case? Isn't he, deep down inside, just as smitten by these dorks he is "stuck with"? Obsessed with beating those he claims to be his rivals until his very last breath... A twisted sense of love he probably hasn't fully understood himself yet... Or has he?

Long story short - they are all cocky teenage boys with a passion for spinning tops that play off of each other incredibly well and actually love each other a lot and are probably all bisexual disasters to different degrees, but I will get deeper into sexuality headcanons later.

#my two cents #meta #bakuten shoot beyblade #takao kinomiya #max mizuhara #rei kon #kai hiwatari #and i haven't even mentioned their group dynamics yet #especially in combination with kyouju!!!#hiromi and daichi count as well but season 1 is just a special brand of how their dynamics are conducted #it is seriously so fun to watch and analyze and that's why s1 is best season #every single relationship between these five is interesting and has development #sometimes kai is the only braincell when the others are at work and he has the biggest dad energy you can imagine #rei has always been depicted as the mom friend but really that was more wishful thinking #he is protective too but max is more of the mom (when he doesn't have to be rescued by kai)#takao also has mom energy in s1 but only in very specific situations #and max and rei often have to function as his impulse control #so in a way it really depends on who rei is with whether or not he oozes parental energy (which applies to both max and kai after all)#like i said it's FUN #i miss these dorks #beyblade

24 notes · View notes

alleycatking · 16 days ago

Text

Currently ruminating after my third listen of The Magnus Archives, and I needed to put my thoughts into words. Because after 3 listens and 4 years after first discovering the series, I still don't know how to feel about Melanie King.

On my first listen, I thought my opinions on the characters were pretty set: John is sympathetic. Tim is annoying but ultimately tragic. Martin is sweet and misunderstood. Etc.

I absolutely DESPISED Melanie on my first listen. Her seeming lack of self awareness with her anger issues. her constant deflecting and accusing, and even her last conversation with Martin where she's snide, all got under my skin and made me hate this character.

Part of all that was because I was still pretty new to horror as a genre (I am admittedly a pretty big scaredy cat), and further, my unfamiliarity with the more narrow genre of cosmic horror. I had someone put it to me this way: "It's horror. Everyone and everything sucks. That's the point."

On my second listen of the series, I was surprised by how much changed. John was no longer sympathetic to me, but a mechanism in his own self destruction, who essentially used the "but I'm just a little guy with glasses uwu, and it's my birthday, I'm the birthday boy" defense every time he was called out. Tim was no longer annoying, but an example of someone shutting down, mentally and emotionally, in the face of discovering what (to a very small extent) was going on. Which now, is totally fair. Crumpling like a paper doll under the weight of pure horror is actually an understandable response (who knew). And Martin... is still sweet... but is also a people-pleasing asshole.

But Melanie was... different. I definitely softened on her character. Entering a period of my life where I was FINALLY starting to acknowledge my own history of anger issues and mental disorders probably helped, and I will admit there was projection from my part.

But now, after my third listen, it seems like there's this weird aspect of the series, especially season 5, where every character needs to address their own toxicity in order to admit they've done wrong. Everyone, except Melanie.

John tells Martin about Gertrude's shortcomings, and how being a cold stone bad-ass didn't make her a good person, and that she was willing to throw away innocent people for the "greater good". Martin LITERALLY self reflects, and his other self calls him out on how much of John's behavior he's willing to excuse. Hell, even Helen goads John into revealing that he's no better than her in the hotel. In the end, he was just as "hungry" as every other monster. He even admits this to Martin.

But the most we get from Melanie is "I've actually done a lot of work on my anger." Which, would be great, except...

Melanie King gave Johnathan Sims the mark of The Slaughter, and she is partially responsible for the apocalypse that is created.

I am not the first, nor will I be the last, to draw the comparison that the unknowable forces and systems that make up the horrors of TMA, are meant to represent capitalism. I personally would make the distinction that the analogy is better made as a comparison to the abuse of power in general, but to a lot of people, those are the same thing. And one argument I have seen in Melanie's defense, is that by willingly blinding herself, she is removing herself from the fucked up game that is being played, and is a better person for it. That by choosing not to participate in "capitalism", she is one of the few people that grows. But... does she? Is that how that works? If we remove analogy from the story at all, would we say that a billionaire who wakes up one day and decides to redistribute all their money and help people is absolved of all the pain they have caused in the past?

I think part of the reason why, even after softening on Melanie because of my own experiences with anger and lack of personal security, the conversation between Melanie and Martin STILL makes me angry, even after 3 listens.

The end of season 4 is basically a confirmation of it, but I would argue John confronting Jude Perry is a secondary confirmation, that John had to be "marked" by each of the powers in order for Jonas' plan to work. He even outright states it "Did you know this would happen when you burned my hand?" Jane Prentiss marked John with The Corruption. Jared Hopworth marked John with The Flesh. But Melanie's involvement in the state of the world, is never brought up. And it's not just the state of the world in season 5 either. I find it very interesting that Melanie's therapist is specifically being tormented by The Spiral. And yeah, you could make the argument that it's BECAUSE she's a therapist, like the series does, but I also think it's interesting that when The Spiral tries to claim her (Melanie's therapist) again, it's done so through Helen, who Melanie literally and figuratively opened the door for. Melanie's actions have consequences, and they DO affect other people, but the most we ever get from her is "I've been working on my anger", which feels... unfinished. And unsatisfying, given her character as a whole is essentially an exploration of anger issues. I don't really buy the logic of the framing of the series (we as the audience only hear what's relevant to The Web), or that just because it's horror, some people are shitty and some answers are unsatisfying. Because I no longer believe Melanie is shitty. I believe she's a complicated character who goes through so much shit in order to feel safe and self-actualized.

But that doesn't excuse her past actions. And it's weird that those actions are never challenged, when other characters who have histories of being abusive, like Daisy and Basira, VERY MUCH ARE.

So... I don't know if this rant really had a point, other than just me trying to motivate myself to write down my thoughts instead of festering in my own head. I don't know if there's a point to be had at all. All I know is I've listened to the Magnus Archives, all 200 episodes, three times,

and I still don't know how I feel about Melanie King.

#tma #the magnus archives #melanie king #fandom vent #character analysis #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #timothy stoker #jude perry #jonah magnus #tma s5 #tma spoilers

39 notes · View notes