#When that scene happened on the trailer I literally screamed

[orion-archives]

Baby boy. Baby...

EVIL

[intuitive-revelations]

Theory: Something serious is up with the TARDIS

I had been wondering about this all series, but after Rogue today, it's finally been confirmed that something's going on with the TARDIS (on top of all the other arc threads going on!).

The moment I picked it up was in The Devil's Chord, where the TARDIS makes a strange groan and creaks after landing back in 1963. Ruby thinks it's from Maestro, but the Doctor says it's "something else". As of today it's happened again, twice! Once in the episode itself, once in the next time trailer. The exact same sound effect!

Someone on reddit pointed out a few weeks ago that this sound appeared even earlier too, in Wild Blue Yonder (notably also when we first saw Susan Twist, had gravity changed to mavity, and welcomed the Pantheon into the universe). Each time, it's also had attention drawn to it. Here's a video of each scene, followed by a direct comparison of each sound:

(I did have a quick glance to see if it appeared elsewhere, maybe even during Flux. As far as I can tell however, Wild Blue Yonder seems to be the only non-S14 appearance.)

What's more, going back to that Reddit thread, someone pointed out what the Wild Blue Yonder script says about this moment:

And then the TARDIS seems to moan. The Doctor fascinated. DONNA: Is it working? THE DOCTOR: I think so. Strange. He reaches out, touches the TARDIS, wondering. And that 'strange' will come back to haunt him, one day. But now...

(Suddenly the TARDIS freaking out over Donna's spill might make a bit more sense...)

So what the hell's going on?

Well, between a trailer scene and some news that just came out a few hours ago as of writing this, I think I may have an idea. Given it's based on trailer footage uploaded and then removed from YouTube, I'll put it below beneath a read more:

In a removed Disney+ teaser trailer we get two frames of the Doctor screaming out into space (with Mel behind him). Except it's not from "his" TARDIS:

It's the f*cking memory TARDIS!

And here's the thing. Not only was this trailer scrubbed from the Disney+ and BBC channels, but in the other trailers, this clip is entirely different! Not only is Mel gone, but the TARDIS interior is now Fifteen's own, and the TARDIS is in a different, generic region of space.

Just before this, we also see a similar nebulous region of space matching the unmanipulated clip.

But why on Earth is this such a big deal, that the BBC/Disney would go full MCU and give us a deliberately altered clip? The only previous time I remember Doctor Who doing this was for Series 10, hiding the plot point of the Doctor's blindness. It's not because of Mel, who literally appears in the released trailer. It's also seemingly not because of the background, despite it also being altered (unless the two moons are a clue with the planet being Gallifrey or something - the thought had occurred to me - but that's such a tiny detail, and we also only see one sun). Instead, it must be the Memory TARDIS. But why?

In-universe, I have no idea. On one hand I'd be delighted to get some answers as to its nature. Assuming it's connected to the groans we've been hearing, then it could be the TARDIS undergoes some sort of metamorphosis into this state? But we've seen the TARDIS change all the time, whether for safety, to recover or whatever. I also can't imagine general audiences are falling over themselves to find out the in-universe explanation for a Classic Who re-release framing device. Not to mention, apparently the sound will go on to "haunt" the Doctor...

...maybe the TARDIS straight up is taken out of commission in some way? And the Memory TARDIS isn't the same ship, but the Doctor's way of saving the day without her? Maybe even remembered into existence Fitz/Amy style?

Out of universe however, it's just been announced yesterday that we're getting more Tales of the TARDIS.

And not just more omnibus stories with past characters returning for in-universe commentary... but with Fifteen and Ruby! What's more, it's apparently a one-off, right before the finale (but, note, after the first part next week).

Which means it's important. Possibly extremely so, given the edited trailer scene. It might even serve as an interquel, given Fifteen and Ruby are somehow in it.

I've seen two common theories. Either a) it will be Pyramids of Mars, and we're getting Sutekh in the finale (presumably with Fifteen and Ruby partially because of bringing back Elizabeth Sladen obviously not being an available option - and even if you thought up another character, eg. Luke, I doubt Tom would be interested, at that point anyway), or b) it will be something tying into Susan returning.

Honestly between the remaining trailer clips (eg. sandstorms and dusty planets), a tease RTD supposedly gave in DWM, and an old interview with him where he supposedly floated the idea of bringing back a Classic Who for a finale and airing the original serial on BBC3 beforehand, I'm kinda leaning towards the prior, even though it wasn't at all on my radar.

However, this still doesn't actually answer what's up with the TARDIS.

It could quite literally be anything. However, here's a few ideas, some reasonable some weird, that I have come up with:

Old age / stress. This is a weird one, but oddly enough something I had thought of once in the past, and I just saw someone else come to the same idea on Reddit. The idea is that while the Doctor has a new regeneration cycle and now a good few years, if not decades or more, of rest and recovery, the TARDIS may struggling in it's own right (especially if it is somehow old enough to have once been the Fugitive Doctor's). However, while this could be something interesting to explore, and I think isn't entirely mutually exclusive with other options, I can't imagine going anywhere near a storyline of the TARDIS itself 'wearing thin'. Besides, if we did, I like to imagine it would have been foreshadowed with size leakage, as per Name of the Doctor.

Relating to the above, could it be something linked to the TARDIS splitting in The Giggle? However, the sound starts before then (not that that means much to the TARDIS, but still).

Laws of rationality breaking down. This one makes the most sense in a lot of ways, between the expanded universe (particularly Christmas on a Rational Planet) and Flux, we've seen the TARDIS cannot survive in an irrational universe. While time has stabilised for now, we're still seeing magic and other Old Time forces encroaching in on the Web of Time. I'm a bit torn with this one however, as while it works from a lore and writing perspective, plus matches with this starting in Wild Blue Yonder (right after the Mavity incident... interestingly), it seems odd it's not more connected with what happened in Flux? Why are the sounds and effects on the TARDIS completely different?

Something to do with the Doctor's fobwatch. In Rogue, the Doctor blames the sound on indigestion. We know we're getting more Timeless Child related stuff - could this somehow be linked to Thirteen dropping the Division biodata module deep into the TARDIS? Would be a weird time to pick this up though, and I'm not sure exactly how that would have had such an effect.

The most actually likely, but least possible to theorise about: it's something time-wimey to do with Ruby, the villain(s) of the story, and/or Susan Twist, especially given this started after her first appearance.

Regardless, I'm just excited to see what's up with the Memory / "Remembered" TARDIS, because it's seems we're about to learn something...

[helpallthenamesaretaken]

Songs I Need to Hear in Future PJO Seasons (ft. me being very intense for no reason)

Angel with a Shotgun by the Cab - SEASON 👏 FIVE 👏 TRAILER 👏 it's literally about stepping up as a hero and fighting a war for what you love without caring what the gods would think, BANGER OF A SONG also so percy in tlo coded

Welcome to New York by Taylor Swift (Sad acoustic version) - Hear me out. It's a panoramic shot of New York during the war, and what the song describes as a city of new beginnings and dreams is now a city of the end of a lot of lives and crushed souls. And it won't ruin the sad vibe because it's a sad acoustic version

Labyrinth by Taylor Swift - Do I need to explain? S4, a slow-mo shot of annabeth staring numbly at the volcano exploding with tears down her face and her mouth opening to a scream as the lyrics "I'll be getting over you my whole life" echo, it's not a want, it's a need.

The Freaks by Jordan Clarke - The most camp half blood song to ever camp half blood, I need this song in an introductory shot of camp or at a campfire sing along scene

I Wanna Be Yours by The Arctic Monkeys - Okay, this is more of a vibe related song suggestion than a lyrics based song, but a scene with percy and annabeth pining over each other with this song in the background? would be chefs kiss. (also rick loves vintage songs in his books and this is a very vintage sounding song sooo)

Brutal by Olivia Rodrigo - Self explanatory, I just need the song, no matter what scene or character

literally any imagine dragons song

Riptide by Vance Joy (Cover) - the same song, the same cover except SON OF NEPTUNE TRAILER COME ON NOW

Not going to happen, but at least an instrumental of Good Kid when annabeth talks to piper in the lost hero season about how everybody had been searching for percy for weeks

The Prophecy by Taylor Swift - You know what a TLO adaptation means, right? It means a proper rewrite of the book to make it better, right? Which means we can write percy being actually depressed because of the prophecy, not just him ignoring it like how he did in the book, right? So imagine: when the whole "If I have to die, I have to die" dialogue comes around during the revealing of the prophecy, this song starts playing as percy storms out the room in anger and disbelief. He just goes to his rooms and buries his face in the pillow and starts sobbing with this song in the background. Also the 'just want someone who wants my company' lyric also expresses his feelings towards the rachel and annabeth drama.

Add on in the reblogs and comments of your ideas hehe😁

[aangarchy]

Alright. I've rewatched the trailer like 20 times by now and i've been processing it.

First things first: anyone that's gonna talk shit about Gordon Cormier is gonna have to go through me first. I've only had Gordon!Aang for a day and a half and if anything happens to him i'll kill everyone here and then myself got it?

Just look at him! This is the exact big eared cute little kid i wanted them to cast for Aang. He looks adorable and honestly his outfit is growing on me.

The glowing arrow looked cool as hell. I like that the light spread through his tattoo almost like veins. I'm still curious on how the full avatar state is gonna look, how they're gonna get the glowing eye effect. Please don't let it look goofy.

Y'know what does look goofy?

Is it better than the m night shyamalan appa? I guess. Does that mean it looks good? Well.... at least momo sort of looks cute instead of some folklore nightmare like in shyamalan's version. But also you can tell in this shot in particular that it's very green screen-y

Then we go over to the bending, the limited shots we have of it. Mainly firebending was shown (a little airbending too but kinda hard to get a stillframe for that one)

Idk how to feel about it. In screenshots it looks alright but the shots while they were moving looked a bit off, especially the one where zuko's kicking. We only got very limited shots and that's intentional. I feel like the bigger cgi fails are gonna show up once we get the full show. If the bending looked good all the time i feel like they'd be showing it off by now.

What i don't like, is how apparently they're gonna SHOW Zuko getting burned. Like sure in atla they didn't bc kids show and Nickelodeon wouldn't allow it, and netflix can take darker turns if they so please. But i personally always felt that scene made so much impact because we didn't see it. Iroh is telling it from his memory and he didn't look when it happened, so we don't see it either. It's like a courtesy the show extends to both Zuko and the audience. We just hear the harrowing scream, and that's enough to know how devastating it is. I don't need a dramatic overlook so we can see the whole thing in detail, netflix.

Another thing is the hair in some scenes.

Daniel dae kim looked better in that promo photo, bc here you can just see how the bulky goatie was glued on. And then Sokka's hair..... where's the ponytail? It's laying completely flat against his head... why? Is it bc that's Ian's hair and they didn't know what to do with it? Literally get a comb and tease that bitch. This is like the complete opposite of Jackson Rathbone's hair in the shyamalan version, and somehow that full maybelline ponytail makes more sense than this sad excuse of a tail. Either way at least Suki looked dope.

Another thing i found weird about the trailer is the narration. I think it's either Iroh's voice or maybe Gyatso's? (I haven't heard Iroh's actor talk yet so idk, but it felt like it was being said TO either Aang or Zuko) but the lines they gave him... it felt like some weird mumbo jumbo tbh. Something something about the past and present being the same and it's up to us to know the difference and be the difference? It's saying everything and nothing at the same time and it felt kind of out of place. They're probably saving the iconic opening narration done by Katara for the full trailer (i hope???) but still they could have just gone with music, or maybe just a few iconic existing lines?

The music? Fire. Nothing needs to be added there. Was i kind of hoping for a different soundtrack? Maybe a bit. But am i mad? Not at all. They clearly took the nostalgia route with the more epic version of the avatar theme, and i can only respect them for that.

So far, very mixed reviews for me. I'm morbidly curious and very nosy by nature though, so i'm absolutely watching.

[beeswearpants]

so i watched the venom 3 trailer, freaked out like a schoolgirl, and god, how on earth will i be able to watch this in a theatre- in public- I’ll want to scream… ill want to squeal… i can’t watch this in the theater man!!!! its genuinely a concern I have to have its so funny to me cause god

little fun fact about myself I already made someone leave a theater from a venom-related reaction

i went to see spiderman with my friends, the last one. And i know nothing about marvel i’ve never seen any of it, I was just sitting there the whole movie, mildly confused but okay, but then… ending credits….

in a wave of pure shock and adrenaline, i screamed to the top of my lungs (APPARENTLY) “VENOM????!?!?!?” upon seeing them. so much so that it made a woman angrily storm out complaining cause she got so fed up with it. and this was the last spiderman movie!! the one where everyone is screaming and clapping and yapping all the time- so it must’ve been baad–

And I didn’t see no woman i didn’t notice i had screamed, my friends told me about it later cause I was LOCKED IN, i did NOT notice any of that!!! i felt so bad but i was STUNNED

my guys??? my gays??? on the big screen??? without warning?????? a surprise from MY guys??????????? HUH?????? OUT OF NOWHERE????? on the fuck ass marvel spiderman movie?????????? MY GUYS???? i was on the edge of my sit!!!! adrenaline!! pumping on my veins!! i was SHOCKED!!! hands over my mouth!!! made a lady leave the room!!

oh oh!!! and watching venom 2? i fell down my chair and scraped my knee-

every 5 minutes i had to pause it and run away from my computer, literally sprint away around my house giggling jumping-

the night club-coming out of the closet-sorry you’re not my type- scene? hit me so hard i fell down my chair, scraped my knee.. I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT HAPPENED, when i came to i was on the floor, i had such a visceral reaction I FELL

watching venom 2 in the safety and comfort of my own home made me fall down and scrap my knee-

I’m gonna die a venom related death I just know it

it’s gonna kill me someday

so it’s genuinely something i have to worry about and its so funny to me, APPARENTLY i cannot conceal my reactions when it comes to venom and i am tone deaf about it

god ill be on that movie theater squirming foaming out of my mouth in a straitjacket trying to contain my reactions

im scared. im not gonna make it. they'll have to take me out back the mall and shoot me😦😦

[figmentof]

i think we're not going to get Ed angry with Stede and him avoiding/running away from him

we already have confirmation that the teaser/trailer edited Ed's "no more izzy" into "no more Stede", and we all could tell the barrel smashing scene with Stede on the floor screaming are two different scenes (of which the barrel scene is revealed to be from 2x03)

it was a fairly popular reading in post-s1 fic/meta that Stede would be upset at Ed for marooning the crew and throwing Lucius overboard. but we've been proven wrong already. not only is Stede not angry at Ed, he understood very clearly why Ed would act the way he did. and i think that goes both ways for the two of them

it wouldn't be all that interesting imo for the show to entertain the low hanging angst fruit of "Stede has to prove himself worthy of Ed by making it up to him while Ed is angry and avoiding him". with what we've been given in the first three eps centering around Ed's struggle with self worth and believing he's unlovable, i don't think he'd waste energy being angry at Stede. plus we've seen that anger isn't an emotion that Ed associates with Stede, even when he was going through the worst parts of his heartbreak

i think the "shipmates!" "former 😬" isn't actually framed as the 'oh he's my ex..." tone that the trailer makes it out to be but rather what it literally says on the tin: former shipmates. Ed's going to wake up and headbutt Stede and perhaps they'll have a moment where Stede spills everything to Ed in a rush of apology bc he knows he owes Ed that much and Ed deserves to know what happened, and Ed's going to be like "okay. thanks for telling me i get it"

but then he's going to leave the revenge because he feels guilty about the trauma he put them through and that he no longer deserves to be part of the crew. the reason he seemed annoyed at Stede finding him at Anne and Mary's is probably because he told everyone to not come after him and of course, Stede does

i believe next week's episodes aren't going to focus on how angry Ed is at Stede but rather him believing that he's not deserving of the love that Stede is openly giving him, and Stede being undeterred in showing him how much he's loved in spite of everything. it's not about Stede painstakingly trying to prove he's worthy of Ed, to Ed he's already everything he ever wanted, flaws and all. it's about Ed accepting that he's worthy of Stede's love, of the crews love, of forgiveness and warmth in general

[droshawoluv]

My favorite parts of the FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Trailer reveal.

Back-to-Back (literally) Cloud & Tifa for a team up attack along Aerith. (also, Elenaaaaaaaaaaa!)

Cloud schmoovin and groovin' (but also, the conversation mentioned over there, Tifa potentially talking with Aerith about her doubts, probably after Gongaga, sounds meant to be for many reasons WHILE putting down the wrong idea some have that she lied on purpose about the events of the pasts when she is also, in fact, confused as fuck)

Aerti Combos attaaaaaaaaaacks

Red XIII playable (of course, I did a gif but too big for here) and Combo attaaaaaaaaacks with Yuffie

Cloud & Barret Combo attaaaaaaaaaaaaacks

Yuffie my beloved already showing chaotic sibling energy with Cloud in the very first scene together they have, and already running and screaming iloveu

The end dialogue is so good and if you know what happened in OG7 is while obvious, and incredible addition, the gaslight is strong and you can already taste the angst and lowest point of Cloud's psyche, so good for so many reasons (one is to identify who didn't pay attention to shit while claiming they know the story)

Also, BLOOD WOO!

Special mention to Ever Crisis Tifa Lockhart wearing the same outfit of the concept Art of her master Zangan, I'm obsessed with her look

This trailer made me the happiest about any videogame since the 2019 ones. So excited ♥ ;_;

[accirax]

Disventure Camp All Stars Power Ranking (Round 19)

The finale begins!

In case you haven't seen my previous power rankings, the Power Ranking Format is essentially a way of ranking how well each player is doing in the game. So, in essence, this is a long form way of predicting who I think will be eliminated from the competition in the next episode. There will be spoilers for last week's episode (obviously) and its power ranking, so make sure to read that first if you don't want to be spoiled on how I ranked our last boot. If you want more clarification on the rules, that first post will help you out as well. Furthermore, I'm going to be spoiling the preview for next episode, so if you want to go in TOTALLY blind, save this for later. Let's go!

Recap - The Motel Episode

Current Score: 76 acquired/113 total

(Points versus @venus-is-thinking: 27 acquired/38 total)

Bench Points: 8/10 (so far)

(Note: Scoring for Fiore, James, and Yul was taken from the Motel episode. Scoring for Tom, Aiden, Lake, Connor, and Miriam are taken from the preview.)

Well, that was... not what I expected! I mean, all of the character dynamics and fun banter I mostly expected-- other than that one last shot at some Yul depth-- but the setup for the three finale helpers being chosen by a first-dibs challenge was not. And, even if I knew that that was going to happen, I probably wouldn't have guessed that Fiore, James, and Yul would be chosen as the helpers to Ally, Jake, and Riya. I look forward to seeing those unexpected pairings gain more focus in the finale.

Yeah, I think that pretty much everything else I had to say, I covered in my initial thoughts. There's less to talk about here when no one was actually eliminated. So, let's look at the trailer!

Trailer Analysis

Looks like Emily will literally have to drag Trevor into being complicit kicking and screaming. Surely Derek and Trevor won't have a misunderstanding this episode that is resolved romantically in the last episode, right?

I'm guessing that Ally and Jake are practicing here? Notably, it appears that Jake wins the practice race. I'm sure that won't get in Ally's head.

Ooh, are they doing the Survivor-style finalists' breakfast this season?

Is this one of their letters from home? Why is Jake smiling while reading it? Out of the two of them, I would guess it's probably Riya's letter, but it could also be a surprise Connor's letter or something.

We're back in the mines from Season 1! Some bonus trauma for Jake, as that challenge occurred in the episode where Ellie berated him before he got eliminated.

I guess maybe they have to mine/dig for clues?

Despite the two seemingly getting along while eating breakfast, Ally will still sabotage Jake's team via giving James a rock to the face. Maybe that'll make James think twice about emotionally supporting Ally. (/j)

So, Emily's act of sabotage (for this episode at least) is releasing the scorpions onto the campers in the midst of an otherwise peaceful challenge. Hooray for murdering people...?

First of all, Jake needs to stop engaging in long jumps where he barely makes it to the other side. Secondly, this is probably the same gap that we see Riya putting a bridge over multiple times in the trailer, which may imply that Jake and James reach this area before Riya and Yul.

Of course, everyone is going to wind up in the same tunnel at the same point in time anyways.

This is interesting because, in the last shot, Riya was in the front of the pack. But now, she's throwing a rock at Ally, who's ahead of her. I wonder which scene happens first.

"C'mon, everyone! Let's do the Jake cheer we've been practicing!" "One, two, three, four! Gooooooo--" "And, that's enough of that! Here come our finalists!"

James looking so dead inside while doing the cheer has me dead. Based on this, I'm guessing that Ally will have Hunter, Tess, Grett, Gabby, and Ellie, as well as picking up Alec, who's there to support Fiore. That would leave Jake and Ally with even benches, and Riya with no one other than a mandatory Yul. I feel really bad for Ally, though, given that Jake picked up both Ashley and Connor. It makes sense why both of them would pick Jake (they befriended him first), but I hope she doesn't take it too hard.

Power Ranking

I don't even think anyone is getting voted out this episode, so I'll keep this formality relatively quick.

#1: Jake

Jake is still my winner pick, as he has been for a while, and nothing other than his elimination is going to change that. Going up against Ally + Fiore and Riya + Yul is a stellar combo for Jake, because no way ONC wants Fiore or Yul to actually get their hands on any money. The only mildly confusing thing is that James would wind up winning money from the show again (despite being the first boot, even), but I have half a mind to believe that he'll just donate that money to Ally anyways.

I think that James is here to be an audience insert. Having barely participated in the game at all, James is still of the belief that Jake is exactly the same as he was at the end of Season 1, no matter what Aiden tries to tell him. By being someone who had no faith in Jake who learns over the course of the finale that Jake truly did become a more thoughtful and responsible guy, ONC will use a character that the audience loves to prove why they too should root for Jake's victory. They want to prove to the nonbelievers that Jake has improved, through him mending his relationship with his first DCAS burn. Or at least, that's how I see it, as a Jake winner truther since the beginning of the merge.

#2: Ally

While an Ally/Riya finale feels basically impossible to me, a Jake/Riya finale is plausible. Offputting, but plausible.

Ally has been in the strange position of being rootable but unlikeable for most of the game. I believe that she could turn it around and win, if ONC is going for a plot twist ending, or that she could be taken out now as the lesser of two evils to let the real baddie shine in the finale. Most likely, though, I believe she'll take second, learning some important life lessons and maybe getting some money from James.

Fiore is probably here to be the devil on Ally's shoulder. She'll suggest something cruel and unusual, and it'll be up to Ally to decide whether she can resist those urges, or whether her fate will fall to villainy. Fiore also may be here as someone who can comment on her relationship with Hunter. She saw the beginning where they were fighting, but she's also been at the Loser's Motel for long enough that she probably knows how Hunter feels about her now. If she's feeling nice, she could use that as motivation.

Let's go team Fiore!!!

#3: Riya

If someone is eliminated in this episode, it'll be confusing in and out of universe if it isn't Riya. She has Yul as a partner and a second disadvantage, and no one should want to work with or root for her. She's also obviously not going to win the season, so if the writers want to keep up suspense for who does, they should eliminate her and leave the finale to Jake and Ally. Really, the only reasons why I don't think she would be eliminated this time are because 1) it's so obvious and 2) I don't think anyone will actually be eliminated this episode.

I think that Yul is mostly here for the comedy of it all, and so that the writers didn't have to choose who he would genuinely choose to root for otherwise. There is also some juicy potential for something I've mentioned before-- for both of them to reflect on their shared tendency to sabotage themselves by always choosing material success over building relationships or choosing to be kind. If we're lucky, we'll get some reflection on that, but I'll be happy with just a Riya/Yul cringe comp.

Alright, I've probably hit my government-mandated word count now that I've yapped about the helper choices a bit. Excited for the finale! Let's end this season on a high note!

[melonteee]

When opla was announced I was guarded, but trailers and learning that Oda would have first and last word about everything made me hopeful.

But I knew that live action are never for the actual die hard fans.

Too much need to be cut because of time, as real actors cant look like they only age two years for 26 years, and some cartoon stuff doesnt translate well to live action *cough* garps fist of love *cough*

So I was able to convince my friend to watch opla with me.

She had read the manga when she was little, up to syrup village, so she was excited to see Kuro because she actually liked him back when she read it.

I was mostly there just to observe my friends reaction to it instead.

My favorite moment was watching her freak out after the "grandpa?" reveal.

I dont like that Garp was included that early on, I didnt mind him being there at rogers execution. But more than that seemed too much. I watched some Netflix guy explaining that they wanted to add a reason why the strawhat had to keep moving from island to island, but no marine would do because who would bother chasing a pirate crew with no bounty. I understand that reasoning. Still dont like it, but I understand.

But my friends reaction made it all better.

Did you know netflix wanted a romance between Nami and Zoro? Thank god Oda was there to stop it.

Also my friend and I quote "Oregano is for savages!" a lot now.

I'm truly glad you liked it anon and I do understand the excitement that came with it, but I honestly could not stand it. Nearly every scene and every line was like "Sanji wouldn't say that. Nami wouldn't do that. Why is this happening? Luffy definitely wouldn't say that."

An adaptation must adapt to its medium, true, but that is not what this did. This was an insanely loose reinterpretation that took so much charm away for me. I've talked about it on this Tumblr tons now but I've finally had the time to watch through all of it now that the hype's died down, and it just made me angrier per episode?

They had to shorten things down, but they included so many new scenes that added nothing? They had to explain the Strawhats going from island to island... WHY? They literally had a spine to go off, the original property had them going from island to island to find a crew and get to the grand line. That's literally a very solid reason. WHY did they need any marines chasing them? It just sounded like an excuse to add a fan favourite character so the Garp fans could scream about it.

And I've said this many times, but Oda being part of the process genuinely means nothing to me. Netflix infamously do not listen to their creators, and not only did they admit Oda HATED the Garp addition and they STILL added him, you can tell so much of his original vision was thrown aside for non-anime fan audience convenience. Usopp and Sanji felt like side characters for god's sake, Buggy felt comically evil for a LIVE ACTION, Mihawk's fight was literally so empty due to the fact no one was THERE? NAMI was the one who yelled she believes in Zoro and they'll always be friends??

I truly do not believe Oda would agree to most of that, and considering we know he was ignored for Garp, we know for sure he was definitely ignored for many other things.

As always, if you loved it, great! I'm glad the excitement was met. Maybe I'm cynical, maybe it's not to my tastes, but it screams Netflix cash cow to me and the whole time I watched it I thought "This is not One Piece at all."

As a reinterpretation? Great!

As an adaptation? It failed miserably. None of the characters felt like themselves and the additional scenes were so nothing. Sorry for the sour reply anon but for those on here who know, I indeed have a sore spot for that entire production.

I honestly think a lot of people got blinded by the pretty actors and the millions of dollars that went into production and promotion to really look at it for what it was trying to be.

[butterflydm]

wot rewatch (book spoilers edition): 2x6

First, it looks like tumblr refused to actually let my non-spoiler post be in the tags so here is the link: deeper dive 2x6: eyes without pity; hopefully this post will show up in the tags!

Not only is this one going to have spoilers for all the aired episodes plus any teasers (including the trailer for episode 7), it will also have book spoilers through book 14: A Memory of Light

"A few weeks ago I considered hitting Renna over the head with that pitcher, and I could not pour wash water for three days. Once I’d thought of it that way, I not only had to stop thinking about hitting her with it, I had to convince myself I would never, under any circumstances, hit her with it before I could touch it again. She knew what had happened, told me what I had to do, and would not let me wash anywhere except with that pitcher and bowl."

It is a little stunning how the show was able to take that paragraph and make this heartbreaking episode using it as the spine. And by changing it from a wash bowl into a water pitcher, they made it even more of a fundamental torture because Egwene is literally being dehydrated until she gives in to her abuser's demands.

Which, her mention of 'weeks ago' (Egwene is damane for roughly two or three months in the books) is making me wonder about the timeline in the show. Because we were visually shown the brutality of the 'training' process already, I wonder if the timeline is going to be shortened, or if we're going to get a timeskip of some kind next episode. Because Rand is definitely not interested in waiting around for weeks now that he knows Egwene is in captivity, even if he doesn't know the full extend of what's happened to her.

Also, double-checking the books, Egwene hits Renna in the stomach with the pitcher and doesn't hit her over the head like I had remembered; hitting her over the head was what she had thought about but never did. Maybe she'll get to brain her in the show.

2. Note: Renna may be wrong when she says that any pain a sul'dam feels, her damane feels twice-over even to the death, because in the last book when Min comes to rescue Mat and (ugh) Tuon, there is a damane attached to a dead sul'dam. And Min just... leaves her to die in a fire instead of saving her because book!Min kinda sucks but, yeah (she actually screams at the damane to help even though she should know it's impossible for her to help while she's still leashed). Though I wonder if Renna is actually correct but the implication is wrong -- which is that the damane does feel the full pain of the sul'dam's death (twice-over) but just doesn't necessarily die as a result of it.

3. The show is really really evoking book!Tuon in both the characters of Renna and Suroth in this episode, I have to say. Renna makes a point of saying she's a ~kinder softer~ sul'dam because she believes in cultivating a ~friendship~ with her damane and that's basically exactly how Tuon presents herself and her relationships with her ~well-behaved~ damane. And then later in the episode, we get Suroth's scene where she purposefully mocks and degrades Loial for her own amusement, evoking... well, Tuon in many moments tbh -- she laughs at Mat like this frequently in CoT & KoD, because she sees him as her own personal court jester -- but definitely the moment when Tuon steals Egeanin's name from her.

It's... it's an interesting thing because I also feel like the show has deliberately evoked book!Min in some of Lanfear's characterization changes, mostly when she was playing Selene -- pretending that she doesn't want a romantic relationship with Rand but desperately wanting one; pretending that she's not jealous about the other people he cares about but actually being incredibly jealous; trying to make herself his emotional anchor and the one person that he depends on; using their connection to get him to do things for her that he doesn't want to do (in Min's case, it's about using sex to get Rand to take her into dangerous situations, like the fake!DotNM meeting that ends up with Rand losing his hand while trying to protect Min). And taking characteristics that belonged to 'love interest' characters in the books and giving them to villains is... an interesting choice.

4. Is Lanfear questioning Rand near Shayol Ghul in TAR (that large blasted area) or is she just dramatic?

5. Turak's room of curiosities... I really wonder if we're going to sub in the Stone of Tear's storage room from TSR to Turak's room of curiosities and if there is a twisted stone doorway in there. That would give us a chance to do (some parts of) the beginning of TSR in 3x1 next season by having Mat, Rand, and Moiraine potentially all going into the doorway.

@markantonys was talking about how it was interesting that Min's romance viewing didn't come up in her scenes this season and speculated that the show is hedging its bets somewhat with regards to how much time they'll get to play out the storylines. And wondering that if that's the case for Rand's Situation, then it might end up being the case for Mat as well, and the show might hold back on the marriage prophecy (because if s4 or s5 ends up being the final season, they might not want to have to deal with squishing in Mat marrying some random slaver that we just met a handful of episodes ago). Definitely interesting to think about!

I personally love the idea that Avirandlayne could all get together without the viewers actually having heard about Min's viewing (besides the little hint of it we got in s1).

I do wonder sometimes if Jordan regretting sowing Mat's marriage prophecy in so early once the book series really started to stretch out, because it really handcuffed him to a very specific Mat plotline and some of the authorial choices that Jordan made to shackle Mat to that plotline were... very weird and involved characters behaving very strangely to their normal behavior (I have an entire post at the end of my WH reread where I go over how WTF some of Jordan's writing choices were to 'justify' Mat going on his road trip with Tuon).

6. I know that some people take issue with Alanna, Maksim, and Ihvon confronting Lan over potentially being a Darkfriend but... as Pevara says in A Crown of Swords, “You were very brave coming to me, Seaine. I’ve known Darkfriends to kill brothers, sisters, parents, to try hiding who they are and what they’ve done. I love you for it, but you were very brave indeed.”

Holding Lan above suspicion because of his background seems like it would have been foolish for Alanna & co to do, after having found that poem in his belongings. After he and Moiraine have been doing secretive journeys together for twenty years, very soon after Moiraine herself changed to be much colder and much more isolated from her fellow Sisters (especially since she and Siuan likely 'broke up' at that time).

I do think that book readers were potentially so distracted by wondering whether or not Alanna was going to get Lan's bond that they didn't necessarily realize that he was being covertly interrogated all of episode 4 by her and her two Warders, trying to figure out what Moiraine is doing and why she dumped Lan this way. I didn't look at the storyline like that on my first viewing because I was looking at it as a Lan plotline, but on my rewatch, it was actually very clear that Alanna, Maksim, and Ihvon were all trying to get information from Lan in various ways to try to figure out what's up with him and Moiraine. Alanna doesn't want Lan's bond; she wants his secrets.

7. More eye trauma for Mat in Rand's dream here. Both Nynaeve and Rand give Mat eye trauma foreshadowing in their visions, which does imply to me that the show wants to do the 'Finn plotline.

8. "You can travel too, see the world as it really is." hmm, I almost wonder if Rand is going to do what Egwene did in LoC, and use TAR to get to Falme quickly? (but then how do Moiraine, Lan, & Mat all come too? hmm. Might just be set up for a later season)

9. My constant emotional surprise when Randgwene keeps being a thing even though we haven't gotten to the part in the books where they break up For Real: my own personal toxic book reader trait, lol.

10. We once again have it kinda being hammered into Rand that going off entirely on his own and abandoning the people that he loves is a bad thing, actually. It's very very difficult to see the show ending in the same place that the books did, because "Rand off on his own and emotionally isolated" is definitely being shown as a negative.

(of course, it was mostly treated as a bad thing in the books too, until it's suddenly Rand's happy ending. but the show has the advantage of already knowing the journey they need to take to the ending, so I feel like they wouldn't be pressing this button so hard if they planned to end it the same way -- plus, this Rand doesn't even smoke pipes, which was really just Jordan, known pipe-smoker, stapling that trait onto every single male character in the series, no matter what their culture)

11. I really hope that the show is able to find some excuses to let more character reunions happen in the show than happened in the books because the idea of Mat and Rand splitting up in s4 for their respective narratives and then not seeing each other until they get one single scene in s8 is absolutely excruciating. My biggest disappointment with the Sanderson books...

...okay, no the biggest disappointment was Mat magically teleporting to Ebou Dar with zero explanation in the text of how it happened or why he changed his entire set of character motivations in between ToM & AMoL.

One of my disappointments was how... hollow the Mat & Rand reunion was. It happened on enemy territory, while Mat was still in full 'fawn over the slaver' mode and hadn't yet gotten his spine back, and it ends in this weird bro-out one-up competition that didn't really match their previous relationship in the books at all. So if the show could just... do all that differently... that would be great.

12. I wonder if Rafe & co noticed the same thing about Rand and Mat that I noticed in my last reread -- which is that their lives kinda drastically go downhill once the plot forces them to separate for the rest of the book series. Because we really see them being a source of comfort and support for each other here. Which is also very true in portions of the book series -- I think especially of moments like Mat quietly sitting with Rand after Rhuidean, which is literally exactly what Rand needs at that moment in time.

13. So, my current theory re: Mat and the dagger viewing is that he is going to essentially be the 'proof' for show-onlys that Min's viewings are unavoidable. Because Mat does not want to stab Rand and he even knows now that there's (essentially) a prophecy that he's going to do just that. And Mat stabbing Rand anyway, even though he actively does not want to and does his best to avoid it, would serve as a harsh lesson for the viewers and for Mat himself that prophecy cannot be avoided (my money is still on compulsion from Ishy, but we will see!).

Which is relevant to Mat's arc in a lot of ways. In the books, it was really frustrating how he thinks about how he'll run away from the DotNM if he finds out who she is but then once he's face to face with her, he basically rolls over and caves to fate pretty much instantly.

He didn't have to take Tuon with him when he escaped Ebou Dar. He didn't have to stay with the circus once he'd left the city; he literally could have just walked away from her and yet he inexplicably actively courts someone that he never, at any point, wants to marry (even after the final vows are said, Tuon's slave Karede notes how Mat looks miserably resigned to his awful fate), and fawns over her despite her being basically the lovechild of Suroth and Renna, in terms of characterization (Suroth's Mean Girl (TM) behavior towards Loial in this episode vividly reminded me of Tuon's Mean Girl (TM) behavior towards Egeanin; show!Suroth and book!Tuon both have the most fun in life when they have someone to mock and look down on and treat like shit).

If, in the show, he's already learned the hard way that some fates cannot be avoided, then we might get into a more interesting situation where Mat tries to find a way to make the prophecy come true in a way that still helps his friends, and tries to manipulate fate for the better. It's also a way to make the relationship somewhat more palatable for the viewers

Just... the whole way that Jordan played their relationship in CoT & KoD will eternally leave a bad taste in my mouth. Especially since WH set Mat up to challenge Tuon's beliefs. (though probably the worst part is running across that certain variety of 'Mat fans' who either don't notice or don't care that he threw away his morals in between WH & CoT and did a near-complete 180 turn on his attitude about slavery). It's just wild how much shit Jordan makes Mat swallow with a smile for the sake of this terrible prophecy marriage -- and other characters get covered in Tuon's shit too, because of Mat's choice to bring her along in the escape. Joline, Teslyn, and Edesina get tortured because of Mat's choice. Yeah. Pretty much any decision that Rafe & co make about this storyline is guaranteed to be better than the original version.

14. So Siuan coming here is basically the show's version of the scene from Fal Dara, given what we have of the set-up -- fourteen Aes Sedai making a traveling journey to a major city. But that is definitely worrisome news for Moiraine, given the differences in the show vs books.

15. I don't think that Alanna will bond Rand next week (it feels way too early for it) but I do think that the seeds of why she believes that he should be bound might be planted. It depends on if Rand gets publicly outed as a man who can channel & who believes that he's the Dragon Reborn. Because we do have those fires and potentially a riot going on in the Foregate in the next episode, based on the trailers. Rand may do something that 'proves' to Alanna that the White Tower needs to control him so that he doesn't destroy the world. Especially if he disappears from the city after the riot, with them having no idea where he disappeared to.

16. ...I am really looking forward to Egwene putting that damn collar around Renna's throat.

[darrengrave]

All in all, I can boil down the things I don't like into actually a fairly small list;

- no psychosexual element to pyramid head? is it even sh2 without it, really.

- half of the key ph moments felt really off to me, particularly the first look (they fucked up the pacing for like no reason? He's not supposed to appear until after you hear that man's dying scream, there was no build up like the og's "wtf was that?" to "wtf IS that???" to immediately finding a body in his wake. I also thought it was too bright and you can see him too clearly.), mannequin/closet scene (apart from the lack of psychosexual menace, the blocking, storyboarding, and pacing was just weird in a bad way, it wasn't creepy or threatening), and hospital hallway scene. The hallway scene was just a mess.

- mary/maria's actress had an impossible act to follow and she was functionable most of the time but man was the delivery of "anyway", "i'm not your mary", the hospital hallway dialogue, and letter flat and disappointing. she particularly doesn't ever get angry or menacing enough.

- the insane level of just flat out mean-spirited fatphobia of changing a scene of eddie eating a regular food after empying the entire contents of his stomach to literally shoveling ice cream into his face with his bare hands

- the way that they decided to make the sweater the 19 year old sexual abuse victim wore to conceal her body paper thin and clinging to her body.. like so thin that sweater would be actually see through in real life

- real time models used for most of the cutscenes was a mistake for a $70 game and the scene after the tape looked rough

- I felt like the prison was a drag which was really disappointing compared to the heavy oppressive menace of the original, so oppressive that the og prison is always just as scary as when I first played it over a decade ago

- Nurses outside the hospital

- Didn't care for any time an item pickup triggered a monster wave, particularly in the overworld where the fog turned into a storm. Felt lazy and boring to me.

- Really leaning into Angela's panic attack as much as possible at the end of the mirror scene. That's a moment that doesn't need heavyhandedness at all. It only suffers from it. It actually needs restraint. Her reacting as if James was going to hurt her just because he stepped closer to her is more than enough to get across what happened to her. This version just felt cringe at best, voyeuristic at worst.

- Not allowing you to linger on the flaming staircase or futally attempt to follow Angela. But this is bloober "some people are so damaged that they should just die" team so it probably never even crossed their minds that most players try to follow her on the stairs because they want to save her.

- The weird changes to puzzles and events but also directly referencing them as if they'd be done before. I thought FOR SURE this was going to be revealed as an eva requel like ff7 with a time loop or something, because it's flat out just weird otherwise, and now it's just a weird choice.

- The traversal stutter. It was my main criticism of the gameplay trailer and it did not get better.

- How inaccessible the og is for new players, of course. Ff7 and most of the resident evil games are ported to basically everything, for comparison. Fans can mod an enhanced edition for pc but konami can't do shit? I don't think so.

[marleyelona]

RIDE OR DIE (THE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sons of Anarchy. All rights go to Kurt Sutter, FX and any others that made this amazing show possible. I do, however, own my character, Letitia Morrow, and any other OCs I might add in the future, along with their backstories and their storylines within the show.

GRAPHICS: I MAKE the gifs that are used throughout this book. On occasion I will use gifs I find on google, which I will clarify. Any gifs I haven't made, all rights of those should go to the rightful creators. I also DO the aesthetics, covers, tags and trailers that are made. Please do not steal them. HOWEVER most of the images you see in this book are made by A.I imaging unless stated otherwise.

WARNING (Mature Audience Only)⚠️: violence, murder, gore, coarse language, mental health issues, domestic violence, drug and alcohol use, and detailed sex scenes will appear in this book. If any of these are a trigger for you, please take caution if you decide to continue. 

[ RIDE OR DIE! ]

Prologue

A Trunk Full of Problems

[Pre-Season One]

" There are two sides to my daughter; the angelic side of her mother and the devious side of me. And you never know which side you're gonna get from one moment to the next. She can switch just like that. "

~ CLAY MORROW to JUICE ORTIZ

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CAST

Emmy Rossum as Letitia Morrow

Penn Badgley as Lewis Mckenna 

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TRIGGER WARNING⚠️: Mentions of domestic abuse, a shooting, minor gore and some coarse language.

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LETTY'S CAR

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LETTY'S OUTFIT

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LETTY'S TATTOOS

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A TWENTY ONE YEAR OLD LETITIA MORROW sped down the highway so fast if she took a wide corner her car would most likely turn over. Apart of her was dreading seeing the 'Welcome to Charming' sign. Letty or Lett, as she was called by many of the small town's residences, speed increased, while tears streamed down her beaten and bruised face. A dark purplish bruise hung under her left eye, her bright cherry lips had grown two sizes too big, as blood oozed out of the corner of her mouth. 

Pressing her foot down on the gas, made her engine let out a loud roar, as a sob escaped her lips when she aggressively rubbed her blood stained hands onto her ripped jeans. Her tears continued to flow like a tap, as the memories of the night prior flashed through her mind like an old movie projector. 

A blood curdling scream echoed in her ears, as she gasped, her eyes shot wide open at the sight of a car inches away from colliding with her front bumper, their bright head lights shinning into her eyes, almost blinding the brunette. 

Her shaky hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, as she turned it, managing to dodge the oncoming car without damaging her beautiful mustang - Thank God or her dad would have killed her. 

The car was in fact her baby. She received him on her sixteenth birthday from her father, who just so happened to be the President of Samcro, Clay Morrow. 

Her father and her had a complicated relationship, childhood worth of resentment hung heavy for Letty, and she was just as stubborn as him, so any chance she got, she liked to remind him how much he wasn't there for her growing up. Sometimes they were too similar, because of this, they constantly butted heads. But at the end of the day they loved each other deeply and were very protective over one another - they would quite literally kill for each other. 

Admittedly, it had been a few years since Letty had been back to Charming, she had moved pretty quickly after she graduated from high school, not wanting to end up some Sons' old lady like Gemma. God, she loved that woman like a mother, but she did not want to turn out like her. 

Gemma and Letty had a close relationship. Letty's mother died in 1987 during an emergency c-section. And when her father married Gemma, she became mum to her, as she had helped raise her pretty much since birth, making her the woman she is today. 

Gemma was the one person Letty was worried to see, as she headed towards the club house. After she left, they had talked on the phone a few times here and there, but it wasn't the same. Gemma didn't fully support her leaving town, so she wasn't excited about the lecture she would mostly definitely receive when they came face to face again after three years. 

Her eyes travelled to the back seat of her car at the many bags she stuffed inside, knowing she couldn't return to her house in Los Angeles, not after what happened the night prior with her boyfriend of three years, who she met during her freshman year of college, where she went onto complete a diploma in nursing. 

That was probably the hardest thing about her decision to race back home to Charming, having to quit a job she loved with people she loved. But she was sure she'd be able to pick up a nursing job at the hospital easy, as they always seem to be short staffed. 

As she passed the out dated 'Welcome to Charming' sign, which hadn't been updated since she was born, maybe even longer, a cold chill ran down her spine. She wonder what the small town of Charming would have in stall for this next chapter of her life. Because one thing was for sure, Charming was never boring, there was always something happening, whether it was good or bad that was up for interpretation. 

Sure, she was happy to see her old friends and family. There was Jax and Opie, who were like her older brothers growing up. Before she had left she got pretty close with Opie's wife Donna, while Opie was inside. Donna actually helped Letty look for colleges far away from Charming and Samcro, thinking if she couldn't get out of the crippling town herself and away from the toxicity of the club, she'd want someone to, who else more deserving than the sweetheart that was Letty Morrow. 

She'd love to see all the boys again. Chibs, Bobby, Tig and Piney were all in the waiting room of the maternity ward when Letita Loraine Morrow was brought into this world. They all actually got kicked out for smoking a couple fat cigars. A story that was continuously told throughout her life, the boys thought it was pretty funny, mainly trying to shine some light on the day they lost a good woman, Loraine Morrow, the most caring woman you'd ever meet, a trait her daughter inherited. 

Letty was close with them all, but Chibs was like a second father to her, so even when her dad wasn't around much when she was a kid, Chibs was there to fill that emptiness in her heart. 

Piney was someone she loved to call her crazy grandpa, she had actually went to calling him Pops or Poppy at a young age. 

And Bobby and Tig were like her eccentrically crazy uncles that would willingly get her plastered, partying right into the night together - she loved them to death. 

As Letty finally pulled into Teller-Morrow Automotive Repair Shop, that was used as a front for their motorcycle club's dealings, she gave herself a small pep talk inside her head, 'It's going to be okay. Sure, you haven't seen most of these people in years, but you got this. It'll be fine'. In fact, she was so deep in her own thoughts and still pretty hysterical, that she didn't realise how far she actually drove into the large compound and before she knew it...BANG! 

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A loud CRASH! Followed by a continuous horn caught the Sons' attention from inside the Chapel. Like any other day, the boys sat around the table discussing current business, before they were oh-so-rudely interrupted. 

Instantly, they were all on their feet, their senses on high alert, because when you were apart of a motorcycle club that did questionable dealings, you should always expect the worst. Each member had a hand clamped around their gun that sat on their hips; ready to draw it if need be. 

Clay Morrow held up a hand, signalling from them all to stay put. Placing a finger to his lips, he motioned with his head for them to quietly follow him outside. 

Making it outside and around the back of the large compound, they all noticed the familiar red mustang, which had clearly crashed into the garage sliding door. 

"Jesus Christ!" Clay hissed under his breath, running hand through his white-blonde hair, as he released his grip from his glock. Jax Teller, Chibs Telford, Bobby Munson, Piney Winston, Tig Trager and Opie Winston, followed suit, relaxing slightly. Although, both Juice Ortiz and Half-Sack Epps were still clearly on high alert - what the hell was going on? 

Concern and worry had washed over the older members' faces, Clay being the first one to rush over to the car. But all of them sighed in relief when the driver's side door opened and a girl with long, brown, curly hair stepped out of the vehicle. Juice and Half-sack had held back; having no idea what was happening. 

"Daddy!" Letty immediately broke down at the sight of her father, instantly running into his arms and soaking his chest with tears, as she sobbed. And as Juice watched the scene unfold, he felt a small pang in his heart for the poor girl. 

Clay pulled back, holding the woman at arms length, as he cupped her beautiful face. And once Juice finally got a good look at her features, his jaw almost hit the floor. She was hot. No, not hot...Gorgeous. He honestly thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his whole life. And he had been with his fair share of beautiful women, but not one of them held a candle to Letty Morrow.

"Honey, what happened--?" Clay started to ask, before his face fell, noticing the state she was in and the bruises that scattered her entire body, not just her face. "Did he beat you again?" Clay's whole face turned murderous, as he tightly gripped his daughter's shoulders, which made her wince in pain. 

All the girl managed was a nod of her head, which only angered Clay more. 

"I'm gonna fucking kill him!" the man clenched his fists, as he started to storm towards his bike, but Letty was quick to grab his arm. 

"No! You're not going anywhere," she declared, sending her father a stern look. 

Yanking his arm back, he glared at his only daughter, "Don't tell me what I'm gonna fucking do. He put his hands on you, baby!" 

"I understand that," she said, matching his tone. If the situation wasn't so serious the boys would of had a laugh at how quickly father and daughter had started arguing. It was always said, 'You can't have Clay and Letty in the same room for too long or a storm would brew'. 

Clay went to open his mouth to argue once again, but Letty cut him off and continued with what she was saying, "That's why I took care of it," she said in a tone of voice that gave nothing away, her face even remained solemn, so you couldn't even read her facial expressions to guess what she meant by that statement. 

Clay furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "What does that even mean?" he slightly snapped, throwing his hands up in frustration. 

"I came here because I need your help," she stated, making her way over to her car, Clay and the boys followed after her as she started to unlock her boot. Pulling the door open, the boys leaned over to look inside and their eyes widened at the sight of a man all tied up with a gun shot wound on his lower region, his blood staining the lining of the boot. 

"You stupid fucking bitch!" Lewis Mckenna hissed, glaring bloody murder at his girlfriend of three years, as he thrusted around, trying to get free from the tight binds. "You actually fucking shot me! Oh, my God, you shot me in the dick!" he cried, looking down at his wounded genitals that oozed with blood. 

While amusement was clear on the older members' faces, Juice and Half-Sack were watching on, completely confused, but also very intrigued, watching this all play out like it was a brand new movie at the cinemas. All they were missing was popcorn. 

"And I should of done worse, you fucking cock sucker!" she sneered, shooting daggers with her eyes at her latest ex-boyfriend. 

A growl sounded from the back of Lewis' throat, as his glared up at her hatefully, "I'm going to fucking kill, you crazy bitch--!" 

The guy's threat was cut short by an elbow to the face, knocking him out cold, "That's enough out of," Jax smirked, owner of said elbow, earning him a chuckle from the girl that was basically his sister, they gave each other enough wedgies growing up to justify that. 

"As you can see..." she said to her father, putting on her best, 'I'm sweet and innocent' look "...I fucked up." 

"Yeah, you should of went for the head," Clay hissed, looking at the man in complete disgust, like he was the piece of gum under his shoe. 

"I thought it showed creativity," Letty pouted like a five year old who was just refused ice cream for dinner, crossing her arms over her chest. "So sue me," she shrugged nonchalantly. 

"I thought it was pretty creative, darlin'," Tig stated with that somewhat sinister smirk of his. "Take away a man's equipment -Worse and most painful punishment there is." 

"Thanks, Tigga," she said, sending the man a kind smile. Her nickname for Tig came from when she was a toddler and just learning to say a few words here and there, so when Tig tried to teach her his name or his nickname, she kept just getting excited repeatedly yelling her favourite cartoon character's name and the nickname just stuck ever since. 

Clay shot his Sergeant in Arms a glare, "Don't encourage her," he scolded. 

Tig raised his hands in mock-surrender, "Hey! She's your daughter."

Clay's glare sharpened at his words, making him take a step back, his hands still raised, "That's all I'm saying." 

"Letty?!" the voice of Gemma Teller-Morrow sounded from behind the girl. The woman had stepped out of the office to investigate what the commotion was all about, she didn't recognise the woman at first, squinting her eyes, as she blocked out the sun's UV rays with her hand. And that's when she saw it, the face she hadn't seen in nearly three whole years. One she'd recognise from a mile away.

Letty was quick to whip her head around and a smile immediately graced her face as she spotted Gemma striding over to her in a quick pace. 

"Well, well, well, look at what the cat dragged in," chuckled Gemma, as she reached the girl, looking at her fondly. 

"Gemma," Letty beamed, bringing the woman into a hug. 

"Gemma?" the woman frowned in confusion as they parted. "What happened to Mum?" she questioned, tilting her head to the side, as she raised an eyebrow, staring the girl down. "Been gone too long, you forgot who raised your skinny ass," she teased, cupping the girl's chin as she gave her face a playful shake. "Huh?" 

Letty chuckled, shaking her head amusingly, "Never." 

Gemma smiled, wrapping her arm around her step-daughter's shoulders, before leading her back over to her car and examined the contents of her boot, a hum leaving her lips, "This is the boyfriend I'm guessing?" 

"Ex-boyfriend," Letty corrected. 

"Well, they can't say you don't know how to make an entrance." 

"Well, you know..." she said, shrugging nonchalantly. "I gotta keep the old man on his toes," she said, flashing her father a cheeky smirk, as she sent him a wink, earning a playful glare in response.

Gemma let out a loud chuckle, snapping her head back in amusement, "Well, what do you say, why don't we leave the boys to clean up this mess you created, and you and I grab a cuppa and catch up?" she asked, as she started to guide the girl back over to her father's office. "It's been so long. I've missed you around here, baby!" Gemma beamed happily, as she rubbed her shoulders - glad her daughter was back. 

"Yeah, I've missed you guys, too," Letty said, and it was true, she did. She never wanted to leave the people. She wanted to leave the club and small town life behind. 

Meanwhile, Juice was in a hypnotic state, his eyes watching Letty closely as she walked away, he was practically drooling over her, "She's beautiful, isn't she?" he whispered to Half-Sack in a monotone voice. Juice didn't think about who was around at that moment, as the words slipped from his lips. 

"Yeah," Half-Sack rapidly nodded his head in agreement, while he was actually drooling over her and had to readjust the spring in his jeans. "Hard to think she came from Clay," he chuckled. 

"Hey!" Clay whacked both the zombie like boys on the back of the head.

"Ow!" they both hissed simultaneously, rubbing the back of their heads. 

"Both of your ugly mugs better not be thinking what I think your thinking about," he warned, pointing a stern finger in their faces. 

"Hell no, sir" Half-Sack immediately uttered, his eyes awkwardly finding his feet when he looked away from the girl, not knowing where else to look in the mean time. 

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Clay shot back with narrowed eyes. 

"Damn," Juice whistled, his eyes still locked on the girl, who was now inside, sipping a coffee as she talked with Gemma, still visible through the window, as he remained in his hypnotic state. 

"Oh, Juicy Boy," Tig chuckled amusingly, coming over to wrap his arm over the boy's shoulders, giving him a light pat. "She's gonna chew you up and spit you out." 

"Ain't that the truth," Opie agreed, shaking his head in amusement - Juice could not handle a girl like Letty Morrow, not in the slightest. Stronger men have tried and let's just say, it didn't end well for them. 

Clay joyfully chuckled, finding the boy's crush on his daughter kind of hilarious, knowing she had no interest in dating a Son. He would have applied the rule when she turned eighteen himself, but she had already stated she would never date one of his 'brothers' way before that. 

"There are two sides to my daughter; the angelic side of her mother and the devious side of me. And you never know what side you're gonna get from one moment to the next. She can switch just like that," he said, clicking his fingers together, as a sinister smirk tugged at the corner his lips. "So, this should be fun to watch, aye, boys?" he mocked, as they all roared with laughter. 

Poor Juice had no idea what he was getting himself into; swooning over the President's daughter. 

☆《》¤ 

Originally Published on Wattpad on the 10/03/2024

A/N:

Please not, all Images were created by Bing's AI generator. Although, the title tag at the top was made by me.

Let me know what you thought of the Prologue to my Sons of Anarchy Fanfiction - Ride or Die.

Marley 😁

Words: 3182

[roboromantic]

OKAY movie was really really good. I do have a couple minor critiques and general thoughts below; no real order just whatever I happen to remember wanting to mention

would it have killed them to have Alpha Trion just say "No child of Primus is born without a T-cog." It would've been significantly less clunky than "son or daughter" and more inclusive; it felt like a step backwards from Earthspark :/

I woulda liked to get to know the Iacon High Guard a bit more, we really didn't get much time with them. We coulda had a bit of a teaser of them by having them attack the train that OP et al. were on, which would also show that they sabotage Sentinel

that said I think the whole "we follow the strongest bot" thing and having Starscream actively push Megatron to fight him harder was a nice change of pace from the "Megatron abuses Starscream" narratives that have kinda been the norm since ...Aligned I guess? it does feel like that means they shoulda followed Optimus at the end since he clearly defeated Megatron, but it doesn't really bother me that much

also it's only been 50 "cycles" since the Primes went offline??? surely SOMEONE besides the High Guard would remember how things used to be

It's interesting that the Primes have been kind of downgraded from being made to fight against Unicron to being made to fight Quintessons, but hey I'm all for chucking the CoP stuff out lmao

speaking of chucking stuff — I don't think they ever mentioned an AllSpark. The Matrix of Leadership was what sort of healed Cybertron instead, which was interesting.

did the scene from the trailer where Megatron looked particularly purple get cut or did I just not notice it

using Airachnid's memory to transmit the incriminating evidence kinda felt like it came from nowhere? like yeah she "sees everything" but the idea of being able to just.....wave her head over a table or st didn't have any kind of setup

the synchronized Creation of both Megatron and Optimus. chef's kiss, perfection, and I'm pretty sure Primus pulling in Orion to transform him into Optimus was staged more or less the same as the scene where Unicron rebuilds Megatron into Galvatron in the '86 movie? very neat detail if true. anyway people in the theater were cheering when Optimus flew back out to fight Megs.

ough. the portrayal of the MegOp friendship and build up to enemity was sooooooooo good. was NOT expecting Megatron to actually shoot Optimus and OUGH GOING FROM "WHY DID YOU DO THAT" TO "I'M DONE SAVING YOU." SCREAMING, CRYING, ETC.

I kinda thought the Quintessons would play a bigger role in the movie, lmao. guess that's potential sequel material? sidenote but I think it would be very funny if they just called it Transformers: Two

establishing Bee as a guy who's been working a shitty job alone for who knows how long I think made him significantly less annoying then I probably would've found him otherwise. I don't think he was THAT bad but. yeah

ok that bit near the start of the movie where OP is like "I feel like I could drill down far enough to touch Primus himself!" followed by Elita saying "You don't have the touch OR the power" made literally no sense. it was very obviously just "hey y'all remember the '86 movie?"

I kinda thought Megatron was going to do a whole "You are being deceived" speech to the masses but sadly no 😔

[remykai]

generation loss

i am just going to say everything that is on my mind right now. sorry if it doesn’t make sense. 

warning: generation loss spoilers, when i am talking about the episodes, i am talking about the characters mostly, not about the creators who portrayed them.

i LOVE the show so much. i love the idea. i love the creators. i love the story. i love the sets. i love EVERYTHING about it.

i am so proud of ranboo and everyone who helped to make this show come to life and to be THAT good of an experience. 

thoughts on ep. 1: 

being thrown immedietly into the action was the best thing. you feel like you are really in there with ranboo and you are experiencing it alongside them. having the chance to vote was an amazing idea and i loved how it really looked like a game. ranboo was really the main character we deserved, loved and felt for. i gotta say i was a little bit worried about charlie being the demon. when i saw the trailer, i immediately started laughing, and i didn’t know if i would be able to see him as a scary character. good thing i didn’t have to. i think it was the best decision ever not to make him scary and terrifying, and rather make him silly and goofy. the cooking show then was amazing. the idea with the door and going to different dimensions was absolutely hilarious, i loved it. when ranboo went to the basement and found sneeg and frank, that was also a great idea and funny af. i loved sneegs performance - how he portrayed going absolutely bollocks after spending so much time down there and talking to frank even though he is a skeleton (not a real person ANYMORE). last but not least, i loved the fight scenes. they were amazing and i gotta say - i loved being able to control ranboo’s moves at least a little bit. the ending was immaculate and the cliffhanger made me want more immediately. 

thoughts on ep. 2:

i didn’t watch ep. 2 live, because i was on a trip, but i watched it later and even though i wasn’t directly part of it (aka making any choices), i enjoyed it nonetheless. i loved how more creators were part of this one. every single one’s performance was immaculate. charlie being all silly and goofy while ranboo was taking all the stuff out of him, and then for a very brief moment screaming and crying because ranboo literally tore him open, and then casually coming back to silly, goofy mood. amazing. i loved niki’s performace especially because it was so chilling to see her crying this whole time but the second she had to speak to the camera, she was smiling and saying that she is kind and nice. austin’s straight trope was hilarious af. and sneeg’s acting skills - wow. how it was obvious that he “woke up” and saw what was really happening there, how it was obvious that he just excused himself to go to the toilet because he wanted to run away, and how it was so obvious (and terrifying) that he was wiped and put back in the game. it was especially scary, because they didn’t (and didn’t need to) tie him back up, because he wouldn’t run away anymore. he wouldn’t even think of it. and seeing how he still cared for frank was just hearwarming. then later, during the mouse trap game, it was so scary to see niki die. that was the first time i thought: omg, we CAN’T really control EVERYTHING. but i loved the acting, how ranboo and sneeg just carried on like nothing really happened and i realized that only after vinnie vinesauce came and started freaking out a little. the idea of charlie being soaked into the towel was also brilliant. then the wardrobe trope, just amazing. i loved the humour. i loved the show. then ethan having hope of getting out of there with that statue and then being killed just sent chills down my spine. then the play room - hilarious - the way they didn’t believe they could get out of there by pushing one button but that was actually it. i loved it. and then having a brief mcc hole in the wall moment. i was laughing (even though sneeg and austing were dying, sorry guys). and then the ending. ranboo waking up, realizing this is all a show, all a game, realizing we are watching and we are the once in control. their scared face. i love it. brilliant acting. also: rae, sykkuno’s and jerma’s acting was also on point. i loved how rae was just this little happy, confused, clumsy rat, it was so cute. 

thoughts on ep. 3:

ranboo finally sees through. wahoo. but it has consequences. they realized what they had done. hetch trying to calm them down, to think rationally, to end this once and for all potentionally save all of their friends (ranboo would’ve left if they didn’t have hope that their friends could be saved). amazing. them being all scared and worried. and confused. very, very confused. and the amount of guilt they must’ve felt. the moment with the code and then setting off the alarm was so chilling because that was the one time ranboo made a choice for themselves, and it was wrong, and it didn’t work. but the question is: did they really make a choice, or was this all pre-planned by showfall media? and then later on, when they found all of the streamers. it was chilling - the way no one was responding. only after ranboo took charlie’s headphone’s off, he got out of the tranz and he helped him. i didn’t see charlie’s stream from before genloss ep. 3, but it was in the set, and that’s just so cool. because like how much is showfall actually in control of everything. it extends into real life, not only the show itself. that was a really cool detail, i think. charlie and ranboo then running away and trying to get out of there, but they can’t, because this is all one huge set. they could never get out because that’s how it’s all planned. charlie being murdered by that tv monster and then ranboo pressing the button was so intense, i was barely breathing. and the ending. ranboo thinking they got out, that they are free, that they are no longer in the game, in the show, but being tied up immediately after. it was so sad. us having a choice - let them live or let them die. i gotta say i pressed live, i questioned my choice later on, but in the end, i think i would still pick live because i had hope that maybe showfall media would let ranboo go. but i get everyone who chose the die button. it was so scary to see ranboo that hopeless. the ending got me. the box just sent chills down my spine. it was not the ending i wanted, but it was the ending ranboo deserved because maybe he would stay in the spiral forever and would never get out. but we don’t know that. lastly, knowing this is only one of many, many experiments is just so chilling. yes, i am excited for ranboo and their team to see what they come up with, but for the characters, this is gonna be just more torture and pain. 

to sum this up: i loved it so much. i can’t wait for ranboo to keep doing this and to bring more generation loss to us. 

[ewanmitchellcrumbs]

Ange dearest, here for my post-show thoughts; this really is the literal first thing I do after every episode. Kinda like last week I'll try to start with some positives:

Aemond looked cunty asf

Sowing the seeds of Alys and Aemond, I really am just dying to see this

Jeyne Arryn sighting

The performances were amazing as usual, but particularly the grief from Lord Corlys, I really felt for him, honestly

Baela, that's it.

Now for my not necessarily negative but other thoughts-

Daemon. Daemon. Daemon. Fucking his mother? Eating her out? Um....what??????? Sir.....SIR- also side not she kinda hot but NOT THE POINT UM WHAT. Also, what are they doing to Daddy Uncle, talking about Rhaenyra can't succeed- where is the loyalty that I've been yearning for, URGH

The Helaena and Aemond scene was literally a fragment pls- that wasn't even a full conversation. I suppose it was profound in a way, yes, but still. Also am I the only one hearing a child laughing before he turned to see Helaena? Is that some of his guilt over Jaehaerys? Idk, just thoughts

The lack of balance between showing the greens and blacks was blatant in this episode, it felt like for every thirty minutes on Dragonstone we got 2 minutes in King's Landing.

Lastly, what the FUCK is Aemond doing to Aegon in the trailer. Please, Please, Please, tell me that's him feeling a sliver of remorse, and that he's not going to try and KILL HIM FUCKING JEEZ MAN

That last part of Aegon wheezing, 'Mummy' just broke my heart.

Let's hope that that scene of Alicent and Cole means an official Alicole breakup, yes I'm still annoyed by how much we were waterboarded with them in the first two episodes.

Overall, despite the general grievances that we've reiterated from the beginning, I enjoyed the episode, I giggled every time Aemond came on screen and I screamed when Daemon fucked his mom- because frankly, if we don't just focus on the things we enjoy, we'll end up storming HBO and demanding Ryan Condal's head.

Look forward to your thoughts too <3

-🦋 anon

I live for your weekly thought dumps! What am I going to do without them once season two ends?! :( Here are mine:

This, to me, felt like a filler episode. We have a shorter season this season, THERE ISN'T ROOM FOR THAT. I just felt like nothing noteworthy really happened? I thought Aemond becoming Prince Regent would be made a bigger deal of, but once again it's overshadowed by Alicent's negative reaction to it. Uuuggghhhh.

I adore Alys, I cannot get enough of her, and I squealed and kicked my feet at the hint of Alysmond. Give them to meeee. I am chomping at the bit for season three.

We have had two episodes of Daemon tripping off his nut though, so I am over it at this point, we didn't need a third. ADVANCE THE PLOT. I feel like it's character assassination from the writers that they are pitting Daemon against Rhaenyra - another effort to villainise him and make his character two dimensional. This could not be further from Daemon in the book, it's sad to see.

The hallucination of him fucking his mother was wild. I get that it's meant to symbolise his desire to be loved by a woman who holds power over him (i.e. he feels spurned by his queen, Rhaenyra), but it was weird! That being said, I enjoyed the visuals because Daemon is insanely hot.

I would, however, have gladly swapped that hallucination for a more meaningful interaction between Helaena and Aemond, because what the hell was that? The first time they have spoken the entire series and it's five fucking words from Helaena that Aemond doesn't even respond to?!?!

I loved Corlys, Baela and Jace in this episode. Jace and Baela's on screen interactions are always great to watch, they have such natural chemistry, and Corlys being angry with Rhaenyra felt very realistic.

Once more, I am left feeling as though Team Green is being given the shitty end of the stick, while Team Black are stealing the spotlight. I don't like having to flesh out the characters through guess work, SHOW ME SOME DEVELOPMENT.

Wondering if we will get Aemond in the Conqueror's crown at any point this season?

I don't think Aemond is doing anything sinister to Aegon in the trailer for episode six, but I do think it's been deliberately cut to appear that way. When he initially arrives at the foot of the bed, and looks at Aegon, you can see in his face that he feels awful about the state he's in. There is guilt lurking beneath the surface, I know there is!!

[illuminatedquill]

Well, that was certainly a finale.

Initial thoughts below (SPOILERS AHEAD):

Ahsoka 1x08:

THE JEDI, THE WITCH, AND THE WARLORD

I’m a bundle of many emotions but first -

Look, nothing’s over. Okay? Filoni is clearly playing a long game here with these characters. So let’s all calm down and wait for the next season.

There was simply too much to show in this final episode for it to be satisfying on every front. I think, for the most part, he succeeded in ending this first season and setting up What Comes Next.

But I do feel like some of the character stuff was resolved a little too neatly, in my opinion.

There’s such potential in these relationships and I feel like Filoni was laser focused on getting the groundwork laid down for the future. And it’s Big.

(THE MORTIS GODS ON PERIDEA. ANAKIN FORCE GHOST. I SCREAMED WHEN I SAW IT.)

I’m not 100% pleased with where Sabine ended up and the fact that she just irrevocably altered the fabric of her home galaxy due to her decision seemed to have been glossed over by Ahsoka and STILL not found out by Ezra.

I mean, there’s HUGE ramifications from what she did. And I’m worried that none of it will be played out to it’s proper devastating conclusion.

Yet, I’m willing to let it slide because it’s clear that there will be more. So, we just have to wait.

Also, the exploration of why Sabine made her choice was never addressed. At least, not in a way that was satisfactory to me. Again, I’m hoping that’s explored in the future . . . but I don’t know.

Even Thrawn was confused about her decision! He couldn’t understand it. And this is Thrawn we’re talking about.

How can you not interpret everything Sabine did in this season as being driven by something more than just friendship. Even the casual fans picked up on it.

(It’s me! I’m the casual fan. Didn’t ship it before and then I saw the first Ahsoka trailer and it suddenly clicked.)

She officially cemented her place in the Disaster Lineage when she made the choice to hand over the map to Baylan! Gambled the fate of an entire galaxy just for the chance to see Ezra again!

That’s peak romance! Literally have not seen a character’s choice forever alter the future on a galactic scale of this magnitude since the main man, Anakin Skywalker, himself!

All for love!

And, yeah, I know the Wolfwren fans are pleased with Shin also being on Peridea. I know Filoni is on the record being against an Ezra/Sabine romance (at least during Rebels, which made sense at the time to me) but I don’t see that pairing being a thing.

We’ve gotten prime examples of healthy, loving, supportive romance from him: Sabine’s parents, Kanan and Hera, Ezra’s parents.

Shin would need to mellow out her murderous nature by 100% to be friends with Sabine. If that happens, I would be cool with it.

Don’t see her doing that anytime soon with her last scene being that. She’s too power hungry.

Other thoughts:

Fantastic battle scenes - highlight being the final duel between Morgan and Ashoka. She went out like a fighter.

Thrawn was excellent, as always. Lars Mikkelsen was born to play this role. His cold, calculating menace is balanced perfectly by some flickers of emotion here and there; the regret when he asked Morgan to stay and his annoyance at Ahsoka escaping his hellfire.

Eman is Ezra. Fantastic casting.

As for Natasha as Sabine . . .

I want more from her. Just more of her as Sabine, forever and always. Still my favorite character on the show. I think there’s more emotional depths to be explored (LIKE HER FEELINGS FOR EZRA) but I’m putting that on Filoni.

(. . . This post is a mess. Sorry for rambling. I’m sure a lot of you feel the same.)

Just want to emphasize that it’ll probably be fine. Nothing’s been decided, one way or the other. And the success of this season should hopefully guarantee more of these beloved characters on our screens soon enough.

And, well, there’s nothing a good fanfic can’t fix. I expect we’ll be seeing plenty of those after this.