#a pirate show is literally my dream fucking show i would kill to do it

[fluideli123]

I've watched the DP&W movie twice in theaters and three plus times on a pirated site, and I wanted to grant my analysis on Wade and Logan's relationship that not only respects Vanessa--because Vanessa was literally Wade's Soulmate until shit hit the fan and you can pry that fact from my cold dead hands. But also explains how Logan and Wade actually represent a a-spec experience and relationship that I feel like no one has really gotten into. Am I saying they're a-spec? No. But that doesn't mean queer relationships that are fairly normal in a-spec spaces doesn't mean they don't exist outside of them as well.

First of all, the only two reasons I believe Vanessa and Wade broke up was 1) Wade went back in time to save Vanessa and he told her after his usual routine of jokes and lies and 2) Wade finally believed he could be something more, a hero, only to be turned down by the people who are known for their heroism, leaving him lost.

I genuinely believe Vanessa had a hard time taking in that knowledge, but knowing Wade and everything they've been through she would get through that like the badass she is and work through it using her plans A-Z, as she always does. But I think to really stop that woman from continuing to start a family with Wade like she wanted to in Deadpool 2, is if Wade was no longer within the right mindset to do so.

Deadpool 1 introduced Wade as someone who believed he was a bad guy who got paid to fuck up worse guys, he refused the term hero, and the moment he even tried to reach for something selfless. An act that would hopefully spare Vanessa from the pain of cancer, it all got fucked up and he got turned into a monster. Someone he deemed even lesser than he was before. So far gone and completely removed from what he was loved for (his looks and personality, but how could his personality stand alone when he looked so ugly? As ugly as he always felt on the inside?)

So he turned to what he's always known: Tracking people down and making them pay. In his mind this only confirms that he's a monster, he isn't deserving of Vanessa, of anyone. Which is why he finds comfort in Blind Al, a woman who will only have to deal with his personality and not be able to see how ugly he actually is. Symbolism for showing only half of himself and not him in his entirety (not that he can hide it from her, she's too wise, knowledgeable, caring, and knows Wade better than he knows himself at this point.)

Eventually, he finishes his hunt and is still loved despite what had transpired. Vanessa still chose him, still loved him. So maybe despite how ugly he is, he can still be loved. This grounded him, solidified his self worth, have him such stability that he had a thriving relationship with Vanessa that they were SO ready to start a family, aspired to live that dream. Another act of selfishness. Only to, once again, be met by pain. Get his dream taken away, once again resorting to what he knows: revenge.

Wade wants to be a hero? He gets forcefully mutated. Wade wants a family? Vanessa gets killed. Both are immediately solved by death, but that self-loathing and sickening hatred towards himself do nothing to cure that same confirmation he had once thought he got over: That he wasn't a monster, he could be loved, be something else.

So of course Vanessa is who, even in death, looks him in the eyes and tells him he cares, he has always cared. He cares so deeply about the people in his life he meets who unconditionally love him for him as time passes, despite all his flaws.

Wade wants to be a hero? Colossus believes he can be. Wade wants to save the 13-year-old abused kid? Vanessa knows he can. He saves lives by sacrificing himself. He scarified his comfort to show Vanessa the full truth of his ugliness, he sacrificed his life for Russel to give him a better life. Maybe he isn't a complete monster, maybe he can believe again. He can be selfish, he can be reckless. So he goes back and saves more people. Heroes do that. They save the people they love. You don't hold the whole world on your shoulders, no, like Miles learned in ATSV you think of one person of the few people you want to fight against the world to protect. And he did just that.

With Vanessa back and a big family he can finally chase after what he wasn't meant for. Because it's only happened twice, it wouldn't happen again-

Rejection. He can't be a hero because people don't need him. He is the needy one, the one who wants to be needed, needs to be wanted. So, it's the crash. The final straw. He breaks. He breaks so hard because what the fuck is the point to trying if every time he is met with failure? Rejection? Pain? Loss? He becomes so stuck in figuring this all out he neglects his relationship with Vanessa, causing issues. They go separate ways, but still so close, because you don't just lose your best friend like that, even if you're no longer partners. They're always meant to be together one way or another.

So you have this broken man who is searching for purpose, years later still harboring this tiny flicker of hope that he can be greater. He can be great. He can be a hero.

His world is in trouble, he doesn't think twice saving it. He accepts he isn't perfect for this, not like all the big guys back in Avengers headquarters, but he can't let his loved ones die because of someone he's had a vendetta against the last two movies.

He literally fights and fights and fights to find someone to help him, Wade can't save who he loves he has to find someone else you can, anyone else.

Than a broken, desperate man walks into a bar to see another broken man who has since long given up.

The thing about Logan and Wade is that they don't need words. Wade blew himself up in order to die in the second movie, Logan drinks himself away, both knowing they can't die no matter how much they want to. How much they believe they deserve it.

So Wade sees a Wolverine who has potential, who hasn't hurt him (unlike the others, he gets hurt so much, guys) and places his faith in him without hesitation. From that moment on he has never truly doubted Logan's abilities nor his heroism, because he knew his Logan and if his world was anchored by a Logan than all Logan's are built with something he isn't. They're made to be heroes, made to be important. Yeah, they fight, but I strongly believe that's how two broken men say everything words can't possibly describe.

I mean what words could describe the way they go all out on each other, knowing the other can't die, the way Wade looks up at him, not wanting to regrow his entire body because he needs to save his world and understands Logan and has to decide to say something that'll convince him to help. Wade doesn't know if stopping the machine will completely save his world or if a new Logan will patch it up too, it's his own educated wish he passes onto Logan. Because just like Russel, he cares. He understands. He wants to help.

It's that faith, hope, and resistance and face of humor despite it all that causes Logan to stick by that dumb asses side. He lost everything, he is seeing someone like himself before he stumbled home drunk from the bar to find everyone dead. Someone who is capable of doing something he wasn't able to. He wants to help, more and more for Wade and less himself, a silent journey of healing following Wades steps everywhere they stumble into.

Because Logan was just drunk at a bar before being told he was needed to save a world, told he was the worst before being offered help anyone, getting praised over his capabilities, and than told again and again how he is able to be someone he never thought he could be. Much like Wade was and is.

Logan sees it. Wade most likely ignores it, much like anything else. He isn't very open with anyone other than Vanessa as we've learned.

So just- of course Wolverine is the honest one, of course he hits low, he sees himself and Wade and wants to hurt him. Wade wants to hurt him back, but only when he's directly attacked by his words and threats, a way of not taking shit. Logan took shit from the world and than didn't from Wade and his emotional rollercoster right. And I think without whatever happened in that Honda Odyssey things wouldn't have been the same. They needed that fight, that release, that hatred from themselves to burst into the form of someone else who could take it just as much as the other could.

Logan listens to Wade's home at the borderlands. Logan is given kindness and tough love. Logan joins. Logan begins to understand how most linger by Wade's side despite everything. He sees why. He's a force, he doesn't give up, he doesn't quit, not for others. It grants strength, though imperfect and messy.

Logan believes Wade deserves better. So he plans on sacrificing himself only for Wade to once again show how much of a Hero he wants to be and could be. Only for those two idiots to hold hands to madona and come to a mutual understanding and comfort that has Wade making room for Logan in his and Al's apartment.

And there is something so inherently a-spec about not being explicitly sexual with each other, having an understanding that goes beyond direct words and full truths. They they can hurt one another and it feels so good, so wanted and cherished. How they support one another by being fucked up and sloppy. They're wrecks and they help the other heal, do what they're too afraid to do.

What is more a-spec than two people looking at each other with adoration and trust? To be two people who cannot be placed within a single both because their relationship and meaning to one another isn't so neatly cut and within expectations? To love in a way that blood and standing side by side is a comfort? A steadying point in which everything becomes clearer with time?

They make me so fucking sick, they make me so FUCKING SICK.

[justarandombrit]

Okay, so in case anyone couldn't make it to the livestream (and just because I wanted to), I wrote down some notes while watching it, so if anyone wants to read them, they're below the cut. (Also sorry ANI fans, my dad came in to borrow a pencil while the ANI segment was happening, so I missed a lot of it)

. There was a 4 minute long intro voice over before AVPM

. James watched AVPM

. 600,000 and Lauren plays the green screen piano

. 700,000 and Lauren does an architectural digest on the green screen house

. Jon really loves Ready To Go

. Darren keeps letting Joey know he sounds like shit on old recordings

. Pinball Pete’s burnt down 🙏🙏

. MAMD was the first student produced album to make the charts

. A Very Potter Sequel’s name came before A Very Potter Musical

. They accidentally wrote Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

. James gave Julia Albain leg splints

. During Starship the entire cast was breathing fibreglass

. Starship was called “knowingly amateurish”

. Darren was supposed to write 15 songs for Starship, but he got cast on GLEE

. Darren flew in to join a rehearsal as a surprise, ran in singing Beauty and everyone was so pissed

. Everyone still loves Kick It Up A Notch

. Nick: “Which was Holy Musical B@man-

Lauren: “Fuck yeah”

. They made up Sweet Tooth, and then found out he was an actual Batman villain

. Matt came up with “Calendar Man, your days are numbered” in his dream, and it was so good it forced him awake to instantly call Nick

. Everyone thought the flying machine joke was the best AVPM joke

. Goin' Back To Hogwarts Reprise made everyone cry

. AVPSY was five hours long

. Curt saw AVPSY

. Darren arrived 2 hours before the show and didn't get a chance to read through a lot of the script

. Darren came up with “I hope you find that swimming pool”

. Joey ate one banana on the day of AVPSY and during Sidekick went “I'm losing my vision”

. They had to pay the hotel union $11,000 to use THEIR OWN microphones, and Darren's STILL BROKE

. Jeff accidentally washed out his Aladdin hair dye

. A.J. Holmes had the same agent as Jafar's original VA, and they got him to do the intro and say “pee” and “poop” in Jafar's voice

. ANI was, as we know, expected to be a hit, and, as we know, it was not

. TTO was, as we know, expected to fail, and, as we know, did not

. TTO had a batshit cast party

. Pierce used to ask Matt insanely complicated questions before bed, e.g, “How did WWII happen?”

. Firebringer was a really old concept

. Literally no one questioned why the “I don't really wanna do the work today” clip had loads of people dressed as cavewomen + cavemen

. Firebringer was the first show Jon saw live

. They made up all the Hatchetfield shows at the same time

. Nick kept making sure Paul was having fun

. The song from the Pirate Show, “Born To Be Wretched goes so fucking hard. Like if a sea shanty was a musical theatre song essentially

. Mariah: “Rich gays, please give”

. Lauren choreographed Show Stoppin' Number

. People actually gave Lauren their phones when she asked in Inevitable, and they would take them backstage and take selfies before giving them back. One time it was locked and she shouted “WHAT'S THE PASSCODE?!?!?”

. Joey: “I'm in the middle of Wiggle”

. Everyone was ill during Black Friday

. Bryce saw Black Friday

. BRYCE GOT THE APPLE

. Nick told her “Interesting things happen here” when showing her to the seat

. Ahhh when Jeff played Tom…

. Angela was in Jaime’s improv class

. Angela is no longer on vocal rest

. Angela had to kill Sherman with a finger gun one night

. Will was 100% ready for NPMD

. Will was at a party they went to during A Very Starkid Reunion

. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR STARKID

. Rip Kim

. The Docks of Troutspear is sung by Matt’s favourite character (it also slaps)

. The Pit Stop in Hatchetfield livestream is going to be a tag team deathmatch

. I love Starkid so much

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

ok so like objectively yes ed did things wrong but not only do i personally feel no negative emotions about any of that, i swear it would make more sense tonally with the rest of the show to NOT make a huge chunk of s2 be about ed facing the consequences for and redeeming himself from the marooning/pushing lucius overboard/izzy toe thing. like if im wrong i’m wrong and it’s whatever but i really really think the focus will be more on ed’s internal emotional state and how his choices were informed by trauma and how he’s going to learn to heal more than it’s gonna be like, Ed Learns It’s Wrong To Maroon People And Force Feed People Their Own Toes. like if anything i think it’ll be Ed Learns That He Deserves To Be Happy And He Also Realizes That Marooning People And Force Feeding People Their Own Toes Is An Unhealthy Coping Skill That Negatively Affects His Mental Health And He Learns New, Healthier Coping Strategies. like i think the focus of coming out of the kraken era is going to be almost entirely on ed’s feelings, and any mention of how his actions harmed the rest of the cast will be brief and/or it’ll primarily be played for comedy

which yes irl this would kinda suck to have some guy respond to getting his heart broken (and other stuff) by killing and maiming people and then have his whole journey of self-discovery be solely abt him and not any of the people he’s hurt. HOWEVER a biiiiiig part of the humor of the show is that the characters are experiencing some very real and very relatable self-esteem issues and insecurities and vulnerabilities, and all of that is placed on a backdrop of comedically gratuitous pirate violence. like this is a romcom and ed is basically going through the classic emotional beats of the romcom heroine getting her heart broken and eating a whole tub of ice cream and crying in her room for days before becoming cold and distant and “love is dead” edgy, only the joke is that bc he’s a pirate his “love is dead” romcom era includes some people actually literally dying. izzy and the crew all just happen to be in the blast radius for this joke, and while we as fans might love and care abt those characters too, the plain fact is that ed and stede are the main characters and the other characters’s feelings or storylines or internal motivations simply do not matter nearly as much to the show as theirs (with the exception of maybe jim, and also maybe olu depending on how s2 goes). and that’s literally just how romcoms work. this sort of “protagonist bias” is like, a core part of this kind of story.

and there’s nothing wrong with not vibing with the story because of that. if season two comes and goes and you aren’t happy with how the show handled the consequences of ed’s actions in e10 that’s fine, nobody has to feel any specific way about this show. but if i’m right and this is how s2 plays out and some of y’all don’t like this, the problem is not that ofmd is bad. the problem is just that this is not the story you wanted or expected to be told.

i DO think, tho, that there’s something very powerful abt a character like this being a queer indigenous man. he’s a gay romcom protagonist and narratively speaking his feelings trump all. this is a queer romcom that uses gratuitous slapstick violence as a punchline and where the queer main characters are allowed to get violent and unhinged about their feelings, and at the end of the day they ultimately get a pass bc it’s a gay romcom and the show is about them. like literally that description itself is more than i could’ve ever dreamed of from any tv show ever, and THEN you’re telling me that one of the main characters is indigenous???? it’s been a year and a half and s2 is right around the corner and i swear to god i still can’t believe this show actually exists. we don’t GET shows like this, we don’t GET characters like this. ed teach is such a fucking blessing of a character and i love him with all my heart.

[our-flag-means-love]

by popular demand (aka the 63 people who voted "yes" in my poll (six months ago oops) for whether or not i should do this)

here's why ofmd is a romcom, beat by beat

so for the purposes of this analysis, the ten stages outlined in this article are what i'm using for reference.

(and for the sake of everyone's dashes, i've added a cut because This Got Long. like, genuinely, 1.6k and 24 images. you've been warned.)

1. Unfulfilled Desire: something important is missing from the love interests' lives.

before the love interests meet, both of their lives are lacking in some way, often in a way they hardly realize. and this unfulfilled desire doesn't have to be romantic love in and of itself, and quite often it's not. and the things missing from ed and stede's lives are not romantic love. not at first.

what stede's missing is skill and structure. to put it bluntly, he has no idea what the fuck he's doing as a pirate, and without the guidance of someone more experienced, he'd likely get himself and his whole crew killed soon.

meanwhile, what ed's missing is interest. he's just about as bored with his life as anyone can be. every day is the same, and he needs something new—a new environment, a new challenge—to bring the spark back into his life.

2. Meet-Cute: the love interests meet, and at first, their personalities clash.

now, granted... in most meet-cutes, one of the protagonists isn't like three-quarters dead and nearly unconscious. but, as we know, ofmd is not like most shows.

but when we fast forward a bit to their real proper first meeting, we can quickly start to see how their personalities differ. in many meet-cutes, the love interests start off on bad terms, but in ofmd it's more of a contrast than a real clash, as stede and ed take a liking to each other right away.

in their very first conversation, stede is self-conscious and fretting, while ed is relaxed as can be. and as they talk, ed is in awe of stede's eccentricities, and stede is in awe of ed's powerful reputation.

and nothing exemplifies their contrast better than what they spend the rest of the episode doing—literally switching clothes and switching roles, getting a taste of what it would be like to be each other.

3. Happy Together: the love interests spend time together and grow to enjoy each other's company.

the classic honeymoon phase—not necessarily denoting romance yet, just a bond that continues to grow stronger the more time they spend together.

one of their first, biggest bonding events, just a few days after they met, is of course the fancy french party. while the night ends in disaster, the two end up much closer after the experiences they shared.

however, i think by far the best example of this stage is the montage at the beginning of episode 6, narrated by none other than my favorite (derogatory) terrible little rat man, izzy hands, who will become relevant soon. in romcoms, this stage is often shown through montages, so it only makes sense that that would be a great demonstration of it here as well.

4. Obstacles Arise: the love interests' original lives and obligations catch back up with them.

it's no longer possible to avoid the hard truths their happiness let them ignore. while both ed and stede go through this, i think stede goes through it differently and at different, non-linear times, so i'll talk about him first.

the pre-edward life that stede has been forcing to the back of his mind is, quite obviously, his wife and children back on land. and he's done a very effective job of ignoring it while he's been around ed.

he was fretting about it before—like in episode 2 with nigel's guilt ghost—but it doesn't seem to fully hit him again until he learns in episode 9 that he'd been declared dead. (in my opinion, the dreams/flashbacks in episode 4 feel less about stede's guilt, specifically, than these other instances do. but even if they are, that's still before he properly met ed.) so he does go through this stage, but it happens in slightly different ways and at different times.

ed, on the other hand, has a very specific and concrete obligation that catches up with him: a promise he made two weeks ago.

this is where izzy comes in. just as mary is the personified symbol of stede's old life, izzy is the equivalent for ed. whether ed initially intended to follow through on the plan or only said it to placate izzy is up for debate (and my personal take is that it's somewhere in between, but that's a story for another time), but izzy is going to hold him to it regardless.

and when ed can't bring himself to do it, because of both his growing feelings for stede and his trauma around killing people himself, izzy is determined to carry out the act for him.

5. The Journey: the love interests face and overcome the obstacles together.

what better way to overcome adversity than by getting thumbtacked to a mast by the same Very Angy Little Guy who's the source of the adversity in the first place? with izzy banished, the biggest obstacle to ed and stede's love is out of the way (for now).

stede still hasn't overcome his big obstacle, of course, but as i said, that happens very non-linearly with regard to the romcom structure.

the two also overcome other minor obstacles, like their bickering during the treasure hunt adventure. the key is that they face what's in their path and settle into a new normal with each other.

6. New Obstacles: despite solutions seeming effective, more hardships arise.

the next big issue thrown into ed and stede's relationship has a name, and its name is calico jack rackham, my favorite (affectionate) dumpster fire of a man. which makes sense—after all, his sole purpose in meeting up with them was to separate them before the english navy arrived. and he does a damn effective job of it.

and even once he's gone, they're still faced with chauncey badminton, stede's near-execution, and his and ed's eventual surrender to the english. they may have escaped chauncey's wrath (for now), but they bought it at the cost of their freedom.

and on top of all of that, now they finally confess their feelings for each other and make plans to run away together, and the choice—really, stede's choice—of whether or not to go through with running off to china looms in the distance. speaking of which…

7. The Choice: the love interests have to decide if the relationship can work.

a turning point is reached, and a decision has to be made. can they go through with it? are they really the best thing for each other?

the choice stede makes here is helped along in no small part by chauncey badminton, whose encounter just solidifies the beliefs stede already held—that he abandoned his family, and that ed is better off without him.

so stede makes the choice to run.

he goes home to his family, and ed is left to return to the ship alone.

8. Crisis: the love interests—now apart—ruminate and face the consequences of their choice.

the winter of their discontent. stede has made his choice, they've separated, and they're both worse off for it.

ed is depressed, retreating to his blanket fort and writing sad songs while eating marmalade.

and meanwhile, stede is back with mary and the kids, but learns that they'd all moved on and were much happier without him around. so he's left trying to force himself back into a space where he no longer fits, and all the while he misses ed more than anything.

and of course, ed takes it one step further by going full emo kraken mode. he's so distraught about stede leaving that he too forces himself back into the shell of what people expect of him—of what he was supposed to be before he even met stede—despite not fitting there anymore.

it's obvious that without each other, they're both in pretty rough shape.

9. Epiphany: one or both of the love interests conclude that they belong together and rush to reunite.

think of this stage as the person running through the airport to reach their love interest before the flight leaves.

in ofmd, it's clear who has the epiphany, because we watch it happen in real time. stede sits down with mary and asks her how it feels to be in love, and while she describes it, all he can think of is his time with ed. he finally realizes that what he's been feeling all along is love.

once he knows this, he knows he has to leave his family again, so he can reunite with ed. he and mary stage their fuckery, and stede rows off in a dinghy bound for wherever ed is, because he knows that as long as he's with ed, he'll be happy and everything will be okay.

10. Resolution: the love interests are reunited. desires are fulfilled, and all is well.

sooo… stay tuned for october 5th, i suppose?

[sophiasoelberg]

So the symbolism with clothes is INSANE in OFMD.

By Season 2 Episode 6, they're both becoming what the other was. Ed no longer wants to be a pirate because it brought out the brutal, cold blooded part in him that he's been bored of long before he met Stede. But which was a necessity for him to survive, to protect his mother from his father.

Then he met Stede, who was a gentleman, doing and being something Ed has always wanted to be, which is softness. Like the soft, fine fabrics Ed likes, but never really allowed himself to have, only carried the piece of red silk his mother has given him when he was a boy.

Ed only let go of that red silk when him and Stede were apart, because Ed gave up on his newly discovered soft side. He became the Kraken, all hard edges and black leather.

Also, before he let go of the softness with the red silk, he wore Stede's fuchsia robe, which represented the colour entering Stede's life, and by Ed wearing it, he wore Stede's essence, what comforted him as he missed Stede very much. He missed the colour from his life.

Fast forward, in Season 2 after Stede had his first kill, after Ned literally said that if he does it, Stede will become a Real Pirate, Stede looks for comfort with Ed by making love to him. Stede as a pirate who was always scared of the brutality and coldness of masculinity that his father represented to him, I believe.

Yet being a pirate, an infamous one at that, as Stede finds himself suddenly to be, is what he had dreamed about. Which must be conflicting as heck, too. Being something you yearned for, and being accepted for it, which you're not used to, but then that very thing you wanted is also uncomfortable because of the inherent brutality it carries with itself. (Piracy)

Anyway, when Episode 7 starts, Ed throws his leathers into the sea. His things that represent Blackbeard. He gets rid of it after he became intimate with Stede, having taken off Blackbeard, (=his leathers) LITERALLY. This time he's wearing Stede's robe but it's the same dark blue colour as Stede's new "pirate shirt".

Blue is obviously one of Stede's favourite colours, which would symbolise his love for the sea— and Ed wears that. He wears Stede on himself on that Morning After. Ed is trying to find what he can become after he gives up his Blackbeard identity, and what he knows is that he likes fishing and most importantly, loves Stede. He finds comfort in Stede, like Stede does in Ed.

One more interesting thing, since I'm diving into the topic of symbolism with clothes is the fact that there was a huge emphasis on the scene in which Buttons turned into a seagull.

Buttons said: "The sea is my love. To love the sea as she must be loved, requires change."

And Ed: "Buttons, people don't change, not into birds or otherwise." (Just when Ed and Stede's theme starts to play very softly)

But Buttons changes, and Ed is AMAZED by it, and then goes on his own journey to change his ways. So that he can love Stede in a healthy way.

Buttons leaves his clothes behind, and in Episode 7, Ed wears them as he's trying to figure out who he wants to be instead of Blackbeard and instead of a pirate. For me, him wearing Buttons' clothes then means that Edward is finally truly (docked too) ready for change.

But it also means that Buttons is a character who's LITERALLY IN LOVE WITH THE SEA. And in the beginning of Season 2, Stede wore Buttons' cravat. And then Ed wears the rest of Buttons' clothes. Showing that Ed and Stede love the sea.

As of right now, by Episode 7, what they need now, Ed and Stede, is to find a middle ground where both can be who they truly are and continue to balance each other out that way. For Ed to find peace, softness and comfort, (and a fucking INN, give that man what he wants, for whoever's sake—) and for Stede to be who he aspired to be, a pirate, but to also regain his gentleness, because that's a core part of him. That's why Ed loves him.

[neverhangd]

doing bits and bobs on the blog, obviously. rn i'm in potc hell (thank the gang lmao, s/o for dealing with me go to: @mvrtogg, @itismissswann, @norringtxn / @collectorofmuses), and i just realized that the majority of people who follow me may not have read this page (or even known it existed!), so i wanted to give two important bits of context!

1.) anne bonny walked so her archetypes could run.

i literally found out two weeks ago that anne bonny isn't stupid famous. whaaaaaat? but actually, that did shock me. maybe it's because i had two pirates phases and like research, but i've known a little bit about her since i was a kid: specifically, that she was a kick-ass pirate woman. i've learned a lot more since then, and i love to share it; i joined a group that i thought had a pirate phase only to learn that...they hadn't. and had no idea who anne bonny was outside of being a character someone before me had written as well.

it was exactly then that i realized anne bonny isn't a super famous kick-ass pirate woman and i felt like that one part of dogma. someone was trying to explain how my take on anne bonny both was and wasn't in-line with the previous writer's and it took me a while to realize they were asking what show or book i used for canon because they doubted she was the same character, despite sharing the archetypes. so. just so it's out there, here's an incomplete list of archetypes we can apply to the historical figure anne bonny, kick-ass pirate woman:

riches to rags (gave up a privileged life to marry a pirate)

the redhaired irish

girlboss/tits out for piracy (she would famously whip her shirt off in battle so men would know they'd been killed by a woman)

did it for love (left her first husband and became a pirate with her second)

it's a love story (whatever else they were, history tells us jack and anne were in love, even if i don't usually use that on this blog)

three's company, too (anne and read were absolutely an item at the same time as anne and jack)

ambiguously queer (i advocate for a bisexual anne, but the only lady-type lover she took was read, who can be fairly read as transmasc, putting some doubt on the full connotation of her orientation/s)

short fuse (she was known to fight over basically anything)

2.) what in the url?

since anne bonny isn't the kickass pirate bicon of my dreams--we'll get her there, one day!--it's relevant to also share what the fuck my url actually means. because she was a woman a pirate a woman and a pirate alive during the early 18th century, we actually don't have much record of anne speaking for herself. the most popularly known quote we have was spoken directly to jack rackham just before his execution:

if [you] had fought like a man, [you] need not have been hang'd like a dog. -A General History of Pyrates, Daniel Defoe

she said this to him because he and his men were the reason the ship had been caught and they had been taken prisoner and she took that very personally, as well she should! (it turns out that both anne and read were pregnant, anne by jack and read by their husband.) the larger thing is, she wasn't wrong: when the ship was invaded, only three people stood on the deck fighting: read, anne, and an unnamed pirate who presumably died in the struggle. everyone else was hiding below decks. read, in fact, famously fired TWICE down at the hiding men, killing one and injuring another.

the really wild part of all this, though, is the ending of anne's story. we don't know it.

anne's execution was stayed on account of her pregnancy, as was read's. read would die in prison from a fever, and presumably their child did as well; anne, on the other hand, simply...disappeared.

...but what is become of her since, we cannot tell; only this we know, that she was not executed. -A General History of Pyrates, Daniel Defoe (which, if you keep wondering why i'm referencing it, is considered THE source)

officially speaking, we may literally NEVER know what happened to anne. all we know is she NEVERHANGD.*

thank you for your time and attention! ♡

[torc87]

OFMD Season 2 Episode 8 Thoughts

Ok, , now we know that the whole 'never killed any man after my father ' thing was a flat out bold faced lie. Not just a 'the ocean killed them, the fire, than man I ordered' but just a bold faced lie. Ed killed the two navy soldiers w his bare hands. That is Not a man who hasn't killed in 30 years.

Also, did he fucking get DRESSED UNDER WATER? He comes out of the waves fully dressed, and in prepared to ignore his clothes not being washed away by the waves or that he could find them again, but he put on leather under water? W boots? Huh?

Swede being a poison tester - Ricky is very very cunning. Though ...this is Spanish Jackie. She killed Geraldo herself just bc he was a hostage to One single person. I find it a bit surprising she wouldn't poison the Swede if it meant getting her bar back. Not to mention, she is in Danger from Ricky. He has a grudge w her, much bigger than Jim's issue bc Jim's was indirectly w Jackie. Ricky is vengeful and clever and cruel. And ...um the song about British not being slaves, sung in the bar of a black woman who is Not British, feels very very threatening to me. I am very shocked that Jackie doesn't poison them all, Swede being a cold blooded collateral damage.

Poor Zheng! Stede is really really trying to be sympathetic but omg is he bad at it! He is not getting that he went apeshit at losing 2 of his crew ( I'm not counting Archie, he barely knew her), two of his crew he had known for a year or two at best, while Zheng lost, permanently, every single person she knew or cared about for decades ( however long conquering China took). And possibly a blood family member if Auntie is literal. He could stand to show more care. It's like he only shows that side competently to Ed.

Omg the reversal of Ed's little 'i am one w nature's talk! I was waiting w baited breath for him to remember he HATES nature. But this was even better. But good on him on not lashing out at Pop-pop. Blackbeard would have strangled him back. Hope his days of sitting and thinking did him some good!

We get confirmation! Ed can read!

( Also, how did the soldiers know it was a letter between men? Nothing they read says that. It could have been from a woman)

Izzy is famous! More confirmation that he is well known and probably expected Stede to recognize his name and know his captain. The Great Izzy Hands. He has a reputation of his own!

Also omfg is Ed good at fighting! He was facing such a horde of soldiers alone!

The mimic of the dream running to each other scene!

And then blame!

Reality!

Zheng is Still fighting if the English!

Auntie being a mirror of Izzy and admitting that Zheng needed more soft in her life and Auntie was trying to protect her but she can't do soft herself!!! That is putting Izzy's motivation to hate Stede so bluntly!

Izzy sounds amazing in that scene, fierce and defending his crew and strong....and I kinda miss him being cringe-fail. Awkward ineffective little turtle-duck.

Omg Yes! I knew Spanish Jackie would poison them! The poison training is a surprise.

Um, after all of Stede's "we need a plan" the three of them just rushed in there w out a plan?! Really?

They took some blokes UNDERWEAR?! wtf wtf wtf?

Ed actually Noticing Izzy falling behind! Finally.

No no no no no no no no no no no!!!!! He was JUST starting to move beyond Blackbeard! Just starting to enjoy being on the crew, getting friends, rebuilding his connection to Ed!!! No no no no no not fair!!!

Hmm, Buttons landing on Izzy's grave....interesting. Maybe he is magic. Though I still say it would be funnier if he walked off and Ed just didn't notice.

Aw, the wedding! How fitting that the crew does the ceremony. Ed and Stede aren't captains anymore. Though I'm surprised Zheng isn't.

Also, where are the other 19 of Jackie's husband's? If they died...um...she's acting like she has one.

And...ok, weird ending to a pirate show w the main characters not pirating.

[princesable]

wwait please do tell ur issues with omori if u feel like it. as a somewhat omori enjoyer (<omocat sucks) i wanna see others' opinions as well

ok on my puter here u go. im not gonna write out like. an essay im just gonna list things out in bullet points because thats easier for me so sorry if this is hard to read/understand. quick side note i've played this game around 3 times because i love showing it to people so they can get mad about it with me. i feel like this is important because ive like. actually played the game and not pulling all of this out of a cut down letsplay (also just so no one gets mad at me i pirated it) but also my memory is awful. i am planning to play it again and actively take notes so i can write something more coherent. also putting it under a read more because i didnt realize how much i had to say about this

the story sucks tbh. like its an interesting concept that could have been done in an extremely impactful way but i felt nothing. like i didnt care about mari and i didnt care about sunny because he had like. no personality outside of "silent main character everyone likes". like if you dont care about mari the whole story falls apart. it relies very heavily on you caring about the two of them which is FINE but they do a really bad job of making me actually give a shit.

hero got like fucking nothing in the story and that bothers me like. outside of sunny we should have seen how mari's death impacted him the most because. you know. THEY WERE DATING? but we never get to spend time with hero. like all he is is "the nice one" i wish we got to see. anything with him but i swear they just weren't allowed to have him express emotions that werent extremely mild or something. actually now that i think about it it feels like hero was an after thought in like. everything. his dream word ability is barely used and when it is it feels like anyone could have done it. have it literally just be that he can flip switches is stupid. you could remove hero from the game and it would impact nothing.

AUBREYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY the church confrontation scene was like. GENUINELY GOOD? and then after that they just forget to do anything with her. like it pisses me off how that scene was actually good and the only part that genuinely got me to feel anything and then she just gets nothing. like her "bully" scenes are pretty good and i genuinely sympathized with her but it kind of felt like. you werent supposed to? idk if that makes sense because you totally WERE supposed to feel bad for aubrey but having the kel high fives directly after multiple scene where you make her cry felt so. fucking weird. maybe that was the point idk. aubrey's my favorite character i wish omocat knew how to write

SPEAKING OF KEL. I REALLY REALLY DONT LIKE HOW THE GAME TREATS HIM. he's supposed to be the comic relief but like. EVERY joke is either "kel is gross/stupid" or "aubrey is mean to him for no fucking reason" and it gets old really fast because he's just a kid??? like him and aubrey are just mean to each other thats their whole thing which is FINE i GUESS but its not funny?? its just incredibly mean spirited and not fair to him as a character. why couldnt he have just been silly without the game seemingly hating him for trying to have fun. like most of his moveset is based around being annoying its. its weird man idk. also the fact this is a fucking item in the game

when i got this for the first time i put my head in my fucking hands man this sucks.

Basil. basil could have been an EXTREMELY interesting character but hes just so. whiny. it gets old really fast. the final fight with him was pretty good i guess. i dont have much to say about him sadly because i just like. dont remember. nothing with him stuck with me. OH WAIT the black space bit where you repeatedly kill him in extremely gruesome ways was. kind of fucking weird. because hes 10. it was unnecessary like if you REALLY wanted the fact that sunny is trying so hard to repress anything that reminds him of what he did to be represented through basil dying you could have just done it a couple times idk. weird scene.

ok moving on from characters the art is. a lot. its very hard to tell the dream world party members apart because omocat just has really bad same fact syndrome, it doesnt help that they all have the same color palettes. speaking of color palettes why do the overworld sprites white wash kel and hero. its less noticeable with hero but like. come on man its not hard to color pick your own art

still on the art the fact everything moves is fun in concept but REALLY distracting in execution. theres been multiple fights (specifically sweetheart, the king crawler and humphrey) where i've gotten awful headaches and had to take a break because i felt sick from all the movement lol. also the animation for releasing energy does NOT help who thought making the screen shake that much was a good idea dear god. like seriously this game needs to have some kind of warning

using sweetheart as an excuse to talk about how the dream world its such a fucking slog. i UNDERSTAND the point is that sunny is doing everything in his power to not reach the truth so he creates roadblocks but oh my goddddddd its so annoying to constantly have the plot take a backseat so we can go to a wedding or go to a casino or GO IN THAT STUPID FUCKING WHALE. the fact that there is a fucking mod that removes the humphrey segment should say enough. like that part in particular was soooooo fucking bad. its so boring. the humphrey fight has THREE FUCKING PHASES. I DONT KNOW WHO THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA BUT THEY SHOULD BE KILLED. ITS AN AWFUL EXPERIENCE

the emotion system is an interesting idea but i wish they did more with it. once you figure out that everyone has one theyre best with you stop playing with them. it stopped being fun to battle because its just make aubrey angry -> make sunny sad -> make kel happy -> have hero do fucking nothing -> hit them. idk maybe they could have had like. special emotions for boss fights?? im not sure how that'd work but i wish they added little twists every now and then to keep all the battles from feeling the same.

the real world isnt much better honestly. all the aubrey shit made me angry and the battles are so weirdly unfair its just not fun. like it doesnt penalize you for losing real world battles but its like. idk they suck. also the fact it doesnt tell you food doesnt heal you in the real world fucked me up when i first played because i was so used to the dream world i spent all my money on soda and then spent the entirety of the real world on like 1 hp i cant add spoilers on tumblr so animal harm/death and suicide warning for this next part. if you dont want to read that theres nothing else after it so youre good to just stop reading now

i dont like the black space. like i briefly went over it in the basil segment but it left such a bad taste in my mouth. especially the part where you are seemingly "forced" to cut your fucking cat open as it begs you to free it and the only way to not hurt it is to kill yourself?? ok.

speaking of which the fact the only way to leave the dream world and wake up is to kill yourself complete with a little sound effect is weird to me. idk man omori is 10 im not exactly keen on watching a child kill himself several times.

honestly the games handling of suicide is gross to me. obviously i dont think you should never talk about suicide i think its a very important topic but they way its handled in omori is almost. glorified? idk if that the right word. omori/sunny can kill himself so many times in this game and i just found that a little weird. also basil can kill himself and you can see his body just. sitting there. ok im running out of writing steam if i think of anything else i'll make another post or you have any follow up questions let me know im gonna go watch scott the woz

[alexwatchesshows]

Black Sails VIII (S1E8)

Spoilers for up to and including E8.

I forgot that all this happened in one episode, but then again it's Black Sails, and this is the first of four amazing season finales.

Silver is somehow still alive and on the Walrus, although given that his position currently relies on Randall, he's probably not as secure as he'd like to be. To be fair, those 18th century prosthetics don't look fun and I'm not sure I wouldn't feel the same if someone tried to make me wear one. Either way, Silver somehow has less problems than the rest of them. His schedule was actually correct (can we just take a moment to appreciate that this man held a full fucking schedule in his head for weeks after having it for one day), Eleanor's still protecting him (I assume), and he may be about to come into a lot of money. He clearly wants some clarity in terms of what Flint's plans for him are, which Flint absolutely will not give him, but, honestly, things could be worse. He could be Gates.

Flint and Gates are just a complete mess at this point. A bunch of people are expecting Gates to kill Flint whilst Gates, the wonderful man that he was, was going to help Flint escape but even then would definitely end his career as a pirate. Flint, meanwhile, would never let anyone get in between him and the Urca. I'm pretty sure they put that drinking scene in there just to hurt us even more, to show us that a) Flint and Gates are actually really close friends and b) Gates is (was) a gem of a human being. Seriously, who else would spend weeks trying to deliver a letter to a friend's sister? And all that just makes the events of the following day even harder. After everything that's happened, the Urca isn't there. I can't explain why, but something about that just feels so fitting. It's not good for Flint though, as it brings all the tensions between him, Gates, and the rest of the crew to boiling point. De Groot wants Flint tried then and there, Flint wants to go after a literal man o' war (I don't know much, but it having "war" in the name is generally a bad sign), and Gates, oh poor old Gates, just wants to get everyone back to Nassau before shit hits the fan, but I think he knows that that won't happen. Him handing Dufresne the letter with his confession was him admitting that to himself, and letting himself believe, for the first time, that Flint might rather kill him than give up on his dreams. This realisation is, for him, the breaking point that brings all the other realisations crushing down, and he loses it with Flint. He finally tells Flint that "(his) duty is to the (crew) not you", something that Flint had convinced both of them wasn't true, and Flint can't recognise that Gates is beyond believing in anything he says, I don't think he realises the extent to which he's grasping at straws until he accuses Gates of muntinying and Gates reveals everything he's been doing to manage the actual muntiny but, at this point, I think he's too far gone to actually act rationally on it. The final straw for Flint, though, is Gates' crushingly well-meaning plan to get him and Miranda to safety. The second he heard the word pardon, it was over for Gates. Whatever the backstory is between Flint and Miranda, I don't think he knows all of it, because, unlike Miranda, he didn't even try to sugarcoat the suggestion of taking the pardon. I think the worst thing is, neither of them could have stopped what was going to happen. Gates couldn't have prevented a mutiny for any longer, and Flint couldn't have let Gates take his life as a pirate away from him. Despite, or because of, its inevitability, that scene is the most emotional one in the show so far. It really showcases what Black Sails is becoming and the direction that it's heading in (more on that in my season 1 wrap-up probably). And the most Black Sails thing about it is that, as Flint is killing one of our most beloved, genuinely kind-hearted, characters, we feel more sorry for him than ever before. I can't express or describe the emotions that watching Flint choke his best friend to death, all while crying and apologising again and again evokes, but oh boy are those emotions powerful. This is definitely some kind of turning point.

Then, as Flint is processing what he's just done, holding Gates' body, Silver comes in. These two are a match made in hell, we can be sure of that. Flint has just killed someone, acting on emotion and impulse, and now Silver is coming in with little to no emotion and immediately treats the situation like a crime scene, all while Flint is collapsed like a cornered, dying animal. Flint tries to stop Silver but quickly gives in, whether because he sees the logic in it or just because he can't fight anymore (probably a bit of both). Then, just as a new sort of equilibrium has been achieved in this moment of absolute chaos and upheaval, Dufresne also comes to shake things up. At this point, it's probably good that Silver's also present, because Dufresne hasn't always been the best at acting on what's smartest, as opposed to what feels best. Silver is possibly too good at talking people into being what he wants, because Dufresne ends up giving Flint important advice, reaching some kind of uneasy truce.

As such, they go into the confrontation with the spanish ship with some kind of (not necessarily firm) footing, which Flint immediately tests with his ploy to prove that the man o' war is there for the Urca, and then going to attack a ridiculously overpowered ship. Also, Silver speaks Spanish? Anyway, this proves to be too much for Dufresne who shows more awareness of other people's perceptions of him than I maybe gave him credit for and choses the right exact moment to call Flint out. De Groot, meanwhile, is being the grumpy and prophetic old man we all know and love (I mean, seriously, "Time and time again he gambles with our lives. That is, when he's not taking them in cold blood." this man could make a killing as a writer of some sort, along with Mr "there are not legacies in this life ... just the water. It pays us, then it claims us" Gates, grumpy prophetic old men rise up I guess). For the second time in one day, Flint is having his power, future and dream taken away from him at the last moment. There's a moment where everything comes full circle as Logan(?) confirms the evidence condemning Flint is true, much as Billy confirmed Singleton's "theft", except, this time, it's likely that the evidence is true (although we never see the letter). Flint can see he's lost, but he keeps screaming for the guns to fire, then tries to fire them himself, only stopping when Dufresne literally shoots him.

At some point in the middle of all this, De Groot stops being a pessimistic prophet for a moment to actually do something. It's a good move, because Silver is one slippery man, and De Groot almost has him when we get one of the plot twists of all time: Randall, the man who, as far as we've known so far, has barely any awareness of his situation and little to no loyalty to Silver, fucking knocks De Groot out with his prosthetic leg, and follows that up with "you're welcome". What a guy. He remains a mystery to me-- this only complicates things-- but what a character. Silver then uses this opening to just shake shit up, I guess maybe because he thinks that starting a battle is one way to avoid immediate execution. We get a few moments of not quite calm, but organisation, as the Walrus crew accept that they're in battle and now need to win. Flint gets some semblance of control back as he advises/commands Dufresne, moving round the ship freely again, despite having recently been shot. The pirates have momentary victory thanks to the element of surprise. Then, in a moment of incredibly cinematography, the man o' war's gun ports open, audio becomes distant for a moment, then all hell breaks loose.

At this point, we should probably admit that Gates, Dufresne, and everyone who said that firing on a man o' war would be a really, spectacularly, bad idea were probably right. The Walrus is met with pure destruction. At some point, Flint is knocked overboard into the water. Whether he's unconscious or just letting himself sink is unclear but that shot of calm amidst the destruction is eerily beautiful.

Meanwhile, on Nassau, things are not going a whole lot better. At the beginning of the episode, it does look like Jack has some level of control over his new (not necessarily ideal) situation. He's firing Mapleton, he's working well with Max, he's got the merchants on his side, things are the best they've been for him for the best part of this season so far. Anne is not happy about any of this, but doesn't really say why. There's also a moment of her just... looking at Max in a moment of yearning(?) that breaks her general grumpiness for just a second. Eleanor, too, has got her shipping consortium more or less sorted. Sure, Mr. Scott is leaving her and she has no idea what's going on with Flint, but, like Jack, she's made the best of a bad situation and has more than found her feet

Then, just like with the Walrus, everything comes crashing down around them. Vane has returned with a vengance, a new crew, a shockingly effective plan, and a flare for the dramatic. Immediately, he sews as much panic and confusion as is humanly possible and, in doing so, effectively asserts his power. Mr Scott, despite his increasingly complicated relationship with Eleanor, immediately goes to protect her, making him possibly the only helpful person in this situation. Vane doesn't seem to have much of a goal beyond the ever-elusive ideals of power and strength, and all Hornigold cares about is his fucking chair. Vane then comes fully onto the scene with a slightly out of place story about Eleanor being fearless in Nassau, then claims to know her. Honestly, a lot of this seems like a massive ploy to get Eleanor to talk to him, but I guess it has worked a little. Eleanor is, for once, incredibly pragmatic about the situation, switching loyalties from Hornigold to Vane very quickly. That definitely won't have any negative consequences. Vane, too, adjusts very quickly to his new situation and immediately goes around to tie up his other loose end. As Anne predicted, he's suitably mad at (what he thinks was) Jack killing the remainder of their crew, and has found the worst possible punishment for a man obsessed with his name and reputation. At least, while all this is going on, Max and Eleanor come to some kind of agreement. Max is dressed spectacularly, and they're both stood in a secure position, looking out over Nassau. Max has come to appreciate Eleanor's point of view (and also possibly enjoys showing Eleanor how well she's doing without her) and each one seems to appreciate and respect the other's position and perspective. Yay for communication and emotional maturity!

Then we get our last moments on Nassau, after Max's "on sand, nothing is fixed" speech (prophetic women! yay!), with Vane in Hornigold's damn chair and Eleanor on the beach, just like in Vane's memory of her. It's a cool way to show how the power has shifted in Nassau, all whilst Flint and co. are off dying elsewhere.

Flint is, once again, absolutely covered in blood and sand and just general grime. Silver has pulled him out of the ocean, probably because he's recognised that Flint is the only guy who might not want to kill him immediately. He also seems to have mostly undressed Flint and given his bullet wound the school nurse treatment (wet paper towel). Silver is, once again, looking shockingly unaffected by everything, even maintaining some kind of optimisim that James "why am I still alive" Flint has long since given up on. Then we get yet another stunning shot of Flint and Silver on the beach, looking very small in the space of everything. It's an interesting perspective to just throw in there, even for a moment. Flint also gets an answer to his question pretty quickly as he (now with crumpled shirt) is shown the Urca. That sure is some painful irony-- that, if they had taken one piece of information into account, none of the past episode might have happened. Now, he and Silver are being kept alive as likely sacrifices for the process of getting the gold. What a way to end the season. I'm glad that all the seasons were released by the time I started this.

[bythestedeside]

So now that I've seen the eps I still hold to this. It still seems like a goodbye and a fuckery. I think it could go different ways: they separate for now while Ed lives a domestic life waiting for Stede the infamous pirate to retire. In my heart I hope he wouldn't do that, and he'd want to make sure Stede's safe but he *IS* right, they HAVE been going too fast. Or they live ashore and get an inn with the ship at their disposal anytime they would like

Side note:

From The Afternoon at the chaos lesbians' house to when Ed decides to become a fisherman and Stede fights the literal Pirate Queen is like 4 days tops,seemingly. Nightfall going back to the ship and asking for Ed to stay another day, that next day being the probation with the bell-that Ed himself said was gonna take more than a day but that night LuPete get engaged and EdStede kiss and then the next day Ed is in his leathers and then Calypso's birthday and thus it's the next day bc Pete said he and Lu were fucking for the whole day and by the end of the night Ed and Stede get busy after Stede's official 1st kill. Then the morning after is breakfast in Ed and then the victory tour for killing non jungle cat Ned ending in fisherman Ed and I'm on top of the world-leather lackey wielding Stede at Spanish Jackie's.

Another option is that they get Stede to quit the life, and they go out on a big fuckery-the finale fuckery with the blue suits. Though that would probably make Stede slightly sad given how much he's into piracy, esp now. Maybe the inn is on the ship, best of both worlds. The guests get awoken to raids every once and a while, but what's to do? It was a pirate ship at one point.

Idk I'm rambling bc I'm just trying to figure out what's gonna happen. I just don't know if Ed would be willing to stay on the ship and not actively pirate,like they're not gonna privateer, hell no. Rather eat their own faces. I feel like they could both give up pirating and live a domestic life, which I think they're still going too fast for and would pull an Anne and Mary, unless they find that they are good for balancing each other out like Iz said. don't think Ed wants to go live miles inland or something, I think he still wants to be connected to the sea a bit but I don't think he's into ship life anymore, and Stede is loving ship life and loving Ed and therein lies the conflict, Ricky and the entire navy be damned. They could split land and sea for them both, bit idk how they could do that satisfactory with how much each is being pulled in the other direction. Maybe I'm somehow right and they have a ocean inn, that's a wacky unheard of thing only Stede and Ed would dream up Gah, this is such a good conflict and a great show, I'm so fucking curious as to what's next and where the stopping point is in this finale (they better have a season 3)

I'm fully throwing this out on the wind cause I haven't seen 6&7 but have been in the tags (I have always been this way) so I might delete this after a proper watch bc this is all a lot of conjecture but maybe the beach scene ends up being some sort of goodbye for now á la I Gotta Go My Own Way hsm2. In the finale trailer it almost looks like Stede has kissed Ed's forehead. This looks like some big separation or something, at least from how it is in the finale trailer, the other sources we've seen look more like a running towards each other, idk what the truth of the matter is but hopefully the new trailer is being misleading there

Also I'm fucking terrified of the fact that Ed looks to have been stabbed while the crew is all dressed up in the blue uniforms and is like trying to get someone to stop doing something. Hopefully that's all some sort of fuckery, I am generally curious as to why they're in the blue.

[daydreaming-cheese-weasel]

the marching band off season be like i miss it so much im deeply depressed im finally free wow i really don’t have friends outside of band omg how is band camp in 7 months i am screaming and crying in agony i actually have free time now i don’t want the seniors to leave i met my best friends here these people will be in my wedding i have ptsd from my band director yelling i hope the new freshman aren’t annoying i still want to punch that judge in the nose why can’t i remember work from the show i would give my kidney to be on the band bus right now i am scrolling through my camera roll in tears i wonder what the show theme is gonna be in my nightmares im stuck at attention in basics block i want a comp cheeseburger right now school is so boring without practice i need to start working up my endurance now why god did it have to end

[randomnameless]

i’ve sent u anon asks

I agree with Lorenz in Nopes making interesting points about Claut - I mean, Clout’s bonker plans, but bar some “huffs and puffs” the poor lad is completely ignored.

Seeing this, Hopes Lorenz gives up and just goes with it because he’s too smart for the dumb ppl to listen to. :(

I agree, but there is giving up and this...

“They were the cause of this war, since they refused to die when Supreme Leader and her army marched and destroyed their home and politely asked them to!”

Like, no, I had more faith in you Lorenz, but I guess this route is just like mold, it spreads. But I guess Fodlan and victim blaming are like bread and butter, they go so well together so here he goes...

NOW THEN, on to the VW issues!

Yay main dish!

Having anyone else say something about it would mean someone else disagreed with Claude, which was out of character for all GDs except Lorenz (and maybe Lysithea at most. Leonie doesn’t care as long as she can show off her Captain Jeralt skills)

Hilda.

Hilda, would perfectly fit the bill.

Claude wants to open borders and get along with people of different faiths, origins and all? Hilda could spat her racist almyran tirade to him (instead of throwing them to Cyril... who used to be a “servant” of her very own house!) - not knowing Claude is Almyran, of course, but just raising doubts about his dream, mentionning how her family has been fighting “barbarians” for ages and opening up to them would only endanger the people of Fodlan, on top of, idk, spatting on everyone who died up to today to defend the border (i’m trying to think of an argument here lol).

Which, in turn, would made Claude have the big reaction we (I) was waiting for in the game - you cannot want to defend Almyra’s good name by rekting pirates pretending to be Almyrans (in Alois’s paralogue) but turn a blind eye to the weekly wednesday “raids for funsies”.

And I think it would have been a good dichotomy between Claude “sort of” getting along with Hilda on a personal level, they are friends (she dies to protect him, against their own reservations about people dying for others in CF!) - but this person he gets along with would (he’d believe it) turn on him/hate him if he revealed he was from Almyra...

(that could maybe lead to another Rhea/Nabatean parallel, no matter how good they get along with humans, there’s the fear that the second humans know they’re walking shinies to be looted, they might kill them)

I know I’ve mentioned this (Almyra being an apparently shitty place with shitty people) before on my blog at some point because I know I’ve talked about how fucking racist it all is, but… if you go plainly from what we know about Almyra and take out the fact that the writing for it was racist, we do know it’s not the best place ever and even Claude has only really had negative experiences there (including the weekly Sunday assassination attempts against him)

In Nopes -

Even if the localisation kind of eluded it, in his Mercedes support, in the jp version, Cyril explicitely says he was always hungry before being taken in by the evil church lady, let it be in PAlmyra or in Fodlan.

So ignoring the “they raid for fun and then throw big feasts and party like no tomorrow!” borderline traits that are, very... uh, reminiscent of how someone in the 1800s would describe “The Orient”, we know, per Cyril, that there’s no one there to take care of kids, and war orphans are starving.

Also kind of (read: very extremely) gross how Almyra treats Claude as being evil and disgusting for being half blood of another land when that’s literally exactly what Byleth is and Byleth is the white person who is viewed by any and all as amazing, stupendous, wonderful and unironically godly.

In a certain route, Billy’s mixed blood goes “poof” and they become “human” again (even if they never were since their mother was not a human), to the delight of a certain lord!

All jokes aside, that could be tied to the earlier Hilda point and in the general “racism” theme that - despite ending as we know - was depicted in Tellius with the Brandeds, neither Laguz not Beorcs actually like them. Almyra, through Claude’s bg, has, uh, “less than positive” views about Fodlan people thus shit on Claude, but Fodlan (especially Leicester and Goneril) have the same “less than positive” views about Almyran people, thus would shit on Claude if they knew he was Almyran.

And it could have been a bit cliché, but having Claude trying to protect people, stop the war and maybe rekt the mole people, to finally have people discover he’s neither from Fodlan nor Almyra but from both, and accept him, regardless of his origins, but because he is Claude, the person who saved the continent from the mole people and stopped the war led by Supreme Leader.

But... no.

Because that damn Hresvelg Tea needs to be sold!

I will say I think the urgency about the Opera company is valid since they’re immediately in an area of Edelgard’s reach. If they turned against her, she’d have them slaughtered pretty quickly because they’d have no time to escape

Okay, sorry to bring Nopes again, but I think it’s sort of relevant - in the Nopes Mittelfrank paralogue, in the jp speaking/understanding fandom there was a certain shitstorm (@renisfan correct me plz if I’m sprouting nonsense!), because in the jp text, the blurb to pick the paralogue mentions the Opera company is going to comfort the Imperial Army. Given irl history between Japan and people forced to “comfort” imperial soldiers, I’d say this shitstorm was very well deserved - but bar IS (KT) speedrunning Nopes to be the worst game received in the extended franchise, we know through Doro, Manu and Yuri that Mittelfrank Opera artists sometimes engage in sex work with imperial nobles...

So yeah, idk if she was going to slaughter them, take them hostage or have them “comfort” the Imperial army, but given what the Opera Company might have been used for in Nopes, there definitely was a sense of urgency!

Back to the point - maybe we can blame it on FE16′s lack of villages to save or random NPCs - but when Doro and Manu can go in the Enbarr map to the Opera company, there are no special lines or pseudo events or even NPCs to showcase the reality of Gloucester’s occupation and/or the reason why Erwin is siding with the Empire (I’m not asking for a paralogue that is basically Xavier’s recruitment in FE5 lol, who would want that - but in FE5, when Dorias is raving about Xavier being a traitor, there is an old man who tells him that no, Xavier didn’t betray, he’s just siding with the Freege occupation because he wants to protect his soldiers and their families. Why no old man like this for Erwin/Lorenz in FE16, with Lorenz talking to them or something like this?)

But indeed, it was less urgent to protect Gloucester’s random - since they were already under Erwin’s protection and Supreme Leader had no reason to target them (granted, sometimes, she targets people who don’t do anything to her so... and the demonic beasts won’t be created from scratch! Maybe some people in Gloucester were “volunteered” to become new war assets?) - than a bunch of civilians who have no one to protect them...

Yeah, it’s really annoying the way they spin everything to be “well maybe Edelgard is in the right after all” at every possible chance they can

That’s what I also hold against VW - even if it’s a BE recycled route, as sad as it is - we lit have Lysithea, iirc, saying they have to destroy Nemesis and the Shambala loyalists because...

We must obliterate them in the next battle. It's the only recompense for Edelgard's death.

What a joke.

(in jp it’s clearer she means she wants to avenge her death)

Imagine someone says they have to defeath Ashera/Lehran and ends with “It’s to avenge Lekain’s death”. Like, wtf. Seriously. This happens in the explore section before fighting Nemesis, after Rhea’s final infodump about how her people were massacred as things to be looted, but the game, instead of, idk, saying something like “it’s the only thing we can do to settle the wrongs made to Nabateans” reminds you that, uh, Rhea might be a genocide survivor, but Supreme Leader was experimented upon (by the same people she later sides with) and died (tons of sad uwus) and was used by those evil people (and yet she still aided and abaited them with their crazed experiments by foddering her own civilians to be used as guinea pigs, in Remire, and later on, using their demonic beasts as regular members of her army!), so, uh, for 1 step of “Rhea maybe not BaD?” we have to be reminded that, “Supreme Leader GoOd”.

This is essentially an example of Edelgard giving a non-answer.

There’s a reason why I came up with the “Supreme Replies (tm)” concept lol, remember the “no u”?

She often does this with Rhea, in SB when Rhea asks her why she is breaking Fodlan’s peace and attacking them, she gives a Supreme Reply in the lines of if you don’t understand then I can’t do anything for you or something like that. Even if CF, when Rhea is more or less telling her she doesn’t want to kill her because she was really fond of Willy, instead of asking why Rhea is saying this - because in her mind, Nabateans are creatures with no regard for human lives - she goes “don’t presume too much I won’t die today”.

And the devs let her sprout her flat one-liners (maybe thinking they’re very cool) and the discussion always ends here. Dimitri cannot give a meaningful reply to the “no u” and the Zahras chapters... well.

So the moral of the story is basically that Lorenz can be used to act ooc at any time it’s needed and used as the guy we can get mad at (and the dialogue makes a point of saying we should do that), but Edelgard must always stay in character because she is always correct about anything and everything, and if she were ooc then something she says wouldn’t be correct anymore.

Lorenz was a better character than what they gave him to work with in Houses, and in Hopes, when he was given that chance to work with what he really was, they had the characters just ignore him for the sake of fulfilling the Edelgard-is-right centric plot of GW’s second half. Which like… really fucking sucks that half of Claude’s route is literally just a second route of Edelgard-is-right-centric.

Hahaha, that’s basically my issue with the entire (minus the non recruitable characters) cast of FE16/Nopes, and why I warmed up to the BL after AG - everyone’s characterisation must be blown away at one point to give a small “Rhea/Church BaD” jab while, at the same time, be able to praise Supreme Leader (and even join her).

We can’t know what the fuck is happening in Gloucester or with Lorenz’s random people, because it’s a territory under imperial supervision and if it’s bad it will reflect poorly on Supreme Leader. SS is supposed to be her most critical route (it’s here we have the Ferdie’n’Lys paralogue, revealing that while Ludwig might be a douchebag, Supreme Leader is letting “Uncle Arry” run Hrym dry, in Ludwig’s supposed name while the guy is under house arrest).

Lorenz could have been so much, and I think he can be interesting in fanfics that explore his character more than IS/KT who ended up with making him a Supreme Leader mouthpiece or “the guy who has to disagree because the plot commends him to”.

It's still wild to me that people will go to bat for the nothing characters that are Randolph and Fleche as proof of Dimitri being bad; we know next to nothing about them, they have miniscule screentime, what little we do know of Randolph paints him as human scum who'd do horrific things if it meant a chance at a promotion, and Fleche illogically only ever holds a grudge against someone for killing her brother if that someone is AM!Dimitri, with her completely vanishing from the game in every other route.

Eh,

I'd say they play the same purpose than this random child in TS in Roland's story - at this point, both lords want vengeance, and they have to face someone who also wants (misdirected!) vengeance at them, smth smthg like war sucks because people die.

But it's completely wasted in FE16, because, as you said, Randy isn't a random or a civilian or a war orphan, he is a general leading an attack on refugees/civilians/randoms to gain more fame, and dies in the process.

Now, can we say Flèche's anger and death are ultimately directed at Randolph, who died for nothing and took his sister down with him in his quest for "muhrit" ? Or are we supposed to think that this scene is important because Dimitri, the Blue Lord, isn't supposed to fall as low as the Imperial Army - something he comes close to (apparently?) ?

And yet again, it completely fails.

Because for one Randolph - who also had a family and loved ones - we have 50 Waldos and Baldis, whose lives aren't given any fuck about.

We don't see a war prisoner, or an Adrestian civilian accusing Supreme Leader of having sent her/his wife/husband/daughter/son to death with a conquest they never asked and trying to off her.

Only Dimitri receives this backlash from - invaders who wanted to invade and suddenly remember they have loved ones so are very sad when their loved ones dies - Flèche, but not Claude nor Billy, as you rightfully pointed out.

And Supreme Leader never receives any backlash - or wake up call - from a real third party/civilian/casualty who could have done the exact same thing.

Emile mentions how, during her attack, the Holy Grounds near Garreg Mach were turned in a slaughterhouse, why don't we have any civilian who survived from that try to take a jab at Supreme Leader? Waldi's best friend? Baldo's mother? A war captive from Leicester/Faerghus or a conscripted Adrestian?

I laughed about it with friends earlier, and again with the teatime paralogue, but it truly feels as if only 1/3rd (since the church doesn't count) of the cast will face consequences for the war and suffers backlash from the constant fighting (they didn't even start!).

Whenever you have to deal with serious stuff in Fodlan, it'll be for the BL members.

The rest? Will sip tea, talk nonsense, try to solve "mysteries" and live as if nothing is happening in the background.

Just imagine how both deer routes could have been much more impactful and interesting - instead of being a recycled Billy route with a different infodump at the end - if Raphael's sister popped up to a War Council, asking Claude to stop coddling the Empire because their lands were invaded, her grandfather put to Aymr and her inn destroyed by the Imperial Army, or how Ignatz's older brother discovers how Adrestia is burning pieces of art and history and every material related to Leicester and Faerghus history because they want to push an "Adrestia Eternal" narrative. Heck, Claude could even discover more "lore" by picking a Leif route, sort of rescuing the people "handpicked" to become new Baldos and Waldis, discovering the secret of the artificial crest stones and maybe having an infiltration map where, lo, instead of receiving an info dump, they maybe witness Rhea being turned in a relic or used to "produce" artificial crest stones.

War BaD, but only when we can make the BL suffer for it, for the rest, it's just a bgm.

And even then, it can't be too critical of Supreme Leader, because she was made to sell alts in FE heroes or dubious Cipher Cards.

"Supreme Leader", "cute girls" and "I want to see how Faerghus and its knights will deal with the aftermath of the Tragedy while defending against the invading forces".

Tl; dr : Flèche and Randolph are named, which is a cheap way to make people care for them despite their role in the plot, but the demonic beasts and the civilians dying aren't mentionned nor talked about.

Hell, why do you think I gave names to the artificial demonic beasts? The game doesn't want you to think too much about them, but if I talk about Baldo and Waldi, maybe the fandom will?

[vaguely-concerned]

The Mandalorian Chapter 15 reactions; *nobby nobbs voice* ‘s all gone a bit percychological, sir

 - so from both chapter 6 and now this: rick famuyiwa is incredible at portraying prolonged discomfort and tension (and also at getting din’s endless love for that baby across through the stress of being separated from him. this is the very first episode with no baby in it at all, isn’t it? wow that’s a heartbreaking milestone to reach im crying)

I liked this episode SO MUCH but I had to pause it pretty often and take a breather because it all made me so viscerally uncomfortable on din’s behalf -- not just the armour and having to take the helmet off and be seen for the (almost, ilu IG-11) first time in decades, people keep touching him in this episode when he clearly doesn’t want them to but can’t stop it and it makes me want to claw my own skin off in sympathy, it’s so awful. that’s really neat film making to manage to keep that tension steady almost all the way through!!! 

honestly this episode felt a little bit like psychological horror, with the cheering storm troopers and din in the wrong armour and clearly not digging it and there’s the palpable absence of baby and that ever present dread of being Perceived when you’re not ready for it; everything’s turned upside down from how it should be. and it’s playing with that discomfort both in the main character and in us, the audience, in having the familiar be made unfamiliar and also introducing these questions that shake up everything (that feeling you get of ‘but... if it’s not the helmet, and not the armour, but there’s his face, but we’ve only seen that face once before so it’s still basically new to us, is this... is this still him. is this still Dad’ (oooh I wonder if we’re... sort of getting some of the ??? the baby would be feeling about it too?) we’ve all imprinted on that t-shaped visor like little baby birds, and this was a very clever episode to break us out of that and start to really get used to the thought of him having several faces that are real simultaneously, in a way, and not just a voice. it’s all very smart and interesting and I’m sure I’ll have a lot of incoherent thoughts about this in the weeks to come lol)    

- the actual reason din can’t take off the helmet is that if people were able to see his wide confused puppy eyes they would no longer find it in themselves to send him on long arduous side missions and would help him immediately just so he’d feel better, and that would rob us of like 80% of the content for this show 

mayfeld in this episode: clearly a casualty of this. he literally sees one glimpse of the vulnerability there and then within five seconds goes on to materialize a few redeeming character traits after being a complete jackass for an episode and a half. (I mean. he was 100% still an imperial so I’m a bit ‘hm.’ about how easily especially cara let him off the hook, but with the way it was set up I guess it would have been quite shitty of them to just throw him back in prison so I mean I GUESS. I would be endlessly grateful someone got my awkward bff out of there alive and well too I suppose)

- I actually think din’s sense/integrity of self has gotten so much stronger and more resilient (though probably still quite fragile pls handle with care precious cargo within); if this had happened in the first season I think it might honestly just have killed him (and if it weren’t for IG-11 it probably would have lol)

- can you beLIEVE din is so bad at lying that they literally should plan for contingencies over it fjkasdlhfskajdhfsdj     

- very grateful for the scene with the spear throw that’s basically there to reassure us ‘uh-huh, he absolutely knows how to use it, don’t worry about that part at least’

I want to make a whole post about that fight scene, though, it’s just so GOOD! there’s so much storytelling and characterization in it! even out of the armour din has some real hand to hand MOVES!! he clearly came out of that aching all over, he can barely get back in his seat!!!

- so what I’m mainly taking away from this is that din absolutely cuts his own hair and you know what? he does a good job considering the conditions he has to work under, I love him  

I still find it so goddamn darling that he meticulously maintains that little mustache/stubble combo under there even when there’s every reason to believe no one will ever see it 

I suppose we can also gather that he did not ask cobb about whatever insane feat of magic he’s come up with to avoid helmet hair, but I don’t care looking a bit frazzled and tousled is exactly right for him (he’s so put together when he’s in the armour and a MESS when he’s out of it and I  l o v e  it) 

- boba fett is honestly so fucking hot in this I don’t know what to do with myself haha. he’s so CALM and CALCULATED and COLLECTED in his newly painted armour and he’s GOT THIS and he made that ‘I’ve got one of those faces. one of jango’s many, many, many faces’ joke and he’s so thicc now, he looks like he could easily lift me over his head with one hand and he’s just quietly steady and undramatically supportive and sdalfhsdjhfsa 

- ...din does know who the clone troopers were, right. I mean of course he does. he has to. but does he though. I’m sure he does and just wasn’t thinking. 

- no matter how stressful it was I’m still really grateful that in the end taking the helmet off was something din got to do himself -- it’s under some duress, but it’s still his choice and for the sake of the baby, and almost in two more manageable steps between putting on the storm trooper gear for a different helmet before taking it off altogether. it’s not something done to him by gideon, for example, that would be. so much yuckier and worse. he still has that control and agency intact, even if it’s been tested really hard, and now gideon doing that doesn’t hold the exact same nightmarish power anymore because there’s already a little space opened in din’s mind for different things it can mean, if you see what I mean. I’m not sure I see what I mean actually I just have a lot of feelings haha. so I guess thank you mayfeld for being decent about it and helping him towards that realization that he can still be himself outside these really really inflexible structures he’s set up around himself for like. stability and keeping himself upright for a really long time, and that even someone halfway decent won’t disrespect the boundaries he still has about it at any given moment. man there’s a lot in this episode isn’t there

- the sigh din gave when he saw even more pirates coming and knew he had to get back up... never has a single moment in cinema better captured how I feel about being alive. most relatable man in the world din djarin

- it was really cruel of them to make me listen to din’s dead bleak voice say ‘the child is gone’ again, it wrecks my heart every goddamn time 

- again... I wish carano wasn’t Like That in real life because the cara & fennec scenes should have been everything I could ever dream. ah well fennec was still wonderful and if I just allow myself to think in-universe for a few seconds it was really touching that din would entrust cara with his entire armour, that’s some prime BrOTP energy right there

I love that we got two female characters who were just allies and working together, no competition or nothin’. listen the bar is low but it’s nice to see something actually leap gracefully over it as well lol

- this was one of those with some pretty big open plot holes (why, exactly, would a scan of a completely unknown face be helpful to get into this classified system lol), but a) I don’t care, the emotional storyline was so sound it doesn’t really matter and b) eh handwave handwave let’s say mayfeld programmed that little stick with the good shit and overrode the code saying there needed to be an identity match within the system, it’s all fine 

- I know I joke a lot about this but din really is one of the most relatable characters I’ve ever had. just watching him struggle with eye contact and going pretty much nonverbal under enough stress is like. wow a bit close to home there could we, perhaps, nOT?? (honestly though these are trauma/anxiety things I really don’t see portrayed a lot, especially in protagonists, it’s so odd but healing to see it in a character I love and who’s EXTREMELY competent in many other settings)

- din repeating gideon’s speech back to him word for word (except for the crucial detail that he calls grogu ‘him’ instead of ‘it’ 😭😭😭) and saying nothing else is truly Everything. I’ve said some stuff about din’s deliberate and thoughtful relationship to language in the past and this is such an amazing example of it; he’s remembered that pitch perfect all this time, he’s kept it around in his head and mulled it over and then redeployed it to change the meaning of it completely from dehumanization to love. can you. can you even imagine. and it’s yet another example of his hilarious wonderful petty streak and I can never get enough of it fasjhdfkjalhs    

- din always noticing the children first and foremost Y_______Y (the kids running by is the only thing you see him sort of acknowledge when he’s walking into the covert in season 1 too)  

- please... please I just need him to be able to hold that baby against his chest all safe and sound and okay again I can’t it’s........ hh

NO SEASON END CLIFF HANGER ON THIS I AM  B E G G I N G  YOU 

- I would be having some thoughts about how much space there actually is on slave 1 and what that might mean (do not kill boba again please don’t kill him again), but honestly there’s only ‘GET BABY’ hours in here now, I can’t speculate about anything

[hongism]

Hyello, okay so. I don't have the emotional energy to take in and discuss everything in that chapter so imma just gush over the info cause I am a ✨whore✨ for world building.

So obviously MOC SPOILER

hi bestie HELLO guess WHO!!! finally ANSWering!!! altho im gonna answer separately and space everything out all Neatly bc im all over the place so strap IN we’re going on an moc RIDE!

THERE'S A WHOLE SIREN COMMUNITY?! AND YN AND IT MUST BE WOOYOUNG WERE FRIENDS? SIRENS HAVE A FULLY FLEDGE COMMUNITY WITH PRIESTS AND SCHOOLS AND MULTUOLE CITIES TO SOME EXTEND??? MAYBE EVEN AN ENTIRE PLANET WITH SIRENS MAYBE THEIR ORIGIN PLANET? HOW MANY TYPES OF SIRENS ARE THERE AND IN THE COMMUNITY HOW DTRICT ARE THE DIFFERENT ROLES?!?! ALSO DOES THE SIREN COMMUNITY ALLOW FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF SIRENS TO BE TOGETHER? OBVIOUSLY THEY SHOULD BUT ARE THE CHILDREN THEN HYBRID TYPES, LIKE WHEN WE GET BLUED DARK SKIND BABIES OR CAN A SKREN ONLY BE ONE TYPE. WHAT POWERS DO SIRENS HAVE AND DOES THE POWERS REFLECT THEIR PERSONALITY AND DO THE DIFFERENT TYOES LEAN TOWARDS CERTAIN JOBS. LIKE WE JUST LESRNED THE OCEAN GOTTA BE PRIESTS BUT MOON ISNT STRICT WHAT ABOUT FIRE. AND IS YN INSTIC TO PULL OUT A HEART CAUDE HER PERSONALITT, TRSUMA OR IS IT RELATED TO THE MOON. ALSO CAUSE ITS A RED MOON WHICH IS COMMONLY A BLOOD MOON, IS YN THEN A SPECIAL MOON SIREN AND THATS WHY HER POWERS ARE STEONGER OR HER INSTICTS TO USE THEM ARE STORNGER BUT THEN THE MILITARY FUCKED HER UP. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

now this is the thing im biting my tongue on SO HARD bc it’s my favorite aspect of the world building and the universe and everything involved in it bUTIHDFKJG THERS SO MUCH I WANNA SAYYYYYYYYYY in short that one dream sequence holds more hints and information than ANYTHING from previous chapters, i think that it’s probably the MOST IMPORTANT dream to date. while we’ve seen some crazy ones in the past, this one is both the biggest hint and the biggest window into y/n’s past by FARRRR. even tho that whole scene was dialogue i think there’s so much to pick up on from it and so much to see and learn from it and it’s one of my faves bc there’s so much to unpack from it !!

Like yes the story and the development is freaking ✨yes✨ I love it. Genuinely think moc should be released as books. But I just cannot deal with the emotions rn.

But also now all I'm going to be thinking about how many sirens are actually out there. And if yn knew her parents and wasn't just an orphan the military found in the streets... How the fuck did she end up in the military grasps. What happened to her parents what happened to the community, is it still out there? Guess I gotta go back and reread the galaxies and the backstories, obviously I must have missed or have forgotten something. Ugh how the puzzle pieces are puzzling (or something). Moc is a drug and I'm not going sober anytime soon

(obviously you don't have to respond to my questions, this is more just an insight into the spiralling of theories going on in my mind)

releasing moc as books? a dream and a half, i can say that much slkjdlgkjlkf but back to the sirens... how many are out there? we heard early on that hongjoong was looking for ‘the last five’ but then seonghwa debunked that and said that was a mistranslation over time that was passed down and such, but beyond that, we don’t really know much about sirens as a whole? there are some hints in the galaxies and planet descriptions but if that dream sequence is a puzzle, i would say we have a handful of pieces that can be put into place based on what we’ve learned so far!!!!

Okay I lied, I am ready to unpack a little of the ✨emotions✨

When hongjoong explained that hwa tried to stop San only for San to detain him and in a sense make him watch the scene unfold. And then realising hwa had to go through that again, only being even more helpless. I don't doubt hwa loves San, but to see the events happening again, with someone he clearly loves as much as he does yn even if he also loves joong, and to see the desperation and determination must have been just. Horrible. Just absolutely soul breaking horrible. I can imagine him vowing to himself after San that he would never let something like that happen again. That of any of the crew got out of control like that, that he would fight harder to stop them. That he would would do absolutely everything in his power to stop it. And then being helpless as he watched yn do it. Just pure heart wrenching pain. And it must have been beyond terrifying to see someone you love ready and determined to kill themselves partly from rage and partly from desperation. With the backstory, that scene becomes almost as cruel as the warehouse scene with San. The only redeeming quality is no one needing life saving surgery in a time crunch, otherwise they would be the same level of ✨never again✨

honestly i think the two crew members i torture the most are san and hwa bc i just keep putting them thru all this shit and hurting them so much but really this was the defining point of why seonghwa was so afraid. before we kinda just knew he was afraid of yn and hongjoong was mad about it. in this revelation we get to see the source of the trauma and how it was amplified by it being someone he loves as dearly as he loves yn. and for sure when first reading that scene of yn and jisung in the brig, it’s meant to evoke a sense of anger and rage like yn is so angry to a point where she would do this sort of thing, but my hope with that scene was also to show that desperation. that when looking back at it after having already seen the rage and the aftermath, that reading it again shows how desperate and hopeless she was in that moment. which is exactly the same emotion that was evoked back in that warehouse scene with san, except it was relayed differently because the warehouse was a more immediate sense of desperation. this brig scene was meant to emulate that but in a slow burn kinda way where the veil of realization is pulled off after the fact and not in the moment!!!

Just to make sure you don't misunderstand. Those asks were compliments. You are an absolutely incredible writer. And the fact that you aren’t afraid of hurting your characters *cough cough* SHOOTING SAN?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!!!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? *CLEARS THROAT AGRESSIVELY* just makes the story much better. No one gets plot armour, making it more realistic (?) and really draws in the writer and sorta imitates the fear and desperation the characters feel

PLS don’t worry, i live for every moment and i live for these open and raw and genuine conversations i didn’t take any as an insult i PROMISE!! i think part of the nature of this whole trope of space pirates and criminals is that hter is no guarantee of safety! i don’t wanna have to cut corners to make sure everyone stays unharmed and undamaged throughout the story when the nature of the world i’ve built thus far is a wildly dangerous one!!! i always say that i try to be as realistic as i can, all things considered, and i think that’s the biggest thing that adds to the ‘realism’ in my mind so im so happy to hear that you see it and appreciate it and enjoy it!!!

OHOHOHOHOHOH ALSO

YN GRIPPING SOMEONES HEART??? YOU WRITE THAT SO FUCKING WELL. LIKE ENIGUH DETAILS THAT WE KNOW WHATS GOING ON, BUT ALSO NOT SO MANY DETAILS SO IT GETS DETACHWD FROM THE STORY. LIKE THE LACK OF CLEAR SUPER MANY DETAILS REALLY MADE IT THAT *YOU ARE EXPERIENCING THIS, NOT JUST READING IT* LIKE IT MADE IT WAY MORE EMOTIONAL AND OERSONAL AND THE READER REALLY GOT IMMERSED IN THE MOST HORRIBLE WAY THAT KUST MADE IT ALL RHE MORE BETTER. ALSO JOONG AFRAID????? JOONG REALISING HE GOT A FULLY FLEDGED HEART RIPPER SIREN WHO CANT CONTROL HER BODY TO MOVE THROUGH A HARMLESS DOOR BUT CAN DEFINITELY KILL IN A HEARTBEAT (OR TWO 👀) ALSO THE CONTRAST OF REMOVING RHE BLOOD COLOURED WHITE OLASTIC AND HAVING A CLEAN HAND UNDERNWATH. THE SYMBOL OF IT ALSO BEKNG A TRASH CLEANERS SUIT. LIKE SHE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO ACTUALLY USE THE TRASH PROTECTION DUIT FOR ITS INTENDED PURPOSE. ALSO THE OART WHERE SHE SAYS SHES FINE EVEN TJO SHE ISNT. AT FIRST I READ IT AS HER TELLING HERSELF TO LIE BUT THEN I REALISED ITS HER ADMITTING SHE VERY MUCH ISNT. AND SAN NOT KNOWING???? AND KISSING HER HAND AND UGH AND SEONGHWA KNOWING. I BET HE'S LOWKEY GETTING MORE AND MORE AFRAID OF HER. LIKE YN IS READY TO KILL HERSELF AND ANYONE AROUND HER TO KEEP SAN SAFE. AND SHE INSTICTUALLY GOES FOR THE MODT AGRESSIVE METHOD POSSIBLE. IHHHHHHHHHHHHH I FUCKING LOVE YOU AND YOUR WONDERFUL WTITING AND YOUR TWISTED MIND THAT CAN CREATE ALL THESE FUCKING SCENES THAT GOT ME THUNKING AND FEELING ✨EMOTIONS✨

truly one of the HIGHLIGHTS of the chapter simply bc of how shocking and sudden it is!! for me, that was one of the easiest scenes to write in the chapter, oddly enough? it was something that when it came time to write it, i knew how i wanted it to be and was able to just sit down and write it out the way its written in the final draft of the chapter. i really love playing with those aspects of fiction and storytelling. tangible to a point, without spelling it out. i think it’s obvious that i really love delayed realization in writing, but i really like playing with how the brain processes information and for me personally, i don’t pick up on things right away! i can realize them in a snap or it can take me a bit to go ‘oh god that’s what happened’, and i like playing with that in y/n’s character a LOT.

and in that same vein of thought, there are some layers to that scene as well when compared to the door scene. in the door scene we saw hongjoong clearly tell y/n ‘you need to do this to save san’ yet she wasn’t able to do it despite trying and believing hongjoong. then in the heart scene we saw y/n clearly tell herself ‘you need to do this to save san’ and she did it then. so there’s a lot at play in that parallel alone too. and with that internal monologue she has of im fine vs not fine, then san kissing the hand that touched a literal real actual beating heart for me that was a sort of self indulgent scene and i was really worried about it coming across as too cheesy or something like that, but that is something that’s gonna impact y/n as a character and her relationship with san when they have the conversation of ‘oh hey i put my hand through a man’s chest for you’

i think part of why this chapter was so difficult to construct and write as a whole definitely is because of all the undertones and nuances throughout, and in a lot of ways it’s so so much to even think about that it’s almost too much packed into one chapter alone, but even if you don’t pick up on all the nuances throughout, i’m hoping to revisit them and bring them back around in that delayed realization style again bc that’s one of my favorite things to do ofc :3

[justletmedomyou]

short ones

some rec that no one asked for

Buried Like Treasure by QuickedWeen

Words: 8k

Prince Harry Styles is very private. He chooses to keep himself out of the public eye but feels lonely and isolated while surrounded by people in his hectic royal life. When he finishes his dissertation, he decides to take a solo holiday to one of the royal family's properties in the Swiss Alps.

Semi-retired thief Louis Tomlinson has been pulled in for one last job: steal a painting from an uninhabited mansion. Neither one of them expects a natural disaster.

Works like a charm by falsegoodnight

Words: 18k

Ever since Louis joined the team in fifth year, a few facts have become set in stone.

One: Louis is the best chaser in Hogwarts.

Two: Harry is the best beater in Hogwarts.

Three: They do not get along.

So it’s really unfair of Liam to think that forcing them to spend time together as Louis recovers from his injury will make them the best of friends. The last thing Louis would do is get along with that git.

The devil’s in the details by raspberryoats

Words: 25k

He squeals when Harry smacks his bum as he bends over to pick up his bag, swinging it over his shoulder. Harry smiles smugly at him, bottom lip caught between his teeth. “When are you going to start calling me professor?” He asks.

“When you actually are one,” Louis says with his hand on the doorknob. He cocks his head to the side in curiosity. “Isn’t that how words work? You did study English, right?”

Louis’ quick to slip out the door before Harry can smack him again, his laugh echoing through the hallways as he makes his way to his next class with flushed cheeks and a bright smile.

or the one where harry’s on his way to becoming a professor and louis is the smart, bratty student

At your fingertips by falsegoodnight

Words: 27k

He finds himself wrapped up in sheets in bed on Thursday night, staring at the familiar name on a new story that was posted the night before.

His fingers twitch, ready to hit play and surrender to his impulses, saving the regret and turmoil for later.

And still he hesitates, internally praying that he’ll somehow gain the strength to exit out within the next few moments before he inevitably loses his patience and hits the button.

Three…

Two…

One.

Play.

-

Or, Louis really should have seen it coming.

Sweet like honey by falsegoodnight

Words: 33k

Weeks of flat shopping with their limited budget with Louis as a librarian aid and Harry as a barista and arguments about whether a balcony or extended bathroom suite were more important (Harry wanted to be able to feel the crisp night’s air and watch the sun set and Louis just wanted to take long bubble baths) led to them stumbling across the perfect fit. A small flat only ten minutes from campus with a cramped but lovely balcony and an included bath.

It’s affordable too… well, sort of. But they always manage. Louis picks up more shifts as an aid, adapting a habit of bringing his Psych textbooks and homework with him to finish in between duties, and later his script so he can quietly practice lines with little distraction.

Harry also increases his number of shifts at the cafe and valiantly endures the nasty customers who for some reason flock to their establishment like moths to a flame.

For a while, it’s enough.

-

Or, Harry and Louis need money and they find an unconventional solution in the form of PornHub. It’s not supposed to be a big deal.

Haven by xxPayne

Words: 35k

“I take it you’re not a new student?” “What?” Harry mumbles, caught up in the way his eyes are quite literally sparkling in the light. “Oh—No. Not a student.” “Are you a sub?” Louis asks. Harry clenches his hands into fists, holding them behind his back as he stumbles a bit. “I don’t, uh—I mean. I’ve never really gotten a chance to be a true sub, you know? My ex-partners were always scared they’d hurt me. But, like—If I trusted someone a lot, and if we used a, a safeword. And talked about, you know, boundaries, then—Yes, yeah, I-I’m a sub.” Louis’ eyes are so wide, his cheeks puffing out in the effort to not burst into laughter. “Oh shit, oh my god,” Harry whispers. “You meant—Oh god.

Reduce Me To A Pleading Cry (Break The Skin and Tantalize) by taggiecb

Words: 37k

Or Harry is a broody submissive boss, Louis is a natural dom who works in the mail room at Styles & Styles, Niall is a matchmaking oracle, and a slender, dark haired man stands mute at the coffee stand encouraging others to spill their secrets.

The Pirate and The Piper by jacaranda_bloom

Words: 38k

Banished from Neverland by Captain Hook and the evil Siren Minerva, Louis is forced to live in the Other World. He makes a life for himself, resigned to the fact he’s never going to see his beloved home and Lost Boys again. Five years later he’s kidnapped and returned to Neverland, only to discover a far worse fate awaits him. But with an unlikely ally by his side, can he overcome those who seek his demise and restore freedom to his homeland?

Or the one where Harry is Hook, Louis is Pan, and nothing is what it seems.

Before we knew by falsegoodnight

Words: 39k

“C’mon Lou,” says Zayn after a moment, He sounds even more exasperated than before. Louis sort of has a knack for exasperating people, especially people like Zayn who aren’t usually bothered by his brattiness. “Can’t you give this guy a chance? Harry Styles? Aren’t you curious about him at all?”

Despite his best efforts, Louis still flinches at the name. He really shouldn’t be so affected after all these years. He’s seen the name printed down the curve of his waist in obnoxiously and uncommonly large loopy letters every single day since his sixteenth birthday eight years ago. He’s very familiar with the name Harry Styles.

It sounds pretentious and Louis hates it.

He hates everything about his supposed soulmate.

He hates his large handwriting that stands out like a claim on his skin whenever he’s walking around shirtless. He hates his pretentious name. And now he hates his supposed curls and green eyes and dimples.

-

Or Louis has been skeptical of soulmates for years so it seems like fate when he finally bumps into the owner of the obnoxiously large signature printed onto his skin since age sixteen: Harry Styles, a human rights attorney who is firmly against soulmates.

Bruise you like a peach by falsegoodnight​

Words: 40k

There’s two reasons Harry despises Econ.

The first is that it’s boring as fuck. The second reason is a bit more personal, a bit more focused in a way. As in it’s focused on one specific thing, or in his case, person.

His name is Louis Tomlinson.

Things have gotten closer to the sun by starsea

Words: 49k

it’s strange, making the choice to face his past—it almost feels like he’s heading for the sun straight on, like he’s screaming come on and burn me, i deserve it.

-

when a solar flare is announced to end the world in twelve days, harry reunites with the people that he used to know better than the back of his own hand.

Just a flicker in the dark by falsegoodnight

Words: 57k

Harry Styles is his case partner. High and mighty, annoyingly smug Harry Styles who’s known him for years and has fucking seen him naked for fuck’s sake.

He glances at Venus who’s blinking up at him with curious eyes, no doubt sensing the agitation sparking in his magic.

“This is not happening,” Louis says loudly. “This is not fucking happening. I am going to kill Liam, oh my god.” He doesn’t even know if Liam is responsible for this but it feels like something he’d do to drive Louis absolutely insane - exes don’t just show up to your assigned haunted house out of nowhere. “Fucking fuck!”

He nearly jumps when Harry knocks again, his muffled voice carrying through the wood. “I can hear you, you know,” he drawls, sounding frustratingly amused.

Louis exhales, resisting the urge to scream.

-

Or, Louis is a struggling witch desperate to prove himself after yet another magic disaster and finds a calling in the haunted house of client Niall Horan. Things get more complicated when he’s assigned a case partner: acclaimed medium and ex-boyfriend, Harry Styles.

Like cabbages and kings by you_explode

Words: 60k

When Louis was a kid, he had a series of very vivid dreams about a place called Wonderland. There were rabbits wearing waistcoats and talking cats and ridiculous tea parties, and amidst all the absurdity, there was a boy. A boy with dimples, big green eyes and the sweetest soul Louis has ever known. Louis has always kept a place in his heart for that boy and for his funny dreamworld, and when he’s twenty-five and his life falls apart, it turns out Wonderland might not be so imaginary after all.

[cant-blink]

7 Deadly Sins: Gigan

SHOWA GHIDORAH GIGAN

Wrath (7/10)

Gigan doesn’t get angry very often. Whatever he’s doing, he’s doing it to have a good time and he’s much more likely to be amused than pissed when something stands up to him. That being said, he does have his triggers (especially in his Final Wars form) and when they’re pushed, he selects violence. Brutal bloody violence. Without any hesitation. So don’t piss him off. He WILL kill you without a second thought, and trust me, this sadistic bastard WON’T be making your death pleasant.

Gluttony (8/10)

Gigan likes to eat. Unlike most kaiju, his species are obligate carnivores that actively hunt and kill to survive. They aren’t Skullcrawler levels of ravenous, but pretty close. Growing up, food was used as a reward for Gigan by his Nebulan masters and although the reward changed to mates when he reached adulthood, he still treated his “mates” as prey, and would cannibalize them when he was done. Yeah, you read right, Gigan is a cannibal. Happy about it too. Freed from Nebulan control to live his own life, it only got worse. He was no longer limited to whatever food was given to him, the whole Universe is his banquet! He has a habit of seeing others as prey to toy with and devour. His career as an assassin worked pretty well since no worries on disposing of the body, he got it covered under the contract. As a pirate, even better, as he can slaughter whoever he pleases and really get to sample some exotic meats. But then, tragedy struck. Ever since being forced into his Final Wars form, he no longer needed to eat. Indeed, he’s become more machine than organic, and he hates it. So as if in defiance to his new biology, he still indulges in food even though he doesn’t need it. Just to give himself the illusion that he’s still alive.

Greed (10/10)

Gigan is a very greedy creature. Part of his becoming a pirate is to steal and horde all the things labeled as valuable and sell them on the black space-market. He accumulates a lot of riches and although he can use them to live in luxury whenever he fancies to, he still prefers to use intimidation and threat of planetary destruction rather than spend actual money. Give even a cent to the needy? Nah, he’d rather eat the needy. Hey, it’s putting them out of their misery at least! And no, he’s not sharing any of his food. If his friends want food, they can get it themselves. Space-ducks will only share their food with their mates and chicks, and Gigan’s “mate”, Ghidorah, doesn’t even eat, and they have no chicks, so win-win! More for him!

Envy (9/10)

You would think someone as powerful and handsome as Gigan wouldn’t have much to envy. And you’d be right.... in his Showa form. As Final Wars, there is one thing he’s become very envious of and that’s the fact that he will never be considered "alive", like everyone else. Ghidorah’s moon-crests always glow so bright for these lesser creatures, but so dim for him. Constantly reminding him of his insecurity, and making his jealousy worse. So y’know what, let’s keep some folks alive around Ghidorah, that way Gigan can look at that glow and pretend that it’s for him. This envy for life really does drive him a lot in his current form; anything that gives him the illusion that he’s still his old self will be done. Have fun to its fullest? Yes. Sleep around? Yes. Eat when he doesn’t need to? Yes. Flaunt Ghidorah around to make everyone else envious of HIM?! Hell, yeah- Wait, is Ghidorah paying attention to someone that isn’t him?! Is Ghidorah TALKING to anyone that isn’t him, WITHOUT PERMISSION?! FEUIHDOWA- Actually, maybe he does have a bit more envy than I thought, now that he has a mate to be possessive over. 

Sloth (7/10)

Like Showa Ghidorah, Gigan spends a lot of time in dormancy during space-travel in his diamond. Not as often though, as he will also hi-jack ships with his ‘crew’ and has the luxury of enjoying said space-travel with victims and friends alike. He does require sleep as Showa Gigan and did indeed sleep alot, a hold-over of his days in captivity when there wasn't much to do beyond sleep, eat, and whatever mission they wanted from him. But when he is awake, he did work diligently for his Masters, to the best of his abilities and with great enthusiasm. As Final Wars though, he no longer requires sleep. But he still does so, because he’s alive, dammit! Now let him dream! But now, he no longer works an actual job (he quit his beloved assassin career after being forced into his new "updated" form), and has since grown more laid back (aka, lazy) as to whether or not he'll follow-through on whatever responsibilities is placed on him. He likes having fun and feeling forced into responsibility is not fun! So that heightens his score.

Lust (10/10)

Gigan is a horny bastard. If there’s a victim that even slightly tickles his fancy, guaranteed, he will have extra fun with them before they die. He’s also been known to use sexual favors to get what he wants, especially for a certain love-struck beetle that keeps whining about wanting to go home. Those sales-people that can't be won over with the threat of death? Well, make love, not war as they say! He also likes visiting the less savory parts of the universe, specifically to watch shows and request services. But truly, the primary target of his lust is the three-headed dragon himself. Those golden scales and massive wings will drive any space-duck crazy with WANT and Gigan is no exception. Before seeing this hydra, the idea of mating for life wasn’t something he was ever interested in, but now, Ghidorah is something that he wants to keep for himself. Forever. Back before he decided to track down the dragon, if he even THOUGHT about this golden wyvern, guaranteed, he’s going to fuck something, he doesn’t care who or what. When he finally does get his claws on Ghidorah, literally EVERYTHING this dragon does has Gigan lusting for him even more. To Ghidorah's dismay.

Pride (10/10)

Gigan is a very prideful creature. He's a narcissistic individual who only thinks of his own pleasure, and sees everyone else as either a means to an end, prey, or a toy. He takes great pride in combat abilities, and is prone to underestimating his target. He adores his claws and often brandishes them at every opportunity to show them off, and intimidate foes. In his Showa form, he especially took pride in his appearance. Raised in captivity, he was a prime example of his race, with gleaming feathers and large sails. Being a cyborg only enhanced his pride, as it made him far stronger than the rest of his species, something he readily took advantage of whenever the Nebulans rewarded him with a ‘mate’. But this took a blow in his Final Wars form, where he lost everything that made him an attractive space-duck and became more of a machine than an organic creature, and he's become quite self-conscious about this. He covers this under a veil of over-exaggerated confidence, but has become a bit more sensitive when his insecurity is poked at. And by "sensitive", I mean violent. Extremely violent, even towards his perceived mate. So call him "half-life" again, Ghiddy boi, you're already half-way to being disemboweled; give him a reason to finish the job. Terrible as his Final Wars form is, he’s a hell of a lot more powerful than he’s ever been before, with more weaponry added to his arsenal. That’s still a source of pride that ALMOST makes up for his freakish appearance. But his greatest pride yet is enslaving Ghidorah as his mate; something about having such a beautiful and powerful creature under his claw is satisfying and you bet your ass he’s going to show off his accomplishment to everyone in the Universe! 

TOTAL: 61/70

Showa Ghidorah’s score was surprisingly low, but this is probably the highest score any of these characters will get. Gigan is a heinous individual, a disgusting reprehensible villain that has no interest in redeeming himself. There’s a reason I label my “Half-Life” series as being my darkest, and it’s all because of this guy!