#also i have shit short term memory so by the time it happens and shows up after i'll probably have forgotten about it

[monochromereflections]

Anyway I let the Cowboy Brianrot ™ fully take me and I ordered a print signed by Roger for the Streamly event in February.

[thatstheproblemwithnapkinman]

something that kind of annoys me is when peoiple genuinely criticise tom taylor's nightwing run by saying "dick is so out of character in those 2 issues where he gets the shit beaten out of him and then falls through his window"

bc

that is taken out of the context of dick recovering from a traumatic brain injury so yeah he's going to be off balance after being whacked in the head MULTIPLE TIMES what are you talking about?!?!

it's ok, just breathe

the panel for reference

Nightwing (2016) #83 pp. 12

don't believe me?

dick gets shot in the head just above his left ear, which you can see in both of these panels and in the cover for nightwing (2016) #50 (if you pretend if's a mirror image bc why is it on the right)

Batman (2016) #55 pp. 21 Nightwing (2016) #50 pp. 2

Nightwing (2016) #50 Cover

you can also see his brain scans in the same issue which nicely show the area of damage and literally list what happened

Nightwing (2016) #50 pp. 2

so he lost bone (skull), blood (obviously), brain tissue (we'll come back to this), cerebrospinal fluid (bc there was a whole in his head), and suffered from severe vascular swelling (we'll return here too)

so, what brain tissue did dick lose?

here's the very basic anatomy of the human brain

John Hopkins Medicine - https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/anatomy-of-the-brain (i drew the red circle)

now the ears sit just in front of the cerebellum, roughly somewhere around the red circle which lines up with the brain scan showing the damage is roughly in that notch where the temporal lobe and parietal lobe meet

the temporal lobe is involved with speech, rhythm, and short term memory

the parietal lobe is involved with pain and touch recognition, recognising objects, and oh would you look at that, spatial recognition

dick go shot in the part of the brain that tells the body where it is in relation to objects

no wonder he had a hard time fighting and trying to climb through windows, his coordination was all fucky

now the cerebellum is the part of the brain that affects balance BUT but but but we haven't talked about vascular swelling yet

vascular swelling is where the walls of the blood vessels swell (whodathunk) and this causes a reduction in the blood supply as they swell inwards

outward swelling with increase pressure on the brain which is not good either BUT this reduced blood flow = less oxygen to the brain = damage

there's a reason the symptoms of hypoxia pre-passing out are pretty much limited to your brain bc that's the organ that goes first

so with a decrease in bloodflow to his brain, there is a decent change damage was also done to every single part of his brain

now the blood supply does come in past the cerebellum so tbh there probably wouldn't be that much damage if at all however even with that it would explain how dick was still effected from getting shot

so having learned all that, lets take a look at issues 81 & 83 shall we

in #81...

Nightwing (2016) #81 pp. 5

he gets whacked in the head by heartless, someone with enhanced strength

Nightwing (2016) #81 pp. 12

he passes out because he's been whacked on the head near to where he was shot

Nightwing (2016) #81 pp. 13

this is nicely confirmed by babs

Nightwing (2016) #81 pp. 19

he gets pushed back whilst fighting and due to his injury induced lack of spatial awareness, he falls down the stairs

then in #83, after fighting blockbuster, almost getting shot again, and flying through a helicopter...

Nightwing (2016) #83 pp. 12

he falls through his window

so yeah, i do think this is reasonable for dick to do given he's recovering from a brain injury and has just been hit in the head and probably hit it whilst falling down the stairs

and if you've made it this far, i want to emphasise the 20 million valid reasons to criticise tom taylor's nightwing run, but this just isn't one of them

[phoenixblaze1412]

HIII I LOVE your works and THE CHILD READER IS SO FUXKING DELICIOUS that I've been living in your blog for like.. three days.

But anyways I wanted to request grown up child reader (like 15-17 yrs old) headcanons from your child readerXDottore ffs.

I love you and your works❤️

Also, can I be your 🦅 anon?

Sure you can, anon <3

Dottore was always proud to call you his child, his prodigy. He may not be able to show his care for you due to him always having to work but when he's free for the days, he tends to you as much as he can.

Time flew by so fast, you grew up from a tiny toddler to a teen.

In Iota and Theta's words, you used to be a little shit. Now you became a bigger shit.

You didn't need to worry much about what happens when one goes through puberty and maturity. Your father has it all covered, he actually made them beforehand before you reached thirteen.

And with your knowledge expanding from all the things you were taught at such a young age, you followed in your father's footsteps and Dottore was euphoric with it.

Kappa was a bit upset that you grew up, he would miss the times when you and him would always spend time together to play.

He was definitely pouting whenever you talk about your heights, now that you grew up to be a teenager while he's stuck as a child perspective of your father, the height difference was very noticable, he reaches about your stomach now and he will forever be that short.

Sadly that doesn't go the same for the other segments. Eta, Theta and Delta would still make fun of your shortness.

Beta would still carry you around despite already being a teenager. He still sees you as his little angel no matter how tall or old you get.

Iota still keeps those baby pictures he took of you. Doesn't matter if you looked bad or good in it, he still sees you as his little, troublemaker mutt. He still takes photos of you and would make scrapbooks of it during his free time whenever he's bored at tinkering on ruin machines.

The troublemaker (s)quad: Delta, Gamma, Theta and Beta would always bring you along with them whenever they wanted to cause trouble, watch something blow up or make some failed experiments kill each other. They would still cover your eyes if the scene becomes too much for you to handle.

Dottore was very enthusiastic when he took you in as his apprentice, of course you got lots of glares and side eyes from those who work under him who always wanted to be the doctor's apprentice, those looks did not go unnoticed by your father though. Oh how delightful you already have new fresh bodies to experiment on!

Who else would Dottore choose as his own apprentice if not you? It was already decided the moment your ruby red eyes stared back at him the moment you were born that he was to choose you.

Prime and Omega were always there to assist you whenever you have a little trouble in doing some of the work your father has tasked you to do. They may be segments and are 400+ years old in terms of memory but you're still their little child, it wouldn't hurt to spoil and give you a helping hand without the doctor knowing.

Dottore was definitely not happy when he saw the Knave's children interacting with you. Who were those brats again? Ah yes, Lyney, Lynette and Freminet. Time to tell the segments about those orphans.

You would always be curious on why a segment would always be with you wherever you go.

One time when Lyney kissed the back of your hand, he was immediately backed up to the wall with Delta's claymore pressed against his neck while Beta carried you away.

Having tea and cake with Lynette would have went well if Theta didn't splash her with water, intentionally letting the bucket fall on her head to grab your hand and run off.

Gamma even burned the flowers he took from Freminet to give to you since the boy was too shy to do so. The segment snipped the petals off to use them as ingredients for future experiments before burning the stems over by the fireplace with a grin.

Last one was when Childe came over to the lab to visit you since he brought you some snacks and souvenirs he got from Liyue only to get multiple glares from the segments and your father, your father was teaching you how to dissect a frog while the segments were watching as encouragement since it was your first time dissecting an organism.

It was during the harbinger meeting that Arlecchino brought up the doctor's protectiveness.

"Is the doctor afraid that his own child is being courted by others? Come on, surely you know that children would be leaving their nest to go fly off on their own to live their life? Surely my children are capable and worthy enough to court a child like them, no?"

"Absolutely fucking not. My child will not be tainted by your orphan brats."

[kanmom51]

Jikook - what we see is what we get

When we get to see it.

Not seeing it doesn't mean it's not there though.

Was sitting today BTS songs just playing in the background while I'm working on my post. All this shit just happening around us, around JK and JM (yes, JM is part of it, he's also affected by it all), and The truth untold comes up.

This version:

One of, if not their best performance imo. The emotion just pouring out of them.

This song. It kills me every single time. Brings me to tears every single time. JM turned away from JK singing "and I still want you" in every performance. Well, other than their last 3 in Seoul, changed by them, performed by them, ending facing each other JM singing "but I still want you". Defiant.

All about the need to wear that mask to hide your true self for fear you might not be loved for who you truly are, that you might be seen as ugly, a monster. And the two of them, changing the staging, turning to each other, looking into each other's eyes, while changing the "and" to "but I still want you"... do people understand this? The enormity of this moment?

And then this song comes up, this performance:

This was on day 2, while on day 3 we had this:

Omg, my YT logarithm is trying to kill me today.

And got me thinking about this moment we got on day 3 as well.

This love, people, this chemistry, us not seeing it as often for the lack of BTS ot7 content doesn't mean is gone. It's very much still there. We just aren't as lucky to be able to see them in that one frame as often or even at all. But when we do, there is no denying it. Even if it's for the shortest of moments.

We saw it in 2020 (have people forgot memories 2020 for god sake?)

We saw it in 2021

So much more, so little image allowance... But you can find it all in my masterlist.

We saw it throughout 2022 in their Seoul and LV PTD concerts.

And in JITB even if briefly,

And in Busan and Run BTS episodes.

And we even got a little touch of it in 2023, when there was no way of keeping them out of the frame, like in Jhope's enlistment BTB, D-Day in Seoul and even when not being in one frame, in those lives we got to enjoy when the one joined the other in their comments and even without the other even making that kind of appearance.

Letter, goddamnit.

Oh and then we had JM literally flying across the world to be with JK for his Solo debut (if only GMA concert wasn't cancelled, damn it), and them dipping off for their 4 day private trip in CT.

It's sad how short people's memories are. Really. I am reading all sorts of fanfictions being put forward as "this is what happened with Jikook over the years", stating facts that are not facts, creating non existent drama, because people love the drama.

This is a loving couple in a long term relationship. You know, that boring kind. The stable, loving, filled with respect and no drama. The one where one supports their partner when they are struggling. One where just being with each other is fulfilling (cough JK coming to JM's room in LA just to be with him in the same room for hours cough).

Funny how people are talking about them breaking up 2020-21 during the pandemic when JK literally had a slip of the tongue spilling the beans they live together, they are one household, in Run BTS episode 142 they were each gifted a knife. JK all proud and piping up "we got 2"...

JM just sitting there all quiet, smirk on his face.

Stories about breakups. Stories about sexually experimenting but no actual emotional commitment. All while ignoring the constants. Those things that are just there, all the time, whenever we do get to see them:

That electrical chemistry between those two.

The way they look at each other constant over the years.

The way they talk to each other constant over the years.

The way they touch each other constant over the years.

The way they talk about each other.

The way their interactions are so different from the others or their own with the others.

The way the others are around them, their reaction to Jikook.

All still there!!!

*PS:

I wrote this post yesterday before JK's Radiohead appearance and his TikTok post-delete.

I guess now would be a good time to repeat what the wise @ourwinterspring (yes, I'm mentioning you again, lol) once said (well a couple of days ago, that is):

Rumors are created by haters

accepted by fools

and spread by idiots

[bloodycyrano]

So.. In most videogames, you have the "journal" where you keep codices, quests, character details.. Etc. So here are some of my personal journal-keeping troupes for various videogame MCs!

Dark urge, BG3-

Memory issues. They want to keep a record of everything while it's still fresh in their head.. As someone who struggles with a lot of short term memory loss, and has blocked out a lot of my childhood due to various traumas, I understand a lot of the fear and panic that comes with not remembering things. Not to mention the severe head trauma Orin caused to Durge, they'd probably continue to have memory problems throughout the rest of their life, even after the whole ordeal with the netherbrain.

The Warden, Dragon age: Origins-

I feel like someone gave the Warden an empty journal before they left with Duncan.. For my personal playthrough, I believe it was Hahren Paivel, elder of clan Sabrae. He was far from a mentor, but he was there when my Warden was born. He watched her learn and grow among her cousins, Merrill and Tamlen. He watched them play, and fight. He watched her rival with her best friend, and he watched her get hurt, and leave. Judged her actions no more than he praised her victories.. She had always been so invested in their stories, and learning about their culture. And while Paivel had never had such a respectful child, willing to listen and learn.. He also had never seen one so stuck in a past that they had barely lived themselves. I feel like Paivel wanted her to focus on making new stories of the dalish, and record her own adventures, rather than simply mourning being away from home.

Rhen, Aveyond 1-

I feel like she always kept a journal, but wanted to record everything even more after she was kidnapped. After all, it all started with her trying to find a way home, rather than anything else. I feel like she wanted to record a diary, in case she died, so that her parents would know what happened. Or perhaps, as an optimist, she wanted to keep it so she could show everyone back at Clearwater when she finally returned home. To tell stories of her adventures.

Hawke, da2-

Firm belief that Hawke didn't keep a journal. Ever. Their bestie Varric wrote his book about the hero of kirkwall, and Hawke wrote sassy commentary in the margins.

The inquisitor, DAI-

I feel like the inquisitor is just a massive fucking nerd at heart, and would definitely go on a lecture style rant every half hour if they weren't so goddamn stressed and tired all the time. I headcannon that my personal inquisitor used to work at the Black emporium, acquiring various old relics and shit for the job because they genuinely just loved learning about things, so they record and catalog everything.

Darc and Kharg, Arc the lad: twilight of the spirits-

Darc doesn't keep a journal, he's too much for that. Always in a rush for the next step, hot blooded and ambitious. Plus, he's traumatized and doesn't want to remember shit.- I feel like if anyone in his group kept a journal, it would probably be Volk- But not just any journal. He would probably use one that his wife or children kept before they had died. One that smells like his family. Maybe he feels like he's carrying on a pass time they enjoyed, and puts aside his desire for revenge for the night just to feel close to his family again before bed.

Kharg on the other hand is such a flamboyant little princess who thinks everything he does is important that I wholeheartedly believe he would keep a journal just because he thinks people are going to care enough to read it in a library one day. Bro is so full of himself that it's actually insane. Fuck you, Kharg.

[avelera]

Vibrating over Daniel’s ending.

I’d love your thoughts on what it means for next season?

(And any other thoughts you have about the finale are so welcome 🙏)

Heya! I actually wrote up my thoughts here.

But, short Daniel-specific version:

I think we'll get Louis-as-Lestat's-agent inviting Daniel to interview Rockstar Lestat for his next book and Daniel salivating at the chance to do so.

(Very different tonally from what I was expecting, btw. No joke, I thought the falling books were going to be Lestat crashing through the ceiling to kidnap Daniel for an interview so he could tell HIS version of the story lol, but I can see why they went for a tearful Loustat reunion instead and how kidnapping Daniel wouldn't have worked with that, funny as it is in my head).

The good news is that I believe we'll get Daniel's snark throughout Lestat's book since that's been the framing device of the show so far (though, there's less of a "mystery" to unravel in Lestat's narrative than in Louis's so... who knows, maybe they will break the format since you don't need an investigative reporter with Lestat to drag secrets out, Lestat literally can't shut up). Honestly, I am SALIVATING to hear Daniel tear Lestat's narrative limb from limb lol.

The bad news is that I think, sadly, that if we dive right into 1-2 seasons of The Vampire Lestat, we won't be getting the space to explore Armand/Daniel and why that happened and if Devil's Minion happened in the past until a theoretical Season 5, if we follow the books and leave the end of TVL to go into Queen of the Damned, where that beat takes place.

IF we do that, sadly, it means we'll have to wait on the full explanation of Daniel/Armand.

HOWEVER, I also wouldn't put it past the show to actually do more interweaving of past and present than that. Have some modern stuff like Daniel/Armand/Devil's Minion in the present day while we're ducking in and out of Lestat's trip down memory lane to 18th century France.

GENUINELY, even as a writer, I don't know how they'll tackle the order of events given that means it'll be a LONG time before we get an explanation for stuff they set up in this season like Daniel's turning and part of me thinks they won't wait THAT long because the eagerness to learn this info is here now, and might not be there in a couple years, people might have forgotten by then.

That said, they also introduced Raglan James, the villain of Vampire Chronicles Book 4, the Body Thief, so that actually signals that they're willing to seed things very early before the pay-off, UNLESS they remix the order of the books significantly and Akasha gets pushed back.

It actually would kinda make sense to push Akasha back she is an EXCELLENT final boss and Body Thief is a bit of a come-down after her so I wouldn't totally blame them for swapping those two books in terms of the order we see their events in. But maybe not! They've been surprisingly faithful in a lot of ways. Regardless, I trust their discretion.

And finally, my hope when we DO finally get Devil's Minion, we're going to have the modern Daniel/Armand juxtaposed with the 1970s one, ending in Armand refusing to turn him in the 1970s, wiping his memory (perhaps knowing that vampirism would drive young Daniel mad, as it canonically did in the books, but old Daniel is made of sterner stuff now) and then we flash forward to the present and old man vampire Daniel and Armand and whatever THEY'VE got going on (hopefully: Daniel domming the shit out of Armand the way he always wanted).

So ok, I lied, I had more thoughts, lol!

[mindmeltonabun-blog]

My Demon: Theories and Analysis for Eps 1-6

Hi Readers!

Let me start this post by saying what I originally wrote was just deleted after I hit the "save draft" button on Tumblr. I'm so pissed because I had spent hours working on this post!! For those who have followed my blog for a very long time, you know I usually provide a very in-depth analysis of dramas. 

Given what just happened and time constraints, I will keep this post very short. I may make mini posts next week to further elaborate on some points discussed here, but it just depends on if I have the time.

If you have any questions, please feel free to hit the "ask me anything" button and I will try my best to answer them promptly. I hope "My Demon" fandom won't be as toxic as the "Alchemy of Souls" fandom and misuse the "ask me anything" button to send me death threats or insults. If you don't like what I write, you can simply scroll along. The end. Also, don't plagiarize my shit. This was a huge issue during AOS and I really didn't appreciate it at all. If you want to use my ideas, give me credit for them.

Ok, let’s put on our thinking caps. Time to analyze and theorize!

Demons

In the context of this show, “demons” are individuals who used to be human but are now forced to fulfill human wishes in order to keep on living forever. The terms are simple: humans get their deepest desires fulfilled but will die in 10 years and go to hell. For demons, as long as they sign new contracts and collect souls, they won’t combust and be wiped from existence. It remains unknown how often demons must sign contracts/collect souls before they start to combust. Before demons were loan sharks, they were guardians of humans. 

We start this drama with Jeong Gu Won, who has lived happily for the last 200 yrs as a demon. Gu Won has no recollection of his human life. We don’t know if this aspect of Gu Won is something present in all demons or just him. Gu Won’s perfect little world is turned upside down after he saves Do Do Hee from Rash Dude aka Jeffrey Dahmer. Now, we don’t know why his tattoo was transferred to Do Hee but it’s implied the full moon and water had something to do with it. If you have read other posts of mine, you will know that when there’s a full moon it usually means a transformation and a new start. The whole falling into the water could be viewed as a sort of baptism, symbolizing the end of an old life and the beginning of a new life. I feel like before this show ends, Gu Won and Do Hee will end up in the water under the full moon again to symbolize Gu Won’s full transformation into a human. Like right now he’s like a quasi-demon haha. His transformation into a full human is currently ongoing. I think that as he starts to develop more human emotions/remember his human memories, his powers as a demon will begin to decline. 

Gu Won’s Past Life…A Story of Crime and Punishment

One thing I’ve learned from analyzing many dramas over the years is when a writer shows us a book or mentions a movie, we should look into them if we want a glimpse into what will happen in a drama. Now in Ep 1, you see #2 Wild Dog reading, “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoevsky which was hilarious because he didn’t strike me as the type to read such a dense piece of literature. Seeing this book took me back to my high school days when we had to read and analyze this book. For those who don’t know, Russian works tend to be very long and are usually about suffering haha.

For the sake of time, I’ll you a very brief overview of what happened in “Crime and Punishment”. The story begins with a law student, Rodion Raskolnikov, who quits school because he can’t afford it anymore. The guy then has a mental breakdown of sorts and decides to kill the elderly owner of the pawnshop and her half-sister. He justifies his actions by rationalizing that by killing the pawnshop owner, he could take the valuables within her pawn shop and use them to fund his education which would eventually earn him a well-paying job. In turn, he would use the money earned to benefit the greater good. 

Raskolnikov saw himself as an Ubermensch (if you don’t know that means, I had briefly talked about it in my DAYS posts). He believed that since he was above everyone else, he was allowed to cross all societal, ethical, and moral lines because his success would help the greatest amount of people. The rest of the novel is about Raskolnikov’s internal struggles with what he did. He goes back and forth between confessing or not confessing to the murders. Eventually, the love interest in the story, Sonia, a devout Christian and source of morality for Raskolnikov, convinces him to turn himself in and confess. Raskolnikov ends up only having to serve a total of 8 years in a labor camp for the murders. While there, he finally realizes the errors of his ways and feels guilt for his past actions. He then was like “Sonia’s love saved me and I feel bad for making her suffer so when I get out, I’m going to repay her with infinite love for all she has done for me”. And bam! That’s where the story ends…with the start of his journey toward redemption haha. 

Gu Won is Raskolnikov in the sense that he thinks he’s better than everyone else and can therefore cross any line he so chooses. Based on a flashback in Ep 6, it seemed Gu Won had this kind of mindset even before he became a demon. So, what crime did Gu Won commit that landed him in Hell in the first place? I wouldn’t label it so much as an actual crime like murder but Gu Won probably got Do Hee’s past self killed. The guilt he felt after her death is probably what led to him become essentially trapped in a mental Hell, much like Madam Ju. Eventually, this guilt prevented him from entering heaven after he died. God/Lady probably took pity on him and offered him salvation in the form of becoming a demon; alternatively, it could be that God/Lady offered him a "sweet" contract where he could work as a demon in exchange for a second chance and a happier life with Do Hee in the future. Regardless of whatever the case may be, the important thing is that Gu Won needs to remember what happened in his past so he can seek forgiveness from Do Hee in the present and start his path toward redemption much like Raskolnikov. The truth sets you free haha. Gu Won is taking a step in the right direction though by protecting Do Hee. He could be like Raskolnikov and choose to give Do Hee infinite love for the rest of his life to make up for the horrible things he did to her in the past haha. Oh, one more thing for this section, the tattoo being on Do Hee’s wrist could symbolize that she was the reason why he became a demon in the first place. 

Murders of Do Hee’s Parents and Madam Ju/Who Is Abraxas

In my original post, this section was long, but as I previously mentioned, the stuff I wrote was deleted. I’m just going to give you the overall gist of it. I still think the person who killed Madam Ju was Ju Seok Hun and that the person who killed Do Hee’s parents was Madam Ju’s little brother/Seok Hun’s father. I don’t think Madam Ju directly killed Do Hee’s parents, but she felt guilty for their deaths because she covered up the incident to protect her little brother. After which, she cut him off and exiled him to Peru to live a hippie life haha. This is completely speculative though. Like we have two choices for who murdered Do Hee’s parents and Madam Ju. Choice #1 is Noh Suk Min and Noh Do Gyeong and Choice #2 Seok Hun’s father and Seok Hun. One argument I made for choice #2 is that if Suk Min and Do Gyeong were the real killers, wouldn’t the actor who played Do Gyeong be a main lead instead of a supporting character? Another argument was that Seok Hun has too many conflicting qualities about him. For example, he is a hippie who works in the corporate world and despite portraying a goody-two-shoes image, he suggests Do Hee should engage in some ethically questionable business practices like letting Mirae Investments buy shares of Mirae F&B to offset the losses. 

It’s also important to remember what Do Hee said about “sweet” things and how they’re always fake (except for Gu Won haha). Seok Hun is faker than acrylic nails. He puts on an act that he cares about her well-being when in reality, he hopes she dies. He must continue with this nice guy act because he doesn’t want her death to lead back to him. Just think about some things for a moment, if Do Hee died, who would the police suspect killed her? Would it be the people who openly voiced their disdain for her or the person whom she had a loving relationship with? It would be the former. The scene with Do Gyeong at the lockers is essentially Seok Hun setting him up to take the fall for Do Hee’s murder. At the end of the day, human greed is what drove Seok Hun to do what he did. Who knows, maybe his greed stems from being subjected to a frugal lifestyle while growing up. 

Crosses, Numerology, and Tarot

Amen, we are nearing the end. Ok, let’s keep going at record speed. So, crosses and Catholicism/Christianity are heavily present in this show. The same goes for numbers and tarot. They’re all connected. Some religious crosses can look like an “X” which looks like the Roman numeral 10. The number 10 is everywhere in this show. For example, the little girl was celebrating her 10th birthday and the Wheel of Fortune is the 10th tarot card in the Rider Waite Tarot Deck. Connecting numerology with tarot, the wheel of fortune represents the end of one journey and the beginning of another…1 + 0 = 1, where 1 symbolizes completion.

The clock in the promotional poster has a hand pointing at 10, which is different than the clocks seen at Gu Won’s place that only go from 0-9. While we are on the subject of 9, “Gu” means nine. Every time Gu Won started a new life, he named himself the next number following his current one. For example, he was Il (1) Won, then I (2) Won, and so forth. Now in his 9th life, he is called Gu Won. Get it? Ok, cool. What comes after 9? 10. After Gu Won completes his transformation into a human, he will be called Sip (10) Won haha. Additionally, did anyone notice the number 91 on the cake Do Hee baked for him? What’s 9+1? 10. 

Pay attention to the numbers in this show people! Always ask yourself what each number means and what it's connected to haha. When God/the Lady said, "I’m betting on all the odd numbers", many were like what does that mean? She’s referring to the numbers on tarot cards (Rider Waite Deck), which represent Gu Won and Do Hee. For example, which cards represent them? For starters, the 15th card aka the devil. 1+5=6 which is the lovers card. Another odd-numbered tarot card that is representative of Do Hee and Gu Won is the 9th card which is “The Hermit” because let’s be real here, they both were hermits before they met each other. The last major arcana tarot card in the deck is #21…THE WORLD aka GUARANTEED SUCCESS. So this is what God/Lady meant when she said she’s betting on all the odd numbers. It’s the writer’s way of telling us we are going to get a happy ending after all the chaos that will occur. 

One more intriguing number is 17. If you sniff around, you’ll notice that 17 is the number of years that have passed since Do Hee’s parents died. 17 is also the number of the coin locker where Jeffrey and Seok Hun exchange stuff. Hilariously, Gu Won’s passcode to his safe is “666”, which is the number of the beast/devil haha. In the newspaper clipping about the Sunwol Foundation, it said the theater was completed on June 7, 1977 and Gu Won’s name during that time was Chil (7) Won haha. The number 7 is seen as lucky in Korean and many Western cultures. 

MISC

The cross necklace Gu Won wears probably belonged to Do Hee’s past self or was given to Gu Won by Do Hee…..OH I just made another connection…..In “Crime and Punishment”, Sonia gave Raskolnikov a cross necklace. Also, in Crime and Punishment, Sonia was a prostitute and Do Hee was essentially one during the Joseon dynasty…. Kisaeng and prostitutes are basically the same thing haha. It’s also interesting that both Gu Won and Do Hee wear two necklaces, one silver and one gold. I wonder if there’s any meaning behind that.

In the newspaper clipping about Sunwol Foundation, the term 'Sun/Seon' is written in hanja and translates to 'to return/come back.' This element was part of Gu Won's original name, Yi Sun/Seon. Additionally, 'wol' means moon. Therefore, I interpreted 'Sunwol' to mean 'Sun and Moon' or 'Moon That Returns.' In a broader sense, Sunwol can be likened to the Taj Mahal—a building or monument constructed in memory of a beloved. One could also view Sunwol as a place that narrates the love story of the Sun (Gu Won) and the Moon (Do Hee) or as a place built with the hope that Gu Won’s beloved moon would return one day.

Ok, folks, that concludes this very brief TA post. WOOHOO! Sorry if there were any grammatical mistakes or typos, and if this post seemed a bit disorganized. I really have to get to bed and didn't have time to edit this haha. See you all next week maybe!

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

Other thoughts on the episode, now that I've got the Morph/Wolverine stuff out of my system. (Well, it's not actually out of my system, and never will be, I'm just able to shut up about it for a moment.)

I can't believe X-Men 97 managed to speed run Madelyne Pryor, Inferno, baby Nathan and his trip into the future all in basically one single episode.

And it mostly works, I think.

Madelyne doesn't come in as her own person with her own life and then be revealed as a Jean clone, she starts out as a Jean clone, with all of Jean's memories and powers, who truly believes that she is Jean. She embraces the Madelyne Pryor identity at the end - and the end of the episode manages to be a more positive and satisfying "ending" for Maddie than the actual comics story. Maddie is a Sinister clone who temporarily loses her shit when her origins are revealed, but fights Sinister's control and helps Scott save baby Nathan. After Nathan gets sent to the future with Bishop, she leaves the mansion to live her own life, and has a goodbye with Jean where they part on good terms, to potentially return as an ally later. Much better than "now she's an evil demonic witch and that's all she'll ever be and also she's dead."

Inferno is confined to one short hallucinatory session at the mansion, but boy do they make the most of it. The imagery is terrifying, especially an actress crawling out of the TV and transforming into Roberto's mother, and Nathan's teddy bear transforming into a nightmare Xavier to scold Scott. They really went all out. Some of it felt a bit inspired by Akira.

No Illyana, sadly, although Morph does transform into her to try to fight Madelyne (and then promptly turns into Darkchylde when Maddie corrupts them with demonic energy). So teenage Illyana and her Soulsword exist in X-Men 97, and she has already met the X-Men, presumably?

There's also a callback to Morph's experience with Sinister, and Morph even briefly shapeshifts into their Dark Morph form while recounting how Sinister is basically the Worst Guy Ever. Morph also leads the team to Sinister's hideout, remembering the location from their terrible, horrible, no good, very bad time in Season 2.

Pregnant Jean/Nathan's mother is the one who turns out to be Madelyne, so they are sticking with the comics story there. Interestingly, at the end, real Jean and Maddie both discuss how they will never know when Sinister switched them, or even which one of them was Phoenix. It would make sense if the switch happened at the end of season 2, when Sinister took Jean back to his hideout in the Savage Land, Jean was away from Scott and unconscious. BUT that would completely negate all the development Jean got in later seasons - including Phoenix. (Although the idea of Madelyne getting to be Phoenix is kind of awesome). I'd rather assume that the switch happened either at the end of the fourth season, OR sometime between the end of the show and the start of the new one.

But then again, maybe I'm missing the whole point. They both have Jean's memories, it shouldn't matter which one was the clone during the OG series. They were both Jean.

However, it DOES matter very much when it comes to Cyclops, who basically did get raped by deception (not by Maddie, who didn't know, but definitely by Sinister). In one episode, Scott found out his wife had been replaced by a clone at some unspecified time, then had to send his beloved son into the future, possibly forever. Oh, and Jean just escaped from being held hostage and replaced by a clone, and has no idea how long she was there, and how much of her life she's actually gotten to live over the past few years. What an absolutely fucked up situation for them both to deal with, I hope it'll continue to be addressed in later episodes.

The show only has 10 episodes this season, but damn they are making the most of it.

[achaiapelides]

Kit's Diary

Chapter 14

Dear Ty,

I did not write you for quite some time, but that's not my fault at all... Lies. It's totally my fault. I forgot where I put this book and spend four weeks trying to find it. Guess where it was? Under Mina's bed. Luckily Mina can't read yet, so she obviously didn't read what I wrote in here.

Apart of searching for this book, there was a lot of stuff happening this weeks.

Firstly, I had to write some exams. English and History went pretty well, Geography and Spanish, too. With German, I had some struggles, but I think it was good enough to pass. Math, though, was a different story. We were learning about something called vectors, but damn that stuff was so confusing. Why are we learning this? Do they think that before I fight a demon, I stand there and calculate, where the demon is coming from? No. I just stab. Also, I totally failed this exam. We don't have the grades yet, but I don't quite think I want to know them. Also, I had to do a test in physics. I just guessed because I didn’t understand shit, but I apparently I guessed right becauseI got an A in that test. I'm not complaining.

In addition to the exams, we also had to hand in our assignment paper from the history project. You remember the books I told you about? Yes. This project. We chose the book about Anne Boleyn. Stupidly, I started reading a bit too late and only had three days to do the whole assignment. I don't have to tell you that I was awake the whole last night, right? Yeah, not making that mistake again. We also didn't get any grade for this yet, and I honestly have no idea if I did good or not. But I think I didn't fail completely. It's still history, not maths. Lol.

Secondly, I did this hypnosis thing I told you about. Tessa was willing to cast that spell and I apparently told her and the therapist all the stuff that my mind pushed away to protect me. The thing is: I still don't remember it, only Tessa and the therapist got to know it. Originally I wanted them to tell me what happened, but after Mrs Sullivan informed me, that any details might make me remember those repressed memories, which can damage my mental health even more and I guess we all don't want that. So, I agreed that they only tell me a short summary of the events I forgot, without any major details. Tessa told me then that I apparently survived several attacks coming from faeries as a child and also several people from the Shadow Market that tried to assault me. Every time, I told them, a mysterious blonde woman saved me, but I didn't describe that woman further and had no idea who it was. Tessa suggested that it might have been my mother. She also told me that there were other violent people in my memories, but didn't want to specify who it was, only that it didn't seem to be their intention to hurt me, but to keep me safe. Maybe she ment my father because he definitely wasn't the gentlest person on earth.

Apart of that, I also got my official ADHD diagnosis. The sheets really helped Mrs Sullivan and the expert, who joined her, to diagnose me. Thank you, too, I guess. Now, I legally can have more time for exams, for example. Not that I need it. I'm usually not too slow. And if you can't math, more time ain't gonna help you either. I also talked to that expert about you a bit, and he said, that it's actually very possible that you have autism. See, I wasn't wrong! He also told me, that, if we are on speaking terms again, I should encourage you, to also get a diagnosis, even if it won't help you much among Shadowhunter, as it can also ease you mind because you realise that you're not stupid or weird at all.

Thirdly, my friends and I had a sleepover at Cirenworth. Yes all of them. Leo, Sam, Maria, Henry, Hazel and Louise. Henry never visited me, so we showed him around. According to him, the word  "cottage" does not do Cirenworth justice. "That's not a cottage! That's a fucking castle!" Haha. Then Jem explained to us, that legally, Cirenworth is a little bit too small to be a castle, so you have to refer to it as a cottage. But that can't change my mind. From now on forward I will only refer to Cirenworth as our castle now. Anyways, we began our sleepover and watched a few movies, before Leo had the glorious idea to do a karaoke contest. Sam proved to us, that he bears exactly 0% musical talent, Hazel and Louise decided to start a girl group and Leo obviously won, because she's the only one who actually took singing lessons. I, on the other hand, got smacked by Hazel with a pillow, after I sung "Forever & Always" by Taylor Swift a bit too enthusiastically, which, according to her, was very ironic, considering that I am the one who promised to stay with you and then left. Which is fair. But also, just let me enjoy a song goddammit.

Lastly, Tessa and Jem decided that it would be good for me and Mina to see some more of this world. So, we are going to travel around Europe in the autumn holidays starting tomorrow. First we will go to Paris and then to other cities in Europe. But I don't know which. They said it's a surprise. So I'm really excited. But that's nothing against Mina's excitement. She's jumping around the whole day, screaming "Paris! Paris! Paris!" so loud that the mail man looked quite concerned when he delivered a letter.

I hope you also had a good time in the last weeks. Dru told me you visited Blackthorn Hall again with your siblings. And that you have a pet now that eats curtains. Jem also send Church to visit Emma and he came back looking quite traumatized. Now I really wonder what animal your pet is. For all I know it could be an alligator. Wouldn't expect anything less with you. (Please don't let it be an alligator!)

I'm going to end this entry now, as I have to get up early tomorrow to portal to Paris.

Good night!

Love, Kit.

Author's note:

Um... so I forgot to publish the chapter last week and the week before. Oops. And also today is Sunday, not Monday. But I might forget tomorrow again, so here you go. Early chapter!

[spring-lxcked]

GET TO KNOW THE MUN.

NAME.  nicole or aspen

PRONOUNS.  she / they (i sometimes have a slight preference for one over the other day-to-day, but overall either is fine)

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION.  if you need me to respond quickly, IMs are probably the way to go. if you want to have a long-term convo/don't care about quickness, discord (nicolenostalgia) is best!

MOST ACTIVE MUSE.  currently it's obviously this rabbit bastard, but my other consistently most active muse has been kokichi (@takinghisbow). outside of him, i tend to go through periods of strong hyperfixation on specific muses. single muse blogs for me are pretty exclusively for muses i don't intend on taking long breaks from ever (outside of necessity)

EXPERIENCE / HOW MANY YEARS.  i've been rping since i was around 9 (and far too young to be freely online, but whatever). i've been on tumblr since i was ~14, but didn't start rping here until like. . . 3-4 years ago? prior to tumblr i rp'd on forums, via email with individual friends, and on furcadia (my longest experience and very defining for me ngl. i know it's, like, cringe or whatever, but <3).

BEST EXPERIENCE.  i mean, generally just the genuine friends i've made and continue to make on here. but also, to be slightly more specific, few things stand out in my memory as favorite rp moments more than the funny, crack-y, shit-posting times where me and some of my mutuals are just losing our minds. i love running jokes on my blogs, i love being @'d, i just love love love that non-serious sort of interaction sm.

RP PET PEEVE.  if you start public shit/write callouts about someone because they were slightly rude to you or you just don't like them? [cocks gun] (legally i'm joking, but i'm so glad i haven't seen this kinda shit in awhile. save it for dangerous people, please). other than that, i've had Experiences where my frequently-thirsted-after-by-fandom male muse just gets an Onslaught of ppl who will absolutely try to force ship with their OC. it hasn't happened here, but admittedly i'm like. sitting on the edge of my seat LMAO. (like, it's kinda funny but it's hella disrespectful).

PLOTS OR MEMES.  memes tend to be a better starting point for me unless you already have a specific idea in mind OR we're working off of one of our wishlist posts. i have this Thing where the moment someone asks me to plot every single idea i've ever had leaves my head fdkshfsd. the only exception to this is if it's not immediately obvious how our muses would meet. at which point, either plotting OR just specifying something in a meme you send would be great.

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES.  cursed to love long replies, forced to have executive dysfunction lmao. i mean, i love interactions of any length, but i do looooove getting really into my muse's mindset and exploring it. because of mental health, tho, longer thread usually = longer wait for my reply. not always, it depends on my muse. once we're getting 5+ paras, it might be a bit of a wait (even tho i still love it).

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSES.  knee-jerk reaction was to say no abt william lmao. in all seriousness, i'd say. . . we have a similar sense of humor, regrettably. and more than that, i feel like my draw to writing muses in general who "wear a mask" and hide their real personalities has been a bit of an. . . unintentional exploration relating to my own masking. i've a only realized in recent years that i likely have ADHD (and maybe autism?), and the realization that the Me In Public is literally Not Me was. crazy. i think that, even though william is a complete bastard, there's something to writing a muse who is always performing. i mean, before i even understood what masking was i remember telling my mom that being around almost anyone irl felt like putting on a show to pretend to be "normal." so anyway me, kokichi, and william are holding hands (eurgh).

TAGGED BY. @gateway31 ( <3 <3 <3 ) TAGGING. whoever would like to do it!!

[us-the-voices-and-more-voices-2]

"we should be shaming both parties" have you watched any of the footage from October 7th? I'm not talking about the death and mutilation, but the stories and interviews of soldiers and police officers (hell, one Rabbi shot in the face who was out on the streets trying to protect civilians) who were first on the ground trying to respond to the attack?and when they show the actual body camera footage from the attack? I'm in disbelief there wasn't MORE of friendly fire, the situation was utterly chaotic

oh sorry man, I actually haven't.

to be brutally honest, those stories do not make it over-here in Australia and I do not subscribe to any newspapers I read the news though I just don't subscribe to any, why would I? most of them are like so much money and I read them via archival sites anyway.

especially Israeli sites my god why are they all money, I do not have the spare change and the newspapers clog my emails up lol.

I really should start advertising that I am in fact Australian and usually don’t have much news about anything the ABC doesn’t think is interesting. Ugh not listening to sky news or 9 news Ew.

I unironically get my Israeli news from my Israeli moots, lol

(btw you need a tone tag for this I have zero idea what your tone is, if it’s lighthearted or serious or angry I have zero idea. You need to clarify, I usually am pretty good with figuring out tone but it’s a bit confusing. Thank you for your understanding)

We were a bit high strung to shit over the past 2 days, turns out we have triggers I did NOT know about.

And was ping ponging between incredibly suicidal and not, lol we are NOT okay. This happens sometimes!

anyway, I phrased it a bit wrong. I still have a lot of trouble putting my thoughts into text, I have problems lol 😂

genuinely though it’s a freaking miracle I regained so much of my thought and brain processing skills after having covid. I still have BAD episodes of brainfog and I start stuttering and blanking on the simplest of things.

at least it doesn’t feel impossible to think anymore lol, I genuinely completely Forget what I was talking about sometimes. My short term memory goes to shit sometimes genuinely.

I honest to god completely forgot my whole thought process for the first tag, it’s like genuinely unrelated to the rest of them but yeah what I said was actually shitty I realize now.

whoops I completely apologize and thanks for bringing it up, I can admit my faults. I’ve just had a fucking ROUGH 2 days, rough and honestly fully my fault I shall do better in the future.

also do please drop the news articles! I have zero idea which ones your talking about and would love to read more about it, sorry for my actions I’m genuinely head empty right now and have been going through some shit.

this always happens, we get like really emotional and have some of the brainfog and just say bullshit. Because I genuinely forget wtf I was talking about and then also I misread things a lot? So yeah my fault I’ll be better in the future, all the brain stuff usually isn’t THAT bad but when multiple different things are happening at once WOOF the brain stuff is bad.

At least this time it wasn’t a paranoia spiral or something.

long covid fucking sucks + dyslexia + ADHD + dissociation

I really have bad short term memory problems at times.

blanket statement, I genuinely have really fucking bad language processing problems that flare up at the strangest of times.

usually when we are sick or ill, but over the last 2 days we were pretty unwell + having some mental health problems.

I do need to keep explaining this because genuinely it is BAD at times, sometimes I cannot string together a coherent thought or sentence without just fully blanking and taking a minute to actually try and collect my Thoughts.

usually I completely and utterly forget what I was thinking.

it’s genuinely that bad.

I honest to god just forgot what I was going to say, anyway thanks for bringing this to my attention I will edit the reblog as soon as my brain starts working again.

I hope to hear more from you soon!

[happy--birthday--kiddo]

EVERYTHING our lovely blogger here said is so absolutely true.

The Pedro fandom can be sweet, supportive, and respectful. It's a really great community most of the time. But this shit doesn't fall under those things.

People can be super toxic. Sometimes people don't seem to comprehend the concept of boundaries. And I recognize that with that being said, some people genuinely don't see anything wrong with what they're doing. But those are the same people who forget that our beautiful Tio Pedro is human too. He's not just the smiles and silliness we see in interviews, edits, and movies.

While that's clearly a huge part of his personality, he's also spoken a lot about his anxiety and mental health issues. The whole boundary thing can really influence that. He was obviously very close to his mother, and you never truly get over grief, it never goes away. You just learn to live with it.

I can only imagine how he feels every time his mother is brought up by a stranger. A stranger who never knew her, especially not in the way he did. And while showing support for someone who went through loss can sometimes be appreciated, it's never truly helpful, definitely not when coming from somebody who doesn't even have a memory of her, like all the times she made them laugh, or how her smile lit up a room. Spreading condolences for something that happened over 20 years ago is just opening up an old wound. I think people definitely need to back off that subject.

As for his remaining family, I definitely agree that the public needs to chill. First, the absolute lack of respect that people have for his family astounds me. People don't care that Javiera is literally a head of Amazon Studios. People don't care that Nicolás not only graduated medschool, but also is a neurologist. People don't care that Lux graduated from freaking Juliard and is a stunning actress.

Let's face it: a lot of people are just there on their social medias to ask about Pedro. And that's fine, to an EXTENT. But I truly believe we passed that a long time ago. To neglect these beautiful souls' individual accomplishments is saddening.

Another thing that's often overlooked in terms of boundaries is the paparazzi. Now, I'm well aware this is nothing new. It's long been known that paps are frequently disrespectful, greedy, and violating. I mean no disrespect to them, but it's just a truth we need to accept. I understand that new pictures of Pedro, say, walking down the street, can be really heartwarming. But that's until you realize he wasn't smiling for the picture because the photographer was stalking him behind a tree.

A lot of people also don't realize the likely reason he wears the same clothes so many times. As I'm sure most people have noticed, he tends to favor his Lakers shirts and shorts. Average people may think this is just because they're his favorite clothes, but it actually makes the pap pictures worth less money. Repeated clothes make the pictures less shiny and interesting to the vultures. It's a fairly common trick for celebs who want to be left alone.

All the people on the internet demanding more pics of him, eating up the pap pics, and asking for more, they're fueling the paparazzi. It's all just a vicious cycle. The more he's followed and harassed by paps, the more he's going to become anxious and withdraw.

The life of a celebrity isn't as easy as people make it out to be. There's a shit ton of anxiety and fear involved. Pedro already seems to be a sensitive individual. He's soft, gentle. The fanbase needs to reciprocate that attitude more. He's a people pleaser. We need to get better at actually deserving his pleasing.

I'm sorry if this is offensive to anyone, but it has to be said. We dump a lot of bullshit onto this angel. It's easy to drown in the attention. He's done well staying afloat the last few years, but the very least we can do is close the floodgates a little. If I know one thing for sure, it's that the whole fanbase loves him. If you all truly do, please try to lay off just a little. Thank you guys <3

(also I credited the wrong blogger on the first version so I'm so sorry)

We need to talk about....boundaries

Love it or hate it, in this fandom we cross boundaries regularly. We share paparazzi pics, fic (maybe he reads it before he goes to sleep🤷🏻‍♀️), details about Pedros private life, parts of his past, etc that he probably hates to see or hear (as many of us would if someone dug up pics of us from the early 00's). Sometimes we cross lines that ppl may find distasteful or disrespectful. It makes us talk about where the line should be, we argue about boundaries and we reassess....until next time.

Wherever you stand on those issues mentioned, could we just agree to set a baseline?

The one major boundary I feel we, as a fandom, cross too regularly is talking about his familys private life.

Pedro's fame is his and the trappings of that fame should be his to bear and his alone. As shitty as some of them may be, they come with the career he chose to pursue. He has managers, pr and legal teams to deal with that for him. On that note, his family never asked for that for him and certainly did not ask for their own private lives to be shared as a result of his career choice.

Family is obviously hugely important to Pedro. Even though he gives us glimpses into his family life in what he says or posts, we have to appreciate that he is allowing us to WITNESS that part of his life, NOT TO TAKE PART IN IT.

Therefore, I believe that we should follow some basic rules of human decency if we are to avoid annoying or upsetting Pedro or his family;

We shouldn't go on his familys or friends IG Live events to ask about Pedro.

We shouldn't post about Pedro on his friends or familys unrelated posts.

We shouldn't hound his sisters or brother on their social media, behaving as if they are our friends.

Most of all, we should not post about his Mom!

His family have the right live their lives as individuals in their own right, to turn their phones on and connect with people without being constantly asked about Pedro and without being reminded of family tragedies.

Pedro posted this video a few months back. Please watch it and ask yourself if he's seems like the type of person who appreciates his familys loss being talked about openly, pictures of his mother being shared by strangers on social media, pictures drawn of her and his family tagged in them or even her name being mentioned.

Source: Instagram

If you still think he or his family wants to see images of their deceased loved one unexpectedly when they turn their phones on then please take some time to reassess, listen and discuss your opinion on the subject with others.

I'm begging you, please try to have some empathy...for them.

This isn't about you. If you "feel it is your right" then please ask yourself if you would you want to see a picture of someone you've lost suddenly show up on your timeline while your lining up to get coffee or just waking up on your own miles from home?

I don't believe there is a reason in the world to insert yourself into someone else's loss. All that does is serve to feed your needs. It is selfish and wrong.

If I'm wrong and there is a reason why this behaviour is appropriate, please feel free to drop me an anon, message me or reply to this post.

[anon-e-miss]

Ok, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with ur "anti-intellectual" point, but I would like to add my 2 cents to things. Firstly, percy is asked to dumb shit down bc there are multiple times when he's using, like, scientific terms that most ppl wouldn't understand so people litterally have to ask for him to dumb it down so they can explain. That exact scenario has happened to me. Also there is a time and place for infodumping and mid-disaster is not the time, coming from an autistic person. Secondly, I would argue that the reason he's withdrawn in MTMTE and whatnot isn't because he got told to shut up constantly, its b/c he's part of the Wreckers, and the Wreckers did and saw some fucked up shit and they're all fucking traumatized. Preceptor is withdrawn because he's traumatized, and trauma changes a person. If IDW were truly anti-intellectual then Brainstorm would have never gotten his redemption, for example. That's just my two cents, and also I would argue that Swerve is not a "jock." Swerve was a metallurgist, basically he helped protoforms form their bodies after a spark was placed in it, and that had to take a good degree of skill and intelligence. The tfwiki litterally says on his page "Despite this [him having a short attention span], he's quite intelligent and skilled as a metallurgist, analysing the properties of a material with unique sensors in his hands. When he gets caught up in a problem, he becomes almost laser-like in focus and intensity, going on quest after quest, both major and minor." There are a lot of characters that are a lot more intelligent than we would initially know, mostly in specific areas, you just have to read between the lines and not take them and their personalities at face value. That's all I'm gonna say, you are free to disagree, I just wanted to make those points :) I do agree that Prowl could have been handled better tho. The fact that, in his confrontation with Chromedome ,he's supposed to be the "bad guy," despite having EVERY REASON to be pissed at Chromedome, never sat right with me. Chromedome is litterally an asshole, he forcefully took prowls memories without his consent (which is extremely violating,) and I'm pretty sure he did it MULTIPLE times. Prowl litterally gets hurt so many times, like when he got FORCEFULLY MADE INTO A COMBINER (which I think is shown to hurt/traumatize him), and basically never gets any help whatsoever. Prowl DEFINIATELY deserved better. He can still be a rude little shit, just give him a support group and some therapy. Please. Let him have some friends, some healthy relationships, etc. :(

So, in my point of view, nothing you wrote there counters my opinion that the writing is anti-intellectual. Literally the back bone of the comics is the intelligent characters being the villains, the ultimate screw ups, smart people that only ever do dumb, crazy or bad things. They are comic relief. And when the stars should, they don't stop and listen to them.

Soldiers are not by in large stupid people. IDW has managed to portray them as such in a huge way. Most of the intelligence perceived in characters in IDW comes out in fanfic and fan theory more than in the action comics and that also makes my point in it being bad writing. Saying someone is smart as a writer but portraying them as a fool is awful storytelling, the showing vs telling argument.

The violent characters, the dumbass characters save the day, every fucking time. It's so tedious.

I admit to being extremely picky about writing. I was raised by an English professor. And I don't care if it's a comic, I expect something professionally published to do better.

[cordelianewman]

The clip to Cage's voice caused her to flinch slightly, the amount of exhaustion made everything short. She understood his feelings, or she could understand them. How he was tired of loss and grief, that he had had a lifetime and then some that no one needed to experience. It was something Cordelia would never be able to take away that kind of pain, no matter what she wanted to do for him. This was part of his life that made Cage who he was, even if it was painful, and she loved him all the more for being there every single day despite the hard shit. "It's fine." she said when he apologized, she knew this was going to be hard, that it was going to bring up raw memories that Cage didn't want to deal with himself, let alone watch children that he loves go through it. Only she could imagine, she had lost her family in a far different kind of way, one where she hoped someday she could tell Shawn and Cienna that they were so very loved by their parents up until the day they left them. That there had never been any question about it, where as Cordelia would never know that, but it was something she was okay with. Something she had come to terms with, at least in some capacity. Or maybe this happening had made her think about it more than she expected. How could any parent not love their children and she was here bursting at the seams broken for these children that were not her own flesh and blood? Life didn't make sense sometimes, that was something she was finding out all too frequently, that it wouldn't no matter how much time they tried to pull at the fabrics of their life to understand. Cordelia could never understand how two people just trying to make life better for their family would be ripped away from the earth and just gone. "I agree." she said leaning more against the stairway railing now to hold her balance. "Something small, something private. I don't want Shawn overwhelmed, Cienna doesn't even understand but pushing her in front of a bunch of people that we know would show up because of our family's names, that isn't what I want. I want this for them." For Travis and Maddie who deserved so much more than what they had received, for Shawn and Cienna who deserved to not know that life could be so cruel at such young ages. "We'll take it by Shawn's speed. If he wants a dinner after, or if he wants to just do something more memorial and just some time afterwards." It wasn't like she wouldn't make sure he got food to eat but she didn't want to push.

"I can do that, if she'd be more comfortable having a day out." Of course she was more worried that the aunt needed more than just a day out shopping, but she also wasn't one to judge if it was something she couldn't do yet, or wasn't ready. Everyone was on their own timelines, no matter how much Cordelia wanted to help, she had to follow theirs and what they could do. When he went over all the stuff he had done with Rafael she nodded, she was glad that he had someone in his corner that was legally equipped for things and could go to. "Let's give her another day or two before springing this on her, I want her to know that we're here for anything she needs. Even if it's living out of our spare bedroom the next five years." Alright, maybe that was overkill but she'd do it if that helped anything for anyone at this point. "Think Shawn needs Cienna more than Cienna needs Shawn right now." Which someday she knew it would be the other way around and that as a big brother he'd step up but right now, she was bringing a peace to him that he didn't realize when he did get down and play with both Rosalyn and Cienna on the floor with their barbies, she figured feeling young again made his brain shut off just a tiny bit. When Cage asked her how she was doing, she cleared her throat, shifting her body to sit up brushing the hair out of her face. "I'm fine." she said, "I'm just tired. I've always been nauseous when I don't get enough sleep." Which was pretty much her state of being, not enough sleep, nor letting herself really sleep. Needing to check in on everything at any moment, not able to really drop her guard. "I'm fine, really." she said shifting again, "It's not about me." Even if every bit of her wanted to burst at the seams into tears, to scream, cry, yell, she wasn't really sure she wouldn't make this about her grief, not right now. If Cage wasn't, she couldn't or wouldn't either. "I should get some food up to her to make sure that she eats."

There was an edge to Cage's voice when he spoke, a bitterness that he couldn't help as it slipped into his tone, making the words clipped and short, an anger that he hadn't expecting to be harboring in his gut when he opened his mouth. "I've had enough grief for a fucking lifetime." His mother, his childhood without her, being a single parent to a boy who deserved better, losing his father; maybe a teeny, tiny part of him was angry at Travis and Maddie, mad at them for leaving this world, for leaving their friends, their kids -- and he hated himself for that. It wasn't their fault, what happened was horrible, and it wasn't their fault, but God, he meant it with his entire soul -- he had dealt with enough grief to stoke a fire, to burn for centuries, and he didn't want anymore, he didn't want to let himself grieve, even if he knew that he needed to. "Sorry," he murmured after a moment, rubbing the heels of his hands into his eyes and then pushing fingers back through his hair, letting out a breath. "I'm sorry, I know, I just -- when my dad died, I didn't… handle it well. Handle myself well, and I can't afford to do that right now," he couldn't spend every night in a bar, chalking it up to 'reminiscing on old times' with friends when in reality, he was drinking his feelings and trying to cope. He took in another breath, deeper this time, steadier, sitting up a little more and nodding his head; she was right, they were in this together. "We're going to want something small. Travis and Maddie didn't have a lot of family, it's not like dad, we had a line up and down the sidewalk to get into the church, I never shook so many hands in my life," he had been the second oldest son, the one that had been home the most with their father, he had stepped up to do as much as he could until Kellan could take over as 'patriarch,' be the person squeezing shoulders and trying to keep a dry eye. But he remembered the pressure, the stress, the overwhelming sadness, and he didn't want that for Shawn, shook his head. "The kids can't handle something big... a small service, something private, maybe a dinner afterwards?"

Glancing up the stairs behind him, as though he could get some sort of intel as to how the kids' aunt was doing, Cage nodded his head, knowing that it couldn't have been easy for her. Moving away from home, convincing your brother to move soon after, losing him and his wife the way that she had. "If not a doctor, at least a day out, maybe, when she feels up to it. Spa, shopping, nice restaurant, something she wants to do, no kids, just to two of you?" he suggested, looking back down at his wife, and watching as she asked about Shawn, nodding his head, shifting his weight on the stairs to pull out his phone, unlocking it and opening the documents that Rafael had sent over earlier in the day, turning to show Cordelia the signed paperwork they had completed at the end of the summer. "I called Raf. Since he drew up the original guardianship deal for Shawn, I wanted to make sure that we knew where we stood; we have full rights for Shawn until June, which means unless he tells us otherwise, he's staying here with us," if nothing else, he hoped that could provide his wife some relief, flicking through the documents, "he's drawing up a copy of Trav and Maddie's will first thing Monday morning. That should give us more intel on exactly who the kids' legal guardians are, what our next steps should be, but I agree with you. About Cienna. I can't imagine separating them right now, I can't imagine surviving losing my mom without Kellan, without having Lou to take care of and I can't do that to them," he shook his head, setting his phone aside. They could talk to the kids' aunt, explain how they were feeling, work up some sort of temporary custody agreement, at least through the holidays, make sure that the kids were together for that, tackle all of it in the new year when things didn't feel quite so… raw. When everything didn't still sting the way that it did now. They would figure something out, they always did. They were Newmans. Watching as she leaned forward, he lifted a hand, rubbing it gently along her spine, watching his wife closely. While she mourned for Travis and Maddie, for Shawn and Cienna, for him, he mourned for her, too. Cordelia had never been through something like this, he knew that his wife had looked forward to the holidays, her first as an official Newman after so many years of wishing and dreaming, and although he knew that family would always be a sore spot for her, he also knew how important it was. He kept his voice quiet and between them, not just asking about right then and there, but… every moment, every day with this. "Are you okay, baby?"

[raayllum]

(I'm asking a question again, sorry) We know there's is a few years time skip between TTM and S4, meaning Rayllum's separate is longer than they together right? Aaron said that people don't need to read TTM to watch S4. For me, seems like a lot of people in this fandom didn't truly understand Rayla's decision at the end of TTM. So how dose Wonderstorm handle this? I mean they have to tell people Rayla's lie and leaving, solve her self-worth issues and have to make sure audience understand it.

The timeskip period hasn’t been confirmed. It could be anywhere from 3 months to 6 years. We don’t know. I’m personally betting on 6 months to a year. But Rayllum being separated for longer than they were ‘together’ (2.5 months in terms of knowing each other, 1.5 months of dating) doesn’t really matter. It’s sad, yes, but it would have no bearing on the strength of their connection; that shit is Forever. He jumped off a mountain for her and she considers him family. End of story.

The only people I saw who didn't understand her decision at the end of TTM were people not understanding the way grief works in TDP thematically as a whole, which at this point just means they're missing a key part of the show and it is too late. They can be left by the wayside. It's not the show or the crew's responsibility to change itself to address fandom misunderstandings or discourse, so I honestly wouldn't even take that into account. But, in terms of how to communicate what happened in TTM to the audience, let me take you on an extremely self indulgent walk through of how Wonderstorm could achieve all these things pretty easily

The short form:

4x01: lots of political stuff with ezran, establishes that rayla left and callum is presumably looking for her. we don’t see rayla at all

4x02: rayla alone style episode, maybe interspersed with like, vague xadian politics (including some janaya?)

4x03: callum searching, and some claudia / aaravos / viren stuff on the rise

4x04: ends with rayllum seeing each other for the first time

4x05: fallout / hashing a lot of things out. something keeps them side by side (shared goal concerning the dark mage trio, maybe?)

4x08: rayla dips again at a last ditch effort to protect him, but callum’s completely burned through his anger at this point

4x09: full reunion / reconciliation, aaravos gets out of the mirror?

The long (self indulgent) form:

4x01 / 4x02 — Could open with narration of Callum explaining what's happened a bit since s3 in order to parallel s2, and that Rayla is gone / he misses her and is likely but not necessarily looking for her. Another easy (indulgent) way to demonstrate this would be to have a cute and brief happy Rayllum scene in Katolis, only for Callum to wake up and for it to be a memory / dream.

4x02 - 4x06 — plenty of time for the searching to take place, can have Callum or Rayla explaining to others along their journey why they're separated / that they miss each other. If Rayla has continued to isolate herself, her deteriorating mental state will be pretty clear from that alone.

4x04 - 4x07 — ample time for a reunion. I’m personally putting my money on 4x04 ending on a cliffhanger where they see each other again for the first time, as the 4th episode of every season has always been really important for their relationship, with 4x05 being the actual reunion / initial fallout. A lot of what happened can also come out in their argument, pretty naturally through dialogue: “You left me!” “I had to, I couldn’t risk you—” “Oh but you can risk yourself?” as well as the root of where Rayla’s decisions are coming from.

Additionally, Rayla’s decision isn’t surprising to anyone who knows her; it’s the same stunt she’s pulled over and over again throughout s1-s3 with flinging herself first and foremost into danger. More precisely, it was what she did in 2x07, 3x08, and 3x09, all in ways that heavily involved Callum and his devotion/concern for her. Understanding what a character does doesn’t mean it’s right, or that the audience has to agree with it, but simply knowing and engaging with why they’re doing it. 

(Aka yes, I’m at the point where I believe that the only people who can’t understand her decision in TTM are acting in bad faith / likely haven’t been through a lot of grief in their lives. Which again, grief is arguably one of the main themes of the show. You don’t have to know / have experienced grief to understand that. But if they don’t understand that, they probably don’t understand the show and its characters very well.)

Season four is not going to be enough time to wrap up, at that point, four seasons of self worth issues. I’m not expecting it to. What I am expecting / hoping from season four is to see the turning point in Rayla’s journey with self worth. The moment when she realizes she has to choose to stay, and choose life / a life with Callum (possibly in order to also save him, as well), and that she’s worthy of those things. That it’s not always her responsibility and that it’s certainly not her responsibility to do things alone, and that she hasn’t / won’t lose all the people she loves purely because they love her and she loves them. 

4x07 - 4x09 but likely 4x09 for that turning point.

[sleeping-on-cracking-ice]

hi! hope the new year is going well for you so far!! could i request sfw alphabet for karube pls? 🥺👉🏻👈🏻 i really appreciate that you're writing for aib!

You’re welcome! Here’s your request! 🥰

SFW Alphabet | Daikichi Karube

{Alice In Borderland Masterlist}

Character: Daikichi Karube

Genre: fluff

*this is based in real life, not in the Borderlands

A - Affection

(How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

I can definitely see him being quite affectionate

He gives off the vibe that his love language is quality time

He would show affection through just staying by your side

He wouldn’t even necessarily have to be touching you

When you go out for dinner with your friends, he would always make sure you’re sitting next to him

Yeah his affection would come through as just being around you

B - Best Friend

(What would they be like as a best friend?)

He would be so chaotic

There would never be a boring moment when he’s your friend

He’s definitely the loud extroverted friend, so if you’re more quiet and introverted he would like adopt you

Would be so defensive of his best friend, like no one can ever say shit that even potentially hurts your feelings otherwise they’ll take his fist to their face

He would send you countless snapchats everyday of him just doing the dumbest shit

C - Cuddles

(Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

He’s a tall man, so if you’re more small then he would engulf you

Playful cuddles 24/7

Tackles you into the couch when he wants to cuddle

You don’t get a choice, no matter what you’re doing, if he wants cuddles, he’s getting them

He would love to have you sitting on his lap while he scrolls on his phone or watches tv

D - Domestic

(Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

You can’t tell me otherwise, this man is such husband material

Such loving husband vibes

He would do most of the house work when you move in together

So sweet, would always offer to clean up after dinner and help you with the dishes

Cooking wise, I really think it wouldn’t be his strong point

But he would love being your assistant in the kitchen while you cooked

E - Ending

(If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

I think he would be really mature about the situation

If he had to break up with you, he would tell you straight up

It would be the healthiest break up you could possibly have

He would hate to drag you on when he didn’t feel the same way anymore

Would be upset for a few weeks, but would definitely want to stay friends with you after you’ve both recovered

F - Fiancé(e)

(How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

He’d probably want to get married rather quickly

Why wouldn’t he? If he truly loves you, he’d want to give you his everything, including his future

(After seeing how he wanted to propose to the woman from the bar he worked at, even though she was already dating someone else)

Yeah, he wouldn’t rush it, but he would definitely keep it in his mind quite early into the relationship

G - Gentle

(How gentle are they, physically and emotionally?)

Gentle giant vibes

He likes to have his fun being a little bit chaotic and rough around you, but majority of the time he would be gentle, making sure you feel safe and happy around him

Emotionally, no offense, but I feel like he’d be a bit dumb

He wouldn’t know how to handle negative emotions, or you opening up to him about problems

But you would always be able to tell he was trying his hardest

Might say things that he wouldn’t mean or sometimes sound a bit insensitive, but he always has good intentions

H - Hugs

(Do they like hugs? How often would they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Hugs are his most favourite thing in the world

You would never be able to escape his hugs

Back hugs 24/7

Sometimes he would run up to you from behind and just throw himself against your back

Usually only does that if he hasn’t seen you in a while though

His hugs would last forever, he would take forever to let go of you

Tight hugs, he would squeeze you close to him so tightly, you cheek smooshed up against him

I - I Love You

(How fast do they say the L-word?)

Probably a good couple of weeks

When he does eventually say it, it has so much meaning and love behind it

He would probably say it when you’ve had a shitty day and gone over to his house to be consoled

Didn’t even realize he said it until he saw the look on your face

Would say it every day from then, whether it be in person, over the phone or over text

J - Jealousy

(How jealous do they get? What do they do when their jealous?)

I don’t think he would get jealous too often

He’s more of the protective type rather than the jealous type

He trusts that you love him and would never choose someone else over him

The only thing he would act strangely about is if you spend day after day at someone’s house

He would feel a bit neglected and lonely, but would always cheer himself up by hanging out with Alice and Chota

But if some guy was to ask you out when he was there, he wouldn’t be aggressive about it

He would probably just politely state that you’re taken

Yes, much gentleman

K - Kisses

(What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where would they like to be kissed?)

He would live for heated kisses

Like really passionate ones that you would have on a really romantic night together

But he would also adore just the small little pecks you give each other when one of you was leaving the house

He would love kissing you so much that sometimes you would have to push him off your lips just so you could breath

Aggressive kisses all the time though

L - Little Ones

(How are they around children?)

You can’t convince me otherwise, he would make the best dad in the world

Perfect husband material and father material, he’s a deluxe edition

Would love toddlers and could spend hours playing with them

Every kid loves him, there’s not one kid that’s scared of him cause he has the most friendly personality

If you have little cousins or nephews/nieces, he would never leave them alone

Definitely can see him having like 20 children

M - Morning

(How are mornings spent with them?)

Lazy mornings are the best mornings

He most likely sleeps in, unless he has to get up and go somewhere

Takes him like an hour to crawl out of bed

Yeah he wouldn’t be a morning person

You would sometimes have to jump on him to wake him up

Or drag his ass off the bed

But most of the time when you try he just sits up and drags you back into bed with him and cuddles you

He wouldn’t ever let you go, once he has you in his clutch you might as well give up

N - Night

(How are nights spent with them?)

At night I feel he would become more energetic

Some nights you would sit on the couch together and watch horror movies while drinking wine

He would go to sleep late on most nights

If you’re an early sleeper, he would kiss you goodnight then stay up on his own for a little while

But when he finally comes to bed, he would pull your against his chest and fall asleep with you tucked underneath his chin

Wouldn’t be able to sleep without touching you

If it’s too hot to cuddle, he would just hold your hand

O - Open

(When would they start revealing things about themselves?)

He seems like the kind to just be an open book

He wouldn’t have much about himself to hide, unless the topic was super personal

You would be the only person he would tell though

He would become more and more trusting as the relationship progresses

The first time he would open up to you seriously would probably be around 7 months into dating

You two would’ve sat together on a park bench on a late night, probably a bit too drunk for your own good, and Karube would’ve opened up about his personal life

I feel like Karube is the sort to hold his problems in, but they would eventually all overflow and come out after a minor inconvenience happens

That’s what would’ve caused him to share his true problems and feelings with you on that night

P - Patience

(How easily angered are they?)

He definitely has trouble managing his anger

He can sometimes get a bit physical when he’s angry

Don’t get me wrong, he would never hurt you

But if some random guy was to insult you in the street, oh no

Karube would see red

In terms of relationship arguments, he would find it really hard to stay mad at you

Would probably get more annoyed at the fact that he can’t be mad at you when he should be

He’s too sweet and too loving to his close ones to ever hurt or yell at them

If he truly was mad though, would just go on a short walk to get rid of his stress

Q - Quizzes

(How much would they remember about you?)

He would remember quite a bit I think

I mean it wouldn’t be every little detail, but he would remember important things

There would be rare occasions where he would forget one of your family members names or forget your favourite colour

But it would never matter too much and he would always just laugh it off with you

R - Remember

(What is their favourite moment in your relationship?)

His favourite memory he has of you two would be a date you went on when you went to a giant arcade together late at night

He loved watching you be so amused by all the games and laugh your head off at each others jokes

You would’ve been so competitive with each other at the car racing games, yelling and having the time of your lives

Afterwards you probably went and got ice-cream together and sat at the beach underneath the moon

Karube would love this memory because he would always treasure the amount of fun you both had and the constant smile on your face that was caused by him

S - Security

(How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Oooooo boy. Even if someone breathed at you wrong this man would have a go at them

Big strong man coming to protect you

He’s like a barrier, like if someone kind of dodgy tried to talk to you, yeah not today fam unless you want to crack a punch over the noggin’

If you two were walking in an area that seemed kind of sketchy, Karube would pull you so close to him you would practically be on top of him

He wouldn’t ever be afraid to put himself in between what’s potentially going to hurt you/his family, no matter the situation

Although sometimes you do get worried that someone might hurt him really bad one day, but until then Karube will remain as stubborn as he is

T - Try

(How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

Would put so much effort into things it would be ridiculous

Definitely plans anniversary dates like a month before they even happen

Always buys super expensive gifts for you, like jewelry and designer clothing

Likes spoiling his baby a lot

On anniversaries, he would bring you to a fancy restaurant and have a really romantic dinner with you

Then bring you to a club and spend the rest of the night dancing to funky music together

U - Ugly

(What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

I feel like he would forget to clean things up sometimes

I mean he wouldn’t be unbearable messy, but he would just leave the occasional bowl or drinking glass where it shouldn’t go

Maybe a few piles of unwashed clothes here and there

But if you asked him to clean, he wouldn’t argue and would just do it

He would hate doing the laundry, probably would be the only house chore he’d truly despise

V - Vanity

(How concerned are they about their looks?)

Not that concerned

It doesn’t matter that much to him what he looks like

But he would always keep his beard/mustache short

His style of clothing would be pretty much the same every day

If you and him were going out on a casual date though, he would try to touch himself up

Maybe some gel in his hair and a nice jacket to go with his outfit, but nothing too out there

W - Whole

(Would they feel incomplete without you?)

You would probably be his safe space where he can project his daily worries onto

He would feel quite lost without you, because he bottles things up

And not having you around to look after him while he’s emotionally vulnerable would make him really stressed and upset

His negative emotions come out in anger, so he would become a bit scary if he doesn’t share his feelings enough

You would make him feel more grounded and more stable

X - Xtra

(A random headcanon for them.)

I have a feeling he would use really cheesy pickup lines with you

Even after you would’ve been dating for years, he’d still come up with ones he’s never said before

At the most random of times as well

One time he poked his head in while you were in the shower just to tell you a pick up line

It would be such a weird quirk of his, but you would adore it and his stupid pick up lines anyway

Y - Yuck

(What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

He has a thing about cockroaches

Never would he ever touch one, no matter how badly you had to get rid of it

He would be able to take care of spiders, wasps, moths, but cockroaches was where he drew the line

If he saw one, would probably be super over dramatic and spray a shit ton of bug spray on it

In terms of in a partner, he would never be able to be with someone who spent most of their time indoors

He understands that the serenity of home is super comforting, but he would rather be out having fun than staying at home all day

Z - Zzz

(What is a sleep habit of theirs?)

He takes up 80% the bed

Spreads out like a starfish, more than often almost pushing you off

You wouldn’t know if he did it consciously or not, but it would become so annoying if it was distracting you from sleeping

Sometimes you would sit up and just lay across him as use him as a mattress

As he sure seems to fit the space of one

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