#also more foreshadowing because i love implying shit

[shidoukanae]

*rereads Paris and Helene's second meeting for the nth time*

me every goddamn time: THEY HAVE SO MUCH CHEMISTRY HOW THE FUCK DO THEY HAVE THIS MUCH CHEMISTRY

It's so so so SO fun watching this entire meeting and how they both seem to constantly be in a little dance of sorts wherein Paris openly declares his interest in her and Helene keeps shutting him down ("You should come to Kylon. We won't overwork you the way your family does" -> "I don't have time to indulge in a life with people who don't think" -> "well that's good because i think about you so much i can't sleep"-> "and? get to the point already". like jfc he's not fucking vague about this At All).

But the best part is, for offstandish and disinterested as Helene is towards Paris (with her words cold and blunt towards him), it's really hard to deny that there isn't some interest on her part without there really being interest on her part (which is. confusing i know but. in context. oh. my god. she's a queerplatonic icon around Paris and i adore her for it)

My favorite thing to see in this scene is the way Paris reaches for Helene's face, casually brushing the back of his fingers against her cheek and through her hair (while commenting on how being this close to her makes his instincts spike with unease), and the moment Helene downs him she does the same exact gesture to him, lifting up his chin and brushing the back of her fingers against his face similarly. Which. Wow. I need more female antagonists to do this shit it is literally so cool to see.

Also the way Helene and Paris constantly are gauging each other is so neat. The way Helene tells Paris to "not long for what he can't have" (i.e. herself) is so neat. The way Paris is clear about his interest in Helene and she in turn matches that interest by toying with him in a way she's done with no one else in the cast is just. there is sooooo much there between them and i greatly enjoy whatever the fuck kind of chemistry it is they share because it is literally the epitome of what i crave in ships

[verdemoun]

Fun fact, Kieran may have been originally supposed to live longer, at least judging by his many unused voice lines (found on YouTube) and a longer hairstyle which I actually think looks better for him (found on rdr wiki of cut content). Maybe he was supposed to go to Guarma? The voice lines to me suggested going on hunting missions with him but I’m not too sure.

spoilers. obviously

fun fact i have listened to the 2+ hours of Kieran's cut voice lines so many times even my housemates know it and groan when they walk in and i'm listening to it. Did you know one of his cut voice lines for a near miss in a shootout is 'whoo, nearly took my head off!' to foreshadow his eventual demise? And he has several variations of lines telling Arthur to rest with the gentlest tone suggesting he would have been one of the few characters to show concern for Arthur's illness in later chapters? And slightly less relevant but there is a cut interaction in where he asks Jack to sneak him some food only for Arthur to threaten to kill him BUT CALLING HIMSELF UNCLE KIERAN???

screenshots by cad5150

About Guarma, all but confirmed. Here is one of his cut outfits, which I think very obviously suits the vibe of what most of the gang wore in Guarma like compare it to Micah's Guarma outfit in particular. Additionally he has this hood as an outfit accessory: some people think it was intended that when he rides into camp Horsemen Apocalypse there's a moment of the hood being taken off and then the characters having a much more visceral reaction to his eyes being gauged out but personally I think it makes way more sense that he was meant to be in Banking, the Old American Art 'replacing' Sean as an extra gun. Which would have been really cool because I would have loved a conversation where they bring up they're a gun short and it spiral into more reflection on how they're not just a gun short, they're a man down, they lost the 'joy in their lives' Sean Macguire and they were still hurting instead of just NEVER MENTIONING HIM AGAIN other than a few rare character lines.

Side tangent also his scarf is different in his guarma outfit which is it's own essay because if you're going off the blue high honor red low honor theory this so strong implies we could have seen some really cool character development. looking at what the gang were wearing in banking and then in guarma there's no obvious explanation as to where he got it. how cute would it have been if we got a scene where mary-beth gifted him a scarf?? but the also terrifying implication that we might see kieran become less high honour good boy blorbo to someone a bit more morally ambiguous?

I think the question really is how he would have fit in in Guarma, which of course we will never know and considering how much cut content there is about Guarma. Like everyone else in Guarma makes sense: Dutch's descent into immorality being so clear even Arthur questions it, Bill being the one trusted to look after Javier following his rescue, supporting their friendship in rdr1, Micah reaffirming his position as an actual piece of shit in his lines responding to Hosea and Lenny's deaths and complete lack of empathy. Maybe a kieran who is slightly more ruthless and active in shootouts in guarma but also shows compassion for arthur as arthur gets sick? Maybe the attack on Hanging Dog Ranch was meant to be more a revenge for Kieran's death assuming he was taken and killed similarly to his death in chapter 4 (given how much much foreshadowing there is for his death), but just another misery in chapter 6 that hits harder because we have more time to grow attached and see him develop?

Except. Except then we get to cut outfit kieran.

first. hellooooo sailor. but who is this man. who is this man who looks older. and wears a very, very low honour red scarf. and is obviously dressed still as an outlaw, and didn't go live a happy life with mary-beth. is it. is it possible. kieran was not always meant to be doomed by the narrative??

is it possible we would have seen kieran become more loyal to dutch and micah, true to his army abandoning, gang jumping, choosing to ride with the o'driscolls rather than die, immediately 'loyal' to the vdls despite torture because being alone meant certain death, coward nature? or would he have just been a character john could encounter in the epilogue? perhaps shaken by knowing arthur, as one of his very, very few friends, died trying to be a better person and abandoned any effort to be more than an outlaw?

but. but kieran. shirt all buttoned up. scarf on. thick coat. hair slightly feral and wild. why does it looked like you're all dressed up for the cold, buddy? like- like you might have been hiding out up mount hagen.

[mochimochimona]

Analyizing Viktor and Jayce from Arcane, S1 E5 Part Two - Am I ruining this ship for me or what

So Viktor being a genuis because he had "a vision" and just explains how runes and mages work and is that..foreshadowing again? Like how did he got these informations? It would have been nice to have a bit more context, because with that scene from the previous post I might get my tinfoil hat back. Anyway, Viktor is mansplaining Jayce and here is the first thing I noticed, the fond and admiring expression on Jayce's face:

Again, that can be completly platonic still. Am I ruining this ship for me now or what?

Viktors absolutly unfazed reaction makes me laugh so much, god I love this man.

But I think there was a first impulse of reaching out to Viktor, just a short tilt of his hand - to make sure Viktor is alright. And his Question "Are You Sure This is safe" was met by a rather cold "of course not" by Viktor and Jayce is reacting like that and I had to make a GIF out of this scene or else I can't explain what I mean.

So Jayce is staring at Viktor, and he feels guilt and I think he wants to say something but he is also unsure of what exactly to say, because he knows Viktor is right and also has the right to be cold towards Jayce, since he is leaving him alone. I think it dawns on him, unconsiously, that what he is doing is wrong and it's nagging at him. So far no interpretation from my side that Jayce is into Viktor the same way Viktor might be into him, though. I am on the way to ruin my delusion.

Mel is such a strong politican, I love her for her cunning way to get Jayce on her side and manipulating him. Again, Mel is one of my fav Chars in Arcane but I do think they don't have either an equal relationship, nor a deep one at that. It feels rather cold to me.

"You pushed this on me". I think it's nice to see he is struggling and not wanting this, but Mel is REALLY good. Girl you slay queen!

Here he looses his inner battle against playing the politican, the struggle was made so clear and was well portrayed, you could feel it!

Foreshadowing at it's best: "There's been quite the investements" - and Mel said "Indeed, better than expected" - Do you remember Jayce accusing Mel of treating him and Viktor as investements? ohhh what a nice foreshadowing! And here it is made clear that Mel is using Jayce for her own goals. Love myself a good, calculated politican!

Well he does look at Mel adoringly. This scene is also important. Because she makes a move on him, and he says "I couldn't have done it without you"

Wait, that actually makes me mad. He couldn't have done SHIT without Viktor. You asshole, Jayce!

And now comes the most heartwrenching scene I have ever seen in my live. Given the feeling of me that Viktor has feelings for Jayce (we can argue which, can't we?) making the deliberate choice to show us Jayce and Mel doing bed gymnastics (sorry I am german, it's a way of saying here lol) and parrallel Viktor collapsing? This is INTENTIONAL. They wanted us to show what Jayce chose and did not choose. What would have been important and what shouldn't have been important. It is quite the foreshadowing, too, because Jayce will regret his actions - which is a topic on it's own.

The fact, that they put Sky in this scene makes it even more obvious or sus, as you may say, because if you wanted to show us that Jayce did choose poorly it would have been enough to show Viktor alone in his study the whole time, and not with Sky approaching and making moves onto Viktor.

Foreshadowing again with Sky saying "There is always tomorrow, right". rip haha.

Viktor is comepletly uninterested in her, romantically speaking. I think it's not because he doesn't get her advances. I think saying her name "goodnight luisanne(?)" makes it clear they do have some kind of relationship. Her implying "again" makes me think she asked many times and this wording from Viktor is his attempt of being polite and respectful, but drawing boundaries for himself.

Him getting angry, throwing the papers around is a stark contrast to his usual composed nature, I think it's a nice way to show how deperate he is because he KNOWS he doesn't have much time anymore. He gets fainty again and hears voices and sounds, which is again really interesting because there is no shimmer corruption in this situation. So what is that sound? Who is it? IS IT HIMSELF?

Again he coughes blood and I think there are two different kinds of runes in this: the one without the corruption of the void/shimmer and the one with, which is making him go bonkers I guess. Because I have the feeling the old Viktor is actually a mage and using only the runes, not the void. Which doesn't make it any less dangerous but you get what I am saying. I hope.

Him going down and fast cut to Mel and Jayce, who are making out WITH A GALAXY BACKGROUND?????? Wait what AM I SEEING. This is deliberate, intentional again, I don't think the smashing is that good she sees stars lolkek.

Maybe I am interpreting way too much into it, but is that a parrallell to the scene in which Viktor and Jayce are connected in the astral plane (or whatever)? I am weezing.

Also what I do find interesting and I don't have an idea why they choose to frame it like this: The Hexcore absorbed Viktors blood and we can see it travel through it, kinda melting together with the hexcore-DNA while you see a sillouette of Mel (why not Jayce, am I asking?). I am not sure what to make out of that. It could be a metaphor for connection. Like Viktor connected to the hexcore and Mel with Jayce, but it was weird to not see more of Jayce, you know? like why were we so focused on Mel here? Is that a foreshadowing that Mel is a mage, but that won't make any sense to me. And I am asking, because I am here for discussion: Why using this cutting, this parallel scenes? Why do you show us this, anyway? You could have implied them having smash-time, but you intentionally put those two things next to each other. Did you wanted to make us angry because Jayce was hooking up but he should have been with Viktor the whole time! That's absolutly implying you think we think bros before hoes! But that's just a saying, I do think everyone goes for the hoe at some point (respectfully, of course). I am getting a headache, this scene made me mad honestly. I was so hurting for Viktor, he was so alone. And when Mel wakes up, she looks a bit pissed that Jayce is gone, honestly lmao. But not in a way like she is disappointing because she wanted to cuddle, but because I guess she thought she had Jayce by his balls or something (well she did).

The cut to Viktor laying on the hospital bed and Jayce shaking and whipping his leg IS A MASTERPIECE. And honestly, the feeling creeps in...like why do that cut? Why stay on Mel and transition to Viktor in the same camera angle. Do you want to tell us something? You could have done a camera angle from the side, showing us Jayce being panicky if you wanted to show us that, but we get this parallel. This is sus, not gonna lie.

So, @stardust-musings provided me a link with a deleted scene where Jayce was wiping away his crying, if you want to see that, here: https://www.tumblr.com/stardust-musings/767415218102059008?source=share

We discussed that Jayce definetly has a lot of affection for Viktor, which one can be argued with but I do think his reaction in general is really important here, though the crying wouldn't only have IMPLIED Viktor is really important to him but made it clear, because he had an open and really vulnerable reaction here. So with that in mind, his actions coming might him be struggling to find out what Viktor really is to him, because as stated above, this gives off mixed signals. I get you can cry about you "brother/hombie" being in a hospital and dying, given the deep relationship as friends. I think this shot is important to make it clear that the love is there, but what love can be interpreted still and Jayce is figuring it out himself.

And there it is, we have regret showing! Honestly, I do get why you chase to your best friend if he is in a hospital and you get the message. But guilt? Regret? Doubt? Panic? Devastation? Realtalk here because I think this is important: As someone who has had a lot of people in the hospital on the deathbed and so on, I don't think anyone will rush to their bro and leaving their spouse behind (and she didn't even know what was up), without like waking them up and telling them what's up, ya know. You may be panicing, but you are connected to your partner and I think you will share this information and trying to get comfort FIRST (not after you visited). So I would explain to my partner what's up and my partner would come visit with me, too, because I care for my friend but I also care for my spouse, ya know. Him leaving Mel who he slept with the night before because his friend was brought into hospital is really rushed and I think he has a deep connection with Viktor and cares about him a lot, so much so, that he doesn't care who he slept with, because he is more important. But I do think Jayce still is not in love with Viktor. Yet? But it makes no sense to leave Mel there, I mean she knows Viktor too and if you have a connection, you would at least wake her up. Even if it's in the middle of the night. So this is confusing, I have to think about it more. Your thoughts are appreciated. Also sorry for any misspellings, I am tired.

It makes sense he left Mel, because she would have seen him breaking down over his friend and maybe he didn't want to be vulnerable in fron of Mel and Viktor, because he tried to kept his panic together. But again, I find it interesting how they telled us this with these scenes. They wanted to imply, I am sure of it, the first time that Jayce always chooses Viktor. Which is, honestly, a love letter on it's own tbh.

That was Part Two, I will continue tomorrow! I am obsessed with this now lol

[anonymouscheeses]

more obvious shit I wanted to point out but it's more than last time uhhh pt.2 (spoilers for dad beat dad and maybe welcome to heaven. Maybe?)

I love that Charlie just randomly goes into demon form sometimes like here ehhehehe. Also can I just say I love Charlie so much?? She is my favorite and I love her especially in this episode because it feels like the same optimistic Charlie but she was just put in a bad situation. I relate to her a bit TOO much, almost down to every detail like wow. You'll understand later once I get there. But just wow...

LOOK AT THIS FUNNY LITTLE MAN. SPOODER DUST <3 also. Live [image] reaction. Someone make that into a reaction image 🙏🙏

HONEY!!! NEW MEME TEMPLATE JUST DROPPED. (Aka the one guy going crazy trying to explain the stuff on the board iykyk)

OMG... THAT CANT BE CHARLIE... NOT CHARLIE'S EMO PHASE PLEASE BAHAHAHHAHAHA (also love that Lucifer has kept it all these years, if Charlie knew I think she'd be extremely embarrassed. Vaggie would love it probably xd)

HE IS SO GOOFY I CANT- I LOVE HIM SO MUCH ALREADY!!! NEED.

Broskie got character development and is NICE?!? I LOVE THAT SMMM YALL.... LOOK AT HIM!! I am very delusional yes, but I will take this over ass development(cough. Vaggie's "story" in ep 3. Cough).

Imagine this. *holds your hand carefully to help you calm down while talking to your father you haven't really wanted to talk to.* lesbian type stuff ngl 🤯 (relatable)

Angel looking at the gays while being a gay too. HE'S BEING SO KIND TO CHARLIE UGGHH I CANTTT!!(POS) NODDING HIS HEAD, SMILING TO HER, ALSO TRYING TO HELP CALM HER DOWN. I MAY BE ASS AT SOCIAL CUES BUT I NOTICED THIS ONE!! YAA

*SHE IS STILL HOLDING HER HAND. CHARLIE'S ALSO SWINGING IT AROUND NERVOUSLY. I can never get tired of them and will make art soon just you wait.*

COMMANDER VAGGIE! I love that she acts like this is a camp full of tiny kids and honestly? That's not too far off. Sir pentious is at the ready! (glad he's here more often in the episode, thought he would just get sidelined after his first episode but gladly no!) Angel is just surprised. Husk spilled his drink, ON WHITE FUR NO LESS! Niffty of course is on the floor face first. Charlie is just happy to be there yippee!

What is this?? I have no idea what the hell it is at all. Bro is just peepin- it doesn't look like Alastor, even in demon form. And... I can't think of anyone else who could be this. Anyone have ideas or maybe it's foreshadowing? Maybe it was revealed in the 6th episode I don't know I haven't watched it yet. (I am a freak. I don't binge I give myself a day to watch a single episode. Most of the time uhhh.)

WE LOVE A SHORT KING. I LOVE THAT. I LOVE HIM. THE EVERYTHING. HE IS EVERYTHING. LET ME STRANGLE HIM PLEASE. (Lillith and Lucifer's dynamic is 100% Gomez and Morticia but a little more silly short man)

"OH WOW! AN OLDER MAN WHO GIVES ME FATHERLY CARE!" *STARTS TO FUCKING CRY*

I FEEL YOU CHARLIE WAAAGHHH

Oh and there goes the silly guy again! Atp I'm thinking it may be the gal some people been talking about that they've been hinting since the pilot. I forgot her name but she's said to be the big bad of season 1 or probably 2. Not sure if that's what it's trying to imply but here's my little no-thought idea

Lucifer, no...

LUCIFER NO!! THIS IS SUCH AN ADORABLE RESPONSE TO CHARLIE DATING A WOMAN. (ADOPT ME)

AND THEN THE HUG! I GET IM LOOKING TOO MUCH INTO THIS ONE SILLY SCENE BUT I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH AND WANT THIS SO BAD IN MY LIFE.

Niffty really said, "Yes, I do the cleaning."

Get yourself a taller king who is a short king but compared to you is a tall king

Say what you will, but I genuinely want more dad Alastor, someone make an au before I do plsss and @ me 🙏🙏

alright.. now this is where it starts to be relatable and hurt my heart... yayy.... needing any sort of parent figure that actually cares about you than the actual parent who is rarely there? WOWZA! SAME CHARLIE <3 <3 (SO FAR VERY ACCURATE FROM SOMEONE THAT IS IN THE SAME SITUATION)

Alastor is letting her off kindly, atleast in his way. He may be pissed off she brought a shark gang to the hotel and put it on fire, but they were still close friends. With anyone else he would absolutely either murder them or have severely traumatized the person. She's the exception, although I don't think he'd let it off the hook so easily if there were a next time.

A father-daughter embrace! :,)

(This is gonna be messy asf) He wants to know who she is as a person. He always has, and that's definitely obvious, but from a person inside this, they may not know themselves what the other is thinking. To Charlie it was like he never cared and just wanted an excuse to not see her again, acting like he was truly busy as in the start where he made the rubber duck that breathed fire. Sure. But Charlie saw it as him finding ways to not interact with her again. The only times they talk was when it was related to business stuff or other things of the sort. Let me just say this song... is by far my favorite, including the episode. Sure, it's got problems it's own, but this extremely accurate portrayal of what my own situation with one of my parents just stole my entire soul. Yeah I got a bit of tears about to come out, BUT NOPE! NOT TODAY! I don't ever cry during shows or movies so if I ever get teary-eyed, YOU DID SOMETHING. THAT SOMETHING BEING GOOD. This episode was emotional and connected with me on a deep level that I dont think any film has ever done to me, which is weird because I've been actively trying to find one, any one that does. Then to find it in an indie company from a creator who has achieved the dreams that I myself want to one day? That's fucking amazing.

FORESHADOWING! FROESHADOWING! FORESHADOWING! VAGGIE EX-ANGEL THEORY MUST BE CANON AND IF ITS NOT I WILL TEAR MYSELF LIMB FROM LIMB WITH A CROWBAR. LETS GO TO HEAVENNN!!! TOMORROW! BECAUSE THE DAY I PUBLISH THIS WILL BE TOMORROW(FOR YOU TODAY) BUT TOMORROW FOR YOU ILL POST THE NEXT WHAT I CAUGHT SHENANIGANS AGAIN! SEE YA!

[ask-indigo-park-swapped]

here it is!! my part of the art trade between me and @cocoapowderpictures where we draw a piece based on each others Indigo Park AU!!!

since i love murder mysteries, and in particular, the Benoit Blanc and the recent Poirot movies, i thought itd be really cool to try drawing Cast Chronicles in the style of a movie poster!! since im also using my achromatic askblog style, i decided to go wild with it since i didn't have to worry about colours as much.

cocoapowderpictures's part of the art trade was already posted and looks cool as shit check it out here!! (if you like my art and want to see more also check out my main blog @niftukkun !!)

some details im proud of under the cut!! :

- if you look in the penumbra shadows you can see bits of foreshadowing!! (haha. foreshadow.) since we still dont know much of how lloyd and salem dies i decided to keep them vague and not actually alluding to the actual death part, just to them in general. finley and mollie however do reference what we know of their deaths - rambley and salem are the only ones whos faces are completely covered and that was very intentional since they are implied to have known something the others dont :)) i love scary ominous foreshadowing - lloyds face is also somewhat turned away because as the second to last to disappear i think hed have some idea of whats happening. maybe not the full or even accurate idea but i think hes clever enough to have known hed also disappear sooner or later - my very clever use of red!! initially i didn't want to use colour at all but when the piece was close to done i tested putting red on the edges and really liked it so i decided to put in some symbolism!! a story whose name is covered in blood (as murder mysteries often are) and clueless characters in the dark, only seeing hints of the truth until its too late

heres some of the initial sketches cause i think theyre funny

[the-alien-stage]

This round has left me speechless. I watched it twice, with subtitles on and one without and so now let's get straight into the analysis. My hands are still shaking.

To begin, the human experimentation isn't as touched on as we thought, however it DOES foreshadow what the fuck is gonna happen in Luka's round. That, at least, seems to be what they are building up to.

This melody they have eeriely resembles what Ivan had for his round, which makes this all the more tragic. The lyrics themselves, however, are a mix of the two boys. Both of them had love songs, but Till's portion is more rough around the edges with it like his song while Ivan is straight to the point.

While they don't focus on human experimentation, it does seem to look like there was an intermission phase where both of the boys were advertised. This shows a soft moment between the two as Till lays unconscious and Ivan huddles up to him and does a very awkward cuddle.

Now, getting to the part where we all kind of lost our shit. Ivan sees the scoreboard off screen, looks at his mic and the Till and throws it as he walks to Till and makes out with him. This isn't an exaggeration, as a kiss implies one but he does multiple.

Till at first doesn't realize what is happening, he is still very much traumatized and zoned out over what happened to Mizi. Even the aliens that are caring for him seem to be hanging it over him. Whether they know his feelings for her or are just doing it because he is another contestant, who knows.

However, once he gets a handle on things, he pushes Ivan away who comes right back. This is when Ivan "chokes" Till and this, I took note of. Ivan does a specific hold, a safe-choke hold, when choking somebody that isn't actually choking the person. He purposely does this to protect Till and to fool the audience. This is when he begins to get shot at, the entire time his eyes are on Till.

I think it's also important to mention that they are wearing black and white, complete contrasts. However, it mimics Sua and Mizi who had the same fate. Sua and Ivan even had an interaction before all of this at Anakt Garden where Ivan made fun of her wanting to sacrifice herself for Mizi, and yet he shows himself to be a hypocrite as he smiles at Till before closing his eyes one last time.

Till has advanced to the next round to go against Luka and quite frankly, I'm terrified on how it's going to end. Mizi is a peace keeper but Luka was able to push her to violence. Till also has a personal vendetta against the blond for pushing Mizi. This won't end well.

Finally, for those that didn't watch till the end (HA), Dewey and Isaac are freaking out as their walkie-talkie system seems to be going off because Hyuna got injured. Mizi is fretting over her as she tries to stop the blood flow but it does seem that they have gotten caught.

Theory wise, I'm going to think that Hyuna is going to make Mizi a. Run or b. Hide to protect her as she gets taken away, and that's going to get her into Round 7.

Okay bye, I haven't emotionally recovered from Round 6 sorry pookies

[fraudulent-cheese]

For the ramble prompts, 1. And 7

You're very lucky as i actually have access to my computer currently!!!

I'll pick 7, as i've already seen some people point out the differences between the twins but NO Staci analysis posts!

So. Staci. What the fuck is up with her. Why did she think lying about her family on a consistent basis and not helping in challenges would work? How exactly did that make her think it was the best she could do, to the point she thought she "was doing so well" (quoting her at her own elimination) after that first day?

I think Staci's goal while on the show was to win via social game - or at least, make friends on the show. Her lying could be due to either 1. wanting attention from them, so she started making shit up to make herself look more important or 2. she actually believes what she says and just wants to impress people with her family history. I don't think i can conclusively say which one canon's leaning into? Realistically, her exaggerating her family's achievements is the more likely option, but her actually believing them would be more tragic.

HOWEVER. Just looking at her one episode of content + her audition tape isn't enough. We need to look at her contestant biography.

YEAH IM GOING THERE! If you weren't aware, for the first 5 (6?) seasons of TD as well as TDRR, there were official biographies for every contestant depending on the season, all of which were available on the official (now defunct) Total Drama Website. I'd consider the information featured in all but two of these biographies canon, as they either came from the official website (ROTI + WT), the Teletoon site (TDAS + TDPI) or from Total Drama: Totally Interactive! Im unsure about the canonicity of the Action bios and the TDRR blurbs (because yeah. they're just blurbs. sad.) as they were released only on Cartoon Network's site and the Action bios have... inconsistencies with other sources, let's say.

Thankfully, Staci was lucky enough to be a gen 2 contestant, so she gets the most detailed contestant answers biography model, so i can get alooot more info out of them.

I'll get the smaller observations out first:

In her last answer, she mentions her great-great-aunt Mildred and how she "told the first lie." I could look into how this could be Staci's least favorite relative (as she does seem to value truth/honesty), but also what if that's Blaineley? Her legal name's Mildred after all! It would be really funny! We need more "Staci and her great aunt Mildred" content STAT

She seems to really like pop music

The only answer not related to lying or to her family is the First Job question, instead it's foreshadowing to her elimination

Now, for a larger one: She barely talks about herself in these answers. Sure, she answers the questions, but she spends the vast majority of her time talking about her family instead. She manages to link the fucking Favorite Color and Food question to them! Her love of her family is made very clear here. Knowing about them is literally what she picks out as her Best Quality!

...but only her distant relatives. No mention of closer grandparents, sisters, nephews/nieces, aunts/uncles, and only a single indirect mention of a mother. Only distant, mostly older family members and cousins. And she had to have met some of them! Her Craziest Dream answer describes a dream where her great-great-uncle Charlie was telling her lies, implying they've met and talked before! So where's the mention of her closer family members?

I'd say it's because if those family members are further away, or if they're dead, it's harder to fact-check what she's saying so her peers wouldn't find out it's at best an exaggeration and at worst an outright lie.

I think the answers that show this the most well are the Best Memory and Most Embarrassing School Moment, her presentation on an older family member and realizing the topic was a lie.

This feels like something that would happen earlier in life to me? Maybe primary school level, or even earlier. If she made her entire class project on it, she had to believe in it, right? Despite how absurd that notion is! This indicates to me that Staci was/is very naive, and her love for her family started in childhood. She seems very interested in her own family's history, to the point of exaggerating their accomplishments; maybe her great-great-aunt Lois created a plate design patent or her Great-great-uncle Jason simply looked into the history of the letter E, so either Staci exaggerated them to seem more interesting, or her family members would exaggerate these achievements at family reunions as jokes or something and little Staci just believed them.

Im also unsure on her family being good or not... her Dream Date answer is apparently Richard Nixon because she'd want to learn more about his life, specifically citing that he "reminds [her] of [her] third cousin once removed, Andrew." If you know anything about recent US political history, that is not a good thing. This also shows she has some interest in politics/recent history/other people's lives! This girl does have interests!!!

And this is where i bring up the Favorite Movie answer. The movie it's based on, according to the wiki, is "The Invention of Lying", a 2009 movie. skimming the Wikipedia article, it's a romantic comedy film about a guy with the ability to lie in a world where people can only tell the truth. He first abuses this power for selfish gain but in the romantic resolution decides to not lie to benefit himself and lets his love interest actually choose to be with him.

I think the reason why Staci likes this movie so much is the romantic resolution; this is what she'd want to happen if/when she'd reveal how her family's achievements are either fake or exaggerated to her friends, and they would stay. That she'd get people interested in her with those lies, before actually being honest with them when they're closer... But it never happened with anyone on the show.

TLDR, i need this girl to realise she doesn't need to lie so much about her family for others to like her, as hiding behind masks won't get you any real friends. Something that applies to the majority of the roti girls, actually.

[caffeinatedattorney]

Okay so there are two tapes in game where Harvey speaks.

The first tape Harvey appears in is (#10) where Harleen and Harvey appear. She complains to him about Crane's experiments, implying Harvey's partly responsible for his presence there? and that Harvey trusts him. Apparently Crane is there to help Harvey in court and evaluate inmates. He says it's a necessary evil and he tells her to kick rocks.

The second one, tape #13, is interesting. It's found in the ship where you find out Harvey is the rat king near the console. The tape starts with Harvey asking Crane for help. But then...

HARVEY: I just... I-I lost it. You shoulda seen the police photos. This bastard didn't just beat his kid, he starved him! Kept him locked in a closet for six months. Eight years old, fighting with this- with the rats over scraps of food. When the cops finally freed him, his kidneys had failed and his heart was scarred by infection.

Foreshadowing. And guess this confirms for me that Harvey becomes retraumatized by his job and knows it but won't quit.

CRANE: My goodness. Harrowing stuff.

HARVEY: And his dad has the nerve to take the stand and tell the court his kid deserved it? Piece of shit's lucky I only took a couple of swings at him. Besides, I might've just torched my whole career.

CRANE: Oh, I doubt that. You're a hero in the papers. "Two-Fisted DA Decks Deadbeat Dad." The public's behind you on this.

HARVEY: My own dad's to blame for my short fuse. But I can't lose my temper like that again.

CRANE: Your father? I'd like to hear more about him.

So Harvey had been having issues waaay before Batman was in the picture? (Also Harvey sounds so sinister saying "Piece of shit's lucky I only took a couple of swings at him." Love Troy Baker's performance and how Elijah Wood gives this impression that he's just letting Harvey talk to examine him like another one of his tests subjects-- i mean patients.)

And it's BTAA scarecrow and Harvey again, but Bruce isn't there to help

HARVEY: You really think this stuff will help?

CRANE: Early trials are quite promising. Now, hold this, hold it- There you go. And take three deep breaths. Good.

HARVEY: *Inhales loudly*

CRANE: I want you to consider that your recent outbursts may be stress -induced. Building a case agaisnt Carmine Falcone clearly had you burning the candle at both ends.

HARVEY: Well, tell that to the press. All i hear about is how "the batman brought down the Roman Empire." We worked together, y'know. Me, him, Gordon, too. [laughs] Ah, I'm starting to lose my cool again.

Harvey's voice is way way lower. Okay, Harvey is mad about someone else taking credit. Guess that explains his reaction to seeing batman again. More ppl taking advantage of him.

CRANE: No, no-no-no, that's good. Good. We've already touched on how much you've been repressing. Themore you try to contain your shadow, the more that aspect of your psyche starnates and festers. We need to bring it to the light.

HARVEY: [almost a whisper?] Drag if out of the darkness? That's what I've been trying to do with this whole city. Too many trials. Too many appeals. Better let fate judge. Fifty-fifty, like flippin' a coin. Better odds than my old man gave me.

HARVEY: No, it's um, getting worse. The headaches mostly.

CRANE: That's only a function of your conscious mind giving way to your shadow self. As it rises to the surface, your awareness becomes fuzzy in a neurological sense as you grapple with the--

HARVEY: [as a whisper? / hiss?] That's not it. It's never been this bad. Gilda is scared. And I am too.

OKAY so, Gilda must have left at some point because Crane is making him worse. He already believes in the coin. This Crane is so interesting thinking talk therapy is universally effective with dissociation and trauma. He seems to genuinely believe in what he's doing.

CRANE: you fear becoming your father. You fear you'll assume his worst traits as you get older.Please: sit. Have a sip of water. Good, good, good. Listen thins always feel more intense just before the real healing begins. You are making remarkable progress.

HARVEY: We.

CRANE: Hm?

HARVEY: 'We' are making remarkable progress

CRANE: Of course, Mr. Dent. This is good for both of us.

So, safe to say, Crane caused this lmao.

Also, In the tape between Arnold and Harley (#3), Arnold has the same symptoms as Harvey but he doesn't seem to have the puppet yet until she encourages her to do so? so unless i'm missing something, it kinda seems like Crane's treatment is the one causing DID like symptoms.

Okay, I heard the tape between Joe and Thompkins (tape #8) and it seems everyone gets headaches so it's not DID per se. (also Leslie used to have a free clinic in park row and a crisis center for kids. idk if at the same time or the same place, tho)

LESLIE: Any other complaints?

JOE: Just some reactions to Dr. Crane's treatment. Headaches. Can't remember some stuff.

Okay, next part.

HARVEY: Doctor, I wanna stop the treatments.

CRANE: But why?

HARVEY: Why? What the hell happened to your lab rat this morning?

CRANE: it's the unfortunate reality of medical testing that on occasion we have to put an animal through a measure of discomfort in order to-

HARVEY: The shit you got me breathing melted its fur off! Melted its skin.

CRANE: Mr Dent, the individual chemicals in this solution are heavily corrosive but, when properly diluted they are intert and stable.

HARVEY: Inert and stable? I-I-I don't know-

CRANE: Harvey, Harvey. I've been reviewing our recorded sessions and i'm confident you're on the cusp of a major breakthrough. Trust the process. If not for yourself, then do it for Gilda. Doesn't she deserve a healthier, happier husband?

HARVEY: [basically a growl] Crane, if my symptoms don't resolve soon, I'm out.

CRANE: I understood. You're making the right choice. I'll prepare the dose.

This is insane. There's... so much here. Crane manipulates Harvey into using the treatment bc Harvey loves Gilda so much. Harvey was aware of what that thing could do (adding humiliation to having his own face burnt off by some malone?) This must have implanted the idea in his head about being a lab rat and staying one forever bc of his self doubt and letting it get this far.

I wonder if Crane's treatment actually fucked him up the way something like, idk, joker gas would, rather than that darkness coming solely from Harvey? but then again, Harvey beat up a man in court in front of everyone so it wasn't that big of a step.

TLDR; Everything is kinda Crane's fault.

[violivs]

NMTDaily: Makeup Tutorial feat. A Special Guest!

- Real interesting time to be watching this episode right now. Someone gave me the feedback that it’s kind of cool that I’m so behind on my liveblog because it means you all get to read them and look back on older episodes through the lens of the ones NMTDaily is currently on. I’m really understanding that with this episode.

- Hero is a little angel. Using “sneaky filming techniques”… like hiding a totally different video in the bloopers for this video, mayhaps?

- Claudio is here! He’s the special guest.

- “Dear Claudio” and “my boyfriend does my makeup” - the Hero/Claudio relationship has gone to the next level of official.

- Tea is a love language in this series. Claudio coming in with tea for Hero because he’s trying to impress her is a direct parallel to a later scene where Ben has already made Beatrice tea and they’re sitting in his room with their cups as he tries to comfort her.

- Hero and Claudio’s mugs are plain block colors, showing that they don’t really know each other at all, in comparison to the fact that the mug Ben will choose for Bea is Game of Thrones themed and is her favorite GoT family crest. Because he does know her. (I don’t know GoT well enough to be sure which one, or if they’re even called family crests. Sigils? Anyway.)

- (Also, I can’t remember, is “everyone deserves tea” a Hero line, or is it a Jane Bennett from the LBD line? It could go either way. Kind of the same character archetype, different font with those two.)

- Hero and Claudio are very blushy and nervous around each other. There is no easy rapport- this is still big emotional surface-level crush territory.

- “Just gonna admire the artwork in progress” The first of many subtle lines that show how Claudio sees Hero as a prize, a pretty thing to look at and possess.

- We’re also doing some light reinforcement of heterosexual gender roles: the man is utterly clueless about makeup while the woman knows exactly how to apply fifty different products. Claudio is okay with looking like an idiot in this video because he’s a guy, he isn’t supposed to know anything about makeup. If anyone else made Claudio look foolish regarding any other topic, we would see the sullen, angry side of him come out.

- Fun fact: ya girl is exactly as clueless as Claudio, I wouldn’t have known that wasn’t foundation without the footnote Hero puts onscreen. Or without reading the packaging. Gender roles are fake! I know I could do nicer makeup than Claudio, though, lol.

- Yeah, letting someone who has never done mascara before near your eye with a mascara wand is some scary shit. This shows just how much Hero trusts Claudio.

- “ya wanna know how I got these scars?” I mean, Claudio actively invoking The Joker is extremely on the nose, but it does count as foreshadowing his villainy, so I will mention it. The smiles he causes Hero to smile now will turn painful soon enough.

- Also! Remember that at the costume party, Benedick is Batman. Ben is Batman, and Claudio is Joker.

- Hero kisses Claudio on the cheek, leaving a lipstick stain, and he deadass says “jokes on you, now I look like a ladies’ man”. Because it’s perfectly okay for him to BE a ladies’ man, to show interest in other girls. Men get to do that. It is not okay for Hero to even be implied by a third party to be showing interest in other guys, because women must be perfectly faithful or branded sluts.

- The eyeliner! He writes his name on her cheek. The most direct, on-the-nose statement of Claudio’s view of Hero. “Now people know who you belong to.” Who you belong to. Spine-chilling.

- Hero is right to punch him for that. Interesting that he apologizes for saying it.

- Just the genuine fear on her face about seeing her makeup look, though. And the “Claudio, what have you done to me?” Said in laughter, in a moment of happiness, but also a totally valid line for her to say again later in a much more devastated way. (She doesn’t say it again later, but she could.)

- It IS very sweet that he won’t let her say she looks like a monster, that he keeps telling her how pretty she is and kisses her forehead.

- “The fact that you’d still kiss me now says a lot for our relationship” No, Hero, your boyfriend still liking you when you’re looking goofy is the bare minimum! He should!

- “Your turn” and all she does is put guyliner on him. The minimum level of makeup to not be embarrassing, to still allow him to think he looks sexy. Claudio’s masculinity must be maintained. He does have lipstick on in the following close-up shots, but that could be from kissing her, so plausible deniability.

- “Maybe you could do my makeup for my 16th?” *dun dun DUNNN*

- Hero is back, looking lovely again. She’s going to post outtakes.

- Beatrice is predictably disgusted both by this video and the prospect of outtakes, giving Hero a reason to post the outtakes on Ursula’s channel. Handy.

- “I’m sure one day even you yourself will watch that video” Says Hero, thinking to herself that one day Bea will see how her friends played matchmaker for her and Benedick, and she’ll be happy about it. Very optimistic, Hero. (She also does just mean ‘someday you’ll be in love like this and you won’t think it’s gross.’)

- Beatrice and Hero edited this video together, because Hero knew Bea would hate it, and she needed Bea to swear never to watch the makeup bloopers video. The plan moves along swimmingly…

- In the comment section, Benedick himself is plugging his own response video, “Disgusted” by dropping a link with “that was so disgusting! watch my video if you agree!” I love the character comments.

- If I didn’t know this was a Much Ado retelling, I’d think Ben needs to learn boundaries. The girls already told you to leave them alone, their comment section is not the place to plug your channel, mister. As it is, though, it just screams “hey Beatrice, I thought the makeup video was disgusting too, just like you did! Notice me! Pay attention to me!” This nerd. So obvious. And he genuinely doesn’t even know he’s doing this. Wild. It’s also great that Hero and Bea’s response is to completely ignore him, lol.

- We’ll also see in upcoming videos that Ben’s comment is a reflection of his insecurity about losing Claudio as a friend now that he has a girlfriend.

- Plus, the comment linking his video lets Hero know that Ben has also taken the bait and will not be watching the bloopers video either.

- In the rest of the comment section: many people gushing about how adorable Hero and Claudio are, some people doing so with a tinge of sadness because they know what’s coming, praise for how natural the acting feels in this and all the episodes, and folks picking up on the hints of Claudio’s possessiveness.

- Mooble1325 hits the nail on the head with “they strike the right balance between making him sweet enough that hero would believably like him and already showing that touch of possessiveness that John plays on so well”

- There’s even a comment saying Hero/Claudio are cuter than Jane/Bing! It was always very interesting to compare and contrast different LIWs to each other, I love that.

- Someone also compared Claudio to the youtuber Jim Chapman, and I had to think very hard before remembering who that is. I think there’s a slight blond-white-dude resemblance, it just trips me out to remember how many youtubers I’ve forgotten existed over the years.

- Hero in the video description urging us again to watch the makeup bloopers, you won’t regret it! This will be plot-important! The game is afoot!

💖🥭🦩

[subway-boss-jericho]

You seem to be someone that likes foreshadowing. Do you look forward to sharing a specific scene in your story? Like snippets that have you crazy?

Complicated question,, Both yes, and no.

Yes, because I love writing in a way that implies something specific or with the intent to imply something specific while also not directly telling you What it is. Any friends can and will confirm the great joy I derive from ✨exploring the implications of things.✨ There is a shit ton of stuff in the first chapter that I put in there very deliberately while also avoiding telling you enough about it to Get It, and I've been dying to peel back the layers and show you my cool ideas.

On the other hand, I don't really have a lot of specific scenes in steady tracks that I want to share. Steady tracks started as the first chapter, with me having this super vivid vision surrounding my pokemon!Ingo design. I made the prologue to help the narrative flow better, and everything else has kind of been me trying to build from there. I don't have a lot of scenes set in stone particularly far in the future because I'm still not exactly sure where I want the plot to go or how I want to Get from point A to point B. There are a few things I am definitely excited for- Mainly getting other characters into the plot because that shit's Fun -but as of right now I don't have a lot of crazy plot twists or mind-shattering reveals in the works. I'm mostly just excited at the prospect of slowly introducing you all to the new normal for Ingo and what, exactly, that means, alongside the other worldbuilding and characters :] A lot of the things I'm excited about have to do with learning more about Ingo

I really like writing haha,, As of now, the future of Steady Tracks is super open so far as major plot beats and such. We're just gonna see where the tracks lead!

Thanks for the ask!

[mischief-lies-and-stories]

Analyzing Loki's Love Interests (Canon and Foreshadowed and Not-So-Canon)

As always, spoilers for Loki, a multitude of comics, and the MCU. I'm focusing on primarily canon love interests and implied to potentially become canon love interests, with one glaring exception because I think they deserve to be included here.

Women Love Interests

Amora: leads Loki on and then betrays him (Where Mischief Lies)

Lorelei: betrays Loki in Agent of Asgard at least twice (and she's made appearances as Loki's love interest in other comics, too, but none that I've read). It should also probably be noted that Amora and Lorelei are sisters and both have also dated Thor in other comics.

Wanda: brief but a bit of a lead-on in Scarlet Witch 8. I wouldn't say she betrayed him, though.

Leah: they're children, mostly, so there's not explicitly romantic scenes. But Kid Loki is the reincarnation of his previous self, and Leah is a clone of Hela (which makes things weird, since Hela is inconsistently acknowledged to be Loki's daughter in the comics). Leah essentially betrays him, too. (Journey into Mystery)

Sylvie: Of course, she betrays Loki at the end of season one. On the one hand, it may be worse, because unlike all but Lorelei (of the comics I know), she led him on to the point of actually kissing him. Now, I will concede that she doesn't actually lead him on throughout the show (by my definition at least), so in this, she's certainly better than Amora or Leah. I think a few times she tried letting him down gently. But if you only look at the point of betrayal, I believe she and Lorelei are the only ones who kissed him, though Amora may have, too.

Men Love Interests

Theo: The only canon male love interest on the list; trusts Loki, believes he's better than the stories say, sympathizes with him and his feelings of being outcasted. He's courageous and determined and snarky, but with Loki he's ultimately soft.

Mobius: He knows Loki, from an academic standpoint, probably better than anyone. And then he gets to know Loki off paper, so to speak, and it rewrites everything he thought he understood, about this specific person, about himself, about reality itself. But his compassion remains, his kindness remains, and he directs it toward Loki when he needs it most. And he discovers he believes in Loki, and his potential, and his ability to dismantle everything everyone expects of him, at a moment when Loki's not even sure he believes in himself. And the trailer for season two means one of two things: One, if the Mobius from the finale is not our Mobius, then Mobius very quickly moves heaven and earth (or rather, alternate timelines) to get to his Loki. Or two, if the Mobius from the finale is a memory-wiped Mobius, then even when he doesn't know Loki, he's still determined to help him. (Or Loki was able to restore his memories, but even in the finale we can still see this care Mobius takes with a frightened stranger.)

Thor: I think the way Thor feels for Loki is clear (whether you interpret it as brotherly alone or romantic). In Ragnarok, you have his line "I thought the world of you." And you have the many times in the comics Thor claims him as his own. "You are my brother, and I love you." In Original Sin, it's so interesting to hear their language very subtly cause a conflict between them. When referring to Angela, Thor always says "our sister" and Loki always says "your sister." To the point that Thor actually calls him out on it once, though I don't think Loki really addresses it. And I think Loki's wording is an attempt more to distance himself from Odin and all the shit he caused, and now Freyja, too, after the betrayal of the All-Mother in securing Old Loki's promised future at the cost of Loki's penance and redemption. And then you have that moment in King Thor, my favorite comic panel, when the Necrosword is swallowing them in darkness and in the very last moment they reach for each other. Because Thor will never give up on Loki. And, try as he might, Loki cannot hate Thor. Not permanently.

I feel like Loki's writers, when they give him these women lovers, almost do it to spite him. They think this is the only type of woman to catch Loki's attention and that haha, Loki's been outmatched by a girl (if misogynist) or diva (if they worship the ground this woman walks on). This idea that the only interesting or believable romantic subplot for Loki is with a woman who will ultimately turn on him. Once again, in all aspects of his narrative, Loki's stuck doing the same thing over and over again. Except this seems like the one thing all writers are willing to let him keep up the cycle, and be seemingly okay with upholding the cycle.

In the case of canon, an argument could be made about this kind of woman (and all of these women are very different except in that they betray him eventually) being Loki's type. There's a rather sick sense of irony in being aware of the narrative, yet being so attracted to a certain quality that he keeps sowing the seeds of his own destruction even in knowing how it's going to end.

Of course, like I've said, this doesn't mean Loki can't love a woman. This doesn't mean I don't want Loki to ever have a girlfriend. I just want Loki to have a love interest for once who isn't going to hurt him before the novel or issue or season ends. I don't even care what gender they are. I just want him to be loved. Because he keeps insisting that he isn't and that he's incapable of it. And I'm tired of that story. And I think he might be, too.

[clonerightsagenda]

Arcane Finale

Ok, let's see how this goes. The fact that I haven't seen spoilers on my dash yet makes me think not well

How was Jinx holding her head up with this much hair? I'm imagining washing it… yikes.

Wonder how disorienting it was for Ekko to come back from the AUverse and see Jinx with short hair.

What is Ambessa and Noxas going to war over, exactly? I mean I know she wants hextech, but what's her excuse? Does she need one? Piltover is a major global commerce center, are we ignoring geopolitics right now.

Are they railgunning shipping containers at the ships? Sure, why not, I guess, if you're a shipping center that's what you've got.

Maddie was a mole the whole time? That's lazy tbh. It means now Caitlyn doesn't have to wrestle at all with cheating on/discarding her girlfriend as soon as her core love interest comes along, and also generally treating her like shit.

This better not be what they do to Sevika

Does Caitlyn still have the knife in her gut? She shouldn't pull it out but she's moving pretty fluidly if she has it in

I'm sorry I just don't buy Viktor going full eugenics. But I still don't know whether the show wants me to believe that it's him.

"I see your face, deceiver." Is this supposed to mean something to me. Is this LoL lore

So the Noxian military just 100% switches over to Mel immediately? That's convenient

"I'm always with you. Even when we're worlds apart." That's not an ominous line of foreshadowing at all

Are we really going for killing Jinx's dad a fifth time

This is so stupid U_U

Jinx and Vi having their Family Drama which is briefly interrupted by the Gay Exes Drama. Ekko is also there

"You always wanted to fix what you saw as imperfections." Idk I don't think Viktor was ever fixated on "imperfections", he just didn't want to die

Did Ekko not get grabbed by the hivemind beam because he spent time in another universe? Jayce needed physical contact to be brought in

I'm glad Ekko survived going more than 4 seconds back but… how? Guess he's allowed if it gets destroyed right afterward so he's not op

So hooded figure WAS a Viktor

So I think what they're getting at is Viktor was corrupted by an idea more than being directly controlled, I'm just still not buying it as something he would align with normally. Or that Jayce of all people is going to teach him how to have an anti-ableist mindset

Did they just collapse into some kind of gay singularity

Guess only 1 sister per timeline. Them's the breaks

Well I'm glad Sevika's leadership is finally getting acknowledged. I am going to have more complicated Thoughts on this whole thing but let's finish the episode

Implying Jinx could potentially have survived. If she wanted to. Plus the little glitch on the end card, definitely leaving themselves open for that if they choose to.

Ok I have more meal prep to work on but I will be Mulling this. I went into the last episode with "i can fix her" thoughts but I'm not sure I could figure out a way to do that without gutting half the season's content. I will report back.

Also is Ekko's tree ok???? We never circled back to the tree

[initiala]

Gonna yap about Wicked under the cut so, spoilers

Yes, I did see it with my mom but she doesn’t appreciate the fandom nitpicking I do, even if it’s a loving nitpick, so I can’t yell about this irl

So I’ve been saying this everywhere but I *love* that Ari was let off her leash and got to be the absolute theater kid menace she’s been since she was a child. Jon Chu deserves an Oscar for this movie in general, but especially for telling her “yeah go ahead and do whatever you want”. She was chewing that scenery like no tomorrow.

Iiiiiii wanna swiiiiiiiiing from the chandelierrrrrrrrrrr

Like honestly. And what makes it better is that yeah, this looks like vapid and shallow Galinda who doesn’t Get It, but she absolutely does. I know Glinda has been generally intelligent, if a bit sweet and naive, in other productions, but this was cunning and calculated. In so many of her close-ups, you see her eyes darting around and sizing up the situation and seeing what she needs to do in order to be at the center of the room. You get the verbal confirmations of this when she says, in disbelief and a bit impressed, that for the first time someone told her no. She’s an expert manipulator to get what she wants, and that’s part of what draws her to Elfie—Elfie doesn’t give a shit and doesn’t let her. It’s infuriating at first but then that’s what ultimately breaks the barrier between them—both of these girls care so deeply what everyone else thinks about them but handle it in such different ways. Elfie puts on her mask of indifference, Galinda does everything she can to make everyone think well of her no matter what.

Meanwhile Fieyro is intrigued by Elfie for the same reason—she’s also the first person to ever turn him down, but instead of loathing he’s like “well well well, how interesting”. She’s the first person to see exactly who he is, who he can’t hide from.

Cynthia does SUCH a good job of being stoic Elphaba, small smiles or micro expressions in her eyes to tell us what she’s really thinking. The only time she really breaks is to Nessa, but even with Nessa she can’t really be herself. I wish we got a little more time between “Popular” and “One Short Day” to actually let Elphaba and Galinda develop more as friends (the only real indication that time has passed is Elphaba’s braids are longer). Are we gonna get the wheat field scene where Galinda puts her head on Elfie’s shoulder in Part 2? Or was that just intended as a “well, other stuff happened” too.

But the CHOICES made with Cynthia!!! She had me with the first note of “The Wizard and I”. The RAINBOW SUNCATCHER CHANGING HER SKIN TONE!!!! The way she joyously ran through the fields and practically screamed her desires out towards the desert—perfection

Jumping around, I’m also so glad they had the girls marching up the staircase during the first part of “Defying Gravity” (we will hold space for the lyrics), because it’s absolutely a “walk and talk” kind of song and I needed that visual more than I care to admit. There’s some songs where you’re like “oh yeah if this wasn’t on a stage (or if they had the rotating stage like in Hamilton) they’d be walking to get to the big Belting Chorus Area”

I’m extremely curious how this interpretation will go during Part 2 in regards to Glinda’s magic. We know in the 1939 movie, yeah she makes the bubble and creates the snow and moves the slippers to Dorothy’s feet. But here we haven’t seen her make magic, and it’s kinda clearly implied the bubble transport is something created by the Wizard. Is she going to be able to develop rudimentary skills or is it going to be entirely smoke and mirror?

Look, I know Jeff Goldblum was a good choice for the Wizard. He is. He has his lil charming song with “Sentimental Man” and that’s all he needs, but he is also so extremely obviously Elphaba’s father in the beginning. They’re not just dropping foreshadowing, they’re waving big flags and holding a parade. You can’t un-Jeff Goldblum Jeff Goldblum, no matter how well you hide his face!! This is not the surprise we get at the end 😂

Jonathan Bailey. That’s it.

I wanna know more about Galinda’s toadies—did they know her from Upper Upland? She doesn’t seem to be a returning student, so how does everyone seem to know her ahead of time? I don’t remember how that went in the books, and they’re movie inventions.

OH SPEAKING OF THE BOOKS DANGIT okay so at the beginning. We pan out from the castle and see someone riding away fast on the bridge??? Dorothy’s group is already ahead on the yellow brick road. So who’s fleeing the castle on the bridge? My only thought so far has been Lir, but I have absolutely no idea exactly how much more they’ll be borrowing from the books to expand. If it follows the musical ending Elfie and Fieryo will run away together anyway.

[dwellordream]

thoughts on HOTD, episode 7, season 2 (spoilers below)

I like the point that Aemond's advisors fear him, to everyone's detriment- they're so terrified of his rages that no one wants to tell him the Blacks are gathering dragonseeds. Aegon was a terrible king, but the courtiers ran roughshod over him because while he could be cruel, he wasn't very intimidating to anyone save servants and smallfolk. Aemond is a terrible king because he impulsively makes decisions based on fear- either his own terror of being seen as weak and ineffectual, or to make other people fear and respect him- or both.

Daemon and Oscar Tully's dynamic is that of a bitter, washed-up middle-aged substitute teacher who hates kids, and the overachieving, humorless star student who has zero respect for him. I love it. Also, I think the actor playing Oscar would make a great Robb Stark. I can dream. I do think it's good that the show delves into the ramifications of the Blackwoods' war-criming it up on Bracken lands at Daemon's encouragement- now the river lords have nothing but contempt for Daemon, and the Blackwoods are reviled as honorless thugs. It really gets across Daemon's inherent scumminess- he used Willem Blackwood as a violent pawn, and is perfectly willing to throw him under the bus after the fact.

At this point I think Daemon's Harrenhal hallucinations have run their course. The show could milk it for 3/4 episodes, and I was fine with that, but they're overused by the penultimate episode of this season, and not revealing anything we didn't already know about Daemon. I'm not entirely against Daemon's Riverlands arc the way some fans are- like it or not, at this point during the canonical Dance, he's not doing much. But I think the fever dreams are much more effective in smaller doses. There's nothing else to explore in regards to the Daemon/Viserys relationship. Daemon craves power but has no interest in the mundane reality of ruling. We all know this by now.

I don't get why Rhaenyra's children are depicted being shunted off with so few guards in the Vale- are we supposed to intuit that Jeyne Arryn literally does not give a shit what happens to them, or is this foreshadowing that they will be attacked on the road? It's not clear whether the show is going to do the canonical Battle of the Gullet or not, but again, I wouldn't be surprised if they depict Joffrey dying in it instead of Jacaerys, in order to give his character more screen time and development in Season 3.

I don't agree with the fans calling Jace hypocritical. Yes, he was all-for recruiting other legitimately born nobles of vague Targaryen descent to become dragon riders a few episodes ago. But empowering the actual smallfolk is another matter, and Jace is naturally insecure about the rumors regarding his birth and parentage. If any commoner bastard can tame a dragon, what does that say about him? He's right that Rhaenyra's succession will in all likelihood be challenged, even if she wins the war. Being a dragonrider no longer makes Jace special. And he is perfectly entitled to be angry with Rhaenyra for the legacy she left him. No, she didn't deserve to be forced into a marriage against her will, and she didn't 'owe' anyone legitimate children. But her choices have consequences and they've made Jace's life very difficult.

I actually enjoy Ulf's character here. He's a braggart and an arrogant idiot, but he's not delusional, and I think his back-and-forth with his friends about whether he has what it takes to claim a dragon is fucking hysterical. He's the typical burn-out former party boy, now in his late 30s, who's beginning to realize nothing great is coming around the bend for him.

I also enjoy their take on Hugh. It's debatable whether Hugh is implying that his mother was literally Saera Targaryen, or rather a bastard daughter of Jaehaerys, but either way, what a way to stick it the Conciliator, who was by all accounts a horrible father and husband who treated his wife like a broodmare and his daughters like shit. Hugh is mourning the loss of his daughter and has nothing left to lose. He wants revenge for the basic rights he was denied as a commoner. He's arguably one of the most heroic characters in the show.

I think the issue with Alicent in this episode is that despite this season being so slow-moving, they've sped-run her disillusionment so quickly that now that she's clearly regretful of encouraging Aegon to take the throne and disgusted by Aemond, the writers don't know what to do with her except have her brood. I think it would have been wiser to actually let her express some anger and grief over the loss of Jaehaerys- even if she wasn't close with her grandchildren- rather than to have her floating around nihilistically. At least give her something to motivate herself beyond 'my life is ruined'.

I do enjoy them showing that the dragonkeepers have developed their own ideology and politics. They idolize old Valyria to such a degree that they cannot tolerate the idea of even letting dragonseeds approach dragons, and it's foreshadowing of how the Targaryen legacy is doomed to cannibalize itself. Rhaenyra has to loosen the 'standards' of what makes an ideal dragon rider to gain support for the war- but at the same time, she can't stretch too far, or risk open rebellion from any lowborn dragonrider. If dragons are what makes a king or queen, then does being of noble blood really matter?

I wish they'd had Rhaenyra go down the self-righteous 'the gods will it so' route sooner, but I think it's a good contrast with Alicent to show Rhaenyra becoming inspired by the thought that all is preordained and that her own destiny is to be a great queen, while Alicent has lost faith in her religion, her family, and her own choices. I don't think Rhaenyra is insane or deluded here, but she is able to justify greater and greater sacrifices because she now truly believes she is fated to rule and that Westeros will crumble existentially without stable Targaryen leadership. She believes it to such a degree that she risks her own life with Vermithor in order to show her power before the smallfolk.

I think the ending scene was very well done, Ulf's gleeful flight over King's Landing and Aemond's genuine panic when he realizes he is no longer in control of the dragon power in Westeros was perfect. Overall, I enjoyed this episode more than episode 6, since shit actually happened. I'd give it a 7.5/10.

[cinemaocd]

The Mirror and the Light stream of concsciousness ramble on Wreckage....GO!

So the opening works really works for me I think the new footage is seamless and even the aging works because the tone shift is dramatic at the end of season one...the lighting the excessively bright lighting in the wedding scene and I'm wondering dear god Peter I hope you haven't taken to heart all our bitching about the brightness levels in season one??? Surely this is an aesthetic/artistic choice and then I remember that it matches the discordantly sunny scene at the end of season one when Henry embraces cromwell after Anne is killed. I love that Rafe and Crom just exchange one word "done" and Rafe wishing it weren't bloody and being a tad accusatory and I remember those scenes in the book when Anne flirted with Rafe in order to tease him ...So much of the dialog is very um not in the book but I like the ax quote it probably has a precedent. Love that we are diving straight into the plot and Call me is a different person but the same clothes and the dialog has to be too on the nose to help newcomers, which is a choice and I guess I'm fine with it because it's ep one. Still. Keep up people. The ambiguity continues when we don't actually know what the letter is though its implied its from Mary and if so in the next scene Crom fully lies to the king's face about it. Love the lightning in the tower scene with Chapuy, kinda wanted it to be a folly outside under the open sky like in the book but I guess they couldn't just conjure up a sunny day. the hilarious chapuy cromwell frenemy banter continues...OMG seeing Richard, even from behind I knew it was him and he looks more like historical Crom every minute and is probably closer to his age than mark but oh look Crom's wee knife. I love that we are getting bad ass crom and his knives and his bully boy moves with the poles and calling himself a dog (*dies) and especially the scene in the privy chamber when he practically tackles fitz...The scene with mary was letter perfect to the book but somehow missed the tone of the book which was funny but also tragic...and the mouse bones embrace was entirely great and lilith lesser is KILLING it and she'll pray for him and dear god he needs it...oh the cap thing was sexy when it should have been awkward but I forgive because when they are busted by lady shelton and she says "unhand the lord privy seal" it kills me...love crom and lady shelton they are another great pair of flirts. Oh and then the triumph of the signing and lording it over the other lords and norfolk having to eat shit was golden. Henry gets scarier/weirder in every scene and I love it. Margaret Douglas making the most of her two lines and being HBIC throughout was golden: FORESHADOWING. Jane continuing to be awkward as well as flirtatious with cromwell...also love the scene where they walked through a dark hallway and he leads her into the light of the dance...the light of Henry's love. Oh and the lovely reunion between Mary and her father only marred by the weirdness of Henry saying "you've loved and done as much for her as my kin" and then qualifying it...TACKY, but then jovial crom at the cheerless picnic with his boys where he is telling them all smiles about the white rose promise to Katharine and they all total bitches about it except Richard. I love you Richard. I don't remember Ghost!Wolsey having this many lines in the book but I can never get enough JP in a red Cardinal's gown so I don't care. Cromwell's orange jacket is amazing but I think Mark is actually having some kind of asthma attack in some scenes because he's wheezy, maybe they should build a fan into his suit. Same thing with Damien, though I think his breathlessness might be character work as Henry is getting progressively less fit as it goes on.

[katapotato55]

a list of things to consider when Deltarune ch 3-5 drops

its almost undertale's anniversary, how about i make a nice little refresher of major things that will more than likely be addressed in the next few chapters shal we? These are kiiiiiinda maybe guaranteed with ch 3-5 but who knows, toby fox might pull a 180 with the writing.

- the hell is going to happen to berdly? is he dead? is he fallen? if he is dead, will he dust like in undertale or are the rules different in this universe? is this just a weird magic coma?

-Noelle's mental state in both snowgrave and pacifist timelines.

- the fact Kris just kinda robbed a public library. as more and more dark worlds will open between chapters, there is going to be more places available. will people notice the little munchkin committing low stakes robbery? -Is Kris going to drag shit from their house to the dark world at the school ? ? ? will Toriel notice???

- Dark worlds at night. there was foreshadowing by Seam. this might get interesting.

- Mettaton asking you to give them something entertaining because it is boring. -whatever the hell Onion San is on about.

- the guy who tells you to practice your knocking.

-the fuck is toriel going to react to ralsei?

-the fact that it is implied that dark worlds are a representation of the struggles of the lightners, ch 3 will absolutely give us a LOT of context about kris and toriel's life. At LEAST Toriel's life at the bare minimum.

-The object inside of Asriel's dresser that depends on what save slot you have. you just turned the house into a dark world, something very very interesting™ is going to happen IF it is possible to go up there. -Toriel's reaction to the magic teas. (possibly) -the next secret boss and egg location. (can't forget!)

-"Mike" and "Tenna". unpopular opinion: i do not care who mike is. Everyone is getting all excited and speculative and i am just like "oh ok neat". If he is a secret boss: neat! why not! I don't have strong opinions on them sorry lol.

-What is the "Weird path" for this chapter and the other two chapters? what the hell is the player going to be able to do to Toriel? what are the implications of the weird paths for Kris? will there even be a weird path for the upcoming chapters?

-"The entirety of Undertale takes place within Toriel's kitchen". (is link to a reddit theory). Undertale? at this time of year at this time of day localized entirely within your kitchen? jokes aside: Ch 3 will more than likely confirm or deny this theory being true. And if this theory IS true i am going. to flip. my shit. a part of me wants it to be dis-proven because I love undertale and I feel like the implications could cheapen the story. Also I hate ANY notion of chara being related to deltarune because I want this to be a unique story on the other hand THE IMPLICATIONS HOLEY SHIT. this is going to be an interesting one.

-Suzie Godzilla. "uh Kat you don't know for sure this is going to- " it's going to happen.

-Confirming or Denying "chess theory". Personally I have no strong opinions on chess theory, the chess theory just kinda seems like a neat easter egg if it were proven true. -Possibly confirming or denying "universal mother theory" or adding onto it. there is a video on you tube about it. A part of me likes the idea that the Antagonists of each dark world can apply to any none, but idk.

Things I want to see but is more than likely not guaranteed to happen

-Ralsei and Kris character development

-more information on Asriel.

-honestly just more information on who Kris is as a person and learning more about them.

-how Kris REALLY feels about berdly.

-and Noelle why not.

-Why Kris (or whoever the fuck is causing kris to act like this) opened a fucking dark fountain. there are many reasons against kris being the knight, the biggest one being how the hell did a dark fountain open while Berdly and Noelle were at the library, while kris was still at school for example. but regardless if Kris is the knight or not, why the hell would Kris start a dark fountain after the snowgrave incident? and if Kris isn't doing that, then who is doing it and why??

-SAN'S FUCKING BROTHER PLEASE LET ME SEE PAPYRUS. the only reason this is in "might not happen" is because i can see toby fox making us wait until the end of the game to see paps or something.

-ANYTHING involving Asgore and what happened in his job and the divorce

-hints about Des? maybe?

-How kris feels about the player (especially if it considers the players past actions to Kris's response. ).

-Or hell more information on if the player is a character in this story. Is the player the soul ? is Kris the soul ? Its unlikely because there are many points proven that you are making Kris do things they do not like, but the "ripping out the soul" shenanigans are also too fishy to make sense.