#and I haven't seen anyone really acknowledge this in a positive way

[draayder]

it's so difficult to talk about the societal shift many transmascs face once they're read as male I'm white so I had a very gentle shift especially compared to many POC, but I still felt it. interactions with women that were previously simple now required additional care and effort. gestures that had previously read as friendly now seemed intimidating and predatory. it sucks to lose that solidarity that I didn't think twice about before. it sucks to have to consider if I'm going to make someone uncomfortable by acting the way I always have, because I'm still the same person and it doesn't seem fair that I have to change how I exist in the world in order to be a man

and I get it. believe me I get it. I was on the other side of those interactions before, I know how intimidating it is to have a man talking to you in a way where you can't quite be certain he isn't flirting. that he's not going to take things badly. you have to be closed off or else you're accused of leading him on. I'm not blaming any of the women for this. this is another problem brought about by the patriarchy

but for any trans men or transmascs out there in the thick of that change and feeling uncomfortable and weird about it, you're right. it isn't fair, it does suck, it shouldn't have to be this way. you're not whiny for feeling this. it gets better over time and you learn how to exist again, but it's rough for a while. hang in there

[e-vay]

SONIC 3 REVIEW

I wanted to wait a few weeks to give many people the chance to see Sonic 3 before I wrote a review, but of course I'll keep it under the cut for those who still haven't seen it.

DISCLAIMERS!

I acknowledge that the Sonic Cinematic Universe is a SEPARATE interpretation of the Sonic franchise so I will never dock it points for doing things different than we've seen in the games. These movies are inspired by the Sonic the Hedgehog video games, they are not direct adaptations. I have no sympathy for anyone who complains these movies get things 'wrong' about the games.

I acknowledge that the Sonic movies are family films marketed towards children, so some of the writing and plot devices are simplified or toned down for younger audiences. However, that won't stop me from pointing out some plot holes.

My review is just my opinion. I'm not saying I'm right or that you're wrong if you disagree.

I'm so damn excited to finally talk about it and I have SO MUCH to say, so buckle up!

TL;DR: I give Sonic 3 a score of 9/10, just barely shy of being an absolutely perfect movie! There were some editing choices and some plot holes that made me dock minor points. These nitpicks are small and almost insignificant compared to the whole of the film, but they stood out enough to bother me and they're why I can't give it a perfect rating.

Let's start with the positives.

CAST & CHARACTERS - 10/10

TL;DR - With a star-studded cast, it's almost impossible to say any one actor/character outshined the others. Every single person was on their A-game for this movie and gave emotional, hilarious, all-out performances.

Jim Carrey as both Ivo and Gerald Robotnik is genius! He plays both characters so differently that you could almost believe they were being played by two different people -- minus the tongue-in-cheek way the movie reminds you that they're the same person.

This iteration of Gerald is unlike any we've seen before, which kept me on my toes the entire time I was watching. He comes onto the scene fully claiming that he's a villain, but still he manages to suckerpunch you (and Ivo) with the final reveal of his ultimate plan. You would think that the same old man who was just doing a choreographed dance performance 20 minutes ago couldn't tear your heart out without even the use of words when we see him mourning the loss of his granddaughter, and then fill you with spine-chilling terror as he uses his whole chest to exclaim he's going to 'burn it all down!', but damn did Jim Carrey do that and more! This movie (and Jim Carrey alike) managed to make Gerald both the major comic relief of the movie AND simultaneously made him one of the most despicable villains in the franchise so far. His utter lack of compassion for Shadow or Ivo, using both of them as his puppets, really shows you how little this man values even those who are supposed to be closest to him. I encourage you to rewatch the movie and really appreciate the dynamic range we were given of this character in under a 2 hour window.

Ivo is back and better than ever, baby (despite what Tails says)! Though I liked the initial, unexpected take on his character in Sonic 1, it has been beyond satisfying to see the evil doctor's descent into madness, all culminating into THE Eggman we recognize from the games! Seeing him in the iconic Eggman suit was like seeing my baby in her gown for prom. I was one proud mama! Sonic 3 sends Ivo on an emotional rollercoaster and we not only get to see him the silliest he's ever been, but your heart truly breaks for him by the end of the film. Honestly, I'm still gutted over Gerald's "Ivo, you're no Maria" line! One thing I particularly loved is that repeatedly throughout this franchise, Ivo has mentioned how society has always rejected him, he's had nobody who loves him (except Stone ofc) and he's repeatedly reminded he's a failure. Yet at the end of this film, he's given the chance to live up to his real potential and Team Sonic (and Shadow (and all of Earth while we're at it)) wouldn't have stood a chance without him. With Ivo seemingly dead, this was a heartfelt, tearjerking, beautiful sendoff for Eggman in a way that doesn't feel forced and gives Jim Carrey the chance to excuse himself should he decide he no longer wants to be a part of the future movies. BUT if he does decide to come back (and it's sounding like he does) -- c'mon, y'all don't really think Shadow would have just left Eggman to die, do you? He absolutely could have teleported them both outta there at the last minute.

SHADOW. 👏👏👏 This was without a doubt, the BEST depiction of Shadow I have ever seen! Keanu Reeves and the animators put everything into this rendition of Shadow and I was moved to tears on several occasions. This movie gave us an emotional, heartbroken Shadow who doesn't mask his feelings. Even before losing Maria, we see that Shadow is someone who struggles with understanding who he is, where he comes from and what his purpose is. He's subjected to constant testing and when he's not 'in use,' he's seemingly stowed away in the dark for later. It isn't until Maria shows up and befriends him that we get to see that he's just a regular person. He's curious about music and dancing, he enjoys play and stargazing, he's self-conscious. And then the transformation he takes after being betrayed and losing his loved ones, UGH! Keanu Reeves freaking NAILS it in every single scene! One of the moments that stood out the most to me and physically gave me goosebumps was when Shadow begins to question if destroying the planet is what Maria would have wanted and Gerald convinces him to focus on the pain that was left from her death. When Shadow's charging the Eclipse Cannon and reliving the most devastating moment of his life, you can hear his rage just in the way he's breathing! Keanu Reeves doesn't even speak any words in that scene but I could feel every drop of anger and regret and hatred in his performance. But also he delivered some very funny lines too and at least to me, it didn't feel forced. I also really liked that Keanu Reeves did research for this character and actually 'created' a voice for Shadow instead of using his normal voice. (I strongly recommend watching this clip where he talks about how he came up with 'the voice'. It's fascinating and such a delight). I think a lot of people might have initially thought having him voice Shadow was cool but kind of a joke, but he took the role very seriously and I feel he made an effort to separate himself from Shadow. His voice scratched my brain in the most satisfying way lol. I wish he could permanently voice Shadow from now on, but at least I can always imagine his voice whenever I read or play any Shadow content. Also, Shadow's character model was GOR-GEOUS. He was so handsome and badass and also I love, love, LOVE the amount of contrast between him and Sonic. EVEN DOWN TO THE DETAILS IN THE TEXTILES OF THEIR GLOVES. Sonic's gloves appear to be cotton so they're soft and warm and porous -- a fabric that comforts and lets things in. Shadow's gloves are leather -- a fabric that's firm, resistant, impenetrable. SO MUCH thought and detail went into designing Shadow. AND SUPER SHADOW OH MYGOOOODDDDDDDD. He looked like an angel! I have always loved Super Shadow's platinum design in the games, but giving him the extra detail of iridescent and rose gold quills in the movie was so freaking beautiful. I truly can't fault a single thing about him in this movie. A thousand kisses to Keanu Shadow.

TEAM SONIC. That's right, I'm addressing the group here because this movie really treated each member of Team Sonic as equals and I loved it. Sonic may be the leader, but Knuckles packed this movie full of action, heart and laughs. Idris Elba and the writers found a great balance for Knuckles in that he delivered what I thought were some of the funniest lines of the film, but it didn't lessen the impact of his more serious scenes. When Knuckles is arguing with Sonic about using the Chaos Emeralds, there is so much tension and I feel like they really nailed the gravity of that fight. Knuckles ultimately chooses not to battle Sonic, but I felt that him reminding Sonic of their oath and pointing out that Sonic is breaking it was actually MORE of a punishment than a punch to the face. We also really got to see Knuckles 'THE GUARDIAN" in this movie which I greatly appreciated. We see a lot of Knuckles "the fighter" where he's quick to throw fists, but there were many moments in Sonic 3 where he got to serve as a proper protector. I cried when he caught Sonic and Tails and even after they're safe he's just holding them, the three of them a battered mess in the cornfield! AH MY HEART!

Speaking of my heart-- Tails you good boy! Tails showed so much growth between Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 and I was so proud of him! He's still cute as can be and still has moments of childlike wonder, but he played a significantly larger role in this movie and showed a lot of maturity. He's quick to come up with plans but he is also actually in the action instead of shouting from the sidelines. I also really liked that during the bleakest part of the film, it's actually Tails who is trying to console Sonic about what's happened to Tom. You know things are bad when it's the baby sibling who attempts to be the emotionally strong one and comfort the older sibling. And I love that it's Tails and Knuckles who help Ivo to steer the Eclipse Cannon away from the Earth. It would have been easy to just sideline them and have them hope that Super Sonic and Super Shadow could handle things, but that diminishes the value of Team Sonic. The movie made it very clear that their teamwork is what made them so strong and it was through all of their combined efforts that the Earth was saved in the end. Sonic and Shadow could not have done it alone, even with the combined power of the Chaos Emeralds. I feel like a broken record by saying this but it has to be said: Colleen O'Shaughnessey killed it as Tails yet again. Go queen!

This might come as a surprise to some, but the Sonic in this movie is my favorite we've seen throughout the SCU franchise so far. I have heard people criticize that Sonic was a little 'boring' or 'underwhelming' during the first 2 acts of the movie, but I actually perceived that as intentional by design. At this point in Sonic's life, he's used to the whole hero thing. He's saved the world multiple times by now so it makes sense to me that he's become complacent and doesn't really take the time to consider how potentially dangerous a threat can be (I mean think about it, he nearly gets lasered-to-death via the forcefield at G.U.N. Headquarters just because he had to be a silly goof and do a tour of London NOW of all times! Yes it's funny and in-character and I still loved that scene ((and loved that it gave Tails a shining moment to save him)), but c'mon Sonic you almost fucked up the entire plan because you just had to do your goofy thing!). So when Shadow shows up and kicks his ass not once, but MULTIPLE times--and then he nearly loses his father figure TWICE--it serves as a rude awakening. He learns that there is a price to pay for being blasé, underestimating the gravity of a situation and not sticking to a plan, and that's where he dramatically overcompensates and goes on a vengeful arc. And vengeful Sonic is FUCKING. FANTASTIC. I think we as an audience can forget how lethal Sonic can be because he's normally so playful and silly, so to see him lock in and not hold back is actually pretty terrifying (but in a great way!). Ben Schwartz was AMAZING in this portion of the movie. I find him to be one of the funniest comedians on the planet, but I couldn't believe it was the same guy during this act. He dug deep and gave such a compelling performance full of anguish and hatred that I honestly didn't realize he was capable of. But most importantly--he was able to rein it in when it mattered most and Sonic didn't lose himself before it was too late. Sonic is not a perfect character, but one of the things that makes him such a great hero is that he always manages to hold on to the light that's inside of him. I always appreciate Sonic's motivational speeches and I loved that when he's having the heart-to-heart with Shadow, the emphasis is about who you are and the good that comes from the love you have for others. It's heavy and important but was delivered in a way that was easily digestible for younger viewers without diminishing the meaning of the message. However, what I found even more moving in this scene was the moment of silence that Sonic and Shadow share on the moon. It was so poignant and I'm glad they held that moment of stillness and quiet. By the end of the movie, we do get our loveable Sonic back but he acknowledges the mistakes he made and regrets putting everyone in danger because of his reckless decisions. Each movie builds up his character more and more and I think as long as they don't backpedal, Sonic's in store for some incredible things! ALSO! Just like I said with Shadow, I freaking LOVED Sonic's character model in this one! I love that we are seeing him physically growing up and maturing instead of being forever stuck in place (no shade to the games). This character model is SO much taller and stockier than the model in Sonic 1 and is evidence that not only is he emotionally maturing, but he's physically aging up as well. It's just so cool!

I absolutely adored Alyla Browne's portrayal of Maria in this movie! She was so charming and instantly loveable the moment she was onscreen. I've noticed many people highlighting the part where she draws the bunny face on Shadow (which I love) but even the seconds before that where she mocks his scowl INSTANTLY won me over. And she even gets Shadow to smile because of it! The smile is small and only visible for a few frames, but it's there! It was clear that this girl saw more to this alien than a menacing, dangerous little space demon and wasn't gonna put up with his charade. It's no wonder the two of them became fast friends. I don't know about you, but I have been STARVED of ARK Sibling content since Shadow's very first introduction so I was obsessed with every single scene we got of the two of them actually getting to spend time together. I do love drama but so far all we've seen is the ARK tragedy and rarely any of the highlights before that event. Yes the SCU is a different universe, but this filled a hole in my heart that I've been waiting on for years. It did not disappoint!

I also want to highlight Agent Stone. Listen, I've loved Lee Majdoub since Sonic 1, but his character is at his best in this movie. Agent Stone was proper badass in Sonic 3 and proved that he's far more than just a simple henchman. It's revealed that with Ivo sulking and remaining in hiding, Stone has stepped up and is constantly monitoring what's going on in the outside world and immediately jumps into action when he notices the doctor's tech being used by someone else. Eggman wasn't even aware of it and yet Stone is out there shutting it down and bringing back reinforcements to clear Eggman's name! That super suit?? And those MOTORCYCLE TRICKS?? And him dodging a freaking ROCKET like it ain't no thing??? Hell yeah, Stone! Lee Majdoub is so funny and I love how he can be so quiet and stoic around Eggman ( "Resourceful.") but he can also be so over the top like when he's mocking the hell out of Knuckles ("Įt'Ŝ 𝕋𝒽𝒆 ⓖ𝓸Ａ𝐓 𝔪𝕀ŁҜє𝓡!... Relax.") and both just work so well! I think it's further evidence of why he makes such a good partner for Eggman because they're both capable of some intense power but they're also both such weirdos. I loved the amount of emotion and vulnerability Stone had in this movie. He's always had an allegiance to Eggman and even in Sonic 2 we saw how much he missed the doctor while he was away and how enthusiastic he was when he learned he was alive, but it went a lot deeper in this film. We got to learn that there's a much stronger affinity there and Stone legitimately cares about Robotnik and supports him through thick and thin. Personally, I ship Stobotnik, so this movie gave me plenty of delicious food! But even if you don't ship it, I think it was so significant to show the depth to Stone and Robotnik's relationship and I believe that it was Stone's affection for the doctor (romantic or platonic) that ultimately made Eggman save the world in the end. Though I'm still hoping for Jim Carrey to come back, I think they set things up so Stone could take up the EggMantle in a seamless way and I sure wouldn't be mad about it!

[Allow me to pause for a deep inhale of breath...]

Ä̷͇̰̞́Ȁ̷̭̩̰̔͐Ấ̶̝̗̠A̴͉͗A̵̳̠̚ͅA̵̫̋Ḿ̴͕Y̴̨̯̆Y̷͖͍̜̓͝Ỹ̵͍̺͑̕Y̸̜̫̆͋͋Y̶͕̫̱̾̐!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😭💖💖💖💖💖💖😘😘😘😘😍😍😍😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖 My beloved! My most darling angel! My reason for waking up in the morning! SHE MADE IT! Amy is my favorite character of all time and I told y'all I was gonna throw up if she wasn't in this movie, so you'd better believe I SCREAMED when her hammer appeared in the post-credits scene! When she walked up and pulled back the hood of her cloak I was in tears and I was TREMBLING! I'm sure they're going to make changes to her once they finalize her design for Sonic 4, but this reveal was so freaking good and got me so excited for the next movie. Her character model is already so beautiful and I love that they turned the tables and have her rescuing Sonic this time! I cannot wait to see what they have in store!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Metal Sonic was cool too btw)

ACTION - 10/10

TL;DR - Highspeed fun that has you on the edge of your seat for every single minute of screen time!

This movie is NONSTOP. I wasn't bored for a single second and by the time we hit the credits I couldn't believe how much time had passed. Every fight scene was so perfectly choreographed and so RAMPED UP that it had me stunned. There's a joke early in the movie that Sonic/Tails/Knuckles' antics are capable of cataclysmic events but the movie delivers on that promise a multitude of times! From city-wide power outages to mini-black holes to volcanic eruptions, there's no shortage of chaos and action in this movie!

You guys. The first time I saw this movie, I was at a prescreening so I was among critics and people from the media instead of a group of fans. It took EVERYTHING WITHIN ME to contain my glee. I was PHYSICALLY BALLED UP, knees pulled to my chest, palms pressed to my face to try to stay quiet. My heart burst through the roof of my skull! Even when I went to go see it for a fourth time, my heart was still racing. I actually had my friend feel my pulse as proof. This movie just gets you so excited it's insane!

The fact that the movie BEGAN with Shadow's breakout... god bless it. God bless everyone who worked on it. It was so intense and heartpumping! And I loved the choice to have little-to-no music during Shadow's fight with the soldiers. It just added to the tension and didn't give you any hint of when and where Shadow was going to teleport next. This was basically a scene from a horror movie! It set the entire tone for the film and showed that Shadow was NOT to be messed with.

I seriously could describe how much I loved every action scene but I will be here forever so I won't, but I have to say-

THE ✨SUPER✨ SCENES. OH. MY. 🎶GO~~~~OD🎶!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had high hopes and expectations we were going to see Super Shadow in this one, but never in my lifetime did I think we were going to finally see Super Sonic VERSUS Super Shadow!!! Holy hell, what a fight! We get to finally see what two god-mode characters are capable of when they're out to kill each other and aren't showing any mercy. EACH PUNCH LAUNCHING THE OPPONENT ACROSS THE FREAKING PLANET?!??!?? That editing choice in particular is one of my absolute FAVORITE things about this movie. There's a million ways this fight could have been done but showing just how fast and how strong these two are--- even causing the earth to split open and erupt just from one of them pushing off the ground--really shows just how minuscule and inferior us humans are hahaha. We wouldn't stand a freaking CHANCE. AND SONIC PUNCHES SHADOW TO THE MOON?!

ALSO THEY EACH TOOK TURNS PUNCHING THE SUPER OUT OF EACH OTHER!???!!!

I'm having to pause as I'm writing this because even though I've seen this movie four times I'm still getting so worked up just thinking about these action scenes again that I'm struggling to breathe omg

Even better than Super Sonic VERSUS Super Shadow was that final team up. That CLAP and they both turn super had me WEAK. I just about fainted right then but thank god I didn't because that entire sequence was INCREDIBLE. That little exchange of Sonic saying "Ready to recycle some tin cans?" and Shadow rolling his shoulder and saying "Try to keep up" before launching into a flurry of attacks is TATTOOED ON MY BRAIN. It will never leave my mind. It gave us SA2 and MORE. The battle was a masterpiece and it's something that words truly can't describe, you just have to witness it in all it's glory. I will never be normal about that fight scene.

One more moment I want to highlight because it shows action in nontraditional ways -- I am infatuated with the way they depicted Eggman and Shadow's last moments of saving the earth from the Eclipse Cannon. There was just something in the slow, labored movements that Jim Carrey made to show him attempting to block the explosions with shields, and the quietness of Shadow pushing the exterior of the ship with his hands and the metal is just crushing under his palms from the force. It isn't a moment of fast punches or flashing lights but it was so damn powerful and I absolutely loved it.

VISUALS - 10/10

TL;DR - Stellar effects and cinematography not only make for a delightful experience for your eyes but further immerse us into this fictional world.

WOW! I already touched on this in my above notes but seriously this movie was just beautiful. The character models were so good and felt real despite being cartoons (which goes to show you don't need them to look hyper-realistic to convince me it's a living creature). The lighting and the framing of shots were not only visually appealing but helped further the emotions of the scenes. The neon lights bouncing off Shadow in the rain as he's slowly walking down the streets of Shibuya was a WORK OF ART. Even all the moments of chaos and destruction were portrayed so well and so crisp that not only were they beautiful to look at -- I could actually tell what was going on! I watch a lot of action films and it gets so frustrating when there's so many explosions, lens flares, camera whips, etc that I can't actually make out what's happening. I never had that problem in this movie!

FAN SERVICE - 10/10

TL;DR - No, not that kind of fan service. This was a film FOR the fans!

I already said that the cinematic universe is clearly separate from the game universe. However, there were so many delightful little treats for fans of the games that felt like all the creators of this movie reached out and hugged me and said "This is for you!" BLESS! I won't list out all the Easter eggs and scene-recreations because there are too many, but man the joy I felt in sitting there and thinking "I KNOW THAT REFERENCE!" was healing to my soul. I figured "Live and Learn" was going to show up in some way because we heard the tune in the trailer, but I didn't realize how often and in how many different ways it would play throughout the movie! Starting out the movie with a memory of Maria playing "Live and Learn" on the guitar had me clutching my chest and I knew I was gonna be emotionally wrecked by this film! I loved the orchestral version of the song during the final battle which took an already badass theme and made it even more epic, but I do love that they included a snippet with the original lyrics too.

I don't know why people get so upset with these movies not being 100% like the games when it's clear that the people who work on these movies care so much about the games and want to reward us fans who love the games, too. Think about the scene where Shadow goes to push the Eclipse Cannon and he removes his inhibitor rings. That was specifically for us fans. The movie never explains what his inhibitor rings are or what they do or why he's removing them. Not knowing what the inhibitor rings are doesn't detract from the movie--but if you play the games you KNOW the significance of that moment. That was written and animated FOR YOU to enjoy. What's not to love about that???

DRAMAAAA~

Again, I know these SCU movies are marketed as family films and are more aimed for children, but I love that the movies are evolving and 'maturing' over time instead of repeating the same simple formula of some children's movies. With each Sonic movie that comes out, the themes and story are getting deeper and heavier without losing it's whimsy and fun. It's done in a way that feels like a natural progression and growth and I don't think the heavier subject matter will deter anyone who watched the previous two movies.

⭐BONUS POINTS!⭐

This is a hot take and I know many people are gonna disagree, but I was so pleased with there being LESS focus on the humans in this story (minus the Robotniks+Stone, of course). I do not care about the Wachowskis. I do not care about the Whipples. I understand why they were initially in the movies and I understand that Sonic considers the Wachowskis as his parents now, but I don't go to these movies to see the humans attending weddings or doing other sideplot shenanigans. I'm here for the aliens, damn it! So to have the humans' appearances mostly diminished to scenes that specifically related to the main plot was a huge relief to me!

THANK YOU SONIC 3.

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I could talk endlessly about this movie and even though I've written what feels like an entire essay there's still tons I'm leaving out, but to try to move this review along I'm going to move on to the negatives. Again, none of these below items were enough to ruin the movie for me and individually they aren't even worth a full point as far as a review. But ultimately these are things that I couldn't shake after watching and it's why I felt I had to dock the movie a single point in total.

EDITING WHIPLASH

I've already complimented this movie by several of the editing choices that were made, but there's one moment in particular that totally took me out of it and I'm sure you can guess what I'm going to say... Yes, it was the frequent cutting between the Super Hedgehogs and the Robotniks. Don't get me wrong -- individually these scenes were great. Ivo versus Gerald was hilarious and I did enjoy it and yes it was important to the plot -- but how DARE you interrupt my Super Sonic and Super Shadow fight with mustache wrestling! Whiplash is the best word I can use to describe how I felt in this moment. Sonic and Shadow fighting all of the robots and lasers to get to the Cannon was so dynamic and so intense and so spectacular, that when it suddenly cut away to Eggman getting spanked by a giant mech hand, I felt like I just got slapped across the face. My heart had just been racing so fast and then you cut away? Then I'm starting to calm down and just enjoy the Robotnik fight for the silliness but then it cuts BACK to the epic power of Sonic and Shadow --- and you do it AGAIN?! It just killed me!

I saw an edit somebody made where they spliced all of the super fight scenes together and removed the Robotnik fight and as you can imagine, it was infinitely better. You actually had the time to be fully enraptured by the battle and get to absorb every awesome second of it.

The Robotnik fight was still necessary (and yes, even the way they killed Gerald was hilarious to me and I still laugh even now) but they really should have edited this part of the movie better in my opinion.

PLOT HOLE -- ARE WE MISSING PART OF THE SCRIPT?

Although I think the writing for this movie was overall great, I felt there were key elements missing from the G.U.N. plot line that was meant to drive the narrative. This led me to think... was there a deleted scene and the filmmakers thought nobody would care/question it? Here are the things that I felt the movie did not clearly address:

1: Why are Team Sonic and Commander Walters close allies now? G.U.N. and Walters were previously antagonists in these films. Yes, at the end of Sonic 2 Commander Walters gives up his goal of capturing Sonic, but surrendering isn't the same as forming a partnership. Why is Team Sonic on-call for G.U.N. missions at Walters' requests all of a sudden? Then there's the scene in the Chao Garden. Why do Team Sonic and Walters meet up without anyone else from G.U.N. knowing about it? Why does Sonic trust Walters more than the rest of G.U.N.? I understand Sonic is a hero and especially in these movies he likes to see the good in people, but throughout these movies Walters ALWAYS lies. In Sonic 2, not only does Walters/G.U.N. fabricate an entire wedding as a sting operation to capture Sonic, but Walters lies when he claims that G.U.N. was formed because of Sonic's misadventures in San Francisco. In Sonic 3 we learn that G.U.N. was around for Project Shadow in the 70s. Nobody calls him out on this. Even in the Chao Garden scene, Walters is lying to Sonic about Shadow's history! He tells Sonic that Maria was killed in a terrible accident and Gerald was blamed for it. It was no accident! Soldiers showed up with guns and when Walters tried to stop them, they said "We have our orders." Sure, shooting the canister of chaos energy was not the intention and so the explosion itself was an accident, but those soldiers had every intent on taking Maria and Gerald out (if not Shadow as well). I'm sure Walters left that detail out to keep Sonic from asking further questions, but that makes him all the more of an unreliable storyteller and someone Sonic should NOT trust.

2: Why doesn't Walters trust G.U.N.? When Walters is injured in the Chao Garden attack, he gives Sonic one of the keys to the Eclipse Cannon and tells him that Sonic's the only person he trusts to keep it safe. Walters is the commander of G.U.N. -- surely he would trust a member of his team to hold onto the key, right? And if he doesn't, WHY? If you watched the Knuckles series then you know that there are indeed rogue members of G.U.N., but people watching the movie don't know that. Walters telling Sonic to keep the key safe from everyone suddenly puts Sonic on heightened alert and makes him believe he can't trust anyone, but we aren't given a reason why. Even if Walters simply had a line saying "I worry there's corruption in G.U.N." then I would have been satisfied.

3: Why is Team Sonic stealing the second key? Once the Team learns that there is a second key to the Eclipse Cannon and that the Robotniks are planning to steal it, they devise a heist to steal the second key themselves. Why? Walters didn't tell Sonic about a second key or tell him to retrieve the second key. Doesn't that mean Walters believes the safest place for the second key is where it's currently stored: at G.U.N. headquarters? Team Sonic knew Robotnik was en route, so the wisest option would have been to alert G.U.N. so they could heighten security and be on the lookout (which turns out, they already were). Again, all of this would make sense if Sonic was given an explicit reason to not trust G.U.N. and was specifically told to keep the keyS away from them, but at this point he went from trusting them to suddenly trying to take both keys from them. I loved the heist scenes and I don't want them removed, I feel they just need justification.

4: What is Director Rockwell's problem? It's clear that Rockwell is not a fan of Team Sonic (some people just can't trust aliens) but it seemed her character was going a certain direction and then just... stopped. After Walters is killed, the first thing she does is check his pocket for the key. Surely Walters would have known that Director Rockwell would have checked his pockets, especially since she was in Tokyo at the time of his death, again going back to my question of why he wouldn't trust her to retrieve the key instead of handing it over to Sonic? I was fully expecting a reveal of her being a rogue agent, especially because Team Sonic was still trying to take the second key even after the Robotniks had been thwarted. Think about it -- G.U.N. has stopped the Robotniks (and Team Sonic) from stealing the second key. That was the whole point, right? So why is Tom now trying to take the key FROM Rockwell? Isn't the key safely where it belongs and the Robotniks are supposedly in custody? So again, was there a reason Rockwell wasn't meant to be trusted, but we just don't know? I really felt like she was being set up to be a villain, but it led nowhere.

Now a lot of the elements I just addressed can be inferred and we can use context clues to guess, but I think it's the writers' job (especially in a family film) to make it clear why characters are making the choices/decisions they're making, at least by the time you reach the end of the movie. I know some stories are more ambiguous than others, but to me it felt like something was missing. I guess we'll see if there's anything hidden in deleted scenes.

FINAL THOUGHTS

As a whole, I absolutely loved this movie and I am so thankful it exists. I can't wait for Sonic 4 and I hope it receives just as much hype, love and attention that this movie did! If you read my entire review, thank you! I hope you enjoyed it, even if you didn't agree with all of it :)

[sir-myst-cake]

First post on here and it's a rant!! If you want more cool takes you should totally follow me as I'll be posting here more often and have totally cool art to share‼️‼️

I'm not completely sure how to tag this? I'm talking about the ships in a positive light so I think it's okay, and besides, I want lots of peeps to see it, I'm aware I probably won't change many people's minds at all, but it's okay lol, I just want Anti's to see they genuinely have a nothing burger and need to leave people alone.

This is a mostly TikTok only problem regarding Beast x Ancient's (thank god) but I've seen my fair share elsewhere like on here. So lemme counter every argument I've seen so far cause you got a lot of time on your hands to be telling people to off themselves over Cookie ships 😭 put that hate into people who actually deserve it.

BILLFORD COMPARISON

Regarding ShadowVanilla specifically, people have compared the ship a lot from both sides, but what really got me is what I've seen here:

"Shadow Milk Cookie is way worse than Bill! He drove Pure Vanilla to insanity! He tortured him!"- This is in regards to how people bring up the fact Anti's are fine with one thing but not the other when it's basically the same thing they're against. Psychological, physical, mental, and emotional torture. I'll be honest I haven't watched Gravity Falls whatsoever, but my friend has, and from what she says, yeah Bill is the definition of a cruel and unusual punishment. He's done some crazy things, absolutely heinous, might even be a little worse than Shadow Milk or on the same level, either way though-

You can't like one thing and then not the other, it's different flavors of the same thing, it's hypocritical. Either you hate them both or you hate neither.

"Those are 2 different fandoms!"- Doesn't matter, it's the same thing, just different media, it's not different whatsoever aside from the universe, there's much torture involved on both ends.

ABUSER X VICTIM

This one I've seen A LOT and I'm just ??

"If you ship Beast x Ancient's you support Abuser x victim btw"- That's a STRETCH. You are reaching FAR. Nobody is romanticizing the abuse, nobody is normalizing it, it's stuff that happened in canon and we acknowledge it but nobody is doing any of that other stuff. I'm not condoning anyone in real life to do that shit lol. It's called exploring, they have an interesting dynamic, romantic or platonic, two sides of the same coin. You can say the same thing about horror movies, they put a lot of disturbing stuff in there. Do the movie producers CONDONE any of that stuff? Obviously not. Goes for Devsisters too, they don't condone body mutilation yet they still made Burning Spice rip off Cheese's wings.

But even so, for the people who DO like it for the angst, I won't say fiction doesn't affect reality because it does in many cases, but this isn't one of them. Not every relationship is going to be peachy and perfect, just like in real life. I can give an example on this one too actually.

GoldenLily, they aren't condoning what Lily (technically) did to Golden Cheese's kingdom, but they like it for all the potential, complicated feelings and emotions that come along with it.

Also, that's basically the same thing with Beasts x Ancients, just turn it around to enemies to lovers.

"This isn't Villain x hero, this is abuser x victim"- Are you saying MOST of media is abuser x victim then? This is in fact a typical hero x Villain trope, it's nothing new. Respectfully, you guys freak out when a Villain does villain stuff, I'd be surprised if there was a villain who DIDN'T cause any trauma for the opposing party. But according to this logic, media is just dead, no more fanfiction, no more what ifs, no more content since it's all apparently problematic and not canon. Even if somebody switches stuff up in an AU, and makes things completely fluffy, that's apparently still not enough.

"oh you had to make an AU to ship them because you know it's toxic"- No, it's just playing around with scenarios. Learn to separate fanon from canon. This specifically goes for the redeemed AU's I see of the Beasts, people still complain, they act as if people can't change. One of the biggest examples I have of that is FlutterCord, Discord did plenty of messed up things, but in the end, he still managed to change. You'll still get burned at the stake for it though.

"You must be an abuser yourself to condone this!!"- Extremely disrespectful and a WILDDD take. Need I say more??

"I ship Beast x Beast rather than Beast x Ancient's"- According to your logic, the Beasts are abusers right? And if we followed the same story, they are not mentally well whatsoever. You'd rather ship 2 dangerously mentally unstable characters together who'd just make each other worse? Destroy each other? Fuck each other up beyond belief? It doesn't make sense does it, nor is it fair for y'all to praise these ships but hate on the others. You like watching the cookies crumble huh 😭

CANON

"The ship isn't canon!"- We know that, everyone should know that. With what I said earlier, please learn to separate fanon from canon. That's what a fandom is, we do non-canon stuff, it's very fun, you should try it.

"It's a Proship/Dark ship!"- Going the canon route, Beasts are Eons old, Ancients are thousands of years old. Big gap yes, but nonetheless all of them are old as fuck. Older than bloodlines. Treating the Ancients as if they aren't grown adults. You're intentionally trying to make it weird. Stop calling ships you don't like proships please.

Also a little off topic but please don't listen to everyone you interact with on TikTok?? I remember one time I was scrolling through a comment section and saw somebody say "Doesn't Mystic Flour Cookie hate Burning Spice Cookie?" On a MysticSpice vid, looked in the replies, somebody asked for proof/where it was implied, and they didn't answer 💀 just blatantly spreading misinformation. Sources around you are way more reliable than people who don't back up their claims.

CONCLUSION

Even despite all this, you still have the right to feel how you wanna feel. Just please stop harassing people for simple stuff like this, in all honesty, I feel like it's more about seeing one of your favorite characters shipped with somebody who hurt them in canon that makes peeps upset. Which I can totally understand because I used to be exactly like that, I LIVEEEE for Dark Cacao Cookie, when Mystic Flour's update came out, I wanted her dead. Quite literally blocked someone because I couldn't stand seeing their MysticCao art. Hated what she did to my baby boy fr.

But then It started growing on me, over time, I just realized it was never that serious.

Even so, notice how I still didn't go out of my way to harass said person about it because I specifically didn't like it? It really is that easy. Block and go about your day.

I also suspect this because of stuff like this 💀

Love that person who replied, but it's not that hard y'all. We all can in fact, get along.

ANYWAYSSSS thanks to those who took the time read, I love you my pookies hope you have a good day or night💕💕

[queerocfandomer]

ExWidow Russian Girlfriend Problems?

One-Shot - 1775 Words Natasha/GNreader - Yelena/Kate Fluff inspired by the classic -’do you like me=we are married’- incorrect quotes

It was a quiet night at the complex, a rare moment when almost everyone had left to be with their families for the long weekend. It was Natasha's turn to hold down the fort, which, of course, meant that you both remained behind. Across the room, she was immersed in a game of pool with Yelena, her laughter and competitive spirit lighting up the space, while you lounged on the couch, lost in the details of the most recent mission reports. Meanwhile, Kate and America had finally abandoned their barstools after what felt like endless attempts to perfect their knife and glass balancing trick. You were thankful, really—the persistent clatter of knives hitting the table had started to wear on your nerves.

“Goodnight, everyone!” America called out, waving as she made her way to the elevator. You all paused to acknowledge her departure, and before diving back into your tablet, you glanced at Natasha. She caught your gaze, then winked and blew you a playful kiss. With a small smile, you mimed catching it and tucking it away in your pocket. 

“Wow, that might be the cheesiest thing I've ever seen,” Kate exclaimed as she claimed a spot on the couch beside you.

“If it is, you really need to watch more movies,” you quipped, before diving back into your work. As Kate got comfortable, you noticed her eyes fixed intently on the pool match unfolding across the room. After a few moments, you set the tablet aside and turned your gaze to her.

“What’s on your mind, Bishop?”

“Oh, me? Uh, yeah, nothing, just, you know, chillin’.”

“Look, I know we haven't known each other long, but I’d like to remind you I’m not THAT much older than you,” you said playfully, smirking. “We can still be friends, even if I have to be a little bossy during training and all that.”

“Right, yeah. It’s just that I’m still getting used to being on a team with the people I used to admire on TV,” she admitted, a sheepish look crossing her face.

“Trust me; we have the same everyday problems that anyone else does. So if you’ve got something on your mind, feel free to share—like maybe now, since you’re obviously dwelling on something.”

“Okay, okay,” she sighed, swirling the last of her drink in contemplation. “I was just thinking… you two have been together for, like, a long while, right?”

“I think most people would say so, yes,” you chuckled, adjusting your position to face her more fully. “So, it’s an Ex-Widow Russian Girlfriend kinda dilemma?”

“What? No! I mean, Yelena isn’t my… ah, we aren’t… is it that obvious?”

You couldn't suppress a laugh, shaking your head. “If I had to use one word, Kate, it would be—painfully.” You watched as the blush in her face began to dim. “I know things were a bit rocky at the start, but honestly, we’ve just been waiting for you to tell us for a couple months now.”

“Oh,” she paused, taking a sip of her drink, her gaze fixated on Yelena before returning to you. She shifted closer on the couch, her voice dropping to a softer beat. “Okay, so it’s like… ugh, yes, we’re dating, right? But are we? I asked her, and she said yes, so we did that, but then we kept hanging out, and it feels like dates, but we don’t actually say it, and she’s, like, really closed off but also super flirty, depending on who’s around. I just don’t know if it’s real or just… ugh, I don’t even know!”

“Mmmm, well that sounds about right. Look, I’ve only known Yelena for a couple of years longer than you, and that’s just her vibe. But I get what you’re saying. I don’t know much about your childhood, Kate, but I think we can both agree that theirs is a whole other story, and obviously, all that comes with a lot of trauma. None of us here are free of that burden, but for them, it runs deeper. Generally speaking, that history means they aren’t used to being loved or allowing those feelings, so it can take time to break through. And our line of work doesn’t help. We are painfully aware every day of how caring for someone can lead to hurt—for both you and them. So, gradually breaking down your walls to embrace love? It’s a heck of a challenge. It took me ages to figure out how to navigate my own way through.”

Kate nodded, her understanding evident in the glint of her eyes as she absorbed your words.

“You know, it still feels so bizarre to have people seeking my dating advice. I never saw myself as that person,” you admitted.

“But you two are just so perfect together; you mesh like seamlessly,” she observed, a hint of envy lacing her tone.

“That’s sweet, but it didn’t always look like this, you know. Just like everyone else, we have our struggles. We knew each other for years before we finally got our act together. We’re certainly not perfect; we’ve had our share of ups and downs, disagreements, mess-ups, and fights. But we chose to work through them. I do get that they come off as intimidating—not sure if it’s a Russian, assassin, or spy thing, but yeah, they can be a little abrasive at times, I won’t deny that.”

You both shared a warm smile, a mutual understanding passing between you.

“Sometimes, the people who seem the most indifferent are actually the ones who care the most. It’s just their wall protecting them because they’re unsure if it’s safe to open up and allow themselves to care. Each person has their own way of navigating that. But there’s one thing I can definitely tell you specifically about those two,” you added, eyebrows raised in intrigue.

“I’ll take any insight I can get,” she said quietly, leaning in.

“They don't put on an act when they don’t have to. Unless it’s for a mission, they aren't the type to hang around to fulfill social expectations. Yelena wouldn’t spend time with you if she didn’t genuinely want to, trust me. She wouldn’t bother to invest the effort if she didn’t care.”

“I just wish she would talk to me more,” Kate lamented, her voice tinged with frustration. “Like, just tell me that.”

“Yeah, that can definitely take time, but they’re pretty direct when it matters. If you haven’t noticed, those two are not shy about telling it like it is. So… you could always just ask her.”

A loud burst of energy erupted from the pool table, and you turned to see Natasha reveling in her victory while Yelena sulked in defeat. You stood, turning back to Kate before heading over.

“Maybe you should start by just telling her how you feel and that you just want to know how she does,” you suggested nonchalantly. “Sometimes you just have to embrace the cheese.” She nodded, a shy smile crossing her lips as she joined you in moving toward the pool table.

“Hey, Natasha, quick question for you,” you called out, approaching the duo. She turned, an eyebrow cocked in curiosity. “I was just wondering—do you like me?” you asked, a teasing grin spreading on your face.

“I asked you to marry me,” she replied, rolling her eyes, a smirk playing on her lips.

“Yeah, but was that like a friend thing or a love thing?”

“You’re ridiculous,” she replied, laughter bubbling beneath her teasing tone as she shook her head.

Stepping closer into her space, you wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing your face an inch from hers. “And you secretly love it.”

“Not so secret,” she murmured, lips brushing against yours before you both melted into a gentle kiss, her arms wrapping around your neck while yours slid up her back, leaning into each other for a moment until Yelena’s voice broke through.

“Ugh, get a room!” she groaned.

You both smiled into the kiss and then pulled away just enough to meet her gaze. “But it’s so much more fun to annoy you,” you quipped.

You heard Kate let out a laugh from behind you as Yelena dramatically rolled her eyes.

Natasha slid her arms down to turn around, her back resting against your front. She laid her head onto your shoulder, planting a soft kiss on your cheek. “That’s a really good idea though,” she noted, her eyes glimmering with a mix of mischief and affection.

“So it is,” you replied, playfully giving her a gentle nudge toward the hallway. You locked hands, and Natasha quickly hip-checked Yelena as you walked by.

“You two are so gross,” Yelena complained, covering her face with her hand in mock disgust.

“Just fulfilling your request, sestra,” Natasha shot back with a wink as you reached the elevator hallway, waving goodbye. “Goodnight, ladies!”

As you waited momentarily in front of the elevator, you tuned in, listening intently. For the average person, voices would have to be raised to be heard from here, but your enhanced abilities allowed you to pick up their words with clarity.

“You have to admit, they’re pretty cute.”

“That’s my sister, Kate.”

“Yeah, but they’re usually so serious and business-like, you know? It’s refreshing to see them happy and just like real—kinda proof that you can juggle both lives.”

Good luck, kid, you thought, as the elevator door opens, 

“They talking about us?”

“Oh yeah… Kate thinks we are cute and thus Yelena is a little miffed”

“Well that sounds about right”

You enter the elevator and lean against the wall, Natasha beside you, hands still entwined. 

“Please tell me your sister knows how absolutely head over combat boots that woman is for her?”

“I wish I could say yes, but I feel like she may still be mostly oblivious. I still can’t get her to really admit her own feelings—stubborn as a mule.” 

“Well, I guess that shouldn’t surprise me… It runs in the family after all.”

“I was the one who kissed you first, remember?”

“Oh, I do.” As the elevator doors slid open, you stepped away, your hand slipping out of hers as you walked backward, your grin playful. “But kissing isn’t quite the same as feelings,” you teased, turning to walk down the hallway.

“I’m pretty sure I can make you feel some things with my kisses,” she chimed from behind you.

She quickly caught up, wrapping her arms around your waist and placing tender kisses along your neck as you opened the door. With a gentle shove, she pushed you inside, laughter following as the door clicked shut behind you.

My works Now on A03! https://archiveofourown.org/works/63244339

[thiefof-trefl]

So I haven't seen anyone compare the (alleged) UHC Shooter to Rodion Rascolnikov, and maybe I'm delusional but that's all I can think about every time new info is released.

Ok so it started when I saw this post

And told my friend "wouldn't it be funny if he saw the og post and it was the last straw? Like when Rascolnikov went to that bar in the beginning of the book and heard other people complaining about that usurer?"

Then I started really thinking about it and maybe I'm doing too much and they're not that similar but this is Tumblr, hear me out:

1. They're hot. Seems silly but being attractive can really change how public views you. Characters in the book often acknowledge Rodion's good looks while being very open and revealing in conversations with him. And sure Tumblr would probably be thirsting after "the Adjuster" even if he weren't conventionally attractive, but the overall public perception of him was greatly positive and I believe it is also due to the halo effect.

2. Personal feelings covered by ideology. I'm not saying the shooting was purely selfish. It had a great impact on the industry and was something many thank him for. But from what we know Mr Luigi had a major back surgery and suffered from back pain. It is very possible his own experience with the healthcare and Insurance industry was what first pushed him to see it as a problem. Rascolnikov struggled financially and kept on borrowing from the usurer leaving every valuable thing in his possession as pledge. His resentment towards her and his own circumstances was converted into an ideology about people superior and people lesser, which validated his decision to murder her.

3. Masterplan and stupid decisions. It's easy to see how brilliant the execution of the assassination was. The place, the timing, the escape. He even managed to leave New York during the manhunt. But there were missteps along the way. Going to Starbucks, flirting with the hostess, reusing the fake id, wearing the same clothes. Dumb little things that could be written off to both stress and arrogance. Reminds me of silly mistakes Rascolnikov did after murder. Dropping a jewellery box on the way out, keeping the bloodied sock, coming back to the murder scene. But that's where I also see a big difference. While Rodion was overcome with paranoia and fear, I suspect (just an educated guess, I don't know him personally) that our Shooter might have felt too... Proud of himself? The assassination succeeded, he escaped the police, left the state and the public at large loves him! I know it would make me feel invincible.

4. Game of cat and mouse. This one's not as big, just a small similarity. They both mock the police. Rascolnikov during in person conversations and the Adjuster by leaving the backpack full of monopoly money. Hilarious in both cases.

And finally

5. Letting the police catch them. It's just a theory, not really backed up by anything other than conjectures, but I can see why it might be true. Rodion Rascolnikov tired of constant paranoia and guilt driving him crazy goes to the police and confesses to murder. The alleged UHC CEO Shooter Luigi Mangione was arrested after being recognised by a McDonald's customer. He was wearing the exact same get up as during the shooting. And though he used a fake id at first he then admitted his real name. One might think he gave up. It's disappointing but I can't blame him if that was his decision. Living on the run is exhausting. In just two days he had already left so many traces and clues. And he killed a rich guy at that, which we all know is not the same as killing a normal person. The family and police would spare no resources to find him and it would go on for a long time. Years of fear and hiding- that's no life. Right now we can only hope the evidence will be found insufficient and he won't get convinced.

So yeah, had to get it out of my head. Sorry for any mistakes and words used in a wrong way, translating long thoughts into English isn as easy as I thought.

Please, please, please let me know what you think, does it make sense or am I crazy?

[chaifootsteps]

while it's nice to see Vivzie finally acknowledge Stella is worthy of pity 'in her own way' (something about the phrasing on that tweet rubs me the wrong way tbh, feels like they're implying her pain is like less important or valid or something? might just be me) it's kind of frustrating to see the end of the tweet say 'that doesn't absolve her of the pain she's caused', because like

I haven't seen many people making that argument, tbh?

like sure there are Stella stans who unironically say she was in the right to order a hit on him and it's fair retribution, but I don't think they're the majority

the majority of fans & former fans I've seen are just frustrated at how much of a caricature Stella is; as a portrait of an abuser she's incredibly poorly done and as an intended Hate Sink with no redeeming qualities she's frustrating because her backstory is just as tragic as Stolas', arguably more so because she has way less power & social mobility than him yet we're supposed to treat her like an irreedemable monster because the writers decided she was evil since birth.

I don't pity her because I like her or because I excuse anything she's said or done to Stolas. I pity her because I look at her backstory and can easily imagine how much of a nightmare her life is & how the fandom only ever seems to consider the 'arranged marriage' part of it and not the laundry list of other things that are awful about Stella's life. And I pity her because she reminds me of people IRL - mostly women - who are stuck in awful circumstances then are victimized twice by people who, if they even recognize the circumstances are bad, don't care about how that influences the person they currently are or why they behave in ways that seem inexplicable to us

for example the whole Stella likes throwing parties thing. we're obviously supposed to take it as a sign she's vapid and shallow, but what else is she supposed to do? at least if she throws parties misery can have company & her friends can visit. We see Stolas make fun of her for not knowing how to spell, but was she ever expected to be literate or allowed to have interests outside of raising a child she didn't want? the show just doesn't care to answer what society looks like for someone in her position. her interests only matter insofar as they provide a vector for the viewer to hate her some more

(going back to the recent discussions around MLP it's so noticeable they went out of their way to avoid 'stereotypical feminine interest = worthy of scorn' by having Rarity & Pinkie's interests be fashion and parties and the rest of the cast being chill about that even if they don't share that enthusiasm)

I know there are some proposed fix it scenarios in your inbox that often throw in 'and then Striker kills Stolas' as a closer but like even those don't sound like they approve of Stella or anything she does. far as I can tell they just hate Stolas and are tired of him because the show keeps insisting he's a perfect angel who never means to hurt anyone so that makes it OK. there's no chance of getting any catharsis seeing Blitzo or anyone else stand up to him, so we have to imagine it. It's even more galling considering Stella keeps most of her ire focused on Stolas whereas Stolas is exploiting and gaslighting a member of the lower classes. I mean at least Stella seems to have no delusions about who or what she is, she knows she's being awful and she revels in it. Stolas meanwhile is in total delusion about who he is and what he's done & the show is running out of chances to fix that

so like yeah, nothing Stella has suffered absolves her of her treatment of Stolas. But that exact logic applies to Stolas, too, yet the show wants us to show him more than pity - it expects us to like and empathize with him while he frees Blitzo from sexual slavery mainly because he feels entitled to love & affection that he's not getting and was never owed

That's what it boils down to, really. Stella's not allowed a free pass, while Stolas is allowed to hurt whoever he wants for any reason.

[creekfiend]

Hey, do you have family in Israel? Do you know whether they are alright?

sure, I do. in my experience most American Jews have family in Israel. When my family left their village in what is now Belarus, half of those leaving came to the US and half went to Palestine. (and those who remained were killed and that village does not exist anymore) I am not in close contact with the Israeli side but I expect I would have heard something if any of them had been hurt. Josh has much closer Israeli family as his brother Yoav and nieces/nephews all live there but they are also fine to my knowledge.

I appreciate the check in, but I will be perfectly honest with you that while it hurts my heart immensely that so many Israeli civilians have been killed, right now I am primarily concerned about the millions of people in Gaza without electricity or running water who have been ordered to evacuate or get exploded but who have nowhere to go. I am very, VERY concerned about the statements being made by the garbage fascists in control of the Israeli government right now openly stating their genocidal intentions on a scale that we haven't previously seen.

we are all triggered and traumatized as hell about everything, and by we I mean Jews, and I think it's understandable for us to feel that way. but I also am struggling a lot with the degree to which many of my fellow American Jews are making this ABOUT our big feelings of fear and anxiety. I understand that anticipating things becoming More Dangerous is something all Jews have had to do constantly forever. I understand that "position of relative privilege" is something that's extremely conditional for Jews and something that can be taken away at the drop of a hat. but... I don't know. I've been trying to think of anything coherent or helpful in any way to say for the past several days and coming up short. it's a nightmare. But it would be disingenuous to deny that it's a nightmare for me in ways that are removed pretty significantly from the ways in which it is a nightmare for other people.

my family is fine. I understand and empathize with the sentiments of "but what if my family becomes NOT fine?" especially when this is the largest mass killing of Jewish civilians since... well. and I am also enraged and terrified by the comfort with which many leftist gentiles seem to be practically celebrating those deaths. but I'm really preoccupied by the fact that millions of people and their families in Gaza are Not Fine in a huge and terrible way right now as we speak. this is not to say that it is a contest, but if I am doing triage, it is very clear to me whose leg is more broken right now. While acknowledging, again, that we are in a scary place globally regarding antisemitism.

Angry Jew on fb has been posting a lot of stuff that really speaks to how I am feeling right now. devastated by the horrible ways some of my people have been killed, and devastated also that inexcusable violence is being done, essentially, in my name. I hate to talk about this publicly because I also fucking wish American gentiles would kind of shut up about it a lot of the time, to be honest. and I hate feeling like I am giving anyone ammunition in their weird ideological internet fights about having The More Correct Opinion in the hypothetical trolley problem-ass situation that so many of them act like this is. the refusal to learn about any specifics of the situation in favor of just deciding it must be exactly like some other unrelated geopolitical issue that they feel they have a better handle on, and then just... overwriting the reality of the situation so that it matches up with what they are comfortable imagining in their heads. I have had to unfollow and block a lot of people lately.

I mostly talk to my safe Jewish and Muslim friends about this. and select few safe non-muslim gentiles.

Right now I am grieving for many reasons. Since you asked me about my personal connection I will tell you the main things I remember learning and feeling about this growing up. I've never been to Israel. Not close enough to my family there to visit, although my dad did, & never comfortable with programs like Birthright. I remember in the 90s my dad, who was an administrator at the school of Public Health at the local university, was helping put together programs that would bring Israeli and Palestinian universities and public health groups together to work on universal public health issues like helping ppl stop smoking, vaccination, etc. it was going really well at the time. he was going over there a few times a year to coordinate with the people running the programs there. he was really optimistic about it, & several other similar programs. this was back when Yasser Arafat and Yitzak Rabin/Shimon Peres were having a lot of talks that were seemingly productive and hopeful. like obviously it was hardly a golden age but it seemed like maybe Israel was moving away from violence. and then 9/11 happened and everything exploded and all the little programs simply disappeared and my dad never went back to work with anyone. and then fucjing... Netanyahu. and it seems like since then everything only gets worse and worse and further and further from anything other than horrible violence, and that devastates me

In high school I took a Mideast Civ class and one of my fellow students was a kid whose parents had been expelled from Palestine during the war and fled to America. what I remember being struck by when he talked about this was how his family's story was so similar to my family's story and a deep sense of shame and anger that people who had undergone what my family had could then make his family undergo the same thing. That's still a pretty big part of how I feel. I don't accept that that kid's experience was necessary to keep me or my family safe.

I'm just a guy. I try my best to learn as much as I can and listen to a large variety of people connected to this so I can have a more holistic view of things. I'm not making this post rebloggable for obvious reasons but since it's here on my blog, for anyone reading who is also feeling despair, here's some organizations that are good to follow & support if you are able (non-exhaustive obviously)

synagoguesrising.org Synagogues Rising is a coalition of leftist synagogues in the US who advocate for Palestinian liberation and who are currently begging the US government to work to deescalate military violence and provide humanitarian aid to people in Gaza

refuser.org Refusers Solidarity Network is a group advocating for Israelis who refuse to serve in the military as conscientious objectors

map.org.uk Medical Aid for Palestinians living under occupation & as refugees

Genuinely, thanks for asking about my family. if you also have family in the area, I hope they are also alright.

I want everyone to be alright. I know this is a lot of big baby feelings and no particular political ideologies or solutions and that's because I'm just one fucking Jew and I'm not an activist or a revolutionary and I kind of feel a bit like other online people could stand to admit more often that they're also just some guy and also not activists or revolutionaries. I sure have beliefs and I sure feel strongly about them, but man, right now I just want to express grief & anger & worry about how awful this government is and how many people they're going to kill and how much I wish it was not happening

my family is Ok.

eta: I'm reading this back and realizing that as a response to this ask it makes it sound like I'm saying that inquiring about the well-being of someone's Israeli relatives is like, inherently devaluing the well-being of other ppl and I very much am not saying that and do not believe that. I'm just enormously emotionally dysregulated and this got me kind of stream of consciousness about all of the things I have been chasing around in my brain about this.

[spywhitney]

Why I'm Not Buying New Tickets for the Sydcarmy Train (For Now Anyway)

So yesterday I re-watched S3 (aside from EP10. I didn't feel like watching Sydney having a panic attack again) so I can write this with a fresher perspective.

For a little context, S3 dropped at 2am Thursday for where I was and I couldn't get to sleep because A) I was so excited to watch it and B) It was more hot than usual so that kept me awake so I watched it all immediately.

My main stance is not that I don't necessarily doubt sydcarmy will happen, but rather I don't like the idea of it as much as I did before S3. Now, to my points:

Season 4 May Be the Last Season I believe it will be, or if we're lucky (???), an extra season. With how the story has gone thus far, and how the actors are being catapulted into the spotlight, I doubt there will be time for a satisfying sydcarmy ending.

Carmen Is No Longer Attractive as a Male Lead

The bear is a show of flawed characters that we can all connect, sympathise and root for in one way or another.

I had a hard time finding the Carmy from the previous seasons, or enough of the good traits that made him sympathetic enough for me to overlook his unsavoury ones. The yelling, ignoring, the disrespect, the arrogance, the abandonment, the neglect (and whatever else I haven't said) directed at Sydney (and everyone else, but she gets the worst of him the most often) doesn't make me want to see them kiss.

The first word that came to mind is gross. Could you imagine if a friend explained what Sydney has went through with Carmen then revealed they're getting into a romantic relationship with him? There's a certain ick factor that can't be undone completely by longing stares, chemistry and hundreds of analysis posts for me.

If being around your "soulmate" is leading to deteriorating health, it's not worth it. Smells too much like struggle love to me, and I'm not fond of the implications of that.

Dwindling Faith in the Execution of Sydney’s Character I held an expectation that S3 will be heavily focused on Sydney, but she was side-lined once again, and not for characters or arcs that I and a lot of viewers wanted to see. (Not to mention how this season was in general).

This season was mostly rising action and conflict, and with that we've seen Sydney at her lowest and have to wait to see if she will be victorious before the end (the word victory was first said by Sydney and one other person so far in the show, so I hope that's a good sign).

I don't want to sit through watching a black woman be a workhorse/emotional support/"work wife" to a white guy, or just anyone really. There was microscopic if non-existent reciprocity or at the bare minimum acknowledgement of what Sydney has done for everyone and the restaurant (and not just from Carmen).

Carmen Has to Change More Than Sydney Does His flaws far out weigh the severity of Sydney's. With S3, him not being okay is making Sydney not be okay, this is something I was concerned about in S2 with all the parallels, while some are sweet/romantic, others like the throwing up, the ticket machine and now the panic attacks, are too largely negative to be overlooked.

Saying that Sydney is becoming Carmen is not a stance I agree with (or want to believe), but for the show so far he's been giving her more problems, more stress and not enough care, respect, love to make up for it. Sydney has a flaw of not being vulnerable and expressing herself. It affects herself and her relationships with others, but not to the point where they're worse of. Carmen's flaws are negatively affecting Sydney's health, while despite her flaws, Sydney's strengths positively affect Carmen without fail. See where the problem is? Sydney has nothing to gain (and so far, has gained nothing substantial) from being around Carmen in any capacity, while Carmen has continued to benefit from her presence.

Again, it's kind of hard to root for them when romance involves people who compliment each other, make each other better. "You make me better at this." This is certainly true for Carmen, but Sydney? I don't see how this has been illustrated, or at most to a significant extend to where the negative aspects of their dynamic are out trumped. (Sidenote: At least Claire was getting lovingly touched and getting fucked by Carmen while Sydney was building up their dream restaurant alone. That's some nasty work.)

Sydney Deserves a Changed Carmen, Not a Struggling One Or a different love interest altogether. (Luca, where are you at? My condolences to the sydmarcus crowd, they really burned your ship in S2 then let it sink in S3.)

This connects to my very first point, but I don't think there will be enough time for Carmen to improve to be the man Sydney deserves. He also has yet to suffer the consequences for how he's treating Sydney. So far he has suffered at his own mind and trauma, but that's not enough for me. He has yet to pay his dues when it comes to Sydney, so the the idea that she will stay with him and The Bear and wait around for him to be and do better when she's been doing that three seasons straight doesn't sit right with me.

Like Sydney's gone through all that she's gone through (mostly due to Carmen) only for Carmen to be what she gets at the end? Eh, no thanks. (Especially if Sydney doesn't get loved up and taken care of by someone deserving, succeed professionally and win in general.)

Subtext, Glorious Subtext Last one. Whoop whoop! Being a sydcarmy has made watching this show so much better.

However, I can't be the only one who at times is getting tired of hyperfixating on subtext only for it to amount to nothing.

But, I have a few observations myself. I don't want Sydney to stay with Carmen/at the bear, I want her to leave. I have a feeling she won't but:

-In S3 EP5, when Sydney asked Carmen if he knew if Ever was special when he was there and I think he said he didn't, but Sydney said it was good he got to experience it.

-The only noteworthy Claire scene where she talks about the girl who fell into a glass table and laughed after the surgery, and Claire said she thinks the wounds didn't hurt yet. (And the scar on Carmen's hand. Is that from the pilot S1 episode when he grabbed the pan?)

-When it's revealed Terry is closing Ever, Richie presumes the reason is because she's depressed, but it's revealed she just didn't want to do it any more.

-The ever chef told Sydney if it wasn't for Terry closing he'd probably be there forever.

With these moments I like to think Sydney's arc is learning to move on, to not make "everything the thing". Carmen is the one who needs to stay at the bear, in one place and work on becoming himself with where he's at.

I may add onto this later, if you've read this far thank you, and I hope it was interesting. Links below are my rants on S3 and sydcarmy. Pretty sure you could decode the five stages of grief in them- I'm so dramatic lol.

This This And this

[judyprincess]

Too Pink For me - Logan Howlett +18

Chapter 6: It is not love?

Time passes, and the flowers wither in the face of the intensifying cold. The vibrant and soft colors lose their intensity, fading away before the imminent autumn that brings with it ochre tones adorning the trees. This marked the time Rosellina had spent at the mansion; a week had gone by, and as she formed strong bonds with those first people she connected with, her relationship with that cold and harsh man seemed to remain frozen in time without remedy. Was it her constant desire to make others happy that prevented her from accepting the situation with the man whose long life had been marked by misfortune?

"Do you often think about Logan?"

Rosellina's eyes widened, feeling her cheeks flush at Charles' words. She quickly let out a small laugh, shaking her head to ease the nervousness in her body.

"Please, don't take it the wrong way," she said in a low tone, looking at the man before her.

"I'm not; I'm just curious," Charles replied, sharing her laugh with a paternal smile as he watched her. "What bothers you?"

Rosellina looked at him. Did that situation really bother her? Was that the right way to describe it?

"I just don't want to be a bother." Her confession was accompanied by a faint smile. "I don't want to cause trouble for anyone."

Charles observed her, delving beyond her words. He didn't sense a yearning to be loved, at least he had never seen any indication of that. In fact, Rosellina even seemed to accept mistreatment. There was a need within her to bring happiness to everyone.

"Logan is a man with a long path of pain behind him, forged through the harshest trials life can throw at someone; he is a person completely different from you." Charles spoke, glancing briefly out the window. "His old heart, beneath that red shell, doesn't respond well to attitudes like yours. It could be... like an illusion."

The Italian listened attentively, intrigued by his words.

"I don't understand," she confessed, a bit confused.

Charles shook his head, maintaining his smile.

"My dear child, many questions are only answered with time." Charles gently caressed her with his words, acknowledging her innocence. "Soon you'll see that some things just resolve themselves."

Rosellina closed her eyes when she felt Charles' hand pat her head affectionately, like a child. She felt a hollow sensation in her stomach, a butterfly fluttering intensely, and her heart leaping. She looked up at him, seeing his affectionate smile directed at her. She didn't fully understand what he meant, but that attitude made her feel as if there was nothing to worry about, as if all the bad things disappeared.

"Now, even though you're a teacher, you're still my student. Time to continue. How about it, Rosa?" he said, moving his chair back to take up the position they both held before.

"Of course, Professor," Rosellina replied, her spirits restored.

"Your mutation is very connected to the mind, though of course, it's not the same as telepathy. It has its limits," he explained, opening his notebook again on his lap and preparing the pen, reviewing his notes. "For now, you manage to create a very realistic reality, though its duration could be improved; for now, it's short, depending on how much you need to create for the other person." He continued, looking over the results of previous sessions. "Moreover, I maintain that if we keep up the exercises, you could see memories, though it would require more prolonged visual contact—it would be your bridge."

See memories?

Rosellina wondered to herself. She had never considered the full extent of her powers. They had always developed gradually over time. That possibility seemed so far off.

"I'm not sure I can do that, Professor," she said, her voice carrying a hint of doubt and trembling with uncertainty.

"Nothing is impossible, my dear. We mutants are proof of that," Charles remarked, raising an eyebrow at her. "Your powers have a wide reach; they haven't even fully developed yet. You could have a better range than Jean or me when it comes to viewing memories. That's the hardest part for us."

She listened intently. She was intrigued to know how far her abilities could extend, but beneath her palms, a slight tremor revealed her growing nervousness. Was it fear? Rosellina had never fought anyone, had never hurt anyone. Everything she showed had always been a moment of joy. Was she scared of discovering what she was capable of?

"I... Could I hurt someone?"

That question planted a prolonged silence. Charles took a deep breath before giving his response.

"Anything that involves an intervention in the brain can cause significant damage if exposed for too long or used incorrectly, even resulting in death," he replied in a frank tone, watching her closely. "That's why you're learning to use them, to know when to stop or do what's necessary."

Rosellina felt a void for a moment as she looked at her hands. A lump in her throat choked her.

"I will." That firm voice resounded after minutes of silence, and she looked at Charles with determination. "I'll do my best, day by day," she continued, anchoring herself with resolve. "I don't want to hurt anyone."

Charles was surprised by her determination. More than for herself, she was motivated by the desire to keep those affected by her illusions safe from any collateral damage. How much nobility there was in this young woman who had always been alone. How could someone, immersed in constant solitude, generate so much love for those who might not even know how to return that same love to her?

"Rosa."

"Sir?"

Charles let the pen rest on the notebook, looking at her as she waited expectantly for his next question.

"Do you remember when your eyes started to release this power? Have you ever used it on someone?"

That question might have been the greatest transgression. A chill ran through her, like cold water. That's what Rosellina felt. She was left speechless, her lips moved slightly several times, but no words came out. There was a long, heavy silence until Rosellina, finally struggling as if swimming in open waters, managed to speak.

"I... I don't remember," she said, her voice trembling.

What was that? It felt like a part of her life that had never existed, something she hadn't thought about until now. She felt like much of her past was blank.

"All I know is that, from one day to the next, I was already living in my house... alone." She didn't even understand why her body felt so heavy.

She wanted to express it casually, but her body reacted so involuntarily. It was like the sting of a scab being lifted from an old, forgotten wound that had never healed. Had it always been enough for her just to put a bandage on it and forget about it? Even now, as she tried to remember any moment, everything seemed blank.

Charles felt a sense of déjà vu. He could see in Rosellina's expressions the same look he had seen in someone else who had said the same thing to him years ago. He pondered the situation for a moment before moving his chair closer to her again. All he could feel was the same emotion: concern.

"May I?" 

Rosellina opened her eyes to him, understanding what he was implying.

She hesitated before nodding, feeling Charles's fingers at the sides of her head as soon as she gave her approval.

Charles closed his eyes, delving into her memories. He immersed himself in her mind, traveling through her most recent recollections, moving further back in time. The sea, people watching her, murmurs, a mix of distance and admiration—so much loneliness for the most part. The deeper he went, he only saw Rosellina always on that balcony with a painting, occasionally gazing out at the sea. Meals in solitude, reading in solitude, walking in solitude. No matter how much he searched in her memories, he couldn't see images of her old friend Jackson; it was just Rosellina, alone in a house she gradually filled with color. Charles didn't want to keep looking—these types of memories always led to the depths of sadness—but he wanted to help Rosellina, and for that, he needed to know more about her past.

Charles reached a memory of a 13-year-old Rosellina, creating her first painting. A fallen angel—was it Lucifer? A painting in a style that was both Renaissance and Baroque. In the memory, Charles rose from the chair, walking around the scene. Rosellina's gaze as she painted, those green eyes fixed on the painting, tears falling as her gaze drifted away.

"Rosellina...?"

He barely murmured, his voice an echo that spread through the memory. What had happened? That emotionless look depicting the fall of the traitor from heaven. The one who sinned, the one cast out from heaven, the most loyal whose pride consumed him. But wasn't he still misunderstood? Could there always be a different interpretation? The one who saw evil in those he loved so much, who had to react by wielding his superior powers? Or... was it simply about making clear that he was the one who deserved to be on a pedestal? The one they should love for his beauty and follow his word without question?

I must go further back.

That was Charles's thought, feeling his feet heavy as lead, wanting to push further, but he found himself in a forest out of nowhere. When he tried to leave it, he encountered an endless green field, stretching so far it seemed infinite no matter how far Charles advanced. It left him frustrated; her own mind had blocked those younger years with an illusion. Why had her own mutation created a barrier around those years? Charles opened his eyes, returning to reality, looking at her. He swallowed hard, stepping back, noticing how she raised her gaze toward him, curious.

"Did you see anything? Did my father appear?" She showed a small smile, a hopeful glimmer that maybe she could recover some good memories.

Charles, before his honesty, always put the protection of his young ones above all else. El miro su sonrisa, esperando sus palabras.

"I couldn't see much; I've already mentioned that my area with memories isn't great," he said with a bitter chuckle, more for himself. He gave her a gentle smile. "But I think I saw him for a few brief moments." Seeing the gleam in her eyes only made him feel more guilty.

"Really?" Her smile brightened the mood from before, but it only made Charles feel worse.

"I can't see beyond your 13 years; your own mutation protects that part, and I couldn't say why." Charles avoided her gaze, making notes in his notebook. "We'll work on it, and I trust that we can learn more about you and help you however we can, okay?"

Charles managed to give her one last warm smile, watching her enthusiastic smile as she nodded gratefully.

"Today's session has been tough. Why don't you go spend the rest of the day with the others?" he suggested, rolling his chair back behind his desk.

"Yeah, I'm actually a bit tired," Rosellina confessed, though she seemed happier. She stood up, smiling at him. "Thank you for everything, Professor, truly."

Charles just wanted her to leave—he didn't deserve that smile. He didn't want to see that face smiling after he had shamelessly decided to hide what he had seen in order to protect her.

"See you tomorrow!"

She waved before closing the door behind her. Charles let out a deep sigh, thinking as he looked at one of the shelves where a letter from his old friend lay—the letter that had led him to send Ororo and Jean after Rosellina.

"What inhuman thing have you done, Jackson...?"

He murmured, caught between anger and guilt, shaking his head inwardly. He felt committed as her mentor, not to save his friend, but because of the feelings this kind woman had toward everyone. Rosellina didn't deserve this.

Unaware of this, lost in her little bubble of illusion, Rosellina made her way through the hallways, humming an old romantic Italian tune.

"Roxy!"

Rosellina turned around, seeing Bobby, Kitty, and Rogue approaching her with smiles, greeting her.

"Hey guys, how's your day in class?"

"I just want to graduate already; I don't want to do Ororo's homework," Bobby groaned at the reminder of his assignments.

"You're so lucky, Rosellina, you get to give out the homework," Kitty remarked with mock envy, making the Italian laugh.

"Any progress today?" Rogue asked curiously, as usual, while they walked through the hallways toward the gardens.

"Well..." Rosellina thought for a moment before sharing a bit about her session's outcome. "I have things to improve, like my overall perception through things and the duration of my illusions." She bit her lip before continuing. "It seems I have a part of my memory blocked."Everyone looked surprised and intrigued by her confession, but it piqued Rogue's interest the most, and she quickly spoke up.

"Huh? Like Logan?"

Rosellina paused at Rogue's words. Like Logan?

"Logan also has his memories erased?" the Italianasked, her curiosity growing about the man who probably didn't want to see her around.

The idea of sharing something like this with him felt strange and intriguing to her.

Rogue suppressed a smile at Rosellina's growing interest in her gruff friend and nodded.

"Yes, a part of his life is blocked—he can't recall anything from that time. Not even the Professor has been able to help him," Rogue explained as they continued walking toward the garden.

"Not like Logan's the most cooperative person in the world. If something doesn't work, he gives up and does things his own way," Bobby added with a hint of mockery.

Rosellina found herself slipping into thought. Knowing she wasn't alone in fa

cing this kind of problem stirred a mix of emotions within her. Had Charles failed to help Logan because the mental block was too formidable? Or perhaps it was due to the limitations he mentioned in terms of memory manipulation? She suddenly remembered Charles suggesting that she might possess a stronger potential in that field. Could she, perhaps, help Logan?

Her thoughts, now a maze of possibilities, were interrupted by soft giggles and hushed conversations drifting from a nearby bench in the garden.

"Scott is handsome, but Logan is something else."

"Yes, rugged and mysterious... exactly my type."

The laughter and dreamy sighs of a group of girls, no older than sixteen, pierced the quiet afternoon air, catching the attention of the four as they leaned in to listen more closely to the conversation. The girls were blushing, whispering amongst themselves. Turning their gaze toward the far end of the garden, they noticed Logan approaching with a cigarette in his mouth.Rosellina was somewhat surprised. She hadn't realised Logan was the secret crush of many students. True, he wasn't unattractive—his rugged features and strong presence were hard to ignore—but his demeanor was like an impenetrable barrier.

"I don't see what they find so fascinating about that guy. It's like he hasn't bathed in days," Bobby remarked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"You're just jealous, Bobby," Kitty teased, sticking her tongue out playfully, enjoying the look of mild offense that spread across his face.

"Jealous? Me?" Bobby said, a note of mock defence in his voice, as they all watched Logan stroll across the garden. "Why would I be jealous of a guy whose idea of a fragrance is stale beer and nicotine?"

"Well, you've got to admit, it kind of suits him," Kitty chimed in with a soft laugh.

"Girls love that bad-boy, mysterious vibe, I guess," Rogue mused. "Plus, Logan is pretty protective when it comes down to it. Hard not to fall for that, when he's the one standing in your corner."

Rosellina found herself reflecting on Rogue's words, her gaze following Logan as he walked, leaving a trail of smoke in his wake. She observed him with more curiosity now, her sharp eyesight zooming in on him almost instinctively. Rogue's insights into Logan made him seem less intimidating, more complex. Her eyes trailed over his well-worn jacket, noticing how even beneath his clothes, the strength and discipline of his body were apparent. He carried himself with an air that intrigued her, sparking a new sense of wonder about the man who kept so much hidden beneath the surface.

"Roxy, what do you think?" Kitty's question jolted her out of her thoughts, making her feel like she'd been caught red-handed.

"Huh? About what?" She laughed nervously, playing with her hair in an attempt to hide her unease.

"Logan, duh," Rogue said with a small smirk. "Admit it, you think he's handsome."

"How could she think a guy who treats her like dirt is handsome, Rogue? Come on, give me a break," Bobby objected firmly.

"Well... he does have a certain charm," Rosellina admitted, leaving Bobby momentarily speechless. "But that doesn't mean I see him as a potential partner," she quickly added, noticing everyone's anticipation.

"I give up. You're all out of your minds."

Bobby let out a deep, exasperated sigh, leaning back on the railing as his gaze followed Logan. Suddenly, something caught his eye, and he straightened up, peering beyond the fountain.

"Okay, remember when I said that if Logan can't get something right the first time, he just gives up and does his own thing?" The three girls looked at Bobby with curiosity, wondering where he was going with this. 

"I take it back. The guy's relentless when it comes to trying to win over Jean."

All three of them quickly moved to the other side of the garden's upper level to see what Bobby was talking about. In a secluded corner, partly hidden by tall hedges, they spotted the pair that always seemed to attract attention. Rosellina, in her innocent confusion about the situation, decided to voice her question.

"But, I don't understand... aren't they already a couple?"

Rosellina took a step back when the three mutants turned to her with such speed that it felt like a scene out of a horror movie.

"What?" Kitty blurted out, utterly incredulous.

Laughter erupted from Bobby, and Rosellina could see him clutching the railing for support as he struggled to catch his breath. He tried to speak between fits of laughter but couldn't quite manage it.

"You're going to choke, Bobby," Rogue said, patting his back as he continued laughing, trying to regain his composure.

"Oh, Logan as Jean's boyfriend, that's a good one," he managed between the last bursts of laughter, wiping away a stray tear. "Do you see alternate realities, Roxy?"

In response to Bobby's teasing, Rogue gave him a light pinch on the back, causing him to yelp and snap back to his senses.

"That hurts, darling," he grumbled, rubbing the sore spot.

"I don't understand..." Rosellina murmured, looking between them. "Did I say something wrong?"

"I don't think you knew this, but Jean is Scott's girlfriend," Kitty mentioned, a hint of discomfort in her voice.

Rosellina felt an odd jolt inside her. Was that how things stood? The three of them quickly brought her up to speed on the situation. Alongside this new information, they watched the supposed couple conversing below, with a few subtle touches exchanged, of course.

"The thing is, well... it's a weird love triangle," Kitty concluded under Rogue's angry gaze directed at the pair in question.

"I never would have guessed..." Rosellina's response to the news seemed important to them, but it left them frozen in place. "I mean, whenever I've seen them together, there were... well, signs that they might be a couple."

"But that's just like what you're seeing now, Roxy. Logan can't keep his hands to—"

"It's not just him."

To Bobby's surprise, Rosellina jumped in, cutting him off as she shook her head.

"She flirts with him too. I've seen it, how she touches him and looks at him. I've seen things; I can say it's not just him." Rosellina wasn't trying to justify whatever it was they were doing, but she didn't want Logan to bear all the blame when she'd noticed signs from both sides.

The four fell into a silence broken only by the soft sound of the breeze. Rogue tapped the cement railing lightly, looking at Bobby and Kitty.

"I told you, I don't like that woman. She always comes off as the poor victim," she spat out, unrestrained and clearly frustrated.

"We can't exactly say she's cheating on Scott, I think—I mean, maybe she's just trying not to hurt Logan's feelings. She cares about him in her own way," Kitty attempted to calm things down, but her words only earned her a disbelieving look from Rogue.

"That's absolute nonsense," Rogue retorted angrily, resenting how people always seemed to justify Jean in these situations. "She's a little manipulator, stringing along poor Scott, who's always been loyal to her."

Rogue felt Bobby's hands on her shoulders, giving them a gentle squeeze.

"Take it easy, love. I enjoy some drama, but I'd rather not have people overhearing us," Bobby said, glancing around cautiously.

"That's not love, Bobby. We all know it; it's something toxic that's only hurting Logan," Rogue replied wearily, gently pulling away from Bobby, while Kitty looked on, clearly concerned.

Not love?

Rosellina turned, placing a hand on her chest, watching as Jean pulled away from Logan once again while he tried to keep her close. She observed the expressions, the silent pleas for her to stay and respond to his touch, while everyone else seemed oblivious to what was right in front of them.

Bobby, sensing the tension, couldn't help but let out a soft laugh before making a cheeky comment.

"I still think that guy just needs a night with a prosti—"

"Bobby!"

Kitty and Rogue's shouts cut him off, but he couldn't stop himself from laughing.

"What? It's true. The poor guy must be surviving on cold showers or... other means. I don't know how he manages. He should just disappear for a few days and enjoy himself—bet he's done it before."

Bobby continued with his insinuations, which went far beyond Rosellina's usual thoughts. The Italian woman remained innocent at heart, though she wasn't entirely naive about what Bobby was hinting at. But his boldness was enough to make her cheeks burn. The thought lingered in her mind when she was alone. Was Logan really that kind of man, with such... desires?

Why are you thinking like this, Rosellina?

She shook her head as she finished putting on her pajamas, scolding herself. Her eyes stung as she glanced at the clock: 1:35 a.m. She sighed softly—she'd stayed up far later than intended, preparing lessons for the children. She placed the papers and assignments into her bag, pushing her hair back with another sigh. The frustration of her insomnia, combined with the burning in her eyes, wasn't going to help her get to sleep.

"Why do my eyes sting so much?" she murmured, rubbing one of her eyes.

She turned towards the door—again, that familiar itching seemed to precede when her eyes would want to peer through the walls.

Rosellina's eyes flared with intensity, her vision extending beyond the hallway, piercing through a second wall. It happened involuntarily, without warning or intention. She knew this could happen, that her eyes might betray her control and show her things she didn't wish to see. And yet, as her gaze penetrated that second wall, her eyes widened at the sight unfolding before her—served up on a silver platter, like a feast for which she had not been invited.

Logan's body, completely drenched in water, faced away from the door, wearing only a pair of sweatpants. Water droplets traced their way down from his perpetually disheveled hair, now soaked, flowing with precision over every defined muscle of his broad, powerful back. The muscles seemed like perfect pathways for the water streaming from his hair. If Rosellina were to describe it in terms of art, she'd say that Logan was living proof against the claim that the male form could never be as perfect and grand as ancient sculptures sought to depict. A perfection admired since ancient Greece.

She didn't want to keep looking—this was wrong in so many ways—yet she continued, driven by the curiosity and desire to see more. She was sinning; Rosellina was aware of this. Then she saw him turn, revealing the front of his form. It was impossible to decide which side was more striking from an anatomical perspective. Rosellina had seen countless nude models in paintings and sculptures, but this was different—Logan, bare from the waist up, was something beyond what she had encountered in art. 

She could see every detail: his neck leading down from his strong jawline, his collarbones giving way to those well-defined pectorals that rose and fell in rhythm with his breathing. Veins traced paths all the way down to his eight-pack, each muscle absolutely defined and impressively built. It stole her breath—how just a slight movement from the man displayed the full extent of his sculpted body. Those veins seemed to lead her gaze inevitably downward, toward that V-line guiding to forbidden territory. Where was her sense of shame? She needed it to appear and give her a slap for her daring thoughts. She watched as Logan adjusted his sweatpants, pulling them down slightly, revealing just a hint but leaving the rest to imagination.

Rosellina swallowed hard—why couldn't she stop her gaze from drifting lower?

Logan, meanwhile, adjusted his pants, intending to find a shirt and head downstairs to grab something from the kitchen or smoke a cigarette. He couldn't sleep, and that was what he craved most to settle his restlessness. Then his animal instincts kicked in—he felt watched, intensely watched, exposed under a pair of giant eyes. A slight shiver ran down his spine, and he looked directly toward the door. His instincts rarely failed him; he could sense someone's gaze.

Rosellina snapped out of her trance, realizing the gravity of her actions like a sinner who had fallen prey to the devil's temptation. Instinctively, as if caught red-handed, she quickly turned off the lights in her room and pressed herself against the wall, crouching down, covering her face in overwhelming embarrassment.

"Diavolo Rosellina, cosa stai facendo? cosa fai, cosa fai peccatrice, questo non va bene. Dio, perdonami." She muttered under her breath in her native tongue, like a prayer, hoping not to be discovered.

Rosellina felt her breath quicken, panting, as she heard Logan's door open. Through the small gap at the bottom of her own door, she could see the hallway dimly illuminated by the light from Logan's room. She heard his heavy footsteps as he left. Rosellina covered her mouth, trying to muffle her breathing—she knew all too well, from Logan's own words, how sharp his senses were, thanks to that almost animal side of him.

Those footsteps kept getting closer.

_______________________________________-

"Cursed sin that brought me to my own situation, drenched in misfortune by the temptation of my own greed."

[lorynna]

I agree with you on the overuse and the muddying of the term "asexual". Most asexuals I see have wayyy more sex than I do, and I am very much not asexual.

But I know one of these very rare authentically asexual and aromantic people. My oldest friend. She has absolutely zero sexual attraction to anyone ever, no sexual desire, never even masturbated, never had even an incling on a crush. This is not because of trauma, she's just always been this way. She's an adult, has a degree, works in mechanical engineering, plays lots of sports and hikes mountains, plays boardgames, has close friends - just a regular woman. But she is not just categorically not interested in anything to do with sex and romance, she also just truly doesn't get the appeal. It makes no sense to her.

And for her and people like her, I do think the label is helpful. Obviously you don't need an excuse or a reason not to want those things, you owe that to nobody, but like you said, it is very rare. And just for yourself to feel comfortable and at peace and not like there's something wrong with you, it's very helpful to have a word for it. And to know there's others, even just a few.

She never looked for a word, I was the one who found it online, since I'm a lesbian I was in LGBT circles and eventually stumbled across it and thought of her. And I remember how relieved she was when I mentioned it and asked if that sounds in any way fitting to her. It has also helped her with explaining the idea to her parents or other close friends - people she'd always wanted to know about it, but where she just hadn't known how to say it.

Hi anon! Thank you for your message! 🩷

Your friend sounds like someone who lives life to it's fullest extent and finds something positive in whatever they do. All in all like a genuinly nice person to be around.

I don't have much to say, since you haven't really asked a specific question or disagreed with me - so I'm just going to appreciate your contribution to the topic and say what's on my mind when I read it.

Firstly, I'm glad your friend felt relived when she found out about the label existing and that other people experienced the same thing she did - I can imagine society put her under a lot of pressure regarding any kind of sexual topic.

In the first sentence you acknowledge that the term is overused and has been mudded a lot - that's also one of the reasons why I have difficulties taking the term seriously. Especially because it is rare and I personally have never seen anyone using the label, that wasn't also making it their entire personality or "identifying" with it out of a trend etc you get it. That makes it hard for people like your friend who are genuinly asexual or aromantic to 1) not only get taken seriously by outsiders 2) also feel comfortable and understand in a community of pretenders, who claim to also be the same.

Anyway, I'm happy she could take away what she needed from this term and it helped her explain her experience to those she felt comfortable sharing it with. That's what matters the most :)

[theromanticscrooge]

Drawing Parallels Between Glinda and Elphaba With Elodie and Enid

As of writing this, I haven't checked out the Wicked book series or the theatrical movie yet. This is making reference to just the stage musical.

The core of Wicked is the meaningful but tragic friendship between Glinda and Elphaba. Glinda is an overachiever; the prettiest, the most popular, and the girl who usually gets everything she wants. She feels lost when she's not just handed the position for Wizard's apprentice. The same headmaster dresses her down in public: her abilities are weak and she'd never live up to the qualities needed for the role. While Glinda benefits from pretty privilege and natural charisma, she's seen as just her looks and nothing more. She works to maintain her image and social standing, but she doesn't know if someone legitimately likes her for her or only likes her at surface level. The headmaster's harsh comments slice to the core of Glinda's character: She wants to be acknowledged and understood on a deeper level. She wants to know that she's capable and hardworking; that she can live up to more than just her shallow image. That she's worthy of all the love and adoration she receives.

In stark contrast, Elphaba has been looked down on and belittled by everyone in her life because of her green skin. She's underestimated, feels invisible, inferior; she has to work harder than others for any ounce of recognition and still feels undeserving despite earning something or having a genuine connection with someone else, romantic or otherwise. As a whole, Wicked explores the consequences behind the fever pitch of a fascistic regime in Oz. Elphaba herself can be read as an allegory for queer people, ex-Mormons, people of color experiencing racism, or anyone that feels "othered" by an existing system with a very specific vision for the what the ideal person is and model behavior.

Rising tensions lead to anthropomorphic or 'speaking' animals like Dr. Dilimund being stripped of their rights and autonomy in full view of a grossly apathetic public. Dilimund and his colleagues are forcibly removed from teaching positions, careers, and having any presence in society because they are literally seen as less than human, let alone sapient beings. The metaphors aren't subtle. Its blatant, it's powerful, and it works. In a nutshell, Dilimund is a scapegoat and the hanging guillotine of the question 'Who's next?' His fate acts as a counterbalance to Elphaba's budding friendship with Glinda. For a moment, Elphaba still believes there's a place for her in the existing system because of her newfound talent/affinity for magic that grants her prestige and social power she's never held before.

These feelings are further validated when Glinda, the peak of social desirability, also shows genuine interest in befriending her. Her belief in society at large is completely demolished after she discovers the truth about The Wizard. Ultimately, The Wizard is viewed as a benevolent, generous, and larger than life figure that makes dreams come true. He's the guiding light for a more 'utopian' society and because of how powerful he is as an icon, his role and influence in politics is easily separated from draconian policies and political unrest. Elphaba is convinced that all she has to do is ask and he'll fix the problems facing citizens like Dilimund.

Instead, the Wizard really is just smoke and mirrors. He only wants her as a means to sustain his role as a powerful leader and maintain the current status quo. Where Elphaba leaves society completely and becomes a covert, one-woman resistance movement, Glinda stays and becomes the polished PR figure and go-between for the Wizard's machinations. She's grossly conflicted and manages to hide that she knows something about Elphaba after Elphaba escapes. It also takes her longer to pinpoint what about society is broken. She hasn't been burned in the same openly bigoted way Elphaba has. Glinda has benefited heavily from the existing social system. As someone that not just believed in but benefited from it, she takes longer to disentangle herself from her broken worldview and an increasingly corrupted system. Despite obvious proof to the contrary, she believes that the system can be fixed from within. If she makes compromises, she can keep the status quo as well as create a comfortable space for Elphaba if only she'd return; she can have her cake and eat it too.

Fiyero serves as an interesting complement to Glinda's and Elphaba's respective character stories. When he starts dating Glinda, he's a reflection of how shallow and ignorant Glinda starts out. The two are content 'dancing through life' with little thought or consideration for the existing history of Oz or self-improvement. Fiyero's cavalier attituderesults in him getting kicked out of schools. He can skate by on looks and reputation alone; he's more likely to get second chances just because of who he is. Besides the headmaster's opinion of her, Glinda has mostly skated by on her looks and reputation. Fiyero is more a boost to her status and general morale because of how pretty they look together.

When Fiyero plays off of Elphaba, it both shows the surprisingly sweet, considerate side of his character as well as emphasizes how earnest, compassionate, and selfless Elphaba is. Fiyero's breakup with Glinda is messy and brusque, but his developing romance with Elphaba reflects Elphaba finally coming into her own and showing stronger confidence and conviction. She takes something for herself after years of ignoring her wants, needs, and self in the endless quest to avoid making others uncomfortable. Fiyero himself grows beyond his surface level image. He falls in love with Elphaba as he works on better understanding her situation and a desire to help push against a corrupt system.

In a nutshell, Glinda is a figure of someone struggling to understand her privilege, how that same privilege made her more of an idea than an individual person, and the further problems with the system that gave her said privilege. Elphaba is a tragic figure that desperately wanted to fit into a system, kept getting rejected, and was so betrayed by said system that she started defying it both out of self-preservation and sheer necessity.

Glinda and Elphaba became friends despite coming from very different worlds. Elphaba was the first person to see through Glinda's glamour and show honest support towards and encouragement for her goals as an individual rather than just as an image. She finds the strength to kick out the Wizard as well as start rebuilding Oz because of Elphaba's influence. Despite their circumstances, Glinda was the first person that loved Elphaba unconditionally. Because of Glinda, Elphaba finds the strength to love herself and become who she wants to be despite pressure from society at large to be something else. The tragedy is that despite Glinda rooting out the more corrupt leaders in the Emerald City, the propaganda against Elphaba was effective enough that Oz will never be safe again. While Wicked takes place in a fantastical setting, the story has very real depictions of the consequences and aftermath of a culture that's deeply steeped in a mix of colonialism and fascism.

There's some echo of Glinda and Elphaba between Enid and Elodie from O.K. K.O. Both aspire to enroll at POINT Prep to become strong heroes. Though where Glinda comes from a privileged background and easily gets everything she wants, both Enid and Elodie come from Lakewood. It's illustrated more through visual cues and dialogue but Lakewood is equated to low-income communities and small towns. There's limited opportunities here. There's some fear of getting stuck and stagnating. POINT Prep is a window to hopefully bigger and better opportunities elsewhere. Enid is on a similar wavelength to her colleague Sparko: POINT Prep is a means to an end. She doesn't have a specific vision or hope for her future. What she does know is she doesn't want her background to define who she is and what she's capable of. This is similar to Elphaba not giving immediate consideration to the potential of becoming the Wizard's apprentice. She enthusiastically embraces the opportunity in the hopes that she'll finally be accepted by others and have some chance at normalcy.

In stark contrast, Elodie has a very specific goal and vision for her future. She grew up watching the heroic feats of Chip Damage and aspires to become a beacon of hope and role model like he was for her. Dr. Grayman sets the stage for what the hero landscape looked like after Laserblast's death and the public losing faith in POINT. As far as regular civilians knew, POINT was a chaotic and disorganized mess. They couldn't be trusted with the health and safety of POINT members, let alone the public en masse. Chip Damage was an attempt at a rebrand. He became a living icon; the image of what the ideal hero looked like. He inspired hope. He encouraged the upcoming generation to follow in his footsteps and become heroes themselves.

Chip's example led to Elodie looking at POINT Prep as the penultimate segue from amateur to the next greatest hero the world had ever seen. POINT Prep was a means for Enid. POINT Prep was a destination for Elodie. Becoming the Wizard's apprentice was the next logical step for Glinda in her journey as a beloved, appreciated, and glamorous social figure. Becoming her unique take on Chip Damage was Elodie's entire life goal.

Elodie and Enid's friendship starts with Elodie showing genuine appreciation for and interest in Enid's abilities. She's good at pretending she's more skilled and worldly than otherwise, but it's a mask. They have an earnest and sweet relationship; they gel in an organic way. This also illustrates the caring and considerate part of Elodie's personality. The pomp and dazzle of her image is a tool for reassuring people. Its not just presentation; its a staple in earning someone's trust more easily. Enid is probably the only person that's seen the 'real' and vulnerable side of Elodie before the later events of the POINT Prep arc and Dark Plaza.

Glinda and Elphaba start becoming close because Elphaba leverages her position as the most promising candidate for Wizard's apprentice to enroll Glinda in the training she wanted. There's a competition for a full-ride scholarship at POINT Prep. Enid and Elodie enter with the assumption there's a mutual understanding of and support for 'may the more skilled hero win.' Enid fully intends to keep their friendship regardless of the end result. She deeply values anyone that sees and loves her genuine self. While her parents are generally loving and supportive, they have criticized her desire to be a ninja so harshly that she hides her preferred outfit and weapons at home. She had an ambiguous amount of time where she was a witch full-time at school and home; holding onto dreams and stories until she switched to public school. The ability to explore her true self even just part time was enough that Enid felt hopeful enough to take a chance on both Elodie and Rad. Unfortunately, both Rad and Elodie hurt and betrayed her trust in a way that she closes back up for years after.

Enid wants to be recognized and accepted as her full self by her parents and friends alike. This is roughly comparable to Elphaba's struggle as the black sheep in the family and unwarranted reputation as a social pariah. All she wants is to be seen and recognized as a full human being despite her green skin. She generally poses as a wall flower and makes herself small to avoid any more commotion than she gets by just existing. Elphaba starts opening up and becoming her true self when someone finally recognizes and accepts her as a person despite her outer appearance.

In Enid's case, she starts learning to trust and be vulnerable around others again when Rad, her parents, and Elodie show real attempts to apologize and make amends. She also learns how much she started relying on snark and sarcasm as an extra defense mechanism. She anticipates others taking pot shots at her interests or who lies under her cool facade. If she strikes first, then they don't have the opportunity to hurt her. When she and Rad are on better speaking terms, he feels like he can call her out on this and ask her to course-correct.

Granted, Enid closed up as a result of getting hurt by two different people taking drastic measures to uphold and furnish very specific masks for themselves. Rad leans into toxic masculinity and tries to neg her on their first date. He's convinced that he looks cooler and far more desirable if he's an obnoxious jerk with big muscles. The hyper-masculine image keeps his friends. He's too insecure to openly acknowledge his more 'feminine' interests, let alone that he's a very emotional and sensitive person. Where Enid faced pressure at home to match her family's cultural background and traditions, Rad feels embarrassed by his parents and falls prey to general social pressure around gender roles in a patriarchal system. Rad starts connecting with and more easily talking to Enid when he opens up. He finally meets Enid's vulnerability years later and that's what makes their friendship work.

Elodie was placed in a situation where she felt like she had a very black and white choice between Enid and her ambition. Capitalism exists in this fantasy world. The POINT Prep competition stems from a system that heavily relies on creating scarcity and fostering tense competition between persons. There's only one spot at POINT Prep. Elodie is thoroughly convinced that she has to fight for that spot and, as a result, push others out of her way. Her personal role model Chip Damage is also depicted as the height of individualism and how powerful one person should be. POINT started as a team effort that relied on mutual trust and collaboration.

When POINT pivoted towards showcasing Chip Damage as their posterboy, shameless advertising and merchandising included, POINT became back-up or supporting players to one star player. The new model relies on Chip and Chip alone. He is POINT. This paints Elodie's world view: She has to be ready to shoulder the lion's share of challenges and obstacles that come with professional heroics. She can't be vulnerable or lower her guard. Rather than seeing her friendship with Enid as a strength, it becomes an obstacle. If Enid makes her feel vulnerable, it means Elodie has a direct, exploitable weakness. This mindset is the cornerstone of why Elodie sees Enid as a rival and treats her with passive aggressive hostility.

Elodie's struggle is further echoed by Foxtail. In Wicked, the Wizard starts as a well-meaning guide and starts reshaping Oz to his preferred vision and standards as he becomes more powerful and influential. He's a direct comparison to historical events like British colonizers coming to the United States and forcing the existing populace to conform to their culture, standards, and way of life. That said, O.K. K.O. explores a very different fascistic figure with Foxtail. After Laserblast dies and POINT starts scrambling, Foxtail installs herself as an immediate leader with designs on building an effective, uniform fighting team. Her recruits need to fit her specific idea of what a powerful, effective hero looks like.

Chip Damage is the template. Recruits have to be self-sufficient in a capitalist pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps respect. They're expendable and replaceable in the vision of meeting a greater good. The Wizard shapes society with a mix of propaganda, soft power, and bringing in a violent authoritarian hand against anyone that challenges his societal designs. Foxtail steps in and directly confronts whatever she considers a direct threat or obstacle. Chip Damage is propaganda, but he's propaganda directed at an ideal for people to meet vs a specific figure people rely on. Chip entices new recruits to conform and enforce. The Wizard enforces complacency and dependency.

When Enid becomes disillusioned with POINT Prep, she has a support network back in Lakewood to return to. There's emphasis on how much stronger Enid is because of Rad, K.O., and in this systemMr. Gar. She can openly express her thoughts and concerns with K.O. and Rad. She's on even footing and standing with her mentor and teammates at the Bodega. Mr. Gar benefits from his students as much as they benefit from his experience and feedback. The key difference between Mr. Gar's more independent training and POINT Prep is his tailored, individualized approach with K.O., Rad, and Enid. Everyone receives equal attention and encouraged to learn at a rate or pace that fits them. POINT Prep has specific standards for students to meet. This is blatantly abused by Foxtail threatening failing grades when students don't meet her expectations or follow her orders. There's also Chip's exclusive classes for 'advanced' students. Only those few that meet Foxtail's vision for the ideal hero receive a special power-up that gives them a brief burst of extra power. This is triggered by the need to win or competition period.

Elodie is the highest achiever and the most popular student at POINT Prep. She's part of this exclusive group of students. While she does help Enid disarm and stop Chip Damage, it's equal parts in hopes to salvage their friendship and to rescue the integrity of POINT Prep as an institution. Similarly to Glinda staying next to the Wizard even after discovering the truth of the man behind the curtain, Elodie believes in the standing history and infrastructure behind POINT. She won her spot, but she's worked hard to further cultivate and maintain her position. She honestly believes that she can fix existing issues by sticking around and working within the existing system. Unplugging Chip Damage and pumping the brakes on secret society meetings was only the tip of the iceberg. Foxtail is still in charge. And while Chip acted as emcee at events or taught a few classes, Foxtail is the connective tissue between students like Elodie and their significant overall progress within POINT. Everyone, including Chip, were cogs carefully installed and set in motion according to Foxtail's machinations; only allowed to stay or get discarded by her final word. Elodie continues to follow Foxtail's orders, albeit begrudgingly, because in that moment, Foxtail is POINT.

POINT managed to capture the imagination of someone like Elodie. Chip Damage helped redeem public trust. He was key in painting a very idealistic vision of the POINT pipeline: get recruited, go to POINT Prep, become a successful hero. POINT is only as successful as someone believes they are. Foxtail lost faith in the previous way POINT operated. Though, she still believes that POINT can be a strong and powerful institution that just needs redirection. She seizes control and forces recruits to conform, comply, and enforce her will because she doesn't trust in anyone's abilities or intuition as an individual. Conversely, Elodie believes and trusts in POINT as an institution to the degree she overlooks her reservations and concerns. She sank so much of herself and her convictions into this system that it's difficult to question the possibility it isn't working. POINT holds her imagination hostage; her future, the potential of other heroes, and what the world looks like rely on POINT as a lens to look at and evaluate these things through.

Originally, Elodie follows through with Foxtail's extreme measures because she's more convinced by Foxtail and POINT than Enid and the Plaza at large. While she did join Enid to stop Chip, she also chose to remain at and stand by POINT after the fact. When Elphaba originally asks Glinda to run away with her, Glinda refuses because she sees, and even describes, Elphaba's behavior as 'delusions of grandeur.' Glinda understands how much more self-realized Elphaba becomes outside of Oz's restrictive system; but she doesn't understand the full picture of exactly how incompatible she is with what creates Oz's status quo, especially with the more 'radical' ideas she has. The disconnect is that either one would be sacrificing a large part of their personal values and sense of self to follow the other's lead. Glinda would have to completely reinvent herself; Elphaba would be compromising on things that are absolutely non-negotiable now.

Thankfully for Enid and Elodie, they aren't tragically incompatible. When Elodie sees the resistance force in "Dark Plaza," its a real, tangible example of what she was looking for and hoping to build at POINT. Enid and other Plaza residents show a group of very different individuals coming together and collaborating as an effective, multi-pronged team. There isn't one specific person in charge or strict uniforms. Its teamwork that echoes what POINT looked like before Chip Damage. Seeing a real-world effect that challenges Foxtail's POINT is enough to give Elodie that extra nudge to defy Foxtail. She was scared of a world without POINT; its a significant part of her moral compass and world perspective. Authoritarian POINT on par with villains and confidence in what support she could find with the Plaza is enough to push against Foxtail regardless.

Honestly, "Dark Plaza" is more of an introduction to what kinds of themes and social issues Wicked tackles. Foxtail is portrayed as a redeemable, sympathetic figure. POINT's corruption is effectively defused because Foxtail surrenders, presumably starts unpacking the grief and trauma that kick started her authoritarian campaign, and passed the reigns to Elodie as a kinder, more understanding, and effective leader. The hanging question after Elodie takes charge is how to address the existential hole that Chip Damage leaves behind.

Chip himself reveals that he was just smoke and mirrors; he chooses to tell the world that they can and will persist without such heavy reliance on a Superman. Overall, O.K. K.O. places emphasis on the importance of a strong support system, that its ok to ask for help, found family, and messages about the power of community. Killing Chip Damage is one of the bigger gut-punch scenes for this message. He's never a fully actualized character; he remains an image and an idea. Elodie and K.O. encourage the disgruntled crowd to love themselves. In effect, a strong community consists of people that love their neighbors as well as themselves. Your strengths are just as important to the bigger picture as someone else's shoulder to lean on.

Elodie plans to restructure and rework POINT, but Enid does not see a place for herself there. She's still figuring out what she wants to do next and the Plaza is a better fitting interim space for her values, approach to training, and otherwise. Head of POINT Prep is the best end result for Elodie period. So much of her character rests on her wanting to be a role model and encourage other upcoming heroes. Her current role is more direct and hands-on than just echoing Chip Damage could be. She had some hand in rehabilitating Foxtail, she already defies existing prejudices about Lakewood heroes as a former Lakewood resident herself, and has more say/input on how POINT Prep programs work. Given how much friendlier she is with Enid, Elodie could direct hero hopefuls towards the Bodega if POINT Prep isn't a good fit for their respective abilities and interests.

Glinda and Elphaba end on a very bittersweet note that they had a strong impact in each other's lives and love each other unconditionally but can never see the other again in large part due to forces outside of their control. Enid and Elodie repaired their friendship, but they have a very new, different dynamic. They aren't as close as before; they can't be quite as intimate as they once were but they have figured out how to agree to disagree on certain topics, respect each other's opinions, and actually value the other's insights or intuition on given topics. In a nutshell, it's interesting to look at these sets of characters, how they live in/navigate the societal systems they live in, and how that affects their respective relationships.

[alexandraisyes]

What do you think about each Celestial family member having their own villain arc?

In theory? Yeah that's an interesting concept

With the show's canon? No. That sounds like a total disaster when the only person they really have left is Earth.

Sun: Killed the original bm, Tried to kill Eclipse, Purposefully scared Lunar, broke Moon's computer in anger, blah blah blah. Honestly, he hasn't done anything that bad past those things. And he tried to fix things afterward, but I'd still call that his "villain arc" because he was acting downright vile. And yes I know it's because he was dealing with a psychotic breakdown, which is why I'm not being that hard on him. But also he spent months pushing Nexus away and then was upset that Nexus wasn't like old Moon when he never really made an effort to get to know who Nexus was, he just assumed he was like Moon.

Old Moon: God I could literally go on all day. He's a villain in his own right. Abused Sun physically, mentally, and emotionally for years. We still haven't seen a proper apology or acknowledgment of that. Friends with Monty, which should be a crime in itself. He's literally done whatever he wants whenever he wants the entirety of his existence and blown up at people when they try to tell him no. He's only bothered to care when things are out of his control, he's been known to be a control freak and borderline obsessive.

Lunar: Killed Eclipse, loves to threaten to shock people for pissing him off, plus he's always been a very morally grey character. He does what benefits Lunar and doesn't care about what other people think or how it will affect them. He's a little bit narcopathic, to be honest. He lied about Eclipse abusing him for over a year just to get sympathy points, and it's only been in the past few months that he's come clean about the fact that Eclipse never abused him. He's two-faced and immature.

Nexus: Currently going through it, someone send him cookies, please. Bro is dealing with a virus and psychosis and is not having a good time, and I'm honestly slightly upset that they're actively villainizing him when he's quite literally mentally ill. Especially since he's more or less dealing with the same thing Sun was a year? Two years? ago.

Eclipse: I know he's not a part of the celestial family/related to anyone anymore, but he literally made the purpose of his existence into being a pain in the ass three separate times.

Ruin: Also not in the family but we all know his crimes (being too silly)

Solar: I don't consider him as part of the family the same way I don't consider Ruin or Eclipse as part of it. However he's cold and calloused in his own right (he is an Eclipse after all, even if he's supposed to be a "nice" one) and has been known to have something of a temper. I wouldn't say he's ever had a villain arc, but also he's a very morally grey character (again, he is an eclipse). I feel like if he had any less restraint we would have an entirely different view of him.

Killcode: Not part of the family but bro literally started as a cannibalistic freak like-

So of all the "positive" characters that leaves us with Earth. And so far she's managed to be angelically (this is a compliment to her self restraint) composed and hasn't caused any damage. So far. I really hope they don't give her a "villain arc" because she's like a breath of air in the dysfunctionality. Like yeah, she's dysfunctional and fucked over in her own right, but she hasn't tried to kill anyone. She hasn't tried to hurt anyone (besides bm but that was a security/defense protocol and they lowkey deserved it). I like Earth, I hope they just keep doing what they're doing with her.

I know a lot of people don't like Earth and call her a "Mary Sue" or some shit but I think that just comes from a lack of media literacy because she's a very detailed and complex character who's more than just "a pretty face and kind personality with daddy issues". Y'all who say that are just being offensive and rude, and it comes off as extremely misogynistic. Yes she has her flaws, but I don't see people hating the rest of the cast like they hate her.

[just-sp-in-inginthevoid]

Hello. I am wondering why you start liking Takeomi. He is the most hated character by the fandom and your choice of wet soggy cat is very unique. I want to listen your ramblings.

Oh anon, if only I knew

I'll try to remember how it happened, that much I think I got it.

So, when I first got into TR, my mind mostly focused on Mitsuya and the Shiba (mostly Taiju), so much so that I ended up writing a lot more than I thought I ever will on Taiju and explaining where his behavior comes from

Because it seems like a lot of people missed some important information. And by doing that I was able to show them details they had missed (prove that I was right in previous posts where I didn't justified myself and basically got called a liar by someone in the notes which incredibly pissed me off-) and, although that doesn't excuse what Taiju did, it does explain it and makes him more.. real? Maybe not relatable, but his domestic abuse didn't pop up out of nowhere and a lot of people know what intergenerational trauma can do so while still hating Taiju they could understand him better.

Then, having finished my Taiju analysis which also opened my eyes since I found more than what I initially thought about; I myself was able to understand him better and so I thought-

Why not do that with every hated characters in the fandom?

I don't quite recall if my (at the time, very slight) interest in Takeomi happened a bit before or at that time, but the reason why I focused on him before the others (which, uh, aren't a lot anyway) was because I saw stuffs written about him which I didn't really agree with? Like, yeah, he was flawed and raised his siblings badly - especially when next to Shinichiro who was (at least depicted as)(and try to be) good at it - but they were kinda amplifying things

I know that a lot of people relate to Sanzu, or just, love him, and since they saw things I haven't seen, I told myself 'well, let's investigate, then' and then I wrote about 17k words on Takeomi's psychology.

I literally walked myself into the Takeomi rabbit-hole (what a FUCKING mistake /positive)

Takeomi did neglect his siblings, and passive-aggressively verbally, or even emotionally, abused Sanzu and for most of the fandom, is not attractive (and, let's not lie, beauty is a redeeming quality for a lot of characters regardless of fandom. How many characters, no matter their faults, get forgiven by fans just because they're hot, uh?). So he sucks, yeah

You know what he did do? acknowledged his mistakes, apologized for them and would have started his redemption arc if Wakui had had the time for that when warping up the story

He made mistakes, he's flawed, he's human, he wasn't even supposed to be here because he only entered the delinquent world to keep following Shinichiro, his ego which was back then very weak and non-existent got inflated for either survival or because he received so many compliments he didn't know what to do with it if not both because he was a k i d.

Most of the characters in TR are kids or young adults when they commit things they shouldn't have done. And yes, you can hold them accountable for it but they didn't know better - they didn't have the tools to

Now, why do I like Takeomi.

First of all - the amount of flaws he has. Don't think I need to make the list, I think everyone's got it (although make sure to remember he's got an inferiority complex and it's most likely that he also has an imposter syndrome so he's just like me fr-). But even with that, he's never an antagonist. He does things wrong but he's on our side (he's just very deaf to anyone's opinion that doesn't fit his). He sucked at raising his siblings as a kid himself (before his superiority complex developed and during it too - albeit in different ways) but that's just.. realistic? Not that it takes away the seriousness of it and the consequences, but how else could it have been? The impact on Sanzu were disastrous (not that they were the only reason why Sanzu lost it), I understand that, I don't erase that nor deny it BUT THERE'S A REASON WHY TAKEOMI IS LIKE THIS, TOO. And if people blame Takeomi for his actions (which, again, fair.) then blame Sanzu for his!! he was willing to mass murder hundreds of people!!! including his sister!!! he killed a few people!! argh. But Sanzu got his tragic-backstory/childhood shown and has a design that appeals to most, so I guess it's harder to hold him accountable for the seriousness of his actions (I like Sanzu, don't get me wrong. But sometimes the hypocrisy of some fans makes me a tiny bit angry 🙃)

Anyway, reason 84123286 of why I need Takeomi's backstory. Bc, honestly, from what we know of him as a kid+his coping mechanisms as a teen/adult, it would make sense to me if one of the reason he was so hostile to Sanzu was because he saw himself in him and Didn't Like ItTM (for different reasons) (!!! Which would add nicely to Shinichiro seeing himself in Mikey!!! more sano-akashi parallels, lets goooooooo) Talking about the parallels between the two, the fact he's Shinichiro's narrative foil compels me lots. Takeomi is quite literally Shinichiro with a negative filter on. And how can he survived that? How can he cope with the fact that no matter how much he wants and tries to be Shinichiro he'd never succeed? He'd always be the pale copy, the wood statue covered with golden leaves that are peeling away with time next to the pure gold statue. The Teru Teru Bozu that fails to chase the rain away and is going to be decapitated for his ineptitude. He'd always be himself and that's what he hates the most. He'd always be compared to Shinichiro and there's nothing he can do about it. And he can't even be angry at Shinichiro. That's his best friend. He loves him. He has been the first to love him. He has been there before anyone else. He can't lose Shinichiro, Shinichiro gave him everything. Everything he cares about, he sees value of, at least. Immaculate.

I'll also die on the hill that he is competent. He himself has no idea on what but he is (he mixes everything. For him it'd go like this: he gets praised but he's done nothing, Shinichiro has done everything which means they praised him for what Shinichiro has done. Which means what Shinichiro do, he does too. Which means Shinichiro's achievements are his as well! right? He didn't do anything by himself, there's no need to praise him for something else.)(he's fully blind that strategically-speaking and in other brainy-brain domains he's competent af. Bc since it comes 'easily' to him - since he doesn't struggle much with it, or in contrary he struggles so much he cannot possibly be good at it, then there's nothing to praise. And like, for him what Shinichiro does deserve to be praised. What he himself does is just.. things he does so compliments feel shallow)(+Bonten strives as much as Bad Toman and Manila if not more, yet there's no Kisaki. Ofc there's still Koko so that helps, but Takeomi is new to the team and got recruited (at least that what Senju said) in Brahman for his ~wisdom~)

He's also the only character who was around before Shinichiro 1) became a big brother 2) became a delinquent and that has to mean something. They're the only ones left to remember how the other was before their life went to shit

In the final timeline, he looks so healthy. He made peace with himself, his relationship with his siblings is good, he made amends. He healed, they healed. His relationship with Shinichiro, Benkei and Wakasa is good too everything's great. He learnt to understand what he is competent in and focus on it; he's not Shinichiro, he'll never be and that's okay. He's him and what he is complete Shinichiro just as Shinichiro complete him – they take care of one another's flaws but can also know live independently from each other. Perhaps, perhaps Takeomi stopped being so dependent of him

Appearance-wise, I love dark hair+green eyes combo in general so it wasn't that hard (plus there are some godly fanarts out there)

And of course: despite his complexity, at the end of the day - he's really just a pathetic wet poor excuse of a man who can't do anything right and isn't that endearing

I'm slowly getting out of the denial-phase to enter my acceptance-phase when it comes to loving Takeomi. Liking things most people hate or are neutral about is smth I hate for Reasons but it also seems to always happen lolololol. Will try to talk more about Takeomi when it comes to my mind, in case ppl who also love him but don't want to make it known because of his bad reputation in the fandom saw my posts and feel a bit more okay and comfortable with loving him

[doctorharper]

[[SORRY I TOOK SO LONG djshjs hopefully this is a good starter]]

The first thing Pipsqueak notices when they come to, is the smell of disinfectant. They let out a quiet groan as their eyes creak open, squinting against the almost fucking blinding florescent lights.

Where...?

They grimace as their eyes take a few moments to adjust, before briefly scanning the room. Curtains were pulled closed on the window to their side, and they couldn't find the clock to judge the time... The walls were painted with a shade of white, adorned with... well. Not much, really. A couple of plugs and switches, mainly, some of which were in use with cords leading to the machines beeping at their side-

Oh.

The hospital.

Bits and pieces of memories threaten to show their ugly ugly heads as Pipsqueak props themself up with a hiss, only now noticing the dull, aching pain all throughout their body. It's worse in their lower regions. They... don't- they don't want to think about it, yet. They wonder when the doctor will get here, they haven't seen them since.... They cut their thoughts off, instead opting to ball up the blanket in their fists, hoping to stop the shaking. Fuck, stop shaking.

The sound of approaching footsteps gradually draw nearer to the door, and it slides open. Harper was there, holding his clipboard as usual — it seemed that the doctor wasn’t accompanied by anyone today. He walks into the room, being sure to close the door behind him. Glancing over at Pipsqueak and seeing that they’re awake, he acknowledges them with a nod.

“You’d been brought here in a rather.. concerning state,” Harper begins, sitting himself down on one of those rolling stools and positioning it beside the bed they laid on. He doesn’t bring up anything about how their last session went. Not yet, at least. If anything, it appears as if the doctor wasn’t bothered by the way their last interaction had went, or even forgot about it altogether.

“Now, I’ll need to ask you a few questions regarding it, if you don’t mind.” he says, adjusting his glasses. The usual interrogation; although his wording makes it sound like there’s a possibility to refuse getting questioned, it’s clear that whether one truly minds or not doesn’t quite matter.

[adamsvanrhijn]

What's interesting is if we'll see how the other characters will react to his decision to settle down. Aurora didn't seem to take it for granted. Obviously there's an expectation for him to marry and continue the family line. But I'm also sure others have picked up on him being a 'confirmed bachelor' or even a little bit 'artistic', if they are worldly enough. I actually suspect Ada could see Oscar being 'artistic', as she seems aware of some pretty modern concepts. She has read about gay people for sure... Agnes seems to be more likely to suspect him of having affairs with women, but she's probably in some hardcore denial. Then again, they have seen that it's not the kind of a trouble Oscar's got himself into. He's always been surrounded by single ladies, and plenty of them have probably been charmed by him, but his family has only seen him acting careless and even 'reckless' with other things.

ada knows a lot more than she lets on and is extremely perceptive, & we're going to see even more of that this season, i think (hence the ada talks about sex bingo square) but i do think after 1.07 it is likely she just has an idea now that oscar is being stealthy and that is all it must have been... although i also think she would have been more inclined to believe oscar when he denied the allegations than agnes for many reasons.

meanwhile agnes lives in denial and only knows things about oscar that she wants to, which includes things she made up, which includes that oscar is not having sex with women or anyone at all and is magically going to be a great lover to a nice wellborn young lady on their wedding night 👍 amen.

aurora....

i cannot fucking parse aurora is the thing. i think it is very telling that she reminds oscar she has Tried Helping Him [secure a wife] before and nothing came of it - and him saying he knows what to do now, and the way he is framing that element of their history and how receptive she is to that... i don't know what she was thinking (& we do know aurora acknowledges the fact that gay people exist.) but i think she's very susceptible to Oscar Just Needs To Find The Right Girl logic (i don't really think she wants her cousin and apparently the only young man alive with her maiden name* to be a permanent bachelor!) & i think oscar is going to lean into that hardcore.

tbh it is important to remind ourselves i think that oscar has a reputation as a fortune hunter before the series starts - but we can infer from his interactions with his family and with john especially that he has not been developing this reputation with much drive until within the first season, and then Everything Changes, as we very well know.

i think oscar is delulu <3 & thoroughly in denial if he truly genuinely thinks that nobody is Wondering about him yet, and he still has Time before this will happen. he is So gay. the show is taking steps to single him out in this regard in terms of e.g. fashion and bearing and manner and vocal qualities etc. he is Ticking Boxes. and generally oscar sees only what oscar wants to see.... i would say of his family members, aurora and ada are most likely to have Ever considered any of this in direct regards to oscar, and i think honestly they might not want to think about that for a variety of reasons and so maybe they haven't!

marian knows about gay people but needs impropriety explained to her with the subtlety of a brick to the face so she's not parsing that without evidence in front of her nose, imo. which is why i'm hopeful that she eventually is in a position where she does encounter and has to make a decision about what to Do with that evidence.

and agnes, as i've said above and elsewhere.... agnes doesn't see anything she doesn't want to and she has major blindspots about oscar for that reason.

* aurora van rhijn fane isn't Confirmed confirmed but also it. got pretty close on sunday so hoping we do get it ocnfirmed-confirmed by end of season.

[asknarashikari]

With people not attaching to Spanner's "cool" asshole demeanor…. it'd likely change 180 when they display scenes like Spanner being heavily injured and bloodied fighting a bad guy (like MOTW), and keep going by determination. I mean it's not a change in himself because he's already fighting off Malgam as an Alchemist, just power creep.

By then he'd be likely hailed as a "true hero" but "different flavor" to Hotaro. And any perception of him before will change that all his previous behavior will be depicted in positive light, like:

Him insulting others is just a "tough love" so that they'd step up.

Him forcibly taking Hotaro's driver to the point of attacking him is seen as him "knowing better" (that if the Driver is used by stronger ones, more people will be protected).

His behavior to Rinne is ofc, being "chivalrious" and "gentleman".

This is a common occurence regarding asshole characters and how viewers warm up to them, insisting that the show just give wrong first impression regarding them and that they gotta "learn" to not look and judge people on the surface, only the insides matter.

Seems that what's considered a "true hero" by some people is, merely when they've done something with blaze of glory and... any other actions be damned. Typically involves hardship, suffering, and/or sacrifice + beating up bad guys, and it's often a praise for that they "still manages to stand up through all odds" (when bloodied against an opponent).

Ofc he's one of the good guys still who fights off bad guys, but to use said moments to paint these kind of characters equally righteous and noble 'true hero' as most main Rider types..... and that you can't refer to them as "assholes" anymore lest you're disrespecting their good deeds or being too simple-minded to comprehend someone complex.... yes he's good, but the negative traits are still there and makes them lean towards grey more (with good outweighing bad).

"Asshole" (or even evil, for villains) is used on anything they don't like and if they've gained their personal respect/admiration it goes 180 completely.

Well, to be fair, the show does go out of its way to show Spanner being dead wrong about the Chemmies and still being stubbornly set in his ways. With how adorable they've set the Chemmies up to be, it would be pretty difficult for him to be seen in a positive light unless he actually acknowledges being wrong.

While I would grant that he has a point about Houtaro's inexperience being detrimental to the mission of retrieving the Chemmies, the fact that he just expects everyone else to hand the Driver to him is utterly irritating.

Funny you mention how he acts towards Rinne... that's another thing he has against him. Because here on tumblr, as far as I've seen, people pretty much agree he acts like a creep toward her. The fact that she's the only one he's nice to doesn't really give the impression of him being a gentleman or chivalrous (since a real gentleman would be polite and civil towards everyone, and as things are he can't even bring himself to respect Minato's authority over his students, despite Minato being the more senior alchemist). And the age gap certainly doesn't help.

I haven't seen anyone who actually likes him so far. Yeah, he's probably gonna get his ass kicked before he actually changes enough to be liked, though from what I've seen so far (here on tumblr anyway) people think he's had it coming for a while. While I do think there would be a contingent of fans who think him getting his ass kicked is enough to earn their sympathy, I hope that more would want to see him actually changing his ways before they change their mind on him.

That, and they have to explain his preoccupation with Rinne in a non-creepy way.