#and at no point was the conclusion 'he's evil' but nice try.

[glitteringcrab]

During the first re-watch of this scene, my thoughts were:

1. That faint in the end was so graceful that it was totally fake

2. That the "I'm okay, I'm okay" part was part of the "nice Morty" persona that he had put on, in a "I'm so nice I'm trying to reassure my bodyguards not to worry" fashion

3. That Evil Morty set up his own campaign manager to try to assassinate him to gain sympathy (I mean, he had no good reason to fire him, and Campaign Manager Morty never spilled the beans to the authorities about why Evil Morty was dangerous and yet we next see Trenchcoat Rick dead in space, so either Evil Morty already knew Trenchcoat Rick was stalking him, or Trenchcoat Rick was also planted by Evil Morty, possibly being the very Rick with cables in his brain that is seen in the incriminating photo)

4. Points 1 and 2 and 3 culminate in the conclusion that Evil Morty is like an evil manipulative soulless robot, not caring about getting himself shot, managing to put up an act even in such a stressful moment.

HOWEVER.

After re-watching this scene like a billion times (and, uh, creating a gif and splitting it lol), while I still think he arranged his own assassination attempt to gain votes through sympathy, I no longer think this is the face of someone who doesn't mind getting shot:

This is the face of someone who is in shock from the pain.

And, mind you, these are right after he gets shot. His fainting afterwards might have been a predetermined act (although it could be real, he was losing blood at a record rate), but at this moment there's not really a lot of time to school his expression nor think about his reactions.

And he immediately lowers his gaze and checks where the wound is, realizes it's nowhere vital (so the Ricks with their amazing technology could fix him in time) and only then he begins saying "I'm okay"...

But I no longer think he was talking to his bodyguard. He didn't glance to his direction once (and he actually turned away from him). It seems to me that he was talking to himself, that he was trying to reassure himself that things would be okay.

And. Well. When we next see him, he has a forcefield that protects him from getting shot.

Evil Morty very much DID NOT not mind his scheduled assassination attempt.

[theweeklydiscourse]

The idea that Katara should have ended up with Zuko instead of Aang for feminist reasons overlooks their strong connection. Katara and Aang both survived genocide and are the last of their kinds—she's the last Southern Water Tribe waterbender and he's the last airbender. Their bond isn't just about their backgrounds but also about fighting together against oppression. Their love story during war shows that hope and unity can triumph, challenging the idea that feminist stories must avoid traditional relationships. Katara and Aang in "Avatar: The Last Airbender" prove that shared experiences and understanding can be a powerful part of feminist storytelling.

Nice ask anon, did chat gpt write it for you?

Sorry I just can’t get over how this is phrased, especially the part where you write the show’s legal name for some reason. It sounds like AI wrote it, down to the bizarre structure of your point and the incoherent message you’re trying to get across.

But hey, I’ll bite. I’m having some difficulty understanding how that constitutes as feminist storytelling. If only you could be a bit more specific about what specifically makes their relationship “feminist” rather than gesturing at vague notions of how their shared values automatically correlate to feminist storytelling. The premise of your argument is also laughably vague, you never quite explain how shipping Zutara for “feminist reasons” overlooks the strong connection that Katara and Aang share. What are these “feminist reasons” that Zutara shippers are espousing? Could you explain what their conclusions are? Do you even know what arguments they’re making?

Don't make me laugh, "challenging the idea that feminist stories must avoid traditional relationships" as if traditional heterosexual relationships are somehow endangered by the evil influence of feminism. It's always laughable to watch Kataang shippers engage in these mental gymnastics to find any flimsy shred of evidence that their ship is "feminist" and avoiding the obvious reality that the ship overwhelmingly prioritizes Aang. The "love story" in question is Aang pining after Katara while her feelings remain unknown until the final minutes of the finale. Where Katara's perspective is absent while Aang's is reiterated many times throughout the show, ultimately neglecting her agency in this "love story". The cherry on top is Katara being reduced to being Aang’s dutiful wife and then widow, ultimately fading into the background and being neglected even further post-atla.

Yeah...that doesn't seem indicative of "feminist storytelling" to me.

[dr-spectre]

If Callie wasn’t brainwashed then what happened? Wasn’t it like she just grew disillusioned with inkling society and decided to go underground?

Alright so, I've said this in other blog posts and i have gone into it multiple times, BUT! I'll try and sum it all up on what happened to Callie in Splatoon 2. It is very vague and i don't entirely blame people for coming to certain conclusions because the game didn't do a good enough job in my opinion, and the English translation has issues too which doesn't help at all...

So during Splatoon 1 and when it was getting content updates, we got to learn about Callie and Marie. If you look at the dialogue present in Naughty Vs. Nice, Early Bird Vs. Night Owl and Callie Vs. Marie Splatfests, their dialogue is rather harsh and personal towards each other, showing that Callie has these dark traits about her.

These mean and harsh qualities of Callie were built up since Splatoon 1 and they come into the forefront in Splatoon 2 and I'll go over that shortly.

After the final Splatfest and Marie's victory, the Squid Sisters became a lot more famous and stepped down from their news presenting duties and gave it to Pearl and Marina. During this period, Callie and Marie became more estranged with each other as Callie became more and more popular, meaning she got a LOT more busy and had to work day in and day out every single day at an acting gig. In the Squid Sister Stories web series, Callie is stated to be "lost at sea herself" meaning that her acting career and fame are taking a tole on her, and it's pretty easy to see that with the Sunken Scrolls in Splatoon 2.

At some point Callie and Marie managed to hang out and they decided that they would go to Calamari County to visit family. However.... As we know, it didn't pan out that way. Callie at some point in chapter 7 became flustered at work and basically ran off, which her manager thought she wanted to go home.

But... She didn't... She stumbled across DJ Octavio after he broke out from his snow globe (don't ask how, we don't know and plus, octopuses are very clever and can easily get out of trapped spaces).

Now, Octavio is a man who knows how to use manipulation and propaganda to his advantage. He is the leader of an entire race of people that are on the brink of collapse, it's either they all die, or he pulls the right strings to motivate his people to fight and take the Great Zapfish so that they don't die. And now we have an emotional and mentally unwell Callie who is suffering from so much attention and overwork, of course Octavio, the main antagonist, wanted to take advantage of that. Callie is a very powerful woman with the ability to influence and inspire others with her voice, of course Octavio wanted that kind of power to help his race and get them motivated again after their loss in Splatoon 1.

So what did he do? Did he grab her and kidnap her and put on some "evil brain warping shades" and brainwash her while she was kicking and screaming trying to stop him? WRONG!!!!!!!!!! As stated by the OFFCIAL Splatoon 2 relationship chart that i love to bring up all the time, there seemed to be an on going conversation about Callie joining the Octarians, Octavio possibly appealed to her sense of isolation, hidden resentment for Marie and her being so overworked. And she says "Ok, fine. I'll hear you out." Does that scream kidnapping to you? I don't think so.

She's even called "the lovable rebel" implying she felt some distain for Inkling society from the way they treated her and wanted to rebel. Would the developers and writers of a character who was forcibly brainwashed and kidnapped display as her a rebel and pose her like this? I don't think so.

Like you would not see Marina Agitando for example in these sort of poses in artwork because the circumstances and conditions are so vastly different.

So now let's get into those god damn mother fucking bitch ass hypnoshades. As their name suggests, they are shades with an element of hypnosis of some kind, if they weren't hypnotic shades and just turned people evil and forced Octarian ideals into their brains then they wouldn't be given that name. "Hypno" is a very specific word choice and it's done on purpose. Callie was hypnotized, not brainwashed, that word is only used in English translations of the game and outside media and if you ask any hardcore fan of a series made in Japan then you would know that English scripts kinda fuck up the Japanese ones most of the time. Take me for example, I'm a Sonic the Hedgehog fan, the Japanese versions of Sonic stories are vastly different from the Western versions in tone, dialogue, call backs, personalities, etc. Same thing with Splatoon unfortunately. Take the English translation of the Splatoon scripts with a MASSIVE grain of salt. Like a meteor sized grain of salt lmao.

Now, what is being hypnotized like? is it like being a mindless puppet that follows the orders of the person doing the hypnosis? Well... Nope. Not true actually. The way it' s portrayed in media is completely wrong and untrue. Hypnosis is similar to being in a flow state, or being incredibly relaxed while also having heighten attention and suggestibility. Imagine being in a daydream while still having hyper awareness of the stuff around you. Now that part about suggestibility is important because this is where people mess up. If a hypnotized person is given a suggestion that goes against their morals and ideologies, they will NOT!!!!!!!! follow through with that suggestion. If a hypnotized person is told to murder their family, they will not do so UNLESS they secretly want to murder them and it's in line with their psychotic and fucked up wishes.

If Octavio told Callie to murder Marie instead of Agent 4, she wouldn't follow through with the suggestion. Callie doesn't wanna murder Marie but instead she wants her to leave because their relationship is ruined. Callie doesn't mind trying to kill Agent 4 because firstly, she's mentally unwell and isn't thinking clearly from having a mental illness, and two, she doesn't have any personal attachments to Agent 4 so she can just listen to the suggestions from Octavio and follow through with them. Even in the rematches, Callie doesn't know Agent 4 all that well compared to Marie and it's clear Callie is still not doing so well after Splatoon 2.

Callie while under the hypnoshades is more like herself than not. Like this line for example is just typical Callie but she's more aggressive and mean.

If she was truly brainwashed then her personality would be A LOT more different. She would be a lot more subservient to Octavio and the Octarian race and her dialogue would show this too, but it does NOT! In fact Callie berates and talks back to Octavio during the final boss.

The only real differences between Callie and Hypno Callie is that she's more harsh and angry compared to regular Callie. However this anger... this rage... this hate was always there. It was always under the surface, and due to Callie's mental state from being overworked and now under hypnotic shades, that pain and anger is at the surface and is clouding her mind and making her not think rationally. She's more chaotic, she's aggressive and doesn't care for Marie anymore.

Now i do wanna discuss this line as it has been brought up multiple times to me and other discussions on Hypno Callie i see online.

First off, like i mentioned previously, the English translations of Splatoon stories and media sometimes gets it wrong. If you want examples then look at Commander Tartar and Marina's dialogue in Octo Expansion. You can look up retranslations of Octo Expansion to see the differences of the English and retranslated version. The only other mention of remixing a brain is in the Dutch translation. The other translations mention hypnosis and nothing about warping Callie's brain directly.

Second of all, DJ Octavio is... you guessed it... A DJ! He says musical terms to make puns and he's a loud personality.

In fact that "remix" line is actually a call back to the Splatoon 1 final boss and you know what, I'll give prompts for the English translation team for doing that... Still hate them for everything else tho lol.

DJ Octavio didn't literally remix her brain with evil brain warping shades. He is just saying that because it's to show that he got Callie on his side. So the "remixing" is just Callie becoming "evil" and hearing out Octavio.

Brainwashing implies that there is a forcible aspect to it, however from the evidence i just laid out, that cannot be the case as Octavio didn't force Callie into anything she didn't want to do. He didn't torture her, he didn't abuse her. He didn't put the shades on her by force as if he tried to do that he would get destroyed by the more energetic, younger and stronger squid woman that isn't a disabled 130 year old Octoling stuck in his octopus form.

He let her decorate bases and added glittery ink which motivated and inspired his people. Hell his approval ratings went up because the Octarians were happy and inspired by Callie's presence.

Now you may say "but didn't she lose her memories while under the shades and therefore she got brainwashed?"

Well.... Not really. I want you to put yourself in the shoes of Callie, you're in a very focused and hypnotic state, like being in a very concentrated flow state and you have a lot of anger and aggression in you. Your head is so cloudy and you're under a lot of mental distress. So imagine an ink bullet flying at your eyeball, flinging you out of that hypnotic state in a very fast fashion. It's like someone snapping their fingers in front of your face while you're concentrated on a task, or someone smacking you at the back of your head while you're working on something in a deeply concentrated manner. You are left confused and dazed and need a second to gather your composure back. Callie when the shades are removed from her, acts dazed and holds her head like she has a bad headache, only left to sing and dance cause she's an idol and that stuff is natural to her.

Some of the side effects that may occur when under hypnosis include headaches and nausea, and look at Callie when she's flung out of that hypnotic state, it looks like she has a headache and is in pain.

Now when Marie plays the Calamari Inkantation, what is actually happening here is that the song is energizing and motivating Callie. It is not freeing her from "brainwashing." That is a very common misconception about the song, implying that all Octarians are brainwashed and are just mindless drones when that is NOT TRUE AT ALL and is yet another case of bad translation. The song is just extremely catchy and it gives Octarians the motivation to wanna leave to the surface. It also makes Cuttlefish get the strength to break out of his restraints in Splatoon 1 and makes Smallfry transform into Hugefry. The song is so damn powerful and catchy, that's all it is, it is not a mind control cure, that is fucking false.

So what is happening with Callie is that the song is motivating her and flooding her head with good memories of her time with Marie. When the shades are flung off of her, she's still mad at Marie and still fights Agent 4, it takes a while but eventually she starts thinking more rationally, realizing that Marie has come to get her and what Callie has been doing was wrong. Songs are VERY powerful tools for memory and hearing a song you loved back when you were younger can bring out certain feelings and memories. Those happy memories flood Callie's mind and she goes "wait... what am i doing!? This isn't me, I REMEMBER! YEAH!" And she jumps into the air and transforms back into her iconic outfit sailor moon style.

With all of the information and context i presented, it really elevates everything that comes after. It makes Spicy Calamari Inkantation more powerful as a song as Callie has truly reunited with Marie. Fresh Start makes sense and fits perfectly with the narrative the writers wanted to tell. If you take the common and untrue narrative that people keep saying about Callie, Fresh Start literally makes zero sense in that untrue context.

It makes her eventual healing in Splatoon 3 and return to the public WAY MORE SATISFYING!

Callie has matured, she has grown up, she's more comfortable being in the spotlight again and can handle it as she has worked out her relationship with Marie. She used to suffer from being overworked and having an addiction to the shades as it gave her an escape from her life. She would rather be in a hypnotic state then go through her current life. It was only when Callie and Marie came together and truly changed things is when Callie was able to finally heal and get better.

That's why I'm so passionate about this, Callie truly went through a character arc, even it was rushed and poorly presented. I care about Callie and want people to get her story straight. Splatoon 2 was always about the Squid Sisters breaking up and eventually coming back together and becoming stronger. Callie is my comfort character and i want people to treat her better. She wasn't a powerless kidnap and brainwash victim. She was a woman with deep flaws, anger, sadness, aggression, that pain is gone now from her. She's finally... Happy. And that... makes me happy too.

[therainscene]

Since The First Shadow has folks talking about Henry’s queerness (or lack thereof), I wanted to share my take on it as someone who tends to interpret him as gay.

I’m not going to be talking about his relationship with Patty, though -- I can’t afford to see the play and don’t want to rely on secondary sources for this, so I simply can’t comment on it. (I’m sure they’re lovely together, though.)

To me, Henry’s queer-coding isn’t a question of whether he’s literally gay -- it’s a question of what role his villainy plays in the story.

The biggest non-Patty-related criticism against queer interpretations of Henry is that it would carry an uncomfortably homophobic implication: that queers are dangerous predators.

This was a common belief in the 80s, and the show references it by having Troy chuckle at the idea of Will getting "killed by some other queer" -- a prediction that comes symbolically and unpleasantly true when Joyce finds him with one of Vecna’s vines literally shoved down his throat.

It's tempting to try and solve this problem by interpreting Henry as straight -- the homophobic implications of his child-assaulting villainy will disappear if he's not queer, right?

Well... in my opinion, no.

A key aspect of Henry's character is that he's different. Whether you interpret that difference as queerness, neurodivergence, or simply that he has powers -- the fact remains that he is fundamentally the sort of person whom society looks down upon with fear and suspicion.

If he’s not a predatory queer, then he's a remorseless psychopath. If he's not a remorseless psychopath, then he's a vessel for an evil alien. There's no way to escape the implication that he’s dangerous because he’s different.

Eddie’s character resonates with this principle too. Indeed, our introduction to him is a monologue in which he complains about being treated with suspicion just because he’s different.

Given their similarities in this regard, I think it’s interesting that the show endears us to Eddie in the same breath it makes us fear Vecna. It almost feels like a test--

We know you’ll sympathize with a weirdo who sells drugs to troubled minors when you get to see things from his perspective, but can you sympathize with a weirdo who hurts troubled minors when you don’t get to see things from his perspective? Will you jump to unfair conclusions about Henry in the same way the town jumps to unfair conclusions about Eddie?

My point here isn’t that Henry did nothing wrong or that his villainy is justified -- I’m pretty sure he did commit the murders Eddie was scapegoated for and I’m pretty sure that’s a bad thing -- but he’s always held at arm’s length from the audience. The show plays the role of Jason, encouraging us to blindly hate him on gut instinct instead of giving him a fair trial.

It’s an easy test to fail, because it does seem like we get to see Henry’s perspective -- he has a whole villain speech, after all.

But the trouble is, this speech takes place within NINA. What we’re watching is footage that has been curated by his abuser and shown through the eyes of a traumatized girl who barely understands what happened -- secondary sources who are invested in viewing him as a threat.

Consider that Henry’s hairstyle mysteriously changes during the massacre. It’s one of those subtle costuming choices that isn’t meant to be consciously picked up on, but which registers at the back of our minds and leaves us feeling unsettled -- this Henry isn’t like the Henry we were looking at before.

The obvious way of interpreting this is that the mask has finally slipped -- the “nice” Henry was fake, and now we see him for who he “really” is. But I’m not inclined to interpret it that way, because of all the hairstyles they could have chosen... they just so happened to opt for one that resembles Brenner. (Pun intended.)

This isn’t Henry with his mask off -- this is Henry as Brenner wants him to be.

Fear-mongering over the existence of queer people has long been a useful tool for those in power -- in the 80s, fear of AIDS did the job nicely -- and so too has Brenner forged Henry into a tool to further his own goals, no regard given to the harm he causes in the process.

Like the “predatory queer”, Henry is defined on his oppressor’s terms, and like Eddie, it makes him a useful scapegoat. He only became what he did because of an unethical institution, and treating him as the problem is just as short-sighted as blaming gay men for the AIDS crisis.

That isn’t to say Vecna hasn’t become a genuine threat, though. Will makes a prediction as to how S5 is going to end--

--and while I’m not expecting things to end as violently as Will implies here -- that’s not Will’s thing -- I do believe that Vecna is going to be defeated by his hand. As tragic as Vecna’s origin was, he still made his own choices once he was free from Brenner, and he’s likely too far gone at this point to be capable of earning his happy ending.

But that’s what makes it so important that Will gets his happy ending.

Queer characters have been exclusively cast as villains or tragic sadbois for so long that I can completely sympathize with people’s hesitance to embrace Henry as a tragic queer villain.

But villains only exist within the context of the heroes who challenge them... and in a show about a queer-coded villain who personifies the anger and despair of being abused for what you are, a loving gay boy who breaks the cycle of abuse by learning that he has the right to be the hero of his own story is the perfect foil for him.

[purplerakath]

Cobra Kai and Accidentally Going too hard on the Iron Dragons

So the Iron Dragons are kind of... a problem. The showrunners and writers had an idea for them, but the execution went a little too hard at it, and we kinda need to deal with it.

Cut for spoilers and also talk about SA and how writers don't understand SA when the victim is a man and the abuser is attractive and female. (But I'll keep that to the end, and warn before I get into it if you wanna read about Axel and Wolf first.)

Dr. Frankenstein's Axel

So Axel is the most sympathetic of the three, he's big and powerful but also a victim (of Sensei Wolf) and generally just weird. Not intended to be harmful, but that how big and powerful he is isn't the end of who he is.

And yet they botched the landing.

See, if he was big and powerful and used what Sensei Wolf taught him to try to 'protect' Sam that'd put him in the tragic monster camp. That he cares for the only person to give him kindness, but shows it through the tools he has at hand: violence.

However he's covetous of her when she isn't in actual threat. So it reads more possessive and sinister than the writers probably meant. Having him menacingly stare at Miguel. Which is probably an emotional beat they didn't mean to hit.

Of the two botched landing, this is botched less, but in the same direction. They know what they wanted, but didn't land the nuance well.

Sidebar: Axel's physicality, as in how large and imposing he is, how good he is at violence, is a part of the tragedy. He was shaped generally scary and honed to match that impression. When he didn't need to be.

Sensei Abusive Jerkface

So Sensei Wolf is meant to be evil, and he's meant to be evil in direct mirror to Johnny. This works. He's in the grown-ups world so he's allowed to be more out and out evil because he's why the kids aren't alright. (Kreese, Kim, and Terry are also more overtly evil than say Tory, Kenny, or even someone like Kyler.)

Sam seeing him be abusive to Axel in the same ep that Johnny is getting all uppity and Cobra Kai-y with the kids (because Daniel is kidnapped) is meant to draw this comparison.

This one they did not botch the landing. He's bad and he's the level of bad you expect.

Zara (without the SA)

So Zara is meant to be selfish and two-faced, she's a girl's villain. She flaunts herself and is egotistical, but she has the skills to back it up. She acts nice in public but cuts with words the moment she doesn't have 'her' audience. She's in the same vein as Yasmine from S1 but actually will kick your teeth in.

And her sleeping with Robbie is meant to be her undercutting Tory off the mats mostly for fun, and because she can. And if a pissed off 'thinks Tory has already cheated on him' sober Robby slept with her, it'd be tacky and Robby would feel bad and it'd make Robby and Tory awkward for the rest of the season (which is the intent).

The issue is a Robby who has believed Cobra Kai lies sleeping with Zara sober would come off as an asshole, and the show decided to hedge that bet. Having him be drunk to make him more likely to go along with it makes sense, there can't possibly be anything else going on here, right?

The intended girl is loathsome, she's meant to be about as endearing as S1 Yasmine (compare to say S1 Moon who is far more endearing, or S3 Yasmine who has a soul). She's intended to be very satisfying to see get her comeuppance. But they made her worse than intended due to a stupid social standard.

Conclusion

Conclusion before the Zara SA stuff for people who don't wanna read that.

The intentions behind each character, abusive jackass teacher, abused well meaning large boy, and self-obsessed bitch (not super fond of the language but that's essentially the point the writers were trying to hit here) are good antagonists for the season. We don't need Axel to be villainous in the same way Kwon is, because we have (well, had) Kwon for that.

But they missed the mark by yards (Axel) and miles (Zara) on the execution. Making them far worse than intended. The same mistake, but on massively different scales.

And now Zara (with the SA)

So the problem is that they (the writers) did not realize if they swapped the genders around how BAD this looks. Because there is a fundamental disconnect in society as a whole that consent laws DO MATTER. Consent laws matter when the girl is hot and the boy fundamentally cannot say yes. This is the third show I've run into that hit this plot point, and this is the third show to miss the mark.

Even The Fosters, which had a male character who was too drunk to consent sleep with a female character sober enough to know better, focused less on the 'he's too drunk to consent' part. The show was more focused on the 'she is around a decade older than him, he is a minor, and she's a manipulative abuser playing everyone in her orbit like fiddles. She is also dating his dad.' So while the show did say 'sleeping with fully smashed boy bad' it didn't focus on that being the whole of it.

The other example, Degrassi, had a protagonist do this shit. Then it plays out as 'he's a cheating cad' when he had dumped her, and only slept with her because 'he was both blackout drunk and had lingering head trauma' which made him pliable. The writers did not see the line they were crossing due to a fundamental social idea that 'all boys are down for sex even if they can't say yes.'

They wanted to absolve Robby of his responsibility. So he would be well and truly without weight in making 'this mistake' (the writer's thoughts). Which in turn means a setting where he could not consent, and so the writers accidentally wrote a rape plot. They didn't mean to, they didn't mean to have Zara be THAT evil.

But here we are. The only advantage Cobra Kai has is we're not suppose to like Zara. We're not even suppose to like her as much as S3 Tory. Who is a messy complicated thing to root for, who does very bad things but she's been through it.

So... congrats, Zara is the worst teenager on the show. Don't attempt to redeem her ever.

[sexhaver]

me n bailey marathoned the first season of this show over the last few days. some thoughts:

Alan Cumming, specifically his accent and wardrobe, are by far the highlights of this show. i sincerely hope someone has made an edit compiling all of his outfits without any of the actual gameplay, because he is consistently serving cunt

like just look at this

that being said i did keep seeing him as Fegan Floop from Spy Kids

oh right there's an actual game/competition component to this

im just gonna get this out of the way: the entire premise of the show is fundamentally flawed. they keep trying to make it sound like the three Traitors in the group are "backstabbing" and "working against" the Faithful (non-Traitors), but, like, everyone on the show (Traitor or Faithful) is competing for the exact same prize pool. it's not like The Mole (or any other social deduction game), where the secret evil team actually has different goals diametrically opposed to those of the good team and has to complete them without having anyone notice. here, the evil team just... votes on someone to "murder" every night. that's it.

to emphasize this point: the literal only thing that can ever give you away as a Traitor is being bad at lying/concealing guilt. there are ZERO gameplay differences between the goals of a Traitor and the goals of a Faithful, which means the arguments over who to vote for banishing are based entirely on "gut feelings"

nobody on the show has ever played a social deduction game before. late into the season, there's a day where all 3 Traitors are alive and it's down to 6 people total (so 3v3). anyone who has played Mafia/Werewolf/ToS/etc knows what this means: barring bullshit last-minute rules from the producers, it is quite literally impossible for the Traitors to lose, because none of them can be voted up. it takes 4 out of 6 votes to exile someone, and there are only 3 Faithful left. if no Traitor votes for another Traitor, then it is, again, literally impossible for a Traitor to be exiled. furthermore, if they all coordinate their votes on one Faithful, all they have to do is convince one of the remaining two Faithfuls to vote with them, and they instantly win $180k (split three ways). and hey, wouldn't you know it, one of the Faithfuls (Kate) was already really suspicious, and another one of the Faithfuls (Quentin) said out loud multiple times that he was voting for her!

so what do you think the Traitors did?

god this part pissed me off so much im having to pause for breathe while typing this. okay. so.

two of the Traitors voted for the third Traitor, who got voted off.

after being voted off, youre supposed to walk up to the Circle of Truth and reveal if you were a Traitor or not. the guy who got eliminated (Christian) was entirely too nice and gracious about it. me n bailey discussed this and came to the conclusion that we would either a) out the other Traitors on the stand and explain, using game theory and math, exactly how fucking stupid they are, completely ruining the game for them, or b) pretend to cry a little while walking up to the Circle of Truth but as soon as you walk behind the first other Traitor's chair you flip it over backwards and elbow drop their nose into their face while screaming "YOU STOLE $60K FROM ME YOU SON OF A BITCH"

also the guy who got eliminated (Christian) was very clearly autistic and Every Single Reason the other traitors gave for not liking him was like straight out of the DSM V diagnostic criteria ("he talks too loud and laughs weird", "he's got way too much energy all the time", "his emotional responses don't make sense")

apparently there's a season 2 but i cannot bring myself to watch it after seeing Christian thrown to the lions (ayyy Sunday school reference)

also at one point a Faithful has to leave because of COVID (this was filmed in 2020) so the producers don't let the Traitors murder anyone that night for balance reasons, but to compensate, they tell them they can like. write down three names that will be publicly revealed to everyone the next morning, and then one of those people dies the next night. so obviously this is mostly a nerf for the Traitors because they miss a night of killing someone, but the intention was clearly to give the Traitors an opportunity to sow confusion by putting one or two of their OWN names onto the list to make them seem like Faithfuls. and they even had an extra objective during that day's game where one of the three people could earn a "shield" to protect them that night, so if a Traitor was on the list, they could basically "steal" the shield from the other 2 (since they obviously weren't getting killed no matter what). but i think the Traitors heard "write down three names" and "kill" and had all the blood rush to their respective dicks because they just wrote three Faithfuls lmao. deeply unserious show

[xecutivecucumber]

Executive Cucumber's thoughts on the Bad Batch: Season 3x06 and 3x07 (I'm pretty sure I'm formatting this differently every time. Oh well)

Okay, there's a subject I'm going to have to postpone until the end of the post because I want all my thoughts on that to be together: the main operative clone. And the rest might be slightly out of order. I'm also doing this before I see anyone else's thoughts, just so we get the pure version.

Let's go!

I honestly thought that Senator Singh and Riyo were dead meat. But no, they're fine because REX IS COOLER THAN ANYONE. Ugh that man. Freaking throwing the grenade back at him.

Clones are beautiful. That is all.

THAT'S THAT ONE PLACE FROM THE OG CLONE WARS MOVIE!!! TETH!!!

Howzer I love you but if you touch Crosshair we will be having words.

I am actually really proud of Crosshair and his restraint this episode. He could have been really cutting to Howzer.

OMEGA WITH THE TOOTHPIIIIICKS and Hunter is jealouuuus

EDIT: ECHO AND THE CROSSBOW HE'S SO SWEET

WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU CROSSHAIR

It's really nice to see normal clones being normal again. (Too bad it doesn't last)

There's something up with Omega. I'm not going to lie, I think that she and Rex are going to plan to get her captured in order to track her back to Tantiss.

HOWZER STOP DISTRUSTING CROSSHAIR THIS MOMENT

I appreciate that Hunter doesn't seem to distrust Crosshair during this point.

...they really shouldn't have brought that operative back.

Rex is considering stealing Omega, I swear. I love that he gets down to her level.

WOOOOOOOOOOOLFFE (Plo would be so disappointed in you)

It's...odd to see these normal troopers with him.

It's also strange that he cannot comprehend that the clones could be traitors at first.

STOP DYING YOU BEAUTIFUL REGS

'She only bites half the time' I'm pretty sure Omega is lying here but I don't care.

CROSSHAIR IS SUCH A WORRIED DAD HOLY CRAP. 'Oh, I'm much worse' I LOVE YOU

And this just gives such a little insight into how the Batch was when they were together. I have a feeling that Crosshair was a fusser and a nagger.

And I love how Howzer's natural and correct conclusion is: 'no one evil could love that child.' (Unless you're Nala Se)

Hey, actual candor from Crosshair. I keep saying this is who he always was under it all, but I do think he's healed somewhat, at least towards regs. The healing power of Omega.

'Too bad' I LOVE THIS MAN

STOP DYING REGS

Rex talking down Wolffe reminded me so much of him trying to talk Jesse down. So ow.

Okay, what ROCK have they shoved Wolffe under for the last YEAR??? YES THE EMPIRE WOULD GET RID OF THE CLONES YOU DOG BRAINED IDIOT

(Plo would be proud that you let them go)

...they just killed all of Rex's clones, except Howzer and Gregor. And I have a bad feeling about Howzer. STOP TAKING THINGS FROM REX HASN'T HE LOST ENOUGH???

Okay here we are, at the big topic. Hold onto your pants.

That operative clone. Is. Tech. Because if he is not, they are purposefully using the narrative to deceive us.

I might miss a few things, but that's because I'm up past my bedtime and I've been up too late the last few days.

1. The falling and water parallels. This clone falls a LOT during this episode and dives into a lot of water. He even falls into mist. This time it's to kill and capture his siblings instead of save them.

2. The injury. This clone is hobbling around a lot after his injury, which was immediately reminiscent of Tech's broken leg at the beginning of season 2. Both of them are forcing themselves past their limit to achieve a mission. Specifically with injured legs.

3. General attitude and demeanor. In combination with the stealth and injury, this clone has a more hunched posture. His speech patterns are more formal, though we haven't really heard a lot of other clone operatives talk with their helmets on. But he's also apparently allergic to orders. I first thought that he'd be out of the chain of command, but they would have told Wolffe that he wasn't in charge of the operative if that were the case. Or the operative would have straight up told him 'I don't take orders from you' instead of staring awkwardly at him. Instead he runs off and does his own thing. While injured. Not to mention the buttons on his gauntlet. The other clone operatives don't have those.

4. The cybernetic legs. Now we don't know for sure if Tech would have cybernetic legs, but it seems likely for a severely injured trooper. And when Crosshair is looking at the heat signature, you can see that his legs are blue instead of yellow or red. No heat. Not organic.

5. What he says to Crosshair. 'You could have been one of us.' 'You chose the wrong side.' Yes, he's talking about Crosshair resisting the re-education. But flip it on its head real quick. 'You could have been one of us. One of the Bad Batch.' 'You chose the wrong side. The Empire.' Those lines very easily have double meanings.

6. An interesting one is when he starts moving rocks after the explosion. Why would he do that? Why not immediately go find another way in? He's moving only the smaller rocks. There's a large one in the way that he couldn't move himself. And he doesn't get the rest of the troopers to come move it when they arrive. He almost seems confused.

Like he's somewhere else after an explosion, having to move rocks. Like in the Crossing.

I know that this hardly seem like iron clad evidence. But in the language of story telling, it's practically screaming in our faces.

And I'm so glad he's back. I missed him. He won't be himself for a while, but I legitimately believe we'll get one last fight with the Batch all together. Because brain washing is a heck of a lot easier to fix than being dead.

My sister is doing the good work and creating a tik token about it, and I'll probably share it here when she's finished.

(We're getting the episode 'Identity Crisis ON MY BIRTHDAY and so help me if that's about Tech)

Honestly I thought I'd be more excited, but I spent the entire two episodes forcing myself into not having expectations and also I might be in shock.

[tgammsideblog]

Let's talk about Jinx vs The Human World

Jinx vs The Human World is... certainly an episode. It hasn't been talked much in comparison to The End because it has been greatly overshadowed by the later.

One thing that i think many of us can agree about Jinx vs The Human World is that it has super chaotic pacing. It doesn't give you room to breathe because it is already jumping to the next plot point and you can't digest well what you are watching. This hurts the emotional impact crucial character scenes have, because again, they aren't allowed to flow well, not letting the characters to react properly.

It's an episode that should have been around 44 minutes long since it covers multiple plot threads. With that ammount of time some things could have been better paced and given a proper conclusion.

As for the plot threads, i already talked about how i like Jinx as antagonist in this episode. She is fun, her song sequence is pretty good. She ends up capturing Molly and using her as away to power up her sobgoblins.

I really enjoy seeing Scratch finally having to deal with the consequences of not being a good leader. The reason the events of this episode happen are because of his own irresponsibilty, letting Jinx steal the Chairman robe and take over the Ghost World. He realizes that he has been messing up a lot and someone else should be in charge instead. He lets the chairman robe go and chose a more appropiate candidate to be the new chairman.

My biggest issue would be the Chens plot part. I do like the part of Ollie and June standing up to Ruben and Esther and trying to persuade them into helping them to stop Jinx. It's a scene that serves more or less well as a conclusion for their arc, even if Necro-Comicon and The Grand Gesture have this purpose, (more for Ollie's character)

The reveal that Geoff was the ghost that scared Ruben was nice too. It has been a thing that was foreshadowed back on ¨Book Marks The Sprite¨

What i'm not so fond of is how it was Geoff sneezing at him when he was a kid. I think it could been more interesting if it had been Geoff hurting Ruben by accident or scaring too much. That way Geoff apologizes to Ruben, showing to him that he didn't mean to hurt him that way.

Ruben also feels like he lacks proper scenes to show his change of mind. Sure, he realizes that Geoff wasn't evil as he thought he was, making him question things. But there isn't much else. I think there could have been a scene of Geoff saving Ruben from the sobgoblins and Ruben realizes how a ghost saved him, making him reconsider his views.

His change of mind is like it comes a bit out of nowhere. Another problem is how he seems to be super friendly around ghosts near the end which it is very weird. I think it could have been better if he had some expressions and lines that indicates that he is still trying to get used to not seeing ghosts as evil.

In addition to this, the Chens don't get to do much in this episode outside of trapping Jinx inside the phantom canister. I wished that they could have set up traps to catch the sobgoblins and contain them temporary at least, that would have given them a bigger role in the plot.

I do like some moments that June has, like her interations with Darryl and giving some funny moments. She is pretty enjoyable in this episode and she shines almost scene she is in.

In some other problems, i find the whole wraith transformation of ghost friends unnecessary, it doesn't have any funtion in the story aside from seeing how they look as wraiths (which is cool!) but the plot could have played out the same if it had been just Scratch and Molly going to the Ghost World.

The Ghost Council saying nice things about Scratch and that he wasn't so bad to give Molly joy fits well their character arcs this season, but, Sir Alister saying they are Scratch's ¨friends¨ doesn't add up since Scratch doesn't want anything to do with them and he has interacted with them because he was forced to be the Chairman in first place. I would change that line of dialogue and leave it as them thinking that Scratch is not so bad instead.

In all, i think what really hurt Jinx vs The Human World is that it needed to be a way longer episode (around 40-50 minutes) to allow things to be spaced out better. A good chunk of the issues from this episode seem to come from that. With more time to explore the events and changing some things, this episode could have been more presentable in quality as a whole.

[itshype]

Triple Threat (DC x DP)

So, this is based slightly on this prompt I wrote! Here is the link to my DC x DP masterpost, and one of my last notfics I posted here was Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss, Godhood where Danny and Vlad try to manipulate and mansplain their way out of trouble with the JLA. So, Danny and Billy are brothers. Maybe they're twins separated at birth, but I prefer that they bonded at some other point, maybe they adopted each other after meeting on the street. Danny's parents said they didn't care he was a halfa, but their behaviour changed so much because they were utterly incapable of hiding their fear of him. He ran away. Billy was at this time, already living on the streets.

They 'come out' to each other on the same day revealing their powers out of brotherly love and unconditional trust - not as an accident. And you know what? Trans Rights! They can come out that way too. At this point, Billy is working with the justice league and Danny is spending a lot of his time in the Zone. He is the king, but mostly his job is to be a key judicial figure as the 'only dude who can pretty much beat anyone up' and has a lot of friends there. Hey, the sovereign ruler of the ghost zone was locked up for thousands of years and nothing really seemed to happen so I can't imagine he'd have a lot to do day-to-day. Actually, instead of sleeping on the streets they both spend most nights in the Zone in Danny's Haunt (though I'd imagine Billy also sleeps frequently at the watchtower because the pair of them are quasi-immortal homeless children who also somehow have fulltime jobs that pay nothing. And the watchtower has a kitchen). When I think of Danny's personality displayed as a physical location, I think it looks like a little suburban street lined with weird ghostly trees growing sentient flowers. There's a nasty burger though it's empty of employees and food; they still use it as a dining room. His actual house (ghosts don't need one but I still think Danny would have one) is moderate in size and charming. But it has defences built in, to the same absurd level as home alone or that live action scooby doo film https://youtu.be/2x7W225iC88?t=62 where there's a trapdoor under the doormat. There's a park across the road (which is always empty of cars but has a pedestrian crossing anyways) with purple grass and some plants that are only vaguely carnivorous. Every now and then, Billy helps out Danny with some magic tomfoolery in the Zone (you cannot tell me Aragon's amulets or Desiree aren't magic over and above normal ghost shenanigans). In one of Billy's first ever team missions he calls Danny as backup. He barely knows these people and he knows he won't be able to do his best hero-ing when he can't fully trust them to watch his back. Phantom doesn't end up having to do much because the JLA members are nice and trustworthy, but he is physically and visibly there. At the conclusion of the mission, following a nice orderly debriefing, Wulf comes to pick up Danny to get Walker back in line. This is a point where there are only a few JLA members, but Batman carefully adds "Brother/Twin??: King of Ghosts - The Phantom" to Shazam's file and begins investigating ecto-activity. A few years pass. Enough that Billy’s and Danny’s lives get a lot busier. Billy is doing some non-traditional school shit (I refuse to google the laws around out-of-school younger-age education in a foreign country for a city that doesn’t exist) and Danny is now working in a space agency. He obviously can’t be an astronaut because of the required physical -which he would not be able to pass - and he is busy with king stuff often enough that going into space for half a year isn’t really do-able. I think his Jack Fenton genes might kick in and he bulks out just a tad. It took him a year to be able to look at his ghost self in the mirror because he looked like Dan’s scarier big brother.

The justice league stop some evil invasion but in the process disable a giant spaceship that is now floating, untethered through their solar system. The aliens had been prepared for superman so there is artificial kryptonite meaning he cannot just punt it into the sun. They contact some space scientists to help them figure out how much of a problem this floating object will be; if it will affect future space travel attempts, if it could crash into the moon or Earth itself, if benevolent alien visitors in the future could think Earth was full of deranged murderers if they came to visit and encountered it.

Every agency they contact recommends one guy.

So, Shazam has need of his cool older twin Danny to come and help out with this problem! He is visibly thrilled and eventually admits that Daniel Nightingale (he wasn’t going to add to the prestige of his parents name or risk dragging his career down with their shenanigans) is his brother.

Only a couple of the original members remember all those years ago that Marvel has a brother they’ve met and that’s who they’re expecting when Danny arrives with his team. Of course, the magic ghost is a good option for a dicey mission. But no, it’s Danny. He does a great job and there’s a lot of content here. But after Danny and Billy leave, Batman holds a meeting to update JLA members that have only been around a few years. Apparently, Captain “the champion of magic” Marvel, and Phantom – the king of ghosts are triplets with Danny “Just A Guy” Fenton.

[completeoveranalysis]

[8]

Oops there's a bit more of the blood and dark themes in here as well, so be warned!

Watanuki falling out of the window at the same time that Lava Lamp was fighting Syaoran has been pointed out to me by quite a few people over the years, so that’s not a surprise at this point. But I DO love that the joined narrative event was not only intended but is highlighted here and explained a but further - Watanuki was, unconsciously, trying to rectify the balance of his existence. And with Lava Lamp out there fighting yet another Syaoran across the universe, perhaps the universe thought that was one Syaoran far too many and tried to tie it back together. 

What I didn’t catch before is what Yuuko says here - that Lava Lamp returned to where Evil Wolverine was. And that’s kind of true isn’t it? He left Evil Wolverine’s lair, went to Yuuko, and then went straight back to Evil Wolverine's lair - but in the far distant past, as Acid Tokyo. That’s wild.

Yeah there we go! That’s a good conclusion of the sentiment that leads back into the present. Watanuki has learned how to want to stick around because of all the people who care for him - and also this will help change the future. Which is also nice! But Watanuki would be worth it even without that. 

[krockdove]

You know, after watching the last batch of Earthspark, I was really disappointed for a number of reasons. I was angry about it.

But then I learned the producers were treated terrible by Paramount and had no choice but to end a lot of things in season one, now I'm not mad at them at all. I instead curse Paramount forever.

so....I'll write some headcanons I was looking forward to in Earthspark. I maybe do a series of related posts. Today is about one of the most important characters, Starscream.

Warning! This post contains spoilers.

Let me make one thing clear: I have no beef with his redemption. No, rather, I believed that Earthspark would do it as a matter of course. I never once doubted it.

The one of themes in Earthspark is "Second Chance". Starscream is the character in the Transformers franchise who most deserved a second chance, the character who could become the most dramatically three-dimensional with a second chance. Even though S1C was made under pressure to wrap everything up quickly, his redemption eventually came, which is what the show was meant to do from the beginning. The problem is, because the story had to be wrapped up in one season, all the dramatic plot points, connections between moments that should have been important, and characterizations were weakened across the board.

We are happy with his Redemption, but this is Earthspark. Not TFP. That means, we once had the opportunity to explore Starscream's character much more deeply. Not just in one episode, but a few.

Especially since I was serious about what was hinted at in the Warzone episode, I was disappointed that it wasn't used in the story.

I've seen several theories about that episode, the conclusion was that Starscream was caught in the Space Bridge explosion and was officially declared dead. I was actually pretty sure. That's why his appearances were low throughout the season, and he survives the explosion, BECAUSE Allspark revives him and fuses with him, right?

It makes it natural for Megatron to talk about the battle like that way and reveal his trauma, especially if he thought he lost both Shockwave and Starscream because of his actions. (This explains Soundwave's anger too.)

So Starscream was treated as dead, but actullay he was secretly imprisoned by the evil GHOST. He was unconscious when it happened, so it would have taken him a long time to figure out what was going on. He doesn't know that others to think he's dead. He sees his comrades locked the cell and thinks Megatron has really abandoned them.

This misunderstanding would have been a very important source of conflict when he was later reunited with Megatron. I even expected him to be the one to reveal the truth about GHOST.

I was almost certain that the GHOST and Mandroid plots would carry over into S2, so I thought it would be a conflicted ending with Starscream revealing the truth at the end of S1. It would have been nice if Starscream's character to be explored at the beginning of S2, along with his redemption, and the past war story.

And that would have made for some interesting drama not only between him and Megatron, but also with Optimus.

Imagine if that really happened. Starscream insists GHOST is wrong. How do you think Optimus and Megatron would take it?

Yeah, I can hear their doubts up here.

The point is, Starscream is seen as untrustworthy. Megatron would have a 50/50 chance of trusting him, but Optimus certainly wouldn't. From his perspective, Starscream would be seen as trying to drive a wedge between him and Megatron and reignite the war. In this situation, no one is lying, but someone ends up being unfairly labeled a liar. Optimus would compromise for the sake of the people he cares about, but they wouldn't include Starscream.

And I think this is the perfect moment for Hashtag to appear!!

Like, she's going to show up and be one who believes Starscream. If she believes in him, so do some of the Terrans – not all of them for now – but eventually the Hashtag and the Terrans believe in Starscream, and it would be really touching if that led to his redemption!

(also it inspires Terrans to dig into the truth of the GHOST themselves)

After it was revealed that he had an Allspark inside of him, he must have had an internal conflict. When he realized that the hope of his home planet and their people lay within him, could he handle it?

He struggles with it, but eventually does something heroic to help the Terrans. Maybe he uses the power of Allspark.

Terrans believe in Starscream when even Optimus doesn't, and it changes him, it would have fulfilled the show's message – Everyone deserves their second chance.

[eleanorfenyx]

I have finished Mysterious Lotus Casebook, and here are some of my thoughts! (Obviously not spoiler free)

The cases are absolutely batshit insane and I loved it every single time they were like 'we totally collected this evidence that incriminates a secret suspect, just believe us and also don't question when the fuck we had the time to do this or when we figured out that we needed to look for it'. 10/10 no notes, that's a hilarious way to have a genius detective. Show us nothing, tell us everything, YES king.

That being said, I could have done with a lot less standing around having the supporting cast repeat whatever Li Lianhua and Fang Duobing announce, maybe in an attempt to make sure their genius is clear for the audience? I get it, but at the same time it felt a little too hand-holdy for me, especially in scenes where LLH and FDB had already discussed their findings between themselves before presenting them to the concerned bystanders. I can read between the lines (or else understand what has just been explicitly stated) without having every conclusion filtered through a slightly different sentence structure to make sure I got it.

Di Feisheng amnesia arc my fuckin beloved

Di Feisheng destroying his 'father' and freeing everyone in Di manor in a vicious act of catharsis that tied nicely into the main Nanyin bug-mind-control-thing narrative my beloved

Di Feisheng my beloved

The amount of times I was like...genuinely surprised he and Li Lianhua didn't kiss is both embarrassing (because I do in fact understand censorship and what I sign up for with these dramas and yet and yet) and numerous enough that I could...possibly...theoretically..write a 5+1 fic of every time I want them to kiss about it. No one hold me to that but it's something I think I'd like to do.

Re: the above point: because what the FUCK was that ending?!!! EXCUSE ME?! I gotta FIX THAT SHIT.

There will come a day when the strength of my hope for an unambiguously happy ending in a queer(-coded? is the source originally bl or is this its own thing?) wuxia drama is rewarded....but it is not this day. I must fix this myself.

Jiao Liqiao's laugh is one of the most annoying things I've ever heard. I was reaaaaally hoping someone would just up and stab her during one of her little evil laughing fits. At one point I was shouting "KILL HER, KILL HER" at my screen because I could NOT take anymore of her (unfortunately, I did in fact have to take more of her).

I still think her insistence on being obsessed with DFS is hysterical when he is so VISIBLY only interested in LLH. Explicitly STATES that his only life purpose is to fuck fight LLH again. Babygirl (derogatory) he is so fucking gay let's get you a nice knife to the gut instead, okay?

I thought the whole Shan Gudao plot was interesting, going from looking desperately for his body -> putting him to rest -> hunting for his murderer -> finding out he's alive/the mastermind behind everything going wrong (which I was proud of myself for realizing before the reveal, I'm normally bad at that) -> thwarting him with sass and superior martial arts at every possible turn -> killing him stone fuckin dead with beginner level skills because he's so up his own hole he can't see that's what's happening - was really fun!

He also has a SUPER annoying laugh he can fuck off

OH OH OH MARTIAL ARTS SKILL OF TRANS YOUR GENDER?! I MARRIED HER SO HER AFFAIRS ARE MY BUSINESS NOT YOURS??? ASKING YOUR WIFE FOR HER FORGIVENESS AND UNDERSTANDING AS YOU LAY DYING AND SHE GIVES IT TO YOU?????? OKAYYYYYYY

The twist at the end that LLH is the one with royal blood was so funny to me. Like it's a good twist and I love that Shan Gudao was just quite literally always a fuckin try-hard loser in ways he didn't even know, but also it was SO funny. Granny coming in clutch at the last fuckin minute with secret knowledge she just literally never shared.

LLH is such a smooth motherfucker. Shame about his insistence on dying when quite literally everyone (bar the people who suck) is begging this man to just live. Just LIVE DAMN IT!!!!! I really liked it when FDB begs him to just consider his own life as important for ONCE and remember that people care about him because YES his self-sacrificing and committment to Chilling Out Farmer Style was not the mercy he thought it was!

LIVE AND GROW OLD WITH DI FEISHENG YOU DAMN IDIOT (the likelihood of me resisting the urge to write at least the one fic for them is zero to none)

Unironically love spitting up blood as a plot device and this show is no different. The Drama. The Panache. The desperation of everyone around you because you have BLOOD coming out of your MOUTH and you are FAINTING. Poison acting up? Spit blood. Someone bitch slap you with their magical palm ability? Spit blood. Get stressed? Spit blood. Get stabbed? Spit blood. It's always good!

Okay I think that might be all I've got for now, if I think of anything else I'll add them in a reblog. I thoroughly enjoyed it, would definitely recommend!

[camprell-art]

Hii! Really love your art! Your designs for the mario characters are super lovely. I was wondering tho, what drives your dimentio? Why does he, like, destroy nearly every kingdom he comes across? Why does he want to become king of all worlds when he doesn't seem to mind the 'subservient' role?

Hope you're having a wonderful day!

Okay so, this probably will get extremely long ksajhd

Dimentio is unconsciously reenacting what the Pixl Queen, or his sister Shadoo, did. After getting driven to madness by being resurrected in a vessel with the Dark Prognosticus, she brainwashed every Pixl, formed an army and tried to destroy the Ancients for their selfishness and supposed egocentrism, so she is technically destroying a kingdom.

I never worked much in the time-line of events, but before all of that happened, Dimentio and his mother Illuminata died, because Merloo, the father and great magician, was researching the Dark Prognosticus and one day he tries a spell and everything goes wrong.

A recurring theme in the family story is how everyone of them had a tragedy, the father gets obsessed with the Dark Prognosticus and kills both his wife and son in an accident, the mother dies protecting the son, the son is cursed with immortality by being bound to the book, and the sister gets ill because of the dark energy the house had, dies, is brought back, dies again, now by her brother's own hands, gets cursed and also locked away in the Pits.

You can say that Shadoo and Dimentio are the ones who suffered the most, and depending on how you see it, yeah they are, but imagine living the rest of your life thinking that you ruined everything, like, EVERYTHING, because a book was "that" important. That's why Merloo ends up helping with the Light Prognosticus, but also completely alone, as if you see in the game, he's the only sage who, apparently, has no descendants.

Before I forget, Pixl Queen Shadoo had the DP, when Dimentio "kills" her, he takes it, tries to protect it from evil, but reads it in morbid curiosity of what is written there, people steal it from him and then he starts getting insane, just like Bleck. ^v^

In conclusion, Dimentio is traumatized, but instead of having a chance to really think about his past and not commit any crimes, he has the DP talking in his head and leaving every other memory to the side, which is why he has kind of an amnesia and why he knows roughly where the thing is. In other words, the book makes you go crazy, and after living so many years and so many deaths I think that the person is very likely to just go apeshit after some point.

Ah, and about the thing with being a servant and wanting to be king at the same time, I don't take what he said in that part too literally, because I do believe that his motivation was to make a perfect world without all the rotten evil people in it, that would explain why he doesn't like the Count, Dimentio may know he's bad too, but he's being bad for a greater or purer reason. The role of servant is mostly just a strategy to be seen as someone who is vulnerable and eager to please, a perfect lie to hide the strings he's holding.

I hope this is a good answer to your question! As always I think that I gave more useless information than a direct response. akjsdh

Have a nice day, or night, wherever you are! :)

Edit: Thank you so much for all the compliments!!! Dumb Camprell was so focused on trying to explain the shitshow that is his fanlore that he forgot completely about what you said first!! But know that it's always one of the best things to see in an ask! :3

[tiodolma]

Colin Morgan and Katie Mcgrath DVD Commentary on Merlin and Morgana's Relationship in S1x08 "Beginning of the End" (Mordred Episode)

featuring

Colin Morgan, BBC Merlin Katie Mcgrath, BBC Morgana Julian Murphy, Producer Angel Coulby, BBC Guinevere

S1x08 Merlin and Morgana watching over Mordred who was behind the curtain

COLIN: This is one of our few scenes together. KATIE: Actually this is one of my favorite scenes. JULIAN: Yeah, mine too. KATIE: me and you JULIAN: I think when you think about the whole sort of texture of the legend about what, who these people will become COLIN AND KATIE: MHHM JULIAN: Or what we think they may become. We’re pretty sure about Merlin but we don’t know about Morgana. And then it has a real resonance. KATIE: It’s just really nice, this… do you remember we played it two different ways? COLIN: Yeah.. KATIE: there was one other way that’s ah.. JULIAN: It’s a little bit too sexy, really. KATIE: Yes! There was a lot of eh.. COLIN: It was… JULIAN: I was like hang on wait a second you’re smiling at him too much! COLIN: It was a bit too flirty, wasn’t it.. as in... KATIE: (Squeaking) I thought it might have been an interesting sort of sideline story but apparently not. COLIN: MHHM MHMMM JULIAN: No, I came in and stamped on that. KATIE: Yeah… that was... that was my idea was obviously useless. COLIN: HEH HEH It’s good though the undertones of this because you know I know about you at this stage and it’s funny that you’re sort of picking up on on on things as well but you know, you know not quite sure so it’s... there’s loads going on thinking... the scene is just cool JULIAN: Just trying to test each other on you COLIN: mmm JULIAN: Find out what each other is about. You’re also hoping that you, that you may have found a kindred spirit. COLIN AND KATIE: mmmhm COLIN: Well that’s oh yeah finding one like you and she mean hers and ehm you know, if there’s wrong and what if, you know, magic chooses you. It’s exactly what you’ve/he’ve been looking for. KATIE: And it’s sort of I’ve been speaking directly to you as it were. I’m saying exactly what it is that you’re thinking, you know? But you’re still a coward and don’t tell anyone anything. COLIN: Thanks, Katie KATIE: You’re welcome COLIN: …. KATIE: Saw you’re all being serious there. COLIN: (chuckle)

Scene: Gaius and Merlin treat Mordred's Malady

KATIE: ..that they’ve done it as well because everybody knows what Mordred ends up being and what Morgana ends up being and this connection here, you wonder if the connection is because they’re magical or if it’s because they’re ultimately evil. COLIN: MHHHM KATIE: You know, Which is why I asked you whether you and you felt Mordred were similar COLIN: Yeah. KATIE: You know, Whether the connection is through magic or through or (whispers) our ultimate evildoing. COLIN: (surprised laugh) Well suppose that’s where, you know, if, if there’s sort of Morgana-Merlin thing was any further there’d be a point, you know, where we’d possibly do come together at some point but again ultimately going completely different directions. KATIE: See, I’ve come to the conclusion that in, in Merlin and in Camelot that magic isn’t good or it’s bad, it just is and it’s the person, what they take it . COLIN: YEAH KATIE: You know, So I feel Morgana does the, the right thing for the wrong reasons. JULIAN: Well I think that’s what we kinda decided. COLIN: Well suppose you don’t, you don’t have a mentor whereas Merlin’s got Gaius here to really steer him KATIE: And you guys know I’m magical and yet you leave me! COLIN: (laughing) KATIE: So it’s really your fault that I become evil! Without your guidance! ANGEL: …besides you COLIN: Well you’re the king’s ward. ANGEL: YEAH COLIN: He’s gonna believe you over us. KATIE: But I don't even know!

notes:

the (in)famous interpretation of colin and katie portraying merlin and morgana with more romantic undertones and getting blocked by the producer

katie telling colin that merlin is a coward.

colin morgan projecting what a merlin-morgana conflict would look like if mergana actually did happen.

both of them hoped for mergana to happen

[this-acuteneurosis]

So Im all here for the Pretty Ladies who dress nicely doing all the politics, wonderful court intrigue right here, are we gonna talk about in the back ground the majority known Male characters are in War killing dying thing? this story IS about the back room deals and others as main setting, (although we should tease you about dodging the wars in Star Wars sometimes just as a little poke.) curious cause the 4 main Male politco 2 are enemies in Rush and Palps. Kamino had a fem evil Senator! use??

Who wants to talk about ✨🌈Palpatine🌈✨!

There haven't been a lot of opportunities to talk about the structure and the influence of our main villain textually in the story, because Leia is kinda blind to her own bias, and also a lot of stuff that I have as part of his character just...doesn't come up.

So, keep two things in mind as I talk about DLB Chancellor Sheev Palpatine and pull back the curtain just a little.

His character is coming pretty exclusively from the OT and PT movies (with minor exceptions).

I'm taking advantage of a lot of silences and time period circumstances to draw conclusions about his character, so don't be surprised if I say something that isn't said out loud at some point.

Ready? Let's go!!

The OT features an overabundance of male humans in positions of power in Palpatine's government. This may have been balanced out slightly by novels that I haven't read or newer shows that I haven't watched, but the people Palps promoted to his special seats of power (Moffs, military leaders) are overwhelming human men. If we stretch canon to include the two Clone Wars cartoon series, the only women brought into Palpatine's plots are brought in by Dooku or other associates, not Palpatine himself. Of the three apprentices Palpatine has, two are human and one is humanoid.

I don't think I'm breaking anyone's brain to assert that Palpatine is sexist and racist. I know I'm not the first person to suggest or write this sort of character.

What I'm going to assert, beyond those points, is that Palpatine is only really impressed with himself, and assumes that anyone lacking qualities that he has is progressively less useful and important than him. So he's also, for lack of a better word, Force-ist.

(Ugh, nope. I still don't like it, but I don't have anything else.)

Palpatine absolutely has loyalists and panderers that are women. But as far as DLB is concerned, he's not promoting them, searching them out, or impressed by them. So women are going to be antagonists in this story more incidentally. On a small scale. Major antagonists are going to end up frequently being male and human. And I'm not going to try and change that.

Only tangentially related, but a little important because Leia comes into the Senate through Padmé's office, because of the prejudices listed above, I will pretty much die on the hill that Palpatine loathes Padmé. And he really loathes that he loathes her. That he has to have any feelings about her at all.

She's young. She's a girl. She isn't Force sensitive. He plucked her out and carefully curated her early political experience and was probably violently influential in her success in getting elected the first time. He had a tiny, fragile, 14 year old stumbling under the weight of the crown, ready to start his civil war and initiate the end of the Republic. She gets him elected. His plan is flawless.

Until it turns out that she has a spine, and humility. She has the courage to face danger and the grace to bow to another sovereign power. She trusts Jar Jar Binks when he suggests that the gungans have an army. Like this is somehow a viable plan for taking back her people, when Jar Jar isn't even slightly popular or powerful.

And she wins. Palpatine loses Maul, he loses Naboo, and he loses the opportunity to start a war. She sets him back a solid decade, at 14. On a hope and a the thinnest apology.

DLB isn't so much about creating a perfectly equitable Star Wars universe. I'm not equipped for that, and it wasn't the goal. This story is about a bunch of ladies doing politics and kicking Palpatine's plans to the curb because he was always vulnerable to the people he dismissed the most.

Palpatine's plans had the Jedi and the Senate in a steel trap of lose-lose situations. But he loses, over and over, to kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and diplomacy. He's stymied by it. He literally can't plan for it. I've had all sorts of fun having Leia and Padmé do "mother-daughter" politics together, but I love that in RotJ Luke Skywalker looked the Emperor dead in the eyes and said, "No. No you can't make me do this." Like his mother would have. It had to drive Palpatine completely nuts. And it worked.

Anyway, all that to say, there's a lot of story left, and I'm not going to give away all of Palpatine's plans and plots. But part of how Leia got this far without any resistance was that Palpatine saw a short, unconnected woman from the outer rim, had no idea she could use the Force, and went, "Not important."

And he was very, very, very wrong. :D

[eri-pl]

on Elu Thingol

No, I'm not going (at least: I'm trying not to) engage more in the debate of Feanorians vs Sindar, because it has the levels of hostility I try to avoid.

Anyway, thanks to my husband, I think I finally got a coherent mental model of Thingol that explains all his decisions without assuming he's just stupid, and even gives him a character arc. Which is nice, because before I never could conceptualize him well. (long post under the cut)

It starts with Elu being one of the elven emissaries to Valinor, so this would eman he was open-minded, adventurous and had a good insight/vibe-check. Oh, and also he is friends with Finwë. Then he returns and falls in love with Melian, which confirms the concept of him as open-minded and not avoiding a crazy adventure (marrying a Maia).

Then they marry, he builds a beautiful kingdom, and, I think, gets complacent. And (for reasons that would make sense later) I think he gets a little sanctimonious, too. A literal divine being married him, that surely must mean he is morally spotless, right? Doriath is a mini-Valinor in a way, shielded and locked from any external influence. From any corruption, any evil, any mpurity.

I'm sure he (at this point, at elast) is very worshipful about the Valar and listens to Melian's counsuel with great fervor.

At some point, the Sindar meet the Petty Dwarves and start hunting them and later it turns out those are actual people... Hearing about this may be the first breaking point for Thingol. But that whole story semi-canon, I think?

Then everything shatters in a short time — Melian (surely) has some terrible premonitions, Feanorians come to him not willing to explain a lot, they say the Black Rider is back, he's called Morgoth now, and he killed Finwë and the Trees of Valinor, and all that. also, other Finwëans come and there is some terrible secret they aren't telling him—

And eventually Thingol learns that Feanor rebelled against the Valar and his sons (+ other Noldor) murdered Thingol's kinsmen, and since Feanor has turned his back on the Valar, he, and everyone who agrees with his agenda, is no longer welcome, no longer valid, no longer a kin of Finwë, they are blasphemers.

Galadriel and others are fine, they are Finwë's grandchildren, they are welcome, they are pure enough. But not Feanor and his kin, with their blasphemous oath,

(And don't get me wrong, it legit was blasphemous. But yes, I give to Thingol here the kind of general attitude which I really dislike, sorry, he'll get better. Also, he does have good qualities too )

And of course it must be the fault of Feanor, and likely of him making the Silmarils (who the Noldor say are holy, but who knows? capturing the Light sounds a little blasphemous) that Finwë died and Morgoth returned to Beleriand. It is a logical conclusion from Thingol's point of view.

Then Beren comes and he dares to ask for Luthien's hand, and how blasphemous is that, A filthy mortal wanting for a half-Maia, what's next, he's try to capture a Silmaril? hmmm, that's an idea (since I promised Luthien to not kill him *directly*), and my crazy rebelious daughter will be kept safe.

...

(I think this is his lowest point in the "sanctimonious hypocrite" thing. It is influenced by strong emotions, too. also, one of two low points in general, the other being influenced by a curse.)

And then he realizes, gradually that a) he ignored his Maia wife's advice on that, b) it's going to end badly, c) he's not as great and faultless as he thought. Also, at some point someone points to Thingol the irony of him having married a Maia and him now objecting to Beren marrying Luthien. And he realizes how much he'd changed, he'd grown stiff and close-minded and that is not good.

(I suppose his relationship with Feanorians might have improved at this point, if C&C didn't do all the things with Luthien.)

Then Beren returns, Thingol has a change of heart, he realizes that Men have a beauty to them. He remembers his youth. He's beautiful again and, generally, I assume he's pretty cool at this point.

(And, yes, he keeps the Silmaril and doesn't try to contact the Feanorians and give it to them. Because he believes it belonged to the Valar more than to Feanor? Because in general medieval/Silm rights of ownership work differently than modern concept of ownership rights? Because Beren more or less died for the gem? Because it reminds him of his daughter? Because he wants to spite those who tried to assault her? Because he still has a bit of that moral superiority thing and thinks he deserves it? Because Melian says it is important and it will save the Beleriand at one point and they need to keep it? I suppose it was a mix of reasons.)

And then they're gone away from everybody and then he adopts Turin, and Turin— well he does what Turin does...

…and the thing with Dwarves. Oh, the thing with Dwarves.

I think it has to do with Nauglamir and Hurin(?) cursing it, and... i don't remember, but there was some cursing there in general. It does make Thingol more impulsive and greedy.

The house is empty, his daughter gone, adopted son ran away and then died, his marriage is great but it has lasted for so long already and Thingol needs something new… to be even more beautiful, to make his kingdom even more beautiful, to erase the sorrows… he's going to wear the Silmaril, common sense (and Dwarves) be damned.

And so he died.