#and even there if I say that it may make her likeable

[vogelmeister]

yes its all cool and fun and games when an oc calls you out but have you considered oc being so unlike you in every possible aspect

[harmoonix]

Sun's Kiss☀️Astrology

✧Observations✧

Sun of mine

I feel it, you rose above my street,

And now that you have come,

It will always be this way.

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

──☀️────☀️─────☀️────☀️────☀️───

☀️ Sun in the 7th house or Sun rulling the 7th house natives can get partners with good personality/traits. They can also be popular or known in their circle

☀️ Oh to be blessed being loved or loving someone with Pluto - Venus aspects is something to appreciate a lot. Once attached to someone their love is forever

☀️ Sun aspecting Chiron is an indicator of being anxious about yourself and you can often ask yourself questions like "Who I am" because in a way you need to discover who you are (Applies if you have Chiron or Sun in the same house aswell)

☀️ Leo or Aries Sun are often portrayed as people who have an likeable aura and personality, because Sun likes to be these zodiac signs

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️Saturn in the 4th, 6th, 8th, or 12th house can have toxic karmic debts who also involves their families. They have this "I'm stuck here forever" energy.

☀️ Leo in the 5th, 7th or 8th house can have potential at attracting charming partners or having charming relationships, they can also have these partners who are completely obsessed with them.

────────────── ☀️ ───────────────

Sun of mine

You're shining bright when I feel bad

One without the other

It wouldn't be the same anymore

───────────── ☀️ ──────────────

☀️ Ascendant ruler in the 9th house can indicate the native might like traveling or can end up travelling around the world (Even moving in other country for school/education)

☀️ Ascendant ruler in the 2nd house can indicate that the native has an impressive physical health, they can be strong both mentally and physically, also a good personality

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️ Something admirable about the earth placements is that they are born with this love for life, they appreciate life and her little things that matters

☀️ Leo/Aquarius Juno have high chances to met their partners on internet or in a big circle of people, even influential people.

☀️ Lilith at 5°, 17°, 29° degrees can be indicators of popularity, you must have something that is very pleasing to people's eyes and that thing can make you popular

☀️ Lilith at 8°, 20° degrees can indicate intimidation, the native can look intimidating at the first glance

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️ An Cancer native falling in love with an Libra native give CINDERELLA vibes. One person is always searching for the other while one of them is dreaming about their love

☀️ Something very fascinating about Moon/Venus or Mercury in the 9th house is their love for other cultures is something to appreciate because not everyday you find someone who can love the culture more than they do (I said this and I will say it forever, 9th house placements= A mix of everything)

☀️ Mars - Uranus aspects (especially the harsh ones) are scary when they angry, this may sound odd but they have an hidden anger

☀️ Uranus chart ruler can give natives unexpected moments in life, like you end up with a lot of unexpected moments and think "Wait how this happened" but Uranus represents uniqueness so there is a reason for everything

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️ Uranus Beauty is something very UNDERATTED on tumblr, With Uranus representing uniquenees and innovation they are often ignored by astrologers but not today

Uranus in the 1st or 2nd house have a beautiful body and their voices can sound different than others

Uranus in the 3rd house gives unique voice and expression to the native

Uranus in 10th house can end up working in a unique place where they didn't expect at all, also they may have a pretty big image

Uranus in the 12th house can have an unique personality, you are liked by people very fast

(By the way every planet rules upon a specific part of our bodies, Uranus rules over our nervous system so yes the mars - Uranus aspects being angry totally approves 100%)

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️ Leo & Libra placements can look so beautiful with make up on (You are very beautiful naturally aswell) but the make up takes out your beauty

☀️ Aries Risings have a perfect chart (in the whole sign chart) they have every house in their matched sign

☀️ Sun at Taurus Degrees (2°, 14°, 26°) are so beautiful, they have a drop of Venus in themselves. Your hair and your eyes are important when it comes to your appearance, you are loved Venus child

────────────── ☀️───────────────

Sun of mine

You're shining bright when I feel bad

One without the other

It wouldn't be the same anymore.

────────────── ☀️───────────────

☀️ Sun at Aquarius Degrees (11°, 23°) are the type of people who get along so good with others. With their social skills and their smart brain, they are so lucky

☀️ Rising at Cancer Degrees (4°, 16°, 28°) can make the native hypersensitive or in general emotional more softly which is perfectly fine because they are a feminine energy

☀️ Taurus/Virgo Moons/suns/risings can be the most attracted to nature, is like a part of mother earth is in their soul

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧☀️｡.:*✧

──☀️────☀️─────☀️────☀️────☀️───

|☀️| When the Sun is always shining Harmoonix is here with a new post ☀️

☀️ I really hope everyone who reads my notes has a good day full of light and warm vibes, is October so make it cozy ☀️🥰

☀️ May the sun's rays touch your skin and bless your heart with light and joy, Sun's Child ☀️

- With love, Harm☀️☀️nix

[kiestrokes]

Day 3: Tell Me What to Do | NSFW

▸ Idol: Bang Chan of Stray Kids ▸ Rating: NSFW. Mature (18+) Minors DNI. ▸ Genre: active WIP, hired escort, smut, college au. ▸ Vibe: set in 2008, reader/OC (tbd) was on a lacrosse scholarship when she got severely injured, in order to continue attending she has resorted to charging the rich nerds that need a little additional sex education. Chan is the friend of Felix (one of her favorite clients) that hires her, although she is unsure as to why...he's incredibly likeable and attractive. They discover his issues and sexual hangups together. ▸ Warnings: probably some cussing, illusions to feelings.

Sexually Explicit Content: this is a smut excerpt that happens quite a bit later in the actual story! semipublic sex, Chan has reserved a private single studio for the evening, female ejaculation? squirting, intercourse (penis in vagina), clit stim, fingering, aftercare, dirty talk?

🗝️ Note: Like every other 2008 alt kid, metro station had a chokehold on me. Kinda a spin on the Avril Lavigne lyrics too "he was a punk, she did ballet" as Chan is our ballerina. This Chan has just been living rent free see May or June of this year, but I had other things I wanted (and still need to) complete. Just a reminder this is a WIP, it is not close to the finished product this is actually the first draft of this scene!

Disclaimers: This is a work of fiction; I do not own any of the idols depicted below.

「 25 Hours: Hard, Soft and WIP-mas Masterlist 」

Chan has her bent over the ballet bar moaning as he fucks her slow from behind, “shit this is so good.”

“You can speed up.”

“Do I have to?”

“No,” you groan as he circles his hips.

“You like this right?”

“Yes!” You bite your lip, “fuck Chan I don’t think you need my help.”

His hand slips to your stomach, “maybe I just like fucking you.”

He speeds up making you moans climb in volume.

“Think you like fucking me too,” he thrusts hard, “right?”

“Fuck, yes, whatever Channie.”

Your eyebrows converge as he presses your stomach and quickens his stroke.

“Right there?”

His eyes find yours in the mirror and you almost come on the spot. Chan bites his lip, head tossing back as your body clamps down around him.

“Go ahead.”

You try to fight it off but he braces the other hand on the small of you back, sandwiching you between his palms. His hips pistoning until you’re crying out. Coming hard, arousal leaking down your legs and onto the floor.

“Fuck,” you gasp as you catch your breath.

Chans hands move to grip your hips, thrusts having slowed to help you come down. Slowly losing himself in the feel of you.

“You squeezed me so hard, did it feel good?”

“What do you think?”

Your body shakes as he continues his journey to release, folding over your back to whisper in your ear.

“I think you want another.”

Your spine snaps your sagging body upright as he rubs almost harshly into the front wall of your cunt.

“Ngh Chan,” you grasp as his hands as his lips suck on your neck.

“You made a mess.”

You simply whine at him.

“Can I come on you?”

“Fuck Chan, yes.”

He moans picking up pace then he’s folding you over the bar again. Chan pulls out to rip off the condom and thrusts back inside you.

“Holy shit,” you say in unison.

“God you feel good.”

“Don’t come inside, birth control only prevents so much ahh-” you break off into a gasp.

“I won’t, oh wow, you’re so wet.”

Your brain errors at the feel of him raw, the skin to skin contact creating more drag along the sensitive nerves of your intimate walls. Chan is not doing much better.

He pulls out before you’re ready and comes on your back. His tongue tracing his top teeth in amazement as he sprays you.

You gasp, “ok back in.”

“What?”

You catch his panic gaze through your orgasm driven haze in the mirror but you brush it off. Nobody had ever made you come as hard as Chan and you were close to a level of addiction at this point.

“I’m so close,” you pant.

Chan thinks quickly, shoving two fingers inside you to the knuckle. Your head snaps back at the feeling and roll you hips back into him. Chan working his fingers the way you’ve taught him. Fingers curling slightly after a steady rhythm was established.

“Ahhh yes, yes!”

Chan reaches around to strum your clit with his other hand, and like that you’re gone, over the edge.

“Oh god,” your knees buckle as you soak his hand, and he holds you up with a surprised laugh.

© COPYRIGHT 2021 - 2024 by kiestrokes 

All rights reserved. No portion of this work may be reproduced without written permission from the author. This includes translations.

[uscss-prometheus]

Ｐ Ｒ Ｏ Ｍ Ｅ Ｔ Ｈ Ｅ Ｕ Ｓ

Embark towards the Heavens in THE CELESTIAL EDITION!

A fan-edit 10 years in the making.

I think you may believe me when I say my love for Prometheus knows no bounds. This bold, new vision for the Alien franchise, which I have grown up with all my life, blew my mind. It dared to answer some of the most unfathomable questions we are capable of asking ourselves, all while combining Alien, anthropology, the ancient alien theory, creationism and religion together, into a complex and definite answer. It reveals most of its secrets in such intricate, hidden ways and truly is the most courageous and important film of modern science fiction.

So, my friends, you can probably imagine what a great pleasure it is for me to deliver this project to you, at long last. The first draft of this extended cut dates from May 2014. The goal in delivering this definitive edition today remains the same as then : deliver the best possible way to watch Prometheus.

I think we were all surprised to see Romulus acknowledge Prometheus in such a way, so much so that a wave of appreciation for the film began to resonate all over the internet. So whether you feel like revisiting the film, experiencing it in another way, or giving the story and its characters another chance, this is the perfect opportunity.

Including not only a vast selection of deleted scenes, but also a major part of the blu-ray extras results in richer characters and a wider view into their world. The extras, which have become an essential part of my rewatches, are introduced into the first act, all before the crew even awakes, giving even the biggest rewatchers a refreshing kick-start. I have also reintroduced a few unused tracks and an alternate creature design.

I will not explain in complete detail what is different about this fan-edit. I think it's worth seeing for yourself. Not all deleted scenes and extras are included. There’s a special homage to Elisabeth during the transmission sequence. I really loved her, and her quest...

Something I believe is worth noting is the exclusion of the "Engineer Speaks" deleted scene. It does not add much. Weyland repeats himself, and verbalises the evident themes at play, while we still do not get to truly know what the Engineer says. Instead, I find the idea that our very own makers would answer our hopes and questions with nothing but silence and anger far more horrifying. It perfectly aligned with the film thematically, and so I left the scene intact.

If you watch it, you may also notice that I have spared us a few seconds of Millburn and Fifield's dumbest moments. I do not dislike them, they were absolutely iconic, but this makes them more likeable and credible in my book.

Disclaimer : I could not get my hands on the extras in great quality. I own the film twice, but have no way to port them. I may eventually re-upload with a visual fix some day, who knows... Please forgive the slight drop in quality for these sequences. 

Here is the trailer for my extended cut. You can watch the full fan-edit here!

Feedback and shares are immensely appreciated. Please share using the trailer or post only, thank you!

Download for HD - DO NOT USE CELLULAR DATA (18GB)

Follow @uscss-prometheus on Tumblr.

[essmeow]

?? QUESTIONABLE GROUP

DESC: yuji's friend group! notes at the end ( ˶^ᗜ^˶ )  masterlist

NOTES + CHARACTER INFO:

nobara lives with her grandmother , shes very outgoing which makes her close friends with everyone , she has a part time retail job (she only works so she can buy clothes) , has decent grades , and dosen't do any sports

megumi lives with gojo , he considers gojo to be his father figure but he dosent like to talk about his feelings—meaning he wouldn't ever say anything , i love stsg so gojo & geto are married >ᴗ< , tsumiki is in collage so she doesen't live with them currently , nanako & mimiko are like megumi's little sisters (they are in middle school) , he gets the best grades out of the group , that one rich kid that dosen't realize that their rich .. like would see something SUPER expensive and his ass would go "thats even that much??" (wait this is actually cannon i just remembered) but more ab him coming that will be revealed later!

maki's parents don't want her to go to public school (mai actually goes to the boarding school yn used to go to) but she goes anyways , she lives with her parents but 99% of the time shes staying over at someone in the groups house , she gets good grades and she does a sport for each season

toge is lowkey that one kid that moans in the back on class ... hes funny though , he acts like he pulls but his ass does NOT !! most people don't know he exists because hes really quiet—but he is the opposite when you get to know him , he does track & field and has pretty bad grades , fights the gay allegations daily

yuta is probably the most mature in the group—though he can definitely say some out of pocket things if provoked , he gets pretty decent grades and hes in band (not a band kid!! trust) , hes the newest in the group and moved to their school around a year ago

panda is a panda !! just pretend everyone dosen't think anything of it...shh...its normal.... , his grades are NOT good but he is on like every sports team and trys to bribe teachers to give him better grades (hes likeable so it works) , he works a part time job at mcdondalds so he can get free food , he trys to be matchmaker for his friends but is not very good at it .. its the thought that counts!

ps : there will be some other characters like the kyoto students that will be incudled ! i just didn't have room to add them here

TAGS: @1ndee ( ask 2 be added )

[srbachchan]

DAY 6088(i)

Jalsa, Mumbai Oct 18, 2024/Oct 20 Fri/Sat/Sun 1:54

A few mistakes pointed out by the ever efficient Ef .. is a result of this added Blog .. they said that Friday and Saturday are missing .. so checked , found it partially correct and so here ..

For the Friday ..

And so here .. a picture ..

.. and so here a prepare for the GOJ .. which is getting diminished by the Sunday or by the day .. but even if there are a few dedicated ones .. this one shall be there ..

Friday at the turnstiles was a joyous experience .. and joyous experiences come about when the live audience at the show .. is , well ..

LIVE ..

on the arrival itself one gauges their temperament .. the reception the smiles the laughter the applause .. all give the impetus for the following game and the desired interest , attention and cooperation by them ..

So they were SOOOOOO .. good and involved that the rise of the early was forgotten at an instant ..

Then when the contestant arrives and brings with him or her the spring of involved love and care and play at the game , it makes our work intensely, likeable and loved ..

May they ever be such ..

The age group is .. err .. ELDER ..

But then what else can one expect ..

They tell their stories of the times gone by, when they had encountered , yours truly .. and it is most refressioning , but also a slight at the age difference ..

To be expected .. and admired and enjoyed ..

so till the fall of the lights and the Sun today .. we say ..

Love you .. and the goodness of the evening ..

😀

Amitabh Bachchan

[izels-writing]

s. black — how you get the girl [1/2]

*idea was given to me by @sunny-prongs !! <3

Pairing: sirius black x fem!reader

Summary: sirius has no idea how to get the girl this time.

Warnings: i actually suck at writing flirting, slightly ooc sirius?, i accidentally keep making all these gryffindor!readers so i apologize,

PART ONE, PART TWO

you weren't quite sure someone had made you feel so many emotions at once the way sirius black did. even when he'd enter the room, the ínstense emotions you'd experience being in his general vicinity was absolutely mind-boggling. not that you'd ever admit it.

sirius black was the one boy at school that everyone wanted, even if they didn't admit it. he was funny, he was unbelievably handsome, and he was admittedly smarter than he gave himself credit for. and dear god, did he know it...

the boy didn't exactly lack confidence—matter of fact, he may have too much of it. but that didn't matter, because everyone believed that yes, he deserved that confidence in himself. he earned it. he could breathe in someone's direction and they're instantly melt—he was inconceivably charismatic and likeable. even the professors admitted it so.

yet, the only person who didn't seem to think so was you.

not because you desired to be different from everyone else—because, unfortunately, you found him handsome as well and you found yourself day dreaming what it would be like to be loved by him. but because you saw the way he treated the girls he had flings with. you saw the way he'd be so indifferent to their attachment and infatuation with him. more noticeably, you noticed the way he never bothered to keep a consistent relationship with any girl he managed to seduce—if that was even the right word for it.

you didn't want that. you had seen so much of it growing up. you couldn't bare it in a potential romantic partner. so, you didn't. you didn't allow him to see the way you found yourself glancing at him, you didn't allow him to see the way you'd quickly walk away when he did something gentlemanly like hold the door for you, and you certainly didn't let yourself react to his many compliments.

and unfortunately for you, though you didn't know it, you were the one person he wanted that he couldn't have. not for lack of trying, but because you wouldn't allow yourself.

he watched you from afar, mischievous grey eyes following your every move—in a curious, desirable way. nonetheless, you looked at him for a split second before turning to resume your conversation with daniel mckinnon, marlene's older brother.

"anyway, you should talk to her, i'm sure she'll understand," you told daniel. he chuckled and sighed.

"i suppose so, thanks y/n," daniel smiled. he went to say something else, but he glanced behind you and bid you a kind goodbye—all before walking off.

you were left confused, until you felt a presence by your ear, likely because of the loud music booming around you. it was difficult to hear in the common room which held a celebration for the gryffindor quidditch team.

"he's always been good at taking hints," a silky voice whispered in your ear. immediately recognizing it, you turned around and raised an eyebrow at the eldest black brother.

"yeah, he is—something you lack apparently," you replied, glaring at sirius challengingly.

sirius grinned. "oh come on, princess, you can't be that way with me. you look great, by the way, is that a new dress?"

you glanced down, smiling slightly at the fact that he noticed. then you came to your senses and rolled your eyes, "i bought it last week, thanks," you replied monotonously.

"of course, doll," he smiled. you rolled your eyes, but he never faltered. you supposed there was an admirable aspect to it.

you took a sip of your drink, before looking up at him. "what do you want, black?" you demanded.

sirius laughed. "what makes you think i want something? what if i just wanted to ask how you were doing?"

"but you don't," you corrected. "which raises the question, as per usual..."

"fine, how about you let me dance with you...and if things go well, let me take you on a date next weekend?" sirius suggested, brushing loose hair from your face behind your ear.

you had to admit to yourself, he made you incredibly nervous. he was suave and handsome, and just the perfect amount of flirty without being uncomfortable to be around. he had a thing with calling you pet names that normally you'd cringe at the mention of, but when he said it, they didn't sound so bad. and dear god, when he subtly touched you, you felt like melting into the ground. nonetheless, you knew this was just part of his strategy to sleep with you. you'd seen it with other girls he interacted it, perhaps not to the extent he did it with you, but he certainly did it. you had to keep reeling in your common sense.

"in your dreams, sirius," you scoffed. quickly, before the other part of you could take it back, you walked off and immersed yourself into the party.

sirius watched you walk away, smirking like he had actually gotten you to say yes.

——

you waited patiently for your friend marlene mckinnon to return from quidditch practice before heading up to your shared dorm. normally, you preferred to be in your own room and on your own bed—but marlene hated being alone in the common room, as she was easily scared despite the tough facade she put on in front of dorcas.

a quick patter of footsteps rushed over to you, before they finally sat beside you. the boy, who you quickly and unfortunately recognized, kicked his feet up on the coffee table and put an arm on the couch, so that it was almost around you. you sat back and turned to him, narrowing your eyes at him. sirius grinned happily at you.

“you’re like a lovesick puppy, you know that?” you scoffed, crossing your arms. you knew it was all an act, but you could help the feeling of happiness it gave you knowing that he only really showed you this type of attention.

“only you bring out this side of me, did you know that?” he attempted, but you rolled your eyes and looked away momentarily. unfortunately for you, you turned to look at him again and your (e/c) eyes met his grey ones. and dear god, they were easy to get lost in.

“where’s your boy band? usually you four are attached at the hip,” you asked, genuinely curious despite your nonchalant tone. he smiled at you before replying, counting off the three in his fingers.

“remus is doing his prefect duties, james has quidditch practice, and peter is on a date,” he replied. “leaving me, all on my lonesome…with you, of course,” his smile brightened the room and it seemed like he knew it.

“surely you have something interesting to do,” you commented, liking the fact that you could at the very least have a conversation with him.

“none as interesting as you,” he grinned.

you chuckled. “okay, that was smooth, i’ll give you that one,”

“what’re you doing down here anyway?” sirius then asked, looking curiously at the book in your lap. you closed it, finding that perhaps a genuine conversation with him was worth having even despite the flirtations.

“waiting for marls, she hates coming into an empty common room,” you replied. “creeps her out,”

he smiled. “you’re a good friend, you know that?”

you turned to him curtly, smiling back at him—genuinely smiling back him. “thank you,” you replied.

your faces were inches away from each other, if even, and you couldn’t help but feel the slight tension. you wanted to pull away, you really really did. at the very least, he hadn’t tried anything.

he brought a tattooed hand to your face, pushing a hair behind your ear. he almost leaned in—or maybe you were imagining it. but then, common sense kicked you in the head and you cleared your throat.

quickly, you stood up and gathered your things. every nonsensical part of you wanted to stay and see where it would lead, and the other logical part of you knew better than to be so naïve. sirius was only interested because you had been so difficult to get, after he got with you—you’d just be another girl to him. you and any other girl at this school did not deserve that.

“yeah, i can’t do this,” you mumbled. without another word, you rushed up to your dorm. in your wake, you left a confused, mildly hurt sirius black on the couch. he could still smell your perfume and your bright smile was burned into the back of his brain like a prayer.

and for a moment, he thought what it would be like if he actually got to kiss you.

——

“i don’t understand,” marlene mumbled, stroking your head as you laid on her lap. you were feeling very dejected and upset after the whole sirius situation. “if you like him, and he more than obviously seems to like you, what’s stopping you?”

you sat up, situating yourself to look at marlene with a dejected look. “the principle, marls! you’ve seen how he treats every other girl here, these are nice girls who he would be lucky to have as his girlfriend! how do we know he won’t treat me the same? how do we know he actually likes me the way i like him?”

marlene sighed. “yeah, you have a point—i just hate seeing you so conflicted and upset, boys are so dumb,” she shook her head. you laughed, nodding in agreement.

“what if i talk to james?” marlene suggested. “if there’s anyone who knows him better than himself, it’s james,”

you groaned. “but then he’ll know i have a crush on sirius! and then he’ll tell sirius, and then sirius’ll know i have a crush on him!”

“true,” marlene huffed. “straight relationships are impossible,”

you laughed, shoving marlene. “shut up,”

——

“pads, maybe you should actually sit down and tell her how you feel,” james said offhandedly as he tinkered with a music box that lily gave him to fix. the two had only been dating for a few months, if that, and already it seemed like they have been together forever—in a good way, of course.

sirius, who had dramatically sprawled himself on the bed, lifted his head up to look at james. “what?! are you crazy?!” he exclaimed.

remus scoffed. “what’s so crazy about that? james did it and now he and lily are great together,” he closed his book, looking at sirius and waiting for his response.

“because…those are real feelings! i mean i’d have to explain everything to her, how i feel around her, everything and i just…no, it’s too gross,” sirius sighed. “of course i like her, i’m in love with her actually! but i can’t just tell her!”

peter and remus exchanged a look before peter quipped up, “so you’re afraid of rejection and vulnerability and commitment?”

sirius looked up and glared at him. “what? nuh uh!”

“yuh huh,” peter replied.

“nuh uh!”

“yuh huh!”

“nuh uh!”

“yuh huh!”

“face it pads, you have issues with commitment, rejection, and being emotionally vulnerable,” james shrugged, continuing to tinker with the music box.

“james and peter are right, that’s why you’ve never had a girlfriend—well, that and you’ve been in love with y/n since our second year,” remus added, raising an eyebrow at sirius.

“shut up,” sirius grumbled.

“you’re going to have to get over that if you want to be with her, marlene’s told me why she won’t go out with you—and frankly i don’t blame y/n,” james said.

sirius scrambled up from his bed, practically jumping onto james’ to sit in front of him. “they talk about me? what did y/n say? what did she exactly say?”

james shook his head. “you’re going to have to figure it out for yourself, i won’t betray marlene’s trust,”

“prongs, please! you’re my only hope!” sirius exclaimed.

“no, marlene told me in confidence,” james replied. “ask her yourself,”

sirius grumbled. “fine…”

“you are the most dramatic person i’ve ever met,” remus chuckled, “and mary once cried over breaking her nail, granted it had taken her a long time to grow out—“

sirius glared at remus, making the werewolf quickly shut his mouth.

[applepie2523]

"[RANT] The problem with Rhaenyra

Show Discussion

It's clear that *House of the Dragon* and *Fire & Blood* are two different beasts with two different goals. HOTD understandably cuts the historical ambiguity and focuses on a more digestible narrative, leaning in hard on the ASOIAF-esque themes of war, monarchy and gender. Doubling down on and expanding the book's diametric framing of Alicent & Rhaenyra is an understandable direction, as is the latter's role as the indisputable protagonist.

This direction of a traditional hero archetype makes sense for her character, just as a traditional tragic backstory does for Alicent's. I do, however, find the application of this and the aforementioned thematic goals to have all but suffocated any interesting facets of Rhaenyra Targaryen's character.

To me, Alicent's writing is muddled and confused; the goal is unclear and the portrayal of the many possible readings is inconsistent.

Conversely, when it comes to Rhaenyra I can see exactly what I believe they are trying to accomplish; it's successful, simple and to the point. I just hate what that thing is.

The Princess and the Queen

Book Rhaenyra is a complicated topic, but for the purposes of this post it's not that complicated. She is fraught with misinformation due to the biased nature of F&B, and so some of the things she does may not have even happened; nonetheless, what appears in the book is inevitably the audience's impression of her character, the information the writers have to work with, and the general situation through which the Alicent vs Rhaenyra feud is filtered. There was a lot to work with, but ultimately the writers had a blank canvas. Rhaenyra's motivations and even actions were up for grabs, and it was up to them to pick and choose, and create altogether, depending on the kind of story they wanted to tell.

I'll get to the point: Rhaenyra starts out strong then falters. As a child (The princess) she is compassionate and fiery, but with clear flaws: headstrong, rude, rebellious, insecure and, most fascinatingly, a rejection of motherhood; as an adult (The queen -- see what I did there?) she is graceful, motherly, patient, merciful, brave, determined, humble, peaceful, perfect and any other virtuous trait you can imagine.

Unfortunately, even Young Rhaenyra's flaws are not really presented as such. Her decision to hire Criston Cole as a Kingsguard is presented and confirmed by the writers as intelligent, her trash-talking Lady Redwyne for criticizing Daemon's war-mongering is presented as a deserved moment of sass, and her publicly mocking multiple men vying for her hand is presented as humorously relatable.

In fact, the only genuine flawed action she exhibits in all her episodes is making a comment diminishing the wants of the smallfolk when hearing they may not accept her as queen -- yet, we get no development on this front, and Rhaenyra no longer thinks this way come adulthood.

The writing elects to sacrifice novelty for likeability, effectively so: She shows compassion to the white hart, because we don't like seeing animals get hurt; she has a night out with her uncle in Flea Bottom, because we think Daemon is cool; she recklessly rides on her dragon to save the day, because it's exactly what we would do if we had a dragon.

This approach continues as Rhaenyra's insecurities are tugged on each episode to evoke pity. Episodes 1-4 I would criticize for depicting the same arc to varying degrees: **She feels undervalued, unwanted and alienated from her father, finally they reconcile near the end of the episode; however, the final moments leave us with an ambiguous feeling of doubt.** This is repeated in all but one episode of Young Rhaenyra, with she and Viserys finally on the same page in Episode 5. I'm not claiming her motivations to be nearly as inconsistent as Alicent's, but it's something to observe nonetheless.

And that's where the nice things I have to say about Rhaenyra sadly end. Because once we get to Episode 6 of S1 and onwards, it becomes increasingly clear what the writers' intentions were for her.

The motherhood problem: A tangent

I feel that the most interesting aspect of Young Rhaenyra by far was her aversion to motherhood and the innate prison she felt it placed upon her. The seeds of her contempt for these feminine confines -- the Arya to Alicent's Sansa -- grow upon her mother's death and hang over her interactions with Viserys, Alicent, Daemon, even Rhaenys.

This is a trait which the second half of the season completely abandons and skips over, instead dealing with an adult Rhaenyra having given birth five times and being pregnant with a sixth. Having spent girlhood in fear of being a woman defined by her womb, Rhaenyra's identity now heavily revolves around being a mother, something that continues into the second season.

It's a jarring change, character development in the most crudest of technicalities; fit for a twitter post but not necessarily for a narrative. Point A to Point B is not a story if there is no bridge in between. Like Alicent, Rhaenyra changes so jarringly off-screen, and her very different actor's performance exaggerates these changes, however unlike Alicent this discrepancy is not giving an on-screen cause.

Rather than exploring how Rhaenyra grapples with these complex feelings, all of her children are perfect and so is she. Instead "motherhood" is once again a way to either summon cheap "aww"-bait or to hand-wave female character dynamics: Rhaenys didn't kill the Greens because of Alicent being a mother, despite killing numerous mothers moments previously; Alicent has a change of heart about Rhaenyra because of her being a mother, despite using her newborn to be vindictive and borderline sadistic.

One of the most egregious examples of the shallow use of Rhaenyra's motherhood is a scene where Luke bemoans, without a shred of insincerity, that he cannot live up to Rhaenyra because she is too "perfect". On a small scale... has any fourteen year-old boy ever called his mom perfect? This is also followed up by one of my least favorite tropes, Rhaenyra perfectly responding to the accusation with "I am anything but perfect", the icing on top of this sickeningly sweet cake. I don't know, this is the only scene I cannot articulate my issue with. It does on a larger scale, however, broadly highlight my main issue with Rhaenyra's characterization: She is too perfect.

I understand Fire & Blood is intentionally written to be biased against Rhaenyra, and perhaps in reality she is a perfect person. But in that case the biased medium surely makes a more engaging story. In transitioning to a medium with one clear narrative, you need complexity that goes beyond miscommunication drama, and you need tension that comes from things other than the protagonist being a perfect human in an imperfect realm.

The protagonist that was promised

There is no scarcity of flaws when it comes to the biased depiction of Rhaenyra in the books. She beheaded Vaemond Velaryon and fed him to her dragon for calling her children bastards and she called for a little boy to be tortured upon him insulting those bastards.

I understand these biased accounts are biased... but is it unreasonable to want Rhaenyra to be responsible for a single questionable act or at least embody some flaws?

The only actions of hers that could be considered morally wrong in the show are so casually swept under the rug that I wonder if they were meant to be wrongs in the first place. She orders the murder of an innocent serving man at the behest of her goal to marry Daemon and intentionally traumatizes Laenor's now-childless parents. Like with Young Rhaenyra's many "flaws", is this truly depicted as a flaw? Does anybody watching this episode treat this with the severity it deserves? I saw more people blaming Alicent for the murder of Harwin and Lyonel Strong. Any moral consideration gets deflated by the reveal that Laenor is alive. The same can be said of Rhaenyra calling for the torture of Aemond. Despite this clear contextual meaning in the book, and the exact words being adapted, this can only be interpreted as a literal "sharp questioning" following Viserys doing just that.

Why not write a situation where Rhaenyra is extremely protective of her children's claims to the point that she is involved in Vaemond's death? Why must Daemon bear all her sins? I understand her feeding a human corpse to a dragon could be viewed as one of many F&B embellishments, but it's actually from a more trustworthy source than stories used to malign Aegon's character, such as Mushroom's account of the child-fighting ring we end up seeing in Episode 9. Why not do something interesting and shocking with Rhaenyra for once?

Not to mention, Alicent not only continues to demand Lucerys' eye in the show, but grabs a knife and makes to do the job herself. Alicent's violence is dialled up while Rhaenyra's is obfuscated.

The nail in the coffin for me is the existence of The Song of Ice and Fire. It's probably one of the most contentious plot points in HOTD, and for good reason, though not nearly enough for its weakening of Rhaenyra's character. She now has prophetic justification and her motivations are infallibly pure. To admit to a sole redeeming aspect of this point and her character, the idea of Rhaenyra resembling and following in Daemon's footsteps as a child, but resembling and following in Viserys' footsteps as an adult is a interesting and realistic concept. It's played well by Emma D'Arcy and creates great conflict between Rhaenyra and Daemon.

However, it also purifies Rhaenyra the same way the motherhood aspect does, undermining ASOIAF themes. Unlike the tragic failure and admonishing of Viserys' prophecy as he took immoral actions for his own dreams, Rhaenyra is completely justified every step of the way, up until and including her decision to go to war. (The prophecy being contradicted by GoT holds as much relevance as the context of "questioned sharply" in this show. What matters is presentation, and we are led to believe Rhaenyra acted perfectly with the information she was given.)

I feel that so many scenes would be more compelling if Rhaenyra simply wanted the throne out of ambition and an expressed confidence in herself. Had she rejected Criston Cole without divine purpose lingering in the background, it would be one of many ambiguous scenes where the audience is left to parse the authenticity of her stated goals: how selfless is she, really? Instead there is no question: the story is saying Rhaenyra on the throne is the ideal outcome for society.

The power paradox: Passive or Pacifist?

The show is consistently forced to undermine Rhaenyra due to reconciling its themes and goals.

How do you write powerful women who still struggle under patriarchy? How do you write realistic female characters not defined by their femaleness?

These are questions the show appears to struggle with, and it often takes the easy way out. The female protagonists, forced to strike the balance of the show's themes, end up having confused and ill-informed motivations, making them rightfully appear incompetent to the men around them. Despite this, the women of the show are the moral voices and the most innocent: Rhaenyra, Rhaenys, Alicent, Helaena and Mysaria. There is a clear dichotomy, and the significant non-flawed male characters I can think of are Jace and Luke, Rhaenyra's sons.

Because the themes demand that Rhaenyra wants peace, but the narrative demands war, it therefore also demands her failure to avoid it. The anti-war and anti-patriarchy message necessitates that Rhaenyra's judgement be superior to the men around her, however. Therefore, we're at an impasse and the plot must bend around Rhaenyra's motivations to fit these jigsaw pieces together.

This peace-seeking goal of Rhaenyra ends not with a bang, but a whimper. The justification is already tenuous -- the information that initially holds her conviction for peace gets reaffirmed, but this time pushes her to war? -- but the worst offender is how underwhelming it is. Despite Luke's death in the S1 finale being the expected and implied beat that spurs the long-anticipated Black Queen, Rhaenyra has one episode to showcase her grief (which is more than can be said for Alicent and Blood & Cheese) and is then promptly unaffected by the death of her son. Instead, she meanders for three more episodes around the idea of peace, before arriving at the Sept and awkwardly deciding it is now time to fight. Her character is not changed from the long string of tragedies -- her father dies, she finds out he was usurped, she has a miscarriage and then finds out Luke was murdered -- and is not even changed when she finally decides to embrace war. Why involve an arc for peace in the first place, if the plot is just going to get impatient? The plot is utterly irrational, evidenced by Rhaenys immediately being on the same page as Rhaenyra, despite being the one to guide her away from war in the first place and not having access to this new information that changed her mind.

Rhaenyra is necessarily both a victim to patriarchal expectations and a victor of them. The show's thematic interpretations demand this. She is consequently framed as the center of all Black decisions, unlike Aegon who is a useless puppet, but she does not actually make decisions, instead passively accepting when they are thrust upon her. I do not think this was intentional:

The choice to finally send dragons after many days of pressure via the councilmen, is voiced by Jace before she can discuss her change of heart; she accepts this. Her idea of going on dragonback herself is shut down; she accepts this. Rhaenys volunteers on account of Meleys' strength; she accepts this (and with wordless confirmation, no less). All three ideas: sending dragons, not going herself and sending Rhaenys, are said by other characters and Rhaenyra simply relents to them, allowing it all to happen. This notably follows a trip to King's Landing that caused her council to be thrown into chaos, a trip which she was also told by another character to take.

"Some have mistaken my caution for weakness" Mistaken? in the scene-hushing words of a hurried Hightower, "There's been no mistake. It's too late, Rhaenyra". Too late indeed, as Rhaenyra's strength continues to be undermined.

While Alicent's flip-flopping on her goals in the Dance was inevitable from the writers painting themselves into a corner, that dissonance does not exist with Rhaenyra as the plot, narrative and characters bend to her will to make her justified. Her goals are perfectly aligned with the narrative's morals. War should be cautioned against until Rhaenyra is ready, and then it's justified.

If the excuse for Alicent's agonizing perpetual passivity is telling the story of the failures of self-imposed submissive feminine roles, what is Rhaenyra's excuse for also being so passive?

The Dany problem: A tangent

This is a theory, but I think the issues stem from a motivation to do "Daenerys done right". In parts I agreed with this idea at first, in parts I didn't. However, although I expected the show to explore the patriarchal themes of the Dance, I wasn't a fan of Rhaenyra herself being given motives of political advocacy.

What makes Rhaenyra as a concept interesting to me is actually her remarkable ordinariness. She is simply a woman claiming her birthright, just as the men who came before her did, only her existence is unfairly scrutinized.

The problem is Show Rhaenyra is unrealistically virtuous. I understand the motivation to make her patient and graceful in the face of a reputation littered with misogynistic nicknames such as "The bitch/whore of Dragonstone". But I don't want her to be Daenerys, to want to free the world from slavery or patriarchy. I like that Rhaenyra is simply fighting for the throne because she's the heir, with no noble goals.

It's true: Rhaenyra in F&B could, for all we know, have some Cersei-esque lamentations on the male privilege she misses out on, but like Cersei I feel that these should be confined to Rhaenyra's own selfish interests and not trying to meaningfully fight the patriarchy. If GRRM wanted to write a story where she is advocating for egalitarianism and not simply claiming her birthright, then Rhaenyra would have likely given birth to daughters to make the stakes for her victory higher. Instead they are sons, and Rhaenyra is fighting for her own interests -- the patriarchy is simply in the way.

This legacy of Daenerys nonetheless hangs over Rhaenyra, much like Game of Thrones understandably hangs over House of the Dragon. Indeed, they are both dragonriding women aiming to be the first queen whose claim to the throne resides in succeeding their father. But I think the writers are trying too hide to fill the void left by GoT's disappointing conclusion and projecting this heroic Targaryen "girlboss" energy onto a character that would truly thrive without it.

She witnesses cosmic signs of her importance, such as the white hart in S1. defying the idea of Aegon as a king even so early on. Syrax is also made to be the mother of Dany's dragons, instead of Dreamfyre. In case it wasn't obvious enough.

Missing the mark: Misogyny and Monarchy

The sexism of the Dance is because Rhaenyra, as a woman, is existing in a way that puts her at odds with a patriarchal society. Her character is picked apart more than if she were a man: a merciful queen is weak and soft; a merciless queen is hysterical and insane. The soul-eating nature of this double standard and the lose-lose situation it puts women under is the type of sexism GRRM is commenting on. He understands this nuance. It seems that the showrunners do not.

Rhaenyra in the show is instead the most objectively deserving of the throne. Her lack of flaws and her persistent positive traits are one thing, but being divinely justified thanks to the prophecy and intentionally wanting to unite the realm is what demonstrates the show writers were unable to meld critiques of patriarchy and monarchy in the same story.

The idea that she would make a good ruler if only the men would give her a shot completely misses the point that under monarchy there is no "good ruler". This is a bad feudal system that goes against the will of the people and prioritizes rich families holding onto power so they can continue to be rich.

Rhaenyra does not need to be a vastly superior ruler to communicate this; the point is that women should actually get to be mediocre or even bad rulers (just as men can be) without their leadership being tied to their womanhood. Neither Aegon nor Rhaenyra should be exceptionally bad or exceptionally good, but average rulers who get pushed into doing horrible things because of the succession crisis that tears the realm apart.

And this is what makes the Dance compelling to me. It's two spoiled brats clawing for power and destroying their family because of it.

The show meanwhile beats us over the head, episode by episode, with how screwed the realm would be if Aegon were king, and how much of a utopian paradise we would get if Rhaenyra were queen. In all likelihood they would both probably listen to their counsels and maybe make a bad decision here or there, like most kings. The stakes are the war itself, not who ends up on it, which would be negligible. The show has made an error in essentially justifying this wry from Rhaenyra's perspective by in every moment instilling it into the audience that it will all be worth it if Rhaenyra one day rules.

Monarchy is thematically bad in ASOIAF and F&B. If the two claimants are bad rulers, it's not because they are bad people unfit to be monarchs, it's because there are no good rulers under monarchies. The bigger picture is that nepo baby dictators, including Rhaenyra, are not a good thing.

It should be a bloody fight between two vindictive privileged children of the king who feel they are entitled to the throne no matter who it harms, rather than a one-sided tale about our hero being punished again and again for trying to save the world.

I think in navigating strong female characters, as long as we see Rhaenyra struggling with these gendered issues, then it really only comes down to one thing: What makes for a more interesting character? To flawlessly push for the right decision, or to have surprising traits that make us think about and question her character?

This is why, ultimately, I am disappointed in Rhaenyra Targaryen's character. Thank you for reading."

[overclause]

Why I hated the new AvA Episode: how you butcher your entire shows cast, their personalities, motives and likeability In one episode.

Before I start angry ranting I wanna say that I love this show regardless and I mean no harm to the creative people behind it. I think they did a fantastic job providing us a indie animation show through out the years and I wanna thank Alan for inspiring me as an artist. But seriously..... did It really have to be like this?

My opinion may change as I rewatch It a while later or with the relase of the new episodes. I'm well aware of that. So even If It changes, It'll be fun to look back at this.

Thread is long so I'm cutting it under here.

I'm gonna talk about why I don't like about this epsiode, and things that I actually liked, under different titles.

1- The killing of characters for the sake of plot

This is something that's at this point happened SO MANY TIMES through out the entierty of AvA/M It fucking dissapoints me.

The first time this happened was In The Showdown, here we had Dark (and Chosen) re-introduced to us again for the first time. Within the same 20 minute episode / season we already said goodbye to Dark. The reason why he was there and killed afterwards was to reveal Second's powers. That's literally It. The entire point of that episode and Dark's death was so we could get Orange's powers revealed.

Now I'm actually okay with The Showdown's short comings as a season because well, It's old. It was much more low budget both In terms of writing and animation. But that still made me really angry about how they killed off a character just for the shock and plot point of Second's powers. You don't have to kill off a character who Is important to the series just so we can put emphasis on another. It's just really sad for Dark (WHICH I'LL TOUCH MORE ON LATER).

The second time this happened was The King, which I'm more okay with, because there was a reason why Gold and Pink died. To set up a relationship between Purple and K.O. but even that was very rushed, since we had no clues or hints about their backstories before the two episodes where It was revealed.

And finally, coming to this episode, Mitsi. Now before I talk about her I wanna say that as much as I don't like Victim getting a love interest, I'm okay with her and that. I'm okay with Victim and her and how they were once a couple. But It just really rubs off the wrong way when you introduce us one of the only confirmed female characters of the show and make her a love interest. On top of that- you kill her off. Why? to make a reason for Victim's anger. The problem Is that Victim already had a reason to be angry at Alan. I don't think he needed a love interest to be killed just so he can start planning for revenge. You already showed how he as PTSD, (which was done In an excellent way and one of the things I really liked about the episode), you can just build on top of that Instead of having someone else killed for him. If you want us to feel pity for Victim- we already did! He was already such a complex character and a story about how abuse changes a person, but now the plot has literally just turned into ''You killed my wife so I hate you!''.

2 - Chosen, my poor boy Chosen.

TCO deserves his own section because oh my god they did him SO DIRTY.

I hate how they potrayed Chosen in this episode more than anything else. He turned from a character that I loved so much to.... what? one dimensional guy who does not care about ones he killed...? What happened to scenes in Showdown where he was clearly against Dark's ideas of destroying the internet. You know, where he LITERALLY FOUGHT HIM NOT TO. Did he do that all for no reason?

Chosen, until this episode, was always presented as a character who was misunderstood and afraid of coming to terms with whats happening around him. He excused Dark destroying the internet because he literally had no one else to go to (atleast thats how I interpreted it BUT I GUESS NOT). He was shown be hesitant when Dark was doing those things, that he actually did not agree with his ideas. I and many others believed that he was gonna be redeemed and be a part of the future episodes, but now what?

He literally killed Mitsi with no hesitation, no holdback, no regret. You took a character that was set to be redeemed and gave a reason to hate him. Sure, It was in the past, and It was in Agent's POV, but like If he is the one we are supposed to cheer for, why? I just don't get it. You made me absolutely hate a character that I loved so much and I despise that.

3- You hyped Second's powers only to make it ''just another thing''

What I mean by that is... I thought Second's powers were special to him. I really love Second, he is my favourite character in the show. In The Box they showed us that yes, Second's powers are special, no other stickfigure can do what he does- bring things to life. But now It all just feels so predictable. Because we saw where his powers are sourced from, what they do and what they mean. He turned from a character that excited me about the big reveal to... Oh. It's just that. Whenever an animator brings a stickfigure to life the green magic happens. Second is an animator. Hooray.

4- All your characters are one dimensional

I already kind of touched on this but I really need to type all this out In a simple way because It drives me crazzzy, and It's also very funny.

Victim turned from a character who was abused and then became the abuser himself to ''You killed my wife''.

Chosen turned from a character that was misunderstood, had nowhere else to go and no one else to ''I killed people because... because.. I'm mad. Yeah''.

Second was hyped to be a character with special abilities and powers to ''Oh I guess I'm connected to this Instead of being independant with my own lore''.

Dark was always just a character of ''I'm here to destroy, that's all I do.''. They could have brought him back and showed him display atleast a hint of empathy, but nope, he still Is just ''The Dark Lord''. They didn't even have to redeem him just come on show me something else he does than just destroy, all because he is edgy!

Agent... I'm sad about Agent. I thought Agent was gonna play a bigger role because they really had focused on him In the previous episodes. I thought he was gonna be there to tell his own story, to be against Victim eventually. No. He just witnessed what happened and decided to stick with Victim. Why.... why?? What's the motive there??He now Is just yet another stick figure.

Its just sad.

5- My thoughts about this series- final conclusion.

Changed. That's all I can say.

For me this show has always been about how abuse changes a person. How what your precieved as influences you and destroys you from the inside and out.

Dark, Chosen, Second and Victim are very special to me. They all come from the same story of being tortured by their creator, yet, they all end up in different situations.

Victim was abused over and over again. He found a way to stay alive, but his anger and rage was still within him. He had turned into the abuser which he had despised, doing awful things.

Chosen was used as an adblocker, a tool. When he escaped he was happy, but never free, as he was constantly being dragged down to do things he didn't want to or be chased around by people who want him dead.

Dark was created just to be a weapon. He escaped with the help of Chosen, found a way to call him his friend, but ended up falling for his internal desire to take revenge on what hurt him.

Second found a way to make ammends with his abuser. He became his friend, forgive him, and found a way to live a life happily with his friends. He didn't know about the truth behind Alan and his wrong doings because he was just... all too naive.

For me, Ava was a story about them. The four brothers who went through the same thing, but ended up being against eachother. It was meaningful to me In a matter that It was there to tell a story. Their story.

But now they are all just ''I hate you because you did this''. And I hate that. I hate how after an entire year of waiting this is how one of the biggest plot points Is revealed. It feels disrespectful to them. I hate how we are most likely never gonna see them In the same room. I hate how Dark was completly shrugged off, how Chosen turned into a villian. How Victim's motives were just cliches. How they are all just cliches!!!

When I was waiting for this episode I of course knew that what I wanted from the show wasn't gonna be it. That my theories were not gonna be true, that I knew I was gonna be let down. But I thought I would be let down In a good way. I just feel bad now because the characters I very much loved have been turned into cliches right In front of my eye. I thought my expectations were gonna be broken In the best way possible. But honestly, this was the worst It could have been.

-IN MYYY OPINION

That's right It's all my opinion. If you completly disagree, thats cool. Good for you even! I mean this in the most non passive-aggresive way possible. I'm glad some people could enjoy this episode.

That's all I'm here to say for now. Thanks for reading. Feel free to share your own opinions.

[gffa]

On the topic of book recs, what do you think of Master and Apprentice? I read it when it came out and it’s been so long the only thing I meaningfully remember was liking Rael and I’m honestly still surprised he hasn’t shown up more.

Oh lmao what to say about that book--there was so much I liked! But there was also so much that utterly baffled me! I spent a lot of time trying to get my head around the narrative of the book, what it would tell me versus what it would show me, and that kind of drove me crazy and I wrote so many posts about it, to the point that I'm sure I was deeply annoying lol. Ultimately, I like the book! But I like it in a very specific way--that I think it shows Qui-Gon as someone who is deeply flawed in a very caring way and he should be allowed the space to be flawed without it being used to condemn him. Like, so much of that book drove me crazy because Qui-Gon would say he didn't think the Jedi should be so tied to the Republic and that it was mistake, but then what saves the slaves at the end of the story? That Obi-Wan acts as a representative of the Republic so that the organization was forced to let them go. But this isn't remarked on, it's just there! Or Qui-Gon would say that the Jedi aren't doing more to change things and then, when he is offered a chance to be on the Jedi Council, where he could make the changes he was looking for, he turns it down because he doesn't want to stop being Obi-Wan's Master and wants to continue doing whatever he wants. But I'm not sure the narrative recognizes the structure it's setting up, despite that it kept coming back to it again and again. So, ultimately, I recognize I may be reading against authorial intent (but honestly I'm a Lucas-centric fan, so that's the only word of author/authorial intent I often care about XD), but to see Qui-Gon being written as kind of full of himself, but in a likeable way, someone who didn't see the things he was doing while preaching at others, who was kind of terrible with actually talking to Obi-Wan (the book does acknowledge this!) made me actually enjoy it, but in that specific lens, rather than with Qui-Gon being 100% right or 100% wrong. My other qualm about the book is that it was billed as a Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan story, but honestly it's really not. Obi-Wan is there a lot, he even gets many point of view scenes, but the story didn't really have much to say about him (and it's not the author's fault, I thought she did great with Obi-Wan's character in her From a Certain Point of View story even when it was from Qui-Gon's point of view!) and I wound up with nothing to say about Obi-Wan in that book. Me! Nothing to say about Obi-Wan in a book! How??? But I loved the relationship Qui-Gon had with Dooku--for memory, I think it was a lot warmer than some people see it? Which made sense to me, given that Dooku seemed to genuinely think Qui-Gon would have joined him when he talks to Obi-Wan in AOTC. And I enjoy Rael as a character, too! I wish he'd shown up in more, other than Dooku: Jedi Lost, because he's such an interesting addition and a semi-reflection of Anakin's character (given his struggle with the Jedi lifestyle, the late adoption, etc.) There were also some banger lore quotes (that one about Qui-Gon saying that the Jedi creche taught them all about how darkness was inside them all is one I trot out often) and I think I'd enjoy a reread. I know it sounds like I'm bashing on the book or on Qui-Gon, but honestly I don't intend it that way, and I'd actually like to reread it someday to see if my feelings have evolved on it.

[guidaozongshi]

On Sakura and SasuSaku's apparent popularity in the eastern fandom

One of the widely regurgitated talking points in favour of the Sasuke/Sakura relationship is that it is the most popular Naruto pairing in Japan and that Sakura is a very popular character but western fans apparently fail to understand the nuances of their relationship unlike their eastern counterparts. These claims range from half-truths to complete nonsense, in this post I attempt to counter these.

Firstly, let's talk about Sakura's reception in Japan.

Kishimoto infamously said that girls would come up to him to complain about Sakura and that he really struggled to make her likeable. But you don't need his statements to arrive at the conclusion that she is not well received.

Take a look at the Naruto Character popularity polls by Shounen Jump taken during the run of the manga.

Character Poll 1 , as of Chapter 60

1. Kakashi Hatake – 22,692 votes

2. Naruto Uzumaki – 16,729 votes

3. Sasuke Uchiha – 13,674 votes

4. Iruka Umino – 7,128 votes

5. Sakura Haruno – 3,055 votes

Naruto had just started to take off , with Team 7 being the main focus, yet look at the difference in votes for the members. Iruka, a character that barely appears overtook Sakura. What's ironic is that this will be the highest position she would ever receive because her popularity gets worse.

Character Poll 2 , as of Chapter 107

1. Naruto Uzumaki – 2,788 votes

2. Kakashi Hatake – 2,635 votes

.

14. Sakura Haruno – 359 votes

14th Position! Despite the fact she is from a trio of characters that are the most focused on. Not only the other Konoha rookies rank above her but even Gambunta ( the frog ) overtakes her.

In Character poll 3 , 4 ( chapter 199 ), 5 ( chapter 245 ), 6 ( chapter 292 ) and 7 ( chapter 531 ) her ranking becomes 9 , 10 , 8 , 12 and 12 respectively , while the other Team 7 members never leave Top 4. Characters with less panels and appearances repeatedly overtake her.

It is not an exaggeration to say that she was widely disliked as a main character. She has been repeatedly bashed, on Japanese online forums as well as by the author. ( more on this later )

All this of course doesn't mean that she doesn't have a fanbase, oh she has! a very loyal one and a particular kind at that . Women who love Sakura tend to be fans of Shoujo/Josei , something you can notice if you have come across SasuSaku artworks.

When Naruto ended , the majority of their comments were congratulating Sakura on her long one sided crush being finally reciprocated and how happy they were for her. Sasuke fans couldn't care less about the relationship as her character has hardly any effect on his story ( that is, until Gaiden came along and angered many people)

There is a noticeable difference in how JP artists portray their relationship in comparison to their western counterpart. The former portrays it as a 'puppy love' like between an idol and a fan. The appeal of the relationship comes from Sasuke, who is the classical male ideal and Sakura who is deeply ' loyal' to him , who then gets rewarded for it. It is one of the reasons why it only shot up in popularity post-ending.

On the other hand, the latter seems to believe that Sakura is Sasuke's equal, that she challenges and influences Sasuke, despite the fact that she becomes a doormat in front of him and according to Sakura's own words she couldn't come close to Sasuke's heart.

I have discussed why some Japanese fans like Sasuke/Sakura as it may appeal to their taste but these fans don't make much of the fanbase.

Case in point, one of the most hyped SasuSaku material i.e Sasuke Retsuden only managed to sell about 17k copies for the weeks it charted, in Comparison Naruto J Novels 1-7 sold about 470K when it was in circulation back in 2008.

Even the manga adaptation piggybacking on the anime couldn't even sell 40K copies for the first volume.

There was a time when Sasuke's name alone would be enough for a manga to sell out but the truth is that not only the majority of Naruto fans have moved on since 2015, even the loyal fans aren't interested in this content.

After Gaiden came out, Both Sakura and her relationship received harsh criticism, the 2channel threads kept bashing her and Kishimoto of the poor handling of the relationship.

Some of the snippets

"..with the release of Gaiden, the author just had worsened what was already bad. I guess he lost his willpower to write.”

“I was expecting before Sasuke and Sakura’s feelings would be shown in Gaiden but was edited out...because back time I thought I saw some spoilers that Sasuke and Sakura had gotten closer.

But now there’s no way there was some edit, no, this whole thing is a fucking lie.”

"A natural progress of loving, to slowly get accustomed and come to love someone, yeah I can’t imagine this with Sasu/Saku. Such extremely weird couple, how are they supposed to get used with each other over time? This is the vibe I get.

This relationship feels weird in my head, maybe I’m asking for too much to find a reason behind this.

But Kishimoto’s Sasu/Saku bonds is completely empty, I guess it’s funny that there’s nothing to add in it.”

"Sakura’s feelings is over the top terrible. She’s able to be happy with this..”

The thread is VERY long but you get the gist of it.

Fun fact : In 2015 Sasuke/Sakura was 6th most voted couple that should Break-Up by Japnese readers

Accusing others of not understanding their relationship because they apparently don't get their supposedly "culturally contextual relationship" is quite stupid and laughable because it's also hated by many Japanese people. It's only popular with a specific set of audience.

Which brings me to the other argument.

"Sasuke/Sakura is the most popular Naruto couple in Japan"

While this might be true today, it has not always been the case. Sasuke/Sakura shot in popularity post-Naruto ending while the most popular pairing throughout the run of the series (Sasuke/Naruto) declined. ( If anybody has the pixiv stats from 2012/13 , please feel free to add)

Take a look at this Naruto couple ranking list in Japan from 2012 ( the rankings are based on Google Japan results if I am not wrong)

サスナル (SasuNaru) —- 166,000 res.

サスサク (SasuSaku) —- 54,700 res.

ナルサス (NaruSasu) —- 78,400 res.

There's quite a large gap.

Even in 2016, 2 years after Naruto ended and many Sasuke/Naruto artists deleted their artworks or moved on from the fandom , it still rivaled SasuSaku in popularity on pixiv

SasuNaruSasu サスナルサス 9.502 works

SasuSaku サスサク 8.150 works

For other East Asian countries, I wrote about how SasuNaruSasu is the largest pairing in China with no close second . I am unfortunately not familiar with the Korean fandom.

I will make a separate post for the Chinese Naruto fandom but they are very brutal against the Sasuke/Sakura relationship.

This is the general sentiment there :

Sasuke married Sakura to atone for his sins

🤍 10 K

[heavenlymorals]

Sadie and Arthur and the Affects of Gender Roles in 1899 America

(warning: there is sexism and sexist ideas in this analysis because I refuse to sugarcoat the time period that RDR2 takes place in. Arthur is a product of his time and though it isn't shoved in your face, it's still there. Understanding the gender dynamics of this time period makes the characters much more understandable, nuanced, likeable, and better, if I'm being frank.)

I don't ship Sadie and Arthur, at all, it makes no sense to me besides two people liking the characters and thus putting them together. I like them as friends but that's about it.

And let's be so real for a second- even if they do get together for whatever reason, they absolutely wouldn't be compatible as partners because its been shown time and time again that Arthur believes in gender roles and gets visibly annoyed or angry when a woman takes up a man's role when a man is there or when a woman does something he thinks is unladylike in their line of work (just listen to his antagonization of Abigail (for her past as a prostitute, usually), Sadie, Karen, prostitutes, and female performers, all women who take on unconventional roles in their life(also pay attention to certain mission dialogues, and cutscene body language)).

Sadie proves herself as capable, and Arthur works with her, but he makes quips about her behavior or subtly judges her or makes fun of her("Oh, I'm sorry princess. Was there an insufficient feather in your pillow?" "You got a pair of pants and all of a sudden you think you're Landon Ricketts?" "You want to ruuuunnnn with the men?" "Few more like her and there wouldn't be much of a world left." "That ain't what you mean- I can still fight!" Or him being visibly annoyed when she doesn't take his hand to enter the boat and other similar things like that)

Arthur believes that a man should be the one doing the work that revolves around such physical exertion and if he isn't the one doing those things for a woman, he feels as if he is failing in his role as a protector and provider, which then provokes annoyance or in some cases, even anger. Sadie doesn't care about this obviously, and Jake Adler didn't either, hence why they worked so well together as a couple.

Not Arthur though. To put it quite simply, he prefers and is compatible with women who believe in the same gender roles as he does (Mary Gillis, Abigail Roberts, etc.).

This doesn't mean he dislikes Sadie, because it's quite obvious that he is fond of her, but given the intimacy of a relationship, Sadie would get fed up with him trying to be the ONLY provider and protector, and him getting fed up with her by encroaching on what he sees as his duties and responsibilities. He works with her in the way that he does because he has to and he respects that.

Some people may disagree with me on this analysis and that's fine, but to me, it feels like the most realistic outcome if they did become romantic partners. Another reason why I say this is because my mother comes from a culture that still operates a lot like 1899 America and I've seen this dynamic between men and women so many times that it's ridiculous- men who will accept working with a woman in more traditionally masculine roles and prefer partners who are more traditionally feminine.

[okaysonny]

so we all know that lookism more about action and fighting and we only have little romance in the webtoon… Do you think that ptj should add more romance in it? as of now we only have 4-5(??) canon ships (warrenxsally, miraxzach, sinuxyeonhui, vivixxiaolung, etc) personally i think i would like to see goo,vinjin and jake with a love interest that’s just for me tho, 😵‍💫😵‍💫what’s your opinion on this (sorry if i sound lanky i don’t know english that much)

Glad u asked. I'll be taking this opportunity to YAP. *hands you an essay*

do i think ptj should add more romance? yes! 😄

do i want him to be the one writing it? 😧 no

jk! (kind of) it's just clear romance isn't his forte. and that's fine! i actually don't think any of the canon ships are bad...aside from one 😑 i just don't feel strongly about them. YES I WILL BE ELABORATING

warren x sally: i don't care about this ship, because i don't care about these characters! cute, but...warren is a plain jane and sally's character got dumbed down after hostel arc imo

zack x mira: awww the first lookism pairing 😄 the library + cinema hang out in the beginning was so adorable ^_^ but 500+ chapters and they're still not official like alr...

also we don't see much of mira's character outside of fuelling zack's development. she went through a lot with the cult and the school camping arc...but we don't really see how she felt? so erm

sinu x yeonhui: honestly, no strong complaints. like that's parents! i would've liked to see how sinu started liking her, but that's if i'm really nitpicking

vivi x xiaolung: 😑 i was mad as HELL when they got a happy ending. even if we take away her diddy parties, he was literally brainwashed + fought to the death to become her guard?? xiaolung worships vivi because he doesn't know anything else! he doesn't know a normal life! so this is already problematic to begin with

and why the fawkkk was jake like "nooo xiaolung you'll make her cry 😠" like why would jake gaf?? 🤣😭 oh that made me cringe SO BAD! and howww is he saying all that as they're falling off a building i'm crying...i headcanon he just said this so xiaolung would make the fall softer in those 2 seconds so he wouldn't die

bracing myself for a moment where big deal has no strength and xiaolung pulls up and says to the enemy "don't get it twisted...we're not friends, but i have something to repay him for" ptj i'm familiar with your game.

+ mitsuki x ryuhei: looks like it'll become a thing but i HOPE NOT! they're both trash but at least ryuhei is likeable...my pookie deserves better :/

okay sorryyy back to the actual question.

yes i do want romance because it's cute + a change of pace is always good 😄

ptj defo has more romance lined up, just not for the moment.

if i'm thinking of the character closest to getting romance rn...i'm saying eli 🫡 rn he's just chilling with his fruits and is healing because he has that forgiveness from heather's mom

+ i think he just craves love and affection in general </3 ALSO...eli being the one to say he's worried about crystal at the start of busan arc was 🤨 definitely intentional when you remember his crush on her. make of that what you will...

men who i think are getting romance way down the line:

daniel - well...pretty obvious! it's zoe or no one. ptj only uses jay x daniel for queerbaiting ❤️

vasco - still has that thing with leon lee.

jake - ptj can show the contrast between him and gapryong in relation to women. anddd development where he doesn't feel tied to only being #1 + starts to forgive himself for his actions and yada yada. jake getting romance will also give funny scenes of jerry/big deal doing the absolute most + minseon meeting her.

and jake just exudes bf material! everyone wants to see it. ptj knows everyone wants to see it. i think it'll happen 😄

jake is a very big character though. do you make a female character to be his love interest or unexpectedly pair him with an existing one? but i think there's only 2 girls i can see him with. maybe 3 but the last option is very bad.

btw i'm not 100% against making new women and eventually pairing them up with the guys. but i just know ptj will do this in a way that's very CRINGE and OBVIOUS

johan - wheather with lua or someone else. this ship would piss me off less if lua wasn't banished to the sewers of all places 😭🤣

anddd johan is also healing + chilling in school. so he's in a better place for all that too. plus cute scenes of her meeting his mom/him asking her for girl advice like c'mon

hudson - i just have a feeling ❤️

and that's...really it imo. too much of anything is never good. not everyone needs a love interest! 😅 will ptj do their love lives justice? i have little faith, but we shall see...

and since you mentioned them anon, i'll give my opinion:

vin jin - he just has too much self growth to do. this the same guy who said he hits girls when they're ugly 🤯 it could happen, but it should happen after he redeems himself by apologising to duke + trying to be a better person.

and yeahhh you could have a love interest help him realise all that but 🙄 it's way better + more impactful if his redemption is from his own efforts.

goo - i just can't really see it sorry 😭 but we don't know much about goo, so maybe i'll change my mind after seeing his arc + actual goal in the story.

the only thing is figuring out where/when to put romance in lookism when you have that massive genre shift. i know ptj is stressedddd

[patpranishome]

Like I said in the previous post, I had spent the entire night binge-watching The Spirealm and by the time I finished it, I could not delay my sleep anymore because I had to go to work the next day. So, I didn’t have time to write my thoughts coherently about this series except for a few snippets of posts here and there. Therefore, I want to use this opportunity to convey my feelings about the show and my thoughts on it. 

First, and foremost, I want to thank every single person that recommended the show. Every single one of you. If not for you hyping the show so much, I would not even touch the show. How horrible is that? Being deprived of a masterpiece which sat in front of you because you refused even to acknowledge its existence.

Second, OH MY GOD THE SHOW IS SO FREAKING GOOD!!! Going into the show, I was not exactly putting much hope into the plot and was just here for the bromance. But, the plot is so good. It had been a while for me to put my whole focus on a show and truly digest the plot of it.  I have never read the book and probably will never read it, but, based on my experience with Chinese bromance shows, sometimes when the setting of the show needs to be changed to adhere to the censorship rules, the plot of the show becomes way too convoluted to the point of incoherence and sometimes downright ridiculous (Guardian, I love you but, you are the worst offender of this). However, this show managed to change the fundamental setting of the story which is supernatural happenings to VR Game almost flawlessly. They set their own rules and managed to stick to them which gave the viewers the ability to understand and follow along while still maintaining the bigger parts of the show. At one point I felt my reason for watching the show changed. If before the romance is the main dish and the plot is salad, now, the plot is the full meal and the romance is the sweet bonus dessert you get free of charge. 

Next, also related to the plot, is how the show team managed to make the show feel alive and lived in. They make every single speaking character in the show feel like a human. Sure, some of them are downright despicable ( looking at you, Yan Shihe, may you rot in hell) but, they still feel human, even the non-human also felt human. Which leads to the woman in this series.

Quoting the wise word of Le Sserafim, “All the girls are girling girling, all the girls are girling girling, all the girly girls.” I. Love. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. The only time I cried in this show apart from Ruan Nanzhu scenes is Tan Zaozao’s death. From the first time she appeared in the show, I was already half in love with her. Sure, she might not be the brightest in the head but, she is so lovable that I understand how even Ruan Nanzhu is willing to break his principle to save her. I had to stop watching the show for a moment when her video ended because I was just plain sobbing (And I have to stop talking about her right now because man, do I have so many things to say about her). And she is only one example of a female character that I like in the show. Yeah, you read that right, one of the many female characters which was kind of a luxury in this type of show. And many of them are likeable and have so much depth even though they are just NPC. This show even makes me like Zuozi/Sako, the girl that scared the shit out of me every time she appeared on the screen (That moment when the three lady ghosts just chilling and vibing with each other at the final episode is one of the highlights of the show for me).

The set design in the show is *Chef’s kiss*. I was so used to weird CGI sets that the practical set in this show is such a fresh breath to me. Every single door has a distinctive vibe that is very different from one other. The combination of amazing set design, good lighting and clever camera angle really help you to be immersed in the story told in each door. The overall vibe of the show is really something that I cannot quite express in words because it was very specific, but, if I do have to try, the show gave me the dark sky after rain kind of vibe. Like, you know, the rain has stopped but, the sky is still dark, promising more rain to come. That kind of a vibe but, not quite. I am truly vibing the vibe because the show, at least for me, is always carrying this melancholic vibe even during its funny moments.

Lastly, Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi. Man, it has been a while since a pairing hit me hard like this. The last time this happened was my namesake, and they still reign supreme. But, RNZ and LQS brought with them this understanding and acceptance that was so intimate and private. There was no doubt that they loved each other. I mean, LQS spent fifty years of his life just to recreate the world where RNZ existed so they could be together. RNZ bet his life away if it meant LQS could live happily and safely. The actors brought this character to life so well that they understood the assignment clearly and made sure the sub in the subtext was silent. Bro, Xia Zhi Guang’s Nanzhu is so magnetic, charismatic, and intense that every time he is on the screen, he just takes my breath away. Huang JunJie, for me at first, was just okay but, slowly he grew on me with this casual way he acted like he was Lin Qiu Shi. He did small things, but those small things shaped the character well. The scene where he was trying to break down the door to save Ruan Nanzhu. Phe👏No👏Me👏Nal👏. And his smile is so cute. Anytime these two were in the same room alone, it felt hard to breathe even though they were doing nothing, just looking at each other. Their love for each other was never uttered, but it was never silent. 

And because of that, I would probably never read the book, well, at least for now. Even before the show, horror genre books had never been my favourite. So, the interest in reading the book before the show is already all-time low. I was satisfied with how the show ended and I wanted to preserve that feeling as long as I could. This is because I knew that I would start comparing the book and the show, and then, I would be left with what if which would affect my feelings for the show. I also love the portrayal of Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi in the show, and I am aware that there is a difference between the characters in the show and the book. As of now, I just do not have the capability to separate the book and the show as two different stories which was, for me, probably the best way to enjoy both of the two worlds. 

I have no idea if it was recency bias or what, but, I would put it at the top of my favourite BL series of all time. I may get hate for this but, I truly would put it even above The Untamed, a series that endeared me greatly. The Spirealm left me with this lingering feeling that I cannot understand and the urge to rewatch it again. I am not even a rewatch person. I am sorry for this long ass post. I thought I would be able to express my thoughts clearly after a bit of time, alas, I am still greatly affected by the show to the extent I just felt the need to shout out this feeling into the world.

[humbledragon669]

S2E3 - I Know Where I'm Going Write Up P1 - up to the credits (present day)

Tiny bit of trivia about me that I’m sure nobody really cares about - as of Christmas just gone, I own my own version of Jim’s mug. It’s definitely one of the top three presents I got (one of the others is a GO themed long-sleeved t-shirt), and I absolutely have been using it to drink hot chocolate out of. I LOVE it.

Anyway, it’s Easter egg time! Yeah, that’s right, this one appears right at the beginning of the episode. And I suspect that many people will already have noted this one, but as I’ve said before, you never know. So here it is:

That’s the music instrument shop across the road from the bookshop, called “Arnolds”, presumably for the soundtrack composer for Omens - David Arnold. Obvious though it may be, it’s a bit “blink-and-you’d-miss-it”, so I felt like it was worth drawing attention to, just to reiterate the level of care and attention on display in this show that we all know and love. And whilst I have my attention-to-detail hat on, I have a brief point of speculation to make about Jim’s location in this opening shot. Given his view across the street, and the limited view we get into the room behind him (I’m thinking mostly about the lamp you can just about make out over his shoulder), this would appear to be Jim’s bedroom. In front of him is a tray with his mug and a container of hot chocolate on it. There’s even a trail of hot chocolate powder in between the mug and the container, as if someone has been a bit careless when spooning the cocoa from the pot into the cup (no judgement, I do this ALL the time). Before breaking away from this shot, we see Jim pouring boiling water into the mug from an electric kettle. All perfectly understandable actions for a set-up to show a man looking out over his neighbourhood, right? So my speculation is this, and I am jumping ahead a little. Why is it necessary for Crowley to leave the room when offering to make Jim a cup of hot chocolate in a later episode? It would seem that all the equipment required is right there in Jim’s bedroom. Sounds like another instance of scriptual convenience to me, albeit a small one. Anyway, enough pedantry, let’s move on.

It's taken me ages, but I’ve worked out what the music is playing in the background of the coffee shop. Unsurprisingly it’s another Queen tune - “Radio Ga Ga” this time. Given the lyrics, which speak of a fond farewell to a medium that no longer has relevance given more modern offerings, I wonder if this might be a reference to the state of Nina’s relationship with Lindsey at this point? Aside from that potential insight, I can’t really say there’s an awful lot about this scene that I like. Obviously Nina is still being her unlikeable self (checking her phone whilst she’s in the middle of serving someone? Not being funny, I would genuinely walk out of a coffee shop if a barista did that to me), but now we’re “introduced” to another fairly abrupt character, but this time we don’t even learn her name. Poor Mrs. Sandwich, she turns out to be an incredible likeable addition to the show, but in my opinion, she really doesn’t get to shine here. And what’s the point of this scene really? So that we can get a long shot of Muriel’s arrival and have it hammered home that their appearance is visible and noted as odd by the people in Whickber Street? If that’s the case, honestly this whole scene feels pretty unnecessary, but perhaps that’s just me.

Now. I did a little bit of digging about the way that Muriel introduces themself, because this stereotype is familiar to me, but I have no idea where it comes from. There’s a lovely bit of hive mind research been done here, which suggests the origin of the phrasing is over 100 years old but personally my money is on this being a nod to Monty Python (as detailed in that forum post), particularly as it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen a Python reference in the show (NIAT RUC, I’m looking at you). I think there might be another little homage here though, and this one if a bit more niche. It’s to do with the whistling in the soundtrack, heard here:

It rang bells with me, and unlike the backing music in the coffee shop earlier, this one didn’t actually take me very long. Back in the mid-90s, there was a sit-com show here in the UK called The Thin Blue Line, which followed the personal and professional lives of a group of policemen from an English town. The policemen in question were of both the uniformed (commonly called “bobbies”, or “on-the-beat”) and non-uniformed variety. Muriel is most definitely dressed as one of the former. Here’s the theme tune from that show:

Not too dissimilar, are they? I couldn’t find any evidence for whether the theme we hear in the Omens soundtrack is an homage to the theme from The Thin Blue Line or not. Perhaps it wasn’t even a conscious thing, though I highly doubt that. I would so love it if this was an intentional reference to that little copper comedy from the 90s - it ran for only 2 seasons, but I remember watching every episode when it aired and finding the whole thing really funny. I don’t know how well it will have aged, but I do remember that (bearing in mind this was the mid-90s) its casting was progressive - an Asian woman and a gay man both playing lead roles and part of the police force, with the characters most commonly ridiculed for being wrong and unreasonable being the middle-aged white men.  It was perhaps a little slapstick in places, and intrinsically “British” in its humour, but I still feel like it was a delightful addition to our televisions, so if this is a tip-of-the-hat to the show, I feel it’s well placed. Right, time to move on, this is supposed to be a write up of a Good Omens episode, not an appreciation post for long-dead British TV shows.

It's pretty difficult to say with any certainty, but I don’t think Aziraphale recognises Muriel when they arrive. Granted, he wouldn’t have seen or spoken to them in quite some time (since his defection from Heaven at the latest, though the only time we see them interacting is in the Uz flashbacks), but given the conversation he had with them during the Job debacle, you’d think he might at least realise he’d seen their face before? Particularly given the memories he has so recently lived through. Don’t get me wrong, he clearly knows they’ve come from Heaven, but that outfit pretty much gives the game away on that front, and he has been told to expect a visit from an auditor. Doesn’t take him long to decide to play along either.

I really love this moment - I’m pretty sure that this is where he decides not only to pretend he doesn’t know Muriel is there to check up on his miracle claims, but to be gentle about his interactions with them. He's recognised the joy that Muriel is getting out of the situation and decided that the nicest thing to do will be to let them enjoy the ride, which can only happen if the pretence is maintained. Subtle as it is, I actually think this is one of Aziraphale’s clearest indications of his Good nature - faced with a similar situation, many people (Crowley included, as we’ll come to see shortly) would openly mock Muriel for their apparent lack of intelligence, and given their visit’s true purpose I don’t think anybody would have been too displeased if Aziraphale had just closed the door in their face. It’s such a selfless act of kindness, and in not shunning Muriel, we are treated to some truly beautiful comic moments throughout the rest of the season.

Oh hold up. Was I just waxing lyrical about how kind and considerate this angel is? I take it all back. I almost feel like Crowley has suggested this to him, it’s that mischievous. And not the first time he’s done it either, except the last time he tricked another angel into sullying their body with a liquid intended for human consumption, that being was suffering from complete amnesia. Vulnerable you might say. Which is actually not that dissimilar to Muriel, who is clearly in a very precarious position and not doing a particularly good job of hiding their discomfort and mild panic in trying to maintain their cover whilst staying in character. He even manages to sound as if he’s trying to coach them on proper human responses with no hidden subtext. At least he has enough of a conscience to show pity for his visitor and the position he’s put them in:

Bit of a tangent here - why doesn’t Aziraphale recognise that the fact that Crowley is bringing his plants into the bookshop gives the game away that he’s living in his car? Don’t get me wrong, I am in no doubt that the reason Crowley removes them from the car at all is because he wouldn’t trust anybody else to look after them, not even his angel, so I do understand the reason for them to be removed. As far as I can see, there are four possibilities for this:

Aziraphale doesn’t make the connection between Crowley having his plants in the car and what means for his living situation.

Aziraphale does make the connection but, perhaps due to the current awkward situation panning out in the bookshop and his plans for his Edinburgh road trip, doesn’t mention anything about.

Aziraphale already knows that Crowley is sleeping in his car.

Crowley isn’t really living in his car at all, and the plants are simply kept there to maintain the cover story.

I think Aziraphale is smarter than the first option, even with his innate inability to pick up on Crowley’s cues. And I can’t really comprehend that Aziraphale would have taken the revelation that Crowley is living and sleeping in his car without any sort of protestations (let’s not forget that Crowley openly offered Aziraphale a place to stay when they thought the bookshop was gone, and that was before their respective defections). The third possibility has legs, but it doesn’t sit right with me - I just can’t see that Aziraphale would tolerate this living situation for Crowley, even if it meant buying or renting a place somewhere else for the demon to call home. The last of those possibilities is where my head canon lives, as I think I’ve mentioned in previous write ups. We’ll see Aziraphale “reacting” to the confirmation that Crowley has been sleeping in his car in a future episode, so I’ll hammer this point home one last time when we get there. And regardless whether you agree with my ideas or not, you can’t deny that Crowley’s confident swagger when he bursts into the shop really goes to show just how comfortable he is in this environment, and that he has no qualms about asserting himself there. Almost like it was home in fact…

See? No problems asserting himself at all. The subtext here is pretty glaring - his joining Aziraphale gives a clear message to Muriel about the fact that they’re a team (a group. A group of the two of them), and despite the fact that there surely must be A LOT of body contact going on here, Aziraphale’s expression doesn’t change at all. Not a muscle moved. It feels to me as if this is the sort of close proximity contact that the two of them are very accustomed to when not in the presence of other beings that might see it for what it is. And not only is Crowley comfortable with his position, he’s really enjoying himself:

I’ve mentioned it before, about us not getting to see much of Crowley’s mischievous side in the present day in this season, but this is it on full display. I’m not sure why I love more about this interaction with Muriel - Crowley’s cheeky grin or the fact that Aziraphale does absolutely nothing to reprimand him over his behaviour. That angel is having just as much fun partaking in the mischief as Crowley is, and I find it really adorable to see him indulging his playful side, even if it does eventually result in another one of those pitiful compassionate looks he throws Muriel’s way.

There’s a potentially interesting use of pronouns in the conversation that follows in the back room:

Interesting, see? Crowley refers to Heaven as “your lot”, despite the fact that Aziraphale has openly admitted that he no longer works for them. Not only that, the angel takes the baton up with his reply, grouping himself together with his former workplace using the “we” pronoun. Perhaps it’s just the habit of the previous multiple millennia, it just strikes me as odd, not least because Crowley’s questioning of them being “in charge” would appear to imply that he feels Heaven has the upper hand in the Heaven/Hell power play. Semantics aside, there’s something about this conversation that I really love. They’re both actually listening to one another, the tone is congenial, and they’re engaging in teamwork, and it all feels so natural. There’s no emotional stress going on, no arguing, just two people working together to try and achieve a common goal. I think this is probably the closest we come to seeing them in their normal relationship state, and it feels so relatable.

Well, it looks like Crowley’s plan has changed somewhat following his streetside conversation with Nina - now it needs a “fabulous kiss” for it to be successful. Considering his previous plan was so obviously a retelling of the love story between he and Aziraphale, I find the addition of a kiss at this point to be a notable one. Yes, my head cannon has our hero couple very firmly established in a relationship in the present day, but no, I do not believe that they kissed during either of the two “shelter-under-an-awning” moments that they have shared. Not to mention that I feel like there’s an element of heartbreaking foreshadowing going on with his throwaway comment (though to be fair, I don’t think there’s anything “fabulous” about that kiss in the Final 15, but I’m getting ahead of myself). What is it that makes him add the need for a kiss for his plan to be successful? Consulting my head cannon again, I suspect there might be some further revelations to be had about when he and Aziraphale shared their first kiss, and that this might tie into his updated plan somehow, but whether we’ll get to see that in the space of our final 90 minutes, I don’t know.

Oh I love this. Like, so much. It’s such a MARRIED COUPLE mini spat. It’s so obvious that Aziraphale takes the role of the stereotypical wife - there’s no negotiation, just the thinly veiled threat of extreme rage if his wishes aren’t complied with. And just as obvious is Crowley’s adoption of the stereotypical husband role - downtrodden, with the resigned knowledge that he’s been beaten and can’t worm his way out of a situation that whilst he knows he doesn’t like, he has no logical argument to counter. It’s so lovely. Beautifully delivered and excellently timed. The more I look into the episodes for this season, the more I seem to find that feels stilted and somewhat unnecessary, but moments like these are most definitely not one of them, and in fact I think they’re probably largely responsible for our intense love of the relationship between our hero couple. There’s another one coming up, but I’ll get there in a moment.

Despite being at the tail end of a spat, and that Aziraphale is clearly both disappointed and distracted not to have put his hands on the car keys, we’re about to see a lovely example of Aziraphale and Crowley showing a sixth sense for knowing their roles in the relationship. Regardless of the fact that there is no verbal communication between them following Muriel’s entrance to the room, Crowley knows instinctively that this is his cue to step up and perform a mini rescue, and Aziraphale knows to simply let him do his own thing. He doesn’t say a word once Muriel bursts in on them, just allows Crowley to do all the talking, with the instinctive knowledge that they will be in a better position soon. Which of course leads to this OUTRAGEOUS look from Aziraphale:

There it is, another one of those moments I was just discussing! I remember the first time I caught this look from Aziraphale, it was like a bomb had gone off in my head. It’s… well it’s pure filth, isn’t it? We all thought the look Crowley drew in the Bastille was the best example of a mental undressing we would ever see, but this just blows it out of the water. And why wouldn’t Aziraphale be feeling particularly enamoured of his demon at this point in time? There he is, doing his little rescue and invoking feelings of his knowledge of love (“love”?) at the same time. It’s pretty clear to see how much Crowley’s little speech has affected him, because he barely manages to catch the keys that the demon throws to him mere seconds later. He doesn’t even argue when Crowley continues to assert that the Bentley belongs to him alone, and even manages a wink, which I can only assume is supposed to be reassuring that he’s on the same wavelength about the current situation, and that he appreciates the olive branch just offered to him by way of Crowley’s accepting of the mission he’s been given.

Apart from a quick note to say that Aziraphale’s driving looks worse than Crowley’s, and that Crowley’s reaction to seeing his beloved car driving away speaks (to me, anyway) more of boredom than it does of worry or possessiveness, I think that’s all there is for this instalment, seeing as we’ve arrived quite neatly at the opening credits. As always, questions, comments, discussion: always welcome. See you for the next one!

[aithusarosekiller]

Because somebody made a possibly targetted post misconstruing something I said in a reply and bc feeling dumb is my worst fear...

here is why some people may think that the wwdits finale was mocking shippers even if it wasn't.

(This isn't me saying it's 100% true or that I believe it was done with malicious intent, I do think it is most likely a coincidence! It's just an explanation as to why some people may have had their guard up. Especially because everyone in the replies to that post saying the ppl who felt insulted were just fucking dumb and never watched the show felt mean when 1) you don't know them, 2) shows like this have conditioned us to expect it by now so it feels like a betrayal that this one is the same. As a wise man once said (in much better words), the writers presented us with a thing and different people will merge it with their own experiences and opinions differently so you can't perfectly predict the reaction you want to receive. That doesn't mean they're dumb or sensitive or weren't paying attention, they just interpreted the facts provided differently)

There are two points that were mentioned in the mentioned post that can be either entirely innocent or echo past malicious intent towards an audience depending on the person watching:

Point 1: Nadja's language towards the audience

The first thing people say when they read this is that the people who think it was an attack on the fans clearly have never paid attention to her which just isn't true. It's actually impossible to watch the show and not notice her disdain for humans and our feeble minds unless you're actively skipping every scene with her in it! Most people saying that the direct address felt like an insult adore her, at least I do. People know that she's Just Like That™️ and most people probably laughed along with it because it is so authentically her to say that after spending the whole season trying to understand human psychology (she tried her best y'all 😭). Nobody is disputing that and nobody is saying it's mean of her to say that. She laughs at humans all the time, it's not our girl Nadja that people are wary of! It's the possibility that she was being used as a mouthpiece at that moment for the writers.

The trend of doing this isn't new. Often writers will pick a character who is Just Like That™️ as a way to give their opinion on the audience without having to stand up and say it on a stage. It's in character so they can get away with it more easily. This may not have been what they were doing but it does echo past examples so it makes sense if people connected those dots in their minds. Here are two pretty well known examples of it:

If you are unfamiliar with Sherlock and in9 (which are both shows I love despite this) I'll clarify: in the first one, the likeable, no-nonsense detective is used by the writers by remaining in-character while voicing their opinions on their audience theorising and making shit up for fics, which they later doubled down on in interviews and shit. The fan-club making silly pathetic gay theories is meant to be laughed at because it's ridiculous and they obviously don't get it the way the writes do. The second one is about a show-runner/script writer who just wants to mind his business, he is talking to a stupid crazy fan who clearly doesn't understand the text and intention and he dies and that makes him nerdy and pathetic. Simon liking the fanfic his friend wrote is stupid and framed as an insult to his intelligence, he's a loser for wanting to engage with the series beyond just watching it. The fan later turns out to be a creepy stalker who predates on the writer btw...so...there's that.

Ofc not saying this is what wwdits were definitely doing, but it's a technique that's been utilised by shows before, especially those in which the writers and directors have said similar things in interviews to Simms, so it's not surprising that people read it this way, it actually makes perfect sense. You can't hate them for being wary, even if you think they're taking it too far!

Point 2: the timing of one of the laugh tracks in the Newhart ending

This point is less stable because it is just a replica of Newhart but I also see it used to make hurt people seem pathetic and dumb which isn't fair at all. People know that laugh tracks exist, they know they're used in sitcoms, they likely know or can infer that it was used gratuitously in Newhart, even if they've never seen it or any previous parodies of the ending. The existence of the laugh track isn't the bit people are upset about, I think it's the implication that Guillermo being there is hilarious. Which, yes, is the exact timing of the laughter from the original, that's OBVIOUSLY what they were going for, but contextually it can feel a little different if you're somebody who has clung to the disappointed 'do you really want to see that?' we've heard before. The intention may be honest but people are always going to read it negatively given the context of wwdits and the crew's previous views.

Maybe they're reading 'too deep' into it in your opinion but maybe they shouldn't be called useless and stupid because of that. Instead of laughing at these people for feeling hurt by the thought that they're the ones being laughed at, maybe either leave them alone or try to NICELY say that you think they were just trying to be loyal to the original.

The bottom line is: don't be mean or dismissive to people who get hurt by the implications they take from the text! Be polite and inform them or just let them feel the way they feel. ❤️❤️ this was edited so if the reblogs look different that's why!