#and imo this scene is where it really starts even if she doesn't realize it

[madeofjules]

Quietly one of Katniss and Peeta's best kisses. They're in their "real friends/fake lovers" phase but here she kisses him because she genuinely wants to, not because she has to.

[formyloveoflove]

The Bear S3 and the Choices We Make

Ok. After a second watch of S3, I'm feeling a little bit more optimistic about the future. Trust - it's a sad ending. It's my worst nightmare for Sydney. But there's still hope, and that all lies in what Carmen and Syd decide to do next. Season 3 Spoilers - read at your own risk :)

In S3 E10 Forever, we see our two mains go through a breakthrough. Starting with Carmen, he finally confronts his former boss (who has a name, i think, but fuck him, I ain't using it). It's the first (and only time) that we see Carmen proactively voice his resentment. He avoids his mom (rightfully so imo). He never got the chance with Mikey. But he approaches him, expects the man to have repent (maybe), or at the very least, have a little remorse.

He doesn't. He regrets nothing. In fact, he takes credit for Carmen's success: his hard work, his skills, and his talent. He tells Carmen that he should be thanking him, and that's not even the worst of it. No, for me, it is when he says

Carmen: My life stopped. Chef: That's the point, right? [...] You wanted to be great. You wanted to be excellent. So you got rid of all the bullshit, and you concentrated, and you got focused, and you got great. You got excellent. It worked. You're here. Look at all this

Sound familiar? It should. It's the same sentiment that Carmen said in the Season 2 finale. Remember, he said,

I wasn't here. Right? What the fuck was I thinking? Like I was going to be in a relationship? I'm a fuckin' pyscho. That's why I'm good at what I do. That's how I operate. I am the best because I didn't have any of this fuckin' bullshit, right? I could focus, and I could concentrate.

Carmen's thoughts about himself aren't even his own. They were drilled into him by a man who wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire. He was emulating the abusive behaviors and patterns that crushed him, that gave him "uclers, panic attacks, and nightmares" on the people that he cares about. On his sister, on Richie, on Tina and Marcus. and especially on Sydney, who is the only one who knows exactly how bad it can get. He's hurt those closest to him. He hurts them daily. And for what? And for why? For his own ego.

And this realization leads us to Carmen's first cry.

For three whole seasons, we see this man lose his idolized brother to suicide, witness his alcoholic mother physically, emotionally, and mentally abuse him, and experience mental degradation to the point where it affects his physical health. Not once did he shed a tear. This is the first time Carmen Berzatto lets himself cry. And I think this is the best thing for him. If he chooses to acknowledge the err of his ways, turn back course, and begin again, I think The Bear could be what he wanted it to be. He needs to decide to stop running, stop fighting himself and everybody around him. He needs to let go. Let it rip, right?

However, if this is what he decides to do, the cards ultimately fall into Sydney's hands.

If anybody's been through hell and back, it's Ms. Sydney Adamu. All season she's been forced to work in a volatile environment, putting herself between Carmen and whoever's the victim of his anger. She has her ideas shut down, her skills demeaned, and her credit is outright non-existent. Staff keeps quitting; they're not making any money; and Cicero and Co. is doing some shady background shit.

She's trapped, but not really. Not until she signs that Partnership Agreement. But like she told her dad in S2 E9 Omelette, she doesn't think she has another one in her. She can't have The Bear fail like Sheridan Road. She doesn't want to make the same mistakes she did last time. She wants to grow and learn and make her mark on the industry - prove she's not a failure.

She's waiting for Carmen to make good on his promises from The Table Scene, but he's not.

"You deserve my full focus." But his focus is not on her. Remember the Carmen that noticed when something was off with her? Remember the "say more?" or the "what's up with you?" Remember when they worked together, when the menu was truly theirs? Where was Sydney's "margin" moment? What did Carmen do this scene that signaled to Sydney that he was there and present.

"I couldn't do this without you." He does everything without her. Don't even get me started. From the menu to the list of nonnegotiables. Syd gets to make no decisions after being forced to make ALL the decisions. What is she there for? To be Carm's wrangler, his doormat? What has he does to convince her that she is invaluable?

He's egotistical. He's verbally abusive. He's the exact person that she warned him not to be. That he assured her that he wouldn't be in S1 E3 Brigade. She said,

You know I think this place could be so different from all the other places we've been at. But, in order for that to be true, we need to run things different. [...] But you just didn't really listen, and if this is going to work the way I think we both want it to work, I think we should probably try to listen to each other. The reason why I'm here, and not somewhere else or for someone else, is because I think I can stand out here. I can make a difference here. We could share ideas. I could implement things that make this place better. And I don’t wanna be wasting my time, working on another line or tweezing herbs on a dish that I don’t care about.

He didn't follow through the first time, so she left. But now, it's different. She's put her blood, sweat, and tears into this place. She's made a place (a home even) at The Bear. Leaving is not as simple anymore.

S1 Syd would've taken that CDC offer in a heartbeat. But building something and it failing (like The Bear. like Sheridan Road.) is terrifying. Slowly but surely, Carmen has been chipping away at her confidence and her fire. So much so that good things, like The Offer or the review of her risotto from The Beef, don't feel like good things.

Sydney's Panic Attack is HUGE for her character. We see Sydney at her lowest: her most frightening and vulnerable. She's uncertain. She's in a constant state of panic. And the person that she trusted with her fears and insecurities facilitated this, drove her to this point. It's heartbreaking. I cried when I saw it. No one would blame her for jumping ship. At this point, I encourage it (but she has to talk about it, acknowledge it. no running).

Now, if Carmen decides to change his ways, he'd have apologized to Sydney twice without changed actions. She'd have to believe him after many, many broken promises. At this time, she doesn't trust him, can't rely on him. But when having to decide between staying or going, will she try to trust him again?

Will she? Should she?

That's where I'm at so far. I have more thoughts, but I'll write those out when I get back from my weekend trip.

[genericpuff]

oh boy it's that time again

when rachel posts 'video progress' of her work and we proceed to dissect it like a frog in 9th grade science class

like ok first the caption of "is persephone the chicken and hades the egg" makes no fucking sense except to anyone who overthinks it and goes "wait is that a reference to the popularly-perpetuated version of the myth where persephone went down to the underworld willingly and hades didn't actually exist???" because if it is ima scream lmao

but MORE IMPORTANTLY-

Here's the transcript of what she's saying in the video:

"I think I've always wanted to write Hades' and Persephone's story because obviously I really like them. It's like very much a chicken and egg situation because I think in the beginning I thought that I was going to use a very abstract black and white style, and I realized it wasn't very enticing or fun for me, um... and I started drawing these very like vibrant characters and as I drew them I understood more about the story the more that I explored the art style, um and I guess an example of that is, y'know, Persephone is like a very bright color um, and the Underworld, is a very dark dark blue, and so when she says she really sticks out so it's just environmental uh processes like that that really helped inspire the direction of the story."

(despite her expanding on the "chicken and the egg" bit it still doesn't make sense imo lmao)

But what we're seeing isn't S1 LO, it's actually from S3 of LO:

But um... you notice anything interesting about the screenshot I just showed you?

That literally looks NOTHING like what we see in the final panel. At the VERY least I think this goes to show how overcooked it becomes in post-production, when they add the canvas layer and hypersaturate the shit out of the colors, but even the blending technique just isn't matching up?

A lot of what she's doing in this video also feels very... non-existent, like she's brushing her pen around but very little is happening so it feels more like her just putting down random brush strokes to try and make it seem put-together but really she's just kind of pushing colors around and/or doing nothing. Especially when, again, what she's painting here looks nothing like the final picture (so at best it's a lot of wasted work??)

And knowing what we know about the assistants drawing the characters separately so that Rachel can rearrange them in the final episode layout... I don't wanna call foul play here, but this feels like yet another attempt on Rachel's behalf to make her process seem more involved than it is by simply redrawing a scene for the performative aspect of it all. It's like the "sketches" in the books looking way too 'clean' for the final product and giving the impression that she just sketched over the final panels to make them look pretty enough for print.

I also wanna mention that for some reason she's drawing this on her iPad when she owns a Cintiq. It could be because she was drawing this while abroad in the US for her conventions last fall, but despite clearly being ahead of schedule, she still wound up drawing the final episode the night of-

Oh yeah and btw there are like a million clipping layers for what looks like just a simple drawing of Demeter. And this lines up with our previous theories about her using like 128549021809 layers for literally one character.

And aside from all that her commentary, as always, is very nothingburger, just a bunch of word salad. Like she's literally trying to explain LO's color theory as "well Persephone is bright pink and the Underworld is dark blue so she sticks out! That's all you need to know!"

IDK, I'm not coming to any sort of ironclad conclusion based off this one video, but it does feel like yet another desperate attempt to prove that she does work on LO and doesn't just leave it all to her assistants to do at the last minute. But like... she's kind of screwed in that argument either way, because even if she draws the majority of panels in LO, that just further proves the argument that she's stopped trying.

[casino-lights]

so. the thing about Illario and Lucanis.

I don't have the screenshots but somewhere in Lucanis' mind, you hear Illario's voice saying "If I was in charge, you wouldn't have to do this anymore." as far as I can tell, all the other lines in his memories are from the game, but this one is from The Wigmaker Job. the story that took place over a year (probably more) prior to the events of the game. it's referring to a scene where Lucanis comes back from their contract, injured, and Illario, worried about his cousin, says that Lucanis wouldn't have to do Caterina's bidding anymore if Illario was First Talon. so now we know Lucanis still thinks about that conversation, even though it happened so long ago.

two other things about The Wigmaker Job: 1) Illario is a lot different in it and in some ways he seems more competent than the Illario we get in veilguard; and 2) we see Zara Renata at the end, and she already has Lucanis in her sights. depending on how much time passed between that contract and Lucanis' kidnapping, she could've been setting this up for months to years.

in the concept art/storyboard frames that were recently released, Zara is hardcore giving siren in the first image and it almost looks like she's straight up controlling Illario via blood magic in the second (imo)

now imagine if Zara was looking into Lucanis, started with the people closest to him, found Illario, and said all the right things. imagine she said he should be First Talon, Caterina never loved him, Lucanis doesn't believe in him and is secretly just tolerating him, he can save Antiva from the Antaam (or whoever else), he can lead the Crows to their long-awaited unification and make them even stronger, he's the smartest prettiest most super special boy in the whole wide world, etc. (if you give this man an ounce of praise and he actually believes it, he will crumble, I know it.)

now imagine Zara, having successfully sunk her claws into Illario - Lucanis Dellamorte's cousin, the only person closer to the Demon of Vyrantium than the First Talon herself - manages to convince him to let her kill Lucanis. he doesn't have to do it himself so there's less guilt. there's no way Caterina would make him First Talon if Lucanis was alive. and then Illario would be in a position to protect his beloved Antiva because if there's one thing the Antivan Crows are, it's patriots. I think Zara played Illario like a fucking fiddle and the game was just really bad at showing us that. I think when her spirit says "he fooled us both," she means he fooled her by being less of a coward than she thought and straight up killing her.

and maybe this is the Illario apologist in me, but I also think he realized the whole thing was a doomed plan after he was defeated. I mean, he shows up to the final battle to help, at risk of his own life. maybe he's trying to atone, maybe not, but still - he is there, and he sounds more like the Illario we see in The Wigmaker Job than whatever we got through the rest of the game. with his quippy little "was that suitably self-important?" line, he's closer to himself than he was this whole time, and that makes me wonder if maybe he wasn't fully Illario. maybe that was grief and guilt and a shaky sense of self and Zara's manipulation and the feeling of losing his grip on the power he never quite had to begin with, all bundled up into a new, bitter, resentful man. I think he was used like a pawn in Zara's chess game, and that doesn't take away from his agency in this situation or lessen the blow of his betrayal, but it does make it easier for me to swallow the fact that the Obvious Traitor Illario I was immediately skeptical of in-game is not the Illario I immediately loved after one scene in Tevinter Nights where he shaves a single hair because it was uneven with the rest of his five o clock shadow.

I think ultimately, Illario realized Lucanis would forgive him anyway. I think it's because he realized he would forgive Lucanis too.

[hepaidattention]

I'm v curious to see how the pjo show will portray Percabeth and Percy's feelings for her throughout the show.

cause imo, in the books Percy straight up doesn't even realize he has feelings for her until much muuuuuch later (whether it be oblivion or denial), but in like book 3 he's so worried for her he's starting fights with god's. she's literally all he thinks about in the Titans Curse, but never in a romantic way. Percy never thinks about her in a romantic way till probably book 4, when she kisses him, and even then it's a rare occurrence until book 5.

we just knew he had feelings cause he'd think stuff like "wow she's beautiful," or prints out a picture of her and keeps it with him, or constantly thinks about her when Rachel was around, or think Aphrodite looked like her. ACTIONS wise I know exactly why Annabeth was yelling at him by book 5. he never showed romantic feelings for her outwardly except for rare occasions that could be interupted as friends, even when she kissed him. not until, again, book 5 when he asks for a good luck kiss and literally screams at everyone not to touch her when she's injured.

anyway, so I'm interested to see how they're going to display it for the viewers on the screen when we won't have Percy's narration telling us obvious things that show us he loves her. I'm wondering if they're going to be more straight forward with it. in the books you knew Percy liked her but again only because of his thoughts, and not until book 3 tbh. but in the show s1 already had so much implied Percabeth. like Percy looked at her so many times like he wanted to marry her right then and there that is was shocking to me (not complaining) cause Percy really only acted like he saw her as a friend by that point in the books.

SO I wonder if they're going to continue this trend of just having Percy look at Annabeth longingly a lot and hope those who haven't read the books catch on, or will they go a step further and having him talk to people about his feelings? will Percy talk to Grover about her? in the books they would never, Percy didn't even know Grover had a girlfriend at one point. they weren't the type of bromance to talk about their feelings. however TV show Grover and Percy would easily talk about their feelings. they're more open and vulnerable around each other in the show.

and if they do that, then are they going to make it canon (canon to me is if Percy knew he had feelings for Annabeth before book 4 of 5 and said it himself. he never says he has feelings, and even talks about his feelings for other characters like Calypso and Rachel, so to me its not canon that he did know unless he said those words himself) that Percy is aware of his feelings before book 5?? or are they just gonna have scenes like in s1 with Luke where he calls them an old married couple and Percy and Annabeth ignore it. I could also see Grover just teasing him about her and Percy just acts like he never even thought about it

idk I'm really interested on how they're going to show us in TV form. half of me wants it to stay canon, but the other part of me wants to see a Percy verbally attest that he likes her but she'd never like him like that - or say something like Annabeth was too good for him (which I always got the feelings was half the reason why Percy didn't pursue anything till much later). even after Annabeth kisses him he's like "as friends???? hmmm???" and I truly do no think until she yells at him for being a coward that it occurs to Percy that "Oh, that WASN'T a good luck kiss then." like he WANTED to kiss her but he didn't think she liked him like that EVEN AFTER SHE KISSED HIM. sigh. sweet, dumn Percy. how I love thee.

but show Percy really isn't as a dumb as book Percy was in the first book, so there's a huge possibility they'll make it more obvious. I feel like for the sake of wanting fans invested in the ship, they'll make him more aware of his feelings imo. they already did so in s1, and book 1 truly was just Annabeth and Percy learning to be friends.

no matter what, I cannot wait for s3, because I would do anything to see Walker act out Percy worried about Annabeth. PERCY TRYING TO FIGHT MR. D CAUSE HES NOT WORRIED ENOUGH FOR ANNABETH???? I literally cannot wait.

[crehador]

translation issues aside, the story of reverse 1999 is really surprisingly good for a gacha. i'm vibing with the characters and setting, and the STRUCTURE of the currently released chapters is just downright excellent

major spoilers for chapters 1 through 4 below the cut

introducing us to the world through regulus was such a good call for chapter one, it's all new to her just like it's all new to the player. we get a chance to learn through her eyes

another reason this works so well imo is it paints vertin, in regulus's eyes, as this hyper-competent character with her own agenda and agency (only to reveal bit by bit that she's in a much more difficult position than it may seem at first, and in so many ways is still just a hurt kid trying to right the wrongs she's seen in this world, desperate not to lose more people)

then we move on to chapter 2, where we see schneider's tragedy unfold and meet some major players like arcana. schneider's story even on its own is pretty damn good, but the way vertin acts and reacts in chapter 2 is full of perfect little hints to what kind of past trauma might have shaped her

THEN CHAPTER 3. THE TRAUMA. i loved schneider's story, but i think this is where we really dive into the meat of the overarching plot. and it is such a perfect dive

like after the events of chapter 2, it does more or less make sense that vertin is being treated for Something. right away chapter 3 gives off a bit of a foreboding feeling because vertin's in the hands of the foundation now, which we as a player knows she doesn't trust, and it's deliberately made ambiguous what she's being treated for and exactly when she'll be released

but at this point, to me at least, it still seemed... possible that she really was just being treated for damage from chapter 2

THEN THE HORRORS UNFOLD vertin's past is shown to us throughout this chapter, and bit by bit it dawns that the foundation is capable of much more heinous acts than we already expected. when we meet the ring and isabella, a feeling of dread sets in right away. because they're clearly important to vertin, but where are they in the present? it's not hard to figure out she lost them (which adds so much dimension to her reactions to everything with schneider)

when the escape plan is coming together, with those side looks at what constantine is scheming, the inevitable dread gets heavier and heavier. like even knowing exactly what would happen, that the kids would be deliberately funneled into the storm just so vertin would see them die and feel responsible because it was her plan that led them there... seeing it actually happen was still a major gut punch, very effective

vertin's naivete in this past is such a haunting thing to see as well, there are moments where the text even shines a light on "will they realize this is going TOO smoothly for them?" and no! no they do not!! because they are 12-year-old kids who haven't lost all hope in the world!!!

seeing these grand scenes unfold with chess (and later go) on the screen was visually very cool as well, imo. might feel a bit gimmicky but it's a gimmick i enjoyed

anyway so then we get to chapter 4, and by then the sense of dread surrounding the foundation has fully set in. so it's almost unsurprising (yet still HORRIFYING) when you realize holy shit the foundation is keeping vertin hostage in a medically induced coma!! treatment for trauma my ass!!!

i feel like chapter 4 was the perfect place to end this arc as well, it was like an extended prologue. a lot of the tension/excitement for me came from the realization that vertin doesn't yet have a place to belong, it's not like "manus bad, foundation good" and that's that

looking at it through the lense of arknights, it would be like if doctor didn't have rhodes island at the start. all these factions around vertin, with their own agendas, and she doesn't have her own "home" yet

we get there, at the end of chapter 4. but of course it's not perfect, the terms of her operating her own team are very conditional, and there are loads of unanswered questions for the future

but it's a nice little set-up for future events, for vertin building this team (family) of arcanists who have some measure of freedom. the tension is still there, the foundation is still scheming, and some new mysterious organization is getting ready to enter the chat...?

all in all just, imo, an excellently structured story so far. it's a shame the translation detracts so much from it, i do think some powerful moments suffered from that. but the actual story is really quite strong, and vertin and her circle are all quite captivating to me so far

[outmakingmoonshine]

(Some of) my hopes (and some theories) for S3

The number 1 thing I want is a scene after Nat's had her baby where Carmy sees Syd holding the baby and his entire world stops bc that's all he wants for his future 😭 If Sydcarmy kiss or something I'll be happy and I'll reblog every single gif of it like a normal person BUT if we get a Syd holding the baby scene I'm gonna be uncontrollable on every social media platform available. I might even post it on Reddit and watch the meltdown! This is where the bar of my expectation is for S3. If we get this (or anything remotely like it) I'll be so satisfied, any other good thing that happens between Sydcarmy will be a bonus for me.

We know we're getting a Syd x Pete scene and I want a Carmy x Pete scene where Pete's talking about how great Syd is and Carmy can't help but warm to him a bit more. The potential relationships between Syd x Pete and Pete x Carmy are so important to me 🥹 my three awkward, anxious lonely babies (Pete's not lonely now but I think he probably was once upon a time and the Berzatto men singling him out of the family must make him feel lonely and not good enough :( I love Carmy but I will fight him for Pete's dignity and honour!)

Putting the rest under a cut because it's mostly just my musings and ramblings

I want Nat to say something to Carmy about his relationship with Syd. Nat saw their dynamic before Claire came, she saw Syd's reaction to Claire, how sydcarmy's dynamic changed when Claire was around and how Carmy ditching her made Syd feel. She didn't witness all of that for nothing. Someone's gotta tell Carmy how he's been (unintentionally) making Syd feel and I doubt it'll be Syd.

I need to see Richie start respecting Pete at least a little bit. Carmy's already kind of made a step towards respecting and even appreciating Pete for who he is a bit more but I need to see it from Richie too because I'm pretty sure he's the one who leads that little mob mentality against Pete. Even if it doesn't actually happen this season, I need to see it heading in that direction because Pete doesn't deserve all this slander 😭 I need Richie and Carmy to start seeing that the only difference between them and Pete is that he's mature and confident in who he is. They're both not confident in who they are so their only way of feeling like they're above him/better than him is to make fun of him for it. (IRL grown adults with this infantile mentality get on my last nerve so I need to see them come to a realization soon.)

I want Donna to make amends and start finding peace. I know she's technically an antagonist in this story but it really bothers me the way people dismiss her as if she's some monster like we aren't watching Carmy treat the people he loves the exact same way she does. If we can empathize with a man for his toxic behaviour we can empathize with a woman who was going through her own trauma and loss while she had 3 kids (plus Richie) to look after. Any parent who welcomes another person's child into their family unit for years and makes them feel like part of the family despite whatever she's going through, isn't a monster imo. I know she traumatized her kids but honestly, most parents do that and have no remorse about it. Donna has remorse for her actions and the effect it had on her kids. And what is Carmy doing to Sydney's self-esteem and confidence right now? He's definitely not helping it! l If I can forgive Carmy because he's acting on his trauma and I understand he's not just a horrible person by choice, I can do the same for Donna. I know some ppl just don't like JLC because she's pro-zionist (idek I just saw this online somewhere?) which I understand but at the same time, the actress is seperate to the character. Donna's favourite person in the world is gonna be her beautiful black daughter in law! She's gonna love and appreciate Syd so much.

I want Donna's story to end with her starting to heal so people watching this show know that even late in life when you've made all the worst mistakes and inflicted your pain on others you can still heal and try to right those wrongs. It's never too late to start being a better person. This wasn't meant to turn into a rant about Donna but I think the way some fans talk about her character is so unfair and narrow minded because they don't keep the same energy for Carmy.

Some of my theories for S3

I know no one wants to hear this but I think 3x09 Apologies will be an apology to Claire where Carmy finally comes clean about why he gave her a fake number and why he can't be with her, putting an end to romantic Claire/Carmy for good. If we see the end of Claire in the first few episodes I'll be happy but I doubt they'll waste the "suspense" of Claire/Carmy vs SydCarmy by ending it 3 or even 4, 5 episodes in. I don't think she'll be in all 9 episodes leading up to it tho (please no, I love Molly but that's way too much of Claire.)

JAW said during awards season "Claire deserves an apology" which seemed random to me at the time because no one asked him that, he just brought it up and we all know Syd is the one who deserves the biggest apology from Carmy. Idk if they were filming S3 yet when he said that but he already knows where the story is going. Actors don't just play character's "blind" without knowing something about where their story is leading, especially main characters.

I think they'll do the Syd/Claire switcheroo and make it seem like Carmy's going to apologize to Syd (because it will be glaringly obvious he needs to) but it'll be him telling Claire the truth and ending things with her. Idk if Syd will get an actual apology (it would mirror 1x08 where Marcus got the actual apology and Syd didn't even though she probably deserved it more) but I think we will get some kind of super intimate heartwarming/heartbreaking scene from sydcarmy in that episode, just like 2x09.

Also Ayo said something like sydcarmy fans won't get what they want in S3 and it's the one time I actually believe her.

I think we're going to get some amazing sydcarmy scenes in S3 but I don't think it's going to end well for them. I think S4 will mirror S1 and build their dynamic up again back to what it was before Claire came in 2x03. I think S4 is gonna be THE sydcarmy season.

I'm in two minds about whether Syd will sign the contract or not. I'm leaning towards no because despite it meaning Carmy can't just leave again, going off to do whatever he wants with "wHoEvEr" and she'll have his full focus, I just don't think she wants a legal contract to be the basis of why they're committed to working together. Syd's never tried to tie Carmy to her so I don't think she'll appreciate him doing it to her. Carmy's doing this out of desperation, not out of purely wanting to collaborate with her and Syd will sense that. I think Syd wants him to want to work with her. That's why she never actively tried to get him to stay and work with her in S2 and she could've been way more direct and harsh than "I need your focus like you need mine", Lord knows he would deserve it but she isn't trying to force him. That's why she never made him feel bad about being with Claire either even though he ditched her for Claire right when they were getting closer. She doesn't want to guilt trip him or make him feel like he owes her something, she wants it to be his own decision. She wants him to show that he wants it just like she does. And he does...but he just doesn't know how to show it in a healthy way and toxicity raised him so I can't blame him.

Idk what's gonna happen between Syd & Marcus or Syd & Luca but I don't think it actually needs to be romantic to make Carmy jealous, especially if he and Syd aren't seeing eye to eye. I don't think it's necessarily gonna be romantic for Syd either, even if they see her that way. Just like Carmy didn't really see Claire romantically (in present day anyway) and I will die on that hill. That man had zero romantic interest in her despite literally kissing and having sex with her. It was more like he was just going through the motions of a "normal" relationship than it being something he genuinely wanted. Why does he show SO MUCH want and desire for Syd but not a single iota of the same for Claire?!

Seeing Syd get close to any other man is going to bother Carmy regardless, especially if he knows the man is attracted to her. But I feel like Syd is a 'connection before anything else' kinda girl (Carmy is too, that's why having sex with Claire literally sent him into a spiralling panic attack the morning after) but Syd doesn't have the exact same issues and trauma that Carmy has so I can't see Syd being with or sleeping with someone she doesn't feel connected to like that. I could be wrong but I can't see her changing her mind about Marcus and suddenly dating him at this point. She seems like someone who knows what she wants and won't settle for less just because it's available. (Not that Marcus is "less" than anyone, my sweet little cherub.) I could see her feeling a connection to Luca though, he's basically a calm version of Carmy that pays attention.

Ayo basically saying in an interview that Will Poulter pays attention to her instead of his phone was such a random piece of info imo. I get it made context in the story she was telling but it just seems like such a deliberate pointed thing to bring up knowing right now in the show Syd doesn't feel appreciated or listened to by Carmy. She could've answered the question without mentioning Will at all tbh, and even if she did mention him she didn't need to mention all of that, give us a whole backstory and everything, idk. This might be a reach but I'm pretty sure they give out of context clues like this in interviews, they definitely do it in the show so I wouldn't be surprised.

I think it was a clue about the dynamic between Syd and Luca in S3 and the difference between Carmy and Luca is Carmy's unfocused and makes Syd feel like he doesn't listen to her but Luca makes her feel like he pays attention to her. I still don't think this needs to be in a romantic sense but I'm happy for Syd to get some TLC from a hot blond guy with tattoos before Carmy sees sense.

Idk we'll see how that story plays out in S3 but if the fact Luca pays attention to her is a plot point (even a subtextual one) I'm taking that story from Ayo as an out of context spoiler.

I love Marcus and I adore Lionel BUT I just can't see Marcus and Syd being together. Their vibe is so brother/sister to me that it would just be weird at this point in the show imo. The same way sydcarmy ending the show only ever being "platonic co-workers" would give me weird inappropriate vibes about their dynamic throughout the show. The romantic dynamic between sydcarmy and the platonic dynamic between Syd x Marcus are kinda set in stone imo, especially after S2. It'll be very difficult from a literary standpoint to drastically change those dynamics in a believable way and keep the quality of storytelling and integrity of the show intact at this point. It's not impossible, I just don't think it's likely at all.

I'll be honest, I'm not looking forward to Marcus's storyline in S3. My mum died when I was young so seeing kids (even if they're adults) attending their mum's funeral on shows/movies always makes me emotional, especially when it's a character I care about. (If we get a flashback of Syd at her mum's funeral I might actually die of sadness bc I'm not ready for that! I've had enough time to accept I'm gonna see Marcus's mum's funeral but if they spring Syd's mum's funeral on me too it might actually break me idk.) I am looking forward to seeing him be supported through it though and other than his mother's funeral storyline I'm excited to see where his story goes in S3. I feel like Carmy's gonna be an asshole to him if he starts getting closer to Syd and while I love the angst and jealousy of SydCarmy he better not hurt Marcus's feelings or be too hard on him. I can't wait for some Marcus x Luca scenes too.

I nearly forgot the loml, Tina! I'm so excited to see her story in S3, idek what to expect other than her backstory episode that Ayo's directing 🙌🏽 but I'm sure I will love it. Liza does so well in this role at making me feel things (all of the cast do tbh but Liza as Tina just plucks my heartstrings on a different level.)

If you read this far, thank you I appreciate you 💛

[pixelatedbugs]

Looking at all of the messed up boss forms during the Neutral Flowey fight

I just want to talk about them i like them a lot. i was very obsessed with help_tale when i was younger and that's probably why. spoilers below cut, and body horror warning because of the topic ofc.

Decibat

Starting with Decibat, no eyes and a stomach mouth. Awesome!! The stomach mouth kinda goes along with Decibat's noise theme - HUGE MOUTH is loud and Decibat wants quiet.

Dalv

Out of all of the Flowey forms only 2 actually made me jump and this is one of them. Creepy eye things get to me and that’s why this is one of my favorites. It's really simple but it's great. Also the way it glitches sometimes makes it look like he has more than 2 eyes, which I'm not sure if it's on purpose but it's still neat!

I do wonder what would be under the cloak, like would it just be normal Dalv? The void? Something like the Deer Lord from Spooky’s Jumpscare Mansion? idfk. His face being obscured is like how Dalv obscures his face with his cloak for the majority of Dark Ruins, and since we don't really get to know him due to killing him, we don't get to see his real face..

Martlet

Martlet technically doesn’t have a form like the others but I didn’t want to leave her out. This scene does a great job at being unsettling with the lack of talking portrait and the slowed down Snowdin imo. i really like how her hugging animation changes for just that One Frame, it's slow enough that you'll probably catch it but quick enough that you might be wondering if you imagined it.

And then there's the whole "I'm so happy I found you! So happy I found you. I found you." that happens and then her face melts to reveal the Eye. The eye is in grayscale, like Flowey is during the second phase of his fight, so I wonder if it's meant to be HIM looking at you through Martlet.

And the melting parallels her death in No mer- hey wait, why does Martlet melt in both routes where she dies? Like??? I mean, she does have connections to Alphys and the True Lab so like...or maybe i'm just over thinking it. Either way this ones cool, if I knew pixel art I would try to make a form for her like the others have.

El Bailador

I think a lot of people believe this is the scariest one and....yeah. This is the other one that actually made me jump. The smile, the Eyes, it's fucking scary i hate this one (positive). The large strained smile goes with how El Bailador wants to make everyone happy with his dancing even though some prefer quiet, which he doesn't realize. does that make sense idk if that makes sense.

Starlo

Oh boy plant growth body horror! Yeah this one’s good. The vines growing out from his face, the weirdly elongated hands, the way the piece of straw on his hat changes to a flower. Honestly I have 0 clue what is going on with his face. Very cool. I also just noticed the holes in his poncho, like bullet holes? i saw someone say he's still hot on twitter and im scared

Ceroba

Ceroba's gets bonus points for being one of the rarer ones, because you have to abort a No Mercy route to see it. Besides that, no face! Wahoo! Plus her bow has changed to have a flower in it, which matches Starlo.

My favorite thing though is that the way pixels are scattered (i cannot find the right wording for this) kinda makes it look like she's constantly turning into dust which is really cool!! I think her face might be obscured for the same reason as Dalv, considering you have to be in No Mercy to see this you never get to know who Ceroba is.

Guardener

Overgrown robots overgrown robots overgrown robots. She already was overgrown but it gets more turned up with this one which makes me very happy, I love overgrown robots and machinery. All the vines get changed into flowers as well to fit, yippee! The Delta Rune logo on her chest is also scratched out, which is one way to send a message...

Axis

I like how the lack of face here parallels both how axis dies in No Mercy AND the death of the blue soul. This one's very cool, though i wish there were some more wires in his face like his death sprite in No Mercy has. thats a weird thing to wish for isnt it. Actually now that I'm looking at it more, it kinda looks like a mouth? That might just be because of the things at the top and bottom, I'm not sure if it's meant to be a mouth.

Oh! And the heart in his chest is missing, which hurts because both ways you can spare him involve filling his heart (either with Daisy or compliments. Also, Axis' neutral route spare is extremely cute, please go check it out if you haven't seen it.)

anyway thanks for reading through teehee my favorites are probably dalv’s ceroba’s and guardener’s. i have to wonder what the Feisty Four would have looked like in this? They don't get any because well, they don't die, but I like them...I don't really have any ideas myself, though. ok bye

[rikeijo]

Today's translation #617

Newtype 01/2017, Otsuka Manabu interview

Part 1.

-- Please tell us about the circumstances, in which this project started moving?

Otsuka: I first got to know about this project, when I was told about it by the Director, Yamamoto Sayo, when we were working together on a different project. At first, I was very uncertain, if I and the studio have enough power to keep up with Yamamoto Director's TV series, because she always has been known as being very particular about quality. But inspired by the charming characters created by Kubo (Mitsurou)-san that I saw later, and Yamamoto Director insatiable love for figure skating, I decided 'let's try to do it!" and accepted the offer to work on this project.

-- When was it that you started to be sure that this project would be fine?

Otsuka: Maybe it wasn't that I was 'sure', but after we showed the second PV at 'TV Asahi Natsu Matsuri' event, I was able to think that I would trust Yamamoto Director's intuition and just run with what she feels is right. The last cut in that PV was the scene, where Victor puts his finger on Yuuri's lip and the two look at each other. When I saw it for the first time, I thought "[if we are going to show this scene in the PV] won't men not want to watch the show?" and I was considering removing that one scene from the PV. But I've talked about it with female staff members, who thought it would be a shame to not include it and I decided 'Let's [with force] put it in then!". People at the 'TV Asahi Natsu Matsuri' event venue cheered when that scene was shown. In this show, there is a lot of things that my senses did not cover, but at that time, I was able to think that [working on the project] I would realize all those ideas that Yamamoto Director and Kubo-san come up with without fear.

[Notes: It's really interesting how in almost all his interviews, Otsuka mentions this idea that including in an anime what your average otaku perceives as 'fujoshi fan-service scenes' (regardless of the creator's intentions - like, in even in YoI, a huge number of people in Jp fandom still sees those scenes as nothing more but fan-service, because that's the default) will give the anime reputation of pandering to fujoshis, and men (anybody other than fujoshis really) simply won't even consider it worth checking out. Otsuka doesn't even try to hide it here or in his other interviews, and like I've mentioned in the past, the way they were promoting Yurio so much, when Otsuka himself was claiming that thanks to Yurio, men could watch the show and enjoy it, shows, imo, what was the committee's real problem with YoI and why it may seem like they fumbled the bag and failed to capitalize on its potential so much (very little official side content, very few Y&V official arts etc...) - they wanted YoI to not be a 'fujoshi-pandering anime', but 'a serious sport anime for everyone'.]

[cadybear420]

On this post

Unpopular opinion: Kara is my fav. And if she was at Berry she would've been a possible fan favourite for everyone.

(essay length be warned)

If she was at Berry at the start, I like to think that (even though she wouldve been mean and angry still at times), she'd be really chill and enthusiastic cheerleader who probably helps the cheer team with routine runs and would be in homework club and getting actual help help with people.

Kara has lots of potential, can she be redeemable? Of course, she's literal a teenage girl- shes going through issues. She'd be a big sister, and I just like the idea of Kara & MC being a duo.

She wouldn't be friends with any of the seniors, but she'd coexist with them (like "Cady & Regina give eachother that respectful nod at the end of mean girls" type of coexist).

Idk, I just like mean girls having a chance to be a good person in a good influenced school.

This also applies to Zoe as well, and maybe Max.

Of course with Brian, being at Berry doesn't mean you're a good person (since Brian was raised in Berry and was a misogynistic fuckwad.), BUT, being at Berry can help you turn a new leaf as there's only good positive influence from everyone.

Also just imagine Kara & Mia actually chilling out together. They're fine being next to eachother, they're okay with asking eachother for cheer help, and I could see them getting iced espresso's before school starts and yapping to eachother.

Imagine Kara getting EVERYONE milkshakes after cheer practice, I can also see her shedding tears when she graduates and sees her found-family in the cheer team wishing her luck in college- and she realises how good she's had it here and that SHE'LL be okay and that THEY'LL also be okay even without her (and Payton).

(good grief. This is long. SoZ)

Send me unpopular or popular opinions about anything Choices and/or HSS related, and I will rate them on the aforementioned scale and elaborate if possible

My Rating of this opinion:

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

My Elaboration below:

I can't really talk about this without spoiling a (presumably much) later quest of HSS Prime... eh fuck it.

SPOILERS:

There's a later quest of HSS Prime where the gang helps Kara realize her self-worth and she breaks up with Max for good, so there's definitely something to look forward to as you go through the Prime storylines haha. One of the few areas (imo) where Choices OG HSS truly messes up something from Prime is how they basically retcon that arc, as we see Kara is dating Max throughout Book 3. Granted I haven't reached that storyline yet in my Prime playthrough, and IDK when it first came out, but still.

That being said, I suppose it does check out that in Choices HSS, Max and Kara's break-up basically happens because of Max revealing he doesn't really care about Kara, as he was planning on breaking up with Kara after graduation so that he could party with all the girls at his college.

(End spoilers)

Regardless, I can see Kara faring much better at Berry. Same with Zoe. Not fully sure about Max. One of my favorite things about Zoe's redemption/atonement arc is that she doesn't just become friends with the main crew. She even admits she still doesn't like them because they're all too nice. But she is truly trying to change for the better now, and that's what matters.

I definitely agree with you that Kara as well as Zoe would be the types to just coexist with the other characters, not quite becoming friends with them, but still being able to turn over a new leaf at this better school environment. Maybe even forming a new sense of companionship and understanding with Mia like you mentioned. Even in just Choices HSS, I definitely see that for Kara, most especially due to this scene.

Brian is definitely an interesting case now that you mention it also, someone for whom Berry does not work. He does not want to change, he dislikes the community at Berry and believes they alienate him, and he even willingly leaves Berry because he thinks they're not good enough for him. I'll have to look at this more in-depth later but this was definitely an interesting character to have for HSS.

[mc-critical]

Come to think of it, it's namely Mahidevran's small amount of scenes in S02A that show her coming into her own and having settled down at least a little bit, emphasizing her getting used to the status quo around her to some extent and her hopes for it to change becoming more likely to be realized than ever. Because her (both gleeful and earnest) happiness in these episodes isn't as fragile as it once was, with Mahidevran getting numerous victories in succession, both new ones she wholeheartedly embraces and old ones she couldn't reach before no matter what she did alike: seemingly getting Nigar on her side [like she aimed to in S01], SS showing her favor again by giving her money for charity, Isabella bringing woes to Hürrem [and it's in relation to Isabella Mahidevran gets one of the few scenes of happiness in front of a mirror where that happiness isn't tainted but enforced afterwards] long enough for SS to even bring her to the harem [Mahidevran senses Isabella's possible danger but she's less of a threat than she would've been; her being in the harem is welcome to Mahidevran as long as it bothers biggest individual threat Hürrem, and Mahi could gain advantage while Isabella and Hürrem are fighting, even Valide mentioned that in E37], Mustafa getting Hatice's chambers [what Mahi also wanted in S01], Mahi gaining possession of Leo's diary several times and being the one to fully incite the revelation of its secrets by giving it to Valide [another S01 callback as Mahi had suspicions about Leo as well], with the biggest, most important victory of all being her seeing Mustafa grow and Süleiman acknowledging her efforts as his mother {and that's very interesting not only because Mahi obviously becomes closer to Mustafa the further into the show we get, but also because most of her interactions with Süleiman in S02A are also about Mustafa - his education, his progress and the benefits and approval Mahi gains from SS due to that, it's only due to that she could gain it now and it looks stronger than ever, fueling her hope to get SS's love back, in contrast to early S03A where Mahi gets more scenes where she interacts with Mustafa before he leaves for Manisa and her hope, her love for SS have already evaporated, along with SS's changed view of the one thing he approved from her in forever - her motherhood - post-E55, arguably even post-E48?}. And even if these victories don't last or aren't actual victories, the bad doesn't linger in Mahi's mind, doesn't impact her as much precisely due to the scarse focus she gets throughout the half-season.

The less we see her, the less detailed or possibly drawn-out reactions we witness (even SS getting mad at Mustafa in E29 isn't as much about her or even Mustafa at the moment as it is about what Valide thinks could happen with SS in the future) and the more we zoom in not only on her relation to the main protagonist's story (her even more frequent antagonising of Hürrem), but also on the main highlights of Mahidevran's own life. Mahidevran not having as many scenes points to her not getting development but the setup of one, to her being in certain stasis until that transitory period passes, and this stasis is, for once, calmness and even happiness while she's doing her own thing and she learns about the main events she is less involved with than usual, that she always returns to no matter what (instead of returning to sorrow as she did for the majority of S01; this also reverses that emotional joy vs. sorrow dynamic she had with Hürrem especially in early S01 for many episodes). Her good mood and all the reasons for her to have it last and/or accumulate before a sorrow not just for one or two episodes but for an entire half-season and even when Mahidevran gets her full focus back (arguably E38-onwards, but really in, IMO, E40-onwards) and things start to be stacked against her again, with her facing subsequent failures instead (Isabella's disappearance and that scene in the balcony in E38; Valide falling ill; Hürrem getting freed in E40), she still holds onto getting SS back (E41) and gains even more presumed victories (the recognition for her charity and Leo's diary in E39 again; Hürrem's exile,marrying Nigar to Matrakci, even Hatice's pregnancy all in E41 again; Mustafa in general again) as a compensation that only give her strength to continue (E41 as a whole is a transition between the states of pre-wedding Mahi and post-wedding, pre-Edirne Mahi).

All that, of course, is there to only open the door to the biggest sorrow for Mahidevran, the one that confirms that she can't ever get SS back, that all hope is gone for good: Süleiman marrying Hürrem (and even that happens and is announced during a victory of Mahidevran's: Mustafa's circumcision, but Mehmet is also circumcized, so the victory too is shared with Hürrem this time). The presumed victories begin to recede and center on the one and only person she always has beside her: her son (E42 directly makes the near completion of that turnaround clear through Mahi looking at Mustafa when she tells Hürrem that her hope is right here), while the sorrow escalates again as Mahidevran processes SS's marriage (E43-44 where she witnesses either Hürrem's victories or the turmoil of her closest people, namely Valide and Hatice). This is how E45 gets an even more culminative feel (with Mahi fully leaning on Mustafa at the end, the shifting of priorities on Mahi's part that S02A built to completes itself) and her infamous E55 scene with Mustafa, or rather a certain line of it, is revealed in another light: "I kept quiet for years. I've waited patiently for my punishment to end! But it didn't". Because it's become true. Mahidevran really kept quiet in anticipation of that faithful day SS embraces her again... not in S01, but in S02A. She really waited patiently for the end of her punishment...not in S01, but in S02A. So when that end never comes, when she can't wait any longer, watching as her fate is dictated by someone else, allowing it with her silence, you can really feel the years of pent-up resentment and anguish (and in E43 and E44 she even slides back to the background of the events again both figuratively and literally for everything to truly pile up). You can really feel her pain. But perhaps that would've never been entirely possible without S02A. Perhaps it all would've never been as impactful, as powerful if S02A wasn't set up the way it was for her.

[literali1110]

More 6x01 Chenford Thoughts

So I've had some time to think and read other people's takes on the episode. And I think overall what happened is a little more nuanced than my first reaction so I wanted to share my current thoughts and what I liked and didn't.

Starting from the beginning: When Lucy asks to ride with Tim again, essentially ask him to be TO Tim - this is the beginning of where things start to go wrong IMO. Not only does having them ride together again lessen the impact of their last ride together in 5x12, it completely ignores the fact that they already decided they can't ride together because their personal relationship affects their professional one.

Lucy's first spiral moment: I've seen people say they relate to Lucy's anxiety here, so I don't want to ignore that. But I do kinda wish they hadn't showed her have that spiral out moment while she was on the job, maybe? Or have it be so exaggerated. Although at this point I agree Tim could have said something to help her instead of shaking his head and rolling his eyes (even though Lucy said she knows what he's thinking).

I know they gave excuses for Nyla and Angela (although I think the excuse for Angela wasn't really a good excuse), but I do think they are probably more capable of giving Lucy the professional validation she needs in this moment...

At the actual crime scene: I do think Tim was a little bit in a tough spot... If he gave her the answer, she probably would have been upset anyway. And he did ask her what she wanted him to do and ultimately listened to her. I guess his decision could have led to a murderer getting away, so probably not the best professional choice but again, we already had a whole episode talking about how Tim doesn't make good professional decisions when his girlfriend's reputation is at stake.

I'm not mad at him for how the whole precinct made fun of Lucy, they make fun of everyone. It just would be nice to have some good confident Lucy moments. I want to see her PROGRESS from the TO/rookie dynamic and really come into her own. In fact, one of the good moments was from the episode when Tim was in the hospital and Nyla gives her a pep talk...just further highlighting that in this case, her storyline might have been better if she wasn't riding with Tim.

With the fight scene itself: it seems everyone is in consensus that Tim was trying to be supportive. And on rewatch I still believe this is the case because he starts out by saying she should take the exam and even when he agrees she can wait, he mentions she can still do UC in the meantime. So I do think that in that moment Lucy was reading into something that wasn't there and lashing because of her own insecurities. However, I do see the arguement that Tim could have realized that and tried to react to it better.

And that's why the last scene to me felt very disconnected from the main issue this episode - which was Lucy feeling insecure. She brings up that Tim is being unsupportive because of his own reservations - except, he was trying to be supportive in the previous conversation! So I just don't think this was a way the "Tim's feelings about UC" conversation should have been brought up - even though I agree it is a conversation that needs to be had.

(And I don't really understand what Lucy meant by 'undermining', if she's still referring to his "being unsupportive".)

And Tim is obviously upset by that and walks away, while I think he should have stayed and talked to her about the real issue at hand. I've seen people mention that this also ties back to how Lucy doesn't have support from her parents and that's something that we've never even seen them talk about together on screen (we never saw her tell Tim about the last time her mom came over in S3).

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is there are two topics here. 1. Lucy's confidence and career path. 2. Tim's feelings about UC and how he is going to deal with what Lucy chooses. And maybe they would have been able to have each of these storylines really shine if they hadn't mixed them all up together in this episode and kept them riding together. Have them work our their professional storylines separately, or with the help of other characters, but come home and discuss how it's all affecting them personally.

(Of course, you could argue that it's all connected for Lucy, she's the one factoring Tim's feelings into her decision, and there's something to that, but still, I just want to see a new and better dynamic for them, together and apart, that isn't the old TO/rookie one.)

My dream for Lucy actually is that she goes into that interview room with Primm and just owns up to what she did: yeah, I managed to manipulate 5 police officers in a trade, so just think what I can do in an interrogation room!

[marley-manson]

Xena season 4 finale(ish) post, warning for spoilers for certain mutuals who are currently watching the show, or anyone else.

FANTASTIC climax to Gabrielle's arc this season, good god. When she throws that fucking spear... chills. This is another contender for favourite Xena scene of all, it's so incredibly effective. The way these last few episodes have really hammered down Gabrielle's pacifism with her arguments with Amarice, her choice to let Brutus go instead of having him executed, her stupid powder and non-lethal fight shenanigans, the return of Eli in this episode - and it's all there just to make the moment where she picks up that spear as impactful as possible, and it works. Even her first kill and that fallout all the way back in season 3 now feels like it exists just to set up the emotional impact of this scene, it's that good.

And god the scene itself is amazing to watch. The way she mows down soldier after soldier as brutally and efficiently as possible, the way she visibly shifts from fighting to protect Xena to lashing out in frustrated rage as she realizes that escape is impossible, her lack of regret afterwards. The cheffest of kisses.

This episode was fantastic in other ways as well. I love that the show makes it clear that Xena only lost here because Callisto is a fucking cheater lmao. She would've killed Caesar when she intended to if Callisto hadn't intercepted her chakram, and she would've escaped the prison if Callisto hadn't broken her back. Caesar didn't defeat Xena, Callisto did, and only because Callisto has ghost magic going on. And that's very fitting too, because if it was just Xena vs Caesar it might've felt a little thin for an epic conclusion - but with true fan-beloved archnemesis Callisto involved, it feels appropriately impactful. Also love that Xena intended to just quietly assassinate Caesar lol. Circumstances are a little different than The Debt, since Caesar did declare his murderous intentions first, but the vibes are similar and I love them.

Also Caesar's sexualized vulnerability in this ep sure was a choice, but a good one imo - the sex nightmare (including a prolonged shot where they're positioned to mimic gender-reversed missionary) as well as Callisto getting handsy with him. And again like, idk exactly what the intent was here, but the vibes do feel like a call-back to his dubconny sexual encounter with Xena, and the fact (? taking their exchange in When Fates Collide into account, when Xena says she must've been his worst nightmare) that he was/is afraid of her. Idk, it adds a nicely complex layer to their interactions and mutual enmity, not quite undermining Xena's resentful hatred, but suggesting it's a two-way street, and for a good reason, especially with v traumatized Callisto drawing a parallel between the two of them in how Xena fucked them up. And given that they both simultaneously die by each others' hands-by-proxy in a pair of intercut scenes at the end, it does fit this story nicely. Both achieve a cathartic, and arguably deserved, vengeance.

Idk if I can say that was the intent definitively, I mean, the show also just has a hard-on for dominant women lol, it doesn't frame Xena as an actual rapist at any point, and it certainly hasn't made an impression on fans either based on the fact that I've like, never seen this dynamic between them discussed before. But Caesar waking up in terror after dreaming about Xena fucking and then stabbing him - in a context that suggests this is a recurring nightmare, given Caesar saying "dreams" plural and the fact that he hasn't even seen her recently - sure is a striking image to start us off with and contextualize Caesar's obsessive hatred, yk?

Oh man and finally I adore Callisto in this ep, and not just because she looks good with short hair lol. Also like, that shot when Xena and Gabrielle are being brought out to the crosses and she catches a snowflake on her tongue like a delighted child might be my favourite Callisto moment of all <333 And speaking of that moment, the direction and editing of this episode was also just amazing. Beautiful, many striking images, excellently paced.

Basically this was a nearly perfect episode, extremely satisfying and poignant and engaging and intriguing, and if it had actually been the end of the series it would've been a very fitting end. In some ways seasons 5 and 6 almost feel like bonus seasons lol, take them or leave them, with this as the true thematically resonant and emotionally satisfying ending.

[confessmau]

I have trouble explaining to people why I so throughly hate Ghost in general because it’s just. She sa’d someone and no one gave a shit when Zane said anything and I physically cannot get past that, as dumb as that is considering it’s just jess’s shit writing again.

~~

(mod thoughts below

AGREED!! anon they fucked that up so bad

i can see the ambition behind the ghost plot, especially in a series primarily focused on relationships, but it's resolved in such a gross way im honestly shocked that no one really brought it up before, like, last year.

imo i think the initial set up was pretty well done and does make sense? we always see ghost and zane's interactions before any character conflict, so there's no question about the objective truth. lucinda directly states that kim was possesed several episodes BEFORE ghost assults zane, and the scene is played dead straight. garroth, aaron, and aph's reactions, while supremely shitty make sense considering how they've previously treated zane in past seasons, and all three of them have had a history of assuming zane's overreacting over nothing; garroth spent the 3.5 side stories being a huge dick (picking apart zane's appearance during the weird excercise saga, belitting his interests, and straight up starts using zane's name as a verb to call out laur for overreacting) and laughs at the idea that anyone would like zane enough to sa him. aaron tries to use facts and logic to get zane to admit he's wrong like he did in the sick day ep. aph spent several episodes trying to teach zane "social lessons", and assumes that he's making a social failure and yells at him for it, later pulling him in the hall to correct him. garroth later has a sad eyes serious scene where he realizes that zane was telling the truth and he seriously fucked up.

jesson just forgot to, like, have anyone apologize for their actions....or address it in any meaningful way ever again.

the only time ghost ever gets confronted aboht the her actions is in s5, AFTER she's already escalated to attempting to actually kill kc. however, instead of focusing on her refusal to respect zane's boundaries or even her recent violent streak, it's about kim.

specifically about how kim is uncomfortable with ghost using her body to harrass zane because kim "doesn't want people to think she's into zane because she doesn't find zane attractive".

which is the exact justification garroth had for making fun of zane for being sa'd.

supremely nasty jesson thanks.

[periwinklecosma]

(tw for r*cism, p*dophilia, tr*nsphobia, and SA)

truly i am not saying this simply for the sake of being mean or a snob but i wish mp100 fans would think more about the type of people they choose to make popular in our community. as a fic reader and writer i've seen all kinds of shit that people come up with and i'm not picky with what i enjoy but you know what i find to be completely baffling? the fact that only a handful of people seem to be willing to be critical of an author who (and i'm not putting this under a read more because you guys need to see how fucking long this is and let it sink in):

wrote touichirou to be even worse than he already is in canon. we're talking about being pro-eugenics, being racist towards serizawa (who is portrayed as blasian), and condoning child impregnation (don't even try to come at me with the whole "well duh he's the villain so what's the problem?!" because let me ask you: why would any of the above be necessary to show that touichirou is a villain? all of this is ultimately unimportant to the fic in question as a whole and imo they're not handled with the necessary care that should entail. something being dark and gritty =/= being better; i thought we've evolved past this mindset). excuse me for disregarding mp100's themes of "it's never too late to change" for a second here, but shit like this makes it extra difficult to buy into his character development post-wd arc. most recently, the author has revealed herself to hc him as having had a white south african mother from whom he learned "his kind of eugenics mindset. outright headcanoning a character to be racist huh? white.

is racist towards serizawa in general actually. the narration is constantly making weird comments about his hair before he starts working at s&s. you see people like REIGEN saying he looks sloppy, and it's never called out.

wrote a graphic sequence where reigen gives birth in a taxi while ritsu watches and helps deliver it. again, it's a completely unnecessary scene and adds nothing to the overall narrative, and it can be very uncomfortable for those faint of heart. also theres a gratuitous r/trei joke thrown in there for good measure.

has very questionable trans rep, according to the trans people i've spoken to. serizawa is implied to have a trans fetish, shimazaki is portrayed as a trans woman chaser (you know for the funnies), and allusions to reigen's transness are mostly through explicit imagery.

is really weird about the kids????? shou is characterized as someone who's constantly making dirty and frankly unsettling comments towards others even when he isn't being aged up, even though that's not a trait he has in canon. he and the others are constantly dancing right up to this really uncomfortable line that stops just short of full-blown gross shit.

WROTE A FIC WHERE REIGEN ASSAULTS SERIZAWA. do you hear me? she wrote a fucking fic where serizawa wakes up to reigen trying to get it on with him. that is assault. this author will tell you that it isn't assault because they're in an established relationship but listen to me: That. Is. Assault.

doesn't tag any of the shit i just mentioned! she doesn't alert her audience to any of these things before she draws in her audience because she's more worried about "spoilers" than actually protecting people. one time someone asked her to tag the fic i mentioned in the bullet point directly above as SA due to being triggered but she refused because they were the only person to have a problem with it (allegedly), and also because they were "rude." wtf. basic fucking decency shouldn't hinge on how polite or rude someone is being, but she has such a huge victim complex despite being 39 years old and too old for this shit that she doesn't even realize it.

again i am not trying to put myself on a soapbox and say that i'm inherently better than anyone but i really am so disappointed in you people. for the most part i find that this fandom is a lot more well put together than a lot of those hellholes out there (save for the standard fuckery that all fandoms are guilty of obviously) but seeing talented artists that i otherwise respect and have nothing against choose to put this person on a pedestal and by extension enable this sort of thing to continue is so disheartening. i'm not trying to attack anyone or accuse them of consciously condoning this content, but please think for a bit before you uncritically recommend it to others just because it has your favorite ship in it or because you enjoy darker and more mature themes.

[aaronstveit]

Hey Jamie, I was thinking of watching the RWRB movie and since I’ve seen you didn’t like it I wanted to ask if you think I should only read the book instead? I don’t mind spoilers and I wanted to know what do you think they failed to adapt to the screen. (Also, if you think people will annoy you if you answer this with the things you disliked you don’t have to answer, ok?) I love your blog! 🫶🏻 Hope you have a great week ahead of you!!!

hi anon!! i'm going to answer this beneath a 'read more' so people who don't wanna see negativity about the movie don't have to read it🫶🏻 trigger warnings for discussions of sexual harassment & assault and forced outing.

obligatory disclaimer that the book is not without its flaws & there are very valid criticisms of it!

a big part of the RWRB book is the main character, alex's, journey through realizing he is bisexual, and pretty much all of it was cut out of the movie — for what i consider to be completely ridiculous reasons. the director said that the characters were older in the movie than in the book — which i don't think is actually true? alex is in law school in both the book and the movie so idk what this guy is going on about — as if someone in their midtwenties couldn't possibly still be discovering their sexuality. he also said he wanted alex's "angst" to only be related to henry and not his sexuality. lol.

almost all discussion of race is also taken out of the movie. for context, alex is a biracial Mexican American, and this shapes a lot of his journey throughout the book. aside from one line, all of this is taken out of the movie.

also taken out of the movie are two big characters from the book: june, alex's older sister, and rafael luna, alex's mentor. june's absense is explained by the director (in the same article linked above) as being about not wanting "two young actresses who are each being given half a meal." so he keeps nora, alex's best friend, and cuts out the sister, but funnily enough, nora doesn't even get half a meal. pretty much all of her personality & story are cut out of the movie.

rafael luna, in the book, is a gay senator who takes alex under his wing. he isn't in the movie because the director said, and i quote: "Anything that isn’t about Alex and Henry and their relationship and their own personal journeys to the narrative doesn’t belong in the film." i don't know how he can explain rafael (or june) as not being about alex's personal journey, but whatever lol.

[this is where the big spoilers start] the climax of the book is when the emails that alex and henry have been sending each other are leaked to the public, outing both of them. in the book, it is revealed that the emails were leaked by the republican running against Alex's mom in the 2020 presidential election. it is also revealed that he has a history of sexual assault & harassment, and that rafael luna is a victim of his.

in the movie, though, they scrap that whole plotline and imply that the emails were leaked by a jealous gay reporter who used to hook up with alex and is mad that alex isn't in love with him. aside from just being a stupid change to make, this is a genuinely harmful & homophobic stereotype, and honestly it really upset me. taking out the entire plotline on institutional homophobia and making it all about ~jealous gays~ is just sickening imo.

i was also annoyed at how characters like henry's sister bea and his best friend pez were given almost no personality or screentime when they were, in the book, fleshed-out and lovable people. henry's mother was also removed from the movie — in the book, she has a bit of a rocky presence, but ultimately stands up for henry against his grandmother — because the director felt that "robbed henry of his agency." which is an especially interesting take from the person who changed alex's coming out scene in the movie so that he comes out publicly and tells the world that he and henry are in a relationship without talking to henry about it first, giving a speech on how "queer people deserve to come out on their own terms" while doing that exact same thing to his boyfriend. but whatever!

on a more petty note, i just think the movie is extremelyyyyy cheaply made, that the actors playing henry and alex have absolutely no chemistry, and that uma thurman's texan accent is godawful. but i could live with all of that if the movie had literally any of the heart that the book i had! but i think "gay media should be allowed to be bad or silly" only goes so far.

ultimately, i would definitely recommend just reading the book & skipping the movie entirely, but it's up to you! i'm sure there are other people who would say it's a perfect movie and they loved every second of it. but it couldn't be me lol

i hope you have a lovely day/evening, anon!! i hope your week is lovely💛💛