#and it's her tragedy that they're living in such a fucked up world where everything needs fixing

[goodobservationshirley]

You almost died tonight, so, right now, running off with me probably does seem like a good idea, but you’ll find another worthy cause tomorrow, and another one the day after that.

[ordinaryschmuck]

With Gooseworx all but confirming that the Jax being an AI thing is bullshit, I personally want to talk about an interesting part about Jax that a lot of theorists used as "evidence" that validates the theory:

Jax's fourth wall breaks are a common topic brought up amongst the "Jax is an NPC" theory. After all, Caine broke the fourth wall in the pilot, knowing full well that the world of The Amazing Digital Circus isn't real and is talking to some unseen viewer as he introduces the Circus Crew.

There's also this bit of official art surrounding Jax's pin:

Where everyone else is inside their room, Jax is outside as pieces of the circus fall apart around him and all of reality to crash. Certainly lends itself to this idea that Jax knows he's not a real person and that his presence could cause great disruption to this world. And he doesn't care because none of it is real. Might as well have fun and cause chaos in a world that doesn't exist.

And I'll admit, all of this seems like valid claims for how the theory could be true. I saw it all and thought that it surely COULD be possible...but there are some things that stop me from being convinced.

Firstly, Caine breaking the fourth wall in the pilot doesn't really seem like an AI talking to the audience. It looks more like an AI programmed to talk to a player as a game boots up. What we saw in the opening could be more like a morning routine that he has to do at least once a day. Plus, we've yet to see any other NPC talk to the audience like Jax has. He explicitly called out the viewers in episode three, knowing full well he's being watched by SOMEONE. Or, at the very least, acting like he is. What do I mean by that? Well, to explain, I'd like to use one of my favorite fourth wall breakers as an example:

Deadpool, in most adaptations, knows fully well that he's a fictional character. He'll talk to the readers/viewers, move the camera around, and constantly talk shit to the writers/studio for occasionally screwing him over. It's all in good (Sometimes bloody) fun...but there's a canonical reason for this. It's not like She-Hulk where the fourth wall breaks are a way to tell HER stories HER way. You see, Deadpool...is just fucking insane.

No, really, that's the reason. Due to the trauma of gaining his powers, Deadpool's mind breaks and he's led to believe that he MUST be a fictional character. In comics, he actually gets voices in his head that makes him think he must be some comic book superhero, and the movies implied that something similar happened given how he never broke the fourth wall ONCE before getting his powers. This means him breaking the fourth wall could be seen as a coping mechanism. After all, it's better to believe you're a fictional character designed to entertain some invisible audience than believe that all of the shitty things that happened to you and people close to you is just a cruel joke from the universe.

Sound familiar?

Going back to the pilot, remember how Pomni's first instinct was to say that the Circus was all just a dream? To her, it's better to live in a lie that everything around her isn't real than to accept the reality that she's stuck in digital purgatory. Jax very well could be going through something similar, but unlike Pomni who seemed to just accept her reality, Jax never did. The trauma of being stuck in the Circus had led to his mind breaking just like Pomni's, Kinger's, and anyone else's. It's just that, for him, he thinks he's coping with it better because he discovered the secret that no one else did: None of this is real.

They're not actually people trapped in some hellscape while an AI unintentionally tortures them. They're all just fictional characters whose tragedies and silly antics are used to entertain viewers. I mean, it's either that or they're real people forever trapped in the circus with the closest thing to death being a full, psychotic break as they give up their sanity because they no longer want to exist in this hell anymore...But that possibly can't be true. Because if that IS true, then Jax has to face that he's a real person stuck in a real, awful situation that he can't joke his way out of. So, it's best to think nothing is real and nothing they do matter. So, might as well have fun with it.

Going back to the pin...

I don't think this is damning evidence about Jax being an NPC. Actually, it perfectly captures who he is as a character. He knows the circus isn't real. He even thinks HE isn't real. So instead of grappling with that, Jax lets himself believe that if nothing is real than nothing he does matters. He can break things, ruin lives, and assist in torturing the others in the circus. It's what he thinks will make the show more entertaining, even though all he's really entertaining is himself so his mind doesn't break more than it does.

Now, could the same apply if he's an NPC? Well...maybe. Gumigoo definitely proves how far someone could fall when they're told their world is fake. He was about ready to give up on life because he didn't think he had one. If Jax was an NPC, I could see him having a similar break, but going in the far opposite direction where, instead of giving up on life, he chooses to live the way HE wants it. Instead of being some one-off NPC for a lame adventure, he could go off on adventures of his own and ruin the lives of others now that his is thoroughly ruined.

However, Gooseworx makes a good point: "...a lot of people come up with theories based on how unexpected they'd be, and not because they make sense or align with the show's themes."

If Jax is an NPC, it would harm the overall message of the show. That there's meaning to be found in a stagnant life, and you find that meaning with people close to you who make that life worth living. Jax represents a sort of foil to that idea, with his way of coping with the madness being pure chaos and breaking others. It's his coping mechanism, and it works because it shows how human Jax really is. They're ALL human and they have human desires and wants, with the Circus pretty much stripping that away and leaving them...as they are now. They're emotionally broken, their sanity is decreasing, and some of them are losing all sense of self. By making Jax an NPC, it would definitely be surprising, but it would take away from that idea. It no longer makes him a human facing his own tragedy but instead an AI that's just as broken as Gummigoo. More than that, it gives the others an easy out. All the crew has to do is tell Caine that Jax is an NPC and POOF! No more annoyance. So making him someone who HAS to stay with the others and they're forever forced to deal with him also adds more to THEIR tragedy and torture.

Jax being an NPC is an interesting theory, but I don't think it's one that SHOULD be true. To me, it's more fascinating watching Jax treat the world around him as meaningless knowing he's a human instead of a rogue NPC breaking everything. And Gooseworx made it clear how they feel about it. Now, could it potentially be a mislead to get fans off the trail? Genuinely...I don't think so. That sounded very "I don't like this idea so it's not gonna happen" type of response. Still, we won't know until the show wraps up. Anything can happen, but don't get your hopes up if a character who does bad things to people that don't deserve it is more human than you think.

[sharkneto]

what about five made him ur blorbo…

Man, what made Five my guy.

There’s the surface level stuff – he hits a lot of tropes I love. Asshole with a heart, competent in everything but people, an assassin who gets cool fights to good music, teleports, last man in the world, has a fucked up wife situation. He’s a fifty-eight-year-old man who looks thirteen, that concept right there has so much to work through, all by itself.

All of that is really fun stuff, but under all of that, I think I can sum up why Five hit so hard with just that he has heart. The show could have gone the route of comic!Five – unredeemable bastard of a tiny man. That would have been fun, I love comic!Five, but he works better on a comic book page, where things can be more 2D. The change the show made – maybe on accident – is that show!Five loves an incredible amount, and that’s what hooked me hard. Sure, some of this is fan interpretation, but I think it’s got moments in-show to back it up. One of his first moves he made, when stuck in the apocalypse, was to make Delores – he has her within a few days of landing there. She says so much about him the second we meet her in the show - shorthand to tell us just how bad the apocalypse was, and that, when faced with nothing, Five makes a person he has to take care of. With that, he survived four decades as the last person on earth in dystopian hell before he could get back to save the world – so he says, at least, but he has always prioritized his siblings. They're his world. He’s not great at saying it, but he’s a man of action and his actions speak very loudly.

With all that love, comes a lot of grief, which is actually what keeps me going with Five. I’m pretty open that I’ve had a lot of grief in my life. I’m doing better, it’s been a number of years now, but grief doesn’t go away, and Five is an incredible vehicle for playing with and processing grief. Experiencing it, growing from it, moving on with life around it. And Five has so many layers of grief to play with. There’s the grief for his family who he found dead when he was 13, grief for the world because it all ended, grief for the life he lost, grief for the life he had to live, grief for what he’s had to do, grief for his body and his situation. How do you keep going and move on after experiencing such loss? I find it both cathartic and motivating to think about and sit in that space.

He's a walking tragedy and I adore him for it. Character of all time.

[kandadze]

Ep 34 loose thoughts

Here we go, the finale!!!

....... This drama really does not fuck around when it comes to grief. ZYC's reaction to seeing Bai Jiu absolutely gutted me (it's usually the pain of those left behind that gets me the most and boy, was ZYC's pain palpable. Like the unbearable weight crushing your chest). The way he immediately looked away first, like he just *couldn't* face this. He's faced so much already, and so, so bravely, but this, this was *too* much.

And then their song came on, he noticed the bells in Bai Jiu's hand, and I lost it. (I could literally write paragraphs about everything going on in this one scene, and I probably will, but I *really* need to calm down first.)

The whiplash I got when the scene switched to WX still being slammed against hard surfaces... this would be a good moment for ZYZ to appear!

😭 omg I can't believe her tears brought him back. I mean, I *can,* this is not the first time this drama demonstrates that brute strength is not always the answer and vulnerability and our bonds with others can overcome obstacles, it's just, I didn't quite expect it to work so well!

Ahhhh okay, it was her tears powered up by her divine power. My previous thought still stands though lol

.................

Oh no. When Fan daren looked at ZYZ and told WX that someone else will look after her now I was not only bawling but also going, *will* he though? Or will she lose ZYZ too, right after losing her dad? 😭

(The analytical part of my brain can't help but tick off the scenes from MV as they click into place... just a few left to go, and I'm really scared now)

Oh no are we having a zombie demon apocalypse now? (Oh no, don't tell me that the only way to deal with this is to use Baize token, as she just unconsciously did with her dad? So either ZYZ or ZYC have to sacrifice themselves to heal WX so she can do her thing? Is this how we're going to lose one if not both of them????)

Oh fucking hell I was right. Only WX is ready to sacrifice herself - "this is the final sacrificial spell..." Why are all of them like thisssss (don't answer that, I'm just having a lot of feelings about everyone in the squad and how they're always ready to do everything in their power, including dying, to make sure the others get to live. I can't remember being this feral about a group of characters in a *long* time.)

IS ANYONE SURPRISED THAT ZYZ WENT, ABSOLUTELY THE FUCK NOT, NOT ON *MY* WATCH??? (I hate being right.)

Omg are you really talking about the pendant, or something else, ZYZ?! Fuck me do I even continue watching at this point when I'm pretty sure I know where this is going???

Yup, I continue. See the world clearly and all that.

😭😭😭

But how is him dying to kickstart her powers gonna help with the poison though???

Aw ZYZ, that must've hurt, having to do that. (Also, if they both somehow survive, she's gonna kill him for pulling this stunt.) Oh her cries for him are killing me. And him, too. I feel like yelling some more about HMH's acting because his *face,* that self slap, the *pain* - just, perfect in every way.

And speaking of pain, there's still more. ZYC is like a perfect mirror of WX at this moment, having just lost someone so dear, and you can see how it's killing ZYZ inside that there's no time, that he needs to ask ZYC to fulfill his oath *now*...

(I do appreciate the explanation why the "wing" spell worked. The karma is indeed tangled in the most unpredictable twists.)

Like I understand what he's saying, but why the fuck do they have to pay the highest price, and repeatedly. (Oh yeah, because of one schmuck's hubris, that's why.) The Greek tragedy of it all. 😭😭😭

Looking at ZYC now, still remembering him in ep 1, oof, the difference. How he's grown and changed, while the "fate" (ugh but I hate the word and all its implications) remained the same. The way he asks, is there really no other way? 😭😭😭 I'm asking you too, drama!!! Is there really no other way???

I agree, this is fucking absurd.

Oh nooooo are we really going to get an exact repeat of Ying Long and Bingyi, including the "let me do it myself"?!

Oh. My heart pretty much stopped. ZYZ's tiniest gasp 😭😭😭

ZYC REALLY SAID, I DECIDED THAT YOU WOULDN'T HAVE TO MAKE A CHOICE FOR ME! THIS IS MY DECISION! I AM WILLING TO BEAR THE GUILT OF KILLING MY DEAREST FRIEND FOR ALL THE LIFETIMES TO COME! YOU DON'T NEED TO BEAR IT FOR ME!!!

If this isn't the purest motherfucking love, I don't know what is. (ZYC, the man that you are. The *strength* in this guy!)

Oh for fuck's sake don't do this to me, drama! (I mean, after what they've already done there's no point hoping they won't just continue twisting the knife but my poor heart can't take much more...) She was *crawling* to get to where she saw him go, and then that moment her binds disappear and she realizes... 😭😭😭

That little stumble as she sees them, and ZYC looks up and drops his sword. Somehow the aftermath hurts even more. (Ngl I'm somewhat annoyed that - maybe to fend off censorship - we don't get to see ZYC support ZYZ for one last time, we don't get to see him even try to make a move to catch ZYZ's fall or at least ease it somehow, but only this way could WX get him in her lap so I guess, fair. Also, replying to myself here, narrative explanation might as well be that ZYC is so shell-shocked from the enormity of what just happened that he's simply not able to move at all at this point. No matter how strong he is, I can't fucking even begin to imagine what might be going on through his head right now.)

Leave it to ZYZ to take care of everything while he was at it, including WX's poisoned state. He might be a vessel of malicious energy, but the amount of love in this guy is simply uncomparable...

Yes, stupid demon, you are indeed amazing 😭

He turned to look at ZYC as he started fading for good???

My throuple!!!

This... gives a whole new meaning to "crying in the rain," I swear.

😭😭😭

Sorry, I have no words.

For one of the shorter episodes in the series, it sure didn't waste even a second to absolutely crush me.

On... to the extra? Once I can breathe properly again, holy shit.

[bestygogirl]

BEST YGO GIRL: FINAL ROUND

please use this as an opportunity to say why you like a character, not why you don't.

Propaganda under the cut!

Isis Ishtar

gorgeous, very caring sister, strong duelist, and the only woman to ever make Seto Kaiba squirm

anyways. not only as mentioned above is she the first woman to make kaiba squirm, but she was by all means going to beat him if not for the millennium rod's millennium interference. yami marik admits that she's a strong duelist with a strategy that's been working for literal years-- and given that she's not like, a professional duelist, thats pretty impressive

she also recently got some really cool meta bumps and let me point out that an "ishizu deck" now includes obelisk the tormentor-- which we knew she had prior to giving it to kaiba, but i think it only solidifies my opinion that she very much could wield an Egyptian God Card, an exclusive little club for top tier duelists

as a character she presents herself with an amazing amount of poise and grace, shes compassionate and kind and stays with mai and serenity even though she only just met them. shes struggling through living the past 5 years of her life drowning in guilt for her family's tragedy just because she wanted to make her little brother happy and shadi is a fucking liar. shes foretold her own death and marches towards it grimly but with so much love in her heart. and even then shes 20 years old and holds an important position in the egyptian government that typically requires a doctorate degree AND has been dealing with mariks off-and-on bullshit entirely by her lonesome. she also likes to flex her fortunetelling a little which is awesome i think she should do that more that scene where she tells the guy exactly how the stele is being transported was so everything

speaking of shes got such an attitude. "is it your destiny to waste my time?" iconic. never seen before will never be seen again. watch the duel between her va and joeys its so fucking funny

shes excult. shes doesnt flinch in the face of god nor death. seto kaiba and yami marik respect her. shes so sad and so sweet and battle city couldnt have happened without her.

also her parallels with kaiba are what motivate kaiba to give yugi the card he needed to beat marik.

kaiba, in duelist kingdom, was ready to jump off a ledge if yugi didnt let him through to face pegasus while trying to save mokuba out of sheer desperation to save his little brother. he KNOWS what that dedication feels like and the iron kind of will you need to have to make that kind of gamble. isis is being so fucking legit with what shes saying and he respects that and her judgement enough to change his mind and not only watch the duel, but give yugi a card that eventually helps him win, even if he has no real confidence in the odds. but theres a CHANCE, which is the same thing he taught her when he beat her in a duel. the layers its her faith that moves him to act. which is so crazy

anyway vote isis shes my best friend forever and a real rep for all the 20 year olds who honest to god did not sign up for this bullshit

Yuzu Hiragi

The entire show would not work if the cast wasn't obsessed with her, and they're all right to stan her, literally gets Sora and Serena to defect from Academia with her sheer charisma, beat Masumi at their gay little rivalry, Yugo spends a few days with her and is ready to die for her, Yuya is simply just the loudest about adoring her And why not? She is so clever and determined, doing the most work out of anyone to figure out the myth plot. Actively trains to keep up with the rest of cast. Even when the universe is conspiring against her and trying to keep her down, she fucking headbutts Roger and tells him off or manifests to help save the world in the ultimate girlboss team-up that was the Arc V finale. Truly any dimension without her is worth upending.

The mysterious magical bracelet that isekai's her to different worlds, the Can-Do attitude, the cool poses (fusion summoning), the ADORABLE character design, AND she was 1/4 of a world-saving hero in the past?? If it weren't for the meddling writers, she would have been the main character

yuzu is everything. literally the plot of arc v hinges on the fact everyone who meets her become just as obsessed with her. and they are totally right to do so

[little-elf-wanders]

My hearts breaking at the idea my Lavellan starts out this idealist making the best of a terrible circumstance, where she gives her everything into saving Thedas and stopping the arrogance of Coryphaeus, to the point she's maybe always in the war room, or always out making sure everyone under her care is doing okay before she even remotely let's herself rest, or out on field trying to see what's able to be fixed or changed for the better. Someone so relentlessly in the fight because she has no choice now, so she may as well make strides to making it the best place to live she possibly can. For her people - the elves, for mages who don't vy for nothing but power, for the little people these big political debates and wars step on or forget about in their massive battle for perceived justice or rightness.

A woman so open to love that she let's the dreadwolf in, who was just using the Inquisition and her to get his orb back.

And that by the end she is so broken by it, that she contemplates turning her heart off. She really sits and thinks about if it was even worth it. What it was all even for.

But then, instead of wallowing or deciding it was all for nothing, she looks to her friends who had been trying to make the world better alongside her. Who fought alongside her. And who followed her into this and even made it all possible for her to even have the chance to fight for a difference; and she's going to pity Solas and anyone else who despairs and turns their hearts off, because the heart is the whole fucking point. Because by fuck, they're trying through the pain and hollowness to claw up something other than gore and bone.

And they're going to plant gardens, whether you want it or not. They're going to look those so marred by their own pride in the eye that they aren't even recognisable in the mirror and say, "This is no excuse."

I want Lavellan's story not to be a tragedy because she loved a man who wanted to break the world, and she lost that man - this isn't about that man - I want it to be a tragedy because despite it all, she mirrors Solas. She fights for her people too. The ones of the present. He just refuses to see them as his people now, but they're hers, and now he's in the way of it just like Coryphaeus was. He's trying to wreck it or control it, just like Coryphaeus was. And it's a tragedy because she see's if she darkened her heart the way he did, she could have turned into him.

There's no greater tragedy than to have loved and lost. And Solas is lost.

[asoulwithadream]

Shoscombe Old Place / Part 1 - Sherlock & Co From the diary of ASoulWithADream...

I'm really enjoying this episode so far! The domesticity coupled with the rising tension, and references to something which both scares and intrigues me. As I see my summaries grow shorter, my commentary grows longer, and I think I find it a welcome change.

Live Soul Reaction (my on-the-spot commentary):

A HOOVER?

Sherlock wouldn't be good at poker.

I love that in almost all pseudo-official works of Sherlock Holmes and his adventures (as documented by Doctor John Watson), he never fucking cleans.

MARIANA. I know this gives us an adventure more centred on John-Sherlock but MARIANAAAA NO-

I think John saying "holly-bobs" has cured me.

Their little tangents bring me so much life. They remind me so much of me and my own best-friend, seamlessly flowing from one topic (where one of us may be more knowledgable) to the other. They've captured the chemistry of friendship so incredible well.

SWINDON TOWN! WOO!

"Right, well, let's just say: she didn't just get a double-D in Maths and French…" JONK.

John "bit of a slut" Watson.

"There's no episode," yeah right, everything's an episode. You are an episode. I am an episode. We are episode…

I love John's town lore. The world-building is insane and both so normal and so outrageous, meeting somewhere in the middle. John doesn't feel like a character in my phone, I can imagine him actually outside Swindon right now.

"You are an idiot," <33333333

You know who Carol Watson reminds me of? Colm McCool from Derry Girls.

Yapping runs in the family, I guess.

Formed to that shape over thousands of year. Like a river. Water. River. Water falling. What.

"And that was a prize, was it?" "Hah, shut up," <3

I see what you did there Jonk. I don't think him recording was a mistake. He wanted a case, and he knew a case would appear, because cases seem to follow Sherlock like mice to a piper. No argument over the game being afoot? Immediately starting the case from the first lead? John, you wanted this to happen. <3

"The entire species? Or a particular suborder?" "THE Beatles."

I thought Gary Lineker was that one guy Sherlock called a hunk.

"Did she have any animosity towards the creature?" Sherlock what.

"She's an eighty-six year old woman in San Tropez, John. I ain't got a scooby, mate." I LOVE YOU JOE!!! I <3 YOU!!!

"You don't realise a place is run down when you live in it, do you?" The nostalgia of that sentence hit me like a bull train. The tragedy of decay can co-exist with the love for a place in it.

Also, what's with the poker/card-game references? Is this relevant, or just an inside joke?

TATTOO REMOVAL??? CLOSE INSPECTION???? ONCE OR TWICE??????

I love that Sherlock is trying to ease John with having Carrie involved with the case, offering to avoid talking to her, being the one to contact instead, he's being so kind and thoughtful and I love seeing Sherlock act like this.

This hobbit aah music has got me joining the gnome vs knight war.

"To see this, trickle through the countryside, knowing what he'll eventually become. Journey, growth, and finally, lost, to much deeper, complex waters. Unrecognisable in the homogeny." That's a the second explicit mention of water, very poetically phrased as both a metaphor for something I can not quite put my finger on, and also… waterfalls. I think I was right to comment on the Final Problem a few days ago. Wrong in my theory, right with time.

"Bliss, cheers." <3

THE FUCK.

ARCHIE.

WITH HER??? HE WAS WHO'S?

CARRIE.

They're getting better at cliffhangers (pun intended). How do I know? I'm getting more and more frustrated.

[guess-that-ship]

S12 Round 3

A Clashing of Elements

cw: spoilers

Water is new to her abilities, viewing them as a gift with which to save people and bring justice. Fire is a veteran, having seen her powers lead to tragedy as a result of trying to help. She wants to teach Water a lesson, cruelly encouraging her to help only herself. Water is disgusted, and vows to take her down. The two violently fight on multiple occasions, narrowly avoiding grave injuries. But everything changes when they learned of how they were tricked, and what they gave up to earn their new abilities.

Fire extends an olive branch to Water, but she is unable to accept it. She no longer hates Fire, but she considers herself unworthy of living if she’s not sacrificing herself to save people. Eventually, this catches up to her. Water loses herself, becoming a twisted version causing rampant chaos. Fire is determined to save her. Even as Fire is beaten up, she continues to call out to Water. Nothing works. Eventually, Fire comments on how much it sucks to be alone. But she is going to be there for Water. With a kiss, she sacrifices herself to free Water’s soul and allow her to rest in peace.

In another world, Water finds Fire again. Water takes her hand and says that her biggest regret is not getting to have more time together. The two of them rest their heads together. It has been a tumultuous road, but perhaps they will be okay.

Old(ish) men one-sided yaoi

cw: spoilers

They are childhood best friends who swore they would always work together and never let the competitiveness for the job they both wanted get in the way of that… until character B gets a girlfriend and gets her pregnant and decides he will give up on that dream for his new dream: marry his gf and be a family man. Character A gets really hurt by this and cuts all contact immediately, swearing he will never forgive him.

Years later character A gets the job they both wanted and goes on to live his life wishing him and character B could meet again, but still being incredibly stuck in the past and hating him all the same. A then meets B's grandson due to work-related reasons and they end up working together but A is so petty that at the first disagreement they have he tries to beat the shit out of him. He later realizes he's just a nice, honest kid who is honestly kind of insane and it reminds him of B, so he let's him leave and decides to visit B.

B is really really exited to see A, who in his head is like "I hate you but I love you and I missed you but fuck you", and then they have a nice hug where A thinks about how gentle and kind B is and feels dumb for how he acted… until A tries to beat the shit out of him. They semi-reconcile and end up meeting up more tho, and B makes it abundantly clear again that he is very happy to reunite with A.

They later team up because they're worried about B's grandson and have a very meaningful talk where B reassures A that overall he has made a good impact on society and is doing a good job. A also realizes that he can't keep dwelling on the past and that B was not evil for deciding to change his plans for the future and go after the love of his now dead wife.

[the-eeveekins]

The 21st Day of G-Witch: The End of Hope

I think there was an expectation that Suletta would immediately jump into action after the revelations of the last episode, but this is a far more realistic outcome. The three people that formed the core of pretty much her entire life up until this point pushed her away, and it's not like she could just hop onto a ship and jump into a warzone to see them. Not knowing what to do next, she continues with her school life, trying to find a new purpose in life that isn't trying to live up to the expectations of others.

Kenanji came in trying to handle this the right way, with a peaceful negotiation. And while Shaddiq probably would have bought enough time to successfully move Sarius out of Asticassia, if Guel doesn't charge it screaming everything they know, Shaddiq also probably doesn't let loose Norea into the school to cause a massacre and force the SAL into action.

Norea's anger towards Spacians due to the way Earth and it's people have been exploited and abused is entirely justified. It's just unfortunate that if she hadn't let herself be completely consumed by it, she might have been saved, and seen the potential better future.

Nika and Chuchu have always played important roles in the show at different points and for different reasons. And it's so incredibly frustrating that after they're reunited, we never get to see this conversation as the resolution to their personal plotline together (and that instead, we got the conversation with Nika and Martin).

This whole fight is incredibly frustrating, because it's really trying it's hardest to paint Guel in a positive/heroic light. But Shaddiq and Sabina's criticisms of Guel are absolutely spot on. Guel grew up having a privileged life because of the oppression of Earthians, and even after seeing that oppression first hand and seeing how his father and his company played a role in that oppression, Guel still idolizes his father and still wants to maintain that company that causes so much suffering. And to make matters worse, Guel's own habit of charging into situations without thinking as led to so much suffering, not just for him, but for others.

It's not like Shaddiq is a hero either, and his attitude with regards to Miorine in this scene continues to be gross and fucked up. But while Shaddiq and Sabina are trying to create a better world for Earthians, Guel is fighting to maintain the status quo, even though he's seen first hand what it does and has suffered through it.

Sadly, anyone who has seen a Gundam before knew this relationship would end in tragedy.

Another episode that ends with a punch to the gut. The way the title dropped after Suletta sees Petra left me with chills, followed by the students grieving over the dead bodies of their friends.

This is probably one of my favorite Suletta moments in the entire show, and it's the moment where I really, truly fell in love with her and knew she would be one of my favorite characters ever. After starting the episode not knowing what to do and seeing her classmates injured and killed in the attack, Suletta decides that's she's going to help, however she can.

Even if she can't save everyone, even if she gains nothing from it, Suletta tries her hardest to try and save anyone she can, working into the night to save people still trapped in the rubble. Suletta has always helped people in need, going back to her work as a rescue worker on Mercury, and even continuing to her time at Asticassia where she rescued and helped Miorine. And with that, Suletta finds her purpose, and Suletta decides for herself how she wants to move forward.

[arsonistazzy]

Tadc theories.

Why?

I'ma just ramble here

Don't yell at me 😕

When looking into tadc it makes you wonder why everyone even looks the way they are, why they have their names and whatever.

Even though pomnis name was randomly generated. I don't think it was random. Her name means remember. What can't she remember? Her name. And her life.

I don't think it was an accident Caine named her pomni.

And she goes insane when looking at the computer because that's what got her into there. As she stated.

It makes her go crazy because it seems familiar to her. But it's not an exit. She's looking for an exit, and to her knowledge it could fuck her over or some shit. Maybe she used to be an office worker, which explains why her exit doors were all office scenes. Maybe the VR was in a room she ran to to escape her job. She found it, and got curious. Which is why she was scared when she first appeared

Okay moving on to gangle,

Gangle has a comedy and tragedy mask to personify depression. No matter how much she tries to be happy and fix a happy face for others, deep under that very fragile mask is the truth, it's the sadness shes trying to hide from everyone. Maybe in her real world she struggled with depression and the vr was one of her last resorts of happiness.

The ribbons could be a representation of how she's always been wrapped around depressions fingers like some sort of leash and hell or sum

Zooble, zooble is unstable, which makes me think she always tried to change herself for others around her. No matter what he did he was never enough for anyone. No matter how much he changed himself or fixed her personality it wasn't good enough for everyone around. So in order to escape that they put on the VR, which ultimately trapped them.

In the digital world they're just a bunch of everything really. They fall apart easily just like how easy it can be to push someone to their *breaking* point.

Jax, I don't have much of a theory on him, but I'm wondering why he has keys.

Nobody else has keys, and why else would he have keys besides maybeg being a locksmith robber irl.

Jax is obviously a big ol bitch. And he finds it funny, what if he was robbing someone's house with one of his many tricks to unlock locks, and found the VR, anf when he put it on it sucked him in. Which could explain the keys.

But what about his appearance. I've heard someone else say he's not just a rabbit but a jackalope. Jackalopes are just bigger, bitchier versions of rabbits and have antlers. What is Jax? A big (tall) bitchy rabbit.

Idk much about Caine since he's an NPC and not someone trapped. But if Caine is an npc how come he knew pomni got trapped in by a computer, which has been confirmed at the end, that that compyter that made pomni go crazy is where tadc is. But how would Caine know that and what it looks like. If Caine is an npc.I never explained pomnis outfit

I believe pomni is a jester because her whole life leading up to that point she's been "amusing" others and doing things to make others happy and not herself. Which makes her a fool. A kings fool is a jester. She's Caine's, who's the king(not kinger) fool. That's why she's a jester and not a clown like kaufmo.

She's a fool for how she lived. Kaufmo was probably just really manipulated and fucked over. Making him the "clown". Which could also be why he abstracted easily..he was already so over everything. This was the last shove he needed

[xerith-42]

Some notes on Xavier

Pretty sure he's only mentioned by name in episode 72, so I just got screenshots of everything mentioned about Xavier in that episode.

Just so that way we're all working with the same information when we start characterizing him.

Let's just address... the elephant in the room. The fact that Xavier is now the third, maybe fourth if you truly believe Enki was in love with her (I don't), male divine warrior who's acted in a lets say questionable way because of their feelings about her. Which, while a depressing reflection of their descendants in a strange and twisted sense, is just really bad. Like. It's bad.

Yeah Araphel tried to kill her but they're still soulmates, and Esmund probably got obsessive or overprotected, and he and Enki both nearly killed Araphel after his jealousy drove him insane. But this? Establishing an entire elite set of guards just to stop normal people from talking to her? To determine whether they were worthy of bothering her? Even if Irene agreed to this, hell even if she suggested it, that's just. So many layers of not okay.

It's no wonder I forgot Xavier existed until I got an Aphblr, I didn't want to remember that!! No wonder they just retconned him out of existence, holy fuck. Uh. So. What do we do with that?

The obvious answer is just change the context behind the Jury and it's creation entirely. How do we do that? Wellll--

This is the part where I hijack the post to push my Irene and Xavier being childhood friends to lovers agenda. Because I think that would be amazing. Because it would be amazing. Xavier having a private look at Irene that none of the Divine Warriors had because he's the only one who knew her before she got the relic. He knew what she was like because she was barely an adult when the relic found her, and they'd grown up next to each other for seventeen years before that.

Xavier very much started to crush on Irene at a young age, but I imagine a mix of insecurity, comphet (which does exist in the mcd universe), toxic masculinity that he hadn't deconstructed yet, and a general sort of subservience to Irene made it so he never quite fessed up. He was very obvious and Irene knew at some point, but he didn't say it directly for a long time.

But what's important is that Xavier was there. He was there for everything. When Irene first set out on her journey to find other relics and those worthy of them, he went right alongside her to keep her safe. He was raised to believe a man should protect his woman and he's gonna god damn do it. He saw when she discovered both the good and the bad, and even the ugly sides of living with a relic. They both saw the tragedy of the world they lived in and did everything they could to stop it.

He saw as she met every one of the Divine. As she fell in love with Araphel. As he fell back. As Esmund fell in love. As Menphia fell in love. He watched as so many foolish guards did the same thing he ha done. And he never felt much jealousy. Even if he never directly confessed, Irene let him down gently. At the time she thought she just wasn't capable of love, and he was okay with that. Xavier was content to spend the rest of his life loving Irene to death in any way she allowed.

And when others fell in love, he was barely even surprised. How could they not love her? She was worth giving your entire life to before she became a literal angel. He never felt jealousy because he could always empathize, and be there when she more likely than not rejected them. He was always there for her in a way distinctly non-romantic because he realized early into their travels that she was going to need it.

Xavier always just wanted to support Irene in any way he could. He tried not to put her on a pedestal. He failed sometimes, but he tried his hardest to remember that Irene was truly just another human woman that chose to keep him at her side. That's what mattered more than anything. He was always what she needed him to be. When she needed a shoulder to cry on, he was there. When she needed a friend to drink with, he was there.

And when she needed someone to protect her when one of her closest friends, the only love of her life turned against her, he was there. He protected her. But he knew he couldn't forever. He knew that whatever solution Kul'zak was cooking up wasn't going to last forever if they weren't willing to kill him. They needed Esmund's help to do it, and he'd never agree to it. So, before he even knew what the plan was, Xavier set up a fail safe.

Xavier and Irene were 100% raised with the mentality of "hope for the best, prepare for the worst."

That fail safe was the Jury of Nine. He and Esmund had already started the Guard Academy, he just decided that the best of the best overall would get the chance to be evaluated by him. If they passed the vibe check, they got to join him as a guard of Irene. He hand picked each original member of the Jury, spent extensive time with all of them making sure that they all not only were good fighters, but worked well together.

He had seen in real time perhaps what the rest of the world hadn't. He saw the Divine start to tear each other apart. He couldn't let that happen again. So he made sure that conflicts were resolved quickly, and if he felt that two Jury members were incompatible, he would decide which of them brought more to the table and had a more reasonable argument for why they should stay.

Xavier still gets to be a little morally corrupt because he's literally making these people make court cases for why they should keep their job, but that's what happens when you want to guard a near demi-god. Just comes with the territory. Maybe don't be petty assholes and this won't be a problem.

While the Jury remains today, this aspect, along with many other of Xavier became lost to time. After the war of the Divine, Xavier sort of... fell into the background. He stayed out of the public, spent most of his time with the Jury or Irene, and in his final years, he just disappeared. No regard for his legacy. No regard for any friends he left behind.

Because he'd just been left by the only real friend he ever had.

[cirrusin]

Haiiii ur DGM thoughts are always juicy what are your thoughts for Kanda or Lenalee (*＞∇＜)ﾉ

hi <3 kanda and lenalee are such insane characters i love them

i have a bit of a theory about the relationship between kanda's hallucinations (of his past life) and mugen's ability to create illusions but idk how to word it yet .. in any case kanda's sheer capacity for love and loyalty is astounding. when you meet him initially youre like what a rude cunt doesn't he care if finders die?? and admittedly kanda still has negative tact but now WE GET IT. if people willingly served and died for an organization as corrupt as the order i wouldn't respect them either tbh. what does it mean when the order has stooped to levels that even the earl says are fucked up? but the way kanda continued to fight for the order for the precise purpose of finding that person from his past, and the way kanda refuses to leave the battle even after finding alma just to repay allen. man .... something something his ruthlessness for the sake of love . then the way kanda "killed" alma to continue living and find that person from his past (WHO WAS ALMA), what a perfect tragedy jesus christ!!!

and lenalee IS SO FUCKING INTERESTING!! it's been a while since we saw lenalee and allen's "dream worlds" but i haven't forgotten. they're mirrors of one another separated by what seems to be a lake? with the same moon!! god i could write a whole essay on the dream worlds in dgm, because somehow we see nea mourning mana in allen's dream world and by extension lenalee's mirror world, and we kind of know allen's connection to the earl but where does lenalee lie? there's something to be said about how dark boots and crown clown have both acted independently of their users but somehow i don't think she's the heart, she seems like she's being set up to play a larger role that we haven't seen yet. i'm so excited to see where she goes!!! aside from that, it's no coincidence that dark boots now looks like shackles around her ankles :( all in all lenalee is such a sad character too like she's the perfect representation of somebody who's lost everything and would do anything to prevent that happening again ... she was terrified of lvellie when she was young and she's still terrified of him now (side note, her sibling-like relationship w kanda where she kept running to him whenever lvellie visited.. augh)

but i hope lenalee and kanda both end up fully defecting from the order 👆

[raayllum]

What Aaravos says : And i can better serve you

What Aaravos means : And you can better serve me

So like I've been mulling this over because

What is the difference between a servant and a pawn, if there is one?

Is such an interesting question, thematically. And it shows how someone can take concepts and either purposefully misconstrue them or genuinely honour them, which is to say: King Harrow and Aaravos are set up as perfect ideological opposites and I think it's really fucking cool.

Where Harrow sees strength in children

"The great illusion of childhood is that adults have all the freedom and power. But the truth is the opposite: a child is freer than a king."

Aaravos sees them as someone to dismiss

"These are the champions you've gathered to try and stop me? Why, they're nothing but pathetic children."

Where Harrow did his best to be a servant king as the most powerful person in his kingdom, for Aaravos (the most powerful being in the world), it is a guise and a mask

Their hatred of arrogance

as well as the core principle of Freedom that Harrow has that Aaravos is chasing, both interwoven and passed down to Callum in giving him the Key

Where Harrow did everything he could to make Callum feel welcome and at home in their family, Aaravos merely wants to add him to a collection of pawns

There are also old concept art in which Aaravos was blindfolded, reminiscent of Harrow's choice from Lady Justice. Not to mention Harrow as someone who was like Aaravos (and many others) in that he perpetuated the cycle out of misplaced love / a rageful grief (which, if Aaravos is doing the same because he fell in love with a human, would also provide those sweet Harrai parallels) but unlike Aaravos, he changed his mind. Even if their ideas of servitude are a bit similar, re: the kneeling motif

Which of course, makes sense; Harrow was a man with his life tragically shortened, burdened by regret, anchored by his own crown/chain and by the end of his life, believed wholeheartedly in the Narrative of Love. Even more than someone like Viren, Aaravos appears to wholeheartedly believe in a Narrative of Strength (especially if there is no one left he loves). Which is why I think it's so interesting like, Arc 1 for Harrow is a tragedy told in retrospect and at least partially in reverse; unlike everyone else, he never lives to see the Dragon Prince that he felt so much guilt over returned, that the peace he probably wanted (for his sons if nothing else) was not only achievable, but something that happened. And now Arc 2 is starting to shift the stage, beginning in S4 with setup, of being a tragedy for everyone else who outlived him (for S5 and S6 at least) because the Wheel of the Cycle has yet to stop fully turning and it's so fucking good?

Which is compounded with what I've touched on more briefly before of each of the Main Trio having Core Traits of Harrow that they are then responsible for carrying for the sake of thematic exploration.

Rayla is Harrow's martyrdom (right or wrong) and concept of paying the price, as well as hunting down 'monsters' to solve all her problems; Callum wrestles with Harrow's temptation regarding dark magic and the weight of choices / unintended consequences; Ezran has the place as literal king with a reinvigorated crown and having to well, be king, as well as upholding a relationship to Xadia / the dragon monarchy that's the opposite of his father. All three of them are called to Do Better.

So Aaravos being in some ways the embodiment of history - powerful, ancient, unknown and lost to time - is the perfect opposing threat, because how can you Free yourself from the Past, from the Chains of History, if you can't "learn from it, understand it, and then let it go"?

But like Harrow said so long ago, and as S4 is demonstrating even in a post-outright war world

And now we get to see it unfold first hand

[megatraven]

miraculous ladybug for the Reverse Unpopular Opinion meme :]

MIRACULOUS LADYBUG HAS THE CHARACTERS OF ALL TIME WITH THE PLOT OF ALL TIME I AM SO SO SO SERIOUS!!!!! THE SENTIMONSTER PLOTLINE REVEALING THAT ADRIEN FELIX AND KAGAMI ARE ALL THREE SENTIMONSTERS CREATED BY THEIR PARENTS WHO COULD CONTROL THEM????? WOOGHGHGNGHGHGHGHHH

EVERYTHING ABOUT MIRACULOUS MAKES ME SO INSANE!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!! EVERY EPISODE IS A PUNCH TO THE FACE AND I LIVE FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

also the latest season was just in general REALLY amazing. an awesome balance of romance, angst, friendship, hilarity, and tragedy.

a man was literally rotting alive and turning to dust. he used a time miraculous to try to win a single fight like a hundred times and he still lost every single time which sped up his own demise.

felix disappeared the entire world except for himself, adrien, and kagami. he tried to keep marinette because adrien liked her but disappeared her too because she was ladybug and he disappeared ladybug. then adrien and kagami got very upset at him so he said sorry :( and put it all back

then he and kagami started dating. they did a weird theater thing to tell marinette about adrien being a sentimonster. they're so fucking weird together. they deserve one another. i love them.

marinette watched her boyfriend's dad and her nemesis die. but not before she kicked his ass so fucking hard. the only reason he got the upper hand is because she was so damned nice and cared so much about his son that she wanted to give him a chance.

a supposed teenage girl was wearing a wig the entire series and took it off and became a completely different person with different parents and she hates marinette and she knows way too much

there is another completely different universe where ladybug and chat noir are evil and emo and they're so stupid but so insanely funny.

everything about this show is incredible. i fucking love it so much. it's the best ever. 10000/10

[corujalesbica]

Tumblr family post :)

Spouse

@allow-me-to-ruin-that-for-you-2 (a part of my heart will forever be yours and only yours. You were my first true love. I'm sorry I didn't treasure you as I should. I should've told you you were my everything before. I will make this world a better place. A place you would've wanted and loved. )

Parent

@dead-immortal (my dad's better than urs ).

Smart sibling

@thatgendergremlinmoot ( won't admit they're cool)

@boyfriend-going-thru-atrocities ( the ultimate cinnamon roll )

@enthusiastickreader (my weird ass dilf loving sister <3)

Chaos sibling

@tragedy-at-its-peak ( will destroy capitalism )

@night-minstrel ( eats all the sweets )

@n0-1-important ( lives in the walls )

@l3monarts ( is married to John Lennon)

Third cousin twice removed

@sleepycoffeecups ( is a secret trans hero)

Weird aunt

@tiny-lesbean ( has too many hobbies for her own good )

@mushroomsoupofficial ( has a jar of animal teeth and will probably feed you mushrooms )

@aeroisamazing ( Cool gay aunt , her brand of weird is being an amazing homosexual )

@stars-and-birds ( Wine. Aunt. )

@wanda-the-anaconda ( super nice aunt who keeps her spouses RJ and esme from occasionally murdering each other )

@newgirlsamekid (is in Lots Of Fandoms)

@candlewitch-cryptic (Wine Aunt, pansexual version TM)

Cool uncle

@el-fandom-birb ( super cool uncle everyone loves but no one knows how he got here )

Cool older cousin

@blunt-force-therapy (mineiro é foda msm kkkkkk)

Dissapeared cousin

@despairingxx ( gay as fuck )

@i-was--more ( literally never seen this person I hope they do exist )

Undead raccon

@red-woods

Dead raccon

@donutsalami (dead raccon I found in my yard, and now we chat about The Bizarre sometimes :D)

Autistic cousin

@sorebelflower ( picky eater, hates loud sounds )

Grandma

@isapolvorita (I think that's MY grandma. I'm not sure where she came from though, but she lives nearby and always shows up with sweets :3)

Weird Creature

@rotting-creation ( genderfuck weird creature living in the attic that makes weird noises at night but occasionally joins the family for dinner by being a small shadow in the corner and protects the family from evil spirits and occasionally shares forbidden knowledge, and shows up as a small smudge or weird little ghost in family pictures and comes out at night to whisper stories to you when you can't sleep and leaves bloody footprints down corridors and is genuinely the Weirdest Thing but no one talks about it and the family acts like it's normal)

[bestygogirl]

BEST YGO GIRL: SEMIFINALS

Match 1

please use this as an opportunity to say why you like a character, not why you don't.

Propaganda under the cut!

Isis Ishtar

gorgeous, very caring sister, strong duelist, and the only woman to ever make Seto Kaiba squirm

anyways. not only as mentioned above is she the first woman to make kaiba squirm, but she was by all means going to beat him if not for the millennium rod's millennium interference. yami marik admits that she's a strong duelist with a strategy that's been working for literal years-- and given that she's not like, a professional duelist, thats pretty impressive

she also recently got some really cool meta bumps and let me point out that an "ishizu deck" now includes obelisk the tormentor-- which we knew she had prior to giving it to kaiba, but i think it only solidifies my opinion that she very much could wield an Egyptian God Card, an exclusive little club for top tier duelists

as a character she presents herself with an amazing amount of poise and grace, shes compassionate and kind and stays with mai and serenity even though she only just met them. shes struggling through living the past 5 years of her life drowning in guilt for her family's tragedy just because she wanted to make her little brother happy and shadi is a fucking liar. shes foretold her own death and marches towards it grimly but with so much love in her heart. and even then shes 20 years old and holds an important position in the egyptian government that typically requires a doctorate degree AND has been dealing with mariks off-and-on bullshit entirely by her lonesome. she also likes to flex her fortunetelling a little which is awesome i think she should do that more that scene where she tells the guy exactly how the stele is being transported was so everything

speaking of shes got such an attitude. "is it your destiny to waste my time?" iconic. never seen before will never be seen again. watch the duel between her va and joeys its so fucking funny

shes excult. shes doesnt flinch in the face of god nor death. seto kaiba and yami marik respect her. shes so sad and so sweet and battle city couldnt have happened without her.

also her parallels with kaiba are what motivate kaiba to give yugi the card he needed to beat marik.

kaiba, in duelist kingdom, was ready to jump off a ledge if yugi didnt let him through to face pegasus while trying to save mokuba out of sheer desperation to save his little brother. he KNOWS what that dedication feels like and the iron kind of will you need to have to make that kind of gamble. isis is being so fucking legit with what shes saying and he respects that and her judgement enough to change his mind and not only watch the duel, but give yugi a card that eventually helps him win, even if he has no real confidence in the odds. but theres a CHANCE, which is the same thing he taught her when he beat her in a duel. the layers its her faith that moves him to act. which is so crazy

anyway vote isis shes my best friend forever and a real rep for all the 20 year olds who honest to god did not sign up for this bullshit

Yuzu Hiragi

The entire show would not work if the cast wasn't obsessed with her, and they're all right to stan her, literally gets Sora and Serena to defect from Academia with her sheer charisma, beat Masumi at their gay little rivalry, Yugo spends a few days with her and is ready to die for her, Yuya is simply just the loudest about adoring her And why not? She is so clever and determined, doing the most work out of anyone to figure out the myth plot. Actively trains to keep up with the rest of cast. Even when the universe is conspiring against her and trying to keep her down, she fucking headbutts Roger and tells him off or manifests to help save the world in the ultimate girlboss team-up that was the Arc V finale. Truly any dimension without her is worth upending. - The mysterious magical bracelet that isekai's her to different worlds, the Can-Do attitude, the cool poses (fusion summoning), the ADORABLE character design, AND she was 1/4 of a world-saving hero in the past?? If it weren't for the meddling writers, she would have been the main character - yuzu is everything. literally the plot of arc v hinges on the fact everyone who meets her become just as obsessed with her. and they are totally right to do so