#and it's not a bad thing btw i think it's great for their dynamic whether it's canon/platonic/romantic but like

[beanghostprincess]

When you think about it the stage of Sanuso not standing each other was very short because when the strawhats entered the grand line they were already pretty clingy to each other. So imo they pretty much started enjoying each other's company after the Arlong park arc

Yeah!!! I mean. I believe Sanji and Usopp didn't like each other at all at first because. Well. It's for obvious reasons. They might have similar experiences with their insecurities and trauma and way of coping, but that's hidden deep, deep down and they don't find out about that bit and their strengths until later. Without that, they're extremely different. Like, extremely.

And if the first thing a waiter in a restaurant does is flirt with the girl and treat all the others like shit, well, of course Usopp isn't going to like him. And if Sanji is trying to be polite and flirty to a gorgeous girl but some guy gets in between, of course he's not going to like Usopp. It's sort of that their personalities do not match at all at first, but then they see how they truly are and they start to get along.

The thing is-- They don't ever leave that dynamic fully, and I adore that. Despite getting along and being protective of each other, Sanji and Usopp still argue a lot over the stupidest things and they keep yelling at each other for stuff that doesn't matter because they're both morons and stubborn and I swear we don't talk enough about them constantly getting irritated by the other's shenanigans while also sacrificing their life for each other constantly. It makes their relationship so human, realistic, and genuine... It's one of the things I adore the most about this ship!

[the-s1lly-corner]

How about digital circus x princess! Reader with their very own castle. Elegantly leaning out of their tower singing lullabies for anyone to hear. Ps Keep up the great work 👍

TADC cast x princess!reader

I know I usually stress that I answer stuff chronologically but I misread this as just jax (I'm sleepy!!) So I went to search for a princess reader post i did weeks ago, snagged the link then reread the request and saw it was the whole cast... but I've already committed to the bit by searching for the link sooooooooo

CAINE:

You and I both know hes goinv to use the fact ypure a princess for IHA... captured princess trope stuff, basically! So have fun with that! Absolutely loves your singing, so so much. Probably joins in with you, complimenting your part..or perhaps he hums.. other princesses have cute fairytale animals accompanying them, and you have..... bubble..... huh....

Really ups the whole... act when talking to you.. bows deeply, waves his arm around in a grand fashion when showing you to a room, ect ect ect

POMNI:

Has probably subconsciously/accidentally said you were pretty outloud. Gets absolutely lost in the sauce when you sing. Like just stands there, hands awkwardly clasped together in front of her as she listens. Probably sways side to side too. Gets very pink when talking to you, her face does the O^O thing... absolutely smitten

RAGATHA:

Ah my favorite, royal princess x common lady... well, at least aesthetically... whether or not you're royalty in the real world is debatable... anyways, that aside, I think this is probably one of my favorite ship dynamics... I love.. similar to pomni she is very bad at hiding her feelings around you. Tends to stare with a blushing face. Loves making you dresses; assuming you can swap out dresses considering the whole "their clothes are attatched to their bodies" thing

While I doubt your clothing can rip or tear thanks to the properties of the digital world, I think if she could, she would patch up any holes

KINGER:

Honestly I think out of this entire post, kinger is the only one who gets a platonic/found family take on this... just an old king and his princess kid. Again I'm not sure if he truly believes he royalty or if he was trying to appeal to the gloink queen by saying "as a royal myself.." but.. honestly I like the idea that he just likes playing the part. Like he knows hes not royalty but. You know? Let this man embellish himself

Pillow fort? No, pillow TOWER! No... pillow CASTLE! Pillow kingdom!!!

Nothing too hyped specific here he's just your dad here

ZOOBLE:

Oh? Cool. I mean your singing isnt really their cup of tea, they look like they're into alt/indie stuff tbh...maybe rock. Confession I'm terrible at identifying genres so I'm literally speaking out of my ass rn on what type of music zooble would listen to I'd have to list specific artists and songs

But this isnt about that

Depends on what kind of princess you are

If you're independent, resourceful, and badass I think you guys could build some chemistry

If you're like, damsel in distress, ,kind of stuck up, whiny, prissy, ect then it's a hard no

Not many ideas here tbh <\3

GANGLE:

Also thinks you're very pretty! Also loves your singing! I think she grew up on disney films, and even if she doesnt remember them it's still a core memory that like. is kind of instinctive atp. So she finds comfort around you, you know? LOVE that trope btw, where a character doesnt remember something but still finds comfort in it while not fully understanding why because as far as they know this is the first time with the thing

Absolutely melts if you compliment her. Sure, she would still melt if you weren't a princess.. but having someone so pretty and graceful saying it hits a certain way for her

JAX:

[byoldervine]

is there a way to make it so character a doesn't like character b without character b being a creep/weirdo or something? or is it just something where character a just says they don't like character b like that?

luv your stuff btw

Oh damn I didn’t even get a notif for this one, my bad

Do you mean you’re looking for valid reasons for Character A to dislike Character B without it being due to something Character B has done/would be considered in the wrong for? Or are you after reasons for them to not fall in love with Character B without it being something Character B did wrong?

Either way, there is indeed always just not liking someone simply because you don’t like them; emotions are strange and often illogical things, so liking or disliking people, or wanting to pursue a relationship or not, are things not really in our control for the most part. Maybe Character A just doesn’t vibe with Character B in the way you’re looking for, and that’s okay

Though by the way you wrote your question I’m assuming you’re aware of this and are looking for more specific reasons, and that would depend on which way you meant it

Reasons For Dislike:

• Bad first impression

• You’ve heard bad things about them

• They associate with other people you dislike

• Zero common interests

• They’re accident-prone and this can negatively effect you

• They’re high-energy and you’re not

• You’re jealous of them

• They can’t take a hint to end the conversation

• They’re not a great listener

• They have habits or qualities you dislike

• They unintentionally embarrass you

• They’re hard to talk to

• You struggle to get a straight answer out of them

• You’re always the one who has to reach out to them

Reasons For Zero Attraction:

• One or both of you has a partner

• Incompatible sexualities

• They’re not your type

• Emotional unavailability

• Zero interest in relationships in general, not just towards them

• To busy/otherwise occupied to even think about whether you’re interested or not

• Existing dynamic would make it feel awkward (e.g. you wouldn’t be romantically interested in someone who’s like a sister to you)

• Previous dynamic would make it feel awkward (e.g. dating an ex’s sibling)

• You can’t imagine living with them

• You can’t imagine being intimate with them, sexually or otherwise

• You’re not looking to get romantically attached or tied down

• They have habits or qualities you’re fine with in a friend but wouldn’t want in a partner

• You don’t feel close enough to them to consider a romantic relationship with them

• You only consider them a work friend/colleague and wouldn’t date them on those grounds

• You have a different plan for your life that they wouldn’t fit into romantically

• You have a crush on someone else

[sharkface]

The discussion surrounding whether RWBY is good or not is frequently tainted by intentional bad faith readings done by people whose first exposure to it was a crit video from a youtuber whose opinion of it is and always was almost completely negative for reasons that have nearly nothing to do with its actual issues and a lot to do with its many growing pains or being annoyed by it being inspired by other series or copying One Scene from Cowboy Bebop (the first scene in the entire show, btw) and I find readings based on this to be disingenuous at best and utter dogshit at worst. There are plenty of things wrong with RWBY that have very little to do with you thinking it's Ugly

At the same time though I think there are a lot of fans who are much too willing to write off any criticism whatsoever as Youtuber Boot Licking or bizarrely portraying the criticism as being disingenuous by virtue of coming from an imagined "male fan just mad RWBY is about women more than men" (which I do not personally think is even true, RWBY has a higher proportion of central women to central men but a lot of significant events are attributed to the actions of men or are only talked about by men (Jaune being the only character allowed to truly grieve Phyrra, Ruby's v4-v6 arc centering her uncle, the Ozpin/Oscar situation, etc etc) and I think this is very much a shame because there was a lot of potential for gendered commentary within these characters and their personal dynamics with women that did not manifest) and I think this is a pretty obvious shutdown from people largely unwilling to even consider the possibility of RWBY handling the subject matter it chose to tackle better.

Like, I want a RWBY that values its women, RWBY is defined by its women in all ways, and it is not a coincidence to me that the diversification of writers has led to V9, the first season to even attempt to meaningfully tackle Ruby's (the main fucking character btw) trauma, feelings of inadequacy, crisis of identity now that her imagined huntress hero is impossible to become, and deep love for her family and repression for her feelings of having been routinely abandoned by them. V9 is by far the best season and I genuinely hope RWBY has the opportunity for more resources for its final season(s) because I think while it wouldn't unfuck the past seasons (and especially not the incredibly racist White Fang plot which dominates two thirds of the entire series.) I think it has the right to at least have its criticisms be based on a complete work, and, more sentimentally, I earnestly want to know what RWBY could be with a little more structure and without being coupled to a rapidly dying (and now dead) web media company. Because I have always thought it could be (and in many ways almost was) great and I am only critical of it because I want it to be

[anemicjellyfish]

What are your thoughts on Fizz?

My first ever Ask?! (Btw folks, you can do this more often. Fill my ask box with anything, please!)

Okay, short answer: I ADORE Fizz!

His character design is wonderful, he's got a silly personality that isn't overdone, and the plot lines he's involved in have all been great.

Longer answer below the cut:

I think he's about as well-written as a character can be for not being in the "main group" of the show. We didn't even see the Actual Fizzarolli until late in Season 1, in Ozzie's. But he is just such a dynamic guy that it leaves a big impression on viewers, despite him having much less to do with IMP.

His character design has to be one of the coolest in the show. The jester hat being used in place of horns was a perfect idea, especially for a first-time viewing. It left some little idea in the back of my mind that there was something going on with his horns, but the movement, color, and his overall actions were enough of a distraction to lead me away from thinking about it too much.

I loved the instant rivalry between Fizz and Blitzø. It definitely made me wanna click the next episode (I found out about this show part way through Season 2) to find out what his deal is. Of course, I didn't have to wait long to see that absolutely DEVASTATING flashback. Yikes.

While I know this show frequently gets accused of giving all its characters overly traumatic backstories, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to do from a writing perspective. It fits with the themes and style of the show. I think it was extremely important to both Fizz and Blitz to have a tragic event impact their past; something had to come between them, pull them apart, so that we could watch a friendship repair itself after a decade and a half. It's a really cool thing for a piece of media to do: to let a friendship reconcile peacefully and healthfully. But I don't watch too many shows, so I can't say whether or not that's particularly rare in media.

I'm a bit tired tonight, so I cut out the half-hearted paragraph on Fizz's relationship with Ozzie. I'm not as familiar with analyzing their dynamic. I could come back to it later if anyone wants (haha jk... unless?)

[ahaura]

yellowjackets s2e3 lb

THAT'S A GREAT OPENING SHOT I LOVE ME A SKELETON HAND!

omg a glimpse into coach ben's life pre-crash <3

the juxtaposition between the soup and the cannibalism happening outside the cabin... fun

"what kind of asshole puts cumin in clam chowder' comedy time <3

WAIT SO THEY DONT REALIZE WHAT THEY DID... THE FOREST PUT THEM IN A TRANCE/HAZE?

oh it's just tai? poor tai

"taissa! we ate her" i love this show <3

no wonder taissa is in the state she's in in present time like the others seem to recall the ritualistic cannibalism but she completely blocked it out she's dealing with it like she deals with everything else which is shutting down but then having it shoved in her face like that... she succumbed to the forest like the others but she's dragging her feet and kicking the whole way...

"tai... you ate her face" LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

i love how there is something seriously wrong w everyone in this show its so good <3

"at least if you bury her out there it will look like she died with the rest of them" FIRST OF all way to single yourself up for next on the buffet table coach! secondly though... 1) i am pretty sure they would be able to tell that she was eaten, whether by humans or animals i dont know but i think they can tell that even in the 90s and 2) i think given the extreme circumstances and the fact that jackie wasnt like, murdered, it's not something that would be like. held against them? like as a crime i mean. socially of course cannibalism is one of the most taboo of taboos but like. theyre starving in the woods after every possible attempt to escape gone wrong. their friend died of semi-natural causes (stubbornness and the forest's influence, one or the other or both?). so.

lottie helping her cult members w their stuff while suffocating her true self under layers of bullshit while nat hangs out outside scowling... love it

THE ANTLER'S ABOVE LOTTIE'S DOORSTEP... LET'S FUCKING GO I LOVE SOME GOOD IMAGERY

"emotions run high" says the cult member maintaining eye contact while cutting off a chicken's head, to natalie who survived 15 excruciating months trapped in the wilderness and embroiled in cultlike and fairytale-eque dynamics while contending with cannibalism. hilarious. i think it'd be funny if nat PRETENDED to stab her again for a laff

OH SIMONE :( my question is... how much more will taissa go on before the acknowledges it? opens up? peels back the layers and years and releases her control and gives into the fear and unknown and the dark calling her name? the man with no eyes who trails after her? her own ghost? and what will it cost her? and what will it do to her once she's done it? or will she never do it? so many questions <3

(i dont want these answers now btw im just enjoying the ride)

SHE SUBCONSCIOUSLY DREW THE SYMBOL ON HER WIFE'S HAND...

IS IT WEIRDO BESTIE TEAMUP TIME? LET'S GO LET'S GO LET'S GO

i want them to be partners in crime so bad like committed bestie crime team SO bad i NEED it

"you never know when you might need to leave the country sans passport" LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WALTER LET'S GO

i completely forgot about shauna and jeff i wont lie

"i think the stuff is for bisexuals and goths" BISEXUALS MENTION!

SHAUNA SAID YOURE NO FUN TO JEFF LET'S GOOOOOO

"i could've gone strawberry i almost did" this is so fdjksfjdkfshdahdsjf

we all get boring in adulthood i guess even girlies who partake in ritualistic cannibalism of their best friend/current husband's high school girlfriend while stranded in the remote wilderness. ah well.

SHAUNA TOOK A CAR THIEF OUT AND THEN JEFF INTERRUPTED HER BOOOOOOO JEFF BOOOOOOOOO

SHAUNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA IM SCREECHING

bees? beehives? "the first thing a new queen does is sting other queens to death" fun <3 eye see it <3

"otherwise they starve. we all do" LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"it's what she would have wanted. maybe not for the rest of us, but for you. for the baby" [HIGH PITCHED SCREECHING]

LOTTIE KNOWS ITS A BOY?

the girls all being excited for a baby shower <3 a shred of something to cling to <3 cant wait for the forest to fuck it up <3

"HIT HIM. HIT HIM RIGHT NOW" MISTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY [snickering]

IM SAJFKJKFSDJFKJFKSF THEYRE SO FUCKING FUNNY <3

"i'd do anything to see [her nephew] again, you'know?" like cannibalism? :)

"that's not the first time ive eaten a person" HUH??????

THE TWIN THING? FJDKFJSFKJAKFJDKSJSDK

coach is mclosing it huh.

"they need me" "and i dont?" FHAFJKHKSDJKDASJDKASJKJ I LAUGHED IM SORRY

"but i do get to decide to be with someone who's ready to live this life with me. all of it" :( im. ok. im :( im. yeah.

this show is crazy because it's a comedy meanwhile it throws very serious situations and implications your way. funnily enough the cannibalism is not the most serious aspect of the show. to me at least. like thinking about how things were just 20-30 years ago etc etc :/ and what it means for both ben and paul :/ yeah i got it

nat telling jackie's eaten corpse that she's lucky <3 once again <3 comedy <3

"way to make everyone jealous one last time" NATALIEEEEEEEE

A MOOSE!

MY MOM TOLD ME ABOUT MOOSE! SHE SAID THAT MOOSE CAN AND WILL KILL PEOPLE ESPECIALLY MAMA MOOSE AND IF YOU END UP STARING DOWN A MOOSE BACK AWAY SLOWLY AND PICK ANOTHER PATH! IF A MOOSE STOPS YOU IN TRAFFIC YOU WAIT FOR THE MOOSE - moose trivia provided by my mother who says alaskan moose are the BIGGEST and DANGEROUS moose <3

(i like that trivia sorry)

WHERE DID THE MOOSE GO

WALTER AND MISTY THE DREAM TEAAAAAAAAAAM

TAISAAAAAAAAAAA ITS HAPPENING LETS FUCKING GO

"only when she lets me" "who is she?" "taissa" "then who are you?" [silence]

IM SCREECHING I THINK THAt they could have held that a few seconds long for effect bec thats SOOOOOOOOO crreepy and cool like its either taissa's subconscious/the suprressed taissa OR it's something trying to get her to open her eyes and herself I LOVE IT ITS SO FUCKING COOL

kevin in the backwards hat tho. sorry. but he. sorry. OSRRY.

"you have terrible intel" your daughter SNITCHED and you're making you and shauna look WORSE it's so funny

"people are so sweaty when you kill them" LET'S GO SHAUNA LET'S GOOOOOOOOO

that was fucking AWESOME that was LEGENDARY LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO

THE SHAUNA UNDERNEATH THE GIRL WE GLIMPSED WHEN SHE KILLED ADAM SHAUNA FROM THE WOODS LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO

coach hallucinating.... :(

i wont lie i love crystal and misty so much :')

OH MY GOD HER REFLECTION

SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME

"oh she's not my mother" THEY'RE MEANT TO BE BESTIES LET THEM BE BESTIES IN CRIME LET THEM COMMIT CRIMES TOGETHER LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOO I WANT CHAOS AND FUN

"maybe i'm just a bored moriarty looking for his sherlock"

[CHOKING SOUNDS]

[SPUTTERING]

[SCREECHING]

technnically wouldn't SHE be moriarty because she commits crimes and stuff? oh well <3 its still fun <3

unless theyre BOTH moriarty? idk i cant remember jackshit about those characters anymore

let's go angry girls let's goooooo

HURT NATALIE BACK?

nosebleed leads to mass bird death...?

the forest is coming for lottie i think... i wonder if she isnt working in tandem off of it but proffiting off it it? or using it without delving down into the True Meat of it? and it killed her bees for it? idk idk idk but rip the bees

il veut de sang = he wants blood btw

(i looked it up)

so she HAS been denying it? or running from it? or??????

IT WAS A VISION? NICE!

fun episode all around<3

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

Thank you so much, and yeah I agree with this! Sorry for the upcoming rant-

but one of my many many gripes with this show's canon and fandom is just how ignored Hunk's canon s1 and s2 personality is. Like sure most of the fandom from as far as I have seen has been critical of the fatphobic jokes but beyond that (and Hunk being this gentle giant, ever patient, only-exists-to-be-supportive, great cook character) there's nothing much they actually do with him at all.

Maybe I am in the wrong circles of hell but I have almost never ever seen anyone talk about what arc Hunk could have had nor have I ever seen mentioning any arc for him in their rewrites and fix its. There's nothing wrong with making character mainly for support but it is jarring to see people make thousands of posts complaining about Lance or Shiro or every other character being reduced to support role only then do the same thing with Hunk (and especially given history with Black main characters being reduced to the Best Friend archetype, this is just .......not great)

All this is a real shame because early season Hunk not only had good development especially in the first season but is also genuinely so interesting and lot more complex than people give him credit for. Yeah sure kindness and anxiety and cooking/engineering are very important aspects of his character but they are not the only ones and even those aspects are not being fully explored in the fandom at all.

He really did not trust Shiro or Allura's authority and very loudly criticized and doubted them. He doesn't trust new people at all. He is creative and smart (you have to be while dealing with alien tech and food). He is a voice of reason but not in "i don't think we should do that 🥺" But more in a "ok I am coming, but I will complain the entire time!" Way. He's naturally a curious person He is bitchy and he is insensitive (see his interactions with Keith post galra reveal). He finds entertainment in invading his friends privacy (literally first episode he reads Pidge's diary because he was bored which honestly? Hell yeah. In my heart he's a Freak™ who does this thing all the time to Lance, who is also a Freak™ in my heart but in a different direction) . The last two points are not me hating on him btw, these are things that happened in canon and I genuinely find them really interesting and wish to explore them a lot more.

Which brings me to my idea in the og post. I personally want to explore his suspiciousness, his protectiveness about people he cares about, his curiosity and how it would conflict with his kindness. You are right in how it would actually allow Hunk to do something while also keeping in line with pre established canon. It would give Hunk agency in the story (which in my opinion is severely lacking for almost all the characters in the show) and provide a more organic reveal of Lotor's betrayal (Which needs to be kept in. I am sorry to everyone who says Lotor shouldn't have been evil, but to me his characterization since his introduction only makes sense if he's 1) evil and/or 2) a fucking high int low wis idiot who thinks he's smart)

Furthermore I believe that through bringing a difference of opinions, resulting in conflict within the team, this could also help in bringing development for the characters and relationship dynamics. Maybe Allura or Kuron like in canon trust or atleast want to trust Lotor, leading them to being a bit more opposed towards Hunk's opinion, maybe Pidge kinda doesn't care enough and believes Hunk is being overly cautious etc etc.

Also agreed with Keith and Kroila being the ones to reveal Lotor's truth felt........ Random. I can't remember whether Lotor and Keith have ever even interacted with each other or even be in the same shot, so you are absolutely right in that him and Kroila being the ones to reveal Lotor's betrayal was just bad writing. Especially because they had him dealing with Lotor AND Kuron AND Sendak later on, so it feels like all the arcs and big fights were given to him even though he did nothing to earn them? (I know people say that Keith and Lotor were supposed to have parallels but aside from being half galran with mother issues, I don't really see it? (Than again I might be missing something))

I think biggest problems with Keith's narrative was that the writers wanted their cake and eat it too. They obviously wanted this badass loner version of Keith while also wanting him to be The Main Protagonist Leader who must always stay in the spotlight and is Perfect in every way. Add to that they just didn't really bother with other characters or the relationship among them at all. So you have this character who is supposed to be the main character and whose story is the one we must focus on but is also? Just incredibly removed from the plot? I don't know how to explain this, it's like he is there to get shit done but also has no stake or connection with ANY of the actual villains of the show nor the actual plot of the show, and has barely any connection (let alone a well developed one) with most of the other team members. So a lot of it feels flat and disjointed. It's why it was so easy to remove him for three whole seasons of the show, you can't do something like That with Allura Or Honerva.

And your idea with heith can fix that! I admit that I prefer Hunk's dynamics with other characters like Lance or Shay or Allura much more than heith but I do think it would work well. It can bridge the gap Keith has between himself and other characters and the actual plot, while also giving him a supporting role while still focusing on other characters such as Hunk. Furthermore this could be chance to actually confront with some of his major flaws without dismissing them as a trauma response.

All of this is speculation of course, I am no writer just merely a person with a lot of opinions about this show, but i do think it can work and your ideas and opinions make them better. So thank you for sharing them!

Going to say something controversial but I think it should have been Hunk who should have discovered Lotor's entire thing and i think he should have done so by going full Nancy Drew/S2 Jon Sims.

I have seen people say how the paladins should have trusted Lotor instead of locking him up, and i am like, "i think the guy who established himself as a cunning and dangerous enemy and who has tried to kill them multiple times should have been held under a bit more scrutiny"

Hunk in canon is actually lot less trustful, we have seen it in how he openly voiced not trusting the Lions, Rolo, etc. Hunk also loves snooping and incredibly curious of people (i would say he and Lance are the most curious when it comes to people). He has no problem reading other people's diaries (like in the 1st ep with Pidge). And while Hunk is kind he can also be bit insensitive and petty(this is not a character bashing thing btw, i love when characters have interesting flaws).

This mixed with his understandable fear and you would have a guy who is suspicious of the new guy, open about it and deciding to investigate this shit on his own when he was dismissed. He finds the plans for the portal, the still living alteans etc dtc

Whether Lotor gets a redemption arc in this scenario or not is entirely people's decisions. I am personally am fine either way

[gerogerigaogaigar]

Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine

Before The Downward Spiral catapulted Trent Reznor to stardom there was Pretty Hate Machine. NIN's debut brings synthpop sensibilities into the world of industrial music. Poppier and possibly more accessible than future records Pretty Hate Machine feels like Reznor's most honest work. Just some teenage angst yelled over chunky synths and drum loops. Even on his debut Reznor shows a real talent for arrangement.

Diana Ross and The Supremes - Anthology

Ok so compilations are kinda the bane of my existence for the purposes of this list. Obviously I love Diana Ross and The Supremes. From now on if you see a compilation from Motown records on here just assume my rebuttal is the Hitsville USA: The Motown Singles Collection 1959–1971 comp. That all you need, it's a perfect compilation.

Roberta Flack - First Take

Ooh what a fucking voice. So good, so beautiful. The whole album sounds like it was recorded in a smokey nightclub. It's so natural, so warm. And the dynamic range is great. Flack goes from low whisper to a pained shout with such ease and such grace that you would be forgiven for not realizing how much skill it must take. And the way she can just bang out a chord on the piano for emphasis and go back to mellow plinking. Aaaaaaa I'm inconsolable. 😭

Paul and Linda McCartney - Ram

Before becoming a banal idiot for dads to masturbate to, but after being a banal idiot for 60s teens to masturbate to Paul McCartney had an actual solo career. Most of that solo career also sucked, but his second solo outing is an unusual thing. It's a very good album. Just absolutely standing in it's own merits. Ram is free and jaunty, filled to the brim with tunes that delight. McCartney seems to have finally made the album he had always wanted to make.

The White Stripes - Elephant

Jack White is not John Lennon. I don't even know why he wants to be when The White Stripes are at their best when they are emulating 60s American garage rock, not britpop. Maybe it's because he doesn't want to acknowledge how essential Meg White was to that sound. This album is really great btw, I just can't hold back with Jack White. The dude bothers me. I promise I will do it again when one of his pithy solo outing inevitably makes this garbage list. Elephant is a fantastic minimalist approach to garage rock though. Highly recommended.

Otis Redding - Complete & Unbelievable The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul

If Booker T. and the M.G.'s where the backbone of Stax Records then Otis Redding was pretty much the rest of the skeleton. Redding's soulful crooning dances deftly through the sounds of the greatest musicians to play in the M.G.'s lineup.

Bad Bunny - X100PRE

At first glance Bad Bunny's debut seems to be a fairly typical trap album with a strong Latin influence. But any further analysis reveals a wide variety of influences from the worlds of hip hop, latin and electronic music. The synthesis makes for an album that is both cohesive, but also varied enough to stay exciting start to finish. Probably one of the best examples of pop trap I've heard.

Alice Coltrane - Journey Into Satchidananda

Alright which one of you fuckers at Rolling Stone have been peeping my personal top albums list? Featuring Pharoah Sanders on sax and Rashied Ali on drums this album is perfectly designed to appeal to me specifically. Sax and harp float almost aimlessly through a world of thrumming bass and barely restrained drums. The peace within the tension is some of the most beautiful that the jazz world has ever seen. And when all instruments occasionally let loose it just puts that peaceful tension into perspective. A perfect album. 11/10. One of my top ten jaz albums for sure.

Yes - Close to the Edge

70s prog rock was a difficult beast to tackle. Whether you consider it a testament to artistry or pretention is a matter of perspective. Your mileage may vary, but Close to the Edge is so tightly composed and unusually engaging that I think complaints of pretention are going to find it difficult to find footing. This album is a pretty pure expression of musicians trying to hit the limit of their capabilities as artists. And hit it they did. Drummer Bill Bruford actually quit the band after this album citing stress from the recording sessions!

[relaxxattack]

how come twitter hates knifetrick? i havent read it nor have i ever been involved in any mcyt or adjacent stuff btw

oh man. ok let me explain the story. it was around exactly a year ago the main bit of this shit happened actually

in 2020 minecraft roleplaying (mcrp) becomes super mainstream with the rise of dream smp. in these series, stories are scripted and then acted out live with some improv stuff

in the fandoms there is a LOT of drama over whether it's okay to ship the roleplay characters. there's lots of stances on this. in the beginning, most people say it's not okay to ever ship rp characters, because the youtubers usually just use their own persona as a base for an oc, so it's basically the same thing as shipping the youtubers together. shipping irl people is weird and gross, so nobody wants to do that.

in 2021 a couple of ships start getting confirmed as canon in the rp. characters date or get together or canonically have romantic scenes. this makes the fandom hurt itself in its confusion, because it doesnt understand if it's allowed to ship those characters together.

two guys have their characters literally get married and have a child. the fandom LOVED these characters, they were well written and cute and had a great dynamic. the fandom wanted to ship them and support their marriage so bad. BUT. they were played by real people. those real people (tubbo and ranboolive) were also minors at the time, who nobody wants to risk being weird about obviously.

the mainstream fandom decides that to solve this problem, they will pretend that the marriage is platonic, and ostracize and witch hunt anyone who claims it's not. they draw tons and tons of ship fanart of the two characters, all helpfully tagged as "platonic", sometimes tagging every single use of the word "husband" as platonic.

EVENTUALLY, people start realizing, hey wait, this is roleplay. it's fictional. the streamers are not actually traumatized war veterans who invented nukes, have amnesia, raised a child, are half hybrid alien etc etc etc.

in fact... it's actually really weird to try and make their roleplay relationship the same as their real life one. in the roleplay, they are married and have a kid and act lovey-dovey... why would you claim that's their real relationship? why would you conflate the two? can't we just understand that it's fictional?

most of the tumblr fandom, eventually, realizes that fictional characters and real human actors are not actually the same person. (it helps that the actors themselves state the same thing.)

the twitter fandom however... does not eventually realize this. they stay in their "platonic husband" hell, simultaneously being really weird about shipping and outwardly hating all shippers.

fastforward a bit, there's another mc roleplay series. it's a spinoff series of that first one we were talking about, and it's an athology series-- a whole bunch of oneshots with new characters each time. keep in mind, these characters are NOT EVEN RELATED TO THE STREAMER'S PERSONAS... they make up new ones each time!!

anyway they do one of the oneshots in a cool futuristic city and i was like "man it would be cool to write about this." one of the characters (ran) acts very weird and suspicious for the 5 lines he has total, which leads to a lot of silly theories about what he might be up to in this future city. i think, "man it would be fun to write about him." a different character (jackie) remarks on that character as well; jackie is also one of the only characters to live to the end of the oneshot.

ages after this oneshot was actually aired i thought to myself, what the hell, i'll write a story about ran and jackie. they have literally no existing personality and the futuristic city is not even remotely expanded on- i get to do all that myself!

so i write a comedy mystery action romance novel about an alien assassin (ran) assigned to kill the general of the city's army (jackie) while they try to find some kidnapped kids. keep in mind, i had basically nothing to work with for these characters-- they were side characters for a single episode from a spin-off series, they had around ten lines total. i got to make up basically everything about who they were and where they came from and what they would do myself. the story is also chock full of OCs, and all of the mechanics for the city itself were original and invented by me-- it was a huge labor of love and invention and original work.

the romance wasn't intended to be a whole thing, but honestly it felt very natural (and all the story's fans definitely wanted it), so it eventually happened.

surprising no one, the same twitter fans who believe that fictional characters are somehow LITERALLY the same as their actors started trying to tell me i was shipping real life people. (what? gross?). they told me i was being a bad fan by going against the wishes of irl people who didn't want to be shipped. they accused me of so much, of just trying to "hide" that i really shipped irl people, tons of things. but my story was not about irl people. the characters literally have different fucking names, appearances, personalities, dynamics... EVERYTHING.

twitter users eventually started a "cancellation" of me. i don't even use twitter. but anyway they dug up a bunch of weird innocuous comments or fanarts i had done before, and then pointed to knifetrick, and said i was secretly a gross person, that i was a guy who shipped gaming youtubers, etc. there was a thread about it, idk.

eventually the harassment in my inbox caused me to take a break from tumblr for several weeks. i actually wasn't sure if i would come back. HUNDREDS of people were talking about how terrible i was; people on twitter literally have me and my works in their goddamn dnis. it was such a surreal experience and it caused me so much anxiety.

eventually, several of my friends convinced me to finish the story, because really there was nothing all that wrong with it in the first place. i came back to tumblr.

i added the banner that is currently in my pinned to discourage gross shippers, or people who think *i* am a gross shipper, from coming near me anymore.

as far as i'm concerned, ran and jackie are my OCs. they were from a oneshot-- a oneshot that has not been MENTIONED by its creators for years now-- who i gave an entire story to. i don't want to associate with that fandom anymore, so i don't want the characters i worked so hard on associated either.

they still talk about me on twitter sometimes, kind of as an urban legend of drama. "holy shit you guys remember the knifetrick stuff? that was so gross, how did we let any of that happen. people kept defending it too 🤢". it doesn't bother me as much anymore, because i'm surrounded by people with the critical thinking skills to tell the difference between tom hanks and woody, but it's still sometimes surreal and hurtful.

don't take this as just me complaining though- making knifetrick was incredibly fun, and i still adore all the fans and memes and fanart to this day. you all were incredible and pretty much make those awful episodes worth it <3

in case you're wondering, the steamiest thing those characters did, that people were so upset about?

they shared a chaste peck of the lips for .2 seconds before one of them tried to kill the other.

[fruitobject]

what is your opinion on coinpin and leafpin (specifically a love triangle (where pin and leafy already had an established relationship until bfdia and then pin dated coiny in bfdia and then there is a cool interaction in idfb))

this is so long oh god

this is what I'm picking up for the love triangle part if I understand correctly (i'll comment on this later but I don't fully understand love triangles sorry😭)

and if I'm wrong you can disregard the third conclusion section

coinpin:

easily best bi couple right?

I absolutely LOVE all their interactions throughout the whole series, down to their bickering and small comments to each other. In the world of the bfdi fandom, friends to lovers and rare pairs always take the lead in a way.

This isn't saying bfb is poorly written, but there wasn't too much meaningful character interaction or at least development following the interactions in the show. The only times we do get to see it between a pair of characters its always followed by shipping in the fandom because of how little friendly interaction there is outside of the competition normally (firey and leafy arc, pin and coiny's little talk about loser and more, fireafy and coinpin are the most popular ships currently) ITS HARD TO WORD THIS IMSORRY

but imagine it like there's little development outside of the competition (and it's not bad, it's a battle after all) so when characters finally DO have meaningful interaction the fan base loses their marbles whether it's some sort of villain arc or just repairing an alliance because everyone else is so bland (in terms of dynamics and stuff with others I NEED MY TROPES)

but this also gives a reason for these "popular ships" to work together more, because the said pairing would have the most development together if the above is true with the "most meaningful interactions"

back to coiny x pin, I would dub it as a popular ship in the fandom. is it overrated? of course not! I can see how their chemistry works, and there is plenty of canon content with them as a perfect duo.

this is just me wanting to bring up the bfdi shipping issue(?)(not really I just noticed it) I'm sorry again

conclusion: can definitely see it, and ship it myself! one of bfb's fav ships for a reason

leafpin:

YOU GUYS GOT A SHORT ALREADY CALM DOWN/lh/nbh

Their relationship in the series quite literally began on the first episode with them being in an alliance, and I've loved their strange alliance since. I'm not sure if most of the leafpin shippers came in before or after that one short with the two, but their dynamic is great! Also on the popular side due to many different things, but I don't have any complaints about it!

Nothing else to really say, but I'd love it if they interacted again in another short or something in the future!!!! u guys are starved I'm sorry

conclusion: neat ship! love two lesbian gals in love

love?????? triangle????????????

Would be interesting but a little weird considering Leafy is in bfb still and no where near tpot grounds. I assume you mean this takes place in a period where they're still in bfb (coiny and pin make out without leafy during bfdia😒/j)

It'd be good for a fic or something that could be expanded on with its own plot reasons, but I personally don't see the love triangle part! I respect your opinion though and think its still pretty cool!! I can see it with a backstory of some sort, just not from what we already have in bfb.

Everything above does apply since it's just the both of the ships above with Pin in a weird love dorito

btw don't let any of my opinions take down what you think of these ships!!!!!this is just a long ramble about what I think

conclusion: I don't know what a love triangle is

. . .

final conclusion : I think the dynamic between the 3(or 2 each) would be really cool!! works best in fics that could give it some more backstory to how the love triangle came to be + maybe even some fun little headcanons

[supercorp-hosie]

My thoughts for Legacies 316: (here we go again😂)

(I’m combining after thoughts with live thoughts)

1) The soundtracks for this episode are amazing, they fit very well even for Finsie that I heard that a lot of people were complaining on Reddit.

2) I finally get my team Sowanby! I just feel so much from them! They kind of make a great team, but please, do not go on another heist again. You both sucks at that! The holes are, the museum don’t have a fucking alarm for Leonardo DaVinci’s work? Are you kidding me? And Landon beating the shit out of the guard but not putting him out first is so dumb. The worst is Cleo calling Landon’s name so loud, I can’t😂😂😂😂😂😂 you don’t want people to be on your back when you have the Malivore threat going on guys! And ha! You guys are on the headline! That’s why I really feel like these supernaturals are so outdated and solidified from modern technology, even in 2030! Are you going to tell me everything technology will still be the same like now?? Come on, there’ll be cameras watching everywhere. Like they can see Cleo using magic! I need my Trimini (or bridge) coven and Hope starting to integrate the supernatural world with the modern world. About Trimini and Hope future career, click here.

3) the line about “many who shaped it are never acknowledged” I stand! After that, about the key card my random thoughts were about Landon being the one that stole the key card😂 just out of the blue and I’m proven wrong though.

4) Landon bonding with Cleo!!!! They thought the same way, and “I can promise that anyone that have to get to you, they have to get to me” is so strong! But the scene after, is the moment I started really doubting Landon, the look is too alarming. But there are still Sowanby scenes😭😭😭 and the melted heart mud... I mean I genuinely believed that the spell didn’t work because Landon is also mud himself. But in hindsight it is horrific, like the serial killer is just standing next to you but and the signs are right in front of you.

5) Malivore mud being artistically friendly! I can’t haha! Oh and when Holarke walked on Sowanby inspiring moment🤣🤣🤣I can’t, they act like both of them are cheating on one another it’s hilarious. Thank you for acknowledging each other Holarke and Sowanby🤣. By now, I should have known that’s MaliLandon. It’s humiliating because Holarke and Sowanby got me so happy that I didn’t see the clues lmao! Because there’s this line: “Following the footstep of the Renaissance greatest man? ” but this thing, Cleo only did it with Leonardo, with whom she slept with......

6) And damn, after that, I felt like a FOOL, CLOWN, WHATEVER after that! All I have for team Sowanby is fake 🙃🙃🙃🤡🤡🤡 Anyway we still have to admit that the promise still stand true right, cuz it’s literal.🤣🤣🤣 MaliLandon fulfills his promise by eating Cleo. TYPICAL.

7) Holarke! Clarke is still handsome as ever😍. We can see his presence is clearly affecting Josie and making Hope giving him information. Can we talk about how cute is he sleeping soundly here?

8) Lizzie being the only unaffected queen here. AND IT’S FINALLY LIZZIE’S TURN FOR “AD SONNUM” I can totally see her pleasantness in doing that to somebody after being on the receiving end🤣🤣🤣 Josie and Hope had done it before so now we actually see her doing it. I somehow feel completed.

9) The look Hope and Josie shared. Hosie!

10) Josie is going to be the death of me! I like her look. And how the camera moving upward gosh! And I’m totally digressing here, what is a razzleberry? And what is a slush? I have no idea what they are, I just feel like tasting what she tasting now. Lizzie’s line, crashing and splashing😂 Am I colour blind? Cuz I really can’t tell whether Hope is wearing dark blue or dark green 😅 if it’s green, then the traffic lights colour are back again lol. If blue, then Hosie matching clothes! Did Finsie ever have matching colours? I’m just wondering.

11) Hosie scene! They talked about how seeing Clarke traumatised Josie~~ damn and Josie says traumatised is her permanent resting state. I mean even on her birthday she was buried alive lmao. And Hope wants to help Josie stop the traumas by sacrificing herself to defeat Malivore, like by literally dying. Which she didn’t want because she didn’t want to live forever.

12) Holarke scene again! I love all those banters and their dynamics😂😂 how Hope is the only one that trusts Clarke now. The mimic spell! It’s their thing😍😍. Oh it totally surprised me that Clarke isn’t mud man anymore. I’m really happy for him, because he finally break himself out of the abuse! It seems like triad is totally gone?? But I still kind of think that there may be something more? And Clarke’s reaction to Hope opening the artefact! 🤣🤣🤣 and the way that Clarke sensed the familiarity with Cleo! Yea boy, she’s the inspiration to the creation of you.

13) Clarke keeps calling Hope and Landon kids🤣 how’s the feeling of getting kid!Hope kicking your ass and saving you😂😂😂 oh she’s totally your equal. Frenemies at best! YES! I love Holarke bonding. And the fact that Clarke being Hope inspiration to believe in friendship and her family now can help her to defeat Malivore, I Stan! Don’t lose sight of the corner! Josie! Lizzie! Clarke! Yes you have them! I’m glad that Clarke didn’t die, I’ll be so mad because the writer would be bringing him back for nothing. Oh the incendia is painful, affecting me more than the fake looking MaliLandon eating Cleo. The height difference again🤣 with Holarke this time.

14) I love Maleb clothes, not really shipping them just short form for their bromance😂 but I do enjoy if there suggests shipping cuz it’s fun! Love that them being supportive of each other, superheroing, and the hero name🤣🤣they’re clueless too. Poor Kaleb and Cleo. I really need his backstory 😫

15) about hero names, I’m still having playback of “blursome and essential” in my mind. MG is looking at the mask longer than Kaleb, I feel like he’s missing Ethan, like a lot. Another thing is, since we see the effect of someone else being compelled so clearly, but we never seen Ethan’s compelling effects. Or it’s a budget matter? They must be kidding right? So maybe Ethan is really faking it? So that leads us to Lethan....

16) if my suspicion is true, then damn, Ethan is using Lizzie to get into SBS? I’m worried for Lizzie’s wellbeing. Also the look on Josie when Ethan drives near tight after she said like some eligible will fall out of the sky🤣🤣🤣 the timing is impeccable lmao. For real, Lizzie wanting Ethan to be Hope’s rebound after her kiss with him in the trio imagination, is ....so the trio is now sharing guys now? Jandon is still there in the history! It’ll be like a very messing love multi-triangle😌😌😌

17) the way Lizzie talked about how Hope is perfect the whole way and judging by the day when they arrived at SBS? That’s very long! Lmao, Lizzie are you sure you’re not in love with Hope? Hizzie rights! (I don’t even know when I started to ship Hizzie, it’s a mystery🤣) I think I can only talk like that about my love. Why don’t you make you and your sister Hope’s rebound? I’ll be happy with what I get🤣

18) The decision to bring Ethan on a tour, is so bad. What if ethan ended up enrolling SBS and Alaric can’t deny the application? Did she ever think of that?? And Josie and Mg is going to face the consequences in the near future🤣 dreadful! From there I already felt the cliche sweetness that when you’re trying to be a wingwoman and ended up “selling” yourself out🤣🤣 fuck CW for cutting the scenes of Lizzie’s epic facial expression when she was slapped with her own words😂😂😂anyway, it’s no way she can refuse the ask out after 315 where Lizzie still thinks that she can’t be the chosen one when Hope is there, but someone actually chooses her even after all the Hope is perfect speech. As much as I mourn for Methan and Mizzie, I’m happy that she got someone to tell her that. But I think they’re destined to backfire😅

19) so does the Mizzie “will they won’t they?” officially end here? I’m confused. Btw it’s really a way to mention Sebastian’s death being relocated permanently 🤣 oh wait...she knew that that prison world is destroyed forever right????? Someone save me.

20) okay I have to go back before Ethan picked the twins up: while Lizzie is actually worrying about themselves being stranded, Josie is just more concerned about Hope? Hosie! Poor Josie, she never sees that she is Hope soft spot and can totally make Hope happy too. Look at your dumb joke at 103, Hope’s laugh is magnificent too. It’s because of you. And yes I’m with Josie, I just ship Hope with herself and her axe right now, don’t put her with anyone for at least 5 more episode please.

21) The one that doesn’t dissolve into goo! Now is Clarke! And the both of you my dear twins. Btw, the dna thing, where Clarke confirms that dna is still toxic... so it applies to Landon too right? And it’s now just more overwhelmingly apparent that handon sex is without protection. Yea so much for epic love. And this is about the possibility where (hopefully) it’s not MaliLandon when the sex scene happened.

22) Finsie time! I got to say, it’s really improving. Their scene is beautiful, finally. That feeling that they’re nice together is now going on continuous for me. I’m happy for them! They are now stepping up on Hosie, not derogatory, I’m just seeing some parallels from hosie here. The disclose of Ethan broken arm, where Hosie has done, before that there’s Clarke’s traumatising Josie thing with Hosie. Next, the focus on the hand holding, I’m thinking of 207 and others. The “me being here with you”, with hosie 308 “then I’ll be here with you”. The whole thing is very comforting for Josie. The hug is good too. We can see that they finally have some nice scene and the bgm is good for them.

23) I have no idea what is magical agronomy, so I look it up. Again, that shows how Josie love plants, like someone in Reddit said they observed that Josie’s side of room has several plants. And in 307, the herbs, that she remembers. I think it can help a lot if Hope is starting a magical technology company. Josie’s interest in that can come in handy. They’ll make a great team. About TRIMINI INDUSTRIES tap here.

24) we are still missing Jed here. Justice for Jed. We need Jed real first name. Did anyone notice when the super squad faces MaliLandon there’s no werewolf present? They’re really downplaying that huh? But maybe I can be satisfied that they are not making Finch being there but not Jed.

25) We need to address this thing about Handon. It’s like one and a half time that Hope couldn’t recognise that Landon is not Landon right? We still have to give credits to her memories shared with Cleo actually make Cleo kind of recognise the difference? So half a time. I agree with Josie’s words that Landon makes Hope happy. I mean, yes, most of the time they failed in working but there’s still sweet scenes between them. So that’s actually what makes Handon tolerable. They are what makes me only do facepalm rather than skipping them. So yes of course Hope has happy moments with Landon. Just that it doesn’t mean that they’re good together.

26) it’s always Landon’s bros that first find out Landon wasn’t Landon😂 this time is Clarke. It’s Clarke that tell Hope, “Landon will never leave you”. That’s the inconsistency of the writers, not counting MaliLandon’s time, it’s still two times. And there’s time that some will argue that Landon’s feet literally walk away from Hope. So...that’s not true, do not stuff that in our throat anymore. “I always thought you two are destined to be together” is this the writer way of saying they’re not doing Handon anymore or otherwise? Cuz “thought” is past tense and “are” is present tense. I’m tired. It’s normal that Hope still wants Landon to be happy and still love him. But after the breakup, when she still doesn’t know that it’s MaliLandon, the “still dying to get Landon again” is obsession. Girl, it’s derogatory to your self-esteem. “If a mud man like me can beat his fate, maybe you kids can too” yea that’s Handon going on.

27) we shouldn’t need to be told that Handon is epic love multiple times. We should be able to feel them, see them ourselves. Why did I start approving Finsie now, because instead of them being only all talking and no showing, now we see them working well (until now). I have been widely accepting to any other legacies ships and why I never ship Handon? So really these multiple telling us that how good is Landon to Hope, is not working. I’ve never been so frustrated.

28) Let’s appreciate the Handon parallel with 101. It’s interesting that how Landon is inside the cage and Hope is outside the cage again. The meaning of the cage has deep meaning here. Handon first kiss is in the cage, that kind of mean that their love is trapped there. Like how their relationship being so troublesome and bound by these fateful encounters. The lights are quite similar, handon always has this blue lighting for them, which sometimes it’s kind of weird. The first time it is Hope decorating the ceiling with stars for Landon. It’s sweet, but also implying that what Handon has is the false beauty of them and not keeping the cage symbolism in mind. In other way of interpreting it, this is the writer foreshadowing their endgame. Cuz they’re trapped there, no way in no way out.

29) I think I’m not the only one bothered by the mostly lack of real Landon appearance in s3. As we can see how MaliLandon words sits so right about, Landon not belonging to SBS if it weren’t Hope. Then he leaves with Cleo, that’s a thing for Sowanby too, they still don’t have roots with the school, and it’s a great bonding between them, friendship or not. It’s the bond between them that matter. In 314 315, we always see that the students were totally fine without Landon. Like the three trios paralleling? It’s sad that Landon is like bouncing here and there in SBS but never really belong. And now the writers kind of ripped his personal development. So now he has neither his pheonix powers nor fighting skills, great? And even Hope’s growth too. We are seeing her moving to a good direction and the writers have to drag her back in the hell hole. Hope needs to not always looking at Landon for her happiness, it’s not good for the both of them. Like MG said, be your own person.

30) THEORIES regarding Landon: a) It’s MaliLandon all the way? I hope not, it’s reminding me of Lost Girl that one of the characters slept with the father personating the person she loves, and got pregnant. Tell you what was more alarming? When the episode ended, I was recommended to move on to Lost Girl on CW seed. It’s disgusting! Why do you want to help make me hate Handon? I don’t even hate them initially! I’m like struggling to be logical and lean on the positive side here. Why I can’t move on from this possibility: first, I’ve always headcannon that Malivore has partial control over Landon. Like how Landon actually wasn’t lying in 102 103? That’s Malivore. And Handon, as genius as always, doesn’t talk about it. Second, the way that Landon dissolved, he was human back then, but he turns into goo? how does it even work? If he is human, toxic to dna will make him die, not become goo, right? Even if that wasn’t a problem, it can also be MaliLandon trying his luck. Third, Malivore purpose is to make the perfect legacy, he will totally give it a try to make tribrid-Malivore babies. Fourth, during the inspiration from Cleo, MaliLandon has Landon’s memories, enhancing the theories that Malivore has partial control over Landon, so even if it wasn’t MaliLandon, it’s still partial-MaliLandon. Fifth, after the inspiration, MaliLandon said that he doesn’t need Hope to tackle his problem or for his purposes, which means he initially wanted Hope, thinking getting to Hope can help with his purposes. It’s really not a far-fetched.

31) THEORIES regarding Landon: b) it’s real Landon during sex, but Malivore got him in the prison world. While having Landon’s personal growth ripped and Handon still dragging out are not pleasant at all, this is still a more pleasant theory for me. At least Landon did start fighting for himself after sometime, and while the sex is still partial-MaliLandon, at least it’s not MaliLandon. (I’m always using at least for Handon 🙃) maybe we can still have Landon fighting skills? Cuz I was happy for him about this though. But I just don’t think so. The evidence for this theory is, my feeling about Landon in 306 is that it kind of fits Landon personality, but he did start his violence there. Another thing is the letter. There’s care in “to whom it may concern”. However, that can be just me being simp. And there’s also possibilities that the partial control from Malivore is cultivating Landon’s behaviour starting there and slowly taking control. Because making a deal with the devil always has its consequences. It’s either that or Landon was taken after the letter.

32) regarding the picture above, i just want to point out about another interesting point about the structure of the scene, if you scroll back and see sowanby picture with the door and another bonding talk, you can se that there’s always pillar and frames that’s framing or trapping them together. Like Handon. I mean that’s totally MaliLandon, so this pointing out is not mean to be romantic. It’s just a thought about how devastating that Cleo is stuck in something her whole life, especially the picture structure that implies that she’s stuck with MaliLandon again.

33) overall I’m thinking this is a good and disgusting episode. With all the unexpected twist, it’s really good, there’s actually layers in showing us that Landon is not Landon every time. Then those bonding. The soundtrack, the scenes. Disgusting, is about the theory, and how we are all tangled back to Handon again after we finally have some fresh air. Not to mention the always surprisingly convenient that Landon always has an excuse when we see Landon did something bad to Hope. Like he can never be making big mistake while only having little questionable doings that can’t possible tarnish him being the perfect person in the show. The first time he lies, Malivore controlled him. During the pageant competition, he is justified to walk away when he totally chose the wrong timing to ask that question, leaving Hope alone breaking in front of such important event. 207, monsters are coming for him, he’s protecting people by leaving. Musical episode, he needs to cross boundaries because it’s bound to be, without further reasoning it with Hope, when Hope specifically was very respectful of him in 111 about his songs. And now, this. That’s not him, we can’t blame him. He will never be blame for something big because the writers is biased. Very biased in making that Landon is better than anyone else in the show, so he’s the perfect guy for Hope. Like no one can compare with him. He’s almost perfect. Perfect than Hope.

34) Reflect on what Hope did in 308, MG is kind of right, she shouldn’t have touched it without fully prepared. Because it totally let Malivore running out free instead of him being an originally contained problem. It’s for the good view in whole. Heroes make hard decisions. There’s still the hair thing cut from Hope and Golem!Landon.

These pictures is my work, while it’s easy to get it yourself, and not that I’m professional in doing this. But I still did screenshot them one by one and did some editing. So please like or label the sources when you save or use it. ♥️

[marvelandponder]

Soooooo thoughts on MLP A New Generation??? And if you're willing to go into spoilers, what do you hope to see from G5 going forward?

Hi, KC, thanks for asking! (And btw, I wish I could've made the watch-party! I swear I'm gonna make one of those things!)

You know, at first my feelings were pretty positively neutral on it, actually. I saw the movie, had a good time, and mostly just felt like hey, that's a good start! Let's see where you go with it! But that was about it.

But after talking about it with a friend, I've come to have a better appreciation for what it's doing.

Spoilers below:

The decision to set this generation an undetermined, but decidedly long ways in the future from the previous generation makes the whole it's set in G4 Equestria concept make so much sense. I didn't know exactly what they were doing with it prior to the release, but seeing the angle where our favourites from G4 have faded into legend... that's really great. It treats G4 with respect and love while also moving on to new places.

And the time jump also means they could construct an entirely different set of social institutions to support the narrative they're telling. There's police, there's a monarchy built on lies, and small superstitious villages where nothing happens and they like it that way. Technology built to divide, as well as entertain and fulfill. All of this in service of creating a story closer to what it feels like to exist in 2021.

Fundamentally, G4's social institutions were foundationally good, apart from that one school board. That story was ultimately about getting and giving second chances, because the world is more loving than we tend to realize.

In G5, the world is institutionally broken, and presumably has been for a long time. Most don't even remember that there was a point where things were different than they are now. Now, okay, here's my thing: I adore what they've done so far. I adore the characters, what they've set up, and I think there was bravery in even having a character say the line "that badge creates an unhealthy power dynamic" to a cop (specifically, because Hasbro is a toy company historically dictated by whether conservative parents would buy their toys; lesser offences have been pulled from airing).

And you know, I have every faith in the cast and crew to put in their best effort. I think I just worry that what I want from this is a tall order, you know?

Ideally, to me, G5 would teach kids even just the basic concepts of systemic injustice. That there are problems with institutions in society, not just individual people. Most other cartoons for kids that age make the villains the problem, but if you're going to set up a world metaphorically close to our own, with the set up that there are class and race divisions that have been ingrained into society...

The villains in the show would represent the problems with the institutions that are causing problems.

You can defeat bad guys easily, and get to think you're good. But what if the problem is more societal than that?

Like, well, Hitch. The dude is a sheriff, and has now clearly seen that his badge does create an unhealthy power dynamic (through Sprout). So, is he going to have to confront that in any way, or is the show not really going to make him think about what being an officer means? That could be a really fantastic character arc! But I don't know if that's the direction the writers will ultimately want to take his character, and that's fine.

Whatever they do, it's clear it'll be a really fun generation with a great cast and world. I think my greatest wish would be if they continued in the direction I think they've started here, but that's up to the writers to decide! Oh, and the characters are all very endearing. I could blather on each of them, but maybe I'll save that for another time!

[ranboo5]

whats 'the clip' and knifetrick?

Augh. Under the cut for shipping discourse and p/dophilia ment (nothing graphic or specific). Gets long bc I discuss my thoughts on DSMP shipping in general. You are setting me up fr anon

Some quick vocab -

intimacy here is used to refer to. Well. Any kind of intimacy between characters, of any sort, as an umbrella term /r, /p, and /qp here are used as shorteners to denote "romantic," "platonic," and "queerplatonic," both as adjectives And as verbs ("to /r" = "to portray romantically") shipping here is used to refer to any focused examination of intimacy between characters

And some clarity that Should follow from the essay next but may not - """anti-antis"""" and RPF writers delete forever

The Clip is from one of if not the? most recent Discord stage(s) Mr Live has done (which I missed when it was live RIP) wherein he issues a hard ban on shipping him ("do not ship me, in any way, with anyone!") which would less influence c!beeduo (which has been portrayed/stated to be romantic AND nonromantic both conflictingly for a while until being confirmed unconfirmed several months ago, that being the last was heard) without its direct invocation if he hadn't also cited for the reason as being underage ("'Cause, one, it's straight up pedophilia") which is! a) immediately applicable to At Least his DSMP character, Partially and b) while not Strictly True (should b obvious that portraying a relationship within the bounds of what it is in canon and in a nonsexual way is not That, and /r-ing c!beeduo etc was possible to do Appropriately again by remaining w/in the bounds of canon) is Clearly Indicative of the fact that baggage-wise it IS associated with people being fucking creeps

This Really complicates things bc like okay the apparent solution is "lol just don't /r it" but it's really like. A Worse issue than that bc like.

Okay the reason shipping in terms of fictional characters is a Different Bar is bc it's an examination of Intimacy and certain lines exist in certain dynamics of intimacy that Isn't Shown (which is the whole Within The Bounds Of Canon thing) which is important in a medium like DSMP because of the smaller gap + more personal relationship b/w character and streamer. Examining intimacy beyond th bounds of the consent that has been established in that regard is Weird at best and Violating And Creepy more often and, As Mentioned In Ranb's Stage, Literally Evil at worst

Which is why writing abt like. QPR or platonically intimate Techno and Philza (characters) is smth that is fine because that's smth that has been shown and repeatedly stated onscreen; it's in the bounds of canon n thus within th bounds of what the streamers've consented 2 be done with their characters. But writing T3chza making out or whatever is fucked up because it's smth that's beyond those consent barriers

And the thing is right

Slapping a /p on T3chza makeout doesn't. Make it less violating

Like what you CALL romantic is not the measure or whether it's past those barriers yk? And if it's indistinguishable, if it's in extrapolative territory that is Past The Bounds, it Does Not Matter how much you /p it EVEN IF IT IS TECHNICALLY PLATONIC y feel? Like at the end of the day placing a moratorium on some/all forms of shipping is placing a moratorium on certain examinings of intimacy

And okay 2 go back to Mr Live and his character. What it implies taken in context w/ older portrayals of c!beeduo and said by invoking smth that both evokes Really fucked up baggage (that does unfortunately exist btw I'm sorry if you didn't know that but People Really Do B Fucked Up Abt Beeduo) AND applies to his character is a revocation of consent to examining deep intimacies:tm: with his character, which is gonna apply regardless of the nature of that intimacy (even if nonromantic)

Like I don't /r c!beeduo myself, do not, never have, but I talk to people who have and have consumed content where they r background /r; I also don't think it matters. Like I don't Actively /r it and I don't Actively Not /r it because imho w/ the intimacy regarding c!beeduo that is plot relevant and character important whether that intimacy is /p /qp or /r doesn't really matter. I don't consider myself Less of a c!beeduo shipper than someone who /rs them because that would be dumb as hell and while none of the content I've made* is Intrinsically or Intentionally /r it certainly can be read tht way as much as it can be read /qp or /p. It's be dumb and hypocritical of me to like, dunk on ppl for /r-ing c!beeduo when I'm also invested in these two and my tonetags r not gonna suddenly Delete the picking apart I've done of the dynamic @ hand

Which Has Been. Within Bounds Of Canon. It's been what's been shown (sometimes to my great distress. There is a reason that the :canon_beeduo: emote looks the way it does) Directly Onscreen and in general keeping with the tone n intensity/directions of what they've Done With The Characters

HOWEVER

As mentioned up there. Revocation of consent

It makes. Full sense 2 me that Mr Live wants to place a moratorium or fullon ban on shipping his characters perhaps where he wouldn't have before because of the Unfortunately Very Extant trends of people being Fucking Weird about shipping his characters AND of using them as a Thinly Veiled Excuse to ship HIM, which. I should not have to explain why shipping real people is fucking abhorrent

THIS creates a problem which is a. Bit of a vacuum in interacting with what is a facet of c!Ranboo's arc, decision making, and character. Like you CAN have c!Ranboo w/o cbeeduo but you Can't Really have his plotline without examining c!beeduo. And as I mentioned earlier: even if your examination of c!beeduo is fully platonic, the significance of it To the plotline means that any examination of it and its relevance to the plotline and characters IS gonna be an examination of intimacy, which. Regardless of it's platonic, Is Still Shipping

Unless some HARD retconning happens it leaves this like. Hole in an aspect of c!Ranboo's arc and decisionmaking and it's very. Uncertain? God. Fucking months ago I was already kind of :huh. Does he know what the fuck he's doing: irt c!beeduo and desperately wishing for things to be cleared up and now it's only That Much Stronger

NOW. KNIFETRICK, FINALLY

Knifetrick (or, as it’s actually listed, Bishop’s Knife Trick) is a fic about "Ran and Jackie from The Pit TFTSMP" in a "canon-typical ambiguously romantic relationship." As you can tell from the scare quotes, especially if you've seen me vague, both of these are, to put it politely, Doubtful. I've read the fic; I will not be sharing my opinions because that would be neither productive nor responsible (I will just say I can't recommend it and leave it at that) but I WILL say the following that Is relevant to the conversation:

Ran's and Jackie's characterizations respectively have very little to do with characterizations from The Pit, and bear a dollar-store-version resemblance to tropes and personality motifs found in ESPECIALLY fanon c!beeduo, especially later in the fic. I would not go so far as to say they are Intentionally Literally Ranboo and Tubbo but they are transparent expies and were clearly written at LEAST unintentionally w/ c!beeduo in mind (esp since. Ran and Jackie barely interacted in The Pit), and for a readerbase that, as far as I can tell, is HUGELY dominated by /r c!beeduo shippers. Like. Sorry. This is off-brand c!beeduo.

The dynamic between the two is pretty unambiguously romantic, also; despite what the fic's white knights claim, romantic tropes and implications/motifs/imagery from at LEAST chapter two, and is very much explicitly romantic by the most recent chapter.

FROM CH1:

"And now, with raised eyebrows and a pursed lip, the newly named General Jackie observes Ran in such a way that makes the enderman’s skin crawl. Ran reminds himself that this kid, as short and harmless as he may look, is trained to kill. [...] Jackie narrows his eyes and tilts his head a little, as if he’s trying to read in between every one of Ran’s imperfect scales."

FROM CH2:

"It makes Ran’s skin itch with discomfort. [...] 'That actually doesn’t explain much of anything at all,' complains Jackie, and he pops a few croutons into his mouth with one hand. 'Tell me what you’re thinking, pretty-boy.'

"Ran feels his face flush, no doubt mildly glowing green.

"Yes, that was the other thing. The unnecessary compliments to his physical appearance.

"They don’t happen very often, and don’t seem to have very much meaning or intention behind them— Jackie often speaks like an unthinking kid— but when they do happen… they’re embarrassing. [...] It’s annoying how the rug is pulled out from under his feet in these moments when he’s 'embarrassed'. Like the conversation see-saw has temporarily shifted weight in the general’s favor."

I am not going to include excerpts from Chapter 6 because it's just the entire chapter.

I WILL SAY, HOWEVER, STEPPING ON THIS SCORPION BEFORE IT STINGS: they are not written in an RPFy manner and I don't think there's any grounds, including Vibes, of accusing Knifetrick of being like. Closet truthing or whatever. Also, while I think there's certainly Some Weirdness ESPECIALLY around the reaction, the romance itself is Not written in any way I'd call weird or problematic pre-clip; it's nothing inappropriate or like Weirdly Fetishy or whatever. Knifetrick is not #problematic or anything and I don't have beef with like the concept of liking it intrinsically; if I thought it was like. Abhorrent I wouldn't be sharing excerpts lmao dhjfnhdsbvdnfjh. Hence: if anyone uses this post or anyth like it to send harassment or bad faith ANYTHING to anyone involved with Knifetrick I will hunt you down in the fucking night even if it WAS #problematic that'd be the LITERAL OPPOSITE of productive and as it stands it's Literally Not. Essentially: Knifetrick is a (questionably-written /mean) fic using Ran and Jackie from The Pit as a vessel for a large chunk of the dynamics and headcanons of fanon /r c!beeduo in particular

And again, I would not call it problematic in any way (aside from the disingenuity of the insistence that it's TOTALLY UNRELATED TO BEEDUO and TOOOTALLY WASN'T INTENDED TO BE ROMANTIC GUYS like own your shit please)... IF it weren't for the advent of The Clip, which is calling in2 question the Entirety of the problem of /r-ing any variant of c!beeduo or any of Ranboo's characters at all

I really do not have an answer for this tbh. I genuinely wanna hear from the streamer on this more specifically because I like,,, I got no clue where 2 go from here? Do I just consider an arc retconned? Was it an issue of speaking abt a troubling subject kneejerk wise and I'm reading too much in2 it?

I just. I dunno

Tl;dr (AT LONG LAST)

- The Clip is a clip of a Discord stage where Ranboo (streamer) loudly explicitly decried shipping in a way that implicitly applies to characters he plays - This would be all well and good but is rendered complicated by the plot relevance of c!beeduo, which does not stop being shipping if it's /p'd due to it still necessarily being an examination of a particular intimacy in a way that is in canon hard to distinguish the /p, /qp, or /r nature of - Bishop's Knife Trick is an AO3 fic centered around using TFTSMP characters as /r c!beeduo expies which is not a bad thing in and of itself unless it also is covered under this moratorium - Things remain unclear until and unless we get clearer word from streamer, but considering Mr Live seems to be allergic to clarifying anything abt c!beeduo this is doubtful

*very little if any of the content I personally have made 4 c!beeduo has been posted publicly, for related reasons. You May have seen it if you're in servers w/ me, depending on Which Ones

[dreamwritesimagines]

I mean yeah Bucky was great before the breakup but that's the thing tho, he broke The Trust!! I literally wouldn't be able to go back to him without wondering 24/7 whether he's gonna flip the switch again today. He really just showed that he knows precisely how to hit below the belt and how to scar you and he's more than willing to do it, no matter the reason why, and that to me is enough to never trust him again, at least like a lover. How could you talk to him about things, be vulnerable with him, knowing he can and will use that against you if he needs to? If he needed them to break up, fine... but why did he have to do it like that? was there really, absolutely no other way, than to harm her self esteem? And then he acts confused and hurt as to why she won't talk to him. if a guy is ok up until the breakup and then turns into an asshole, I'm sorry, 🚩🚩🚩

That's another thing tho, even after the break up, he is still being really cruel. He tells her she's not good enough and he only loved the idea of her, but he gets confused when she blocks his number??? he still calls her petnames, sleeps with her (on a moment that is very vulnerable and unstable for her, may I add) and tries to tell her that it means something, but THEN proceeds to have another girl on his lap, and THEN gets mad at her for being with another guy???? I mean 🚩🚩🚩 he is being cruel with this push and pull, and If it was someone else, I'd say he's trying to gaslight her and convince her that "oh it's not that big of a deal, I didn't hurt you that bad, u know youre mine and we're soulmates let's just forget this"

I honestly think at this point, if he actually loved her he'd let her go, AT LEAST for a very long time. allowing her to heal and be happy however and with whoever she wishes without being constantly hovering over her shoulder and trying to taint it.

That's just my take on it and it's all good fun tho love, I know we'll probably get to see what his reasoning is soon (I hope it's good enough ngl) and I also know that whoever Peaches ends up with (if she even ends up with someone at all) is gonna work out fine because you love Peaches and you wouldn't want her to be unhappy ♥️ AND, I know if she ends up with bucky you'll make him at least earn it because omg would he have some making up to do.

Still team Alex tho 😈

PS i still hold a grudge against bad habits Billy btw LMAO

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH OH MY GOD THANK YOU DARLING!? 😱😍❤

This is such a good analysis of their whole dynamic and what actually happened between them yes! ❤ I do think that if Peaches gets back together with him, it won't be the same as before at least at first❤ He broke that trust for sure! ❤ It'd take her some time to actually feel like she can trust him again❤

"He's being cruel with this push and pull" Exactly! That's exactly what it is, push and pull! 😍 I think Peaches would comment on it too!

Bucky and Peaches's idea of love is not like the usual kind of love 😈 It's a bit more dysfunctional and neither of them can see just how messed up it is😈

Wait you still hold a grudge against Bad Habit Billy? 😂😂 I mean.... he deserves it 😂😈😈

[phoenixstartedthefire]

Cursed Child thoughts part one: things I like

Y’all wanted to know my thoughts on the cursed child so I will deliver. This post is going to focus only on the things I liked about it. Don’t worry, I didn’t like the whole thing. There are a LOT of flaws. But I overall enjoyed it. Btw this won’t make much sense if you haven’t read it. Tw// mention of abuse

I loved Albus and Scorpius so much. Their friendship dynamic is amazing and they had so many heartwarming moments together. When they hug and one of them always has to make it awkward and bring it up. “Albus I missed you so much!” “It’s been five minutes,” I could honestly go on forever about their relationship and how adorable and amazing it is.

I love how Scorpius kind of breaks the stereotype of what it’s like to be a Slytherin. Most Slytherins in the series, good or bad, are generally seen to come off as sarcastic, mean-spirited, and morally ambiguous. Whether or not they did the right thing in the end. But Scorpius doesn’t fit in that box. He’s a cute lil nerd who loves his friend and his family. He seems like a bit of a push over but he still calls out Albus on his bullshit and stands up to him if he needs to. I love that he’s such a polar opposite to Draco but Draco never seems to resent him over it. I love that Draco is a good dad and even has to put Harry in his place a few times. That duel between Harry and Draco was actually pretty funny.

Also, my friend unfortunately had her mom pass away around the same age as Scorpius was when Astoria died and she says the scene where Scorpius invites Albus to the funeral is pretty realistic. So take what you want with that.

And Albus was great too. I love how he went from, “yeah I guess I’ll sit with you. But only for the sweets,” to “I will kill you if you put a hand on this boy,”. He’s the angsty middle child rep we all needed. He always wants to do the right thing and will do just about anything to do it, even if he goes about it in the complete wrong way and breaks a few laws to do it. Its a very Slytherin thing to do. He’s sarcastic and moody on the outside but he just needs a hug. There is nothing I want more than to give Albus Potter a hug.

Ron and Hermione, man. They were adorable. I love how in love they were. Ron having not clue what’s going on but just trying his best. I love how in every timeline they’re still in love with each other. And Ron wanting to get remarried to Hermione❤️❤️. I just love those two and how in love they are. I also love Ron and Ginny��s sibling banter.

This might be a little controversial but I actually think that fight Harry and Albus had. You know the one. Was pretty in character for Harry. He does have a background of bottling up his emotions and taking them out on people(see the entire ootp). I don’t think the way he treated Albus was okay but it was realistic. As much as we say we won’t be our parents, it happens. He was under a lot of stress and the blanket thing pushed him over the edge. I’ve said a few times on this blog but I grew up in an abusive household and that’s honestly how things happen. Harry didn’t know any better way to handle his emotions. His aunt and uncle took it out on others and so does Harry. It’s a cycle. A sad one. I don’t think Harry was overall a bad parent. He really means well and wants his kids to be happy and safe. But he goes about it completely wrong. Not good but realistic.

I just really loved Albus and Scorpius lol.

[of-house-atreides]

This article is breaking my brain

Have you read this article ?

TW: mentions of suicide and also I’m an angry petty bitch

Yes I know this article is from like three weeks ago but I just found it... and I have things to say.

I swear I can’t handle this anymore...

“But today, Loki steps out of his brother’s shadow”... to step in another one. It be the TVA or Sylvie, just... take your pick.

“resuming his role as the God of Mischief” um where? when?

The comedy part is debatable but fine, whatever... I must have missed the noir crime-thriller bit maybe it was between two scenes of Loki getting his ass kicked by literally everyone in this show.

Yeah you forgot that end-credit scene showing Loki alive and well in IW/Endgame.

And no, alternate/variant Loki doesn’t count, he’s not the same person/character.

Because of course when you think of Loki you instantly think his story should take place in a “bureaucratic nightmare” -

And why not hire competent experienced people for Multiverse of Madness and Loki? Is this Marvel’s way of telling us they don’t really care about these projects?

Kevin really said “no experienced writers on this project, let’s just hire whoever” - or maybe it’s a budget thing? Less experience means less zeros on the pay checks?

Wow, ok.

So not a fan of the movies nor a fan of the character, just a fan of the genre, that explains a lot...

“what was really important to me was stripping away all the fantastical elements” ... ?? I’m sorry?? What?? So removing all the fantastical elements from a show titled after who is supposed to be the main character who is a GOD and a prince from another realm/planet was what was important?? The Trickster God of Mischief, magic wielder, master of illusions NEEDED to be stripped from his FANTASTICAL ELEMENTS???

ffs

“find the heart of this story” - is the heart of this story Loki becoming best friends with his (mental and physical) torturer after what? 2 days? Was it falling in love with the ‘superior’ version of himself after only 13 hours together? I’m still looking for the heart of this story.

“what is the relatable message at the center?” - well apparently it’s ‘you can be a God and a warrior with magical powers but still get your ass kicked by literally everyone all the time and never use your strength and skills to fight back’. Or it’s the power of love, idk -

Oh wait, is it falling in love with the female version of himself? For a weird ‘love yourself’ metaphor? That must be it.

Or maybe it’s jet skis.

Ah yes, the ‘you can be good, actually’ message of this series that is so subtly presented to us...

They really missed the whole fucking point of Loki.

They missed it so bad they made him call himself a narcissist (which he isn’t btw).

For the record, Loki is a prince of Asgard who learnt one day he was adopted and in fact taken from one of Asgard’s worst enemies, the King of the Jotuns, aka Frost Giants “the monsters parents tell their children about at night”. He found out he was not only adopted but also abducted and not out of love. He feels not only betrayed but he thinks he understands now why Odin always favoured Thor and why he’d never have the same love from Odin that Thor has had his whole life. He thinks of himself as a monster and wants to be worthy of Odin’s love. So he tries to get it. And sure, he doesn’t do it in the best way, and yes, he is the villain of that story. But Loki isn’t a villain. He doesn’t like to make people suffer, he did it out of pain, out of hurt. The events in Avengers was after he was thoroughly tortured and coerced by Thanos to invade Earth. There is even a moment in the end when Thor asks him if he thinks this ‘madness would stop under his rule’ (or something along those lines) and he looks unsure and regretful. But due to the fear of Thanos and insecurity about himself (love is weakness or whatever) he keeps going. He redeems himself in Dark World, again in Ragnarok and yet again in IW and he was thrown in the trash for it.

Yes, Loki’s story is complex, but it really isn’t that complex... So maybe Loki is a “scared little boy” but his way of acting out makes sense and there’s a legitimate reason for it that was not explored in the show. And his backstory is probably what she called the “bells and the whistles”... 

“we literally delete his universe” - and apparently you deleted his personality too

“it’s a story of reinvention ... can Loki find goodness in himself?” - again, you’re missing the point. Loki is insecure, but not about his ability to do what’s right, but about whether or not he is worthy of love! Finding goodness within himself comes AFTER!

“Loki’s journey, to me, is really about acceptance of himself” - several questions here, um, first, what about himself does he need to accept? That he’s a Jotun? The show never mentions it. That he’s done bad shit and should forgive himself for it? Give him a reason to. Self-love doesn’t come after being mentally and physically tortured by some guy who acts like he’s your best friend after 2 days of working together and being yelled out that “he can be anyone he wants, even something good”.

Show, don’t tell, isn’t that the point of your job?? The job you begged for??

Loki’s journey should have been about self-love and no, falling in love with the female version of yourself (who keeps saying they have nothing in common (because they don’t!)) doesn’t count!

“a more mature and darker path” ...

well this is interesting... was making Loki a clown and the butt of every joke part of making the show mature and dark? Were the terrible attempts at humour? Him being beaten up every two seconds? Having him say lines he’d never say in a million years just to be funny but since it’s out of character for him it fails completely? Was making him incompetent and a complete idiot part of that attempt of making the show mature and dark?

Is that why there’s no magic? You cut off the magician so your show would be more “mature and dark”?

Having him cry every episode doesn’t make your show mature and dark.

Loki from Thor, Avengers, the Dark World and even IW is mature and dark. Your Loki from your series is just a pathetic clown.

“don’t give viewers the story they are expecting” - I personally wasn’t expecting any story, I just wanted Loki, you know, in this Loki series, supposedly all about Loki, and you guys couldn’t even do that.

So this is the author of the article speaking here, I’m guessing, and I think they’re giving a summary of the show so far, so let’s break this down:

“This is Loki as we’ve never seen him before” - I 100% agree -

“Stripped of his self-proclaimed majesty” - ok, first of all, Loki is a prince, that’s a fact, he didn’t make that up, and for the few years he was King of Asgard disguised as Odin, he seemingly did a great job, so...

“but with his ego still intact” - ah, yes, his ego, you know, because he’s such a narcissist... oh wait -

yes he has an ego, but he has a regal one, not misplaced entirely either - his ego in the show is basically him underestimating the TVA and Mobius (as well as the Time Keepers) - his ego is him getting offended by the variant: the ‘superior Loki’ - his ego in the show is used as a weapon to humiliate and belittle him.

“he faces consequences he never thought could happen to such a supreme being as himself” - he literally tried to k*ll himself in the first Thor - literally a result of his own actions - when he returned to Asgard in Dark World, he didn’t try to pretend he hadn’t fucked up. He didn’t try to hide what he had done (he tries to deny to Mobius in episode 2 that he was manipulating them at the fair) - he sacrifices himself in IW... but sure, Loki from the series is indeed surprised that he is powerless (even when he doesn’t need to/shouldn’t be)

“there is a lot of humour ... he is taken down a few pegs by the TVA” ... he is humiliated by the TVA - definitely not what we were expecting, I’ll give you that.

“sentenced to a lifetime of bureaucracy” - definitely did not expect that either

and here comes my favorite quote: “it’s a sad Loki without any mischief”

yes - yes - yes

that is a good summary of this goddamn show, a sad, pathetic, powerless Loki without any personality 

“fallen God” - yeah that’s definitely not what I was expecting either from the Loki series so good job on subverting expectations I guess...

“who is going to win out in this match between them?”

there is no match - Loki is powerless - he’s been turned into a pathetic docile harmless wet dog - Mobius literally mentally (episode 1 and 4) and physically (episode 4) tortures him, both time in an attempt to have Loki do his bidding - Loki is the dog and Mobius is the master - even when Loki ‘tries’ to manipulate him it fails because he’s underestimating them (by overestimating himself) - he uses obvious techniques to manipulate the TVA (episode 2) and nobody buys it because it’s not subtle at all! Loki is smarter than that, he is a TRICKSTER GOD FFS!

“there is an interesting dynamic between them that maybe you haven’t seen with Loki in the Marvel movies” - yeah, maybe there’s a reason for that... like... he wouldn’t... submit so easily... he’d be wary, cautious, cunning... he’d be... himself...

Sans déconner ?

It’s like whoever wrote the series didn’t actually know shit about Loki... like that wasn’t fucking obvious...

And those lectures were apparently done after the script was written so... again, no surprise there... we can see that

Well...

“we wanted the show to be imbued with mischief” vs “sad Loki without any mischief” choose your fighter

“Loki has this very sensitive, damaged, broken heart with an enormous capacity to feel emotion on the biggest scale.”

Are surprised that only Tom so far has portrayed and talked about Loki accurately?

“loneliness, sadness, anger and grief and loss”

I love this man.

I do wonder what Mr. Branagh thinks of the show...

I’m of the people who see a vulnerability beneath those layers of charm and playfulness. I love Loki because he’s smart and cunning and regal, and elegant and sophisticated. I love him cause at the end of the day, he just wants to be loved, and he deserves to be loved.

And in the end, the only Loki I can’t stand is the one from the series.