#and now he can't re-engage that wanting he has for them because they're not well right now

[mekanikaltrifle]

act 2 of the story ended, for Malcolm, in a way he's too familiar with now-- coping with a sudden grief in a hospital.

he's starting to hate hospitals, and mages, and magic.

[telomeke]

4 MINUTES EPISODE 5 – FLASHBACKS, WATCHALONGS AND AN OMINOUS CULTURAL TOUCHPOINT

They're doing a great job with this show and I'm now a newly-minted fan of Director Ning Bhanbhassa Dhubthien, whose confident hand has been assuredly steering the proceedings in 4 Minutes. 🤩

Ep.5 has irrefutably confirmed that the 4 Minutes of the title really is a reference to the four-minute limbo after the heart stops beating (4 Minutes Sultrier Version Ep.5 timestamp 42:20).

So the layers are now being slowly peeled back and more was revealed to us, shedding flashes of light on the convoluted storyline. All is still not clear yet, but some ideas are starting to take shape.

OK, this is mostly guesswork but anyway–

It's quite firmly implanted in my mind now that we're seeing a lot of Great's four minutes of brain activity post cardiac arrest. But what's been percolating in my mind since the last episode is that that we might also be seeing Tyme's four-minute post-death flashback, especially since we also saw him getting shot in the opening sequence of Episode 1.

And so those scenes and sequences shown from Tyme's point of view may also be him re-living his own past experiences (concurrently with Great's?) even as his own heart has stopped.

This thought was triggered by Ep.4's revelation that people who find themselves in the Four-Minute Zone get to enter some sort of common waiting room, and they get to meet others in there too:

And the vibes I got watching this scene reminded me so much of Great and Tyme's conversation at their lakeside glamping in the trailer, which we got to see fully in Episode 5:

I don't think this is Great and Tyme on a romantic date in the real world. Serene, other-worldly and seemingly divorced from reality – this locale has them talking about how beautiful it all is, and Great even says "I wanna stay here forever" before admitting "But we probably can't."

It really looks like this is Great and Tyme finding each other in the four-minute post-death netherworld, with the art gallery meeting room switched up for a more romantic getaway instead (that Great got to choose). And with the clock ticking ominously down to 11:04...

There's also this little snippet from the trailer:

Tyme is locked out of a room, and he calls out for Great even as his surroundings are all sepia-toned and soft-focused.

I think this is 4 Minutes showing us that Tyme's four minutes will be up before Great's are, and Tyme will swept back to the real world – or away to another world – while Great is left behind. (Or maybe it's the other way around?)

Ominously, we are not shown Great's rapture and release from four-minute limbo – as much as I want a Happily Ever After for the two newest pretty boys who have won my heart, 4 Minutes is making no such promises. So I suppose we should prepare ourselves for the possibility that while Great (or Tyme) may well be waking up from a four-minute hiatus and returning to the world of the living at 11:04 – it's not a guarantee that the other will rejoin him there when his own four minutes tick down. 😬💔😭

‌

Anyway, I've refrained from commenting on the numeral 4 as a symbol of death, because this is more a thing in Chinese culture rather than Thai (and up until Ep.5 Thai-Chinese references were at most only faintly present in 4 Minutes).

Well that certainly changed, at 4 Minutes Sultrier Version Ep.5 timestamp 34:50:

The temple where Ep.1 accident victim Khun Manee goes to hire a hitman is unmistakably Chinese. The mafia don she engages with also speaks in Teochew Chinese (I think) at timestamp 36:25.

And so when her siam si/เซียมซี fortune stick shows up with the numeral 4, the link with death is all but confirmed (the word for death in many Chinese dialects like Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese and Hakka sounds similar to the word for the numeral 4, although there are tonal differences). No surprises then, that the Chinese don tells Manee "Someone's probably going to die."

This had a Thai parallel in Ep.1, when the clock in Khun Manee's hospital room showed us it was thirteen minutes past 1 o'clock in the afternoon:

As portentous as this might appear to occidental minds, it's not just the Western superstition surrounding the number 13 that's threading darker undertones into the fabric of this scene.

In Thai culture (where belief in the supernatural abounds), the numeral 13 is also sometimes considered ill-omened because it looks rather like the Thai word for ghost – ผี – flipped onto its side, adding to the general sense of foreboding in Ep.1.

And for me, this was not meant to foreshadow all the deaths taking place in subsequent scenes and episodes, although it isn't inappropriate as a device.

We have been seeing ghosts in this series – Great, Lukwa, possibly Tyme, and whoever else who found themselves caught in the spectral dimension that exists between life and death in the universe of 4 Minutes.

‌And this may be just my fevered 4 Minutes obsessed brain overthinking things again, but in this light – the paired thirteen (13:13) is likely a reference to the ghostly half-lives of our protagonist couple Great and Tyme, getting to share a precious (final?) four minutes together in that twilight zone between the world of the living and the great beyond.

But it seems more than likely that they will be yanked apart when their four minutes are up. 😧 So will that separation be forever? I wait on tenterhooks to see.

P.S. Links to my own fan theory as to what it all might possibly mean:

And some more supporting information, embedded in the show:

‌

[qqueenofhades]

It's definitely a refusal to engage with or truly understand politics. I'm 24, I was in middle school during Obama's second term and 17 in 2016, and I feel like a lot of my peers just continue to be appalled at how bad things have gotten with the Republicans and why Democrats can't do anything to stop it. What's missing from their understanding is how long it took for the Republicans to get here. It didn't start in 2016. They worked for decades to do all the nightmarish shit they're doing now, and Democrats just haven't been able to do the same (because people refuse to vote consistently and give them the power to do those things). I feel like that's where the "both sides are the same" bullshit comes from - the idea that if the Dems wanted to stop the GOP, they would. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of how anything works, and often relies on downplaying how bad the Republicans actually are in order to support their 'Dems are just as bad' stance.

Things did get catastrophically worse when Trump was elected, and he broke things way more than they ever had been, but he doesn't exist in a vacuum and it took the Republicans a lot of fucking work for him to do what he did. The only way the Dems can counteract that is by having a party of people willing to put in a similar level of work, and that requires understanding our structures and how things work (executive orders are only temporary fixes and actual legislation takes time, compromise, and work), and a lot of these people just aren't willing to do it.

The thing is, yes, I absolutely do get the feeling that everything is terrible and we are doomed. I went through it when GWB was re-elected in 2004 and then again in 2008, worrying about whether Obama would get elected and end that particular run of Republican-induced misery (when John McCain looks like a fucking saint compared to the GOP candidates we are being offered now), and obviously plumbed the depths of despair in 2016 with Trump. But I don't remember ever thinking that I should just give up trying, stop voting, or any of that, and I don't think it was because I was some kind of special person who was just so tenacious. I obviously have not been a teenager in the present era and yes, that means I have different views on things from the next generation, but also: this has always happened. Moments of total political despair and feeling that everything is fucked are also not a new thing. We are going through it with Trumpism, the previous generation went through it with Reagan/Thatcher, the previous previous generation went through it with Nixon/Vietnam, the previous etc generation went through it with the Cold War, the previous etc. etc. generation went through it with World War II -- and so forth. There has never been any one point when everything was great and there was no work left to be done, because, y'know. That is not how either history or human nature works.

Hence, that is why I'm trying to figure out what in the fuck is going on right now, and whether it's just social media that have made things so bad (entirely possible). Critical thinking is a shambles, yes, but that's not necessarily something young people have chosen for themselves. The current world is a late-stage capitalist dystopia run by four or five trillionaire oligarch cartels and corporations, and obviously public education, basic civic responsibility, the teaching of any "controversial" history, and everything else that might threaten that setup has been systematically and methodically dismantled, politicized, or so infiltrated with false information that it's basically useless. That in itself is not young people's fault. They have genuinely been dealt a terrible hand in many ways, and I don't blame them for being angry about it. I too am angry about it! I do question, however, when the overwhelming sentiment became "well we should just give up and let the bad guys win, either because it's too much work to change it or because that will spark the Great Revolution and that's the only way to fix things ever, and doing anything else at all in the meantime is wrong."

Once again: I do not blame young people for being angry at the shitty situation they are currently facing. I do not blame young people for being disillusioned with the system and thinking that it can't solve everything at once. But yet again: there has never been any government, country, or organization in the history of ever anything everywhere that was able to do that, and the ones that tried, or insisted that they could do it, were infamously murderous bloodbaths, because breaking society (even with all its flaws) into a thousand pieces and thinking this will make My Preferred Ideological Utopia Now Appear is probably the deadliest belief in all of time and space. The world is flawed and has been for all time because humans are flawed and probably will be for all time. Being a grownup requires coming to an understanding of that fact and seeing what you can do in spite of that. People in every era have had gaps and biases and blind spots and other things that hobbled their understanding or made their efforts for change less perfect or complete than they would have wanted in an ideal world, and they have had to move past those anyway. The current generation is no different. Not to sound like a boomer, but even despite the mess they've been faced with, they need to figure out how to engage with it anyway and not just completely absolve responsibility because they can't fix it all at once. Which I don't think most young people do! There are plenty of them who really do get it and are engaged and idealistic and working for good change, and that's great! It's just the other part that worries me, and which is not as small as we would like to think.

And yes, part of this is just flat-out bad information and the stubborn lack of any desire to change it if it conflicts with pre-existing beliefs. (This is by no means exclusive to young people of this current generation, as it's another bad habit of humanity, but yes.) In the aforementioned "you're driving young leftists away :(" ask I got yesterday, there were also plenty of dubious and just-flat-wrong claims, such as that Democrats keep moving to the right "especially economically." That is just not true. In the last four years, the Democrats have moved the most economically leftward in all of American history and have finally and flatly rejected the Great Reagonomics Myth. Just because Clinton did Reagonomics-lite in the '90s (when most of the current generation of Online Leftists weren't even born), that is thirty years ago and in wildly different circumstances. These things are not difficult to look up. Do it. Try to educate yourself, even if the system doesn't want to do it. You can't just throw up your hands and insist that nobody taught you, so how could you know??? Put that "instant access to all of human history and knowledge" to use, even just a little. It'll be good for you!

Likewise, there was also the anon's befuddling insistence that I was "patronizing" or "shaming" anyone "further left than Biden," which reflects their apparent feeling that telling people to vote for Biden is a "personal attack" on their cherished beliefs, or whatever. I'm unsure how many times we have to keep repeating that voting for a candidate does not mean you are canonizing all their beliefs exactly as your own, and that it's just one tool to do the bare minimum to not live in a fucking fascist theocratic dictatorship, but yeah. I can guarantee you that I personally am well left of Biden. I can guarantee you that most people on Tumblr voting for Biden are probably well left of him as well. That does not negate the fact that Biden is the most progressive president America has ever had, regardless of how much Online Leftists shriek otherwise. It also does not negate the fact that this is by no means true of America as a whole (witness the large faction that still thinks Biden is a godless far-left evil socialist). It does not negate the many complex historical, political, social, cultural, religious, racial, etc reasons that have collided to produce the America where this is the case. Therefore, if I do not want to live in a society ruled by Trump and his orange Nazi minions, which is the case due to how badly the last 10 years have been fucked up, I will use the tool of voting for Biden! He can be successfully pressured to create positive change in the direction that I would like! Trump cannot and will not under any circumstances, regardless of the wild fantasies that suddenly he will transform into a perfect progressive on Gaza or whatever other issue! THIS IS NOT THAT FUCKING DIFFICULT!!!!!!!

Anyway. All of this is obviously complicated. Obviously things are bad and frightening and we want a solution that fixes all of it at once, instead of slowly, badly, and piecemeal. But as I said: that has never, not once, been the case in all of history, and we know what happens when people and/or governments with delusions of psychopathic grandeur try to do it. We do not want the "Final Solution" (which is infamous as what Hitler literally called the Holocaust). We do, in fact, want the careful step by step, we want things to get better and not just explode in a mountain of nihilistic doom, and that does take work, from everyone. So unfortunately, there is no real choice except to do it.

[definitelynotshouting]

i literally can't stop rotating hunger au worldbuilding and lore in my head. forgive me if you've ever touched on this in an ask before, but... re: the existential horror of being a parasite that has the sense of self of the host it ate. if one of grian's friends ever did get taken and used as a watcher larva host. how do you think he would feel about the watcher that came out the other side? would he want to see them as still the same person as his friend, or...?

Ive been staring at this ask since i got it with like. I need you to picture the most comically heartbroken expression right now okay. like this is me reading that and thinking about it in great and terrible detail:

Gods he would be devastated if this ever happened. He knows what thats like. He knows just how much it hurts-- and that its not a hurt that can be quantified, because its just that intense, that scalding, that encompassing of an experience to go through. I think, genuinely, Grian would be so utterly horrified and grief-stricken for whichever friend went through the Watcherification process that it would trump every other potential feeling on the list

But i think, ultimately, he would still view them as his friend, and treat them in the same way. There's a little bit of hypocrisy in Grian's character that i enjoy engaging with while writing him, and a good part of that in hunger au is centered around how he's firmly designated himself as the monster, and everybody else is the victim, and theres no room for nuance because he sucks and theyre the only people who are valid. When in reality, yes he hurt them, yes he did terrible and invasive things, but he did them out of pure survival rather than maliciousness, and that does make a subtle difference. And... hes not the only one who has fucked up, either!! The entire point of hunger au is how everyone has fumbled the bag in various ways and now they're all trying to clean it up together. Its just, yknow, Grian is so wrapped up in his own pain that he cant see those grey areas yet

And the thing is, if one of his friends got Watchered™, so to speak, and was standing in front of him, i think he would treat them with SO much compassion. Theyve been through possibly the worst thing anyone can experience and come out the other side-- at his core, Grian is i think a character who wants to do good, and do good by other people, and in this hypothetical that would translate into a lot of kindness he doesnt usually afford for himself. Honestly i think he'd spend the time trying to show them the ropes, get them set up in a better position than he found himself in, and provide his own fumbling emotional support as best he could, just out of sheer solidarity. Like, he gets it. He's been there. He may as well help out.

And i think he wouldnt even realize how hypocritical he's being until someone else pointed it out to him, about how he treats this friend with so much care but is simultaneously cruel to himself. I dont think he'd know how to handle that-- he's sort of dug himself a rut in the road with the way he thinks about and treats himself, and the cognitive dissonance would be really uncomfortable for him. Ultimately a good thing!!! Growth is often very uncomfortable. But imo Grian has a tendency to run from things like feelings of discomfort, so i think it'd take him a while to reconcile his previous ways of thinking with whats being presented in front of him essentially in the form of a mirror.

So uh. tl;dr: he'd be a little hypocrite about it and would feel a lot more compassionately inclined towards the friend than he does himself, and would try to help them out as best he could. Thank you for the incredible question that has given me the opportunity to rotate this worm at even higher speeds than usual inside my brainpan DKNFEKNDSKDJKDKD

[earlgreytea68]

In my journey through random reading, I just re-read The Odyssey.

Spoilers for an ancient epic poem below.

~~~~~~~~

I was assigned The Odyssey three times in high school and college and I remember by the third time through coming to appreciate it. Emily Wilson's new translation has been so widely praised that I figured I would give it a re-read.

I am no judge of translating ancient Greek but the Emily Wilson version reads well and is engaging and I appreciated the blend of formal tone and modernism, it seemed perfect for the poem and I loved it. Also appreciated how many different ways Dawn gets described as breaking.

Odysseus? I found unbearable hahahaha. I just could not with him. I do not remember being so annoyed with him when I was younger! But this time through I was like, Dude, you have made a million bad decisions, PLEASE STOP NOW. As far as I can tell Odysseus's main talent is telling incredibly elaborate lies, to everyone he meets, even where there is really no reason to lie, and certainly not in such detail. But he is OBSESSED with lying. I also love how many names for different made-up fathers he could just pull out at the drop of a hat. I mean, they were impressive lies, very detailed, but I was much less impressed by lying as a superpower than I think the ancient Greeks intended me to be.

Also I only remembered Odysseus's journey. In my head his return to Ithaca was a tiny bit of the poem. Whereas in actuality almost all of the poem is his return to Ithaca and his journey is the tiny bit AND it struck me for the first time that we only ever hear about his journey FROM HIM. And the whole poem is about what a good liar Odysseus is. So now I think the entire journey is suspect and this idea of the unreliable narrator is my favorite new Odyssey headcanon lol. I just never learned it that way and I wish I had thought to bring this up in any of my seminars!!

I was also struck by how the deep belief in gods made it so that no one was ever responsible for any of their actions, ever. Everything they did was because one of the gods wanted them to do it. If the suitors were evil and said evil things, it was because a god made them do it. If Odysseus was able to kill them all, it was because a god wanted it to happen. There was just zero idea of accountability in the way the society was functioning and it was fascinating to me. (My favorite thing was how often people would casually be like, "Hey, can I get a ride on your ship, I just killed someone in town and people are after me," and no one asks any questions, they're just like, "Sure! Hop aboard!") I don't ever remember discussing that in my seminars either and it seems especially important because I think that detached feeling of "can't blame me, it's God's plan" still does show up in some religious beliefs.

One hilarious little moment happened when the suitors were plotting to kill Telemachus and as they're discussing it eagles descend and start attacking them and afterward they're like, "Was that a bad omen! Should we not kill Telemachus!" And then a second later they're like, "Nah, I'm sure that was just a wild coincidence." People only see what they want to see lol

The suitors were actually by far my favorite part of the whole story. They were absolutely hilarious. I love how over the top they were. Like, the swineherd would come in to deliver their dinner and they would throw things at him and shout things like "Smelly pig-man!" And it's like, dudes, chill hahahaha. They just cracked me up. But I also liked how everyone in the poem really is complex and no one is actually really good or even really evil, because the suitors are like, "We wouldn't be here if Penelope would just marry one of us," and I obviously do not approve of this patriarchal society requiring this woman to be married but at the same time I do recognize that I think in their society they were making a valid point that Penelope wasn't entirely blameless and it wasn't all on the suitors. But that ambiguity means nothing in the world of the poem because Athena loves Odysseus best. And I don't say that disapprovingly, it's just clearly how they explained some people winning and some people losing when everyone is making valid points.

My other favorite part of the poem was really contemplating how time works in it. Odysseus has been gone twenty years. With no reliable or solid word about him. (because goddesses keep kidnapping him to have sex with him). And yet every single person Odysseus meets in Ithaca (while he's in disguise) IMMEDIATELY unprompted is like, "Man, every day I cry about how much I miss Odysseus. He was awesome. You would have loved him. Just the best guy." For many many verses this poem is just Odysseus listening to people rave about him. And if they didn't rave about him he was like "those people are not loyal." ...no, Odysseus, you've been gone TWENTY YEARS. I think those are the people who just moved on! Sorry not every one of your enslaved people still weeps every night over you. Honestly the whole poem is way more wild and out there than I remember it being. I really remembered it being about Odysseus's journey and it is honestly most just lots of random Ithacans in perpetual grief.

[visualtaehyun]

Hey, with your Naughty Babe posts I was wondering if you have opinions on if the subs/translations are affecting the understandability of the plot for non-Thai speakers. It seems to me like the IQIYI subs are not great compared to Youtube, which is unfortunate because that’s where most people are watching. I’ve mostly been watching with the IQIYI subs and filling in holes with the novel plot, which works well enough for me. -diaospuppy (since we still can’t ask from sideblogs yet)

Hi there @diaospuppy ! ✨

I have a feeling my reply is gonna be lengthy so let's put a TL;DR here: Oh, most definitely!

Let me preface this: 1) I don't have access to iQIYI so I could only cross-check with 3rd party re-uploads that I assume come from iQIYI, subs and all?? 2) The subs on Youtube aren't perfect either but they're definitely good, considering translation can't be 1:1. 3) I'm not a native speaker, so I wouldn't be able to catch every single word reliably anyway, but knowing Thai for sure gives me more insight which is why I've been sharing a lot of what I hear and read on the show!

That said- I just scrolled through the Naughty Babe The Series tag for a bit and- yeahhh. It sure looks like people are struggling with the plot. 😅 This feels like Cutie Pie all over again. Why is the language barrier suddenly a 10ft. wall with these shows? Just how bad are iQIYI subs...

I'm gonna do the homework for everyone and use this opportunity to rewatch important scenes, compile the chess pieces, and clear up any weird subs I encounter along the way.

Let's go!

The tiger incident is the root of both Diao and Yi's issues AND of the debt that the Chens (Yi's family) took on to repay the Wongteerawits (Diao's family).

Yi's father Makorn took full responsibility for his son's mistake and has since been investing everything he can offer to make up for it: He's basically raised Yi to take care of Diao (hence why it's basically an arranged marriage), he dotes on Diao more than his own son, and he basically pays for everything the Wongteerawits ask for!

1) ตัวประกัน /dtua bpra gan/ is someone kept for bargaining purposes/insurance, so literally a hostage yeh 2) Diao's stepmom, on the phone with Sathaporn: "Having Kondiao as collateral/insurance doesn't help at all!"

The worst offender is Diao's uncle Sathaporn (and here we've got a case of both YT and iQIYI fucking up the subs):

The entire Wongteerawit family was witness to Yi's father Makorn gifting Diao the red BMW that Yi has the accident in. From left to right: Diao's stepmother Orn, his younger (half? step?-)siblings Tam and Tem, and his uncle Sathaporn.

Sathaporn is Diao's father Sattha's younger brother and he's been having an affair with his brother's wife Orn. They've been manipulating Sattha for years. Their aim now is to re-negotiate, for Yi and Diao's marriage contract, and what they want is- Oh, just, you know, everything-

The other schemester is Tem, Diao's younger (half?? step??-)brother.

Tem เทม, the brother, or Tam แทม, the sister? It's Tem เทม, the brother, as the YT subs on the left correctly state.

He's been sneaking around:

He acts according to his uncle Sathaporn's instructions - for the most part. Either he's just as stupid as the uncle and stepmom make Diao's father out to be oR mAyBe he's just a kid in over his head! 🥴 From what I understand, Tem's the one who messed with the BMW. With what intended outcome, I'm not sure (Kondiao would inherit half his father's land and all his possessions so killing him would guarantee Tem the Wongteerawit inheritance, at least?), and if he did it on the uncle's authority or not, I'm not entirely sure either.

Re: the BMW - wow, are the subs bad on iQIYI! Left YT, right iQIYI:

เรียน /riian/ = to learn VS. some genius: เหลียน Lian 💀

As for the engagement contract, the conditions are: - if they don't marry, - if either of them cheats, - if they marry but break up within 5 years the family to violate the contract has to compensate the other family. - If the Chens are at fault, they have to pay the Wongteerawits for the race track, - If the Wongteerawits are at fault, the Chens get full ownership of the race track.

In conclusion, it's all about the race track. The land is owned in part by the Wongteerawits, who had Makorn buy it for them, and in part by the Chens. Sathaporn currently has the documents to the Wongteerawits' title deed and he made sure to influence his brother to either leverage more out of the engagement contract or make sure to get the race track once they re-negotiate for Yi and Diao's marriage contract:

Yi and Diao thus are planning to make this entire situation end by ruining their own wedding - to the Chens' favor.

More bad subs, YT left vs. iQIYI right:

1) การใช้ชีวิตคู่ ไอ้อี้ /gaan chai chee wit kuu, ai Yi, [...]/ = Married life, Yi, [...] VS. some genius: การใช้ชีวิตกู(???) ไอ้อี้ /gaan chai chee wit guu, ai Yi, [...]/ = Living my life, ai Yi, [...] 2+3) No words, I don't know why they gave up on เป็นฝั่งเป็นฝา /bpen fang bpen fah/ = married, settled down

There's more bad subs in this scene but they're not plot-relevant so- Back to their plan! Yi feigns ignorance even in front of his dad because they need to make sure everyone believes it when Diao crashes the wedding. The only ones in the know are Kuea and Lian and they're separately involved via their respective best friends (hence the betting in ep. 6 lol).

YT subs know what's up, iQIYI subs are a lil confused it seems 🥴

Sidenote: Do iQIYI subs routinely skip over honorifics? Because YT usually makes sure to include them, at least when they're not strictly used as pronouns, for example:

คับบบเฮีย /khaaap hia/ = polite male ending particle which, if used by itself, denotes agreement + see the explanation for Hia here, I'm too lazy lol

The subs in this scene are especially meh, huh?? YT left, iQIYI right:

ฤกษ์โคตรเหมาะเลย /reerk khoht maw loey/ = what YT said basically, except more like- The auspicious date is damn fitting. VS. some genius: เลิก /leerk/ = stop ? โชค /chohk/ = luck(y) ?? ขมอง /kha maawng/ = thought, intellect ??? 🤨

Abandoning this scene now, I've had enough! Tumblr isn't allowing me any more pictures anyway, booooo. I've already noticed disparities in ep. 6 and even though it's mostly smut and fluff and shenanigans anyway, I still wanna come back to it in a second post, though this has already eaten hours of my time whoops 🙃

l guess anyone who reads this and has been confused about the plot so far, can chime in and let us both know 1) how much of what I wrote was news to them, 2) if they have any specific questions or questionable subs that come to mind, or 3) what exactly about the plot is a mystery to them.

Thanks for the ask, and thanks for reading!

[duhragonball]

Neon Genesis Evangelion 09

Okay, okay! I'll tell you all about it. You might want to sit down first. This will take a few minutes...

Last time, Asuka arrived in Japan to serve as the latest Eva pilot. She's already the most popular girl in school, and for some reason Suzuharu and Big Rigg Mahoney have started taking photos of her and selling them to her admirers. Well, the reason is money, obviously. That, and just being little shits.

Asuka seems to revel in the attention, but only because she feels entitled to it. She finds the other pilot, Rei, and introduces herself. Rei isn't particularly impressed.

Asuka wants to be friends, and Rei asks why, then says she'll do it if ordered by their superiors at NERV. Cold.

Oh, hey, remember Kaji? That asshole from the previous episode? The one who ditched the others and delivered that mysterious package to Gendo Ikari? Well, he's staying at the base for some reason. He seems to want to re-start his romance with Misato, but that doesn't stop him from just groping Ritsuko like they've been married for a year. Fuck Kaji, is what I'm trying to say.

Moving on, the real story of this episode is another Angel attack. This is the seventh one overall, and the fifth we've seen since the series started. Like the fifth Angel, this one is headed straight for the NERV base, but they're still reeling from that battle, so they can't afford to let it get that close. Instead, Misato deploys Units 01 and 02 to the shoreline, where they'll intercept the Angel as it makes landfall. If they can double-team the thing, they should be able to overwhelm it before it gets a chance to do anything.

That's the plan, anyway, but Asuka has her own plan, since she wants to make a big debut in Unit 02. She jumps into the surf and cuts the angel in half. Good job, except...

It splits into two monsters and continues attacking. Whoops!

We skip ahead to some time after the battle, but the photos tell the story. NERV was completely humiliated, because they had to call the UN for support. The UN dropped an "N2 mine" on the Angel to halt its advance. This is the same weapon used on the Third Angel from Episode 1. I should note that it didn't work at all in Episode 1, so I don't understand why it helps now. Each new Angel seems to be more powerful than the last, and this one defeated two Evas, which is unprecedented.

The UN's attack managed to burn off 28% of its mass, which temporarily incapacitated it, but it's only a matter of time before it regenerates and picks up where it left off. Okay, I guess that's fair, since the Third Angel needed to regenerate after getting N2'ed, but it didn't take very long. This one needs about a week.

Being, you know, literal children, Asuka and Shinji fail to learn anything from this debacle. Asuka defied orders and went into business for herself, but Shinji just stood there and watched like a dope. Maybe if he had taken some initiative and supported her play, they might have been able to make something work, but he always does as he's told. And this is a problem, because the two of them will have to fight the Angel all over again when it recovers, so they need to be on the same page.

I don't know why Kaji's even in this briefing. He observes that the UN strike bought them time to regroup, and "you can't ask for more than that," which is the stupidest thing anyone says in this conference, which includes bickering from literal children. Yes, Kaji, we can ask for more than this. The whole point of this meeting is to ask the Eva pilots to get their shit together and win the battle in a single engagement.

Another entry in my Kaji Sucks file: I hate this shot of him talking to Asuka. I hate that stupid look on his stupid face, I hate how Asuka has a crush on his useless ass. I hate his clip-on tie, which might be an animation error but it looks stupid either way. In this moment I'm rooting for the Angel to destroy the NERV base just to ensure he dies along with everyone else.

Kaji does have a suggestion to get the kids ready for the rematch, but he can't just say it in the meeting, he has to write it down on a computer file and give it to Ritsuko to give it to Misato, because fuck this guy.

Later, Shinji comes home to Misato's apartment and finds Asuka has moved in. She claims that she's taking Shinji's place, although she'd rather live with Kaji. I'm sure he'd love that too. Kaji is the worst.

Asuka gripes about how small the place is and wonders why all the doors in Japan have no locks, and then Misato shows up to explain that the Japanese way is to "consider the priorities and needs of others before one's own." Right, no other culture ever thought of that before Japan came along, Misato. And what does that have to do with the doors not having locks? If that made any sense, then why does the front door have a lock?

So what is the point of all this? Well, Misato explains that this was Kaji's idea: Shinji and Asuka will spend the next six days living together and doing everything in unison, in order to practice synchronizing their attacks when they face the Angel in six days. They both hate this idea, but there's no time for anything else.

This does not go well, mostly because Asuka is too proud to go along with it. This exercise with the Twister/DDR game is a failure, so Misato asks Rei to give it a try and she syncs up perfectly with Shinji's movements. So why not just have Rei and Shinji tag up for the battle? I mean, they worked well together a while back? It's a proven formula. Rei's Eva doesn't have weapons, but I'm pretty sure they can reconfigure 02 for Rei quickly enough.

So it's the Fusion Reborn plot, but with Asuka in the Vegeta role. She can either fight alongside Shinji, or she can ride the pine. This makes her upset, and her dumb friend tells Shinji to go talk to her because "he made her cry", but by the time he catches up with her she's already worked this out. She'll do the training.

And there's a training montage, and they succeed! I don't quite understand how this tranlates to Eva piloting, but at least they can stand to work together, which has to be an improvement.

Maybe it works a little too well. They sleep in separate rooms, of course, but one night Asuka gets up to use the toilet, then plops down in the wrong futon. There's a tense moment where Shinji's worried that his cassette player will wake her up, but it doesn't. She just lays there and murmurs the word "mama". He almost kisses her, but then he thinks better of it and sleeps on the floor.

Lips in anime are the worst. They always draw these characters with teeny-tiny mouths, which isn't a huge problem until they try to do a scene like this, where Shinji stares at a closeup of Asuka's lips, which look ridiculous because it's so badly misproportioned. He's trying to move in closer to kiss her except their heads are so weird that the pose ends up looking awkward.

I guess it doesn't matter, since he bails out at the last second, bitterly muttering that Asuka is "just a child". I'm not sure how to interpret that, but whatever.

Speaking of awkward kissing, Kaji makes out with Misato in the elevator. When they get to her floor, she steps out and tells him this is a mistake, and he replies with some bullshit about her words saying "no", but her lips saying "yes". Fuck this guy.

Later, she confides in Ritsuko that their relationship, which ended eight years ago, was "the biggest blemish" on her life. I'm curious to see why that would be, but that probably won't get paid off for a while.

Anyway, the big fight happens, and Shinji and Asuka execute the plan perfectly. This time they let the Angel come to them, but they cut their power cables and fight with the one minute of battery life they have. They cut the thing in half like before, then whale on the two halves before finally doing this double divekick move to destroy the Angel's core to end the battle.

The resulting explosion does leave the Evas in an undignified pose, but a win is a win.

This dude is embarrassed, but I didn't see him do a damn thing the whole time. He doesn't even have a name. I mean, they put his bio in the DVD extra features, but why should I care what they call him if they never say his name in the show? He usually just stands behind Gendo and tries to look important. Well fuck him. I'm calling him Clownshoes from now on.

And that's it. I guess this episode was good enough, but I'm not sure about the dynamic Asuka adds to the cast. She's at least active, which is more than I can say for Rei or Shinji, but a lot of time is spent just getting Asuka to do simple teamwork like "cooperating" or "facing reality". Even the NERV staff are getting frustrated about having to work with children, even though the Evangelion program seems to depend upon it for some reason.

In the end, that's just what the show is about, so I can't complain that it nails the depiction of putting children behind the wheel of a super-weapon. It's either a power fantasy or a nightmare, depending on your point of view, and this show tackles that pretty damn well.

[yallemagne]

This episode. Hoooooooeeeeeeeeeey.

The service was very simple and very solemn. There were only ourselves and the servants there, one or two old friends of his from Exeter, his London agent, and a gentleman representing Sir John Paxton, the President of the Incorporated Law Society. 

Much like Lucy's funeral in a way, but not sparse for lack of inviting but a lack of people to invite. After all, Hawkins had no family left to him to leave anything to.

Jonathan was holding me by the arm, the way he used to in old days before I went to school. I felt it very improper, for you can't go on for some years teaching etiquette and decorum to other girls without the pedantry of it biting into yourself a bit; but it was Jonathan, and he was my husband, and we didn't know anybody who saw us—and we didn't care if they did—so on we walked.

Mina sounds a bit flustered at the faux pas they're engaging in but still overjoyed at the knowledge that Jonathan is her husband! However, she still needs to justify it: "well, no one will gossip because no one here knows us, so it is fine". Come now, dear, it's fine because it doesn't matter. But oh well, she's getting used to it.

Mina: *detailing Dracula's appearance* "You see, he did not pass the vibe check. His vibes were absolutely rancid."

She really describes Dracula as though she were describing an animal. It's kind of unsettling.

"I believe it is the Count, but he has grown young. My God, if this be so! Oh, my God! my God! If I only knew! if I only knew!"

Youuuu bastards, having Jonathan repeat the lines as Mina continues narrating aghgh.

"Why, Mina, have I been asleep! Oh, do forgive me for being so rude. Come, and we'll have a cup of tea somewhere." 

He's so cute!!! AAAA he is SO CUTE!!! My precious baby, I just want to hold him in my hands. He's so soft and cute and sounds so sweet and unsure, so bashful.

And then Mina begins the next section sounding like she has been crying. She mentions Arthur immediately, which is worth noting because she parallels him. She's lost a father figure and though she hasn't lost a lover, her lover is struggling to keep himself together while Arthur's lost the fight for her life already.

and then Jack comes in egregiously horny, and I just. What do you even have to say for yourself, sir? I think perhaps the way that he describes Quincey hints that he may not know Quincey as intimately as he knows Arthur? Nor as intimately as Arthur knows Quincey. Of course, part of this is just Bram fawning over American men because of his giant man crush on Walt Whitman. Jack's hero worship gives the impression that he's not close enough with Quincey to know his human flaws, at least. He sees him as a moral viking!!

Arthur was saying that he felt since then as if they two had been really married and that she was his wife in the sight of God. None of us said a word of the other operations, and none of us ever shall. 

Jack, are you really so stupid as to think that he doesn't know? Skipping ahead--

"Just so. Said he not that the transfusion of his blood to her veins had made her truly his bride?" "Yes, and it was a sweet and comforting idea for him." "Quite so. But there was a difficulty, friend John. If so that, then what about the others? Ho, ho! Then this so sweet maid is a polyandrist, and me, with my poor wife dead to me, but alive by Church's law, though no wits, all gone—even I, who am faithful husband to this now-no-wife, am bigamist." "I don't see where the joke comes in there either!" I said; and I did not feel particularly pleased with him for saying such things. 

Everyone raved over these lines before ("he confirmed the polycule!! they're all fucking!!"), and they probably still are raving tbh, so I appreciate Re: Dracula properly communicating VH's disdain for the idea and Jack's disdain for VH's disdain. It's more than an offensive joke, VH is bitter at Arthur's words because it would ironically make them all husbands of Lucy, and he morally objects to the idea of polyandry and betraying his wife though he considers her dead to him (comatose? out of her mind? either way, he can't/won't divorce her but still values the virtue of his faithfulness). Likewise, Jack doesn't appreciate VH's apparent derision towards Arthur and the insulting way he refers to Lucy as a polyandrist. But VH assures Jack that he's simply venting to Jack because Jack is his friend, and he dares not to express these harsh feelings to Arthur, who reminds him of his son.

"Friend John, forgive me if I pain. I showed not my feeling to others when it would wound, but only to you, my old friend, whom I can trust. If you could have looked into my very heart then when I want to laugh; if you could have done so when the laugh arrived; if you could do so now, when King Laugh have pack up his crown, and all that is to him—for he go far, far away from me, and for a long, long time—maybe you would perhaps pity me the most of all." I was touched by the tenderness of his tone, and asked why. "Because I know!"

See, this is why he will not tell Jack. Not because he's scared of him. Because he knows that to know is to suffer. He does not wish any suffering upon Jack, though he should realize that keeping secrets has been the cause of much suffering already.

[lemotmo]

I feel like something has to have happened behind the scenes. I don't know if it has anything to do with anyone being told specific story arcs, because I have no idea how 911 does those things in the off-season so I don't want to assume any of the actors have been told anything. The radio silence from Oliver is not abnormal or unexpected this is kind of his routine. I feel like the interviews that came out with Ryan immediately following the season finale you could tell he was not thrilled with the storyline. He's had time to rest, reflect and maybe been given some ideas about the upcoming season and this interview came across much more positive. I do think he was comfortable with the interviewer as well, which is always noticeable with Oliver and Ryan.

The absolute radio silence from Lou across the board is the big mystery here. First he completely shuttered his cameo account. He went from multiple daily posts about 911 and Tommy to absolutely nothing. He's no longer liking posts. He's no longer replying to Twitter messages. Absolute silence. I know some people are saying it's because he was 'attacked' and is just taking a break but I don't buy that at all. You don't go from being a complete attention seeker to dormant because a few people called you out on Twitter. Now you have his goon squad talking about how they're being blocked by people who work on the show, and the jounos who cover the show have started publicly calling them out, which they've never done before (as far as I can remember?) to Tim flat out saying it was a mistake to have ever engaged in the first place even out of politeness.

I don't know but it's weird how sudden it was. I saw one post on Twitter this morning where one of his fans (gag me) said they were getting a little concerned because not only did the BTS videos show a clear separation between him and Oliver when they're not rolling but now Kenny, who I guess was the one cast member who 'liked' Lou's posts had stopped doing that shortly before Lou went dark. Ryan pretty much debunking all their nonsense in one interview didn't help their cause either. I don't know, this got rambly but it's noticable and it's odd so I'm very curious what happened.

Hey Nonny. I must admit that I'm a bit hesitant to post your message on my blog. Mostly because I always try to stay respectful towards people. But I really wanted to reply to this, so I decided to go for it.

For anyone coming across this: Me replying to this message is not an invite to send hatred my way. I myself am not hating on anything or anyone. I simply want to give my input and opinion on this message that was sent to me, since it's an interesting topic. Remember, every opinion is valid and it's okay to post about your opinion on your own blog.

Ryan did seem so much happier doing this interview. You could see that he wasn't struggling to look for answers that were 'acceptible'. So yeah, I do think something shifted bts. I can't know for sure, but to me it seems that he got a YES for the storyline he has been wanting to do for a couple of seasons now. So yeah, I choose to believe that this is about queer Eddie's journey.

As for Lou. I have no idea what happened there. It's possible the showrunners talked to him about the cameos or his recent behaviour on social media. I don't know and I also don't want to spend too much of my precious time speculating about a man I really don't like. Ultimately I don't think it matters. I don't see him lasting very long in season 8.

Basically the truth is that we don't know for sure what is going on. He could just be on a vacation for all we know. I think the guy earned enough cameo money over the last couple of months to afford a trip to the Maledives. :D

As for all the other stuff... again, I don't know. Did it seem like he didn't get along with the rest of the cast? Yes. Is it true that Ryan talked about a lot of subjects that were used against him by certain people in the fandom? Yes.

Are some of the BT fans really 'passionate' about the ship and do some questionable things because of that? Yes. But please keep in mind that not everyone is like that. I know some perfectly reasonable fans that just like the BT ship dynamic. I might not understand it, but it's their take and it's valid. We need to keep them in mind as well when we speak about the BT fandom. It doesn't do any good to lump everyone together in one big general heap of shippers. Everyone is different. It's the same in the Buddie fandom.

So, look... am I curious about what is going on bts? Hell yes. But mostly in function of how they are planning Eddie's coming out and the eventual Buddie of it all. The rest is really not that important anymore.

All we can do now is focus on the things we do know: the possibility of queer Eddie Diaz in season 8? BIG HUGE YES!

[selfproclaimedunicorn]

Iron 4 and Lead 1 for babygirl Aldreda 💕

Babygirl, but in a war criminal way, lmao Thank you for the ask 💕. These ones are sooooo good for her. Also, doing a read more for the second question because it's long

Does your OC struggle to contain their baser emotions, such as lust, aggression, or greed? What helps keep these feelings in check (if anything)?

Aldreda has formally met impulse control, but they didn't get on, lol. A lot of the deeper aspects of her personality & motives are kept super, super deep, but everything more base is very "what you see is what you get." If she wants something she takes it, if she wants someone she let's them know & goes about trying to seduce them, if she wants to commit a wanton act of violence then God help you. She's not struggling to control shit, she's straight up indulging. Drinking so fully from the cup of life that she can't even tell she's overflowing already. It's a little bit "this is encouraged by the lifestyle of regularly pillaging to float your standard of living" & little bit "pure copium."

That's not all to say she can't contain herself, but it's kind of (to those on the outside of House Farwynd, or--even more insularly--her crew) arbitrary & unpredictable when she'll decide to rein herself in. If it benefits Aldreda more to control the baser aspects of herself, or if it goes against everything that ever got drilled into her head about how certain things simply work, then she holds back & controls herself quite well. Like, she has the willpower & the ability, she just actively chooses to not engage those things because she has way more fun & immediate benefit being a horny little violence goblin.

Which experience of loss or bereavement has most affected your OC?

So this is a two way tie, I would say. Losing one of her older brothers (who was also her favorite) set her on the path to become the Aldreda we know & love today, & losing her youngest/final brother has forced her to confront that a lot of what happened to her after the favorite brother died was traumatic. I touched on the stuff with her favorite brother (Orwen) here, but I'll go over it a bit because I love info dumping about my seal woman & 2k is a lot to read/re-read to pick up on The Orwen Lore & the implications.

Orwen was 10 years older than Aldreda, & was sort of the only one who really took an interest in her/cared that she looked up to him & thought he was cool. So he spent time with her, he taught her to fight, he took her sailing, he told her all kinds of stories & would hold back little bits of plunder from raids when they presented tribute to Lord Alfric because he yoinked it specifically for his little sister. Their dad had been steadily losing his sons before Orwen died, but when he & 2 of the others got caught in a storm & died it was the most at one time, & was also when Lord Alfric just started hemorrhaging sons. This was what turned Aldreda towards "I have to live up to what Orwen was in my mind because I am 13 & think he was perfect, & no one else here is going to live up to what I believe my big brother was like as a raider," which ultimately morphed into "I have to replace all the sons my dad is losing because he can keep making my baby brothers his heirs but they aren't gonna be ready to go do real raiding, & even when they are they're gonna be garbage because they won't be as good a person as I am." [The bar for being a good person is on the fucking ground, btw]

I mention her youngest brother here & here, but I am once again going to elaborate. So Rhys, sweet little baby boy Rhys, he was a full 20 years younger than Aldreda. Rhys was also the last possible attempt at a male heir because Lord Alfric Farwynd’s youngest salt wife is in her 40s now & he's fucking old, his dick isn't working consistently anymore.

Rhys is the son who was explicitly murdered, & there's a pretty limited pool of people who could have poisoned him with an even smaller pool of people with a motive. It got floated around a bit that Aldreda might have done it, but she knows it was her cousin Westley. Like, he admitted it to her. He admitted his whole "get rid of your remaining brothers so I can marry you & become Lord of Lonely Light to right the wrongs done to my dad, & also I'll get so many salt wives for us to share bc I spied on you fucking a woman one time & I'm into that shit (& also not threatened when it's another woman)" plan to her because he's delusional & thought she'd be okay with all that. So Rhys dying has just kind of made her process & acknowledge that "my cousin didn't actually have my best interests at heart & he was grooming me actually & maybe he never really cared about me at all" (she's not processing it in the most sophisticated or modern sense, like, she's more upset he was trying to prime her to get taken political advantage of than the fact he was preying on her from the age of 13). And her actually being aware of that shit has her as fucked up as losing her favorite brother had her.

[missielynne]

I'd love to know what you see as the similarities and differences between 1. Sam and Melinda and 2. Jay and Jim. I think a lot of the characters' differences stem from the genres they're in, like of course Jay is more goofy than Jim because Jim is in the more serious show. Jim is more of a "guy's guy" but I'd live for him having a secretly nerdy side that wants to play games with Jay and Pete :) I love the way Jim and Jay both accept and support their wives completely yet still express their own differing views. As for Sam and Melinda...obviously they're both caring and brave and determined, but (to me) Sam is more extroverted and chipper while Melinda is more introverted, sensitive and cerebral. Sam is more achievement oriented and eager to please and impress while Melinda is used to people viewing her as a weirdo from the time she was a kid so more or less ignores other people's views of her lol. And Sam is definitely more oriented towards the future, a 'can do' type who's into lists, plans, goals, milestones etc, while Melinda's antique shop, sentimental attachment to old items and need to help ghosts resolve prior conflicts shoe her as someone who's strongly attached to the past. This is why Jim is the perfect partner for her --Jim is very attuned to his surroundings and lives in the present, so he pulls Melinda out of her head and helps her appreciate the present moment too! I plan to cover all this in the fic I'll probably end up too lazy to write :) Anyway, I love all four of these characters and would love to hear your thoughts on them!

Melinda: I definitely agree with you, especially re the extraversion introversion thing. A big difference though is that we mostly see Mel deal with ghosts who are way angrier and at least creepier in appearance first off compared to Sam. Like, since Mel's ghosts by and large have to have their whole stories solved in an episode (with a few exceptions such as Kate Payne), she doesn't have time to be as easy and chummy with her ghosts the way Sam is (because we know that being sucked off is a goal on CBS Ghosts but it's not as easy to figure out how to make that happen as it seems to be on Ghost Whisperer.)

One thing I wonder is that IF we saw Sam have to deal with ghosts who were naturally harsher and not as immediately friendly (like send her to deal with the dealmart after dark peeps or the ghosts from the asylum for the criminally insane or whatever the heck was on the same ground as that one coffee shop), WOULD Sam become more guarded and serious like Mel? Would she see helping ghosts more as a job or transaction instead of her thinking now, which is "here are these ghosts who are my friends, or at least not people who are going to treat me harshly. Let's work together to get them where they need to go!"

Also I think Sam has it a wee bit easier than Mel when it comes to being able to tell others about what she can do. Sure, Bela had the "Delia" reaction to finding out Sam could see ghosts initially (i.e., you're crazy, sick, need help, etc.) But because Alberta, Isaac, etc. have powers that can engage the senses of livings, it didn't take long to convince Bela that Sam and Jay were telling the truth and there wasn't any time where you looked at Sam and went "Oh, you poor baby, let me wrap you up in a blanket". (Like I sometimes feel when Mel has to reveal her abilities to ghosts' family members so they can do what they need to do.)

Jay: Totally agree with your assessment of Jay as well, especially him being allowed to be goofier than Jim, but I love that both guys support their wives' ghost seeing endeavors so wholeheartedly and love them so much. (And I know that if there was ever a time Sam was in genuine harm from the ghosts, Jay would just save her like immediately, like when that one ghost made Mel's hair get stuck in the garbage disposal and she was so scared she was crying. I can't remember what episode it's in at the moment though.)

I loved the episode of GW where that super model that Jim had known before reached out to him to help her. It was so interesting to see and I think it would be nice if Jay got to have the same opportunity in an episode.

(I think that if GW had been structured in a way to allow Jim to interact with the ghosts the way Jay does, he totally would have been cool with it. And I think he does have like a gamer side and would be up for playing games with Jay and Pete totally.)

I love them all too...so much.

[decepti-thots]

re: meta again. first, thank you for the long answer! you have a lot of interesting points, e.g. how fandom spaces influence how you interact with media: my first fandom space was restricted to teenagers who mostly knew nothing about media analysis (and it was also animanga haha), and then I moved onto tumblr, where - in my memory - most users were slightly older teenagers but still didn't know much about media analysis. there probably was meta somewhere (apparently on LJ?), but I didn't see (or notice?) a lot of it. which possibly also was because I changed fandoms a lot more quickly, and I feel like many others did, too. there's a book fandom where five years ago, the general sentiment about an antagonist was 'well fuck him' and now people write extensive posts on why he did what and what that means for the story and why it mirrors the protagonists arc etc, which maybe means that sometimes fandoms need time to get past the initial excitement of new things to give more attention/time to meta?

I very much agree that tumblr makes interactions/discussions harder. especially re: reblogs - its so easy for someone to disagree with you in a reblog and some of their followers to take that as a hint to hate on you - I've seen this happen mostly related to "shipping the wrong things", but why wouldn't it happen for drawing the "wrong" conclusions in a meta post? I feel like the general tumblr user is older than they were 10 years ago so maybe I should hope that they've grown up as well and are more reasonable about this to be fair

what I also noticed regarding the book fandom and TF is that TF fans - depending on your specific bubble probably - seem to be more aware that writing meta is a thing, because they're more likely to call it that.

re: elitism - it's important to me that the things I was referring to can feel elitist, not that they are, if the distiction makes sense? maybe it also wasn't the best/fairest choice of words, sorry. the sentiment isn't meant towards e.g. the people complaining about headcanons that have become accepted in the fandom but have zero relation to canon. its more frustration that theres seemingly infinite canon material and you can't really join any conversation without interacting with a good chunk of it, while (seemingly) everyone else has already done that already.

and finally, wonder if part of who writes meta and who doesn't is fandom "socialization"; there seem to be a few people for whom it appears easy to express their thoughts online, and then a much larger amount of lurkers who don't, and I've never really figured out the cause.

god tumblr does really let me put as much text as I want here, I'm a bit sorry for the long message. If you have any further thoughts I'd be happy to hear them but no pressure

First of all: no apologies for the long message! I love it, I will put my thoughts under a cut for everyone's dashes but we LOVE an in depth fandom meta-meta discussion in this household. I started this blog to RAMBLE and rambling is WELCOME my friend.

You make an EXCELLENT point about how longevity can influence fandoms here, anon. Especially for fandoms where there isn't a constant drip-feed of NEW canon, I absolutely think fandoms living on and people going back and re-engaging the source material to look for new ways to engage it can gradually make meta a larger part of the fannish space sometimes. (To give my own book fandom example, I was on the periphery of book!Good Omens fandom back in the day, and the amount of time people had spent with just that one single book meant that more and more discussion of the ways you could read and work with that one book meant there was some very in-depth meta going on there.) (…as you can imagine, the last few years have been a hell of a wild time for me with the show fandom becoming the Hot New Major Fandom, LMAOOOO.)

There's definitely also something there about the old "if someone I follow clowns on a person, my (para)social relationship with them means I feel like I'm doing a social faux-pas by not choosing a side" you mention here too. Tumblr really makes visible the idea of social networks in a way I have to admit I overall find uhhh. Kind of not great. "If I follow someone who follows someone my mutual hates, do I need to perform my support of someone here", that kind of thing. (Answer: no, that is some Panopticon shit, bring in the Foucault. I am only half joking.) Even over an objectively inane Transformers headcanon take, it's the social mechanism more than the content that brings in the pressure I think. Again. Web 2.0 wants everything pushed at everyone all the time to encourage More Interaction, and reducing any sense of wider social circles being removed from you personally is a part of that I think. It's all equal on The Endless Timeline, innit.

I see what you mean about the "feels like" distinction on elitism, anon, now you lay that out- that makes sense. I do think TF fandom is sometimes a bit of a minefield in terms of like, even within certain subdivisions of canon there's so MUCH stuff (and the fandom has, IMO, a bad habit of not bothering to decide what is more or less "useful" in conversations; sometimes tertiary material is… you know. Tertiary. LOOKING AT ALIGNED FANDOM). I think those of us who are sometimes a bit more "canon completionist" do need to approach these things in terms of like- take IDW1 fandom. If someone posts meta about MTMTE based on just material from MTMTE, approaching that in good faith and not going "well it's in continuity with phase one, and THIS phase one comic says [xyz]", but instead seeing it as a perspective that takes that one text as a complete thing in itself? (And maybe considering how that perspective and how it differs from one which looks at the whoooole canon is interesting, rather than deficient, in its differences of opinion.) There are folks who get very snotty about people doing that in a way that is, at the very least, unproductive. (And the folks bringing in their Extensive Lore Knowledge TM by whining stuff from other continuities contradicts a take on a different continuity are just uhhh. Annoying. Those people can just Stop, Please, lmao.) I think understanding that different approaches to what "canon" even is can be interesting rather than something to be "corrected" might go some way to making it feel less… intimidating? Alienating? For folks working with what they like.

As for the confidence in sharing opinions thing… I can only speak for myself but uh. If I have a personal flaw it is unwarranted overconfidence, not insecurity, haha. Let me put it that way. I do think that cultivating a confidence in the idea "I have my own personal tastes, and those tastes are idiosyncratic and do not need to be compared to other peoples' taste, and they are Valid TM" is a skill to be honed and one I think is worth honing, and I think may be a big thing here from my anecdotal observations. I find that many people in fandom don't have a lot of confidence in the idea that you can express not just an argument for "objective" (lol) "quality" but a sense of personal taste? (This is not unique to fandom, at all, but I think fandom has a lot of it, if that makes sense.) Especially because often the things fandom centres around lack cultural prestige. It's why an appeal to being Real Literature TM is the go-to argument for why fanfiction is "acceptable". I think a similar thing can be true of opinions; to let go of the urge to have everyone agree with you 100% of the time and to be "proven" right, you have to feel confident enough to sit in subjectivity and be like. My opinions may be subjective, but that's fine. And you do have to cultivate that! But I think that's where the "I can express an opinion and not feel destroyed if someone flat out rejects it and I can't even disprove their argument" trick kinda lies, maybe. And maybe meta is easier if you've already internalized that, so the possibility people will be like "nope" is less scary?

[jordanianprincesses]

Thanks for answering me ,i'm the Jordanian🤭. I came back to tell you it was reported via her twitter account that she is arrogant,spoiled and very selfish. She cares for money and power and still loves to party ( opponents have done lots of researchs it will be shown soon) and that's why she accepted to be the wife of a man who will never like her. In her family she is the least smart, a title will give her the attention she wants.She's getting older , broke up with Abdulrahman in 2021 ,she has to marry . A deal was made and not with her father but with saudi arabia, it's even more deeper than what we think. Even if he comes from an open family Hussein isn't like her at all. Tbh if she was his choice i would say ok he took her it's all on him but it's not him he is really really ( for the people who follows him for years) not fine since their engagement. He is doing it forced but has to do it sadly. Now for the Queen part, being chosen now won't guarantee her that title and I pray God she will never be our Queen she doesn't represent us and will never be able to feel us or our way of living and she doesn't care. You say we have to be fair when judging her ,i get the point of course but it's clear you didn't see the backlash and don't know how in Jordan they're insulting ,really insulting her and Hussein for that choice. We're arabs and very conservative. Yes the RHC said and played too much on the she comes from a conservative family so we all thought great for once someone to represent our arab and conservative culture but noooo there are more things coming.Not fair for him when he didn't choose her but have to link his name to her . It will end badly ,too much of bad things.I wish for Hussein to find someone like Princess Muna or Queen Alia who were both 2 decent women and very loved by King Hussein. I wish him someone he loves and who will love him the same. He will re marry for sure.Rajwa and him will 100% end very quickly. Have you seen how he is? How much weight he lost,how depressed he looks? Even when he fakes to her in public he is doing it and suffering .I hope you understand my view if she wants to live her life she can lives it her own way but not representing my country. It's already hard having Rania as Queen you can't imagine people's fears now and we feel Hussein is the only one who cares really for his country and people, and seeing him like that just prove he isn't accepting all this ,just forcing himself but it looks bad ,very bad.

Hello well I totally understand your point. Specially that you are Jordanian and you have the right to criticize the ones that may represent you one day. About the arranged marriage maybe that's right I don't know and I don't want to jump into conclusions. Yet if it is true and as you said it's a DEAL then both of them are taking advantage of the other so that's it Hussein for the money and Saudi links and Rajwa for whatever reason. I've seen Hussein loosing weight so many times before .Even Meghan who loved Harry so much lost weight before her wedding and that's why her dress was ill fitted .hhhh About her being mean ,I don't wanna know about it because I am convinced that people can change and they eventually change.

I understand that I am being objective because I am not Jordanian and that it's different for you because you already disapprove of so many things within the family that leads you country and you are deprived the right to freely express your opinions .

As for me , Rajwa is today's years old and I don't care about her past.

Princess Muna was a good wife to K Hussein but he ended up divorcing her and fell for someone else haha it's not about being good or not. Q Rania apparently isn't loved by the Jordanian people but she and Abdullah didn't divorce ...

Regardless of whether she and Hussein are in love or not , I like her presence to be honest, she is charismatic and I want to make posts about her. Haha

It's only a fan page I like to make fun posts and all without judging any one.

[triviareads]

I was not a a big Secret of a Summer Night fan but can you recommend me other Lisa Kleypas books?

I've definitely heard that from other people who've read Secrets of a Summer Night— I personally have mixed feelings about it; it's something of a comfort read when I want to feel 0 stress; but also, very little seems to happen in terms of plot. It's mostly set during a house party, and even with Annabelle's mom almost killing an ex, and Hunt's locomotive accident injuries, it feels very staid. I do like Hunt (one of Lisa's earlier self-made industrialist heroes, though not as much as McKenna and Rhys Winterborne), and I like Annabelle as well, despite having read multiple reviews calling her shallow and materialistic. But there are better Kleypas books out there for sure:

Again the Magic: The Kleypas book that probably makes me feel the most; I'm a sucker for a second-chance romance, especially when McKenna AGGRESSIVELY propositions Aline the second he returns. Like, that combination of immense self-loathing (on both their parts, although for Aline, more self-loathing than spite) and spite.... is very attractive to me. Also, the secondary romance between Shaw and Olivia is lovely— sweet but also has a lot of depth and realism re his alcoholism.

Dreaming of You: A classic, though for different reasons from the following two books (and closer in reasoning to Suddenly You now that I think about it). It's rare to read about a independent heroine with a career in HR, and I love Sara for that. I think it's that unconventionality, as well as her sense and nonjudgement, that makes her a perfect fit for Derek, who is a little damaged and hovers somewhere between unrefined and genteel. But reading them slowly come to that conclusion is a delight, as is the setting of Craven's gambling hell in general.

It Happened One Autumn: I've talked about this one enough on here lol, but it's just a genuinely fun book? Similar to Secrets of a Summer Night there's a lot of house party shenanigans and it doesn't super pick up until the very end, but Lillian and Westcliff's, to use Lisa's word, "vitality" mostly makes up for this. They're two such strong-willed individuals even when they're loudly and proudly wrong at various points and hilarious to read.

Devil in Winter: Unlike IHOA, a lot goes down in this book, and honestly, I feel like Evie and St. Vincent needed that in order to grow to love one another, starting with their elopement and his taking over her father's gambling hell, and ending with St. Vincent's celibacy streak... and how the streak is broken. Also, reading the redemption of St. Vincent and Evie coming into her own are big draws for me, especially if you read IHOA first.

Marrying Winterborne: I've said this before but I'm a big fan of an immediate proposition, and Rhys Winterborne and his "I must compromise you to make sure you stay engaged to me" scheme did the trick. Also, I like the idea of them being engaged to each other for most of the book (and the perks that come with that... both materially and otherwise) even as they try and figure out how to have a functional partnership.

Chasing Cassandra: More of a comfort read; I think Cassandra and Tom are very cute and if you want something relatively lighthearted and very insta-love cute, then this is your book.

Prince of Dreams: Okay so maybe the plot in this one isn't the tightest, but I'd recommend it if only for the singular delight of a Russian hero who has very few scruples in a way I personally enjoy (I also just generally enjoy a good Russian hero). Oh, and the rare vegetarian heroine who's a part of ye olde PETA.

EDIT:

Married By Morning: I forgot about this one but only because I can't remember any plot specifics BUT Leo and Marks are great characters and their dynamic is really cute and also, very unexpectedly very hot. Marks is a governess with a secret past, and Leo is her charge's older brother who took like 3 books to slowly transition from pathetic -> not which I do appreciate.

[bisluthq]

It is I, the Aussie who has a disdain for the royal family back again lol. So regarding the purpose of the royals, there isn't an official mission statement as such lmao but they are meant to live a life of duty and service to charities, inspire and uplift us peasants, bring nations together, and be beacons of moral purity and virtue because the whole royal grift thing is that they were 'chosen by god' to represent the best of society.

But it's like that episode of South Park where Wendy asks what Paris Hilton did lmao. But anyway, here's what that in action looks like:

- a life of duty - so first you have to understand that the royals operate like a PR business. They want the monarch and the successor to be the most popular, so it's like if you imagine the KarJenners and how different members have been more popular than the others at different times, in the royal family Kim must always be most popular and has 10 Kris Jenners working on keeping her at the top... but Kourtney also has her own 10 Kris Jenners trying to craft her own image to be seen as valuable.

So anyway - the senior royals (the monarch, their children and the children of the member next in line to the throne) are all meant to pick a few causes and work closely with a few of those charities.

Charles was always passionate about bringing different religions together and organic farming, for these reasons he was mocked and labelled a bit of a hippie - but still a very posh one - and it's quite sad, because he wasn't the stoic, stiff upper lip type of royal we were used to. He was sensitive and passionate about the arts (probably still is, but I am not a fan of who he is now lol). He was held back from doing things he wanted to do because it didn't portray 'right image', but he actually had the potential to be a brilliant, gentle leader who could bring people together because he is fascinated by a lot of things, wanted to understand herbal and indigenous medicines and healing modalities - and look at the UK and its colonies, we're multicultural! He could've laid a fantastic foundation for combatting racism, but he wasn't traditional enough so the queen and her team prevented him from working with certain causes and limited his engagements because people thought he was eccentric. Who he was 30+ years ago is the King the royals need, but it was beaten out of him and he's just kind of there now. The monarch is meant to be neutral (the royals aren't allowed to talk politics or vote btw, they imply shit all the time but always need plausible deniability I guess), but it also means once they're monarch they don't really engage with their old charities because they can't single anyone out.

On the other hand Princess Anne has the most engagements/ photo opportunities, but does nothing meaningful. But Liz loved that she'd show up to a mining site and be all 'thank you for your hard work' and then go to a high school that day and say 'education is important ' so apart from her well known love of horses, idk what her passion charity is meant to be? But she isn't controversial so she gets permission to do all the engagements.

William talks about the environment and has for a while. With Harry and Kate they started dialogue on mental health but Liz didn't like talking about feelings so she tried to censor them and not have them tell personal stories. Charles was meant to break this tradition but hasn't.

Kate has assigned herself 'kids issues' but she spent "SEVERAL YEARS" working with experts to come to the conclusion that "a child's early years can have an impact on their future" and had a whole fucking gala with a PowerPoint to say things that THE GOVERNMENT was already funding. Smh. Like yes it's important but she made it sound like she had a solution or something when promoting the event lol.

Anyway that got long, but they're meant to promote charities but don't actually do anything. They might pour some cups of tea at a shelter or sit and speak with people at a rehab centre, but they don't give much of their personal wealth, they encourage the public to donate, they don't go and *work*... This is why I'm so disgusted by how they treated Meghan - she had ideas and like went and asked women for recipes and put it into a cookbook with all proceed going towards their charity, she contacted British stores and designers to create a capsule collection of clothing for women who needed clothes for a job interview and it was a 'for each sale, we will donate the same item' model - it sold out so fast! Harry started the Invictus games... It was actually DOING something more than a photo op!

They have this idea that whoever is being spoken about or papped is bringing attention to their charities, but they've been a newspaper version of real housewives for like 50 years now lol so they're delusional lol.

✨ inspire and uplift✨

So yeah maybe 70 years ago and even as recent as the thatcher years there were times when the royals being the face of the nation/ commonwealth, them stepping out and giving a speech about hope or something did inspire people and bring people together. And the weddings and big events were a big deal because so many world leaders were invited and it was like a political summit but glamorous. But the royals have been in their Flop era for at least 10 years, had a few hits, but tiktokers are outselling, so they no longer are needed to fill that void.

Bring nations together - basically the same as above and we have a mini Olympics, the commonwealth games. Sport brings people together (when it's not causing a huge increase in domestic violence) but yeah, the games give the same vibe as the Olympics and there's also a sense of security and comradery with other commonwealth nations as our allies. but that's like giving all the credit of what the Olympics do for people to the Greeks - they started it, but we've all shaped it, yk?

✨ uphold morals ✨

LMAO. The church of England/ Anglican church only exists cause a monarch wanted divorce and the bible said no. William will be the next head of the CoE and doesn't even attend all the big services. They sure don't practise a 'what would Jesus do' life - fucking around on their spouses, taking bribes, trading stories about their family to bury their own scandals and shame their family, hoard wealth, etc. Etc. So yeah, LOL.

People say they bring in tourist dollars, but people get pics outside the colloseum and Buckingham palace for the same reason - cool, historical buildings... Not because of who lives there now (mostly staff btw) and fuck eras tour brought in about 75% of what the royals are said to bring in to the economy! It costs on average, the cost of a pint for every person in the UK to keep the royals, but if they redirected that money into affordable housing, turned the numerous estates into luxury hotels and golf courses or other attractions on the grounds, the people of the UK would be much better off imo.

I'm sorry, this was very long and I have become biased against them because I think they operate a cruel, outdated business and hoard assets that could help people. Idk what a republic of Australia would look like, but ugh at them.

I mean Australia gets 0 benefit from them. Not even the tourism. Y’all need to abolish the fuck out of that.

[theabstruseanon]

I'm so tired and I made the mistake of wading into 🎲2️⃣0️⃣ discourse posts so dont expect the following to make much sense LOL

I do get the narrative critiques of it not feeling like the themes of rage/interrogating rage/countering rage are being engaged with on a sliding scale from effectively to at all (idk if said interrogation of rage mechanically was hinged on only the rage tokens but thematically yeah I do get the critique re ep19 there).

For example it's like on one hand I did like how quickly they shut porter down because yeah his ideology is the kind that sounds justified on paper but then in praxis all he's doing is selfish destruction. On the other I really wish they had a philosophy-off with him about one of the core central themes of the season LOL. Also navigating the fandom balance between [it's interesting mechanically that trg fight was so one sided as commentary on how trg cut corners while still 'acting entitled' (tho tbf. This is really only kippelilly)] and [god I wish the fight had more juice or narrative payoff because of the role trg were set up to play as rivals and foils who gave into rage].

Re trg, Im just musing on how it feels like the banality of 'evil' is actually applying to them at this point. They were manipulated teens who were unfairly forced to accept a horrifying cosmic deal. Theyre characters who are selfish and jealous and willing to hurt others and gave in to these base emotions for personal gain which is the aforementioned banality. Their emotions are being heightened by the rage.... We're pretty sure? Again we only really actually see this in action with kpl, which is unfortunate and I think one of the main reasons why this is such a hot bed LOL (that BC they lacked on screen substance ppl are filling in the gaps with stronger narrative hc's that they're now attached to which makes sense. Fanon Buddy you will always be legendary to me LOL).

Trg really are in a strange narrative position to me too BC like ppl have pointed out even despite the bad rolls it wasn't for lack of trying that the players tried to engage with them earlier on before switching focus BC of a combination of bad rolls and the NPCs being rp'ed as hostile/uninterested. It's like how much of a role (not just plot wise but mainly thematically wise) were they actually supposed to play. So significant yet insignificant unfort.

But regarding the themes of rage yeah, it's been kinda all over the place to me narratively. I think the start of the end was when the players were like. Won over by Porter's teaching for a while like 'wow he did make sense' msmsmsm like noooooo 😂. The rage thing is so pervasive yet also feels so disconnected often which yeah improv hard to juggle themes and u can't edit things for clarity and adherence of narrative but overall I do wish they had more time to engage with this overarching season theme. It's certainly no TUC American dream for me.

I want to say that the diff btw Tbk rage and the general 'rage bad' is that we're meant to see Tbk rage as being protective, but that's just me projecting a layer of meaning on it 😂. I'm not as broken up about how the narrative theme feels kinda weak but I do see where this critique is coming from. It's like, on the meta narrative level it feels disconnected/unsatisfying that the rage of trg is narratively punished but the rage of Tbk is so far narratively neutral or rewarded when the theme specifically is /rage/ regardless of who has it, regardless of whether there is dnd combat going on or not, and BC trg were set up to be foils to tbk. The fundamental basis of the critique is different between the people using in-verse explanations and the ppl making observations about the overarching meta narrative. I know I reblogged posts that counter the critique (well mainly focusing on trg discourse) but personal enjoyment aside yeah. Things I would edit if this was a script LOL

The final thing is the perennial critique of the violence inherent to dnd and the more academic literary critiques of the fetishisization/glorification of violence but to that I am taking off my critical analysis hat because I like dumb shounen action violence in stories sorry for being a bad leftist 😔 (big neon sign that says: I am being tongue in cheek). I get that it's coming up a lot again esp for this season cause it's the "we should self reflect on the nature of rage" season but yeah.