#and tbh it *is* meta whether intentional or not

[cleromancy]

this is so funny bc. he didnt even do anythinggggggg the responses to jason within countdown got so disproportionate by the end. all these characters talking about how completely annoying and unbearable jason is and literally when you look at. what hes actually done on panel hes just been this

[cloud-based-and-rainpilled]

Staged 2 thoughts!! (this will take a Year because I have a Lot of feelings)

tl; dr at the end

Hmmm I don’t see how it’s a love story yet

Staged 1 works well enough on its own but the second season is really essential as a companion piece upping the emotional ante (which is exactly how I feel about Good Omens 1 & 2 lol)

The opening scene mindfuck; The meta! We have reached levels of irony not previously seen possible

Who do I thank for the tacky Zoom interview show background? It deserves top billing

HE DOESN’T WANT THE GOLDFISH TO BE LONELY (metaphor) and then it FUCKING DIES

Celeb cameos in season 1 being all “hey! I like you!” in season 2 like “you are tearing them apart. I hate you. scum

Also the themeing of Michael Sheen and David Tennant being on their own “side” VS everyone else……….. Simon Mr. Writer Sir i see u and unfortunately i am in your walls

The writing feeling less theater-y works for the meta and I’m wondering whether they always had a second season in mind or if it’s just that well written

Was really hoping for a Colin Firth & Hugh Grant cameo ngl :/

The music didn’t annoy me as much this season since it was more of the horn oomp-pah-pah than the piano. Idk maybe my mind just changed

I didn’t know Whoopie Goldberg could be terrifying but here we are (also I forgot her name isn’t Whoopie)

“I think the wizard fucked your ass” ???

Setting up the awards and the baby was peak *pops P* comedy 🤌 Definitely needed since it gets Sad as it goes on

Welsh kink spotted!!! And so fucking blantant I was scandalized

“I’ll shove it up my ass where the rest of the excrement goes” Michael casually asking David to peg him. Nice

More bad magic. More pls and ty

Also moar Nina pls. T’was but a brief beautiful bluster in the wind

Tbh missed a lot of Michael & David’s back-and-forths VS season 1 but I get that’s… the point

Everyone agreeing David is whiney and annoying lmao get wreck’t

Also I forgot they don’t have air conditioning in Englandland ‘cause my man is sweating in every scene he’s in (unless that was intentional in which case… go on…)

The ladies!! That meta ending with the Bechdel test… I see you…

Still love Georgia and Simon’s sister (who I apparently don’t respect enough to google her name); I like Anna now too! She’s got this kinda quiet sarcastic edge I didn’t notice the first time. They all played off each other well in their 3 some (phrasing) scenes

Big amongus sus react that Anna has better chemistry with the two of them than with Michael of which there is literally zero chemistry. Compared to Georgia and David who are just electric with each other it’s honestly distracting

Actual torture watching them break down as other actors play them and drive their friendship apart, it’s fascinating to watch especially on top of it being themselves but, like, not we swear

“Am I your best friend” “No” Fuckin REJECTED !! looser!!!

Oh huh I can see how this is a love story, interesting

The David Tennant fanboy (he is a Real actor I just can’t think of his name) served juicy vomiting SFX realness

“So you’ve made love with him” BROTHER

It took me 87 years to realize warthog and mongoose were in reference to Timon and Pumbah lol <- I am not looking up how to spell this

The bannister being part of the bookshelf why did this make me laugh this hard

Ken Jeong actually reaching into the heart of everything and casually tearing into it Temple of Doom style and leaving everything to ruin lmao

I miss people getting too close to me (feral noises)

Ewan McGregor is cute and I am shallow 🥰

AU where Simon Pegg and Nick Frost did Staged and honestly it would still work aside from being dangerously heterosexual

Simon & Nick doing the Staged 1 back and forth but literally? mmmm that’s sum gud meta

Oh right I forgot the actual writer Simon’s in it too. He’s still good. I like his Zoom tantrum

Jim Parsons unconvincingly looking for his phone after he casually tells David that he and Michael are obviously in love and everyone sees it lmao

David Tennant has the unique ability to make this absolutely insane face reserved specifically for the emotion “oh shit I’m in love with Michael Sheen” which like

I could kill the Good Omens costume department rn I stg take off those fucking sunglasses I’m so mad

Ohhhhhhhh yeah this is a love story

The Frozen snowman being the big bad final boss of cunt, oof you gotta love a good villain

Michael’s monologue the only one not in the kitchen area just breaking down completely I mean *claps until my hands fall off* he put his whole pussy into it. The frustration? The despair? I mean it felt like an audition monologue (in a good way) he walked through the valley in the shadow and death and came back a broken man with a fuzzier beard

CATE BLANCHETT ZOOM SNIPE

Apparently people didn’t like Phoebe Waller Bridge in the new Indiana Jones movie which I haven’t seen but idk I thought she was pretty funny and hot here. *ding*

MOOMIN MUG SPOTTED

The use of travel as a metaphor for feeling stuck emotionally *clenches fist*

“I like silence” *screaming from the other room*

“It’s like gas filling a room” <- fascinating way to describe their dynamic, it’s specifically referring to aimless conversations that snowball and “fill up a room” but it could also refer to the palpable energy between them— like even through the abstraction of a computer screen there’s this magnetic force that’s just riveting, it’s hard to describe

“We haven’t talked about love” > Seen at 2:17 PM LMAO

Michael alone with the black frame lingering shot. Acting and editing and directing choices so simple and on point. everything hurts

Struggling to say goodbye on Zoom physically reaching out unable to leave the frame that whole scene was just. You can just feel the love through the screen, it’s so layered and intimate despite essentially being “No you hang up first”

Zoom wedding! He stayed!!

I wonder if that’s Michael Sheen’s actual best friend. That would be cute

Anna whispering and telling him “nah I know your bestie is literally an hour away but he can’t come over lol” like??? why? let them love each other I cannot handle this villain arc

“I have to bring that one otherwise my tits will explode” Wait wasn’t she drinking earlier though? #ShivRoyMoment

“I was standing outside your job for four hours because I love you” <- dog from Up moment

Yes he is legally a Hobbit

The car window as an abstraction like the Zoom boxes *continued feral noises*

The direction of David putting his hand on the window and Michael walking away only then revealing Anna and the baby far in the background? We’re in 3 dimensions and they are all painful!!

Okay yeah I get it it’s a love story but I thought this was a comedy haha right guys why does everything hurt

It ends on that meta moment between David and Georgia which I can only assume is to set up for the third season although I dunno if that was planned at the time as well. It’s ambiguous but not distracting if they didn’t make another one

tl; dr: Staged 2 is a unique and excellent addition to Staged 1. The added meta textual layer of the other celebrities breaking down their relationship based on Staged 1 allows for a lot of “hiding behind my hands so embarrassed” moments, but also by pitting them against each other, it reveals their actual love for each other through the bickering. Season 1 on its own is a nice vignette of its time but season 2 with it adds a tension and intimacy that really takes both over the top

Kinda dreading watching Staged 3 since it seems like people overwhelmingly like it less than the other two because of the loss of the Zoom format and constant arguing, but I’m already in this far deep so I’ll stick the landing

To wit— awwwwwww, they love each other!

[song-writer-melo-wrath]

Silly Game Time: Who are some of your favorite mechanical characters, be they robots, androids, cyborgs, or something else? And what do like about them?

OOOOH...

Well, first, gotta mention my man Data.

A lot of people has said that he is autism-coded in the way that he is presented, and in how other people react to him. And I kind of agree tbh. He's also just a sweetheart, and his bonds with the crew (especially Laforge), his cat Spot, and sometimes with people who are briefly onboard are so lovely.

I also feel I should mention Connor,

Because his arc has probably inspired so many OCs at this point. Bryan Dechart did such an excellent job playing him, and his growing bond with Hank is very well-written. I think it's honestly touching how it's often emotional bonds that show humanity.

Another I feel would be a crime not to mention,

Because between the iconic lines and the dynamic he has with John Connor, and the way it shapes his various decisions, how could I not? And yes I'm specifically talking Terminator 2 here. Though I will say he makes an EXCELLENT force of nature and presence of absolute horror in the first movie.

Then, of course, the sapphic community's favourite,

Because "Want You Gone" hurts me on a personal level, and I don't just mean because it's how GLaDOS says farewell. I relate to that song so much (and did a cover of it :D) and, in general, relate with much of her story. Of course, she's a sassy motherfucker who you can't help but love. But for how much Portal 2 is considered the inferior game, it really does make her story into one of self-discovery and complicated morality. I guess it just gets overshadowed by Oh hi. How are you holding up.

Next,

I MEAN. COME ON. This guy used to be, and honestly still is, one of my biggest fictional crushes. His charisma is magnetic, of course. His STORY being wrapped up by the connections he used to have being rekindled, resulting in him choosing to be a star for those who need one most, rather than a star for the most people possible???? Ugh, poetic cinema.

Speaking of stars,

[vibrating] I have so many headcanons when it comes to this one But more to the point, Star Dream is an absolute force of nature. Its boss fight is incredible, an absolute marvel of multiple types of play styles coming together. The themes? Slap.

Star Dream's draw, for me, is that its sentience is so…debatable. I'm on the side of “had sentience the whole time”, and more to the point, “based on how much Haltmann copied homework, it's possible he brought something back from the dead” but I dunno, I don't like arguing my case when it comes to the second. The point is, for many of things that it does, it's uncertain whether that's just part of its program, or if it's a sentient decision. Was Susie sent away because of something accidental, or was it Star Dream's intention? The fact that Haltmann became so focused on its creation after her disappearance, in my eyes, kind of implies the latter…

… It's also interesting that even without Haltmann giving it a voice via him-being-possessed, it only chooses to speak to Meta Knight.

Can you tell I have The Kirby Autism, is it noticeable, is it obvious—

Also I'm gonna put two of my OCs here, because self-indulgence is alive and well.

This is Palharine and Mayday! They're my favourites out of a group of robot/android characters I created about three years ago, and have finally taken the time to draw recently:

From left to right, you got Eodel Remidoros, Palharine, Mayday, and Ziah Hyperion. All very different interpretations of robotic.

Palharine and Mayday stand out to me due to their emotional states. They're kind of opposites, in that regard. Mayday is a very sensitive gal, who has been through a lot of pain, and is trying to become stronger so she can confidently say she has no doubt in who she is. Palharine, as far as they're aware, has no emotions. Which is interesting, since the other three all seem to, to some degree. Among the four, Palharine is also unique in that they're programmed to dream. Both of these things shape them a lot.

But these two have a very sweet bond, where they're both passionate about biology, especially botany. Mayday, in a training exercise, also nearly wipes the floor with Palharine. It's more touching than it sounds.

Also, Palharine's genderfluid and Maydays a trans woman, so those things just inherently spark joy for me, haha!

This has been, real robotic character hours.

[astralleywright]

what do you think happened with the "pro ashton" side of the fandom post episode 77-78? it used to be where the more nuanced takes on the situation sat, but nowadays it's just seemed to have coagulated into this vitriolic mess towards any woman that makes mistakes or acts rude/selfish and is not instantly abandoned or mauled within an inch of her life. granted, it's been laudna, imogen, and fearne that have been impulsive more recently, but i'm not sure if they'd do the same for the male characters. i haven't seen anybody say that orym should get beaten to death for making a deal with morri but i have seen a lot of "the GIRLS are getting off so easy! they're being coddled and deserve to get screamed at!" complaints from people who took ashton's side back then.

fandom discourse is inherently reactionary. intentional of not, a lot of meta is as much in response to other perspectives on the work a person's taken in as it is the work itself. this was especially true during shardgate, and tbh, that hypercritical, punitive perspective on the female PCs (and especially Imogen and Laudna; i don't really see it for Fearne that much at all) was diffused into the pro-Ashton side even then. since the majority of the people mad at him were those female PC stans who also called out these bad takes on the female characters and were the ones supposedly coddling them in the first place.

Shardgate ended up uniting part of the fandom around bigger, stupider opinions, about how the fandom has a misandry problem and is in fact too nice to women. specifically Imogen and Laudna, who are actually singlehandedly ruining everything for Bells Hells. the fact that Ashton is not a man did not matter, the actual nuance of Imogen and Laudna's behavior did not matter, bc, again, discourse is reactionary. and it doesn't even have to be in reaction to what another fan is actually saying, but what you believe them to be saying, or what someone on tumblr says they're saying, whether its true or representative of a popular opinion or deeply out of context or just completely made up.

Swordgate was obviously the perfect opportunity to reveal this hypocrisy, given how similar the incident was to shardgate, and show who was actually trying to analyze both incidents and who was either specifically reacting to discourse (real or imagined) and/or just playing favorites. a lot of people who seemed very smart during shardgate were revealed to be doing one of the latter during swordgate. while the same can be said about people who ragged on Ashton and were kinder to Laudna, including BH themselves, they benefit from the existence of linear time. there were absolutely people being hypocritical in that direction during swordgate, yeah. but I also saw a lot of those ppl who had softened on Ashton with his growth since shardgate, and in hindsight realized they had been too hard on them at the time. obviously its difficult to prove the reverse, but like. I have not seen nearly as many people soften on Laudna, even when Ashton themself expressed how much her kindness after shardgate meant to him.

[crystallinestars]

Hello again!

I do remember talking about shipping as activism a while back, though it's important to keep in mind I'm not from the USA, nor from any English speaking country, I just spend an egregious amount of time in English speaking communities haha

But yeah, I've noticed this trend where some subsections of the fandom will get super attached to their HCs / interpretations and actively preach about it like it's their god-given duty to make sure as many unfortunate souls become the next victims of their "rightful" wrath, basically becoming the blorbo police in a way. I do feel like this could be called activism: there's a lot of focus on identity and a thirst for representation in media so they latch onto the closest thing available (fandom) and engage in discourse. Maybe because many people feel powerless to make any meaningful change 'IRL'?

I was thinking about that (again) the other day and I found a few reasons why this 'activism' always bewilders me, especially with games like HSR or Genshin

1) I feel like there's a CRUCIAL difference to make between "this game / character or whatever is a source of comfort for me as a person with x identity" and "this game is actively and obviously trying to give us representation and you're a fool and probably a x-phobe not to see it". Call this "semantics" all you want, Words mean Things (wowzers), and it's just basic courtesy to communicate intent clearly, instead of always parroting the same 3 tiktok one-liners to sound witty. There's also a difference between headcanons, interpretation, subtext, etc.

2) We've already talked about this but for the love of god can we please please please stop arbitrarily categorizing behaviours, clothes, ways of speaking and so on as "OBVIOUSLY ROMANTIC IN NATURE" or whatever? I'm begging on my hands and knees, this is a very slippery slope. I understand making silly little jokes but past a certain point it's unclear whether or not people are serious about this.

3) This one is a bit different and not exactly limited to this subject but recently I've found myself getting slightly irritated whenever there are analyses / metas without sources, especially when said analyses aim at proving a point using specfic information. Blame it on the uni student in me who's had to write way too many stupid essays, but whenever I see claims like "x flower or whatever symbolises x thing in x culture, therefore it's proof that x thing in x media is x", even if the analysis is interesting, I always want to ask the person where they found that information, so I could educate myself on the subject. Maybe I'm a bit too pessimistic on this but part of me always feels like the person deliberately cherry-picked what suited their interpetation, especially if they later say things like "look it up yourself". Idk,I'd just like to see if these analyses are the product of a genuine research or if they just heard someone on Twitter say it and ran with it.

4) Tbh I find that the way Hoyoverse goes about things is not that different from the way kpop singers are told to act to appeal to the audience. I 100% agree with you when you say that "attractiveness" is one of the most important factors as to why some characters are ppopular. And since I get the same vibes between Hoyoverse and kpop, I'd say that latching onto something like that for representation is kinda setting yourself up for failure down the line. Like, I'm sorry but if tiny crumbs mostly born in the fandom are enough to quench your thirst for representation, then the bar is truly in hell

And Aventurine. Oh Aventurine. I hope I won't sound too angry when I say this but looord was the fandom annoying these past few updates. This is linked to point 2) but I HATED every second of it whenever I saw people say things like "omg Aventurine acted sleazy / told a man his marble bust is handsome, it's obviously proof he's gay and the biggest whore in all of HSR because no straight man would say that!!!!" 😐 I don't even care if people want to HCs him as gay (by all means, do whatever you'd like) but allow to present an alternative: you know what kind of man would speak like that? Someone who's overacting the harmful stereotypes associated with his tribe as a defense mechanism of sorts against the whole world. Kind of like "you want me to be the crafty, smooth-talking and capricious Avgin? That's what I'll show you". Idk, I feel like THAT'S a much more sensible reasoning than the hormones driven screeches aforementioned.

Like seriously, is it y'all's first time reading a story like that?? Some people took one look at the character with a suspicious tattoo on his neck that SUSPICIOUSLY looks like the word "slave" and decided he was the fuckboy trope. Then 2.1 came and they had the gall to be surprised pikachu face when it was revealed that "yeah this is really a slave brand and Aventurine is Not Doing Well Mentally" (I saw posts where people said they were surprised this character wasn't as smooth and flirty and whatever as they had thought, like do you want me to applaud you for thinking with your brain for the first time in months or what??)

Anyway, I apologize for the sudden anger, I needed to get this off my chest.

Regarding translation issues, I do know a few things about translation as a whole but this ask is already getting long so maybe I'll talk about this another time 😅

In the meantime, I'm happy to see you and all the others catching a win with the lack of Kaveh in the banner! I do hope it'll continue in the same direction in the future

Also, I've talked a lot on here so maybe I should choose an emoji to sign my asks? If it's not taken could I use this one 🪻?

Hello 🪻 anon! Long time no see ☺��

Wow, you're not from an English-speaking country? With how eloquent your English is and how knowledgeable you are about Western fandom issues, you had fooled me haha.

A lot of the sexuality gatekeeping and preaching about x character being ___ sexuality or ___ -coded is a form of activism, for sure. As I said before, Americans in particular have a tendency to drag politics into every aspect of their lives, even foreign entertainment.

It's hard to say why some people act like morality police when someone disagrees with their headcanons or interpretations. Perhaps it's as you say--they feel powerless to make a change in the real world. A part of me also thinks they're virtue signaling; meaning, they show support for various causes for the sake of looking like a good person in front of others.

Regarding your frustration with the lack of a reliable source in analysis posts, I would say you're right to be wary of how factual the posts actually are. People generally make such posts to give their headcanons more weight. Basically, trying to prove their headcanons are right/correct. Cherry-picking is to be expected of such posts. I'm sure there are some well-researched, factual posts presenting a good analysis, but I find that those are mainly present in lore discussions. Maybe I'm being too negative, but I honestly don't expect anything good from fandom anymore. I am too jaded.

Your 4th point though lmao. The bar truly is in hell 😂 I get that there isn't a lot of representation in media, much less good rep, but Mihoyo's games aren't it, man... there are better sources of rep that this.

THE AVENTURINE BIT! I feel you on that so much!!!! LORD.

Mischaracterization in the name of shipping is a staple of fandom culture at this point. Your analysis of Aventurine's behaviors is spot on, but people like to view character actions and words through shipping lenses to try and find any crumb to support their headcanons. It's more fun to paint everything a character does as further support for their ship/headcanon than it is to appreciate who the character actually is.

The way Aventurine (And Childe. They massacred my boy) was quickly reduced to a flirty fuckboy hurts me to this day. After 2.0 story quest, people quickly came to the conclusion he was some perverted playboy, and proceeded to treat him the way they usually treat characters under the fuckboy trope: depict him in abusive situations. I saw so much fanart of Aventurine being collared and leashed, of being beaten black and blue, yet look like he's enjoying it. He was treated like a masochistic punching bag. While I love me some art of characters being roughed up, it really didn't suit Aventurine. Especially not after we just learned he was a slave, his race was murdered, and the Avgin people are discriminated against based on harmful stereotypes. But people seemed to have missed that?

The surprise pikachu moment they had when 2.1 dropped had me sitting there like:

Really? It was hinted at back in 2.0 that his backstory was rough, so it was no surprise he carries a lot of trauma and isn't as confident and cocky as he makes himself out to be. However, it seems like people really didn't pick up on that, or didn't understand the gravity behind it all. It felt like they and I read entirely different stories.

Idk, it's probably moments like these why Genshin has Paimon 😐

The small Kaveh win we had was worthy of celebration, but Mihoyo will never let their favorite shippers starve. They're already over-analyzing the camera panning between Haitham and Kaveh in Cyno's quest, as well as Sethos's voiceline about them. They do not rest.

Apologies for going off on a tangent again. I'm so happy there's someone else who picked up on Aventurine's trauma since the very start of the story 😭 It really felt like I was the only one. Ever since meeting him, there was something about him that made me want to hug and comfort him, but seeing all the abusive art just felt bad. It's much better now, thankfully.

Anyways, thanks for stopping by! It's always fun to read your messages since you have a lot of great insights. Hope you have a great day/evening whever you are, 🪻 Anon!

[thot-son-of-odin]

I like your Thor meta. Do you think Thor was abusive to Loki in Ragnarok?

Thank you so much anon! So I wanna preface this by saying I did really like ragnarok. I did think parts of it seemed ooc and didn’t feel the same as the two og Thor movies, but it made me laugh and that’s all I can really ask from a marvel movie tbh.

So to answer your question, tentatively no. I don’t think Thor was abusive to Loki in ragnarok and while parts of their relationship/the way they act with each other was exaggerated/flanderized, I don’t think that he was abusive. My reasoning is under the cut because this got longer than I thought LOL

The first thing I see that around ragnarok that frames Thor as abusive is the heightened use of violence towards each other (eg thor throws things at Loki, aims mjolnir at him). While this dynamic isn’t present in the previous movies, it’s also matched via Loki’s actions (eg stabbing Thor in the snake incident, not helping Thor when he’s forced to fight in the arena). Additionally, it doesn’t seem like these thing actually affect/hurt Loki in any way. In avengers 1, Loki literally dropped Thor off the helicarrier (idk if the name is right, I haven’t seen the movie in so long) and stabs Thor, and it’s not like these things severely injure Thor in any way. If we frame Thor’s actions as abuse, we must also frame Loki’s actions as abuse as well. (To all of you that are like “Loki was under mind control”, 1) intention does not change the action, he still gets hurt and 2) even after he’s released from the mind control, he never bothers to apologize)

Secondly, I see people talk about that scene in the tunnel where Loki attempts to reach out to Thor and he doesn’t bother to engage, and personally, I see that as very reasonable. Thor asks if Loki is actually there, sees that he isn’t, and that shapes the entire interaction from there on. In Thor’s pov, Loki hasn’t even bothered to visit him in person. Additionally, it hasn’t even been a day since their father died, which Thor directly thinks Loki is responsible for (rightfully so, since Loki has exiled Odin for years, perhaps making any condition he has worse and unmonitored). Thor does not believe that Loki is reaching out for real. Loki isn’t even reaching out to help him get back to Asgard and stop Hela. Whether or not Loki is genuine in his attempts to connect with Thor, Thor doesn’t believe him, and he has no reason to either.

Besides this, Thor explicitly brings what he’s mad about.

“What would you like me to say? You faked your own death, you stole the throne, stripped Odin of his power, stranded him on Earth… to die, releasing the Goddess of Death.”

Whether or not Loki is responsible for all that, Thor is allowed to be angry. And he’s allowed to act like that. And when he does, Loki gets angry in return and tells him that he hopes he gets hurt in the fight tomorrow. Both of their words here are childish. But only Thor is called abusive? For having a human response to a very complicated situation involving lots of feelings?

When Thor does try and talk to Loki, he does not actually communicate either. He explicitly distances himself by telling Thor that it’s better if he stays on Sakaar. Which brings us to the elevator scene and what comes next:

This is the part that I see the most meta about how Thor is abusive and is manipulative. And honestly, I think while he might be hoping that the reverse psychology works, I don’t think he explicitly tries to manipulate Loki into doing anything.

To me, I think at this point, Thor sees that Loki is trying to bait him into an argument and does not want to indulge that. Loki is the one who tells Thor that Odin’s death will bring them apart. Loki is the one who says he wants to stay on Sakaar. Thor can see that Loki wants Thor to beg him to come back/help him. And he doesn’t want to fall into that same pattern. Thor is right, it is unhealthy, and it’s not one that suits either one of them. Loki is trying to remove himself from the relationship and Thor lets him. It’s not abusive or manipulative, I see it as a genuine moment where Thor tells Loki that he loves him (aka the thought the world of you comment) but he’s not willing to engage in the same dynamic anymore.

And finally, there’s that obedience disk thing. Which, honestly, seeing as Loki was about to betray Thor and sell him out, is not the worst thing Thor could have done. I don’t think that it affects Loki that much, because he does show up looking fine in the end. I’m not saying it’s not a dick move of Thor to electrocute his brother. I’m saying, in context, Thor could have easily killed him to stop him from betraying him. And he doesn’t.

(Also l see the get help scene called abusive because apparently Thor not listening to Loki about whether he wants to do it is abusive? 1) it’s a comedy scene and 2) he does say “do you have a better idea”)

Idk I think that Loki and Thor have a complex dynamic that wasn’t translated great in ragnarok. But I don’t think it was abusive. I think that, yes Thor does act childishly in certain scenes and if he was thinking rationally, he could/should have realized that it wasn’t Loki’s fault that hela was unleashed. But this is not the first time an odinsib has blamed the other instead of their parents (aka Loki blaming Thor about the whole jotun thing instead which is its own discussion).

Again, obv u can have your own ideas and if theres something I missed that you want me to discuss def lmk!

[notmoreflippingelves]

For the pairing ask meme: Jo/Laurie from Little Women (really curious about it!) And Carla/Mateo from EoA (because kinda love your Mateo roasting and takes 😁)

Jo/Laurie (????)

This is hard, because I don't know whether I ship it or not. I do but I don't. I think if I were to guess I'd say overall, I primarily don't except for Winona Ryder!Jo/Christian Bale! Laurie from Little Women (1994). I guess I'm going to go with "no" overall, because honestly as much as I love that adaptation, Christian Bale Laurie is arguably too "cool"/suave compared to book!Laurie (who tbh is more than a bit pathetic sometimes). Like I'm genuinely a little "What are you thinking?" when Winona!Jo turns Bale!Laurie down but I am mostly okay with it in all other incarnations. I do also mostly like Amy/Laurie and Jo/Bhaer as much if not more , so yeah I'm not really cut up about it Jo/Laurie not being endgame.

Why don’t you ship it?

For me, it's largely that there is a sense (more pronounced in some adaptions than others) that Laurie wants to be a March Girl™ (gender-neutral) more than he wants to be Jo's life-partner which is not really the idea ship vibe--even if I can't exactly blame him as I too would do almost anything to be a March Girl. Like sure Jo was his first choice by far and I do believe that his eventual relationship with Amy is genuinely based on more than "settling"--but I also feel relatively sure that he might have hypothetically settled for Beth or Meg under other circumstances. And that's just not a solid start for a relationship, if your s.o. could've hypothetically is always low-key considering your sibling as a backup plan if things go south with you too. (I mean you could say that the same is true of Laurie/Amy, but I do think it's less bad b/c Amy has literally been in love with Laurie since she was 12 and because overall their personalities "mesh" a little better than Jo/Laurie).

I also worry a bit about how Laurie's wealth might hypothetically impact the Jo/Laurie relationship. I do think that he would continue to be supportive of her writing and theatrical dreams, but I can also see him overcompensating/supporting her "too much." Unlike Bhaer, I don't think Laurie is capable of offering her constructive criticism that is necessary for her work to improve. He's too much of an inherent simp who thinks Jo March is already the most amazing human to ever exist (again can't totally blame him for that) to even conceive of the possibility that she has genuine strengths and weaknesses. I can also see him throwing his money and influence around a little in order to get her published/earning favorable reviews. Jo is fiercely independent and so achieving her dreams on her own terms/by her own merit is supremely important to her--arguably more important than her achieving them at all. Laurie interfering in her career even positively/with good intentions would inevitably cause a lot of conflict between them and create some self-doubt of Jo as to whether she really "earned"/"deserves" her success at all.

What would have made you like it?

As I mentioned I do sort of like it even as I also dislike it. I guess I would like it more consistently/wish it was endgame if Laurie was just a wee bit less eager/obsessed/convinced they were "meant to be." Also if we had a stronger sense that Jo herself wanted the romance specifically as opposed to just Laurie staying in her life. Another thing that makes me a little wary about Jo/Laurie is the meta-aspect of knowing that Louisa May Alcott was very adamant about not wanting them together. Her publisher pretty much insisted that Jo needed to find love in Part 2 and so she created Professor Bhaer in order to give Jo an alternate love interest

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

A lot, especially since I don't not ship it even if I don't ship it. Their "meet cute" scene at the ball is one of my favorite scenes in the book and arguably one of my favorite "character introduction scenes" in all of literature. I think that the two of them have great chemistry and a really supportive dynamic. They care deeply about each other and have so much fun together. (You see this as well in the sequels. Even though they're both romantically with other people, they are still go-to confidants and partners-in-mischief for each other).

I also think that narratively Jo/Laurie has to "work" on some level in order to justify the direction that story takes. The first time that you encounter the story, the reader/viewer needs to really like them together and assume that them being endgame is inevitable. It gives Jo's decision to reject his proposal more poignancy and agency. She needs to love him deeply and know that he loves her--even if they can't love each other in the same way--in order to fully be able to choose herself and her goals over him. If he's not an otherwise desirable option, her choice not to choose him isn't a real choice. She needs to be conflicted, tempted even, if her decision to prioritize her own dreams and needs over his and her family's is to hold any real weight.

And Alcott (and most of the adaptions) do a fantastic job of making Jo/Laurie seem plausible/desirable so that the rejected proposal emotionally fulfills its narrative purpose for Jo's character development (and a lesser extent Laurie's and Amy's as well).

Carla/Mateo (I ship it albeit very low-key though Carla probably deserves better)

What made you ship it?

Probably their interactions in late S3 most of all (especially the finale). I think there is clearly attraction and chemistry between them. They seem to have similar, slightly dorky and clumsy personalities that seem like they would mesh well. And shallow , I know, but their character models are also attractive and look good together.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

Is it bad if I say that I like how easily Rita!Carla was able to make Mateo look like the biggest fool in all Avalor?

I think there is a lot of potential for the two of them to bond. They're both very family-oriented, and I think there's a lot of potential for them to grow closer as being the only (and a little coddled/spoiled) children of very loving but somewhat smothering single parents (Victor and Rafa)--as well as missing their absent other parents (Ash and Mateo's father).

They are also arguably THE characters (well them, Victor, and Olivia) who are most actively interested in learning magic. (Gabe and Elena express some curiosity but specifically in the context of magic being a tool to protect the kingdom as opposed to something they want to learn just for itself). So it's nice to think of magic being another way that they can grow closer/flirt/have fun together.

I also adore the Delgado father and daughter relationship and enjoy thinking about how Carla/Mateo would impact Victor and his relationship with his daughter. Whether he's supportive (most likely) or hesitant (my personal head canon), it has the potential to be really fun/funny and heartwarming.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Carla/Mateo is one of the only Mateo ships that I can tolerate. Sorry not sorry. It's this and like two non-existent rare pairs . And even then, I don't think I am ever doing more than casually enjoying it, since my Mateo indifference is so strong. (I do really like Carla though and have a few more ships with her).

[butchdykeorpheus]

i'm about to spend WAY too many words talking about barbie movie meta btw just a warning. disclaimer this is just one guy's opinion i may not always hold these opinions forever i'm open to hearing other opinions i'm almost definitely missing something here etc etc

ngl i also loved the barbie movie but i feel like some people are hyping it up / expecting it to be Cutting Edge Radical Leftist Feminist Writing when like. it's definitely not that lol. greta gerwig is a great director and frankly i'm surprised she managed to get away with some of the things she did in a licensed movie based on such a major IP but at the end of the day she's riding a very fine line in making a corporate-approved toy ad that's also a satire with adult and feminist themes that's also a coming-of-age movie for tweens and young teens

like gerwig is spinning a LOT of plates with the barbie movie and whilst that gives it a lot of high energy and humour and wry commentary and the ability to touch on a lot of different topics, she's ultimately limited by runtime and also most likely by trying to toe a line set by mattel/WB about what is and isn't TOO far. and the end result is that whilst it's refreshing to see a high profile movie speak so candidly about how stressful it is to be a woman, some of the themes that it touches on end up feeling underbaked, shallow and performative. like the movie mentioning capitalism and white savourism without actually delving into any of that and whilst it's funny to point out how stupid it is for a company selling Girl Power™ to be run mostly by middle aged men the movie just Does Not Have The Time Or Space To Get Into it so we don't get an exploration of what that means for barbie's existence, for capitalist co-opting of feminism, etc and it easily comes off as a "where are all the woman CEOs???" #girlbossfeminism comment regardless of gerwig's intentions

i get the sense that gerwig & co. knew going in that there were going to be criticisms regardless about the limits of the movie's feminism, and included some of those comments nodding towards the "we don't have time to get into this right now" topics the movie touches on intending them to reassure the audience that she's not deliberately ignoring them. and the results of doing that were Decidedly Mixed. i can't really say if i think it was better for her to do that or not tbh i think that's a more individual judgement call

idk at the end of the day what the movie does best is not to make in-depth critiques about structural oppression but to speak directly to the experiences of modern young girls who grow up being told repeatedly that "girls can do anything" (whether in good faith by well-meaning adults or by capitalist marketing) but then start to realise that the world is still hostile to women in so many ways, who struggle to reconcile that message with the realities of how they're made to feel self-conscious and objectified and the observations they can make about the still patriarchal world around them. who are trying to process all this conflicting information while their sense of self and relationship with the society around them and also their physical body is still developing. and, in relation to that, to speak directly to the personal experiences of adult women in the audience who have internalised and tried to accomodate all those contradictions and become worn down by the stress. the priority of the movie is to tell women and girls that you don't have to be extraordinary or successful or pretty to be worthy of respect or personhood, that you don't need permission to be a full human being

through ken, to a lesser extent, the movie is also trying to speak directly to the experiences of young boys who are internalising patriarchal ideals as they mature and promised "rewards" if they live up to a hypermasculine ideal. except ken admits towards the end that being In Charge™ and hypermasculine did not make him happy, but that he doesn't know who he is if not his status symbols and "possessions" (his girlfriend, his house, his car). i have a few small gripes with how the conclusion of ken's arc was handled in that scene but barbie was speaking directly to the audience when she said that he (men in general) can and should find a sense of self-worth without domineering over others or feeling entitled to a woman simply because he's a man. it's feminism 101 lol it's hardly angela davis or simone de beauvoir but it's not an unimportant message to impart on young boys still wrapping their head around the way the world works

to a less direct extent the movie is also trying to grapple with the complex relationship the barbie brand has historically had with feminism, female empowerment/liberation, beauty standards and traditional gender roles, and the ways barbie has been progressive and regressive in turns. again you could have made a 2hr barbie movie about just this topic alone so your mileage may vary on whether barbie 2023 explored this in enough depth for you (i personally would have liked a bit more self-reflection on barbie's role in imparting beauty standards to young girls but maybe that would have been a bit too dark for mattel/WB lmao) but the movie isn't subtle about setting up the simplistic claim that "barbie saved women from sexism" only to repeatedly knock it down. barbieland is a Matriarchal Utopia™ but it's also explicitly in the text just an idea, a plastic stage onto which the real world projects its concept of an ideal world for women. it takes the slightest nudge from the "real world" - gloria being kind of bummed and stressed out by being a working mother with depression and cellulite - for the entire house of cards to wobble. i wish the movie's answer to this was a bit more complex than "what about an Ordinary Barbie?" but i think gerwig and baumbach knew what they were saying when the CEO called that a stupid idea until another suit whispered that it would make a lot of money lmao

and i think that last point is one of the most interesting things about analysing the movie for me, because you can almost see in these moments these little points of tension between gerwig/baumbach and mattel/WB - hints at the things gerwig/baumbach WANT to say more explicitly but can't without possibly upsetting the people bankrolling the project. i'm not smart enough to draw any intelligent conclusions or moral lessons about that btw i just think it would be interesting to look at these points in the movie where gerwig/baumbach noticeably gesture towards criticisms of Pink Capitalism™ without actually Getting Into It and what that says about the state of trying to make feminist/leftist media under the constraints of capitalism. like it shouldn't be lost on anyone that mattel/WB only bankrolled this project in the first place because we live at a point in time where a certain kind of feminism (and even the outrage generated by conservatives who think "women are people" is radical leftist rhetoric, and the ensuing wave of "let's support the thing that pisses of conservatives") is considered profitable

anyway this has devolved into rambling, my point is, outside of a) telling young boys and girls that patriarchy kinda sucks and they don't have to live up to specific ideals to have worth and b) grappling with the barbie brand's complicated relationship with feminism, the movie's feminist discourse is limited and we're kinda setting some viewers up for disappointment by propping up barbie as a radically feminist movie. that's not to say that barbie 2023 should be above criticism at all but yk. you're gonna have a better time with the movie and better be able to appreciate the prioritised messages if you temper expectations rather than being disappointed that the movie didn't advocate for marxism (or if you're not misled into thinking it's something that you wanna watch in the first place). also that no one should rely solely on big budget, heavily marketed movies based on highly profitable IPs for feminist perspectives or incisive commentary on the relationship between patriarchy and other forms of systemic oppression

also outside of the feminist discourse around it the movie is generally just funny, emotional, upbeat and a little surrealist if you think you'd be into that

[dynamightdean]

Alright so the j2 fallout theory idk if you already got the answer, and also I wasn't here for this at the time, but from what I got from reading about it:

The idea is basically Jared and Jensen had a falling out some time prior to spn ending, over whether Dean deserved to die in the finale among some other things (creative differences? not taking spn seriously enough? who knows, not us). Basically, Jensen disagreed and a week after filming the finale (September 2020), he immediately decided to make a production company for the purposes of doing Dean's story justice but didn't tell anyone. People theorized he didn't like the finale but fans didn't have any confirmation bc Jensen went radio silent after the show ended other than a couple comments about Cas's goodbye scene. But overall he kept quiet or neutral about the finale ("sexy silence").

Then June 2021 was when spnwin was announced which resulted in messy Twitter drama from Jared (the "et tu brute" and "I'm gutted" comments) bc Jensen didn't tell him about it beforehand. They supposedly made up afterwards but the theory is that there is still tension which is why Jensen looks pissed in so many cons when he's with Jared, allegedly.

Some fans still thought that Jensen was happy with the finale for a long time afterwards until uhhh I don't remember which con but he was specifically like "I didn't want Dean to go out that way, I think that's been documented" and it's been pretty clear since then though I guess some fans still aren't seeing it?

Thennnn all this stuff with spnwin recently about supposedly asking everyone but Jared to be in the show and we're at present day, more or less. There might be more but I'm not sure.

There's some connection to destiel bc the only comments that Jensen made or liked had to do with 15x18 but that is very unclear and I think it's just speculation tbh (though I personally 100% believe that a decision has been made about how to address it, but based on 18 YEARS of spn history, I have some serious reservations about whether it will be canon, but I'm also way more hopeful than pre jib11 in February - I did some meta about this you could find it on my tumblr). So the jackles long con is the (conspiracy) theory that all of the above is an intentional but low key effort to make destiel canon.

Personally I think all of this is still just a theory but it's objectively HILARIOUS how all of this played out publicly because of how messy and petty all of this is. 💁🏻‍♀️

Thank you so much, I think I vaguely knew a lot of bits and pieces but that def puts it all together. The jackles long con I did know about, I love it so much lol. And also I am very hopeful as well, but trying to be cautiously hopeful!!

[monstersinthecosmos]

RJ will treat Marius like a saint. He will play therapist/father-in-law to Louis and vouch for his son's innocence and loyalty to Louis. He knows both of his sons fuck Louis so occasional bribery gifts work to preserve his good will.

first of all sorry this is so hot lmfao: He knows both of his sons fuck Louis so occasional bribery gifts work to preserve his good will. 🥵

but no really, like okay here's the thing, and I've said this a few times so I don't want to say it again LOL but obviously everyone can read the same book and we all come out with different ideas about what it meant, based on our lived experiences and tastes, and I think we all knew that the books needed some updates. Not just because they're way too whacky and nonlinear to work smoothly as a TV series, but because there's a lot of outdated tropes & -isms that weren't going to fly.

And like the convergence of those two concepts means that we're gonna get one team's version of the books and also one team's opinion on what needs to be updated.

Like don't get me wrong because Marius is my favorite character in VC (and one of my fav characters in anything ever tbh) but I like him because he's fucking reprehensible. And I would've liked to see a version of him where he's just as charming and soothing and "wise" but where there's no ambiguity about the harm he causes. And like I don't wanna get too deep on Marius meta on a post about RJ & AMC but I think there's a lot of author intent to consider about Marius in the later books and whether or not Anne ever intended to hold him accountable or if she got bored and wanted to write fanfic by the end. That type of inconsistency might be something worth "updating" or worth exploring in a visual medium where we aren't stuck strictly to the interior of someone's POV, and the show is clearly expressing that it wants to play with POVs.

But we all know the types of like, sort of casual surface fans who just enjoy Marius and buy into his bullshit and don't see the harm he's caused, and don't see that he's actually fucking diabolical. I would argue that a lot of these are the same fans who do this to Lestat lmao. (He is, after all, MiniMarius.)

And I'm having a hard time reading what RJ will think of him. On one hand, so many of the decisions made to update the text have been just, overwhelmingly like cishet middle aged white guy decisions. That's exactly Marius's type LMAO. I wouldn't be surprised if they thought he was a saint and portrayed him as a saint, especially bc LET'S BE FUCKING HONEST I don't think they've actually done good research into the entire series, so like he's not thaaaaat bad yet in the trilogy. (There's signs, but, I think we all agree he becomes especially potent in TVA.)

On the other hand!!!!!!!! They've really turned Lestat's abusive behavior up to fucking 3578193587135 so like. Maybe they get it? (tbh I'm still having a hard time sussing out what they intended to be abusive and what they didn't, though. Fucking yikes lmao.)

Plus the lore is so fucking shoddy on AMC I'm curious like what kind of goofy nonsense they'll come up with to create a power imbalance when like idk it feels like all vampires have all powers or some shit like what is Marius going to be able to hold over these guys to impress them?

I also feel like it's hard to gauge what they're squeamish about and what are their standards; ie: aging Claudia up at a glance was OH OKAY SURE LESS GROSS STUFF, but then in reality it was LETS MAKE HER 18 IN LIKE 5 MINUTES AND HAVE HER HYMEN GROW BACK EVERY TIME HER LIL 14 YEAR OLD BODY HAS SEX.

And then in one of the panels RJ made like a kinda dismissive/grossed out comment about Lestat/Gabrielle?

idk man like, update if you need to but I feel like maybe don't commandeer this project if these topics make you squeamish LMAO.

So would they lean into Marius/Armand being predatory? Would they age Armand up so it's not as gross? Will Marius be a saint or will he be so over the top fucking disgusting that he's the no. 1 villain of the show?! Will Armand be aged up but they'll still find a way to make it fucked up?!

It's so hard to say based on RJ's opinions on sexual assault in fiction; like I could see him leaning into it for the shock factor but I could also see him so blithely misreading it that he doesn't see it as an issue in the book at all. Especially because Armand's experience of it doesn't fit neatly into RJ's whole "rape makes you tougher" trope since Armand doesn't ask the reader to think of it as rape. I just worry that this man has such a disconnect with this topic that he wouldn't really see it in the text, idk.

Anyway whew who knows, alls I know is I don't want them to even involve anyone else from canon I cannot stomach this LMAO. I have to keep reminding myself not to dismiss this man/this team as misunderstanding the text because they're educated professionals and keep reminding myself that this is deliberate because they do not care and in the end this is a corporate cash grab and not an artistic project made for us LMAO. And they're already so fucking far off the mark of the books anyway I don't think it's possible to make predictions at all.

[lindwurmkai]

When I was rambling about my blorbos the other day, I described something as "kinky from a meta perspective" and I think that's an important concept to understand

Like, let's say a character is being restrained and actively trying to escape. In-universe, there's nothing kinky about that because no one is engaging in BDSM pretend-play here. It's real. It's not consensual. But you know who is in fact engaging in pretend-play?

We, the audience. And, regardless of whether they were thinking of it as kinky or not at the time, everyone who contributed to the creation of the story such as writers, directors, actors etc.

Unlike actual BDSM roleplay, we're all doing this separately. Each person involved in the creative process, as well as each viewer/reader, may have completely different interpretations and intentions, some of them perfectly innocent. We're not all doing an actual scene together, gods forbid.

But nevertheless, it's still pretend. It's still play. You can absolutely describe a character's experiences as kinky even though they do not engage in literal kink in-universe.

And when you're reading something where you know the author wrote it that way on purpose, as is often the case with fanfic, it is a little bit as if you consented to letting them help you RP in your head the moment you saw the tags and summary and decided to start reading.

The characters aren't people. They're neither consenting nor not consenting because they're not doing anything. They're being described for your benefit, in this act of pretend-play between you and the author. Which is why it does not matter if consent is sometimes not made explicit between the characters, and why you're not a bad person if you enjoy a story where kinky shit happens despite a glaring lack of pre-scene negotiation.

Now, can such things be jarring to encounter unexpectedly? Sure. It feels especially bad when you get the sense that the author had no idea they were describing an unhealthy dynamic. Yuck. And of course, explicit consent can greatly improve a story! More people should write about healthy, realistic kink imho.

But if you can understand that some people enjoy roleplaying things like being restrained against their will, then perhaps you can also understand that reading about characters being restrained against their will is essentially the same process?

I didn't get it until a few years ago tbh. This roleplaying analogy suddenly came to me one day and finally I understood how people could enjoy things that always broke my immersion. By now I even enjoy a number of these things myself. 🤷🏻‍♂️

And when it comes to visual media, hoo boy. That's on a whole other level. The kinky atmosphere of the scene can affect you before you've had time to get a single thought in. Maybe, on rewatch, you'll even be convinced that the director and at least one of the actors knew exactly what they were doing. It's fine to have fun with stuff like that!

I feel like this can be a difficult concept to wrap one's mind around, even if you don't have my unfortunate tendency to take things too literally combined with lack of education about media analysis. I got there eventually, but I regret the judgemental thoughts I used to have before I understood.

[bluebaric]

The new chapter killed me. So freaking good it’s my favourite fanfic bar none at the minute.

The vindictive letter Alicent sent had me crying 😂 I know it’s angsty but honesly queen shit.

I love it so much.

I do have a question though.

Would rhaenyra care if she came back and Alicent was with criston? ie jealousy.

Are we gonna see more about the brothels ect I think like something else might me there maybe with daemon but might just be my mind because I’m over thinking about the story because I love it so much 😭

So talented and so many words per chapter absolute machine at writing

❤️

first of all, I just want to say thank you so much for reading and enjoying!! i'm so happy to hear that my silly little fic is bringing you such joy.

in regards to ur questions:

as far as rhaenyra's pushing alicent towards criston, the subject will be broached further in the next chap so i didn't want to give too much away. i will say though that in my mind, rhaenyra's letter was written with the best of intentions, not necessarily to get a rise out of alicent or get a longer letter back—i mean, she would've liked a longer letter but probably could've done without the extreme emotional duress. she genuinely just wants alicent to be happy, as laena explained, and this was just a particularly stupid expression of that sentiment. as far as whether or not she'd be jealous... that's a good question... why would she care about who alicent is in a relationship with... when they don't even have romantic feelings for each other... obviously... ;)

(alicent is not going to shack up with criston, so we'll never really get to know how rhaenyra would've reacted. i'll say tho that i think she would try to be all noble and self-sacrificing about it, but deeply regret having suggested it in the first place. she'd want to be happy for alicent but she'd probably find that more difficult that she expected it to be.)

then, as for the brothels, i will say that this thread has sparked a lot more theorizing than i expected it to, which is perhaps my fault. i suppose it's all presented in a very mysterious light. but in my mind, rhaenyra has just been living it up in king's landing since essentially when her mother died, following her desires where ever they led her. there's certainly a debate to be had about the ethics of purchasing sex and how it ought to reflect on someone's character, especially in this pseudo time period i've set the fic in—questions which i do Not feel equipped to answer in my little lesbian dragon show fanfiction. but in my mind, rhaenyra is very considerate and gracious with every person she sleeps with, she just happens to sleep with a lot of people and pay for it sometimes.

ahhh that was probably more in depth than you wanted or needed. i'm just so flattered to know that people are thinking this much—or at all tbh—about something i wrote, and i am egotistical enough to also really enjoy spewing meta bout my own writing.

thank you so much for your questions and for reading :D

[antigonewinchester]

been thinking about Demon!Dean, as one does, and how his demon cure went down. I’d previously assumed the main reason the full demon cure wasn’t shown in 10x03 was writing shortcuts & general continuity laziness: we see Sam consecrate the ground at the start of the ep, we see Sam doing the purified blood injections, and so the audience is meant to assume Sam also does the final ‘putting blood on Dean’s mouth’ step, even if we don’t actually see it happen.

however, the more I thought about it, the more I realized the visual of ‘Dean with blood on his mouth’ is not only an image that goes far back into the show, it’s also one with pretty negative associations & a certain subtext for him. considering that the final step was the only part of the cure that wasn’t shown, I think it’s likely the writers intentionally avoided this visual because it would’ve brought an ambiguity, if not outright negativity, to Sam curing Demon!Dean that would’ve conflicted with the otherwise positive framing of that moment within the story.

if we look reverse-chronologically, we start at 9x23, with Dean succumbing to the Mark and coughing up blood:

there’s 9x01, when Dean is beaten up by the angels looking for Cas. which makes the beginning and end of s9 into bookends: in the first ep, Dean’s being attacked by angels who want to get revenge on Cas, versus in the last, Dean is himself being overtaken by the Mark driving him towards violence / revenge & tried to kill the angel Gadreel. (this one I was a little hesitant to include, since Dean’s kind of generally beaten up in 9x01, but I do feel it ultimately fits & particularly with how it connects to the end of the season):

there’s the infamous 6x05 moment, with Dean having been turned by a vampire and soulless!Sam having looked on / not stopped it. this was actually the shot that first jumped to mind when I thought huh, maybe the writers deliberately shied away from the final step of the cure to avoid evoking any visual similarity:

a minor moment in 5x22 after Lucifer!Sam first punches Dean when Dean tries to talk to him:

another minor moment in 5x18 when Cas beats up Dean in the alleyway:

and then the earliest example I thought of was Dean hurt by Azazel!John in 1x22, both in the cabin & the shot in the car afterward:

I suspect part of these visuals comes from the practical visual storytelling aspect, with blood in the mouth / spitting up blood being an easy way to show that a character is badly hurt without a lot of other injuries or needing more intense makeup sfx. there’s Dean coughing up blood in 9x23 to show the Mark overtaking & hurting him, and the same thing happens in s8 during the Trials to illustrate Sam’s physical deterioration. for the 9x01 moment, we see the angels getting ready to attack Dean, it cuts to a Sam scene, and then we go back to Dean’s beat up face; we don’t see the assault but can tell Dean’s taken quite a few hits. the little moment in 5x22 seems like a brief Oh Shit pause for the audience, where we were hoping Dean would be able to reach Sam but see that Lucifer’s still in control & willing to hurt Dean, which then leads into Lucifer!Sam really wailing on him. 1x22 implies some kind of intense internal bleeding & that Azazel!John could have killed Dean if he’d kept going.

setting aside the practical underpinnings for these scenes, what’s very interesting to me from a story perspective is how many of these moments are not just bad times for Dean, but specifically times when he’s been hurt by family / friends, or at least their bodies, given the possession / soullessness aspect (besides Cas being all Cas in 5x18). all the moments from s1 - s6, 4 out of the 6, fall into this category. the ones that are different are from s9, with Dean being hurt by enemies or the outside force of the Mark.

given that the narrative frames Dean’s demon cure in 10x03 as a definite good thing and as Sam curing / returning Dean back to being himself, it would make sense for the writers to avoid a visual that evokes quite a negative context for Dean and particularly associations with Dean being hurt by family. not what they wanted to imply or the tone of 10x03. and so, the final step of the demon cure is omitted and instead the audience sees Dean losing his demon eyes and returning back to his regular old self like so:

imagining this scene as it would’ve been with the full cure - Dean turning from demon to human with blood on his mouth - does seem more ambiguous to me as compared to the actual scene we got, with the focus on Dean’s normal and un-bloodied, if slightly confused, face. (I do think Jensen’s acting adds some ambiguity to this moment, and implies that Dean isn’t totally happy to be cured, but that’s an acting choice as compared to what’s in the script.)

maybe I am reading too much into this, and it was just laziness or lack of continuity with the worldbuilding and lore. I’m fine to be totally off-base here and the writers weren’t thinking about any of this and just wanted another chance to show off Jensen’s pretty face. it’s just that the sidestepping this imagery & breaking continuity feels revealing, esp with the rest of the cure being included. would there have been a way to include the full cure without  emphasizing the final step? I think so. have it happen but don’t linger on it, or have Dean make a joke about it. but instead the narrative avoids it entirely.

(if they’d really wanted, the writers could’ve followed this visual thread and made the demon cure a much more ambiguous thing, maybe even delved into the recurring theme of Dean being hurt by his family / friends and all that messy, complicated stuff. and it’s not all surprising that they didn’t, they have the story they want to tell & that’s what they did, but it does feel like the writers choosing the... the easy or expected story beat over something a bit more complicated.)

[yeetlegay]

Oh I'm definitely looking forward to that meta!

Regarding the wound tending scene, I feel like I may have gotten it completely wrong. Like many others on the TL, I thought I noticed a difference in Porsche's overall attitude towards Kinn once he saw Kinn's male friend in Episode 3. So I read the wound tending scene as Porsche flirting with Kinn but then it was revealed in Episode 4 that he hadn't even registered that Kinn may have been gay. I mean it could have still been Porsche subconsciously flirting with Kinn without him even realising. I have no idea.

Honestly, I really do find Porsche hard to read. I mean I can genuinely pause an episode at any time and tell you exactly what Kinn is thinking based on the look on his face (Mile is an EXCEPTIONAL actor. His MICROEXPRESSIONS! I feel like every single decision he makes as Kinn is the BEST one).

However, with Porsche, it's very different for me. I think it may be intentional because Apo is definitely an incredible actor as well. On one hand, it could be that Porsche is confused/unaware of his attraction to Kinn. On the other, it could just be that he is very good at hiding his feelings. Both Kinn and Porsche are great at that. But when it comes to attraction and sexuality, that's not something Kinn really has to hide. I mean he's KINN THEERAPANYAKUL. He can do whatever he wants. He can look at anyone however he wants. What can they do about it?! Nothing!

But with Porsche, he stands to lose a lot if he makes his attraction to Kinn apparent and Kinn reacts negatively to it. I mean that's his BOSS! (Gotta love those power dynamics, LOL) I think this was illustrated in the "To me all our people are the same" scene in Episode 4. Porsche has remembered this kiss by this time and based on the reaction we saw, he didn't seem to mind it at all. I think him asking Kinn if he would have asked for him back was a very loaded and layered question. Yes, he wants to know whether Kinn thinks he's a competent enough bodyguard to be on his team but he also now knows that Kinn wanted to discuss the kiss (based on all his prodding earlier) and now wants Kinn to once again initiate that conversation because he's not the one in the position to do so.

So in conclusion, my point is that I'm confused about Porsche and where he stands. I REALLY want him to just be good at hiding his feelings but like I said, he could also just be confused about his feelings for Kinn. Sigh. I can't wait for Episode 5. I'm HOPING Porsche doesn't initially forget the events of the night before but I think he might.

Ack I’m just now seeing this! Well the meta is here now 😂

Yeah I don’t think Porsche really twigged to what that guy was doing in Kinn’s room in episode 3. We’re all still susceptible to heteronormativity/compulsory heterosexuality/etc. so it just might not have occurred to him that someone like Kinn would be gay. Idk Porsche just might need to have that gay shit directly in his face lol. Sort of like my many embarrassing experiences of finding out girls were flirting with me and I just thought they were being nice. Obliviousness is queer culture at this point.

I definitely think Porsche just, like, gives vibes constantly without meaning to around Kinn. He was definitely eyeing him up very subtly and radiating a certain energy, even though I’m sure he had no idea that’s what he was doing.

Porsche can be hard for me to read too, but tbh I think it’s hard for him too. I think he’s not very good at understanding himself sometimes; from one oldest sibling to another, I can recognize how he’s sort of closed off parts of himself because of how quickly he had to grow up and how much of his youth he lost in grieving for his parents and taking care of Chay. And for the same reason, when he is aware of his feelings, I think he’s very good at masking them when he wants to. He can actually be pretty calculating in how much of himself he reveals.

So yeah, I think it’s both! I think Porsche is confused about his feelings and doing a good job of hiding them. And I still do think he’s not in quite as deep as Kinn yet (I posted earlier that I’m getting some real demiromantic vibes from him, but we’ll see lol). I feel like Kinn may have fallen first, but Porsche will fall harder.

[einjelique]

(Art by N!!! Thank u mwah mwah)

The best part of June: weddings! I am back once again with a June Bride themed meta! :3c

In TOA, Nanna is engaged to Leif— kinda. In conjunction with N, we decided that Leif’s proposal was interrupted during the events of FE5, and he assumed that Nanna had not heard him or simply did not answer. Nanna, however, did hear him! She was just spoken over lol

Leif: “Yes, you did. We grew up like brother and sister, but you were always the one helping me. I was able to come this far because you were always there for me, to support me and cheer me up. Nanna, once this war ends, I’ll go look for Lachesis as well. And when I find her, I’m going to ask her directly…for your hand, Nanna…”

Nanna: “! …Leif…”

Leif: “Our fight is still far from over… But you’ll come with me, right, Nanna?”

Nanna: “Yes, Leif…”   (line omitted, or spoken over by August for TOA canon)

August: “Lord Leif, Lord Seliph is here to see you.”

Now to the real reason we’re here: weddings! Nanna believes in a marriage based entirely on love. While she (currently) does not know who her father is, the majority of Lachesis’ most popular marriages involve her with a man with no Holy Blood or nobility, so I’ll be using this to help support her views.

Her love for Leif is true, though she has her concerns about their relationship. For one, she is aware that people assume she’s marrying him for status, being the third(?) in line for House Nordion it would do her well to marry the future King of Thracia— and though she usually does not care about the opinions of others, she does care about whether or not Leif knows her true intentions.

Regardless, Nanna has no intentions of marrying anyone but Leif, and has thought about marrying him since she was a child. If he had decided to marry someone else, Nanna would have simply never married at all— only if a man as perfect (in her eyes) as Leif were to walk into her life.

In terms of the ceremony, she isn’t really picky! Even if they were to forgo it entirely Nanna would just be happy as long as they are legally wed. In the eyes of Bragi or whatever.

Finally, we have family. The idea of having a family with her partner is important— to raise a child in a much more peaceful world than she got to experience. Despite the pain she understands why her mother did what she did, and should the world go to shit again, Nanna would be willing to do the same for her family. Even if she had her own children, she would also make a point to care for the orphans in Thracia, and tbh would adopt if Leif was alright with it, but otherwise would always leave room in her heart for the children raised without a family.

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

I wonder at what age can a Jedi be allowed to leave the Order? Like, obviously a full grown Knight/Master can do it (Lost Twenty), Obi-Wan and Anakin were considering it as Padawans, but what if, hypothetically, and Initiate/Youngling wanted to go back to their bio family? Leaving is not a decision to be made lightly, but kids don't have that maturity/thought process developed yet. Would anyone even take them seriously over, say, a bout of intense homesickness? Or is that considered attachment?

I think it would depend from case to case. We don’t have all that much to go on from, but I’ll try my best to answer.

I’m not taking into account the JA books (because they aren’t canon, haven’t been canon in ages and imo Watson and Wolverton had no business creating so much worldbuilding when Lucas wasn’t done with the PT yet) or any other Legends stuff, because it can be contradictory, confusing, and it often doesn’t reflect creator intent for the movies and TCW. 

So, let’s see: Ahsoka’s choice is respected even though she’s only 16 or 17, with s7 and the unreleased crystal arc really emphasizing that it was her decision as a young adult trying to find her way. In s2, Obi-Wan states that he would have left the Order for Satine had she asked, when he was only about 16 at the end of the Mandalore mission. Maybe he would have had to wait a few years? Maybe the Masters would have first talked with him for some time, to try and understand if it was really what he wanted? But he would have been able to leave. In s6, when he talks with Anakin about Padmé and Clovis, he says again that acting upon one’s feelings is a matter of personal decision, so it’s not like he and Satine couldn’t be together because he was forced to stay. He says he chose to stay. 

So clearly, Jedi teenagers are considered mature enough by the Order to understand what they want in life. 

As for the Younglings, hmm... Several key things here. 

One, the Order doesn’t disapprove of wanting to connect to one’s birth culture. (Evidenced by the very diverse clothing, Barriss’ Mirialan prayer statue, Ahsoka and Shaak Ti’s headdresses, this long post on Jedi views on blood families, Byph and Gungi speaking only their native languages instead of Basic, etc etc...) So I think Jedi kids experiencing serious homesickness would be encouraged to connect with their heritage to try and understand if it’s really what they are looking for. 

Two, it’s implied that even little children have some say in whether or not they become Jedi in the first place. When Plo finds Ahsoka, we see him holding out his hand and waiting for her to take it while the Togruta adults stay back. They don’t just drop her into his arms and wave bye-bye. The Rodian child in the Holocron Arc in s2 is shown to be super precocious - super eagerly floating toys around when Anakin himself didn’t display fine telekinesis when he was untrained - and he is in a transitory period. His mother has met with Jedi before, but says he’s still in her care “for some time.” That might indicate there’s still time for a change of plans. In the newest Mandalorian episode, Ahsoka tells Din that Grogu will be the one to decide his path, even though he’s a toddler. Similarly, Qui-Gon asks both Shmi and Anakin before taking him to the Temple. 

Three, we have no idea if there is such a thing as “being a minor” in the Galaxy, tbh. It would vary between species, obviously, and probably between planets. I mean, Padmé was Queen at 14, and her handmaidens/bodyguards were her age. Leia was involved in politics at 15. Jedi Padawans were considered mature enough to teach academic subjects - like politics - to kids older than they were (see Ahsoka being asked to teach older Mandalorian teenagers at age 14) and mature enough to be Commanders within a very strict chain of command. 

From what we see in AotC and TCW, it’s never in line with Jedi teachings to just dismiss any kid’s thought process as “too immature.” Yoda values the little children’s contributions in AotC, and in Lightsaber Lost (TCW s2) Jocasta and Tera Sinube respect Ahsoka’s decision not to go to Anakin about her lightsaber - and they help her figure it out by herself and grow. And while Aayla forces her to come along and leave Anakin behind in Jedi Crash (TCW s2) she does take the time to explain to her why it’s important, Ahsoka does choose to obey, and they do have a very serious talk about it as they walk. Luminara does dismiss Ahsoka as inexperienced in s1ep9, before fighting Ventress, and then takes it back and apologizes. Obi-Wan frequently asks Anakin and Ahsoka their opinion, and even lets them make the plans. In Yoda’s vision meant to tempt him with his deepest desire, he sees Katooni (who is like 11, maybe?) as his guiding figure. Younglings go alone in the caves of Ilum and Yoda trusts them to understand that his warning about being trapped was just a trick - he doesn’t want them to take everything he says as gospel, he wants them to think, and he praises 12-year-old Petro for just breaking the ice door. Throughout canon, we see that Jedi see children as people, with a mind of their own and the ability to understand what’s going on around them and make informed decisions. 

Based on all of that, I think that younglings wanting to leave would be taken seriously. I think it would be extraordinarily rare (because as I’ll show once I finally manage to finish that analysis of the Ilum arc, Jedi kids appear to love their lifestyle and their community, and to be emotionally healthy), but it might happen - and I think the Masters would really take the time to talk with them, try to understand why, and provide them with solutions - and possibly help them return to their birth families, if that’s what they decided in the end. 

About the attachment thing, I have another meta in the works that’s been sitting in my drafts for months x) And it shows that the Jedi aren’t paranoid about it, merely cautious. Attachment (which is very different from love or healthy connections to other people and/or a culture) is a very really danger for psychic people so vulnerable to their emotions, but Jedi don’t spend their days scrutinizing every single aspects of their relationships and their intentions trying to determine if there’s even the faintest shadow of attachment lurking behind. It’s not some frightening taboo thing. They discuss it freely (again, Aayla and Ahsoka in s2). If a kid was attached to his birth family and wanted to go back, then all the more reason to seriously consider his opinion and let him go. (Just like with Grogu and Din). Because the path of a Jedi isn’t for everyone, and that’s perfectly okay.

Anyway, hope that’s good enough of an answer. I know there are older asks in my inbox I haven’t answered yet, sorry. I promise I’m working on them.