#and technically both are doomed by the narrative too

[tikitania]

Did anyone see the Paris Opera Ballet’s Swan Lake on IMAX this weekend?

Nureyev’s libretto….lots to unpack. Rothbart is such a central character in this version pulling the narrative strings in overt and dark ways both inside the court and on the mystical lake. He’s not just evil wizard who has trapped Odette, he’s a dark force within the very halls of power who seems to have everyone hoodwinked — this fully registers with me after the recent US election.

It seems the capture of Odette and turning her into a swan was some sort of long game to destroy Siegfried, who stands in the way of power. But Rothbart also seems to have some masochistic, sexual feelings for the young prince, too. The homoeroticism was off the charts — I’ve never seen the crossbow gifted to the price so seductively! One interpretation could be that this version of Swan Lake is about doomed sexual longing because it’s Siegfried who dies in the end. Odette is forever trapped as a swan, and Rothbart’s dominance is complete.

In the sequel, Rothbart marries the Queen and rules with total power because she’s lost in grief after the death of her only son. Odile is his mistress. But the Prince’s Friends with the help of the swans come to the rescue and defeat Rothbart, returning the balance of power of good over evil. You’re welcome!

Park delightfully surprised me. I had never seen her dance before beyond short clips online. She exceeded my expectations, especially as Odile. Marque is really exquisite. He’s an expressive dancer with beautiful jumps and soft landings. But Pablo Lagasa, as Rothbart, stole the show with his technical prowess and smoldering deep-set eyes.

Seeing this in IMAX is incredible. Would love more of these, please! Love the bird’s eye views of the corps….I don’t care for a lot of Nureyev’s choreographic choices, but I did love seeing the corps formations, especially in Act 3. Normally, I like the set design and costumes at the POB, but the Easter egg hues for the court scenes didn’t work for me. The fuchsia gowns for the brides with those tiny fans were downright garish.

[terrietont]

Green eyes, Troubled lives

[noname-nonartist]

Ngl. I’m sort of glad I’m currently hyperfixated about Project Sekai.

Especially from what I’ve been hearing and seeing from glimpses about the jjk manga atm. I can tell the fandom discord would be chaotic!

Would the fandom be as toxic as it was during the Gojo vs Sukuna fight?

Dunno. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And like, it doesn’t matter to me anyway since I’m over here kicking my legs excitedly about all my favs within Project Sekai~ :3c

Besidessss. I do need that optimism in my life atm~ ;v;

[starcurtain]

Hello! Wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed your analysis on Aventurine’s theming - and yea big agree that part of the charm of the guy is that he’s a weird paradox (he got everything one should technically want, and he also lost absolutely everything he cares about) - and also I like your comment that he is, as a character, actually pretty obnoxious (it’s an odd character charm point to me)

Also your post on the way he interacts with the ladies in the cast kinda reminded me - I know folks tend to focus in Ratio’s note but I ended up zoning in on his convo with Acheron more than anything else - because a lot of Penacony is Aven butting heads with other aeon-touched people (Acheron, Sunday) - but Acheron seems like a fun foil because she also has a pretty double-edged metaphysical blessing that is associated with losing everything she loved, but she ironically hasn’t given in to full meaninglessness.

I think one of Aventurine's defining character traits is that he "tests" everyone he encounters to judge whether they are trustworthy or whether they are a danger to him (I guarantee you, he has some kind of mental ranking scale for how likely people are to dislike or mistreat him), and I think his being obnoxious is actually a direct offshoot of this.

Kakavasha clearly was raised with manners; he knows how to be polite and to tone down his responses to social situations as appropriate, which means that, in every other scenario, he is actively choosing to be obnoxious, even in situations where it seemingly won't benefit him (like talking back to the slave master or being too forward when first meeting Sunday, for example) because it allows him to gauge exactly how others feel about him and exactly how much they will let him get away with.

People who play along are potential allies (Robin, the Trailblazer) and people who act grumpy but actually tolerate the obnoxiousness are safe (Ratio, Sparkle, most of the rest of the Express Crew), while people who respond poorly (Sunday, basically everyone else Aventurine dealt with in the past, etc.) are forced into showing their true colors. If minor obnoxious behaviors can provoke them, then it means their core response to Aventurine is likely to be one of dislike and disrespect. He's just forcing that response from them out into the light sooner, rather than later, by being obnoxious from the get-go.

(And, to a certain extent, I think he also just finds it fun to be a bit obnoxious. Like, he's free to say and do whatever he wants now--who is going to stop him from being a brat if that's what he feels like doing?)

But on to Acheron... Yes, I do think there are a lot of parallels between Acheron and Aventurine (came from a doomed people, lost everyone, both determined to hold out against nihility and live just for the sake of living, "blessed" by aeons), but I think narratively speaking, the story puts Acheron in a different position when her tale entangles with Aventurine's: the surrogate big sister role.

Acheron's a very good parallel to Aventurine's sister in numerous ways: First, she essentially sacrificed herself to defeat the evil threatening her people, but is ultimately unsuccessful, resulting in the permanent loss of all she knew.

This loss also resulted in Aventurine's sister actually dying, while Raiden Mei experienced a symbolic death, taking on the name "Acheron" to evoke the Underworld, getting a ghostly, bleached white form, and prowling the river of nihility like a wandering spirit of the dead.

Second, the philosophy Acheron espouses is nearly identical to Aventurine's sister. When even as a child Kakavasha was doubting the value and meaning of life, his sister was the one constantly reaffirming that life has meaning, despite its hardships, and that continuing to exist is the way to honor those who have sacrificed for you. Just as Aventurine's sister expresses that people must hold on to faith, Acheron reminds everyone she encounters to cling to the last bit of color and light in their lives.

This ends up being echoed by the role of guidance that she plays for Aventurine, with him both directly relying on her for his continued survival:

And turning to her in his moment of greatest emotional need:

(Sound familiar? It should. This is the exact same question Kakavasha once asked his sister.)

But there's also a very, very nice visual parallel that goes on with Acheron and Aventurine's sister: the dusk rain that accompanies her.

For Aventurine, the rain has complicated emotional connotations. For the Avgin, it was desperately needed, life-giving water, and thus was considered a direct blessing from Gaiathra. Rain on Aventurine's birthday was the sign of his being favored by the aeon, and yet it also rained on the day he lost everything and had to flee from the only home he had ever known (conveniently also his birthday, dude this guy's life sucks).

Meanwhile, the rain for Acheron is equally complex--rain can bring life, the renewal of barren, lifeless lands... But we also see the rain accompany Acheron through her worst loss, the final collapse of her planet:

It also is said to rain constantly within the shadow of nihility, a lightless gray that washes away all that people wish to cling to.

For both Acheron and Aventurine's sister, the rain accompanies the end of their "lives," the backdrop to their ultimate sacrifices.

Yet it is also in the rain that they both send Aventurine onward, escaping from the cage of his destiny into a "better" life. From beneath the shadow of the storm, they both bid him to go and not turn back, freeing him and permanently changing the course of his life.

The rain that took everything from both Aventurine's sister and Acheron is ultimately what saves him.

It's all a very tidy and well-written parallel.

[thefallenangelsgang]

I'm losing my fucking mind

Or: I just saw Lord of the Rings the Musical at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and my brain chemistry has irreversibly changed

I'm too genuinely scrambled at the moment from travel to make a solid post (I am multiple states away from Illinois and I hate city driving) but I cannot shake the life-changing experience that was.

SPOILERS AHEAD

(Spoiler free tldr: story is changed sometimes severely to make a sub-3hr runtime or to simplify, but the message doesn't get completely lost. Tolkien fan approved)

First issue I can see everyone having is how much the story changes because it does change a lot. Rohan and Gondor being merged is probably the most glaring. I think it works because the show is more focused on the Hobbits (specifically Frodo and Sam). Personally I can look past it. My one issue is the missing Sam monologues (mount doom is a rather swift sequence, I'd have liked to see Sam give his devotion speech and his speech about the shire while waiting to die) those would have made insane songs but alas. The ending still was a gut punch though so it's more a personal preference thing.

First thing that blew me away was the technical aspect. The lighting and set design was GORGEOUS and EVOCATIVE. There were multiple times lighting alone drew me to tears.

The puppetry is immaculate. The nazgul chase is singularly some of the most beautiful choreo I've seen and I'm a slut for puppetry

The cast play all of the instruments live on stage, sometimes while doing choreography (nothing will prepare you to see Legolas holding a fucking trumpet or Boromir strapped into a goddamn accordion)

The costuming is more accurate to the original editions' illustrations which I found endlessly charming. One difference is, for safety (probably OSHA), all the hobbits (and Gollum) wear Sandals. This is never discussed. I love that.

BOROMIR IS KILLED BY HIS OWN SWORD WHICH I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW PERFECT THAT IS NARRATIVELY

GOLLUM PLAYED BY TONY BOZZUTO IS NEARLY INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM ANDY SERKIS

(I am not joking about this. Somehow he has mastered Andy's physicality and voice work. It truly was a sight to behold.)

Saruman/Elrond's actor (dressed as a hobbit) was hanging out in our section during preshow and was having a grand old time.

Bilbo and Frodo were in the main audience bothering people. Frodo was playing a stick and ring game and got absolutely shown up by some 10 year old he invited to play.

The Entmoot took literally 2 minutes (the way I had to stop from HOWLING at that)

I was SOBBING at the end, like actually.

Somehow this production managed to keenly make me feel the ending of Frodo leaving for the Grey Havens more than the movies did. The Irony of Frodo leaving being both a hopeful prayer that there is a place where people bound with trauma and wounds too deep to heal can live in peace without pain and also a grim acceptance that sometimes people cannot recover was STARK

Frodo and Sam really push the narrative of this show up until the end and it hits HARD. God bless this cast with steady work, they all deserve it.

[firethekitty]

my thesis

text if it's hard to read and some explanations under the cut:

vash & angel devil:

human-looking but not actually human

passively suicidal

wings

no body autonomy: forced to do things by humans and other devils/plants

hates killing

every time they’ve killed was against their will: angel devil has never gone out of his way to kill a human. vash intentionally kills only one person in the entire manga and he fucking hated it

passive aggressive and stubborn

inherently religious but don’t actually care about religion: they're both angels but they never show any interest or knowledge of religion (and actively show disdain for it at times)

technically immortal

black-haired women they loved dearly but inadvertently caused the deaths of

memory loss

don’t want to be as strong and deadly as they are

angel:

doesn’t bother masking

“hates all humans” but not actually (it’s complicated)

doomed by the narrative

vash:

masks constantly

“loves all humans” but not actually (it’s complicated)

the narrative’s favorite

wolfwood & aki:

doomed by the narrative

die young

smoke

childhood stolen from them: forced to grow up too fast

orphans

appear cold and distant but actually care way too much about everything

black hair

have no problem with killing (until they meet someone who changes their morals)

pretend to be cool but are actually losers

haunted by guns

blunt and rude, loners

their enemy(ies) become the only ones who they truly feel comfortable with: vash for wolfwood; denji, power, and angel for aki

by the time they realize they want to live, it’s already too late

aki:

modern-ish day japan: chainsaw man part 1 takes place during like the mid-90s, i'm not sure if that constitutes as "modern" anymore

horrible death: become the thing you once feared

not great with kids (but trying his best)

was never scared of angel

meaningless death: this does NOT mean his death shouldn't have happened!!! "meaningless" in the narrative sense; everything he did and worked towards was for nothing

wolfwood:

distant future on another planet

peaceful death

great with kids

scared of vash at first, but overtime came to trust him more than anyone else

meaningful death: he finished what he set out to do, which was always to save the orphanage. and he achieved this with vash's help (he knew vash would do anything he could to help after he died)

vashwood & akiangel:

doomed

change each other for the better

human x angel

narrative foils

[th3-c0ll3ct3r]

I love how all the winner of the life series could essentially be the main character of their own story.

AND I'M HERE TO EXPLAIN IT TOO YOU!

Grian, the obvious, the original, there in the series because of him they're going through death games because of him and he's the only one who remembers the first one and is the only one who remembers the initial reason why they're there.

He was not doomed by the narrative. He doomed everyone else in the narrative and he asked to watch them die over and over again it's his fault he is the Doom in the narrative.

He's like a psychopathic main character trying to make everything right but it's not working out

Scott, because if Grian isn't the main character then it's Scott.

He figured out what Grian what Grian was BEFORE THE OTHER EVO MEMBER DID-

He knew that something was fucked up and he went against the Boogeyman causing him to move down a placement every other game. To be infected with coral diseases, and give his soul mate intentionally mental harm so that they'd hurt themselves to spite him.

He does everything for his friends, even if they don't remember. He does what he can for his husband, even as he watches him fall for a man other then him everytime.

He's making SACRIFICES for Grian mistakes, making sure that the next winners dont wake up in a cruel soulless void like he did.

Pearl, waking up after winning only to find out that the man she'd been made to hate so much actually let her win, and let her know the truth, and it's her own BROTHER'S FAULT/BESTIES FAULT THAT SHE HAD TO ENDURE ALL THAT.

She's now left with thought of what happened after Evo, how she hated someone that care so deeply for her safety that he literally committed suicide, and how her brother/bestie betrayed her.

Martyn, has been dealing with the voices inside his head for ages now. It is recognised by the previous winners so Scott teams with him to set him free.

He is now left, the winner of a game that he never wanted to play, a broken man. What happened to Ren? What happened to Evo? WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M A LISTENER?!

It's Grian's fault that he has to deal with the voices in his head? Scott a man who cared for him so much he betrayed in an instant because of the voices he couldn't control? He'd Crawley thrown pearls to the side when it was clear she needed him most?

He has to now look Jimmy in the eyes, knowing what they are and who they used to be and continually failing to protect him, only spurred on by the fact that Scott never gave up on Jimmy too so why should he?

Scar, being the initial Collateral Damage to Grian's doings, once he wins he'll have to grapple with the fact and face his new reality. Like an ordinary man being hit with 10 to 15 trains.

He sacrificed himself in the first game for what he thought was his forever partner, his soul mate, only to be cheated on 2 games later? He was isolated and seen as a liability. You'd have to look pearl in the eyes and recognize their past actions of both torturing themselves and another.

The only man who had faith in him was Scott, allowing him to win that game but at what cost? Did he really have to know?

He's tired of not understanding... And the watchers will use his envy, hatred and raw confusion to there advantage, Grian's foil.

Cleo, seen as the underdog yet brash ally, she clawed her way to victory easily, within a day even.

She's immune to the Watchers effects, as you can see how the other winners were left poisoned.

Her friend Grian, the reason why she's here.

Scott, someone who tried to save her, by giving her knowledge.

Pearl, an evil to ally. An unwary friend.

Martyn, her soul mate and by technicality ex, driven into madness.

Scar, He's Scared he's anxious and he knows just as much as she does. He feels useless because others have treated him as such. Her own son, plagued with self-deprecating thoughts.

And the watchers taunt, as she has to put the piece back together of what they've broken. So that they can overcome and win.

[saintofdaggers]

thinking about a certain parallel between Hoffman and Strahm that makes me supremely unwell.

you can already read a lot into their dynamic as narrative foils or parallels, but nowhere is that more clear than in their trials. the fact that they're both tested with head traps is the most obvious surface reading, but those tests say so much about them as characters too. they are both punished for who they are and the choices their personalities have led them to. Strahm is placed in the water cube because he ignored the instructions he received to stay in a safe place: he needed the truth more than he needed safety and he almost died for it. Hoffman's test was planned a long time ago, but when it's administered it's clearly linked to his gratuitous brutality and his exploitation of the Jigsaw philosophy to dispense what he sees as justice (and my goodness, is there a lot to be said about his and Strahm's sense of justice and morality!!!).

and crucially, they both survive their traps in the strictly literal sense... but on a deeper level, they don't. both those head traps were technically unwinnable and they had to seriously injure themselves to escape from them. they live through their trials because they're such stubborn, resourceful bastards, but they come out of those traps damaged and changed for the worse. that damage (Strahm's unhinged drive to uncover the truth behind his trial and Hoffman's utter loss of humanity as he pursues revenge for his) is what leads them to make the choices that doom them in the end.

[kirchefuchs]

Ooh! My brain's building up a whole daydream off my last one! (Alternate timeline to the CCRP turning Tinky human...or perhaps even something to happen after he manages to get his powers as a Lord in Black restored.) It's also building off the ask someone gave you about them attempting to hurt Ted to get to Tinky.

So like...imagine they figure a way to forcibly summon Tinky and manage to stick him in a cell with like some demon binding type stuff. Ted wakes up to Tinky missing, goes looking for him, (perhaps even given clues on where to look by Tinky just barely able to send him visions that end up being just brief flashes at a time.) Eventually he finds the labs below the CCRP building and helps Tinky break out. But just as it looks like they're home free, Kilgore and his men attack, restraining Ted and giving Tinky an ultimatum: Use his powers to help them or Ted dies. (Quite possibly with him phrasing it like "Send me back in time to help Jenny" or something along the lines of stopping what happened to her or seeing her one last time.)

Seeing Ted held at gun point, Tinky is of course horrified. Then very quickly pissed.

"You really wanna go back that badly? Fine...I'll send you back. As many times as you need..."

So he sends Kilgore back. Just at the moment of Jenny's accidental death. Right when he's too late to stop it. And he's forced to relive it in a time loop over and over. That is Tinky's revenge. That...is what happens to the toys Tinky *doesn't* like.

He makes sure his remaining men know his fate. He did technically fulfill his end of their deal, and sufficiently terrified them at the same time. Meaning they really had no choice but to let them go. Lest they suffer the same fate.

So it ends up being that they both save eachother. (Though Tinky's score is definitely higher just cause of how many deaths Ted ends up getting close to. Also I love the thought of a good version of Tinky becoming a guardian for this 'doomed by the narrative' family.) Plus... you know Ted would see him go feral to protect him and think it hot as hell.

I love this I love this I love this!!! I would read the heck out of a fanfiction with this plot!! So obviously I sketched the confrontation at the end, though I pretty much just did doodles of Tinky's monolog cuz I wanted an excuse to draw him with long hair a lot :3

(I think it'd be interesting if this were post him regaining his powers, so that's how ccrp was able to capture him in the first place. He was still getting used to having them back)

Tinky shifting from feral goblin to precious cinnamon roll amuses me a lot :))

I don't really know what else to say except this was super fun to draw, and I will be thinking about this idea a lot, lol

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 1

Propaganda Under Cut

Megaera

She's the First of the Furies, which means she's in charge of punishing tormented souls in Hades. She is canonically the ex-girlfriend of the playable protagonist, Zagreus, and one of his three love interests he can romance in the game. Despite the fact that Megaera and Zagreus canonically had a very messy (but passionate) relationship prior to the events of the game, in fanworks she's often shoehorned into the role of wingwoman and/or Mean Lesbian (tm) in favor of the pairing up Zagreus with another of his love interests (the grumpy but affectionate Death Incarnate, Thanatos). The Thanatos/Zagreus pairing is massively more popular than any pairing featuring Megaera...despite the fact that in the game, Thanatos/Megaera/Zagreus is not only totally plausible, but entirely possible to achieve within canon. Literally, a throuple situation is achievable in game, and she still gets sidelined. Fanworks also have a tendency to paint the Megaera/Zagreus relationship as purely sexual and therefore not as "deep" or "romantic" as Thanatos/Zagreus, despite, again, plenty of in-game dialogue and events that indicate both Megaera and Thanatos have fallen in love with Zagreus on their own terms. Justice for Megaera.

she's one of two romanceable characters by the bi male protagonist and the other one is a man. people will write literal essays about the protag's relationship with his male love interest but she is reduced to "haha she pegs him. step on me" despite being an extremely interesting and multifaceted character in her own right. also people try to claim her ship is incest because in original greek myth she was the daughter of nyx who raised the protagonist and he believed she was his mother for a long time but their relationship was changed to be a boss/employee one in hades. and the protag's male love interest actually IS the biological child of the protag's foster mother but nobody wants to talk about that lmao....love you meg

There's so little fan content of her or the canon ot3 she's in because everyone just focuses on the 2 dudes 😔

Meryl Stryfe

Specifically in the 1998 anime she was made to be the love interest to the protagonist, Vash the Stampede. However, upon the introduction of the morally questionable gun-for-hire traveling priest Nicholas D. Wolfwood, few people have must interest in letting such a heteronormative pairing slide. Meryl is pushed on Vash, and Wolfwood is pushed on Meryl's coworker and best friend Milly Thompson, and that simply won't DO. Meryl is often depicted as bitchy and uptight, or on the flip side used as a wingwoman to nudge the two boys together. Fortunately they are not too unkind and will pair her with her partner Milly rather than writing her off completely, but it's hard to say she's as beloved as the true tragic and doomed-by-the-narrative romance of the story.

fandom loves to either act like she doesnt exist or make her the wingman friend

She’s sooo spunky and actually isn’t technically even a romantic interest of the male lead in the manga so it’s dumb how ignored she always is. She’s committed to her job, she loves danger, and she has ten billion guns on her at all times

[thevelaryons]

Is there any credence to the Jacaera affair rumour? Would Jace Velaryon be the sort to have an affair with his fellow bastard Sara Snow?

So I have a twofold (technically threefold) answer to this. Is there credence to the rumour? Yes (but also no). Would Jace have an affair? No.

The rumour itself is clearly GRRM going wink wink nudge nudge to his readers with the whole "doomed prince of Dragonstone has an affair with a wild wolf girl". It's one of the biggest hints towards the Rhaegar/Lyanna relationship, which has been referred to as the central mystery of the series in regards to Jon Snow's parentage. Jace and Rhaegar's character can be compared in really interesting ways with the rumoured affair being one of them. That's obviously the main reason but there are other functions of the rumour as well because of the comparisons that can be drawn between Jace and his narrative counterpart, Robb Stark, from the main series or even to the actions of other bastards in the story.

So the importance of the affair exists for the overall narrative/themes. HOWEVER, in-universe, there are several points against this rumour:

The rumour was created by Mushroom who was not in Winterfell but half a continent away. He is known for coming up with nonsensical rumours just because he can.

The Pact of Ice and Fire was made to achieve a marriage between Jace's future daughter and Cregan's son, to cement an alliance between Targaryen and Stark. But if Jace married Sara, then there is no purpose to this pact.

If Jace bedded Sara, then why would a man as strict about honor as Cregan is, tolerate him. If Jace married Sara, then why would Cregan hold a fondness for someone who breaks his betrothal/oath that had previously been upheld for many years.

In the likelihood that Sara did exist and if Jace happened to fall in love with her, he would not do anything about it. He would keep those feelings to himself and never speak a word of it to anyone. Which of course would provide its own interesting examination of his character.

Jace is simply not selfish enough to have an affair. Because that's what something like that truly entails: putting your own feelings/affections first ahead of everything else. From the very beginning, Jace is presented as someone who is acting in favour of the people around him and never for his own sake. Even his death shows his self-sacrificing nature when he flies directly into enemy lines in a desperate attempt to find & save his little brother. His nature is to prioritize others, always before himself. Breaking the betrothal to Baela would be insulting to her and cause a problem (both political and personal) within his family.

In the context of the show, this remains true as well. There's a scene in episode 7 during the funeral where Jace says something like "I'm entitled to sympathy too" and Rhaenyra basically shuts him down and tells him to think about others. So he's being raised to think a certain way from a very young age. This mindset wouldn't suddenly change once the war gets underway.

Obviously the subject of his bastardy plays a key part here. Jace, unlike for example, his fathers or grandfathers, does not have the privilege to act as he pleases. He has to hold himself to a more stricter standard and for someone in his position, even the idea of having an affair would be unthinkable.

[scarlet--wiccan]

Do you consider Vision a bad husband for Scarlet Witch? Could one say that their relationship was doomed from the start?

And while breaking the pairing up is one thing, do you think Byrne rewriting the Twins as Figments of Wanda's Imagination and making her mentally unstable in the proccess was too cruel to Wanda?

No and no, to the first two questions. Wanda and Vision were great together. They had to overcome a lot of adversity to build a home, a life, and a family together, but those challenges did not come from within their relationship-- it was mostly other people's prejudices and the inherent struggle of life as a superhero. And they succeeded-- they got their happy ending, and it's a really special story to me. Things only took a turn for the worse because of A) editorial and authorial intervention; and B) outside forces manipulating and violating them both. If Vision hadn't been made to lose his identity and emotions, they probably would have stayed together.

Do I think Wanda's treatment in Avengers West Coast was cruel, and in many ways, kinda sexist? Yes, absolutely. They really went out of their way to lay both her and Vision very low, and I think it's sad and disappointing that these characters weren't allowed to maintain their happiness. But if I'm being honest, Wanda's poor treatment in the 80s pales in comparison to how she was treated in the 2000s. She was given the opportunity to fight for and reclaim her agency, and she came out the other end with both her dignity and moral integrity intact. The narrative, ultimately sympathizes with Wanda-- she's a victim and a hero. And while the stuff with the babies was technically a retcon, the story at least tries to justify it and actually build on top of Wanda's established lore.

House of M does the opposite-- she's treated as a monster. The text identifies her as a victim of circumstance, if nothing else, and robs her of any agency, but it also condemns her for it. Through the actions of every other character, it encourages the reader to hate Wanda for having a mental breakdown resulting from a lifetime of trauma and powers she didn't ask to be born with-- poisoning popular perception and frankly encouraging ableism & racism amongst readers and critics for years following. And it totally throws continuity out the window!

So, yeah, Byrne treated Wanda poorly, but I kind of have a hard time getting mad about it. It didn't do lasting damage. In hindsight, it feels like a grim, but necessary chapter in her history-- neither she nor her powers would be what they are now without it, and we'd probably never get Billy and Tommy as they are now, either.

[blood-injections]

Saw killjoy au infodump post!! Its danger days but my special little bloody guy is there! When I eventually write it it'll be centered around Adam and it mmmight be chainshipping I'm still deciding.

So the bathroom trap. still happens. adam lives in battery city and to make ends meet he takes pictures of people for people, doesnt matter who, he doesn't ask questions. He's taken jobs from better living to follow suspected rebels and hes taken jobs from rebels to follow some high-profile better living person to get more information on them before they take them out. He stays just off the rader and keeps himself just barely useful or not suspicious enough as to not be put into scarecrow training or something. Because he doesn't like better living, but he has to make ends meet. Jigsaw picks him because he thinks hes pathetic and hates how he doesn't pick a side, his tape says how he doesn't take his pills but he cant even bother fighting for anything. he could do anything with his free will and he chooses to throw his life away and this pisses jigsaw off. so will adam watch himself die, throw his life away once and for all, or will he finally use his free will to fight for something? Because in this au jigsaws motive of teaching people to value life comes from being under better livings control instead of having cancer, because better living is a cancer, really. so yeah jigsaw and co. are technically killjoys lol.

Lawrence is still in the trap too. hes a scarecrow who has stopped taking his pills and is becoming aware of his actions for the first time ever as well as coming to to a family, to a wife he cant remember falling in love with, they were probably set up by the city. He has a family, he has a kid, but its all been fake, does he even love them? can he? and hes haunted by the blood on his hands but he wasn't into control he cant really be a murderer if he wasn't in control, right? right. jigsaw even agrees. but hes also a sick bastard with a grudge against better living so he doesn't care. maybe Lawrence wasn't a murderer, not really, but now he will be. by the end if the day there will be blood on his hands that he can no longer deny or write off as someones elses actions. because to jigsaw it doesn't matter who was in control, lawrence still pulled the trigger. No matter what lawrence does, if he kills adam or not, there will still be deaths on his conscience, because he needs to learn a lesson, how it feels, how to be scared. he kills adam and his family will be spared. Don't kill adam? its his family that will die instead. but how can he choose? two people or one. two he thinks he loves, hes supposed to, but he hardly knows them, or one person that he might be falling in love with the more that adam begs for him to stay.

in the end he doesn't have to choose(well. not completely. the shoulder bullet prob still happens lol) and they both make it out because fuck you. also just so you know, in this au jigsaw is Dr Benzedrine and the apprentices are the suitehearts and that will absolutely come into play down the line with a possible frankenghoul cameo, the franken bit the result of being a victim of a trap of his own.

anyway adam, after nearly dying, after realizing he wants to fucking live, has never had plans before but now hes like fuck it, im getting out of here, im getting out of this freaky city with creeps like jigsaw apparently running around. he isnt taking any more chances. So he gets out, he becomes a killjoy. and theres the whole trauma bonding thing so he probably takes lawrence(who is still struggling with the am i a murderer or not thing and thinks he doesn't deserve this second chance. he'll accept it eventually) with him. i dont have any of lawrence's killjoy thought out yet i'll come up with some stuff later it also probably depends on if i decide its chainshipping and if hes even out there or not like i might just fucking adam stanheight final girl it like fuck it he wasn't doomed by the narrative his hacksaw didnt break or he found another way out of his chains and the roles are reversed or maybe he even fucking killed lawrence before lawrence could kill him who knows, i dont lol. theres so many possibilities.

anyway adam stanheight killjoy. his name Hacksaw Jagger(working title) because hacksaw. you know. and jagger because a jagger is another term for a vouyer and i think thats clever. also adam could be a fan of the rolling stones and hed be like lol reference. but yeah, Hacksaw Jagger. depending on how things went in the bathroom he may or may not have a prosthetic leg. he dyes his hair at some point and to me personally. its the worst brassiest ugliest bleached tips youve ever fucking seen and probably like little liberty spikes at some point because. punk adam as well. you agree. anyway he looks pathetic and i love him. he definitely gets into racing at some point and also learns he has a thing for arson and explosives. so yknow. hacksaw+fun ghoul besties at first boom at some point. i also think it'd be fun if he joined/started a band but thats a conversation for another day maybe another au.

anyway thats it for now. also yes, i absolutely fuck with his gender. you're welcome.

[end0parasitic]

What are your headcanons for, let’s say…. Cynte, Pravi, Karis, and Luce? (U can add more characters or not answer for one/some of them if you’d like)

Just general headcanons bc i can’t think of specific kinds lmao

i am honestly bad at headcanons lol, most of them r solely visual. but! i definitely have some for all of these characters (and a bonus one!)

cynte: first of all insomniac, that’s a headcanon a lot of people seem to share. i feel like it flared up after karis left him, following a period of almost constant sleep and being withdrawn. i once saw a headcanon of him having heterochromia, and i think that it has potential. also, i like to think that he has a few cybernetic modifications, maybe as a religious thing like eve (the protagonist of wrought flesh). oh, also a strict upbringing! if not at least a very stressful one. i do not think that he was pressured to succeed, but i do think that he desperately wanted to escape something and already grew up in a very religious environment that prioritized success through intelligence and hard work.

praví: my boy has a very small role in game, so i think he’s mostly headcanon for me lol. i had a few back in the day, like he had a major sweet tooth. knit sweaters was also one (still like this one). one specific to me i think was that he used to take q-melanin (thing in wrought flesh that the villagers take cuz it allows them to photosynthesize) when he was child and used to live on a majorly desert planet as a poor colonist. also i like the idea that he’s very technically smart but can’t solve puzzles (projecting lol), while cynte can do both if a little forgetful of some advanced things and protocol. i like the idea of him not having a god/goddess he’s devoted to.

luce: first of all, surrounded by butterfly imagery since this post lives in my head rent free. i drew this luce on a whim and this is honestly how i see her in my head, this might be my fav design of her i’ve ever done even though it’s pretty simple. i like to think that in her childhood, she was seen as kind of a bad omen by the people around her, if a very kind one. like a lot of bad stuff happened around her, and she seemed to be at the center of it, but she really was just a kind person trying her best. the isolation and constant suspicion and harshness got to her and it all culminated in the parasites taking notice of her. doomed by the narrative vibes. also, i think she’s very familiar with tools from computers to scalpels to guns.

karis: oh this man has been hurt before. i wouldn’t be surprised if he had a long term relationship with someone a lot more wild and magnetic than he was and then got his heart ripped out by them, and then moved on to cynte, and then left him too. i get the vibe that he was born on a very carefree planet, a metropolis with a good government, and the people were generally very wild and hedonistic, but he never was. only drinks socially, never smokes. he was definitely a lot kinder to luce than praví and cynte were, maybe they were friends. i think of him as not only smart enough to be a scientist, but also smart enough to know how to talk his way into things, whereas cynte gets by on sheer devotion.

eve (my nickname for the protagonist of wrought flesh): i think her cult generally goes by burn bright and fast, meaning they tank all of the damage they get and die young and gloriously, and that’s what she’s primed to do. i like to think she’s very accomplished and already kind of ascended to hero status, but not truly godlike. she’s looking for something that has been watching her like the way you watch a bug crawl too close and move to shove it away. she’s like an ideal warrior cultist.

in conclusion: i’m normal abt them. trust me bro.

[dragonfly0808]

Why Stormy?

SPOILERS FOR A MAJOR PLOT POINT IN SEASON 3

The first of a few posts explaining some of my fave/most iconic moments in the series so far, some of you may wonder, why was it Stormy that died? Especially since some may believe Darcy might’ve been the ‘better’ option.

First off I will admit, I did pull a red herring with Darcy with a few conversations she has in s3 about maybe leaving and in general her always having been the ‘lesser evil’ of the Trix.

This wasn’t a straight up red herring but I did want to set up Darcy as the most regretful of the three, the one who’s willing to keep going as long as the witches stay together. Once Stormy dies, the three are no longer together and Darcy finally refuses to keep going, seeing that the path Icy is on will only end in Darcy being on her own.

Now, as for why it was Stormy, I knew the ends of each Trix when I was like, a fourth into season 2. I knew one would die, one would be driven mad and the last one would return to Light Rock, utterly defeated and alone.

I debated with myself on whether it should be Stormy or Darcy to die, but in the end, I chose Stormy due to the thought of escalation and liking the idea of Stormy’s rage being her undoing.

Stormy is the one without a proper ‘origin story’, she was loved, she grew up privileged and had the opportunity to chose whatever she wanted to do with her life. However, from a young age, Stormy has an inexplicable rage in her very soul.

I love my morally gray villains/antiheroes, but I also love when villains are just… evil, no real explanation. That’s Stormy, she just craved power and chaos, her mom saw that and, from very early on, tried to help Stormy, get her into therapy, keep her away from anything that might trigger that deep-rooted rage that she didn’t know how to keep at bay.

Stormy’s doom is that rage and impulsivity, she goes too far, starts a curse that she can’t truly control and the curse starts turning against her, which leads to Musa having to bring the building down, killing them both in the process, but only one of them comes back.

I thought of this as, almost a bit of a self-fullfiling prophecy, even if the term doesn’t fully apply here technically speaking. Because Stormy has every chance to not be this, to turn back, to stop. She has resources and help from a young age, she shows that she’s willing to let Darcy go, but she herself cannot let go of that hunger, even knowing that it’s not very reasonable.

In the end, there as no real reason for Stormy to die, she knew how dangerous the curse she attempted was, she wasn’t supposed to even be there. And, even being there, she wasn’t supposed to initiate a curse, only take it. But no, she makes bad choice after bad choice and it leads to her death.

It felt appropriate for her. And, I won’t lie, I did consider having Stormy’s rage wind up causing Darcy’s death but the story would have been VERY different that way and it just didn’t fit for the story narrative (it would’ve been a beautiful, tragic narrative for the Trix, but they’re not the main characters so they weren’t the ones I wanted to explore in such a deeply traumatic way)

So, I chose Stormy to be the one to kick the bucket as a way of showing a self-fullfiling prophecy ala Haunting of Hill House, all along, she would be the cause of her own death and she had no idea.

[krikeymate]

I feel like all my anonymous requests are really depressing cause I’m just a lil angst goblin.

I was reading a fic where Sam was getting beat up cause if the rumours about her and I was thinking about how the deaths of the Bailey family would play into that conspiracist narrative. I was especially thinking about ethan’s death I mean even if you just look at the scream fandom there are pages and pages on Ethan who really didn’t have that much of an impact but…SHOCKER, he’s white, male and conventionally attractive so it’s literally impossible to escape him (no hate or anything but cmon fandom let the other characters shine) anyways I got so side tracked there. I can imagine Ethan being really glorified and fawned over by people in the scream universe itself in was way that actual serial killers were because people thought they were attractive (ew). Upon hearing that Tara was the one to kill ethan (i know it was technically Kirby but they did it together) I think the conspiracists would go insane and can you imagine a scene where Tara and Sam are just walking together before they both get jumped but Tara is the target of this attack and Sam is just held down unable to do anything while she has to watch tara get brutally attacked.

Well, Tara is my whump blorbo. There's a place for angst in our lives, because it's not about the pain at all, it's about the aftermath. It's about the being picked up, and the softness and the love and the support. It's about being reminded that no matter what we go through, there is a brighter side to be found and there are people who will help you reach it and sit in the sun with you. Anyway, none of that here.

~

Ethan Landry. Sweet, dorky, Ethan. He couldn't find his way out of a wet paper bag, people say. Soft, and shy, and smiled awkwardly at girls. Always nervous, but tried his best. Murdered. They tried to say he attacked them, that he wanted to kill them, that he was a savage monster. Who would fall for such a lie? He didn't even like horror movies, he was shaky around blood.

Samantha Carpenter is to blame, they know. It's heavily debated as to whether she attacked her sister last year, or whether it was simply a home invasion and she took the opportunity to make it something more, to sate her blood lust. But Richie was innocent, they all agree on that. A wonderful man who was guilty only of loving the wrong woman. That poor teenager, the best friend of her sister's... well of course Samantha decided she had to go, she wanted her sister to herself.

And it works! Because here they are, a year later, and it's the sister who does the deed, who thrusts the knife into Ethan's mouth, who twists it, slices it open. He'd had a crush on her, sources say. She used it to lead him to his doom. It was deliberate, pre-planned, it had to have been. Why else would he follow her there? Tara Carpenter may have been innocent, once upon a time, but not anymore. She's spent too long in her sister's clutches, corrupted, ruined. Just look at how passionately she defends her, as if she were innocent, as if the truth wasn't out there.

We should help her, some say, get her away from her sister, imagine what she could tell us, what she could reveal! She needs to pay, say others, she's just as guilty as her sister, it's too late for her.

No one agrees on how to stop this madness.

~

Sam's walking Tara home from her evening class. It feels a little surreal. A month ago, Tara would never have agreed to this, Sam had been desperate to do this. And here they are, Sam's hand attached to her sister's as Tara waves it around in the air, complaining about the professor. (She's not sure what she's talking about, but she's just happy to see Tara this animated).

They're turning the corner when they bump into someone... someone's. There's a couple of guys in hoodies, with surgical masks on their face. "Oops, sorry!" Tara smiles up at them, pulling Sam to move around them. They step back into her path, and Sam begins to feel nervous. Tara's hand tightening around hers tells her she feels the same.

Sam steps backwards, but before she has a chance to speak, arms wrap around her from behind and she's yanked away from Tara, as her sister is shoved to the floor.

"Hey what the fu-" Sam manages, before a hand is covering her mouth, jaw wrenched closed as her head is forced backwards against someone's chest. More arms appear to grip at her own and hold her back.

Tara is thrown to the floor, and a boot kicks out at her arm, stepping on her wrist as she tries to reach into her pocket. The figure looming over her bends down to reach into her jacket, and pulls out the taser she was reaching for. Scoffing, he hands it to one of his companions.

"What did we ever do to you," she growls, breathing deep to push down her fear. "It's not what you did to us," he says with conviction, "it's what you've done to others. What you'll do again!"

Sam kicks out and tries to speak, understanding setting in. Someone punches her in the stomach.

"We haven't done anything!" Tara yells, watching her sister get hurt. She tries to get up off the floor only to be kicked down again with a boot to the chest. "Just leave us alone!"

"But you have!" The one holding Sam shouts. "You killed Ethan! She-" he shakes Sam, "killed Richie and all those others." "They were innocent and you killed them," another pipes up. A chorus of agreement follows, and for the first time, the girls begin to notice just how many people are surrounding them. 6... 7, no, there's more further back, hiding in the shadows... watching. Some of them have their phones out, recording.

"You're going to pay for what you've done," the one looming over Tara declares.

"It was self-de-" he kicks her in the jaw, her head snapping to the side and smacking back against the pavement. He pulls her up from the floor, hands fisting her jacket and slams her back into anothers waiting arms.

Sam struggles against the numerous arms holding her back, unable to move. Her head is pinned, her jaw is clamped shut, tears begin to fall.

The ringleader leans in close to Tara's face, eyes meeting her dazed ones. "Your sister seems upset. Is it real, or just another act? Is she even capable of caring? I mean, she wanted you for a reason, right?"

"Fuck you," Tara snarls back. He grins, rewarding her with a backhand. "It doesn't have to be this way, Tara," he speaks, voice softening in faux-compassion. He cups her chin. "Just tell us the truth, tell everyone what she did, what she made you do, and it can all be over.

"She didn't make me do anything!"

"So you admit it, you killed Ethan in cold blood?" His voice is frantic, delighted.

"Ethan was a sadistic little fuck who got what he deserved." Tara finds herself thrown back to the floor. "He was a nice boy who never hurt anyone!" the one who threw her shouts, kicking her.

Tired of Sam's struggling, the one holding the taser moves closer, releasing it into her stomach. She groans, body twitching. Her legs give way beneath her, held up only by the formless figures clutching at her. They drop her to the floor and a boot presses down on her back. Sam is stuck, unable to convince her body to move, prongs digging in painfully from their place stuck between her skin and the pavement. She can do nothing but watch as the two figures assault her sister, kicking her, watching them pull her onto her back to hurt her some more.

"Stop, please, please stop," Sam begs. She's ignored.

It's only the sirens closing in that make it stop, dark figures scattering. She manages to drag herself forward, limbs slow to respond and shaky. "Tara," she cries. Her sister doesn't respond, still and bleeding.