#and the ending is 'i'm the director :)' i'm insane they made me insane what the shit.

[forcebookish]

wrote that new topmew fic very quickly and now i'm not really happy with it (there's an inaccuracy that i don't actually want to get rid of dfslkdjf) but now i don't know what to work on >:(

[conflictofthemind]

Churchgate: The Dear Billy Connection

If you missed it somehow, here's the original Churchgate post. Heads up I'm going to be re-sharing a few other people's ideas here but they will all be tagged of course.

First, let me share the last of the information I've gotten since that post. The only exclusive stuff I have is that I spoke to someone who confirmed Noah is filming in Atlanta the entirety of next week when the Church set is also filming. I talk to this person occasionally and they are very reliable.

The crux of Churchgate is that Will is going to be possessed, though I'm also down for a Vecna'ing, and Mike will be the one to snap him out of it. This is very similar to what happened to Max in the episode 'Dear Billy'. And well it turns out that that episode has insane foreshadowing for Churchgate.

DEAR BILLY:

If you remember, there was a weird easter egg where the OST when Max reads out her letter to Billy is actually named "Dear Willy". The connection to Churchgate might just be the reason behind that. Let me refer to a community post made by my friend @greenfiend who was just talking about this today.

If the church scene is a confessional, Mike might finally have to share the full truth he was talking about holding back in this scene. So will Will.

2. Mentioned in the post but both scenes would be taking place in, or right next to, a graveyard.

3. A crane has appeared on the set of the church. To perform the Max levitating stunt in Dear Billy, they used a similarly large crane to hoist her up in the air. This is the only other time they've used a crane like this to film a ST scene. Remember Sadie also wore contacts and rehearsed prior in studio to film this scene, just like what's happening with Churchgate.

4. Dear Billy introduces the idea of a demon "Spawn of Satan" haunting the Creel family. This ends up being Henry, or rather possessed!Henry (in TFS it is revealed he has been under the influence of the mindflayer just like Will).

5. Dear Billy has Hopper escape the Russian Gulag into the sanctuary of a Church where he eventually reunites with Joyce.

And finally:

6. Dear Billy is the episode famously directed by Shawn Levy, director of Season 5 Episode 6, who has hinted / told us he is directing an angsty Byler scene, and is currently on set possibly for the church.

[obsessivelyloved]

This was requested on one of my nsfw blogs but I went insane and made it 3,000 words long. So I can post most of it here lol. Just know that in my heart, this takes place in Arkham. Also I'm super rusty so I apologize if anything feels off/wonky. The ending is abrupt here bc the rest of it/the ending is nsfw. I was up til 5am writing this and I'm not writing a sfw ending for this blog until after i get more sleep.

Anon asks: I’m a big sucker for Psych Au fics. Reader is a cis female doctor who treats Tord with kindness. He becomes obsessed with her. Refuses to talk to any other doctor. Tord is always on his best behavior for her which leads her to let her guard down. BIG MISTAKE

___________________________________________________________

“You dropped this.” 

The man stares at you wide eyed as you hand him his lighter. He stands, rigid. You give him a gentle smile and press it into his palm, your other hand curling around the back of his hand. 

“I know there’s no fluid in it, so you don’t have to worry about me taking it,” you say to him. You pat his hand and step away.

The man turns fully towards you and you’re able to read the name sewed onto his shirt. 

“I-” the man- Tord- swallows hard. He quickly pockets the lighter. “Thank you.” 

You give him another smile and walk past him. He seemed to be going the same way as you but he never caught up. Nor did you hear footsteps behind you. Once you reach the director’s office, he leaves your thoughts. You were determined to make a good first impression on your first day of the job. 

The man you met earlier had turned out to be your first patient. And oh boy, what a patient he was. Like you had promised yourself you weren’t going to judge any of these people but god damn. His file was thick. At least twenty papers were inside the manilla folder you had received from the head director’s office. Maybe even more. 

You’d never know if you kept standing outside the director’s office gawking at it. You take a deep breath. Going through it sitting down was probably a good idea. As you make your way to the breakroom, your grip on the folder is tight, trying your best to make sure you don’t drop it and reveal your patient's file. 

Thankfully, it doesn’t take you long to get to the breakroom. A few people were there but they paid you no mind. They sit, hunched over lunch or their own files. You sit and start to read. 

Løvik Tord

3 7 2 5 9

DOB: 1995

Age: 28

Hair: Dark brown with lighter brown roots

Eye: Silver

You end up skimming through this until you get to the bottom of the page. It wasn’t… pretty. 

CASE INFORMATION: 

Tord is a violent man. He is aggressive, manipulative, and has a short temper. Many doctors have tried working with him to no avail. He does not respond kindly to Dr.Casey (see page 5), Dr.Bonnie (see page 8), Dr.Roxy (see page 12), or Dr.Harley (see page 15). 

He is extremely aggressive towards Dr. Bruce (see page 20). 

You stop reading there, your chest feeling tight. You flip to page twenty. It’s not the last page like you had hoped. There were still…. Quite a bit in the file. 

Dr.Bruce has tried everything he can to help Tord. He has tried finding common ground with the patient. Has tried being lax and strict with Tord’s schedule. Has tried working with Tord and letting him sit outside. Tord had found every loophole and burned every bridge until Dr.Bruce stopped lenient treatments. Tord stabbed Dr.Bruce fifteen times before guards made their way into the room. 

It is unknown how and where he had gotten his hands on a sharp long blade. Tord was seen licking the blood of-

“Don’t worry if you can’t fix him. At this point, Doctor Markman hands his case off to fresh blood to showcase this place. No one expects you to be able to tame him.” 

You startle at the voice, goosebumps raised on your arms. “I’m sorry?” you ask with a polite smile. Anger clouded your fear. What the hell was this person talking about?

The doctor, Alice, her name tag reads, smiles at you. 

“Nearly everyone has tried working with him at this point,” she continues. “No one expects him to ever get better. He's here for murder, after all.” 

You give her a tight smile in return. “I’ll just have to see for myself.” 

Before she can keep going, you straighten up the papers and close the folder. 

“I appreciate the advice, but I must be going now,” you lie through your teeth. What bullshit! What kind of doctors run this place? 

You actually hadn’t needed to be anywhere for another thirty minutes but if this conversation continued you wouldn’t be able to hold your tongue. Everyone can be saved. With compassion and kindness and help, no one was beyond redemption. Or too far gone for help. 

You storm out of the breakroom and wander. 

“I was hoping I’d see you again.” 

Tord grins at you as he’s escorted in. His hands are cuffed and before he can sit down, the guard pats him down. 

It makes your stomach churn but you keep your face kind. 

“It’s nice to see you too,” you greet. You watch cautiously as he sits down in the plush chair. The guard leaves the room. 

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

It’s silent enough to hear the clock as the two of you study each other. He seems to drink you in, eyes wandering up and down, seeming to take in everything. You’d do the same if you weren’t a professional. 

“You used to dye your hair?” 

Tord raises an eyebrow. He tilts his head a little, eyes focused solely on you. It unnerves you almost as much as his file had. No patient of yours had ever stared at you so intensely in the past….

After a moment, he answers. “Yes. I fancied black quite a bit.” He gestures towards his roots. “It’s been a while since Bruce got me more dye. No one else will.” 

“I could look into it,” you clasp your hands, jumping into this opportunity. “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll talk to Doctor Marksman.” 

“And what do you want from me in return?”

“I’m sorry?” 

His gaze hardens. “What. do. You. want.” He grinds out, his body rigid in the chair. His hands were clenched.

Without thinking, puzzlement falls across your face. What did he mean? What did you want? For him to get better, obviously. 

“I want you to be at ease with your mental health,” you answer, still looking puzzled. “I don’t want anything else from this job but that. I’m not dangling hair dye in front of you in exchange. I want you to feel comfortable in your skin and at home here, Mr.Løvik.” 

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. 

“Is that really what you want?” Tord asks, an emotion you can’t quite place in his voice. “To help me get better?” 

Whatever it may be, you smile at him. 

“Of course. I want nothing but to see you succeed and be happy here.” 

Things were easier after that first session. You always started off kindly, asking Tord how his day was going. If his favorite show or movie had aired on the television today.If his favorite food had been served that morning or afternoon. If he slept fine through the dreadful storm. 

(“I know I wasn’t,” you had laughed. “I tossed and turned, jumping at each sound all night.”

“I’m sure your boyfriend was quite displeased.”

“Oh,” you chuckle. “Well, no. I have a cat but no boyfriend. I was too busy getting my decree to ever really mingle like that. Though, my poor little man was also distraught at all the thunder last night. He yowled at my door until I let him into my room and he curled up on my bed. I’ll bring pictures next time.”) 

Too well for you and only you. Tord refused to talk to anyone but you. He would sit in silence or insult other doctors during his sessions. In one instance, he broke a new doctor’s nose. The poor guy had quit on the spot, cussing Tord and the whole place out as he was escorted to the medical section. 

You were tense the next few sessions but that violent man was nowhere to be found. He kept his cuffed hands right in front where you can see them at all times. He never lunged from you. In fact, barely ever moved in his chair. 

Tord was easygoing. Polite, charming, even. He took any medications he needed obediently and put up no fuss when you’d have him describe in later sessions how he was feeling and if he was feeling any negative side effects. 

He asked about your cat. About how your favorite show was going. If the movie you were looking forward to has come out yet. If your favorite restaurant down the street from your apartment was still closed for renovations. 

Eventually, enough time had passed that you relaxed. You stopped keeping your eyes trained on his hands. You stopped worrying yourself sick about his body language. You focused on his treatments and his mental health. 

If he was going to hurt me he would have done so by now, you thought to yourself after your latest session with Tord. He was doing so much better than he had been doing six months ago. It seemed as if you were really making a difference, helping him improve. 

It had been three months since he last fought another patient. Two months since he assaulted another doctor. And five months since he refused treatment of any kind. 

You step outside the building and take a deep breath. A dopey smile sticks to your face as you walk to your car. Becoming a doctor was the best choice you’ve ever made. Nothing was more rewarding than helping people. Not even this cloudy weather could bring you down. 

In fact, nothing tried to drag your mood down. There was no traffic on the way home. Some asshole hadn’t parked in your assigned parking spot again in the parking lot of your apartment. And your sweet cat hadn’t knocked his little box over again. 

You happily reheat your leftovers and watch tv for a while before you get ready for bed. Unfortunately, your mood does come crashing down. 

In the middle of the night, thunder wakes you. You jolt up, scrambling for your phone. Your hands come up empty. Shit, you think. I left it charging in the kitchen. Ugh. Oh well, you don’t need to look at your phone to see it is late and storming. 

Another loud sound booms through your apartment. Only this time, it sounds like a crash. 

“It’s just thunder,” you tell yourself. “Nothing to be afraid of.” You lay back down. Your eyes shut and you’re just about drifting to sleep when your door creeks open. 

You bolt up, knowing damn well that your cat can’t open doors and you freeze. 

Your heart races as your mind tries to process just who was in front of you. 

“Tord?” you whimper, hands shaking. But that can’t be. That was impossible. He was supposed to be sleeping soundly in his room with the soundproof headphones you got him. He didn’t like storms. The thunder reminded him too much of gunshots and made him restless. 

Useless information floods your brain. 

“I’m home, sweetheart,” he rasps. His grin is soft in the moonlight. He reaches over to flick on your bedroom light. 

He’s gentle he’s kind he’s sweet he’s-

He’s covered in blood.

Tord steps forward and you’re frozen in bed. His eyes are wild as they drink you in. There’s blood on his hands. In his hair. Splatters on his face. 

“Oh honey how I’ve dreamed of this,” he croons at the foot of your bed. “Your apartment is just as cute as you described.” 

[the-monkey-ruler]

Greetings! I hope you're having an at least decent weekend. Is it just me or is Stephen Chow involved in a lot of jttw/swk centered media? & do you have anything to say about any of Stephen Chow's jttw/swk centered work?

Stephen Chow WAS Sun Wukong in what could be considered the most iconic Sun Wukong that changed the game. I'm not kidding that there could be a butterfly effect on how Stephen Chow's Wukong in the Chinese Odyssey became such a classic we see how it has affected games, shows, and movies even years later. Dare I say it but I think Stephen Chow could have been just as influential to Wukong's development in modern media as much as even Liu Xiao Ling Tong with how IMPACTFUL his Wukong was.

I have to say that Stephen Chow does have a certain scene of humor that you see in all his movies, not just Journey to the West. He can be raunchy, violent, and nonsensical so I would say that his style of movies might not land with everyone but Stephen Chow undoubtedly always puts a lot of heart into his characters which is what really makes people connect with his movies. He is a master of incorporating meaningful connections through the most ridiculous and insane situations that humans could find themselves in and that is part of his charm seeing both the humor and the tragedy in life as they often go hand and hand. I would suggest reading more about his style here since I think it puts into words how his art form is expressed.

But there can be a fascinating conversation to say just HOW much his Sun Wukong has influenced even modern Journey to the West media. Chinse Odessey was nearly 30 years ago and yet its impact is still being seen today in movies that are directly related to his films, versus movies and shows that he is directly or indirectly involved in today.

Journey to the West Conquering the Demons (2030) (tv remake on Chow’s Wukong)

Black Myth Wukong (2024)

The Monkey King (2023)

A Chinese Odyssey 1 (2022)

A Chinese Odyssey - Origin (2022)

Journey to the West - ARPG (2019)

Bio of Wukong (2017)

The Legend of Sun Wukong (2017)

A Chinese Odyssey TV series (2017)

Journey to the West Demon Strikes Back (2017)

A Chinese Odyssey Part Three (2016)

Honor of Kings (2015)

Taste of Love (2015)

Journey to the West Conquering the Demon (2013)

Asura Online (2010)

Even in movies that he is NOT involved in like Monkey King: The One and Only (2021) 大圣无双 where the Wukong actor is basing his performance clearly on Demon Strikes Back (2017) Wukong. Not to mention nearly EVERY SINGLE Wukong x SO plot line where the SO dies in the end could be traced back to Chinese Odyssey. If you hate how much Wukong's love interests are killed off in media, you can somewhat blame Stephen Chow, not for doing it first, but for doing it WELL and then dozens of directors for years to come trying to recapture that magic but falling short of what made people love that tragic romance in the first place.

Chinese Odessey was made in 1995 and led to the light novel Bio of Wukong which was made in 2000 and at least 4 more movies and its own TV show. The Bio of Wukong was so popular that it led to the inspiration of Asura Online game based is the story and its own movie Immortal Demon Slayer. Stephen Chow continued to make his own movies Conquering the Demon and Demon Strikes Back. He also goes on to help produce Monkey King 2023 and even makes plans to help produce an entire TV series based on his own universe. Asura Online was worked on by Game Science who continued to work on the creation of Black Myth Wukong. This isn't even to mention the spin-offs, sequels, and prequels to Chow's movies and still how they are influencing directors today.

I can't express how much Chow has impacted the very image of Sun Wukong from being a fighter to a tragic hero. I even took from an ENTIRE CHPATER from Transforming Monkey: Adaptation and Representation by Hongmei Sun bout the CULTURAL impact that fans had with Chinese Odessey and how it became such a cult classic. He was the one to really reshape what Wukong could mean to people, not just a hero in an action movie, but a tragic figure that is forced to give up his individualism for the sake of saving the world because no one else can. That the burden of being 'Sun Wukong' can be relatable to anyone and anyone can see their own struggles with how Wukong tries not just to fight demons, but also fight himself.

I have so many feelings on the intricacies of how Wukong's character changes throughout each generation and each audience across countries and what he means to each new audience but never loses what makes him so beloved and keeps him still going strong after 400 years. And I think that Stephen Chow plays a huge and critical part in how Wukong has changed yet again in the public eye. Wukong going from a pure heroic figure to now a tragic hero who has all the power in the world but still finds himself falling short of what he desires in life. I think that this was a vital step in show the complexity and having more directors and the audience toy with the notion of Wukong's internal battle with his identity versus him always just fighting physical battles.

I will say that Chow's influence did lead to the popularity of the Journey to the West Conspiracy Theory which I am not personally a fan of. It is not that it can't be fun or interesting but moreso I believe that this theory has been drawn out far too long in the past 20 years and that it is time for a new nuance perspective to take its place. Genres have waves of new tropes and cliches and I do believe the 'heaven bad, yaoguai misunderstood' has been played out a tad too long to be charming anymore. I think this was a vital step in Wukong’s and Journey to the West adaptions but I also believe that now more can be built upon this premise to allow for more creative ideas that reflect a more modern audience.

I think that the audience that has grown up with Chow's work (Chinese Odessey at least) is now at the age where they can produce and create their own material and we are still seeing how this audience is echoing the same statements of Chow's Tragic Hero standpoint. I don't know what else I can say that I haven't said before but the sheer magnitude of changing a character's image is shocking and I hope that we see what new form Sun Wukong shall take!

[spacedace]

Reluctant War AU Part 3

Part 1 Part 2

More of the brain worm that has taken me over, gonna probably post it to Ao3 here before too long. Already got another part started and so many ideas for additional stuff, someone please send help I've been consumed by this thing lol

Sorry if Waller seems out of character, outside of fandom I'm mostly familiar with her through Justice League the animated show & Justice League: Unlimited and her vibe there has always struck me as "deeply incredibly unlikable character that also kind of has a point but also has done so much fucked up shit in the name of her goals that you don't really care about her point anymore." So you know, complicated lol. If she's completely unrecognizable let me know, but I'm hoping she feels at least somewhat like Waller.

Forgot to say this in the last update, but still feel free to use all this as an overly long prompt if yall want. Literally anything I throw out to the void should be treated as a prompt lol If there's anything at all interesting to you in any of this nonsense go for it <3 <3 <3

---

Amanda Waller was someone who did what needed to be done.

Ruthless, heartless, vicious, cruel.

She’d been called it all. Wore the words thrown as insults as a badges of pride and valor. Because at the end of the day, when it came to the problems she was given to face, the issues she was meant to solve, those words meant she’d done what others had been too squeamish or cowardly to do. Life was a never ending slog of trolley problems and she the only one unshakable enough to pull the levers that needed pulling.

It wasn’t so simple as a matter of greater good.

Greater good was what the weak willed muttered to themselves after having feelings over doing the bare minimum. A justification used by people on all sides to do what they wanted with fractured, faulty logic thrown around like truth was a thing immutable. To assuage their guilt when they were forced to make a call they didn’t want to.

It wasn’t a matter of greater good. It was a matter of preservation. Of protection. Of digging through the filth to find the threats skittering beneath and crush them with ruthless abandon. Of facing a god and not blinking because if you did it could cost the world.

Of doing what needed to be done, no matter how underhanded or atrocious it was.

Hands dirty.

Hands red.

Hands wrapped tight around the throat of something that could threaten to destroy it all.

When the Ghost Investigation Ward had been shoved her way with it’s sucking wound of a budget, it’s bloated incompetent staff, its asinine methods she’d seen a rotted limb in need of hacking off. It hadn’t been until she’d been conducting her inspection, digging through the trash for a few pearls of effective agents she could snatch up and put to work elsewhere, that she’d truly seen what they were working on. The potential.

Potential to better arm themselves with in the forms of the strange new weapons being created.

Potential for threats far greater than anything even she had thought possible before.

The GIW as it had been when she’d first come across it was a fetid waste of time and resources. A laughing stock agency only secret because no one took them seriously enough to look. Made stupid and useless with its own conceited delusions of importance it didn’t actually have. Yet.

She went to work on it. Hacking away as she’d originally intended, but this time with a different goal in mind. She ripped out the weeds with bare, calloused hands and planted proficiency and loyalty in their place. She took over as director herself, tossing the self-aggrandizing fool that had been running the place into the ground to the dogs as the culprit for misappropriate spendings, saving the agency by tweaking things until their ballooning budget was pinned neatly onto the former director as an embezzling charge.

Then she got to work.

The Fentons were brilliant, if entirely insane. But Amanda could work with that. She’d reigned Harley Quinn in - more or less - she could do the same to the two deranged scientists that so eagerly wanted to be apart of the fight against the dead. Especially when the benefit came in the form of the inventions they threw together so easily, especially when those inventions were weapons.

It took very little to get them on board with her plans for the GIW. Keeping their focus could be a chore, at times, but she didn’t even have to really do much in the way of pressing to get them back where she wanted them. They craved knowledge and understanding nearly as much as they craved the eradication of the entities themselves. Letting them have the first look at a new subject here, free reign over a vivisection there, it took so little to fuel their fervor and keep them busy working on the projects she set for them.

Things had been going smoothly.

For a time at least.

Until Phantom.

He’d been the main focus of the previous director’s attention, the big fish he’d so desperately wanted to catch and put up on his wall. Amanda wouldn’t lie and say it wasn’t a tempting prospect, but not one she’d put above the other projects she had set in motion since taking over. No, Phantom was powerful, enough to be a real problem one day, but she could the awkward youth in the way he held himself, the inexperience in how he handled situations. She had time to get everything else in order before focusing on getting Amity Park’s would-be hero brought to heel.

And he would be brought to heel. One way or another.

Hands dirty.

Hands red.

Hands wrapped tight around the Core of a fledgling god and bending him to her will.

An artifact, old an powerful, recovered with some effort. A means of controlling specters, of chaining them to the will of the artifact’s wielder. Dangerous in the wrong hands. Dangerous in the right hands.

It was shattered, and even whole and functional Phantom was resistant to its power. But Amanda Waller prided herself in her ability to see the potential in things. It could be repaired, be made better. Even gods could be bound, be made to kneel, with the right pieces, with the right application of force.

It was just a matter of time to gather everything needed.

Phantom didn’t know he could single handedly destroy every last member of the Justice League. The baby fat, the innocent eyes, the split-second hesitations when he fought. He knew enough to be confident in fighting the usual ghosts that haunted Amity Park, but he still very much saw himself as a little fish. Maybe it was the part of him that was still Daniel Fenton, gangly teenager not quite sure what he was truly capable of yet.

She had time before the Fenton’s son truly became an issue. Time to judge if his parents’ obsessiveness would overcome their - rather shoddy, by Amanda’s estimation - parental instincts and continue to hunt him once they knew the truth. Time to get as much out of them as she could before hand, should they falter at the idea of attacking their own son. Time for the staff to be repaired and returned to working order, to get the other items needed for the truly big fish hidden on the other side of the veil between worlds.

She had time.

Until she didn’t.

Pariah Dark had not been something she thought she’d have to account for - not yet, at least.

If he wasn’t already dead, she’d ring the Ghost King’s neck with her bare hands. His arrival had opened Phantom’s eyes to what he was capable of, of just how big of a fish he was. Worse still, Phantom’s defeat of the war mongering King changed the state of play. Phantom was no longer an impressively powerful half dead teenager.

He was King Infinite.

He was an Ancient.

He was getting on her last damn nerves.

Phantom’s rogue gallery were now firmly under the boy’s control. Still distinct nuisances around Amity Park, but no longer considered true concerns. They were loyal to their boy king, delighting in ruffling his feathers but never crossing the line into treason or attempted regicide. Which meant that the GIW was the only thing that held his attention.

Amanda took the time to send a care package to the former GIW director in his tiny, dank prison cell. As thanks for his carelessness in revealing to the entire town - both living and dead - of the agency’s existence and their intentions. Had he stuck to standard protocol, Phantom would have been none the wiser to their presence. Would have scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders at the ghost that went missing upon occasion. Would have been boredly uninterested in the people his parents had begun working with. Would have been taken by surprise when they finally came for him.

But no.

No that self-obsessed, fame chasing imbecile had to go and announce to everyone and their dead mother that the GIW existed and exactly what it was they were in Amity Park to do.

Phantom knew what they were there to do.

They could only count on his naive certainty that he could broker peace with them for so long.

Peace. As if he and his people weren’t the invading force, the monsters slipping in through the cracks between worlds, the latest threat that had to be accounted for. As if he himself hadn’t rent their world asunder himself in another world, another time. No. Peace was not something they could hash out with this baby-faced monarch with his too-big crown. Peace was the assurance of safety, security. Of control of the situation.

There could be no peace.

The higher ups were somehow surprised when Phantom took that to mean there would be war.

Amanda Waller was not.

The Fentons, as suspected, took the right side when all was revealed. Steady hands and flinty eyes as they crafted the weapons that would be needed for the coming fight. Minds even sharper in their maddened grief, hearts set on revenge for the son lost and the entity that stole his face and friends and sister in his garish pretense at humanity. They were blinded to the reality of the situation in its entirety, the potential in what their son truly was, but at the end of the day it didn’t really matter. They did what she needed them to do, they could believe whatever it was they wanted so long as they did.

By the time the boy king and his armies marched upon the Amity park facility, preparations had been put into place. The base in Amity had been stripped back to bare essentials, everything of importance moved to more secured locations.

The weapons labs.

The artifact.

The girl.

All tucked well away from the front lines where Phantom and his motley crew could not reach. Their time to be put in play would come, but not yet. First she needed to gauge what Phantom and his people were capable of, what they were willing to do in the name of what they wanted. Amity Park was a pawn well sacrificed on that front. As were the other facilities she’d left easy to find.

The problem with making children gods, with giving them crowns and calling them King and giving them armies to play with, was that they thought there should be rules. That even in the trenches tearing apart their enemies, there was a certain level of playing fair that everyone was held to. They thought there was a way the world worked, of how things should be that blinded them to more effective options even as time stretched on and desperation set in.

It was the Dead’s problem though, not hers.

She reached out to the Justice League. Sour faced, unhappy, bitterly reluctant to accept that she needed their help. Stone faced and barely containing their rage at what little they knew of the situation, they agreed to a meeting.

She didn’t let herself smile until she was well and truly alone in her office.

Greater good. A lie people told themselves. A fairytale told to children. A means of convincing the weaker willed that they had no choice, that they had a noble duty to bend to. A belief that could be wielded like a weapon if the fantasy of the idea had dug in deep enough. And there were few it had dug into so deep as the members of the Justice League.

Amanda Waller was someone who did what needed to be done.

Hands dirty.

Hands red.

Hands clenched tight on a victory long in the making.

---

Part Four

[coffeetraces]

the judge from hell: ending thought dump

i would say i'm insane that the first thought i had when the credits rolled was "where's human bitna's soul???" not because the drama would be better if she shows herself, but because they showed her escaping and just didn't give us any closure. nevertheless, despite this, they gave us such a unique way to justify justitia's stay on her body. not to mention the bael deal (giving her 3 years of vacation before returning) and the cliffhanger lucifer deal (10 sinners killed in a year to be fully human) (we should get a season 2 at this point). the three scenes leading to the ending clearly showed us how her morals changed in the way she was conflicted with her decision about the un-remorseful defendant, to her (VERY BEAUTIFUL) callback on her scene with the children asking her about justice.

they also resolved the serial killing trope really well. the idea already of making the murderers feel how they killed their victims had such a nice build up from the first SA suspect until this serial killer. then when they built the coffin displays for all the victims while J was hanging himself was, in a way, a peaceful closure for the victims. it showed his remorse (despite bitna forcing him to do so), and putting an end to their worries that justice won't be served to him (he escaped, plus the way he told myeongsuk ahjumma that he was eating well inside jail) and he got what he deserved. again, not to mention that in the earlier episode, bitna and her chief judge refused to give in to the assemblymen's pressure to acquit him. i know, justitia has her own firm judgement already. but it made her human anyways.

side note: i found it funny (a bit) that bitna's death scene in episode 13 never fazed me. was this an effect of snowdrop still? jk.

and coming from this - i loved the pay off of every decision and interaction bitna and gabriel had. i already had the vibe initially that every test gabriel gave bitna would be beneficial for her to have more points from God, hence the reincarnation. and the cute scene too at the end - where his new form asked her to treat her to burgers because she promised on her funeral that she'll buy her dinner. the details of this show is very meticulous and i love it.

it was also so heartwarming to show all the victims after two years with the closures they showed. it's also really a good thing that the show only showed around 5 suspects instead of stretching it to how many episodes they have (a lot of law shows do that) so we still get to see everyone.

and, of course - han daon and kang bitna. i loved how much they trusted each other's judgments when it comes to the heavy decisions about their morality. i think this is the best way to show a relationship - or if anyone should pick a partner in the future, it would be with someone who trusts your wisdom to choose what's best for you. and both of them are, in a way, morally good decision makers. not to mention they were both so supportive of each other. daon never gave bitna the burden of giving up her future in hell by not doing the killings. he has his role as a detective, she has her role as a judge. such a nice partnership! and when it comes to their romantic scenes, i'm fine with all the subtle and natural moments that they had. they didn't have any extravagant cliche romance scenes except for the imaginary wedding. the long kiss was also a huge pay off after all the teasing of steamy moments with no kisses, interrupted kisses, the pecks, then we get "[nv] you should kiss me as much as you love me." [!!!!!!!!!!!] damn!

and park shinhye, of course! the best thing that happened to this drama. i apologize as i was a bit doubtful of her. i didn't like how she portrayed cha eunsang in the heirs and now i realized it was just because the writing of her character was so goddamn stale. but like what the director said - if there was an actress who can show her subtle cute style and be an action star villain-main character, it should be her. she showed well how justitia's mentality transitioned from being a full blown demon with no remorse to someone who felt immense sympathy from the victims and han daon's experience, and of course, the girlboss girlfriend vibe.

of course, not everything in this drama is unique. but it is refreshing. it also stresses important messages about justice that should be said especially in this era - the number one rule of justice is the law should not forgive what the victims couldn't. apologizing is an obligation, but forgiveness is not. justitia's trials cover admission of crime, asking for forgiveness to the victims, and remorse for the deed, all three core things that people sometimes forget when cases like murders and such happen. korea should know better after seeing this show. [coughs]

and, as always, we should never waste the potential of kim jaeyoung and park shinhye. GIVE THEM A MOVIE!!!!!

also kim jae young the new korea IT boy lfg

[everywishway]

So I want to talk about the Legend of Vox Machina, Season Three Finale, but more specifically what it means for the coming spinoff(ish) season based on the second campaign, The Mighty Nein. If you haven't watched the newest episodes of season three or don't want MAJOR spoilers for TM9, don't continue on to under the cut.

Spoilers for the ending of TLVM S3 and the entirety of TM9:

Okay, I want to specifically talk about what this means for the VERY fucking controversial finale of M9. Those who were there remember it well, especially me, because the INSANE fighting that came out of nowhere ruined CR for me.

For those who don't know, instead of bringing back Mollymauk Tealeaf, Taliesin made a new character out of Molly's dead corpse and it really rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way. Some were all for it (but from my experience, that was a rare minority), a lot were against it and an even larger group didn't like it but said "this is Taliesin's character, he gets to do what he wants". The fanbase kind of tore itself apart from the inside, esp on Twitter, Youtube, and a little on here but not as bad. Honestly, the whole thing killed a large part of the fandom and that's part of the reason why a lot of people fell off with Campaign 3/Bells Hells.

While I have my own opinions on the finale, I'm not going to share them here but this choice will probably be rectified in the M9 animated series.

TLVM seems to be trying to fix story issues, esp big ones that upset fans or didn't flow narratively which was almost certainly what Molly's/Kingsley's revival was for the greater Critter fanbase back in 2021. People (including me) had been watching for literal months back then, waiting to see if Molly was revived or not, then a sudden third thing happened that upset the majority of the fanbase.

I think a large part of that choice was Taliesin kinda hating Molly? More specifically he hated the popularity Molly got. Molly was a fan favorite, even after his death and people just wanted more of him even tho he was long replaced by Caduceus after Molly's death. I think Taliesin was just, done with Molly at that point.

Plus, it looked like at that time he wasn't enjoying Critical Role as much, Taliesin seems to wish CR never got as big as it did. He wanted it to stay small, something between him and his friends.

In a recent interview, Sam said he didn't have the fight that drove Scanlan away from Vox Machina because it didn't fit narratively in the show or really even in the podcast. I can see Taliesin having that moment of clarity within the past three years. He can see as a writer, as a director, as a storyteller, that choice upset the fans (and probably his fucking castmates, ngl). This is the chance to undo the damage a lot of people had but that's the cast's choice.

Do I think this is set in stone? No, I can totally see it going the same way it does in the campaign, and dear god, I don't want to deal with that toxic hellhole the fandom became back then. But this is what I think will happen. If you have any ideas or comments, feel free to reblog.

[hfjonewiki]

please please talk about the osc dark ages. i avoided it for awhile i think. i need to know just how shitty and poorly-made object shows were back then. looks at you with my big wet eyes.

when i talk about the "dark ages" of the osc, i'm specifically talking about a time period spanning from the mid-to-late 2010s.

the "dark ages" are marked by a sudden drop in activity from most popular object shows, and the prominence of cringe culture in that era. around this time, a lot of popular object show creators were at an age where they were now full-time college students, leaving them with very little time to work on their shows. inanimate insanity was releasing about one episode per year at this point, and bfdi was completely inactive. i don't know much about what the huangs were doing during this time, but i do know that for ii, things were MESSY behind the scenes. i followed adam's deviantart journals pretty actively around this time, and he often talked about his struggles with his decision to study animation professionally, and how he was unsure of the show's future. there was actually a time where he briefly stepped down of the director of the show, but it thankfully didn't last long. (fun fact! baseball's monologue in s2e10 about his inability to lead his alliance was ad-libbed by adam, and was a reflection of how he felt about his ability to direct the show and its team at the time.) the inanimate insanity kickstarter was launched towards the tail-end of this time period, and it's extremely likely the show wouldn't have continued at all had it not been funded.

the other major contributor was the rise of "cringe culture". we're talking about a time where youtubers like filthy frank and leafyishere absolutely DOMINATED youtube. the internet was not an environment that appreciated any kind of joyous whimsy and unabashed love of your interests. many osc creators and alumni were in their late teens, which is already an age where you become mildly to severely irony-poisoned, but the culture of the time only made it worse. object shows were seen as Dumb and Lame, even by the people who had spent years of their life working on them. multiple "joke" object shows released, the most famous of which being object redundancy (i actually can't find the year this one released, as its only kept alive via reuploads now, none of which have a date), and my goat, object show 87. if you want to get a feel for the community around this time, os87 is the poster child for it. it's full of edgy and offensive jokes (i mentioned this already, but there's a character who's name is straight up a slur, or at least a very offensive term), outdated references (keemstar is a contestant.), and an almost unrelenting hatred for popular object show tropes. object show 87 is a show that HATES the fact that it's an object show. it's honestly fascinating to me, and i've considered making a video essay on it. and it wasn't even a show made by some randos, object show 87 was made by SAM THORNBURY and XANYLEAVES. these weren't some random assholes with a hateboner for the genre, these were some of the most prolific creators and animators in the community.

it was an absolutely miserable time to be an object show fan. the stream of new episodes and shows had dried up, and what DID come out was just a bunch of edgy teenagers going "haha object shows are so doopid. i am going to say a slur now". it was not a good time to have object show autism.

[genericpuff]

alright so this is a post I've been wanting to write up for a little while now, but I was waiting on permission from a third party to post DM's (censored, of course). That permission has since returned with a yes, soooo

LET'S TALK ABOUT RACHEL'S HIRING PROCESSES-

okay this isn't gonna be as comprehensive as I'm making it sound BUT I've mentioned before on this page (albeit briefly and it's long since been buried) that I actually applied to be a background artist for Rachel a couple years ago, I think it was around the midpoint of S2, and it was (obviously) before I turned to the dark side of crit-n-shit-posting. I never got an email back, so that was that. I'd like to think there's a parallel universe out there where instead of joining the antiLO/ULO community, I became an assistant for Rachel and remained a fan. Enjoy that fridge horror thought.

That said, while I didn't get a response, someone on reddit mentioned that they did:

And they were kind enough to share further details with me in DM's.

Right off the bat, I'm fairly certain they were applying to the same ad I was (as it was a posting that Rachel had made on Twiter and the approximate years line up).

All that aside, considering what Rachel's process is like with her assistants (from what we've discussed here in GREAT detail), it's not shocking in the slightest that the vibe of working with Rachel from the very beginning was "IDK what I'm looking for".

Buuut that's not the end of the exchange because it gets better.

Mind you, this was back in 2019 and it was the experience of one user, so it doesn't necessarily reflect every assistant on the team or how Rachel does things down to the last detail. But it's pretty damning enough that you can still see the evidence of this kind of workflow in current LO 4 years later. If anything she's continued to operate with a rapidly declining pipeline because the art just keeps getting worse and worse.

Part me of wants to say that this could be on Webtoons, as they don't offer support to creators to have assistants. Creators have to pay for their assistants completely out of pocket, split from the income they make from Webtoons. This is why so many creators often don't have assistants or their 'assistants' are also their co-creators (see: Nevermore, which is drawn and written by two people working together).

But Rachel has an average of four assistants per episode, sometimes as many as eight in some cases (though it's been a while since that's happened so I won't really count it for this post).

That means Rachel's team is typically made up of five people, including herself, and that's not including the recent addition of copy editors (but that balances out with the times when Amy Kim isn't contributing , she tends to pop in and out).

Now, she's not the only person on WT with a team of this size, there are others with comparable teams if not bigger ones, but NONE of them seem to operate with as much inconsistency as LO does, and that's not on the assistants, that's on Rachel. She's said in interviews that she always wanted to be a director and that making LO on Webtoons was her way of achieving that, but she doesn't seem to have the integrity or leadership skills necessary to take charge when the team isn't working in sync. You don't see any of these insane art art inconsistencies in webtoons like The Kiss Bet or Tower of God (though they have their own problems, the art isn't one of them), and there are webtoons operating without a team at all that are drawing circles around LO right now, like Nevermore (which is, by the way, also edited by Bre Boswell, same as LO).

Now, that's not to say there isn't struggling underneath the surface, the creators of Nevermore have stated how difficult it is to work for Webtoons as it is, especially as creators who don't have assistants. But how is the #1 comic on the platform failing to meet the standards that come with its labels and awards? Why are the exceptionally better comics being drawn by 1-2 people not getting the attention or opportunities they deserve from the platform? And why does Rachel Smythe, one of the highest paid creators on the platform, still seem to struggle with managing a team of artists after five years of publication on Webtoons? Why does she choose to have a large team if she can't pay them adequately? Why have a large team at all if she's not going to utilize their skills properly? To further lighten the load of work onto others?

Really, it just goes to show the lack of care and respect all around - for the self, for the work, and for those who are pushing out the work and meeting the deadlines, whose reputations and potential are being dragged down with the comic itself.

[a-simply-simping-simp]

Guess who's still crying about Beast? Me! I watched the movie and read the beggining and end of the light novel because I got lazy. Not expecting the end in the movie though. Spoiler drawing ahead and comments btw

Made me so sad. I was going to rant in another post, but I might as well do it here.

So, number one, the sugar cube scene was so adorable I literally cried. I mean it. Like I LITERALLY sobbed.

Number 2, Oda WHYYYYYYYY?! I'M LITERALLY CRYING WHILE TYPING WRITE NOW THINKING ABOUT IT. YOU ARE FRIENDS, YOU ARE, PLEASEEEE. DAZAI'S FACE WHEN HE PULLED THE GUN OUT IN THE BAR AND TOLD HIM NOT TO CALL HIM ODASAKU WAS LIKE A SLAP TO THE FACE.

Number 3, When at the end of the movie, Fyoder was being a little rat and messed everything up, I wanted to vomit out of an array of emotions. I was confused, sad, angry, and just so dang overwhelmed. Like I was ugly crying five seconds ago cuz of Dazai and then this SEWER RAT came and made me confused. I'll get into him in anothe post.

Number 4, In the movie, when Dazai stabbed his leg to show Chuuya his commitment and how much he deserves his trust didn't make sense when I saw it, however, after I recently read the book and watched the play Julius Ceaser, I was like OOOOOOOOH. Dazai immitating Portia and Chuuya Brutus made me just sooo....wow.

Number 5, When it turned out that MORI was the new director I just- absolutley NOT. Do NOT put a pedophile in his perfect Utopia, Dazai WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! Also, I thought he killed him the whole time. Just think about it. A pedophile in an orphanage. You know how if you're being sexually assulted or something, you're supposed to tell a trusted adult like a parentor a teacher? THESE KIDS HAVE NO PARENTS.

Number 6, Chuuya being locked up in that poor governemnt facility broke my heart. Just think about how many people are going to die? Like there is no way Chuuya Nakahara is going to succumb to a bunch of itsy bitsy chains. He' breaking out and killing everyone in there and then the agency. Convince me otherwise.

Number 7, I can't. I'll make an entirely seperate post for Chuuya too, but can we just talk for a second? He went crazy because Dazai committed suicide. He went on a whole rampage and it took 3 special ability resistance units to take him down. This is what happens when there is no Dazai when he uses corruption. But the REASON he went into corruption was just...wow. I always knew they had a complicated relationship but at the same time it was just so simple. Like, they hate eachother, but they also don't. They don't like eachother, but it's not like they don't either. It's not like they complete one another, but it's like one soul in two bodies. They're so simply complicated that if you asked me what their relation was, I'd just say, they're complications. Because in reality, their relationship is just so unexplainable. You need to see it to understand it. There are lovers, enemys, frenemies, friends, siblings, etc, but they fit into literally no category but they aren't strangers either. This is getting too long, so I'll make a different post about that.

Number 8, Chuuya pleaseeee don'ttttt. There is no need to attack the agency, my guy. He wants to avenge Dazai's death, but what is there to avenge? Dazai did suicide. He wasn't killed. Chuuya was so upset that he wanted to kill all the agency. I just....can't. It's kind of sad. This is also going to be really long if I go on, so I'll make another post about this topic.

Number 9, the way Chuuya just really couldn't understand made me wanna bang my head on the wall in tears. He truly couldn't think of why Dazai did it. He was kind of alright one second and then dead the next. The entire time, you can tell how little Chuuya was incorporated into the script he wrote. The ending for each one was different as the movie had him go insane and be put under governemnt care, while the light novel just left him to do his own thing. However, in both you can see that neither of them ever knew what was going on. Dazai never gave him a reason to why he killed himself. Everyone else seems to be going on like nothing happened or at least as if they know what happened and came to terms with it, but then he knows nothing. He was his bodyguard and right hand man and yet NOTHING. I'll get back to this in another post lol. TvT

So yeah. I cried a lot.

[tubbytarchia]

Ok my Smallidarity thoughts (this is long). Only because I was encouraged by Liauditore's analysis of Joel's playlists...

...to which the conclusion was closeted homophobic Joel. Ok so anyway uhh obligatory: I only talk about characters. Only characters. I swear to god. CC!Joel and CC!Lizzie make life more beautiful and this is not about them, this is about characters. Either way I love Jizzie dearly. Seriously though go read Liau's post. The part where they note down the structure of his most recent playlist kind of sums up my thoughts on him ("starting off with party songs -> "home" the wholesome love song -> a bunch of arctic monkeys songs including one specifically about regretting sleeping with a woman -> a bunch of songs begging for the other person to stay because they're all they have -> songs that get angrier and angrier -> final song has a chorus that goes "if this is a romcom I'd kill the director"")

I'm not here to analyse the playlists but I implore Liau to do so more publicly lol. The kiss from RL and the playlists (and Liau talking to me about them because they chose to hyper-analyse them against their own will) are the catalysts for why I'm so insane about Joel's relationships and smallidarity especially because we all know how normal I am about Jimmy 👍

(Before we get to smallidarity proper though, I have to lay some groundwork about my perception of Joel's relationships in general)

That post I made about smallidarity awhile back about mostly seeing them as brotherly friends um. Hasn't aged so well LMAO. I do not think smallidarity is the end game for either of them (unless...?), but I do feel like there's feelings here to be dabbled into now... I imagine Jimmy and Joel as having been very close friends since childhood and I still stand by my old smallidarity thoughts otherwise, that while I'm not a fan of Jimmy getting slapped around excessively, which Joel sometimes does imo, it's ultimately banter between him and Joel, even if weighed to one side, because it's not an attempt to assess control or to play Jimmy down past an initial laugh (ESMP1 still hurts me but I've said it before and I'll say it again, that at the very least Joel was creative about the "toy" bit and put effort into it, eg building a giant statue, and not just making a very surface-level joke out of it). When things get dicey for Jimmy, Joel will want to help, even when doing so offers him no benefit. Eg him wanting to offer his time to Jimmy in LimL or disapproving people for building a grave for Jimmy before he'd even died in SL. So basically they care each other

Joel has no problem indulging in and joking about more sexual approaches vs more affectionate ones. Eg, the neck kisses, calling Jimmy babe, having pillow talk with Tango and literally making a baby with both Jimmy and Sausage in ESMP etc. That's fine, that's just a goof, no homo. But I feel like anything affectionate makes him feel vulnerable and so that's a no-no. I have no good explicit examples for this other than the fact that he just doesn't engage in affectionate engages/jokes much (not even with Lizzie) and him refusing to hold Jimmy's hand in SL (thanks Liau). The kiss in RL I think makes sense with this too because Jimmy preceded it with "is this the closest we're over gonna get to making out?" even if the actual kiss was like. A peck lol. Gentle smooch. Which just makes me more insane that it was like that!!!!!!

And (characters guys!!! Characters!!!) what he does with Lizzie is constantly proclaiming "I have a wife" and maybe visiting her to show her something and yelling "I love you" a few times when it felt appropriate. Oh and Lizzie's "I always liked bad boys..." counts I guess lol. Imo, whilst Lizzie and Joel are evidently very close and cute still (I never and I mean NEVER stop thinking about Lizzie's SL birthday party to which only Joel showed up for the majority of it), I don't think lizzie gives that much of a fuck. To me the marriage is there because, it makes sense. They enjoy each other, uh, might as well marry each other. It's moreso about the status rather than deeper romantic connection imo. Something about Lizzie calling Joel a homie and not commenting on his proclamation of loving her after Sausage's Boat Boys play in SOS, or them voicing anything affectionate and then it not getting followed up by anything, or Joel trying to recruit Lizzie into Jeremyism in X Life but Lizzie didn't want to, and Jimmy was the first recruit instead (and if you've read my X Life thoughts, you know how I feel about Jeremyism in a symbolic sense), etc. Um do you guys understand why I was terrified to voice these thoughts. I swear to god if someone comes into my inbox to accuse me of being heterophobic or something I'm going to eat a nail. I figure some people are going to disagree with my perception which is totally fine!! But characters only please characters only..........

He pretty frequently has homoerotic or suggestive etc exchanges and bits with people like Etho and Jimmy though (eg, earlier examples, although there are soooo so many more). But always that, never affectionate... The closest it ever comes to affection is when he's acting out of genuine care when things hit the fan. This is the point where my claims stop being supported by whatever I see in canon (if supported at all, then by his playlists, lol) but... Joel to me feels like he uses his marriage status as a "no homo" pass. If things get a bit too homo he can always remind the others "I have a wife" and it's all good 👍 When in reality.... I think he might be... idk... might be into men a little bit... But he absolutely cannot accept that. He has a wife guys!! And yet still he indulges in those questionable exchanges like hm. hmm. But it's no homo guys!! He's just playin!!

Ugh so yeah. Closeted Joel who, maybe, isn't so put off by affection after all, rather just put off by the idea of being into men so he refuses to be affectionate with the people he feels a little too many strong feelings towards bordering on something other than friendship. And always makes sure to declare anything frisky a joke and reminding everyone that he's married and he loves his wife!! (Have no doubt that he does love Lizzie, just, again, not in this way) Or putting anything frisky on the other person, like he does with Etho "ugh you're so obsessed with me" because JOEL can't be obsessed, he's not gay!! Etho just can't get enough of him, and Joel's totally not into it!!

This is where the RL kiss made me so insane and tip over the edge into interpreting smallidarity as something other than platonic too. Because classic Joel. Contributing to this bit about "making out" because that's what he does. Gives Jimmy a little smooch. As a joke. Ugh. Jimmy claiming his lips to have been pursed makes all the difference too, they were both all-in... (vs that one fWhimmy kiss in ESMP2. Sorry but I just need you guys to understand how important the difference is to me)

I think Jimmy is very kind, and an incredible sympathiser. He's just in a pretty horrible headspace, so he never treats himself with the kindness he might offer to others. His biggest enemy is his inability to open up and ask for help. Joel would be much similar in this regard, where he wouldn't want to even entertain the things that his feelings towards certain people would entail. It's fine, it's nothing, he's a married man after all... So he most certainly wouldn't ever bring it up to anyone, because nothing's the matter!! But I think Jimmy, solely for how well he knows and cares about Joel, recognizes some kind of reciprocation of feelings he also has, but isn't going to admit to Joel. Maybe they kissed or even made out and maybe they made a baby once (the baby ordeal is seriously ruining my life. wtf was that) and it's just a one-and-done deal, maybe even a "friends with benefits" thing in some sense. Cause they're just friends. But Jimmy, though with his own struggles, knows how he feels, so of course he recognizes when Joel's in a similar dilemma

To me, there's such a strong appeal to smallidarity because the typical Jimmy role in relationships gets reversed. Jimmy's usually the one following along, the one seeking someone to depend on because that's what he's been conditioned to seek. He followed Martyn around, he followed Scott around, in X Life he followed Joel around too. Joel gave him something with Jeremyism and to me it reads like Jimmy feeling at home and developing feelings for Joel, the way I think he also developed them for Martyn beforehand. Only for Joel to step down as the leader of Jeremyism - this thing that Jimmy so desperately held onto and practically begged for Joel to remain where he was, but Scott took over, and even though Jimmy didn't like seeing Scott up there instead of Joel, he couldn't help but fall in love again, and then 3rd life happened. 3rd life, where Jimmy left a "I miss you" sign on Joel's plot of land. Where ideas of Jimmy and Joel teaming up were mentioned but they just barely missed each other for it to become reality. Where Joel burnt down the wall that further confided a claustrophobic Jimmy into a corner of the World with Scott, separate from everyone else

Anyway, Jimmy hardly ever prioritizes himself, so his feelings are irrelevant to him. What he cares about is Joel's wellbeing, so he'd encourage Joel to open up, ask him about things. For a change, he'd be the shoulder to lean on and be on the other end of a situation he usually would find himself in with people he loves. Where he's struggled to open up and ask for help, he's encouraging someone else to. Where the people he loves, including Joel, have failed to pick up on Jimmy's continued need for support, Jimmy doesn't, because he's been in shoes similar to Joel's It's nothing he'd be able to pinpoint, but subconsciously it'd help him provide Joel with the encouragement that can yield results. The understanding that he refuses to offer himself, but can offer to Joel. Jimmy fulfilling this kind of role in a relationship would do him SO much good, I think, to help him handle his own struggles. A trend in Jimmy's relationships and otherwise is that he can never take charge, even when he wants to. It'd take his mind away from his own troubles as he focuses on Joel's and exercises patience and empathy for someone else who doesn't just push him away. Especially when another thing that they are similar in, is their progressing frustration with either of their feelings. In which neither can do much to combat these frustrations (Jimmy indulges in them more and more, eg taking enjoyment out of hitting Scott around in SL, and Joel just tries to ignore them), but by virtue of trying to help Joel figure out his feelings, Jimmy would be helping not only Joel but himself too

Even if Joel were to come to a conclusion that wouldn't be him reciprocating Jimmy's feelings specifically, Jimmy would help him reach it anyway. Though Joel might figure out how Jimmy feels even if there's no direct admittance. Jimmy would hold Joel's hand if Joel doesn't draw back and ask how that feels, to help him figure out if he really does hate affection or if his frustrations lay elsewhere etc. Give him the affection that Joel actually craves but keeps refusing himself. And Joel would maybe finally admit to some degree that he does like it (he just doesn't like that he likes it). He'd still remind Jimmy that he has a wife but Jimmy would probably just laugh and they keep holding hands. If Lizzie found out she would just give a thumbs up. She dgaf. Or idk something like that. I've been writing this shitty post for 25 minutes what year is it. The more this has gone on the less sense it's started making sorry. Use code smallidarity at checkout for 15% off

[meraki-yao]

It's been five months since the movie's been released (happy anniversary<3), I'm still obsessed as ever, and at this point I want to turn into an eldritch demon and screech at Prime for still hoarding all the deleted scenes while still posting old RWRB stuff on their socials (they better be saving up for something big)

But on the topic of deleted scenes

In Matthew's podcast interview with Tommy DiDario he said, and I quote, "There's a whole other version of this movie that I could assemble out of alternate takes, and it would be a different movie"

Now don't get me wrong, I am absolutely in love with what we got in the end

And with every new footage of a deleted scene surfacing, I keep wondering what the fuck that sentence means

Like, how different would "a whole other version of this movie" be? Would the plot itself change? Would the characterization change? Does he mean just adding the deleted scenes or also using alternate cuts of the pre-existing scenes (like the NY kiss, they shot the version we see with Alex responding and one without Alex responding)? How many deleted scenes or moments are there? We made lists but we didn't even know the Paris morning scene existed before the bloopers, how many other scenes are we unaware of? The music director said there were seven versions of Paris? How many fricking versions of the movies are there????

WHAT DO YOU MEAN MATTHEW?????!!!

So yeah I'm going insane 🫠

[oldiesstationlover11607]

Promise - Josh Dun x Fem!Reader

Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader

Warnings: Kiss, swearing, angry Tyler

A/N: Can't be bothered to do a word count bc i'm tired. its about tyler saying he'd wait for reader when she comes back to columbus but when she comes back for the high school reunion she finds out he's married to jenna. so she starts to hit it off with josh.

Worthington Christian High School reunion. 2015. 7 years after Tyler and I had graduated. 7 years after I moved from Columbus to LA in search of making it as a film director. Everyone at home had thought I was insane, throwing my life away for a career I was almost guaranteed to fail at. Except Tyler. The other crazy dreamer in our grade, except his passion was music. We spent two summers together, him helping me make films and me helping organize gigs for him. When I left Columbus we promised we’d wait for each other. I loved him and was willing to do anything to make him mine. 

“I’ll wait for you,” a couple tears dropped down his face as he tried to remain strong. I pulled him in close for a warm embrace, feeling his chest rise and fall with his breath. I knew I would be back, I was going to make it and then I was going to come back for Tyler. But it had been 7 years and all we’d seen of each other was a few video calls. Tyler had achieved massive success with his band and it was impossible to avoid their songs on the radio. I’d ended up becoming a director, making a few movies and music videos, winning me my first Oscar. I didn’t know why but I was nervous to see Tyler, worried that he’d changed. It was a cold night so I’d made sure to put on a sweater. I was at least half an hour late–being stuck in a meeting with producers was almost always the reason I was late to everything–the entrance to the school was dead, except one man sitting on a bench, staring up at the night sky. 

“The reunion’s tonight, right?” I asked him, trying to figure out if I’d marked it wrong on my calendar. He didn’t look familiar to me, there was almost no way he’d gone to Worthington Christian, I knew everyone in our grade. 

“Yep,” he nodded. 

“Then why aren’t you in there?” I folded my arms and my breath came out in steam, the air much colder than I thought it was. 

“I didn’t go here, my friend and his wife are in there. I drove them here from my house and just stopped to get some air. What about you? How come you’re so late?” He smirked. 

“Uh… I had a meeting. Some producer thing for a new TV show in production. I’m a director,” I spoke, still trying to figure out how the man looked so familiar. He had curly brown hair and arms covered in tattoos, and that golden retriever look about him. 

“That’s cool, I’m a musician, the name’s Joshua,” he seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say, “have you made anything I might’ve seen?” I paused to think about what he might’ve seen. He was a musician so surely he’d watch music videos. 

“Well Joshua, I directed the music video for Green Day’s ‘Corvette Summer’ if you’re a fan of them,” I offered. His face lit up, clearly he had seen it. 

“Hell yes I’m a fan, the video was epic. Gosh, I love music videos, they’re awesome,” he grinned. Music blasted from inside the school, they were playing Tyler’s song, ‘Stressed Out’ which was my cue to go inside. 

“Sorry, I should probably get inside, it was nice meeting you Joshua.”

“Wait! What was your name?” He grabbed my hand. 

“Y/N,” I smiled. Joshua pulled out a business card from his wallet and passed it to me. 

“Get in touch with me, I live in LA too. We should get coffee sometime Y/N.” I nodded before slipping away through the doors. The song continued to blast through the speakers as I walked inside the gym. 

“Y/N! Hi!” a jock shouted, towering over me.

“How’s Hollywood?” a popular blondie who I was sure had peaked in high school preened, her phone flashing into my face. 

“Looks like we’ve got two stars in our grade,” Jack, the class president shouted over the mic. He was standing on stage, a can of beer in his hand like no time had passed at all. “Why don’t you two come up here? Talk to us about what it’s like to be better than all of us,” he let out a loud and obnoxious laugh which was then echoed back by everyone else in the room. I felt a hand on my back push me towards the stage, turning my head back to see him, Tyler Joseph. He looked so much older than the last time I’d seen him. His head was shaved in a buzzcut and head was wearing a yellow denim jacket. He looked famous. More so than me. He flashed a smile at me before taking the mic from Jack. 

“Hey everyone,” he waved, “god it is good to be back here with all of you, if you guys even remember us. If you don’t, then I was the basketballer who wrote poems at the back of Mr Stevenson’s math class while the rest of the team was failing his infamous algebra test,” he let out a loud laugh. “Now I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Worthington Christian, the people at this school shaped who I am as a person. I found the confidence to share my music with people here. I stayed in Columbus and I met my loving wife.” I’m sorry, wife? Tyler Joseph was married? My Tyler? The Tyler who’d promised he’d wait for me? I felt dizzy. But that didn’t stop Tyler from shoving the microphone into my hand. The room went silent as I stood there feeling like I was spinning. This wasn’t happening. 

“I–I’m happy to be here,” I tried desperately to smile but I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. “Thank you for having us back.” I handed the mic back to Tyler before leaving the stage and running out the gym. I felt warm, my cheeks flushing bright pink and the lack of water I’d drank finally catching up with me. I stared at the ground as I desperately tried to hold back sobs. 

“Y/N?” It was Tyler. 

“What the fuck do you want Joseph?” I spat, he knew exactly what he’d done. “I don’t want you here.” 

“I–I know you don’t. I effed up, I get it. But you never came back, you promised me you’d come back and you didn’t Y/N,” he sighed. 

“I fucking waited for you,” the tears started to pour down my cheeks. 

“I’m sorry,” he pulled me in for a hug, “I still care about you, okay? You’re still important to me.” I nodded my head, waiting for him to let me go. I needed to get back to my hotel before I screamed at him. Finally he pulled back, a sorry look clinging to his face. I pushed past him, walking into the parking lot, I was done. Joshua was still sitting out there looking up at the stars. He turned around as soon as I pushed open the doors, his eyes widening when he saw me. 

“Y/N? Are you okay?” 

“Joshua, now's not the time,” I snapped but all it did was make him look more worried. He stood up and started following me through the parking lot–my hotel was a 15 minute walk away. 

“What happened?”

“Just this guy I really liked, Tyler. When I moved to LA we promised we’d wait for each other but apparently he’d married,” I threw my arms up in frustration. Joshua looked confused.

“What?”

“I wasn’t aware you were that Y/N, if I knew I probably would’ve prepared you for what you were about to see,” he said. 

“That Y/N?” Joshua stopped walking and let out a sigh. 

“Y/N do you know anything about Tyler’s band other than radio hits and that he’s in it?” he asked. I shook my head, Joshua chuckled lowly. I probably should’ve known more about my best friend’s famous band but I had been busy. Making movies was tough work.

“Okay well… My name is Joshua but everyone calls me Josh–Josh Dun.” I still shook my head, having no idea what he was talking about. Should I have known who he was? 

“Okay Josh, what does that have to do with Tyler?” He looked baffled that I didn’t know what he was talking about. 

“Tyler’s band… twenty one pilots. I’m the drummer, the other member in the band.” My jaw dropped. Holy shit. Fuck. I just vented about my stupid crush on Tyler to his bandmate. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I’ll leave you alone now Josh,” I ran a hand through my hair and started walking away. 

“Y/N, wait!” Josh grabbed my hand, “I don’t want you to leave me alone. You seem cool, I want to get to know you. Tyler’s told me a lot about you and if it makes you feel any better he felt really bad when he started dating Jenna.” If Tyler felt bad then why did he do it? Clearly they were made for each other if he felt like he could break our promise. I was 25 and hadn’t dated anyone since I’d left for LA because of that promise. I’d wasted 7 years. 

“Thanks Josh. You seem cool too,” I smiled. Maybe Josh would be it, I’d only known him for an hour but he was friendly, interested in film and music, and incredibly attractive.

“You know, I haven’t had dinner yet, do you want to go get some food? Tyler said there was a diner nearby,” Josh suggested. I agreed and walked back to his car. 

Josh had a burger and I snacked on some fries. Things were going well, we’d talked about the band and what it was like touring and we talked about the film industry. We’d even realized that we were on the same flight back home. 

“When we get back to LA, I want to show you my place,” Josh held the door open for me as we left the diner. 

“I’d like that,” I replied, trying to hold back a smile. I climbed into his car as he drove back to the school to pick up Tyler and Jenna. “I should probably walk back to my hotel before Tyler comes out, I don’t want it to be awkward,” I sighed.

“It won’t be awkward, you’re with me. But I do want to give you something before you go back,” he replied. We drove into the school parking lot and waited while everyone walked out. 

“And what’s that?”

“A kiss,” he smirked, leaning in towards me. 

“Oh really?” I smiled, his hand coming to cup my face. I felt his lips brush mine and I closed my eyes, butterflies filling my stomach and cheeks flushing pink. 

“You’re really something else Y/N,” Josh whispered. Knock knock knock. I jumped, turning around to see Tyler standing there with his arms crossed and his wife hiding a smile. 

“You two have known each other for less than a day!” Tyler shouts, a hand rubbing his eyes. 

“And that’s my que to go. I’ll call you,” I laugh, getting out of the car. Josh says his goodbye and Jenna gets in the car. Tyler grabs my arm and drags me aside. He looked angry. 

“First you’re mad at me for marrying someone and now you’re kissing my best friend?” 

“Tyler, that's not fair. Josh and I, we’re just talking, it’s okay, he’s cool.”

“It better be okay because if he hurts you I’ll kill him,” he pulled me in for a hug. He still cared. He still cared.

//

Please submit any requests y'all have! I love to write so let me know if you've got any!

[nelliebachesneg]

Guys.

Guys I'm going insane.

In the memory unit, right before he lets Tex go, Epsilon says this to Caboose, Tucker, and Tex who he thinks is about to leave:

"And if you see Agent Washington, tell him I said memory is the key. He'll know what that means. Oh and also, tell him I said thanks."

The world is ending as far as Epsilon knows, so why would Epsilon make a point of getting the message "memory is the key" to a memory construct of Wash? It can't be to let Wash know that Epsilon was still alive ("Delta was telling me Epsilon was still alive" S6, the iconic reveal speech). If the world really is ending, like Epsilon thinks it is, Wash would have no hope of bringing Epsilon back for another iteration.

So again, why would Epsilon tell him "memory is the key" and add that Wash will "know what it means"?

Answer:

Because Epsilon says to Tex in his big S9 goodbye speech:

"Don't you get it? You were the memory. You were the key."

If Wash - even just Epsilon's memory construct of Wash - heard Tex deliver the message "memory is the key", and presumably then figured out that the message was from Church aka Alpha (or so he thinks because timelines are weird in the memory unit), what would he think that meant?

Wash would know that Church figured it out. Wash would know that Church was letting the memory of Tex go.

Not convinced?

Epsilon makes a point to thank Wash, implying that Wash is part of the reason he figured it out at all. No, actually, that's an understatement; Wash is a huge part of the reason Epsilon figured this out, because Wash is the one who gets it. Epsilon was inside his fucking head imploding from the memory of loosing Allison, but Wash could see through the grief and understand the pain it was causing all the agents of the program. That's why he wanted revenge against PFL, why he went after Epsilon in the first place, why Delta told him memory was the key. Wash understood that one man's grief could and did make life hell for everyone else:

Alpha: "What do we do with it [Epsilon]?"

Wash: "We take it. And we get it into the hands of someone who can use all its information. Then they can bring down the person responsible for what was done to Alpha, and to me, and to my friends. They can take down the Director."

And even if you ignore all of that, if nothing else, Wash was the one who made sure Epsilon lived long enough to figure things out. Wash led the Reds and Blues to get him out of the PFL archives in season 6, saving him from the emp blast. Wash helped save Epsilon from the Meta at the end of season 8, even if it was for selfish reasons.

Wash saved Epsilon, in every sense of the word, both despite and because of what Epsilon did to him.

Fuck, man.

[hathousehappenings]

89. Untwist of Fate.

I've been waiting an embarrassing long time to do this episode. ^^; I think I need to explain...

To ME, this episode is clearly an homage to The Wizard of Oz. There's a twister, a guy who needed to be convinced to help because he's cowardly, someone who is trying to get the heart of his character, a man behind a curtain... I'm gonna put all my thoughts below a cut at the bottom of this post because there's a lot!

When I had finished the sketch for this one I showed it to a couple people to see if it was too weird an idea for me to complete. They looked like I was insane that I would even ask them. ((It was then that I realized that the people I live with are no fun and just don't get me...))

I also decided to do a bonus picture of Queenie as Glinda just cause. I wanted to let her dress up too.

OKAY, and now here are the thoughts of a crazy person...

It's been obvious to me that from my first watch of this episode this all based off Wizard of Oz (the movie, not the book).

For instance, Hare is the Wizard because he’s trying to run the show, Alice is obviously Dorothy because she gets swept up in the twister, Dum is the Cowardly Lion because he was cowardly about helping test out cures for Alice, Rabbit is the Tinman because he’s trying to figure out his motivation (aka: get to the heart) of his character in the play and Queen is Glinda because she floats in at the very end and solves everything easily.

But, as I started thinking about it, more connections made themselves aware to me. And then I watched the episode!

First off, when we get to Wonderland there’s a little tune that plays as Hare’s back is to us in the director’s chair. That tune is very reminiscent of a tune in Oz called “Optimistic Voices”. It’s the song we hear as Dorothy and her friends come out of the poppy field and make way to the gates of the Emerald City. I actually caught that on my first watch through, so that wasn’t new to me. Rabbit is trying to figure out his motivation (aka: get to the heart of his character, Tinman) and Alice is just kinda there sitting around daydreaming.

Then Hare talks about how great their acting is and I start to realize something else: there are a ton of red props in this episode. I’ll brake it down as we go, but in this scene alone there’s Hare’s beret and bandana he used to mop his face, the ladder he climbs all over (I want to be that ladder) and the flowers that are thrown to them at the end of the song. This song is about Hare telling them what good actors they are and how they need to keep doing it, keep the act up. That sentiment feels very Wizard to me.

Next scene is “Throwing up Riddles”. More red props here: Hatter’s grill spatula and the writing on his apron and the plates are all a variant of red or its secondary color (red, pink or purple). They also talk about hogs/pigs a lot, which is what freaks Dorothy out in the beginning of the movie (she falls in the hog pen). Hatter is being silly and yet somehow smart with all these riddles, but he’s still acting like an idiot. Wisdom even though his head is empty? Sounds like Scarecrow! Then they get the news about the twister and run around like idiots.

Alice gets sucked up into the twister in the next scene. Obviously the twister is from Oz, but the first noises we hear while in the cyclone are chicken noises and that’s the same as in the film. You could argue that the Cheshire cat is supposed to be Toto in that he’s an animal who doesn’t contribute a whole hell of a lot to the story. I dunno. There are a ton of red items in the twister, though. A red velvet cake, red chicken, red candles, a red toad… Just because, I dunno.

Finding Alice after the twister only has the trash bucket and the chattering red teeth as the red props. All the men gather around to help the little girl character, which you could argue is like Oz. But that’s kinda low hanging fruit.

The “Interest of Science” scene is, well… interesting. We don’t have many red props here (a red velvet cake on the table and the satellite dish that Dee puts on Dum’s head) but we have some lyrics in the song that apply. Dee says “you might nearly be a hero, if you merely wouldn’t fear it” (!!!!) and the line about feeding him “to the lion”. Also, Hatter dropping random words of wisdom is odd. Like, he’s actually smart but just acts stupid. More connections to him and the Scarecrow.

Caterpillar’s story time does nothing to help my argument. There are no red props and his story is lame, kinda as per the usual. However, Caterpillar also doesn’t help them because he didn’t understand what they were asking for help about. So did it negate this scene? You decide.

This is the final Wonderland scene. We have three new red props: the red stripe on Hatter’s popcorn bucket (eeeeh?), the red curtain on the stage and Rabbit’s whole Bunny-o costume is red. Hatter is being brainless (as he does), Rabbit is still trying to find the heart of his character and Hare is still trying to keep the act up. He actually becomes the “man behind the curtain” after the how starts! And he keeps peeping out to watch everything.

Queen floats in like I don’t even know what. She’s been gone the bulk of the episode, other than to ask where Alice was during the twister. She also pulls the whole “you had the power all along" crap that Glinda pulls in the movie.

Rabbit is in red (ruby slippers) and Alice is in yellow (yellow brick road)!

The Red Queen and Alice skip through the forest in the very end, which I think is fitting because of the red and yellow symbolism.

After EVERYTHING I think the parallels are undeniable. They made some very conscious decisions about this episode to link it to Oz. I feel clever for having “figured it out”, but I might also just be letting my pride get to my head. I wouldn’t be surprised.

Anyway, any thoughts on this? Am I just late to the party and all this was supposed to be obvious?

[warsamongthestars]

On to the ranting, because the ride never ends for me.

( Warning to you Hunter fans, I am going after him this time. Avert your gazes, for I am going to shred this man like cheese. )

That end message of the finale with the whole "We can't be Clone Force 99 without Tech"... and the whole "We can be who we want to be now!"

... Dude, they spent 2 seasons being CF99 without you, Cross. Didn't even discuss anything about it either. They went "We have this kid now, that we knew all of 30 minutes, and went back for without ever talking to you once while you were going insane in front of ours eye... Buh-Bye now!"

Tech was not the glue holding the team together.

Frankly, nothing was holding the team together besides contrivance... because everything that made CF99 into CF99 was left behind in the Clone Wars Show, in favor of a copycat idiot plot where the Writers and Directors fanfic'd three seasons outta nonsense, and left all the important bits off the script.

As for "We CaN bE wHaT wE wAnT". ( Which still fucking kills me )

Congratulations, it took TBB Hunter 3 years to grasp, what TCWs Hunter already knew in less than 15 minutes outta a 4 episode arc.

And it only took the brainwashing and torture of one brother, and the entire death of another. At a certain point, I'm pretty sure TBB Hunter is the antagonist here, just not the villian (Because we cannot attribute to malice, what can clearly be seen as sheer unadulterated stupid).

TCWs Hunter would've fucking killed him. I place credits on it.

Its not a case of "Oh past hunter doesn't like future self" oh no no no. TBBshow is an entire alternate universe to TCWshow, as it bends on the whims of amateur writers and corporate greed rather than the story and characters.

( And there is no reason for any of what happened, to have happened. The only thing that ever had any guarantee of what folks have called "canon", had been Order 66.... and that's it. )

Its a case of:

THe original Hunter would've taken one look at this sad spineless excuse of an alternate version of him, saw the negligence that cost 3 teammates, 2 of which are likely life-long batchmates (HCs aside), and would've just fucking lost his gods damn mind. Would've just outright shown that he isn't just Billy from Predator, but in fact, Predator in clone form. You don't get a name like Hunter for a Modified-Gene Super Soldier with Super Senses and think he's an average gods damn joe you find at Walmart.

And you don't get a tight-knit squad like TCWs CFF99, without having some real consequences on what happens when one of them is taken or dies.