#and tori has a whole entire Bad Time about it

[purpleheartskies]

"Second Place. Second Place. Second Place."

After s5e5, s6e5 feels like a long time coming...

Robby's entire character journey is rooted in his traumas. He's hit such low points that he's said things that show how hopeless he is about himself and about how Johnny treats him.

"You were right. It was a mistake trying to help me because I can't change." (s3e2) "I screwed everything up... It just made things worse, and now it's never going to get better." (s4e10) "I'm sick of blaming you, Dad." (s4e10)

After everything Johnny has put Robby through and everything Robby has experienced including being beaten into submission by Miguel with Johnny's permission right before hearing the baby news, is it really that hard to fathom that this kid who has been losing hope more and more because of all the traumas and losses in his life just, essentially, shut down and gave up fighting for himself against Johnny, Miguel, and everyone?

Robby isn't even allowed to talk to Johnny about their issues, without Johnny getting defensive and deflecting, mostly turning things onto Robby. Johnny's always been this way. Like in s2e1, when Robby said he needed more time to forgive him, Johnny immediately accused Robby of training with Daniel to torture Johnny. And in s3e4, Johnny immediately got defensive the moment Robby got upset after Johnny admit that he had missed the scheduled visit because of going to the hospital. He got more defensive as Robby kept calling him out for choosing Miguel over him, and Johnny eventually deflected that Robby put Miguel in the hospital. Regardless, it's Johnny's responsibility as Robby's parent to be there for Robby first and foremost. In s5e1, Johnny apologized for tricking Robby into the trip, but then he started manipulating Robby in different ways (gaslighting and guilting him, again deflecting) just to get Robby to stay to help him find Miguel. That trip and the "stories" they made were regardless all so that Johnny could find Miguel and restore him as "first place" in Johnny's life. In s5e8, Johnny told Robby not to "be like that" when Robby passed the comment about fatherly advice.

This kid has had to put up with so much shit from Johnny. It's exhausting for someone to have keep fighting against a rival that they'll never win against. Like Robby had told Tory in s5e4, he and Johnny have some issues that are too big to solve. Yet, another assessment about the hopelessness of his situation with Johnny.

In s6e5, Robby once again spoke about his hopelessness:

"It's still better than always coming in second." The face he made as he said "second", as if it's so painful to think about.

Yes, the focus was on his tournament losses when he was practicing later on.

"Second place. Second place. Second place."

But the sheer intensity of Robby's anger can't be ignored. Robby's trauma of being second place stems deeper than just being second place in the tournaments. His whole life he's been second place in Johnny's life and in Shannon's life. Throughout the series, he's been second place to Miguel in karate and in relationships, especially with Johnny. Everyone sided with Miguel over him after the school fight.

Now, he's second place to this new family that Johnny has. How Johnny put together the family in s5 is already proof of that, but that continued in s6.

In s6, Johnny continued to treat Robby as if Johnny's never done him any wrong, like Johnny doesn't need to make amends or help him with his future, and that focusing on the new family is Johnny's priority and Robby isn't.

In s6e2, after Miguel read his letter to Stanford, all the adults, including Johnny, praised it. Miguel then asked Robby his opinion, and Robby commented that Miguel made him the bad guy in it. Miguel innocently said that he could remove Robby's name from it. Robby said it was okay because it's not like Robby is applying to Stanford or any college. Johnny then emptily said that both boys have good future prospects.

First off, all the adults are fine with Miguel framing Robby as the bad guy. They are all still actively scapegoating Robby for the school fight. This is not even a question. Yaya and Carmen are enablers. They're definitely going to scapegoat Robby and act like Miguel did no wrong. However, Johnny, specifically, has never cared at all about what happened in the school fight. In s4e4, several months after it had happened, Johnny threw in Robby's face that he'd gotten kicked out of school, and when Robby tried to tell Johnny what had happened in the school fight, Johnny dismissed Robby with an "I wasn't there", as in "I don't care".

Second, "I don't care" overshadows their entire relationship, even now. In s1e4, Robby told Johnny that he hasn't cared for 16 years and Johnny ended that conversation with an "I don't care". Johnny very clearly doesn't care about helping Robby with his future prospects. Robby has to figure that out on his own.

In s6e5, when Miguel tried to "convince" Robby that Miguel's future and life are more worth changing, Robby put him in his place. The pact that Robby had made with Tory earlier gave Robby some belief in himself again, that he can be more than second place. For the first time since s5e5, Robby was ready to fight for himself and for his future again.

Yes, kiddo! Don't trust this guy or his family. They don't have your back. You're the one they'll sacrifice for his future. They've been fine with scapegoating you and with how Johnny has been treating you this whole time.

Miguel gaslit Robby after their fight in s5e5. Here, in s6e5, Miguel was gaslighting Robby again. I know some will brush this off, but this is gaslighting. Miguel started by telling Robby that no matter what happens tomorrow, he's got no beef with Robby. This is to let Robby know that Miguel will do whatever it takes to win and Robby should be okay with that. Then, Miguel proceeded to "convince" Robby that Miguel really needs this. Robby rightfully countered that Robby doesn't? Miguel then said that he's thinking about Stanford and that, if they look at his application again, then this could be really life changing for him. Robby rightfully called him out for his assertion that Robby's life isn't worth changing because he's not going to college. Miguel immediately tried to claim that's not what he was saying. But that was definitely Miguel's assertion. Miguel wanted to convince Robby that Miguel needs this win more than him because Miguel believes that his own future is more important.

It's so important to note how alone Robby is. ROBBY DOES NOT HAVE THE SUPPORT OF THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM. No one, other than Tory, truly believes in him. This is facts. We saw this in that simple, seemingly benign scene for Miguel's college letter. This is not surprising at all. I've been pointing out the dysfunction in this family for so long now. s6 continued with these characterizations to a tee.

Despite what fans claim about the toxic blended family, s6e5 showed once again that Robby is all alone. After the school fight, when Robby was at his lowest, no one was on his side. Everyone did take Miguel's side over his blindly, which was once again shown in s6e2. They still act like Miguel's the good guy and Robby's the bad guy in the rivalry that Miguel had started, continued, and ended on his own terms.

Robby is in a subtly toxic environment in which he can't be himself, has to settle for being "second place" to Miguel and the unborn plot device, and has to have his guard up all the time. Robby is still in survival mode.

Tory's mom said that life dealt them a bad hand. Life dealt Robby a bad hand too. Two parents who abandoned and neglected him for pretty much his whole life, even to the point of abuse. They're still neglecting him in some ways and emotionally neglecting him, giving him more trauma. A mentor who took him in, called him family but then discarded him after he screwed up and without even giving him a chance to explain. Who didn't even hear his side of the story for the most traumatizing experience in his life. A friend turned girlfriend turned person he barely talks to but just hangs out with who used him, turned on him, and then used him again, all while dismissing her own and her boyfriend's wrongs against him. Not to mention, being scapegoated by everyone for the fight in school between him and Miguel that Miguel himself started and escalated to the point it got to. A scapegoating that is still going on.

I find it interesting that they framed Robby's trauma as based on him being "second place". This is something Johnny and Tory both understand.

In '84, Kreese broke Johnny's trophy and strangled him for coming in second place.

"Second place is no place! ... You're nothing. You're a loser."

In s4e5, Kreese taunted Johnny:

"Has it really come down to this? Johnny Lawrence playing second fiddle to little Danny LaRusso."

In fact, in s6e5, Kreese told Tory:

"When push comes to shove, they'll always figure out a reason to keep you second fiddle to Larusso's kid."

Not to mention, Tory has technically lost all of her fights with Sam.

And, back in s4e1, Kreese told Robby about Johnny:

"He chose Diaz, and left you with that mark on your head."

In s6e5, Johnny, Robby, and Tory all were dealing with their trauma from feeling second, not good enough, like the underdog who'll never win. Johnny was feeling second to Daniel. Robby feels second always. Tory repeated Kreese's words to Amanda, that they would keep Tory second to Sam. Tory has always felt that she has to fight for every inch of what she has, and she had just lost the most important person to her. The person who had taught her to be a fighter.

Earlier, when Robby had told Tory that her "win" at the avt was better than always coming in second, Tory told him that this was their chance to win big. They then made a deal to stick together and win the Sekai Taikai together. That sounds like an "it's us against the world" pact. Later, when Tory lost her mom, she told the doctor that she had no one, which in the end was not true. The LaRussos, Robby, and Devon all wanted support Tory. Tory has been alone and unsupported for so long that she believes that she's still all alone. Kreese had been the first person in a long while to support her and help her (even if he had/has ulterior motives, which she isn't aware of). It's sadly understandable why she chose to go back to him and join Cobra Kai.

Their deal and the match later clearly indicated that Robby feels all alone too. He truly doesn't have a true family or support system, which has been shown. When Tory showed up at the match, Robby felt supported again. Robby didn't notice that something was wrong with Tory, though. It's understandable because of his own headspace at the time. He was very much dealing with his own traumas. Sure, Robby seems "happy" all the time on the outside, but the shadow boxing scene is Robby's raw anger on the inside. The self-hate and "hate" he has due to his traumas. It's still all there! Of course, it is! Robby's been lead to believe, by Mr. Balance (Daniel) who himself can't "find balance", that Robby needs to "let go" of his emotions to "find balance". But, he's just burying his emotions, like he instinctively buried the egg to protect it in s5e7. So when Tory came to the match, Robby was not in a good headspace at the time. After he had won his match, he was still exhilarated by that win. But, he did start noticing that something was wrong as he watched Tory fight.

Johnny's "second place" insecurities with Daniel were also in play. Johnny was first upset that Daniel kept treating him like they weren't karate sensei partners, until Daniel admit that they are karate sensei partners and Daniel should treat him that way. Then, during Tory and Sam's match, Johnny's insecurities intervened again when Daniel first intervened in the match and later when Johnny egged on Tory's assumption that Daniel and Amanda were taking sides, which was quite hypocritcal of Johnny. He himself has been giving his son "second place" trauma because he chooses Miguel over his son. He offered up Sam as Tory's punching bag here, just like he offered Robby up to Miguel in s5e5. Luckily, Daniel and Amanda were there to put a stop to it. Johnny was projecting his own past onto Tory and was not reading the room and not helping properly. Afterwards, Johnny was pretty riled up because of seeing how Tory wanted to deal with her mom's death by fighting it out. Hearing the news had brought back his own feelings for when his mom had died. He told Daniel that it would have been helped him back then if he was able to fight it out like he had wanted to. His mom's death had led to him making the worst mistake of his life: abandoning Robby. A mistake that Johnny has been trying to overwrite since s1e4, first by using Miguel and, since s5e3, by using the baby. Johnny hasn't been trying to redeem himself. He's been trying to cover up his past. That's why he so easily dropped Robby completely after the conversation with Ali in s3e10 about not living in the past.

The setup for part 2 for Johnny, Robby, and Tory is interesting. Kreese knows all of their weaknesses and traumas. Kreese is using Tory's grief to his advantage. In s5e9, Robby had walked into the CK dojo and confronted Silver to give Tory support. Robby is likely going to do what he can to get her out from Kreese's grasps. Tory's mom's death brought back Johnny's own feelings when his mom had died and he'd abandoned Robby. Will Johnny try to help Tory because Johnny doesn't want to see Tory go down that path that he himself once did and maybe because Johnny also wants to help Robby help her. (I know... wishful thinking on the latter, but Johnny's redemption needs to start at some point.)

Johnny's and Robby's stories have to resolve. Their character journeys have always been intertwined (despite Johnny being useless and horrible to Robby). Based on what we know so far, it sounds like those resolutions are finally coming in part 2 during the Sekai Taikai. "The Resurrection" stage of Johnny's and Robby's character journeys align with part 2. In this stage, Johnny and Robby will reach the goal of their character journeys. This is when the character stops believing in their "lie", gives up their "want", starts believing in their "truth", and achieves their "need", if these are meant to be positive change arcs. Part 1 was "The Road Back" stage. Interestingly, Robby's "lie" was challenged and his "truth" and "need" were explored in s6e5. Robby's "lie" is not believing in himself and his worth because of his traumas. His "truth" is believing in himself and his worth, and his "need" is to "find balance". When Robby accepted his "truth", he was able to achieve his "need". Even if though it was brief, it was shown.

It's interesting that they paced Robby's story in s6 to pick up in ep 5. This reminded me of how his story in s1 picked up in ep 5. Since watching s1e5, I've wanted Robby to get the world, but all he's gotten is pretty much loss after loss after loss.

s6e5 really brought home that some of the odds against Robby are that he's all alone. He doesn't have parents or mentors, a support system, that believes in him, will be there for him, or will fight for him. They didn't when he truly needed them to after the school fight. They scapegoated him instead and continue to act like he's the bad guy in the story.

It does make me sad. I've always wanted Johnny to step up for Robby and to start building a real relationship with Robby, but s6 part 1 continued to show that Johnny still isn't building a real relationship with Robby.

In s6e4, when Devon got upset with Johnny for arguing with Barnes, she told Johnny that Barnes missed all her "good moments". My immediate thought was that Johnny missed all of Robby's "good moments" in life. Johnny did that intentionally too. They're never going to get those moments back, and Johnny has been wasting the rest of Robby's childhood running after random people (and these are still random people to Robby, who has to put on a charade and be around them so that Johnny doesn't abandon him again).

And, yet, Johnny did see Robby win the match for captaincy and Johnny himself crowned Robby as captain. So, maybe this is where the turning point begins for them. Because this is the first important win Robby got in the series, and Johnny was there and was happy to see it, even though it came at Miguel's loss. For the first time, Robby was not "second place". He rightfully earned "first place".

Robby got the win and this "good moment" with his dad proud of him. This is seriously a huge moment for Robby. Johnny got to see this "good moment". Hopefully, Johnny will be there to see all of Robby's "good moments" from now on. And, hopefully, Robby will get many many more "good moments" in his life. (Yes, I will keep gloating about this win. 😊)

Don't know what to expect in s6 part 2, but I really hope Robby gets his big win. The sad thing is that this win and this moment in s6e5 happened alongside the plot that Tory's mom had died. No good moments last for Robby. (Hopefully, there is some context as to why Robby didn't immediately go after Tory. Amanda was not present at the headband scene, so maybe she went then and Robby went afterwards.) Seeing that Tory joined Cobra Kai for the Sekai Taikai means that Robby's not going to be in a good headspace as the tournament starts. He'll probably also blame himself that he hadn't told anyone that Kreese had approached and talked to Tory. Because Robby feels and is all alone, he's probably going to try to help Tory on his own.

A major theme in the story is the struggle to "find balance" due to dealing with trauma. It's not using karate to get into your dream college. That's a character motivation. Just like the pact that Robby and Tory made to win to get on the podium is a character motivation. Robby actually has a character journey that is exploring the theme. Robby will need to "find balance" in order to win. He will need to believe in himself and his worth. Without Tory, I don't know how he'll do it. We'll have to wait and see...

(As always, please don't comment or reblog with dismissive comments about the nuance in the story. The nuance is part of the story, and the story is exploring important topics like trauma, bullying, neglect, and dysfunctional relationships.)

[miriadalia]

Things I want to talk about rewatching part 2 trailer today calmly and slowly after the hype:

1. Tory probably being the karate pariah in the middle of the stupid dojo feud

I found this image on X and it broke my heart in many pieces T-T

Seems like everyone will be so caught up in rivalries that they won't even remember she's going through a freaking mourning phase (arrrrghhh)

2. Senseis Kim and Kreese having no lines during the trailer

Why did they decide to keep this two characters, who are known to talk shit every 2 seconds, quiet and kind of in the background?

Except from the scene where Daniel shoves Kreese into a wall, they are barely seen during the trailer. What are they up to?

They can be seen training Tory and Kwon, but they look at them thoughtfully, not angrily or disappointed....... Hum, it just seems interesting to me.

Also Kim looking at Tory with no hatred, but... Vigilance? Concentration? Will she keep Tory as a protegée after learning that she decided to fight for her mother?

I mean, Kim keeps her family in high esteem even if her grandfather is an as*hole. Which is a very traditional Korean point of view. Maybe she kind of feels respect towards Tory after seeing her fighting for her family even in the middle of her mourning.

Or maybe she's just keeping an eye on her since she doesn't trust her still.

Side note: I love the Cobra Kai team aesthetic with all of them wearing entirely black, except from Tory (foreshadow that she still has some Miyagi Do inside her heart?).

3. Sam, Axel (?) and Kwon (?) fighting against Cobra Kai students

This 2-second-footage of the trailer is giving a lot to talk about. But the way I see it, it's impossible to know what's happening in this scene with just 2 seconds 😅

My first impression was Sam and Robby fighting against Kwon and the rest but... We can't see the tall guy's face so I assume people are right and that is really Axel.

Other thing that's not clear is: Kwon is fighting against them or with them? Or simply fighting but not because he wants to help them? Because we still know too little about him, it's difficult to say.

What got to my attention is that Axel isn't moving while Sam fights the Cobra Kai students. He's just observing, not even trying to fight Kwon or something. Weird......

Whatever happens, if Axel doesn't help Sam, then she's gonna end up very badly. She's so skilled but there's no way she could win that fight against THREE fighters that have been training their whole life and are much bigger than her. If that happens then they really are gonna pull the PLOT ARMOR for Sam and the rest of Miyagi Do.

4. Don't think Miguel is crying because Sam got hurt in this scene

I think it's too obvious. It's what they want to make you believe with the trailer, but we know that they like to mess a little bit with the plot so you won't know exactly what's going to happen until you watch the episodes.

Johnny's crying too, so maybe something bad happened with their family in the Valley... I hope not.

Anyways, I want to see them both happy and winning T-T we've followed this duo since season 1 episode 1, it's time for them to shine again as first sensei-first student of the new Cobra Kai!!

[rockingrobin69]

Last Minute

The right turn was apparently the wrong one, and they had to drive another ten miles before they found a place to stop. Harry still wasn’t very confident behind the wheel, a fact he strictly refused to admit; it was unto Draco then to tell him, a little shrilly, that he was nearly scraping that fence and to watch that bloody lamppost! Which didn’t put either of them in a great mood.

Then the rain came on, of course. Then the tyre air pressure light, again. Then a sheep sauntered onto the one-lane excuse for a road, and a lorry nearly crushed them flat, and the wheels flicked mud all over the passenger-side window.

They’d run out of snacks two hours ago and were about to run out of fuel. The radio, which had been playing screeching static for the last thirty miles, was now adamant on sticking to some Tory-bullshit chat about bus fare. Draco wished he’d taken the bus; wished he’d left the country; wished he told Harry to forget it, forget the whole thing, just, enough. Go back home with their tail between their legs and admit defeat, because none of it actually mattered.

Wait. There was—wait, that was true. None of it actually mattered. Draco tapped the frown between his eyebrows, then clicked his tongue.

“Hey,” he put his hand on Harry’s arm. When all he got was an annoyed hum: “Can you just—stop for a second?”

Miraculously, the road provided a place to pull over, which Harry then did, and added a deep, painful sigh to the whole tragic affair.

“What?” with this weariness he only got on long drives.

“Why are we doing this?” Draco asked, and wished his voice had come out gentle instead of accusatory. “I mean—who are we trying to prove wrong? I know how far I can go on spite alone, and apparently it’s exactly three-hundred and seven miles.”

Harry swallowed a small sound of surprise. “What? You mean—you want to turn back? Now?”

“Would that be so bad?”

“It’s a fucking three-hundred miles journey and it’s getting late.”

Draco rubbed his eyes, nodded. “All right. Then we don’t go home. We planned to spend the night anyway—”

“At your fucking parents’ estate.”

“Yes. And instead of torturing ourselves, why not try the next lovely bed and breakfast we see. Why not—take a ferry and go to Arran. Why not do anything that doesn’t involve Lucius Malfoy, and possibly as little driving as can be, and just have a nice night? Why not forget about all this,” hand gesturing vaguely at the rain, at the mud, at the mileage, “and remember the only thing that’s actually important?”

Harry’s pout should not have been so endearing. “Which is?” he asked, suspicious.

“This,” couldn’t help rolling his eyes. Took Harry’s hand and squeezed. “My darling, my idiot, this, this is what matters.”

Harry sucked in a breath. Closed his eyes. Shook his head, nodded, then shook his head again. “Your father—”

“Can eat an entire, gigantic, garlic flavoured, extra-hot bag of dicks.” With a devilish smile that made even Harry crack a grin. “Who bloody cares. Let him rot. In fact, I think I know a place just down the road—if we are where I think we are—it’s nice and has a great view to the loch when, you know, it isn’t chucking it down, and… what do you say?”

Harry shook his head again, but he was still smiling. “You fucker. Of course. I fucking love it.” Leaned down to give the corner of Draco’s mouth a peck. “Fucking love you.”

“Me too,” Draco said, and, “idiot,” and kissed him again, properly this time.

It turned out they weren’t at the junction Draco thought he knew. It took about thirty minutes and three wrong turns to find it. Didn’t matter: fuck, what a relief that it just didn’t matter, because Harry’s hand was rubbing gentle lines over his (and not angrily drumming on the gearstick), because he was still smiling, because they had this all to themselves. The rain and the traffic and the terrible road. The whole night just for them.

My darling @getawayfox, happy, happy birthday. I love you and also I love you and also, I love you.

[neolxzr]

imo there’s a difference between “queer coding” and very specifically playing to both sides whether or not the writers/artists/directors intended to make a character queer or not. I think that for enstars specifically, with the new valkyrie event, while people are happy that some characters such as shu and mika in the new event are being shown expressing their love for each other and their views on their sexuality and expression, people are frustrated that it is not explicitly said because of the company’s need to not confirm a character as queer in order to not alienate (homophobic!) fans. Because at the end of the day in happyele’s eyes, if that homophobic fan spends a lot of money on the game then they’re worth pandering to (shrug emoji) And I mean some people also just don’t like shumika

anon i understand where you're coming from but i think you are wildly missing the point in my original post

my point is EXACTLY that if you need the characters to walk up to the screen and say "i'm gay" or "i'm [insert some 21st century-friendly label]" or "this is my boyfriend" for it to count as queer media in your eyes than i think you need to do some reexamining about what exactly your views on queer media as a whole are

plus, they DO do this. they explicitly talk about queer themes out loud many many times in enstars. shu says to mika that they should, together, create the happiness that his grandfather was never allowed to have, after they spent the entire story detailing shu's grandfather's queer romance story. they probably kissed in hermitage, and the lyrics to acanthe talk about them kissing. rinne proposes to niki in every other story they appear in together. he told him to do a striptease during nightclub. tori has very explicitly gay feelings for eichi. arashi narukami exists. eichi, while talking to arashi in pretty mission, says "people like us," confirming himself to also be some form of queer. kuro calls keito an old word for spouse or husband. and SO many more examples. this is not "queer coding" or subtext, its just text.

in any case, authorial intent is generally of no interest when it comes to examining media. the conversation of what the author could have meant by something is wildly less interesting than the conversation about the ways in which the audience can interpret it. what the writers intended should have little to no place in the discussion. what we should be talking about is what the thing itself is saying, both implicitly and explicitly.

expanding your view on what exactly can be seen as "queer media" can only do you good. and it would do so much good to not give a shit about the possibility that homophobic people will also like the thing and interpret it as not queer. that is literally not my problem whatsoever, and it shouldn't be yours either.

what it seems like to me is that no matter what pieces of queer media will always be criticized in some capacity. if they're not explicitly queer enough, they're just bait and have no merit. if they are explicit, then they're promoting stereotypes, or its rainbow capitalism, or it's fetishization. there is no winning. the standards for queer media are absolutely absurd, but they don't HAVE to be. you don't have to look at a piece of media through this kind of silly cynical lens if you don't want to.

the discussion about a work loses so much interesting and important nuance when you try to shove it into a box of "good representation" or "bad evil queerbait." thats just really really boring way to view stories

[terrence-silver]

Oh, I so agree with you about the lack of Terry in promos being... unsatisfying. So many things they're playing with this season were set in motion by Terry. Terry mentioned Kim Sung Young first, who they now have cast. Terry wanted to go to the Sekai Taikai. Terry introduced Kim Da Eun. If they can get Kreese out of prison with a box of Jell-o, no way can they keep Terry in jail for more than three hours. If he can spin heading Dynatox into being a green philantropist, he can doctor this. If Kenny still has a major part to play, well who mentored him?

I could have understood it if they wanted to shift away from the Terry storyline and focus on what the show started as, reclaiming your life through karate. But then, it would have made much more sense to keep Kreese in prison, send Chozen and Da Eun home, and not focus so much on Tang Soo Do. But if they're setting that legacy up as the überthreat, it makes no sense for Terry not to be involved. The Sekai Taikai was his baby, moreso than Cobra Kai, even. Maybe the CK brand has been compromised, but so what? Hearsay. Simply rebrand.

Terry completely revitalised a show that had milked everything out of Johnny-Kreese there was to milk, keeps shying away from consequences with Robby and Miguel and would never give Sam and Tory the gay awakening that drives them. To dump him and keep Chozen and Da Eun around makes no damn sense!

Exactly. Precisely.

Terry Silver is the lifeblood that keeps this show running.

Because what else is there to do with this plot?

A lot of storylines got tragically milked to completion seasons ago.

And I don't think for the life of me Da Eun, who quite literally got flown into the plot during the penultimate mid-season is a strong enough character to be the end all-be all final boss villain. She doesn't have the charisma to pull what Thomas Ian Griffith pulled in TKK3. She was just introduced pretty much last minute and our attachment to her is at best nonexistent to miniscule with her only connection to anything going on in the plot at all is through Kreese, Silver and their mutual history with the sport. In the plot itself, girl even seemed like she was begrudgingly in the States in the first place and had to be talked into staying by Terry. To carry the whole endgame conclusion of this show and well over forty years of lore between the characters as the ultimate bad guy? Yeah, nope. Don't see it. There's just no development there. No meat.

As you said. It makes no damn sense.

And I will be in the minority here, which is entirely alright for me, but I really have an abject allergy for fan concoctions like brining back Julie Pierce in Season 6 or having Chozen and Da Eun have a showdown to fill in plot gaps. Shoehorning in Julie Pierce for a random, out of nowhere cameo when the one attachment she had to the plot was vaguely through a character dead for well over forty years just so she could tutor female character x and y for a short period of time is unnecessary at this late stage and I don't think Chozen and Da Eun warrant enough stakes to suddenly become mortal foes that take up space like that in the last season, but hey, that's just me; like, where are these rivalries even coming from? They met like yesterday. Do you two even know each other's full names!? Like!?

Terry Silver, John Kreese and the Sekai Tekai are sole the points of interest left.

After all, show's called Cobra Kai and they are Cobra Kai.

[lyerra]

ROOM OF SWORDS SPOILERS

just me ranting about webtoon's comment section because I want to exteriorize some stuff

The whole Roseberry situation is so so weird to me. Tbh when I started room of swords I didn't care much about the ships, I was there for the plot, but when strawbarrow was revealed to have been canon all along I was so happy for them

However a lot of people were displeased because they thought Gyrus would end up with Tori.

I think one of the comment sections that struck me the most was right as the episode ended with Tori kissing "Gyrus" (who was actually Kodya in Gyrus' body pretending to be him) and someone commented "imagine possessing your boyfriend's body only for some girl to kiss him" which was a pretty funny comment

some people responded however that if anything Kodya was Gyrus' ex because he had been in a relationship with BB!Gyrus but New Gyrus didn't know him the same way. Which WOULD have been a good argument to make if Gyrus hadn't been making puppy eyes at Kodya since S1...

tbh it's fine not to see it, I didn't see it either at first, but to say that Gyrus was CLEARLY attracted to Tori???????? when he never showed any sign of liking her as more than a friend?

I've read RoS many, many times both before and after it ended (been reading it from 2019 oh god it's been so long???) and all through S1 there are these small, small hints that Gyrus has a small crush on Kodya EVEN THOUGH he doesn't remember him. They were always meant to be together.

Tori does develop some feelings towards him, granted (we do learn that it's because he looks like her beloved but that's later, people couldn't have known back then), but that doesn't make Gyrus entitled to return them.

People shipping Roseberry shouldn't make the authors entitled to change THE ENTIRE PLOT simply because some people aren't happy with their story choices.

At that point there's been many hints that New Gyrus and Kodya are still attracted to one another and I'm just sad and confused that those people were in so much denial.

On the brighter side, the next episode really starts with Tori telling "Gyrus" that she knows he loves Kodya because she's seen him LITERALLY PINING SINCE DAY ONE. AND THAT SHES A LESBIAN.

case closed, right? Kodya and Gyrus are canon and still very much in love, and Tori herself is in love with another, yet unnamed woman.

well lo and behold: s2 finale's comment section!

we finally see Kodya and Gyrus sharing their first kiss onscreen, so someone in the comment section said something like "THEY FINALLY KISSED AAAAA OUR SHIP IS SAILING" which was also my reaction and a legit reaction to it??

and since there was A LOT of dislikes (over 1,6k I believe) the op edited to say something about homophobes and the backlash was even greater

and in the answers there was actually quite a lot of people being salty because their own ship didn't sail and

I mean idk

maybe I can't understand because my ship sailed and not theirs but what the hell

first of all homophobes exist. the authors commented that they had lost about 20% of their audience when they revealed that Gyrus and Kodya were canon, and they received a lot of hate online for it.

second of all as I said it's not about ships it's about the plot. strawbarrow was always endgame and the whole story, including the romance between Kodya and Gyrus and the important role it played on the story, been planned since over a year before RoS was published. this is not your story, if you're not happy about it go read or write some fix it fanfics (it's not so bad once you get used to it). but in terms of writing strawbarrow was so well executed, I feel like being mad just because of a ship is really disrespecting the authors' intentions.

third of all, it had been made painfully clear since A LONG TIME AGO that they wouldn't end up together. clinging onto that hope was really unnecessary. they shouldn't be mad anymore, it had been over for a while now and they should have made their peace. people complaining by the time of s2 finale were really just delusional.

fourth of all, the dislikes may not all be from homophobes but if they aren't then they're from jerks. it's not because you're unhappy that things didn't go your way that you have to hate on other people because they got what they wanted and not you. that's just being mean smh,, let people enjoy the things they like in peace

[hockeychatstea]

https://www.tumblr.com/hockeychatstea/765635501712670720/i-have-some-thoughts-and-have-noticed-a-few-things?source=share

so this whole post is inch-resting for a few reasons, because it confirms i'm not fucking crazy lol. i've noticed some of this shit for months now, basically since those two started dating lmfao (well, publicly anyway)

so the queer sibling and his sister are EXTREMELY close. like, would take a bullet for each other close. closer than sway is to his sister close. the queer sibling also lives in chicago, while beth and her fam are in new york so so they can visit boston more regularly. i wanna say it was on puckgoss that someone who knew alessandra from high school said she was really good at being manipulative and fake nice in order to social climb, so it wouldn't surprise me if she was pulling the same shit on beth (esp since they see each other like 2-3 times a year at most?) because her being a bigot would NAWT fly in that house.

AND OKAY GOOD i'm not the only person who noticed the stuff going on with the wags. rebecca (pasta's wife) apparently HATES her, she's now seemingly been shunned from the main group of younger girls w amanda, ryen, paula, madison, etc. so now she's stuck clinging to katrina, a woman in her late 30s who also has a rep with locals for being a nasty cunt, but is also head wag so i guess not surprising she'd attach herself to the "queen bee" for clout. i saw a rumor on the athletic of all places, in the comments on one of the swayman contract articles, saying that during playoffs alessandra was incredibly rude and entitled towards the other wags/service staff during a cam neely foundation dinner that the front office put on for the wags, to the point where she got reprimanded by cam/his wife themselves for it being a bad look on the bruins org 😬 if true then holy YIKES no wonder the other girls want to distance themselves. i def noticed she didn't get invited out to any of the dinners after that night which i thought was sus, but didn't really think much about it at the time back in may lol.

the house thing is just. insanity lol. i've been convinced since june that they've been rushing the relationship because he was about to become one of the bruins core players and needed to look "settled" for optics because he's about to turn 26 this year which is "late" by nhl standards. his relationship with his ex tori lasted what, almost three years? they never moved that fast and that was with someone he literally described as the "girl of his dreams" on a podcast back in 2020. meanwhile he's moving in with with a girl he's known for less than a year, has nothing in common with, and who was actively hunting for a hockey husband to bankroll her luxury lifestyle while she sits around unemployed and badly plays instagram and tiktok influencer online. uh huh, sure jan. if the plan is to endgame then i sincerely hope sway is smart enough to keep his finances separate/in trust away from her because the vibes are absolutely rancid with that girl.

the one thing i'm gonna push back on is the fake nice thing, only because as a fan who has followed him for years now, him being like this is very VERY recent behaviour and pretty much started when he started dating alessandra. i've talked to so many other b's fans online who have noticed his entire personality change because of this girl. if it was a long-running issue there would probably be way more stories about him being a dick to people, but most anecdotes about him since college have always emphasized him being a genuinely sweet and well-adjusted (read: non hockey bro) guy. why he's decided to turn into country club frat boy mcgee to impress a girl i'll never understand, but it really ain't cute. like, the pussy CANNOT be that good. 😭

Yeah it's honestly pretty sad if he's changing that much for her 😕

[tiredgremlintime]

ms michael trey iii arclight for the ask game... :3

WOW THIS WAS FAST

Why I like them/why I don’t

The Beloved!!!! I really like how she’s such a kind and loyal person to anyone he loves, especially family! Despite that you can really see how he’s apart of the Arclight family, the sassiness and disrespect she can have (that one moment in her duel against Mizar maskjakdkdjdjd)

What I like about their appearance

Overall I really like the pinkness and fluffiness! I also like how fancy her outfit is, makes him look all princely/knightly :)

(kinda related I notice that the show likes to put huge focus on Trey’s eyes, especially in his big moments)

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?

I really like both! I’m pretty sure her original name is also canon to the dub? So I like to think Micheal is his name, III a code name, and Trey as a nickname

OTP

:)))))))))))))))) oh. Ya know. :)

I’m so normal about Aztecshipping :) the loyalness and care both Yuma and Trey have for one another, the protector x protectee dynamic, the influence Yuma has on Trey, the matching color scheme, how their decks can work so well together (tag duel my beloved), Trey being a literal knight to Yuma, how they could’ve been friends earlier if it wasn’t for certain story events, I like em a normal amount :D

NOTP

If you ship Trey with her family you should die if I’m being honest

(also cause I saw it before, Trey x Kite)

OT3

Trey/Yuma/Tori (Kouhaishipping) I feel bad I barley talk about them, especially since I did coin the name

listen I think they could be very sweet and cute :) also it’s great thinking about Trey being dragged into the shenanigans that Yuma and Tori get into (put that galguy into more silly situations)

Favorite card they use

Atlantis is so iconic but shout out to tuspa rocket and nebra desk for the great duel links combos 🙏🙏🙏🙏

Favorite moment they were in

HER BIG RETURN💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥

I was SHOCKED when I first saw his return debut episode, iirc her duel links event came before I got to that episode so I think I was surprise that Trey officially becoming Yuma’s friend and officially being a good guy was shown in the show

Anyways back on track, they did his return JUSTICE, coming in immediately after Yuma tells Heartland that his beliefs are the same, throwing a fucking SWORD, A WHOLE ASS SWORD, DIRECTLY TO HEARTLAND’S HEAD, declaring that he will stick to Yuma’s side from now on, Yuma trusting her and giving him his number cards back, gah such a good scene

THE ENTIRE TAG DUEL IS SOOOO GOOD TOO, MY FAVORITE OUT OF ALL THE ZEXAL TRIO/ARCLIGHTS TAG DUELS

Least moment

Listen I know why he did it, but the whole scene where she tells Yuma to piss off during the beginning of the Barian war

Ow ow OWWWWWWWWW it HURTS remembering that moment, especially seeing Trey apologizing to Yuma for what he said and that Yuma is a great friend. OWWWWWWWWWWWW

Random headcanon I have about them

Imma list off two because I’m so normal about Mikey here

Project diva F came out around the zexal time so I like to think post zexal Yuma gets the game and gets Trey to play it with him, unfortunately Trey is kinda bad at rhymn games :(

Before they got together, Trey ask Quattro advice on how to flirt and what pickup lines to use, Quattro gives him the shittest advice AND pickup lines ever, so now whenever Trey tries to use said pick up lines on Yuma anyone around them cringes hard

[chthonicgodling]

WELL here’s my stream of consciousness thoughts typed at 1 am when I had made this post about not posting anything further (ORIGINAL DATE: JANUARY 4TH) and what I’d wanted to post had been this rambly thing, please read the contents of my brain gnawing through the metaphorical walls oh my GOD— ahem:

Loki “I’ve never had a child on purpose” L*ufeyson being clung to by Tory and Maci, “both so fucking possessive” (“is that a bad thing?” “…no”), whose response to that has been okay well let’s get you pregnant on purpose then, and note that that initial statement by Loki anyway was in response to “no I do want a baby with you” which came so fast out of left field that the whiplash and rose colored hearteyes seduction of it all led to a split second decision that was. okay not entirely rationally made, (upon further reflection by a god who’s notoriously cagey and suspicious and —)

oh my god yeah jesus 14 entire kids and STILL never had a child on purpose consciously, subconsciously speaking is a different story but you didn’t hear that from me but ALSO it’s been a decade since the last baby Loki carried - that was Rane in Elysium, before that was Fjöer, but afterwards (Eisa - Einmyria - Vryk - Kaia - Sæunn - lmao Libby?) each were the other way around, AND so ten YEARS ago was a very different - Loki doesn’t cuddle Loki doesn’t do domesticity Loki’s off standing coldly and sneering in the corner while everyone else is piled in a heap making desperate grabby hands for him, at least that was the case for the previous years and years until. like. this last year and a half but ONLY with Maci and Tory. where PREVIOUSLY Rane and Fjöer had each been another standard cut and paste “bolt and hide” situation due to anxious paranoia, through all of Fjöer and briefly through Rane before returning to the palace when pregnant with her and — returning with hackles raised and guard up and starting fights with everyone around the entire time because. like I just said, he doesn’t Do DomesticiTY or— well he never DID until—

ten years later not only is this The First Baby On Purpose it’s also the first fucking bAby in which — like come the fuck on are Tory and Maci letting go of him for any amount of time ever???? absolutely fucking not?????? This is a Can You Fucking Relax We Are Taking Care of You Whether You Like It Or Not Because You’re Safe With Us And Don’t You Forget It-

and the very strange emotional tangled web disaster that has already existed this whole time - LIKE IM WRITING ALL THIS AND THEYRE NOT IN ANY WAY A FORMAL THROUPLE NOR WILL THEY BE THIS IS JUST— ?! ITS SO MUCH *MORE* INSANE THAT THEYRE NOT A THROUPLE LMAO???? - WELL that’s about to crescendo into an absolute tsunami because this!!! Is also The First Baby in which Loki’s accidentally stumbled INTO domesticity and. well that’s a very different vibe to be pregnant within f,,,For the first time oh, ever. that’s. that’s very.

in short. essentially. I am going to lose my mind.

AND THATS NOT ALL JUST WAIT

PHEW IVE HAD TO KEEP THIS IN MY BRAIN SINCE JANUARY. I’m sssSsooOoOoooOoooooOooOOOO—

[wackymaci]

thank u all for your bulletpoint approval<33 Here is….

the ENTIRE Early Events section timeline copypasted beneath the cut :3

Maci and Tory meet - OoC - circa. 2009

Maci and Tory become codependent best friends (platonically - promise), and they begin to spend every minute together all the time. Eventually for funsies, Maci takes Tory to her home in the Underworld for the first time, where -

Tory and Maci accidentally run into Hypnos, but also Thanatos, villain extraordinaire - very awkward, and Thanatos is such a dick during this run-in, but Tory has no idea about Maci and Thanatos' full history. Thanatos sweetly promises not to rat them out to Maci's dad Hades.

After that whole extremely weird encounter ends, at the Phlegethon River Tory realizes for the first time that he's in love with Maci. Thinking she's way out of his league, Tory decides to keep it a secret from her. Maci is also completely in love with him by this point, but hasn't clued into her own emotions yet, let alone Tory's.

Unbeknownst to Maci and Tory, on his end Thanatos says nothing to Hades but beelines straight to Melinoe (her OrigiMel incarnation, AKA other villain extraordinare) and rats them out to her. OrigiMel devises a scheme to make Maci's life miserable, using Tory as a pawn.

Thanatos, at OrigiMel's direction, attacks Tory with glee. He tells Tory during the assault that this attack comes by order of Hades, "to keep Tory away from his daughter." This is a complete lie but Tory has no idea, and hides the event from Maci, lying by omission to her about how he received his injuries.

Reluctantly, Tory distances himself discreetly from Maci for her own protection, fearing her father could retaliate against her, though they continue to regularly talk by phone.

OrigiMel creates a ghoul in the shape of Maci's mom Seph to attack Tory with, and, now that Maci is not glued to Tory's side, she sets this creature loose after him.

Tory is physically and sexually assaulted by this phantom wearing Seph's face. Though it vanishes after the attack, it leaves Tory half-dead and believing Maci's own mother had attacked him. Afraid of upsetting Maci by exposing the crimes of her parents to her, Tory instead calls his mortal friend Jesse for help.

After several days of Tory in bad shape refusing to talk to anyone, Jesse steals Tory’s phone to track down Maci, the only other friend he knew Tory had. Jesse tells her something horrible had happened and that he’s worried about Tory; concerned, Maci promptly teleports over just as Tory realizes who Jesse was talking to -

- and she arrives just in time for the tail-end of Tory's panicked rage, accidentally overhearing him reveal exactly what "Hades" and "Persephone" had done. The world stops. Everyone collapses. Tory breaks down and leaves, but Maci follows.

Tory tearfully confesses that he's in love with Maci, after she tearfully asks him why he hadn't told her who had hurt him. Tory's confession causes it to finally, finally click for Maci that she loves him, too and always has.

Tory doesn't believe her when she says it - Not until they share their first kiss.

Maci and Tory officially become a couple.

Furious at the (alleged) actions of her parents, Maci refuses to return to the Underworld, dropping off the grid by staying at Tory's side in the mortal world for the next few months.

Eventually, Maci realizes she's homesick despite it all. She and Tory together sneak into the main palace of the Underworld, hiding in her bedroom to avoid running into the King or Queen.

Seph, the real one, innocently finds them anyway. She's shocked and confused at the eruptions of rage from Maci and Tory together, having literally no idea what they're accusing her of. Seph hears her alleged crime and swears a Styx oath that she had nothing to do with it.

Blindsided by Seph's innocence, the partially healed wound re-opens. Maci, Tory, and Seph together try to figure out who actually could have done it, retracing through the scene step by step. They realize OrigiMel-Melinoe was behind the attack.

Seph leaves to hunt OrigiMel down.

Shaken, Maci and Tory move to the first time to the Elysium palace for safety - and they never, ever leave. 💖

LOTS OF TIME PASSES! Things that happen during this duration:

Maci and Tory sleep together for the first time and... many, many more times.

Tory meets Pasi (and Hypnos again - also, a surprise reveal that Pasi is pregnant with Icy!).

Tory and Maci meet Glaukos.

A still-mortal Jesse is invited to spend time in the palace and starts hanging out in the Underworld, too.

Maci and Tory have their first ever threesome - with Glaukos; their second ever threesome is with Jesse.

Glaukos meets Oiolyka, they start dating and she makes friends with Maci and Tory... leading, obviously, into their first ever foursome of course.

Finally eventually! Seph does find OrigiMel and hauls her off to Tartartus, telling Hades she'd attacked a "random mortal" and framed her for it.

Thanatos innocently mentions to Hades that he'd seen Maci with that very random mortal long ago... huh, so weird.

Hades summons Maci to ask her more about it. Maci goes ballistic, accusing Hades of playing dumb in front of everyone, yelling at him that course they both knew Hades had sent Thanatos after Tory months ago just because he hated the thought of Maci dating a mortal.

RECORD SCRATCH “—You're WHAT?!” Oops! Maci realizes Thanatos is, as always, a fucking liar. The good news: Thanatos had never told Hades about Tory. The bad news: that meant Thanatos was after him himself; the worse news? Hades knew about Tory now. Hades... does not react well.

Filling Tory in on the catastrophic turn of events, Maci at last tells him the full story about her past with Thanatos. The reality of Tory's mortality finally dawns on Maci and begins to haunt her.

Maci asks Tory to think about choosing to become a god for her, maybe even getting married. The answer is obviously duh yes; Tory returns topside to tie up some loose ends.

While Tory is topside, Hades finds Tory, drags him to hell and tries to kill him. Maci calls Seph first, gives up and goes after Hades herself - Seph interrupts and does save the day! Tory formally asks/agrees to marry Maci (literally with Hades and Seph arguing in the background).

Maci and Tory proceed to have THE MOST OBNOXIOUS, BIGGEST EVER WEDDING - and Tory becomes a god! - OoC - circa. 2010 - Also, this marks an informal “end” to the Taci saga; everything else following from here on out starts to become events around Maci and Tory, as our cast grows.

Maci and Tory meet Laphi; then Eury and Epi.

Thanatos, sore loser, fumes that OrigiMel's plans all failed and Tory is now immortal, of all things. He goes after Maci to target and fuck with Tory, and attacks her badly, leaving her in a three day coma.

Now a deity himself, Tory goes after Thanatos and finally beats the absolute shit out of him, including snapping his spine and limbs - retaliation for all that Thanatos has ever done. This act of revenge triggers Tory's rise to power as the God of Grudges & Blood Feuds. Maci gets her injuries supernaturally healed and adds the event to her endless compartmentalized backlog of un-dealt-with trauma.

OrigiMel walks straight out of Tartarus once she hears what Tory had done to Thanatos. She ascends to the mortal world and kills 1,001 mortals in a single night bloodbath, murdering each in the exact method of injury Tory had done to Thanatos. The very last mortal is Tory's own mother, killed directly in front of him.

Tory goes after OrigiMel. In a fit of rage and grief, he retaliates against her by physically tearing her heart out of her chest and leaving her imprisoned in a cage over the Phelegethon.

Maci and Epi locate and retrieve OrigiMel, erasing her memory to release her collection of shades and free the soul of Tory's mom. OrigiMel reverts to blank slate Melinoe, the evil half of her losing its hold at last.

Epi takes Melinoe home with him as his and Eury's adopted daughter in a split second decision at the banks of the Phelegethon.

Thanatos is forced into swearing a Styx oath to leave the palace alone in exchange for his injuries being healed.

The blank slate Melinoe under Eury and Epi's care is overtaken at last by her good half. Melinoe officially becomes Meli, embracing Eury and Epi as her parents.

phew the end!!! FOR NOW….. I will absolutely post The Next Section just like this when it’s done!! Sneak preview of THAT-

eee!!! EEEEEE GASP,, lmao why am I even making a wiki when I could probably accomplish the same goal w this extended timeline thing (because I cannot shut up that’s why)

[tomoyajpeg]

White Brim | BATTLEROYAL/10

[ powered by ois~su ♪ ]

Eichi: You’re awfully long-winded, Tsukasa-kun. I wonder if Keito’s been a bad influence on the archery club.

Tsukasa: Hasumi-senpai has nothing to do with this! Please stop changing the subject!

Eichi: I believe that I’ve been speaking consistently this whole time. If you think my statements are scattered, it’s your own fault that you can’t connect the information in your head.

Tsukasa: .......

Eichi: Fufu. If you go silent so earnestly, thinking “maybe that is the case,” you’ll never be able to control those egoistical Knights of yours.

If you, too, want to be a “king” - a sovereign - you ought to learn that trying to keep everyone’s opinion in mind is an exercise in foolishness.

For example, let’s say that you’ve been obstinate up until now. Although you’re thoroughly acting like you want to settle things once and for all with that adorable Tori...

Tsukasa: Yes! In the previous battle, I was but a mere step away from cornering him, so next time I shall be certain to bring him down with my own two hands!

...We have similar familial circumstances, so if I didn’t have an opportunity like this, I wouldn’t be able to face him head-on. That’s why it has to be tonight.

Eichi: That’s true. Our fates are tied by blood to the houses we were born and raised in.

If you and Tori were to begin going at it in earnest, in the worst-case scenario it could lead to a bloody feud between your families.

This isn’t equivalent to classmates getting into a little fight just because they don’t like each other, the way commoners do. The two of you aren’t just high school students, you’re burdened with representing your entire family.

Tsukasa: Indeed. I, of course, understand that reasoning.

That is why I can normally only get into trivial arguments with that awful child, so my Frustration has accumulated.

Therefore, it’s precisely because I have the opportunity now that I...

Eichi: No. Therefore, that’s precisely why that wish of yours will never be granted.

Tsukasa: ...?

Eichi: Let’s start over from the beginning, Tsukasa-kun.

To begin with, “clamming” originated from a tragedy that unwound a long, long time ago.

I don’t know how much you’ve heard about the rise of our families from your parents...

But whatever you’ve heard has likely been glorified. That’s business as normal for the victors.

It’s a tale from long ago. One after another, we marched into lands of abundance as ill-mannered invaders and drove out the people who peacefully lived there.

And so, to put it simply, our family prospered by usurping resources from the natives.

This is the original sin shared by all those “noble people” who sprung up around Yumenosaki long ago, the burden they carry.

“Clamming” is a ritual to ensure we never forget that bloodstained history of ours.

That we are unsightly fishermen who grew fat on the overfishing of innocent fish.

Tsukasa: .......

Eichi: As expected of a family descended from warriors, will you settle your dispute with your fated rival fair and square, in a duel? In your mind, you must be imagining a glorious tale of heroism, right?

But let’s take a look at reality, Tsukasa-kun. We are demons who trample on the weak from our overwhelmingly advantageous position, gobbling up each and every one of them.

In your current state, where you’ve been divided into “fishermen” and “fish”, you won’t be able to settle things the way you wished for. You shouldn’t settle things like this.

This isn’t a proud duel. It’s taking your hated opponent and beating them to death while you have the upper hand - that’s just bullying.

Eichi: Is any further explanation of why I’m stopping you necessary?

Tsukasa: No... I apologize, Onii-sama. I’ve cooled my head.

I see, so our houses had such a gruesome past...

Eichi: Well, it’s more like a fairy tale. To err on the side of caution, I’ll make it clear now that I don’t know whether it’s true or false.

Besides, you’re an honest, kind, and good boy, so it seems like hearing about our history has hurt your heart.

The moral I got from listening to the legend of “clamming” is that any evil deed can be justified.

Tsukasa: ...?

Eichi: History is written by the victors. All we have to do is embellish the circulated history with some flowery language, and pretend to reflect on our actions behind the scenes just like this—

By carrying out a secret ritual that not a single soul knows about.

And thus we hold a memorial service for those we’ve trampled upon, comforting our own hearts.

We can eat delicious fish sashimi with the same mouth we use to promise that we’ll never allow such a tragedy to happen again. An empty promise, of course.

It really moved me, Tsukasa-kun. What’s beautiful is filthy, what’s filthy is beautiful— when something’s altogether far too hideous, on the contrary it seems as if it’s all the more lovely.

We never learned from our past mistakes. Why? Because we never thought they were mistakes.

And this isn’t some fairy tale from long ago. Even now, it’s our very common “everyday life” that gets reenacted again and again.

We continue to usurp and conquer. In Yumenosaki, in ES, we grow by stealing resources from others. Justifying those disgusting acts, then sometimes pretending to reflect on our actions.

Eichi: Living by devouring the weak for sustenance.

[ ☆ ]

[demetriandelibinaryboyfriends]

The Tory Prom Parable: A Fix-It Fic in Polls: Part 3

Part 1: link

Part 2: link

And the winner is:

You walk out of the prom dress rental depot wearing this bombshell. Complete with a big scandalous slit in the side, just because you can! You have never felt more absolutely kickass in your entire life, not even when you nearly stabbed Samantha LaRusso to death with a spike bracelet that one time. Or tried to beat the crap out of her with nunchucks. Those are hard to top, but...well, this is a different kind of kickass. You sort of want to murder someone with poison lipstick tonight. How do the femme fatales in movies do it?

Robby is waiting for you in Sensei Silver's nice-ass rental car. God, this man has resources. Whatever the hell he was up to after the war, he made bank. But hey--who are you to complain? It's nice to get a taste of the good life now and again, even if you'd rather not know where all that cold hard cash is coming from.

Sensei Silver wouldn't like. Blackmail you something to do with your mom's dialysis, right? No, of course not. Sensei Kreese is a good guy. Really got you out of a fix. Any friend of his is also a good guy deep down, right?

As you strut over, Robby wolf whistles at you. He's just messing around, but you decide to play along a bit. This whole night is about pretending to be a dumb bougie rich kid who actually cares about shit like prom, so you might as well commit to the bit.

You do a dramatic spin, and show off some different angles:

WORK IT GIRL

Robby jokingly says you're a knockout. You jokingly ask if he brought any condoms. He jokingly says he did. You jokingly wonder how much you're actually joking.

***

Congrats--you have successfully made it to the prom! You park in an illegal spot because fuck the police. You link arms with Robby Keene and walk into the vapid, B.O.-scented high school dance in the power stance of the century. Maybe it's your egotism speaking, but you're pretty sure everyone turns to look at the both of you.

And there are fucking Miguel Diaz and Sam LaRusso, dancing all around the dance floor like they own the place. Having far too good a time. Fucken show offs. Ugh. Almost like they came here to participate in the popular teenage ritual of dressing up, drinking punch, and grooving to pop music! What losers.

But when you walk in and demand everyone else's attention...what choice do they have but to join in?

Oh nice!!! You already pissed them off!!! Well, that was easy. Should be all smooth sailing from here.

You decide to take a gander at the dance floor and get the lay of the land. Kyler, Piper, and some other Cobras came in a group. That's good--you can hit them up if Prince Traitor Boy and Princess LaRusso decide to start anything. Hawk is sulking in the corner with that lame-ass nerd kid he ditched y'all for. Hell yeah! He looks like he's already having a bad time, along with that Demetri loser. Karma for inconveniencing you, one of (if not the) most important people in the Valley. (Or at least you will be after you win the AVT.) Hawk's ex is also here, partying with a gaggle of girls. Good for her, honestly--she could do better than Hawk's backstabbing ass. Bitches with no dojo loyalty get no bitches.

Some generic Top 40s dance hit comes on. Robby offers you his hand, and you take the floor. Time to be the most obnoxious pair at the West Valley High Junior Prom!

And...damn. This kid can groove. He spins you like it's second nature. He waltzes to and fro with almost perfect rhythm. When you follow his lead, you manage to move in perfect sync, despite having practiced dancing maybe twice in your life and also wearing high heels longer than Hawk's d*ck.

You put your leg around him and yank him toward you, showing off your fine specimen of a leg to the dance floor. Damn right, everyone wishes they had legs like yours!

And--oh, shit! Now he's lifting you clean off the floor! This kid is stronger than he looks, damn. And now he's dipping you like he's been practicing dipping women every night for his entire life???

Okay, that was kinda hot.

No, no, bad Tory. This is a fake date meant to prove a point and aggravate Sam LaRusso and Miguel Diaz. You're doing evil petty revenge--the last thing you need to do is catch feelings for your partner in crime.

Remember what happened last time you caught feelings for a boy??? That's right--he got kicked off a balcony!

By...the same dude who is now your prom date, actually.

Huh. Now that is the height of irony.

Speaking of Miguel, though! It's around this time you decide to check up on what him and his snooty girlfriend are doing. Surely still watching your dance routine in aghast horror, disgusted but unable to look away, right?

Wait, where'd they go?

You notice Robby also scanning the room with a furrowed brow, apparently experiencing the same confusion. He looks at you for answers, but all you can do is give him an agitated shrug.

"Let's check the punch table," he says. Right, yeah. They're probably stuffing their faces with free snacks. How lame. People as rich as Moneybags LaRusso should never be allowed free snacks!

Off to the punch table you go! But alas, no sign of your least favorite couple of all time. You and Robby begin a thorough search and inspection of the prom venue, leaving no hallway unchecked, no storage closet unopened, and no tablecloth unlifted.

People really gotta learn it's useless to hide from you. LaRusso sure tried at the arcade, and how did that turn out for her?

Maybe if you can get that Demetri kid alone, you could totally team up with Robby and break his arm again. He'd just be the Broken Arm Kid forever and no one would ever hire him! Bonus points if you do it in front of Hawk like "hey, remember when you did this that one time? Good times, right?"

How those two boys swept all that shit under the rug is beyond you. If someone broke your arm, you'd probably just kill them as soon as you got better. Eh, you avoided juvie once--you can do it again.

"What are you smiling about?" Robby asks. A little teasing, but genuinely curious.

It suddenly occurs to you that fantasizing about re-breaking a kid's arm is probably...not a great look. Whoops.

Like Robby is down for evil prom revenge and all, but he might draw the line somewhere. Who knows.

"Oh, I'm just reveling in the fact we scared them into a corner somewhere," you tell Robby.

But you double-check and triple-check and quadruple-check every last corner, and...no sign of Cheater Diaz and Princess LaRusso.

It appears they bounced!!! Unfortunately, since this is a fix-it fic, other characters besides you will also be acting in-character and not like they were replaced by cheap imitation doppelgangers who behave completely fucking differently. Which means, of course, that when Sam and Miguel see the people who attempted murder on them twice and paralyzed and nearly killed them, respectively, they're going to want to haul ass out of there as quickly as possible. Since, you know, a panic response would realistically take over and overpower any desire Sam and Miguel have to "show you up."

Uh oh. You definitely forgot to account for the fact that your targets could just fucking leave. And now you're at a dumb high school dance with no one to harass. This is awkward.

But what can I say? Did you really think they were going to just stand around and glare at you all night, without even moving to the other side of the dance floor to try and avoid you? That wouldn't make any sense.

Well...if you want to know where they went, exactly, Hawk and Demetri might know. Except the one problem with asking them is that they both fucking hate you. And Robby. So that's not going to work.

You could try asking Hawk's ex, it's just be uh. Really fucking awkward, because Moon is friends with Sam and probably remembers the whole spike-bracelet-and-nunchucks ordeal. So it's doubtful she'll want to help you out either. But you've got a better chance with her than with Hawk and Demetri, that's for sure.

[dykesynthezoid]

You asked for it.

!!!! Samtory summer camp !!!!

Ages? Are they campers or counselors?

Are you planning for a long one or more on the short side?

This sounds amazing, btw.

OH they’d be counselors, (the original inspo for this fic was seeing gifs of Peyton in Bunk’d) and honestly it would probably get long lmao

Here were the ideas I had written down already:

• The summer after they graduate highschool, Tory ends up getting a job as a camp counselor; she actually gets hired pretty easily seeing as she has history working with kids and experience in childcare

• One major bonus is that Brandon gets to go to camp pretty much for free, and she can even keep an eye on him

• Her and Robby are still pretty close even after they broke up early in senior year; they’ve since both come out to each other and are kind of each other’s best friends. Because of this Tory pulls a classic move of encouraging him to apply for a camp counselor position as well.

• The summer rolls around, though, and when Tory arrives at camp for orientation it’s not just Robby who’s there, but Miguel, Demetri, Piper, and Sam too

• She accuses Robby of telling everyone else about this job and he’s like “Umm no?? I told my dad because he’s my dad, and then he mentioned it to Miguel, and then Miguel told everyone else.”

• Sure, the rivalry between Sam and Tory is (supposedly) long over, but there’s more to it than that

• Tory will say it’s incredibly awkward because of what happened at senior prom. ie, she got sloshed at an after party and, supposedly, tried to kiss Sam and then Sam punched her. It’s possible (read: likely) that this version of events is not entirely accurate (esp bc she was very drunk).

• Tory does not know this though. So she has been angsting for weeks.

• Things are very obviously tense between her and Sam again, and the “friendly competition” encouraged between cabins is not helping

• Demetri spends the whole time constantly taking facetime calls from Hawk (who’s on vacation with his parents) and this is confusing to everyone else considering the service where they are is like, really bad and there’s only one cabin that has wifi so they don’t even know how he’s doing it

• Brandon ends up in Robby’s group which Tory is glad for, bc she trusts him with her brother and she has an excuse to visit with both of them

• Shoutout to Piper who literally has to share a cabin with Sam and Tory and catches on to the dyke drama immediately.

• Also there’s a running gag where Piper and Miguel keep accidentally hitting on the same people (mostly the other camp counselors who aren’t their friends)

• The tension between Sam and Tory is ofc eventually resolved but only in the messiest and most confusing ways possible. Also they’re stupid

• Even after that they’re both assuming this must just be a summer fling even though they both secretly want more

• Tory is ofc assuming Sam’s gonna go somewhere far away for college and leave her behind (she’s not, and Tory would know this if she just asked, but again, they’re stupid)

I probably wouldn’t be able to rlly work on it until I was done w hearts on noorderstraat but. I would love to be able to be writing it by the summer (esp bc it’s thematically appropriate lol)

[adj4mp]

Kys lib cunt. Starmer is a red Tory, is a liar, and has presided over purging of the genuine left in Labour. They are enacting more austerity. Also, cops protect private property. They don't actually protect ordinary people. You're a bootlicker.

I'm always interested to see other perspectives. And it's almost gratifying to get my first hate comment.

A lot of what you're reading on my blog was written a month or sometimes more before it was posted, I don't often go back and reread and reconfirm the things that are about to be posted in light of more recent events. Maybe I should but I would prefer if what I write isn't beholden to the exact nature of current events.

I am going to assume I got this comment specifically in response to my posts on Kier Starmer, What he said on the King's Speech, and perhaps even what I wrote about the Two Child Benefit Cap since the ask came in shortly after those posts went live. And most likely because I was mildly positive of Starmer

Posts during which I said:

there are no specific job requirements for being Prime Minister

while not entirely unifying he's certainly a competent leader of the party.

I do worry about a few things he's said, there are progressive rights I'd like to see championed but he's been pushed into a box, he's said some things that deeply trouble me

I've seen and heard worrying things from other ministers since the election and that those things have remained publically unchallenged and haven't been retracted makes me question

I'm fully expecting a government that is if not small c conservative then at least one that isn't going to push the boundaries of what was acceptable 10 years ago

Starmer sounds a lot like a true believer in many regards for the things in which he champions

The actions of the government to remove the whip for the few 'rebels' that voted for these amendments is somewhat disheartening

The good being that he's a competent leader and that he's a true believer do not imply that he's the best possible leader nor that those truly held beliefs are the ones I agree with.

The neutral being that there is no explicit prerequisites for being PM technically speaking anyone could be PM it doesn't need to be Starmer just someone with a modicum of public confidence at least at the time of appointment. And that he's not unifying, he's divisive within the Labour Party pushing out left-leaning members, and he's divisive within the country as a whole at least right now, but I'm confident almost anyone else as PM would be as divisive nationally.

The bad being that he's not progressive, that he's not going to make things better for a lot of social issues, and that he hasn't made any efforts to pull back from any of the harmful things that have been said by other members of his government who he's appointed, and that he's actively pushing out people who put personal morality above party unity.

When I've done write-ups about who has what position, of which this is the first, my aim hasn't been to work out which candidate could be best for that role, I don't have any say in that so it'd be wasted effort. Instead, the posts are both to understand why a given person has been given the role they have and why they might have accepted that role.

If I can see and explain these things then I can begin to understand their positions on the issues that come up and work out how best to appeal to them.

There is another post that was spun off from this but I will queue that for tomorrow.

[narrativerehearsal]

The point about thinking only bad people can be radicalised being dangerous is an extremely important one. 

There was a time when JKR was viewed as the unproblematic queen of the left. It may not have been in the text but she made Dumbledore gay when it was barely legal to mention anything queer to children (I’m being very literal there. The first five books were published and the sixth written when Section 28 was still law and no publisher would have been legally able to mention a gay character in a children’s book).

At that time the very idea that she could ever be viewed as homophobic, or ever even remotely consider siding with a Conservative government on any issue was bizarre. The face she showed the public was inclusive and very anti Tory.

But she also went from as poor as you can be without being homeless to astronomically rich in a short period of time, had the eyes of the world on her and was really quite viciously stalked and harassed by the less ethical corners of the press. Her phone was tapped, her children stalked, friends she hadn’t spoken to in years and distant family members had people turn up on their doorsteps trying to dig up any possible story about her. 

As a result she wound up extremely paranoid. I live in Edinburgh. A workman who came to fix something at my house told me he’d worked on a garden wall for her and there had been a rule of no phones allowed anywhere near her property and there was a line around the house that they weren’t allowed to cross or even approach. I’ve heard similar stories from people who have friends living near her.

People who live in that kind of state of paranoia (whether justified or not) are very easily radicalised by anyone who plays on their fears and offers any kind of safety, whether real or imagined. Yes, it could be that the bigot who has recently sided with the Tories on several occasions was always there underneath. But it also equally possible that in the past there was only ignorance on some things and that the bigotry and political swing is new and entirely the result of paranoia enabled radicalisation.

The desire to retroactively demonise everything she’s ever done and assume she was bigoted from birth is understandable, but it doesn’t reflect the reality of how people can and do change for a whole variety of reasons and that sometimes even the best people can become something you’d never have imagined possible.

It’s actively important to remember that good people can go down some horribly twisted paths, because if you reassure yourself that ‘good people’ will always remain good then you lose the ability to self reflect and examine your own ideas, or examine the difference between an actively malicious viewpoint and a confused and ignorant one.

I've been a little confused by the revisionist history of people saying Dave Chappelle was never funny. Maybe not everyone dug him, but he has been on quite a few GOAT lists for stand up. During his peak in the 2000s it was not uncommon for folks to consider him the best performing stand up since Carlin and Pryor. I was among those people. Perhaps the people saying he was never funny were too young to appreciate him during that time. I don't know.

But I don't think we need to pretend like he always sucked. His fall from grace is an important thing to acknowledge. With people like him and JK Rowling, we are collectively trying to figure out how to deal with artists we love letting us down. It's a good conversation to have. If we just say "well, they always sucked" I think we are avoiding dealing with it.

[walkingstackofbooks]

DS9 3x24 Shakaar thoughts (I’m re-watching, so beware spoilers for future episodes!)

(31/05/2023)

There's just something about Sisko playing darts with Miles :3 I don't think we've seen Sisko just socialising casually before? The crew is becoming found family more and more <3 

"The new head of the Provisional government ... is Kai Winn." DRAMATIC MUSIC. Valid choice, it's pretty bad

"It has been my observation that one of the prices of giving people freedom of choice is that sometimes they make the wrong choice." Feels. That's too close to home (I can't wait for the 2024 election but I'm also terrified that somehow we STILL won't get the Tories out...)

"It's for Vedek Bareil, ACTUALLY." Oh I love you Kira, I'm sorry you have to talk to this woman. 

"He never wanted fame or glory for what he did. As someone who loved him, I'm surprised you didn't that." I HATE HER. YOU THINK YOU'RE SUCH A GOOD MANIPULATOR BUT YOU'RE ACTUALLY JUST A DREADFUL PERSON. And just because someone wasn't seeking game as their motive, doesn't mean you can't recognise their contributions! 

Kira calmly walking away because she feels she needs to be diplomatic with Winn and is seconds away from yelling probably. Proud of you <3

Winn is THE most loathesome character. "Vedek Bareil used to tell me that you could be quite persuasive when you put your mind to it, child." Yuck

Ohh, Kira's smile as she hears about her old friends ❤❤❤

Interesting that he calls her Nerys, but she calls him Shakaar

Can't believe Quark actually persuaded Miles to do the darts and not kayak!

"Somehow replacing the arm seems ungrateful." There's something that really gets me about this. I guess it's just allowing war to be so unapologetically ugly?

The wind in Kira's hair is so powerful. She's beautiful.

"Did you explain to Shakaar that you were there on the direct authority of the First Minister?" She loves power so much, and it's so obvious she thinks she should be respected just because of that authority - she doesn't even try to earn it.

"Shakaar sounds like a prideful and arrogant man." SHUT UP, THAT'S WHAT YOU AR-- "It also seems there's no reasoning with him." Oh my GOODNESS, she's clearly just making excuses why is actually his fault she won't talk to him!

"This isn't your fight, Nerys. Go home." "I am home, Shakaar, and I have been lied to by Kai Winn for the last time. She wants a fight, I'll give her one." YES KIRA

"Don't worry, coach. I won't let you down." Idk just Julian smiling at Miles and everyone being so supportive :3 

I love that Miles bring "in the zone" is the entire B plot though XD

"Look, I'm in the zone. I just need- ARGH! I just need surgery... :/" Ohhh, you tried, Miles 

I'm honestly not sure if they're faking it or not - but Miles is a good actor if so. 

"It's been two weeks since I was forced to send the militia into Dahkur Province." FORCED?! FORCED?!!!!

"I'm more than willing to do that, on one condition... I'd like you to provide a Federation security force to take their place." That's... That's not what he's saying though. He's saying any force out there is Not What Is Needed. 

"I wasn't aware that our relationship needed solidifying." Sisko calmly rebutting Winn will always be my favourite, he's so good at taking her down in a way that's polite yet savage.

"So, you're refusing my request for aid?" "I suppose I am." I love him <3

"That would be an unfortunate overreaction." Which she knows but thinks she can get away with and make the whole ordeal - and rejecting Federation membership - look perfectly reasonable.

"This is a test, a test by the Prophets. They want to see if I'm worthy [...] I will not fail them. I will stop Shakaar by any means necessary." The scary thing is I actually think she believes that this is The Right And Moral Thing To Do. She's terrifying. And just The Worst. 

I really, really love the way this is solved. Real Bajorans not wanting to hurt and fight each other, and recognising they have the power to change something so stupid. 

"So this is a coup?" "No, it's a free election." Well, kind of both if you have military backing... But I love Winn not getting her way. 

(Why did they give her the power of First Minister before having the elections? But I guess it's good they did, or she wouldn't have had enough rope to hang herself with before her power was solidified with a vote.)

Why is Julian looking so shocked at throwing a twenty? It's funny when pre-augmentation things don't quite make sense and you have to headcanon them away. (I'm saying he wasn't really thinking about what he was doing and didn't realise he'd thrown until the board beeped with success.)