#anyway this episode was really fun for me so that I could see them interact

[sbd-laytall]

If you want to kill Lois, you'll have to kill me.

Smallville | 7.12 | "Fracture"

[chronicbitchsyndrome]

i have been in community with profoundly developmentally disabled peers and peers with brain damage my whole life, bc i had a childhood diagnosis. i have also been leftist my whole life; my mother was a marxist and raised me that way, and while their politics were absolute dogshit, they were lefty dogshit.

my entire life, i have seen leftist educators throw mentally disabled people away as "lost causes" because they couldn't engage with the material the way it was being presented. leftist outreach and education does, genuinely, have a massive lack of accessible material. to be blunt, people are not interested in retrofitting their leftist outreach to be accessible to people who learn best through episodes of sesame street.

as in, i have repeatedly faced outright laughter and cruelty over the idea that this could be a priority. or even something that we consider doing at all.

"people who are that mentally disabled don't need to know about these things," the kindest interpretation goes. ("people who are that mentally disabled don't interact with the world, anyway, they're all in institutions or monitored 24/7 by their parents," the uncharitable underlying assumptions go. "they wouldn't be a worker who needs a union. or a library attendee. or a member of the community garden. or a volunteer at the food bank. or or or")

the people i have seen this hurt the worst, over and over again, are profoundly mentally disabled people of color whose lack of access to accessible antiracist education is causing real danger in their lives. institutionalized disabled people of color who have learned racist ideology and behaviors from white authority, whether they were adopted by white families or incarcerated in care institutions run by white staff. who are treated lower than garbage by leftist educators, who view them as "lost causes," as unworthy of time and effort and attention, as deserving of their abuses because they... what... internalized the abuses that make up every aspect of their lives since birth?

i see people saying things in this conversation like "disability isn't an excuse for racism or transphobia or whatever, people have the obligation to improve themselves." oh, believe me, i have seen again and again how many privileged disabled people utilize their disabilities to punch down on others, try to escape accountability for their punching down by citing disability. but individual weaponization of identity is just that: weaponization of identity.

the power structures at play are what they are. it is a noble and admirable goal to want leftist outreach and education to be more accessible to all. if that is truly your goal, you must eventually reckon with the existence of people who do, actually, really need it presented in a picture book. or an episode of bluey. or a conversation where you only use examples of people they know in real life, using things that happened to them personally. the existence of people who cannot grasp forms of abstract reasoning, who need information presented as rules, or as guidelines, or as categories. the idea that yes, fully grown adults who need daniel tiger to explain racism to them are human beings who not only deserve access to that very thing, but who also deserve to be a part of leftist spaces and benefit from leftist organizing. are people for whom it might be INTEGRAL they get to be a part of leftism. are victims of racism themselves and suffering without access to antiracist spaces and community and support.

and you will need to reckon with the abject cruelty of your peers who laugh and mock the very idea of this. you need to reckon with the fact that a lot of people you respect, a lot of leftists doing genuinely good work, will respond to this by making fun of the people you're serving, even outright telling you their violent fantasies about these people. that is the experience of organizing in leftist spaces for profoundly disabled people. that is why so many of us burn out so fast. there IS a structural problem with mentally disabled people being seen as disposable and not a part of community. and it is EXTREMELY present in leftist organizing and outreach efforts.

[tired-demonspawn]

im working on something else rn but a lil while ago i made a star wars au, so here you go :)

the main idea is written in the corner but imma tldr it(also i dont trust the upload quality of the pic): set in roughly prequel era robotnik used to be a high up republic special weapons group guy and, as a high up military guy, was assigned a jedi bodyguard, that being stone.

once his inventions got a bit too war-crime-y the republic had him jailed and stone (who fell in love with him) breaks him out and they start being weapons dealers

other misc details under the cut

okay so some of these are mentioned in the pic but i wanted to specify/expand/clarify:

stone never really falls to the dark side, that's actually why he couldn't bleed his own crystal (which let's be completely clear he would be willing to do for robotnik), he simply didnt have the hate and pain necessary to do it. he follows robotnik, his devotion and duty to him is what gives him strength in the force(think knights of zakuul)

to go with his brand, also just to show that he could, robotnik made stone a lightsaber with a black market red kyber crystal... smthn smthn your lightsaber is your life...

i went with orange for his original one because

it provides a nice contrast with the rest of his fit

it goes with robotnik's colour scheme

he simply does not have the temperament of a purple lightsaber, i dunno man the vibes are off

for my fourth reason let me present to you a quick clone wars episode concept:

--

(clone wars intro music)(random quote) UNCERTAINTY HAS GRIPPED THE REPUBLIC! the separatists have captured a republic military research vessel along with its scientists and military generals! it is up to only 3 brave jedi to save them.

(i fucked up the tone of the intro guy by the middle, and also i dont really have a 3rd guy i just wrote 3 cuz it seemed like a number they would use)

anyway gimmick clone wars intro aside

robotnik was forced entirely into the military uniform(including non special gloves) for a special scientific military meeting where "even jedi werent allowed" it obviously being a trap robotnik had a few aces up his sleeve, but even so, stone was told to stay on alert, because robotnik was most definitely getting kidnapped.

so when robotnik misses all 3 agreed upon check ins stone contacts the council(hes already somewhere with a lot of jedi, its not just a matter of "he thought it best to report"(and waste precious time that could be spent saving the doctor?) but "he literally cannot take a ship and leave without it raising suspicion"), he basically tells them something like "we cant waste any time arguing, im going. i am closest to the last reported location" so the council sticks 2 more people on him(if it was an actual episode they would most likely be already established, so we could see a "familiar face" interacting with this new character of stone)

anyway they find where did the seps take them because obviously robotnik chipped himself.

with the correct password(that only stone has(not that he knows that hes the only one)) robotnik can be tracked even through hyperspace(not exactly, but it at least gives a general quadrant of space, which ofc after leaving hyperspace gets pin-point accurate)

they get to the base, they sneak around trying to find how to get to the prisoners(because its nice that they have robotniks coordinates to the tenth of a milimetre, but they dont have the base blueprints)

during the dramatic peak of the ep, there's a weirdly menacing moment where the mild mannered jedi knight, that was kinda made fun of the entire episode for being "reduced to an errand boy" can actually swing a lightsaber around pretty well.

and then he unties robotnik, helps him up, asks if hes alright("of course not, imbecile! what took you?" "the tracker wasnt as accurate while in hyperspace as you theorised" "hm. well in any case none of this would happen if it werent for this stupid uniform" "i have a change of clothes prepared for you in the ship") aaannnd the errand boy is back

fast forward, robotnik was both arrested and freed, is now doing his own thing.

the two knights that were with stone in that "initial episode" are snooping around one of robotnik's labs, investigating this new arms dealer. they're on a terminal of some sort and behind them out of focus of the camera a bright orange lightsaber ignites, contrasting sharply against the red/blue tones of the lab.

"you aren't welcome here." the former jedi knight says.

--

and scene

so yea hope that last bit sold you on the orange lightsaber bit

originally wanted to post this au with more art attached but alas life had other plans.

anyway if you've read this far i hope you have a nice rest of your day :)

also dont be afraid to ask any questions about this au, i have so many thoughts about it, so im 100% sure i didnt include something i deffo have figured out because i either a) forgor 💀 or b) didnt know how to properly explain a vague feeling about a possible situation

[dadvans]

i am just so sad right now. like going into s8 i didn’t think bucktommy would be endgame, but the way s8 started changed my mind, so to have them be literally so in love for 5 episodes straight just to have them break up in the most abrupt way?? it just feels so last minute which is shocking because in the interviews this was apparently a planned thing but it doesn’t feel like it at all. Like if this was a concern Tommy had why didn’t it come up at all? like little throwaway lines of Tommy making jokes of Buck getting sick of him or wanted to explore other options or whatever. I hope the backlash makes them rethink, and Tommy comes back but for now it doesn’t seem like it. I guess my only hope is that Buddie goes canon, but even then i won’t be able to really enjoy it. I seriously don’t know if i’ll be able to keep watching the show, not solely because they broke up, but because of how they broke up. (srry for the long ask, just needed to vent)

no apologies needed!

at the end of the day, so many of us found joy in their story, their chemistry, the way even up until the final second tommy admitted that what he wanted with buck was something that would inevitably break his heart.

they were good together. tommy fit into so many intimidating parts of buck's life with ease. tommy is (as far as we know) still good friends with buck's best friend! tommy loved him anyway, loved him warts and all, road shotgun to buck's worst fears and weirdest conspiracies.

at the end of the day, we have a few things:

we GOT them. we got to see them together, we got the soft looks, we got the kisses, the foundation of them that is real and canon in a way we could strike like a match against the edge of a box to light them up for real all over again. i don't think "being canon" gives any credence or superiority to a ship, and have shipped people or characters that have never interacted/existed together in a tangible way, simply because it's FUN. that's how i'll always have fun with ships and fandom, BUT! what a wonderful thing to celebrate that we DID have them, that we have this as a foundation for whatever comes next, that there is never a door permanently closed to them finding each other again when it was already real from the start

for a lot of us, this isn't how their story ends. it's insane that so much fic and content was produced for a canon ship like this. so often fandom is chasing down the what-ifs and never-hads. a lot of us invested in bucktommy because they had the compatibility, the fit, the chemistry, the potential. that's novel shit! that doesn't just evaporate because they broke up in canon. it certainly hurts. the kind of hype we were surfing will crash and sink back in the oncoming months, but i know talking to a lot of people tonight that we aren't done with this ship. we aren't ready to say goodbye.

i'm sad. i'm angry. i felt a real sense of queer euphoria whenever i saw them together, even for 30 seconds, teetering on the edge of this new couple joy learning each other into something new and weird and fun that always lingered as a promise on the edge of their interactions. i was so excited for who buck could become with tommy as his home base. shifting that has rocked me in a bad way.

i expect people to inevitably step away from this ship and this fandom, but i'll mention that non-canon ships like arthur/eames or mcshep or social network rpf or short-lived shows from 1996 (hi sentinel) have had long-lived fandoms and left long-lasting impressions in other fandoms that have lasted for over a decade of zero additional content. this is a playground that, just because they've parted ways for now, we don't have to stop playing in.

and i'll be honest: i have several WIPs i'm like, well trash that! after watching the most recent episode. but i also have a dozen new ideas. new ways they could fall in love now or again, new ways they could meet, new ways they could be for each other.

i'll keep creating. i'll keep dreaming. they won't ever not have the spark that they had. the show could end tomorrow but we'll always have an open door to believing and shaping the thousands of ways they can and will find each other again.

[crowliphale]

I'm only in episode 3 of icebound but I think I really do SERIOUSLY recommend watching it under the assumption that Taishen has a crush on Jornir. It's improving their short interactions a lot for me 💭

Yap fest ahead, as well as general icebound spoilers (started jorshen focused but kinda just turned into general icebound thoughts)

first obviously taishen steered into the iceberg thinking he was following Jornir's directions, but there's also a couple times where he like. Tries Sounding Cool right after Jornir's said something ominous and mysterious and it's really funny?? Also when he woke up Jornir for his watch he was so gentle about it... Very cute. I really don't think Jornir reciprocates at this point in their journey but I'm keeping my eyes peeled 🙏

I think generally Mace is still trying to figure Taishen out at this point too, cuz I feel like everyone else has a lot of character specific moments or they know exactly what they're doing, but Taishen is just kinda quiet? Can't wait to see him get more moments to shine!

Also I was reading the firbolg wiki out of curiosity, and I learned that male firbolgs (in 5e anyway) are well over 10 feet tall, have huge beards and weigh significantly more than females! I'm obviously assuming that's been retconned in Avantris-specific lore, but it's what fueled my FTM Jornir headcanon hehe.

ALSO ALSO, Jornir has these weirdly pronounced smile lines? I guess they could come from snarling or grimacing too, but idk, I think it'd be kinda funny/cute if he used to be a pretty jovial guy in the past. The smilerrrr

Guh and Barnabos is just. He's so cool! Such a unique DND character even down to his mechanics, I love how genuine Mikey is in his sailor's paranoia and all. If he's improv-ing all the superstitions then it's really convincing! I've got a ton of ideas about Barnabos and his watery wife too 💭💭💭 very very good character

Queenie is very funny, I like Nikkie's latent ability to turn every conversation into a sex joke or a "who's on first" bit. I'll say that some of her southern colloquialisms could use some work, but at the same time it kinda feels VERY Queenie to just make up some extremely weak bullshit on the spot LMAOO. She's also been the most competent one mechanically speaking! I love that she's always keeping her material components in mind and finds ways to work them into roleplay.

Skrimm is so far the most animated. Andy always immediately knows what Skrimm's doing, he just LEAPS into the character really nicely and it's fun to watch. I ALSO ADOOOORE HOW HE PLAYS SKRIMM'S PARANOIA!! Some other characters in the past that they've described as "paranoid" are usually just mildly anxious, or are even sometimes just. Not Paranoid. But Skrimm feels so real and justified! He's suspicious of so much stupid shit and only really calms down when his friends are the ones telling him to do things! Guh he may not be my favorite in general but he's my favorite so far in his acting alone 💞

Not to mention Derek's DM'ing! It's so inspiring and nice to see him so excited about this, and learning about how much time and effort he put in is just baffling every time. 123 page planning document?! 12 pages of story planned for one session?? A WHOLE SHIP'S FLOORPLAN?! gosh he's just really really good at this right off the bat, it makes me excited seeing him be so excited. The pacing is also really good! I never find myself getting bored despite the episodes huge lengths... Guh... icebound

[markantonys]

3x06 thoughts! full-series book spoilers

cold open: i didn't realize how much i've been missing ishy until he showed up and i cheered! he was a gentle soul. if/when ishy is resurrected, i'm definitely hoping they'll keep fares fares rather than recast because he is just so wonderful, and then just not do the whole rand bodyswap thing at the end so that we get to see josha portraying rand's final moments in the show, as he and we deserve (though since min's Stabbening viewing does seem to imply that that wound will kill rand's body, i don't know. but there's a lot of ways they could handle the whole situation and it's a long way off, so i won't bother speculating now!)

the liandrin flashback was definitely heartbreaking, but on the other hand, i don't know if it really provided any new info that we didn't already know or couldn't have guessed about her backstory (since they've already told and shown us a LOT about her backstory at this point, we didn't really need every single remaining blank filled in, although it IS very interesting to see that she was snatched by ishy while so young before she even went to the tower!), so personally i think i could've done without it and used the time for something else. but since liandrin returning to her hometown is a book plot point anyway, might as well take the opportunity to flesh out her backstory (plus this scene also showed us the male a'dam statue, which helped us later), and i feel fairly confident that she'll die in ep8 since she's getting all this spotlight.

continuing on the tanchico thread, fun times were had this episode! i loved all the scenes of everybody dicking around in the city, although since there were so many shenanigans, i do feel like we didn't get quite as much forward plot movement in tanchico as i'd expected from their A-plot episode. but then, there isn't really that much that actually needs to be done in tanchico besides moggy encounters (check) and the museum showdown (set up thanks to info learned in this episode), so this plotline was always going to get the shorter end of the stick in terms of Exciting Plot Events compared to the waste & two rivers storylines which do have quite a few big events to cover this season, and therefore it does have time to have some breathing room and scenes of characters just having a good time. it is a good counterbalance to the heavy stuff going on elsewhere!

thom returns, and he and mat talk about rand, just as i'd hoped! and we hear that thom was morgase's court bard for a while and recognizes elayne, though no details yet on what type of a role he might have had in the family's personal lives. mat going "WOO!!! THAT'S MY FRIEND!!!!" when elayne was performing was SO cute oh my god <333 they were a cute little chaos duo this episode, but it was mostly just them doing stuff individually in the same location as each other rather than them having proper interactions with each other (contrast to nynaeve & min getting some good solo chats over on their side of the story), which i was a bit disappointed about since my main consolation prize for removing mat from the waste and losing cauthor interactions was getting to have matlayne interactions over in tanchico, and that's ended up not really happening. but i'll have to hope for bigger matlayne interactions in a future season should their paths cross again!

elayne and min also didn't really interact once again this episode, so yeah, i'm feeling pretty confident now that min is out of the polycule. but we'll see!

nynaeve letting loose and having a good time for once in her life haha bless her <3 and min telling that guy she foresaw he was going to marry jeaine in order to get info out of him when what she actually saw was that he is going to be killed be jeaine - very therapeutic for me who constantly wondered "why doesn't book!min ever even CONSIDER lying about a viewing in order to be able to use people's ironclad belief in her abilities for strategic advantage?" the show is doing a really great job at giving her more agency and showing her figure out how to use her abilities as a tool rather than having her be a powerless vehicle for prophecies, the way the books usually used her.

Mat's Admirer 100% wanted to fuck him, but unclear if mat was interested or even aware of this since he only cared about using the guy for info (though hey, when he comes back right at the end and grab's mat's hand to get his attention, mat did have kind of a "listen i am 100% DTF but unfortunately i'm busy right now" reaction in my opinion haha). i will claim minor cauthor rights in mat saying he was looking for a pretty necklace for a big strong man djfkgjh

the moggy-nynaeve-elayne scene was SO good!!!! 10/10 no notes!! zoe and ceara's acting was incredible here, especially zoe during the moment where nynaeve's brain manages to put up some subconscious resistance despite her still being smiley and docile on the exterior. all the setup earlier in the season of seeing what compulsion weaves look like from nyomi and hearing how drastically they can alter people's behavior when a forsaken-level channeler uses them did a good job making sure the audience would understand what was going on when moggy hits the girls with it here. and the beginnings of moggy's beef with nynaeve are established - she's shocked and pissed and intrigued that nynaeve was able to briefly resist her compulsion!

i'm left feeling that mat hasn't really had much more to do in tanchico than he would've in the waste, so i'm maintaining my guess that removing mat from the waste was more about making space for rand's story to focus on egwene/moiraine/lanfear than it was about creating a better story for mat. he kiiiiiiiinda hasn't done shit all season besides tick off a couple fanservice moments and there's only 1 episode left (though it should be a good one for him given his doorway appointment). haha, i also think that i differ from a lot of book-show fans in that i like mat the most and find him the most compelling when he's being angsty and pathetic, so the harder they lean on him as comic relief, the further he slips away from me even as most other readers are gushing about how he finally feels like himself. (and this is probably a place where my show-first origin shows, because my very first meeting with mat was his s1 version which i found deeply emotionally compelling, whereas a ton of book-first viewers didn't like s1 mat and thought he felt totally off from his book characterization. and it's not about the actors for me because i know donal can nail the emotionally compelling and deeper/angstier side of mat when given the chance! he just hasn't been given many chances for it this season compared to last season when mat was such a sad wet cat. but if we get s4, it should be mat's time to have focus, and rafe & co have always shown an incredible understanding of the true depth of mat's character despite s3 not having a ton of time for him to shine, so i'm really looking forward to an s4 that he has the spotlight in.)

switching gears to the two rivers. not much to say about it from me, but i enjoyed all the scenes! bode & eldrin healing alanna was very sweet - it looks like they're both channelers in the show rather than just bode, which is a neat change. i really really really hope we'll get to see them reunite with mat next season so that mat can catch up on all his family news!

perrin and faile's scenes were so good! in order to make their romance believable, we definitely really needed to spend some time with just the two of them talking about serious emotional stuff and bonding, so i'm very glad that this episode delivered on that front. the romance is still a little more rushed than i would like, but since i also felt that way with lanaeve in s1 and avilayne in 3x01, i just have to accept that this is the way the show does things haha and perrin/faile is the smallest offender of the 3 since it was just a very brief kiss that got interrupted, and i'm sure they'll have even more emotional bonding during the big episode next week before taking their relationship to a deeper level. and regardless, their dynamic is SO much better than it was at this point in the books!

super angsty change to faile's backstory, but it's a great way of telling us what kind of a person she is as well as giving insight into her upbringing (honestly, i might've found seeing this scene play out onscreen a more valuable Supporting Character Origin Story than liandrin's haha although faile telling perrin about it in detail was important for their relationship and that would've felt repetitive if the audience had already witnessed it firsthand). since her dad wasn't involved in the story about her mom and brother, it's a bit open-ended as to whether he survived that incident and whether he knows that his wife is a darkfriend and killed their son, so the door is open for him to arrive as an onscreen character in a future season but it's not SO wide open that he HAS to arrive. it feels flexible to me atm!

i was also really glad to see perrin tell faile about what happened with laila, and to see her offer him some understanding and reassurance. so far, these two are doing an amazing job at honesty and communication! well done team! i will be so intrigued to see how the laila trauma may or may not affect their relationship as it gets more serious (for example, i think we're all expecting it to be part of the reason why perrin gets so frantic and single-minded when faile is kidnapped).

moving over to the waste. rand & avi with alsera was soooooo sweet, i was melting! this scene served several good functions: it shows rand's good heart, it shows avi witnessing and feeling fond over rand's good heart, it shows rand's genuine willingness to learn about and engage with aiel culture, it shows avi witnessing his genuine willingness, and of course, it makes alsera's death at the end of the episode an even bigger gutpunch and really grounds us in rand's feelings during that moment (more on this scene later). if ep8 shows rand tending to the squash garden as he promised to do to meet his toh, i will never recover!

egwene learns some more about dream powers, and rand and moiraine finally talk after rhuidean, though moiraine still doesn't tell him about her alliance with lanfear. so once again, we have moiraine aware that lanfear is going to send trouble the group's way and choosing not to do anything about it, and this time casualties ensue, though unlike last time, moiraine didn't actually know what lanfear was planning, just that she was "sending a surprise". and i loved their convo about the power and rand suggesting that saidar and saidin might not have to be as different as Accepted Wisdom says!

the randgwene breakup FINALLY happened, but boy did they drag it out til the last possible second. i was fine with them wanting to spend more time on the breakup than the books did, but i'm not fine with it being an entire season-long arc that probably won't be fully emotionally resolved until 3x08 (if even then!) because the result is that both rand and egwene are, in some respects, lagging a full book behind in emotional development compared to where they should be at this stage of the story, and they are going to have to really play catchup next season. if we spent a WHOLE SEASON on the randgwene breakup, a good chunk of which was kinda showing that it's maybe not feasible or not a good idea for the dragon reborn to have a love life, how on earth are we going to convince the audience that rand should immediately bounce back and start dating elayne and avi next season? rand starting to dive into new romance only a few episodes after an extremely-emotionally-fraught breakup was finalized just feels like weird pacing, but hopefully the IRL time passage between s3&s4 would help it feel more organic for the audience. still, i just don't get why the show decided that the breakdown of randgwene needed 3 seasons but all the *endgame* romances can be introduced and canonized within a single season each time, and i'm not sure it's a decision i'll ever agree with even after seeing how everything turns out.

as for the actual content of the breakup convo, it felt to me like they were trying to do a "both sides have points" but it is very hard to make that feel balanced in the audience's eyes when one side's point is "you cheated on me with the most evil being in the universe" and the other side's point is "well you don't pay enough attention to me because you're always busy with your career". i don't think rand was TRYING to blame egwene or say "you pushed me towards lanfear by ignoring me", but it is very very easy to interpret it that way and interpret rand's side of things uncharitably based on the dialogue that's had. i do sympathize with both of them, as do other viewers who already loved rand, but for anyone who felt ambivalent or worse towards rand prior to the breakup, i'd imagine he's sunk even lower in their opinion because it is too uncomfortably close to real-world shit to hear a man express feeling neglected over his girlfriend not treating him as her #1 priority at all times (then again, people who already didn't care about rand continuing to not care about him isn't exactly a net loss). i mean, this was randgwene's issue back in s1 too so it's not anything new or out-of-left-field, but i wish rand's side of the conversation had leaned more on "you're obviously afraid of me going mad and you obviously don't trust me, and this makes me feel hurt and isolated and unsupported" - which, yes, i do think IS the main point he's trying to make, but they obfuscated it by having him latch onto "you keep choosing other priorities over me" as his initial grievance and that really doesn't make him look very sympathetic.

it's also a strange route to take somebody who is destined for a) a poly relationship and b) a poly relationship with two extremely duty-bound people. elayne & avi are going to present the same thing of having duties that are more important than their personal relationships and of not being able to treat rand as #1, so why have that be a noted point of romantic unfulfillment for him in his relationship with egwene? how are we going to convince the audience that rand is happy in a poly situation where his partners have other partners, after we've seen him express sorrow that he by himself isn't "enough" for egwene? again, feeling unfulfilled by getting the sense that you're low on your partner's priority list is 100% valid and reasonable, but it just doesn't strike me as something that suits rand's character in particular. but they had to take this angle with randgwene because they had to sell the idea that rand falls into lanfear's clutches because She's The Only One Who Understands Him.

i think if they'd instead done more throughout the season with egwene obviously being afraid of rand's mental state and rand obviously noticing her being afraid, and THAT is what makes him feel the most hurt with egwene and makes him more susceptible to lanfear's claims that she's the only one who accepts the dark parts of him, that would've worked much better for me in creating a balanced conflict between the two of them (because it's sympathetic that rand is hurt by this, but it's also sympathetic that egwene is afraid). that stuff IS there, but it didn't feel as prominent as the "i'm not enough for you and this makes me sad" angle, at least in the most recent randgwene scenes (perhaps because whenever the audience sees or hears about egwene's fear of rand, he is often not privy to it or she does a pretty good job hiding it from him; the only time i can remember him being aware that she's afraid of him is in 3x01 after the bubble of evil and also earlier when he assumed correctly that he'd terrorized her during her accepted test visions in some capacity).

but! this is all based purely off my own initial gut emotional reaction to the breakup convo. as it was playing out, i was thinking to myself "ugh, this isn't how i'd hoped it would go down at all, they're making rand look like a piece of shit" and i can't pretend that wasn't how i was feeling, but i definitely need to rewatch once the season is done and get a more careful look at what is actually said between them, and maybe i'll feel better about it then, especially since i'll be rewatching having seen the full conversation and knowing it ends up going in a better direction by the end of it even if it starts really messy AND having seen ep8 and knowing the final conclusion and emotional note randgwene is left on for the season.

speaking of that better direction, things i liked about the breakup convo: 1) rand ultimately says that egwene wanting More Than This Provincial Life is the very thing he respects about her, so that wins him some points back and reduces the "asshole who hates that his GF cares about things besides him" vibes*. 2) they make it very clear that rand had no CLUE lanfear's been torturing egwene and that he is extremely upset to find out about this (upset on egwene's behalf and realizing that lanfear is a lying liar who lies), so that's really good news! bit of a bummer we didn't have time to deal with the fallout of that this week and have to keep waiting (now TWO more weeks!), but definitely understandable that they want to save it for the big blowout between lanfear and the waste gang during the finale.

(*again, *i* didn't think of rand as this kind of asshole, it just strikes me that it would be REALLY easy for a lot of other people to think so based on watching that scene. ultimately, it comes down to, i don't think the show has done as well at making rand's feelings and his side of things clear to the audience as egwene's. it feels like it's much easier to see through her eyes than his on the situation. it feels like her perspective is much more intuitive and obvious at face-value than rand's, which requires some psychoanalyzing to understand. it feels like, if this were a book, the majority of randgwene's scenes this season would be written in egwene POV rather than rand POV.)

now moving on to the battle. first of all, sammael is obviously not dead and i'm gobsmacked that quite a few READERS think he is lmao (show-onlys being unsure i can totally forgive) of course they wouldn't have gone to the trouble of including sammael in the show only to give him 2 scenes and kill him immediately! this isn't the books where there's 13 forsaken and RJ can afford to blow through some of them in a few paragraphs, we only have 8 and we need to make them count! the show established clearly how hard it is to permanently kill a forsaken, ain't no way dropping a building on sammael was enough to take him out! i truly cannot believe that any readers actually think he's gone and will never be seen again!

he is credited for ep8, and currently he's unconscious and in rand's clutches. will we see him as rand's captive in ep8? that would track with the alleged audition script. could this lead into sammael taking asmo's role of being rand's captive teacher in s4? very possible, but also possible he manages to escape from rand in ep8 and goes on to be a menace in a wetlander city in s4. still, with the notable change that sammael is the weakest forsaken in showverse, that does make me lean towards him absorbing asmo (who is the weakest forsaken in bookverse) as being an easy target for rand to be able to keep as a captive long-term, even if a lot of readers get furious when anyone suggests asmo being cut haha we shall see!

avi busting in to save rand's life 🥰🥰🥰 (and egwene's too of course) and our first sight of her channeling! very exciting! i loooooove how much attention the show pays to giving channelers individualized styles: avi channels magic spears because that's the fight style she's previously been accustomed to. sammael channels with a giant hammer because he has a napoleon complex and is overcompensating for being the weakest forsaken.

and on that note, rand standing there decimating the entire building completely effortlessly, without even LOOKING at it, with his back to it as he's destroying it - stunning, gorgeous, i got chills. sammael getting his ass completely wrecked by rand while rand isn't even bothering to look at him would piss him off SO much and that delights me djfkgjh

and then the scene with alsera. oh my god!!!!!! this is the best scene of the entire season so far, for me. this is a better rand character moment than anything in 3x04 for me (don't get me wrong, 3x04 is a good episode, but as i mentioned at the time, it didn't feel like it was particularly about *rand* so much as it was about worldbuilding & lore & the aiel in general, so this scene with alsera was exactly the kind of impactful rand-specific scene i wanted). josha's performance just blew me away, it was absolutely phenomenal, and i've always thought he was doing great with rand but this was the moment where i really went "oh, yeah, he's going to NAIL late-series rand".

and i really liked that this happened in front of all the other main characters of this plotline, that they all bore witness to this huge moment of rand's emotional arc. moiraine stepping in to try and anchor him got me in the heart! i'm really craving a rand-avi scene in ep8 where they talk a bit about what happened; avi was the main person who witnessed rand's relationship with alsera, so she would make a lot of narrative sense as the person who talks with him about it afterwards, plus if we could maybe hear some of her feelings on rand's unhinged moment, it could help prod us a little bit closer to seeing why avirandlayne is a better fit than randgwene (or randfear). they've set up that egwene fears the dark parts of him and that lanfear revels in them, so it would be nice to see avi & elayne taking a middle ground of seeing and understanding and being prepared to handle the dark parts of him the way egwene can't while still firmly holding him to high moral standards and refusing to Make Him Worse the way lanfear wants to. i don't know, i could imagine ep8 having rand feel awful about losing control and scaring everyone, but avi approaches him and lets him know that she's not afraid of him while also encouraging him to work on improving his self-control. but a scene like this might be too much to hope for considering there's only 1 episode left for the non-perrin plotlines and so much to cover! even if it doesn't happen, it makes me happy to know that avi saw him at such a low moment and still will choose to love him and be with him.

on that note, i believe next week will be solely the two rivers plotline. nice to give the big battle its own devoted episode (i'm thinking happily of ROP 1x06 with the dedicated southlands battle episode, which i think is still my favorite episode of all of ROP so far), but boy is it going to be tough to wait 2 weeks to check back in with the waste plotline! another downside of dragging the randgwene stuff out so long and making it sooooooo messy and High Drama is that it feels like they've set up more than they'll be able to satisfactorily resolve in only one more episode, especially given how much other stuff needs to happen in ep8, but we'll see!

[realhumangay]

ep 6.

aaaaAAAAAAHHHH

✨hope you have a good christmas✨

AAAAh

although tbf what was the poor guy meant to say

sara has disappointed me ngl but then also fun to see her not be such an obvious character, it’s actually v interesting to watch someone you originally really liked make Terrible Choices. interesting and painful.

felice on the other hand hasn’t had a redemption arc so much as a straight line shooting directly for the sky, and i’m pleased to announce i have officially entered the I Love Felice club and i am obsessed with her actually.

i am not obsessed however, with the way that sara has completely and thoroughly Fucked It. felice is the person accepting her and letting her into the life she clearly desperately wants, and instead of being grateful she goes behind her back and gets it from the guy she literally just figured out uploaded child porn of her brother. can’t wait to see her get what she wants and have it ripped away the minute she looses her only friend. 🙃🙃 (reading that back sounds mean- i’m being sarcastic and frustrated, i Actually hope she sorts it out but unfortunately i have seen gifs that do not fill me with much confidence)

anyway, it really reflects in the conversation she had with simon just before too, how she’s ungrateful for everything their mother has done for them. it’s really frustrating watching someone who’s clearly so smart come to such questionable conclusions.

edvin and omar gave a goddamn masterclass in acting this episode - their thoughts are so clearly written all over their faces, they portray such nuanced emotion i was screaming basically the whole time. it’s also i think really apparent that so many women were involved in the production of this; i feel like the focus is so much more on the depth and complexity of the characters and what they’re going through instead of the fast-paced plot-driven type of productions that have dominated pop tv in the past decade at least. is it generalising too much to say that this feels like a “woman’s touch”…likely. perhaps that’s a wider conversation to be had?

anyway. beautiful. painful. wilmon are So Cute I Could Die and i honestly don’t think there’s anything else i can say. the scene where they talk in the locker room? with the leg hug? 😭😭😭😭 them both flopping their heads on each others shoulders in that same scene???

every intimate scene or even just hug being So Charged with meaning and intention i just 🤩

and willes look at the camera at the end? 💀

-

i have really quite a lot of thoughts about the season as a whole, i can so see why there’s so much fandom discourse about it cause there are just so many layers to this show and all the characters. i desperately wish i’d watched this as it came out so i could take part in it though because as it stands im scared to interact too much in case i spoil anything for myself 🥲

i’m so excited to start s2 though soon, im completely in love, i love them all more and more with every ep and i hope you all continue to indulge me in what are apparently becoming longer and longer reviews (in my defense though, it’s not my fault that the show is so good it makes me have So Many Thoughts 🤷‍♀️)

see you in s2 xx

[hexhomos]

S2 mega spoiler asks/answers. don't click readmore if you're avoiding it.

That entire thing really did not land for me and took me extremely out of the episode ngl. The way it is framed and later on referenced on warwick's delusion flashbacks (IN MY OPINION) seemed to suggest that their mom was embroiled in an unrequited love triangle with these two and i could feel my brain leaking out of my ears because, to get back to a previously mentioned problem; it makes the world feel really, really limited. Like there's 10 real people surrounded by a population of NPCs. The idea of silco/vander as singlehandedly responsible for a 'revolution' that has no lineage beyond themselves is already laughable but?? they frame it as if vander could legit have been vi's dad?? he picks the name?? and that he is maybe seething in rage at silco because he was the reason she died??? huh? whuh? what in all of the wattpad fanfiction. not to mention... it makes silco constant attempts to kill vi in s1 seem contradictory and nonsensical. His motivations???????????

In some ways.. it is still resource exploitation now but Worse and in a time-ticking bomb sort of way that absolutely breaks the idea of Piltover using hextech for decades at a time. Im curious to see if that will be referenced in game content now bc it legitimately has shattered the timeline. I think its once again unnecessary and sacrifices a lot of good stuff for mid hand-wringing. But yeah. P/Z as presented in arcane has had so much personality sapped out of it. a whole roster of characters who might get completely rebooted for no good reason.

stole his whole flow. Disgraceful.

TBH i wouldn't really worry about this because i think if anyone is getting a new sex scene its going to be cait/vi makeup or hatesex. Sky is a plot convenience; her existence for the show's entire runtime is an accessory that they couldn't even bother fleshing out. The definition of the not-gays.

My reasoning is that if they were going to do any of that we would have already seen her do these things, more things, in the scenes she already appears in; but as always she is a static 3D model lounging in the background. (Related: this might be because she is Literally Not Real and the hexcore is just making up a faint mimicry who can only say 1 word.) Their time budget is really messy this season and i just don't see them wasting More time like that. They don't care for sky. never did! She's just a way to avoid letting viktor be an ideologue glorious evolutionist.

We already know internally some of the animators & art team like jayvik & there's even a few for-fun outside of the company interviews w/ crew expressing a preference to jv on a personal level ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ the more the script tries to push it as nonromantic the more coded these scenes get. In terms of actual interaction i think a lot is going to depend on whatever the hell happens in episode 6 because their screentime is REALLY low and im unsure act3 can pull off another timeskip. So much left dangling.

IDGAF about meljay and i've never cared about meljay i think it is the culpirit of not-gays #1 so its hilarious how that shit literally didn't matter. The entire noxus storyline is a can of worms i would have thrown in the garbage and have no interest in. Still, in realistic terms, there is a 50/50 chance this season ends with jayce married 2 kids 1 dog 1/2 parrot moving out to noxus and saying 'heh, i never liked piltover anyway' and they'll play it like we're supposed to clap because nothing matters

if i was in charge we'd get full frontal jayvik stigmata scissoring write that down. I still hope if we can manifest 1 thing it is a good fight scene with some choking on it

[thepunkmuppet]

thinking about an alternate season 7 wherein instead of every potential slayer being hunted and then activated, every past slayer gets brought back to life. I don’t really like post-chosen content anyway, but when I do read / look at it the whole slayer academy, everyone’s a slayer thing is really stupid to me ngl 💀

previous slayers, though… nikki wood and xin rong interacting with spike, actually finding out about the slayer before buffy, slayers with different backgrounds and situations and personalities, KENDRA?! I just love it so much.

you’d be able to focus on a relatively small cast of slayers, much like the potentials, throughout the season. this would include buffy, faith, kendra, nikki, and some other american slayers from varying time periods with a couple interesting international characters too (maybe a slayer from ancient greece / rome / egypt, or an anglo-saxon one or something). these are all experienced slayers, so no need to focus on training - it would be more about lore, history and their personal character journeys, assimilating them into society (creating some fun bottle episodes, maybe a day out on the town with dawn and a historical slayer) and trying to figure out why they were all brought back. also, if you want to keep the first as the main villain, then it can look like any one of them because they’re all technically dead, which means you can still have that episode with the dead potential revealing herself as the first and all the mistrust that’s threaded throughout the season.

plus with nikki back, there would be no need for the stupid sleeper agent thing with spike or the ridiculous fight between him and robin. all the same ideas (and the flashbacks to spike’s mum) could still be explored, and in a way better way imo.

I reckon the reason they were brought back would probably be the powers that be (tying nicely into angel ofc) trying to defeat the first. and of course the ending would be this huge battle, as all the slayers from around the world come to sunnydale, and maybe to add some drama they would all disappear and die again when the battle’s done as they have fulfilled their purpose (a classic finale knife to the heart that would have everyone sobbing, especially over nikki and kendra).

there’s also the added thing of like,, I appreciate the show was leaning towards a theme of “hope for the future” with the potentials angle, but literally every other aspect of the season is about harkening back to the past. faith, robin, the first taking the form of previous characters, the high school, the slayer origins, etc etc. so I just think this idea would work so much better with the themes of the season, and tie in really nicely.

and the most obvious perk of this concept is kendra! she was forgotten about so quickly, and this season would really give the writers a chance to redeem themselves for the terrible way poc characters have been treated throughout the show (ignoring what they did to robin. FUCK that but that’s another conversation). I think the show really downplayed how much kendra’s death would have affected buffy, and seeing the two of them interact after buffy has changed so much and kendra’s still the same would be amazing. there’s also the interesting concept that, having been brought back from the dead, kendra still be 17, and therefore closer in age to dawn than to buffy, which could make for some really nice interactions between the two of them. also of course the biggest most exciting thing is having buffy, faith and kendra all interact. they all represent places on a spectrum in terms of personality, and I would LOVE to see kendra and faith interact and how much of a unit they would likely become as a trio.

there’s also the theme of buffy feeling (and being) alone in this season that would hopefully go away, as she would now have dozens of people who truly understand her, giving her a proper support system which I would love to see (season 7 scoobies can actually eat shit btw <3)

so. was this born out of my hatred for insufferable kennedy and the annoying potentials? yes absolutely. do I now want them to rewrite and re-film the entire last season 20 years later? yes absolutely I’m so glad you understand

side note wouldn’t it be sick if in the final battle there’s just this one slo-mo shot where buffy stakes a vamp and through the dust she sees the first slayer looking at her from across the battlefield before she disappears amongst the fight. WHAT it would literally be awesome hello?!

also also other side note sorry but Mother(TM) nikki wood would NEVER kick buffy out of her own house. fuck them kids fr

[sharks-sharks-sharks]

Why are people on the arcane subreddit being low-key hated on for shipping Jayvik?

"They see eachother as brothers!" neither of them have ever said that they see the other one as a brother. (edit: Jayce did once, but comparatively to the other close male friendships that is not a lot.)

"We need more representation of men friendships that display intimacy without making it gay" okay that's extremely true, but like, no offence, the writers and animators made it queer, Jay displays more intimacy with Viktor in the last episode than he did with Mel the entire show tbh, without them even kissing/having sex, and I see that as something that implies more that friendship.

"Caitlyn and Vi are already queer so if they wanted to make Jay and Viktor canon they could but they didn't" it doesn't really what the show creators think/do with the story, that's the point of shipping, it's fun to explore the characters in a different context to the original source or to interpret them relationships differently within the sour or even place two characters who don't even interact together for funsies.

Obviously I'm not saying that people need to ship Jayvik, and the first two points, without the rude context, are valid in the same way reasons shipping them are. What I'm saying is that it's kinda shitty to hate on people for shipping something that isn't weird or gross in some way. Anyways, sorry I felt like complaining and this was too complicated for me to format for my usual complaining site.

[jebbzfixations]

Oh man I was wondering when this episode was. S2 ep 12, we finally learn Morgan’s backstory. Easily the best episode of the season so far in a season of great ones. Morgan’s writing finally makes sense here. That moment where JJ is like, “I don’t really know much about him,” finally acknowledges that he hasn’t gotten a fair characterization and gives us a reason for that. And oh man it’s a fucking tragic one. It’s so heartbreaking watching Morgan go through everything in this episode. Hotch turning partially against him particularly hurts. I have a lot of thoughts on Hotch this season but I’ll wait until I finish the season to write that out. But that part at the end when Morgan confronts his abuser is so powerful. They fucking finally let Morgan show real emotion and it pays off in a huge way. He’s still angry, but he’s not “suave cool guy” angry. He’s got a purpose to that rage, to that anger that always sits below the surface. All of the pain he’s bottled up comes exploding out through this episode. I��ve seen this damn show already but I was sitting here with my stomach hurting not daring to even get up to pee. I forgot that Carl was Morgan’s “mentor” and “hero.” My stomach literally dropped when they introduced him because I knew how evil he’d be revealed to be. On a lighter note, I think Reid’s small role in this episode is pretty cute. The first time I watched this, I didn’t really do any “shipping” because I was too busy going fucking crazy over Reid’s existence. But since then I’ve learned that Reid x Morgan and Emily x JJ are super popular so I wanted to see if I could see the appeal. And you know what? I get the Reid and Morgan ship. It still isn’t super, like, plausible to me yet because most of their interactions aren’t too damning. Like we’re not at Cas and Dean levels yet. But Morgan’s family already knowing who Reid is and saying that Morgan talks about him, and Reid smiling? That was pretty cute. I think it’ll be fun to look for signs of ships from now on so I’ll probably write more on that. But, anyway. I really love this episode as tragic as it is. Morgan has deserved better this entire show and now he finally gets a backstory. Also, side note, Garcia being so touched learning Morgan’s college history and so conflicted about looking into his past was very endearing. Their friendship has always been one of my favorite things about the show. I’m sure some people ship them too but I don’t see them that way at all and I don’t think the show does, either. Either way, love their friendship. With every episode I watch, I know I’m getting closer and closer to ep 15. That episode has haunted me since I watched it, and revisiting it will surely give me a lot to write. People have been reading these little ramblings, I think, so thank you for that if you are! I’m glad that my bullshit is somehow readable.

[unblissfulawareness]

If you really wanna piss off Reddit, tell them that every iteration of Henry we’ve seen since the finale was a ghost and he made up the force field as a coping mechanism and Dystopia is symbolic of Heaven (weird right).

Ray, riddled with guilt over the way it ended, spoke to his spirit at the funeral to try and give them both some closure. Which he can obviously do because he talked to the vacuum ghost that one time. Obviously.

The first episode of DF Henry was in was a whole delusion. He kept sending the kids away so he could sit trapped in his own head for a while and the kids interacting with Henry was a series of maladaptive daydreaming. Then he got in trouble and called them for help, he had to pretend it was Henry because he doesn’t like to ask for help. The end of that episode was the end of Ray’s episode.

When Ray tried calling Henry for help when Twitler and Drex were working together, he chose to believe his calls were being ignored and when Henry picked up Bose’s phone call, it wasn’t Henry, it was someone else who was reassigned his number when his phone shut off. Miles teleported away and spent some time twiddling his thumbs while he “went to get Henry” and when he returned the kids played right into his delusion because it was the only way they could get him to Nakatomi tower to help the girls.

While they were setting up Twitler’s plot, Drex (unlicensed therapist ass Drex) gave Twitler insight on these hallucinations and used it to manipulate Ray into thinking Henry was in danger and luring the rest of danger force to him so they’d be powerless to stop his internet takeover once he got them all under his control. Ray, who was falling for most of the fight, failed to witness the kids take down the villains and told himself it was Henry.

Henry sticking around to go after Drex made him a conveniently available hallucination to cling on to for a while.

Henry babysitting in the Supies was Ray realizing that Henry had never been nominated for one of those awards and feeling bad about it, seeking out punishment and validation when he wasn’t nominated for any category himself, and getting in trouble. Schwoz calls to tell them he lost Ray, they save his ass, and then Ray realizes he can’t nominate Henry on his own for the award because he’s dead and also shows his gratitude for danger force in the same breath. Having Henry in his sight to crack a joke was his way of properly letting go.

Then we see Henry in Guardians of the Ponytail because Ray was commissioned for a job and he was like “mmm, sure wish I had my partner in crime who literally robbed a bank with me and framed a high schooler here right now.” While taking a drive on his own. And I’m pretty sure that’s what they resolved to do at the end anyway so it tracks.

(SPOILERS FOR NEXT PART)

The movie was Ray’s mind filling in the blanks some years later of what Henry has been doing this whole time.

Ray showing up at the end of the movie all disheveled and grimy (🤤) was Ray dying, probably got blasted in the face with jolly beetle tears and shot down by a drone or smth idk.

Anyway, there’s your rage bait. Pull pieces, post the whole damn thing, whatever. Have fun :) not in that sub anymore anyway

[tumbleweedsthesecond]

Tophvan post yayy... I wanna explain why I ship it or whatever. Why its silly to me or like how I view their dynamic or whatever. This is gonna cringe so probably ignore this if you don't like tophvan I'm not trying to say its like the best ship in the world or they have a great dynamic or whatever I just wanna explain how I view them. This will probably sound delusional but yk whatever. Cringe and free I guess. Here's some old art

Basically me going on their interactions sorta kinda plus my own headcanons.

Okay so hc wise I've always kind of imagined they wouldn't get along in some way. For obvious reasons, Topher tries too hard and Ivan doesn't try at all. So obviously Topher would at least try to seem like he didn't know him s1 and I don't think he does really know him s1 I feel like they would've followed each other on Flipflop(gah I hate saying that) and Topher just didn't care to block him because he only has two followers and doesn't want to lose one. Anyway I think with s3 I imagine the bleacher creatures met during summer school mayhaps because they all failed gym or math or something? That's my hc on it. I think they do seem close? At least good friends I think that jackée Ivan and Topher are the three main(vlad and lizzie I still loveee but its harder to get a read on them they don't talk much) anyway I don't think that Ivan and Topher would immediately get along obviously Topher let loose more because he's happier with his friends but still I don't think its perfect obv. so going to actually get into the analysis now I yap so much

Cringe part

I think that based off lines of dialogue like "its a fuck no from me" "a simple no would've been fine Ivan" that Topher kinda keeps him grounded at least a little bit???? Ivan doesnt seem to retaliate I think he does sort of view Topher as the leader in a way. Because Topher talks the most and tbh he does seem a little bit bossy. There's also that one time that I immediately think of when I think tophvan the part where he looks over at Topher as if to see if its approved or not before he agrees with jackée.

Like hes like 'is this funny? ' though it could be because he doesn't listen to jackée because female and he's a dumb teenage boy(throws tomatoes at him) I still think that its funny cause he doesn't even look at all the guys in the group to approve it first he just looks at Topher. you can tell by the animation

Anyway before that I think these two do talk more off screen Ivan looks at him when the others don't (even in other scenes though I don't really think that's a big deal imo) okay full headcanon time I think Ivan knows about tophers supposed crush on joan. I don't think Ivan likes Joan but I think he was like "give it a shot because Topher or whatever 🙄😒' but I also feel like he had a bet that she wouldn't be any help. Don't get me wrong I do think ivans dumb obviously but I also do think he just doesn't like Joan. He doesn't full on hate her or anything just don't think he completely trusted her. He does trust her in the vip room thing he thought that was coll but he is also the first to say she ditched us straight up. Ivans very blunt

We are standing in a closet!

Past that I think they do get closer or whatever afterwards. Kind of. We see them in the shower but I kind of ignore that episode and scene altogether so. That's not rlly a big thing I think abt so anyway

Dumb thing incoming I think its also like the way they look at each other or whatever. Like. whatever dude. I think they'd be kind of sweet or whatever. I don't know. Idiots who caresbro.

Overall I think Topher is a complete idiot too like obviously that one scene where he gets bitten by the snake and jackée says to suck the poison out and Ivan sucks the snake because he's a stupid stupid idiot. Dumb. Tophers stupid too very stupid but that's why I think they're fun together.

Forgot abt that scene where they highfive Topher laughs at ivans dumb jokes. They highfive. (I think Topher laughs way too hard at it like we get it bro. You think its funny. I would say it kinda sounds like forced like haha you're so funnyyy but that's probably a bit of a stretch 😔😔😔💔💔)Edit: I think he genuinely finds that stuff funny cause he's so stupid like bone high is not that funny he just has dumb humor. Anyway another hc I have Topher does like his jokes alot and at first I van laughs along with him but then Topher laughs too much so Ivan just like stares at him

Akso the thing where he sees Topher as the leader of the group I don't think that's too serious or anything I think its just like okay ill listen to you sometimes they're still a dumb high school friend group.

ALSO THIS ISNT ME TRYING TO BE LIKE ITS BETTER THSN OTHER SHIPS OR THAT "OH THRY HAVE SO MUCH DYNAMIC" they're background characters basically I just want to point out some canon stuff! Its fine if you don't ship them who cares anyway if anyone has any tophvan hcs please comment them I love seeing tophvan stuff!!!

Also I love all the bleacher creatures I'm ocifying them too.....sorry to single out the ship I just wanted to explain stuff

Also is this reaching? Probably but they're two characters with low screen time so. Shrugs

[softantlers]

what do you think the writers are doing with lottienat’s dynamic this season? im soooo lottienat pilled and i just NEED interactions between them. i know we’re 4 episodes in so i need to be patient but idk.

also any cool lottienat connections between the season you found out about? or analysis? idk im just so starved for any lottienat content😭

hey! honestly, i'm not sure what the writers are doing with them this season. while i would like to see the interpersonal relationships between all the YJs grow, i think development is conflicting with pacing & the adult timeline and i'm not so sure what to expect.

i really hope that the trial vote is explored further and not just sort of brushed off like travnat's breakup was but i could see it going either way.

for me lottienat is a relationship that just kinda proved itself by virtue of chemistry between the actors and the complementary themes between characters (skeptic/believer, prophet/hunter, rich/poor) and i really am not always sure how much the writers are actually trying to invest in them vs what naturally seems to happen bc the characters just suit each other so well??

my ideal headcanon around the lottie vote in favor of shauna is that it's informed by lottie's intimate relationship with homegirl's propensity for violence. like i think we as a fandom (but hopefully not the writers??) brushed over the fact that shauna nearly killed lottie last season. it's difficult to separate shauna's intimidation during the vote from that.

i think the shots of the wilderness when lottie votes could probably be read as motivating toward a new queen (i would find this less interesting) or an intuition that going against shauna in that moment would result in something worse than ben dying. remember that during the trial when misty was questioning lottie, their logic finally got to the point of "maybe anyone could have done it" & i think lottie is painfully aware that misplaced rage can get you killed. i think an interesting angle for her vote is sort of harm reduction- shauna is on the brink and it's better ben than one of us ("he's not one of us" like shauna said).

of course i am lottienat!pilled but i don't really think the writers are so the other aspect of my headcanon likely isn't going to happen. but something i see in my heart of hearts when i think about these characters is lottie weighing what being dethroned means. you can be dethroned by being killed or you can be dethroned by being dismissed in shame (she technically experienced that herself!!!). her vision literally has her seeing which way the wind is blowing. this is HEADCANON (i'm not delulu that the writers would give us something this delicious lol) but i like the idea that lottie, for how much she loves natalie, is willing to aid in her being dethroned in shame if it means she doesn't get killed. she's willing to betray her girl if it saves her life.

anyways thanks for asking! this was fun to write.

[enbypotat53]

(TPOT 16 SPOILERS!)

HEY SO WHAT IF I CRIED.

WHAT IF I CRIED, HUH.

YOU CAN'T FUCKING DO THIS TO ME WE'RE NOT EVEN THREE MINUTES INTO THE EPISODE AND I'M ALREADY SOBBING??

Mother of god my HEART dude. LISTEN I LOVE PIN BUT MY BOY LIVES TO SEE ANOTHER FUCKING DAY AND DPYA ISN'T UP FOR ELIMINATION THIS TIME WE STAY WINNING 💙💙💙

Also this. Pin I didn't think I could love you any more but you proved me wrong 💙 LOOK AT HIS FACE HE'S SO HAPPY AKSJDJHDHD- HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE HIM??

We also have more Astrobiology and Markertree crumbs, always love to see it as a Polypact shipper :3c 💙

Okay me being a fanboy aside for a minute so we can get to the meat and bones of this episode, and.

Holy shit.

Pen was already a character I adored, but oh my god he might genuinely be one of my alltime favourites now. His development this episode felt so right, and seeing him take Liy's advice and let his anger out in a productive way was genuinely so cathartic to watch. My boy has put up with way too much shit for way too long. He's always been sort of a laughing stock character; being put through the wringer because "haha funny, look at this idiot 🅱️en lmfao", but seeing him finally snap about Eraser and just how much he's lost? God, he cares SO MUCH for his friends, he's genuinely such a sweetheart 💔

Not to mention - the integrity he has at the end of the episode? It's impossible to hate this man, he has the personality of a golden retriever and the fact that he recognised that Pencil wasn't acting entirely maliciously; that she was scared and had changed so much due to being trapped in the EXIT for years, is so fucking respectable. I'm a petty bitch and ABSOLUTELY would've let her be tagged if I was in his place, but. Damn. He's so kind?

I'm not saying Pencil is a saint, though. Seeing Golfball and Donut finally agree was super fun to watch I'm not gonna lie - both of them are favourites of mine for sure. But jeez, the EXIT really did bring out the worst in her, huh? I'm looking forward to seeing where JnJ take her character (at least, if she doesn't get eliminated). Her PTSD plotline is genuinely interesting to see, and as frustrating as it was to watch her actively sabotaging her teammates, I still felt for her, especially towards the beginning and end of the episode (which is more than I can say for Pillow, anyway). Liy also grew on me a lot - I didn't really care much for her before all of this, but she's honestly great. Looking forward to seeing more of her friendship with Pen, ngl :3

And now back to.. whatever the fuck these two were doing this episode. When I tell you I CACKLED seeing the Cake At Stake intro 😭 not to mention just how absolutely insane Four and X were during the whole episode, it was the PERFECT juxtaposition for all of the angst/heartwarming moments. Sure I cried at this episode, but I definitely laughed a lot, too. Especially at Four disintegrating the little alien dude (X's face had me in stitches HE WAS SO SAD 💔)

What I do find interesting is the fact that One seemed to take a backseat again this episode? I only saw her a few times - once in the bush, again when she moved time forward, and again in Roboty's pocket dimension. There could be more I'm missing, but it's fascinating to see her take a step back once Two is out of commission (although I think it was the perfect choice writing-wise. It allowed for a hell of a lot more character development and interaction whilst still occasionally reminding us of the looming threat of the world being a few cracks away from destruction. Fucking phenominal job, JacknJellify. Hats off to y'all.)

I definitely missed a few subplots/character interactions (not to mention the double elimination HELLO??), but this was a damn good episode, and I'm SO glad I was awake to watch it 💙

Finally, take a Tree for scrolling this far! He's awesome (and y'all are too!) :3 💙

[headless609]

Christmas List on What I Wish for in SP S:27 next year

1.) I want the focus to be with the boys. I know I am not the only fan that is sick of the Tegridy Farms seasons. Randy is cool but not as the main character. I want to see some school drama such as crushes, the cheese touch game, role playing and more. idk I want the kids to act like kids and have fun (while of course having their games be blown out of proportion) 

2.) While I am not personally a Style shipper I have noticed that Kyle and Stan have been quite distant in the past seasons. In the End Of Obesity special Kyle rarely interacts w/ Stan, instead focusing purely on Cartman’s health and feelings. In the next season I hope Trey and Matt possibly focus on their friendship . I don’t have a clear opinion on what I want as a solution but I think some ideas would either them becoming friends again or distancing even more ( and the two trying to find new super best friends : Stan with either Tolkien, Kenny or Butters and Kyle with Cartman, Tolkien or Kenny(?) While it would be sad it would be an interesting arc for the season.

3.) I want more of the girls. I love Wendy and the other girls. While I do believe they are a little satirized (due to Matt and Trey both being guys) I do hope we could see more of them as regular 4th grade girls rather then being used as plot point for the boys to be crushing on. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the ep Bebes Boobs Destroy Society, but by just looking at the title you can tell where I am coming from. So, more girls being girls that have stories that don’t always have to link back to a crush on a boy. 

4.) OK, this one is is kinda self indulgent but I want to see Cartman be in drag again. I want Bad Irene. Bonus if Bad Irene sings a Lady Gaga song like Bad Romance or Oops I Did It Again by Britney Spears. I love that Cartman canon likes pop music and I want to see more of that in the next season.

5.) Now for this one I have actually read and seen fans have this sick headcannon and I wouldn’t mind it being cannon either. Basically, Liane and Clyde’s dad get together. Then Cartman and Clyde become like brothers. I really like this and I think it would be kewl if they argued on who was the older brother. An alternative is that instead of Clyde, Scott Tenorman starts living with Cartman. The sibling rivalry would be crazy and so funny. I think Trey and Matt could push these two on how far they could go to enact revenge. 

6.) This one may seem very random but I want a Liane Cartman backstory. I want to know what made her into the towns biggest wh*r3. She obviously must have had some traumatic event and I kinda want it to be a tragic love story. Maybe her lover was killed and she soon fell into drug abuse and selling her body. How South Park treated her and just how she started getting her redemption arc in the more recent seasons. If we’re to format this as an episode I would want it to be Liane telling Cartman a bedtime story (this is kinda an excuse to see them getting along but whateva it’s cute so idc) 

7.) I need more Kenny. PLEASE 🙏 Kenny has been sidelined for SOO LONG! Any story will do: him and butters? Awesome! Him and Cartman? Hell yeah! Him and Karen? AAAAASAAAASAAAHSHSJBEBFJDDJJDEJ PLEASE THEY’RE SO CUTEEE 💗

 8.) Sorry for the last one, ok but talking about more focus on character’s, I kinda want a focus on the pets. Y’ know like Sparky, Mr Kitty and Kyle’s Elephant that did it with Cartman’s pig (that ep was … something to say the least) Anyways, I love the pets they are cute and I want more, thank you (and Craig’s Guinea pig  Stripes) 

9.) Lore drops from characters will be awesome. Like, it dosent just have to be Liane (as I mentioned before) I wouldn’t mind an ep on how Gerald and Sheila fell in love, it would be a really cute nerd x girl boss storyline

10.) …jersey kyle. IDK, Kyle being a brash, loud asshole is straight gold. I need him to snap and start calling everyone muff  cabbage (+ jersey kyle meets bad Irene and he falls head over heels… WHO SAID THAT??) 

Anyways that’s my list. I actually really hope other people do this trend to cause I wanna see what good ideas or wants y’all want from season 27 >:)