#anyways like it can't possibly matter. sure just as plausibly a ''haha no it Is coincidental'' situation like & so i can endure that though

[unproduciblesmackdown]

a decade later sure i'll put it into Text Post "tumblr user claims: plausibly may feasibly" form, starting with these classic screenshots i still have saved

this being dialogue from 2015's always watching: a marble hornets story, which is like hey this is a pretty well produced indie venture & you can sure like sit through it even if you then never watch it again b/c it's still kind of overly on the beaten path & "i'm not sure this choice is justified in much of anything" (see: bizarrely omnipresent thread of a love triangle just to be There; typical Mental Patient(tm) Harbinger; several real marked More Is Less instances arguably) that is still a better time than other random horror material i've seen & hated vs. only mostly been underwhelmed by but in an Overall Shrug way alone. yeah imdb's 4.7 out of 10 seems fair enough if you consider like 5 stars truly middle of the road solid if forgettable vs that anything < 7 stars is for [Bad!] or whatever

anyways the main character is named milo & indeed the creator(s) / actors / writers troy joseph & tim were involved in the production at all: tim at least by being the first step in doug jones's casting by reaching out directly (online), but troy & joseph also via Some writing, like in that slender game sequel also: not the Primary creators / writers, but still officially involved in the creative process at all. & i knew of them & they knew of me by this time & in a [source: dude just trust me] style of way, i, a tumblr user, am like "i think milo alwayswatching Could be named after me, milo unproduciblesmackdown. lol." b/c also like yeah i can take it on the chin if it's a coincidence, which is also likely. great name & it's just not being used enough in fictional & nonfictional people's names. you might also be aware that some role in tribetweIve is named milo (maybe the main guy. i never watched it) so you might also speculate it's named after that guy, which seems plausible also, But: afaik there are no other similar plausible shoutouts at all, to that series or to emh which was just as majorly like One Of Those 3 Biggest Online Series. may or may not add a grain of salt to take it with. like my own "of course, there's a grain of salt in 'milo just like me milo, and Uncoincidentally?' b/c how wouldn't there be. a name people have"

the dude just trust me argument: distilling it down to "i went to their first convention & then the same one the next year, & in these experiences i Know they knew of me from that + also online, where people knew my name was milo as well" and "it seems feasible enough it's an easter egg Not Coincidence that i first knew this character's name happened to also be milo b/c someone who experienced a clip sent me an ask about it, so they assumed it was a possible actual connection too lol." and, of course, it might be a fun coincidence after all. but i'm still like "yeah no it Could be a funny little shoutout to me specifically for real" and mean it and, again, i can endure it if i'm completely wrong. b/c who could care, and also b/c it's so funny that the character is a guy who basically just is like "i am going to have a bad attitude. b/c of the insistent tiresome love triangle thing. well now I'm insistently tiresome" and fucking everything up but like, sure. exasperating epic fail protagonists

the only relevance i think it has besides "to me, b/c i can go haha yeah. that might be like: just like me!!" is that it's Also plausible b/c yeah marble hornets Is the kind of series that might go "this could be an easter egg about some queer autistic tumblr user we know about" lmao, its Inherent Queerness both re: the material and in the creators' knowledge like yep that's how our Appreciators skew! like it's low stakes to be like [lol, Me. perhaps] b/c it's obviously of zero importance like it adds no info, i'm just some rando queer fan from back in the day, but it's this potential Fun Fact that's funny to know & it's about "yeah like they knew i was trans back then too & that it was like, amidst the MH Fans, like nobody's cishet man (shaggy rogers voice)" Gay Rights!

[decepti-thots]

☕️ do you think Chromedome blames Prowl for Rewind’s death? I think by now he knows Prowl was responsible for Overlord being on the ship. Or if he doesn’t know, do you think he would blame him? Maybe all the more reason to hate his ex bf… sorry long post

I am going to cop out here and say: I think either reading is 100% valid. I know, I knowww, but it's true! You can plausibly argue either from the text and both add different things if you choose to do so, and I am just not a person who likes to tie myself to one reading when more than one option presents itself, haha.

Also, he definitely knows, because before the conversation we see with Prowl, Chromedome and Rewind in MTMTE #1, the Overlord arc reveals via flashback Prowl and Chromedome have had another, earlier conversation already, where Prowl lays it out for CD and asks for his help point blank. Chromedome refuses at that time because he knows Rewind would hate it but, notably, doesn't rat Prowl out, not even to Rewind in the later conversation they all have together.

Ahem, anyway. Arguments for and against:

Chromedome does: this is obviously plausible. Prowl is the reason Overlord going onto the LL was ever put up for discussion in the first place (though of course, plenty of other people had to agree for it to happen, up to and including Chromedome not ratting him out after that private conversation). Prowl pushed when there were objections to make sure it happened anyway. And even beyond the more logical, objective arguments regarding culpability, Chromedome is already bitter towards Prowl, and all this happened after Chromedome tried to tell Prowl he was done doing him favours after all this time. Then when he got involved anyway, Rewind ended up dead. It's a pretty obvious emotional throughline to conclude "I was right, any involvement with Prowl is awful and just fucks my life up and drags me down with him"; it's not even a metaphor, it's just kind of what happened. Between that and the fact that when they next see each other Prowl literally makes a jab about Rewind's death, wellllll... why wouldn't he be like fuck you, that's your fault.

Chromedome doesn't: ...well, except for the part where it's likewise entirely possible that Chromedome blames himself so thoroughly that he doesn't really blame anyone else no matter how angry he is or how culpable they clearly also are. After all, we never see Chromedome direct meaningful blame towards... well, anyone else involved, really, IIRC. Rodimus, Drift, Brainstorm even, these people were all involved. But Chromedome is a self-loathing mess and very, very directly and immediately responsible for the chain of events that resulted in Overlord's escape. I don't think Chromedome would absolve Prowl of blame so much as he might wind up drowning so heavily in his own self-recrimination that he just... doesn't have the emotional bandwidth to process blaming anyone else. Blaming Prowl means blaming himself one iota less. I can see a version of the story where Chromedome can't really find it in him to blame himself less than 100%.

[notagarroter]

Nota, I have enjoyed your blog for a long time and respect your opinion, especially as a multi-shipper and respecter of many other opinions. What do you think Sherlock might have texted to Irene? I loved all of TLD but that one line. Sherlock casually texting someone? I struggle to think of what we are to suppose he writes to her since she can't pick up milk for the flat or meet him to get missile plans. Was Moffat off the rails here or is my imagination limited?

This is a delightful question, thank you!

I’ve thought about this quite a bit since TLD aired, and I haven’t come to any conclusiveheadcanon.  I don’t think I want to!  I don’t want a definitive answer,because it’s more fun to play around with the possibilities. 

But let’s look at what we know.

Whatever it was, I think we can be certain it wasn’t“casual”. Irene Adler is not someone one texts casually.  Did Sherlock occasionally try to make it*look* casual?  Haha, maybe.  I can just about see him spending 20 minutestrying to compose the perfect “off the cuff” text to her, one thatwill betray nothing of his feelings, one carefully calibrated to convey theimpression that he really couldn’t give a toss about her.  Isn’t that what everyone does?

Though maybe it’s hard to maintain an air of studied indifference onceyou’ve flown to Karachi to save someone’s life. ;)

Of course, maybe there’s nothing more to it than what we already know.  Sherlock says, “Even I text. Her, I mean, TheWoman.” But we knew this:

It’s possible that’s all he meant! Literally one text, telling her Happy New Year five years ago. In which case, what did it mean?  Looked at one way, it’s about as impersonal as you canget.  Anyone on earth could reasonablytext “Happy New Year” to anyone else and not mean anything inparticular by it except “It’s January 1st”

And yet…  The context is thatshe has sent him 57 texts that he has ignored, then convinced him she wasdead.  And then showed up again,texting him "I’m not dead, let’s havedinner.”

How does he respond to that?  Hecould have been angry, or dismissive, or hurt, or impressed.  But what he says is, “Happy NewYear.”  What’s that mean?  I imagine Irene tied herself in knots tryingto figure it out.  My best guess is itmeans: “I’m glad you’re alive.  I’mnot angry, but I don’t trust you, so I’mbeing extremely cautious and have no intention of revealing anything more ofmyself than I have to.  But consider thisan invitation to continue texting me.”

Frankly I think Sherlock was probably thrilled that New Year’s gave himan excuse to text her without having to come up with anything personal tosay.  Have you ever tried to text someoneyou’re sort of interested in but don’t know well?  It’s excruciating!  I’m sure many of us have defaulted toconventional scripts like “Happy New Year” that allow us to say“I’m thinking of you, and want you to be thinking of me,” but withoutactually *saying* any of that. 

So maybe that’s it.

But Sherlock does say in TLD, “you know, sometimes.” Plural.  So let’s assume there’s more than just thatone text.  What might these texts say?

Given that Irene is texting him on his birthday, I kind of like theidea that they have kept up this awkward, excessively formal and impersonalmode of texting-only-on-holidays-and-special-occasions because they’re both tooterrified to express any actual emotion without a buffer of plausibledeniability.  I can imagine that at somepoint in the past five years, Sherlock texted Irene on her birthday, and she wonderedhow he knew (I mean, she’s probably changed identities three times, so it mightnot be an easy thing to uncover.).  Ofcourse, he was showing off his detective skills, so she had to respond bymeeting his challenge and figuring out when hisbirthday was.  Maybe that’s the gamethey’re playing?  That could be fun.

But to me, the most intriguing part of Sherlock’s admission is that hesays, “Badidea; try not to."  Whyexactly is it a bad idea?  Why does hetry not to? 

I’ve sent a few "bad idea” texts myself, over the years, so Ithink I can conjure up some possibilities. ;)

– maybe it encourages her to text him more often, which distracts him fromhis work.

– maybe they’re sexting, which is enjoyable at the time but alwayskind of embarrassing in the light of day (especially if Sherlock is really badat it).  

– maybe he feeds her clues from cases and asks her opinion (since shelikes detective stories).  Maybe sheresponds to these overtures in a more frankly sexual way than he is comfortablewith, leading to blushing at crime scenes, etc.

– maybe texting her makes her expect more out of him than he’sprepared to give, and he then has to spend five months blowing her off so shedoesn’t think they’re “dating” or anything so commonplace.

– maybe his texting back freaks her out because she doesn’t wantanything more than a light flirtation, and he gets hurt when she backsoff.  

– I can totally imagine Irene as the kind of person who doesn’trespond to a text for months and months, until the sender has gone fromintrigued to annoyed to frantic to humiliated to despairing to blocking thenumber (just let her *try* to text me), then surreptitiously unblocking it(because that was juvenile, I’m bigger than that), to finally deciding she’snever going to text again and he doesn’t even care because it’s not like heliked her anyway.  And that’s the momentwhen she texts back and starts the whole cycle over again.  Talk about a power play!  I can imagine Sherlock would *really* hatethat, but not be able to resist it either.

– maybe Sherlock asks about work and she describes what she’s doing toher clients and that’s both interesting and alarming.  And distracting.

– maybe he occasionally asks for advice on personal matters (like, how can I suggest to my friend and his wife that I’d be up for a threesome?), and she responds with what might be good advice, but he’ll never know because he never takes it.

– maybe no matter what he texts, sheinvariably responds that he’s been a bad boy and could use a good thrashing,and he’s…  not at all sure if he shouldtake her up on that.  

– maybe they text each other the same kind of banal, idly flirtatiouschatter that we saw John exchange with Eurus, and it all simply drives him madwith frustration.

– maybe they reminisce about Moriarty, and what he meant to them both, and that dredges up uncomfortable feelings he’d rather not examine too closely.

– maybe they exchange n00ds.

– maybe they discuss philosophy and literature but it always devolvesinto an argument over some minor theoretical point, and neither of them is precisely surewhat the hell they’re fighting about but it gets vicious really quickly becausethey’re both hate backing down. (that one might be borrowed pretty directlyfrom my life, oops.)

– maybe he sent her a dick pic and she rated it against all herclients and well if that wasn’t humiliating! He will definitely not try that again.

Hmmmm I think that’s all I’ve got. Anyone else got any ideas?