#apparently he also had a travel show and was really into history???

[mycological-mariner]

I’m going to climb out a window I just found out that the Michael Palin who wrote Erebus: The Story of a Ship is the same Michael Palin from Monty Python.

[locke-esque-monster]

I got real nervous they were doing Lila x Five really early in the season. It wasn't even explicitly stated, it was just a feeling from how they were setting up and framing things. Lila disagreeing with Diego and going to talk to Five. Lila keeping secrets from Diego that Five knew about. The tension of Five covering for Lila to Diego. Lila's dissatisfaction with her relationship with Diego and asking for a break. Without actively being romantically into Five, it kept setting up the narrative for Lila to leave Diego and Five was all tied in with what she was going to as an alternative to Diego. Add that to the promo pics with them together - even having watched it later and avoided spoilers I had a real bad feeling where this was going long before 4x5. (Or at least avoided until I already had my theory - my phone helpfully suggested an article days before I got to 4x5. I was not pleased to say the least.)

But there's a lot of reasons I take issue with this pairing and how it was done, so Christ, I guess let's get started:

Five explicitly stated in season 3 that Lila is not his type.

Five murdered Lila's parents. Sure, on the Handler's orders. But you think it's easy to have a romantic relationship when you know those hands killed your parents (aka my biggest critique of Tony/Bucky shippers in the MCU).

Five is indirectly responsible for the Handler's death. He saved everyone but her when he time traveled back. Sure, Lila was upset with her, but this woman raised her. She's got to have some complicated feelings about that and Five is all wrapped up in them now.

Five also had a weird relationship with the Handler, where she was a little flirty with him, which was all kinds of uncomfortable. Lila briefly mimicked this in season 3, which was even more uncomfortable. It's unclear if this was deliberately copying her "mother" or not. But adding Five and the Handler's complicated relationship on top of the other issues means there's a whole carousel of baggage to unpack here.

Five has always seemed kind of annoyed or tolerant of Lila, which extended into early this season. It's maybe a hair kinder at the start of season 4, but definitely not where it should be if there's potential here. It'd be one thing if they were friends after 6 years, but their relationship hasn't substantially changed at the start of this season to suggest otherwise.

If you have to do an all musical montage to show 2 characters falling in love, I'm sorry, you're not doing this right. That's telling, not showing. These characters have had tons of interactions to build off of. If you can't do that, then you're effectively saying that you have no foundation for this relationship.

Also, if it takes 6 1/2 years of being each others sole companions under adverse conditions for you to get together - maybe you shouldn't be together. It's one thing if it's treated like "Finally" or "Oh I didn't think you also felt this way". It's another if it's like it's a new idea entirely - that suggests loneliness and a desire for companionship and they're you're only option.

Five's history includes him having a pseudo-romantic relationship with a mannequin when he's left alone in the apocalypse at 13. The next time he's separated from his family for years he's with Lila. I'll allow that it makes sense he developed feelings for her specifically because of his history. That said, that makes this a wholly unhealthy relationship when he has a history like that. Lila is filling a gap Five's psyche has clung to before in similar harrowing times.

Frankly, the fact Lila was first looking for excitement out of her home life and is now upset she can't get back to her family isn't a good headspace either. (I'm also deeply frustrated that Lila feels trapped at home. Lila is so capable and she has a buttload of family members who apparently can take their children on a whim during all this chaos. You're telling me she couldn't have found a better outlet to work on their marriage or get some freedom before it got to this point of lying to Diego?)

Five is volatile and Lila is unpredictable. They're nothing but a menace to practically every other character they meet, including each other. But once they're a couple, they're perfectly pleasant the whole time. I don't buy it. The only fight they have is when Five lied to her. I'm not saying they can't be sweet. But this is all sweetness. For me to buy this couple they need to lovingly bicker. Instead, they've both had personality transplants.

So they decide to go back to the greenhouse after 6 years 5 months and 2 days. Five admits to having the book 5 or 6 months on their 7th anniversary of being lost. Let's be generous and assume they kissed within a couple days of getting to the greenhouse, because they look reasonably settled. That means that best case, Five decided that after being in a relationship for less than 2 months, he was going to throw his whole family away and run away with Lila. That is a hell of a lot of commitment for a short relationship.

And keep in mind, it's not like their family is safe. Last they heard, they hadn't solved the Cleanse. So they're either actively in danger or dead. Five - The man who spent 45 years trying to save his family. Who survived decades in the apocalypse alone (minus Delores the mannequin) and murdered his way through time for the chance to get back and save them - is going to let his family die for a 2 month relationship. I call bullshit.

Also, I will give Five credit that he tried to stay on task during the fight with the Cleanse. He only seemed to fight in retaliation for Diego - he actively looked towards the fight at least once before Diego pulled his attention. But you're telling me he's ready to keep fighting Diego and is threatening to kill him over Lila? That his powers only work correctly after 7 years of having them back because Lila begged him? I once again call bullshit.

And Five was going off to mope alone and never come back and potentially let his family die from an active threat, all because Lila didn't pick him? That is not the Five I know.

I also feel like we maybe did all this arc to get Lila to the point where Five has to convince her to stay because no one else could even if she hates him for it, but still get her family on the train to get the planned ending. And that feels very clunky and I hate it.

Outside of plot lines - it is a bit disturbing to me that we're pairing up an actor whose barely an adult with a woman 15 years his senior - practically old enough to be his mother. This is a aside from the fact he's a what, 71 year old man internally at this point and Lila (if we assume even living at the commission she's a similar age to Diego) is in her early 40s by the time she kisses a physically mid-20s Five. There's so much about that I am not okay with I don't even know where to start.

I also hear the writers wanted a romance for Five. First, okay, then have a longer season. Develop a character for Five earlier on in the season or the show you can pair him with. God knows with that history and age issues it'll be tricky. But also frankly - why? Why does Five need a romantic love interest? He's been fueled by the love of his family and that's done so many impressive things out of love for them. Not everyone needs a romantic love of their life to find happiness and it feels very heteronormative (is that the word I want?) that we need to have that for Five. Give Five an apocalypse-free world and his family alive and then we can see what happiness he can find.

[ixiot-ghostrebel]

Assuming that you know about the lore of The Primordial One and his Four Shades, I’ve got a small idea that I would like to share:

Sagau, but Reader and their three friends are the said Four Shades. Since we know only of Istaroth from the Shades, reader will be her. Istaroth is the God of Time and Wind and one of the Four Shades. She was worshipped in Mondstadt alongside Barbatos. She was formerly worshipped in Enkanomiya by the name "Kairos." She once made a deal with Raiden Makoto and is responsible for the creation of the Sacred Sakura. Maybe Istaroth!Reader kind of disappeared due to her not being worshipped anymore, but someone (maybe Traveller or Barbatos) resurrect her by worshipping on her lost altar.

Interesting, Anon! I do know a few things of the Primordial One and his Four Shades, but this oneshot post of mine won't go too into the lore about it. And please remember, I don't do Fem!Reader, so I'll have to switch it to GN!Reader. Sorry!

Here's a little oneshot about this idea :) Enjoy!

Click Me to See the Entire Series!

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞.

Warnings - The One Shot Includes: Spoilers to Genshin Impact Lore!

So. You were iskeaied in Genshin.

There was no imposter, and no one's chasing after you. You were isekaied with three of your friends, to where you don't even know where they were.

You were standing at a cliff were it showed Mondstadt in the distance. This was fine, this was cool. It was peaceful and all, so you didn't have anything to worry about.

You entered Mondstadt, and you were relieved that nobody even noticed you standing there like an idiot. Everything was fine and peaceful. You really did have nothing to worry about.

Except for one problem: Apparently, Venti was shocked to see you. Everyone treats you like you're not there, and then there's this bard that treats you like you were a walking skeleton of a T-Rex that grew an extra limb or something.

Yeah, you have absolutely no idea why the heck he's staring at you like that. Did you die and come back or something, being isekaied or something?

You had no idea, so you did what you thought was the best idea at the time.

You walked up to the bard, and bluntly asked, "Did I die before I got here now?" in his face. You don't know how he does it, but somehow, this man looks even more shocked than he was before.

"Istaroth, you can't be serious!" he exclaims, minding his tone to not make it a public drama film on the streets. "You—You literally disappeared, and then come back out of nowhere, and you think you died somehow?"

Holy cow. You were the freaking GOD OF TIME?! One of the Four SHINING SHADES OR WHATEVER THEY'RE CALLED?

You blink, trying to process this information being dumped into your face and one-braincell-ed brain.

So, you might really be the God of Time. Either that, or you're going insane and you're just hearing Venti wrong. So, just to double check that you heard it right, you ask.

"I'm Istaroth?" You pointed to yourself dumbly. Listen, it's hard to take in, alright? Sagau fanfics barely have this concept here! "So there's no like, Almighty Creator or something?"

"What? No, of course not! Where are you getting these—" The Bard sighs. "Come on, let's go to the Tree of Vanessa." He starts walking towards the gates of Mondstadt, with you quickly following him.

Once you're there, you get info-dumped a lot of crap. Sure, you knew a few things about Istaroth in the Genshin Impact lore, but holy cow was there still a lot you don't know.

For starters, Venti—Barbatos, whatever—made it very clear that there was no "Almighty Creator" of sorts. You were Istaroth, the God of Time, and one of the Gods of Celestia (oh goodie, not). And, not that Venti knew this, One of the Four Shades of the Primordial One.

You were, once upon a time, worshipped alongside Barbatos, as the people of Mondstadt saw you as the "Greater Lord of the Winds," which probably is the reason why you also got the Thousand Winds Temple built. But, of course, history practically threw you out the window. With no one worshipping you anymore, you basically faded off (which, to your equivalent, meant that you fell into a deep sleep and became who you are as of right now, in the present).

For some reason or whatever, before Mondstadt "adopted" you, you were formerly worshipped as the Overseer God of Enkanomiya, under the name of "Kairos."

Kind of funny, honestly, because you were literally naming yourself after the Greek God of Opportunity/Fitness/time (Who's other name is Caerus. Son of Zeus and all that). You can see how the name was fit for you.

Of course, you knew other information Venti didn't know—You knew that Istaroth and Raiden Makoto struck a deal because the Destruction of Khaen'riah caused an absolute world-breakdown. Kind of like a monster apocalypse, now that you think about it. Oh—and you were probably also a part of the reason why the Sovereign Dragons got poofed off of Teyvat.

That only left one question in your head: How the mac n cheese frick did you get "re-summoned" or whatever? And where the heck were you previous memories of being Istaroth?

"So...how exactly am I here, then?" You ask, placing a hand to your chin, as you repeat what you had thought. "And why can't I remember anything about being Istaroth?"

Venti shrugs. It seems he also doesn't anything, but knowing him through the game, you have a slight doubt that he does have a hunch of some sort and he's just hiding it from you. "I'm not sure, Istaroth—"

"Please, just call me Y/N." You roll your eyes. Seriously, if you can't even remember being Istaroth, how the hell are you ever going to even remember to answer when someone does call you Istaroth?

"I'm not sure, Y/N," he corrects himself, fiddling with his lyre. "Bbut, I do have a hunch!" Called it. He really did save it for the dramatics, did he?

"What is the hunch?" You ask, trying to pry answers quickly before this dude starts to confiscate information from you.

"I think it might have to do with—"

"Hey, it's Venti and—uh, who is that?" A voice from behind you both came. Venti smiles and gives a glance over your shoulder.

"—with the Traveler." Oh goodie, the Traveler really do be getting those Main Character Gameplay vibes now. You sigh, standing up. You might as well go ahead and introduce yourself to them before Paimon throws a freaking dialogue at you first.

Besides, if Venti's hunch is correct, the Traveler might just be your ticket to understanding who you truly are.

There's only one way to find out if this theory works.

The End...

Ghost Rebel Side Notes: WILL THIS BECOME A SERIES? 👀 NO IDEA, BUT YOU GUYS TELL ME IF YOU WANT PART 2! AS OF RIGHT NOW, I GOT A LOT OF MOTIVATION FOR THIS EVEN THOUGH I PLANNED NO PLOT WHATSOEVER!

Also! I updated my Info Page, so please check it out! :D And dw, I'm working (or trying to) on the Finale Part of the Forever Within My Hold series :) It'll be out, it's just taking very slow.

✦ Check out The Ghost Rebel's Blog Description & Info Page to See if Their Mailbox is Open! ✦

[itsalwaysalmostchristmas]

Rework of Viconia Devir

So, I had been working on two different ideas: How to rework Viconia where her whole story arc from the previous games doesn't get shat on and how to make the Tadpole Troupe more diverse.

I don't know why the thought came to me but it did: Shadowheart should've (or I think it would've been fun) been Viconia's daughter.

Please hear me out!

If you don't know, Viconia has literally the worse luck in the world it seems, like read her wiki page history I'm sure that's just then tip of the iceberg.

When travelling with Gorion's Ward she is a cleric of Shar, and if not romanced, after their adventures she goes to Waterdeep to run an enclave there, which Viconia in BG3 does tell us:

[Viconia DeVir: I had an enclave in Waterdeep, you know. Much grander than this. Shar ordered me to raze it, kill all who followed me - claim they betrayed me, when in fact I slew those who showed nothing but loyalty.]

I really think Viconia remaining with Shar sucks major balls. Literally, she goes on to be a hero in her own right in her epilogue:

[No longer with Protagonist, Viconia went on to found a cult dedicated to Shar in the city of Waterdeep. One of her followers betrayed her, however, prompting the slaughter of the whole tainted lot. Shar admonished Viconia strongly for this, but she was unrepentant and again wandered the Realms. Viconia was still formidable, and went on to prevent an attempt by the Knights of the Shield to take over Calimport, even worked with Drizzt Do'Urden to save the elven city of Suldanessalar from a Zhentarim plot. For this last act, the elves accepted her, and Queen Ellesime bestowed the highest honors of the Seldarine, an accolade never before given to one of her dark kind. Viconia reportedly bowed without emotion, and then left. Her fate remains unknown.]

Does that sound like someone who would continue to follow Shar?? My gal work with Drizzt Do'Urden! Saved at least two cities! Bestowed the highest award that no drow had ever received!?

Seriously, to me Viconia DeVir and Mother Superior are two completely different characters.

So, how does this work out for her to be Shadowheart's mother? I've got two alternatives that I could see the story using both at the same time, which they do with Gorion's Ward and Abdel Adrian.

Option 1: Viconia had a relationship with a human Selûnite

It could've been in Viconia's wanderings she save a town/village and a human took a keen liking to her. Either a fling or a genuine relationship, Viconia ends up pregnant and out shoots Jenevelle. You could still have it that her dad was a werewolf, but because he's human the years of torture on that torture disk thing caused him to perish.

(whatever that thing is)

Option 2: Shadowheart is the daughter of Viconia and Gorion's Ward

So, in Viconia's romanced ending she has a son with Gorion's Ward and fucking dies.

[Protagonist and Viconia continued adventuring long after leaving Tethyr. He became an important political figure, and she was his trusted counsel. Eventually Viconia bore Protagonist's child, which first served to strain their relationship. The birth, however, changed her, and she dedicated herself to raising the boy, teaching both the ways of the drow and of Protagonist's people. She marvelled at the understanding in his eyes, but unfortunately, didn't live to see him grow. Viconia was poisoned by a servant of Lolth, her last words whispered to her loving mate in private. Protagonist raised his son in secret, and tales vary on the result. Some say they waged a crusade against the drow, but all agree that the former child of Bhaal never forgot the love of his dark maiden.]

Obviously this isn't canon anymore, I guess? But, we've seen in the game Larian picks and chooses bits n pieces from the source material. I also don't like how Gorion's Ward isn't mentioned too much, I did hear that apparently Tav was meant to be a child of Gorion's Ward before it got scrapped and I do like the idea of descentants being part of the party.

If they had chosen this route of Shadowheart being Gorion's Ward and Viconia's child they could twist it in a few ways:

Viconia and Gorion's Ward did have a son but he was killed by Lolth servants rather than Viconia, making Shadowheart their second child.

Viconia and Gorion's Ward did have a son and they had Shadowheart as well but Gorion's Ward was killed by Lolth servants rather than Viconia, making the son still alive.

They never had a son, Lolth servant still kills Gorion's Ward

They never had a son, no Lolth servant kills anyone but Gorion's Ward still dies before we see Viconia again because people would not like a retconned CHARNAME we hate you abdel adrian fuck you

I think option 3 or 4 would make more sense game wise because you could still be vague on whether or not Shadowheart's other parent was Gorion's Ward, that way the player can decide based on who they romanced in their playthroughs. I do like option 2, either the brother could've spent all these years looking for his mother and sister and trying to save them or on the torture disk with his mother.

Also I don't think Viconia would become a Selûnite herself, honestly. I feel like two goddess' fucking you over would put you off worshipping another. However, I could see her wanting the best for her children, it says so in her epilogue she is a dedicated mother and I could imagine her wanting to set her child on the right path, some insecurity of poisoning her child's chance of a good life by being their mother.

I've said this in a post before but I genuinely didn't realise that Shadowheart's dad was a werewolf until I read it in a wiki article. I thought it was a manipulated memory and her dad (who we could switch out for Viconia) was illusion or replaced by a wolf to instil a fear in Shadowheart and make it seem like Mother Superior had saved her.

And, could you imagine the scene! You've defeated Mother Superior and her enclave, you got to where Shadowheart's parents are, with Minisc and Jaheira in your party, and hanging limp on the torture disk thing is the familiar face of Viconia DeVir.

Also Viconia's child being a target of Shar feels more possible than some random Selûnite couple. Honestly, you could take the whole Selûnite bit out. Could you imagine how pissed a god, especially one like Shar, would be if someone who had just killed a whole enclave of followers just shrugged of being scorned by you? Wouldn't you want to make them suffer for years? Make them remember what kind of god you are?

Anyways, here's half-drow Shadowheart!

(please excuse spelling mistakes and grammar I'm dyslexic)

[tossawary]

Okay, spoilers for the first twenty minutes of the first episode of the live-action ATLA remake, because they added a brand new prologue that was VERY bad and I need to talk about how hilariously bad it was.

So, the show opens in the Fire Nation's Capital City at night, with an earthbender running away with an important-looking scroll and being chased by Fire Nation soldiers. There's an unimpressive chase sequence that ends with the earthbender managing to hand off the scroll to someone else, before being caught and dragged before Fire Lord Sozin.

First thoughts: why are they opening 100 years early? I liked the way the original cartoon opened in the actual world state that mattered to us, then the war and its history slowly unfolded as the main characters learned more about their own world. Sozin's wig and costume looks CHEAP, and they are throwing away all of the intimidating mystery of the Fire Lord (we don't see Ozai's face in the cartoon for like two seasons) by showing Sozin as just some guy. Also, it's kind of a waste of time to introduce Sozin here at all, especially in person, because while he had a MASSIVE impact on the world of the story, he's basically irrelevant to the main narrative happening 100 years later, because our actual villains are his descendants ACTIVELY CONTINUING his work.

The earthbender is beat-up but defiantly says that the Earth Kingdom has now been warned that Sozin intends to attack. Sozin is all smug, though, because apparently he WANTED these plans to be stolen. He wants everyone (he actually explicitly names the Water Tribes and the Air Nomads as well as the Earth Kingdom) to be looking towards the Earth Kingdom, so that he can attack the Air Nomads instead, because that's where the new Avatar is, who is the only person who could stop him. (The exposition is sooooo clunky and cheesy. It's baaaaad. Talk directly to the camera, why don't you?) Then Sozin burns this poor earthbender to death and then the scene skips over to Aang at the Southern Air Temple.

Second thoughts: oh, so we're not only going to waste time building up Sozin as a villain when we're going to very shortly skip ahead 100 years? We're also going to establish Sozin as a guy in a bad costume who is kind of shit at military strategy? He doesn't need a distraction! He doesn't need a feint! No one is expecting him to attack anyone, he shouldn't need to fake attacking someone else! In fact, he's letting all the other nations know that they should be paying close attention to his movements? What?!

At the Air Temple, we see Aang and Gyatso's relationship, and we see Gyatso called in to speak with a council of senior monks. The council has been alerted to the fact that Sozin intends to attack the Earth Kingdom, they intend to help, and they want to prepare Aang for war. And I didn't really have to think too hard about the logistics of Sozin's attack on the Air Nomads when it was something that happened 100 years ago! But now this stupid fucking show is making me actually have to think about how all of this worked, because it actually shows SOZIN'S ATTACK on this temple and this is why Aang is forced to leave! (And gets frozen in an iceberg for 100 years.)

Don't show me this nonsense if you don't want me to think about the logistics and strain my suspension of disbelief! If the Air Nomads intend to help the Earth Kingdom when the Fire Nation attacks, then because they're PACIFISTS who can FLY, they would be most helpful serving as scouts and messengers. But NO ONE is watching the movements of Sozin and his entire fucking army of firebenders when they have been EXPLICITLY forewarned that he intends to attack the Earth Kingdom??? They don't have anyone watching out for this explosive conflict that will directly impact their ability to travel at the very least?

It's one thing if the Fire Nation has simply become increasingly militaristic and industrial, because from an outsider's perspective, that could just be Sozin strengthening his internal power. (The Fire Nation could have had multiple lords and kingdoms, historically, before being forcibly united into a single nation.) Chin the Conqueror was also just one Avatar ago, so it's maybe not unreasonable for the Fire Nation to be wary of warmongers within the Earth Kingdom. The Fire Nation becoming increasingly hostile and aggressive is concerning, but people tend to hope that cooler heads will prevail and war won't happen. It's not the same as DIRECT CONFIRMATION that the (United?) Fire Nation intends to invade the Earth Kingdom and start a war?

Sozin, apparently: "The best way to pull off a surprise attack is intentionally put all of my enemies on their guard."

So, now the Air Nomads don't look great for failing to notice an army showing up like that. Especially if they're in contact with the Earth Kingdom about the war that they're anticipating? Like, sure, they didn't anticipate THEY would be attacked, but they have information now that Sozin has an army on the move and terrible ambitions? Maybe these senior monks aren't sharing the news around because they don't want to panic anyone yet? Maybe it took a long time for the Earth Kingdom's information to reach them? But it's not a great look that the show is immediately inspiring me to find flaws (in the plan of telling your enemies to look out for your attack beforehand) and to have to come up with excuses for these potential plot holes.

And I personally didn't enjoy seeing the Air Nomads engaged in combat with the Fire Nation as one of the first things we see from them! Of course they're going to defend themselves when attacked, but it's just so sad, especially when Aang is introduced in the original cartoon as a wondrous mystery to Sokka and Katara and the audience, fun-loving and bright and with incredible powers, a miraculous shock of sunshine colors against the blue of the South Pole, a person from a more peaceful time and a hopeful way of life, someone who has never seen war and never heard of this one. In the cartoon, we learn about the Air Nomads through getting to know Aang, this penguin-sledding kid who can't even conceive of war yet, before we see the remnants of his loss. We don't have to see airbenders fighting for their lives and dying horribly before we fully understand who they are as a people.

This remake heavily frontloads its exposition with new material that is painfully clumsy, largely irrelevant, and doesn't add anything good to a story that's already been done pretty well. Was this just an attempt to avoid being accused of directly copying and adding nothing? Because it was bad. What the fuck was wrong with opening in the main time period of our story with Sokka and Katara as our POV characters? We could have instead seen more of the Southern Water Tribe! We could have spent more time with Aang getting to know the Southern Water Tribe and bonding with Sokka and Katara! We could have had more conflict between Aang and Zuko (who is, unlike Sozin, alive and relevant to the actual story at hand)! But no, we cut good stuff from the original show and have to waste all of this time on Sozin instead, who is dead by the time that the real story starts, and also apparently thinks telling everyone he intends to attack the Earth Kingdom when no one knew he was going to attack anyone is good military strategy.

[victorspindrop]

OG HOA Characters and what their Major would be in College

Side note; once again hello I am alive. Currently in my last year of college so I have been dedicating majority of my time to my studies. I still have ideas and love for this account I am just not really consistent so my apologies. With school being my priority right now, it has got me thinking about what each of the characters major would be if they ended up going to university. Hope you all enjoy <3

Nina

I think we as a fandom have collectively decided Nina would be maybe a journalism major or a history major, and honestly I think that is very accurate!

Personally, I can see her being a History major with a Journalism minor

I mean especially from all her sibuna escapades, she loved learning the history of the house and all that was in it

I like to think she carried that love with her beyond Anubis. Maybe it makes her feel at home in a way (was Anubis traumatic? yes. but it was home <3)

I think writing the play back in S1, although stressful during the time due to a centuries old scavenger hunt, I think maybe that ignited a love of writing in her and she ended up doing it as a hobby for a while

I mean, she had a diary so obviously writing of some sorts seemed to be therapeutic for her (apparently to therapeutic in S3 smh) IM SORRY BAD JOKE BAD JOKE

Amber

Amber OBVIOUSLY went into something to do with fashion ; I mean she left in S3 to go to a fashion school so it checks out, and she's Amber so DUH

Majoring in Fashion Design, holding her own little runways during the school year

Maybe even having a clothing sale on campus at some point in the year

EVERYONE wants to get their hands on an Amber original

If she didn't go in fashion design I could also see her being a business major

Amber is our OG #GirlBoss so I can see her going into this major with the intents of learning the odds and ins of running a business

I think shed still be selling some sort of fashion or accessory but she would just be studying the principles of running a business.

She gives very Elle Woods "I have a 4.0 average!" "Yeah in fashion merchandising..."

Fabian

Fabian definitely gives History major to me as well (Fabina is the cutest couple in the history department)

Him and Nina compare notes <3

He was always a studious guy so it makes sense!

I can see him potentially becoming a Museum Curator (Him and the Sibuna gang found half of the relics in the museum)

Fabian is also our music guy, I will never forgive the writers for not putting in more clips of Fabian and his guitar UGHHH

I could see him picking up a Music minor just as a backup (more importantly for fun)

He really enjoys his History of Music class because its literally his two favorite subjects TOGETHER

HIs professors are very impressed with his knowledge of ancient Egyptian mythology (little do they know...)

Patricia

Honestly Patricia is hard for me to figure out

I think she’d maybe take a gap year or something after Anubis or maybe travel the USA and hang with Eddie maybe?

Maybe she would go into criminology?

Idk maybe being kidnapped and seeing an unjust system (the police being a part of Victors life cult) she’d want to be in the system herself because “at least i’ll be doing what’s right even if everyone else isn’t”

I think also having no one to listen and help her in S1 may fuel this as well.

Or hell, maybe she’d major in law

then she’d get to prosecute all the shitty people doing shitty things

Alfie

literally had to consult the discord to figure out stuff for this mf

I now know technically he probs went for business cause of his dad, BOOOOOOOOOOOO FUCK THAT IDEA LET MY BOY BE HAPPY

Some sort of art major

I like to think he made most of his costumes so maybe something within theater costuming

or hell even theater we know he would do so good

He loves putting on shows and making people laugh, it what he LIVES for

Maybe he goes on to have some sort of comedy special

Also idea from the HOA discord im in, him and Jerome def went to the same college and were roommates (oh my god they were roommates)

Jerome

this bitch went into business or something for sure

I will never forget Jerome basically have a homework selling SIDE HUSTLE in S1

(and Fabian threatening to expose him)

Finds some sort of niche that wouldn't be illegal and expands on it

actually does pretty well, he has experience per say so

Since Alfie did art as a major, Jerome lets him take home his business textbooks so his dad doesn't find out he isn't majoring in business (i love these two dumbasses so much guys i love friendship ugh)

Mick

Sports medicine probably

you guys know mick is like a thumb to me character-wise love him and dont at the same time

Mara

MY GIRL WENT INTO PSYCHOLOGY

you guys can trust me on this, I am literally getting my bachelors in psychology

tbh she just LOOKS like I would see her in one of my psych classes

She was trying (for a while) to help calm Patricia and talk her through her worries early on in S1 , I think its just in her nature to want to help others

She went as far as cheating on a test to help someone, girl goes the extra mile...even if the mile was wrong

Also beginning S1 when Amber first voices her concerns about Mick not loving her anymore Mara is literally the first one to be like "No that's not true!"

I feel like she would just go the cognitive therapist route (basically your average sit down talk to therapist)

She might go into some of the more neuroscience sides of psychology since she was so studious and SO GOOD at science and stuff (our "biology babe")

Joy

journalism with a communication minor for sure

she ran that school newspaper like it was the navy

I like to think she would go on to be apart of the newspaper/news group of her college

Maybe she goes on to be a reporter or something

or maybe she has a column in the news or maybe even works for a magazine company

[yaeggravate]

hi i'm back with more crack theories about kaeya and everyone's favorite purple crystal 🥰

warning: this is just for fun, something to keep us entertained during another kaeya lore drought

a while back, before we knew who the sinner was, i suggested he was a fallen angel who gave kaeya his vision. kaeya's vision is pointedly missing two wings which may symbolize his clipped wings.

since there are some parallels between vision givers (archons) and vision bearers i assumed that the circumstances around kaeya's vision (fighting his brother after a betrayal) might hint towards the sinner also having gone through a sibling fallout.

fast forward, and while i was off about a few things, vedrfolnir does indeed have a sibling, one he betrayed pretty badly 🤭

Dainsleif: The Sinner you wish to know about... His situation is different. He and his fellow sinners have long betrayed me, and long betrayed their nation. Dainsleif: His name is Vedrfolnir, "The Visionary." Dainsleif: I'm loath to admit it, but... He is also my kin. My older brother.

who knows, maybe vedrfolnir witnessed the fight between the two brothers and saw himself in kaeya. (there's also something deeply funny about vedr losing his little brother dainsleif and replacing him with a cooler younger brother who also wants nothing to do with him).

Since that day, Kaeya and Diluc have gone their separate ways. But he never discusses it, just as he never discusses the origin of his Vision.

alternatively, perhaps vedr had to keep kaeya alive at all costs and hastily gave him a vision. he just so happens to be a Visionary, a powerful prophet who can divine the fate of the world and apparently see through time itself. ...like some kind of all seeing eye.

you know where this is going.

whether kaeya is a seer or not remains unclear. but there are enough oddities to suggest he knows and sees more than is normal. just look at his hangout! i'm not going to list all the instances but bennett even called him an "omniscient big brother" in an old official blog post. turns out, vedrfolnir is quite literally an omniscient big brother lol.

Kaeya: My dear audience, I ask you this: Do you believe in fate? If fate decreed that your life was to end in tragedy, what would you do?

Kaeya: Fate means to send the machinations of war to every corner of the land, to fan the flames of conflict till they engulf the entire world... Fate would see my sword tainted with the blood of innocents, that the bright banner of my homeland might fly in every nation known to mankind.

Kaeya: Perhaps there's an inept god out there deciding everyone's fates... much like the Akademiya student drafting Darbil's scripts.

how does he know this? is someone dropping spoilers in his ear or does he really have the gift of prophecy?

so imagine for a second kaeya's vision is from vedrfolnir. maybe this created a connection between them which allowed kaeya to catch glimpses of vedr's divinations... this might explain why kaeya was there during the caribert quest. kaeya waited every day for the traveler to show up which to me suggests he was desperate to talk to them. maybe he knew what was going to happen and wanted to warn them. (and then vedr's brother showed up which put a dent in those plans.)

another fun coincidence is that vedrfolnir means "storm pale", "wind bleached", or "wind-witherer". kaeya has many references to storms and wind. (frostwind swordsman, glacial whirlwind, he even came to mondstadt during a storm etc etc). no, this does not mean kaeya is vedr, but hey if child can inherit surtalogi's legacy why can't kaeya inherit vedrfolnir's, who has a history of "helping" the alberichs.

foul legacy is "demon king armament (魔王武装)" in CN, and in fischl's cn voiceline about kaeya, she questions if kaeya has the "demon eye (魔眼)". (it's no coincidence childe's foul legacy form looks like a fucked up seelie)

About Kaeya (CN) Fischl: The reality that cannot be seen through, the karma that cannot be discerned, the mad interweavings of reality and illusion... Perhaps that person and I are alike, shouldering the fate of the "demon eye"...

the sinners are using a power they acquired from the abyss. if the power comes from a demon, who are fallen angels, then it does not kill the fallen angel theory. moreover, the traveler specifically compares venti's upside down statue to the sinner. i think the abyss order are trying to create a mechanical angel; because who else can weave and control ley lines if not the descendants of fate itself? the mecha god might even be used to house vedr himself...

this is not without precedent. i recently found out deshret's mechanical triangle boss, abbreviated as ASIMON, is a reference to the aasimon in dnd, who are angels.... these mechas are imbued with jinn fragments, who are the descendants of the seelie. so essentially, deshret used angel juice to power up his machines.

remus also used the golden seelie bees to weave his symphony. ....sensing a worrying trend here.

i won't lie, it's not looking good for kaeya.

but it gets better

"sinners" and "fishers" in french are almost identical: pécheurs and pêcheurs. this is important because kaeya's ancestor anfortas is named after the fisher king from arthurian legends which was originally written in old french. he's the sinner AND fisher king.

Amfortas is a character from the Grail Romances: the Fisher King (le roi pêcheur) and the Sinner King (le roi pecheur).

kaeya's connections to fishers has been foreshadowed from the beginning; his birthday falls on november 30, which is the feast day of st andrew, a fisherman. his eyepatch in official art has a trident, which was used for spearfishing. (there's also fischl's entire existence aka fischer.)

he even has a hangout pic where he catches a fish. in that same route he went by the alias of albert rich, which might also be a reference to the fisher king being a "rich fisher". it's a double pun!

if kaeya is the new "fisher" or "sinner king", what would he be the king of? khaenri'ah seems like the most logical route. yes, khaenri'ah is gone but it's possible the kingdom can "grow back" just like fischl's immernachtreich.

Oz: "Really? So how do we make your homeland grow back again? Oh, pwease tell me, pweeease, pweeeeease!" Fischl: "Since you inquire so earnestly... give unto me a tranquil haven, promise me eternal admiration, lend me both time and wind, and one shall revive one's homeworld."

...or perhaps kaeya's future "kingdom" is simply mondstadt, which may be a pun on monsalvat, the fisher king's realm.

OR, even crazier, sinner king is literal, and the power the sinners are using belongs to a branch of kaeya's mysterious family... (not necessarily the alberichs).

we don't know yet if anfortas was born an alberich; for all we know he might have been adopted or married into the family. if this is the case, anfortas's lineage could be anything... we also can't forget kaeya's mother, who is an even bigger mystery than kaeya's father.

About Fischl (CN) What? You're saying that Fischl hiding one eye is very fitting for her image as "Prinzessin der Verurteilung"? Haha, by this logic, I should be a descendant of a last generation of royals, right?

😒

[legendsoffandoms]

I have more aus, I’m talk about two today.

(I’m feeding yall and myself)

So the first au I wanna talk about is this villain au I have. I like calling him Child in this au.

So basically Lloyd life was pretty much the same up until he got kicked out of Darkleys. He took living on the streets a lot more serious than what’s shown in the show. He didn’t taunt his title like cannon Lloyd. He stole what he needed when he needed, and was trying to lay low as to avoid being caught and put into any kind of foster care or orphanage. So he never pulled his stunt in the village that led to basically very villain. He never met the ninja until way later.

He gained the name Child because he was still really childish, and he was good at what he did. He stole and never got caught. He had a really childish but also dark laugh. He was fast and swift, and became a bit of a legend amongst normal very day criminals. He wasn’t a big bad, and he had no intention of stealing really guarded stuff like money from a bank. He wasn’t a low level thief, but he wasn’t going to risk shit.

And basically Wu asks the ninja to bring Lloyd home, as he thinks that he’s the green ninja.

So the Ninja have to try and track down this random kid who’s apparently their Master’s nephew. Big problem, no one knows where he is. He travels constantly. Using his criminal history is useless as half his crimes go unreported, so they have no idea if he’s at the city his last crime was reported or not. The ninja end up spending weeks trying to find this kid, and when they finally do. They realize. He’s fucking 12.

He did all of that at 12.

What happens when they find him? He refuses to go, and ends with them basically begging Lloyd to go. Lloyd who obviously doesn’t give two fucks about the Ninja or his “Uncle”. Lloyd also hates the ninja guts for taking away his only family member. Lloyd ends up becoming one of the Ninja’s main villains as they try to get him to reform, and he keeps refusing. He goes from a legend amongst small time criminals to one of the Ninja’s villains. At this point, the only one apart from his father. Which just gives him a worse reputation amongst civilians. And the “Child” becomes a super villain. Despite him being 12, and also having no powers (that he’s unlocked yet).

Au two: Feral!Lloyd

So basically after unlocking his Oni form and defeating the Overlord. Something is seriously off about Lloyd. He’s never zoned in, he’s a lot more clingy, he’s more cat like?, and he’s just more weird. At some point, he just stops acting human altogether. He’s basically gone feral. Both dragon and oni instincts are just his behavior. Which leads him to be really overprotective and aggressive. He’s super clingy with Nya and Kai. He hates both Garmadon and Wu for some reason. He’s constantly on all fours.

At some point he grew dragon and oni features. He’s just not human anymore. Whatever happened when he discovered his oni form just broke his mind behind repair. He basically became like a large house cat, that would eat people that tried to hurt the Ninja. And he Would growl at Wu and Garm.

Now the ninjago have to struggle with a feral Lloyd. Oh and then the merge happens. Leaving feral Lloyd. Alone. At the monetary.

Eventually Arin, Sora, and Riyu show up. They expect well normal human Lloyd. They get feral, clearly not fully human Lloyd. Which just leads to more chaos and angst. As the trio tries to gain Lloyd’s trust and eventually try and find the other Ninja. Cause they definitely can not handle feral Lloyd themselves.

A list of traits feral!lloyd has:

• He crawls on all fours all of the time. He never walks on two legs.

• He hates Wu and Garmadons guts, for reasons no one can figure out.

• He can’t speak English/Ninjagin. He only speaks in Oni and Dragon

• He loves Nya and Kai and clings to them the most (basically all of the time)

• Once Sora and Arin got his trust (he didn’t mind riyu since he’s part dragon) they became his kids. Whether they liked it or not. They’re his kids, and he’s extremely overprotective of him

• Once he completely went feral. His Oni and Dragon traits started coming in. He spent weeks coped up in his room in a blanket mountain as they grew in. It hurt like a bitch, but he refused to let anyone even close to him as it happened

• His Oni and dragon traits are: A black an green tail with lots of really fluffy brown fur on it (from the base to end on the top side), he has black and green dragon ears, golden horns, purple eyes, lots of patches of black and green scales, goat like legs that are golden (Oni trait), black clawed hands, a golden scar that stretches across his face, and really sharp teeth.

• He dyes his hair blonde in this au, but he stopped once he became feral

• He doesn’t have wings cause I say so, also I like to think at least in this au he’s an eastern dragon.

I hope you like my aus :3

[bonefall]

How are we feeling at the book finale? Because outside of the Sunbeam girlboss moment telling Berryheart just how bad of a family she was AND maybe possibly foreshadowing her rejecting Nightheart, I think we miiiight get some more Dark Forest cats than planned before :D (also I may be wrong but- didn't Podlight have children? Would he even be eligible as Medicine Cat in BB?)

Podlight's totally eligible in BB! He has no canon children and I didn't give him any. In BB there's also an interesting quirk in that Podlight is notoriously Mistystar's... not EXACTLY a good-for-nothing grandson, but a bit of a "fratboy" working through daddy issues. Is is extra funny for this cat to be a villain lmao.

Also: Better Bones RiverClan Family Tree

Anyway... my thoughts on the spoiler thread's ending. Mostly negative, unfortunately. I am really hoping that a lot of this is misrepresentation.

I've enjoyed every book of ASC that's come out so far, but if this thread is accurate, this is going to be the first one that I actively dislike. It sounds like there was a serious nosedive in quality.

ON THE ENDING; Park Cats, and The Berryheart Gathering.

Park Cats.

It is profoundly frustrating to me that we had TWO traveling books in this arc. Do they not know by now that traveling books are widely detested for a reason??

Frostpaw and Nightheart were AWAY FROM THE CONFLICT for most of this book, what the fuck?

The plot barely advanced at all. There's been one major conflict in this entire arc, the invasion of RiverClan, and we are 4/6ths of the way through without any other major battles. This is boring.

Riverstar is a major character through this bullshit, now with a magical perfect connection to Frostpaw through plot convenience so he can give her tutorial tips, because GOD FORBID we have a more grounded story for once. I'm so sick of DOTC fanservice. Was a super edition not enough?!

And speaking of Riverstar's Home, they pretty clearly ripped a lot of inspiration out of it. Frostpaw and Nightheart go on a journey with random human-related shenanigans before finding a cardboard cutout of a culture

I'm not gonna lie guys. I do not like the Park Cats. I HAVE TO SAY; It's a step in the right direction

They are not demonized. They are treated as good and legitimate. They are seen as having wisdom and living peacefully.

This is Good. This is Fine.

(im still kind of mad they needed riverstar to come save them back in riverstar's home, like every non-clan culture does apparently, but HOKAY fine ok it's fine)

.....butt.

They're boring. guys, they have one thing that is unique to them, and it's meditation. They live in perfect peace and harmony. there's nothing there.

It's easy to be a perfect, peaceful society if you have no conflict ever.

IF THE SPOILER THREAD IS ACCURATE, we don't see them address strife, how they DO handle disputes, what DOES happen when a cat engages in "criminality," or even really see what their spiritual beliefs are besides "meditating"

And that's why the idea of Frostpaw taking away a good lesson from living with them strikes me as so hollow. WHAT is she taking from them? JUST vague, quiet meditation?? Why couldn't Riverstar just magically teach her that?

It also bothers me that this culture is exactly the same as it was in Riverstar's Home. It's in stasis. Nothing has changed, nothing has grown, they haven't picked up new customs. They don't even seem to have their own history besides remembering that Riverstar showed up generations ago.

It's not a culture, it's a plot device.

I swear, I'm really trying to like them, but RH left this really sour taste in my mouth and them showing up again in this book has only made me more frustrated.

I AM happy that we're going to maybe start trying to address the violence of Clan Culture, but it is coming in the middle of a book where nothing fucking happens, and they're starting to fumble the bag on the xenophobic radicalization that I'd been praising in the past few books

And by that, I'm referring to...

Berryheart's Gathering

through the books so far, I've been praising the slow rise of tension coming from the radicalized members of ShadowClan.

I think the way that Berryheart and her little Concern Club had been slowly escalating in their bigotry and violence was (and remains) unironically fantastic.

We had started off with it just being a group to "discuss the issues," which evolved into active bullying and harassment, progressed into attempted murder, and we left off on the idea that Berryheart's Hate Group was planning something with RiverClan's murder party.

And we are reaching a turning point in that arc, the payoff of a long and well-laid escalation, with...

normal democracy.

berryheart and her supporters approach puddleshine reasonably with their concerns and intent to call for a vote to depose tigerheartstar. doing the thing the fucking code addition was made for

This comes AFTER Sunbeam has a Girlboss Moment telling off Berryheart for being a bad mom in front of the whole gathering and everyone claps, mind you, so this is clearly supposed to be the narrative's big "oooo consequences for Berryheart" moment

So anyway Berryheart brings up that they want tigerHeartstar deposed, and then Puddleshine's like "haHA THIS WAS A ROUSE"

"Actually I only told you i agree to point out how this code addition can be exploited over a disagreement with ONE issue!!!!1"

i just...

im......

would Brokenstar training babies be One Issue? Would Bramblefake being a bully to his entire clan be One Issue? Would Leopardstar allowing Tigerstar to take over RiverClan be One Issue?

One Issue....

And MIND YOU I'm Pro-tigerHeartstar, actually, but the WHOLE fucking point of the rule is that you can depose someone who is not acting in the best interest of the Clans. Fym ONE ISSUE??

IT'S A BIG ASS ISSUE!

So anyway Berryheart is embarrassed in front of everyone, tigerHeartstar tells the group, "You're going to support me or get out of my Clan"

All of her supporters fall in line, but Berryheart chooses exile.

So Berryheart and her group isn't punished for the hate crimes, it didn't lead to anyone getting actually hurt, this faction of cats just settled back down and Berryheart alone was exiled for political opposition to occupation.

not the hate crimes

GOTTA STRESS

The hate crimes did not cause lasting damage, the radicalized group did not cause any violence at this gathering

Berryheart is exiled for political opposition to occupation.

The consequence she faces for the hate crimes was simply not having her son Spireclaw back her up because she caused trouble for Fringewhisker. Like it's on the same level as being a bad in-law and not ATTEMPTED MURDER BASED ON BIGOTRY

And tigerHeartstar, jesus christ

His consistent trait has been becoming unreasonable WHEN HIS FAMILY IS THREATENED. WHY are we tossing this out the window now?

I REALLY REALLY hope that the spoiler thread is misrepresentation, and tigerHeartstar didn't ACTUALLY exile her but said something like, "this is what we're doing. don't like it, leave. you don't have the votes"

SO FOR NOW; I'm going to reserve judgement on what the writers are doing with tigerHeartstar.

This seems like the exact sort of thing that may be worded in an inaccurate way

But that said,

I'm beside myself with disappointment in this turn of events. Why is this about legitimate political proceedings? Why did they make the CULMINATION of this arc about bigoted violence and radicalization a legitimate, peaceful attempt to use the process THEY JUST ADDED, FOR THIS EXACT PURPOSE?

Anyway, then it ends on a cliffhanger

Podlight claims to be the new medcat, pointed out as just being a political maneuver, to appoint Splashtail as the new leader.

Frostpaw watches on in shock and thinks about how bad it is that a murderer is now in charge of RiverClan, and how no one would believe her if she told them all now

I sure hope the next book contains something worth reading. like a fight or something. in the battle cat series. in the arc where theyre trying to say something about violence.

[onbearfeet]

Bloodstone Manor Location Masterpost

Okay, since the next bit of Monster Mash is gonna have to happen at/near Bloodstone Manor and Ted needs to go for a walk in the woods nearby, where do we think it is? The US and UK are the leading candidates in the fandom, but I need to pick a spot so my characters can get the fuck out of Ohio. My money is on the US, but I'm open to counterpoints.

Things to bear in mind:

1. Ulysses had a British accent. Elsa's accent is posh British. Verussa had an American accent, with some Broadway Mid-Atlantic that could suggest fancy New England OR just putting on airs. It's entirely possible one of the couple moved to be with the other, but that doesn’t settle which side of the ocean it happened on. Elsa's accent could be from a UK childhood OR a UK boarding school OR a choice to emulate her mother and annoy Verussa.

2. The house is old--or at least full of old stuff--but there's something of a history of Europeans bringing their weird-ass shit across the Atlantic and building absolutely batshit mansions in the US. Probably because there's more open space for it here.

3. The establishing shot of the rotunda shows it in hilly or mountainous terrain, with what looks like pine forest around it, and it sits on a parcel that is either big enough or far enough from neighbors that no one expects any outside response to roars, screams, explosions, etc. Either there's no one around to hear it or people REALLY mind their own business.

4. Of the hunters who make it to the funeral, one has a Scottish accent, two have American or Canadian accents, and one has what sounds like a South Korean accent (although apparently the actor was born in Argentina and moved to the US in the 90s, and I'm going off the many Korean-American voices I've heard at work, so "Korean-American" might be a better descriptor). Those are the people with connections to Ulysses and the time, resources, and motivation to show up to wherever this is. That suggests the location is most accessible to these people and not others. (Yes, I know, I've left out Jack's accent, but he was going to travel to wherever Ted was anyway; he had enough motivation that distance alone wasn't going to stop him.) North America has the numbers here; it's more likely that one Scot got on an international flight than that two North Americans did.

5. The guards are wearing "tacticool" BDUs and carrying some kind of zappy sticks or stun batons. The lack of guns is interesting and may indicate a location with stricter gun laws than the US ... or just that Verussa didn't want to accidentally kill her captive and that a lot of monsters are bulletproof anyway. The guards look and move a hell of a lot like an American tactical team and sound vaguely American when they're screaming. Would Verussa import guards, or hire local muscle? My money is on the latter.

6. Ulysses was old as balls. In the comics, he was positively ancient, and the opening narration implies he was old enough to be wearing pre-20th-century clothes in a flashback. He's definitely old enough to have gotten his hands on a nice piece of property in the UK, but also rich enough to have just bought a mountain in the US. He was also around for the last century-plus of history, and that may have affected his choice of headquarters. If the original Bloodstone Manor got bombed out during World War 2, for example, he might have moved to a less bomb-filled location.

7. Corpse Muppet! Verussa found somebody willing to turn her husband's remains into a Cryptkeeper animatronic. I have no idea whether that's a thing in the UK, but there are definitely enough weirdo taxidermists, puppeteers, and general pieces of work here that someone would take Verussa's money to do it. There are even subcultures here that traditionally sit the corpse up at the table for the wake, so it might not even be that weird to the right professional.

8. Flaming Tuba Guy is available for the funeral. Real Flaming Tuba Guy is American and takes his flaming tuba to Burning Man. I have no idea whether the UK is also a likely place to find a dude with a flaming tuba, but I have difficulty imagining a smooth process for getting a combination brass instrument/flamethrower through customs. I don't think there's a lot of international Flaming Tuba action unless private jets get involved. Wherever Flaming Tuba is from, I'm betting that's the jurisdiction where Bloodstone Manor is.

9. Jack makes it to Bloodstone Manor. Now, I've talked before about his being highly motivated and distance not being an obstacle for him, but if we assume he didn't use a magic portal or something (big if, I know), he had to go by land, sea, or air, and that takes time, no matter how motivated he is. Jack is centuries old, has a history of involvement with violence, and speaks with a Mexican accent. Wherever the Manor is, a dude matching that description was able to get there in time without setting off a ton of international alerts. The fact that Jack is as old as he is AND unknown to the hunters despite being a werewolf suggests that he prefers to keep a low profile, and by now he's practiced at it. He wouldn't want to leave a paper trail, especially when he's on a rescue mission that he knows will likely involve killing people. (I know he doesn't WANT to kill anybody, but the odds of him and Ted getting out of there with a zero body count were always slim. And he brought a bomb in his pocket.) Between his money and his accent, Jack would have an easier time moving around undetected in North America; he could reach a North American Manor by car rather than having to smuggle himself on a boat, charter a private plane (with a flight plan!), or go through customs at Heathrow or wherever. Not that he wouldn't risk getting on SHIELD's radar to save Ted, but if the hunt happened soon after Ted's capture, Jack would be more likely to physically reach the Manor in time if it were in North America.

10. Ted! Ted is at the funeral, obviously. In the comics, Ted canonically lives in the Everglades and honestly that's the best place for him. Verussa would have to have Ted transported from Florida to wherever the Manor is. All the logistical problems of moving Jack across an ocean are magnified in moving TED across an ocean. Again, it's much easier to move him within North America, which I'd consider a point in favor of a North American Manor. If the Manor were in the UK, wouldn't Verussa have gone for a victim based closer to home?

11. Sushi. "Let's do sushi; I owe you that." Apparently Jack and Ted have a history with sushi. I have absolutely no idea how common sushi restaurants are in the UK, but on the west coast of North America, you can pretty much throw a stick and hit one. (I know this because I moved last fall, and one of my first priorities in the new place was Find The Good Local Restaurants. Google was like OH, YOU WANT SUSHI?! HERE ARE TWENTY PLACES. Seriously, it's almost as common as pizza, at least in California.) I assume the boys aren't heading into a major urban center for food after their escape, so wherever Bloodstone Manor is, Jack thinks he can find a rural, exurban, or suburban sushi restaurant within a couple hours' travel (close enough that he can go, pick up their order, and make it back to Ted before raw fish goes funky). Sushi restaurants, at least in the western US, tend to be run by East Asian immigrants--part of the larger culture of immigrants starting restaurants within the first or second generation of arriving here. For stupid racist reasons, most East Asian immigration to the US took place after 1965, so there are a lot of sushi restaurants here that were established in or after the 1980s. Sushi restaurants also tend to be more common in coastal regions here, presumably because REALLY fresh ocean fish get more expensive and harder to acquire farther inland. Jack proposing sushi, if he and Ted are sitting on a log in the US, suggests they're somewhere near a coast, in a region with a sizable post-1965 East Asian immigrant population. (BTW, the reason I keep saying "East Asian" instead of "Japanese" is because a LOT of these restaurants in my area are run by Korean families, more rarely Chinese or Vietnamese ones. I've been in exactly one sushi restaurant here that was run by a Japanese family, and it was 40 years old.) Of course, I don't know shit about the takeout culture of the UK; maybe Yorkshire is full of sushi restaurants or something.

Conclusions.

Between the geography, the accents, the material culture, and the logistics, I think the balance of probability suggests that Bloodstone Manor is in North America, most likely the United States. There are multiple hilly or mountainous regions with pine forests near coasts, close enough to centers of East Asian immigration that the boys can reliably get their sushi.

So with all that in mind ...

[sepublic]

So apparently one of the guys who worked on the Metroid Prime series mentioned how he wants to make a game about time travel on a planet with mechanics similar to the Light/Dark worlds in Echoes and. We're all agreeing this is what Beyond will be about. We see portals in that jungle location. Its logo is based off of a black hole, which are known to distort time, and famously this was even a major plot point in the film Interstellar a while back, which had a black hole be used to travel back in time.

This could be a lot of fun narratively, because I think of how we learned Bryyo's history in the previous game through lore scans. So what if the time travel mechanic was used to show the development and collapse of this new world we're exploring, but in real time as Samus visits different periods in history? It could be a form of environmental storytelling, in addition to the more direct scans she uses.

It also makes me think about Sylux; I don't think we have any confirmation on what his home planet of Cylosis is like. I know some of us assume the icy world he appears in during the intro of Hunters is Cylosis, but it isn't necessarily. So what if this jungle planet is Cylosis? What if the time travel mechanic is used to explore Sylux's backstory, in a way to really flesh him out as a character? We fight different versions of Sylux across time. Maybe even two at once. We see how Cylosis could've fallen apart because of the Galactic Federation.

Maybe we even get to visit the future and that’s why the game is called Beyond, because we’re exploring beyond history. Samus could see a version of herself where she won or didn’t, same with Sylux who’d still hold a grudge. Maybe Sylux is using time shenanigans to change Cylosis’ future because maybe it isn’t doomed yet. Maybe he’s from the future, even, after accidentally flying the Delano 7 through a black hole!!! And his knowledge of the past allowed him to slip past Federation security, know what they have stored and where and when, etc. It’s why nobody’s heard of Sylux, he hasn’t happened yet. And what made him hate the Federation hasn’t happened yet either, which is why most are baffled regarding his motives.

On a final note, and this is getting into some mad, silly, conspiracy theory territory. But given the hype of Sylux's mysterious identity, and don't take this too seriously. What if Sylux is future Samus. What if it's Samus after experiencing Fusion and possibly more yet-to-happen events, who became deeply disillusioned with the Federation and even saw them as the true cause of the Space Pirates from a systemic sense. And as a result she became more sympathetic to the Space Pirates, opting not to blame the symptom but the root cause (That, or she's just using them and plans to betray the pirates as well).

At some point in the future, she got sent back to the past, landing in Cylosis but without her Chozo power suit. So she used her knowledge from working with the Federation to infiltrate a facility and find a substitute, replacing her power cannon with the Shock Coil, and the morphball with the Lockjaw.

She can't just tell or warn everyone about the truth, because she came from the future without any real physical evidence, plus this is stuff that has yet to happen; She'd just be dismissed as yet another conspiracy theorist, plus being open about the time travel stuff could be a whole can of worms. Sylux hates her past self for her mistakes and foolishness, because she’s got hella self-loathing; She’s trying to prevent the monster she helped create.

Sylux uses her knowledge of the past to infiltrate the Federation and hatch a Metroid when they have one; At this point she's already awakened her Metroid DNA, which we know has Queen potential, and that's how she can control them. The Mochtroids are an attempt to boost Metroid numbers while she oversees other methods.

Present-Day Samus defeats Sylux and learns the maddening truth, wondering what the Federation has done, or will do, to break that trust so completely. Beyond's story ends with Samus prepared, but also wary of who she might become if she doesn't get a handle on herself and become Sylux all over again. Knowing her future gives her insight to prevent it and create a better timeline where she isn't pushed to that desperation, so in a way maybe Sylux DOES succeed.

Plus, you could combine this with the full circle theory that Sylux will be revealed as a woman just as Samus was at the start, but take it a step further by having it be the same woman behind the armor all along!!!

[cringecompanionapologist]

So I Made Up a Needlessly Complicated Version of the Ruby's Mother Reveal

Yeah, it's been several months and I'm still frustrated and overthinking it. RTD finales have prioritized spectacle over sense before, so it's not like this is some kind of apocalyptic show-ending problem. I know the fandom treats every mistake, or thing that they personally don't like, as an apocalyptic show-ending problem, but the show just keeps on going whatever they think of it. There's gonna be more Doctor Who. We're not done yet.

But, yeah, Empire of Death was a bit of a mess. Specifically, the reveal of Ruby's mother was poorly done. The fact that she's just some normal woman is actually pretty good in theory. The problem is mainly in the way it's set up.

(This is gonna be long)

When I was The Church on Ruby Road when it aired, despite all the emphasis put on it, I assumed Ruby's mom was just some ordinary woman giving up her baby for ordinary reasons. Everyone was guessing the name of every female character in the history of the franchise and I was thinking, "Guy's, it's probably no one. We might meet her someday and do an emotional thing about it, but this is gonna be a Rose's dad situation where we meet the parent the character never met to find out that they're just a normal, average person. No big deal."

I thought the "Ruby is adopted and doesn't know who her biological parents are" thing was mainly a way to have the new companion bond with the Doctor. He hears about Ruby's situation and he realizes that he also doesn't know who his biological family is, and that maybe it's not really important to the person he became, but it's a part of his life, some small part of who he is, and he's curious. Since RTD's not just gonna retcon the Timeless Child, this would be a good way to handle it. Whatever the hell it does to the lore of the show, a character's backstory only matters in how it shapes who they are in the present. If a character learns something new about their past, you can ignore a lot of the implications of what this means for The Lore, if it leads to something interesting with the character.

(I suppose we're doing a little tangent about the Timeless Child now)

The biggest problem with the Timeless Child was that it both changed everything and changed nothing. Seeing the Fugitive Doctor, a Pre-Hartnell Doctor, travel in a TARDIS shaped like a police box, sometimes with companions, mostly acting just like a new series Doctor has a negative effect on the Hartnell Era. Apparently One's arc was becoming who he already was anyway.

But, let's say you're a more casual fan. You haven't seen the classic series. You don't know anything about the Hartnell Era. Maybe you started watching the show in Series 11. If you don't know All the Lore, then it doesn't matter how the show in 2020 fucks up what the show was in 1964. What matters is how this will effect the characters in the show as it is in 2020 moving forward.

And it really doesn't. The Doctor freaks out, because she has this past that she didn't know about, and then she admits that she never let where she came from define her before, so it doesn't have to matter. The only reason the Doctor has a Big Dramatic Reaction, as far as the audience can tell, is because there was a Big Dramatic Reveal, so it has to have a Big Dramatic Reaction.

So, when it comes to the show's past, the Timeless Child changes too much, but when it comes to the show's present, it doesn't really change anything, so depending on your relationship with the show, it's either a major insult to the Hartnell Era and the First Doctor's character arc, or it's just a lame twist that didn't go anywhere.

RTD fixed the second part, the part that effects the show in the present, in The Church on Ruby Road. He had the Doctor realize, through meeting Ruby, that he was basically adopted and, even if it doesn't really matter to who he is now, he still feels like he needs to know. Now the importance of the twist isn't based in the lore, but in the character, which gives you a reason to give a shit. It feels like this might go somewhere.

But then Space Babies aired. We have the strange, magic snow. The Doctor's memory of being at the church and seeing Ruby's mother changed, so now she's pointing ominously, when she wasn't before. The events of the night are apparently being rewritten in memory. So, it became clear that who Ruby's mom was was going to actually be important to the season's plot, not just as a character thing.

Then The Devil's Chord doubles down on this, having A LITERAL GOD be freaked out by the fact that The One Who Waits was apparently there when Ruby was born. So, yeah, Ruby's mom has to be important. Even if her mom wasn't important, her birth apparently was, since a powerful being that scares A LITERAL GOD found it important to show up.

Then the season ends and we get the twist that Ruby's mom was completely ordinary and she was only special because everyone thought she was. But why did everything think she was special? Because the show made it perfectly clear that she was! You've got magic snow, changing memories, all technology seeming to glitch around the incident. This isn't just a case of "she's the main character so she's gotta be special". We only thought who Ruby's mom was was important because we were repeatedly told that it was. So, it feels like the audience is being told they were foolish for listening, paying attention, basically doing what they were told to do.

I've tried to figure out all the supernatural stuff about the reveal, how it might all go back to Sutekh, but that doesn't make sense either. If Sutekh's been clinging to the TARDIS since The Pyramids of Mars, then he's been a lot of places and it didn't have these results. This isn't the first mystery the TARDIS has landed in the middle of either. Why was Ruby's mom worth all this, but not the cracks in time, or where all those different Claras came from?

Also, why does the GOD OF DEATH give a shit who anyone's mom is if he's just gonna kill them all anyway? Why is the GOD OF DEATH so invested in the details of one random person's life?

But, I like the idea of Ruby being ordinary. That's what most companions are, especially in the new series. They're normal people who end up in extraordinary situations and, because of that, end up doing extraordinary things. They aren't special because of who they are or where they came from, but because of what they do. That was the twist with Clara in series 7. There was nothing extraordinary about her before she met the Doctor, but she became extraordinary, showing up all over time and space, because she met the Doctor. I don't even like series 7 but it pulled off the "companion is just a regular person" twist better than Season/Series 1/14/40 did.

So, Ruby should be ordinary, but the season doesn't set it up properly. So, I thought of a way that the extraordinary set up could be used for the ordinary reveal, by basically having the ordinary inside the extraordinary. He's the way that I, some random person on the internet, but make this work:

So, I'm not even sure this works with Sutekh as the antagonist, but it works with Some Kind of Evil God Thing. Honestly, Sutekh in Empire of Death is more Some Kind of Evil God Thing, than the Specific Evil God Thing in Pyramids of Mars, so maybe this is fine.

Anyway, The One Who Waits has been waiting in The Void, or The Shadows, watching the Doctor, Waiting for...him to meet Ruby. Because Ruby was meant to be a trap. She's deliberately similar to Rose, who's basically the template for the new series companion. Ruby is 19 years old, blond, and has a four letter name that starts with R and refers to a shade of red. She practically has an IDEAL COMPANION sign floating over her head.

If there's too things the Doctor can't resist it's people who remind him of Rose, and mysteries. Clara became a companion because there was a mystery around her that got the Doctor's attention. So, we have a combination of Rose and Clara and a Big Damn Mystery for the Doctor to solve, with her backstory of being adopted giving her an even stronger emotional connection to the Doctor. There's no way she won't become a companion and there's no way the Doctor won't want to solve the mystery around her.

Ruby being abandoned on the doorstep of a church, though it is something that probably happens sometimes, looks like something out of a movie. It looks like how Ruby might imagine it, shrouded in mystery of a cloaked woman, surrounded by the beautiful but haunted Carol of the Bells and falling snow, all happening on a major holiday to drawn even more attention to it.

This whole scene was arranged by The One Who Waits (whoever that is, Sutekh or not. We'll just go with The One Who Waits for now). The One Who Waits is a god, sort of warping reality to create this big dramatic story.

So, Doctor meets Ruby and they go on adventures. The appearance of the various Susans creates another mystery to attract the Doctor's attention. Everywhere he goes with Ruby, a Susan appears. The One Who Waits has just created a bunch of copies of an original Susan and as his creations, he can control them and they do his bidding, even though they also can have lives and identities of their own.

The thing is, the Susans don't show up wherever the Doctor goes. If this had been happening since his 4th incarnation, he probably would've noticed that before hitting the 15th, especially since it only took a few months for the Doctor to notice it after Ruby showed up. The Susans show up wherever Ruby goes. Now that she's the Doctor's companion, the Susans are being scattered everywhere.

So, the Doctor is trying to figure out The Mystery of Ruby's Mom and The Mystery of the Susans at the same time. When they get things set up at UNIT and see Ruby's mom's face...It's another Susan. This only motivates the Doctor to investigate those further, eventually leading him to the right place at the write time for The One Who Waits to reveal himself.

But, no, Susan isn't Ruby's mom. The mysterious woman who placed Ruby on the steps of the church is a Susan, but not Ruby's mom. We get a sort of flashback revealing that Ruby's mom is...the same women she is in Empire of Death. But, she doesn't leave Ruby at the church. She puts her up for adoption, possibly at an agency, and the Susan either works at the agency or adopts Ruby and leaves her at the church in a staged dramatic scene. The One Who Waits basically waited for a baby to born and given up for adoption under the right circumstances.

The One Who Waits, being a God, had no problem erasing all records and memories of baby Ruby prior to the church. He could also fuck around and make DNA samples not lead to anything. He had to make sure Ruby couldn't solve the mystery on her own and he's a god, so he can kind of do whatever he wants to achieve that.

So, it turns out Ruby was an ordinary human with an ordinary mother who put her up for adoption for ordinary reasons, but she just happened to be someone the Doctor's enemies could use as part of a trap. The One Who Waits, being a god, makes the magic happen. The snow, the changing memories, all this god fucking with everyone. Ruby became extraordinary because she was basically selected at random for happening to fit a set of criteria. And we get an exchange that's sorta like:

Ruby: All this trouble for someone who wasn't special.

Doctor: Of course she's special! She's your mum! Everyone's special to someone.

Or something like that. I dunno. I'm just writing AU fanfiction at this point.

[favouritefi]

I would be super fascinated to learn more about how Peglar's views re. If humans get to be people why can't I, affects his relationship with Bridgens - and really just about how they came to be in/navigate through that relationship. Your art is adorable and I love it doubly more so for the amount of care and consideration you have for the inner works of creating a dog/cat boy world. :)

aw thank you this au really is my brain going "crack treated seriously" and somehow making This and im glad other ppl enjoy it too. i have a lot of thoughts on this in terms of how much history to keep and how much to disregard so its under the cut:

so apparently in the book (which i have not read and do not plan to read) bridglar met on the hms beagle and as far as i can tell thats completely made up bc peglar was sailing w the east india company at the time.

then theres the show weirdness of bridgens being like in his 50s/60s when irl bridgens was in his 20s and this makes more sense bc as far as i can tell the position of steward was usually one reserved for younger men so for 50smth bridgens to be jfj's steward is a little odd and esp odd if hes a human in a position that is typically meant for cat/dogboys so my logic for this is that either 1) jfj requested bridgens to be his steward or 2) bridgens requested to be jfj's steward and either option would mean giving bridgens and jfj a slightly closer relationship than what they have in show canon which is fine that just means peglar and bridgens likely met during the first opium war but then how they met is still a mystery bc peglar would be aboard the wanderer with hodgson and bridgens would be on the cornwallis/clio with jfj so like ???

POINT BEING for all the reasons above ive handwaved away exactly how they meet but AT SOME POINT they do meet during the first opium war. peglar was the one who initiated the relationship tho the two of them did have mutual feelings for each other before committing to anything and bridgens is deffo the kinda guy who would go all "i would love you no matter what species you are" and actually mean it and peglar. ok so. i have a lot of thoughts about peglar.

so irl peglar was lashed for drunkeness and mutinous conduct while serving with the east indian company and for catboy peglar i like to imagine that travelling to places where cat/dogboys arent treated the way they are treated in england really opened his eyes and his mind to the idea of being treated like a person and this is obviously not a mindset that human officers want him to have and hence why he was lashed. he then served on the wanderer fighting against the slave trade and thats another chance to see a different type of human-to-cat/dogboy relationship even if he wouldnt have had as many opportunities to live amongst the locals as he did while with the east india company. and peglars like, smart. part of the reason why bridgens falls in love w him is bc of his intelligence and cheek and wit and peglar knows that britiannia's "civilizing mission" is bogus because while they are trying to abolish slavery on one hand they are also actively enforcing Company rule in India on the other and bc peglar has seen both sides of that he has Thoughts about it, Thoughts he didnt dare share with anyone until bridgens coaxed it out of him and to his surprise bridgens agreed with him.

bridgens, being well read and well educated, also knows that the way england treats cat/dogboys is the exception and not the rule and really like cherishes peglar and loves him like truly loves him and is thus completely aware of and careful of their uneven power dynamic here and wouldve never been the first to initiate anything for that very reason. and its not easy to navigate this forbidden relationship but peglar makes it worth it and both of them did worry that maybe this was merely a maritime romance but in the months between the war and the expedition they managed to sneak in lowkey dates on land and found that they were still very much compatible and it really makes things all the more tragic that bridgens cant afford to adopt peglar outright and ensure that henry lives out the rest of his days in peace curled up next to the fire with a good book and smiling whenever he catches john staring at him and god, they are so in love.

[a-fantasy-lover-surfing-the-net]

Till the end of the moon review

I recently rewatched the drama and felt like reviewing the first Cdrama I ever watched. After watching some cdramas in the past 7 months since I first watched the drama, I now trust myself to write a decent enough review after somewhat familiarizing myself with the genre and overall cdrama space.

Rating: 9.5/10 (1000 bonus points for searing itself in my mind and staying there even after 7 months)

Acting: 10/10

Story: 9/10

Chemistry: 100000000/10

OST: 10/10

Costumes: 10/10

Hair & Makeup: 9.5/10

Production/Set Design: 10/10

Visual Effects/CGI: 10/10

Rewatch Value: 10/10

Li Susu, an immortal time travels 500 years into the past to prevent the ascension of the Devil god, who goes on to destroy the world in the future. It's a story of love and hate, good and evil, redemption and damnation. The characters are very well conceptualized and depicted beautifully by talented actors, stunning costumes, really good hair and makeup, and great cinematography. The amazing production and set design along with impressive visual effects and CGI really immerse the audience in the world of TTEOTM. This was a high budget drama and it shows... each and every frame of the drama, it feels lavish. If you are even a little bit interested go watch the first episode and l promise you'll be hooked and end up finishing the drama.

Now unto my spoiler filled thoughts:

I find it interesting that the typical backstory themes and some character arcs of the male lead and the female lead have been swapped here. The FL usually has a dead parent or abusive household or terrible luck and so on. The ML usually comes to the FL's rescue or stands up for her and so on. We all know that Tantai Jin is Disney Princess coded given his dead mother, abusive and neglectful upbringing and his animal telepathy powers. LSS both as Ye Xiwu and LSS repeatedly saves TTJ and stands for him. While TTJ also saves her many times, he does not get a chance to stand up for her because she usually takes care of herself and she is not suspected or wrongfully accused where she would need someone to support her. Also, TTJ basically became a part of LSS's family as her uncle took him under his wing and he promised to stay in Hengyang Sect with her in ep 35 before all hell breaks loose. And who can forget that LSS marks TTJ with her Phoenix mark, typical ML behavior.

Their romance is my ultimate enemies to lovers pairing. It has just the right amount of fighting, messiness, animosity and angst for me. I feel that other pairings don't have enough of it for me to consider them as an enemies-to-lovers couple. Their visuals, their chemistry, their acting and the story everything was so great. Who else has three epic weddings in one drama? I am still not able to move on from this couple and drama.

While the misunderstandings were obviously supposed to lead to a turning point in the story, I feel like it was in character for them to jump to conclusions and assume the worst without fully thinking things through and which then led to them acting rashly. I mean both TTJ and LSS had bad history between them so in the early stages of their relationship where their trust in each other was shaky, it's understandable that they were prone to misunderstandings. Also, they're both not good at communicating with each other. In the mortal arc, LSS was never fully honest with TTJ and they never addressed their past misdeeds properly (like OG Ye Xiwu was very cruel to TTJ and he never talked to her about it and just brushed it off). In the immortal arc, TTJ deceived LSS when he became the Devil God.

For the most part the story was gripping, progressed at a good pace and conveyed many themes that become apparent on rewatches. Though it was obvious that the last 5 episodes and the ending were rushed because the censorship rules changed as they went into production. This was one of those dramas that needed at least 5-10 more episodes to properly flesh out the story. It was a missed opportunity that we didn't get to see LSS ruling the Demon realm and Ami's antics.

Another victim of the decreased episode count is the arc of the second leads. Tbh, I wish that Pian Ran and Ye Qingyu were the SLs but I think I would have enjoyed seeing the complete character arc of Xiao Lin/Gongye Jiwu and Ye Bingchang/Mo Nv and the resolution between them. That said it was appalling that they didn't bring back Pian Ran and Ye Qingyu in the immortal arc. I really missed their dynamic with each other and with the main leads. It is disappointing that they didn't even get an open/ambiguous ending to give us some closure and satisfaction.

The actress did a phenomenal job in making us hate her as Ye Bingchang and Tian Huan. Those characters as villians really worked as they were in a way the ones who had the markings of the female lead (these characters at the start of their stories could easily be heroines in any other story) but they turn into villians. Tantai Minglang was a good, serviceable villian and the actor did a lot with how little he was given. Di Mian was selfish and manipulative traitor who was almost scarily competent. I mean he did achieve what he wanted by becoming the Devil God and opening the Tongbei formation. The point of Devil God as a villian is not his character and his motivations but rather he represents our inner demons and how each of us has the power to overcome them.

Out of all the dramas I've watched, only TTEOTM's entire OST is on my regular playlist to listen to. Every time I listen to "Let's be like this for 10,000 years", I feel the love and tragedy of Sang Jui and Ming Ye's story all over again. It's impressive that a song can make you relive those feelings and the story every time you listen to it. All the songs fit wonderfully in the scenes they're played over and also make us feel those emotions again when listening to them separately.

On my first watch, the dream arc felt a little out of place and jarring, which, in hindsight, was probably due to the fact that it was my first cdrama. Upon rewatch I've come to appreciate that it gives a look into the age of Gods and it shows that the Devil God was so powerful that to stop him the Gods had to sacrifice themselves and only Ming Ye was able to survive. The action sequences here are just magnificent to watch and they definitely seem movie level. It also serves as a warning to the audience, LSS and TTJ that they could also have a tragic end if they don't learn the lessons from it. Unfortunately, in the mortal arc they did have a tragic end. However, in the immortal arc, TTJ is able to learn from his experience as Ming Ye and succeeds in defeating the OG Devil God and becoming the Devil God himself with control over his own destiny.

One of the most prominent themes of the drama is redemption and that love and compassion are powerful enough to change a person's fate. The themes of Taoism and Buddhism are evoked throughout the drama. There are also many other minor themes like the food is used as a guesture kindness (when LSS first gives TTJ a proper meal), affection/care (when TTJ gave LSS the goose themed meal), love (when LSS gives badly cooked meals to TTJ), betrayal and trickery (the poisoned porridge) and comraderie, friendship, brotherhood and familial love (when TTJ shares meals with his sect brothers and master). Both TTJ and LSS have dead moms, terrible fathers and great adoptive dads (Zhao You and Qu Xuan Zi), these are just some observations I made.

I may not love the ending but I don't hate it either as it was obvious to me that they reunite once again and live happily as a family (the audio ending really makes it clear). Even though I'm irritated we don't get to see it, I'm still satisfied that we get a hopeful ending rather than a tragic one.

Until now I've mostly been lurking in fandom spaces by liking and very rarely commenting and reblogging but never posting my own original post. The fact that my first ever post is on TTEOTM shows how much I love it. I'll probably be posting more TTEOTM analysis stuff so be on the look out for that if you're interested. Also, I welcome your recommendations as I'm still a newbie to cdramas and kdramas.

You can also check out my costumed cdrama rankings here.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Doctor Who, but Chronologically: 41

Well. Holy shit.

It's 1955, and hot on the heels of the incredibly socially important episode about Partition, we get one of the greatest episodes this show has ever produced: Rosa, co-written by Malorie Blackman.

(Funnily enough, once again, this dumbest of watch orders has triumphed - this close to Demons in the Punjab, you feel emotionally prepped for Rosa. "Ah yes," you think. "A much-needed and blindingly important historical episode that educates white British people in race relations. One of the functions of Doctor Who."

You still aren't ready.)

I mean this without hyperbole: of every episode, book, comic, radio show, and everything else Doctor Who has ever produced or had a hand in, this one makes you feel the imminent danger to the companions the most, and on a level that none other ever has. We get Whittaker, Ryan, Yaz and Graham back as they all go to Montgomery Alabama, the day before Rosa Parks stages her sit-in protest, and sweet Christ on a stick they do not pull their punches in making every single white person into a raging cunt of epic proportions. They do not shy away from stressing that Ryan could be lynched at literally any time and it would be legally sanctioned. They are not coy about citing the real-life murder of Emmett Till - murdered for daring to speak to a white woman - within seven minutes of the opening credits, after a white man physically assaults Ryan and snarls that he will have him "swinging from a tree with a rope for a kerchief, boy".

It is visceral and shocking and completely out of the normal tone of this show. Part way through, Ryan chooses to go off alone because his spine is apparently made of fecking titanium, and I honestly don't think I relaxed for the rest of the episode (although it leads to a fantastic scene of him meeting the leaders of the civil rights movement, including Martin Luther King Jr, and I really mean that it is FANTASTIC). I've watched companions be menaced by everything from statues to large pepper pots to fucking Bertie Botts; I've seen them trapped in drifting spaceships, partially turned into birds and fish, stuck in the Blitz, slaughtered in the Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, melted, possessed, infected, mutilated, and threatened with compulsory roller derby membership. I have seen it all and then some. Some I have seen in more than one iteration.

This is the only episode where I have been genuinely frightened for one. I've aged, Tumblrs. 73, I am now. Wizened.

Anyway. You know the story of Rosa Parks sitting on the bus and refusing to give her seat to white people. This episode does cover that, but it does so through the medium of an awful time travelling neo-Nazi, complete with Richard Spencer haircut, who has been released from intergalactic prison Stormfront Stormcage and decided to use a vortex manipulator like Captain Jack's to come to 1955 and stop the Montgomery Bus Boycott from happening. There's a nasty scene where he tells Ryan he's doing it to stop Ryan's "kind" from "rising above their station", so when I say he's a neo-Nazi, I am not pissing about, and nor was this show. (Ryan shoots him with a time gun in the end that sends him to a prehistoric past trololol enjoy that, conservative, you people love The Past)

The TARDIS team spend the episode trying to nudge history back into place so the protest can happen. It's genius, really - super simple sci-fi plot, so the focus can be on the social issues. There's a beautiful conversation between Ryan and Yaz about the way they both still face racism in the present day, and the way Ryan has to constantly police his emotions and faces police discrimination even now; but, also about the nature of social change, and the importance of looking forwards and fighting the good fight. There's also a great scene when they first get on a bus - Ryan is forced to sit at the back, but Yaz doesn't know where to sit. The driver lets her on at the front, but she's not white - so which box do they want her in? "Does 'coloured' just mean black in the 1950s?" she asks, having been accused twice of being 'Mexican'. It's a subtle performance, but the indecision of it - guessing if she's endangering herself or not - is shown to be genuinely distressing.

God, fuck, this is such a good episode. It's absurdly good. They fit so much in 42 minutes, while still making it a Doctor Who episode and yet not shirking on any of the fundamental issues. And the writing is still deftly done - there's a dry humour that they intersperse throughout as a palate cleanser that never undoes the impact of the social stuff, like some stupid MCU LOL NOT REALLY bit of obnoxious bathos; instead it's a foil for the serious stuff, making it that bit more impactful. And! A rare Sexy Lamp Test pass for all three companions! That does not often happen in Chibnell's run, so shout out there.

Anyway. ANYWAY. I could honestly write a whole scene by scene breakdown of this episode complete with citations and explain in exquisite detail how much I love it, punctuated with "We laughed at this bit, and then cried at this bit, and threw shoes at the screen at this bit" but uhhhh, that is not the point of this project. So I shall stop.

Plot threads! Any answers? Not really. A few things we've seen before though, like the vortex manipulator, that was fun.

And apparently there's a big prison called Stormcage that puts anti-violence implants into its inmates' heads before release! That's fun. Good to know that policy.

“She” (an unknown person) is returning (perhaps River returned as Missy. Maybe Me? Maybe Clara???!)

There is something on Donna’s back

An entire planet, Pyrovilia, just… disappeared, somehow. (Maybe because the TARDIS is exploding??? Saturnine was also lost, and that WAS because of the TARDIS exploding. The lion man’s planet was also lost but he was a bit of a knob about it if I’m honest. The Thijarian planet was destroyed by some sort of impact)

Amy is maybe dead (she’s not)

The Doctor has been cubed (he’s out, but how?)

River is possibly blown up  (unless she’s Missy. Nope: she is definitely not blown up)

The TARDIS has blown up  (It’s fine now. Except it’s sort of melting now because it’s corrupted, but it’s fine again)

The universe appears to have ended  (the universe is back again)

The Doctor has employed(?) Nardole

(And Nardole was “reassembled???” Nardole had glass nipples and invisible hair?? WHAT THE FUCK IS HE)

There’s a vault in the TARDIS and it contains Missy but we don’t know why (sometimes she knocks for the bants)

There’s an immortal Viking girl now. Her name is Me and she’s now looking after the people the Doctor abandons

Why was Rory entirely unconcerned by the entire world suddenly going silent when that is Not Normal and should have been, at the very least, extremely disconcerting?

What did the Doctor do to Queen Lizzie One?

Why is Amy seeing a one-eyed woman in a vanishing window? (She’s with the Silents, but we don’t know why Amy saw her)

Why is Amy’s pregnancy inconclusive? (Maybe because the baby had Time Lord DNA?)

Who is Sarah-Jane Smith?

How is the Doctor Bill’s teacher and why/where does he have an office?

What is going on with the Cyber War and the Cyberium???

What happened with the Other Cyber War?

What happened with the Third War that deleted the void?

Why does Rose seem particularly important?

What order do these Doctors go in? (Eccleston, Tennant, uncertain, Smith, Capaldi, Whittaker)

Which companion just… forgot the Doctor, and how?

Yaz and Vinder are about to die as Mori/Mwri/Muuri

There is a Lupari shield around Earth.

What’s a Time War?

What’s the Rift?

What’s Bad Wolf?

In which war did the Doctor become a war criminal, and how?

Who is the Master?

Why has Amy forgotten Rory? How did she forget a Dalek invasion?

Is Rory plastic or not?

Why is the Doctor sulking on a cloud?

How exactly does the Doctor have a cloud?

What exactly happened with Strax to, uh, tame him?

Which friend killed Strax?

Which friend brought Strax back?

Where did this lesbian lizard and human couple come from?

What happened with Clara as Souffle Girl and the Daleks?

How does Clara actually join?

Why so many Claras?

Why is Missy apparently in robo-heaven?

Why is probably!Missy pushing Clara and the Doctor together?

What is Trensilor and what happened there?

Who is Handles?

The Doctor is about to be dissolved by a beautiful geode man

The universe is being crushed by the Flux

Will the Doctor open the fobwatch?

Sontarans are invading Earth again

Who is Kate?

Who is Osgood? Another name of Clara’s again?

The fuck is the deal with the Grand Serpent

Does Martha get to go to an ice cream planet with 12-fingered massage aliens?

How did the Doctor forget Clara?

Who is Bill’s puddle girlfriend Heather?

How did Nardole die?

When does Bill get Cyberman-ed and die?

When does the Doctor shrink and enter a Dalek called Rusty?

Whittaker is falling to her death rn

Was that ring relevant?

Does anyone know the Doctor’s name?

When did Yaz talk to Dan about fancying the Doctor?

When did Dan talk to the Doctor about fancying Yaz?

What’s happening with the bees?

What happened with Donna’s ex and a giant spider?

What war wiped out the Daleks, and is it one of the ones already mentioned?

What did the Doctor mean when he said “The (Daleks) always live, while I lose everything?”

If Dalek Caan is the last Dalek left why are there more now?

How did the rest of the Time Lords die?

How and why did Amy melt?

What’s the question that will make silence fall?

Why do the Silents… want silence to fall?

How and why are Silents at war with the Doctor when he… hasn’t even heard of them?

How does Hitler get out of the cupboard?

What’s the significance of fish fingers and custard?

Why does the Doctor feel guilt about Rose, Martha and Donna?

What happened with the space whale?

When does Rory defend Amy for 2000 years?

How does the Doctor survive River

How does he erase himself from history

Did Captain Jack lose his memories to the same people as the Doctor? What did he lose?

When did the Doctor send the Daleks into a void to save the universe?

What’s with the weird crack in the wall and is it affecting memories?

Why do Amy and Rory think the Doctor is dead?

Is Matt Smith’s Doctor a tree racist?

[cloud-somersault]

so just read your review of s5 and i definitely think that this season wasn’t lmk’s best and tbh the ending falls flat for me

i honestly think it’s the pacing and how everything is fixed with a bow too quickly and there’s not enough time to really process and delve into. which the specials help with, but we didn’t get one here and it just makes me go :/

there were a lot of good moments like you said (and i am latching onto them for my own safety bubble lmao) but omfg yeah when you mentioned the unexplained magic system i could not have nodded harder because HOW???? HOW DOES MK JUST KNOW THE SPELLS????? i can only suspend my belief for so much. i do trust them to explain eventually but how long do i gotta wait ;-;

sorry for the mini rant at the end. i just haven’t seen others also mention lmk’s issue with its magic system and yeah

first off, i love people using the smaller text to appear as if they're whispering. LOVE that. it's so cute.

second, that wasn't my full review. more of my initial thoughts. If I did a full review, it would be 10 pages long with sources and it would be peer reviewed and have footnotes and stuff. I still might do that. LMFAO

but s5 spoilers ahead, ofc.

but! yes. The pacing in LMK has always been quite fast! and that was less noticeable when the stakes were lower. but now that the world's always going to be in jeopardy, apparently, then. the pacing is really too fast for what they want to do.

We don't have time to delve into what the characters are feeling after each major event. Why are we JUST NOW learning about how Mei has the Samadhi Fire still and it's been inside her all along? During s4, there weren't any clues (that I saw) of her still having it, like no emerald swirls of fire, just electricity. So, the fandom, as a whole, thought she lost it, but noooo, it's been there all the time. Like, what??? That's a great way to make your audience feel stupid.

There's no -- like how did Red Son feel being locked in the scroll. What about everyone else. How are people feeling after Azure nearly destroyed the world. What about that aftermath? That part...that part that people largely think is filler is crucial to telling a story like this. We have to have moments where we sit with the characters and check in on them, see what they're thinking, how they're coping. We don't get that. We don't get enough of it. And it makes these characters feel flatter than they actually are.

They sneak in what they can in snippets and one-liners but that's not enough at this point. It's not enough when every season is going to be a world-ending catastrophe. We need to know these characters. And they've had 5 seasons to do it, and I still don't know critical things that I should know by now.

Also, worldbuilding? Can I get some, please? If the worldbuilding was good, we could go without a magic system! Think Lord of the Rings --- such WONDERFUL world building and history baked in, I don't have time to worry about the magic system. I've got so much information to go off of, I can suspend my disbelief because the world is so developed and magic can happen in a whimsical way.

But there isn't any...we travel around but WHERE ARE WE GOING?? How do-- can humans use magic? Can they see it? Have humans stumbled upon the celestial beasts ever? What bout the temples scattered about? NO one has? What if a human gets their hands on an artifact, what then? They fight in areas where humans are; is there no concern about being spotted? Sorry, but if anyone fucking saw a creature that looked ANYTHING LIKE Sun Wukong, he would be swarmed with pictures and selfies like.

And Nezha is just?? walking around??? WHAT??? I know in S3 they did this, too, but at least it was contained to those people on the train. this is a whole ass....city now.

I feel like people are just hearing me whine and complain about the magic system and they don't think it's a big deal. It's a HUGE DEAL. There is so much magic in this show!! There is so much magic that is just flung around by using seals and fancy circles. What do those circles mean??? Does everyone have their own special circle. Why does Macaque not have a circle, is it because he uses shadow magic?? Or chaos magic?? Why are they fucking with the magic now WHEN THEY HAVEN'T EVEN FULLY EXPLAINED WUKONG'S/MK'S MAGIC!!!!

Spoilers for the end of s5. But how. Does. MK. Know the spell. For Wukong's circlet. HOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW DOES HE KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He saw Li Jing cast it maybe 3 times, but that's enough? How, MK? When did you study that magic? When did you learn how to use seals? When DID YOU LEARN HOW TO CLOUD SOMERSAULT??

How can I follow MK anymore when he's going places I can't pinpoint? I started off with him knowing nothing, now he picks up powers whenever he wants. If that's the case, just make him as strong as Wukong then!! Just do whatever. There's no power balance either. How strong is Macaque against MK? How strong is Mei against Macaque? I need a magic system or something so I can measure these values!!

They are never going to explain it to us. You can search through the series and look for clues, but that frustration is caused by the show not telling us crucial information. They want you to suspend your belief over and over and over again, but there comes a point of pure frustration where the audience is so disconnected from what's going on, because there's no rules. Characters can do whatever they want whenever they want.

Think about how that affects the plot. Think about how they came across these stones so easily. Think about how MK suddenly got the power to reach the top of that pagoda. Think about how they just so happen to stumble and find the White Lion and Azure Dragon like!! The plot is suffering! The characters have been suffering! And i'm suffering!!!

Sorry for my SUPER LONG RANT but i'm just so fed up.