#are we just forgetting the first season is her fucking someone so she can actually feel something remotely exciting

[chaoticnerdsstuff]

“Omg shauna doesn’t love jeff is canon, they said it an interview!”

Bestie I recommend a rewatch if you actually needed someone to confirm it outwardly.

[jaewritesfic]

Everlasting Trio DP x DC Nobody Knows AU Part 7

Part 6

The door Sam knocks on is in a much nicer building than she expected.

She and Tucker are visiting Danny for dinner - and boy did they both nearly burst with excitement when he shyly extended the invitation - and frankly Sam had expected an apartment building in the Narrows or Park Row.

Danny was a teenage runaway less than a decade ago, for God's sake. Forgive her and Tucker for assuming he'd still be getting his feet under him and scraping by.

This? This is not that.

Sam has half a mind to think Danny is sugaring. He certainly wouldn't have any trouble - the Danny that disappeared from Amity was cute, but small and awkward in that teenage way. The grown up Danny they've been reconnecting with? He's tall, lean and positively gorgeous.

She wouldn't have a problem with that, per say. But the Danny they knew was also too nice for his own good and starved for positive attention. If someone was taking advantage of that Sam would kill them. 

Separation did not quell her instinct to wrap Danny up and protect him from the world, it would seem.

There's a slight commotion after the knock before Danny himself is yanking the door open with a grin that's happy and nervous at the same time.

“Guys! Hey! Come in!”

He ushers them inside with all the energy of an overgrown puppy, something that hasn't changed one bit since they were kids.

Sam shivers a little as they enter, assuming there's an AC unit blowing over the entryway at first. She smiles at Danny's back as he babbles at them.

“I kind of lost track of time, so food isn't actually ready yet, but then I thought - hey! Who cares! We can cook together and it'll be fun! I got all vegan stuff too so we can make a meaty pizza for Tuck and a different one for you, Sam-”

The apartment they walk into is a spacious open floor plan, furniture in blacks and grays. She shivers again. Seriously-

“Your AC on the fritz or something?” Tucker asks, rubbing his arms a little. “It's like fifty degrees in here, man.”

Danny freezes for a second on his way to the kitchen space before turning around and beelining for a wall - the thermostat.

“Shit, sorry! Sit, sit! I knew I was forgetting something,” he grumbles as he flaps a hand towards the black bar stools at the kitchen island and fiddles with the thermostat. “I like the cold, I always have it too low for most people in here. Sorry about that, it'll get better soon.”

Sam and Tucker exchange bewildered looks as they sit at the kitchen island. There's liking it cool, and there's fucking freezing.

“Guess I don't have to ask your favorite season,” Tucker jokes, and Danny offers him an apologetic grin as he lopes back over.

“Yeah, probably a safe guess,” he chuckles on his way to the fridge. “You guys want drinks? I have a homemade sangria if you want. Beer, wine, you name it.”

Tucker opts for a beer. Sam asks for the homemade sangria, curious. Danny pours two glasses and takes an ice cube tray out to pop a couple of ice cubes in.

When the glass is set in front of her - “they're the stemless kind you can't knock over. Cool, right? Look at ‘em wobble, they're just little guys.” - she raises an eyebrow.

The ice cubes are in the shape of little ghosts. Tucker snorts when he sees them, taking the bottle opener Danny offers for his beer.

“Ghosts? Really?”

Danny blinks like he'd forgotten he had a novelty ice cube tray, then grins and shrugs.

“I mean. What else is being from Amity good for if not inside jokes?”

He turns away before she can respond with any form of bewilderment - Danny had been known for disappearing during ghost fights, after all. He was terrified of them. She hadn't expected him to want any reminders of ghosts or his ghost hunter parents.

Sorry - Jack and Maddie.

With two resounding thunks, Danny slaps store bought dough onto his nice dark counters. He at least remembered to leave them out to rise. 

“Alright! While I roll this out, it's time to pick your toppings lady and gent - go wild, go ham. Let me show you my selection.”

He opens the fridge again, pulling out meats and veggies and cheeses abound. Sam notes vegan cheese alternatives in the mix with a warm fondness in her chest. She's stricter about being vegetarian than vegan, but the fact that Danny went that extra little mile? 

Yeah. Yeah, this is still her boy. She missed having two of them. She and Tuck were never meant to be without a Danny, and she can see on Tucker's face that he feels the same way.

Smiling and standing to start looking through the options, Sam sips her sangria. 

It’s delicious, and the little ghost ice cubes smile back up at her like they're as glad as she is to be here.

Masterpost

[sepublic]

Post-Hoot with Dana Terrace!

            Dana’s put over 200 hours into games she’s missed since the finale; Octopath Traveler, Little Nightmares, etc. Sarah Nicole-Robles cried harder than she ever did when she said I learned a language I’ll never forget, a whole chapter of my life is over, during the King-ceanera. She said the line once and was suddenly sobbing because of how meta it was. 

         Rebecca has a ‘sona during the bit with Barcus in the epilogue sequence. Cissy also cried when watching with her family, her kids asked her about it; Sarah was really excited as she watched the finale.

         No sequel happening, but we can always hope; Dana would like to do more, but Disney owns the IP and needs to give them permission. Dana knew the prequel line in the finale was ham-fisted as hell but still went with it because she was pissed (she said Fuck to express her rage). Rebecca went back to the Anger phase of grief after watching the finale after realizing what they missed, but Sarah was also in Acceptance because it was hard to regret something that ended so well.

         Dana doesn’t cry that much, but TJ’s remix in the soundtrack made her cry. Dana brought back everyone for BBBYYYEEEEEEE, noting this was every character’s last line, and wished Hooty had more lines. Alex improvised a cut line after the Bye with Hooty expressing appreciation for the finale and readiness for his spin-off.

         Dana won’t say much in hopes she’ll get to do more for TOH in the future; A Youtube reviewer (shoutout to all, Zachary Ax, Man of a Thousand Thoughts, Rebecca herself), the Third Bill got it right on Hooty, and Dana won’t be more specific about that.

         They found out about the shortening during S2; They had an ending in mind that Dana had in mind since development, but it needed too much setup and so they couldn’t pull it off. All of Season 2A was written before knowing the cancellation; Follies at the Coven Day Parade was the first episode fully written knowing the show was shortened, hence the tonal change. The Galdorstones was an arc Dana planned more on, as well as the Coven Heads; Bat Queen; It was a hard situation choosing what to leave out.

         There weren’t whole episodes written that had to be trashed; Just one-sentence ideas on a whiteboard never fully outlined or scripted. But Dana is still happy with what came out, because it was pretty damn cool.

         Rebecca Rose once saw someone with a King sweatshirt like hers at Disneyland and said hi, but they just side-eyed her and didn’t respond; Despite this, Rebecca hopes they had a happy day and believes they were just having a bad time. Sarah joked about not being so forgiving.

         String Bean’s inspiration: Owlbert is in the title of the show, String Bean indeed was there the whole time! The S wasn’t completely intentional at first, but Dana flipped the logo around and figured it out. When making the first episode, the logo wasn’t finalized. They always liked the idea of Luz being connected to snakes, it’s what she brought to school and they liked her reclaiming something she terrorized her classmates with. The Snake-Shifter idea specifically; Zach Marcus just said “Snake-Shifter” as they brainstormed ideas and Dana, being a sucker for lame puns, was sold.

         That was indeed Dana being represented as a student in the epilogue! She was Beastkeeping and Oracle; Dana can see the future of the show, and really likes animals. Raine’s palisman was indeed hidden within the violin’s design; Hunter and Dell worked to fix the palismen after Raine broke it trying to stop Belos. The violin is more akin to the staff, anyhow. Dana considered responding to a question about general Caleb, Evelyn, and Flapjack lore, but Sarah insisted she stay silent in case they get to answer it as an actual story later.

         Dana liked to think while writing Thanks to Them; No, Evelyn’s spirit isn’t in Flapjack. But to Philip, he saw Flapjack as the culmination of the corruption in his brother Caleb; He saw Flapjack, if it weren’t for YOU. You can see a hint of it in Masha’s story, Evelyn entices Caleb with Flapjack, who was Caleb’s introduction to magic. Evelyn was probably disguised as a human, and trusted Caleb for seeming reasonable and less violent. Perhaps like Dog owners passing each other by and suddenly becoming friends over this.

         Evelyn and Caleb’s relationship was sweet, from platonic curiosity to romantic. Eda doesn’t know she’s descended from them, nor does Hunter; And Dana has more to say, but will keep it hidden. Luz will stay the majority of her stay in the isles as she goes to college. Camila bought the shack leading to the human world, which allowed Luz to visit during holidays, weekends, etc.

         They never got to explore it, but it could’ve originally been the home of Philip and Caleb, long abandoned; Eda emerges after discovering the portal. In the next thirty years, she fixes up the shack as she builds the Owl House. Dana also advised fans to google Death of the Author, since she’s technically no longer working on the show, and thus gives permission for fans to write their own answers.

         Eda became the Owl Lady before Owlbert, due to the curse; They planned to do an episode where Eda learned palismen carving with Dell, and how Eda reclaimed the Owl identity to carve Owlbert. Dana stills has the outline of that episode in her head…

         According to Rebecca, Caleb and Philip’s graves were in the basement of the shack, based on this church in New Haven Dana passed by every day on her way to school (Gravesfield is based on some places in Connecticut). However, Dana realized the graves didn’t fit into the story. They also had an ‘original’ Belos design for him taking over animals. Marina Gardner did some amazing Belos designs, and Thanks to Them alluded to it.

         The Portal’s eye comes from the Titan’s missing eye!!! Hunter is bisexual, Willow is pansexual, this is how Dana always wrote and imagined them in her mind, but it’s not explicitly stated so technically it’s more headcanon. Dana noted how some people just picked it up. Dana likes to think Amity and Lilith rekindled their student-mentor relationship. Having worked in the library, Amity was interested in Lilith’s knowledge of history. Dana suggested to Zarya(?) from the design team to add notes to Lilith’s museum blueprints. A helicopter passed over and they joked it was Disney trying to stop spoilers.

         Cissy only got her lines and didn’t know any other details about the finale, to Dana’s surprise; Dana explained that people not getting a full script is due to the pandemic. Before quarantine, actors would get the full script. They have to rely on Eden Riegel and Dana for context a lot. Bosook Coburn spoiled Luz’s death to Rebecca Rose during the celebration party. They came up with a lot of designs for dying Luz, trying to figure out how they can hollow out her head how much. Dana mentions it’s up to the showrunner to show how much they want to the actors.

         Thanks to Sarah, they kept in Luz saying her own SFX during her fight with Eda in O Titan, Where Art Thou; She heard someone do it as part of the mock script and wanted it. When Dana voiced Eda and Luz at the end, Dana was crying. There’s a recording of Season 2B and Season 3 of Dana doing a voice-over of the script to get approved by executives.

         Dana clarified everyone would’ve had more of a chance to talk with each other, such as Hunter and Amity; Hunter would’ve talked to Vee, as well as more human realm kids, literally everyone would’ve had a little more time with each other. Dana loves Luz and Hunter’s sibling dynamic. Dana was sorry they couldn’t have Luz and Raine hang out, but they had the Hexsquad storyline. Luz finished high school in the human world, with the renewed motivation that she’ll go back to the isles. Knowing she has a safe space outside of high school made it more bearable, as was the case for Dana growing up.

         Cissy brought up Gus’ hair in the epilogue, which she loved; Emmy Cicierga did the design for Gus and Raine. Harpy Lilith was by Emmy; Dana did Emira, Eberwolf, and Skara’s timeskip designs. The name of the Titan is unpronounceable for humans.

         Dana can’t say much about the Archivists; The Collector never had a flash-forward design, as they age much more slowly than everyone else. Maybe the Collector got just a tiny bit taller. The idea of the Collector came from creepy dolls, as well as a nightmare; John Bailey Owen had a google folder filled with cool references of creepy dolls with a starry aesthetic, liminal minimalist nightmare-scape. They knew who the Collector was gonna be, what role they’d play, but the vibe still needed to be decided.

         Dana confirmed the Collector was always a part of the show before the shortening, and they solidified their placement after the announcement. The Collector has indeed stayed connected with the others, visits occasionally. Dana has seen fan comics on this and teared up.

         Hooty doesn’t have to be vacated from the Owl House if he doesn’t want to; When the door isn’t active, Hooty could be present. The new portal can probably fold up, and Hooty is busy as a curator for Hooty’s new museum.

         Dana said Raine and Eda’s business is their business; Not all love stories end in marriage. It’s their thing and it doesn’t diminish any love, but they do live in the Owl House together (Raine moved in).

         Mattholomule getting a palisman is something Zach Marcus can answer, since he made the character and Dana respects the lore he made. It’s hard to say for Dana if Vee and Masha are dating, since Masha didn’t show up in the finale, but Vee definitely has a crush on them. Again, Dana encourages the Death of the Author approach, if the headcanon makes you happy.

         Alador and Odalia got officially divorced after the finale, and the kids happily lived away from her. They might visit her if they have the energy, but also recognize she’s a toxic influence they can cut off at any point. Dana gave a shoutout to Rachel McFarlane’s voice acting, praising her performance for Odalia.

         In regards to the tower King was born in, Dana has an answer; It was related to a character we all know, who now may have amnesia.

         There was a plan to explore Gus and Willow’s glowing eyes, and do it for other characters; Amity wasn’t going to have that, strong emotions are indeed connected to magic. It was mostly a worldbuilding magic rule they could’ve expanded on, that Dana wishes she did early in the story.

         In the boards, Dawn Han(?) did Clouds on the Horizon, and did the scene of Amity and the twins hiding in the factory as their parents talk about the Abomatons, Alador is worried since it seems like a tad much. Alador had T-rex arms in the storyboard, and it reminded Dana of Remy from Ratatouille, so when they got to the scene of them looking into Alador’s lab, Ratador was drawn in his place as a joke. Dana laughed so hard she decided to keep it in, with Dana handwaving it as Alador’s palisman.

         According to Dana, a show should be appreciated for as it is; But the other way to enjoy it, under the context it was made, is also important to her; Both ways are valid. It was easier for Sarah to voice depressed Luz since she was also depressed. The writers preferred to put their feelings into the show, VS a more happy-go-lucky approach as others did; It was kind of dark for a bit, especially during quarantine. Sarah felt her own experience validated with Luz’s depression, but she and Dana appreciated the balance of having a happy ending too.

         What made the crew hopeful was knowing the characters would always have a happy ending; Luz could continue her studies in full-force, a new family. They KNEW it would end happy. Dana acknowledged how the fandom misinterpreted “I hate the term happy endings,” and Sarah knew about the quincenera when asked during previous Post-Hoots, but couldn’t answer.

         Rebecca commissioned 3D-printed Funko Pops of S2A Lilith and S1 Luz, and gave them to the others as gifts; Rebecca didn’t know about Avi’s appearance until two days before the Post-Hoot, otherwise she would’ve had a Funko of Raine made. Dana’s stand for Luz had to be made with painter’s tape (she appreciated it) due to Rebecca running out of the other kind, and planned to place it beside her Peabody award. Elizabeth Grullon, Camila’s VA, had to call her mom in the middle of a session to translate her line about maduros into English.

        Cissy clarified this wasn’t intended to be the final Post-Hoot! And the video was ended with a BBBBYYYEEEEE!!!!!

[genericpuff]

Just saw your response to someone asking about plot points you hate. Can I ask why you don't like Athena/Hestia? From what I remember (take this with a grain of salt because while I've read the whole comic it's more in a junk food, read and forget til next time kind of thing)

From what I remember it's not a huge plot point? Like its just kinda.. there? It doesn't really impact much of the story at large.

Also I agree with the hades/thanatos thing, that's kinda odd and it doesn't make hades any better or more sympathetic of a protagonist. If I remember right, doesn't he abandon thanatos or push him away?

I have issues with the Hestia x Athena plotline the same way I have issues with the Hera x Echo plotline. It all feels shoehorned in for the sake of seeming 'inclusive' towards gay relationships, but gets next to no actual development or screentime aside from the odd lip service meant to benefit Rachel.

Especially when Hestia and Athena were already embraced as LGBTQ+ icons to begin with and didn't need to be shipped together to make it possible. Rachel has a really hard time comprehending aroace identities and this is present even back in her Tumblr days-

If Hestia and Athena are still supposed to be at least ace in LO then we haven't seen any indication of that. So it just makes them look hypocritical as fuck for running the "virgins only club" that is TGOEM (and even going so far as to punish Persephone for being around Hades by confiscating his gift to her) and that unfortunately makes them look like really terrible people which isn't a great look for the only lesbian couple in the story (at least until Eros and Hera were established but whether or not they're an actual couple now or if that was just a one time kiss scene remains to be seen). Like even the reveal that they're together is Artemis figuring it out and then being pissed that she's the "only one following the rules", not them coming out about it on their own terms.

Also no, the Hestia x Athena plotline wasn't as big as the other plotlines, but it was one of the ones that felt so out of left field and forced when it was first established. Plus I'd just love for them to be aroace rep again, there are characters who are legitimate gay icons that got erased so that Rachel could retroactively shove it into other characters without any reasoning or relevance to the plot.

I honestly wouldn't have been so salty about the Hestia x Athena plotline if it were just written better (and if it didn't reek of aroace erasure) and that goes for a lot of the queer relationships in LO, because so many of them are only given the tiniest ounces of screentime, enough for Rachel to take credit for being "inclusive" but not enough for her to actually have a diverse cast. Morpheus is the most consistently present character we've gotten for LGBTQ+ rep and now even she's been fridged :/

Anyways, as for Hades and Thanatos, yeah, the retcon that Hades was a 'father figure' to Thanatos the whole time seems like it was purely written in to make Thanatos look like a hypocrite for having very reasonable concerns regarding the special treatment being given to Persephone at work. But then Rachel had to actually resolve that plotline so in S3 she had Hades approach Thanatos in search of his brother just for them to have a weak 'heart to heart' where Thanatos took the blame for being a 'handful' and Hades trauma dumped and never really took accountability for everything. The fact that we're supposed to believe they have a father-son dynamic really makes the first season gross to read because the whole time Hades is legitimately treating Thanatos like scum. It absolutely does NOT make Hades more likeable, even with the attempt to 'redeem' him which really just made him look like an even bigger asshole u.u

[considerablecolors]

⚠️ SPOILERS FOR S4 & DISCUSSION OF SA ⚠️

hey so umm THEY NEVER ADDRESSED ALLISON TRYING TO ASSAULT LUTHER IN S3 WHAT HAPPENED HELLO. I KEPT WAITING WITH BATED BREATH TO SEE HOW THEY COULD POSSIBLY ADDRESS THAT TOPIC WITHOUT FUMBLING IT AND THE ANSWER WAS JUST. TO NOT EVEN TRY. I GUESS.

"everyone in the family is mad at me because i changed the timeline" ok yeah sure but I CAN THINK OF ANOTHER REASON TO BE MAD

and before anyone says any shit this is 100% not an excuse to be racist and sexist or to hold allison to different standards than your favorite white male characters. part of what made that scene in season 3 so disturbing to me was the fact that the writers chose to have the only black woman main character in the show do that to a white man. she's one of two women in the core siblings cast at this point. she's also a character that initially, while prone to making mistakes and abusing her powers, always loved her family. in fact, her love for viktor and insistence on not giving up on him even when he was hurting the others was one of the main themes of the first season.

why did we have her do that of all people. why did we have anyone do that at all. it was completely unnecessary to do (and to SHOW ON SCREEN) but to have the gall to do... that... and then not even address it and have allison and luther act completely normally to each other...

ALSO UM. luther canonically not remembering his first time having sex because he was under influence, getting mind controlled by his sister to almost get sexually assaulted, and then becoming a stripper despite showing basically no interest in the actual aspects of it... girl am i going crazy or is this not a coincidence, in a competently handled show this could be an exploration of the way sa victims will end up sexualizing themselves but no. instead we get jokes about him wearing thongs 24/7 and A FLASHBACK TO HIM AND HIS SISTER THAT TRIED TO ASSAULT HIM DANCING TOGETHER LIKE THAT'S CUTE. HELLO. ARE YOU THERE LITTLE GIRL ON A BICYCLE IT'S ME I JUST WANNA TALK.

also here's the deal. luther is also not perfect at all. none of the siblings are, that's the point, but specifically, luther was incredibly shitty and abusive to viktor in season one. but the show took the time to properly address it, have characters act differently towards each other as a result, have luther explicitly apologize to who he hurt and show genuine remorse, and throughout the next three seasons they took time to have him make up for it.

allison didn't get that chance, and that leaves such a bad taste in my mouth, and not even in the context of the show itself as much as the real life implications. im white, so i can't really give much of a genuine perspective and may be looking into things too deeply, but... the fact that allison consistently tends to be one of the most villainized characters in the show and portrayed specifically as manipulative and abusive and selfish... as the only black woman in the show since season 1 (unless i am forgetting someone)... feels so so so gross. (also having ray leave her and her child offscreen like come the fuck on)

everyone is talking about the treatment of five's character lately (and RIGHTFULLY so, believe me), but... allison AND luther i am sorry i am so so sorry they did this to y'all omg

[disregardcanon]

after seeing the mid season agatha all along trailer, here's a few Thoughts

okay so. i thought that teen might have sealed away his own memories when he performed The Latin in the first episode, but he definitely didn't. he's fully aware

i wonder if he's JUST billy maximoff or if he still has memories of being billy kaplan and they kind of merged? like i feel like when kaplan was in that crash when he was 13 maximoff just... took up residence in a vacant body? but it might be a melding of both

i do think that he was giving agatha a chance until the end of the episode when he used that patented Teenage Snap Judgement and decided that he was WRONG to give her a chance, actually, and felt ashamed for having given her the benefit of the doubt so he was course correcting.

my main reasoning there is that before agatha kidnapped him and tommy in wandavision, she was nice. when she was babysitting them she actually talked to them and he thought it was interesting and cool that she was "quiet" on the inside. like everyone thought my MOM was the worst but she wasn't! maybe this lady isn't either! she seems kinda cool. i kinda like her and she definitely didn't kill her son for power. i need someone that knows how to do this stuff and she's a safe bet.

i am so excited to see them in all those costumes. lilia as glinda the good witch? rio as the mad hatter? death is COMING

the padded walls of the cell looked a lot like the first time we saw wanda and pietro.

i love how much DISDAIN agatha says his name with. like they were vibing! they were really, legitimately bonding and enjoying each other's company! and they're both course correcting soso hard now.

like agatha "betrayed" billy by refusing to be VULNERABLE in the wake of her accidentally killing alice. that whole experience was traumatic for her! she 100% did not want to kill alice and now she's left with "proof" that she can't be good and she and the others just want to keep moving and forget about it. but he's a kid and doesn't get the nuances of that! he just saw that they were being callous about killing their friend. if he had reason from any of them to believe that agatha didn't do it on purpose and that they all were upset about it (it wasn't and they all were!) he might not have gone Full Self-Righteous Teenager.

billy "betrayed" agatha 1. proving that he wasn't nicky and 2. rejecting her and witches as a societal group for not grieving the way that he thought they should be. agatha is holding on by a thread by the end of this trial after having to deal with her mother, being possessed, manslaughtering a friend, and being jarred out of all of it by her baby boy's voice and the confirmation that her mentee... isn't him. not only is billy NOT her son, but he's not acting like the kid that she's been growing attached to. that's her little fan boy to project her feelings about her dead son onto! that's her morality pet! she behaves slightly less like a dick and in return gets Affection and Praise From Person Who Likes Me. in her eyes if he had the audacity to prove once and for all that he wasn't nicky he could at least not throw away all her kindness and accuse her of being a purposeful monster. like ohhhKAY kid! you want me to be your bad guy, i'll be your fucking bad guy! which is not a healthy way to respond to a teenager having an emotional crisis. but this is agatha harkness! she doesn't hAVE healthy responses to things

i want jen to drown that hideous doctor in the most stagnant water they can find on the road

wonder how rio will respond when she gets done escorting alice's soul to the nether and sees billy jamming out to you should see me in a crown with a Suspicious Lack of Coven

[cxhleel108]

LITG S8 Thots for this week: Here we go again…

(Sorry friends a bitch was getting crunk the last two days so I did not have time to do this until today❤️)

• Ok before we even start why is he sitting like thiskdmsmsnsnd someone help me.

• So the customization…I told y’all I wasn’t trying to gag too hard when they first revealed MC and this is exactly why cuz once again why we only get braids for textured hair??? They’re not even free like y’all already pissing me off.

• So clearly this season is about zodiac because why else would we only be getting star sign tattoos?

• Meet Jaylin y’all😝😝😝 You’ll be getting all her info soon.

• Everyone hating this swim suit but it actually being my favorite. The others were just ok to me Idk sue me.

• Mind you it’s only been like 2 minutes and we already causing issues.

• I think we’re already getting married tomorrow guys Idk.

• And he has a lion tattoo so that means he’s most likely a Leo and my girl is a Gemini oh look how I ate this pairing up!

• Oh Theo stans I’m so sorry…

• I’m so glad I’ve never ended up getting the guy stuck in the “Day One” couple like I really would just end it all.

• The job options being the exact same…ok! I wanted her to be an athlete anyway😁

• Him assuming that he had a high chance of being picked when Oakley and Jin are present…I just busted out laughing.

• Yeah all this talk about compatibility and these dudes talking about being “magnetized” and “drawn” to us is def giving let’s compare our charts to see if we should fuck each other or not.

• Such a real bitch oh Claudia I love you already💯💯💯

• Sophie telling me to cool it around Jack like I want him…I just busted out laughing again.

• Our date with Theo just feeling like two people building a friendship and not a relationship was nice I would love for it to stay that way tbh (Him like 5 minutes later saying he was trying not to flirt with us can they not do this again like please).

• Jack’s date was a snooze fest who’s shocked? Also him having two moms just makes sense Idk why.

• I am gonna have so much fun replaying this season to do Jin’s route omg this man is too good.

• Yeah I already don’t like Emel. Girl who is bringing yo ass a bouquet at 8 in the morning??? Don’t piss me off.

• Uhhh cuz I’m badder than you, duh!

• Outfit time🥳🥳🥳

• These are cute!

• This is not!

• Right…anyways so!

• Yikes!

• Hehehehe no y’all don’t understand like she is already my bestie fr. Love when one of the girls is here for the fuckshit.

• The drama that be happening sometimes be so stupid like girl. Claudia sitting here telling me everyone was mad at each other on DAY FUCKING ONE because nobody wanted to be with who they were with…do y’all just come on here and then forget how the show works.

• Oh girl just stop like fuuuuck😭😭😭

• Outfit time again✨

• The panties did not need the sheer added.

• This literally being a swimsuit.

• Claudia’s outfit is so cute ugh werk!

• WHY IS THIS MAN BOOTY SO DAMN FAT LIKE OMGGGG😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

• He wanna compete with me so bad!

• I’m cryinggggg why we really living the storybook romance that Emel keep begging for.

• Me & Oakley: “Cheats are the lowest of the low”

• Also Me & Oakley: *Eating each other’s faces off outside*

• Yes please get Emel out of here before she takes Willow’s place and actually starts annoying the fuck outta me.

[markantonys]

i'd watched the first 2 episodes of ROP s1 when they first came out, but i found them boring and so didn't continue. however, i've been hearing that charlie vickers is eating and leaving no crumbs in the new season, and that is my sweet boy guglielmo pazzi from i medici (2019) and i've Got to see him killing it in a huge role, i'm so proud of him!!! always a delight when a previously-unknown actor from an obscure show you love ends up making it big

so i decided to give it another shot and dove straight into 1x03 after reading a summary of the first 2 eps to refresh my memory, and idk if 1x03 really is that much more interesting than 1&2 or if it's just that i happen to be in a different frame of mind now that's more predisposed to getting interested in this show, but WOW i am loving it!! i'm an extremely casual LOTR fan (in fact i wouldn't even rightfully call myself a fan, more just "i've watched the movies a few times and like them" haha) and so whatever complaints the fans have about ROP obviously are not things that bother me. i'm just here for a good time, and i'm having one!

the galadriel & halbrand plotline is definitely my favorite (heck, if the numenor stuff had arrived in ep2 instead of 3 i might've been on board with the show the first time around). i already know he's sauron, of course, so i was like "i won't get attached to halbrand since he's not a real person, just sauron's disguise" but fuck, i'm attached, and it hurts!!!!! loving a character who starts out good and turns to the dark is one type of pain, but loving a character who was never real at all because they were evil the whole time and this "character" was never anything more than a facade - it's an entirely different and perhaps even worse type of pain! i can't even soothe myself imagining an AU where halbrand never turned evil, because halbrand was never real! genuinely in immense anguish over this. but once i reach s2 and get to the Unabashedly Evil Sauron Era, it'll be so sexy that i might immediately go "oh no! anyway" and forget all about my anguish jdkjfg

............wait a moment. do i now know how show!rand must be feeling post-s2? attached to someone who was never real because they were always just an evil person's fake persona? oh rand honey i'm even sorrier for you now!

speaking of WOT, it really has broken my brain because i try to polyship everything all the time nowadays. why did i go "wake up babe new polycule just dropped" during that scene when galadriel, halbrand, and miriel had a meeting lmao girl you KNOW this bitch is sauron! but i already knew people were shipping him and galadriel, so i went in to my new watch expecting to see the vibes, and indeed seeing them, and i ALSO unexpectedly saw vibes for galadriel and miriel (two leaders overburdened by duty, oh it's my kryptonite), so how can i help creating a polycule? oh well, i'll enjoy it while it lasts and then once galadriel finds out he's sauron i will instead get some angst to enjoy! and she will still have her girlfriend to comfort her (as long as nothing happens to miriel.........i haven't heard any spoilers about her, so we shall see!)

back to halbrand, the "he's the lost king of the southlands" idea is such a clever misdirect because it allows halbrand to demonstrate unusual skills in combat/diplomacy/manipulation that we wouldn't expect a seeming peasant to have, but provides a cover for it and so we think this one "identity reveal" is all there is to it, and aren't suspecting a second, bigger identity reveal! and actually, as far as i can remember, he never actually confirms that he's the lost king, he just plants a clue to lead galadriel to believe it and then responds to her assumptions in ways that seem to confirm them but don't actually. very aes sedai of him! and hey, if the southlands used to serve sauron, wouldn't it technically be accurate for him to be considered their lost king? very aes sedai of him x2. liars who lie without technically lying are the best kind (gen from the queen's thief also). anyway, because of this misdirect, i don't think i'd be suspecting him of being sauron at all at this point if i didn't already know. on the other hand, there aren't really any other sauron candidates except adar who clearly isn't him. but back to the first hand, the show never set up a "one of our major characters is sauron, who is it?" mystery so i might just be assuming he was hanging out offscreen yet to show up, if i didn't already know.

i'm enjoying the other plotlines too! i remember feeling that the hobbits & the stranger plotline was the weakest link in the first 2 eps, but totally changed my tune now, nori and the stranger (who i'm guessing is gandalf, but i'm not sure, so don't tell me if you know) have the most wholesome friendship, i could die!!

or rather, the second most wholesome friendship after elrond and durin, which i remember was my favorite storyline the first time around. they are so pure!! and disa is a delight! she and elrond have impeccable sibling-spouse energy (yes we've got another polyship in the house, of course we do)

i'm trying not to get too attached to bronwyn because i know they kill her off between seasons due to the actress leaving the show, but i really like her :(( her son's kinda annoying, but he's an angsty teen, so i can't hold it against him. and arondir!! what a man, i'm swooning constantly over everything he says and does. i really like how in the most recent episode i watched they had a Good Guy (bronwyn) genuinely consider giving up her principles of honor and going to swear fealty to the bad guys in order to survive, it feels more realistic and it really sells us on just how desperate and hopeless the situation is (and on how sauron is able to get supporters by creating such situations).

it's also a visually gorgeous show, very decadent (i was practically drooling the first time they showed numenor haha i love white stone seaside cities, and the ancient greek aesthetic vibes are the cherry on top!), and the MUSIC!!!!! you guys know i'm a tv soundtrack fanatic, and my god, this is the best tv soundtrack i've heard in a LONG time. i'd put it as second to WOT because it's traditional fantasy orchestra whereas WOT's soundscape is so different and unique. but "traditional fantasy orchestra" isn't a knock here, because it's done INCREDIBLY well, so it does feel unique instead of generic like other, lesser Traditional Fantasy Orchestra soundtracks do. it's sumptuous, it's lush, it's rich, it's got very distinctive Themes for each character/location that always play in the appropriate contexts (which is one of my favorite aspects of WOT's soundtrack too). i'd been listening to the s1 soundtrack for quite a while before now, so i'm well-primed to recognize all the different themes!

my favorite has gotta be the halbrand theme, i have a character in my WIP who's a sad mountain prince (and a gawyn knockoff <3) and this theme just reminds me sooooo much of him, i cry. but if we dispense with the halbrand pretense after s1, we might not get to hear this theme anymore!!!! it's also the southlands theme, though, so hopefully we'll keep it, and i did hear it crop up briefly in a track from the s2 album. also, shoutout to the fact that the halbrand melody is an inverse of the sauron melody, bear mccreary you son of a gun (the sauron theme is another one of my favorites, the first time i heard it i assumed it was his theme from the original movies because it just had the feel of an Iconic Villain Theme, but no, it's new to ROP!)

anyway! i've watched up through 1x05 now. pacing's definitely still a bit slow, but i'm enjoying it nonetheless, and it's picking up now that galadriel & co are headed for the southlands. and i've heard that s2 is a big step up in many respects (a la WOT s2), so i'm excited to get there!

[piebingo]

There’s an important detail that gets mixed up sometimes about the decision to put August next in line after Wilhelm and I think it’s a very important detail to get right: Kristina was not the one to put August next in line, it was the royal court.

She tells August about the crown’s decision and he says thank you, to which she replies something along the lines of "it’s not my idea" (in the English translation she says "Well, you should know it wasn’t my idea" and in the French translation she says with as much sass as she can, "It wasn’t my idea. Obviously." She then tells him she will stand by her son first and foremost but it is what it is.)

Why is that distinction important? Obviously, it does show that the Queen doesn’t agree with what August did (now, whether it is mostly because of the negative impact on the crown or on her son’s life is questionable, I think it’s a mix of both). Whether she actually stands by her son isn’t the point I want to focus on tho.

No, what’s important is that the Queen wasn’t the one to make that decision. We don’t know how it went, maybe she could have fought harder against the idea, but she does not have that much power to take the decision. And why is that important? Because it is exactly the type of thing Wille will have to deal with as a King. This detail of Kristina telling August —and thus us the public— that she didn’t want to put him in line for the throne but that what she wants doesn’t matter is there to show us that her hands are tied. I am sure she does have some decisional power on certain things, but still. This is an important decision that favours a criminal, and what other things like that have the court done during her reign? And before her? And if what the Queen wants doesn’t matter, which in this case is very reasonable —don’t put a criminal in line for the throne— then what Wille wants does not matter either. Because the royal court does not care.

This is the path that Wille is being led on right now. He will be in Kristina’s place once he is King. Was Kristina always so focused on the crown first family second? Was she once just like Wille, a bit rebellious and wanting what’s right, only for the royal court to mold her into what the Queen they wanted? Because if this is the case, if this is how it went for Kristina… what’s stopping anyone from trying to do this to Wille? And sure, he will have Simon by his side (they are endgame okay, thank you) but realistically, it’s important to note that Wille isn’t immune to this, and that Simon does not want that either. He loves Wilhelm but the royal court already fucked him over many times and it’s been what, 5 months? It could happen to Wille, because the royal court seems to have a lot of power. They already started with Wille.

So this detail is really important yes to show that Kristina stands by her son (although she does loads of questionable things, I have never doubted she loves her son but I have doubted that she stands by Wille first and foremost. we will see next season whether that’s true but it is interesting that she says it when Wille isn’t there to hear it. it makes me think she will try (succeeding is another thing entirely) to stand by him). But most importantly, this detail is there to show us the inner workings of the royal court, of the role and power the Queen/King holds, and show us how it will be for Wille. Of course, Jan-Olof is at the head of the royal court and putting someone with more humanity in that role would probably make the royal court more human, thus changing the monarchy, but yeah. I think it’s interesting and important! Kristina says word for word that it wasn’t her decision and it bugs me when people forget that because it’s important in so many ways that the decision comes from the court.

[mdhwrites]

Do you think the show rewards Luz’s Selfishness too much?

So I normally frame Luz's decision to self martyr herself and stay in her own world as not wanting to bother with the effort to fix her mistake. Let's shift that a bit so we can talk about why the show couldn't have Luz tell ANYONE this deeply selfish choice. A choice that by all means, Camila seems to think is just a bad choice for Luz and for no one else.

But... Luz chooses that her pain and angst is so bad that she doesn't want to help Amity reunite with her siblings. Or to make sure they can live in a world where they're safe. Gus' dad, Willow's parents, Darius, etc. All of them can rot as far as Luz is concerned. She even explicitly states this in For the Future. "Once Eda and King are safe, I'm going home."

No one else matters. LITERALLY no one else matters to her but the people she has chosen to care about and there aren't many of those. This is framed even worse by the fact that by the end of this episode, Camila will effectively say that Luz has NEVER done anything wrong. That trying to critique her at all, to try and give her life skills and friends with the camp after she put people's lives potentially in danger (snakes and fireworks are not meant for school for a reason), was wrong. That Luz just needs to be 'understood'. Part of understanding Luz, especially in S3, means that unless someone attacks her about it, like the dream sequence, WHICH ISN'T HER OWN MIND BUT A FABRICATION AND LIE, she isn't going to think about others. Just her adopted family and herself. And even then, maybe not even her adopted family since they sure as shit didn't matter in Thanks to Them.

BUT. we are supposed to sympathize with her and believe she did nothing wrong, just like Camila. Do not question her motivations, or her efforts, just believe her words.

This is emblematic of the show as well. The first two episodes talk a big game about fantasy vs reality and like Luz's selfish motivations, warped way of looking at things and her learning to be a human being, not a walking, wanna be protagonist will be interrogated. But... Not really. She repeatedly does things that are mirrored in her favorite series. Her final battle line will be a reference to that series and her delusions with that series. People might get briefly upset about her actions but most of the time she either doesn't have to do anything, like Reaching Out or Adventure in the Elements (where she gets a glyph BEFORE making up the fuck up she did) or show how special she is like in Lost in Language and Covention. I can only really think of like one episode after the first two where Luz fucks up and genuinely has to take the brunt of punishment for it, Winging it Like Witches, and even in that one, she is saved before anything bad happens to her before winning with the same trick that hurt her friends, just... Now it's okay because they're all on the same page about it I guess. Couldn't have had Willow come up with something herself because Luz actually was willing to listen to Willow and not force something onto her. That'd be too much work.

It's part of why the more you interrogate Luz's intentions and motivations, it gets BAD. So much of what she does could be easily grafted onto a kid trying to play hero or not learning anything from past mistakes. Don't ever forget that Teenage Abomination says "Listen to your mentor about their specialty," then The Intruder says "Don't take shortcuts to magic" before then in Adventure in the Elements, Luz takes a shortcut for magic while also not listening to Eda and almost gets people killed for it. GREAT JOB LUZ! Much development, such depth.

And yes, lots of shows will have characters yoyo and the like but these are within HALF A SEASON of each other. It usually takes a little longer for most animated shows to straight up start repeating lessons. Hell, yes, it is theoretically a problem for Amphibia too with stuff like Bessie and the hibernation episode both featuring Anne's impatience but also S1 is genuinely about how Anne is fighting between the lessons she's learning and her growing empathy versus how she used to be with her selfishness and laziness. Also, both episodes might be about her impatience but they genuinely tackle it in different ways, with one being about disregarding the rules because of overconfidence and the other one is out of boredom. For TOH... It's just that Luz wants the magic she thinks she should have, as easily and as fun as she thinks it should be instead of weird and actually taking work, and fucks it up because of that same motivation.

That same motivation that doesn't treat reality like reality. According to the show though, that's just the best way to be. Follow your own version, fuck everything else. That's what Luz gets to do in the end after all and she's the one literally blessed by God to be correct.

So yeah, I think her selfishness might be a touch rewarded.

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I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[moonlit-void-to-the-far-unknown]

So thoughts on ‘Lestat version’ vs ‘Louis version’ of Claudia’s turning.

I think neither is the true picture because, say it with me kids!

All narrators in interview with the vampire are what?

That’s right UNRELIABLE.

That means none of what any of them say is ever the full truth.

But! I think the true turning of Claudia is somewhere in the middle of the original version we hear, and the Lestat version we see him tell on stage.

So let’s break it down

In Louis’s season 1 version, he finds Claudia when he’s trying to help people in the fires (that his murder and display of the alderman caused, don’t forget his display and murder of the alderman and planting a ‘whites only’ sign on him was the main trigger for the mostly black area of storyville to be fire bombed and destroyed and dozens of people being injured and or killed),

Louis finds Claudia in the boarding house she’s staying in with her aunt, so Claudia is truly clueless on how she became a vampire, last she knows, and she says such is feeling the fires burning her and that she was gonna die, then the black angel saved her.

Louis takes Claudia, not to a hospital, to his and Lester’s home. In all his irrational thinking, he took her to his house, not a hospital, not someone with medical knowledge who could help, he took her to Lestat.

Now here is where it becomes a foggy hazy mess.

In Louis version, it was a fairly tame, all though heated argument, of getting Lestat to change her and him, resisting and saying Claudia would just be left to the hands of fate. And in the end, through Louis calmly but pleadingly saying she could be their daughter and they could be a family. So Lestat much to his protests, turns Claudia.

Then we have lestats version. Which is arguably, more of Louis fault and uses Louis manipulation as the scape goat.

Louis brings Claudia in, and is irrational, unable to be reasoned with, broken and feeling his guilt and shame 100000 times more then ever. He begs, and pleads, and bargains with Lestat, telling Lestat everything he wants to hear.

“I’ll stay forever” “I’ll never leave you” “I’ll finally be who you need me to be”

Then when Lestat tries to explain, all be it far calmer then I think he actually was, Louis gets angry, says fuck you I’ll do it myself. And tries, miserably fails, because he doesn’t know how to make a vampire yet.

It’s in this you hear Lestat explain to Louis

“You have to drain her first” explaining to Louis, how to make a fledgling. Which, for someone so against this happening, why is he standing their and not trying to get Claudia out of the house, to a doctor, if he’s so calm and thinking rationally,

“I knew the great vampiric laws” “I knew it would be nothing but pain and turmoil” which shut up you didn’t care about any vampire laws before now.

You then see Louis, dragging Claudia’s burnt and dying body, across the floor to lestat, saying “think of her, our beautiful daughter” dropping to his knees and begging over and over and over for Lestat to change her. And finally after Louis begging and breaking down Lestat he changes her.

As you can see Lestat has much more detail, and plays up that he was the noble, law following vampire, knowing that Claudia would forever be in turmoil. Which we see after she has Madeline, someone who treats her like the adult she is, she’s fine, she has a place, she is a normal vampire being smart and enjoying it.

Lestat says she’s a defect, and explains he wouldn’t want this life for her as she is, but she is his daughter, every part of him he sees in her.

Now, how I think it really went is right in the middle

Lestat, protesting and off handedly says it’s a law, but Louis is irrationally guilt ridden, so he doesn’t hear that, he does tell Lestat that this could be the family he always wanted, and he will stay and he will be his companion always. I think Louis probably in a need to save this dying teenager, tried to change her, and Lestat had to explain that he has to drain her first, but because Louis can’t always eat people, I think Louis did plead for it to be Lestat, I think he never moved Claudia from the bed, she was in pain, and he didn’t move her so she wouldn’t be suffering any more then she already was, I think Lestat gave in, after Louis pleaded a final time and he changed Claudia.

I think the burns we see in lestats version were the real wounds Claudia had, I think Louis did down play the severity of her injuries. I think lestat did try to explain it was not just his fault for the fires, but he also felt all of Louis guilt and it helped in the process of breaking down the restraint he had.

Both of them, are to blame for what happened to Claudia, both of them are to blame for her ending. Both are to blame for causing her to hate them so much. Lestat saw all things of himself that he wanted to bury and hide away in Claudia, and Louis saw a quick fix to his problems and thought he’d have someone to validate him on Any and everything. Both failed her, and saw her as a throw away when they didn’t need her around.

Both failed to realize she was maturing mentally, both refused to see she was a woman, in a body of a child, they failed to realize she was suffering and wanted companionship, that she needed to be shown how to do it safely and securely. Claudia was the victim in this.

A monster who murdered people, who saw zero remorse, who enjoyed it. But still a victim.

Louis, Lestat and Armand, let’s bring him in, are both the victims and the biggest victimizers of the story.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

why do you think azula told ozai that zuko had killed the avatar? did she actually want to genuinely share the glory with zuko? or did she always have a suspicion aang survived and wanted to make sure she wasn't the one on the line if this failure came to light? or like a mix of both?

While I'll die on the hill that Azula loved Zuko and did do a lot of stuff because she thought it was what was best for him, that incident in particular is 100% her throwing him under the bus.

Azula might be in denial about Ozai being unfair and an abuser, but she knows her father. It doesn't matter that she conquered the impenetrable city and essentially won them the war and that she brought Iroh (the guy that was actually supposed to Fire Lord) back in chains. Ozai is gonna focus on what she did wrong and and forget all the rest.

Ozai, the guy that already disfigured and banished a child for SPEAKING OUT OF TURN, would potentially find out that she failed to kill the biggest threat to their nation, and was walking around for a whole month like there was no issue because she didn't even realize she had failed.

Azula didn't want know what her father would do to her for it. She was likely terrified... and oh, would you look at that? Her fuck-up of a brother, the guy whose role in the family is being the escapegoat, is right there.

The same brother that KNEW there was a possibility the Avatar was still alive and didn't tell her, even though she had just brought him home like he so desperately wanted it (because remember, we literally see on the first episode of season three that Azula didn't start suspecting something was off until Zuko fixated too much on "I didn't capture the Avatar" which would have been irrelevant if Aang truly had died, so she brought him back with no ulterior motives).

Now, don't get me wrong, Zuko was not acting out of malice here and betraying someone who had helped him so much - we'd have to look at what he did to Iroh in Ba Sing Se if we wanted to see him stabbing someone in the back. This time Zuko can, at most, be criticized for being too focused on his own anxieties about what would be the reaction of his abusive father once they were face to face again to even realize that keeping this secret could screw his sister over.

But once again: Azula is in denial about Ozai being abusive and unfair. She's not gonna be mad at her dad for focusing on her one fuck up and the inevitable overreaction - doing so could put her in danger.

She's gonna be mad at the who brother who, in her eyes, either stupidly or maliciously, was going to let her make a fool out of herself. And thus she'll make him take the fall for her - and if she starts to feel any guilt over it, she'll just remind/convince herself that Zuko did it first, and she just "turned the tables on him."

[mr-payjay]

analysis of oj's thought process in this scene for funsies (quick warning for suitcase being put down and seen as inferior by another but it's not character neg)

why is oj being a massive fucking bitch? 🤔 Let's analyze.

so, obviously oj is living off a power trip in this episode. interesting implications about his actual power as a hotel owner. actually, at the beginning of the episode, we can see that he is NOT RESPECTED. salt lies about cleaning up, pepper demands him where the towels are (and he smugly lets her enter the DEATH TRAP DOOR? implying a familiar but negative relationship), and in general oj (and paper sort of but that's not relevant) seems to be the only caretaker while the rest of the residents are more like customers. though it seems they are *meant* to help out (such as salt being supposed to clean).

anyway. once oj gets the temporary host role for inanimate insanity, he immediately gets excited. we transition to the scene outside the hotel and he even does a little twirl! oj starts to read off the paper mephone uses (which oj has happily vandalized with drawings of himself and a snarky little message, this points to his general disdain towards mephone) and is trying to go Smoothly through with it. once the teams start fighting, he doesn't even try to figure out who's telling the truth, preferring instead to eliminate a random person. he REALLY likes to be efficient with his time, huh? that's talked about more in the next paragraph, but in this one i'll say a bit about his hatred for inanimate insanity. for the whole episode, he is uncaring of the show's rules, guidelines, structures, etc. he eliminates someone at random, he makes the contestants clean the hotel NOT as a challenge then flips a coin to determine the loser (only after they question him), he makes them sing for no reason other than to be entertained, he zips through every step as fast as possible. he does not care at all about ii, despite being so eager to host it. why? because hosting it means he gets to boss around a group of people (and he can make them clean his hotel! something he really needs help with!!), he gets to take mephone's place and mess with his stuff and disrespect his show, and generally he gets to sort of... take out some of his lasting frustrations surrounding ii. i don't think ANY of the season one cast is fond of inanimate insanity (and especially not of mephone), even if it brought them together (also not always a good thing). oj certainly isn't.

once he picks suitcase, he starts by calling her "whats-your-face" (thank you for noticing mari), then a few seconds later calls her by her actual name. thissss is so interesting to me. he KNOWS her name, apparently. but he called her a mean name first. this can either imply that he forgot, that he's just being a jerk for the hell of it, or both. i think it's both. a mix of his obsession with productivity and his need to be superior motivates this. he wants to get the elimination over with as quickly as possible, so quickly that he doesn't even bother to remember her name right away, because he's SO efficient that he just simply Doesn't have time for these things (in his mind). so it makes him feel both superior to her (disrespecting her), makes him feel good about himself (he feels like he's just being Productive and Time Efficient and part of that is that he has "no time" to do anything else but work). basically, he DID forget her name for like, a singular second, he just didn't bother to wait a moment or correct himself instead of calling her something else.

and for telling suitcase she's ruining the show? let's bring it back to ii1. oj insults people whenever he feels like it. he's pretty mean, and he's worse when he's stressed. he insults people particularly for being "useless" (such as to bomb), and is quick to fight back against anyone who challenges him. a pushover like suitcase is easy to demean. and it makes him respect her even less when she's being so meek! oj thinks his snappishness is justified by the fact he's, once more, simply being time efficient ("we've got a busy schedule!"), and that she is just wasting his time. i said earlier that oj doesnt respect inanimate insanity. so why does he accuse her of ruining the show if he doesn't care about it? well, because this is *his* episode. his time to be the host. even if he disregards the usual way things run, he's still going to get upset if something conflicts with *his* plans. he wants to get this over with and get them to clean his hotel, not much else (again, he's still enjoying being in a position of authority, he just likes to be nonchalant about how Superior and Powerful he is now). if someone's interrupting that, he's going to assert himself. oj always fights back against anyone who challenges him, and suitcase is too much of a doormat to stop him from shutting her down.

now for oj telling her to step back. this part is petty. he's irritated but also kind of. happy about being irritated. "what," you say? well, see, suitcase is genuinely trying to follow his directions. she just doesn't know how *much* to step back, obviously. so oj keeps shooing her a little bit at a time until she's finally offscreen, and you can tell he's a little bit annoyed by it. but this is part of the power & superiority once more! he gets to boss around someone "inferior to him" who is just soooo stupid that she doesn't even know where to go. and oj has to shoo her over and over because she's just not getting it (since he is sooo very much smarter than her and she is just completely incapable of following OBVIOUS directions.) but it's okay she is simply a Minor inconvenience (in his head) that he has dealt with now. also note that he could've just pointed to where she had to go. does this paragraph make sense? he likes being able to tell others what to do and have them do it, so even if she's kind of annoying him by not completely understanding the instructions, he still gets to assert his authority quite a bit.

this analysis is particularly focused on the scene in the video but i do bring up some other parts of the episode to support it.

[multifandumbmeg]

Can I say something potentially controversial? I haven't been in this fandom long enough to feel out the prevailing opinions so here's a take:

Idk why people hate on [redacted, not trying to start shit] when John B is right there.

I'm so (not) sorry but like- as someone that was and is so fucking lucky to have grown up with an absolutely ride or die tightknit friend group like the OBX kids, FUCK JOHN B.

Why? Because he's the only one that never checks in on JJ. He makes faces when JJ eats ROTTEN FOOD in his house like "wow ur so gross lol" like he doesn't know that boy LITERALLY DOES NOT HAVE FOOD AT HOME. He straight up ignores JJ in one episode when he actually tells him, "can we eat first? I haven't eaten in two days" like?!?? He disappears and leaves all his friends hanging when he finds [spoiler, iykyk]. He causes discord by bringing Sarah in where she was EXPRESSLY UNINVITED instead of talking it through with Kie first. He ignores Sarah's warning about the Nassau house and nearly gets them both killed. Meanwhile:

Pope expresses concern over JJ's situation multiple times, by hugging him, apologizing, and checking in. He's a kid and he doesn't know what to do, but he clearly does what he can and worries about JJ. He goes along with the group's schemes even when it jeapordizes his whole future and the life his parents are trying so hard to set up for him. He talks through emotions with Kie when theyre friends and does his best not to hold all the mixed signals against her after dating. And while I don't think he's right for it, he also criticizes Kiara for not being there wholeass when John B's dad disappeared, which shows he was. He's always getting into conflicts with and hurting his parents for John B's schemes.

Kiara not only comforts JJ, she's also the ONLY one to confront his dad (despite the danger). She offers to go in with him when he has to talk to his dad. She makes the connection between his reckless behavior and his fucked up childhood. She also checks in on John B numerous times in the first season because she knows he's avoiding and suppressing the trauma of his dad being most likely dead. She also calls ALL the boys out consistently, but usually with a lot of tact and kindness for acting out on the feelings they're avoiding.

Obviously JJ self-sacrifices for his friends all the time. Taking the fall for Pope, risking his future committing crimes to help his friends, and often risking his life for them, or making deals others wouldn't to get them out of a pinch quick. He also tries to call John B out for risking his and everyone else's lives on the incredibly slim chance his father is still alive and trying to leave a trail of bread crumbs early on. In fact, he seems to be the most realistic and honest about Big John when he's talking to John B, and the others criticize him for his lack of tact, but he's the only one who seems to realize feeding into delusions isn't a kind thing to do in the long run. He goes in INSTANTLY when he finds out Pope got jumped, he goes feral when Kiara gets kidnapped (long before he realizes there's any chance of dating her), runs headlong back into a fight with 4 or 5 guys when Raefe insults her, loses his job publicly defending John B from murder accusations etc etc etc...and let's not forget after getting beat half to death by his dad, emotionally trainwrecked because no matter what he does he seems to lose, he blows the money on what? A car? A boat? His shitty house with no food? NO. He orders a bunch of shit he can enjoy with his friends and spends the whole evening setting up fucking christmas lights in the trees despite the amount of evident pain he's in just so they can all be happy and have something TOGETHER. And I'm just gonna stop there because the list literally drags on like crazy, he does everything for his friends, especially John B.

And what has John B done for his friends?

Hmmmmm well there's that one time he stops JJ from starting a shootout with the entire sheriff's department and going down swinging by turning himself in.

Now on the other hand, he repeatedly manipulates his friends into doing things they don't want to or shouldn't do, often at the risk of their lives. He basically spends all of season 2 on a revenge quest, culminating in him not even considering that he should comfort his girlfriend when her father dies in front of them. Repeats what other people say about JJ being "just like his dad" despite knowing both his circumstances and that it's a trigger for him. There's that one time he goes home for the gun to kill Ward and basically ATTACKS all his friends to get through without talking about it?? And never apologizes?? Isn't ever concerned about Pope's scholarship, or in any way sensitive to the fact that he's BLACK and so much of what they get into involves his own generational trauma?! Is told several times Kiara's on the verge of being sent away to a Troubled Teen camp and straight up never once acknowledges or comments about that at all? Shows up to confront Topper and Sarah at Kiara's parents' party, knowing full well she's on thin ice and her parents DO NOT like any of them right now, including having just had a blowout with JJ, who insists on staying out of it.

Honestly, he got real tired of [same spoiler] by the end of season 3, so I'm hoping now they're dead in season 4 he's finally gonna wake up and start looking after his friends more because up to this point? Dude lacks empathy to a criminal degree and has a mad case of toxic main character syndrome.

Just like...as someone who was considered "the glue" to my own group of extremely troubled youths, all of us traumatized to fuck, this dude is failing with flying colors. Please look outside yourself and your romantic relationship some fraction of the time.

[webslingerofthegalaxy]

RANT TIME

Okay, unpopular opinion that no one asked for but I have nowhere else to vent it so you're stuck with it time. I HATE the animated trolls shows, The Beat Goes On and Trollstopia. With a burning passion. I will admit, TBGO wasn't as bad as Trollstopia imo, but it was still bad. Why, you may ask?

Allow me to explain.

First off, let's start with TBGO. Now, since this comes after the first movie and we don't have a lot of context beyond it, I let a lot slide. But the main transgression I have is that this show brought Creek back. CREEK. Of all the MISERABLE LOUSY PATHETIC COWARDS to resurrect, they picked CREEK. WHY. Why was this necessary???? He adds nothing to the story beyond an annoying presence that makes me want to hurl my device like Captain America's shield. AND THEN, they make Branch the bad guy for not trusting him immediately. OF COURSE HE DIDN'T TRUST CREEK, THE SLIMY POS SOLD EVERYONE OUT TO SAVE HIS OWN SKIN. DID EVERYONE FORGET THAT!?!?! And then this leads to Branch having to APOLOGIZE to Creek and then eventually to them sort of becoming friends. THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN. Every episode he was in I could feel myself losing braincells.

If you thought that was alot, stick around for my rant on Trollstopia because holy shit, where do I begin?

Now, the idea behind Trollstopia is actually a good one. Like hey, everyone is so spread out, how about a group from every tribe comes to live in the middle which happens to be Pop Village? Genius! And I will admit, in the beginning it seemed promising! And then, they fucked it up.

How, you may ask?

Simple. My point can be simplified to 2 main subjects:

They put WAAAYYYY too much effort into Poppy's relationships with literally EVERYONE ELSE and nowhere near enough into her relationship with Branch, HER BOYFRIEND.

They absolutely, totally, 110,000% DESTROYED Branch's character.

I shall now explain my stance. First off, we have point #1. Now, don't get me wrong. Poppy should absolutely have relationships with other trolls! She's the queen, for hair's sake! And I really did enjoy the fact that she made new friends and got really close with them. As someone who has eternally struggled with making and maintaining friendships, I loved seeing her do what I usually cannot. HOWEVER, this is no excuse to neglect her relationship with her actual fucking BOYFRIEND. Trollstopia takes place after TWT, after Branch and Poppy confessed and entered a relationship (if you wanna argue with me, look at the official Trolls Wiki, it'll back me up). But if you watch the show, you can barely tell they LIKE each other, let alone that they're dating. The show ran for 7 seasons and, out of those seasons, can anyone tell me a single episode where they were the focus? I won't even ask about them as a couple, just them interacting together being the focus! Poppy and her friends repeatedly bulldozed over Branch, his feelings, and his boundaries, constantly mocked him, and shit on anything he wanted to do. I swear at times it was like watching Trolls 1 Branch and Poppy interact.

Finally, my second point: Branch's character. They absolutely fucking took all of Branch's hard earned character development from 2 movies and a holiday special and went:

Wanna know how I know? What does Branch actually DO in Trollstopia? About every 10th episode, he shows up to offer a crappy sarcastic remark that pales in comparison to his usual ones and does one of 3 things:

Gets hurt

Gets made fun of

Acts like a total moron, and not in a cute way.

He's basically turned into Jay from the later seasons of Ninjago (my apologies Jay, I love you but you know it's true). I mean, in one episode he got his ass absolutely HANDED to him when he tried the rodeo! COME ON. The dude who caught a stick fired at him without looking and jumped in front of a death bolt to save Poppy got served by a fucking bull thing? Bullshit (no pun intended). To add onto this, when he's not being trampled and beaten for no fucking reason, he's being used for the most CRINGEWORTHY comedic relief. I mean really, there was a whole episode about how he wanted to be called a "cool nickname" by Lownote. Really? We really think that's in character? And to top it off, he gets stuck with "Skippy Two-Shoes". WHAT. THE. FUCK??? I almost had an aneurysm when I heard that. And everyone was fine with it!!!! Which leads into my last point, NO ONE GIVES A SHIT ABOUT HIM DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE SAVED POPPY AND IS HER FUCKING BOYFRIEND. There was a whole fucking episode about him getting all pissed off at the Techno Trolls for taking over his lagoon in his bunker (which I have to say I'm jealous he has) to have "raves" at like 4am. WHO WOULDN'T BE PISSED OFF??? My upstairs neighbors bang around at all fucking hours of the day and it drives me insane so I get why Branch is mad! BUT WHY DOES NO ONE ELSE? Why is it when he complains he gets told that he's being "unfair" and has to "share"? Fuck that, he was there first! It's not like Trollstopia isn't huge, they can find somewhere else to infest at 4am!

In conclusion, I hate the animated shows because they destroy the relationship between Branch and Poppy and demolish all of Branch's character development, reducing him to the annoying sidekick that always gets cheered at when they get hurt or die tragically.

End of rant. Thank you for sticking with me, I needed to get that off my shoulders. Branch is my favorite character and it infuriates me that he gets the short end of the stick all the time. Enjoy this as a reward:

[aurora-daily]

AURORA at Glastonbury 2024 on her Bring Me The Horizon collab and Wembley plans

An interview with AURORA by Andrew Trendell for NME (June 30th, 2024)

The Norwegian art-pop star told us how she and Oli Sykes "bonded over Palestine", and feeling love all around at Glasto

Shortly before she took to the stage for a blissed-out performance at The Park, the Norwegian art-pop star spoke to us backstage to share what it was like to lend her vocals to BMTH’s ‘Limousine’ from new album ‘Post Human: Nex Gen‘.

When asked about the collab earlier this month, Bring Me frontman Oli Sykes told NME: “I know what I wanted on that song and that was someone to bring something that could level it up – someone like a really ethereal, haunting, beautiful, voice,” he told NME. “I wanted someone to elevate it and take it somewhere else. The song itself is very Deftones-influenced, almost to a point of parody! For this whole record, we’re happy to admit that the songs all are very nostalgic homages to loads of bands, but it’s also felt very important that we do something where we were pushing it as well to make it our own, put our own stamp on it.

He added: “AURORA for me is what a pop star should be,  what the next wave of pop stars should look like; someone that has the songs, but is a real person who dares to speak what they believe in, who gives a shit about the world.”

NME: Hello again AURORA. Welcome back to Glastonbury.

AURORA: “It’s really nice to be back. I love this festival. It’s overwhelming. So I feel kind of glonky, you know, but I’m so excited to play. I love to be outside again. Festival season is the best.”

Glastonbury’s sense of peace, love and like reconnecting with each other seems to like tie into the themes of your new album ‘What Happened To The Heart?’. Discuss.

“Yes, discus…ting! But yes, it’s true. It feels like the the main purpose of these festivals. We need to go outside, touch the grass and feel the air and just be in touch with each other. It’s super nice to see how people are so cohesive. They even sway the same way without knowing. When the bass is high enough, you know that people’s heartbeats will beat the same ≠ you can feel it, the connection. It’s very needed. I’m very grateful.”

We just spotted a Chemical Brother backstage. They’re friends and collaborators of yours. Could they be surprise guests for your set?

“Oh, no. We work as friends now. So he’s here for emotional support. I don’t know how to do this without Tom [Rowlands].”

Since we last spoke, you collaborated with Bring Me The Horizon on ‘Limousine’. What did it mean to have that come together?

“Well, I’m a very big metal fan. I heard Bring Me The Horizon when I was a teenager. They were with me for some time. I was introduced to them by a lover. My first lover who actually died. It is sad. But it’s beautiful as well. Because now when I listen to them, and now when I made a song with him, I know that he would be just – it felt very full circle in the journey of grief.”

We heard know Oli slipped into your DMs and you kinda were like, “Fuck, yeah!”

“We bonded over Palestine. Because I was like, ‘We need to stick up for them’, and he was like, ‘Yeah, we do. It’s true’. Then he was like, “Do you want to make a song?” I was like, ‘Yes!’

Is it a sign of things to come? There are some gnarly songs on your album too. Could you go make a metal record?

“I think so. My heart won’t be complete without it so yeah, definitely. I really want to do it because I just love it so much. It’s such a force. Like a wave, a deadly wave coming at you, which is so cool. So I will, I have to for my Norwegian ancestors. Until now I’ve been purely a disappointment to them. Finally I will make them proud.”

Next year you’re playing a show at Wembley Arena. What do you have in store for that?

“I forget about that all the time. It’s huge, isn’t it? It’s crazy business. I’ll put the big guns out, metaphorically.

What are you going to do straight after your Glastonbury set?

“Drink beer. I’m immensely excited.I am terrified of this festival. It’s so fuckin’ huge. Maybe if I have a beer and I become a bit braver, I can try to see some things but I am quite terrified!”