#because his vampire mom is kind of evil

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

love an eccentric wizard and their nonmagical apprentice. you love to see it

[seung-mong]

seung-mong's kinktober 2024!

gulp~ they're right behind me arent they? well... more like on top!

☆BANGCHAN☆

whats your favorite scary movie? - after a mysterious call in the middle of the night threatens to ruin horror movie night with your friends, you cant help shake the feeling that someone's watching your every move. at this point you dont know what's worse: a creepy stalker managing to sneak his way into the house, or how awkward and fidgety chan's been all evening!

includes: ghostface!bangchan x fem!reader, stalking, choking, slight knife play, blood kink, +more!

☆LEEKNOW☆

and so the lion fell in love with the lamb - after moving to romania against your parents' wishes to live a peaceful life with your dying grandfather, your dreams are plagued with visions of pale, almost shimmering skin, droplets of crimson red blood with the taste of the sweetest wine, and sharp fangs that make you sweat in your sleep. your grandfather can only urge you to pray, despite the growing dread in the pit of his stomach at the sight of the bruises that linger on your skin. not to mention the puncture wounds right by the side of your neck!

includes: vampire!leeknow x inexperienced fem!reader, stalking, religious themes, marking, +more!

☆CHANGBIN☆

not all monsters do monstrous things - changbin's been acting different lately, and you're hesitant to talk to him about it. after the accident that left him bloodied and bruised, the last thing you want to do is bring up how he's become so distant lately, passing up on opportunities to hang out, refusing your physical affection, ditching you for the new group of friends that seemed to appear out of thin air. but when he stands you up on your birthday dinner on Halloween, you know he's crossed the line!

includes: werewolf!changbin x fem!reader, childhood best friends trope, depictions of gore and violence, size kink, manhandling, strength kink, + more!

☆HYUNJIN☆

its amazing, the love inside, you take it with you - finally, a space of your own! a safe space for you to practice your spells without accidentally setting your mom's heirlooms on fire. a safe space for you to brew your potions without your mom complaining about the smell and how you're doing it wrong (you've figured). a safe space for you to chat with your cat companion, milo, without your mother rolling her eyes. a safe space... with an awkward, clumsy, GOSSIP of a soul with unfinished business!

includes: ghost!hyunjin x witch fem!reader, voyeurism, pervy hyunjin, subby hyunjin, femdom raahhh, overstimulation, dacryphila, +more!

☆HAN☆

you could be happy here, i could take care of you. i wouldn't let anybody hurt you. we could grow up together! - han thinks hes seeing things. he usually enjoys camping by himself, but when a bright light and a high pitched noise makes his head throb and his nose bleed, he genuinely thinks he could die. now he REALLY thinks hes seeing things because.. is that someone falling from the sky? after deciding to sleep on it, he meets you. and uh, oh yea. he's definitely seeing things!

includes: loser nerd!han x alien fem!reader, subby hanji, han jisung is a SIMP LOSER, bondage, use of some kind of aphrodisiac, choking, +more!

☆FELIX☆

absence makes the heart grow fonder…or forgetful - never being one to believe in fairytales, you were the only one in your village brave enough to explore the thick woods across the train tracks just south of your home. finally, a place where you can think in silence, with no one to disrupt your writing. when the creatures of the forest begin to make themselves known to you, you ignore all the signs telling you to run. especially when the so-called evil trickster fairy is the most beautiful boy you've seen in your life!

includes: faery!felix x fem!reader, kinda inexperienced felix, lowkey corruption kink (litrally if u squint), felix has wings (that r sensitive), overstim, +more!

☆SEUNGMIN☆

this is true love- do you think this happens everyday? - seungmin is too young for this, he thinks. the youngest prince to take the crown in centuries, and the war between his kingdom and the kingdom of the forest is intensifying. his people are going missing, and he has no idea what to do. it does not help that the king of the forest scares him shitless. he turns to you for help, the last witch of your line- you can thank his family for that!

includes: prince!seungmin x witch fem!reader, kinda enemies to lovers (the trope belongs to him i fear), hatefucking, biting, bondage, +more!

☆JEONGIN☆

we all go a little mad sometimes. haven't you? - you really should have filled up your gas tank. your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, and the storm outside only further dampens your spirits. its dark and empty for miles, besides the little light that flickers on the side of the road. you brave the journey on foot, shivering, and soaking wet. your heart drops when you see the shelter, old and run down. thank god the young gentleman inside is kind enough to offer you a bed for the night!

includes: serial killer!jeongin x fem!reader, primal play, fear play, choking, knife play, jeongin is really rouch, +more!

☆INTERLUDES☆

got a horror concept for a fic? dont be shy and request! (submissions open until september 20)

wanna get tagged? (specify the kinktober special!)

[gentrychild]

BNHA 407 : AFO is a lying liar who lies

Today is a very sad day because I am about to do something I genuinely dislike: I am about to defend All for One. In order to cope, I shall make fun of him the whole time.

AFO and Yoichi's backstory is finally out, with AFO narrating it, and there are two possibilities: he is either completely lying about it (boring) or he is lying a little about it (very in-character for him) because he is also lying to himself.

Lie number 1: AFO was born evil.

The narrator (AFO, seriously, it's AFO) says things such as "The baby drained the lifeforce of both his mom and his brother.", "It was born an arrogant baby." and such but it really reads at AFO villifying himself to add to his own legend.

That's what babies do. Children, before they're born, kinda have to take their strength from their mother. That's why pregnant people aren't supposed to do anything taxing.

AFO and Yoichi's mother didn't die because baby AFO drained her like a vampire. She died because she was a homeless woman who had access to nothing and had to go in labor alone.

Same thing here: during twin birth, a twin is often bigger than the other (well, probably not to extent of Yoichi and AFO, but you get my point).

Lie number 2: AFO, as a demon baby, is shown killing for no reason, just because he can.

(First slaughter by Baby AFO shown in that chapter.)

There are two things that are strange in this scene (apart from... you know.... a baby murdering people...)

AFO had no reason to go after them because they don't have any quirks to steal.

It makes no sense for someone to attack a group of people with nothing to gain. I doubt that's the kind of behavior you have when you're in survival mode as you're barely surviving in the street.

However, a previous panel points at some context we might be missing.

The same panel that indicates that those guys don't have a quirk to steal also shows that they are wiling to do some "preventive attack" on a bunch of quirked people who might or might not be those who assaulted a protest group (reminder that in this context, that protest group are protesting the rights for quirked people to exist).

I could be wrong but odds are that they did something to be qualified as a threat to All for One and we are missing the additional context.

(Second slaughter by Baby AFO shown in that chapter.)

Now, the poor souls who just got absolutely wrecked by a toddler wearing what I suspect to be a garbage bag have quirks, which makes more sense than the previous scene.

However (and thank you for @aimportantdragoncollector for pointing that out to me), we also have this panel.)

Yoichi is shown with bruises on his face and might be broken teeth.

Probably because those same people AFO is shown killing attacked him.

Lie number 3: AFO never loved Yoichi because he can't love, he just considered that he was his. That's all. Nothing more.

(Just... Just ignore the rats.)

AFO didn't care about Yoichi so much that the very conscious first act of his life might have been to swim a river upstream while dragging his brother above the surface with what must have been the deathgrip of all deathgrip.

AFO didn't care about his brother so much that Yoichi was fed and clothed by an AFO who was malnourished enough for his ribs to show and who wore what's basically an improvised toga.

But he just keeps sacrificing what little he has for someone he doesn't care about one bit, that's just his first possession. Nothing more.

Okay, I am going to be clear: anyone who sees that panel and thinks that it's the proof AFO didn't like his brother... You just outed yourself as an only child.

Siblings punt each other for no reason. (There is a reason why the first recorded murderer was an older sibling.) In this case, the reason was Yoichi throwing a can at him.

AFO: "You're not inviting me to a fun activity? You're leaving me out, in the cold, unable to partake in brother bonding activity? Oh, vault for Little Brother! Vault for Little Brother for one thousand years!"

AFO: "Nevermind, we're reading together. All is well, I guess."

Lie number 3: AFO killed the glowing baby for power, because he could, or because the Glowing Baby didn't deserve it

Still laughing about AFO's flawless reasoning... "Comic books heroes' life suck. Better to be a villain. I already did the whole struggle thing, I want an easy life."

AFO killed the glowing baby because he was jealous. It's as simple as that. The glowing baby was considered the first official quirked individual (even though it's not true), was protected by his family (if I remember correctly, the mother of quirks was his mom) while AFO and Yoichi had no one but each other (EDIT: I was wrong, the Mother of Quirks was Destro's mother. thanks to the people in the tags), and had a ton of people following him (while, for some strange reason, people start running away screaming when AFO shows his quirk... What a mystery...).

The last panel was basically AFO saying "I want to be loved' but not having the frame of reference to even know what love is.

In conclusion...

While AFO is definitely a bad guy and a monster, he didn't begin his existence as one. He just wants people to believe that. Because his pride and his ego can't allow him to admit that he lived a childhood full of horrible trauma where he was a victim abandoned by society (to an even greater extent than the LOV) or he would probably combust out of rage and mortification.

Ergo facto, AFO is a lying liar who lies, especially to himself.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - All's Quiet on the BL Front

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

May 2024 Wk 3

Ongoing Series - Thai

Wandee Godday (Sat YT) ep 3 of 12 - I love how were getting a solid depiction of two queers just genuinely enjoying sex with each other. That’s actually rare in BL. In this case, it manages to also be weirdly adorable and cute.

Dee is such a tease. I guess Y likes a brat? 

LOOK at those bedroom eyes!

Linguistics corner: when these two are being serious, sweet, or flirty with each other they use rao/nai which is kind of old fashioned and charming and not common in BL. They move pretty seamlessly into gu/mueng and back depending on the style of convo, tho. It's FUN to hear them talk.

Let the fake relationship commence!

My Stand-In (Thai Fri iQIYI) ep 4 of 12 eps - I HAVE THOUGHTS. I'm really enjoying the sinister backbone of this show. I hope they have the courage of their convictions in that regard and lean into a kind of sexy evil revenge narrative. It was a pleasure to watch the break up and I do not want a redemption arc for Ming or a romance for us. Fuck 'em, let’s just ride a revenge train, okay Joe baby?

That’s said, I totally sniffled at the ending scene where Ming (for two years!) has been paying penance cooking for two and waiting alone. Excellent pathos. Now, I understand how they're gonna make this a full 12 eps. And I’m excited about it. Carry on!

We Are (Weds iQIYI) ep 7 of 16 - I wasn't a fan of Winny & Satang in My School President but I'm loving them in this. The thing with Q, Toey, and Chain had me hooting with laughter. I think I’m finally just easing into the relaxed absurdity of this show. The key is not to expect anything from it. Just them being tiny gay idiots.

Two Worlds (iQIYI) ep 10 fin - Someday I’d like to really enjoy a MaxNat show, but today was not that day. (I feel like ever since Between Us I’ve been generally disenchanted with established OG pairs and what they’re bringing to the table. Perhaps that’s a discussion for another day. Cherry Magic excepted, of course.) 

OK, so this final episode, they sure tried to fit a lot in. But that made the pacing better for me. So I kinda liked this weird cliff notes resolution to the story.

In conclusion:

MaxNat do a credible job with a messy script about parallel worlds, gangsters, and strange diseases cured by forest fruits. It sounds confusing because it is. The chemistry is excellent the side pair is entirely forgotten about, and one could drive a Tardis through the plot holes. Still, I found it modestly enjoyable if not at all rewatchable. 7/10 

Only Boo! (Sun YouTube) ep 6 of 12 - I do love how bold and brash Moo is. He’s truly a great character, such an utter outgoing sunshine puppy focused on his pursuit of his older boy. I'm charmed by his utter harmlessness. They gave us a sweet coming out scene, and an awesome supportive mom. Frankly GMMTV has a good track record with moms. (With a few noted exceptions, of course.)

That said, I do keep forgetting this is a GMMTV offering. It just doesn't FEEL GMMTV. Just me?

OMG Vampire (Thai Sun ????) ep 1 of 10 - Starts tomorrow, will report on sitch next week. LeeFrank are back - not unlike the undead. But how do we feel about it? Unsure given their track record.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

At 25:00 in Akasaka AKA 25 Ji Akasaka de (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 5 of 10 - I like it. I like our sulky 2nd lead. He’s pouty, adorable, brash, and adding some much-needed tension to this narrative. The blurring lines between show within a show is a lot of fun. Probably the best I've seen done in BL so far.

Living With Him AKA Kare no Iru Seikatsu (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 6 of 10 - I like that we got backstory, but we also sort of already knew it. So this ep felt a bit like filler. They are wonderful when they’re on screen together but when they aren't it's a bit dull. I hope we just get them together for the next 4 eps. But this is Japan, so I doubt it.

Blossom Campus (Korea Thurs Gaga & iQIYI) ep 1 of 6 - The image resolution on this show (via Iqiyi ) is terrible. Meanwhile, awkward crush. Jock nerd pairing. Dorky. Maybe a bit too much awkward/dorky for me? I'm not sold on this one.

Meanwhile the ordering then not eating or drinking of food continues. Very upsetting.

Boys Be Brave (Korea Viki) eps 5-8fin - This show was just never sure what it wanted to be. Slacker sunshine KiSub moves in with nerd JinWoo, mostly because he knows JinWoo likes him but won't confess and that's never happened to him before. It reminded me of some earlier KBLs like Behind Cut, yes is had bones but not much flesh, so it only just hung together and progressed through not very much plot in a jerking rattling fashion like an animated skeleton. All the story and chemistry was with the side couple and none of the screen time. That just annoyed me. What did this BL want to BE? Who tf knows. I, for one, don’t care, and resolve to think no more on it. 6/10 

Blue Boys (Korea Sat YouTube) - This ended at 4 eps on a cliffhanger. Since this is a very small studio I don’t have a lot of faith in there being a part two. But they have bundled both this BL, and the GL, bingable chunks on YT. So if you want to binge it, it’s there. Just be aware that it ends on a cliffhanger.

My thoughts?

Promising reunion romances full of class and coming out struggles but I grade with what we got, not on expectations, and you know I HATE a cliffhanger. So yeah, it HAD promise but as of now it gets a 4/10 - fatally flawed. I reserve the right to change my mind if they amend for damages.

It's airing but...

You Made My Day (Thai YT) ep 1 of 5 - mini series staring the I Will Knock You couple Tar & Bom, started but I couldn't find it. I also didn't try very hard.

Lady Boy Friends (Thai WeTV grey) 16 eps - reminds me a bit too much of Diary of Tootsies only high school. Not my thing. DNF unless it turns a corner and is truly amazing.

A Balloon's Landing (Taiwan movie) trailer - A frustrated Hong Kong writer, Tian Yu, meets a Taipei street gangster, Xiang (Fandy Fan from HIStory2: Crossing the Line), and the two of them embark on a journey to find the Bay of Vanishing Whales. Along the way, they discover unexpected twists and turns and close bonds, which brings out the message that "there is always someone like you in this world who is waiting for you. This released to cinemas in Taiwan, no word on international release.

In case you missed it

A really really thorough and fascinating article on 2 Moons 2 and what happened.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

May Releases

VBL (Taiwan) is releasing 4 'Special Episode' epilogues to their 4 2023 shows every Friday this month on Gagaoolala, Viki & Viu. Not sure on search terms or how to find these. (Or, frankly, if we need them.)

5/10 – You Are Mine

5/17 – VIP Only

5/24 – Stay By My Side

5/31 – Anti Reset

5/25 The Time of Fever AKA Unintentional Love Story 2 (Korea movie) trailer - HoTae & DongHee are back but unfortunately not in a cinema near me. Side couple from Unintentional Love Story, same actors, same character names. I love them. I NEED TO SEE THIS.

5/28 My Biker 2 (Thai movie YT?) - trailer

5/30 Knock Knock Boys (Thai Thurs WeTV) - I'm hoping I can get it elsewhere since my WeTV account is inactive, but I do love Best and I'm interested in seeing him in a new pairing. That said, I'm not wild about Seng... so I won't be too cut up if I can't get hold of this. More here.

5/31 The Time of Huannan (Taiwan movie) - May not be BL

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

I'm a sucker for this king of casual claiming. (Only Boo)

It me! (Wandee Goodday)

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @sunflower-positiiivity @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious

If ya wanna be tagged each week leave a comment and I will add you to the template. Easy peesy.

[rory2geeked]

making up lore for mbav because im bored😈🙏

- ethan’s seer powers come from his grandmother on his mom’s side (lets bfr his mom gives off that kinda vibe) and it skips a generation that’s why his mom & jane didn’t have the seer powers + his dad is just completely unaware to everything😥😥

- i feel like his mom doesn’t know anything about the seer stuff either

- benny’s grandma & ethan’s grandma were also silly supernatural evil fighting besties ?????? 😈

- it would be kind of a parallel to benny and ethans friendship too🤔🤔

- rorys parents are divorced👍 100%. BECAUSE WHY WASNT HIS DAD AT THE MUSEATRONICS TALENT SHOW😥😥 uuhhhh🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

- this part isnt actually a theory, but a confirmed fact from a writer on the show— AFTER THE FINAL EPISODES, they were supposed to be transported to like europe back in time like with da vampires n stuff for a silly little adventure👍👍

- my made-up lore for that is that sarah would like find a cure in old timey europe but it would be like a long ass adventure to get the cure

- erica and rory find a way to go to old timey europe to save their friends😋😋

- also rory pulls a bunch of old timey europe chicks🤔🤔 i would mess with that plot like heavy like he starts dating some european girl and when she finds out hes a vampire the fang gang has to save rory from being burned at the stake😭😭 I CAN LITERALLY IMAGINE THAT PLOT IT WOULD BE SO FUNNY

- “guys?? why are you tying me to a wooden pole?? uhh… what are you doing with that— FIRE!!!!!!” cue loud girly rory scream

- serica moments for days!!!!!!!!

- benny almost dies ???

- a lot of fun shenanigans

- okay thats all 😈😈🙏

[nalyra-dreaming]

to put all the cards on the table... (and now that we have that teaser... oooofff). i read the books, but i want to put my obsessive detail lover glasses on. anne is really nuanced in her writing, so yes i totally get lestat is not how louis described him (more or less 👀), but just in a vibey way. to make a specific list, what is that 20% that louis got wrong in your opinion?

That Louis got wrong? :)

Hmmm… So first off I do not think that what we saw of Lestat in that video (aka the rockstar persona) is how he looked when he was with Louis in NOLA.

Then again… Surprisingly close, isn't it?^^

So to get into this I need to explain my view of this a bit. Kidnap your ask, if you will^^

Louis describing Lestat: strands of hair down the sides of his face, unkempt a bit wild hair (at times at least). If his hair isn't done in some kind of fashion (opera, french pony tail etc)

I said it before, I think these strands down Lestat's face are indicative of Louis' POV (own) memories.

Which brings us to this small excursion on the subject. There's the evil step-mom bob, when Claudia comes in, and which is repeated outside in 1x05:

Hair lengths aside, we now know that Lestat was just as bloody as Louis from the trial revisit (see below), which was supposedly the truth, but in any case "no scratch on Lestat" has never made much sense. Meaning the force-feeding likely didn't happen either...

.... and the drop... well. Supposedly did. Even though he is quite clean again?

Because... that is still very far from what we (supposedly) saw as the "truth" of Lestat's bloody face in the coffin room just before, which we were shown at the trial:

I think the evil step-mom-clean-and-glorious-looking Lestat is Armand's tampered-with version.

Because... going through this because I think we got Louis' POV and actual memories of Lestat more in the beginning of season one.

There are a lot more instances of the "strands down his face"...

Btw, see this? Of what was used by Daniel to prove an "error" to the tale in 2x08? To prove Armand's manipulation?!

Right after the scene... he has them again:

Even Claudia's POV has them!

Even when she absolutely hates his guts:

I think every scene we saw with Lestat either in made up hair or with the strands down his face are ... "as real as it can get in a tale".

And the other scenes... the perfect blond hair ... is not.

Which brings us finally back to your actual question:

What is the 20% Louis got wrong?

And... I'm not sure Louis really got him that wrong?! I think Louis misunderstood some things, didn't know a lot of things, and Lestat fucked up others. They didn't talk enough. And sometimes love makes you desperate. They knew exactly how to wound the other.

And Armand... meddled with the tale. I said it before, the "train scene" cannot have happened as shown. The hotel likely neither.

I think every scene where Lestat is an "evil bitch with perfect hair.".. is a meddled with one. Given Armand's goal of influencing the tale? Namely making Lestat seem as bad as possible, while being unable to hide his own fascination with him? Makes perfect sense to me.^^

And there's actually not that many of them either. The outside of episode 5, the tractor salesman, the train, the paranoia driven one in 1x07 has strands again, while he does not have them the scene before and through a lot of the remaining last episode of the first season.

As such the little comment in 1x07, "the king's hair has betrayed the king".... takes on a third meaning, imho - not only a quip by Louis on both the "hair" on the floor and "heir" (Claudia)... but also that the "hair"... betrays the "king"... the leader - the coven master vampire meddling.

Layers, upon layers, upon layers.

So what did Louis get wrong?

Not that much actually, I think. But... some of the key scenes were not his. And those were therefore, in the sense of the words, wrong.

[tobiasdrake]

On that note, Buffy and Angel were both great series and I love them both. But they're also profoundly different in ways that I think both complement and contrast one another.

Buffy was a show about growing up. It famously used the vanquishing of evil as a metaphor for the coming of age. The show married its supernatural elements with its teen drama to such a degree that it basically invented the "Supernatural Metaphor".

Angel was a show about adulthood. Angel also married its supernatural elements to its drama, but the troubles Angel faced were things like paying your bills, home ownership, and parenthood.

An iconic moment of Buffy is when her mom suddenly dies, and Buffy has to step into the role of parenting her little sister. Something that neither of them are truly ready for, thrusting her into the unenviable position of both grieving daughter and too-soon responsible adult.

An iconic moment of Angel is when Cordelia has to teach to him that he needs to start charging clients money for his services because they won't be able to keep the lights on if he doesn't. An argument Cordelia wins, in stark contrast to how many other shows would play it. Because the reality is... You gotta pay the rent somehow.

And this contrast carries over into the shows' respective relationships with evil. Buffy is a show about vanquishing evil. The evil of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is concrete and visceral. The world is filled with monsters, and Buffy is charged with the ability to kill them. Any evil force can be fought, can be overcome, can be slain. Buffy needs only to find the means to do so.

Angel is a show about resisting evil, both from within and without. It's the complexity of a broken world, where people are complicated and there are no easy answers. The show lays out its moral philosophy in its second season with the words:

"If there is no great, glorious end to this, if nothing we do matters, then the only thing that matters is what we do. Because that's all there is: What we do. ... Because if there is no bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world."

It's a series about finding forgiveness and understanding within yourself, and learning how to be better tomorrow than you were today. Set in a world where the evil is systemic, where it is embedded in social constructs. Where it can never truly be defeated, but where we can choose to rise above it.

And I think both of these positions have very good things to say. The nihilistic positivity of "The smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world" is a profound guideline for how we should live in a world that's too big and too complex. But sometimes, problems really do just need a stake to the heart. Sometimes it is simple and, y'know, fuck that guy. But other times it's not.

And we see both of their approaches shine in a variety of ways. Buffy ends by pitting Buffy against an Angel-esque force of systemic and undefeatable evil. Something that can never truly be overcome, that cannot be vanquished. Something that Buffy vanquishes anyway, by recognizing the power of collective action to do what individual agency could never.

Buffy vanquishes a force of evil far beyond her by democratizing her power and becoming a single cog of a larger movement.

By contrast, Angel has the healing and reformation of Faith Lehane. The two-parter "Five by Five" and "Sanctuary" in season 1 are, I would say, the point at which Angel's series really finds its identity and truly becomes its own thing.

Faith is a character who, by this point, has locked horns with Buffy multiple times. She's reached the end of her rope, clashing and being vanquished by Buffy one final time in Buffy's own season four before fleeing across series to fight Angel.

A confrontation that turns from a tense battle with the Evil Slayer into a story of healing, regret, and self-improvement. Here, far away from Buffy and from Sunnydale and from the mistakes, Faith is given a safe space to unpack the choices that she's made and figure out who she wants to be.

A story that culminates in confrontation between Buffy and Angel over Faith, as Buffy comes looking for some honestly well-deserved violent catharsis only for Angel to have to tell her, "This is my show, this is how I handle my storylines, and you're not a part of it. Get out." Which is... really the moment when Angel ceases to be a Buffy supporting character spinning off and comes into his own as the lead of his own series, with his own ideas and stories to tell.

The collective vanquishing of the First Evil is a story that simply would not make sense to tell in Angel. And, by the same token, the healing and restoration of Faith Lehane is a story that simply couldn't fit into Buffy, with its more black-and-white perspective. There shows have very different perspectives, and neither of them are really right. But together, they form a more complete tapestry of living in a complicated world.

[carboncat0]

rant about Giorno’s character because i’m sleep deprived and i just heard birds chirping

love how they tell us Giorno is Dio’s son via character traits and story arcs

so like in the main universe(1-6) all JoJo were being thrown into action, something happened to them and forced them to react (Jotaro’ mom, Shigechi’s death etc.) and Giorno is the only one who acts first, actively trying to do something to reach his goal

Diavolo didn’t do shit to him before their encounter, there is no revenge or redemption, bro just wanted his job i guess

not saying that other JoJo are lesser than Giorno, they just want to be a normal person. they don’t want to fight, they don’t want the trama, but fate forced them into the mess

Jonathan didn’t want to be a vampire hunter, he wants to live a happy married life with Erina; Jotaro didnt want to kill the same vampire again bro just wants to be a marine biologist. they react, they fight, they defeat the evil and they tried so hard to go back to their normal life after those traumatic events

Giorno is different because he has the Dio blood in him, by nature he craves power, just like his papa (and every other villains.) and he succeed, he gain the power and status he wants in the end(his papa will be so proud)

it’s hard to decide whether he is evil or not, he steals, scams, manipulates and kills; but he is doing all these for a morally good reason, so who’s to say?

i saw someone saying that Giorno has Jonathan goals but executes them in the most Dio way possible, and that’s what make him so damn interesting and dynamic as a character

he is calm, distant and always plotting like Dio but kind, empathetic and determined like Jonathan, the perfect mix

also i think he may have some self-destruction tendencies and GE’s power of giving life/controlling nature being subtle yet brutal is a reflection of Giorno’s personality but that’s the story for another time

damn i want to draw him so bad rn why does human need sleep 🛌

[tyrantisterror]

My Personal History with My Good Friend, Satan

My first encounter with The Devil - that I can remember, at least - came when I was about three or so. My mom liked to borrow VHS tapes from libraries to show me and my siblings a lot, and one of the libraries she used was the one at our church. It was a small and obviously very religion-centric collection, but it left a notable mark on me - like, that's where I saw this weird, kinda shitty cartoon version of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe which might be responsible for irreconcilably fucking up my taste in women? I just have this distinct memory of watching the scene where Edmund is tempted by the White Witch and thinking, "Yeah, he's making the right call." If anything I was frustrated that he hesitated - three year old me was already simping for this woman. Just imagine a child channeling Ernie Hudson in Ghostbusters and growling, "When a terrifying and beautiful woman offers you candy and a private sleigh ride, you say YES!" and that's basically me as a kid.

Where was I? Right, Satan. So, the other video from that library I remember was this cartoon retelling of Bible stories, and really I just remember the Adam and Eve part. The temptation scene had this huge, super gnarly-looking demonic red snake in it, and he was so cool and badass and I was already predisposed to like snakes anyway, so of course he was my instant favorite. But, like almost all media featuring reptiles that captured my little child heart, he turned out to be the bad guy - literally The Devil, in this case - and was punished at the end of the story. And that pissed me off.

Sometime shortly thereafter - or at least that's how I remember it, this was over thirty years ago so things might be smushed closer together than they really were by the fog of ages - some of the kids in my preschool chastised me for liking snakes. "Don't you know the devil is a snake? Snakes are evil!" I remembered the movie, and it made me angry.

Because snakes aren't evil, and as a kid I knew that because my parents taught me it. Snakes were just animals, they don't know right from wrong, and to call them evil it to judge them for what they are, not what they do. That experience taught me a very important lesson: The Devil is a tool to make people hate the innocent. And as I'd later learn, snakes were far from the only innocents people would vilify because of a demonic association.

The second time I met the devil came a few years later, when I was six or seven or so. My Grampa and Grams liked to take us up North to Mackinac City and the Upper Peninsula each summer, and I have a lot of fond memories of those trips, but there was one in particular that's relevant to this discussion. We saw a sign for a "laser light show" in the shopping district, and I got to stay up late to see it with my family. The show in question was basically a cartoon projected into the night sky adapting the song The Devil Went Down to Georgia. It was super primitive and hokey and cornball and terrible and I loved every second of it. I was enchanted, absolutely delighted with the spectacle and the silly song where the devil was less a force of evil and more a comically bumbling inept supervillain - one of my favorite archetypes, even back then. So that's the second lesson about the devil I learned: The Devil can be fun sometimes.

Now, Godzilla, one of the few reptile characters I encountered as a kid who didn't end up a villain (at least not in the first movie of his I saw, Godzilla vs. Megalon), had already set me on the path to loving monsters of all stripes and, by extension, horror fiction in general, so as I grew up I had many more encounters with the devil. But while I warmed up quickly to most monster archetypes, like vampires, zombies, werewolves, etc., I always felt dismissive of demons. It kind of coincided with me becoming disillusioned with Christianity as a whole, in fact. A story about fighting evil, Christian-style demons is ultimately an allegory for fighting evil as defined by Christianity, and Christianity's definition of what evil is, well, sucks. It's bad! They got some things right, but some things horribly wrong. The devil is the tool Christianity uses to make you hate the innocent, and I struggled to enjoy a lot of demon stories because of that. Still do with some, in fact.

There were exceptions, of course - I loved The Evil Dead series as soon as I saw it at too-early-of-an-age, but then, the demons in it aren't super Christian. They aren't repelled by holy water or crucifixes or prayer, and in fact God and Jesus barely get mentioned in the series and never come up as a potential solution. They're kind of secular as demons go, and maybe that made them easier to stomach. But overall, demons ranked pretty low in the hierarchy of monsters to me - they were too tainted by the religion that spawned them for me to enjoy.

Until college, anyway. I quietly renounced my faith during my Freshmen year, and then, as if seeking one last chance at redemption in my eyes, the devil came to me again the following year. That's when I had a class on Medieval literature, and was exposed to far older devil stories than I had ever seen before. And Medieval devils kick ass. They have so much more personality and variety than I had come to expect, and some are downright affable, even sympathetic to a degree. It was one of many moments in college when I realized there was much more to a topic I'd previously written off as boring and trite.

This is when I read Dante's The Divine Comedy and Milton's Paradise Lost and Marlowe's Faust and Ben Johnson's The Devil Is An Ass. It's when I read early Gothic Horror novels like Matthew Gregory Lewis's The Monk, and dived into The Twilight Zone, which has more than a few episodes that are updates of medieval-style devil folktales in a more modern (i.e. 1960's) setting. And so many of these works presented the Devil not as a stand-in for everything Christianity hates, but as a person - a deeply flawed person, yes, but a person with actual wants and feelings and thoughts of his own, a person who was interesting and compelling - and sometimes funny, and sometimes charming, and sometimes really sad. There was, dare I say... sympathy for the devil growing in my heart.

In the last year of my undergraduate studies, I attended my college's yearly Medieval Studies Congress, where people from all over the world came to Kalamazoo just to share their research papers on medieval history and literature. One girl's thesis paper was on the subject of "rueful devils," i.e. depictions of demons in literature where they wanted to repent their sins and redeem themselves, which uniformly ended with the devils' hopes being dashed as they could not fully repent. This idea... possessed me. The idea that the devil could repent, or at least try to - that there could be hope even in the most debauched sinner. It was such a good narrative trope in my eyes - why did it die out centuries ago?

Well, because the church didn't like it, you see. If the devil can repent - if the Absolute King of Evil can choose to become a good person - then he's not very useful as a tool to make people hate the innocent anymore. The devil MUST be "pure evil" to work as intended. A rueful devil, a repentant devil, a devil that can be redeemed, forces us to be more forgiving and kind. It forces us to be better. It prevents us from hating people because an old book says so. And some people just couldn't have that, and so the trope died.

...

After I got my bachelor's degree, I entered the job market and, after applying to fifty different places or so, was finally hired as a high school english teacher about two weeks before the school year started. Said school year was the worst year of my life. Like, I've had extreme self loathing issues and suicidal ideation since, like, sixth grade, but holy shit it was NEVER as bad as it was in that nine month stretch between 2012 and 2013. There was this bridge I had to cross on the way to work each morning, and about two months in the job was so stressful that part of my morning routine was thinking, "You know, if I just swerve to the right, this can all be over and I'll never have to worry again." About halfway in I began drastically losing weight despite not changing my diet or getting more exercise and it was so traumatic that to this day whenever my weight starts to drop my initial reaction is dread rather than excitement. I impulse bought the first two Kung-Fu Panda movies and, after watching each for the first time and crying hideously, proceeded to watch them on repeat for an entire weekend while sobbing myself hoarse for reasons I couldn't comprehend at the time.

I was in Hell. And the devil met me there.

I started writing a story during that year. I didn't get very far, just a couple chapters, but it was one of the few things that gave me a sense of accomplishment. Despite all the stress and sadness and misery, I made something. It was a story about demons, and Hell, and trying to make your life better even when the world around you seems deadset on making you suffer as much as possible.

When my bosses called me into their office at the end of that year and told me that I had to quit my job so the assistant principal could take my teaching position and survive the downsizing they'd get next year, and that if I didn't quit they'd give me the lowest teacher evaluation they could and make it supremely difficult for me to get hired elsewhere... I was relieved. I'd been let out of Hell. After a handful of months left to finish out the year, I was free.

And then I went home, with nothing. No job, no desire to pursue the career for which I'd spent five years and an ungodly amount of money getting a degree to pursue, no nest egg, nothing. Nothing except a few chapters of a book.

The years that followed were hard. I did a lot of temp work, it took me a very long time to find something that worked for me. I may have left the worst year of my life, but there was still a lot of misery waiting for me. And through it all, I felt the need to accomplish... something, ANYTHING. I had to make something to prove I had a reason to exist, even if it was something that only had value to me.

With three years of work, those chapters became my first novel, No Sympathies: A Tale of Those Who Trespass Against Us. It was about the devil, and Hell, and finding salvation even when things seem inescapably bleak. It was my first novel, and now, eight years later, it's the first of five.

The devil saved my life. He saw me at my lowest, lifted me up, whispered, "It'll be ok. You have to keep going. I'll be with you, but you have to keep going," and goddammit, he kept me from swerving right.

That's when I learned the greatest truth about the devil, at least to me. The devil is a tool to make people hate the innocent, yes, this is true, but because of that, the devil can be a savior for the broken, the beaten, and the damned. You can feel like you're worthless, wretched, and doomed. But if the devil can rise from Hell, if the devil can choose to change, if people are willing to pray for the one sinner who needs it most - then there's hope for you too, isn't there?

Demons are creatures of rebellion - against God, against nature, against the powers that be, against doom and damnation itself. They were made to be a tool to hurt the innocent, but that's not what they have to be. Devils can lift us up, because no matter how far you fall, no one can say whether it's the end for you except you.

...I would like to point out that I am being figurative here. The devil does not literally exist, at least not in my view of things. He's a fictional character, nothing more. But he's a prolific fictional character, and how we portray him can say so much about us. And, to me, he is a dear friend, despite being imaginary, because the devil was there for me when I was low, and it was on his wings that I rose from doom.

...again, figuratively, not literally.

[henrysglock]

Mother is God, In The Eyes of a Child

This has got to be my farthest-fetched theory, and its more of a collection of observations that weave together than an actual theory. However...there's something distinctly weird about all this.

It started here:

Max steps on spider egg sacs in Vecna's mind lair, and the babies spill out.

"If there's a spider, you're never gonna find it 'till it lays eggs and the babies spill out"

Then Vecna killing Patrick while looking distinctly like a spider on a web, a direct comparison to those black widows.

And I talked in the discord chat talking with Em for a while like. They. They wouldn't. Right? And I've been sitting here thinking about the last time I said "they wouldn't...right?" So here we go.

"Of course you have a mother. You couldn't really have been born without one."

But Mama is dead...

just like One doesn't exist.

And whoever you are, either you aren't home (which, you're "Terry's daughter" in Terry's home which was decorated for you in hopes that you'd come home 🤨)...or you aren't Terry's daughter.

but wait: Mr. Mom? Perfect!

Mr. Mom...which leads straight to the lab going haywire:

Because of the Mind Flayer, who we know is (most likely) a version of Edward.

And "sleepyhead" is a parent thing...but it's specifically a mom thing, and it comes from the guy who's likely Edward. Why are you, as a man, so distinctly mother?

And so I'm looking at all of his God coding:

And I'm looking at his talk of spiders, particularly black widows, being the gods of our world:

There's also this particular dialogue parallel with Carrie's mother:

As well as Black Widow "God of Our World" 001 and Henry "Sensitive (Gay) Child" Creel, framed this way in back to back shots.

One of them has the rainbow flag and the other's got the black widow spider, makes sense...right? (Sure. Except not really.)

He also has a ton of God coding in his music choices:

Except, when we look at the songs he alone or he and El are overlaid with...Akhnaten is functionally a mezzo-soprano. In the pieces we hear specifically, Akhnaten sings in the same range or higher than Nefertiti.

Which then gets me thinking about the Silent Hill parallels (that Em has talked about here), and specifically this one line of dialogue from Dahlia:

And the fact that every single black widow spider reference regarding Henward/Vecna/001 has been about female black widows, never male ones:

As well as a good portion of his rant being about:

- Being vaguely broken (what's wrong with him is never said) - His kinship with spiders (specifically the female black widows) - Society's oppressive made-up rules - Being forced to pretend (unspecificed as to what, exactly, he's pretending about...all we get is "a silly, terrible play") - Reproduction

Then the fact that Vecna kind of has a thing for showing up as mothers:

And on top of all that...the fact that Vecna somehow lost his dick along the way. Where did it go????????

There's also all the birthing and reproduction imagery that goes along with the UD, most blatantly in the scene where El crawls out of the same hole the Demogorgon came through:

As well as these movies from the ST4 Movie Board:

Ace Ventura Pet Detective: Finkle has a sex change to assume a new identity and seek vengeance.

Let The Right One In: Vampire girl who is really a boy being forced to live as a girl

Sleepaway Camp: Girl named Angela who is actually a boy named Peter being forced by his aunt to live as a girl after his twin sister (the real Angela) was killed in an accident. (Wibble knows more about this one than I do, but I'm staring at Peter Ballard and all of our Angela's parallels to the lab)

Splice: Female Human-Animal hybrid "dies" (is actually in a coma) and undergoes a spontaneous sex change to male and proceeds to go berserk.

Silence of the Lambs: Main villain is a blonde, wavy-haired cross-dressing serial killer.

And then with the parallels to Room (even if it isn't on the ST4 Movie Board):

Plus Will's Alan Turing poster and the castration stuff that goes along with that..and the "Henry" that shows up behind him:

What in the gender is going on here?

[vickyvicarious]

I think the fact that both Jonathan and Van Helsing arrive to the castle waking up after nodding off may imply that the path there or the Castle itself puts you into sleep. The Castle is in no maps, so maybe because no one really knows the exact path there.

Yeah, I do love this theory. And it certainly could still match up with Jonathan possibly getting some protection part of the way there (and maybe Van Helsing too, though as far as I recall he wasn't loaded down directly all over his person in the way Jonathan probably was) and thus staying awake longer than he's supposed to. Hence Dracula checking in the next day to make sure he really doesn't remember the way out.

Of course, the drivers bringing Dracula's boxes (and him, inside them) to and fro appear to be exempt from this effect. Also, Wolf Mom manages to travel on foot right up to the door without being slowed down at all. Which is why I think it's still got to be Dracula's magic in some way. Some kind of passive effect that he can suppress for those he chooses (but he didn't choose Wolf Mom, so unless we're just saying she was loaded up on tons of anti-vampire stuff under her clothes/the power of Love and Rage carried her through, we may have an issue with that theory), or maybe something akin to a ward that he has to activate and then can just leave running. If the latter, then maybe he was personally trying to mess with Jonathan, and then sets the castle's auto-hypnosis function up to kick in after he leaves via box express, and then it just keeps running/catches Van Helsing later on. Or hey, a third option: traveling to the castle together with a vampire (or very nearly one, in Mina's case) is what kicks in the confusion/sleepiness. But that seems less practical most of the time, even if it could fit the facts.

I personally like the idea of the castle having soaked up enough evil/magic that it just kind of does this stuff on its own, and it's something Dracula can influence when he chooses. But it can't be just affecting everyone unless enough exposure negates the effect, because in canon it really only happens to the foreign characters.

[nicnacsnonsense]

Just finished “Lies My Parents Told Me” and woof, that was rough.

Spike & Buffy are just bizarrely flippant about the fact that Spike’s trigger is still active. Like I am pro-keeping Spike alive, but given that he can be forcibly turned into a bloodthirsty killer at literally any moment, some precautions need to be taken!

Giles meanwhile is the only person treating the trigger with the seriousness that it deserves and is actively trying to fix it, but when he isn’t able to immediately solve the problem, he just jumps straight to murder?

Giles is like, hmmm, I cannot trust Buffy’s judgement about Spike as I suspect she may be emotionally compromised, so instead I am going to ally with Robin, who has point-blank admitted to me that his judgement around Spike is emotionally compromised

The audacity of Giles telling Buffy she needs to be a general while making and helping to execute on a major fucking decision behind her back

Why is Giles on the Spike hate train this season? I feel like he trusts Spike and likes Buffy working with him less this season than he did in season 5. Except this season not only does Spike have a soul, which makes a huge fucking difference in how we treat Angel, Spike went and got his soul of his own accord because he wanted to be a better person for Buffy. And Giles gives him zero credit for any of that. (Honestly no one gives Spike enough credit for that this season, though Buffy does at least try.)

I don’t like Buffy saying she would sacrifice Dawn to save the world if she had to. Not even because it bothers me that Buffy the person would say that, but because it kind of undermines the overall narrative of the show. S3 Buffy kills Angel to save the world. Cool, powerful statement about the character. S5 Buffy refuses to kill Dawn to save the world, saying that she doesn’t know how to live in a world where these are the choices. Also a powerful statement, and all the more meaningful because she has changed her mind since the last time. S7 she says she would sacrifice Dawn to save the world actually, and now I no longer care. None of these statements are powerful any more because apparently Buffy’s just generally wishy-washy about the whole thing.

Spike says he doesn’t feel bad for killing Nikki because he’s a vampire and she was the Slayer and that’s how the game is played; she chose it. No she did not! Like that’s the whole thing, the huge running conflict throughout the whole show, not to mention the big Shadow Men reveal just two episodes ago. The Slayer is *chosen*. One girl in all the world is chosen without her consent to have all this power just thrust upon her and then be forced to fight evil and protect the world.

In general just not a fan of the condescension dripping off Spike in that interaction, like oh my mom loved me but yours didn’t love you.

Oh my god, Spike, that’s his dead mother’s coat. You stole that coat off the body of a woman you had just murdered. Just let him fucking keep the coat.

[fairykery]

The Vampire Diaries opinions people hate me for:

Forwood is actually a good ship and I wish it didn't have to go down like that, at the expense of Caroline's character.

I ship Klaroline; but Klaus was toxic. I could only ever see this ship becoming endgame if Klaus redeemed himself first.

Caroline had chemistry with everyone except Stefan.

Bamon had potential (and it was literally in the books). If they had come up with a "I had my humanity off" plotline it would have made the ship work🤷🏻‍♀️

Bonezo is a good ship and is clearly less toxic than Bamon; but it only happened to please racist dullena fans that complained about Bamon's romantic implications(even if it happened in the books)

Caroline, Katherine, Bonnie, & Stefan are the most interesting characters of TVD

Jeremy & Anna were cute IDK🤷🏻‍♀️

Matt did not deserve the hate. His feelings were valid. All his friends were killers and he was an abandoned, heartbroken boy, whose mom was a drunk and pedophile, and his only sister & family was killed by the boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend who he loved alot, just cause he decided he was bored. He remained loyal & brave to his friends and they didn't account for their murders and killings & stopped caring for the innocent.

Alaric was not a bad father and teacher. Even if he had his slip-ups he was actually an interesting & good character.

Damon is way too defended In this fandom. People should like the character and not defend the wrongs?! Just how many women has he compelled to sleep with him and to let him drink their blood? And what about what he did to Aaron whitmore? He slaughtered entire families of Innocents even while dating Elena. So all that "sHe mAkEs hiM bEtTeR" crap, is not valid. You can like Ian's acting and the smugness of his character, & like the character for those reasons, without defending the terrible acts of the character.

Delena was a horrible ship. The only reason it's popular is due to the shallow fact that people see Ian as more handsome than Paul. The ship only has good chemistry and looks. Beyond that, there is nothing.

Stefan is still the better man. (Fried humanity/off humanity Stefan don't count just as it goes for all the other vampires) Gaslighting writing through the other characters won't change that(Nice try, Julie P)🤷🏻‍♀️

Alaric and Jo were really cute together. I don't care. They made epic twins together.

Elena is overloved; but overhated at the same time. It's annoying. Just love the kind human girl that she used to be and hate the vicious, selfish girl she became, without hating her for breathing. That simple.

Klelijah(Katherine x Elijah) is not a good ship. Katherine loved stefan. She was only using Elijah to survive, and back then she only pitied him. Elijah also only was with her because of what he did to Tatia

Katherine did deserve better though, even if she did bad things. Making her the biggest/& ultimate devil and pretending there wasn't any good in her was incredibly misogynistic. Like Damon & Klaus did worse things and they get happy lives and good character ends? Like No! Horrible! Katherine's core was a scared little girl who wanted to live a normal human life while still being powerful and beautiful. She was chased for 500 years, had to see her entire family slaughtered, lost a baby because of misogynistic expectations, found her again, just to see her last family die again. Did she do horrible things? Yes; all to survive. But she also saved Jeremy, Damon, Stefan, encouraged Elena to be honest about what she felt for Damon even when she didn't have to.

Caroline did annoying things; but overall she was an interesting character. And she was way too smart and strong as a vampire. I loved seeing it.

Bonnie deserved so much more than the show gave her. I hope she gets her own show one day. A show about witches would be pretty lit.

Rebecca could have tried harder to be kinder and less evil. I get she had centuries of habits she needed to break but still. (Elena stabbing her in the back was still shit though)

Klaus was evil to his default and was an abuser to his family. I'm glad he changed/died for hope; but still I would have been nice if there were other factors to this action.

They shouldn't have thrown away the good of Elijah Mikalson. He didn't deserve that. The way they also tried to pull a Stefan on him.

Haylijah was a cute ship🤷🏻‍♀️

Esther wasn't wrong about her children being evil as vampires. And what she wanted to do with them was have them live as humans.

What the originals did to Marcel was fucked up

What the originals did to Davina was cruel

I wish we could have seen more of the witch that played "the hollow".

Glamorizing Hope's evil side is not "a flex". Again, like the character & actor art; but not the vicious actions.

Hosie should have been canon

That random new original sister was so unnecessary.

Kolvina is the most interesting ship of the entire TVDverse I wish there was more of them

All TVD ships were good I just find: Steroline, Delena, & Klamille to be cringe. Steroline only happened to compensate Forwood/& Klaroline and justify Delena. And Delena only happened because of looks and the love story was trash. Klamille was also a compensation ship to Klaroline so yeah, cringe.

TVD writing, lore, acting, cinematography,. directing is all a 10. The only thing that is trash is the ending and all the romantic entanglement the show had.

Warning: This isn't to start an agree to disagree party. This post is just so that those that agree with me can high-five with me. If you disagree, don't even bother commenting on this post. Everything is a matter of perception & perspective. I'm just sharing mine, while venting. By jumping on this post to fight with me you are immediately self-labeling yourself as entitled. Everyone has their own opinions bestie so don't even.

[bucketspammer4life]

The boxers during halloween

(sees christmas decorations being put up) HALLOWEEN. HALLOWEEN!!! HALLOWEEN!!!

Glass Joe

- has a vampire costume and is giving out candy himself since "hes too old for all of this"

- buys those big family size packages of candy to give out, he likes them because he can snack on candy when halloween ends

- purposefully calls obvious costumes dumb stuff to get reactions out of people

- "oh yeah did you dress up as my moms curtains??"

- "IM A GHOST AND YOU ARE FRENCH!!"

- drinks a glass of tomato juice with his costume for extra realism

Von Kaiser

- He dressed up as the frankensteins monster, only for his students to dress up as him

- He gives out raisins and toothbrushes for halloween along with fruit (NOOO!!)

- does scary roaring sounds to scare people, only to get laughed at, thats what you get for giving out healthy food during halloween

- tries telling scary stories and gives up halfway through

Disco Kid

- dressed up as a fully functional disco ball (functional almost autocorrected to father LMAOO)

- goes out trick or treating himself but gets bored

- watching bad quality horror movies with Mac to laugh at them

- helps the kaisers students toilet paper his house for fun

- carving pumpkins with the others

King Hippo

- dressed up as a Hippo (how creative of you)

- does trick or treating with Disco kid, after disco got bored he went all out on his own and got a lot of candy

- He ate the pumpkin he was supposed to carve, no remains left, also totally unrelated: has anyone seen Joe's pumpkin carving knife?? That he was supposed to carve pumpkins with??

- his dentist will not be happy

Piston Hondo

- dressed up in sailor moon cosplay, rocking it as he should

- is the one giving out candy because imagine if a famous boxer dressed up as sailor moon came to your house for candy,seems like a fever dream

- helping Kaiser un-tp his house

- attempting to call bloody mary for the 10th time, She probably blocked your number already leave her before she gets a restraining order please

- sad that he has no one to match with

Bear Hugger

- dressed up as the lorax, matching with someone else as the greedler (im not spoiling it shut up) the squirrel is joining them dressed up as those bear things in the movie

- giving out entire bottles of maple syrup during halloween, people dont exactly hate it but its kind of a jumpscare seeing someone dressed up as a maple tree hand you maple syrup

- tried to sit on a pumpkin, only to break it instantly

- people keep assuming he dressed up as a Cheeto puff

Great Tiger

- dressed up as a fairy princess, yes hes a fairy, yes hes a princess and no he will not share his magic with you, jealous ass

- using his flying to his advantage by flying around with fairy wings on

- throwing "fairy dust" (glitter) around, people keep finding glitter in their food, costumes, socks and basically everywhere

Don Flamenco

- who'd you think was matching bear hugger? hes dressed up as the greedler and rocking it, how bad can he be anyways?

- loses 10 years from his life eveytime someone doesnt notice the refs he makes to the movie

- if anyone actually gets the ref he'll break out into song like hes in a musical (a punch out musical would go hard actually)

Aran Ryan

- a demon witch, matching with great tiger and also throwing "evil dust" (Hot pepper flakes) around, aran i think youre just assaulting people

- robbed Kaiser from his actual candy he hid away

- evil cackling as he attempts to fly on his broomstick, only to fall on his ass

- chasing Joe with the carving knife

Soda Popinski

- a fridge, he deadass just wore a entire fridge with soda in it

- pulling out random stuff from the fridge and handing out to people, Water? Drink up, tomatos? Here you go!!

- keeps getting stared at but in a good way

Bald Bull

- hes just in a bull onesie because he lost a bet, embarrased but he finds it comfy secretly, fell asleep in it at some point

- people keep calling him a cow and its driving him crazy

- "moo"

- "IM A BULL GOD FUCKING DAMN YOU ALL BLIND ASS BITCHES"

- watching movies and falling asleep

- carved a pumpkin with Joe and ended up laughing at it with him for 10 minutes

Super Macho Man

- himself, hes not giving out any free shout outs today

- fuck you super macho man

- carved himself into a pumpkin

- He cant keep getting away with this

Mr Sandman

- dressed up as a mummy since he didnt have enough time to think about it

- hes the only one who can actually scare people with and without his costume

- tried to put a pumpkin on his head, sad because it didnt fit

Extra

- kaisers students did the trenchcoat gag, dressef up as him and tried to buy a car with 10 dollars and a dance performance

- mrs bear dressed up as a princess and did her make up, looks stunning

- carmen dressed up as a flamingo

- soda has to pay back that fridge now

[see-arcane]

I think you came close to real issue. Adaptations do not center on Jonathan and always somehow misrepresent him is because majority of male directors-screenwriters, adapting Dracula, associate themselves more not with Jonathan but with Dracula or Van Helsing. And it didn't begin with Coppola. It began with Murnau where his Hutter doesn't kill vampire and can't save his wife but instead it's his wife Ellen who dies to kill vampire. Then it's Browning who made Van Helsing into cool main hero who kills Dracula, while Jonathan is again useless in the movie. It's Fisher who kills Jonathan off at the start of the movie and again makes Van Helsing into cool main hero, who kills Dracula. So by the time 1970s rolled out and romantic versions of Dracula began to heavily pop up, Jonathan as character on screen was already heavily downgraded.

This honestly hits on something that unhappily fascinates me about the whole pattern. Unlike other stories that see adaptation, however classic or modern, I think the Dracula issue is the only one I can think of where a male main character--one of the two married protagonists! the guy who actually opens and closes the entire story! including beheading Dracula himself!--gets so thoroughly watered down, warped, or often just thrown out of the story entirely. Mina's treatment is unfortunately very much expected.

She is LAST GIRL STANDING. She is NOT ICKY SLUT-LUCY WHO LEADS THREE MEN ON EWWW. She is SO INTO HUNKY HE-MAN DARK PRINCE COUNT FUCKULA and doesn't mind the castle harem or the best friend assault or terrorized/deadified husband whatever who cares.

Mina's character-butchering hell is sadly a running theme in a lot of Classics! Now with (Off-Brand Hollywoodified) Feminism (tm)*!

*She is now simultaneously Mom to a bunch of rowdy dumb-boys and the hot anti-villain wants to do the sex with her so bad and it's sooo tempting because hot anti-villain is sooo much more forward-thinking than these icky Victorian guys ha ha

But Jonathan's situation is unique.

Because Jonathan is broken down for parts.

His sweet ingenue gothic heroine time in Castle Dracula is routinely handed over either to a stand-in (Renfield ala the original Dracula movie) or Random Damsel seen on every book and movie and comic book cover. Because you can't have a man in that situation. And if you do, shovel him out of the story immediately once the hetero-sexy part is over with, ala the Brides closing in. Maybe make him an unfaithful piece of shit who is SO down to ditch boring old Mina for the undead harem.

His stamp as a rightful nemesis-turned-badass vampire hunter is stolen and given to Van Helsing, including his kukri, including the defeat and beheading of Dracula.

His devotion and love for Mina to the point of blasphemy and inhumanity is ripped away and given to Dracula to romanticize and sexify him, which in turn defangs the Count himself. 'Ohhh I just did all this evil because I was depressed and looking for my Love~ :'c' rather than him being one of the most insidiously engaging and chilling villains in classic storytelling.

And all of that implies that writers and directors do like the character of Jonathan Harker...so long as he's split into pieces with the husk that once contained all those facets quickly discarded.

Because if they have to portray Jonathan Harker in his totality, with all his kindness, his femininely coded introduction, his trauma after assault, his adoration of Mina beyond human measure, and his ultimate conquering of Dracula the Monster/Abuser (their idolized macho surrogate) then that does something unthinkable.

That portrays men like Jonathan Harker in a heroic light. In a positive light, period. This milksop! This sweet, loving, bookish, preyed-upon, afraid-then-fierce, walking talking knife-swinging wall-crawling middle finger to the whole idea of the fantasy people project onto Dracula (read: Megabadass Immortal Vampire Man who gets Allll the Ladies Who Totally Wanted It/Had that Victorian Slave Leia routine coming~)! We can't put that on screen!

So what happens, happens.

And Jonathan Harker continues to be harvested for parts without ever, ever getting to be all of himself in a retelling. If he shows up at all.

[ragingstillness]

Finally caught up on the bungo stray dogs manga today. Here are my thoughts in no particular order.

Massive spoiler warning through ch 114.5!

Gotta say, I don’t think any of us guessed “functional immortality” for Fyodor’s ability. It does explain why he’s completely crazed and has such little respect for human life. The face peeling is gross but a little funny in how wacky and wild it is. Genuine questions: does Fyodor then gain that person’s body shape? Has he ever been killed by a woman before? Or a child? Does he get to steal Bram’s height now? What happens if he turns into an old person and dies of old age? What happens if he kills himself? When was he born and when did this ability manifest? Does he gain the new person’s ability as well as his own? Also, I have to give Asagiri credit for taking the most literal interpretation of Crime and Punishment ever. The Crime is murder of Fyodor and the Punishment is he becomes you. He takes your space in society. Delightfully literal.

Gogol’s sadness over Dostoyevsky felt really real my poor clown. However, with the reveal of Dostoyevsky’s ability, they are now the perfect couple. Gogol can kill Fyodor, achieving his goal of killing him, then Fyodor can become him, achieving Gogol’s goal of losing himself and Fyodor’s goal of having one less person constantly trying to kill him. Poetic cinema.

Gonna be laughing forever at Mori gluing the fake vampire teeth into Chuuya’s mouth and Chuuya’s inability to get them out. This is especially funny because this genuinely happened to me with my mom one Halloween and while we did get them out I was picking glue out of my teeth for a week.

I hope Bram isn’t gone forever because his relationship with Aya is beyond cute.

Is Aya’s dad that grumpy police detective? It looked like that in her vision.

I’m still not super satisfied with Fukuchi having good intentions. He’s been far too sadistic and blatantly evil for me to change my mind on him now. Little Fukuchi I can defend but I’m not changing my opinion on adult Fukuchi.

Fukuzawa stays the smartest man, taking the sword to the heart then pulling it away with him. Very “can I keep this” when someone gets stabbed meme of him. Also using it still as a blade? Inspired. All hail silver fox dad.

Ranpo is clearly still injured but doesn’t seem as injured as Asagiri teased us with. Aku still appears to be a vampire, we’ll see how that turns out.

Damn, Fukuchi will not die. This man has been bleeding from the neck and heart for several minutes at least and still is talking.

Considering the last ability singularity nearly destroyed all of Yokohama and the world, not looking forward to the results of a three-part singularity.

Fukuchi’s blade allowing him control over a small period of time I could accept but the gift of prophecy? Specific prophecy too? Kind of came out of left field, I don’t like that without knowing more about the sword’s creator.

Let’s be real, One Order should just be destroyed, it’s hella dangerous in anyone’s hands.

I don’t think we got told in advance that Bram’s sword combined person with ability. Maybe I just don’t remember but I don’t think so.

Fyodor’s goals continue to be murky as hell.

Convenient, that Fyodor’s ability also comes with a bit of teleportation, as he got from mid-Europe to Japan right quick.

I still need to know more about the war and I despair of ever receiving that info.

Love that all this is going down between Fyodor, Fukuchi, and Fukuzawa (too many fs) and Atsushi is just there like oh right I have a main character oops. I really hope vampirism wipes Akutagawa’s memories so he just jumps into this situation completely discombobulated, it’d be so funny.

When will sassy grandpa (Mori) return from war?

Hey Natsume what’s up, think maybe this is a good time to intervene?

Where the hell is Kouyou?