#big thing on contrast and parallelism for this one

[ruby-red-inky-blue]

Andor and character writing

First off: This is a plot-driven show, and that's a good thing. Especially with how Gilroy and Co. reimagined the character, this is not a subject that was made for a several-episode-long character study (and frankly, probably nothing in Star Wars really is). This isn't so much a gripe about a thing that I believe makes the show bad. It's a very good show, and Gilroy and his team's writing really shines in many parts of it - the clever but unambiguous integration of themes, the parallels between characters in different arcs, the political and logistical nitty-gritty are all outstanding.

But I do think sometimes the character-writing on the show takes a backseat in a way it didn't have to, and occasionally gets handwavy in ways that are in confusing contrast to the precision of the writing elsewhere - mostly, but not exclusively where Cassian is concerned.

1. Coherence

The Rogue One script has its flaws (user ruby-red-inky-blue admits through gritted teeth), but one thing it did incredibly well was give you characters that just immediately made sense. From the first, even with the sparse information you were given, you could immediately picture how their lives up to this point had gone, and their characterisation made sense for the life they had led. For Jyn, we were given a lot of quickly rattled-off exposition (which, yes, some might have found clunky), but it immediately made sense for the way she interacted with people and the actions she took: why she was so eager to get out of dodge, thinking she was about to be conscripted into the next pointless rebellion clusterfluck after Saw's rebels; why she was so irreverent and hostile to everyone - because she'd been around people like that, been one of them, and they had all let her down and hadn't even reached their goals doing it... I could go on. For others, like Bodhi or Baze, we got much less context, but it immediately made sense for them to be where they were: Bodhi, a young man from Jedha who'd gone into Imperial duty probably for the money or for an opportunity to become a pilot and see the universe, slowly but surely driven to a breaking point and immediately getting in way over his head when he went to Saw, because he had no idea what he was getting himself into. (This was also a clever characterisation beat for Galen, btw: He'd been an Imp or posing as one most of his life, and miscalculated, hard, on how reasonable his old buddy Saw would be, because he had no way of knowing how batshit insane the fight had driven him since they last met). Long story short: Everyone's mindset, behaviour, age and position in society was perfectly reasonable in relation to each other. Baze and Chirrut would have seemed weird if they had been really young; if someone like Bodhi had been played by an actor in his fifties, his behaviour would have seemed less intuitive. Same thing for Krennic: He was old enough to make his position in the Empire seem reasonable (he was ambitious, and worked his way up the ranks, but probably not smart enough to work his way up the ranks noticeably quickly, so he had to be middle-aged), but also just old enough to start getting that torschlusspanik going - if the big break in his career doesn't come soon, he'll be too old for it. He just makes sense.

Andor has characters like that, too, and I don't think it's a surprise that they're among the most popular standouts of the first season. Mon Mothma is very coherent like that, but she might be a special case since we knew so much about her position going in. But Luthen, Syril, Dedra, Maarva and Brasso also have this going for them. For example, Luthen is older than most of the characters, so he, like Maarva, actually remembers what the world was like before the Empire. He's also old enough to suggest that maybe he has lost someone or something and that loss has been allowed to fester into that rage and resolve he clearly has when we meet him. He's old enough to have made mistakes and learned from them, and also old enough to have built up his shop front to the point where we catch up with him, without that needing any extra explanation. And Brasso is a great example of a character who just makes sense even though we know next to nothing about him. He's from Ferrix, he works there, he seems community-minded and knows Cassian and Maarva well. That's all we get. And yet, it makes so much sense. He's that solid friend with a stable job, quiet and generous. He's old enough to have earned his position in the community. He never behaves in a way that would make it strange how universally beloved he seems to be on Ferrix. We also see how savvy he is with social complications when he makes up the alibi for Cassian - this is a man who gets people, and who will be able to defuse any beef someone else has with him. Everything about him makes sense.

Cassian, though... I don't know. So he was abducted from his home planet aged nine or so - old enough to remember it - and had to learn a whole new language and culture. This... doesn't seem to inform his actions much, short of maybe earning him a reputation for being a quick study. He took action against the Empire when Clem died - possibly also influenced by the loss of his home planet and first family - went to jail, left at sixteen to fight on Mimban for six months, then got out of dodge, disillusioned. Okay. So why do we meet him ten years later, apparently completely inexperienced with how to go about looking for his sister? What has he been doing those ten years? Why would he not start looking for her sooner? Did Maarva forbid it? The Cassian we meet in Andor doesn't seem like a guy who would listen to that. The womanising trait is also a little weird to me - I guess it could be a thing of wanting to belong, or commitment issues, which would make sense, but the show doesn't tell us why he's doing it, only that he's doing it (see below on that issue). I guess we're just saying if you look like that, you'd make the most of it. He is a beautiful man, I guess that checks out. But it's not very meaty, characterisation-wise, and it gives us nothing re: his background. The only thing that seems coherent to me in Cassian's early characterisation is that he seems on the outskirts of the community by his own doing - it makes sense that he would self-sabotage a little, maybe harbouring a lingering doubt that he belongs or fits in. But the chronic unreliability they saddle him with, while making a lot of sense for his backstory, is really confusing to square with where he's going - that's not a trait you can just choose to let go off whenever, but he seemingly does (see below for more on that). I also feel like his piloting skills are really a lot better than they should be considering his background, but one could argue maybe most ships really are pretty easy to fly or at least all very similar (and they did hilariously refute that point in Season 2 so I will shut up about that a little more). And maybe most prominently, I feel like they gave him no reason to be as much of a smooth-talker as he is. What about living with this very quiet man and this very terse, upfront woman in this sleepy scrapping town made him so incredibly good at manipulation - and yet, why has this not resulted in him getting himself in a little better position somewhere, or at least keeping him out of trouble more? I get him being a good liar, to some extent, since Maarva had him hide his origin his entire life, and because that feels like something that can just be natural aptitude. But keeping him so perfectly separate from any spy experience for this much of his life makes his skill at charming people somewhat confusing. Because being able to talk someone into giving you a two-day extension on the debt you owe them is one thing, but suddenly giving speeches and talking guys into a prison break is a very different beast.

2. Consistency

This all kind of dovetails into my second gripe: The character progressions on the show can feel inorganic. People will suddenly change a thing about themselves in a very short time or for a seemingly small reason, and the show doesn't address it. I've gone on at length about how strange I find Cassian going from a fuck-you-don't-tell-me-what-to-do attitude to the incredibly patient, obedient soldier we meet at the end of his life in only a few short years. I'm aware this is probably the most subjective gripe I have about the show, a lot of people will find changes very logical that I didn't like and vice versa. I expect to grapple more with the time skips this season than most people. But yeah, right off the bat, the skip from 1.12 to 2.01 felt bigger than it should have been, one year on.

First of all – we get no context on Dedra suddenly not only deigning to regard Syril as a person worth two minutes of her attention, but to actually be in a relationship with him? Sharing her home with him? Meeting his mother? I really hope there is some big dramatic endgame she’s running here, because if not, that feels like a massive leap to me.

Similarly, looking at how he talks to the woman at the test facility and later the guys on Yavin, Cassian has gone lightyears closer to the man we meet on Kafrene in one year. And, again, knowing exactly what to say to any given person to get them to do what you want takes a lot of experience, and I don’t really think one year would do the trick. So yeah, he seems like a wildly advanced spy – and yet, at the same time, everything he does in 2.03 is so stupid. It’s human! But it wildly undermines that incredibly well-written scene at the end of last season. “Kill me, or take me in” is not the statement of a man who’s still planning to go home to his family at the end of the week! It implies that he will live or die for this rebellion from this point forward. And yet, three episodes later, Cassian, devoted spy and public enemy n° 4, not only seems to be making regular visits to Bix, Brasso and Co., but they’re using his real name in front of outsiders. And when he hears that the Imps are bearing down on the planet for an inspection, he takes the invaluable ship he just stole for the rebels that they risked multiple lives trying to obtain, and rushes in with that flashy flashy ship to rescue his buddies?? If they hadn’t already been in trouble, they would have immediately been the target of a fully-fledged manhunt the moment anyone saw that ship in the sky. Like, my guy, not only are you making shit worse for your friends, you are risking the ship your rebellion needs and your own capture in the process – which would not only risk handing them a year’s worth of spy information, but also a huge propaganda win and a massive blow to Luthen’s operation. Why would you do that. Why would you not at least land somewhere and steal a slightly less conspicuous ship.

And the annoying thing is, this could be fascinating characterisation – but because of the structure of the season, we are not going to sit with this! We won’t be able to explore this as the espionage clusterfuck that it is, and the ramification for Cassian’s journey to become the Rebellion’s model spy boy. I don’t think we’re even meant to see it as a mistake on his part! The narrative excuses him – he was already almost too late, any extra second might have killed Bix and Wilmon – but it runs so counter to where we last left him, and now we’ll swan off from this again, and he’ll probably be back to hypercompetent spy mode. His competence was a great trait for Rogue One-Cassian, and watching him fuck up on the way there would be interesting. But as beautifully consistent as the overall plot is, Gilroy is clearly not as bothered making his main character equally internally consistent. Cassian oscillates between competence and incompetence when the plot needs it – and yes, people fuck up, but this is a story. It would be nice to feel like we’re watching a character being formed, instead of individual traits of a character randomly blinking in and out of existence like this.

3. Motivation

The Andor writers are great at showing you what drives people to stand up to injustice, in all its nuances on the spectrum of selflessness to selfishness and greater good to individual freedom. It’s what makes this show soar.

Andor doesn’t seem to be invested in giving that same justification to most of the interpersonal relationships, though. A few examples: We learn that Cassian and Bix were an item once, and that she broke up with him but they’re still fond of each other. Great, we love a non-toxic exes relationship! But… why did they like each other? Did Bix like that Cassian was a bit of a scoundrel? Could make sense, her rebound with the very down-to-earth Timm might imply as much. But the show doesn’t really show us any concrete reasons. We get allusions to their shared past, their comfortable bickering, the joke about Cassian climbing her dad’s fence. But we don’t really learn why he liked her. His relationship to Brasso is also a little underexplored: Brasso is very warm and very lenient with Cassian, like a caring older brother in many ways, and Cassian seems to lean on him in a way that seems like he’s done that many times. But that’s really all we get. Why is Brasso cutting Cassian so much slack? How come he feels so responsible for Maarva, seemingly even more than Bix?

Maarva and Cassian is much more intuitive, because Cassian was a child in need (at least in Maarva’s eyes, and then in fact when she took him away from home) – it’s understandable how they’d sort of imprint on each other, and yet also understandable that Cassian might harbour some resentment, which we see in the way he seems to idolise Clem over her sometimes. Theirs is maybe the most fleshed-out relationship Cassian has, and it stands on its own in ways that his other relationships really don’t – and yet, there’s still a lot of telling instead of showing, because the plot overtakes them. That’s fine, it’s even making a point of how the struggle is taking things away even before people die! But when this keeps happening, it makes the characters lack depth in a way that is a bit of a shame.

Vel and Cinta live in an in-between point, because we do get some very salient points about what Vel might see in Cinta when Cinta snipes at her about sort of play-acting as a rebel: Vel admires Cinta; she’s who she would like to be, clearly ashamed of her privilege and alienated by her culture. But we never really learn what Cinta sees in her, although I have some hope this might come up this season.

With Mothma and Luthen, it’s less noticeable – Mothma’s family is a central plot point, and Luthen is so compulsively secretive that it would feel weird for him to have any obvious, deeply explored relationships. He and Kleya are also underexplored, but here it feels deliberate. You can see how they meant to juxtapose Cassian, initially from a tightly-knit community with a lot of strings still attached (friends, mother, ex-girlfriend), and Mr. “I burn my future for a sunrise I will never see” – rebels at different stages, and Luthen’s isolation foreshadowing Cassian’s own. But that would have worked so much better if we were given a little more depth in the relationships! Rogue One took a hard show, don’t tell approach to relationships, and it went over a lot people’s heads, but I think they did a much better job in that script making the relationships feel real. Cassian saw himself in Jyn – his own doubts in the cause, the toll it took on them both, the resentment, the fight. He looked clearly struck by her refusal of the call in the first half, and you could tell how seeing her devote herself to the cause fully reinvigorated him, too. It was also very briefly but deftly implied how he related to Bodhi: he admired the bravery of this very overwhelmed young man who took all the guilt about his past actions and did something with it (Bodhi’s comment about how Galen said he could make it right if he was brave now is later mirrored in Cassian’s hangar speech). Even Draven and Cassian had implied depth although we were never told anything about what or who they were to each other short of commanding officer and soldier – their face journeys when Draven relayed the order about Galen (implying a very deep mutual understanding and some guilt on both their parts), later Draven doing the strategically idiotic move of trying to delay their one chance of taking out Galen from the air just to try and get Cassian to safety first. The movie took more care to show why people felt connected to each other than to define what that connection really was. This wouldn’t work for a show, because of the longer runtime, but it would have been nice to get a little more why.

(This can work for spy shows, too, even characters you want to keep more ambiguous. This post is already way too long so I won’t go into detail, but The Americans was great at making very believable relationships between very shady people.)

Also, I don't know where this goes, but I also think it's a real shame that the connections between the remaining Ferrix guys weren't fleshed out at all. And while I think it's good that they went for absolute unflinching realness with the farm planet storyline, I would love to learn more about Bix that isn't "fixes stuff" and "massive trauma", please?

.

Tl;dr: I’m really hyped for more intricate spy on spy shenanigans, fantastic themes and political intrigue, but I’m seeing all my gripes on how Gilroy writes characters overall and Cassian in particular staying pretty consistent. This season will feel very rushed to me. That’s probably a me problem; it always annoys me when narratives are so plot-driven that the characterisation actively suffers for it, and I really think there were ways around it in a script this good. But hey, we’ll see. Maybe they’ll surprise me.

I will say, though, that I will send this incredibly overlong essay to anyone who brings up the “Tony Gilroy saved Rogue One” thing to me, because the characterisations in Rogue One were one of my favourite things about the movie and he is clearly not invested in that as a writer, and I really don’t believe he had much of a hand in that. And, even more honestly, even if all these things improve 100 percent in the next arc... that still ain't my boy! But at least do well with the versions you've created, Tony.

[nguyenfinity]

designs for the valk issue! literally big jacket/big pants design contrast

scrapped palettes below the cut 'cause they were driving me insane

hrhgjhfhgh

[egophiliac]

I loved your drawing(and I love your style in general) with Leia in your recent post! If/when you have time can we see more of her in your style? I get so happy whenever I actually see people mention/talk about her and she’s not just forgotten because we didn’t get to see much of her. 😭

thank you! 💙💙💙 Leia/Leah/Lea/whatever is fascinating to me. she is the ultimate unknown. what was she like? how involved (or even aware of any details of the invasion) was she? Silver's basically a physical carbon copy of his biodad, so what did he get from her? like, I understand why the two of them kind of have to stay as these super vague and mysterious figures -- the whole point of them is that their story ended 400+ years ago and they're not really relevant anymore (and. well. the more that gets explained about them, the less that can just kinda be handwaved as "oh the politics were Very Messy") (we can sit here and theorize all day but let us acknowledge that, ultimately, canon gave us almost nothing about them post-Meleanor and we'd just be making things up). I do still wonder about her though! RIP Lea, we never knew you and we probably never will.

actually you know what, as long as we're here, I think I WILL go ahead and just make some stuff up about what Silver might've inherited from her instead.

[cloakedpress]

how to weave subplots into your story without getting tangled in the mess

Subplots: the spicy side quests of your main narrative. They deepen your world, flesh out your characters, and keep things interesting. But if you’ve ever added one and ended up with a story that feels like it’s running in six directions at once… yeah. Let’s fix that.

1. your subplot should serve the main plot

Don’t just throw in a romance arc or a secret sibling reveal because it’s fun (though it is fun). Ask:  

- Does this subplot challenge the main character’s goals?  

- Does it echo or contrast the main theme?  

- Does it change something by the end?

If it’s just a cute side quest with no real impact, it’s fanfic material for your own story. Cool, but maybe not plot-essential.

2. intertwine, don’t parallel

Bad: your subplot exists in a bubble, running beside the plot but never touching it.  

Better: your subplot interacts with the main plot. Maybe it complicates things. Maybe it supports the MC in a moment of crisis. Maybe it explodes everything.

Example: your MC is hunting a killer, and the subplot is their failing marriage. Good subplotting means the stress of the hunt affects the marriage, and the marriage affects the hunt.

3. stagger your arcs

Your main plot might hit its midpoint twist at chapter 10. Have a subplot hit a *smaller* emotional beat around chapter 7 or 13. It keeps pacing dynamic and gives your readers something to chew on between big moments.

4. use subplots to develop side characters

Side characters are more than background noise. Give them wants. Give them stakes. Let their stories *collide* with your MC’s. That’s when the magic happens.

5. know when to shut it down 

Not every subplot needs a 3-act structure and a dramatic finale. Some are small. Some fade out naturally. Some just shift the perspective enough to reframe the main plot. If you’re tying up subplot #6 with a bow in the epilogue, maybe ask yourself if it really needed to be there.

6. outline the spiderweb 

It helps to map out how every subplot connects to the main story. Literally. Draw lines. Make a chaos diagram. It doesn’t have to be neat—just make sure those threads touch.

TL;DR:

Subplots are great. Subplots are juicy. But they’re not decoration—they’re infrastructure. Weave them into the story’s bones or risk writing 3 novels in one.

[redsugarx]

Hanfu in Components: Hanfu Anatomy, Tops (pt 3.1)

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Now that you know about the names of different garments, what about the parts of each garment? There are so many confusing terms!!! I gotchu :>

When looking at hanfu and parts of hanfu, it can help to see how the garment is constructed. To do that, we have to look at the pattern of the garment. Sewing patterns are the templates that tell sewists how to cut their fabric into the shapes that are needed to make their clothes. Hanfu sewing patterns are fairly standard. They look roughly like this.

(blue = shoulder fold line // red = center front // green = center back)

To help you understand how this all comes together, when defining different parts of hanfu anatomy, I'll show it on the sketch above, and also on photos of people wearing hanfu, highlighted in green.

身/SHEN1/BODY

This refers to the body of the garment—the part that would cover your torso. Typically there are two pieces of cloth making up the body: one on the left and one on the right.

Once again, one of hanfu’s main defining characteristics is that traditionally, THE SAME PIECE OF FABRIC MAKES UP THE FRONT AND THE BACK. There is no shoulder seam separating the front and back of the garment.

袖/XIU4/SLEEVE

袖 means sleeve (in both technical and colloquial terms). There are many shapes that the sleeve can take: they can be narrow like normal clothing or they can be big and dramatic like the kind you see in cdramas. Like the body, there is no seam separating the front and back of the sleeve—the sleeve piece is draped over the arm and sewn together at the bottom. Another important characteristic is that the sleeves are joined to the body at the bicep or elbow area, NOT at the shoulder. (Short or half-sleeve tops might not have a separate sleeve piece.)

領/领/LING3/COLLAR

領 means collar (in both technical and colloquial terms). This can refer to two things: one, the general shape of the neck area (round, square, standing, cross etc.) and the actual strip of fabric that is attached at the neck to form the collar.

襟/JIN1/LAPEL

This can be translated as collar or lapel; I choose to say lapel to distinguish it from 領. This refers to the area where an open-front top would open. It’ll look different based on the collar type—generally a 對襟/对襟/dui4 jin1/parallel collar top’s jin coincides with the front centerline.

With a 交領/交领/jiao1 ling3/cross-collar top, however, it would coincide with the outer edge of the collar. (Will have a more detailed post about this later.)

下擺/下摆/XIA4 BAI3/HEMLINE

Refers to the bottom hem of the garment. 下 means down/bottom. Note that 擺 can refer to different things in different contexts. If you see someone talk about the 下擺 of a top, they’re talking about this bit.

The following terms only apply to a subsection of hanfu tops and may have fewer images as a result.

衽/REN4/LAPEL EXTENSION

This one is a little harder to translate. Applies to non-parallel lapel tops like cross collar, diagonal-lapel standing collar, and overlapping round collar garments. It’s an extension of the BODY piece on the front, sewn to the vertical center front seam, that overlaps over the other side. (Will have a more detailed post about this later.)

衩/CHA4/VENT

Also called vents or slits—an optional open slit, usually made on each side of a longer shirt or robe, to allow for ease of movement. Might be combined with the word 開/开/kai1/open to form the phrase 開衩/开衩/kai1 cha4/open slit. Mostly applies to longer robes or tops, where the length reaches the knee, so that you don’t have issues with walking.

襴/LAN2/WAIST EXTENSION

Also a little harder to translate. This only applies to 襦/ru2/Ru tops and 襴衫/襕衫/lan2 shan1/Lanshan robes, plus some varieties that were derived off of those two. The 襴/襕/lan2 is an extra rectangle of fabric appended to the bottom of a shirt/top to extend its length. It can be made of a contrasting fabric or the same fabric, and often has pleats on the sides to allow for movement. (Will have a more detailed post about this later.)

緣/缘/YUAN2/TRIM

Refers to the trim or decorative contrasting bits on a piece of clothing. Specific location goes in front of the character. For example, 袖缘 means sleeve trim, aka the cuff. Some specific trims might have their own special names but that’s for another post.

Later post about skirts/pants to come soon!

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[thranduel]

if byler isn't endgame...

what was the point of making will in love with mike?

why was will used as a plot device to force mike and el back together and "fix" their relationship issues? (the writers literally took his OWN feelings for mike and his OWN painting for mike that was supposed to be something special between them only and made it all about... el? this is genuinely one of the most cruel, ridiculous and unnecessary writing decisions i've ever seen if it doesn't result in will getting the person he loves)

why did they clearly highlight the contrast between byler and m*leven's relationships all season? how mike makes el feel like a monster for being different vs how he does NOT make will feel like a mistake for being different? how mike and el had the biggest fight after mike apologised vs how mike and will made up and ended up closer than before after mike apologised? how mike and el don't have healthy communication and struggle to understand each other vs how mike and will always have genuine heart-to-heart conversations, understand each other so well and sometimes don't even have to say any words? how mike feels insecure in his relationship with el and has his trauma/feelings invalidated vs how will manages to always make him feel special, confident and gives him strength when he's struggling and needs help?

why are there so many parallels and similarities between will and el as individual characters AND also their relationships with mike?

why is mike's relationship with will different from all his other platonic friends? (and don't just say "because will is in love with him", because in some scenes, MIKE is the one who initiates things and goes out of his way for will. which reminds me, you know how everyone says mike does so many romantic things for el? like not giving up on her when she's missing, taking care of her, being protective over her, etc.? he actually did all of those things for will first)

why did mike vent to will about his fight with el (the fight he claims they "can't come back from") without directly saying what the fight was about? all he said was "maybe i should've said something... and if i would've said that thing, then maybe she'd want me there with her." so... you're venting to your friend and you can't even specify that your big fight was about not being able to say "i love you"? why was it kept so secretive if you truly love her and it's no big deal? you've said you love her in front of a group of people before anyways, even when will was there, so why can't you even say the words to him while venting?

why did mike vent to will (again) and say that if he would've explained himself to el, maybe she would've taken him with her? will says he thinks it's scary to open up like that, to say how you really feel, but shouldn't mike and el already know how they both feel about each other at this point? el heard mike say he loved her in season 3, and at the end of the same season, she said "i love you too" before kissing him. they have kissed a lot, sent letters to each other and do lovey dovey things, which should make their feelings quite clear?????

and what was the point of this line from will?

"because... what if... what if they don't like the truth?"

we're supposed to be talking about el here. sure, will was subtly speaking about himself, and we know that as the audience. but mike doesn't. this conversation is about el, so mike still thinks will is talking about her. why on earth would he NOD after will says the part about how she might not like the truth? mike knows that "the truth" she WANTS to hear is "i love you", so why wouldn't she like the truth? why did mike nod at what will said and why did he agree with him? what is actually even happening in this scene??????????????

why did they make all the canon couples stand together in the final shot of season 4, with mike and will standing together too?

what was the point of ANY of this if they weren't planning on making byler endgame?!?!?!?!?!

[splonk-fox]

The Chosen One's actions in Animator vs. Animation 11: A Mini Analysis

Recently, with the release of the latest Animator vs. Animation episode, I have seen many people begin to view Chosen's character in a more negative light. Now I can't lie and say that this episode doesn't exactly do him any favors, however I think people need to hold their horses a bit when it comes to assuming how he actually feels about the Newgrounds rampage.

First off, the big one, Mitsi's death. Chosen is framed to have been the one who killed her, and it's clear that Agent, and the narrative, believe it was him who did it. But if there's anything I've learned about red herrings, it's the fact that what seems like the obvious answer might not be so obvious after all. We don't actually know if Chosen was the one who killed her, all we see is a a flurry of fireballs raining from the sky, one of which hits Mitsi and completely incinerates her, then we see Chosen flying down from above. Considering that Dark is also shown to have flown in from above, it could've just as easily been him who killed her.

As a matter of fact, Dark would probably make more sense seeing as his most common form of attack is fireballs. Regardless of who did it or not, I do think it's important to remember that Chosen isn't the only culprit and that we shouldn't immediately assume it was him.

But let's say, for a moment, that Chosen was the one who did it, I still don't think that frames him in as negative of a light as the fandom portrays.

For starters I should say that we don't know how Chosen feels about what he has just done, at least not in this episode. However we see the exact same Newgrounds rampage from his perspective in Season 2, and there it's pretty clear that this is the point where he starts having second thoughts, and his body language in this episode actually reflects this.

When we first see him, Chosen is just sort of... calmly descending upon the destruction, there's no indication of what emotions he is feeling at this moment, but I honestly don't look at this and see "yeah, he definitely enjoys this"

His movements are slow and non-aggressive, there's no real energy in his actions, no sign of pride or enjoyment, he just sort of flies over the the Newgrounds tank and lands on top of it. To me this doesn't come off as someone who is enjoying this, this is coming off as someone who is taking in all the destruction around him and simply trying to process it. It's not positive, nor is it negative.

But I think the most telling thing about it is how his body language contrasts Dark, take a look at this shot. Notice anything?

For one, Dark is centered while Chosen is the one standing off to the side, portraying him as almost a secondary threat, a person standing alongside his much worse partner.

Moreso than this however, look at their poses. Dark has his hands on his hips, clearly taking pride in the much destruction he and Chosen have caused. Chosen by comparison is just sort of... standing there, there is no clear show of pride in his posture, as a matter of fact, this shot here almost reminds me of this one.

In both cases, Chosen is seen off to the side, staring down at the destruction while not showing any real emotion, and in this case, it was clearly trying to communicate that Chosen was not enjoying this as much as Dark was.

He's even seen seemingly pleading with Dark to stop what he is doing, and you wanna know something really interesting about this shot?

Chosen and Dark are both shown on top of a tank, just like we see in AvA 11. I'm not saying this is the same scene, but I am saying that the parallels here are likely not meant to be a coincidence. In both cases Dark is clearly taking pride in the destruction, Chosen meanwhile looks a lot more unsure.

Now for the high-five scene. People have already pointed this out but Chosen almost seems to hesitate before giving Dark a high-five, as if he's unsure about it.

Another detail I also wanted to bring attention to is how Dark initiates the high-five. It may seem small at first until you remember that this isn't the first time we have seen such a gesture between the two characters.

We also see this happen in The Flashback, and ya wanna know the interesting thing? Chosen was the one who initiated it. Keep in mind that the context of this seen was that Chosen finally escaped Alan's abuse and was clearly happy about it. It should also be worth noting that unlike Chosen, who took a few seconds to reciprocate the high-five in AvA 11, Dark does it almost instantly.

This is all to say, while this episode does not portray Chosen in the most favorable light, I don't think this is as simple as "he killed Mitsi and enjoyed it".

I want to make it clear that I do not think Chosen is innocent in this scenario, whether he enjoyed it or not, he still actively took part in this rampage, all I'm saying is that we don't really know Chosen's feelings during this moment or if he was even the one who killed Mitsi in the first place, and with how he was previously portrayed during this exact same rampage, I have more reason to believe that he didn't actually enjoy it at all. So before you raise your pitchforks and call Chosen the worst person ever, consider that maybe, there is more nuance to this story than first meets the eye.

[conflictofthemind]

Thoughts on "Escape from Camazotz"

Oppressive Suburbia, Conformity, and Season 5 Themes

I've long thought that a major focus of Season 5 will be the contrast between the families of The Wheelers and The Byers, and exploring how non-traditional family environments can be freeing vs the oppressive structure of the nuclear family.

In a Wrinkle In Time, Camazotz is a planet controlled by the big bad of the book, the "IT", who forces the citizens into a conformity that resembles American suburbia. All of the houses the same, the citizens the same, doing the same things at the same time without individual identity. Without anything different. Different means a lot of things, but with Stranger Things dropping different in reference to Will's identity and the presumable themes of this season, it will heavily codify as queerness and how it threatens the cisheterosexual family model.

Henry was raised in the 1950s, a decade still revered by conservatives for it's traditional family dynamics that supposedly were the peak of culture and happiness for all. That was all a lie, of course, and Henry knew so as he shows to Nancy and Eleven during his monologue. The second most conservative decade aside from the 1950s in American society is widely considered to be the 1980s.

The Creels will serve in parallel to The Wheelers; the worst example of what they could become and the damage that this type of family could do to a child that is different in any way. Notice how Vecna selectively shows Nancy visions of The Wheelers dying, but not anyone else she may consider family or friends (like Jonathan).

That is; unless they change their ways and come together as a healthy functioning family facing their traumas, The Wheelers will be toast.

Karen has been moved up to a main character role this season. Ted's actor says the father starts to show up more for Holly (hold that) and realizes he wants to act differently. Holly has been recast. Finn has said Mike goes on a much more personal journey this season, and steps up as a leader.

Oh, also: the catalyst for all of this is that Holly goes missing. The contrast will help show how the Byers (including El and Hopper here) were able to pull together and help solve Will's disappearance, versus how the Wheelers as a closed off nuclear family grapple with Holly's vanishing.

Each of the Byers is in some kind of a non-1950s conformist relationship, but particularly Will (not in one now but we all know he will be). I think El might represent, after she breaks up with Mike, the fear of the unmarried woman being satisfied without a husband. The above shot really emphasizes my point.

I predict that Will will end up coming out to his family rather early on, and we will see all of them immediately accept him with little surprise or push-back. Will is a visible gay man who comes from an open minded non traditional family (divorced, non-married, adoptive) that is willing to have honest conversations.

But this theme will place the most focus on the Wheelers. Mike is the main character of said family and this will particularly focus on his arc, and his acceptance of his queerness in the midst of suburban conformity.

He is not visible, he comes from a Reagan-supporting family who don't communicate with each other. He is not particularly close with his family like Will is. He pushes his feelings down and tries his damn hardest to be normal despite it all. His trauma hasn't really been addressed at all. He is falling back into his usual habits - the one thing he dared to do different (grow his hair long) has gone back to how it was.

It's not all doom and gloom though. This season above all will be a redemption arc of the American nuclear family, how they choose to escape their conformity and learn to be there for each other, thus overpowering Vecna. Not that the Wheelers are going to end this personally.

"Great, more hysteria. Just what we need". "It's the news, now indistinguishable from the tabloids".

[dufferpuffer]

Harry, whose attention had been focused entirely on the two beside the window, saw his father: slight, black-haired like Snape, but with that indefinable air of having been well-cared-for, even adored, that Snape so conspicuously lacked.

(DH, ch33)

Thinking a lot about this recently. How much it says about his family. Because you can be frightfully poor - and still cared for. Still loved.

Contrast to Remus, who was also incredibly poor (he was an adult here, and likely did all this himself, but still):

The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard's robes which had been darned in several places. [...] ... there was a small, battered case held together with a large quantity of neatly knotted string. The name 'Professor R. J. Lupin' was stamped across one corner in peeling letters.

(PoA, ch5)

He is shabby. His clothes and things are threadbare and faded. But they aren't unloved. The holes in his clothes are darned. He hasn't fought with his case to keep it shut with string - he has carefully, neatly knotted every string. His name is stamped on it.

Severus isn't ever described with that level of care. Like Harry, he is described as wearing clothes that aren't even his - for Harry it's Dudley's too-big hand-me-downs, for Snape its his (probably) fathers coat and mothers smocklike blouse. (DH, ch33)

Harry's guardians didn't care for him. Through this parallel - neither did Severus'.

His grey, shabby, threadbare hand-me-downs weren't carefully darned, patched or taken in to fit his body. His name wasn't stitched into his collar or stamped on his bags - his things were not his.

Harry had his parents' love in the form of their money left behind, so he could start fresh with his own things, his own identity. Severus did not have this love, either. No matter the state of his robes, whether money had been scrounged to get him a set all his own, he carried his lack of care on his being.

...that indefinable air of having been well-cared-for, even adored, that Snape so conspicuously lacked.

It's a powerfully descriptive sentence. As cute as the image of his mother giving a shit about him is - it's quite clear he was neglected by both parents, not just because of poverty. Poverty doesn't cause a lack of love. His mother at least spoke to him about the Magical world, but she never imprinted 'being adored' into his heart, his being.

Even Tom had that love. His mother poured her love into him with her dying breath, named him and made sure he would be cared for. He rejected that love - a powerful image, especially in this series. An image Snape once again both defies and parallels.

He was not loved by his mother yet took pride in her, stamping his book with his self-chosen title and name based on her lineage - a little like Remus' stamping his bag with his new title and name, and a little like Tom picking a new identity.

Excuse this tangent: he gives me Morgott (Elden Ring) energy - who was basically scorned by his mother for being born with horns, literally thrown in the trash by her and her 'religion' - yet dedicated his life to them, doing what he thought was right, worshiping at the alter that scorned him, wearing their name with misplaced pride. Meanwhile his twin brother, Mohg, shed his mother's name and found his own love. Made his own title. Started his own cult family, with blackjack, hookers and a LOT of blood. Lord of Blood, making his own alter to be worshiped at. Tom-like.

Uh yeah anyway - Severus wasn't loved and it's very sad, yet he dedicates his life to doing loving things even as a grumpy pants.

[elodieunderglass]

There's a trio of ducks near me with two of them with really interesting colours. I'm especially curious what you think of the grey one.

Thank you so much for thinking of me!

Ducks have been useful poultry for thousands of years, and there are only two types of domesticated duck: muscovies - the big odd ones with lumpy faces - and mallards. Virtually all domestic ducks for meat and eggs, from the long Indian Runners to the chubby Cayauga - are mallards.

Contrast to chickens, which are developed from a specific junglefowl whose wild form remains restricted to Asia: mallards live all over the dang northern hemisphere. They fly around and swim around and walk around, and they’re what I call “citizen animals” - they live WITH us, in our infrastructure, in close quarters. They share habitat with us. Mallard ducks aren’t flopping around being all “ooooh my habitat,” they live HERE (here is pretty much the northern part of the planet in a broad belt across it, with domestic ducks still existing even where wild mallards don’t). And they’re sluts.

Mallard ducks are such sluts. I lived on a canal boat, sharing their habitat in a very material way, and observed far too much of it for myself. You could write papers on the complex sexual dynamics of mallards. (I won’t.) it’s constant and unhinged. It isn’t just what you’d expect either. It isn’t mating for baby production. It’s highkey soap opera. The gay sex, the sexual assaults, the revenge strikes for the sexual assaults, sometimes they drown each other (consensual) sometimes they drown each other (nonconsensual) sometimes they try to bang geese. I think it’s important to remember that there are entire UNIVERSES and communities of intelligent life having their own interior lives and concerns parallel to our own; animals are very much doing their own thing around us constantly. And what mallards are doing is fucking.

also every step of their mating, egg-laying and childrearing practices are UTTERLY chaotic, and it’s a literal miracle that you ever see ANY ducks at all. You can follow a mother about slurping her ducklings down like boba through a straw and not scratch the surface of her thoughts.

(If you want to raise ducks on a farm, it’s often more reliable to have a chicken hatch and raise them. Hiring a babysitter as reproductive strategy.

With all of these things combined, mallard ducks fuck domestic ducks. People dump ex-pet domestic ducks. They escape from farms. Quite frequently mallard ducks break into duck farms (they can fly) and fuck ducks (they fuck a lot). Domestic ducks, especially ones that are white all over, can be hard to sex - if you buy commercial duck eggs, you can often hatch them - they have been fertilised and with incubation there can be ducklings inside - because a male duck got in there.

Mallards also fuck other wild ducks, because why the fuck not. Fuck a duck!!!

As a result, most weird ducks you see are “manky mallards.” Some hybrid of mallard x wild, or mallard x domestic, or domestic x domestic x random x random.

The grey one is therefore some kind of domestic. Note the heavy body. The pale one has a very domestic stance! They have gone feral! Yes! YES!

Thank you so much for this sighting!

[sightoru]

hello scout!! i come for your blurb game!

yuuta + eyes + you touched me, and i came alive.

[authors note: god i love a good soulmate au.

Yuuta is awkward, readers a bit bitchy. All in a days work for yours truly.]  —————————————————————— Rika's been gone for a while now, same with Maki and the others. Nothing bad happened, per se, it's just how life works: lines intersect, and then run parallel after a while. 

It's getting colder now, he can see his breath when he walks down the sidewalks in Kyoto; he makes a little game with himself where he tries to see how big of a cloud he can make with his breath. He rocks his feet back and forth on the tactile paving, relishes the way the pebbled texture presses on the bottom of his shoes. 

He's so distracted by his little game, and the way the cold feels on his cheeks and feeling the pebbled texture under his shoes he doesn't even notice you standing directly next to him. 

(You're thoroughly unimpressed, by the way. You have him sized up in one glance. His shoes are worn out, there's a tear in between the sole and where the canvas connects with them. His jeans are patched in between his thighs, and the elbows of his sweater are worn thin. He's tall, though, which makes up for a lot. Dark hair frames his baby face. You watch him for a while, notice the cupids bow of his lip and the sharp angles of his jaw. You're taken aback momentarily by how dark the blue of his eyes are and how stark the contrast is compared to how dark the purple is under his eyes.) 

He notices you after a while, mid shuffle of his feet. You stare him down, intensely so and it makes him feel like a prey animal. Like you're the fox and he's the rabbit cornered in his burrow. He's not sure what he wants more; for him to run or for you to take a bite. 

"Hello," he says, mustering up some weak sort of smile. 

("Painful," you think.) 

If you hear him, there's no sort of acknowledgment there. You meet his eyes after a moment, and he can hear the faint parting of your lips before you speak, "There's a hole in your shoe." 

"Oh," he blinks at you, and you think about how wide his eyes are, "there is," you watch him bring his left foot forward, wiggling his toes and enunciating the rip on the side. "I've had these for years. I think when I was 16 ? I got them at some second hand shop in Tokyo." He's not really sure why he's rambling. Or why he's telling you about the shoe's Maki took him to buy. 

(Maybe it's because that was a good day to him. Maybe he just missed sharing things with someone.)

"Nice," you say, but the way you say it doesn't sound nice. You sound unimpressed. You look across the street, waiting for the light to change from red to white; symbolizing that you can walk away from him and this weird conversation.

(He's intriguing to you, in some strange sort of way. The pull of his dark blue eyes and the softness of his voice. You glance at him again, begrudgingly, and feel something in your chest shift slightly. You fight the urge to gag.) 

Yuuta's wants to say something else to you — a question about your day or where you're going. He's grown into his friendliness, he realizes, and the thought make pride swell in his chest, followed instantly by a twinge of sadness when he wonders what Maki would think of him now. 

The light across the street turns though, and the red hand changes to the symbol of someone walking and you're moving immediately, swaying off the sidewalk with all the grace of a fox. He stares at you for a moment, watches your hand clasped to your bag, head turned towards your shoes (not ripped, not the cleanest either) as if you're memorizing the gaps between the white stripes on the road. 

Something happens that makes his skin prickle into goosebumps. Some sort of déjà vu settles into his veins and for a moment he thinks his lungs have forgotten how to expand. There's a clawing feeling in his chest and it almost feels like Rika's long nails have gripped around his heart. 

There's a car coming, just down the turn of the street and it's not slowing down, despite the bright yellow lights flashing — signaling someone is crossing. And Yuuta just can't have that trauma again, not with everything he's done to work through it. Not when he knows how pretty your eyes are. Not when he's heard the light inclination of your voice. 

Without much thought, without much care, his legs are pushing his tattered shoes across the street, both arms outstretched and using all the lankiness of his body to reach you as fast as possible. 

Your yelp of surprise goes unnoticed by him — later he thinks all the adrenaline must've drowned it out — same with the sound of your bag clattering to the ground, and the screech of the van tires, because the only thing he can focus on is how bright everything looks now. 

You touched him, and he came alive.

Suddenly the world is washed in a swath of colors, much more bright and beautiful than he ever imagined. It's like seeing clearly for the first time, everything's lost it's hazy hue and now it's all bright and blinding. 

(You're still trapped underneath him. The cold ground makes your back hurt, but you can't really focus on that either. The whole worlds a bright color now and you find it nauseating for a second before you remember the stories your mother told you when she met your father. 'Everything was dull she said,' soft smile adorning her fine features, 'then he touched me, and suddenly everything was bright.'

"Soulmate," you think, somewhere in the concussed haze of your brain.) 

"I'm sorry," he starts, slowly getting off of you, "I just didn't want anything to happen to you and I didn't think you saw the car coming."  You don't respond, don't really have the energy too, especially when sitting up makes you feel like you just lifted the weight of the world. You look at him again, take in his blue eyes that have somehow gotten bluer and mindlessly take in his endless tirade of apologies and justifications.  "What's your name?" You ask, interrupting another apology before it comes out.  "Okkotsu Yuuta," he tells you, somehow smiling despite everything that's happened. When you tell him yours in response, you watch the cupids bow of his lips stretch into a smile, and the sight of it makes your heart ache in your chest.  "Yuuta," you say, noticing the way your mouth moves as you do. "Do you want to go shoe shopping with me?" 

[thetxtdevil]

subby hybrid hyuka 🙏

I don't remember who said this but someone had an unpopular opinion of cat!kai, and although I am a firm believer of puppy!kai, I love to mix it up...

Maine Coon!Kai

nsfw/mdni, fem.reader, masturbation, oral (f.rec)

You had no idea what has gotten into Kai. The lanky Maine Coon has recently not fit his description of a "gentle giant." He was once open to having guests over to your house but recently turns down the idea begging you to be just you and him. Kitty Hyuka, usually respectful to your belongings, now knocking over random stuff. Water bottles were one thing, shattering the mug he made for you to bring your hybrid to pottery date, unacceptable.

On your knees, sweeping the shards while kitty Kai stood there with a trash bag his hand. You could feel the weight of his glare, the gust from his long flickering tail. Looking up at the maine coon, you notice his stance tense and his big pointed ears twitch. He was so hard to read sometimes.

Kitty Kai is an enigma, taller than the other cats, yet his looks contrasts with his shy personality. It took him awhile to warm up to you and show his wild, playful side of him. His big body covers you when he wants to cuddle, holding to his plushie tightly, but if anyone and I mean anyone crosses you, they have to cross Kai first.

You hold eye contact with the big cat sitting on the couch. His eyes drift to different spots in the room. "Why are you bad." The maine coon's ears flatten, you know he's a good boy, but you need answers. Kai mumbles, tripping over his words, a pink tint covers his cheeks. He tried to hide it but then you had a grip on his sharp jaw. Hyuka's big brown eyes look deeply into yours. He was ashamed, of what he has been doing, and why he was doing it. "Don't make me repeat myself."

Your harsh tone sends shivers down his spine. Taking a deep breath of courage, "I want you."

You quirk an eyebrow, your hold on Kai's jaw tightens, "you want what?" Noticing Kai's face become a deeper red and his fluffy tail sway behind him made you more confused.

"I want you, us to mate."

You felt like one of the pottery mug's shards just stabbed you in the chest. Unprepared to hear such thing from your sweet cat. Letting go of your hold on him, you back away in your thoughts. Hyuka shakes out of nervousness, "Oh please, please, y/n! I promise I'll be a good boy if we mate, please."

You twist your head hard towards him, "So you've been acting up because you're-- horny?!"

The maine coon slouches in embarrassment. It was true he guessed, "All I wanted was your attention."

Again your eyebrow quirks, this time with an idea. "You want my attention," you lean back in the cushions facing the man, "show me how much you need me."

Kai shudders, full of emotions he doesn't know if he'll be able to fulfill your request. However, the look you were giving him had his insides burning. It wasn't long until you noticed the tent form in the cat's pants. "Play with yourself."

And then, there you were lounging on your living room couch, watching your hybrid jerk himself off citing everything he loves about you. His dark fringe sticks to his sweaty forehead, chest rising and falling rapidly. "You're so beautiful, you smell amazing, I think about you all the time when you're gone, and ah- ah-"

"stop"

The cat ears on Hyuka's head twitch, his eyes blinking, tear welling up in his eyes. You stopped him before he could cum. Both of you stare at each other in silence. Kai's whimpers increase in pitch, you had to speak or do something before he does. Adjusting in your seat, you tug your panties from under your skirt down. Noting how Kai's sharp eyes follow your every movement. Your spread your legs apart, lifting your skirt for your dripping cunt to be in sight of the cat. "Before I agree to you mating me, eat me out."

Kai quickly rushes forward, dropping his head to be parallel to your pussy. Pointed ears flickering in excitement, he leaves kisses one your thighs, around your folds, and to your clit. You sigh, relaxing in the feeling of your kitten's tongue lapping up your juices, nose pressing against your aching clit. The fire building up in your lower belly told you how close you were. "Jerk yourself off again."

You swear you could cum at the sight of his soft eyes looking up at your from your cunt. His hand quickly works on his dick. His moans start to vibrate into your core causing your thighs to twitch. Pleasure courses through you both coming undone at the same.

Spread out on the couch, you take time calming yourself. Your closed eyes open to see your patient hybrid sitting on his knees waiting. "Ok, let's take this to the bedroom." You couldn't help but mimic the smile Kai gives you. His broad body picking you up and carrying you to the bed.

A nuisance,

TxT's Devil

Thank you for the request, I have become thee hybrid fic blog now :))

taglist: @inkigayocamman, @naoristerling, @blue-moon-514, @incogrio, @izzyy-stuff, @biteyoubiteme

[miwiheroes]

Dropping Byler Evidence Every Day Until Season 5

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Day 16: My Favourite Parallel . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

This evidence has always been one of my favourites.

"You never say it." "I say it." vs. "I didn't say it." "You didn't have to."

When I first saw these two clips back to back, when I was a little byler in the big city of youtube analysis videos, I think I lost my mind. Having these two lines of dialogue being so perfectly contrasting proves that Milkvan simply can't be endgame to me, especially when Stranger Things' couples usually never say I love you to each other.

I feel like a lot of the canon couples in ST all have one thing in common: they've all never really said I love you to each other??? Plus, they've never actually used saying those words as a big conflict storyline before. Having this storyline in a sitcom or something where this couple ends up being endgame anyway makes sense, but in this setting where everything is so thought out, it makes no sense for this parallel to be made and have Milkvan be endgame guys.

This conflict between Mike and El wasn't just something for the two of them to do (or rather, Mike) in S4. This was to make them, in the audience's minds, a couple not worth rooting for anymore. Especially when there's a better, second option.

"You never say it." "I say it." vs. "I didn't say it." "You didn't have to."

IS BASICALLY:

"I need you to tell me you love me because I can't tell whether or not you love me." vs. "I don't need you to tell me you love me because I know you do in the way you treat me."

The second one is true for most of the couples on Stranger Things. You don't need Lumax to say it, let alone even kiss, to know that they have a deep love for each other in S4. You don't need Jancy to have this big dramatic I love you moment, you don't need Jopper to either. But you know who did have the same storyline as Mike and El? Stancy. And because it was a smaller sub-plot, it was wrapped up quickly in one season where it was established that Nancy did not love Steve because she never showed it, EVEN THOUGH SHE DID SAY IT.

TLDR; Actions say much more than words, and if you really think about it, Mike and El in S4 did not show their love for each other rather than Mike talking about it all the time.

Their love is also paralleled (or perpendiculared tbh) with the Jancy scene in S4 where they both describe the things they love about the other ^^^, talking about genuine characteristics. Mike's reasoning for 'loving' El is that she is.......... a superhero and incredible and can 'move mountains' (even though she can't). One of the reasons for El not thinking Mike loves her is literally the fact that he always calls her a 'superhero' so that when she has no powers, she feels like he can't love her. And I can't blame her tbh 😭

Also this basically foreshadows the fact that Will confesses his love to Mike through El, and in doing so, expresses his love for him without having to say the actual words. Mike knew that those words meant an I love you because he literally used them in his monologue.

(I dont wanna be annoying asl but I think people would pick up on this stuff more if Will was a girl-- *gunshots*)

[deadbaguette]

Crack AU treated seriously: Diomdes goes to Ithaca with a twist

So this would generally be your typical Diomedes going to Ithaca AU. Presumably after getting exiled (? Is there a better word for it?), instead of going to modern day Italy he goes to Ithaca under the impression that he’ll see Odysseus there. But, of course he doesn’t because The Odyssey is happening. The twist that makes NO SENSE and is just purely my want to see my platonic rarepair happen (Telemachus and Neoptolemus/Pyrrhus), and the twist is: for whatever reason, Neo is there with Diomedes. Don’t ask why because I could not explain to you a good reason to make this happen lmfao

Story elaborated below but it’s a little long be warned

I like the dynamic of Neoptolemus and Diomedes, mostly because in so many ways as soldiers Diomedes foils/contrasts Achilles but in so many ways parallels his son. Diomedes gets on begrudgingly with Neo, and I could go on a whole other rant on a different post about some fake dynamics/scenarios for just them, but the main point in this post is that Neo somehow SOMEHOW tags along with Diomedes. They reach Ithaca together and meet Penelope and Telemachus.

They greet Diomedes and Pyrrhus with good courtesy, but the elephant in the room of “hold on where tf is your husband??? he was so eager to go back to you guys???” is very present. One way or another Penelope explains the situation, that being Odysseus is absent/mia (much to his own dismay) and the suitors all trying to wed Penelope. Diomedes is sad obv (I’m not gonna go super big into the angst right now) but he tries to brainstorm with Penelope on solutions for her predicament. Since Odysseus was his closest friend (more than friend for me personally but u can interpret it as platonic if u want) and he knows that Odysseus would want what’s best for his wife and son, they think of a solution that can the guarantee of their safety as of now until they hear news of Odysseus. That solution is fake marriage bcs I am a bit of a sucker for that troupe.

But back to Neoptolemus because he’s here too, I want him to bond with Telemachus what with their dads not being here (one’s dead one’s absent). Neo is like way stronger than Telemachus so at first he thinks he’s a bit of a wimp (keep in mind they’re like both teenagers, Neo’s life was just kinda fucked up), but over time they get along better. Pyrrhus’ relationship with Odysseus is a little complicated, so while Penelope and Diomedes might share all the good stories/parts of Odysseus with, Pyrrhus got off to a slightly rocky start with him lol. What with Odysseus taking him away from his mom and basically all the war shenanigans (war crimes), Telemachus for the first time has a whole and humanized version of his dad. It’s more than what the suitors have said out of malice and jealousy, the things Neo has told him have opened up the trickery/cunning side of Odysseus more than he’d known before. He’s jealous that it seems like everyone knows more about his dad than him, but he’s grateful to have someone his age who would view Odysseus more like he would: an annoying dad/uncle??? (Neo vehemently objects to this, and Odysseus would too. “You’re not my fucking dad!!!” “Holy shit thank the GODS for that!!!”)

All in all, happy family. Odysseus returns home to Penelope and Telemachus, and now two surprise guests too. Telemachus has like 3 kinda parents now (Diomedes might be more like an uncle) and a kinda brother/friend/??? I love my little delusional found family. Odysseus is more than a little surprised, considering this IS Neoptolemus. Kid did a 180° in terms of personality in Troy and then ANOTHER 180° somewhere on Ithaca at some point. Or maybe more like a 90° turn in terms of personality, I imagine Telemachus is the most sane of the family and it is much to his dismay.

And when they all eventually die (Diomedes won’t ascend to godhood here I want him to be in the underworld with the rest of the fam) they’ll live happily in the underworld and Pyrrhus can catch up with his dad and mom.

[myinterestsvary-writes]

eve talks, thinks, and acts too much like a psychology major. thanks, britta perry.

beware: rant below

the teenaged romantic relationships are not messy enough to be interesting. there’s a fine line among annoyingly boring - messy - and annoyingly messy. invincible, write your characters like fucking humans. they talk way too much with each other in a healthy way, there’s a lack of emotion that makes it feel bland. sure, we didn’t need cheating but i need more of an actual portrayal of complicated feelings among the cast. not just telling us, the audience, that it’s complicated. maybe it’s nice to the writers in contrast to amber and mark’s relationship to have a relationship without true obstacles to overcome, who just fit perfectly together. however, mark and amber were compelling with chemistry because their interactions related to one of the central themes and was tense because of external conflicts they had to face head on, and not just talk through. plus, they had chemistry because they got along among other reasons, so you get the sense in another life they’d still be together which hits harder and sits with you better.

another thing, mark and eve don’t just work as a couple because they’re superheroes. this was the perfect time to demonstrate the dynamic the two will have, to sell them as a couple worth screentime and ultimately endgame. it’s obvious as fuck the show is written around the two to be together from eve’s special, to their parallels, similar values and goals, and the fact that the audience could catch onto their chemistry that was apparent from the first season (and shockingly lacking later). mark and amber never felt like endgame to me yet them having more chemistry, tension, and intrigue so far is frustrating. (yes, I know their story is complete but imagine if mark and eve weren’t portrayed as teens just casually trying to date each other like they are in the third season. their feelings for each other do not feel profound at all as i feel it should be and like they’re truly destined and that a force they can’t truly comprehend brings them together blah blah blah. like they’re truly birds of a feather who understands one another on a whole other level. it’s so fucking wack.)

explore more of mark’s melancholy that his last relationship ended because he didn’t want his gf to get hurt. show more of mark’s avoidance of eve and him being nervous and reserved around her but also evidently contemplative and wistful. show more of their attraction to each other.

show more of eve’s reasonable understanding of healthy boundaries but also her disappointment in mark avoiding her, feeling insecure about it (because the one who should be insecure about stuff like this should be eve, who has dated a serial cheater as her first love). have eve be wary of mark not only because of the future eve dilemma that wasn’t even that big a deal unfortunately, so wack, such a missed opportunity but also because she’s been cheated on before, and that her dad does not like her so she’s insecure about her taste in men and doesn’t know why mark would like her. have them tiptoe around the other but make the tension palpable, not played almost entirely for comedy and quickly resolved with barely a microcosm of interpersonal conflict. have eve feel guilt when she confronts her feelings for mark, mainly because she’s friends with amber and mark too! show eve is way too healthy of a communicator and it freaks me out. she doesn’t even have to be completely like her comic counterpart, just make her feel young and human like they all were in the first and second season, making mistakes and acting on impulses.

build up the emotion to where when important beats happen, it feels significant and satisfying. like them getting together for the first time, or kissing, dating, making love etc. that way we as an audience connect with them more on an emotional level when something bad happens hint hint and it won’t feel like you’re trying to force it out of me. make us want to root for them and not lazily put them together based on a history the two share that wasn’t even mainly focused on in favour of another love interest. make us understand truly why they want and love each other instead of making it feel as casual as it does.

i would’ve loved a semi-love triangle/square/pentagon with mark, amber, eve, rex, and/or rae. anything to spice things up!

[sugar-petals]

since hybe keeps on mumbling how they don’t exactly know when to bring back bangtan because quote “BTS' share of overall revenue is not likely to be as high as in the past” and they will significantly deprioritze them (silly, delusional, eyeroll-worthy, oblivious, rude, greedy, foolish, the audacity: a damn rennaissance is about to happen! the whole fandom is emerging from the woodwork ffs), we need to take matters in our own hands getting everyone on board, enjoying what’s about to happen, and hype this calm before the very exciting storm up. in other words: silence, corporation! 

the ones that give and gave you all that money are talking now. we’re all still here! it doesn’t matter how much BTS will make because it would always suffice to keep them going (otherwise, they’d be long disbanded), nor is it of concern how old they are, what the trends may be, anything. it matters that they are back. full stop! as the phenomenon they are, and as friends, artists, cultural forces, support systems, as people. military is hard! plus, and that seems to be the good ole main concern: it even doesn’t matter how popular anyone else is by that time in 2025. or later because companies can mess anything up. man... we gotta stick together.

good for that other group or artist if things are happening for them. most idols barely make a living and have to repay huge debts. and besides: if, for instance, chungha drops a viral quality banger one week before BTS returns like it’s her fantastic baby i will do what? rejoice! because holy shit, two cool new songs! and hybe will still make cash anyway, as even more eyes are on the industry. and more old and new fans gather. who would have thought! even if BTS’ main market rivals perform amazingly: imagine how huge and buzzing the award shows and charts and switching on the speakers will be. this will be like spring. 

if bts not being on top is the worry — uh, how unrealistic — i guess hybe wants to insult everyone in this equation (and rage bait?!), even themselves: hilariously weak stuff right there. the golden eras of k-pop and music generally were marked by several great, bustling groups being excellent parallel to another anyway, with several contrasting trends emerging simultaneously. the bland eras had monopolies, a uniform look, meh production vibes, and nothing major happening 90% of the time, and the overall quality dragging everyone down, down, down. that’s not what we want! 

i want this thing blowing up like every group releases their gangnam style on crack all at once. my feed spammed with shiny thumbnails, fan cams, announcements, shows, reactions, like an LSD trip. any groups and solo artists dropping and bumping their hits nonstop ring ding dong style until the fans collapse from excitement and not keeping up. i want mutuals on my dash yelling “WHAT... I MISSED /THIS/ WHILE I SLEPT?!!” constantly again! period! i want my brain melting from all the viral dance breaks and catchy rap parts and insane choreography and new hair colors and the wildest ever beats. come at me! i think that fans can handle being blasted with fun music and novelty from all directions 😉 

cause, pay attention hybe honey, that’s what liking music is all about. even if fans prefer one artist/group over the other. yep, it is possible. who wouldn’t have a good time if all the big groups went off: there’s something furiously cool happening for everyone! a good kpop generation has a firework of big, BIG releases in a short(er) period of time, without overworking idols of course. and that’s what we need now, awakening from the slumber. bts’ military discharge is the starting signal for exactly that. hybe doesn’t know who they’re handling. they should be screaming “omg let’s gooo, look at them” the loudest! this shit is like the one piece time skip, hello? 

i can’t believe penny pinching is still supposed to be the problem. do they even know which group they’re talking about? just ludicrous. these 7 guys had and always have the midas touch. even yoongi who couldn’t even afford a single proper meal or the bus home from bighit is now worth a heavy 50 million bucks. there is no sense in fearing they’ll tank financially. hybe has zero trust and doesn’t know the fandom dynamics at all. as soon as jungkook even does as much as tie his hair back we are activated like purple sleeper agents.

even if bts totally fumbles and disappoints with the most awful regressive slop in history, a boring album, lost their spark, go through media turmoil, whatever, unless some producer totally goes off the rails and copies someone else word by word and note by note, it would be impossible not to pay attention to them anyway. i repeat. popularity and increasing revenue are never an issue with them. raise your hand, who thinks RM will greenlight a song that only two people enjoy and click on? hybe acts like the stadiums will be empty. does their CFO have amnesia? if the oasis reunion sells out in one hour, can you imagine what’s going to happen here?

i also don’t buy that they need a year’s prep time. far 2026 comeback?! many idols only took 2-3 months after military discharge. both sides are full of happy anticipation, idols and fans. yes — coordination, rehearsing, plans, tour, getting used to it all again, hair growing back, not rushing, subunits, hyyh anniversary, rest, military is an abrasive 24/7 job, other things also need organizing, i get it. but hell, yoongi once said he comes up with one or two songs each day. his head must be brewing with stuff that bts can drop in some considerable time, and i’m not being avaricious here. not to mention that namjoon probably has 10 poetry books worth of lyrics written in the meantime and will not hesitate to bring his writings to the table. 

if i was jimin my dancing feet would be dying to move in sync with everyone else sooner or later. i’d drop whatever content i wanted and enjoy being back. the audience reaction boost alone will accelerate everything, it might even be scary how much of a deal this will be. but basking in the early joy is the topic now! i want people theorizing like mad what’s gonna happen lmao, that’s the most fun! so let’s get this party started. we’re gearing up, there’s no stopping army anyway once it all gets going. and we’re cooking with imagination, too.

imagine a lead song that’s catchy like butter, lyrically hyped-up like the cyphers, dynamite-level impactful, a full-on banger like not today, adrenaline-laden like fire, and colorful like DNA. i’m not asking for too much, they’ve done it before. they are bts. it all comes down to who’s (co-)producing. that’s what i’m worried about. so my wish producer or force behind the scenes if hybe goes the american way (of course they will) would be someone pharell-esque. upbeat, refreshing, it has to match bts’ golden theme thread throughout their career. i wouldn’t mind the weeknd for a more melancholic B-side. 

it doesn’t have to be completely ice cream bubble gum at all, it could be anything in fact, and the new artistic direction remains to be seen later. the curiosity is one of the best parts. let’s focus on that! my feeling is that they slightly pick up where they left off, tie loose ends together, reprise their best elements as a tangent, and then present a whole new thing immediately. they’ve always been referencing with their work while innovating, this will be no different. yeah, the task of a whole new song/album carrying on the story is pretty difficult. settling in, too. i see why hybe thinks its risky, sure. i’d feel the pressure and required effort, too. but it’s bts! whatever they are cooking up will be of interest. i rest my case, this is going to be huge.