#book spoilers through

[butterflydm]

More WoT s2 thoughts based on the new pics

The last time I really speculated on anything WoT S2 was ten months ago, so it's very exciting to have new thoughts! So, thoughts based on the new pictures:

The first photo contains a lot of exciting new information: Ishy openly working with the Seanchan! In the book, this was represented as more of a metaphysical tie (as Rand fought against Ishamael in the sky, his battle mimicked the fight going on against the Seanchan on the ground) but Ishy being an ally or aligned with the Seanchan right away is very intriguing (and it makes me wonder: are we sure that Semirhage was one of the figurines represented by the prayer statuettes? Maybe Ishamael is taking over her storyline and we actually are going to get Mesaana in the White Tower; or it could be that the reins on the Seanchan get handed over to Semirhage in future seasons).

I love the Seanchan Look so much. The Teal/Rust color combination works really well for them and their look is just so unlike any of the other looks we've seen in the show. I love how Ishy's collar feels like it's evoking the same ribbed vibes as the Suroth's shoulder-gear. And we have a good look at a Voice here, potentially (since she has no long nails to indicate that she's of the Blood) -- not Alwhin, since she was chosen as Suroth's Voice post-Falme, iirc.

Loial being dressed up behind them is also very intriguing, and I wonder if he's going to be one of the ways that we'll find out more details about how Seanchan culture works through Loial's potential conversations with Suroth. There's so much information in this first still! Very exciting!

The Lan photo doesn't really give us any new information but he Looks Great. <3

The Moiraine photo has some neat things going on: Cairhienin fashion! Implied confirmation that Moiraine & Lan will be with Rand in Cairhien specifically (so my guess is that Verin will be introduced in Perrin's plotline and travel along with him). I love the belt, and we have the high collar for Cairhienin modesty, and the kesiera. It's also a Great Look.

My guesses for Egwene & Nynaeve is that they are both at the White Tower -- Egwene is doing some novice chores while Nynaeve is stripping down (maybe only to her shift and not all the way?) for the test to become Accepted.

The Mat photo is the same view that I think we got of him in the teaser trailer but he looks so sad! I want to give him hugs!

The Rand one is fun because it looks like he's already done his Cairhieinin arc, because that is a very fancy white collar that he has on underneath that cloak. So I think this is him entering Falme (I feel like the background also tracks for that).

Perrin with Aviendha and... I think the guy in the background is Masema? Aviendha is veiled and ready for a fight but Perrin does NOT look ready for a fight at all. Is this also Falme? This isn't when Loial was taken, because I think we saw that moment in the teaser trailer and it looked like it was out in a more rural-ish area, though that might be an angle issue.

People we did not get any hints of: no Elayne! I want my girl! But we also didn't get any hints of Padan Fain, which is intriguing. No Alanna or Min or Siuan this time.

But very exciting! September 1st! So excited to finally have a date!

[cutter-kirby]

obligatory “cool characterization, still murder” like I’m not excusing him but it does make him incredibly interesting

(*girl gender neutral edition)

[egophiliac]

he did it! 🐍 and it only took...uhhh...well, there probably could've been less punches, but why hold back!

PUNCHES FOR EVERYONE

[fordpinesmpreg]

TBOB SPOILERS

[morporkian-cryptid]

I'm reading The Murderbot Diaries (Network Effect, so, spoiler alert), and man, Murderbot's relationship with ART makes me insane. It's like, you're an insufferable asshole. You're my best friend. Saying that word makes me retch. You're the only person in the universe who could possibly understand what it's like to be me. I can't possibly understand what it's like to be you. I must look like an ant to you. I've put my unconscious body in your hands and let you alter it. We both love our humans to the point of destruction. You've killed people to protect me and my friends. You only did it because you were between two jobs and bored. We watch TV shows together. I saw you have an emotional breakdown about a historical drama. You could kill me in a hundred different ways. I've brutally murdered several people to avenge you. You were ready to kill all my friends to save yours. I've brought you back from the dead. You're keeping us prisoner. I'm your only chance of saving your friends. I've lived and traveled inside your body, and you've been a passenger in my brain. We don't even know each other's real names.

[benevolenterrancy]

(Unseen Academicals, Terry Pratchett) I think Shang Qinghua and Ponder Stibbons should have tea and compare notes about somehow accumulating so much behind-the-scenes power by doing menial jobs no one else wants that they could basically run the show if they wanted...

meanwhile we have Shen "meh good enough" Qingqiu

[pausegame]

The shards of lyrium around his collar were each taken from a slain Titan during the war between the first elves and the Titans. They have become corrupted by their time in the Black City. —The Art of Dragon Age: The Veilguard

[unscientificbalderdash]

never getting over adam comparing ronan to a god and then to a king in the span of two pages, relating him to two figures/concepts that he holds in high contempt and high esteem at the same time all the while looking at him like he wants to peel him layer by layer till he gets to his core god i am Insane

[marimeeko]

Katsukis PR team smacking their damn heads when suddenly Katsuki starts really giving a shit about the ranking because Izuku has his suit and they are competing(flirting) in the field now. And they have realized that he was sabotaging his own ranking the entire time, on purpose.

Their shock when, after Izuku joins the Heroes again, Katsuki doesn't treat fangirls/boys and paparazzi like leeches(as much) and they have to clean up less messes and do a little less damage control, and he just seems in a better mood overall.

Their abject horror as they now have to worry more about explaining the optics to Katsuki of how intense his competition with Hero Deku is(it looks Hella fruity and people are starting to talk).

Their sighs of defeat when Katsuki makes it clear he doesn't give a shit about the optics, and continues making public proclamations about him and Deku being the top heroic rivals ever seen, and how now nothing will stop him from becoming No. 1 now.

Their redoubled shock when it comes out that their client, Katsuki Bakugou, was a major contributor to the state of the art suit that Hero Deku is now wearing in his unprecedented comeback. And that Katsuki confirms the rumors without so much as a chat with the PR department first.

The way they just give up all together when the pieces come together that this whole time they have been running PR with a man so singlemindedly concerned with giving his childhood friend/partner/Boyfriend?? a leg up JUST so they could compete together, and how obnoxiously obvious they both are now that they are both in the public eye.

The hindsight that every move Katsuki Bakugou, GEMG DynaMight, has ever made in his career was for the sake of a future where he and Izuku are running the show together.

One day, one of them is definitely going to earn the rights to write a behind the scenes biography about Katsuki because it has the makings of an insane romance story on top of a big drama about GEMG DynaMights early career. It'll come out right after Katsuki and Izukus marriage lmao.

[markantonys]

tidbits from the interview! (stream is here)

josha confirmed everyone is together at the start of the season

rafe mentioned there would be basically a whole episode of josha, maddy, and rosamund together in a separate world

egwene and rand have a real love between them but it's in the past, rafe likened it to your first high school love who you're trying to figure out if you're still in love with as an adult

rafe is excited for us to see moghedien

egwene is now more suspicious and pragmatic in her view of the world and is more skeptical of authority/institutions

per rafe: like with maddy in s2, in s3 josha has a huge episode that requires so much of him as an actor and he's incredible in it (josha later said this is episode 4)

rand still has his big goals of wanting to save the world and the people he loves, but he has a new anger and darkness in him because the people around him don't accept him as the dragon/don't accept him for who he is (anger not just towards the people around him but also towards himself)

rafe on balancing being a fan and being a showrunner: "there are things where i'm like WHY'D THEY CUT THAT?! but they is me" jdkfjgh and he went on to discuss how they can't possibly fit everything from the books but are focused on telling the heart of the story in the best way they can

as more and more new characters arrive, they try to give us enough time with them that we get invested in the new characters and understand why they exist in the story, but while always keeping the focus on our core characters and their stories

lots of discussion on what a collaborative effort it is, it's not just rafe's vision for the show but everybody in the cast and crew contributing

i also saw someone who attended the first non-livestreamed panel say that rafe confirmed we will meet the andoran royal family!

[bklily]

HOW ARE WE FEELING TWST ROOK FANS

[extrahorribledynne]

honestly who could even want a season 3 this is literally 'the everything else' of gravity falls. i'm not left wanting. i'm feasting on everything from the book of bill and thisisnotawebsite. the only thing i want is to rewatch the entire show again

like it leaves it in 'our' (the readers) hands. what do YOU see in ciphers corpse? is it the end? is it only the beginning? we were invited to participate both in the book (literally, with it making asks to write this, put your hand here, etc) and the website code hunt. its up to you. here are the pieces of everything after the end. have fun.

[egophiliac]

queen of diamonds, upright + reversed 💎

I've redone this like eighty times, I have to just be done with it now and stop staring at all my mistakes oh no 🫠

[sceebybeeby]

⚠️the book of bill spoils, blood⚠️

"Hey, brother, it's Sixer."

[yaoyaobae]

May you be blessed with sweet dreams

[danandfuckingjonlmao]

so five and lila being a thing is going right next to allison literally sexually assaulting luther in the box of things we are absolutely under no circumstances accepting as part of canon right