#btw i might be biased as i was a hardcore fans

[mitamicah]

Little gig report from a local show I went to this weekend - you can skip if you don't want to hear me babble about bands nobody probably have ever heard of x'D

On June 1st I went to a free concert in Copenhagen that I'd learned about since Cold Culture - a support band from the Blind Channel gig on April 22nd in Copenhagen *aka on my birthday* - was playing there. This was btw also the band where I was talking about the danish Bojan doubleganger x'D

This was such a pleasant time!! I was greeted by every band member of Cold Culture (or the three I'd hung out with after Blind Channel since the last had to take the train home early) greeted me with big smiles which warmed my heart since it then means they remember me :'3 <3 Frontman Mads and Drummer Andy P even ran to hug me when they saw me so I was pretty much dead by cuteness :'D

After that amazing welcome I went around to talk to other people in the crowd. Admittedly I felt a bit odd at the beginning since this is the first gig I've been to in a while where the people arriving there hadn't been fans but mostly just the locals being curious enough to check out a free show in the good summer weather. Despite my preservation everybody I ended up speaking to was very nice and nobody seemed annoyed that a random weirdo began chatting with them. Quite the opposite since later in the evening a couple went to me and thanking me for speaking to them while also mentioning they'd originally went home but decided to come back just to find me and compliment my golden retriever energy (not their words but mine) :'3 <3

One thing that was very different about the crowd was that I am pretty sure the majority was straight OVO as a queer person that has gotten used to be around gals and queers (cough kääryleet and baby boos) this was definitely a change OVO Luckily it was mostly metal heads and/or hardcore guys so there were no drama just odd seeing straight (or "straightpassing" since I didn't ask and therefore know anybody's sexuality) couples being the norm. Cis masc people at hardcore shows I've learned can be very affectionate with their mates - I got invited into a hug-jump circle during one band, screamed my heart out with a guy during another, had somebody randomly pat my stomach (very quickly) and got hugs, fist bumps, dance off and smiles from more people than I can count - mostly from men. And I know I passed as well since not one person called me 'she' and very few mentioned my transness and then only after seeing my pronoun and/or trans pin. I love the one guy that went: "I wouldn't have ever guessed since you have a beard" x'D

All three bands were amazing! I am biased towards Cold Culture however since I knew their music already x'D This time I was all the way up front (no barrikade so I was more or less right in the band's face OVO) screaming along. I got to give Michael (the keyboardist) a fistbump at some point :D

The second band, Ashes of Billy were young (14-15 yrs old) yet still full of energy. That transferred to the crowd that was the most moshy they'd be the whole evening. I almost threw off my shirt at one point because it was so hot :'D Had their show been one song longer I think I might actually have done it x'D

The last band, Daze of June, seemed fairly known to the local scene. They'd had a 2 year break from playing live so the crowd was hungry and it showed! The crowd surfers continued coming and one part of passing I hadn't expected was that I now seemed to be expected to join in on carrying the crowdsurfers (some even eyeing me before jumping out) - that could also be because I am tall and in front but yeah, safe to say I've never carried that many people around during concerts as I did last saturday x'D

After and inbetween concerts I hung out with the band members but especially Cold Culture. I had stolen their setlist in the least stealth way (running to the one by the drummer and then struggled to get the gaffa tape to let go for a minute or two x'D) that I got the boys to sign and I got a picture with Mads and Andy M, the guitarist. Mads remembered the silly duck face that got to be an intern joke between us (me and other fans) at the Blind Channel show so he made it on both pictures. Andy P and Michael would arrive later so I didn't get pictures with them but instead a long, very lovely conversation with Andy P :3

Now I have met them twice I have new thoughts about whether or not I think Mads is Bojan coded. The answer is definitely still yes but with some little additions. As @j-restlessgeek noted, Mads definitely seems to have some facial features that reminds one of Kris. He is more slender than I remember so I'd say he's build more like Jure than Bojan. His eyes are those of a husky tho; big and iceblue. His personality is still definitely closest to Bojan's which might be why the two of us (both very much dog coded) got along so well!! We were pretty much fanboying about each other x'D (he about my art since he follows me on IG and me about his music :'D)

I have no idea if it was just me being extra aware about him once more *I'd been very aware of his presence at the blind channel gig as well* but it seemed to me we caught each other's eye quite often even when not in the conversation together. Had it not been for Mads going to single me out to hug and say goodbye when he had to go I could've sworn it was just me being delulu. He thanked me aton for coming and told me that if I wanted to next time he might be able to get me backstage so that was so very nice of him :'D <33

All in all this was a good way to spend first day of pride month and first official day of summer ^V^

Pictures of me, Mads and Andy M ^V^

Pictures of Mads during Cold Culture's gig (I really dig these ones especially since you get a feeling how freaking close I was OVO)

[daisyvisions]

hii daisy! me and my friend had this small debate about who's meaner in bed between hyunjae and changmin and we would like to know your take on this matter 😬

my take:

between those two, changmin is meaner. idk i feel like it'll depend on his mood when you're in bed. when he's in a good mood, he'll put your needs before him and his aftercare is chef's kiss. but when he's in a bad ugly mood? honey, you need to brace👏your👏self👏 because it will be a rollercoaster ride for you and don't get your hopes up for aftercare, it's likely you won't get one. hyunjae on the other hand, he's just cocky yknow? he'll tease you a lot but will make sure you feel good. even when he's in a bad mood, he'll also make sure that he's not crossing the line although he might overstim or even deny you of orgasm until the very last minute

my friend's take:

hyunjae is meaner. he's probably the meanest in the entire group even. he's a cocky piece of shit who knows how to ruin you and make you feel good at the same time and he will play those cards without warning. idk why someone thinks that changmin is meaner when he has older sisters?? i'm betting all my money here that he knows how to treat people right

we'd like to know your take on this. feel free to share your thoughts on who's the meanest in the group (it doesn't have to be hyunjae or changmin)!

btw i love your fics sm, you're one of my favorite writers 🫶🏻

hmmm without any biases to the scenario I think I PERSONALLY think that hyunjae can be the meaner one, he's very quick to get jealous (like pls look at him with how he responds to fans about their attention going somewhere else) and how he voices literally his opinion with no filter at all.

His personality is quite the fireball like not just the hyperness but even his levels of passion, competitiveness, jealousy, THE WORKS. like his jealousy is more deep seeded than changmin's in my opinion

To me, he's meaner BUT I think he's mean in the sense that he's more of a brat tamer if anything (like not hardcore bdsm but he can be very dominating which I totally sense that in him)

[austennerdita2533]

Hi!! I was wondering whether there are any ships you wanted to like and are the types of ships you normally would like in theory but which just fell disappointingly flat for you in reality?

For me, Steroline is the first example that comes to mind. I know I may be biased by the fact that Stelena was a top OTP of mine from the beginning, so it's validating that even someone meh on Stelena like you are was left cold by Steroline too!

By S5/S6, I was accepting that Stefan had to move on, and I usually love friends to lovers ships and extrovert/introvert couples, so I really tried to ship Steroline. But I swear, it's as if the writers and actors were specifically told something like "yeah, so make sure you don't show Stefan as being into Caroline much at all because we may still want to make Stelena/Klaroline and/or Forwood endgame." Their dynamic was so lopsided, with Caroline caring and trying and Stefan having to literally be convinced and pushed into dating her by other characters.

And throughout their flat and joyless ship-which only took place in between Stefan running away-Caroline seemed unhappy, Stefan seemed totally indifferent, and it feels like an understatement to say the romantic chemistry was just not there. I don't even mean sexual passion or whatever, just that feeling that yes, the audience can see and believe that these people are in love.

I get that Stefan is withdrawn and private and reserved which can make him seem detached, and I've seen people argue that he loved Caroline deeply but just didn't show it the way the much more expressive and exuberant Caroline did. I might buy that, but we SAW Stefan as an invested and in love romantic interest with Elena, and even though his tendencies to withdraw and keep things to himself were still present, no one (well, maybe hardcore Delena shippers, but almost no one!) doubted that Stefan and Elena were both genuinely in love and had a fairly balanced, mutual relationship. No amount of fan rationalization can ever convince me that Stefan loved Caroline anywhere near as much as he loved Elena, let alone more so (which many have argued), and Caroline seemed a whole lot more sparkly and enthused around Tyler and even Klaus and Matt. Thank you so much for letting me get this out--I have a new blog and no one else to talk to!! You're the best :)

I'm in full agreement with you on Steroline, nonnie. They're absolutely the type of ship I would like in theory but in reality did nothing for me. They're probably the biggest example of that to me.

Friends-to-lovers is one of my favorite tropes, too, so normally it would be easy for me to make that leap from platonic to romantic, but I could never get on board with them as a pairing because their dynamic was so imbalanced. It always came across like Caroline was an afterthought to Stefan. And even if she wasn't an afterthought, it seemed as if she ranked lower on his list of importance compared to Damon or Elena. He did often give off an air of indifference or detachment with her, which made it hard for me to root for them. I thought she deserved better. He was always leaving Caroline to save his brother or Elena, or coming up with some excuse as to why his focus needed to be on them and not on her. That, of course, drew out Caroline's insecurities all the more, and she never seemed to be settled or secure with him as a result. And I hated that for her.

You can come and vent to me any time you want, btw! xx

[springki]

BBB Movie 2

I know I’m soo latee XD I’ve watched the movie a long time ago lol I just want to write a bit to loosen up since I’ve not been here for a long timeee

1. Animation was a huge upgrade from the first. And Im loving how they start making the hair movements. What I love is: the bg. It’s so beautiful omgg Like it truly left in awe. If there anything to imrove: the fighting dinamic i guess? Bcause the effect was cool and all but i rlly want to see more movement and fighting sequence. E.g i love petir movement in ep 1 bbbg and fire’s in bbbg ep 10 ( now im having a high expectation for mechamato)

2. Plot was nicely donee. I mean, it was structured well imo where its not too heavy for children but not too silly for adult. One of the thing I love about the franchise is that its still child-friendly and not too angst (although I actually want it to be more angst teehee) But still I noticed that there a few mysteries put in the movie. E.g Tok kasa did not tell them how he knew ochobot and where he get it. I think it will be disscussed in the future. Anything to improve: Im a bit sad that they nerf the adults... I mean those tapops adult members did nothing big in the movie except cameos XD in the future I rlly wish the members would be shown as role models for the kids. Addition: I actually hope the franchise will disscuss more on issues involving children and family but of course in a soft way. E.g when hang kasa and retakka was abandon during childhood. That’s a rlly good scenario actually.

3. Comedy was insanely good XD The comedy in the movie was twice (perhaps triple?) than bbbg and the first movie. Thumbs up to that. But the bad thing is: its too much i guess. I’ve heard a few people commenting about how the comedic act disturb the emotional/intense scene. And Im agreeing to this. Monsta gives us time to cry please. I was triggered how the comedy comes as soon as I was about to cry. I rlly love the comedy and I know bbb is kind of a gag series but i hope there would be more drama or relatable scenario actually hehe

4. Villain: Retakka. His va was good rlly GOOD. Omg I love the way he talks, classic or malays called baku/ formal language. Its good implementation for an ancient villain. Although in the movie it was stated that he collected all those elementals due to greed, I believe there is more to it and i hope it is for character depth purpose. Perhaps there’s a reason why he wants all of the elemental? I mean it could be a reason to lengthen the plot and mysteries of bbb power as well. So far my fave villain is still ejojo. He was hella smart af and memorable villain. And his arc was long too

5. Fusion. Tbh there was a few rumours on new elemnts of bbb and it kind of get me down a bit. Bcause mann give our boy a break. He is becoming too op noww TT but then I accidentally found a spoiler on the fusion and I become more depressed XD i got a spoiler right b4 watching it... nvm although i expected it (ty to spoilers) it still got me excited af. (FF was such a rebel. I LOVE HIM) it was a nice idea i guess. Perhaps they took ideas from washichan lol nevertheless my boy is still too op omg XD tbh this will bcome a problem for their team. When each of them are too excellent individually, won’t it will be hard for them to achieve teamwork? I don’t know i guess its just imo. Aside from that, goshh give the others power upgrade and chara development too! They’ve been sideline for so long. Yaya ying and fang upg was nice but its just for a while... and gopal is still gopal hahahha this actually makes me hope that one day they would go separately and realise more on the importance of friendship and teamwork yadayada in short I crave for chara development and more emotions

6. Credit scene was mindblown. Like WOW. Nobody would not feel hyped after seeing that! After thinking for awhile, it occurs to me that perhaps one of bbb movie 2 motives was to introduce amato identity to attract mechamato audiences. Perhaps that’s why they push through to release the movie nmw i think it was a clever move to keep people’s hype for both of the franchises. Welp but now im SO HYPE on mechamato ( hc want boboiboy to have his mother face lol amato is too cute with those eyess )

Overall it was a fun to watch family movie! My family now has more expectation on local animation. Yeahh SUPPORT ANIMYY i’ll give it 8/10 twinkle twinkle little stars ;D

[masterhandss]

I'm gonna drop My Next Life as a Villainess... I really wanted the girls to (seriously) confess to katarina but it seems that the author is sadly just yuri baiting. The girls never even had a chance from the beginning. All of the girls will end up in a het relationship. Even mary had some moments with alan in the novel...

I'm really sorry to hear that! :(( I know lots of people came to hamefura for it's bisexual harem and potential for a yuri ending so I was really really nervous about Season 2 (in fact I didn't even expect hamefura to go beyond the first season in the first place :0). I've heard some friends mention that the series kinda does just yuri-bait the audience.

kinda spoilers ahead btw.

Based on the contents of the series' story so far, I wouldn't exactly blame you if you wanted to drop the series right now if you're looking for yuri contents. The next few arcs will focus heavily on Katarina's male love interests, and to be honest the only female that given any focus at all is Maria. Despite the fact that hamefura has a bisexual harem, the series is still marketed as a shoujo series, so the likeliness of Katarina ending up with a male love interest is much bigger.

I don't want you to completely lose hope though. If I'm being honest, I used to mostly favor Katarina with Maria but now I'm split between Maria and Geordo. If we're talking about moments and scenes with Katarina, Maria is definitely the winner in that regard. We spend most of the series with those two and almost every volume of the novel has scenes of Maria falling harder and harder for Katarina each book (granted, it gets kinda repetitive after a while since the formula is kind of the same). When it comes to focus and moments, Maria is given priority. In contrast, Geordo is in the lead because, in the words of a friend, "he's the only one who has brought her back down to Earth with the truth that she is loved romantically". His confession is the only one Katarina has taken seriously so far, but that could change by the upcoming Volume in November.

For Mary and Alan's case, it's safe to assume that they would end up with each other none of them might be with Katarina (unless it's a harem ending). I can already imagine the disappointment of Mary's fans since I lot of them love how much of a hardcore lesbian she is. We're still nowhere at a point where Mary and Alan's romantic focus has shifted away from Katarina to each other in even the slightest so even if we do know(/could speculate) through foresight that they could(/would) be endgame, right now it's still safe grounds for people who love Mary as she was in Season 1.

I guess what I'm saying is that I can't make promises that it'll get any better for the fans who are looking forward to a yuri ending, but there's still numerous yuri scenes with Katarina and the other girls. I know that's still kinda counts as yuri bait, but it's not like the author isn't taking any of the girls' feelings seriously. Whether or not they "never" stood a chance honestly depends on the readers if you ask me, I might not exactly be in favor of the girls personally but I didn't feel like they are completely out of the loop (...maybe just Maria though). I've been told many times and have speculated myself that the series' direction/end-game wise might be affected by the reception of the series, and it's not like the novel has decided a clear winner anyways (I mean I do, but novel readers all have our biases on who is in the lead anyways).

I don't know haha I'm soooo bad at explaining it, I guess I'm saying that even if you don't like the destination, I'd hope you would have at least stuck around to watch the journey qwq

I don't know if I want to agree personally if its yuri-bait or not, but that's mostly because I still haven't fully comprehended what counts and doesn't count as yuri bait. If the contents of the series dictates where is stands then I think hamefura is fine, but if its the ending/end-game then I guess it is bait.

Haha i'm really sorry, my thought are all over the place and this came out really bad. I hope I don't seem like I'm trying too hard to not make you drop the series with false hope and promises or something. Hamefura is a show that I really feel like has something for everybody. You're okay to drop it now if the content doesn't interest you any more though, you can always just turn to fanfiction if you want some Katarina Yuri content. Hamefura has such a huge amount of fanfiction that you'd be surprised to find out how many people shares the same sentiments as you do :'DD

Thank you for the ask :''))

[occupyvenus]

I don’t buy it - Jon isn’t “a northern fool”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!! SPOILERS FOR LEAKED EP 6 AHEAD !!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just don’t buy it. I still believe that Jon is playing Danielle (btw we are using this name so it won’t show up in the search, not as an insult), going “undercover” as he did with the wildlings, to ensure she helps against the white walkers. Want to know why? Keep reading, but I warn you this got ... very, very, very long. 

This turned, more or less, into an analysis of the entire Jon x Danielle interaction over season 7 somehow, even though it wasn’t really supposed to be that. Just to be clear about this: If you are a hardcore j0nerys shipper who doesn’t like people having different opinions.... you better stop reading right now. All nasty comments will be deleted without exception. If you see things differently and are open for a civil conversation, well don’t let me stop you. I’m not trying to “hate” on somebody else’s ship here, but as a fan of the series I can analyze and interpret the things happening. J0nery is one of the things happening right now.

They way I see it, there are three key issues to their relationships that can be seen both as motivation for them working and being together, and as distinct sources of conflict. Both internally for each character and in their interpersonal relationship. 1. the personal aspect | their personal feelings for each other, generally and specifically romantic 2. the political aspect | Jon’s duty to stand for an independent North vs Danielle's desire to rule over all Seven Kingdoms 3. the ... “end of the world” aspect | the looming threat that will end them all

At the beginning of ep3 Jon and Danielle were opposed on everyone of those issues: They didn’t know or particularly like each other, they both are relentless about their political decision, Danielle doesn’t believe him about the WW’s and/or is only ready to help under certain conditions.

At the end of ep6 these three issues seem to perfectly align, all conflict seems to be resolved: They are clearly, if not in direct words, admitting their love for each other, Jon has given up his claim on the Northern Crown, Danielle has decided to destroy the night king and his army.

This could be the natural progression of the story. My question is whether this resolution, despite being rushed, was properly portrayed, developed and flashed out over those 3 episodes. Whether the last interaction between Jon and Danielle was earned, whether Douchebag&Dumbass (they earned those nicknames by butchering Arya’s and Jaime’s character, btw) used their limited screen time to build up to this moment. After all, the (supposed) J0nerys romance is clearly meant to be the “emotional climax” of this season.

Now when you look at all their interactions over the season you notice that something is missing. Something very important when developing an intimate personal relationship such as a romance. There is no real human bonding moment for them. Though I supposed that’s not completely true. Danielle does share a few personal issues with Jon, but we never hear Jon talk about anything personal and/or private with her. 

This starts in their first interaction when Danielle talks about her hardships, while Jon keeps shut about his and when she later talks about their dead brothers and Jon doesn’t really respond to the topic. This pattern persists when she asks for his advice on the beach, clearly indicating that she came to value and respect his opinion, while he is resisting to give her a clear answer, responding only with a vague statement praising her previous achievements and alluding to her potential. He doesn’t just outright says what he thinks, as he has f  If he was sure about Danielle having a “good heart” and trusts her, wouldn’t he feel free to just speak his mind? But it seems he’s afraid of saying the wrong thing, worried about alienating or offending her. Which makes sense, he is in a very vulnerable position right now, basically her prisoner, and needs her to be on his side. Pissing her off is the last things he would need. 

The interesting thing about the cave scene is that while it is shot as the most “romantic” scene for those two characters - the location, the lighting, the dramatic music score, EC’s line reading - they don’t really talk about anything personal in it. Not really. Their shared appreciation of the locations historical significance makes for a bit of a human connection, I guess, Danielle is definitely guilty of some heart-eyes, Jon puts on a more sympathetic face as well, but despite what EC’s voice is trying to tell you: The topic of this conversation is neither personal nor romantic. It ends with their thus far unresolved conflict: To kneel or not to kneel, that is the question. 

The dragon petting session was definitely a moving moment for Danielle and finally Jon being a secret targ means ... something. But Jon makes it pretty clear that his targ-blood doesn’t immediately make him regard dragons as cute pets. When his statement about them offends Danielle, he corrects himself and calls them “gorgeous beasts”. Again, she is sharing something personal and important - her connection to her dragons - but Jon doesn’t respond with an equally meaningful story. It’s obvious that he doesn’t approve of her actions - wait until he finds out about the Tarlys - so their one-on-one conversation ends on a conflicted note. I’m pretty sure that Jorah views heartthrob Jon Snow as a potential love rival (what man wouldn’t?), but I don’t think that Jon looks jealous at all. Mostly confused about the weird, old, know slaver that just showed up.

When Bran’s letter arrives, Danielle is trying to strike a more personal tone by telling Jon she’s happy for him, but Jon is going straight back into politics and EotW territory. This would have been a perfect opportunity for Jon to show his “human” side a little bit more. Forgetting about everything else for a minute, sharing ... something, just something about his long lost siblings with the supposed love of his life. But nothing, straight back to White Walker talk. Danielle is obviously worried about Jon going on this stupid ass mission, I have no doubt in my mind that she is head over heels for him at this point. But Jon? He calls her a stranger. He asserts his position as king (Y’all are disappointing Tywin this season) and makes it clear that she can’t force him to stay on this island. Danielle is obviously in too deep to care about it anymore. (It’s a shame Dickon never had a chance to seduce her... ). 

Last, but not least their farewell scene  She states that she has grown fond of him, while Jon is keeping the conversation proper and formal. While Danielle is longingly looking after him, Jon doesn’t turn around. This fact is even more emphasized by Jorah’s presence who does take a last long look at the woman he loves, whom he might never see again. Why not have Jon do the same? Why not have Jorah turning around only to see them two exchange a long meaningful look, causing some love-triangle tension? Don’t tell me that Douchebag & Dumbass would be “above” this. 

Compare it to Jon meeting Gendry. They talk about their fathers (why Gendry has come to care so much for his sperm donor is anybody’s guess, btw), joke a bit and connect. Jorah and Jon have a similar conversation about their fathers in ep6. We have an interaction like this for most, if not all characters who are forced to or decide to work together. We see this with Tyrion & Jorah, Sansa & Bran, Bronn & Jaime, Tormund & the Hound, Brienne & Arya etc etc. Because in order for us to care about the bond two people share, we need to see that bond being formed. We need characters to tell each other about their feelings, experiences, opinions, families, traumas, etc. for us to get emotionally involved with their relationship. We simply have no interaction between them where they connect as human beings. Especially Jon never brings up any private issues. We never see them actually getting know each other as people. Which is so so odd. If their love story and relationship was this important to the overall story, wouldn’t they want to make sure we get emotionally involved in it? 

They could have easily written in Jon telling Danielle about his “father”. This is a difficult topic for them, considering the rebellion and stuff, but he brings up good old Ned to almost every single person he talks to. Jon has some serious daddy-issues and it would make sense for him to defend his father to Danielle. To make her see that he wasn’t the kind of man who sends assassin after newborn children. But not once do we see him go “I can’t speak to Robert and you might not want to hear this, but my father was the most honorable dudebro in all the seven kingdoms, blah blah.” Btw, why did Varys never tell her that Ned quit his job because he didn’t agree with Robert? He could have chimed in, overhearing them “by accident” and tell that story. Them having a conversation about Danielle’s father, the rebellion, this conflict and tension between their houses would have given real depth to their relationship. I would even consider them sorting out these issues a key requirement for them to even have a healthy, mutually loving relationship. Why were they never brought up? Why do we never see Jon talk about anything that matters to him as a person, other than the threat beyond the Wall and his duties as king? 

What I’m trying to say is that their personal interactions are biased toward Danielle. She has made obvious heart eyes, talked about personal issues and showed that she gained trust in Jon. I’m not saying that Jon isn’t attracted to her or dislikes her completely. But, at least everyone should be able to admit that up until their goodbye in episode 5  Danielle looks a lot, like a hella lot, more love-struck than Jon. Even if one could argue that Jon has his moments where he shoots her a tender look, the disparity is pretty apparent.

But then in ep6 immediately after Jon wakes up on Danielle’s ship (btw, at least Jon didn’t decide to ditch WF for KL by his own choice. Of course Douchebag&Dumbass had to put him straight on a boat, because as so many people - me included - pointed out: It makes no sense for him to want to go. He should have want to go to WF by all means, home to his family and his people, preparing them for the threat that is getting really fucking close), he basically hands her everything she wants on a silver platter, without any coaxing from Danielle whatsoever.

Don’t you think that’s at least a very drastic, sudden shift in his behaviour? Even if we assume that he has changed his mind about Northern Independence eg he’s willing to kneel in exchange of her help, even if we assume that he has developed serious feelings for her, why would he be the one to bring this up? Why would he be so direct about it all of a sudden? Why not wait until Danielle mentions the whole kneeling issue, hoping that maybe she’s ready to put the political struggle aside now that she’s seen the enemy with her own two eyes - as was Jon’s original plan - but still being ready to give in should she press on about it? I wouldn’t begrudge Jon for doing so, but just giving up the north by his own choosing, proclaiming her “his queen” -ugh- stands in direct contrast to his convictions so far.

What has changed? Seriously, what happened between the end of e5 and the end of ep6 that could have made Jon do a literal 180 on this topic? . Let’s look at the conversations Jon has with his suicide squad companions, shall we?

Jon talks to Tormund in Eastwatch | It’s interesting that Jon doesn’t try to distinguish between Cersei and Danielle in any way. When Tormund asks which queen he has to convince, he simply says “both”. Though I was under the impression that Danielle already believed him - maybe still a bit unaware about the true extent of the issue - and this was first and foremost to get Cersei on board. He could have said “Danielle won’t risk sending her armies north until Cersei is convinced” or something like that. If he was already in love with her and believes her to be “his queen” -ugh- wouldn’t he come to her defense? Wouldn’t he try to put the “blame” for this stupid, stupid, stupid idea firmly on Cersei?

Jon talks to the Brotherhood without Banners in their Cells | The one thing to notice here is that Jon makes it clear that nothing else matters anymore, everyone who still breathes is on the same side. We have to work with people we neither like, nor trust because all of these squabbles don’t matter anymore. The only thing that counts is defeating the Night King.

Jon talks to Jorah | This would have been the perfect opportunity to bring up Danielle. Seriously, when I saw them starting talking I was already shielding myself for some “isn’t she just amazeballs”-comments from Jorah and maybe even Jon. Simply because ... well it’s Jorah’s favourite subject in the whole world and if Jon really was jealous he could have asked some side-eyes question about his relationship with her. Jorah himself could have pulled a Tyrion a la “Kh*leesi is the most wonderful person in this world, you will see that and then call her your queen -ugh- too.” Have Jon say something a la “D*enerys, she is quite an impressive woman.”. He’s talking to someone who knows the woman he supposedly loves very well, why isn’t he prying for some information? But she isn’t a topic of conversation between them at all. Similar to many of the things mentioned above, while this scene doesn’t necessarily refute any potential romantic feelings from Jon’s side, it is clearly a missed opportunity to shift our focus on them.

Jon talks to Tormund | Danielle comes up, but again not in a personal context. Another missed opportunity to mention the emotional aspect of their relationship. Since, you know, this is Tormund. They could have easily written in a comment a la “What does a fucking dragon queen look like?” or something like this. If you need a shameless character who doesn’t care about personal boundaries and just outright asks inappropriate questions, Tormund is your man. Hell, it wouldn’t have been out of character for him to straight out ask whether “Jon’s little pecker got happy with the dragon queen while he was south. Is that why he took so long?” or something alike. But no. He only asks ���so you’ve met that dragon queen?” and Jon takes the conversation into the political direction. He brings up that she’ll only help if he bends the knee and Tormund this train of thought by highlighting the Jon/Mance parallels in this situation once again.

Jon talks to Beric | His talk to Beric revolves around the whole Lord-of-light, brought-back-from-the-dead, what-are-we-fighting-for issue. Beric states that they are not fighting for some king or queen, but for life itself. Weird that Jon would proclaim a woman “his queen” -ugh- not 30 min later. Jon rehashes a line from his night’s watch vows: The shield that guards the realms of men. This is a call-back to his conversation with Half-Hand back in season 2(?), who reminded him that “we are the watcher’s on the wall” before he died and told Jon “to do what needs to be done.” Does anyone remember how Jon infiltrating the Wildlings went down? 

Looking back at the three big issues surrounding the relationship between Jon and Danielle, only two of them were brought up in their time apart: The impending threat from the dead, how fighting them is all that truly matters and Jon’s dilemma of bending the knee to get Danielle’s help. She is never mentioned as a love-interest. The personal side of this equation is not addressed between him leaving DSt and him being saved by her.

Which is weird, because ... a bunch of dudebros alone in the wilderness, some of them even talk about ladies and sex and dicks (emmy nominated writing, folks), would have been a great opportunity to bring this up. But instead the theme of Jon’s conversations seem to be “proud men and their downfalls”. Something that has been mentioned many, many times over the season. 

His conversation with Jorah (like he didn’t talk about Danielle with Jorah -kh*lessi loving- fucking mormont.) also revolves around the topic that honorable men don’t always get what they deserve. Jorah’s father was killed by his own men, Ned was executed. Plus the Mance dilemma is connected to this as well. “Pride” and “honor” are more or less the same thing when you think about it. This plays back into the “Northern fool” narrative the season has been setting up since episode one. We here about three men who found their untimely death because, or despite of, their own kind of honor. Jon has been warned by Sansa not make those same mistakes and Jon himself has admitted to coming to close to doing just that. But more on this later. 

All of Jons interactions and seeing how effective the dragons truly are explain why he has made the decision to bend the knee, at least why he’s ready to give in to her demands, not why he would actively give it up. But there were no conversations that would allude to his growing feelings for Danielle. At all. If that was the “emotional climax” of the episode, shouldn’t they put in a few things hinting at it?

I would also like to mention how very odd his behaviour after waking up was. The first thing he said wasn’t “where am I?”, it wasn’t about his uncle who just died to save him (which I would assume would be the first thing that comes to mind). It wasn’t Danielle asking him “How did you get out of there??!! We all thought you were dead.”. Before Danielle could say anything, he tells her how sorry he is about Viserions death. I’m not trying to be insensitive here, I know that her dragons are immensely important to her but to Jon? His uncle was just killed in front of his eyes, shouldn’t that be the thing he is heartbroken about? He didn’t even build any kind of personal connection to Viserion specifically. He should have started this conversation with many other things, but he very deliberately chose to start with that.

If I’m allowed to put this in colloquial terms, he is sucking up to Danielle. Just as he’s been doing in ep4 when she asks for his advice, just as he did in ep5 when he didn’t think “beautiful” was the right word to describe her “children”. This is before Danielle promises to destroy the night king with him, it seems to me that he is doing what he’s been doing for the entire season: Catering to Danielle’s feelings and wishes. Soothing her temper. Not saying the wrong words as not to alienate her. Rather than holding his tongue or beating around the bush, as he has done before, he actively says exactly what she wants to hear. And that’s exactly how that interaction progresses.

Jon establishing physical contact to create an intimate atmosphere, “using” her obvious crush on him, going a bit further by inventing a fun nickname for her, him calling her “my queen” -uuughhhh-, giving up the North and saying that what the Northern Lords want doesn’t matter because they’ll change their mind once they see how amazeballs she is. This entire conversation revolves around her, Jon only talks about things that are supposed to make her feel good. Again, there is no mention to how Jon survived. Jon apologizes for going on the dumb wight hunt ... when it wasn’t even really his idea?! Tyrion came up with the plan of catching a dead and bringing it to cersei. Why is he taking all the blame for this bullshit plot? 

Danielle isn’t taking at least some part of the blame herself “if only I had believed you, all of this wouldn’t have happened. Viserion would still be alive”. The next comment might be fueled by a bit of salt and left-over range from yesterday, so don’t take it too seriously, but “you have to see it to believe it.” sounded almost like an excuse. “Don’t apologize, it’s good this happened, this isn’t your fault. But it isn’t mine either, because how could I know?” This would be consistent with her characterisation so far. She is not willing to admit any mistakes, not even to herself. If I look back, I’m lost. But Jon doesn’t point any fingers either, not even in the most subtle way “we had to do it to convince you and cersei”... which is odd. As said above take this last paragraph with a grain of salt, because it was written with an ounce of salt.

Why would he just call her “D*ny” all of the sudden? He hasn’t called her anything but “Your Grace” until now. This comes out of nowhere. It’s pretty easy to create a narrative leading up to this moment, btw. Why not have Danielle offer to address each other on a first-name-basis? Do it on the beach when they say their farewells, Jon calls her “Your Grace” and she answers with “Daenerys is alright.” Jon only nods and turns away. At first Jon declines because of the whole (potential) political, I-can’t-love-you-because-THA-NORTH, so-I-have-to-stay-formal thingy, but after she saves his ass he calls her D*enerys for the first time. She smiles, obviously moved by this and he jokingly says “or maybe D*ny?” and the show can take it from there. Sounds a lot more romantic and a lot less random, right? It would take two lines of dialogue to make this seem a lot more natural and a lot less suspicious and ooc.

Side-note: After Danielle leaves the room and Jon opens his eyes (did he only pretend to sleep?) he looks exhausted, exasperated. Not like a man who just shared a very intimate moment with the woman he loves. It just doesn’t add up. Why is Danielle lovingly looking at his sleeping face not the last shot? 

Altogether, their “romantic relationship” is still as one-sided as it was before, only now Jon is actively pushing for it to be that way. All in all his behaviour is way over the top. It sounds like a man who’s simply trying to woo a woman for one reason or another. If they had taken it down just a nudge I would have believed it. If they had shown some restraint to either the romantic tones or the kneeling issue, I would have taken it as Jon’s genuine feelings. But this way? It’s too much, too sudden, without having a proper build up to it. It’s just not how “Jon” would act.

This is mostly what if comes down to: the romantic hints over the season were really, really on the nose - dramatic, emotional scores and line reading that do not match the tone of conversation (cave scene), or third characters spilling it out for the audience (davos), or moving deep into soap opera territory (boat scene) - but just as superficial. All these hints are thrown into our faces without properly being set up or developed. There were countless possibilities to give it some real depth and as little trust as I have in Dickheads&Douchebags writing abilities I don’t understand why they wouldn’t use them. As much as I disagree with a lot of their choices I can contemplate why they are doing stupid. The whole stupid arya vs sansa subplot is there to create some tension and drama in WF. I get it. It’s stupid as hell but I at least understand where the stupid is coming from. I know what they are trying to achieve with that stupid. But this? Half-assing the big love story of the show? The only explanation that makes some sense to me is that Jonnearrris is a red herring. 

A really well executed one, btw. Make sure the audience can’t miss it, but also prevent them from forming a real emotional connection to it. After all it is supposed to distract from the real storyline (I’m going to assume jonsa & targbowl) not compete against it. You want the audience to be shocked, but not hate you for ruining the most amazing, emotionally involving love story you’ve ever seen.

This leads me to my final conclusion: There are only two options here.

a) Dickhead & Dipshit missed out several obvious opportunities to flash out Jon’s feelings, because ... just because, and fucked up to effectively use their limited screen time to develop the grand love story of GoT. The cave scene, for all it’s romantic lighting, background music and line reading, concludes on the very political issue of northern independence. Dragon petting could have been used for Jon to make a personal statement (I have a direwolf I love and miss very much - as does the audience, btw - I wouldn’t call him “my child” but I got the connection you have going on with those lizards), instead Jon isn’t to keen of the fire breathing lizards and their conversation ends with him not being to sure what to think about her victory on the field of fire. Their goodbye scene could have been used to have them throw a last longing glance at each other, instead Danielle looks on while Jon has his back turned and doesn’t look back. Jon’s conversation with Jorah could have been used to cause and highlight some tension between them since they are “in love” with the same woman, instead it revolves around honorable, upright men and their deaths. His conversation with Tormund could have been used for some light-hearted guy-talk, as is Tormunds speciality, but instead it’s about the lives Mance could have saved if he had let go of his pride (and honor) and knelt. Again, there isn’t much in the season that would outright refute any romantic feelings from Jon’s side, he at least seems attracted to her and perhaps a bit intrigued (she is beautiful and a very fascinating woman if nothing else), but I can see missed opportunities to have Jon’s feelings mentioned or emphasized left and right. So many that it’s hard to believe Dumbass & Douchebag aren’t aware of it. If the entire season was building up to this “revelation” in ep6 and the following boatbang in ep7 wouldn’t they have used everything they got to actually build up to it? If this truly is where the show is headed, they did a very very lousy job. And don’t tell me that all the things I mentioned above would be “too cheesy” because the last Danielle / Jon scene in ep6 was fucking cheesy as hell. Btw, maybe my Jonsa-shipping-goggles make me a bit “immune” to all this, but if that’s the case, jonnearis-shipping-goggles make people overly perceptive to it as well. This accusation goes both ways.

Which leads me to the second option:

b) They didn’t mention the personal aspects of this plot point because they don’t really matter. Because things are not as they seem. They emphasize the political and “end of the world” issues in Jon’s story line and his relationship to danielle because those are the things influencing his behaviour, most importantly the drastic shift in his behaviour between leaving DSt and reuniting with Danielle on the boat on their way to the stupid stupid dragon pit meeting: He is giving up on his political agenda and uses all means possible to make sure Danielle helps them. He has learned from his predecessors mistakes (Mance not kneeling - and dying, Ned being to trustworthy - and dying, Robb falling in love with a foreign woman - losing his people - and dying) and is now using that knowledge for his advantage. There are only three possible payoffs to the “Northern fool” narrative: 1. Jon is making the same mistakes as the men he’s compared to and will suffer similar consequences (unlikely, since he is aware of that and has already broken with his mance-persona), 2. he does the same mistakes without it backlashing because Danielle is just so amazing (very unsatisfying storytelling) 3. he learned from it and doesn’t make the same mistakes. He goes along with everything she wants, tries to win her over by all means possible because what he said is true “D*enerys is their last hope”. Not only in this specific event of stupidly getting trapped by the Army of the Dead in the middle of a frozen lake because ~someone~ thought it was a great idea to go on a fucking idiotic wight hunt, without horses, adequate manpower or any real plan, but also in the grander scheme of things. If Danielle doesn’t help them (what if she refuses to go back north after one of her dragons was killed there?) they are fucked. That’s why Jon went to DSt in the first place, later admitting that is was a stupid idea, that’s why he went beyond the wall to catch a fucking wight, even though that was a really bad idea. All his actions this season were motivated by defeating the threat to the north. All of them (except for choking Littlefinger, *cough*). Even reuniting with Bran and Arya had to take a backseat to this issue. Is it really that far-fetched that his ooc-behaviour at the end of ep6 is the same? If you consider all the things mentioned above? He can’t risk her bailing on him, so he does everything he can to cater to her feelings and desires voluntarily and up-front, to make sure she fights the WW’s, to make sure she doesn’t have any excuse to leave them high and dry.

I would also like to mention that this theory doesn’t even need to implement any possible dark!dany or targbowl or just general endgame speculations. Except for one paragraph, this is solely based on what happened on screen this season. This isn’t about me being a salty shipper either. It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of any j0nerys romance really, but the big pay off in e6 was simply unearned. Either Dickhead & Dipshit fucked up writing a romance or they are presenting us with a wonderfully crafted red herring. Being the optimist I am, I’ll believe in the second until proven wrong. 

I teased to write a “little something” about this issue, but it turned into a “fucking big something” instead. Thanks for sticking with me until the end!