#bullet loaded

[drconstellation]

"Not Even At Gunpoint!"

Future Echoes of the Past #3

I didn't plan this meta. Well, maybe...just a tiny, weeny bit...I had been keeping a parallel in mind for a while...but not in this context. But it was kind of one of these moments:

Lets start at the beginning.

@beebopboom has been exploring the three magic tricks that appear in the S2 opening sequence recently, and speculating how the third one might appear in S3, and I've been exploring the paintball fight scene at Tadfield Manor in S1E2 and how that relates to the Great War in Heaven that formed Hell, and the events around the Fall. The two topics intersect, as you have echoes of the Bullet Catch magic trick from the 1941 minisode in S2E4 appearing not once but at least twice at Tadfield Manor.

But...then I realised, there's more than one pointed gun. Way more.

I'd always liked this throwback line from Crowley in S2E1, when Nina asks him if he is a bookseller as well:

Who would want to be a bookseller when this could happen to you?

Shadwell, turning up at the book shop in S1E4, disturbs Aziraphale contacting Heaven through the portal (a modified Solomon's magic circle) under the oculus, and breaks in to confront him. The historical implications of Aziraphale's lines here are that before homosexuality was decriminalized in the UK meeting places for such people were often disguised as respectable looking book shops. Which makes Nina's question in S2E1 and Crowley's denial to her all the more...loaded? Ah, well, you can't fool Nina, now, can you?

Anyway, mah point is...Shadwell literally has Aziraphale at gunpoint, er, fingerpoint here. Loaded fingerpoint.

But then, this isn't the first time Aziraphale has had a gun pointed at him. He had one pointed at him in the church in 1941 by the Nazi agent double-crossing Greta. His biggest fear, as always, isn't actually "dying," or standing in front of the guns, its the paperwork that he knows will go with getting a new body from the Ineffable Bureaucracy.

Crowley turns up to rescue him, because he "didn't want to see [him] embarrassed." With a bit of equivocation between the two of them, all the time while at gunpoint from Greta, they team up to save each other.

This was even before we got to the Bullet Catch - his "show stopper!"

Back to Tadfield Manor.

As they enter, Crowley is lined up in the crosshairs.

Er, wait a minute...

Only Crowley is shown this way here, not Aziraphale. He's a target. I'm starting to ask what point in time this is referring to - the present or the past? Both. Yeah, why not both! The work I did in this previous meta in this series showed that Crowley was considered a target for early removal by the other demons-to-be prior to the Fall.

Then they are both shot.

I pointed out Aziraphale gets shot by blue paint, representing Heaven, but its a colour we don't see used again by any one in the fighting to come. But what I didn't talk about was WHERE he got hit - in the back. That's synonymous with treachery. Heaven has stabbed Aziraphale in the back, so to speak. wow. Nice - not.

And Crowley? He gets hit in the heart - just like the Norman/Lucifer parallel on the Yellow Team does a short while later during his "fall" scene - with the red paint, betrayed by the Red Team who represent the management in Heaven.

Seems the Ineffable Bureaucracy wanted both them out of the way during the Great War...it get more and more interesting each time I look closer at it...

So was Aziraphale ever in the crosshairs? Yep.

And, as @vavoom-sorted-art points out, this is a time Aziraphale chooses to pick a weapon, and to fight. He didn't want the simple, safe deception trick with the ropes - he wanted a weapon. He really is much more the warrior than Crowley. Aziraphale, I think your nature as a principality is showing!

Firing that gun made Crowley sick to his stomach, and so did this metaphorical loaded gun - the Book of Life.

As soon as he found out from Beelzebub it was a real possibility of being played he went back to protect Aziraphale. Crowley hates fighting - watch how often he will try shut it down as quickly as possible or try to escape it when he can. To him everyone has free will, and the person picking the fight with the other is imposing their will on them. That's 'not on' in his books.

Aziraphale, on the other hand, is still reacting with his ingrained Heavenly instincts - that he should follow his morals because they are 'right,' and more sophisticated weapons add weight to the moral argument. He thinks. Maybe. (Yeah, keep working on that doubt, angel.)

Az: Impressive hardware. I've looked at this gun, its not a proper one at all. It just shoots paintballs. Cr: Don't your lot disapprove of guns? Az: Unless they're in the right hands. Then they give weight to a moral argument. I think. Cr: [laughing] A moral argument? Really? *tosses gun away* C'mon. [Heads into the Manor.] [later, after Crowley changes the paintball guns to real guns...] Az: But there are people out there shooting at each other! Cr: Well -  Lends weight to their moral argument. Everyone has free will, including the right to murder. Just think of it as a microcosm of the universe.

I'll think I'll end this here and leave you with a small montage of the aftermath of all this gun play - everything going up in flames and smoke.

Bring on S3!

If you didn't follow the links in the meta, and want to read the first two in this series, they are here:

#1: The Great War of Tadfield Manor

#2: The Newton/Crowley Mirror-Parallel in S1

[ruporas]

need to exist in your warmth (id in alt)

[mudanonaito]

[thereareeyesinsidethetrees]

(hi we're back we had to do a final exam anyway post time)

thought process: what if bill is just a foil to stan and the same coin theory folks are taking it way too literally (joking)

conclusion: holy shit bill is a foil to stan

alright okay, so. to start off. what is a foil in literature? a foil is a character designed to compare to and contrast another character. in other words, x character may be very similar to y character but there are very important differences between them. the purpose of this is to enhance the story and give more information about the character that has the foil

so. now that we've got that basis. how is bill a foil to stan, and why is it not the other way around?

point one: main character syndrome

dipper is often considered the main character of gravity falls, but really the grand story revolves around stan. we say this with nothing but love towards ford. each character has a story and arc they go through, but the vast story of the entirety of gravity falls belongs to stan. you follow him. you don't see ford on the other side of the portal. you never see piedmont. you see stan's childhood, stan's life, stan's struggle to get his brother back and protect his family. it is objectively a story about stan

^ this is important to note. very very often, foils are intended to be compared and contrasted to the main character/s. since you are with the main character throughout the ride, this helps you learn more about the mc. who they are, their motivations, and why the difference between them and the foil matters

point two: comparison

let's make a quick list of what stan and bill have in common: they are both con-men. they both lie and cheat and steal. they both hurt people and don't apologize. they both want the portal open. they both are associated with the phrase 'buy gold'. they are both expecting the upcoming apocalypse. they both aren't concerned with ending weirdmaggedon. they both gun for what they want and don't stop until they get it. they both put on a metaphorical mask. they both value ford, prizing him above others. he's both of their goals, the one thing they want to reach

point three: contrasting

what is different about them?

bill destroyed his world. he killed his family

if stan is one thing, it's a family man. it's like he says himself: everything he does is for his family

bill treats ford as an object. a toy. a little gold trophy that he can throw around and crack and play with

it is true that stan didn't initially see ford as his own person with his own drive. it is evident that he has grown past this, and he continues to grow past this as the show comes to a close. ford may have been the prize, but he isn't a trophy. he's a hostage returned home

bill sees the pines as less than. nothing more than puppets to do his bidding

stan sees his family as his will, his reason for everything. why not give up? because they need him. he punched a bald eagle and a dinosaur for the niblings. he punched a demon thought to be unstoppable into shattered specks for the niblings and ford

bill is manipulative, bending people's minds and emotions and memories to do whatever he wants with them

stan, while still a con-man, is much more genuine

bill doesn't grow as a person. he deflects, deflects, deflects, and parties 'til the pain goes away

stan does grow. he goes from lying about everything to spilling his entire story to everyone he cares about. he goes from painfully wide grins to crying as he tells mabel, genuinely, why he's doing this. he goes from assuming and batting away any of ford's attempts to reconcile to having a heartfelt talk with him in the fearamid, realizing how they've hurt each other (that he has hurt ford too), and eventually sailing across the sea with him. he goes from reacting first with anger and aggression to reacting in more subtle, softer ways. the constant scowl on his face when he's not performing transforms into a hopeful smile by the final episode

all this to say: bill is what stan could have been if he wasn't a good person. if he didn't try. and as long as it might have taken to reach the point he did, he still got there through effort and determination. he still tried. he earned his happy end. that's more than bill can ever say

(and a little final message: ford worked hard too. bill may not be his foil, but that doesn't mean he didn't grow and earn his happy ending too. do not use this post to spew vitriol about him)

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

Just feel like posting this picture of Oliver realising his perception is being fucked with by a mind controller because he should not be able to beat any single member of his family that easily. No other reason to post this, don't think too hard about it.

[ventivente]

Yuta and gojo enjoyers how are we doing today?

[redhotarsenic]

[thespliffbunker]

[ashe-delta]

Played (read?) Umineko for 2 hours. That sure was a lot of words to get people into a house

[raughbyn]

When I write up my backstories for TTRPG characters, I employ an ill-advised principle that I like to call Chekov's Russian Roulette: I hang so many guns on the wall that there is no telling which one the GM will snatch up and shoot me in the ass with

[wexhappyxfew]

this viv x blakely piece is actually destroying me plz know. what do you mean ev blakely found her curled at one of the wheels of Silver Bullets, with nothing but a letter and a small blanket, telling him that she just can’t face anyone right now with what she’s going through. and he tells her that he doesn’t mind staying with her so she’s not alone. and she’s just i-

[theeternalsteelangel]

THE TRAILER FOR ARCANE S2 IS OUT THIS IS NOT A DRILL

[mikey-way-enthusiast]

me when i hear THOSE drums

i luv u sugar, we’re goin down 🧎🧎🧎 i actually need this song in my blood

[weewoow-20706030]

Jason would be the type to use anything he can find as a bookmark.

At the same time he has a collection of fancy and normal bookmarks that he barely uses.

[cervidame]

help this chapter grabbed my soul and snatched it somehow

[astranauticus]

compilation of my limbus company canto 6 + 6.5 livetweeting (because i forgot to livetweet the others) (except canto 4 but im not posting those.)

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