#but he also used her to emphasize this isolation of Will

[luna-moth-0]

Okay so my dad is rewatching Hannibal so of course I'm rewatching it with him and we got to the episode of the Lost boys.

And you know how the woman kidnaps boys to create her own family? While investigating Will says that the woman makes sure that the boys feel like no one can love them like she does and that's basically what Hannibal does.

When Hannibal frames Will of course a part of him does it to push away the suspicions (though that's debatable) but he mostly does it to isolate Will.

Once Will is in prison no one believes him anymore, he's completely alone no matter how they say they're here for him because in the end no one sees what he sees nor believes him. So once he's lonely he gets violent (I mean he did send someone to kill Hannibal) and is completely mad

And yes Hannibal is not necessarily more there for Will than the others (even though he is the first to believe he's innocent obv) once Will gets out he's the only one who is truly unaffected by Will's time in prison and what he did back then.

Therefore, even though Will resents him he still ends up feeling like the last one there for him.

And I can go further by putting Abigail in this but that's for another time.

[reasonsforhope]

"As a Deaf man, Adam Munder has long been advocating for communication rights in a world that chiefly caters to hearing people. 

The Intel software engineer and his wife — who is also Deaf — are often unable to use American Sign Language in daily interactions, instead defaulting to texting on a smartphone or passing a pen and paper back and forth with service workers, teachers, and lawyers. 

It can make simple tasks, like ordering coffee, more complicated than it should be. 

But there are life events that hold greater weight than a cup of coffee. 

Recently, Munder and his wife took their daughter in for a doctor’s appointment — and no interpreter was available. 

To their surprise, their doctor said: “It’s alright, we’ll just have your daughter interpret for you!” ...

That day at the doctor’s office came at the heels of a thousand frustrating interactions and miscommunications — and Munder is not isolated in his experience.

“Where I live in Arizona, there are more than 1.1 million individuals with a hearing loss,” Munder said, “and only about 400 licensed interpreters.”

In addition to being hard to find, interpreters are expensive. And texting and writing aren’t always practical options — they leave out the emotion, detail, and nuance of a spoken conversation. 

ASL is a rich, complex language with its own grammar and culture; a subtle change in speed, direction, facial expression, or gesture can completely change the meaning and tone of a sign. 

“Writing back and forth on paper and pen or using a smartphone to text is not equivalent to American Sign Language,” Munder emphasized. “The details and nuance that make us human are lost in both our personal and business conversations.”

His solution? An AI-powered platform called Omnibridge. 

“My team has established this bridge between the Deaf world and the hearing world, bringing these worlds together without forcing one to adapt to the other,” Munder said. 

Trained on thousands of signs, Omnibridge is engineered to transcribe spoken English and interpret sign language on screen in seconds...

“Our dream is that the technology will be available to everyone, everywhere,” Munder said. “I feel like three to four years from now, we're going to have an app on a phone. Our team has already started working on a cloud-based product, and we're hoping that will be an easy switch from cloud to mobile to an app.” ...

At its heart, Omnibridge is a testament to the positive capabilities of artificial intelligence. "

-via GoodGoodGood, October 25, 2024. More info below the cut!

To test an alpha version of his invention, Munder welcomed TED associate Hasiba Haq on stage. 

“I want to show you how this could have changed my interaction at the doctor appointment, had this been available,” Munder said. 

He went on to explain that the software would generate a bi-directional conversation, in which Munder’s signs would appear as blue text and spoken word would appear in gray. 

At first, there was a brief hiccup on the TED stage. Haq, who was standing in as the doctor’s office receptionist, spoke — but the screen remained blank. 

“I don’t believe this; this is the first time that AI has ever failed,” Munder joked, getting a big laugh from the crowd. “Thanks for your patience.”

After a quick reboot, they rolled with the punches and tried again.

Haq asked: “Hi, how’s it going?” 

Her words popped up in blue. 

Munder signed in reply: “I am good.” 

His response popped up in gray. 

Back and forth, they recreated the scene from the doctor’s office. But this time Munder retained his autonomy, and no one suggested a 7-year-old should play interpreter. 

Munder’s TED debut and tech demonstration didn’t happen overnight — the engineer has been working on Omnibridge for over a decade. 

“It takes a lot to build something like this,” Munder told Good Good Good in an exclusive interview, communicating with our team in ASL. “It couldn't just be one or two people. It takes a large team, a lot of resources, millions and millions of dollars to work on a project like this.” 

After five years of pitching and research, Intel handpicked Munder’s team for a specialty training program. It was through that backing that Omnibridge began to truly take shape...

“Our dream is that the technology will be available to everyone, everywhere,” Munder said. “I feel like three to four years from now, we're going to have an app on a phone. Our team has already started working on a cloud-based product, and we're hoping that will be an easy switch from cloud to mobile to an app.” 

In order to achieve that dream — of transposing their technology to a smartphone — Munder and his team have to play a bit of a waiting game. Today, their platform necessitates building the technology on a PC, with an AI engine. 

“A lot of things don't have those AI PC types of chips,” Munder explained. “But as the technology evolves, we expect that smartphones will start to include AI engines. They'll start to include the capability in processing within smartphones. It will take time for the technology to catch up to it, and it probably won't need the power that we're requiring right now on a PC.” 

At its heart, Omnibridge is a testament to the positive capabilities of artificial intelligence. 

But it is more than a transcription service — it allows people to have face-to-face conversations with each other. There’s a world of difference between passing around a phone or pen and paper and looking someone in the eyes when you speak to them. 

It also allows Deaf people to speak ASL directly, without doing the mental gymnastics of translating their words into English.

“For me, English is my second language,” Munder told Good Good Good. “So when I write in English, I have to think: How am I going to adjust the words? How am I going to write it just right so somebody can understand me? It takes me some time and effort, and it's hard for me to express myself actually in doing that. This technology allows someone to be able to express themselves in their native language.” 

Ultimately, Munder said that Omnibridge is about “bringing humanity back” to these conversations. 

“We’re changing the world through the power of AI, not just revolutionizing technology, but enhancing that human connection,” Munder said at the end of his TED Talk. 

“It’s two languages,” he concluded, “signed and spoken, in one seamless conversation.”"

-via GoodGoodGood, October 25, 2024

[messiahzzz]

i have seen several posts around that addressed how discouraging gale from taking the crown of karsus is “keeping him from realizing his true potential.” that tara is merely upset at his choice, instead of being utterly devastated at the loss of her little love. that it’s not a bad ending per se because to get there he didn’t need to sacrifice 7000 innocent souls in the process. gale isn’t continuing the cycle of abuse either, he still appears to love tav and does come back for them to offer them ascension. he wants them to be equal, so it can’t possibly be an unhealthy dynamic, right?

but what of gale himself, his own convictions, values, and everything he holds dear? everything flawed and human that shaped him into the person he is?

player: are you saying you want to ascend? claim godhood?

gale: no, not like that. i don't want to join them. i want to better them. a god's powers, paired with a mortal conscience, a mortal heart.

gale’s motivation for acquiring godhood is that he will able to aid mortals in a way no other god has ever done before. he won’t hide behind pretense nor require blind devotion of his followers. he will understand and be able to empathize. he wholeheartedly believes that he will be different - he will act.

gale: [..] the gods could aid us if they wished, but instead they cower behind ao. so let us act ourselves.

gale believes that by becoming a god he will kill two birds with one stone: aid mortals and acquire enough power to quash any of his insecurities and enemies in the process. that by ridding himself of every perceived flaw he'll finally feel like he will have enough to offer - maybe, just maybe he'll even be content. his flaws are merely holding him back from becoming the best version of himself, and by ridding himself of everything fallible, he will be whole. maybe this is what all of his suffering has led up to. maybe the orb chose him. maybe the reason he had to endure all the pain, isolation, and excruciating loneliness was so that he could realize that he was meant for something even greater. after all, power feeds ambition. and what is more powerful than a god? his convictions were certainly naive, he possesses enough knowledge to know better. don't get me wrong, part of him definitely wants to spite mystra a lil. but his intentions at that time were mostly pure. a reflection of his self-hatred and feelings of inadequacy.

player: this is wrong, gale. that power will corrupt you, even if you can seize it.

gale: it won't, i swear to you. it's merely a tool - a means to an end.

once we meet gale at the party in his new godlike form, it is apparent that even with all the power at his fingertips, he has reached no greater knowledge about himself. his insecurities are still as present as before, he merely is less subtle in his compensation - repeatedly highlighting his grandeur and how dull life on faerun is compared to the wonders of elysium. it is also genuinely crushing to see how little he thinks of himself even now.

gale: i was nothing. a drifting dust mote of a wizard, abandoned by my goddess, my powers lost, my reputation destroyed. and look at me now. i'm their proof.

any perceived dismissal of his Greatness™ is met with immediate disdain.

gale: a bold decision to treat a divine being with such cold indifference.

nodecontext: aloof, annoyed you weren't impressed with him

gale: you mortals do love to live dangerously, don't you?

nodecontext: the slightest hint of a threat - you've probably made an enemy here today. or at least, you've lost a friend.

he is still desperate to impress. emphasizing what an honor it is that a new-born god chose to bless their little soiree with his presence. gaze upon all his divine glory! gale has now become the embodiment of everything he criticized about the gods. his original intentions and plans are discarded and long forgotten. he assuages his erstwhile companions by telling them to simply pray to him, in case they should ever require aid. if they're lucky and their ambition pleases him, he might even deliver.

player: what does the 'god of ambition' offer to his followers?

gale: i 'offer' them nothing. i inspire them to seize their destinies for themselves.

player: interesting, so you help mortals help themselves?

gale: precisely. though that isn't to say i'm averse to the odd bit of direct encouragement.

gale: [..] my aims are set a little higher than offering cursory blessings to just any half-decent spellcaster.

gale: regardless, ethical quandaries are more the remit of my mortal devotees. they do love to talk, and faerun is starting to listen.

aiding "any half-decent spellcaster" is unbefitting of his status. he isn't concerned with questions of ethics and morality either. deeming such matters beneath his divine capabilities.

once gale has ascended and established his domain, what remains of the gale we knew? what of his mortal heart?

minthara: your ambition is not cruel, but you fear that if you indulge it, you will lose yourself in the mysteries of the weave and unravel the world.

minthara: you are afraid of so many things, and it is that fear that keeps you true to yourself.

gale did lose himself and ultimately became one of his biggest fears. considering that his existence as a being of pure ambition leads him to constantly seek out greater heights, it isn't farfetched to believe that raphael's prediction will indeed come true.

player[astarion]: ambition? finally, a god i can get behind...

gale: i assure you, this is merely the prelude to a far grander vision. elysium's in for something of a shake-up.

all that remains of gale is a thin veneer of the person he used to be. what he presents is a hollow echo of the old gale. he does retain some of his mannerisms and quirks, but he is definitely a lot colder and more condescending. if his personality already changed that drastically after a duration of only 6 months, what will he inevitability turn into when he has eternity at his disposal?

essentially, you are aiding gale in the eradication of himself. eradicating everything about him that made him into the loveable, charismatic, awkward, kind, buoyant person he was. everything about him that he perceived as defective, flawed, and lesser-than. before, his hubris was merely an expression of his own discontentment and low self-worth, but now he is hubris incarnate. all of his worst qualities have been amplified.

gale: i am ambition incarnate. as indistinguishable from that most potent sensation as mystra herself is from the weave. and word is spreading.

nodecontext: palpable, almost unsettling excitement from him - hint of megalomania

he put his trust in tav, trusting their judgment and relying on them to nudge him in the right direction. after all, they had plenty of opportunities to show him that they are an ally worth following and confiding in. but in the end, the prospect of what he could be, the things he could give them, the enemies he could yet conquer, won over the desire to simply accept him and help him rebuild a life on solid ground. tav denied him the unconditional love he craves most out of their own selfish desires.

tara: you were looking out for him. i expected better of you.

as i've already mentioned, gale desires nothing more than to be seen, accepted, loved, and valued. having a partner who wholeheartedly supports and believes in him is enough to make him feel content. most importantly - he just wants to live. to enjoy life with everything it has to offer. his ambition can’t be quenched because he hungers still. believing that only by acquiring more power will he finally be enough and reach said acceptance.

we see in his good ending that his own contentment was even able to influence and (temporarily) sate the orb's ever-present hunger:

gale: [..] or perhaps the orb's hunger was fuelled by my own, and my contentment influences it in much the same way.

gale: that's how i feel with you - content. it's a rather unfamiliar feeling, i must say. not something gale of waterdeep ever craved.

it is devastating that he doesn't reach the same feeling of fulfillment if he chooses to pursue godhood, and is instead compelled to continuously surpass his own accomplishments. not being granted rest or reprieve.

gale: i achieved everything we hoped i would, and still i'm not good enough for you?

gale pursuing godhood isn't evidence that he "has been evil all along" or that he "just waited to be unleashed" either. we can't diminish tav's influence in this outcome, they are after all an extension of the player. able to steer every companion toward a path of redemption or to enable them in their worst traits. fandom has already established that by letting astarion ascend you are actively supporting him in becoming the very thing he despises most, putting your own ambitions and idea of what you want him to be above his healing, this is no different.

tara: the gale i knew wasn't like this. he recognised his mistakes. he was contrite. all he wanted to do was live.

tara: unfortunately, he fell into company that turned his gaze towards foolishness. yes, i mean you.

player: gale is his own man, tara.

tara: false. he was mine. though now he belongs only to his own pride.

yes, the epilogue cutscene is beautiful and there is something bittersweet and romantic about his love for tav being one of the few emotions that remained a constant throughout the past 6 months. he didn't need to come back for them, but he did cause he loves them still. no matter how warped his definition of love may be now. while it is abundantly clear that tav ranks lower on his priority list than they did before, his commitment remains.

gale fears isolation, hoping to never return to the time when he was hopeless and alone, stuck inside his tower. by heading in this direction he is once again creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

tara: [..] if i pretended you hadn't turned tail on every lesson you set out to learn, i'd have no right to call myself your friend.

morena may as well have already resigned herself to her son’s death. elminster partly blames himself. for his lapse in judgment, as well as being the one who plucked him from obscurity in the first place. mourning the kind, bright-eyed boy who cried at the scorched roses in his neighbor's garden. tara won't be here anymore to care and look out for him either. he has lost his oldest and dearest friend, the one who witnessed his downfall from grace and never left his side. who believed him to be the finest mind AND the finest wizard she's ever had the pleasure to know. who was certain that he’d find a way out of any crisis no matter the circumstances. ...and if tav declines his offer to ascend with him? what does he have left?

gale: yes, i am rather radiant, aren't i?

tara: don't flatter yourself, gale. you've debased yourself in ways i could never have fathomed.

tara: goodbye gale, i hope the heavens are worth it.

gale’s godhood ending deals with the loss of humanity, the loss of oneself, and everything one holds dear. it is a devastating and bone-chilling narrative. it is a tragedy.

gale: i hope you don't think less of me. great ambition should not come at the expense of what you already hold dear. i see that now.

if gale could see himself, he would be horrified at the losses he deemed necessary to get here. he would be horrified at what he’s become.

[octuscle]

Cholo Life

“First the damned Democrats stole the elections from us and now they are stealing our identity!” Manolo began to roll his eyes. He was familiar with this. When KJ worked himself into a rage, he sounded like a personal disciple of Trump. ‘I mean that they eat the cats in Springfield and the dogs, it's not just an isolated incident, they do it everywhere!’ ‘Kyle…’ Manuel began. KJ gave Manolo a friendly punch on the shoulder. He knew that when Manuel called him “Kyle,” Manolo was angry. “Of course I don't mean you,” said KJ. “You're an American through and through, you're American as peanut butter!” Of course that wasn't true. Manolo was born in Lima, went to school in Lima, and only came to Minnesota with his parents at the age of eight. But his parents had placed great importance on him learning the language quickly, and today Manolo speaks better English than his best friend from school days, KJ.

Kj, on the other hand, was a prime example of a junior at an American college: muscular, bright eyes, fair complexion, of course he played American football, and of course he parroted what Trump said without thinking. Yes, he was damn good-looking, but yes, he was also a real airhead. And even though olu secretly had a crush on KJ, KJ was out of reach for Manolo. You couldn't be more straighter than KJ.

KJ was studying business. With a bit of luck, he would at least get his bachelor's degree. Manolo had already graduated from high school two years before KJ and was about to get his bachelor's degree in biochemistry. He wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, who ran the research department of a seed company here. KJ, on the other hand, would join his father's trucking company and would alternate between driving trucks on the highways and struggling with the accounting in the office.

“Besides, you yourself admitted that you eat pets. You said that your grandmother serves guinea pigs.” ”Yes, but first of all, my grandmother doesn't steal the guinea pigs from some guys in Ohio, but has her cook buy and prepare them at the market, and secondly, guinea pigs are a delicacy where we come from. We find it rather absurd that you…” “All fake news!” KJ countered. ”Admit that the whole world would be in ruins without the USA. Our culture is simply superior!” There were situations in which Manolo was annoyed at being physically inferior to KJ. There were situations in which he just wanted to smash KJ's face in. It was really crazy that a guy who already classified cartoons as art wanted to lecture him on culture. His abuela had once given him a lucky charm that he always carried in his pocket. In situations like this, squeezing the stone firmly helped him. It drained the anger out of him. But this time was different. The stone became warm. The stone became hot! Manolo let go of it. He reached for the cold coke glass to cool his hand.

“Are you okay, hermano?” KJ asked. Manolo winced. That was the first time KJ had used a Spanish word correctly. ‘Would you order me another tequila? ¡Tengo que mear!’ Manolo looked after his friend. He had never drunk tequila before. KJ was also a feast for the eyes from behind. The torn jeans clung to his firm ass. His shoulders were broad. He was muscular. But not exaggerated. And his patriotic tattoos emphasized his masculinity. Manolo waved at the waitress and ordered two tequilas. He didn't usually drink. But maybe he could stand KJ better today if he was a little drunk.

The tequila arrived before KJ. And when KJ sat down, Manolo was playing with his cell phone. KJ took his tequila glass. “A nuestra salud y amistad, hermano” “A nuestra salud y amistad, KJ” Manolo replied distractedly, picked up the glass and was about to toast. He was frozen for a few seconds. What the hell had happened to Kyle? The smooth cheeks were covered by a hint of a beard. His tattoos had expanded. And now they had a lot more space too. Because KJ's muscles had almost exploded. His slender neck, with the Adam's apple whose movements always made Manolo so horny, had become a bull's neck tattooed all over. “Dude, you look like you've seen a ghost,” KJ said. His English had a slight Spanish accent. And there was a tear tattooed under his one eye. Manolo ordered two more tequilas… Their conversation turned into Spanglish gibberish. And at some point into Spanish. KJ got terribly worked up about the gringos. In doing so, he accidentally knocked his trucker cap off his head. He picked up a bandana and tied it around his head. KJ's gaze became somehow different. While they were talking, he played with his nipples more and more. He looked at Manolo more intensely. Somehow… lustfully? “Tengo que ir al baño otra vez. ¿Y no te gustaría venir conmigo?” KJ stood up. He was a muscleman. His tight-fitting tank top emphasized his muscles even more. With every twitch of the muscles, the tattoos moved, creating a real cartoon. His ass looked phenomenal in the pleated pants. If Manolo had to create a wank fantasy, this is what it would look like. And now the wank fantasy was telling him to follow him to the restrooms. Damn it! KJ looked like a real cholo. And he was a square college student in khakis and a button-down. Manolo hesitated for a moment. And then he followed KJ. KJ? Why “KJ”? I have no idea when the nickname developed. César Jesus should have been called CJ. But some stupid gringo hadn't understood that in elementary school. And so he had eventually become KJ. And the nickname stuck.

KJ was standing at the urinal. Manolo could see from behind that he was about to jerk off. Even though they had known each other since childhood, he had never seen KJ's cock. KJ's father had the typical conglomerate that enterprising wetbacks build. He had a few trucks that he used to transport goods or help with removals, he owned a few cafes, a laundry… And KJ was supposed to take over this small local empire at some point. His parents had always hoped that the friendship with the clever and ambitious Manolo would have a positive effect on KJ. But KJ had always been the type to hang out with the bad boys. And who could blame him? He looked just as brutal and manly as his father.

Manolo stood next to César at the urinal. César pretended not to notice Manolo. His tattooed hand jerked his cock, which was also covered in tattoos. It was a monster that offered almost as much surface area for artistic decoration as Manolo's thin forearm. César pushed up his tank top with his other hand, revealing his granite abs and finally his nipples. He played with his right nipple with his left hand. And Manolo, whose cock was almost as hard as César's muscles, couldn't help but suck on the left nipple. “Siempre supe que detrás de la fachada de empollón se escondía una zorrita,” César moaned. He let go of his nipple and pushed Manolo gently but firmly onto his knees. And Manolo greedily licked the precum from César's gleaming glans. This beast was not the first cock he sucked. But it was the biggest. And its owner was the one he wanted to satisfy more than anyone before. They had been like dissimilar brothers. Now he wanted to be this giant's whore. And César obviously wanted him to be his whore. He enjoyed the blow job and moaned loudly enough to signal to anyone who wanted to use the toilet that it was occupied. Manolo sucked César's cock and jerked his own. Both came almost simultaneously. It was impossible for Manolo to swallow all of César's cum. And his own cum splashed onto his shirt. Exhausted, he fell back. César was breathing heavily, too. “Necesitas una camisa nueva, hermanito,” he said. Manolo certainly couldn't go out like that. César took off Manolo's shirt and wiped his cum-smeared face with it. Then he took off his sweaty tank top. It was a bit difficult because it couldn't be easily pulled over his muscular body. He handed it to Manolo. Of course it was too big. But it felt good. And César would make sure that he would fill it out better soon. Today two men became real cholos.

Pics by @ki-kink

[barb-l]

As a desperate lesbian who has been wanting a sapphic Wednesday portrayed for AAAAGES now, I still can't believe these things that the show gave me:

THE Wednesday Addams being shown jealous of a character that barely has any lines MULTIPLE times just because Enid mayyybe wants to choose said minor character as a roomie/bestie over her

BFFs Thing and Enid ganging up on Wednesday over her fashion sense and her pouting about it

Wednesday, who takes pride in her independence and relishes in isolation, admitting to have missed anyone is unthinkable. But she did! In her own way. Even if she was roundabout with her admittance, the fact that she got called out by both Thing and the goddamn villain shows how down bad she was during that fallout with Enid

"Thing said he missed you" and the way she visibly struggles against her nature to say "Skip the tape" with the tape symbolizing her breaking down her walls for Enid

something about Thornhill, who is played by an actress who also used to play Wednesday, telling this new Wednesday that she has to admit someday how much Enid has come to mean to her is just... ugh. Will never get over how much it adds so many layers to Wednesday's self-denial.

she held off all the insults in her bottomless vocabulary so she wouldn't completely offend Enid over the snood she made for her. She sugarcoated her words for Enid, which Wednesday NEVER does. In fact, it's the opposite of what she always does!

Enid VS Tyler bearing so much resemblance to that classic trope where the Love Interest saves the girl from the other Love Interest, even being a parallel to the fight between Gomez and Garret over Morticia

Enid lamented how she would never find a mate because she's not a real werewolf and would hence die alone, to which Wednesday remarks that it's a good thing in episode one. To emphasize Wednesday's apparent indifference to isolation, she is told that her nature as a raven means that she is fated to be alone like Enid feared for herself. In the finale, after Wednesday accepts that she doesn't want to be alone in the wake of her fallout with Enid, Enid finally wolfs out to save Wednesday. Enid made Wednesday realize that she doesn't actually like being alone, at least not when it meant she wouldn't have Enid by her side. In turn, Wednesday's life being threatened gave Enid the push to finally wolf out and, supposedly, now be given an opportunity to be eligible for a mate. I mean... I don't have high hopes, but the narrative is making it too easy to make it look like they were meant for each other

The heavy implication that Wednesday joined the Poe Cup because Bianca specifically said she wanted to make Enid cry over losing. The fact that she always deflected whenever Enid tried to confirm that Wednesday is doing it for her, but she never outright denied it!

"The mark you have left on me is indelible" and "I'll think of you" about Enid aksnnzzinsosnsj she gets sooooo sappy for herrrr

THE HUG. For people she's very very soft for, like her family, she only ever let THEM touch her. She's never show to start or reciprocate. SHE pulls Enid back into her. She holds Enid just as tightly, despite the injuries and despite Enid's pink coat. Enid toughens up for her but Wednesday is so vulnerable for her my god im so ill for them 💀

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

EVEN MORE SPOILERS FOR SEASON 6

I figured since I already read it, I'd give my thoughts on the recent interview Astruc and Thibaudeau took part in.

Due to incompatibility with the new animation engine, SAMG will not be working on the next seasons of ‘Miraculous’. The series is now being developed entirely in France, with the integration of Dwarf Animation.

Okay, props for no more outsourcing, even if I'm not sure what this means for the other ZAG shows.

Season 6 is considered to be “a new beginning”, aside from being a new story arc. It is sometimes referred to by the writers as Season 1.

I'm sure that isn't confusing to the executives at all. Also, maybe don't imply you're starting from scratch when you're already reusing the plot of the main villain using the Butterfly Miraculous.

The writing team already has concrete ideas for how Seasons 7, 8 and 9 will begin and end. They also have ambitions to make it to a Season 12, only if the support of viewers and executives allows them to do so. With this, they emphasize the fact that they would not continue with the show if it were no longer needed or interesting.

So basically, they're planning to keep this up for as long as they can until someone pulls the plug.

The opening of the sixth season is still undecided. They are still discussing whether they will change the musical arrangement or not. Thomas also considers the possibility of making a brand-new theme song. A song has been confirmed for S6. They have the music, the arrangement and a female singer. The character remains unknown.

Imagine how funny it would be if they brought back the woman who sang for Marinette in the movie instead of having Cristina Vee sing again.

Despite leaving Paris at the end of ‘Revolution’ (5x23), Chloé Bourgeois will return in Season 6.

Putting aside all the things I've said about her "damnation arc", what is even the point of bringing her back at this point? She has no powers, no influence, no allies, and isn't a threat of any kind. This makes her not being the next Hawkmoth make even less sense, becuse she has more of a reason to hate Ladybug than Lila does.

Also, with the news that Chloe is coming back, this means that she essentially escaped punishment or at least found a way to rebound like Lila did. So that's a grand total of ZERO villains who actually got punished for their actions after five seasons. I'm starting to think Ladybug and Cat Noir really suck at their jobs.

Sebastien Thibadeau: “[Cerise] (IOTA: I'm still calling her Lila for simplicity's sake) is a villain without costume. She is a villain all the time. There is a reason why, but this reason, neither I nor Astruc will reveal to you yet.” Interviewer: “You mean you already intend to tell it?” Thomas Astruc: “Yes. And you know what, we have already told it, but you haven’t noticed.”

Translation: Ladies and gentlemen, LET'S GET READY FOR RETCOOOOOONNNNS!

Seriously, we are approaching the sixth season of this show. It has been eight years since Lila first appeared all the way back in "Volpina", and we still know nothing about her other than the fact that she has some three moms for some reason. You can't pull the whole "This is something you need to rewatch to understand!" excuse because the last two seasons hinged on breaking the rules about Sentimonsters.

Speaking of, I love how this comment about Lila accidentally implies that Gabriel never did anything evil when he wasn't Hawkmoth/Shadowmoth/Monarch. All that emotional abuse and isolation Adrien suffered was all out of love!

Thomas Astruc on Chloe redemption arc: “We put the characters in situations, and then we say to ourselves: “what would be the logic?” How would the character logically react in “such and such” a situation? And we tried, we tried everything. But every time, we say to ourselves: “if we write this, it’ll be wrong”. There’ll be no reason, it’ll come out of nowhere, the fact that she’ll face something nice and say: “Oh, I’ve been horrible, Marinette what have I done! From now on, I’ll be...” No, nonsense. I understand people’s desire for Chloe to be nice. I’d like that too. But I’d like it if in real life, people with a lot of power suddenly started doing nice things. But Chloé has no interest in changing. She has no reason to change, unfortunately.”

Ah, yes because Gabriel (Global terrorist and abusive parent), Felix (Betrayed Ladybug and temporarily wiped out all of humanity on a whim), Nathalie (Willing accomplice to Gabriel) Andre (corrupt politician and Chloe's primary enabler), Sabrina (Willing accomplice to Chloe) all had compelling reasons to change their ways.

Also, "I've been horrible, what have I done?"

MY BROTHER IN CHRIST, THAT'S HOW VIRTUALLY EVERY REDEMPTION ON THIS SHOW IS EXECUTED.

The fact that he's seriously acting like he actually wanted to write a redemption arc is insulting. Not only does it ignore all the things he's said to fans who were upset at the turn of events, but it makes no sense for him to take this stance because he's a writer. If Chloe turning a new leaf is too strange of an idea, then write an actual character arc allowing her to progress to a state where she recognizes what she's done is wrong. You control the character for God's sake! It's not like you're training a dog to stop humping the couch. You can change things to make a redemption arc possible.

In other words, Astruc is either lying to save his ass, or THIS IS WHAT THOMAS ASTRUC ACTUALLY BELIEVES about writing characters.

Sebastien Thibadeau talks about Andre's character development: In contrast to Chloe, “Andre Bourgeois evolved as a character because we had already imagined a back story. He had the potential to change, and that’s where the beautiful scene comes from — I think it’s magnificent — between Gabriel and himself on the roof of the Grand Palace, where he says: “But Gabriel, what’s become of us? We’ve forgotten the kids we used to be”. But we [writers] know what kids they used to be, and we’d like to tell the story one day, to show what young kids they were, when they were struggling through Paris and weren’t yet what you’ve come to know in the series. He’s sad about what’s happening to his daughter [Chloe], and he’s trying to change it, but he can’t. He is proof that a character can change.”

This. This right here is what cinched it for me. I've tried for years not to say it because it's a word that has been flung around a lot over these last few years, but I feel like this little snippet is enough of a reason for me to say it.

These writers are sexist.

They may not believe it, but whether they intended for it or not, they wrote a story arc where a grown man was shown to have more sympathetic qualities than his daughter. How the hell can you defend it in a way that doesn't highlight the misogyny that this show runs on?

The fact that they gush over how much "potential" Andre had right after saying how that same kind of potential wasn't enough of a reason to attempt a redemption arc with Chloe really shows how confusing their priorities are. I'm sorry to keep saying this, but for a show that takes a heavy anti-capitalist philosophy, it seems like the members of the 1% are the characters who get the most depth and sympathy... unless you're under 18 and lack a Y chromosome, that is.

A meeting will be set up in the coming weeks to decide on whether or not to make a live-action for ‘Miraculous’, Thomas Astruc reveals.

As a former Arrowverse fan, I'm willing to see this out. Not only did the Netflix One Piece series prove you can make an animated property work in live-action, Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie managed to do really well even without the usual writers behind it.

Thomas when asked about Gabriel’s wish in ‘Re-Creation’ (5x26) and whether he brought Emilie back to life: “All the answers are in the episode.”

For the love of--STOP SAYING THAT!

You keep claiming that we just need to rewatch the episode to understand things, but between the continuity errors and abandoned subplots, it's hard to tell what's important and what isn't. Either say "No comment" or give us an honest answer.

If people are still confused about how the season ended after almost a year, and you keep giving answers like this:

Maybe you need to change the way you tell the story.

Astruc when asked about ‘The Supreme’: “Oh, if only you knew... Nothing we do is meaningless.”

Sebastien Thibadeau on Season 7: “Once you’ve seen the start of season 7, I can swear you’ll watch season 6 a second time. That’s all I can say.”

Because it'll make Season 6 look like a masterpiece by comparison?

Thomas Astruc on the worldbuilding: There are Kwamis and Renlings, what makes you think there aren’t others [creatures]?

I swear, by the time we get to Season 10, we're going to get stuff like aliens, demons and talking mushrooms, or at least something ludicrous like that.

Zoe had a love at first sight when she met Marinette in ‘Sole Crusher’ (4x07), they confirm.

Of course! That's why it wasn't framed any differently from something like the umbrella scene and Zoe showed absolutely no signs of attraction to Marinette! It's genius!

Executives had Thomas write several alternative concepts for ‘Miraculous’, very different from what we know today or even the early PV. Among them, “a concept where Ladybug is the head of a group of superheroines, like Sailor Moon. There was no love story.”

Can you imagine a world without the Love Square?

The script writers’ favorite episode is ‘Simpleman’ (4x19) as it represents a personal, work and family attachment. Marinette’s grandfather, Roland Dupain, is inspired by Thomas Astruc’s grandfather.

Okay, either Astruc had a complicated relationship with his grandpa or he's been dead for years. While I understand that older generations have outdated views (for example, my great-grandmother yelled at me for saying I wanted to learn Japanese because "They tried to kill us!"), the fact that a caricture of a grumpy old man was based on his grandpa is a little concerning.

Also, between this and Sabine being based off an old flame of his, this only makes the theory that Chloe is based off a real person Astruc knew more plausible.

Astruc: “This is why our work is so difficult. We have to manage to bring in this generation of younger ones, and at the same time, we have to satisfy the generation that was here before and that grows with the series.”

First, if you're trying to please older fans, maybe don't get into fights with them on Twitter.

Second, you made a thread after "Simpleman" aired where you insulted fans for not getting the "meta" element to the episode and compared them to the character you just said was based on your grandfather.

You've also been burning away a lot of the older fans' goodwill over the years. Trust me, I have a few examples.

Despite sharing a similar appearance, the symbol on Nino’s T-shirt is not related to Hack-San.

Okay, is this a fan theory I missed back when Season 4 was airing? Why would anyone draw that conclusion?

Thomas Astruc talks about Season 6: “I’ll say it sincerely, I was very doubtful at the end of Season 5. I said to myself: “if we were to continue, how would we exceed?” Well, we did. It’s been a great season. The new writers have brought us a lot of great stuff. All the episodes we’ve written in Season 6 are fabulous. Each episode is on point, there is no unnecessary lines. All the scenes are really interesting, really well-crafted.”

Translation: Tons of filler, bad comedy, reused Akumas, and more Love Square drama that we're trying to claim hasn't been done before.

Thomas when asked if Marinette will get akumatized: “We never give any information about what may or may not happen.”

JUST. SAY. NO. COMMENT.

There are many important details throughout the series that no one has noticed. Thomas says that when we see the next seasons, we’ll think, “Oh, the writers had it all planned.”

You know, like how Season 3 established that Sentimonsters can be sent out of control by Cataclysm a few episodes before Adrien, a Sentimonster, gets hit by a Cataclysm and is affected in a different way. It was all planned from the beginning.

The Ladybug PV was an animation test and was not intended to be public. Jeremy Zag decided to leak it himself.

Honestly? Dick move on Zag's part. You have to wonder how pissed off Astruc was.

According to Thomas Astruc, what the ‘Miraculous’ series is today represents only 5% of what he wrote in the original bible he presented to Jeremy Zag. “The universe has evolved a lot since. I don’t know if the ideas I put there will be reused someday. It was very extensive.”

Thomas Astruc and Sebastien Thibadeau discuss the parallels between Marinette and Gabriel: Astruc: “Gabriel’s personal back story is the cause of his misery, not his will. And above all, it creates a beautiful mirror with Marinette, which is what’s interesting. They both have a lot of love for Adrien, they’re both designers, they both have a Miraculous, but it’s other choices.” Thibadeau: “That’s what makes it a great hero-villain contrast. Even if they don’t know it from the start, they have a real point in common. As we see at the end of Season 5, they both love Adrien. Except there’s one who does it by doing the right thing, and then there’s another who does it by doing the wrong thing, hurting people, to get there.”

And the one who did the wrong thing by hurting people ended up winning. What does that say about the contrast?

------------------------------------------------------------------

And that's it for the interview. I have to say Season 6 does not look pretty so far.

[pen-and-umbra]

(The last one on Sephiroth's breakdown reimagining in the Remake trilogy. Notes I and Notes II

Herein lurk spoilers.)

In contrast to FFVII OG, where Sephiroth's breakdown was introduced as a sudden event, with his life-long search for origins mostly implied rather than spoken aloud, Crisis Core revealed Sephiroth had been digging through ShinRA's science archives for years before embarking on a fateful mission. Indeed, the compilation of FFVII has seen a shift in the character’s portrayal, with Sephiroth becoming less of a silent and aloof enigma and more of a layered personage. As a result, his breakdown ceased to exist in its isolated form. We are aware of the chain of events that preceded it.

Thanks to CC, we know that Sephiroth was obsessed with discovering facts about his own history, especially his heritage, to the point where he would shut himself up in the archives to read documents. We also know that Genesis used this fixation as a means of pressuring Sephiroth into cooperation.

To Genesis, the existence of such a pressure point was a known quantity, which suggests that Sephiroth's attempts to uncover his past had been a well-known or recurring endeavor. And one thing is clear from Sephiroth's reaction: Genesis' comments struck a chord with him, primarily because they targeted his fear.

FFVII Ever Crisis takes things a step further, emphasizing Sephiroth's determination to learn more about his mother, to the point that he would carry a photo of her to investigate. Furthermore, Sephiroth is troubled by an offhand remark that he might be a cyborg—a non-human entity—and appears to take the remark to heart, holding on to it long after making acquaintances with Glenn's team. And thus, there's plenty to infer from these instances. 

For starters, it confirms that Sephiroth's desire to discover his origins dates back to his adolescence. The way he talks in regard to inquiring about his mother suggests that his attempts are recurring. He “knows it's not cool to ask about his mother,” which presumably means that someone *systematically* brought this up to him before he was dispatched. To someone, Sephiroth's asking around appeared childish, immature, or uncool, or else came across as a nuisance that needed to be nipped in the bud.

One can wonder if the objective of these snubbing attempts was to dissuade him from looking into the topic further. This raises the question whether the “uncool” comment first came from the people behind the Science Department, in particular those who took part in Jenova Project.

Secondly, it confirms the presence of a fear—or suspicion—of not being human. Sephiroth got so fixated on the “cyborg” comment because it stirred something that had already been there. That which had preoccupied him. This detail shows that the thought was neither caused by seeing Hollander's experiments nor was it planted by Genesis, as it precedes those events. Indeed, Ever Crisis suggests that this anxiety, this nagging feeling of “never being one of them”, has been present in Sephiroth's mind for much of his life. In fact, one could argue it was the driving factor behind his search for family. Not so much a need to belong as a search for evidence of normalcy to dispel any lingering uncertainty. "Proving" misconceptions about himself wrong too, as he is keen to point out to Glenn in Ever Crisis.

This provides a broader perspective on his infamous “ever since I was a child, I knew I was different <…> special”. While OG may have alluded to Sephiroth's admitting to being aware of his superiority (“special” and “different” bearing a haughty connotation), the extended compilation plays with the idea of “different” bearing a negative quality to it, with Ever Crisis, Crisis Core and FFVII Rebirth all proposing an aversion to the idea of being a lab-grown, subhuman specimen. After all, as Sephiroth himself puts it after meeting Glenn, all he wished was normalcy—to lead a normal life. 

With that in mind, we can only speculate as to what factors made young Sephiroth question his origins. Was it merely the performance and treatment difference compared to others in ShinRA's SOLDIER project? The silence/ridicule policy and withholding of information he apparently faced when trying to ask the wrong sort of questions? Or witnessing first-hand how inhumanely the likes of Hojo treated lab specimens as well as the prospect of never being able to fit in to be treated as an equal, ergo lacking the same rights/agency as test subjects? One can only guess. Ultimately, it is the presence of this insecurity that leads to his downfall, whether one interprets Nibelheim events as falling under Jenova’s spell or an onset of insanity. 

Whether or not it was Jenova who forced Sephiroth to read “like a man possessed” or his own stubbornness, Gast's notes left him with only two options. Either he admits to being a laboratory-created being, “born” from a 2000-year-old monster, as declared by Genesis, or he embraces the idea of being an Ancient. Either he is “not a human,” as he had feared all his life, or he is above humanity. A mind is a delicate thing that will do anything to survive. Sephiroth had been in a pretty dark place by the end of Crisis Core. Should one choose to interpret Nibelheim events as a result of Jenova's interference (as discussed here), it would not be hard to see why a little nudge to the basement library was needed to push Sephiroth into embracing alien ideas and influence. Fear is an excellent manipulation tool, and Sephiroth's fear played well against him. For him, the alternative—admitting to being no better than pod-grown “abominations”, in Sephiroth's own words—was unthinkable.

If one construes the Nibelheim sequence as a result of a mental breakdown, as evidenced by Sephiroth's anger outburst, unstable commentary in the basement, and what could be interpreted as shame, it likewise becomes clear why he clung onto the idea of being an Ancient. In order for his mind to keep its sense of self, it needed to escape facing the terrible; the legend of the Ancients thus offered an easy escape route. He would no longer be a subhuman with no coherent reason to fight (per Elfe from Before Crisis), someone used as a tool by ShinRA or Hojo and having his humanity denied or questioned, but he would be an entity superior to humans with clear reasons for fighting and even a clearer sense of purpose.

Regardless of how one interprets the picture, one thing is certain: succumbing to fear or trying all possible to avoid confronting it are understandably human traits. It's ironic that Sephiroth's dread of not being human and not belonging with humans drove him to become non-human, both physically and metaphorically. After all, it was his lifelong uncertainties and fixation with discovering the truth that served as a catalyst for the chain of events that led to his metamorphosis in the Northern Crater and, subsequently, the decision to abandon his human memories in Lifestream Black.

Written by @pen-and-umbra

[sepublic]

And I’ll add that there’s something very anti-feminist about how Belos fans interact with Evelyn and especially Luz’s characters. They’ll scrub away the hateful, violent misogyny inherent to this 1600’s Puritan guy wanting to murder an outside woman for challenging his patriarchal community and narrative, insisting that he’s just scared for his brother and there’s nothing at all racist about him wanting to murder Caleb for having a mixed child that Philip is now related to.

It’s not just that Belos is misogynistic, it’s that the story is about misogyny. Evelyn’s descendant Eda having revenge on Belos apparently doesn’t matter to some fans because Belos doesn’t care about her, because I guess we’re unironically using the bigot’s feelings on who is and isn’t important to him.

And with Luz, Jesus Christ. Her final interaction with Belos was Luz blatantly asserting that she wants nothing to do with this guy, that she’s not going to waste energy on trying to understand or sympathize with a violent raging bigot who wants her dead and just murdered her not long ago. She refuses to even talk to him. The way Belos talks to Luz when he isn’t trying to murder her is to belittle her decisions and agency by attributing them to witches ‘messing with her sense of reality’, which is itself a form of gaslighting by telling Luz she’s just insane.

Belos only lets Luz live because he wants the Light Glyph from her, to manipulate her, to prove to himself what a noble savior he is by putting this girl of color in her proper place. And when Luz chooses not to go along, he opts to murder Luz and terrify her the whole time by making the process slow. Belos only relents when Luz offers herself in a demure position of servitude to him, one where she’s useful.

He scars her face!!! He tries to murder Luz, he does at one point!!! He takes glee in Luz’s realization that he tricked her, he takes triumph in being a grown ass man who took advantage of a child’s compassion because that’s how pathetic he is, to think this makes him smart.

And yet I saw people unironically salty that the finale didn’t portray how sad murdering Luz made Belos feel, it should’ve been about this white man’s feelings. They rewrite a scene about a girl of color’s (as well as a woman and brown NB’s) triumph against a racist white abuser, and make it about his feelings and undermine Luz’s moment to do so. And people love to make AUs where Luz IS that guide in the human realm for Belos, but this isn’t a horrifying, discomforting arrangement she only bluffed about to survive. This isn’t Belos parentifying a child he abused the way people recognize it with Hunter.

Nah this is just a moment for quirky antics and shenanigans as we show how vulnerable and scared Belos is in this inclusive world, and Luz’s frustration with this colonizer who’s coerced her into this position by threatening her life constantly is just a gag!!! Camila has no opinions about this btw.

Like no these are not two wacky arch-nemeses. This is a Christian white man in a position of power who repeatedly threatens and belittles this child of color and made her think she was guilty and evil scum, until she became suicidal over it. And then he emphasized this again in ‘thanking’ Luz for helping him in TtT, how he couldn’t have done it without her, again the thing she became suicidal over. Belos isolates Luz so this child isn’t as confident against him, he murders her. This is an abuser.

But nah! Let’s take that scene in Turning Red about a child of color realizing how her mother was just like her as a kid, and that fear of her daughter also being hurt just led to a self-fulfilling prophecy and… instead of assigning it to the Nocedas, make it about this brown girl being sympathetic to this racist white man who murdered his brother for not being racist like him.

She’s a platonic Manic Pixie Dream Girl whose purpose in AUs is to make him happier and be his therapist who explores his feelings, his Mammy stereotype… Sometimes Luz is there to take care of a kid Philip, which really is the ultimate infantilization of this man to justify this, after an episode where the villain infantilizes himself for this purpose. For a show made to combat misogyny, where the first episode has feminist text when it comes to Eda wanting nothing to do with this male creep, it sure is surreal seeing certain fans do this!

[cantsayidont]

Despite its protestations of progressive values, STAR TREK media has always explicitly presented (and, with only fleeting exceptions, consistently celebrated) the Federation as an expansionist imperial power, engaged in a large-scale project of colonialism.

The usual apologia/rationalization for this, both from the franchise itself and from its fans, is that the Federation is also a post-scarcity socialist utopia. However, that is expressly not the case in TOS, despite the attempts of the later series to insist otherwise.

Indeed, the plots of some of the most famous and acclaimed episodes of TOS are specifically about resource extraction and ensuring the Federation's access to crucial resources, including lithium (in "Mudd's Women"), pergium (in "The Devil in the Dark"), and dilithium (in "Mirror, Mirror," et al). We are told repeatedly that the Enterprise has a mandate to use force to secure these resources if gentler methods fail. Moreover, while the Federation has a strategic interest in these resources, it's clear at various points in TOS that their extraction and exploitation are, to a significant extent if not exclusively, overseen by private interests for profit. For instance, in "Mudd's Women," Harry Mudd remarks:

Well, girls, lithium miners. Don't you understand? Lonely, isolated, overworked, rich lithium miners! Girls, do you still want husbands, hmm? Evie, you won't be satisfied with a mere ship's captain. I'll get you a man who can buy you a whole planet. Maggie, you're going to be a countess. Ruth, I'll make you a duchess. And I, I'll be running this starship. Captain James Kirk, the next orders you're taking will be given by Harcourt Fenton Mudd!

In "The Devil in the Dark," Kirk ultimately takes a regulatory position — he will not permit the pergium miners to kill the Horta or continue to destroy her eggs — but at no point does he suggest that stopping the pergium production that threatens the Horta is a viable or even acceptable alternative. The accord he proposes is contingent on the Horta's agreement that she and her children will support the mining efforts on her planet, since Kirk emphasizes that "a dozen planets" are depending on the miners to supply needed pergium. (What would have happened to her if she hadn't agreed is not stated, but the episode strongly suggests that she would have been severely punished for noncompliance with Kirk's mediated solution: forcibly relocated to some kind of Horta reservation away from the main mining operations, perhaps.) When the Horta does agree to this proposal, Kirk assures Vanderberg, "you people are going to be embarrassingly rich," which once again suggests that while the miners may have contractual agreements to delivery pergium to Federation worlds, they are still a private, for-profit business, not a Federation department or nationalized entity.

Profit is also Ron Tracey's motivation for breaking the Prime Directive in "The Omega Glory": He believes that he's discovered a "fountain of youth" that he can own, monopolize, and exploit, and that the value of that resource will be enough to buy his way out of legal trouble for his regulatory violations.

We mostly don't see the Enterprise crew handle money except on away missions in other cultures or times, but there are a number of indications that the Federation in this era has not abandoned money: For instance, Harry Mudd's list of past offenses includes purchasing a space vessel "with counterfeit currency," while in "The Apple," Kirk rhetorically asks if Spock knows how much Starfleet has invested in him, which Spock begins to answer, "One hundred twenty-two thousand two hundred …" before Kirk cuts him off. More tellingly, in "I, Mudd," we have the following exchange:

KIRK: All right, Harry, explain. How did you get here? We left you in custody after that affair on the Rigel mining planet. MUDD: Yes, well, I organized a technical information service bringing modern industrial techniques to backward planets, making available certain valuable patents to struggling young civilizations throughout the galaxy. KIRK: Did you pay royalties to the owners of those patents? MUDD: Well, actually, Kirk, as a defender of the free enterprise system, I found myself in a rather ambiguous conflict as a matter of principle. SPOCK: He did not pay royalties. MUDD: Knowledge, sir, should be free to all. KIRK: Who caught you? MUDD: That, sir, is an outrageous assumption. KIRK: Yes. Who caught you? MUDD: I sold the Denebians all the rights to a Vulcan fuel synthesizer. KIRK: And the Denebians contacted the Vulcans.

Whether Deneb is a member of the Federation at this time is unclear, but Vulcan certainly is, and so we may assume that Vulcan and presumably the Federation itself are also part of "the free enterprise system."

The first indication that the Federation does not use money is in STAR TREK IV, and it's not obvious there if Kirk's remark that "They're still using money" is talking about money more broadly or just physical currency, which the Federation may have phased out even if it still uses credit or electronic transfers of monetary value. (Certainly, McCoy's attempt in STAR TREK III to charter a starship indicates that he had some means of paying for passage, since the captain of the ship specifically demands more money upon learning of the intended destination.)

If we accept at face value the assertion of TNG and DS9 that the Federation has genuinely abandoned the use of money, rather than simply going cashless, the most reasonable Watsonian explanation is that this has been a relatively recent development during the 70–80 years between the TOS cast movies and TNG, most likely related to the development of replication technology (which the Federation did not yet have in Kirk's time).

Of course, from a Doylist standpoint, we could chalk up some of this incidental dialogue to the franchise's evolving construction of its own setting, in the same manner as anomalous references to Vulcans as "Vulcanians." Roddenberry and his apologists might also insist that he always meant to depict a socialist utopia, but was prevented by the nattering nabobs of negativity (i.e., the network's BS&P); I'm very skeptical of such claims, but the writers were acutely aware that depicting what Earth is like in Kirk's time would be opening a can of worms, which is why we didn't actually see 23rd century Earth (even briefly) until the movies.

However, the focus on resource extraction and its ramifications is such a load-bearing story element in TOS that the revisionist assertion that the Federation was already a post-scarcity socialist utopia in Kirk's time (as both DISCOVERY and STRANGE NEW WORLDS have attempted to claim) would require really substantial retcons of the original show, perhaps to the extent of insisting that some of those events never took place at all, or happened radically differently than what's in the TOS episodes most STAR TREK fans have seen. For me, anyway, that crosses a line from willing suspension of disbelief to "don't trust your lying eyes," and suggests a frustrating and somewhat disturbing determination to insist that TOS is something much purer and nobler than it is rather than grapple with its actual conceptual flaws and ideological shortcomings.

[sunderingstars]

☆━━━━━ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ ◯ ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ━━━━━━☆

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ PERCEPTION BY OTHERS ⌝

sampo analysis m.list

— what the stars reveal: interpretative analysis, general with a bit of elation thrown in for funsies

— word count: 3k

— overview: (as of 2.5) a brief look at other characters’ voicelines about mr. sampo koski!

☆━━━━━ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ ◯ ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ━━━━━━☆

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ NATASHA ⌝

I may have brought this up in another analysis at some point, but Natasha makes a point to emphasize how Sampo doesn’t like owing people things. “Favors” seem to exist in a grey area to him, a purgatory where he can’t quite tell what they’ll turn into in the future. As a businessman, it makes sense he would want to nip this in the bud, completing each task quickly and efficiently. However, the way Natasha describes it seems like it might be more than standard concern — the mention of “any way possible” almost seems like a fear response, a well-hidden panic that Sampo covers up by doing things so quickly you can’t even tell. 

The last line, “The longer you leave a favor, the harder it is to calculate its value,” is very… ominous. Open-ended, like the favors themselves. There’s an implication that Sampo has a reason to be wary of favors, perhaps stemming from something that happened in his own life. Out of every character, Natasha seems to see the core of Sampo the best; why he does things, what he avoids, what he’s possibly afraid of. It isn’t centered around “don’t trust him” or “he’s a con-man,” but around a more grounded view of his likes and dislikes. I feel Natasha’s approach is the most holistic — taking into account a past even she may not know in order to understand why and how Sampo does what he does.

Additionally, her team line, “I’ve got my eye on you,” is much more dual-sided than other characters. Rather than the naïveté of Hook or the smug nature of Sparkle’s teasing, Natasha is stern yet kind, a hallmark of her character. In a single sentence, she shows that she’s ready to make sure Sampo doesn’t cause any trouble while also making it clear she won’t let harm come to him. “I’ve got my eye on you” isn’t just Don’t try anything funny or Watch it, I know what you’re up to, but I’m here to help and We’re in this together and I’ve got you.

There’s certainly something to be said for the careful gaze of a trusted figure — the support of someone who isn’t willing to fully enable or fully disable, but rather use their own judgment to help find what’s best for everyone involved. It may not be a luxury Sampo has had before. The isolated “highness” of Aeonhood is lonely; if you look out for everyone, who looks out for you? The strange purgatory of Emanator status is disorienting; who will ever trust you enough to tell you the truth, who will ever bring you back down to Earth? And the objectification of a doll is surely no place for care or compassion, for who would extend a watchful eye to a mere toy other than to make sure it performs its function? 

Simply put, Natasha’s balance of stern realism and genuine compassion is something I think Sampo needs, despite whatever intricacies his backstory may hold.  Based on her voicelines, I think she may see this too (even though she likely doesn’t know much about his personal life). There must be something within him that sparks at the doctor in her — the trained empathy and care she extends to everyone, the way she’s learned to pick up on things when they’re off. And whatever she sees, it’s something she can’t just do nothing about.

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ SEELE ⌝

Seele, true to her character, is wary of Sampo despite understanding his uses. As a resistance fighter, she’s likely had her fair share of tough situations, having to choose options that may have major drawbacks or caveats for the sake of the cause. However, the years of experience she’s gained from this have allowed her to be incredibly discerning, understanding Sampo’s dual nature as something that can be both helpful and harmful.

She seems to have arrived at a happy medium: deal with him when there is something important only he can do, but nothing beyond that. No friendship beyond work, no extended contact beyond what’s necessary. She doesn’t say why exactly it’s bad to befriend him, but her confidence makes one thing clear — just don’t. 

This matches up with the idea Sampo has of Seele as someone who is tough on him, likely because she denies every attempt at friendship and keeps him at arms’ length. She’s a very serious individual, so there’s no doubt she wouldn’t hesitate to deal with him (and not in the way he wants) if need be.

However, there does seem to be a sort of casualness that comes from these remarks. Despite not trusting him, there’s still a sense of familiarity, of yeah, he’s a con-man who you shouldn’t be friends with, but he’s still one of us. It’s a begrudging allyship, one that doesn’t negate the drawbacks of having him around, but also doesn’t downplay the bond he has with Underworlders. It almost seems like a sibling-like relationship to me, the kind where Seele will be standoffish and smack some sense into him if needed, but if anyone else threatens him it’s game over for whoever did it. “I can bully him but you can’t” vibes.

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ HOOK ⌝

Hook is probably the only character who actually trusts Sampo, even if it is only because she’s incredibly adventurous. Despite being more discerning than the average kid her age due to growing up around Wildfire and the Moles, she lacks the experience to truly understand when Sampo is being suspicious or trying to get something he wants — to her, if he can give her an exciting adventure, there’s no reason to be weary. We can see this clearly when she asks, “Does he like expeditions too?” in response to remarking how she sees him everywhere. Anyone else in the Underworld would be rightly suspicious, questioning why and how he shows up everywhere that’s convenient for him; however, Hook simply chalks this up to shared enthusiasm. She loves expeditions, so why wouldn’t he? Therefore, his convenient timing must be because he likes adventures and not because he has ulterior motives for his actions.

Additionally, she shows unrestrained trust when being added to a team with him. (Side note: She directly calls him “Mr. Blue Hair,” which carries through the emphasis of his character on the color blue and specifically blue hair, linking him to the “blue-haired being” in Curio Hacker!) She asks “Where are we going this time?” without hesitation, without distrust, fully expecting him to lead her on a new and exciting adventure. This is extremely different from what we’ve come to expect — for the first time, we have someone who actually trusts Sampo.

While it may be easy to view this entirely as a poor decision on Hook’s part (and it is certainly influenced by her young age), I think there may be a deeper meaning. Children, despite often being overly trusting, also have a penchant for bluntly seeing to the truth of things; they are often more perceptive than adults give them credit for. In this case, I believe it to be a mix. Hook is clearly being too trusting of Sampo, but there also may be something she sees that we don’t. 

When we take away the exterior, all of the facades and personas and scams, I truly believe that Sampo would never hurt Hook — in fact, I believe he’d protect her to the best of his ability. He indulges in her whims, he helps her solve problems, and he generally tries to keep her away from the “dangerous” side of things. Much like Belobog in general and the Trailblazer on Penacony, Sampo has a penchant for protection. I believe that, despite her naïveté, Hook can sense this too. She may not know enough to know she should be at least somewhat wary of him, but she does know that he’ll keep her safe. And so, there’s no hesitation. In her mind, he’s a trusted adult — and from what we’ve seen so far, he lives up to that title (even if it’s solely in the context of Hook, and even if it’s in a somewhat roundabout way).

For Sampo, I think this kind of trust is sorely needed. Any tier of Elation!Sampo would likely be accustomed to wary glances, tight smiles, scrutinizing eyes always trying to figure out what he’s up to. It’s partially his fault, of course, for being so double-sided, but it’s still bound to wear on him. Especially if the Elation is of a more compulsory nature, the kind of pure, unhesitating trust that comes from Hook is likely a breath of fresh air. For once, he’s met with someone he can just be around. 

He’s also faced with the terrifying realization that he cares. That he’s facing the near-impossible thought of being a good person. That he wouldn’t dream of doing anything to betray Hook, and that sentiment runs contrary to his very nature. 

Overall, very wholesome, 10/10, no notes.

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ LUKA ⌝

Luka, like Seele and Natasha, is also very discerning. To him, he thinks Sampo’s moniker is inherently untrustworthy, and has likely had to deal with his own fair share of aspiring “middlemen” who want to make money. As a result, he’s made up his mind — and it’s not to let Sampo work with him. (Once again, “blue” is used as a defining color for Sampo’s identity, making the “blue-haired being” even more apparent in hindsight.) I do wish we got a little more from Luka’s line, as I’d like to know more of his personal feelings towards Sampo — i.e. if he finds him confusing or intriguing or just plain annoying — but what we do have still serves as a way to highlight Sampo’s reputation among even those who aren’t as familiar with him. Despite only knowing Sampo by his tagline and attempt to become a middleman, Luka surprisingly hits the nail on the head. Not only is he able to stand firm on business, he’s able to clock Sampo’s deception from a mile away. Unfortunately for Mr. Sampo Koski, it seems he’ll have to find another target to make money off of.

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ GEPARD ⌝

Gepard mostly knows Sampo through his work as a Guard. Beyond chasing Sampo (as Sampo mentions in his voicelines), he gets his information from cases and citizens, therefore it’s understandable that his main focus is on what Sampo does rather than who he is. While everyone in the Underworld is focused on his personality and untrustworthy nature (with the exception of Hook and somewhat Natasha), the Overworld is more detached, neutral. To Gepard, Sampo is a criminal who sells relics and commits fraud. 

Obviously there would be a bit of frustration that comes from constantly being evaded by the criminal you’re supposed to be catching, as well as the conveniently-timed pause before Gepard says “cunning” (what else were you thinking of saying, Geppie? 👀), but overall, Gepard doesn’t know Sampo that well. He really can’t since I’m sure there’s not much time to talk beyond “Stop!” and “Hehe :3” when running into (and away from) each other. However, he still has a dedicated voiceline about Sampo, which shows there’s at least enough of a relationship to warrant speaking about him.

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ SERVAL ⌝

With the knowledge that Sampo used to be friends with Serval before Gepard soured things (likely with objective facts), this line is kinda funny to me. Serval, as always, is calm, cool, and collected, but now I see it as less of a “this random guy is totally gonna get screwed over lol” moment and more of a “godspeed my dude, but I don’t think you’re gonna make it” moment. This line reads a bit reminiscent, like “that guy” is her recalling the past times they’ve run into one another. Even though we don’t know the specifics of the “friendship” Sampo mentioned, I wouldn’t put it past Serval to be friendly or hang out with him if she wanted. However, she still comes back to believe in her brother — even if her and Sampo are chill, she feels like Gepard catching him is only inevitable.

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ LYNX ⌝

Like Gepard, Lynx isn’t very acquainted with Sampo, only knowing him as the criminal Gepard is trying to find. However, it’s hilarious to think about Sampo moonlighting as a cryptid in the Snow Plains, perhaps even unwillingly being thought of as the “Belobog Caveman” when he’s just trying to do his (albeit sneaky and suspicious) job. Alternatively, I wouldn’t put it past Elation!Sampo to get bored every so often and start rumors about himself, if only to see the sheer chaos that unfolds surrounding the myth of the Belobog Caveman. He probably gets a kick out of those conspiracy theory message boards that are bound to pop up every time something like this happens. What’s even funnier is that this may be the “true” Elation — not the hedonism the Masked Fools encourage, but rather the small, somewhat innocuous and even confusing circumstances that take place in the remote corners of the universe. The Elation needs variety, baby, and Belobog is just that.

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ SPARKLE ⌝

I’ve saved the best for last — Sparkle. In terms of Sampo theories, she’s really carrying the bulk of implication and interpretation. Her first sentence holds up with other characters’ understandings of him (albeit approaching it from a different viewpoint), seeing him as both chaotic/double-sided (entertaining) and reliable. 

However, the main thing I want to talk about is her next line: “The only thing with this guy is… he’s got a line he won’t cross… having limitations always kills the vibe!” This lines up with his conversation with Sparkle in Penacony, how his idea of Elation differs so greatly from hers that it’s something he “can’t stand by.” Sampo, after all, believes in the dignity of humankind, not the unrestrained chaos Sparkle’s worldview has to offer. Normally, I’d leave it there; it seems pretty clear that Sampo would have reservations about the antics of certain Masked Fools, reservations that could even fit with Elation!Sampo theories if we take into account differing consciousness and the stereotyping mortals often put on higher beings. However, I feel there is more to be gleaned.

There are two words I want to point out — “won’t” and “limitations.” Since we don’t have much more information, there’s no sure way to know if Sparkle is presenting an objective understanding of Sampo’s character or if she is simply seeing the outward appearance of something deeper and interpreting it according to her worldview.

First is “won’t.” While there is a good chance Sampo’s own will and wants cause him to set hard boundaries around Masked Fools and “jokes” — likely having to do with the “heavy jokes” he feels “no longer become funny” when taken too far, perhaps even something tragic that occurred in his past — there is also the possibility that what Sparkle perceives as a “won’t” is actually a “can’t.” There could even be a combination of the two.

In terms of “won’t” versus “can’t,” Sparkle as an unrestrained follower of Elation may not be able to truly perceive the “restrictions” higher beings face, instead interpreting them as willing boundaries instead of strict limitations by nature of existence. She doesn’t call Sampo’s lack of action a “boundary” or a “refusal,” but rather a limitation. Limitations are much more restrained than boundaries, and while they can be self-imposed, they can also be imposed by other beings, laws, or states of existence. 

Here is what I posit: the “limitations” Sampo “won’t” cross may, in fact, be the “Primum Mobile.” It may seem like a bit of a stretch, and I do admit that it seems more likely that Sampo’s lines have more to do with his genuine feelings than a compulsory rule, but I can’t ignore the fact that “limitations” are the entire point of the “Primum Mobile.” Aeons, and potentially other higher beings by osmosis, cannot stray from Their Path — to do so would run contrary to Their entire existence. As such, They have certain “restrictions” They are bound to by virtue of existing, ones that may easily look like willing boundaries to others who don’t know of Their origins. It is entirely possible that Sparkle’s idea of Elation in some way reaches too far beyond the scope of Aha’s Path, leading Sampo (either Aeon or otherwise) to literally not be able to follow her in what she does. The Masked Fools are among the most fanatical of the Elation’s followers, so perhaps they’ve simply flown too close to the sun, begun to reach and dip into areas not a part of the Elation while trying to convince themselves they still serve the Laughter (much like the Order and Harmony on Penacony could be easily misinterpreted for each other from the outside looking in). 

It is also possible that whatever mortal form Sampo has taken has its own set of restrictions beyond the Primum Mobile — even if Aha or an Emanator would be able to endorse Sparkle’s view of Elation, whatever “price” Sampo is paying for this form does not allow him to do such things.

Or perhaps it comes from another place entirely — Doll!Sampo would likely be horrified at what Sparkle does, knowing what it’s like to be toyed with and used by the Elation. He would want to stay away from her “jokes that go too far” as often as possible, determined to never make others suffer the same fate as him. There’s even the chance that Sampo, as a splinter or refracted consciousness of Aha, has his own feelings and boundaries different from the main Aeon.

Whatever the case, he does not want to put up with Sparkle, and Sparkle clearly sees this as a let-down.

Lastly is her team line, a not-so-subtle dig at Sampo’s status as a Masked Fool. However, she puts “Fool” in quotation marks. While she may just be adding an additional reference to the title of a Masked Fool, it also feels like a personal observation. That, maybe beyond his status as a Masked Fool, she knows something that places Sampo as a “Fool” in her mind, perhaps a decision or discovery that she feels to be foolish. It’s possible that a Sampo of Aeonic or Emanator status put Themself in a position where Their power was significantly reduced or passed along, finding Themselves “duped” of Their own free will. But that’s just speculation.

Overall, most characters seem to have a similar view of Sampo: dual-sided. Like a snake, he can help and he can hurt, be candid one moment and deceptive the next. Only Hook seems to fully trust him, only Natasha seems to be committed to looking out for him, and only Sparkle has the ability to be a master troll and constantly hold his status over his head. Suffice to say, his own relationships experience a double nature. (Although I do hope he gets some more nice ones soon!)

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.𖥔 ݁ ˖ જ⁀➴ thank you for reading to the end!

(& thank you to my irl bestie for helping me procure the original video for this even though i don’t have tiktok anymore!)

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© analysis by sunderingstars. do not copy, repost, translate, modify, or claim my work as your own.

[asha-mage]

Since it's my birthday my friends got me the amazing gift of 'watching the Wheel of Time show while occasionally stopping to discuss/let me loose my mind' for which I am incredibly grateful. A few random observations from this time through, as I attempted to view it through the lens of the entirely WoT uninitiated (as my friends are)-

The group shots, where the camera passes from one of the Emond's Field 5 to another, do this clever trick where Rand is never actually standing on his own. He's always standing beside or behind someone in one of these shots, so the camera doesn't actually have to cut or pan away from someone else to get to him. This serves the purpose of highlighting him in contrast to his friends, but also to subtlety downplay his presence to the audience, and build up to the Dragon reveal in episode 7 very effectively.

The cinematography in general is so exceedingly rich and delicious- the stark white of the Whitecloak camp contrasted with the bloody reality of their actions. The bright primary colors used to make the Aes Sedai visually pop and feel magical and strange, even as they are dressed (for the most part) practically for their traveling (a complaint I had about the Witcher, aside from everything being brown and grey all the time, is that the mages show up to battles dressed in ballroom dresses instead of you know, clothing that would make sense). The subtle use of lighting and camera angle to create a sense of vast isolation of Shadar Logoth, fear and danger in the Ways, and cramp sweltering heat in the Blight.

Moiraine's opening narration in episode 1 is essentially a summary of the information we get from one of the epigraphs at the ending of the Eye of the World prologue, to whit:

"And the Shadow fell upon the land, and the world was riven, stone from stone. The oceans fled and the mountains where swallowed up. and the nations where scattered to the eight corners of the world. The moon was blood and the sun was as ashes. The seas boiled, and the living envied the dead. All was shattered, and all but memory lost, and one memory above all others, of him who brought the shadow, and the Breaking of the World. And him they named Dragon." - Aleth nin Tearin alta Camora, The Breaking of the World, author unknown, the Fourth Age "The world is broken. Many many years ago men who where born with great power attempted to cage darkness itself. The arrogance. When they failed, the seas boiled, mountains where swallowed up, cities burned, and the women of the Aes Sedai where left to pick up the pieces. These women remembered one thing above all else, the man who brought the Breaking of the World. And him, they. named Dragon." - Moiraine

This makes me suspect their was an earlier version of the script that actually used the epigraph (maybe even both of them). I have mixed on feeling on this, as the epigraphs are one of my favorite artistic choices of Jordan's and really help emphasize the history and depth of his world, but I think filtering it through Moiriane and making it slightly less opaque was a smart choice to convey the information to the audience. I also think this works on a character level as well- here is Moiraine's understanding of this information, shaped by her biases.

Every re-watch also makes me more and more comfortable in my 'the show is a future/past turning of the wheel from the books, the broad events and truths being the same, but seen in one of those endless variations we hear about' interpretation of the series. The heart of the story and characters is the same, and the broad strokes and framework are the same, but it's in the details where things emerge as different. This interpretation has the benefit of fitting really really well with the meta-narrative stuff Jordan always liked to pull, and in freeing I think the show expectations of being a one-to-one recreation.

That said I defiantly felt the cracks in the final two episodes as a result of the Covid shutter and loosing Barney Harris more strongly this time- some of that being that this is my first re watching of season 1 since I've seen season 2. You can practically see the things they wanted/planned to do that had to re-worked because of circumstances beyond their control. Mat's absence in the group argument scene (and the 'I am so tired of you two fighting over her' line that was clearly meant to be Mat's), as well as the lack of bigger/more cohesive battle scene in Tarwin's Gap. You can also tell they hadn't quite figured out how they where going to re-work season 2 yet given that the ending for season 1 had to be changed last minute (for example, their is no reason for Moiraine to just outright admit that she released Lan's bond unless they hadn't yet decided that was where their arc was going yet).

I think the show does an exceedingly good job of structuring it's exposition to the un-intiatited, trying to stagger it so that audience is largely learning new things in pace with the characters. I know people where frustrated that things like the War of Power have yet to come up in earnest even in the Latra and Lews scene, but I think the slow and steady reveal of things matches both the core idea of 'their is always more you don't know', and trying not to overwhelm the audience. My friends had no trouble following what was going and picking up the bigger implications/subtext that underpins a lot of information. 'But why did the Dragon try to cage the Dark One? It doesn't seem like it was that simple.' came up a few times especially.

The detail that what jump-starts Perrin's wolf brother connection is having his wound healed/cleaned by the wolves in that scene from episode 2 is so incredibly clever, and a good twist on the traditional 'werewolf bite' mythology.

I love the deliberate choice to incorporate so many random ruins and remnants of things in the background of shots. Not just the 'dilapidated stone buildings' that the characters camp in, but things like the trio of carved faces that Egwene and Perrin run past while fleeing the Whitecloaks, or the boundary stones Mat and Rand pass on the road, or even just the small carvings and pillars scattered about the cave where they are holding Logain. It all helps to make you feel that ancientness, that brokenness of this world more effectively.

The reoccurring use of the Dragon's Fang to symbolize violence and destruction: the Trollocs using it as a scare tactics, it appearing in the blood in the pool after Nynaeve kills the Trolloc, being burned into Siuan's ruined childhood home....and the way that contrasts with it's use in the finale episode, when we see it whole and unbroken in the seal/yin yang symbol for the first time was really really clever. One of my friends actually gasped out loud and went 'oh' at the first shot of the whole seal when it clicked.

The show does an exceedingly good job of maintaining that core idea of the series that it's about our relationship to violence- violence never being casual or simple or easy, but always raw, hard and bloody and a little bit ugly. EVen subtle things like the way the show depicts Moraine hurling stones at the Trollocs with uncomfortable frankness, trying to literalize what in most fantasy media would be an abstract. Take it from I cast stone 2, to I inflict horrible blunt force trauma on another creature. And of course everything re: Perrin and his ax.

I have more thoughts, but I think I'll save some of them for after we watch season 1, because they relate strongly to stuff from there.

[maristelina]

Trial 1 Song of the Prisoners

I was studying older milgram videos cuz of something and I found the transition here interesting. “Ojisan won’t go violent/outta control now” but emphasizes “ojisan is” and “VIOLENT VIOLENT VIOLENT”

“You’d understand, if you’re a human” Aka anyone who disagrees w/ her is not a human to her. Her shape is labeled “to humans”

Mahiru is "Might DIE.... DEATH" If she’s a menhera I could imagine that’s what she says to her bfs if they don’t give her love or attention (Sui Baiting)

Futa's one of my favorites since his line roughly translates to "I found a bad/evil person" but the "bad/evil" label is on his character silhouette.

Shidou is both genius and hilarious. "I am hopeful..." -> "For a death sentence" x 3. Bro wants it so bad.

Baby Amane deserves better. “I think you are the one in the wrong” but the “wrong” is labeled on her! She also has jail bars imagery.

Muu is just saying "You are mean."

Mikoto is, "What did I?", "What Crime?"

He's saying "I really don't know what sins I've committed." But they're making use of words to reveal things about the character by putting them in char silhouettes or around them, etc.

The phrase 僕は一体 in isolation means unity/one body. It technically means "I am." From a philosophical standpoint "I think therefore I am" and the meaning of "I am." Repeating it multiple times adds foreshadowing to his DID.

“It felt so warm” “warm warm warm”

Someone give Yuno a heater.

"I'm sorry, I'm a baka" Baka on his character silhouette.

[clericsong]

sunday and robin headcanons 🕊

cw: mentions of religious grooming, manipulation, and abuse

1. sunday felt immense guilt as he wavered from believing in the harmony into believing in the order for being a "traitor" and so he would pray penance everyday, not because he wanted to be forgiven (he felt beyond it), but because he felt immense anxiety over being punished for his "sin" specifically through something bad happening to robin. the day he missed his prayers, robin got shot.

looking back now, perhaps his plan failing had also been part of his punishment. but he also worries that ena may see it fit to punish him as well due to his failure. so he prays even harder now out of his fear for robin's safety.

2. because sunday was the more sensitive child but still always sidelined his needs for robin, robin developed her strong sense of will and self out of firming up her resolve in order to be a grounding presence for sunday, and also out of feeling pressured to be the "perfect idol and sister" worthy of her brother's sacrifice and love for her

3. sunday suffers from chronic pain on his hands similar to the presentation of stigmata.

4. gopher wood was the type of parent figure who made sunday's mistakes into opportunities to sermon him about morality and sin; he never punished sunday directly but would manipulate sunday this way through emphasizing his sinfulness and feeding his guilt so that sunday would end up seeking punishment or atonement himself. he also constantly praised robin over sunday to put pressure on her to pursue greater career heights that would isolate sunday from her while establishing to sunday his lack of worth in comparison to her to worsen his self-sacrificial tendencies.

5. robin mentions that she couldn't hear their mother's song during the disaster that took her life but sunday could. unbeknownst to robin, it's the song he used to sing to her as a lullaby. when she was shot, he made sure to sing it to her again while she was recovering.

6. robin is the one who kills the bugs for them because sunday can't even look at them.

7. sunday hates not being without gloves and especially avoids touching people he isn't close to without them. robin is one of the few people he doesn't feel anxious touching without gloves.

8. robin has an official celebrity fragrance that she was invited to assist in the formulation of. she specially requested that the fragrance have tea notes meant to resemble the tea sunday is fond of; she felt a signature fragrance designed for her could not be complete without a symbol of his part in her life.

9. robin has extremely broad music tastes and listens to everything, but she typically composes songs meant to fit her image as an idol.

10. sunday says harsh words when angry while robin gives a cold shoulder when angry.

11. robin is very used to compliments and even flirtatious remarks due to her career and thus doesn't fluster easily. she's also become good at sensing who's being genuine and who's just trying to pander. sunday on the other hand is unexpectedly bashful in the face of forward interest and doesn't quite know how to respond to flirting.

12. the reason robin has such strong a strong belief in human kindness started from witnessing how kind and selfless sunday always was growing up together

[gingergofastboatsmojito]

The salt of life

Disclaimer: This makes no sense, it's just a list of Sydcarmy musings and analogies but I wanted to share it anyway.

In culinary metaphors

Syd is affecting Carmy like TABLE salt affects mixes in bakery. She enhances Carmy’s flavor, but does not change it. That’s not always a good thing. It all depends on finding the right balance and timing and ensuring the ingredients are correctly mixed because otherwise, the whole thing is ruined.

Salt is dangerous. As a matter of fact, it can kill you.

Salt is basically sodium. Sodium is poison when incorrectly used, but it also makes the ❤️ beat when its levels are balanced out with the potassium in our blood.

In medical terms

Syd is the heart.

Carmy is the circulatory system that would dry up and die unless the heart irrigates it.

The Bear, their place, is the blood. The family.

What makes the heart beat is electricity.

They generate this power. This spark. And it can get out of control, like all sparks, of course.

That’s the chemistry they create when they are together → Beating.

None make sense without the other, BECAUSE THEY FORM A SYSTEM, is you separate the veins and arteries from the heart and the blood, they are simply lifeless. Isolated they don't make much sense.

THEY ARE A SYSTEM. THE MAIN SYSTEM.

How that system works

She lit the spark in him and gave him a heart when he was used to being a robot who only worked and smoked the competition.

Sydney could definitely work without Carmy, but at this point, it wouldn't make sense for her. She would feel lifeless, even if she wins 100 stars elsewhere. Her place is The Bear, the restaurant and the chef. Because that's what she chose with her heart.

Carmy has worked and thrived without her and wouldn't do it again unless it's out of spite, just to show her.

However, I don't think it'll come to that like it once did with Michael, or his parents, he has learned that lesson the hard way by now.

Carmy works as a SYSTEM, as part of something bigger than him, if he becomes isolated, S3 Carmy takes the wheel. He doesn't work like that, he crashes and burns.

But during most of S3 the "spark" Syd ignited in him, the one that got the blood flowing again, gave him a heart, a purpose, where there was only a hurt man who felt so much pain that couldn't even express it and thus, sublimated it in the form of a work addiction and functional depression, and therefore couldn't overcome it either, got out of control.

The SYSTEM was broken, because the elements that formed it attempted to work separately. There was no synergy, just energy that was out of balance. Not completely, but mostly.

Back to the salt

I have already gone over the analogy between Carmy and onions, acid, etc. Most in the fandom have, but here's a reminder of what I think about that:

So, the result of mixing culinary purpose salt (table salt) with acid ingredients is a WEAKER ACID.

We can all agree on Carmy being "intense", right?

Well, when in contact with her he can calibrate himself better.

I emphasize "contact" because when they are OUT OF TOUCH, the effect is almost instantaneous and painfully obvious in Carmy, which has always been, and in S3 it started to become more apparent in her too, as you can see in these previous entries:

They belong together to balance each other out, when there's this distance between them, that we saw in S3, THEY ARE IMBALANCED.

Salt is the balancer ingredient in any recipe. It enhances what needs to be enhanced and neutralizes what needs to be neutralized if used correctly

But salt on its own is no good, it needs to work as part of a recipe, a dish, A SYSTEM.

She's the salt, his salt, the one that brought flavor back to his life, and that's why his story re-started the day she came into his life. Carmy and all that he represents, the restaurant he inherited, the family in it, the family business that Cicero keeps funding, the extended family now Syd found at The Bear, is the system. He is a system that needs to be balanced and sometimes neutralized. Salt is the main ingredient for him, because he lacks of it, he's acid.

Bonus track: Le Chatelier's principle

I have mentioned this before but it bears repeating→ When her dishes were out of balance it was always because of the "acid" ingredient, which means she's outta balance too. Carmy doesn't balance her, he doesn't have that effect on her. In chemistry, acids tend to dissolve salt BUT they can create NEW SALTS too (Le Chatelier's principle). She's fighting this because she knows that once she fully lets Carmy in, it's gonna be the end of the world as she knows it. She won't be able to fight it much longer after this breaking point ↓

Remember to follow my tag #Gingerpovs 💋

[night-zaveri]

Marble Hornets may be 15 years old but I'm gonna tag this as spoilers for my friends who I've introduced to the series yesterday

I don't think we as fans realize how selfless Alex was throughout the series - especially considering everything that was happening.

First evidence of this was him trying to move away from it all. I mean, to our knowledge that town was where Alex grew up. Its where all his friends were, all his memories were made, and he abandoned it all to get away from the operator. This could be excused as him trying to run away from his 'stalker', but then comes the point of the tapes.

At some point, Alex recognized that this entity stalking him was not human - so what would moving away do to fix that? But he knew it had some connection to the tapes based on his reaction to Amy questioning his possession of a camera and Alex panicking, asking her to get rid of it in one of the entries. That happened ~3 years after everything and things seemed to have been getting better for him; Amy pointing out that he was acting weird, implying that at some point Alex began acting more like himself, and interacting with a friend from back home, Seth. But even before that, he tried to get rid of the tapes. Alex was clearly at one point passionate about Marble Hornets, so to burn all of his progress would have been an arduous task - but still one he was willing to take if it meant cutting the Operator off from everyone else.

And that really emphasizes the relationship Alex had with Jay. Yes, it took some arguing, but Alex didn't have to give Jay the tapes. He had to have trusted him to an extent to let that transaction take place. "Oh," I hear you ask "But maybe it was just an easier way to get rid of the tapes so Alex could leave sooner" I hear you say from beyond the screen, but I ask you, consider the following. Alex had been keeping up with Jay through the channel upon finding out its existence, and upon seeing Jay was beginning to get involved with the Operator, Alex tracked down his apartment and tried to burn the tapes - thus, in his mind, cutting off Jay from the entity now stalking him. Note: Alex knew Jay was not in the apartment at the time of the fire, there was no attempt on Jay's life.

Then, upon seeing that Jay was still insistent on solving this 'mystery', Alex came to him but kept Jay at arms length, willing to help and hoping to find answers in return about Amy's whereabouts after the previously discussed entry. I hear you cry once again through the screen "But when he and Jay first met up in the abandoned shack, Alex had a knife on him" and thus I must implore you remember that totheark, most notably Brian, had been terrorizing him up to that point. Jay brought a knife to the abandoned house, and yet no one accuses him of trying to murder Tim. Alex was being actively hunted and wanted to defend himself. Was he kind of an asshole to Jay? Yes, but he was never actively antagonistic until later in the series.

From there, that antagonistic behavior is driven by the fact that Jay begins to impede his mission. At some point, Alex comes to terms with the fact that he will never find Amy, and that she's likely dead - which by itself was probably like a knife in the heart after also losing Seth. (Often times these two are grouped into the list of Alex's victims, but I must implore us to remember that he actually never hurt them, actively or accidentally. Their only fault was proximity to him.) His new goal becomes stopping the spread of the Operator, which Jay compromises by getting Jessica involved.

Alex saw what the Operator had done not only to him, but his friends and had to make a call. Once he realized Tim was the source and Jay was actively spreading it to random people, he knew he had two choices; kill himself/isolate himself until the Operator lost interest in him (as we know is possible from the three year gap where he had moved away and got rid of any objects relating to the operator), or he could confront the source - getting rid of it so that no one else had to suffer the same way he did. Was killing Jay and trying to kill Tim the answer? No, but at the same time Alex had been part of a downward mental spiral at the start that Jay ended up reviving about halfway through the series. That was the only way Alex could think of that would prevent countless more dying and being sentenced to madness like himself.

Alex walked back into fire to try, sacrificing everything he has ever known and loved, al so that no one else would have to know the pain he had experienced. In the end it drove him to his death, but what an incredibly selfless act to begin with.

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

Ah fuck it Changes I would make to mha if god came down, pt 2

Fuyumi Todoroki should have been a hero and the more I think about this the more I will die on this hill. A) there's a severe lack of important female heroes and while Fuyumi is a side character I would have her take Endeavwhore's place in almost ALL of the times they fight Touya, both to give her more presence and because Touya being 'taken down' in any capacity by his abuser kind of sickens me. B) I want Enji a lot less present in the Todoroki plot than he currently is, even if he still gets some kind of a redemption. Fuyumi being a hero could both take his role physically and ALSO would give Shouto an actual reason for wanting to be a hero. C) I've always wondered like... why exactly Shouto would continue wanting to be a hero as he distanced himself from his father. His admiration for All Might doesn't seem like a good enough reason if his entire life has just been so isolated to only a few people and the major presence in his life his is abusive father who he's only ever seen misuse the power he has as a hero for his own gain. Fuyumi being a hero would actually give Shouto another hero role model to look up to, another reason to only use his ice, and give him a CONTINUED reason to want to be a hero. D) Also, Fuyumi's supposed to represent the 'fawn' response to abuse, and so her actively trying to do exactly what her dad wants and make a hero of herself and STILL be overlooked and discarded by him could really hammer in how Endeavwhore doesn't actually give a shit about any of his kids, even if they do what he wants; unless they're strong enough to beat All Might *with fire* like he wants he doesn't care.

I'm changing the entire entrance exam. It emphasizes entirely the wrong thing - killing things - above what heroes are actually supposed to focus on: saving people. If your hero school and society puts such an emphasis on 'taking down the bad guy' as opposed to saving people as heroes are supposed to do, that should actually be a point of discussion. That said, even if hero society still emphasizes defeating villains and looking cool for the camera above saving civilians, I'm changing it anyway:

Paper portion is the same as we get very little detail on it. My only change is UA students are tested on three foreign languages as well: English, Chinese, and Korean. They're expected to have a high level in all of them, mainly to add emphasis on just how hard UA is to get into (1 in 300 acceptance rate is fucking INSANE)

Practical portion!! This is completely revamped. Instead of the robots, current UA students are used as stand in civilians during a villain attack in a simulated urban area (a la the canon exam). There's only one giant robot, a few smaller ones, and the zero pointer. Students are put into groups of ten and are tasked with working together to rescue as many people as possible and take down as many villains as possible. Villain points are still emphasized over rescue points (which can now be gained from rescuing civilians and taking down the zero pointer, though very few do the latter), and the UA students are given pathways under the simulated area they can escape to if need be for safety. The practical feels more well rounded and realistic this way.

Also, this gives Shinsou an actual reason to be pissy about not getting into the hero course; the reason he got so few points in the practical was because as soon as the other people in his group found out about his quirk they refused to work with him, tanking his chances of almost any villain points (the mini villains are also robots). It also actually shows discrimination against people with 'villainous quirks' in hero society, something Horikoshi bought up but conveniently forgot about.

Kaminari doesn't have Whey Mode, it's a huge weakness and it's insane no one ever takes it seriously because of how big a safety risk it is for him. He can give himself nerve damage or kill himself if he uses his power too intensely, yes, but that's it.

Iida Tensi actually dies after being attacked by Stain.

Inko Midoriya is told about One for All and All Might's identity. She deserves to be in the know and it gives both All Might and Izuku another person for their support systems; she's the main character's only parent and yet she's so uninvolved in everything. It's disappointing. She would get more of a chance to voice her worries to both Izuku and Yagi, and she and Yagi could actually develop a friendship, which in all honestly Yagi really needs.

Momo is Class President and Tenya is Vice President.

Also like... Momo actually gets a chance to show off how powerful and strategic she is before we see her weaknesses hurt her. She's one of the most potentially powerful character in the fucking show die to her ability to literally create anything and yet we barely see what she's capable of before she is functionally rendered useless due to the author's inability to write female characters. I do like her arc about how her insecurities can get the best of her in the worst times and overcoming it but I want to expand on that. I want several scenes of her being academically and physically fantastic, top of her class, winning spars and overall seeming like the perfect up and coming hero, and THEN in the Sports festival, where she's one of the last few players, that's when we see her freeze up for the first time when one of her plans goes completely out of wack. And then, later (bc I'm putting the first villain arc as the Stain arc so USJ happens after that) when they're attacked for the first time, totally unprepared, she freezes up again and is saved by Jirou. This establishes her weakness - when she's in a situation she hasn't planned for or can't control she freezes up and that gets the best of her. Her arc is then learning how to better improvise in the heat of things (possibly becoming closer friends with Midoriya due to his ability to do exactly this) which she gets to show off during the Final Exams.

Also GIVE NEJIRE MORE PLOT TIME. Her, Mirio and Amajiki are meant to be a TRIO. I want her to get just as many fight scenes and emotional scenes as the other two, and let her be an inspiration to some of her younger classmates as well who also may have less conventionally strong Quirks, like Uraraka or Hagakure!!

Speaking of which: let Ochako be overpowered god damn it. Gravity manipulation is ALWAYS op (just look at Chuuya from BSD) and yet Ochako's never allowed to be just as powerful as she really should be. She has the potential to be one of the strongest characters in the series - she could basically neutralize as many hits or weapons as she could touch, could crush people into the ground with gravity, make herself or other people faster by making their feet lighter, or any other number of things but we never get to SEE IT!!

Also Ochako's foil is now Twice and Hawks kills Toga instead. I love both of them but Twice is unquestionably the more interesting character between the two from a narrative stand point and makes a very good foil to Ochako.

Hawks should have been used as a scapegoat for the Commission. From the beginning we've seen how he was basically brainwashed and conditioned to see everything they did as right; yet even when given chances to go against them that people in situations like his did take he continued looking up to them and supporting their actions. Like maybe after Dabi released the video of him killing Twice; the Commission uses him as a way to be like "hey, see!! We're the good guys!! He's the bad one so he's gone now!" Hawks killed for them and believed in them till his end and his reward would be either dead or as good as, a scapegoat for a mission they gave him. A tragedy of his own making, because he had chances to step away from them but chose not to. It would also be used to show how while the Meta Liberation Front aren't the good guys... well, neither are the HPSC. Like, at all.

Nana Shimura was a vigilante not a legal hero

And I've reached post character limit. Damn