#but i do remember people talking about them when s3 was airing

[theaccidentfactory]

I'm officially late to this (I'm sorry I'm a lesbian and somehow didn't see it until my 10th rewatch of amphibia) but why is Mr. Boonchuy so...........

[matan4il]

Buddie 613 meta

We now know that the man who risked himself to get Buck out of the line of fire during the shooting arc is Jeshan, which means ‘clear’ (if you’re interested, you can find more name meanings for 911 characters here). So let me just giggle for a second about the fact that 911 had once again reunited Buddie with a character who can be referred to as Captain Clear Me(h)ta. Coincidence? IDK. But I have to admit, it kinda made me reflect back and feel nostalgic. When I first started watching the show, I had no intention of writing meta for 911, but after going ballistic when 309 aired, I knew I would HAVE to use the s3 hiatus to write down all my thoughts about everything Buddie related so far. That’s what I did, I wrote and shared my baby, my first round of Buddie meta. That’s where it was supposed to end, but then people asked and encouraged me to write meta for the eps in 3b as they would air, too. I figured I could try, and that’s how my Buddie weekly meta posts were born. At the time, there was no one else writing proper weekly meta (I don’t mean a summary/review of the ep, or meta posts that stand on their own, but proper analysis on Buck, Eddie and those who matter to them, organized and serialized for each ep as it aired). And now, I’ve been writing them for almost 3.5 seasons. And I feel like they’ve inspired others to do the same. TBH, I can’t actually remember seeing weekly meta posts in other fandoms (maybe they exist and I just haven’t come across them, IDK). So I got all emotional, thinking about how these posts may be love notes to Buddie and the show, but most of all they’re a love letter to the wonderful people who have been supportive and encouraging, who’ve been reblogging the posts, who’ve been commenting on them and telling me that what I do makes a difference for them. Thank you so much, these posts wouldn’t exist without you. You have a much bigger impact on the fandom than you might have realized! So if Captain Mehta is indeed a nod to the meta, it’s a loving, appreciative nod that belongs to all of you. ~~

When Chim shows up to escort Hen to work, he ends up sitting down for a talk with Denny instead, and I really enjoyed this scene, it was lovely, but it also once again emphasized the difference between the firefam kids’ relationship with their parents’ colleagues and the r/s Buck and Chris have. Chim talks to Hen’s son when he happens to come across the kid, but he only sits down for a proper conversation because Denny implies Hen and Karen are up to something intimate, and Chim shouldn’t interrupt them just yet. Consider how different that is to how Buck intentionally looks to spend time with and dedicated to Chris! And then Chim is impressed by how smart Denny is. It’s cute, but it also reveals just how little they interact that this comes as a surprise to Chim. It’s so different to the intimate familiarity of a parent, which is what we know Buck has with Chris (and that Chris has with Buck, which can even be seen in the kid’s teasing, for example regarding the snoring in 414). ~~

You might have seen that, when the promo came out, I momentarily lost my sanity and posted this. I just couldn’t get over the fact that they actually had Eddie correct the chief on the duration of Buck’s death. It was such a spouse thing to do. It was a declaration about the anguish that each single second represented, when Eddie couldn’t breathe because Buck wasn’t. It was a confession of sorts, on how Eddie felt as he desperately NEEDED his husband to live (I’m not even joking when I ascribe him this title, Eddie said with his whole chest, “THAT IS MY IDIOT HUSBAND THAT I HAD TO WATCH DIE FOR THREE MINUTES AND SEVENTEEN SECONDS AND I WILL NEVER FORGET ANY OF THOSE SECONDS, NOR LET ANYONE ELSE DO THAT”). It was a glimpse into how time must have moved differently for him as each second etched itself forever into Eddie’s mind. And yes, it’s a clear parallel to 413, when we witness time slowing down for Eddie. And I mentioned in my post that in both scenarios, Buck is just out of his reach, so close, but simply not close enough. In one case, this forced Eddie to believe he must now accept his own death. In the other, he couldn’t accept the possibility that Buck would die, so he just fought harder, and if he couldn’t save Buck with one course of action, he tried another, Eddie just had to keep going, 'coz the idea of those three minutes and seventeen seconds turning into an eternity? Unacceptable. ~~

But notice in my unhinged post from that day, I used the word ‘counting.’ Eddie counted the seconds, and this is revealed to us at a poker game where Buck is counting the cards. I already noticed that when we saw the promo, but this connection was reinforced in the ep itself when Chief Williams vocalized what Buck was doing. The thing about counting is that it’s reserved for what matters, what’s crucial. Buck is counting the cards in order to win, and he wants to win because it matters to Eddie. Buck wasn’t the one who initiated the search for a poker game where he could use his newfound skills, Eddie was the one to take that initiative. And he could bring Buck along without telling him where they’re going (I would normally scream for a whole separate paragraph just about Eddie telling Buck to dress nice and there being no need for any further explanation or prompting, but we were so well fed, I’ll have to scream about it into my fist for just one sentence) 'coz Eddie was so sure his husband would go along with whatever crazy scheme he’d come up with. And he was right, even though Buck didn’t think it would end well, he still went along with what his husband wanted. Please let me reiterate: Buck’s counting cards because Eddie is so important to him, and Eddie was counting the seconds because Buck’s his vital sign. ~~

Another thing to keep in mind about the poker game is that the only other time we’ve seen Buck playing poker was in 312. In that ep, Eddie was off to meet Christopher’s school teachers (leading to his eventual lackluster r/s with Ana), so having a free evening, Buck spends it with Maddie, Chim and Josh (and is told he unequivocally sucks at Poker). Jokes were made about setting Josh and Buck up, and it was implied whatever Buck’s sexuality was, that was not the reason why Maddie abstained from making the match. What I find interesting is seeing how far our boys have come! In that ep, they were operating separately, and it led them down the wrong paths.

In this ep, Buck and Eddie were inseparable both as a couple (even sharing the winnings from Buck’s new talent, because what don’t these two share? And I was particularly chewing glass when Chief Williams asks Buck how he wanted HIS winnings, but instead of answering her, he looks at his husband. THEY ARE SO FREAKING MARRIED), and as a family unit with Chris (which is maybe a good moment to point out that all of the romantic couples were paired off in 613, and so were Buddie! Now, one could argue that Buck and Eddie were paired off because, well... who else is left for them to hang out with? But 312 is a reminder that when the show wants to, it can push the main cast and minor characters into the same orbit, so it still didn’t HAVE to pair Buck and Eddie off here. It chose to. On top of that, by showing them with Chris as well, 911 reminded us they’re far more bonded than just two best bros hanging out together ‘coz none of their other friends are single). In short, during 312, Buck lost and Eddie was about to be lost on a detour in his romantic journey. In 613, they ARE a family, they work as one throughout the ep, not just in parts of it, and they’re both winning. ~~

Something that gets to me is that when I first shared the BTS pic of Buddie at the poker game, it was clear that Eddie was just bursting with self confidence. He looked like he would be the star of that game. But when we got the promo, we discovered that it was actually going to be Buck who would shine that night. So what makes me slightly froth at the mouth is that all of that sexy confidence we picked up on in the photo? It was real. We weren’t wrong. It just wasn’t confidence that Eddie had in himself, it’s confidence he has in Buck. All of his swagger? Is a reflection of how much he believes and enjoys seeing his husband be a star. I am gonna need 3-6 working weeks at least to recover from knowing this. ~~

Speaking of things that destroyed me forever, everything about the Buckley-Diaz family in this ep falls into that category. I mean, not only did we once again have incredibly domestic scenes, we had one that was very reminiscent of the lasagna one in 601 (Eddie with Chris at the table, Buck fussing around them only to join in once he brings along something to be consumed), reinforcing that this is THEIR NORM, we also had Eddie and Chris being so cute and supportive when it comes to Buck’s new ability (Chris calls him a superhero, Eddie goes along with it, and when Buck’s upset he didn’t get a better superpower, naming some he would have liked to have, Eddie comforts him by saying those other options sound horrible). 

And then to top it all off, we had Buck and Chris cooking together. Bobby’s been explicitly acknowledged as basically being Buck’s dad by both of them, and we know Bobby’s been teaching Buck how to cook. Now we get Buck doing the same with Chris, clearly marking them as father and son, especially since this is done with just the two of them, this special time that’s allocated just to their bond together. Eddie is not needed as a middleman. I know that this isn’t news, but every single time the show reinforces this truth, that Buck is Christopher’s other dad, that their bond is that deep, I gain 10 years, so I have to mention it. ~~

For 613, I made my weekly gifset about Buck and answers, but I’d actually like to elaborate on what you see there. In 602, at the happiness center call, we see Buck looking to Lev in search for his own answers on what his happiness looks like. When he still can’t find any, he turns to Hen, because she always has them. Along this season, that’s been his theme. He’s trying to figure out what he wants in order to be happy, which is connected to the couch theme we’ve all been screaming about since 601 (and especially after he fell asleep on Eddie’s in 612). In 613, Buck suddenly finds that he’s the guy with the answers and he likes it. But has he really got them? Buck says these words to Eddie and Chris, and in addition to that, while he utters them, he’s literally captured in the same frame together with Eddie. But it’s also essential that we heard why Chris can’t just be given the answers. It’s in order to learn, Eddie tells him. That’s exactly what Buck has to do, he has to find his answers in order to learn from the search process. He’s not just there yet, but the framing of the whole scene coupled with the ongoing couch theme is very loud. ~~

What gets me maybe most of all in a whole ep of REALLY GOOD BUDDIE CONTENT, is the way the whole thing wraps up. The storyline on Buck’s new abilities doesn’t end with any commentary on those or on his recovery process. His last scene in this ep is the one with Chris. It follows directly the one with Hen and Karen, a scene which reminds us that we’re never surprised at either woman spending solo time with and caring about Denny, even though neither is biologically related to him, because they ARE BOTH his parents. In the same way, it’s only natural that we see Buck spending alone time with Chris, without Eddie around. It is so meaningful that the last shot of Buck in this ep is not about his story line at all, and neither his abilities, nor having died for several minutes is the point. Instead, the last, and therefore most significant shot of Buck in this very Buddie domestic ep, is him smiling at their son. I feel like that says everything about his trajectory.

~~ (my weekly meta posts) (my Buddie gifs) (all of my content)

~~ My tag list will follow in the reblog, please let me know  if you wanna be added/removed here.

~~ Thank you so much for reading and for any reblog, like, comment or supportive tag! Also, HUGE thank you to @whosoldherout​. On top of real life stuff, she makes her own amazing gifs AND helps make these posts so much better. She’s the one with the real superpowers!

[obxsummer]

Pieces of You // JJ Maybank

summary: you had grown tired of JJ's reckless nature and were suffering the silent treatment post-argument. so it's only fitting the next time he's careless it's to save you.

request: Heyyy, I love your work with all my heart!! I was wondering if you could write a JJ x reader fic, where in S3 at the end of episode 8 Topper burns the chateau down, but JJ has to save them because they didn’t notice the fire or anything? That would be so nice:)

warnings: minor injuries, angst bc it's me, crappy ending bc I didn't know what else to write ok

navigation

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Things had been a little too crazy for you and the Pogues. John B had supposedly managed to get arrested after knocking the shit out of Topper. Sarah did cheat on him after all, so his reaction was warranted in your mind. Kie had been busy dealing with the backlash of her parents while Pope and Cleo seemed to be the only duo without any major complications. Granted, Cleo did have to talk the boy out of killing Rafe for melting the cross but hey, minor details.

You and JJ however, were in the middle of the biggest argument you’d seen. At this point, you don’t even remember how it all happened minus the fact that the two of you stopped speaking shortly after his whole bike incident. JJ had the habit of being a little too careless for someone who had people that needed him and loved him. You were growing really tired of his reckless behavior. You loved JJ more than anything, but sometimes you wished he saw that his actions affected more than just him. You needed to know that he would be okay if you weren’t around to approve of his actions and make sure he didn’t go too far. 

JJ had been avoiding you since the moment you caught his gaze on the busted concrete. He knew he was fucked, and royally too. You’d warned him about being more careful and here he was doing powerslides from overpasses. 

He couldn’t get the words to work right to explain to you why he acted the way he did. It wasn’t just for the adrenaline rush, or because of his upbringing. JJ genuinely would do anything for you and the Pogues. He just happened to jump to the craziest way of getting there instead of taking the time to think it through.

“Will you just talk to me please?” His voice was pleading as he watched you move around your bedroom in a rushed fashion. You’d been quiet since Topper had dropped everyone off and your boyfriend was losing it with the silence. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Do you want to talk to me now? Where was this initiative when you practically dumped me off your bike into the truck bed? Or, better yet, where was this when you just stared at me blankly like I wasn’t sobbing over the fact that I thought you were dead?” You were getting angry quickly and JJ didn’t like it. 

He hesitated in his response, enough that you let out a huff of air in annoyance before turning away from him again. Recently, JJ panicked easily. It all started once he lost John B but got better for a while, especially when he had you. Now that everything was colliding, JJ was panicking. 

“I just didn’t know how else to get the cops away from-”

“You didn’t have to do something that involved you almost dying, JJ!” You shouted this time as the random pieces of clothing dropped from your hands. “I know you care. You care a lot for everyone but JJ… I care about you. I care so much that you break my heart when you do things like this because I can’t lose you! And neither can our friends! I know you don’t think far enough ahead for your personal consequences but please… please think about how everyone else would react if we lost you.”

JJ walked out on you sometime after that. You’d clearly upset him and your friends definitely felt the awkwardness but if you were honest, there was so much tension between everyone right now anyway. Your small family was starting to waver but you knew everything would work out. 

Sarah had called you all over to the Chateau, promising good news. You had yet to see her as you slowly approached the group, Kie, Cleo, Pope, and JJ already in attendance. There wasn’t much conversation to begin with, but it all fell silent the moment you stepped into view. Kie gave you a reassuring smile that didn’t do much to ease your nerves.

The blonde girl that had asked for your presence came walking down the steps of the Chateau not long after, sparing the awkward silence. “Hey, um, thanks for waiting. Look who decided to come home.”

John B stepped out of the doors of his childhood home, looking relatively fine for the hell he’d been through. You were shocked that he had managed to get out of jail so quickly, especially with Topper’s family status being put into play.

“Welcome back,” Cleo greeted with a smirk on her face. 

“Whoa! Good to see you, man.”

You let out a small laugh at John B’s surprise presence. “Welcome home, JB.” 

“You gotta be kidding me,” JJ scoffed from his spot across from you on the large tree branch. John B tucked his hands in his pockets and walked towards all of you solemnly. He looked really upset if you were being honest and it made you wonder what had really happened. 

“I have something I want to share with you guys,” Sarah said as she pulled the attention back to her. “I can get us down to Orinoco.”

“Are you serious?”

“What?”

“Okay, how’s that gonna happen?”

“My dad’s gonna let us use the plane-”

“Ward?”

“Your dad?”

You rolled your eyes at the pop-up comments that seemed never-ending. “Can y’all let the girl speak? Geez.”

Sarah’s gaze met yours as she offered up a small thankful smile. “We lay low tonight, then wheels up first thing in the morning.”

“Okay, that’s a lot to process. Your dad actually helping us,” Pope recounted in shock. “So we trusting Ward now?”

“Trust Sarah,” Kie offered with a solidifying nod at her own words. 

Pope and Cleo seemed excited about the plan as Sarah spoke up again. “But wait, I also just have one more thing to say. Um… since we’ve gotten back from the island, I’ve done some things I regret. A lot.”

Kie cleared her throat in the awkward silence that followed.

“Yeah, uh…” To your surprise, John B broke the quiet. “I feel…I feel like we’ve all done a thing or two that we regret.” His eyes glanced at the blonde next to him before he looked towards the ground again.

Sarah continued, “And I don’t…Poguelandia, guys. It’s all I’ve been able to think about. We were all together on that island and it was a good thing and I don’t want to ruin a good thing. And I-I just wanna know, are we still all in? Are we still all together? Because I am.”

Kie was the first to agree, wrapping Sarah in a hug before Cleo piled in on top of them.

“I still can’t believe you got the plane!” Pope smiled as he brought the Cameron girl in for a hug. “That’s actually insane.”

You took a deep breath as you watched them, well aware of JJ’s eyes on you. He’d been staring for a while now, always observant when it came to you. You took a few steps forward to embrace Sarah before retreating back to your own space next to Kie.

“Let’s go get Big John, alright? What do you say there, shit bird?” JJ tugged Pope under his arm as he regarded your friend. You found yourself pulled into the group hug next to Kie and Sarah, all of you waiting for John B to complete the circle.

“I think this deserves a woogity.”

You watched from the corner of your eye as John B stayed still in his spot. You shook your head slightly and made eye contact with him while smiling. “How long are you gonna pretend you’re not coming over here?”

Your best friend’s blank exterior broke at the question, glad to see a smidge of positive emotion from you over the past few days. He caved and made his way toward your group, quickly throwing his arms over your shoulders.

“Come over here, funny man. We don’t bite.” The seven of you hugged each other tightly, finally all back in the same place for once in what felt like forever. 

“Oh, we’re really doing this, aren’t we?”

Your small family was slowly rebuilding as everyone made their way into the Chateau for the night. John B and Sarah were quick to excuse themselves to his room, leaving the rest of you to entertain yourselves. 

“Jay,” You whispered his name quietly as he brushed past you to the kitchen in search of a beer. You blinked sudden tears from your eyes and looked up to the ceiling in an attempt to not cry. 

Letting out a deep breath, you quickly made your way to the guest bedroom where you and JJ had spent most of your time. You stared at the colossal mess of your things scattered amongst his along the furniture and floor. Your chest ached at the sight, wishing the two of you weren’t on such poor terms at the moment so you could actually enjoy the peace before setting off on another treasure hunt. 

Busying yourself with a shower in the attached bath, you figured some quiet time would help you clear your head and hopefully come up with a game plan of what to say to your boyfriend. You didn’t mean to make him feel like shit for expressing his love the way he did, but you were scared for him. 

The hot water of John B’s shower was soothing as you took the quiet time for yourself. Eventually, you had to leave the comforting steam when it began to run cold. Completely disheveled and stressed, you pulled on some comfy clothes and attempted to dry your wet hair before you had to face the music again. 

You let out a sigh and reached for the metal doorknob to walk back into the spare bedroom only for a searing pain to stretch across your hand. Jumping back with a yelp, a rush of panic overwhelmed you once you realized how hot it was in the small bathroom. 

“JJ!” You yelled instinctively as you searched for the hand towel to possibly grab the handle with. The fabric held the heat off long enough for you to open the door. The sight of bright flickering flames filled the room you and JJ had claimed for yourselves, burning pieces of each other into ashes. You stumbled back in shock before the adrenaline kicked in and you ran into the smoky room in hopes of salvaging some of the items.

“Y/N!” The boy in question came flying through the bedroom door a second later. He could barely see you through the thick smoke but managed to catch a quick movement of your figure across the room. “Y/N, we have to go!”

Your heart was pounding in your ears too loud for you to register his voice. The few items you’d grabbed in a rush were thrown in a canvas tote bag Kie had given you before you spun straight into JJ’s chest. 

“We gotta go, baby, come on.” JJ tugged his your t-shirt up over your mouth and nose to help filter the smoke before doing the same and leading you out of the room. Most of the house was covered in the bright orange light of the fire as you observed it in shock. You could barely focus as JJ pushed your hips towards the window of Big John’s office that was left open from their prior escape. He was quick to climb out and turned back to catch you. Glass shattered from another window causing the two of you to duck down and JJ to grab your wrist to tug you away from the structure. 

JJ’s grip on your wrist eased up as he brought you towards the dock where everyone had gathered in their escape. Your boyfriend’s touch was gentle as he helped you sit on the ground to take a deep breath and cough out the smoke in your lungs. “It’s okay, ‘m right here, baby.”

Everyone was visibly relieved when they saw you and JJ come running from the smoldering flames on the side of the house. It all happened so fast that they felt guilty for completely forgetting you were in the shower. JJ had taken one small look and took off before anyone had a chance to stop him. 

Your hands were shaky with the anxiety and fear that was coursing through your body. In the few moments before you found JJ, you were thinking the worst. You thought you were going to lose the person who mattered most to you in the midst of an argument and that was terrifying. You’d never forgive yourself if you lost JJ ever, but to be on rough terms was a nightmare you’d never recover from. 

“Hey, hey. Look at me. Everyone’s fine, I’m right here.” JJ’s blond hair was suddenly visible in your view as he forced you to look up at him and uncurl from the ball you’d shifted into. “What did you grab?”

You released your suffocating grip on the bag you’d practically filled. In the midst of your panic, you didn’t realize your friends had moved away to give you and JJ some space. You settled back against the posts of the wooden dock to watch as he went through the items you grabbed.

JJ’s favorite hoodie, a handful of Polaroids Kiara had taken of your group, his rings, the necklace he’d saved up to buy you for your anniversary. JJ was careful with the items as he shifted through them, his eyes suddenly damp with tears. 

“Y/N, sweetheart, all of this is replaceable. You aren’t,” He consoled as he finally made eye contact with you. Both of you were crying now, emotions running high from the events that just took place.

You took a shaky breath as you fought back the sob threatening to break through. “I...I felt like that room was us. All of our memories, and it was just crumbling and you weren’t there. JJ, I can’t lose you.”

“I know, I know.” JJ didn’t hesitate to pull you against his chest as you cried against him. He’d felt the panic himself a few moments before when he realized you were still showering and blissfully unaware of the damage awaiting outside. JJ refused to let you be in pain because of him and his actions from here on out. It wasn’t fair to any of your friends but especially you. “Not doing anything majorly stupid from here on out. Maybe just a little here and there, but-”

You laughed slightly and pulled your head from his shirt to look over his shoulder where the Chateau was crumbling from the flames. Heart heavy, you leaned your cheek against JJ’s shoulder and let him hold you, hoping this was the lowest your group could go and things could only look up from here.

--

navigation

[astaldis]

Why is House of the Dragon allegedly so much better than The Witcher?

Just watched House of the Dragon S2 and I must say - I found it pretty boring in many parts?

Sorry, but the whole thing mostly and disappointingly feels like a very long and repetitive prologue to what might come in S3. And they do many things that are loudly criticised in The Witcher, some even a lot worse, but with HotD people seem to not mind? Honestly, this really puzzles me. Yes, the costumes and make-up might be better, but:

It's all over the place on the whole continent of Westeros and even outside of Westeros with people traveling from place to place in no time at all. OK, on dragon back, you can do that, but they also do it on foot and by boat. I remember some of the geography of the continent because I was very much into Game of Thrones some years back when it aired and also read all the Song of Ice and Fire books that were available (not the ones HotD is based on though), but the constant jumps from one place to the next are really confusing imo and you'd need to have a map by your side all the time to remember where is what. When the Witcher does that, it is criticised heavily.

Same with people, there are so many main and minor characters, some even with similar or the same names, how the fuck are you supposed to remember who's who and who is related to who and how, who belongs to which house, and who's allied to who and who's feuding who without looking it up again all the time somewhere on the internet? With all the incest and extramarital activities resulting in a host of illegitimate progeny, I found this extremely confusing, a lot more so than in The Witcher.

And does anybody have a shimmer of an idea of how much time has passed since the old king's death? Must be at least months but you hardly ever get any hints about it. And this poor girl, how long is she wandering around the desolate highlands alone trying to find the wild dragon? Must have been weeks judging by the other things that happened in the meantime ...

Maybe it's just me, but I did not find any of the characters really compelling. Not that they are not well acted, the acting is good enough, but emotionally they did not really leave any impression on me. Maybe the only character I find a bit interesting is Queen Helaena and this very young Lord Tully who shows unexpected spine and stands up to Daemon in front of the Riverlords. There are so many seemingly random new side characters popping up all over the place, too, miraculously gaining importance that one is supposed to keep track of, but also none of them that was in any way inspiring it me. And the poor cute Bracken knight only drew his sword and was already dead in the mud on a battlefield with hundreds of men hardly a second later ...

Rhaenyra suddenly and out of the blue kisses this lowborn woman (was her name even mentioned? I cannot for the life of me remember it). I don't have anything against women kissing, not at all, but why? There is no mention of anything going on between those two at all afterwards. Are they in a secret relationship now or not? I haven't read the book and don't know if it's in there, but how is that kiss, as it seems to have no relevance to the plot at all, not 'woke' catering to the LGBTQ community? But everything the Witcher does is?

Then there are the dragons you have to keep track of in addition to the many people and places. How many dragons are there? And who rides which one? And why the heck would a dragon in its right mind choose this dubious Ulf character who accidentally stumbles into its cave as a rider???

And the plot? Honestly, was there, beside the one fight between the three dragons, anything that was really exciting? I remember nothing, no battles, no good sword fights, nothing but TALK. At lest 90% of the plot is repetitive talking about politics and plotting and scheming. I have nothing against a nice political intrigue and of course that's what happens at courts and it can be interesting too. It was in Game of Thrones where you had really interesting characters, too. But here I found it mostly boring and uninspired. And The Witcher is criticised for having too much politics and too many side characters although it has a LOT less so than this season of HotD.

They also seem to have conveniently forgotten that in GoT they established that Targaryans would not burn from fire. In the books this happens only once because some kind of blood magic was performed, but in the show it happened several times, so it seemed to be the rule, not the exception. HotD thus kind of refutes their own made-up lore, which I found confusing and had to look it up online. (They could easily have made Aegon suffer from bad injuries due to the fall instead.)

The music was rather uninspiring, too, imo, except for the intro which is the well-known one taken from GoT and the music at the end of E8 which was partly based on the Rains of Castamere, otherwise there was not a single piece of the soundtack that would make me want to buy and listen to it. The Witcher has quite a few that I listen to again and again (including, of course, Jaskier's songs, but many more).

What I also like a lot better about The Witcher: It does not take itself that seriously and there is quite a bit of humour in it. In HofD S2, the imo funniest piece of dialogue was: "I want you to fuck my wives." - "How many wives do you have?" (that was between this pirate commander, don't remember his/her? name, and Lord Tyland, was that his name?) . And maybe the truest sentence in the show by this random braggart in the tavern who miraculously turns into a dragon rider Ulf: "A sense of humour would do you all good."

All in all, the only thing that I have found to be really good and outstanding about HotD S2 are the dragons. Without them, it would be less than mediocre. I don't think I would want to rewatch it and feel no desire to look up any of the characters and their relationships etc to find out more about them. I cannot say in how far it is or isn't faithful to the source material as I have not read the book(s?) HotD is based on, but even if it's more faithful to the source material, this has failed to make it a great watch like GoT (minus the ending, that was worse than the poorest fanfic could have thought it up). With the dragons it is alright to watch once, hoping for a more exciting S3, but there is absolutely no way it deserves higher critic/audience scores/ratings than The Witcher S3, the contrary.

Update: To clarify, I don't really mind many things that I mentioned about HotD, I can totally live with an unclear timeline and many characters, even if it's not easy to remember every name, relationship etc. If I really like a show or character, I simply look it up, no problem. But these are all things I have seen people criticise The Witcher for on social media, and then they say HotD is so much better. That's what really puzzles me. What I definitely liked about HotD is the diverse cast and that there are many female characters with a lot of screen time and importance. It's not a bad show, only I like The Witcher much better despite its flaws. This is not meant as an anti HotD post but a pro Witcher post.

[littlegaybean1]

Ok ok ok...

It's been almost 18 years since it aired, but who cares I'm talking about it anyway.

I've seen a lot of people hating on Cyberwoman. And yeah, I understand why. That costume choice was, er, quite something. But it's still my favourite episode and yk why? The build up. The plotline. And most of all the acting. Oh my god the acting. My favourite scene has got to be the tourist office, because oh my days have you seen the way Gareth David Lloyd plays Ianto? It gives me chills. After watching it, I rewatched Everything Changes and Ghost Machine because I never actually noticed Ianto in them, unless he's speaking. The only time you ever see him is when he intentionally draws attention to himself, which he rarely does. I watched them again, specifically focusing on Ianto. He's barely in them. He's one of the main 5 characters, but in the first three episodes he has one of the most minor roles. Like, you see him let Gwen into the Hub, delete the stuff she typed to make herself remember and see him introduced. That's it for episode one. And yes, everyone has a minor role in that, but you never actually see him as part of the team. He works alone, always.

Episode three really highlights that for me. He appears every so often with a funny comment. He has less screen time than Rhys. If it wasn't for the fact that I was actively thinking about him, I would have completely forgotten that he was there. One of his rare appearances really got to me - the ending. Jack gives him the ghost machine to put in the secure archives. That's normal, the archives are his area.

Except Jack doesn't even look at him. He just holds it out, like Ianto is a servant, not someone with years of experience dealing with aliens. Ianto worked at Torchwood One. He was the most qualified of anyone on that team when each of them joined. Owen was medically trained, but no experience with aliens. Tosh was a genius, but she had only experienced aliens through wrong blueprints of their technology, plus a charge of treason. Gwen had police training, nothing more. She got a job by being stubborn, and in the right place at the right time. Jack was reckless, dangerous, and did not want to join Torchwood. He only did it because he needed to do something in the 100+ years that he would be waiting for the Doctor.

Ianto had everything taken from him all at once, and nobody bothered to check on him. He looked fine, so they didn't give it any more thought. They of all people should know that that's not how it works. Ianto was repressing his grief, exhausting himself with the amount he worked both at his job and caring for Lisa. He never had any desire to cause anyone any harm. He was blinded by overwhelming grief. When humans experience loss, the automatic reaction is to cling to what you have. For most people, that means reaching out to friends and family, creating a support system. Ianto lost all his friends, all at once. We don't hear about his family until S3 (goddamn S3), but it's implied that they aren't close. I haven't listened to any of the audios, so if there's more to it than that then I don't know it.

Ianto had nothing, except an echo pretending to be Lisa. He did the most natural thing in the world, clung to what he had. Or at least, what he thought he had. Don't blame Ianto for the events of Cyberwoman. His actions correlate with normal reactions to grief. Yes, his actions were extreme. But so was his grief.

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s3 ep6: Remember

I love B'Elanna episodes, and this is one of her best. There's so much good material for B'Elanna here, and Roxann Dawson gives a fantastically nuanced and hearfelt performance, playing both her and the character of Korenna in this one.

This is probably one of the best episodes of the whole series in terms of directly, confrontationally taking on a relevant social issue, in the way that the original series did in the 60s. The absolutely terrifying thing about it is how much more revelant it's gotten since it first aired, and it just shows how important Star Trek is in terms of saying things that no other show would talk about, or would even be allowed to talk about, in today's political climate.

It starts off nice and normal, with some aliens, the Enarans, visiting Voyager and helping them make some improvements in engineering. B'Elanna is working with two of the scientists, who have been there for a few days, and who she has a good rapport with. We get a little scene with B'Elanna being Harry's wingman with the younger scientist, who likes him (B'Elanna and Harry are such cute bffs!!! I love it!!!) and then B'Elanna goes back to her quarters, where she goes to sleep and has a very racy dream, and has to be woken up from it the next morning because she missed the start of her duty shift. She then tells her other bff Chakotay all about her racy dream, and he's all like 'get it girl, I won't telll anybody you were late for work because of your sex dream, I got you fam.' (Because on Star Trek, people just tell their friends about their sex dreams, or the sexy candle ghosts they inherit, whatever. Nobody has any boundaries on a starship, I guess! lol)

But she keeps having the dreams, and in them she seems to be experiencing someone else's life. Eventually the dreams break through when she's awake, and when she collapses in the corridor, they realize their telepathic alien visitors must be behind it somehow, but they deny intentionally doing anything.

Meanwhile, the dreams go from being fun and romantic to more and more serious. Korenna, the woman whose life B'Elanna is experiencing, is torn between her lover, who comes from a culture outside her society's mainstream, and her father, who's part of the ruling class that oppresses her lovers people. We learn the love affair is clandestine because his people are subject to curfews, and ID checkpoints, and forced deportations. Korenna starts out sweet and innocent and sympathetic to his people, but as he tells her more of what's really going on, she doesn't want to believe that her father could be involved in something so terrible. Her father uses every manipulation tactic to justify his actions, and preys on his daughter's fears to win her over to his side. It's an absolutely devastating scene. Watching her descent into radicalization is horrifying and tragic, and all too familar a sight in our real world of alt-right conspiracy theories- chillingly, the things her father says are the same right-wing talking points we see today on the news.

B'Elanna eventually learns the memories belong to Jora Mirell, the older scientist she was working with, who regretted what she'd done, and wanted someone who would care and understand to know what her society had tried so hard to scrub from their history. When she dies, B'Elanna interupts the farewell party for the Enarans, and confronts their leader for the cover up of the genocide his people perpetrated. He denies and makes excuses, the other Enarans don't want to believe it, and the Voyager crew looks uncomfortable, and suggests that she shouldn't say it in the middle of the party. But B'Elanna's not anywhere in the vicinity of fucking around, and she says it all right there, where everyone can hear it.

Later, Captain Janeway tells B'Elanna she believes her, but that Voyager can't interfere with another society, and they must let the Enarans go, and leave them to do what they will, even if it means burying the knowledge again. B'Elanna is still distraught and outraged that no one will acknowledge what happened, and that no justice will be done. But Janeway tells her to go talk to the younger scientist she worked with before she leaves. B'Elanna does, and appeals to her to open her mind and think about what she told them. The Enaran woman agrees to telepathically link with B'Elanna so she can experience Jora Mirell's memories and see what happened for herself. The last shot is of her in the first memory, in Korenna's place, just like B'Elanna was. We're left with the hope that now that someone on their planet had the courage to look the truth in the eye, maybe their society can acknowlege it, and change for the better.

This whole story just hits so hard in light of current events. Are there Israeli parents, right now, telling their children the same things the father in this episode told his daughter, to justify their govenment's genocide against the Palestinians? Somewhere, on some news network, right now, I guarantee there's a right-wing pundit making the same speech the father makes in the town square in this episode, telling his followers how immigrants, or trans people, are dangerous, and undermining our society, and must be controlled or exterminated, for our safety. It's happened so many times in the US, and around the world, and then they say it was for the best, or that it didn't happen at all, so that when they do it again, they can claim that they would never, that it could never happen, don't be ridiculous, we're not evil, what we're doing is right, and for your own good. It makes me want to scream with rage, and I teared up watching B'Elanna march into that party full of complacent people, and speak truth to power, and force them to confront their own complicity in the evil system they benefit from. B'Elanna was and is such an important character to me, because here was a female character who was allowed to express her rage, and the audience was allowed, and even encouraged (some of the time at least), to sympathize with her. I hate when they try to write off her anger as being 'just Klingon things lol' because that is absolutely not what it is, at all. It's the anger of someone who's been marginalized, who's seen injustice, and won't fucking stand for it anymore, anywhere. Who knows everyone deserves better, and will fucking fight for it, whenever, wherever. I love that this episode lets us see that, and that in this story, her outrage is what drives the first steps for these people to start down the path to healing and change. The Enarans are telepathic, so Korenna choosing B'Elanna to relive her experiences wasn't just because she was there. She must have felt that B'Elanna was the person who would feel it the most deeply and fight hardest for what was right.

This episode makes me sad and angry, but it's supposed to. In a country where people are trying to ban teaching our history in our schools, an episode like this is more important than ever. Maybe in some state where schools aren't allowed to teach children about slavery, or the holocaust, or the genocide of Native Americans, or any queer history, maybe some kid will see this Star Trek episode, because their conservative parents think it's just a show about spaceships. And maybe this story will stick with them when their parents try to tell them that it's okay to hate one group of people or another. Maybe they'll hear their parents echoing a villain's words, and they'll start to consider that maybe their parents are wrong. And maybe they'll start to think critically enough to resist the poison of bigotry and break free one day. All it takes is one person to start questioning, and that's how things start to change.

I'm sure there's someone out there who doesn't like this episode, who could find plot holes, or something to criticize, but not me. That's not what's important to me here. This story is what Star Trek is about, at it's core. It's anti-fascist, anti-racist, it's about challenging and dismantling systems of oppression. Since 1966, it's been there to say something hopeful for all us who believe humanity can do better, and I'm profoundly grateful to have it.

Tl;dr: A hard-hitting episode that explores how easily even good people can become indoctrinated to bigoted, xenophobic ideas, and which shows us how even one person standing up and looking it in the eye can make a difference. Absolutely top notch, essential Star Trek viewing.

[butterflydm]

morning thoughts on 2x6 (includes book spoilers)

spoilers through a memory of light; some speculation about future events, including what might happen in 2x7 and in s3.

So much other stuff happened in the episode that I barely pondered the potential setup for what's going to maybe happen next episode!

Siuan showing up in Cairhien with fourteen Sisters... forced into action by being 'officially told' that Moiraine and Lan found the Dragon Reborn, I assume?

Are they setting things up for the coup to happen potentially in the first episode of s3 (which would definitely mean no White Tower return for the Wondergirls)?

Or is this taking the place of the Fal Dara visit from the start of TGH? We are going to get Rand and Siuan's conversation, it seems, from the original trailer before the season started airing ("you are the water").

Is Rand going to be officially known as the Dragon Reborn to the White Tower as a whole next episode? Alanna, at the very least, knows that Lan and Moiraine believe that Rand is the Dragon. But are Alanna and Siuan the only ones in this group who officially know that Rand is the Dragon? (Verin knows, but only Moiraine knows that Verin knows, etc) Liandrin doesn't seem to know anything, after all (officially, she doesn't know anything!).

It wouldn't really be speeding things up too much because, in the books, TGH is when Rand gets banner'd across the sky and people make posters of him, etc, plus Rand has mostly accepted himself as the Dragon in the show already due to differing events so it could also be subbing in for claiming Callandor as well. But it definitely would speed up certain events.

IF Siuan and Moiraine successfully keep their association a secret in the next episode, then it doesn't led directly into the coup at the start of next season, not until it's uncovered that Siuan has been working with Moiraine all these years. But right now, everyone believes that Moiraine and Siuan are at odds and that Moiraine has been doing this all of her own devices.

I am also wondering again about the Rand & Egwene timeline. It is true that at this point in the books (whether we are talking about TGH or TDR), Rand and Egwene are still very much doing a will-they/won't-they, so it's not inaccurate to the books that they're still a major part of the emotional landscape (and Egwene is Rand's motivation for staying and fighting in Falme in TGH as well) but I am still so used to their post-relationship book dynamic that it throws me every time I remember that they haven't emotionally disengaged from their romance in the show yet. And it just really makes me wonder what the reasoning will be in the show for them to break up, given that Rand and Egwene will likely spend all or most of s3 hanging out near each other, given the storyline being covered. Will Rand be trying to stay away from her so as not to trigger Lanfear's jealousy issues and that leads to them drifting apart? The puzzle pieces of how Rand's relationships are going to fit together in the show still eludes me, lol.

What didn't elude me was that Rand & Mat reunion! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Definitely the lightest and brightest part of last night, even with the ending where Mat learns about Min's viewing and isn't willing to go meet with Rand because, in Min's words, "If you love him, you'll stay away from him." Mat and Rand actually trying to talk about their very similar enough damage was like catnip for me. They have so many issues in common in the books and never talk about any of them! (worries over being a puppet; dealing with having an ancient voice/memories in your head)

It wasn't enough and it didn't fix anything, but I loved that they each tried to give each other the advice of "actually your friends love you and aren't better off without you". The hug! (I'm pretty sure they never hug in the books and it is a crime!) Where they were both incredibly happy and Mat was wiping away tears and touching Rand's fuzz and disapproving of his haircut! A+, very romantic reunion, better than I was ever expecting!

And I was wondering how much the show would take into account the differences between book!Mat's journey and show!Mat's journey and they have, once again, shown that they are deeply invested in making their characters emotionally realistic. It would not make sense for Mat to have the same reaction in the show to knowing that Rand is the Dragon Reborn as he had in the books: a. Mat is more mature than he was in the books at this point; b. Mat has known for a year now that one of his group was the Dragon Reborn; c. Mat abandoned Rand & the group at the end of last season and still feels intensely guilty over that.

In s1, Mat's main feelings about the Dragon Reborn situation were "okay, Moiraine is out of her mind to even suggest this idea" to slowly going "oh shit it's me and I'm literally gonna die of the madness before I ever even channel" to "oh shit it's not me (probably) which means that it has to be Rand, Perrin, Egwene, or Nynaeve". Pasting book!Mat's reaction onto show!Mat would not have been emotionally realistic in that context. It makes sense that the relief and joy of seeing Rand again will be his most predominent emotions. Even in The Great Hunt, when he does have that more negative reaction (to being completely shocked by brand-new information, rather than it being information that has had a chance to settle in over the course of a year), he's upset when Rand has disappeared without saying goodbye and hopes that Rand is coming back when they see a rider on the road.

But the biggest question that this episode left me with about the future is: so... how are they gonna do Mat and Tuon after this? Because... this is the same feeling that I personally always got from the Seanchan in the books but the show was able to make it very visceral, in the way that visual media does. The difference between Egwene telling Min about what happened with the pitcher is just gonna feel different from actually seeing on-screen the brutality of the dehumanization process.

This is mostly likely what viewers are going to be thinking about when they meet Tuon, because the screen-time difference is going to be considerably shorter than the page-time difference was between TGH & WH. Because if this season is mostly bk2 (with some bk3 characterization beat wovens in), then on the eight season plan, we'd have s3: TSR (with some TFoH character beats maybe); s4: TFoH/LoC; S5: ACoS/TPoD; s6: WH-KoD, which at eight episodes per season would mean that Egwene's torture (which she is not likely to escape until ep8 of this season) will only be 25-28 hours away from Tuon's introduction (if Tuon is not introduced early).

Compare that to the audio books, where TDR-TPoD are a total of 197 hours (which doesn't even account for the fact that Tuon is introduced part-way through Winter's Heart). Tuon's introduction is going to be a lot closer to Egwene's 'training' than in the books.

And Tuon is a sul'dam, even if she doesn't do it often.

They are going to have to completely re-imagine both Tuon and the Mat & Tuon relationship, most likely. Which is basically what I've been saying but seeing how they committed to the Seanchan culture in this episode really affirmed it for me. There isn't any possible way to do Mat & Tuon the way it was written in the books because Mat will just straight up come across as an evil character at that point. If you read CoT & KoD without bringing in any of the leftover affection from earlier books Mat, he DOES just come across as a callous and selfish monster in those two books; or at least he did to me in my recent reread. CoT/KoD Mat reads as a genuinely bad person who manages to do a handful of non-shitty things per each of those books but is mostly just there to kiss Tuon's ass in the hopes that maybe she'll treat him like a person someday; Mat is one of my favorite characters pre-CoT but, wow, I despise him in those two books for turning his back on all his moral convictions for the sake of ~mysterious eyes~; luckily, the break from his previous characterization is both abrupt and severe enough that I don't hold pre-CoT Mat to account for CoT/KoD Mat's crimes but... it's a lot of yikes in those two books.

The entire Seanchan culture is rotten to the core and I don't think it's fixable. It needs to be torn to pieces. I'm hoping that the show will do what the books were never willing to get around to, and actually begin that process on-screen.

Anyway, I hope Egwene gets some really good hits in on Renna when she's freed. I'm pretty sure we're 100% going to get her braining Renna with the pitcher, because they really emphasized the way that it was used as a torture device in this episode.

And this episode did such a good job establishing what the stakes are against the Seanchan -- all marath'damane will be leashed, Suroth says in ep5 and now we see what it means to be leashed by the Seanchan. It really is the big Fate Worse Than Death from the books.

[whosthere54]

Prison duo playlist analysis day 7 - Brutus by The Buttress

YES I FINALLY GET TO YELL ABOUT THIS SONG! ME WHEN!

This is mostly gonna be me yelling about the season two prison arc and also probably corruption because wow I’m so normal about that specifically. From Icarus’s perspective mostly is what I’ve thought this through same as most things- though it could be corruption arc Centross too.

Starting off strong with

“I’ve been watching him for my entire life. I hate the air he breathes, his foolish decrees his words so contrived.”

They have known him throughout the first reset that they remember at that point- that being the only thing they remember from their life. They hate him- especially after they remember. They were fine around him before but when they remember their put straight back into the mindset the held during corruption and they hold so so much anger and resentment towards him. They don’t believe a word he says, he broke their trust no matter how little of it was real in the fist place. Why would he tell the truth now? They don’t believe him when he try’s to tell them Rae is sick- because their so sure that Rae would tell them even when they hadn’t fully earned that trust back yet because why would he tell the person who tried to kill everybody here over them?

“And I hate the way the townspeople gather outside. They cling on to every breath, cling to his chest. Home to his heart full of pride.”

Most people of not everyone have met Centross at this point- and most like him. Find him easy to hang out with or are just indifferent to him being there. Rae trusts him more than others, and if Centross said something most would probably believe him especially Rae at this point. Would people believe Icarus? Who’s to say- especially if Jamie and Athena remember. Athena I think trusts Centross more than Icarus with that memory. Easton I don’t know about- I think he would be able to tell if they were lying- but I don’t think he’d trust them so easily.

“The Oracle told him beware the Ides. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t wishing for untimely death or demise”

Mmmm. See if this was s3 “The Oracle told him beware the Ides” would be a great line.

I don’t remember off the top of my head if anyone except Centross himself was worried about visiting Icarus- so I can’t make the best connection here.

They would be wishing for his death- not exactly knowingly but they don’t want his here. They don’t want him to be around to hurt anyone anymore and the easiest way to do that would be for him to die. They don’t immediately want to do it themself- but they would be lying if they didn’t wish something would happen to him for what he’d done to the people they cared about- as well as what he’d done to them as much as they try to make it about everyone else.

“Or am I just wishing I could be like you? That the people would see me too as a poet, and not just the muse.”

THIS ONE. THIS IS WHY I SAY SEASON 2.

They wished they were like him in many ways in season one- he was Enderian’s favorite. Her speaker, her first choice. She talked to him the most. They wish NIW that they got the same level of trust and support from others he is getting, wishing they could walk around and not have to pretend they don’t notice the shifting feet and fearful glances when they talk to someone, pretend they don’t notice when Rae talks to them different after maybe a nightmare or something else that reminded him of them then. They wish it was like Centross- where he walks around freely and can gain the trust back of the other people on the server. What they don’t know is how he worked for it- he built that trust back and they haven’t taken the steps to do that yet.

“Oh it’s not true, I don’t wish harm upon you. From birth we’ve been like brothers of different mothers. Within the spirit of the same womb”

Even if they hate each other- they probably understand each other the most out of many of the characters on Fable. They’ve had experiences together through corruption and then have probably seen each other at their most vulnerable in both prison arcs- stretching into season 3 where there’s more trust and vulnerability for it to actually be a healthy exchange.

“May the gods strike me down if I forsake you. Frater meus, you’re beautifully made. And to you I’m forever grateful.”

Mmm. Me when. They didn’t want to hurt him at first- they just wanted to make sure he wouldn’t hurt anyone else.

He taught them a lot though season 1- I think. Just in their mental state really- even if it wasn’t a healthy environment they learned a lot about themself and what they were capable of specifically due to his help. He was part of the people who enabled them to do what they did- even if it was a bad thing. That turns into him enabling and helping them heal and do good later in season 2 and in season 3.

“You’re beautifully made” is a line for sure. Mhm.

“I’ll never forget that you showed me to make art. And I know the love you showered me came from a pure and noble heart. I love you, and if you want I’ll call you king. But why do I lay awake at night thinking instead of you it should be me?”

I don’t want to repeat myself- but same things as I said above he taught them a lot, as well as their respect for him vs their returned lingering hatred and resentment toward him wanting to be in the place he had been from season 1.

“something wicked this way comes. And as I’m set to face it, I’m unsure, should I embrace it? Should I run? What motivates me? Hatred? Is it love? What’s more wrong; that I too wish to be great, or my mother wished she’d had a son?”

Agh- me when. What’s more wrong; that I too wish to be great, or my mother wished she’d had a son?

Tell me that’s not so Icarus coded. Or my mother wished she’d had a son- because- was Icarus ever rally her son? She was their mother, yes, but Icarus was always Creations child. Always in fables shadow, his mini me, his perfect golden child that would do whatever he say. They looked like him too- the spitting image of their father taking on his temperament too.

Skipping a bit because- I’m so normal about this part-

“My name is Brutus and my name means heavy. So with a heavy heart, I’ll guide this dagger into the heart of my enemy. My whole life you were a teacher and friend to me. Please know that my actions are not motivated only by envy. I, too, have a destiny. This death will be art. The people will speak of this from near and afar. This event will be history, and I’ll be great too. I don’t want what you have- I want to be you!”

Oh me when they nearly kill Centross. I’m so incredibly normal. About that in particular.

“Please know that my actions are not motivated only by envy”

They didn’t just do this for what he’d done to them- at-least that’s what they tell themself- they do it to protect their family. The only people they care about that he hurt. Their actions are not only motivated by their care for what happened to them, but for what happened to the grove.

“I don’t want what you have- I want to be you!”

Now- contradictory to my last statement- this is about them. About the lingering mindset of corruption that has them in the same place of envy and anger and want that they were stuck in before. They want to be him now- wanting the respect of others like he had, wanting people to care about them in the same way- trust them and believe them the same way they do him. They want it to be easy- to not have to be looked at like they’re crazy or with pitiful gazes lines with fear and panic when the people they love look at them like they’re a monster.

“I always knew I could be the one. Though I feel the endless pain of being, and I am scorched by the sun. Of humble origins and born of the cursed sex. My name is Brutus but the people will call me Rex”

NOW THIS IS THE LINE IF BEEN THINKING ABOUT ALL DAY-

“My name is Brutus but the people will call me Rex”

They don’t know their name at this point so I am not going to say it here- but- “My name is Sherbert but the people will call me Creation(Creation’s child)” BECAUSE HEAR ME OUT- Fable was a military guy, he probably taught them a lot about war strategy as a child of them sitting in the war room as a little kid is anything to go by- and he’s a killer though they don’t know that yet. Following in their fathers footsteps, they’ll hurt the people they care about the most when trying to do something they deem as good for the people. Good for a kingdom, or good for the grove. And then end up with angry looks and sharp words that they didn’t want- that they did this to try and *avoid*

Just- me when they’re called Creation’s child and they follow so closely in his footsteps that sometimes it almost makes the lines blur between the two- even just in their tone of speech. Their tone of speech during the S2 arc and also the corruption arc nearly recreated Fables sharp and angry tones he speaks in and I just. Mm. This is all I’ve been thinking about right now.

That’s all I’ll say- I’ll cut myself off here but I have so many thoughts about this and the season 2 prison arc specifically- hence my whole playlist… it’s fine- I’m normal guys totally.

Anyways!

The image chosen from my prison duo Pinterest board today is-

I’ll leave it at that.

You are loved! Go take any meds if you need to and Go eat and drink water if you haven’t already today <3

Have a good rest of your day/night :]

[zutaralesbian]

I recently re-read my own fic not all heroes wear capes and thought it would be fun to answer some questions for @shamelessdvdcommentary ❤️

(Questions and answers under the cut)

Give us some stats - (when you wrote it, word count, how long it took to finish, is it a one-shot/multi-chapter, etc)

I wrote it back in 2020 for one of the rounds of the Shameless Big Bang. It’s a multi-chapter but a short one (only seven chapters and 37,560 words). I don’t quite remember how long it took me to finish it but it was at least four months I imagine, given I wrote it for the Big Bang and took up pretty much the entire time given.

What was the initial inspiration for your story?

This is probably a bit spoilerish of an answer but back when the show was still airing, I talked a lot about Ian’s hero complex. It’s one of my favorite aspects of his character and it’s what initially morphed my idea of what his role is in this fic. (If you’ve read it, you know what I’m talking about).

If the story is written from a character’s POV, why did you choose this character?

It’s mostly told from Mickey’s POV but it does change to Ian’s from time to time too. I chose Mickey to take up the majority of it because I wanted Ian’s role in the story to be a bit more mysterious.

What was your favourite scene to write?

A scene in the middle of chapter two, where Ian and Mickey come together and talk about what split them apart. (The story is a post-S3 canon divergence with a twist). I remember really enjoying writing the dialogue between them in that scene because I love writing hurt/comfort. And I think the finished product turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

(Off topic side-note but after re-reading that whole chapter, I realized that I wrote the sex scene to be much more explicit than I remembered. Which is strange for me because I’m usually only confident in writing sex between wlw ships. I normally go fade to black with Gallavich).

How did you come up with the title?

Titling is one of the hardest parts of writing fic for me, for some reason lmao. It literally just randomly came to mind. I think it’s corny but it goes with the theme of the story so 🤷‍♀️ I’m not good at titles so I can’t really be picky on that front.

Was there anything you struggled to write? If so, how did you overcome this?

The action/fight scenes. Which sucked, considering the main plot of the fic lol. Writing those was like pulling teeth. But I pulled myself through, even though I don’t think they turned out all that great. I’m much better at writing emotional stuff.

Favourite line in the story?

“We were kids,” he clarified at Ian’s questioning expression. “And things were shit. We never stood a chance.”

It just sums up my feelings about S3 Gallavich tbh 😭

Did the storyline change in any way as you wrote the story?

Not really during the writing process. But when I was first trying to plan it, I debated whether to make it a canon divergence (which is what it ended up being) or a straight up AU. I ended up doing what I did both for the angst factor of it being post S3 and because I personally find full on AU’s to be much harder to write than fics that are based at least somewhat on canon.

What are you most proud about in the story? (plot, characterisation, dialogue, twist/cliffhanger, etc)

I’ve had a few people tell me that the fic “kept them guessing” as they read it. Which happily surprised me because while I was trying to be at least a little mysterious while writing, I didn’t really think I had succeeded. So I was proud of myself when a small amount of people validated me on that!

Are there any deleted scenes that didn’t make it to the final story?

No specific scenes but I did originally envision a small interlude towards the end. Ian and Mickey hit a rough patch at some point in the fic because Mickey discovers a big secret that Ian kept from him. In the finished product, Mickey forgives Ian relatively quickly. At some point, it was going to be a more angsty and longer process. But I ended up not going in that direction because I felt like it would drag the story out a little too much.

Reading back the story now, is there anything you’d change or add?

In the story, Sandy (who plays a supporting role in the fic) and Debbie are exes and Sandy eventually dates an OC. Given that I’ve grown much fonder of Debbie over the years, I think I would give her an actual role and keep her and Sandy dating if I wrote it now.

I also would have done a better job at a certain flashback scene towards the end because, along with the action scenes, it’s one of the weaker parts of the story imo.

Would you ever write a sequel to this story?

Nah. Maybe a one-shot sequel of sorts if inspiration ever hit.

Were you nervous or excited to post this story?

Very nervous! It was my first multi-chapter Gallavich fic and first time participating in a fandom event like a big bang.

Did you have a beta or a friend who helped you as you wrote?

Yes! Given that it was a big bang, I had a beta assigned to me. shame_less18 on ao3! And she did a fantastic job! (Not sure if she has a tumblr unfortunately). Part of the reason I chose this fic to do this commentary for is because I know it’s most likely the one with the least amount of errors for that reason lol.

Anything else you’d like the readers to know about the story?

This is probably my favorite fic that I’ve written. (For Shameless anyway). Mostly because it was a lot of fun. My life was simpler back then and the Shameless/Gallavich fandom was fairly popping with S10 having just aired. I’ll always look at it fondly.

[reeveskryze]

If Koska is Bo's foundling, why would she abandon her mom like she did in season 3? Doesn't make much sense!

Valid point of view! Here's one way I see it. (It's been a hot minute since I've seen S2 or S3 please forgive me if some details aren't completely correct. These are all my own personal views and opinions. don't come for me if you don't like them. Feel free to ask more if you do :D )

Bo refused to take the Darksaber from Din. She couldn't/wouldn't (can't remember which) fight him for it. It was something they had been fighting for since the purge. I assume Bo and her Niteowls had been hunting absolutely none stop for it while taking down the imps. Koska would have been told by Bo herself that without that saber, Mandalore was gone. So I imagine Koska would have seen her not willing to kill Din or just take it from him as giving up on Mandalore. The key to saving Mandalore was right there and she let it leave on the belt of a cultist. This would have left a sour taste in her mouth.

When they returned to the fleet with their new cruiser, I imagine word spread quickly about it. That Bo-Katan wasn't the Manda'lor and some "cultist" had the blade. They began turning their backs on Bo and Koska was torn. Her Buir or her people. Axe was offering work, money, food and the continued support of her friends in the niteowls and the comradery that comes with being surrounded by fellow Mandos. Bo, well, lets be real here. Her only plan was to go and hide away on Kalevala. If Koska joined her, she would have had her buir, sure, but she would have lost everything else. I imagine she was angry at her as well. Angry she didn't take the saber, angry she had put Koska in a position where she had to chose between Bo and everyone else. She'd lost her family, lost Mandalore and with the Darksaber with Din, she lost hope that they'd ever return home. Losing everything else wasn't really an option in her eyes.

So yeah! I guess the TLDR version is. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place and chose the hard place over the rock. You can't tell me the woman who took one look at Boba Fett and went "you talked shit about her, I'm gonna fight you" doesn't have a deeper connection with Bo.

Totally cool if you don't subscribe to the "Koska is Bo's foundling" thing but yeah, this isn't a HC i've pulled outta thin air either.

[dogtoling]

An annoying problem with Splatoon's story mode needlessly involving the idols is that it makes writing fanfics difficult. Sure, it can be a story set in the world of Splatoon, but if this is the world of Splatoon, then you'll want characters people can relate to. By recycling the idols as companions over and over, we don't get many new characters. S2 had zero new characters for the story mode, OE had C.Q. Cumber, Tartar, the crab who gives you stuff for completing mem cakes that I can't remember the name to, and to some extent, the idols, and S3 had the idols (and to some extent Mr. Grizz). That's all fine and all if they actually did something, but when they all literally just stand around and do nothing, it doesn't help using them as characters past "Marie, Callie, and Cuttlefish run the Splatoon."

The Agents themselves don't help either. By having every story mode make you an "Agent", it feels like every OC has to be an Agent, and it's a breath of fresh air when someone makes an OC who isn't. The Agents also have next to no personality traits or backstory to speak of. You're saving the world because Cuttlefish put an Agent suit on you and said Go, not because you have a reason to. They have no backstory besides "they moved to Inkopolis / Splatsville recently" and no personality traits past "Agent 3 doesn't talk and is super serious" "Agent 4 doesn't watch TV". Agent 8 at least had some sort of backstory, although pulling an "I have amnesia" on us doesn't help her case. She's an Octo who heard Calamari Inkantation and is now fighting to get out of the Metro. But we don't know any specifics about her life prior to the Metro.

Just my thoughts.

Okay THIS! This is one of the reasons I (and MANY OTHER PEOPLE by the looks of it) are so done with the NSS and the idols as recurring characters. The Splatoon world IS HUGE and the developers clearly have endless, even complex character ideas. The world is so big and so complex and we see none of it because every "story" that we're given in Splatoon deliberately REMOVES YOU FROM THAT WORLD... then spoon feeds you some chosen hero arc with the same zero-personality supporting cast over and over again that's really only a supporting cast if you as the player have a sentimental attachment to the characters (they don't do anything in the game and usually have like 1 personality trait.)

Like, just imagine if the stories in Splatoon had the freedom to be detached from the idols and if they had the freedom to tell smaller, down-to-earth stories that felt much more personal and took place in actual facets of the world. They could craft a colorful cast of characters that actually had purpose in that setting and there's no reason you COULDN'T still make those characters marketable and fan-favorite! There's literally so much you can do with stories within the Splatoon world and somehow all the Splatoon stories completely miss the mark and I don't know how they keep doing it. It almost feels like they're purposefully avoiding fleshing out the world or the characters of the game, lol

And this is something that I find really strange because isn't one of Splatoon's driving themes the freedom of self expression and like, diversity? Then why are we always playing as some character who's void of personality and doing some random crap in an environment that's emptier than the local mall during May 2020. The world is out there, WHY AREN'T WE? Believe it or not, before Octo Expansion's release and Off the Hook becoming super popular, the Splatoon fandom WAS full of independent OCs that were just... guys that live in the Splatoon world, and the world itself was a huge focus because that was like, the THING. But after the game became deliberately character-focused, there was a huge boom where nowadays instead of random OCs with no ties to the canon characters, everyone's OCs essentially ARE the canon characters. So instead of having a colorful cast of people in a wacky world, it's more like we all have our own AU of the same exact things happening differently and it's... well. The world hasn't been the fandom focus for a long-ass time and watching it feels like some kind of cultural death lol. And I can't blame anyone, especially not the newer fans, because the world hasn't even been NINTENDO'S focus and they're the ones who made it.

[flameunquenched]

a'ight. let's talk about the netflix adaptation of avatar: the last airbender.

SPOILERS PRESENT THROUGHOUT UNDER THE CUT.

this covers eps 1-4 bc i need a break for food and stuff lmfao.

so i like probably many others went in braced with the expectation of it being...well, like a certain movie that we all like to pretend does not exist. i had seen some things, which i discussed on another post, that worried me greatly. i would consider myself an atla superfan; it was a huge part of my childhood and i can remember sitting on the floor of the living room watching sozin's comet with my brother as the finale aired for that first time. so while i was excited for the idea of a live action version, having been badly burned by the movie, i was wary.

i am pleasantly surprised to say that, other than some flaws that i will discuss, it actually was...good?

i was very concerned about the removal of sozin's comet, given how integral it is to the story. sure, you do have actors who will be aging, as it is gonna take at least probably 6 years for the whole story to wrap up. this is, of course, assuming that netflix does not yeet it after s2 as they so love to do. seeing that it was present in episode 1 was...a little confusing considering what i had read. but i'm glad that it was there.

seeing sozin himself was awesome tbh. i think that he is a really interesting character and i honestly would be thrilled to have an entire series dedicated to him and roku, with their friendship and the trials they suffered together as firelord and avatar respectively. that was always one of my favorite episodes in s3 because of the deep introspection we got and the history of those two characters. but uh yeah when he just casually burned that earthbender to death, yeah. that was kinda the first sign that this was not going to be an adaptation geared towards children.

which i guess does make sense, doesn't it? after all, those of us like myself who grew up with avatar are no longer children but instead grown adults with children of our own in some case. it's an adaptation: it has to adapt to the times.

seeing the actual genocide of the air nomads was...a lot. that is one thing i will say that the live action had over the cartoon; it is hard to show death in a cartoon intended for children which means that, in a way, it is harder to fully realize the gravity of the situation. by showing it, by showing the deaths of men, women, and children, you as the viewer get the chance to better understand what was actually lost. i think it was easier to see them not just as characters but as people.

i'll admit that the cursing threw me for a loop, lol. it was just strange to casually hear "ass" being used in the realm of atla. but, again, this comes back to the need for accepting the aging audience.

i know there had been some discussion of aging katara to 16 and de-aging sokka to 14. if that was done, there was no sign of it. i had also had concerns about the removal of sokka's sexism but, honestly, i genuinely feel like the story was made much stronger for the lack of it. i liked the replacement of his 'dad left me in charge, i'm the leader, this is all my responsibility' sooo much more because it made more sense, especially when the revelations from the episode called spirited away came to light. it worked. and it worked in a way that lent gravity to the situation rather than the rather comedic ties that the original sexism offered.

i think in terms of sheer characterization, sokka was probably the strongest overall. i feel like his actor really got the character. katara had a problem of, at times, feeling too flat, as well as lacking some of the passion that i felt the cartoon allowed her to have.

aang's actor did really well, i will say. my friend thought that he did not quite convey the joyfulness that cartoon aang had but, having had a few hours to think about that, i think that might have been purposefully done. the adaptation was, again, not aimed at young kids. it makes sense that aang should feel, especially based on his discussions with the other avatars and other central characters, more serious and concerned about the general state of the world. a century is a long time to be away and i liked the way they showed the struggle he had with the fact that his entire people were gone. he really was the last airbender and the adaptation made me feel that. sure, it came at the cost of some of that youthful joyfulness, but i think it was a fair trade overall.

i loved gran gran doing the initial intro lines with kyoshi doing the actual intro. gran gran doing it made it feel like a story, a legend, that had been told for decades.

something else i enjoyed was the way that the adaptation handled integrating in other plotlines. getting to see ozai and azula, as well as mai and ty lee, in the fire nation capital city was really interesting. to me, it was a reminder that even when other characters are focused on other things, there are always things happening. the fake out of azula being a spy for her father for rebellions was fantastic and i think a key to the beginning of her characterization as a whole. i will admit i had some concerns about azula but her actress was incredible. absolutely incredible.

sokka's chemistry with suki was SIZZLING. like that entire bit was just so good. them fighting together and training together was just. urgh. it was so good.

now a character i will say i strongly prefer in the cartoon over the live action was zhao. i felt like his actor was...just trying too hard. maybe it's because jason isaacs just has a villainous voice but the cartoon always felt scarier to me. zhao in the live action felt...cartoonish and silly. almost like his actor was not taking it seriously, if that makes sense? that was disappointing to me. zhao was meant to be the first real antagonist of the series, a villain we could really hate and root for his downfall. instead, he just sort felt cartoonish and cheezy to me. i'm not sure if that was a direction choice or just the actor failing to understand the character but that was one of my chief complaints overall.

on the opposite end, iroh was so good. let's all be real here for a moment: there was no way, no way in hell, that a live action iroh was gonna be better than the cartoon. it was not gonna happen. iroh in the original was peak character and they were never gonna recreate him. but they didn't need to! they didn't need to because the live action iroh was just so good. he brought the same sort of laid back, calm serenity that the original iroh did without feeling like a carbon copy - or worse, a caricature - of him. i loved absolutely everything about iroh.

i wanna talk about the funeral scene in e4 but i also don't wanna talk about the funeral scene in e4 because it made me BAWL LIKE AN ACTUAL BABY Y'ALL I WENT FROM PERFECTLY FINE TO TEARS STREAMING DOWN MY FACE SOBBING BROKENLY IN .2 SECONDS. as soon as i recognized the music that was it i was done, i was gone, almost had to pause to get myself back under control. it was bad.

i really liked how they did jet. it was a little strange for that to all be taking place in omashu but i understand the necessity of pulling everything down to fewer locations.

speaking of, to address something i spoke of at some length in another post, one of my key concerns upon learning that there was not going to be the 'running around to different locations' plots was that team avatar and by extension, us the audience, would miss out on seeing the effects of a century long war. i am very happy to say that those concerns were not valid. i actually think the live action did a better job of communicating those effects in a way that was truly shocking. think about bumi, for example. a character who in the show is, really, a sort of comedy break became instead a character who felt real, felt serious, and felt like he was bruised all over by the war that he has been fighting. i was on the fence a lot about that plot change, where bumi was sort of dark and gritty, but the more i have thought about it, the more i realize that it makes sense. a hundred years is a long time to battle an enemy that, frankly, is better equipped than you. is it any wonder that he was so angry at aang, even if that anger was misplaced? i don't really think so.

i am going to stop here, get some food, shower, and discuss the last 4 episodes a little later bc this is already unbelievably long lmao.

please feel free to let me know what you thought of it!!

[eric-the-bmo]

The Neighborhood Watch S3 Ep2: Lost and Found

[Summary: John sees a familiar face, and Louis has a chat with Song's father. Someone from Markus's past makes a surprise visit.] @gr3y-plays-ttrpgs

This will be less formal today! Wanted to try out a more chill style again. Happy New Year btw!! <3

So, Last we left off: Shelby had gone missing.

John is trying So Hard to not panic because oh my god where's Shelby where did she go. He rolls well to Investigate, though he's visibly a bit more nervous than usual, and eventually finds a crowd! And screaming!!!

He pushes his way through and finds Shelby at the center- a crowd's gathered around her, taking pictures and selfies with her.

John is relieved- of course , everything's fine, she had just run into some fans of hers, he was overreacting- and then Shelby spots him and waves, and suddenly the crowd is looking at him!! He's a deer in the headlights as people recognize him; while he's never shown his face on camera, he's appeared in the background of Shelby's streams at times. Shelby eventually sees the attention is making him uncomfortable, so she gets the people to leave, pulls him aside, and- after they both go "hey where were you??"- she asks if he's okay, does he need some air?

John can tell that Shelby wants to stay, so he refuses the offer despite everything happening, and the two of them go to play blackjack.

But then, from the dealer's part of the table is a familiar voice: "John?" It's Clara. You know, the girl he's been avoiding for a whole month.

---

Meanwhile at the North Hotel, Song, her father, and Louis are continuing the tour. Song's father pays for lunch at one of the restaurants the hotels have; it's this New Orleans place, and it's kinda close to how Louis remembers food being back there.

Song's dad asks Louis how he likes Greenville, and our southern gentleman is all "well i was hoping it would a nice place to have an early retirement, but so far it's been... Well it's an interesting place with interesting people." He continues, and I'm counting this as another "this town is weird" rant. He says he works in personal security and finances when asked about his job, and Song's dad finds out Louis used to work for one of his branch companies.

The food arrives; they talk about Song's studies, her mom is mentioned (HELLO? IS SONG'S MOM DEAD??), and meanwhile Louis is trying so so hard to be chill and not freak out bc Man, his girlfriend's dad is really intimidating!!! Speaking of the man, he asks if they've got plans later and Song is all "yeah, cooking lessons"- which, btw: sometimes song and louis actually do cook, and sometimes they do... other stuff- howver her dad doesn't know this and is all "oh, nice! Anyway i should get going, work duties and all"

He pays for the lunch, gives Song some extra cash, and also finally introduces himself to Louis by name: Greyson. He goes to shake Louis' hand; it's a firm handshake, and Louis tries to match it. Greyson does that whole Scary Dad thing of "take care of my daughter now, ok?" and walks off.

Song tells Louis he did a great job talking to her dad! Meanwhile since Greyson left, Louis is able to show how nervous he was the whole time, holding his hurting hand like "aaa thanks darling :'-)"

Song asks Louis how he ended up here anyway- Louis said he had a lot of heat on him (his vampiric ex, a detective, etc), and when he found out he won a raffle he didn't even enter for a house, he took the chance and left. They have a whole conversation I unfortunately didn't catch, about fate and coincidences.

Song kisses Louis against the wall and heads into the casino to find Shelby and John. Louis is extremely flustered before he goes to follow.

Markus heads home to find a tourist couple waiting outside their house, asking if it's the bug museum that was listed on Google Maps, because they would like a tour! Markus is like "oh my god my house is a location on google maps now?? what the fuck???" but gives them the tour anyway.

They're very attentive, asking all sorts of questions- at first Markus is socially anxious about it, but eventually the joy of their special interest takes over, and they ramble about it ☆

But Markus only has enough social energy, and it turns out the tourists paid enough to come back The Next Day, and as they leave Markus leans against the wall, dreading more social interaction.

There's a knock on the door.

Markus goes to open it ("I swear if it's that rat-summoning creep again-") and upon seeing who it is they immediately slam it shut. After the shock wears off, they slowly open it again.

They ask their sister, Analetta, how she managed to find them.

She holds up her phone- Google maps. ("Do our parents know where I am?" "No, they don't.") She hugs them, crying, and while Markus hugs back they reassure her that everything is fine? There's no reason to cry?? ("I mean, I don't have a car but besides that everything's fine-")

Analette says Markus had just disappeared without telling anyone- Markus is like "Do you blame me?" They tell her they vanished because a way to leave home had suddenly appeared for them, and they didn't know if a chance like that would ever show up again; They didn't really have to take things or people with them.

Analetta tells them she managed to visit them by saying she's studying abroad ("oh thank god you didn't move here"), and Markus apologizes for slamming the door in her face. They ask if she'd like to meet their friends. Analetta's like "oh my god? you have friends??" and pokes fun at their sibling when they mention Shelby. Markus is all "No it's not like that, she's my friend," and the two argue over who's going to pay for the food they're going to get from the only DoorDash guy in town (who, btw, is also the only weed dealer in town- they get some of that too).

As they eat sushi Markus fills her in on everything, and while she knows about their bugs, they omit the rest of the supernatural stuff- they don't wanna drag her into all of this. Analetta says that life got harder back home when Markus left, and while she's trying to live the life her parents want her to live, it's killing her inside. She took an opportunity to leave, and wanted to visit Markus one last time. They say she can stay as long as she wants, and might take them up on it; She's actually supposed to be in Japan right now.

Markus sends a text to the group chat so the Main Cast can their sister.

In the hotel, Song and Louis finally get a text notif for the message, which reads: “PLEASE COME TO MY HOUSE ITS SUPER IMPORTANT PLEASE!!!!!”

Louis texts back like "Hey sorry we got this late, is it still possible to come over?"

“YES STILL AT HOUSE PLEASE HURRY”

Song and Louis are all "ok we should find shelby and john," and they bump into Sammy on the way over– he helps one of them up, since he accidentally knocked one of them onto the floor.

Meanwhile, John is in a social scenario hell- yes, Clara is here, being kinda cold and professional (and part of him wonders if she's making sure he keeps losing), but you wanna know who else is here? Harold, that little creep who was really rude to Shelby last season!! John hates this man- He manages to scare him off by Staring at him with his monster eyes.

At this point, Song and Louis show up like "hey, we got a text from Markus and they want us to come over, and we don't wanna disappoint them like last time." (John doesn't say anything about how he actually visited them last time they asked, so-)

(Shelby notices that hey, yeah, the cell service is shit here in this casino!)

Anyway, so John and Shelby get up to leave but Clara insists that John cash in his chips- as she's doing this for him, she discreetly hands him a small note. He catches the vibe he should look at it later, and leaves the Casino with the Main Cast. As they leave, everyone's phone clocks correct themselves to match the current time outside the casino- it's currently around 3pm. John trails behind the group as usual, and opens the note to read it.

"Meet me out front at 5:30 after my shift."

Notes/Commentary:

I forgot Shelby was lowkey a celebrity lmao

It's canon that every single photo of John is a little bit blurry! That's so funny <3

Hi. Something about John sacrificing small bits of comfort (ie not leaving the casino to chill out) bc he wants Shelby to be okay/not leave her.... he has issues

Hey Song. What's with your mom, did she leave? die? what's up??

The GM informed me later that casino workers are meant to be all formal and not show favoritism at their jobs, right, and Sir i think she was doing the Opposite of favoritism /lh

John being able to initimidate people is very cool, thank you GM

MARKUS LORE MARKUS LORE

I was? Not aware our guys had a group chat??

SAMMY?? SIR?? weren't u being kidnapped earlier whats going on /lh

My notes say "Song easily finds John bc he's tall as fuck"

The players are placing bets (/j) on if Clara is a secret monster hunter or not-

John is fully expecting to get yelled at by her btw :-(

I so badly want him to try and date her or somehting. please for the love of god can john actually kiss someone and be really nervous about it bc he's never done that before and wants to try it out, and maybe he'll have to roll for Hunger bc his teeth are So So close to human flesh and it'll just be Dramatic <3

[matan4il]

Hello Alice,

it’s miya again :) I hope all has been well with you. I really loved your meta this week & it made me realize the reason I appreciate your analysis so much. You write about buddie but you write about them as buck AND eddie and not like they are one combined single unit. buck and eddie are their own people with different personalities and i think people forget that sometimes when it comes to talking about them together.

I love how the focus of your analysis was eddie and his clear childhood/adolescent trauma dealing with traditional parents who believe in only one way of doing things. I feel like people kinda missed that when talking about eddie & his performing. i know people interpreted the performing line as literal but it’s much deeper than that and you pointed that out very well. it all goes to show you we look at things through so many different lens but i love your focus point so much. you honestly make me want to get better at my own writing and analysis for this two lovers.

I wanted to ask you though on your thoughts about buck downplaying his brush with death. He never has explicitly said out loud “i died” & I do think that moments coming soon. I just found it interesting that everyone keeps reiterating that to him & i wonder if he’ll snap the next time someone says it. Buck has not processed or accepted that his trauma happened. him referring to him literally dying as “an accident on the job” breaks my heart cause you can tell he wants people to stop making a big deal of it, despite it being very serious. he is suppressing his trauma which i understand as someone with ptsd. anyways sorry for my rambling. buck is my favorite & character i connect to the most so i tend to babble a lot lol. hope you have a lovely rest of your day/evening/night whenever you see this ❤️

Miya, you darling! :D I'm always so happy to hear from you! I've had a very challenging week (which is not yet over... when you read this, I'll probably be recovering from another double shift), but the feedback on everything that I was most stressing out about has been amazing, so I'm exhausted, but very satisfied! How are you? Well, I hope!

Awww! Yes, that's exactly it! I think I even explained it in one of my earlier weekly meta posts, that I'll be writing about Buck, Eddie AND BuckandEddie. So I'm glad that's something you not only noticed, but also enjoy! ^u^ Thank you SO MUCH for the kind words! And I'm particularly please to learned you liked my POV on Eddie in my 614 meta. I know I've spoken to a very perceptive friend of mine back when... I think it was still s3 airing? Or possibly start of season 4, and despite how smart and insightful she is, she had missed the bit about Eddie's conversation with Bobby back in 217. So yeah, I think a lot of people might have? We all miss something, since 911 serves us with so much goodness. And I'm glad if in this case, this is something I can add to the table.

I fully agree with you, Buck is not really coping with what happened, given the fact that he's not yet said it out loud, and other characters have to remind him of it repeatedly. I also wondered this week if his PT scores being low is also a reflection of him still struggling with the lightning strike and how to recover from it. Because remember in 301, when he was coming back from the fire truck crushing his leg? He still aced his re-qualification exam. Even after he also suffered a pulmonary embolism during that very same period of time AND survived (and rescued others during) a tsunami, we never got any indication that his physical ability to bounce back had been diminished. So that suddenly changing? It could be a sign of the gravity of the matter, and how this is different, and Buck has to wrap his head around it, but because he hasn't yet, his full recovery is also stalling. I don't wanna get too much into spoilers, but based on the little that we do know about the finale, I feel like if this isn't addressed before the end of the season, then it should be in its very last ep. The themes seem like they would easily lend themselves to it, in any case. I hope that's what happens! If it also leads to some breakthrough with Eddie, one of them finally, finally ADMITTING what the other one means to them, I would be ecstatic, but I would absolutely take the win if we simply see Buck starting to actually face the trauma he had just been through.

Thank you again for your wonderful ask! I hope you're having a great day. As always, my ask tag. xoxox

[27emailsicantsend]

for the hsmtmts ask, jet!

**I started this project pre-season 4, so all answers are for season 3 and earlier**

Favorite thing about them: Honestly I love how much of a menace he was. He would be brooding at trees or calling ricky out with no remorse and it was the funniest thing ever (let's be real ricky deserved the gina lashings lmao). But then we get these two second glances of him being soft- especially with ricky- that really reflect the kristoff/sven dynamic and it just made Jet have a special place in your heart. I love characters like that: the hard shell but there is still good somewhere deep down that is shown in fragments (draco malfoy, anyone?)

Least favorite thing about them: I know it's not Jet's fault totally for outting Maddox, but I still don't love that he said something about her dating someone in the first place. Yes, they started to grow apart seemingly before this, but there is this trust they had established and Jet doing that because he was mad at his parents (and couldn't get his way) was low.

Favorite line(s):

(this is technically Kourtney but the line delivery and Jet's expression k*lled me) "he's staring at a tree, right?"

*Jet dissociating on the bunk bed while Carlos and Ricky talk openly about him*

"Basically, I, like, raised myself on YouTube" (I love this because Ricky had this connection to Jet and I can't help but wonder if this kind of reminded him of Gina)

"Are you actually this upset that I took off or is really about Gina?"

Jet: "Right. You guy are 'friends'" Ricky: "I can hear the air quotes" Jet: "Good"

Ricky: "Dude, what are you doing with your voice?" Jet: "I don't know, but it hurts"

Ricky: "I just can't believe I let Color War slip through my fingers" Jet: "you mean Gina?"

"I'm in love with the girl playing Elsa and it's eating me alive"

OTP: Jetney! 💛 (and yes because of color war their color is yellow in my head)

nOTP: Carlos’ imaginary pairing of jet and maddox (again… yikes)

brOTP: Jet and Ricky! I mentioned this earlier, but I love the fact that they resemble kristoff/sven's dynamic. The reindeer who knows too much and calls out kristoff's crap when kristoff is in denial? The reindeer who is a little aloof but tags along everywhere kristoff goes? They're perfect :')

Something I expect from them season 4 (if applicable): Before s4 came out, I fully anticipated Jet to be like Zeke... fawning over Kourtney (Sharpay). Like we did get some moments of him making a total fool of himself, but I really thought we were going to get that multiplied by 3. I was also hoping for at least a Jetney cheek kiss (tbh I thought they would kiss and Madlyn wouldn't), but they were just slower moving than the rest of the couples in the show. However, when all was said and done, I was still really happy with the content we got!

Random Headcanon: In my mind Jetney, Rina, and Madlyn go on triple dates all the time. They found a way to spend a lot of time together before Kourtney and Ricky graduated, but after graduation, Jet flies out to visit Kourtney frequently (and vice-versa).

Unpopular Opinion: Oof... this one is definitely unpopular. I guess it's an old unpopular opinion since it was technically before s4, but I remember not really caring if Jet and Maddox came back for s4. 😬 I know a lot of people liked them and wanted them back super badly, but I was neutral. I was happy if they came back but wasn't heartbroken if they didn't. Tim tried to keep it a surprise but the last scene in s3 made it obvious they were coming back. Once I started writing with them in my fics I was a lot more excited to have them back but I definitely wasn't emotionally tied to them when the season ended.

Song I associate with them: "I'm Still Standing"... but the version from Sing. I already said this once and I am so sorry for this, but Jet singing "Right Place" reminds me so much of Johnny at the piano. I really think it's the leather jacket idk. 😭 (the funny part is EJ's name is Elton John and Elton John is one of the singers in the og "I'm Still Standing")

Favorite picture of them:

Side note: has anyone decided wtf his and Maddox's last names are?!?

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s3 ep8: Future's End pt 1

Yay I'm so happy to get to this one! I love time travel stories, and this is so much fun. The weird thing is, I remember very well when this first aired, thinking it was so exciting to see a Star Trek crew in a modern setting, but looking at it now, I feel ancient, because it's a period piece now! It's 1990s a-go-go! I'm forcibly jolted back to watching this in middle school, and remembering my room full of Beanie Babies, listening to the Spice Girls, changing from my school backpack to a much cooler, tinier backpack to go with my friends to the mall, and talking to my one friend who watched Voyager about how cool this episode was, and what did we think would happen in the second part, and didn't the observatory girl from this episode have the cutest daisy belt?!

There's just so much silly, fun, fish-out-of-water comedy in this, it never fails to amuse me. Time paradoxes are great, and the blending of finding technology from the Federation's future in the past is clever, but honestly, this episode is about Starfleet characters interacting with 20th century pop culture. Janeway in her white Hilary Clinton-esque pantsuit! Neelix and Kes getting hooked on soap operas! (They are so bored on that ship, I swear they need some community theatre or orchestra or something like they had on the Enterprise to keep them all from going insane.) Tom being a nerd about history, and getting things adorably wrong! (Though I would argue that his use of 'groovy' was actually cool in '96, since all things 60s were experiencing a revival, and I distinctly remember my friends and I decorating a supply box at school with little flowers and peace signs and the words 'peace & love' and 'groovy'. Clearly, the Voyager writers had not caught up with tween girl slang, lol.) But actually, I love that Tom gets to impress a girl with actual science, rather than just hitting on her like a jerky dudebro. It's very sweet, I'm so proud! (And we learn he majored astrophysics at the Academy, which somehow surprised me- he has such strong 'just some guy' energy that sometimes it's easy to forget that he's actually smart!)

Tuvok and Tom being sent on an away mission together is such a great odd couple combo, Tuvok is basically babysitting the kid with adhd in that situation, and watching him attempt to keep his cool is also funny and adorable. I love how Janeway just enables Tom too- when she told him to do what he had to do to get to the observatory, it's like um. Captain. you know you just gave Tom permission to steal a car, right?? And then he totally does steal a car!! They are such chaos gremlins! Tuvok truly does not get paid enough to wrangle his crewmates. (Also, how does Tom know how to drive?! Sure, he's studied cars and all, and might understand the general idea, but like, how does he know what the actual road rules are?! Has he ever driven a car in an actual city before?? There's no road signs in space, he would have no idea what, say, a no turn on red sign means! And they're in LA traffic, no less! And why would Rain give him the keys to her van when they're being shot at?! They met ten minutes ago! She should have been driving!! And how does Tom know what a test drive is?? They don't have cars in the 24 century! Unless maybe they have shuttle dealerships?? Can you test drive a shuttle?? Are they like 'yeah, you can take it as far as Saturn to get a feel for how the impulse engines perform'? lmao I guess Tom's amazing driving skills are just one of those things we have to just go with!)

And Harry gets left in charge of the bridge!! Baby's first command!! When Janeway comes back and tells him he did a good job, his little smile is so sweet!! Dammit Harry, you're too cute!!

One of the few things I thought didn't work was having Janeway and Chakotay clutching their pearls over seeing people with mohawks and pink hair on the boardwalk. Really?? They're in Starfleet, they see actual alien species all the time! They literally have people who are straight up blue-skinned on their ship, do you think they'll be shocked by regular humans with dyed hair?! Are they seriously trying to tell us everyone dresses conservatively and wears beige in the 24th century? Please! Starfleet Headquarters and the Academy are both in California- don't tell me Californians aren't still weird in the future! They'd have seen people dressed like that before, c'mon.

But anyway, the villain being a self-centered, thieving corporate exec is still timely, and it's super funny seeing Voyager get caught on someone's camcorder flying over Los Angeles, they did a good job making those effects shots look authentic. There's just so much good stuff, I'm enjoying the hell out of this one, and excited for part 2!

Tl;dr: A fun, fast-paced fish-out-of-water time travel story, with lots of comedy and great character moments.