#but i'm glad i got this out before we start s2 lol

[islandfate]

woooo boy. so – i'm doing a little lost season one character recap just to kind of find my footing and determine how i feel about these characters on this latest rewatch. which, also, i think this is my 12th rewatch? that's crazy. anyway, i'm going to go through the list of the characters and kind of talk about how i feel, how my views have differed from my previous watch, etc. warning for opinions 😔 but these will be in no particular order! this will also be under a cut bc it's gonna get long lol !!

jack – the only thing i really want to do right here is rant about how much i dislike this character, how he puts a bad taste in my mouth, how he can be a truly terrible doctor and how his stubbornness and judgement lead to awful, terrible decisions. but i'm not going to completely bash this character, no matter how much i'd like to. despite this, there's no easy way to say it, but i just don't like jack. i think he can be a good guy, and i think there are aspects to him that make him an interesting character, but in season one – for me – his flaws completely outweigh his positives. there is just something about him that makes me so frustrated. i genuinely think it's his attitude, that is, his constant belief that his way is the right way. and i'm always here for a frustrating character, i enjoy someone with flaws, but jack's simply ... fall flat, for me. maybe it's because he's meant to be our main character, and he just has zero charisma in my eyes. i think there are so many other characters that draw me in. jack is just there. and usually he's doing something to piss me off, but not in the fun way, in the “i really fucking hate you” way. and i truly do not like that he refuses to help people sometimes ( sawyer ), or that he brushes them off for being annoying ( sullivan ), or brushes them off because he thinks he's always right ( such as with claire's nightmares ). it puts a bad taste in my mouth fr !!! even him punishing kate for not telling him what she did, when he's the one who told her that he didn't care? make up your fucking mind buddy.

but of course, jack can be a compassionate person. and he does feel guilt for the things he does – like with claire's kidnapping – and i'm glad for that. maybe too much guilt sometimes, but i'm not gonna fault him for that because i always love seeing that in a character. him watching sayid torture sawyer and realizing that this is a bad thing we're doing here – i liked that. it was a bad call. and i truly adore the flashback where he turns his father in for drinking, because i cannot even imagine how difficult that would be, and the betrayal on christian's face ( and the pain on jack's ) is honestly hard to watch. and when sawyer tells jack about meeting christian, and how proud he was of jack, i do find myself tearing up every time lol. it just really kills me. anyway, i'm hoping to god that i like him more in season two because jack isn't a character i want to feel this frustrated with. i don't want to dislike him! i never want to look at a character and say “i hate them please get them off my screen” but that's usually how i feel about jack. and i don't know if it's the writing, or the acting, or jack himself – there's just something about his character i don't like. either way, i'm hoping for better things from him in season two.

kate – oh kate ... perhaps my second least favorite character in this show, right behind jack. i want to like her so badly but there's also something about her that frustrates the hell out of me. i think her infatuation with jack – for no reason, might i add – is annoying. and i hate their chemistry, because there is none. seriously, kate works better with sawyer, works better with sun, than with jack. though i will admit, i really like the plot twist of kate being the prisoner, and i do think it's interesting how much compassion she has for people, even the u.s. marshal, but something about her also unfortunately falls flat for me. she's just not all that intriguing in my eyes, and i really wish she was. i do like she and sayid's friendship, i think it's cute, and i think kate is far more interesting in sawyer's scenes. but i think i'd like her even more if she wasn't soooo heavily paired with a man, always. not even romantically, but i just mean, she's always in scenes with a guy! she always wants a dude's help! like, give her something to do on her own. but, truly, i have nothing more to say about kate, and i may never have more to say on her lol. i don't remember being super impressed with her in season two, but it's been a bit since i watched all of that season, so we'll see!

michael – truly, i do not have any words for why michael would be my favorite character in this season. he's frustrating, quick to blame, doesn't always make the best decisions when it comes to walt ... but that is what makes him so damn intriguing to me. i think it's his relationship with walt that really kills me. it's like, he's this character who wanted to be a father so badly but was never really able to be one. he fought tooth and nail to be able to be walt's dad and it just didn't matter. and then susan dies, brian comes by, and michael's reunited with walt. and he has to figure out how to raise his kid ( who isn't really his kid anymore ) and honor susan and brian at the same time. it's such an insanely devastating situation that i can hardly stand it. people misconstrue michael's intensions so much – like when they say he hates being a father. but i don't think that's true. he just doesn't know how to be one. he was never given the chance to! michael definitely has a bit of a hair-trigger temper, but i genuinely do think it's because of walt – most of the time. and also, michael and jin's friendship after everything that happened between them?? i love it so much. anyway, michael stays being one of my favorite characters in this season, and there's not a scene with him that goes by i don't enjoy. his centric episode nearly destroyed me this watch and i don't think i'm ready for the next one, which i know is coming soon. overall, i just really enjoy how michael has such this surface level look about him, then you look deeper and see who he truly is, what his motivations are, his regrets. he's just a really great character in my eyes. also, i'm not going to talk about walt on his own, just know i adore walt and i wrote a fic about him! so, he's def a fav of mine.

locke – i'm gonna be honest! locke has always been a favorite of mine, i absolutely love his flashbacks and i think he's so much fun to watch on screen. terry o'quinn really carries here, and i'm excited because i know just how great future locke scenes are. but, how do i feel about him in season one? well, i found myself ... being a little more on the bitter side with him! i think i formed an attachment to boone and to witness what leads to his death really hurts. and when locke brings him back and lies about what happened, causing jack to misdiagnose the problem – well, it really sucks to see. and i know boone was supposed to die, but that doesn't change the fact that if i was on that island, i'd be pissed at locke for this. aside from that, i really like his belief in the island and those intertwining themes of fate and destiny ... he just brings something that the show really needs. i will never get over this man having been in a wheelchair and walkabout still makes me cry to this day. and being conned out of a kidney? phewwww that's a tough one for me to watch. i love the scene where locke bangs on the hatch and the light beams up – it's so great. but, boone's death really hurt my opinion of locke in season one, but i'm sure this'll improve with time ( until season 4 🙄 ). anyway, the ending of this season really teases the jack and locke dynamic – man of science and man of faith ... they're so fun to watch and i can't wait to see them interact more in s2. but locke in season one is great, up until the moment he isn't. but he grew on me in the finale. his acting is so good i can't not like him, lol.

sayid – well, i suppose i might as well get it over with. so, i've never been much of a sayid stan ... i try, let me tell you, but the feeling just never comes. my opinion of him has been pretty consistent throughout my time watching this show, but i think he's mostly good in season one. and i'm not saying he's a bad character or anything, i simply find his flashbacks to be boring and i have no attachment to nadia as a whole. and i think that him torturing sawyer was awful! but obviously i'm not really here to judge characters based on how terrible of people they are ( look at my fav ... ), obviously these characters have flaws and are not always great people. my “meh” feeling toward him more so has to do with the fact that he falls a little flat, too. at least for me, he does. and i know people love him! i've just never felt much of a connection to him, and i'm not sure i ever will. let's just say, i don't watch this show for him.

charlie – charlie is definitely one of the highlights of this season. drug addict characters always, always draw me in, and i think his personality is just so great. he's definitely on the funnier side, but then we get to his backstory and you see just how fucked up things got for him! i love that he goes to the cockpit only to find his drugs – and i love seeing his notion that he's a coward, that really gets swept away come episode seven. i know, i know. people don't like the moth metaphor. but i've always had a soft spot for it, and i think the combination of acting and writing really brings that scene to life. i adore charlie and claire's relationship and they're just ): so cute. so when they get kidnapped ?!? god damn that angst is so juicy. but anyway, i've always been a fan of charlie's character and that hasn't changed one bit. i can't really remember how prevalent he is in s2 ( aside from fire + water ) but i very much look forward to seeing more of him and what he gets up to. i feel like i have less to say here bc ... idk! he's just a silly guy! i like him a lot, always have, and i don't see that ever changing.

claire – you know, i've never had much of an opinion on claire. she's always kind of just ... been there for me. however, i think because elsie likes her so much, it's really improved my view of her. claire is just so sweet and i can't imagine the terror of being pregnant on a fucking deserted island. she handles it much better than i would've, lol. but her pain and fear is definitely hard to see, and made even more difficult because of jack not believing her 🙄 which, of course. but i really like the ethan plotline and i like the little seeds they plant for s2 – such as showing that small flashback between rousseau and claire in the finale. we still don't know what happened to her! i will admit, i don't have a whole lot more to say here, but i think she's a fun character and i like the stuff they play with concerning the psychic. that's really all!

sawyer – sawyer!!! this man has always been one of my favorite characters and he's forever managed to crack me up... i just think he's hilarious, definitely one of the funniest characters on the show. even in the pilot, when kate asks where the polar bear came from and he says, "probably bear village, how the hell do i know?" i laugh every time. ANYWAY! i definitely thought sawyer was going to be more of an acquired taste this season, which, he is, but he really shines pretty early on. i expected to hate confidence man more, because i've never really liked that episode when watching alone, but it turns out i ... really enjoyed it this time around? i thought it was the perfect blend of realistic and horrific and it was a great way to stir up tension, especially between sawyer and sayid. everyone always assumes the worst of sawyer and they truly don't even bother asking him – they just blame him, which makes him mad ( as it would anyone ), and then he acts like an asshole in turn. he's backed into a corner and it's kind of fascinating to watch and see what he does, how he reacts, etc. and maybe i'm crazy, but i don't see having your own supplies as a ... necessarily bad thing? so many characters accuse him of looting from the dead, but it's not like he's the only one that's done that. and we're shown that in truly life threatening situations ( such as boone ) he's quick to help. i also love his relationship with michael and, by extension, jin, and him being a part of the raft is just so fun. truly, i think sawyer is just so interesting, and i'm very excited to see more of him in season two.

boone – ohhhhh boone. this man is someone i've always had a love / hate relationship with, but at the end of the day, he won my heart over. he's always been someone that wants to help sooo badly ( such as trying to give rose cpr ) and even if that doesn't exactly pan out, he still cares to try. his relationship with shannon is .... odd, to say the least, but i do enjoy most of their interactions. i think boone definitely projects his feelings on to shannon, like calling her useless and worthless, which is probably why he tries to help out as much as he does. and when he and locke find the hatch, this kind of gives him a new purpose, and so does locke. so it's devastating to see boone be convinced to follow locke out to this plane, and you can see that the only thing he wants to do is help. it just!! pains something deep inside of me. even when he's in the plane, it falls because he's trying to get everyone rescued – and i think that's how he deserves to be remembered. i do think his death hits so hard, and while the episode definitely prepares you for it, it's not easy to watch it play out. i love the scene where locke sees boone in his dream, when he's talking about his babysitter, and you see the flashes of him covered in blood. it's really trippy and foreboding and just ... so well done! i love the idea that boone's death majorly effects everything and everyone, not only in this season but in the seasons that follow, and it's nice that the show never forgets about him. i just really like his character and, though i'm sad to see him go, i know it's necessary.

shannon – surprisingly? shannon was one of the most enjoyable characters on this rewatch for me. i never thought much of her before, felt like she was a little annoying, but i genuinely liked her this season and i thought she was hilarious. i'm a little disappointed we didn't get a shannon flashback, but i know we will in season two, so i look forward to that. her grief for boone really fucking pains me and when walt gives vincent to her ... man. that scene hurts. i don't love she and sayid's relationship, to be completely honest, but i really like the scene where she tells him off for getting frustrated with her about the map. i still have mixed feelings about her going after locke after boone's death, but maybe it'll make more sense to me on another rewatch lol. anyway! not too much to say about her, except i enjoyed her presence ( a lot ) and that was a little surprising for me.

sun & jin – i'm combining these two into one, not only because i think they're important to talk about together, but also because i'm feeling a little lazy. anywho, i think it's really fun how the show makes jin out to be a pretty awful guy, but once you see his backstory – see his motivations, his fears – it starts to make a lot of sense. it's funny because jin is definitely one of my favorite characters, but it's pretty hard to like him at first. so i really enjoy his development in the first season, and his friendship with michael is really sweet. as for sun, i do like her! she's another character that's always just been kind of there, but i enjoyed her a lot more on this rewatch. her goodbye to jin before the raft leaves absolutely gutted me. the acting there was phenomenal. and i think it's really special we got these two characters because yunjin kim was so impressive when they were casting. it's upsetting to see these two characters who don't speak english, who are pretty much completely isolated because of this language barrier, but then sun speaks english?! the little twist there is just so great. her weird relationship with michael also isn't my favorite thing. i just really love sun and jin's relationship and how much it develops – they're probably my favorite couple on this show, tbh. and i know kate was behind a lot of the poisoning jin thing, but when jack tells sun he knows it was her, and she says, "are you going to tell the others?" that just BROKE me!! the fear and pain in her voice. ugh. she just wanted to keep him safe and off the raft. also, jin's dad is so sweet and i really love that scene between them in the flashback. and when sun is about to leave jin at the airport and he shows her the flower – god, that makes me cry every time. like full on sobbing. it's so good and their acting and chemistry is just amazing. anyway, i don't have too much more to say on them, but i adore sun and jin so much!!! definitely one of the highlights of this season.

hurley – i feel like it's a little hard for me to say much on hurley, mostly because we don't get toooo much development with him this season. like, we get one flashback but that's really it! so i'm excited to see more of him in season two for sure. but anyway, he's one of the funniest characters on this show and i love his interactions with literally everyone. and there is not one scene with him that i don't like. the numbers are probably my favorite part of this show, and i love his flashback about the curse and winning the lottery and all that. it's just great. and for rousseau to be the one person who tells him that maybe there is a curse? and that she doesn't dismiss what he's saying? it's so euphoric for him, and i love seeing it every time. hurley's friendship with charlie is also great – i just love those two. his flashbacks, alongside locke's, have always been my favorites and i just ... wanna see more of his character and past! he's just such a memorable character, and one of the first i think of when i reminisce about this show.

honorable mentions :

ethan – scary as fuck. this guy has always creeped me out, and the fact that he's tom cruise's cousin will never not be hilarious to me. he definitely scared the shit out of me as a kid and even still gives me the creeps. it's hilarious that the characters, especially charlie, start referring to him as a "what" rather than a "who." i love it. death was deserved, this man wouldn't have said shit.

sullivan – we were just calling him john lennon because we didn't know his name. his rash was a little concerning and jack brushing him off was annoying to me. and when he comes to the golf course and says "can i play?" i just love that scene. where did sullivan go ... 😔

scott & steve – i don't really know the difference between them, but rip scott. he deserved better.

arzt – probably one of my favorite side characters. he's so funny to me, and when he gets blown up i just ... bust out laughing every time. cannot wait to see this idiot again in s3 and s6.

[dusty-siltstrider]

Alright I'm properly boozed and decently numbed. I promised to bitch excessively on here if our boy became a name on a missing poster. Here the fuck I am.

For reference I'm focusing on Viktor and Jayce here. More than enough has been said about everyone else. Y'all ate good. Let us starve in peace. Lots of this comes from lengthy discussions on the Viktor Nation disc.

To start - no, Viktor does not appear in the new trailer. I'm sorry, he just doesn't. Not even a voice line which should have been pretty fucking easy. Over at Viktor Nation we spent nearly an hour going over the trailer frame by frame brightening shit to see if he shows. He does not. No, not even a far-off shot of his arm. We got more Viktor in the teaser from two months ago than the official trailer.

However...

100% Glorious Evolved. Fingerprints around their faces match what appears to be Viktor face-grabbing that Shimmer addict from the teaser trailer. Similar rune carvings. This is his cult. Which uhh right off the bat is much different from any other interpretations?

Basically confirms they're going all-in on runic magic for Viktor and largely veering away from classic Machine Herald. Which I have feelings about. That will be reserved for the season itself once we see it play out.

And before any smartasses come in with "lol at least you got a shot of his feet" jokes those definitely aren't his. Just one of the random cultists floating judging by the angling. And Viktor's would be full grape Fanta. The silvery/gold texture is interesting. Some kind of manipulation of metal through magic?

Don't even.

Also been seeing a lot on the shadowy golden-eyed figure and we figured that's near-certainly not him either.

Looks sick, I'll admit. I kinda hope it's him, in fact. Most likely not him. Face shape is slightly too squared off, ears stick out too far, yes I went in deep on skull shape for this and I'm at least 75% sure that ain't him. And Viktor's magical influence/Hexcore spookiness has been defined by purple sinews and more organic forms than this more fantastical shadow tendril thing. This seems to be a new force entirely.

I won't discount it outright since Viktor's eyes are indeed associated with gold/amber but for all I know this could be Mel. Eye socket shape/nose does vaguely match. And Viktor's eyes would likely lean more towards a purple voidy glow in S2 if they're going all-in on the Hex Core.

Possible Jayce cameo? Very obviously meant to be his wristband gem, maybe somehow got fused with his skin. The grip on the object appears heavy so it's not Viktor's cane/staff. Could very well be the Viktor/Jayce confrontation since if you squint there might a robed figure standing in front of that weird fuckin magic doodad.

Speaking of...

Saw a pretty interesting post from @nylloth saying this could be Viktor's "hospital" or maybe some kind of Glorious Evolved temple. It does resemble the fucked up glowing sinewy appearance of the Hex Core so perhaps some kind of hallucination or vision that Viktor is having of his potential. Would love to hear more thoughts on that though. It's very obviously related to "the Arcane" as a broader more mysterious force.

Wanted to be angrier here but I'm honestly just disappointed. Which is ass because pit fighter Vi and Ekko and revolutionary Jinx are all things I'm genuinely looking forward to but I can't rally it. I'm very glad everyone else ate good though. Does indeed look sick and I'm still excited. Pit fighter Vi especially. Holy fuck. But I'm just too bummed out about Viktor, call that dramatic or childish but idc it's how it is.

Be stingy about appearances and character designs but it could not have been difficult to include a single voice line. Don't even bother including it in the show, get a couple trailer-only lines or a "Glorious Evolution" or SOMETHING. Don't give me that "well their fates are still ambiguous" No they aren't lmao they just aren't. By this point everyone knows Jayce and Vik live and 50/50 on Mel.

If Viktor had not appeared in that teaser TWO MONTHS ago for like 2 seconds then it would be reasonable to assume he got erased from the show entirely lol. We have a shot of his arm to go off of until we hopefully get a proper Viktor poster. Cool. Nice arm.

That is all. For now. Please refrain from discussing leaks. I don't need any more temptation.

[michaelmilligan]

The Jonmartin manifesto no one asked for but needed to get out

So, I've not been in the tma fandom for long yet, having only listened to it for the first time a few months ago. But from browsing the Jonmartin (and teaholding and jmart) tag regularly, it seems to me like most jonmartin shippers fall into one of these two categories:

They would find each other in every universe; or

It's a miracle they even got together in this universe

(Obviously, that's an oversimplification, and people who express one view in one post can easily hold a different view at another time - these are fictional characters we're talking about after all, and headcanons don't need to be consistent and can even contradict each other. This is just the general vibe I got so far.)

Anyway, I wanted to add my own two cents on the topic, because while I understand where both of these views are coming from, I think neither of them is ultimately correct.

(Putting the rest under a read more - be warned that this is NOT a spoiler-free post, so if you haven't finished listening to TMA yet and you want a spoiler-free experience, you probably shouldn't read this.)

So, before we get to my own opinion, let's first look at where the two options I mentioned above come from, shall we?

"They would find each other in every universe"

Obviously, this view is highly romantic - star-crossed lovers, finding each other again and again. It is both a good foundational basis for AUs, and a ray of hope in the face of the tragedy that is the tma finale.

Of course, concerning the finale, this is a rather different take than concerning AUs (since it would mean the very same characters finding each other again in a different world, not fundamentally different characters, shaped by said other world, also finding each other). And maybe when people express this view, they mean more the finale fix-its than AUs, though I suspect that plenty of people mean both.

It's a nice, comforting thought. And don't we all need some comfort after the finale? Yes, we certainly do. (Except for the people who read only hurt without comfort and angst, I guess. You do you, and I'm glad you're having fun, but personally I do desperately need some comfort, lmao.)

Is this view supported by canon though?

Cynical minds would say no, and personally I'm more inclined to agree with them, though as I've said, for me the truth lies outside of those two rigid stances (somewhere in between, I suppose).

I don't see much in canon which points to Jon and Martin falling in love under any circumstances/in any universe, especially considering their... let's say difficult relationships at the start of the show. But of course we must also take into account the specific circumstances in canon (more on that below) and interpretations vary, and I do very much enjoy AUs, so I'm certainly not trying to throw shade if you're on this side of the 'divide'.

Mostly, I think there CAN be other circumstances in which those two get together, outside the canon ones. (I'm writing a canon-divergent jonmartin fic myself, lol.) Let's get into that while we look at the other view, shall we.

"It's a miracle they even got together in this one"

Ah, the Martin-approved stance. One could say 'well, they literally said it in canon' and be done with it. However, that would require us to believe that the opinions of the characters are always true and correct, which. Lmao. We only have to listen to season 2 of tma to know that this is very much not the case.

And even if S5 Martin is not S2 Jon at the height of his paranoia, he's still very much a man shaped by his own life and experiences. I'm sure he would call himself a realist, but he honestly seems more like a pessimist to me. Which is understandable, given his life, and his association with the Lonely, which has often been (in my opinion accurately) compared to depression.

The thing is, Jon did treat Martin horribly in S1, and then he admittedly treated everyone horribly in S2. It was only in the course of S3 that their relationship got more, let's say, equal, with Jon no longer thinking Martin would be 'contributing nothing but delays'. (And then of course we have S4, which I LOVE even though it hurts me deeply. Then again, that's the whole show. And, obviously, S5 my beloved.)

So. Jon seemed to hate Martin in S1, while Martin was arguably already in love with the man. (Arguably. We do know that he acted catty to Basira in S2, so it's reasonable to assume that he started liking him at some point in S1, or even before the show started.) Then a lot of traumatic things happened, and they got together.

This means it must be the traumatic things that made them compatible, right? Just like Martin says in S5?

Well, one could see it that way. Jon certainly changed over the seasons, coming off his high horse and such. (In S5, he arguably gets back on it quite a bit, but then he IS the Eye's specialest little princess in a world that's literally ruled by it. And also he is slowly losing his grip on his own humanity. But I digress.)

And I do think that the trauma channeled a lot of those changes - the first time we see Jon being actually emotionally open (something he still struggles with over all seasons, because people don't just change fundamentally that quickly) is during Prentiss' attack on the Institute. They're in a situation where they might reasonably die (they even expect it, because they don't know that Elias is just rubbing his greedy little paws as he waits for things to get worse before he saves them with the gas).

I do think that moment could have been a big turning point for Jon and Martin, if it hadn't been immediately followed with the discovery of Gertrude's body, and Jon's subsequent descent into paranoia. Jon opened up, and also saw that Martin was rather competent during the attack, which could have led to them becoming closer, respectively having at least something like a normal work relationship.

But then Jon got paranoid and interpreted everything he saw negatively, including Martin's competence, which was twisted in his mind to 'What if he's just been pretending to be incompetent and is actually an evil agent out to kill the archivist'.

(Big sigh.)

Anyway, before I lose myself in the red string as well: Yes, Jon seems to 'mellow' over the seasons, especially with regard to Martin, at the same time that he's going through terribly traumatic events.

But does that mean that it's actually the trauma that's changing him and his relationships? Partly, certainly, but I would argue that trauma doesn't make you nicer or kinder. It might make you realise some things, but that doesn't mean that you can't realise those things in other ways.

And does it means that they couldn't have come together if they had met under different circumstances? Also not necessarily! I would even argue that the specific circumstances they met under were detrimental to Jon's first impression of Martin. And yes, this goes beyond the dog story.

So let's try and dissect their relationship from the start.

A theory of... something like nuance, or whatever

The starting situation

(Yes, I did have to use a Supernatural gif, thank you for asking. No, I will not apologise. <3)

Alright. So let's start with what we actually know about Jon and Martin's first meeting. Obviously, there's the dog story, though as far as I know that's not 'canon' because it wasn't actually in the podcast. I still like it, and think it adds another reason to Jon's behaviour, though I don't necessarily think it's necessary, because Jon already had lots of other reasons to tell himself that Martin wasn't worth his time.

1.1. Jon has issues. More at 11.

First of all, we learn throughout the podcast that Jon doesn't actually have any qualifications to lead an archive. He's probably 29 when the show starts (in 2016, going by the fandom wiki stating that he was born in 1987, which is reasonable given everything we learn about his age).

So, he's 29 and suddenly appointed, after four years of working in one department, to become the head of a completely different department. He does not have a degree that would give him credentials for leading an archive, nor are we told that he has ever even worked in an archive. For all we know, and that he knows, he is woefully underqualified. (This is also, I think, highlighted in S2 when Jon threatens to resign, only to then be baffled by Elias saying that he would be difficult to replace. Elias means something completely different than his skill set as an archivist with a lower case 'a', presumably, but then Jon doesn't know that.)

This means that Jon is in a highly stressful position, because he's trying to do a job he doesn't actually know how to do, while also trying not to let on that he doesn't know how to do it!

It doesn't help that Jon is also terribly scared of what all might be lurking in the shadows (or even in the light), as he himself admits during the Prentiss attack. He is extremely high-strung from day one, basically a wet chihuahua shaking in a slight breeze, while trying to seem like a strong bulldog.

We also know that Jon asked for two people to be his assistants: Tim and Sasha. They both worked in research, and Sasha also briefly worked in artefact storage, making them both qualified to help Jon with following up on statements. But I think more than their qualifications, Jon probably requested them because he knew and got along with them.

Imagine: Your boss tells you that he's promoting you into a position you're not qualified for and which you have no real clue how to do. Wouldn't you rather have people around you who you're already friendly with, and who are likely to cut you some slack if you're not perfect on day one? I know I would!

1.2. Elias is a little shit and I want to kill him with hammers (affectionately)

And then Elias transfers Martin.

I'm going off the dog story again, because again, I like it, and I think it does fit neatly into canon. If this story is to be believed, Elias neither asked nor did he tell Jon that he was giving him another assistant. He apparently simply told Martin 'you work at the archives now, congratulations' and then went back to his office to smile smugly to himself.

This is a VERY bad start for a working relationship, because not only does Martin come in unannounced, this also comes off as Elias not respecting Jon, or potentially even sending someone to report back to Elias (because Martin is the only one who doesn't have an established rapport with Jon).

Jon never verbalises this suspicion, so maybe this is too much interpretation on my part, but in any case it's cause for a lot of resentment on Jon's part, and since he can't exactly let it out on Elias (who is rarely there, anyway), he simply lets it out on Martin.

He finds reasons to do so, of course, insulting his work and all that. It's probably easy, especially in the beginning, because not unlike Jon, Martin doesn't have any qualifications to work in an archive! He worked at the library before, and we know that his degree is made up (which we can only assume Elias knows, considering he can know almost anything).

(I actually find the question on why Elias transferred Martin in the first place extremely interesting, and might get into that in another post. But this one is already too long, lmao.)

1.3. Martin is too nice, aka Jon has even more issues

This is mostly my personal headcanon, though I do feel it fits Jon's character - which is that he doesn't know how to deal with nice people.

Not kind people. Not friendly people. But nice people.

People who do things seemingly out of the mere goodness of their heart. Like bringing their mean boss tea when he never asked them to do that. Like being friendly even in the face of insults. Someone who constantly takes himself back in favour of other people and their opinions.

People like Martin is appearing to be. Appearing, because Martin isn't actually like that. He does have his opinions, and he could probably grumble up a storm in S1 about Jon, but Jon is his BOSS, and so he plays.

Martin also IS genuinely a nice person most of the time (when he's not on a revenge rampage, making his boyfriend murder people). He doesn't have to do nice things for Jon like bring him tea in S2. But he does. Because that's Martin's way of trying to reach out, to show other people that he means no harm (and that he can be useful).

(I also think that Jon's snappish behaviour, where Martin never quite knows what will set the man off, might remind him off his mum, but again I digress. :))

But I think Jon doesn't know how to deal with that, because even when he's not in the height of paranoia, he still suspects that people who are THAT nice (especially when they have no reason to be nice because he's being an arsehole to them) have a secret agenda. This is playing into what I said under 2 (the part that might be too much interpretation on my side lol), because if Jon suspects that Martin is reporting back to Elias, or is at least someone who would not be friendly if he found out that Jon doesn't know what he's doing, then he can't allow himself to relax around him, and he certainly can't allow himself to be lulled into false security (as Jon would think) around him.

Tl;dr on this point: I think Jon is wary of Martin's niceness because he thinks he might be fishing for gossip/anything he can use against Jon. And even if he isn't, Jon thinks he would be likely to use anything he learns against Jon, because they weren't friends to begin with, and Jon's behaviour has made them anything but that.

(We have to remember that this is the guy who says in S2 that he knows what it's like to 'lack the respect of one's peers', aka the kid who got bullied by at least one older kid, and likely had no or very few friends - plus he believes in the supernatural, which doesn't exactly lend itself well to getting academic respect.)

1.4. They were fucked from the start, your honour

Basically what the meme says, but yeah. The they were put in practically guaranteed that Jon would be wary of Martin, and that Martin would be trying extra hard to make friends with him, which in turn would make Jon even more wary/hostile.

And Elias made it worse, either knowingly or by negligence (not telling Jon about transferring Martin).

If we add the whole dog story to it... they were fucked. I do actually wonder if, assuming we take the dog story as canon, Elias actually somehow managed to set that up. Or whether he was at least cackling (sorry, smiling ever so silently, but smugly) in his office as it happened, or whenever he ended up knowing that it happened.

2. Yes, we've had one starting point, but what about second starting point?

As we have established above, the starting situation for Jon and Martin was... not ideal. So, would they have gotten together easily given a different starting point, like in a cute coffee shop AU?

Eh.

It's true that the specific situation they were in made it a lot harder for them to actually communicate and see each other as they are than it had to be. That doesn't mean that a different situation would have made it easy, though.

Their personalities still make it hard, though, as even without the added stress of a new job, Jon is still a little chihuahua shaking in the corner, who tries to make up for it by barking at everyone, and Martin is still the guy trying to approach him with treats and getting his hand bitten.

There are certainly specific situation that could make it easier, especially if Jon isn't scared as hell, and has maybe already learned that not everyone who does something nice for him wants to just pull on his strings. (Yes, I do think that the thing that makes Martin, according to Annabelle, suited for the Web, is the thing that put Jon on edge at the beginning. I don't know if this was intended at all, but it makes me cackle.)

The beauty of fanfic is that we can do whatever the hell we want. But I think the most fun thing an AU author can do is think 'What would have to happen, in this specific scenario, for these two to get over themselves and get together?'

Excursion: Martin, my beloved depressed blorbo who I am certainly not projecting on, haha

Because it IS both of them who need to get over themselves. Of course Jon's issues are the most obvious, and I've certainly expanded on them enough. But Martin also has a problem, and it's that he's constantly hiding his true feelings and opinions, especially anger and fear.

That makes sense, perhaps, in a workplace, though considering he's dealing with a walking, talking worm hive and a stalker boss... Let's just say it probably would have helped Tim, too, if Martin hadn't been so desperate to make everyone be friends again.

Because Martin is always TRYING to make everything better for everyone, but he's actually not helping anyone. Being nice to Jon and bringing him tea doesn't help battle his paranoia. And trying to tell Tim not to be so angry at Jon, and can't they all be friends, doesn't actually help Tim with his anger.

All Martin is essentially doing is making himself small and saying 'let's get along, pretty please' every now and then. I don't know if it would have helped if he had expressed his own fears and anger, and maybe Jon would have misconstrued that as well, too deep in his paranoia already. But at least Tim might have realised that he was not alone in all this. (His biggest problem, as he says in S2, is that he feels that no one has his back, which I think at least partly results from no one expressing the same anger, aka no one validating his feelings.)

Anyway! (Jon voice) Excursion ends.

3. (To the melody of 'What shall we do with the drunken sailor') What shall we do with these total idiots?

So, how ARE these two going to get together, if they're so woefully unequipped to deal with each other?

Well, first we need to give Martin a good helping of self-confidence. Then we need to kind of give Jon the same, since his problem ALSO is that he's unsure of himself, he just tries to make other people small to cover it up, instead of making himself small. (And isn't that a funny thing to do for someone who we know was bullied. To become a bully himself. Oh, the snake, biting its own tail...)

The easy answer is, of course: You can come up with your own version, get creative. <3

The more complex answer is: A lot of stuff, probably. Jon and Martin will certainly need time to get to know each other, and of course it depends on what situation you put them in to start. But there will be misunderstandings, and there will be hurt feelings, and I am going to soak it up all like a particularly slowburn-greedy sponge.

I feel like there are probably five million ways to get them together, and some might be cute and fluffy (if they go to therapy first, I guess, lol) and many will be full of tears. <3 (Jon voice) And I want to see them all on my desk by Friday! So get to it!

In all seriousness though, yeah, I think there's not one right way for them to get together (though canon did it well imo). But it's also a little more complex than we might give it credit to (very much including me).

4. So what now?

I don't know. I'm not your dad. Write a fic. Draw a picture. Put down your own thoughts on the matter. Or take a shower and clean up your room, young Padawan!

(Though actually, if you've read this post from start to finish in one session, what you should probably do is get up and stretch and get some water.)

And above all! And this is imperative.

Have a good day. <3

[thewistlingbadger]

I'm annoyed that the many issues with canon Timebomb due to the rushed way the show handled the pairing have started to seep into the fanfic sphere too - namely, Jinx's mental illness being downplayed, Ekko having no personality, relationships or individual motivations outside of his relationship with Jinx and the Firelights being non-existent.

It's got to the point I actively seek out fics published between S1 and S2 over newer ones. They are more likely to nail Jinx and Ekko's characterisation and their dynamic where even the show's writers couldn't.

As someone who doesn't ship timebomb I completely understand your take and it is VALID. Timebomb as a concept is very interesting because theoretically you have these two childhood friends that lost each other only to be reunited later in life as enemies on opposing sides. That is some really compelling groundwork for a romantic relationship! However, the show doesn't really do anything to actually frame them like this. We rarely get to see Jinx and Ekko interact in the whole show, let alone exchange any dialogue with each other.

The timebomb "content" in season two feels misplaced and undeserved because it IS. The only time we've seen these two actually together in a meaningful way in s1 is their fight one the bridge. That fight made it clear that these two have a history that the audience isn't privy to and this one scene is the entire foundation for arcane! timebomb. Ekko has an entire episode in season two that is NOT dedicated to expanding his character, NOT dedicating to elaborating on his relationship with Jinx, but an episode that is dedicated to exploring an alternative reality where Jinx grew up to be a different person. We spend all this time with Ekko and Powder and then the show acts like their dynamic is somehow transferable to Ekko and Jinx by showing us that somehow when Ekko went back to Jinx he was able to reconcile with her and save her life and get her to fight one last time.

To me this makes no sense because episode 7 really didn't show us anything illuminating about Ekko or his relationship with Jinx. It didn't explain what happened between them, or why Ekko would have romantic feelings for Jinx. We go the whole show without ever actually getting any context as to what happened between them, so the nature of their relationship is truly a mystery. Ekko doesn't go through any major development in that episode, he stays consistent throughout the whole time. Ekko in general is unfortunately a character that goes unexplored throughout the whole show. We don't know much about who he is as a character and his goals, motivations, or reasonings. This same issue occurs with The Firelights. We know they're a group of rebels, but what do they ACTUALLY want and what are their plans to achieve their goals?

Ultimately it was decided that none of this mattered because instead of using the groundwork laid out in season one, season two only had one thing in mind: their end goal. And that end goal consisted largely of fan service, which is why we got a timebomb kiss. Not because it added to Jinx and Ekko's story (the kiss wasn't even between Jinx and Ekko lol) but because the ship is popular and they knew a kiss would make fans happy. A large part of the fandom is very happy with the fan service they received in this season and now they are, predictably, running wild with it. Timebomb has become even more popular than it already was and most of the content is very sweet in nature. I'm glad that shippers are fed and enjoying themselves. However, I cannot look past how the adoration for the ship has made people turn a blind eye to what was established prior to season two. The Firelights are important to Ekko, and Jinx killed many of them over the span of several years. Jinx was born with mental illness and her illness impacted her everyday life. Ekko and Jinx seemingly have a complex history that needs to be unpacked before they can even ATTEMPT to be on good terms again. The last time we saw Ekko and Jinx in s1 they LITERALLY tried to kill each other! This is a relationship that deserves and NEEDS time to be understood.

As for Jinx's mental illness being downplayed? 100% true. In season one Jinx's mental health was vital to the story the writers were trying to tell. They didn't want Jinx to seem like a manic, Joker-type character. They wanted her to be someone the audience would simultaneously pity and fear. But in season two, the end goal was to have Jinx reconcile with Vi and be a hero. To the people behind season two, this wasn't possible without stripping Jinx of everything that made her a fan favorite. Season one was all about rejecting the past and embracing who you truly are and what you've become. Jinx's final action in season one is sitting in the Jinx chair, proclaiming she has changed, and then nuking topside. But in season two, Jinx answers to the name Powder and says "Jinx is dead." In season two, Jinx becomes completely pacified and is no longer a murderous criminal who struggles with daily hallucinations. The erasure of her mental illness and identity has led fans to come to the conclusion that she was never really "that messed up" to begin with, all her problems were because of Silco and now that Silco's gone, she's better. This view is incorrect because we see Jinx have meltdown before she even meets Silco AND arguably Jinx reverting back to Powder isn't inherently a good thing. Powder isn't inherently the "better" version of Jinx. The fact that she even reverts at all goes completely against the message of season one and Silco's dying words, "Don't cry. You're perfect."

[averytirednerd]

About Episodes 7 and 8...MASSIVE SPOILERS!!

Initial thoughts (because if I talk about EVERYTHING right now you'll be here for at least half an hour)...

WHAT THE HELL?!

I mean I loved getting to watch the season finale, don't get me wrong. But I have just as many grievances as things I loved about it and also SO MUCH happened?!?!?!

Charlie: Loved getting to see her be all demon-y, I've been waiting all season. Also loved her and the cannibals (especially Rosie!!!). So glad she got to work w/ Luci to protect the hotel <333 She and Vaggie are adorable too.

Vaggie: I really enjoyed watching her and Carmilla's song, that was cool. Protecting her girlfriend, very cute. I liked seeing her and Lute have that little face-off.

Husk: Sad that we didn't get to see much of him, but I get it. His interactions with the others were sweet (especially Angel). I loved the one line he got to sing on his own in that last song of episode 8. 😍

Angel: Ngl I am very glad he wasn't the one to die. It would've been a fun little "oh crap" moment but I really didn't want to be right. He's still got business down there. His interactions with the others here are everything to me, and he's just grown so much and aaaaaa. It's lovely to see! I love him more and more with every episode.

Niffty: YOU GO, GIRL!!!! Love to see the stabbing. I also really loved the...one line Nifty got. Kimiko Glenn's voice is a gift, I freaked out over getting to hear one line. Anyway. not much else to say other than I definitely thought it was Alastor doing a big "oh look, I'm alive!" thing when Adam got stabbed, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Cherri Bomb/Sir P: I was surprised, to say the least, when Cherri and Sir P had that little moment. Glad they got it before he went and DIED. Cherri is such a good friend to Angel and she's great. Now, onto Sir P...WOW, OKAY. Glad we know Charlie's plan isn't completely stupid. Wonder how Sera's gonna react to him being there now, lol.

The Vees: FIRST OFF, VOX?????? "This is better than sex!" 💀💀💀 Truly was not expecting to see as much of the Vees as we did. Not complaining though. It was...interesting...to say the least, watching Vox get as excited as he did over the prospect of Al dying (still as obsessed as ever, fr). Not at all surprised to see Val and Vox have a thing going, I figured from the interactions we've seen so far. Them dancing together was silly, them practically making out was less so 😃. Also, gotta continue the love for Velvette--putting up with these two idiots must take a lot. Also also, her HAIR! HER HAIR!! EEEEE

Lucifer: I reallllyyyyyy enjoyed seeing Luci make a return to help Charlie, even if it was in one of those "last-minute saves" that I usually hate. Idk, makes sense here I guess because he's probably always watching over Charlie some way. ALSO LUCI AND CHARLIE GOING ALL DEMON-Y TOGETHER WAS <33333333 I really loved him starting off that last song in episode 8, and telling Charlie that he believes in her. It was so sweet. I love Luci sm, hoping he becomes a more integral part of the crew in s2.

Adam/Lute/Lilith: HAHA HOW DOES IT FEEL TO LOSE??? Lute got what she deserved with the whole...arm thing. ALSO WHAT--JUST GONNA CASUALLY DROP LILITH IN HERE NOW? Sure, fine, whatever, totally cool. Not sure how to feel about Lilith atm so moving on. I dunno why I was so shocked upon seeing Adam's face. I guess I expected him to...not look as good as he does? Also so upset that he broke Al's staff. How rude. He sucks.

Rosie: Not how I expected her to sound, but I'm most certainly not disappointed. I don't have much to say other than I loved literally everything about her. No complaints--at least not yet ig, need to go back and rewatch the episodes critically. Her and Alastor is everything to me, and seeing them dance was <333333 I cannot express my excitement over it enough.

Alastor: Saved him for last because yes. If I wasn't limiting myself to a short paragraph for each, I'd be writing a whole essay just about Al, I swear....CANNOT believe what just happened omg. Not only did we get to see silly Al in episode 7, but we got to see scary (and scared) Al in episode 8. He's really freaking out, it's so entertaining! I'm so glad it wasn't him who died, I started getting a bit worried for a minute there....His relationship with Rosie is aaaaa, best of besties fr. Fighting Adam scene was glorious. Making Vox act like an idiot even when not trying was funny to watch (Vox's obsession with this guy is so silly). Him retreating sure was a move, but I'm glad he didn't get all stubborn and end up dying. Him ranting a bit in his section of the final song was so...AAAAAAA. Man is so scared, he looks stressed as can be. I need to see Alastor just have an external breakdown because he honestly feels like he's on the verge of one. 💀

Stopping for now before I go on a bigger rant than I already have. To those who read all this, I'm so sorry pfft. Feel free to leave a comment if there's something you wanna discuss (or, better yet, send one of those ask thingies. I do not have comments figured out yet...)

Anyway, have a good one <3

[bee-named-alex]

Ok so ep7 of iwtv s2. One of the notes i wrote down as i was watching was "fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. nope. just nope. jesus fucking christ don't you dare do this" so you can imagine how i felt. Spoilers.

Ok ok. So I'm so fine rn you don't even know how fine I am. I didn't cry even though I expected to, I was more like empty, which might be even worse (read: better) lol

I'll start with a few quick thoughts, before I get into the bigger things. For the first like 10 minutes I couldn't stop thinking about how great Lestat (Sam) looks like im sorry. Him uncovering the homophobe's filth back at him? 10/10.

The actors are just so- perfect I have to say. Like we don't know what's true and I probably shouldn't believe anything just to be safe, but I found myself believing them everything. Also the whole time I wanted to hate the audience but they think it's just a play and if I, with all the other knowledge, find myself drawn to believe obvious lies, it's not really their fault that they do too.

Let's start with Lestat then. I was so glad to finally see the "real" (not really, even Sam said so) Lestat again

I haven't read the books (and even if i did i know that they change things) so idk how they made him testify because I just don't think he would. Maybe they tortured and forced him, "gave him a choice", maybe he was planning on saving them. Or maybe he just actually was out for vengeance i just don't know.

"You cannot script a hurricane" yeah you can't I loved that him going of script threw Santiago off so much, lmao (like he literally said "I'm about to violate the 5th law" aka kill Lestat I love that. Lestat is such a little shit.)

And when he went of script he told the truth (or as close to truth as we got during the trial i feel). Yes he also did break the laws. I like that he didn't let Santiago manipulate the audience to sympathize with him (don't get me wrong, it's not that he didn't want them to sympathize with him, he just wanted to manipulate them himself lol)

His and Louis' first eye contact (at around 11 minutes I believe) literally broke my heart.

When he talks about the loneliness I can't help but feel sorry for him.

I found it honestly hilarious when he was recounting their whole history backwards, like bitch please, it literally happened the other way arounf. Idk why it was just so funny how he was blatantly lying.

But then when they fully revisited the scenes from last season my jaw dropped.

So firstly Claudia's turning... I am so confused by it. Because it's obviously different from what we saw last time - and the scene itself is so moving. I mean Louis begging Lestat on his knees like he's some god and trying himself and failing and Lestat doing it for him even tho he knows it's a terrible idea. But the confusing part - in Dubai Louis rn says that Lestat's trial version is better than his and that he didn't want to believe it at the trial but now he knows it to be more true.

But like last season, so like 2 weeks ago, he told his own version?? Did he not realize until now, that he's talking about the trial, that he doesn't believe it? Did he lie on purpose but change his mind, is he lying now? Does Armand have to do something with it again? Tf is happening.

And then the fight. Again it's different but this time I remember that we didn't actually see this part of the fight so it could technically be true?? I don't really know rn how big of a part we didn't see last time. But maybe the truth about the fight is somewhere in the middle.

Amazing scene nonetheless, again, if I didn't know shit, I too would 100 % believe Lestat to be the victim. Up until the drop, that is extreme either way.

And Lestat going fully of script here, and his tears and his regret and his voice trembling and I'm sure that he means it. It wasn't a part of the performance. Sam Reid, the actor that he is, fuck.

It is just wo so great, like these new versions we get by Louis telling the story of Lestat showing him the story (which Louis already told us very differently) and on top of that anything could be misremembered. Or edited Armand. Unreliable narration at it's best.

Ok so Armand. "I could not prevent it" Fuck you. No sorry I might be a little harsh but yea no actually I'm not.

First the thing with Nicki and how he was "helped"... Armand got rid of him to have Lestat to himself and now he's doing the same with Claudia and Madeleine to have Louis.

Him having to watch is brutal and I believe his emotions but not his words. It was terrible to watch sure and painful and he didn't want it to happen... but he still sold them out?

He saves Louis. And it's amazing, the fear for his love in his face as he does it. He says it took all his strength and sure. But he could've saved them all. He can literally stop time. Ok maybe not but I for sure think he could've done it.

And rn in Dubai he's trying to convince himself or Louis or Daniel or maybe everyone that it wasn't his fault. But Daniel seems to not believe him (and calls his shit out a few times, good for him). And he's also making Lestat be more of a villain then he is I think (he would not do nothing when watching Claudia's death I'm sorry, that's his daughter.)

Claudia and Madeleine. My heart broke. They were doomed from the begginning. It didn't matter if they fought or not, it didn't matter their love or that they were right, it didn't matter that Madeleine was innocent and Claudia justified (maybe) in her crimes.

It didn't matter that Claudia was right -"We poisoned him, he's fine now. I can also cry and say I'm sorry"- because yes this was exactly true.

Claudia's final request (and Lestat giving it to her and then looking almost proud?? after she says it) and promise of death to all the people who doomed her and Madeleine.

And her rage. "It was never about me" and that's also true and yet she dies because of it. Tragic.

Madeleine's "My coven is Claudia" is just pure love and again it's what dooms her and again it's fucking tragic.

Watching the execution I couldn't breath really. Hurts still. And I don't believe Armand's version of the story though. Not that he tried but couldn't save them, not that Lestat didn't even try.

Louis, poor Louis. Living with guilt and sorrow isn't easy and he's living through it again now. And he can't even trust his own memories. I need him happy. He's not gonna be but I need him to be.

Also his live burial?? like fuck. That was vile. Like we know that he is fine now but still.

Previews. Santiago will die and if he doesn't I will kill him. Louis is a pyromaniac (yay), I'm ready for the whole coven to burn.

From the trailers we didn't yet see the bookshelves falling on Daniel so it has to be next episode. Also we didn't yet see the Loustat hug and I don't think it's what happens after the trial, especially not with Louis coming to kill Lestat, so that would mean it has to have happened later (Dubai maybe? I mean we do need Lestat's side of the story next season so we could get him now.)

[saltpepperbeard]

What are your top 5 Ed x Stede moments? 😊 I’m curiously asking several blogs to see how many of us share favorites!

MAN, anon! I tried to give this one some thought to see if the choosing would get any easier/become any clearer. Spoiler alert: IT DID NOT HSDLKS I AM STILL JUST AS TORN AS I WAS BEFORE. But let me see if I can at least ~*~attempt this~*~. My first three were easy but then the LAST TWO HAD ME PACING SHDLKS:

So okay, obviously have to put their first kiss in the ranking because it's so iconic and it's the thing that got me into the show in the first place! Like, literally the FIRST scene I laid eyes upon. And it had me crying full blown tears at work because I was just so floored that we weren't queer baited and that it was so sweet and tentative and cautious and just,,, The rest was history of course lol!

Like really, the Power it has. Didn't even know the characters or the story that much at all, and was already crying LMAO.

Then of course I have to put the second beach kiss(es) because good god lol GOOD GOD!!! I think I adore it so so much mainly because Ed and Stede are finally on the same page. No more doubts, no more worries, no more anxieties, no more questioning if they have the same feelings or are going too slow/fast. Just them and their strong, solid love--their good bones.

Not to mention Ed dropping the double "I love you" ??? I cannot even begin to express how thankful I am that we heard a legitimate "I love you." And Ed being the one to say it after all the hurt, all the pain in feeling unlovable, all the fear that he'd die completely alone, all the worry that his strong feelings were too much...Man. MAN.

And thennnnn the reunion scene because yeah. Yeah. I've said this before and I'll say it again: watching this at like 4:30am for the first time almost gave me an out of body experience HSLDSHS. Like, I think there's just something about the fact that we were all going through so many different iterations of possible reunions during the s1-s2 gap. We envisioned angsty, silly, romantic, and everything in between.

But this lol THIS,,,

I feel like it just surpassed expectations in such a beautiful, fantastical way. Like genuinely, I never EVER anticipated Ed being stuck in purgatory about to die and Stede coming to him as a mermaid because the real Stede is sitting with his body begging him not to succumb.

Also, Stede begging and screaming at Ed not to die/to wake up/to come back to him always makes me feel some sort of way. Something something he's normally so silly and so theatrical but he's so choked up and so serious in that moment that it PUNCHES ME IN THE KIDNEYS. Like it really just goes to show how utterly desperate he is. And that last, whispered, strained, "come back to me..." ??? Homie............

ALSO also, obligatory "This Woman's Work" mention because I knew that song and nothing else for like two months straight HSKLDS. Or two months gay, rather.

...

see this is where i start Dying because i'm being pulled in so many different directions lol DO I GO FOR ROMANTIC, OR SILLY, OR EARNEST, OR,,, SKLDJHLDJKDKDA

Okay okay I think I'm going to have to go earnest because I adore that they actually talked things through together. FLEETING LMAO, BUT STILL GLAD THEY DID, EVEN IF IT WAS JUST FOR A BIT. I just love that they actually expressed some frustrations, that Stede actually talked about his fears/his panic, that Ed set a boundary, and that Stede respected it. And then Stede gently navigated around and expressed his love in different ways and it folded Ed in half almost immediately hsdkljs YOU LOVE TO SEE IT.

But yeah no--if me rolling around Atticus' fics and me writing my own stories is any indication, I really REALLY LIKE IT WHEN THESE TWO ACTUALLY TALK LMAO. BECAUSE THEY HAVE SO SO MUCH BOTTLED UP, BOTH INDIVIDUALLY AND AS A COUPLE, SO IT'S JUST HSLDKS TALK IT THROUGH AS A CREW OF TWO MY BELOVED!!!

......

oh god oh god what do i pick for the last one lol WHAT DO I PICK FOR THE LAST ONE,,,

mmmMMmmmMMMM,,,,,,

SUCCUMBED TO MORE TALKING IT THROUGH LMAO.

I love so many of their other moments, and honestly, so many things could have made this list. But the bathtub scene...man. Taika saying it's more vulnerable and even more romantic than their first kiss is shdljks yeah. YEAH. LIKE HE'S COOKING A BIT WITH THAT BECAUSE IT'S JUST,,,

I feel like it's such a pivotal and important step in their relationship. Ed has literally never told that secret to anyone else, but he entrusted it with Stede. He feels safe enough around Stede to expose the darkest parts of his past, and he's entirely right to do so, because Stede doesn't view him any differently at all. Stede is right there, wanting to be his friend--loving him still.

And I think it's also good for Stede because of that vulnerability. He gets to see how much Ed trusts him and feels safe around him. He's getting to see Ed and Ed alone, which can't be said for so many other people.

It's just the two of them in that moment and I adore it so much.

...I just adore THEM so much, anon, so thank you for spreading this sweet little ask around! It was super fun to consider, aLBEIT SLIGHTLY RGGHGHGHH INDUCING BECAUSE I COULD INCLUDE SO MUCH LMAO. But thank you kindly! <3

Also, for the record, if I had to rank them from most favorite to still favorite but not AS favorite, I'd go Double Beach Kiss, Reunion, First Kiss, Love Everything About You, and Bathtub.

[ehh-is-the-name]

II 18 AM I RIGHT FOLKS????

OH MY FCJING GODD, I didn't visit this site for like 4 days just to not get spoiled and that was THE CORRECT DECISION!!!

WE STAY WINNING!!!! TAKE MY VIDEO AND GIFS!!!!

First of all, let's just all take a minute to appreciate the best part <3

There was the pg line later, and I really don't blame them. I mean... come on now this felt graphic. It's literally like if someones guts was splayed across the ground after an explosion. I love it but holy shit. Anyway my favourite gif on my PC:

Him getting his comeuppance is what I needed. I can die peacefully now <3

At the same time, I really can't get over this-

I mean, just look at the way he's staring- He definitely wants a bite.

= - - =

Now that I got that out of my system let me start from the top.

I can't be the only one to think that he might've been thinking about... Ya know. Let's just say season 1 finale-ing it again once he realised that Cobs wasn't holding him. Though that might be projection, he was probably just looking at everything truly being gone.

THIS SCENE ACTUALLY GAVE ME CHILLS. MePhone was so silent for every part up to this, hearing him sound absolutely petrified to the cut to the stabbing is ACTUALLY terrifying. God, it was like the suitcase being torn in half scene except real-

The abusive alcoholic father memes were right.

^ Quite literally my reaction to the first half of the ep today. Literally guess he's really good at hitting. Cobs can't swing a sword (thank god) but apparently, he can hit hard enough to fucking shatter glass in one hit.

This one too... Bro's cared about them so much and I can't with this shit man- I FUCKING CAN'T!!! LITERALLY MAKING SURE NOBODY COULD DIE OVER THIS SHIT AGAIN-

I actually can't y'all. I finished this ep like 4 hours ago and I still can't unhear or unsee these scenes.

"I made you so I can unmake you"??? "I desurve this"????? "You wanted my approval but I didn't care if you lived or died"!!! HOLY FUCKIN SHIT-

Sure, I could pull a book outta Cobs' and be like "lol he's dead who cares about a dead man" but DAWGS I can't stop thinking about the layers of trauma literally everyone's going to deal with specifically mephone because I'm a mephone head, sorry not sorry at all. In the span of a day, he watched everyone he cared about die, come back to life, his brother die, his abuser die, and move on from the reminder of his abuser (inanimate insanity). Like that's a lot to happen in a day guys. That's A FUCKTON to happen in a day. BOX IS ALIVE TOO- LIKE C'MON THiS IS CUFKCING CRASZY.

I don't even know what to say about this scene, I just really like it. Maybe it's 'cause he pulled out his kernels. Moving on.

This scene fuckin' gets me- His fuckin' "THEY'RE STILL ALIVE????" Will always get me. Maybe it's 'cause of all the talk of them being dead it just gets me that he got to know that they weren't, and that they didn't die <3

Top 10 scenes that make me glad Cobs exploded. I can't believe he fucking died for our sins (I'm still coping).

THE WAY HE WAS WITH MEPAD BEFORE HE WOKE UP </3 I can't believe they fucking killed him after showing this in the beginning.

That transition from early s2 to late s2 style was phenomenal, but just look at the scene- MePhone essentially talking to a brick wall about the show is killing me. MePhone probably felt more close to MePad than MePad did about him. I say that but I'm not saying MePad didn't care about him on some level. But y'all know. Also not overlooking the "Enhancing Obedience Emulation" installation either. I guess that's what makes him dying for our sins more meaningful. I can't believe he's fucking dead,.

Close to lastly 'cause I'm runing out of imgs in this post and I want to look through the tag now, I'M SO HAPPY TOILET'S ALIVE!!! ANd apparently not made by Mephone? Like MePad was talking about toilet when he showed up and idk- maybe I gotta watch that scene over again- Idon't know y'all. I'm feeling so many things this series finale.

OH OH AND THE SCENE WITH BOT'S LEGS AND FAN GOING "This is gonna be a whole thing, isn't it" WITH BOW IN THE FOREGROUND. IT FUCKING BETTER BE!!!! I NEED THEM TO TALK!!! PLEASE!

Oh and actual last thing, I actually SCREAMED when 3gs came on screen here.

Everything about this scene. There were many objects being mirrored, like Box and Suitcase, but 3gs and Mephone being face to face with breaks made the title click. They've always been mirrors of each other and I didn't even realise it. They're both free and it's genuinely beautiful. I hope the demolish Meeple as an act of freeing everyone there. I want the metags free, I want mecintosh free, everyone. Very glad 4s still exists inside of Mephone, it was so nice to see him, but I really want everyone to be free. Can't believe Mepad fuckin' died for our sins.... Everyone grew in someway or another, I think.

All in all, I'm just glad the corn man's dead <3

I didn't make popcorn but he did burn!!

Happy inanimate insanity y'all! We've made it to the end of an era <3

[butterflydm]

wot rewatch 1x8: the eye of the world

I made it before the new season started! <3

spoilers for the first season of WoT and for most of the s2 teasers that we've gotten. For the books... um... honestly mostly stuff from Eye of the World that didn't end up in the show, lol. Oh, and for New Spring, I guess.

@apocalypticavolition mentioned that Perrin's original plot was probably helping Lan track Moiraine - that makes a lot of sense! It would have given Perrin a chance to flex his heightened senses and it might have even given Lan a chance to name-drop Elyas.

Okay, wow, yay! Our Completely Old Tongue scene from Age of Legends. When this first opened and they were just... talking in the Old Tongue... I was so blown away. I was not expecting it. I think they've hinted that we might get more Old Tongue scenes in s2 as well, which would be fantastic.

I'm glad that I read The Strike on Shayol Ghul short story -- they really did pull a lot of the info from that story for this scene, so that was very cool to see.

There is definitely a lot more focus on "Dragon as father" here than in the books (and I wonder if the tragedy of him murdering his family is going to focus more on killing his kids and not solely about killing his wife, once we get into that)

And the reveal at the end that '3000 years ago' was actually futuristic and we're living in a post-apocalyptic landscape, which is a great reframing for anyone who didn't already know.

Love all our Moiraine & Rand ~bonding time~ here (for various values of bonding time, lol). Definitely curious about where that relationship is going to go over the course of s2.

Egwene and Perrin checking in with each other is a sweet moment. Yeah, things Got Weird last episode due to stress and Nynaeve accidentally telling a secret that wasn't hers, but it hasn't wrecked their friendship.

And if Perrin is the one helping Lan here (supernaturally), then Lan and Nynaeve's scene would have just been the romantic goodbye.

Ishamael notes here that he didn't think that Rand was the Dragon Reborn. It sounds like he was expecting Rand to look more like LTT did. I really do love him calling Rand "Lews Therin", poor Rand. The identity issues are only going to get worse, bb. Love that Rand starts their conversation with an arrow to the face.

"Ever since the day I channeled, I hear nothing [from the wind]" is our first allusion to Nynaeve's block, I believe.

Moiraine tapdancing around the truth as hard as possible so that she doesn't have to admit that she physically can't teach Rand channeling. She's even willing to share one of her traumas with Rand in order to avoid admitting it! Also, I do think that Elaida's willingness to turn to violence is going to stand out a lot more in a world where teaching isn't always accompanied by brutality, as it is in the books.

haha, I totally forgot about this scene with Min and the others. Maybe because it doesn't really tell us anything we aren't going to learn immediately even without her (a nod to how pointless Min's viewings mostly are in the books? lol) but it does prompt Min to get out of the city on the wagons, I'm guessing.

Apologies to all the people who worked hard on the battle scenes but I don't ever have much to say about things like that.

Rand already getting memories (and Moiraine seeing him remember) plus Rand trying to protect people from getting hurt because they're standing next to him. (and Rand trying to give an order that Moiraine immediately ignores lol)

yeah if Lan had a companion (like Perrin) then his scenes here would have actually had some dialogue - they may have even given Rand the line about Malkier because they wanted to get the info out but it was originally supposed to come out in dialogue between Lan and Perrin.

Aww, family moment between the Agelmars. It's sweet. I honestly barely remember the Agelmars from the books, so this was an improvement. "Buy enough time to stand a chance" is going to be a big theme, too.

We also kinda get confirmation here that Darkfriends have been more effective in the show-verse than they were in the books-verse (it seems like more knowledge has been destroyed).

18. So, given what we've seen in the teasers of Ishy getting Lanfear from a seal, it seems like this specific spot is where LTT sealed Ishamael in particular (half-sealed?) and he released Ishamael fully when he cracked the seal. Before this, we only see Ishy working in people's dreams and then, in s2, he gets to actually exist in the waking world.

19. While I do see the effects of the covid shutdown and new rules in the battle scenes (and am looking forward to seeing them pop off without those setbacks in s2!); the scenes with Rand in the dream and Rand against Ishamael are perfect and I will hear no arguments against them. Rand is, ultimately, a philosophical hero and not a battle hero. He gets that wrong a lot in the books! But things tend to backfire on him when he tries to force himself into the battle hero position.

20. And we have ~the temptation~ here, with Egwene and little Joiya (and the mention of Mat, which was fascinating at the time and remains utterly fascinating; that fake!Egwene makes a point of mentioning Mat in Rand's temptation dreamworld).

21. The imagery for what Ishamael does to Moiraine is pretty much exactly like the shielding on Logain and not anything like when Logain was severed later in the episode, so I will (one last time before the new season lol) put my bet in that she was shielded. Ishamael is just able to do a lot faster than the Aes Sedai. Also when Moiraine is right behind Rand like this, you can really see how similar their shirts really are in color.

22. Min is jetting out of Fal Dara as fast as she can -- show!Min actually seems aware that she's not a fighter. #goodforher

23. But they did use needing to have Perrin in Fal Dara to give him a nice little scene with Loial that fed into the violence vs peace conflict.

24. Ishy really put in the work here (I'm assuming that it must have all been drawn from Rand's memories which, again, makes Egwene mentioning that Mat is saying he's going to make Joiya a lantern just incredibly fascinating). Ishamael waits until Rand falls for the trap to reveal to Rand what's going on (sorta). And both Ishy and Rand are working the angles here -- Ishy pretends that he wants Rand to pick the dream world and... you know, that would be useful but... he still wins if Rand fights him because that surge of Power will break his seal. And Rand pretends that he's falling for the temptation but actually is looking for Ishy to give him some clues on how to access the Power on purpose.

25. Ah, s2 setup is happening: Perrin learns that the Dragon needs the Horn at the Last Battle; and Fain was given the password to get into the fortress, which means there's a Darkfriend who knows the passwords.

26. I 100% approve of the show making joining a circle dangerous. In the books, circles are so completely underused and it feels silly because they are very low risk. People should be in circles all the time; especially when things get dangerous.

27. Lots of emphasis on fatherhood this season -- Rand's struggle about Tam being his father; Rand's desire to be a father (expressed both in ep1 and here with Joiya). We also had Siuan's relationship with her father being a key element of her character.

28. Rand loves Egwene enough to know that their paths have diverged and it would be wrong to try to force her onto the same path as him just because he loves her.

29. Very cute that Rand thinks he just defeated the Dark One. I want to give him a pet on his fluffy (currently sweaty lol) head).

30. Perrin gets the infodump from Fain instead of it being Mat. It's a good infodump, from someone who definitely, obviously has an agenda.

31. Rand thinks he's succeeded, so he leaves on his own so that he won't hurt the ones he loved. Baby. Off he goes, into the big world of Making Bad Life Choices, bless him.

32. And the poor little girl who, at least, probably died quickly? The show did such a good job with the Seanchan. Both here and in what we've seen so far in the teasers for s2. They are gonna be extremely creepy and heartbreaking and scary. You can definitely see tear-tracks on the face of one of the damane here.

[genericpuff]

hey! sorry if you answered this already, I’m new here, but was there a specific moment or episode in LO that made you “snap” and make the decision to officially start Rekindled? I can imagine so many lol

ahaha this is a question that comes up a lot in the ULO/anti circle just in general "when did you start to drop off LO" fashion, but when it comes to Rekindled specifically, I'm not sure if there was an exact moment? I knew I wasn't really feeling where the story was going with the trial arc, but then got hyped with the verdict because I was excited to see what kind of character arc Persephone would go through. Then that fell flat and we got the S2 finale which just confirmed to me that the comic didn't really know where it was going, that was where I decided to stop fastpassing. And now I barely even read it, at least not week to week like I used to, since about before the proposal.

Rekindled had been living in my head rent free as something I could do shortly after the S2 finale. I mostly just decided to do it as soon as I was sure I actually wanted to do it. Being ADHD, it's not uncommon for me to get hyperfixated on something and impulsively do it just to learn shortly later that I'm not interested in it anymore and all that motivation in the beginning was just based on a one time thing. So I let Rekindled sorta sit in my head for a bit, I told myself that if I was still feeling motivated to do it after a few weeks/months, I'd do it. Sure enough, it happened, and here we are :)

Granted, I think the community does play a large part in it, having a community to discuss ideas with and who wanted to see it made definitely served as great motivation as well, but ultimately, I realized it was gonna be something I'd enjoy doing during my current ongoing slump with my main projects, and I really, really wanted to express myself and my own frustrations with LO through a more productive means than just critiques and shooting the shit over it LOL especially considering there's only so much to talk about nowadays, many topics are pretty repeated/beaten for me after being in this community for so long, so getting to make something new out of those frustrations and disappointment with the series has been incredibly cathartic and relieving. And I'm glad to see that there are those who read it who feel the same :)

[strawsoldier]

Spring 2024 Anime-Round Up

I tend to do this Round-ups before the next season starts but thanks to my vacation it was delayed until now. I still haven't caught up on all my spring shows, but I did watch and finish the shows that are going to be written up here.

Anime of the Season: Sound! Euphonium 3

Best Opening: The Parade of Battlers (Black Butler: Public School Arc )

Best Ending: Twinkling Ash (Delicious in Dungeon)

Drops: Wind Breaker, Unnamed Memory, Blue Archive: The Animation

Plan to Watch at a later date: Girl's Band Cry

Completed:

Delicious in Dungeon - (9/10)

Imagine being a popular, well-written, and beloved manga and getting an anime adaption this good. Most of the time, the anime gods are cruel, but sometimes they can be merciful. Soooo looking forward to S2

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Hashira Training Arc - (6/10)

Not sure how much milk the cash cow has left, but you can be sure the good farmers at Ufotable are going to keep squeezing that teet. I find it incredibly ironic that one of the complaints about DS when the manga was still ongoing is that the story progressed way too fast and now people are complaining the anime is too slow. At the very least, the switch to movie format should help the pacing issues...I hope.

Kaiju No. 8 - (8/10 (kek))

Real shit. (Kikoru spinoff when?)

Konosuba! 3 - (8/10)

Don't really have much to write tbh. It's still funny. Sucks the character designs are not as expressive as they were in the first two seasons, but we're here for the cast and they are still as good as ever.

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Season 2 Part 2 -(6/10)

Didn't I say I was going to drop this series? Must've forgot. Anyway, watching this for Norn, would shot up to being the best character in this show, was worth it. Still don't care for much of everything else. Rudeus still sucks.

GO! GO! Loser Ranger! - (6/10)

The Boys- I mean. Loser Ranger is a show with a good concept and plot and some of the best direction I've seen in an action show. Unfortunately, it's boggled down by the fact that most, if not all. the characters in this show are not endearing or just flat out suck. I don't know if I'll bother with S2 but this was fun despite my lack of investment.

Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night - (7.5/10)

I don't think this was as good as everyone was praising throughout it's run, but it's a very strong story nonetheless. The themes that it tackled hit a little too close to home and the drama felt very genuine. Kiui was my favorite.

Laid-Back Camp Season 3 - (7/10)

Peak comfy is back!! This time with a new studio and much more RL backgrounds. Both of which I did not like lol. Granted, eight-bit at the moment is very stretched thin giving how many shows their are working on. Maybe in the future more staff can jump on future installments of Yuru Camp and make it better than what we got. Please add Aya to the main cast

Sound! Euphonium 3 - (9/10)

Kyoani is back and stronger than ever as they bring Kumiko's high school journey to a close. The drama this season was some of the best Eupho has produced and the new characters were fantastic additions to the cast. I am sad we didn't get as many performances but the one we got in the finale more than made up for that, and even made me cry a bit. This series is so important to me and I'm glad it got to reach it's conclusion at the level. Well done Kitauji!

The iDOLM@STER: Shiny Colors - (4/10)

Remember when I said how cruel the anime gods can be?

Black Butler: Public School Arc - (6.5/10)

Never saw this show ever coming back. And with a fancy Ishihama OP to boot. Hopefully a sign that more is to come.

[minty-marshmallow]

Physical 100: S2: EP 8

Well we are nearing the end...so here we go.

I still think this was for the show. There ain't no way they both fell like that. I mean I know they are exhausted but...idk man. I mean idk seems like it was just set up to make it more intense you know. Dang, he fell again! This is so stressful lol. Everyone yelling at me would just make me more stressed bruh. Man, again I feel bad for the teams that lose. I know someone has to lose but it still sucks.

Oh no, he sprained his ankle! That's not going to be good for the next competition though. Yeah well, that's how it goes as a team leader though, one bad decision can set everyone back. It happens but it sucks. They are so hurt, I'm sad to see them go.

Anyway though, this episode is titled "Friend or Foe" so I'm assuming the next competition is going to put the teams against their own members.

Oh wow! Look at all that meat! It's not good to eat like that before a competition though right? I assume they will have time to rest and all though but idk the time frame.

I KNEW IT! They gotta go against each other now. Wow, this is going to take a lot of endurance. Not necessarily strength. Like yeah, you gotta be able to pull them but more so be able to KEEP doing it. I feel like the women will easily be beaten this time sadly. I'm glad that she didn't give up and really gave it her all.

Omg, I wonder if his thigh is actually okay? It translated to "I heard something snap" like did he just pull a muscle or worse?

I like how Beom Seok says "He will finish it off" but honestly anything can happen so you never know. Yo Gibson might win, lol see I'm telling you. [plus this show is rigged too haha]

Alright, next team. Let's Go!

Poor Sung Bin I feel bad for him. I know he wants to finish the race regardless but he also shouldn't over push himself. He still beat the girl, I'm quite surprised. It does help the others though because they know he's hurt so they know he will be last, they can just sort of take their time a bit. He finished though at least, he didn't give up. Now the real competition starts.

Everything seems against Jae Yoon lol. Also, Justin is really good. He has great strength and stamina. I really didn't expect Jae Yoon to be eliminated.

Okay 3rd Team!

I feel like Andre has a good chance but so do the others aside from the girl because let's face it none of them have made it so far. I told you she was going to be struggling. I'm glad none of them gave up though and all were determined to at least finish it. Yep, feeling rushed is gonna cause mistakes.

So I think it will be between that Woo Jin guy and Andre. Really could go either way. Yep, that last round is tough. The good thing is though, at that point it's almost over. Man, even a tiny stumble can cause you to lose at this point.

Ah, the last team. This is the big one. Who will win? They all have amazing strength and stamina; it was an all-star team. So really anyone could win this. They're going all in from the start. Man, they are really going to tire themselves out. They're so fast but it's just the first round so they're gonna tire out fast too. I'm surprised Thanos lost but like I said anything can happen. He kinda hurt his ankle so...yeah.

It's really going to be down to endurance and stamina now. Like yeah, you can pull it but are you going to be the one that can keep pulling it. Man, that sucks that the straps got stuck, and really nothing he could do about it. Any small thing can cause you to lose.

Ah, I should have known they'd end it with the last two starting their race. Oh well, I'll watch the last episode tomorrow because I'm tired and going to bed.

[mushroomwriter]

Hermanos anon here - WHY WOULD YOU PUT THAT GIFSET ON MY DASH AAAAAAAH!!!!! i came out here to have a good time and honestly i feel so attacked rn

Anyway, so happy for you that the exam is over and you passed <3 I actually have exams coming up myself lol so I completely understand... also have you heard? Berlin was renewed for s2! Really really hoping Alvaro returns and we get Sergio and hermanos rights in the next season ���� (and to fill the need for hermanos content!!) Also pls don't feel like you have to make a set again soon, happy to wait until you get the inspiration, and ofc it's always a good idea to rewatch their scenes, instant serotonin boost - just skip that minor scene that shall not be named at the end of the Mint Heist 😭

Haha I'm sorryyyy! It's something I realised long back but I never had the chance to inflict the angst on anyone else lmao. you added the cherry on top with how you worded it "literally a little brother begging his big brother not to leave him, and knowing on some level that he'll never be able to make him change his mind" 🥺 in some way he would've known right at the moment nairobi and helsinki emerged alone so seeing him going from denial to desperation. hurts

(pt 2) YES, brotherssss!!! Oh, the fact that Andrés is so selfish and narcissistic otherwise just makes the hermanos bond even more special to me?? it hits different than if they'd just been relatively normal/good characters, idk. And yes that's such older brother behaviour of him!! I will tell you some happier observations of mine this time. One of my favourite "older bro" things Andrés does in the series, when he and Sergio sit down to drink together, he ALWAYS pours wine for Sergio first. In the bella ciao scene, his wedding scene in s4, even s3 he literally wakes up Sergio to come have breakfast with them, which means he didn't even allow either Martin or Tatiana to start without his hermanito lol. It's a very sweet minor detail that melts my heart. I can totally imagine them in the Toledo house, pretending they don't know each other but then andrés does little things like these, serving Sergio first or preparing coffee for his brother just the way he likes it before making his own cup :') OH, the feels. Yes, I agree, I definitely think the Bella Ciao lyrics are foreshadowing, and that is exactly what happened in the end. (I have been struck by that thought too, more than once 🥲 it's heartbreaking isn't it? especially when you consider that oslo/moscow had their loved ones with them when they died + a funeral. nairobi had a funeral too. tokio had rio with her before she died. but andrés had none of that, sergio was miles away and then ofc they had to escape leaving him behind... don't think about the guantanamera scene lyrics in this context too. Poor Sergio :( (pt 3) Btw sorry for how long this got!! Please feel free to put everything under a cut if you want 😅 I'm just out here rambling like there's no tmrw. Back to the happier note (omg we really just keep switching between angst and joy) I love that idea!! Yeah, I can definitely see them having that as an inside joke, something that only they share from their childhood memories, it's very sweet! Sergio "I don't dance" Marquina WILL dance if his big bro requires, and it makes me a puddle everytime. Somehow he has the most stiff yet adorable dance moves ever, I loved those moments we got. Andrés mirroring Sergio's moves in the guantanamera scene never fails to bring a smile to my face. Unironically, I used to watch that scene so many times during the pandemic days. I was not doing too well but those few seconds seeing them smile and laugh and dance despite everything used to give me such comfort :D I was glad to see your reply (and once again, completely understand, hope you're taking care of yourself <3) Thank you for putting up (and being so kind) about my rambles, glad you like them! And ofc, please feel free to tell me to shut up if I get too annoying 😭 As always, such a JOY sharing the enthusiasm for these heist bros with you and i hope you have a great week!

AT LEAST WE CAN SUFFER TOGETHER!!! And talk about Sergio, who usually considers every single possible outcome, Never considering his brother could die... whew!

Thank you so much! The best of luck on your exams!! (If you've already taken them, I hope they went well!) I saw that, yeah... and speaking of the spin-off I watched some more of it, I need to watch the fifth episode next... anyway, they better use that new season to give us some new hermanos content or ELSE 🔪🔪 like, just Andrés mentioning Sergio was enough to reawaken my heist brothers obsession, an actual new scene with the two of them would be so Powerful (also I miss Sergio sooo) Thank you, I'd like to gif them again soon but right now the inspiration isn't really on my side, UGH. But I really hope watching and rewatching their scenes (and looking for possible quotes) can help! Honestly since I love pain I will probably watch the Scene That Shall Not Be Named as well but I promise I'll proceed with caution...

Well, I can't blame you, angst is made to be shared! Poor Sergio, he really is in denial at the beginning, huh, insisting Andrés should get into the tunnel... and that's another thing that gets me, because truly there was no time, waiting for Andrés and not blowing up the tunnel basically meant getting captured, and yet Sergio who's usually so cautious and always aware of every risk just refuses to see it. Andrés must get into the tunnel and to safety! And then he gets more and more desperate when it really becomes apparent that it isn't going to happen :(

Oh, I definitely agree! Part of the appeal of big brother Andrés and of their bond imo is the contrast between their usual demeanor and how they behave around each other. When they're together they're a big brother and a little brother, you know 🥺🥺 OOOH thanks for sharing! I don't know if I ever noticed that (if I did I forgot) it really is sweet! I'm smiling a bit at the thought of Andrés not allowing Martín and Tatiana to have breakfast because the most precious hermanito in the world is not there yet! I love that thought! I enjoy picturing how it was for them in Toledo, having to pretend they didn't know each other, and the image of Andrés finding all the sneaky ways to take care of his hermanito makes me melt <3

What can I say, Bella Ciao, Guantanamera, they truly looked at the lyrics and went "ooooh 😈" That completely breaks my heart, like it makes Sergio's grief even WORSE.

Please never apologize about how long your message gets, as far as I'm concerned it only means I have more stuff to enjoy (also thank you for reminding me I can put this under a cut, I probably should lol) It's kind of amusing how we can switch between oh no Andrés was killed and Sergio was completely helpless and awww nice little childhood memories but hey it's great how they give us tragic and happy thoughts both! I absolutely agree about Sergio having the most stiff yet adorable dance moves ever, at some point he's basically like "ok, since I'm doing this with my big brother I'm... actually enjoying it, but this doesn't take all my awkwardness away" and it's so CUTE, Alvaro plays it so well! And Andrés mirroring his moves makes me smile so much!! It truly is a comfort scene and I'm glad it helped you through those times (man, it was surreal).

Thanks so much for your patience! And nooo don't worry, I LOVE your rambles!! It really is a real joy to talk with you about these brothers!

Thank you so much, I hope you have a great week too! (And if you're still studying for your exams, well, I wish you a productive study and hope it doesn't stress you out too much!)

[caatws]

Speaking of what if scenarios with the skrulls, do you know if there will definitely be a season 2 of what if where we might finally see Gamora's episode? I'm beyond glad she's not a skrull but I do hope for a tiny bit more content for her and I think What if would be the way to do it.

And since you posted about merch before do you know if there have been any updates or information released on Gamora getting more? I have mostly resigned myself to her never getting anything else but part of me is still not comfortable with this and I'm hurt they brought her back only to ignore her this badly. I know vol 3 should have done better but she was still there and had more of a role than some characters. They act like she didn't exist or was only in one scene. I think I remember seeing Taserface get a funko after vol 2 and he definitely had a smaller role than Gamora has in vol 3.

so it's been previously reported that what if was greenlit for a s2 and s3, and last year at sdcc marvel announced that we'd be getting what if s2 in "early 2023" (this announcement is still the pinned tweet on the what if twitter account, even), but it's kinda fallen to the wayside bc of disney/marvel re-evaluating their content output on disney+ this year. like you know how a bunch of streamers have just been randomly deleting shows and movies over the last couple months? the companies are trying to save money by reducing how much streaming content they're hosting, so i think that's what's been delaying what if s2. i wouldn't be surprised if s2 (and maybe even s3) is already completely finished and disney's just hoarding the files and biding their time, just to be fucking annoying, frankly

on the gamora front—yes, it's been confirmed since s1's release that there's an ep featuring her that was missing! the gamora we saw in the guardians of the multiverse was supposed to be in a tony-centric ep that had to be delayed due to covid:

An episode that centered on Tony Stark was supposed to premiere in this first batch of episodes, What If…? creator A.C. Bradley confirmed to Polygon. But due to COVID-19-related production issues, the episode was unable to be completed on time for release, forcing producers to bump it off to What If…? season 2 (which is good news for anyone hoping for a What If…? season 2). While “What If… The Watcher Broke His Oath?” now raises some accidental questions about Tony and Gamora’s relationship in a pocket of the multiverse, Bradley says it was worth the trouble. “Given the global tragedy of the pandemic, pushing an episode is nothing,” she wrote to Polygon. “I only hope viewers have been entertained these last 9 weeks, and enjoyed the ride as much as I did.”

that's likely part of why gamora still got what if merch in 2021, though i still maintain that if gamora being in what if of all things could warrant her getting merch, then she should've gotten merch for vol 3, 100%, straight fax no printer. like, there is no way that animated, non-mainline mcu, d+ series WHAT IF had more viewers who'd be interested in buying merch than a LITERAL THEATRICAL MAINLINE FILM ☠️ like...yo LMAO

i haven't personally seen any updates about gamora getting vol 3 merch on any of my social media feeds, but i've seen some of the funko collectors on reddit speculating abt another wave of vol 3 figures that she could be part of or something. but now that we're nearing 2 months post-vol 3, i honestly don't have high hopes for any new merch featuring her to come out :/// esp with marvel now seeming to have shifted focus to secret invasion (which just started releasing on d+ today), i'm not rly expecting any new anything in general on the gotg/vol 3 front tbh

however, if what if s2 ever returns from war and we finally get the tony & gamora ep, maybe we'll get some more merch of her for that? 😵‍💫 lol i hate it here

[hikayefandoms]

Oh don't worry! I don't mind at all! If I minded i would not have tagged it with the ship name lol.

I can totally see your reasoning behind the true love kiss not being strong enough to break the dark one curse and I can also see the reasoning of the whole disco lizard being Rumple self image although I always considered Gold lack of scales at the start of S2/Lacey arc more a reflection of the same thing that keep Archie from going green and cricket because by then while he may love Belle he very much still sees himself as Rumplestilstkin the Dark One.

As for the second possibilities I'm much less convinced, I know that Rumple argues with himself/his human side after Belle kisses him and that the Dark Swan/Camelot arc reveal that with the powers you also get a cadre of evil wizards whispering in your head but I have always interpreted that scene as an easy way to visualize Rumple self hatred for his "coward past self" expecially since he believes that the Dark One powers are his only chance at finding Baelfire.

But I must also confess that upon multiple rewatches I've found the whole Dark Ones plot to be extremely contrived and confusing (also thanks to at a times less than faithfull dub work) so I may have never properly picked up on all the mechanics as my eyes glaze over 😅.

As for the Rumbelle being rushed is more that I feel that they never got to resolve the whole "you pushed me away" thing in the name of C and D plot happening. I like the reunion both the first one when Belle stumbles in Gold shop and when she get her memories back but I wish we saw more of their interaction before Moe kidnapping, maybe see them at Gold pawnshop or a bit of the old dinamic because imo even if Rumple had not freaked out at the kiss I don't feel they were quite there to act as a fully fledged couple. I think that maybe I would have felt more appropriate for the library and cute little "let's try an hamburger" or "let's have a picnic at your shop" to have happened before Moe. I absolutely realize that these are mostly my personal preferences and are in no way a fair or comprehensive analysis of the two but Gold always gave me big awkward vibes. Hope it makes sense lol

All that waffling aside I'm glad there seems to be a universal agreement that the croc got done dirty by the writers in later seasons

Love me some Rumbelle, and I still believe that pre!curse it was, if hastily introduced, really good. And I kind of like it in the earlier seasons too before they killed Rumple character development and consistency for the sake of plot. But I really feel like the two of them hit off too...romantically? Too soon? I mean last time they were together Belle had just tried the true love kiss for the first time causing Rumple to freak out and then they have not seen each other for who knows how long with all the Regina being a little bastard part. But then they meet and just?? Hit it off like if nothing had happened? As if they were Snow and Charming??? Hello???? They even sleep in the same bed???? So soon????

Also do true love kisses not work on the Dark One anymore? I mean we know that Rumple and Gold are quite the same person but not really but why is it not working anymore? What's this? Leaving even for a moment how horribly horribly mishandled Rumple redemption roller coaster was compared to say Regina or hell even Zelena i would have preferred if they did the trial and tribulation and all the allegory of addiction and keep the power of the true love kiss, as in "the power of the true love kiss exist and it works, it can chase down the darkness, but for it to work, for it to truly work, *you* must also be a changed man"

Idk maybe after all this time I'm still salty we never got to see the OG Rumbelle interactions in a modern setting, maybe what I need is a god fix it fic

[iamacolor]

i'm still in shock. i was coming into this ep with loss of hope and someone they put the best parts of this show into it. god.. even i had a sense of fulfillment by the end. im here for youngwoo and her journey and we got to see her about to start a new chapter. full time! i hope att jung stays but just balances his work/life better cus he doesn't have much to prove anymore as he did before. i wonder if youngwoo's the only one with a renewed contract tho but i like this team so i hope not. the talk with junho was so 😭😭😭 im so happy idk i'll take it. it came out with less plotholes than i thought?? maybe ceo han changed her mind bc her goal was to not have her as minister (also minister for what i still dont know) but she stepped down on her own and maybe she sees she doesnt have to risk youngwoo for that (but also i dont like that she was willing to use youngwoo like that) but youngwoo's little brother 🥺 what a good kid. so cute when he calls her noona 🥺 idk.. im just very happy they didnt ruin s1. that could've been the end of the show and id be satisfied. but now im even more excited for s2. i really adore these characters.

hello anon! I just wrote a long post about all the things that felt off for me in the finale because so much was still left unsolved or unsaid or simply was given a shortcut so that there could be a happy ending but I won't rewrite everything here because honestly I think it was a good ending based on all the things they'd messed up to get there not really as an ending itself (does that make sense) and because you're right they somehow found back the tone that we loved from earlier episodes (which is hugely in part because we were fully on youngwoo's side rather than watching her suffer from afar with her scenes cut) so it did give me faith again for season 2. I'm glad she's happy with her new position she deserves all the things that makes her happy (and as for myeongseok she also clearly wants him back at hanbada too they make such a great team! but I do hope he finds a better balance)

I think the weird thing about ceo han just sort of giving up (for now) is that we still don't know why she was so against tae sumi?? (and since she's a lawyer tae sumi was a candidate to be minister of justice!)

and I would love to know if youngwoo's still in touch with her half brother. one of the things I wanted for season 2 was to see youngwoo be a mentor to another lawyer but I'd love to see her navigate being a sibling as well especially since they so easily understood each other very well and she immediately was protective of him (and he clearly needs better acquaintances than the ones he was hanging out with lol)

I just hope they can actually make season 2 happen now, I know it's going to be hard to get everyone together but a lot still needs to be resolved and it'd be a shame for this show to not actually get to wrap everything and for youngwoo's journey to be cut short when there's still so much more to see!