#but it doesn't make him out of character or implausible.

[pinkopalina]

I hate when other batjokers hate telltale. they like to say it's really out of character but I completely disagree. you're just mad that your favorite comic or movie or show doesn't give you two+ routes and timelines of the same story to show the full intricacy of what their dynamic is, and we do get to have that and appreciate it. and it's exactly what everyone who wants reformed joker to be is, and it's exactly what everyone who doesn't want reformed joker to be is. hating on it is just virtuesignaling that you're a "real fan" to me and real fans don't gatekeep works, losers

[esote-rika]

not a mask, but a reflection | Spencer Reid

Pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!Waldorf!Reader Category: idk hurt/comfort?? flangst? something like that, I'm sorry I truly don't know how to categorize this Summary: The BAU ladies insist on a makeover for Spencer, so you decide to indulge them by promising to take him shopping. It doesn't go as either of you expected, but it allows a chance for the two of you to form a deeper bond. Content: reader’s outfit is described, reader is based on Blair Waldorf in background, and personality– so you're rich!! and fashionable!! And snarky, but in a ride or die sunshine x sunshine protector kind of way, early season 2 glasses!Spencer crushing on reader, implied autistic Spencer, brief mention of his bullying, lots of dialogue!!! especially about fashion advice (PSA to wear whatever you want!!) Word count: 2.8k A/N: I'm back on my Blair Waldorf-reader agenda. I'm mainly writing these because of my own crackship, but I tried very hard not to describe any specific appearance stuff for the reader (aside from what ur wearing) so it’s as immersive and universal as possible! Styling in film and TV fascinates me and I wanted to explore Spencer’s character through clothes. ALSO! I incorporate a Blair Waldorf quote into the conversation that goes “Fashion is the most powerful art there is. It’s movement, design, and architecture all in one. It shows the world who we are and who we’d like to be.” pls know I didn't come up with it, the Gossip Girl writers did. It's from S4E13 specifically.

Saturdays are usually meant for curling up on his couch to read his favorite books, or marathon obscure foreign films. Alone, always alone, Spencer Reid has grown used to the feeling; accepted it, enjoyed it, even. He wouldn’t have survived all these years if he didn't appreciate his own company, after all. 

However, today is different. He’s expecting company, which is unusual enough, but he’s expecting you of all people. And it’s for such a silly thing too— a makeover. Something straight out of a cliche high school movie. It had started at work, during a case, a passing comment made by one of the people being interviewed. Something about looking like he’s playing dress up, spoken so softly he’d been willing to pretend to ignore it. 

But you heard it, had snapped at the man in annoyance about respect and propriety. At the jet, you had snapped at him about wearing clothes that fit better, and of course Morgan and JJ had to get involved, and Garcia squealed about a makeover over the phone. He hadn’t expected you to accept; when you did, he considered several ways to get out of it: pretend to have a date (implausible), pretend to get sick, just don’t show up. But then you said you’ll meet him at his apartment and his world seemed to come crashing down.

“I need to see what I'm working with before I dive headfirst into this,” was your reply when he protested. It makes sense, of course, but he's not happy about accepting you into his space. It's curated for him and his comfort, and he dreads the idea of casting your shrewd, critical gaze over his design choices. If he's less of a coward, he would admit that a small part of him desires your approval. Craves it, needs it, so much it makes his skin crawl.

So that’s why his Saturday morning is spent cleaning; straightening books, hiding the case files strewn about. He doesn’t want to give you any ammunition to tease him with. Having to undergo a makeover is embarrassing enough.

It reeks of bleach when he opens the door for you. The wrinkle of your nose has no business being so cute when it's obviously done to express disgust.

“What is that smell?”

“Hello to you too,” he can't keep the sarcasm from his tone as he steps aside. 

You saunter in heels even though this is meant to be a casual get together. They click against his hardwood floors until you reach his rug, the thick fabric dulling out the noise. “Did you bleach your entire place?” 

His expression is sheepish as he closes the door, “I figured I'd clean.”

“You sure you're not hiding a murdered body in here?” you walk straight into the middle of his apartment and look around. He winces as he waits for your verdict.

“I’m not, I just - you’re so -”

“I’m so?”

“Particular.” I don’t want to disappoint you, but he clamps his mouth shut before the words escape. Having you come in for a makeover already isn’t doing anything for his confidence. In fact, it just confirms his suspicions. Something is wrong with him, despite all the attempts at propriety and flattery otherwise. The BAU sees it, you see it, and you’re here to fix it. He swallows the lump in his throat, and with it, his pride and the tiny hint of resentment. 

You are trying to help, he reminds himself. 

Maybe it’s his hopeless optimism, maybe it’s desperation to seem normal for once, but it’s enough to surrender to your knowledgeable hands. 

He lets his eyes take you in, allows himself a moment to linger on the details of your ensemble. The picture of coordination, as usual; shoes and bag the same shade of rich brown, the barrettes in your hair matching the pale blue trimming along the edges of the sundress you’re wearing. This is you dressed down, he knows, but somehow you manage to outdress him. 

“I’m not even going to ask what you mean by that,” your eyes roll, before landing to one of the doors in his apartment, “Where’s your bedroom?”

He sputters, “My - uh, why?”

“I’m assuming that’s where you keep your clothes?” You look at him like he’s dumb, and he turns bright pink. “I told you, I can’t take you shopping before I see what you already own.”

He can’t believe he fully didn’t realize it meant letting you into his bedroom. But then again, his brain has the tendency to turn to mush when he’s speaking with you. “Right,” he nods, scrambling to his bedroom. All of his anxieties about his living room and the overwhelming amount of books seem distant now; you hadn’t even commented on them. Instead, this new one arises, bubbles in his stomach. Showing you his bedroom is so much more intimate. The space he sleeps in, where he’s most vulnerable.

A space no other woman has ever even seen. 

He feels your presence behind him, smells the distinct loveliness of the perfume you like to call your signature scent. Of course you don’t ask for permission. He’s found quickly that you’re used to taking and having what you want, used to the world yielding to you instead of the other way around. 

Your heels make sharp taps against the floor. Combined with your perfume, it’s already obvious that you’re making your mark in his room, his haven. He imagines the fragrance will linger when you leave, and it makes his ears burn with a longing that knocks the wind from his chest. The door remains open, and he’s thankful that he isn’t completely caged in his bedroom with you. 

“Here’s my, uh, where I keep my clothes.” he hastily opens his closet, relief flooding his body as he sees it’s not that messy. Everything is ironed and pressed, although some of his sweaters are haphazardly piled together. He hopes he won’t have to show you the mess that is his sock drawer. 

You step up beside him, bare arm brushing against his. Brows furrowed in concentration as you rifle through his clothes. He steps back to give you more room to work with, although it’s more for his sake than yours. Your proximity is making him a little dizzy. He finds himself slumping on his bed, watching your movements. You’re approaching the task at hand with the same meticulous acuity as you would in a crime scene. Focused. Detail oriented, even when doing something so insignificant.

He’s not sure what to expect. He’s bought his clothes based on what he sees other men wear, relying on his observation skills, and the clothing guidelines given by HR to deduce what is considered appropriate. His father wore dress shirts a lot, back when his family was still intact. Hotch and Morgan wear suits, but those have always felt too formal to use on a daily basis. He opts for cardigans and sweater vests to keep him warm instead, because they’re softer, less restrictive. They remind him of Diana, the things she would wear back when she could still teach. He hopes you don’t make him get rid of them.

“You wear a lot of light browns,” your voice lifts him out of his anxious stupor, “You have to give that up.” 

He frowns in confusion, “What’s wrong with wearing light brown?”

“You’re too pale, they make you look even more sickly. But if you must wear brown, lean into this shade instead,” you hold up a dark brown blazer that he actually really likes. He smiles, happy that it got your seal of approval. You turn to him, eyes narrowed, “And your dress shirts are too big, look at where the shoulder seam falls.” 

He blinks in surprise as your hand comes to touch an inch past the edge of his shoulder, pinching the fabric, “It should be up here. You’re too slim for an oversized look, it just swamps your frame. If you’re going to be wearing them, they have to fit you better.” 

He nods, feeling a little out of his depth, “How do you know all of this?”

“Years of consuming Cosmopolitan and Vogue.” You turn back to the closet, he frowns slightly. The words mean nothing to him, and he flinches when he hears you sigh.

“Fashion magazines?” you prompt, glancing back over your shoulder.

“Ah,” He nods, lips pursed, “I can't say those are on my reading lists.”

“Obviously not, otherwise you'd know not to wear,” You gesture at his entire ensemble, nose wrinkling once again, “This.”

It doesn’t really occur to him what the problem is as he looks down at his checked button down. “It’s a nice shirt.” he says, although he can see your point now; it’s too big. 

“Reid, you look like you’re about to start proselytizing about our lord and saviour Jesus Christ.” you say, stepping away from his wardrobe and stopping in front of him. 

Your teasing makes his cheeks burn. Or maybe it’s your sudden closeness, your hands at his buttons, “Um, what–” he’s stiff, memories rushing of being held down, clothes forcibly ripped—

“Relax,” you step back after undoing the top button. The annoyed scoff surprisingly gives him some comfort, reminds him it’s you, he’s here with you, “There, that’s better. Don’t button it up all the way.”

“Why not?”

“I told you, it makes you look like you’re cosplaying a minister.” He shifts under your gaze, feeling exposed, even though he’s fully dressed. But that’s exactly what you’re judging, after all, his clothes. There’s nowhere to hide. “Why are you so tense, Reid? It’s not going to make you look like a fool, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Why? Where does he even begin? The fact that he’s never had a woman in his room before, and it’s making him feel like he’s about to implode? His memories of being stripped naked for all the school to see, humiliated, fueling the irrational fear of letting go of his clothes, the things he’s comfortable wearing. And for what? In order to be fashionable? To seem normal, to be fixed? 

He settles for a half truth, the words mumbled and embarrassed, “I like my clothes.”

To his surprise, your eyes soften, “Okay. And?”

“I like how I dress.”

“You don’t want to change your style?”

He looks down and shakes his head, feeling a little silly. How can he explain it to someone like you, who probably would have been one of his tormentors when he was back in school? It’s sick, this desire to be close to you, to be accepted by you as though being in your orbit would lessen his eccentricity. He thought he’d left it behind in high school, had grown out of it, but it’s there, recognizable and refusing to let him rest. 

“You know you didn’t have to say yes to this,” the bed dips as you sit beside him, “It was a silly thing the girls and I thought would be fun, but if it’s making you uncomfortable, I’ll stop and we could just, I dunno, go for ice cream instead.”

“No, I - I do, I just… don’t want to change completely.” It's almost pathetic how something as simple as clothes is making him spiral, “I like how I dress, even if you guys make fun of it. It’s comfortable. I get really cold hands, and the sweaters help, and - and the satchel is convenient even if you say it clashes with my outfits or whatever.”

Your hand rests on his forearm, and his rambling halts immediately.

“Then I won’t stop you from wearing grandpa-chic,” the lightness in your voice makes him smile, “This is why I wanted to see what you had. I wasn’t about to start from scratch, and there’s obviously a reason you gravitated towards these pieces. I wouldn’t force you into something you hate, that sort of defeats my fashion philosophy.”

“Your fashion philosophy?” He's smiling now as he listens to you.

“I believe that the whole point of fashion and clothing is to help reflect what you are on the inside, not mask it.” You reply, hand finding his own. He allows it, finding something warm and soothing in the touch of your hand, silencing the usual urge to pull away in fear of germs. “And, anyway, I think your clothes make you look really intellectual, so if you like them, you have the pieces in your closet already, it’s just a matter of styling them better.” 

You squeeze his hand, but he could have sworn you did it to his actual heart. 

He watches as you return to his closet again, rummaging through the clothes. You hold up a white button down and a navy blue cardigan, head tilted to the side, teeth worrying the plushness of your lower lip, “Like this; this is a nice combination, and it’ll work better with your complexion. Try it on.” they’re tossed over to him, landing on his lap.

You’re turning away from him, still going through his clothes—allowing him privacy. He appreciates that. He scrambles out of his current clothes, his skin prickling as he thinks about the fact that he’s in a room with a woman alone, getting undressed. No. You’re a friend and a coworker doing him a favor, he should get his head out of the gutter. Hurriedly, he puts the suggested ensemble on.

“Uh, it’s — you can turn around.”

He holds his breath as your eyes rove over his figure, still with the same sharpness he’s used to, but blunted by the small smile playing across your lips. “Yeah, that’s better. Navy’s a great color for you.” you have a stack of his shirts in your hand, all of them patterned and printed, “I’m sorry, but these… have to go. Or at least don’t wear them to work. The prints are ugly, no offense.”

He chuckles, taking the shirts from you, “Not wearing ugly prints to work anymore, got it.”

“Yeah, keep the funky patterns on your ties.” you reach up, brushing lint and dust off the cardigan, “Your shirts should remain plain, solid colors; you have a lot of nice sweater vests and cardigans, it’ll be easier to match them together if your shirts are in more basic colors.” 

Committing your words to memory is easy enough. Rules. He likes rules, but they need to make sense to him, otherwise their arbitrariness will simply frustrate him. “Why?”

“Why what?”

So far, you’re being so receptive to his questions, it might actually make him cry. It’s a new feeling, being the one who’s floundering. Not being the smartest, most knowledgeable person. How exciting, he decides, getting to learn in an area he’s never been able to fully understand on his own. He clarifies, “Why can’t I match the cardigans and sweaters to, uh, colorful shirts?” 

It’s a while before you answer, moving around to wind a tie across his neck. Your words are thoughtful when you speak, “It’s a visual balance. Too many colors and patterns can look heavy and distracting— which is okay, you know, but time and place is always something to consider when you’re dressing up. And you’re going to work, so it’s better to err on the side of caution and wear things that are more… sleek.” Your hands are deft as they tighten the tie, tucking it into the cardigan. “So now that I know what sorts of clothes you like to wear, it’s a matter of finding the right color combinations and cuts that fit your body. Here, see for yourself.”

You push him forward until he’s in front of his mirror, and indeed he does look… better. Still himself, still familiar, but the contrast of the navy cardigan against his pale skin somehow brings out more warmth from his cheeks and makes his hair seem less dull. Visual balance, you said. “Like art,” he murmurs.

“Exactly,” your smile is proud, peeking from behind his shoulder, “Fashion is the most powerful art there is. It’s movement, design, and architecture all in one. It shows the world who we are and who we’d like to be… and this is showing the world that you’re one attractive nerd.”

He laughs at that. There’s a lightness in his chest as he realizes he doesn’t have to change everything. “I think I get it.” he replies, meeting your eyes in the mirror.

“Of course you do, you’re a genius.” A slap on the back, one filled with warm intimacy, “Now, I did promise the team a makeover, so now that I know what sort of stuff you need, we can finally go shopping… and we need to do something with your hair.”

“What’s wrong with my hair?” he asks, but he’s smiling and so are you.

THERE WILL BE A PART TWO! Also, tagging everyone who expressed interest in Waldorf!Reader @mggslover @libraprincessfairy @lillaberry @lokisswiftie

[caughtthedarkness93]

Not to do more Furiosaposting (and SPOILERS AHEAD), but a couple more things I noticed on a second viewing:

• I think Dementus is being honest about how he lost his family when Furiosa confronts him about it, and that's a big point the film is making. Furiosa isn't like Dementus when she finally chases him down. But she recognizes that she could become like him - a vile, cruel warlord who uses his own pain as an excuse to run roughshod all over the wasteland, smashing everything in her path, using her pain as an excuse to take from others. By that point, she's already a part of Immortan Joe's war machine. She is already complicit. And he does say to her that killing him won't give her what she wants. She resists the idea, but ultimately, it sure seems like she realizes he's right. And ultimately, that leads to her big choice - make a positive change rather than simply trying to hurt the people who hurt you. Granted, she still does do plenty of hurting the people who hurt her (Nice face you got there, Joe, be a shame if something happened to it). But the big, real legacy she builds is taking the Citadel in the name of a greater cause than fueling Immortan's cult of cruelty.

• Praetorian Jack is also complicit, honestly. And it's something he seems to recognize. He outright says that he's looking for a righteous cause. There's a lot we don't know about this man. He tells us very little of his history, nor do we know why he chooses to ride for Immortan Joe. But we do know that after meeting Furiosa, he wants to do everything in his power to help her. She becomes his righteous cause. So the whole film, Furiosa is kind of pulled between those two directions - Dementus, and Jack. Do you defeat the pain you carry by throwing it back to the people who gave it to you? Or do you seek a righteous cause to build it into something positive?

• Perhaps one of my biggest takeaways is related to Jack's death. It's not until Dementus kills Jack that Furiosa gets really set on revenge. Like she clearly loathes Dementus before that. Her first time meeting him as an adult, she goes straight for her gun. The camera highlights their relationship a lot, and I'm pretty sure her vengeful drive towards him has its own musical motif - listen for that driving, distorted noise that you hear sometimes. But revenge doesn't become her biggest driver until after Jack dies. Even as she feels clear hate and rage towards this man, she's still set on getting home all that time. But when Jack dies, she goes out of her way to try to kill him. And, relatedly, when Jack dies, she loses the arm that has her star map tattoo on it. So to put it another way, when she chooses to commit to vengeance, she loses her way.

• We need to consider perspective and narrator here, as this isn't like Fury Road where it's from the point of view of Max, who was directly there. Because this film's opening shot isn't of Furiosa. It's of another character - it's of the History Man. The first line belongs to him - "As the world falls around us. How must we brave it's cruelties?" The closing narration is his as well. Something that sticks in my head more and more is Dementus' ultimate fate. What gets me about it is that it feels implausible. Not only for Furiosa as a character, but for the way the series usually handles injuries. So George Miller was a paramedic before he was a filmmaker. In fact, his work as a paramedic is what partly inspired the first Mad Max film and what funded it. And in these films, Miller has put his medical knowledge to use. The characters' injuries are usually handled in a realistic way, with a few flights of fancy for people to make it through frankly absurd car wrecks. You see this especially in Fury Road, which takes the time to establish that Max is a universal donor twice so it makes sense to have him give a blood transfusion to Furiosa at the end. It talks about the ultimate effects of her collapsed lung and how to treat it. The injuries in these films feel realistic in a way movie wounds often don't. Dementus' final fate does feel a little complicatedly cruel for someone as pragmatic as Furiosa, but what really gets me is how medically implausible it is. We're supposed to believe that Dementus has been stuck in the citadel with a peach tree growing out of him for five years without dying? I...kinda don't. Why does this matter? I think it signals that aspects of the story fall to unreliable narration. These films are campfire stories from a world that fell and rose again. Always have been. But this one has a more direct narrator. The History Man is telling this story. It is filtered through his perspective.

• And that adds another layer to things, considering Furiosa and the History Man's backgrounds. We see the History Man, we see a guy who is clearly horrified by Dementus' actions. When Furiosa's mom is getting executed, he cries. He tells Furiosa that she needs to make herself indispensable - likely because he feels that it's the best way to protect her. But he still does Dementus' bidding, often without question or argument. In a word, the thing that ultimately separates the History Man from Furiosa is that where he was complicit until the very end, Furiosa chose to rebel.

• And I guess if I had to boil it all down, I think there's a great big takeaway from this film. Don't seek hope. Become hope.

Man, I love this movie.

[steventhusiast]

STWG daily prompt 7/12/23 (i'm late to this)

prompt: black eye

pairing/character(s): steddie

this is part 2, read part 1 here

-

"Yeah, I'm here. I got you, sweetheart."

Eddie's words bring about a lopsided smile to Steve's face, and then his eyes drift back to being closed. He doesn't look like he's asleep, but he's definitely not all there. Distantly, Eddie wonders what good shit they've got Steve on for him to not be sobbing in pain at every movement right now. His black eye is.. difficult to look at.

Once again, Eddie wonders what the fuck happened in the past forty eight hours. He turns to Buckley.

"What happened?" He asks, and Robin narrows her eyes and looks ready to attempt to interrogate him again, so he's quick to continue, "I- I know you have questions, but for now can you just accept that I'm here because I care about him?"

He hopes she ignores the way he's still absently rubbing his thumb in a back-and-forth motion over Steve's arm. Hopes that for now she can dismiss the casual intimacy, and not question why Eddie's one of Steve's emergency contacts. Not while Steve lacks the therewithal to make a decision about coming out or not.

Still looking suspicious, she nods once, and casts a glance to the other side of the room, where the two younger kids are sat together. Eddie follows her gaze to see the young girl is asleep, head resting on Dustin's arm, and Dustin has his eyes resolutely on the door, like he's waiting for a monster to burst through it. He doesn't look fully there.

"We were just finishing the closing duties at work and," Robin starts, and then pauses like she's going over the details in her head, "and there was a late shipment we had to put away in the freezers, but then a fire broke out and we got trapped."

Buckley is a lot of things, but a good liar isn't one of them. Even if she was a good liar, Eddie knows things that make that one sound implausible. Steve hasn't been missing for just one night. It's been two nights. What the fuck happened before the fire? And that's not even considering the logistics of Steve's injuries and how they happened.

"Don't bullshit me." Eddie says quietly, looking down at Steve again, "That makes no sense and you know it. Are you seriously telling me a fire give Steve a black eye and a concussion? These kids just happened to be there?"

His words have Robin looking incredibly nervous, and Dustin straightens a little where he's sat, looking to be actively listening for the first time since Eddie entered the room.

"You have to shut up, man. I don't know who you are, but it. Was. Just. A. Fire." Dustin says, eyes determined, but scared.

"I'm Eddie." Eddie pauses, considering a new possibility that frightens him even more than Steve's injuries, "Did you guys.. Did you get threatened? Whoever did this," he gestures at Steve's face, "are they making you stay quiet? I can help you. I know people."

Dustin sighs and goes back to watching the door, the frightened look in his eyes becoming something haunted. Robin bites her lip, and Steve cracks open his good eye to look at Eddie, tears welling up.

"They w're- Eds, you gotta j'st- leave it be." He tells him, and a tear slips out and down his face, no doubt causing the scratches on his face to sting.

"Stevie. Please. Who hurt you?" Eddie whispers, tears blurring his vision now as he truly takes in his boyfriend. He feels helpless, and he can't even provide comfort the way he wants to because it might not be safe. He doesn't know Robin, not truly. And he doesn't know the kids at all.

Steve makes the decision for him, lifting one shaking, weak hand to clumsily wipe away a tear that's escaped.

"'s okay, Teddy. L've you." He says, and Eddie hates himself a bit. Because Steve's trying to comfort him while he's laying in a hospital bed. Eddie raises his hand to cover Steve's where it still rests on his cheek, supporting and holding it there.

"I love you too." He whispers back after a harsh sniffle, and hears Robin beside him making a noise of understanding.

"Oh, you're his- right." She mumbles to herself, shooting Steve a look to which he gives her a slight smile of confirmation. Eddie raises his eyebrows at the implication. Steve had come out to her?

"Yeah. And if you have a problem with it, well. Like I said, I know people." He tells her, putting on his best bitchy smile as he slowly puts Steve's hand back to rest on the bed. He ignores Steve's noise of complaint to keep eye contact with Robin. He hopes he's being intimidating.

"No need for all that. I know Dorothy too." Robin replies, and Eddie just nods. Feels a bit of the fear inside him deflate.

And then Dustin asks a question, and the little girl at his side rouses from her sleep.

"Who the fuck's Dorothy?"

"Mutual friend." Robin answers, tone clipped.

"Okay. I don't know what I've just woken up to. Who's this wannabe-goth nerd?" The little girl asks, voice full of sass as she raises an eyebrow at Eddie.

How she went from dead asleep to awake-enough-to-roast-him in five seconds, Eddie doesn't know. He narrows his eyes at the insult anyway.

"Eddie Munson. Metalhead extraordinaire, for your information. And you? What's an eight year old doing here?"

"Erica Sinclair. And I'm eleven, you long haired freak."

Eddie gapes at her, and distantly hears Steve giggle. For now, cautiously, he thinks that maybe things will be okay. Eventually.

-

some people asked to be tagged or replied about wanting a part two so i'm tagging: @djohawke @imyelenasexual @y4r3luv @disrespectedgoatman @starxlark @f1inl3ey

[midnightcatharsis]

Astarion haters are usually pathetic liars and the worst part of bg3 fandom. Here is a prime example of an absolutely pathetic individual (screen and context below, btw the first screens don't look that bad but the last one is important here and sheds a different light on them) : They go under every Astarion-related video and hate on him and his fans. They also almost always lie. They're the ones who said "AsTaRiOn DiSaProVes oF sAvInG thE GnOmEs at MoOnRiSe" and "AsTariON oNlY apPRoves oF sAviNg the HyEna and the OwlBeaR because he wants to eat them" I've debunked it with information from the game and wiki, but they continue to say that. You can find my post here. The same individual some time ago went under another Astarion video and made a comment hating on the entire Astarion fandom in a comment that at first glance can look innocent to neutral fans. They were enraged that some Astarion fans disliked people who purposefully downloaded a mod that allows you to put a collar on an escaped slave and makes him crawl. Of course, they failed to give any actual proof or link and expected everyone to blindly believe them which would be very unreasonable since I've already proven they often lie (the entire gnomes at moonrise situation I've mentioned) but they target neutral people in hope of deceiving them. Anyway here's the comment:

While there's no evidence and the only proof is "trust me bro", the comment itself doesn't look that bad, right? After being told that playing slave-owner simulator and purposefully putting a collar on an escaped slave to "make him crawl" is bad and people pointing that out were not wrong they went on to explain that the mystery "streamer didn't know and has only been playing for 6 hours"

Hmnn… They once again failed to provide ANY evidence. Which I wonder why? They seem to know the story and the streamer quite well, so why not even tell who the streamer was so people can check for themselves what he did, with what intentions and what was the real answer of Astarion fans? Perhaps the "evil Astarion fans" were just people telling him that playing the slave-owner simulator was disgusting. The story and justification itself sound extremely implausible. Why would the mystery streamer who had never played bg3 before, never had heard about it, and had not known the story before specifically look for and download a mod just to make one specific character (an escape, traumatized slave) into his own slave… Something doesn't seem right in their story. They explicitly stated that "the streamer " had only played 6 hours and hadn't been caring or paying attention to the story at all. Yet only after merely 6 hours, he searched for that particular mod to use it specifically on Astarion? I've played the game, and I've watched numerous playthroughs on twitch and youtube. Character creator alone takes almost 1 hour on your first time and the nautiloid tutorial takes another one. It leaves barely 4 hours of the game… Most people, even experienced gamers with gaming channels, are still learning basic mechanisms and are experimenting with them after 4 hours. They're exploring the vastness of the bg3 world and trying to grasp the story. You don't get a lot of companion interactions during the first few hours, and even Astarion's bite scene doesn't usually happen that early. After 4 hours of gameplay most gamers I've watched (and I, myself) were still getting around long/short rest mechanics and trying to learn how combat works… Most people try to understand how the main game works and what it has to offer before getting mods. And you're telling me this streamer who didn't care and didn't pay attention went out of his way to download such a specific mod for Astarion?? It sounds like a bad lie to me. Nobody can check it or verify it without a source, but the comment may sound innocuous on its own. Almost immediately in the same thread, another account started backing them up

Again, it looks harmless, right? Neutral fans and even some Astarion fans may think it's a valid opinion as everybody can dislike different characters.

Imagine my surprise or rather lack of it when I found THE SAME two usernames under another Astarion video talking about how they enjoy putting a collar on Astarion, making him crawl, torturing him and helping Cazador:

And they claim Astarion fans are the toxic ones XDD

There are several messed up things here:

Notice how they talk about enjoying torturing him and playing slave-owner simulator months after making comments defending the "streamer" on the basis that "the streamer didn't know about enslavement". Well, they surely know about Astarion's past and story because they both acknowledge it in their previous comments yet they both are proud of torturing a slave.

They think they're good for doing that

The sheer f* hypocrisy and audacity to say that they're bullied by "toxic fans" when people point out that messed up behavior

The dates. The "newer" comments were made under a video from several months ago, and the original comment had only a few likes and was one of the last ones under the video. You have to scroll a lot to see it. The fact that there is only one hour pause between them is strange. Additionally, the older comments made by those "two" accounts were also made back-to-back. Both are under the same comment/video, in both cases the original comment is not that easy to find because it's either hidden in replies or you really have to scroll the comments to see it, both made in the same very short period under a much older video/thread, both backing each other up and making THE SAME bs points. Interesting… very interesting indeed. XD

I have a strong suspicion that the "mystery streamer" was the second account (if the streamer wasn't made up) and I am practically certain those two accounts are the same individual. Which makes them one of the most pathetic characters I've ever met. They do similar things under other Astarion videos and comments too - purposefully lying making bs takes, and doubling down on it.

I'm too lazy to search or cite all of the bs I've seen them spew and I'm sure there's much more of it under different Astarion content but here are some examples that I find the most ridiculous:

Astarion doesn't approve of saving gnomes at Moonrise (proven to be a lie)

Astarion only approves of saving the hyena and the owlbear because he wants to eat them. (XD)

Astarion admits that he's evil in his good hero epilogue because he answers that he "embraced the darkness" when asked whether he misses walking in the sun

Astarion is evil because he disapproves if you forbid him from drinking animal blood (Don't tell them that other characters eat meat too, that meat is made of dead animals or Karlach knows how a dwarf tastes)

Playing the slave owner simulator is ok. (When said mod was compared to mods of Male Aylin or the mod whitewashing Wyll they said, playing with those mods is ok too)

Having nightmares is not a symptom of PTSD, and having nightmares of your abuser enslaving you again is also definitely not that. When asked to do some basic research they said they don't care what Wikipedia or the Internet says

The wiki and mods are lying and shouldn't be believed, only they're telling the truth and should be blindly believed

They also tried to decanonize the official in-game narrator lines and said origin runs are and events in them are not canon and don't offer companions' perspective. (Like they're arguing that Astarion nightmare doesn't happen despite it being in the game because their character can't see it XDD)

And many many others I don't even have energy to describe. How pathetic do you have to be to create numerous alternative accounts to go under all Astarion videos or threads and lie about fictional characters? They most surely have other fake accounts too. Do you know what's even funnier? They claim "they're not an Astarion hater" to convince neutral fans to believe them blindly. Yes, sure "they are not a hater". They just think Astarion is a disgusting evil monster who deserves to die and they brag about enjoying using slave collars on him and making him crawl. XDDD

I think it would be difficult to find a more hateful, dishonest, contemptible, and foul individual.

P.S. If you ever see a comment where somebody claims they're not an Astarion hater but then lies or tries to spread misinformation about him don't let them deceive you. It's their tactics. Please don't believe them or check every piece of information for yourself. Later, they go and brag about killing him, making him a slave as this individual here. Part 3

[greatwyrmgold]

i feel like everyone has their own vision for this in their head, so what do YOU think an Ai Lives version of OnK would be like? both in terms of what you think the manga itself would have been like and what you, as a fan, would like to see for the characters in that kind of scenario

So, the fun thing is, I've had a few Ai Lives AU fanfics kinda outlined and semi-scripted in the back of my head. I'll try to keep "what I think makes sense for the AU" separate from "what I thought I could justify in that fanfic," but no promises.

I will divide this into two sections. First, I'll discuss how I expect the Hoshino family dynamic would shift over time if nothing disrupted it. Second, I'll discuss a disruption that I expect/hope would happen sooner or later.

The Hoshino Family

Much like HikAi, the Hoshino family is a bunch of people with complimentary unresolved traumas. Like HikAi, there's theoretically a way where these mesh together cleanly and let everyone involved heal without complication, like a broken bone that sets itself.

Like HikAi, that would require implausible serendipity. Unlike HikAi, I don't see that devolving into violence. But the idyllic Hoshino would devolve into a normal, mildly dysfunctional family, composed of people who have minimal experience with anything except the idyllic Hoshino family and idiosyncratic forms of filial abuse.

Aqua has the least baggage. But depending on how his slide from Goro to Aqua turns out, as Ai and Ruby's baggage comes up, I can imagine him appointing himself as the Family Adult without even realizing it. The part of him that's still Goro still sees Ai as his patient, someone who needs his help.

Of course, Ai doesn't know Aqua remembers being his mother's doctor. To her, this just feels like the child/parent relationship being inverted. And I don't think she'd like that much! She'd probably blame herself before Aqua, thinking that this is all because she's a terrible childish mother, but still.

As for Ruby...she'd react basically how you'd expect a little sister to react to her big brother telling her what to do.

There'd be more tension between Ruby and Ai. Ruby wants the unconditional love a mother is supposed to give her child, Ai wants to feel like she can give someone that love; they should mesh like puzzle pieces designed for each other. But that's conditional on Ai being able to express that love.

One of the AU fics I've outlined is the first time Ai has to spend several weeks away from home. She stars in a move with a bunch of scenes shot in Hokkaido or somewhere, and a week or two later B-Komachi has its first world tour scheduled, and then that gap gets unexpectedly filled when Ai gets hospitalized away from Tokyo. (Maybe she broke her leg in a skiing accident or caught an infectious disease or something.)

Anyways, the end result is that for a couple of months, Ruby doesn't see her mama. All she has are occasional phone calls. Even if the rational part of Ruby realizes that her mama isn't intentionally abandoning her, she feels abandoned, and doesn't appreciate Aqua's appeals to her rationality. She needs Mama and mama isn't here! And Ruby's lonely and scared and mad and explodes when Mama finally shows up again. And Ai is dying inside because she feels like she's failed her kids on a fundamental level.

If there's a single moment where the "idyllic Hoshino family" phase ends, it's that. Maybe not that exact scenario, but whatever moment where Ai's work means she can't maintain that intense positive affection. After that, no matter how real Ai's love for Ruby is, it's not going to feel real the way it used to.

Crucially: The actual Hoshino family experience is, objectively, not that bad. But to Ai and Ruby, it feels like they stepped off the slippery slope. Ai worries that she's going to keep slipping until she's as bad as Ayumi, while Ruby worries that Mama's going to keep growing more and more distant until she's abandoned, like everyone except Sensei abandoned her.

Part of the problem is that the Hoshino family is kinda left to stew by itself. As long as Ai of B-Komachi is a public figure, she has to keep lying. She can't admit that she's the mother of her children to anyone she doesn't trust absolutely. That means they can't give her advice, or comfort, or even point out that from their perspective the family is still okay. It's fine. They're fine. It's fine.

(I guess there's Ichigo and Miyako. But they're not exactly an ideal nuclear family themselves.)

Odds are, the Hoshinos will stew in the fear and paranoia about becoming a Bad Family until something disrupts their status quo.

The Hoshino Disruption

The argument that Ai of B-Komachi needs to hide her family for her whole life, or at least her whole career, is contingent on Ai Hoshino being able to hide her family for her whole career. When she's just a semi-famous idol with a couple kid-kittens at home, that's not unreasonable.

But as Ai of B-Komachi's fame grows, more and more people will poke around, looking for a lead that could make their carer, or at least a tidbit that could let them pay rent. And as Ai Hoshino's kids grow, it will be harder and harder for her to balance their needs and desires against her career.

In one of the AU fics I outlined in my head, the dominoes fall like this: The Saitous set up a livestream so Ai can watch her kids' first sports festival, a paparazzi catches her watching it, he recognizes one of the kids as that boy from That Was the Start, then does a little digging to find out that that boy and his sister are legally the kids of Ai's boss, then does a little more digging to find some circumstantial evidence suggesting that Ichigo Saitou's wife was not actually pregnant when the twins were born and also they seem suspiciously close to Ai of B-Komachi.

Nothing definitive, but enough suggestions and raised questions to catch the world's attention. Because by this point, Ai of B-Komachi is the global face of J-Pop. However these suspicions accumulated into circumstantial evidence, finding out that this perfect, pure idol might have had a secret boyfriend and two children is a major story in Entertainment News.

And then there's Kamiki.

Maybe Strawberry Productions could have answered those suspicions and provided something more (seemingly) concrete than all that circumstantial evidence. But as indicated by the Ai Dies primary universe, Kamiki is still emotionally clinging to Ai and prone to doing impulsive things at her.

In my fic outline, Kamiki crashes a press release where Ai and the Saitous are answering questions about these allegations. He basically says "Yes, it's all true, Ai had children and I'm the father! Ai, will you marry me???" And Ai panics and agrees on live TV and there's no walking that back, even though she realizes it was a mistake.

Whatever the details, Kamiki is gonna do something that makes it impossible for Strawberry Productions to just dismiss the rumors out of hand. If they don't admit that they hid their idol's pregnancy, there are gonna be investigations. And those kids are Ai's children; if Kamiki elevates this story from top-tier celebrity gossip to an evening-news controversy, the truth will come out sooner or later.

The Fallout

Whatever ends up happening to Kamiki, whether he gets to marry the love of his life or gets murdered by Ryosuke for defiling history's most perfect idol, the Hoshino family is free of the burdens of secrecy. Ai can go to PTA meetings and take her kids to the movie theater and show baby pictures to her colleagues. She has so many baby pictures she never got to show anyone, it'll be years before she shows anyone pictures of what they look like now.

Of course, they'll have new burdens. Ai is probably too famous and skilled to go completely without work, but her reputation and income will probably never recover. And Ai of B-Komachi's ex-fans are going to exert as much pressure as they can. Ruby, who has been flaming the haters since she was a toddler, is going to give them more clickbait than they know what to do with.

But at least Ai Hoshino can stop lying. And whatever tribulations she must face, I don't think the Hoshino Family can know peace until that happens.

[riddlerosehearts]

okay, i'm going to elaborate on what i said about how you can't convince me that deuce spade isn't directly inspired by jim hawkins, because i can't believe i haven't seen anyone talk about it before:

yes, i know deuce is a card soldier. everyone who's ever played twst knows this. however. many of the characters seem to take inspiration from multiple characters and multiple movies. lilia is one of maleficent's armored minions but also has elements of the three fairies, vil is the evil queen but kind of played the role of hercules in book 6, ortho has parallels to both pinocchio and baymax, the cater cinderella theory is a thing, etc.

one of yana toboso's favorite disney movies is treasure planet, so it is not at all implausible that she took inspiration from it for one of her characters.

they're both raised by single mothers. we know nothing about deuce's father iirc, and all we know of jim's father is that he left one day when jim was little and never came back.

deuce used to be a diligent kid who studied hard but became frustrated with his grades not matching the effort he put in, so he stopped trying and became a delinquent.

jim is a smart kid who used to be curious and sweet, but after his father left he changed. he became a delinquent who was failing in school and frequently got in trouble with the police.

jim goes for joyrides on aircrafts called solar surfers and is skilled at building and maintaining them.

deuce goes for joyrides on blastcycles/magical wheels and is also skilled with machinery.

deuce talks about how one day he overheard his mom on the phone with his grandmother, in tears and saying that she must've been a horrible mother because of how deuce turned out. then when he got his letter from NRC he decided he wanted to change so he wouldn't hurt his mom anymore.

in treasure planet, there's a scene where jim overhears his mother talking to dr. doppler about how she's at the end of her rope with jim's behavior and doesn't know what to do anymore because she feels like she's tried everything. then he decides he wants to make things up to her by finding treasure planet.

by the time we meet deuce, he's already cleaned his act up and decided to try and become an honor student so his mother can be proud of him. the end of treasure planet implies that jim has enrolled in the interstellar academy that captain amelia wanted to recommend him to, and in fact the canceled sequel was going to focus on jim's time there.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Catra is a Mary Sue.

i can already hear the aggressive clicking of keyboards as fans write an essay on how catra is flawed and therefore not a mary sue. but just stay with me here. here's what TV tropes has to say about this archetype:

“The prototypical Mary Sue is a female character in a fanfic who obviously serves as an idealized version of the author mainly for the purpose of Wish-Fulfillment. She's exotically beautiful, often having an unusual hair or eye color, and has a similarly cool and exotic name. She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting. She also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing.”

so.. let's run through the list, shall we? the exotically beautiful thing isn't really mentioned much in canon, but it's clear that catra was designed to be seductive and romantically appealing.

she certainly has her fair share of “unique” features with the heterochromia, the freckles, the fangs, the claws, and her other feline features. this isn't inherently a bad thing. it's okay to want your characters to look cool. besides, some of the other characters also have really defining features (except for adora who, despite being the protagonist, has the blandest character design ever. she doesn't even get a wardrobe change, outside of her new she-ra form. and don't even get me started on bow.)

“she's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas” — this definitely matches up with catra. she is supposedly the "lazy" cadet, the one who only shows up at the end of each training session and doesn't put enough effort into training. now i understand that she may still have had the potential to be a strong fighter, but you really mean to say that a teenager — who is rarely ever shown training or polishing her skills — easily beats up the evil dictator who conquered several regions and likely killed thousands of people?

i get that catra was just exploiting hordak's disability but if it was this easy to defeat hordak, wouldn't someone have done this sooner? even if he is disabled, he had to be intelligent and calculating enough to do what he did so far. but no, that's not the point here. catra didn't defeat hordak because she was somehow stronger or because hordak was weak. she defeated him because the writers wanted her to. she's a girlboss and she doesn't lose to anybody, not even a centuries old tyrant who has presumably conquered half of etheria.

“she also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing.”

yeah, you get the point. she's not flawless but most of her flaws are either swept under the rug or shown to be this cute and endearing thing. oh catra is possessive over adora and attacked her for making new friends? she's just so in love with adora. catra tried to commit mass genocide because of spite? she's just heartbroken because adora dumped her. catra constantly touches people without their consent and borderline harrasses them? she's just a cute disaster lesbian.

so there it is. catra is certainly a heavily flawed character but she's a mary sue (or a "jerk sue" as some people call these type of characters) because no matter what she does or who she hurts, she is forgiven and coddled. no one mentions angella's death in s5, not even glimmer who lashed out at adora earlier for the same reason.

all of catra's actions are just vaguely put as "she made some mistakes" or "she hurt people". making mistakes and hurting people can range anywhere from accidentally calling a person stupid to murdering someone's entire family, and spop doesn't mention where catra lies on that scale. because at the end of the day, all that matters is that catra gets a happy ending at the cost of the other characters' development and happiness. basically, a mary sue is like a blackhole. they are the “best” character, according to the author, and all the characters around them have to act horribly out of character so that this character gets all the spotlight.

[annabtg]

Anna, you’re so right(i love you). It’s so annoying that all these woke yaoi-shipping sjws have taken over the fandom. You cannot put characters like James and Sev through modern lenses(“Snape was a child abuser” teachers were allowed to hit students with rulers at 90s british schools but being a little mean to a troublemaker makes you satan🙄) and understand them fully. You also cannot make James Potter into a bisexual adhd-having MOC and keep true to his character(everything about him relays on him being very privileged in society)

Love, an old man.

I don't know how you can read this post and conclude that my problem is "woke, yaoi-shipping sjws"? My problem is, like I said, the complete lack of reading comprehension skills, of creative and analytical thought and of the ability to empathize with the characters.

Indeed, modern social media seems to favour performative activism, but that's not what fanfic suffers from. I've engaged with fandom enough to understand that the prevalence of non-nuanced takes comes from younger fans who have grown up in a world massively different from the one I grew up in as a millennial with boomer parents.

Nevertheless, I don't think you're doing it right either, my love. Teachers might have been allowed to hit students with rulers in the 70s (they weren't allowed in 90s Greece, though, and I have been informed neither were they in the UK) - and an example of a strict but good teacher in the books is Minerva McGonagall, who would dole out harsh punishments and use her sharp tongue on students, but still gives you the feeling that she cared about them and loved them. That kind of "tough love" was how boomers took care of their kids. Not Snape, who had beef with a student because he didn't like his father. That's fucked up. But the thing is that Snape is supposed to be unlikeable and mean and come off as the villain, to make his arc all the more surprising and impactful. He's supposed to be a fucked up dick who works for the side of good, because the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters.

As for James, I don't think his portrayal as a bisexual ADHD-having MOC is inherently incompatible with his character, even if it's not the authorial intent (indeed, James is supposed to be the picture of privilege). For instance, one aspect of HP I find fascinating is how being a POC doesn't descend into racism in the books - I think there's one single instance of it, where Pansy tells Angelina she's got worms on her head, but that's obviously Pansy being a dick, and other than that there is no casual racism thrown about to people like Dean or Lee or Cho or the Patils. Whether their portrayal is nuanced or stereotypical is a different discussion, but I think it's obvious that we're supposed to take out that if you're a racist wizard, it's not colour that matters, it's blood. James Potter could reasonably be a POC and it wouldn't matter at all in the world he lived in.

That he would struggle with ADHD or sexuality is also not implausible, and in fact I think it makes for very compelling portrayals of him to be going through that in an era-adequate way. Have people around him be annoyed because he just won't sit still, show him confused by his attraction to Sirius and downplaying it with semi-homophobic remarks. I'm personally not so much a fan of a Hogwarts that reads like you're at Pride, but it was the era of hippies, after all?? I think that Hogwarts would be on the conservative side of things, but at the end of the day it *was* the time when queerness started to gain visibility and I understand how people feel at liberty to use that. Everyone seeks to connect to these characters through fic to some degree; for me, who grew up as a gifted (and probably undiagnosed autistic?) kid in a conservative society, the canon portrayal of people like James and Lily and Sirius at Hogwarts resonates enough to keep me intrigued.

I don't lament people trying to project their own struggles with queerness or mental illness or idk just the fun conversations they have with their friends on the Marauders and Hogwarts; what bugs me is when it's being done in a way that cancels canon aphoristically, and you're suddenly idk toxic for shipping Jily because "James was an abuser and Lily had Stockholm Syndrome" - that's not what happened. Showing off like a peacock was the men's standard flirting technique, and playing hard to get was the women's standard flirting technique, and even with that Jily contains a LOT of nuance - and frankly, even through a modern lens I find it very difficult to miss if you have the first idea of reading between the lines. Which is why I keep saying: lack of reading comprehension skills and critical thinking beyond understanding straightforward text messages and cheap quips is the bane of these readers' existence (or, you know, our existence, for having to put up with it).

[pennyserenade]

how was small things like these ( plus what was a particularly resonating scene for you )

hey nonie! thank you so much for these questions! to put it simply: small things like these was incredible. cillian's acting is quiet, but at the same loud and powerful, and the story is an incredibly poignant one. there really was no man more correct to carry billy furlong's troubles than cillian murphy himself. i ended up watching small things two days after the us election, and in the movie theater there were two older women -- one probably in her late 60s, the other her early 70s -- along with my best friend and i. sometimes i think the setting in which you watch a movie can influence how you feel about the film, and i do believe that was the case for me. i really felt it at some parts, so much that i did cry one or two times. and, the more i've thought about it in the days since, the more i've come to like it.

the movie itself is so, so quiet. there's nothing outwardly loud about it: not the conversations, not the characters, not the town, not the violence or the oppression, not even the thinly-veiled threats made by sister mary. it is evident from the very first seconds of the movie that it is going to be quiet but intense, and it is. its a whisper in the shape of a film, and heavy in the way that all terrible, too long silences have a way of being. there were a couple of scenes that resonated with me in it (and i know you only asked for one, but that's so hard):

the scene where bill discovers the girl in the coal shed again, and sister mary brings him into her office, where they then bring in the girl and have her make up some implausible story about how she was in there because they were playing hide and seek and she was locked in by the other girls.

the scene at the bar, where the barmaid urges bill not to say anything about what they're doing with those girls at the convent, because 'they have a finger in every pie.'

namely, they resonated with me because i think a lot of people do this now, for the sake of sanity, for the sake of 'keeping the peace': they brush big things under the rug, unwilling to talk about them in fear of the mess they will make of their own lives, and of other's lives. in another stunning cillian film that i watched, called the wind that shakes the barley, one of the characters says something along the lines of: it is easy to know what you stand against, but quite another thing to know what you stand for. it is evident that this town, quiet as it is, feels the weight of what is being down to these girls. they don't all condone it happily. but they accept it, because it is easier and safer, and they want this man (bill), who has witnessed it first hand, to not make a fuss of it. he has girls that go to the school run by these nuns, and doesn't he want them to have a good future? a much better future than the girl who gets locked in the shed, because she made the foolish mistake to get knocked up?

the office scene was unbearable to me. what with the way sister mary was all but saying: keep yourself out of this, bill. think of your young daughters and their futures. and then sister mary offered the pregnant girl up to bill, still shivering and traumatized from what had just been inflicted upon her, and she made the girl tell bill this story that was so obviously concocted for her by the other nuns. the girl couldn't even deliver it with any real conviction, and the nuns thought that would be enough for bill, because it had been enough for decades, fr centuries, for eons. it still was enough for everyone else in the town who knew what was happening, but who couldn't afford to say anything about it. they offered up this poor girl to bill so he could sweep it all under the rug, so that if, many years down the road he was feeling guilty about not having done anything, he could remember that there was nothing to be done: because it was nothing. because it was a cruel game of hide and seek. because he didn't know. because his girls. because of the money sister mary hands him at the end for his wife, eileen. because eileen, who knows they are not one of the families who can afford to make a fuss about this, either, and has begged him not to. because, because, because. and you can see how he is struggling with the weight of that: how he is standing between saying nothing and helping. it is haunting, the way he sits there and watches that unfold, trapped.

when the bar scene came along, i was already successfully broken up in bits, but there was something about the choice of music in that scene that has stayed with me. the town in small things like these, and the people within the town, all seemed quaint to me. without the occasional '80's music or very obvious '80's outfit in the film, i do believe that you could successfully be convinced that the story being told is one set in times of old: the '40s, the '50s, the '60s. these are times in which you aren't unaccustomed to these horror stories happening. but in the scene where the barmaid pulls bill aside - before she shuts the door and the scene goes quiet - the song don't you want me by the human league plays. the extravagant, flashy sound of the 1980s is jarring at this point in the film. it so odd as to almost feel like an anachronism, and it brings the audience to the horrific realization that this isn't one of the decades in which we expect these horror stories to come from: it is 1985. in america, twelve years prior to this, women in america got national access to abortions with roe v. wade. in 1972, women in america got widespread access to birth control. in the 1930s, condoms became widely used and available to them. people in ireland weren't even allowed to buy condoms in ireland until 1985.

this scene resonated terribly with me, an american in 2024, because i sat there, as a 23 year old woman, recognizing i now lived in a time where roe v. wade had been overturned and my country had elected the man who allowed it to happen once again. earlier that day i had seen a post where a man had said 'your body, my choice' about women. when that woman asked bill not to say a thing he had seen, for the sake of his own daughters, i ached for them and i ached for me, and i ached for all the people who will look back on this time in history, horrified because it didn't happen in the distant past; because it was a thing of the present. because it is a thing of the present.

anyway, please, please watch the film and tell me what you think.

[marley-manson]

Doctor Winchester Mr Hyde is genuinely a pretty great episode.

Loved Hawkeye telling Winchester he's been there and it sucks, love him showing concern for Charles multiple times and being particularly joke-free about it in the ending tag, love Charles asking him to proofread a paper lol. Loooove Hawkeye's fear of mice and especially love him basically showing off that fear when he asks to pet Daisy for luck in front of the marines and makes a show of cringing. And BJ automatically doing the thing certain people do when they find out you're scared of something and shove it in your face to make you freak out lmao, that's exactly correct for him.

Charles demanding Radar go fetch his opera glasses when he's about to dose the mouse, and then in the next scene he actually is watching the race through binoculars was an amazing detail lol.

Also I overall liked the way Charles taking speed was handled - the ending was a little DARE-esque ofc, but generally it was a pretty light and funny touch. Klinger directly asking for them (with 0 narrative condemnation) only for Charles to condescend and then take them himself was great, as was this exchange between them: "Do you want extreme depression, chronic fatigue?" "I already got those!" a+

The drugs actually helping Charles for a while was solid and there was little in the way of overtly impared behaviour which I like - more sold by little details, like Hawkeye mentioning that Charles' 27 page paper seems to be all one sentence.

First mention of Honoria is her marrying 2 dudes in succession and getting ostracized from the family which doesn't seem to fit later mentions unless she divorced second dude and was welcomed back, which tbf isn't implausible lol. Though I don't really remember, so maybe it's possible that Honoria is the family black sheep and only Charles remains in touch with her, which would be interesting.

Last time I watched I had the minor complaint that Hawkeye and co admit to the marines that their mouse was on speed and I considered that annoying when My Hawkeye(TM) happily cheats to win competitions against random army guys ie Requiem for a Lightweight - buuut to be fair to the episode he did say they should "give the marines their money back while we're still alive" suggesting he thinks they might find out they were cheated? I don't see how lol, and it's still a little too moralistic cheating is wrong-esque for me, but I'll accept it as an explanation that keeps Hawkeye ic for me.

Anyway yeah, solidly written, good dialogue, good character moments, little oasis in this chunk of season 6.

[knaveumineko]

Umineko Episode 1 Blog: A Seance

Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there He wasn't there again today I wish, I wish he'd go away...

Let's finally talk about Kinzo, who is impressively active for a man of his age who is also dead.

Kinzo is the only character in the entire story who never appears in any 1st person scene (unless you want to make some roundabout argument about Beatrice). He is in his study in every scene, until he disappears and his body is discovered in the incinerator.

Putting our meta hats on, it's easy to think that Kinzo may have been dead for the entire story, and every scene featuring him is fake. It's definitely the sort of twist that the narrative device of changing POV is designed to facilitate, and it provides a payoff for everyone constantly talking about how weird it is that Kinzo has survived so long (as well as Nanjo's vagueness about how long he's got left). Still, if Kinzo is dead, then this has some implications. Namely, who is in charge of the estate right now? Does everyone living in the house know that Kinzo is dead?

The "furniture" must know, because they are the closest ones to Kinzo and the story constantly drives home that they are uniquely permitted to enter the study. Nanjo knows because he would have confirmed Kinzo's death on the scene. Natsuhi would have to know about Kinzo being dead, because there is no other reasonable explanation for Kinzo's "disappearance": if Kinzo is dead, then he clearly wasn't in his study when Natsuhi said she checked on him. If we take a page out of Battler's book and "spin the chessboard around," maintaining the lie that Kinzo is still alive can't possibly last forever. It is blatantly a stalling tactic, which only benefits the people currently managing his finances: Krauss and Natsuhi.

An indication that he knows something, or simply dramatic irony?

Whether Krauss knows is harder to deduce. On one hand, the scheme seems designed to benefit him, and he is the one who always goes to try and fetch Kinzo. On the other hand, Krauss is always depicted as not actually entering the study on these visits, and Natsuhi has this whole character trait where she's frustrated by her husband's lack of appreciation for everything she does to help him.

Natsuhi is also characterised by a fixation on the prestige associated with the Ushiromiya name, and maintaining appearances like this seems in-character for her. She even seems to be the de-facto head of the house. She's always the one giving orders to the servants and she's even hiring her own staff now.

Gohda and Jessica could feasibly be in the dark on the whole thing. In general, I lean toward thinking that the younger characters are honest about important matters. I really can't see any of the siblings sharing any kind of conspiracy with the grandchildren, given their general contempt for them. Gohda is the only servant who isn't furniture, and isn't allowed in the study, so he could probably be tricked as long as he follows orders and doesn't go poking his nose where it doesn't belong.

Kinzo's death would also neatly solve the problem of his ring. There is no need to steal it from him if he was already dead. This does open up the question of what Natsuhi thinks has happened to the ring. She eventually seems convinced that the servants have it and are behind the letters, which is why she threatens them, but what about before then? Does she think the ring has been stolen by the killer?

Speaking of Natsuhi, her interaction with "Kinzo" reflects a lot about her frustrations.

He seems pretty out of character here. Kinzo is the patriarch of a deeply hierarchical family structure. The idea of him making that comment about how Natsuhi would be a suitable heir if she were a man seems pretty implausible, to say nothing of him not caring about Natsuhi entering his study. In this scene, Kinzo takes the role of a stand-in for the Ushiromiya family legacy and Natsuhi's relationship with it. If we trace Natsuhi's emotional arc here, I think this scene is really about Natsuhi's decision to continue her deception, after the difficult emotional circumstances from yesterday had her reconsidering her path.

The me, the most apparent potential readings of Kinzo's scenes are the following:

"Kinzo" is essentially a ghost: he serves as a stand-in for the will of Kinzo when he was still alive, or other people's interpretation of that will.

Kinzo is a metaphor for the awful baggage of the Ushiromiya family. He's patriarchy and unchecked power and abuse personified. Regardless of the who the culprit turns out to be, the true source of the killings is the rot at the heart of the family, which Kinzo embodies.

Kinzo is actually a stand-in for the real Head of the Ushiromiya family, similiar to how the butterflies are used to conceal "Beatrice" (the killer). This would make sense if that random guess I made about someone solving the epitaph and secretly becoming the Head of the family is actually true. Come to think of it, Kumasawa is very open about the fact that the house has two masters: one of the day (Kinzo) and one of the night (Beatrice). There's definitely a coherent motif indicating the existence of a secret Head here. Regardless, this is the Kinzo post, not the epitaph post.

Kinzo is actually Shannon in disguise, which is ingeniously foreshadowed by Battler never seeing the two of them in the same room at the same time. This explains why Kinzo disappeared the same day that Shannon got killed, and the corpse in the incinerator is Shannon's body, which Kanon wanted to give a proper Viking funeral before he was unfortunately killed himself. It also explains why Kinzo and Shannon are the only two characters who are both described as having rings. Ryukishi has done it again.

Kinzo is actually alive and participating in events up until his death, and Battler's theory about him hiding was necessary for him to create a more mysterious death by suddenly reappearing in the boiler room.

These are all equally plausible readings.

The ones responsible for the killings probably got their information on the magic circles from Kinzo's grimoires, since Battler's POV confirms that books on the topic exist in the study. This provides additional circumstantial evidence of the staff co-operating with the killers to perpetuate the myth of the witch.

Needless to say, Kinzo being dead is more compelling to me than him being alive by a lot. It lets us get more interesting readings from his scenes, it provides an new dimension to Natsuhi's character, and to me it fits better with the killings. If we stick with our earlier theory that the initial killings at least happened naturally, rather than being part of the witch conspiracy, then it seems strange that the servants would assist in a scheme that requires assassinating their own master eventually.

Natsuhi is presented in a very positive light for most of the story, which is pretty suspicious in itself, but this Kinzo theory really raises the question of what on Earth Natsuhi thinks is happening at any point during these events. Maybe we'll get into that toward the end of chapter 1, which we're finally approaching!

I for one can't wait to read the Tea Party and find out that the first line is "It's me, Beatrice. I'm real and I'm here to tell you that Kinzo was alive the entire time and he was actually Kanon in disguise."

[joyburble]

The crowns

OK, you got me. Here we go. Dongfang Qingcang's headgear. In episodes 2 and 3 he wears a very large, gold crown with a complicated shape that matches the armour and looks like tree roots.

The texture of the gown worn under this is rather gorgeous. (Obviosuly, none of what we call "armour" in this show is supposed to look at all like physical protective gear, and he doesn't usually bother with it just for fighting, so I just assume that its primary function is ceremonial, but I also like the idea that it acts as some sort of conductor for magic shrapnel flying around on a magic battlefield, like a Faraday cage or something. You know what, I'm going to call this the Faraday Crown because we'll see it again).

When he realises he's going to have to get down to the much more difficult business of having arguments with Xiao Lanhua, he changes into something more comfortable which includes this very modest little hair-clip-style tiara. He partially wins this argument:

He continues to wear this one with all three black-and-gold outfits right through the duelling and drama:

... as well as being baffled in boats, twice, and being back, at the start of episode 10 ...

... Except when he is wearing the hunting dress, which has its own slightly more elaborate headpiece with a stalk that sticks up.

In passing, let me point out how much of this show works because Wang Hedi's face is intrinsically hilarious. But anyway, I'm pretty sure he wears this same one with the honey-coloured gown.

So that puts this medium-sized, somewhat plain, but in my opinion rather elegant headpiece with the two outfits in which the character looks and feels most comfortable and 'at home': whether because he's doing something he feels comfortable with, like forest shenanigans, barbecuing fish, or burning down the hall at Haishi (the hunting dress), or because it's the calm before the storm (the honey gown).

As things start to go haywire, his outfits get more magnificent and he wears what sassybluee has pointed out is the Berry Crown, an extremely pretty asymmetrical tiara with little touches of blue, like berries:

He wears this with the Chrysalis Gown and with the Fire Gown, through the process of transformation.

In later episodes, as he's under increasing pressure, his look goes right through magnificent into downright ugly. This outfit in epiosde 28 is just awful:

It does make sense if you think he's trying to increase his physical authority by looking heavier around the waist, but it doesn't work. The honey-coloured gown does a much better job of that, just by looking soft and comfortable and incidentally very sexy.

But wait - is this the same crown he was wearing with his armour in episode 2? I think it is.

And immediately after this, in the next scene, and without any explanation, we see that he's taken it off - to have an argument with Xiao Lanhua. This is the second time he has taken this specific crown off to do that specific thing, and this time it leaves him, shockingly, bareheaded:

Which we know he never is, except when sleeping, or playing sick for attention, or in so much pain that the Berry Crown symbolically fell off and we got the shot of it on the floor, above.

He loses the argument. It's very real.

To wrestle with Taisui for the first time and to fight Shiyuntian in episode 31, he is back in full battle dress, with the Faraday crown (and the same belt, which makes so much more visual sense with the armour):

In episode 33, however, the transformation is truly complete, and he wears this mourning tiara, which looks carved from unpolished jet, and points downwards, not up. I don't think we've see it before:

Then, he puts the Faraday Crown on again for the final battle, which is obviously worth the extra ceremony. It would be impractical to show him actually putting it on, of course, because this isn't the right moment for that level of visual implausibility, but his having just done so is implied in this very touching scene:

It disappears, however, during the battle, and he is bareheaded again:

And for their joint victory, bareheaded and wearing a very plain black robe (but still with an interesting subtle damask pattern to it)

For being back the second time around, he resumes the rather modest little tiara he wore in episodes 3 to 10 at Arbiter Hall, and for being back the first time. I was a bit thrown by this outfit choice on the first watch, but on reflection I think it's probably the correct degree of ceremony for snogging your goddess:

So I think we are to accept that these things are to differing degrees disguises, but never wholly a disguise.

Nevertheless, here is The Evil Penguin Disguised As A Chicken, because it makes the point about headgear better than anything ever did, and if you are too young to get this joke, you should definitely watch The Wrong Trousers. It's only about 20 minutes long.

[blood-orange-juice]

Wake up darlings, it's time for my weekly rant about genshin plot.

I remembered a Russian idiom for what's happening there, "a piano in the bushes".

A type of contrived coincidence that only exists to advance the plot while not exactly being implausible (a piano can indeed sometimes be found in the bushes. maybe someone threw it out. maybe we are in a park that installed musical instruments for the public).

It was derived from a 60s comedy sketch about Soviet cinema clichés where a character kept finding somewhat improbable opportunities to show off during the course of a conversation. The sketch ended on "completely accidentally there's a piano in the bushes. I can play for you."

General consensus is that exactly one piano per story is allowed. Coincidences do happen and sometimes you need one to write yourself out of a corner.

My problem with 4.2 is not that it didn't explain things, it's that it retrospectively turned 4.0 into a whole assortment of pianos in the most unexpected places.

Childe's vision conveniently stopped working right as we were around (note that it's not the malfunction that worries me, it's the fact that we got to see it).

He oh-so-conveniently handed it over to us so that we could see things about him in the next patch.

The whale was conveniently Just There because it was sad and hungry.

Someone decided to frame our boy for a serial murders case that started around his birth and — lo and behold! — he turned out to be exactly that person for whom Oratrice decided to "malfunction". Giving us proof that the Hydro Archon is not in fact an Archon.

Could all of that happen? Absolutely, it doesn't contradict anything, we even got it somewhat explained. Pianos do sometimes make their nests in the bushes.

However, it all looked like an interconnected meaningful story before 4.2 and turned into a random assortment of episodes after 4.2. That's an extremely bizarre storytelling approach, if you ask me.

Having said that, I now also have an idea of how it can be fixed: maybe Teyvat fate (or whatever Childe's abyssal abilities do to fate) just Works Like That. Pulls elements into a samsara when they get close, regardless of whether they make sense or not.

The story must be played out and it will be played out, everyone and everything are just props. The show must go on.

(this will be my new headcanon because I desperately need things to make sense. here. I ran away with these characters)

And maybe chaos just blossoms in this boy's footsteps, disrupting stories he finds himself in. Maybe he doesn't even need to do anything, it simply happens.

[ofduskanddreams]

On rarepairs vs. crack ships.

This is something that I've noticed ever since I joined the fandom, but recent events have finally prompted me to make this post: Azris (Azriel x Eris Vanserra) is not a crack ship. They are a rarepair—a ship that makes up only a small portion of the total fanworks.

A crack ship, as defined by Fanlore, is "a ship that is highly ridiculous, bizarre, disturbing, and/or unlikely to ever become canon. The characters don't have any chemistry, never interact, are in different canons or timelines, are different species, one is an inanimate object, etc."

I think the most common reason Azris is mislabeled as a crack ship is simply that people aren't aware of the difference or the connotations that the term "crack ship" may carry. I wanted to make this post to help clarify things.

I agree that Azris is unlikely to ever become canon because the books make it clear that SJM has other plans. (I don’t want them to be canon, but that’s my personal opinion.) However, this doesn't mean Azris is canonically implausible as the universe currently stands. Eris and Azriel have several significant interactions in the series. If SJM were to hand the series off to another writer who wanted to make Azris happen, the building blocks would already be there.

Eris catches Azriel spying in Autumn and the following day he meets with Rhys, Kier, Azriel, Mor, and Feyre in the Hewn City to forge an alliance. (ACOWAR CH. 26)

The infamous High Lords meeting where we learn just how intense Azriel's hatred of Eris is. (ACOWAR CH. 45)

Cassian and Azriel tracking Eris across the Continent when he's captured by Briallyn, culminating in Azriel rescuing Eris from Koschei and the mortal queen and bringing him back to the Night Court. (ACOSF CH. 64 - 71)

This isn't an exhaustive list, just a few examples. Azriel and Eris also have a shared history stretching back centuries before the books take place. On the point of chemistry—hatred is a passionate emotion and the series makes the animosity between Azriel and Eris very clear. Enemies to lovers is one of the most popular romance tropes for a reason, I don't think I need to elaborate on that point.

That covers the "unlikely to ever become canon," "never interact," and "don't have any chemistry" portions of the definition.

The "highly ridiculous, bizarre, disturbing" part of the definition is where the negative connotations may come into play. (I'm going to branch out from just Azris now.) Again, I'm fairly confident that the majority of the fandom is unaware that "crack ship" carries these implications. I would certainly hope that people aren't willfully misusing the term to denigrate certain ships.

In this fandom specifically, where all of the major canon ships are M/F and the vast majority of fanworks are also primarily dedicated to het pairings, the distinction between crack ships and rarepairs is vital to help build and maintain an inclusive community.

Queer ships in this fandom (Emorie, Gwynlain, Azris, Cazriel etc.) are often called crack ships when they are, in fact, rarepairs. Again, I really hope that this is primarily due to a misunderstanding of the terms. It hurts to see a rarepair in which you see yourself and your relationships represented being associated with the terms ridiculous, bizarre, and disturbing. It will hurt regardless of the intention of the person using the term.

tl;dr just be mindful of your words.

A/N: this post expresses my views on the issue. if my content is associated with those who do not share them, know that my content is there against my wishes.

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

BSD Ch 120.5 Thoughts and Speculations- Fyodor's Plan

For the last few chapters, we've seen rinse-repeat of Ame-no-Gozen taking out anyone who stands in Fyodor's way. Teruko, Kenji, Kunikida, Tanizaki, and now Fukuzawa. But where are they being sent to? Why do they liquefy instead of just leave behind a body? In the previous chapters, we learn that Ame-no-Gozen is a being on a completely different plane of existence then our heroes. In chapter 120.5, Fyodor is able to manifest Ame-no-Gozen by folding across the fourth dimension. Fyodor basically can break the fourth wall, just run with it. I'm tired of constantly being surprised at what this man can do. Ame-no-Gozen also wields the divine sword which makes him even more powerful. What if the divine sword transports its victims to another plane of reality? If the divine being is of another dimension as Fyodor claims, then I don't think it's that implausible to suggest that our heroes are simply in another dimension. If that is the case, then there has to be a way to bring them back. If Ame-no-Gozen can be created, then Atsushi will figure out how to unliquefy his friends. Of course, we don't know if all of them can come back or if there's a price to be paid but knowing Asagiri-sensei, they'll be fine (ish).

Fyodor in this chapter is also really leaning into his inner Raskolnikov this chapter. For those who don't know, Rodion Raskolnikov is the main protagonist of Dostoevsky's famous novel Crime and Punishment. Throughout the novel, he grapples with his conscious after he decides to kill an old woman. When he was a student, Raskolnikov wrote about a theory that there are extraordinary people and that they can remove certain people from society without any consequences. He believes that the woman he killed had no value to society. In this chapter, Fyodor reminded me of Raskolnikov because we see how he decides he has the right to get rid of all ability users and he will do this, no matter how violent his methods are. But unlike Raskolnikov, Fyodor doesn't experience any sort of cognitive dissonance for his actions.

Fyodor reveals to a horrified Fukuzawa that he intends to rid the world of ability users by pitting them against regular humans in war. The outcome of said war will be a new world with no ability users- all of them will have been wiped out. It's a contradictory statement from Fydoor, that from the ashes of war he will bring peace.

There has been a theory that Fyodor is some sort of deity or devil and after this chapter, I believe it. Fukuzawa himself says he can't see Fyodor as human. That just leaves the question, what exactly Fyodor? His character is filled with religious symbolism and there have also been parallels to Ivan and the devil from The Brothers Karamazov. As much as Fyodor drives me up a wall, I will not deny that he's a fascinating and rich character.

He tells Fukuzawa "eternal peace, born of world war" (Asagiri, 2024). Someone needs to send me a good analysis on why Fyodor hates ability users so much. I know he views abilities as bad, but there's more to it than that. Idk. I just find his plan so horrifying and watching all the pieces come together makes it even worse. Additionally, why does Fyodor view the Tiger as beautiful? If the Tiger wasn't connected to the Book, would he care as much about it? Probably not. I have so many questions.

Anyways, final point. People have been brining this up and it actually does shed some light one what could happen. Fukuzawa is gone for now. However, there is hope... sort of? I'm assuming "All Men Are Equal" has lost its power because Fukuzawa was killed. This means that both Atsushi and Kyouka are now in interesting predicaments. Kyouka and Lucy are trapped in Anne's Room since it's the only thing between them and being crushed by rubble. Prior to joining the ADA, Demon Snow was controlled by someone calling Kyouka's phone instead of Kyouka herself. Mayhaps someone utilizes this to help free the pair from Anne's Room? In Atsushi's case, he can't control the Tiger and doesn't remember turning into Byakko. However, Byakko is no longer being reined in by "All Men Are Equal." So, could Atsushi now get a significant power boost which will help him snatch the page from Fyodor and Gozen x2?

I think the power of an uncontrolled Byakko and now a changed Aku could lead to a major battle with Ame-no-Gozen and that's what we see in the BSD S5 epilogue. Maybe Fyodor gets away and the pair fight. Who knows what can happen now. A part of me believes we could get a glimpse into a world without ability users. Perhaps that's where Gozen's victims are sent. Maybe Fyodor does win temporarily and we do get a post-ability user world. I hope we get a conclusion soon because there's a lot of repetitiveness right now.

Anyways, that was really long. What do you guys think?

(also, where is everyone else and are they ok? I'm surprised Francis hasn't blown up the airport yet because that's something he would do. He knows he's outmatched and screwed right now)