#but no my highlight of my life this year thus far is actually an interaction between two former costars
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it's insane how much serotonin this interaction brought home to me 🥹🫶🏼
#shumdario#shadowhunters cast#harry shum jr#matthew daddario#wish i had a life otherwise#but no my highlight of my life this year thus far is actually an interaction between two former costars#costars who are also literally friends in real life#anyhoo i am so happy for harry and proud of him#like he deserves all the accolades and so much more
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hello remember when heartstopper season two came out and i sent you an ask about it?
so anyway, season three happened. have you seen it yet? how are we feeling? are you satisfied with what we got of isaac in s3? how do you feel about the season overall?
if you haven't seen it yet then uhh idk xd
how are you? how has this semester been treating you so far?
ok that's all i think. as usual, you answer when you answer (if you answer at all). bye :3
HI hello hi thank you for appearing in my inbox I've actually been wanting to reach out for a while now but alas I have been too Intimidated to say anything 😔
But in any case, I've actually just finished watching s3 yesterday ahsfdfksjdh and if I'm being honest, I... wasn't too satisfied with it, truth be told? Like don't get me wrong the story arcs we did get were very good and I'm glad the comics were done proper justice in the adaptation, but just... idk I was really looking forward to having an aspec storyline to relate to and see myself in, and the base concept of Isaac feeling like his friends are leaving him behind for their romantic partners is so relatable, but then it felt like the series itself seemed to have forgotten about that whole concept, and what we got was almost like reading one of those "what is asexuality?" pamphlets that are meant for people who don't even know what queer means.
I dunno, maybe I'm being mean here. After all, Heartstopper isn't about Isaac's story, this is acknowledged even with the original comics, so the fact that we get even this much in the show should already count for something. Still I can't help but feel like we were robbed of something that could have been so good if it got the proper time to develop into a full story. Idk.
That being said, I did enjoy the season overall! It was really great to see how life isn't just about cuddly romance and romance solving every issue on the surface of the planet. I esp liked Elle's trans-focused plotline and how it highlighted that sometimes you can love someone from the bottom of your heart and still not completely understand what they are going through (see: Tao) but you still have to try regardless. I did cry at a few parts tho like damn this season was emotional ahskdfjdh
Anyway, what are your thoughts abt s3? Did you like it? What are your thoughts on Isaac's arc?
The semester thus far has been okayish, not the best but def better than last year lol. I've started working on plans for after uni ends and damn thinking abt the future is stressful sometimes 😩 but hey if everything goes right I might be able to move out of the country in about a year, so I suppose that's nice (if not terrifying to think about)?
How are you doing? I'm sorry I never come to check in, I swear I want to but I never know what to say so I keep putting it off until suddenly it's been weeks and aaaaaaghuag why is social interaction so difficult 😭 anyways, how's your semester going? I hope ur doing at least mostly okay <2
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The Alleged Con Log
(This isn't gonna be a full recap in chronological order, like my first one, and like many of the wonderful and amazing logs I've read thus far. Part of that is because I didn't end up "doing" all that much. But the larger part is that what I want to do here is talk about what it meant to me, more than what happened.)
(I'm also going to omit any names out of precaution, because I don't want to publicize anything without consent.)
(But, if you recognize yourself, hi! I enjoyed our interactions at the con and I am okay with you interacting with this post!)
So. I went to Charmed.
Now, I'm fairly new to this community; or I should say, to being active in this community. I fully delurked somewhere around summer or autumn 2020 (I wonder how many of us took the panini as incentive to chase after a dream?) but I've been around some of the spaces for a much longer time. Like, an "I remember when the MCForum started requiring logins" time. And from the first time I heard about the con scene, I knew I wanted to get there someday.
I say get there, because it felt so far out of reach for me, back in the day. I was rocking a fun mix of social anxiety, common-or-garden anxiety and imposter syndrome that led to me convincing myself that 1) I would never tell anyone about this interest of mine, and 2) even if I did, I would never be brave enough to actually join the community "for real".
(Goes to show that your brain lies to you, huh? Something something "you are braver than you think" etcetera.)
Given all that, I knew this con was going to be a Moment for me, like a huge one. I had gone online the past two years, but it didn't feel like enough. I knew that I wanted to be there. I had almost ended up going in-person in 2022, but pulled out at the last second in the face of COVID numbers and general travel uneasiness.
I promised myself it wasn't going to happen this time. Even while going through a bout of depression over the holidays, I focused on the idea that I wasn't going to miss out this time. To paraphrase the Mountain Goats song, I was gonna make to this con if it killed me.
I did make it, and I am so, so glad that I did.
I would spend the next few days doing my best to balance between gently pushing myself and respecting my energy. I didn't end up hiding in my room too much of the weekend, a fact I'm honestly pretty proud of. And I talked to people! Actual, live people that exist in real life!
(Sidebar: that part was a trip for me, initially, as someone so used to online. On the day I arrived at the hotel, within ten seconds of getting in I spotted a Famous Community Person and audibly went "oh shit". Fortunately, I met them briefly later on and was able to apologize. They told me they hadn't noticed. Phew! 😅)
The classes I went to were uniformly great; I came away with a whole bunch of notes containing actual, applicable advice. But for me the difference in being there were the people. All those I met were friendly and very welcoming to little old newcomer me. I pushed myself to engage in conversation in the hallways when I had the energy for it, and was rewarded every time. I even managed to link up with a few people from back home (there are ones of us! literally ones of us!), and talk about the possibility of local events happening in the near future.
Other highlights, in no particular order (linear time is boring anyway!):
Going to an induction class and realizing "Hey, I understand this. I could do this. I can do this."
One particular class resonating with me on a personal level (kinda took me by surprise actually) and leaving me with a very interesting reading list
Being dropped in front of a class – for the first time in-person, actually – and the person who did it reassuring me that everything was Okay™ afterwards and I hadn't imposed on them. Thank you for helping reel in my brain goblins!
Being invited to a lowkey room hangout that was exactly what I needed after a long first day – and meeting lots of positively lovely folk there and also I bought the coolest cat pin
Nerdy conversations about the state of the MCU on the way to the Gallery
Meeting several people in the community who were and are sources of inspiration, and noticing that they're all absolutely lovely humans on top of that
By my standards, I burned brightly all weekend, and by the end I was pretty spent. But I did it.
In closing, here's the part where I reassure my spicy brain that I Did The Thing Correctly. Going into this, I had these goals written down:
Learn Things
Be Social
Say Hi To People I Know From Online (As Much As Possible)
Go To At Least One Evening Event
Participate In One (1) Activity Related To Writing
Write a con log afterwards and post it somewhere (hey that's this one!)
(Bonus) Do Some IRL Trancing
Of those modest goals, I accomplished checks notes all of them. Huh!
(Well, at least one person I know from online I didn't get to say hi to. They looked busy, I didn't want to intrude! Next time, Gadget…)
Of course, there's things I wish I could have done, people I wish I could have connected to. Of course, I feel like my fears got in my way, more than a few times. Of course, I wanna do more next year. Because there will be a next year for me. Many of them, if I have my way. Hell, I'm even thinking about this summer…
But for now, I just want to focus on gratitude. Just existing in this space is life-giving to me, and I hope to be able to do it so much more.
Ice, you are officially broken.
Thank you for reading!
#charmed#shouting into the void#the void is much more populated these days#appreciate every single person who follows me or reads this#<3
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Hi! I don't know if this is an annoying/difficult question, sorry if it is, but do you have any advice at all for modelling sims based off real people? Your sims are SO crazy good. When I try to make them they end up looking... eh... Vaguely like the person? But there's a huge gap between that and some kind of 'spark' some simmers seem to manage to capture.
Hello! Definitely not annoying. Difficult, as in how difficult it is to answer? Maybe. I'm gonna go off on a couple of tangents. But I'm gonna try my best to explain the process. Which isn't really much of one sorry.
There's a handful of tutorials and tips out there regarding reference photos and like... proportions and all that so I won't cover that.
I use that as a general guide of course, but mostly I just save some photos of the person at various angles and focus on one feature or two at a time. Literally going back and forth between reference photo and my game. I think if you try to get everything at the same time, it really makes it easy to get frustrated with whatever your sim looks like at the moment. Making sims in general is a combination of a LOT of things depending on your style.
I can point out ALL the flaws with my sims based on real people. In my experience, it’s about getting the defining features of a person close enough to the real thing so that it resembles them. I don't think you need a complete copy to get the point across, however i do think some people and features are harder to emulate than others. I've been working on some sims for YEARS, and they still don't work out lol
and take a look at this progression on my sim based on Z4ne H0ltz starting back in 2015!
that first screenshot:
Personally, I get a little lost if I work on a sim too much all at once. I find some time away makes me less tired and frustrated. Just pace yourself :)
Also if you need any help, shoot me a message here or on discord. I promise I don't judge or anything.. it's sims who cares lol
TO START...
I suggest starting with the head and its shape. Starting off with a game-generated sim, the first slider I get to is head width. It's usually too dang wide for my tastes. And then adjusting the general position of the the features. You can always change things later, so you don't have to know exactly what you're going to do, but as I've mentioned before, sculpting sims up in CAS is just practice with sliders! Also in the long run, you may want to use Pu+Chi House's Smooth Face Normals slider! I attempt to explain and show what it does here. I've uploaded the slider here: https://simfileshare.net/download/984204/
This is gonna be a doozy sorry in advance if the read more doesn't work
SLIDERS SLIDERS SLIDERS
Big sliders like Pu+Chi House’s face shape sliders dramatically change the face shape, and it could save you a lot of time! I highly suggest using these to get rid of the weird large jaw sims can get.
Play with different sliders and how they interact with one another! Example: jaw width and Cheek Fullness affect the same area. if you need a wide jaw and don’t want cheek distortion, you can use cheek fullness, lower the jaw width slider and then edit the cheekbones from there
Knowing what sliders move what and how it can work to your advantage is key! I cover this in my reply post about noses.
For visual reference:
I start out with my nose but I want the nostrils to sit further on the outside
so i go in and use the nose width slider and raise it to widen the lower nose:
Then lower the nostril scale slider
Comparison:
as you can see, i kind of achieved what I wanted, but also widened the nose tip too! Welp, that takes another slider I have, Tip Width. And I'll adjust that accordingly! It's really just a matter of what you're going for and what you're going to have to compensate for as a result!
That said, our community has made some awesome sliders that open up so many possibilities and even eliminate the need to do that multi-slider tango. I wouldn't even know where to begin (wish I wanted to make videos because I could talk for an hour about sliders)
For example @pitheinfinite made sliders that can make sims look better and more realistic, I'm jealous at what they've achieved!
They have their Inner Corner to Nose slider that moves an area of the sim's face hat make eyebags and the shadows and lines appear farther out from the inner eye. It saves you from having to use cheek sliders to mimic the effect and thus ruining the face shape you have going
It's truly an INDISPENSABLE slider. One of many!
Since I make sliders, I usually just make some to specifically fix whatever issue I'm having. Granted they're made with general function in mind, which makes my cheater-y way of making things happen more useful in the future. I have about 50 experimental unfinished sliders in my game and can tell you that all my current sims use them for some reason or other. So I'm not working with nothing, I guess?
EYE SPY 👁
The best way to really get nice accurate looking sims is the eyes.
Pay attention to the slant of the eye, the shape and position of the upper and lower eyelids. you can use the game’s Eyelid Height slider, and AWT’s Eyelid width and height sliders (and many more)
and especially where the iris (green) sits relative to the eyelid. getting that shape and eyeball positioned correctly really makes a HUGE difference
I do suggest Bloom’s Eye slider (left and right) that rotate the eyes left and right. That along with their Lazy eye sliders can give your sims a less symmetric face and position the eyes to be FAR more accurate and realistic than the default.
I also recommend their vertical sliders (Eye lift or drop) to help with eye positioning.
I can't stress the importance of the right contacts or eyes for your sims. Of course it all depends on how you make your sims's eyes and all that. Take the last sim i posted about. It took forever and a half to find the right contacts that didn't need severe or intense editing to capture the same vibe the person he's based on. The problem is pretty persistent for me, and I am just speaking for myself when I say this is necessary. Iris size, shading, recolorability, detail, catch lights, and pupil position are things to consider for your play style and preferences.
In addition to seeing what eyes will do the trick, I do edit the catch lights in the screenshots to give the eyes a different emotion or look. (I use defaults that get rid of the game-generated catch lights, and supernatural eye glow.) It's nice when that's all it is and I don't have to go in and photoshop things in and out to make them look human lmao
Perfect, schmerfect
And just know that as long as you have the same vibe or look going on it doesn't need to be perfect! Things will evolve over time, and you can change and perfect things as you go along, but close is better than trying to achieve an exact replica. We are working with the limitations of sliders and the optimized meshes they work on! So yeah there might be jagged bits or the profile might not exactly match and some things might not be accurate, but that's okay! Considering what sims look like at their default, you should be proud! I use the same mf eyebrows on all my sims basically and I tell myself they're just placeholders (yeah, right), but I manage to make them work with what I have!
Sliders, Makeup, and Skins, oh my!
a good base skin is critical, but not the end of the world if you pick the wrong one. They determine kind of definition and types of features highlighted on a sim 100000% and you might lose a feature you like or dislike when you change them! Feel free to switch up between skins you have to find the best fit.
Makeup can be a game-changer though!!! Any details you can add and help make your sim look the most like the person you're basing them off can go MILES.
In some cases, I've actually gotten really interesting results trying to get my sculpt as close as possible to real life references so the makeup makes a difference but don't define the features by themselves. Still, though, I utilize makeup up a LOT. [remember that if you use Nraas, you can layer makeup. Right-clicking makeup will also remove it if it's applied :)]
Here's the last sim i posted about when removing makeup:
no nosemasks really replicates the face-claim's nose (too shiny at the lower part) but it'll do 🤷♀️
Freckles, eyebags, highlighters, face shadows, pores, nosemasks, etc are all great!!
The way you move your sliders WILL effect how these look, so don't rely on makeup that adds super-specific detail or goes over an area you know is a jumbled mess because of sliders!
I do have a mess of recommendations and wcifs for skins and makeup. replies tag | wcif tag
[also I love compiling wcif cc lists for my sims it's great]
Finally, I appreciate your comment about my sims, mainly because I know they're not ever really exact copies or as close as I want to be to their real life counterparts, so thanks!! I've seen fellow simmers get really good results without messing as much as I do and I love when people can make really good maxis match likenesses because it's just so damn cool! It's truly a talent. I'm not one of those lucky few, but I like to try my way at it anyway. After what feels like some good progress I'll post a pic here. Even after doing this forever I don't feel like I'm an expert or can get good results in a shorter amount of time, but it's just fun to see the progression (or regression) of how my sims look.
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SU rewatch- S1E11- Arcade Mania
Hey, long time no see!
I’m desperately bored in solitary quarantine at university right now, and decided to try and pick this SU rewatch series up again for fun. It’s been a while since I’ve watched through the show in order. Plus, now that this show is completely finished, there’s plenty more connections to make. I can’t promise I’ll be consistent with this, but at the very least I can have fun trying to make a few more posts at my leisure.
Anyways. With that business out of the way. Let’s get right on to the show!
We begin with yet another mission Steven’s guardians have brought him along on! I believe this is the fifth mission we know of that he’s accompanied them on so far. (Lunar Sea Spire, Inverted Pyramid, the unknown mission he returns from in Tiger Millionaire, the desert, and now this one.) It’s really sweet seeing the Gems begin to trust him tagging along more often. There will come a day in the near future where missions become routine for Steven, but in these early episodes, you can really tell that each and every one is a brand new adventure.
In terms of plot, though, this episode is honestly Future Vision: The Prequel.
We learn a lot about Garnet’s abilities and her role in the team here, even if all of these details aren’t spelled out word-for-word quite yet. Hints towards her future vision we see this ep include:
Garnet moving ahead of the group to be in the perfect spot to catch Steven when he falls.
Her flawless moves while fighting and dodging the monsters.
Her becoming a master at the rhythm game later in the episode.
Like, damn. Look at this.
Look at her go.
My Q U E E N!
I had to gif all of this just because it’s such a beautiful and smooth sequence of animation.
If there’s one thing all of the Crystal Gems can 100% agree on, it’s that Garnet is friggin’ amazing.
Garnet: “Let them go. They’re just parasites. If they want to be a problem, they’ll have to answer to me.”
So, does this statement mean that- at this present moment- her extended stay at the arcade was entirely beyond her future vision? That the only futures she saw were ones where she was actually present to deal with containment of the Gem parasites? Given that later scenes insinuate she’d never been to the arcade before, and would have no “data” about its games to factor into her internal understanding of the world, this seems likely.
I adore the gradual palette change here, from shadow, to setting sun. It’s a nice detail that adds so much more life to what could otherwise be a rather mundane transition scene. It seems like unique palettes were more common in early SU- I wonder why Crewniverse stopped implementing these as often later on?
Pearl, entering the arcade: “Humans find such fascinating ways to waste their time.”
Thanks, Pearl. Love you too. <3
This sequence of Pearl failing at playing a car chase/road rage game hits so much different knowing what happens in Last One Out of Beach City. It’s genuinely radical how far she grows in confidence from this point, because here, she seems so shackled to rules and guidelines. Now that we know about her rebellious past, it might be tempting to write this characterization off as “early series weirdness,” but... I don’t think that’s what’s happening here.
Instead, I wonder if she’s working through grief-related regression.
Think about it... the pain of Rose’s passing is still so fresh for her. She was a rule breaking rebel once, yes, but she spent all of those days at Rose’s side. And I get the sense that she’s poured so much of herself into keeping Rose safe, into the rebellion against Homeworld, that without those, she’s caught in a vacuum. What IS her purpose now, when the very person she rebelled for is gone?
So she slips back into old pearl-like habits. Chronic rule following, and a fear of deviating from norms. How familiar. Thankfully, much of her arc throughout the show is her directly growing beyond these habits to live boldly as her own Gem.
The friggin video game when Garnet knocks its head off: “TELL MY WIFE I’M SORRYYY!!!”
Yo, what the fuck. This line is both hilarious and messed up, all at once. Please tell me the game isn’t sentient.
Aaaand here we finally introduce Garnet to the video game sensation that is Meat Beat Mania! This game is perfectly suited to her and her power of foresight because its patterns are algorithmic and not vulnerable to spontaneous deviations, and thus easy to predict, with enough input. She’s probably getting a quick rush of satisfaction with every correct move, and she barely has to exert any energy with her future vision to get that rush. After years and years of wading through endless possibility at every avenue, this video game’s patterns must be a rejuvenating breath of fresh air.
It’s addicting.
...Kinda makes me think of how I get sometimes when I play solitaire on my phone for an hour straight. After a while, I barely even think, I’m just shuffling through my deck and moving cards almost on automatic. I don’t have to use much energy to play, and it gives me animated fireworks every time I finish a match. It’s a win-win.
Amethyst: “I’MMA WIN AN AIRPLANE!”
I don’t know what it is about the way Michaela Dietz says the world “airplane,” but this makes me laugh every time. Does... does she think she can win a genuine airplane here because she saw Onion win a tiny motorbike from the ticket booth?? Amethyst, oh my god. XD
She’s got the spirit, this wild child.
So, moving on- we meet up with our crew later the next morning, Garnet nowhere to be seen. There’s an interesting exchange I’d like to highlight real quick-
Pearl: “If we’re supposed to fight a giant foot, Garnet would let us know.” Amethyst: “Yeah, Garnet’s the boss!” Pearl: “Well, we’re all a team. Garnet just has heightened perception that guides us towards our mission objectives.”
Considering the specific phrasing Pearl uses here- “heightened perception” instead of “future vision-” did Garnet outright tell the two of them to not explain her powers, just like she told them not to mention she’s a fusion? Because I’m pretty sure no one ever uses the phrase “heightened perception” again in reference to her powers.
Given the fact that Garnet chose to keep the knowledge of Ruby and Sapphire under the table until she felt Steven could understand her better, my guess is that this is a similar scenario.
Ahah, I genuinely can’t tell if this is Steven being gullible, or just impulsively playing along with Amethyst’s antics. Still- gross, kid. Don’t wipe your wet cereal face on your shirt! Ew! :O
When he goes outside and starts to use a kiddy metal detector to scan for quarters... so THAT’S where he finds his arcade money! Because I can’t imagine Greg is financially able to give him that much to spend on non-essentials at this point in the show.
Okay, so... I just want to bring light to the fact that Garnet has literally been in this arcade ALL NIGHT LONG.
It was evening when she first arrived here- the sun was visibly setting in the background, and when Steven, Amethyst, and Pearl left, the sky was dark. But now it’s morning. Steven was just seen eating breakfast. And Garnet is STILL HERE.
Does this mean Mr. Smiley locked her IN? I have so many questions... Did he try to get her to leave, only to be intimidated by her complete lack of response? I would kill to know more about this interaction. Poor Mr. Smiley. That man deals with so much bullshit in this town, huh?
Geebus, is Garnet a solid wall. Previous episodes have shown Steven forcibly shoving whole tons of food, and swinging a mini-freezer over his head, and yet he can’t get her to budge even an inch.
I absolutely adore how he climbs up her frame like a koala, though, ahah. Cute.
Meat Beat Mania announcer: “That’s rare!!” Steven: “Oh my gosh...!”
I take these two lines as evidence that this is the first time Steven’s ever seen Garnet’s eyes. Specifically, the fact that there’s three of them. Which, makes sense- since Garnet is still really reserved emotionally at this point, and is only begins to get in the habit of taking her visor off to show Steven her full face later on in the show.
This expression deeply hurts me.
Steven’s so distraught here- because the others are in danger, the town is in danger, and he doesn’t have his trusty, dependable guardian who catches him when he falls and beats up scary monsters for him. Without her, the whole team is vulnerable and blind.
He feels alone. He feels... powerless.
And so he responds to that confusing, powerless feeling by trying to compensate with his own power. When all other routes he can think of fail, he smashes the video game console.
It... uh, it works... but once again, Steven entirely fails to consider the consequences, huh? He experienced a little bit of character growth in this regard in the episode Serious Steven, but even past that it’ll remain an recurring issue for him. Hell, his impulsiveness is a general character flaw even stretching into SUF.
In summary, though:
Poor Mr. Smiley. He works so hard, and doesn’t deserve this BS. ;-;
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Which member do you think is the most supportive of VMIN?
Admin 1: For a change I’ll be the one that’ll use comparatively few words since I don’t have that big of an opinion. As much as I enjoy joining in on the jokes about how Jimin is the president of the Namjinists (due to his April Fool’s Day joke tweet from years ago and other such things), I’ve never given much thought to who among the members might be the most supportive of vmin.
But perhaps I’d say it could be Hoseok due to his general fondness of both Jimin and Tae as individuals but also as them together, how he said his favorite song off of MOTS7 is Friends and even sung it during the FESTA karaoke with the iconic (very suggestive and heavy on the implications) hip thrust during Tae’s “hey, Jimin, oneul” part. I’m sure you know exactly what I mean. Also if we consider that Jimin and Hoseok were roommates for a long time, I guess it wouldn’t be too far-fetched of an assumption to make on my part that surely they had a number of deep late night talks over the years, and chances are Jimin would’ve sought out advice from Hoseok during one of them, perhaps even confided in him about his feelings for Tae (regardless which ones, both would be valid and something you’d talk about with a close friend).
Another option might be Namjoon, since he’s the leader and thus certainly the person who would have to know about such developments within the group for obvious reasons, but also it seems like Namjoon sought out consolation and advice from both Jimin (like that scene in BV4 around the bonfire off to the side from the group) and Tae (like the story he told at 5th Muster Seoul (?) about how he was kind of sad/feeling off so he talked to Tae before the encore and what Tae said made him feel better), meaning they are more than close enough to bring up certain topics with each other. So, based on that, it doesn’t seem too much of a stretch that he would stand up/look out for them if need be in conversations with BH etc.
That being said, regardless of how we interpret vmin and their bond, I think it’s safe to say that all the members are endlessly supportive of them, just like they are with any other duo within the group, though it’s easy to see that they do highlight vmin at times as something…special. A bond that’s noteworthy, stands out, even within a group as close as they are.
Admin 2: Chances are that what I think and am about to say might be a bit controversial. At the same time I’d like to note that this is only my personal opinion and theory, and not some kind of proven fact, yes? Perhaps no one will agree with me, but after putting many thoughts into this and looking at different content and events that have transpired over the years, as well as some other factors I’ll explain later, these are the conclusions I’ve drawn when it comes to the members and vmin. Furthermore, I don’t want to negate/comment on other ships since those don’t really play any role in this the way some might assume.
I think it’s important to remember that BTS basically exist in two version (though they are closely intertwined):
1: the idols on screen, who stand on stage, who share their music with us, who film content and who, to a certain degree, play a role, keep up an appearance that’s part honest and part mystery.
“I think V can show parts of Kim Taehyung and parts of V, but Kim Taehyung can’t show V. Kim Taehyung is Kim Taehyung. Kim Taehyung is someone who’s still filled with a lot of curiosity and he’s inquisitive about a lot of things. There are so many things he wants to do. Also I think there’s so many things he is curious about.” – Tae, Break the Silence: Persona
2: the real-life humans with private lives, private friendships and personalities that are similar but not quite the same as what we know and see.
Both of these are real in their own right, and both of them influence each other in more ways than one. So, when we look at vmin in the context of both, the question of support and showing certain things and how those affect version 1 and 2 are tricky, multifaceted and much more complex than some imagine or present it as. Because the moment we assume private life vmin are real, that sort of swift in dynamic ultimately also affects their work and demands adjustments from all parties involved, especially the other members. A large portion of what they do and say on screen or anywhere that we can see it is, to a certain degree, planned or has been discussed prior.
More below the cut since this kind of got long:
In one of the Break the Silence episodes Namjoon spoke about how with the more recent tours they haven’t been really able to do as much “free style” stuff (as in moving freely around stage and being silly, that sort of thing) between songs with choreographies, as opposed to how it used to be in the early days, since much of the show is perfectly timed and planned down to every little detail and every single light surrounding the stage. Much the same way everything else sure is, too. Look at RUN, even there you can notice them looking at printed out pages that surely contain a short storyboard of how the episode should more or less go in general terms, since that makes editing and keeping things cohesive much easier, especially since BTS are seven people, therefore seven moving independent variables.
Keeping all of this in mind, I’ve come to the conclusion that, in my opinion, the biggest vmin supporter is JK, followed by Hobi and Namjoon. I don’t mean, by any means, that completely idiotic theory some have created that one ship hides another, because that isn’t at all what I am going for with this. Of course Tae and JK are T*ek*ok (a subunit name they’ve after all created themselves though that context of that moment has long been changed by people) and Jimin and JK are J*ko*k, and depending on the demand (from a PR point of view as well as those of fans) and situations, those ships are utilized/highlighted in certain ways to achieve certain things. With this I don’t mean to belittle the actual real-life bonds between the real-life members, merely the “fantasy” versions created in large parts by shippers.
But that isn’t what I mean. Let me explain.
There are several situations that I think support my theory/opinion, past and more recent, but for the sake of fresh memories that we’ll all be able to recall, I’ll use more recent ones. During their vlive when BE and Life Goes On were just released, the one where they wore PJs, had pizza and that cardboard cutout of Yoongi, there was a moment when Tae was supposed to put lipstick on Jimin. He pulled Jimin close with his arm around his shoulder while Jimin giggled and playfully pretended to try and push him away or stop him from doing it, despite seemingly holding on to his top to keep him close anyway. While that was happening, the other members checked what they were doing and notably JK, upon seeing what vmin were up to, moved a few steps away closer toward the cameras and stood as though between vmin and said cameras while holding that silver screen thing used for lighting in photography (I’m not sure how it’s called). Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but seeing as Namjoon, who carried the Yoongi cutout, joined him, it seemed like they were trying to hide vmin, which of course didn’t work out since the producers simply switched to a different camera.
This might be me going temporarily delulu but toward the end of that sequence there was a moment where we couldn’t see much of vmin save for the tops of their heads. At some point Tae made a move with his head which some (including myself) have interpreted as a potential smooch (as in an actual one or just him pretending/doing the motion of it, that’s up for debate) which caused Hobi to break out in loud laughter.
A second example is day two of MOTS ON:E when it was time for Dynamite. Usually vmin just walk past each other doing something funny or interacting in some way, but on that day instead Jimin pulled Tae closer, enough so that their foreheads touched, and they looked at each other in quite a meaningful way. At the same time JK stood right behind them, since he’s the one that opens the song, and watched what was happening. Just like with the above example, he stepped toward them and put his hand on the back of Tae’s head in a gesture that I interpreted as a form of safety measurement that IF vmin were to potentially do something…risky, he could intervene by quite literally pulling them apart/stopping them. This moment of course has been twisted and manipulated in many different ways to, for example, showcase some supposed jealousy or alike, but I think that’s just plain stupid.
I’d also like to show you a few other pictures that I think show us the kind of dynamic he really has with vmin, how he watches (over) his hyungs with affection and support, so to speak:
(the following pictures, left to right: JM, JK, TH)
The sole fact that three maknae ships can exist simultaneously, while vmin might be the likely one to be real, in my opinion shows that everything between the three of them must be more than okay, that there’s harmony and understanding between them, everyone knowing their place/role exactly, that there’s no jealousy or other negative emotions involved. Even more so when we consider the stakes that come with it all, at the top of it all being money, not only for the members but also BH (including everyone who invested money in stocks, as well as all their employees that need to be paid). And the fact that BTS aren’t rookies anymore, but instead they have a big and very relevant role in a broader sense when it comes to influence, power, and fame.
Look at how professional they are when it comes to being idols and everything that entails, including shipping. Just look at how despite Tae’s Weverse comment to that one shipper, and the conversation in In The Soop, they played their roles so convincingly that no one who is in favor of that ship is willing to believe them or consider that perhaps they were wrong. But, this is more of a topic for another post, so I’ll leave it at that.
Looking at all these moments, bigger and smaller ones, gestures that some didn’t even notice or did but interpreted in a completely different way for their own reasons, it brought me to the conclusion that JK is their biggest supporter.
Just like Admin 1 said, I also think that Hobi and Namjoon are big supporter as well. Although I can’t for the life of me remember the piece of content where he said this (if anyone knows, please do let me know), I recall a moment where Namjoon spoke to Tae and said that he’s his responsibility, which made me wonder if that perhaps meant that Namjoon gave his vote of confidence about Tae (and vmin) to BH or agreed to keep an eye on him/them to keep them in check. But that’s just a thought/theory.
At the end of the day, whatever our opinion may be, we have to remember that we know very little about their private life, a tiny percentage if even, so it’s important to stick to/pay attention to/based our opinions on the original material and what the members say, instead of taking into account edited videos on YT or opinions influenced by others agendas, but that, too, is something to be discussed in a different post.
Thank you for this interesting question!
#answered ask#answered ask by admin 1#answered by admin 2#vmin#bts#bangtan sonyeondan#a little discussion on the dynamic within the group in a vmin context#jimin#taehyung
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Yashahime Translation: Animedia Magazine February 2021 Issue
Please do not repost this translation without my consent! This includes screenshots of any type and amount. If you wish to share this translation, simply link to this post.
For more information regarding the use of my translations, click here.
The Yashahime’s Broadly Smiling Sweets Party
Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha endeavor to slay demons that bother villagers. With each having a unique personality, the three felt disorganized at first, but by showing their cooperation skills by being in sync in battle, they have now grown into a reliable “team”. These girls are still 14-year-olds. During their journey they have silly conversations and admire convenient tools that they brought from the modern era… Even though they do not have heart fluttering episodes, there has certainly been an influx of scenes where one can feel their pure side. Therefore, this time we once again focus on the charms that the girls themselves have instead of as the “demon fighting Yashahimes”. Also, what do the three of them actually think of each other? Including these points of curiosity, we had director Satō Teruo speak.
(Illustration Description)
Gifting treats that Towa brought from the modern era! Moroha seems like she would like anything but Setsuna surprisingly likes candy?
(Character Bios)
The Always Energetic Mood Maker: Moroha
Inuyasha and Kagome’s daughter. She is a bounty hunter who slays demon bounties. When she puts rouge on her lips, she becomes the “Country Destroying Beniyasha” and goes on a rampage.
The Martial Artist Girl Raised in the Reiwa Era: Higurashi Towa
Sesshōmaru’s daughter and Setsuna’s older twin sister. She time traveled 10 years ago and was raised in the modern era. She is currently struggling to take back Setsuna’s sleep in the feudal era.
Satō Teruo Speaks! The Depth of the Three Yashahimes’ Relationship
Cool, Cautious, but Kind: Setsuna
Towa’s younger twin sister. Like Sesshōmaru, she has a calm, collected personality. Due to having her sleep stolen by the Dream Butterfly, she has no memories of her childhood and is unable to sleep.
Going through battles with demons, the relationship among the three has deepened. Now in dangerous situations, their faith is to the point that they can trust their backs to each other. It is just like them to acknowledge each other based on ability rather than blood ties.
They butted heads but they have become comrades that can trust each other.
Setsuna treated Towa coldly as she concerned herself with her as her older sister, but it seems Setsuna has softened up recently…!?
What do they think of each other?
“Hanyō no Yashahime” Interview with the Evangelist of Love, Director Satō Teruo
Focusing the on the birth of Towa and Setsuna in upcoming episode 15
— Please tell us what you think is the charm for Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha each.
For Towa, her little sister, Setsuna’s, existence is absolute in the end. She regretted letting go of her hand when they were kids, and now after overcoming months and years, you can feel her gallantness as she tries to behave like a big sister. While Setsuna has a cool aspect to her like Sesshōmaru, towards Towa’s behavior, she periodically acts affectionate which makes that part of her cute.
Moroha has a part of her that is exactly like Inuyasha, so the animators move her just like him. Then she carries a comedic expression at the front of those movements, so I think that’s what makes her entertaining.
— Among the episodes that have aired thus far, is there anything that left an impression on you?
Towa losing the power of her demonic blood on the “Night of the New Moon” depicted in episode 12. Towa inherited the phenomenon that occurs in half-demons that was depicted in “Inuyasha” and while it didn’t happen in the modern era, it did happen once she returned to the feudal era. I think it was a fun episode, even in the sense that it was familiar to those who know “Inuyasha”. Black haired Towa had an appearance that sort of resembled her mother, but I had character designer, Hishinuma Yoshihito, come up with the ideas on that front.
— It seems Sesshōmaru is heavily involved in the three’s past, so how do you capture his way of life?
I feel that he’s a very smart person. He’ll do whatever he can to get things done and always chooses the best course of action. When you look at that in a partial way, you can’t tell what he’s thinking, but I think everything is his own shortcut. In a sense, I think he’s an earnest character.
— New characters like Kirinmaru and Riku are also of interest.
Kirinmaru ruled over the demons alongside Inuyasha and Sesshōmaru’s father, the “Dog General”, so from a position standpoint, he’s an existence who’s pretty high up. Regarding the settings, I got together with series composition writer Sumisawa-san (Katsuyuki) and we compromised on his character such as how he would interact with the Yashahimes and how he’ll move towards the end.
Currently, Riku is still a mysterious character but his existence is important. His relationship with Towa is also of interest and even if it’s not of a romantic nature, the air (around them) does suggest that they’ll be getting closer so it would be great if you could look forward to what will happen.
— Riku, who is getting closer to Towa, is a character with a unique position that has never been held before.
Rather than the reason as to why he gets close to Towa, you’ll gradually figure out his hidden side. Towa ends up trusting that Riku but there’s a part of him that she can’t hate; essentially, he has an honest side to him so that’s where the drama between them will stem from.
— As they are now, Towa and others seem to be no match for Kirinmaru but what secret methods will make the three of them stronger?
How high can each of them raise their individual latent abilities… I would say. Inuyasha demonstrated his “hidden power” in previous battles so I think it’s also possible for the girls as they’re half-demons. In episode 13, there’s a scene where Miroku seals Setsuna’s demonic blood but unless she becomes able to use that power at will, she will be no match against Kirinmaru’s overwhelming strength. Going forward, the girls will be depicted getting stronger so seeing the three of them grow in battle will be a highlight.
— Lastly, a message for our readers!
The details on why Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha grew up separated from their parents will finally become clear in episode 15. It will flow so that what Sesshōmaru wanted to do and why he acted the way he did will gradually become clear, so I would like everyone to please pay attention to it as one climax.
Valentines Situation Research Team
Sweets Q&A with Satō Teruo
Q. What sweets do the three like?
A. Towa likes apples, so I have a feeling she likes apple type treats like apple pie. Surprisingly, Setsuna might like simple things like ohagi (translator’s note: It’s a Japanese sweet that consists of rice wrapped in sweet bean/azuki paste). Moroha seems like she would like typical things like chocolate.
Q. What if the three of them received Valentines chocolate?
A. Towa would just accept it normally as “food”. The meaning behind it wouldn’t matter. Setsuna would probably slash the person. How to put it, others can’t get close or they won’t reach the point of giving it to her (laughs). Moroha would convert it into money. Hence, the more expensive the chocolate, the better. She may even take what Setsuna didn’t accept and sell it.
Popularity Power Research for Towa
Swooning at her compassion towards the weak.
She cannot stand by when someone is in trouble. She exhibits that big sister trait not just to Setsuna but other people as well. There are times where she will throw herself into danger but that is what makes Towa cool.
Popularity Power Research for Moroha
A master of winning the hearts of others.
Good manners are irrelevant to Moroha. The figure of her doing as she pleases and smiling innocently would make anyone feel as though they were close to her. That is Moroha’s strength. You cannot hate her even when she is a little bit of a cheapskate.
Popularity Power Research for Setsuna
Keeping cool no matter what situation.
Setsuna supports the Yashahime team with her collectedness and fighting strength. She does not really show her emotions, but there are times where she gets lost in thought on sleepless nights. Naiveness that peaks out from within her coolness. That is also Setsuna’s charm.
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New York
New York
Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader
a/n: This will have a part two that ripped my heart out to write - however this one is very fluffy and i love these babies
Wordcount: 1.5k
Warnings: foreplay?, implied smut, some pining yk, pretentious writing, alcohol
masterlist
Hotels had always seemed like such a magical place to both Y/n and Spencer. Y/n loved the anonymity they brought, like you could be anyone or do anything for your stay because you knew no one and no one knew you.
Spencer’s infatuation came from a more childish side of his brain - a side which he seldom got to express. Due to the circumstances he grew up under, he had never really been on vacation. Even in his adulthood, he was either in school, taking care of his mother, or, later, dealing with the never ending stream of cases that came with his FBI job.
That is all to say that when they arrived at their New York hotel room on that November afternoon, they were both grinning like children let loose in a candy store.
When the pair crossed the threshold from hallway to room, all of the anxieties they shared about taking time away from work melted away. Heads no longer clouded with “what if the team needs us” or “no one else is taking their own time off!”, all that mattered now was that they had a full seven days to spend together.
Spencer had been Y/n’s best friend for as long as she had worked for the BAU. From the first time she stepped off the elevator into the bullpen, she knew she could trust Spencer. She could still remember how he had instantly come to her aid when the boxes of stuff she was carrying to her new desk had started to slip in her grasp. She remembered his kind eyes and soft voice, she remembered how attractive he had looked in that navy cardigan and those thick rimmed glasses.
Y/n had been Spencer's best friend for 4 years 7 months and 3 days. He was sure she was her best friend when she let him borrow her copy of ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ after he said he wanted to revisit some french classics. Her book was filled with highlighter and notes in margins and dog-eared pages, and somehow Spencer found himself enjoying her commentary more than he was enjoying the actual story. He knew she was attractive the second he saw her, but he fell for the version of her she left on the pages. He read her copy 27 times.
They knew everything about each other, all the favourites and firsts and pet peeves, and they loved each other for them - not in spite of them. However, there was one minor detail they had neglected to share;
They are both desperately in love with each other - and neither knows the other feels the same way.
Which is why when they decided to take a trip to New York City they booked a hotel room with two beds, not one.
Spencer was sitting on the bed closest to the window, thinking to himself that the traffic in this area was much less dense than it had been when they were closer to Times Square, and that he was right to have chosen this hotel. That self-congratulatory thought was interrupted by Y/n walking out of their now shared bathroom in a mossy green coloured two piece swimsuit.
“Ta-daaa!” She giggled as she threw her hands in the air and spun around for Spencer.
He shot her a questioning look, keeping his eyes strictly on her face. As much as he enjoyed seeing her like this, he definitely didn’t want her to know that.
“This hotel has an awesome pool, we’re going.” She clarified. “Go get changed brainiac.”
“Do you know how much bacteria resides in the average public swimming pool? The chances of-”
“Please don’t ruin this for me. I’ll drag you down there if I have to.” She shot him a look that said she meant it, and Spencer had never been good at saying no to her anyway, so they went swimming.
---
Next on their New York agenda was dinner - ‘somewhere nice,’ Spencer had said when they were planning the trip, ‘we order takeout together all the time! For one I would like to eat off a plate instead of out of a box.
That was a funny thing for Spencer to say, Y/n decided, because Spencer Reid was the king of only eating food from a box - who was he classing it up for? It would only later occur to her that she had been the one he was trying to impress.
Weeks before their trip, Spencer had hesitantly knocked on the door of Emily’s office to ask her to help him choose a restaurant. The whole interaction had him bright red and uncomfortable, but he wanted to take Y/n somewhere as nice as she deserved. Though the prices would mean making their own coffee for the rest of the year, he chose Gramercy Tavern as the perfect spot. Elegant, but not quite romantic - after all, they were best friends, nothing more.
Y/n wore a pale purple silk dress that made Spencer’s heart do backflips. In the taxi he couldn't help but run his hand over the fabric on her knee. It felt icy and crisp, much like Y/n’s hands did when they wrapped around the space above his elbow as they stood and waited to be seated.
The waitress brought them champagne, a glass or two went before they even noticed they were drinking. Another during conversation, and then some wine ‘to pair with the food’. Before the pair knew it they were red faced and slurring their words. The check was paid, they were in a cab, even Spencer’s own memory was missing pieces. It seemed like time was going by faster than the planes taking off over the busy skyline.
Y/n didn’t even realize what she was doing when her lips met his. She saw Spencer hover the keycard over the sensor in the door and then push it open, she saw him run a hand through his hair and turn to look at her, she saw the love in his eyes when he did. She just reached out, cupped her palm to his cheek and pulled his face down to join their lips.
Spencer instantaneously looped his fingers in the hair just above the nape of her neck. When her tongue found its way into his mouth he could taste wine and the salad she had eaten at dinner - and it was the only thing he wanted to taste for the rest of his life. The pair backed through the door of the hotel room without ever breaking the kiss, knocking into corners and walls on their way to the bed. Hands and arms and legs all entangled in the darkness made them look like a creature Spencer would’ve read about with his mother all those years ago.
They finally broke apart, gasping for air still desperately grasping at every inch of the other they could find. The light from the city dusted the room with the colour of the curtains, painting the pair in an angelic hue. When Spencer finally caught his breath he looked over her. Y/n looked beautiful - all the words in his brain and he could only think that one. Possessing. Gorgeous. The straps of her dress had slipped down her shoulders, her hair was teased from his hands, her lipstick smeared. Perfect. Angelic.
“Is something wrong?” She asked shyly, feeling Spencer's gaze all over her.
“N-no.” His breath was hot, she could feel it on her own face. “You’re just... you’re beautiful.”
A stronger blush than just the one the alcohol had created pooled across both of their faces. She leaned back and let her head softly hit the bed as Spencer left soft cherry kisses across her neck and collarbone. He felt her stomach push up against his pelvis as she arched her back, writhing under his touch. Her hands gripped tightly onto both the hotel bed sheets and the back of Spencer’s head as he slipped her dress down to gather above her hips.
She reached her cold fingers around Spencer's belt buckle and made quick work of it, unleashing his erection with the sound of his pants and underwear hitting the floor.
Spencer - with plans of his own - pushed her back down into the sheets and instead peppered kisses down Y/n’s stomach and over her thighs.
Y/n balled the bedding underneath her tightly in her fist and let out a string of curses and variations of Spencer’s name she had been holding onto thus far.
~
Fuck.
Y/n’s head was pounding - she would never have thought whatever drinks the waiter had brought them last night would’ve been strong enough to give her a hangover like this.
Spencer’s back stung - he would’ve thought it was bleeding if it weren’t for the bleach white sheets underneath him.
The pairs legs were still intertwined, and as both of them shook off sleep and rolled over into each other from under the light duvet. Y/n’s eyes were the first to flutter open, they met Spencers closed lids only inches away. She recoiled, the events of the last night flooding back to her, and she could see her best friend go through the same stages of stark realization when he was jostled by her exit from their shared bed.
Wide eyed, open mouthed, twisted guts. Neither could speak - until they did;
“What the hell did we do?”
#spencer reid#spencer reid fanfiction#spencer reid x reader#Criminal Minds#fanfiction#bau#spencer reid x you
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The “Simple” Truth: Aziraphale’s Motivations for Lying to Himself (A Meta)
Aziraphale Lies. A lot. But, for the majority of the mini-series, he lies to protect himself (whether it be from God’s wrath, or Gabriel’s wrath, or Uriel’s wrath...or...pretty much anyone from Heaven because they’re all abusive jerks).
I want to be very clear before jumping into my meta that this is not at all a judgment call on Aziraphale’s character. When in an abusive situation, you should 100% do your best to keep yourself safe. And Lies, for Aziraphale, is that protection and specifically against Heaven, it’s his only effective tool to cope and resist the abuses he’s dealt.
However, that means some of his lies, after 6000 years of repeating them, are internalized.
He’s having difficulties coming to terms with his own abuse, and so he does, on several levels repress his instinct for action. He lies to himself about his motivations for stopping the end of the world. The gif above shows a very drunk Aziraphale telling Crowley he can’t disobey. Although, he doesn’t quite get his words out.
He clearly wants to help Crowley. In the book, he says as much:
He loves Earth after all, and more than that he loves his life on Earth. He loves having space away from his abusive “home” life where yes, he’s not exactly free, but he’s certainly not the captive he would be in Heaven.
Despite his instincts, like his gut response to tell Crowley instead of Heaven, he has internalized many of the behaviors Heaven has taught him. At the end of the above passage, for example, HE. Chooses. To. Tell. Heaven. Anyway. because he’s been conditioned to trust Heaven. And that:
Angel’s and Demons are sworn enemies, and under no circumstances should they interact
That Heaven is unquestionably “good” and Hell unquestionably “bad”
Being critical of Heaven is the same as betraying Heaven
The Great Plan is unquestionable
His loves/interests are unimportant
And many more.
While we, the audience, can tell that these behaviors are destructive to Aziraphale’s sense of self-worth (and really function just as propaganda designed to help maintain the presumed “goodness” of Heaven).
But Aziraphale?
He’s unable to stop the corrosive effects of these falsehoods. And, on top of it all, he has no incentive to let go of his “coping mechanism” that thus far has resulted in his and Crowley’s safety -- lying to himself.
But what Aziraphale needs is validation for his actual interests, his instincts, his passions. Look at the way he absolutely devastated when Crowley asks him about his sword.
He so badly needs to be loved unconditionally, to feel he’s doing good, and fulfilling his role of the Ineffable Plan. He tells himself these lives, hoping for deliverance from his “side”. Heaven, unfortunately, never delivers once. And it leaves Aziraphale floating, waiting for rescue, safety, and protection from Heaven.
And he finds that In Crowley.
Contrast the above distress with the look of relief below. Sure, it’s not the trademark giddy look that Aziraphale employs when looking at crepes, but it is one of calmness that Heaven has not afforded him yet.
They both know their logic here is faulty. Angels are just as capable of doing “bad” as much as demons are capable of doing good. But, they let themselves believe the lie. It comforts them and alleviates the self-destructive behaviors, if only for a second.
When later confronted with his actions, the relief, the validation, >the love< from Crowley is all gone. Instead of a calm, reassuring tone, like the one Crowley gives him earlier, this is truly the annoyed voice of God. She knows what he did with his sword, he knows what he did he did without asking, but lying to God is the only way he can get out of this situation without direct physical harm (most likely through falling).
Lying to himself, about the goodness or badness of his actions (when truely they were humane actions) represses the guilt he feels for lying to God and allows him the distance to successfully keep lying when others question his motives.
I think it is fair to say then, that his repression is a byproduct of the lies he’s feeding himself in order to survive Heaven. However, with real consequences to his relationship with Crowley.
Lying To Crowley
Crowley refuses to lie to Aziraphale. He won’t treat Aziraphale like he does every other Angel or Demon because he refuses to repress his feelings. Sure, he hides them from Heaven and Hell, but that’s usually from prying eyes, never Aziraphale. And never from himself.
Aziraphale, in contrast, lies his ass off to Crowley. This is not to say Aziraphale is incapable of telling Crowley the truth, but as the apocalypse grows near, and shit hits the fan, Aziraphale’s ability to address his abusers and the looming threat of annihilation grows more certain, he falters.
His lies, lashing out at anyone and everything that could jeopardize his safety, and Humanity’s safety. His internalized concerns have bubbled to the surface, and he feels like he has no choice but to protect himself from the oncoming dangers.
Look at the below gif and have your hearts broken with me. As a direct result of the lies he tells himself, he’s unable to come to terms with the fact Heaven is not just questionable, it’s wrong. He’s on the wrong side, and instead, he needs to be with Crowley.
This gif is a great example of how him lying to himself negatively harms himself, and reveals his true motivation for lying. Safety.
He’s trying to remind himself of the kind of safety he’d be risking in telling Crowley the truth that he wants to work together. It’s a plea, an act of desperation because his greatest fears are culminating all at once and making a decision could cost him his “home”, his identity as an angel, and Crowley if they’re unsuccessful.
We witness at the beginning of Episode 3 how deep the ineffable husband’s bond really is, but also how (even though noone else believes it) they can not acknowledge their friendship/relationship/companionship. To contrast against the above moment, we see that this is not the rejection he’s hoping it would be. There’s no resolve, no strength, no reasoning. It’s merely the highlighted talking points he’s meant to agree with.
But, it’s clearly a lie.
It puts off decision making. It reaffirms a status quo that, while very abusive, feigns stability.
In this gif, he’s pleading with Crowley.
He’s scared shitless because his two lives are crashing before him. He’s done a good job lying to himself that he can hide his love of >Crowley< Earth, while still finding a way to follow Heaven’s orders.
But, now he’s got to make a choice. And it’s clear the choice he wants to take. He WANTS to go with Crowley. Go back and listen to how he says “run away together?” on the street. It’s pure unadulterated want. He wants to go off with Crowley somewhere only they know and never return. But he physically can’t until he is truthful for himself.
So he lies. Again. And it looks like he’s being stabbed by an invisible knife.
Now Look at the “not friends” Gif again. He’s telling the ultimate lie here. This is not a distressed Aziraphale trying to get rid of an annoying business partner. This is the face of a mourning man, forcing himself to lie to protect humanity and Crowley.
At this moment, Aziraphale is denying their relationship and not treating their bond as something shared by equals. He can’t be sure that Crowley will be there to catch him if he loses everything, and he simply can’t lose humanity.
Lying, that they’re not friends is not true at this moment, nor any other moment in the series. He loves Crowley so badly, that he’s hurting both of them with his lies. But, Crowley has had enough of the lies and slander against their partnership, and he offers to “run away together”. It is literally the one thing both of them want more than anything else in the world. But, it directly goes against the internalized messaging and safety of Heaven, and Aziraphale’s stressed. So What does he do?
He lies.
Again.
And Again.
And Again.
He lies because he needs to begin coping with his trauma, and not lie to himself that everything is alright.
Once he comes reaches his breaking point – a world where no matter what he would be unable to be WITH Crowley – he confronts his issues.
Only AFTER CHOOSING Crowley does Aziraphale begin to come to terms with his internalized lies, and finally stop lying to himself about how he feels about Crowley.
Finally, he can heal.
Thanks for coming to my Tedtalk
#good omens#Ineffable Husbands#ineffable plan#Aziraphale#crowley#anthony janthony crowley#anthony j crowley#a.z. fell#These two are in love#and are going to kill me#light mentions of abuse#healing#helping#go#gomens#a/c#good omens meta
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Tangled Salt Marathon - Rapunzeltopia
This episode, much like many other plot important episodes of the first two seasons, is decent on it its own, but becomes retroactively worse due to season three’s bad writing and behind the scenes bullshit.
Summary: Matthews reveals himself as another dark spirit and disciple of Zhan Tiri, and traps Eugene, Lance and the others in unbreakable vines similar to the Great Tree's evil magic. He has Rapunzel live the perfect life while he prepares to hand over the mystical powers of the Sundrop to his master. Fortunately, Rapunzel is able to make contact with her brown-haired dream self and attempts to convince her to let go.
Timeline Alert
So what does almost a year ago mean? The Great Tree was six months out, and then in Mirror, Mirror, Lance said that they been fighting for three weeks since. So how long have then been stuck in this shell house? Because You’re Kidding Me was just the next day after Mirror, Mirror. Was Lance’s ‘three weeks’ comment meant to be after Brothers Hooks and Rapunzel: Day One and not Great Tree? Are we 7, 8, 9, or 10 months out from Secret of the Sundrop? Like be clear about your time frame guys if you’re going to use it as a plot point.
I’m going to say we are 9 months along on this trip, just cause that sounds closer to ‘almost a year ago’ without keeping them all trapped in the shell house for months. So Great Tree is 6 months, Brother’s Hook and Rapunzel Day One is 7 months, Mirror, Mirror is going on 8 months, and at the end of this episode they’ll be heading into the 9 month period...I guess. Lets just say they were trapped there for a week or two.
This Episode Only Highlights How Self Centered and Immature Rapunzel Still Is Rather Than Showcase How Much She’s Grown
The point behind this episode is show how much Rapunzel has grown since season one, and how she is accepting of responsibility now, but it actually backfires because she’s not actually being challenged on her selfish desires but on her lack of agency. Which is the wrong lesson that she needs to be learning at this point in her development.
Rapunzel in her subconscious mind doesn’t wish for what’s best for other people but what’s best for herself. People she must interact with on the regular have to be superficially happy even if it completely warps their character. While people she doesn't care about, like Lady Caine, can just be simply banished and ignored regardless if they deserve such an end or not. She doesn’t see people as people with individual thoughts and feelings, but as satellites to herself and her narrow worldview.
Also, ‘I believe everyone deserves a second chance’ my eye! Caine never gets even a first chance in Rapunzel’s own fantasy world. Because Rapunzel is a selfish hypocrite who’s ‘redemptions’ always comes with strings attached.
Here Comes the Dumbest Plot Point In the Show
I’ll talk about this more when we get to season three, but this scene is the beginning of the end for any dignity the show once held.
Also why would ‘I don’t trust anyone’ Cassandra follow a creepy voice calling her name through a doorway inside a magic house that’s tried to kill her twice now?
If you gotta make you character act out of character in order to get your plot rolling than you haven’t a good plot. Think of something else.
What’s the Point of Having Two Names?
They did this both with Sugarbee and Matthews here and it makes zero sense. Why would they need to bother with fake names if the heroes wouldn’t even recognize their real names to begin with? Such revelations add nothing and fails to tell the audience anything new about the characters. It’s also not consistent as it turns out Gothel was a disciple too and she only gets one name, so what gives?
So How Does This All Work Again?
So Zhan Tiri needs ‘a clash of the sundrop and moonstone’ in order to be freed from her prison. Why? I don’t know, but holding Rapunzel prisoner for life actually undermines that plan, and it’s a plan that Zhan Tiri is currently setting up with Cassandra off screen during all of this.
So does Tromus/Matthews just not know that Zhan Tiri is already ‘free’ and has her own plans?
Is Rapunzel’s power being drained what gives Zhan Tiri a foothold in the real world?
Or was Zhan Tiri released back in the Great Tree with the removal of the spear and that’s why she knows to go after Cass?
What was up with the Great Tree and the sealed tree back in Painter’s Block? Did they have any impact on Zhan Tiri’s plans?
Were any of the disciples actually useful at all?
So What Do the Disciples Gain From All This?
Sugarbee, Matthews, and Gothel were all once real people who actually lived so what are their reasons for following Zhan Tiri? What do they gain from going through such complicated plans? Why continue to follow someone after you’ve been dead for centuries and are a ghost now, and were presumably trapped and or killed by Demantius for following her? Real people don’t just hold on to such fanatical devotion without reason.
This Conflict Over Choices Does Not Work Without Varian
Going back to how this episode fails to develop Rapunzel; it wants to have Rapunzel take responsibility for difficult choices, but much like Painters Block, it completely ignores her biggest fuck up thereby undermining why she has trouble with owning up to hard choices.
Rapunzel ruined a child’s life. She may not have meant to but she did, and thus far she has done nothing to make amends for it. She’s not even spared the poor boy a single thought beyond seeing him as the boogeyman in a nightmare once.
You can’t have Rapunzel take responsibility for anything if you won’t hold her accountable for anything.
Varian was meant to appear in this episode, and indeed he should have for the above reason.
But of course Chris had to give us a bullshit excuse for why he cut the most plot important character from the series.
I’ve already spoken about how Varian’s cameo in Happiness Is did nothing to actually further develop Rapunzel nor explore her guilt back in that review. In this episode, however, I want to discuss how hollow the comparisons to Gothel is and why there shouldn’t logically have been any competition between the two.
Varian and Gothel provide two completely different conflicts and two completely different points of development for Rapunzel’s arc. Gothel is the instigator of her conflict with Rapunzel. Rapunzel, as the victim, has only one thing to learn, self esteem. She learned it back in the movie, she relearned it back in the season one, and here she’s re-contextualizing it for this episode’s mini-arc.
Meanwhile Rapunzel is the instigator of her conflict with Varian. She’s the one with the power in their relationship and her choices matter. She doesn’t need to learn agency because she already has it. What she needs to learn is responsibility and she can’t do that without confronting Varian and what she did in some manner. So unlike with Gothel there only new ground to cover here rather than rehashing old conflicts.
Chris Sonnenburg has things all backwards. Rapunzel’s agency/self-esteem issues and her need to take responsibility for her actions are not interchangeable conflicts. Addressing one does not automatically address the other, and of the two her conflict with responsibility holds more weight because it’s ongoing. We haven’t seen the resolvement there. It also affects more people than just herself so the stakes are higher there as well. And to top it all off, it fits with the themes of the episode better.
Also, you very much could have had both characters because they both reflect different conflicts and serve different purposes in the narrative. Time management in television is a very big deal yes, but you have little grounds for defense when all you’ve shown is how poorly you’ve managed your time until now.
In short, Chris is full of shit.
No, It Wouldn’t
We’ve already established that there’s no need for Rapunzel to go on her quest in season two. The black rocks are inactive, there’s no ticking clock she has to beat, and her staying at home would have actually prevented the conflicts in season three.
Unless dream Rapunzel is referring to Zhan Tiri being released, but even that is false because Zhan Tiri is already floating around a little blue ghost girl off screen right now. What Rapunzel choses or chooses not to do does not change that.
Lack of external conflict undermines internal conflict.
Just Cause You Make A Meta Joke About Your Heroes Being Dumb For No Reason, Does Not Make Them Any Less Stupid
Jokingly admitting a fault in your writing doesn’t not excuse that fault. If you can’t have a plot without handing the idiot ball to your characters than you haven’t a good plot. Time to go back to drawing board.
Season Three Will Go Back On This Episode’s Message and Prove the Villian Right
I’ve liget seen fans unironically praise the show for it’s message of ‘be content with what you have’. Not only is that a terrible lesson to teach children; it’s actually the exact opposite of what the show is trying to achieve.
“Be satisfied” is suppose to be the wrong motto. Rapunzel is suppose to be fighting against this message. In the episode itself it’s the villian who is saying such things in order to tempt her to stay put.
So how could anyone look at the show as a whole and come away with idea that the one off villain was right along?
Because season three does a complete 180 away from its original messages regarding agency and responsibility. All consequences disappear from the story and the mains are given convenient scapegoats to distract from their decisions. Characters actively regress and are rewarded by the narrative for either not doing anything or for victim blaming others for their actions.
But most damaging of all is the fact that nearly everyone winds up back where they started out at, or aren’t given a proper ending at all. Tangled’s story is just one giant circle and that in of itself contradicts the idea of progress.
Cassandra’s Hurt Hand Is Only Relevant When The Story Wants Rapunzel to Feel Guilty About Something
Oh but we can just throw Cassandra’s burnt hand in here as a substitute Rapunzel’s guilt over Varian. Even though the two incidents should actually complement one another rather than compete for dominance.
Tangled doesn’t trust its audience to remember things. It acts like if it’s off screen or not being focused upon than it’s not happening or isn’t relevant. This undermines any ongoing or overarching conflicts.
Why should we care about Cassandra’s arm if she’s been shown as being fine with it for four episodes by now? Especially since it’ll never come up again after this point? And on the flip side of things, why should the audience not care about the 15 year old who has been sitting in a dungeon for almost a year now due to Rapunzel’s neglect?
We’re not magpies who are quickly distracted by shiny new things. We are capable of retaining information and informing decisions based off of that. Especially if Chris was shooting for the teen audience as he claims he was.
Oh But We Got Time For Godzilla-Pascal
Can’t spare even half a minute for a Varian cameo that would be relevant, but we sure got time to waste on a pointless action sequence that does nothing to further the character in what is meant to be a character development episode.
This Scene Is Out of Character
That’s not how abuse works!
The whole reason why Gothel was able to keep Rapunzel under her thumb for 18 years because Rapunzel always sought her approval. Never at any point, even when finally choosing to break away from her in the movie, did Rapunzel wish to harm the woman. That goes against who she is as a character and it’s not how abuse victims respond to abusers even after cutting things off with them.
If anything, Rapunzel’s treatment of Frederic in Happiness Is is more in line with how a victim goes about mourning the loss of an abusive relationship. Victims grieve for what might have been. Victims mourn the loss of what good times they had with their abusers, because yes, abusers aren’t abusive 100% of the time 24/7. They can’t be or they risk losing their victim quicker.
I initially was ok with flashbacks to Gothel on occasion because no victim ever makes a completely clean break from their abuser. Even ‘moving on’ isn’t some triumphant singular action when you stand tall while you knock your opponent down in a wish fulfilment fantasy.
No. ‘Moving on’ is slow. It’s understated. It’s routine. It’s about being able to do the dishes without getting triggered. It’s sitting at lunch with friends and being happy and calm without the fear of returning home hanging over your head. It’s not skipping out on work because your anxiety is through the roof over just meeting with your boss. It’s not devolving into a yelling match over something minor because you internalize your abusers behavior.
Abuse victims don’t celebrate violence as strength. We celebrate being an unmovable mountain of clam fortitude. Being in control even as the world rages at us, because we’re self assured.
The fact that this scene exists, while Happiness Is shows Rapunzel behaving the opposite way to the father who abused her the same as Gothel did, only proves that a man shouldn’t have been in charge of this show. Certainly not without a woman by his side giving equal input.
Stop Using Destiny as a Shorthand for Everything!
Destiny isn’t a catch all word that can mean whatever you want it to. Words have definitions for a reason. Destiny isn’t a goal nor does it equate to agency and responsibility; kind of the opposite in fact.
Well That Was Redundant
All we did was rehash Rapunzel’s season one arc in under half in hour. Nothing new was learned. It’s like writers don’t know how to resolve any conflict that isn’t a repeat of the first movie. Meanwhile actual unique conflicts are just sitting off to the side being ignored. All because the show’s creator doesn’t want to hold his precious self insert accountable for anything.
Bye Bye Smart Cass, Hello Dumb Cass
So from this point onward the Cass we’ve known for nearly two seasons is gone. She’s just been replaced by the dumbest bitch on the planet. Because the writers don’t understand how manipulation and trauma actually works. Nor do they comprehend the importance of giving characters actual goals.
Conclusion
Season three is what retroactively spoils this episode. Cass’s dumb decision here, Zhan Tiri’s lack of a coherent plan, the uselessness of the disciples, and even the lack of Varian could have been glossed over had they writers given us a satisfying pay offs for any of the main conflicts. But they didn’t and so here we are.
Also a small update, but after this review and starting next week, the Salt Marathon will go from bi weekly updates to only one a week. This is a combination of real life work getting in the way and the growing length of the reviews. This means we’ll hopefully be done come March, which would mark the show’s anniversary. I got some plans to celebrate if that works out.
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Liberated Audio Reviews
Blake's 7 - The Liberator Chronicles Vol. 6
RELEASED OCTOBER 2013
Recorded on: 2, 10 and 30 October and 13 December 2012
Recorded at: Moat Studios
Review By Robert L. Torres
Incentive by Peter Anghelides
'The Liberator crew are recovering from a Galactic War and searching for their lost members Blake and Jenna. But it’s a search that leads them into terrible danger…'
Because this story marks the return of Steven Pacey to the role of Del Tarrant, I think it is best that I get my views on the character out of my system before getting to the rest of the review.
Honestly.... Out of the main characters that have come and gone on the show during its four season run, there are two that I do not count as my favorites.
The first is Soolin, largely due to how bland and one note the character was compared to the character she was brought on to replace in Series D... Cally.
The other character is Del Tarrant, and I shall endeavor to explain why I dislike him despite Steven Pacey's fine performance.
From the first moment he appeared on the show, there was something about him that just rubbed me the wrong way. For years I knew it was the character himself that seemed like the problem... But I could never work out why.
This story finally brought to light why I disliked Tarrant's character. He was a young, cocky, hot shot with loyalties only to himself... Basically a less charming and less endearing version of Star Lord. He was impatient, brash, and only seemed to be throwing in his lot with the resistance for no other reason than for fame and glory.
In addition, Tarrant seemed to go out of his way to get under everyone's skin (or rather just Avon's), and always bristled under Avon's command.
I understand that with Gareth Thomas having left the series, they needed to create a new character to go up against Avon on the decision making, much in the same way Avon used to butt heads with Blake. Except the dynamic between Avon and Tarrant, from what I remember, was different and far more antagonistic than it was between Blake and Avon. Avon was an Alpha dog, but Tarrant was also an Alpha dog. This is probably why most of their disagreements, from what I remember, tended to come across like dick wagging contests.
It has been a while since I saw the series proper, but there are only two things of any significance regarding Tarrant that I remember. The first was the Series C episode 'Death Watch', which I think involved his twin brother Deeta. The other was the episode 'Sand' from Series D, which involved him and Servalan being trapped on a planet together... Having conjugal relations.
While the character of Del Tarrant isn't my favorite, Anghelides does a pretty good job of at least attempting to shed a bit of light on his character. This is accomplished by focusing on his desperate desire to stand out from the crowd and make a name for himself on par with the legendary Blake and Jenna.
The story begins not long after Tarrant and Dayna have officially joined the crew. During their latest attempt to locate Blake and Jenna, Tarrant and Avon are captured and interrogated while strapped to an electro-shock lie detector. This dual focused narrative split is in itself a pretty interesting dig at unreliable narratives, especially given that both Tarrant and Avon receive electro shocks whenever they aren't being completely truthful in their recollections.
By the way, kudos to Adrian Lukis for his exquisite portrayal of Interrogator Bracheeni. The scenes that featured him interacting with Tarrant and Avon were actually some of the best parts of the story. The revelation of who and what Bracheeni is added a great deal to the narrative, especially in providing an explanation as to why the Liberator crew had to abandon the search for Blake and Jenna.
All things considered, it is nice to get an actual in-universe explanation as opposed to what actually happened: the plot thread being dropped without explanation, forcing viewers to accept the fact that Blake and Jenna weren't coming back... Ever.
While there are some interesting ideas and set ups featured in the story, the narrated recollections are not really that engaging. In addition, my problem with this story is the same problem I had with Volume Three's 'Armageddon Storm'. Its a narrated story that should have been done as a full cast audio.
Final Score: 6 out of 10 Plasma Bolts
As it stands, this story does its job of filling an hour and retroactively provides answers to lingering questions, thus making it essential. However, this is marred by being an uneven story that is only half engaging.
Jenna's Story by Steve Lyons
'Jenna's story is finally told - from her escape from the Liberator during the Galactic War, to her determination to continue the fight against the Federation alone… with the odds stacked against her.'
When Big Finish Productions obtained the rights to produce new stories set within Series A through C of Blake's 7, this not only opened up story avenues to provide greater focus stories for many of its characters, but also an opportunity to fill in a couple of gaps in the narrative.
While 'Incentive' was an uneven story, it still managed to do what the show itself was unable or unwilling to do at the time: explain why the Liberator crew abandoned their search for Blake and Jenna.
Answering lingering questions seems to be this boxset's central theme as the next two stories are focused on what happened to the characters that literally jumped ship at the end of Series B, Jenna and Blake.
According to dialogue spoken by Cally in early Series C, it was always assumed that Jenna was with Blake when they abandoned ship during the Galactic War. It was also naturally assumed that Jenna had been with Blake the whole time during Series C and D.
Turns out that wasn't the case at all... Which actually works to the benefit of this story and the next.
Here, Jenna recounts how she spent her time surviving and fighting during the events of Series C and leading into Series D. It provides Sally Knyvette with great material and also serves as a reminder of what made me, personally, fall out of love with the series during Series D... Particularly with the way the series ended.
Let me be clear, as much I personally didn't like not having Blake and Jenna around on the show anymore, Steve Lyons managed to craft an exceptional Jenna-centric story that absolutely had to be told. This story, as well as the next one, managed to do a much better job implementing the central themes of what was meant to be on display during Series C and particularly during Series D: how the crusade that Blake started with hope and optimism slowly but surely devolved into cynicism, suspicion, self-interest and ultimately self-destruction.
This is highlighted well during Jenna's dealings with Correll, played by John Banks, and his disrespectfully dismissive attitude towards people with 'noble causes', his derogatory disbelief in 'heroes', as well as his overriding, self-serving self-interest.
Kudos to Banks for portraying someone that's basically an unlikeable, selfish jerk without becoming despicable.
The crux and climax of the story is based on a line of dialogue Blake tells Tarrant during the series finale regarding Jenna's ultimate fate. While the moment itself is thrilling and well executed, I had hoped that it was a lie as part of Blake's test or something. Still, what was crafted here is suitably tragic as it showcases the depths of Jenna's devotion, and even her love, for Blake.
The ultimate tragedy being that, in the end, she never did get to tell Blake how she felt about him... and how much he meant to her.
Final Score: 10 out of 10 Plasma Bolts
A superbly satisfying sendoff and sublime swansong for Sally's Stannis!
Blake's Story by Mark Wright and Cavan Scott
'Blake's story is finally told - from his escape from the Liberator during the Galactic War, to his new life as a troubled, scarred man on a distant rebel world…'
Before getting into the review, I have to state that while I understand the reasons why Gareth Thomas and Sally Knyvette left the show at the end of Series B, it is my opinion that the show lost quite a bit of its inherent identity once Blake and Jenna were gone.
While many contend that promoting the late Paul Darrow to lead actor was the creative booster shot the show needed, there is a reason the show was still called Blake's 7 and not Avon's 7.
No matter who is given the spotlight and focus, Blake's presence is still very embedded within the show's DNA. Despite his absence, Blake's influence is still keenly felt by those that inhabit this fictional universe... Both directly and indirectly.
While the storytelling avenues may have opened up for the rest of the cast, the audience would still inevitably wonder, 'Where the hell is Blake? When is he coming back?' Largely because the audience was still interested in seeing Blake's story continue.
Both Gareth Thomas and Chris Boucher no doubt understood this to be absolutely true. As long as the Roj Blake character remained alive, but missing from a show that bared his character's name, then Gareth Thomas would not have been able to truly move forward in his career.
Which is why its no surprise that the most memorable moment in the entire series came about at Thomas' insistence.
But this isn't about how Blake's story ends... Its about the circumstances Blake experienced during Series C and D that led to his ultimate fate on Gauda Prime. And I am pleased to say that Wright and Scott do an excellent job filling in the blanks of Blake's journey.
From landing on the planet Epheron in his escape pod, to attempting to reunite with the Liberator (which includes Blake visiting the planet Shorlan post-Armageddon Storm), to being captured, tortured and accused of treachery by the Resistance (thus explaining the scar over his eye he displayed in the series finale), its all presented here brilliantly. I also appreciate how engaging these moments are, and aren't treated as plot points to check off.
The late Gareth Thomas really did a great job with this material, displaying the same charisma and intensity he had shown throughout his tenure on the show, which is doubly unfortunate that he had opted out after Series B.
The framing device utilized for Blake recounting events is brilliant, and the twist reveal is actually rather clever... If a little unsurprising. However, it serves the narrative well as it goes to the heart of the tragic and ironic inevitability that lies ahead for Blake, particularly in his connection to Avon.
Despite their disagreements and opposing ideals... And no matter how often Avon secretly wished to be rid of Blake... They still needed each other.
It often reminds me of why the Doctor chooses to travel with companions, the companions keep the Doctor grounded and keep the Doctor from going too far for the sake of selfish self interest and so on.
While neither one would ever admit it, Blake and Avon had the ability to keep each other in check. And even though Blake said at the end of 'Star One' and even near the end of this story that he always trusted Avon... Its only with the benefit of hindsight do we question whether or not that trust was warranted.
Final Score: 10 out of 10 Plasma Bolts
A truly satisfying sendoff for the original star of the show.
Final score for Volume 6 of the Liberator Chronicles, in its entirety, is 8 out of 10 Plasma Bolts.
This is an essential set of stories for longtime fans. Even though there are six more boxsets of stories left in the range, if the Liberator Chronicles audio range ended here, it would have ended on a major high note.
As an aside, while the next six boxsets have produced some outstanding stories, I personally feel that both 'Jenna's Story' and 'Blake's Story' should have been the stories utilized as the finale for the Liberator Chronicles range overall.
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Questions or comments:
Email - [email protected]
Bobby's Facebook Page
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MERRY CHRISTMAS, LGC MEMBERS!
merry christmas, lgc members! oops! this time you didn’t just send something to they mods, they also wanted to send something to YOU!! every single mod, below the cut, has something wonderful for you all to hear! (no, this is not the christmas present side event lol) our mods deserve all the love in the world, but the members all deserve a little extra love too! happy holidays and everyone have a good new years!
admin l, writer of @lgcxjun, @lgcmiso, and @lgcnami says: 1) what is your favorite part about being a mod? making the members happy. when we put out a new event or implement something new in the rp and members are super excited about it, that's what i like the most. 2) what is the most memorable moment from being a mod in lgc thus far? hmm.. i think it's when we officially opened the rp for reservations and they came flooding. we weren't expecting this. we thought it would take weeks before we get enough reservations to open and were pleasantly surprised when in 48h we had the 10 minimum. we never expected to have over 50 members, either. so this whole experience has been amazing for us 3) what is the best part about lgc members/writers (characters or muns!) seeing the characters grow right before our eyes, that's the part i love the most. seeing the progression of each and everyone of you all always make us happy. the admods are your biggest supports, i swear to god. i also love how our members aren't scared of giving ideas and participate in the growth and events of the rp! we always love incorporating our mun's ideas 4) anything else you would like to mention? thank you for being here with us <3
admin *, writer of @lgcdanbi, @lgcnathan, and @lgctaesung says: 1) what is your favorite part about being a mod? oh gosh… i can’t pick just one! honestly, it’s just being able to plan and create stuff for our members with such a fun and dedicated team like the one we have here! we have so much in store for everyone, and we just hope y’all are as excited as we are for the big things to come! 2) what is the most memorable moment from being a mod in lgc thus far?: for me specifically, it had to be my *first* trimester change as the head of graphics. i literally SLAVED lmfao over our Q4 2020 graphics, and it was so nice to see how much everyone enjoyed the roleplay’s makeover. plus, now that we’re getting closer and closer to Q1 2021, i’m both excited yet SUPER nervous about the aesthetics i want to put out for lgc in the new year! 3) what is the best part about lgc members/writers (characters or muns!): character-wise, i can tell everyone is genuinely invested in their muses’ development and careers here. even though idol krps aren’t anything new, it’s such a breath of fresh air to be a part of a group where people want to see success with their muses from the very start to finish. mun-wise, it’s gotta be activity check sunday’s! seeing people’s live reactions to the queue is DEFINITELY the highlight of my week. 4) anything else you would like to mention?: we’re a small team here (but i swear it feels so much bigger!), and we dedicate a lot of our time in running lgc behind the scenes than in writing for our own characters. it can be a bit of a bummer and can definitely take a lot of muse and motivation out of you, but we’re always so appreciative of how considerate and thoughtful our members are of us. we’re not perfect—no one is!—but despite our flaws, it’s so inspiring to see a place (a home?) like lgc last for over a year and still be going on strong. and we can only thank you guys for all of that! so! thank you!
admin g, writer of @lgchanbyul, @lgcjaesun, and @lgcyumi says: 1) what is your favorite part about being a mod? i have a strange love for lists and stats, and so i actually really enjoy the administration part of being an admin. honestly, i would be the type of person to start a roleplay just to do the logistics lol. i enjoy helping to keep things neat and orderly, though admin a. has been doing a really great job of making my processes even better. my strong suits are not events or graphics, so i leave those tasks to the rest of the team. i think because of that, we make a really great team, and i just enjoy getting to see the fruits of our labor week after week and seeing people excited over them as well! 2) what is the most memorable moment from being a mod in lgc thus far? there are many memorable moments, of course, and this might sound silly … but probably when we received our first application that was not from one of our og staff members. frankly, when we started this group, we were fairly certain no one would want to join, especially with so many other great roleplays around, so to have watched it grow over these last 16 months has been pretty incredible! 3) what is the best part about lgc members/writers (characters or muns!) i wish i could give a special shoutout to each person, but that will quite literally take me a year so i apologize that i’m taking the easy road out. i think the best part about our members is just their willingness to help, whether it be helping others understand the points process, what is needed for an event, or just any of the other logistics that might lead to confusion. it puts a smile on my face to see that teamwork and selflessness exhibited by so many of you. when we mention that we’re stressed, there is never a shortage of eager hands being raised to offer help, and we always appreciate that. i think it’s not easy being a big group, and it can be easy to feel left out, so i just continue to applaud those who really help to make people feel at home! 4) anything else you would like to mention? 2020 has certainly been a wild roller coaster ride, but it’s certainly been made better by getting to write and interact with all of our members. i hope that those i haven’t had a chance to write with yet that i will get to do so soon! thank you all for your continued support and i hope everyone has a happy holidays and a happy new year! may 2021 be a better year for all of us! thank you also to leaf for organizing this! you’re truly a trooper for putting together this special treat for our members ( and months ago for doing it for the admin staff as well )! always appreciate your thoughtfulness in spending the time to think of others. ❤️
admin a, writer of @lgcaeri, @lgceunhye, and @lgcsanghyun says: 1) what is your favorite part about being a mod? my favorite part is seeing people’s reactions to everything we do in lgc and using some of those elements to help build their character or celebrate their accomplishments. a good example of this are the events that have been revealed in the past and reading the reactions and feedbacks encourages us to think more about what kind of events we can make or improve on! 2) what is the most memorable moment from being a mod in lgc thus far? i’ve only been here for a short period so i can’t quite name a lot, but the one that i can think of on top of my head is during the end of the trimester. it’s usually the busiest time for us for several reasons, but it feels the most rewarding to me personally because behind the scenes, we really try to make sure that everything goes smoothly. add that everyone is so patient during those times and we really appreciate it! i personally want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all of the positive messages and support you have sent to us! it really means a lot to us! ❤️ 3) what is the best part about lgc members/writers (characters or muns!) i mentioned this previously in the one year anniversary post, but i would say it’s the community that has been created and developed over time. it’s gone through a lot and the fact that we’re still active now still shocks me sometimes! aside from that, i would also say reading through the solos and posts that we see on the dash (and yes, we see what is going on 👀). while there is so much that i don’t know about everyone’s muses, sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and see what everyone has been up to lately.
admin c, writer of @lgcxking and @lgcjin says: 1) what is your favorite part about being a mod? for me it’s seeing members get excited about events that we put out, and creating new canons based off them. i don’t think i would be able to keep being an admin if i didn’t feel this sense of wonder and excitement coming from everyone! 2) what is the most memorable moment from being a mod in lgc thus far? i’ve probably mentioned it way too often by now, but when we created lgc we expected it to die off after a couple weeks/months. we never expected to last so long and it wasn’t easy in the beginning, but after a while, i’d say around october/november, we started welcoming a lot of new muns that have become such an integral part of the rp. the fact that we’d have enough members to form a lot more than one group for each gender is amazing in itself. and the 2020 family concert really had me realize just how far we’ve come! to see all of those muns and muses experiencing it for the first time even though they’ve been in the rp for so long and achieved so much. 3) what is the best part about lgc members/writers (characters or muns!) i don’t want to name anyone in particular because i’d want to talk about everyone and that’s impossible, but like i mentioned above, it amazes me whenever i see everything that the muses have achieved in a year. i think i realize now just how many events we put out LMAO. some muses are fairly new but are already on future dreams or lgc girls japan, others have begun acting, producing, hosting, etc. i always love to see the very detailed plan everyone has for their characters and even though it might take a while to happen ic, it’s important to set goals! some that might not even happen in a near lgc future, but it gives such life to muses. i also love seeing friendships form, relationships grow, suddenly being on dash and realizing that a muse FINALLY confessed to another, or sometimes just discovering important information through someone else because we can’t possibly read every single thread on dash (i’d love to, though, trust me). there’s a ton of people i haven’t interacted with yet on my muses, and i would sooo love to do it but with the amount of work that goes behind the scenes… let’s just say though that we love every single muse and i’m probably a bigger fan of them than you are!!!!! 4) anything else you would like to mention? small mention to you, leaf, for doing this! thank you for the love and care you put into these types of projects it’s very cute ;; we really liked getting messages from members last time too. also, to anyone reading this, just know that we’re glad you’ve decided to join us on this legacy journey!!!! why do i feel like i’m ending this too dryly but I LOVE YOU GUYS and thank you for all the support, patience, understanding and time investment <333
admin y, writer of @lgcjaehwa says: 1) what is your favorite part about being a mod? i'd say seeing members dropping random appreciation posts and messages would be my favorite part! there were times where i tend to overthink and become a mess. although it may just look like a simple ask, random messages like these really makes my day. 2) what is the most memorable moment from being a mod in lgc thus far? my first 'project'! its something i planned all by myself and to receive positive feedbacks makes me feel proud of it! i'm usually pessimistic when it comes to myself so this is really a big deal for me. this project is not out yet but will definitely be revealed in the future ;) 3) what is the best part about lgc members/writers (characters or muns!) the best part is of course the community!! i never expect myself to stick to a rp for this long. there is this saying, 'the muns keep the rp running'. without you guys, lgc will not be where we are today! 4) anything else you would like to mention? i just want to say that although i'm not close with everyone, i do hope i can get to know more lovely people here! and i thank you guys for staying with us throughout this journey. i'm sure lgc will still continue to stand strongly for the months or even years to come <3
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Binged The Owl House in one sitting recently and besides the interesting chemistry Luz has with Eda being such a rough around the edges mother figure catching my intrigue and Eda & Lilith’s very complicated sibling history between each other, another highlight of the series that struck a serious chord with me would have to be Amity Blight’s character arc and her development thus far.
In its first several episodes the way Amity acted caught my interest. Particularly her interactions with Luz in early episodes gave me the idea that she was raised to be an arrogant student not only due to the stereotype of magical natural talent she was born into that was expected by her peers, but also that she had an abusive upbringing, much like Pacifica Northwest from Gravity Falls. However, what sets Amity apart from Pacifica’s much harsher attitude in Season 1 is that she isn’t as intense as the latter was per say to the main character of their own respective series anyways. Amity in the Covention episode lashes out at Luz when she’s faced with the reality that Lilith had amplified her magic powers in the Witch’s Duel against Luz, showing her serious insecurities and visible regret for how much she’s had to sacrifice up to this point, like say her close friendship with Willow, to achieve what she’s been forced to believe is the “correct” path. This is more than just being upset at what happened in their Witch’s Duel. It’s Amity showing the years of regret she’s been bottling up and seeing that it hasn’t made her feel any happier about the choice of reluctantly following what her parents demanded the kid follow. Mae Whitman’s performance really nails that.
Pacifica took until Season 2 of Gravity Falls to actually start really socializing with Dipper & Mabel Pines, but Amity here is more than willing to interact with Luz from the get go, despite how much of snobby attitude she tries to carry at first. Even so much as encouraging and in a sense compliment Luz, too. Amity makes a strong first impression of being a kid with a lot on her plate emotionally to deal with, as well as lingering regrets of turning into what she is currently. The writers did an impressive job of hitting this right spot that while Amity can be a jerk, she isn’t without her moments of moral clarity either in Owl House’s starting round of episodes. That’s never an easy thing to accomplish in writing like this. It’s no wonder Amity started to have an eventual romantic connection with Luz, given that no matter how much of the odds are stacked against her capabilities, she still aspires to be what resembles her inner desires and that’s something Amity was robbed of in early childhood. Luz’s unwavering determination is bringing out the best in her conflicted nature as a blossoming aspiring Witch. That’s why she broke the Everlasting Oath between them at the end. Amity’s respect for Luz was beginning to grow toward her optimistic nature.
Human’s don’t have magical capabilities, but I doubt that will stop you.
Soon afterwards we get to see another big hint laid out of Amity’s family background and how that reflected upon the kid’s emotional growth in the episode, Lost In Language. Amity’s older siblings, while nothing like her parents, do like to tease her a lot. So much so, they wanted to go the extra mile and make copies of her private diary to not only get back at her uptight attitude, but also teach her a lesson about lightening up as a person and spread those copies around school, which Luz doesn’t take that idea too well. That was when the notion really started to cross my mind more that Amity most likely had very tough parents that contributed to her stunted emotion issues. There’s clearly makings of a troubled family life that stirred up Amity’s behavior into becoming this cold, emotionally distant, and harsh character. Quite a few poetic seeds are planted throughout Lost In Language’s story that surround Amity’s character and the kid herself comes to a realization that she needs to be better.
I saw that human girl again. I may have overreacted. I don’t want to come off as cruel. I just can’t show weakness.
I’ve been trying to figure out what your deal is. Are you a poser? A nerd? I know... you’re a bully, Luz.
Why are you doing this!? I’ve been reading you since I was kid! I know you’re not like this! Someone changed you!
Maybe you’re not a bully. I haven’t exactly been the friendliest Witch, either. I’ll think on that...
All of this comes to a headway in my favorite episode centered around Amity’s character, Understanding Willow. This story hit all the right notes for me on what a character’s redemption arc should be like. The emotional payoff between Amity & Willow’s dramatic tension against each other is terrific, as it shows both perspectives are empathetic. You feel for Willow getting turned down so badly by her best friend and being led to believe that she wasn’t good enough for Amity. However, you feel for Amity too because she only turned away Willow to save her from never being able to attend the same school since her parents threatened to pull strings to have their way, giving this a bittersweet new light over Amity’s conflict with Willow. Regardless, this doesn’t take away from Amity’s actions either that are brought into question by Willow’s emotional manifestation of raw anger. Amity may have been manipulated by her parents that much is greatly true, but who is to say she couldn’t have eased up on Willow after cutting her off as a friend? Amity’s parents aren’t obviously always around, so whenever she was at school Amity could’ve simply not just paid her any mind at least, instead of going above and beyond to mock Willow as a late magical bloomer with help from her so called friends too for years no less. That’s what made this episode around Amity a real stand out. Amity understands that she gets a fair share of the blame for treating Willow the way she did and could’ve made things easier for her former friend at school, as well. This particular statement from Amity’s deep remorse spoke to me.
That line, “I was too weak to be your’s...”, made me tear up because I’ve had my own fair share of being a shitty person to an old former friend I used to speak to years ago before having a nasty falling out with him. Granted, he was toxic toward me and did some nasty stuff, but I also returned that toxicity back at him, which only added more fuel to the fire between us and ended the friendship on bad terms. I did email him months or so later to clear the air giving my sincerest apologies, regarding being so awful toward him after seriously reflecting on it afterwards and went my separate ways from there. The point I’m trying to make here is I understand Amity’s pain of hurting someone you once had as a friend and feeling so terrible after the fact. This is where I grew to love Amity’s arc because even after she’s apologized for all the crap she put Willow through, she doesn’t look for forgiveness, but only wants her to know the painful truth.
Amity’s one of my favorite characters from Owl House for how well they tackled the idea of someone who was once close with someone, but had a falling out, due to an abusive upbringing that had a negative affect on their personality.
Can’t wait to see more of her development in Owl House’s future.
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Rampant spoilers for the anime "Super Cub" after the jump, for those of you who want to avoid such. As much as it should be obvious, below are my personal opinions and what I experienced in watching the show, so YMMV.
I've had a few days to mull over my thoughts on the whole matter since that initial kneejerk post (ie, ramble at my ever-patient roommate about stuff she barely tolerates). My thoughts have come to the conclusion that I'm more annoyed with the writers' direction than the protag Koguma herself. As I thought back on it, I felt as though Koguma suddenly went rather out-of-character for how she'd been depicted thus far shortly after the introduction of Shii. It felt as though Shii took on the role that Koguma had previously filled while Koguma became more like Reiko, which is two Reikos too many if you ask me.
From the get-go I was all rooting for Koguma. She was a very sympathetic character dealt a brutally raw deal, and I was keen on seeing her finally get a break. The show did a great job of highlighting those moments of sedate depression and momentary surges of happiness that covered her day-to-day life. Given how much I outright hated Reiko (seriously, this girl is an inconsiderate pain in the ass), having her around made Koguma all the more likeable. Doubly so when Koguma started calling out Reiko on her bullshit as they settled into an old-married-couple sort of dynamic. Reiko is like some kind of weird inversion of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope, where all her antics are just self-indulgent rather than a mere plot device to fix the protag's life. While she undeniably has a positive influence on Koguma's life and the two make a good pair, I can't shake my constant annoyance with how selfish Reiko is. Koguma was a hard counter to Reiko and it made their interactions a lot more fun.
So then we have the introduction of Shii: the purest of cinnamon rolls. Shortly after Shii's arrival into the story, Koguma suddenly started acting more like Reiko. Both Cub-riders acted aloof and superior because of their Cubs (normally it was just Reiko doing that, but Koguma started too), Shii was constantly being left behind, and despite her efforts to be their friend they just blew her off whenever they pleased. I started to get that sinking feeling when Koguma and Reiko visited Shii's family cafe when they stuck around just long enough to have a free cup of coffee, then immediately bailed and ditched Shii when the urge to do something with their bikes came up, leaving Shii confused that they weren't going to stick around and visit any longer. That struck me as this sort of "wow, they're being extremely rude and taking her for granted..." kind of moment. And it just kept happening! I get that we only see glimpses of the overall progression of time throughout the girls' year and there were surely plenty of off-screen visits where they actually hung out together. But all we as the audience get to see were these highlight moments that made Koguma and Reiko seem like lousy friends just taking advantage of Shii's kindness.
Things really came to a head in the pivotal winter episode, since that one rang weird against everything building up to it prior. The writing had made a big to do for a good three episodes prior about how winter is a major problem and dangerous, especially for bike riders. The Cub-riders spent that entire time worrying about it and taking precautions to protect themselves from the cold. Then, in the spirit of having a good time, promptly went and frolicked about in the snow on their Cubs while discarding all their protective gear down to t-shirts (because falling off your bike at high-speeds is just good fun, apparently?). Which didn't do any favors toward the whole "not being good friends to Shii" when Shii voiced disappointment on them not even thinking to invite her at all. Then, later on in the episode when Shii crashes into the river, Koguma is massively foolhardy and channeling the full force of the Honda marketing team with the idiotic "My Super Cub is coming to the rescue" bullshit. Friend potentially injured and suffering hypothermia after being stuck in an ice-cold river in the middle of winter for hours? Just strap her to the front of the Super Cub like Mad Max: Fury Road! Wind chill by driving at high-speeds in the middle of the night in winter isn't a problem to someone who's already soaking wet and chilled to the core, right? Call an ambulance? The police? Her parents? Nah. Who needs that? We have "THE SUPER CUB". I mean, seriously, Koguma couldn't have at least ditched her storage bin off the back of the bike and let Shii actually sit on the bike to hold onto her, or given the freezing, injured tiny girl her winter coat to try and protect her, or do anything beyond the bare minimum to show some level of emotional concern and willingness to sacrifice for her supposed friend?
It's an outright miracle/convenience of the plot that Shii didn't suffer massive consequences as a result of her accident and Koguma's foolishness. After the fact, while Shii is recovering at Koguma's apartment, neither Koguma nor Reiko show the least bit of concern for her even when she has an outright emotional breakdown; hell, Reiko's selfishness is on full display throughout, both toward Koguma and Shii regardless. Reiko actually has the poor taste to celebrate the whole mess when Shii's parents give the girls free food for a year out of gratitude for saving their daughter! Then afterward, when the girls go on their Spring-seeking road trip, it wasn't even framed as a way to try and ease Shii's trauma from her experience but just as something they wanted to do because they were sick of the winter interfering with their ability to ride their Cubs as much as they pleased. By the final episode, when Koguma's inner monologue echoes the sentiment she'd voiced throughout - that she has no family, no friends, no hobbies or goals - I was expecting the obvious change in her acknowledging that, yes, she now did have at least some of those things. In that scene she was literally riding alongside her new friends on their Cubs, which certainly qualified as a hobby. But, nope! She reiterated that her situation hadn't changed at all, but that it was okay because she had her beloved Super Cub to give her life some meaning, and any improvements she experienced were solely due to it.
It just... it all left a really bad taste in my mouth. I get that the anime was ostensibly a big Honda commercial at its core, sure, but it really felt like the writing sacrificed the quality of both characters and story for the sake of pushing how amazing their bikes are. Koguma herself shifted from being a no-nonsense, methodical sort of person to being reckless and callous like Reiko, then stopped being an actual character and just a vehicle - pun always intended - for talking up the Super Cub. The last time Koguma felt like Koguma, to me, was right when Shii was introduced and she wanted to try and help out using their bikes to solve a problem, which she never would have/could have done prior. The overall shift away from Koguma's core and into some kind of semi-Reiko/overt Honda shill got ridiculous and frankly really annoying for me.
#super cub#anime#spoilers#all this said I would really like to see some kind of crossover with Laid Back Camp#Apparently Super Cub also takes place in the same universe as Non Non Biyori and that's adorable
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I love rose garden 😍
I think oscar hasn't dated much at best maybe a girl or to in school or a girl is age is ant set him up with ,so he maybe knows how to date,
I don't think ruby dose,I don't think her date let her date,am after becane fail ,I don't think dating on her mind but I think at some point after,salem gone
Ruby and Oscar will start dating as the show ends I could maybe see them having an on screen kiss in the last volume
Do you think ,rose garden will kiss or date
Sorry if u been ask this be for
You and I share the same sentiments about this wholesome ship between these two budding smaller, more honest souls, anon-chan. Personally I agree with you on thinking that Oscar has probably never dated or been in a romantic relationship before. My assumption is that Oscar has lived a pretty sheltered life with his only source of human contact and companionship being his family back on the Pine Family farm.
Since Oscar stated that he never met huntsmen and huntresses before back in V5, my assumption was that he and his aunt probably lived in the middle of nowhere in Anima where the closest neighbours were probably towns away. Either that or many of their local neighbours moved to the kingdom for the protection of the huntsmen. That being said, my hunch was that Oscar didn’t interact much with kids, especially ones around his age growing up which would explain his social awkwardness when meting RNJR for the first time. At least he’s courteous to adults highlighting a good boi (best boi) who was raised right by his family.
I also liked the thought of Ruby being the first girl Oscar ever truly had a genuine crush leading to those feelings ultimately evolving into love. Looking at Oscar, I more saw him as being one of those types who didn’t really bother much about romance; so much so that I imagined Oscar would be so inexperienced to love that he wouldn’t even realize his own feelings until someone else had to help him make the realization for himself.
I saw Oscar as the type who only allows love to blossom if it’s with someone he trusts wholeheartedly since to him, trust is everything and he’s not one to open his heart to any and every one. But once he does and he’s found the one who has tamed his heart, he will be ever devoted to said person; loving and supporting them unconditionally with every bit of his being.
I pictured Ruby being the same as Oscar. For me, I think outside of admiring them in her favourite childhood fairy-tales and supporting the relationships between her friends in real life, Ruby is quite the little red novice to romance herself. I perceived her as not really being all that interested in romance too since the feeling has never really hit her before. Unlike other characters she might know, the little light of love has never sparked in Ruby before so much like Oscar, she strikes me as being another who probably wouldn’t realize she was in love with someone even if Cupid damn right thwacked her over the head.
That being said, this is what makes the potential of a Rosegarden romance so fascinating to me and why I like it so much. At the end of the day, Ruby and Oscar are just two kids fitted with roles of responsibility beyond their years. They are both often looked to as figures of guidance and wisdom or at least are expected to. All the more reason why I love how the show has highlighted the two showing support for one another since, within our main group of young heroes, they share the most in common (at least in my humble opinion) and can understand each other in ways unique to them; thus making their bond more meaningful than any others they might share.
At this point, I can’t really say whether or not romance is in the cards for the rosebuds. Don’t get me wrong. As I’ve voiced multiple times in the past, this squiggly Rosegardening Pinehead is all for Ruby and Oscar falling in love with each other (particularly if it parallels the Fairy-tale romance that happened between Ozma and Salem a long time ago only with a much happier ending and happily ever after). I’m down for a Rosegarden romance but whether that will be is up to the showrunners. I’m not sure if Ruby and Oscar will “date” but I do like the idea of them sharing an onscreen kiss.
As a matter of fact, once upon a time, long before it was revealed that Oscar will be kidnapped by Salem, I was one of the theorists who kept advocating for it. Therefore I had concocted this scene in my head where Salem gives Atlas an ultimatum to surrender Oscar over to her in exchange for sparing the kingdom from annihilation. And while his comrades were strongly against this, Oscar, on the other hand, had made up his mind that he was willing to trade his own life if it meant the protection of everyone.
I had this scene of Ruby and Oscar professing their true feelings for one another after Ruby desperately tried to convince Oscar not to give himself up to Salem. I had this idea of the Rosegarden first kiss mimicking the first on-screen kiss between Katara and Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
In that series, Aang kissed Katara after expressing his concerns of never returning from confronting Fire Lord Ozai. And as Katara goes in to object, Aang kisses her on the spot as his way of letting Katara know his true feelings for her just in case he never got the chance.
For me, I pictured something like this being done for Oscar with Ruby. With him kissing her as a means of letting her know right then and there how much he loved her; just in case he didn’t return to her in the event that Salem killed him.
I even had this idea of “I love you” being the very last thing Oscar says tearfully to Ruby before he is taken prisoner by Salem and she and the others are left to die in the destruction of Atlas Kingdom. Even if we never get a Rosegarden onscreen kiss, I personally would still like the show to confirm Oscar having feelings for Ruby.
The longstanding Pinehead headcanon is that Oscar has a crush on Ruby and has been in love with her since the moment he looked into his silver eyes; paralleling the young man who met the lone Silver Eyed Warrior in the Warrior in the Woods tale from Fairy Tales of Remnant.
That being said, I’m waiting (ever so patiently) to see if the show would…y’know…do something more to make the notion of Oscar being in love with Ruby more official since I feel like they’ve been more or less teasing that since V5. It’s obvious that Oscar cares a lot for Ruby. It’s clear that he admires her and looks to her as a symbol of hope. However at the same time, it is also clear that Oscar acknowledges Ruby’s vulnerability (the side that she rarely likes to show but is evident to certain characters like Oscar and even Maria Calavera and of course, us as the audience) and the huge burden of responsibility placed on her shoulders and does his best to support her when he can in his own way.
But does this mean that Oscar is in love with Ruby? I’d like to think he is but I’m waiting on the canon to confirm since I feel like they’ve building up to it since the very moment Oscar met Ruby. I don’t know whether or not romance is in the cards for the rosebuds but what I can say for sure is that something important has been building between these two kids since V5 and I’d like to think thatV8 is the time to actually prove this or not since Oscar is expected to be taken by Salem at some point.
Not to mention that he’s also supposed to be dead a la Ironwood and I’m still waiting to see if that will be mentioned at any point by Ironwood when RWBN_P go to confront him up in Amity.
But we’ll have to wait to see what happens anon-chan. But whether or not, Rosegarden is carded to be together or not, let me say this, fam. I’ve voiced this point possibly several times in the past but given the nature of this fandom and how certain-certain shippers are behaving these days, this squiggle meister is going to make this firm statement.
Just like you anon-chan, I love Rosegarden too (if it isn’t obvious already XD). As a RWBY ship, they are my OTP and I adore this ship very much for the potential it has. Despite my own personal gripes with the writing of the show, if there is one thing I will give to the CRWBY Writers is that thus far, I’ve enjoyed the progress they have made with the growing bond between Ruby and Oscar. It is thanks to them and the things they have done with these two why I like them so much and humbly look forward to whatever else they have in store for their growing bond.
That being said, while I might love Rosegarden and why I may even wish for the series to pursue a romance with them---at the end of the day, that is NOT my ONLY motive for supporting this pair. It’s not even my main motive.
I don’t love Rosegarden solely because I want the showrunners to make them endgame and should the showrunners not do so, I will hate them forever. That’s NOT it. That’s not how I am as a person. I have always, ALWAYS said that whatever the showrunners do with this pair---whether it becomes a romance or stays purely platonic, I will respect it.
And even now, as we’re entering a new season, I stand by that. Regardless of what the showrunners choose to do with Rosegarden, as a supporter of the pair, I will respect it and it will NOT deter me from giving the pair as much love and support as I’ve always done.
Basically---in a nutshell, if Rosegarden becomes canon, this squiggle meister will support it. But if Rosegarden doesn’t become canon, guess what? This squiggle meister will still love and support it. How about that, huh?
I feel the need to express this now because there honestly seems to be this weird vibe in the FNDM in respect to Rosegarden and its community. It always annoyed me how certain-certain shippers and their respective community would go around the place acting as if their favoured ship was better than others even going so far as to bully other shipping communities because of it. In my opinion, there is no need for that. Just like what you like. Enjoy it however you wish and be respectful enough to allow others to do the same. That’s how I’ve always looked at it and that’s how I move.
And that’s one thing that made me appreciate the RG community. For the most part, all of us share that same sentiment. We love our ship but we respect other ships and their respective shippers. Probably because some RG shippers are multi-shippers. While I’m not a multi-shipper--- since I more tend to latch onto one favoured ship and stick with it till the end---this is one thing that I liked and respected a lot about the RG community.
…Which is why it honestly disgusts me when I see the things that certain-certain shippers say about us.
What’s even worse is that even when we attempt to defend ourselves, somehow that proves to make things worse than better because then other certain-certain shippers start implying that we’re fighting a war with certain-certain ships when in reality, we’re not fighting anything. We’re just shielding ourselves against the nonsense the other people are sparking.
We didn’t start the fire yet…we’re being held responsible for it by association and even when we try to out the fire, somehow we still get chastised both by the folks who hate us and the ones we hoped would understand. It is honestly a mess and if you’re unware of it then stay oblivious, fam.
For the longest while I have heard stories about the toxicity within the RWBY shipping communities. But back in those earlier times, the toxicity was mainly contained to a few certain-certain ships and their shippers. Now it may seem that the toxicity is starting to spread into the RG community. Not in the form of us becoming toxic ourselves in our own behaviour towards other ships but more in the sense of certain-certain shippers kicking up dirt and trying to start fights with the RG community by making arguments against us whether it be here on Tumblr or Twitter or the dreaded cesspool that is the RWBY Reddit community.
And…sadly to say, I’m seeing some of my fellow Rosegardeners taking the bait and…that honestly needs to stop.
That type of attitude is one of the reasons why I’ve started to slowly back out of the RWBY community. That doesn’t mean that I’m jumping ship. I’m still following the RWBY train---just picture it more as me following it alone from the comfort and sanctity of my own little squiggle mobile gently chugger-chugging down the tracks. This way I can enjoy the show the way how I want to only engaging when I feel like it and more importantly, staying very, very, VERY FAR away from all the chaos that I’ve seen stirring up for seasons.
I still like the show and I’m still very much invested in seeing where it goes, particular with Rosegarden but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t becoming increasingly difficult for me to just enjoy the things that I genuinely like about RWBY.
Rosegarden and the development of these two smaller, more honest souls (individually and as a pair) are two of the things I still really like about RWBY. However I’m honestly tired of going on the tags and seeing my fellow RG shippers sharing and responding to the discourse surrounding the ship sparked by certain-certain shippers.
I’m tired of seeing all the weak strawman arguments made by said certain-certain shippers against RG and why they believe their ship is superior and more likely to become canon and whatever. Like seriously? WHO CARES!
I’m tired of it all and I genuinely wish my fellow RG shippers would stop answering these types of people. When will you learn that you are fighting a losing battle? It doesn’t matter how many posts you make. How much good evidence you provide from the show or the showrunners. Even if you are in the right, it all doesn’t matter. These types of people don’t care. All that matters for them is stirring up nonsense and throwing hissy fits when they don’t get their way. It is childish behaviour at display and nothing anyone says will stop it. So why even bother to entertain it at all?
This is not me trying to knock down my fellow Rosegardeners in the RG community or even me throwing shade at others to “start shit”---I’m just…tired! Tired of seeing that shit, y’know what I mean?
Shipping is supposed to be fun. Happy fun times where you get to gush and nerd out about your favourite pairings, not really because them becoming canon was all that important but just because you like it. What happened to just liking something and having a perfect platform to like it and enjoy it with others who feel the same way about it with you…IN PEACE? No malice. No disrespect. No fighting over which ship is going to be canon endgame (as if the canon means jack-shit in the long-run because look at Zutara, Sheith and Klance for Pete’s sake). I dunno. Overall, I’m just tired of the RWBY shipping community as a whole and it’s becoming tough just to have fun being a Rosegarden shipper anymore. So I think stepping back is a good way to go.
Sorry if this response went off course anon-chan. It’s just that your question motivated me to express things that’s been on my chest for some time. I hope you don’t mind and hopefully I was able to give you a decent answer in all of this. Feel free to let me know or not.
~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)
#squiggles answers: rwby#oscar pine#ruby rose#oscar and ruby#rwby rosegarden#rwby theories#rwby volume 8 theories#Anon-ninja#squiggles answers
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Elinor (My Apprentice OC)
pls don’t say Bonjour to me ,-,
However, I hope I did nothing bad if I say that my OC is the apprentice , I only step back a little from the canon(?) I’m sorry ..Just questions are very suitable,_, I'll probably skip some questions >~<Next time I will use this template on real OС, I hope you do not get mad at me
I think the same way to arrange Ask with her, maybe this will also help me develop her as a character.
Finally,after the hundredth attempt to draw my apprentice, since I represent her,I succeeded, now I’m going to the second round of hell - information about her. Honestly, this is a whole hurricane of thoughts in my head,and soon I’ll lose my mind, seriously ,_,
Although what I’m talking about, in my head a mess reigns, reigned and will always reign(yaaaaaaiii)
By the way, so that some have visual representations about Elinor (Yes, maybe I will use different versions of her name( Eleanor, Elenore, Eleonora, Eleonore, Elinor, Elinore, Ellinore, Elynor, etc. XD, not a canon)
So as not to go crazy, I’ll just answer the questions posed by @apprenticealec (thank you very much QwQ)I will also add my items. Just really liked the questions, sorry again!
Let’s begin!
1. What is their occupation in the Arcana World?
In the Arcana world, Elinor’s occupation is to develop her magical skills. In addition, she’s very interested in legends and various nationalities, languages and cultures, for the most part, because in this way she hopes to stumble on something,that will lead to memories of her past.She strives to learn all that is possible.Therefore, when Elinor gets into the palace library, she’s simply cannot be pulled out of there.
Closely related item: Dreams and Desires
Elinor often sees homeless and hungry people, sometimes even very talented, but who do not have anything to somehow light up in society or develop further. Therefore, its goal is to solve this problem as soon as possible. She dreams of creating an academy where children from various sectors of society can study, as well as a charity in favor of those in need.
2. Where are they from?
In fact, Elinor came from a fairly kingdom called Augusay.The power of the kingdom lay, naturally, in the presence of its strong warriors and magicians, who came from some ancient clans, each such clan differed in magical priorities. For example, once on the territory of the kingdom, there was a clan of magicians named Haiko, magicians in this clan were distinguished by both white and black magic. There are legends that once a powerful warrior Haiko Ken was able to defeat a nine-tailed fox - a demon who penetrated into a world in which harmony and good reigned. However, demon's killer cannot remain an ordinary mortal. Ken was cursed, devil left his mark on him, since then demonic blood flowed in warrior’s veins, and sometimes Ken turned into a monster, which he seemed to have killed. Fortunately, Ken met a beautiful sorceress who helped him control the curse. They had children who transmitted both magic from their mother and the demonic curse from their father, thus forming the Haiko clan, a clan in which reigned balance between demonic power and white magic.From such a clan came the mother of Elinor - Aurora,who was the queen of Augusay. At the moment, any mention of the kingdom and its memory were mysteriously destroyed, as if it had never been.
3. Do they have any family members?
Haiko Akane (Elinor’s mother - Queen of Augusay ) - died by demon Lilith when Elinor was 3 years old
Haiko Fuji (Elinor’s grandfather - And also the most strict teacher, whom Elinor hated and loved at the same time when she was child/teenager. Come on he hit her head with his huge damn stick when she was doing something wrong, a terrible old man.) - Oh yes, baby he saw dinosaurs, what are you talking about? (Joke.Yes, he is alive).
Carlisle Victor (Elinor’s father - King of Augusay) - died protecting the Augusay from the (army of demons) army of the Lilith (this is a long story).
Carlisle Anastasia (the illegitimate sister of Victor - Elinor’s aunt) - died of heart failure.
4. Where were they during the plague in Vesuvia?
Even before the plague appeared in Vesuvia, Elinor received a letter from her aunt Anastasia (who owned the magic shop), since Asra and Eleanor managed the shop, Elinor’s aunt lived on the territory of Venterre. In a letter, Anastasia wrote that her health was deteriorating due to severe heart disease, and she would like her niece to visit her. So Elinor spent enough time with her aunt, trying to maintain her condition and always be there so that aunt Anastasia would not be lonely. Before her death, Anastasia, who cared for Ellinore after her 18th birthday (since her memory was completely lost, like all the information and the kingdom of Augusay itself) and claimed that the girl’s parents were middle nobles , who were killed by robbers, wanted to admit that everything was wrong, she hid the girl’s past for her own safety.Perhaps Anastasia had not time or simply didn’t gain strength, but still could not tell Elinor the truth. So aunt only left her property, highlighting a large mysterious box that she had been hiding from her niece all this time.Elinor felt that something was wrong, but she did not have time to figure out how she found out that a plague epidemic had begun in Vesuvia. Naturally, she went there, because she was extremely concerned about the lives of people and friends she knew.
5. Where are they during the main Masquerade? Were they invited royals or just townsfolk who decided to stop in when Nadia opened it to everyone?
Aunt Elinor was known in the narrow circles of high society, despite the fact that she led an extremely unusual way of life for her status.Therefore, Elinor was invited royals to a masquerade. To say that she did something special during the masquerade, no. She was unusual to even be in such a crowd of people, she just wanted to distract herself from everything that had happened earlier, being at that time with Asra and Nadia, who were close enough friends for her.
10. What’s their idea of a perfect day?
Oh yahhhhhhh,in fact, everything is simple, the perfect day for Elinor This is the day when all her friends are nearby, happy, they are having fun as anyone can, well, actually this is all that is needed for happiness and the perfect day for Elinor (almost).
12. What’s one of their favorite memories?
This memory is extremely muddy, with every attempt to penetrate into it, Elinor almost faints. She remembers .. someone’s gentle warm voice, soothing, she remembers that someone sang a gentle cradle, as well as vague features of a woman’s face.
13. What’s one of their least favorite memories?
The moment in the dungeon with Lucio, at that moment she really was very worried and did not know what to do, although she tried not to show it so as not to make Lucio worry or blame himself if she had to sacrifice herself.
14. If they’ve interacted with (insert one of the Main 6 here) what is their opinion of them? If they haven’t interacted, what would their first impressions be?
(If I said anything above that I'm talking about ... oh, it's hard, just imagine that I crossed the MС, or rather an Apprentice with OС ?? :0)
Asra - Master? Master! Master!Maaaster! (agm, I’m sorry). Asra, in secret, her top friend. However, it is worth noting that he is also an authority and an important object for respect for Elinor, for the most part she treat him as an older brother or really as a teacher, although he most likely will not be happy about it.Everything is somehow complicated, he the best friend to whom she trusts even her own life and the at the same time hi’s a teacher to whom she tries too much respect. Like all her friends, Ellie wishes Asra only the very best. Not to say that she is an angel who cannot be offended or angry at anyone, since she really often was offended when Asra went away for a certain time without saying where and for how much, which made her very worried and worried.
Julian - Dear Mr. Ilya, say something bad about yourself and I will crush you with.. MY RASEN... I’m not serious person..Not to say that Elinor was shocked to find out that Julian Devorak was not at all connected with the murder of Lucio, despite his first EPIC appearance in her shop, which scared Elinor so much that she almost fainted and almost every time she met him didn't squeal ..It is not strange that even in the worm Eleanor will find something beautiful, Ilya is far from being a worm, he is a wonderful person who should not think of himself as any kind of monster or garbage, she rather found in him an unfortunate person who lost himself, who is exactly help is needed..
Portia - One Portia's smile and Eleanor’s day made. In her eyes, Portia is a wonderful, strong, cute, cheerful person, while they walked to the castle to Nadia, Elinor asked her a bunch of questions, even the most stupid ones, just to at least listen to her giggle or joke while answering them.When she met Ilya with tears in her eyes, believe me, Elinor inside was already dead, her brain simply could not digest the fact that bitter tears were rolling on the face of this beautiful cutie.In general, Elinor is very happy for Ilya, because she would like to have a sister like Portia. Although, all her friends are her family, which she loves and tries to show care and attention.
Nadia - For Elinor Nadia, authority is no less than Asra and not because of her social status. Elinor sees a patient, strong, kind and wise person in Nadia, to which she cannot but respect. Even the movement of the Nadia’s hands makes Elinor delight, well, this countess is too beautiful...Eleanor is very pleased to discuss with Nadia any important topics related to life, philosophy, art, she is always interested in the Nadia’s opinion. For example, when they argue about something, is it not a gross argument, even rather a reasoning? Oh my God, how she seeks to hear Nadia’s arguments, sometimes her thoughts can sit in Elinor’s mind for the whole day, night, week, month, she will return to this conversation 200 more times, only with other thoughts.
Lucio - please give him a chance ..She likes him the most, but ... what kind of sympathy I'm talking about, Elinor is deeply in love with him.Despite everything, the fact that he is a complete moron, selfish in the opinion of others, in her eyes he is the one who also needs help and support. In general, Elinor does not believe in bad people, for her there are people who make mistakes unknowingly, Lucio is one of those. Her opinion only gained a foothold after she began to pay attention to Lucio, and the more he changed, the more she loved him.She was very touched when he showed his concern, or at least somehow regretted his actions, she believes him, believes that he will never repeat his mistakes ..At the moment they have a very warm relationship, Eleanor really hopes that her other friends will also be able to change their mind about this goat man,and Lucio himself will become more loyal to others.
Muriel - This man deserves the best of this life, his appearance says absolutely nothing about him, so when he saw Elinor was not at all afraid. He is a gentle, kind person, and no matter how he pushes her away from him, no matter how she is annoying, she does not lag, she will do everything to make him feel freer, so that other people also see Muriel as a sweet, good-natured person.
15. Share a song that describes them or just fits their “vibes.”
Nandemonaiya
ROMAJI:
Futari no aida toorisugita kaze wa
Doko kara sabishisa wo hakonde kita no
Naitari shita sono ato no sora wa
Yake ni sukitootteitari shitanda
Itsumo wa togatteta chichi no kotoba ga Kyou wa atatakaku kanjimashita Yasashisa mo egao mo yume no katarikata mo Shiranakute zenbu kimi wo maneta yo
Mou sukoshi dake de ii Ato sukoshi dake de ii Mou sukodhi dake de ii kara Mou sukoshi dake de ii Ato sukoshi dake de ii Mou sukoshi dake kuttsuite iyou ka
Bokura TAIMU FURAIYAA toki wo kakeagaru KURAIMAA Toki no kakurenbo hagurekko wa mou iya nanda Ureshikute naku no wa kanashikute warau no wa Kimi no kokoro ga kimi wo oikoshitanda yo
Hoshi ni made negatte te ni ireta omocha mo Heya no sumikko ni ima korogatteru Kanaetai yume mo kyou de hyakko dekita yo Tatta hitotsu to itsuka koukan koshiyou
Itsumo wa shaberanai ano ko ni kyou wa Houkago «mata ashita» to koe wo kaketa Narenai koto mo tama ni nara ii ne Toku ni anata ga tonari ni itara
Mou sukoshi dake de ii Ato sukoshi dake de ii Mou sukodhi dake de ii kara Mou sukoshi dake de ii Ato sukoshi dake de ii Mou sukoshi dake kuttsuite iyou yo
Bokura TAIMU FURAIYAA kimi wo shitteitanda Boku ga boku no namae wo oboeru yori zutto mae ni
Kimi no inai sekai ni mo nanika no imi wa kitto atte Demo kimi no inai sekai nado natsuyasumi no nai hachigatsu no you Kimi no inai sekai nado warau koto nai SANTA no you Kimi no inai sekai nado
Bokura TAIMU FURAIYAA toki wo kakeagaru KURAIMAA Toki no kakurenbo hagurekko wa mou iya nanda Nande mo nai ya yappari nande mo nai ya Ima kara iku yo
Bokura TAIMU FURAIYAA toki wo kakeagaru KURAIMAA Toki no kakurenbo hagurekko wa mou ii yo Kimi wa hade na KURAIYAA sono namida tomete mitai na Dakedo kimi wa kobanda koboreru mama no namida wo mite wakatta Ureshikute naku no wa kanashikute warau no wa Boku no kokoro ga boku wo oikoshitanda yo
ENGLISH VERSION:
The sorrowful gust of wind that blew right between you and me Where did it find the loneliness it carried on the breeze? Looking up at the sky after shedding a stream of tears I could see for miles of blue, it's never been so clear Speeches that my father gave me would always make me despair Somehow, I feel a warmth and comfort today Your ever kind heart, the way you smile, and even how you find your dreams I knew nothing, so honestly, I've always copied you Now, just a little more Only just a little more Let's stay here a little longer now Now, just a little more Only just a little more Let's stick together just a little bit longer Oh yes, we are time fliers Scaling the walls of time, climber Tired of playing hide and seek with time and always coming just short Crying even when you're happy Smiling even when you're feeling lonely It's because a part of you Has made it here before the rest has I used to wish upon the stars, the toys that I once adored Forgotten now, are rolling 'round the corners of the floor Finally, my dreams have counted up to a hundred today Someday, I'll trade them all for just the very one Girl that I have seen in school, that never have told "hello" After class today, I waved and said, “See you tomorrow” It's not really that bad trying something new every once in a while Especially if I can do it with you by my side
Now, just a little more Only just a little more Let's stay here a little longer now Now, just a little more Only just a little more Let's stick together just a little bit longer Oh yes, we are time fliers, so, and I I knew who you were way before... Way before I even knew my own name There's no clue, but I'm sure, I swear Even if you're not around in this wide world Of course it surely would have some kind of meaning But if when you're not around in this crazy world Would be like the month of August without summer break And if you're not around in this great world Would be like Santa Claus without any glee If you're not around in this wide world Oh yes, we are time fliers Scaling the walls of time, climber Tired of playing hide and seek with time and always coming just short No, never mind that No, never mind what I said now 'Cause I'm on my way to you Oh, we are time fliers Dashing up the steps of time now No more playing hide and seek with you and time And always coming just short You're quite a showy crier Want to stop your tears, see your eyes drier But when I went to wipe your tears dry You refused but I saw them pouring down your face, I knew why Crying even when I'm happy Smiling even when I'm feeling lonely It's because the heart of mine Has made it here before my body
This song, oh yes, the song not only describes Elinor and her feelings, but it seems to me that this is exactly her voice I imagine.. ( Mone Kamishiraishi <3)
youtube
16. What do people assume about them at first glance?
In general, it’s hard for me to answer. Perhaps many people will perceive Elinor as the most ordinary girl, although it all depends on the situation and the person. For some, it may seem very creepy and mysterious. So that..
17. What’s something (personality aspects, body type, hobbies, etc.) that they find attractive in others?
Generosity, tolerance, understanding, loyalty, kindness, good sense of humor.
She doesn’t care about appearance, including body type.
As for the hobby. Hmm, most likely hobbies related to art, playing musical instruments, drawing, poetry and literature.Well, of course, magic-related hobbies
18. Do they have any hobbies?
Sure! Some have already been listed. Elinor also loves to cook, play keyboard musical instruments and sing.
19. Who’s someone that they just can’t stand? (One of the Main 6, another OC, etc.)
Another OC - Hushiba Madara >:0 (Her childhood friend with whom she competed. He often ran into her and did not even think when he said really offensive things in her direction. True, at the moment, Ellie does not remember about Madara absolutely nothing. I’ll actually make an answers about him, because he’s totally an OC)
Another OC - Demon Lilith
#kill my mind#arcana oc#the arcana apprentice#the arcana Elinor OC#my rave#OC art#the arcane game#the arcana lucio#the arcana nadia#the arcana mc#the arcana muriel#the arcane julian#the arcana portia#the arcana asra#bad english#so i'm sorry
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