#but only for the s2 promo images

[irate-iguana]

It’s reading week, which means I’m back on my bullshit (making art), folks.

Debating putting the Revenge in the background.

[helpfulbug]

genuinely hope they reissue the DVDs w better covers if iwtv gets more popular post netflix drop.....both are sooo bad

[percheduphere]

Okay. First post trying to use gifs properly. I've switched out improper gifs for these type for my last 3-4 posts. Gonna work on some more corrections tomorrow when I have time. Please let me know if I'm misstepping anywhere. Thanks for your patience! That said...

LET'S TALK ABOUT SYLVIE💕, INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM (SYLVIE & LOKI)✊🏽, AND QUEER REPRESENTATION (LOKIUS)🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️!

SYLVIE

I'm rooting for Lokius, AND I also love how much Sylvie has forged a life for herself in S2. A lot of her development is implied, so I think it's worth looking at her growth outside the context of Loki himself: She found a job, locals know her by name, she has friends and acquaintances, she has hobbies!

People call her by name in her timeline on 4 occasions:

1. When the McDonald's shift manager (John) checks in on her after work. See the kid with the tie in the image below. I couldn't find any gifs of him visiting Sylvie at her truck. She asked him if his mom was gonna pick him up to make sure he was gonna be okay late at night. 🥹

2. When a customer picks up their McDonald's order and thanks her (cheerfully). Also note how many employee stars she had on her badge! Queen.

3. Lyle at the record store. They seem like really good friends, and I got the "beginnings of an attraction" vibe between the two of them. Unfortunately, the gifs below are the only ones I could find of him and I'm still searching for the source. His interaction with Sylvie before spaghetti-trauma was so sincere. He could tell she was down and offered her Velvet Underground. Come on, that's a solid move.

4. Eric at the bar, who comments 2 shots of bourbon is a good choice. Let me tell you, finding a gif of Eric was like finding a needle in a haystack, but here he is leaning close to Sylvie. Thank you, @zehiiro!

I tried to find more gifs of all the people Sylvie has in her life but couldn't find any, which is a darn shame because there are so many subtle cues she's built a support system on her own and she's thriving.

She's a regular at many places in her timeline, and when people greet her, they do so with a smile. She loves music, a hard drink, and punk fashion.

When she engages with Loki, she may come across as cold, but I honestly think she's being firm with her boundaries and true to her beliefs. The TVA threatened her life for centuries. I don't doubt setting foot in the building is traumatic for her, which may explain why she was more harsh than usually in S2E4. Her psychological defenses were all on overdrive. Yet when Sylvie's in her own timeline, far away from the TVA, she can be her real self. Turns out, her real self is pretty well-liked! (I'll talk about how this is mirrored in Loki soon).

INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM

Sylvie's an unapologetically "selfish" woman who knows what she wants, wants it on her own, is doing it on her own, and isn't afraid to put her foot down when it comes to her personal boundaries. We should be applauding all of that!

This is exactly the kind of female representation we need, but the show did Sylvie a disservice in S1 by coming at her character as a love interest first (look at all the media promos classifying her as such) instead of more thoughtfully showing how badly she has been affected by the TVA and planting what her desires are throughout. If they had done this with more intention and finesse, her position in S2 wouldn't come off as completely irresponsible.

As a result of this apparent marketing and pre-production development decision, her perception as a character (by both lokius and sylki shippers) is muddled by the question of her relationship status with Loki. This truly isn't fair, most especially to Sophia Di Martino.

Of course, Sylvie isn't perfect. No well-written character should be. I just think she's cooler than she gets credit for precisely because her character arc doesn't require the fulfillment of a romance. She will be fine whether or not she ends up with Loki. It's very feminist!

Loki, in turn, found safety, belonging, and love at the TVA. All the things that are the complete opposite of Sylvie's lived experience. I often see fans complaining about how Loki is ooc in his own series.

The thing is, and Loki admits this himself: it's all part of an illusion.

This illusion started far before the first Thor movie. He comes from a hyper-masculine (dare I say toxic-masculine) warrior society. His true nature doesn't conform with this, so he has to overcompensate with some (genuinely awesome) bad assery.

BUT he doesn't like it.

As a comparison to a far lesser but more relatable degree: imagine putting on a customer service persona 24/7. UGH. It's just not sustainable without becoming increasingly angry and bitter, which is what Sacred Timeline Loki becomes. Mobius gets ahead of this.

In the series, Loki can finally TURN OFF that persona, and TURN IT ON again when it's needed (and fun!).

He also now has the freedom to be silly, expressive, and magical (unapologetically queer!) without anyone making fun of him for it.

The end result is a much calmer, happier, likable person (like Sylvie in her timeline, his defenses are no longer on overdrive!). Who shows him this is possible?

Here's the receipt:

QUEER REPRESENTATION

Sociopoliticaly, Loki and Mobius come from a different angle. A lot of men (cis, fluid, trans, or otherwise) struggle with the social expectation of burying feelings and never ever showing vulnerability, especially to another men. Now, some might argue that shipping men together perpetuates this construct. There's some truth to this, but only through the lens that it is shameful to be gay. In order to get to a point in society where there's no shame in being mistaken as gay (or queer, generally) when being affectionate with another man, there must be continuous positive representation of homosexual relationships in which the characters are not stereotypes. Loki and Mobius are exactly this, especially Mobius.

Whereas Loki, on Asgard, represents the openly queer oppressed (i.e. magic and cunning, qualities historically tied to witches or "immoral women" instead of brute strength), Mobius can represent the closeted repressed.

In S1, Mobius was much more uptight, rule-abiding, and just shy of holier-than-thou. The power structure in which he existed perpetuated this, until Loki reveals to him it was all a lie (an illusion).

In S2, he becomes more flexible, more fun-loving, and more expressive in his affection. In S1, most of his support of Loki manifested as words of affirmation. In S2, his support extended to physical touch and bonding. Mobius, if seen through the lens of a closeted man allegory, finds the courage (and partner) to slowly come out.

[darcytaylor]

Part of me finds ironic that LN asked the last two leads of Bridgerton for advice and the one he decided to follow was of the one who has not book anything in three years. L followed Rege's advice of having a hot/fuck boy summer insted of doing as JB and working in himself and surrounding with contacts and friends, as also Nicola did.

I understand that not all actors saw Hollywood as a stample of success and I really respect that, but I think L kind of thought that after the season came out, he will be so sought that he would not need to make an effort for having more roles. N knew that this was her time and worked hard to make her presence noticed without compromising her image.

Lots of people here pointed out that L didn't began to promote and interact with Bridgerton content until like two weeks before the first part was release (Polin week was disregarded) and now that the secord part is out, his SM is interacting non stop with Bridgerton's content, Nic understood that fan interactions were esential in this case and use that to her favor, she is so SM savy.

Now all this tirade was because yesterday I hear Nic's song and I noticed that they took away Luke's laugh, his laugh was one of the things that made that interview more hilarious and they took it away!!! That had to be a blow cos he is the one with a musical career to begin with.

To end this: You don't have to like all your favorite actor/singer/celebrity does, and is not bad or shameful to point out what you think of that as long as you don't participate in bullying, also let's remember that is not an obligation to stan someone.

"I reread my ask and I was not dissing Regé, only pointing out that he demostrate (at least with his actions) that the show was a bit below from him at that point and he wouldn't want to be associated with it any longer; at that moment he was hoping to launch a big career and he unfortunately lost that momentum for, among other things, lack of fan interaction and lost his media visibilty because he was not associated with the project in S2.

And perhaps at that moment, 3 years ago, following the advice of the "bigger star" made sense for L instead of JB's advice of work in a hard and steady way and enjoy the moment.

Also, thinking that in the BTS, he look so happy and pround of what he was doing and at the beginig of promo tour he looked a bit ashamed of the project, it was not after the big numbers come out that he look more at ease on SM and interviews, Nic helped him a lot in that regard. Just that."

When Luke was doing interviews he did mention that Rege told him to take a vacation before going into the press tour. While I believe that most people deserve a vacation, Luke may have gone a bit too hard on that.

I mean I work 40+ hours in a week and I get at maximum 3 weeks vacation in a year. I couldn't even image having months off at a time. I also work in a very stressful environment and could probably use more than my allotted time. If I was allowed, I would happily take more time off!

I do know that celebrities have a different lifestyle and they are also auditioning and you actually have to book something in order to work. It's a very hard industry (I can sympathize), and most actors are very grateful to be working.

I think/hope that Luke understands that he may have dropped the ball on his career. That he is hopefully looking at his options and knows where his downfall/s have brought him. But only time will tell if he actually sees some of the mishaps of his actions.

I do think that Luke hasn't been working his social media in a profitable way. Or in a way that could help boost his career. He really should take advice from Nicola or Johnny on this because they know what they are doing. It does seem to shock me that Luke can't seem to understand how his social media presence is bringing him down. It could be an easy fix to appease the fans, but he just doesn't seem like he wants to do that.

[jelly-of-many-ships]

COMPLETE OFMD S2 CONTENT LIST:

To anyone looking for a complete list of trailers, vids, and photos released for OFMD season 2, here ya go.

(I’m not rly active on anything other than tumblr rn so i’m sry if I missed smth)

! LINKS CONTAIN SPOILERS !

So, first of all we have the official teaser trailer, released on August 30th: TEASER LINK

On September 14th we finally got the full length trailer. I’m assuming we’ve all seen these already: TRAILER LINK

There was a promo vid containing new s2 scenes that some people were getting on their TVs and recording and uploading to twitter. What some people don’t know is that that the official OFMD facebook account recently uploaded the same promo thats actually good quality and not just recording off a tv screen. Anyways if there’s a scene you’ve been seeing but it wasn’t in the trailer or teaser, its probably here: PROMO VID LINK

Here’s the links to some of those twitter vids if you don’t know what i’m talking about: twitter vid, twitter vid, These have the same content as the facebook link, just shitty quality.

Oh also Vico Ortez (plays Jim) posts a lot of s2 things on their tiktok. Nothing with spoilers just BTS (not the k-pop band I swear to god) I guess this doesn’t count but some of it’s rly funny: Vico Ortez tiktok

PHOTOS:

The first batch of season 2 photos we got were from Vanity fair on august 24th, but those photos plus a bunch of others are now available together somewhere i’ll say in a sec. Here is the article that showed us the first look at s2: VANITY FAIR ARTICLE

So, warner bros discovery gave us an *almost* complete collection of currently released photos. This does include the vanity fair photos but most of these you can’t find anywhere else. they say which episode every photo is from and let you download them too which is pretty cool. The site also has some great articles in the media releases section but they’re not that relevant. Go to the images section to see the s2 pics: S2 PHOTO COLLECTION

The final thing I found was the exclusive photo “The Streamr” posted on twitter. In fact there’s this whole thing happening with the OFMD twitter fandom and The Streamr and apparently they’ve posted exclusive photos that aren’t in the Warner Bros collection. Once again I am not actively on twitter so I don’t really know that much. I was only able to find one exclusive image posted by them but if there are any more please let me know. THE STREAMR EXCLUSIVE PHOTO

EDIT: found another photo on twitter! YET ANOTHER EXCLUSIVE PHOTO

EDIT: There’s a S2 behind the scenes vid from the max YouTube channel and it’s got so many extra clips it’s practically a third trailer!!! Also apparently there are some more articles that just released and I’m a bit busy rn but I’ll find and add them soon behind the scenes vid

EDIT: OMG THE MAX YOUTUBE CHANNEL POSTED A SCENE FROM EPISODE 1 AND IZZYS CRYING AND THE CREW IS COMFORTING HIM ITS CANON S2E1 SCENE

that is all that I personally know of but if there is anything else you think should be included please add it or lmk, I want this to be a complete list. If anything new comes out I will try my best to add that as well.

I was pretty confused where everyone was getting all the s2 info and I couldn’t find a complete list anywhere so I decided to make my own. hope this cleared it up for anyone else🤗

[jakowskis]

torchwood resources

just some stuff i've accumulated during this fixation :) hope it proves handy :D

ianto's-desktop (livejournal) - archived most of the things found on the torchwood website during season 1 and season 2; the only thing missing is the videos. / note: click the headers of the posts to see the full thing, or some stuff with appear incomplete. took me a sec to figure out, lol

speaking of the website...

season 1 website (archive.org)

season 2 website (archive.org) - unlike the s1 website, the bulk of the s2 site's content is pretty inaccessible through the wayback machine (at least for me; maybe i'm doing something wrong), so thank g-d for ianto's desktop

there's also a good amount of rebloggable site content in this person's tumblr tag.

season 1 declassified (youtube)

season 2 declassified (youtube)

season 1 commentaries (mega.nz)

torchwood books (google drive) - gonna be honest, i haven't tried to download any of these myself

border princes audiobook (read by eve) + all of the radio plays (archive.org)

torchwood magazines (beta.reddit) - download links for all of them! p fuckin kewl

torchwood official yearbook (archive.org)

herecomesthedrums (youtube) - account that started posting before the show came out and is chock full of promos, trailers, interviews... some real fun goodies in there

torchwood: up close (youtube) - handful of bts videos with the cast + crew

season 1 unreleased tracks (soundcloud) - the end of days ones hrhghgh

out of time unreleased tracks (soundcloud) - i absolutely adore the music in this ep so i was so happy when i found these

the torchwood fanpop - this has sooooooo much content like i scrolled for a loooooong time and never reached the bottom. lotta stuff i hadn't seen before, too. there's fun hd promo pics, pics of the cast, and a lot of extremely early 2010s edits, graphics, and fanvids. / note: i also had this page bookmarked + it's got different content than the main page so i'll link it

aaand under the cut i'm gonna dump some silly stuff i've collected of the cast. but yeah, there ya go :-)

gally 2015: zip files of someone's pictures of eve, naoko, and burn (livejournal)

gally 2015: someone's account of the torchwood panels + meeting the cast (everyone was there but gareth!) - naoko & burn's solo panels / autograph table chats + barrowman photo-op + the naoko&burn&eve group panel / barrowman solo panel + burn&eve joint panel

dragon con 2013 (flickr) - i found two albums: this one, and this one, which has torchwood cast images on the first and second pages.

burn at chicago tardis 2012 (flickr) - ehehe 2012-2013 burn gorman w his classy little outfits my beloved. this is just hq pictures of that event. burn's in a bunch at the top and some at the end of the second page

the hub 2009 (flickr) - some kind of torchwood event. gareth, burn, eve, kai, and tom are all there. i dunno

hvff 2018: 'insights from the whole cast'

hvff 2018: video of everybody goofing off (twitter)

gareth endorsing owandy teehee (twitter) - this is getting dumped here bc im gay

sigh. (blogspot) - pics from that one fuckin 08 panel where gareth & john made out like 5 times + gareth took his jeans off for some reason. i don't even go here but i feel like this is unfortunately historically relevant. also the fujoshis in the comments are really funny

incomplete but sizable lists of cons gareth's been to and john's been to, in case anyone wants to dig around for photos/footage of any of these. the other cast members (excluding burn, for some reason) all have pages on this site as well, but theirs are super incomplete so i won't bother linking

[buffyfan145]

Just saw all the new "Rings of Power" s2 promo pics and spoilers that came out from Collider and so excited!!! 😀 We got info on multiple storylines and confirmed some leaks we had last year were right. Going to put this behind a cut.

From the pictures we got confirmation that Galadriel does get captured by Adar as one of the photos is her at a dinner with him!!! 😮 This actually makes sense story wise now as we all wondered how Sauron gets back in Eregion and it looks like we have our answer as Galadriel is gone, likely matching up that scene of her in the woods screaming. However, this also confirmed Sauron goes back to Eregion as Halbrand first as the other pic is of Halbrand with Celebrimbor!!! Then he switches to Annatar. There was a theory recently from fans that this might be the case as Halbrand and Celebrimbor bonded already at the end of s1, Galadriel supposedly only has told Elrond that Halbrand was Sauron and Elrond leads a rescue mission to find her leaving Eregion too, so Halbrand/Sauron can get back there with them gone.

It does make me wonder if Halbrand/Sauron is able to get into Galadriel's mind to know she hasn't told anyone too. Also, this explains why some fans were wondering why we only had limited info on Galadriel's storyline this season from the writers and Morfydd only saying so far that she learns to use Nenya, and that her and Sauron's mental bond grows where both are able to enter each other's minds and they have that "weird" connection through their rings that he didn't even expect, and that it lasts till the end of the LOTR books/movies. So now we know she'll be captive with Adar for a bit of the season too before the Battle of Eregion as all of them are on set fighting. And I'm curious to see Galadriel and Adar bond too as he is what she could've become if she said yes to Sauron/Halbrand's proposal, and there's been rumors of Adar switching sides in the battle with Sauron fully taking back power over the orcs. Not to mention if we'll get more Haladriel scenes this way too either before Halbrand/Sauron leaves and/or if he'll travel back and forth in animal form to visit.

Even more excited for season 2 with all this info!!! 😀

[stevespookington]

was going through the crew for the next couple of ted lasso images the other day and was scrolling through vanessa whyte's twitter when something caught my eye

this promo image was used for season 2 promo and just the shirt behind ted

just

and sure you could say "well thats just a random shirt in the background" but its also a shirt that was put there specifically for the promo images. everything in this show is intentional.

and what else happened between s1 and s2? trent crimms storyline was solidified (from the vulture interview)

and the strips are only on the shoulders so they would be covered up by teds contrast sweater/jacket combo

something something. ask more questions. something something. be curious not judgemental. something something "A friendly match takes the team to Amsterdam, where one night out unlocks truths for many."

also throwing in this screenshot of teds tweet cause

[piercemybluesky]

Post-Vol 0 & S2, I don't understand how anyone can ship Gojo with anyone else but Getou (or even believe Gojo's a hot daddy playboy snatching girls left and right???)

I know it's personal preference but they are so implicitly canon, whether they actually were tgt or not before it all went to hell, they care so so so deeply for each other, it can't be called anything else but love.

I wonder if it's culture diffs and tropes? Love is displayed differently on media (via paper or screen); western has a more outwardly explosive festivalistic idea of love, while eastern tend to incline towards the silently deep but strong image of love.

For example : proposing/confessing in public (actually doing it, not just watching it). There's so many cases in western media (even during concerts & involving the artists) and it is indeed, generally cheered on by the surrounding public making it a momentus occassion and seen as a managnamous gesture; whilst in the east the plan would barely even come to mind, - imagining it probably - but in reality, carrying the action itself would hardly ever come true (most would prob feel embarrassed/cringe/awkward).

JJK is literally made in Japan, so obv it leans more to the eastern media image, and the Gojo & Getou storytelling is one such example of that "eastern love" idea (also Muta & Miwa, Hakari & Hoshi), implied in many ways, without the actual kissing/sexual actions etc [and eastern's general iffy hush-hush on non-straight couple displayed on official media, so they gotta make it super lowkey too].

Seriously, the kissing scenes are always so dramatized in eastern media cuz they do it like ONCE in 50 episodes or smth, and by then you're just begging for it on ur knees, BUT it puts so much meaning in the moment actually happening like the characters reached a great milestone. So the eastern official media generally just don't display couply acts on screen, much less explicitly (but books are more flexible I think).

P.S btw chinese bl dramas are experts on being lowkey highly implied

yes!!!! as someone who only likes shipping canon/implied canon i get you a lot lol. like why would i play with other stuff when i have this...

i definitely think it's both a combination of cultural differences in media and homophobia. in western spaces it's an expectation for confirmed couples to be very physical like kissing on screen etc. you're right, even other couples like mutamiwa and kinkiras affections are generally quiet. it says a lot when our kisses in the stories are either cut-to-black or well. a roach wwwww, satosugu's actions are very well on par to what the couples i mentioned above do (especially with that soft romantic back and forth in this chapter!!!!! what!!!!!!!)

their love is so deep at this point i don't even think a kiss is necessary.

i also think it really is not just personal preference anon, as long as you look past the surface of it it's really clear what the intent between these two are :) and even now with everything that has released this year from the anime to manga to promo the romantic implications are on the surface now.

(on the topic of western/eastern tropes and depictions i think no one would be debating about the romance if the opening and ending lyrics were forced in non-JP audiences faces. it's really easy to search it up and both musicians have provided official translations but music lyrics aren't in everybody's interest. i wish the subtitles included lyrics 🥲)

[unicorn-academy-brainrot]

Do you have any thoughts on the UCA toys? And maybe what you’d want to see with the toys paired with the upcoming S2 stuff?

Yes!! I have many many thoughts. Too many, even, so prepare yourself for a giant infodump lol. I was gonna wait until I had all my dolls before posting about them but whatever haha, right now I have the Sophia and Ava fashion dolls and I'm waiting on the Isabel fashion doll and the mini Sophia/Wildstar duo to arrive.

When I saw THEEEE very first promo picture of the Sophia fashion doll my reaction was a very lowkey "eww....."... Like I thought it was very cool that they had made a doll but I wasn't super impressed by how it looked, and that it didn't really resemble the Netflix version of her super well. But honestly seeing the dolls in person changed my opinion of them quite a bit. I think they are really cute and actually quite well made in person, photos don't seem to do them justice!! They have a micro glitter to their skin which makes a really lovely sheen, and their hair is really soft?? I wouldn't go as far as to say it's soft like human hair but it's somewhere in the ballpark of very very soft synthetic hair, it has a really lovely quality to it that I could see a young girl really drawn to, especially with the little carebrushes included. Really satisfying to brush and the curls hold their shape quite well. Sophia's jacket is also quite a bit more holographic in person than in pictures. I think the face and body molds are really cute and well done!

I'm no doll reviewer by any means, but I think my biggest gripe with the fashion dolls is that the clothing in some areas feels cheap. I don't like that it looks printed and that the edges in some parts feel unfinished or unhemmed. For example, the neckline of Sophia's tank top is hemmed but the bottom edge is raw?? I was comparing the dolls to some of my early 2000s strawberry shortcake dolls and the SS dolls had better finished clothing! Which is soooo wild to me. I'm not sure exactly how to compare because the dolls are $20ish (in Canada anyways), and really nice fashion dolls like Monster High can be easily twice that amount. But I think if the clothing had an extra level of quality it would go really far because I actually quite like the other aspects of the dolls.

My other nitpick would be that Sophia's eyes in the show are a bit purple, but on her doll, she has brown eyes. Ava's eyes are also a strange mix that doesn't really look like her green eyes on the show. And for some inexplicable reason, Sophia's skin is very slightly darker than Ava's??? Sophia's printed image on the box is several times lighter than her doll. I guess Sophia got some great tans from all her time with Wildstar lmao???

It's also worth noting that EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. of my boxes were absolutely fucking SMOOSHED in the mail. (Okay, not that terrible, but I was really disappointed to see strong visible creasing and some tearing on the upper portion of each package.) The packaging is super cute but unfortunately not sturdy enough when shipped in a soft package as mine unfortunately were. I actually had to return and reorder replacements for Sophia and Ava because the packaging was in bad condition, only for the replacements to be smushed in the same areas. I would advise people to pick them up in person if they can, seems like they are prone to damage during shipment.

I'll have to wait until Isabel gets here to give my final thoughts on the fashion dolls but tentatively they're a 7.5/10 for me, a very acceptable first wave of UCA toys that I'm pleasantly surprised by, but still have room to improve. I'm also really disappointed that Rory, Layla, and Valentina don't have fashion dolls but I'm really hoping that they are on their way eventually. I'm glad they have mini dolls of Layla and Valentina but where the fuck is Rory and Storm?! I have yet to receive my mini dolls so I'll update when those arrive. Not sure I'll get many more (maybe Valentina?) but I'll see. I'm not sure if I'll get any of the larger horse toys either as they're a bit pricey (AND I HATE THE HOLLOW INNER LEGS) but who knows!! I do think it would be cool to have the riders with their unicorns.

For season 2 I'm really excited to see if the blind box toys match with foals we meet in the show! And I hope Sophia isn't the only one we get a masquerade doll of! It would be cool to get some baby unicorns that aren't blind boxes too. Honestly I'd love a flutterbunny plush too hehe <3 (AND CAN U IMAGINE A SUPER CUNTY RAVENZELLA DOLL......... LIVES WOULD BE CHANGED)

Oh and just for funsies I got the Unicorn Academy blanket... Yeah, save your money lol it's super super thin. I wear it like a shawl around the house

[patchworkpiratebear]

Hey lovely people, I'm back again with more Emmy promo pics!

S2 E1 "Impossible Birds" is submitted to the category of costuming for a period series. Here's a selection of images for that 💕

Save these & share them anywhere you like! No need to credit me, I'm only putting text onto stolen photos 🏴‍☠️✨

Remember to use a couple of these hashtags tho -

#Emmys #FYC #ForYourConsideration

#Emmy4OurFlagMeansDeath #Emmy4OFMD

[bm-blog01]

What can the stills from Tudum tell us about Bridgerton S3?

In March when I was speculating if there might be stills from S3 on the anniversary of S2 I noted that the promo team needed to be conscious of how fans may react if only Polin stills were released. I suggested that the most sensible course of acton would be to release on of the Viscount and Viscountess, Polin, Francesca, the Bridgerton family, and maybe the Featherington family. The rationale for this was partly because it was the S2 premiere, but also to help correct the perception problem the production have of the Season 2 promotion. No stills were released, moving on three months and four stills have been released, one of Colin (with a blurry Violet and Hyacinth, and partial Kate in the background), one of Penelope, one of Colin and Penelope, and one from behind Colin with Penelope (Colin is obscured so the image is predominantly Penelope).

Marketing and Promotion is about selling an image of a brand to both potential and current customers, the marketing tells us what the product is and what the brand personality is. Taking Bridgerton as the brand, S3 as the product, and current & potential viewers as the customers, what do the first stills say to the viewers (and potential viewers) about the brand and the product?

I think the first thing to note is that it tells us that Season 3 is not an ensemble show, at least not for promotional purposes, unlike the first stills released for S2 there are no stills that have any members of either family front and centre. Also, with Penelope being prominent in three out of four of the images it clearly sets her up as the main protagonist, this is Penelope's story they will be telling us, possibly giving the message that for Season 3 the Bridgertons - whom the show is named for - are not important, they appear to have been sidelined in favour of Penelope.

Bridgerton as a brand gained a reputation for being a show that included diversity in their casting, as a show in its first year one of the main selling points was that they were not wanting to be like other historical dramas that had no people of colour in main roles. In the season with a white couple taking centre stage, for absolutely none of the first stills released to include the only person of colour from the titular family, who is returning, sends a message that perhaps the Bridgerton production no longer considers themselves a diverse show anymore.

My main concern with the images released however, is not that we see no people of colour, but rather that we see no family members at all. Both S1 and S2 included an image with either all, or some, of the Bridgerton family as the focus with the Bridgerton lead, in these we see blurry background Bridgertons, and nothing of the Featheringtons. Now, I am not advocating for more Featheringtons by a long shot, but I do think in the photos released there should have been at least one of Penelope with her family, as there should have been one of Colin with his family. That there were no family photos sends the message that this show is no longer about family, and potentially those viewers who are interested in the family aspect (and not Penelope) may decide that S3 is not for them.

Some viewers who are not in the fandom will make their mind up about S3 based on the first images they see and the reasons they watch the show. I don't see enough variety in the images to entice a wide ranging audience to the show, and I think this is a misstep with the Bridgerton promotion.

[zendyval]

I wonder if Z is trying to distance herself from Sam now because of the drama that follows him. She’s always been very careful with her image and after M&M getting backlash, she wasn’t as present in S2 Euphoria promo. She didn’t worship the ground that Sam walked on as much

Then there was the whole mess with The Idol so public opinion with him has gone to shit

It's hard to say. I don't know that I agree she wasn't as present re: S2 Euphoria press. I didn't really see any difference with how she talked about S1 to S2. The only noticeable thing was she didn't support The Idol in any way. But I wasn't expecting her to post a big in defense of Sam post. That's never really been her style with anyone.

[highfantasy-soul]

I'd like everyone who saw this image from the s2 promos:

And said "Eewwww she's so old!!!" "She's nowhere near pretty enough to be Lanfear!!" "Lanfear is supposed to be the prettiest person alive!! What is this??"

I need them to come back out of the woodwork so we can publicly shame them. First, for being so ageist and sexist and second, for their stupid need to judge women by their looks alone and deciding what they view to be 'pretty enough'.

EVERYONE who saw this:

Immediately registered that this woman is hot and any person who's attracted to women would immediately fall for anything she'd say. A key part of fandom this season was everyone - especially show-only people - simping over Lanfear and declaring themselves to the Shadow for her.

So 1) even if you don't personally find someone attractive, there's no need to go on the internet and scream that childish shit to the world. Like, that's "bullying is bad" 101.

And 2) NO ONE can say Natasha O'Keeffe didn't absolutely own this role in the most perfect way possible, so let's see what the actor does with the role instead of just judging their ability to play a character based on looks alone.

I feel like this is said every damn couple of months, but can we FUCKING STOP harshly judging shit based on a single frame before we've even seen the thing!!!????!! Can we stop with this ageist and sexist judgement in general???? And everyone who did, come right back out and fucking say that again because you're going to be laughed out of the room (and preferably have stuff thrown at you).

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Saturday, January 14th

BUFFY: "Where is Angel?" CORDELIA: (shrugs) "I've decided not to feel sorry for myself. I'm taking matters into my own hands, organizing a little 'going out of business' sale to subsidize the severance package Angel never bothered setting up for me." BUFFY: "Did he leave a message about where he went?" CORDELIA: "You know I'm in real pain here and all you can do is talk about Angel. Has it even occurred to you how this whole turning human thing might affect me?" BUFFY: "Regrettably - no."

~~I Will Remember You~~

The Sunnydale Herald is looking for at least one new editor. Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on! Find out more here.

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

A Free Man by NAOA (Ethan, Giles, T)

she's a dancer, lone riddle in the answer (yet to be born, you're already dead) by pumpkin_berry (Buffy/Faith, T)

Keep You Warm by TemperanceCain (Buffy/Spike, T)

and i shiver when i see the falling snow by sapphicsummers (Buffy/Cordelia, G)

Graves and Regrets by TemperanceCain (Angel, Dawn, T)

I'm Buffy by TemperanceCain (Faith, Buffy, Angel/Faith, T)

When I'm Gone by TemperanceCain (Spike, Joyce, Angel, T)

[Chaptered Fiction]

Damned With You - Ch. 1 - 5 by Amejisuto (Xander/Spike, E)

Shipping Up To Boston - Ch. 1 by Alwaysandforevermylove (Buffy/Faith, E)

you drive me home (we pretend we don’t know) - Ch. 1-14 by chasingfictions (Buffy/Cordelia, Buffy/Faith, T) COMPLETE!

One Locked Door Leads To An Open Classroom - Ch. 1 by Dirtyaim (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Written in the Dust - Ch. 4 by Indi_Shaw (Buffy/Spike, R)

Break Even - Ch. 14 by violettathepiratequeen (Buffy/Spike, PG)

The Odd Couple - Ch. 15 by honeygirl51885 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

take me home - Ch. 13 by HappyWhenItRains (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

If Only - Ch. 26 by MixSaysRawr (NC-17, COMPLETE!)

Ghosts of Savannah - Ch. 6 by tbd (Buffy/Spike, R)

The Wayward Bug - Ch. 2 by The Wayward Bug (Xander, Herbie the Love Bug xover, FR15)

Akuma Slayer - Ch. 4 by BlueZeroZeroOne (Buffy, Miraculous Ladybug xover, FR18)

When Ethan Rayne made Rambo - Ch. 2 - by SplitEnz (Xander, Rambo xover, FR15)

[Images, Audio & Video]

Show promo: Season 2 promo pics by James Marsters News (James Marsters and Sophia Crawford, worksafe)

Artwork: Sailor Spuffy’s Tattoo Parlor - Ch. 7 by cawthraven (worksafe)

Artwork: BTVS "Every Outfit" Season Five by whatshisfaceblogs (Buffy, worksafe)

Artwork: BTVS "Every Outfit" - "The Gift" by whatshisfaceblogs (Buffy, worksafe)

Artwork: how the darkness doubled by urbanlegends (Spike, Oz, Angel, worksafe)

Artwork: Babes, factory hell dimension. by isevery0nehereverystoned (Spike, Buffy, worksafe)

Artwork: [Cartoon preview] by heroofthreefaces (Xander, worksafe)

Artwork: [slayer scythe] by hedge-bones (embroidery, worksafe)

Artwork: About to finish my first watch through of Buffy so I made some fan art! by Kuroe_Draws (Buffy, Spike, worksafe)

Manip: My ode to the show they said they would make but never did. 😞 by nnotneverman (Giles, worksafe)

Vid Manip: I edited Buffy into Resident Evil by wilburforceYT (Video: Buffy in Resident Evil Village game)

[Reviews & Recaps]

The Big Bad Is Back (Lovers Walk) by herinsectreflection

S2 Ep 12 - Bad Eggs by marvellousinternethideout

Buffy S03E17: Enemies by the-watchpost

Buffy S03E18: Earshot by the-watchpost

Buffy S03E19: Choices by the-watchpost

S3 E7 Review and question : Is this how it's going to be like from now on? by Zealousideal_Hat6843

[Recs & In Search Of]

[req for beta reader] Willow/Tara Behind the Scenes Fanfic request by Ajacentmagic

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[Fandom Discussions]

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[Faith's age and did she know about the Cruciamentum - Go Ask Malice book] by oveliagirlhaditright

The whole domesticity thing going on with Spuffy in Spike's crypt... by girl4music

This whole “you can’t love without a soul” ... is getting tedious. [soul lore discussion] by girl4music

[discussion of ATS S4 Connor's arc] by nowmostlyabuffyblog

Something Blue is so fun because... by disco-tea

Say Something Nice About Oz. by Angelkiss

Revelations - Angel, Xander and Faith by Bop and Taake

Oz expected Willow to wait for him? by Angelkiss

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Dark Willow vs Sarah Bailey from The Craft - if they fought in a magical duel who would win? by Joshua

Voting: BB's Top 50 Most Memorable Scenes in The Buffyverse - Redux (Week 16) by Buffy Summers

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angel as fav character by That geeky dude

POLL: Choose the most satisfying minor fight or kill. by Opening_Knowledge868

dark willow by flossy_dikki

Angel gives a fine speech but Wesley wasn't listening (Angel Season 5) by EvitoQQ

POLL: best season promo pic for BTVS by Captainoats88

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Why did Buffy have to love Spike to sleep with him... by AstridDante

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A Student of Magic [fic idea discussion] by Mika95

Cordelia got better while willow and Xander got worse by SaltFalcon7778

Anyone else feel like Joss Whedon's misogyny came out in Firefly more than in Buffy? by lyricallyambiguous

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[anistarrose]

There's a couple things I find interesting, and potentially underdiscussed about this image. First of all, the positioning and body language of the brothers:

Cardinal Brother (henceforth "Proto-Hunter") is extending a hand to the witch — a gesture of curiosity, trust, and general willingness to be lured. On the other hand, his brother (henceforth "Probably-Belos") is holding some kind of flaming stake — much more stereotypical, Puritan "burn the witch" kind of reaction. I bring this up because I often see Proto-Hunter characterized as repulsed by the Boiling Isles and witchcraft — especially compared to his brother, presumed to be Philip, characterized as taking an immediate interest in the Isles despite some... critiques about things they could do better, hence the Coven System, etc. But this image suggests Proto-Hunter, just like Hunter himself, was more tolerant towards wild magic than Belos was, doesn't it?

Second of all: in this image, if you look closely, both brothers have ponytails.

In the statues, only one of them did, so we reasonably assumed ponytail = Belos = Phillip, making Hunter a Grimwalker of Philip's brother. But if Proto-Hunter also had a ponytail when he arrived on the Isles...

(Note that in this real 1700s art that the above image was based on, the ponytails aren't present! The TOH crew evidently had reason to add them on both characters, which strengthens their relevance as evidence.)

On top of all this: in the statues, it's Proto-Hunter and not Probably-Belos that holds a journal. Of course, I was suspicious but not convinced yet, so I looked for more evidence — specifically, I looked into if Philip, Hunter, and Belos showed any preferences for left- or right-handedness, and the results were... not quite the smoking gun I'd been hoping for, but still very interesting.

Philip is easy — several times, we see him write with his right hand, and only his right hand.

Hunter also favors his right — regardless of which staff he's wielding, if he's holding it one-handed, it's definitely going to be in his right hand. I didn't check every frame of every fight scene, but I spent several minutes looking at multiple episodes and pieces of promo art, and this seemed extremely consistent. If there are counterexamples, they are vastly outnumbered.

That consistency ends with Belos, though...

This delightful guy switches his staff between hands all the Titan-damn time. In comparison to Hunter, who does this way less, this could be a sign of ambidexterity.

When he's not holding his staff at all, though, he seems to favor his left hand for casting staffless magic, and for gestures (holding up a finger, grabbing Hunter's shoulder, Dana's S2 promo art of him using a screwdriver, et cetera). Which hints less towards natural ambidexterity, and more towards natural left-handedness that someone tried to train him out of at some point — which was unfortunately very common in Real Life, and presumably also TOH's Human Realm, for a long time that would've included the Wittebane era.

(As an aside — this was probably the Catholic's Church fault, for believing that left-handedness was a sign of Satanism and witchcraft. The Wittebanes would've likely been Puritans, but that historical detail still feels oddly relevant.)

To summarize — Philip and Hunter are/were probably right-handed. Belos is likely left-handed, but shows signs of being trained to use his right hand too, at least for tasks that don't require as much motor control (he still prefers his left for staffless magic and tinkering). So, in conclusion?

Well, like I said, I don't think we have a smoking gun. I'm not saying that we definitely have it backwards as a fandom, and that Proto-Hunter was definitely Philip, but I am saying that it could go either way, at this point.