#but the whole set up of this episode just gave romantic vibes

[confoodles]

Every single interaction Charles and Oliver had this episode was so unrequited romance coded and I will not be taking criticism !!

[dearmrshudson]

The post of saddest(?) supernatural moment gave me the idea to maka a list of my own... You know, an honest list which will not push any agenda or exclude one of the main character completely to forcefully feed to a romantic pair which does not even exist.

so here it goes-

10. Dean's reaction after Sam's death in 13x21 :

This one is so nominal and insignificant to be in this list and not one of top moments for a lot, but this scene ripped my heart open when I saw it for the first time. It manages to show us how Dean's whole world will literally fall apart and make him an empty vessel if Sam is gone and he can do nothing about it - and Jensen manages to portray it with just a walk, two blank eyes and then one drop of tear. Kudos.

9. Church Scene in 'Sacrifice' (8x23):

Anyone who has not cried in this scene? Perfeftly shows the core of the show, the deep love between two brothers- despite all the reasons, all the idiological differences, all the mature discussion and all- Sam is the baby brother of Dean; at the end he needs Dean to be there as a big bro, to tell him to let it go, to clutch him in his chest. Ultimately they will always choose each other and nothing else will come between them.

8. Dean's death in 9x23:

One of the saddest death of Dean, and perhaps it comes to this list because of the build-up and drama follows this. Both had their own reasons for the tension they had this whole season, but when the tragedy comes it hits so hard that all those logics fell apart. It scares to peep in Sam's headspace at this time of dean's dying- imagine you discarding the person you love the most as you are reasonably angry with him, and in a few days he is dying in your arms when you have hardly talked out your differences.

7. Why don’t you believe in us too (14x12) :

Probably should come much later in this list, but this scene stood out in my eyes because it was such a fresh air in the terrible plotless mimicry that SPN had become in later seasons. The scene after ages which sums up Sam and Dean, the codependent brothers whom we had forgotten. Such a long time after we see Sam the little brother, witness the emotional turmoil he was going through silently and how it exploded. The only scene which makes season 14 worth remembering. Also Jared just nailed this scene!

6.) Dead or Alive (3x16):

This scene breaks my heart in pieces. Dean bravely going for the last fight before the horrible death he will be facing. And he trying to cheer up baby bro, he wants the last memory with his brother to be in this car- singing along together... How his face slowly glooms at the end and his eyes full of fear... Early seasons really were gems!

5. Sam in Mystery spot (3x11) :

Undoubtedly one of the best SPN episode with perfect blend of mystery, fun, laughter, tragedy and emotion... The funny vibe of the episode ends in a moment when we see Sam is not waking up from the nightmare loop. Then we see a robot- a scary robot who only wants to get his brother back at any cost. This episode is yet another example of how Sam loves Dean just as fiercely as Dean does, and he is not any less codependent.

4. Barn scene and alone Sam (15x20) :

God! What can I say about this!

Just want to add, Sam wandering alone in the bunker after creamating Dean hurts me equally.

3. John's death (2x01):

Cannot forget this one. This episode happens to be another favourite of mine, and the way John sacrifices himself for his son proves that a father can go to any extent for his children. The farewell scene of John - where he asks for forgiveness and goodbye to dean without him understanding brings tears to my eyes. Such a beautiful acting by JDM and so realistic portrayal of a flawed, helpless and loving father.

2. End of Season 5 (5x22)

The ground was set, the battle was about to begin, the ultimate faceoff between Lucifer and Michael was going to start- then what happens? A stubborn idiot boy with a muscle car and hellbent attitude comes in between- knowing that he cannot survive this- just because one of these celestial entities have captured his brother as a vessel and he won’t leave his brother alone. Till his last drop of blood he keeps on trying- trying to reach his brother who is trapped under something much bigger- keeps on telling that It's okay, he is not alone, his big brother is here. And guess what, he succeed. His brother broke free the bind of one of the strongest entity of universe and fought. The climax scene gives me goosebump always followed by a bunch of grief and saddness the ending carries. Had season 5 been the last season of SPN, and this be the exact way the series ended, I would absolutely have no regret!

1. Sammy's first Death (2x21):

No matter how many sad scenes are perfectly executed in SPN, nothing can exceed the emotion of this one. Jensen will also not be able to exceed the level of performance be set in this particular scene. Period.

So this is it... I must have excluded many. And turns out my list is full of Sam and Dean only and I am also not unbiased 🤣🤣 Well, there are sad scenes that do not involve only the brothers and I still like them, but not my top 10. Maybe have to make list of top 11 to 20 in order to include them. 😁

Please share your favourite saddest top 10 as well.

[all-pacas]

Can you talk more about the whole "Chase and 13 as siblings" deal? I've seen it everywhere,but they seemed more like ordinary friends to me. Neither of them gave me the "found family" vibes.

To be clear, it's totally fanon. They are not found family in canon, they aren't even super good friends. I'm pretty sure it comes from the common perception in fandom that they're House's favorites/the ones who view him and/or are viewed by him as his children. Which I guess makes them siblings? (I don't even think, technically speaking, that's true — House doesn't think of either of them as his kids tbh.) I am a huge enjoyer of it, though, so I can only give my reasoning; the short version is I think they have a lot of potential in this direction.

So first of all, the two of them are like. Lowkey so alike. Like the venn diagram of them is sort of just a circle. They both had traumatic family histories involving mothers who died young and who they resented/'hated.' They're both intensely private people, 13 going ahead and making that a meme but Chase just as good at it as she is. They both have histories on the show of sleeping around and engaging in reckless behaviors as a reaction to depression/trauma; they do both have close relationships with House, I think it's overstated a little in fandom but it's also true; House and 13 are obviously very close but Chase has a whole pair of S8 episodes highlighting the same; he's also the fellow House has known the longest, who stayed the longest. They're both perceptive and bright and have similar senses of humor.

As you said, they are friends. They enjoy one another's company, we see they have fun hanging out. 13 alludes to going drinking with Chase sometimes in Last Temptation. After Hours proves that Chase knows where 13 lives, that she can call him past midnight and he'll show up no questions asked. Despite both being super private and secretive, they know one another's darkest secrets: Chase is the only person besides House 13 has told about killing her brother and going to prison. 13 is the only person besides Cameron Chase has told about Dibala. (House and Foreman figured that one out on their own. Also, last time he told someone it ended his marriage, so it's kind of Insane he tells 13. Like. Wow.) 13 went a year not telling anyone her name, Chase wouldn't even confirm he was catholic when House guessed it, and yet these two tell one another things. Even in Private Lives, before they really knew one another, Chase and 13 were having serious heart-to-hearts about the divorce and whether or not Chase was pretty; these just… aren't conversations he, at least, has with other people.

Also, let's be frank. The show was setting them up to fuck. I think some of this is meant to be ship tease, in all honesty. Chase outright propositions her. One of their earliest bonding episodes is Private Lives, which has a sort of flirty bit at the end and is all about their failed romances. But thankfully — because we all know how much the show sucks at romance — it never happened. So what we're left with is two characters who are weirdly close, have a weird amount of heart to heart moments and bonding (like… compare Foreman and Chase, who have known one another forever but never have these sort of sincere 'moments'), and are incredibly similar. And who also are often framed specifically as 'House's children,' if not as as unit: Chase is the prodigal son, 13 calls herself the prodigal daughter. 'siblings' make sense. People also don't really like to ship them, myself included, although tbh they make a good amount of sense on paper. Maybe because of the built in messiness (she's Foreman's ex, technically; she leaves the show for long stretches; the show sucks at romance), maybe because people love found family, maybe because folks definitely prefer to lean into 13 dating women. And because people don't want to think of them as romantic options for one another, how do you define a relationship between a pair of very attractive people without letting that be a factor? Make them siblings!

For what it's worth, I don't actually think they're siblings, or that they think of one another as that. I think they're good friends. But they're also so alike, and open up to one another in pretty unique ways (especially for Chase), and get along well. In a weird way, I think the fact that they probably were attracted to one another and could have slept together but didn't makes them closer in my eyes: they both sleep around at the first chance, so that they didn't (by chance or choice) means they got to build an entirely different relationship. They're both lonely, they've both outlived family, they're both lowkey sort of depressed. And the idea that they could have a family in one another (Chase, for one, admits in S8 he pretty badly would like one) just really appeals to me. (With the added tragedy, of course, that it could only last a decade or so) I think they're good for one another, in that they have a "no questions asked" friendship, they know one another's worst secrets, and those secrets run parallel enough that they get it. And so even though they aren't siblings… I kinda want them to be, you know? :)

[trashcatsnark]

Finished up season 2 of Not Dead Yet last night and gotta say- not as good as season 1 and not really where I wanted it to go, tbh. Like, the end of season 1 really did set up the Nellward ship and like gave me at least a vibe that that's where it's headed and I still feel like it has to be- because I don't think you can set that up so clearly and not act on it, but also- I'm losing a certain amount of faith that I had because this season.... weirdly sidelined Nell in her own story.

This felt like Lexi's show, not Nell's this season.

And don't get me wrong, I don't hate Lexi as a character, like I personally like her actress and think she's entertaining though I don't connect much with the "rich privileged girl, but her daddy was emotionally distant so feel bad for her" trope.

Like every episode was more about Lexi having a bad relationship with her dad, then the big culmination was her buying back the company. The most present romantic relationship was her and Edward, which I genuinely didn't think they'd push that to be more than sex, but here we are.

Honestly, other than the fertility conflict when Sam's daughter was staying over- it kind of feels like the writers were so excited to have the actor who plays Lexi's dad join the cast that they recentered the show to give him more screen time, which necessitated making Lexi a bigger focal point. Which like I get that he's basically sitcom royalty, but the show is about Nell.

I really do hope that the set-up of him potentially now knowing about Nell's abilities is meant to be a path to get the plot focused on nell again while still giving him screentime next season.

Also, definitely frustrated with how Nell and Edward's relationship was sidelined, not even just because I'm a shipper, but like I feel like Nell got relegated to third wheel and Edward kind of pulled back on connecting with her?

Like, I know the paper getting sold was obviously a big deal- but Edward and her had a whole episode dedicated to him accidentally making her feel like shit about having kids/fertility and he doesn't even react to the news that she's trying to freeze her eggs? Doesn't wish her a happy birthday? Offers her no comfort, even in his clumsy but kind way as she's struggling with possibly losing her job and Lexi isn't helping? Like the whole first season showed he genuinely cares for her, they cared for each other when they were sick- but this season he didn't even say a "happy birthday" to her???? That's not even a romantic thing???

And why doesn't Nell get to keep any of her partners? Like Edward and Lexi are still cuddled up together by the end of the season, but TJ and Nell break up just as they finally get together????

Idk, had some moments, but this season was overall a miss imo.

[mikuni14]

Laws of Attraction Ep 2

I bet, that in the dictionary next to the definition of the word "a little shit" there is a photo of Charn as an example 😀 And that an exasperated Tinn put it there 😆

LoA is an amazing series. A little girl died, there's a despair, there's a fucked up situation in the senator's family, there's the obviously twisted and traumatized kid, as is Charn... ...and in the same series I laugh watching Charn and Tinn like they’re in a romantic comedy????? Like??????

Jam and Film are great as actors. They play completely different characters than in To Sir, With Love, also in LoA they show a whole range of different emotions, and Film actually plays two characters: Charn before his "transformation" and the current Charn. I also want to point out something: many actors who play "psychopaths" choose to show this “type” through an unnerving and creepy smile. But it’s trcky and few succeed, and their characters are more funny instead of disturbing. Film is one of those whose smile IS unnerving. Why? Because Film has a whole set of smiles for every occasion (and lets not forget about his smiles before his "transformation"), so we as viewers know which of his smile is just a smile and which should set us on fire edge ���� Film and Jam have great chemistry, they play perfectly together, watching them together on screen is pure pleasure. Good dialogue, genuinely funny scenes, and the attraction between the characters they play, visible from space, also help.

What I also like about Tinn and Charn, or maybe I’m wrong reading it that way, is that BOTH are clearly gay and BOTH know it from the beginning. By the time Charn "came out" as the senator's lawyer, the two were on their way to the relationship they BOTH wanted. Their MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING of who they are and what they feel comes up all the time (in conversations, in grandma's comments lol), because they both treat their orientation as obvious. I think.

(I died when Charn was giddy and excitedly waiting for his wounds to be tended to as if he had it in his mind that he was about to attend one of the most important BL tropes 🥳....when Tinn wanted to take him to the hospital, he was like, noooo, we were about to have a BL moment! If this continues like this, LoA will finish me off before it's over.)

Another fantastic thing: the show has great female characters. Rose immediately gave me a serious Miss. Fisher vibes, but otherwise any female character is just so cool.

The senator's son is acting crazy, but also... logical? Even in very serious psychological series, it’s very rare to see such an approach to a character like "the spoiled and abused son of someone rich and powerful." His monologue about what he feels and what he doesn't feel is something I certainly wouldn't expect from Thai BL. I wonder which way it will go. But since he's been allowed to have a scene like that, and he's been allowed to have a subordinate who is probably in love with him, or at least cares about him deeply, it seems to me hat the kid didn't actually kill the girl at all 🤔

I want to say straight away that I DON'T WANT Charn to go back to his good old self, I WANT him to stay as he is and for Tinn to be with him because he ACCEPT him as he is. In the same way, I don't want Tanthai to undergo some inner transformation and become "good". I just want of a drama where someone is fucked up and still accepted like Hannibal and Seo Moon Jo.

Laws of Attraction is awesome. I enjoy watching it, I have fun, I love the main characters, I laugh a lot watching it, I appreciate the serious scenes that shed more light on the mystery with each episode, but also complicate the story. This is it people. This is it!

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

okay what’s your analysis of this album. also the mv that debacuhery kind of aesthetic god *chef’s kiss*

I was so excited last night when the album and the MV came out. I had so much adrenaline in my body lmao. Then this morning I woke up, had to go out so I played the album on spotify while I was out, walking. Later, I came home and the interlude was playing again and I started ugly crying at that bit of Jimin introducing himself at the concert.

Well, it's obviously a sad album. There's so much frustration and loneliness and disappointment at oneself in almost every verse of every song. Musically, as far as sound and music genres go, I love all of it. I think it sounds expensive, polished, high quality. He sounds better than ever and his voice is so dynamic, changing with every line, every song. It should be talked more often the way he's able to mold his voice to every music genre. I really don't have much to say about the sound overall because I honestly love every bit of it. I've been enjoying listening to all of the songs, they're just good good songs. It should even be a longer album, imo. But also the songs that are there are kind of enough to send the intended message across.

Face-off starting with that clown music is just genius. To me this song feels like a critic to himself and talks about self-sabotage. I don't really think it's about anyone in particular, but just an abstract song about realizing that you've made a fool of yourself for whatever reason. I know it's a 180 from that but it actually made me think of how in Promise he talks to himself /about himself in the third person. It starts strong, talking about drinking, which is the persistent theme throughout the whole album.

Alone is a very consistent track with the overall concept of the album and the explanations Jimin himself gave for it. You could probably sum up the whole album in just two songs: Alone and Set Me Free pt2. If we go by credits order, alone it's the song Jimin had the most participation in writing and it does have the most raw, realest lyrics. In the first verse he does that thing of talking about himself in the third person "you tried to escape but you've lost your way". The line "always acting like I'm okay, I feel pathetic" really gets me. It's not really a song that needs any analysis, since it's all laid out pretty clearly. Face-off, for me when I read the lyrics, it feels like choices were made to fit the lyrics to a certain beat/rythm/concept/vibe, and not like the lyrics are the spotlight or the focus of the song. On the other hand, alone does come across as a song where the lyrics are the most important part of it. When I wrote about set me free in a different post, I talked about how my personal interpretation had to do with being stuck, with repetition and something you can't get out of; then the filming episode was posted and Jimin actually said that it was about that, the feeling of being in a hamster wheel. Alone touches upon that again. The same day, the same miserable feelings repeating over and over. Lyrically, alone is my favorite.

Letter is so beautiful. So soooo pretty and I wish it would've been in the album because it feels like a nice wrap to it. Like after all the chaos and self-hate, there's that song that's forgiving, warm and hopeful. I don't really think it's a romantic song; going by the references it really sounds like it's for army and it aligns also with the way he's talked in 2021 about how their "relationship" with army has changed from the beginning until now. I do think having Jungkook on the song was unnecessary because his background vocals aren't even that outstanding (in this song). But that's JK, he's been singing songs for army since forever so that's probably a reason why Jimin might've wanted to include him. I think Jimin said he will talk about this song when he goes live on the 29th.

I left like crazy for the end because this one is all over the place for me. The lyrics, the references, the MV, the choreo (that I haven't seen but we've all read the things people at the recording said), the explanations Jimin has given. There's like a million interpretations and then also none at all. You could take so many meanings from it depending if you're analyzing the MV, the lyrics, the things Jimin has said, later tonight when we watch the choreo that too will probably make it even more complicated than it already is LMAO.

Firstly, I think one of the reasons there could be so many angles to it and for the lyrics to be kind of... strange? It's because there's so many writers in the song. There are seven credited writers in this song, both the Korean and English version, and Jimin is second to last in contribution. Meaning that 5 other people probably had more input in the lyrics. I don't think that lyrically the song makes a lot of sense with all of the stuff that's been said about it. Is it about the movie, is it about Jimin's personal experiences, is it romantic, is it about sex, is it about a break up???

I was confused by the "she", at first. I was waiting for the Korean lyrics to come out because I wanted to see if Jimin had written it with pronouns. I geniunely didn't think it was something like him, to write a pronoun at all. And he actually didn't. If we go by this, he just wrote "baby".

I'm pretty sure the "she" was added by the other writers, to fit the beat better or to give it more sense to the whole concept. It's just a really random "she" at the beginning of the song.

Things Jimin has said about the song and what it means:

This song to me feels sadder with every listen lmao. My first time watching the MV, without subtitles or lyrics, what I got from it was that he was lost and lonely between the crowds. Again, the feeling like in set me free, of being there but not really being part of anything. There's couples kissing, and groups of friends in the MV, and some moments he's with them but for most of it he's just alone. Even the part where he's standing over the couple kissing, it doesn't feel like that's meant to represent him and a girl either, to me it's all about being alone while everyone else has someone.

I didn't get the feeling that there was a love interest, and I actually find the girl that's "wandering" kind of unnecessary because it leads nowhere...? I feel like they could've gone all the way and show them as a couple/exes if it was the intention, because it's safe. But that didn't happen. I don't know if the choreography will be more "romantic", but from what people have been saying it sounds like it could be more about just mindless touching, meaningless human interactions that are just a distraction for something else. That, I understand; I do get that from the MV and it makes sense with the explanation that Jimin gave about it being a song in which you're just trying to escape from feelings you don't want to -well, face. In the English version there's a line that says "numbing the pain", which is quite literal.

If I think about the movie, the characters are both alone in different parts of the world and they both date other people while still missing each other and never really letting go of what they had. They didn't get any closure. I could see that in the half-assed metaphor with the girl and how she and Jimin are "searching" for each other but never really getting together. In the movie, they're constantly trying to make it work but it just doesn't work. The characters are stuck in the past (again, a recurring theme in the album), and they keep trying to be together but it gets to the point where it's like "are we trying to make this work because we still love each other or because we're clinging to what we used to be?". It's in those particular feelings that the movie evokes where Jimin explanation makes sense, that it's about losing yourself because you want to stay in that fairytale with a loved one. Even if that daydream-like experience has already passed and now it's just painful and draining and a neverending circle of self-loathing because they can't be that same couple again.

Before the song/MV were out, a friend and I talked about how it would be about separation, and I thought that it could be about BTS, even. Then, Jimin actually said this:

And this:

I think it's another valid angle from which you could interpret this song, too. It would even make sense with the timing, because he said he was feeling like that during their Vegas concerts, and that was the last moments BTS were together as a group. Though I wouldn't necessarily take his words so literally. He said it began at those concerts, so it probably went on for a while after that. The songs are in order for a reason, and like crazy is one of the last songs of the album.

All in all, to me it really is unclear if this song was written based on his personal experience, a real romantic break up he actually went through, or if he was going through something else (disbandment) that he related to the story in the movie.

As for a general commentary about the album, I think he did a fantastic job at blurring the line and making songs where the subject is ambiguous. The songs can be read as being about other people, failed relationships, or they could even be read as self-criticism.

[cirassa]

okay i got interesting take

in my opinion, like 90% of straight romances/ships are FUCKING BORING, and usually try to spice it up, by adding more girls, this opinion i hold so dear, that i was on verge from.trying to strangle my friend, for saying <insert harem name> was really good romance.

But why could that be so? because lots of straight romances just follows base line of, "cute/shy" or whatever girl, and more dominant than her guy with interests like "i literally just exist in this series with no other purpose than wanting gf", and follow most basic set gender standards, and most basic made up relationship dysmorphia where girl is clearly bottom, and guy is the top/he "leads" the relationship, you get what i mean? 100% not, it wont stop me tho.

While yuri/yaoi ships always derive from most boring version of relationship that church people gaslit us into thinking is only valid way, by sheer fact that either both character fill same role or one of them has to not follow the most basic made up gender rules, like bottom.guy, or maybe huge girl who searches for little bunny girl etc. Like, just taking most basic romance plot ever, and genderbending one of characters by itself changes whole vibe so much!

But ofc, not all straight romances are bad, that would imply any romance is bad (i mean, there are few bad romances, like wanting to date children, but for sake of this ride of a post, we are talking about 2 consenting people of either similar age for teenagers, or just 2 consenting adults ok?), but the only good straight romances i saw, were the ones that just didnt really gave much fuck about being the most generic romance plot, and doing that would make any romance good (m/m, m/f, f/f etc), one of my favourite examples, would be violet evergarden! yeah, it does for the most part follow the rules of strong protective man, and small fragile girl (except for the fact that violet absolutelly kicks ass), but series itself isnt about 2 charcaters dating, Its about violet learning what love is, and not just romantic one, she learns about sibling love, parent/child love, love for world, love for work and many more! What makes it good is not us seeing them dating, its how we togehder with Violet slowly learn more about love, slowly growing attached to him, this love story is very beautifull, because its not focusing on that part.

(at this point i had hard time finding more proof of good hetero romances, so i had to dig throught list if stuff i watched etc) Also, one of my fave mangas of all time, was domestic na kanojo, where the romance being interesting, was enforced by, lemme check my notes, 2 sisters competing for their step brother, where 1 is his teacher and other is girl he lost virginity with. You can see im streching my arguments at this point huh. Whatever, in this series, what makes it actually interesting love story and not easy porn material, is all the hardships charcaters go throught, and questions it gives! Natsuo wanting hina, but knowing its just some stupid kids love, constantly hurting rui as resoult of his inner conflict about hina, wanting to get close with rui, and suddenly cutting it off because he is just a kid who is scared, of what might be, as i used to be kid, i very much know the feeling od wanting to do something, but being scared to commit, constantly swinging between wanting it, and being afraid, only hurting other in process.

okay this one is quite boring romance, but in interesting way so as per last argument, lets talk about "Rascal does not dream about bunny girl senpai" where mc gets the girl after like 2 episodes, and then we just see them, chill like cute couple, or get a bit jealous, its not much, but i find it interesting to see quite realistic (from standpoint of someone who's longest relationship lasted 2 months, including 1 month breakup), but she anime isnt about it, so seeing them being nice, realistiy behaving couple is nice addition

In conclusion, straight romances fucking suck and dont recomend them to me without 3 pages explanation why it doesnt suck, harems get instant no-no tho

[rebelspykatie]

It’s funny that anyone would think that Steve and Robin aren’t platonic soulmates when they’re canonically attached at the hip.

Steve has a whole conversation with Robin that’s loaded with inside jokes as he literally ignores his date at the basketball game.

They follow each other around the video store talking about their love lives where they make reference to stealing each others jokes, wishing they could combine into one person with both of their skill sets, and regularly picking movies to watch while they work (and knowing their interests in movie genres).

Steve wakes up early to pick Robin up for school before he has to go to work, even though there’s several hours between that and when they open. He also doesn’t know that Robin can’t drive, so he’s obviously just been chauffeuring her around no questions asked. He was already doing this at the end of season 3 for their job interview.

This all started in season 3, but was solidified in that final scene where they’re going after jobs together, spouting off to potential employers about their best qualities to land the job. Robin has clearly had time to warm up to Steve and jokes with him about his resume and with Keith about Steve’s terrible taste in movies, but excellent taste in women.

During that drive to school in season 4, they talk about both of their love lives, in which they reference an off screen conversation where Robin gave Steve advice to just be himself and girls would like him more, the same advice he’s giving Robin for wooing Vickie.

They openly talk about Vickie throughout season 4, so clearly there’s no shyness or residual awkwardness from the coming out or Steve’s former crush on her. In fact, it appears to have made them even closer. See: the boobies conversation in episode one.

They’re close enough that Dustin has obviously mocked Steve for not dating Robin repeatedly after the events of Starcourt. They have that platonic with a capital P speech down pat. They joke twice about being in charge of the kids together, once when Dustin and Max barge in to search for Eddie and they joke about taking turns strangling the little idiots and then again when they get on the boat about bedtime’s at 9 kiddos.

Both joke and poke fun at each other. Robin makes fun of Steve’s protective streak with the whole ‘unless you think us ladies need you to protect us’ comment. Steve makes fun of Robin snooping in Nancy’s room and jokes about her not giving off an academic scholar vibe. Steve jokes about wanting to punch her in the face when she won’t stop rambling about rabies. Steve teases her about her muppet joke working because he’s the one who made it up. Robin’s previously teased him about how many children he’s friends with, not knowing he’s protecting them from supernatural horrors.

By the end of season 4, we find out that they both had issues learning to walk. They both think their romantic interests are doomed. They give each other the same advice.

They always gravitate towards each other, especially when they’re in danger, always in the same group. Robin clutching at Steve and making sure he’s okay after Eddie held the bottle to his throat. Robin jumping in directly after Nancy when Steve got sucked into the watergate. Robin moving behind Steve in the upside down when the bats were coming at them because she knew he’d protect them (actually everyone goes to stand behind him). Robin crying out for Steve first when the vines snatch her. Steve finding Robin to grab the supplies for the Molotovs and then chasing after her when Vickie kisses that boy.

Any time we see people break off into groups, they’re together. Paired up to discuss end of the world strategies and their unrequited love lives. Team search for Eddie. Team keep Eddie safe and hidden. Team destroy Vecna. Always the same team.

Steve encouraging Robin, even after the incident with Vickie in the store because he doesn’t want them to give up on love. Him being so happy to see her flirting and chatting with Vickie at the school. Robin comforting him when Nancy runs into Jonathan’s arms.

If you’re watching all of that, I don’t see how you could come away with anything less than them being platonic soulmates. They’re practically finishing each others sentences while they bounce one brain cell back and forth between them.

[thedeadhandofseldon]

The Anti-Mercer Effect

On the Accessibility of D&D, Why Unprepared Casters is so Fun, and Why Haley Whipjack is possibly the greatest DM of our generation.

(Apologies to my mutuals who aren’t in this fandom for the length of this, but as you all know I have never in my life shut up about anything so… we’ll call it even for the number of posts about Destiel I see every day.

To fellow UC fans - I haven’t listened to arc 4 yet, I started drafting this in early August, and I promise I will write a nice post about how great Gus the Bard is once I get the chance to listen to more of his DMing).

Structure - Or, “This is not the finale, there will be more podding cast”

So, first of all, let’s just talk about how Unprepared Casters works. Because it’s kind of unusual! Most of the other big-name D&D podcasts favor this long, grand arcs; UC has about 10 hours of podcast per each arc. And that’s a major strength in a lot of ways: it makes it really accessible to new listeners, because you can just start with the current arc and understand what’s going on!

And by starting new arcs every six or seven episodes, they can explore lots of ways to play D&D! Classic dungeon delve arc! Heist arc! Epic heroes save the world arc! Sportsball arc! They can touch on all sorts of things!

And while I’m talking about that: Dragons in Dungeons, the first arc, makes it incredibly accessible as a show - because it lets the unfamiliar listener get a sense of what D&D actually is. (It’s about telling stories and making your friends feel heroic and laugh and cry, for the record). If I had to pick a way to introduce someone to the game without actually playing it with them, that arc would definitely be it.

And I’d be remise not to note one very important thing: Haley Whipjack and Gus the Bard are just very funny, very charismatic people. Look. Episode 0s tend to be about 50%(?) those two just talking to each other about their own podcast. It shouldn’t work. And yet it DOES, its one of my favorite parts, because Haley and Gus are just cool.

And a side note that doesn’t fit anywhere else: I throw my soul at him! I throw a scone at him - that’s it, that’s the vibe. The whole podcast alternates between laughing with your friends and brooding alone in a dark tavern corner - but the laughs never forced and the dark corner is never too dark for too long.

Whipjack the Great - Or, the DM is Also a Player!

I think Haley Whipjack is one of the greatest Dungeon Masters alive. The plots and characters! The mechanical shenanigans! The descriptions!

Actually, let’s start there: with the descriptions. (Both Haley and Gus do this really fucking well). As we know, Episode 0 of each arc sees the DM reading a description - of a small town, or the Up North, or the recent history of a great party. And Haley always strikes this tricky balance - one I think a lot of us who DM struggle with - between giving too much description and  worldbuilding, and not telling us anything at all. She describes people and events in just enough detail to imagine them, but never so much they seem static and unreal - just clear enough to envision, but with enough vagueness left to let your imagination begin to run wild.

While I’m thinking about arc 3’s party, let’s talk about a really bold move she made in that arc: letting the players have ongoing control of their history. Loser Lars! She didn’t try to spell out every detail of this high-level party’s history, or restrict their past to only what she decided to allow - she gave them the broad outlines, and let them embellish it. And that made for a much more alive story than any attempt to create it by herself would have - but I think it takes a lot of courage to let your players have that agency. Most Dungeon Masters (myself included) tend to struggle with being control freaks.

And the plots! Yeah, arc one is built of classic tropes - but she actually uses them, she doesn’t get caught up in subverting everything or laughing at the cliches. And it’s fun! In arc 3, there really isn’t a straight line for the players to follow, either - which makes the game much more interesting and much trickier to run. And her NPCs are fantastic and I will talk about them in the next section.

Above all, though, I think what is really impressive is how Haley balances mechanics, and rules as written, with the narrative and rule of cool - and puts both rules and story in the service of playing a fun game. And the secret to that? She’s the DM, but the DM is a player, and the DM is clearly having fun. Hope Lovejoy mechanically shouldn’t get that spellslot back, but she does, and it’s fun. The changeling merchant in Thymore doesn’t really make some Grand Artistic Narrative better, but wow is it fun. And she never tries to force it one way or the other - the story might be more dramatic if Annie didn’t manage to banish the demon from the vault, but it’s a lot cooler and a lot more fun for the players if Annie gets to be a badass instead - and the rules and the dice say that Annie managed it.

Settings feel like places, NPCs feel like people, and the narrative plot feels like a real villainous plot.

Anyway. I could go on about the various ways in which Whipjack is awesome for quite a while - she’s right, first place in D&D is when your friends laugh and super first place is when they cry - but I’m going to stop here and just. Make another post about it some other time. For now, for the record I hold her opinions about the game in higher esteem than I do several official sourcebooks; that is all.

Characters - Or, Bombyx Mori Is Not an Asshole, And That Matters

Okay, I said I would talk about characters! And I will!

Just a general place to start: the party! All of the first three parties are interesting to me, because they all care about each other. Not even necessarily in a Found Family Trope sort of way, though often that too. But they generally aren’t assholes to each other. The players create characters that actually work together, that are interesting; even when there’s internal divisions like SK-73 v. Sir Mr. Person, they aren’t just unpleasant and antagonistic all the time. Listening to the podcast, we’re “with” these people for a couple hours - and it isn’t unpleasant. That matters a lot. (To take a counter-example: I love Critical Role, but the episode when Vox Machina pranked Scanlan after he died and was resurrected wasn’t fun to listen to, it was just uncomfortable and angering and vaguely cruel).

All of the PCs are amazing, and the players in each arc did a great job. If you disagree with me about that, well, you have the right to be incorrect and I am sorry for your loss. Annie Wintersummer, for one example: tragic and sad and I want to give her a hug, but also Fuck Yeah Wintersummer, and also her familiar Charles the Owl is the cutest and funniest and I love him. And we understand what’s going on with Annie, she isn’t some infinite pool of hidden depths because this arc is 7 episodes and we don’t have time for that, but she also has enough complexity to be interesting. Same with Fey Moss: yeah, a lot of her is a silly pun about fame that carries into how she behaves, but a lot of how she behaves is also down to some good classic half-elven angst about parenthood and wanting to be known and seen and important. (Side note: if your half-elf character doesn’t have angst, well, that’s impressive and also I don’t think I believe you).

There are multiple lesbian cat-people in a 4-person party and they both have requited romantic interests who aren’t each other. This is the future liberals want and I am glad for it.

Sir Mister Person, the human fighter! Thavius, the edge lord! Even when a character is “simple,” they’re interesting, because of how they’re played as people and not action-figures. And that matters a lot.

In the same way: the NPCs. There really aren’t a lot of them! And some of them come from Patreon submissions, so uh good work gang, you’re part of the awesomeness and I’m proud of you! The point being, the NPCs work because enough of them are interesting to matter. It’s not just a servant who opens Count Michael’s door, it’s a character with a name (Oleandra!) and a personality and history. They’re interesting. Penny Lovejoy didn’t need to be interesting, the merchant outside the Laughing Mausoleum didn’t need to be interesting, but they ARE! And Haley and Gus EXCEL at making the NPCs matter, not just to the story but to us as viewers. I agree with Sir Mister Person, actually, I would die for the princesses of the kingdom. I actually care about Gem Lovejoy of all people - that wouldn’t happen in an ordinary campaign! That’s the thing that makes Unprepared Casters spectacular - and, frankly, it’s especially impressive because D&D does not tend to be good at making a lot of interesting compared to a lot of other sorts of stories.

And, just as an exemplar of all this: Bombyx Mori. Immortal, reincarnating(?), and described as the incarnation of the player’s ADHD. I expected to hate Bombyx, because as the mom friend both in and out of my friend-group’s campaigns, the chaos-causer is always exhausting to me. And yeah, Bombyx causes problems on purpose! But! She is not an asshole.

And that’s important. Bombyx goes and sits with the queen and comforts her. Bombyx gives Annie emotional support. Bombyx isn’t just a vehicle to jerk around the DM and other players; Bombyx really is a character we can care about. To compare with another case - in the first couple episodes of The Adventure Zone, the PCs are just dicks. Funny, but dicks. Bombyx holds out an arm “covered in larva” to shake with a count, and robs him of magical items, but she also cares about her friends and other people! She uses a powerful magical gem to save her fertilizer guy from death! Yeah, Bombyx is ridiculous, but she’s not just an asshole the party has to keep around for plot reasons; you can see why her party would keep her around. And one layer of meta up, she’s the perfect example of how to make a chaotic character like that while still being fun for everyone you’re playing with, which is often not the case. And I love her.

The Anti-Mercer Effect - Or, “I think we proved it can be fun, you can have a good time with your friends. And it doesn’t have to be scary, you can just work with what you know”

The Mercer Effect basically constitutes this: Matthew Mercer, Dungeon Master of Critical Role, is incredible (as are all of his players). They’re all professional story-tellers in a way, remember, and so Critical Role treats D&D like a narrative art-form, and it’s inspiring. Seeing that on Critical Role sets impossible standards - and people go into their own home games imagining that their campaigns will be like Critical Role, and the burden of that expectation tends to fall disproportionately on the DM. And the end result, I think, of the Mercer Effect is that we get discouraged or intimidated, because our game isn’t “as good as” theirs. (And I should note - Matt certainly doesn’t want that to be our reaction).

So the Anti-Mercer Effect is two things: it’s D&D treated like a game, and it’s inspiring but not intimidating. And Unprepared Casters manages both of those really freaking well. Because they play it like a game! A UC arc looks just like a good campaign in anyone’s home game. They have the vibes of 20-somethings and college students playing D&D for fun because that’s who they are (as a 20-something college student who plays a lot of D&D, watching it felt like watching my friends play an especially good campaign). They’re trying to tell a good story, sure, and they always do. But first and foremost, they’re trying to have fun, and it shows, and I love the UC cast for it.

And that’s the other half of it: it’s inspiring! It’s approachable; you can see that Haley and Gus put plenty of work into preparing the game but it also doesn’t make you feel like you need hundreds of pages of worldbuilding to run a game. Sometimes a cleric makes Haley cry and she gives them back a spell-slot from their deity! That’s fantastic! It’s just inspiring - listening to this over the summer, when my last campaign had fallen apart under the strain of graduation, is why I decided to plan and run my new one!

That quote from Haley Whipjack that I used as the title for this section? That’s the whole core of this idea, and really, I think, the core of the podcast.

The Mercer Effect is when you go “that’s really cool, I could never do that.” But Unprepared Casters makes you look at D&D and go “wow, that looks really fun. I bet I can do that!” And I love the show for it.

And I bet a lot of you do too.

[morporkian-cryptid]

Lupin III - The Castle of Cagliostro, and its extremely gay and romantic title scene

Hello everyone, this is your new installment of “Elliott rambles about her fandoms”!

Today I am going to be talking (well, mostly yelling) about the opening credits of Lupin III - The Castle of Cagliostro.

Because I’ve rewatched that movie almost two weeks ago, and I’m still going into a fit of hysterics every time I so much as think about it.

[Image description: Lupin and Jigen sitting in front of the Fiat, with a small nomad cooking space set up. It is night, Lupin is reading a map and Jigen is holding a pan above a small gas stove. The lighting is dim and comes only for the stove. The subtitles of the song lyrics read “My love for you burns”]

https://twitter.com/spacequeenemily/status/1118274079662977025?lang=en

This Twitter link is the only video of the title scene I could find online; the image quality is a bit low but at least it’s the full scene. Please watch it, I promise you won’t regret it.

Fair warning: long post with much capslock, very swearing.

Okay, so.

The lyrics of this song, Fire Treasure, go more or less like this (from the subtitles of the movie, which I assume are the official translation) :

I want to go with you, searching for happiness / No matter how hard the road or how the night may grow cold / I just want to wander on with you

Who else is there to comfort and hold / This lonely traveler when their heart grows cold? / Who else but you can make all my dreams come true?

Like a raging fire my love for you burns / All I want is for you to know how I feel / Make me your prisoner and never let go

(additional lyrics which are on the wiki but not in the title sequence)

You, who wander the wasteland  / I want to let you sleep / The shooting star is for you

I want only you to understand / This love of mine that blazes with flames / I'll clear away the enigmatic mist

You can find the official japanese lyrics here on the Lupin III fandom wiki.

Now this is a pretty basic love song, and we know most of the theme songs in this series are love songs and it doesn’t always mean anything (looking at you, Red Jacket opening theme). The music itself (without the lyrics) is used several times during the movie, especially in scenes with Lupin and Clarisse; and reused later in several movies involving similar dynamics.

But the only time the whole song, with lyrics, plays in The Castle of Cagliostro, it’s during the opening credits / title sequence. Aka, Lupin and Jigen’s road trip.

Yeah. This longing, yearning love song about a lonely traveler and the person who silently loves them and wants to follow them through all the troubles of the road and look for happiness by their side... Is played along with of a video of Jigen and Lupin traveling together.

And oh, if only it was just that...

It could have been two guys being bros, two friends having a fun road trip together. They could have shown the banter and playful fights between them that we see in the rest of the movie. But NO. THIS is what they gave us instead:

[The silhouettes of Jigen and Lupin sitting on and leaning against the Fiat, with a boat in the background and an orange sunset-like sky]

[the Fiat driving on a narrow bridge in the middle of an expanse of water glistening and reflecting the pink and purple sky]

[Lupin lying on his back in the grass, and Jigen sitting near him and cooking in front of a small portable gas stove, the Fiat parked next to them. It is night, and the gaz stove gives a soft glow, the only source of light in the picture.]

[Lupin sitting on the roof of the Fiat and Jigen standing left of it. They are waiting for a train with wooden wagons to pass. There are white flowers in the foreground on the right of the screen.]

[Night time, on a backdrop of dark blue sky with white stars. Lupin is sitting on the roof of the Fiat, lighting a cigarette (the Fiat itself isn’t in the frame). Jigen is standing near him, smoking a cigarette, with only his head visible. The subtitles of the song lyrics write “Make me your prisoner and never let go”.]

[The same scene from a different angle, the Fiat is now visible, with grass in the foreground, Lupin is seen from the back and Jigen from head to feet. The dark blue sky is fading into white at the bottom, suggesting sunrise.]

They could have given us a fun, “straight pals being bros” road trip. Instead, they decided to give us a soft, nostalgic ambiance, with orange and pink sunsets, the boys wistfully looking into the distance under a starry night sky, smoking cigarettes together in silence, with the soft glow of a shared meal around a campfire. THEY MADE THE CHOICE TO MAKE THIS AS FUCKING ROMANTIC AS POSSIBLE. THEY WILLINGLY MADE THAT DECISION.

We all know that this franchise’s subtext is not exactly subtle in establishing, to name just one obvious example, Jigen’s orientation (hum hum kabuki-related slang, hum hum bootleg playboy magazine, hum hum shameless flirting with burly soldiers).

But THIS. This isn’t a “I hate women” joke. This isn’t a two-second frame showing a bootleg gay pinup magazine. This isn’t a subtle parallel between Lupin’s relationships with Fujiko and with Jigen. This is the most OBVIOUS and EXPLICIT bit of subtext I have ever seen in this goddamn subtext-packed series. This is A FUCKING LOVE SONG, WITH THE WORDS “MY LOVE FOR YOU BURNS” EXPLICITLY IN IT, PLAYED ON A VIDEO OF JIGEN AND LUPIN ON A ROAD TRIP WITH THE MOST ROMANTIC AND SOFT VISUALS POSSIBLE. ONE MINUTE AND FIFTY FIVE SECONDS OF TYPICAL ROMANTIC SCENE WITH TYPICAL ROMANTIC VISUALS AND A FUCKING LOVE SONG.

This can’t be an accident. You can’t accidentally make a scene like this. I mean come on, “Like a raging fire my love for you burns, I just want you to know how I feel” with a panning shot of a starry night sky and Lupin and Jigen silently sharing a smoke? HOW DO THEY THINK WE ARE GOING TO INTERPRET THIS? IS THERE ANY OTHER POSSIBLE FUCKING INTERPRETATION THAN “JIGEN IS MADLY IN LOVE WITH LUPIN?“ NO THERE ISN’T. THERE FUCKING ISN’T.

They go and try to tell us that Lupin and Jigen are just friends, they give Jigen barely believable female love interests whom he has little to no chemistry with, they write Jigen getting angry when he thinks Lupin might be gay, and then they turn around and make THIS. FUCKING. TITLE SEQUENCE.

It kills me because IT’S CANON but also it’s not! They’re not stating that Jigen loves Lupin, they’re not confirming that they’re a couple, at no point in the 50 years of existence of this damn franchise has either of them explicitly declared that they were in love with the other, and that is most likely never going to happen. But this fucking scene exists. This fucking scene is CANON, and it’s technically still subtext, but it is the most OBVIOUS and IN YOUR GODDAMN FACE subtext EVER.

Disclaimer: I agree that most of the anime and movies’ (still relatively un-subtle) subtext can be disregarded or interpreted as platonic if you want, and I absolutely respect anyone’s desire to interpret them as platonic friends. All visions and interpretations can coexist. That being said, I’m sorry but for this specific scene I will not, ever, budge from the position that it is a fucking romantic love scene and that there is no other possible interpretation, I’m sorry but just FUCKING LOOK AT IT. LOOK AT IT AND TELL ME THIS ISN’T MEANT TO BE ROMANTIC. I DARE YOU.

This scene is just at the VERY LIMIT of explicitly stating Jigen and Lupin’s love. But it’s STILL NOT EXPLICIT. The song says “I love you” but neither Jigen nor Lupin does. The song on its own could relate to any number of characters (and in the rest of the movie it relates mostly to Clarisse, and more generally to all the girls Lupin leaves behind). The video without the music, while being very sweet and having a romantic vibe, could still be interpreted as a road trip between friends. And yet. AND YET. They made the conscious decision to put THAT SONG with THESE IMAGES. And to then “leave it to our interpretation”.

The Castle of Cagliostro was the second movie of the Lupin III franchise. It came out in 1979, not even ten years after the first episode of the anime aired. This is one of the establishing movies of the franchise, the one that propelled Lupin III on the international scene, the door through which generations of fans have been introduced to the series. A now iconic and unmissable pillar of the pop culture myth that Lupin III has become, a jewel of hand-drawn animation, produced by one of Japan’s most internationally well known animated movie director, future founder of one of its most iconic studios.

This isn’t a “blink and you’ll miss it” nudge in an largely forgettable TV special with weird chara designs and a plot created by writers seemingly on crack. This isn’t a subtle nod to long time fans and shippers like Part 5 did in 2018. This is the FUCKING TITLE SEQUENCE of the CASTLE OF MOTHERFUCKING CAGLIOSTRO by HAYAO GODDAMN MIYAZAKI. AND IT’S A LOVE STORY.

It’s been a week and a half, guys. And I still want to scream. I will never be free. Lupin and Jigen are in love and the world needs to know.

[mah-gah-lee]

What a weird family reunion Reggie x  Reader (xLuke)

gif originally posted by @jatpsource​

Word Count: 3515 words

 Summary: You’re Reggie’s little sister. You were 3 when he died. You’re now a ghost for a decade. One night, you recognize your brother and jumped into him to an unexpected family reunion. How is it going to happen? Will Reggie believe you? In a mysterious way, that’s Luke who help you to convinced Reggie.

 Warnings: cuss (language), mention of death, mention of divorce, mention of drugs

 A/N: This is my first fic about jatp characters. Hope you’ll enjoy! keep in mind that french is my first language, so i’m so sorry if there’s some mistakes in my fic

 disclaimer: It takes place during episodes 6 and 7. I do not take into account the possibility of a Juke. The chemistry while they sing is there but no romantic feelings.

 Tagged: @asdfghjkl-fanfics​ @standingtalllove​ 

 _______

Losing a child is the worst thing a parent could live, losing two is unimaginable. It’s seems being 17 years old was a new malediction in Peters family.

 You were 3 when your older brother, Reginald, died in a weird hot dog accident. At that point, your parents were literally a fight away from a divorce but never did it because of you. You were too young to be in a divided family, according to them. But Reggie's death separated them for good. Yet they really tried to support each other, to overcome that and give you all the attention you needed. But your mother overprotected you and made you live in the shadow of your late brother. Your dad couldn't stand it. And when they finally divorce, moving out from reggie’s childhood house, you went to live with your dad.

 Even though you were too young to form a strong bond with your brother, in a way you missed him. Your mother’s house was full of pictures of him, some of his clothes were still in a room, dedicated to him. When you visited your mother, you didn’t understand why you always found yourself in this room. You were drawn like a magnet to the comforting room. Reggie’s presence in this new house brought you such a sense of security that your mother had repeatedly found you asleep on a pile of your brother’s T-shirts.

 And then you died in 2009. Kanye West had interrupted Taylor Swift's speech at the VMAs, Miley Cyrus hadn't gone crazy yet and One Direction didn't exist yet. What an era! You didn't know why the great light didn't come looking for you but you were there, as a ghost in 2009. And the time has passed ... You've had your best concerts, the best parties. A forever teenager who couldn't eat, drink or sleep.

 And then 2020 came.

 …

 You were tired of always doing the same thing for over a decade, but you couldn't help but go to every open scene that came up in your beautiful city. It was as if an inexplicable force was pushing you to go there.

 This evening was no exception to the rule and you were in a very hip little bar in the city center. You wore one of those sleeveless, gray crop tops with high waisted pants, your leather jacket draped over your shoulders. Your eyes were directly drawn to a group of girls in colorful costumes. You couldn't help but roll your eyes. It's been 10 years since you died and it seemed to you that these girls looked like the same plagues that ruined the lives of so many teenagers in your time. You put on an expression of disgust when they all took the stage, but when the music started you couldn't help but admit it was pretty catchy. However, you didn't expect a ghost to appear in the middle of the stage, improvising a choreography. Was that part of the show?

 But looking at the audience's non-reaction, you knew it wasn't. The ghost disappeared for the first time, and your gaze sought directly the distinctive light source of another apparition in the room. Your gaze lingered on a small group of three boys - the blond boy included - and two girls. You have wrinkled your eyes to better distinguish the teenagers, and your face expressed confusion.

 “Reggie? “

 You wanted to go see him so badly. You were pretty sure it was your brother but it all came too fast. The moment you decided to walk towards them, the organizer announced a new band.

 “Okay, looks like we're close the night out with one more group…Julie and the fat ones.”

 What was that for a name? Your attention had been diverted and when you looked back at the group, the boys had disappeared as one of the young girls took the stage. Your heart was beating so fast. You couldn't go wrong; you had seen so many pictures at your mother's house that it was impossible that this boy was not your brother. But you missed your chance…

 Julie started to sing and your eyes were captivated, as much as your ears were. This kid was so talented! When she sang a rather high note, the tension in the room charged into electricity. The next second, the young singer was joined by the group of boys you had seen in her company. Appearing distinctly as the ghosts did. On drums there was the blond boy you had seen dancing a few moments earlier, on the electric guitar, a boy with tousled brown hair who seemed slightly familiar to you ... and on bass, with a flannel shirt, there was your brother ... Reggie was there, identical to the photos you had admired so much.

 The bar was on fire as Julie and The Phantoms performed. What a sick name for a group made up of two-thirds of ghosts! The song was so catchy that your heart beat to the sound of the music. But your eyes did not leave your brother, you were unable to move, frozen in place. What should you do ? Will you introduce yourself after the performance? And, what would you say? "Hey hi Reggie, I'm your sister, I died ten years ago and you twenty-five years ago. Unbelievable, right?! Nice to see you again" And once again, before you knew it, the song was over and the boys were gone again, leaving Julie alone on stage in the bewilderment of the many people in the facility.

 “for God's sake, where are they?”

 You didn't want to miss it anymore. Even though the whole situation was strange, you wanted to see your brother again.

 Your eyes flew over the room before seeing the scene play out before your eyes. Julie seemed petrified in front of a man. The boys watched in amazement and as Julie left with what appeared to be her father, you rushed over to the group of three musicians before they disappeared again.

 “omg please don't poof out again.” You said almost out of breath

 The boys looked at you like you were crazy before the guitarist jumped off the bar counter, bursting with energy.

 "Wait, you can see us?"

 “as much as when mister "all eyes on me" made his performance”, you were pointing your head at the blond boy.

 The group looked at each other in puzzlement and Reggie finally spoke, his blue eyes full of mischief.

 “So…hi there cutie, how can we help you?”

 Your face expressed disgust and you stuck your tongue out mimicking vomiting.

Luke gave Alex an amused smile, seeing Reggie flirting and your spontaneous reaction. The bassist couldn't help but charm the pretty ladies.

 “Wow Reggie, that's gross ... you're my brother.”

  Reggie burst out laughing at your response, not noticing that you called him by his first name when he hadn't even introduced himself to you yet.

 “Yeah right, for sure. You just could tell me you weren’t interested. But I’m charming...”

 It was the first time he had been given such an excuse but you looked so serious that he stopped dead in his tracks as Luke and Alex watched you. They always knew Reggie had a sister. But the scene unfolding before their eyes seemed impossible. (Y / N) was so young when they died and now must have been around 28, something like that. But the girl in front of them was a teenager, their age. How was this possible?

 You didn't want to drop the information like that. It was worse than anything you could have imagined. But it had escaped you. Now he didn't take you seriously. Your eyes were wet with tears. It was scary to find you in front of your brother for the first time as a ghost teenager. Luke looked panicked when he noticed your eyes, squeezing Reggie's shoulder as you seemed to beg.

 “Can I ... can I meet you in a quieter time please, Reginald?”

 Your brother's eyes widened as Luke's hug on his shoulder tightened a bit. The eagerness and desperation in your voice had made both boys react, Alex was just looking at all of you like all of this wasn't real. The use of Reggie's name made him tense, surprised. Few called him Reginald. In fact, only his family, and the boys when they wanted to annoy him, called him that way. And although his nickname is obvious enough to deduce his

full first name, he deeply felt that you weren't just anyone.

  He seemed a little panicked and looked around for his friends to support him. As if the solution would fall by itself just by the presence of Luke and Alex.

 “Okay, but I want Luke and Alex’s there! What about tomorrow? I’ll give you the address!”

 Wow, that was quick.

 “hm, yeah, yeah sure, as you want”

 You nodded and Reggie silently slipped a note to the drummer. Alex took a pen, write something on a paper towel and gave it to you. You weren’t surprise, you also can make some tricks. And you just had the time to thanks them before they poofted again.

 …

 The next day, you landed in front of Julie's garage. Lucky she's at school because you shouldn't be explaining your presence, so she managed to see you the way she saw boys.

 Before entering, you peeked out the window and frowned. There seemed to be only Luke so far. He was leaning over the piano, his head in a notebook. Your body went through part of the garage door and you cleared your throat.

 “hmm, hi ... i came to see Reggie ..”

 Luke instantly raised his head and you caught his attention.

 “oh uh, hi! He should be here soon, come in.….”

 Silence felt as Luke motioned for you to sit on the couch. It was a rather pleasant studio; the plants gave a warm atmosphere to the room and the music set sent you good vibes.

 "Does your girlfriend mind that I'm here? I mean, that seems to be your HQ"

 "girlfriend?"

 "The girl you sing with" I simply said.

 "Julie? Um, yeah, she's not my girlfriend. She-sh-she’s great and we have this powerful connection but…not, not in a romantic way. Music tied us. Music and friendship "

 Luke chuckled lightly as he scratched his head. You were surprised they weren't dating. Yesterday the tension was intense. He seemed authentic when he had continued his momentum. You let out a smile amused by so much overflow.

 “It's okay, I don't need to know your full relationship statute or your social security number.”

 The guitarist gave you a frank smile, his eyes twinkling with amusement. For a ghost, his gaze was really alive.

 “ I’m Luke, by the way”

 "Y / N… Re .."

 "Reggie's little sister… I-I remember you a little."

 "You look familiar to me. Maybe I saw you in a few pictures with Reggie."

 Silence fell and you started to feel anxious. Maybe it was a bad idea? You had grown up since Reggie died ... were you still his little sister after all? Luke seemed to notice your dismay and put a comforting hand on your knee.

 “hey, is something bothering you?”

 “What if he doesn't believe me ... if he definitely thinks I'm not his sister.”

 “Let's be honest, it's a little hard to believe. The last time I saw you, you were three years old.”

 It was as if the memories flooded into your mind and let you carried away in your words.

 “Yeah, you gave me this teddy bear with a guitar and told Reggie you wanted to be my favorite.”

 Luke chuckled slightly before staring at you, speechless. He seemed dazed. This anecdote dates back to twenty-five years anyway. He himself had a hard time remembering it until you said it a few seconds earlier.

 “what was the smell of the stuffed animal?” he asked, confused about that funny fact

 “sorry, what?”

 “the plush, what did it smell like?”

 “hot waffle, why?”

 “okay ... maybe you are his sister ... tell me more about what you remember”

 You looked at him with a puzzled expression. Everything had been so natural before he stopped in all the movements. And now, it was hard to think about for the memories you had of Reggie on demand. The teddy bear given by Luke story had slipped out of your mind without you realizing it. As your brain seemed to boil, the fog of your thoughts cleared.

 “can I use your guitar?”

 “hell no ... why?” Luke exclaimed with far too much anticipation

 “I have this lullaby stuck inside of my head ... I think Reggie sang it to me when I was a child”

 Your pleading and desperate gaze fell on Luke who categorically refused to let you take his guitar. He ends up grabbing his six acoustic strings, terminated. There was something about you that made him weak.

 “Maybe you can teach me but ... my guitar is my guitar, nobody touches it.”

 You nodded and the lead singer moved closer to you. You were stunned by its smell, like a distant memory. Luke had definitely been a part of your life before he died, you were sure of that. You leaned over her shoulder, humming the lullaby that was left in your head. It didn't take long for him to find the right chords. Luke continued several times before you stopped singing, looking at him intently.

 “that's exactly it ... this lullaby”

 You both looked at each other, an indecipherable expression in your eyes. You both jumped at the sound of the garage door. Reggie appeared with Alex.

 "Ready to compose hellish songs! oh did I interrupt something?”

 "No, no I was there to see you. I guess you have a lot of questions."

 "hell yeah, can we start from the beginning?"

  You smiled to approve his request. The boys settled down on the sofa, while you sat down on one of the single armchairs. And the flow of questions began

  “When are you born?”

 “(your birthday date) 1992” you simply answered.

 “What’s your name?”

 (y/n) (y/m/n) Peters

 It’s seemed to convinced a little Reggie but doubt was all over his face.  It was information you could easily get on the internet nowadays.

 “What’s my favorite food?”

 “Pizza, mom said your favorite was the extra cheese with pepperoni”

 “And what was my favorite toy?”

 “I freaking don’t know, how can I suppose to known that?”

 “ah ah!” he pointed the finger at you, as if that answer was proof that you were lying. It broke your heart but you didn't show it.

Instead, you rolled your eyes and Reggie kept going to ask you some question. Of course, you would have liked to have answered his questions correctly. Your mother told you some anecdotes about him but not to the point of knowing all the details.

 “What’s the most terrible thing I said to my mom?”

 “Omg I don’t fucking know! I was 3 when you’re died, asshole!”

 Luke smiled when you exploded. Reggie was Reggie, as weird as possible. Now you were angry and desperate. Your brother didn’t believe you and he kept dragging you into this miserable feeling that you were never going to get your brother back. You had spent your short life living with a faint memory of him. Your blankie was one of his t-shirts, his voice reasoned in your head when you couldn’t sleep.

But then, in front of him, you were a stranger to him. Your heart was bruised from not being able to hug him and to finally meet this brother who had left far too soon.

 “Okay, okay… So, how can you proof me you’re really my sister?! “

 In the room’s corner, Luke looked at you, you looked desperate, about to cry again. He grabbed his guitar and cleared his throat. Reggie turned to him as the guitarist still had his eyes on you, a heartwarming smile hanging across his face. You had managed to convince him in a few minutes. He felt connected to you and the things you told him were disturbing. You could only be Reggie's sister; it was impossible otherwise.

 "Hey…What about the song you told me earlier." he said with a soft and comfort voice

 Your eyes caught his gaze, grateful for the initiative. You nodded and Luke started playing the few notes you had taught him a few minutes earlier. It was so different from all the songs the brunette could play before. It was a lullaby, such easy children's music with just a few notes.   Of course, the band wasn’t supposed to play when Julie wasn’t in the room but, Luke had thought it was the best thing to do to encourage you to keep going. He didn’t know why, but he wanted Reggie to believe you. Luke believed you, hard as nails. There only had to look at your eyes to understand this reality, and Luke had noticed that. You had the same blue eyes as your brother. How could Reggie still doubt that? You started to sing

 You're so sleepy

Very much sleepy

You want to go to the fairyland

You close your eyes

And jump into your dream.

When you'll wake up

I’ll still be on your team.

 The instant Reggie heard the first notes, he knew. But hearing you sing the lullaby he had invented for you when you didn't want to sleep as a child, was a magical moment. You were his baby sister. He gave you that sad little puppy face, so overwhelmed. Reggie opened his arms and you jumped into a hug, so glad he finally accepted the fact that you were his sister.

You felt oddly safe again, like taking a nap in Reggie's pile of old t-shirts. You were so happy to find your brother and to be able to live your non-life by his side. Nothing would be as boring as it used to be. Reggie pushed you away with a concerned look

 "but wait ... how did you die?"

 "Yeah ... I don't really know ... I was at a really, really good rock concert and I bought this drink ... and I think I got drugged up there and ... I guess I'm dead? tadaa " you tried to tell him in a light tone.

He had just learned that he had a little sister. He didn't have to know that she was sneaking out at rock concerts and drinking alcohol before she was old enough. Right? Alex looked at Luke and Reggie with his half amused half confused smile. As for Luke, he fidgeted from foot to foot at the discovery. Y / N was as much rock and roll as they all were. Rebellion had to be his middle name

You loosened Reggie's embrace and lowered your head, pursing your lips so as not to show your embarrassment. He asked if you wanted snacks and you nodded. There was a slight silence. You didn't notice the urgent look Luke gave Alex but the next moment the blond jumped up to accompany the bassist, leaving you alone in the garage with the lead singer.

 The silences were a little longer until Luke cautiously approached you. You could feel the awkwardness from miles away.

 “ Sooo, you made this.”

 “ yeah ...” you answered in a shy voice

 It was the moment you had to thank him but your words seemed frozen. You mustered all the courage to plant your gaze in Luke's eyes.

 “Thank you ... for helping me earlier.”

 “oh it was nothing”.

 “I ... yes, yes it was. You can't imagine how important seeing Reggie again is to me. Thanks for ... for helping me open his eyes.”

 A slight smile caught his lips and he reached for your cheek before stopping his gesture. Instead of stroking your skin, he simply put a section of your hair back behind your ear.

 “I would do anything for my best friends.”

 And Reggie was definitely one of Luke’s best friend. You hardly swallowed, your stomach contorting under the effect that the guitarist made you. Time had seemed to fly at an incredible speed as the moment was interrupted by Reggie and Alex coming back to you.

 “OMG LUKE DON’T FLIRT WITH MY SISTER, SHE’S 3!”

 You cleared your throat and stepped aside to pull yourself away from Luke as far as possible. Your gaze fell on your brother and you raised an eyebrow at the last remark. 3 years old, really? You were 3 years old twenty-five years ago ... now you were eternally a teenager

 “I’m seventeen.”

 “Listen, i'm your big brother, you’re three, end of discussion.”

 Your face wanted to laugh and you pursed your lips to keep from succumbing. But your eyes… Your eyes met Luke's in a complicity that slowly settled. Could you fall in love with your big brother's best friend? Definitely yes...

[secretly-of-course]

Hmmm Andi Mack for 001, Gustholomule for 002 (did I get their ship name right? I hope I got their ship name right) and Kristy Thomas for 003

Oo this will be fun!

Andi Mack:

Favorite character: I feel this is sooooo hard to decide but I'm gonna say Cyrus!

Least Favorite character: Miranda.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Tyrus, Muffy, Bexie, Ambi, and Wandi

Character I find most attractive: definitely Bex

Character I would marry: either Bex or Bowie, maybe both if that's allowed lol

Character I would be best friends with: lowkey I would LOVE to be best friends with CeCe. Gardening, hosing down obnoxious neighbors, what's not to love?

a random thought: I feel a little bad that I haven't drawn any of these characters in nearly a year but my brain won't let me focus on them right now :(

An unpopular opinion: Kira should have been redeemed!

My Canon OTP: Tyrus!!!! They are so important and just so good and aaaahhhhhh

My Non-canon OTP: Ambi, for a minute there I actually forgot they weren't canon :(

Most Badass Character: Bex for sure

Most Epic Villain: hmm there's not really villains but I guess Metcalf in "Were We Ever" if that counts

Pairing I am not a fan of: jandi, I prefer them as friends

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Walker. That whole secret society episode was a mess and they totally destroyed Walker's character for no reason by making him out to seem like a player. They are literally 14 Buffy could have just said "I actually don't like him as much as I thought" and it wouldn't have been a big deal.

Favourite Friendship: The Good Hair Crew has my entire heart <3

Character I most identify with: Miss Andi herself! We both love crafts and are somewhat over dramatic but usually have nice intentions at heart lol

Character I wish I could be: Bex, she's just so cool and amazing

Gustholomule: (and yes! you got it right 😄)

When I started shipping them: Right from Matty's debut episode "Something Ventured, Someone Framed." I immediately got rivals to lovers vibes from them and latched on lol

My thoughts: I love them. They are boyfriends.

What makes me happy about them: I really like how their friendship was developed more in "Through the Looking Glass Graveyard." They really came to understand each other more and that episode also gave fanfic writers a perfect set up for them to spend more time together.

What makes me sad about them: that with the shortened season we probably won't get to see much more of their development :(

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: okay sooo I don't really like in fics when Matty is very sweet and affectionate lol he's a lil gremlin boy, he can be in love and still be a little shit <3

Things I look for in fanfic: I love when fics explore their time restoring the graveyard and slow burn romance :)

My wishlist: I'm manifesting a hug 🙏🙏🙏

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: There's not really anyone else in the show who I see them with but whoever makes them happy I guess! (anyone but Bria!)

My happily ever after for them: Being apart for so long has made them each realize how much the other means to them and after a lot of mutual pining eventually they end up together post canon

Kristy Thomas:

How I feel about this character: Nothing but respect for my president!!!

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: none

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: I really loved her development with Karen, especially in the Camp Moosehead episodes :')

My unpopular opinion about this character: She is a romance-repulsed aromantic! ik most people hc her as a lesbian which is cool and all but to me she will always be aro <3

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: genuinely just wish we could have seen more of her :(

Favorite friendship for this character: the 5 core club members >>>

My crossover ship: none

Thanks so much for asking!

Send me a fandom/ship/character ask game

[zainclaw]

Hii Zain!! Hope you're doing well!

Considering you're coming from tw/sterek (I shipped them too, still do 😭) and shipped it but never got to see it be real on the show, and now you're into buddie, what do you think our chances of getting canon romantic buddie are? What are you're thoughts on possibility o pining eddie (or buck) and if you do believe they will go Canon, how do you think it'd play out and in what time span?

Thanks for your answer!

Thank you for giving me a reason to talk about this!! Because I’ve actually been wanting to make some kind of post about it, haha.

Do I think Buddie will become canon?

Honestly, there are so many things about Buck and Eddie's canon relationship, as it’s displayed on the show, that genuinely make me Struggle to believe it's anything but actual build-up. (And I say this as someone who has no clue what the show runners have ever said on the subject. And I have no interest to. I’m watching their show and interpret the story being told to me.) If it isn’t build-up, then I gotta say it’s a whole new level of queerbaiting I’ve never seen before.

Choices™ made on the show that make me Struggle:

The fact that the first half of the 2nd season was written, shot and edited before the fandom had even met Eddie, seeing as he wasn’t introduced before it aired. Meaning, all the choices made within these first 10 episodes, were not at all influenced by the fans or what they chose to ship. The beginning of Buck and Eddie was choices made 100% by the show writers, before they had the chance to make any kind of choices based on whether they were shipped by fans or not.

Included in these first 10 episodes together, is the scene with Buck talking to the old gay man whose husband just passed away, and the legendary “I guess I can only hope to find something that good” line from Buck. And, like, we got to see a whole montage of their life together, growing up and falling in love, finally getting married. We never got that much insight in a patient’s life, and they chose to do it for this one gay couple. And they chose this to be an important conversation in Buck’s journey for a romantic partner.

Also included in those episodes, is the scene from the Christmas episode where Buck goes with Eddie and Christopher to see Santa, and the elf lady mistakes Buck and Eddie for a couple, saying "you two have an adorable son” and Buck doesn’t even bother to correct her, but just responds with “thank you” and skips after Eddie. Do you know how many times I’ve seen two men being mistaken as a couple on tv, with them being offended and the whole thing just being played off as a joke? Too fucking many. And this scene gave me none of those vibes. 

(This moment was a Choice, and I want to know Why. Because if it isn’t a joke, and it isn’t actual set-up, then it’s definitely queerbaiting. Which, again, that’s not how queerbaiting usually happens. Before the fans has even had the chance to ship it. So what the fuck?)

Moving on from those specific episodes -- though I will always argue those are the most significant ones, regarding what the show runners set out to do with Eddie and Buck’s relationship -- there are so many more Choices made on the show as a whole.

The fact that a big part of Buck’s character development over the seasons is about going from the biggest player to someone who wants to find a meaningful relationship. Him having that one conversation with Bobby back in S1 about not being sure if he was ready for a relationship so adult, before realizing he does, and proceeds to befriend Eddie and his seven year old son, and becomes such an important person in both their lives. He gets invested in helping Eddie out with Christopher, and matures a lot because of it. And at the end of it all, in the 4th and latest season, we have Buck who (canonically) loves this kid, who babysits him frequently, who’s the person Christopher goes to when he’s upset with his dad, and who stays at Eddie’s house to take care of his son while he’s at the hospital, and who’s to become the legal guardian of Christopher if something ever was to happen to Eddie, despite there being grandparents and aunts and other family.

The fact that the focus of Eddie’s character has always been Christopher, about being a good father and wanting to do right by his son. Wanting to give him love and stability after his mother walked out on both of them. And he meets Buck, who asks Bobby if Christopher can stay with them at the firehouse when Eddie can’t find someone to watch him, before Eddie even gets the chance to do it himself. Buck, who introduces him to Carla who becomes a very important person to both him and Christopher. Buck, who adores his son, never once treats him like a burden, and who quickly becomes a very important person in Christopher’s life. Buck, whom Eddie confidentially tells  “I know you love my son and would never stop trying for him”. Buck, whom Eddie decides is the love and stability he wants for his son, and makes sure that Buck will be the one to raise Christopher if he himself can’t do it anymore.

The choice to have Eddie tell Buck “you can have my back any day” when later being blamed for not having Shannon’s back, even though he insists that he always did. (Buck tells Abby he’s got her back in S1 as well, but I do think the parallel with Eddie is more significant.)

The choice to have Buck say “This is Eddie’s house, I’m not really a guest.”

The choice to have Maddie and Chimney momentarily forget that Buck doesn’t in fact have kids, to then cut to Buck and Christopher at the pier.

The choice to have Eddie say Buck’s name and put a hand on his shoulder and seek his gaze before telling him there’s not a person in the world he trusts more with his son than him. The way this was shot. The line delivery. Choices.

The choice to place Buck with the Diaz family for the Christmas photo as well as countless other times when people are paired up as couples/families.

The choice to make it canon that both Eddie and Buck have keys to each other’s place.

The choice to have Buck lose his entire shit when the well collapses on top of Eddie, having him scream Eddie’s name and try to dig him out with his bare hands. And the fact that Buck is in most of the images flashing before Eddie’s eyes when he’s close to drowning. The choice of making sure Buck holding Eddie’s hand is in the shot when they reunite.

The choice to let Eddie be the one who’s there to witness Buck’s face fall when he sees Abby again. The choice of Eddie touching Buck’s shoulder in wordless reassurance, and later asks him if he’s okay when Abby is gone again.

The choice to have Eddie be on a date with Ana, only for him to return home to where Buck is watching Christopher, and them having a such a warm, domestic moment that directly mirrors scenes with Hen and Karen -- a married couple -- on the topic of getting their kids to bed.

The choice to not show us Eddie waking up at the hospital, with only Ana there, but instead let us see him awake for the first time as Buck runs in there to see him. Putting all the focus on how relieved Eddie and Buck are to see each other again, rather than Eddie and anyone else. Including his girlfriend. I can talk at lengths about how Buck was framed as Eddie’s love interest this whole episode.

The choice to have Eddie call Buck “Evan” in such a tender and special moment. Calling him by his real name, which is something we haven’t seen anyone else from the firefam ever do. Not Bobby. Not Hen. Not Chimney.

The show set up Buck to become Christopher’s second parental figure, like I literally can’t see it any other way than that. And, yeah, that in itself doesn’t have to point towards a romantic relationship with Eddie, it could happen between two best friends, but considering everything else? It’s hard to see it that way tbh. There are just so many Choices, piling up, making mountains, that seem to point to it being more than just a really profound friendship.

As for my hopes for Season 5 / the future as a whole...

I love everybody’s headcanons about pining Eddie, and obviously I would love to see them actually, finally, taking that route with them. But... I guess I still don’t dare to hope for real, haha. Even with everything I just mentioned above, I’m just so used to being disappointed.

I never start shipping something with the need or goal to see it go canon. Ofc I would love to see it, because I love them, and just having it confirmed on the show, not even in an explicit way, would be so beautiful. But I don’t need it. It won’t affect my ability to adore the fan fics or edits or fanart.

Sooo sadly I don’t have any thoughts about what could happen from here on, tbh, or how their on-screen romance would play out! I love their characters as they are on the show, I just look forward to see them being them in many new episodes to come, with the special relationship they already do have in canon! I’m just happy to have that!

God, sorry for this NOVEL of an answer... XDDD

[leighlew3]

Source: (x)

I’d say this is it. On top of everything else, I’d say THIS is the cherry on top of definitive proof of Supercorp having been planned/attempted all along.

According to this S2 finale script with unaired moments, Lena had literally JUST left the room after they made future dinner plans together post-Mon-El loss, and then Kara has a talk with Cat in which Cat says love is still ahead for her… wow. Seriously. It’s 99.999% undeniable at this point. 

Especially because even if they changed the idea of them having dinner plans and removed that scene, the very next episode on screen in 3x01, we still had the moment where Kara is looking at photos of her with Mon-El, then she tells herself to wake up, sets it aside, texts LENA, who responds with a RED HEART EMOJI, and Kara smiles authentically for the second time since losing Mon-El (first time, also being at Lena during the statue dedication). Meanwhile the romantic-vibe song lyrics “good for me, what I need...” plays over the moment, and then Kara has the strength to move on and go meet her friends. So there’s a character losing one love interest, then another steps up as the obvious next choice/endgame that gives the person hope, as all signs around them also point to it as well, which is a pretty typical narrative set up for writers in situations like this. 

They clearly were always trying to set Lena up as Kara’s future love interest/ultimate endgame. Repeatedly. All of these script leaks (on top of what we’ve seen on screen all along as well) just confirms it. That one writer (who co-wrote this 2x22 script and the other one for 3x17 where she actually mentioned “Supercorp” directly on the page) officially confirmed she was rooting for it, and we see obviously was trying to set it up in the writing as well. Which by extension then confirms that someone - either showrunners or execs at the top - have forced them to remove these elements, halt development, go in other directions, or possibly in the case of S5 - delay it - every step of the way. Writers have clearly aimed for Supercorp more than once over the years. And it seems someone has clam-jammed it every damn time. 

So now, once again, here we are, back to the same old question… now that the show is ending, if it was a network or executive level clam-jam, are they FINALLY going to let the show go there? Or are they going to dig in their heels just to break an ankle and go out having wasted the ripest element in the show’s entire run - its biggest and most potentially impactful and memorable love story - and being one of the worst queer baiters in TV history, never fulfilling the best and most organic outcome for Kara, Lena, the show and the fans, due only to ego and/or homophobia? Same for the showrunners, IF they’re the hangup instead/also (hopefully not, but who knows)? 

Lastly, these scripts made it clear that they were also trying to make it obvious that Mon-El was NOT Kara’s endgame, nor anything remotely close to that. It was simply a first real relationship along the way of her finding her true soulmate. We’ve said all along that she didn’t like him in that way, until she became lonely and saw everyone else paired up, so she pushed herself to finally give him a chance since he liked her and she had nobody else. She even grew to love him, as she admits, but obviously she recognized that she got with him because she wanted to experience a relationship like everyone else had, and that says a lot. Especially when you combine it with her on screen blow up later, where she openly admitted she over romanticized their relationship, and he treated her like crap, and she was obviously glad it ended, and then again when she never gave into his attempts to get with her in S3, and easily let him go yet again in the S3 finale, and barely paid him attention in the 100th. 

These scripts just fully confirmed that Kara wants a soulmate/deep relationship, but she never really wanted Mon-El, specifically. She simply desires true love (like she’d told James - wanting her perfect game night partner, which was confirmed in S4 to be Lena, and someone who knew everything about her, which as of S5 is also Lena). I’ve always said that while Kara grew to love Mon-El and was hurt by losing him, she was more hurt by losing the potential he represented of her having a true love, having happiness, etc. And this script confirms that. He was NOT the one, and she’s always known it, which is why she’s never mentioned him since, and barely paid him attention in the 100th except to discuss Lena, and he didn’t even exist in a world where she and Lena were partners. 

The whole “Karamel vs Supercorp” of it all really shouldn’t even be up for debate anymore. They have made it clear, time and again both on screen and in these unaired script pages, that he is not Kara’s soulmate nor endgame. So unless the show decides to go against their own history and character development out of absolutely nowhere and pull something out of their arse at the last second that won’t make any sense and would send bad messaging and upset the bulk of their remaining audience, it won’t (and shouldn’t) happen. 

Meanwhile, again, they’ve also made it clear, time and again both on screen and in these unaired script pages, that Lena is Kara’s soulmate and endgame. 

So let’s see what they do with that. Throw it all away? Or soar, and finally fulfill the story they’ve been telling all along, while also make history, by letting Supergirl finally have what she’s always dreamed of: true love. And Lena. Because those two things are one in the same, per their own narrative. 

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TWD 11x06: On the Inside - Analysis

Okay, how did everyone like this episode? I loved it! It might be my favorite episode of the season so far. Partly because of all the horror movie vibes and jump scares. I thought that was delightful. And Lauren Ridloff did an amazing job. But more than that, it's because of all the symbolism and what I think this represents. Seriously, I think I might have like fifty-six theories come out of this one episode, LOL. Not brand-new theories, but just connecting symbols in a way I haven't before. For now, let's talk about the broad arcs here and what they mean.

***As always, spoilers abound below for 11x06. Don’t read until you’ve watched! You’ve been warned!***

Basically, we’re following two storylines in this episode. The first is Connie and Virgil. The second is Daryl, Leah, and the Reapers. I suppose you could call Kelly and Carol looking for Connie a third story line, but given that they're searching for Connie, it's really just a subplot of Connie's arc.

Connie and Virgil:

There are a lot of people saying that they might be setting Connie and Virgil up as romantic partners. I think that's probably the case, for a lot of reasons. They were very purposely put together in this house. After the episode, Angela Kang talked about how Virgil basically had to suppress part of his heart in order to get through the death of his family. That's why he seemed a little bit villainous when we first met him with Michonne.

Actually, we're seeing a major theme here that we've seen with other characters. Near the end of the episode, Virgil tells Connie, "I lost myself for a long time." It's very reminiscent of what Michonne said to Carl in 4x14. It's a theme we see where the character goes through some kind of trauma, and the aftermath of that trauma is very much a PTSD thing. They lose themselves to insanity for short time, but then someone is able to bring them back. We see this with many characters over the years. And this is something they're doing with Virgil. So this was Virgil kind of coming back to reality. Michonne gave him the chance to come back first, but he also says that her giving him that second chance led him to Connie and he sees that as Providence.

So basically, A.K. is saying that Virgil lost a big chunk of his heart when his family died, but he's rediscovering it here with Connie. And that's very important. I can't imagine them saying that, or him having this kind of arc, if there isn’t going to be a romance between them. Which, for the record, I think is cute. I totally ship it. (Totally objective over here. As always, of course. ;-))

But the big question is, what does this foreshadow? I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count.

I think this is a foreshadow of Beth and Daryl. I'm sure you're shocked to your toenails. I'll give you a moment to recover. Good? Okay.

A lot of us got Alone vibes from this episode. Just the two of them in house together. The undercurrent of possible romance between them. There's even a hug at one point.

Actually, the white, plantation style house with the white pillars immediately struck a cord with me. Back when they were filming the missing scenes from S5, they filmed in a house just like this one. it wasn’t the “white cabin” as we always refer to the house Emily was seen going into. But it was next door to that one and had a sign up about not mowing the lawn because it would be used for filming. 

I don’t know if this is actually the same house, but I’m willing to bet that this will end up having parallels to something we see when we finally get those missing scenes.

Once they get inside the house, we see Connie holding the door shut against walkers. It's very reminiscent of Daryl doing that at the funeral home in Alone.

The thing is, I don't even think callbacks to Alone are the big cheese. (For the record, we also saw them around Kelly, but I'll get to that in a minute.)

Because more than being a call back, this is a foreshadow. It represents some time in the future when Beth and Daryl will be together inside the CRM and trying to escape. Remember that “No Exit” sign in Beth’s cell?

We have a situation here where Connie and Virgil are trying to get out and there's literally no exit. All the doors are locked, they’re being trapped everywhere they go, they get separated. Even when Connie is in the wall, looking at Virgil, she wants to warn him of things, but she has no way to get into the room with him. There's literally no exit for her.

There are so many parallels to Beth and Daryl.

They emphasize the fact that Connie is lost. After getting out of the cave and walking around for walkers for so long, she clearly lost her bearings and doesn't know where she is or which way to go to get to Alexandria. It puts me in mind of the scene from 6x10, where Carl was talking to Judith and said if she was ever LOST and needed to find her way HOME, she should use the North Star. This is another way in which Connie is being paralleled to Beth. She's lost and needs to find her way home.

Virgil talks about wanting to get Connie HOME. To get her back to her family (which just so happens to be her sister). Of course there's the undercurrent of romance.

I also couldn't help but notice outlets throughout the episode. This house is very dilapidated and dirty. There's grime and rust and darkness everywhere. But we can very clearly see the outlets on the walls, as though they’re brand-new. I believe that's to draw our attention to them. Outlets suggest power, which suggests lamps or batteries.

Remember how I said that the whole battery theory is about resources and that it indicates the CRM? This is why I think this house represents the CRM. And I'm not at all saying that at some point, we’ll see Beth and Daryl running through a house together, as Connie and Virgil do here, trying to escape some threat. I think this represents a much bigger arc of them being inside the CRM and trying to get out. It will probably span a lot of episodes, maybe even multiple seasons.

At one point, we see a red coda pendant hanging in the window behind Virgil. Remember that, via the Matrix theory, red represents the outside world that TF is currently unaware of, and of course Coda suggests Beth. That’s a big part of the evidence for this template being a foreshadow of Beth and Daryl.

I’ll go over all the background details tomorrow, but pretty much every detail I found suggests what I've laid out here. I'm going to do completely separate post on the awake/asleep theme as well as the mailbox theme. That one stemmed from last week's episode (11x05), but I haven't gotten a chance to post it yet. And of course we saw the mailbox feature prominently in this episode as well.

We also have a situation where Virgil basically tells Connie to go on without him and that it’s very important to him that she gets home. And then he gets stabbed, and she not only saves him, but pulls him out of the house. We’ve always said that we think there will be a time when Beth will save Daryl. I think this is a foreshadow of it.

I think we'll have a situation (again, much bigger than what we see here in the single episode) where Daryl will be willing to sacrifice himself, his life, to get Beth back to Maggie. Of course she's not going to allow him to do that, but he'll probably be hurt very badly.

(And for the record, I think we've seen foreshadows of this and other arcs. Daryl getting hurt when fighting Alpha was probably a foreshadow of the same thing. I'm sure we could identify others.) I think he will be hurt and Beth will save him, and that will happen as they’re figuring out how to get out of the CRM.

To touch on Kelly’s side of things, we see her find a camp that Virgil and Connie had previously been at. She finds Connie’s stuff there, and the orange backpack that Virgil must have left behind. The thing that jumped out at me here is that, in the foreground, we saw ropes around the camp with cans attached as an alert system.

That was featured very prominently in Alone, both because Daryl set up something like that at the funeral home and also because the other half of that episode was about Maggie/Sasha/Bob and they did the same thing in their camp. So again, major callbacks to Alone, and to what this is probably foreshadowing.

But my favorite thing about this was connections that I made. Things that kind of confirm events we’ve suspected in 4B, but have never been able to prove. Let me explain.

First, there’s the reunion between Connie and Kelly. And this really jumped out at me. Not only because it's two sisters reuniting, but because of the way it was shown.

When approaching Connie, Kelly is crying and says, "I'm sorry." And that's out of character or out of place in any way. She’s sorry that for what happened to Connie and that it took them so long to find her. All that is completely understandable. But at the same time, Kelly has no reason to feel bad about what happened to Connie. It wasn't her fault, and she's been a dutiful sister looking for her intensively ever since.

But I think the “I'm sorry” will make a lot more sense if we hear Maggie saying it to Beth, given everything that's happened, and especially what happened in S5. I mean, Beth did get left behind.

The other thing is that when they see each other and then hug, the background music almost sounds angelic, like a choir. I mean, they really wanted this to be a big deal, the reunion between these two sisters. And not that the Kelly and Connie's reunion isn't a big deal. It's very sweet, but I feel like this a foreshadow something much bigger. And what other reunion between sisters could qualify for something like that except Maggie and Beth, who didn't get the reunion in season five?

We’ve always said that Connie was a proxy for Beth, and that the cave-in, followed by her being missing was a parallel to Beth’s arc. So, this arc ending in Connie finding someone she’ll eventually have a romance with and then finding her sister is makes me very hopeful for what we'll see when Beth returns.

I have to say that this is kind of a relief to me. Because of Daryl's line back in Still about how, "you ain't never going to see Maggie again," I’ve gone back and forth about whether Beth and Maggie will actually get a reunion. Yes, there are plenty of ways to explain away that line, and I don't disagree with any of them. But I’ve still been really back-and-forth about whether this is going to happen. After seeing Connie and Kelly really reunite, I have no doubt that eventually will see a Beth/Maggie reunion. Yay!

Next, is the fact that Virgil and Connie talk about how the people living in this house lured them into a trap.

This is talked about very much anymore, but was always but what happened in Alone was always so wonky to me. I know it was supposed to be, but the whole thing felt like it was orchestrated somehow. I mean, what happened to the dog? We hear barking, but we didn't actually see the dog again, because when Daryl open the door all the walkers were on the porch. But how did that many walkers get up to the porch without them hearing it?

When Beth and Daryl sat in the kitchen staring at each other, they heard the cans rattle and then at the dog bark. I think that the idea was that Daryl thought it was the dog moving the cans and that's why he was going to open the door and get it to come in. He didn't understand that there were walkers there. But why didn't they hear the walkers? More importantly, why would that many walkers go up to the door if they couldn't see any humans on the inside? It's completely weird behavior for walkers. And then when Beth leaves the house, she just happens to be picked up by a car?

Like I said, I just always felt like the whole thing was really orchestrated, but even at Grady, we were never told that it was. Gorman suggested to Beth that they happened upon her accidentally. Of course, Gorman is the opposite of trustworthy, but we also understand better now the way that these episodes are often approached. We sometimes see things from one character's point of view over another. Clearly, Slabtown was seen from Beth’s point of view, so if she couldn't see the truth about what happened, that's why we couldn’t neither.

My point is, in this episode, Virgil says that he and Connie were herded there like prey. These feral people apparently went to the camp (Kelly says the left in a hurry and something was very wrong, and I think she's right. Given that Virgil and Connie left all their stuff behind; Connie would not have left behind her slingshot on purpose). Which means the creatures came to their camp, scared them away, chase them toward the house, herding them that way, in order to eat them.

Now, I'm not saying that's specifically what happened in Alone, but I think it kind of proves that what happened was an orchestrated trap that was set up to capture Beth.

And we do get the sense from what Noah told her that Grady purposely left the strong behind and took the weak. So, I'm not sure if Beth and Daryl were actually herded toward the funeral home. From what we saw, it really was more like they happened upon it. But I'm wondering if once there, someone observed them, or observed them approaching, and decided that they would be optimal targets. Given that Beth was injured (which they would have known if they saw Daryl giving her the piggy back) obviously it would always be her that was taken, while Daryl��obviously the more survival-oriented of the two—would be left behind.

And I love this connection because it proves (as far as we can prove theories 😉) that there are things they haven’t shown us, not just in S5 with the missing 17 days, but reaching all the way back to S4.

The other thing that's just kind of cool to consider is that, as I said before, the other half of the episode was about Maggie/Sasha/Bob, right? There are a lot of things that their sequence foreshadows as well. And in the episode, Maggie is specifically looking for Glenn, not Beth. However, given that this episode with Connie and Virgil also featured Kelly, Connie’s sister, looking for her, it just doesn't seem like it could possibly be a coincidence that the other half of Alone was Maggie searching for someone. What I’m saying is that both Alone and this episode, 11x06, foreshadow what will happen when Maggie and Beth reunite. I'm sure I could go into the details of Alone find a lot of connections, but I don't have time to do that right now. Maybe during the hiatus. Maybe. ;-).

Daryl and Leah:

Okay, I guess we need to talk about Daryl and Leah’s part of this episode as well. I don't have as much say about the symbolism for them. This is really more about where this is going.

Daryl tortures Frost, which I'm sure some people are going to have a problem with. But A.K. said that this is really about Daryl wanting to stay on the inside with the Reapers. As I said after ep 4, Frost is smart and he understands what Daryl is doing. A.K. said he did exactly what Daryl wanted to do him to do here. Daryl wanted him to give them a basic location but not an exact one. In other words, to tell them the neighborhood but not the exact house. And that's exactly what Frost did. Angela says Daryl did this because he was trying to save Frost’s life. Unfortunately, by the end of the episode, we see that didn't work out so well. But he was attempting to save him.

You have to watch the details closely to pick this up, but the first house that Daryl, Leah, and Carver go to is not the house Maggie is in. That's why Daryl says they should stick around and look around for things, because he knew Maggie wasn't there and wanted to give her time to escape. But the second house we see them go into is where Maggie and co are hiding under the floorboards.

At first, it seems to be empty, but when Daryl comes downstairs, he sees the place where they might be hiding and slides the rug over it. In the end, Carver sees it and checks, but Maggie and the others have already made their escape.

I had to stop and think about that for a minute. Since Beth wore yellow and we think yellow equals life and escape, I would have thought the yellow house would be where Maggie and the others were hiding and then escaped from. That would've made more logical sense. But actually, the yellow house was a decoy.

It gave me a whole new insight into the meaning behind the color yellow in TWD universe.

I still think yellow represents escape, among other things. But it also represents looking for someone in the wrong place. Even if you think about Rick’s mini death fake out in 7x12, there was probably only 12 feet between where Michonne thought he was (right side of the screen being eaten by walkers) and where he actually was (left side of the screen coming out of the yellow carnival car) but still, she was looking for him in the wrong place and assumed he was dead because of it.

I also thought of the Glenn situation in S4. Maggie looked for him on the school bus (yellow). And in both cases, it was because that’s where Rick/Glenn were last seen, but what was UNSEEN was how they ESCAPED. So, TF was looking for them in the wrong place.

And I’m sure something similar will happen with Beth during the missing 17 days. It doesn’t really change what we believe happened with Beth, but it makes me want to re-examine every yellow reference we’ve ever seen on the show, which is probably hundreds by now, lol.

At one point, Carver is coming down the stairs and Daryl runs over to him and starts talking really fast. He says that they (Maggie’s group) will not to come back here, that it wouldn’t be smart, etc. The first time I watched it, I remember thinking that Daryl was being really obvious. It made him seem nervous and like he was hiding something. And he probably was somewhat nervous. The reason he ran over Carver right then, is because he didn't want Carver to see the hiding place where Maggie and the others were (because Daryl himself noticed it when he was coming down the stairs).

But the other thing to remember is that Daryl knows Maggie and the others are down there. He was using this to give them information. He talks about how the Reapers have walls and weapons, twenty people inside their town, etc. That is also him getting Maggie information so she would know what they're up against. It was actually very smart on his part, even if it kind of tipped Carver off.

By the end, they returned to Pope and find that Frost is dead. I thought it was super weird and creepy that Pope started laughing when Carver said they had lost Maggie's group. That's very out of character for him. Angela Kang said Pope was purposely playing mind games to make Daryl and Leah paranoid, but even so. That laugh was just maniacal.

So, not sure exactly where this is going, or what Pope's plans are. He kind of suggests that maybe Frost turned on Daryl and sold him out before he died. I doubt that's true, but Pope also strikes me as the kind of guy who, if he's decided Daryl is an enemy, doesn't actually need proof of it. So, we'll just have to see where this goes.

Okay, that's it for today. I'll do details tomorrow. How did you all like the episode?

[masqueradeball]

How about number 3? Like, tell us all about it if you want :)

Oh my gosh 🥺 thank you so much for giving me my first ask! 💖 I'm eternally grateful I get to spill all my pheels out.

3. What is my favorite Phantom tv/film adaptation?

My absolute favorite Phantom is the 1925 Lon Chaney silent film. He just embodies everything that I like about Gaston Leroux's Erik for me and he is both horrifying and pitiable. I dislike the ending but I can live with it given it's what test audiences wanted at the time. I truly love his Red Death costume. You can find it on Youtube and the Tubi app for free.

My first runner up would be Claude Raines in the 1943 because his Erique so soft and tragic in that film I cannot help but love him. This was one was my grandma's favorite 'classic monster' movies that she loved, so I have a special place in my heart for this one. I love his hair and appreciate that he was one fine silver fox before the revenge and jealousy issues set in. The opera parts are a little boring, but the costumes and the sassy diva rival to Christine are worth the watch. We get 2 handsome Raouls who end up going to dinner together at the end of the movie and a Christine who gets to bask in the limelight of her career while not choosing any suitor, which is the best possible outcome for her. Double play for the win in my book! You can watch it for free on the Peacock app.

My next runner up is a 3 way tie between Robert Englund, Gerard Butler, and Charles Dance.

I honestly enjoy all their performances because they each bring something unique to the role.

I cannot stress enough how violent the Robert Englund version is if you want to give it a go, but Erik Destler is insane, twisted, and fabulously murdertastic in this. I love the creepy, evil vibes the man gives off. Think of this film as a time travel AU of the original novel. I feel like he nailed Leroux Erik's darker, snarky personality that some people tend to forget he had and the gothic horror parts of the original novel are there. Bonus: they keep the Faust parallels like in the novel!

I'm gonna say it: I love the Charles Dance miniseries. I know it's not the best, but damn, he is so dry and sarcastic I cannot help but enjoy his performance. I want to pinch his cheeks and smother Cherik with the love his father never gave him everytime I see him. Again, this one focuses on the operas a lot, and for me it's a bit boring. But the backgrounds, settings, and props in this thing are fantastic and the costumes are wonderful too.

That leaves Gerard Butler in the 2004 movie. No he is not the world's greatest singing Phantom, but I don't care. I absolutely love his facial expressions and body language. The Phantom is an emotional, expressive dude and the Red Death costume scene is pretty good. I love how kind and sincere Emmy feels in this film and I appreciate she's not overracting and doesn't feel fake compared to some other Christines *coughSierracough* Being the film version of the ALW musical, this Phantom story focuses on the romance and Gerard excels at that. When he and Christine are singing Past the Point of no Return, I FEEL THEIR PASSION! And that's what counts more so than hitting the same notes we've all heard a million times before.

Now for the versions in the 'I will eternally like this' category 😊 :

The Phantom of the Paradise from 1974. This is also a very violent and dark film so fair warning if you haven't seen it. It's a bizarre rock musical, but if you're weird like me and enjoy Rock & Rule or the Rocky Horror Picture Show, this might be a film you'd like too. I don't want to spoil it too much but the Faust/devil parallels are here too, as is various pop culture references. His teeth and mask are terrifyingly cool, and so is the electronic voice box he uses. It makes sense Daft Punk was inspired by this film. Maybe G1 Soundwave was inspired by this film too, but that's a debate for another day 😉

Next is the animated 1988 film. This one features animation on par with other 80s tv cartoons of the time. I love that they kept the Persian and the torture chamber from the novel. The Phantom's death scene is pretty damn epic. Christine is kind of a flake, but animated Leroux Erik is hilariously insane and terribly charming, especially when he calls himself a Don Juan. It's worth watching just for his antics and his dialouge.

You might not expect a Goosebumps episode to do a Phantom story any justice, but here we are: 1995, The Phantom of the Auditorium is a spooky fun take on the story and honestly, I'd like to see the full play the kids at that school are putting on cause it looks better than some of the live Phantom stage scenes I've seen. Both young boys playing the Phantom are fantastic actors and the plot twist at the end is great.

I absolutely have to give a shout out to Wishbone's Pantin at the Opera. He is the best, cutest, most adorable Raoul de Chagney ever and I will fight you if you dare talk smack about this version. I'm not even a Raoul stan by any means but like, this dog is precious and I enjoy this episode so much.

Also in the animated category and cute dog category is Scooby Doo Stage Fright made back in 2013. This movie is one of my fave Scooby Doo films (yes I own almost all of them on dvd) and there are multiple Phantoms, a reality tv show contest, and Fred and Daphne finally kiss each other! Lots and lots of hidden Phantom references in the background and lots of voice acting talent for those of us who appreciate that.

Now for the versions I intensely dislike 😏

The 1962 Herbert Lom version. UGH where to start. The sets are so small and everything looks dirty and of the wrong time period. The color in the film looks washed out. The clothes look too modern somehow (maybe it's their hairstyles?) and it bothers me. It feels low budget in a bad way and it shows. This phantom is not likeable or pitiable even though his backstory is similar to the Claude Raines version. He has no romantic interest in Christine, so it feels off. This guy is such an old a$$ piece of sh*t, he literally slaps Christine as she's singing for him for no damn reason. His paper mache mask looks like a Kindergartener's botched art class project. His personality is like somebody locked up cranky grandpa in the basement and he's PMS-ing because y'all forgot to give him his daily prune juice. This squatter's lair lacks creepiness, and his bizarre sidekick is annoying and yet somehow more interesting than the Phantom. The pervert manager trying to bang Christine aggravated me and simultaneously made me want to vomit. Raoul is the only likeable character in the whole damn movie. The Joan of Arc opera scene makes up for some of the film, but it's still terrible.

Next on my meh list is the 1983 made for tv movie starring Micheal York and Jane Seymour. Now, this one has some likeable and applaudable scenes: the various murders and general creepiness of the Phantom, and the lair scene when she wakes up in his bed and the Phantom gets all up in her face is so intense and so Leroux I absolutely love it. The rest of the film is a jumbled hot mess at best, but Jane Seymour is 🔥 and she gets some damn good sex, so hell yeah to that!

And lastly, I do not like the Royal Albert Hall 25th anniversary recording. I should preface this by saying it is Sierra I don't like. I like Ramin, I love Hadley, everyone else is wonderful but I cannot stand Sierra. She tries too hard to make Christine a Disney Princess- and that doesn't fly with me. It comes off as insincere or mocking the source material at best, and at worst it makes Christine look like an airheaded ditz. Apparently Sierra played Ariel at one point which is hilarious because of all the Disney princesses, I dislike her the most. But that's a different rant for another day.

And finally, the one I hate most of all:

The 1998 Argento film. This is the worst Phantom adaptation I've ever seen. It is a whole lotta nope for me. Between the rats, the unecessary and pointless telepathy, the r*pe scene, and the unfunny weird vibe from the murder going on in this film it's a disaster from start to finish. Honestly, it's the rats and his hair that bother me from a visual standpoint alone and it's beyond disgusting the way this a$$🤡 treats Christine. I don't like any of the characters in here and for good reason. It's not worth watching and if you do, be ready to bleach your brain afterwards.

💖 Sorry if this was a long read! Thanks again for giving me an ask and I will cherish it forver!!!! 💖