#cate liveblogs!

[francesderwent]

trying to find a nuanced way of explaining that Arcane is not about how privilege makes you inevitably incapable of seeing injustice when it happens to people you view as other. it’s about the slow descent into selfish utilitarian corruption (Jayce) and fearful grasping of indiscriminate power (Cait) that happens step by step by step to people who were initially horrified by it. it’s about decent people who want to do the right thing suddenly starting to view those different from them as other because it’s easier, after everything they’ve suffered. it’s about how the bad things that happen to you can twist you beyond recognition if you let them—and it could happen to anyone. you could let the world turn you into a weapon. you could develop blind spots. you could lose the ability to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s the voice of your fears. and every instance of us-versus-them thinking makes that slope slipperier.

[sun-moon-and-stars4]

amount of people i would bone in lotr so far: 5

[awesamforehead]

They look so good

[itspileofgoodthings]

also (just been thinking) I love the 95 mini-series so much for deeply personal reasons and I use it as a teaching tool with my students (it works brilliantly) and it works as a faithful adaptation and also a coherent story that stands on its own making good use of character development and plot to produce the right emotions but I’m also not interested in a face-off between it and the ‘05 version in that I’m not going to die on the hill of “everyone must be watching this adaptation only” because it really is about the book.

[canthelptoloveit]

Damn so their beef is legit legit

[terrorpenned]

TERRORPENNED ––> WIDOWSHILL.

i do a lot of dark shadows posting. sometimes i write.

multimuse featuring gothic media, with an emphasis on the television series dark shadows and disney theme parks. LASCIATE OGNI SPERANZA, VOI CH'ENTRATE. this blog features regular content like murder, suicide, and cannibalism, as well as a narrative background of infidelity, period homophobia, questionable consent, and incest (among other staples of the gothic genre). if any of this is not your speed, this blog may not be for you.

sideblog to emcads (follows back from here, etc). graphic by my beloved @finalslay banner template by @gentlesource. icon by @flameandignite.

typical rp etiquette encouraged. personal blogs, I ask that you don't rb dossiers and ic writing, but other than that, go wild. I'm also liveblogging my ds watch through here, posts will be tagged "ds liveblogging." for convenience <;3

*a special note regarding roger & victoria: this is one of my main ships on this blog & I do want to make it clear I don't write her as elizabeth's daughter. I have a longer write up in v's dossier, but the tldr is i follow the hanscombe storyline with some canon divergences.

DARK SHADOWS - high activity THE LOVER. josette dupres / dark shadows. dossier. tag. ic. fc: vittoria puccini. THE GOVERNESS. victoria winters / dark shadows. dossier. tag. ic. fc: alexandra moltke. alt: diana s.ilvers. arc: mrs. collins. arc: mrs. de winter. THE SAILOR. lieutenant nathan forbes / dark shadows. dossier. tag. fc: joel crothers. alt fc: dan stevens. THE MATRIARCH. elizabeth collins stoddard / dark shadows. dossier. tag. ic. fc: joan bennett. alt fc: helena bonham carter. THE PRODIGAL. roger collins / dark shadows. dossier. tag. ic. fc: louis edmonds. alt fc: jack davenport.

DISNEY PARKS - medium activity THE STARLET. magdalena temor / tower of terror / oc. dossier. tag. fc: gene tierney THE BRIDE. constance arceneaux / the haunted mansion. dossier. tag. fc: dominique mcelligott THE BYRONIC. captain bartholomew gore / the haunted mansion & potc / dossier. tag. ic. fc: toby stephens

OTHER - low activity THE BAKER. nellie lovett / sweeney todd 2023 revival. dossier. tag. fc: cate blanchett. THE SCHOLAR. edith cushing / crimson peak. dossier. tag. fc: mia wasikowska. THE SONGBIRD. cora dawson / the devil's carnival. dossier. tag. fc: lyndon smith. THE PROPRIETRESS. eleanor guthrie. black sails. tag.

NAV edits & art. ds aesthetic tag. memes. rog&v / barnabas&v / burke&v / maxim&v / j&jos / b&jos / r&l&b platonic: rog&liz / rog&carolyn / v&david

[guessimabasicnerdgirlnow]

Time for my semi liveblogging. Starting with the Venom issue

I think I am starting to get what’s up with old Dylan

What’s with these weapons (?) that feel like they are living things? I think the reason this one does it is not the same as the reason why that thing Meridius is using does (not me getting my hopes up for another Anti-Venom no) but

We *are* in the living slimes story so you can’t just say something like this for no reason

So. His symbiote is our Symbiote. That invalidates most of my theories, which is probably for good because some of them were really lame

Nice to see that in this possible future they and Dylan get along well

Also! Dylan is friends with Peter! Or at least allies!

As someone who was really touched by the things Peter told Dylan in King in Black after Eddie died, I really want to see this!

I don’t know if he is referring to the future until the canon present, or the future between that and his post-apocalypse world. If it is the latter then it may not happen, but I think that even though they don’t know each other well in the present they have the potential for a positive relationship there and just. I like Dylan having friends

I just can’t with young Anne and Eddie being so cute and innocent like this

This reminded me of the picture of the two of them in the apartment, that one that I theorized a lot about, that I believed was there for Dylan’s sake

Dylan has never met Anne, we already went through this. But he also never saw Eddie happy

And there is the fact that this is before his suicide attempt and meeting the symbiote and all that, that all of it changed his life so much that he can never have the same type of happiness that he had back then, which is something but also. It’s not like he was never happy again after meeting the symbiote, on the contrary, but he was miserable during all of Cates’ run and after that he just vanished from Dylan’s life, and we don’t know if there was anything other than fighting after that for old Dylan…

This is making me emotional

First of all, Dylan is still his father’s son since he is wearing just that under the symbiote, and all the cool uniform was Symby’s doing. He does have the decency of not going fully nude which I’m thankful for

Second of all:

Dylan needs Symby to survive. Why?

He could be older than he looks, maybe too old to be alive, but Liz was also alive in the future and she is much older (then again Liz has Misery in the present, and Normie has Rascal, so this could be the case for all of them. Still don’t know about Spider-Boy)

I entertained a theory that he could have lost his symbiote side and it left him vulnerable, I even thought that maybe this “Venom” could be like. His symbiote side. A literal part of him. That you can’t just separate. But I don’t think it’s likely and I don’t even know if I like the idea

So all I have left is that it’s a regular disease that the symbiote can’t heal permanently but can keep him alive from. I don’t remember anything like this happening before, except maybe… Eddie’s cancer? But that isn’t even real anymore. Pretty sure this is part of his backstory that we will learn about later but theorizing is fun

(I’m still betting that he doesn’t have All-Black, and that this will matter)

“You owe us, Dylan”

Why? Is all this mess his fault? At least partially?

(Of course it is, he is the protagonist)

Symbiote machines? So that’s what those things are?

I was trying to remember if we had a precedent for this and I remembered the cyborgs from Misery. Since all the things they are doing at Alchemax are going out of control, why not

Guess we have symbi-bots now

I like how the demons refer to Dylan. In the second panel, when they say “a double-minded man” they mean this specific double-minded man, or any and all double-minded man? Because I think that from the sample we have, we can conclude it is true for all of them

I thought that Strange showing up made sense because he is a light magic magician (he was there as an example when 7.0 explained about light and dark magic) but now we are going to Chthon (I don’t know how to spell it)?

I lied, I don’t understand shit yet. But I’m intrigued

[xomoosexo]

i was gonna say you need to be stopped but it was cate this time

to be clear I am not responsible for the psychic manifestations of anything I liveblog. I am but the messenger

[francesderwent]

no do you get it. he cuts her open and ties a noose around her heart. the death that has been haunting him all along giving him a reason to run is what saves her from the death hanging over her head. you get it right

[francesderwent]

literally so difficult to be 1) a person who believes that hooking up indiscriminately is actually so so terrible for people 2) a person who watches a lot of television and is steeped in the usual tv relationship trajectories 3) a person who enjoys watching dynamics of all sorts play out onscreen and 4) a person who really wants all characters all the time to get a romantic happy ending

[francesderwent]

you know how there’s a weakness built into the programming of girls aged 4 to 11 that makes them adore Frozen beyond all reason? well apparently there’s a weakness built into the programming of women aged 20 to 35, approximate, which makes them like Twisters, and I am not the exception to that

[francesderwent]

the first couple seasons of btvs sort of persist in believing that Cordelia is a Mean Girl and a Bully, but more often than not when we see Cordelia being mean to the main cast, the way it actually plays out is Cordelia is minding her own business, talking to her friends or answering questions in class, and Xander decides to butt in for no reason and be nasty to her first. once he has her attention she will absolutely bully him back. and it’s crazy that Xander continues to do this, because she is without a doubt better at it.

[francesderwent]

what Buffy has that no other supernatural show has: the Class Protector moment where the hero gets credit for everything she’s done and the community at large gets to show gratitude

what Teen Wolf has that no other supernatural show has: a good parent for the main character who is neither ineffective, constantly misunderstanding, or dead

what The Vampire Diaries has that no other supernatural show has: a well-articulated and consistent redemption arc wrapped up in an effective and poignant love story

[francesderwent]

most powerful moments in Buffy the Vampire Slayer that I remember off the top of my head in no particular order:

Angel’s “am I a thing worth saving?” and Buffy saying “I know everything you did because you did it to me” and still offering him love

Spike turning from his sin and undergoing trials to get his soul back/“can we rest now” on the cross

class protector at the prom—you think everything you’ve done hasn’t made a difference but it HAS and for one glorious moment you get to see the fruits of all your labor

Faith saying “because it’s wrong” as a joke until it gets into her bones and she says it because she means it

“I know that I’m a monster. but you treat me like a man”

[francesderwent]

when Buffy and Willow find the floppy disk that has the soul restoration spell on it everything changes! when the Salvatores and Elena find out there’s a cure for vampirism everything changes! you are a monster but the good news is that salvation is possible!!!!!!!!

[francesderwent]

Spike looking back at the final fight and saying “he’s gonna kill her” and then shrugging and walking away with Druscilla in his arms is iconic obviously but Acathla had already been awakened so, what? Angel’s gonna kill Buffy and then the world is gonna end???? but that’s okay because you and Dru will be together driving away in your car with the blacked out windows when you get sucked into hell? what exactly is your plan babes?