#conspiracy theory fiction

[gutsposting]

Found in a file labeled "Initial Incident"

Before you lies a visage of death. An unnaturally large man, rotted away and hollowed out. The organs are dust, the bones cracked and withering. The body is without flesh or form. You look inside the rib cage, upwards towards the heart. It lies still, incomplete.

A bubbling, boiling pool. Microbes Invisible to your eye. You perceive them within it, the organism begins to take form. The cells split, absorb smaller beings and feed off of their energy. The desire to consume others in order to survive is created, and evolution unfolds before your eyes. Millions of years flash past you, the writhing and the screaming. 

The heart flickers…

December the eighth, 1941. Tecumseh island, a rather peculiar place to begin with, received an unexpected visitor. Visitors here were always unusual. The island possessed a very difficult dock located in shallow waters infested by coral, and no air strip. With only about 385 inhabitants, those coming to the island were always expected. Always a welcome family member or old friend. 

Sometimes, roughly once every five or ten years, a British or Dutch family would leave one of their homelands’ colonial possessions in order to seek out a quieter life in the paradise of Polynesia. Demographically, the island was about half European, thirty percent African American and the rest being a mix between Polynesian natives or Japanese immigrants.

Today’s guest was especially noteworthy. A plane was seen at about 5:30am crashing downwards towards the sandbar located just a few hundred feet off the Northern coast of the island. 

A crowd formed without a word needing to be spoken. A well-known old widow began to cry out “Jackie’s out there! Jackie! Someone go check on her! Please! You there-“. A group of men, not knowing about the girl’s decision to swim out to the sandbar in order to go fishing, had already found a rowboat, oars, a rope and gathered up some weapons. Everyone seemed to ask for Sheriff Grady all at once.

They found him on the radio, with tears in his eyes. He was the first to tell everyone about the attack on Pearl Harbor that had occurred yesterday morning. It was very difficult to get in contact with anyone off of the island, and news traveled slowly. A few of the men in the crowd, ready to take on the stranger who had landed on their island, were Japanese. Trust was thrown out of the window right away, and they were quickly told not to leave the island, or even the town. 

Only one man, known throughout the town as Mr. Yoshi, was fluent in both Japanese and English. He was given the unfortunate task of translating all of the orders from the whites to the rest of the Japanese inhabitants. He had brought with him a baseball bat, and appeared ready to kill the man in the plane, but his weapon was swiftly confiscated. No one on the island wanted anything to do with any of the Japanese residents now, even those who were born on the island and lacked little known connection to Japan or their “native” culture.

Mr. Yoshi gave up his baseball bat, but was very clearly annoyed when Mr. Grady told the other men that he allowed to come along that “you can’t never trust them yellow bastards.” Grady told them how they held competitions in China over how many prisoners they could execute by beheading in a minute. How they’d pile up the heads to see who could make the biggest pile the fastest. By now, most people in the crowd were screaming and crying over the attack on Pearl. The rage growing within the town itself was growing in a way that everyone could physically feel, like magic.

Round spectacles hid a pair of sad old eyes. Yoshi wanted to rip the man in the plane to pieces. He wanted to show his friends that they were wrong for doubting him and the Japanese neighbors Yoshi had met here. Over time, he had been able to convince one or two people that he was here with good intentions.But there was nothing he could have done in order to make the whites trust him, war or no war.

Dan McGraw was the most vocal racist on the island. He demanded that Grady either arrest Yoshi, handcuff him, or leave him on the island while the rest of the men captured “the Jap” and brought him back for interrogation. Grady refused.

“Yoshi can understand him. And if the pilot isn’t Japanese then we won’t need a translator anyways. Nobody got a good look-“

The old woman was screaming again. She had found the small crowd of men on the shoreline surrounding a rowboat, and the cries of “Jackie! Jackie!” Whipped all the men up into a new frenzy. One of them started shouting about Nanking, started saying that the son-of-a-bitch would be raping the girl if they didn’t get there soon.

OSS later reported that the following men were on the boat that initially met the assailant; Sheriff Grady Brown, Dan McGraw, Yoshi (surname redacted), Bonnell Quaid, Lenny Callahan, and Jordan Freeman. Grady Brown was an oddity for the area because his father was a Black Frenchman, and his mother was a young Polynesian local. Nobody was entirely sure how he got his position, but even the white trash McGraws and Fosters tended to turn a blind eye towards having him as sheriff,  even after seeing him remove every vestige of segregation throughout the island.

Grady was the only one who owned any guns on the whole island. An M1911 that he said he had taken as a souvenir from “the war” was all most people knew about. Some people didn’t believe all of his fanciful stories about combat in France, but he did have enough pictures of himself in uniform to prove it. He also had a gun case in his office which held a shotgun and enough rounds for Grady to take out the whole town.

The men all crammed themselves onto the tiny boat. The Sheriff, sensing the tension in the air, took almost all of their weapons away. Only Freeman was allowed to keep his baseball bat, because he was middle-aged and Grady trusted him. The rest were told that they would help Grady deal with whoever was in the plane, assuming he was Japanese. Secretly, they were all wishing it was an American pilot knocked unconscious. 

Expecting the worst, Grady would stand back just a bit away while the rest of the men held him down so Grady could handcuff him. If he went for a gun, or the sword that they all imagined him carrying, Grady would shoot him, and call for the navy to come pick up the body and the plane. 

Yoshi politely requested that, if he wasn’t immediately hostile, they give him a chance to communicate with the man and allow him to come quietly. Grady obliged him, although the others grumbled. McGraw said “You probably have some kind of  plan you want to work out with him.”

“No, I want to see if he will surrender. He might come willingly … we don’t need to kill him”

“Japs don’t surrender.” Was the cold reply.

As they approached the sandbar, they could see the smoke from the wreck coming up above the treeline. Flames were licking here and there, only visible through the gaps in the palms. Jackie was standing on the beach apparently unharmed, shivering and waving her arms over her head. The Sheriff gave her a blanket, and asked what happened while he led her to the boat.

“I was just out fishin’” she began, “and then the plane just fell out of the sky. I didn’t wanna go near it for a while, but when I walked up to it I could see that the guy in there was dead or somethin’.” Grady told her to stay in the boat, and the men huddled together.

“ If he’s dead,” Grady began, “then this is as simple as can be. You and you pull him out, and then we call in the nearest ship and it’s out of our hands from there. If he’s breathing then I want you and Dan to pull him out of there while Freeman and I watch him for some kind of trick. And if he’s awake, Yoshi can try and reason with him.”

They all agreed. “We stick together.” Grady reiterated . “If we get to the plane and he isn’t in the cockpit, we get back on the boat and we leave. We don’t want to tangle with him now that he’s had time to set up a trap or a radio beacon or a who-knows-what.”

They approached the brush shoulder-to-shoulder, with Yoshi forced to stay a few paces behind and Quaid ordered to stay with the boat and the girl, creeping their way towards the wreck.

Still aflame, but not spreading fires or being too unmanageable to get near, the plane was very much unlike what Grady had expected it to be. He had read a story in the newspapers he got shipped to him that taught you how to spot a Japanese plane. Mostly he remembered the distinctive Mitsubishi Zero fighters that were the most common type seen in the war Japan was fighting in China. They were almost always painted white, with huge red suns painted on the wings and tail.

This plane was painted matte black, with no insignia or identifiable markings to be found. It was still powered by one propeller in the middle of the plane’s body, but was otherwise totally abnormal. Somehow you could tell that it wasn’t made from aluminum like most modern planes were.

The pilot was also dressed bizarrely. Covered head to toe in a black uniform devoid of badges, patches or symbols, more closely resembling a straight jacket than a flight suit. An odd looking gas mask, made up of a series of hard plates, covered his entire head and hid his features. He didn’t move as the men approached the plane, and Grady pulled his pistol from the holster . A shot rang off, and the pilot didn’t move.

The other men started to walk towards it, but Grady motioned for them to wait. He peered into the cockpit, looking for the dials and instruments one could expect to find on a plane like this, but couldn’t see any identifiable alphabet or symbols anywhere on the dashboard. Not even any numerals. “Yoshi!” He shouted, and waved for the man to come close.

“What is it?” The sweet old man asked, clearly terrified.

“What does this say?” He was almost screaming. Grady pointed at a set of characters engraved onto a small nickel plate that was riveted onto the dashboard. Yoshi pondered it for a moment, and then shakily replied “It isn’t Japanese, Chinese or Korean. I don’t even recognize it as Mongolian… I don’t know. I don’t recognize it.”

“Bullshit!” McGraw shouted. “Shut your fucking hick mouth!” Was Grady’s reply. 

“Is he alive?” Asked someone. Grady said he didn’t know. Swapping his pistol into his left hand, he reached for the pilot’s neck with his right. He tried to press down on the spot where he expected he could find a pulse, but he wasn’t able to find any kind of gap between the plates that made up the mask, and he couldn’t feel the skin underneath. He found what looked like a small latch or button on the faceplate, near where the end of the jawline would meet the neck.

He pressed it, and after a loud series of clicks, the faceplate jolted very slightly towards the left. Grady tugged at it, and it opened up like a door to reveal that the man was not Japanese at all. In fact, he barely even looked human.

The US Navy Communications Board had quickly gotten into contact with the local government, and in an emergency decided to reveal to Grady, after he signed several top-secret level NDA’s, their new invention. Their “wireless long-range telephone” could make a call to almost anywhere in the world without needing a landline connection on anyone’s end anywhere. They had dropped the unit in by parachute, with specific instructions for Grady, only about four hours after they apprehended the pilot.

“Yes sir.” Dan, sulking around a corner in the hallway while trying to open the shotgun case, was listening in on Grady as he was on the phone. “Well I took the camera apart like you asked… yes I did in fact… yes every reel he had with him was full of them… well I have them all laid out in front of me now. No, I don’t see anything significant about them. Just a bunch of crates.” The Sheriff shuffled his papers around, and was listening intently to the man on the other end of the line. Dan got back to fiddling with the lock.

“A serial number? Yes… let me see… N dash C dash one-one-seven… uh… the pictures are blurry I’m sorry… what was that?” Dan heard a click. For almost an hour now, he was listening to Yoshi and the pilot speaking to each other. He couldn’t understand what they were saying, but he knew that they were planning something.

Grady was trying to read off another of the serial numbers through his magnifying glass, when he heard Dan shout “Let go of him you piece of shit!” Grady sprinted for the holding cell downstairs, gun in hand. He burst into the room to see Dan pointing the shotgun at Yoshi and the pilot. The pilot was standing over Yoshi and throttling his neck with both hands, and Yoshi’s face was starting to turn purple. “Let him go right now!” Dan was shouting.

“Put the fucking gun down Dan! Right now!” The sheriff screamed, cocking his gun and pointing it at Dan’s back. Dan ignored him, and shouted again for the pilot to let Yoshi go.

Just barely, Yoshi asked again and again for Dan not to shoot, and tried to wave his hands back and forth. “Dan!” Grady shouted again.

Just like that, it was all over. Dan shot first, and Grady shot Dan in the back. The pilot’s grotesque, inhuman head was blown clean off, and a pellet slammed its way into Yoshi’s right spectacle, lodging into his brain and killing him over an excruciating two hours. Dan’s lung was hit, and the bullet traveled so fast it actually pulled a bit of his ling out of his body. He died the next day from infection on a Navy hospital boat.

Grady was charged with triple murder, and was found dead hanging in his cell on June 7, 1942. The OSS, which later evolved into the CIA, investigated the incident and buried the story in the decades to come. The Japanese residents of the island were evacuated onto the American mainland and sent to concentration camps for the remainder of the war. Some time later, every other resident was evacuated. 

The explanation given by the military was that the island was to be fortified, and that the island had been threatened by the Japanese. After the war, the American government compensated all of the residents of the island for their losses, claiming that nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll and other sites had somehow made Tecumseh island uninhabitable “for at least three hundred years.” Jackie died much later due to complications during childbirth. No one today remembers the incident except for a few gray old men in the upper echelons of the various US Intelligence agencies.

[zanyanimegirl99]

Weird story idea for later based on a dream about almost being burned alive

Conspiracy theory fiction book

A werewolf style romance between a member of the bird-bourgeoisie x flat earth magic man

[refractorind]

[its-suanneschafer-author]

BOOK REVIEW: Cleopatra’s Vendetta by Avanti Centrae

BOOK REVIEW: Cleopatra’s Vendetta by Avanti Centrae

Cleopatra’s Vendetta is a fast-paced thriller with an unusual background story. Cleopatra, after being defeated by Octavius, has a servant/spy hide a map to her secret stash of gold. She also hides images of female deities, before she kills herself. Centuries later, three American women and their two children are kidnapped from a bar in Bari, Italy. These women are the wives and friends of an…

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Sorry if this seems confrontational, but for the life of me I can’t get into your “Chloe has no growth” point when the show itself retracts growth from everyone and is inconsistent with everyone. You saying “The show just lays down basic character traits in Chloe” doesn’t make sense when her basic character traits are supposed to be her being selfish and spoiled.

S2 built off of that and despite what you say, had Chloe doing things that in S1 she wouldn’t have done. She apologized multiple times to the people she wronged, she willingly put herself in harm’s way to help the people she cares about and she was openly vulnerable to Ladybug in “Malidiktaor”. Something S1 Chloe wouldn’t have done. If there’s a distinct difference between a Chloe back in S1 and a Chloe in S2, then growth HAS taken place. But it doesn’t stay because of the formula (and the writers just don’t want her to keep that growth)

So what I’m asking is…what do you mean “Chloe doesn’t have growth”?

I can understand the “No arc” argument because an unfinished arc feels like there’s no arc at all (even though they are fundamentally not the same)

I wouldn't say that the show retracts growth from everyone. It's more that no one is ever supposed to grow. Every episode resets the cast. That's just how pure formula shows work and Miraculous is being sold as a pure formula show. The characters are meant to be static (one of the writers literally compared Miraculous to Dora the Explorer).

That static nature is why pure formula shows normally avoid giving their good-guy characters major flaws. It's the wrong medium for that type of thing specifically because the characters cannot change in meaningful ways throughout the show. They can learn little lessons that don't really change them and maybe have big change between seasons via a special or movie, but that's about it. Thus things like the season four conflict working so poorly. It's just a terrible choice for a formula show! The conflict is literally not allowed to develop properly because of the chosen format.

But sure, let's talk about Chloe and why I will die on the hill that she never demonstrated meaningful improvement even with the issue of the inconstant writing. In fact, seasons-one-to-three Chloe is one of the most consistent characters in the show. For this discussion to work, we need to start off by discussing character development and the two main forms it can take: character establishment and character growth.

Character Establishment

When the audience meets a character, they know nothing about said character. It's up to the writer to guide the introduction process. To choose when to reveal already existing elements of the character's personality, skills, and backstory. This is called character establishment. It is the writing telling you who the character is on a baseline level. Those reveals don't need to happen at the start of the story, though. They can be - and often are - held back for when the time is right.

When these reveals are delayed, it's important to remember that these elements were always part of the character. The reveal isn't changing who the character actually is. It's just changing how the audience views the character.

For example, we spend a good chunk of season one uncertain why Gabriel is doing what he does. Then, in Origins, we learn that it's all for Emilie. This is new information that adds depth to Gabriel's character, but it doesn't change him in any way. This is who he always was. We just know him better now and can recontextualize past events with our new understanding of his motivation.

Character Growth

Character growth is when writers take a character's personality or world view or even just their skills from point A to point B, allowing the audience to watch the character change and become a new better - or lesser - version of themself. This is usually part of a larger character arc where all the moments of growth add up, but it can take the form of small moments of growth that don't fit into a bigger picture, too. I'd probably still call that an arc, but we'll use the word "growth" a lot in this post, so let's just call it growth to be consistent.

Miraculous doesn't really have either arcs or growth because - once again - formula shows don't allow characters to meaningfully change, so I'm going to have to make up an example here. I'll use one that illustrates how character establishment and character growth can and do intertwine as that's an important thing to acknowledge to help guide this discussion.

Let's say that we have a character who lost their family at a young age. We'll call this character Mary. Mary's loss guides her character throughout the entire story, but the other characters and the audience are never told that this is what's going on. We just know that Mary acts in seemingly illogical ways at times and that she trusts no one.

Throughout the story, Mary learns to trust her costars, leading to a big, dramatic scene where she finally tells them - and the audience - about her past. This big dramatic scene is both the culmination of a character arc and a piece of baseline character establishment that allows us to understand Mary's character better no matter what part of the story we're reading.

Because these combo growth and establishment moments are so common in stories, it can feel like character growth when we learn new things about a character in a dramatic moment, but that's not always what's happening. Sometimes dramatic moments are just there to reveal what was always there by forcing a character to act differently than they usually do through the power of extenuating circumstances. These extenuating-circumstances moments are not character growth because, once the moment is over, the character resets to their normal self. The moment wasn't there to let them grow. It was there for the sake of the plot.

This is actually a really important thing that writers need to know how to do. Figuring out what circumstances will make a character say or do a thing they generally wouldn't say or do is part of how stories work. I have started stories with characters acting wildly "out of character" because I put them in the a situation where the behavior suddenly was in character!

Oh, you don't want to talk to this total stranger because you're an introvert with social anxiety who has yet to learn how to love yourself and open up to others? That's nice. Your leg is broken now and you're stuck in the middle of nowhere. What you gonna do sucker? Lie there in the dirt or talk to the nice lady who wants to help you? Your choice! (Spoiler: he talked to the nice lady. He even let her physically support him when he'd usually never let a stranger touch him!)

As soon as that scene was over, the character reverted because it wasn't growth. He didn't become a more open person. He just did something he normally wouldn't do because the situation demanded it. It was extenuating circumstances so that the freaking plot could start.

This is what happened with Chloe in season two. Everything that people call growth is really just extenuating circumstances that reset by the end of the episode or even by the end of the scene.

Let's Talk About Chloe

Chloe does not have a character arc, aborted or otherwise. She is never taken on a journey where we watch her change. All we get is delayed character establishment via extenuating circumstances, but it's given in ways that make some people feel like she was being given an arc. Let's talk about why that is.

Season one Chloe is a one dimensional mean girl. She has almost no depth. She's just here to be petty and cause akumas. She is not a fully realized character.

Season two takes those traits and keeps them, but also gives Chloe a lot more depth to round her out and make her feel like a real character. She's just as petty and mean as she always was, but we're finally allowed to see her in some moments that make her feel like a well of potential to become something more, which the writers basically had to do if they wanted to let her be a hero. The audience needed to feel like Chloe could be good in the right situation.

The feelings evoked by her newly discovered depth are why people go "oh, she had a character arc! My feelings about her changed in a big way!" But she didn't have an arc. You just got to know her better by seeing her in moments where she was forced to be vulnerable. That's not growth. Growth is meaningful, lasting change, not situational change. Everyone changes based on the situation! It's why the "True Selves" stuff is such nonsense. It implies that there's one set way that we're supposed to act in order to be authentic and anything else is some kind of lie which just isn't how the world works.

Let's look at some examples to drive home what I mean.

Season one established that Chloe idolized Ladybug. It's why we get things like this moment from Evil Illustrator:

Ladybug: Fine! You stay! Later! Cat Noir: What do you mean later? Ladybug: I mean, you're the one who wants to protect her, so you don't need me. So, later! (swings away) Chloé:(looks over balcony) Ahhh! Ladybug! Text me! OK!

And this confession from Antibug:

Ladybug: [Chloe] pretended she was me?! How often does that happen? Armand: She idolizes you.

So Chloe adores Ladybug and wants to impress her/be her best friend. Cool. Got it. That never goes anywhere in season one because season one doesn't see Chloe and Ladybug interact much. The most we get is Ladybug saving Chloe from akumas, which doesn't allow for deep conversations. I don't think that they're ever alone in a moment where they can actually talk.

That changes in season two. In season two, they get to interact a lot and it's often in moments where there's a big threat and no one else is around, letting us see a new side to Chloe. But that's not Chloe changing. It's just the writers revealing that Chloe has more to her than the mean girl stuff because of course she does! Pure mean girls don't exist. Everyone has depth. We simply never saw that depth before because Chloe was never put in a situation where she needed to be open. We can't say that season one Chloe wouldn't confess things to Ladybug or chose to sacrifice herself to let Ladybug win because she never had the chance to do those things!

In fact, I'd go so far as to argue that season one Chloe probably would have done the same things as season two Chloe because season two Chloe doesn't really contradict season one Chloe. Antibug showed us that Chloe was pretty desperate to be loved and welcomed the way that Ladybug is loved and welcomed:

Chloé: Jagged Stone! Jagged: (thinking she's the actual Ladybug) Ladybug! What are you doing here? Chloé: Um… when I find out you were here, I knew you'd wanna see me! I had to come say hello. (Sabrina waves at Jagged)

and Chloe has always been a stubborn girl who stands up for what she wants even if what she wants is something bad. Antibug also showed us that Chloe can be genuinely nice to the people she cares about. Her and Sabrina's relationship is shown to be complex with them often having a lot of fun together.

Similarly, Origins sees Chloe showing her father genuine affection after she's saved from Stoneheart:

[Image description: Chloe and Andre hugging and looking very happy to be together]

Origins is the baseline episode that tells us who the characters are on day one, so I never once doubted that Chloe loved Andre, but Andre didn't get akumatized because of Chloe's actions in season one. He didn't even get akumatized for something that Chloe had nothing to do with! His first akumatization is in season two, so it's not shocking that we don't get a Malidiktaor type scene until Malidiktaor.

Chloe was vulnerable with her personal hero when her beloved parent was in danger, but not before? Shocking! Who would have guessed?

Me. I would have guessed. I didn't even realize that people were reading it as some sort of character growth because it clearly wasn't. Malidiktaor didn't feel like something new for Chloe's character. It just felt like the writers were leaning into things that we'd always known about Chloe and using them to better establish her character as someone who genuinely cares about select people. She just doesn't show most of the time.

The same thing goes for Chloe's sacrifice and apology in Zombizou. Chloe only sacrifices herself when there's no one left but her and Ladybug. When the choice is to let the terrorist win or take the hit and let you personal hero save the day. Brave? Sure, but also not growth. Chloe is team Ladybug for all of seasons one, two, and three! She wants Ladybug to like her! Plus even a petty brat can have moments of goodness where they pick a hero over a literal terrorist.

This honestly would have been a damming moment if Chloe didn't sacrifice herself. She functionally had no other choice here. The entire episode builds itself to the self-sacrifice moment so that Chloe is forced to make that choice even though she's been her petty bratty self throughout the whole attack. It's genuinely solid writing.

Then, in the heightened emotions directly after the Zombizou win, we get this:

Miss Bustier: But I hurt a lot of people... Chloé: No... I did... I forgot your birthday, once again. And when I saw everyone had prepared a gift for you, I totally lost it. Because I, too, would've liked to offer you something. I'm sorry, Miss Bustier. Miss Bustier: Thank you, Chloé. Those words are the best possible gift you could ever give me. (hugs Chloé) (Chloé hugs her back, forgetting herself for a moment.) Chloé: Huh?... Uh, yeah. Okay then, we're all good.

A brief moment of vulnerability that quickly ends and does not stick around because Chloe's change was situational, not true growth. The next scene of that episode starts with Chloe being her usual self:

Chloé: Me? You want me to apologize to the entire class? Ridiculous! They should be thanking me for saving everybody.

And ends with the reveal of Chloe's gift to Miss Bustier, which was given in private via a note.

Once again, nothing new for Chloe's character. She acts as she always has, being mean to everyone while having moments of vulnerability when things get tense. Remember that hug between her and her father that we talked about earlier? Same concept. She had just almost died from an akuma attack and so she needed some emotional support, leading her to act more openly loving than she usually does when he's around. Once the moment is over, she reverts to the petty mean girl default.

Giving gifts to placate people is also something that we've seen before. A pretty similar thing happens at the end of Evil Illustrator, it's just played less sympathetic towards Chloe because the writers weren't giving her depth back then:

Sabrina: Too late. Chloé and I are doing the project together. Marinette: You mean, you're doing the project? Sabrina: Well, of course! After all she's been through... Marinette: Ughhh.... Nice new beret, by the way. Sabrina: I know, right! Chloé lent it to me. She really is my BFF! Chloé! Your geography homework's ready!

For any of this to be character growth, we need to see Chloe act differently over time. For her to be put in similar situations and get different outcomes, but we don't see that in part because Chloe didn't change and in part because season one didn't do much to develop Chloe's deeper side. We rarely see her alone or in moments of extreme vulnerability, but you need those moments to show her depth. That's why Despair Bear had Chloe crying alone after Adrien threatened to end her friendship and not before. Chloe is very reluctant to openly show depth. You have to force it out of her, which perfectly fits the character we met in season one.

Even her standing up to Hawkmoth and rejecting the akuma isn't character growth in my opinion. Chloe has always stood up to authority and demanded whatever she wants. She has wanted to be Ladybug's friend and be seen as a hero since season one, so it's not shocking that her extremely strong will would allow her to defy a terrorist. If there is anyone in this show who can stand up to a terrorist on shear "no!" power alone, it's little miss I-always-get-what-I-want. I could see a variation of this happening at any point in the show, just change Chloe's reason for defying Gabriel to match the situation. Rework these lines to be about a party that she wanted to go to and I'd still totally buy it:

Chloé: No, Hawk Moth! I am a superheroine! I am Queen Bee! Ladybug will come and get me when she needs me! I WILL NEVER JOIN YOU! (throws her photo onto the ground as the akuma exits it... and pants)

Chloe acted like a hero here because she wants all the perks of being a hero and can't believe that Ladybug would actually bench her. That's impossible! Ladybug wouldn't do that!

As soon as Chloe accepts that she won't be a hero again, Chloe stops acting heroic because acting heroic wasn't growth. It was her playing a part the same way she played a part in Despair Bear. She was doing what she needed to do to be Queen Bee again and not because it's the right thing to do. This would only be real growth if she rejected the akuma after accepting that she wouldn't be Queen Bee again, but that's not what happens. As soon as she accepts that she's out, she no longer has any reason to play nice. She never grew into a character who did what's right for the sake of doing the right thing. It's always been about getting what she wants or being seen how she wants to be seen. Until that changes, she hasn't changed.

So no, Chloe didn't have an aborted arc. They didn't start to redeem her and then change their minds. All they did was make Chloe one of the most complex characters in the show only to then not do anything with the character they wasted our time establishing, ignoring the complexity they gave her while also cranking her mean dial up to the point of absurdity where she's not even fun in her original role anymore.

I get why it feels like she had an aborted arc. The fact that the character establishment was delayed makes it feel like something shiny and new about Chloe. There's also the fact that the character establishment we get in season two is the kind of character establishment that you'd do if you were setting up for a redemption arc, but that doesn't change the fact that it was all establishment work. None of it was a true arc where we watched Chloe grow. We just saw her put in situations that revealed hidden depths.

Her showing depth is not her growing because when in the world does she show off this supposed growth? She only acts differently in the type of scenes that we've never seen her in before or around characters that we've never seen her truly interact with before. When she's around the established teen characters or in her usual scenes, then she acts the same way that she always has. We never see her be genuinely nice to Marinette or something like that. She's only nice to Ladybug and she's still rude to Chat Noir. That's not character growth! That's character establishment that can then be used to guide character growth!

Same thing goes for the stuff in Despair Bear. We learn that Adrien can push Chloe to be better, but he never does it again and she reverts as soon as he lets her off the hook, so it wasn't character growth! It was just Chloe establishing that she can play nice when she needs to. This means that she could grow if the story chose to take her down that path because we've established that she knows what being nice looks like. Fake it til you make it plot go, go, go! But the plot never went, went, went so meh?

Add in the fact that season one was a bit of a test season with lots of elements that got dropped and the fact that characterization in this show has always been wildly inconsistent from episode to episode and I'm really not seeing a strong argument for Chloe having an intentional arc that somehow got aborted. People just saw the potential for her to have one and argue that potential is the same as an aborted arc when it really, really isn't.

To give an analogy, Chloe's story is like walking into the kitchen and seeing grandma laying out the ingredients for her famous chocolate chip cookies. We get excited because, hey, cookies! Then we come back an hour later and there are no cookies. Nor is there some other sweet that uses the same ingredients. There's just ingredients, sitting unused in their original packaging, making us wonder what the heck grandma was up to. At the same time, she never really started making cookies. She just set out ingredients. They're still there, totally unused, waiting to be made into something, so we can't call them a failed cookie attempt. That implies a level of commitment that was never there. She didn't even say that she was making cookies! We just assumed she was because we, understandably, wanted cookies and wanted to believe that grandma had a purpose to her actions.

[wojakgallery]

Title/Name: Definitely Human Known As: The idea of reptilians was popularised by David Icke, an anti-semitic conspiracy theorist who claims shapeshifting reptilian aliens control Earth by taking on human form and gaining political power to manipulate human societies. Icke has stated on multiple occasions that many world leaders are, or are possessed by, so-called reptilians. Reptilian humanoids play a prominent role in fantasy, science fiction, ufology, and conspiracy theories. Wojak Series: Feels Guy (Variant) Image by: Unknown Main Tag: Reptilian Masked Wojak

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

I know that it’s a meme that Quentin Tarantino is really into feet, but for the most part, it doesn’t really pull me out of the movie. Usually, it’s because there’s a reason for the scene. In “Kill Bill Vol 1”, the Bride needed to regain use of her legs. In “Pulp Fiction”, it was to keep Mia Wallace’s face a mystery until they got to the restaurant (also, she’s at home, so it makes sense she’s comfortable there). “Inglourious Basterds” was pushing it, but the movie did establish that Hans Landa needed to confirm that Von Hammersmark lost her shoe.

All this being said, I recently watched “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”. There’s no justification in that movie, Tarantino really went full foot fetish in that one. No hate to anyone who is into feet, I’m not here to be critical, it’s just that the movie is blatant about it. Tarantino wasn’t even being coy with his fetish. In the scene where Margaret Qualley puts her feet on the dash, her feet are either the focus of the shot or 50% of the focus. Brad Pitt would be talking but he’s positioned away from the center of the shot while the camera is more focused on Margaret’s feet.

Conspiracy theory: Maybe QT got sick of the foot memes and decided to troll us with that movie lol.

[stormfireproductions]

Conspiracy theories aren't just for the weird folks, it is for us looking deeper into the weird.

Learn more: havanasyndromepodcast.com

[v-67]

Sleep deprived thoughts 101 idk?

So in the reality, in the actual world which consists of no superheroes w crazy powers

The people who are crazy rich are equivalent to the rich superheroes (i.e maybe batman?) w/o the element of justice to them (and maybe their parents not being killed off)

So at this point it would be nice if one of those guys just pulled a gag of dropping hints that he's batman and they have enough power to pull this off by manipulating newspapers to publish rubbish articles about themselves? Or even just Instagram bullshit? (Now that I think about it, maybe someone might have done this lol) (But it should be someone so influential that it breaks the boundaries throughout the world, everyone, like every one should be talking about it kinda thing)

So they can just make up something, something really really obscure superhero thing and for legal purposes add that this is a bit or something if it wasn't clear enough

And then another billionaire would join in and it would be like a funny thing going on about who actually is batman

While DC would sue them both by some legality loophole and they'd settle the matter or pursue the legal battle

So DC would be like their antagonist?

And they'll keep paying DC off because they're so rich and all that

And it would be so funny

And DC would still not come up with a good movie with all that money (no hate, just a joke)

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

Whenever there's a story about a secret society or a shadowy quasi-government organization that pulls all the strings and controls the entire world and regularly defeats apocalyptic threats against humanity, I always wonder who the hell's paying for it all? The Men in Black, Hellboy's Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, the Assassins, the Templars, they all have blank check budgets and carte blanche to do whatever they need to, whenever, wherever, however. Need to go to an archeological site in Baghdad that may be the literal Garden of Eden? No problem, you'll be on the next flight alongside all your friends and co-workers, and all their supplies and guns and computers, you know, all the stuff that's really easy to ship across international borders. The Kola Superdeep Borehole is actually a portal to hell? I'm sure the Russian government won't mind us checking it out. Area 51 is about as impenetrable as the backstage at a rock concert; sure, some burly guy in a STAFF t-shirt or full combat gear may shout "HEY" and start chasing you, but you can give him the slip real easy and go about your business without him ever alerting a superior.

BORING.

Give me the shadowy agency that has had regular budget cuts since the 1980s. Their power and influence ebbs and flows every 2 years depending on which party controls congress. There's so much red tape and so many roadblocks that the 10,000 year old cult which was once the dominant global superpower is now just a rump echo chamber; they've preserved their ancient Proto-Indo-European language, the mother tongue of about half the world's population, but there was so much infighting over the millennia that they broke into countless warring factions that basically don't do anything anymore. "We're the People's Front of Judea, not like those wankers in the Judean People's Front."

Agent Kay once said "there is always an Arquilian battle cruiser or a Corilian deathray or an intergalactic plague about to wipe out all life on this miserable little planet, but the only way these people can go about their happy lives is they DO. NOT. KNOW ABOUT IT!" Surely they drop the ball from time to time.

"Hey, where's the Archduke? Aren't you part of his security detail?" "I thought that was your job!"

or

"When you disabled the alien ship, you set the autopilot to crash into the Pacific, right?" "The Administrator told me to aim for the Arctic." "Why the hell would he tell you that?!? Its orbit was nowhere near the Arctic! Where is it now?" "Apparently it's about to enter the atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia. Whoops."

or

"A rematch?!? That wasn't the plan! Why don't the higher ups ever give me a warning before they go off book? Do you even know which campaign you're supposed to sabotage? Everyone already hates them both!"

[hippydippydruid]

Apparently you cut off ONE girls finger with a machete and it’s a character trait.

[gutsposting]

The Coven in the Woods, Pt. 2

“Must've been one Hell of a dream…” Patrick O’hallerans’ voice was run ragged from the constant chain smoking he managed to keep up during their six hour ride. Not one second was spent without a lit one hanging from his mouth. His passenger had fallen asleep in his seat about ten minutes after the car had started. Patrick expected Gordon to start his deranged sleep talking as soon as they hit the highway, he could have set his watch to it.

“How close are we?” Gordon eventually managed to speak, rubbing his eyes and hoping that they were far enough away that he could get some more rest. Blinking away the tears from yawning, he took a moment to admire the sunrise. Instead of the typical baby blue, the sky this morning was a blend of oranges and purples.

“Ten minutes, maybe less… We definitely missed it, though.” Pat never kept his eyes on the road. He was trying to meet Gordons’ eye rather than focusing on the winding, run-down path walled by ancient pines. 

“Okay…” Just as he shut his eyes again, his driver hollered. First he violently jerked the wheel to the right, and then abruptly left so hard that Gordons’ head smacked against the window. “Hey! Pay attention to what you’re doing! Are you drunk already?” Gordon obnoxiously sniffed in his direction. “I can never tell… You always stink.” 

Pat ignored him, and kept his eyes on the road. “Only one cop car. We missed the whole show.”

“It’s fine. You said you have a contact?”

“Yeah, if I can find him.” Pat pulled up next to the car, and the two saw the man leaning on a tree. “Want me to do the talking?” Their eyes met for a moment. Gordon still thought he was drunk, but as far as he knew the cops in this town were all drinking this early too. 

“That’ll probably make it easier…” People who looked like Pat always had an easier time, especially around here, than people who looked like Gordon. “Just don’t be… Crazy”

Pat nodded, raising his eyebrow. “Crazy?” He smiled, “We’ll show him crazy.”

Gordon let Pat get out of the car first, and lit his first cigarette as he watched his partner walk up to the cop. It seemed to be going well, so he got out of the car too. The big cop immediately met him with a nasty stare.

“Who’s your friend, there?” A distinct Brooklyn accent spat out the words. ‘In a place like this?’ Gordon thought to himself. The cop was even wearing the type of cap that an officer from the city would be wearing, lacking the round wide-brimmed hat that Southern cops were typically seen in. 

“He’s my assistant… We served together, in the war you know? Well, not together, but… Well, anyways, where are the park rangers, son?”

“They was the first to leave.” He said, never taking his eyes off of Gordon. “We handled everything already.”

“What did you find?”

“Three bodies…” He drug into the ground with the tip of his shoe. “They probably got drunk… Started a fire that got too crazy. We have it all under control.”

“Can we go take a look?” Godrons’ deep voice seemed to boom loud enough that the birds hiding in the pines scattered as he spoke. 

The cop frowned. “What do I care? I’m done here.” He took his time to make his way back to his car, his eyes darting from Gordon to Pat, and then back again. Gordon ignored him, walking up to Pat and leading him up the hill.

“They left the car…” A brand-new Mercedes was sitting, the passenger door still wide open, off to the side of the road.

Gordon scoffed. “Something I’ve been seeing more of these days… They leave stuff lyin’ around so they can come pick it up later. No one makes a report on anything, and they just come by later to pick it all clean.” Patrick eventually began to take the lead, looking upwards in the trees. “Do you… Feel anything?”

“No… But I think I hear it.” He felt for the medallion hanging at his collarbone. “I doubt that they were able to finish.” Gordon loved the geography of West Virginia, but wished he could depopulate it of all the people who lived there.

The changing of the seasons reminded him of all the beautiful things his mother would tell him about God. It was like his hand had come down from heaven, and painted every leaf by hand so they could be maximally pleasant to the eyes of his favorite creation. 

However the people who lived here had never shown him anything except for scorn. Patrick had dragged him here after the war. ‘Fertile ground’ he had insisted. From the perspective of their fledgling business, it certainly was. Yet he found nothing to spend his money on except for run-down bars and dingy diners.

“Looks like they really stopped giving a shit today…” Pat mumbled. “Look here.” The footprints had all been muddled together. Perhaps a dozen officers had walked over one another's' tracks, had completely ruined the evidence left by whoever was the first to arrive, and had left paper coffee cups and cigarette butts strewn about. Patrick walked in circles, eyes locked onto the ground, around and around, looking for the original track or simply scrutinizing the sloppiness of the local police.

Gordon opened the door to the Mercedes, and began to search for any identification. Hardly anything had been left in or on the car except for the license plate. The drivers’ side tire had popped, and when he opened up the glovebox he found absolutely nothing. A small center console was also empty. He checked the trunk, even the engine compartment. No registration, insurance, owners manual or any piece of paper anywhere at all. 

He walked away from the car. Pat had wandered off, the cop finally drove away. Gordon looked around one last time, he tried to catch his breath. It was impossible. He couldn’t quite make it there, all the way to filling up his lungs to a satisfactory state. It was never enough, even when he was standing still. He found himself, for almost two minutes, standing completely still and staring off into space.  

[goodpointepodcasts]

[alitgblog]

Amelia and Toby saying they were at a festival but allegedly didn't meet??? hmmmm suspicious I think i smell scammers

[rotisseries]

I'm so unbelievably susceptible to the famous secret relationship trope it's unreal actually

[gen-is-gone]

the itch to collect is back in a bad way.

now I've got it in my head that I should get every piece of media featuring any of the EDA companions, which is honestly less complicated than you might think...except for Sam of all characters. specifically, I want the audio-only short story Bounty, which has one of the most explicit references to Sam's bisexuality, and which was never collected in print and was originally released on CASSETTE TAPE. fortunately, it was re-released on mp3-CD as part of the BBC's Tales from the TARDIS volume 2.

...which I found for $85 before shipping on ebay. 🙃