#didn't realise she was only in a dream sequence

[katherine-mcnamara]

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ  ALEXANDRA DADDARIO GIF PACK  ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ  

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[timesomewhere]

in honour of the West End's next to normal closing today I've finally proof-read my 'things I noticed/general thoughts' post that's been sitting in my drafts since I saw it earlier this month. it's very long I'm very sorry.

Act One:

it was really fun watching this show in September given that there's two references to it in the first song

I adore the monologue about the pills that Dr. Fine gives during 'Who's Crazy'. it's rhythmic and funny yet also unnerving. It's such a quick and impactful way to summarise what Diana has been through for the past 16 years

Gabe does a 'one of your French girls' pose on the kitchen counter under the cabinets during 'My Psychopharmacologist and I'

Jamie Parker made direct eye contact with me during the last part of 'Who's Crazy' and it was one of the most intense experiences of my life

I might just be dense but I don't get the point of the neon sign that says 'Fine' which drops down during the Dr. Fine scene. Initially I thought that then one would drop down saying 'Madden' during his scenes to help people differentiate between the doctors but then it didn't so it just feels like a weird extra prop

speaking of random props, shout out to the iPad on the table in the opening scene which Gabe pretty much instantly takes away after telling Diana that she shouldn't obsess over tragic news stories and is then never seen again as far as I remember

Dan in the flashback scene being such an optimist about Diana's pregnancy and the future they're gonna have together... soul-crushing

Caissie Levy's 'I Miss The Mountains.' Holy Shit.

I love how Diana and Gabe are the only characters who sing on/stand on the table. it's as though it's this extra dimension of the house that only they have access to and it's a really neat and subtle way to show that they relate to each other in ways other characters don't

'It's Gonna Be Good' is so underrated. Jamie Parker's somewhat genuine optimism becoming optimism-through-gritted-teeth is incredibly acted

The way Jamie delivers the first line of 'He's Not Here' is devastating. the heaviness of that moment as you feel the audience around you realising what's just happened is something I'll remember forever

Gabe body-blocking Dan from Diana during 'I Am the One' is such good staging. People talk about how Jack Wolfe plays Gabe with a lot of layers and a lot of simultaneous contradiction and this song is one of the best examples of that. how Jack manages to project a character who is goading his father and protecting his mother at the same time is beyond me

also Jack has maybe half-an-inch on Jamie which obviously isn't something the actors control but it does makes Gabe seem just that bit more threatening when he's getting in Dan's face

for the first part of Superboy and the Invisible Girl when it's just Natalie singing, Gabe is actively laughing. He's totally unperturbed by her efforts to make herself seen to her mother. it's only when Diana replies, particularly when she says "you're our little pride and joy, our perfect plan" that you see his face drop and you see him trying to figure out a way to stop her from getting Diana's attention which then results in him kicking her off the melody in her own song

"I'll hurt you" being directed at Dan and "I'll heal you" being directed at Diana as Gabe gently touches her face gets me so bad. but the most painful part of 'I'm Alive' for me is when Gabe looks at Dan as he says "I'm the perfect stranger who knows you too well." that's the first time you realise that perhaps Gabe doesn't just impact Diana, and there's something much larger at play

Caissie and Jack W's voices harmonising on 'Catch Me I'm Falling' was one of my favourite parts of the whole show. Their voices are so magical together and their mother/son chemistry is incredible

The 'I Dreamed A Dance' into 'There's a World' sequence is one of the most tragically beautiful things I've ever witnessed. I went into the show knowing what Gabe was trying to achieve during 'There's A World' and yet Jack's voice is so beautifully haunting you totally forget you're supposed to root against Gabe in that moment

Jamie Parker's 'I've Been' is some of the best acting through song out there. Interestingly my friend and I had very different interpretation's of what Gabe's horrified reaction to the blood meant. I viewed it as him being upset about what he convinced Diana to do - he doesn't like seeing her hurt. Whereas my friend saw it as him being angry at himself that she didn't manage to follow through, meaning that he has failed to regain control over her life

'I'm no sociopath, I'm no Sylvia Plath. I ain't no Frances Farmer kind of find for you' is one of the best musical theatre lyrics of all time. I genuinely don't know why I Miss The Mountains is the 'big song' known from N2N over 'Didn't I See This Movie?', it's just so good

Natalie's 'She trusts you!' line is heartbreaking, I was basically watching that entire scene through my fingers because of how high the emotion was

Act Two:

'Pfizer's woman of the year' will in fact be peak comedy every time. Eleanor's delivery is *chef's kiss*

Gabe having just one line in 'Wish I Were Here', and that line being 'Wish I were here.' Yeah. I feel very normal about that.

Natalie's line of "Can I hide my stupid hunger, fake some confidence and cheer?" being pretty much exactly what Gabe has done throughout the entirety of act 1

"And you're not a scary rockstar anymore" got one of the biggest laughs at both of the shows I went to

Dan's desperation during 'Better Than Before.' He is simultaneously trying to cajole Diana into remembering and get Natalie to be more positive. This one song really highlights how he's being pulled in a million different directions while trying to hold it all together and Jamie portrays that so well

Aftershocks. Wow. The way the last word of each line echoes throughout the theatre is great sound design. I've been in exam halls louder than the audience during that song. Holding a room that captive as a silhouette is quite the feat Jack Wolfe you will always be famous

"I don't know where the fucking pieces go" as Diana pushes things off the table as if there's a real jigsaw there that she's rage quitting and choosing to give up on is such a nice detail

"Have you talked of your depression, your delusions and your son?" The gasp in the theatre both times was sickening

the response of "good' in reply to "name?" when technically that was part of his name as they are the "Goodmans". I don't really have a point here I just think it's neat

The 'It's Gonna Be Good" reprise was one of my favourite Dan/Diana moments. Caissie and Jamie are really pushing each other to their emotional limits and they handle it so well

The first "Why stay?" is so fragile as Diana sits against the kitchen island. Also interesting given that Dan and Gabe will also sit against there later when they are at their lowest point in the story. The idea of the characters crawling to the 'centre/heart' of the home when they are at their weakest

"This is one old game that I can play so well" is the line that has stuck the most with me throughout the show. Jack's delivery of it while striding across the kitchen table - seemingly totally invincible - is crazy.

how Caissie manages to deliver "you shrugged and said that no one really knows" with humour and desperation at the same time is amazing

When Gabe and Diana stand on the table and if they let go of one another they'll fall. yeahhhhh.....

Gabe's realisation that Diana isn't going to give up on getting better. Totally collapsing in on himself and beginning to cry. How you manage to feel bad for him after all the destruction he's caused is wild

Diana's "maybe I'm tired of the game" relating back to Gabe's "this is one old game that I can play so well"

the lyrics in 'Hey #3' clearly reflecting things Diana has done, Henry cutting Natalie off at "bleeding in the bathtub"

"I am the one who'll heal you" being said to Dan not Diana this time

"Why didn't you go with her?" is the most devastating line in the whole musical I said what I said. Jamie's delivery of it is heart wrenching

the drums and bass kicking in for the loud part of I Am The One as Gabe becomes desperate to be seen once again

Jack and Jamie's acting in this moment is so intense. there's a moment where it's genuinely feels as though only one of them can make it out of the interaction alive

Jack's emphasis on the word 'loved' in the line "I am the one who loved you" nearly killed me on the spot. how somebody can deliver a line so desperately while remaining pitch perfect is unfair

Natalie coming in to kiss Dan's head at the start of 'Light' like Gabe kisses Diana's in the first scene. I'm such a sucker for a gut punching

the "And are they real?" line about Diana's parent's from Henry gets such a loud reaction from the audience. Some people laugh immediately, some people clearly get shocked out of their sobs. so good

In conclusion, this is my favourite musical of all time and I'm going to be so annoying waiting for the pro-shot to come out

[morkaischosen]

Gal shouldn't be here.

The Craft Sequence is a very contemporary fantasy, and one with a realistic- if not cynical- view of power. Again and again our protagonists find themselves up against gods and corporations, establishments with the very most established positions, and have to use every edge at their disposal just to keep some kind of hope for something better alive. There aren't any knights in shining armour coming to save them. Except...

The Ruin of Angels deftly sketches in a picture of Camlaan - an insular island with Imperial dreams, spinning tales of love and heroism as it sends its thugs to project its will outside its island borders. It's a familiar picture to me as an English reader, and its mythology is so clearly a justification, a comforting self-deception for the iron fist of an immortal queen. You can't say "a true knight wouldn't-" because the knights who would are real, and the ones who wouldn't just a story they tell. Except...

The Ruin crew are thieves. They have their motivations and dreams, and they're risking life, limb and legal process to score artefacts, and for all Raymet's preoccupation with scholarship and heritage, that seems to be a side-hustle to the crew's overall goal: profit. And yet, somehow, one of the crew is a storybook knight with an unbending code of honour. It's not that she's a hypocrite, not exactly - the climax of her arc with Raymet wouldn't make any sense, wouldn't have remotely the same emotional impact, if I didn't feel in my heart that what Gal's willing to justify (what she feels is just) is the most important limit on her behaviour - but she's like an invader from another story, too wild and pure to live by the rules of this world.

And all of that is vital to her place in the book.

We see her, largely, through Raymet's eyes, and our sense of genre brings us right along- how are you even real?

But the book carries on, and she keeps being like that, and eventually Raymet curses her out, and the people who made her into someone who just doesn't fit the world that really is, and- "I don't understand this. I don't understand you."

Gal reads like the intrusive work of another, better world, and part of me resents her for that; but once I accept that she really, truly is only and completely what she seems, the only word for such a senseless thing is miracle.

It's a book about love. It's a book about a lot of things, but when I read for Raymet and Gal, it's a book about love. Disbelief, and fear, and the blossoming of joy as you realise this is real, you're here, all the reasons you shouldn't be just don't matter because you are.

That's how it feels, sometimes.

-----

This week's campaign of Galposting is brought to you by @swordswomanshowdown and my discovery that I'm willing to put a whole lot of effort into trying to get people to vote for a character I adore in a Tumblr poll tournament.

[inkperch]

Just watched Damsel and I reaally do not get the hype ngl.

Like... Possibly bc my first exposure to her was Enola Holmes, but something a bit Millie Bobby Brown's performance is jarringly broody (like, in a dcu batman way, not in a well-written batman way-) and the talking to herself sounds less like an actual 'Stressed as fuck twenty-something clinging desperately to her last shred of sanity-' more "Enola Holmes' snarky audience asides" which just did not. Fit.

Which was especially egregious when she spends 90% of the film entirely alone, despite several opportunities to fix this- either by making the dragon a more present and constant threat, doing more than one cryptic dream sequence with the ghosts, having her dad actually speak with her instead of apologising through desperate yelling and the narrative not even giving her time to like. React to that. She didn't know that-

Or the REALLY interesting one, which realising they weren't doing was what honestly made me check out of the movie entirely: the other girl she'd been making eyes at who got sacrificed just before her? Would Not Have Been Hard to just. Have her survive. And I, obviously, am leaning towards a ship there, but even just giving her someone to play off of would've done wonders for the pacing, especially for the exposition.

Meanwhile the plot was so busy being subversive it forgot to be coherent? Like. The dragon was already annoying, but then she killed Eloide's dad and just lost all sympathy from me. He literally spelled it out to her that he is a narrative parallel to the guy who killed her kids and she doesn't realise. That she's become the monster she hated. And just. Ahhh-

Also! That ending.

Total girl boss moment! Slaughtering your way through an innocent kingdom because the Queen (not the king, note, and the Prince was shown to be against it but spineless against his mean mother, bc nothing says girl boss like that old chestnut) and some creepy masked people did the only thing they could do to protect their kingdom from an unreasonable, illogical and unstoppable force holding a centuries long grudge. (Do we see their thoughts? No? They're just mean in one scene and so we're meant to ignore their lack of other choices?)

And then. Boat! And Dragon friend! Because its not like it was literally the first thing the film established, that her home was struggling with an issue a fire breathing dragon would be super helpful with dealing with, or anything- look, adventures!!!! Boats!!!

[darkfeanix]

Feanix Reads Dragon Age Comics

#3: Until We Speak

You can find my thoughts on the previous comic arc, Those Who Speak, here, and my thoughts on the first arc, The Silent Grove, here.

I'll be posting my thoughts on each series as a whole, rather then individual issues. Below the cut are all the thoughts I had while reading Until We Sleep.

Until We Sleep (I)

Varric's narration is fascinating, and plays into one of my favourite qualities of his, which is that he is an unreliable narrator. He embellishes, he adjusts, he straight up lies. And having the narrator tell one version of a story while living an entirely different version is one of my favourite tropes, so this is a good start.

"Varric, my boy -- you need to involve yourself in fewer wars."

Even to himself he lies. This story takes place in 9:38 Dragon. The Veilguard is set in 9:52. Fourteen more years, this man keeps on lying to himself and keeps getting involved. Your fav could never.

"Once, she had been called Isabela. Now she seemed to prefer 'Captain.'"

Oh, I don't like that at all. That's even worse than if there hadn't been any follow up at all to the "not called Isabela" line. Me @ the writers: What was the point of her defying the Qunari in the last issue if you were going to have her abandoning her name for a title? That feels like entirely the wrong lesson.

I feel like there may have been some division re: Calenhad being a reaver, but I like it. It takes off some of the shine of him. Ironically, I think it makes him more human. It also is another example of Flemeth (that witch he went to was totally, right?) giving history a shove in the direction she needs, and I'm always here for Flemeth the grand manipulator of fate.

Titus is quite terrifying with dragonfire at his disposal.

So we come to Maevaris imprisoned. Want to know something? I had no idea this was meant to be some shock reveal that she didn't have female-presenting nipples, as Tumblr Staff would call them. I didn't realise she was meant to be trans, I just thought she was a flat-chested woman being sexualised by the artist. To me the actual shock (even though it shouldn't have been) was that they had shown a woman's naked chest in a mainstream comic.

Which now that I think about it, has its own connotations in terms of how they present her in this scene. I hope I'm just reading too much into that, but even if I'm not, I'm a cisgender man so I don't think it's my place to speculate and talk about the implications there.

The Magrallen is creepy is heck.

"There was only one thing I could do. … On the whole, I've made better decisions."

Haha. That was a funny way to end the issue.

Until We Sleep (II)

I had quite forgotten that Bianca appears in Varric's dream sequence, and what she looked like when she wasn’t made in the Frostbite Engine. I think I actually like the comic version more in this case; for single-quest NPCs like Bianca, the generic modelling process just wasn't that memorable in Inquisition.

I don't actually remember the story with Bianca, but there I do love a good "make a different choice for a happy ending" dream sequence, and even if it's resolved quickly, it still hits right.

And we're also continuing Varric's unreliable narration, which I appreciate.

I also find it really interesting how this parallels the Broken Circle quest from Origins, and how it differs. Like that (well, like that in some cases), we have spirits giving someone their fantasy. But unlike with the sloth demon's servants, this spirit that is pretending to be Bianca isn't holding Varric prisoner; it's just giving him his deepest desire. And he is free to leave, even if it's hard for him to turn his back on the fantasy. The same with Mae's fantasy; the spirit isn't deliberately trying to fool her. She acknowledges her awareness of the situation, and it doesn't attack her. These are benign spirits, and I'm really curious what they represent. Even in the way they present themselves, there's a difference; "Bianca" is proactive, engaging with Varric and trying to get him to enjoy the fantasy. By comparison, "Thorold" comes across as much more passive, barely even moving except when Mae interacts with him directly. Maybe a lesser spirit being directly affected by Mae's connection to the Fade, as a mage?

Anyway, I just think they're neat.

Also, isn't this so sweet?

I said it in the post for Those Who Speak, but I love that they decided to make Varric's Tevinter contact a human who was married to a dwarf. Gosh, I would really love to romance Mae with a dwarf one day. You hear me, Bioware? Mae as a companion in Dragon Age 5. Make it happen, please and thank you.

And on the opposite end of the spectrum, I feel like showing a shot of a beaten-up trans woman was completely unnecessary. Like, it's an interesting show of how the Fade works, that flash of her memory affecting her perception of herself, but context matters. And after how they chose to "reveal" her transness in the previous issue, this was just really distasteful.

Isabela's nightmare is… interesting. I'm wondering if they forgot that as a woman, Isabela would never be made a warrior under the Qun, or if it was intentional and that it's literally Isabela's worst nightmare to kill for the Qun.

It's also interesting that she specifically attracted spirits that created her nightmare instead of her fantasy. Like, ultimately everything about this is a choice made by the writer, but again, the Fade and spirits interest me. Is it the part of them that shines brightest that draws the spirits to them? What does that say about each character? Was it Varric's regret? Was it Mae's fond memories of a deceased love? Was it Isabela's self-loathing?

It would be really sad if, after everything she's been through and all of her growth, Isabela is still defined by what she hates and fears the most.

Gosh, please stop hurting Mae.

Varric lying in the narration and saying Isabela was never tempted by the Fade. It's such a small thing, but it's his thing. He cares so deeply about his friends, and he's a good liar. He tells stories the way he thinks they should be told.

Ahem, anyway.

Ending with a dream of King Maric in his prime, and Prince Alistair the devoted son, sure is a way to wrap up this issue.

Until We Sleep (III)

I'd forgotten that Maric was fooled (or let himself be fooled) into thinking that Alistair was a spirit, and not his real son.

It's funny that Titus is so convinced of his own power, but even he doesn't have the kind of power he thinks he does in the Fade. Also, I really appreciate that the demons don't all look the same. Oh the joys of not being limited by game assets.

"You are not the dreamer here. I am."

Badass.

Ultimately, Alistair's fate is that he isn't enough. Maric says everyone he loved is gone from the waking world, and Alistair says that he's there, Maric turns away from him. I don't think he really means it when he tells Alistair that he'll try to return with them. He knows he's not making it out.

(Fitting, that the issue that Varric is narrating basically ends on a lie.)

Okay, so Isabela seemingly gives up being captain and leaves her ship at the end of this. I guess they forgot that when they were writing Inquisition and had Varric say she'd joined up with the Raiders and was calling herself an admiral? It really feels contradictory to the Isabela at the end of this series.

I guess we could put it down to it being another lie.

Final Thoughts

So overall, I think that the series improved as it went along. Or maybe I just found Isabela's and Varric's perspectives more engaging than Alistair's. Hard to say.

At any rate, I'm glad to be done with these ones so I can move on to comics I haven't read yet. Based on what I've seen online, they can be kind of hit-or-miss, but I'm still looking forward to checking them out.

If you've made it this far, thank you for accompanying me on my journey through The Silent Those Who We Sleep. Check back soon when I read…

*Looks at the next comic title*

Magekiller. Hmmm, actually, I think I remember reading this one too.

Anyway, bye for now.

#LetMeRomanceMae2k24

[kinghijinx22]

The Owl House Watching and Dreaming full review/analysis

Part 1 Nightmare Sequence

Dana and the Owl crew really stuck the landing with Watching and Dreaming, giving the Owl House the beautiful ending it deserved. Perfectly wrapped up the themes of the show, of loving yourself, wanting to be understood and of finding people who accept you for who you are. Luz's arc comes to a satisfying end, she becomes the Witch she always wanting to be and she gets the happy ending she deserved. If you haven't seen it you can watch it here for free on Disney's Youtube channel.

Turns out the nightmare sequence was just the first five minutes of the episode and that the trailer didn't really spoil anything which was a nice twist considering how important it seemed and I'm honestly glad that it wasn't really about that because what they did was a lot more interesting. Looking at the nightmares that the Owl family main trio are stuck in, all of them are really prey on the deepest insecurities of the each of them. Luz confronts her fear of being like Belos and her irrational guilt. She's afraid of hurting the people that she's close to and while that's understandable, everything that she feels guilty for like accidently helping Belos was completely out of her control and she needed to realise this. Which she already had in Thanks to Them when she opened up to Amity and the others, which definitely helped her in confronting the possessed angry versions of her friends and even her girlfriend. There's also her other fear of her motivations being just as bad as Belos's motivations but we'll get more into that when I talk about King's parent and what they have to say but the fact that Luz is dressed like Belos in her nightmare is very much connected to that.

Eda's nightmare had put her in the Conformatorium, something that she's been having to avoid for the majority of her life because of her life as a wild witch and refusal to conform to Belos's suffocating system. But her biggest fears were loosing control of the Owl beast, accidentally hurting someone again and her family hating her which is why she's confronted them and most devastatingly her father Dell who was the last person she seriously hurt because of the Owl curse. Since then however she has figured out how to control the Owl curse and been able to reconnect with her family. King's nightmare is about being the last titan, and he's confronted with the bones of his people and people who murdered them. And as nice as it would have been for King to meet other Titan's, he has recognised his adopted Owl family as being a true family that is just as meaningful.

All three of them have overcome their insecurities in the past, but it is Luz who is able to put what she's learned into practice to not be overwhelmed by the nightmare. And the thing I love the most about this sequence is that the last straw in helping Luz is how well she knows her girlfriend. Her girlfriend Amity, who is just as much of a dork as she is would never get a quote from their favourite book series wrong. It's really cute and Amity telling Luz to wake up and giving her the light glyph to do it is an appropriately powerful moment for what is both one of the biggest emotional cores of the Owl House and also one of the most groundbreaking queer couples in mainstream media. This is thankfully not the only great Lumity moment in this episode because there's a few more that come later.

Part 2 The Collector's Origins, Amity and Raine breaking free

While I'm still don't really like the Collector a lot as a character and I think that a lot of people are way too forgiving of them considering how much damaged he caused, I do think the way this episode handles the obvious direction they were taking their character to be really well executed. They work well as the chaotic but ultimately forgivable antagonist compared to Belos's calculated pure evil and I think they play a good role in this episode. Him being a younger god like being who is incapable of understanding death and the harm that they cause on other's is really interesting and plays into a major plot point later on in a powerful way.

I think now is a good moment to mention that I really appreciate how this episode really focuses on the other biggest emotional core of this series which is the adopted Owl family. The found family dynamic between the human Luz, Eda and King has always been really strong and is where the everything started. Three outcasts who didn't fit in because of their differences were able to come together and not fit in together, becoming a found family and showing that the people that matter most are those who love and accept you for who you are. And I love that after they break free from their nightmares and surviving the Collector's games, the Owl family and especially Luz are able to use their immense empathy to relate their own experiences to the Collector's experiences. It's here that we get a proper explanation of the Collector's origins of originally being from a family of Collectors, and that their older siblings are known as the Archivists. According to the Collector, the Archivists had sent them down to the Boiling Isles to get him out of their business and while they were actually able to make friends with the baby Titans, the Archivists were not happy after discovering the Titans themselves and the fact that their powers can cancel out their own. Because they saw the Titans as a threat, they wiped them out but not before King's dad had hid King away and sealed away the Collector, believing them to be the main threat. The whole thing was clearly very messy with some misunderstandings, but what we learn for certain is that the Archivists are the true villains of this situation.

Raine playing a big role in this finale was pretty cool. They've been such a great character throughout the series and are some of best nonbinary representation in any story with how well they've been written. They finally get to start breaking free from Belos's control while Belos was on his way to the Titan's heart and while it was always obvious, it was pretty cool to see even Belos recognising their strength. They tried their hardest, even making one last desperate attempt by banging the violin on ground but was just unlucky and Belos was able to slip through a small hole in the magic barrier.

Speaking of strong witches, Amity being strong enough to regain her autonomy enough to draw the light glyph while she was a puppet was an awesome moment and what makes this moment even more special is that I think this is the first time she has drawn a glyph successfully. And just like it was Luz's love for Amity that allowed her to break free from her nightmare, I like to think that it was Amity's love for Luz that gave her the strength to draw the glyph. She uses what her girlfriend had taught her to help her break herself and her friends free from being Collector puppets. Amity, Willow, Gus and Hunter end up having to save everybody who was turned into puppets and being kept in the archives. I suppose it's now that I'll mention Hunter because I won't otherwise because I still really don't care about him and I never will but I am so happy that they kept him out of the big final battle. As perfect as most of this show is and with how important it has been for it's representation, my one problem is the fact that they decided to introduce this generic cishet white edgeboy and suddenly started pushing him as one of the most important characters to the detriment of the much more interesting queer and poc main characters and sometimes even Luz, the character who is supposed to be the main character. I'm just so relieved that they knew to stop pushing Hunter so hard as a white saviour and to actually let their queer afro Latina protagonist get to be the hero in the end.

So the Owl family is able to relate to the Collector, but to really connect with him Luz decided to take them the places where she was able to connect with other people while sharing her stories. The first place being the Owl House itself, or "the bird house" as the Collector calls it. It's where she properly got to know her now found family of Eda the Witch, King the Titan, Owlbert the Palisman and Hooty the Door. The weridos that came together and accepted each other when they needed it, just like they were doing with the Collector. The next place they go is the Grudby court which also feels like it could be a stand in for Hexside in general because it represents Luz finding her friends and the love of her life. Where she met other outcasts Willow and Gus and they became close friends, and also where she met and was able to break down the rough exterior of former bully but now loving girlfriend Amity Blight.

The final place they go to is the Knee, the Titan's knee where Eda had taught Luz how to connect with the Boiling Isles or rather the Titan itself, where she was able to learn the Ice glyph with the help of the Titan is great foreshadowing for when we get to meet the Titan in person. The Collector themself even mentions in this moment that he's jealous that the Titan had showed Luz the glyphs and not them. Even though you could have made the assumption, this is our confirmation that the Titan really has been helping Luz to find the glyphs this whole time. The way this comes up, and the way this episode is able to brilliantly wrap up all these mysteries and plot points was very satisfying. This show has always been great at bringing back small plot details and paying them off in a big way. After hearing about all of Luz's adventures and about all the family and friends she's made along the way, the Collector makes the assumption that she must have somehow forced people like her own girlfriend Amity and her cool aunt Lilith who had started off as adversaries into liking her. But as is explained by Luz, people are complicated and sometimes they just need some kindness and forgiveness. There is more to people then what we see on the surface, and sometimes if you are able to see past someone's hard exterior you can reach the kind person on the inside and maybe even bring them to the surface. Throughout the series Luz with her kindness and sincerity has been able to do this for a lot of people, and now she's showing this kindness and sincerity to the Collector.

Part 3 Luz's Death and Meeting King's Dad

It's at this moment where the Owl family notices the influence of Belos, spreading his goo self across the land in a desperate attempt to take control of the Titan's corpse. Like a disease running through someone's body. Along with this he even creates a kaiju body for himself that comes from the Emporor's castle which is was just absolutely wild and unexpected. When the Owl family and the Collector go to confront Belos, the Collector tries to use what they just learnt about kindness and forgiveness on Belos which very obviously doesn't work and Luz ends up having to sacrifice herself to protect the Collector from Belos's blast. Luz gets in the way and disintegrates into balls of light that float across the Boiling Isles, the place that she'd learnt to call her home and that she fought so hard to protect. This scene is not only a good way of showing that there are some people that are so evil and stuck in their ways that kindness and forgiveness doesn't work which is a brilliant subversion of the "befriend all your enemies" trope that a lot of stories do and is much more realistic, but it also brings back what we learnt about how the Collector perceives death earlier in the episode and this was a devastating but effective way to teach him the weight of what it really means. He'd started to make friends with Luz, but now she's gone and they can't bring her back they've finally started to regret their actions helped lead to this.

Another tragic thing about this scene is that while the balls of lights that once made up Luz reach their destination, they go the Archives where her girlfriend Amity, her friends Willow, Gus and Hunter, and her mother Camilla are. As this happens we see that even while Camilla is a puppet and even if she didn't see what happened to Luz, we see tears come from her eyes. Like she knew what had happened to her baby, and it's hearbreaking. It's almost like Luz just wanted to see her mum again, but also the light is what turns back into a human just like it did with Amity and friends. She wakes up and talks to the kids who still don't really know what happened to Luz, but even with their bad feelings Camilla is able to take some insipiration from daughter by not giving up. She comes up with a plan to draw glyshs on the sticky notes she bought to help the kids to rescue the Puppets, using the knowledge she had learnt from her daughter. I have to mention here that I've always loved Camilla learning to draw gylphs throughout season 3, it really goes to show with everything else that she's been doing that she fully embraces her daughter and wants to a part of her world by leanring about it and understanding.

As Eda and King get taken over by their sadness and anger, going into super beast forms to fight Belos, one last bit of Luz's light drifts into the Inbetween. She turns back into herself as she starts to drown, but the Titan himself appears to pull Luz up before it's too late. Luz finally gets to meets King's dad, the Boiling Isles Titan themself. Or rather King's parent, as he says when they quote their son "I am both king and queen, best of both things." Luz met the equivalent of god and he is genderqueer which is just awesome. I assume you could refer to the Titan with any pronouns, but they do say "but dads fine" so I'll keep referring to him as King's dad and in this situation I'll use "he" and "they" but not she for the sake of not getting confused with Luz. So we learn that they have been using the mirror cubes to watch Luz and the Owl family this whole time, watching over the people who have been looking after son. As it turns out, it really was the Titan who in a mystical was helping Luz to find the glyphs this whole time. In fact the first glyph Luz had found was the light glyph and it helped her to protect King from Eda when she turned into the Owl beast which makes this knowledge even more poetic.

So this whole scene of Luz meeting King's dad is one of the best in the entire show and besides what I've already mentioned about it, the biggest thing that really makes this so good is the conversation about Luz's guilt and how she irrationally compares herself to Belos. She says that her and her friends wanting to protect their families and Belos wanting to protect humanity must come from same place, and so she feels guilty for wanting this. The response from King's dad however is incredibly important and has a powerful truth to it. He points out that Luz's feelings come from a genuine place, she has the heart and she's come to love the Boiling Isles and the friends and family she met while their. Meanwhile Belos's feeling are disingenuous, he just wants to be the hero of his own dilusional world and it's because of this that he fears what he can't control. I think it's pretty obvious what King's dad is talking about here but to get real, this perfectly discribes why bigots exist and the way that the people of right leaning idelogies think the way that they do. They have an idea of what an acceptable human should be and it always happens to benefit them. They want the praise that heroes get but need somebody that they can call an enemy to overcome. They lust for violence but need a justification for hurting others. So they manipulate the public perception of vulnerable minorities by fabricating scary stories about those that are different, othering their victims and creating an "us and them" scenario which justifies the violence they get a rush from. It also ensures that they are perceived as heroes who deserve to rule, and sends a message that anyone who steps out line will feel their wrath. It's evil, that's the only word to desrcibe it and the fact that this show is speaking out against this toxic mindset and the evil people who perpetuate it is especially relevant right now with the unfortunate rise of Rubuplican Conservative efforts to attack and eventually genocide queer minorities. Make no mistake these people are not doing these thing's for some sort of "greater good" or because the "care about the children." They just need someone to point their fingers at so they can indulge their violent nature and appear as the heroes in the process.

This is also how Belos thinks and why he's the perfect villain for the this story. For a story that celebrates what makes use different, encourages self love and understanding of others, having a villain who refuses to understand and sees nothing but reasons to hurt when looking at the differences of others, Belos is a perfect villain. He is a perfect depiction of the old timey Puritanism that he comes from and unfortunately the Fascism that is still rampant to this day. But this is also what makes Luz the perfect hero. She is the opposite of him in every way. She's kind, accepting of others and is always trying to help people to the point of being self sacrificing. She came to the demon realm and saw the beauty in the land and it's people. She was able to make a positive impact on the lives of so many witches since her arrival, meanwhile Belos had the exact opposite impact and has bought nothing but pain and suffering. Luz herself is a bisexual neurodivergent afro Latina girl. She belongs to several historically oppressed groups and is exactly the type of person that a bigot like Belos would discriminate against in real life. They are complete opposites in everyway which makes them the perfect hero and villain for the story of the Owl House.

King's dad tells Luz the truth that she needs to hear to put her mind at ease before deciding to give the rest of their power to her. He's fading away because of Belos's influence, but they've put all of their trust in Luz to save the Boiling Isles and defeat Belos for good. As Luz returns to the demon realm, King's Dad tells her one thing that they want her to tell his son which you don't get to hear until after the fight is over but it is really cute and funny. One last thing to mention about this perfect scene is that Luz's Dad turns into the giant skeleton version of themself, and what I take from this is that this is what he actually looks like currently but was taking the form of a human sized version of King with a dad bod, a Badgirl Coven Shirt and glyph cover pyjama pants which is just really funny to think about. Also have to mention it, what was the mini Hooty coming out of their eye? Is this a hunt to Hooty's origin? Is Hooty a part of a titan? Definitely gets the imagination running.

Part 4 Titan Luz vs Belos

So Luz returns to the Boling Isles, now with the power of the Titan and a new badass form to go with it. She shows up just in time to save Eda, King and the Collector makes a really cool entrance while exclaiming "I'm back" which then turns into a loss for words as she tries to think of a cooler line to say which is so perfect and fitting for Luz. What I love about this is that even after gaining the power of god and anime she's still remains her true to her funny dorky self and what I also love is this is the thing that helps Eda to realise that it really is Luz. Although Luz's palisman Stringbean was able to sense that it her right away, flying by her side and turning into her staff which was another cute detail. I also love everything about Titan Luz's design, the long curly hair which is definitely what Luz with long hair would look like, the black fur, the horns, the black eyes with yellow pupils, the fang, her keeping the witches hat, literally everything about it is perfect and a detail I appreciate is that she actually looks like a mixture of herself, Eda and King. While she's now part titan, she not only has King's fur and horns but also Eda's fang and eyes. The adopted Owl family now looks like they are all a biological family and there's something beautiful about that.

Luz with her new Titan form along with Eda and King go on to fight off Belos's growing influence while the Collector goes to the archives to help Camilla and kids to rescue everyone who was turned into puppets in the Archives by stopping it from falling. This whole sequence of the Owl family flying across the Boiling Isles and destroying Belos goo is beautiful and where the animation really pops off. The Owl House always looks good but during a lot of action scenes or important story scenes the animation quality will just shoot up and it turns really smooth and always looks amazing. A lot of the scenes with Titan Luz look amazing and the animation exploding just makes it even more special. Something I love about this whole sequence is that even at the end of everything and even though Luz has all this power, Eda still holds her hand tells her to concentrate when she struggles with shooting the Titan magic which shows that Eda will never stop being a loving mentor to Luz. We have King teaching her to use the Titan yell, which feels like how he always wanted to teach her about demons. And then the three of them use Stringbean the palisman staff to draw a giant light glyph in the sky which is also very fitting, light being the first discovered and most important glyph after all. During this entire action scene an epic remix of the intro theme plays, making everything feel even more special and final.

The three of them fly into space and we get a nice view of the Demon Realm which shows us the far away unexplored lands and the other Titan corpses that make up islands like the Boiling Isles. It's a beautiful sight and gives us good idea of the scope of the Demon Realm really is. Luz figures out exactly has happened, that Belos has spread himself across the land with the help if the Titan's heart, and she figures out exactly how to stop it. Luz references what she had learnt from Eda all the way back in The Intruder, the fourth episode of the entire show which is a brilliant call back. In was there that Eda had taught Luz that magic is natural to witches and demons because it comes from bile sack next to their heart. Luz reminds Eda of magic comes from the heart before they all plummet down to the Titan's heart, and I want to add that when they all say "from the heart" it feels like they are saying that both their own magic is coming from the heart and that it's where they need to go to stop Belos. They crash into the Emperor's castle but before they can go into the throne room to confront Belos at the heart, they find Raine Whispers, tied to wall with Belos's goo and loosing their energy. They are missing their glasses, and whispering the iconic tune Raine's Rapsody/Eda's Requiem, the special song that Eda had written and performed for them while they were originally a couple. It's the song that has played during several of their more significant scenes as a couple, and speaking of those moments we can another intimate moment with the two of them here as Eda approaches to rescue them and put their glasses back on their face so they can see her. She pulls Raine off the wall and they embrace as Eda showers them with kisses on their forehead in a scene that's really cute. As well as getting another Luz and Amity kiss scene which we do luckily end up getting two of, another thing that I really wanted from this special was getting a Raine and Eda kiss and while this is closest we get, at least the two officially get back together by end and do get share some nice moments at least.

Now with Titan Luz, Harpy Eda, King and Raine our main heroes go in to finally face Belos in the final battle. To defeat him, Luz must pull him free from the Titan's heart to drain his energy and it's here that the animation pops off even more then it did before. Luz's magic looks beautiful as she draws a spell circle of fire and creates some ice steps to reach Belos, running across the ice using Stringbean to fly up to him. She grabs his ribcage, using the ice steps as leverage and starts pulling as her adopted family protect her from all of the gooey hands that Belos tries using to stop her. Luz is getting to finish Belos of directly, and her family are there to make it fair and it's here that we get one of the powerful scenes of the entire series, literally everything was leading to this. Luz finally gets to be the hero and defeat Belos, and as she does we get a call back to the very scene in the series. Luz's very own version of an important line originally spoken by the heroine of her favourite book series that had inspired her to want to become a witch in the first place. The book series that was given to her by her now late father Manny, the Good Witch Azura.

"Do not underestimate me Belos for I am the Good Witch Luz. Child of the human realm, student of the Demon Realm and Warrior of Peace… NOW EAT THIS SUCKA!" She shouts as she rips him out in the most satisfying and beautifully animated way possible. A great detail about this scene is that not only is it a well built up and sincere call back to a now iconic line, but it also feels like Luz has really found herself after everything she's been through and is reasserting this, her identity.

After the defeat of Belos we see his goo that had spread across the land disappear and his kaiju self turning to stone before also disintegrating, ironic karma given Belos's abuse of the petrification spell to punish wild witches. Belos himself fascinatingly turns back not just into his human self, but his old self from hundreds of years ago. And so Luz comes face to face with Belos's pathetic 16th century puritan self. Even to his very end he's just as manipulative and conniving as he always has been to his very core as he attempts to make one last desperate attempt to appeal Luz's kindness and what makes this scene so glorious is that she doesn't buy any of it. Everything that spews forth from his mouth is just more lies, that is until the acid rain comes down and begins to melt him down to his goo form again. Physically and metaphorically his mask is removed and his dissolves into threatening that Luz will become "just as evil as those witches." Just as you think he's going to have a slither of self awareness in to his vileness in saying that Luz will end up like him, even in his dying breathes he refuses understand reality and blames all of his problems on the minorities that he has chosen to oppress. Luz decides to step away, letting him burn in the rain and rejecting his toxic ideology before her family- Eda, King and Raine step in to finish him off by giving the remaining bits of a him a good stomping, finally finishing off the dictator once and for all.

What I love about Belos's death is the significance of it and what it means to the story. As I said before about the Collector's attempt to use kindness with Belos, this is a glorious subversion of the "redeem all your enemies and become friends with everybody" trope that a lot of stories especially in recent times like to employ. And not only are some people so vile to the core that they refuse to change, but there are people who just do not deserves forgiveness and that's ok. From the start Belos has had a hateful, close minded view of the world and has only ever wanted to cause suffering to others. He craves violence and in 16th century puritan fashion he has chosen the witches as his victims, literally committing hundreds of years to his genocidal schemes and killing his own brother when he didn't agree with him. There is nothing that Belos could do at this point to redeem himself, he is beyond redemption and I love what the Owl House has to say about this. Belos is fascist dictator who refused to change his world views over hundreds of years of opportunities and has attempted actual genocide, this man is unforgivably evil and needs to removed from existence before he can hurt anybody else. Something I love about the Owl House is that not only does is celebrate oppressed and unrepresented minorities, but it directly calls out the evil people who oppress them. It's beautiful and it's realistic and what I love about how this show presents all this is how literal it is.

Just like that, Belos is gone and our heroes are free to relax. The power of the Titan leaves Luz's body and as it does we get one final look the literally fiery soul of King's dad. King himself gets one good look at his father before he disappears into the sky and Luz turns back into a human. In a heartwarming moment Eda and King hug Luz and they all fall to the ground, finally able to look up and breath. The Owl family is reunited for good, and Luz gets to tell King what his dad had wanted to say to him and it's a cute call back to King's love of bread puns, showing that she was watching over him this whole time. "I loaf you."

Part 5 Peace on the Boiling Isles

We get a couple of beautiful montages at the end of everything, one before the time skip and a proper epilogue set after the skip. It's nice that they allow for some time to breath at the end and give us some quality time with these amazing characters that we've gotten to know and love through this series. There's so much to wrap up at the end here and they manage to take the time to give all of these characters a satisfying ending. After Disney shortened this show over disgusting bigoted reasons, it's nice and poetic to see it get such an uplifting ending and with this final episode being as perfect as it is, everything about it feels like a beautiful triumph. And with all of the adversity the characters have had to face and all the suffering they have all been through, they deserve to get this happy ending. Both this show and it's character got the heart warming send off that they deserved.

Now that the final conflict is over, the Collector turns all the puppets back into themselves and everyone returns to their families. The Owl House has not only been great at representing different types of relationships, but also different types of family dynamics. Lilith who is aro/ace reunites with Steve who she's been good friends with since they were both in the Emperor's Coven, Amity reunites with her dad who she finally has at least a decent relationship with while her no longer apart of the family abusive mum watched from the distance, Gus reunites his dad in an funny scene where he uses his illusions and his dad has to hug a couple of them before hugging the real one, Willow reunites with her queer dads who I believe are both specifically gay and actually get an onscreen kiss which was really cute and pleasant surprise and Hunter finally gets adopted by Darius and Eberwolf. And then of course we get to see our main Owl family together at the Owl House itself with Luz the human, her adopted brother King the Titan, her adopted mum Eda the Wild Witch and Eda's partner Raine the not Wild Witch. Then the Collector flies in on their star to drop off Amity, Lilith and Camilla and we get our intimate reunion between Luz and Amity with another sweet onscreen kiss between them. Eda hugs her sister Lilith, Luz hugs her mum Camilla and we finally get to see Luz's Owl mum and her biological mum meet which is something I think we've all been waiting to see.

The Collector then materializes Hooty and we get an adorable hug between him and his best friend Lilith, one of the most unexpected but also wholesome friendships in the show. He then decides to travel back to the stars to do some growing up, which I'm honestly kind of happy with because while I personally don't like the Collector, it's clear that the he is supposed to be just a chaotic kid type of character and I suppose this is a good compromise. They were clearly way too powerful and way too irresponsible so him not being around for now is the right choice. Before he leaves King says that he hopes to see them again and gives them his doll Francois which is nice and a good sign that King is maturing and doesn't need him anymore. We then get an discovery where Luz explains that because the Titan's soul was gone, we was the power of the Glyphs. This has a lot of implications, but I have to say that while this would have been really sad we do get a good follow up to this later at the end of the time skip epilogue. With that, Luz proclaims that her adventures were only just beginning as Stringbean and her look on towards the future.

This is when we get out few years time skip and it's handled perfectly. One of the things I wanted the most from this finale was an epilogue timeskip, and on top of everything this else we even got exactly that. Every character is given a satisfying conclusion to their story. Seeing the kids grown up and what all the characters are doing in the future and with all their cool new designs is awesome and I have to go over all of it.

So to start off, Luz is seen packing up her stuff in her old room in the human realm and preparing to move to the University of Wild Magic in the Demon Realm. As she puts her Azura figure in the box, we can also see her Grom tiara from when she danced with Amity, the Tamagochi looking message thing that her and Amity use to send messages to each other and Eda's old Grudgby jacket which she gave to Luz to comfort her. We also get a look at a board with photos that have been taken over the past few years, as well as one of them being held up by a bisexual pride pin which was cute detail. Of the photos, some of them we've already seen before this episode but there are others that were taken during the timeskip and these ones are really interesting. They show us the many adventures of Luz and her friends from Demon Realm traveling back and forth between the worlds. There were a lot of directions that they could have gone with how they handled the rift between the worlds and how this would effect Luz. Whether Luz would always be stuck in Demon Realm, whether she would be stuck in the human realm and unable to get back or if they created a permanent door between the worlds to travel back and forth and I think picking that last option was the right decision because anything else would have completely gone against the themes of the show. To start off, all throughout the entire show they've shown the negative effects of putting people in unnecessary boxes and limiting ones potential, so Luz being forced to choose or being unable to choose between the worlds would go against this. Not only that, but what I believe to be the most important theme of the Owl House is loving yourself, wanting to be understood and finding people that accept you for who you are. And Luz has never felt more at home then on the Boiling Isles. It's where she was able to find true friends like Wilow and Gus, a girlfriend with Amity and even an found family with Eda and King and she was accepted and loved for who she really is by all of them. In the human realm she did have her mum Camilla but nobody else really understood her and at the start of the series she felt like she had nobody. In the Boiling Isles she was able to find her people, and to be torn away from them at the end of the show would go against everything that the show had been saying from the beginning. "Us weirdoes have to stick together."

Some of the photos in the background also show that Vee has stayed with Camilla in the human realm and has become and adopted sister for Luz which is nice and makes sense for her because of her positive experiences in the human realm and how much she's come to love Camilla and Luz as family. Camilla comes into the room to help take Luz to the Demon Realm University, and as she asks what subject she chose and she show the paper saying that of course she all of them. I love that Camilla is still wearing the queer pride pin because it shows that she is always supporting her daughter. I have to say that while Camilla was always a good character, season 3 made her one of the best which how it showed her always being so supportive she is of Luz and how she is always going to extra mile. Vee sends Owlbert to go gather everyone to meet at the Owl House to celebrate a secret party they've been planning for Luz. As the door opens to let Owlbert through we hear the Collector's voice welcoming whoever comes through to the Boiling Isles, explaining that it was the Collector who created the door.

We see Willow flying around on her Palisman, training for Flyer Derby with a new uniform on. Throughout the show we saw her grow her confidence and discover her passion for sports and especially wanting to bring back Flyer Derby, and she was able to do just that and has become a professional Flyer Derby player. We see Hunter who is now a Palisman carver, carving Palisman in the forest along with Eda's father Dell while her mother Gwndolyn and the Batqueen are also there. I guess this is Hunter's way of getting closer to Flapjack, and we also see that he has a new Palisman, this one being a Blue Jay named Waffles. Willow and Hunter get a little moment that implies that they are official now, and we get an admittedly sweet moment where they visit a grave dedicated to Flapjack.

Next we fly into the city, and on the way to Lilith's new museum we see Mortan the potion seller and Boscha who is selling Grudgby equipment because I guess she's still a big Gradby fan but at least she's no longer a jerk. Once we reach Lilith's museum we find her with her cool new design looking at the design plans, and we can also see that Mathollomule is still part of the construction coven and is helping to build the museum along with Kikimora of all people who I imagine must be doing community service for all the evil stuff that she did. After Lilith has left the Emporor's Coven we saw her finally be able to indulge her special interests like History, and back in Elsewhere and Elsewhen she was going to become the curator of the current museum at the time. Now she's building her own, based on the real knowledge of the Boiling Isles history that has now become well known instead of the false history that Belos had fed everybody in order to villainize wild magic. We then see Amity drop in on an Abomination air ship, with a new design that appropriately conveys "adventurous explorer." She swings down on a rope and gives what appears to be a history book of some sort to Lilith, indicating that she's helping her with some research. Amity was always a more adventurous spirit that had been tied down for far too long by her controlling mother before the now girlfriend Luz had come into her life and encouraged her to follow her heart. So her now being a badass adventurer suits her, and I like to think that her and Luz regularly go on adventures across the unexplored areas of the Demon Realm together. Another fun detail about Amity's design is just like how Luz had kept her Grom tiara, Amity also kept hers except the crystals from it have been turned into a hair band. The interaction between Amity and Lilith is also a nice call back to Lilith being Amity's mentor at the very start of the series, while both of them were still jerks. It's heart warming to see them reconnect after they've bother grown as people. As they all take off we see Lilith turn into her new Raven beast form, showing that she's learnt to control her curse like Eda had done with hers.

The next stop is the Hospital in Latisa but before we get there we fly pass the Hexside School. Here we Skara and Barcus who are now teaching the next generation of witches, the old Illusions teacher who is still teaching and old Principle Bump who is a groundskeeper. Now what's awesome about the new Hospital is that it's actually replaced the police station that Belos had built in Latisa. They've repurposed a place of pain into a place of healing, and speaking of healing we see Amity's father Alador teaming up with the healers so they can use his new technology to remove the sigils from the witches wrists. Belos had created a system toxic system that involved branding witches with sigils to limit their magic and as well as essentially branding them with a ticking time bomb that was going to kill them all on Day of Unity. Alador by building the Abomatrons for Belos had helped him to achieve his sinister goals, but in a positive turn he has now been dedicating his time into building technology with the purpose of healing the people that Belos had hurt and removing their sigils to give them free will over their magic again is one of the best things he could have done. The healers who are helping to power this technology with their magic are his daughter Emira who had gotten into healing as a second track that she wanted to do along with illusions, Viney who had chosen healing as one of her two magic tracks along with beast keeping because she is very much like a vet, Bo who was a background student at Hexside, and one of the older healers who we don't know the name of. A really fun attention to detail in this scene that the witch getting their glyph removed who is presumably the first witch this has worked for considering everyone's excited reaction, is also the first witch in the series that we saw get a glyph back in Covention, the fifth episode of the entire show. The Owl House has always been really good with it's attention detail, even with minor stuff like this and it's always cool notice it all. Along with Alador we see the other researchers are the ex Coven Heads who ended up being allies, with Raine, Darius and Eberwolf along with Jerbo who has once said that he wanted to help give the system the overhaul it needed which he was now doing with help to remove the sigils. We get a cute moment between Alador and Darius which confirms that they have romantic feelings for each other. A connection between them was hinted at in earlier episodes and now that Alador's abusive ex Odalia is out the picture we can finally make Aladarius canon which is cool.

Raine notices Owlbert at the window and so them, Darius, Eberwolf, Alador, Emira and Viney all go down to join the others. Something I'd really like to mention is that it's at this point that we finally get to see Raine's Palisman and its fox which feels really fitting for them. Throughout the show Belos had fed on Palismans to keep himself from turning into a goo monster, and so he confiscated the Palisman of other witches in the Emperors Coven and ate them to satisfy himself. This included the Palisman of the other Coven Heads, however Raine who has consistently proven to be the smartest character in the show by playing 5D chess the whole time was able to not only hide their Palisman but hide it in plain sight. If you've been paying attention to Raine's violin, it had a fox head on it's neck this whole time. Meaning that Raine's palisman was able to turn into a violin to act as Raine's instrument and to hide themself which is insanely smart. We haven't been given a name or gender for them yet, but I assume they would be nonbinary like Raine and I did see someone suggest they their name would be Trot because Foxtrot so I'm going to adopt that and go with it because it's too perfect. So the next and final stop before we return to the Owl House for Luz's Quinceanera is the brand new University of Wild Magic that Luz is going to be moving to. On the way there we got shots of the Slitherbeasts in the snowy parts of the Boiling Isles, as well the the Selkidomus swimming in the ocean.

The very existence of the University of Wild Magic is one of the biggest triumphs as it defies everything that Belos's toxic prejudice system was about. As a form of control, Belos had spread the propaganda that Wild Magic, that is being able to learn any magic you want, was somehow dangerous which helped him to build his system and gain of the Boiling Isles. Belos was literally a book burning fascist that was trying to hide real education away from people. Now we have University that is able to give Witches a real education by teaching them all about Wild Magic and other knowledge that was previously restricted from them and a really cool extra detail is that this University was built where the Emperor's Castle used to be. We see Amity's brother Ederic teaching about Beastkeeping, this was the type of magic that he was always passionate about along with Potions but was previously forced to stick with Illusions until Eda encouraged him to pursue his passions. We the Guardian of the Looking Glass Graveyard, teaching about the history of the Looking Glass Graveyard which was previously a mysterious place that not many could find. We see Gus spreading his passion for the Human Realm by teaching a class all about it while rocking one of the best new looks including some dreads with his hairstyle. And finally, most fittingly of all we see Eda who is revealed to be the head master of this University. For most her life Eda had been treated like garbage by and unfair system that refused to accommodate her in any way. As someone who wanted to learn all sorts of magic and saw it as a natural thing of beauty that shouldn't be restricted, she was branded a Wild Witch as a mark of shame. But now, after helping to overthrow the dictator who had put that system in place and turned society against her, she was now helping to establish a new system. One that is more accepting to those who are different and villainize them like it did to her. Eda could not have more perfect end to her arc. And something else worth noting is just how awesome her new design is, she looks like a badass pirate and has even replaced her missing arm with a hook. In the background of these scenes we see Vee's people, the Basilisks are still around and are able to thrive now which also nice.

Now that we have everybody, everyone returns to the Owl House to thrown Luz the secret Quinceanera that had been planning for her. Luz, Vee and Camilla come through the portal door which is now the front door of the Owl House and it's and Luz gets a heart warming welcome from all of her closest friends from the Demon Realm with Amity running to the front to give her girlfriend a kiss. Seeing them still together after all these years makes me really happy. They've always been a great example of a healthy and wholesome couple, and them being a queer couple made that especially nice to see as someone who is queer. While all the bad stuff was happening around them Lumity was always the constant bright light in the darkness and they've become inseparable. Luz's family has set up a nice Quinceanera in their own style with the pinata that is the Snaggleback from that was last seen in season 1, an Azura themes cake with bugs inside and of a course a beautiful dark Demon Realm dress knitted that's bought in by the Bat Queens kids and the Echo Mouse. Everyone clearly went all out for Luz and while Quinceanera's are usually held for 16th birthdays and not 18th, apparently they had held off because Luz was too busy helping rebuild the Boiling Isles. I know that Dana wanted to have an episode about Luz's Quinceanera before the show got shortened and while it's a shame we didn't get it, at least we were able to have it at the end of the show here. It's nice seeing Luz's Dominican heritage being represented like this.

Something else I want to mention here is that during this entire epilogue we have a nice, longer remix of the credits theme playing, giving it a very nostalgic feeling and between that and seeing all the characters again and getting all these call backs it really makes this ending even more emotional. It makes you reflect on the whole series, the journey we took to get here and the all the friends we made alone the way. And because I don't know where else to mention this, but along with the animation of this episode being top stuff so was soundtrack. Not just the remix but all the music, like there's a new song that plays during that first epilogue before the time skips and it's a bop.

Anyway, we also learn that because King has been getting older and stronger, the power of the glyphs has been returning the Boiling Isles. And while it's the glyphs are different from his dads because he's a different Titan, Luz now has an entirely new set of glyphs to learn and try out. Honestly I'm glad they did this, I feel as though Luz loosing access to magic permanently would have been an unnecessary downer. King then tells Luz that the Collector has been in the area and set up a nice light show for her. As everyone looks up at the Collector passing by with the shoots stars, Luz tells everybody that they have to get ready for their last goodbye. Everybody then turns the camera to say "byyyyyyye!", one final call back, this one to a recurring catchphrase throughout the series.

That's the end of the Owl House and of my analysis. I ended up having more to say then I thought I would, but this episode had a lot a great stuff and this show means a lot to me on a personal level. As someone who is both queer and neurodivergent I appreciate having a main character like Luz who's experiences I've really related to. She's an incredibly endearing and relatable protagonist and is one of my favourite characters of all time. I've never connected with a show as much as I have with the Owl House, and it's that along with how much heart Dana and the Owl team put into every aspect of it and how consistently great it is all the way through that make it my favourite show of all time. And it makes me happy that they were able to stick the landing with such a perfect ending.

[hot-take-tournament]

Thank you so much for putting this together, it was really fun to do. These are the best answers I could come up with:

1. In ‘what the hair’ I believe it’s Gothel in the dream sequence right? Thats such a cool way to open a show I think, it really draws to you. But it is incredibly confusing if you didn’t watch ‘before ever after’ first

2. I think in the first opening it’s 3, I’m not sure about the other two. If I’m being honest the first season is my favourite.

3. A music box is laid out and when rapunzel plays it it activates the atomatons hidden in the gift boxes.

4. Okay that’s one’s really hard, I know for a fact Varian has blue eyes and I’m pretty sure Monty does, but I really can’t hunk of anyone else. Rapunzels are Green, Eugene and Lance’s are both brown. I don’t know, Faith? Maybe Frederick but I think his are green.

5. The one in the right I think

6. If I remember correctly, which is highly unlikely, Rapunzel starts the song so I’m going to guess Eugene finishes it as a part of the little back and forth they have. I’m more of a ‘nothing less to loose guy myself’, so I don’t actually remember that song much.

7. I think it’s in ‘Once a handmaiden’, but I could be wrong. That episode is really good for a number or reasons, but there’s something really funny about Varian canonically inventing a gun, good for him.

8. The left one?

9. Happily ever after, I know it’s a reprise of the first song in the ‘Before ever after& short movie but I’m not sure if it’s called something slightly different

I really struggled with most of these, clearly I’m a fake fan </3 it’s fine I tried my best, at least this makes good practice for when I do eventually have to go up against the devil to avoid eternal damnation.

It was really fun though :D thank you for putting this together it was super cool. (Not to be that really annoying guy but I do highly recommend TTS it is a very fun watch)

Also slightly related fun face Zachary Levi plays Rocky in the the new chicken run movie and you can really tell. He uses the same line deliver as he does with Eugene it’s pretty funny to compare the two characters.

it's no problem at all, one of the best parts of this blog for me is being able to learn about everyone's special interests!

besides, considering how much experience i have in combing the internet to research fandoms i'm unfamiliar with (mostly so i can make bad puns), it was kinda fun for me to try and put that ridiculously niche skill to the test under time pressure

though... in retrospect i maaaay have accidentally made some of the questions completely impossible

(also, i know i answered your asks out of order, it sounds weird but the genuine reason is that because of the times you sent asks i was worried you were losing sleep over the stress of not knowing whether your asks were anonymous or not)

anyway, here are the answers:

1. you're totally right, it's Gothel who speaks first - no one else has a line until the 2-minute mark, they just kind of make noises at each other. i know they did it because it's a dream sequence, but it's still inexplicably funny if you pay attention to it, it reminds me of final fantasy

i did watch the first episode in full to get an idea of what this show was about, and i do have a lot of questions - tangled was one of the only two disney princess films i watched when i was a kid and i still don't really understand how her hair has grown back or who cassandra is (she seems nice though)

2. yeah in hindsight this one is basically impossible to get from memory, and when i wrote it i didn't even realise that there were different animations for the later seasons

the first one has 7, the second has 4 (i think?), and the third has 3, though it's really hard to tell

3. i actually got that wrong, i thought the music box turned into the robot, but you're right, it activates the parts hidden in the presents that then assemble themselves

4. people make fun of disney for their disdain for green eyes, rapunzel is the only disney princess who has them

excluding tangled, i can't even think of two human disney characters with green eyes period

well apparently they decided to overcompensate by making it so that almost no tangled characters have blue eyes, and honestly it's kind of hilarious

even characters who had blue eyes in the movie had their eye colour switched to green for the series

i was only able to pick out five because i noticed the trend and started actively looking for it - and even then, it was like finding a shiny pokemon anytime someone with blue eyes appeared on screen

so the fact that you were able to think of five off the top of your head is crazy impressive

he does - so do varian, frederic, faith and monty, so that's five

5. the mirror is the one on the left

the one on the right is actually based on the broken plate from breaking bad

6. eugene sings last, i have no idea what the context of the song is though

i actually was originally going to use 'nothing left to lose' but i changed it like five minutes before the timer ran out because i realised there were a lot of questions about cassandra, she's just in every clip

7. yeah, it's 'once a handmaiden', i think once her imaginary british friend pulls the cloak off it never comes back

i may have got this one from the wiki

8. the yellow eye is her(?) right eye

9. you're right, it is just a reprise of the first song from before ever after

(though i found out just now that disney's official songlist technically calls it 'life after happily ever after', which is dumb, so i'm going to ignore it)

so, overall i don't think anyone can accuse you of being a fake fan, you definitely got most of them

still, i'm glad you enjoyed it <3

[distractionactivated]

Jesus Christ, do I have nukes on the brain or something? TWO dreams about 'em.

The first was a bunch of people like a starfleet crew or whatever being pulled into this timeloop where they had four years to stop the gods nuking the world every winter or all life would cease, and they spent the first year being complacent and pulling everyone into an underground kitchen and toilet. Then they realised they actually had to try and fix the problem.

Doing this involved a lot of politicking, because the problem was all about the proper rites not being followed, but doing the proper rite for one of the gods would offend all the rest, so they had to change the ranking of the gods and all sorts. Then they had to do an action sequence that involved the tragic death of a person who was a toy aeroplane, but back at base a woman who was commanding it thought they were safe and sorted, and she got all dressed up in a beautiful dress with hair ribbons to get debauched by her lover and climax at the moment they escaped the loop.

Only then it turned out that the evil treacherous god had loaded itself into an enormous lorry made of magma shooting straight for the pole where it would explode the earth's core, and she had to run off to stop it - she was so mad. (They did succeed!)

The second one was 'what if America nuked eastern Russia while I was out with my aunt and my mother's friend and my grandmother trying to show them a wildlife reserve, also I had to drive a bus for some reason despite not having a driver's licence.' There were some very cool special effects but I didn't appreciate being drafted in to try and stab a certain Russian president, or have to go undercover pretending to be Russian after failing to do so.

[bluem00n007]

ARTW Bois watch Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Pmmm

So Vanessa got her choose the movie privileges back after Alpheratz begged Spica to just give this one show a chance

Like last time they went to the mansion, set up a projector, snacks and blankets were brought and a ton of tissue boxes because no on is going to trust her if it's a cute cover

Spica

Oh ok, so the anime does start with a darker tone from the get go, oh it was a dream

Madoka has such a nice family! Reminds him of his own childhood, her friends are so nice and wholesome too

His favourite character is Mami, she is a good leader and looks like has a good head on her shoulders, definitely someone who will accomplish great things when she gets older, plus she is so kind and caring!

The magic system reminds himself of the constellations, so he is even more intrigued

Fate is cruel, life is cruel, destiny is cruel, the universe is a constant state of agony and there is no harmony, things tend to move towards disorder, as there are more ways for that then to be orderly and that shall be the death of Universe itself, that is what is called entropy (tendency to move towards disorder)

He can see kuybey's logic and doesn't feel like he is a villain, for that Kuybey would have to know what's good and what's not and all he knows is what must be done, he can respect that though he doesn't like it

Alpheratz

So you wanna know why he begged Spica to let Vanessa pick on last show?

Vanessa told him the premise when he heard her and Vega talk about some wish granting white ferret and he was sold!

He is currently T-posing over Spica

Arcturus

So he believes in second chances

He likes the show so far, he really looks upto to Mami because she is a magical girl who not only fights witches but also takes care of school and her home all by herself, he wishes Madoka would be able to see her kindness as her strength and that is what the story is in his head

Thank god they brought the tissues the last flooding of tears was a disaster

"Wait witches are born from magical girls?"

"Well actually it's more so their trapped souls that transform into witches so they are pretty much still aware of everything going around them even after turning to witches"

He does like Homura, even if she creeps him out, he wants to have the dedication she did to protect Summoner from any harm, no matter how long it takes and not to mention she collected those stuff to fight Walpurgisnacht every single timeline too, he really wishes that she could keep her innocence, but such is life

Pollux

He was just fawning over Mami's cool moves, he knows they aren't practical at all, but who cares if it looks cool!

NOOO MAMI SHE DIDN'T GET ENOUGH SCREEN TIME!!!!

Oh atleast there is Sayaka, he dislikes Homura a lot, she isn't nice and is really mysterious, brooding and dramatic and comes up out of no where! Wait is this deja vu?

So homura wasn't a bad person! Plus the entire fight sequence with Walpurgisnacht actualy made him love her! Wait Madoka don't do that or you won't be able to be with your family and friends!!!! NOOOOO Q-Q

Vega

Ah he remembers this show, he has a new found appreciation for seiyaku I mean Sayaka and feels like he understands her a bit better than he did when he was a child, Sayaka isn't a complete idiot, more so a naïve and kind person realising they weren't selfless when it mattered most

Episode 10 rolls in and Vanessa and Vega are laughing meanwhile the guide committee is terrified of them because Mami lost her head figuratively speaking, but they haven't seen or heard the masterpiece that is Mami TETRIS

"Wait so we got Charlotte's backstory?"

"Yeah, she wished for a cheesecake instead of curing her mother so she dies from the fact that Nagisa or Charlotte, chose to not save her because she was an absolutely horrendous mother to her and instead wished for her mom's favourite food"

"oooh so that's why her theme is where is the cheese and it's a replacement for love"

"What is wrong with the both of you?"-clearly people who haven't heard Mami Tetris

Sirius

He just liked Homura from the beginning, he was having a kinnie moment, he really loves the artistic choices of the witches and their labryinths and the musical score is to die for

His favourite and last favourite moment simultaneously was when Madoka became Godoka, he likes it because she played the system like a fiddle and saved everyone, including herself, he dislikes it because all of that happened, Homura ran through how many years worth of timelines? 12? Wait what? That's even worse! All that pain she endured just lost like that in a fate worse than death (he would like rebellion, I just know it)

Ah but a bittersweet ending for his hopelessly romantic heart is just as good as an actual good end, though he really can't help but draw parallels to it from the play on Polaris Vanessa and him went to last time

He has started doing hair flips whenever he comes up from behind someone, especially if his hair smacks someone's face

[persefone88]

Weird dreams

Ok, I very seldom remember my dreams at all and when I do they are more often than not rather wacky.

So the latest dream started out as a Chinese unlimited flow horror style story.

So we have a FL participant and a ML that is some kind of ghost/monster/Boss/or something (I never got around to figuring it out) who plays at being a background NPC.

So it is FL:s second world, it is night and the participants have gone to sleep.

ML comes around to perv on sleeping FL, only she wakes up and (for some reason I didn't understand) opened her blouse to show him her breasts. Only her breasts are a bunch of grapes...😮

And insert some grape breast erotica.🤭

The thing is during the whole sequence it never struck me as odd in any way that this woman s breasts had been replaced with a bunch of grapes. Not even when I complained to myself that they hung rather strangely and really had a very narrow root.🤔

It was first when I woke up that I finally realised what the heck was going on.

And while all this is going on the unlimited flow participants had set up a security camera to catch ghosts so added exhibition factor.😅

But by this time I woke up so we will never know what direction this could have gone.🤗

[ewoo]

Help me find a fic

Okay so it's a Dream SMP multiverse/time travel fic that starts with Tommy or Tubbo in a kinda time loop and they try to fix things and they eventually realise that the other is doing it too.

Each chapter end with a numbered list of each timeline in the author notes.

They continue trying to get the Best Possible Outcome and sometimes only one of them is "awake" and then they find the best sequence of events that lets them play around with it a little.

Then they notice some other stuff happening that didn't happen in the original timeline and it turns out ConnorEatsPants is sometimes Awake too.

More people "wake up" and they start to end up in alternate timelines and universes and it gets revealed that the world tree is under maintenance by the gods so they've put everything in time loops and Tommy and Tubbo are the "pillars" keeping the SMP stable (which is why one or both of them are always "awake").

The "branch" of the tree they are on contains all the Minecraft stuff with Steve and Alex being the oldest and they are a part of an offshoot of which Aphmau is the oldest.

It gets explained that Dream will never "wake up" at risk of causing problems to the world tree (which has already happened to other universes and beloved media characters, like Billy and Mandy)

As they start crossing over a bunch all the characters become OP in different ways and there's a bunch of found family and fluff. Puffy gets a pocket dimension that she fills with ships of all kinds (like The Black Pearl and The Enterprise). Tommy and Tubbo both end up with a couple hundred copies of the real discs and love to use them to me with Dream. Tommy collects music and gets lots of fire and lightning powers. Tubbo impresses Batman.

At one point they end up in an Elevator that sends them to different places and times within the timelines and they basically just vibe and they meet Manhunt!Dream and help him out. They meet a Fundy and (someone else? Jack/Quackity) who try to warn them about something but get cut off when The Elevator leaves. They brush it off as a part of the canon timeline they'd interrupted.

After Ranboo shows up and wakes up (Tubbo feels weird about the whole marriage thing in the canon timeline) Dream eventfully find out about the time loops/dimension travel and hides messages in Ranboo's code for himself and he almost becomes a big problem for the world tree but they stop him when they realise, after which the God in charge of maintaining their branch pops by again to try and work out a solution and they suggest waking up Manhunt!Dream.

It works.

When Fundy wakes up some of the Older Crew randomly appear in front of him and he tries to warn them about Dream. He gets cut off.

[mordysworld]

This is a WIP and it is the beginning to my planned video essay about the film ruby sparks and it's intrinsic link to incel culture

Incels at their core, at their most basic and molecular level are misogynists. Through and through they're entitled misogynists with quite frankly, no grasp on reality. This culture, unfortunately has gone on the rise in small echo chambers on the internet, festering in places such as reddit, 4chan and recently its stretching its putrid tendrils onto more obvious mainstream portions of the internet like Tiktok- Poisoning the minds of the male youth and greatly warping young men's perception of masculinity, what's right and proper and forcing twisted, quite frankly extremist, traditional views on these impressionable young people. 

But that is just how I see them, my own personal definition of them lets see googles definition: Incel (an abbreviation of involuntary celibate) is an ideology, a subculture, an online community and/or a movement characterised by public displays of romantic/ sexual frustration. Some discussions on incel forums are characterised by misogyny, hatred, misanthropy, self hatred, racism, a sense of entitlement to sex and the endorsement of violence towards not only women but those who are sexually active. Incels have been described as mostly white, mostly male and mostly heterosexual.

Incels at their core, at their most basic and molecular level are misogynists. Through and through they're entitled misogynists with quite frankly, no grasp on reality. This culture, unfortunately has gone on the rise in small echo chambers on the internet, festering in places such as reddit, 4chan and recently its stretching its putrid tendrils onto more obvious mainstream portions of the internet like Tiktok- Poisoning the minds of the male youth and greatly warping young men's perception of masculinity, what's right and proper and forcing twisted, quite frankly extremist, traditional views on these impressionable young people. 

But that is just how I see them, my own personal definition of them lets see googles definition: Incel (an abbreviation of involuntary celibate) is an ideology, a subculture, an online community and/or a movement characterised by public displays of romantic/ sexual frustration. Some discussions on incel forums are characterised by misogyny, hatred, misanthropy, self hatred, racism, a sense of entitlement to sex and the endorsement of violence towards not only women but those who are sexually active. Incels have been described as mostly white, mostly male and mostly heterosexual.

So it's safe to say they're a pretty undesirable group of people. “But how does this link to ruby sparks!?” I hear you cry- well I'm getting to it, don't be impatient!

Ruby Sparks is romantic comedy-drama from 2012 directed by Valarie Faris and Johnathan Dayton and written by Zoe Kasan who also plays Ruby; it tells the story of Calvin Weir-Fields, described in the character wiki as the protagonist and an insecure control freak, a 29 year old author who wrote one successful book and struggled with writer's block for a decade and hasn't had a hit since. Strange how he could forget how to write but didn't forget misogyny or how to be abusive? This was until he created Ruby.

The film starts; an orange hue surrounds a lone silhouette who stands stationary for a moment before limping towards the camera a soft voice exclaims “There you are! I've been looking for you” She continues to limp forward towards the camera. We learn the reason for her limping is because she had lost a shoe. It's worth noting, the camera is stationary while ruby inches forward showing that even in Calvin's dreams he's not willing to put work in. Ruby is the one that has to move, has to initiate conversation as even fictional him isn't willing to go the distance.

The next sequence is Calvin waking up and realising what he saw, what the audience saw, was just his own imagination- his idea of a woman. I feel like it's worth mentioning that what we see- this snippet of Calvin's idea of a woman is someone who cannot properly function without him, who can't get by without his guidance and input- this is how we are first introduced to the mind of Calvin.

So it's safe to say they're a pretty undesirable group of people. “But how does this link to ruby sparks!?” I hear you cry- well I'm getting to it, don't be impatient!

Ruby Sparks is romantic comedy-drama from 2012 directed by Valarie Faris and Johnathan Dayton and written by Zoe Kasan who also plays Ruby; it tells the story of Calvin Weir-Fields, described in the character wiki as the protagonist and an insecure control freak, a 29 year old author who wrote one successful book and struggled with writer's block for a decade and hasn't had a hit since. Strange how he could forget how to write but didn't forget misogyny or how to be abusive? This was until he created Ruby.

The film starts; an orange hue surrounds a lone silhouette who stands stationary for a moment before limping towards the camera a soft voice exclaims “There you are! I've been looking for you” She continues to limp forward towards the camera. We learn the reason for her limping is because she had lost a shoe. It's worth noting, the camera is stationary while ruby inches forward showing that even in Calvin's dreams he's not willing to put work in. Ruby is the one that has to move, has to initiate conversation as even fictional him isn't willing to go the distance.

The next sequence is Calvin waking up and realising what he saw, what the audience saw, was just his own imagination- his idea of a woman. I feel like it's worth mentioning that what we see- this snippet of Calvin's idea of a woman is someone who cannot properly function without him, who can't get by without his guidance and input- this is how we are first introduced to the mind of Calvin.

[abyranss]

Here's an interesting bit of Nagisa psychology: The Charlotte part of her has some wires crossed in her brain so she's conflating cheese with unconditional love, and I don't know if she realises she's doing it.

So there are three Magia Record stories involving Nagisa that I use in conjunction with Rebellion to characterise her in my head and when I rewatched a couple of those recently I noticed something peculiar about the way Nagisa was talking.

"If you ever wish me to, Mami... I'll bring you cheese from wherever I am! But if you're in trouble... You'll get cheese from anyone, not just from me. Because you have the right to get cheese. You've given so much, it's okay to receive some now."

That paragraph comes from the Nagisa Momoe Magical Girl Story, and it's weird, right? "You've given so much," she's obviously not talking about cheese there, and I don't think she ever was, so why is she saying that?

The answer for that can be found in the Nagisa's Wish event story. There are two sequences I'd like to highlight here. The first comes early on with Nagisa, sometime before she makes her wish or becomes Charlotte or any of that happens to her. She is shopping for cheese, and she's just a normal human girl. Kyubey is with her and he says that that amount cannot be healthy for her. Nagisa responds:

"These aren't for me. I'm taking all of these cheeses to my mom. I won't be eating them. I actually don't like cheese very much."

Wait, Nagisa doesn't like cheese? Of course she does! That's her whole thing, right? It seems out of character for her but the thing is, the only version of Nagisa we know of outside of this one story is the version of her that existed in the Law of Cycles and afterwards, and while the human Nagisa is ambivalent to cheese, the witch Charlotte is not.

During the epilogue of the Nagisa's Wish event we get a look into her thoughts as she transforms into Charlotte, and this is how it goes:

"Oh, that's right. Where's the cheese? There are so many snacks here. I bet there's even cheese that I've never tasted before."

"Cheese, cheese, where's the cheese? I'm hungry. Where's the cheese? Mommy doesn't have enough love for me. Enough what? Not enough cheese. What Mommy likes is what Nagisa likes."

"Cheese, cheese, where's the cheese? What do I want? I want cheese. I want more love than I could ever carry."

So that gives us a look at how Charlotte the witch thinks. As she transforms and more complicated thoughts fall away she begins to conflate the love she deserved to have with the food she brought her hospitalised mother, attempting to earn it.

And the Nagisa we're familiar with, who appeared in the Rebellion Movie, and who appears in both the Kamihama Cheese Panic event and the Nagisa Momoe Magical Girl Story is not just the human Nagisa who didn't care for cheese, now fully in control of her witch form, but rather a combination of that girl and the witch Charlotte, mentally as well as physically. And because those two versions of her are so inseparable they end up just becoming a single, sort of brand new individual. Witch-face Nagisa is kind of a perfect demonstration of that.

When she channels her witch, she becomes her witch, as opposed to how Sayaka summons hers externally, but when she's like that she's much smarter than she was before they merged; and when Nagisa, in wholly human form wants to tell Mami she has a right to be loved, all Charlotte can do is talk about cheese.

Here's another bit of dialogue from earlier in the Nagisa Momoe Magical Girl Story:

Nagisa: "Mami! One day I'm gonna have my own farm, and make lots and lots of cheese!"

Mami: "I see... That's a great dream."

Nagisa: "And then, and then, I'll get lots of cheese from everyone. So much cheese I can't even hold it all."

Mami: "You're going to make your own cheese, and get it from other people?"

Nagisa: "I have a right to get cheese. So do you. If I can make my own cheese, will you eat it all, Mami?"

That interaction is less egregious than the first one, and on its own could be just a weird conversation with an entitled child about cheese, but with the wider context, I think it's pretty clear that's not what they're talking about, except maybe the bit about the farm? Charlotte does still genuinely love actual cheese as well, after all.

It sort of recontextualises what she said in Rebellion, though, about her reason for coming back.

"I just wanted to eat cheese one more time."

And to combine this with my other theory, that Nagisa still remembers everything at the end of Rebellion, then it makes a lot of sense why she'd want to stay in Homura's fake world. There she can try cheese again one more time with a new family that's willing to share it with her. If she fought against Homura to change things back then that would only mean returning to the Law of Cycles, where there isn't any cheese for her to eat.

Of course, I'm not talking about cheese.

[ye-local-simp]

Hello, I am the one requesting a Toph reader, I love it. If it's not too much trouble, can I make another request? But if that's too much, you can ignore my request of course ^^ May I ask how the leaders would react if the reader told them about his life when he lived in Zaun? (From the Arcane series) It would be after the overblot when there is already trust between them.

History. (Sorry for the spoiler if you didn't see Arcane): After the Zaunite uprising against the Piltovians and ending up losing, leaving several dead, Reader is orphaned as a child but is adopted by Vander, she is an adoptive sister and friend of Vi, Powder, Milo and Clagor, and also from Ekko. … The reader is the same age as Vi in the first act (14 or 16)… after the incident and with the death of Clagor, Mylo and Vander. The reader falls into some garbage bags and before losing consciousness sees Vi being arrested by a Piltover soldier and Silco approaching Powder with his companions, only to pass out and have a strange dream that takes her to the world of the twisted country of the wonders. Sorry if it's too much, but I was excited about the idea, but like I said, you can ignore the request if it's problematic.

Don't worry about it being too much! I actually enjoy answering requests as long as they are appropriate for me! Also sorry but I only do 5 characters now so I will just write for the first 5 dorm leaders in the order of the Game sequence. Another thing is the pronouns you are using, since you are using he pronouns, i will assume that its a male reader. By the way, you can be honest with me and change the details of this request if it isnt up to your standards! I really don't mind!😊😊

[S/o telling the dorm leaders about their life in

Zaun]

[RIDDLE,LEONA,AZUL,KALIM,VIL]

Riddle:

-Feels super guilty after hearing your backstory.

-Especially after hurting you from his overblot.

-Even though Riddle had a hard life himself and was basically told what to do and what to say by his very controlling mother, he could never imagine a life without his mother.

-And knowing that you didn't have parents anymore made him feel a bit more grateful of his life.

-Riddle isn't dumb and is actually aware that not everyone is financially fortunate like the royalty, but the fact that it was you who also lived this kind of life made it more upsetting.

Leona:

-He also knows poverty very well because of Ruggie.

-Even though he may come across as cold,he does have a soft spot for you.

-But he is a lot softer with you since your past seems to be way too traumatic for someone like you.

-His magicless herbivore.

-He might even give up a few naps to make sure you are comfortable and protected (by yours truly of course).

-Mostly because he felt responsible for your wellbeing after his overblot.

-He would also just give you money so you can live life a bit more comfortably that you used to.

Azul:

-As a capitalist, he already is 100% aware of poverty but he does get really upset when he finds out that you lived in a similar circumstance.

-Plus you were orphaned at an age like that, he just couldnt imagine having a life without his mother so to hear your trauma does make him feel deep sympathy.

-On top of that, he hurted you during his Overblot which probably just added to your trauma which he knows is definitely not very benevolent.

-But he does step up.

-As in, he will treat you very greatly and make sure that you are always comfortable and would even give up some money for you.

-He will probably ask for permission to take you out of campus to meet his mother since he figured that if you are family to him, then the two of the people he loves should meet.

-He would even ask the Tweels to also act as your bodyguards too.

Kalim:

-He is clueless but at the same time really sympathetic for you.

-Let alone it being a very close friend and maybe even a love interest.

-He never realised that there were actually places and people that really suffer from problems like being orphaned and poverty because he was always so rich.

-(Mostly since Jamil and his family filtered that out for him).

-He would definitely try hard to make you feel like you a part of something and is always happy to financially help whether it is important or not.

-He just wants to share the luxury that he grew up with, with you.

Vil:

-Even though he technically didn't overblot, he did feel responsible for the pain the overblot caused you since he was so blind with Jamil and felt like he didn't try hard enough to defend you at that time.

-He's speechless.

-Mostly because he doesnt know how to respond and he feels super guilty since he even attacked you during his overblot.

-He had always lived in a comfortable life so to hear that you lived in such a conflicted city made him see you pretty much differently.

-He wants to protect you of his own free will.

-He has to thank you since you sharing you life experience was such an eye opener to him.

-You were orphaned at an age where you were meant to have enjoyed your youth a lot more while he still had his dad.

-Now he is bent on giving you a luxurious life so expect him to treat you like a king.

P.S. To the person who requested this I decided to not write about the part where the reader falls on the garbage bags because it was difficult for more to write as a person who hasnt watched Arcane, so my understanding of the concept and characters are really bad. But i decided to write about the difficult life in Zaun. I hope this is okay with you!!

[kinghijinx22]

The Owl House Watching and Dreaming review/analysis part 1

Part 1 Nightmare Sequence

Dana and the Owl crew really stuck the landing with Watching and Dreaming, giving the Owl House the beautiful ending it deserved. Perfectly wrapped up the themes of the show, of loving yourself, wanting to be understood and of finding people who accept you for who you are. Luz's arc comes to a satisfying end, she becomes the Witch she always wanting to be and she gets the happy ending she deserved. If you haven't seen it you can watch it here for free on Disney's Youtube channel.

Turns out the nightmare sequence was just the first five minutes of the episode and that the trailer didn't really spoil anything which was a nice twist considering how important it seemed and I'm honestly glad that it wasn't really about that because what they did was a lot more interesting. Looking at the nightmares that the Owl family main trio are stuck in, all of them are really prey on the deepest insecurities of the each of them. Luz confronts her fear of being like Belos and her irrational guilt. She's afraid of hurting the people that she's close to and while that's understandable, everything that she feels guilty for like accidently helping Belos was completely out of her control and she needed to realise this. Which she already had in Thanks to Them when she opened up to Amity and the others, which definitely helped her in confronting the possessed angry versions of her friends and even her girlfriend. There's also her other fear of her motivations being just as bad as Belos's motivations but we'll get more into that when I talk about King's parent and what they have to say but the fact that Luz is dressed like Belos in her nightmare is very much connected to that.

Eda's nightmare had put her in the Conformatorium, something that she's been having to avoid for the majority of her life because of her life as a wild witch and refusal to conform to Belos's suffocating system. But her biggest fears were loosing control of the Owl beast, accidentally hurting someone again and her family hating her which is why she's confronted them and most devastatingly her father Dell who was the last person she seriously hurt because of the Owl curse. Since then however she has figured out how to control the Owl curse and been able to reconnect with her family. King's nightmare is about being the last titan, and he's confronted with the bones of his people and people who murdered them. And as nice as it would have been for King to meet other Titan's, he has recognised his adopted Owl family as being a true family that is just as meaningful.

All three of them have overcome their insecurities in the past, but it is Luz who is able to put what she's learned into practice to not be overwhelmed by the nightmare. And the thing I love the most about this sequence is that the last straw in helping Luz is how well she knows her girlfriend. Her girlfriend Amity, who is just as much of a dork as she is would never get a quote from their favourite book series wrong. It's really cute and Amity telling Luz to wake up and giving her the light glyph to do it is an appropriately powerful moment for what is both one of the biggest emotional cores of the Owl House and also one of the most groundbreaking queer couples in mainstream media. This is thankfully not the only great Lumity moment in this episode because there's a few more that come later.

[adazzlinggirl]

ADazzlingGirl's 2021 Top Anime

There have been some excellent anime airing this year even if I feel like I haven't watched as much since I got into vtubers and have basically dedicated my waking hours to watching them oops, but I'm here again to blab about some of my favourites that I think are worth a watch from this year! I’m not including new seasons of Anime that have already aired (like Fruits Basket) or Anime based on games (like The World Ends with You) or any movies, only new Anime.

Wonder Egg Priority

This anime is so so good, although if you do watch it PLEASE read the trigger warnings as it handles some VERY heavy topics. I actually used this anime as the basis for one of my university essays because I liked it so much, although the OVA that they released after the series finished airing was disappointing. Wonder Egg Priority is basically about 4 girls who are trying to save other girls who died by defeating monsters in 'dream worlds'. The topics go into heavy discussions about the trauma of young girls in Japanese society, including abuse from teachers, sexual harassment, and transgender issues so please be careful when watching.

Odd Taxi

When this anime was airing I would not shut up about it and tried to get all my anime society members to watch it, and when they did they also really enjoyed it. At first it just seems like another furry anime, but it is basically a mystery story where all the characters have intertwining circumstances that all come together in a sort of heist. The reveal during the final episode is... Chefs kiss. 10/10 would absolutely recommend also the op is a jam.

Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song

I didn't actually watch Vivy while it was airing, and I went back later to watch it because someone convinced me to and... I regret not watching it earlier. First of all the art is STUNNING. The story is also great - it's about an AI named Vivy who is shown the future in which AIs take over the world, and she has to try and stop her own kind from doing that. There are some awesome battle sequences, and also some Violet Evergarden-style sort of 'Going to see a 'customer' to help solve their problem' vibes so I think if you like Violet Evergarden you'd like Vivy.

Blue Period

This anime surprised me because I thought it was just going to be about an art student doing... Art stuff, and as someone who hasn't studied art for over 10 years, I thought it wasn't going to be for me. But I was so wrong. While it is definitely about art, the main premise of Blue Period is that Yaguchi, the main character, is a sort of delinquent-looking boy who actually works really hard and gets inspired by his senpai to try to get into a prestigious art school. While the anime does explain art techniques, the focus is more on Yaguchi and how he handles being a beginner to the art world trying to prepare for the university exam in such a short time, realising how far behind he is in terms of experience, and how he handles the stress of it all.

(Other mentions under the cut)

Other mentions:

To Your Eternity: I really wanted to put this one in with my favourites but... I think as the anime went on, it lost its charm. The first few arcs are REALLY good, and I really loved the structure of this unknown entity learning about humanity and the world and gaining friends. I loved the characters as well. However, after Gugu's arc, I really found myself losing interest in it. I didn't care about the new children characters, and there was an uncomfortable, completely unncessary sexual harrassment storyline that really put me off. Even with that being said, I still would recommend watching the first few arcs.

Horimiya: I read the manga for Horimiya a few years ago, and it was nice to see it made as an anime! It's a cute high school romance story but without some of the more annoying cliches and really lovable characters.

Gokushufudou (S1&2): Another popular manga adaption! About a yakuza man who settles down to become a househusband for his beloved wife. Even if you've already read the manga or seen the manga floating around, the anime is still hilarious.

(This is long already but finally other mentions include: Komi-san Can't Communicate, Heikei Monogatari, Sk8, Bishounen Tanteidan)

What anime have you watched this year? Are there any you think I've missed?