#do i want to go through the trouble of rewatching/reading it just for them

[hobbitkiller]

Actually, criticizing you for needing things spelled out is the opposite of saying you need a high IQ to enjoy the show. What I’m saying is this show is very easy to understand; uses very basic storytelling techniques, tropes, and visual cues; and shouldn’t require the characters to engage in lengthy dialogue about every theme and message for you to be able to get it. I don’t think I’m particularly clever for understanding these things; I just think arguments like yours are particularly obtuse.

Your current point about Cait and Vi has nothing to do with your original erroneous claim that “oil and water” was just about them and not the greater conflict—something that you should have understood given it was the literal dialogue of the scene. Even when it was spelled out as clearly as it possibly could be, you seem to have missed the greater point.

You are similarly stubborn in your decision that Heinerdinger’s warnings about magic and hextech were only meant to be isolated to Viktor’s story and not have greater implications. You seem to want to have it both ways where the story is primarily about the class conflict seen through these characters, while simultaneously denying that their conflicts foreshadow or otherwise symbolize the the parts of the story you don’t like. The difference seems to be that you like the class conflict idea but you don’t like the arcane apocalypse or the fighting a common enemy, so you deny that the latter two were set up, even if the show was doing everything but having a flashing sign in the corner.

Yes, obviously Vi and Cait clash. Nowhere did I say they didn’t. That would be the conflict they continue to have to overcome as characters. In that scene, however, they are on the same page. They are as on the same page as they are at about any other time in the show. So, what Vi is saying, in very plain text that requires no understanding of literary devices or ability to understand visual language, is that the problem is topside and bottom not being able to mix and she very clearly sets herself and Caitlyn up as proxies for the two cities. Again, a very common literary device.

Again, you really seem to not understand foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is supposed to be a passing seed of an idea that doesn’t call overt attention to itself, and, while some can spot it in the moment, it is most often something you catch when you rewatch/read the material. Something doesn’t have to repeatedly beat you over the head to be foreshadowing.

That said, the mention of the two cities coming together to fight a common foe was not exactly subtle and certainly screams like it had a bullhorn on a rewatch. Yes, the actual scene wasn’t about coming together against a common enemy. That doesn’t mean that line wasn’t deliberately planting the seed of future events.

The line serves to let the viewer know, “hey, these were the circumstances where these two cities came together before,” the unspoken part being “and that might be how they are able to come together again.” Again, I cannot express enough how basic this is as a storytelling device. It’s practically Chekov’s gun. There is nothing high IQ (also, IQ is a made-up racist concept, so bragging about it would be pointless anyway) about it.

Arcane is brilliant, but it’s not doing anything particularly groundbreaking when it comes to its use of literary devices and tropes. What seems to be tripping you up is the use of them at all. If something isn’t said as explicitly as possible, you deny it. Then again, as with VI’s oil and water speech, you seem to deny things even when they are explicitly stated.

I’m not going to call you a patronizing pet name here. If I did in a previous post I apologize, but I, personally don’t want to do that here. What I will say is that I’m challenging your poor reading of the text, and thus your skills at analysis, not attacking you as a person. I say you don’t seem to understand storytelling conventions because you seem to have trouble with basic ideas like foreshadowing, planting and payoff, and metaphor. It’s either that, or you’re being deliberately obtuse because it doesn’t suit your argument. There are plenty of people on this site who would be more than happy to just call you an idiot. I don’t think you are. I just think you are one of many people who fall into a very common issue with media criticism today where you mistake what you would have liked to happen with what objectively was going to happen or with what can be considered good writing.

My point about Ambessa is that she wasn’t a mustache-twirling villain. What I was saying was you seem to have needed her to be that to understand she was going to be one of the major threats of the second season. The only way you seem like you would be able to accept that is if she showed up with a T-shirt that said “I’m the threat.”

Again, shows that are planning ahead usually plant the next season’s threat in the previous season. Sometimes it’s a passing reference; sometimes it’s a dramatic stinger; and sometimes it’s actually “one of the good guys.” With the exception of the dramatic stinger or a character being the shadowy mastermind that has to come forward and do it themselves Thanos style, most of these future antagonists don’t come into the story with a town crier announcing their future intent.

However, those familiar with common television storytelling are not going to be surprised that the powerful warmongering imperialist that comes in in the third act to start meddling with things ends up being the major threat in the next season. You also see this in book series. Characters who start off as more peripheral when introduced become more relevant and dangerous as the story progresses. Sometimes it’s because events in the story push them that direction. Sometimes it’s was always their plan. Sometimes, as I would argue with Ambessa, it’s a little of both. Our heroes are so caught up in dealing with their current problems that they often don’t realize this is happening until it’s too late.

The place where I think you are somewhat correct is that I don’t think Ambessa planned to be as direct in her actions when she first showed up. I think her plan was to do what she initially did, which is manipulate the conflict so she could get hextech. When Jinx attacked the council, she seized an opportunity. Again, this is how many imperial powers operate. They meddle in the background until an opportunity presents itself to take a much more active hand.

Now, notice I said “Ambessa didn’t plan”—Ambessa is not the semi-omniscient viewer. Ambess is not the show runner. Ambessa is not aware she’s in a fictional story with things like tropes and foreshadowing. So, just because Ambessa doesn’t go into the show thinking or knowing she’s going to take over Piltover doesn’t mean it wasn’t set up or the writers’ plan.

I also hate to break it to you, but Silco was the main antagonist in the first season. Was he well written and nuanced? Absolutely. Most good antagonists are. While there can be fun, interesting antagonists that are just plain evil, many of the best are ones that have a point but their methods, disregard for those caught in their crossfire, and personal entanglements are their downfall.

Good storytellers are very aware of the concept that “every villain is the hero of his own story.”Silco is not absolved because he claims to want independence for Zaun (something he didn’t lift a finger to do after the first act until Jinx forced his hand.) In fact, he was the person causing the most suffering in Zaun in acts two and three, including the actions of the enforcers whom he paid and controlled through Marcus.

Jayce trying to make a deal with him doesn’t make him not the antagonist. That was just the best way Jayce could see to end the conflict. This point doesn’t at all argue against Ambessa becoming the antagonist in season two nor the idea that the two sides would team up to fight her. Shows are allowed to approach treating their different antagonists in different ways. Usually, the early season’s villain is a more localized threat, and they can often be sympathetic, which is why it’s not uncommon for an early villain to become a friend or ally. Also, two sides that were previously at odds joining forces to fight a greater threat to them all is, again, a very classic trope. You may find it cheap, but that doesn’t make it something that came out of nowhere. If anything, it makes it more predictable.

Regarding hextech, you can’t call it contrived when the characters in the show with the most understanding of magic immediately said, “hey, this stuff is dangerous,” and it turns out they were right. Like, there cannot be more straightforward unambiguous storytelling than that.

Now, I’m not going to pretend I was able to predict the end form it would take, but the threat posed by rushing through and overusing hextech was established from the moment it was introduced and reinforced by Heimerdinger’s horror at the hex core—which was about much more than just Viktor’s story. Jayce also understood this initially in act two, but his desires to save Viktor and protect Piltover won out over his initial instinct to listen to Heimerdinger.

No, the anomaly and the hex core aren’t the same thing, but there are two things to keep in mind about the hex core: 1) Even if Jayce hadn’t shot Viktor, there was something deliberately unsettling about the cult. Yes, it seemed nice, but the overexposed, unsettling lighting, personality changes, and Viktor’s ability to take over his followers’ bodies were pretty bright red flags that something wasn’t quite right. We don’t know how each time loop played out. We don’t know if, in an earlier version, Jayce hadn’t shot Viktor, and the commune still went terribly wrong. Even in its most utopian state, the question of how much free will these people have was tingling in the background. 2) Arguably, the hex core showing how the arcane can adapt and become alive was yet more set up that this could happen on a greater scale—again setting up the potential for something like the anomaly.

(A side note: something I did wonder was whether Viktor’s blood dropping into the shaft at the Hex Gates had something to do with it. That’s what I thought when I first saw that oddly colored blob before the anomaly was revealed. It was never established in the text to my satisfaction, though, so it’s just a headcanon. If that was the intent, I will say that was a case where it wasn’t well executed. Even if someone like Amanda decided to use “word of god” to say so, it doesn’t really count, though that certainly would answer your question “why now?” question. Another answer could be the fact that the experiments with the hex core are what woke it up. Given the arcane is shown to be somewhat sentient, maybe it sensed the growing conflict, but I digress.

I think the blood being the catalyst would have pros or cons. Pros being a really nice case of planting and payoff; cons being that it sort of makes it seem like a freak accident—which still could go to the point. Many technological advancements have been prone to terrible accidents before we properly understood their risks and put in safe guards. It also would have been a bit of nice consequences in action that the illness Piltover inflicted on Zaun is what brought their hextech empire down. See? it’s not like I don’t have a version of the story that I would prefer in some ways. I’m just not going to act like the version we got wasn’t set up.)

On the civil war idea, I was responding to the ending you said you wanted, and I phrased my response as such, so please don’t act like I was putting words in your mouth. Also, based on what we know of the Black Rose in the show, while that’s an interesting idea, it’s seems unlikely they would openly or even covertly support Zaun. There was nothing stopping them from doing that in the story we got. I think they preferred to keep their exposure as limited as possible, and it made sense to focus their efforts on Mel who had a much more direct line to Ambessa.

Also, I will admit that plot line seemed much more about setting up the next LoL season/next show than this one. I will give you that. There was the little bit of set up with Mel’s magic shining when the bomb hit, and Ambessa’s vague references to her problems at home, but I won’t deny that story had the least relevance to the first season.

Didn’t make me enjoy Mel taking out Maddie any less, (doesn’t make me look forward to whatever future appearances we get of Mel the Mage any less), but it did give off some weird “natural abilities are better than using technology” vibes reminiscent of the somewhat problematic theme of The Incredibles. I don’t necessarily think they meant to do that, but it certainly can be read into the text. I never said Arcane is above criticism, just pointing out the common flaws I see in the criticism.

I think, in a civil war, with all bets off and hextech at their disposal, Piltover would win. Yes, the chem tanks were a threat, but the Noxians took them out with spears. Spears. Vi plowed through several of them with just the gauntlets and took one out with her bare hands with a little help from Cait and a normal rifle. Also, Piltover literally has the high ground. The reason they wanted to invade was to get Jinx. If the mission is changed to war, there’s no need to send people down there. They could just drop bombs, flood the streets, and cut off supply lines. Potentially, the tide could be turned with some of the Piltover folks we love supporting Zaun, but now we’ve lost track of the arcane threat that they would not shut up about in the first season.

You know you admitted that the problem is you didn’t like the ending, right? You not liking it doesn’t mean it wasn’t set up. I have outlined again and again that it was set up. Does that mean the ending exactly beat for beat was explicitly laid out? No.

When I say the ending was set up, that doesn’t mean every single interaction or moment could have been predicted. What could be predicted is that hextech would end up becoming a major problem—something we were explicitly warned about multiple times—Ambessa would become a major problem—something we should have picked up on given her meddling and Mel’s backstory and interactions with her—and that there would be either a détente or form of reconciliation between the two cities—because, that’s how stories about groups in conflict with each other in shows that go out of their way to show the humanity and good and bad on both sides usually end unless they want to be a complete downer, which, given Arcane pulled that move in the first season, was unlikely to happen in the second.

None of your points about the dark future invalidate anything I said. First, we don’t know what Viktor would be capable of if Jayce hadn’t shot him. Maybe Singed would have succeeded with his plan—they did have a whole army. As I said earlier, we also don’t know what happened in every loop. Yes, the one Jayce saw was almost exactly like the one he returns to, but maybe that one was actually closer to success than any of the others. We don’t know, and I’m fine with that.

That said, none of your ramblings here have anything to do with whether or not the plan was to have the cities team up against a common enemy. You can argue the plan wasn’t executed well, and that’s your choice. You can argue you didn’t like that this was the plan. That is also your choice. But not executing a plan well or having a plan you don’t like and not having a plan are different things.

Honestly, sometimes sticking to the plan is a bad idea for storytelling—that’s what really leads to contrived writing. So, arguably, your problem is much less that they betrayed their plan, but rather that you felt they had to contort the narrative to fit their original plan and goals because they wanted a certain ending. That’s definitely something that happens a lot in narratives. The author goes in having an ending in mind, and they rigidly stick to it, even if the way they develop the story might mean there are better possible endings. I honestly think your arguments much better support that idea than the idea that there was no set up. i wouldn’t necessarily agree with you on all points, but it would be a much stronger case.

You should not need a scene of exposition explaining Sevika’s council seat. I refuse to believe any intellectually honest person would be confused by what was going on. When people get annoyed that some viewers seem to not get “show don’t tell.”

And look, I get wanting certain scenes. I will always argue I wish Ekko or Jinx had really put into words why VI’s their hero at some point, because, even though the show arguably showed that, I think that would have really helped solidly her arc. But I think you still get the gist of that from context.

That said, we do get Caitlyn’s whole monologue about suffering the consequences of their actions but there still being hope and light worth fighting for in the epilogue that should help with interpretation that things are bad but they can get better and here are the first tentative steps in that direction. She literally says the story isn’t over.

Arcane is not a political drama. Not sure why I need to say that about the League of Legends cartoon, but it’s not. Class and politics inform the story. They are not what the story is about. The writers didn’t go in with the intention of writing about class warfare and then develop the characters to match like a movie like Crash did. They went in wanting to tell the stories of these characters and further developed the existing background themes to help create conflict and character arcs.

“A lot of people joined the fight” is an interesting way to interpret a handful before Jinx came in to save the day—you know in that dramatic scene that drastically turned the tide of the fight because, while we as the audience knew it was going to happen, the characters didn’t? Again, we have the benefit of knowing this is a fictional story with a plot. They don’t. There have been plenty of people who refuse to fight with an enemy, even if it’s in their own self interest.

And, yes, season two is the find out to season one’s fuck around. Viktor and Jayce chose to ignore the warnings about Hextech. They then proceeded to overuse it, weaponize it, and do dangerous experiments with it, partially at the behest of unrepentant capitalism—there’s some class and politics for you. As stated earlier, the anomaly can very much be a stand in for the unforeseen consequences of certain technologies. How often do we find out years later what harm we’ve caused? Given that the first obvious victim is a tree, one could make an easy connection to global warming. Jayce would never be able to give Viktor’s the hex core if Viktor hadn’t made it in the first place. So yes, what happened with the arcane was indeed, their chickens coming home to roost and, no, you don’t need it explicitly stated what form the consequences are going to take—just that there will be consequences.

Likewise, as I alluded to earlier, Ambessa was most likely not planning to take over Piltover from the start. Jinx blowing up the council gave her the in to essentially have a bloodless coup. (Bloodless meaning she didn’t have to kill the leaders herself). Even prior to that, though, the reason she was able to meddle at all were the tensions between topside and bottom. If those hadn’t been ramping up, thanks mostly to the actions of our characters, she wouldn’t have been able to push for the creation of weapons. Internal conflict is a breeding ground for outside bad actors.

As for a common enemy making the story no longer nuanced, (which, again, has nothing to do with whether it was planned or not) in life there always comes a time when there is no room for moral ambiguity. Some things are a matter of survival. There are times where people do, in fact, have to set aside their differences or everyone will suffer. And in a show that is going out of its way to show the humanity of both sides in a conflict, this is where the story goes more often than not. Because, in a moment of true crisis, there is can be more that unites us than not (though, even in the moment, decision can still tear its head).

The tragedy, of course, is that it doesn’t last. I can say that as someone who remembers 9/11 (yes, I’m old). That’s why we had Cait’s ending monologue and the “dirt under your nails” discussion. Because they have to keep fighting.

I’m not going to go through every point because this has taken me hours and I’m going to just broadly say most of your issues have nothing to do with whether or not this was the plan for the sorry and your personal qualms about execution, and I really have no desire to go through any more of that right now as I have both a job and a life.

What I will address is your inability to understand the point I was making in my prior post. First—many people do, indeed want the show to have been a black and white poor beats rich story. (Honestly, understandable given the current hellscape. I don’t begrudge wanting more stories where rich people get the comeuppance—this just wasn’t the one). I know because they refuse to acknowledge or accept any nuance, motive, or understanding of why Cait did what she did and frequently use her wealth as an excuse for Jinx to have been allowed to kidnap, abuse, and almost murder her and murder her mother without consequence. They further decide Silco’s actions are all justified because he’s from the oppressed side. So yes, actually, a lot of people want rich=bad, poor=good.

Further, all of those themes I mentioned in that post can certainly be tied to class. They can also be tied to race. Or sexuality. Or gender. Or disability. As an obese neurodivergent queer cis woman, I can confirm. You could have easily exchanged the class themes for any of those and not had to change much. And while class is tied up in all of those divisions, I reject the argument that it is the sole cause. Rather economic oppression and other forms of oppression feed each other. That’s why leftist groups that only want to talk about economics tend to not be great at intersectionality.

Now, I’m going to guess right now you’re saying something like “but, in Arcane those themes were related to class, not those other things, except for disability, which was also tied to class!” And you’re right! Arcane decided to explore those themes through the lens of a class conflict. That does not make it what the show is about. It makes it a major theme, of course. It makes it the lens through which we understand our characters and the events of the plot. It does not mean the show was written in service of resolving the class conflict, nor that it should take time out of the character moments to exposit about treaties, nor does it make a fantasy action show where one of the characters punches people with giant gloves and another has a giant hammer that shoots things into a political drama.

I think one question the show is trying to answer in a lot of ways (though, again, not the only one) is, if class breaks is apart , what brings us together? Why would Piltover want to give Zaun rights? Because they were forced to at the end of a gun? Because of a crisis of conscience? To avoid a bigger conflict? Because Zaun was there for them in a time of need? Because the power of 24 year-old star-crossed lovers compels them? All of the above?

As I said, this is definitely a big question, but not the only question. “What does ‘progress’ mean?” “Do people change who they are for good?” “How do you leave the cycles you were born into and raised in?” “How does one find themselves losing their ideals?” “Who decides who gets a second chance anyway?” “What happened to Heimerdinger’s dog?” “Imperialism sure sucks, doesn’t it?” “Were we too hard on Maddie?”

All questions certainly viewed through the lens of class conflict. But the lens, though necessary to see the picture, is not the subject.

“What happened to rebel Vi? Season 2 destroyed her character!”

“What happened to rebel Vi” is that Vander took her to the bridge where her parents died in his revolution and asked her what she was willing to lose. Then she meets Cait who is gentle and kind while still being tough and it makes her rethink how she sees topside. When Jinx tells her she changed too, that’s what she’s talking about.

I’m sorry if you thought Vi was going to be a topside-hating revolutionary in Season 2, but that’s clearly not where her character arc was going. Remember how she forced her way between Ekko and Cait? It seemed very straightforward that was the role her character was taking on.

I feel similar about people who act like the show was betraying its premise because it ended with reconciliation/Zaun and Piltover working together. Again, the fact that two of the most important relationships were between characters from both sides and that they made a point of talking about Zaun and Piltover first coming together against a common enemy was a pretty clear indicator that was the plan.

Now, I get being annoyed that that was what they chose to do. You don’t have to love the creative decisions of media, just like media doesn’t have to compromise its creative direction to satisfy you. But not liking that they went that direction is not the same as the show having bad writing or engaging in character assassination.

Everything Vi did in season 2 was very much in character with how she changed and who she became throughout Season 1. Hell, she used enforcers and Hextech to raid Shimmer facilities before Commander Kiramman ever threw on a beret. So, yes, actually wearing the uniform was a huge and complicated decision that she was definitely not happy about, but it also fell in line with what she had been doing.

There’s meat for another post at some point about the three different Zaun/enforcer partnerships we see in the show: Vander/Greyson, Silco/Marcus, and Cait/Vi; but I’m not going to go into that now.

TLDR: “Rebel Vi” who wants to fight all of topside hasn’t existed since the end of the second episode of the show.

Editing to add that Vi doesn’t see attacking Chem Barons as attacking Zaun; she’s taking down the people who are destroying Zaun.

[riveluart]

You ever just get a random burst of affection for characters you literally haven't thought about in years

[not-so-mundane-after-all]

I keep rewatching that epilogue scene and, the way Hunter and Omega talk about her joining the Rebellion... You can tell this is not the first time they're having this conversation. And I just can't help but wonder what the previous one(s) must have looked like.

Because something tells me it wasn't peaceful.

I just can't imagine Hunter having any other reaction than an immediate, definitive "absolutely not" the first time he hears about Omega wanting to join the Rebellion. Just like I can't imagine Omega being okay with that reaction.

Were they arguing about it? Were they butting heads and not backing down from their respective points? Because they would. Absolutely, they would.

Did their brothers have conversations with both of them separately? Did Wrecker tell Omega to give Hunter a break because he's old and worried? Did Crosshair convince Hunter that he can't keep a grown woman grounded just because he's scared about her? Did Echo tell him that if this is Omega's calling, he has to let her do her thing?

She tried to sneak off. As if she didn't want to go through this again. As if she thought leaving without a goodbye would be easier on everyone and this way no one can stop her. After all, she made up her mind. She's going. But when she turns the light on and spots Hunter sitting there, she's not even surprised. She nods to herself like of course. Of course he's here.

This literally sounds like they've been over this before. But this time the conversation is surely more peaceful. They both have the other's perspective in their minds now.

This is my choice and I know it scares you but I need you to understand.

I know I won't change your mind but I don't want you to go, I want you to be safe.

This must have been said before as well. Maybe in anger. Maybe in pleading. Or desperation. I wouldn't be surprised if Omega got very frustrated with Hunter for treating her like she's still a kid. Nor would I be shocked if Hunter had trouble articulating his point of view in all his worry and panic. But here, it's a confession. It's very vulnerable. It's the truth Hunter doesn't want to hear and gives a reason why.

Omega is a grown woman now. Skilled, capable, brave. Hunter doesn't doubt that. But to him, she's always going to be his little girl no matter how old she is and I am still speechless at the fact that we actually see him not only struggling with it but also admitting to it.

Back on Pabu, after they escaped Tantiss, Hunter told her: "We've all fought enough battles for one lifetime." And now, years later, Omega echoes this back to him. "You've all fought enough." Almost like she's reading Hunter's mind and knows that if he can't stop her, he's going to want to join her.

The way he wants to reach after her here when she gets up. Like he wants to say wait, no, don't go yet!

But this is her fight, just like she says. She's never been able to sit still, we know that, we've seen that. Just like Echo back in season 2, she can't stand the thought of staying down and doing nothing when there are people out there fighting for freedom. People she can help. She's a skilled pilot now (I can bet she'll become most famous in the Rebellion for her flawless Tech-Turn), she has absorbed everything her brothers have taught her over the years like a sponge and now she wants to use that. After years of living away from the fight, she's finally ready to get back out there and make a difference in the galaxy. Fight for peace because that is her calling.

She's ready, but Hunter is not.

You can tell it's literally tearing him apart to watch her go. That's his baby, the whole reason he's living the life he has now. He gave his blood, sweat and tears so she could grow up safe and happy and away from the Empire's clutches. And now she's going back right into them, willingly.

But she's all grown up. And he has no choice but to let her go do her thing. So he holds her close and I don't doubt sends out a prayer that she comes back to him safe and in one piece. He closes his eyes and commits the feeling to memory because who knows when will be the next time he gets to do this?

And it might be destroying him inside but he's so damn proud. And he knows she's got this. She doesn't need her old man to watch her back anymore.

And yet still this old man, with gray in his hair and beard, this old man whose posture is hunched and who is moving slowly and having difficulty standing up because of his accelerated age, is telling his very grown up and very capable daughter that if she needs him, he's going to pick up his blaster, don the armor and join her in the fight.

Because that's what fathers do.

[f1girliefics]

Not His Type, His

Charles Leclerc x Reader

Summary: During an interview, he describes his ideal woman, which is the exact opposite of you, the woman he is dating. 

At first, you didn't want to believe it.

As you rewatched the video, it started to sink in.

He described your exact opposite.

How does one deal with this?

How were you supposed to deal with the fact that your boyfriend just confessed that his ideal woman is nothing like you?

What were you supposed to do with that information?

Was this his way of breaking up with you?

Was this his way of saying he doesn't want you anymore?

Or were you just reading into this too much?

Your relationship with Charles wasn't a secret.

People knew, there were many photos of the two of you, most posted by yourselves.

So then what was happening?

And apparently, you weren't the only one wondering about this.

Under the video there were multiple comments. Then you got messages about different news websites reporting on the thing... great.

'F1 Driver Charles Leclerc Single Again?!'

'Trouble in Paradise! You WON'T BELIEVE what Charles Leclerc just said!'

'Charles Leclerc admits in a new interview, his girlfriend is NOT his ideal woman'

And so on.

And you weren't going to lie, it bothered you.

You ran so many scenarios through your mind.

You hoped he only spoke out of his head without a second thought. You knew how he could get after a certain race, he wouldn't think about what he was saying.

He probably didn’t even realize what he had just done.

Your phone rang but you ignored it. Later on, you checked, it was your best friend, but you wouldn’t want to talk with anyone now.

You were afraid to open the internet, you were scared to turn on the TV.

You didn’t know what to do.

Then, Charles arrived back at the hotel room. 

When your eyes locked with his, both of you stayed absolutely still and quiet.

“I am stupid.” he said and you nearly started laughing, rolling on your stomach. His exact voice… perfect.

“You-”

“I didn’t mean it! I was thinking about the race, going through it in my head and then I just blurted out something. I swear!”

“Okay…”

“I will post something on Instagram or make a statement, I will fix this.” he pulled his phone out and you just knew, as soon as he saw the panic in his eyes, you forgave him.

Why were you even worried that he would want to break up with you?

“Charles.” he looked up at your from his phone, you stood up from the bed and walked over to him. “Congrats. P5 is really good.” you said as he smiled at you.

You swore his smile could make you forget everything.

“Thank you. But I really am sorry about the-”

“It’s all good. Let them burn with curiosity a little bit more… But… Just so I know… you don’t want to break up, right?”

“What?! NO! You are perfect!”

“But I’m not your ideal type.”

“You might not be, but you are mine.” you laughed a little and he pulled you in for a kiss. 

It was time to celebrate a little, just the two of you, the rest of the world can burn and wait until you two were finished.

!DO NOT TRANSLATE, REPOST OR PLAGIRISE MY WORK!

[0daylighthours0]

A Deep Dive into Milkvan and Byler's Development: If Milkvan Was Endgame All Along, Why Was it Written Like This???

SO. I've been rewatching st with my mother, who's never seen it before. And she was a fan of milkvan throughout seasons 1 and 2. Viewing those seasons again I could see why, they're cute. However, come season 3 and INSTANT distaste. And, listen, my mother is not the consciously shipping gal. She simply routes for main character pairings as writers intend, doesn't read between the lines, doesn't nothing. And she does NOT know my own opinions on the pairing. In other words, completely unbiased, uninternet drama influenced eyes. We've now reached season 3 and, after getting through a chunk of it, I asked her,

"so what do you think of Mike and El?"

and she expressed to me that they seem to be, quote:

"not very good together."

She said El's character doesn't suit the way she's acting now (in the first few episodes, concerning Mike), that Mike is more likeable and interesting when he's away from her. She doesn't like the way they ditched the party, and when it comes to their 'making out' the scenes are seen by her from Hopper's perspective (in other words, distasteful). She claimed that they'd be much better characters as friends.

And ya know what, she's right. And I mean like - duh, that's what we've been saying all this time, I'm not stating anything new here. But guys, wouldn't it be strange if the central couple of the show, pivotal that it is liked by audiences and is rooted for by them as they are THE pair, would be so dislikable like this? So uninteresting, so cliche.

I mean, okay, let's do a little mental experiment I like to do to test if I'm not just acting delulu. Let's play a game. In this game, milkvan ARE meant to be endgame. They are in love, they were all along, and they're here to draw in viewers and appease all El stans. Now, seasons 1 and 2 their relationship is honestly fine. Surface level, yeah, people will watch and appreciate them. They perfectly blend in with all the other neat pairings of the seasons, and have their own unique character traits to stand out as a main couple.

Just pretending our mate Will doesn't exist, we now get into season 3. Now, writers have nothing to lose here. If you've finished season 2, you probably like milkvan already. The issue is that they're already together now, so what's the conflict going to be? The arc? And every central couple needs that conflict to stay juicy.

Just take a look:

Jancy: quarrels, struggle to understand one another

Jopper: not yet together, one sided? will they won't they

Lumax: ...

Lumax? Lumax. Huh, guess they were simply together. Some loveable bickering, maintained a friendly dynamic while clearly in closer proximity. Well then, writers can do the same for milkvan right? Well, yes easily. But one might argue that since they are supposed to be THE pairing they need more going on between them than that. So what'll it be? Well, it seems that writers thought,

"hey, why not break them up?"

ok so.. that's a bit risky. I mean you want people to like this ship, if you break them up then that threats: 1. there being a disliking to one or both characters, 2. coming off generic if done incorrectly, 3. the break up might make no sense considering how in love they came off as just a season ago. But hey.. it could work, if done right. Some kind of misunderstanding, similar to Jancy. Maybe an argument leading to a sudden parting. I mean, yeah, Yeah! I can see that. Perhaps Mike is being too overprotective whilst El's trying to sacrifice herself for something, so she NEEDS to separate herself from him attempting to hurt him less. Or, I dunno, something akin. What's crucial is that us, AS THE AUDIENCE, still know them to be deeply in love. I mean, we have to still want them to be together. And we've seen couple trouble before. Just take a look at Lumax season 4 - did you or did you not want the best for both of them as a pair? You most likely did. See, it's doable. So did people like milkvan season 3 the same way, even after a separation plot? No.

Okay well, there are obviously those who'll always love milkvan no matter but, see, season 3 tainted it. "We need to write them like this cause it's more realistic to teenager behavior" my ars. You can make it messy without making it icky. Not only did it sour their unique dynamic, it flabbergastingly stomped on Mike as a character.

Honestly, I feel Mike has always been a mild struggle to write. Season 1 his motivations were 'find Will' (who still doesn't exist in our mind game yet shh) and 'protect El'. This worked well for him. Afterwards though, El and Will became more separate plots to him. But as a main character it remained integral that he be closely linked to them somehow. This sets him apart from Lucas and Dustin, who can easily be given any arc any season as their plots have the flexibility of a side quest nature. Since what Mike does is meant to matter more - with there probably being a better way of phrasing that but you know what I mean - it's harder knowing what he'll do when El and Will (who we'll GET to sh.) are their own separate people. And Mike is just a boy, he doesn't have super powers and he isn't a cop, which leaves there even less for him to do which is of significance. Season 2 writers decided upon having him support Will's arc, making himself of enough relevance by being able to take credit for some Will development in the story, and the plots that surrounded that, and then Mike was thrown a little bone by being the one to come up with the idea of burning those vines in the finale.

Truthfully, you don't really remember Mike's deeds much when reminiscing the series. It isn't like Dustin who's bond with Dart sticks to everyone, or Nancy and Jonathan responsible for kicking out Hawkins Lab. This is due to them, again, being able to traverse all sorts of adventures without limits. But my guy Mike can't do dat. Sadly, this kind of leads to him coming of as a little.. well... insignificant. And I know I know, the Mike truthers are gonna come at my throat. And hey! I love him too. I only want the best for my boy.

This makes season 3 a unique case cause it seems that, for the plot they decided they wanted, writers actually had to almost entirely change his character. I mean mate s2 Mike and s3 Mike are two different peoples, don't even. And I don't believe that the Duffers had their story and character turnouts completely drawn out from the very start at all. If I was to guess, I'd assume they have vague ideas of little plots they plan to include in future, but there is definitely a lot that has come unpredicted or changed throughout st's runtime. And one of those phenomenons are Michael Wheeler. So they decided to make this guy a di-

So they decided to make him more douchy, more movie typical teenage guy. It's not as if he wholly sucked, he didn't, but he didn't really do much. Whined about his girlfriend, separated the party. I mean what even was his arc? (UnLESS–)

You see, if milkvan is written to be loved, then season 3 was strike one. All of its charm was stripped away. It seems they had some cute scenes after their reconciliation, but it's not enough. It's just sort of

"oh, ok, so they're happy with eachother now. yayy."

and Stranger Things should want to be anything but boring. Sure they often enjoy indulging in tropes, but they always do something different with them. Something standoutish. And from this point on milkvan just got dull. Either writers ran out of ideas or lost interest, honestly (still with our mind game of telling ourselves they're meant to be).

But it's okay. Look, so season 3 was a bit rocky, maybe lost a couple of fans for the guys, but it is salvageable. Easily, easily. Looks like we want a plot of Mike struggling to tell El he loves her. Great! Much to work with.

So let's get into it. Season 4! Choices were... made. And, okay, now we can't go any further without bringing in our boy Will.

Mike is intrinsically tied to Will and El and has been from the start. Maybe Will was more of an accident. Maybe s1 Will was just a plot device for Mike, then s2 Will was a plot device again and Mike needed to be there as the main boy character. Come season 3 and it seems their relationship still matters. Will was sidelined - hard - so most of Mike's moments revolved around El. But as his bond with Mike is the only that's been properly built up, that's the only friend we'll get him interacting with in a way that matters. So the Mike and Will tie continues!

But that does not have to be the case for season 4. Now the writers have a chance.

They made Will gay.

Ok so.. ok so yeah that's fine. Yeah! I mean they didn't have to do that, might put them in hot water with the bylers since milkvan is their golden beauty but.. you know what no no that's okay. He's been hinted at being queer since episode 1, why not make it canon! Cool that works. Explore that, especially since we now have Vecna who can easily target Will for this. Give him a boyfriend! Or a guy crush. He's at a new school now? That's cool. Maybe we can explore some new male character Will's taken interest in. Hey maybe he meets someone who interests him which rises to surface his whole sexuality plot and-

he's in love with Mike.

Ok. No. No. What are you doing? What do you mean?? You didn't have to do that. Strike- strike EFING TWO mates! Strike. 👏 efing. 👏 2!

This was part 1. I am tired and gots to get my ars in bed. But ohohoh, do not worry. I am just getting started.

[m1ssunderstanding]

Understanding Lennon McCartney Rewatch Part 3.1

I thank my lucky stars every night that Yoko eventually got sick of playing secret-keeper.

Paul: I didn't leave the Beatles. The Beatles have left the Beatles . . . John said he wanted a divorce. Alright, so do I. See how they say “Beatles” and they mean each other sometimes?

Derek Taylor on John's position on the break-up: if Paul were to approach him and say “let's do it together again” he probably would; with no more words, he would probably do it. Which is an insane claim to make to a world full of people grieving the greatest band to ever exist unless you are very very sure of that probability. But if it's true that that's all it would have taken, and Paul didn't do it? That hurts my head a little. Do we think he was just hurt too bad to want it back? Do we think he didn't know he had that kind of power? Do we think he was glad to be free of the group?

Ugh my heart can't take it. I'd cry too, John, watching that. I mean look at how they are looking at each other. Look at everything they've lost in a year. I'd bawl like a baby too.

Paul sends John a long, thorough letter, begging for them to legally end their partnership outside of a court. John's run out of cards at this point, but he still doesn't want to lose Paul, so he's just going to play dumb.

This is how bad he doesn't want to lose him, actually: he goes along with Klein in tricking Paul this time. Calls him up and asks him to come to the studio for a jam session, because it'll hurt his case in court. But for multiple reasons – the Eastmans were knowledgeable lawyers, and Paul might not have even wanted to be in a room with John at the time anyway – Paul doesn't come. Which John would've been hurt and angry over, no matter his motives.

"They tell you to stop crying at about age twelve. Be a man. What the hell's that?" I'm so proud of John for his (albeit long and backsliding) journey out of his toxic masculinity and violence. Something I honestly don't see him achieving without Yoko.

And from that quote it transitions to Paul in Scotland, looking like the embodiment of depression, as the opening of “Isolation” plays. It's perfect.

“And don't try to come over here. Or you might get in some trouble.” The way he just froze when he saw them filming him and then the next thing we see is him threatening them? Get ‘em, babe!

John sounds so giddy about this one-upping competition with Paul. I'll scare him and then he'll scare me!

The whole Lennon Remembers era is such a terrible case of diarrhea of the mouth in general, but the amount of homophobic language is quite striking compared to how John talked before and after.

John, talking about George in Rolling Stone: "he was working with two fucking brilliant songwriters and he learned a lot from us." People read that quote and just parrot it like they do with everything John said in this period and act like George had nothing to be angry over. He had every right to be much angrier and hold a much bigger grudge than he did.

And about George's new record, which was phenomenal and brilliant, John is transparently jealous and so cruel. If he'd said that about me and then asked me to play on his new record I'd tell him to go to hell. Why did George do it?

See and everyone who knows John knows how much he loved Brian and to hear him speaking so crassly and cruelly about Brian must've been a sure indication to them to just take the entire interview through that lense of “oh he's just saying shit”. But that's only the people who knew him. Everyone else for the rest of time took this shit as constitutional. And it pisses me off. It should be locked away in a vault somewhere and no one is allowed to listen to it until they've passed some kind of Beatles and emotional intelligence tests.

This crushes my soul. How warped must his definition of love have been by that point that he genuinely believed Phil Spector and Allen Klein loved him more than Paul and George did? It's bonkers.

John in 1967: all you need is love! John in 1971: the point of life is to manipulate people. . . . What the hell happened to you, buddy?

I go back and forth as to who's the smarter PR person: John or Yoko? Because maybe she's right. Maybe they shouldn't divulge that they're master manipulators. But is this one of those times when it's good to be all “look how honest we are about this! We're not hiding anything! We're saying bad things about ourselves too! So you should believe us about everything else!”

Really this documentarian should be hired to make all the music videos for all the Beatles and solo songs. This one for “Too Many People” is perfect. Paul walking into court with a full beard and a confident stride, John and Yoko in bed, Paul horse riding overlayed on Linda's gorgeous face like she's some goddess, designing his fate. All of it is just pure brilliance.

I'm forever laughing at just the title of the song, too. Because to John and Yoko it was so important that they were Weird and Off-putting. Different. Revolutionary. And to say “no. You're not special. There's actually an excess of people like you.” Is so funny to me.

“When she wants an A side, that's when we start fighting.” Oh gosh. Remember how I said he backslides a lot in his feminism journey? Yeah…

Insanity quote Hall of Fame. Yeah, I know he meant to say it's weird to be best friends with a woman. But it sounds like he's saying it's weird to fuck a woman. Which maybe he subconsciously means both idk.

Paul: we need to legally dissolve the partnership because it's the only way we're attached anymore. Ouch. Okay it's true. It's deserved. But that must've stung for the guy who was terrified of losing people. Must've sent him into fight or flight.

I think the point of this framing is to say that if they'd had facetime back then, instead of just crackly phone lines, HDYS would not have been written. Not with those puppy eyes staring him down like that.

Interviewer: the song wasn't even funny though. John: well I think it's hilarious. Interviewer: hmm. Lol I love hearing interviewers talk to John about his lyrics like he's a real guy doing a real job, though. Imagine a music critic now saying John Lennon wasn't clever in his lyrics. You can't, yeah. Me either.

What a slap in the face to Cynthia. Guess she wasn't Cool Girl enough. Should've gone girled him. That would be an excellent fic. Cyn and Jane gone girl their idiot bfs and John and Paul realize they're in love on death row. But anyway, yeah. If Paul would've just pet John's head . . .

Another absolutely bonkers thing to say. That's something the Rockstar’s ex wife says in a documentary ten years after he's dead, not something a songwriting partner says, completely unprompted, in an exiting the band interview.

And then he goes off on what I see as a self-soothing diatribe on Paul the family man. You can see the hoops he jumped through to get himself there. What did Paul want that I couldn't give him? A family. And is that justified? Absolutely not, only pussies and conservatives want families.

Allan Klein: were you and Paul ever really close, then? John: no. John: not that I didn't love him. I did. It's just that every time I let my guard down, he hurt me. Holy shit. At this point, after getting hit in the face with so much of John's Paul-made pain with nothing from the other side but pictures of the happy McCartney family, I'm genuinely feeling quite angry at Paul. Me. An extremely biased Paul girl who knows it's far more complicated and multi-dimensional than this. No wonder the uninformed public fucking hated his guts.

And as they're showing this quote, “I didn't want to hurt you,” plays mournfully in the background. They really are so twisted up in each other there's no separating individual identities.

Okay so he's a psychopath. So what? He's the sexiest man that ever was or ever will be. He's allowed to be a horrible person. No, but really. He's Get Back Paul but healthier. He's done with his depression drinking and he's been spending a lot of time proving he's still useful enough to exist by building fences and shearing sheep.

And this is how Paul talks about George to interviews. John said Klein made ATMP a success but Paul disagrees. "George recorded it all, wrote it all, did it all, wasn't anything to do with [Klein]. It was George's victory, wasn't it?" Compare that to how John does it and tell me again why the hell George is Team John?

What is Paul's obsession with daddies? Actually I know exactly what the obsession with daddies comes from, but we won't get into that here. I do find it interesting that in ‘69 he's saying “we do need a sort of central daddy figure.” And in ‘71 he's deriding John needing one and won't let John's daddy of choice touch him with a hundred foot pole.

I tend to think Paul chafes against authority in general, but that's actually not right. He never had a problem with George Martin. I think it's just abusive authority or authority he doesn't trust yet.

[wistfulcynic]

a non-izzy-centric reading of the events of season two

i didn't really want to get into this because it's so, so tiresome and i'd rather talk about the things i loved about this season. Poison, positivity, etc. But.

reading this post about people doubting their own judgement due to the overwhelming noise from Izzy stans along with a rewatch of season two from start to finish made me realise that i too had been influenced by a year and a half of being intensely frustrated by people insisting so loudly that OFMD was in fact the Izzy Hands Show. My initial issues with S2 mostly stemmed from overcompensating for that by resenting any development of Izzy on the screen because i did not want it to feed those people. Which meant that i also was centring Izzy in a way that he should not be centred! i was letting their noise lead me to read him as far more important than he actually is.

So i looked back at several points from the season that had me feeling uncomfortable and which, from a cursory browse through the Izzy tag i've concluded his stans see as a contradiction or a betrayal or something and re-evaluated them from the perspective of Izzy not being a main fucking character.

point one: "He's our dick."

When Archie (a newcomer and therefore a fairly effective audience stand-in for anyone not balls deep in fandom bullshit) asks Jim why they're going to so much trouble for Izzy, who she has immediately clocked as "kind of a dick", Jim gives this response. Which, if you think Izzy is important, may read as an expression of reluctant fondness. But then, Jim continues: "There was a time when life meant something on this ship. When we lived for each other, not just to survive." These lines are punctuated by a flashback to the famous Revenge crew found-family Renaissance-painting moment. Jim is nostalgic for the "good old days" of the Revenge under Stede's people-positive management style. It is out of respect for that (seemingly) lost way of life that they take the trouble for Izzy, not for Izzy himself. They'd have done the same for anyone, because they desperately want life to matter again. Izzy, as the person whose gamy leg is a direct result of his threatening Ed and bringing the kraken era down on all of them, is simply the one whose life happens to be on the line.

(honestly, i love this from Jim, who was one of Stede's boldest detractors in season one and still the crew member most likely to call him out on his bullshit. That's your "reluctant fondness" moment right there.)

point two: the new unicorn

apparently Izzy stans see the gift of the unicorn leg prosthetic as a symbol of deep love and respect from the crew to Izzy. Which is an absolutely wild reading when you look at what led up to it.

There's tension on the ship. Divisions. Lucius is chain-smoking and jump-scared by his own shadow. Jim, Archie, Frenchie, and Fang are overcome by guilt over their mutiny and frantically scrubbing nonexistent blood from the deck in what is a fantastically darkly funny Lady Macbeth moment for them. Izzy is sloppy drunk and yelling nonsensical abuse at the unicorn masthead. Roach, Pete, Oluwande, and Wee John make a well-intentioned but ill-conceived attempt to bring everyone back together (i say "everyone" but Izzy, significantly, is not included) which leads to them all being at each other's throats in the sort of mutually-assured-destruction configuration that starts world wars. It's a great scene. Izzy is not a part of it.

until he interrupts them, throws the unicorn legs at them and in his drunken clumsiness breaks his prosthetic. He then pointedly refuses their offers of assistance and drags himself away along the floor by his arms.

my friends. This is peak pathos. The crew do not respect Izzy in this moment, they feel sorry for him. They realise that he's worse off than any of the rest of them and that knowledge brings them back together. Making the unicorn prosthetic is barely about Izzy at all. It's about the crew coming together, repairing the rifts in their found family and as a bonus helping out their grumpy second cousin who doesn't really want to be there but has nowhere else to go. It's also a very generous offer of a new place on the ship--as the new unicorn--and a fresh start. Because that's what life on the Revenge is. For everyone.

point three: la vie en rose

much has been made of Izzy putting on drag makeup and singing at the Calypso birthday party, and fair enough. That's a big character development point for him. i don't hate it, though i wish there'd been more build-up to it, a longer conversation between Izzy and Wee John at least (insert obligatory "fuck Max" here) but regardless, if we accept Izzy's amputated leg as cutting off his old self and replacing it with the unicorn then we can arrive at a place where he's able to participate in a drag performance without too much cognitive gymnastics.

i've written before about the curious choice to have Izzy sing La Vie En Rose in French (after he initially sang it in English) at the very moment when Ed and Stede are having sex for the first time. On first watch i felt viscerally troubled by it, it felt like a validation of the obsessive psychosexual reading of Izzy's feelings for Ed. Looking at the season as a whole, it feels more like a (cringy, creepy, waaaay over the line) attempt on his part to signal approval for Ed and Stede's relationship. Especially when taken in conjunction with his (super creepy, like wtf who greenlit this) interruption of their breakfast in bed the next morning to make a ham-fisted innuendo. Weird but okay i guess, it's not like Izzy and social niceties have ever gone hand in hand.

many people point to the drag scene as the crew embracing Izzy and welcoming him as one of them. Again, i don't disagree. But, also again, this is not specific to Izzy. This is just what they do. They also embraced Archie with her snake-cult stories, they re-embraced Ed (who yes, they do love, refutations of arguments that they don't love Ed are a whole other essay though) and later they embrace Zheng and Auntie and also Jackie who once stole their savings jar and threatened to cut off their noses. That's what they do! They embrace people! That's what the show is about!

point four: the death scene

i have to be honest, i still hate this. i don't hate that Izzy died, i hate that he died in Ed's arms with Ed calling him his only family. That still feels unearned to me, and alas was probably another victim of the shortened season. But even with this extremely kind and forgiving death scene, the stans are not satisfied! They feel that the entire crew should have been gathered round, assuring Izzy of their profound love for him. There should have been weeping at the funeral, wailing and gnashing of teeth, rending of garments etc. It's what he deserves as such a beloved member of the crew!

except he wasn't beloved. He was accepted, yes. Welcomed, even. But acceptance is a far cry from love. Cheering as someone sings a song at a party does not mean you feel ready to weep at their deathbed or proclaim your undying affection for them.

yet even so, the crew are visibly distraught at his death scene. There are tears in many eyes! But effusive declarations of feeling from any one of them other than Ed would have felt (to anyone not convinced Izzy is the main character) completely wrong and very weird. You can headcanon what you like to fill the gaps in canon but on screen we have seen very few meaningful interactions between Izzy and any of the existing crew aside from Fang and Lucius and to a lesser extent Wee John. Izzy's primary relationship with another character is with Ed and so, as much as i still don't like it, Ed is the only one who has any real reason to be at Izzy's side as he dies.

as for the brevity of the funeral and the fact that they went straight from it to Pete and Lucius's wedding instead of having, idk, a prolonged wake at which everyone speaks at length about how important Izzy was to them, i mean. Obviously that wasn't going to happen. More than enough screen time had already been given to a side character who spent most of it either being miserable himself or making others so. It was time for the rest of them to find some moments of joy. As Izzy himself said, not moving on is worse.

in conclusion, i'd like to address the people saying that Izzy should have lived so he could continue his arc of self-discovery and sure, that would have been great--on the Izzy Hands Show. But OFMD is about Ed and Stede and Izzy had served his purpose in their story. i feel certain there will be copious fanfics to soothe anyone who feels Izzy was shortchanged.

on the show, though, he was treated in a very logical and foreseeable way as the antagonist who was able to see the light at the end but not necessarily to thrive in such a well-lit environment. Literature (by which i mean also films and tv) abounds with examples of this sort of character. They see the error of their ways but they are too stuck in them, shaped by them, to exist comfortably in any other way. They help bring about change to benefit others and not for themselves, that is the bittersweet beauty of their endings.

Izzy let Ed go. He embraced the softer parts of himself. He died surrounded by people who may not have loved him but at least accepted him as one of their own and felt genuine sorrow about his passing. That is a satisfying narrative end for a reformed antagonist! If you truly feel that he was shortchanged by it then you have forgotten what show you're watching and what sort of character he was.

Izzy Hands: not the main character, still an interesting one, absolute nightmare, what a guy.

[bweeeb]

BACHELOR PARTY

Phill Wenneck x reader

warnings: I have no idea if anyone reads about this, but Bradley Cooper as Phil is an absolute hottie and after rewatching Hangover I had to write about it. ¡¡BAD WRITING! ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE!!

Summary: Phil gets into trouble in the middle of his class when his girlfriend finds out he's going to Las Vegas after telling her not to go for the same reason he did.

I’ve always been a calm person. Actually, too understanding, beyond the limit. Honestly, I don’t even know how I haven’t killed anyone yet. All my friends had already been called crazy, maniacs, schizophrenics, and a thousand other strange names. But not me. Surprisingly, no argument in my relationships ever led to insults; I think that defines me as a person. And for that reason, just once in my life, I allowed myself to be called crazy. I’m only twenty, so screw all of this.

— Are you fcking kidding me?

I said angrily as I shoved the classroom door open. The heads of preteens turned toward me, and I didn’t care at all. My eyes were glued to him—his stupid hair, his stupid blue dress shirt, him entirely stupid.

— Sweetheart, I’m kind of teaching a class here.

— Hi everyone, I’m so sorry to interrupt your class, I’ll be brief. You fucking bastard.

I directed my voice to the students, who were looking at me with amused smiles.

— Stay as long as you want, gorgeous.

One of the fifteen-year-old boys said, grinning with his friends as they checked out my tight leggings and my workout top pushing my breasts up. I was actually training when I heard from Amber, a friend of Tracy’s—Doug’s fiancée—about his bachelor party. In Las Vegas.

— Hey! Shut it unless you want to fail my class.

Phil pointed his finger at the boys with a frown.

— We’ll talk at home, princess. You’d better leave before I get fired for not teaching.

Phil was trying to calm the situation, but I didn’t care. I was giving them some entertainment in that boring class.

— You’re going to Las Vegas this weekend, and you didn’t say anything?

I crossed my arms over my chest and saw Phil’s gaze drop to them.

— HEY!

I yelled, startling him.

— Eyes here.

— It’s Doug’s bachelor party. I have to go.

He gestured with his hands, and I scoffed.

— Fine, you can go and mingle with a bunch of sluts, but I’m not allowed to go to a bachelorette party?

— That’s not fair, man.

One of the teenagers shouted, and Phil rolled his eyes, running his hand through his hair.

— Shut the…princess, listen to me. Las Vegas isn’t a place for women; it’s just for…

— Sluts! Sluts, and you’re going to be there letting some whore sit naked on your damn lap, and then you’ll say you did nothing but play poker. Idiot.

I pointed my finger at him, fuming.

— And that was the dumbest thing you’ve ever said in your life, second only to claiming you were totally faithful to me. Did you guys hear that? Report him to the administration, please.

A chorus of “ohhh” echoed through the room, and I turned to the door, hearing whistles. I didn’t care—admire me all you want.

— How did you land a hottie like her, man?

One of the boys asked, and I glanced over my shoulder. I hope they all take this to their parents, and Phil has to get on his knees to reverse the situation.

— He fucked me repeatedly on his friend’s bed, who happens to be my brother. Don’t repeat what this idiot does, you fools.

And with that, I walked out of the room, hearing the murmurs grow into loud, uncontrollable chatter. Good luck, Phil. If you want to go to Las Vegas, I don’t care, but I’ll also be at my best friend’s party.

-------------------------------------------------------

probably or do a part two just because yes

[ltwharfy]

"The Amazing Rudy" and the Evolution of Rudy and Louise's Friendship (Long Post)

Rewatching "The Amazing Rudy" last night made me feel like I finally want to write a little (using the term loosely) analysis about why I love the final act of that story so much. (I thought about doing this during Roudise Week but was too busy with fics.) I think the ending of that story is so wonderful not just because it is sweet in itself but because it reflects one of the things that I love about Rudy and Louise's friendship- that it has grown and evolved over the course of the show.

A lot of stories begin with characters who are always friends, the origins of the friendships are unexplored or pretty simple ("they grew up next door to each other" etc.). Or you get stories where the characters go through one adventure together and are suddenly BFFs. Rudy and Louise's friendship isn't like either of those.

It seems pretty clear that the events of "Carpe Museum" are the first time they've interacted much- but they don't immediately become besties after it. In Rudy's next two speaking appearances ("The Unnatural" and "Bob and Deliver") he doesn't interact with Louise at all. And when the Belchers enter the juice caboose in "The Kids Rob A Train", Rudy introduces them to Beanbag by saying he knows them from school- not that they are his friends. And there are some moments in that episode that I think are really important for their friendship- in particular, the moment when Rudy tries to get Louise to give him the bag full of candy through the train window and she's convinced he'll take it and ditch her, and the moment at the end with Rudy's fake severe allergic reaction- and Louise's panicked response.

But I'm not interested in going through every moment in their friendship. (I mean, I am. Absolutely. But not in this particular post.) What I think is really interesting about Act 3 of "The Amazing Rudy" is looking at in relation to the two episodes where conflict between Louise and Rudy plays a big role- "House of 1,000 Bounces" and "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy". Looking at those episodes, you can see Louise learning how to better read and respond to her friend's emotions.

In "House of 1,000 Bounces", Louise leads the rest of the party guests in stealing the bounce house from Dahlia. Rudy mentions twice that he'd be happy just to do the spoon puppets, but nobody listens to him. And then he blows up at them in Ranger Jail. (And, I think it is interesting to note that he is not just mad at Louise, but at all his friends- "I didn't want to steal that bounce house, but none of you would listen!") Louise tries to make things right by organizing the play with office supplies- and Rudy thanks her for that. But she never apologizes to him for not listening to him earlier- and it seems like maybe she never even noticed he was unhappy until he blew up at her.

At the beginning of "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy", Rudy communicates pretty clearly to Louise that he's feeling stressed because he isn't going to be able to return to his dad's for two weeks; Louise acknowledges that, but then gets caught up in her excitement over the Blaster Bridge, leading to Rudy getting upset, her calling him a weenie, and him asking her to leave. It's pretty clear that Louise recognizes right off the bat that she screwed up- she's taken aback when he asks her to leave, and then there's the whole bit while walking back with Tina and Gene where she decides she can fix things (not that she can yet acknowledge that things need fixing) by moving the bridge. At the end of the episode when they are blowing up the bridge, Louise finally says the thing that she couldn't say earlier in the episode or in "House of 1,000 Bounces": "Yeah, well, I'm sorry I kept pushing you when you were stressed out. And I'm sorry I called you a weenie...And I'm sorry, I didn't just say sorry right away. I'm not great at that, maybe. And I'm glad we're friends." Admitting that she is not great at apologizing right away- or generally acknowledging others' feelings and when she's hurt them- is a big step for Louise.

I know some fans are kind of tired of "Louise learns a lesson" stories, of which "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy" is certainly one, but I don't mind them, if they are actually entertaining and if the lesson stays learned. After all, if a show is going to be on the air for over a decade, why not let the characters have some growth and development?

Act 3 of "The Amazing Rudy" shows that Louise did learn a lesson from "House of 1,000 Bounces" and "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy". In "The Amazing Rudy", without Rudy saying anything specific directly to her, Louise alone among the Belchers realizes just how stressed out Rudy is and why. There is some really great, subtle writing, voice acting, and especially animation, that shows that Louise understands that something is troubling Rudy more than he is willing to admit. After he slips up and talks about the food he ordered, you can hear her suspicion and concern when she asks: "What you ordered?" Then, in Act 3, when Bob is getting ready to drive Rudy back to the restaurant, you can see that Louise is paying attention to Rudy, keeping her eyes on him the whole time, while not saying anything until she proposes her idea about walking back to the restaurant with him. She is the only one of the Belchers to recognize what is truly bothering Rudy- which he may not even have been able to articulate himself: that he feels lonely.

Bob and Linda are clearly (and reasonably) looking at Rudy's situation from a concerned parent's perspective: everything will be okay if Rudy is back with his parents who are worried about him. in Act 3, Tina seems to be very much sitting at the adults' table (metaphorically)- worrying about Vicki's pants and if Bob has his keys. Gene's focus is primarily on getting back to his baked potato lasagna. None of this is to understate how kind the other Belchers are to Rudy in the episode- but at that moment, none of them are as focused on him as Louise is.

In "The Amazing Rudy" neither Rudy, nor any other character, says that he feels lonely or isolated- but its clear from the episode that that is one of his real sources of sadness in that story. He is a kid surrounded by adults who are kind of focused on their own stuff- the scene where they are waiting for their table is the best visual illustration of this but their are others- for example, the multiple conversations where he is in the backseat and his dad is in the front. And then when his parents and their partners are literally on the same level as him- when they are all sitting down for dinner, he feels that he has to be center of attention to make the situation less awkward. He has to perform as The Amazing Rudy (or Rudy the Illusionary Visionary).

What Rudy really needs throughout the story is a friend- and Louise recognizes this without him having to say it. And she not only recognizes the cause of his pain- she comes up with a way to address it, by going back to the restaurant with him.

From "House of 1,000 Bounces" to "The Amazing Rudy", Louise goes from ignoring-and perhaps not even noticing- that Rudy is upset because she took over his birthday party with her bounce house scheme to recognizing and coming up with a plan to address a pain Rudy is feeling that he does not (perhaps cannot) even articulate. And, to me, this doesn't seem unrealistic or out of the blue. Rather, it seems like a logical growth of their friendship, building on "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy", as well as other episodes, with plots or subplots about their friendship that I haven't really talked about ("The Hawkening"; "Bob Actually", among others) and other non-Rudy-focused episodes that show how Louise is developing to be a more emotionally aware person ("Flu-ouise", "Thelma and Louise Except Thelma is Linda", "Prank You For Being A Friend". etc.).

Rudy and Louise's friendship is not the focus of "Bob's Burgers". Not even close. I did the math once, and I think Rudy's in just over 10% of the show's episodes. But I still think that, with Rudy and Louise, the show has done one of the best jobs of developing a friendship on television- from classmates who didn't really know each other, to friends who are still learning about each other and figuring out how to communicate, to friends who can pickup on each other's nonverbal cues and know just the right thing to do.

And I love that.

(P.S.: Someday, I will be able to think about this episode without tearing up. That day is not today.)

[madlad-sadgal]

I got bored again, so for the third time, here are random things I noticed throughout my rewatch of Nimona.

As always, Nimona Spoilers!

To start off, a few people pointed out how the first time Nimona shows up on screen, we see her doing a graffiti of the word dumb. Also, rewatching some of the scenes, in the scene where she shows the new murder wall, you can make out the word "Nemesis" written over Ambrosius' picture. Also, if you look at the very top of the wall, we can see a drawing of Bal's prosthetic with flames coming out of it with the words "Literal Firearm" written under it. So, I rethought it, and realized Gloreth was probably the first human Nimona had ever seen (as far as we know), so Gloreth probably taught her to speak, write and read, except this was a thousand years ago, and language constantly evolves, and we can all agree that "From whence you came" and "Nemesis" aren't really phrases or words people seem to use. So, I think Nimona probably has some knowledge when it comes to reading and writing, both thanks to Gloreth and just picking up bits and pieces throughout those 1000 years, but she still has trouble when it comes to full on writing actual long phrases to create like an essay or something like a resume.

When she pins back Am's picture on the wall, we see a post it with "Disrupt the System" written and highlighted on it.

We get a hint that Nimona might be "Gloreth's monster" when we see a drawing of her in dragon form that kinda resembles the dragon we see at the beginning in the scrolls.

When Bal calls Nim a monster, there is literally a newspaper cut out on the wall next to him with his picture and the word "Monster" written on it.

We get a bit of insight on the type of pressure Ambrosius suffers from when we get back to the Institute. All the other knights seem to think it's his fault for not having stopped Bal from escaping, despite a whole horde of knights chasing after him and not one of them even coming close to stopping him from escaping either. The other knights, despite probably not knowing the full extent of it, seem to be aware of the close relationship between the two of them, putting him under even more pressure because of that small fact.

When the Director stops the fight between Ambrosius and Todd, she tells them; "Look at you, acting like common children." Reminder that everyone is fully aware that Bal was a commoner and is currently suspected to having killed the queen. She is basically telling them; "Those people are very clearly below us and one of them is a murderer and a villain, and yet you are acting like them."

When Am volunteers to lead the manhunt for Bal, we can clearly see him go slightly worried for Bal as Todd is talking about how he'll make Bal pay. He probably volunteered because he wanted to lessen the chances of Bal getting hurt.

Like I mentioned in another post, Nimona often tries to get Bal to understand that the Institute is filled lies, but not by directly telling him. She starts by giving little hints. One example of him is when she tries to tell him that maybe there's nothing over the wall. I talk about it more in this post.

Nimona's little pink streak in her hair

Nimona is quick enough to go up an escalator that goes down, but a literal knight who has gone through harsh training isn't.

Todd knows that Am's hair smells like lavender. In flower language, lavender is associated with purity, silence, devotion, caution, serenity, grace and calmness. That sounds an awful lot like qualities the Institute would expect a direct descendant of Gloreth to posses, doesn't it?

I'll stop here, cause this is starting to get long.

Unrelated, but I decided to watch Nimona with my siblings (13, 7 and 5) and they all loved it. The best part for me was that my homophobic aunt watched the bit where Bal and Am kiss, started freaking out that I was pushing it onto them, and then my 13 years old brother just commented about how she kept forcing him to watch her romance movies with her and was always pushing him to "get a girlfriend for them to meet" and she just shut up and left. Just wanted to put that out there.

Might make another one of these if y'all like this!

[rapha-reads]

IWTV rewatch

(this show and these books are insane and inspiring - spoilers for both seasons)

Season 1 episode 5 [A Vile Hunger For Your Hammering Heart] - part 1/2

- Previously... Trouble in the Unholy Family.

- Hey, did y'all notice that the intro card, the red sky with the skyline, actually changes? I was rewatching some parts of s2 and noticed that the skyline is different cities, but some buildings disappear from one episode to another.

- *wheezes* What the hell is this opening. Loumand indulging in some exhibitionism for Daniel while Daniel's going through Claudia's exploits. Hilarious. This show is a comedy, I swear. Holy shit, look at Armand's face, he's having the time of his life. And Louis doesn't give a shit, man wants his blood and that's it. Freaks. I love them.

[Daniel] "I'm trying to think of something more fucked up than this." - I don't know, what's going on in front of you maybe? *dies of laughter*

- [Rashid/Armand] "'And how is your work any different? Well, what do you think will happen to Mr du Lac when you publish this book, when the other vampires of the world get their hands on it?' [Daniel] 'As long as they pay full freight.' [Rashid/Armand] 'They will make their way to Dubai. They will scale the sides of this building, force their way inside, and paint the walls with his blood. You are chronicling a suicide. Do not look down on Claudia. Look in the mirror.'"

... Hey, Armand? Pot meets kettle. Don't pretend you care about Claudia. You could stop this any time you want. You're enjoying this, you're enjoying Louis' pain, you're thinking that the book will never see the light of day, that you're in control of the entire narrative, that you can stop this any time you want, that nothing will come out of this enterprise. You're thinking that if, if it comes to this, you'll get to play hero and "save" Louis' life again, and thus tie him even more to yourself. You're assisting that suicide, Armand. You just think that you're in control of the dosage. Look in the mirror.

- [Louis] "Honey and pineapple. He stuffs himself with both for days before he offers himself to me." - Lou baby I love you but you are insane. And also there are things you'd do better to keep in your head, actually. This whole roleplay thing is crazy. I'm imagining Daniel thinking back on these moments after he's turned and just going "what in the seven hells was that".

- [Rashid/Armand] "I care for him more than I care for himself." - oooh, did you guys notice that quick side glance Louis throws at Armand there? That line is Armand being genuine and Louis going "hey dear that's not in the script, what are you saying". Louis is done with both Armand and Daniel, he's being very bitchy and mean.

- What'd that bird do to you, Louis? Leave the poor birdy alone.

Aw, how the tableturns have turned, or however that expression goes. Now you're trying to get her to feed when you made Lestat's life hell refusing to eat yourself...

- Lestat reading and mocking Claudia's diary = Damon Salvatore reading and mocking Stefan and Elena's diaries (my first vampire show was Vampire Diaries, sorry, can't escape your past and all that).

- Oof, Claudia shattering the mirror and Louis being the cautious, angry one for once. Family's in trouble. And then the river of corpses... Oh, trouble, trouble all around.

- Ugh. Tom fucking Anderson is back. When does he die again because he's ugh.

- [Anderson] "Every single one of those corpses had some soft part of it lopped off. Finger here, a foot there... a toe." - yeah, I'm good with blood, but body parts? Claudia's trophies? That is actually stomach turning.

- [Lestat] "One each" - power couuuuuple. Look at them go! Unstoppable when they finally work together, and so in synch. That's what we like to see! Also let's just get rid of Anderson now, thanks.

- Oh, man, Claudia being drunk when the cops are searching the house, half comedy, half horror show. And then the real horror starts as she gathers her trophies. Ah, fuck, I had forgotten about the half dead guy in the closet. She craaaazy.

- [Lestat] "You wanted her, you fix her!" - when one of your parent tells the other "that's your child" when you do or behave in a way they hate. Classic parent stuff.

[Louis] "'We're doing this together.' [Lestat] 'Do you remember our life, how happy we were before her?' [Louis] 'Happy? We were not happy!' [Lestat] 'An anvil, tied around our ankles, pulling us towards the pitch-black ocean floor.'"

Ouch. You ever hear your parents fighting because of you, blaming you for their issues? Yeah... Can't say I blame Claudia for going off the rails.

- [Claudia] "Who am I supposed to love? You two have each other. Who's my Lestat? Who's my Louis? I'm not human. What human would want me? Perverts? Like the uncle at the rooming house who used to watch me pee? Or little boys? And 40 years from now... still little boys? How are you gonna fix it, huh? Which one of you gonna fuck me?!"

Hey, more of Claudia's fucked up backstory. 'You broke it, you fix it', except they can't even begin to understand what's broken, because she's right, they've got each other, even when they fight, that's Louis-and-Lestat, Lestat-and-Louis, they can't even understand why she's so mad and so sad and so angry. Kinda like when allosexual alloromantic people tell you, an aro ace person "but you don't love?" - bitch, I do love, I just don't wanna date anybody, thanks. L&L to Claudia: "but we're a family, we're rich and we're powerful, why are you not happy". Claudia: "bitch, maybe because I'm stuck as a kid for the rest of eternity while my mind and spirit age and I gotta see you two romance each other every fucking night while knowing that nobody will ever want to romance me?".

- [Claudia] "'I'm gonna go out there and find other vampires.' [Lestat] 'If you could find them, which you won't, they would shred you to strips, because you are build like a bird, because you are a mistake.'"

Bedside manners, Lestat. You know the worst thing, Lestat does warn here that she'd be in danger, but he does it in such a mocking, cruel manner that obviously she doesn't believe him and doesn't even take him seriously.

- Louis' dejected scoff when Lestat tells him he's killing Antoinette soon. These madmen are so bad at communicating.

- [Louis] "We made her out of remorse, out of selfishness." - ah, the self-awareness brought by a century of reflecting on your past. But what's that "we", Louis? You wanted her out of remorse, as your penance, your redemption for your sins and mistakes. Lestat made her out of love and pity for you.

- [Daniel] "'Poor dear. She wasn't held enough in between ritualistic murders.' [Louis] 'She spent every night for half a decade with no friends, locked in the emotional storm of puberty.' [Daniel] 'Look, Charlie Manson wrote a couple of beautiful songs. Still, he was Charlie Manson.' [Louis] 'Is that all you think of her?' [Daniel] 'Mostly. I also think she makes you and Frenchy look like a couple of whiny, existential queens. Probably why she's a fucking goldmine. The girl who moves a million books.' [Louis] 'I won't have her exploited.' [Daniel] 'Won't matter what your intentions are. It's the world out there now. She's the - the... single-shooter, Xbox, mouth-breather shit they crave.'"

Daniel's right. Look at us, we fucking love Claudia. She's a psycho, she's murderous, she's cold-blooded... She's our babygirl. She's our bicon. She's the moment. We love her because she's unhinged and feral and unapologetic about her pain and anger.

I love this writing, how it totally recontextualizes the whole story in the 21st century. Book!Claudia is disturbing, little blond angel with blood on her teeth, the eternal child with the wisdom and anger of a grown woman. Show!Claudia is pure attraction and mass adoration, the symbol of teenage angst with all of a lifetime of anger and rebellion. We relate to her, we the generations that have had to grow up so fast while simultaneously stunted, can't find jobs but expected to be way more qualified than our parents, can't buy a house but gotta be way more independent and resourceful and crafty than our elders. The whole world at our fingertips but completely unable to reach it, stuck in an eternal loop of doom and gloom as we watch the world burn without having the slightest power to stop it.

And of course Daddy Lou still wants to protect her from that, even in death, still sees her as his precious little daughter/sister who needs sheltering and safeguarding, even after she tells him she's not that kid anymore.

Well, that was heavy. Doom and gloom indeed. Don't think part 2 will get any better.

episode 1 | episode 2 | episode 3 | episode 4 | part 2 | episode 6 | episode 7

[piedoesnotequalpi]

92sies Crutchy, or: I Managed To Write About Newsies For An Actual Grade One Time And I'm Going To Make That Everyone's Problem

@chair-in-a-ditch, @make-friends-with-the-rats, and @echofive7567, ask and ye shall be received...or something. Disclaimer that I have no idea if this is particularly novel analysis; for all I know it's been discussed to death years before I joined the fandom.

So! 92sies Crutchy! You hopefully know him, you hopefully love him.

When I decided to write a paper for my disability studies class about disability representation in Newsies (i.e. about Crutchy/ie), I had to a) find relevant sources (surprisingly challenging) and b) rewatch 92sies and Livesies and take notes on every scene Crutchy/ie appears in as well as transcribe potentially relevant lines. Until that rewatch, I'd always had one question lurking at the back of my mind: why is Crutchy/ie the only newsie who bothers to pronounce Wiesel's name correctly? And through my research + reading an earlier draft of the 92sies screenplay + rewatching the movie with disability representation in mind, I found a potential answer that also explains (some of) what previously felt like inconsistent characterization.

Crutchy has no trouble being rough/rude amongst the other newsies/amongst peers - in Carrying the Banner, he fights with Mush and Blink; he's also one of the people who takes part in making fun of the Delanceys (albeit while surrounded by other newsies who would back him up in a fight and are saying worse things about the Delanceys than he is). Later, in The World Will Know, David argues against beating up scabs and claims they'll get a bad name for it; Crutchy cheerfully responds that their reputation can't get any worse ("Not only is Crutchy very aware of their already-poor reputation here, he's also happy to choose violence if it will further their mission."). Meanwhile (at least before Jack ends up in the Refuge), he is very polite to all the adults he interacts with, more so than the other newsies are: he is the only newsie who pronounces Wiesel's name correctly and says please when asking for his papes (even though he laughs at everyone else calling him Weasel), and he addresses Snyder as "Mr. Warden Snyder, sir." So, why the difference?

In one of the papers* I read as part of my research, there was a discussion of how well-rounded portrayals of disability can (and do) show how disability is not just due to impairments, but also societal factors (too many stairs, flashing lights, ableist attitudes from other people, etc.). Another paper** discussed the history of violence against disabled people (of which there is a lot) as well as how "viewing disabled people as being inherently vulnerable may cause them to be seen as 'weak' or 'helpless.'" Essentially, the way he interacts with adults is a matter of safety. In my paper, I argued that Crutchy's politeness is to keep himself from being a target for violence (which ultimately fails!): if he sparred with Wiesel, he'd draw attention to himself and potentially face consequences; if he openly defied Snyder, he'd be giving Snyder a reason to single him out in a negative way and potentially injure him further. Obviously the other newsies who do these things draw the same attention, but they are all able-bodied, which affords them a level of privilege/safety that Crutchie doesn't have (see above point about violence against disabled people being very common). This fear is verbalized somewhat in Livesies when Crutchie references the potential of being locked up in the Refuge, and obviously there he's only explicitly talking about his mobility or lack thereof, but I think there's a larger implication there of just not wanting to draw attention (and that being rude/sassy with adults while being disabled is especially dangerous, given that Livesies!Crutchie also pronounces Wiesel's name correctly).

(But Isabel, you ask, what about the sauerkraut incident? I'm getting to that.)

Going back to the quote about vulnerability, I think that ties into why Crutchy doesn't want Jack, or anyone, to carry him out of the Refuge - being carried would mean publicly acknowledging that he's a) not immune to needing help and b) vulnerable to being injured. Crutchy is for the most part treated as a peer amongst the newsies (and is asked by Jack to carry out multiple important roles in the strike, like starting a strike fund and carrying the news to other neighborhoods), and he probably does not want to lose that status.

Once Crutchy knows he's unlikely to get out of the Refuge anytime soon (and that his strategy of caution around authority figures did not keep him out of the Refuge (arguably, he was not being cautious when he was ripping up all those papers during the strike action, but see the above point about attacking when surrounded by people who will back him up)), only then does he try deliberately rebelling without the other newsies behind him: he steals a potato off Snyder's plate and spits in his sauerkraut. This still isn't open rebellion, though; this most likely happened out of Snyder's view. It is only once he is a) surrounded by other newsies, b) free of the Refuge/Snyder, and c) in a situation where the police are very clearly on his side that he is openly rude to an adult (the Delanceys don't count since they are close in age to the newsies): he tells Snyder to make friends with the rats, and gleefully slams the door of the police wagon behind him.

TL;DR: Crutchy/ie is a bastard (affectionate), but there's an added layer of calculation with respect to his personal safety that the other newsies don't necessarily have to make.

Anyway, those are my semi-organized, probably unoriginal thoughts on the matter. Enjoy, I guess.

--

*Holcomb, J., & Latham-Mintus, K. (2022). Disney and disability: Media representations of disability in Disney and Pixar animated films. Disability Studies Quarterly, 42(1). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v42i1.7054

**Ralph, S., Capewell, C., & Bonnett, E. (2016). Disability hate crime: Persecuted for difference. British Journal of Special Education, 43(3). https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8578.12139

[anonzentimes]

Hi there! I stumbled across your blog randomly, and I’m so glad I did. I’ve gotten into DR recently and I’ve been hooked on Nagito’s character for many of the reasons you are! I’ve already read a few of your analyses and I love them, it’s amazing getting more insight into one of my favorite DR characters from someone who really understands him!

I’m not sure if you’ve already done this, but if it’s not too much trouble, do you think you can do an analysis on just how fucking smart Nagito is? I think he’s one of the most intelligent and observant characters in DR2. I’m rewatching DR2 and bro lk carries the trials with his hints, a lot of times it seems he figured out the culprit before anyone else. That’s not even mentioning the entirety of Chapter 5!

Sorry if this is a weird ask, it’s an aspect of Nagito’s character that I personally don’t really see talked about too much (then again I haven’t been in the fandom for that long lol) I’d love to hear your thoughts! Thanks again for all your lovely analyses!

I’d just like to start this out by saying sorry it’s taken me a while to answer this, I like to articulate big stuff like this when I’m able to and less tired (at my best) so apologies for the wait!

Thank you so much! I’m really happy you enjoy my rambles, especially as someone who just got into the series! I’m honored to be told I understand him by so many people since he means so much to me. Your request actually hasn’t been asked before so don’t worry! I’ll try my best to express that Nagito is Really Smart, and god Is he Really smart.

I don’t know why he ended up so intelligent, but I like to believe that from thinking so much and forming his beliefs it caused him to be pretty smart. That paired with the obvious life experiences that his luck gives him, and just being born with that type of mind results in him being pretty smart. Honestly I want to say I think Nagito is a very emotionally strong character for going so much trauma and still at the end of the day being able to form a coping mechanism and live on, or if you want to put it into other words to be able hold onto hope despite everything. But of course, too much of anything is a bad thing and over time it becomes obsessive and unhealthy as we can see. He’s also extremely tragic in that sense as well. But anyways, that’s all just to say I think Nagito’s insane life experience helped him become smarter. He also seems to read as a hobby, given how there are an immense amount of books in his cottage. If I recall he also spends a lot of his time at the library on the island usually, but the books in his room are already enough to support the fact he reads anyways. This is to say I’m sure his intelligence is also helped by how he reads lots of books.

So far this has all been my thoughts on how Nagito became to be such a smart person, but now I want to talk about some of the things he actually does with it. For starters, I feel like there’s something to be said about how he through living his unfortunate life understands he has luck and uses it to his advantage. He views himself in a very negative way that isn’t entirely setting himself to the standard of the talentless, not that he’d ever be outright aggressive to the talentless, or with the talented to him he’s in this worthless middle ground. He’s low enough where he would criticize the talentless for being too bold or not being a stepping stone given the hierarchy be believes in, but he also isn’t entirely equivalent given he does have a talent. He just believes his talent is awful because it has given him so much trauma and more so killed everyone he’s ever loved, but even so he uses it to his advantage and uses it as “the one thing he’s capable at,” although he would never use it for selfish reasons given how selfless he is. This is all to say that he’s incredibly smart for not only recognizing this, but coming up with plans and ways to achieve his goals by using his own luck. It’s his thing, be believes it’s awful and by extension he is worthless himself, but it’s the thing he has and he uses it, trusts it, and relies on it whole heartedly. He’s able to achieve his goals by abusing his luck, and the plans he comes up with to use his luck to get an outcome he wants showcases just how Intelligent he really is constantly. In Danganronpa 3 when he wants to postpone the test because he wants everyone to be at their best, he comes up with an entire plan for multiple options if some of them fail to get what he wants to achieve. He knows due to his luck that he will get what he wants by following through with any of these plans, and thinks of possible ways he can get what he wants. In Chapter 1 of Danganronpa 2 he relies on his luck, figures out what to do, and plans everything out using his intelligence. His good luck directly impacts him while his bad luck usually impacts everybody else unless it has nobody to go after, so in that case his plan technically doesn’t work like how he hoped but he still got what he wanted in the end. Nagito is able to also entirely clear the final dead room easily with his intelligence, and again relies on his luck because he’s smart enough to understand how his own luck works to use it. The biggest display of intelligence probably is the entire suicide he plans out, I don’t think I even have to say much on it for the point to be conveyed that he’s INCREDIBLY smart for being able to come up with something so elaborate. Just like the things i’ve mentioned here, he trusts his luck in the process. But the way that his plan doesn’t work, the way that it fails unexpectedly is that Hajime despite being so conflicted is able to finally not put it aside and use his understanding of Nagito to put himself in his shoes, see the world how he thinks, and solve the case. He has to trust in Nagito’s luck like Nagito does, something that he couldn’t have accounted for, to solve the case. That’s one of the major reasons Chapter 5 is so amazing, we have to trust his luck just like he does to get to the bottom of things. Even so, all of these things are a testament to just how smart he really is. This isn’t even mentioning how he’s smart enough to know things about the case, help out, but not fully solve it for them because his goals center around seeing the ultimates shine and be more capable than he can be, at least he believes he can’t be as capable but his beliefs are what actually hold him back. He is incredibly smart and this is shown time and time again, he is a wonderful character and his intelligence is only one aspect that contributes to how amazing and interesting he is.

He’s incredibly observant as well. He’s more observant than he is able to fully grasp social cues, or more so due to his absolute beliefs it prevents him from fully grasping other people’s perspective and his trauma making him more numb results in difficulty coming off as he intends to mostly when he’s at his worst or coping. For this reason he is usually the outcast but doesn’t understand the true reason he is hated and just thinks it’s because of the factual hierarchy, his absolute beliefs, he doesn’t usually comprehend things that center around them not being believed or being factual and is conflicted or frustrated when things put them into question or go against it. I try to explain this and bring it up because he relies on observation of people’s reactions more than anything. He is extremely observant in general and he uses his observations especially in social situations to help himself. Even when he doesn’t understand the reason why or feels it is an out of place reaction because he doesn’t fully understand the other’s perspective, he can absolutely observe other people fully. This is mostly just an add on to everything else in my massive statement to express how smart he is, but I just want to mention how observant he is. It helps him with solving cases and social situations extremely often. It also is shown how absolute his beliefs are by how his observations sometimes confuse him or cause him to feel as if the hierarchy is proven right because he cannot see it as anything but fact because he is so far gone. Most people believe in the hierarchy subconsciously but he believes in it as fact and is more expressive and honest in general as a person. Anyway, again, just main point here is he’s incredibly observant.

Hopefully this is a good short summary or way to express how intelligent he is, if there’s anything more you’d like me to cover about his intelligence that you think I missed or didn’t summarize well enough let me know! Sorry again that this has taken a while. Side note: I’m just posting this without revising it much, so I may edit it later or remove typos but for the most part if there’s any weird wordings or typos sorry about that, haha! I don’t have the time to revise it at the moment.

Thank you for your ask!!! <3

[gent-ly]

Holy shit, holy shit, the first chapter is so so good!! Your writing is so vivid; visceral in the way you describe what Prapai is feeling and thinking, and I'm really looking forward to where this goes because in a way LITA left us a bit too quickly and there's a part of me that wanted a bit more lingering on the hurt!!

Payu's support from the get-go is <3. I loved seeing hints of how they have each other's back in the show and it was good to see Payu validating the need for revenge/still being the voice of reason to talk to Sky and sleep on it.

Umph love the evidence to Sky's handling it better - he's been through this before, so he kinda knows how to manage it, at least in the moments between flashbacks. Also that he's choosing to refuse to let Gun dictate his life this time. He's so... strong. And of course Prapai says that but you're showing it really well here.

Sky still being able to ask for what he wants (both emotionally and physically) felt like such relief to read and I love how much Prapai communicates in the moment and directly after. Like ofc he'd be the kind to run his mouth during sex, but its also so important for Sky to know exactly what he's thinking and feeling and just how much he's loved and I think you really captured that so well! And the aftercare in Prapai checking in and reassuring and the confidence that Sky expresses but also honestly talks about the intrusive thoughts. It was so good to read how 'knowing' the truth doesn't always stop your brain from telling you lies when you've believed them for so long. Thank you for allowing Sky to know and yet not necessarily be 'fixed' because that... feels really true to life.

Ohhh the last section with Prapai: "wears his anger to the gym" is such a good good line. So is "finds his anger where he left it, in the shadows of his bedroom wall" - I remember at the start of the fic hoping you were setting up a callback moment <3.

/sigh. I get Prapai's reasoning for not saying anything but... there's a part of me that wishes and hopes he will include Sky in this. But for storyline, even character reasons I can see why he wouldn't. Still, Sky's going to be caught up in the aftermath whether he likes it or not and it's not fair that he goes in blind.

The frequent mention of the bruising throughout really gets to me - Gun/his friends was so cruel with how much he kept hitting Sky. And makes me remember poor, brave Sky who fought and fought until he thought Prapai had something to do with him being in the situation (even for a moment). It's... very effective to help the reader understand Prapai's headspace right now.

The evening sun is gold and the light touches every corner of the room. There’s no space for shadows. No place for Sky’s fretful hands. No room for doubt of Prapai’s love.

This was so beautiful and beautifully written. I just wish (for their sake) that they could've lived in that a bit longer.

Thank you for sharing your writing. It truly is such a pleasure and privilege to read. Really looking forward to seeing where you take this and continuing to cheer you on!!

i just woke up to this and know my day will be a good one thanks to you! thank you so much for taking the time to write this and share your thoughts with me! it means a lot!

i am so glad you picked up on the callbacks and the little motifs throughout. every time i rewrite it’s too ensure the story is consistent, that these little details that matter to me aren’t overlooked. so glad my efforts aren’t wasted!

when i rewatched lita recently i was thinking throughout of the few times they reference some level of involvement with pakin and chai. for example how chai comes to phayu and rain’s aid because phayu is pakin’s best engineer. and i just thought, damn, that’s a lot of trouble they go to, to help out precious engineer’s kidnapped bf 🤔 and then his agreement with pai in the end that pai will race? like bro is already doing that? it’s not a big enough sacrifice for what they’re asking for, in my opinion. so i wanted to drag it out a little. i want to see how prapai and sky will act when things get serious in a way that’s kind of… bigger than them? idk. we’ll find out i guess haha. but yes i thought it was important phayu be involved because he seems to have the stronger connection to pakin anyway. annnnd i wanted more of their friendship!!!

it’s so important to me that sky’s strength carries through to this second incident. of course he’s going to be knocked back. of course his low self esteem and self worth issues aren’t going anywhere but boy was so strong after the first time… like he straightened himself out and worked damn hard at school and yes, a lot of it was probably avoidance of the issue but still. he did that, basically by himself. this time, though, he has the best support team in the world. which means he can move forward but he can take his time with it, too, because he’s safe enough to feel how much all this has affected him. do u get me? like he has the freedom to hurt now. in his own way, at his own pace, in the safety of a loving environment.

i am a sucker for good communication. i cant help myself!! but i think they’re a very honest couple anyway so it fits. but i suppose you’ll just have to wait and see what prapai chooses to do with his little secret. 🤫

thank u again for ur thoughts & support <3

[mirageofadesert]

Looking back on my first year as a c-drama fan!

This year I fell - first down a flight of stairs - and then (because I couldn't walk properly for a few weeks) down a rabbit hole of cdramas!

In total, I have watched 28 dramas since May. I actually finished 17 of them. I re-watched 8 of them at least once. My most rewatched show is Till The End Of The Moon, followed by Love Is Sweet and The Untamed!

Shows I loved

Till The End of The Moon: This drama triggered my hyperfixation, and I still love it so much. Tantai Jin became my new obsession.

Love is Sweet: This one surprised me because I don't usually care for romantic dramas. It made me more open to different genres.

The Untamed: I watched this for the first time in 2019, and now I can appreciate it even more.

The Sleuth of Ming Dynasties: It took me several tries to get into the drama because the political setting was too complicated. I'm glad I didn't give up. Wang Zhi became one of my favorites!

New Life Begins: I was just looking for something light in between and was quite surprised how much I liked the show.

Things I learned as a newbie:

Cdramas are an acquired taste. Sometimes it's worth going back to a drama that you initially gave up on.

To avoid spoilers, it's best to skip the intro and especially the outro.

I love my characters unhinged.

Apparently it is okay to share leaks from filming.

Never believe anything that comes from yxh accounts.

Shippers are toxic in any fandom.

C-drama fans are a bit older than K-pop fans, but they can be just as unhinged and have trouble distinguishing between how to treat actors and the fictional characters they play.

My ADHD is better regulated when I watch shows in a foreign language while reading the subtitles. I don't get bored watching TV, which is rare!

Shows I dropped, and what I learned from it:

Hidden Love: I still don't like romances that have no significant plot beyond the relationship. Especially if I don't care about the characters at all.

Back from the Brink: Sometimes dramas that start well become an unwatchable, rage-inducing mess halfway through, and it's not worth sticking it out to the end.

Beauty of Resilience: I'm a character-driven audience. If the characters aren't compelling and the story isn't interesting, I don't care about the show.

Ashes of Love: I hate childish FL with baby voices and naive personalities. I need better written female characters. I'm on my 3rd attempt to watch this show and I only have a handful of episodes left, so I'll actually make it to the end (eventually).

I've dropped a lot more shows and actually watched some to the end that I didn't like very much in the end, but those are the ones I learned the most from.

What will stay with me:

Tantai Jin: I'm still obsessed with this character. He is everything I need in a fictional character.

Luo Yunxi: This will come as no surprise to anyone who follows me, but my obsession with TTJ soon extended to Luo Yunxi.

Bai Lu & Sun Zhenni: While I appreciate both of them as actors, it's their fun and uninhibited personalities that made me fall in love with them!!

Costumes: I adore the detailed costumes and hanfu styles, and do prefer costume dramas to modern ones.

Food & drinks: I'm now looking into more Chinese foot now and how to cook vegetables in more interesting ways. I also bought "moon cake stamps"... so wish me luck!

New online acquaintances: I have made some new friends online who I can fangirl with to my heart's content!

What I'm looking forward to in 2024:

I'm really looking forward to Luo Yunxi's upcoming dramas, Follow You Heart, Shui Long Yin and Immortality (🤡). I'm also looking forward to Sun Zhenni's first leading role!

There are still many dramas I want to watch, but haven't found the time for. Like A Journey to Love, Goodbye, My Princess, Nirvana in Fire, Then Miles of Peach Blossoms and The Blood of Youth.

I'm not sure what else I'll post here next year. Probably more reviews and content related to my favourite actors. Let's see if something triggers my hyperfixation soon!

Happy New Year!

[thatdisasterauthor]

I re-read the whole Hunger Games series (and read Ballad for the first time) over the last few weeks, and I've also been rewatching 911, so now I've got this 911/Hunger Games AU stuck in my head, which I 100% do not have the time to write. So. Gonna ramble about it instead.

Firstly, messing with ages a little bit here to make this work, namely, bit more of a gap between Buck and Maddie, and I adjusted when Maddie and Chimney got together. Everyone lives in District Twelve.

So, first up, we've got the Buckleys. They lost their oldest son to the games when he was twelve. Maddie was ten. Buck was not born yet. Prior to losing their son, they were a relatively well-off family with Mr. Buckley owning a clothing store and Mrs. Buckley working at the shop and as a teacher. After Daniel died they basically fell to pieces and lost everything, having to move to the Seam. Buck was born two years later, on accident, and was never told about Daniel. He's always off getting into trouble, slipping through the fence, just going a bit wild.

At sixteen, Maddie marries Doug, who is eighteen. She doesn't really want to, but she feels trapped and doesn't know what else to do. His father owns the local tool repair shop, so they're better off than the Buckleys and Doug uses that to manipulate her. A year later, five-year-old Buck catches Doug hitting Maddie and just wails on him with a fireplace poker, which gets him smacked across the room. Maddie kills Doug by stabbing him with the poker. Chimney, their neighbor, hears and comes over. He immediately clocks the situation and helps Maddie get Doug's body through the fence and hidden. Maddie reports him missing and Chimney backs up her story, both of them swearing Buck to secrecy. Maddie and Chimney become close and a year later, they have their daughter, Jee, but they don't get married until a couple more years later.

The Diazs basically ran the coal business in District Twelve, making them the wealthiest family there. Eddie is a couple years older than Buck, but they meet in school and for awhile they're inseparable friends. But then, when Eddie is fifteen, his father manages to finagle them a move to District Two to run an energy company there. Eddie and Buck are devastated, knowing they'll likely never see or even speak to one another again. Once in District Two, Eddie's parents force him to sign up for the Peacekeeper Academy on an officer track. When they notice he's become friendly with a District Two girl, Shannon, the daughter of the head of the Peacekeeper Academy, Eddie's parents and hers arrange a marriage. When he's eighteen and she's seventeen, they have Chris.

Bobby is District Twelve's only living victor. He won when he was sixteen, in an arena that was almost always on fire. For awhile when he got home things were fine. He got married, had two kids. But being a mentor slowly destroyed him, pushing him into alcoholism. Then one year he got a pair of twelve-year-old tributes. On the train to the capitol he got very, very drunk and smothered both of them in their sleep to save them the pain of going to the games. It was all covered up, but in retaliation the president killed his wife and children. The only reason he hasn't killed himself yet is because he doesn't think he deserves the release of death.

Athena is from District Two, but serves as head Peacekeeper of District Twelve. She's pretty lax in her job, in a good way. Her husband moved to District Twelve with her, and they had their two kids there, but when they divorced he and the kids moved back to Two.

Hen is the local herbalist/healer, with Karen making most of the medicines. Chimney helps out when he can, getting Maddie a job with them as well. Hen and Karen have Denny and Mara, but both kids are a very well kept secret with only Maddie and Chimney knowing about them, and Buck when he's older. Hen and Karen are saving up to get them each a black market identity when they turn eighteen, so they never have to risk the games.

Cut to reaping day, Buck's last reaping day and Jee's first. He is eighteen, just shy of nineteen. She's just turned twelve a couple days earlier. Bad timing all around. When Jee's name is drawn the whole world tilts off its axis for Buck because he would, without question, die for his niece. The second the boy's name is called, Buck volunteers. His one and only thought is that he is going to get Jee home.

When Buck meets Bobby on the train, he is FURIOUS at how little Bobby is trying to help, and goes off on him about it, demanding they work together to save Jee. His protectiveness finally worms its way into Bobby's heart, and Bobby agrees to help. Once in the Capitol, they play the family angle HARD. It helps a lot that Jee is a tiny kid, and Buck is pretty tall, and he's well built from a year working in the mines.

After the interviews, Buck gets Jee put to bed and then goes to eat, only to find the last person he ever expected standing in the dining area: Eddie. Turns out, his unit has been stationed at the Capitol for extra security during the games, and Eddie managed to sneak in to see Buck. They talk and catch up and, for the first time since the reaping, Buck actually breaks down, admitting how terrified he is. Eddie tries to comfort him, but he knows its useless. Buck can tell Eddie's having a hard time with something too, and Eddie admits that his wife just died in an accident, but he does not mention his son. Buck knows Eddie's holding something back, but before they can talk more an Avox shows up to do some cleaning and Eddie has to bolt before they're seen together, and before they can say goodbye.

Once in the arena--an underground, multi-level maze--Buck's whole plan is basically to hide and wait it out, keeping Jee tucked away, out of the range of any carnage. It mostly works, except when the gamemakers do something to force them to move. But Buck manages, making three kills and getting them to the point where there's only five other tributes remaining. But Buck's running on fumes now, and when three of the five form a pack and corner Buck--with Jee hiding in a cranny behind him--it isn't long before Buck is injured and barely upright. Just as the deathblow is coming, there's an explosion above them and daylight shines in, revealing a small hovercraft with a dangling ladder. Buck doesn't think, just grabs Jee and practically throws her towards it, grabbing on as well. It freezes them and hauls them in as it swoops away.

Bobby is at the top of the ladder and hauls Buck and Jee inside, closing the port behind them, but before he can do anything else to help them he's forced to take up one of the gunner positions to deal with the other hovercrafts that are chasing them. Buck struggles to his feet and takes up another one, only realizing Eddie's the one flying when he puts on a headset. Eddie says they're in District Two, and with the help of Michael (who designs the interiors of the hovercrafts) they sabotaged most of the rest of the fleet. Michael, May, and Harry are in a different hovercraft heading to District Twelve to get everyone else.

They shoot down the last pursuer, and Buck passes out from blood loss. He wakes up the next day in a tent and proceeds to freak the fuck out until Maddie appears and flings herself at him, sobbing and thanking him for keeping her baby girl safe. They are, it turns out, now outside of Panem, in an abandoned area of what used to be southern Canada. Hen and Karen and their kids are there, as is Chimney. Athena is as well, having helped orchestrate everything with her connections as a head Peacekeeper.

Eddie and Buck talk, and Eddie introduces Buck to Chris, who is two. Eddie explains that he's known Chris is disabled somehow for awhile now, but he was TERRIFIED to do anything about it, because he was scared what the authorities might do. He was too scared to try and leave on his own, but when he realized Buck and Jee had been sent to the games, he knew he had to finally act, so he went to Bobby. He wasn't sure he could trust Bobby, but he'd heard rumors about the truth of what Bobby had done and hoped that meant Bobby would listen to him which, thankfully, he did. Bobby then went to Athena, who he'd gotten close to after Michael left, because they needed someone higher up than Eddie to pull it all off.

For about ten years, they all live pretty comfortably in the ruins of an old office building. Buck and Eddie get together and raise Chris. Maddie and Chimney have a second child, a son. But Buck never forgets his time in the games and every year when it's that time again, he gets restless and starts having nightmares about all the dying children. At the same time, he can't help but look at Chris and the other kids in their rag-tag little family (who are now mostly adults too, if he's being honest with himself, but aside from Jee he feels pretty separate from them due to having been in the games) and think that this can't be all there is for them. Growing up alone out here, never seeing any other people, never getting the chance to find loves of their own, live lives of their own. Jee has similar feelings, with added guilt for everything Buck had to suffer to keep her alive in the arena.

Finally, it comes to a head and they all have a big sit-down meeting, making the decision that they can't stay out here forever. So they decide to do the impossible: go back, and take down the Capitol to end the games and give everyone a chance at a real life. There's always been rumors of other rebels scattered around. They just have to find them.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand that's as far as I've gotten. Thank you for reading this entire long ramble if you made it all the way through, because I sure have loved playing with it in my head over the last week.