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johanna-swann · 8 days ago

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Bucktommy made me think about Eddie so: On Eddie, first in the context of Bucktommy, but then more in general because my train of thought kept rolling. Seriously, the Bucktommy part makes up less than 1/4 of this post, this is about Eddie.

Has anyone noticed how hard they forced the friendship between Eddie and Tommy? The muay thai kinda makes sense, Eddie was into martial arts before (see season 3).

But has Eddie ever before shown interest in watching fights and even getting tickets for them?

Has Eddie ever played basketball before? Chimney has (we've seen that in season 4), I think Eddie doing baseball in school is canon as well as Buck doing football (also in school), we know Bobby and 'Thena go on runs together and Buck has that bicycle hanging in his appartment, plus they all use the station gym. So we do get bits and pieces about them on the topic of sports. But Eddie and basketball? Seems random.

When did Eddie ever care about vintage cars? While living in the middle of LA he bought the ugliest piece of shit truck he could find back in season 3, the kind some asshole would buy to compensate for lacking in other areas. And now he cares about restoring old cars? Since when does he even have a second car?

Karaoke trivia. I'd give that a pass because it's a casual thing, you can check it out and have a fun evening even if it isn't usually your thing. But Eddie does not seem like the bar quiz kind of guy tbh.

They barely ever do anything with Eddie and then they slapped 4 new hobbies on the guy for one episode only to never mention them again!

I mean. After Bucktommy get together we never hear about Eddie and Tommy hanging out one on one anymore, Eddie's just randomly there in a lot of Bucktommy scenes and now after the break up we have no idea how allegedly close friends Eddie and Tommy handled that either.

(They also extended Tommy's monster truck hobby to being into cars in general and gave him a military background, but that's less out of the blue since he's a minor character we didn't know well yet.)

It just seems like they desperately wanted Eddie to be a part of that storyline for some reason. I don't know if it was to appease Buddie fans or to even hint at future Buddie. I'm still not convinced Buddie is something the show would or should go through with, but it is a theory.

Maybe they wanted to do something meaningful and not Buddie related with Eddie here but as per usual fucked it up. Or they didn't know how else to keep Eddie busy which is insane because there was so much else going on with Eddie in season 7. None of it was new (Eddie ruins his relationship and is still not over Shannon, fork found in kitchen), but there was stuff going on.

I feel like the show has no idea what to do with Eddie and it's not a new problem.

Maybe it's because Meddie didn't happen? They originally brought him in as JLH's love interest, but she wanted Kenneth Choi instead. And if you look at Chim's recent plots it's not like he has much more going on than being Maddie's supportive husband. Take that away and what's even Chim's deal these days? If Eddie was first and foremost meant to be Maddie's love interest then that's probably where the trouble started. There's more though.

The found family vibe has been weak in the last couple of seasons, but Eddie was never a big part of this to begin with. While everyone else has these connections (Bobby & Buck in their father and son dynamic, Hen & Chim's ride or die friendship of 15 years, Hen's big sister vibes towards Buck, Chim & Buck as brothers in law, Albert & Buck roommates, ...) Eddie has almost none of that? He and Buck are besties and Bobby has 2(?) conversations in Catholic with him, but that's it. He has more relevant connections outside the (core) 118 for example with his bio family (Pepa and Abuela and of course Christopher) or Carla. He bonded more with Lena in season 3 than he ever really did with Hen. Then there are of course his girlfriends who keep him busy.

Just like the hobbies that quickly appear and then even more quickly disappear again Eddie also has these issues that are supposed to be long term issues, but they're only ever brought up as acute problems. Allegedly he has these anger issues, but that problem is confined to a few episodes early in season 3. Neither before nor after does he ever come across as a guy who carries a lot of anger. Grief, trauma, guilt - yes, he carries a lot of that around and represses the shit out of it, but anger to the point of violence?

Then there's the ptsd. The panic attacks being connected to and brought on by his dating life makes sense if this is all connected to "the Shannon complex". But then the arch climaxes in Fear-O-Phobia where they randomly trace all of it back to Eddie's military trauma instead? They give us one (1!) episode to tell us "Yeah, all his military friends that we've never mentioned before are dead, so Eddie has a breakdown" and then they CONTINUE to never again mention his military trauma.

In comparison we have Buck. Him being impulsive and reckless and putting himself in physical danger in the process is a very well established character trait. He doesn't even seem to think about it and doesn't treat this as a serious issue. We see it several times over the seasons, especially pushing himself to the absolute limit after his leg injury resulting in him almost dying comes to mind. It's only in season 4 that we find out why he does this or how he developed this habit. There are also his abandonment issues which are obvious and brought up frequently.

Then there's also the Catholicism thing. Eddie isn't religious, he isn't even superstitious the way most of the firefighters are. But every now and then the show remembers that Eddie grew up Catholic and they bring it up only to forget about it for another 2 seasons after. With Bobby his faith is a constant, something that is brought up casually because it's a part of who he is. His faith is often shown but not necessarily the focus of a scene. Like after the lightning strike with the rosary. The point of that scene was how close Bobby and Buck are, it wasn't about religion. But they still built in a reference to Bobby's faith. With Eddie on the other hand his connection to the church is inexistent until it's relevant.

There are some constants to Eddie's character however. The two most obvious ones are being a (single) father and "the Shannon complex".

Single Dad Eddie is an easy one. There will be new developments, new topics, new struggles that evolve naturally and the writers don't even have to work on it too hard. Christopher is growing up and goes through changes, the writers don't have to make that happen. But maybe the writers relied on this a little too much? Because now Gavin McHugh has all but left the show, in universe his character has moved away as well and 80% of Eddie's character still revolve around being a father. I'm curious what the show is gonna do with that conundrum.

"The Shannon complex" was initially very interesting. Their story has so many ups and downs and watching them navigate their relationship in season 2 was exciting. (It also kept Eddie away from the rest of the team very early in his 911 career already, but at least it was exciting. Chimney and Maddie's story for example, while not having anything to do with the 118 in general, was still connected to the rest because Maddie is Buck's sister and Chimney gets a lot of advise from his friends. Then Doug's comeback also involved Athena.)

Anyway. They then had Shannon break up with Eddie for good and immediately killed her off. In the aftermath the show goes back and forth a lot between for one trying to convince us that their relationship was always troubled (Eddie's parents make comments, flashbacks in Eddie begins, Christopher and Eddie himself getting angry about Shannon leaving them) and on the other hand Eddie telling us how perfect and magical their marriage was, how she was the love of his life, etc. Now if 911 was a good show it'd be very clear that Eddie is an unreliable narrator. He feels guilty about the mistakes he made when they were together and that he survived when she died, so he puts her and their love on a pedestal.

If 911 was a good show he'd have to unpack at some point that he loved Shannon, but their relationship was never perfect and that she was a human being, not just this pristine mother figure who cannot be surpassed. He'd have to unpack how the toxic masculitiny he was taught plays into his idea of dating and family. He'd have to acknowledge that their story wasn't this epic tale, they got knocked up and had to marry because societal norms demanded it.

Unfortunately "the Shannon complex" has dominated Eddie's plot lines for too long. She was everywhere in season 2. She was the reason he had his minor breakdown in season 3. She was haunting his entire relationship with Ana in season 4 and 5. She was the reason he had trouble dating again in season 6. Season 7 gave us the Kim plot. Now she's the reason Eddie and Christopher are living in different states. It has officially been too long to resolve this issue in the 911 typical quick and dirty fashion. At this point they either decide that Eddie can never date again because Shannon actually was his one and only. Or they'd have to write a really good deep dive into this topic and stretch it over several episodes, but I don't really see this happening tbh.

So what are they going to do with Eddie from now on? Will they keep bringing up random topics that have no established presence in his life for one-off episodes? Will they keep dragging Shannon's corpse around? What will they do with Christopher? Even if the actor comes back for more episodes, what would be the point where Chris decides it's time to come home? Time itself can't be the deciding factor, it's been months. Recasting would also be difficult, how many child actors with CP who fit the bill can there be in LA?

Maybe this is the reason they broke up Bucktommy? Not necessarily for canon Buddie, but so platonic Buddie can continue to have more screentime? If they'd kept Tommy then they would've had to give that relationship more room eventually.

Maybe there is some truth to Ryan Guzman leaving the show after all because I honestly don't even know what else to do with this character aside from two ideas that are so obvious that at this point I don't think the show wants to do it anymore.

They could bring in his sisters, but since the show hasn't thought about even mentioning them really for 7 seasons now I don't think it's happening. Also Eddie was an army medic and he does work medical calls sometimes, but I don't think he's a certified paramedic for the LAFD? I have no idea what the differences are or if Eddie is actually a paramedic already? Anyway, both seem rather obvious, but the show never so much as hinted at anything. So I don't think they care.

Idk, I guess we'll have to wait and see, but I wouldn't be surprised if Eddie was written out. I think out of all the main characters his absence would leave the smallest whole in the show.

#911 abc #911 critical #eddie diaz #911 discussion #long post

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ultraviolet-cello · 1 year ago

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Alright since the @tristampparty is Well under way now I'm gonna do a little day by day analysis or details I like about the episode of the day, along with my usual art hustle :3!

Because this is going to end up being Super long we'll put this under a cut! [Spoiler warning for All of Trigun, primarily Tristamp and Trimax]

Tl;dr? I'm normal about how Knives is in Tristamp

So I'll be going point by point in chronological notes that I kept while writing abt this episode :] thank u to Mal for putting up with my rambles hehehe.

So the Seeds ships specifically are reminiscent, to me at least, of the Angel Arm (probably moreso the tristamp version which, can you believe, is incredibly difficult to get a screenshot of lmao)

That's interesting to me because it could be just a design choice but if it is an in-universe thing, it does,... imply some things about Plants. Granted, Independents probably weren't known abt when the Seeds ships launched, but is there another aspect of Plants that takes that form? And is that impactful enough for a human fleet to design their ships after that? Much to think about for something that's probably just symbolic lmao

Now for Knives! So a little bit of context that I will elaborate on as we watch, but I think the narrative is heavily biased against Knives when he was a child, and that we will get some recontextualization next season that's more in line with how we know him in Trimax.

In particular, I think the beginning flashback is possibly theeee most unbiased depiction of events because all the rest are specifically memories being told to others by Vash or Knives, or the whole memory thing in July. Granted it's still very Vash-focused but it gives us two major things.

Knives seemingly wanting to take Rem along with him. In Trimax, it's semi-implied that Knives would have initially wanted Rem to live and spirals very hard into telling Vash he hates Rem as a coping mechanism (which I will elaborate on if anyone's interested in my reading of those scenes), and it seems to be even more overt here.

He doesn't stop reaching out either until Rem shuts the escape pod/pulls the lever (Unclear on when that is)

2. From that scene, the only time we see Knives' face/expression again is when the escape pod is being like. Slung out of the ship. The rest of it always blocks his face and expression in favour of seeing Vash's far louder and emotional reactions.

and we just straight up do not see knives again until his big maniacal speech thing and that's,,, well we just don't know how long it's been since they crashed. could be minutes. could be hours. could be enough for knives to have had a breakdown and start laughing at the sky because he just doesn't know what else to do

i think (hope) season 2 might end up having a lot of the same flashbacks from knives' pov/an unbiased pov :]

Moving on with the episode: Roberto! I love Roberto a lot actually, he definitely grows on you. Something I did notice is that throughout this ep he says that Meryl and Vash would not last long on this planet which. That's interesting, considering he doesn't say that to Wolfwood, and yet Wolfwood and Roberto are the ones doomed by the (sometimes meta) narrative.

So when Vash is found he's been strung up by the Bad Lads gang (who have far more presence in episode one than I originally thought lmao), and he looks... a little dehydrated maybe, but overall fine.

The guys next to him, though? not doing remotely as well. Now while there is the possibility that he just got tied up later there's also the possibility that. While he does need to eat he doesn't need to eat as much as the average human. Which. is a lovely thought for the two dead guys. [Also a possibility that if Vash does need to consume less than a human, it could be another justification to himself for his eating issues]

The bounty! So it's technically Knives' bounty but whatever. [Sidenote: the idea that Vash and Knives look very similar is hilarious to me because they do not and never have to me] The particular notes are that Knives definitely had a hand in this - Vash is the only person specified alive, the bounty is obscenely high (compared to the other wanted posters), and it's specifically stamped with July Military, which. Well Knives and Conrad operate in July, and Conrad (by extension Knives) very clearly has a Lot of power in that City because he has the tower, that massive lab, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the ones who initially created the bounty/wanted poster.

This Thomas carrying co... coffins? Are they coffins??

Background wanted posters for B.D.N, Marilyn Nebraska, Rai-Dei, and some other characters from trimax/98. And also for Nightow. for 30 $$ you can bring in Nightow the Comix Artist dead or alive! Wanted for Couch Crimes

Roberto kinda fascinates me as a character, especially when he sticks up for Vash and suggests a duel. My friend Mal describes him as a tsundere for friendship and. yeah okay that works lmao. for all his,,, roberto-isms, roberto has a a bit of a moral streak (he gets maddddd when he learns that children have been experimented on, hesitates in defending himself against Elendira, and lies to the police to get information out of them). He's just a Lot jaded, and we're already primed to like Meryl because, well she's Meryl, but he tends to be right when it comes to Meryl's inexperience. i like him. It's also, come to think of it, possibly because Vash fascinates Roberto a little bit. Roberto really saw Vash and went "I gotta study this guy" lmao

Vash having absolutely Perfect trigger discipline lmao

OKAY SO THIS PART IS MY FAVOURITE. For reference I am a black belt in a couple different martial arts, and working to become a sensei in Goju Ryu Karate, so this sequence is delightful! Let's break it down :] The initial block is one we use to open up a person's body - if that arm is clear out of the way you can keep control of the gun arm in this case by just pushing outwards (And with Vash's additional strength in his prosthetic that's Pretty Dang Effective, especially because in gun situations you want to keep the gun barrel away from you, so you're taught to use two arms - Vash doesn't need to do that)

From there, he goes and grabs the guy's shoulder to pull him forward unexpectedly - this throws him off balance and shifts his weight onto Vash's, so Vash is taking all that bodyweight. From there, all Vash has to do is maintain his grip on the gun arm's wrist (keeping the gun away from both parties in case he accidentally fires or there's a misfire), then turn sharply and let the body follow through!

From there he keeps the grip on the wrist and twists, which sends the gun out of the guy's grip and out of danger. At the same time, he spins his own gun's grip and hits the back of the head with the barrel - Notably he lets go of the wrist, which, if he'd kept holding it, would break the arm. I'm not entirely sure which martial arts were referenced for Vash's style, but this is exactly the type of thing I teach! [For anyone interested, I practice Goju Ryu karate, aiki jiu jitsu, iado (sword), self defense, and general okinawan kobudo (weapons like the bo staff, sais, and nunchaku)]

okay i blacked out and am no longer in teaching mode. Vash's arm, when he picks up that rock, glows very very green

what does that mean? I have 0 idea, it could be that it's overstrained, or using more power than usual. I mean, he did rip a rock out of the ground.

Zaziecam birdworm heading to July from Jeneora Rock! Probably how Knives got word of where Vash was

This fucking scene. man y'all this scene HAUNTS me.

It's so. unreliable at best. this scene goes adult vash saying he has a brother into this flashback. knives says, in order, that "he finally did it", not to worry because the plants are fine, he got rem killed, and tells vash not to get mad because he's already his accomplice, and nothing else. now we Know that that's not the case because Knives directly adds in information in future renditions of this flashback (That Vash gave him the launch codes). Which. What else don't we know about this scene. Clearly it's been a little while, the fire is burning, and Knives had all this time to climb the tower while Vash was (unconscious?). I want to see it from Knives' pov.

Knives keeping a bunch of last run plant corpses as statues to.. remind himself of his goal I guess. I read Tristamp Knives as Trimax Knives taken to the extreme (will elaborate in one of the flashback episodes), so I think he's a touch uh. Extremely unhealthy.

And that's it for episode one! I hope if you read this you had fun and it wasn't too much of a slog to read lmao i'm just rambling. I hope you had fun if you made it this far :]

#trigun stampede #trigun #cli analysis #< i guess we'll use that tag :3 #tristampParty #uwuwuwuuwuwu im having fun #feel free to make me elaborate on things if y want :D

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tbhimnoteasyonmyself · 11 months ago

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9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know You Better

First of all, thank you Mickey (@thisautistic) for tagging me <3. Super thrilled that you thought of me for this!!

Now...

3 Ships You Like

1. Kimchay (Kinnporsche)

My babies. I want to protect them both. They're precious and perfect to be put in situations. A force strong enough to have me cooking a longfic after years of not writing a single one. Do I need to same more?? Absolutely obsessed 💜💜💜.

2. Pangwave (The Gifted)

Obligatory mention to my special little ADHD x Autism duo. Don't even argue that they're not canon, if you think that it's bc you missed very significant subtext, I suggest you rewatch this series. Pls and thank you. I will NOT take any criticism.

3. Sandray (Only Friends)

I knew from their 1st sex scene that I was down bad but their trailer sex scene just completely rewired my brain. Is their dynamic fucked up? Yes. Will they hurt each other along the way? Absolutely. But they're on their path to something better and I believe in them. Bc if Ray is deserving of love even after everything that went down then so are all of us. And there's that.

First Ship Ever

Larry Stylinson! (from One Direction)

Straight back from when I was 13, going strong! kskskskssksk I'm not so much there actively in the fandom anymore, but know that I'm there in spirit. sksksksksks Could never abandon the reason for so much change in my life! Good memories!!

Last Song Heard

Nooit Meer Spijt by S10

It's such a good song! I'm not Dutch or Dutch-adjacent but I was introduced to S10 by a friend of mine who's Belgian and I fell in love with her music ever since!

Favorite Childhood Book

A Fada Oriana (The Fairy Oriana) by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen.

It's about a fairy named Oriana that has to take care of a forest but one day, while looking at the river, meets a fish who talks her into neglecting the forest, which causes a lot of trouble. Then, Oriana, has to learn how to repair the damage she made.

It's a book about responsibility, consequeses, the importance of individual action and learning from one's mistakes.

Currently Reading

Património Cultural: Realidade Viva (Cultural Patrimony: Live Reality) by Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins.

It's a book about the preservation of patrimony in Portugal under the context of belonging in the European Union in the 21st century.

It's not a very interesting book nor scientific, just a summary of Portuguese and European laws for people who don't wanna read the laws (?). I wouldn't read it on my own but it's a mandatory read for one of my classes in my Master's so I gotta ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Currently Watching

23.5

I didn't know if I was going to but since GMM seems to be finally trying out more for the GLs, I feel like I need to show my support in this direction so I made the moral choice of watching as it airs to make it clear to them the audience for this is here and we want more of it!

So far ep.1 was super cliché and silly but I liked it a lot!! I want all the clichés for the girls too! Tired of seeing queer women suffer and die on screen...

2. 3 Will Be Free

It had been sitting on my watchlist for a while but I never gotten around to it for some reason... Nevertheless, my latest Wheel Decide™ for what to watch next landed on it, so... I'm watching it now!

2 episodes in only but I'm loving it a lot!! The plot's super interesting so far, really like the way they're going about it. Let's see where it goes!!

Currently Consuming

I'm gonna opt to mention the game I'm currently playing (besides Bloons TD 6, but I'm always playing Bloons, so... not news), which is Heaven's Vault by Inkle!

It's an extremely niche game, focused on figuring out an ancient language and, with it, the history of the world it's set in. It envolves robots, space travelling, discussions on xenophobia and religious intolerence and a lot more. I haven't finished yet but I'm loving the experience so far!

I understand it's not for everyone but I'm loving it!! <3 (not a Mickey D's reference, fuck Mickey D's)

Currently Craving

You know, I could go with bibimbap bc I really want some rn but I'm gonna go a bit deeper and say: after the terribleness of my last 2 relationships, all I really want is one that's not enirely chatastrophic. kskssksksksk That'd be pretty neat. kssksksk

So yeah... This was a lot of fun, actually!! I love to share stuff about media I like!!

Tagging @jukain4216 @lost-my-sanity1 @anthrotmnt @shannankle @defomin @aiyui @fiddlepickdouglas @tinysandwichstudent @sicknsadsicknrad @itsamzz28 @whomanist and any other of my lovely moots that hasn't directly been tagged but comes accross this <3.

All the love! 💜💜💜

#Mickey #tag game #tag games #get to know me

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just-here-for-iolaus · 11 months ago

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HTLJ S1E2 "Eye of the Beholder"

The great HTLJ/XWP/YH (re)watch continues!

This episode was such a lovely treat honestly. I had a great time!

We open on about 30 (uncomfortable) seconds of heavy breathing that turns out to be Hercules running from a group of women. Man is not having it.

There's no further context to this at all before we cut to the next scene, which I thought was funny, but it's then addressed.

Herc has arrived at a tavern of some kind and tells the guy there that "King Thespius wants every one of them to have a child by [him]".

50 women. That's a lot of babies. Also damn Thespius how many wives you got to end up with 50 daughters?

Would Herc's kids be like... demi-demi-gods? One-quarter god? We didn't get to explore that with his kids before they were killed off.

Androcles walks over and asks Herc what he's gonna do about a certain cyclops. The guy he was talking to tells Androcles to give Herc a break and then tells Herc that the guy is "a wet-brain" ever since "a run in with a lion"... Herc just shakes his head and tells him it's alright and to let Androcles talk.

I liked this moment because Herc is willing to hear someone out that seemingly isn't in high esteem. Whether it's because Herc himself has not been believed about things, or because he's learned that the local "loony" is sometimes right, I don't know, but I feel like it showcases a noble character trait he has.

Turns out the cyclops protects Hera's secret vineyards - which is enough of a reason for Hercules to get involved, so off he goes.

THEN WE GET THIS CHARACTER INTRODUCED!

No name yet in this scene, but played by the same actor that played the slave I liked in one of the movies. I was sooo excited to see him haha.

He encounters a cyclops who tells him not to walk through the vineyard and then KICKS HIM INTO THE SKY. (Presumably over the vineyard instead of through it?) Surely this would kill a man.

Naturally it doesn't kill him, though, so Herc stumbles upon the little guy hanging from a tree. He asks to be helped down, but end up falling down before Herc can do anything. He's introduced as Salmoneus, the travelling toga salesman.

Salmoneus is excited to see Hercules whoop the cyclops. (Though Herc does try to discourage Salmoneus tagging along, for his own safety.)

We get a brief scene where some guys (Atreus and two others) are trying to push a boulder into the river, to get it back on its course. One of them runs off when they hear the cyclops approaching. The other guy that's not Atreus (I couldn't tell what his name was - Haymander?) picks a fight with the cyclops and gets smushed into the ground by the cyclops's fist, which is a bit grim. Atreus runs off back to town.

We cut back to Hercules and Salmoneus, and Salmoneus is trying to figure out a way to rope Herc into his toga business (surely more for his own profit). Atreus and the first guy who ran off run up to them and tell them about the cyclops, and warns them not to go that way. Salmoneus says the cyclops can't hurt Hercules, but Atreus isn't so sure. They go on to explain that they were trying to reroute the river that the village relies on (after it was rerouted to serve Hera's vineyards) and says there's no other river they can make use of instead.

Atreus: "You'd help us? Are you serious?" Herc: "When it comes to Hera, I'm always serious."

Cheesy lines like that just feel so good.

I feel like Herc's hatred of Hera makes even more sense now that she killed his family. I got his motivation before, since she had been messing with his life already, but now seeing him just be like “I’m gonna travel around making trouble for Hera” feels really satisfying lol. She's just reaping what she's sown.

We then cut to the Cyclops eating in a cave. Some guy is being a little rude to him, but we find out that he's the one paying the cyclops to be mean to the people of the village (Traycus). We also learn the villagers haven't necessarily been great to the cyclops in the past, but the cyclops seems a little torn about this job. I did immediately think "ah, okay, he's gonna end up not being so bad".

We then cut to Traycus holding a party to celebrate Hercules coming to help them. Herc seems to be having some guilt about it, since he hasn't actually done anything yet, but Atreus assures him that everyone has complete faith in him.

Thespius's daughters show up and announce they're lookign for Hercules, who immediately hides and starts crawling his way through the party to leave. The villagers don't rat him out, and Salmoneus chats up Thespius's daughters about togas as a distraction.

It was around this point that I noted how nice it was to see Hercules smiling again so much in this episode. He comes across as so good-natured when he's smiling, and he was so upset in the last episode (understandably).

The next morning there's a brief scene where the woman from Traycus that Herc briefly interacted with at the party is alone picking flowers. The cyclops comes along, and she is pretty chill about it, saying the river and vineyard belong to him and she's not bothering him, but he gets aggro so she runs off. She leaves behind her scarf and he rubs his mouth about it.

We cut back to Traycus where Salmoneus starts giving Herc a bit of a hard time.

Salmoneus: "You sir, truly are the strongest man in the world if you can, uh- (gestures crudely and laughs before deadpanning) hold fifty hearts in sway at once."

Hercules: "All they want is my body." Salmoneus: "I know the feeling."

(I took this as Salmoneus feeling himself, and I LOVE it. I could also see this as being interpreted as wanting Herc lmao.)

The woman who had been chased off by the cyclops comes back to town and Atreus alerts Hercules to what happened. She says it wasn't an attack, exactly, and explains. When Hercules asks if the cyclops had a weapon, a male villager picks a fight with him, calling him a coward for running from the daughters of Thespius the night before.

When Hercules shrugs this off and tries to continue the discussion with Atreus, the guy headbutts him! Salmoneus encourages Herc to dent the guy's head, but Herc announces he won't play this game, only to get another headbutt.

What I didn't understand was why Hercules didn't defend himself here. And I don't mean, "Why didn't he hit back" but literally, like, why didn't he block or dodge? Make any attempt to avoid getting hit, at all???

I guess two hits was enough, though, so Hercules then headbutts the other dude back (while the town seems to be cheering him on to do it!). This knocks the guy back into a wagon of hay. The fight seems to be over, so Herc helps him up, but then the guy kicks Hercules (in the nads? It's unclear.), before flirting with the woman who encountered the cyclops (who we now hear called Scilla!). She's not interested and insults him, and then Hercules punches him in the face, knocking him out cold.

Hercules announces that he "really [doesn't] have time for this nonsense" which prompted me to write in my notes "What's the rush?". There isn't really anything else that's urgent on his list that I know of. I guess he just means he wants to help the village as soon as possible.

Scilla follows him partway and is trying to find out his plan and warn him to be careful. Hercules doesn't have a plan, and clearly intends to talk to the cyclops before deciding how to proceed. He asks Scilla to wish him luck, so she does before leaving him to his task.

We then cut to Hera's secret vineyard, which of course is run by slavery????

A weird guy we saw briefly at the party in Tracyus (I looked up his name just now, and it's - I shit you not - "The Ferret") is talking with the guy who the cyclops is working for (Castor). Castor is explaining how the slaves are making the wine that Hera's chosen people will drink, and The Ferret asks if the slaves (who are stomping grapes) ever have any issues with their feet, like diseases or open wounds. A valid question, one would think, but it earns him a smack.

The Ferret then tells Castor that Hercules is coming, which he initially disbelieves, but then laughs.

The Ferret: "What's funny?" Castor: "EVERYTHING'S FUNNY, YOU IDIOT!"

Castor is convinced cyclops will do away with Hercules.

These two are so intense and weird. I commend them.

We cut back to Hercules, who hears someone following him and jumps them. It turns out to be Salmoneus.

Salmoneus: "I wanna see you do cruel and unusual things to that monster."

Herc tries to convince Salmoneus not to hold grudges, and Salmoneus tells him not to be so preachy. He tries to get him to go back to town, but he doesn't want to, so off they go together.

We cut back to Castor talking to the cyclops and questioning why he has a scarf. He kind of.. bullies him? Then tells him to kill Hercules.

Back to Herc and Salmoneus in the woods, and unfortunately Thespius's daughters have caught up to them. Herc tells Salmoneus to run, and they both do, but Salm can't keep up and the girls swarm him.

I question how the women are traveling around in these revealing, mostly-white dresses with seemingly no posessions or bodyguards or anything. Don't you get cold? What do you eat? How do you sleep?

Castor then prays to Hera and promises that Hercules is about to die and he will bring Hera his head.

My immediate thought was "Dude, you are now overpromising to Hera. You are gonna fall short and die."

Some guy shows up and says if Castor's plan doesn't work, the Executioners will.

Herc makes it to the cyclops and there's a brief fight. Hercules overpowers the big guy, who then asks him to kill him and get it over with. Herc says he'd rather find out why he's always in such a rotten mood.

We then cut to them together in the cyclops's cave. Cyclops reveals that the villagers harassed him when he was younger, and that he got tired of it after a while. I felt bad for him and wrote "This cyclops is definitely a soft-heart. I hope Herc doesn’t kill him." in my notes haha.

The cyclops reveals he doesn't work for Hera, he works for Castor. Herc says that now that the cyclops lost, Hera and Castor won't like him, suggesting he team up with the village now instead. He leaves him to think about it.

Herc finds Salmoneus on his way back to Traycus. The women didn't "hurt" him, but they did take his clothing. Herc has the decency to check that Salm is not injured before laughing.

The Ferret overhears Hercules implying that he beat the cyclops to Salmoneus, and he reports this back to Castor.

Back in Traycus, Salm regales the villagers with a completely fictitious story about the fight between Herc and the cyclops.

Hercules explains to Atreus that the cyclops isn't dead, just that Hercules had convinced him not to hurt the village anymore. He even goes so far as to say he never intended to kill the cyclops.

Scilla calls out Atreus for bullying the cyclops when he was a kid, and Atreus calls her an ungrateful wench. Scilla calls him an ass and Hercules announces he's gonna stay to help the village fix the river (because he likes the idea of Hera's grapes dying on the vine).

The daughters of Thespius show up again and Hercules gives a speech about why he won't bed them.

Hercules: "No matter what you think, I'm not opposed to pretty women. And I'm not opposed to having children, but if I'm going to become a father again, the mother will be someone that I love. And I- I don't love any of you. I mean, I like to look at you, and I might even like to talk to you if I didn't always feel like I was the fox and you were the hounds, but that's as far as my interest goes. I hope you understand."

I thought the part about Hercules feeling like prey to them was telling. I imagine most of us can relate to not wanting to feel objectified and to have our own desires completely ignored by someone who wants something from us (sexual or otherwise).

It all feels very congruent to his character as he's behaved up to this point. I also thought that this was a clever way for the writers to leave things open-ended in terms of Hercules possibly falling for someone else in the future, and to avoid making Dei's death seem like something that doesn't matter to him by having him constantly getting into meaningless flings.

I say this without knowing where the show is going of course.

We cut back to Castor giving the cyclops a hard time about losing to Hercules. He guesses that the cyclops might have changed sides, and he says he hasn't decided yet. Castor tells him that the Executioners will kill everyone, and that he's doomed. Cyclops cries into Scilla's scarf. TT_TT

The guy who visited Castor before ("Chief Executioner", apparently) summons the Executioners by whipping the group until skeletons come out and turn into warriors. The chief then kills Castor rather unceremoniously.

We cut back to the villagers trying to push that boulder from before into the river. There's a funny bit with Salmoneus again.

STOP. I love him.

After watching everyone, though, he does eventually join in, in a sort of bemused way.

Salmoneus: "The first labour I’ve ever done!"

Cyclops sees them getting that big boulder into the river and contemplates things some more. He heads over toward them, but the villagers start attacking him (despite Scilla and Hercules telling them not to). Cyclops walks off, and Scilla follows after him.

Hercules tells off all the villagers, saying they "put the evil in him". The guy from before who was headbutting him then says the cyclops is probably having his way with Scilla (how would that even work? he's a giant) and Herc says she's better off with the cyclops than him, which was a good burn. He tries to attack Hercules again but Herc finally blocks him.

Scilla finds the cave and disavows the villagers' behaviour. They have a little chat and Hercules shows up to find out about the Executioners. Cyclops offers to help Hercules fight the executioners.

They arrive back to where the others are in time to intercept the Executioners. Their weapons aren't very effective against the cyclops, and Hercules performs about as well as you'd expect.

The villagers watch and someone suggests they should help.

Atreus: I won't die helping a freak! Or anyone who sides with one. Even if it is Hercules. Salmoneus: It would be better to die with them than to stay here with eunuchs like you.

Salm rushes to help, surprising the villagers (and winning me over even more.) Didn't love the use of eunuch as an insult but-

Scilla tries to grab an abandoned sword to help, but the Chief Executioner ends up taking her hostage and dragging her away. The cyclops sees this and goes to grab a boulder. The villagers assume cyclops is going to attack them, so they flee back toward Traycus, before someone points out that the cyclops is attacking the Executioners. They're impressed that Herc and cyclops are winning.

From my notes: Cyclops bowling the executioners hahaha. Somehow this wins over the villagers? Oh because they’re WINNING? XD XD XD These people are so stupid haha.

Cyclops trips the Chief, freeing Scilla. When the Chief tries to run off, Hercules... basically throws him? at the guy... squashing him dead.

Meanwhile Salm only arrived in time to help Scilla up. XD

The villagers want to know how they can repay Hercules for his help, and he says to be nice to the cyclops but Atreus says they can't. They've tried.

I love Salmoneus too much. He'd better stay likeable.

Scilla: You know, this man did something for you and me today that you would never have done for him.

The cyclops vows to help them live in peace as long as he's treated with respect. Atreus begrudgingly agrees to "give it a try".

Salmoneus basically announces that he's going to stick with Hercules (my heart, how I wished it was true!) but then the daughters of Thespius show up and announce that they want Salmoneus now, to which he agrees. XD

This show is so goofy sometimes and I am HERE for it.

This was a really fun and feel-good episode! It was nice to see Hercules more chilled out and happy, and Salmoneus tickled me so much. Looking forward to more episodes like this if possible. :)

#htlj #hercules the legendary journeys #the great (re)watch #htlj s1e2 #i didn't die so here's the next episode

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divinequo · 2 years ago

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⚠️⚠️Major s2 ep5 warning and analysis below!!! Scroll if you haven't watched ⚠️⚠️⚠️

@mooooooosicals

I WATCHED IT AND OMG I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY

Lovely :,)

(ok but the Parallel that they both (maybe both) tried to k*// themselves because they've disappointed their loved ones is wbhxehbxejxbjecjbrjb)

I know glam is probably just blinded by his distractions but out of context this is just hilarious, bro really said

"Yeah I'm choosing hoes before bros your point??"

I noticed this and I think it's supposed to be a parallel between this do and the guitar episode where Dee wanted to learn guitar but walked away from glam and his office instead, I've noticed people walking away/leaving glam is an ongoing thing within this show, which honestly makes me start to wonder if glams chosen family will also leave him (⁠・⁠_⁠・⁠;⁠)

Ok I feel like this is going to be ignored if I don't say it so can we just talk about how glam was Lowkey manipulative towards ches in this scene? Guilt tripping him to stay and basically saying "I was here for you when you weren't competent to do so, be grateful and let me do what I want with no problem" and he even showed a lack of care when ches did decide to leave him?? Really make syou question just how much glam actually cares about ches because this whole scene shocked me, how glam acted was just so so toxic in my opinion

also his petty/tired eyes are so gorgeous omfgggg

Step on me

I CAN'T HIM PREDICTING THE FUTURE AND THE UPMOST UNINTENDED SHADE TOWARDS HEAVY OMFFFFHHGGGG DBHBXFH

"call and win or fold and continue to Play" this absolutely indicates his ongoing battle between choosing his closet friend (glam) or his rockstar life, he's debating internally whether to call glam or not but knows its no use especially since to him glam subconsciously left him behind, him driving away was what he left glam was doing to him, leaving, walking away, he "folds" meaning he chooses to go back to his dangerous lifestyle and continue on with his self destructive (and as we've seen) even deadly habits and behaviors

The lights matching the drums in this scene makes it all even more heart wrenching :,,,(

(also realizing maybe those beats were supposed to symbolize his heart beat starting back up??)

I feel like the bar scene and this tie in perfectly, his mother says he showed everyone "he won" (when in reality he was rich, successful, famous, but not rightfully loved or showed his love towards the last person he cared about) he knows he hasn't won because he hasn't called yet, how hasn't he called?

GLAM.

Anyway I'm going to go watch the English dub now so I apologize if I don't respond :,) would adore to discuss more ideas and potential theories/things to analyze within this episode though!

#metal family #metal family s2e5 spoilers

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camillescreations · 1 year ago

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Has anyone else watched the leaked Archie audition clip from a while ago? Archie is the new female crew member we see next to Jim in a lot of scenes. I've seen one other person do a recent analysis based off of Izzy's amputation. But I just wanted to talk about it, too!

In this clip, Archie is obviously interacting with Izzy, who is likely laying down, Izzy calls her a cunt and twat, and she responds with some snarky remarks back, seeming to knock Izzy out with the belt lol. I'm not sure if every aspect of this audition will play out in the show, but it's worth mentioning. So there is a good possibility we will be getting an amputation scene. It's unclear who the other person Archie is talking to (not Izzy) is. I'm thinking it might be Jim, I think the line "Sorry, man, we got orders" would be in character for them. But that line is worth mentioning, as well. Who are the orders from? It would make sense for the orders to be from Ed. Ed wouldn't want Izzy to die. Whoever it is, the "chopper" must be someone with some sort of medical knowledge. But what's interesting is that Izzy says something along the lines of "just let me die." So has Izzy given up? Did he let his toe infection become worse on purpose? Or, if it's not the infection and another injury that mangled his leg, is this after he maybe realizes how hurt Ed is and he feels like he did the wrong thing, thus wanting to die? I'm dying to know this context and if it happens when Izzy has met up with Stede yet or not! But I'm thinking it might be before, like episode 1.

Then at the end of the amputation scene, the "chopper" says, "well that was um... that was intense." And then Archie responds with "Yeah, super intense...super intense" while staring into the other person's eyes! Sexual tension, anyone? And then Archie softly goes (i think this is what she says), "d'you want..." and looks like she gets pulled by her hand and goes with the other person. That, I'm guessing, is what leads into the next scene in the audition clip, which I'll talk about now.

So the next clip has Archie talking to another person (let's call them Person 2) not the "chopper" I'm guessing, who says "its not about you, specifically. It's about love. All love dies, I'm just hastening the process along. But I must admit, I'm disappointed in you (bro?)" I think the person they're referring to is the "chopper." I'm paraphrasing since I can't understand every word and I don't have context lol. But anyways, then Archie responds with "what happened down there, that was just for fun. That was just eating each other out. That was not love." Then the other person goes "it wasnt?" And Archie says "did you...aw man this is awkward...is that what--did you think that's what that was...?" Then the other person seems to scoff and go "no! (Unintelligible, something about love)"

Then a third person (person 3) chimes in and says " I hate to interrupt this amorous quarrel, but if you don't start fighting each other to the death I'm gonna have to kill all of them, so." (The " all of them" in that sentence implies there are more people in the room than the ones ive already mentioned) And Archie seems to wave to another person (not chopper or person 2, it seems like) and then silently mouth something I can't quite make out, but she seems to be saying she won't do something? There's some head shaking and stuff. Then who I assume is person 2 says "Look man, I'm not fighting Archie to the death, alright, (I'm?) just not--" Then Archie punches them in the face and headbutts them lol.

SO THAT WAS A LOT. I'm gonna give my best guess as to what in the world is happening there and who the different people are (btw, I have no idea if Archie is actually talking to one person or two before the person who says they're gonna kill everyone comes in. I'll touch on some different possibilities.)

My guess is that Archie and another crew member have a "sexual connection," and if Jim is the one who chops Izzy's leg off, then the connection is with them. That would make some sense, considering how close Archie and Jim are always standing in the trailer. Maybe Jim and Archie grow close in Olu's absence.

So then we have the more confusing scene. My guess is that Person 2 is Oluande or some other member of the crew. It could be Ed. Let's look at both possibilities.

So if Person 2 is Olu then he must have somehow walked in on Archie and Jim. Olu is hurt, since this means that Jim cheated on him, which is why he says that all love dies and he's disappointed in Jim. I don't know if that dialogue is all that in character for Olu, though.

I guess it could be Ed, and Ed knows heartbreak so that's why he talks about all love dying and stuff. And I assume he knows that Jim and Olu were a couple if he says he's disappointed in Jim.

Ugh I just don't know who is who! But now let me try to identify person 3.

My first guess is that if person 2 is Olu, then person 3 could be Ed. He makes the murder joke because he's still in his Kraken era and is mad at everything, especially things to do with love. But I don't know about this.

My second guess is that Person 3 is a villain, and that villain has the crew captured or something?

I honestly am so confused by this clip, it's so hard to tell who is speaking because the guy talking in the clip, the womans scene partner who we never see, doesn't switch voices or cadences for each character. It all sounds like the same guy talking, but it's obviously not. Well let me know what you guys think and sorry if this was confusing to anyone!

#ofmd #our flag means death #edward teach #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #our flag means death season 2 #stede bonnet #analysis #stede x ed

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sugarqueen-katara · 11 months ago

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Netflix Avatar: the Last Airbender review

So, I just got around to watching ep 1 and I wanted to share my thoughts. I'll probably do this after each episode, but I am slow at watching things so this might take a while.

To make this more fair, I'll review the show as a seperate show and then review it as an avatar fan.

Maybe minor spoilers ahead so be aware!

As an individual show:

The context was repeated many times in different ways - it was a bit overkill but as "a new viewer" it makes the situation very clear

the genocide was such an emotional scene and very well done, but a little "convenient" (Aang leaving to clear his head at the perfect time and all the airbenders being in one location at the same moment that the fire nation arrives)

the characters seem cool maybe? Don't know much about them ~ yet

The bending looks epic

Overall a good and entertaining introduction episode, interested to see where this goes.

As an avatar fan

the intro sequence being done by Kyoshi is an interesting choice. I love Kyoshi as a character, but what is her relevance to Aang's story. If they wanted to do an avatar wouldn't Roku make more sense? Also the narration no longer being Katara reflects the changes of how important her role is to the story (will talk about more later)

No major complaints about the scenes at the air temple found the whole a great addition to the story.

Ok let's address Aang's flying. So first we can all agree that it goes against LOK lore. However, the other thing that bothers me is it is not clear when he needs a glider and when he doesn't. If he could fly why does he need a glider at all?

Now for the water tribe siblings! Let's start with Sokka. Some of his jokes were good some were meh... He is just kind of a jerk ~ which obviously is also the case in the animation ~ so I guess it depends on how the other episodes explore his character and develop his arc

Now for my poor girl Katara. They fail to show her complex character. We don't get any Katara sass or anger. All we get is caring Katara. There is not this duality that we usually see with her. She was also robbed of narrator and basically main or second main character to the show. The animation sets her up as the driving force of the show, now she's just kind of there. ~ Also I wanted to address everyone complaining about Katara's actress being the weakest. So first of all please don't send hate to Kiawentiio (I saw really awful comments under her instgram post which is really no ok) - I'm not saying your not allowed to think this, but maybe don't spam it under her posts. Next, I personally haven't had an issue with her acting so far, if anything the writing probably needs to be improved. And for anyone who says she can't show emotions go watch Anne with an E to see that she can act and the issues in the LA might be with directing (maybe I'm just biased because I love that show)

Aang is ok... his fear of responsibly shows but his goofiness is absent.

Now I am not the biggest Zuko stan ( don't get me wrong his character and arc is so well done in the animation he is just not my favourite), but I feel like he is the one character that I enjoy and have no complaints about so far in the LA

There’s something off with Iroh can’t really put it into words, but he just doesn’t have the same effect with the lines he delivers (this is only the first episode so I’ll have to see if it gets better)

Now, since I am largely a kataang blog ~ yes I am disappointed with the lack of penguin sledding but more in a sense that it removes Aang’s goofy behaviour. Then again, this isn't that big of a deal. Also I enjoyed the change of gyasto helping Aang out of the avatar state (it gives a different vibe but I’m not against it).

Overall, it is 100x better than the movie. Is it perfect? Not at all. So far,I think the main problem is that they tell instead of show. If you are able to detach it from the original (which is hard for me as you can probably tell from the review) and not think about what's missing it can be really enjoyable.

These are just my opinions. If you don't agree no need to hate or argue✨✨ (I hope this isn't an issue since it is not on Twitter)

#atla #natla #netflix atla #netflix avatar #netflix atla review #avatar the last airbender #natla spoilers #honestly I just went justice for katara

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aenslem · 1 year ago

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aslkjdlasjf THIS GD SHOW, argh. i just finished season one, which i thought was a good idea, you know, finish the season before taking a break. *facepalms* i have those annoying things to do again (stupid household chores, every gd day you gotta do things), so it'll be a few hours before i can watch more, but i should be able to watch at least one or two more episodes today, so HOPEFULLY things will be a bit more resolved by tonight x'D

you were so right, there is so much happening, and i think EVERYONE on that gd ship needs a few years vacation after all this x'D

"married divorced remarried and divorced again and still having feelings for each other" asljdalksjda that is so correct, they are just that x'D

it's so fun, they're like "i don't trust him" pretty much all the time, and then Rush is like "so i had a dream" and Young is like "ok, i'll call General O'Neill" and they keep relying on each other so much right now, it's great, and Young risking the whole gd ship to save Rush, after having tried to kill him, what, twice already? amazing ❤

ah, yes, fanfiction ❤ it's so good at casting light on things from different angles, i love that, seeing characters and their motivations from all kinds of different point of views. though, you gif makers do that too and i love it, it's so great to look at different gif makers in the same fandoms and see how you focus different things.

right now i'm pretty exclusively reading McShep fics, but we'll see how that looks once i'm done with sgu x'D if you have any recs, please feel free to share!

btw, i've been trying to remember why i followed you from the start, and i'm pretty sure it's Star Trek, and specifically Spones, which, ALL MY LOVE! but i also want to mention how much i love following someone who gifs a lot of women, i love having more women on my dash! i never finished OUaT back in the days, but all your Regina and Swan Queen gifs are making me want to, and your Michelle Gomez gifs, waah, i do not want to watch CAoS! 😭 but you are kicking me in the butt about finishing Doctor Who too with your gifs of her (i sadly miss most of them though since i have it blacklisted for spoilers), i had no idea she was in it but man did that make me want to watch it when i found out!

okay, sorry that this got so long, even when i'm trying to keep things brief i end up being very wordy. so many things to say!

anyway, i'm gonna go do the things now, the sooner i get them done the sooner i can watch more sgu =D oh, wait, no, you posted something from 1x18 last night! i didn't look at it since i hadn't watched it yet, so i'm gonna go do that first! =D ❤

/Rodney anon

Oh don't be sorry , you can get wordy in my inbox whenever you like :3

You're fast! but why am I surprised, I finished 7 seasons of OUaT in a month lmao.

Well, imagine how it was for those who were watching sgu when it was actually airing, they did not have a chance to go and watch s2 right after s1, and you can :D so other things are not as bad as break between seasons of the show, but yeah, there's always things to do, sucks

askjhdaksjhd 'i just had a very interesting dream' scene is so good, and it so much better when you take it out of context lmao

well, they have to work together, they don't have a choice. you know how things were when he left rush on that planet, eli is smart, and eli was also right

but eli is still not good enough to do all the work, so no matter how much they don't trust each other, they have to work things out and work together and then finally going towards trust and comradery

well, at least they will try lmao

SPONES!!!!!!! SPOOOONEES! they are everything to me!!!!!

well, if you finish ouat and start caos... I am so sorry in advance lmao

I am not sure I can even explain what mess of the shows are those two, I have similar feelings towards both shows, I love the cast, I love some characters, I love women there, I hate the writers :D

Michelle is stunning in caos, there's also Miranda Otto, and they are like my moms, I love them, this show is worth watching just to look at them, but there's also... the rest of the show and plot asjkhdakjdh

same goes for ouat tbh, some characters are great and actors are doing such a good job and then there's whatever was happening in the show, but it;s still fun if you don't take it all seriously.

you will facepalm a lot and you will have an urge to rip your hair out sometimes, but if you try caos, I will give you two good reasons for it

that's it, think about it

okay, but you definitely need to watch doctor who, WATCH DOCTOR WHO!

#ask #Anonymous #rodney anon #oh man i suck at giving fanfiction recs #like i read so much and don't remember most of the titles #or it's all messed up and im not sure that title is from that fanfiction im thinking about lmao #well my first young x rush fic was stranger in a strange land and recently i read it second time and it's good i liked it #so im rereading young x rush fics right now and i will try to remember the titles and put them in my bookmarks #honestly i remember the title of that one fic not because it was my first fic #but because i love iron maiden askjhdakjdh

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sonkitty · 1 year ago

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Earthly Objects - Part 2

Continued from Earthly Objects Part 1.

This post was last updated 05/06/2024.

Dialogue Points

Most interactions will not have both characters touching something. Instead, the characters follow dialogue patterns for the other points.

They tend to go something like the following:

Hello

Questions

Names

Statement of Place (might just be an extended form of "Hello")

Foreign Language

Combinations of hello, names, and questions are common. Two questions might even be enough for two points.

...

Hello

When Aziraphale enters the record shop for the first time in episode 1, he touches the window of the door twice, and says "Hello Maggie," before the sound effect of the door closing completes.

When Maggie enters the coffee shop, using the doorknob, Nina says "Hello" while holding plates with cups and before the sound effect of the door closing completes.

Equivalents such as "Hi there," are allowed.

"Excuse me," the show's opening words, is probably also allowed.

...

Question

"Yes? Was that you?"

"Seats? Mr. Fell, where are the seats I dropped off for the meeting?"

"Who are you? Who sent you?"

"What are you doing?"

...

Names

Titles in place of names seem to be acceptable.

"I don't know why you invited me, Mr. Fell."

"Officer, I need to report a crime."

"Jim, I'll need eight battery-operated candles."

...

Statement of Place

“I’m here.”

“I’m back.”

“You’re back.”

“You’re in trouble.”

“Oh, we’re going to the pub! You never go to the pub!”

“We are at war! Finally.”

"I think you know why we're here."

Statements such as these seem to be regarded as a type of "Hello". "I'm here" is said by Gabriel once he's opened the doors to the bookshop and steps out. When Aziraphale says, "You came back," to Crowley in episode 6, the doors are still open and closed just after he says it. I can't tell if Saraqael is ensuring a touch with the ramp or a presumed miracle sound to remove the ramp. Regardless, Aziraphale himself is not touching anything, not saying a question, not saying a number, not saying a name, and not speaking in a foreign language.

When Shax says, "You're in trouble," the window is open.

The "We are at war!" line is after the doors are closed, but since Dagon is in the group with Beelzebub who enters with fire, that seems to be the acceptable form of an earthly object touch combined with this "Hello" from Hell.

This Statement of Place pattern is a slight clue to The Door Catch's hidden message of, "Here goes nothing."

...

Numbers

"There's only room for one of us in this lane, and it's not you."

"I don't go to the outside, and now I have two friends."

"If anyone asks, tell them we'll be back in five minutes."

...

Foreign Language

When watching the show in English, characters talking in a foreign language is, I think, touching an earthly object. It's significant enough that Mrs. Cheng never has to touch anything except a fan when she is at the ball and talking in English.

...

Groups

Blurs make groups harder to understand now that I know blurs exist and seem to have some kind of pass or share effect.

The story's going to go by some level of context with who is in the scene.

For instance, Saraqael saying, "Your beatitudes," and both replying "Yes" at the same time probably let Michael and Uriel count as "one" character at specific parts of the scene as required.

For something like the scene in the bookshop with the powers of Heaven and Hell, those groups are of 3 or more characters.

For that, it seemed only one character from a group is required to initiate the interaction on a group’s behalf. In episode 6, Crowley represents himself and the four angels who came with him. His shoes are not quite seen on the ramp due to the camera work, but he is clearly running up it with Saraqael's wheels visibly behind him on that ramp. Crowley does a hello and a question through an open threshold. The next touch will come soon but not yet.

Aziraphale says, “You’re back,” and then gets to represent the group of him, Gabriel, Maggie, and Nina.

Muriel, who was in the group with Crowley, closes the doors. Crowley touches Shax’s shoe while Shax is unconscious on the couch. As such, Crowley gets the earthly object touch on the couch through Shax or on the shoe thanks to Shax being on a couch. For all I know, he gets both.

Dagon, Furfur, and Beelzebub arrive. I think Beelzebub’s fire is supposed to be an earthly object touch for their group, and Dagon says, “We are at war!” If I’m right, this third group still needed an earthly object touch, possibly because the doors were closed by that point. Additionally, when Beelzebub awakens Shax with lightning, Shax ends up both touching the couch and having books fall on her, so she gets touches in as well.

...

Chains

Sometimes scenes will have multiple standard sets of points chained together or even having different characters earning their own different sets of chained points.

In episode 1, there is a tutorial for how complex window scenes are done. Crowley is experiencing things and earning his own solo sets in his anger with shooting out lightning from himself. Meanwhile, Maggie and Nina watch from the window. They are also earning their own sets of points.

To me, the most obvious chain is in episode 5 when Crowley interrogates Gabriel since both characters are ensured touches throughout so much of the scene.

Upon first realizing there might be a chain there, I thought that might make it one of the most real scenes to the story, even if Crowley might have an underlying intent to draw out his own demonic energy there. That also came from observing some basic rule-breaking that I'll note in another post.

Then again, maybe not. In that earlier mentioned complex window scene, there is a possibly fake blurry Crowley near a blurry car that looks more dark blue in exterior than black and is not used for driving away.

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Close-Up Touches

There are two close-up touches I do not fully trust but think most are supposed to be valid otherwise.

The first one is a close-up touch of a hand picking up Crowley's sunglasses. In the preceding cut was a fake Crowley who I believe was Aziraphale in an appearance swap. The next cut will also have Crowley but with two fingers to indicate a basic rule-breaking session is still active before a human passes him. You can read more about what I have to say on the sequence it is part of here: Post #10 (storming out).

The second is Crowley holding the cardboard box in episode 6. Once he turns that box over, his thumb is avoiding touching it on purpose. He has the index and middle fingers together with their tips. Meanwhile, the ring finger can be found on camera but is deliberately separate from the other two and not clearly showing its tip.

In both cases, I think touches likely happened, but those are supposed to be a way of the story telling on its own deception. Gabriel probably arrived with a cardboard box at least twice. In the first draft of the story, the message written on the box may have been different.

Another noteworthy third close up touch is the Metatron touching the gold "H" button at the end. If my play has any merit, he's making a mistake. You can find out more about what that mistake is here: The Pocket Chain Rainbow Connection Part 4: The Door Trick and The Door Catch)

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Crowley's Name

Crowley's name usage, or lack thereof, is just flat out odd in the whole story.

If there is a rule, it's something like neither Crowley nor Gabriel are ever allowed to say Crowley's name. No exceptions.

For Crowley, this theoretical rule applies to all time periods shown in the season 2 story.

Maggie and Nina are two other higher profile characters who never say Crowley's name.

For more on just how odd the usage is, please see my post here. Be sure to check my own reblogs to that post as well.

...

Players

I won't name everyone, but here are some characters that have some notable play styles.

Shax

In Hell, Shax never physically touches an earthly object in the present day until preparing the attack on the bookshop by using the microphone (I think). On Earth, again before the bookshop attack, Shax is always wearing gloves so never making skin contact with anything when she does touch things. She does touch objects with skin contact during the bookshop attack before the demons officially cross the threshold. She seems to avoid it after that. Then she touches the couch when Beelzebub zaps her with lightning in the bookshop. She allows a fist bump with Furfur. Otherwise, she maintains an often stiff posture in her shoulders that suggests a reluctance to touch things.

...

Maggie

Maggie's hands are weird.

See her pull her hands back as Aziraphale enters the record shop for the first time. She would have fully qualified as touching something right then with her cell phone, I think anyway...then she doesn't. Then she starts to talk and seems to correct herself by clasping her hands before talking again.

Then later in episode 1, she touches the doorknob. As the camera shows her entering the coffee shop, there's some kind of lighter white aura or something around her hand, and it's transparent enough to see just the doorknob. Things seem to change to an actual touch, then the transparency happens again without the aura. It might even happen a third time. I can't make sense of it. The story seems to count it as an earthly object touch nonetheless. Maggie's hand doesn't do that same thing in episode 6 when re-entering the bookshop.

When she answers Crowley at the threshold of her record shop, the left hand is shown to reach for the door and then fully hidden behind that door. The right is methodically decided to touch her hip at seemingly odd timing. I assume the story counts it as an appropriate touch. Nina will touch her clothes too, but it's going to look more natural.

As weird as Maggie is, I do believe her self-touch methods and other factors, such as Crowley looking through her window at the end of episode 6, mean she is human. She is a special type of human but human.

...

Mrs. Cheng

Mrs. Cheng looks ready to enter the bookshop without touching anything. It is heavily implied she's touching a pillar. Her transition into the ball is skipped. Overall, she is only ever shown holding a fan during her conversation with Mrs. Sandwich, when she is speaking in English, but otherwise never visibly physically touches anything.

...

Muriel

Muriel doesn't seem to quite grasp the rules of the game when they first appear on Earth. They receive some assistance from Aziraphale, then later Crowley during episode 3.

After some careful analysis of examining both Crowley and Muriel together, it is apparent that Muriel is far more than what they seem because they do know how to properly manage framing and using a pocket during a Threshold Trick.

I believe Crowley and Muriel are actually good friends who willingly altered their own memories while managing a way to maintain their trust in each other. My conclusion largely stems from Muriel's assistance for the Heaven elevator in The Bigger Thresholds Trick, their positioning during the last touch of The Pocket Trick, and the way these characters have scenes that bookend each other, especially once they return from Heaven in episode 6. If these two are somehow not friends, they are at least two people who have a deep trust in each other.

...

The Metatron

Even though this character does touch earthly objects, there is something way off in how he plays this game compared to everyone. It's like he's cheating without realizing it or the story isn't letting him play fully, just partly.

The camera will never let the Metatron show the full use of a doorknob. It cuts away before the door closes in episode 6, both times he enters. It also cuts in after he's already touching the doorknob on his first exit, then doesn't bother showing his second exit at all.

On top of all that, he is not shown to cross over the threshold from the street into the elevator. He's already in.

While trying to figure out the Rainbow Connection mechanics at work between The Door Trick and The Door Catch, I did pick up on the following hidden message: The Metatron makes mistakes.

So, his play might feel so off if he is making mistakes even before The Door Trick and The Door Catch.

His use of pockets is to keep his hands in most of the time and only take one out; thumbs are of no concern at all.

...

Gabriel

Gabriel gets away with breaking or bending the rules. He gets plenty of touches in, and yet, sometimes, he doesn't.

In episode 1, he just so happens to drop that box before the cut can confirm he was holding it before it dropped. He's holding that cup with angel wings that just so happen to obscure his fingers in ways I have to question once I know hands have their own complex mechanics. His arm just so happens to not be on the railing, yet so close to it when Crowley comes back.

There are two scenes, one with Aziraphale in episode 2 and one with Crowley in episode 3, where the characters engage in a brief interaction with no earthly object touches during the scene. For Aziraphale, it's after he's finished part of the Job minisode memory and admits that Gabriel used to be so awful. For Crowley, it's where Crowley stops just short of actually threatening Gabriel and ends the entire episode with, "It's always too late."

These two scenes don't stick out as particularly deceptive. If anything, they feel honest in their uncertainty. Perhaps they foreshadow the eventual rule-breaking session of The Final Fifteen.

...

Saraqael

I have a gut feeling that Saraqael is not an expert but at least a little more attuned to these rules than many other characters.

Their eyes suggest they know more than what they let on in episode 2. They say, "Shall we discuss this inside?" and might actually recognize Gabriel while just not saying they do.

Later in episode 6, when saying Saraqael is saying they could not find Gabriel in the building from past footage found in Heaven, they could easily have been lying.

They seem more likely to be an ally than enemy to Crowley but not by much. They seem more neutral when compared to the level of trust that Crowley and Muriel share with each other.

...

The Sideburns Scheme

Crowley's sideburn length changes in the present day are another game in Good Omens 2. In fact, the Sideburns Scheme is actually the easier one and a general Clue about the existence of Earthly Objects.

I found The Door Trick and The Bigger Thresholds Trick through the Sideburns Scheme before I found Earthly Objects.

I recommend checking out this post in particular that goes over tutorials for both games:

Post #10 (storming out)

Otherwise, I don't mention the sideburns much in this entire post series on Earthly Objects since I have a whole other extensive post and longer series about them. You can find more here: The Sideburns Scheme.

...

Rule Following

A fascinating example I've found of rule-following by Crowley and Aziraphale is when Muriel intrudes on them. I can’t fully explain the mechanics of the rules because like I said, I really do think Crowley is an expert at this game. Whatever is happening here is advanced stuff. I'm going to walk you through what he does to get this scene where it needs to go. He does it with style.

Before Muriel intrudes, Aziraphale had already made sure to have a cup of tea visibly touching his hands to start the scene in the room. Crowley poses to indicate he is touching a blurred stack of books in the room, even if Aziraphale's body obscures confirmation of that touch while Aziraphale closes the door. Crowley's left arm is shown as him placing a hand on his hip. During their conversation, Crowley's right arm keeps telling us he's still touching that stack and not moving away from it. Blurs, I believe at this point, allow a pass, and so this one seems to be allowing some kind of pass and then hold so long as Crowley keeps at it.

The story lets him without confirming that is the touch on camera. We are never going to see that confirmation. He displays his left arm and even says, "One fabulous kiss, and we're good," as if that's a clue he is allowed that one time to show that one arm until a certain thing is going to happen. That left arm returns to implying its previous touch as well.

Crowley has an earthly object prepared for the scene. He fully intends to give over those keys despite his grumbling. It might be very important that the car keys earn a specific point because they move the story along.

Ready for the pass, he has those keys in his left hand, skin contact and all, perhaps a little blurry on a camera from behind him, but still, he's got them.

Muriel opens the door, crosses past the threshold of this private conversation, and says, "All done?" No earthly objects. No hello. No knocking. We have an outright intrusion here! At least there was a question, but it might not have been enough due to what Crowley does.

Crowley pulls the keys back toward himself immediately. From the view behind Muriel, his pose is returned to match what it was when Aziraphale closed the door at the start of the scene even though Muriel's blocking the blurred stack of books.

Aziraphale's frustrated because of the rules. Crowley is going to do several things to handle this situation.

First, Crowley smiles and answers Muriel, then asks Muriel about being interested in humans being in love. That’s a question. Then he even stops Muriel from saying names. He's saying the names himself, so his implied hold with both arms might be allowing him to keep dragging out a lot of the dialogue until he gets what he wants. Assuredly, Aziraphale seeming to get quite turned on by this talk is about the love, but he's also watching the master of this game at work.

Eventually, Muriel brings out a notepad and pen. That's two earthly objects. Between both Muriel and Crowley, that interaction meets the requirements, regardless of the initiating question from the whole intrusion. Aziraphale has kept quiet the whole time though he at least smiles. Crowley's left arm readies itself for what comes next. His right arm is still implying the touch behind him.

Muriel's eyes move their attention from Crowley to the notepad. Spanning only a few frames after this shift, Crowley's blurred hand shows the keys for the touch and tosses the keys toward Aziraphale. Without checking frame by frame, it looks instant based on the notepad, not the eye movement from Muriel. He knew exactly what he was doing. There is a slight possibility that secretly trusted friend Muriel was actually giving him a cue, but I lean more toward that not happening myself. However, I do have an overall bias toward Crowley.

Aziraphale manages the catch, thankfully. You can tell he was nervous and is grateful. He winks. That gives one point to him for the keys in his hand and another point for the wink as a self-touch since he’s a supernatural being holding an earthly object. The pair need one last point.

Muriel's attention remains on their notepad for the entire toss.

Crowley's right arm maintains its implied touch throughout the entire scene, even after the toss is done. He does one last thing to close it all out. He gives a sour grimace to allow his cheeks an active touch on his new sunglasses. At least, I think that's how the sequence is intended to be.

So, my current guess is that the scene is three different interactions. The first is between Aziraphale and Crowley. They already had their points but the story doesn’t want just points (or, as noted, the implied touch may have allowed some kind of hold). Those keys needed a relevant pass between these two players. Muriel’s intrusion reset things, so that another interaction of three points between Crowley and Aziraphale was necessary.

Crowley takes over to be the one character to interact with Muriel, get them their own points without involving the keys in this intentionally isolated interaction. His precise timing is impressive. Then there’s the third sequence covered above (keys, wink, grimace). To help keep these interactions separate, Muriel should not see the pass.

Now that I suspect Crowley and Muriel are actually friends, the intrusion itself might have accomplished something I will never truly understand.

...

Rule Breaking - Basic

Likely Fake Crowley, who is probably Aziraphale, passing a cardboard box and no dialogue is breaking the rules. Soon after is a blurry figure who I’m guessing is still a fake. The figure picks up sunglasses and avoids an obvious plate of Eccles cakes. These cuts are likely part of an edit. There are two earthly objects emphatically not touched. Gabriel is nowhere to be found, but the more clear fake had long sideburns. In the next bookshop scene, the plate has disappeared, and the cardboard box has been moved. This post was already linked above, but here it is again, for more: Post #10 (storming out)

Crowley, Saraqael, and Muriel walking to the Heaven elevator is likely an edit because it also breaks the rules. There are no earthly object touches, no dialogue, and suddenly Michael and Uriel are in the elevator later. That one's probably obvious to others, but still. There were no touches is my point. There were floor reflections but no touches otherwise. Crowley didn't hop or run, and Saraqael never takes their finger off their joystick for their wheelchair. Muriel marched. There were even avoided touches in the cut right before it.

...

Earthly Objects Main

Earthly Objects Part 1

Earthly Objects Part 2

Earthly Objects Part 3

#good omens 2 #crowley #good omens #good omens s2 #david tennant #good omens season 2 #good omens analysis #good omens meta #good omens crowley #crowley good omens #good omens 2 theories #good omens theories #good omens 2 meta #good omens 2 earthly objects

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walker-extended-universe · 2 years ago

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WIndy Rewatch: 1x02

I know I'm a few days late but I wanted to keep it within the week at least

Just like the pilot, there are a million things about this episode that just Hit Differently in context with everything we know now.

Seeing Tom eye the butcher's tools and ask about the slaughterhouse has a whole different tone to it since we know he has a Torture Barn. Also, why does he have to kill the cow? Wouldn't it look better to return it and get the Reyes' good graces?

Hoyt and Calian's whole dynamic in this episode is so fun to watch. They don't like each other at all but they have a common purpose (and an outspoken bostonian) to keep them in check. And yet, it's not enough and they're at each other's throats for the majority of the episode. I love it.

TOM. IS. SO. SOFT! With Abby. No one else. I swear every other time he looks at her he's got this goofy grin and he's so gentle when he speaks to her, like he's talking to a scared horse. And when he talks about having a family! Just- hkaskfhsakldhfk

Hoyt and Lucia :(

Also I completely forgot about the horseshoe clue. Seems almost meaningless in hindsight

Lucia and Kai have a sweet dynamic and I wish we'd gotten more of them

Kate and Hagan are so great together. Kate does not take his shit and even this early on we get such a father/daughter dynamic with them.

Gus is so odd for me in this episode. I know that he becomes a very good ally in the end but in these early episodes, there's still so much speculation on if he's friend or foe and if Calian is right about him. And Calian wants to trust him so badly but he's also thrown by Gus' acceptance of Tom. Watching secrets and doubt start to break their friendship is painful.

The dinner scene!!!! It's filmed so beautifully. So many close up shots of the bottom half of Tom's face, the only thing Abby can notice about her husband's killer. And it's such an interesting dynamic here too. Abby is terrified out of her mind, sitting at the table of the man she thinks killed her husband, searching for answers. Meanwhile, Tom is having a much more relaxed time. He knows who Abby is and that she's lying to him but just looking at his face and hearing his tone, this is more like friendly foreplay than an interrogation. I wonder what this scene would look like if we'd gotten it from Tom's perspective.....

I also have to wonder if what Tom said about Griffin is true or if that's murder was just another case he was a fall guy for. Ruby, the white dove Gus speaks to later, seems confident that Griffin would never kill anyone, but what we hear from Tom is so different. I wonder.....

The scene at the bar at Hagan's! I know the fight is staged but it's still hard to watch the blame get immediately shifted to Calian. And the fact that Gus takes Hagan's word over Kate and Kai's automatically.... I'm sure that's protocol but he doesn't even ask anyone else or appear to listen to Kate and Kai.

Cordell leaving :(

Why did Gus have Liam's shotgun to kill Griffin?

Abby crying silently in the dark :(

How long was Tom lurking in the shadows? Was he waiting for Abby to come down and play the piano? What was his plan if she never showed up?

Tom giving Abby the lawbook is just- He KNOWS who she is and he KNOWS how much that means to her but she doesn't know that he knows and she's trying to hide it but he KNOWS

I love this show so much I need more like yesterday pls

#walker: independence #windy rewatch #s01e02 #home to a stranger

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7grandmel · 2 years ago

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Todays rip: 28/06/2023

voiceless (short rave remix)

Season 4 Episode 2 Featured on: MAXIMUM QUALITY ACHIEVED

Ripped by Maggie

"Donks" mix, from the full rave: (06:05)

youtube

Part of Voiceless Week!

Man, I miss SiIva's MAGFest panels. I don't know much of what's going on behind the scenes with both SiIva and MAGFest, but their panels during 2018, 2019 and 2020 were immensely fun to watch even just as VODs at home. And though they're yet to return since, 2020s MAGFest at least ended with something truly special: MAXIMUM QUALITY ACHIEVED, otherwise known as the SiIvaGunner MAGFest rave.

I'm sure I'll get to touch on the rave itself at a later date, so I'll just cut right to the chase of what we're talking about here: The rave-themed rearrangement of voiceless featured six minutes in, named "voiceless (short rave remix)" on its isolated upload. Similar to the feelings I expressed toward slideless yesterday, it hit me in a special way, in that it felt like a reminder of just how much voiceless meant to those who watched it on its release. Amidst these other tracks on the setlist, all bangers in their own right, I remember thinking it stuck out in a really nice way. It's not a banger-ified version of a meme iconic to the channel, or a YTPMV with a rave beat, but just a regular reminder of how much effort was placed onto voiceless itself.

Also, uh, yeah, don't worry, I'll get to elaborating on the Circus rips at a later date.

But hey, even divorced from the rave it was originally made for - this is just a damn good EDM(?) remix of the original song! Everything but the vocals are recreated with synths to give it a distinctly different vibe, almost as if it'd been made for Sonic Forces or something of that ilk, yet it still very much feels like voiceless. Despite using very similar synth instrumentation throughout, its layered in such a dense way to still make for a really engaging listening experience. And the vocals still work just as well here as in their original context, to where it gets my mind racing as to how many other contexts you could rearrange the song in and still have it be identifiable! In my eyes, this 100% lives up as a worthy alternative to the original track.

Now if only we'd get the whole track rearranged, Maggie!! >:T (kidding of course!)

#todays siivagunner #voiceless week #season 4 episode 2 #siivagunner #siiva #Maggie #magfest #christmas comeback crisis #circus rip #edm remix #Bandcamp

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mdhwrites · 2 years ago

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Do you have any thoughts on that Boscha and Amity confrontation from s3? I don't watch s3 because of lost interest but I look for scraps out of investment or just to see my faves.

The fandom treats it like a two exes fighting thing, I wonder where they got that idea from. Closeted boschamity shippers? 👀

Boscha smashes the door to the closet down before glaring at the crowd of people there. "How dare you hide anything about your queen!? Don't you know how incredible I am? How much better I would have been for Amity? In fact, I bet I'm great enough I could date both them at o-" "Oh, hey, Boscha!" "Boscha, aren't you trying to stop bullying people?" A strange, high pitched noise comes from the pit of Boscha's soul as she turns to look at Luz and Amity. She then takes a step forward straight into the closet, grabs the door and slams it back into place. She then turns to all the shippers and states, "Say anything and die."

So I've seen the clip and something about how Amity says "Boscha, stop, you're hurting me," rubs me the wrong way in a DEEP way. Other than that, it's a good scene and I think entirely understandable from Boscha's standpoint. I'm not actually even going to say it has to be romantic. It works platonically too. We have to remember for the context of the scene that Boscha and Amity were friends for nine years. Not only that but Amity is the only person Boscha doesn't make fun of. In fact, she seems to have been the only person Boscha was willing to delegate any sort of power and control too. Thus their interactions are usually more led by Amity, much friendlier than Boscha's interactions with others (even Skara), and it helps explain why Amity seems to lead their friend group despite how Boscha acts about loss of power in Once Upon a Swap. It also means that how the group acts was likely influenced by Amity. And, well... If the show is correct and they're just all bad people then that reflects poorly on Amity. Worse yet, Hooty's Moving Hassle pushes the idea that Amity hid whatever positive side of hers there might be from her friends (though, you know, still hosted the sleepover at her place for some reason. Almost like they actually were friends...). So the friend group's image of Amity is that of a controlling, cool headed, logical bitch (affectionately). Someone who pushed Willow way harder than any of them did with their own targets and was aspirational as the most popular girl in school. And then in the span of like a week, everything changed. You need to remember that the episode order is literally: Understanding Willow, into Grom, into Winging it. And that is the major pivot point for Amity's character and who she's interacting with socially. I honestly wish we had ANYONE'S reaction to Amity hanging out with Luz and crew at Grom since that should have raised some eyebrows amongst her friend group. But people might have dismissed it as a fluke or because Luz for some reason took Amity's place as Grom Queen. Maybe even blackmail to make it make sense. There's no way of doing that with the Grudgby match though. And that Grudgby match will be the closest she comes to caring about ANY of them again. So in the span of like two weeks at most, Boscha not only lost her best friend but had her entire reality shatter about what she believed in about her. What she had known to be true all turning to ash in an instant. No wonder she was willing to get so aggressive as to start losing control of her strength and actually manage to break someone's leg.

Worse yet is actually Sport in a Storm. Boscha is there. Alone. And not repping the Grudgby team. Now yes, the season might already be over (though that'd be an extremely short season) but you'd still think the captain of the team would be trying to recruit people and the like. Maybe even just forced by the coach to be there. But she's not. Almost like she's possibly been kicked out but wanted to show up anyways because she got used to being a part of events like this. Part of them... With Amity. Who's now got a book club going on. So when Amity comes back and Boscha is desperate, in a world so much scarier than the one she's used to, barely holding onto any shred of control and power she has been given by Kikimora and the other students. She wants a return to what she sees as better times. To times that made more sense. To times when Amity made sense. To when there was someone Boscha could trust enough to rule beside, if not possibly serve as a knight. Not that ANY of this is likely intentional by the show. The scene is meant to show Boscha's desperation but it's meant more to contrast against where Amity is now. A theoretical call to her past self WELL past when that would have been resonant in anyway. There's a reason why Sasha trying to will Anne back into her old self, the one who didn't care about people, hits hard because Anne is at the turning point of her character between those two sides. Amity had her turning points though with a weirdly flippant response in both Winging it Like Witches and Escaping Expulsion. Sure, there's drama to the statements Amity makes but a lack of a real reason to go back to who she was (unlike the obvious luxuries and comforts Sasha presents) and a lack of build up to make the choice seem painful or hard for Amity. It just came down to "Luz is in danger, I love Luz, so fuck these people." So for as neat as it is to have a scene between Boscha and Amity at this point... Too Little Too Late is a statement that applies to a lot of the elements of the show and knowing that Dana felt there was a pressure to have Lumity happen as fast as possible, it's not really surprising either. It was their number one priority, no matter how many character and plot threads went fallow during the pursuit of it. And that includes any chance for something truly meaningful with Boscha.

Adding a reminder that I do have Lumischa works that explore Boscha a lot. A Future for Lumischa does a bit of it with them as adults while The Power of Love does it mostly from the perspective of between S1 and 2.

#Boscha #Amity #Rambles #Lumischa #Briefly

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nyarmand · 2 years ago

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Why I Like Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Yes, This Includes Rebellion)

I actually highly recommend people who haven't seen it but are shunning it based solely on what they've heard to read this. I'd say 'if they don't mind spoilers' but I get the feeling most if not all of them have already gotten all the spoilers without the proper context. Anyway, yeah. I have a lot to say about this show.

Let me just say right off the bat that no, I do not like Gen Urobuchi. He's done some truly horrifying things. I do not believe Puella Magi Madoka Magica to be one of those things; however, if someone is turned off from watching it due to his involvement I have no issue with that.

On to address the biggest argument I tend to see against this show.

"It's torture porn!"/"It's just a bunch of teenage girls suffering for twelve episodes!"/And so forth.

I feel like there's a double standard here. For example, there's another show I like called Hunter x Hunter. Hunter x Hunter has an extremely long arc generally referred to as the Chimera Ant arc.

Now, the Chimera Ant arc involves a lot of fucked up things. It's many chapters and many episodes of Gon and Killua, who are around 14 or 15 at the time, going through absolutely horrific trauma. This includes: all but watching a mentor figure die in front of them; fighting inhuman creatures, many of whom used to be human; being put into life-and-death situations by people who evidently don't care that much about their wellbeing; fighting amongst themselves; being driven to the brink of despair and becoming something truly horrifying and wanting nothing more than revenge; and almost dying many times.

These elements I listed... are some of the main things I see people complain about with regards to Madoka Magica.

Yet I have never once seen anyone call Hunter x Hunter torture porn. Not even the Chimera Ant arc specifically. I'm not saying that that never happens, but I've never seen it personally, and I certainly doubt it happens to the degree it does with regards to Madoka Magica. And the Chimera Ant arc is much, much longer. It is drawn out and horrible and gutwrenching and honestly, at some points, genuinely sickening.

So I can't help but wonder, why the double standard? To give people the benefit of the doubt, I tend to assume it's one or both of the following:

Madoka Magica is a magical girl show, which is not a genre you would typically expect such dark content. (Or, at least, it wasn't.)

It's because Gen Urobuchi is involved, and his other works cast a (fully justified) negative light on this one. Again, if this is your problem with it that is your prerogative and I do not blame you. But I actually rarely see people bring that up.

If I'm being less generous, I could say that perhaps it's some form of misogyny--that since the main characters of Madoka Magica are girls, it's worse and more unforgivable than it is for boy characters to go through similar things. (Because girls apparently can't handle trauma like boys can, or something? I don't claim to understand the reasoning behind it.) But I doubt that's actually the case in most situations, though I wouldn't be surprised if it was in a few.

Though really, if people want to complain about magical girl torture porn, Mahou Shoujo Site is right there. (God, I hate Mahou Shoujo Site.)

But that's enough with the rebuttals. I'm here to talk about why I personally like it.

Quality

I mean, come on. In terms of technical skill, this show has so much going for it. Outside of the occasional awkward moment (as showcased in the famous Meduka Meguca), the animation is stunning, particularly in the witch's labyrinths. The music is amazing and adds so much to each scene--some songs that played in particularly heartwrenching scenes still make me sad just to listen to. In my personal opinion, the voice acting in both the Japanese and English dubs is fantastic. (Though I know that's subjective for a lot of people.) The storyline is concise and does what it needs to do without padding things out or feeling rushed. Even the recap movies are worth watching for the new material they offer, to say noting of Rebellion. So much symbolism is packed into it without feeling forced (okay, except maybe for the 'Love Me Do' bit; that one felt a little excessive)--it's just something fun to think about. Hell, they came up with the runes system when they really didn't have to, and it's a great touch. On a purely technical level, I think Madoka Magica is amazing.

(General) Lack of Sexualization

Magical girl series are scary because they are a haven of fun costumes but also at high risk of oversexualizing teenage girls. I'd say it's the second worst genre in that regard. Although it's not perfect, particularly in regards to some of Mami's portrayal, Madoka Magica tends to steer away from sexualizing its characters. (Magia Record, on the other hand, went full tilt into that, which is a major factor when it comes to how much I despise it.) It does have some troubling moments, and honestly whoever animated the opening for the original show should come meet up with me some time (I just want to talk, I swear...) but I appreciate its general avoidance of the problem. (Also, the long transformation sequence in Rebellion not having a single moment of that at all is soooo refreshing. I love magical girl transformations. Right up until they start making the characters naked. Looking at you again, Magia Record... and like ten thousand other shows on top of that.)

Characters

My god. My god. I adore the characters. All five of the main girls feel so real to me, and they subvert expectations brilliantly. That calm, collected mentor figure? She's horribly lonely and acts like that because it makes her seem a lot stronger than she feels. The 'hero of justice'? So focused on her ideals that she doesn't see the truth of the matter until it's already too late. The selfish rival? Traumatized from her own time trying to be a hero and the horrible consequences. The cool, mysterious girl? An anxious kid trying to protect her only friend (and/or crush). And unlike a lot of magical girl shows, the main protagonist isn't a leader at all--she's just a normal kid watching her life fall apart around her and trying desperately to figure out what to do even as everything seems completely hopeless.

The character development feels genuine, and not just that--this show's portrayal of mental health issues is something I'm never going to forget. I watched it for the first time when I was the same age as the main characters and hadn't yet realized just how bad my own issues were, and I felt seen in a way I didn't fully understand myself. The scene where Madoka bursts into tears at breakfast because she's just realized the danger she was in and is grateful to be alive to eat breakfast with her family is heartwrenching. Kyouko and Homura closing themselves off to the world because their painful experiences have left them feeling like they can't rely on anyone else is horribly believable. Mami hiding her loneliness behind the façade of a cheerful, cool big sister figure is painful. And Sayaka. My god, Sayaka. I'll get into her in the next section.

Witches as a Metaphor for Depression

So, this is pretty obvious. I mean, it's despair that makes a magical girl turn into a witch. The things a witch leaves behind are literally called Grief Seeds. But it feels so true to life even outside of that. Watching Sayaka's ideals, hopes, and dreams get crushed and her subsequent spiral is something I've seen multiple other people talk about relating to in the same way I did. Sayaka is perhaps the most relatable character in the show for someone with depression. She starts out as a confident, cheerful, idealistic girl, and then the real world hits her. The world where there are truly horrible people who do awful things for no reason (the men on the train, for example). The world where good deeds don't necessarily get rewarded and good intentions don't make everything turn out okay. The world where sometimes things just suck and no amount of ideals can change that.

As her Soul Gem gets corrupted, it becomes more and more similar to severe depression. She experiences fatigue and dissociation and hopelessness, and she lashes out at her best friend for not being in her shoes even as she knows what she's doing is wrong--she runs away crying in the rain afterwards beating herself up over it. And at the end, when she reaches a point of absolute despair and no longer holds any of the ideals she once had, having become disillusioned with reality, she implodes. She draws into herself and creates a world of the things she loves, and attacks Madoka and Kyouko when they try to bring her out of it. She gives up entirely on the world and on herself. And supernatural influences or not, that's something a lot of people with severe depression can relate to.

But it doesn't stop there.

Rebellion And Its Inevitability

I've seen people talk about how they think Rebellion was out of character and unbelievable, but I have to disagree with that perspective. Rebellion is horribly believable, and despite the relative happiness of the main show's ending for everyone else (Madoka's speech about how people should hold on to hope and keep trying even when things seem impossible still brings tears to my eyes), Homura never really got any closure, and it's honestly not a surprise to me that things turned out how they did. I mean, think about it. The girl she spent literal years trying to protect just disappeared in the end, leaving her little brother and Homura as the only ones who remember her. No one else is even aware she ever existed at all. Homura says it herself in the movie--it made her feel like she was going crazy. Like her most precious memories with the person she loved most were just things she made up. How is a traumatized teenage girl supposed to deal with that? And yes, Homura is still a teenager--no matter how many loops she went through, she never actually aged. Her brain is still at the developmental stage it was when she started--that of a fourteen-year-old girl. She's not an adult and expecting her to make perfectly rational adult decisions is unfair--hell, expecting even an adult to make perfectly rational decisions in that kind of situation is unfair! And even though she decided to play the role of the devil, on some level she really thought she was doing what was best for Madoka, because the amnesiac Madoka told her that what happened would make her sad. Homura still spent the whole movie trying to do right by Madoka, even to the point where she was desperate to die so that Kyubey couldn't hurt Madoka anymore. Sure, her actions were hardly selfless, but again--this is a scared, traumatized teen in a desperate situation making a split-second decision. Even if she thinks Madoka will hate her for it, on some level she thinks she's doing the right thing. Actually, that's how you can tell--if it was a purely selfish action, she wouldn't accept Madoka potentially hating her. She'd want to keep Madoka by her side forever. But she doesn't. She accepts the fact that Madoka might someday hate her for what she did. She wanted to save Madoka even if it meant damning herself. And she didn't go about it in the smartest way, but yet again--scared, traumatized teenager.

All in all I think Homura's despair was inevitable under the circumstances. Rebellion's ending makes sense to me. And I love it just as much as the main show.

Okay, I'm going to call it there since this post is stupidly long already. Hopefully it helped explain at least a little bit of my love for this show.

#pmmm

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beginningobserver · 7 months ago

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Hey, Kimeramon Guy here again. So, I'm going to be honest, I've been putting off actually watching 02 due to executive dysfunction since forever, and thus I never went out of my way to spoil myself on The Beginning like I've done a lot of other media. So I'm working off a... limited palette here, but I really do want you to get to enjoy yourself talking about this AU.

So, what I've gleaned (and correct me if I'm wrong) from secondhand stuff is that Ukkomon's main motivation is to keep Rui happy, to the point of brainwashing his parents until they literally burn out and get turned into meat puppets. And something involving a replacement eye.

All this to say, does Rui ever figure this out in √02 (since you said he doesn't when he normally would)? Does Ken discover it first, somehow?

Ooh... Uh... Sorry for the spoilers orz -- I used some elements from the movie, so the ones *with* movie spoilers have the "02tb spoilers" tag... Just in case💧

I'm sorry to hear you struggle to (re)watch 02 due to that, I feel you here (yeah... sometimes it hits me too, orz).

Also, thank you for trying to help me elaborate and explore more about this AU 😭💜 But you don't have to push yourself for that…!

I think The 02 Kids are smart enough to figure things out about what Ukkomon did, but Rui here had his beef with Ukko changed (see read more for details) and solved differently... Maybe you do not want him to know the truth, right? :')

Like I said, there are a few changes from the movie, but...

[Spoilers ahead, albeit vaguely, so as not to spoil the fun for anyone who hasn't seen it yet]

... Yes, the 02 kids come to the conclusion that Ukkomon did all those things to keep Rui alive and happy, and after Rui told them his story, and they all sided with Ukkomon, though they didn't neglect Rui's feelings (the only person who was just a little insensitive was Hikari, but I think everyone who watched the movie took that line too seriously when she possibly meant that Ukkomon was pathetic for doing a lot of wrong things to keep Rui happy and safe/satisfied). Later, at the end of the movie, when Rui gets to talk to Ukkomon again, the mon himself confesses that Rui needed him and that he wanted to make Rui happy to the point that he thought everything good was better for Rui. Ukkomon was aware that he did bad things and doesn't try to defend himself. The Audio Drama 3 (released as a bonus in the JP theaters and now in the JP Deluxe Blu-Ray box set) also points out Rui's share of guilt, so they both think it was their fault in the end.

To be fair, the part about the parents' death is pretty unclear to me. But the same drama CD kind of confirms it, yeah, Ukkomon's power might have killed them. But in the movie, Rui's dad is on his deathbed, and Rui's mom is always distressed, so I wouldn't rule out that they suddenly die and Ukkomon just starts to meat-puppet their bodies so that Rui doesn't get orphaned or sad/desperate…

Since in the movie Rui learns what Ukkomon did, and it's the scene that a lot of people played up while trying to describe it and warn people about the "blood", "eye injury" and "body horror" parts -- it's nothing what people meant. All of those are tamed and on the level of "well, there should be some blood here if you got hurt like that", and I think this movie is even more tamed than Ghost Game -- which was for children ages 12-13. And even I had to skip certain episodes because they were TOO MUCH for me. But 02TB was fair game for me? I can watch it again...at least the RAW I have 💧

The scenes in question happened in connection with a canon 02 event (to be exact, a movie that takes place a year after the 02 events, Diablomon Strikes Back/Diaboromon's Revenge), so he's around the age of the 02 kids -- the AU would sound weird because the events of the TV series take place in 2002, while DSB in March 2003. I debated how to use the exact same scene/context in the AU, but had no success, so yeah, I changed it completely 💦.

√02 Rui does not witness Ukkomon puppeting the corpses, and when Ukkomon confesses in the AU version, Rui does not believe it at all. If canon Rui (adult Rui) had met AU kid Rui, he would have been disappointed that his other self is kind of naive?

#02tb spoilers #digimon adventure √02 interquel au #ni's digiheadcanons #blood cw 456123 #eye injury cw 456123 #body horror cw 456123

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