#episode [???] of me reading too much into throwaway lines like this

[moodyseal]

It's sad that after all that's happened (and even after he said he'd rather die than turn to Zeus for help) Apollo still prays to his father first when faced with immediate danger

[koimethehorizon]

Amazing Digital Circus Theory: Gangle is an NPC

Sooo, I wasn’t expecting to talk about this show. I was perfectly content to just enjoy Digital Circus as is.

It’s a show that invites theories as to what exactly’s going on with the setting and characters, but I didn’t have much room to think too hard about it. Who’s Abel? Is Pomni really a human? Why is this VR game emulating an N64 game at the start? I like the show plenty, but it just wasn’t as interesting to go hard on any of those questions at the time.

But with this recent episode… a single, perhaps throwaway line got the brain nagging. And it’s kind of a bizarre one to waste hours analyzing.

Okay, so yeah, it’s a joke on submissive and breedable. (Don’t give them ideas) But try taking it at face value.

What does he mean by this? Sure, Jax is an asshole, and being a bullied kid is Gangle’s whole archetype… but what if it means a little more than that?

Gangle’s trapped for all eternity this asshole and she’s just letting him boss her around. Zooble can choose not to participate, so no one has to. Why does Gangle listen to Jax at all?

Let's entertain a thought: Is Gangle an NPC?

With Episode 2 bringing so much attention to the autonomy of NPCs, it seemed natural to start pointing fingers at characters being this or that. But this isn't just a random crackshot, I feel that there is a story to tell here.

Look back at Pomni’s “orientation” with the other humans. Ragatha, Zooble, and Jax ease her by saying that they’ve been trapped in this world for years and then bring attention to Kinger being the oldest.

But Gangle… she’s isolated from the peanut gallery, busy moping about the broken comedy mask instead.

Every character has been given some hints as to how they’ve been coping with the situation. Jax no longer empathizes with anything, Ragatha once had trouble adjusting but now tries to stay happy, Zooble picks and chooses her involvement, Kinger is the eldest and just exists for the hell of it, and Pomni is new to everything.

With Gangle, it’s a blank. No opinion, no hints of her human side, how long she’s been here, no thoughts on the games, nothing. She’s just Jax’s punching bag.

Even Kinger gets a potshot on Gangle in a rock-paper-scissors game…. and he likely forgot that she doesn’t have hands!

And that brings me to another detail. Doesn't Gangle look different from the others?

Unlike everyone else, Gangle's just a mask and a ribbon. No hands or legs, or just any limbs in general. She stands out as looking a bit simpler than the others.

Gangle's most interesting design trait is that she's based on comedy and tragedy masks. The ones used old Greek theater to dictate the emotions of their characters.

The first episode seems to imply that with a broken comedy mask, Gangle literally can’t stay happy. Hence why we see her sad most of the time. That's a strange limitation if Gangle's human mind is supposed to be completely intact, especially with how expressive the other characters can be.

It's not delved into too much but does Gangle actually rely on these masks to "feel" emotions?

The obvious hole is that Caine would’ve just killed her a while ago if she was an NPC, but he's not exactly omniscient.

He even admits that he has to kill them off because it’s possible for him to lose track.

Now normally I could just stop here, but I’m all about the grand statements. You know, the retroactive readings of an episode once you get a theory going. Why does Gangle being an NPC matter at all? How does Ep 2 change?

While deep diving, I realized that the thematic core of Episode 2 is Pomni and Jax’s approaches to surviving the Digital Circus.

In Pomni’s A plot, we see her connecting with Gummigoo, the NPC that Caine pitted their group against. After discovering him lamenting his new reality, she finds a strange comfort in being existentially lost together. Because in the end the NPCs and the humans are just as displaced and frightened in this meaningless world.

In Jax’s B plot, he forces Gangle to follow some insane orders. Sabotage the game to let the big chocolate turd monster destroy the Candy Kingdom. To Jax, he is the main character. Helping or displeasing this giant population of fake people doesn’t have any consequence for him, so why humor anyone but yourself?

A bit of a stretch, but what if Jax already knows Gangle is an NPC and is keeping it quiet as long as Gangle follows orders, hence the “submissive” comment? He’d be a way more unpleasant character with this reading, but it doesn’t seem off the cards with how he treats everyone anyway.

This dichotomy already plays out well within the episode, but when reframing it as Pomni and Gummigoo vs Jax and Gangle, the parallel is a lot more interesting.

Make an NPC an equal, they die. But keep an NPC under wraps as long as they continue to obey you… they live.

The episode ends with a grim conundrum that NPCs can’t be together with the humans, not because of their differences but because they're just... not allowed to be. But what if one already in the group, proving that they’re just as capable as the humans to play the games and grieve loved ones together?

PS. Despite knowing everyone else's name, I actually forgot Gangle's until I started finding evidence for this intrusive thought. Sorry Gangle.

PSS. I couldn't fit this anywhere, but Gangle's door frame doesn't work as evidence against the NPC theory, because even the mannequins have their own rooms in that hallway.

[genericpuff]

Just binged all of rekindled after putting it off for far too long, I love how human and complex everyone feels, and how frequently you include Helios and Selene in the background. Minthe continues to own my heart, but I can’t help but love Kore. Apollo and Artemis’ relationship is so funny too. They’re so nasty to each other but clearly care for each other or he wouldn’t be at her house so often. Plus I will forever be laughing at “Artemis, be straight with me.” “Never.”

aw yay!!! I'm so glad you like it <3 I'm having such a blast writing these characters, they each fit into their own neat little niches but the depth that they have allows them to be really malleable as well, especially in relation to the characters around them.

Also yeah I've been seeing people quote that line non-stop since the episode went up, I'm glad it was a hit, esp because it felt just like some silly little throwaway line that I put in for the sake of a chuckle 😆

Thank you so much for reading :' ) <3

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Honestly the episode for me that proves they did not plan the Sentimonster shit early on is Feast.

Mayura is capable of sensing and threatening to remove Feast's Amok despite the fact that she didn't create it and doesn't have the original thing the Amok is tied to.

She should have been able to tell Chat Noir was a senti immediately, which would have instantly given him away!

(Also the entirety of Gorizilla doesn't need to happen, he could just order Adrien to give him his ring but you could argue that at that point that would have been a step too far for Gabriel and he hadn't gotten desperate enough beforehand so that feels less of a slam dunk)

Feast is weird and a little confusing just like everything about sentimonsters. My understanding of that episode is that Nathalie couldn't sense the sentimonster, she could only sense the amok that Feast had swallowed:

Nathalie: I felt an amok within. This isn't a statue, it's a dormant sentimonster. Very old and very powerful. Gabriel: Which means you can destroy it, or bring it back to life. Nathalie: But since I wasn't the one who created it, I won't be able to control it.

At the same time, if she can only sense the amok, then how does she know that Feast is a sentimonster? Why doesn't she think that it's just a statue with an amok inside? How is she able to awaken it, but not able to control it? If any peacock wielder can destroy a senti, then why didn't one of the guardians transform and do that when it was rampaging in the temple? What does she mean that she can't control it? Since when did that have anything to do with who created the senti? Isn't it just about who has the amok? None of this makes any sense.

Because of that, I don't give it as an example to prove the retcon. The lore is just too unclear to go that far. Gorizilla is way more telling to me for the reasons you gave. I actually don't think that the "he hadn't gotten desperate enough beforehand so that feels less of a slam dunk" excuse holds water because canon never presents using the rings as an act of desperation.

We don't see a scene where Gabriel puts the ring on for the first time, lamenting that he has to use it. We don't see Nathalie question if this is the right move. We don't even see Gabriel get annoyed at Nathalie for undoing his commands, leading him to demand the return of the ring because she's putting Adrien at risk. They just randomly start using the rings mid season four with nothing to indicate why this choice was made because, as far as they know, Adrien's pretty freaking obedient even without the rings. We never even get the obvious setup of Adrien pulling some crazy defiant act that changes Gabriel's mind on Adrien being allowed his freedom. The rings are just here now.

Remember, this is a show for little kids and the writing is rarely subtle when it wants to get a point across. We get a whole season five episode dedicated to the fact that Gabriel's condition is worsening even though that was pretty freaking obvious just from looking at him. It's hard for me to believe that the writers would be blatant about stuff like that, but extremely subtle about the ring use being an act of desperation. That argument doesn't even have a throwaway line to back it up! It's just a logical way to write this, so a lot of fans have headcanoned that to be the reason even though the much more logical read of canon is that the rings aren't an act of desperation. They're just a retcon.

[sashketter]

Dancing The Blues Away

Summary: Padmé Amidala convinces Riyo Chuchi to go out dancing. They bump into a few men from the 501st, including Captain Rex and ARC trooper Echo. Padmé leaves Riyo with the clones. Years later, Rex, Echo, and Riyo reminisce about that night.

Word count: 2.3K

Warnings: Mentions of Anidala. Hints of Echiyo and Rexiyo.

Notes: This starts during the Clone Wars and jumps ahead immediately after season 3 episode 15 of The Bad Batch, “The Calvary Has Arrived.” I can’t get over Echo’s throwaway line about Riyo sheltering clones on Pantora (THE QUEEN THE ABSOLUTE LEGEND THAT SHE IS). I figured that can’t be the only time she’s surrounded by our boys.

Growl, growl, growl, growl.

Riyo Chuchi looks up from the packet on her desk. She stares in disbelief at the clock on the wall. She had missed dinner, and her stomach was protesting. She starts to remember her guards offering to fetch her food hours ago, but she had dismissed and ordered them to fetch their own meals instead. She reaches for her comlink when soft knocks land on her door.

“Come in.” Riyo’s voice cracks from disuse, so long had she been poring over papers in silence. She stands to greet her visitor. “Senator Amidala!”

“Good evening, Senator Chuchi.” Padmé opens and stands next to the door, her hand still on the knob. “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“Not at all. Please come in.” Riyo gestures towards the two seats in front of her desk. As Padmé crosses the floor, a gloved hand from the hall reaches for the doorknob and closes the door quietly. “I’ve almost finished reading the revised refugee bill. Did you have something to add?”

“No, I think we’ve covered everything.” Padmé sits and takes in Riyo’s desk, bare of trimmings except a simple, gold lamp on the corner. “It’s a shame it’s taken so long for the Republic to provide aid to those displaced on the Outer Rim. I’m glad you decided to co-sponsor it.”

“Of course.” Riyo sits back down. “Naboo has been an inspiration to those like myself and a few in our moon’s Assembly who wish to take Pantora in a more active and humanitarian direction.”

Padmé nods and smiles at the compliment, but immediately changes direction. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t come to discuss legislation or diplomacy. Are you busy tonight?”

Riyo blushes. “Oh! Um, well, I had hoped to study the bill further in case the opposing—”

“We have the votes, Riyo,” Padmé soothes. “There’s not much the opposition can do.”

Riyo looks down at the packet and searches for another strategy. She doesn’t want to turn down the senator, but her body is screaming for sleep and sustenance.

Padmé senses Riyo’s hesitation and tries again. “It’s just we’ve been stuck in the Senate district for days, ironing out this bill, and I think we both deserve a break.”

“I agree,” Riyo concurs a little too quickly. “But I’m afraid I skipped dinner, and I don’t think I’ll make good company before—”

“Then it’s settled! Dinner it is.” Padmé is up and at the door in the blink of an eye. “I’ll meet you at your quarters in an hour.” She turns the door knob before whirling back around to clarify, “Oh, and don’t wear anything too fancy.”

Riyo blinks in confusion. “Why?”

~~~

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Padmé.” Riyo tugs at the hem of her dress as they cross the busy street. They land on an even busier sidewalk.

“Nonsense. A little music and some dancing won’t hurt.” Padmé manages to outpace Riyo’s guards who are losing their breaths trying to keep the two senators in sight. “Think of it as a treat after all our hard work.”

Riyo lost count of the number of levels they’d descended searching for whatever destination Padmé had in mind. She had simply said, “Trust me,” after dinner before grabbing Riyo by the wrist and venturing into Coruscant’s perpetual darkness. Each turn around a blind corner seems to reveal a new shade of neon lights, a deeper depth of dampness clinging to the walls, a more pungent smell of different species packed tight.

After what feels like a full rotation to Riyo, Padmé stops in front of a nondescript building. No signs, no crowds. Blue neon light bathes the alley from above the sole door. If not for the low thrum of the music within, Riyo would’ve thought these durasteel walls were empty.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Riyo looks at her guards who start to station themselves.

Padmé looks around until she spies some graffiti. “Yes. Senator Mothma said to look for that.” She points to an imperceptible rendering of a lotus blossom to the right of the door frame. It glows a faint blue. Riyo admires the simplicity of the blacklight above. “She used to come here as a junior senator, said it was safe and out of the way.”

Inside is only marginally brighter than outside, though with significantly more people per square meter. Padmé spots the bar at a distance and starts towards it. Riyo follows close behind, looking around the crowded floor before colliding into the senator’s back. She peers around her at the unmistakable armor of a trooper.

“Captain Rex?” The clone turns at the sound of his name and faces Padmé. His eyebrows shoot up in shock. “What are you doing here?”

“Senator!” He starts to stand at attention until he spies Riyo. “Uh, senators.” He plants his feet and points his thumb behind him. “Uh, some of the boys thought 79s was getting old and stuffy.”

“No, I mean what are you doing here on Coruscant?” Nearby patrons start to recognize Padmé’s voice. Elbows jab and eyes turn for quick glances; Rex’s peripheral vision serves him well. “I thought the 501st was on a mission to Saleucami.”

“Yes, we were. But you know General Skywalker, he—” Rex stops abruptly, eyes bulging, and blushes impossibly red. Padmé smirks and steps in to save the captain’s decorum.

“Let me guess: he saved the day and cut your stay short.” She shakes her head in amusement.

Rex clears his throat but finds himself coughing. “Y-yes, ma’am.”

“How long will you be on Coruscant?” Padmé somehow stretches the question several syllables longer.

“Just for tonight. We received orders as soon as we landed to support General Gallia in the Mid Rim. We leave at 0900.” Rex doesn’t miss the senator’s surprise.

“I see. Excuse me,” Padmé plans her escape, “have you met Senator Chuchi?”

Rex and Riyo exchange nods. “We’ve met. Senator.”

“Captain. Padmé, what—” A small hand and a passing group shove Riyo into Rex’s chest. His hands fly up to her arms to reestablish a respectable distance between them.

“I’m so sorry, Riyo,” Padmé starts to back away towards the exit, “but I need to— um—”

“Prepare for a briefing?” Rex raises an eyebrow and employs her and the general’s code word.

“Y-yes. My apologies, Riyo, really. I-I promise I’ll make it up to you.” Padmé disappears into the anonymous crowd. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”

Riyo stares in shock at being abandoned in the lower levels. She turns around and finds Rex pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Are you alright, captain?”

“Uh, yes, ma’a—uh, senator.”

“You don’t have to entertain me if—” She stops and squints at Rex. “How long have they roped you into their dates?”

Once again, Rex is caught off-guard to the amusement of the senator in front of him. “I, uh, I-I’m not sure what you—”

“Never mind.” Riyo doesn’t want to torture the man. “It’s none of my business.”

“Hey, Rex!” The captain looks over his shoulder as it’s enveloped by the hand of another trooper. The clone takes in Riyo with interest. “Hello there, sweetheart. Listen, if the captain here’s not showing you a good time, I—”

“Stow it, Hardcase,” Rex sneers. “The senator doesn’t want to hear your sithspit.”

Before Riyo can ease the tension, a voice from behind her chirps, “Senator Chuchi?”

Riyo turns around to a wall of white and blue armor. She recognizes the ARC trooper designation of the clone’s double pauldrons. “Yes?”

A second ARC trooper elbows the first. “Aiming a little high there, Echo.”

“What? No, I just—” Echo starts to double back. “I mean, not that I wouldn’t, but—” He lurches forward when the second ARC trooper slaps his back with a dull thud.

“Gentlemen, please.” Riyo is surrounded. She spies Rex start to laugh at her own befuddlement.

“Stand down, men.” The captain steps in. “Let the senator gain her bearings.” He puts a gentle hand on her back and leads her towards the bar. As they gain some distance, Riyo catches the sound of plastoid meeting plastoid before Echo growls, “You’re a karking sack of bantha fodder, Fives!”

Rex deposits Riyo on a stool before taking the seat to her left. “Sorry about that, senator. We don’t get a lot of opportunities to,” he searches for a less provocative word, “decompress.”

“No need to apologize, captain.”

The bartender ambles up to them. “The usual, Rex?”

“Yeah, thanks, Slice.”

Riyo recognizes the bottle as Slice pours a generous amount. “I’ll have the same.”

“Really?” Rex takes his glass and watches the bartender fill another. “I wouldn’t have thought you liked brandy.”

Twin glasses in hand, the captain and the senator toast and take big swigs. “Pantoran distilleries aren’t as famous as Corellia’s,” Riyo raises her glass to the light, “but we still make a good bottle.” She blinks at Rex above the rim of her glass and takes another mouthful. She suddenly remembers that she had had two glasses of wine at dinner with Padmé. She regrets the show of bravado and hopes her stomach won’t betray her.

They turn to face the crowd in time to see the second ARC trooper from before march up to the bar. A playful smirk wrinkles his eyes as he makes a beeline for the senator. He bows before her ceremoniously, his head nearly level with her lap, and raises his right hand to her. She puts her hand in his and turns to send a confused look at Rex who’s already shaking his head. The ARC trooper’s fingers curl around hers, and he looks up. “Care for a dance, senator?”

Riyo smiles wide. “What’s your name, trooper?”

“CT-5555, but they call me—”

“A real pain in my ass,” Rex bellows. The bar erupts in laughter.

Riyo’s sympathy starts to flare until Fives aims a finger gun with his free hand at Rex and winks. “Only to the best ass in the GAR, brother.”

The bar roars even louder. Rex rolls his eyes and turns to the bartender for another drink, blocking fists to his back and shoulders.

The force of Riyo’s laugh almost knocks her off her stool, her outstretched hand already disrupting her balance, but Fives straightens up and takes her other hand in his, steadying her.

“Don’t fall for me yet, senator.” Fives steps closer to balance her forearm on his.

Riyo laughs. “I suppose I can stand to—”

“Not sure you can stand at all, ma’am.” A new clone flanks her from the right. Riyo recognizes the medic by the insignia on his spaulder.

“I-I’ll be fine, trooper, thank you.” She looks up at Fives. “Unless you’ve gotten cold feet.”

Fives smiles broadly and swings her around to the dance floor. Riyo’s head spins, but the ARC trooper gives her all the support she needs. The rest of the night is a blur of flashing lights and reassuring baritones and white armor. She dances with Echo who keeps his kit to himself. She dances with Rex who keeps a hand on hers and twirls her around. She even dances with Hardcase whom Rex and Fives have to peel off her shoulders when his fifth shot of tihaar hits him hard. Between the warm treatment of the troopers and the lingering effects of the wine and brandy, Riyo floats. Her skin fizzes, and her mind empties of the galaxy, replaced by the simple desire to remain in the company of the clones.

~~~

Riyo sits on a crate and waits for the caf to finish brewing on the busy table next to her. From a distance, she watches her guards distribute food and water to the prisoners scattered in groups of twos and threes across the small airfield. Rex and Echo make their way to each group. At the edge of the Remora’s platform, the female clone speaks to Howzer whose face flickers between horror and curiosity.

Sunset drapes over Pantora. Pink and purple meet in the sky while the city past the airfield is cloaked in silhouette. The air starts to chill, but the atmosphere is filled with warm relief. Tantiss is destroyed, its prisoners freed, and a glimmer of hope spreads with Emerie’s arrival and intel. Riyo looks on with pride.

Rex and Echo start towards the caf table. Riyo stands as they reach her. “Good work, you two.” She’s always eager to comfort them.

“It’s a start.” The clones nod at each other, a shared thought voiced by Echo.

Without warning, music warbles out of the airfield’s PA system. The three turn towards the communications tower where they see Gregor wave and give a thumbs up. He bends to speak into a microphone. “It’s a party tonight, boys! You’re free men! Woohoo!”

Cheers and laughter drift through the airfield. In the distance, Riyo spies the city’s lights come on, a blessing on their festivities.

“Not exactly Lotus, is it?” Rex smirks down at Riyo. On her other side, Echo is simply stunned.

Riyo looks up at Rex. A hazy memory from a lifetime ago starts to sharpen. She remembers him escorting her to a waiting taxi away from the club, her guards securing the sidewalk. She thought they were alone and had left the other clones back inside until a chorus of jeers and laughter erupted behind them. Hardcase and the ARC troopers had run to catch up. “That was a fun night,” she recalls, surprised at the details coming back to her.

“The boys never let me live it down.” Rex crosses his arms. “For awhile, my kit was covered in blue lipstick every time I got out of the fresher.”

Riyo smiles fondly at the image of Fives and Hardcase pressing blue-painted lips to Rex’s armor. She looks between Rex and Echo and at the clones celebrating and marvels at how far they’ve all come since that night.

“It should’ve been purple,” Echo interjects, “but I could only find blue.”

Rex chokes on a curse, and Riyo bursts into laughter. She doubles over, clutching her sides and gasping for breath, while Echo blocks Rex’s punches over her head. For awhile, Rex finds a single stain of purple lips on his helmet every time he debriefs the senator.

[psihawaii]

i know nothing about mashup week but i do wanna hear ur thoughts on trans scott

first of all: thank you for indulging me!!

second of all: obligatory LISTEN/READ MASHUP WEEK: MEGAMIX!! ill probably make a separate propaganda post anyway but plsss. mashup tournament that scott won three years ago that he now has to host and interview every1 and i like how he’s written better than most collabs (where hes not just. himself obviously.) write him. host says the tournament is a lot more like wii sports resort now and doesnt elaborate.

third of all: ooooooooookay so. This really got away from me im gonna put the rest under a readmore.

i’m gonna refer to them w/ they/them just for simplicity, but let the record show i don’t think they care that much either way/i switch up pronouns whenever i talk abt stw AHDHDJ (my main hc for a while was no pronouns scott just bc of how the descriptions are written hahahahahaha get itttttttttt)

i’ve Alwaysssss thought scott (the character obvi. do i have to keep clarifying that here too, im always gonna be referring to the character in this postSHDJDJ) was trans ever. since i joined the fandom in late 2021. Partly because borderline forever reminds me a lot of how i realized i was nonbinary (realizing somethings wrong and then course correcting by just… doing the opposite and wondering why that couldnt possibly be the solution.) but mostly because borderline forever is just Like That. . But more on that later

OUTSIDE OF THAT so much of how they act is sosososo deeply trans to me, or at the very least very egg-like and in denial deeply. THE THING that got me deep into stw initially was gifts of gaming because what the fuck man. scott’s very public breakdown because they feel extremely alienated from their peers and that this isn’t an isolated incident!!!!!! (finding other people unrelatable that is (and that’s probably also an autism and/or aroace thing but it can be all of those at once. Smile.) like so often is scott self deprecating abt how nobody cares abt them or their interests or how desperate they are for attention. dude.)

and like. okay so i made an entire nonbinary dysphoria comp already but there are so many. weird throwaway jokes. that aren’t… you know directly about them being trans/dysphoric but about how they hate facial hair or their voice or hated that they couldn’t have ‘girl toys’ growing up or that they shower fully clothed or that they’ll just. roleplay as a girl.

(and i was gonna have a whole bit about… i think you could make some kind of point about how scott ‘roleplays’ as a girl in specifically romantic/flirting contexts (tinder + speed dating) and how that could play jnto their dysphoria, but i also do just think they’re aroace. but there’s something there)

and no matter the intention of the jokes they’re still like. canon. (and i was gonna do a whole thing abt how scott the woz (the show) treats continuity basically being that. jokes + ‘throwaway lines’ establish canon things because they keep being brought back, and that lore is (with few exceptions) consistent. it’s fun. and meaning that these things are (assumedly) things scott thinks/does/how they act even off screen.)

and also i guess if im gonna talk abt trans scott i could At Least dedicate an entire paragraph to borderline forever because holy shit man. Before i rewatched a bunch of episodes this year, i of course had it in my head that borderline forever was totally trans coded but i sorta reasoned that that was my own headcanon clouding my perception and that it wouldnt be that blatant (<in quotes because im sure The Man Himself didnt intend for it to be read this way, but its fun to interpret it as such) but no it really is.

what do u mean theres been an unseen force in your life that’s always been there but you hadn’t noticed until you experienced internalized transphobia talked about something tangentially related, that’s now preventing you from living your life and doing the things you want to do. That isn’t directly harming you, and that other people can’t notice so they dismiss you. What do u mean.

Closing in is literally a song about how they can’t believe they’ve been living their life like this and how they feel like they’re suffocating from the idea of continuing to live like this. They saw the border glow. If you will (sorry.)

The ending of borderline forever is pretty… its… well i guess for me to really have definitive thoughts on it i would have to decide on what i think the allegory is because scott taking the border back serves different purposes for different ones, good and bad. In terms of the trans allegory, I initially considered that it was like him. Accepting transness as part of themselves and learning to live with it and move on from that (effectively transitioning just not. Outwardly (?)). Until my boyfriend (forced to watch every scott the woz lore episode for (for the most part) the first time with me) pointed out n. No it kinda just seems like they can’t imagine themselves as any different/better and thinks This Is As Good As It Gets so they retreat back to their status quo. And like. Huh. Yeah. 100% it’s still affecting them negatively and they hate it but they’re ignoring it now they saved the world and they never have to succumb to the horror of being understood and perceived i mean no one else has to worry abt this ever again.

like… two years ago i wrote a fic about nonbinary scott called Abiura Di Me (it’s never getting finished, i was originally gonna do a little comic to end things off but it felt kind of ehh. the only way i’m finishing it is if i completely start over. which who knows.) and, despite not rlly having this interpretation at the time, i did want to kind of explore scott like that, thinking they’re ‘content’ with their life now and wondering why they still feel unhappy/unfulfilled.

In general scott feels like a character that’s so… rigid and strict with their identity/attributes of themselves in a way that, often, makes them miserable, or at the very least in a way that they’re self deprecating abt like i said b4. (i.e. their virginity, and how it oscillates something they take pride in vs. something that they’re ashamed of (b4 accepting it in barrel blast)(youtuber slash tumblr user prim m, in description of their barrel blast mashup did a rlly interesting lil. few sentences of analysis abt this in particular!!), but is, to them at least, a key part of who they are that they have to keep asserting + how they talk abt themselves liking video games and how, similarly it oscillates between smthn that brings them a lot of joy and again, smthn that they’re ashamed of thats another reason they feel isolated, but is nonetheless. Probably THE defining thing about scott.)

And while this^ feels like a general internalized transphobia thing, it’s probably THE reason i think they’re nonbinary specifically, although i fuck with transfem scott severely. I really like the idea of scott unburdening themselves from any kind of labels and kinda just being happy Existing, it’s essentially what they already want/think they already have just with less expectation put upon them to perform. You could say. Preventing themselves from being put into a box or. Or yknow… some kind of blue borde-[i am killed.]

But anyway to answer your question trans scott is my lifeblood i love them a lot. I like… half joke their egg has been fully cracked now bc of the bits they’re pulling now (mainly. Changing their name in same name, different game and. all of gamer products.) (and side note even though i can glean Transness from any1 of these jokes and that… in a lot of cases scott Is the butt of the joke in them they don’t rlly feel meanspirited most of the time. whether thats bc im in denial ro theres smthn to it thats any1s guess. Tee hee.) i think they’re figuring stuff out and how they want to be perceived and if this is really something they want for themselves (is, but going abt it weirdly/making a joke of it and not taking it seriously (again, goes w the whole self deprecating rigid identity thing!!)

I don’t think scott changes much upon transitioning. Even though i think in the stw universe hrt/gender affirming surgery does… pretty much whatever you want it to and none of what you don’t want (i’m going off the… one ama where he said smthn along the lines of the stw universe is a perfect bubble where nothing bad happens + being able to get treated for murder + how i think scott the real person would think that kinda stuff works AHDNDIJDDJ and also cus i think its funny) i dont think scott would Want to change much physically. But i really like the idea of them keeping dyed blue bits framing their face (get it.) + slightly longer hair. and boobs cause i think thats awesome. personality wise they’re exactly the same and still suck though. But w/o shame and i love them

[talas-first-lady]

Post the ranking of the male legends. Let the world burn. Let chaos reign. It's on brand for the show (please read this in a funny tone)

The official, correct ranking of male Legends from best to worst along with foolproof evidence which you can trust because I am a lesbian and I am not swayed by men of dubious attractiveness.

1: Gwyn Davies

Pros: Invented time travel so he could save the poet he spent his entire adult life pining for. Has some of the absolute best throwaway lines of S7 (with flawless delivery). Has literally never done anything wrong ever.

Cons: Not around for long enough, which was in no way his fault.

2: Ray Palmer

Pros: Delightful. Hilarious. Has great chemistry with every other character. Loves showtunes and Star Wars.

Cons: Spending billions of dollars to create a suit so you can be a superhero in a city that frankly has too many superheroes already is not a good look. Also he's way too intense in relationships.

3: Nate Heywood

Pros: He somehow manages to be the perfect combination of himbo and really smart. It shouldn't be possible. Also, I too am an overeducated nerd who is really into Tala and Maisie, so I relate to him.

Cons: He really sucks whenever he's in a relationship.

4: Jefferson Jackson

Pros: He's such a good guy through and through. He has been put through some deeply unfair things but still manages to always be a positive force. Deserves all the hugs.

Cons: His accent is ridiculous and I can't take him seriously because of that.

5: Mick Rory

Pros: Has any character on the show evolved as much as him? Probably not. He's a sweetheart. He writes romance novels. His relationships with other characters are always amazing.

Cons: We all had to watch him birth alien eggs through his nose and that can never been unseen. Way too attached to his shitty ex boyfriend.

6: Wally West

Wally is right in the middle because he is true neutral. Does he make the show better? Not really. Does he make the show worse? Not really.

Pros: Good karaoke choices.

Cons: It's really dumb that Death Totem Sara appeared to him as his ex (who he really wasn't with that long and who was very much still alive) instead of his mom (who was his only family for his entire childhood and fairly recently died).

7: Gary Green

Pros: Sweet, funny, endlessly relatable. He adds so much character to every scene he's in.

Cons: Does not understand boundaries at all. He's also very inconsistently written because obviously they didn't plan for him to be an alien from the beginning.

8: Behrad Tarazi

Pros: I enjoy the way his relationship with Zari has developed. And he's a great singer.

Cons: Weed is not a personality. They didn't bother to give him an actual personality until season 7, at which point I was already over him. I also don't like his fixation with Astra which was entirely about finding her pretty on Highcastle Abbey and has nothing to do with who she actually is.

9: Carter Hall

Pros: Had the good sense to die quickly before he could really annoy me.

Cons: Manipulative towards Kendra. Actively detracted from the 100th episode.

10: Martin Stein

Pros: Victor Garber. A+ singing.

Cons: Drugged and kidnapped Jax in the pilot. Racist, sexist, deeply selfish. He started to improve slightly but it wasn't enough.

11: Rip Hunter

Pros: Saw the potential in Sara Lance.

Cons: Told Gideon he loved her and then TURNED HER INTO A TRAINING SIMULATOR FOR THREE YEARS. He also flew her into the sun and into an atomic bomb. Lied to all the original Legends. Lied to Ava.

12: Leonard Snart

Pros: Had the good sense to die quickly. Also, I do enjoy him on The Flash.

Cons: Cruel and abusive to Mick almost constantly. Talk about kicking someone while they're down. He's an asshole to everyone, but the way he speaks to Mick is unforgivable.

13: John Constantine

Pros: He's a useful foil for some of the more optimistic Legends. Decent bisexual representation. Never met a weird unidentified substance he didn't want to put in his mouth.

Cons: He forced Charlie to face thousands of years worth of trauma, got Behrad and Charlie's friends killed in the process, and put the entire world at risk. Why? To save Astra, who he immediately forgot about and left to struggle on her own (again). He sent Desmond to hell. He abandoned Nora when she was a kid. He altered Spooner's memories despite knowing that having her mind messed with is a major source of trauma for her. Put the entire world at risk again by teaming up with Bishop. Lied to and manipulated Zari and had the gall to call it love. Also, if both Ava and Mick don't like you, you are clearly highly suspicious.

[iheartgod175]

Correction Course: What to Expect in SRBA Reloaded!

It took me a long time to get this post about since life kicked me in the pants, but as promised, I am going to make a full post addressing the criticisms leveled at SRBA and what will be changed in the remastered edition, Super Readers’ Biggest Adventure Reloaded.

Since I’m not someone who can’t learn from her mistakes, I’ll start off with the valid criticisms to my story, Super Readers’ Biggest Adventure, which I have addressed with others who’ve read the story in some private messages (those who read this, you know who you are ^^)

1. The religious themes. I’m no less religious than I was when I first started, but going back I admit that the Christian themes were way, WAY overused here. I still laugh/cringe over the Jesus part myself, haha. I thought I was doing something cool there, but man. I really DID go overboard, and in all honesty, it wasn’t necessary. For those who pointed it out, I take full responsibility for it, and apologize for that. Later installments in the Gaiden series do not have this, though, with Darkness Rewrite being the only exception due to Prince Charming’s throwaway line. Reloaded does have a few metaphors/archetypes for several characters in the Bible (ie. Jeremiah is a blend of both David and Paul, while Chaos’ original character is supposed to mirror Saul before his fall from grace) and some parallels to Scripture, but I definitely won’t go crazy with that like I did in the original.

2. The worldbuilding/lore. For context, I wrote SRBA when I was in high school. So the quality of the writing is…much to be desired. I admit, I had trouble keeping track of the world building and lore for a while, and often when I was adding things into the Gaiden series, it was due to multiple, MULTIPLE rereads to make sure that I wasn’t retroactively retconning everything I wrote back then. As it was my first time working on detailing a large world, and since I made up a lot of things on the fly, a lot of things didn’t make sense back then. I’ve long since learned a lot about how to world build properly and am putting that into effect with the remaster, retconning and adding a few things—I wouldn’t call myself a master, but I’m not a beginner like I was before. While I don’t hate the lore that I created for it, there are things that could’ve been explained better. There are some things that could’ve been shown earlier in the story rather than in the throes of action. There are a few things that could be removed (not sure where I was going with the Summoning Pin element, honestly). There are some things that could’ve been added (shouldn’t the Fairytale World been taken over ages ago?). This is one of the main reasons I tapped this story to get a complete overhaul in the form of Reloaded, where I plan to change everything that was wrong with the original story. As for all the magical swords/Device ripoffs, they were supposed to be based off of Lyrical Nanoha’s Devices, but that wasn’t made clear. I also put in references to Pretty Cure/Sailor Moon in regard to both Muse and Princess Presto, since they’re like the magical girls of the team. I do apologize for that ^^;

Also, being a Black woman myself, there’s gonna be more representation for BIPOC/women. It was a weak point in the original story (as the only other OC whose family gets prominence, Muse, is of Irish/Scottish descent), but I’m gonna rectify that. I’ve decided to include Power Paige in Reloaded, as well as a few other characters, too. I didn’t have a lot of confidence in describing appearances back then, much less scenes, and I realized recently that in trying to create a good descriptor for one of my OCs, I ended up unintentionally offending someone. And at the time of writing the original story, I had no idea that Red was Jewish (for context, I wrote the story when the original Woofster episodes aired, and didn’t follow the series for a while until 2016, when the last few episodes were airing). So, yeah, going forward, we’re not having any stereotypes for BIPOC, period! I’m planning on revising the first chapter of Darkness Rewrite to get rid of that descriptor for Ethan, because, like you said, it was a weird longer way to say someone had darker skin. As someone who interacts with people of various cultures, and makes sure to include that in my own stories, I admit, I dropped the ball here. But I’m gonna fix that! Names were also a big thing that I struggled with. I’ll correct the names for the families of the Super Readers’ families (AKA. The ones who weren’t properly named in the series) soon.

3. Character Development, Part 1: The Super Readers. As much as I like the Super Readers, I didn’t really give them proper character development, with Wonder Red and Super Why being the most egregious. I’d say the character that I (mostly) nailed in the original was Alpha Pig, while the character who got the worst end of the stick was Wonder Red, who was kinda reduced to a hotheaded Tsundere (and I did kinda keep up that energy in the recent entry, which I’m gonna correct in the following chapters!). Whyatt wasn’t terrible, but he was pretty blasé in comparison to the others—he was just there to be the leader and that’s it. Rewatching the series has given me a better idea on where to go with accurately portraying the characters, and of course, that’s gonna be accurately represented in the remaster.

Oh, and while I’m on the topic, the other villagers will get better character portrayals too. Little Boy Blue was demonized pretty early on, to where even I felt bad for him rereading the story.

4. Character Development, Part 2: The OCs. I hyped Muse up a lot during the introductory chapters, but nowadays I really dislike her character. Her character was very much underutilized and underdeveloped. I had more fun writing about the Super Readers and the history about her country rather than her, since they were way more interesting. Her personality is gonna get a complete overhaul in the remastered version, and she and the Evil Reader/Jackson will definitely get better character development and arcs that flesh out their characters.

On the topic of the Evil Reader/Jackson and Lexicon, their “redemption arcs” were rushed and admittedly terrible. Well, Lexicon’s was slightly better than Jackson’s, but I agree that justice wasn’t served to the Super Readers or the victims they hurt in the story proper. They can basically be summed up as “my past sucked and it’s the defining characteristic of who I am, but I’m discarding as of today, please forget the people I’ve killed!” Which I agree is a pretty toxic way of achieving redemption, and I recognize and apologize for that. I did do this on purpose to have them go through a “trial by fire” where they learn that forgiveness for their actions isn’t immediately earned—quite a few characters in the Gaiden series (and even in Chaos’ Revenge) do not forgive or let Jackson or Lexicon off the hook, but that’s not implied in the first story. That’ll definitely be fixed moving forward, as seen below.

I’m also very unsatisfied with Jackson/The Evil Reader’s character. I intended for him to be straight evil and then defeated, until I decided that I’d do a redemption arc for him, and did one that was ripped straight off of an anime. Or, more specifically, a movie. I was originally going for an Anakin Skywalker kind of thing, and I realized that I pulled it off badly. I remember being quite proud of his backstory when I wrote it. Now, though? Ugh. I’m going to be redoing his entire story, plus his history with his two best friends as well, in the remastered version.

Jeremiah, naturally, isn’t gonna be a Gary Stu like he was in the original fic. He does have his own flaws, which are shown later on down the road, but honestly should’ve been shown before the Gaiden series. He also should’ve stepped in way earlier, especially when the Evil Reader’s true nature as Chaos was starting to be revealed (which ties into how the darker themes are gonna be handled). All of this are gonna be handled appropriately in the remastered version.

5. Way less shock value. Some scenes (such as the Pig’s brother slapping him “to his senses” scene) were added for shock value. I know now that this is NOT good writing, especially when it goes against the characters’ canon natures. Plus, having a shocking scene after a shocking scene can really, REALLY get annoying after a while.

6. The Whyatt/Red romance. While it was one of the “selling points” of the original story, it was cheesy. It’s one of the things that I didn’t like about the original because it felt rushed (I also wrote a romance fic alongside this way back when, so I don’t really have an excuse!). I’ve already made like seven pages of notes for their romance in the remastered version, where their friendship is showcased as well, and how it’s not just one-sided on Red’s end.

7. Last but not least, the mature themes. The original SRBA got pretty gritty at times—from more physical violence, to the villains possessing/enslaving the villagers, to the horrors of war, to characters outright dying/getting killed, to the implications of genocide. And then, there’s the reveal in the Gaiden verse that Chaos is a predator. A lot of the Super Readers��� reactions/trauma to the events that happened in the original were pretty understated, I can concur with that. There are two chapters and a few moments that do address their worry, terror and fear about losing everything they hold dear…and that’s it. If I’m being totally honest, those aren’t enough. To say nothing of the crap they learned about the Evil Reader in chapter 17. That’ll get rectified in the remaster as well.

Now, I’ll finish this by explaining that I do write darker subjects in my writings. Those things do include, among other things, rape, SA, objectification/sexualization, suicide, violence (of several forms) and—if my Western series Blazin’ Trails is to go by—animal abuse, racism and slavery. I’ll make this abundantly clear: I don’t have a sick fascination with these things, and I do not advocate for any of these horrible things in real life. Sometimes, when I read these stories, when I see things that are just so awful, it literally runs through my head for hours, I write. I write it out to vent about it, to get my feelings out on paper, to break down why it’s wrong/cruel and most importantly, what can be done to end it and the suffering in people’s lives.

It’s why, when I write these themes or villains who eagerly commit these crimes and laugh, I do it with the mindset that they are the lowest of the low. When I write villains like this, I write with the mindset that these are horrible beings who a.) need no backstory to justify their horrible actions and b.) need to be eradicated in the most fitting way possible.

And in all of the stories that feature one or any of these things, it’s made 1000% crystal clear that none of these things, nor the people doing them, are morally right, excusable or justified/vindicated by history. I also stand by the fact that rape/sexual assault is never the victim’s fault, it’s 100% on the perpetrator, regardless of the circumstances. I have one rule when writing about characters who commit such acts, or who supports such acts: if there’s a character who believes that such things are right, they are swiftly dealt with, often violently. In fact, a lot of times, there’s a visceral reaction to those things and the characters are trying to eradicate those things (as well as the people doing it) from the world they live in. I certainly don’t let my villains (the ones who commit the aforementioned terrorism/sexualizing/etc.) get away with such actions.

I did address that yes, Lexicon and Jackson got away with the aforementioned genocide due to BS writing back when I was in school. In Reloaded, though? The difference is night and day—Jack and Mr. Beanstalk straight up kick their faces in for what they did to them and the kids, Jeremiah is much harsher in his beatdown of both of them and does reduce both of them to husks of their former selves when he steps in. And the Super Readers don’t speak to them for much of the story, even after it’s revealed that Chaos is the true villain, ’cause their earlier actions are still fresh in their minds and as such they don’t trust them at all (and rightfully so).

As for Chaos, he gets dealt with in the appropriate manner befitting a predator by Jeremiah when they first fought (which is gonna be explained in Darkness Rewrite when I get to it). But just know that the mature themes of this story will be handled in the appropriate way/explained better than they were in the original.

I think that’s everything that’s gonna be changed. If I find anything else that needs to be changed, I’ll be updating this accordingly! ^^

Thanks to everyone who let me know what was up, as it really helped me to get all of this out.

~iheartgod175

[sannoh-rengokai]

The Worst X Reaction:

Boyfriends, boyfriends everywhere.

Maybe spoilers ahead, if you haven’t seen it yet.

Things I liked:

THEY FINALLY GAVE TSUKASA A REAL ROLE AND STORYLINE 🙌 If you’ve read my reaction to The Worst, you know the lack of depth for Tsukasa and his friendship with Fujio was one of my biggest gripes. I didn’t like the series telling us they were best friends and partners but they never actually showed us their bond. There was no substance to their friendship and I hated it so much BUT THEY HEARD MY COMPLAINTS FIXED IT. Not just on the Tsukasa/Fujio friendship but also on the complete under utilization of Tsukasa as a character. Like the guy was literally the main character in Episode.0 then he was just... there... for The Worst? There was almost no point to him as a character especially after they brought in Fujio’s childhood friends (and yes, I’m still mad about that lmfao) but this time around they actually gave him some depth. Fujio might be the leader but Tsukasa is the core and heart of Oya High and I won’t hear anything different. (I still haven’t seen 6 from The Worst so if this changed before X whoops lol)

If Murayama could see Todoroki now, he would lose his goddamn mind lmfao. TODOROKI SAYING HE HAS FRIENDS TO PROTECT NOW??? I have been waiting SIX YEARS to hear those words coming from his mouth AND IT FINALLY HAPPENED AND HE CALLED FUJIO “HIS” LEADER ON TOP OF THAT? I’m crying my baby boy is all grown up 😭💕 This is the most character development he’s gotten since season 2, where is Murayama to see this?!?!?

“Fishing buddies” Todoroki and Odajima. Listen, LISTEN. I expected like one jokey throwaway line about them being fishing buddies but then I got a full fledged genuine friendship between them?! I’ve been fed, this will fuel me for an eternity. I ship it so much.

Odajima being That Guy for Housen while Sachio is away. He got so much screen time I was shocked lol.

I really liked the way the Raoh storyline went. I figured they were going down this route when they kept stressing the ~legend~ of Raoh then I knew the moment Fujio saw the orphanage he was going to crumble like a wet paper bag for him lol. 

I said this on a personal post but the innocence of this movie compared to The Worst or the main series was really cute. Like, sure they’re being violent little shits but it was purely about teppen and they kept it between themselves. There was no secret drug rings or yakuza, just a bunch of dumb kids being dumb kids. I’m just saying it was nice to not fear for their lives for once lol

Things I didn’t like:

They could have gone a bit farther with the Fujio/Tsukasa friendship still but I’ll let it pass this time around.

Amagai doesn’t deserve Suzaki and no one got to call him out on it. He should have actually stabbed Ryo and showed real remorse if they wanted me to believe he cared about him. I don’t believe it. This is poor writing. This is my issue with Fujio and Tsukasa all over again lol

The repeated scenes from The Worst were a bit meh. Did we really need everyone’s healthy partner to get hurt this time around?

I think that’s it? Idk I don’t take these movies too seriously on the plot side, just the character side and that was chef’s kiss this time so I loved it!!!

Also people who don’t like ~the power of friendship~ cheesiness need to find something else to watch. It’s been this way since season one??? What have you been watching? It’s saved Noboru, Murayama, Hyuga, Chiharu, Kohaku and literally (almost) everyone since then. Hello????? How do you make it this far into the series hating the power of friendship? lmao 

[procrastinatorproject]

On the Changing Nature of the Borg

I was thinking about Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard yesterday, and I was once again struck by one of the things that disappointed me about the show: The complete retcon they gave the nature of the Borg.

I'm far from the first person to make this observation, and when I complained to friends about it last night, I was a little worried I might be doing the S2 writers a disservice. Maybe I was misremembering the details from the show and putting too much of my own interpretation on top of it. Or I might have latched on to somebody else's criticism and not checked to see if it was supported by the text.

But then I rewatched episode 2x09, "Hide and Seek" today, expecting to have to look very closely for the details that support my reading - only to find that I didn't over-interpret some throwaway line, this is a key piece of dialogue.

So, here it is: my thoughts and feelings about what happened to the Borg in season 2!

Spoilers for season 2 of Star Trek: Picard ahead, obviously. Also quite a bit of saltiness. (I have tagged this post accordingly, so please take this as your sign to blacklist that tag and/or stop reading if you're not in the mood for saltiness ;) )

Let us begin with a quick walk through the history of the Borg. [Edit: That was a lie, I am incapable of "quick." Prepare yourself for a verbose trek through the history of the Borg.]

In TNG, they were introduced as practically a force of nature. They didn't hold grudges, they weren't ambitious or greedy or megalomaniacal. They didn't spread across the Galaxy because they wanted to be conquerors or rulers. They simply spread. Like a virus, or an invasive plant.

They added new technologies and biology into their collective to improve themselves and their chances of survival. Assimilation was akin to evolution for them. (I know this is not how biological evolution works. I'm using it as shorthand. )

These Borg didn't care that people might not want to be assimilated because for one, their objections would be overwritten once they were Borg, and for another, they had no chance of escaping their fate, anyway.

This first, original form of the Borg, in my opinion, was the most truly alien they have ever been.

This characterization started to collapse a bit once First Contact decided to introduce the Borg Queen as a weird psycho-sexual horror component, making the Borg less of a force of nature and more of a nominally collective hive-mind that operated like a person would.

Voyager definitely added to this interpretation of the Borg, making them more beholden to the moods and wishes of the Queen. They were no longer simply a dispassionate alien organism, moving through the galaxy in a quest for self-improvement because that was their nature. Instead, their characterization became more human, pursuing specific goals, strategies and motivations.

On some level, I completely understand this choice. Making your main series villain a force of nature rather than a character with personal motivation is difficult to pull off, especially when that isn't the main story you're trying to tell. But it did end up taking the Borg one step farther away from their original alien-ness.

One thing Voyager added to the mythos, though, that I find deeply fascinating is that instead of having the Borg Queen lust for power and control, or having her act out of fear and self-preservation, they instead focused on the concept of Perfection. In "The Omega Directive", Seven of Nine explains that to the Borg, the pursuit of Perfection is almost spiritual.

According to this interpretation, the Borg don't simply search out and assimilate new species because of an "evolutionary" drive for self-improvement. Instead, they are on a quest to reach a state of absolute perfection. They add new technologies and biological diversity in the hopes of coming closer to this goal and one day finding this most ideal state of existence.

These Borg don't care about your objections to assimilation, because they are convinced that their vision of perfection is universal. Every species must obviously strive for perfection and they can offer that, so why would you ever want to resist? They have no concept of the fact that others might not define perfection in the way they do, might not strive for it at all, or that "perfection" at the cost of giving up all individuality and sovereignty might not be an acceptable trade-off for people.

(And no, Voyager is not internally consistent about this. Barely any long-running tv show is entirely internally consistent. But the point still stands.)

On some level, this drive also brings the Borg closer to humanity: less dispassionate virus and more colonizers who come to extract value from “lesser cultures” and impose a more enlightened way of life on them because They Know What's Best. Still, I think the relentless, uncompromizing pursuit of a nigh-spiritual ideal of Perfection and utter disinterest in personhood and self-determination of other people make the Borg into a formidable and, at the end of the day, alien villain.

Which brings us to season 2 of Star Trek: Picard.

The thing that rubbed me the wrong way about the way the Borg were characterized here is summed up in an exchange between Jurati and the Borg Queen:

Jurati: "Millions of species, planets, and still you always needed more." Borg Queen: "Perfection takes time, dear." Jurati: "This was never about perfection or evolution or any of that bullshit. It was never enough, because you're just like me. Lonely."

And that's it. In all of five sentences, we have retconned the entire history, motivation and fundamental nature of one of the main alien species of the Trek universe.

Everything we have been told about the Borg, everything they have said about their reasons and their character, none of it was true. They have been lying to all of us and to themselves this entire time. They aren't a force of nature or a people/collective organism in pursuit of a higher ideal. Instead, it was all a single woman's misguided quest to not feel alone anymore.

Now, I understand that for some people, this revelation adds a new layer of complexity to a villain that had grown somewhat stale. And I have seen others argue that they like the idea that the Borg collective is actually all about connection. If that's you, I'm not saying you're wrong or trying to ruin your enjoyment of these characters.

But personally, I find this development rather disappointing. This plot twist retroactively changes not only the philosophy, psychology, and raison d'être of a fascinating alien culture but also the narrative significance of the Borg in the Trek cosmos.

Before, they were in conflict with the Federation because they refused (or were unable) to look outwards and see that there was more than one "correct" mode of existence, and that the life of people different than them had worth. Now, the conflict arises because they refuse to look inward and acknowledge that what they are really looking for cannot be achieved through conquest.

Where before they assimilated civilizations in a quest for utmost perfection no matter the cost, now they are assimilating masses of people in the hopes of creating a chorus that will drown out the loneliness.

Don't get me wrong, that sort of twist can make for an intriguing villain arc, but firstly, it needs to be executed with a lot more care than season 2 made room for, and secondly, it works a lot better for individuals or groups of individuals than for a species that is ostensibly a telepathic hive-mind.

(Seriously, the in-universe implications -- for the Prime-timeline Borg, the Federation, the xBs -- are staggering and are glossed over completely on the show. Then again, this is the same season that doesn't bother to show (or tell) whether Agnes Jurati chooses to remain with the Borg Queen out of a genuine desire to create a new collective or as a desperate bargain to save her friends. You know. The culminating moment of her character arc in season 2. But that is another rant.)

At the end of the day, I don't feel like this newly-revealed secret motivation adds a fresh layer of complexity to a well-known villain. Instead, I think it takes away many of the aspects that made the Borg intriguing, both narratively and as an alien species, and turns them into something much more human and, frankly, much more banal.

[dalesramblingsblog]

Chris Cwej, Roz Forrester, the New Adventures and Policing

I'm not going to include this in the final Room With No Doors review - I don't really like going off on tangents about the Chibnall Era unless I can really help it, since I recognise that plenty of people enjoy it more than me and I wouldn't want to take that away from people - but I do think there's something to be said for the way in which Kate Orman handles these themes of the Doctor's role not being that of a cosmic policeman, as distinct from the way it's handled in the Chibnall years.

I see people saying that Yaz quit, and that people who "missed" that are just clueless. But like... I dunno. I guess, to my own personal taste, they never really dealt with the particulars of Yaz's quitting in enough of a substantial fashion, and that speaks to a general aesthetic of the Chibnall Era that I could never get down with.

Would I go so far as to say it is actively "copaganda?" No. But I don't think that's what anybody is really arguing anyway when they say Chibnall is "pro-establishment." And yes, that includes folks like Darren Mooney or El Sandifer, both of whom have written on this topic way better than I ever could tbh.

(And look, having read Darren's stuff for a long time, while I know some folks find him to be sneering or mean-spirited in his treatment of Chibnall, I've never really gotten that veneer. Trust me, I've read his reviews of some truly dire Star Trek episodes and he's way harsher in those than he ever has been on Chibnall imo.)

Chibnall's Who is not "pro-establishment" in the sense of a 50-something, lifelong Republican with an All Lives Matter flag in the back window of their ute. If it's "pro-establishment" at all, it's "pro-establishment" in the sense of your average milquetoast liberal. It may not be *as* conservative, but it's still a preference, on some level, for the status quo. It's comparatively, rather than absolutely, conservative.

Enlightened centrism, if you will. At least in my opinion.

The New Adventures, at least, were generally aware of the weird optics of having the TARDIS inhabited by two regular cast members who were explicitly police officers.

The Room With No Doors, for instance, actively ridicules the view of the Doctor as a non-interventionist, "cosmic policeman," and interrogates Chris' desire to be a hero with specific reference to his policing career, with the character voicing a desire to go back to the kind of small-scale traffic policing that marked his early days on the job.

This is obviously supposed to play against the grandiose notions of "Time's Champion and his steward" that run throughout the NAs, but it's telling that the Chibnall Era never really does anything comparable to this.

We don't really get an in-depth exploration of what Yaz sees in policing, or her eventual disillusionment. We get the general outline, sure, with the backstory of Can You Hear Me? and the eventual revelation - pretty much buried in a throwaway line - that she eventually quit. But that isn't really enough for me, personally. As ever, I should stress that it's totally fine if the character and her arc resonates more with you, mind.

I could also go into Roz's character arc and how she's incredibly multi-faceted and well-rounded as a character, including her relationship to her work as an Adjudicator, but for now I'll basically just leave it at this: That final speech in The Also People as to why she feels justified in turning feLixi in is a better articulation, for me, of a regular character's relationship with their policing work than anything in the Chibnall Era, made all the stronger because while Aaronovitch enables you to understand Roz's perspective, he's shrewd enough to leave the truth of her statements a little ambiguous.

Anyway. Sorry to be so negative, like I said I'm not a fan of doing this too regularly, but The Room With No Doors threw up a lot of comparisons in my head and I wanted to voice them without derailing the flow of the eventual review proper.

I aimed to voice these thoughts in as respectful a manner as possible, as I do also find the cottage industry of anti-Chibnall critiques where people are just using it to shit on the fans of the era and minorities to be... bad, funnily enough. Nobody should ever be doing that, even if I do think there are valid grounds for critiquing the era.

[ramblingdisaster73]

hi! i saw a few of ur posts and asks lately and i hope u don't mind me popping in to kind of rant a little. i haardd agree w what you've said re: ep03 and 4x04

403 really did hurt. and i get it. i get that it comes hand in hand with the angst, and i think. i hope (?) that they'll be ok in the end bc at this point, it's getting a little bit frustrating to me. i hated the line of carlos being like 'can't let go of a bad relationship' :/ ik its probably a really poor take coming from the writers but like. with the setup, framing, and tk looking at him after he said that line. what did they want us to think. i think there's a fine line between being petty and hurtful and being a jerk. and imo if i want to put more weight into that line (i probably won't, bc i believe its meant to be more like a throwaway line that we'll collectively ignore and won't resurface again), he's leaning towards the latter. i can't imagine the patience tk has rn

i did not like that, time and time again so far, tk is just being his non-confrontational self. and i get it, with the whole 'you lash out at you loved ones in the moment of extreme anxiety and loss of control, whilst knowing that he will be there for u through it all. through all ur messiness and ur shit, it's like a lifeline that he can hold on to.' hell, i did that too. and i love this sentiment, and i think ep1 - ep3 is them trying to show us this. except before we get their reconciliation in 4x04 (hopefully), these are what we have to work with.

i also read somewhere (i'm so sorry i'd forgotten who said it) that we might get more of carlos + iris reunion rather than a carlos/tk one bc it will carry more weight for carlos' character arc, and at this stage, i hate that i can see that happening, and i don't like it. i'm just asking for any sort of carlos/tk reunion to be cathartic af, after all of what we've they've been through so far. i don't think i'm asking for much atp 🥲🥲

(prev.) if this really happens, i hope it's in the context of like, iris reassuring carlos that she's not his legal responsibility anymore, that she's more than capable of taking care of herself, and that he needs to let go of the unfounded guilt that he's carrying towards this whole mess (ik this is controversial, but i would argue that iris carries equal responsibility as well and i blame carlos as much as i do iris, she could've reached out too, but i won't be getting into that), so that he can truly move on with tk. a clean slate, if u will. i won't be able to accept anything else.

i just. my god. i love tk. i want to give him a little hug. it's genuinely really painful to watch him in these 3 eps. i have no hope that it will ever be addressed. can u tell i just really need more tk/carlos scenes atp bc i do i miss them being a team and i don't like it when there's tension that we can never get closure too. i don't want to expect anything for 404 except that it'll probably be disappointing, just so i won't be let down again.

also as like a little sidenote, i saw the 100 in your bio and omg i was there (!!!!!) doesn't this (e.g. tim's post, ro and rafa's interviews) all feel like jrat + the 100 cast mess all over again. bc i see it. i'm not sure if you're aware of it back then, but it was like a whole mess between the cast and jrat and they had to keep defending his writing and lmaoooooooo history repeating itself over at ls here i see i see

i'm so sorry its so long. it got away from me. thank u for reading through all that tho if u did 😭 have a nice day/night!

This storyline has definitely ruffled feathers, a lot of them for a lot of people. The way they are only revealing bits at a time through this 4 episode arc is slowly driving us all insane – especially those of us that were not blessed with any sort of patience (that’s me, I have none) and want to know everything right now.

Just like 3x13 had some painful to watch scenes, so did 4x03 – but watching Ronen & Rafa this season has been a real gift – we care so much about these characters in large part because we know how much Ronen & Rafa love their characters, how much they respect the relationship that they are portraying, combined with their natural chemistry, makes Carlos & TK such a compelling people – as both individuals & as a couple.

-The first couple of seasons, we got glimpses of Carlos’ flaws, but they weren’t as obvious or as loud as TK’s, so many people just over looked them, some to the point where they don’t believe that he can do any wrong or that pretty people should always be forgiven because they are pretty.

*For this particular storyline – They had to pretty much exaggerate his negative traits: Control freak, self-blame, avoidance to the point of lies by omission, and his compartmentalization in order to have him learn more about himself (I think) If they had just kept him as he was in 3x13 with the petty chicken dinner, then we wouldn’t really be able to see him learn anything – it would just have been a continuation of his avoidance, without long term consequences.

– his traits/flaws had to be so in our faces, so that when he loses all of that – all control, all ability to compartmentalize, can’t lie to even himself anymore – we are feeling it with him, feeling him learn that this isn’t a healthy way for him to live.

*I have no clue what their intention for the bad relationship line was – but I do think it missed whatever the goal was since none of us can decide on the meaning. I am currently going with it is part of how they are exaggerating his traits (his pettiness in this case) to show how much out of the ordinary this whole situation is for him. I do think he is filled with so much guilt over Iris, that it almost froze him where she was concerned, especially since TK came into his life – and he realized that he could have something real. -thinking about it this way does make it more tolerable, at least it does for me.

*There is a fine line between petty and jerk, Carlos has been walking it like a tight rope since the minute that venue called, probably since the morning after he realized that he hadn’t dreamed up TK proposing. I think that the show is finally letting us see his other sides, we are seeing him start to unravel a little – he doesn’t know how to deal with it – THERAPY WOULD BE MY SUGGESTION, SIR! – so much damn therapy.

I am loving TK (& Ronen) this season – that man can say a lot with his eyes – especially when the script doesn’t give him words. I do think that part of his lack of an emotional response, isn’t that he doesn’t have feelings about what is going on (Carlos being married), but he sees how fucked up Carlos is over the whole thing – he knows that if he freaks out too, then everything will get worse – this time, even though shit is hard, the last thing he wants to do is run away or blow things up – and honestly, I love it. And I have written quite a few fics so far that have really helped me deal with the emotions that this storyline brought up.

*I do not think that there will be a whole lot of bottled up TK in 4x04 – I think he will be a fiery tornado with one goal in mind – as Ronen has said, we are going to see a different side to TK this season. I think part of that might be the way he processes his emotions/thoughts (plus he has a whole fandom to be mad on his behalf) – I don’t think TK will ever just roll over and let anyone (Carlos included) walk all over him - he has just learned to pick his battles, support his fiancé over himself when needed.

*I can’t wait for feral TK

I did say something along the lines of Carlos more important reunion would be with Iris over TK – to be honest though, I doubt we see a real reunion between Iris & Carlos at this point – BUT, my reasons for thinking that were what you said – that she might be the one that gets through to him that people are stronger and more capable than he gives them credit for – Both her and TK – as well as Carlos.

*We will get some type of emotional reunion between TK & Carlos on screen – I think that Tim loves to pull things apart – but he does it because he loves putting them back together. Someone pointed out that each episode has shown us another aspect of the Tarlos relationship – The understanding from TK in 4x01, the unit that they are in 4x02, what friction and stress can cause in 4x03. I think 4x04 will be another aspect to see.

-I am leaning that the bulk of the ep will be them separated – Carlos being held captive, torture & TK will be realizing he is missing/searching for him. I am also thinking that the amount of time on screen that they will be together will be similar to Push 3x04 – An emotional reunion (like at the hospital when TK woke up), then a domestic like scene (like the initial Tarloft scene), ending with some type of group scene (like the reopening of the 126) – obviously, I could be wrong – but that is how I am leaning as of now.

TARLOS IS ENDGAME & ALL ROADS LEAD TO THE WEDDING – is my mantra and I repeat it as necessary in times of need.

I also love TK, he is also probably the one I can relate to the most, so that helps (or not, depending on how you look at it). That mean needs all the hugs, he takes everything on himself (kinda like his fiancé), and wants everyone to be happy. I can’t get over how blessed we are with the cast that plays these amazing characters – they don’t feel like one dimensional characters – they feel real – this is why we care so much.

I think the difference between Tim & J Roth is that Tim is supporting his work & his cast/characters while J Roth killed off characters if his cast member needed time off for a medical/mental health issue or has a disagreement. I got lucky with the 100, my ship made it to the end, even if they were the ship with one of the smallest fanbases (sorry, I am a total Mackson fan – they are what brought me to tumblr & Ao3 in the first place), so I didn’t hate J Roth for the shit writing in Season 7 (also, don’t hate season 7 – see my ship for why 7x14 was a total gift for me)

*I really can’t see Tim treating any of this cast like J Roth did Ricky & Bob

*Tim will fuck with us though – and since he gives us such beautiful scenes (even the hard ones), I will forgive him. While he loves to tear our hearts out, he is sure to let us know that he will let these characters put them back in place. He knows that we love them, but he does deserve to be protective of his work (even when we don’t agree with him).

I enjoy reading people’s thoughts, adding my own, and welcome people sending me asks/their thoughts!                                                                   

[jon-astronaut]

the three biggest sins of ted lasso season 3 has been:

1) forgetting that football should be at the core of the show

this is a football show. it’s also sort of like a workplace sitcom (or dramedy or whatever) in that sense. the thing that tied these characters together was the football team. so why did we not know where afc richmond stood half of the season in terms of the premier league? what happened to the getting relegated in season 1, going back up to the premier league in season 2, and winning the whole fucking thing in season 3 plan? the season was filled with various a-b-c storylines that felt disconnected the whole season. separate storylines did not come together like they did in episodes like rainbow, like man city,  like think of episode 10 and rebbecca’s monologue about football. that’s where the show always should have been. football was its selling point and also the reason these characters are this way. the reason why roy was so angry, the reason why colin wasn’t coming out. football should have been the focus, instead of us learning about their position in the league with throwaway lines. 

2) not being able to write full arcs

the show knows how to write stuff until the reveal (with a few exceptions). in season 2, when you do a rewatch, it is so clear the way nate starts to feel that he has been replaced. and seeing him working with west ham at the end was a nice pay off. but then what happened this season? where was the tension between nate and every other character (except that whole afc Richmond players getting into fights on the pitch thing)? yes him falling in love was a nice story but that shouldn’t have been the way things switched for nate. not after everything. there are other examples to this too.

3) the show forgot the team is adult footballers

yes, ted lasso has always been cute and nice and cheesy and the characters were always lovable. but they weren’t fandomified himbos. almost every scene with the team felt like it was out of a fanfic. don’t get me wrong I do enjoy reading fluff and stuff but that’s not what I want to see on tv. like you are telling me these adult footballers chose to do a pillow fight in AMSTERDAM of all cities instead of going to a party. they weren’t like this in season 1. still nice and cute but not like this. ALSO, these are professional footballers. the whole seeing nate rip the believe poster and go on fights in the pitch never sat right with me. believe me I'm familiar with football and how much fighting and cursing there is on the pitch. but PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALLERS wouldn’t go ballistic like that. at least not all of them. it wasn’t in character for most. 

[inked-out-trees]

69, 44, and 25 for the writers ask

I need to get back to writing too, but in good news I'm getting a feel of character for one of them. Now if I only had a plot

we're doing it! getting back into writing together! thank you for the reverse directional asks i will do them exactly how you have asked

69. how do you write emotional scenes? do you ever feel what the characters feel?

if i'm coming into it Knowing that i want to write an emotional scene, usually there's music involved! i have a collection of sad and otherwise melancholy playlists (plus one that's just songs i think would fit well in those angsty last 3 minutes of a tv show episode before the cliffhanger) and they tend to serve me well; if all else fails i'll find the most recent mood-fitting song i've been repeating lately and loop it forever. (most recently has been doctor eleven by dan romer. was the only thing i listened to for my crw class submission and personally i think it turned out swell.)

as for feeling the characters, i don't think so? a lot of the time what i feel when i'm writing is just joy from writing, vague evil sentiment, or if it's Really A Lot To Handle, there'll be like, an ache. occasionally i do make myself cry but that's mostly for personal or original things, and less for fanfic. unless it's the annie chapter of bean's beans. but typically i am somewhat detached, which is actually kind of impressive considering my propensity for imprinting on literally everything. huh! i learn something new about myself every day.

44. any writing advice you want to share?

man i never know if there's any sort of sagely things i do that could be passed off as wisdom but. the best piece of advice i've read (on tumblr too i think) was that if you're stuck, it's possible that the problem is actually a couple lines back. usually i look between three paragraphs and half a page up to see what different choices i could make, and that tends to solve my problem more often than not. kind of magic, that.

in other sort of throwaway bits, i always start a fic creation process by opening a doc and just rambling onto it. no proper prose, just as though i'm having a conversation with the empty page. it's helpful both to get my ideas in order and to have a place to come back to if need be - it's easier to toss the ball around if the net's already there, yknow? also, if for some reason microsoft word isn't doing it for me, i find fighter's block to be good for dumping out words, and zenpen has carried me through several terms of creative writing assignments and also poetry so take that as you will.

25. what's your revision or rewriting process like?

would you laugh at me if i said i don't edit my fics. this is not necessarily true in that i don't consider what i post to be rough in any way, but when it comes to fic especially i'm a big first-one-done kind of guy. that being said: i reread my work a lot. a lot a lot. and often times i will pick up little things that need fixing, line edits or weird repetitive things, so i do find it helpful. also the read-aloud function on word has been great to me. and i make frequent use of the comment function in word, which has been exceedingly useful when it comes to the fact that i haven't yet figured out the whole timeline of fixed point so some of the dates are just "FIGURE THIS OUT LATER" and "IS THIS TRUE?".

and of course sharing with other people :) coming from creative writing seminars i've realised (? finally understood? i don't actually know how much of an enlightenment it was but it was something) how useful it is to get someone and just say, hey, tell me how you interpret this, are there any questions you still have, god forbid did i leave any gaping plot holes. this comes in especially handy because in MY brain i know all the answers, and sometimes they forget to worm out onto the page. this again has just happened in my current seminar, so rest in peace to the quest plot i tentatively thought i could maybe go without describing (for wordcount's sake) but apparently not. it is cool and fine.

anyway happy tuesday and also thank you!

[content-d3leted]

I am going to ramble about Justin's house. Noone will ever read this probably, but I could not care less, I just have to express my thoughts somewhere!!!

What I love about Robert is the fact that he can say the most ridiculous shit ever and he just gets away with it. Like if any other presenter on cbeebies said some of the stuff he did then it would just sound out of character, but for Robert, he just absolutely nails how to speak it.

'Madam, you are a human gyroscope'. Like mate imagine Rebecca or Evie saying that. No way.

'I'm just going to sit over here....and think about my life choices.' This one actually made me giggle so much, I can picture him just sitting on the floor behind the sofa doing that omg

And the stupid little throwaway comments he does in the show and the pantos aswell is the most hilarious thing EVER. Like when Nina was running onto stage in the 2012 panto and he was like 'oh she's been at the sweets again'. Actually hilarious.

The JH podcasts are so boring though (for the most part). Of course it's meant for small children, no wonder I don't find them great, but the quality of the scripts is abhorrent. I died of cringe at some of the lines. Like what do you MEAN that Justin and Steve get paid to say the line 'let's have a spin-song' (instead of a singsong, I can't recall the scenario that led to the word-pun), but jesus that was a rubbish joke. Justin and Robert get so fruity in them tho, like it actually made my jaw drop (/pos) at some parts at how gay it is

Like when Robert fell asleep on the sofa, and Justin said something along the lines of 'Oh, look at his little robot face, isn't he adorable!! Who's my little robot...you! (x2)' THAT IS SO GAY. I LOVE IT. And when Justin said to Robert something like 'Oh you're too kind, you charmer!' AAAAA I LOVE THEM!! And in the Christmas episode where they're unwrapping eachothers gifts!! That whole segment of it was so adorable!!!

Their whole relationship is so cute though. Like you can clearly see that Robert fancies Justin throughout the whole show. Eg in series 1 'Starting with art' when Justin did his little show-off dance of his arty clothes, Robert posed in a way that you could CLEARLY see that he thought Justin looked hot, which is quite funny. Also in 'Robert's inventions', Robert literally gives Justin such a seductive look for literally no reason, its so obvious he likes him. AND THE FACT THAT JUSTIN WANTED TO GO ON A DATE WITH HIM IN S2?!?! (I'd like to imagine that Robert eventually went to Posh Nosh with Justin the next day). Also at the end of s1ep23, when Dee, Nina and Cerrie chase Justin to kiss him at the end of the episode, Robert literally follows the 3 ladies in the line...like dw mate I'm sure Justin has a kiss saved for his favourite robot aswell lol. Omg I nearly forgot that in the prom podcast that Robert does, he has a phone call with Justin, and they say they love eachother at the end!!! Now that is epic. Ngl there's countless moments of homo between them, I'd be here all day if I listed them all!!

Also it's so funny how in s1ep6 that both of them (especially Robert) had a whopper hangover. Literally no other show could get away with that in an episode. Imagine a drunk TinkyWinky!?! That would be all over the news!! I guess it's a funny relatable joke for adults so noone cared. Actually now that I think about it, Bluey had an episode where her parents were hungover, and that got talked about loads!! In a good way. Its funny how JH does such wild things sometimes (those Pretty Woman references didn't escape my eye!) but literally noone cares lol

I like how at the start of some episodes it shows what they've been doing prior to the audience being there. Especially in s2. Eg Justin and Robert were taking swimming lessons together?!?! And they went to Glastonbury together too!!! They're just 2 daft lads living the life! Their chemistry is incredible though. Like no other pair in cbeebies has that spark. Cook and Line are very good together of course, but it does not match the level of Justin and Robert!

I REALLY hope that in the last ever series of JH (could be s7 or 8) that they properly confess to eachother in an episode. Or at least they say some sort of line in the background that confirms it. Or maybe even a sneaky little kiss on the cheek (although that'll never happen lol). Because I've noticed in s5 and 6 they've slightly mentioned the gay community more, eg when Robert's looking through an inventors book and says 'Oh of course him, and I remember her, ooh and I remember them!' (Yippee) and also there's a canoniclly non-binary caterpillar called Leslie, which is awesome. Maybe they're preparing the audience for something..I sure hope so.

Here endeth the rambling-eth.

[randomfoggytiger]

I did a little writeup on the episode here if you're curious; but reading it is completely unnecessary, and my thoughts below should cover it.

If I recall, Morgan and Wong wanted Season 4 to create distance between Mulder and Scully because of that throwaway line: Scully, seeing that Mulder won't act, won't reassure, won't say that "it's my life, too", feels second to the quest and withdraws. It's not until the finale that Morgan and Wong would have reconciled them and, if I recall correctly, taken their relationship in a new direction. 

As much as Scully denies her actions aren't "about you" to Mulder, Never Again isn't solely about daddy issues or feeling trapped-- it's feeling trapped by being second best. Romance was explicitly written into the dna of this episode: she takes the rose from the grave-- someone's lasting legacy of their loved one's life-- extrapolates meaning from it behind Mulder's desk, and deflates when Mulder runs off to his vacation that even he rates as secondary to his quest. (Mulder missed her entire point: needing his reassurance and reinforcement, needing his speech in the FTF hallway; and Scully missed that he missed it.) When she meets Jerse, she's flattered by his sole focus on her, takes his card, but still plans to leave. Mulder has been calling, but when he reconnects and hides the fact he missed her behind "how's the quest going?", it kicks Scully in the shins and she decides to change plans and meet up with Ed. "The tattoo you deserve" and one night stand with Ed drags down Scully's view of herself, in hindsight-- how did she not see that he was psychotic?-- and the final scene in the basement is tinted with second guesses of her own character: more specifically, what Scully thinks she has the right to ask from Mulder, doubting her own judgment (a theme she continually struggles with throughout the series.) If she sits and remains in the basement, Scully has to accept that Mulder won't move them forward; and she does, choosing to be Starbuck to this (in her perspective) doomed (relation)ship because at least Mulder needs her... which is why The End and Fight the Future hit her so hard, convincing her she has no use in his life, period.

It's not until Mulder's "you made me a whole person" speech that Scully starts to push harder, again, for more. "Settle down, live something approaching a normal life" in Dreamland I, her speech in Rain King, her romantic crisis in Milagro and open flirting in The Unnatural, and her outright hostility and jealousy-- undisguised-- with other women (Kersh's secretary, Diana Fowley, Karin Berquist) form the backbone of S6.

Everything and everyone else being second best-- including Scully-- to Mulder's newest hyper-fixation is a Morgan and Wong episode staple (or can be read into most of them): even in One Breath, M and W wrote Melissa Scully to be a romantic option for Mulder (which, if I recall, Chris Carter nixed. Obviously.) Even Home, their shippiest episode (so to speak), deconstructed the happy ending Mulder wanted and Scully was, not-so-subtly, working herself into. Not only that, but there’s a clear moment in Home where Mulder himself barricades the door between their two motel rooms (not trusting a broken lock and his daydreams of a normal life in this seemingly idyllic small town, yes, but also explicitly setting up barriers even when there are none.)  

To conclude, the line definitely meant romance, or the realization that there would be none because Mulder won't act on it; and because Scully, as a person, needs to feel appreciated, sought after, and first place in someone's life-- hence her "was he proud of me?" with her father, hence her attraction to Ed Jerse, hence her almost return to Daniel Waterston-- and because Mulder is in (at this time) no place or headspace to actively pursue healthy romantic attachment (limiting himself by his search for the Truth) he stops talking, she gets it, and they coast.

That's why, personally, I like Leonard Betts after Never Again: just when Mulder and Scully recalibrate-- him choosing a case directly tied to her expertise (likely for her sake), she feeling in her element and vital to the work-- bam, cancer.

Those are my thoughts, anyway~.

'Never Again' revised script notes.... Mulder's inner monologue 😭💕

Her life has become his.

There it is. Definitive.