#except there aren't actually very many implications it seems

[strxnged]

oh fuck! i'm an adult now. funny

[franki-lew-yo]

James and the Giant Peach is still (mostly) for young children

Despite a single pre-metoo joke and it's uncanny-ish artstyle that's a serious make-or-break-you factor on if you like it, James and the Giant Peach is aggressively a movie for young children. I personally like it as I never find it a patronizing sit for little kids, like Don Bluth's movies from the 90s so often were, but that really is what I think alienates people; the intended audience may be a bit too scared of the visuals (NOT like how they are with TNBC, which kids go in expecting to be scary) where the adult audience who is here for the 'creepy stop-motion' feel like the movie is lacking for not being Nightmare or Coraline, which is unfair. It absolutely scared me as a little little kid but upon finally facing it at, like ten or whenever it was on Cartoon Network's movie show, I realized there was nothing to fear. And that, in turn, was exhilarating. It's such good symmetry that the film is about facing your fears and standing up for yourself because that's exactly what my relationship with it was. It's such a comfort film for me. My og Bluey. JatGP, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Ernest and Celestine = perfect comfort after I watch something serious and/or disturbing.

Half my reason for trying to pied-piper everyone else towards it as it's own merit is I think James and the Giant Peach would hit hard for lovers of weirdcore and dreamcore ala Jack Stauber or @samsketchbook's 'Welcome to Our Dimensional Party'.

That "looks unsettling/potentially disturbing but actually cute or gentle" vibe pairs perfectly with dreamcore aesthetic. We're coming up on it's 30 year anniversary I hope to see a genuine resurgence. If I had it my way and I was Dan Olson I'd make an hour-long look at the movie, the original book and Henry Selick's filmography as a surrealist the way Dan made an hour-lookback at Bakshi's Lord of the Rings. But I'm not. Cause I'm not Dan Olson and I can't build up the nerve to either show my face or figure out how to make videos in two years.

But anyway, about the title of this post (content warning: downer nsfl stuff; mentioning of real life child ab*se cases):

James' life with his aunts hits VERY different when you're an adult and you've watched too much true crime.

It's not intentional on the part of Dahl or Henry Selick. Selick had Mariam and Joanna ham up the screen and they clearly loved every minute of it and Dahl I think was just trying to tell an 'authentic' type fairytale story where the main character has to escape their evil family. Point being- Spiker and Sponge are supposed to be 'evil for the sake of evil' villains who could only exist as hammy caricatures in an already weird story. They aren't supposed to be like the parents in Matilda or the Twits who I'd argue are a little more 'realistic' depiction of awful people...except for the fact that legal guardians like Spiker and Sponge DO actually exist.

There's a heavy implication in the film that no one else in their county even knows James lives with Spiker and Sponge (literally the only people around to recognize James' existence are the bugs when they first meet him!). His aunts seem to make James work out of frustration for having to take him in, like he's a burden and they're making him pay for being one by being their slave. They actively don't feed him except for rotting fish and then shame him for not eating it. The Lane Smith picture book implies that James' parents weren't killed by a rhino but rather it's Spiker and Sponge who put that idea in James' head and use it to control him. And all that BEFORE the beatings which you know are happening off screen.

After the horrifying cases of Ruby Franke, Sylvia Likens and the Turpins, the "every child deserves a parent but not every parent deserves children" reality of it all makes you realize that James probably would have died if he lived with his aunts. Considering how they flip out on him in New York- that boy REALLY needed to escape, giant peach or no.

This is absolutely another reason for why JatGP is a comfort movie for grownups. You have this horrific childhood rescued by loving in-human parents who will kill everyone in the room and then themselves if you touch their human boy. It's like Opal but if Claire found a happier family. Of bugs. None of that was intentional, ftr, but it's what sticks out to me.

[sofiadragon]

A Note on Severus Snape as a Teacher

In Order of the Phoenix, Snape makes his O.W.L. warning speech the first day and says he expects the class to maintain his high-pass level. This implies that he has better statistics than previous professors, or perhaps he is comparing to equivalent tests at the other European magic schools. He makes other comments to this effect and nobody contradicts him. Harry takes the fact that Umbridge doesn't go after Snape so much as being because they are both horrible people, but he clearly hates her just as much as the rest of the staff and it seems she's scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to get something to hold against him. If he had poor statistics, an auditor type like that would have been all over it. Either way, the implication is that despite being an absolute trash fire of a person and tearing down student confidence as a hobby, he's managing to actually teach potions well.

I read so many fanfics that imply or directly state that the reason Harry isn't doing well in potions is because Snape is bad at the job: He never learned basic prep skills, Snape only shoots recipes up on the board and doesn't explain, all his lessons are practical with no lectures. I submit that this isn't the case. Never was, as we do hear about lectures even if the books aren't great at giving us any kind of sensible timetable. Harry is distracted in Potions by the hostile environment, and that is Snape's fault, but the curriculum as presented isn't the problem. It's the fact that the class is with the Slytherin students, and that Snape makes a lot of ad-hominem attacks instead of telling Harry or Neville exactly what went wrong. Harry, because he is the living embodiment of all Snape's trauma just walking around giving the man flashbacks. Neville, because Snape gave up on him rather quickly. That's bad, flat out, and he even grades Harry unfairly... but Harry is still learning the material.

In Half-Blood Prince, we can even see that if Harry could learn from a version of Snape who wasn't hostile to him for some reason, he'd do fantastically well. Unfortunately, nobody told Snape to go talk to a therapist after the war, and frankly with how he treats Harry's Gryffindor class that should have been made a requirement for keeping his job. Handle your trauma, do not give it to a new generation of kids.

This is not an excuse for the way he acts as a bully, but Harry being 'bad' at potions isn't because Snape isn't presenting the material to him correctly. When acting like a teacher instead of like a bully, Snape is clearly very good at his job. He puts his everything into it, and can have the high bar of only accepting O students into his N.E.W.T. classes because he has enough students getting Os that the school board never had to call him out for not having enough students in the class.

Finally, Harry isn't bad at potions! This is before grade inflation, look that up if you aren't familiar or have a very different school system to the UK. Getting a top-level grade in any class was HUGE. The tests are hard enough the average person would not know all the answers. I took a science exam in the 90's and placed 4th in my state. I'd gotten 2 questions completely wrong (I'll never forget the differences between types of clouds again) and it was better than the thousands of high-school kids who took the test, except for the one person who got 1 partly wrong and 2 people who got 1 question wrong. Nobody, and I mean nobody, got a perfect score that year. That's what these tests used to look like. Hermione is a BEAST. Harry and even Ron are doing great! Straight Cs (or As in the HP world) used be fine. Average, even, and you could graduate with Ds even if you might not want any potential employer knowing about that if it was relevant.

[rubberduckyrye]

Also is anyone else bothered by the timeline of DR as a whole in V3??

Like here's the thing that I'm annoyed by rn, and this is something I feel like the V3 class could have figured out on their own if they weren't busy with their narrative hate boner for Kokichi

In DR3 the Anime (which is canon to V3) Makoto and go are shown as young adults, who eventually go on to rebuild HPA after the world is finally back to normal. I'm assuming in this timeline the Dr1 and DR2 cast are even older.

Considering the casts of DR1 and 2 were young adults by the time their KGs started, we can safely assume that the DR1 cast was about 18 (at the youngest) to mid 20s (at the oldest) depending on how many years they were in HPA for and how long it took from them holding up in the academy for their KG to actually start (it seems to be implied they were in the academy for a long time but idk how long exactly)

Add a few years after DR3 Future Arc's main story to account for the world being rebuilt/for HPA to be rebuilt, and you're looking at a cast that could well be in their thirties by the time the V3 cast applies to HPA as students. Or at the bare minimum, mid twenties.

So here's the stinker: how in the FUCK was Kokichi supposed to be Junko's "right hand man"?

If Junko would be in her mid 20s at the youngest and in her 30s at the latest by the time Kokichi could even apply for HPA...

Okay. Let's say Junko at the youngest would have been 25 by the time the new HPA is built.

Kokichi could apply to HPA at the earliest, probably about 16 years old? Since there is that rule that he had to have been in a different high school first.

That would mean that Junko is nine years older than Kokichi at the youngest she could have been--and let me put that into perspective for you.

If Junko was 18ish when she broke the world, Kokichi would have been 9 years old.

Considering she didn't even view the WoH on the same level as her, either Kokichi was an extremely exceptional child she took advantage of and made him her right hand man, or the whole thing was absolutely bogus.

I know these are very rough estimates here, but realistically speaking, there is no world where the V3 class (aside from TDP and DRS of course) aren't all way younger than the DR1 and 2 cast

It just feels like this detail got swept under the rug because the writers forgot their own implications

[trilobitepunch]

What are some of your favorite character relationships/dynamics in TMNT, and why? Is there anything that you particularly like seeing explored with them in fan works (art, writing, comics, etc)?

Awww I gotta get my brain into answer-questions-mode...

Le's see....

What I really love is the exploration of family bonds, especially in the last two show iterations for 2012 and 2018. The original 198something one didn't really seem to dip too much into it, from what I remember, anyway, and only in hindsight do I realize they didn't really seem very teenagerish either, or at least that aspect just seemed lost to me. It's been a bajillion years and I know I never watched its entirety. Not even touching the comics realm- no idea what's going on there.

I completely missed 2003, but 2012's version was the first one that made it clear that they were- aside from being mutants trained as ninja in the sewers by a rat father- teenagers who loved each other but also could be annoyed at each other and mad at each other, tease and fight but still remember who they are to each other by the end of things. I'll tell you now, I've never been a big romance-oriented person and I don't think those relationships in that show really added much to anything. Funny at times, amusing, yes, but that seemed to be about it. Friendship bonds can be just as strong and meaningful!

Where 2012 dipped into relations between the brothers, 2018 pushed it further. The lads were mostly on their own due to a negligent father, although this new aspect of Splinter was refreshing and I love the idea of all of them basically trying to find their way around things and this nebulous duty bound to their family. I love that April's become more of a big sister to them and still shares some bond even with Splinter, similar to 2012's for the whole master and student angle. I think her relationship with Donnie is a fun one, her go-to for technical issues, for hanging out and homework checks, but she's not afraid to speak her mind and set the boy right when his brain is working too much.

The layers and directions they take with each character just makes it a fun mix when they throw everything together. I love that they don't even outright hate the villains and some of the villains don't even know why they hate the turtles but hey! We'll fight 'em just cuz! Ahaha, these poor kids. I do have to add that I'm also glad that no one's overly lamented about the fact that they've been mutated in this show except for poor Splinter at first, but all the villains basically kinda vibe with it like 'oh, I guess this is how my life is now /shrug'.

I like Raph's self-instated role as the oldest to be the protector, and how he especially looks after Donnie when things get sweaty. Or tries to, anyway, look- his heart's in the right place, even if half the time he ends up smashing his squishy brother by accident. I like the competition that goes on between Mikey and Leo, whether it's just at who's better or who's right, it's a fun dynamic. Of course I love Leo and Donnie antics too, and even though there aren't too many, the implications that they have dove into many a hair-brained scheme is just too funny. ...just going to go through all of them I guess. I'M SORRY, THIS GOT SO LONG AGH Right, Mikey and Donnie, a classic team-up, I love that they support each other so much, and the chaos they can get up to. Even funnier, I love that they actually succeed most of the time. And then Mikey and Raph's little bro vs oldest bro dynamic, which is in a way the same as Leo and Raph in that they can see eye-to-eye and get along, but when they clash, they clash hard. Classic.

...sorry I'm still not done, one more section...!!

When it comes to fanworks, I just like to see more of what was set up in the shows and the movie, but I also like being pleasantly surprised by wild and creative takes now and then. It's like... the reason I RP a character is to get more story, to see how so-and-so goes through and deals with this situation or another, the friends and enemies they might make in a different setting or opportunity. Fanart has glimpses of such things, fanfics and comics explore them in depth. Y'all are amazing, for the record, just saying.

OKAY SHUTTING UP NOW, here's my term paper *hits submit*

[earthstellar]

love the canonical implication that Earthspark Bumblebee's current alt-mode is possibly just a mid life crisis sports car phase

I mean I'm in my 30s, I'm not shitting on him, it's relatable primarily because most of my friends are at least slightly younger than I am

the "Bee hanging out with the Terrans" vibe is very real

but I also like that we're seeing a slightly older version of Bee here. usually he's the youngest of the Autobots (in most TF shows, anyway), but here he's roughly equivalent to middle aged

The Terrans are the youngest, so we get to see a more mature Bee stepping up into a carer/educator role

Bee has never really been one of my favourite TF characters (which I mostly attribute to burn out caused by all the marketing which solely fixates on him lmao), but I like him in Earthspark for the most part!

He's still a little on the "still learning" side of things coming into his current role, but that's what allows for further character development, and we've already seen him build some good skills for dealing with/training the kiddo bots

IDK it's nice.

would be interesting if there's ever an episode where Alex and Dot are unavailable for a not-necessarily-bad reason (maybe one of them is accepting a professional award or something so both of them go together as a Nice Thing)

and suddenly Bumblebee is Parent of Many Sparklings (Plus Two Human Ones) for the weekend LMAO

how long until he gives in and calls someone for help? because that is a LOT of children

eventually he calls everyone but they're all busy, Arcee just laughs at him lol she's having Fun Battle Time with Elita-1 so neither of them can do it, finally Megatron shows up and instantly all the kids are like "yeah STORY TIME" and Bee gets a 10 min nap in until a perimeter alarm goes off or something (it was just a cow but now he is Stressed)

Optimus gradually shows up like ha ha! outdoors enrichment for the children is a great idea and Bee is just like "have you ever actually raised sparklings, you had troops but you don't have SPARKLINGS"

meanwhile in the background Hashtag is trying to explain the differences between various social media sites to Megatron, who is trying so hard to pretend like he cares, but is also busy trying to keep at least two of the others from putting their hands a little too deep in his transformation seams so they can climb on him (they just want to be Large)

idk I think a Single Parent Bee episode feat. Grandpa Megatron towards the end at one point would be fun, arguably they did this kind of vibe in the first half of S1 a bit already

but it would be interesting to see how Bumblebee would manage without any other adults for support for like a weekend in its entirety (save for maybe Megs at the end taking pity on him lmao)

there aren't many bots in what seems to be Bumblebee's general age range, except maybe Arcee but she gives the vibe of being a little older than he is, so real talk he'd probably feel a little more isolated and overtaxed than usual :(

but the kiddos would likely pick up on this and they could plot with Megs to try to do something nice for him!!! it would go poorly but that's OK!!!!

just thinkin' out loud

[all-pacas]

the FANFIC DIRECTOR'S COMMENTARY: no mystery left

(because this is the one i was thinking about. bc reddit.)

OK, no idea how to do these things. Part of me is really tempted to pretend this is an actual director's commentary, you know, make a fake script, like here I am in a booth and we're doing a little watch along together. Right: Hi, I'm Helen. (We're doing the RP, ya'll)

So this was the first story I wrote for House. I think I did it in about two hours; most of it in one burst and then finishing it up. I have the bad habit of doing editing after posting, I'll just sit and re-read it until I spot errors or wording issues.

no mystery left alpacas

I kind of regret the title of this fanfic. It's called after a lyric from Portions for Foxes, which is kind of just my general Chase Soundtrack Song, which is why I chose it — except I kind of feel like I could have used it on something else, or picked something more fitting. But I don't hate the title either. I can never think of proper titles, I'm always stealing from songs. I've been trying to use as many Portions for Foxes lyrics as possible in my House fanfics.

"Who," House says grandly as Cuddy approaches, "ever heard of a diagnostics fellowship?" He's sitting in the hall by the elevators, ready to pounce. "Who ever heard of a diagnostics department?" she retorts distractedly. She slows. "You're hiring a fellow. Maybe even two, if you can find that many people who can stand you. This is a teaching hospital." House doesn't retort. She looks at him suspiciously and he twists his expression as if to suggest he has no idea what she's suspicious about. "Hire a fellow," she repeats. "That Treiber kid -"

This is a continuity error!! House actually did have fellows before Chase. This exchange really bothers me, but I've let it stand. I guess my excuse is that neither House or Cuddy say Chase will be your first fellow; House is just at a moment where he doesn't have any (also a continuity error, btw, Chase mentions meeting one in All In).

I… hadn't actually completed my watch of the show when I started this fanfic, which is where the error crept in. You'd think referencing S8-only Trier would imply I'd at least watched most of it, but no. I skipped ahead. I watched it coz the summary implied Chase Backstory.

He watches as she tries to enter before the doors close. A blond kid sticks out his arm to block them, flashes a thousand perfectly white teeth at her when she says thanks. Interesting.

I never have House refer to Chase by name in the story. This is meant to be the first time House sees (or hears of) him, and what he sees is Chase on a Charm Offensive towards Cuddy. Enough to pique his curiosity.

"I don't trust nurses." House keeps staring over Wilson's shoulder. The papers are too far away to read, but he can just make out the logo on the cover sheet. "Who does immigration paperwork in a hospital?" he asks.

This is still meant to be an accidental run-in. This is also shoddy immigration law, although I reference it in another fanfic too: as much as I like the idea Chase leveraged a 3 month holiday visa into a work visa, I'm pretty sure there is no way the department of immigration would let him. But I like how careless and sort of arrogant it seems. (very Rich Kid) Chase just assumes it'll all work out for him.

House flips a page in the rheumatology textbook he's examining. Trier tries not to fidget. "Classic power play," he blurts. "Read a book to show how little you care." House glances up.

Now House is actively researching Chase, probably because he also knows he's playing it fast and loose with his visa, and by implication is trying real hard to get a job by sucking up to Cuddy. I wish we'd had Trier more. I love everything about him. I love the idea that Chase just has a Nemesis in pathology. Like that one episode where he has to biopsy a dead baby? So funny if you imagine Trier is just off-camera and pissed Chase is in his department.

You're Dr. Thomas, aren't you?" the kid asks as the elevator starts to move. "Oh - I'm not a patient, don't worry." He smiles, sticks out his hand. "I'm interviewing for the surgical residency. Dr. Cuddy spoke highly of you. Rob Chase. Fantastic to meet like this - we're due to interview next week?" "Dr. Chase. Of course." Thomas clearly has no idea who the kid is but shakes his hand. The elevator dings. "Nice to meet you," the kid says, oozing charm, as Thomas exits. "Nice trick, Doogie," House says when the doors close. The kid jumps, noticing him for the first time. "Repetitive, though. Do you just hang out around the elevators waiting for your future bosses to climb aboard?"

I went back and forth on how Chase would introduce himself. We know his sister, at least, calls him Robbie, and even though the show itself is pretty consistent on calling him Robert, boy, can we agree that doesn't suit him? In my head, he started using his full name to "sound professional," but before House usually called himself Robbie or Rob. So he's not quite polished yet.

House is making a power play here, obviously. He's figured out Chase's game, and inserting himself into it just to let Chase know he's been caught: Chase is trying to "accidentally" charm his way into being hired. Also, something about him asking if Chase waits for his future bosses on elevators, House being on an elevator…

He turns on the kid, who stops short, uncertain. "Say," House asks, mock innocent. "Is my photo on the website?" The kid recites obediently: "You're Dr. House. Head of diagnostics. Double specialty in -"

Chase did research House, but didn't think he was a useful person to stalk. Trying to imply here that Chase really is being quite cynical and calculating about this — he isn't just targeting the specific folks he needs to hire him, he looked at every possibility and then chose who to seduce.

At House's office, he hesitates until House waves him inside. "The way I see it, Dr. Chase's only son could get a job in any hospital down undah he wanted, no matter how mediocre his grades."

Honestly, biggest argument against Chase being a lazy nepobaby, imo. He seriously could have done this in universe. Instead he moved across the world. This is one of the reasons I am so Interested in this idiot: he's so unambitious but he does wild things like this.

"Surgery and intensive care," he says. He turns to the counter behind him, picks up the resume he'd had Wilson procure. "You must love saving lives." "I do," he says, eyeing the resume and the copy of his father's book House had strategically placed under the manilla folder. "How sweet." "I like them when they're dying," the kid says, leaning forward. "When you have a bleed and ten seconds to find it. When they crash and you don't know why and you have less than a minute to fix the problem." "And that's why you're a perfect candidate for my fellowship?" House mocks. "You tell me. You're courting me, aren't you?" "Sudden attitude shift. Trying to appeal to the nearest authority figure by imitating his grizzled charm?"

I don't love this exchange. I think it's pretty decent banter, it flows nicely, but I do think Chase is too aggressive, even if I handwaved it with him doing in intentionally, trying to match House's energy. House revealing he's been tracking Chase's job hunt, and showing off Rowan's book, proves that he's interested in Chase and has been paying attention. So Chase notices this, and he's trying to imitate House.

I don't think (she says, having written it) that Chase's explanation for his specialties is necessarily true here. Or not the whole truth. He's just trying to say what he thinks House wants to hear. From his perspective, this dude he hasn't seen before just walked up to him and told him "I know everything about you, sit in my office, let's look at your resume." House mentioned Chase's immigration winging-it, that he's hoping to charm his way into a job. So Chase in turn is making his specialty sound sort of reckless and seat of his pants, too.

From House's perspective, he's seen this kid stroll into the hospital and attempt to manipulate

He skims the kid's file again. Looks up at him over the top of the folder, then tosses it down. "Have your dad give me a call." "What?" he blinks. "You want the job, I'd like a character reference." "I have references." "Yeah, but I'm such a fan of daddy. Shouldn't be a problem. Not like you fled England rather than live in his shadow or anything." "Australia." House waits. Finally the kid stands up. He offers his hand to House to shake. He doesn't take it. Rowan Chase calls the next morning.

This is the reason both the story and this commentary exists. It's a power play. House wants Chase to demean himself and do something he doesn't want to in order to prove he wants the job. Chase, meanwhile, realizes that House is pursuing him. So the real question is "will you do something you don't want to do because I asked you?" House has seen Chase is manipulative, and observant, but is he willing to do this?

Chase, meanwhile, knows House is interested in him and pursuing him. He doesn't know how much House has been tracking him, but clearly House wants him. This is enough to get Chase, naturally, to abandon his other plans to charm his way into a job: he might be able to get Thomas to hire him, but House is taking the initiative and showing an interest, which makes him way more valuable. (ie: daddy issues. It's always daddy issues.)

"I want to hire Bobby," House says, cornering Cuddy Friday morning.

[…]

"One's black and the other has milk and sugar. Did - did my father --" He blinks, losing his confidence. House takes the black coffee. Chase throws the other cup in the trash.

House calls him Bobby to mock him, obviously, but it's not until the last paragraph of the story the narration (and so, House) thinks of Chase by name. Now that Chase is in Diagnostics, he Exists.

Further useless headcanon director's notes:

I think Chase introduced himself as Robbie exactly once in New Jersey, and House heard, and it was also the last time he ever used that name.

For some reason, I feel like Chase drinks coffee black with sugar. So neither of those cups were ever going to be from him. He's blatantly sucking up here.

Finally, in an earlier scene:

"Do you even have an interview with Thomas, or were you planning on kissing his ass until you got one?" "I'll have it by the end of the week," the kid says defiantly. House smirks.

And in the last scene:

He passes her the manila folder. Cuddy skims it and looks disapproving. "Dr. Chase is the new surgical resident. Dr. Thomas specifically asked --"

I just liked this bit. Chase did end up getting the other job, he just picked the boss who wanted him over the one who didn't. From Dr. Thomas's brief appearance in S6, he seems to have Issues with Chase and Chase as an extension of House. I think it makes sense on its own, but it makes more sense with this context. He offers the kid a job, the kid rejects the job, four years later Cuddy makes Thomas hire him again, and Chase still pays more attention to House?? Lowkey Chase has as many enemies in the hospital as House and I think that's great.

[varyathevillain]

Sebastian Vael would've been such a better character for the Dragon Age fandom to enjoy if in act 3 instead of the shitty "here, have a Leliana cameo and another proof there's Blood Magic Everywhere in Kirkwall, go fetch!" quest, we had a different one.

Let's say... Hawke has an option of investigating a weird deal between a chantry sister and a Starkhaven diplomat, and during it you uncover that the chantry has been embezzling from Starkhaven's treasury, as well as putting "former chantry members" (read: malleable or outright Chantry puppets) in the ruling circle which is currently holding Starkhaven afloat in absence of Sebastian as their Prince.

If Sebastian is not in the party as you uncover this, you have an option to either tell him about it, or investigate the questline further. If he is, however, in the party as you find the first notice of something being wrong between Chantry and Starkhaven relations, Sebastian will exclaim that this is a mistake, someone posing outside (or within) a Chantry to implicate either Starkhaven royalty, or Grand Cleric Elthina, and reference Sister Petrice. The moment you involve him in the questline, however, he'll be locked in for the investigation missions, and start getting special points in the code, one for each encounter (including the very first one starting the questline), for the final confrontation of the questline. The same happens if you start involving Sebastian at any other point of the questline, but with less and less points available.

As you progress, there would be three more quests to go through, one of which even takes you to either the outskirts of Starkhaven, or to the busy streets of it, allowing 1) to show another city state of Free Marches, 2) where Sebastian comes from, 3) actually be worth your money for the DLC, if ideal DA2 still had him as a DLC companion. Which I still hate with burning passion a decision, same with Javik being DLC in ME3.

The questline has chantry sisters and nobles implicated, Flora Harriman reaching out to Hawke about weird decisions made in Starkhaven politics, resembling what her mother did, and at a second quest there's even a possibility of you uncovering a chantry brother in a contract with a Desire demon. It seems like it all leads up to corruption in the political sphere and stragglers in the Chantry circles, right?

Except. On the final quest. It is revealed that Elthina, in her own handwriting, no forgery as confirmed by any rogue in the party, has forced Grand Cleric of Starkhaven to resign, installed her own puppet (one of the chantry sisters you might see in Act 1) as a new Grand Cleric, all for a bid of "uniting the Free Marches under the Chantry banner". It also implies that Sister Petrice was telling the truth, and that Elthina was, in fact, more involved with the unrest against Qunari than one would believe in the base game (I believe she was involved, but it's not majorly pertaining to this post in particular). There's a letter that implies Lady Harimann was allowed to do what she did, because Elthina believed she'd be able to manipulate Sebastian in favour of the Chantry. It also unveils how many people of Starkhaven were hurt by this. Turns out, a lot.

Then, you can go about this questline ending several ways.

This is where the points counting in the background come into play.

If you did not bring Sebastian alongside you on any of the missions, or if there aren't enough points for you to sway him... Sebastian will claim the evidence as plot against his support of the Chantry and Elthina specifically, and burn the letters in particular, calling them a "bad replica of what sister Petrice tried to do". Elthina, on prodding, feigns innocence, or if you have not talked to Sebastian yet, calls him in to discuss "this silly accusation", which gives +15 rivalry if you're not in a locked relationship with him. He still burns the letters, and accuses you of believing the conspirators, or even being one of them. There are some undertones in Elthina's dialogue to imply she's ready to blackmail you back if you press the matter, and Hawke has no choice but to back off.

If you bring Sebastian along and your relationship with him at this point is so-so, neither a full friendship or a rivalry, you'd need at least 3 points with favourable dialogue, this makes Sebastian question the Chantry, even Elthina. You'd need all 4 points (bringing him from the get go in your party when they rock up to the start of the questline) without going further into discussion for him to buckle. With friendship, you'd need to bring him on at least 2 missions, or 3 with favourable dialogue. With rivalry, however, you need for him to be brought only on one mission with favourable dialogue, the final one, after which he'll even say that "You (Hawke) were right about me needing to step up and rule Starkhaven". On two missions if you want to bicker with him throughout the quests instead.

If you would manage to sway Sebastian by the end, you'd have one final choice: support him in standing up and demanding answers from Elthina, or asking him to forgive her involvement.

Supporting him on Friendship is the simplest, but supporting him on Rivalry ends up in Sebastian switching to Friendship, like with Merrill reversing her Friendship in Mirror Image if you don't give her the Arulin'Holm. This ends up in a calmly voiced, but very angry Sebastian Vael, pure venom in his words, listing how Elthina has abused his trust and his people by using faith in the Chantry, and manipulating a Prince of a sovereign nation for her own means. If you supported him on Rivalry, he'll have additional lines on how you've challenged him to see problems with Chantry and Templar order, as well as to come back to Starkhaven, and outright thank you right in front of Elthina, whose eyes will throw daggers in your direction. At the end of the speech, Sebastian will actually start removing pieces of his armour, them clattering to the floor at Elthina's feet, and walk out alongside you out of the Kirkwall chantry.

However, if you ask him to forgive Elthina, he'll have the biggest rivalry (+30) jump in the game if you aren't in a Friendship, and will briefly lash out at you, saying that complacency with his devotion to the Chantry is what got him and his people into this mess. On Rivalry, it's worse. Instead of a calm but angry and vicious reprimand of Elthina's actions, Sebastian will SCREAM at her, throw evidence in her face, and then scream at you on Rivalry for good measure, about how you can't simply forgive someone who would seek ruin his city, and is actively ruining Kirkwall. How he was blind to Elthina's actions, but sees now that blood magic isn't the rot at the city's heart that is dividing the Circle and Templar order, it's Chantry politicians like Elthina. And instead of armour pieces clattering to the ground, they're thrown at the feet of the Andraste statue, while Sebastian outright declares that if Elthina doesn't cease machinations in Starkhaven, he'll rage war against her, specifically, and everyone who would support her. Then, he storms out, alone.

You can insert either a "there's nothing to talk about" with Elthina afterwards in both endings of this form, or promises of Hawke "never holding a position in this city aside from carrying the Amell name".

After that, you can find Sebastian, clad in a new armour (simple, reminiscent of what Alistair wears in his introduction scene in DAO, only with the Starkhaven symbol emblazoned on an archer chest piece), with a box in his arms, on the steps out of Hightown into Lowtown. He jokes about how his whole life in Kirkwall can, at the same time, be put into a small box like this one, and be something world encompassing. After a dialogue, where he tells you he is going to live in a small hovel in Lowtown, since he doesn't want to even see the chantry building, or talk with nobles who'd gladly eat him and people of Starkhaven alive, until the moment Kirkwall unrest is over, since he wants stability for you and your city as well. Also, he'd rather spend money on his people and those in need, not himself.

If romanced, or with certain persuasion options, you can invite him to live with you. You can still try to invite him with a couple of options, but he'll deny them for various reasons. After that, he'd live near the market; or, if you managed to convince him, in Hawke's mansion.

If in a romance, there's a hot makeout scene in the library which fades to black implying a proper sex scene. If not, he'll have amusing additional scenes with other companions, especially other love interests, with a bit of hostility from Isabela and Anders, and a lot of genuine fun from Fenris and Merrill.

When you talk with him alone (at either Lowtown hovel or at home in the Library), Sebastian discusses, on Friendship, how he is still Andrastian, even if Chantry failed him and his, or on Rivalry how he feels that blind devotion blinded him to Chantry mistakes.

Banter between party members also changes, with one dialogue from Merrill implying that Sebastian is now helping refugees and the poor, Fenris talking about his efforts in making an organisation for former templars/chantry members expelled for one reason or another, Anders being surprised at a late night visit where Sebastian covered in blood (not his) brought him herbs and potion flasks as a peace offering, et cetera. There's still tension over Sebastian belief in the Chant and Andraste, but it's not anymore about him having to perform for the Chantry and his public image.

If you don't complete the quest with this ending, Sebastian Vael still demands Anders to be executed, or he'll wage war. But if you do... he confesses that Anders has asked him to warn as many people in Lowtown and Darktown not to come to the Hightown and chantry, but assumed this would be because of Meredith and Orsino outright fighting in front of Elthina, not this... murder.

He will, however, draw his bow and point an arrow at Anders, saying that this was not the answer to help his cause, and Anders needs to pay now. Hawke can allow him to do that, or step in.

In a so-so relationship, if you choose anything else but "I will execute him myself" or relent to Sebastian's demand and let him shoot Anders? Vael will spit at your feet and leave your party and the conflict, resulting in a very similar ending to his character as in the original DA2, just less anti-mage and pro-Chantry.

However, in a Friendship or Rivalry, it's very easy to convince him to still stay at your side and see it through. With his unknowing help, many innocents of Kirkwall were saved, and now he has to stick around to help as well, and to either see Anders pay for his crimes with work and healing, not redemption through martyr-like murder, or to understand that this, inadvertently, would be every city across Southern Thedas, including Starkhaven, if Chantry dogma supported by Templars will continue murder, physical and emotional, of mages. He'll have additional dialogue depending on whether you're a mage Hawke, or if Bethany died/is in Circle.

In Romance, Sebastian will lower his bow immediately as Hawke steps between. You'll have to mess up really badly in dialogue for him to storm out.

[nzoth-the-corruptor]

@hadoriel

I have so many thoughts this is gonna necessitate its own post

First things first: I really wish Blizzard would stop trying to 'justify' why any race can be any class. At a certain point they need to just go 'normally members of XYZ culture don't follow this path, but there are exceptions to every norm' and just leave it at that. The player can come up with their own reasons as to why their lightforged is a warlock or their dwarf is a druid or their orc is a paladin.

I mean shit, the roleplayers have already been doing that for years, and most of that is still impossible in-game.

Second, addendum to the first: Blizzard I'm screaming sobbing and crying PLEASE stop making all priest and paladin organizations Holy Light coded.

Please. Stop.

Just stop. Just... just let us have holy organizations that aren't Holy Light. Take your hands off the night elf paladins... let them go be with Elune... do not enforce a new Holy Light Night Elf Religious Order...

Loa-Priests don't need to be Holy Light coded either. ok? okay?

Remember that the entire Cult of the Forgotten Shadow & the concept of Discipline Priests who wield Light and Shadow in tandem are all literally a psyop created by Xal'atath.

Third: I think there's actually some real meat to the concept of Tyr being deified by paladins, and let me get into it.

So the legend of Tyr was very long-standing in human society. He was seen as a paragon, as an ideal, as the perfect hero, etc.

Particularly in Lordaeron, where multiple locations are named after him. Sometime in the modern era, syncrety between Tyr and the Light started up — likely as a result of the Order of the Silver Hand taking Tyr's symbol as the symbol of their organization. Silver Hand paladins begin associating Tyr more and more with the way of the paladin, of the heroic and just knight and begin pursuing his legend.

They steal his hammer and everything.

Now the Tyr's Guard is established as only becoming paladins after the Order of the Silver Hand was created and the first paladins were trained to battle the orcs, so: the Tyr's Guard haven't secretly been paladins this whole time. This will be important.

Travard basically starts peddling Tyr as a champion of the Light, yada yada. As he reforms the Tyr's Guard through Dragonflight, he establishes four tenets of Tyr that the Tyr's Guard observes:

Justice, Order, Sacrifice, and Compassion.

And these are interesting because the five tenets of the Holy Light bestowed upon the first priestess, Mereldar, are:

Justice, Holiness, Protection, Compassion, and Retribution.

... and it is also interesting to note that in the Reforging of the Tyr's Guard document's entry for Justice, 'Vengeance' (retribution) is disavowed.

So. Both observe Justice and Compassion. The Tyr's Guard disavows Retribution. Protection and Sacrifice are the same concept (the Tyr's Guard example of Sacrifice is literally a willingness to give one's life to protect another.) Order and Holiness seem fairly similar, but could be different.

So. What I'm saying here is...

HERESY!

The Tyr's Guard is effectively a cult that decided their blorbo (Tyr) is the bestest symbol of the Holy Light ever, and have begun attributing the works of other devout followers and oracles of the Light to Tyr, and probably have rampant good PR banked up via the longstanding mythologization of Tyr by humanity (note that, just because he is a venerated myth, doesn't mean the myth is the man) and the Order of the Silver Hand using Tyr's symbol.

And I know Blizzard's not going to follow through on the implications of this, but think:

We could finally have the Light followers having some internal strife on whether or not this is acceptable practice and conduct or if this Tyr thing has gone too far, especially as they start to learn about the real Tyr and not just the legend of Tyr, and maybe, you know. Start swingin' at each other.

[cookiesonfire]

I know zero things about genshin bust that can open

I'm sorry in advance but you asked for it >:3

Okok so imagine two twins (Lumine❤️ and Aether) travel through many worlds/universes and they land upon Teyvat (technically Teyvat is a continent I think) and when they're abt to leave, there’s a mysterious white haired god, the sustainer of heavenly principles, who stops them from doing so (something about "arrogance of mankind ends now"). I chose Lumine as my choice of twin bc she's best girl but either can be protagonist. And then Aether gets swallowed up by cube things and then Lumine fights the god more and ends up the same way. Then she wakes up on a beach saved by Paimon (tiny floating girl with white hair with symbols on her clothes looking suspiciously similar to the mysterious god's) and Lumine is now stuck in this world, some seal on her that suppresses her powers, and her goal is to find her brother. And that's where the game starts, which is 500 years after the original fight with the mysterious god. Lumine was supposedly sleeping/confined the entire time.

Teyvat has 7 nations, each of which has its element and thing: Mondstadt (anemo/of freedom), Liyue (geo/of contracts), Inazuma (electro/of eternity), Sumeru (dendro/of wisdom), Fontaine (hydro/of justice), Natlan (pyro/of war), Snezhnaya(cryo/we don't know yet). So far only up to Fontaine is released, later this year Natlan will be released and next year Snezhnaya will be released (and there will be more). Each nation also has its own archon (god essentially). There was this war called The Archon War like 2000 years ago and there was lots of fighting and whatnot and the 7 that were left became an archon of each nation. Archons can age and die and be replaced and aren't invincible nor are they perfect/omniscient; I like to think of them as a higher/way more powerful type of being compared to humans. Only 2 of 7 current archons are the ones who originally fought in the archon war: Venti/Barbatos(Mondstadt) and Zhongli❤️/Morax(Liyue). The other current archons: Raiden Ei/Beelzebul(Inazuma), Nahida/Buer(Sumeru), Furina/Focalors(Fontaine), Murata/*maybe Aym*(Natlan), Tsaritsa/?(Snezhnaya). All the archons have their current human form name(which is before the slash), a name their people use to refer to them(which I didn’t write), and their demon name(after slash). I believe there isn’t much of a lore implication based on their demon names but we don’t have info abt all the archons yet.

There's also Celestia which is kind of "above" (physically and other ways) the entire world of Teyvat and the rulers in Celestia are called the heavenly principles(type of higher beings than the archons imo). You can also actually see the location from the current version of the game very very far away. Celestia essentially rules all of Teyvat but they don't interfere with the world (except for 500 years ago) or the archons ruling their nations. Each archon also has a gnosis (shaped like a certain chess piece which has lore implications that I don't fully know yet and each is associated with the archon's element). From what we've seen, the gnosis is more of a status symbol/connection between archon and Celestia and perhaps enhances an archon's power. But it is not what gives the archon their power/right to rule (and is perhaps not that important/or archons don't care abt Celestia anymore since archons seem to give up their gnoses pretty easily).

So 500 years ago there was actually 8 nations in Teyvat. The 8th nation was Khaenri'ah, a nation that excelled in,,, creating very powerful things/beings? Essentially the heavenly principles (or just one of them? the mysterious god) saw this as a threat ("arrogance of mankind ends now") and there was a huge war (The Khaenri'ah War lol) and the nation was destroyed. *I think* the twins were involved in some way or found out something abt this which is why the mysterious god attacked them 500 years ago. Tho I also don't think the twins are humans since we have some proof they're immortals of some kind and are quite powerful (Lumine now being suppressed by some seal). We also have some characters from Khaenri'ah: Kaeya (playable/cryo) and Dainsleif (probably playable in future/none of the elements we know currently). There's also the abyss order, who consist of remaining members of Khaenri'ah (monsters now bc they were cursed/"pollution"/etc) and they're one of the opposing forces against us/Lumine who's goal is to revive Khaenri'ah and overthrow Celestia and the archons.

Hoyoverse (the company) also has other games and all their games universes/lore are actually connected. There's thing whole thing abt Teyvat just being one of many universes relating to Yggdrasil (idk I haven't played Honkai or anything but I might just for more lore). There's also this idea/sentence hoyo keeps teasing us with "the skies of Teyvat are fake." There's many theories abt what exactly this means but idk there's a lot.

In the game, Lumine w Paimon is going to each nation (in order that I mentioned above) and her goal is to find the archon and ask abt her brother/the god and we end up saving/solving each nation's problem. In between each nation's quests, we have interlude quests where we learn abt the abyss order and how Aether/abyss twin is fighting on their side and that Dainsleif and Aether used to travel together 500 years ago and perhaps took a similar journey across the 7 nations that Lumine is now. And uh there's a lot more in those quests. Also how one of the common enemies in the game is a hilichurl and that hilichurls used to be humans in Khaenri'ah and the war has but reduced them to a husk.

There's also the fatui and the Tsaritsa, archon of Snezhnaya. They've been going around collecting/stealing/bargaining the gnoses off of each archon. And the top members of the fatui are the Harbingers (there's 11 of them, ranked, and all their names are based off of Italian opera: il Dottore, Arlecchino, Tartaglia, etc.) and they're Tsaritsa's main bitches basically. None of them really like each other that much, perhaps some have admiration as a coworker for someone else’s abilities/power, but all of them have their own loyalties, some to Tsaritsa, others have their ulterior motives. Some of them kind of hate each other. By the end of Sumeru's quests (I haven't started Fontaine), we've fought and made frenemies with Childe/Tartaglia, killed La Signora, and erased Scaramouche from the knowledge base of the world kind of and now he's The Wanderer or whatever you name him, and encountered Dottore (he sucks 1) bc he’s one of those snobby insufferable intellectual bitches 2) if you read the genshin manga, you learn that he does a lot of human experimentation and specifically experimented on a loved playable character Collei). So now they're down to 9 harbingers. They're kind of always fucking shit up just as Lumine is trying to "save" a nation.

So there's like 3 main antagonistic forces for the traveler/Lumine: Celestia/or just the mysterious god specifically(don’t know yet), the abyss order, and the fatui. It’s a bit strange as some of these forces also oppose each other but there’s a lot of layers, like an onion if you will. There’s intra-nation conflicts which we solve as we go to each nation, then there’s inter-nation conflicts mostly between snezhnaya and other nations (though the nations are mostly fine among each other), and then there’s the conflicts between traveler and abyss order+abyss twin which bleeds into some of the conflict between traveler and Celestia, also the the conflict between abyss order and Celestia.

There’s also conflicts regarding the very nature of this world, implied by abyss twin in the interlude quests and Dottore at the end of Sumeru quest and other Hoyo games. When we found out that the twin is on abyss order’s side, he implied that he journeyed through the nations and discovered something that made him realize something abt the world and made him turn and implied that we’ll understand at the end of our journey. OR he truly has been corrupted, but that would be the boring and easy way out. And the fatui collecting all the gnoses may mean that the Tsaritsa is trying to go against Celestia, like the abyss order. So who is the true antagonist? What is the truth of this world? Does it even matter? Who even are the twins? Who else are the heavenly principles? What do they want from this world? Yeah so yeah

[henrysglock]

How Henry interacted with El in that one scene that you posted makes me think: did he actually meet any other number before her? Or was his interaction with El his "first attempt" to act as an orderly? And why with her specifically?

Because he seems to be like you said very unsure on how to communicate with El (he didn't even introduce himself to her) however in the series 001 presents quite professional. Obv it's unclear how many time passed after their first meeting and the NINA events and Henry probably didn't know how to interact properly because of the potential lack of instructions, but this all seems very weird to me.

I'm really not sure! The fun thing about this scene is that there aren't any other numbers present...at all. It's just El, by herself, with the Magic 8 ball. Like...where are the rest of them? Why does he act so awkward when his in-show counterpart has an air of relative confidence about him? No one knows except the Duffers and Kate.

It's so odd that Brenner says the DOD wanted him to dispose of Henry, but that he managed to convince them not to. What happened that made them want to dispose of him? He also notes, while Henry's bound and gagged, that Henry's "been such a good boy" in the recent past few years...what about the full 15-20 years before that? What happened?

The whole sequence opens up a bunch of questions that none of us have an answer to.

I do have a bit of speculation in a different route, though.

It's so funny to me that the Shadow/the UD has been likened to the KGB over and over, meanwhile Brenner works for the US equivalent: the CIA. Brenner at the end of TFS hasn't aged since 1959, and there are a ton of implications that Brenner somehow is the Shadow. It makes me wonder if that lab scene was even real.

Like...let me put it this way.

Why does Brenner still look the same way he did when Henry gave into the Shadow that first time...and why does the Shadow in the VR take on the form of Brenner? Is there any possibility that the lab scene in TFS isn't real, it's in Henry's head, and that the unchanging Brenner is actually a manifestation of the Mindflayer?

Henry's kept locked away, sure...but he's not just isolated or bound. He's also gagged. He's not allowed to move or speak or have any influence over his surroundings. Could it be that the end of TFS is what the inside of Henry's mind looks like? Him, bound and gagged, while the Mindflayer (read: not just the Shadow, but the combined Mindflayer), who presents as young Brenner, runs the show? Could it be that the Henry who acts so bizarrely in 4.05 is being controlled or is a NINA-manifestation of Controlled Henry, but the Henry who acts more awkward/personable and speaks in weird, secretive leading questions is the genuine Henry underneath it all? The one who's been "such a good boy" (read: stopped actively fighting back, may still be dropping hints) and is now being allowed to interact/have some control over himself because the Hive Mind (DOD) decided not to dispose of him the way it disposed of Will...because the Mindflayer (CIA) decided he was still useful irt bonding with El, even if genuine Henry isn't completely aware that he's being used?

Idk. It just stinks of unreality/dissociation/watching yourself do things with no control over it, the same way the attic scene does.

[terapsina]

Ask Game: hizzie (#1, 6, 10) hope mikaelson & lizzie saltzman (#8, 9, 10, 16, 17)

(from this ask game I made)

Hizzie:

1. ...about my absolute favorite of their scenes and why I love it so much.

"I hate this. I hate how many good memories I have of you. I hate that I have to be the one to do this, because no one else will. But most of all… I hate you. For being my friend, and for being apart of my weird messed up family and for making me love you, Hope Mikaelson."

Okay, so they have SO MANY great scenes to choose from and I think I'm obsessed with every single one but it's just hard to beat a '10 Things I Hate About You' love confession okay?

Also I love what it SAYS about them. Okay, so see, textually Hope is Lizzie's hero. But subtextually I'd argue that Lizzie is actually Hope's knight in shining armor. Lizzie is the one who saves her from a breakdown in the middle of the dance. Lizzie's the one who remembers her and makes her less alone. Lizzie's the one who pulls her out of the monochrome 50's noir movie. And Lizzie's the one who goes after her when she's lost her way. The one who tries to bring her back with - and let me repeat myself here - WITH A LOVE CONFESSION.

And yeah, that last one doesn't work. Except that I'm pretty sure that it nearly does. Which is WHY Hope snaps her neck. I think Lizzie nearly managed to touch her, and Hope felt it, and this made Lizzie a threat. The kind of threat that Josie and Rebekah hadn't been. And that, my friends, I find fascinating.

6. ...what kind of AU fics I'm obsessed with reading about them (or would be if I could find one).

I largely prefer Canon Universe fics that go off script because of an alteration here or there; a what if that led them down here instead of there. But... I guess I would really love to read a Slayer Lizzie/Turned Slayer Hope fic? Idk I just think that might be a fascinating way to explore them.

10....rate the level of stupid they reach in their pining.

Oh. So. VERY. Stupid.

So clearly Lizzie reaches the light first. But BEFORE that she comes up with a list for the Perfect Love she wants and describes Hope. She tries to matchmake Hope so hard it's like she's confessing that she's in love with Hope to the guy she's trying to matchmake Hope with.

Meanwhile Hope? Somehow totally seems to miss multiple love confessions, or to snag across what it mans that Lizzie was sired to her (okay, so I partially blame the very terrible Vampire 101 at that school but you'd think that in a family of... *does math*... 6-ish vampires it might have come up?). And she does catch that Josie used to have a crush on her but completely MISSES the implication that she thought her sister would have made a move too?

Also, Hope wrote herself into Lizzie's fanfic as a kid. And yet doesn't notice how maybe. Crushing might have mayhaps been happening?

Dum-dums want gum-gums level of dumb, okay? Dear evil gods but I love them so much.

-

Hope Mikaelson:

8. ...a headcanon I have about this character.

She wasn't supposed to be able to turn her humanity off as an Original of her line, so she did it by force, which is why there seemed to be this split in her personality that's never been a thing for any other vampire we've been shown turning their feelings off.

Like, Hope pushed all her feelings deep inside and slammed the wall down and cut herself in half. Which is why in my perfect season 5 (💔) she would have had to accept the No Humanity side of herself and reintegrate it back into the larger whole of Hope Andrea Mikaelson.

9. ...which of their relationships I would have cultivated more if it were up to me (both romantic and platonic).

Well, I know she's dead but I would have brought up Hayley in relation to Hope more. She did have a mom she lost, not just a dad.

Also I would have added a lot more off-screen contact between her and the family she STILL HAS. The Mikaelsons aren't DEAD. She's got aunts and uncles and one brother/uncle, and her mother's pack, and the New Orleans coven of witches.

Also, I think I'd have liked to minimize the amount of scenes Hope had with Alaric. Cuz like nine times of ten they just made me vaguely uncomfortable.

Probably would also have had Hope hanging out with every other person in school, because it did feel like Landon was monopolizing ALL her screentime for like two out of four seasons.

10. ...if I liked them immediately or if took a while before I warmed up to their character. Alternatively, if I disliked them immediately or if they lost my trust as their story progressed.

Oh I absolutely loved Hope from the beginning. Though it took me a while to really understand what made her click, because I've only watched her scenes from The Originals and not the entire show that probably gives a more fully fleshed out background.

But yeah I liked Hope from the beginning, and by the end? I utterly adored her.

16. ...my very shallowest of opinions on this character.

Girl. Pretty.

17. ...how well they'd do if they got dropped in a horror movie.

Oh, there's only two options here. Either she gets dropped there and this is NO LONGER A HORROR STORY because she beats the killer as soon as they attack. Or otherwise, she kills the killer as soon as she gets dropped there and becomes the monster of the horror movie herself (if we're talking about the No Humanity!Hope).

-

Lizzie Saltzman:

8. ...a headcanon I have about this character.

She was always going to become a heretic whatever else took place. It was always part of her plan B, and not even one she was really dreading. She might not have been ready when what's-his-face tried to turn her by force, but a part of her knew she'd choose to turn eventually. Which is both why she drank blood as insurance and why I think it was so easy for Lizzie to forgive Hope her turning.

Also. I think a part of why Lizzie went on so long being oblivious about her feelings for Hope was because after Josie finally told them about her old crush, Lizzie didn't want to be a person who would move in on her twin's potentially still existing crush (which I actually don't think Lizzie needed to worry about, by that point in their lives it didn't actually look like Josie had any more romantic feelings for Hope at all).

9. ...which of their relationships I would have cultivated more if it were up to me (both romantic and platonic).

I think Lizzie needed a really safe and utterly platonic friend (Hope doesn’t count because she had feelings for her (fight me on this, I dare you), and MG didn't count because he never stopped having feelings for her). So I wish she'd had a lot more scenes with Kaleb.

10. ...if I liked them immediately or if took a while before I warmed up to their character. Alternatively, if I disliked them immediately or if they lost my trust as their story progressed.

You kidding? They were my favorite from pretty much the word go. Though... I guess the moment I went full ride-or-die for her was during the Genie wish!verse episode.

16. ...my very shallowest of opinions on this character.

GIRL. PRETTY.

17. ...how well they'd do if they got dropped in a horror movie.

A bit touch and go in the beginning because she'd panic. But she's definitely a Final Girl if I've ever seen one, so once the panic waned she'd just be really, really mad.

[cafecouple]

🎞️, 🥰, and 🤪!!!

Answering under the read more since I gave two paragraphs each!! I have a lot to say ^^;;

🎞️: What ‘canon’ scenes would the fandom point to as evidence for the validity of your ship?

Well!! Cream Coffee's partner (Dark Fondue) originally seems rather intimidating to most despite her smile -- I like to think that there's a scene wherein she actually offers a small bit of help to Cream Coffee unprompted despite this usual coldness. (I have a small fic written where she offers a map of the building, but I'm not sure if it would be this same scene in canon ^^;;) This is of course just the smallest sign, and not all she ever ends up doing, but it is the very first sign that Dark Fondue doesn't hold them in the same regard as everyone else! There is also the fact that Cream Coffee doesn't think particular highly of themself, but Dark Fondue actually does believe they have the ability to achieve all they need to and more. She doesn't say this outright, but she does go to the effort of pushing them in the right direction -- something she normally just seems discouraging about. While Cream Coffee can be deeply discouraging to themself, Dark Fondue reiterates that they're perfectly capable.

🥰: How would someone who loved you portray you?

I imagine they would have quite a lot to say in analysis of Cream Coffee as a character!! Their backstory involves a (very understandably) traumatic event in which they're cut out of their own timeline completely and stranded within the canon one, so I could definitely see fans of them going in depth about how that impacted them and theorising about the things they lost and left behind. In addition to this, I feel these fans would draw attention to the many scenes in which Cream Coffee does something for the people they've met here. They would point out that even now, they want to make things better for people they don't even really know -- except for possibly being not-quite-the-same versions of people they lost. A lot of attention would be drawn to the lengths they'd go for other people even after everything that had happened to them.

🤪: What is your trait that fanon would exaggerate?

Definitely how nervous Cream Coffee actually is in light of what happened to them. It's a really common fandom problem to make characters overly innocent, cutesy, or shy, and they unfortunately would get the "absolute cinnamon roll" treatment. Cream Coffee is extremely kind to everyone around them, but they are also both very capable (even if they have trouble believing that) and just as much as an adult as everyone else! They aren't always nervous -- their actual reactions to their trauma are typically breakdowns or panic attacks, which they try to internalise so others don't notice. These very much aren't cutesy, either, and many of the thoughts they have towards themself are deeply unhealthy in those moments. Additionally (while it couldn't be shown in canon due to the limits of the game), in my own canon they quite literally swear aloud after ending up in their current timeline. In game, this would be censored by something more appropriate, but still have the same implications (similar to how Vampire drinks "juice" all the time, but is essentially certainly always drinking wine). In Cream Coffee's case, though? This detail would probably go over people's heads. They don't swear excessively, since they aren't kind words, but they aren't unable to do so!

[cumbunnywitch]

ITT: Internet Piracy, and the ethics of stealing from large corporations.

So, you recently found a new movie isn't available on any one of the three streaming services you've been conned into subscribing to, out of the ten or so available. You realize that adding any more of them would be more expensive than actually just paying for premium cable TV, and you aren't even sure which service has it. Well, I have the answer for you!

Piracy!

If you still need more encouragement or are just interested in my take, please, keep reading below.

What do you do? Well let me help you get over your fear of Internet Piracy, a concept that was given moral implications by the same companies that bust unions, sue small artists, and who's only interest is importing your money directly from your bank account faster than other companies.

Seriously, that is the point of service-based capitalism. You shouldn't need to pay thousands a year to watch a show that has bounced between Hulu and HBO Max and Disney+ once a season. Did you know Blockbuster, the brick-and-mortar place, used to have on average upwards of 10,000 movies on hand at any given time? Netflix has never come close to that amount, and even it is one of the services that decided not to fuck with commercials.

Just as a tangent, the first time I watched a show on Hulu, there were so many advertisements, I decided to pirate the entire 4k season we were watching. I finished downloading and had it set up to watch by the 4th fucking ad break of episode 1.

Now I get it- not everyone has great internet. You're on rural networks or satellite or dsl. I understand that pain. But, are you really watching uninterrupted? Would you rather spend 3 days watching that progress bar fill as internet users send you their energy like Goku with a Spirit Bomb, or do you want to watch your new favorite show buffer every 6 seconds and the subtitles fail to load? Yea I want that first one, I can be patient when the alternative is making me fucking hate everything.

So! We've got your reasons for wanting to be a Pirate down, what about the moral and ethical implications? Great, I'm glad you asked!

The thing about most studios that put out art like movies and games, is that they've been paid already. Whoever published the thing has paid those workers, and it's really, really unlikely they're going to be getting royalties from sales. So, who do sales actually help?

Publishers, IP holders(also usually the publisher but sometimes not(more later)), and the distribution source. If you by something physical at Walmart, you're paying Walmart, and they pay the publisher to send them more so they can sell more. If you buy it on YouTube, Youtube gets a cut, as well as the IP holder. If you watch something on Netflix or Hulu, they MIGHT go to the publisher and studio and purchase another season, but once it's bought, only the publisher and IP holder get that money.

So let's talk about IP holders now. IP is Intellectual Property. The idea of the thing, the permission to use/license it, etc. IP Holders and places like Disney, HBO, Disney, Sony Pictures, Disney again, Universal Pictures(Comcast). Big-ass corporations. These companies have, and I am not exaggerating, literal fuck-mountain sized shit-loads of money. They have had money for decades, they will outlive the governments of the worlds, I fucking guarantee you. They have "Should I buy my cloned pet White Rhino her own yacht? She doesn't seem to like sharing any of my yachts with the other pets." kind of money.

These companies have so much money in so many countries, they do their best to make sure the candidate they can squeeze the most out of gets elected. They lobby against your rights like a mother-fucker, and I bet you pay more in taxes than any of them. They are the very definition of "I have too much money to consider you a person." So Fuck'em. Steal.

Except... it's not stealing. It's copying. Yes, Piracy on the internet is not taking anything away from any other person. If you attack a cargo ship and take some shipping containers, someone isn't getting those things. If you torrent The Land Before Time, you're not taking someone's long-awaited or well-beloved and oft watched VHS copy. You're making a copy, doing no damage to already existing copies. This isn't like cloning a sheep where you lose something or cause pain to a living creature either. Just an exact replica, now on your computer.

Next, we have malicious IP Holders. There's a game my girlfriend @leahplease loves, Klonoa, which after over a decade, finally got a remake for modern consoles. It's not even a new game. It's the first 2 games, remade. And yes, that sort of thing costs money and requires resources, but Bandai-Namco makes plenty of money, and this isn't even a new iteration of the game. This is what IP Holders do- they hold onto some creative thing, and refuse to give it to anyone else. No one who loves Klonoa can just start making a fan work and make money, or most of the time even distribute it for free. They squat on the rights and then cash in on nostalgia, and then they let it start collecting dust again, until all the people with nostalgia are gone or stop caring, and let it die.

Or, you have people like Just Kidding Rowling and her transphobic, antisemitic, racist series of books, Harry Potter. She's a fucking billionaire, because she retained the rights to her books and someone made a wildly successful series of movies out of them. JK does not deserve billions more dollars, or even one more dollar from her (frankly awful in many ways) YA stiff-upper-lip-apologist fiction. The goblins are jew-coded, Cho Chang is something a 19 year old redneck would say to a homeless Asian while teasing them with a crumpled dollar, and Snape was a fucking Incel.

AAAAGGHH

So anyway. Now we know who we pirate from. Who don't we pirate from?

Small studios, self publishers, short story novelists, bands without labels, independent creators. Do you follow someone on Tumblr that makes cool games? How about NSFW artists that make their money through Patreon, or a SWer that has an OnlyFans/subscribestar? These are the places we try not to steal from.

There is an exception if these people end up being terrible, like they are nazis(punch them then steal their art) or transphobic or racist. Punish them by pirating their shit, fucking go for it. But if they are just trying to make a living and are decent human beings looking to share the things they make at the price they're willing to sell it for, then pay up.

Now, I'm not going to tell you how to be a pirate. There is some risk involved, both in the legal sense and in the sense you may get a virus. Be safe on the internet, because there are bad actors. Cracks aren't always safe, trojans lurk in many places. Get a good idea on what to trust when downloading, find an anti-malware software that you can use, and make sure you back things up. This is just like normal piracy, where getting caught can have consequences.

If you get a cease-and-desist letter, just turn that torrent off, maybe move the content you pirated to a drive that isn't constantly connected to the internet. Most of the time, that's as far as things will go unless you're the main distributor. Let someone else take that fall, don't be a hero.

And if you're safe, have decent internet, and you have private access to your computer, SEED. If you download something popular, seed it until you have at least a 1:1 ratio, but shoot for more. Big numbers feel good. My ratio used to be 80:1 but that got reset and now I'm down to 3:1 and I want my big number back.

Good luck, and happy hunting you pirate you.

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

You're a bit ignorant aren't you? I was specifically talking about this topic no other topic just this saying that caning is not a good thing. Nor is violence as a method of shaming. But also cops don't just shoot people for sport contrary to your bullshit. Because that would imply that they go out to pull up to some random neighborhood and shoot people for sport.

Except contrary to your opinion on this that doesn't happen because those people would end up in jail regardless of being protected by police unions. Also interestingly I feel like I should make a point to say this is Indonesia. They country normally most people don't associate with the Middle East. Actually it's more common to have them associated with East Asia even if that's not the exact location where they're at. So no I'm not making any implications as to the things you think I am.

I'm making a very specific point that you and other morons are taking out of context to make it seem like I'm against people from other cultures or ethnic groups and I'm not. And often times the only reason people like you do that is because you worship those ethnicities and those cultures because outside of wanting you know complete authoritarian power by the state which is the only real difference you guys are basically leftists. Because you'll firmly believe that criticism of a cultures less than stellar ideas is somehow tantamount to racism.

Basically you're not better than marxists. People in this country actually have it amazing in comparison to many other countries in the world places where people get stoned to death legally. Places where child slave labor is legal. Places where it is legal to create concentration camps and do a planned phasing out of an entire ethnic group like they are in China. And it dawns on me that people like you are incapable of having a civil discussion without pretending the person you're talking about is somehow racist against people from the Middle East.

Which is even funnier when you consider the fact that the only issues I take are ones where human rights are concerned. That and if you had any semblance of understanding about, I don't know, looking at other posts people like me and others have made you'd understand that there is a lot of nuance to the views that I have.

But no, marxists and anarchists continue to be the most intolerable demographics of people on earth. You are literally the embodiment of the type of people that think that black people are killed by cops in the thousands yearly. Interesting fact about most police killings is that they are justified within the realm of what the cops deal with on a day-to-day basis. And unlike you I have a nuanced take in understanding that no not all the time are cops justified in using violence. Sometimes they are capable of de-escalating and most times they do.

Go back to circle jerking with your anarchist (or marxists) buddies about you bullshit ideology. And also thanks to everyone that misunderstood my point on this topic.

This is a reminder to ask of you that think you are oppressed in the US.

You didn't know what the world around you looks like. And every time I hear how "bad" the US is for rights or other stuff I look at shit like this and go, "You really are ignorant aren't you?".