#haven’t figured everyone else out yet but™️

[rennyrose]

I only offer some new OCs in these trying times

[mrsblackruby]

Meta of me being a Loki nerd

like if the world is in Loki’s image to do with as she pleases why does she have to force himself to concede to it maybe they wanted to concede and then it’s not really a sacrifice at that point he just controlling everything

I didn’t watch the show cuz I’m boycotting Disney and I just didn’t care enough to pirate but I do care enough to entertain spoliers lol so my analysis of Loki turning into a tree could be misguided but I feel somewhat similar like idk how to explain my feelings entirely just yet but to me I would’ve kinda vibed with a story where No one has too make the sacrifice they basically end up choosing to not fade away and I know Loki chooses to make the sacrifice but he’s keeping everyone else from choosing too in the process like idk it’s like you have to accept the premise he who remains laid out about all the timelines inevitably destroying each other and nothing should be allowed too grow and find true coexistence on it’s own with autonomously but no continuous suffering in loki must be occurring to idk a random “someone™️” in this storyline. Like I’m thinking about what timelines could come from Loki saying actually no I miss my brother and i don’t want to be alone forever well to me that doesn’t mean he who remains will eventually have to restrain every timeline again. I think if he does “he who remains” could possibly face resistance and eventually the timelines will shape itself into beautiful chaos again. Like in that ending all the timelines remain

there’s like value in every timeline and like lol the timelines have to figure out what’s up with every single one of themselves together symbiotically in the story in my mind at least. To me there is a timeline where no one has to control the other timelines for them to exist and all the time lines could become that one timeline but just haven’t figured out or aren’t allowing themselves to become that one peaceful timeline( the timeline probably already exists with the self governance of the time lines) their own without “interference” from a party not allowing the time to form itself which I just don’t think is “practical” like the time is moving on it’s own loki is literally just being moved by the rules the timelines have made for themselves already not the rules made by just Loki i think personally but by everyone if that makes any sense

like idk because the characters didn’t have to make the sacrifice but that’s how they choose to resolve everything in this timeline but even I see this as it’s own timeline in a branch where these decisions were made but in another life loki isn’t convincing himself he has to be alone to keep all the time lines connected. The timelines finally figure it out own their own and get connected out of their own will not someone having to necessarily suffer by dictating their flow for all of time but idk i didn’t watch the show

like even if Loki let go of the timelines to enjoy his existence I just see the lines shaping itself in different ways he doesn’t have to be there in that darkness forever keeping the timelines from finding actual consenting love… with my backwards logic them just being is proof they already have written their own rules now you just let them flow if they want to exist and not be alone forever like there’s a different timeline maybe next to this one in my head where the opposite is true but in this timeline this is what came into fruition but it’s tragic because it doesn’t necessarily have too but it’s what this timeline chooses to be one where the timelines just refuse to work with each other on their own but with this ending they have still decided a way to work on their own but if this is happening there’s a timeline that has choosen to exist own it’s own out there that Loki is decidingly not choosing to suffer in so how is this timeline still going if that timeline has to happen too just as much as the other Timeline we see in the show it’s just kinda nonsensical cuz now there’s a Timeline where loki doesn’t have to hold every timelines hand to allow them to have a chance to exist in that supposed timeline but it’s dependent on the timeline where he does but that one is dependent on the timeline where he doesn’t or maybe something or someone else is keeping it all together and like maybe they’re all the center of their universes somewhere and they become their own little universe where they don’t have to suffer like idk there’s just no way he’s doing this alone the timelines have allowed this branch to happen and he’s conforming into the shape with the other timelines because that’s how the timeline works and he didn’t write the rules of each timeline on his own everyone wrote these rules together but it’s really becomes nonsensical and confusing to me when i think about him being alone then why is everyone else there shouldn’t they all really be alone but the Timelines can’t be alone the timelines need each too exist so loki hasn’t necessarily chosen being alone to exist that’s just how he decides to construct this fiction but with the way of fiction it could be constructed in a different way entirely

idk it’s just she’s Loki an unpredictable god of mischief I just don’t like thinking she has to trap her unpredictability like this instead of just letting it circulate and contort itself in different ways

like is the story trying to convince me or expecting me to accept that if loki chooses to be happy or not alone for all of time everything will collapse in on itself he has to suffer because no one will get their shit together if he doesn’t. He can’t have joy but everyone else can off his suffering. I just don’t believe it personally or vibe with that ending for the god of literal mischief I think it’s tragic and that’s not what I wanted to see in a Loki series personally. Like I wanted to see the timelines come together and create the difference the one true timeline on their own which you can argue we are seeing but i would just want it presented more clearly personally like we see the timelines form themselves and the Loki and everyone else.

I just don’t like what happened to the god of mischief at the end of the story I personally want to explore different endings

but i don’t know that’s just my current analysis of the spoilers now maybe I see things differently in the future and i don’t really know how shit works myself just that it works

I just think there’s a bigger picture and frame work that could’ve been worked with here loki is clearly not the only determinant factor here with glorious purpose and it’s doesn’t feel to me the show wants to build on Loki’s control by having a lack of control and he’s not the only variant in the battle trying to keep the timelines together so he’s never actually alone

like a theme that says sometimes time just decides to do shitty things cuz it can be a bitch but it will break away from it no purpose other than to just feel something else it just took a dip in a moment of weakness and to build itself back up again and feel good while doing it.

like if the world is in Loki’s image to do with as he pleases why does he have to force himself to concede to it maybe he wanted to concede and the it not really a sacrifice at that point he just controlling everything

You know...from an actual Loki character standpoint I'm not that upset about how it ended because I think it's appropriate that he found his throne and his Glorious Purpose. That's fine, that makes sense, and it was actually satisfying to watch him ascend those steps in that regard. Loki has done a lot of bad shit in his time, so he needs to make this sacrifice in order to atone.

But I also feel like this finale was for a different season, one that didn't focus so much on the importance of connecting with others. If the message was always that HWR was right, and power is lonely, why make him this power-hungry despot? That suggests that HWR's loneliness and inability to partner with anyone was actually the problem and not the solution. Why bother with his romantic storyline with Renslayer? The themes, to me, don't really fit the conclusion of the story. You need to be able to partner with others...so that you can give up the partnership and be on your own? This either needs a third season where Loki doesn't end up alone or...idk. But, I'll be hanging around AO3 to find it.

And, of course I'm disappointed from a Lokius standpoint. How do you spend the entire season on them and then spend basically zero time on them in the finale? I appreciate that they left Mobius kind of stranded and unsure of what to do, and that his last scene tied into Loki's last scene. That should give fanfic writers plenty to work with.

But in a series that, at the end, tried to make itself all about the power of friendship, Loki spending the entire finale basically alone, making choice after choice on his own and not with the input of others, didn't really work for me. It was inevitable that he needed to make this sacrifice - I'm willing to accept that. But what I can't accept is a whole season of Loki getting to know the TVA folks only for the last hour to basically be Loki all alone again making decisions on his own. It just doesn't make sense to me.

[misstalwyn]

FORBIDDEN WEST THOUGHTS 2, ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

I’m literally on the dot at 50.2 percent completion so I figure it’s a good time bc idk what plot could follow what I know now, so

SPOILERS AGAIN

Ok, listen, y’all know Avad’s #1 in my heart but HOLY FUCK does Kotallo make a challenge for the throne!!

I don’t know how they keep making all the different varieties of ideal™️ men but goddamnit does Aloy keep finding them! Don’t be selfish girl leave some for the rest of us!! 🥺

he does such a quick heel turn from “ugh the chief is making me help an outlander” to “hello commander reporting for duty” AND I! JUST!!

KOTALLO!!!

love me a man that will wrestle a machine with chainsaws for teeth and also demand chocolate frosting as a ration

“That was an unkind comparison” YOUR HONOR, I LOVE HIM

it was a really great tone/motivation to have that whole plot just be “let’s go take this asshole down a peg”

and WHERE is aloy learning to curse so much now?? i’m not crazy, right? she’s telling people off left and right! i love it but goddamn, i think rost would be PISSED lol

can I just say, the Tenakth are a pretty fascinating group for a violent bunch. They’re just historians with a fixation on military doctrine! If they just stopped killing each other over everything, they’d really have the mettle to challenge the Carja

(But pls don’t do that Avad is really trying to keep the peace YALL 😭)

anyways I really liked how their section went, and I only did a couple side quests after the kulrut and haven’t touched the arena, so we’ll see if it impresses me even more

The Utaru I initially really liked, but then I realized that was just Zo selling them really well bc a lot of their npcs were rude and their leadership don’t seem to believe in having any agency, soooo

I can see why Zo just completely lost faith in them immediately lmao

Again tho, didn’t do any post-main story missions there yet, so we shall see!

Kue was cool, tho! I would go hang out with that settlement more if they get more quests tbh

I will say I thought Beta’s defection was pretty clever, idk how I knew the whole thing with the 237 immediately lol but I will happily take my pride on that one

I don’t feel bad but also kinda feel bad for laughing at the immortal woman with centuries of tech at her fingertips just to be stabbed to death by a tribal dude with a knife ���

all that money and still no sense!!

but Beta’s issues, man

MAN,,,,

I’m well past her breakdown by now too and yknow her deal must be beyond complex if everyone in that base and Aloy included has been thru some kind of lasting trauma, and they’re all just throwing their hands up at her

I hate to meme about it but when i get to meet tilda i’m just gonna be like, “look at this clone you made, she’s got anxiety”

Anyways, I hope someone can get her some good help bc idk if GAIA is designed for therapy lol

(They SHOULD get her a real name, first things first!)

I’ve complained about the pacing/freedom of movement enough so far, but I’m still very confused at the why/where’s/how’s of it?

Like, the leveling up through the base felt fine, nothing was head and shoulders above me and they only threw the big bois at you w/the plot

But by the kulrut, I was starting to get side missions & errands that were 5-10 levels above me, in areas with super aggressive machines I was very unprepared for

and then the tremortusk mission felt very…. Easy? And I realized I was actually OVERLEVELED for it?? even tho everything else in the area wasn’t???

I don’t understand how the plot can be pushing me forward so much, and yet here I am at tide’s reach getting level 20 side missions at level 41, even tho I just fought a level 40 vampire bat!!

Like, what! How are you supposed to get this far and be simultaneously babied and bullied? HOW??

idk, I felt like HZD had it right just having each area set at a certain difficulty, so you could just mentally sort it out like, “okay, I can handle the maizelands at my level, and if I wanna relax I can go back to the embrace,” and so on

Everyone who said the pacing was great in reviews clearly meant the plot bc, well, no arguments there lol but oh boy does my general gameplay pacing get so thrown off when I struggle in a cauldron 5 levels above me for an hour bc GAIA HERSELF CALLED AND TOLD ME TO DO IT!

and then I walk 10 feet outside to find an NPC begging me to help them with a fetch quest literally 15 levels beneath me 😬

MAKE IT MAKE SENSE

Anyway speaking of yikes, that lady at the biotech facility just got totally gaslit into thinking BIOMASS CONVERSION (the thing that doomed the world) WAS GOOD?? JUST GOTTA KEEP OUTDOING YOUR OWN SHIT, EH TED???

Y I K E S

anyways good on that person who resigned halfway thru, I respect them and only them in that environment

Alva is cool tho! And I mean that in the nerdiest, most awkward way possible lol

I gotta be honest, when I saw people mention her I thought she was supposed to be Beta bc no one understandably mentioned Beta and I thought Alva sounded close enough to Aloy that it meant they had picked a new name for her bc Beta feels kinda insulting to keep tbh

Anyways, her people sound neat, idk how i feel about hanging out with them since they worship elisabet herself?? that twist was really well done but goddamn the LOOK in aloy’s eyes when she realized “oh, not again!” lmaooo

I have also fought the monkeys. i hate the monkeys. i thought they were weird jungle cats for a little bit too lol 

I REALLY didn't expect to be at the coast already with how much more western space i still have blank on my map? but i guess, erosion is kind of the silent machine here? neat

as a native Californian, i would guess that’s just north of the bay, but its so far north i almost wanna say Eureka?? idk, but i will say theres quite a few places north and south that have that many redwoods, so i was kinda sad there were no datapoints ID’ing it

i wanna see if i can recognize everything now lol, i don't wanna leave its so pretty!! but i did reluctantly go back just to throw demeter back into gaia and its looking like i have a big chunk of plot left, huh? jesus, i really might not finish before the 18th oop