#honestly i tried not to make this one so much about spoilery because i just wanted to talk about hashtags alt mode

[sleepdepriveddoorknobs]

Now that I'm thinking about it. I wish hashtag didn't get a virtual assistant. I know that part of her power comes from her love of technology but I feel like after getting hacked from mandroid she'd want to take a step back from it. Or try to at least use fire walls or more- less hackable tech. Part of me really wished that she didn't get her alt mode by accident in that car wash or because they were getting rid of all that ghost tech in the beginning of the episode but instead, going to Dot for advice. I would have loved to see hashtag change from a ghost van to a Dot's ranger truck so she could accompany her mom and stuff and also learn to enjoy nature. You would think that Hashtag would want to have less internet all around her but nooooooo. Also like, i feel like it'd be dangerous to be so distracted driving with all of those pop ups from Hashtag's assistant. Just gonna be honest I was so mad they gave Hashtag an ai I had to step back and pause the episode.

[fallloverfic]

Solo Leveling Episode 7 Thoughts

Excellent ep!!! Spoilery thoughts for the anime, novel, and manhwa below, CW: blood:

Jinwoo and Jinah are so cute together T-T I love them being close sibs. I mean obviously he helped essentially raise her since he was 14, when their dad disappeared and their mom was too ill to do everything, and then fully did so after he graduated because their mother was comatose, and I just... think about that a lot. This kid who has to raise another kid and never got to finish being a kid himself and had to immediately go into the workforce and give up going to university and he just wants her to have the opportunities he didn't and I just T-T

I feel like I accidentally am vibing with this because I got fried chicken on the way home from errands today, completely unaware this was going to be in the episode.

I love Jinah asking about him and how he's doing. Makes up for calling him a cheapskate >.< I mean to be fair to her, I grew up in a household that struggled for money and I was completely clueless about why we often didn't get stuff, though my parents really tried to spoil us to the extent they could. I do get it. It's realistic in my experience to react this way, especially when the younger person is kept clueless about finances. It's just T-T sometimes. But I do love that she cares about his mental health.

Jinwoo just processing his first murder(s) essentially alone cause he certainly didn't confide in Jinho and he is the older brother with a sister in high school who is just living a normal life and wants her to be happy and so cannot confide in Jinah and it kills me he kind of doesn't do this with anyone, ever T-T Sort of when the Hunters manager warns him, but not on an emotional level. I mean to be fair he's also kind of just, "I resented them for thinking they had a chance against me," which is pretty dark lol But he's obviously really conflicted about that cause these were humans.

Jinwoo has one goal and that is protecting the people he loves. He's pragmatic. I think it's interesting he doesn't focus as much on "they tried to kill me multiple times, it was self-defense and defense of another person". Just... "My family is what's important and I'd do it again if I have to." Which, yes, that's a consideration you can have.

I mean he "could" have incapacitated the Lizards, maybe, rather than killing them, but he's not trained to do that, lacked equipment for it, and in the moment it's hard to process that. It just bothers me he doesn't really do any actual emergency training or whatever other than just building up muscle, EXP, and fighting/movement skills. Even his healing solution is just... shove a potion in people's mouths and it's unclear if he has literally any training in first aid of any kind outside that time he helps Song Chiyul wrap his arm.

Also Jinwoo is still really cute :3 He's animated well.

Hehe learning about the detox, poor guy lol I honestly do love the detail that the system detects alcohol as a harmful substance. It's fun when stories add it in.

Jinah worried about him drinking too much T-T They love each other T-T I love themmm

(just skip down three paragraphs if you don't care about my rant about cellphones lol)

One criticism I have because I always focus on the appearance or absence of mobile phones in modern stories where they should be there: the novel focuses a decent amount on how Jinwoo's cellphone broke in the double dungeon, and he has to get a replacement specifically from the Korean Hunter's Association, and that is completely absent from both the manhwa and the anime, and the anime is compensating weirdly. The novel explains, "Hunter-issue smartphones used specialized technology, so Jinwoo had to put in a request directly with the association." (Vol 1, Chapter 4). So the phone does more than just allowing the Hunter's Association easy access to hunters (I think at one point it's shown it works inside the dungeons, when most technology does not, so I imagine it's powered somehow by mana/essence stones). Jinwoo doesn't have the money to speed up the process, so he has to wait for multiple weeks for them to provide him with a new one, and he forgets to take care of it until I think after he's out of the hospital, so that puts off the process even longer. This means: the association cannot contact him except via landline, and anyone with his cell number cannot do so either, unless, presumably, they have his landline number. In the novel, Jinwoo demands an explanation from Jinho for how Jinho has the number on the presumed landline (it's just called "phone" in the Yen press English translation, I don't know why he wouldn't have his cellphone if he has one in the anime outside his bedroom where Jinah is, and I can't imagine Jinho getting Jinah's cell number, or why the Association would have it other than maybe as an emergency contact, which, again, why would he get that number and I feel like Jinwoo would kill him if he did lol), and Jinho explains that he knows someone at the Association.

Most of this revolves initially around various people trying to contact Jinwoo during this non-cellphone time and not getting to him because he literally does not have a phone and, presumably, they don't have his landline number. The nurse whose number he got tries to contact him via his mobile and nearly gives up by the time he gets his phone back to see her messages. Like many related subplots, this is also part of showing that Jinwoo is just... bad at keeping in touch with people lol I mean he explains, sadly, in the novel, "No one ever calls me anyway." (Vol 1, Chapter 4). But he gave this woman his number and ultimately decides to ignore her/not respond when he sees all the messages she sent him rather than saying literally anything like, "Sorry I was out of touch" or whatever, or just politely turning her down. He does this for most people: most of his interaction with his cellphone is to decide not to use it lol I can see why the manhwa dropped this plot nearly entirely (except for a later modification, which I really like) because it feels clunky. But it creates this weird scenario where... it's South Korea, Jinwoo doesn't have a ton of money but he's doing fine-ish enough to have a giant TV and a computer, and he needs his phone for work. Phones and mobile phones in particular exist in the anime (e.g., we see Woo Jinchul use one, Dongsoo crushes one). So one would ask: why does he not have a cellphone (and when/how did Jinho get his number)? And unrelated: why doesn't his email almost ever get used? The webnovel released in 2016, both would have been commonplace things then; I mean the guy goes onto a forum to ask if other people have leveled up in the novel; it would have been a lot simpler to have Jinho send him an email, though I guess I appreciate the added Jinwoo & Jinah bonding created by keeping this to some extent.

It doesn't ultimately matter in the grand scheme of things. It was really one of the weaker elements of the story and it's really incredibly minor. I can, again, see why the manhwa dropped it and why the anime is side-stepping it when considering what to adapt. But anyway, that was my aside of "how cellphone usage/lack of it when it should be there changes stories". (Also for the record, I think it's good he didn't respond to the nurse, in the end, because that entire plotline is really creepy and probably violates some ethics, but it's also so completely unnecessary).

Jinho pointing out the fight with the Lizards was self-defense :3 Good!

The "this cafe sells coffee" glamour shots are making me laugh, I don't know why lol

One thing that's always intrigued me with this series, and I don't know if this is common to the genre or something, maybe it is, is how much buildings are used as collateral. Like it is a simple truth that buildings are a very core part of value for wealthy people and organizations. Real estate is where big money is made. A lot of people in power literally control large chunks of your local real estate. But a similar story would probably just say like... "I can wire x money to you as needed". Instead this just upfront goes, "I'm rich, but here's this really big money item you could have: a building." It's just neat.

O.o Jinwoo doesn't take Jinho's offer. That's interesting. He does take the offer in both the novel and the manhwa, so I'm unsure about why the change? Maybe it combines into his realization that he needs to level up to face enemies past Cerberus and Jinho is a convenient way to do that.

Dongsoo's Japanese voice actor (Junichi Suwabe) has too pretty a voice for Dongsoo alkdjaldja Like he sounds unfairly beautiful aldkjalalkj (Unsurprising for the guy who voiced Viktor in Yuri on Ice) I don't precisely know what I expected him to sound like, and I'd love to see who they picked for the Korean dub, but alkdjal dang. To be fair... he did also voice Jaeha in Yona of the Dawn, and Grimmjow in Bleach, so I'm not that surprised the actor sounds good... I just. Wow. Salud. I don't know that this works for Dongsoo (at least for me) but he does at least sometimes play annoying dudes lol (I love you Jaeha and Grimmjow, and Viktor and Oda, but still aldkjalj).

Stop fatshaming your sister Jinwoo. You deserved that kick even if you did not at all feel it.

Bonding time ruined T-T

The way the buttons on the system get clicked is such a satisfying look/sound.

O.O oh, Jinwoo's learning about the Elixir of Life way early. That's intriguing! In the novel and manhwa he doesn't learn until way later. The anime is really focusing overall on making his goal centrally about caring for his family rather than more about improvement for the sake of improvement (I mean in the novel it feels kind of like 60/40 trade-off with the former being improvement). I get why the change: it makes him more sympathetic. And it also makes him look less strange for trying this difficult dungeon early, and for why he focuses so hard on getting back to it, even before he knew about the elixir. Also gives him a solid goal for season 2.

The gentle piano is lovely, and really sets the mood well. Jinwoo has a lot on the line: his mother's health, caring for his sister, beyond his own survival. The juxtaposition is really good.

As someone who loves Greek myths, I have seen a lot of designs for Cerberus (I have two plushie three-headed dogs, including the Cerberus from Hades the video game). Can't say I'm a fan of this design lol It's fine. It's functional. It's a very good remake of the manhwa design. I guess it just... didn't look as eh. It moves well and works, and the team did a good job. I think just... seeing more of it highlights how I really don't care for the design lol Dubu/the team were really good at designing some monsters, but not others.

The fight is really amazing and well-paced, though. Though it's an interesting change that the system is the one reminding Jinwoo about the gland during this fight, rather than him doing it on his own (he figures it out after discovering the detox in both the novel and manhwa). I like him making the connection on his own. Jinwoo can be a little thick a lot, but he is pretty intelligent, and that was one of his smarter moments. Ah well.

Will never get tired of his eyes glowing in shots. His wounds steaming as they heal is also a neat effect.

He's getting the Elixir of Life recipe early too :3 That makes sense. Would be weird if they bring that up early and don't reference it again for... goodness I don't even know that they'll come back to it before the season ends. I don't think we will, because I wouldn't be surprised if the season ends with the Igris fight. But it gives something to look forward to for maybe season 2.

Also he gets the dog collar :3 BUT... like the manhwa we don't see him put it on lol In the novel he's really nervous about people seeing him wear it, but canonically speaking, particularly since he never seems to take his armor off other than to exchange it for improved gear, he puts this on and wears an invisible dog collar through a good chunk of the story (until he gets a better neckpiece) lol Love it. Ah well. Would have been funny to see animated but they are generally sticking to the manhwa, so. It would be funny if I was proven wrong <.< Have him put on the collar, anime!!

All in all, a really good episode, with some great animation, some more lovely music, and some lovely moments between Jinwoo and Jinah. This continues the trend of modifying stuff in interesting ways. Looking forward to episode 8!

More episode thoughts:

Season 1: Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7 (you are here), Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11, Episode 12

Season 2: Episode 13, Episode 14, Episode 15, Episode 16

[teiasviago]

hey I'm the previous anon!

I kinda logged off for a while but seeing your answer made me want to ask so really, I'd love to hear about it from a screenwriter pov.

hope you don't mind all these questions!

as per the hot takes of this season, how do you feel about them? so fa the ones I've seen are:

pen not deserving forgiveness and being the villain of the show

the queen and the ton being too easy on pen

colin needing to grovel more

eloise having to be kinder to cressida and have her become besties with penelope by saving cressida together

eloise and cressida having to be endgame and eloise being the queer bridgerton instead of francesca

benedict having to be w a man or w a crossdressing sophie because he's bi

and, what do you think of the choices made by the team this season?

what do you think of franchaela? was it a fun twist or should they have avoided giving francesca the gay storyline?

what about benedict? his gay storyline this season and why just this season?

why do you think the mondrich are so important? could it be (like some people speculate) because lord kent is gonna be hyacinths gareth?

how you feel about the very modern twist on makeup and style this season?

what do you think of penelope continuing as lw and using her name and potentially putting herself in danger?

I've tried to ask as much as possible but if there's anything else you want to elaborate on feel free!

I don’t mind the stack of questions at all! It’s very exciting to dissect it all and answer them. Honestly, I have a whole document dedicated to unpacking and debunking lots of the hot takes I’ve seen because it’s so annoying to see people type with their brains off. Like, no shame if you don’t think while watching stuff—lord knows I watch something for the first time without much in the way of higher thought happening. But I also recognize that and take the time to organize my thoughts before I speak on anything. (Although that might just be a bit of a coping mechanism I developed because of my anxiety disorder that serves a good purpose generally.) This post will also be spoilery because I reference events from the books a lot.

Pen doesn’t deserve forgiveness/Pen’s the real villain of the show/QC & the ton were too easy on her.

There is no “actual” villain of the show. It’s fucking Bridgerton, like, be honest! That claim just makes me laugh because it’s like... You can’t fool me. I know a lot of people who say that are just indulging their internalized fatphobia. And in the instances when they’re not, it’s still plain old misogyny. On the topic of forgiveness, I personally did not read what happened as anybody forgiving Pen for what she wrote in Whistledown. I think, just like when Colin said he would never court Pen, though he had a change of heart, he never did forgive her.

The people that matter to Pen—the Bridgertons and the Featheringtons, her family—accept what she did and understand that Pen recognizes that she was wrong, would do things differently if she could, and not only resolves to do better but already in season three has demonstrated that effort to do better numerous times. Pen never asked for forgiveness, she requested clemency from the queen.

She gave her speech in front of the ton because hiding that she’s Whistledown implied that some of her best qualities—her cleverness, her passion for writing, her humor—were things to be ashamed of. But they’re not and in embracing her full potential, Pen defied the misogynistic idea pervasive in the ton—which her mother repeats throughout the show but especially in season three—that all women are meant for is bearing children. No, women don’t just have to be mothers and gossips, they’re full human beings.

Pen continuing the column is a good outcome for the ton because they eat her writing up. I remember how, at the beginning of episode six, everyone’s upset that she hasn’t published! They love her writing so damn much. And as Genevieve explains to Alice in “How Bright the Moon,” they all “feed off the nouveau.” They love having new information to gossip about, and what is better than the reveal of who Lady Whistledown is? They probably talked about that reveal all the way through Pen’s maternity leave (or as they called it: confinement) until she published her next issue of Whistledown as Penelope Bridgerton.

Some people just hate to see a woman succeeding. “I don’t care that your spouse worships the ground you walk upon and that the job you love is very lucrative, that should’ve happened to me instead,” sorta attitude is what I’m getting from Pen’s haters, lol. Anyways, all that to get to the screenwriting part of this: Pen becomes Whistledown as an outlet for her frustrations with society. All of her mistakes are reflections of the terrible treatment she gets because she doesn’t fit the ton’s ideal. As Colin said, it makes sense that Whistledown would reflect, at times, the cruelty around Pen.

It’s part of the mirror motif of the season because Pen as a character is a mirror for society. She reflects people’s best and worst qualities. She wants to be more than a wife and mother like Eloise, she shares Colin’s loyalty and kindness (someone has to specifically do her dirty for her to not be kind to them), and she is also deeply critical of herself like her mother, sisters, mamas, and debutantes. She also amplifies all those qualities; for example, when she writes about Colin adopting his rake persona, she’s taking the cruelty of him declaring that he’d never court Pen and turning it back on him but with a megaphone.

I mean, I completely understand why (and I can’t remember where exactly I learned this but I think it was in a live interview she gave during season three promo but I could be wrong) Shonda Rhimes wanted to adapt the Bridgerton books because of Penelope. Obviously she saw something in the other aspects of the series, but Whistledown/Pen is a captivating way of conveying information and examining the ton. Putting Colin and Pen’s season before Benedict and Sophie’s (and, of course, all the other siblings) allows the writers to even more thoroughly use Whistledown to examine and criticize the ton, which will go hand in hand with Benedict marrying Sophie in spite of her being a bastard.

Colin needed to grovel more.

I completely understand where this idea comes from but at the same time... Please give it some actual thought if you believe this. 😭 Not knocking Kate and Anthony, as an oldest sibling I have no choice but to stan them, but it is greatly to Colin’s credit that he approaches Pen the the very first episode of the season with an apology. Anthony isn’t able to do that until the last episode of season two because he’s spent every day since Edmund died repressing his feelings in order to effectively carry out his duties as viscount.

Colin never had any of that sort of pressure and because he’s also significantly younger than both Anthony and Benedict, he’s one of what I call the “sibling-kids.” They’re Ant and Ben’s siblings, yes, but in many ways they are also Anthony and Benedict’s children. It’s kind of like a teen parent relationship with C through H. Anthony, Benedict, and Violet are very much the parents: Anthony nurtures their minds, Benedict nurtures their souls, and Violet nurtures their hearts. Anthony preaches logic (advising Colin to straight up tell Pen he loves her, going on a second honeymoon with Kate since the estate is in good hands and love is important), Benedict preaches freedom (encouraging El’s rebellious pursuits and trying Colin’s drug tea), and Violet preaches wisdom (advising her children to follow their hearts).

Kind of a tangent but as a screenwriter I greatly appreciate the careful construction of the interplaying relationships in this show. With all that, Colin has the benefit of having three advisors in his life and is able to be a very sensitive person, so he doesn’t completely freak out and not know how to approach the situation. Therefore, he doesn’t go overboard with the groveling, which would end up making it Pen’s responsibility to lift him up and set him straight. Instead, he calmly approaches Pen and offers a very thought out apology. The onus is entirely on him and earning Pen’s forgiveness requires no emotional labor on her part. (And this is forgiveness because Colin doesn’t stand by what he said, whereas Pen does, she simply regrets the way she said things.)

It’s such a beautiful scene when he apologizes, partly because it shows the true nature of their relationship: when Colin’s hero complex, his rake persona, Pen’s wallflower persona, and her Whistledown persona are set aside, they are complete equals. They are their truest selves around each other with no need for duplicity or grandstanding. Colin doesn’t need to grovel before Pen for her forgiveness because he takes a mature route where he says his piece and gives her the space to accept his apology or reject it. He truly listens to Pen when she speaks and, as proof of his regret and dedication to their friendship, he offers to help her catch a husband—something she obviously seeks to do but which he didn’t previously know about her.

Honestly, if Colin had just done a bunch of groveling, it would’ve been boring because it means we wouldn’t have the Colin who took Pen’s silence to mean that even the person who was most interested in his travels no longer found them—and therefore him—interesting or worthy of her time. Because he came to that conclusion, he changed everything about himself in the hopes that both Pen and the ton would like the new him better and would take him seriously. The ton certainly does but Pen, who matters more than anybody else, doesn’t.

Colin has always been the type of person who thinks before he acts. The times when he doesn’t are in opposition and that’s on purpose. When Marina seduces him into proposing and agreeing to run off to Gretna Green, she’s manipulating him by using his hero complex to override his thoughtful nature. But we see Colin in his natural state with Pen a lot in season two, especially “The Choice” when they have their conversations about purpose.

Colin and Penelope have also known each other since they were kids, which is why they’re able to be their truest selves around each other. It’s why Colin picks up on Pen’s melancholy and probes her on it, and it’s why Pen immediately understands that Colin isn’t simply growing up when he returns in season three but is putting on a persona. They bypass needing Colin to grovel over his comment in season two because they don’t need grand gestures between them to convey that they’re being earnest.

Eloise should’ve been kinder to Cressida and should’ve worked with Pen to get Cressida a better ending.

If Eloise actually developed the maturity to recognize that Cressida simply wanted to escape her unhappy and tragically doomed life and went about achieving that with unsavory efforts, El wouldn’t have much of a character arc left for her season. As for Pen, she doesn’t owe Cressida shit after all that bullying, and she still didn’t decide to be vengeful. She didn’t disparage Cressida in her column, despite very clearly wanting to. Cressida not getting an HEA serves the same purpose as the Mondriches having to sell their club: only Bridgertons get happy endings. We see this concept even more in Queen Charlotte where there are no Bridgertons and none of the main characters’ situations are happy endings. We know how Charlotte and George’s story turns out, Lady Danbury and Lord Ledger cannot be together, and Violet’s home life is a far cry from the abundance of love she nurtures amongst her children.

Creloise should be endgame and Eloise should be the queer Bridgerton instead of Francesca.

All this nonsense about “the queer Bridgerton” is annoying at this point and I’m so glad that I haven’t had to see it personally surrounding season three. Now, aside from Phillip already being in the show, Creloise was never going to be endgame because neither of them are mature enough for that. Eloise is too focused on how different she feels from everyone else and trying to reconcile that with the idea of everyone having interiority and not being automatically lesser for wanting to get married and have kids. Cressida is too focused on finding a solid marriage and then escaping society for good. Eloise may not like society, but she loves her family and could never leave them behind. However, I do very much read their friendship as queer and think it was probably on purpose that it read that way to us. It’s just that it could never work out in this universe. (There’s always Creloise fics on AO3, it’s fine.)

Frannie’s story is perfect for a sapphic romance, which I’ll talk more about later, and Benedict is obviously also queer, which I will also talk about later. Additionally, from season one, both Benedict and Eloise have been thought of as queer, so I honestly have no idea where people are getting this idea of El being the only queer Bridgerton from. As if we don’t have multiple!

Benedict needs to end up with a man/Sophie should cross dress.

Every person I see saying that Ben needed to end up with a man gets blocked. I don’t need that in my life, especially not when Benedict is representation for me. I don’t think Sophie needs to cross dress in season four because the show has already dedicated a lot of time to Benedict going to little parties and experimenting. Benedict meets Sophie as the Lady in Silver at the masquerade ball at the beginning of An Offer from a Gentleman, yes, but he meets Sophie the maid while he’s leaving a house party. I imagine that he’ll start off the season having a pretty grand time hooking up with people, embracing his sexuality, and then he’ll be hit with the Bridgerton lovesick-itis where he won’t be able to stop thinking about his Lady in Silver. Sophie doesn’t need to dress up as a man to incorporate Benedict’s queerness into the season; he’s queer regardless, and there are much more tasteful—and likely—ways we’ll see that in the show.

Is Franchaela a good change?

I’m so excited for Franchaela I don’t even know how to express it. Like, yes, Polin is my favorite ship and they’ll never be topped for me, but Franchaela is a very close second. I was on board with the gender swap from the get-go because after the first two seasons and Queen Charlotte, it was clear to me that the people making these shows know what they’re doing and aren’t in danger of fucking up the stories they’re telling (despite what some may think). But it was reading When He Was Wicked that I really got excited for Frannie’s season. It’s the perfect book to genderswap because Michael and Francesca spend most of the book dealing with their grief for John and their guilt for falling in love with each other; they perceive that as a slight against John. Using all that guilt in the book and adding in all the emotions that come with discovering that you’re queer—for Francesca, because I assume that Michaela already knows and embraces that about herself. In the book, Michael accepts his feelings for Frannie a lot earlier than she accepts her feelings for him, and I think that translates well into a sapphic version of the story—then Michaela has to deal with Frannie not accepting her queer feelings for her. It’s delicious and we’re not even there yet!

I will say, though, that I understand the worry some people have that the writers may be mishandling Fran and John’s relationship by having Fran immediately have feelings for Michaela and seemingly display some doubts when she kisses John at their wedding. Personally, I think it’s too early to go around decrying the way Fran, Michaela, and John’s story is going. I don’t think Fran and John’s dynamic will be ruined, I think it’s simply a matter of taste when it comes to the book. Francesca and Michael are at the park together in London when Frannie very suddenly starts to view Michael in a sexual light and she gets very flustered, which is obviously brought to the show. But I felt that it was very random and not constructed very well; there was no reason given as to why specifically at this point in their lives, at this moment, Francesca started to view Michael differently. I’ll be happy with how it turns out in the show as long as Francesca isn’t secretly pining for Michaela. I think it’s for the best if she’s immediately attracted to Michaela, so then it doesn’t feel sudden later, but that she doesn’t actually fall in love with Michaela until after John dies and we get to their season.

What is the point of the Mondriches?

I talked earlier about how the Mondriches serve as contrasts to the Bridgertons, where the leads get HEAs but no one else does. In season one, while Daphne and Simon have their issues within their relationship, they ultimately solve their issues without completely compromising their morals. Meanwhile, Will has to completely compromise his morals in order to provide for his family. In season two, Kate and Anthony are struggling to meet their expectations for themselves, just as Will is struggling with expectations vs reality for his club’s success. Where Kate and Anthony are able to step back, accept that they were going about everything wrong, and have their HEA together, it’s only through Colin’s kindness that the club is successful. Although, in both cases, those outcomes are dependent on spokespeople using their influence to rectify the situation: the queen for Kate and Anthony, and Colin for Will and Alice. In season three, while Colin and Penelope don’t have to give up their literary pursuits to have success as the parents of a titled son, Will and Alice have to give up the club.

How do you feel about the very modern twist on makeup and style this season?

I don’t mind it at all. Some of the costumes are irksome (mostly when it comes to minor characters) but for the most part I liked them or at least understood their purpose. I mean, Cressida and her mother’s looks were insane but it fits the fact that they’re trying really hard. I heard somewhere that it’s not so much trying to find the perfect look for Bridgerton but that each season purposefully has a different look that fits with the story being told through the lead romance. So for season three, they take a page out of Portia’s lookbook and the ton goes a little OTT—even Charlotte goes for it (I don’t think she should have but my opinion doesn’t much matter lol).

What do you think of Penelope continuing as LW and using her name, potentially putting herself in danger?

I went into the season expecting Pen to continue writing the column and that’s the outcome I wanted. In Romancing Mister Bridgerton, she simply retires it, but I think it means way too much in the show and also has too many uses as a screenwriter for her to stop writing it. But it’s important that she starts writing it using her real name instead of the moniker. She’s claiming her writings and not hiding from herself anymore. In terms of danger, I think people are very much going overboard. Firstly, nobody is in danger of being beheaded, because in Queen Charlotte, Charlotte melodramatically wishes that she could still behead people because a servant had her woken up in the middle of the night. Secondly, the worst punishment would be imprisonment, but this is Bridgerton, and the queen’s rivalry with Whistledown is a fun game of wits, not a game of “how fast can Charlotte unearth this treasonous snake?”

As for everyone else, they don’t have enough power to actually threaten Pen. She hasn’t written about anyone in a way that would make them want to put her in physical danger, just efforts to stain her reputation, which is why she offers Colin an annulment. What Pen doesn’t know—and what we do know, alongside Lady Danbury—is that the queen wasn’t just in a good mood when she went to the Butterfly Ball, she went with a plan. She wanted to display her power in front of everyone to keep the ton in line but also preserve her rivalry with Pen so that she has something to occupy her time with.

It’s Bridgerton. The romantic leads aren’t actually at risk of death.

I hope I answered all of your questions satisfactorily! I had so much fun dissecting everything!!!

[everythingwasnormalhere]

…don’t mind me :D

STYLE: 🌺🌷🌲🌳

BUNNY: 🌵🪴🌱🌻

SHIP OF YOUR CHOICE: 💮🍄

Please don’t feel pressured to answer these all, but have fun answering what you choose to!

Style:

🌺- Have they have any comforting or happy stories around their disabilities?

YES ACTUALLY<3 ok so, this is kinda spoilery but also really fucking cute so :3 when kyle got his feeding tube, it included a 1-2 weeks long hospital stay. He was super insecure about it, also worsening his already bad relationship with his scars, which made his mental state pretty fucking shitty... Stan stayed at his since he was let out because he's a codependent bastard, and at one point kyle broke down and told him about what was wrong, and our lovely staniel just. Told him he still found him beautiful and that he was glad Kyle was there and a bunch of super sweet stuff that made kyle feel so much better about himself<33 idk man they're so cute (also im writing the fic that includes this lmao)

🌷- How does being disabled imapct their love life? For example does it impact their date nights, activities they can and can't do as a couple, ect.

First, going to restaurants is a No. Unless they have been previously deemed Safe by Kyle, they will Not have dates there (because they can't know whether a restaurant's food will or not trigger an episode as they haven't made it themselves and all). Also Stan's whole depressive episodes make going out harder, because whenever it's a Bad episode he won't even leave the house so like... but they still manage :)

🌲- How do they accommodate eachother? Do they have a routine that helps with this? Do they do this consciously or subconsciously?

I WILL NEVER NOT TALK ABOUT STAN BEING THE FIRST PERSON WHO KNOWS KYLE'S SAFE FOODS !!! This is something he does almost subconsciously but he will not make anything Kyle has trouble eating, and even when they were younger he remembered to bring to school something Kyle could eat (orange juice usually) just in case his mom packed stuff he had trouble with. Kyle meanwhile knows all the signs Stan is falling back into an episode, and he's slowly learnt the ways to pull him out of it before it gets bad :)

🌳- What would happen if they were to break up and/or loose eachother for any reason? How would this impact any party involved, would this trigger their disability?

Stan is So codependent he'd probably not survive without Kyle. Ever. Like, he tries not to make it obvious because he doesn't wanna trap Kyle in an unhealthy relationship, but he's so bad at dealing with Kylelessness he literally couldn't survive by himself. Kyle too but Maybe not to that level because my boy has a permanent layer of mild dissociation that would maybe protect him from the breakup ;w; (but like, they're both codependent as fuck, they're not breaking up ever 😭)

Bunny:

🌵- If they were to have a date that incorporated their disability what would this be like?

When he's having a bad day, Kenny usually can't even leave his bed (and less home), so as stubborn he is he lets Butters pick their plans for the day because he's so much better at accomodating Kenny than Kenny himself 😭 Usually their dates those days will be cuddling in bed/the couch and watching a movie, playing videogames, reading comics... depends on what they wanna do tbh, but they both like those dates a lot :) Also, honestly all their dates incorporate Butters' sensory issues in some way, either him wearing his headphones when they go to loud places (arcade or the movies) or making the TV quieter and dimmer, they incorporate their disabilities in pretty much everything they do even though they never mention it XD <3

🪴- If they plan on having a family how does being disabled effect this and their decision? Alternatively do they plan on having pets, of so how does being disabled impact their collective decision?

First, SHADOW !!!! Well, she wasn't really in their plans originally... she was more like a "yup she's coming with us alright" kinda split decision, and Lemon and Kafka were just an extra XD But they would've gotten pets either way, Butters is the biggest animal lover and Kenny is close to that position too lmao<3 About having children, this was a harder thing because Kenny wanted to be a foster parent, but realistically they wouldnt be able to care for that many children :( in the end though, they adopted a girl and they aren't the best parents but they're pretty great<3 (this happens in their 30s tho XD)

🌱- If the ship were to get married how would their wedding accommodate their disabilities? Alternatively what would their house/appartment/whatever accommodate them?

"No Ken, we are Not getting a house with stairs" -Butters Stotch (he's learnt after their old appartment, Kenny+stairs aren't the best convo 😭) - Their wedding didn't have that many accomodations, quieter music and not that many people invited (Butters' parents had coming in Forbidden. btw.), not that much but they had a great time still :)

🌻- Do they ever have to deal with ableism in regards to their relationship? How do they deal with it?

Short answer: yes 😭

Sadly, they get ableism both ways ;-; Kenny is the one who's most visibly disabled out of them, so Butters gets a shit ton of "you are sooo inspirational for dealing with this, i could never" (insert confused Butters noises, he doesn't get tf they mean by that 😭) and "are you Sure you want to live with That your whole life?" (yes he does he loves kenny with his whole life fuck off 😔✨), and also obviously a bunch of assholes talking to Butters instead of Kenny whenever he's pushing his wheelchair (insert butters being nonverbal atm so Kenny's the one who gotta do the talking 💀). The opposite way too, mainly the times when Butters is having meltdowns - for example, once they were at a party and Butters got really overwhelmed, and instead of helping a lot of people told Kenny horrible things I'm not repeating, and even though Butters was mid-meltdown he still remembered all that stuff and Kenny had to reassure him so much as soon as they got home :(

Ship of my choice:

💮- If one of the characters in the ship are having a bad disability day how long does it take the other(s) to pick up on the fact that they're struggling? Are they good at picking up on the signs, if not, is there a point that they do notice without being told?

You're getting another bunny answer because they're my beautiful boys<33

Butters picks it up pretty soon, but whether he mentions it or not is another story. When they were in school, in case Kenny didn't skip Butters would not say anything until they got home or at least they were alone, instead sending Kenny disapproving looks every time he lied about why he looked so tired TwT then when Kenny started using aids, Butters (and pretty much anyone who knew him) could tell in what lvl of pain he was in depending on what he was using :3

Kenny has a bit more trouble telling, as a teen he usually had So Much stuff in his head so he couldn't catch the signs (as much as he cares, noticing your friend is having a bad day while you yourself are running on 5 energy drinks and 2 hours of sleep isn't the easiest task 😭), which meant Butters usually had to let him know in some way - tugging at his sleeve most times, as he struggles with speaking on bad days. If Butters didn't do that though, Kenny figured out by seeing how he looked much more anxious and was looking around all the time, and he'd make sure to keep him safe and stay with him till they could get home. As adults, Butters had the whole "being out of a dangerous environment means PTSD gets Bad" era, and it was a lot easier to tell as during bad days he didn't wanna leave their room at all, which most times caused Kenny to stay there too till Butters felt ready to go outside<3

🍄- Free question!: If one of the characters disabilities is a progressive disability how do they plan their future? Does this impact their relationship as a whole?

Aaaand another one for bunny cuz I'm not shutting up about them ever (srsly i need help 💀)

This wasn't something they discussed much, Butters was aware Kenny was getting progressively worse because he's good at noticing that stuff, but it wasn't until they got older (40s-50s) that they had a "it Is getting That Bad" moment. Kenny hadn't been dying for a Long while, so he had no idea what was wrong with him this time till he (finally) went to the doctors - basically, huge spoiler ahead lmao, his deaths had just been speeding up an already existing chronic pain condition, so he probably wouldn't have had the whole dying pains thing if he hadn't had that condition in the first place. This whole thing Fucked Him Up, he hid it from Butters for as long as he could, he would lock himself in his room for days on end, he didn't know how to deal with knowing there was no way to stop it besides permadeath :( as soon as Butters knew, he comforted Kenny, because his worth didn't depend on the stuff he could or couldnt do and his love wasn't affected by Kenny's disability at all (🙌!!), and they did their best to get used to the whole thing and manage it, together<3

[fudan-no-nijiiro]

New Audio Drama Announced: HE★VENS as the Shinsengumi!

We know all of nothing about the CD aside from the announcements on the website, which fortunately includes the casting! The Shinsengumi, who are actual historical figures that have showed up with different levels of prominence in many popular Japanese media franchises (such as One Piece, Touken Ranbu, and Golden Kamui, among others).

Personally, I'm mainly familiar with the Shinsengumi through a couple of more niche pieces of media that focus on them directly, and so I was immediately very excited to see this announcement. That said, my spotty knowledge of the Shinsengumi as well as the relatively little information we have so far means there's a lot I can only speculate about at the moment.

Some potentially spoilery speculation below the cut!

General thoughts

First, two things about the Shinsengumi as a whole that make them a great choice for the HE★VENS boys to play:

They have an inherent anti-villain vibe due to their original role as rivals to ST☆RISH. The Shinsengumi were similarly on the "wrong" side of history, being on the side of the military faction that opposed opening Japan's borders to the West…though ultimately, the political dynamics are more complex than that, which most good Shinsengumi adaptations play with to great effect. It's a fitting role for the team that was originally created as "antagonists" to Shining Agency that are nonetheless sympathetic in themselves.

The tragic element: Honestly, a group that is might be best known known for romantically, tragically (and often sexily) dying young is right in HE★VENS's more intense, melodramatic wheelhouse.

Relatedly: one key question is when in the Shinsengumi timeline the story will be set. I would guess from the chapter titles that this story is going to begin near the beginning of the Shinsengumi's founding and continue through the Ikedaya Incident, which is admittedly one of the Shinsengumi's most famous exploits. However, the subtitle (which scanned to me as something like "the path of the setting sun," not that I'm at all sure of that translation) hints at the Shinsengumi's ultimate fate: infighting, political betrayals, defeat, and ultimately dissolution, along with the tragic fates of several of its core members. Their tragic ending seems to have done a lot to cement the Shinsengumi them as sympathetic figures in Japanese popular culture more broadly, and I feel like HE★VENS would handle the pathos of it all beautifully, so I'm a little sad that it seems like it's only going to be hinted at. But still, there's theoretically hope for a second drama down the line if this one is successful, or fanworks if all else fails. (I feel positive that I'll see some excellent doujins coming out with this theme over the next several years, for instance.)

And in the meantime, there's also the video to be excited about! It'll be interesting to see if the video gets integrated into Live Emotion, and if so, when. (Possibly at the same time as analogous past ST☆RISH and QUARTET NIGHT projects, perhaps? 👀)

Cast List

Anyway, it's time for some near-baseless idol-by-idol analysis, based on my very limited Shinsengumi knowledge! Feel free to let me know what I've gotten wrong, because I'm truly just winging it for fun over here.

Van as Kondou Isami: This is a SUPER interesting choice, and how much I think Van stans will enjoy it depends largely on how much screen time Kondou actually gets. On the one hand, he's the leader, which is a fun change of pace, and since the story seems to start early in the Shinsengumi's history, there's a good chance he'll be playing a central role. I think it's a great role for Van, who's the oldest and has displayed a strong protective streak towards the other group members. Plus, since he's a bit of a jokester and usually tries to fade into the background, I think I'll enjoy seeing him playing an important role at the center of the group. That said, though, he's usually relatively absent in depictions of the Shinsengumi that I've seen, either because he traveled places separately or for, well…other, sadder reasons. Regardless, if he mainly shows up through flashbacks or something, there's a risk that he'll be severely underutilized.

Eiichi as Hijikata Toshizou: This one seems like an inevitable casting choice. Eiichi usually gets a lot of the spotlight as a passionate-yet-controlled leader who's a cut above the rest, and that fits Hijikata to a T. The most exciting part about this for me is going to be watching him play of Eiji's Okita, as their close (and literally fraternal) dynamic is definitely going to add some pathos to Hijikata's storyline.

Eiji as Okita Souji: THIS. THIS ONE. I was SO excited to see this casting!!! Okita's is an inevitably melodramatic, very dynamic, and ultimately tragic role with a wide variety of possible interpretations. It has the potential to really push Eiji's acting chops. (I don't know if we'll get behind-the-scenes depictions of the actors responding to their roles as a part of this drama, but sometimes it happens, and it'd be a treat to see Eiji's this time.) There will be more on Okita after this list, but basically, this is breakout role territory and I'm so hyped to see that Eiji's the one cast for it.

Kira as Nagakura Shinpachi: I'll admit, this character hasn't left much of an impression on me from the adaptations of Shinsengumi media that I've seen. Given both that and Nagakura's role as next in command under Hijikata, it looks a little bit to me like the role is going to be crafted to fit Kira rather than the other way around, or perhaps utilized mainly for plot convenience. I thought at first he was going to play Saitou instead and I was very excited about it, so I'll admit to some probably-unfair disappointment on that front. I think he's might play closely off Yamato's character, though, and if the plot includes any inner-party conflict, they're likely to be on the same side of it. That would be interesting to see.

Shion as Saitou Hajime: I'll be honest, I originally misread the names and thought that Kira had gotten this role, and I was very excited about it. I'm less excited for Shion to play him, partly for a silly reason: the cover art has him drawing his katana right-handed, and one of Saitou's prominent traits was being a left-handed swordsman. (Then again, maybe that will be a red herring, and Saitou revealing his true skills to the rest of the group will be part of the plot? Or perhaps they didn't do a lot of research for the cover art. It could go either way.) Still, it's usually fun to listen to Shion acting regardless of his role; I feel like I'm never sure what sort of performance we're going to get from him.

Nagi as Toudou Heisuke: At first, this seemed like a fairly straightforward choice, but then I looked into it a bit more and now I'm not so sure. (I've seen Heisuke depicted as one of the younger members of the Shinsengumi, but when I checked Wikipedia, he had the same birth year listed as several other core members.) Regardless, however, It'll be fun to hear Nagi play what will probably be a fairly openly violent and macho role, as opposed to his usual faux-superior brat facade (/affectionate). …And also, if I'm right and the climax of the story is at Ikedaya, then he's going to get a chance for some extra melodrama then as well.

Yamato as Harada Sannousuke: I mean, this role is fine, I guess? He's far enough from the "core" of the Shinsengumi as typically depicted that he gets regularly cut out from some adaptations, or at least lumped into the background with Nagakura. It's not a bad casting choice from the vibes I remember from elsewhere, in that it seems true to type. I just don't know enough about Harada to know what to get excited about. It's also possible that he'll be close with Toudou as well, so that could be fun.

Hang on, what do you know about the Shinsengumi anyway?

Despite the length of this post so far, truly not a lot! What I do know, I learned from Japanese media with a relatively low barrier of entry. In my experience, only devoted fans of either history or manga/anime know about the Shinsengumi, even in Japan, and it seems to me like their popular depictions are an important part of cultural impact. If you'd like to get a feel for those depictions and how these figures have been mythologized in popular culture, one good starting point might be the Hakuouki franchise, particularly the first game and/or anime.

Hakuouki is an old and VERY successful visual novel series. It bastardizes the Shinsengumi's actual history to hell and back (what if they were VAMPIRE-ZOMBIE BERSERKERS who were the victims of UNETHICAL MEDICAL EXPERIMENTATION?!) for kitschy dating-sim purposes, but it's silly and melodramatic and fun, much like the original UtaPri VNs. Plus, the characters are caricatured in a way that makes them very distinct from one another, so it's quick and easy to get a feel for their personalities. (Better yet, if you play the visual novel version, it lets you focus on one character at a time and get a feel for the role you're most interested in…though Harada and Shinpachi are a bit of a package set, with only one route between them.)

To give you a sense for the impact of this series, I've been to a collab cafe for Hakuouki that was running at the actual real Ikeda-ya Inn, a place where a significant battle of the Shinsengumi's took place, within the past 5 years. The game first came out in 2008. And UtaPri, which launched in a similar format (PSP rather than PS2) 2 years later, is undoubtedly very aware of the Hakuouki franchise and its popular impact.

I found an emulator version of the first game something like 10 years ago to play on PC and Mac. I couldn't tell you where, since that was several hard drives ago, but it's almost certainly still kicking around someplace. And the anime should be even easier to find.

Overall, Hakuouki's characters seem matched in a decently intuitive way with the HE★VENS members cast in each role:

Kondou (though usually not on-screen much) is the benevolent leader who'd do anything for his men.

Hijikata is the leader on the ground.

Saitou's reticent and mysterious.

Toudou's the youngest.

Shinpachi and Harada were kind of off doing their own thing. (This one is a little off, notably)

And then there's one great big notable exception.

Hakuouki's Souji Okita is sardonic, critical, and at times outright aggressive, with a mean sense of humor and an intentional bad-boy vibe. This seems like a stretch for everyone's favorite cinnamon roll, especially playing against a Hijikata played by Eiichi. So instead, I'm going to guess the Okita we'll get will be a bit different. Perhaps something like this:

(Yep, that guy is based on the same historical figure!)

The shoujo manga Kaze Hikaru's Souji Okita is a light-hearted jokester with a sweet disposition, who plays the airhead to Hijikata's more serious attitude…unless he's in a fight, in which case he turns into a bit of an amoral killing machine. He's also the romantic lead of the series, which totals 45 volumes. (It seems as though the licensed volumes are still being released in English, and the manga's serialization only ended in 2020. Gotta respect a long-running franchise!)

What do both of these otherwise very disparate depictions have in common? Three things stand out to me:

their near-fanatical loyalty to Hijikata and Kondou,

their determination to never surrender, and

their refusal to give in to their impending fate. (I don't think said fate will show up in this particular drama—though I could be wrong!—but either way, I won't go into it for now. You can find out about it easily enough if you go looking.)

So yeah, I think you can see why I'm very interested to see how Eiji's Okita turns out! Whether it's closer to one or the other of these two, or its own thing entirely, I believe it'll be fascinating.

In conclusion, as someone who's enjoyed the Shinsengumi stories I've encountered in the past, I'm very excited to listen to the drama and watch the music video when they come out in October!

[chloecherrysip]

Now that I've had a few hours of sleep and am marginally a human being again, let's talk about the mario movie some more! SPOILERS ALL THROUGHOUT THIS POST UNDER THE CUT (if you want to see my non-spoilery thoughts and the first part of my spoiler talk as well, here's that post from last night! Be warned that it's pretty all over the place because it was 4:30 in the morning and I was really tired lolol)

After thinking about it more, I truly do have some PROBLEMS with this movie (will talk more about some of that below and I covered a lot of the issues in my first post too) and I do wish it was better overall and not so painfully surface-level with all the character interactions - I can understand why some people REALLY don't like it while others love it! It's joyful and energetic and BEAUTIFUL but if you spent months and months theorizing and speculating about deep character interactions and a very emotional story, it does really sting to finally see how there is virtually NONE of that and the plot feels kinda empty as a result. :(

But! I'm definitely not upset or anything like that, and I'm still gonna see it two more times in theaters with a smile on my face! TRUTHFULLY (and if you've seen my blog before, you know this about me) what I cared about most in this movie was getting to see Mario and Luigi be adorable onscreen and have a good, healthy, loving relationship, and you do get that to some degree, even if it's nowhere near enough. I can make my peace (and write a lot of fanfic, LOL) regarding the rest. :)

Here is a list of moments between Mario & Luigi that made me happy:

FIRST OF ALL, SOMETHING THAT I'M NOT ACTUALLY SURE I LIKED BUT WAS CERTAINLY A CHOICE: Mario's nickname for Luigi is Lu????? He calls him that 3-4 times and at big moments, too. It started to be cute to me, even if I wish they'd gone with "Weegie" or something similar, but it's a little jarring at the beginning for sure.

In general, they are just very physically affectionate with each other! There are one or two quick hugs in the beginning scenes before we even get to the reunion. Also, I can't remember the specifics but the very last scene is them basically teasing/poking each other before running off into the day together and it's cute. :)

Mario is SO protective of Luigi in the Brooklyn scenes and let me tell you, as someone who cares DEEPLY about that, i was LIVING. He gets mad at Spike and tries to pick a fight only when he insults Luigi, and there is also a silly scene with an angry dog and Mario just instinctively puts his arm up in front of Luigi when things get a little scary/focuses on making sure he doesn't get hurt, and I was just having the BEST time. Honestly, I loved the Brooklyn stuff so much that I sincerely wanted the whole movie to just be about that, and things took a downhill turn for sure when the separation happened. :(

Someone definitely predicted this before the movie but Mario hates mushrooms as a food and Luigi likes them. During a dinner scene, Mario is slyly separating mushrooms from his food and putting them onto Luigi's plate in a way that suggests he's done that a LOT. Such a quick shot but I just liked the detail!

THE RUNNING THROUGH THE CONSTRUCTION SITE AND MARIO DOING RIDICULOUS PARKOUR BUT ALSO STOPPING TWICE TO MAKE SURE TO TURN BACK AND OPEN THE GATES SO LUIGI COULD COME THROUGH NORMALLY. There was just something SO funny and sweet about [crazy jumping and leaping] [quiet, thoughtful pause to open the gate] [MORE CRAZY JUMPING AND LEAPING, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING, SIR] [another quiet, thoughtful pause to open the 2nd gate], I loveeeeee

Once again, just gotta be obnoxious about being right that the dialogue in the warp zone was "nothing can hurt us as long as we're together!" I HEARD THE LINE AS THIS IN THAT PREVIEW FOOTAGE AND EVERYONE CONVINCED ME IT WAS DIFFERENT BUT LOOK WHO'S LAUGHING NOW (i'm sorry, just let me have this win haha)

There is a sad moment where Mario and Luigi's dad clearly doesn't believe in their business and he even says to Mario something like "the worst part is that you're dragging your brother down with you" which is clearly upsetting to Mario so he leaves the dinner table - but then Luigi leaves the table too to come and sit with him and reassures him that he's not dragging him down and it's just a sweet, comfortable moment between them that I very much wish went on a little longer (the theme of the whole movie lol)

(Also, Mario and Luigi still live with their parents and share a room, they're clearly pretty young and are treated like the "babies" of the family. I wish we had seen more of their room other than a very extremely brief shots!!)

Luigi DOES immediately sell out Mario when Bowser goes for the serious mustache damage, LOL, but the way it's done is honestly so cute and once again, just reemphasizes how much Luigi loves Mario XD He's basically like "YES, I know him, he's my brother Mario and he's the best guy ever!" (And then Bowser, who is preoccupied with Mario = romantic rival for Peach's affections, is like "would a princess find him attractive???" and Luigi is like "if she has any common sense, she should!" (lol, that line could be TOTALLY wrong, I don't remember, but that's the gist of it, I promise) or something like that - just hyping Mario up when he's not even there, LOL

in Mario and DK's "darkest moment" scene where things seem hopeless and they're arguing, Mario says something like "well, at least your brother's not going to die because of you!" and noooo, bb, it's not your fault ;; (this scene could have been done SO MUCH BETTER with a few tweaks, btw, but I will get into that)

Luigi bringing coffee for Mario at the end of the movie in their respective cups :) :) :) So simple but I am a very simple person who just wanted to see little moments like this :) :) :)

I have GRIPES with the final battle scene but seeing Mario and Luigi work together and take care of Bowser as a duo was still good!!! Nothing can hurt them when they're together!!!

Also, already talked about this at length in my first post, but one more time: Mario saving Luigi from falling into the lava and their reunion hug is just my favorite moment of the movie, no contest, it goes by so fast and I wish it was longer but I can be happy with that alone and I can't wait for the screenshots/gifsets where I can see all the details of it more clearly and don't have to rely on my awful memory. Literally just going to think about that split-second of Mario holding Luigi's face with both hands in an unbearably sweet, gentle way forever. These brothers love each other very much, your honor ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

ALSO ALMOST FORGOT: FLASHBACK TO THEM BEING BABIES (AND THEY LOOK SO FAITHFUL TO THE ORIGINAL DESIGNS TOO!) AND MARIO PROTECTING LUIGI FROM A BULLY (lol I very much wish it was a longer and/or more creative flashback, but STILL sweet)

AND NOW THAT I AM DONE WITH BEING POSITIVE ABOUT MY FAVORITE BOYS, LET'S ~*~COMPLAIN~*~

First of all, still CANNOT BELIEVE that "I'm not afraid! I'll do anything for my brother" didn't make it into the movie, are you SERIOUS, it would have been perfect in SO MANY PARTS, they recorded it and everything, why???? IS THERE A DELETED SCENE??? ARE THERE SEVERAL DELETED SCENES??? I DEMAND JUSTICE FOR THAT PERFECT LINE, I WILL MOURN IT FOREVER

The editing in general is a little odd sometimes and it really DOES feel like a lot of scenes should be there that are missing. Another VERY weird cut is in the scene where Peach, Toad, and Mario are crossing the bridge with the Cheep-Cheeps and they just immediately cut the scene when one latches onto Mario's face and don't even include the cute stuff from the trailer with Peach trying to help him??? Like, WHY???? WHY DID THOSE FEW SECONDS NEED TO BE CUT??? I DON'T UNDERSTAND

I think one of the most painful things about this movie is that, as a writer/creative person, I can see SO many small opportunities throughout the movie where a couple of extra minutes and some tweaks in the writing would have made SO much difference. An unbelievable amount of difference! The overall structure of the story and the plot is good! The story of Mario wanting to reunite with his brother and Peach wanting to protect her kingdom (that took her in and cared for her when she was all alone in the world) is solid! But they never give the EMOTIONS surrounding these things ANY space to breathe beyond one line here or there, and that is SUCH a mistake and I can't believe no one thought to do something differently here.

FOR INSTANCE: The "darkest moment" scene with DK and Mario! It goes by so fast, but there is some good stuff there that, if the movie took a MOMENT and really let their pain/fear for their loved ones and their shared complex of unsupportive fathers BREATHE, would work SO MUCH BETTER. Like, I can easily imagine a rewritten version of that scene with very similar dialogue but just MORE of it (more pauses, more emotion, more reactions to one another's problems, more recognition of their similarities, etc) would have made it like a DAGGER in the heart. SUCH a missed opportunity. I am itching to rewrite it, LOL. (I am itching to rewrite a LOT of scenes!)

ALSO: Luigi is my LOVE and he is adorable throughout this, but I'm gonna be the first to admit that his scrap of an arc in this movie (if you can even call it that) is so lackluster and his heroic moment at the end genuinely doesn't feel that earned! AND ONCE AGAIN, WITH A LITTLE EXTRA WRITING/ROOM IN THE RUNTIME, IT'S A VERY SOLVABLE PROBLEM

And the solution is: build out the prison scenes and have Luigi actually talking to someone else who is locked up!!!!! Other than a couple of lines and jokes, the prisoners don't TALK TO EACH OTHER and Luigi just spends a lot of time looking sad. We don't get ANYTHING about his thought processes while he's captured other than he is thinking of Mario and hoping his brother comes to save him like he's always done.

WHEN CRANKY KONG AND THE OTHER KONGS SHOW UP, HAVE THEM SHARE INFO ABOUT MARIO'S APPARENT DEMISE WITH LUIGI!!! HAVE LUIGI TALK TO HIM (OR THE PENGUIN KING, OR SOMEONE) ABOUT HOW HIS BROTHER'S ALWAYS LOOKED OUT FOR HIM BUT MAYBE SOMETIMES, HIS BROTHER MIGHT NEED SOME SUPPORT TOO AND HE'S GOTTA BE STRONG FOR HIM TOO

It doesn't have to be a long or especially deep conversation, but some lines of dialogue like this would make that moment where Luigi realizes that Mario is right, nothing CAN hurt them if they're together and he's gotta be strong for his older brother too and he jumps in to protect him from Bowser hit SO much harder. That's all it would take!!!

I HAVE ACTUAL WORK TO DO TODAY AND CANNOT GO ON AND ON ABOUT THE MARIO MOVIE FOREVER BUT LAST THOUGHT FOR NOW: the more I think about the final battle, the more I'm conflicted, haha. The twist of everyone from the Mushroom Kingdom ending up in Brooklyn is definitely SHOCKING in the moment and pretty creative but I don't know, I had my heart set on a more classic version of Mario VS Bowser. It just doesn't hit as hard as it could in the end because of how silly the setting is. :( (But the Mario and Luigi teamup with the power star is great, and the music IS fire) (Also LOL at myself for thinking "Luigi won't fight at the end, that wouldn't make sense since Mario had to train" - he just knows how to fight, the movie goes with what's cool over what's logical and that's fair XD)

Also, the end of the movie is a tad confusing and has some pretty huge repercussions for this version of canon? ARE THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM AND THE REAL WORLD PERMANENTLY MERGED TOGETHER BECAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENED??? That's definitely what it seems to imply with Mario and Luigi waking up in their Brooklyn room and then walking out straight into the Mushroom Kingdom! It's pretty bizarre! (Honestly, what I was expecting was that the Bill would destroy the warp pipes and Mario and Luigi wouldn't be able to go home, which I might have preferred, as sad as that would be.)

That's all I got for now! I'm sure I will have more thoughts in the future, haha.

[docholligay]

Yellowjackets S2 E3: Taissa

Hello! This is about up to Season 2, Episode 3 of Yellowjackets, and ONLY that of Yellowjackets. I have not seen beyond this spot, at all, and know NOTHING about this show. Please do not spoil it for me.  Things that are spoilery in nature, for me, include: saying things like  “Just wait!!” confirming or denying anything I put forward, outside information about the cast interviews or creator statements, leading questions like “Do you think “blank moment” means anything?” etc. Remember  that Y’ALL HAVE SEEN THE SHOW AND I HAVE NOT. This informs the way you  talk about things relating to the show. Just be really careful is all  I’m asking. Also: If there is LITERALLY any stance I  could take on this show or character that would make you upset, please  just fucking block the tag

If you WOULD like to discuss the show and my takes on it, the Discord is right here! I don’t go there, so it’s a great place to get every emotion out.

Please thank @sailorsunspot and @moonlight-frittata for backing this odd way of doing a liveblog, and remember my tip jar is always open

Oh Tai, my frustrating beloved.

Taissa wants to be the good leader. This is why she’s running for office, is she wants to be the law and order, by the book, lawful good, leader. But there is a half of her, a buried part of her, that is a predator. That is grasping, and dangerous, and honestly acts much more like a feral dog than a wofl, but I digress I know we’re trying to do a whole “Call of the Wild” type horror theme here. 

This appears to be quite literally splitting her in half, and I am obsessed with it. I am so into the way that Taissa, then and now, is desperately trying to keep the dark half on a chain, and how it’s pulling out her goddamn shoulder by the joint. It’s a jekyll and hyde type story, where she has this half of her that represents everything that is dangerous, everything she wants to keep underneath, and because shew tries to hard to separate it from herself, it ends up being able to take over, and entity of its own. It’s amazing. 

But we see just how vicious it is. Not only does she eat Jackie--they all do--but she eats her face. That is personal. There’s something aout that, which drives beyond the taboo of eating someone, and into consuming what they are. Jackie lost her shine as leader, a girl who could not create a new version of herself and had to die for the crime, but still the echo of that leadership remains on her, and in eating her face, Taissa is symbolically consuming that mantle. And she’s wholly disgusted by that! She throws up with the knowledge that she is capable of that kind of consumption, that bleeds over to the personal. 

Taissa and Lottie seem to be in a standoff for leadership of the girls, and I think Lottie will win, because Lottie can offer order and a clear direction forward, which is often more tempting to people than the truth. This has been true for a million years, and will continue to be true forever. People like a clear answer to a problem, whether it’s true or not, and if that answer is, “We have to appease the spirit of the forest” well, you would be shocked how easy it is to take that bet. I don’t think I’m above it, in extremis, and neither are you. 

Anyway, so, Taissa, consuming a face in the woods. Taissa now. So, I think it’s pretty clear, at least to me, that the dark half of Taissa, who is still Taissa, wants to be rid of Simone. Simone and her son represent that chain, the one that keeps the bad one tied up, and it wants out. “Is this what you wanted?” Dream!Simone asks. In a sense, yes. How I feel about the whole Simone come thing, hm, I’m not yet sure, it remains to be seen. I’m mostly neutral on it for the moment. 

That mirror scene was the worst, and by that I mean actually perfect. You know how there are horror ‘things’ that everyone has, that just make them go, “Nope. Fuck that. Fuck it forever”? Well, mine is mirrors being ‘wrong’. It absolutely fucks me up. Undoes me. I am creeped the fuck out sitting here in a fully lit room in front of a fucking word document. But! I love it! It is so thematically perfect for what is going on with Taissa, how she can see the worst possible version of herself, the one that is pure aggression and drive, one that denies the softness and love Taissa is capable of. And she can see that it is taking over. She is being hunted by herself. 

I can’t quite tell what the Shadow Tai is saying in the mirror--I’m no lipreader (and please don’t tell me!)--but I have my guesses based on the hand gesture that we’re going to see her hook back up with Van, which, boo hiss I guess unpopular opinion I know. ALternatively, is the man with no eyes asking for her eyes? I can’t decide if it’s pointing out Tai’s eye or replicating Van’s mummy look when she was injured. (again, please please do not tell me) 

[loominggaia]

Question: Why did Jelani keep slaves after becoming king? And shouldn’t the fact he kept slaves mean that Azura logically should have him on her shitlist?

That's a good question, but to explain it properly I have to talk about the history of Uekoro for a second.

In ancient times, the Matuzan cities we know today used to be totally separate kingdoms. Each had their own laws and cultures. Then, when Matuzu Kingdom rose to a Great power, all these little kingdoms were absorbed as cities/holds under its jurisdiction.

This means Uekoro used to be its own kingdom, and slavery was legal there. But when it was absorbed by Matuzu Kingdom, Matuzu said, "We don't like slavery in our great kingdom. You have to abolish it because you're making us look bad".

And Uekoro said "kiss my ass lol".

So in the end, they made a compromise: slavery was abolished for everyone in Uekoro...except the royal family. The Uekoran royal family (in this case, the Fanakas) could continue keeping slaves legally under Matuzan jurisdiction. To abolish slavery or not can only be decided by the Uekoran royal family, with a caveat: once slavery is abolished in Uekoro, it cannot be reinstated. This was part of the terms they agreed to with Matuzu Kingdom.

Slavery is a very longstanding tradition for the Uekoran royal family. Some family members throughout history disagreed with it, but they were not brave enough to be the ones to end it, because the rest of the family would have them by the throat. So, the old tradition continued in the palace while the rest of Uekoro progressed into more modern, sensible ways.

Okay, history lesson over! Now, on to your question...

As the Uekoran King, Jelani could certainly abolish slavery in his palace if he wanted to. Some of his relatives might be pissed, but the most dangerous and volatile of them (his mother) is dead, so it doesn't really matter.

However, Jelani carries a personal grudge against the palace slaves because of the way Itanya chose the Kaconenans over him. This "betrayal" cut him so deeply that it still hurts him decades later. His pain manifests as anger, and he takes his anger out on the rest of the palace slaves so that they may never "betray" him again.

Long story short, the palace still practices slavery because Jelani has emotional issues. See a freakin' therapist, dude...

During the 2 years they were together, Evan tried to convince Jelani to release his slaves many times. But it was a sensitive subject that made Jelani upset very quickly, so he was never able to push it too hard.

Azura, however...She has charisma and intelligence that Evan lacks. She successfully convinced Jelani to abolish slavery in his palace and replace all of his slaves with paid servants. This means that as long as Uekoro is under Matuzan jurisdiction, it can never reinstate slavery again. This was a huge historical event for the city, and Azura is credited for it.

Yes, as a slavekeeper, Jelani was on her shitlist. But Azura is too smart to just assassinate him and watch another slavekeeper take his throne...she went a hundred steps further and married the guy to influence his kingdom instead. Classic Azura move, honestly...

Evan does deserve a little credit though, because Jelani admits that it was his time with Evan that softened him up before he married Azura. Evan showed him what empathy and goodness looks like, Jelani respected him a lot, and wished to be more like him. So, I would say Evan and Azura both contributed. (Dr. Asha deserves some credit as well, because Jelani does mention that she's been counseling him through his grief about Itanya.)

An upcoming story pretty much opens with this scenario, so I don't feel like it's too spoilery. We'll explore this situation more when we get there!

*

Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

Read the Series

[theknightlywolfe]

Spoilery rambling thoughts on The Marvels under the cut

I am so happy we're getting Maria Rambeau content, even if it is mostly alt reality Maria. It would be interesting to see X-Men pulled into main Marvel by America going over to bring Monica back to her home universe. Which means does SABER know about America? They're well informed but she ended up with the wizards. I'm sure there's a file after the attack in New York in MoM but then to the rest of the world she would have disappeared. Or is that going to be the plot of Young Avengers 1, Kamala meeting a trained America and then going to get Monica back?

I know why Kamala goes to Kate (is that a new apartment Ms. Bishop? Smart) but while Kate no doubt knows there is a saviour of Jersey City, not that it is Kamala. Where was the power demonstration and how long does Kamala think she can run things with 1) Kate's penchant for ignoring orders and 2) the fact that she is a high school kid. Again, child soldiers much? And really at some point Kamala is going to blab about how she snuck the tablet in the chaos of the initial fight in her house. And while Kate would respect the guile it also would reveal that Kamala doesn't have the safety net/backing she implies.

Goose! Mama Goose! Do flerkens reproduce asexually or is there a male flerken she hooked up with while catching a ride on Carol's shoulder? Where are the babies? I can't imagine Goose being happy with being separated from them for long so quickly, but they are a menace in quantity and no way the crew will accept them on the SABER platform. Are they in Louisiana with Carol on the farm? Did they warn the neighbors?

Did they touch up Hailee's face to make it more angular? I had to do a double take when they showed her face because it looked off. Not oh she is losing the baby fat off, but like cgi off. I know I mentioned before that I hate her uniform because it is zero protection but I hate Kate's uniform because she might as well wear a t-shirt.

I thought Dar Benn was a good character. Completely wrong casting, but a good character. I just couldn't take the actress seriously and half the times the camera cut to her it just threw me out of the movie. Not that she is bad actress, honestly she didn't do much acting in the role and was emotionally written very one note so its not like she could show any range. But she tried to be menacing and it was laughable. And she had no presence, she was just there saying lines and swinging a reused prop. Maybe if Ronan hadn't been the only person with one of those battle hammers maybe I would accept it as a "universal weapon". If it is meant to convey rank, why did Ronan have it before the fall of Hala when he was taking orders from Yon Rogg?

Secret Invasion makes both more and less sense if this was supposed to be before it. It makes more sense for the Skrull presence on Earth but less sense for Fury's arc. It makes more sense if it is after for Fury's arc and it explains why Carol had to call King Valkyrie to get the Skrull survivors instead of Fury and why the Skrulls manning SABER in Spiderman FFH are now gone but also, why would anyone trust Fury after the very public fuck up in SI in the square and his very literal going rogue for the whole of it? Why do Carol and Monica never bring up him getting Talos killed? Or anyone warning Carol about the very real political shit storm relating to Skrulls on Earth? Why did they even bother making Secret Invasion if it so clearly doesn't fit in to their own storyline?

And really, how funny would it have been if they hadn't done SI with all its bullshit and at the end of the Kate scene Maria Hill walks in and is like "gimme that tablet back" and Kate and Kamala both go full fangirl.

Speaking of fangirls, I did like the nod of Monica acknowledging she not only knows Kamala write fanfic about her Aunty Carol but also that she had read some of it.

[aquadestinyswriting]

'Shipping thoughts

tagging: @druidx, @sparrow-orion-writes , @blind-the-winds because I know you guys live for this drama.

Edit: tagging in @philosophika as well

I've been re-reading through the writing I've done for 'The Wizard's Tale' and have been listening to the playlist I made for it. Gods damn I am obsessed with Edwin's pining after Selene. The man could not be more obvious if he tried. And yet. Because Selene is the most AroAce person in the existence of Titan, she is (seemingly) totally oblivious to all of it.

Even when she has Chrackle dropping hints in her head pretty much from the minute Edwin arrives in Toreguarde, somehow Selene insists that he's just making up for not being in regular contact for almost ten years.

Slightly spoilery stuff under the cut

I mean, I know Selene has a lot on her plate by that point. She's just had to watch her niece fight off one evil dark wizard and his army and has just sent her off to go deal with a problem that Selene feels she should be dealing with personally. Not to mention the fact that Toreguarde could be going to actual war with Fangthane at any minute. But in all honesty? I think by that point, it's become wilful ignorance. Or just a stubborn refusal to acknowledge her own feelings on the matter.

I mean, think about it. Schreiber has been doing everything in his power to 'gently encourage' those remaining Heroes of Toreguarde to leave the city.* Selene has been trying to fight him on this, but can't get rid of him herself. Egrim, who was a far more passive man when it came to getting involved in the politics of Toreguarde, has just been replaced by Edwin. A man that is much more proactive and willing to speak his mind. Selene knows that Schreiber is likely to become pretty damn dangerous if he feels cornered. If Schreiber were to find out that the new Abouna of Galana and the Grand Magus had feelings for one another, then, oh boy, he is definitely going to use that against both of them.

Best case if that happened? Both Edwin and Selene are forced to leave Toreguarde without permission (thereby breaking the Edict) and leave it defenceless while Schreiber works to put his preferred people in charge of the wizard's tower. Worst case? Schreiber arranges to have one or both of them killed, most likely by members of the Cabal so that he doesn't have to get his own hands dirty. Then Schreiber puts his preferred people in charge of the wizard's tower. Either way, Toreguarde is done for.

So Selene does the only thing she thinks is sensible: pretends that she doesn't notice Edwin being a very persistent lost little puppy around her and stamps down her own burgeoning feelings for him because, of course, he's the last friend she has and he needs protecting at all costs. Besides, surely anyone would feel the same about their closest friends, right? (she's so aro, she doesn't even realise that what's she's feeling is romantic love, even when Chrackle is basically spelling it out for her in every last way he can. The poor bird has the patience of a bloody saint for having to deal with that. I'm surprised he doesn't go insane, honestly).

It does not help that Edwin refuses to actually, you know, tell Selene that he's caught feelings for her at any point throughout all of this. Probably because he's just as painfully aware that doing so could put them both in jeopardy. Not to mention the crushing guilt he's feeling over not being able to tell Selene what happened with Alexis (even though, once he arrives in Toreguarde, he has every opportunity to, because he doesn't have the threat of being kicked out of Fangthane hanging over his head any more). Edwin may be a lot more emotionally intelligent than Selene but.... gods, he is a complete dumbass about this.

Seriously, neither of them are being smart about any of this. And I love it! I hate it just as much, but the drama is just too delicious to not have them both be dumbasses that are somehow constantly talking past each other until the incident happens.

*Note: Schreiber had no involvement in Alexis leaving. He was just happy that she, apparently, did it on her own volition instead. Publicly though, he rips Selene to shreds in front of the rest of the Council for "letting" her go, because why waste the opportunity?

[petrichoraline]

I binge-watched this into the dark hours of the night and I had a lot of points I wanted to make but I'll just vent (a bit spoilery)

this show is funnyyy, it had me laughing at points I wasn't supposed to (like when dome would appear standing in the distance out of nowhere like a horror movie character but sweet music played on top) and it also does endearing very, very well.

the main characters' dynamic is interesting. they're a very lowkey couple in a way, domestic and sweet but when the conflict is conflicting the tension is palpable. thorn can be very sassy and petty (kind of despite himself) and fah tends to need direct guidance - their fights remained consistent in nature and the conflict though frustrating made a lot of sense. these are young men with a lot of doubts about their future, their goals and relationships. theyre put in kind of impossible situations and acting out, saying the wrong thing, having trouble with controlling emotions are normal - it's difficult to watch but not because it's nonsense as is the case with a lot of forced conflict in media.

ai and saen had the best only one bed scene I've seen in A WHILE like I couldn't think of a better one, it had beautiful sound design, enough time dedicated to setting the scene and building the tension AND some lovely acting that made the switch in their dynamic so romantic and natural. they also had a cute development, even when softened up ai maintained that sharp tongue and saen kept looking at him with the same adoration and handling his comments with patience (the graduation gift reaction wouldve hurt me but not saen, that man is so used to it 😂)

dome and vee had me going crazy in the first episodes, I really enjoyed the tension but I was rooting for pan the whole time. i was yelling about girls in bls lmao like these dudes had me stressed for a girl I was so sure was gonna be sweet about it AND SHE WAS. at one point I was like "if you grab that empty beer bottle and take revenge I wouldn't be mad tbh", that girl was GRACIOUS. also "I told him that if he found someone he could leave anytime" girlll 😭💗

honestly vee didn't seem too remorseful at the beginning so his guilt really taking over in the second half felt a bit out of nowhere but also right. I think hes usually a playful guy and the consequences didn't really dawn on him at first, not to mention he didn't expect to actually fall in love. dome is a cutie but that man pissed me off, I think the reason he struggled his much being hes now into a guy made the conflict compelling and understandable but it still was so unfair towards his girlfriend, I was screaming BREAK UP on like ep.2 not because I cared about his rs with vee but because he clearly doesn't want to be with her and he should set he free (and ironically it turned out she was the one who tried to give him that type of freedom)

also the hyperventilating scene..I felt that, it was so good.

the colours, cinematography, music choices, humour and drama are really engaging. I started the show a while ago (quite a bit after i had decided to watch it due to good recommendations), stopped for a bit, got to the end of ep.3 and put it on hold for a while because tbh the first episodes weren't too much fun, they had this one single flashback happen like five times in an episode like they were making sure those kids got their exposure 😂 but it really picked up from there, i binged 9 episodes at once, i didn't skip scenes, used the speed up button only once and didn't feel the need to check my phone which is a lot lol

it's fun, it's sweet, there wasn't much basketball after all (which was good for me cause I wasn't in it for the sport, I thought it was a volleyball show 😁) but there was plenty of tenderness, the way characters display affection is so nice and thought out. there's a nice squad, the friendships are not really a main focus? but you can feel the support (glad we got an aii/thorn moment, I was sure those two would get along)

I recommend it even if the first few episodes are a bit on the dull side, what it does well it does really well and it's a worthy watch 💖

[rawliverandcigarettes]

For the fanfic director's commentary, I'd love to hear your thought process behind Anetha—especially (if you're willing to share) hints about her side of the story post–Chapter 8 of Halfway Home. If that's too spoilery or involved, more general rambles about Chapter 8 would be cool as well!

Hey thank you so very much for the ask!! I'm super sorry about the time it took me to get to it!!

Actually, I kind of wanted to have Chapter 17 out so I could dive deeper into her psychology without revealing anything about her attitude towards The Event and without spoiling anyone. But now it’s done, it’s here, it’s messy: I think we have enough pieces to start unraveling what’s going on in her brain.

That being said, spoilers for Halfway Home below for those who may dabble --and beyond the plot spoilers: I think that if you want to keep your opinion on Anetha neutral, or decide for yourself first by reading the whole thing and then potentially coming back, it might be a wise thing to do so because we're truly vivisecting my girl in the reply.

(edit post me writing the answer to the ask: WOW I rambled like CRAZY, so also beware that I do ramble like crazy oops)

So Anetha… Honestly kind of appeared in the story as I was drafting it?

The very very first draft that I ever did, that was actually in French (!), initially only explored Rhanda and Shandri (and Rhanda and Nagatha used to be the same person too), and Anetha was added compulsively because I felt like there was a giant room for conflict begging for someone to take up that space and act a little cooler and more rebellious than the rest of the cast, and that Shlee needed that sort of energy in his life (though the stakes were much lower at the time –or rather, they were as bad, but I had yet to understand just *how bad*). I think that, partially because she erupted into the story rather than being carefully placed there, she was the first character to click for me and the rare beta-readers at the time. Her motivations and psychology didn’t really change since 2017, I merely streamlined them over the course of the drafts –the scenes with Anetha in the spotlight may hold the prize for highest percentage of scenes that barely changed since draft 1 actually!

In the first draft, the breaking point between Shlee and Anetha used to happen in much more defused way. The moment when they were separated was extremely different: chapter 8 used to have a much more traditional Mass Effect flair and involved an attack by batarian slavers, fucking Jondum Bau was there (fun fact: Accano used to be Jondum Bau for a very long time –Accano is actually the conglomerate of two different turian characters that were both scrapped, Jondum Bau and Mordin Solus that were all squished into the blackpink icon that we know and love the slightly unnerving STG agent with a Mission TM), and Shlee was forcefully separated from Anetha during the attack.

Then, it was while Shlee tried to contact her from Omega that the first seeds of doubt about her intentions were planted, especially since the story used to have one of Anetha’s exes showing up and trashtalking the hell out of what she was like as a girlfriend, forcing Shlee to see his sister from an outside perspective for the first time (I still kept her setup in Chapter 3 because I think it still reveals some of these dysfunctions and they're interesting as a pattern). Then, there was the “hey” scene, that cemented the fact that Shlee kind of hated her guts now.

Beyond the fact that I made strides to make the story punchier and more compact by dropping a lot of storylines, and this could be condensed significantly while making my point clearer (deepening not widening etc), I decided that dropping the attack for something that was much more… mundane, in a way, helped to reveal an uglier interior facet of Anetha’s brain –though one that I, sadly, believe to be much more relatable than it may seem at first glance.

(I mean, traveling semi-illegally via a spaceship that side-hustles by smuggling batarian refugees from point A to point B and then being caught by border control is not exactly a regular or normal occurrence, but it could have just been a weird anecdotal bleep on their journey if Shlee didn’t brutally discover that he has much more in common with these batarians than his sister through his absence of administrative existence and being, therefore, inherently illegal).

.

So I’m going to be relatively vague with the details since Anetha will be dissected further both in The Empire of Preys (though not a lot since she was younger and kind of existing in the background) and Override (where she will be a PoV character yaaay I’m excited for thaat), but to keep it simple: Anetha’s circumstances were already messy as hell before Shlee even showed up.

This is all hinted at in Chapter 8, but I do get into deeper details here, so… vague spoilers? I don’t think they are, but I do expose the events from her perspective, which I didn’t really do before so beware!

The relationship of her birth mother Priin and Rhanda was very complicated (and not even because of Rhanda!! wow), forcing Anetha to build up huge emotional walls to protect herself from her mother’s wild strides in the mental health department since she was a child, culminating in the moment where she had to take care of a SA emergency all by herself –leading to Rhanda taking the ONE (1) good responsible decision of her life and breaking up with Priin, which unfortunately led her to become unstable and distant and then pushed her to the breaking point when Priin ended up taking her own life years later, even though they had not spoken in years.

So Anetha was holed up to her aunt (not yet a bajillionaire at the time) and her weird human boyfriend while the only parent she had left went to fuck off somewhere to avoid exploding in front of her daughter and making the damage even worse. Anetha hated that move, feeling abandoned and burdensome and reacting by becoming as spiteful as she could towards her Dad, especially when said Dad returned with a small child and another failed relationship, a child she also dumped on her lap to go work on Illium soon after (this moment is much more complicated than this, Anetha understood what she wanted to understand, but TEoP is a lot about that exact moment so I'll keep it vague for now).

And then, just a few years later…… Rhanda returns, pale as a ghost, wrecked with something she will not speak about, only for Anetha to discover that her Dad has a literal stolen child stored in the trunk of their car, then transfered to the bedroom of the apartment they all share.

.

Anetha’s aloofness is a survival strategy. It is basically all she has to defend herself from the people in her life, who should know better yet do not, consuming themselves in extreme behaviors at the slightest opportunity (Priin being Priin, Rhanda being Rhanda, even Nagatha deciding to Uno Reverse the free marketplace and becoming a kingpin for the Great Kapital qualifies I think –I could talk for hours about the two T'selvi sisters and how they mirror each other but that’s what TEoP is for so I will calm down and focus on the ask sorryyy). There’s a reason why Edwood, of all people, is probably the best influence in her life (shoutout to Edwood for being the only normal, not-unhinged person in this entire clusterfuck) and why she took after him so much.

I think what’s complicated with her, is that while she’s developing this whole rebellious, no-strings-attached, too-cool-for-you persona to master her emotions and avoid hurt at all cost (especially anything tied to abandonment and grief), she’s also constantly put in situations that demand her to be responsible: beyond her upbringing, she was effectively the adult in both Shandri and Shlee’s life for a good chunk of it, as Rhanda was unable to provide the basic necessities of safety and care more often than not. Not to mention: she knows full well her family is doing serious criminal things that nobody bothers explaining to her, and she must shoulder the burden of being put in constant danger for reasons she can’t begin to fathom. Every time she tries to grasp some normalcy in her life, the people who are meant to protect her put everything in disarray, and then demand her to be mature and practical and unflinching as if that’s, like, a reasonable thing to ask of a teenager forced to brace through the notion that everyone she loves is being tracked down by government officials. Even something as simple as her last name, she’s asked to abandon.

So THEN comes Shlee, and this makes everything so much more complicated for her.

Shlee is the literal representation of everything going wrong in her life: a growing organism forcefully brought in from outside; alien, diseased, destroying every safety net she may have built for herself, soaking up Rhanda’s attention as well as being the direct reason her Dad became the most deranged version of herself to date, something that may drop dead if not cared for correctly, and worst of all –something that demands that she acts as an example for his own growth, forcing her into a caretaker role whether she wants to or not through imprinting.

And he will die in like 30-40 years, which, fucking great, that's like in five years for her, and so the last thing she wants to deal with emotionally on top of everything else. So this is why she refuses to engage with him for such a long time: it’s too messed up on too many levels, and she wants to preserve herself from the general madness (understandable honestly).

During the first brush with Accano, Anetha basically has the exact same thought process that would come back to haunt her in that fateful chapter 8: Accano represents the authority of the state. The STG agent may be a maniac that will destroy her and everybody else, or he may be normalcy and order offering her a way out a situation that is getting more and more out of control. Maybe Rhanda did kidnap a salarian child in a crazed frenzy, and the best course of action would be to reunite him with his people.

And what a relief that would be.

So of course, that doesn’t happen and then Shlee starts becoming an actual person in her eyes, one she has to spend time with and care for; in so many words, a new constant in her life. There’s the component of being won over in spite of herself as he becomes sharper, wittier and a partner in their survival and co-raising of Shandri, aaaand of course there’s the other component of Shlee being her only concrete way to get back to Rhanda in any significant way.

She does want to help Shlee become his own person, like Edwood helped her once; her behavior is not manipulative on purpose, but her subconscious also sees this opportunity to take back control over the narrative by overpowering Rhanda’s influence over Shlee’s life and becoming his new reference point, his new everything, in no small part for the spiteful pleasure of ripping the last shreds of stability her Dad still has after being forced to survive her whims for so long. She really wants to sweep Shlee away and save him from Rhanda, preserve him from the unbearable fate of rotting by her side, but Anetha also wants to know that for once in her life, she won’t be the one to mend the pieces of what once was.

.

So OKAY now we’re here (sorry this has basically turned into a short story length-wise, I think this is a result of concentrated blorbo frustration of not being able to talk about them with that level of details accumulating over 7 years; expect the same kind of outbursts once I am allowed to talk about Nagatha, or Jurlan, or even Rhanda in greater details 😭).

Chapter 8. The Citadel Border Control has her brother pinned down as everything he technically is: someone that will inherently destroy her life through the simple fact that he exists. At this point, Anetha’s brain is overridden with the refusal to be shoved back into Rhanda’s crimes kicking and screaming. She’s livid. She feels trapped and overwhelmed, and she’s been training her emotions to initiate shut down upon meeting a critical point of fear, powerlessness and general absence of safety. Empathy is the first thing to go when it comes to protecting herself. Maybe, if Shlee didn’t take the snap decision of running away, she might have calmed down and figured things out with him in a detention cell somewhere, but both of them are basically as emotionally triggered as it gets, and so Anetha shuts down while Shlee panics and makes a drastic decision to not trust her and save himself.

And Anetha does not take kindly to being abandoned and left to puddle in Shlee and Rhanda’s mess Yet Again.

There’s other reasons why she doesn’t reply to his texts to begin with –having to deal with Citadel Border Patrol to begin with, and then more that will be explored in Override. But in essence, once she’s let out, Anetha is pretty much… free. Free to figure herself out without the pressure of her insane family getting in the way (oh no does that sound like someone else we know having a similar character arc somewhere else surely not, a foil in my fanfiction it's more likely than you think etc).

Of course, there’s that pesky guilt and her complete refusal to handle grief in any way, and that feeling does linger, and so her willingness to handle the situation upfront is very much hindered by this (beyond the practical reasons why she might not be able to help). The whole “hey”/”hey” fiasco really does nothing for either for them (I think it was the best she could do and the most she was willing to leave herself open, and Shlee shutting that down meant every single one of her walls was back up and reinforced). The passive-aggressive nature of their conversations through bank expenses made mostly off her own paycheck is also a very bad way to communicate, and most of what Anetha sees for a year are receipts for ridiculously expensive cocktails and cheap bomb shots from Afterlife. Doesn’t really help our frog’s case as far as she’s concerned (even though she does realize it’s probably a bad sign and probably her fault that a shy nerd like him would be taking that hard of a plunge towards alcoholism, regardless of the reasons why –but she’s also pretty much there herself sooo not the best at recognizing the pattern).

Also she’s having mercenary times and they are Bad Times. Doesn’t help with the whole numbness/detachment problem either.

Speaking of Eclipse: the whole mercenary thing comes from that urge of trying to reconcile her desire to be independent and freed of responsibilities with that yearning for safety in a world where she’s always yeeted out of what is normal and safe without her consent anyway, starting with the fact that she’s pureblood and inherently looked as wrong –and just the general romanticizing of herself as a stone-cold badass as a way to one-up Rhanda on her own field, aaaand maybe a little bit a way to feel closer to her/make her react, because to be frank a lot of Anetha’s bullshit is about wanting Rhanda to react to said bullshit and act like a responsible parent, and be there, and not abandon her/de-prioritize her constantly, and be a source of stability rather than an endless distress generator.

(the seed being planted by the mercenaries hired by Nagatha at one of the most stressful points of her life is actually a rather late addition, but I think it works!)

But yeah, Anetha has SO MANY similarities with Rhanda it’s both hilarious and pretty tragic, but I’m really discovering how badly that's the case while working on The Empire of Preys, and… yeah. Generational Trauma. It’s a thing.

To conclude my ridiculously long answer to your ask: I’m sorry I spewed an entire essay about Anetha’s brain, but also I’m so happy you gave me an opportunity to pry her open for everybody to see the gunk there. Honestly a good half of the joy of getting other eyes than mine on Halfway Home is to watch them grapple with their emotions towards Anetha, as she can make herself so easy to love, and then immediately sooo hard to love. But I do love her (but I’m biased since I love literally every character except maybe… like one and a half? fuck içalec all my homies hate içalec), and so I’m really happy you were kind enough to encourage me to deepdive into her edgy brain!!!

[zerolostwalks]

⭐️

Hey Bethany!!! Thanks for the ask!! ^_^

So since no fic was specified, I decided to yell about A Matter of Time. (It's kind of all over the place, so if you haven't read it yet, it may be spoilery?? I will try to keep the commentary restricted to up to Chapter 9)

So to start with I know I said it in one of the Author's notes but each chapter has an associated vibe song, the thing is I honestly don't know WHEN that started to happen. . .like it was very accidental. I was messing with the playlist I had at the time and I noticed that each song I'd had so far(it wasn't that many at the time) each fit a specific chapter really really well. In fact, so far, with the exception of Owl City's When Can I See You Again, every music/musical reference has been accidental/unplanned to some degree.

Chapter 8: Dreaming was actually one of the earliest to be like 80-90% complete. The only bit that wasn't done from the very beginning was the Rosemary conversation(because again, Rosemary accidentally became a bigger thing than was in the original plan/outline) and a good chunk of the conversation with the rest of the band. . .which ended up much shorter than I thought it'd be.

Chapters 4 Bad Bad Breaks and Chapter 9 Our Time is Running Out were both not in the original outline. . .sort of. The bulk of the content of Chapter 4 was outlined however as mentioned in the author's notes Chapter 3 just did not want to end so I eventually made the decision to split it up. Chapter 9 however was not outlined at all, I don't remember when but at some point I realized I had a three month gap in the timeline(which included Reggie's birthday) and that didn't sit well with me. Like the bare bones, very first original plan for this fic was something like 8 chapters at roughly 3000 words each. This is not what ended up happening

I am kind of irritated that I now remember the term "next of kin" because I so would have used that rather than emergency contact. Like seriously at the time of writing that chapter I was staring at my screen going "emergency contact isn't right but what is the right phrase?!" for far too long. 

I also kind of wish I could rewrite some of the early Reggie stuff. Even though I don't know how I would. Mostly because some of the comments make feel like I didn't do as well of a job at making it clear when Reggie actually starts falling in love. (Granted I am also trying to filter through Julie's perspective too) The true catalyst for him actually starting to fall in love (in my perspective) is the pizza apology. Up until that point Julie is a friend, maybe he's a little flirtier with her and maybe she's someone who he could see himself having feelings for. However, (I tried to insinuate this and sort of confirmed it in Chapter 7) Reggie has some serious relationship fears and commitment issues. Like he's probably self-sabotaged a lot of relationships because (at least in this verse) he's terrified that every relationship is doomed to end up like his parents, or more specifically HE is doomed to end up like his parents. 

So like (inny kind of mentioned it in her comment on the chapter) Chapter 5 is awful from Reggie's perspective. Because up until the pizza apology it's like every fear of his is being confirmed but he can't run away because he still needs Julie's help. So yeah mini rant short: Reggie doesn't start actually falling for(or start letting himself fall for) Julie until the pizza apology. 

And finally for this particular commentary I need to make sure I thank @daintyduck99 and give her a really big shout out!! She's been awesome with cheerleading and reading and helping to flesh out areas of the story.

[mothmanslovechild]

I'm losing my mind over GO2

Okay, so I'm having a lot of feelings about Good Omens Season 2 but I know not everyone has seen it yet so I'll hide this a bit, even if I am trying not make it as non-spoilery as I can and also I need to talk to people about this

First of all, if I see anyone trying to fucking boycott or get pissed at Neil Gaiman, you can go straight to hell. Or worse, heaven. And I hope Terry Pratchett makes fun of you. Neil has said that this is act two of three (I'm paraphrasing and act three is not definite just a hope) and to leave these characters on this cliffhanger? If we don't get a season three, it will not be by Neil's choice. Boycotting will only hurt chances of getting that season three and a (hopefully) happier ending. I was bawling my eyes out and am still a mess over the end of the last episode but I also firmly believe that this is not the end. Keep it together, people. We're not going down the toxic landslide of blaming creators and causing a fuss and demonising ourselves as fans and making people hate us and destroying something we all love.

Secondly, I need to talk about that ending. I do not and will not hate Aziraphale for it. Our Angel is definitely being manipulated but it also shows the depth of religious trauma. If anyone has religious trauma, it's Aziraphale. Throughout both seasons he speaks party lines of Heaven even when he's clearly unsure about them. Even when he disagrees, he keeps repeating that god's plan is the right way and if (insert whatever monstrosity) is god's plan than it must be right. Look how far he pushed it with Job - he kept checking and double checking and questioning to be sure that Heaven was doing the right thing. And when he sided with Crowley and helped instead, he genuinely thought he was going to hell for it. Even though it was a good thing and he recognised that it was a good thing. The same goes for the situation with Elspeth to a degree. Aziraphale kept trying to take the moral high ground with her and ruin her chances until it became clear that doing bad things now meant good things later. Like god, he was focussing on the big picture instead of the small one. Not about Elspeth and her needing to eat and survive, but that humans will learn more and be able to survive better as a whole.

Someone else worded it much better than I will (I'll try and link their post later if I can!) but there's also the fact that Aziraphale and Crowley are having two different conversations at the end of the last episode. Go read their post to get the full story because I wholeheartedly agree with them and it really is worded much better, but long story short is that "nothing lasts forever" means two different things. Crowley hears that they don't last forever, that the bookshop doesn't, that nothing does and it's not worth it because what's the point (which has been in Crowley's own thoughts), while Aziraphale means that they can't continue like this forever, they can't be static, they need to adapt because what they tried hasn't worked. Honestly, just go read the post. Please.

NOW FOR NICER THINGS

I'm genuinely not sure some scenes were even real. The dance (the ball and sorry), the Bentley, just some of the lines where I just wanted to melt and live in that moment forever. Seeing their love spanning centuries and the ridiculous mischief they get into. Jim in the fucking fur coat. BEFORE the fall. The fact they all REMEMBER before the fall and the war. Bee being goals, honestly. Them and Gabriel. I just...Oh my god.

Also, you have no idea how much I lost it when I saw posts comparing to the end of Supernatural. I can't with you guys, my neighbours probably heard me cackling.

AND and that was the queerest shit I've ever watched. And there was no bury your gays, nothing homophobic, nothing like that even mentioned. And not just our three main couples, but in the background too. The magicians partner, so many generally NB angels/demons, tough bloke with grindr, it's all over the place. I love it. All I ever want is queer media that doesn't make queerness the main part of the plot. And by that I mean that it's just two people falling in love or just queer people existing without things having to revolve around traumatic/uncomfortable experiences or reactions. All I ask for is happy queer media.

And Michael Sheen's twitter picture....Boy, you're killing us. Not to mention Neil and "wait and see"

I have a lot more feelings so, anyone, feel free to message me and become internet friends because I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS SHOW.

[dreamerdagn]

also before too much more time goes by I want to unpack some of my spiderverse feelings. vvvvv all spoilers vvvvv

~~~~~~~~~spoiler warning in case the readmore doesn’t load~~~~~~~~~

~~~~my thoughts on spiderverse 2 pls don’t read if you don’t wanna ~~~~

so I’m not sure exactly how I feel about if a tbc was an appropriate ending, but either way I kind of respect them for like, trying it.

Like, movies, esp franchise movies like oh idk superhero movies, often have sequel hooks. But they also try to be self-contained movies. 

This isn’t a “try to force the audience to come back” kind of sequel hook. This is a “this is a two-parter, we always envisioned it that way, the two movies are complete and separately they are not and that’s how it is.” I’m not explaining it well but in any event I find it way more respectable.

in terms of visuals, last time they were praised for how each frame was beautiful and they rocked the industry by releasing a successful movie with non-realistic models and textures.

this time when deciding how to push the envelope they went hard on like...non-diagetic visuals I guess? Like characters do remark on how like for example Vulture looks like he’s made of paper so that’s actually diegetic, but what about like, the colors changing and melting during Gwen’s scenes with her father? I’d need to watch it again to get more examples but it’s like...everyone watching can see something weird’s happening with the visuals, and the artists trust are trusting the audience to recognize that it’s not literal.

and pretty much none of that was like, too much or not necessary or something.

and on TOP of that the story and characters are still great. All the new characters are good. Even tho the story isn’t complete it’s still 100% coherent.

and I watched a vid that pointed out one of the themes that they’re setting up seems to be “does it have to be our pain that defines us” and I feel like that’s what Miles is being set up to challenge and like. yes. good. I mean both in the story and irl bad things are going to happen to people, but specifically Miles is challenging the antagonist’s belief that he suffered because he tried to be happy, and you have to resign yourself to certain sacrifices. Again, bad things are going to happen, but you can keep striving for the ideal, and when those efforts pay off, it’s worth it, even if it’s not every time. At least I think that’s what they’re going for. The “I can do both!” thing seems to be setting up the “no you can’t and trying will only make neither work out / make something worse happen” vs the attitude of “I’ll solve the problems in front of me and if that triggers another problem, I’ll solve that too.” (I’m not implying the antagonist like, didn’t try hard enough to solve his original tragedy, heavens no, he didn’t know that would happen and it was just tragic, but that after that he resigned himself to the “this means sacrifices must always be made” mindset.)

oh and even more spoilery things...

I kinda thought it sounded like a Prowler-like sting was playing when Miguel was on screen, and Miles has some line like “are you sure you’re Spiderman??” when Miguel breaks out his very Prowler-like claws...so with the reveal at the end of the movie I think that’s definitely going to be somehow part of Miguel’s backstory. We honestly didn’t see much of his backstory, it was a very quick setup of what his damage was and not much else. We know he universe-hopped and we don’t know almost anything about what his life was like in his original universe.

also defo think he’s going to have a redemption arc, they went hard on making him scary and I think that’s because they wanted a suitably dramatic fight, and it worked. not sure what’ll happen to Spot, he seems to have gone full “inhuman monster,” but the harder the redemption the more I like it if they pull it off

oh and also the “you’re the original anomaly” was a huge emotional gut-punch for Miles but as for me I was like “HECK YEAH” because it’s supposed to position him as a problem, but it just means that problem has to be solved and he’s going to solve it.

I know we’ve had a bunch of multiverse movies lately, it being a concept that’s been talked about a lot in other media but generally not movies, but I think this one solidly earns its place for its use of them. The Spiderverse series and EEAaO can stay.

[acertainmoshke]

Hello, your w.i.p.s all sound interesting! Hope you don't mind questions! I love worldbuilding and To Die Among the Stars has really caught my attention. It sounds like a sci fi/found family type of story. Do you know why the first FTL test was a disaster? I'm hoping they tested it remotely/without humans before testing it with humans. Judging by your use of “mental wellness centers” I'm guessing this isn't a particularly nice future for some people. So probably not. Was the new crew briefed on why the first one failed, to try and avoid the same mistakes? Have they tested FTL on sentient androids yet or are they like Data from Star Trek, rare and highly experimental? Why did they choose to combine cat and human DNA to get Peppermint? (Not judging, I'd love to read something with a catgirl in space!) Have they tried merging other species with humans before? Oh noo, have they tried bringing back dinosaurs and mammoths? XD Has Space Jurassic Park happened? Sorry for all of the questions, your story blurb there just really intrigued me! I couldn't help myself.

Please please please don’t be sorry!! I love questions and talking about worldbuilding. So, in order:

1. The first test was a decade before the story and it was a huge disaster in the news because it was manned. It wasn’t technically the first test, though. They knew the technology worked and had run small scale tests around the solar system in tiny unmanned crafts. However, putting it together into a system that would work long-distance was too expensive at the time to plan for very many tests. They tested each part but not everything working together. Several trained astronauts and scientists were killed. It has been a while, so things are less expensive now and have been improved. However, this one is manned so they have the data on how people physically and psychologically react to FTL. I don’t want to be too spoilery but…it’s still not perfect.

2. The new crew did have a few weeks of training, much of it on the reports they’re expected to prepare, but also some cursory knowledge of ship upkeep and planetary life should they get that far—for liability reasons, mostly.

3. Both Void and Peppermint are dubiously legal experiments. Void is arguably the first provably sentient android and was kept quiet because they were unable to repeat their success. Also, important to note, unlike Data it doesn’t look human at all. It was like the 30th test and they were running short on funds, so it’s housed in a clunky metal body and honestly is a bit goofy looking.

4. Peppermint is…ok, meta explanation is I wanted an excuse to have a catgirl in space. But this type of genetic experimentation is banned because of eugenics (cruel, futuristic society still has some standards). So January, the scientist who designed both of them, had to keep them quiet too. Nominally, the point was to create a human enhanced with animal abilities, and they tried a bunch of different types. Peppermint was the only one to survive past infancy, and while they are basically a person with cat traits, there are downsides that make it currently unmarketable, either for military or private sector uses. January doesn’t care, she is kind of a mad scientist who does things to see if she can. Technically Void and Peppermint belong to her, so she brought them along to space. They’re the only ones who didn’t actually volunteer.

5. Ok space Jurassic Park has definitely happened NOW. I honestly didn’t consider a lot of the worldbuilding for this story outside of technology and living conditions (I did the least planning for it yet somehow I’m a third of the way through and have barely started the others). But yes this is a world where the justice system is like now but worse, same with healthcare and other factors of life for regular people. But if billionaires in real life can fund random space travel, rich people in my story have definitely funded extinct genetic experiments (which are legal because they aren’t on people). There have definitely been incidents, both with exotic extinct pets and with extinction zoo experiences, but on a less centralized scale than in Jurassic Park.

Thank you so much for this ask and feel free to send more if you have thoughts or questions! I love being made to actually think about the logic of my world!