#how are we feeling about the characters so far

[theknightlywolfe]

As a note, a lot of above seems to be pulling from very limited information given on replicators vs what we were actually given.

Tom Paris tried to order tomato soup and was slammed in the face with options. The replicator is therefor far more like those silly "customize your own soda" coke machines we have. Choose base, select options on file, choose temp, choose add ins, etc. He lost his temper, so would we, and our now frustrated mood would definitely make us enjoy the food less. Picard spews his order out like a man ordering at a coffee shop for the same reason, he knows what he has to say to get good enough fast enough to not be frustrated (the only difference from us is he doesn't have to wait on a barista who may have missed what we said or is working in a PoS system that uses a different order of options).

Counselor Troi bemoaned at least one, maybe twice, to foreign diplomats about how the replicator ruins the taste of chocolate/ice cream because it spits out everything as a nutritionally balanced product. Everything. That is impossible with actual foods with specific molecules that cause specific taste and smell profiles. Nutritional balance would, by definition, have to change the core elements of the food. So of course replicated food tastes different, it isn't producing the same taste and smell molecules for our systems to process, just close. (As a note I personally believe part of the benefit of going to 10 Forward for a drink even when a character doesn't feel like socializing, something we see happen a lot in TNG, is because the 10 Forward drink replicators have the "nutritonal balance" feature turned off. The place's function is stress relief and relaxation as much as socialization, and that works better with not nutritionally balanced synthehol.)

So yes, one could tweak a replicator recipe to specific specifications, I believe we actually see this with like (and this is just an example) Matzo Ball Soup Worf recipe 3 in one ep, I vaguely recall someone ordering a custom variant in one of the pre-Enterprise shows. But even then that pesky nutritional balance thing would mean it is closer but still not right.

All of which is to say, yes it will always taste not as good, and this is why we see people choosing to cook from replicated ingredients several times. Even if the ingredients come out of the machine not quite right, during the process of cooking you can adust for these "wrong" taste and smell profiles of your ingredients the way we do for a store bought out of season tomato vs a farmer's market bought in season tomato.

ETA: there are probably replicator programmers at Starfleet who, like holonovels still need writers to make them engaging (something we see comparing computer generated in TNG vs written in VOY), scan in popular recipes of certain things, like roasted carrots, and then have the replicator spit out the nutritionally balanced version and the tweak the pattern from there to adjust for the nutritonally balanced mandate so the replicator spits out something closer to it than the system would do automatically.

As a side note… I am really annoyed by one thing about Star Trek.

“Replicated food is not as good as real food.”

That’s ridiculous.  In Star Trek, replicator technology is part of the same tech tree as transporters.  Replicated food would be identical to the food it was based on, down to the subatomic level. 

[jack-of-heartstrings]

With us getting such big gay wins recently, I wanna take a moment to appreciate how inherently queer Miraculous has always been, even when it was far more subtle. I don't know if it was corporate pressure, actual meddling and censorship, or simply the writers being afraid of such things and finally taking off the gloves now, but I do know you could always feel it, and I don't just mean the previously implied couples now made canon, though maybe more in them than most really appreciate too.

It's in Marc's whole everything, how he's a walking gay pride banner to a point his name is a pun on "arc en ciel" (rainbow), yet his episodes have always been about belonging and acceptance and his personality revolves mostly around his passion for writing (and occasionally sports!) rather than Liking Boys being his defining trait as many shows with such an obvious design would do.

It's in how WAY back in season 2 Rose straight up kissed Juleka on the mouth, just slightly off-screen, and under the Zombizou effect.

It's in Kitty Section's whole vibe, and multiple characters directly assigning Luka the David Bowie song Rebel Rebel. (The song starts "You got your mother in a whirl, cause she's not sure if you're a boy or a girl." Bowie was also openly bi.)

It's in the ways the Love Square plays with gender norms. In the way Chat Noir's aesthetic would be traditionally only be for Catwoman and (Spider-Man's) Black Cat types. The way Marinette is frequently portrayed as the Knight to Adrien's Princess, the way Adrien is allowed to be a "damsel" in a lot of ways and still worth of love and treasured just as he is with no need to "earn" that, in Adrien being the Yin and Marinette the Yang with their symbolism. The ways their presentation and energy varies between personas. Etc.

It's in Alec, and the fact that they were one of the first characters we ever met in the show, and maybe the writers hadn't planned anything with them yet but even if it was retroactive that's still cool. The fact that their change was so casual and just remains a thing now.

It's in the pregnant lesbian dressed as a French flag sans-culottes wielding a fucking guillotine as a weapon storming the Paris capitol a day or few before Bastille Day and yeah okay maybe the lesbian part is relatively small but come on that was just one of the sickest things ever lmao. But yeah Miss Bustier and her wife are nice to see, as are Majestia and Knightowl while we're talking about relatively minor but still present adult queer couples. (I hope we'll meet Kim's dads in the show this season, too!)

It's in the occasional crumbs of polyamory acknowledgement. When Andre says he could make a three-person ice cream, it just "might throw off the delicate balance" (which is more than the vast majority of everything would give us). When Marinette says Zoe's crush could like two people. When Marinette acknowledges her feelings for Luka and Adrien as valid at the same time even though she still pressured herself to choose and then to shift flavors with Luka. Nathalie's whole everything and arguably the implications she was in love with both Gabriel and Emilie.

It's in how Alix is only said to be aromantic via Twitter but she's clearly so happy in her solo time guardian role, just chilling with herself. And the ways her reactions to Marinette's issues occasionally vary from the rest of the cast, i.e. "Wouldn't it be more logical to buy her a smoothie and help her work out her love problems?", are so good.

It's in how they treat chosen names in the series. That one I feel is so easy to overlook or take for granted, but whatever someone identifies as right then is their objectively true and correct name (see: the Book of Truth identifying Pharaoh, not Jalil, in Reunion). Every time Gabriel changes his villain name everyone uses the new one immediately. It's just really nice.

Nearly all of these things individually are so small, but there are so so many of them and I'm probably forgetting more. The series has always had queer influence, and it's honestly not surprising that they went through the steps needed to use the Progress Pride flag in a commercial work, let alone that we're finally getting more loud and explicit rep this season after the bolder steps they took in s5. But I'm so glad for every bit of it, deeply glad that it's finally more front and center, and I hope we get more moving forward, too!

[semperama]

One more thing though. So let's say this episode was supposed to just be about Athena's grief, and the rest of the fallout will be in the next two episodes. Well, unfortunately, they did a bad job of handling Athena's grief too.

Don't get me wrong, Angela Bassett was AMAZING. She did a perfect job with what she was given. Her breakdown with Hen was heartwrenching, and the scene at the end with his casket was the closest I got to crying, all on the power of her acting.

But as far as the character of Athena goes, I think the writing only failed her.

First of all, and most importantly, the subplot of the mom with the dead kid was not the mirror to Athena's grief that it should have been. Athena was not in denial that Bobby's dead. She wasn't avoiding planning the burial and funeral because she was in denial. She was avoiding it because those are hard things to do, things that no one who has lost someone wants to do. So did investigating this case help her avoid that? Yeah, but it did it in a way that was confusing to the audience, because it made you wonder if Athena, and we the audience by extension, SHOULD be doubting whether Bobby is dead. But then that emotional thread didn't play out and just left Athena's inherent cynicism reaffirmed. Miracles aren't real. The end. How did that show us anything about Athena's grief? How was that narratively satisfying?

Second of all, they did several things that didn't make sense for Athena as a character. The biggest one, I already mentioned: she was avoiding her kids' calls. I don't for one second believe that Athena would leave her children alone in their own grief. May and Harry saw Bobby as a father, and it would be one thing for her to be acting withdrawn or stoic, but to IGNORE their calls is cruel in a way I don't think Athena would be.

Also, while I did enjoy the scene where Athena gets angry with Chim, the fact that this is her only interaction with him in the episode is I think another disservice to her. The fact that she barely interacted with the rest of the 118 is a disservice to her. This was an important chance to show that Bobby was not the only glue holding Athena to the 118, but instead they drove a wedge between them. Maybe they will address this in the next two episodes, but even in the short term, in a season that has far too frequently had Athena off doing her own cop thing, to further isolate her when it really counts just makes you wonder what they even plan to do with her if Bobby is really gone.

And this is without even getting into what it says about the 118 that THEY aren't shown to be surrounding Athena. Anyone who has lost anyone knows that that's just not how it works. Families huddle together when someone dies. The episode made it seem like Athena was alone, and they could have justified it with writing that shows how grief can make a person feel alone, but they didn't do that. She literally just WAS alone in a way that doesn't make sense for her character or for any of the other characters either.

[mintedwitcher]

I spent the last two days catching up on all the episodes of 911 that I've missed, and I need to say a few things. actually, a lot of things. this got long so I'm putting it under a cut.

8b is significantly better overall than 8a. the storylines, the pacing, the character interactions. it is significantly better in this half of the season. that being said:

I have mixed feelings about Eddie's SL. on the one hand, I'm proud of him for finally making a good parenting decision (putting his son first). on the other, I hate how it felt like he was essentially rewarded for the bare minimum. I also hate how he treated Buck, but that's a sidenote.

I didn't like Maddie's kidnapping arc. I hate that they made the villain a cheap, bad example of DID, when it would've been far more interesting for her to be entirely neurotypical. people with mental illness are more likely to be the victims of violent crime than the perpetrators of it, and this plot felt like a slap in the face to anyone with mental health concerns, especially with the addition of Maddie talking a man into suicide (even though it didn't really happen), and then slapping the suicide hotline on the end credits like that was going to do anything. I'm not even actively suicidal and Maddie's speech to the "kidnapper" was triggering as all hell for me. I can't imagine how much worse it was for people who are still fighting that battle. I do like that they didn't just let Maddie brush it all off like nothing happened, however I do think she still should've faced actual consequences for what she said on the phone. In season 2, Gloria got fired just for hanging up on people. Maddie talked a caller into killing himself. That should've had consequences.

Athena, for once, I have no complaints about. her storylines felt more grounded in reality in 8b, and there was significantly less of the 'vigilante cop' angle, which I'm definitely happy about. (I don't know or care what happened in the Dr Odyssey crossover, so I can't speak on that.) I liked her having a rookie, AND I like that the rookie faced consequences in-universe for what he did. I wish that was more common, but I'm still glad it happened, and I'm looking forward to s9 bringing in a new (hopefully better) rookie for Athena to train.

Ravi, no notes, he was amazing in every episode.

now for the Big One: Bobby.

I loved this arc. it felt real and serious in a way that 911 frankly hasn't been lately. Bobby dedicating himself to saving his team is so entirely in character. it's what he's always done, ever since we were first introduced to Bobby Nash. he has always and will always put his team and his family before himself, every single time, because the one time he didn't, he lost everything. this is a man who knows the agony of loss, the pain of guilt, and who will do whatever it takes to protect others from feeling the same thing. the fact that his death is an act of personal sacrifice - letting Chim take the antiviral, keeping silent about his own infection - is the only way he could possibly go out.

(I've seen a lot of theories about him still being alive, but I have to disagree, vehemently. this is not a sci-fi show, this is not Supernatural. characters who die in 911 stay dead, even if the memory of them doesn't.)

showcasing Athena and Chim's grief in the funeral episode was an amazing choice. mirroring Athena's grief with Leah, mirroring both women's denial, it was a fantastic narrative decision, and it works so well. Leah couldn't let go of Micah, Athena couldn't let go of Bobby. they were both prolonging and delaying their grief, and they were only finally able to put down that weight when they accepted that their loved ones were truly gone. when they accepted the permanence of it.

and Chimney - the guy who stays level-headed, the guy who doesn't get angry, not really, not often - being the one full of rage at Bobby's death was so important. grief is painful, and the unfairness of it is infuriating. and for Chim to be the one to express that, I think, was the best choice they could've made. it would've been too easy to give anger to Eddie, or Buck, but giving it to Chim felt more real. because yeah, out of all of them, Chim has arguably the most reason to be angry. Bobby lied to him, to all of them, and while it did save Chim's life, it still hurts, because what if... you know? what if there was another way, what if there was a way to buy time, what if there was something he could do. Chim is a paramedic, his entire life revolves around healing people, keeping them alive. watching Bobby go out like that would've felt like a failing on Chim's part, like he didn't do enough, like he wasn't good enough. so yeah, Chim being angry was the perfect choice.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the grief is handled for Ravi, Hen, Eddie, and Buck in the next two episodes. if they keep the same tempo as this one, I'm guessing we'll get to focus on two mains per ep, with some scenes to show how the others are coping in the meantime.

I saw someone on here theorise that the show is essentially using the characters to personify the stages of grief, so it's definitely going to be interesting to see who takes which role in the next two episodes. I feel like Ravi and Eddie are both going to be 'bargaining' - they both feel a measure of personal responsibility, as if they could've 'done more', we saw glimpses of it already in e16. I think Hen will be 'acceptance'. she went back to work a week early to be there for her team.

and so that leaves 'depression' for Buck, which I think is very accurate. he's holding on for now, for everyone else, but I think the more he pushes it down, the worse it's going to be, and the more numb he's going to become. out of everyone in the 118, Buck takes their losses the hardest. he cares so much, and with so much of himself, that he just can't help it. he feels every single loss like a personal one, and this might be the most personal loss he's ever endured. Bobby was like a father to him, and he was the one who had to watch, who had to relay the news, who had to walk away and let Bobby die. that is going to break him, I think.

I can't wait to see how it goes down for the next two episodes. I've been saying for months that 911 needs to shake things up if they want to stay afloat, and the only options for Bobby going forward were always going to be death or retirement. I'm sad that he's gone, and I'll miss Bobby all the time going forward, but I am so excited to see what new storylines can come from this change.

I know not everyone is going to agree with me, so I'm asking now, if you want to add your opinions here, go ahead, but be civil about it. I'm not looking for discourse. any hate will be deleted and blocked on sight. my asks are currently open if anyone wants to discuss the show there.

[creatingblackcharacters]

Ice you are So Cool. Can we see some of your favourite Black characters? Whether they're Black characters written "right" (in quotations because of infinite nuance) or not, it might be nice to show that even beloved Black characters still have things they can improve upon (since Black audiences deserve A LOT BETTER than what is currently available). also i would generally like to pick your brains

Y'all are the only people who have ever said that lmao I have been a geek and a lame my entire life. I appreciate the compliment!

I always feel awkward when asked favorite stuff bc it's like... I don't really have solid favorites. I have things that I like, and the passion fades with time as I experience new things. I also tend to like stories and the ways the characters are used to tell the stories and what it meant to me at the time to hear it than like... The character themselves.

THAT SAID! It would be unbecoming of me on this blog to go on a super rant for why I decided Patroclus should be Black and it is Canon Now and how that makes him Better (I've definitely discussed it before though, actually I think I did do the embarrassing super rant 😅). But him, yes. My OC Philia, his daughter. Absolutely.

Charlotte from Queen Charlotte 🔥 I went on my rant about her too, yes. Loved seeing this type of character being written precisely as I've always wanted to see her, and in period piece fashion that nonetheless addresses her Blackness via her hair pieces 🥹. How she's snippy, arrogant, and naive, but she's also sweet and loving, strong, and cares so deeply. How she also manages to assert herself, that the narrative goal is not to Humble Her (as Black women so often face), but to let her grasp her power and position. Everyone gives Lady Danbury credit, but let's be real here- Agatha is her right hand; if Charlotte didn't want Agatha around, it don't matter how smart she is, she would not BE there. Charlotte is The Queen, she's learned how to play the game! I love seeing her take up space.

Claudia, IWTV, I've spoken about Claudia. Same idea, really. How to write a Black woman that is Angry without writing an Angry Black Woman™. I love and want far more Black women characters that lash out violently against the world that mistreats them, I want them to spark fear and terror, I want people to quake knowing that if we chose the cruelty inflicted on us, on y'all, there'd be a line of the dead. I love that she put the fear of God in every manipulative man that ever loved Louis, that they knew the only way to weaken him was to deal with her. She was the core thing that kept Louis grounded. Because (despite popular belief) she loves Louis, she just was sick of his bad decisions and wanted to go her own way- and God knows I have been there! She makes mistakes in her strategy- yes, she does- but she's not perfect either, her yearning and motivations trip her up too. Her too, I love the way she takes up space and is willing to meet violence with violence without the narrative acting like she's somehow worse for it.

Those are the ones that stick out to me the most right now!

[writingicing]

I just finished the first season of The Apothecary Diaries and honestly - I am floored.

I think one of the most unique and wonderful things about this anime is Maomao herself. She is an extremely engaging protagonist and downright makes me obsessed with her. But what I am so completely floored by is the simplicity with which her dynamic and issue/trauma with her birth parents are shown.

This story is woven into the narrative so smoothly and I find that it is the perfect place to end a first season as well. The author definitely rocked it so bad with this storyline and the creators/writers of the anime have also absolutely nailed it.

I think as an audience one of the most fascinating things about this show is Maomao's nonchalant yet genuine and caring nature. This is very obviously driven by something that has happened in her past - this much we can guess. The beauty here though is the fact that her attitude towards women and towards love/sex within her own life is also very likely to be influenced by her surroundings where she grew up and simply her experience of being kidnapped/being threatened with prostitution. Like. What kind of amazing character writing is that?

This might sound very minisucle or silly, idk, but something about the fact that Maomao's character can both be defined by her unfortunate daily life before the palace as well as her trauma regarding her birth parents is so mindblowing to me from a writing perspective. This is kinda exactly how one can create intrigue around the character, maintain the mystery around her while at the same time writing her so naturally that we never for once look at her and think that "oh she is behaving this way because poor poor girl and her trauma." No, we look at her and think "what a strange and funny disposition she has, but hey, it makes sense regarding the kind of career, interests and life she has lived so far." LIKE. YES PLEASE.

Because of this, when the story of Lakan and Fengxian is revealed slowly, and we see her dynamic with the both of them and how she approaches the system of marriage/courtesans in general, we are already so tuned into her character and personality that we are ENGROSSED into her entirely. We want her to dance for them, but we understand why she feels what she feels about it as well. We see her dance beautifully and feel like we are gliding along with her because she is so distinctly defined and portrayed. We love her scary moments, her little-goblin moment, but also her very difficult and stunted moments of emotional vulnerability.

As an aspiring writing student, there is just so much to learn from this for me!!

[neo-punks]

Reblogging this thread but also responding to suggestions from @starbiology because I liked the 'island turned upside down' and have Jhuidah help rebuild idea! Tho maybe not literally turned upside down, idk how that would work with there being a volcano in the middle 🤔

I think a lot of these are solid ideas, I definitely think a plot would be necessary to make major changes because it would feel more in line with other lands that have already done that!

I could see there being some kind of TaDa tie in where the characters from the mobile game come help the residents rebuild their home and we make it an event kind of like the Faerie's Hope thing (I say this because I know that kind of pitch will go over well if we can make it advertising somehow lol) Honestly I kind wish that they had just taken the oppotunity to make the Island Builders game not about Dacardia and use it as a way to rebuild the island we already have! (Especially given their designs for the Dacardia AC team, I mean how many vaguely racist islands do we need???)

I also said this in the tags of the original post and a lot of others have repeated it, but I think if we do any kind of plot or redesigns with the residents of the island it would be good to have a culture consultant. Hopefully that is something that could actually happen!

I like the idea of doing something with Geraptiku other than it just being deserted, although I don't know about moving Petpet Shops around, I know petpets have types that depend on the shop it comes from, so we would just have to look at the consequences of moving shops around like that. I think getting rid of a lot of the skull motif in general would be good, maybe they washed away/blew away/burnt away in whatever event caused the island to need to rebuild. I do think the temple is sorely out of place and could do with being removed but I don't know if relocating it entirely would be the right move, especially cause it would still be pretty culturally insensitive if it were in the Lost Desert. Maybe it could be redone as some kind of museum and rather than trying to loot artifacts from it you are taking home replica souvenirs or something?? Maybe it could become the central hub for the island reconstruction crew or something and then convert to a museum once the event is over?

I agree with what everyone has mentioned about updating text being a little less conspicuous and would probably not cause too much confusion or backlash, I dont think most people pay much attention to the text when they are doing things. So removing things like the cannibals, Mumbo Pango, "natives", will probably be easy. Removing Tiki Tours and the Tiki Tack Man/shop will probably be a little more obvious and would probably need some lore related reason for why these things are permanently changed after the event.

I could see Tiki Tour maybe being rebranded as some kind of Faerie Caverns-esque deal where the goal is to transport goods/people from one side of the island to the other, maybe something involving Tech Mountain, but obviously you cant go THROUGH the mountain cause it's an active volcano lol

As for RENAMING the island, I am totally on board with this, I just know that it would be a big deal and either everything with "Mystery Island" in the name would also have to be updated or there would need to be some really clever lore reason for why it's okay to not do that. (Again, would have been great if we could have just turned this into Dacardia, but it's already been established as a separate place...)

And as far as redesigning any of the pets, I think agree with the sentiment that major visual overhauls like that would cause too much backlash that would just end up being directed at other players who are POC and I think some things might just have to be sacrificed. This also goes along with the concept of renaming/completely rebranding the island, there is SO MUCH existing art and lore behind it that it would also just be a little unfeasible to tackle every single possible area of the site where MI characters are featured.

Also I have a secret idea in mind for Tiki Tack Man that I will hold off on sharing for now just in case it could actually become canon!! ;3

All other ideas listed here I think are solid!

OKAY NEXT NEOPETS LORE QUESTION.

What are people's thought on how to make Mystery Island um.. less. THAT. (racist)

Like would it just be a wake up one day and the whole map and everything related to it is different, or would people expect there to be some kind of plot involved?

If there was lore involved, would it be MORE insensitive to do some kind of mini-plot in which the people of Mystery Island are tired of being seen as nothing but a tourist destination and want to reclaim the dignity of their home, which ends with a lot of major changes to the location? Or could that be a nice narrative if done respectfully?

Would changing the land itself require changing all of the existing Mystery Island paintbrush pet designs? I feel like this is where it gets difficult because it would be best to not have any racist designs lingering around, but I could see a lot of backlash if people are using the base color for their pet and it suddenly changes and destroys their customisation. (This could be mitigated just by keeping similar color schemes but idk if the stripes and stuff that a lot of them have would need to go and whether it would be good to replace them (plus also, I think this is a very entitled thing to be upset about in the face of getting rid of racist content so I would hope people just dont fight it)) It would probably be kind of impossible to delete all the old pb items off ppl's accounts tho, at best they could be replaced by different wearables and the item images updated.

Thoughts, opinions, concerns? 🤔

[fiveht]

Concerning Adore, and the future

I've had a few questions about this already, so I'm assuming it's going to come up again. So I'm backdating this post even though I think that maybe doesn't actually work anymore on tumblr? Apologies if it shows up in your feed, it's not supposed to. I just wanted to be able to link to it from the end notes of chapter 7. You might not want to read this post unless you've already finished reading chapter 7 of I'll Be Yours.

There will probably be a part 4 of the Adore universe. If there is a part 4, it WILL be the final instalment. 

It won't look like part 3. It's not one unified story, but rather a series of one-shots that will be posted as chapters of a single work. Mostly they'll take place in the future, fairly far removed from the end of I'll Be Yours. I've planned out five of them, though it could be more, or less, depending on how I feel as I write them.

Because they're one-shots, I have been considering posting these as I complete them, rather than waiting until they're all finished and posting on a regular schedule like I normally do. That would be going out on quite a limb for me, because I don't usually post WIPs, but as these would be unconnected stories, I would feel more comfortable having longer periods between updates, as long as everyone's cool with that.

The first one is actually written already, and could almost have served as an epilogue to I'll Be Yours, so who knows, maybe I'll throw that one out there in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.

I'm very happy with the ending of part 3, in the sense that it could be the end of the verse and I would not feel like I've let myself/the characters down (which I could not have said after the end of Disarm or Head Over Feet). That being said, there is another, more distant ending that I've always had in the back of my mind, and if I could get them there, I would be very proud of myself.

IN CONCLUSION: Part 4 is a maaayyyybe probably situation? Sorry, I wanted to be more definitive with this by the time I posted chapter 7, but I didn't suddenly rid myself of my crippling self-doubt just by wishing it so, so here we are.

[uraniathegypsy]

You know that strange itchy feeling you get when you see a character pop up enough times, you grow assumptions that you kinda hope your wrong about.....

Well that was me with this EP. of TBHX........(Spoilers ahead!!)

It might be because I'm already overprotective of E-Soul/Yang Cheng, But Shang Chao gives me the biggest Suspect vibes after re-watching the Ep. 3 times.

The first thing that caught my attention was his name: SHANG CHAO

Now we were already introduced to a Mr. Shang ( Not Shand, Good these english translation are such a mess), who is CEO of the Treeman Corporation after being the son of upper management in Mighty Glory.

But by the timeline, it can't the same person. So I thought cause of the name and the connects Treeman does have, he could possibly be the CEO's son/relative.

Having a different vision but the same cycle wanting to break into the Hero enterprise.

He has ambitious goal, which you got to be going against the Big 4 agencies. ( especially with DOS buying others out.)

However, he was able to get a spot, at MG, as a judge for the anniversary of one of their top heroes.

It could be because he's a possible Nepo baby or have a prodigy's eye, but him casually and inadvertently cockblocking Yang Cheng, pulling away his focus.

Now this could all be a misunderstanding. And misunderstanding is one of the most used tropes to create tension or false perceptions. Which during my first watch, maybe he's a cool guy, a friendly guy......

A guy that has a secret crush on Yang Cheng this whole time....

But while this was happening:

This is happening:

THAT MOTHERFUCKER IS GONE!!

HE IS ONE OF THE PANELING JUDGES AND HE IS GONE!!

So that detail caused me to think, what if he was the one who set that whole kidnapping scheme. He is obviously close to Yang Cheng's crush, and even has connections to get tickets to a concert she obviously wanted to go to.

So If he has connections to do something like this, than he has the means to make offers that could change a persons life financially.

Which brings me back to his ambitions

And how far is he willing to go for them.....?

It's too coincidental for this guy to show up every time Yang Cheng is with this girl and him showing up as judge for a competition he's participating in.

While the prevs for next episode show him being on Yang Cheng side, and I wanna believe this guy has his heart in the right place...

....but it's too eerie for me NOT to see that their is something sinister in his presence.

fingers crossed that I'm wrong 🤞🏾

Here's to @vaccoi & @marisandini-chu-blog for another crazy tbhx theory.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Drabble Roulette: Night Fall

Hey hey! This weekend I'm doing more drabble roulette. I'm still recovering and I'm feel a bit blah and foggy.

I randomised a list of characters, then I spin a wheel and white for the character beside the number. Then I spin the wheel to choose a prompt from a list.

Character: August Walker

Warnings: this drabble includes violence and allusions to abuse. Please mind these warnings and take care.

Prompt: Beating up your friends for trying to "take you away" from him. (source)

Explicit, 18+. Please reblog and leave some feedback.

The pads of your feet ache. Your hands are dry and raw as you wring them endlessly. You’re dizzy for more than the circles you walk in. 

You’re waiting. 

This calm will not last. The storm will break. You stop before the window and stare out at the sheen of moonlight that glazes the landscape. The garden Jolie tends in the early morning, her children’s bikes leaning against the shed, a plastic slide and kiddie pool. 

Your feet start again. It won’t last. It never does. There’s only one thing that’s constant. 

“Hon,” Jolie’s voice wafts from the staircase. 

You don’t answer. She’s not talking to you. It must by her daughter having another nightmare. 

A shadow comes down the stairs. Jolie steps into the slats of silver light beaming in from the screen door. You stop and stare at her. She sighs. 

“I thought I heard something. You should get some sleep.” She speaks to you like one of the children. 

“I can’t,” you go back to pacing, rubbing that raw spot on your cheek. 

“Honey,” she comes up to stop you. “You’re safe here.” 

You’re not. You keep telling her and she keeps ignoring you. She takes you gently by your shoulders and makes you face her. She draws your hand away from your cheek. 

“I have some cream. You should put it on that blemish. Looks like it hurts.” 

“I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine.” You flinch and stop yourself from the mindless chant. How many times did you assure yourself of the same through gagging tears. 

“I know, honey. I know.” 

He slips her hand down to yours and takes you gently behind the kitchen island. She sits you on one of the tall seats along it. You wince at the weight on your pelvis. That’s another reason you fled the guest bed. 

She flicks on the overhead light. You shade your eyes. She squeezes your hand before she turns away. You stay as you are. You don’t want to upset her. You hate when people are angry. When he is. 

She returns with a pot of cream. She unscrews the cap. She looks at you hesitantly as she raises the cotton pad to your cheek. Her eyes wander down to the other patches around your neck, peeking out above the night shirt she lent you. 

“Do you remember,” her voice is solemn, “in college. We used those charcoal masks... and it took my eyebrow clean off?” 

She laughs softly, almost shyly, as if she’s scared too. Your throat clicks. You can’t remember the last time you laughed but it’s funny to think about that. It’s so far away it feels like it never happened. 

“Yeah, it still doesn’t look right,” you say. 

She makes a face as she gently applies the cool cream. 

“We’ll find something nicer for this,” she says. “Maybe some aloe.” 

You let her tend to you, flinching despite her softness. You feel her hesitation as you do. You can’t help but tense at her touch. You’re not used to one so delicate. 

“Jo,” Marc’s voice precedes him down the stairs. His deeper cadence makes you freeze. “Everything okay?” 

“All good,” she calls back. “Kids are sleeping. We’re just chatting.” 

He comes into view. He looks at you and crosses his arms. You know he’s not happy about this. You’re invading his house. You’re Jolie’s friend, not her responsibility. 

“Right, well... it’s late. Kids got school tomorrow.” 

“Oh, I know, hon,” Jolie crumples up the pad and throws it in the bin. “I’ll get them where they need to go.” 

He clucks. “Just want to make sure. I have a big meeting--” 

There’s a sudden hammering. Splintering like thunder. You jump from the chair and scurry into the corner of the counter. It’s him! You told them. 

Marc’s face lines and Jolie stands straight. They stare at each other. 

“Tell him to go away,” Jolie hisses. 

“Fucking Christ,” Marc turns and strides down the hall to the entry way. You hear the subtle click of the door cam. “Go before I call the cops.” 

“She’s in there!” August hollers through. “I’m not fucking stupid.” 

“I’m giving you a warning, man. No one wants to deal with police right now--” 

“Give her to me!” 

“Keep it down. The kids are sleep--” 

The crack of wood makes you scream. You nestle into the bend of the counter as Jolie rushes toward the front door. The home alarm starts to chime. Footsteps clamour on the floor beyond your sight. 

You cower and sink down, whimpering, shielding your head. You look up from beneath your arms as you hear the grunts and the pleas in the struggle. Something thumps and Jolie squeals. The children upstairs call for their mom as she runs back into the kitchen. She’s flung into the counter and sprawls onto the tile not far from you. 

You heave with sobs as his footfalls march around the island and step over Jolie’s unmoving body. He doesn’t say a word as he scoops you up. You don’t either. He carries you out amid the wails of the children clinging to the slats of the railing like a prison cell. 

“Time to go home,” he snarls. 

[writing-is-hard-af]

Apparently an unpopular opinion in the Fandom rn, but I actually think the lack of focus on characters besides Athena and Chim beyond the bits we get made sense. (Though, this opinion may shift if the next two episodes do not focus more on the other characters).

Because Athena and Chim were the ones most directly involved in Bobby's death, and I think they couldn't have logically focused on any other characters' grief above these two in this episode without it feeling disjointed. I understand the little focus we get on Eddie, Buck, and Hen's grief. Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy we haven't seen it yet, but I do strongly believe that the next two episodes will dive into theirs more closely. Because this episode had to be about Athena and Chimney.

Chimney’s survivor guilt had to be addressed first because it would be tormenting him no matter how little he wanted to accept any of it. There was no logical way around that for his character.

We needed to see Athena process it all first because no matter how important Bobby is to the rest of them, he truly is most important to her, and she lost him right as they were about to start fully living their lives together on their own terms, their own soil. It’s tragic and painful and a cruel fate for him, but with it nonetheless happening, they had to focus on her most. And she deserved the focus of this episode. I get that the case/procedural kind of plot wasn't received super well, but I really do feel like it made some amount of sense. Could it have been told differently? Yes, I think they could've done a different case, a different person's grief. But I do think seeing Athena burying her grief in another person's and doing everything she can to help someone else and avoid her own is the only way they could have written her grieving in character. The way Athena has always coped in this show is by throwing herself into work, into helping other people resolve their struggles before she even tries to face her own. And while I think the specific plot was a bit odd of a choice for this kind of plot when Athena herself was not in a state of denial but rather avoidance, it truly showed the way Athena grieves. And while much of the funeral was rushed, not given the screen time it deserved, for any of them, the scene in Minessota was just. So achingly painful but beautiful at the same time. This episode was genuinely good and gutwrenching and the cast all did a phenomenal job with it.

This episode did not need scenes of Buck and Eddie's reunion, or much of their interactions. Not because it isn't important, but because this episode was not about their grief, not quite. I truly believe that theirs will be the focus of the last two episodes. This first episode after Bobby's death was about Athena. It had to be. And Bobby's death broke apart the team, it sent cracks between them. None of them were together when it happened. And honestly, I think that's part of the point of showing them individually grieving, splitting apart the grief. Because even though they are a family with and without Bobby, his death splintered them in a way that they are going to have to heal from and healing is not going to be something any of these characters immediately seek out others for. All of them, despite loving each other fiercely, have always stubbornly held their fears and pain within themselves to deal with alone.

Buck is clearly pushing his emotions as far down as possible to be there for the rest of them, because that's what he thinks Bobby told him to do. The others need him, so his grief comes last. Eddie wasn't there, his grief is so wrapped up in his own guilt that the grief is buried. Not quite denial, I think, but close to it. Hen is processing it, but she so clearly is in a similar boat to Buck, of burying her own feelings about it deep to try to be the steady rock for the rest of them. The three of them will have their grief, but truly I think theirs needed to be after the funeral, after he was buried and they all need to figure out how to go on, now that, in a way, it's really final, official.

This episode was Athena’s and Chim’s. The rest will come. And through that, they'll come out on the other side together. Pushing all of their grief into one singular episode would have been a disservice to them. And while sidelining main characters is not necessarily something I enjoy on this show, I do think in this specific episode, it made sense for the majority of it.

You don't have to agree with me. It's okay to be upset and angry, and I truly get it because I am too. But I also think we need to look a bit more into this episode beyond the idea that they didn't focus on these characters, and they added a plot beyond the funeral, so it's bad. Because there is more to what is there than what wasn't there yet.

[markantonys]

Your last gifset made me realize how they're slowly developing people's fear of Rand which goes hand in hand with people fearing him for being a male channeler. This season I feel did the most than any previous season with that scene. Rather than people inherently fearing him cause of the knowledge he could channel, they had people start fearing him once they personally experienced his instances of madness, like Egwene starting to see him differently after seeing what happened with Alsera for example

yep exactly! it is exactly as i was saying for the past 4 years every time people came into my inbox kicking up a fuss about the show not doing enough yet to show the fear of male channelers haha: that fear is an established fact of the world in the early story (as it is in s1-2), but doesn't kick into high gear of being personal to our characters until circa TSR when rand is Publicly Out as a channeler and starts actively channeling in front of people. and particularly with the show creating such warm friendships between the EF5, rand's friends immediately looking at him differently just from the simple fact of knowing he's a channeler would've felt kinda off, whereas them looking at him differently once they've actually witnessed his troubling moments firsthand makes a lot more emotional sense for these versions of the characters & friendships.

i do wonder how audience perception of the rand vs. egwene conflict on whether or not he's mad might be as we go on, because in the books, RJ wrote it as a balanced conflict (sometimes egwene is right about rand's mental state and rand's in denial about it, other times rand is right and egwene is jumping to assume the worst), but most readers take rand's side and think egwene is overly judgmental (due to misogyny), but in the show so far, it's kinda framed as if egwene is 100% right in her negative judgments about rand's mental state and i don't think i've seen any show-onlys disagree with her yet or push back and say she might be jumping to assume the worst (perhaps due to the show overcorrecting for egwene historically being the losing side in the conflict in readers' eyes, and now swinging the conflict around TOO far with the result that most viewers side with her). in that final scene for example, rand is completely calm and in control of himself while channeling, and he isn't doing anything dangerous or careless with the power, and in that sense it's very different from his 3x01 or 3x06 channeling moments, but it's still framed as him plunging towards madness because the scene focuses on him ignoring egwene's plea for him to stop. there's not much to indicate that maybe we should question egwene's fear here or consider her to be overreacting out of ingrained societal biases against male channelers, the way the book quote i pulled out alluded to. but we will see how this conflict continues to be framed in future seasons!

(there's also a great irony in how many viewers went "it's so nice to see rand finally thank moiraine and find value in her advice! oh man, so worrisome that rand is shutting egwene out and refusing to listen to her!" my buddy, this is exactly the manifestation of Rand Listening To Moiraine the way you've been yelling at him to for 3 seasons. what did you think was gonna happen when he said "i've realized you were right that i need to cut myself off from my personal ties and focus on the mission." i bet when future seasons show us more of Rand Cutting Off His Personal Ties these viewers are just going to be hating on him for it and selectively ignoring the fact that it is literally moiraine's advice and example that he's following with this behavior haha)

[klysanderelias]

Yeah I feel like the great sin of this problem is that you're no longer playing the game, you're playing FOR x. I can't count how many times I've been in campaign and heard people saying some variation of 'but it'll be so COOL when we get to' or 'all of this will make sense when' and it isn't, and it doesn't. Like, sorry, I stopped having fun six months ago, and this has all been pulling teeth for me, and I no longer care about any of these characters or events.

ESPECIALLY for long campaigns, I'm far more likely to hate the feeling that I'm being led by the nose for some future payoff than I am to be excited when the payoff comes.

And especially when it comes to backstory, the idea of 'we'll get to it' is such a malicious one. I'm in two separate games that are in the year+ length territory with players who adamantly refuse to talk about or pursue any backstory stuff because they have a carefully plotted out idea of how it's supposed to go, and of course that hasn't come up in game yet. And of course, y'know, if that character dies all that planning and backstory dies with them, so they can't die, they're protected by plot armor.

I just hate playing in games with people who are so focused on some future perfect RolePlaying Moment tm that they're unable to play the game now. We have to hit this Super Cool Cinematic Moment for the Finale and that means that the next three months are just miserable painful railroading so that all the pieces line up, and the moment isn't even good. It's a cool idea, but it sucks to play, and I'm so uninvested in what's happening that it wouldn't be fun regardless.

Like, you watch people sit there and wait for story beats that haven't come and aren't going to because they're not even laying the groundwork for it, just expecting it to drop into their laps, and then they blame the GM!

(or alternately, the GM denies every idea you put forward and keeps saying 'you can't do that yet' or 'you can't go there yet' and then six months later he wonders why everyone sounds so uninterested when he says we're almost at the big moment)

While I rail against the idea of GM prep being like "preparing a nice story for your players that their characters can be slotted into and also as a GM it's your duty to integrate the characters' backstories into your prep or else you're a bad GM" because it often results in linear narratives with very little room for player agency but also it's an unhealthy dynamic to expect a GM to weave together a coherent narrative out of the ideas provided by multiple people who might have completely different ideas about what the game should even look like. But there's also more to the practical angle than "it's hard to prep:"

If a player whose character is deeply integrated into the narrative of the campaign suddenly needs to leave the campaign you've left yourself with a narrative void and unlike in Hollywood you can't just go recasting that shit. No one's gonna buy into this new Goblin Steve, his new player can't even do his voice properly.

By prepping games like this you're really setting your whole campaign up for failure in most cases. How about: the story isn't something the players write for homework before the campaign, right? The NPCs that matter are not authored connections your players gave you as assigned reading before the game even started. The story is whatever happens during sessions and the connections that matter are those that characters build during play.

There is of course some nuance to this but like: we see so much talk about GMs being expected to integrate player character backstories into their prep (and then their players not being engaged anyway because they felt the GM did it "wrong") and about how GMs are burning out and it's a thankless job and like. Could there perhaps be a solution?

[elkinboots]

So how are we feeling after the final trial?

hi there! if anybody's curious about my thoughts:

i'm THRILLED i loved tetro pink and i thought its ending was incredibly narratively satisfying!! i won't yammer on too much without fun art to back me up but the THEMES and the CHARACTER DRAMA!!!!

i have many thoughts and feelings to draw (that i can't just jam out now) so i'll say this:

chapter 5's trial felt like the culmination of everything that had happened so far and everyone's actions are so well thought out - it fleshes them all out further as characters and as a group. i love the survivors group a lot. tetro is an incredible indie project and i have so much respect for everyone involved.

ken was the perfect choice for final killer.... you'll always be famous to me

(and thank you for asking <3)

but whatever who cares:

bonus hater powerscaling - i hope there are haters in blue to rival hasegawa ken... i will only make stupid novelty tier lists

[lapistea]

Hi Tumblr Jasons!!! You may have been seeing a bunch of art of the Tetro cast as graduates and wonder “what’s that all about?” Well, I’m here to tell you all about it now!

Welcome to the TDRP Celebration Art Collab!

In order to celebrate Tetro Pink coming to a close, I decided to host this! How does this work? I’m glad you asked!

Jasons will be drawing fully body art of the cast wearing graduation gowns!! (Get it, because graduation usually mark the end of something and the beginning of another? Also bc they’re in high school!) Feel free to dazzle up the gowns as well!

I’ll open 10 slots (maybe more depending on interest) per Pink Character. Once the slots for a character is full, it’ll be closed until every character is full! In the end, I’ll gather all the art, put them all together on a pretty little background, and we can celebrate!! It’ll be one panel per character (EX: Panel 1 is all the Isono Graduates! Panel 2? Harada!)

Additionally, for Staffside people, you can draw the MokoSonas as Teachers celebrating the graduation of their students! However, they have less slots open! So if you want them, be quick!

The last day to apply will be May 6th (to give artists the time to finish) and the deadline is May 9th!

Further questions? Feel free to ask! This is my first time really hosting something like this, but I hope for this to be a fun experience for everyone!

Interested in seeing what the slots look like? Check down below!!!

Slots filled so far!

Isono 6/10

Harada 5/10

Chiba 3/10

Kamimura 6/10

Hayashi 3/10

Wada 4/10

Sasaki 4/10

Ojima 4/10

Okazaki 5/10

Hama 3/10

Tsuno 5/10

Hiroaki 9/10

Tamba 6/10

Hasegawa 5/10

Watari 5/10

Yanagi 5/10

Mokosona Slots

Perline: 1/3

Blanche: 2/3

Rosset: 1/3

Mauve: 1/3

Sol: 1/3

Calenor: 1/3

I will keep this list updated^^

[immediatebreakfast]

It's an amazing way to set the tone of suspence by making Jonathan realize immediately that this work trip is slowly spelling doom for him, up to making him think that he won't survive.

It's the very second chapter, yesterday Jonathan was so happy describing food and scenery! Yet today he is met with an old lady begging him to at least delay the trip for a day. For US the readers, the most likely explanation is the narrative preparing itself for the reveal of the Count, all of these cultural events lined up to amplify the unsettling feelings of the trip through not only the eyes of one character but everything else around him. Before we even reach Castle Dracula, we are already fearing what it is and who is waiting inside.

But, from Jonathan's perspective (a character that is inside the narrative, and affected by it) how does this trip fare up so far? Well... It very clear that he at least wants the very journal he is writing to survive so that his beloved at home knows what happened.

I do not know, but I am not feeling nearly as easy in my mind as usual. If this book should ever reach Mina before I do, let it bring my good-bye. Here comes the coach!

Moreover, it's a really good detail to establish that Jonathan sensed the danger, but won't do anything about it because this is a work trip he can't disobey. Not for a lack of free will, but for duty since it's implied that our good friend is a working class english man in the victorian era... Which is very known for the horrid work conditions that maintained the working class in a cycle of grinding and extreme poverty that was escaped by the very, very few.

Many reasons to stay, to take the offer of the old lady, but all of those don't outweight the crushing duty of work, and the power of the narrative continuing. At least Jonathan accepts the rosary.