#i wont be Happy about it but it makes sense

[thiscanbegood]

Exactly, the restaurant format needs to change, the show still needs to adress the points made by Richie in S1 about gentrification, bullshit over real quality and all that, the Ever crew role this season showed how the bear is still replicating the same fine dining pressure Syd and Carm said they hate. But for that change to happen they need to show Syd's path of letting go of the star and the idea that her value is tied to this recognition, they can do it by making her get it and then see it doesn't make her happy like she thought it would, or by making her become a S3 Carmy replicant chasing perfection until she burns out. I think seeing the effect on others might have a role too because Syd really cares about her team, and Tina and Marcus are already showing signs of being under that pressure.

So I'm thinking that S5 might not be the season finale either honestly, there's so much that still needs to be shown. I don't think Storer cares about tying every single thing at the end, but they at least need to make sense even if they're not resolved. I think Storer still intends to show them fighting to be a different restaurant amid a gentrified chicago and fine dining colleages (shapiro for one), but with this show's pace, Syd realisation about the star, Carmy "will he wont he" retiring plot and run for the money plus the restaurant turnaround won't all happen in 1 season. Let alone the Sydcarmy thing of it all.

I think the moment they realize how they're relieving their past restaurant experiences with the run for the star, they will get to be actually honest with themselves and each other about what they want from the other. It represents a massive disconnection between them that comes from the fact that they barely took their time to talk about what they wanted before jumping on the business together. The moment the bear turns around, they might already be dating and figuring out how to do all of this at the same time or be in totally flirting territory, figuring out their feelings more openly.

I'm so mad that this season's end is starting to make sense for me.

Like can we talk about the paralles between Carmy making mickey his whole life and purpose to the point that every decision is either about making him proud or saying "watch how I can do this", and when Mikey is gone and Syd comes in, every decision in his life is about showing her he can be good and doing anything he can to make her need him, plus the "you don't think I can do this" about the star. Syd is everything he has to pull from. And for some people that might be cute, but Carmy saw that doing this didn't help his brother or himself, it just built a wall between them.

And then there's Syd, whose father also lost someone important and then made his life all about her. The idea of making her life about one person is terrifying and familiar for her at the same time. It's a trap for her because she loves taking care of people. If Carmy suddenly decided to turn around and have her as his north and guide and everything, she would have it, and eventually he could feel better and be better but what about her? He's disarming the trap for her by going away. It would be easier to rely on her and only her like he tried to do with Claire, but he's doing the hard thing by going away and looking for it himself.

I hate how they made this so wrecking for her for impact purpose because duh it's a show (and also the blindsidind of it all hits personally to me) and would hate the whole white boy going into a countryside trip to discover himself kind of thing if they use it. It wouldn't even make sense if they did this.

Carmy already learned the importance of relying on other people this season by seeking people around him for help. Hopefully next season he will expand that while finding his purpose (which only exists outside of yourself, I believe, not in a martyr way but in a mutual relationship with the outside where you both feed and is fed).

And for Syd, learning to voice her needs to people around her is key, not feeling like a burden or a babysitter, letting people take care of her for once. And guess who's not gonna be in a position where she can excuse his behavior as his job anymore?

I'm seated to see how they're gonna make her come around, understand why he left and accept his help, see the trap of looking for validation in the industry... Syd has a long way to go, and carmy stepping back might make way for us to see her go through this too.

[good-beanswrites]

By the way, about LCSyS, how are you dealing with the whole 'Es plurality' situation? Because it is a central part of their character that gets brought up on multiple voice dramas and seems really difficult to remove. Also, it is implied that some of our judgements may be our if character for Es because they seem pretty uncertain about it. For example, some people including myself suspect that if Es wasn't controlled by the audience they would have voted Mahiru innocent because they appear somewhat fond of her and would probably have not jumped to stalker based on no evidence (kinda bullshit people thought that anyway but whatever). This was asked by someone who is insane about Es and thinks about them constantly, BTW.

Ah, well I appreciate an Es expert (Espert?) weighing in on it!! :D

Because that element is very central to both them and the plot, even if it hasn’t been fully explored yet. Like you said, there are a lot of events that rely on these “other” voices, some actions and decisions that they themself seem unsure of! Not to mention their own dialogue using a plural first person pronoun! I’m already trying to distance the au from the audience interaction element, so I’ve definitely kept my eye on the plural Es theory >:3 

Since we have little to work with, I’ve tried to keep them pretty vague in the fic so far. They don’t appear in a lot of it because of plot reasons (everything is the same as canon to them, most of the time). And even in their pov chapter I try to steer thoughts and emotions directly to the prison. I only mention their identity near the end to make everyone say “Hmmmm we don't know who you are and neither do you!” Now, I'm prepared for three main options for endings: 1. There is a non-system, in-universe explanation for the voices. 2. The voices are directly confirmed as the audience. 3. Yamanka states that he hates me, personally, and doesn’t explain anything about Es. If it’s the first one, I’ll see how well it works into my fic and go from there! (If it’s overly supernatural/involves Es disappearing/dying, I might make some tweaks lmao. I’m committed to accuracy but this is a fix-it, at the end of the day.) For the second two, I plan on leaning into plural Es, with research and input from others to make the writing accurate 👍I’m hoping to go back revise earlier sections to drop more hints and make things consistent. I also want to write an epilogue once we get more context on the ending as a whole! Though, I guess they've already confirmed some feeling of plurality... maybe I add some lines in that last chapter now...

Editing because I haven't included this yet but I do plan to 😅 I'll be working on my T3 rewrite soon and really get into the details of their character

[scruncheduppaper]

can’t remember if i saved it or not but that one mouthwashing post i saw that said that “curly rehab aus are ableist” is insane and you guys should really think before you post

[animentality]

I know everyone wants stories with happy endings, and they all hate when the main characters die, and insist well what's the point of the story then, it didn't matter at all! they died!

but.

I don't know. do the stories of those who die at the end not matter at all?

because if that's the case, I have news about the stories told by everyone who has ever lived in this world.

we all die at the end. we are all doomed by the narrative.

but our stories still matter.

[luck-of-the-drawings]

[<==PREV PAGES] [NEXT PAGE==>(not out yet.wait a year.or maybe more.imagine.]

saw alot of comments on prev pages; saying 'i HATE that mean teacher! im gonna FIGHT HIM!!' & i LOVE the energy!! it WOULD be nice. to have that catharsis. but the story of young tidestrider is Not one of catharsis. it is a story of being so small and so special and sucking so bad.

[sleepyvib-es]

idk man the thing about the series post pjo is that it wants you to be aware of all the fucked up traumatic childhoods and systematic abuse all the characters experience but it doesn't want you to be too aware to the point that you're hung up on it and are calling for fundamental changes to the system.

if you dare call out all these issues the response you usually get is "these books are for kids :) what did you expect" "what you want out of it won't happen because this is children's media" .. but like dude look at all the heavy topics we're dealing with here lol. my bad for wanting all these issues acknowledged to the point where there's genuine resolve for these characters

[microwave-core]

do you ever think about Cogita? I do. A lot. There was probably so much beauty in her life, and could be again, but in the end she'd lose it all and be alone. Again. Setting their bones adrift upon the river.

Dawg, I think about her all the time. I keep writing sentences and deleting them because it's just. She's one of the those characters where I have so many thoughts but when I express them it just comes out as "yeah I think she's neat. Definetely not seething and biting and running up the walls thinking about her". Anyways here's a really scuffed and also old and crusty doodle. Also don't worry about what's in the tags I'm having a normal one.

Actually do care because I guess I reached the tag limit or something. The point I was making after it cut off is that all three of the Cogita blurbs I've written have had titles named after tracks from the Super Paper Mario OST because I love that game and you should go play it.

[mikhailoism]

for the most part i do really enjoy the cruise arc, what gets me is how excited athena was at the end of s6 for it and s7 makes her do a complete 180 😭 i just thought it would have been so fun for them to just "disappear" and tell everyone after they've already left or as athena suggested not all ... like 118 gets to work and surprise bobby's taken a vacation and hen's in charge with no warning. also would've have added to the angst of the cruise ship disasters bc no one knows where they are ... how would hen realize something was wrong this time ...

and this just allows for the initial bathena scenes to be more fun and silly and romantic enjoying their honeymoon

[iheartmoons]

guys i didn't realise most of u hate galladads :( unfortunately i love them i wont even lie

[ollylotl]

I WANT TO HEAR YOUR DAKOTA N VYNCENT THOUGHTS SO BAD please tell me about them.....

oooh dakota and vyncent…, where do i start. i warn you i don't normally do like. character analysis writing type posts? so please excuse if it's bad.

they have perhaps the most strained relationship out of the prime defenders. but that's not necessarily a bad thing. it's really compelling. they're very similar but also very different at the same time. and maybe this is why they can sort of grate against each other sometimes, but is also why they are such good friends who can rely on each other.

vyncent grew up living a life that, while not necessarily comfortable, he was familiar with. he was happy and he had a support system in the greats and his parents. that got ripped away from him very suddenly and he got dropped in the deep end of a world entirely unfamiliar. meanwhile dakota (from after his parents death onwards) had a very difficult childhood. he spent many years without a support system - his parents gone, his aunt struggling herself and not able to care for him as he needs. but he's had time to learn to deal with that. rockfall/new haven is where he's grown up, and he knows it like the back of his hand. so they're both struggling but like in opposite ways? where vyncent has been okay for most of his life but now he hasn't had a chance to adjust, while dakota's been going through it for longer but that means he's been able to adjust and is familiar with the rules of this world.

they also have opposite ways of coping with bad things / tackling their problems. dakota shuts down. vyncent lashes out. dakota is determined to never take a life. vyncent comes from a world where fighting to the death is normal. dakota not only trusts, but idolises heroes. vyncent has been nothing but let down by them and doesn't trust them at all.

i think about that scene in season 1 so much where they're at mark's house, and tide has been taken, and dakota's just shut down. vyncent starts yelling at him because he's lost everything he had in this world and can't afford to just stop like that. it's just the perfect example of how their opposite experiences and coping mechanisms cause them to clash.

more extremely, when william gets killed. dakota completely breaks down, while vyncent starts attacking even more furiously. then vyncent is like. almost pleading (? you could say? not sure if thats the word) with dakota to just get up and fight because he can't do this alone. he can't do this without dakota. he couldn't have done any of this without dakota.

but in perhaps the more simple ways, they're quite alike. they're the epitome of dumb teenage boys. i mean, they'll just break into a duet on the train. they goof off together - the shopping cart race, that one scene in the gym in season one.

so. like. they lean on each other. they both don't have much to rely on. but they have each other. i think vyncent was probably, even if its a large part subconsicous, feeling betrayed when dakota left over the s1-2 timeskip. likewise how dakota felt betrayed over the bino and mark thing / mal amulet / belltech, etc. etc. but they stick together. no matter what they go through they get out of it, and they get out of it together.

so. okay apologies for taking so long to say so little. essentially what i like most about dakota and vyncent's friendship is that duality of relying on each other both out of necessity and because they're the only ones who really get each other, and also having the energy of like. "hey bro how many slices of pizza can i fit in my mouth at once. hey bro bet you cant backflip off of this building. hey bro let's do a karaoke duet of breaking free from high school musical"

as vyncent himself said in late season 2. they're brothers. (falls over and sobs)

[llitchilitchi]

I miss and mourn the days of summer 2022, I don't think I've ever been that happy and fulfilled as an internet artist in my life

[mikuyuuss]

Not to be sappy and all that, but even though I find it tragic that Jesse will forever have to live under a fake identity for the rest of his life, and how lonely it might be, I also see Mr. Driscoll as a means for him to start anew where he can finally rediscover his true self again.

[vaguehotels]

had the most braindead repetitive conversation/argument with my parents. buzz cuts are too masculine but if you dye a design on it it become effeminate which is bad because then you look weak and if youre weak then society falls apart (all societies ever that have fallen apart for any reason are actually because of feminine men) and we start sacrificing babies. and also all mental illness is invented because only 4 people had anxiety in the 90s and covid was made up so that we would all become gay and trans and then the government can control us better and be joe biden's little sex slaves. and also i need to keep my hair long because my father finds it attractive. what

[skuntank]

Since legends arceus, I've always thought to myself that cyllene and cogita would be the kind of characters I would have dedicated my heart and soul to as a young twenty-something and now I'm realizing. I can be a young thirty-something and dedicate my heart and soul to them now

But see I reliably run into this problem I deal with all the time where I want to hyperfocus on several different things (in this case, characters and ships) with equal intensity but I plainly lack the time and ability to fully dedicate myself to each thing as much as I really want to so I end up just sticking with one or two (in this case, phaesporia) while quietly yearning to throw myself into other characters and ships just as hard but then if I do shift focus I feel like I'm abandoning the single thing I was allowing myself to dedicate myself to so i end up somewhat paralyzed with indecision

[hauntingblue]

I don't know what to say... everyone got a happy ending except the people who actually wanted a real revolution and had a cause for it... but it's not like we had much of their opinions on this I guess... also no final lez sex scene... tragic

[rosykims]

ive played dao like 9 times at this point and still. and STILL the isolde/connor decision has me tearing my hair out gnawing my keyboard stomping around the house ready to lie down and never get up