#i know what i would do if i was the showrunner

[pipwasreal]

Ooh very interesting, thank you! I did wonder what was going through particularly Charles' head in his Hell mirror scene, and Jayden's answer is so sweet!

Transcript under the read more...

George: Hi Nat! It's George and Jayden here, for the Dead Boy Detectives. Thank you so much for supporting these cameos. Sadly, we're coming to the end of them now, um, but we've had a really, really lovely time loving the show with all of you, so thank you for your part of that. I'm gonna jump straight in. Now, you have said you're "always intrigued by Charles and Edwin's reactions to seeing their reflections in Hell." What would we say went through their heads at that moment?

Jayden: I can say for me, I remember, obviously, embodying Charles in that moment, I remember just having in my head that, you know, there was obviously a task at hand, he was in Hell to save his best friend, and I think that was a moment of looking at himself being like, "okay, d'you know what, you're not like your dad, you are a hero, and... let's just go and save your best mate."

George: That's lovely, that is. And, actually, off the back of that, I was on set with Jayden when he played that moment, and it was so powerful because, you know, there was something really, um... really profound and ironic about these boys who've travelled through mirrors every day, but because they're human mirrors, they're mirrors on the mortal plane, they can't see their reflections. Um, whereas in Hell, they're magic mirrors, which meant that they could see their reflections.

Jayden: And they couldn't hop through them.

George: And they couldn't hop through them!

Jayden: As you can see I... Charles tried to.

George: Yeah exactly, so the bit where Edwin sees his reflection...

Jayden: Unless you're going to... a different realm.

George: True.

Jayden: You get dragged in.

George: The bit where Edwin...

Jayden: Yeet!

[George laughs]

George: ...could see his reflection, um, was actually not in the script. I just played that moment, 'cause I thought there was something interesting to it, and then Steve, our showrunner, just hopped in, he was like [whispers] "Can you say 'my reflection'? Just to help make it really clear what's going on." Um...

Jayden: "How do you think Edwin was affected by being a teenager in World War One and knowing he might have to take part in it?"

[George gasps]

George: Great question.

Jayden: Have you ever been asked that before?

George: I don't think I have. I've spoken a bit about World War One. I mean, St Hilarion's is a school for the sons of military personnel, so I think the idea of discipline and the sort of vocabulary and the lifestyle around uh milit... everything to do with the military would have kind of been ingrained in him. So I think he kind of wouldn't have expected much else, in a way, I think it would have been to be expected. But there would have been a lot of fear, and I'm sure that fear would have contributed to the joy and escapism he found in those detective comics.

Jayden: You've said here that the show has touched you very deeply, and it has inspired you to reach out to people again, which you hadn't done in a long time.

George: Wow.

Jayden: Well, we are so, so glad to hear that. I think that is, that is what the show is all about, you know, reaching out to people in times of need, and, you know, creating new friendships, new bonds, and we really hope that that continues for you. And if you ever feel as though, you know, it's kind of doing this... [gestures in a downward trajectory] you have a lovely show back here, and two lovely dead boys here that support you and are proud of you every day, so thank you so much, Nat, take care.

George: Bye Nat!

So I wasn't sure if I was going to share my cameo because it's a little bit more personal towards the end, but I decided I rather wanted to share the video than just transcribe their answers to my questions.

I asked them about their thoughts on Charles and Edwin seeing their reflections in episode 7 and about Edwin's experience as a teenager during WWI.

[h50europe]

Post Mortem 9-1-1 Mid Season:

What's next for B and E? That question's already ANCIENT. Nothing! Same old, same old. The B*dd*e-tinged interviews are rolled out ad nauseam and read like clickbait. Don't they get that actors can't give away what they don't know? Not even the showrunner knows what he is going to do beyond episode 8.10.

Am I mean when I say I want someone to move somewhere else? Only briefly. Intermittend, like a rainshower. For shock value, like the ungodly breakup with the bitter aftertaste still lingering, that left not only the audience baffled but also someone involved.

Playing devil's advocate: if the show isn't renewed, we will see E leaving and B staying behind in LA with his shitshow of life, all alone, and everyone loses (as this was ever about winning or losing...).

The name of the first episode of the season, “Buzzkill,” unintentionally became the central idea. There was a lot of buzz about nothing, and the mood was also killed along the way.

After the first half of episodes aired, and we are now on a break for the next three months, the season has lost momentum and drive and is drifting more into mediocrity. Less Brad would definitely have been more because then Tim could have devoted himself to more important aspects of the series as previously hyped plots were either remodeled or insufficiently and carelessly executed.

Also, where does all that leave the rom-com aspect T and O bragged about? So far, we didn't have much to laugh about except for the posts of the niche fandom, which I've not taken seriously or even looked at for some time now.

Jumpscare, if I come across one of theirs and the posts peppered with deliberately profane language to attract as much attention as possible. However, most other fans scroll already past, bored or annoyed, because this excess of stupidity and primitiveness is hard to beat.

[canonicallyobserving911]

Eddie Diaz - Season 8A

This post is all about my favorite character Eddie Diaz and HE IS THE MAIN AND ONLY FOCUS OF IT. Therefore, if someone doesn't want to read about how I'm pissed off at the lack of character growth for him, keep scrolling. It's just that simple.

I'm NOT HAPPY about the LACK of development in his storylines and I'm tired of him being put on THE WHEEL OF MISFORTUNE.

I've been quiet long enough about this and I'm tired of the way Eddie Diaz is treated on this show. He's always sidelined and his arcs are pushed back in favor of Buck's which is interesting especially since they're both main characters. Don't get this twisted because I like Buck too but Eddie's my favorite and I would like it if he got the ATTENTION HE DESERVES FOR A CHANGE. Also, guest stars have received more character development than him and that's asinine as hell (Brad and Taylor come to mind).

Before I get started, I'll admit it's unlikely that I'll do a review of 8x8 because like 8x7, there was a lot going on but nothing major happened in it for the mains but they sure did a number on Eddie and regressed him. Therefore, this post is about my favorite character Eddie Diaz since the show and a lot of the fandom treat him like he's a side character. He's a main and I'm f~cking sick of the way his story continues to be sidelined so he can orbit around Buck.

BE CLEAR, I FULLY UNDERSTAND THE IMPLICATIONS OF LAST NIGHT'S EPISODE AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR BUDDIE! I ALREADY KNOW BUCK AND EDDIE WILL BE TOGETHER BUT MY ISSUE IS THE LACK OF DEVELOPMENT FOR EDDIE.

No shade to anyone but I'm not looking for clues that point to Buddie anymore because they've ALWAYS been there and doing that doesn't excite me. I WANT TO SEE REAL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT and I've been wanting that for all the mains for 7 damn seasons. But the issue is every time Eddie's about to experience some growth, he's regressed back to a point of no return. He takes one step forward and 80,000 steps backward and this is exhausting.

Last night's ending was not for Eddie's benefit, it was done for shock value and for Buck's growth even though Eddie's been haunting Buck's love triangle f~ckery since 7x4. Eddie was ALL ALONE and NO ONE was there for him when he needed to talk. Therefore, Eddie choosing to move back to Texas DID NOT HAVE TO HAPPEN and IMO, it was lazy writing. Do the writers from LS have any idea who Eddie is at all? It sure as hell doesn't seem like it. What happened to the Eddie who said, "I'll always fight to come home to my family?" Or the one who said, "After Shannon died, they wanted me to give Christopher to them but that's not what I wanted then and it's not what I want now." He's practically nonexistent anymore and that's just sad.

Since RG's not leaving the show, what was the point of any of this? Oh, that's right to further Buck's arc while Eddie remains stagnate. Furthermore, TM (showrunner) said Eddie was wearing a mustache and when he shaved it off, he would find out who he is outside of being a father but...

NEWSFLASH!

THOSE TWO THINGS ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE.

The fact is Eddie is a father! He has been since he found out Shannon was pregnant, he always will be and it doesn't matter if he wears a mustache or not and/or whether he lives in L.A., El Paso or Antarctica. Therefore, TM saying that was an oxymoronic statement because since Eddie is a father whatever decision he makes will and should be for the benefit of him and his son. That's been one of the main issues for him since he's used Chris as a shield for his own heart while ignoring what he wants. Him deciding to return to Texas IS NOT doing what's best for either of them.

Additionally, for the entirety of 8A, all he was shown doing was being a dad. He spent all that time in 8x4 trying to help Mike reconnect with Weston but NOT ONCE did we see Eddie going above and beyond to visit Chris. It's like the showrunner put more effort into that than Eddie's on storyline and it's ridiculous. So, it doesn't matter if Eddie's married to Shannon (I know she's deceased but I'm making a point) or if he dates Ana, Marisol or Buck, HE WILL ALWAYS BE CHRIS' FATHER! THAT'S NEVER GOING TO CHANGE and whatever decisions he makes, until Chris becomes an adult, it always will be true.

Be clear, Eddie choosing to move back to Texas is NOT HIM CHOOSING JOY, it's him regressing and doing the same things he did in previous seasons. In season 5, instead of talking to Chris about how he was feeling, he up and quit the 118 but HE WAS MISERABLE because he didn't want to leave. Granted he needed the break and he also needed to go to therapy but since that time, it's been nothing but crickets on the therapy front for him. When he finally did talk to his son, Chris SAID HE DIDN'T TELL EDDIE TO QUIT. So, why wasn't he allowed to talk to Chris this time and ask him what he wanted? Or better yet why aren't they doing family therapy or something? Chris is talking to him now but we didn't get to see how they got there from 8x1. It all happened off-screen and the last time Eddie said something about Helena was 8x5 so he's been out of the loop on his own child for weeks.

Chris is a child which means Eddie has the final say. His parents don't have any legal rights to Chris but NOT ONCE has Eddie been allowed to tell them about the legal guardianship. After he told Buck about it, it's never been mentioned again and I don't want Eddie to have an NDE for Chris to come back and I don't want Buck to have that conversation with Helena and Ramon. It's good for fanfic writing (I've written several with the narrative) but in real life it gets messy and it's possible Chris doesn't even know Buck's his guardian.

This situation is a cluster f~ck of epic proportions and it needs to be resolved like NOW. It's been more than 5 years since Eddie changed his will and they haven't talked about it.

Another issue is Eddie IS ALWAYS TOLD WHAT TO DO and the one or two times he's made a decision on his own, he was happy about it but it was short lived since the showrunner always regresses him back into the Terror Dome. His dad told him to be the man of the house at 10 years old, they and those busybodies at church told him to marry Shannon because she was pregnant, he went to the Army and all they did was tell him what to do (it's the military so that's what they do) and when he was honorably discharged Shannon tried to tell him to move to California. Then his parents tried to coerce him into leaving Chris with them when he applied to work at the LAFD and Helena told him to move back to El Paso after Shannon died. His parents and Bobby told him it was time to move on from his dead wife in season 4 so he dated Ana. Buck told him to break up with her in season 5 and he did. Pepa told him he needed to put himself back out there in season 6 and she pressured him into going on a blind date with Vanessa. In season 7, Bobby asked him about the time he was married and his commitment issues, Father Brian had to tell him to find joy and Brad had to tell him not to let the gap widen in his relationship with his son. Also, instead of talking to his raggedy parents, he's making another decision that he won't be happy with. He'll be miserable because it's not what he wants. He established a whole life for him and Chris in L.A. and instead of fighting for it and telling his parents to get the hell on, he's surrendering.

That's not the Eddie Diaz from previous seasons. Seasons 2, 3 and 4 Eddie didn't want his parents raising his son. What happened to him? Where is he? He's missing and he has been for a while. I need him to come back and stand up to his parents. I'm sure there won't be a good resolution to this storyline and it's unlikely that Eddie will tell his parents off especially since the show is handing out undeserved and unearned parent redemption arcs like they're lollipops or some shit.

Eddie has A MOUNTAIN of things he needs to work through like his grief over Shannon dying, that whack ass doppelgänger Kim, his inability to tell his parents where to go, addressing the issues that are in front of him and all the pain and grief he's been carrying around for years regarding his failed marriage. He needs to have an open and honest conversation with Chris about Shannon and instead of asking Buck to talk to him in 7x1, he should have done it.

What I want to see is Eddie choose Eddie for a change instead of this hamster wheel of doom he's constantly being put on. Seeing him dance around in his underwear was cute and nice but that's not growth. He did something that brought him joy but the only reason he did it was because the priest told him to. When is he going to do something for himself? When will Eddie Diaz decide that's enough of this shit and tell himself he deserves better? He deserves to be happy just like everyone else and it's time for Eddie's FULL STORY TO BE TOLD.

I'm tired of waiting and I'm sure there will be some who'll read this post and say, "The second half of the season is supposed to be Eddie's." LOL 🤪. Haven't we been here before? Like five times actually and three of them were due to the F*X network's interference. Eddie's arc keeps getting delayed and it's possible there will be something else that causes TM to delay it again.

The fact is there is something else that could hinder Eddie's growth and the path to Buddie CANON but since I don't talk politics on my blog, I'll just say IYKYK and January is only 9 weeks away. This should have happened in season 7 but TM delayed it yet again so he can write it the way he wants to and if he keeps on, he might not get the chance.

Eddie and Buck both need to show growth because there are two people in the Buddie ship. It's unfair for Eddie to be sidelined while Buck gets to date and do whatever the f~ck he wants while Eddie sits at home and blows up his life yet again. I don't want Eddie to have another mental breakdown, an NDE or anything else that will cause him to be in the hospital or have him struggling. I want to see him go back to therapy so he can finally unpack all the shit from his childhood and his young adult life. Change takes work and him dancing around in his "tighty whites" like Tom Cruise is not the same thing.

Where is the consistency and the continuity?

Hopefully, 8B will happen without any hiccups so Eddie can finally be happy.

[fanaticallyfleeky]

Hear me out

If Tim ever decides to get Tommy and Buck back together (and that’s a gigantic ‘if’ because at this point I don’t expect anything) imagine they use God Only Knows from The Beach Boys

[fragilefirstchance]

I actually have thoughts about this! I think Ford is a specific type of character.

First of all: Let's talk about fanon!

Something I think that a lot of us forget when we're doing fan analysis is just how caricaturized all blorbos are in canon. This is true of any work of media: the characters aren't real people, they're figments who only exist as we see them on-screen.

Fanon is kind of like those AI image sharpeners that take a blurred photo and make it look like a person's face: yeah, technically that is an accurate way you can interpret the blur, but there are hundreds of faces that would be just as accurate, and not only are they all very different from each other, they don't even agree on the most basic and obvious traits. The same blurry headshot could be a scowling white woman with a square jaw or a smiling black man with sharp features. In a similar way, when we see a character become stressed because they just saw a mouse in a cage, we could say they're scared of mice, or morally opposed to pets, or that they have cage-based trauma - any option that works is plausible.

I think that there are characters who are good characters, characters who are uniquely good subjects for fanon, and a ven diagram between the two. For example, a lot of kids' shows from the nineties are bad, but they managed to produce a really fun and rich fandom. Meanwhile, some really beautiful and culturally important stories don't leave a lot of room for fan works because they've already said what they need to say. I think the absolute best works for fandom are the ones that are objectively good stories, but have really simplified characters: Undertale might be the best example of this, because every single character suggests a rich and beautiful personality while only being on screen for a relatively short time.

So that leads me to part two: Ford!

I think Ford fills a particular fandom niche that was empty for a lot of us.

He's extremely traumatized, and the more we learn about him, the more traumatized he is. He's kind of pushing the limits of what's acceptable from a kids' show, to be honest.

He canonically has a lot of difficulty making friends; this is partly because he's quirky and seemingly neurodivergent, but partly because he has poor social skills. He's not a cartoony, Eeyore-style "has trouble making friends but we love him anyway" character, either; there are tangible, in-story examples of him failing to make friends.

He behaves badly sometimes. This is actually my favorite trait of his - anyone who reads my fanfiction knows how much I love giving people with real flaws a chance to find love and be treated with respect. Most characters have a flaw to overcome, but in his worst moments, Ford actually lashes out and hurts others in a tangible way and not just a child-friendly way. Showrunners don't always like to show that sort of thing.

It is very, very easy to read some severe mental health symptoms into his behavior. Bill is a literal character, but he's also a pretty good metaphor: you can use him to explain hallucinations, dissociative fugues, sudden mood swings, manic episodes, severe depression, paranoia - the list goes on and on.

(That last one is really important. There's a pretty damn big difference between a good metaphor for mental illness and a thoughtful portrayal of that mental illness in a story. It's kind of like how many of us were so starved for queer representation growing up that we read queer metaphors into everything. Well, there still isn't good mental illness representation in most media, so we'll take the metaphors we can get. Ford is a really good metaphor even as he's presented, and there are a lot of holes in his narrative where personality disorder symptoms, manic episodes, delusions, etc. can slot in easily.)

None of those traits make a good Disney character. They only really work because he spends so little time on-screen; the books were only possible because of Gravity Falls's massive commercial success. So, he's a very rare example of a character who's from a light-hearted, positive, optimistic show aimed at children, but who has all of the template features necessary for us to read him as deeply broken in some ways that aren't sanitized or socially acceptable.

So, there are dozens and dozens of Ford AUs in which we project very specific experiences, traumas, and symptom sets into this one man.

How many Ford AUs out there are reflections of our own insecurities, traumas, and just general unresolved issues? Is that, like, his whole purpose in the wider multiverse of alternate Gravity Falls characters? 'Cause I KNOW it isn't just me

[dreadfuldevotee]

Lmaoo I'm not surprised but in this Golden Derby talk back, Rolin is asked about the plan for doing yk. 12 more books of TVC and hes basically like "🤨 Ive got four. five Max in me" which I cant even be mad about

[alicentflorent]

FTWDs final season could have been so much better if it was revealed that Troy was running padre and controlling madison (as revenge) this whole time. He knew enough about nick and Alicia to make madison think padre knew who and where they were this whole time. And here are some other reasons how this storyline would make sense and be more interesting:

- Troy has a military background so him taking over and running a military base makes more sense than two teenagers building it up by themselves because all the adults died.

- taking and training up children to be solidiers also would make a little sense because of his own fucked up upbringing and the idea he has of the type of people who were made for this world. He would have probably had the same idea as shrike, that the kids stood a better chance at padre than with their “weak” parents. The mother of his child dying for being a good person and not getting to raise their daughter (who would not be named after his abuser) could have also played into this idea of the kids being separated from their good parents.

- shrikes radiation cure experiments: Troy ran walker bite experiments before, just to see how people would turn. So it would also make sense if the work we see shrike doing was something he approved of or an idea he himself came up with. As for shrike, it would make sense that she turned out this way if she’d spent years being mentored by someone like troy otto instead of becoming evil and stealing children just because her dad died.

- the scene where madison smashes the glass to expose “padre” would have been such a good and shocking reveal if it was Troy. Imagine Madison finding out that Troy is not only alive but had been the one running this the whole time!

There’s also a lot of other things I would have done differently for the other characters too and I would have liked Madison to have a little villain era and do some really fucked up shit as she tries to take down Troy and padre. How dark would Madison go? Would she survive with her humanity still intact?

I know I’m just talking into the void here because no one care about this shitshow but I just hate it when shows have a plot that could have been good, maybe even great but then completely miss the mark and fans come with better theories and ideas with minimal effort and thought.

[girl4music]

Yep. They didn’t “say it” but they certainly showed it and let the audience make up their own minds on it.

But what will always be a striking difference is that the creators/cast/crew themselves interpreted it that way.

So it wasn’t just the fans were shipping X&G. Every interview, behind-the-scenes footage, featurette or commentary proves this to be true. I have them all.

The only other TV show with a lead “non-canon” WLW ship I can think of that did this is ‘The Legend Of Korra’.

There certainly isn’t another live-action TV show. So it’s like… does it make a difference? I don’t think it does.

The only people that do not see them as “canon” is the studio and obviously the people that don’t ship them.

I mean you have the showrunner himself saying it. That they didn’t intend them to be a romance initially but the natural progression for them was to be in a romance so it doesn’t matter that they weren’t “explicitly canon”.

Xena is the kind of show where, if it were produced for today, then Xena and Gabrielle absolutely would be canon because for all practical purposes - they were.

Just because it wasn’t confirmed in the TV show itself doesn’t change that. It’s one of the most notable things about Xena. They’re beloved in the LGBTQIA+ community because of the fact it was fully accepted.

We were fully accepted.

It’s just always funny to me when people say they’re “not canon”. They’re hiding behind the technicality of it not being explicitly said. It doesn’t make a difference.

And as for the bed sharing and cuddling, there’s even a scene in ‘The Debt Part I’ where Xena reaches over to cuddle Gabrielle but Gabrielle isn’t there. She then realizes that and sits up and calls out her name.

I don’t know how much more evidence you need.

They don’t say it because they don’t need to.

They show it instead. They show that there’s romantic feelings there. Romantic attraction and desire. Need.

I mean you can hide behind the technicalities and excuses all you want but like … it’s just obvious and they make it that way on purpose because THEY want it.

Which is just a massive difference to everything else.

One subtle way that Xena got around the studio censors was to have Xena and Gabrielle always sleep side by side, with zero personal space, rather than on opposite sides of the campfire.

Even when they'd get to sleep in a bed, they'd always share it.

They might not have been able to come out and say it, but the show made it clear that these two slept like an old married couple, and on rare occasions, when studio heads weren't looking, they even got to cuddle.

[saints-who-never-existed]

Ok, maybe this is a really stupid question, but why the hell did Tuunbaq consume souls? What does it do with them? Digest them? Tasty snack nomnomnom? Why not just kill those pesky sailors? I have an understanding of what Tuunbaq represents, but why the soul sucking? Sorry, I still have whiplash from that show…

Anyway, thank you for enlightening me in advance! <3

Not a stupid question at all!

I'm going to give an answer based more on personal knowledge and opinion rather than cold hard fact - apologies in advance if that's not what you're looking for. Rest assured though that this is something I intend to chase up further sources on and think/write a great deal more about in future. :)

For all you couldn't strictly define it as cannibalism, when I think of the Tuunbaq and its consumption of souls, I think of what I know about various cultures throughout the world that have practiced cannibalism historically, and I think about the reasons why they did so.

Often, it was a reverential and sacred practice, enacted in a very focused and particular way. In many cases, specific body parts were eaten with the intention that one would gain characteristics associated with the deceased - eating a man's heart to gain his courage, eating a person's eyes to gain insight or their brain to absorb in some way their wisdom.

I think that's part of why Tuunbaq eats souls. The men are invaders within the landscape who are alien in every conceivable way so it make sense to me that Tuunbaq could gain knowledge of/insight into/power over them by absorbing their souls - the very essence of who they truly are.

But I also see Tuunbaq's consumption of souls as something potentially more akin to exocannibalism - eating one's enemies as an open expression of hostility, the ultimate indignity, the most extreme act of domination. And make no mistake, Franklin's men are enemies.

They've invaded and desecrated the land, killed Silna's father, caused Tuunbaq to go "off" in the first place. It makes sense to me that an enemy of that magnitude would warrant the extra horror and indignity of their soul being consumed as well as their body.

[valinoar]

guys we’re actually in the trenches cause why do i have a feeling we’ll get zero helaegon scenes before b&c😭😭😭

[reluctantbylerblog]

this is going to be controversial but I'm seeing a lot of people saying that if the duffers didn't want to be accused of queerbaiting then they would just come out and say byler is not going to happen but bffr if they did say that y'all would just say something like "they're just saying that to keep the twist a secret". like they could literally do a press release saying byler is not going to be canon and you would take it as byler proof. the truth is that we won't know until s5 and we should prepare for either outcome

[incesthemes]

i like the implication in 7.03 that sam had to do the research for john and dean, probably to protect him and keep him out of harm's way. which means that he's not necessarily bookish by choice but by circumstance. dad-assigned nerd (sam) and jock (dean)

[fatherramiro]

looking at the posts on the 1899 netflix instagram like “all i do is live in fear”

[mybrainproblems]

brain is just mii waiting room music as i consider where i've ended up in my supernatural fandom journey

[dreadfuldevotee]

Lmaoo I'm not surprised but in this Golden Derby talk back, Rolin is asked about the plan for doing yk. 12 more books of TVC and hes basically like "🤨 Ive got four. five Max in me" which I cant even be mad about

[decapodparty]

the fact that we didnt see cas dressed as a minister is not only a targeted crime but also proof of bad market researching