#i like that they're showing us this arc that he is literally just a guy

[anotherferalrat]

MINOR LINK CLICK BRIDON ARC SPOILERS

So likeee

Lu Guang being the secret prince of the Anime Club and a cosplayer was not on my Lu Guang Solo/Origin Arc bingo but uhhhh

Slay ig

(ONE OF US ONE OF US ONE OF US ONE OF U-)

[apatheticsunday]

Dead Serious Arranged Marriage

AKA "Damian al Ghul and the High King of Infinite Realms, Space, and the Dead are married because of some ritual Ra's al Ghul did when Damian was a baby. The Batfam only find out because Damian casually mentions his husband and they're like?? WHAT???" prompt idea!!

Loosely inspired by this post where Billy Batson & Danny Fenton accidentally get married and Billy spills the beans in front of the JL.

I love the idea of Ra's al Ghul knows Danny because of the Lazarus Pit; maybe Ghost King!Danny came to Ra's and was like, "You know unsanctioned resurrection is forbidden, right? You have to submit an Undead Appeal form in the afterlife. I'm gonna have to confiscate your Goop." But Ra's is a master manipulator and gets Danny to agree to a truce... a marriage with his grandson in exchange for continued use of the Lazarus Pit. Don't ask me how it happened; Ra's "wins" either way because his grandson gets married to a High King and he gets to keep his Goop.

(Because Danny's young, okay? Logistically speaking, he's not going to outsmart an immortal cult leader. Maybe sometime down the road Danny gets tired of Ra's talking circles around him and just, like, punches him in the face or something. Makes "Redemption Arc" Dan take care of it. Who knows?)

But for now, Danny is now married to a literal baby. He's confused as hell how this happened. He's like, omg, am I a groomer now?? Am I one of those creepy ancient kings that get married to 12 year old girls?? What the fuckkkk!!! So, he runs to the Ghost Zone. Goes off-world, maybe he gets swept up in Ghost King duties and totally forgets about it. The thing about the Ghost Zone is that the time dilation is different: a couple of days/weeks/months in the Ghost Zone is actual years on Earth. That's why Danny is still so young despite depictions of him going centuries back (time is even messier because he can actually time travel, too, so there may be paintings of him during the Aztec civilization but only because he was there for maybe a week or two.)

This leads to everybody on Earth thinking he's an Ancient Being. Ra's is elated that his grandson, the heir of the League of Assassins, is married to the equivalent of a God (he doesn't know that 99 percent of the time, Danny's lounging on Sam's couch in sweats and eating cheese puffs, watching melodramatic reality TV with Tucker).

And Damian grows up hearing about this legendary marriage, how this Great Ancient Being is his husband, and is... maybe scared? A little angry, resentful? He's had the choice taken from him from before he could even conceptualize it. He was a kid growing up thinking this All Powerful Being was watching his every move, judging him for not being the best like his Grandfather says, and waiting. He trains harder, learns more, maturing faster than anyone his age. And he's still waiting. Because the High King doesn't show up. Not when Damian's four, six, ten, twelve, fourteen. Damian thinks maybe he's not good enough yet despite vastly outdoing even the most seasoned senior assassins in the League.

Danny comes back to Earth and is like, oh, shit, I need to check on my baby!!! Except when he drops in on the League of Assassins, he's met with an angry, resentful, offended Damian al Ghul who's the same age as him. And Damian's met with.... some guy?? What the hell?? This can't be the High King of Infinite Realms, Space, and the Dead, Ancient Being, etc. He's heard so many stories of his husband, spanning centuries of different culture and in varying dead languages.

Needless to say, their introduction doesn't go great. But Danny wants to explain himself and make amends, and Damian's just baffled enough to listen. ("What do you mean, the Undead Siege of The Great Wall wasn't you???" "Yeah, that was the previous Ghost King. I've never risen an army of the dead before.") But as they talk, Damian begrudgingly accepts that his husband is... actually pretty cool (despite the god-awful sweatpants). Danny's recounting his various tales, usurping the previous Ghost King, and Damian even starts to respect Danny.

So, they keep talking. Keep meeting, learning about each other, becoming friends, and eventually becoming more. Damian originally thought Danny was too stupid for words, but quickly realizes that he's a great strategist, knowledgeable about a vast amount of stuff, and is incredibly loyal. Danny thinks Damian's deadpan bluntness is hilarious, understands Damian's pathological need to be the best (courtesy of the Demon Head's traumatic teaching during childhood), and is almost single-mindedly, unconditionally loyal. He's also incredibly petty, which is also hilarious.

Maybe years pass and they're now lovers, Danny sticking around Earth because he's scared if he goes into the Ghost Zone, he'll unintendedly come back when Damian's 90 or something. So, Danny's there when Talia takes Damian aside and says, "Bruce Wayne is your father. I'd like you to train under him before you become the new Demon Head."

Damian goes and Danny follows. When he worries about Tim usurping the title of Heir, Danny's there to say, "You don't make friends by attacking them, Dami! He's your family, not your enemy." The whole "Damian trying to kill Tim" thing doesn't happen. When he worries about disappointing his Father, Danny's saying, "He's your dad. He missed your childhood so he wants to get to know you - just be yourself." Damian doesn't act violently, aggressively, or is offensively provocative; he's still petty, painfully blunt, and exasperatingly self-confident, but he's also honest and thoughtful.

Damian transitions into the Batfam easier with Danny beside him (invisible, only showing himself while in Damian's room or when they're alone). Because Danny wants his husband to feel accepted, appreciated, and get the unconditional love that he never received while living with the LoA.

Let's imagine several months go by and the Batfam are totally comfortable with Damian. He's truly like their annoying younger brother. So, they're at family dinner, maybe Dick is discussing his relationship with Barbara and Steph makes a comment about when are you going to propose already?? Tim and Jason are ribbing him about commitment issues (Bruce is suspiciously silent, likely knowing that if he says something, his kids are going to verbally tear him apart for his Situationship with Selina).

And Damian says, "Many feel apprehensive to marry. I was not, of course, but my husband was very trepidatious."

The whole Batfam are like... what?? What do you mean the youngest kid of the Wayne household is the first to be married?? (Aside from Alfred, who's since divorced.) Is this even legal???

But Damian just continues on, "Perhaps discussing the progression of your relationship with Miss Gordon would be beneficial. Marriage should be consensual." (Damian learned that from Danny, who had offered to null their marriage in the early days. It was a heated conversation, Danny feeling guilty because he'd trapped Damian into this relationship and Damian feeling betrayed because what do you mean you're leaving me? This is unacceptable! They shared their first kiss after realizing neither one wants to end the marriage.)

And the Batfam, as comfortable as they are with Damian, knows he's a little like a feral animal. He doesn't share things about himself often. They don't want to scare him off by prying, even if Bruce is gripping the table cloth, sweating, and is looking pale. Because his child is literally married and God, please don't let it be to one of those old assassins in the League, please. So, Dick just says, "Uh, yeah. That's - thanks, kiddo, that's... a good idea."

Damian continues to make occasional comments about his husband, but nobody knows who it is. He doesn't use Danny's name. And Danny has to leave to do Ghost Stuff (despite being terrified of losing track of time, but Damian's now living with a loving family so he's kind of okay with being dragged off for his Kingly Duties). So, nobody's ever actually seen Danny.

Until the Joker decides to make his mark on the newest addition of the Batfam. He's already killed one Robin, traumatized the hell out of another, and paralyzed Batgirl. He's eager to add another of the Batfam to his roster.

Joker nor the Batfam anticipate the High King of Infinite Realms, Space, and the Dead to straight up portal Joker's ass into Frostbite's territory (aside from Damian because he absolutely knew what was going to go down the second he saw a glowing green aura illuminate the warehouse). One minute Joker is threatening a civilian Damian, whos' still dressed in his Gotham Academy uniform, and the next he's being violently yanked into a massive swirling void of green.

And who steps out? Ghost King Danny, in full kingly attire, including a wreathy crown of white-hot, broadsword hung on his hip, and a skull mask over his face. The Batfam are scrambling to get Damian's chains unlocked and haul him away from whatever-the-fuck that is. They get Damian unlocked, but he just snaps for them to desist your hysteria, Richard, 'that' is my husband.

(Cue the very tense family dinner afterward. Danny's in Damian's sweater and ripped jeans but the Batfam are just squinting at him like, how is this the same as that Thing from the warehouse?? Danny's totally oblivious, holding Damian's hand and saying, "Mr. Wayne, I love your home! The painted ceiling in that one from on the second floor is amazing, the constellations are actually super accurate!" He forgot that the Batfam had no idea he's visited Damian literally hundreds of times since he moved into Wayne Manor. Bruce looks like he's gained several greys in the last hour.)

(Bonus points if at some point Damian can be seen lovingly feeding Cheetos to Eldritch Monster Danny and the Batfam are just like that's... definitely not pants-shittingly terrifying... Bruce tells himself he's just glad his son isn't married to an LoA member.)

[tealvenetianmask]

I want to talk about a kind of troubling reaction I've been seeing to both Apology Tour and Ghostfuckers among parts of the fandom. The person is usually a reaction youtuber but sometimes someone writing on tumblr or twitter. They say something along the lines of "oh, I'm glad Blitz is being forced to confront his crimes/traumas/pain. This is the only way he will finally heal."

That's not how healing works.

I know that reaction youtubers don't always have the most developed takes because they're . . . you know . . . reacting in the moment. But I think it's still worth talking about.

I'm going set aside the people who seem to believe that Blitz needs to be punished for his crimes, and address those who genuinely think that getting a tidal wave of his own trauma in his face is what he needs to heal.

There's an attitude in contemporary culture that traumas are something people need to confront. As in, put on a brave face and dive in like a big boy. I blame capitalism, rugged individualism, and all the pieces of media that tie up a character's arc neatly by having them confront their darkest fears and insecurities. It can put a nice bow on things, but it isn't really how healing from trauma works.

Apology Tour:

Blitz gets confronted by a shit ton of people who hate him, at least some of whom are his exes, who he feels he's personally damaged. The decor and party games are all about killing and torturing him. Verosika confronts him about how much he hurt her. Oh, and then he sees the love of his life, who he's just recently pushed away, making out with another guy- proof, in his eyes, that Stolas is happier without him. And this all reflects the underlying fears he already has about who he is as a person (shown to us by Truth Seekers).

So what was the takeaway? Blitz came to the conclusion that he doesn't always want to be like this (good, but like . . . worth this much pain?). He flops on his steering wheel (relatable). He stops trying to reach out to Stolas (uh oh . . . ). He spends A MONTH spiraling in his own misery and making a mess of all aspects of his life until he's dragged out of it by a caring friend.

The party doesn't empower Blitz to change. It knocks him down and fucking traumatizes him (seriously, images of Stolas from the party show up later in his trauma reel) too much for him to be able to do actually work toward said change. I suspect that if left to his own devices, he would have kept spiraling for quite a while longer. It's one thing to want to change, and another to try to do so alone in the aftermath of a pile-on.

Ghostfuckers

After Blitz drags himself out of his hole of cheesy ice cream and despair to "play sex ghosts" (escapism, again, still knocked down by Apology Tour), infester demon Rolando picks him out as an easy target and assaults him, yes, assaults, with horrific images of his worst traumas and fears.

Not to state the obvious, but Rolando isn't interested in helping Blitz heal. He's trying to kill the guy. He wants to engulf Blitz in his trauma to the extent where he's consumed by it and loses the will to fight back. And as some excellent posts by others have pointed out already, he very likely would have succumbed if not for Millie's support.

Millie helps Blitz get through the onslaught by telling him about what makes him great and how he's improved her life and showing him love and care. And by literally beating the fucking infester out of him. Because there's someone in him who's hurting him, who's re-traumatizing him against his will. She takes him away from the reel of horrible memories.

So . . . do I think that confronting traumas can play a role in healing? Sure. But only if it's consensually (which neither of these situations are) and when the person trying to heal is ready. And most likely in small doses. No one's going and successfully confronting every horrible thing that's ever happened to them in one go.

And in my humble opinion, it's not going to work (for anyone, but especially not for Blitz) alone and without a healthy dose of kindness and compassion (both external and internal).

Blitz has a long road ahead of him toward healing, and it's going to be hard work on his part but also require love and support from the people in his life.

In a wonderful moment near the end of Ghosfuckers, Blitz and Millie work together to get Blitz's wrecked van unstuck and push it back through the portal into Hell. I love it because it's so simple and it kind of tells us everything we need to know. This sweet and salty gremlin has a lot of work ahead of him, but he doesn't have to do it alone.

[l0s3rd0wnt0wn]

YOU ONE OF THEM QUEERS???

Yandere Conner Kent x Weird black!reader

So what if you invited your brother's best friend to watch One Piece with you? He said he never had! What kind of psycho has never watched One Piece? You thought, but then again, the psycho was a test tube baby; he wouldn't know about the amazing run of Disney Channel back in the day, how it used to be, or how hyped everyone was for the Kaido fight with Luffy, or understand the cultural significance of a DBZ movie in theaters. You had to show this little lab rat the greatness of TV. Sure, he knows, but he doesn't know more. I mean, he never rushed home to watch Toonami after school. You had to teach him, and well, your little guinea pig was eager to know. Connor wanted to get closer to you in every way possible—be your best friend, be your favorite superhero, maybe even boyfriend if you catch the hints he's dropping. No, he doesn't just want to play Smash Bros; he wants you guys to be more than tag team buddies, but you'll only see him as something friendly. He calls you "babe," and you hit him with a "bro," you're breaking the poor boy's heart. He holds your waist; you think it's just a friendly gesture. He leans his head on your shoulder, smelling the cocoa butter you spread in your dreads and how it sticks to anything he wears. But to you, "Awe, the little guinea pig is sleepy," you teased, and this was the night you invited him over to the mansion. I mean, there's literally an entertainment room; it would be a shame not to watch the best story created by my man on a freaking projector!

"Wow, you're early; the popcorn ain't even poppin'!" you joked, a coy little smile on your face.

"I like being on time, babe," he smirked back, entering the mansion. "Hey, no boots, mister! This floor is hardwood, and I know you walk around in mud!" you warned, but there was still a playful edge to it.

“Ugh, babe, buy me a drink first before you see my feet!” Conner said with a big grin, and you made a fake gagging sound, causing the two of you to laugh. You took him by the hand and pulled him to the entertainment room.

"So how far are you in One Piece?" you asked. You forced him to watch it, but you couldn't call it force, because he watches it with you, telling him to listen and obey whatever you say. "Don't watch the movie; it's a waste of money." He was looking forward to it, but if you hate it, he hates it too. "Yuck, I hate the comic writer; he retcons almost everything if he can't fit it into a plot." If it's that bad, he won't read their comics.

"This fandom is pretty toxic, but come on, the merch is amazing! I mean, look at these MHA pins; they're too cute!" If you like those pins on your bag so much, then he'll wear a Todoroki pin on his leather jacket to make you smile.

You sat with Conner in the theater; it was the whole Cake Island arc. You were already on Wano, but Conner was new to the game, so you didn't mind going a couple of arcs back for him. His head was laid gently on your shoulder; you felt him sniff you and nuzzle his nose into your neck, which made you giggle.

"Dude, quit staring in. Try to pay attention; this is important for later arcs," you always say, but you're way more important to him.

"You say that every time," Conner huffed.

"Cause it is!" you gave a half-hearted laugh.

You looked down at him, and for some reason, the glowing light of the projector made you look stunning. The blue light cascading on your dark skin made you look so surreal, as if you weren't from this planet.

"Come on, Conner, just pay attention for a minute. I promise it'll be worth your while," you said softly. It felt so intimate, like you guys were in an actual movie theater, and you were like.

"Shhh, baby! We can't make out right now; the fight scene is happening." You're such a dense dork, but oh, it just makes it even better.

"Yeah, I'll pay attention." News flash: he won't. He'll be too busy staring at you and how your face lights up during the fights. His super hearing means he'll still listen, but he'd rather watch you, and maybe later he'll watch a YouTube video explaining the arc.

"God, I wish I were as cool as Sanji. He looks so wicked in that red cape! You know, you should really get a cape like that. I know your whole thing is leather jackets, but come on, you have to try out red. Plus, I heard it makes a person's eyes..." You trailed off as you turned to look at Conner, who had his full attention on you, and, God, it made you blush a slight purple.

"Shit, I'm rambling again. I know you don't want to hear me yap. Good, I feel like such a skeeze-"

"No, you're not," he said softly but firmly. It made you giggle like a schoolgirl.

"What?~" you said, nervously

"I like your voice a lot, baby." Now, when he says it like that, it doesn't feel like a cute little nickname he came up with.

"And I like it especially when you talk about shit you like. You're so passionate about it; you don't see that with regular people. You're so genuine," he continues, getting closer. You turn away, covering your face. God, you're such a dork. He just wants to take you right here and now, but that would be unlawful.

"So what, you think I'm cool or something?" You laughed with a half-hearted smirk.

"I think you're amazing, babe," he answered, grabbing your face to look at him, and you laughed, covering your mouth with your hand. This made Conner laugh too.

"I'm trying to be smooth, and you're laughing at me!" Conner chuckled.

"Smooth? Yeah, right! You're as smooth as the acne on my forehead!" Then you both burst out laughing, your foreheads connecting. "Goofy-ass motherfucker!" you said in between giggles.

"Come on, baby, you know I've moved some; they say I've got rizz~" You pushed Test Baby to the side, snorting.

"Who the hell lied to your bum ass?" you snickered.

"No one!" He protested.

"Uh-huh," you pulled yourself closer to him, wrapping your long arms around his neck. "You have no game."

"You just don't want to admit I'm cooler than you," he quipped.

"In your clone dreams," you snapped playfully.

"You're in my cloned dreams," he said, your face getting uncomfortably close; it made you laugh.

"That shit was corny as hell," and you and Conner giggled some more; he felt your touch ever so gently.

"Can I?"

"Can you?"

He then pressed his lips to yours, and Conner could have sweated as he ascended to another state of being. Your lips tasted like buttered popcorn and cheap soda—something he loved more than anything, especially if that flavor was you. He pulled you closer, his hands wrapping around your slim waist. Your hand was now placed on his cheek as you felt him slowly start to get on top of you, and you let him. And shit, who cares if you're kissing your brother's best friend? He should have called dibs by now.

You gasp for air, but Conner doesn't let you recover. He presses his lips against you hard this time, passionately. He has kissed a whole ton of people before, which gives him the experience you lack. You feel him suck on your tongue, and you whimper just a little, shivering. Is this how it feels to kiss? ‘Cause if it is, God fucking bless! You feel his gloved hand reach underneath your Wonder Man hoodie. You grab his arm and pull away. He hears the great Superboy whine like a puppy, and it makes you snicker just a little. Your hand that was on his cheek moves to his now swollen lips.

"Kon, pay attention; this part is important. This is when Luffy fights Katakuri, and we get to see his Devil Fruit," you whispered against his lips. Da fuck? You stopped good kissing and touching for an anime fight??

Your lucky he thinks your hot.

(Made this one while listening to chapple roan God I love that little lesbian)

[dysthoepiadaily]

I saw this take the other day on twitter, and it made me kind of annoyed bc... way to miss the point, and to show that Dan was right and that it was too niche for you, LOL.

People do like Dan because of his authenticity and wit, but also... it's not that simple. Dystopia Daily, in many ways, was extremely authentic in the emotion it was trying to convey.

I think dystopia daily was more of a commentary on just youtuber culture in general, the desperate need for youtubers to remain popular at around a time when they were losing relevance. This led to a lot of them desperately collabing with one another, "exposing" more and more of their private lives in hopes that the more they give to the camera, to the audience, the audience won't abandon them (Dan and Phil finally tell the truth, Dan's grandma explains the internet).

There's a sort of "giving the people what they want" aspect to it, as well... "This kitten cured my depression", an obviously hyperbolic title, but something the audience wants from him... People want a STORY with youtubers, a sort of triumphant arc, but youtubers aren't actually able to deliver that triumphant arc in the way that the audience wants, because youtubers aren't fictional characters, they're real people.

There's just a brutality in the performer/audience relationship. If the audience doesn't get what they want, they'll just abandon the performer, and the industry is COMPETITIVE, and really unfair. Some of the shittest and laziest content will get a lot of views, while others don't get views when their content is actually interesting and creative! The "literally just reading reddit and monetizing it" and "if I laugh I instantly die" videos have a higher view count than like... "Dan and Dodie do a duet". This is literally modern art, and that's sooo good!!!

The overproduction of it all is by design... It's the point, in many ways, that this guy is being extremely overpaid for content that is objectively bad, but people fall for that kind of thing every time, LOL. It is inauthentic, but it's inauthentic because the personality of Daniel Howell, the host of Dystopia Daily is terrible for youtube views. He's just not the guy he used to be.

Was it the best execution of this concept? I don't know, and I don't really think so (but I am of the belief that art should be easy to understand and this is a VERY debatable point). But, I do think the concept is unique and interesting enough to warrant praise, plus, I think Dan is an ideal person to tell this story... I also think it's hilarious that people were confused about what the fuck it was.

[cartierre]

BRUTAL OUT HERE | op81

SOCIAL MEDIA!AU oscar piastri x fem!singer!reader (fc: olivia rodrigo)

side note: the way i used to dislike oscar and now i'm so immensely proud of what he's achieved is crazy. what a character arc of me.

♡ liked by conangray, oscarpiastri, sabrinacarpenter and 238,495 others

yourusername i am beyond the moon happy and proud to announce that my debut album is out now in store and on all music platforms! having worked on this for so long, it feels like seeing my little child grow up 🫶🏻 my team and i invested a lot of time and effort into this and i'm insanely excited for you to experience it. let me hear your thoughts and opinion on this! 💜

view all 7,293 comments

user1 JUST LISTENED TO IT AND I AM NOT OKAY

user2 the way this captures the spirit of being a teenage girl so well ⤷ user3 she literally took my feelings and put it into words it's incredible

conangray i'm so proud of my babygirl comment liked by yourusername ⤷ yourusername ah stop! you helped me so much in the process, huge huge thank you for supporting me 🫶🏻😭 ⤷ user4 i love y/n's and conan's friendship so so much!

oscarpiastri 💜🖤 ⤷ user5 OSCAR?

♡ liked by conangray, landonorris, oscarpiastri and 201,394 others

tagged: conangray

yourusername the last few weeks have been absolutely crazy! i've recieved so much love and positive feedback for 'SOUR' ... i can't even describe how loved and appreciated i feel. i love you guys so much!

view all 6,283 comments

user6 you deserve this so much!! your music makes me feel so many emotions, it's incredible

user7 can't believe how far you've come! been listening to your solos for so long and now you have a whole album aaahh ⤷ user8 remember when she used to upload covers on youtube?

oscarpiastri insanely proud! comment liked by yourusername

user9 oscar is being a bit suspicious these days i don't trust him ⤷ user10 lando is also liking sooo something is brewing in the paddock for sure

♡ liked by conangray, madisonbeer, oscarpiastri and 302,183 others

yourusername my first performance here in melbourne (my hometown) felt so fucking special i'm in tears from how amazing you guys were! my official tour dates are coming soon!

view all 8,283 comments

user11 is it true that you and oscar are childhood friends ⤷ user12 what if they're dating ⤷ user13 what if sour is actually about him?

conangray ahhh i'm so proud of my bestie! comment liked by yourusername ⤷ yourusername couldn't have done it without your pep talk

user14 someone said sour is about oscar and y/n's former relationship? ⤷ user15 is this confirmed?

oscarpiastri what an amazing show 💜 comment liked by yourusername

♡ liked by landonorris, oscarpiastri, sabrinacarpenter and 328,283 others

tagged: oscarpiastri, landonorris

yourusername cat's out of the bag thanks to this dingus

view all 8,094 comments

user16 no because it's kinda sweet they revealed their relationship during oscar's homerace (even if it was accidental) ⤷ user17 and her having had her first concert a week ago in melbourne as well (which he attended) like since when is melbourne so romantic like that

oscarpiastri i already told you i'm really really sorry ⤷ yourusername save your apology and gimme a kiss

landonorris great so now i see your annoying asses in real life AND on social media ⤷ yourusername haters gonna hate

user18 but... i wanna know who the album is about then ⤷ user19 real like babes let us knoooowwww

user20 i love childhood friends to lovers aaahh comment liked by yourusername

[jyndor2]

okay forGET the pre-andor cassian backstory being stolen from us, whatever. EVEN with the kenari backstory, even with ferrix, IT MAKES NO SENSE for cassian to "need" someone else to make him commit to the rebellion.

jesus christ just age his ass down in s1 to 16 or 17, have all of these arcs occur shortly after he joins up for real (17-19) and then it sort of works better.

the cassian we see is EXHAUSTED. holding on desperately to hope because he has been following orders, orders when he knows they're wrong as jyn says, for so long that he has to literally have a DEEPLY pivotal moment in the eadu rain to cleanse him of his "sins" and tranform into a new man, a man who rejects orders when he thinks they are wrong. THAT is why that scene is so powerful! because everything about cassian in rogue one leading up to that moment screams exhaustion and desperation.

it's bad enough that with the retcons in s1, cassian is basically a middle class guy (even if he is a refugee) talking down to a literal former child soldier who is homeless at 16, who has been let down by the rebellion time and again. for him to do that when he is supposedly way older than jyn when he FINALLY commits to the rebellion?

forget how insulting it is to have bix caleen, a literal crack comms girlie and mechanic (both skills that are seriously necessary in revolutions), basically play housewife the whole season except when she's being sexually assaulted, getting high and randomly having her girl boss 2015 era bad bitch scene that makes NO sense for her either. but to have CASSIAN, a literal indigenous refugee of genocide "need" to have anyone else explain to him the necessity of revolution (aka s1) or to have anyone force him to commit to revolution is not only insulting, it DOES NOT TRACK WITH ROGUE ONE AT ALL.

it turns him into a guy who actually is completely wrong for snapping back at jyn on eadu. in the scene, they are both wrong and both right - and they are lashing out in a moment of vulnerability and honesty. it should be a massive payoff after 24 episodes of a cassian andor prequel.

i'm not worried about MY enjoyment of rogue one after andor because i'm in the rogue one fandom - ignoring dumbass canon is like rule #1 of this fandom lmfao. i can handwave and ignore a lot of nonsense. and I will - already to me this shit is cassian as a teenager, fuck it. but I wonder if when andor fans begin to do the marathons of andor into rogue one, if we might start to hear more conflicting feelings on how smooth the transition from the show to the film is.

there are people who have never seen rogue one and who are waiting to watch it when andor ends. i mean i feel for them tbh because i doubt the payoff is actually going to work as well as it did pre-andor.

jyn and cassian are the heart of rogue one. i happen to think that it is a love story, as it clearly was always INTENDED to be one, but even if someone doesn't think that... it's clear their relationship is the core of rogue one. unless the final arc sticks the landing and jyn erso starts to haunt the narrative again (because where the fuck has her presence been in s2??? s1 had her all over it) i feel like the sudden connection between jyn and cassian is gonna come out of left field for more casual viewers of rogue one after andor.

i still have not finished this arc but i will be tonight. and im sure im gonna be mad lol

[avelera]

Saw someone say that jayce is narcissistic, and maybe media literacy is dying

I think Jayce has an ego, to be clear. But I don't think it's in any way excessive or pathological and indeed, I think he shows a lot of humility given his actual accomplishments. There's a bunch points I could make make on this.

From a story perspective:

Jayce's character arc is a subverted corruption arc and once it's subverted, it launches Viktor's actual corruption arc. But in order for Jayce's subverted arc to work, we have to believe he has a real potential of falling prey to his worst instincts, so we have to truly believe narcissism is a risk for him.

In addition to that, they had meta knowledge of Jayce Giopara, his League counterpart, to set up an expectation of a corruption/narcissism arc, so many people came into the story expecting Jayce to be an asshole. But this is Jayce Talis, not Jayce Giopara and it turns out, they're completely different characters (who would probably hate each other lol).

Arcane and Fortiche do an incredible job in S1 with their sleight of hand with Jayce seeming like an asshole. On the first watch, at least for me, I think I got the surface level of what they were going for, which is being meh to negative on Jayce, seeing mostly his flaws and mistakes.

Like, one example of Fortiche's sleight of hand is the moment Jayce gets on stage is probably the moment he seems most egotistical, most like he's going to start bulldozing Viktor to achieve his own glory. Except he invites Viktor on the stage, and then when Viktor gives him a clear, "No" he very graciously does not push Viktor any further, and then he goes up there and he does what his wiser mentor asked by not pushing a dangerous innovation before it's ready (I actually thing Heimerdinger was in the wrong there). But they also drop the mug over Viktor's face in what seems like a sign of Jayce's corruption but what later turns out to be Viktor's POV of how the Man of Progress image comes between him and Jayce from Viktor's point of view, even though Jayce is constantly reaching out to him and trying to include him. Again, subverted corruption arc, but it's hidden in the details.

Then, on each subsequent rewatch (of MANY) I began to like Jayce a little more, began to look beneath the surface more, and began to see things from his point of view instead of through the surface level direction and blocking of a scene. And the closer I watched/read the more I began to think, "Wait a minute, is this guy actually kind of a sweetheart and most of the "bad" things he did were out of his control??" Then of course, S2 Jayce's arc came in and blew the doors off my heart, but the basis of that character was there from the beginning.

But there are other things Fortiche/Arcane do to make Jayce seem egotistical but which on closer analysis are just sort of... normal things to do or are common with a lot of people from Piltover?

Preening and fixing his tie in a mirror while Viktor does research seems egotistical, it's a way egotistical characters are often signaled in visual arts. But actually, it's pretty normal to try to look your best before an important meeting or event, and the reason he's doing this while Viktor is working is so Jayce can spare Viktor this headache. Jayce would rather be in the lab too! But he goes out there and acts as the face of Hextech because one of them needs to do it. Don't get me wrong, Jayce could also like to look nice, but I think it matters that he's not seeking out a political career, it is literally thrust upon him and then he rises to the occasion.

Jayce is super duper buff, like insanely buff, in a way that feels like it should lead to egotism, but then we learn it's just a natural outcome of the fact he works with his hands. He doesn't really seem to notice it, or try to make use of it. If anything, he tends to cover up his musculature when not working, he wears his suits buttoned to the throat and wrists. His outfits do accentuate his already insane shoulders, but that's actually really a common look in Piltover, Caitlyn's uniform has the same shoulder pauldrons you'll notice. And his outfits are pretty tight which is really just a gift to all of us (lol) but again, is actually just pretty common in all Piltover fashion, people tend to wear form-fitting clothes there.

Jayce is clean-cut and clean shaven in a way that evokes a lot of pretty boy bullies. It makes his face seem extremely punchable, especially when he's mugging for the camera as the Man of Progress. But personally, I take that look as part of his people-pleasing. This does fall more into the headcanon range, but I'd point out that he's a big guy, one of the tallest in the show, with broad shoulders and what could be an intimidating build. But instead of trying to look intimidating, he leans into his boyishness, he tries to look like, "A nice young man."

I'd argue his look is actually him trying not to look threatening, because when he stops giving a fuck post-Anomaly, he stops shaving or cutting his hair and he looks super freakin' intimidating immediately (and hot as hell omg) but like, now he's a big guy with a beard and shaggy hair and he takes up space and you realize how much he's been avoiding taking up space or looking intimidating before that when he very much could at any time.

Look, Jayce is a good looking guy. I do think he has some ego. He takes care of his appearance, he dresses well, and he works at being perceived a certain way. But the idea that he cares about being the Man of Progress or that he is presenting himself for ego reasons is just... footage not found. I think he's got a normal guy level of ego and even is very humble considering what he's accomplished. And I think people are underestimating how much of his apparent "preening" is actually self-effacing and trying to present a polite, deferent image to others (he often stands with his hands behind his back when speaking to someone of higher rank, for example). The clothes he wears in public are mostly uniforms in S1, either an Academy uniform denoting him as an academic, or the House Talis colors to show him as a member of a House, which is how Piltover society functions. He does dress differently in the lab, but I'd argue not in a flashy way.

Anyway, I just like this guy a lot and got carried away rambling about him. I don't want to overcorrect and say he has NO ego but I would say he has a lot LESS ego than S1 Jayce haters would acknowledge.

[tocappuccinosintheclouds]

Wanna hear some deranged ramblings about lighting and possible character arc reflections in them?

so every time I watch "Free Fall" and this shot comes up, I find myself fascinated by the lighting decision, and like yes the primary intentional point of it is to convey that they're meeting under this cover of darkness so stay hidden from view, but if we want to get fun and overly analytical about it 👀

Firstly let's get one thing clear: I'm gonna talk about "darkness" and "light" as characterizations, and by this I'm not talking about "evil" and "good." I don't think Peter is bad or evil in any way, and I don't think Neal is pure and good lmao. This is mostly a perspective of the moral gray area around legalities and the pursuit of justice the show later takes on

Anyway, let's start with the obvious: Peter's in the dark because he's only just now learning all the information that Neal is telling him about Fowler, he was metaphorically in the dark and Neal (the light) is now filling him in

But here's where I'll take a leap: This represents the beginning of turning to "the dark" to get things done aka doing things in ways that break rules and conventions that he typically would be really strict of for the sake of the better good. He knows, now, that Neal is innocent, but the "right way" to do things isn't working for this case. He has to help Neal to serve justice, and to help Neal he has to do things like Conceal a Criminal, and Aid and Abet. Peter shortly before this shot lets Neal escape and purposefully sends Fowler on a wild goose chase, telling him exactly the wrong information that we know Peter doesn't believe in from the Pilot:

Now, to me, this is the first time Peter starts actively breaking rules/laws/morals for the sake of both the greater good/justice and just, plainly, for Neal. You could argue that he does this in "The Portrait" but I feel like that exists more in a grey area because of the facts that he doesn't know Neal stole it and that Neal comes to him with a plan of how to use the painting in a way that works within Peter's guidelines. Peter isn't actively breaking any of these himself, he's just kind of ignoring the fact that Neal did something and letting it play out in his favor. In "Free Fall" though is when Peter starts becoming an active participator in these choices. Peter let Neal run, and now he's coated in darkness.

Neal's perspective is a little more vague and less about direct choice happening in this episode, more so just his general character arc. It’s the light of “good” shining on him, guiding him. He’s spent so many years up to this point truly believing that his core is rotted out, that his blood is the blood of a criminal. But here there’s the small light of “good” is placed over him and him alone. In an episode where he’s being framed as the criminal, where everyone, even Peter, didn’t believe in him, Neal’s inner “good” light is still shinning.

On top of that, Peter’s shadow is literally apart of Neal’s light. There’s two ways to view this: 1) Peter is the one guiding Neal’s light, casting that light of “good” over him. 2) It’s Peter’s “dark side” meeting Neal’s “good side.” It’s a metaphysical representation of the gray area between “good” and “bad” that the two are going to create. I flip back and forth between which of these interpretations I think are “more important,” but in this moment I think the representation of Peter and Neal’s gray zone, of them meeting in the middle between light and dark so that they can, overall, do good and put away the bad guys is the winner.

Anyway the lighting in this scene and the possible metaphors make me feral and I hope I infected others 😂

[phantosss]

some changes i would have made to the characters storylines in tua s4

disclaimer: i am no writer, it's just fun to think about the possibilities. btw anyone feel free to use any of these ideas for fics idc

lila doesn't cheat for starters. instead she and diego have both been secretly doing vigilante missions and keeping it from the other because they think they'll be mad. on one of these missions the two run into each other and rekindle their spark. basically the five and lila story but with diego and lila instead thanks. maybe one or both of them almost die or their kids are put in danger, and they decide to find a much less dangerous hobby, because while its thrilling in the moment they realize they wouldn't sacrifice their family for it

luther is shown to be much more depressed about sloanes absence (if there really is no way for her to come back) but he's trying to hold it together to be there for his family. would be nice if he bonded with characters like klaus, viktor or allison who have also lost their lovers. diego and lila shenanigans means they need luther to babysit a lot and luther finds happiness caring for his nieces and nephew. maybe he also finds a fulfilling job where he can meet a lot of people and help others.

five still finds the time subway but without lila. we get more time exploring the alternate timelines and seeing different ways the apocalypse has happened including ways the other sibs have ended the world. his PTSD and reliving his trauma is also explored. he eventually ends up in the five diner where he's told that they end the world every time but instead of excepting defeat and making everyone sacrifice themselves he finds another way (what exactly that is im not so sure) and becomes the first and only five to successfully prevent the apocalypse forever

allisons relationship with claire and ray are explored more heavily as well as everything she did in s3. i like the idea that she takes care of klaus because 1: hes the only sibling that will still talk to her and 2: because of the guilt she feels after getting him killed. i just wish her arc focused on something OTHER than saving klaus because thats basically all she did this season. would be nice if she spent more time with viktor and luther the two people she wronged most heavily in s3.

i would keep viktors confrontation with reggie but alternatively i would make this reginald umbrella reginald so it has much more weight to it. either that or have viktor express that even though he said his piece toward this reggie he will never actually get closure with their real father and nothing will remove the pain from his childhood. the rest i would keep pretty similar. reginald wants to kill ben and viktor wants to stop him at any cost. viktor knows what its like to be "the bomb" and doesn't want the same thing that happened to him to happen to ben. instead of working together to find ben however they're more in a race against eachother. maybe allison joins him and they make up on the way. i would have liked for ben and viktor to have had a heart to heart in the beginning of the season, maybe about how ben felt like a monster sometimes because of his powers, and viktor relating. idk how this would work with sparrow ben because he doesn't seem to hate his powers the same way brelly ben did but it would have been nice to show another reason why viktor is going through so much trouble to save him. and the ending where he trys to talk him down would be more impactful i think.

for klaus i would keep everything pretty much the same up until he runs into that quinn guy. instead i would have him travel to the subway with five in lilas place. five and klaus' powers are the most mind boggling out of the bunch not to mention time and death are inherently intertwined and this needed to be explored. also, you're telling me klaus literally has the power to talk to GOD and this never has any plot relevance???? klaus should have been involved in finding the solution to the apocalypse imo. also we needed klaus and ben interactions. idk how or when but it NEEDED to happen

ben and jennifer being the catalyst for the apocalypse is making it very hard for me to figure what to do with him tbh. i just wish he had more time with the other sibs and didn't turn into a horrific blob monster at the end 😭he felt less like a character this season and more like a plot device and he deserved to have some scenes that actually fleshed him out. it would have been cool if the reason he causes the apocalypse was actually because of his powers and not just because he happened to be the one to make skin contact with jennifer. i really thought that the twist was gonna be that the squid that jennifer was stuck in was the one that ben summons and that was why they were connected. not the fact that they both just had reactive magic particles in them that anyone could have set off. like what if jennifer being cut out of the squid was what killed ben?

OH! what if jennifer was an eldritch horror from the same dimension that bens tentacles are from and for some reason she wants to kill the brellys/end the world and because bens powers are linked to her she can control his mind ???? c'mon i feel like i've got something here

a have a couple of other ideas but don't know where they would fit in rn so yeah.

[pynkhues]

Anything particularly interesting said during the q&a?

Lots actually! It was a really good Q&A.

Michael (creator) talked quite a bit about the original premise for the show being about a lavender marriage between a nurse (Helen) and a reporter (Dale), and while their characterisations haven't changed tremendously, the show itself has, and putting Helen in the newsroom changed a lot of things.

He pitched the show to Jo Werner about 8 years ago, and Emma Freeman was immediately on board as director, so they really got to grow the show together as the creative team has been consistent since then. It means they're all really proud of it.

One of the major changes they made during development was about brining in the actual archive news footage and structuring it around those events, which was a big shift and a huge ask of their writers, but it's paid off.

Bringing in the cast though added another layer to creative collaboration, and especially in s3, all the cast, especially Anna and Sam got to do quite a bit of improvising.

Michelle Lim Davidson, who plays Noelene (and is s t u n n i n g in person, omg) was also brought into the writers room each season to help really root Noelene in her Korean-Australian heritage, and she said s3 feels like a culmination of that and will be an important part of the season. She got very emotional about it and said really beautiful things about what Noelene has meant to her and the pride she has in representing Korean-Australian women, and Asian-Australian women on TV. Also! Michael kept hyping her up as a playwright, and I googled when I got home and her writing debut is on at Griffin Theatre in June, so Sydney folks should get on that!

It seems to be a Noelene-and-Rob-figuring-stuff-out heavy season, and I am delighted by that, because I have a huge soft spot for them.

The scene where Noelene gives birth has made Jo cry every time she's seen it (which Michael estimates is about 40 times haha) and they're all really proud of it as a scene.

Stephen Peacocke had a very hilarious tangent here about Rob's arc, and talked a bit about Australian football and the VFL and stepping into that as a Sydney actor, but also enjoying playing a character who just stays out of the fray (and this season being about realising that he loves that his wife is in it and wants to support her).

Also a Helen-tackling-her-mental-health heavy season, and Anna and Michael literally went to therapy together with her in character to figure out how to start writing Helen in therapy (amazing).

There's a big confrontational scene between Helen and Dale late in the season that involves this, and the way they shot it meant Michael and Emma had to hide in a pantry together lmao. It also meant Anna and Sam got to do quite a bit of improv because none of them could see each other.

Sam said that when he started, both Michael and Emma told him the show doesn't work if Helen and Dale aren't in love with each other, even if it's a type of being in love that we're not used to, and that's basically the emotional root of their relationship and the show.

Michael reiterated a couple of times that the show is a tragedy (RIP us), which particularly came up with a question about Gerry. Emma had to convince Michael of the last shot of Gerry, but now he really loves it, because he wants to tear Dale down for betraying him, but sees him and realises Dale's a broken man.

They were asked a bit about what news stories they'd adapt if it was set in modern times, and the general consensus was that there were too many (Sam said he's not really a 'news' guy lmao), but Michael said COVID and Trump, and Sam said Dale would probably end up on Fox News which was the no. 1 most heartbreaking thing he could say, haha.

They were asked if they could play any other role on the show, who would they pick, and Stephen picked Dennis, and both Michelle and Sam picked Lindsay, which is hilarious.

(Emma interjected there with the fact that Lindsay is the character they get the most feedback on, mostly in the sense of omg, I've worked for a guy exactly like that).

Then they were asked if they took anything from set - Emma had taken Dale and Helen's business cards, and Sam didn't even realise they had business cards and seemed lowkey jealous about not getting them, haha, Stephen had a pair of trackies (sweat pants, for Americans), Michelle had nothing because Noelene loves knick-knacks and Michelle hates them, and Sam apparently has stolen or been gifted half the set - he was gifted Dale's 80s TV for his birthday, and he's kept Dale's computer, among other technology, apparently, haha, his wig, and a pair of high waisted blue jeans that were custom-made for him by the costume designer and feature in the finale, which I am now very much looking forward to seeing, haha.

That's all I can remember right now, I'm sure more will come to me in the morning!

[hana-a-chattic]

Tsukishima's arc is (kinda) subversive and I need to talk about it!!

Also known as: Tsukkiyama is so everything for me pt 3 (but it's not shipper-y, it's about canon)

Haikyuu!! is definitely a Shōnen Jump series, with great execution of old & gold tropes: the "light" and "darkness" double protagonists, multiple rivalries, training arcs and tournament arcs one after another etc. But Tsukishima Kei's character arc, specifically, kinda... breaks? and maybe even makes fun of the classics? (Which, if it is- very fitting for Tsukishima, huh)

You're probably familiar with "talk no jutsu" meme. In case you're not - it comes from the prequel to absolute banger series Boruto (I know this joke is overused. I like it, leave me alone), which involved its main character resolving so. many. troubled characters' arcs by leading them to light with his mid-battle speeches about hardships and hope and friends and trust, that people couldn't help but meme it. However, Naruto is indeed one of generation-defining sort of series, and as overused as it may be, this plot point creates many a powerful, emotional moments.

Haikyuu!!, of course, also does this. Having Hinata first blindly (literally and figuratively) trusting Kageyama, then (also literally and figuratively) grabbing Yachi's hand to help her take a step forward. Oh, also giving Asahi a thing or two to think about? All that jazz.

And I, personally, fully expected this to happen with Tsukishima. When the time comes, it will be mostly left to Hinata to, Idk, annoy him into character development I guess? This is shōnen, he's the "I can show you the world~" hero, that's just how it is, right?

Wrong.

We get the tense lead up. We get the flashback. We get the "Can ye help him, o protag-kun?" scene with Yamaguchi. And Hinata goes, basically: Uhhh... seems kinda like a you problem? 🤨 (Off-topic, but I l-o-v-e this as a Hinata character moment, too. This was maybe when I started legit liking him: realising how actually emotionally mature he is? The dude knows when it's not his time to get into someone else's mess, he sees the "do not enter" sign and is chill about it. I'm so sad this part of him gets overlooked so often)

The dialogue here is very simple, but very significant:

"Hinata, what would you say to Tsukki? Like you did to Kageyama and Yachi" <...> "What would you say to Tsukishima, Yamaguchi?"

This is where my theory that this is a little jab comes in - because in meta way, you can read this as, wouldn't it make more sense if the person he's connected to the most would be the one doing the talking? Not the random passerby protagonist like y'all like to do. But maybe I'm just weird. Even without any sort of meta reading though, this is still a great character writing.

Because yeah, why would Hinata talk to the guy? They don't even like each other. Hinata says it as it is: I have no idea what his deal is, there's nothing for me to say. They're also very different people, and whatever Hinata would say, honestly, is likely to not even resonate with Tsukishima. And that's not even accounting for the fact that Tsukishima might not listen to Hinata, at all. With all his defensive walls that Hinata is never shown to be invited inside or breaking through. But it's told to us ahead of this with visual language that Yamaguchi is.

Yes, I am talking about the headphones off while they walk together despite both being silent scene. Which seems a pretty obvious showcase of Kei's willingness to listen, if not him actually waiting for Yamaguchi to say what's on his mind.

And- of course it's him! If there's anyone there Tsukishima might allow himself to not build a front for, that would be the childhood friend who's known him since elementary school. Who knows him inside and out. Who knows why he's like this. With anyone else, it would be so easy to brush them off by a simple "You don't know what you're talking about, why do you even care". But... Yamaguchi knows. And Yamaguchi cares. Because that's his best friend. And Yamaguchi is the one person Tsukishima never just brushes off, actually, if you pay attention.

It had to be Hinata.

But in Haikyuu!!, it had to be Yamaguchi. To get Tsukishima Kei moving, it had to be his caring, supportive, strong-willed but not pushy, and very, very cool best friend.

P.S. For ppl who wanna say this type of rule-breaking isn't that uncommon nowadays, please also note Haikyuu!! did this in 2014, ie 10+ yrs ago.

[lemotmo]

For the interview crowd

Q. I know you, and many others, keep saying that the interviews are meaningless, and I get that to a point, but they can't be completely useless or they would simply stop doing them. So it's not entirely unreasonable for them to make us anxious or unsure.

A. It's absolutely unreasonable that they make you all spiral every single week. They literally cannot answer half the questions they get asked. The interviews this week were a hot mess. Complete word salads all the way around. And they're only going to get worse. Answering the questions honestly spoils the entire storyline and they're not ever going to do that. The expectations you all have for these interviews are simply unrealistic. You want Oliver, Ryan and Tim to tell you outright that Eddie is going to discover/admit that he's really been gay this entire time and he and Buck will be a couple by the end of the season. They are never going to do that. And every week when they don't do that you all doom spiral. You convince yourselves that what the episodes are very clearly showing don't matter because Oliver didn't explicitly state that 'Oh absolutely Buck is head over heels in love with Eddie and we will explore that more in the coming episodes'. He cannot say anything close to that, but come on guys. The video of that interview told you everything. He smiled every time he had to lie. He is the worst liar. They are at the beginning of a storyline they have clearly put effort into setting up. It's not their fault you don't have the patience to allow it to unfold.

Everything that is happening now is for the benefit of the general audience. Not the shippers. There is no way they can tell this story in a way that will please every shipper. Zero chance of that so they're not focusing on us. Their priority is getting the general audience on board. That is what these last 3 episodes have been about. They have to put the general audience in a position to start looking at their dynamic in a different way. Look, they could put Eddie in a basket, send him down the river and have him pop out and declare the water made him gay and I literally would not care. It would be ridiculous and embarrassing but I wouldn't care. I would be like 'great! Let's go!'. Don't care. Many shippers on the other hand have very specific ideas of how Eddie's arc should go. And they will refuse to allow themselves to enjoy his arc going any other way. Prior to 8x11 I was convinced that Eddie would be unlabeled. I was almost sure that they were going to go the route of saying Eddie was in love with Shannon and now he's in love with Buck. No more, no less. Because they have doubled so far down on Eddie's love for Shannon, to the point that they made him borderline obsessive about it last season, that making him gay is now an awkward writing choice. But they went so far in the opposite direction in episode 11 with the constant declaration that he's straight, and that kind of thing is just such a massive he's actually gay warning sign, that making him gay now seems like something the show might be doing. But I don't care what he ends up declaring about himself. I only care that he ends up with Buck. And the reality is that that's all the show cares about as well. They haven't even bothered to let Buck label himself as bisexual yet. The label is not what they care about. They have to get both characters out in order to put them together. That's what the show cares about, and the show will go with whatever storyline is easier for the general audience to buy. Period. They have been very consistent with letting this Buddie storyline play out as the B plot in multiple episodes, which is such a good idea. It allows their relationship to stay at the forefront of the audience's minds, and I look for that to continue. That means the interviews will only get more convoluted because they are going to stretch it out over several episodes. There's nothing I, or anyone else, can say to you all at this point. We explain it weekly and every week some anti on Twitter convinces you all that it's all a massive gotcha by the show. It's not. But you're going to continue to believe that it is, and I'm not going to keep trying to tell you otherwise anymore because you clearly want to believe it at this point. Prepare yourselves now though because Tommy is probably coming back for at least one more episode because his plot device role has been made clear now. He's the safe choice for Buck. He's the embodiment of Buck's pattern and the show will need to establish Buck actively choosing to break that pattern by actively choosing Eddie. Tommy gave himself away last night. He's willing to be who Buck settles for. He's made himself the safe choice which means Buck has to show his growth by rejecting that choice.

Thank you Nonny! Much appreciated!

Yeah I agree. These interviews are fun, but ultimately meaningless. Watch the show and draw your own conclusions. It'll tell you so much more about where this is all going, than reading all the interviews that just beat around the bush.

And yeah... that Oliver video? Come on! The man cannot lie. It's so obvious where this is going.

As for the Buddie storyline? I don't care either how they get Eddie out and get Buddie together. I am past having any kind of expectation about this storyline. I am simply SAT for every single episode and I will consume whatever it is they want to feed me. Even more, I'll be happy about it, because it'll bring them together.

I genuinly don't care anymore. I've been here for 7 seasons now, doing this slow burn Buddie dance. I just want them together, because it is what they deserve. I love these characters so much. They deserve the kind of love they can only give each other.

I do think they might still keep Eddie unlabeled though. I'm not convinced they'll actually make him say that he is gay. Only time will tell what Tim has decided to do with Eddie and I'm willing to wait it out.

Buddie canon soon you guys. Trust! 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Since canon has unfortunately created a situation that hinders Marinette’s overall growth and produces new unrelated flaws, what do you consider her “core character” flaws to be?

To answer this we need to first discuss the concept of flaws and how they're not always a thing that the person has to overcome. We'll then discuss some options for Marinette keeping in mind that adaptation is an art, not a science. There is no one true Marinette.

On Why Flaws Can Be Good

When you hear the term "character flaw," there's a good chance that you assume that we're discussing a trait that the character needs to fix or a trait that will be the character's downfall (their "fatal flaw" in technical terms). This is perfectly reasonable. That's the main way that these terms get used, but there is a third option. Characters can have flaws that they never overcome without said flaws holding them back from victory. The lack of growth won't even make the victory feel hollow to the audience because the audience won't feel like the character needs to grow for the victory to be earned.

To explain what I mean, we're going to quickly discuss one of my favorite shows. Don't worry, we won't get into spoilers. I'm just going to give you the basic premise and discuss why that allows the writer to tell a great serialized story where most of the main characters are stagnant. Any character arcs you get are minor ones involving side characters. We'll then relate that back to Miraculous.

The show in question is an anime call Dr. Stone and the premise is as follows: on June 3rd 2019 a green light enveloped the planet Earth. That light turned every human on the planet into a stone statue. Several thousand years go by without anyone breaking free. This allows all of human civilization to rot and decay away leaving nothing but the stone statues that were once human beings. Then, in the year 5738, a guy named Senku breaks free of his stone prison and vows to save all of humanity through the awesome power of science.

This could lead to a story about an arrogant man who thinks that he doesn't need anyone else so long as he has science only for him to learn that he's wrong and he does need others, but that's not what Dr Stone is about. Right from the start, Senku is fully aware that he can't do it all alone. He is always willing to admit to his own flaws and seek help when he needs it. The character that you meet in episode one is basically unchanged as of season four. The same goes for most of the other characters you meet along the way.

Why does that work? Because major character arcs aren't required for good story telling. They're important to many stories, but not all stories. It all depends on what the story is trying to do.

In the case of Dr. Stone, giving Senku an arc about learning to appreciate others would arguably hold the story back because there's already an insane amount of work that he needs to do. He is literally starting with nothing but natural resources and working his way up to modern technology. That's enough of a challenge without slapping on personal growth as a bonus challenge. The story simply doesn't have time for Senku to have a journey of self discovery nor does it need one to be good. That just isn't the kind of story it's telling.

This doesn't mean that Senku is perfect. He has no tact, questionable morals, and is your standard physically weak nerd who has no stamina. These flaws weren't introduced to hold him back, though. They're introduced to make him human and to allow the story to introduce a wider cast of characters who have the strengths he lacks. The first one you meet is Taiju, Senku's best friend. Taiju has none of Senku's genius, but he's physically strong and has incredibly stamina, allowing him to balance out one of Senku's biggest flaws. This is where we circle back to Miraculous.

How Flawed Should Marinette Be?

What flaws you give Marinette and how big a deal they are all depend on what kind of story you're trying to tell. Do you want to tell an episodic show where no one changes outside of the occasional special? Do you want to tell a serialized story where characters are allowed to have arcs? Do you want Marinette to be like Senku - flawed but not in a fatal way that requires fixing - or do you want to give her flaws that truly require character growth? It's entirely up to you. In fact, a story that goes the episodic route and/or the Senku route can give her the exact same flaws as a story that goes the serialized "fix her" route.

To explain what I mean, let's list the three traits that I consider Marinette's core "flaws" based on her writing in the first two seasons:

Marinette has a tendency to overthink things if you give her too much time to think

Marinette is more of a reactive thinker than a proactive thinker

Marinette is a fixer, not a listener. She wants to solve your problems not be your shoulder to cry on

If you're telling a story where Marinette is a solo hero, those first two are massive flaws that she needs to overcome. If you're telling a story about a team of heroes, then these are just the reasons that Marinette needs a team. The team path is my preference, so I wouldn't change a thing about her as that would remove her need for a team. At most, she'll get an arc about owning her flaws and learning when she needs to let others take charge.

This can be something as simple as her letting Chat Noir be the one to handle comforting akuma victims because she kind of sucks at it or something as complex as letting Alya lead the investigation to find the butterfly because Marinette's overthinking tendencies make it impossible for her to come up with a good way to do that. You're still having Marinette's flaws drive the story, just not via a character arc. Instead, it's all about relationship building and showing why Marinette can't do it all.

This is in direct contrast to Adrien who should get some character growth because his focus is more on himself while Marinette gets to focus on the team. His flaws and needs are the main driving force on the civilian side of things while Marinette's flaws and needs are the main driving force on the hero side of things, it's just that Adrien's issues lead to personal growth while Marinette's lead to team growth. And note that I'm taking high level stuff here. Marinette can have civilian conflicts and Adrien can have hero ones, they just won't be common.

There are other elements of Marinette's character that can be flaws if you want them to be or you can just reframe them into interesting story complications. My personal favorite to reframe is her inability to confess, turning it from a flaw to a logical choice that she doesn't really need to overcome, making it fine if she never confesses because the lack of confession wasn't a weakness.

I discuss this in more detail here, but if Marinette's crush was on Chat Noir instead of Adrien and she was keeping it a secret for the sake of not messing up their partnership, then it's no longer a flaw. There is solid logic behind her choice. It's selfless for her to put Paris above her crush.

Marinette has other flaws we could talk about, but they didn't come into play until the later seasons and I think they were generally terrible choices, so I wouldn't add them. You don't need to make her controlling or overly obsessed with keeping Chat Noir in the dark. Those were just a delaying tactics added so the story never ends and I like to let stories end by limiting the unnecessary complications. I would give Marinette a mini arc about being reluctant to take on the Ladybug mantel, but that's just a minor starting arc to have some early story tension. I wouldn't make it a big deal.

Some Quick Final Notes re Dr. Stone: let this be proof to you that a show need not be perfect for me to love it. Dr. Stone has a few plot beats that need reworking, but I don't care because I love the characters and the main plot so much that I'll happily tolerate the flaws. Dr. Stone is a TV-14 show about pure science and yet it does the power of love and friendship a thousand times better than Miraculous could ever dream.

Dr. Stone never does the cheesy yet fun power of love where it acts like a magic force, but there are tons of moments that rely on the characters having total faith in each other for the plans to work. Bonds of familial, romantic, and platonic love are the core to everything that happens and I love it! No one type of love is shown to be better than the others. They all have their place. It's part of why I picked it as my example!

The other reason was that it's serialized and, since I usually focus on the episodic side of this writing issue, I wanted to acknowledge that serialized shows can have stagnant characters and be good. It just depends on what the conflicts are and how the characters are written. If you don't want to feature character growth, then don't write characters who clearly need growth!

[perfectlysunny02]

Something that bugs me the most about the lawsuit arc is that Bobby faced no ramifications from the department for misrepresenting them.

He was suspended at the end of s2 for lying to the department and not disclosing his background over everything in Minnesota.

Then he lies to Buck saying it was the department holding him back. Bobby holds direct blame for opening the department up to the lawsuit.

And the fact he was able to actively retaliate against Buck when he was reinstated? He should have lost his position as captain, if not his job in the fire department for that.

I so wish they'd run the story using the line that firefighting is a union job. The union would have been on Buck's side and fought for Bobby to face the consequences of his actions.

But disney owned property would never show unions in a good light.

you're right and honestly you should say it more.

it's really annoying actually because there seems to be this general fandom consensus that Buck was in the wrong and everyone else was in the right. When that's simply not the case.

Say what you want about Chase Mackey, the guy was a phenomenal lawyer, and he did his job. Sure, he might not have had Buck's wishes at heart, but he did his job and he did it well. Even if Buck didn't tell him about the coworker stuff, he would've found it. Everyone was mad that Buck told Chase about everything, but Chimney was literally stabbed in the brain and was allowed back in weeks. Eddie was spiraling, literally spiraling and Bobby was like "Oh he's fine!" That man was not fine. He wasn't anywhere close to fine either. He was grieving and angry, and he joined an illegal fighting ring.

Everyone also likes to say Buck abandoned Chirs. Chris is seven or eight years old, he doesn't have a phone, and Buck isn't allowed to talk to his dad. What exactly do you guys expect Buck to do in that situation? Chris is a minor, Buck isn't allowed to talk to the person in charge of Chris, and Eddie is so pissed that Buck would've probably been better off not trying. He even offers to talk to him in the grocery store and Eddie proceeds to be so fucking mean and condescending towards Buck, meanwhile, Eddie had just spent the night in jail for assault (the dude deserved it for being ableist but still). Buck fought through a tsunami on blood thinners and was injured for that kid. He would not have abandoned Chris.

I'm a 118 apologist. The 118 can do no wrong in my eyes. I close them whenever they're doing some fuck shit, but this I can't excuse. It's trash, and then the fact that they ostracized him later at work?? Hen and Chimney know what that's like better than anyone and they proceeded to do it to him. He didn't even sue Eddie, Chim, or Hen, and they acted like he did.

I don't know, I find the whole thing messy and gross, and I just don't agree with the idea that Buck was in the wrong. The only thing he was wrong about was not going through the union but like you said, this is Disney and Disney hates unions.

[vongola-renaissance]

I'm gonna pull a compilation of times that prove that Kyoko is not a bland or dumb character, so I can get people to stop sleeping on how insane her role is within the story.

She's what Tsuna would be if he was a girl.

The role of a loser is the same as the role of the pretty girl, because none of them are considered to be particularly useful. They're stripped of their agency by others, their wishes are put aside and they are taken from weak fools for being kind and liking their common lives. They're literally Ms. and Mr. "I want to be normal, but I'm too much of a freak once people start noticing".

In the first chapter, the president of the kendo club says she'll be the prize of the one who wins the chat. Kyoko gets mad and tries to get out of there, but Hana doesn't let her. The girls around her basically force Kyoko into situations she really doesn't want to be in, just 'cause she's pretty and boys like her. Her genetics are a chain for her as much as Tsuna's blood is a chain to him.

In that same chapter, she admits being judged by her friends because she doesn't find normal guys funny doesn't know when to laugh. He's bad with social customs too!

And the whole reason why she likes Tsuna, even though he showed to be borderline perverted by always being naked and violent as hell? Because he wasn't a normal guy. She blushed when he first showed up to fight in the kendo fight. She didn't like the fact he gave up so easily, but she admires how brave and hardworking he can be later. She's into her freakish behavior. After that, she started acknowledging Tsuna and inviting him to go with the rest, try new things and do his best.

When Reborn shot her with the last will bullet, she almost killed Nana Sawada! Because Kyoko's last will was to correct her after she said Tsuna was a loser! She was given the same treatment Tsuna often got (stripped down to her underwear and with augmented strength and speed).

Her brother is a Vongola guardian. She has been shot with the last bullet will before and shown she had potential. Isn't it logical to conclude that if she was trained, Kyoko could have been another flame user? It's in her blood!!!!

It's like when Haru first appeared and she was ready to throw hands with Tsuna.

My girls have the fighting spirit, but they never got the chance to decide for themselves if they wanted to be trained for it. They never got the real explanation. You see what I mean?

She was there in the 10 years later arc, right with the rest of the guardians. 10 years is a long time for someone to stay ignorant of the truth.

I'm. Just. Saying.