#i love a good foreshadowing

[littler3d]

If this episode got one thing right it was the reactions to Meleys’ head being paraded around. Like yeah the small folk would be upset and see it as a bad sign but also come to the realization that the dragons are just meat. They can die, see, the king showed us himself. Really sets up the future actions

[short666bread]

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Dog Meshi.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Sooooo because I’ve been seeing connections to Bobbys arc in all the Halloween episodes it got me thinking about the costumes from this seasons Halloween episode and how I thought at the time they were meant to be relevant to each characters arc for the season because it’s something the show likes to play on - giving hints through the set and costumes - I just hadn’t figured it out and then didn’t really think on it more because we got Eddie dancing and Buck escaped his dull, uninspiring relationship and I got distracted like the audhder I am!!

Then I saw something on twitter and Bluesky earlier and all the dots connected and I was right - the costumes are all about each characters arc for the season.

Mad scientist Hen - upcoming biohazard arc

Chim as Jason - a serial killer - Maddie getting kidnapped and nearly killed by one! (Which was also why Doug used the name Jason back in s2 - it was a play on the same thing!)

Vampire Bobby - vampires are undead and lore says they sleep in coffins - Bobby is about to be buried alive in a coffin - it’s a play on death and resurrection both catholic and vampiric (proof he won’t die!!)

Werewolf Eddie - transformation and identity - in modern literature and tv/film the werewolf has become connected to the idea of hiding who you are and being othered - and that has been taken up by the queer community because it is something they identify with - so Eddie’s arc about his identity and who he is, is clearly a queer one.

Cowboy Buck - hiding behind a giant stache - it’s about Texas but also about recklessness and impulsivity - which are considered cowboy traits, and in the uk a cowboy is someone who is false or dishonest - which with the theme of the season being lying and fakeness - would fit with the idea that Buck is hiding his true feelings (behind a moustache too big for his face!), that he’s not being honest about them - and that is connected to Texas because we’ve started to address that concept now that Eddie is there - because that’s where his heart is. Even Tommy is part of this costume led arc nod - Buck finds a corpse (which he thinks is fake but turns out to be real - which is a subversion of the real/fake thing and is also why in part it is dressed in something similar to Eddie’s bachelor party outfit - because it’s all about subversion and Buck having things the wrong way around) which is a representation of Tommy and why he sleeps on the couch like a corpse - which was clearly a direction and not his bad acting!! Billy was already a Tommy metaphor - losing his posse etc in the same way Tommy is feeling the loss of not being a part of the 118!!

I really do love the costume team so very much - they just keep on knocking it out of the park at every opportunity!

[uhhlifeig]

XOXO - Feb. 19th - word count: 232 - @wolfstarmicrofic

Remus Lupin was supposed to be a star student.

That was decidedly hard when his kinda-best-friend-kinda-crush kept on flicking notes onto his desk.

One bounced off his shoulder. Remus turned, glaring at Sirius, before sighing and opening the note. 

It read, Do you think Minnie would let me have a dragon?

Remus sighed again. No, you can barely take care of a cactus, he wrote as a response, before flicking the scrap of parchment back at Sirius.

Sirius frowned as he read the note, and quickly scribbled a reply. The parchment flew right back at Remus, this time hitting his ear.

He unfolded it. There was a new question, this time: Do you think she’d let me have a Hippogriff, then?

No, Remus wrote. He didn’t bother with a reason this time.

The note came flying back at him, this time landing on his desk. 

Remus was so incredibly fed up with Sirius’s antics, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to punch the grin off of his face or kiss it off.

He opened the note, deigning to entertain him for the time being.

It read, Do you think she’d let me have a boyfriend?

Remus frowned. There was no rhyme or reason to that question… unless, of course-

He flipped the paper over, and sure enough, there was more writing.

Will you go with me to Hogsmeade tomorrow, Moony? XOXO, Padfoot.

[arcanegifs]

Happy 2024, Arcane fans! 11 more months till Arcane Season 2!

[tragicvampireromanceisland]

MANNN so. sooo. all this talk about pilot fear got me thinking about pilot Joyyyy...we should talk about her too because good Lord, she is…such a piece of work. i NEED to throw rocks at her <3 it's really fascinating how early concepts of joy just, like...straight up made her mean? spoiled? abrasive? not a control freak, not a toxic optimist, not a well-intentioned extremist looking out for riley...just...a whiny brat! she instantly complains about anything she doesn't get immediate gratification from, and doesn't want riley to grow up because it means she can't have fun anymore. which makes sense i suppose, given a lot of the earlier drafts for inside out were about joy's immaturity rather than her being controlling...

if you factor pilot fear into all of this, too, i feel like he'd have muuuch more reason to actually, you know. turn Evil and try to kill joy. pilot joy always gave off villain protagonist vibes to me…she's awful, but mostly unaware how much the others resent her—fear in particular. she's too full of herself to really grasp that.

much of the vague draft i've written in my head about this revolves around fear's betrayal ultimately shattering joy's worldview…i do still think the joy-sadness angle in the final movie was probably the best choice to go with (especially since there weren't any complications of dealing with the aftermath of AHEM. ATTEMPTED MURDER), but daaamnn if i don't think the pilot stuff is Neat!!

alsooo if you're unfamiliar with pilot joy i highly recommend checking out this storyboard, which illustrates her personality pretty well. i actually stole a few lines directly from this storyboard, which is…certainly saying something about this version of joy, lmao. there's definitely more stuff out there, but this is probably the best example. anyways. please throw rocks at her with me <3

[mayhemforlace]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[egophiliac]

Have you heard of the "Crowley is Malleus' dad" theory going around? Where Prince Levan (or whatever his name is) didn't actually die and just went out to get some milk and is now known as Dire Crowley, the silly man? The implications of that theory is absolutely hilarious when you think about it

hold on, we can figure this out, we just need LISTS

PROS THAT CROWLEY IS SECRETLY REVAAN/LEVAN/LAVERNE/WHATEVER:

unspecified fae of some kind, with similar coloring to Mal

the animal masks are apparently a Briar Valley thing

has some kind of big blackmailable secret that was alluded to in episode 4, and then as far as I know never brought up again

(unless this was just Azul bullshitting, which is extremely possible)

based on Diablo, which...maybe means something?

has canonically worn Dad Shorts

CONS:

(gestures to Crowley's entire personality)

NO LISTEN Revaan was the guy they sent off on diplomatic missions and to take care of delicate political situations, and...look, I love this dweeb, but would you trust Crowley to be in charge of negotiating your war treaties

despite my brain insisting on reading his name as "Raven", Revaan's title does imply that he was also a dragon (or super into longan berries, I'm not ruling that out)

currently unclear why Lilia "my closest friend Revaan...he is no longer with us...I used to make fun of him for being kind of a priss about eating jerky..." Vanrouge has somehow not noticed or said anything

Malleus' Aloof Anime ~Aristocrat~ vibe had to come from somewhere, and by all accounts it was NOT his mom's side of the family

???:

turns into a bird in the opening, I don't know if that means anything but it's kinda cool, I guess

all that aside, if Malleus and Yuu are any indication, then the Draconias have...questionable taste in their social choices. so anything is possible!

[shiroselia]

I have just finished the section with the garden party. And I have so, so many thoughts.

First of all, I'm so glad I'm reading the light novel because that section with Jinshi after Maomao and Gaoshun discuss the poisoned soup was Sexy. I love Jinshi so much what a fucking loser <3

Second of all. POLITICS. I LOVE POLITICS. I'm deliberately spoiled on a decent amount of things because I'm terrible with biological relations and keeping track of family trees so I know ehm. most things about the royal family so to speak. But all of that is already starting to be really interesting.

What I give more of a fuck about though is just how much lady-in-waiting politics there is. Like we're introduced from the VERY moment we meet Gyokuyou that she was "too few" ladies in waiting and that it's honestly a little bit obscene for her to only have 5 with Maomao. BUT EVERY SINGLE TIME. SHE'S PROVEN RIGHT TO HAVE THAT FEW. It shows how intelligent Gyokuyou is, how aware she is of her own position, and the position a lady-in-waiting is in. AND it immediately prepares us for just how. downright cruel a lot of the others are.

It's honestly a bit jarring how genuinely nice and honest and inherently good-natured about their job Gyokuyou's crowd is when we see Lihua's ladies-in-waiting almost kill her. How Lishu's food-tester intentionally give her food she is allergic to because. it's fun to humiliate a child I suppose. Like I don't know the contrast is stark, it's obvious, and it's supposed to be. And it's Fantastic.

Honestly I cannot emphasize enough how good this series is about discussing feminism and womanhood. The politics of women of all walks of life, especially the specific challenges women of high status that should "have it all worked out for them" face. It's so fucking good actually. It really is that fucking easy huh.

[purpdrawsthings]

Happy 2nd Anniversary It's Gotta Be Perfect!

"For the longest time, I've envied you.

Even from the start, I was jealous.

You had so much passion, talent and creativity.

I wanted to prove myself too y'know?

But you were always one step ahead of me.

You had everything, I didn't.

I too was.. Once swallowed by jealousy and anger.

I'm ashamed of that.

And I didn't want something similar to happen to you too.

We all care about you, very, very deeply.

You made an impact in our lives, how could we not love and cherish you as our friend?

From the day you accepted me, I realized how important it was to have friends.

I learnt from my mistakes.

So I knew what I had to do.

In that moment.

Because,

When you were blind

You couldn't see.

You didn't call out.

Because you wanted to prove to everyone that you could make something great.

You didn't really realize how familiar that really was huh?

Here's a piece of advice for you.

Don't be ashamed or shy to call us all out. You can talk about your problems all you want, we'll listen. Don't bottle it up, tell us. I don't want to see you hurt or scared. After this you're coming with me to get some food. And no, you can't decline!"

[novelconcepts]

The earth-water-fire of that shared hallucination. Van going home only to find it’s always going to burn around her, that even the greatest illusion of safety can’t shield her from the flames that have been chasing her for three seasons. Akilah being told by an ostensibly gentle animal that all things with teeth bite—even her, the softest of them—as the earth pulls her into an unbreakable embrace. Shauna swimming, swimming, swimming to nowhere, caught in her grief forever until it quite literally tries to drown her. And to land in a classroom, of all places. An old-timey-style classroom populated with ghosts who don’t care that you’re bleeding. Telling them that death is the kindest sort of loss. Goddamn. Goddamn, dude.

[all-pacas]

If you could make any changes to House MD what would they be?

that is suuuuch a broad question and encompasses so much, so i'm just going to give my stock reply: i would keep cameron on the show.

i truly think writing her off was one of the show's biggest errors, and i think the show even realized it: masters and adams are both remixes of cameron, and even thirteen is a take on the same archetype (bonds with patients, cares about the moral/ethical problems and tends to over-emphasize with patients). actually, thirteen takes on a lot of cameron's role of the show: her relationship with house isn't romantically coded as cameron's was, but fulfills the same "i see you and our connection is different and special" niche cameron did to house. clearly the show thought cameron was important - she had far more focus and screentime than chase after s4, and more dedicated episodes and subplots in s5 than, like, actual members of the team. we know how deeply important cameron is to the show and the show's dna: she is a major part of the series finale despite it having been three years since she was on it. she is the final shot of the ending montage, smiling as she looks back on house and the original team.

the show also did a lot of work to position her as a future cuddy, as a clear parallel/successor to her: from s1 we hear that cameron's real strengths lie in administration and organization, in s4 she's on the hospital budget committee, in s5 she runs community outreach programs and literally gets a subplot about being dean of medicine for a week. had she not been written off, and had cuddy still gone, cameron absolutely would have been dean of medicine in s8. had cuddy not left, cameron probably would have been shown still taking up the role, maybe stepping in in some sort of unofficial second in command role during s7, dealing with house while he and cuddy were dating for example. i would have loved to see this, by the way. cameron has a pretty strong character arc and a very interestingly evolving relationship to house -- from naive idealism to treating him as and being treated by him as a peer -- and i think the arc of "underling to boss" makes a lot more sense from her and for her than it did foreman.

the official reason they wrote her off really does seem to be "we didn't know what to do with the character anymore." respectfully, i call bullshit: there was so much you could have done with cameron post s5, and it could have also opened up some fascinating other storylines. like, just imagine the chaos of still married cameron and chase, with chase back on house's team and cameron drifting further and further towards hospital administration. imagine a s8 with dean cameron and chase having to figure out how to deal with his boss house and his boss's boss, his wife. imagine the same chaos with them divorced. i'd love to see cameron struggling to define herself as herself, and learn to be in charge: this is a storyline we saw hinted at in s2, we know she wants to supervise and be a leader, but while we get to see foreman and sort of chase (in s8) struggle with it, we never get to see her: the two cases she brings to house in s5, she defers to him totally. she does a good job playing house in big baby, but doesn't ever step up and lead. i would have loved to see her management style. her leadership style. i would have loved to see her with masters and park (two young doctors who don't fit in and who i bet cameron would love mentoring). i would have loved her weird little friendship with wilson explored in the back half of s8, to hear the advice she gives him on his diagnosis. cameron was written off just as she was really coming into her own as a person and going in some incredible directions, and i will hate forever that we were robbed of seeing her go.

[chimeracryptid]

sonic scribbles (omg and a cryptid doodle!? Yippee!!)

[akqrus]

Would I seem crazy when I say that Emilie closing the cabinet was symbolizing smth?? Like uh maybe her knowing that she's at the end and every door or opportunity for her to be cured is blocked. That she has no hope anymore, or that she has given up on believing she'll be cured? Maybe symbolizing that her death will cause the family's downfall and breaking up...

Bc what made Gabriel become Papillon?? EMILIE. What made Gabriel become more distant, colder, and stricter on Adrien? EMILIE. What caused his death? EMILIE.

HER LEAVING RUINED EVERYTHING AND LITERALLY MADE THE WHOLE PLOT BY JUST DYING.

[fellthemarvelous]

The Mystery of Chopper Base foreshadowed Ezra's exile.

Ezra's anxieties about Malachor brought him to Zeb. He was headed to a Sith temple with Kanan and Ahsoka, and it was with Zeb that Ezra was able to show his more vulnerable side.

He said it. "I don't know when we'll be back. Or if we'll be back."

And the thing is...the Ezra who came back from Malachor is not the same Ezra.

The new Ezra that came back was traumatized, angry, defeated, grieving, and he blamed himself for just how sideways their mission to Malachor went. This new Ezra started wielding a green lightsaber and came very close to falling to the dark side if Kanan had not been there to pull him back from the edge.

This Ezra came back jaded and vengeful and guilt-ridden after Maul blinded Kanan, and he and Kanan had been forced to leave Ahsoka behind with Vader while the Sith temple collapsed around them.

This Ezra came back with a Maul shaped shadow doing everything possible to make Ezra his new apprentice.

This Ezra survived against Darth Vader for a second time (because someone else was there to save him).

Ezra was already grieving the death of his parents when Malachor happened. Malachor hurt everyone in his family. He brought Kanan back to Hera physically injured and forever changed, and he wasn't able to bring Ahsoka back to Rex at all.

But despite the grief that everyone was experiencing, they persevered. Hera continued on with the mission and Rex spent just as much time pulling Ezra back towards the light as Kanan and Sabine did.

Hera and Kanan's final conversation before Malachor ended up becoming a reality. Kanan regained his vision and was able to look at Hera in his final seconds of life.

Ahsoka and Rex's final conversation was the very first scene in the Twilight of the Apprentice, and it was over Space Facetime. Rex was so nervous about Ahsoka going without him and she had to remind him that she was not alone. Rex is used to mourning his brothers. He's done it thousands of time. He's used to seeing his own face die over and over again. Losing Ahsoka would be different though. She wasn't a clone trooper, but she was still a soldier just like him. She was his best friend, his closest ally, someone he trusted with his life more times than he could care to count. They were each other's sword and shield.

Ezra understands these bonds. It's what his bond with Sabine was becoming.

And all of them (with the exception of Kanan because my boy sacrificed his life to save the people he loved, and Ahsoka because we don't even know when she is, let alone where she is at this point) followed Ezra into battle to take Lothal back from the Empire. They freed Lothal from the grip of Darth Sidious, but Ezra didn't get to see it happen. He was somehow surviving a long ass trip through hyperspace with space whales and a very pissed off Grand Admiral Thrawn.

He spends ten years in exile, alone, on another planet in a distant galaxy with a ship full of stranded Imperials nearby and always ready to kill him, but he still manages to find a new family, traveling with them and protecting them, grieving his loss and becoming more attuned to the Force.

The Ezra that Sabine finds is so much like the Ezra that she first met on Lothal. He doesn't seem to be carrying a heavy burden, but he knows he needs to get back home because Thrawn is a Big Problem, and he's had ten years learning how to outsmart the Imperials and the Nightmothers.

He's returning home with a lightsaber that matches Kanan's and he's about to meet Kanan's son Jacen for the first time.

The empire is toppled now but he and Zeb will have plenty of war stories to trade when they see each other again, especially as the threat of the Empire's return is rising again.