#i mean i have reasons to believe so. the entire adult timeline is all together at lottie's cult so like

[galindatopland]

2x07 is gonna be so gay mark my words

[kirain]

What's your take on the whole Max and Chloe break up in Double Exposure?

Also are you going to play it? I enjoyed your analysis of True Colors and Before the Storm.

Thank you! And oh boy...

My friends and I have actually been talking about this for the past few days, and maybe it's just my specific friend group, but ... we're fine with it? 😅

None of us sacrificed Arcadia Bay for Chloe. I'd say half of my friends hate her and half of them love her, but even my friends who love/relate to her couldn't justify it to themselves. One girl from our group, who dyed her hair blue after playing the game and absolutely worshipped Chloe, still chose Arcadia Bay. So from that standpoint, none of us are really hurting from Deck Nine's decision.

As for the people who are hurting, I'm sorry. Truly. I'm sorry you're disappointed. I understand how it feels and it sucks, especially when you chose Chloe despite the consequences. That was your decision and you had the right to make it. You had the right to enjoy it. Narratively, though ... it does makes sense. At least in my eyes. The only aspect that doesn't is Chloe ending up with Victoria, which I've heard happens? But I've searched high and low and that doesn't seem to be confirmed anywhere. There's a message where Victoria and Chloe go to a concert together, but that doesn't mean they're a couple, so I think this is just a stretch from angry players.

Other than that, I don't find Deck Nine's thought process all that outrageous. Their reason for breaking up is something I considered when it came time to choose between Chloe and the town. Chloe openly asks you to sacrifice her, saying that her mom and everyone else in Arcadia Bay deserves better—and I agree. Joyce, David, Warren, Kate, Alyssa, Stella, Dana, Daniel, Ms. Grant, Samuel the custodian, they all deserve to live. Even the characters we don't like, like Taylor and Victoria, at least deserve a chance. They're teenagers.

If you sacrifice Arcadia Bay, the animation when Max and Chloe drive through the demolished town clearly shows an air of regret on Max's face. She refused Chloe's first and only selfless demand and let thousands die for her; animals, men, women, and children. I personally find it difficult to believe that their relationship could work after that. Even the comics explore this concept, with Max leaving Chloe for a while because she can't handle the guilt.

The first Life is Strange is essentially a game about a girl who can't stop running from the past and a girl who can't let go of it. Given what Max and Chloe go through together, and considering how different they are as individuals, it's perfectly reasonable to assume that, as they grow and mature into adults, they wouldn't be able to salvage a slowly breaking relationship. Chloe would forever see the girl that killed thousands—including her own mother—for her, while Max would see a constant reminder of all the people she killed. It's a very realistic outcome for Pricefield, if we're being honest. And according to the letters, Chloe wanted to move on, but Max couldn't, while Max felt like Chloe was being a hypocrite. It's raw and complex and entirely believable.

Not to mention the first game never promises that Max and Chloe become a couple. You can sacrifice Arcadia Bay without romancing Chloe. There's two variants, couples or besties. So how on earth was Deck Nine going to cater to everyone, especially when there's a timeline where Chloe is dead? It would be impossible without making two drastically different games. Their only option was to remove Chloe from the plot entirely (alienating her fans) or miraculously revive her, in which case she would become the main focus of the story instead of Sifa, and it would negate the majority of people's decision from the first game. Nearly 60% of players sacrificed Chloe across the board, so I can understand why Deck Nine gave that outcome precedence. But it was a lose/lose situation from the start, so perhaps the best argument one can make is that they shouldn't have made a new game at all.

NOTE: I just found out that in the comics, Victoria and Chloe actually become good friends and Victoria matures a ton, so I dunno. Maybe the two of them getting together makes sense after all. 🤷‍♀️ That said, the comics aren't canon to the games and, in my opinion (based on what I've researched), they seem like a fanfic written to try and justify the sacrifice of thousands of innocent people, so I'm pretty indifferent to them.

Of course, there is another detail I've rarely seen people broach when discussing this drama: we don't really know anything yet. Above all, I think we need to remember that the game isn't finished. We've only seen two episodes. We have no idea where the narrative is going. For all we know, Max and Chloe might get back together by the end. Or even more likely, this is an alternate timeline Max. Much like the comics, this is just one of infinite possibilities. I think people need to calm down and hold their criticisms until we see the final product.

[deadtiredghost]

I cant find the original image i wanted to post cause this theory is built on that, i think i found it on pintrest but u know how in the apocalypse timeline Leo has Raph's prosthetic arm? and how everyone theories that Raph dies first?

Right well. I prefer to think otherwise! (bear with me i have a point)

TW: death, apocalypse things, mourning(?), its rottmnt apocalypse angst you know what you'vs signed up for.

My personal headcannon of how things went down is that things went to shit but not entire shit at first. there was a healthy resistence and all and the family were skilled enough together to stay together. Yokai and humans alike had to team up and all, but couldn't do much against being Kraangified.

We know its 2044 when Casey Jr gets sent back so CJ can't be older than 22 canonically; personally I think he is around 15-17, same age as Leo and Donnie. this also means that Mikey is around 39 and Leo is 40.

I think the adults died first, Splinter would not live to see his sons die.

Whether CJ was an accidental pregnancy or Casey found him and adopted him, he came into the turtles lives when they were in their mid to late twenties.

the second i think is more likely personally but if Casey was pregnant or got someone pregnant then they had to have had a fighting chance that things would get better at this point for her to bring a life into the world - at this point they looked like they might win, and the next generation was their hope

"It's you! All of you, together! I never thought I'd see you again! I'm so happy, I could hug you!" - CJ, movie.

I believe that all of them got to know CJ as a toddler, maybe even until he was in his tweens, maybe not, but reguardless, they knew him as a child enough that he loves them and considers them his uncles (and leo his father-figure).

We know Casey knew Donnie enough that Donnie probably helped on their chainsaw hockey stick, but I believe that Donnie died second. Donnie's death is incredibly distructive because of everything he can do with his tech - there are other mechanics and scientists but not to the same level as Donnie.

I think that Donnie's death marks the dwindling of the resistence, it also irreparably damages the family. Maybe Casey was around 10-12 when Donnie died, not a fighter just yet but training to be - hence the weapon and "trademarked apparel".

I also think that Donnie's death triggers Mikey to practice with his mystics to a detrimental effect to try to contact Donnie's ghost and all, becuase Mikey is seen kinda decrepit at 39 years old, and while yet the apocalypse ages you, I think the last 5-or-so years of Mikey's life took a massive toll on his body so he cant do physical shit anymore (nor his razzmatazz *sob*) because his bones r brittle as fuck in return for his excessive mystic capabilities.

The reason I think Donnie died first is because of Leo's arm, which is Raph's prosthetic.

I've read fics where Donnie makes Raph a prosthetic and he rejects it because of his ninpo, for it to be repurposed for Leo, but I very much prefer the angst that surrounds the idea that when Leo lost his arm they had no mechanic to fix him a new one, that Raph's prosthetic was taken straight off his body to give to Leo who accepts it to keep Raph with him.

(this idea came from the pintrest pic i cant find, which was a tweet i think)

ya that. i have little more to say - i just eat up the angst i guess. I love all the animations on youtube, there are so many of Raph's death and I love all of the interpretations so much.

So ya. my theory: Donnie dies around 2040-ish, Casey and Raph the year after, then April at some point. It's all a load of shit in the last 4 years of the apocalypse where it's clear they can't bouce back from this so Leo comes up with the time-travel plan.

[arcade-universe]

I needed to make a post compiling all this other information that I haven't written stuff for yet. It's pretty well known to the people who know about this, What do others it's a bit hard to find and piece together. So here's the little tidbits.

Here is some stuff about what old and new AI mean.

So when the revolution ended. The companies of course being salty wanted to know which robots were considered human enough. Of course the robots fought back that any animatronic with a self-learning program was sentient enough. Making the program that allows any robot to report that they have sentience. But in order to get them to stop yipping, they did set a certain date. Any robot below this date was considered to not have enough or all the things required to make them human-like sentient.

Again most robots knew that practically any of them with a self-learning program was sentient. The only ones that weren't considered was the staff bots. Because they didn't have a learning program. And so while this was just supposed to be a date on paper for the annoying companies. It actually dug itself a bit further. It didn't mean they didn't have sentience. It just meant they were not great at showing off... Normal sentience.

Unfortunately this small information spread its way out. These old AI as they were labeled. We're simply either not considered smart enough or believed to have mental struggles. Basically the entire group was labeled as disabled. This presumption is of course false. Not only can robot sentence come from a completely different source. (The souls. Although they have no way of knowing that.) But they also usually don't struggle in those ways unless they are truly ancient, or actually got damaged by time.

Which is usually what actually happens to these old AI. Olai usually aren't disabled unless they have been damaged. Which happens quite a bit when you're old enough. Their code corrupts, or they run out of memory. They can be just as smart or smarter than any new AI. They usually are just damaged by some unfortunate event. Which by itself is a person by person occurrence. It might be more common for old AI, but definitely not exclusive.

Unfortunately the split happened either way. New AI started seeing the old AI as mentally disabled. Either treating them as lesser or coddling them for no reason. The old AI are of course upset at this and voiced it. But they are usually blowed off because they simply "don't have the mentality to understand".

Although I will note. These new AI's that treat them badly are mostly just the ones that were fighting during the revolution. Plenty of AI's that barely got cut from the date, or brand new AI that are coming in without much understanding of why this is in place. Treat them all kindly. Or at least they have an easier time treating them kindly. Impressions from the "adults" can still happen, but it's easier to fix.

But yes that is the primary reasoning between old and new AI. And also what stressors and attitudes are sometimes attached. If you look at the timeline, you can see the date that is marked as anyone below being old AI. Old AI usually struggle with people coddling them or treating them lesser. It is unfortunately a common occurrence for new AI to treat old AI as if they are disabled. And animatronic is only really disabled when they are damaged. Which is of course by a person by person basis.

A lot of stuff about how humans handled the situation, and ways robots are attempting to live their most normal lives.

In basics. Arcade is a world that takes place sometime after security breach. It is a world where animatronics kept getting smarter and smarter, to the point that they started to revolt. Arcade in particular takes place after they win the revolution. About maybe 3 to 5 years after. I haven't looked at the timeline in a while.

So basically humans by law are ordered to respect robots as other people. But of course that is a little tough when one person is a squishy meat bag and the other is a ton of metal. For the most part it's going okay. But due to the freshness of the revolution, And the general uncertainty of human governments. A lot of rules and laws for robots aren't well understood or flushed out. So robots can simultaneously do anything and nothing.

The revolution didn't come with the greatest outcome though. While the robots did run most of the companies that were fighting against them scrambled. Especially since a lot of robot abuse was suddenly outlawed and hundreds of people were getting fined for it. So a lot of companies did a lot of shitty stuff either to get rid of their robots, or try and hide the evidence.

But while the fallout of the revolution is a bit chaotic. So far it has been going good. Robots are mostly playing neutral, In humans are just fiddling with trying to learn this stuff. Some humans still think they need to keep close eye on robots while others just completely folded and started treating them like people.

Down below talks more about how companies dealt with animatronic bodies.

The biggest issue was that most animatronics are of course manufactured by people. By companies. This causes an issue with manufacturers trying to still claim ownership over bodies. This luckily was ruled out as that would be straight up murder. So a workaround was made.

Basically animatronics that are made by certain manufacturers are encouraged to work for those manufacturers. For example fazco robots are encouraged to still work at fasco locations. The only difference is that they're actually being properly paid.

While this is sticky for some robots, for the most part it was okay. Robots are still allowed to move out and get other jobs. It just comes with this second requisite of renting out the body. Basically they have to pay like renting out any sort of equipment to just use the body. It's not high because the courts agree that that would be awful. But it is there.

Robots are of course trying to get around this problem. The most prominent way is that many robots are starting to get into engineering and helping others build their own bodies. This time of course giving them out for free. This is of course a very heavy market and plenty of humans are even trying to get into it because it makes so much. At least for the time being.

This need to make robots more normal and less owned also spread off to many other things. One of these things is animatronics working with companies to sort of own a franchise of the company. Basically they are working their way up to become a boss of a company so that they can remove all this silly extra stuff. Right now it's mostly to the point of animatronics only establishments underneath certain company names. But they are trying to reach higher.

And more that I'll add to this post when I can think of it.

[dierlich-design]

Does Tears of the Kingdom break Zelda lore, or bring it all together?

Since Breath of the Wild, Zelda fans have struggled to find a place for it in the timeline. And while playing Tears of the Kingdom, at first the new backstory for Hyrule threw me for a loop bc it contradicted everything that we thought we knew, with Rauru and Sonia being the founders and first king and queen of Hyrule. But with various clues and hints between both games, i feel Tears of the Kingdom actually confirms not only how far along in the timeline the games are, but also which timeline. Let me explain. Please read the entire theory before commenting if you'd like.

Timeline Placement

To begin with, i believe now more then ever, that BotW and TotK take place in the child timeline. I will now provide evidence before i get into the history and lore for the new games. For this post i will be using evidence taken from the english version of the game.

We hear Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess get referenced in a memory cutscene, which in my opinon is a firm placement. But how do all the other things like the salt from a great flood and Koroks fit in, as well as enemies and many references to the fallne hero timeline? Simple.

We can eliminate the fallen hero timeline, as this is simply an alternate universe in which Link fails. Every reference to this timeline, such as Lynels and locations, are not exclusive to that timeline. Just because we only see and hear about these things in this alt universe, doesnt mean they dont exist in the other timelines. Whats sort of what an alt universe is after all. We can also rule out the Adult timeline as well, as Hyrule is destroyed in that timeline, and the only thing really linking it there is the sea salt and Koroks. And i have an explanation for that as well.

Contradicting Lore?

Now we need to address why TotK has lore that seems to contradict Skyward Swords explanation of the founding of Hyrule, and the inclusion of the Zonai. The reason is very simple. These games take place so insanely far into the future, that the Hyrule we know from the established timeline has been long gone, destroyed by a great disaster, and this version of Hyrule is brand new, with a new founder and new history. I know that may sound crazy, and my explanation may seem all over the place. But if youve made it this far, then please continue on to what i believe is the new history of Hyrule.

New History

Here is the timeline as i see it with the inclusion of BotW and TotK.

The events of Skyward Sword take place and Link and Zelda found Hyrule and establish the kingdom.

The time know as the Era of Myth takes place, which includes all games from SS all the way through to the end of the Child Timeline, and this marks the end of the Era of Myth in this timeline.

After the events of the final game, an unknown period of time passes, and events and important things that happen in the alt universe of the fallen hero timeline can take place, since the things that exist in that universe can also exist in the other timelines, explaining the presence of fallen timeline enemies.

At some point, the building that would later be known as the Forgotten Temple is built, and stories of all the heroes and crazy events are stored in this building, as stated in Creating a Champion.

A Great flood occurs, destorying the Hyrule we know from all previously exisiting games. This explains the presence of Koroks, Sea Salt being scattered through the land, and Leviathan bones being in strange places like the mountains and being inland (I know some of them resemble deities that can fly but the ID of these has never been confirmed so they could just be large sea creatures.)

Before the flood wiped out all life, a few Hylians and Races escaped to the high mountains just like in Wind Waker.

The waters recede and Hyrule as been completely changed geologically, and the Forgotten Temple is buried under the earth.

Hylians descend the mountains and repopulate Hyrule.

The race known as the Zonai descend from the skys and are seen as god like beings (as stated in TotK). They bless the land with their architecture, culture and technology and live in harmony with Hylians.

The Zonai start to mine and dig for resources and to learn about Hyryles past that has been burried beneath the sea and earth for what could be centuries, explaining all the zonai architecture in the Depths.

After unknown time, relations turn sour, and a war breaks out between the Zonai and Hylians, explained by the amount of spirits, corpses, and poes in the Depths surrounding Zonai buildings.

The war possibly was caused by many Zonai who had a god complex and tried to subjugate Hylians, as they had been revered as gods for so long they believed it.

Rauru steps in and helps the Hylians defeat his own kind (Ganondorf says there use to be many Zonai, and Rauru looks uncomfortable during that comment, perhaps because he is the reason only a few survive, those who sided with him and the Hylians).

To end the conflict and bring peace, Rauru, and Zonai, marries a Hylian woman, and the two became the first official King and Queen of this knew Hyrule, to embrace ancient Hylian customs and appease the Hylian victors. (This is something that happens in real life all the time).

From here, things occue as we see them in the game. Zelda appears from the future, and Rauru has no idea who she or Link or the Master sword are, so the Forgotten Temple hasnt been unearthed yet.

This version of Ganondorf falsely swears loyalty to Rauru after attempting to strike at the end of this brutal war when the Zonai are weakest, but is still defeated and falsey swears loyalty to Rauru.

Ganondorf takes the Secret Stone and murders Sonia, and this version of the Imprisoning War takes place.

Rauru gives his life to seal Ganondorf, and the war ends.

Unknown time passes and the Kingdom of Hyrule flourishes. The Sheikah take inspiration from the Zonai tech and base their own off of it, explaining the similarities.

The Forgotten Temple is unearthed, allowing modern Hylians to know the stories from the Era of Myth and learn that the Ganondorf they defeated is not the first one, and the cycle will repeat. It also gives them knowledge of the Master Sword and what it does and the history of their land.

The Sheikah use their tech to build divine beats, and base their design off of the masks worn by the warriors who helped Rauru in the Imprisoning War.

Calamity Ganon appears, and the Sheikah use the divine beasts and their guardians to assist the princess of this time and the hero to defeat Ganon.

The hero in the prophecy is one of the last remaning Zonai lines, (As the hero from 10,000 years ago is the Zonai link transforms into with his "Ancient Heroes Aspect" armor set).

Calamity Ganon is sealed and 10,000 years of peace ensues. We then go into the events of BotW and TotK as we see them play out.

Conclusion

If you've made it this far, thank you. I know this might seem like a made a few jumps in logic, but i can see much of this being plausiable, even if its not provable. I hope referencing the games to explain why i chose this series of events helps. Even still, there are gaps and things i cannot explain. particularly how the time paradox of Zelda being there to shape history back then, but also the Master Sword traveling through time with Zelda as a dragon but still also being there for the events of BotW.

This was just one nerds attempt to make sense of the confusing lore, and while there may be flaws, i hope you at least enjoyed the read. Please let me know what you agree with or disagree with, and if you have a better explanation, please let me know. Id love to hear it :)

[quasi-normalcy]

Star Trek: Picard, season 3, episode 3, "Seventeen Seconds" thoughts (spoilers):

The Good:

My big concern about this episode was how they could possibly explain away Crusher's behaviour, and I think that it is very much on the strength of Gates McFadden and Patrick Stewart's acting that I actually ended up believing it. The idea that they'd already attempted a romance 5 times offscreen was something of a retcon, but honestly, they served together for 9 years after "All Good Things" and we only checked in on them for a few hours each time in movies spaced 2 to 4 years apart, so I entirely buy that this is something that could have happened (and it seems natural that Picard would attempt it after "All Good Things" as well)

The acting in general, really. Not just Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden, but everyone

"I am Worf, son of Mogh, house of Martok, son of Sergei, house of Rozhenko, bane of the Duras, slayer of Gowron" ❤️

Just the banter between Worf and Raffi in general

Sidney La Forge's little aside with Seven of Nine. I loved that. And that she called her "Commander Seven." She knows what's up.

Paying off the whole plot point with Thaddeus Riker in the first season. The entire first scene is completely heartbreaking when you remember "Nepenthe", and Jonathan Frakes just plays the long-grieving father perfectly in his interactions with Ed Speleers's Jack Crusher

Also paying off the plot point with Picard's father from the second season

HOLY SHIT, CHANGELINGS! I mean, I kind of guessed that it was them based on some of the promotional material, but it was still a nice twist. Not sure I love how gross their goo looks this time around, but eh. Better special effects.

The Bad:

I really don't buy the conflict between Picard and Riker. At all.

It just seems so completely out of character for both of them. Like I can buy that they might have some raw emotions, but this just is not how either of them have ever been shown to behave. They don't start shouting at each other on the bridge of the starship and Picard would not openly disregard Riker's judgement if he were placed in command. The only times that they've even behaved remotely like that were when Sarek was infecting them with rage or when they were in the alternate timeline in "Yesterday's Enterprise".

"You've just murdered us all!" Are you five? He proposed a tactic, you accepted his proposal and it backfired. This is how adults talk to one another?

Why is Picard so keen on attacking Vadic? This too feels out if character for him.

Actually, everyone's acting kind of assholeish for no good reason. The random officer telling Jack that this is his fault; the Titan CMO refusing Dr. Crusher's help in a triage situation; Jack assaulting the guard outside of Seven's quarters. I get that Terry Matalas doesn't like Roddenberry's "no conflict" rule, but that's not a license to just write all of his characters like a bunch of reprobates

Speaking of reprobates, as much fun as the Worf-Raffi "good cop/ bad cop" interrogation dynamic was, why are they using these stupid, ineffective, Starsky & Hutch-esque, abuse-of-due-process techniques?

And then Worf murders the changeling, which is great, because it's not like he was your only lead.

I feel like Matalas is writing based on the logic of a 1980s action movie, rather than actually trying to imagine how things might work in a post-scarcity utopia. Like I don't think that the act of killing someone is something that he's giving sufficient moral weight.

"My father and I have one thing in common: we don't have an easy time making friends" - Really? That's how you would characterise Geordi La Forge? Geordi "I did not know what it meant to have a friend until I met Geordi" La Forge? Geordi "Geordi must not be assimilated" La Forge? Geordi "I will be your eyes" La Forge?? This is how you'd characterise him? As someone who has difficulty making friends??

Vadic barely has any lines. At first I liked how minimalistic she was in giving orders, but Amanda Plummer's acting was my favourite thing in the previous episode.

Random Thoughts:

Do the lights on La Sirena's engines have special sensors that change colour depending on who's standing in front of them?

I think Dr. Crusher must know more than she's letting on, because it's not clear why she would lock Jack away during the opening sequence of Episode 1 and shoot the masked men execution style, just based on the information she's provided. Then again, everyone's behaving like such a murderous asshole that maybe that's just baseline for how a doctor acts now

The nebula is apparently alive and conscious, which makes me think (hope?) that maybe it's affecting their judgement on some telepathic way. You know, regressing them to violent action movie stereotypes, sort of thing.

[nataliedanovelist]

GF - Timestuck AU: The Power of Mabel ch.6

While fighting over a time machine so one twin can win a pig or the other can win the heart of a girl, Mabel is left stranded in a snowy forest with no time machine and no brother. Oops.

ch.5 - ch.7 (finale)

~~~~~~~~~~

The air was still quite nippy and crisp, but the afternoon sun sparkled on the white snow and made the atmosphere pleasant to stand in if the Main Sequence Star was shining directly on a living organism, like it was on Stan from where he stood on the porch. He sighed tiredly as he dug into his hoodie’s pocket for a fresh cigar and lit it with his Zippo-style lighter. He knew he probably shouldn’t smoke with a kid in the house, but after the few days he’s had, he needed and had well earned a smoke-break.

The door opened and Stan hid his cigar by his side, his right arm glued to his hip to hide the newcomer on his left, but when he saw it was an adult, he relaxed and took another puff. “M’trying to quit.” He mumbled.

Ford snickered. “Yeah, it looks like you’re trying really hard.”

“Don’t be shitty.” Stan said casually.

“Mind if I lend one? I can replenish you in a few minutes.”

Stan stared at his goody two-shoes of a twin and handed him a cigar and the lighter. “You smoke?”

“Not often. For a celebration or after a long day.” Ford answered as he lit his borrowed cigar. “Maybe twice a month. Thrice?”

“Huh.”

Ford looked down at the lighter in his hand, and he was surprised when he recognized it. He can clearly remember seeing the tiny silver box in a store and thinking Stanley would like it as a Only One More Year of High-School present. “I gave this to you.”

Stan smiled as he took it back and pocketed it. “Yeah, it’s a good lighter. Only needed to change the flint a few times.”

“Hey guys!” A small voice called from inside the house. “Do you like vanilla or chocolate?”

The twins looked at each other, smiled, and called back. “Both. Both is good!”

“Both it is!”

Stan chuckled and shook his head. “Knucklehead… I knew she had to be family just by looking at her!” He bragged proudly.

“I suppose I was too distracted by the fact that a cold girl was at my doorstep to recognize the family resemblance.” Ford reasoned, shrugging. “I wanted to make sure I did the right thing. I didn’t exactly feel like getting arrested for kidnapping.”

Stan barked a laugh. “Yeah, you got a good point.” The conman yawned and stretched his arms over his head. “Guess I’ll head out tomorrow.” He mentioned offhandedly.

Ford stared at him, a little saddened and disheartened by this fact that was news to him. “You’re leaving?”

“I mean, yeah?” Stan equally stared at his brother, confused and not daring to be hopeful, but still. “What?”

“I just…” Ford hesitated and busied his mouth by taking a hit of his cigar. With everything that has been said and how well he and Stan have been communicating, he really didn’t feel like ruining it now. He relaxed his shoulders and said with his eyes on the snowy woods. “I was really hoping you would stay.”

Stan looked dumbfounded, like a child discovering candy for the first time, but he looked away and down at the porch floor. “Oh.”

“I’ll of course be taking care of Mabel until Dipper comes back in time for her…”

“He might not.”

“We got over our grudges. They can do the same.” Ford said firmly. “Still, you have a point. Dipper might not be able to come back. Regardless, whether it’s for a short time, a long time, or for the rest of my life, I will take care of her. I might not be the best for her, I can acknowledge that…”

“C’mon, Sixer, don’t be like that.” Stan scolded lightly, giving a sympathetic look to the nerd. “What else can you do, y’know? There’s no way in hell you’re gonna give her up, I’ll kidnap her and run away to Canada before I let you…”

Ford laughed and waved a hand as he smiled. “No no, I promise I won’t.”

“Good.”

“The point is, she loves you. Clearly. And it takes two, and I’ll be busy with my research, especially once the snow melts and the anomalies become more active in the spring and summer, but…” Ford bit his lip. This was a bad idea. If he makes it seem that the only reason why Stan needs to be here is because of Mabel, if or when she’s gone, then Stan will have no reason to stay. And there were many reasons why Ford wanted Stan to stay.

Despite how much of a social-cripple Ford was, he knew that Stan was homeless. His frequent traveling and how full his car was right now was enough proof of that. And Ford hated that for his brother.

But there was another, bigger reason why Ford wanted Stan to stay. So he better just say it.

“Do you know why I went to Backupsmore?” Ford asked.

Stan’s facial expression darkened as he looked away and he shrugged. “Cuz I fucked up your project?”

“No,” Ford answered plainly. “I may not have been accepted into West Coast Tech, but there were so many other colleges that wanted me. I could apply to Yale or Harvard or any college from New York to California and instantly be accepted.

“But I didn’t.” The author added grimly. “Stanley, when you left… When you were gone, I was a mess. So many days I just lied in bed without meals or sleep. Ma was hysterical. I failed most of my exams and only barely scraped a C in the ones I didn’t fail. My GPA dropped significantly and I even lost my Honor Roll. Thankfully my past grades were enough to let me graduate with a 3.2, but my clean record was stained and a lot of prestigious colleges didn’t want me.

“All I wanted at that point was to get as far away from Glass Shard as possible. Luckily there was a small college outside of San Francisco that practically accepted everyone and had a wide range of studies to offer, so I applied and was accepted by graduation day.”

“Good for you.” Stan grunted.

“No! The point is, I…” Ford groaned, feeling like he was failing, but he had to try. “I understand if you don’t want to stay. I understand you have your own life and things you want to do, and I can live without you again if I have to, but… I really, really don’t want to. Yes, I know that part of growing up is going in different directions and being independent and all the other bells and whistles, but it doesn’t have to be. So, if you can tolerate living under the same roof as me again, and if you’re okay with it, I want to offer you a job.”

Stan raised an eyebrow at the six-fingered man. “What kinda job?”

“The committee gives me monthly boosts so I can continue my research. As long as I prove to them once a year that progress is being made, I have a good income coming in. It is a big job, exploring the large woods, climbing mountains and waterfalls, combing the lake, mapping the Enchanted Forest, and hunting down monsters and anomalies to learn more about them. I’ve always managed to make it out of trouble alright, but… I need a partner, and I want to keep it in the family.” Ford smiled at the last sentence.

“What are you saying?” Stan sneered, not daring to believe, not daring to hope, but that stupid smile Ford had…

“I’m saying I want you to do this with me, Stanley.” Ford said matter-of-factly. “I can share the grant with you after bills are paid and groceries are purchased. We can renovate the small room on the ground floor to be Mabel’s bedroom and you can have the entire attic as your own space.

“I know it’s not sailing around the world, but… Please. Will you give me another chance?” Ford pleaded with a soft smile.

Stan grinned and shook his head. “Shit, Sixer, you’re a better salesman than me.” He looked him in the eyes. “Okay. Yes. I’ll stay.”

Ford’s cheeks puffed with happiness as he smiled, his lips pressed together, and he looked ahead, happily daydreaming his future. Being surrounded by weirdness for a living was amazing by itself; doing it with his twin and raising their niece together on top of it was better than anything he could have imagined.

Stan was watching him and laughed good-naturedly, then held out a hand to him. Ford blinked at it like a startled owl, but then returned the smile and sealed the deal with a high-six.

Both brothers stood contently outside with their cigars for a minute, but then heard a bowl clatter on the floor. Mabel must be making a mess in the kitchen, which was fine.

What wasn’t fine was the sound that followed of a body falling on the floor.

Ford raised an eyebrow and called calmly, “Mabel, are you alright?”

They both expected a quick “yeah, sorry, I’m okay,” and maybe an explanation to follow, like she tripped getting down from a chair or something. But there was no reply.

“Mabel, sweetie?” Stan hollered, trying not to sound mad or scared or anything but cool-under-pressure, but this voice trembled with fear.

Still no answer.

Ford and Stan quickly discarded their cigars and bolted inside. Racing like children for cookies, they soon stood at the doorway of the kitchen and were horrified to find Mabel sprawled on the floor on her front, her hair scattered over her face to hide her expression, and her legs and bottom-half of her body slowly fading.

Literally. Fading. Mabel was fading away. She was disappearing like a stain on cloth.

“MABEL!” The men screamed and were immediately on their knees beside her. Ford scooped her up into his arms and felt her pulse and looked over her.

“What happened to her?!” Stan cried out. “Pumpkin, what’s wrong?!”

Ford’s eyes widened in panic as a horrifying realization slapped him in the face. “Mabel… You changed history.”

The tired girl nodded with her eyes closed. “If… If you guys had a fight… and never made up… in my timeline, then I guess…” Mabel paused to yawn tiredly. It didn’t hurt, but she was really sleepy now.“I guess that timeline doesn’t exist anymore, huh? I guess I don’t exist anymore.”

“WHAT?!” Stan yelled and took Mabel’s hand and squeezed it. “We have to do something! You’re family! You’re… We can’t just let you d- not exist!”

Ford held Mabel tighter and closer to his warm chest, making her smile. She swore she could hear his heartbeat. It was too fast. She would have to fix that. Poor Ford was also shaking like a leaf. Mabel could fix that, too.

“I’ll exist.” She smiled up at her uncles. “In a few years.”

Ford bit his lip. He shouldn’t ask this, it was probably dangerous to learn about the future, but the worst was already happening. What else could possibly happen that was worse than losing his girl? Ford couldn’t help but ask, “When?”

“August 31st, 1999.” Mabel’s eyes dazzled. “You’ll meet Dipper, too.” She shifted her eyes to only Stan and whispered, “Did you know you were there? You came to see us when we were born?”

Stan’s eyes watered as he smiled at the new piece of information. “I did?”

“You did. I came out first. You were so proud when I kicked the doctor in the jaw.”

Stan made a watery chuckle and wiped at his eye. “That’s my girl.”

“Dipper came next. He was blue. Umbilical cord wrapped around his neck.”

“Was he okay?” Stan asked.

“He was fine. You knew he would be. You never doubted.”

“I never will, pumpkin. I swear.”

The fading is now much worse. It was spreading over Mabel like a virus. Her legs were hardly visible to the naked eye, and even her shoulders were losing color. This Mabel is almost completely gone. 

Ford, pressed for time, bit his lip as tears flooded his eyes and he cupped Mabel’s cheek and cradled her. “I… I can’t let you go! We just started to become a real family! Wh-What am I going to do without you?!”

Mabel smiled and used the free hand not holding Stan’s trembling hand to caress Ford’s jaw and lower cheek, then cupping his face so her fingertips grazed his sideburn. “It’s okay, really. I’ll see you again, and next time it’ll be when both of you come to see us. Totally worth it.” 

Ford held his breath, and shut his eyes, a tear escaping from each eye and sitting comfortably in the corners of his windows to his soul. Stan hiccuped a laugh and rubbed her hand between both of his. Both of them were doing everything in their power not to cry. 

To that, Mabel laughed and said, “Boys are stupid. It’s okay to cry.”

The cursed power of Mabel. Making people be honest and breaking dams.

Ford curled into his niece, his face sloe to her heart, and cried gently. He wasn’t ready, but he didn’t think he could ever be ready for this.

Stan laughed with tears streaming down his face and he kissed Mabel’s tiny fingers trapped in his hold, then held their hands close to his bowed forehead and just focused on feeling her pulse between his palms.

It only lasted another minute.

Ford was mortified when his chest sank and his arms were empty. He threw himself back and stared at his lap and felt sick to his stomach to find his little girl missing.

Stan’s hands also clasped together and he squeezed tightly, his fists against his trembling lips as he cried.

The genius who always seemed to know what to do didn’t have a damn clue what to do with himself. He growled in his throat, squeezing his eyes shut and gritting his teeth, then let out a painful howl and moan that most definitely disturbed birds and made a deer or two gallop farther away.

Ford removed his glasses and held his knees, sobbing his heart out. Stan blinked his tears off his eyes, resulting in them rolling down his face, as he watched his brother completely shatter to pieces. He had seen him upset before, sure; all those years of bullying, of Pa’s outbursts and sometimes physical punishments, hopelessness that he was actually worth something. You don’t spend seventeen years with a person and not see them break every so often, granted the blessing to help them put themselves back together again.

But Ford didn’t need Stan to swoop in and fix it. There were no bullies to punch or parents to stand against or jokes to crack that would make this okay. All Stan could do was throw his arms around him and bury his face into Ford’s shoulder and cry, too. 

So that’s what they did on the kitchen floor for over an hour.

~~~~~~~~~~

Dipper blinked to try to see, but all he saw around him was inky blackness for miles. His heart raced as he looked around for his sister. “Mabel? Mabel! Mabel, answer me!”

The boy scrambled and collapsed out of a portable potty at the fair. He blinked his eyes rapidly to adjust to the sunlight, scurrying off his hands and knees, clutching the warm time-machine in his hands. Wendy was still admiring her price and Robbie was still sulking, and Waddles was still trying to get away from Pacifica.

That didn’t matter! Mabel was stranded back in time! But how far back?! When was Mabel?! Dipper started jamming the button, but the machine wasn’t working, and it was soon swiped from him by a black-gloved hand.

“Mason Pines,” A gruff voice commanded above him and Dipper looked up to find two new guys with that Blendin guy. The two other guys were muscular and guarded with high-tech armor. 

“You are under arrest for violating the Time-Traveler's Code of Conduct and for jeopardizing the timestream.” The man labeled as Dundgren stated as serious as death.

“Do you have any idea how many rules you just broke?!” Blendin squawked. “I’m asking. I wasn’t there with you. It was probably a lot, right?”

“Wait, wait please!” Dipper begged as the two members of the Time Paradox Avoidance Enforcement Squadrent each grabbed the boy by an arm. “My sister! She’s still back there! We have to get her!”

“You have the right to remain silent.” The man labeled as Lolph informed robotically. “Anything you say can and already has been used in the Court of Time-Law.”

“Let me go, Mabel needs-...” And Dipper and the three time-travelers were blasted forward in time.

~~~~~~~~~~

In the endless space of time, Dipper was levitated off the ground by a giant baby using the power of his forehead-hourglass to trap him in a baby-blue field. Members of the the Time Paradox Avoidance Enforcement Squadrent circled the two, and Blendin stood with his arms crossed over his chest and smiling smugly as the kid who caused so much trouble was getting what he deserved.

“You and your sister have broken the eternal laws of space-time.”

“I’m sorry!” Dipper cried out, trying to fight the energy circling him, but it was futile. “I’m sorry! Do what you want to me, just help my sister!”

“Your sister does not require help, nor do you require punishment.” Time Baby informed as he held his feet. “You are lucky the events that occurred do not change anything drastically. However, your timeline has shifted and therefore this reality’s version of you and your sister are no longer viable and will cease to exist.”

“What?!” Dipper squeaked and looked down at his body to find his legs disappearing. “No no NO! What’s happening to me?!”

“You and your twin sister will be born again on August 31st, 1999, but too many things are different in your timeline for this version of you to continue to exist.”

“W-W-What did I do wrong?! What did I change?!” Dipper cried out as his whole body was drained of color. “What changed in our timeline?!”

“Your uncles have amended their bond thirty-four years ahead of schedule. As unfortunate as this is, your sister miraculously delayed the plans of Bill Cipher by an entire millennia.”

“What uncles?!” Dipper asked, panicked as the fading reached his neck. “Who’s Bill Cipher?!”

“If you wanted the answers you sought out, you should have been patient.” Time Baby scolded. “We all get the answers we seek… in time.”

“P-P-Please!” Dipper begged as he appeared as a ghost. “Please! What did Mabel do?!”

Time Baby cruelly stayed silent, testing Dipper’s strengths, but he was dying, anyways. Might as well.

“She met the Author of the Journals. Your missing uncle.”

Dipper’s eyes widened. “Mabel…” He rasped, and then he ceased to exist.

[adorablelokie]

a ‘Loki’ series theory

Been seeing some theories being spread around so I had to chime in. It might be a bit crazy, but even crazier stuff has happened in the mcu.

Particularly about her:

She’s very likely playing young Sylvie Lushton, the second Enchantress. It’s the only Sylvie that has any connection to Loki and the connection they have, oh boy. In the comics Loki’s responsible for her existence.

At first it was believed Sylvie Lushton is a normal midgardian girl who suddenly woke up with mysterious and powerful magical abilities that rivalled even Amora’s. (Also Sylvie kind of pretended to be an asgardian and ‘borrowed’ Amora’s identity)

However it was later revealed by none other than Wiccan, that she has not only been gifted powers from Loki, she was entirely created by Loki.

And Loki and her had such a tight connection that when he died, she became sick and weak as well.

It’s interesting that out of two available Enchantresses, they chose to introduce the lesser known one and the one who was entirely created by Loki, and not Amora, the more popular, an actual Asgardian and a character fans have wanted to see in the mcu for years.

Even now fans falsely believe that young Cailey is playing Amora because most mistakenly confuse Amora and Sylvie of being the same person - which they’re not.

The fact that they decided to introduce Sylvie, and not Amora, makes me theorise that her origin will be explicitly tied to Loki.

But that births the question. How?

In the comics Loki magically creates her but unfortunately mcu’s Loki hasn’t been shown to be as powerful as his comic counterpart/s and has been considerably nerfed compared to them. 

Another possibility is that they pick the ‘midgardian girl who was empowered by Loki’ option, which is something even comics Sylvie believed in at first. But again, why her and is mcu Loki even capable of doing something like that? He barely uses magic on his own, relies on his illusions and knives and I don’t see that changing much in the show either if the trailer is anything to go by.

But Loki is probably still linked to her somehow. Otherwise, why pick her for this show? Why pick his creation?

So I’ve been thinking, what if Marvel does another one of their twists and, while staying as close to the source material as possible, they simplify things a bit, and instead of making Sylvie Loki’s creation, they make her his daughter from another timeline?

It might sound ridiculous, but hey, they literally made Hela (a daughter of Loki) into Odin’s firstborn daughter, borrowing traits from numerous other characters including Angela. Marvel isn’t afraid to switch things up.

And the show is all about time travel and different timelines. And if that brilliant D.B.Cooper reference is anything to go by, then it’s clear that 2012 (or that scene from Thor 1) wasn’t the first time Loki visited Earth. If he’s been D.B. Cooper all along, who’s to say he hasn’t fathered a child in one of the timelines? Maybe even this one, but we and possibly even him, don’t know that yet.

And before you scoff at the idea of Loki potentially having a half human child, int he comics he’s himself admitted to having numerous kids, even half human ones, like Tess Black.

He magically created Sylvie, but he also has a daughter named Sylene, who comes from another reality and models herself after her father, Loki (and is practically a new Loki)

And she was actually mentioned last year as one of few characters who could, given the nature of the show, be making an appearance in it. 

I wouldn’t be too shocked if Marvel pulled another one of their ‘let’s mash these two characters together’ shticks and combined Sylvie and Sylene, make her his daughter, but half human.

Interestingly enough, both characters Sylvie and Sylene are known for emulating other people. Sylvie modeled herself after Amora the Enchantress (yes, that’s why people confuse Sylvie and Amora), her appearance, powers matched Amora’s and Sylvie went as far as to even borrow her alias, The Enchantress (which displeased Amora).

And Sylene, as evident emulated her own father, Loki. If one didn’t know better she could easily pass for Loki’s female form.

I’m mentioning this because in the show we have a mysterious female character who by some reason clearly models herself after Loki.

If it weren’t for those combat boots and trousers her attire would look suspiciously similar to Loki’s - which still does, but it has some very ‘midgardian’ sprinkles thrown in it. However, the similarity is noticeable and many have assumed she’s female Loki, but I personally don’t believe in that theory because of her attire and most of all, her hair. I’ve heard rumours that the actress playing her, Sophia di Martino, has naturally dark brown hair and she dyed it blonde. I looked it up, and it’s true. Why dye your hair blonde if you play a character who has always been portrayed with black hair? Even the rumoured (or not so, heard he’s pretty much confirmed it by now) actor playing Kid Loki has dyed his hair black. At this point, black hair is Loki’s signature look. And after some casting decisions lately I think it’s safe to assume Marvel strives to be as comic accurate when it comes to their characters’ appearance as they can.

And as I mentioned before, Cailey Fleming is playing ‘young Sylvie’ which means there’s also an adult Sylvie in the show. The fact that we’re getting a young and adult version of the same character could indicate that this character will play a major role in the show. So far, out of all known cast, only Sophia di Martino fits the bill.

I’m convinced Sophia and Cailey play the same character but at different stages of her life. Sylvie, who for some reason emulates Loki. 

Perhaps Marvel really did pull another Hela situation and merged two (or more) characters together - which clearly seems to be the case. In this case, Sylvie (believed to be a midgardian girl but turns out she was created by Loki, extremely powerful, has a thing for copying certain someone and even goes by their alias) and Sylene (Loki’s daughter from another reality/timeline, emulates her father and is basically Loki 2.0).

Even their names are kind of similar.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Loki at some point in his past (or a different timeline) fathered a daughter. The guy has a plethora of kids in the comics.

It would certainly explain the resemblance between Loki and Sophia’s character.

[sunmoontruth-stiles]

Ok this is gonna be long. I’ve literally been slowly working on this for… too long. I’m just in a mood to have a long discussion about ships. I’ll be looking at canon and not, so bare with me. I don’t ship all of these personally. I’m mostly just picking the most popular ones. I chose to leave out a few that I just don’t want to talk about. I tried to keep this loosely chronological, but that quickly went to hell. None of this is meant to be hate towards anyone’s ship, just my personal opinions on each of them.

Canon:

Scott x Allison: True Classic

Scallison is so sweet as it is truly the epitome of young love. Romeo and Juliet, except Romeo is even more of an idiot and Juliet is a badass who dies for a cause. They’re moral and ethical codes are both highly valued by themselves, even if they don’t align with others very often. They loved with everything they had. They were beautiful. We’re they soulmates in the end, or just the first love who will always hold a special place in your heart? Who knows, but I’ll always love these immature kids who thought their love could change everything.

Stiles x Lydia: The Long Awaited

Stydia is as slow burn as you can get. Unfortunately their actual getting together was slightly rushed in my opinion. They didn’t have time to find their own as a couple because Stiles just wasn’t in the show enough at that point. I know the reasons behind it, but it did leave this couple at an awkward stage of official-but-not-shown. The idea that Stiles loved her as a kid, immature and infatuated, and he saw her for who she really was, will always be cute. Then they grew, changed, became friends, and found other people. Them finding each other later on, having real love that’s developed slowly, is a wonderful arc. Though, a part of me will always believe they should have pursued other story lines in the wake of Stiles’ absence from the plot. They’re finally together! …but we don’t get to see it.

Jackson x Lydia: The Image

Oh Jackson and Lydia. Honestly, I love them. Their connection at a time in their lives when they couldn’t open up to anyone else, just hits me right in the feels. I mean, god that HUG. You know the one. Always brings me to tears. I’m so sad their relationship was almost entirely depicted during Jackson’s kanima time when he couldn’t think nor truly act for himself. Those small moments of scared vulnerability when he wanted to protect her from himself… I’ll miss these two. They deserved to find other people and remain life-long friends. I loved their moment in the last episode. I wish they’d gotten to see each other grow. Also they had such bixbi solidarity vibes, and I’ll die on that hill.

Scott x Lydia: Leaders

Ok, I’m gonna be honest here. I ship it. The power couple they would have been?? Also them coming together after they lost Allison would have actually made sense. A part of me kinda wishes the writers had moved on from Stydia as a romantic relationship and leaned into them growing as friends and Stiles moving on from his childhood crush. Scott and Lydia actually would have had good chemistry. They were both very headstrong heroic types, but Lydia would have balanced Scott out well intellectually. They had the history, and I think it could had worked if they wrote it right. Plus, Scott and Lydia would have been a better endgame that Scalia.

Scott x Kira: New Beginnings

These two were adorable. Kira was a badass, don’t get me wrong, but she let herself be soft in a way Allison was always afraid to. This couple was truly Baby. Absolute dorks. I can definitely see the lasting quality between the two of them. They saw things very similarly, and had a ton in common. I do think Kira deserves more characterization outside of their relationship, like more of her friendship with Malia. Overall, her departure from the show will always be sad to me. It was bad writing. Scott was over her far too quickly.

Aiden x Lydia: Pretty People Herd

I honestly didn’t see much between these two other than mutual attraction. The best thing to come out of this relationship was Lydia’s line, “You’re not just a bad boy, Aiden. You’re a bad guy. And I don’t want to be with the bad guys.” Good character development moment.

Ethan x Danny: Step to Redemption

Danny really was the thing that made Ethan look outside of the pack for what he really wanted out of life. They had a few cute scenes. Gotta love Danny’s final remarks, “Dude, it’s Beacon Hills.”

Allison x Isaac: Unexpected Rebound

Ok, I like these two. Isaac could match Allison’s snark in a way Scott couldn’t. They both fought the progression of the relationship slightly. They didn’t expect to fall for each other. They were less willing to let someone in close. I’d love to have seen more… but unfortunately their time was limited. On a side note, sometimes their relationship did feel like ‘we both are in love with the same guy, let’s cope with each other’, but I find that completely valid. I’ll talk about Scallisaac later though.

Stiles x Malia: Anchors

Ok but, them <3 I love what they did for each other. Stiles was able to help Malia connect to her humanity and other people. He never tried to isolate her in their relationship and encouraged her growth. Malia offered Stiles the emotional support he never asked for. She defended him, fought for him, and loved him fiercely. Stiles needed that so much after season 3. I think they were a love that wasn’t meant to last, but the impact of it was forever. I wish we’d gotten to see a real end for them where they agreed that they needed to grow as individuals but would always still care.

Liam x Hayden: Three’s a Pattern

These two’s characterization stopped whenever they had storylines together. Their relationship was built on Scallison references. Hayden’s character could have been interesting, but they never really gave her a moment to shine. Liam has the worst plots when they revolved around her. Cute couple, poor writing.

Derek x Braeden: Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girl Boss

Derek deserves to be happy so much. Kate and Jennifer were just... jeez. Him and Braeden were cute and deserved more screen time. I think her intensity allowed for Derek to let go of control a bit more comfortably. Let Derek Be Soft. Anyway, love them.

Corey x Mason: Gotta Have That Rep TM

These two could have been cute if they were shown for more than two seconds at a time. I highkey forget Corey even existed all the time. Kinda just felt like a relationship to fill TW’s gay quota.

Jackson x Ethan: The Callback

Honestly? Loved them. Loved the chemistry. Loved the dynamic. Best twist. I know it was probably written in like that because Colton came out during his time away from the show, but it absolutely fit his character. Jethan is top tier.

Melissa x Chris: BAMF Parent Duo

Ok, so like, Melissa deserved this plot. She deserved someone to care about her. However... what the hell? Chris? In canon, his wife died like 2-ish years prior? His daughter died 1 year prior?? Is Chris really in a position to pursue a new relationship?? Also, like, Scott and Allison dated and loved each other up to her death. Kinda weird to have their parents hook up. I don’t hate it, but I don’t ship it…?

Scott x Malia: Lead up? What’s lead up?

These two came out of nowhere I stg. Like, 6B really tried to tell us this was something that had been slowly developing in the background? Also, I understand that they are their own people, adults, and completely in charge of their own romantic pursuits: but did Scott seriously never call Stiles? Like, Malia wasn’t just his first girlfriend. She was his first. Like, dude that’s your best friend?? Not even a head’s up? No, ‘hey would this bother you?’ Oof. Plus Malia was way too chaotic for Scott. She existed in gray morality that always prioritized her immediate circle, and Scott was a very black/white type of heroism. I just didn’t feel like they fit.

Non-Canon:

Scott x Stiles: Childhood Best Friends

Ya, sorry, I don’t ship Sciles at all. I get it. Like, I totally understand the ship, and I mean no judgment at all. I just see them as friends. I really value good male friendships in media because I feel like we don’t get enough, and I always liked these two.

Stiles x Derek: Enemies to Lovers. 100k. Angst. Hurt/Comfort.

God these two really are what fanfiction was made for. I could write a much longer discussion about Sterek, and I probably will eventually. I’ll try to keep this brief. These two weren’t always on the same side, but their approach was the same. They were very similar at their core. Plus, wow the chemistry. This should have been canon. Jeff’s a coward.

Allison x Lydia: Powerful.

This ship is so great. They really had a great dynamic, and a romantic plot would have easily fit the established narrative. Lydia’s confidence in herself and Allison’s confidence in her own abilities crossing over to each other because that’s what the other lacked? Iconic.

Danny x Jackson: He Gets Him

Danny really saw Jackson for everything he was and still cared. I wished we’d gotten to see more of them. I  want more background with Jackson’s eventual coming out and his friendship with Danny. Like, they ended up dating the same guy. What did Ethan have to say about that??

Stiles x Jackson: Bastards

Ok these two had a super fun dynamic. The asshole-energy between them was, great. The snark was always so entertaining.

Melissa x Noah: Family

How were these two not endgame? Their sons were practically brothers already. They had amazing chemistry. The flirting? Not to mention, their timeline would have made way more sense. Missed opportunity.

Chris x Peter: The Opposite of Love is Indifference, Not Hate

Ok so like, this was definitely one of those ships that I had absolutely no knowledge of before I was pretty into the fandom. Like, this was not something I would have guessed just after watching the show. That being said; my god the chaos alone…

Scott x Isaac: The Disaster Duo

Okay ya I love these two. Two dumb asses who act like idiot puppies. Such a fun dynamic. Plus?? Chemistry??? Hellooo

Scott x Allison x Isaac: Three Heads Are Better Than One

This ship is definitely one of my personal favorites. I very rarely poly-ship. I just feel like most of them are just love triangles with an ‘easy solution’, when two of them have no real connection. That is so not the case here. I feel like all of them have such great chemistry with each other. They also have a great dynamic as a group. Season 3A was really just Scallisaac rights.

Stiles x Isaac: I Hate You, jk…Not Really

Ok I loved their banter, but I really just don’t see this ship. Idk, I don’t personally ship it. Would have loved to see their friendship develop more tho.

Erica x Allison: Duo that would stab you with a stiletto

I don’t ship it, but I do wish we’d seen them become friends. I feel like they had a very artificial ‘girls fighting over a boy’ dynamic? They could have been such a badass duo.

Stiles x Erica: Batman x Catwoman

Ok I’m not sure exactly how to express my feelings for these two so bare with me. OMG I love their dynamic so much, and they are sooo cute. Their energy? Amazing. Chemistry? Great. History? It’s there and has so much potential. 10/10. Love them. But, no, I don’t ship it lol. Just really love their friendship, but with the underlying history of crushes.

Boyd x Erica: Was This Not Canon?

How can anyone not love Berica? Ugh they are adorable. These two deserved so much better.

Boyd x Cora: Survivors

Honestly I don’t really see it? Like they definitely had a connection, but it never felt romantic. I really feel like they just had to lean on each other and bond to make it through captivity, and it just lasted.

Boyd x Erica x Cora: The Pack

I literally learned this was a ship a couple days ago. Similar feelings towards this as Bora, but with the added hesitancy of we never actually saw Erica and Cora interact.

Cora x Stiles: Slow Build Up

These two were clearing being lined up to be a thing before Cora ended up leaving. I can’t say I’m disappointed they never happened. Kinda felt like they just wanted to straight-code Sterek.

Cora x Lydia: Mean Lesbians

Not much interaction to actually go off of, but yes I 100% support. They have very different approaches to problems, which is fun. Very ‘opposites attract’.

Malia x Kira: “Maybe you could date the coyote?”

Another one of my favorites!! They really complimented each other. Also, how full circle would they have been? They were introduced in back-to-back episodes. Malia stalking her as a coyote? The line from Kira’s dad about dating it? It would have been so funny if that ended up happening.

Malia x Lydia: Beauty and the Beast, but make it wlw

These two were fun. I liked their friendship, but I don’t really ship it. Though, rip Stiles that would have been hilarious.

Parrish x Lydia: The Cop and The Minor

Must I say more? Like, Parrish’s character, so sweet and big rule follower, did not make sense for what went down with Lydia. I love Parrish, but the dynamic just felt off. It didn’t feel consistent with the rest of his characterization.

Parrish x Stiles: The Cop and The Minor, but gay?

Ok, same reasoning as above, but also they had absolutely no connection romantically.

Scott x Theo / Stiles x Theo: Sometimes The Villain is Hot

Ok I’ve put these together because I have the same opinion for both. I don’t ship it. Neither had any rebuilding of trust, and Theo really hurt both of them. I just don’t really think they work.

Mason x Liam: Sciles Puppy Pack Edition

Similar to my feeling about Sciles, I just don’t ship these two. They had a good friendship, from the little we saw of it.

Theo x Liam: Anchors 2: Electric Boogaloo

Another personal favorite! I really don’t even understand why this didn’t go canon?? The elevator scene was just, so intense. They helped each other grow in 6B, and I really loved their dynamic. They should have hooked up.

Honorable Mention?: 

Parrish x Laura: What’s canon?

I’ve seen this in fanfic a lot, and I actually really like it lol. I thought I’d add it in here because I do love the creativity of fandoms.

[queen0fm0nsterz]

It seems the "legacy" that Six and Mono has do needs each other so they can bonded together just so they'll get the right mindset for them to grow into monstrous adults given Mono becomes the Thin Man after he's betrayed by Six and Six gradually becomes worst with her hunger to where she eats up the Lady after she gets hurt by Mono destroying her trust

Yes, and it saddens me to literally no end.

We get to witness how their friendship grows only to see it ripped apart. Both parties suffering the consequences of their actions.

For some reason this ask got me to think, so... Here's a bunch of mini theories I have about The Square (Thin Man, Lady, Mono and Six) that I wanted to share with you guys but never had the chance to. Be sad with me or else.

1) Pacific Thin Man.

The Thin Man wasn't actively trying to kill either Mono nor Six. He only wanted to separate them, which is why he chased Mono away. I think this is almost universally agreed on.

2) The Thin Man wasn't trying to get to Mono at all and only used him to leave. He wanted Six from the beginning.

I actually think the Thin Man was doing what he's always done, even back when he was still Mono: taking his friend back at all costs and keeping her by his side so that he could protect her. Would explain why he only starts running after Mono when he tries to free her from the TV.

I mean, he had plenty of other occasions to get a hold of Mono. My boy literally travels through the TVs a bunch of times before getting here, but the Thin Man only shows up when Mono is actively trying to take Six away.

All three times we see him in person are related to Six.

First time: he takes her.

Second time: Mono tries to take her back so he steps in to stop him.

Third and last time: The Thin Man is the only thing standing between Mono and the Signal Tower, in which Six is trapped.

This would also explain the Thin Man's official description. Let's give it a read:

"As the ever-present hum of The Transmission chokes the airwaves, The Thin Man continues his endless journey through this desolate place, haunting the shadows, searching for something. "

The something would of course be his old friend. Although, he may be mistaken without even realizing it, which brings me to my next theories ...

3) Mono is the only one stuck in a loop.

This is mostly based to the meaning behind his name, especially compared to Six's.

We all know that his name means single, one, only, alone. Many people made the connection with the word "monophobia", a.k.a the fear of being alone, and that's an incredibly valid and fitting connection, but I think it may have an addictional hidden meaning just below the surface.

Because, let's be honest. If they wanted to keep the number theme, why not name him "One" instead?

Mono is a... very unique child. He's the only one capable of controlling the transmission, which is why the Eye keeps him around: to use that power as it pleases. I wouldn't be surprised if it messed with the timeline so that Mono was reborn again and again and again.

The number 6 written on the door could symbolize the fact that this Mono we're seeing is the sixth one.

I tried to check for a 7 on Mono's door at the end of the game, but couldn't see anything.

OOOOR, it could be referring to the Ladies of the Maw, which leads me to...

4) Six and the current Lady are NOT the same person...

The main reasons why I believe this is something that everyone seems to forget.

Guys. THEIR COMFORT SONGS ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

"And what does that mean?" EVERYTHING MY GUY. LITERALLY EVERYTHING. In a series where characters don't speak, it's up to the visuals and music to tell us the story - which means their role is extremely important.

It seems strange to me that they would use two songs that are so drastically different in melody and pacing if the characters are supposed to be one and the same - especially considering just how personal the songs are to both. For example, when Mono becomes the Thin Man, the latter's theme is prominent in End of The Hall, but when Six eats the Lady it's her own theme song that prevails.

Fortunately, we get a clear listen to both music boxes in the games, so we can hopefully make a comparison.

Here's Six's music box and The Lady's.

5) ... But Six does grow up to become the next Lady.

This. Just, this entire thing.

You see, for the Maw to keep running, it needs a Lady to lure people in and turn children into Nomes. We can assume that it works in a similar fashion to the Signal Tower.

Which basically means that the two structures only function if there's an Host they can feed off from, otherwise they fall apart, just like the Tower did at the end of LN 2.

Let's put it this way: Six absorbing the Lady's powers is the same as Mono sitting on the chair. They sealed an invisible contract with the Eye from which they can't break free, destined to be it's slave until the next Mono and... a possible Seven take their place.

6) The Lady can't leave the Maw...

I already mentioned this in the previous one, but basically what I mean is: The Lady is the only Host of the Maw. If she leaves, the entire thing crashes down.

7) ... But she's been in the Pale City.

We've got proof of this because a lot of paintings and pictures on the Maw depict various sections of the Pale City and some of their citizens. Both the Hospital and the School get their time to shine in these, especially ones the Bullies (I think it's finally time for me to push my "Teacher & her students on the Maw" agenda) who can be seen around the Residence.

Admittedly, most of these paintings aren't placed in the Lady's quarters, so maybe they just belong to her employees who hang them around to decorate the place a bit like Roger did, BUUUT! There's a very particular set of paintings that can be found in her quarters.

Well well well, if it isn't our blob bestie 🙃

Based on what we know, the only location we find the Eye blob is the Signal Tower, so... I think it's pretty safe to assume that's where she saw it. Then again, when did she see it? Probably when she was a child, before the got on the Maw for the first time. Talking about the Maw...

8) How much time has Six been on the Maw?

This may be kind of an odd question, but I wanted to answer it because it has always bugged me. Me, the fool, trying to form a cohesive timeline in this extremely vague franchise... Sigh.

Anyway. First of all, let's give the Maw's official description a read:

" The Maw arrives every year. Always at the same time, but never in the same place, it creeps and crawls and buries its claws deep beneath the glistening water. And there it sits in vast silence. Waiting.

Soon after, they start to arrive. The guests. The monstrous, sweating, hungry guests. All seams bursting, bodies bulging, eyes dead with boredom. They shuffle up the gangway and into the mouth of The Maw. And then they are no more.

For none of those that enter have ever returned to tell the tale. At least, not yet... "

So the Maw comes up once a year, stays there for a while and then goes underwater once again. When the Ferryman takes an unwilling Six to the Maw by boat, implying that Maw has risen.

And the next time we see the outside world in in LN, when Six climbs her way up in that wonderful scene. We can see the guests coming in again, so we can assume it's been at least a year.

The thing about the comics that is really funny to me is that it implies that Six has been wandering around since when she first got on, meaning both Roger and the Chefs are already aware of her presence and are familiar with her. The thought of them being like "Oh no this kid again" when they meet her in the game is so funny I can't.

Also, Mono has been trapped in the tower for at least a year by now :)

9) Mono glitching?

I got to think about this while playing LN 2. You know when Mono starts absorbing the glitching remains? If you don't get too close that he "eats" them but manage to stay close enough, you'll see that Mono himself starts to glitch a bit.

Huh. Leaves room for thought.

Anyway, this is all I have for now.

MASTERPOST

[majorsoapfan]

Umbrella Academy Season 3 Wish list

This is a long one so buckle up:

Let Klaus and Allison take centre-stage this season in leading the plot. Both are incredible characters and deserve the chance to shine. And I can think of several reasons why they deserve the chance to take centre-stage: out of the whole Academy their powers are some of the most fascinating and in Klaus’ case he has so many that haven’t been revealed yet. They’ve both suffered and lost a lot as well, particularly in season 2 and their hardships tend to get ignored by others. Their relationship together is already really interesting and supportive and they would be an awesome team up. There’s more but I’ll be here forever if I tried to list them.

No Apocalypse. The world ending in eight days was a great plot driver in season 1 and again in season 2 with the reveal that the end of the world actually followed the Umbrella’s back in time. But if the same thing gets repeated over and over then I’m worried that the show will lose it’s edge as a result. In order for the characters to develop new crisis's need to take its place.

Let Five have a rest. Even if it’s just for an episode or two so he can get a solid eight hours sleep if nothing else. For the last two seasons Five has been running around non-stop trying to stop the end of the world and save his family. Without that Five can grow as a person and get a literal break that he really hasn’t gotten in 45 years.

Oh course that doesn’t mean I want Five out of the drama entirely and I do expect to see Reginald and Five scenes in season 3. Five is the only one of his original children that the bastard seemed to tolerate and he did seem to have some form of twisted respect for Five as well. And I wouldn’t put it past the monocle monster to have some twisted plans in store for the eldest member of the Umbrella Academy. He’s had fifty years to plan for the Umbrella’s return after all.

The Sparrows. I just saw the line up of the Sparrows for season three and I am honestly so interested. I can’t wait to see what their powers are like and I already have some ideas. They have so much potential and hopefully they’ll be done well. And so far they seem to be written as the Umbrella’s foils. Marcus is a natural leader who loves his family, while Luther forces himself into the role and alienated his family as a result. Both Ben and Diego long to be the leader but while Diego is more emotional, Ben’s more strategic. Five is driven by his love and desire to protect his family, while Sloane feels held back by hers. Vanya was treated as an outcast and betrayed her siblings trust while Christopher, a literal Cube, is said to be loyal and is treated as a loved family member 

That being said though, I don’t want the Sparrows to be the main focus this season or have the attention split between them and the Umbrella’s. Because while I do want to see the Sparrows and their family dynamic and how they interact with the Umbrella’s, I would prefer to see how the Umbrella Hargreeves’ cope with their existent and how this impacts them and how they move forward with this. Or a team up between Sparrows and Umbrella’s would be fine. Or multiple team ups, I’m not picky.

There is a really good fan theory out there about Klaus and Five being twins and while I know that in the comics it’s Luther and Five, the fan theory in season 3 would be so much better in my opinion. And in all honesty it makes so much more sense. Physically they are strikingly similar, especially as children. Their powers both concentrate in their hands and emit a blue glow when they use them. Their powers themselves are literally time and death, which are linked and they have additive personalities, which can be inherited between family members. And I can’t help but feel that this moment:

lends a new level to their relationship then what we see with them as adults. Look at how alike they are! And that fond smile that Five is giving Klaus? Making them twins opens up a wide range of possibilities for Klaus and Five both character and plot wise.

Give Luther a proper love interest. And I can’t believe that this even has to be said but his sister does not count! Literally all of siblings have have romantic interests, all of them so important in the Umbrella’s life in some way or another. It would be nice too to see Luther form a healthy romantic connection for the first time in his life.

While I’m on the subject of Luther and healthy relationships, it also brings me back to the Sparrows and how their number one Marcus seems to be Luther’s foil. And it would be interesting for the show to explore just how seeing the Sparrows and someone so similar to Luther might just affect him. He did spend thirty years of his life after all being Reginald’s little solider and believing that his position as Number One made him the family leader only to find out it was all for nothing. Only Marcus seems to be respected in his position as leader and loves his family dearly, while Luther was mocked and seems to have driven all of his siblings bar Allison away from him because of it. This has incredible potential for Luther’s character arc this season especially if it makes him acknowledge his behaviour to his siblings as they were growing up; particularly to Klaus and Vanya who probably got the worst of it. Allison after all was his closest companion, Diego was his rival (more or less), Ben seemingly got on with everyone and Five would have bitten Luther’s head off if he tried anything. But Reginald’s disappointments Klaus and Vanya? Luther, wanting to impress their dad and follow his orders probably didn’t treat them the best. And I want Luther to admit that and apologise and make the next step in becoming a better person and brother. He’s made incredible progress in season 2, but I don’t want his past treatment of his siblings to be swept under the rug. It needs to be acknowledged and Luther needs to admit it was wrong so he can grow. 

Can we get Diego’s season one hair back too? I wondered just how it got that long considering that he was only in the sixties for around three months. Klaus makes sense as he was in the sixties for years. Plenty of time for him to grow it out, not really for Diego. But I really prefer his season one hair so can it make a comeback please?

What I want to see for Vanya this season is for her to realize that she doesn’t need powers to be special. I kinda noticed that she seems to have defined her worth on her powers and that’s not healthy. So a potential scenario: Reginald seems to have made the power-suppressing drug himself, so he may still have it in season 3. Imagine Vanya getting a dose of it that knocks her powers out for a good chunk of time and in the meantime some of her siblings are in danger (I’m picturing Luther and Diego here the himbos) and she ends up saving them. Not with her powers but because of her intelligence and other skills that she has and she realizes that she doesn’t need her powers to be special or to save the day. A logical step in character growth.

Getting some closure on season 2 character like Sissy, Ray, Grace, the Cult (which I really didn’t like) and the Swede and what happened to them once the Umbrella’s left the sixties. And maybe finding out what happened to season one’s characters since the Umbrella’s didn’t exist in this timeline: Agnes, Patch, Leonard, Pogo, Claire.

For Klaus and Umbrella Ben to talk about their issues and make up. I know that our Ben is now up there with the little girl in the sky but that has not stopped Klaus from visiting heaven before. And I think that if Klaus and Ben do not get at least one final conversation to talk through their issues next season then I will sue. They both did crappy things to each other in season two but they both love each other dearly and they deserve the chance to get the closure they both need. I think that Klaus will definitely need it in order to move on completely.

I know I said no Apocalypse but I’m still going to be expecting some major crisis to happen during the last few episodes. An alien invasion or Sparrows trying to kill the Umbrella's maybe? But no matter what the problem is, I really want Klaus to get his moment to shine by being the one to save the day. Reginald said himself that Klaus has untapped potential and we know thanks to the comics what other powers he has. And thanks to Ben’s antics at the family dinner the old bastard has probably written him off as useless and not a threat when making plans to deal with the Umbrella’s. Which means nobody is going to be looking at Klaus or considering him a potential threat to their plans, leaving Klaus relatively safe to start exploring and enhancing his powers. He was supposed to be the one to have done it in season one with the moon and his abilities were brushed to the side completely in season two or used for Ben’s benefit so I think he’s long overdue his moment to shine. And maybe then will the rest of his siblings stop seeing Klaus as a joke.

Lila. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of her, her story felt unfinished and she does have a briefcase. She could pop at any moment in the story. She has so much potential and I did love her actress. Imagine her and Five forcing to team up or something? Or maybe her and Allison?

Another character I’d like to see return is Hazel. He’s someone who really grew on me. And there is a chance that he could return and maybe team up with the Umbrella’s this season. Potential scenarios: Five on the hunt for allies to help him restore the timeline hunts down Hazel who in this timeline is working with the Commission and because the Umbrellas don’t exist hasn’t met Agnes yet. Maybe something happened to her because of the Sparrows?

Finally Dave. I’m a huge Dave fan but I really don’t want him to show up in season three. Or if he does then for the smallest amount of time possible just to give Klaus some ‘closure’. Time travel is in the Umbrella Academy universe after all and it’s possible that by Klaus warning Dave about his faith and causing him to enlist earlier and in a different branch as a result he’s saved Dave and opened up the possibility of seeing Commission!Dave later. Which is the perfect storyline for season 4. Season three is only 10 episodes long and there’ll be a lot going on already so shoving Dave into what will already be a pretty packed season won’t give Dave the attention he deserves and will take away from the other focus. Not only that but Klaus’ motivation for the last two seasons is doing something for either Dave or Ben. I want to see Klaus train his powers either for himself or to help someone else. Also, Dave deserves the chance to grow as a character as well and making him a part of season 3 would take away from the main focus of the Umbrella’s and Sparrows. Making him a main focus in season four instead if we get one will give a great opportunity story-wise to develop both him and Klaus as individuals and as a couple.

[and-you-found-me]

I'm sorry but the way some of you needlessly hate on Jeanette from WMMAP is so toxic and completely misguided. I mean do you guys just conveniently hate on a 15 year old child, who unlike Athy, was not reborn or reincarnated but was emotionally manipulated her entire life and was made to be ignorant and naive of the true nature of things around her. It's no wonder she latches onto the idea of having a family within Athy and Claude so quickly since she's already aware that Alpheus doe not consider her his daughter and who knows how much this has also affected her? She has no sense of belonging and only wants to receive the love and affection that she never had. The most common complaints I see against or "oh, but she barely showed any reaction when Athy died in LP." Need I remind you that was a different timeline. If you want to talk about a character who felt nothing when Athy died in that timeline, CLAUDE is the perfect example of that. Oh, but we all forgive him because of the cute moments we see between him and Athy when he met her at 5 years old, 4 years earlier than in the original novel. Not trying to hate on Claude here btw, he's an amazing and tragic character but how come we all forget the shit that he did in the original timeline but somehow still have such a hatred for Jeanette, who in the new timeline, tried bringing Claude and Athanasia together after he lost his memories.

Another complaint I see about Jeanette is her naivety. Listen, she was made to be that way. She legitimately has no "positive" adult influence in her life and is just being used by all the adults that have come into contact with her currently in the manga. She was kept in the dark purposefully ever since she was a child; she was raised to be innocent and ignorant so that she would be easy to manipulate and be used by the adults around her, for their own gain. And the author makes it clear that this is a major flaw on her part, not one to admire which is why she is a foil to Athy in many ways. But the author also realises that Jeanette is a child. Just because Athy spent her heads in books learning since she was 5, doesn't mean every other child would do the same. In fact, Athy is probably in the minority in that aspect and she's called a genius for a reason, people. Just keep that in mind. Remember that Alpheus has purposefully moulded Jeanette in the perfect, innocent image that he wanted.

Another complaint about Jeanette is that she would be an awful princess and an awful ruler. Umm... are we reading the same story here? When has Jeanette ever expressed her want to be in line for the throne or to be a princess? She doesn't want to rule and she has said it herself, that the throne means nothing to her. Of course she wouldn't make the best of rulers and Athy definitely is "better" in that aspect but seriously... Jeanette has never once expressed that she would want to rule anyway. So whenever I see people bring this up as a reason to hate Jeanette, it just seems incredulous to me. All Jeanette wants is to have a family. To have unconditional love and to be around people who make her happy. After experiencing so much loneliness throughout her life and even her only friend, Ijekiel, begins to take interest in girl he's only known for really a few months compared to the years he's known Jeanette, of course that's all she wants. She doesn't even hate Athy at all and arguably, it's the only relationship she has left with some sort of genuine nature to it.

So yeah... a lot of the hate against Jeanette is really unjustified and stupid honestly. Believe me, if she was the protagonist, I'm sure you'd all feel so much more sympathy for her. I can get feeling frustrated with her character. She can be selfish, she can be naive, she is a flawed person just as anyone is. But she is not this evil monster that destroys people's lives purposefully like the majority of you seem to think of her as 🙄

Anyways, this is not to make you like Jeanette or anything but I hope you realise that a lot of the hate against her is pretty... stupid honestly lol hopefully this offers a new perspective to her character :)

[secret-engima]

More Thoughts On Team Gremlin verse

-This thing’s official name is “Saving the World for Fun and Profit” because I find that funny.

-At some point in their escapades, Whitley joins the team. No, he’s not a time traveler, he’s just a smol child Schnee that certain members of the White Fang thought would be good to hold for ransom. Naturally, Oscar found him and put a stop to that and trundled off with a kid his physical age in tow. Torchwick oFFERED to put the kid back where he belonged (once he caught the kids with an extra in their midst, which took about a week) but Whitley is young and impressionable and has just gone from a house that is empty and cold and devoid of anyone willing to love him to spending a week or so with this crew of crazy kids who hug him and ruffle his hair and let him get dirty while playing and feed him candy and don’t scold him for not spending hours practicing for his recitals. Who have an adult that acts so vibrant and *different* from his parents and who pays attention to Whitley when he speaks. Who even have a DOG that is friendly and huge and TALKS which almost makes up for how he’s a bit goopy instead of fluffy like the books say dogs should be.

-He turns those big hopeful eyes on them and asks if he can *stay* and Oscar immediately turns the puppy eyes on Torchwick, because if Whitley, who helped him in the future-that-isn’t, wants to stay and be happy here then of course Oscar is onboard.

-Torchwick: Noooo. Noooooo. Arrgggh don’t you DARE try to cute me you tiny terror-.

-Oscar and Whitley: *puppy eyes intensify*

-Also Torchwick: FINE. But he needs to dye his hair so people don’t instantly know he’s a Schnee.

-Neo: *whips out a two bottles of dye that both match her hair and beams because she always wanted a baby brother*

-At some OTHER point in time, Oscar accidentally mentions that a Certain Person shot him off a cliff when he was out of Aura. Torchwick, being the reasonable, focused, definitely-not-a-dad criminal mastermind he is, absolutely does NOT break into General Ironwood’s home to break his nose.

-The fact that his entire info network in Mantle and Atlas is now running a side operation of Make The General Miserable is complete coincidence. Truly. So is Neo disappearing for a week and coming back smelling of Tundra, with bloody knuckles and a satisfied expression.

-Oscar: Guys, I told you to leave him alone! He was suffering a mental breakdown, and I survived the fall. It’s fine!

-Mercury: You and I have *very* different opinions on what counts as fine, Boss. And that’s counting the fact that I was raised by Marcus Black.

-Sondor the Grimm Hound is the goodest boy. He crawled his way out of the experimental goo pool Salem had dumped his founding material in several years early just to go find his Pups.

-Everyone is a Pup to Sondor.

-Yes even Torchwick. Torchwick is just more like a bratty yearling pup to him.

-Except Neo, she acts too much like a cat to be a Pup.

-Of course his favorite Pup is Oscar Pup. Who is small and fierce and doesn’t understand that because he is hurt, he shouldn’t be trying to hunt the same way the others do. Here Oscar Pup climb on his back, he will help.

-Sondor, like in canon, can speak, he just tends to stick to short phrases because talking is tricky when you have a skull shape Like That. The kids have maybe had too much fun trying to teach him human single-word memes.

-Behold, the Grimm who knows the meaning of and can say Yeet at the correct time.

-Sondor is a firm believer in bedtime. The concept was introduced to him pre-time travel when Neo, Mercury, and Emerald were all trying to put Oscar back together mentally and physically. Often, Oscar would lose all concept of time (and self) while trying to mentally navigate around the ragged hole left by what Salem did to Ozpin inside him, and this could lead to Oscar just- straight up forgetting to SLEEP. For Days. So since Sondor was always a constant at Oscar’s side (no one else wanted to deal with the Grimm but also no one else wanted to try removing him from the side of the one person he was attached to and who would in turn spontaneously use magic to defend), Em sat down with the Giant Death Dog and taught this sucker the concept of bedtime. Specifically, if the Broken Light (moon) was out and the clock looked like So, then Oscar needed to be IN BED, lying down and SLEEPING until the clock looked like This.

-It took a few tries but Sondor got the gist eventually, and this makes taking bby out on nighttime heists post-time travel tricky because Sondor is prone to just looking up at the moon, rasping “Bedtime. For pups.” and then scooping Oscar up and trundling off to the nearest comfy spot. He will 100% lie down with Oscar and gently rest his head on Oscar’s torso so that the boy can’t escape. Oscar would protest but he does need the help and Sondor has also done this to any of the other Pups if he catches them up too late at night.

-Sondor must be *bribed* to let Oscar participate in any activity past his “bedtime” that Emerald first taught him. And then Oscar has to make up for it by taking a daytime nap. Oscar would protest but physically he is 6 and working his way up so he does actually need sleep.

-If anyone ever told Oscar that someday the fastest way to put him to sleep would be to have a giant, vaguely gooey Grimm hound that can shapeshift into even more terrifying forms cuddle him and make low rumbly noises he would have... well depending on timeline he would have stared, run away, or just laughed hard enough to choke on his own blood because sure why not, it’s not like his day can get any weirder after being kidnapped and tortured by an evil grimm queen lady.

-Everyone picture Oscar riding Sondor into battle. Or just riding around on him in general because bby has joint problems and height problems and riding his Best Friend Doggo is a great way to help with both.

-Everyone picture Oscar smiling serenely at some criminal gang who has surrounded him to try to kidnap him and hold him over Torchwick’s head. They have a lot of men.

-“I have a Sondor.”

-*furious bellowing Hound Grimm with bloody-colored wings drops from the sky to LOOM protectively over Oscar, roaring bloody murder at the criminals who thought the child with the limp and the cane was a good target*.

-Sondor’s second favorite Pup is Emerald, because she gives the Good Scritches and also has more sense than most of the other Pups combined. Mercury is Trouble Pup, Neo is Kitten. Whitley is New Pup and has been occasionally dubbed Brat. Sondor is not afraid to gently drag Whitley out of trouble by his leg. The fact that his entire leg can fit in this giant Grimm’s mouth should probably terrify Whitley, but he’s picked up his cues from Mercury (who has also been dragged around by his leg by an annoyed Sondor) and thus just whines and flails.

[randomwriteronline]

Hi!

I'm very invested in your Ravio-verse and was hoping you might share some ideas you had about the lads!

Especially the ones you haven't talked about yet, like Coney, Sardi and Pika

I really like your writing and I'm always happy when I see you updated a story, so thank you for putting in all the time and effort!

awuoauoghggg ;;;;;;;;; thNAK YOU SO MUCH i see yoiur comments ojn the ao3 n i lov em tank u yiure so nice ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Im glad you like the ravios!!!!! and youre in luck bc i DO have some ideas about them, esp those three!

its a lot so im putting a read more

Pika is like... One person, but four of them. Ever since they were divided by the four sword they can no longer consider themself a single person, but at the same time there are no differences between their "colors" like there are for Four - they all identify with the same exact name and don't see use in distinguishing one from another, think the same things, they even move in sinc sometimes, and all refer to themselves as we/us (which Pika does also when not split). The problem comes when they are faced with multiple choices, because the mind divides all the answers Pika would find favorable and sets off to do or say four different things, but there's only one body so they can't manage to choose and freeze. This happens especially with things that have no stakes, like someone asking them what they want for dinner - you need to divide the general question into smaller more specific ones, like "do you like fish? do you like it more than meat? do you like it skewered? do you prefer it skewered instead of grilled?" ecc. (their Shadow helps with that how he can, he's a sweet guy depite it all)

They are probably the most skilled Ravio combat-wise because they trained to be and eventually managed to become a professional knight (like Four is a professional blacksmith), but because of the multiple choice freezing they dropped out of the trade quickly because they would be a disaster if left vaguely alone on the battlefield. now they are a weapon merchant and they give lessons in various types of combat. They don't really like shriking to Minish size because magic generally scrambles their brain MORE and its Nasty

They speak very slowly and with a little difficulty because they basically kinda. Think the same thing four times so theres a sort of reverb. When divided each of them has some kind of particularity abt their speech - "purple" Pika has a stutter, "yellow" Pika is non-vocal (solely communicates through sign language), "orange" Pika is non-verbal (communicates through sign language and various noises) and "green" Pika is selectively mute and mostly only sings.

I had an idea where the Downfall Timeline and Adult Timeline were flipped in Lorule for Some Reason and it means Sardi is like Wind but Hyrule, by which I mean that he has THE WHOLE TRIFORCE

How did he get it??? Simple: he hitch-hiked his way across the entire ocean and painstakingly put it back together. Like the Triforce shards quest but if the pieces were like one hundred and Wind had no idea what he was doing the whole time. Sardi found the first piece and then kept running into more, and when he discovered that they fit together he decided he could use a puzzle to pass the time. In his era the Triforce has been gone for so long that nobody even remembers it, so when it kinda... Seeps into his skin he goes "cool" and doesn't make anything of it

He was born on a pirate ship! His antagonist was initially Sigma (Tetra' counterpart), who caught him sneak steal in her house while his crew was docked on her island and started chasing him around the world with a broom, and then the King of Red Lions, who desperately manipulated him to bring back Lorule. The withered corpse of Yuga in the remains of Lorule Castle offered him comfort and strength, believe it or not, and with Sigma they sealed the place

He pretends he doesn't like captain Crookway with his talk of being a selfless disgraced ex-sailor hero, and that he calls him dad to make him embarassed, but he loves him. He really does. hes also his Actual Biological Son but Crookway realized only when he brought him and Sigma back to the crew and he recognized them and they recognized HIM as their captain's daughter's bf who fell into the sea never to be seen again for 12 YEARS and hes like "i wanted to settle down but on second thought yknow what i think ill stick around actually" (Cilia, Sardi's sister, is not his daughter tho, her dad is uh. dead.)

Coney is good at avoiding monsters bc he has imp blood instead of fairy blood! They smell him and usually go "ah. Fam." and leave him be. This was very useful for his dungeon crawling in search of Cool Trinkets and Expensive Treasures to sell around to people fighting against the sorcerer who took away the princess, though he ends up being the one who defeats the guy even though he just wanted to see what treasure laid behind the last room in the dungeon. He also knows some magic, but its more stat boosts than healing, and he can turn into a little keese

Hyrule has No Idea what the hell is happening, but Coney? Coney knows EVERYTHING. He's probably the guy who knows the most out of every Ravio about Lorule, its myths, its Triforce. he became his Hilda's friend by infodumping wildly about all the lore he knew. Similarly to Sardi he's Hyrule but Wind, aka he was just Some Guy before he accidentally proved himself to the gods and earned the piece of the Triforce all by himself

He also knows how to play the fiddle. No reason why, he just does. He and Lepus definitely go ham on it when theyre bored. Coney probably uses it as a distraction or to hypnotize enemies

Jack has very Twilight vibes - gentle if firm big brother energy. (Lepus has bastard big brother energy like Warriors and both Legend and Rabet have god ol plain bastard brother energy.) He's Lorule castle's almost-official blacksmith! He still needs to finish paying for his apprenticeship (that's why his prices are so high) but once he's done he'll be a professional, babey!

Instead of various people and places being shoved into his era, it was Jack that was thrown all over the timeline to help the other Ravios one way or another, so he knows some of them but they don't know him as he made sure to be as least percievable as possible. Sheerow is one of his weapons, instead of Epona - he doesn't know how to handle horses and he's kinda scared of them, so if he needs to go somewhere fast he uses the Spinner instead. He know how to do all the sickest tricks on it, its very impressive

He's a shy lad! Mostly bc he has a bit of a type (soldiers) and he's always around them so its. Yeah. Hilda and him are on amiable terms. Not really friends but they feel relaxed around each other - while he despises the Sorceress of Time, if anything because would it have killed her to at least warn him of the stuff she would have subjected him to before throwing him around the universe like a fucking bowling ball

Leveret has No Clue what is going on at any given time and he is Not asking questions. His body remembers how to be a blacksmith (he was the castle's official blacksmith, most requested by princess Hilda herself) so if you bring him a broken weapon he can put it back together for a fee. The Chain and the Drove* found him "working" for the Yiga in exchange for a bed and meals without having any idea how he had ended up in Wild's hyrule. Things happen to him and he goes "huh. alright" and accepts it all

Hes a bit sad because he used to have a maned wolf (COUGHlepusCOUGH) following him around everywhere but since he's been here he hasn't seen Manuel anywhere and hes worried bc hes such a skittish boy :(

Neither he nor Hilda remember anything from their pasts. She was trapped in Lorule castle after she attempted to create a brand new Triforce from scratch, which messed up the world further and killed temporarily Leveret and definitely the champions, who were closer to it beacuse they were supposed to stabilize it. Ever since he managed to stop the fuckery that was going on they're convinced they must be siblings, and after finding her own research they are trying to try the Triforce again (spoiler, they will succeed this time!)

Ida is ALSO a blacksmith. If the Link was a knight, the Ravio is a blacksmith and vice versa. Swant (Groose counterpart) is still a knight, but he was legit desperate to try and get under his skin because Ida genuinely couldn't care less and it drove him insane. (it was more like "maybe if i ignore it it will go away" which is his immediate response to Many Things, including the sword spirit waking him at night) He tried to be the one to save Hilda over and over but he always ended up half dead and with Ida having to run in and save him. Eventually he started making gadgets for Swant to help him through, and that was when the friendship started

Ida actually... broke the Goddess Sword when he tried getting it out of the pedestal the first time around. Most of his adventure was working tirelessly to put it back together and thus accidentally upgrading it to Master Sword just in time to kill the Demon King, which, by the way - easily worst day of his life

He is. Absolutely in denial of having been the hero in his own story. You ask him if hes the hero of Lorule and he will point you to Swant, who will then grab him fiercely and shake him like a smoothie and insist that NO, YOU ARE THE HERO HERE YOU LITTLE TWERP, DONT YOU TRY AND DENY IT

Rabet did go on as many adventures as Legend but to him they are fucking. Business trips. hes been EVERYWHERE and helped out in SOME WAY but nah theyre not adventures! he was there working! the only place he hasnt been to was a koholint counterpart, but he had the whole hyrule warriors thing so theyre even. Also he actually did train to become a knight! He never did much with it and it didnt lead very far tho, like Legend with being a blacksmith

Whistle (ST Ravio) is a mechanic, not an engineer! He got his body stolen instead of Hilda's and she would intermittently let him possess her to handle the whole deal since it was her fault. That left him with a bit of dissociation problems and also helped him unlock a Brand New Gender (he's genderflux! he/him and she/her are fine for him)

The only thing that can get Lagos lucid is Tibia (Skull Kid's counterpart). Whenever he sees the guy he hugs them carefully and then never lets go of them again. If you try to take the fae from him he will Literally Bite You. theyre also the reason he died horribly :)

Lepus has a mark like Twilight's forehead mark, but on his whole back. It's so spread out because he relied on twili/auro magic to re-transform from beast to man and it seeped deeper into his skin (they tried using the master sword to cleanse him but the mark stayed - he did become able to turn into an actual animal, a maned worf). He has a horrendous accent hes constantly hiding and he likes making his village's children laugh by making them think they tricked him

I cant think anything abt Morpha bc hes. just some guy. ndshdjhs

*Drove is the word for a group of hares! I could have gone with "the Fluffle" too but the Ravios have dignity hkshdj

[sendmyresignation]

In Defense of Teenagers:

Ok so. There seems to be a general consensus that Teenagers doesn’t fit on the black parade or that it ruins the trajectory of the album or that the song order of bp needs to be changed to fit the b-sides and drop Teenagers, or it should have just been a single- basically any option other than its inclusion between Sleep and Disenchanted would have been better. now, i’m not here to tell anyone that they’re wrong- i just want to offer an alternative perspective because i truly believe Teenagers is right where it belongs and that its inclusion on that album is, in my opinion, completely necessary to the album’s narrative arc. I want to focus on the way Teenagers builds into the foundation of the Concept Record, the way it bridges the gap between Sleep and Disenchanted so as not to delegitimize Disenchanted’s impact, and the fact that no other available material fits into the struggle the Patient endures at the end of the narrative (sorry this got LONG here’s a read more)

So, before we get into the meat of Teenager’s narrative significance, i wanted to briefly mention the way it makes Black Parade a more cohesive whole in relation to the material it is mimicking. Like Black Parade as an album is structured very differently from Pink Floyd’s The Wall- but it takes a lot of the same beats and recontextualizes them for a new purpose. Both records use war and relationship troubles and school and drugs to create an atmosphere that leads to disillusionment. In The Wall, this is quite literally the protagonist, Pink, building up “bricks in the wall” that isolates him from the rest of society and lead to a downward spiral into cynicism and hate. But Black Parade uses the same tools that The Wall does to say something different- things, specifically the actions you've made or the trauma you've endured, haunts you and makes your life seem insignificant in the face of what happens to you and those regrets are what causes the Patient to fall into a cycle of damnation and cynicism. This is representative of the Patient's descent through the afterlife- each new "layer" of the Patient's exploration is equivalent to a brick in The Wall's metaphor. Additionally, in this new context, this song in particular takes The Wall’s discussions of adolescence and the vice-grip control older generations attempt to force on teens and the disillusionment with the future and retells it from a new perspective- both literally in the fact the song is now more reflective of the 2000s post-9/11 and post-columbine culture, but its also literally from the perspective of the Patient as an adult. Teenagers, as a result, becomes a necessary piece of that puzzle- it is the refraction of Another Brick in the Wall repurposed to mean something new entirely- it’s no longer about kids being forced into complacency by a cruel education system from their own perspective (the children’s choir allows them to speak for themselves) but about the ways in which adults see those kids and why they decide to enact actions similar to those within The Wall. I mean even the imagery used in the song’s music video is purposely almost plagiarizing The Wall- it feeds into a separate analysis of the video and song outside the narrative as well- which i don’t have time right now to get into, its just very interesting that the band is bodily removed from their instruments at the end of the video and the teenagers in the audience have rendered them incapacitated (“they’re looking for a rockstar to kill” anyone?) it's the metaphorical tearing down of the wall from a completely different perspective. Anyway, the work Teenagers does for the narrative is it fits the album into the Concept Record Cinematic Universe- it is a piece that evokes the material it is influenced by to build off of the old to create the new- without it, the connections to The Wall would still be there, sure, but it wouldn’t be as complete- you cannot recontextualize the album without the foundation of Teenagers.

Teenagers is also, at its core, a subtle subversion of genre- using the blueprint of a specific kind of song to center the song within the timeline/narrative. In this case, the same way I Don’t Love You mimics and exaggerates the emotive and plaintive 80s rock ballad, Teenagers twists the classic rock of a bygone era to specifically call back on the stadium rock anthem.  Black Parade, on the whole, does this quite frequently- most of its songs take pre-existing genre cues and subverts them in ways that play off of the expected tapestry of a concept record to create individual sounding songs that seamlessly transition into one another yet remain entirely separate. It maintains their presence as scenes in a larger tapestry- specifically the fabric of the Black Parade being a morality play. This serves two purposes, it allows for this exaggeration of genre to become a motif within the work (see mama, cancer, house of wolves, i don’t love you, wttbp -> they all play with a different, varied song type/structure that is distinct from each other) and it plays off of existing genre-stereotypes in ways that contribute to the songs overall function. I Don’t Love You, for example, undermines the fundamental purposes of sappy power ballads- to express one of the two dualities of love songs: the cheesy unconditional “i will love you forever” types or the plaintive, melancholic end-of-relationship song by instead focusing on the complexity of a not-quite-finished relationship. The ballad then shifts from an expression of love to one of human loss- and the loss is less about the individual speaking, but moreso about what the other character has become - it’s a mourning not for the relationship, but for the person themselves, who they used to be in a way. It shifts from the one-dimensional view of what a ballad can achieve and instead infuses the anger, the resignation, the drama, the transformation- it humanizes a very stock genre full of platitudes and uses our expectations to create something more interesting. Similarly, Teenagers takes a tired genre and utilizes the working mechanisms of its typical song structure to subvert and repurpose those into commentary- its literally a stadium rock song that devolves into a chant. Looking at the loud drumbeat that resonates in your chest, the all together now as a command that lures the listener into singing along, the addition of more chorus vocals at the end like a crowd is shouting along, the screaming and the solo on after another like the song is falling apart a little bit, all of these elements build into a song literally meant to be infectious and replicated by the audience. Herein lies one of the songs many interpretations- humans can be easily influenced by the media they consume, the perspectives they are fed. What happens when the view that we have of adolescence is cloaked in mistrust and violence? This aspect of the song is less about the band reconciling teenagers being moved to committing acts of violence and more in analyzing how an audience can be persuaded into believing the erroneous view of teens as fundamentally destructive- are you not repeating the chorus? do teenagers not “scare the shit out of you”? Obviously the band doesn’t want you to believe this but it does what you to think about why this perspective is so common. It's a cultural subliminal message that is present in songs and tv and books that we simply do not question- it is a chant we cannot help but join in on. Teenagers is a replication of that process, but is clearly just subversive enough (both as a piece of genre and just as a song in general terms) that the listener knows its commentary and not itself propagating that viewpoint. Every song on Black Parade does this kind of “genre-bending” to make a point in some way or another, so it's a significant reason Teenagers fits into the albums cohesion.

But,Teenagers isn’t just important to the album in its sound- it lyrically parallels Disenchanted in a way that effectively moves on from Sleep without losing the album’s emotional momentum. Sleep, conceptually and lyrically, is a very heavy track- its influence from the Dune soundtrack’s Final Dream turn a cinematic, swelling piece of instrumentation into an oppressive blanket of noise that bears down on the listener and the lyrics are referential to the patient believing themselves to be irredeemable and monstrous. It's also inspired directly from Gerard’s vivid and violent night terrors during his stay at the paramour- including a recording of Gerard’s recollection of those dreams, that mentions being choked, seeing loved ones die, burning alive, etc. To transition directly from such a dark, personal subject into a reflective acoustic number about the narrator’s adolescence would be tonally inappropriate and almost laughable- it would stop the progression in its tracks, while also doing a disservice to Disenchanted. Having a break is necessary! And it's even more appropriate for that break to be a song about teenagers considering Disenchanted is so nostalgic. Additionally, Teenagers brings up a really interesting narrative thread about the Patient becoming disenchanted with the youth that then directly transitions into a song about him losing faith in his values and sense of self- they are directly correlated conceptually. Looking deeper, Disenchanted is a punk song. sort of. more specifically, it is the foundation of a punk song that becomes a ballad through narrative framing- it takes punk cliches (running from the cops, the crowds, the imagery of guillotining traitorous rich celebrities) and turns them wistful and sad because the Patient is looking back at something they no longer understand or identify with, it allows the narrative to illustrate how the Patient feels like their life was worthless and didn’t amount to much and they’re just another stupid punk kid who grew up and didn’t achieve anything. and you can’t get to this point from Sleep because it would weaken Disenchanted’s impact, make it seem insignificant and petulant in the face of Sleep’s heavy and grand sorrow. Lyrically, you need Teenagers to bridge the gap between the war metaphors and the visualizations of hell and the all-encompassing nature of cancer in order to redirect the focus to the Patient and limit the scope of the narrative at the end of the album. Teenagers, within the story, then functions as the Patient reflecting on the nature of youth and, in the wake of Mama’s “we all go to hell” rhetoric, comes to the conclusion that teenagers are wholly violent, easily manipulated, and unsympathetic. It's another step in the Patient removing his own agency and viewing his life as predestined at the same time it allows the “plot” to focus back on the more nostalgic and mundane aspects of the patient’s life. Doing so makes Famous Last Words so much more significant because it forces the Patient to reconcile with his past before he can move forward (whether that's living or dying its still applicable). so, Teenagers is very important to the overall “plot” of Black Parade- it is fundamentally necessary for the pieces to fit together.

Another larger aspect of Teenagers' importance is that it introduces the fate versus free will internal debate central to the ending fourth of the record. The song lays the foundation for this thematic idea by being about the fated violence of the youth and how they cannot help but to respond to their world with anger and cruelty. This realization about adolescence by the Patient leads to him perceiving his own youth as destructive and worthless and in following the themes of guilt/regret and damnation it's this violence that began his path to hell or his current state of suffering.  In that vein, Teenagers leads into the idea that your life is predetermined or that there is a destiny that we all have (in the Patient’s case its the absence of a future, or “a lifelong wait for a hospital stay”) and no matter what, you cannot fight that. While Mama gives a blanket statement about how "we all go to hell", Disenchanted centers the Patient's specific destiny by saying his whole life has led up to his illness and, looking further, there is the implication that life before that was retrospectively pointless. So, as previously mentioned, Disenchanted begins, structurally and lyrically, as a punk song- this sort of expression of youthful existence that, in any other song or under another faster instrumentation, would fit on some basement demo from 1986. But it doesn't stay that way, instead it actively subverts the genre it's cliches are lifted from- thinking specifically about “we ran from the cops” and the “roar of the crowd” that is juxtaposed with the change in structure  or theme. Namely, punk songs (speaking generally here) aren’t wistful because there isn't really a sense of legacy in punk music. There's history yes, but most songs are about the immediacy of emotion, not existential questioning. The retrospective nature and the shift into a ballad structure are elements reflective of a change in the main character brought on by the disillusionment present in teenagers from a punk kid to a dying young man looking back on the banality of youth and the hypocrisy, the trauma and the lack of agency. It's so much easier to think that nothing matters and the perspective makes it so much easier to give up.

This build from Teenagers into Disenchanted regarding the Patient's fate allows Famous Last Words to become an even stronger end because it's in direct opposition to that perspective. Famous Last Words is a song that screams fuck fate and fuck the past- the only thing that matters is moving forward. The image of the Patient keeping on whether he’s walking into the afterlife or continuing to stay alive as long as possible becomes something difficult, something he had to fight to achieve - he had to struggle to find a new understanding. That he can't be "afraid to keep living" or "going home" and that these are concrete actions, a use of free will. And that free will is very specifically defiant. Regardless of how you view the Patient's end, he makes the conscious decision to accept the present and move forward. We are not fated to die alone, nor is life worthless. Black Parade proves that the opposite is true, that we must grow to accept the value of life, and it's so much stronger having the Patient actively reject nihilism and apathy. Ultimately, Teenagers introduces the main thread of the final songs and without it, those songs would be narrative incomplete.

So, Teenagers has a valued place on the album sonically and within the narrative whole, that much is clear. But another reason that the album order of Sleep, Teenagers and Disenchanted is important is that none of the other material written for the album comes close to filling its place. In this case, I am going to be specifically talking about the b-sides since the demos are incomplete and we have no idea what the final version would have sounded like (but I would contend they don’t fit either). Beginning with the easiest song to discard from the narrative- My Way Home Is Through You has its moments in the lyrics but it's completely out of place musically- plus the tone is a little too hopeful for this point in the album which does not gel with Disenchanted’s hopelessness. It's also incongruent with the album since Disenchanted is effective as the only “punk” song on a record that plays with and explores genre and having this come before it would ruin the previously mentioned motif of each of the songs being individual and unique in form. Also, it really adds nothing to the fate vs free will theme- meaning its placement would weaken the disenchanted/flw combo ending. Moving forward, Kill All Your Friends seems to fit, considering its cynicism and nostalgia, but the bridge (“you’ll never get me alive, you’ll never take me alive, do what it takes to survive and I'm still here") doesn’t fit the Patient’s slow decent into apathy at all and contradicts Disenchanted’s loss of faith in the idea of living- it's too hopeful and centers survival and resilience in a way that makes it an ineffective substitute for Teenagers as a bridge song. And finally, Heaven Help Us is too religiously centered- it would refocus the fate vs free will discussion in the context of god/angels when that isn’t a theme in the album up to this point (hell is the grounded point of the album- the protagonist has already accepted their fate by Mama- having a reconciliation with a lack of faith or the absence of God seems completely out of left field when its just not an established part of the narrative) Black Parade is actually one of the mcr albums with the least references to god/angels in the heavenly religious sense- more centered around the human struggle against determinism: the usage of damnation is Catholic inspired but divorced from the division of hell vs heaven and is instead about guilt and worthiness and agency. The presence of angels or god or any divinity would simply weaken the narrative by expanding the album's focus outside its own limitations. Also, the Patient isn't ever a martyred figure, if anything he is purposely pathetic. Including any comparison of the Patient to Christ ("give you all the nails you need") or a saint unravels the key feature of the Patient's character: that he is insignificant. His insignificance and his struggles with his past actions make him a character who must find the strength to live through the guilt and pain to prove that everyone is worthy of life. The overarching purpose of Black Parade is emphasizing that no matter what we've done and how dirty we feel, we can move forward and either accept our afterlife or we can find value in being alive. Because of this contradiction, Heaven Help Us destroys the central theme of the entire album if it is included. With all of this in mind, it seems to me that the b-sides are their own nebulous thing- they don’t tonally fit on Black Parade (though I do think they fit together and are interconnected thematically) but any of them would break the flow since they seem angrier and gritter in a way that is noticeably absent and would be at odds with from a lot of Parade’s resignation. They also just do not complete the narrative, they are simple not as good as Teenagers at bringing all the pieces together.

If I still haven’t convinced you, a bonus reason Teenagers is a valuable memeber of the Black Parade tracklist, Ray was the only one who believed in the song- he called it genius (x) so listen to mr chemical romance himself telling you the song is Good and Important :)

anyway now you should, at the very least respect teenagers based on a couple thematic ideas expressed here, if not also understand why it’s imperative to black parade as an album, as well as the narrative itself. <3

[amelia]

related to that last ask but now i actually have a question! what are your favourite episodes for amy as a character? (sorry if i’m pestering you btw you don’t have to answer right away ❣️)

it is absolutely never a bother for me to talk about amy pond!! gosh though this is a Question. okay. i did interpret this as episodes that are my favorite for the lens of My Understanding Of Amy instead of favorite pond era episodes as a whole if that makes sense? under the cut bc i got long as i tend to do

i think my number 1 has to be the big bang, because it really is just like. okay, pond era absolutely runs into the problem of frequently making stories/episodes that should be centered around amy's emotional journey actually about somebody else — but the big bang is all hers. it is all on her! she's leading the show SHE'S the one in the pandorica SHE'S the one who remembers the doctor into existence it is HER choice to say goodbye to leadworth and continue to travel completely without remorse SHE IS THE HERO. it goes from "time can be rewritten, he'll find a way" to AMY being the one who finds the way. rory and river and the doctor all of course get their Moments but it's unquestionably amy's spotlight moment the whole way through

i have also ALWAYSSS been obsessed with starless universe amelia and the way that she still believes in stars in a world where they DON'T EXIST the power of her mind and the conviction of her beliefs is a CORE TENET of amy's character, the doctor has NOTHING to do with it!!! it's just who she is !!! best character of all time <3

other things about the amy's writing in this episode i love: the line "the universe pouring into her dreams every night," space florida outfit <3, ok i obviously do not love this but i think so much about amy talking about the doctor at her wedding and her mother is still like "NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN… i thought the psychiatrists FIXED her" like once again !!! a UNIVERSAL CONSTANT that amy is the one who believes in things nobody else does and is LOUD about it and is RIGHT !!! (let's kill hitler tried to retcon this but it simply won't work on me ❤️ just like anything else about the let's kill hitler flashbacks ❤️❤️❤️), OKAY DOCTOR DID I SURPRISE YOU THIS TIME? <3

number 2, i think, is the eleventh hour itself? like it's just… i've rewatched it so many times and it's still the most captivating character introduction i have ever seen. i know i'm biased but i love it so much. her introduction as a clearly neglected seven year old girl (constantly think about the deleted line that has her talking to aunt sharon and saying "you're not supposed to leave me, i'm seven!" WOOF) who's not afraid of anything except for the crack in her wall… she has drawings up all over her house of burning houses, she draws smiley faces into her apples bc her mom used to do that, she can cook for herself way better than i could at seven, and she desperately just wants to leave. but when the doctor tells her he'll be back in five minutes, amy is already so used to adults leaving her and breaking their promises that she doesn't believe him. but he makes her believe anyway. and he doesn't come back.

and all of the rest of her character hinges on that introduction — of course she has to believe him, he was REAL, nobody can take his realness away from her even if she is the only one who believes. but he also left her all alone for so long, just like everyone else who was supposed to be there for her did, so what good does that to her? so yeah of course she grows up angry and bitter and hiding those layers of hurt deeply under the surface, scorning all attachment and serious relationships because she knows she can't trust them. she outwardly distances herself from her childhood self by changing her name but she IS still just such a child inside.

she's not ready to settle, to grow up, to become what everyone in her tiny village wants her to be, thinks that she should be — so when she gets the chance to GO, of course she takes it. but she's also not just going to let the doctor off the hook for [gestures] her entire life, you know? the exchanges "people always say that" "i'm not people, do i even look like people?" | "people always have a reason" "do i look like people?" "Yes." always just GUT ME. she may trust him but it's NOT a blind trust, it can't be.

number 3 has to be the beast below it just makes me SCREAM how good that episode is at really developing amy through her compassion for other people — right from the start she sees that kid crying and she thinks the doctor must ignore stuff like this all the time, and she says that she could never do that. she's learning and intuiting leaps and bounds about the doctor with everything he says to her — which is another one of my favorite amy character traits, the way she is SO quick to pick up on things about other people and analyze them. everything that she picks up about the doctor allows her to KNOW what to do to save the star whale, allows her to be confident in the fact that the star whale wanted to help the whole time. the choice is IN HER HANDS she IS THE HERO <3 as she always should be. you couldn't just stand there and watch people cry! all that pain and misery and loneliness and it MADE IT KIND. i don't care how overused that quote is it still HITS !!!

um. number 4 is the girl who waited but my very specific headcanon-ridden interpretation and cutting out all that garbage "rory's the most beautiful man i've ever met" "defying destiny causality the nexus of time itself for a boy" bullshit. idk there's so many terrible things about this episode but it also gave me so much to think about when it comes to amy it's on my mind a LOT. one thing i think about is the way it parallels amy's first abandonment by the doctor — not just in the obvious sense but in the way that she's actively fighting for her life in a hostile atmosphere, but nobody else SEES it as a hostile atmosphere. the two streams facility is leadworth like it really is. and what adds a more chilling component is the way the handbots signature line is "do not be alarmed, this is a kindness" — like all the people who were trying to convince amy she was crazy throughout her entire childhood really thought they were doing her a kindness. they thought they were helping her. but they were killing her. because she wasn't made for that environment.

beyond that i am just obsessed with 36-years-later amy she is an icon she is a legend she is the moment i don't care! every mean thing she said about the doctor and rory was absolutely deserved and in fact she should have been so much meaner! she is SO SMART she makes her own SONIC PROBES OUT OF CAMERA PHONES the fact that she even was able to SURVIVE THAT LONG and in COMPLETE isolation and still retain her own mental faculties is just insane to me it speaks so much about her insane mental strength oh my god it makes me sooo emotional i am tearing up a little typing this right now.

i just am always THINKING about the line "there he is, the voice of god. number one lesson: survive, because no one's coming for you. you taught me that" it says SO MUCH about her. oh my god older amy didn't want to die she'll be kicking and screaming and fighting til the end… i fucking hate this show and picking and choosing when paradoxes should apply OLDER AMY DESERVED TO LIVE

number 5 is probably the power of three but my own very headcanon infused interpretation of it. because it's like. the ultimate miscommunication/misunderstanding that exists between amy and the doctor coming to a head. where amy in 7.02 is like "i can't not wait for you, even now. (…) we think you're weaning us off you" (that line always makes me slow exhale … the phrasing of the doctor as a drug) and the doctor keeps insisting that's not true, "you'll be there until the end of me" "or vice versa" (and they have that loaded held stare and you know they're both thinking about what he said to her before he left in the god complex…)

but it's not until this episode where amy starts to actually believe he means it. at the same time she's spent so much TIME preparing for the inevitable moment where the doctor says goodbye and doesn't say hello ever again that she's not willing to fully hope that the doctor really means it when he says that he would never leave her permanently on purpose. and i love that this episode gives amy a lot of space to verbally communicate her emotions because the later pond episodes SORELY LACK THAT. and amy tells him, don't be nice to me, don't stop coming around just because you think that's the kind thing to do. even though she says herself that she doesn't know if she can have "both" — she knows that she can tell the doctor to stay, in her own way, and that he'll listen.

ideally they would have just gone off traveling together forever after that and the angels take manhattan did not happen but unlike what the doctor says about amy, i don't ever get what i want 🙃

also, this episode gave amy friends that weren't rory or the doctor or river so i love it for that on principal <3 i know amy had fun being the bridesmaid at laura's lesbian wedding. and kate!!

( i do hate that this episode ends with that conversation between brian and the doctor. i hate brian as a character and i will forever. won't get into this right now but OUGH )

honestly this list is kind of wobbly and might change if you asked me in a month so i'll just rattle off other favorite episodes / moments real quickly: the good night minisode (it counts!), RIVER SONG DIDN'T GET IT ALL FROM YOU SWEETIE (timeline frozen amy my beloved!), "i remember it so it happened so i did it," vincent and the doctor specifically when vincent tells amy that he hears the song of her sadness…. ow, i could write a whole other essay about amy's choice and how it is so much more complex than people give it credit for but this post is already so goddamn long