#i mean the lack of spoilers is great but also do they not know we survive on them

[maydaydiaz]

it’s my birthday ryan pls drop some new content

[acid-ixx]

I have a question, well 2 questions to be exact that’s been rattling around in my head since I started reading platonic yandere batfam fics, why would reader stay in Gotham? I’d be sneakily stealing as much money as I could without getting caught as soon as I reach a “fuck these guys” mentality. Like, asking to have some money for groceries or something and just pocketing it so that I could get a bus ticket and leave the city. Would you do it if you were reader? It just makes sense to me “this place sucks, these people suck, I’ve gotten enough to leave”, this is with me assuming that reader has the means of course, if the reader doesn’t then okay, yeah that makes sense

And my second question, do you ever feel resentful towards Alfred when you read batfam photonic yandere content? I do sometimes, especially when the reader is neglected. I know this might sound odd but when I read these fics I recognize that Alfred could do more, out of everyone in the manner, I think Alfred’s word carries the most weight, especially with Bruce due to him raising Bruce. I also notice in some batfam fics that the reader doesn’t get mad at him due to him giving them attention, but idk it feels kinda like a slap to the face, knowing that I don’t have the power but he does and yet not exercising it until I’ve burned every last tie to that family.

I know my thoughts are a more “well you’re on the outside looking in” type takes, but idk, it hurts my heart knowing that if reader stays in that city, it will be far more easier for the batfam to find them, where if they were outside the city, they’d have a fighting chance to make a new life for themselves

On a side note, I think we are underutilizing the angst potential of reader legally changing their name and the batfam not knowing until months or even years later when reader leaves. Like Bruce and the fam would just have to sit and realize that reader hates/dislikes/doesn’t care about them enough to legally change their name from Wayne to whatever reader chooses. Jason was Batman’s greatest failure, but Reader would be Bruce’s greatest failure, and what a delightful public failure it would be if the tabloids were to somehow find out that one of Bruce Wayne’s biological children changed their legal name

I’m loving your batfam content btw, like it makes me want to create one of those “screw therapy, I need to fist fight my dad” tiktoks and tag Bruce Wayne, that’s what I can phenomenal writing!! And sorry for making this so long! Hope you have a great existence!

slight spoilers for future chapters.

this is one of my favorite asks... anon, you are so brilliant because your two questions tie into the reader's character so well and the flaws that they (you) conjured from years of neglect, so i hope my answers would suffice (i am answering based on the perspective of the reader from my series: again & again with a bit of my own perspective). tysm for sending this in, i actually really enjoy long asks and appreciate it when people take the time to send me these things!

why would the reader stay in gotham?

chapter one wasn't all the detailed about why they stayed in gotham. firstly, their self-worth had them reason that in no way, shape, or form would their family that basically estranged them would come running to them, especially not when the only time the reader could even stumble across them is by some miracle of coincidence. this also ties into their lack of knowledge about their family. sure, they know that babs is the oracle but do they know just how much access she has across gotham? not really. they know tim, like bruce, has a tendency to collect information about other people, but they don't know that they have contingency plans to be creeped out enough to get away from gotham and from their reach.

"it's not like tim or bruce or barbara considered you important enough to be stalked. hah, as if!"

and the third point is, despite bruce being a billionaire of some sort, it was stated that the reader was too well-behaved and quiet. how does this make sense? as you've stated, they wouldn't simply have the means to get out. seeing as they were sheltered by alfred and never really explored the concept of traveling far away, they never asked for money; the only advantage of being a wayne is having quite a lot of things served on a silver platter.

they have this sort of toxic bond for staying with the people who have hurt them and it materialized to them physically staying despite knowing it would only cause more pain than anything else, and they don't know that. plus, they'd rather not have the wayne name associated with them and getting money from cheques or credit cards would be too risky for the reader's safety.

they've only realized just how shitty their family is after more than 10-13 years of staying in the manor, and saving up to move to an entirely different place would be difficult, alongside college and the jobs they have to take. so the next best thing they could do is rely on any means of advantage they could get whilst also moving on to the path of self-discovery and recovery.

but that doesn't mean they're staying in gotham forever, definitely not. the moment the reader realizes that dick gained some sort of interest towards them, they're booking it out of gotham. preferably to metropolis or central city or even somewhere far, far away— they're naive, but not stupid. sudden interest towards them means danger rather than anything else. and they're aware that alfred is capable enough to pull strings, so that's why spoiler alert: they have a secret stash of money hidden somewhere and like any children of bruce, they inherited the capability to be smart enough to already back up their contacts and everything on their phone, buy a burner phone and even change their entire identity in one quick go right after they move into an entirely different city or country.

gotham is merely their practice course.

do you ever feel resentment towards alfred?

quite frankly, yes. the reader in the fic feels resentment towards everyone for a reason actually, but alfred's part was stated vaguely as to not spoil a future chapter that focuses on his perspective. they know that he has the more power inside the manor more than bruce has. everyone, and i mean everyone respects alfred, and it doesn't take a genius to know that if you mess with him, you're messing with an entire family of crime fighters.

it's not obvious, but the reader's narrative in chapter one is them trying so hard to delude themself into thinking things can be better until it's too late. so in a sense, there's false narrative coming into play.

"alfred would be too busy sometimes to attend your school ceremonies because he had to assist bruce with missions. of course, you understood his priorities. after all, he tried his hardest to make you feel less lonely inside the mansion, it wasn't enough but he was there at least."

at some point in time, alfred had also neglected the reader emotionally with the same reasoning as the others; he was busy with their father. and this all could've been avoided if alfred had tried to confront the entire family about it. i'm not delving deeper into this to really avoid spoilers other than pointing out some details in the first chapter.

just know that alfred relishes in your newfound favoritism towards him, and that he may or may not have pulled some strings himself from helping you become closer to the family.

the part about reading changing their name from (name) wayne to (name) (last name) is what made me so drawn to this ask. you have pretty much predicted one of the chapters that explored (name) wayne to the public eye. they're not so much of an internet celebrity because of their rare appearances in public, but that's what causes immense curiosity about their identity to uprise in gotham, and their fame was one of the means to get to you.

there was one news article published that was the reason that made bruce distant towards you.

but let's focus on what yan! bruce would've felt once he turns a full 360.

because the first thing he would do once he has you in his grasp is to change your last name back to his. you are not the child of a (last name), you are a wayne first and foremost, bruce's third child and his greatest mistake, quite literally. you were a product of a one-night-stand, and because he was drowning in despair from jason's death, he had failed to notice you. all his years of neglect, and he doesn't even know a single thing about you, simply because he refused to acknowledge your presence.

and you rightfully hated him, he should've accepted that. but your diary entries and the way you innocently thought of him destroyed any sliver of hope for a peaceful reconciliation. he hates how you were experiencing the same type of despair as him when it comes to battling your own monsters— you truly are a wayne at heart. he couldn't afford to let you get away any further. just like dick, he needs to fix it now or further sever the already broken ties you have with him.

it's not batman now, but rather bruce. bruce wayne had failed to save another one of his children, not as a vigilante, but as a father.

knowing bruce, he's quick to take into action and search for you.

holy shit, this is a really long post but i hope it does answer the questions ! im so grateful that you like my writing enough to write a really long ask, and i hope to see your messages more once the new chapters are published <3

[genericpuff]

So I watched ChattyMia's Lore Olympus video which was great and everyone should watch it. It seems most people who do series reviews of the Lore Olympus don't like the comic for obvious reasons. Then I was reminded by the end that the comic is expecting a TV series which is in development hell. It made me think that Rachel might be better off not having a Lore Olympus TV show. Most praise for the series died awhile ago as the story became an utter mess. If it did get a TV show, people will see the early red flags like the age gap, the treatment of Minthe, trying to excuse cheating, Hades horrible behavior to workers, nymphs being discriminated with no pushback, etc. If some of them read the comic for spoilers they would later see the other big red flags of the series. Excusing slave labor, Persephone threatening the lower class, Hera getting with Echo a 'trash nypmh' as she once called Minthe, Apollo gets community service, the continued mistreatment of Demeter etc. Which I feel will cause everyone to go 'wtf is this series? 50 Shades of Grey mixed with Keeping Up with the Kardashians?'. Then you have to wonder if some of them will do a deep dive and find the stuff about Rachel's tie to Lolita. It would be especially bad if a bigger content creator talked about it. And we already know Rachel doesn't handle criticism the best (i.e. the struggle street tweet, the Minthe cosplay situation or even the merch). So I could only imagine how much worse it would be for her if Lore Olympus got a TV show and more eyes got drawn to it and her. It would no longer be just confided to the web comics fanbase but the much larger TV one. Unless Rachel seriously considered rewriting the TV script (or rekindling it lol) I don't see how a TV adaptation of her show would be good press for her.

Yess I've seen that video, it's great! She did a great job summarizing a lot of the biggest core issues with LO's story and art without getting too lost in the sauce (though god knows the rabbithole of LO's issues runs INCREDIBLY deep in an equally fascinating and "oh god what the fuck did I just read' kind of way), her video editing was very entertaining and her Persephone cosplay was a great touch 😎

That said, regarding the thought of "most people who do series reviews of LO don't like the comic", there is an amount of bias we have to acknowledge there - there's often a lot more to say in the negative rather than the positive. By extension, people who simply enjoy LO and don't participate much in the online discussion surrounding it or the discourse concerning it are less likely to make 2 hour videos analyzing it. So while the popular opinion of LO has shifted more towards a negative point of view, that doesn't mean that fans of the comic don't exist - it's just that most of those fans are blissfully enjoying the comic and can only sum it up as "it's very pretty and the plot is great", whereas many people who didn't enjoy it are more likely to voice their opinions as to why in far more explicit detail (though on the flipside of that, it also goes to show that there's a lot more to analyze in LO's flaws than its strengths - it's ironic that the fans often don't have much to say beyond "it's cute" or "I relate to Persephone" and anything further than that is relegated to pure headcanon pieced together by assumption and best guesses to make up for Rachel's lack of writing).

All that aside though, regarding the TV adaption, at this point it's less a matter of reception and more a matter of relevancy. The perfect time to release or at least show us proof of the LO TV show was years ago, when the comic was at its peak between 2020-2021. The second best time was at last year's NYCC when Rachel was a headlining guest. The fact they still had nothing to show for it at this year's NYCC, with Rachel nowhere to be seen and instead focusing more on the Freaking Romance adaption with Snailords filling the role as their featured guest (an equally if not even more problematic creator), is astounding, but unsurprising.

To me, LO feels like a real life case of "Tortoise and the Hare". Back at the start of it all, in 2017-2018, it was doing what no other comic on the platform was doing, presenting us a retelling of the Hades and Persephone story - which was very popular on Tumblr at the time - through a modern setting and with art that was incredibly unique for the platform. That, paired with WT's aggressive marketing, propelled it far ahead every other comic on the platform, creating a gap so massive that even the comics in second place on the trending tabs still weren't even close to LO's lead in terms of stats and money.

But then it got complacent. Quality of the comic's writing and art dropped, it was becoming increasingly obvious that LO had become no more than a marketing grift akin to the likes of Harry Potter - easily turned into books, t-shirts, socks, coloring books, figures, etc. - and that gave way to an increase of criticism towards it, criticism that had always somewhat existed even as far back as its days on Tumblr, but was now amplified by the existing ongoing proof that LO was never all it was cracked up to be.

Now, at best they shill $200+ figurine pre-orders, but the show is nowhere to be seen and, with the comic now finished and locked behind Daily Pass, its relevancy is dying out. "Rachel Smythe Presents" still has nothing to show for itself, Rachel's IG and Twitter seem to be purely for merch-pushing by the Inklore team, and Rachel has, at best, two new series that she suddenly announced but, in her words, don't even have anything written or planned for them yet beyond the taglines that were thrown together for her socials.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Greek myth retelling industry is in a renaissance. Hades is still a massively popular game, with its sequel now in early access; Epic: The Musical has been making waves on Spotify and TikTok far exceeding that of LO's in terms of audience reach, and even has more to show for itself in the way of official animations than LO ever has; and now Kaos has recently launched its first season after being in production since 2018 - yes, you read that right, it got commissioned around the exact same time LO became an Originals series which suggests the idea for it was already floating around and being pitched prior to LO - and, frankly, has beaten LO at its own game by achieving everything LO set out to do - weaving a Greek epic-style story in a modern setting, balancing romance with prophecies and world-ending stakes. It took a while, but Kaos made it past the finishing line, while LO has been dragging itself behind it, still making empty promises that a TV show is "still in the works" and "coming soon", with not a single thing to show for itself.

LO may have gotten a head start in being the "sleek, modern, sexy Greek myth retelling" by the virtue of being a weekly webtoon, but slow and steady wins the race - the productions that have taken their time cooking in the oven are now coming out as beautiful and delicious as we, the guests at the table, were told would be, while LO is simply the short-term gratification junk food that bombards us with gimmicks but sits like a rock in our stomachs and leaves us unfulfilled and wishing for a better meal.

Those better meals are here now and they were absolutely worth the wait.

[yuri-is-online]

Love and Deepspace Timeline: Xavier

This is all speculation and should not be taken as fact, I have made a previous post about Zayne, but as stated there I do not have the necessary cards to make one for Rafayel and will direct you to this post by u/joonmin on the love and deepspace subreddit. This post is being made before I have managed to complete the Myths date (as soon as I hit level 55 it is over for you hos) and will be updated at some point once I have finished it, but I think I have enough information to explain Xav's overall timeline and hopefully clear up a few things for people missing his cards.

I have included a TL;DR at the end of the post for people who don't want to get lost in the weeds of theorizing.

Some information from that post about Zayne will be re-hashed here to help provide context about the game's setting. SPOILERS FOR ALL IN GAME CONTENT UP TO CHAPTER 8, VARIOUS MOMENTS, AND ANECDOTES, PROCEED WITH CARE.

Current Timeline

The current timeline where the main story of LAD takes place is set in the year 2048 in a place called Linkon City. We are told that the Deepspace Tunnel opened 14 years prior and that is when wanderers started invading earth. There is a lack of understanding about why this has happened, and it has sparked an interest in space exploration in the hopes of finding a solution.

The Hunters Association is sort of like an adventurers guild? It's supervised by the government, and is sort of split between Hunters like MC and researchers attempting to understand what makes the wanderers tick.

This includes researching protocores, currently the only thing the hunter's association knows for sure is that they contain a great deal of energy, and that they can cause disease in humans based off of which category the protocore falls into. This is confirmed the be what is wrong with MC, and appears to be a problem all versions of her share.

The events immediately following the opening of the Deepspace Tunnel are referred to as the Catastrophe due to the amount of destruction caused by the influx of wanderers. This is what birthed the N109 Zone. According to the in game Spacepedia, it is surrounded by various other "no-hunt" zones, which it further clarifies as being places with "a chaotic Protofield and frequent Wanderer appearances," i.e. really dangerous places for people to live let alone go to. Civilians are outright banned and hunters need special permission to enter because of just how dangerous these places are considered to be.

Unlike Zayne and Rafayel, Xavier does not have an alternate self yet. The versions of him in his myths card and all of his anecdotes are all the same person, just at various points in his long life. The technicality of this is addressed in one of the shareable posts: Immortality No Longer A Dream! The article goes into detail about how a new biotech company using protocores to regenerate the heart. You can share this article with each of the three boys, who have different types of reactions, but Xavier's is not one of surprise or skepticism, but of acceptance. The article itself talks about immortality as something everyone will one day be able to accomplish, but Xavier disagrees.

Xavier's first two anecdotes, A Special Vacation and Passing By, both establish how exactly he has been living his life on earth since his arrival. We learn that he has been doing his best to keep a low profile by moving between various jobs and tries to avoid making friends. As mentioned by @exactlycleverpirate in the replies of this post (who has made their own timeline you can check out here) "Xavier says he has been on Earth for 214 years, and that this will be his last. That means he arrived in 1834. We also see in one of his Tender Moments, that he rented a book from the library 30 years ago. So he has definitely been on Earth longer than the Deepspace tunnel has been around." Chapter 8 ends tells us that soon Earth and Philos will be in alignment for the first time in billions of years, which is likely why Xavier says this year will be his last, but I am unclear about what exactly that will cause.

We learn that there are other immortals from the same place as Xavier living in Linkon City, and that some of the see him as a traitor. We can assume that many of these immortals are involved with Onychinus due to Xavier's knowledge of and interest in their organization.

It's not clear how or when Xavier chose to start working as a Deepspace Hunter, but the other jobs he's taken all seem to be related to the military/evol combat. He is also very keen on fighting wanderers, so being a hunter is a good way for him to hide in plain sight. Which is what he has been trying to do.

His Precious Bonfire date suggests he has been a hunter longer than MC and has a reputation of not participating in team events. He has the highest level of access to the Hunters Association database and seems to have a good working relationship with Jenna, who seems content to let him do his own thing. She also attempted to assign MC as his partner, in part seemingly because she wants to protect MC's evol.

There is of course also the concept of Lumiere, a legendary hunter who appears during the catastrophe caused by the Deepspace Tunnel and wreaked any wanderer he came across. He has a light evol, a giant bounty on his head, and looks exactly like Xavier when we see his wanted poster in Chapter 8. While MC might have her doubts, since we the reader know Xavier is immortal, it's not much of a jump to say these two hunters are the same person.

Chapter 8 gives us more detailed look at the exact dynamics these immortals have with each other, but I think it makes sense to talk about Xavier's origins first so we know where he is coming from.

Philos Timeline

As I said on my other post, all of the Myths cards take place on the planet of Philos. In the present timeline, Philos is no longer a planet, just a lonely core floating in deepspace at the other end of the deepspace tunnel. In Xavier's third anecdote, When Shooting Stars Fall, we finally learn what Philos is: it's Earth. An Earth that has been reborn by substituting the planet's old core with an artificial one and with a different name.

Now this anecdote takes place in the year 214, which is explained to us as meaning 214 years has passed since Earth was destroyed and reborn as Philos. How does that make sense if we are currently on a very much alive earth with a very dead Philos on the other end of the Deepspace Tunnel? No clue, but I think that's going to be one of the main focuses of the story. Something had to happen to Earth to make it become Philos, and then something happened to Philos to make it uninhabitable. Given what we know, both are likely related to wanderers.

I also want to briefly mention that in Rafayel's myths card, it is mentioned that the sea is missing so the Lemurians have no home. Based off of MC's description of the weather and how "fragmented landmasses" are being held together, I wonder if the re-birth of Earth as Philos is what caused the seas to dry up? And if so what role did MC have in the creation of Philos if any?

This anecdote is from the pov of MC who is studying at a school she simply refers to as "The Academy." It is unclear if this is the same school as she and Xavier are attending in his Lightseeker cards, but based off the uniform he wears and the sword he carries I think this is likely meant to be a highschool of some sort, and the Astria Knyght Academy is a form of military school equivalent to a college.

Xavier's words about immortality being a privilege come into play here as we learn something about MC: she always seems to have heart problems, specifically she always seems to have Protocore Syndrome, the exact same disease she currently has. In this anecdote she explains it as being a birth defect that has only one cure, a special protocore. One that supposedly can cure any illness.

Protocore disease prevents the patient from living forever, something Xavier finds very hard to accept. He abandons MC for a month without telling her where he is going to try and find this Protocore that she needs to live, but comes back too late. By the time he finds her, the core can't save her and he holds her as she dies. She asks if he thinks they will meet in her next life and he promises to always wait for her.

We know current timeline MC has shards of an Aether core in her heart, and that her heart is currently stable. While the anecdote does not outright say that the cure to Protocore Syndrome is an Aether core, Xavier's knowledge of them and his emotions when MC brings them up to him makes me think it probably is. Currently we do not know how an Aether core can be obtained, other than (assuming that is what he brought MC) Xavier was injured getting one. The MC here says she is unable to live for more that a century, something that has changed in her next re-incarnation but we don't know why.

When MC re-incarnates she is brought under the tutelage of the Grandis Knight, the personal knight and retainer to the King of Philos. Xavier is the Crown Prince of Philos, and is also studying under swordplay under the Grandis Knight. She has no memories of Xaveir, who does not tell her about their shared past despite holding on to the gift she made for him: a star sword tassel. This doesn't seem to bother him as much as you might expect, he mostly just seems happy to have her alive again.

She is stupid jealous of that tassel because Xavier openly admits to being in love with the girl who gave it to him. But he also speaks about her and the MC in the same sentence if that makes any sense? He sees both versions of her as her, and just as he promised he intends to wait for her so they can be together.

Xavier is an interesting character (to me anyway) because he has a pretty clear arc to his attitude towards his relationship with MC as he ages. He starts off as being shy in the third anecdote, then he moves to being openly teasing and affectionate (outright asking to elope and saying things that make it sounds like they might have been betrothed) in his lightseeker cards, to how he is at the end of his myths date and currently with MC: restrained in his interactions with her but unable to completely keep himself away. Why he has become restrained, why he thinks he needs to distance himself from MC is unclear. What is clear is that he has no interest in taking the throne from his father, a man he actively hates and does not seem to see eye to eye with. While their relationship seems to have always been tense, the breaking point is during Xavier's Gladius Ceremony.

The Gladius Ceremony is a sort of coming of age ceremony where the heir proves their ability to ascend the throne by killing a wanderer with nothing but their lightblade. Something happened during that trial that Xavier does not want to talk about and MC mentions he has "changed" since then. Like he left part of himself behind????

As an interesting note this trial takes place in a forest, a sentient forest much like No-Hunt Zone 7 in chapter three.

Xavier says he cannot be the man his father wants. What his father wants is not clear, but I personally think it has something to do with what wanderers are as Xavier seems to have a degree of sympathy towards them if they show a degree of sentience. It also might have something to do with how Philos was made, as both MC and Xavier acknowledge that the planet is dying.

The MC mentions that Xavier leaves her a lot but always comes back within a specified time frame. He goes on expeditions into Deepspace, but never tells MC what he is looking for and we as a reader do not learn. He does, however, mention finding a newborn planet filled with flowers and offers to take MC there if she will give up on being a knight. She is confused, as her entire life's purpose has been to be his knight, and doesn't fully comprehend a world where Xavier isn't going to be king.

But the card story starts with MC being crowned Queen, with Xavier as her Grandis knight, so we know that's what will happen. So neither of them got what they wanted in the end.

The "Lightseeker" title of Xavier's card refers to a unit of knights that are commanded by the Crown Prince and answer only to the royal family. Their duty is to keep Philos safe from Wanderers, much like the modern day Hunter's Association. Both the MC and Xavier are training to become Lightseekers, and have a sort of rivalry for the spot. MC keeps beating Xavier when they spar but he seems to have the stronger Evol so they're quite equally matched. It's stupid cute how everyone but Jeremiah thinks they hate each other, speaking of which:

Jeremiah is a friend of MC's in the same class as her. He's also her wingman who keeps trying to help set her and Xavier up, something Xav doesn't seem fully aware of. He's stupid jealous of their friendship which Jeremiah seems to find really funny (he's the only one who knows how delulu they are for each other and seems to find a lot of enjoyment in teasing them.)

Jeremiah also ends up being a knight under MC's command after they graduate the academy. Xavier however... goes missing after a meeting with his father and does not reappear even after he dies. He is missing for a period of 200 years until MC finds him again in the same forest that his Galdius Ceremony took place in. He saves her from... something. An illusion? A cosmic vortex? Whatever it was Xavier has discovered something that affects the health of people's hearts. And he seems determined to not get close to MC or let MC get close to him because of it.

I think it might just be because she is about to die from her disease, which she doesn't seem aware she has but always does, and Xavier doesn't want to have to watch her die again. But I haven't finished the card yet so I don't know.

He also seems to be under the impression the whole world is going to end now, and not just Philos.

The last thing we need to take from all of this information about Philos is the existence of a group called the Backtrackers. Xavier was with them once, but he isn't anymore. MC was seemingly under their care and, according to his Passing By anecdote, traveled through the Deepspace Tunnel with them but was lost. I'll explain more about what I think about them now that we're ready to return to the present timeline, but just know that the Backtrackers are A) from the Philos timeline and B) likely immortal just like Xavier is.

Back to the Present

In Chapter 8 you are either introduced or re-introduced to Jeremiah, who now owns a flower shop called Philo, likely named after his home planet of Philos. He is a friend of Xavier's and they both share the same current goals, which includes protecting the MC. Jer's job in this chapter is to provide MC with a fake identity to use in the N109 zone, but he does provide us with some information to try and tie up some loose ends with Xavier's timeline.

While the Nonintervention principal he refers to probably does have something to do with MC, it also likely just refers the fact that since both Xavier and Jeremiah are from Philos and therefore the future they are trying not to interfere with the timeline too much. Something that whoever blew up MC's house does not care about anymore, implying that if that was indeed Onychinus then we can assume they likely are also immortals from Philos who want MC and her Aether core for something.

When MC finds Xavier again after his 200 year disappearing act he is leading a squad of Lightseekers from various units. I think these are probably the Backtrackers, and that there was a split in the group after the MC and the Aether core went missing during their journey into the Deepspace Tunnel. We know that at least Xavier has been here longer than the Deepspace Tunnel has been, but there is room for speculation around Jeremiah and the others. As Pirate again pointed out in the comments, whatever disaster during the travel the Backtrackers took into the Deepspace Tunnel likely caused them to arrive at a bunch of different points in time.

While this confirms that Xavier and Jeremiah are not from this timeline it raises a lot of questions about MC. Her memory is constantly spotty, and I had wondered if that had something to do with the Aether core... but now.

With the way Xavier tries to limit his interactions with her and says he's the last person who should be trying to get close to her I wonder if Xavier is worried MC is being erased from time? Or if she belongs to this timeline so while he loves her, while he wants to be the one she chooses, he subconsciously knows he's from a doomed timeline and therefore unable to stay with her. This also raises questions about the other two love interests; we know MC has forgotten things about Rafayel and I theorized she has forgotten something about Zayne. Is this because they also don't belong? Does MC not belong? Or is it something related to the trauma MC experienced from being experimented on?

TL;DR

This was all pretty complicated so I thought I would sum up the basic points because I felt a bit incoherent.

Xavier is the Crown Prince of Philos, a future version of Earth that was created by replacing Earth's core with a fake one.

This fake core allowed the citizens of Philos to live forever unless they had the rare heart condition know as Protocore Syndrome, something the MC always has no matter how many times she is reborn.

The cure to Protocore Syndrome is a rare Protocore that Xavier tries to get for her but gets back with too late. He watches her die and while he was already shown dislike seeing her injured, this seems to turn it into a genuine trauma of his. He is shown to be deeply distraught seeing her gravely injured or sick in multiple moments/dates and is determined to take care of her. In a rare decision by the writers, this does not appear to manifest itself as a desire to not see her engage in combat as he trusts her ability to take care of herself, just maybe not her willingness.

MC is reborn and begins military training with Xavier intending to become his knight, but Xavier refuses to take the throne of Philos for reasons he does not share with MC. He also begins disappearing for long periods of time on journeys into space. On one of these journeys he finds a young planet filled with flowers and attempts to convince MC to elope with him and abandon her dreams of being a knight. He seems uncertain if MC's desire to be with him is just because she has been told she is to be his knight or if it is because she genuinely loves him; Xavier knows which one he wants it to be though.

After talking with his father he disappears for 200 years and founds a group of knights investigating a forest with an unstable Protofeild where killed Wanderers simply don't stay dead. It is my theory that these are the Backtrackers mentioned by past MC, Jeremiah, and Xavier.

Xavier arrives in this current timeline in year 1834. Other immortals from Philos begin to arrive in the current timeline at different points and agree upon something they call the Nonintervention Principal, likely to keep from destroying the spacetime continuum too much. What they are refusing to intervene in is unclear.

The Backtrackers made a journey through the Deepspace Tunnel with future past MC and an Aether core, but something goes wrong and she disappears. Xavier has been waiting to see her again ever since he got here, and intends to wait forever.

There are more immortals than just Xavier and Jeremiah living in Current Timeline Linkon City, some of which are very likely allied with Onychinus and searching for the MC. Why is related to the Aether core in her heart, but might also have something to do with her Evol.

It is my personal belief that many of these citizens of Philos used to be in the Backtrackers, but even if they didn't they see Xavier as a traitor to his people and more importantly to them. Why is unclear, but I imagine it might be because of their goals for the MC and her Aether core. In a broader sense it might be because they intend to do something to current earth to save their home, and Xavier disagrees with that but the two things do not seem mutually exclusive.

Earth and Philos are about to be in very close alignment, and both Xavier and Jeremiah expect something bad to happen around that time.

Final Thoughts

I would be interested in knowing the direct Chinese translation of these particular lines from precious bonfire to see if there is any difference to them... but honestly this is one of the things that sold me on him. She dies and he follows the traces of her light until he finds her again, and he tries to keep her alive but he fails and so he follows her again.

I saw at least one post wondering of Xavier will betray MC and rip the Aether core out of her heart, and I want to clear that up here. I understand why people might think this if they haven't read any of his anecdotes but no, that's not going to happen unless it's the only way to save MC's life. Xavier very much wants to keep MC alive, his efforts to distance himself and withhold information from her are always done to serve that goal.

Rafayel is the one who has a pretty good reason to want to cut out MC's heart, not Xavier. And I do mean good reason I don't really hate him for it and am not trying to imply he's a bad character or a bad romance option for it.

One of Xavier's immortal friends is name Noah. There is always a chance that this is a coincidence, but there's a part of me that wonders if he shares the same name as Dr Noah because they are the same person. The anecdote he appears in involves Xavier getting him a new identity so I don't think they're likely to be related.

I actually really like MC , Xavier, and Jeremiah's friendship and sort of hope it gets some focus in some small way in the future. Jer and Xav had to have bonded over losing MC, not to mention Jeremiah spent 200 years fighting Wanderers with MC under her command. She talks about him as being her best friend!!! I want to see more of him!!! (if he doesn't have a partner and if I can't have Tara x Jenna I should be allowed Tara x Jeremiah)

I'm worried there might be a plot point that involves Xavier dying in the future and then maybe we get to meet a different timeline version of him and end up on the opposite side of the "can't tell this ghost wearing your face how I really feel" spectrum.

Speaking of which I like how Xav seems to respect MC's current life and doesn't expect her to be a carbon copy of her past selves. It's nice (stares at critically acclaimed mmorpg villain Emet Selch)

Anyway that's it. I'll update the post when I finish the Myths card, which I fully expect to make me cry like a baby. If anything confused you my askbox is open, just because I write for twst doesn't mean I am not open to talking about this if I made mistakes or if you feel like any of this was unclear.

[ringsreforged]

Natalie's *deep* Haladriel thoughts - BEWARE

Pau - When you read this later, let me know if you want me to move it to my personal account, yeah? If it even still exists...

I’m not really sure what this post is going to end up being. A defence of the show and the separation? In part! A critique of the show based off leak spoilers and my own gut feeling? For sure! A desperate ramble in an attempt to get my head in order? Absolutely!

I will say before we dive in that I’m absolutely a Haladriel shipper, but the way I ship isn’t always in line with fandom. I ship what I see as part of the narrative because it’s the narrative, and everything else is a bonus. I make this distinction because I think this is why I’m so okay with a lack of scenes when some others are not, and I don’t want to come across preachy. I don't think I'm in any way superior for this by the way. In fact, I wish I could be more *normal*!!!!

If you came to this show for Haladriel alone, and simply want to see them share scenes week to week – that’s your prerogative. I’m not trying to say you shouldn’t feel that way. What I might try to say is that I don’t think that makes the shows bad or suggests that the writers have baited with this relationship. I think that’s ultimately what I find frustrating…

But anyway, let’s get into whatever this is. A reflection on expectations, a five-season arc, and those STUPID spoiler leaks…

AND THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. STAY AWAY. HISS.

Alright, so this post is mostly brought to you by a sinking feeling I have that the leak spoilers are real. Because everything in that episode 7 promo matches up.

STOP READING if you don’t want to know the spoilers. And honestly? STOP READING IF YOU THINK YOU WANT TO KNOW because living with this knowledge has truly made this season less enjoyable for me (credit to it, then, because I still think it’s incredible). IF I’M MAKING YOU PANIC, STILL STOP READING because there very much is a world where these spoilers aren’t that bad in context…but I prefer to keep my expectations low…

Have you gone???

HAVE YOU GONE?????

SPOILER TALK

Okay.

So, the leak spoilers say that there is no kiss between Sauron and Galadriel (which, honestly, I have no great issue with – more to come on that later). Instead, the kiss is ELROND AND GALADRIEL, and I absolutely do take issue with this.

I can only hope and PRAY that it works in context, but I can’t get my head around it. And yet, the promo…it’s all falling into place. Elrond will be sent to discuss terms with the orcs before the battle. He’ll see Galadriel in chains, and he’ll ask for a moment to say goodbye. Adar will allow it because he’s a gent like that. This is where we get the chin touch with the thumb everyone speculated over and then…HE LEANS IN AND KISSES HER TO PUT A NEEDLE IN HER MOUTH? SO SHE CAN RELEASE HERSELF LATER??

To clarify, most of this is my spec, but THE KISS TO PASS HER A NEEDLE IS A REAL LEAKED SPOILER THAT NO LONGER SEEMS FAKE.

It's just…so convoluted and weird??? Does he store needles in his mouth like a squirrel? Why couldn’t he have slipped the needle into her hand??? WHY ARE YOU PUTTING ELROND’S LIPS ON GALADRIEL’S?

And look, maybe this spoiler IS still fake! But the details were so specific, and everything about the context seems to be accurate, so that feels like it would be a bonkers coincidence to me. Maybe when we actually see it play out, it will be fine.

But that does bring me back to the Haladriel of it all, just briefly. With my whole heart, I do not need them to kiss. After season 1, I didn’t think it would be possible, and I’m okay with that. But if you’re willing to let ELROND’S lips touch her, then MY GOD, you could have let Haladriel have ONE kiss where she’s trying to distract him or some shit. OOF.

My only relief is that it happens next week, so we can hopefully get it out of our systems and enjoy the finale.

That said, if these leaks are true then that also means the finale leaks are true. Now, I actually never wanted to see any of these spoilers (hence me making it VERY CLEAR what this post is about, because I wouldn’t inflict this stress on anyone unwillingly), so once I got the Elrond kiss details, I tried to get away without seeing much else. But there was some information on the big Haladriel scene.

I’m actually not going to detail it here, because – overall – I think we’ll still super enjoy it (just…lower those kiss expectations) AND because I don’t think all of it was spoiled. At the end of the day, there will be plenty to unpack, they’ll be back on our screens, it will be meaty, it will be layered. I’m really looking forward to it, in general.

My one fear is that it’s a season 1 finale repeat. And again, that won’t necessarily be bad per se, but it will feel a little bit underwhelming. Now, I’m not somebody that wants a true corruption arc for Galadriel. Normally, I love that shit, but not in this IP and not with this character. I want to see her explore her darkness, I want to see her face it and accept it, and I certainly want to see her be tempted…but I don’t expect or believe we'll ever actually get the whole ‘dark queen of Mordor’ vibe. Prisoner? Maybe. But not an actual dark queen.

That said…surely this scene doesn’t play out the EXACT same way as season 1? Sauron shows her a vision, she’s tempted, but ultimately resists and tells him she’ll never be at his side. I just don’t get why we’d repeat that, when there are so many other options that still keep Gal on the side of light.

I keep coming back to Galadriel’s line to Elrond in episode 4 – when it comes down to it, he has to choose to defeat Sauron and sacrifice her. I feel like if I hadn’t seen the leaks, then I would be 1000% expecting this to be the outcome. Especially with how Elrond’s theme comes in at the end of The Last Temptation track. He comes upon the confrontation but chooses to do the thing that will harm Sauron in the long run, rather than the thing that will save Galadriel.

I hope so badly for this, but I do worry that it will go the other way. What if it parallels Gandalfanger’s destiny/friend choice, and Elrond chooses her because THAT is how light wins or some shit? Not that this will be a bad scene by any stretch – I love their relationship and want to see their FRIENDSHIP (grrrr) reforged…but, again, the S1 finale! Sauron left her in the water, and Elrond was there to save her.

There’s also Galadriel’s conversation with Adar in the most recent episode – you succumbed, I resisted – but I guess this could go either way? He succumbed, so she resists. She insists she’s able to resist, so she succumbs. URGH. MY HEAD.

There MUST be a difference. SURELY??? Like, this season has been so well written…I just can’t comprehend the copy and paste.

Again, this isn’t anything close to a deal breaker for me. I firmly believe the showrunners when they say this relationship will remain the core of the show, but…hmmm. Okay, on that note…

DAMAGE CONTROL – MOVING ONTO THE DEFENCE OF THE SHOW

So, this is where I want to get into some stuff that I just…don’t agree with that I’ve seen being thrown at the show by shippers. And I’ll reiterate here that I’m truly not telling anybody what to feel. You can hate the show for its choices and feel how you feel. You can express yourself in your social media spaces, and if anybody doesn’t like it they can mute/block/unfollow. This chunk isn’t really aimed at you guys.

This is more for other people like me, because I’m cursed to be somebody that generally wants to just…enjoy things for what they are, while also being susceptible to the mood of others. I want to scroll tags and have a good time, rather than see negativity because it lowers my mood (this isn’t just ship related by the way, I really love this show overall…it’s just this tag that has been impacting my mood most this season). Regardless of the nonsense that might be in episode 7, and even if the finale scene is a repeat of S1, I’m still going to want to focus on enjoying what we get, enjoying the narrative being told etc. So, for those of you that have a little sinking feeling in your gut after the first half of this post, hopefully this second half will help.

This isn’t a ‘typical’ ship. This is a true ENEMIES ARE ENEMIES dynamic where the bad boy is ultimately going to be (is already) pure evil, and where our heroine is the embodiment of light. There are certain things that we just have to accept when it comes to loving this dynamic as part of the show – there will never be another season like season 1. Nor should there be?

Do I wish for s3 to have them in close proximity for at least a few episodes? Of course! Do I think it’s possible with or without finale spoilers? Absolutely (given how quickly characters travel from place to place on this show, they could end the season at opposite ends of Middle Earth and this would still be on the cards…). I’m also anticipating Season 4 as a good time for them to be in full MIND PALACE mode – where the rings are all ringing, but Galadriel hasn’t yet worked out how to shut him out yet. By season 5, there might just be one final scene before the final battle. But, again, I really do think there needs to be a little bit of acceptance of that. Or, at least, expectation of it.

Something I really want to push back against is this idea that Haladriel was baited or teased, but the writers don’t actually care for it. Honestly, that’s nonsense to me on a couple of levels.

First of all, almost EVERY dynamic this season has been reduced to a handful of scenes here and there. The most consistent relationships have probably been Annatar and Celebrimbor, and Durin+Durin+Disa (off the top of my head). Elrond and Durin (probably the other most popular dynamic of S1) have been apart all season, Elrond and Galadriel have too. Isildur popped up to say hello and we might not see him again.

When you actually stop and look at this season…Sauron and Galadriel had to be separated. She could not be anywhere near him while he’s working Celebrimbor, and there’s no world in which they were ever going to change that narrative. And yet, the Sauron and Galadriel dynamic has been consistent across the season. With Galadriel predominantly (and depending on how the finale goes, I may have thoughts on this), but it has also been easier with her because people have talked with her openly about Sauron. It’s been harder on his side, but the fact that Mirdania seems to have been cast to look like Galadriel honestly – right now – feels like it was done with the express purpose of giving Sauron a Galadriel reference.

Again, I’m not saying you have to like the lack of scenes, but it’s not bad writing to respect the overarching narrative of an ensemble show. Galadriel’s season has been all about him, and we’ve had countless insights to make that clear – building up to their final confrontation. If Sauron was running around mentioning Galadriel every five seconds with Celebrimbor or with the dwarves, it would be horrendously out of character.

This next comment is…somewhat dependent on the finale…but as somebody that loves Elendil and Miriel, everything in Numenor has been somewhat crammed in. I would firmly argue that the Galadriel/Sauron dynamic across this season has been treated with care and reverence, all building to a climax designed as the high point of the season. Will we be 100% satisfied? Who can say! But it IS what the season is building to.

I think this brings me around to a particular gripe I have, and maybe the people that believe this came to the show after S1 had fully aired or something…but there’s this idea floating around that the showrunners don’t like this dynamic and are just giving it crumbs to bait people into watching. This makes me want to scream.

These showrunners literally took a few lines about Galadriel being tempted by Sauron and PITCHED THE ENTIRE SHOW OFF OF THAT. The Tolkien estate wasn’t only pitched by Amazon BUT CHOSE THIS PITCH OVER ANYTHING ELSE. Season 1 was written pretty much like a prologue centred around GALADRIEL AND SAURON HAVING A PERSONAL CONNECTION WITH ROMANTIC UNDERTONES…and guess what?

They wrote all that…they filmed ALL THAT…before knowing anything about the audience reaction! That was ALL the showrunners, the writers, the directors, the actors. They ARE the narrative. They are not bait.

Does that mean the fundamentals of their dynamic will always please you, individually? No, of course not. Some people want outright romance, some people want soft Sauron, some people want Dark Galadriel. Will they kiss? I doubt it. Do I wish they would? Sure! Will they be separated again next season? Probably! Will I also wish that they could at least be stuck together for a run of episodes again? Absolutely!

But the idea that any of this is bait, or unimportant to the show drives me a little bit bonkers.

I guess my personal feeling of frustration comes from the fact that I feel so lucky they are exploring this show from the perspective of this dynamic, regardless of specific details/scenes. I’d bet my house (I don’t own a house) that every other pitch hinged on Elendil or Isildur as the protagonists of the show. Now, I love those dudes, but just IMAGINE? The fact that we’re on this path at all is still WILD to me.

ANYWAY, this is what happens when Paulina goes on holiday and I have nobody to ramble too. Sorry for the explosion, but I’ve been dreading the stupid kiss spoiler since I stumbled on it after EPISODE BLOODY 3 and so I needed to vent somewhere.

TL;DR: You are welcome to feel the way you feel, and if you hate everything you go right ahead, but maybe this makes sense to somebody. IDK. IDK.

[avocadorablepirate]

What Do We Call This? - 07

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Pairing: Trafalgar Law x fem!reader

Summary: On a quest to find what you've been looking for, you acquire the help of the Straw Hat pirates, who've agreed to let you temporarily join them. There are however many challenges that come along with your temporary recruitment - an alliance with a certain Trafalgar Law being one of them.

Word Count: 1.2K

Warnings: fluff, angst, kinda slow burn, swearing, the occasional OP spoiler, they're both kinda mean to each other in this one

A/N: I don't know whether this series has a great flow, and honestly I don't know how well I've portrayed Law's character, but that's okay cause I'm very happy with how this chapter turned out <⁠(⁠￣⁠︶⁠￣⁠)⁠>. I hope you like it too!

—⁠☆✿☆—⁠

Having boarded Law's ship you trail behind him into the submarine, leaving his crew and the Straw Hats on the deck. While you mindlessly followed him, you took note of the stark difference between the Polar Tang and the Thousand Sunny. Although it seemed a lot more cold, the grey metal walls of the submarine also offered a sense of security in their own way, the faint beeping noises oddly comforting.

Shifting your focus from the walls back to the man walking in front, you called out to him when you realised he hadn't noticed you following, or at least hadn't bothered to acknowledge your presence. On hearing his name Law slowly turned to face you.

"So what did you need my assistance with?" you ask, tilting your head in curiosity. From the time you had spent with him, you knew that when it came to planning, Law was always two steps ahead of the rest. So maybe his plan required you to be in Wano, or maybe he required your assistance with something on his submarine.

"You'd only hurt yourself more if you went with Straw Hat-ya to retrieve Black-Leg. It's better for you this way."

Or maybe not.

"Really? So, that whole needing my assistance thing was a lie?" His lack of a response was enough of an answer.

"I can take care of myself Law. I don't need you constantly watching over me like I'm some child," you assert, ready to storm off before your frustration escalates. But before you can retreat, an all too familiar blue aura envelopes you. "Law-" you try to protest to his actions but your words fall on deaf ears.

"Room."

"Shambles."

The room shifts to what looks like the infirmary of the Polar Tang, and you find yourself already seated on the white matress of a surgical bed as Law shuts the door to the room. Before you can inquire about his intentions, he answers your unspoken question.

"You haven't changed your bandages since we left Dressrosa," he remarks, pulling out a gauze wrap from a drawer and positioning himself in front of you.

"I changed them yesterday," you counter, but this only leads him to roll his eyes, "Clearly, you didn't do a good job of it," he chides, gesturing at the gauze that had been haphazardly wrapped around your torso. In your defense, you were in a bit of a hurry. Robin had found some books in Zou that she thought you would like, and you were all too eager to read them (plus, lingering in the infirmary for too long risked someone seeing your wounds)

"They don't need to be changed. I'm fine. It's all healed." You once again try to convince him, but you're met with a stern look this time. "Just because filling yourself up with alcohol and sleeping every chance you get numbs the pain, does not mean you're healed."

You're caught off guard by Law's reply. Though you think to yourself that maybe you should have known that someone like the Surgeon of Death, who knew how your devil fruit worked would notice that your consumption of alcohol and constant need to sleep were clear signs of you trying to distract yourself from the pain. Evidently, you had no memory of what you had said to him a few nights ago.

"Law-" you once again try to protest, but he's already removing the bandages, and you wince as his hand lightly grazes your side. He looks at you confused, your wounds shouldn't hurt just from this, he thinks to himself, and quickly but gently removes the rest of the gauze. His expression changes from one of confusion to frustration as he looks from the fresh blue-black bruises spattered across your torso to you.

"How did this happen?" he asks, and you shift in your seat, biting down on your lip as you contemplate telling him or not.

"How did this happen?" he spits through gritted teeth, and you shift your gaze away from him, at the same time realising that he wouldn't relent until you gave him an explanation.

"Some of the Minks were still injured before we left Zou, and Chopper wasn't around, so I helped them."

You notice his fists clench and unclench in response to your answer, a sign that he was trying to control his emotions. You choose to slowly meet his gaze as he takes a deep breath before letting out a sigh, already anticipating your response to his next question, "Why didn't you call me?"

"You were meeting your crew after so long, I didn't want to bother you."

He tries to remain calm, but your answer only fuels his frustration. His fists clench once again and he bangs them into the table causing you to flinch. Law's hands now enclose you on either side, his head bent down, so that his hat just about covers the way he's clenching his jaw.

"Why are you always finding ways to hurt yourself?" he murmers, his voice barely above a whisper. But he doesn't give you a chance to repond, "Do you care so little about your life?"

"It's just a few bruises," you respond, and this time he meets your gaze, his grey eyes laden with emotion.

"I don't understand," Law pauses, his anger mounting. "Why!? Why do you not care about your own well-being!? Why do you insist on helping people who've never done shit for you!?"

His words strike a nerve, and you scoff. You can only assume that he's referring to the Straw Hats. Your own emotions are starting to get the best of you, and you throw him a glare of your own, "What the fuck do you know!?" you yell back. Law's taken aback by your outburst, but is quick to regain his 'composure'. However, you don't give him time to respond.

"You know absolutely nothing about me Law, and you have no fucking idea what I've been through and what these people have done for me! So stop trying to protect me!" You grab at the gauze wrap and try to push him aside, but he doesn't budge. His hands grip tightly at the white sheets of the surgical bed, but he doesn't say anything.

"Move Law," you command, but his grip only strengthens, his knuckles turning white.

"I know enough about you to know that you knew Cora-san, and that's enough of a reason for me to protect you."

Law's jaw relaxes, but he remains silent and unmoving, reverting to his stoic demeanour as he waits for some sort of reaction from you, or maybe deliberates over what to say next. You're taken by surprise at first, not knowing how to react to his revelation. But the emotions are quick to come back, and your frustration with him that has been unknowingly brewing over the past month refuses to back down from this confrontation.

"Then you know that he wanted both of us to keep living. Yet you were ready to give your life in exchange for bringing down Doflamingo. So, don't fucking come to me about not caring about mine," you retort with more spite than you intend, your words almost like venom to Law. But you're far too infuriated to take them back. With one final shove you manage to push past him.

"(Y/N)-ya," he calls out to you, attempting to sound firm, but the tremble in his voice is unmistakable.

"I think it's best if we keep our distance," you mumble more to yourself as you walk out the door, leaving Law behind.

_______________________________________________

A/N: This was actually supposed to be longer, but I decided not to include the next part cause it would kinda downplay this part and just lose the drama. So y'all are going to have to wait till next week for them to maybe make up :⁠-⁠P.

taglist: @trafalgardaria @deathsmajestysworld

[lawbreaker13]

There’s something about Elemental that I love but I can’t quite seem to articulate.

[Spoilers by the way]

At the end of the movie, Ember and Wade leave together so Ember can take her internship at the glass company. This is supposedly a full time thing for her, which means she’s moving. Like yeah, she underestimates herself like “oh it probably won’t go anywhere and I’ll be back home soon,” but that’s a very “ooh this is a big step and I don’t feel ready to move out” mentality (literally told my parents I’d be back at the end of my first year’s lease, it’s just a mental safety net, but boy was that a relatable line for me). Regardless of her lack of confidence in herself and this potential new job, she is moving out. And Wade is going with her.

She had said “I want to travel the world with you.” That’s great, and I hope they do, but that’s not what’s happening here. It’s said that this is several months, maybe even a year after the main events of the movie. The majority of the movie itself spans a couple weeks or so (edit: I counted, it’s about 8-12 days). So by the time they leave for Ember’s internship, Ember and Wade have been dating for a while. Anywhere between three months and a year. Wade is leaving with her, and it’s difficult for me to believe they’re going anywhere but the same place. Which means they’re moving in together.

Now I know that it sounds like I’m just freaking out and being incoherent about a ship, but the truth of the matter is, that’s really mature of Pixar.

Family friendly and kid-centric animation tends not to push anything but the “fall in love, kiss, get married, move in, have babies” pipeline. But what I loved about Elemental was that it portrayed a REALISTIC, HEALTHY, and MATURE relationship. One where the couple has arguments about real things that matter and after space, they talk it out. One where “I don’t understand” isn’t an invitation to shut down (even if Ember meant it that way in the heat of the moment), but an invitation to try and learn. One where anger and “I’m leaving” can be met with “I’m coming with you,” and one where the couple doesn’t just love each other right off the bat, they have to DATE MANY TIMES AND GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER, SEE EACH OTHER IN THE WORST OF TIMES, and THEN, realize they’re in love. AND they said it out loud, which doesn’t happen often either (edit: I am well aware that a week or two is a very short amount of time to fall in love, but I’m gonna cut them A LITTLE slack because it’s not like. 3 days, and also they seemingly saw each other every single day for those couple weeks and had the months after that. It’s rare, but sometimes, when you know, you know).

But beyond that. Beyond dating, getting to know each other, communicating and helping each other out, and deciding “yes, we can and should be together,” Elemental showed these two doing an adult thing together—leaving home and moving out. Because they are ADULTS. And the fact that I felt like this movie was targeted towards me and my peers the same way a PG-13 or R rated movie might be, strictly because of the realism in the character’s interactions and dynamic, that is something that I absolutely adore. Like, Zootopia was a kid’s movie with mature themes. Miraculous is a kid’s show with mature themes. Even Avatar: The Last Airbender was clearly targeted towards children, even though we all know it has something for everyone.

But Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. The Spider-Verse movies. And honestly, Elemental. These feel like our movies. Movies I’m glad the kids can enjoy, but they’re made for us. The 20- and 30-year-olds.

I’m just so happy to see animation studios treating adult characters like real people. Maybe soon people will start to recognize animation as a legitimate form of storytelling, too.

I loved Elemental. I really did.

[raynetheinsane]

Batfam (and friends) as Henry Danger quotes

(Because im a nerd and love this show)

Damian: Tt, my parties arent that bad

Jon: Christmas. 3 years ago. 15 kids ended up in the hospital!

Damian: FATHER!!!

Tim: Damian! Were trying to study here *indicates to Duke and Steph, both clearly not studying*

Damian: I’m talking to my Father.

Robin!Jason: Dangit! All these jobs say i gotta have skills..

Dick: You have skills!

Jason: Name one.

Dick: You’re a great dancer!

Jason: No I’m not?

Dick: You could take lessons.

(More under the cut i just dont want this to be super duper long)

Bruce: How old are you?

Tim, trying to become robin: Im 13, I’ll be 14. On my next birthday

Dick: Ah so youre aging sequentially

Tim, extremely tired: Do you ever dream about sleeping?

Steph, extremely confused:…no??

Tim: good. If you did youd be dead.

Bruce: Lets ride.

Robin!Jason who is very new to this: Wha- Ride where?

Bruce: We’ve got people in the Jandy River that need saving.

Bruce: Come on.

Jason: You mean we’re going there? Together? Like right now?

Tim, extremely dirty and has a cut on his face walking into Drake Manor:

Jack, not paying attention: Hey Tim, did you get the job?

Tim: Yeah, just finished my first day.

Jack: So hows work?

Tim: Uh it was pretty… interesting.

Bernard: Hey, you never told us what you do at your new job

Tim: *just stares wide eyed silently*

Bruce: While we were patrolling, Poison Ivy stole packs of baby bottles, can you guess why?

Robin!Dick: Uhhh

Bruce: To flood the bottles with radioactive plant matter.

Dick: I would not have guessed that.

Jason: I see youre in your pajama pants.

Tim: Yeah its almost midnight, I was studying for this test i have tomorrow

Jason: What subject?

Tim: Puerto Rican history

Jason: Ah Puerto Rico… land of…

Tim: Puerto Ricans?

Jason: yeah..

Red Hood: Strike three.

Spoiler: That was only 2

Hood: Okay, don’t correct me in front of the criminals

Duke: Whats in the mug?

Tim, who just poured himself and entire pot of coffee despite hating it: Coffee.

Tim: To keep me alive.

Duke: no, no, no, no, you cannot drink this much coffee after work. This mug is comedically large!

Steph: I have the same dream all the time. It satrts with me getting a horse for my birthday. Then my dad shows up. Then the horse kicks my dad in the face!

Jason, helping Tim study: You want a good grade on your puerto rican math test?

Tim: history

Jason, who died before he finished highschool: Same thing

Non-Bat who needs the antidote for Joker gas or something: Will this hurt?

Black Bat: Yes, very much.

Bernard, talking about a criminal the Bats cant catch: Its not Batmans fault, he just needs a better sidekick

Tim: One more time.

Bernard, who knows: Just saying, I’d be way better at catching criminals than the current Robin

Dick: I’m gonna die..

Jason: Not in the house. If you’re gonna die, do it outside

Tim: I’m Robin.

Bernard: I know. I figured that out.

Damian: Todd, I wish to speak to you about something.

Jason: BABIES COME FROM THE BABY STORE

Oracle: Steph, come to Gotham Park right now!

Steph: noo, I’m not in the mood for trees

Oracle: did i ask you what youre in the mood for?

Vikki Vale: So, Spoiler, how did you catch Two Face?

Spoiler: I’d love to take all the credit, but it was really all thanks to my partner, Black Bat.

Vikki: Interesting. Black Bat, can you tell us more?

Black Bat: No.

It really bothers me the lack of Babs, Cass, and Duke worthy quotes there are 😔😔 also my personal favs show a lot and im sorry for that, but there will be more as i think of them, these are just eps 1-4, the rest will be posted like in a queue or something and as single quotes cus im eepy

[onlymurdersintheafterparty]

OMITB S4:E3 ‘Two for the Road’

This episode was interesting and raised even more questions. While we start off and end the episode with the trio, in most of the episode we watch them branch off with their respective actors and have their own mini adventures. I thought it was a great idea to give us a better idea of who Zach, Eugene, and Eva are in this universe and to delve more into the main characters’ personalities apart from each other. There were several bombshells dropped so as always spoilers are behind the cut.

At the beginning of the episode, we find out from Detective Williams that the FBI has taken over meaning she won’t be on the case. That doesn’t stop her from giving them what information she does have as well as breaking the fourth wall in reference to the three previous seasons which was hilarious. We also learn that she’s a fan of Zach Galifianakis when she discovers the actors are also in the apartment and threatens Oliver not to let him get hurt and implies he’s her hall pass 🤭 Honestly same bc the man is not only hilarious but handsome as well. Shortly after she leaves is when everyone branches off so I’m going to break up each segment based off the duo.

Oliver and Zach don’t do any intentional sleuthing this episode. Oliver is fed up with Zach’s indifference and lack of desire to connect so he lies saying they need to monitor the ham radio and whisks him off to his apartment. I know Oliver is a mess but I really don’t like the way that Zach treats him like a loser. At some point they appear to bond as Oliver teaches Zach how to snort, grunt, and dress like him which seems to have gone well until Zach is overheard saying otherwise. Howard tries his best to stand up for Oliver in that passive aggressive way and we know he means well but it ultimately does nothing to change Zach’s impression. I agree on one thing though: Oliver’s resilience and choosing to wake up happy every day despite the chaos is admirable. That’s what life is about because every day is a chance to change your fate.

Charles and Eugene’s dynamic was different. Are they buddies? No but they both have the same goal in mind which is to get Vince to take off his eyepatch to see if he’s hiding damage from the gun recoiling. These two clearly share one brain cell because every attempt failed. First they come up with a story about Charles having a cousin who is an eye doctor with magic eye drops that they swear will work wonders. Instead of taking off his eyepatch then and there, Vince instead goes into the privacy of his bathroom. Take two goes even worse because Eugene’s idea of doing a spit take to get the eyepatch off leads to him getting punched in the face by Vince after he spits water on him. It does lead to a clue though. When they all hug it out, Eugene notices a photograph and signals for Charles to view it. It’s all the Westies and a figure with their face scribbled out. What in the world is going on here? Is Dudenoff Moriarty? Is Dudenoff not even involved and someone else just utilized his apartment as originally suspected? I’m so confused.

Mabel and Eva were giving frenemies. No actual hate, just two people forced together with nothing in common. Though her methods were unconventional and unhinged, Eva did manage to get a lot of info for Mabel.

The gun on the mantle is a movie prop that shoots nerf gun like ammo

Christmas Guy HATES Christmas; now this had me shook ngl; this man is a fitness influencer who has been typecast into a Christmas role and is basically held hostage by his decor 😭

The tinsel is not tinsel!

A few days ago I made a post about a theory regarding the killer(s) and whether or not they were in attendance at the party in the S3 finale and @bbeeebbo brought up a really good point about the tinsel being a red herring for Christmas Guy and that it very well could have been from the party. While we have yet to confirm if it was from the party, we now have confirmation that it’s actually not tinsel at all!

The sleuthing with the two ends shortly after this reveal and we see Mabel get the idea to look up squatter’s rights and temporarily move into the Dudenoff apartment. When they all reunite at the end for Mabel’s housewarming party, they put their clues together and realize that 445 is a radio frequency. Earlier when Mabel and Eva were sleuthing they discovered a ham radio in the Christmas apartment as well so clearly the Westies have some secret communication going on. When Mabel turns on the radio to the right frequency, a woman responds and tells them to stop snooping because the last person that did so is dead (Sazz). She also was in a hurry to disconnect giving the impression she’s on the run. Is she the mysterious Dudenoff or a tenant we have yet to meet? I’m so confused!

Final Thoughts

I feel like the writers have caught on to how smart the redditors are because a lot of theories were confirmed or debunked this episode. Someone theorized Mabel might end up squatting in the Dudenoff apartment which she does at the end of the episode and another theorized that Vince’s eyepatch was to cover a bruise from the gun’s recoil which is false (he actually does have pink eye and it’s gnarly 🤢). I’m bracing myself for the moment in the season finale where everything was obvious af and I was just overthinking everything 😂 What do you guys think so far now that we’re 3 episodes into the season?

[professoruber]

Hazbin Hotel Season 1 Finale Thoughts (and a few hopes for Season 2)

Spoilers for Hazbin Hotel Season 1 Episodes 7 & 8

That finale was amazing. The season as a whole was amazing, even if it felt kinda rushed/fast-pace, which is admittedly most likely a symptom of the episode count they were given so I don't mind it too much. But still.

Anyway. the finale was great, and it does seem like its setting up quite a bit of stuff of future season(s). Between the exterminations getting cancelled, the successful fighting off of the exorcist army, and death of Adam, the deal between Charlie and Alastor, Lilith's role in all this and most of all....

MY BOY SIR PENT GOOD HIMSELF A REDEMPTION! GOOD FOR HIM!

Emily is (naturally) completely ecstatic at a sinner getting redeemed and ending up in Heaven. Sera meanwhile seems... crossed between confused, concerned and maybe a tad horrified (hard to say).

Honestly was kinda hoping for Emily to have been more involved in the finale or even go behind Sera's back to intervene in the extermination and/or help the hotel in some manner, but I suppose sneaking out to help is easier said than done.

Nonetheless; Emily is so adorable in this short scene that I don't mind her lack of presence in the finale too much.

I suppose part of my mild disappointment is a symptom of getting slightly invested in some of the theories and fanart which has been made over the past week. There's been a lot of discussion and fanart of her becoming fallen; based on her condemnation of Sera and Heaven during "You didn't know", her insistence that she'd figure something out to help Charlie and that Sera warns her of the possibility of becoming fallen.

(I've even seen it pointed out that Emily looks like she has horns here; which seems like foreshadowing so hm.)

So It does arguably feel a tad anticlimactic that Emily apparently wasn't able to do anything even after promising she'd figure something out.

So... I don't know; it did seem like they were setting up for Emily to do something but in the end she didn't really do anything. She was quite willing to very strongly call out Sera and Heaven via song, but didn't seem able to do much more considering that the Hazbin crew had to rely solely on themselves and other denizens of Hell.

But still, there's a lot of room her character in season 2 especially now that its been proven sinners can become winners.

As I noted above; Sera looks much less happy than Emily at Sir Pentious' arrival. Is this just guilt/horror that her 'necessary evil' wasn't so necessary after all? Will she change her mind or will she continue to be an antaongist?

Hard to say at this point; but considering how they spent time showing the cracks forming between the two seraphim; it feels like that probably has to build up to something?

Anyway, the hotel is definitely getting some credibility/notoriety now. Not only due to ending the exterminations and killing Adam, but also because one of their patrons did indeed get redeeemed.

On that note; if a sinner can become a winner, does that mean a winner can become a sinner? Because Adam's been committing a lot of sins in his every appearance, so much so that now that he's double dead he might go through divine judgement again and end up in hell as a sinner. In which case he could still be quite the problem (although if other demons work out who he is, he'd have a pretty massive target on his back considering all the exterminations). If Adam does become a demon, I wonder if the same would happen to the other dead exorcists? Hm.

Also there's her. Lilith.

...

Honestly right now I'm still not sure if I know enough to really make much of a judgement. She's been a mysterious and enigmatic figure from the start and the fact she's apparently been in Heaven and made a deal with Adam is... uh... I'm not sure.

Did she sell out her family/people for a life in paradise? Does she have some kind of grand plan? Are there more unseen forces/plots we don't know yet? Is she the one who owns Alastor's soul?

Who knows!

Alastor shows again he's not the all-powerful enigmatic badass he initially presented himself as. He narrowly escaped double-death at the hands of Adam and still has soul owned by another. Still, he definitely does appear to have some serious ambitions to rise in his station.

He managed to make a deal with Charlie for a favour (presumably freeing his soul?) and also talks with Rosie about how powerful Charlie is and how he'd like to be the one to guide her. So hm... I do think Alastor is aiming high, not only intending to free himself but also use Charlie as a vehicle to achieve even greater heights.

To finish off with some final few thoughts (this post ended up getting a tad bigger than I intended, but eh)...

Lucifer was great, seeing him go full King of Hell on Adam was amazing.

I mentioned it before, but Emily was adorable as always - Can't wait to see more of her, including her interactions with Sir Pent

I wonder if Sera will face any consequences now that its been shown the exterminations are not as necessary as she thought

Emily becoming fallen (either getting casted out or choosing to leave) was a really fascinating idea and I do still feel there was a bit much build up for it.

Lucifer apparently got together with Eve at some point. I'd like some more details on that.

Going to be interesting to see what kinda upheaval the finale has in Heaven and Hell; with redemption being proven and new threats likely emerging.

Even if redemption's possible, not everyone wants to be redeemed... and now that its been proven angels can be killed, that might lead to some ambitious figures (such as the Vees) making ambitious plots. Especially since Lucifer is an angel and that's why he's king (of course, Lucifer's probably not as easy to kill as exorcists).

There's other stuff I haven't really discussed, but these are my main fresh thoughts for now.

Can't wait for next season!

[a-girl-in-neverland]

Once again, im here to complain about the bridgerton subplots and changes

So spoiler for Season 3 ahead

I hated that they just cast Anthony and Kate aside. Do they really had to go RUNNING to India and couldnt wait for FRANCESCA'S WEDDING???? Hello??? Werent they the head of the family??

The intention with that is great and loving but is the showrunner allergic to having Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley in our screens for more than 3 minutes????

Like at that scene of the night before Polins wedding. Colin mentions that Kanthony has "come back"??? From where??? Did they run off again??

(Also i would really like to know who Edwina married and a bit of her love story)

The way in which the writers simply forgot about benedict's art/painting plot is atonishing. The build up of S1 to S2 was great, with the art school, but then in S3 is like that never happened?? Why didnt they explore more Benedict's lack of purpose or even his disappoinment with Anthony's actions?? Noooo, they just rather have him have sex with people all season long

(Before you come after me, im not critizing Benedicts sexuality, im just pissed that his character had barely nothing to do this season other than have sex, but i did enjoy a lot his scenes with eloise)

The Mondrichs plot was sooooo inconsequential and had nothing to do with any other one in the entire season. What was the point of keeping them?????

Somehow the writers in this show can make up irrelevant plots for lukewarm characters but cant come up with anything for the most beloved ones

And lastly about Michaela Stirling. So many people on twitter are fighting over this that is sickening. But lemme tell you this, all my life i had the pleasure (or better, the experience) to see many books i adore turn into movies/tv shows. Sometimes in adapting change is good, sometimes is necessary. But this change alters the whole story.

To be clear, i am NOT trying to be disrespectul, or homophobic or even mean about it. I dont mind the representation. In fact i think stories centered around LGBTQ+ leads, in this period of time, is a niche that could be much explored. Bridgerton could inspire people who belong in this community to write these stories, which is great.

However, the change of introducing Michaela completely transforms Francescas story. The second-love with the exploration of sexuality trope has great potential. But changing so greatly a story thats well known between the fans is risky to say at least.

Francescas book is not my favorite (by far actually) but it is for a lot of people, and a lot of readers have been enamoured with michael for the last 20 years, at least. So i understand if people get upset, because i would too if my favorite couple/story changed so much out of the blue

And honestly, i think this is one of the ways the show is trying to remain relevant. I AM NOT trying to say that TV should use LGBTQ+ love stories as clickbait. But be serious, the books were written as 8 straight love stories, in todays society people would be complaining if they followed if by the rule.

Anyway, Polin were wonderful. Nicola and Luke you are so so so loved, we couldnt have actors that loved their characters more

(And at this point i might be a Portia Featherington stan, she grew a lot on me)

If you read this far, i hope you have a great week and please dont come for my critics, they are not hate opinions, i just needed to rant <3

[cactus-flowerstuff]

JUJUTSU KAISEN MANGA SPOILERS

gege is cooking with fucking uranium I swear. I love writing. Writing and storytelling is a huge passion of mine. I haven't seen anyone talk about this- so I'm going to.

Choso's death was weak, unwarranted, just done for the fuck of it, and objectively stupid from a writing standpoint.

Let me explain. During the entire culling game ark, Choso and Yuki are given a deep and understanding development. Choso realizes that he himself can live as a human. He's allowed to be selfish. Not only that but Yuki sacrificed herself for him to be selfish and live as a human. He mourns his brothers yes, but he lives with them in his body- in his soul. So he chooses to live his life as a human for them because they never got to do so.

So why. The fuck. Did you kill him when that development HAS NOT CONCLUDED?

He never got to LIVE as a human. A few weeks/months is not fucking enough time gege. And the panel of him being like "150 years was only a few days to Yuji" makes no sense because that means Choso was still living as a curse. Not a human. Not to mention he spent most of that time training. Also his death was just "me protect brother". Which is cool and all but it completely destroys his development. A better way to go out would be to probably fight Sukuna not only for his brothers but also for the betterment of humanity (if he got to experience it). But no. We get a sudden, lack luster death that means NOTHING. Especially since Yuji has had what? 10 CATALYSTS?! It makes. No. SENSE. You spend chapters upon chapters developing him- only to give him a death that only ties back to the most basic thing we know about him. And that is "I love my brothers."

What a dog shit way to develop a character only to kill them. And I know why gege did it. It was because Choso's the only mf left that would have an impactful death because no one gives a shit about Miguel. Hell, I think Maki would have been better because her ARC IS DONE. ITS CONCLUDED. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN GREAT TO HAVE HER AND SUKUNA DO A FINAL CLASH- TAKING EACH OTHER OUT. BUT NO. NO. WE GOTTA KILL THE GUY THAT HAS NO CONNECTIONS OTHER TO YUJI.

Actual dog shit writing.

I'm dropping jjk. Message me when one of three things happen

1) uraume gets to be the villian

2) merger happens

3) Zoro one piece comes in to kill Sukuna

Edit:

Okay so Choso was actually killed for shock value. Cool to know. Because if Todo can fucking swap multiple targets why TF did he do everyone EXCEPT Choso. And I don't wanna hear no "He didn't make it in time". This is fucking Todo. Legit Choso was killed for shock value and everyone is fine. And guess what? Choso is going to give up his life for nothing because Gojo is going to steal the spot light and he will be a worthless death. This is just fucking ridiculous. What dog shit. Writing was good at the start and I honestly liked the culling game but these later chapters are dog dookie.

[aotopmha]

Being too exhausted to play has made me think about the Dawntrail story again.

I wanted to take a break, but it occupies my brain too much, turns out and I engaged with takes on the internet again.

(Some of it is really dumb and a negativity void with zero substance, which is, in fact, unfun and exhausting, as it is designed to be, so it probably is better to not engage with, but I also do very much enjoy discussing what I love and it offers fantastic springboards for that.)

Spoilers for the Dawntrail story!

You know the complaint that it's "not as good as Shadowbringers or Endwalker"?

Well, I think a lot of people have actually echoed this, but I really like that Dawntrail is not trying to one-up them.

It's really good that it's not only pulling back the scale, but also lightening up the tone.

In particular, there was a complaint I saw that said HW, ShB and EW were these "deep and dark" stories and had issues with DT not being that kind of narrative and I think a story being Endwalker all of the time would become boring in its own right.

If all you see is positivity, eventually it means nothing, but this is also true in the opposite sense.

If all you see is misery all of the time, at one point, it doesn't mean anything anymore.

Eventhough I myself mostly enjoyed it, I can see the argument that it went too far in the other direction and handled some ideas too simplistically, but I think the general idea to do this is a really good, refreshing move.

It's similar thematically (which is actually my biggest issue), but I really like that it mostly focused on new stories with new characters.

I also like that the Scions are taking a backseat.

I saw an opinion that "you can't have your cake and eat it, too" in regards of the Scions being minor roles and you should either write them out completely or entirely focus the story on them, but personally I don't see any issue with this.

They were set up to be support and behaved as such. I don't understand the take that they were "teased" too much when the setup was that it was not their story to begin with.

Now, I do think the friendly rivalry aspect was underutilised. I feel like getting to fight Thancred and Urianger in good fun would've been great, for example.

I love the vibe of adventure we haven't really had for such a long time, and I really think the mystery of the City of Gold might be one of the best ones in the entire narrative because many of the mysteries so far at least have some aspect of retconning to them.

The gate and everything with it is entirely new and didn't need any retconning to fit within the current concepts of the story, whereas you could always tell they had to slightly tweak everything with the Ascians once in a while.

I think the fact that most of the characters that people do like from this expansion are entirely new or characters we knew fairly little about before Dawntrail says it all.

People actually do want new stuff. I think the mostly positive response towards the actual gameplay content says this, too.

So I hope they don't give up on what they've built here despite some of the really loud negative voices.

Don't start trying to do Endwalker or Shadowbringers again before building a new bigger picture.

We've talked about legacy and memory and loss a bunch of times already; evolve from this and do something *entirely* new with new characters and ALSO entirely new theming.

Don't give up on making content just a little more engaging.

That's my worry in light of these very loud complaints.

And the thing is, during the Endwalker patch cycle and even before, these are things so many people wanted.

People wanted a break from the Scions. People wanted the story to reset and relax after Endwalker because it had been within that dark tone for so long.

People wanted us to go back to being an adventurer.

People were tired of the increasingly same-y encounter design (and lack of stuff to do during patch downtime, which you can also see improved in terms of certain rewards; thing is what I've seen is people loving the new content so much they just like playing it and I feel the same way, so it isn't always even more grinds or rewards people actually want).

And that's exactly what they gave us.

Again, I don't know the overlap between audience groups here, but in terms of sentiment, that's the craziest part to me.

They kind of gave us exactly what we asked for.

And I really hope they stick to their guns and get braver from here because new is fun and even if it doesn't always succeed, you can look at what people like and don't like and go from there in a more nuanced way, rather than leaning on overcorrective decisions as they have in terms of certain aspects of the game. It just stops the game from stagnating and getting boring in all aspects.

[ribbons-in-autumn]

It's the Inferiority Complex!!!!!

BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! spoilers, obviously. I've been watching it again and have a couple thoughts and headcanons I want to voice out

One bit about Anon's outward personality I really like (well, it is her main quirk, but whatever) is her relentless and constant need to be the centre of attention. She wants to be the guitar-vocalist! She's the student council president! She doesn't want to stand in the wayside, she needs to be up front! Her, her, her, her!

To me, I see that doing all this as an attempt at hiding her insecurities by padding what she lacks (the knowledge of how to form longlasting relationships) with surface-level likability. She doesn't really know how to make friends, but she knows that if she's liked by everyone, then she would still have people who like her and want to be her friend -- even if it's not 'true friendship'.

I think what's most interesting about Anon is that she's definitely a studious person. This is evidenced by her middle school friends saying that she's great at English and other subjects, not to mention being the student council president, and also the fact that she got into Haneoka (even after transferring from England). But it doesn't seem to me that she ever really applied that same level of effort into other things she likes...or that she's ever done things she liked for the sake of only herself at all. She props herself up as being great at everything she tries to do so that people will like her and rely on her, which, to me, suggests that she's never really done anything that she wants to do for herself, but only for the acceptance of others.

Anon was TERRIBLE at guitar. She barely knew any chords, and doesn't know how to strum to cover up for it either. That's because she didn't do it for herself. She did it to be popular. Why should she put effort into something she wasn't into anyway? It was only a means to an end, and that end is clout.

Her wake-up call was Tomori's question of 一生バンドしてくれる？ ("Will you be in the band for your whole life?"). She's never done anything she wanted to put her passion or her effort into previously in her life, so hearing this coming from this seemingly unassuming quiet girl was a shock to her (also, she didn't even know if Tomori played any instruments but invited her to her band anyway, is she stupid?). Over the next few episodes, she learns very harshly that Tomori has more conviction than she has ever had for anything before.

After this and other events involving the rest of the group, she really gets going into putting her all into the guitar. Even if half of it was fueled by her want to stand front of stage and her envy of Raana's skill, the other half is still her own desire to put effort into being good at something. I think the most damning evidence of this for me is just how fast the growth of her skills is. She went from barely knowing her chords to sorta competently play as a rhythm guitarist to complement Raana's explosive, showy playing, to being able to improvise her own playing for their Utakotoba performance in Episode 10.

Why else would she keep on practising even after she stopped showing up to practice? She's finally found something she wants to do for herself, and it showed early by the fact that she willingly gave up the spotlight to Tomori instead. She liked being in the band, practicing with her friends, and playing the guitar. She hasn't made her need for attention disappear at all, that doesn't just go away after One character development moment, but she has learned how to hold it back, at least a bit.

Anon is such a great deuteragonist. She both parallels and contrasts with the protagonist role of Tomori so well. I hope she gets an event story in-game soon so we get to see more of her.

[always-outlander]

Outlander 7x07 “A Practical Guide for Time-Travelers” Easter Eggs and Spoilers

An in-depth breakdown of episode 7 (spoilers included) below the cut!

We open in 1777 at Bemis Heights, New York outside of Saratoga and Jamie has joined Daniel Morgan’s rifles. The voiceover is Claire telling Bree that she had seen William as we cut back to Lallybroch and Bree is reading the letter in the house. Turns out while Roger was cooking and running after Buck at the end of last episode, she was upstairs reading alone (like I thought she said she wouldn’t do?) Roger introduces Bree to Buck and it’s now official that Outlander is going to pretend like Graham McTavish didn’t play Buck in season 5 and he has Benjamin Button’d himself.

In the show title we see Jemmy getting a pin on his shirt labeled The Tufty Club, with a small squirrel on the pin. This was a show from the 1960’s focusing on road safety and education for kids.

Buck explains how he ended up back here and that he and his family were headed back to Scotland to join Morag’s brother who was in need of a Clerk. Buck had been a lawyer and their family needed money, so they traveled to Glasgow and headed north past the stones where he heard the buzzing. Morag stayed with her parents and he went back to see what it was and he went through mistakenly. He saw Roger in the town and it freaked him out that Roger survived being hanged and yet he appears in the future too. Similar to the books but slightly different approach to Buck, more on that later.

Back in 1777, the British army is near Stillwater in New York. William has made friends (namely Sandy Hammond) and he’s amongst the officers who are discussing how to defeat the Colonists. General Fraser encourages them to fight in open field to their strengths when a message arrives from General Howe. The superior officers rush into a meeting which Fraser pulls Captain Richardson into. Meanwhile to stay busy, William and Sandy practice with their swords. Richardson later approached William and tells him that Howe will take Philadelphia instead of heading north like everyone believed. Without Howe, their army is now essentially alone without support in upstate New York. General Fraser has tasked Richardson to create diversions with General Clinton on the Rebels side to help them gain footing on their journey to Albany, and Fraser named William as Richardsons second. That means William will miss the battle in Saratoga, which upsets him.

Back at Lallybroch with Buck, Roger reveals to him that they are related and Morag is his 3 times great grandmother making him a 3x great grandfather. Bucks requests alcohol to cope and Bree tells Buck that her father is Jamie Fraser and admits she is also a time traveler. While searching for his family tree, Roger sees that Buck dies in 1778. This is one of many papers strewn about his desk out in the open that should be locked away damnnit.

Rob Cameron shows up at the worst possible time and Buck has to hide in the Priests hole. Roger the people pleaser lies to Rob about the house being a crazy mess yet invites Rob inside anyways. Why they have made Roger act like he is, I don’t know. The original storyline in the book would have sufficed and this lack of care shown to hiding the papers and writings about time travel is just making Roger unlikable. He already was worried after Rob saw his entire book at the school, but now he leaves him alone in the room with the rest of the papers and letters? I’d like to think he’s smarter than that, and the writers could have done better by him here. Bree is obviously uncomfortable with Rob being there and even more knowing Buck is in the house. Roger then shows him the ledgers he is so slyly asking to see and leaves him in his office (not wise, Roger!!!). The kids come back from school and they all have dinner with Buck still in the priest hole, poor guy. Rob tries to befriend Jemmy and he is quite forward and flirty with Bree. When Rob won’t leave, he asks for another drink amongst the three of them and these two people pleasers say yes, again. They need to learn boundaries.

Back in Saratoga, Jamie brings Claire a book he’s found and is dressed in his new uniform. Here we get a perfect excerpt from the books where he hands Claire the book and tells her she needs glasses. If the show can do this scene such justice why are they messing with the Rob Cameron of it all? I digress. I love nerdy, printer press Jamie. And before we get to enjoy a quiet moment between these two he tells Claire that he is being mustered for battle in three days time. She and Jamie share their sweet moment and Claire tells him she’ll go looking for him if he doesn’t come back to her, like always. These two really should never leave each others sight.

Sandy and William share a scene with general Fraser while they eat, which is also straight from the books. The book Sandy’s name is Sandy Lindsay instead of Hammond (perhaps a name change to nod to a crew member or writer). Sandy name drops the Beefsteak Club (which is a place often visited and referenced by Lord John). When speaking of what keeps his spirits high, General Fraser speaks of the time spent with his men and the strong bond they share in the days leading up to battle, which inspires William. He asks to stay and fight instead of carrying dispatches with Richardson. Fraser admires his courage and asks him if fighting is what he really wants. When William says yes, Fraser tells him he can stay and William is glad to know he will be partaking in the fight to come alongside his men.

At Lallybroch, Rob tells Bree and Roger about his wife and son, and asks them if Jemmy wants to come to the movies and have a sleepover with his nephew, Bobby. They agree and finally see him out. When they head back inside, Buck is in the caravan with the kids. Mandy is combing his beard with her dolls brush and they are watching a show about astronauts (which Buck notes is star travelers in Latin). He apologized to the kids for scaring them, and Bree and Roger aren’t quite sure what to make of the situation. Might they just so happen to like Buck now? Is he weaseling his way into their hearts? Roger invites him to sleep inside for the night with Bree’s permission. They aren’t sleeping in the house yet for some reason despite majority of the downstairs being done, but Buck gets a spot in the dining room. Roger tells Bree that he has forgiven him and that he will bring Buck back to the stones on Saturday. In the meantime, Bree gets to take him to work with her.

At the dam, Buck admits that when he left Morag she was with child, and it doesn’t feel real to him now knowing they are all dead. When Bree starts questioning him about why he is here, they discuss the journey and how to go back. Our favorite man Rob shows up and Buck immediately dislikes him (evidently he’s the only one with eyes). He sees Rob touch Bree’s arm and resides that he is smiling at her a bit too much. When Roger gets back from the school, the caravan door is open and Buck is alone inside looking at a toy airplane. Buck tells Roger that Rob Cameron is trouble and Roger disagrees before he ever so kindly changes the subject to that of Bucks death. Buck says he doesn’t want to know the date, but he lets Roger tell him anyways. It is the year 1778, which could mean he never made it back to his own time so his family marked him dead, or he does make it back and then he dies soon after. Either way, not looking too good for Buck.

Roger and Bree have a moment discussing Rob Cameron’s hot eye. Phil Collins starts playing and I instantly fast forwarded through this entire moment, so I couldn’t tell you what happens 😂

Back in time we see a British deserter approach Ian and the Indians, and we know now that the battle is beginning. This episode has criminally too little Young Ian. Daniel Morgan’s me are leading the charge against Simon Frasers men and Jamie asks Claire to kiss him ahead of battle, a tradition I wish these two would end so they can be happy for once. He heads out of the tent and Claire sees him off like she has time and time again (and we get the great slowmo walk from the trailer).

September 19, 1777 is the first battle of Saratoga. William is instructing the men to fix bayonets when they see the rebels approach. Sandy Hammond is clearly nervous, discussing women’s they fancy when Sandy is immediately shot in the head beside William. Men start dropping like flies and William is in shock. Simon Fraser yells at him to join his men and William summons up his anger to join them with only a sword. This was visually very similar to Jamie’s highland charge at Culloden (by design I’m sure).

Back at Lallybroch, Roger has clothes on again thankfully and cannot sleep. He notices that *shocking* the box with Claire and Jamie’s letters is messed about, and Mandy starts scream about Jemmy. He and Bree seem to immediately know she’s talking about their connection (which we haven’t seen yet on screen) and Mandy says that Rob has taken Jemmy to the stones. This whole scene felt half baked to me in terms of acting, and when Roger and Buck head out to the standing stones he finally admits he should have been more careful. The only people who know about the time traveling are Jamie and Claire, Buck now, Young Ian, and Geillis Duncan. Roger gets spooked that Rob might have used Jemmy as a blood sacrifice himself like Geillis had tried. They find his scarf with his new pin on it and fear that he’s been taken through the stones.

At the battlefield, William is standing over Sandy Hammond’s body after the battle with zero blood or dirt on his uniform. When the men complain about the holes they have to dig, he joins in the digging of the graves and from a distance we see Simon Fraser admiring him for it. This is all the more meaningful when you know that Simon will never know that William is kin to him. The British mark the battle as victory, and General Fraser quotes Aeschylus to William, who is visibly upset by the loss of his friend. “Send thy men to battle and no such men return” he tells William, knowing that he’s a different man now. William completes the quote “and home to claim their welcome. Come ashes in an urn”

Back on the battlefield, we get the ominous shot of Jamie, laying on the ground alone and the episode cuts to black. I actually disliked that we never actually saw Jamie fighting in this episode. But they had to have a cliffhanger in place prior to the mid season finale next week and worrying about Jamie seems the natural choice.

In the preview for next week, we see Claire finding Jamie on the battlefield (which is a wonderful scene in the books that I’m excited to see brought to life). We also see Roger and Buck preparing to go after Jemmy and Rob. Young Ian questions if there will be another battle, and we see previews for that second bloody battle. Roger and Buck go to the stones, Claire appears to see William again (likely over Simon Frasers body), Ian and Rachel get super close(!!!). The preview ends with that same famous scene of Claire on the battlefield fighting off a woman with Jamie’s sword.

[rien-maz]

And so I, avoiding all spoilers, finished my business and finished watching the "miracle" called "Acolyte". This post will be a subjective point of view, i.e. mine.

Make some tea, because this is going to be a BIG post.

Where do I start? Oh yes, the one that angered me the most - let's start with the characters, specifically their roles, backgrounds, and everything else on the list:

First off, the main characters are flat ( and I don't mean their shapes, they're fine).

One of the main characters, Osha, is striking in her lack of emotion. In the first episode we can still see her surprise at being accused of killing a Jedi, and we also see the changes between her child version and the adult version, but then she doesn't develop emotionally, sensually or physically. She doesn't learn anything throughout the 6 episodes. It feels like all the events pass her by and all we learn from them is that she hates her sister. But then again, she has no reaction in the first episode where she learns that Mei is alive and has killed a Jedi.

She also doesn't have much emotion for Saul, her old teacher, as if she doesn't care if he's there or not. When she sees the deaths of her two friends Jackie and Yord, Osha doesn't change a bit. You could write it off as all her thoughts being preoccupied with her sister, but no. These are the people closest to her, the ones she referred to in her conversation with Mei in Episode 5 as her family.

Throughout the 6 episodes we don't see an ounce of bitterness of loss for her family, although in episode 3 we are shown that she was very close to her mom emotionally. Osha doesn't develop as a character in any way. She was the same in both series 1 and 6. By the way, the same goes for Mei, but at least there's some character growth there

Mei, both as a child and as an adult, looks out for her own interests and that doesn't change even in Episode 5. Unlike Osha, Mei reacts to events around her, but most of them have no effect on the character herself. I can basically say the same thing about her as I can about Osha, but at least she has a small step of development: leaving the master and deciding to surrender to the Jedi. Subsequent events after that decision drive her into conflict, but Leslie Hadland killed those saplings of development in a scene where Mei changes into Osha's clothes and continues on her original path.

Jackie was in my opinion the most adequate character in this product, but just like with Osha, she doesn't react emotionally to the events that happen around her. She just acts as a supporting or supporting character because she doesn't play any special role in the main character's life. Jackie is not revealed as a character in any way. Other than her name and her affiliation with the Order, we don't know anything about her. We don't know her motivation, her principles, and so on. Just a character created for the crowd.

The same goes for Yord, who dilutes the plot with his goofiness (more on the plot later, for it is so raw that it is "bursting at the seams"). Like Jackie, we don't know anything about him. No, we know that he's an old acquaintance of Oshi's, who apparently doesn't care about the main character either, and that he has a great athletic body, which is so important to the plot. He's also just like Jackie a character for the masses and nothing more. He as well as the padawan don't play much of a role.

Saul. This grandfather is only pitiful because he is constantly "whining" and apologizing. He doesn't evoke, at least for me, any emotion other than pity. I don't know what Leslie Hadland was trying to achieve by creating such a character, probably she wanted to make a "martyr" in his image, which is either the image of a "little man", like Nikolai Gogol in the story "The Overcoat", or Alexander Pushkin's "The Station Keeper", where, like the main character of the story, Sol finds joy in his former padawan Osh.

The main antagonist of this product single-handedly saves the picture, out of a total of 6 episodes so far. Throughout the 5 episodes this character acted as a mystery to many, but to me, as soon as I saw him on the screen in the form of Mei's assistant, it was immediately clear who he was (thanks to the documentaries about maniacs from "Criminal Russia"). In fact, he was the only one who kept the intrigue going for 5 episodes.

And yes, the scene where he bathes naked in the water was very necessary in the director's opinion, because look how handsome Sith is. And cubes, and breasts and charisma in general hot man. And seriously, unlike with naked Yord, this scene was acceptable, because the main villain was unarmed, but still showed his power of persuasion. you could do without it, of course, but thank you for the beautiful man in the frame, who is the only one who carries the plot on his shoulders.

And so, we've dealt with the characters, let's move on to the next thing - namely the plot. This is an interesting thing, because I've never seen such predictable plots in my life.

So here it is: the plot is bad in that it is not finalized. It feels like the authors of this product came up with some super duper ending, and then remembered that it turns out it is necessary to write the whole story for this. But about everything in order. Let's go by series, because the first two episodes are the worst in this series at the moment.

The first episode starts by introducing us to the events, i.e. a lone assassin that has come to take revenge on a Jedi. Well, you decided to show us a killer that is ready to take someone else's life, but you chose a cool outfit: hair is open, face is covered by a mask only half, the hood she throws off, allowing people to see herself, and also leaves a witness at the scene of the crime. Well done, good killer. The bar fight scene itself I could describe as "what is this?", because the Jedi just stands and watches Mei scattering the customers, although we know from the same movies and clone wars that the Jedi immediately draw their swords and try to calm down the troublemaker, but no, we had to demonstrate Mei's strength, to show how cool she is.

We'll come back to the scene with the blade in his chest later because it made me laugh, but for now let's move on to the Osha indictment scene:

First point: how fast your ships fly. In the clone wars, poor guys spent cycles to get from one planet to another, and you're teleporting at plus ultra. What's my point? Yord himself said that Osha was VERY far from Coruscant, but they miraculously got there in a matter of minutes. Reminder: the actions of the first two episodes are 3 days apart in the story, so either I'm missing something here, or they abruptly lost such powerful ships during Palpatine's reign as Chancellor.

The second point: how accurately everyone remembers the face of our lone killer, although, if we take real life, people in stress can tell about the appearance of a person only in general features, to how few can identify the attacker in the exact features of the face, but we will omit this point.

The third point: physics comes out of the chat room or, to be more precise, out of Acolyte. Shchas will be a bet from the Internet, because I was not lazy to google it to convince myself of its correctness: "During experiments with fire on board the ISS, astronauts realized that fire does not behave exactly the same way as on Earth. Fire in space burns very differently. It burns with great difficulty, and it is even more difficult to ignite".

So, "F" for physics Leslie Hadland. And one more "F" for the living and not wounded protagonist, because the ship exploded into wreckage, and Osha was sitting near the nose of the ship, and not a single scratch on her. She was running away from the Jedi so vividly that no one would have believed she had just survived a spaceship crash. Another "F" for the equally lively Osha, who lay all night on a planet of snow and ice and didn't freeze her limbs off, even though she should have gone to the Force from being in light clothing in the cold for so long. Now I've led you smoothly to the technique that our "dear" Leslie used: the unkillable protagonist. Of course, she's the protagonist, we can't kill her, even though she should have died several times already for obvious reasons.

Fourth point: we haven't had a chance to get to know the character, and they dump his whole life story on us. Why? Why? There are no answers to these questions, but I'll explain the disadvantage, which is probably obvious to you already: we can't sympathize with the hero in his pain and loss, because we haven't had time to feel for him. We've literally been dumped a "heartbreaking" story and told to "sympathize with Osha, she's so miserable." No, Leslie, it doesn't work that way. With both Osha and Saul, we're immediately laid out the characters' pasts when we first learned their names. And while we can still sympathize with Saul in Jackie and Yord's murder scene, I'm sorry we can't, because as previously stated, she's a "flat character."

Fifth point: the writers of the product forget what they wrote originally. In the first episode, we are shown Mei killing a Jedi with a dagger, and later, our beautiful antagonist tells us that "Jedi cannot be killed with blade or sword." Okay? Okay? That's interesting, wow.

Sixth point: as mentioned in the first point, the plot runs at breakneck speed. Combined with all of the above, it's already hitting the plot pretty hard, which is as cliched as possible: two sisters were separated in childhood by events and now one is trying to reunite and the other to kill.

Seventh point: the Jedi have forgotten all their skills and only one of them uses the force normally and that's Saul. Why would I say that? Because the Jedi forget that they can sense other people with the Force. If they remembered that, Mei wouldn't have been able to kill two Jedi so easily. Oh yeah, Jedi do have telepathy, but Mace goes to hell with saying that they can only read minds and memories by diving into someone else's head, which requires a good ability to use the Force. And also that Jedi can only hear out loud thoughts and feel emotions and then empaths or telepaths can do that.

And if we remember the scene in the Clone Wars where Mace, Anakin and Kenobi "talk" to Cad Bane, the immersion into someone else's mind for a person who doesn't want it is accompanied by pain for the person to whom the action was directed. Yes, Leslie, it's worth familiarizing yourself with the universe you're doing the series in.

Eighth point: Leslie Hadland attempted to use the Chekhov's Gun technique, which refers to the dramaturgical principle that every element of the narrative should be necessary and non-essential elements should be removed. This can be seen in Osha's vision scene in the first episode, where she sees her sister, who says that she is alive and that she is going to kill more Jedi. This hints to us of the two sisters meeting after 16 years apart. Yes, you're good, but with the fact that the story asks the viewer a question and then answers it a couple seconds later, it doesn't work. I mean, the scene where Osha is led to the Prison Ship in handcuffs, followed by the scene with Saul's monologue about how what our eyes see isn't always the truth. In other words, in the first two episodes we have already been told the story that will go on, because of which we can watch further only because of the handsome Sith, nothing more.

I could say more about swords, but I've said too much already, so we'll summarize.

As I said earlier, the plot is as predictable and, frankly, raw as possible. It has many moments of incomprehension and outrage. This is especially outrageous for me as a Star Wars fan (I've been watching since I was 6 years old, even though I'm of legal age)

As a result, what we have: a predictable plot with flat characters, sexualization of men and a bunch of clichés. Oh yes, and physics, which was sent far away.

Remember that in this post I only wrote my opinion on the series. If you like it, that's strictly a personal matter and each of you is fully free to have an opinion that differs from mine. I just wanted to express my indignation and point out the mistakes that I saw in the series while watching it.

That's all.