#i really hope they're getting more fits than they did in s4 because especially the Cali van trip crew and El we're so restricted

[bugsbenefit]

there's obviously no way of knowing how recent the photos we've been getting are, like if Millie actually filmed that coffee bts video in the last few days/today or if the clapperboard they shared is from the last few days or older. but Millie IS wearing the same outfit El has on during the rooftop scene with Mike we got videos of which is a fun detail

actually curious because it looks like they're doing another layered El fit for the final season again based on the few shots we've actually seen of her. namely these, which all look like variations of the same outfit with different layers missing

an additional jacket for the scene on the roof, the sweater and jacket gone in the bts video (even though she could have just taken it off for off camera temperatures) and with the sweater+ jacket+ shirt removed in in the close up of her wrist (the pants in the close up look lighter to me but the shirt is incredibly similar colour wise so not dead set on that one, might also just be the lighting tho)

either that's all in the same episode-ish, which is possible OR they're having her wear that outfit for longer and lose layers over time, like her final s4 fit that starts out multi layered when she escapes NINA and ends in only her all white base layer when they reach Hawkins

[fayedartmouth]

hey, huge fan of ur obx fics on ao3, noticed you tend to have lots to say in ur comments and whatnot so was wondering if u wanted to share ur thoughts on the first half of s4 we just got, assuming you've seen it <3

I have seen it!  I'm going to keep my commentary spoiler-free here but I utterly loved it.  Like, really loved it.  The entire vibe did feel very S1 to me, and they captured the character dynamics between the Pogues really, really well.  The plot was ridiculous and over the top, but that's very OBX so I don't mind it.

I know there's some talk about JJ being really reckless with the money, which, he was.  I mean, the boy was an idiot with it -- but I don't know? That seems very in character for him and actually quite understandable when you break down each decision in his mindset.  He wasn't right about the auction or the bike race -- but it makes sense for a kid like JJ, who has no impulse control and no sense of how to plan for the future -- to make those choices.  Especially when bidding on his own land and when trying to save his family.  JJ makes rash decisions, and there's always a 50/50 chance it ends up in disaster.  I also feel like, narratively, setting JJ up this way gives the writers a chance to bring him full circle in some way.  It gives him a chance to grow, and I hope we see some of that payoff by the end of part 2.  I have some speculation how and why, but I'll save that for now.

I loved JJ and Kiara, too. JJ so desperately craves love, and seeing her love him so completely and how he responds to that was very sweet and just fun. They're kind of chaotic together, too, which I also like. I enjoy them and will be curious how they do when JJ inevitably goes a little off the rails in part two.

For the rest?  I LOVED Sarah and John B this season, they felt very natural and in a great place.  I loved Pope getting back to geeky Pope mode. I loved seeing some of Cleo's story and the way she fit naturally with the Pogues.  I'm not really interested in Rafe at all, so I kind of struggle getting through his scenes without skipping them, but I'm not sure I'm going to buy a redemption arc -- but we'll see, I guess.  Topper is a horrible person, lol.  

As for the plot twist.  I knew we'd see some changes in JJ's parentage but I did not expect that.  I am going to withhold judgement on it for a bit -- I think they writers can pay it off, and I think it can work.  It's maybe not my first choice, but I need to see how the story plays out and process it for a bit.  Like, 1/3 of my WIPs are now completely AU because of it, including the rest of Best of a Bad Deal.  That's a little hard for me, but ultimately that's why AU fic exists.

I could go on but that's more than anyone probably cares to read.  I am overall very, very happy and will be rewatching multiple times before the second half drops in November.

[still-a-morosexual-help]

I really really hope you're right, this just killed my motivation for everything. What happened with Solomare's story jar already left a bad taste in my mouth too.

I know I'll feel better in a few days, but I felt lied to when they said they'd continue the story and the app. And it's going to be even lighter and fluffier and a replacement for the main story line? One that new players will perfectly fit into? I was so looking forward to learning more about what would happen to Simeon.

Also not announcing it until last minute? For once I'm really glad I can barely afford food, because I'd be devastated if I had spent even a dollar. But maybe that's just me being poor.

I'm mostly likely going to stop writing for a while until I've archived everything important from the app, which is gonna take ages just in case anyway.

But anyway, are there any recent events you thought were better than usual? I've been too sick to grind lately so I haven't unlocked them. I want to know which ones to archive as soon as possible once the six months are up.

Sorry for bringing the mood down and the rant, but you seem to be the only positive one I follow that isn't outright calling people stupid or pathetic for being upset so I'm really hoping your positivity rubs off on me.

I do hope you keep posting for Nightbringer too! I have several issues with my hands so I don't think I'll ever be able to see the end of the og story line, and I especially love your analyses out of anyone else's.

Okay okay so they are continuing the og app and continuing the story, the only difference is they'll be continuing the mainstory in nightbringer and the og app will just be getting events. So the og app will continue the way it has since the end of s4 and new main story content will be uploaded to nightbringer (the devs did says this)

Not sure what happened with story jar but Obey Me! is solmare's most popular game. Objectively, nothing solmare has created has ever come near to reaching om! And I'm talking purely in the money making side of it - the anime? mangas? songs? merch? cons? VAs getting heavily involved in everything? Solmare's a business. As long as there's a fandom and a demand for it they're not gonna kill the og app.

Plus the majority of om's content is on the og app, with new content and old events still being released. If they wanted to kill the og app they'd stop releasing new content and updating lonely devil.

Since nightbringer will be continuing the mainstory from where they left off, they'd also need to move all of S1-4 the chats, call & devilgrams to nightbringer if they were gonna kill the og - and I'd imagine that's more hassle than it's worth

I do think we'd learn more about what happened to simeon;

• devs said they'd be continuing the main story in nightbringer so that'd include simeon

• nightbringer's current plot is about time travel and mc trying to find a way back home - so they will end up back in the current time at some point, where simeon's whole thing can be addressed

• s3 established that luke wasn't alive when the brothers were angels. If they intended to keep mc in the past they'd either have to scrap luke's entire character (?????) or retcon s3 which so far dropped the most lore

• thirteen (who's supposed to turn into a LI)'s first visit to the devildom happens in s4 and in nightbringer's op we see her in Diavolo's castle. Which means we're seeing the present timeline as well

....i think you're maybe panicking a bit too much? You definitely don't need to archive anything anytime soon. For well all of the reasons I mentioned above.... Maybe someday you'd have to but definitely not right now

Honestly I liked all the events🤷

No worries! And Yeah I think the thing people are forgetting is that Nightbringer is STILL Obey Me! I'm definitely going to be still talking about it

Ok so I have an exam in 2 days and I think I've answered every possible question about Nightbringer you could possibly have so I'm calling it here.

Won't be answering new asks until sunday. Everything posted will be from queue.

If you want to see my others asks/answers regarding Nighbringer just hit the tag on this post

[matan4il]

I am very much like you. I manage and keep my expectations very low for my ships. Like the cell block episode, I was one of the few who was like let's not get ahead of ourselves. And I was grateful because it was a great episode and lead to great things but had I wrote a different story in my head I would have been disappointed

So that's why I hate that all this us making me excited. The promo, the using of Ryan and Oliver. Even 2 weeks ago the nervous Buck arriving at Hens.

I actually feel comfortable getting in my head and I kind of hate it because I don't want it to be underwhelming.

I guess I was wondering where you were at head space wise after all this? Feeling very confident? Because I was honestly thinking if they went Canon in 6 it would be the end of the season and now I feel like shit could it really be the hiatus.

HI lovely Nonnie!

First of all, I hope it's okay to send you a hug! I get that feeling of being torn between like that initial buzz of excitement that things might be moving in that direction on the one hand, and the desire not to be set up for disappointment.

I have to say, I've seen the fandom getting SO excited and sure that canon Buddie was going to happen after 303 and Eddie's "there's nobody I trust in this world with my son more than you," after 309 with the kitchen flirting (that one had especially nasty fallout when 310 came and went without any canon Buddie), ahead of s4 when people started speculating Buddie spent covid as roommates, after the shooting in 413 and ahead of s5, around 506 as we started learning details about Buddie being held together at gun point after the shooting arc, around 517 when we gathered that Eddie was going home and he was going to confront Ramon and a lot of people thought it would be revealed that Eddie was punished by his dad for being gay. I also tried to assess the likelihood of this, because it was implied we'll learn about some unknown until now trauma, and I was wrecking my brain to find something that would fit Eddie, that would fit the tone of the show (i.e not too dark) and that wouldn't just be more of the same stuff we already know. Turned out, it was more of the same toxic masculinity stuff we knew about.

The thing is, it would have made sense for Buddie to go canon at any one of those points. It would have made sense to unveil some teenage experience that made Eddie suppress any same-sex attractions he might have only started becoming aware of. And yet none of that happened, so I'm glad that I did manage my expectations, and kept reminding myself that just because it's fun to scream now, doesn't mean I won't be disappointed later.

Obviously, I would rather not be disappointed during actually watching the eps. So, if I'm not married to a specific scenario I built up in my head, I end up being much more content while watching. And of course, as I said here, I do wanna feel happy about the show even if Buddie will never become canon. But more than that, I do wanna believe that eventually we will get canon Buddie. Because nothing else will ever fit either one of those guys, and because I wanna believe in our show being brave enough to go there.

So if and when we do get canon Buddie, I know that celebrating it, screaming and jumping up and down, and just basically losing my goddamn mind would be that much better, precisely because it's not something I'm doing constantly, every time there's a shadow of a possibility that it'll happen soon. I'm reserving all that for when it's the real thing, and that's gonna make how hyped I will be when it finally happens special and that much sweeter.

So am I seeing signs that might mean Buddie could go canon in s6? There are some. IDK that I would say they're definitive. We've had both Buck and Eddie be single at the same time with both of them getting out of meaningful relationships before. Ryan and Oli doing an interview together is awesome, but it's one interview that we know about so far, right? Not more than that. So maybe it's meaningful, or maybe it's Fox feeling 911 needs to do more promoting for its ratings, and why not send in the most popular pair on the show? Based on experience from previous fandoms, I don't put much stock into social media stuff. It's why I wasn't that distressed when Ryan and Oliver unfollowed each other, and it's also why, while I'm glad they've re-followed each other, I wouldn't try to read too much into it. Much like the interview, it could be very meaningful, but it might be about something we're not even aware of and that has nothing to do with Buddie going canon.

So I'm very much in my cool, calm and collected element, which IMO is a good thing. It's not me being Debbie Downer. It's me saving the celebrations for when 911 takes us all out like a freaking sniper in the middle of a shooting arc. Too soon? ;) Sorry, my sense of humor is lame. But I hope that in spite of me not being hyped, this reply isn't a disappointing one to you, darling! xoxox

(If you’re looking for my ask replies, here is my ask tag! xoxox)

[symphonyofthewrite]

Saw your post, getting stuff off your chest, I just wanted to say that I haven't seen the thing with the kids mentioned by anyone and it really stood out to me, I feel what you mean to some extent, because for me it was a stronger reaction, albeit you probably won't feel the same and that's, obviously, perfectly fine. I have an instant recoil these days whenever a character is around kids for like one second and everyone instantly goes "THEY LITERALLY ADOPTED THEM/THAT'S THEIR CHILD/THEY'RE A PARENT"... genuinely sick of it, and I went white as a sheet when I heard it, I wanted to pluck my eyes out. I don't know if it's an American thing but English speaking fandoms (well, those teeming with fancops that is) seem like they cannot process adult looking characters being in any near proximity to childlike characters without automatically imposing parenthood and family dynamics and it's becoming distressing to me. I feel like Alucard needed to process his trauma and learn to trust and be whole again, he's young himself too, why he needed to be a "father figure" all of a sudden is beyond me.

Thank you so much for the ask!! I don’t get many asks so it makes me happy when I can talk meta with people 💛💛 (Sorry I’m a bit late in answering.)

Funnily enough I actually do agree with you. I didn’t have quite so strong a reaction, but I definitely had a very similar one when I first hear it.

My feelings were and are a bit mixed. I was saying in my other post that I would have preferred that I got to actually see this interaction; see the kids run by him and call him father, and him smile when no ones looking. I still think that would have been a better, more touching way to do the scene, and would have had more chance of me liking it (though I probably still would have felt very weird about it). (I think it especially would have been better because it would show that Alucard himself liked it, not that Greta was forcing the role on him.) I know that it was meant to be something touching, and pretty much everyone seems to like it (and I have seen some cute posts about it), so I just tried to like it too, and focus on the fact that all they were really trying to say was he was having a nice relationship with the kids, and that was indeed sweet.

But yeah, when I heard Greta say “I heard some of them calling you father” for me it was less a reaction of horror, and more a “HUH??!!”moment. When I heard it I was like “Alucard...you agree with this???!! This is how you see yourself??!!” I almost expected Alucard to refute it and say he didn’t see himself as a father to them. Like I seriously do not see Alucard as anything remotely close to a father figure, and it felt weird and wrong to me.

Like when I saw him interacting with the kids the first time, I didn’t think “oh he’s a father figure to them.” I just thought “yay, Alucard’s playing with some kids, and getting out of his bubble!!” I didn’t have any thoughts as to what his relationship role was with them, I just thought that first interaction was lovely.

And if I saw him interacting with the kids again, I still wouldn’t go “father figure” I’d just be like “yay, Alucard’s playing with the kids again, how sweet!!”

Sometimes the relationship doesn’t need a role or a label, ya know?

And I thought it was especially strange because…he literally just met them?? Like how can they possibly start calling him father when he’s played with them once or twice? Regardless of Alucard’s side or things, what group of kids would randomly call a nice man they just met ‘father’? Is...Is this a normal thing??

Anyways, back to Alucard’s side of things, Sypha’s line about Alucard being a teenager trapped an adults body has always been something that stuck with me and shaped how I view Alucard. I definitely view him as internally much younger than he looks. No matter how much I might hate them for what they did to him, I think Sumi and Take are about the age he actually is, and their relationship with him made sense to me. He’s still a kid—or at least young—he still needs his parents in his life, really. (That’s part of why I didn’t like that Drac and Lisa don’t go to him at the end. I personally don’t think Alucard really got closure, and in my mind I think he still very much needed them, and that would have been the perfect ending to his story in my mind, where everything comes full circle; He was forced to lose his parents and grow up too early, and only when he’s started to truly grow up does he get them back.) So yeah, I really don’t see him like a father at all. One of my main focuses in my Castlevania fanfiction is his relationship with Dracula, so I very much see him as the son, not as the dad, even when Drac isn’t around.

(Sidenote, come to think of it, I think this is another reason why Greta x Alucard is a nope from me. She’s very much an adult, so I just see a discrepancy between them that makes me feel weird about them being in a romantic relationship. If we need a label I feel like she fits as an older sister for him, guiding him and giving him support. Him unloading all his problems on her within just meeting her makes more sense if he’s like a younger brother who needs to cry to his sister. I felt weird about it in a romantic context when it was so fast. I mean I know he was desperate to talk to someone, and I probably would have done the same, but still).

“I feel like Alucard needed to process his trauma and learn to trust and be whole again, he's young himself too, why he needed to be a "father figure" all of a sudden is beyond me”

^^ THIS. EXACTLY THIS.

I was honestly really hoping they’d go in depth into him dealing with his trauma, and how he’s still hurting from the wounds of it, and how he needs to heal. I thought that’s what his S4 arc would be about. I don’t think they gave him the chance to really process and work through everything that happened. (Again, I don’t think him just unloading all his problems on a nice stranger is truly working through his trauma. I would have much rather watched him struggle to trust her, and him telling her about his trauma happen later, and be difficult for him, and a deep, heartfelt moment).

Like I was saying in my other post, I think if they framed his arc in how he dealt with the town collectively, I think that would have fit better, and been more touching and satisfying. I would have liked to see him struggling to trust humans, and then see as time progressed how several different people in the town liked him and meant him no harm, and how he realized he could trust them, and that he liked them too. It wasn’t that he had a bad romantic partner and needed a new one. He believed he needed to be punished for killing his father, and in his deep loneliness he let these kids into his house and heart, and they turned on him because he was half vampire. That’s something pretty deeply ingrained, and not something a new romance just fixes by existing. He needed to work through that in a much deeper way.

I know this is gonna be a very unpopular opinion, and it's totally cool if you disagree, but in a weird way... I sort of disliked Alucard’s ending. Don’t get me wrong, Im glad he’s happy, and I’d certainly prefer it to him just getting more trauma like last season (*shudders*), and I don’t think him opening up his castle (and his heart) to humanity is a bad way to end his story, certainly not. I think that fits. And my heart did melt a bit at the "I'm weirdly happy" scene. But, where everyone else is like “*sobbing* happy endings for all our faves” ...I see the creators of the show trying to wrap everything up in a neat little bow, and while that’s certainly not all bad, I don’t love every aspect of that. Theres a time and place for that, but a show based on video games, for which there’s more content in these storylines isn’t one of them in my mind.

Sometimes some of the sadness needs to linger. At the very least, let it linger at the beginning of the season so you can work through it in a powerful way, you know? It may have been tough to see Alucard be more closed off, but I think it would have been more satisfying to see him open up his heart and go back to his old self if we saw his trauma leave lingering effects at the beginning.

To me it didn’t feel like a satisfying arc, it felt like the fairytale ending of “oh look he’s not apprehensive about humanity even after what happened! Oh look he got the girl! And the Castle’s a happy place now! Look he’s not sad anymore! He’s even a father figure to these kids! He’s totally moved on!” And all those things can be awesome when done properly, and when they have depth to them. But they didn’t work through the trauma to get there, so it felt surface level to me, and too fast. I really liked that first episode, and how we saw the two sides of him—one that's become more closed off, and the other that still buries the human despite his comments—and I also really liked the first interaction with the kids, and thought that was one of the few interactions that had depth to it and fit with his arc well. Having it go beyond “they’re helping him learn to like and trust humanity again, and displaying who he really is inside” ended up detracting from the power of his relationship with them in my mind.

Having played SOTN, I think an ingrained loneliness and sadness are, in a way, a key part of Alucard’s character. That sounds really sad and awful out loud but…there are some people that just have a sadness or a loneliness to them, and that's not entirely bad. Here’s the thing…it can make them that much more beautiful. The fact that they still fight for good, even when they see all the dark, those moments when they find true friends, despite how alone they are, those moments when they are happy, are so much more powerful. They just are always a bit…separate from other people. One of my favorite lines in anything is the line "We are connected by our darkness, not by our light" in Pandora Hearts. I think it's a line that fits Alucard well, and it’s always something that’s drawn me personally to him. Don't get me wrong, I don’t think Alucard’s all dark and sad and lonely, he’s definitely got a bright side to him too, of course he does. But I also don't think he ever is able to fully accept the vampire side of himself, and I find that interesting, and worth exploring. Personally I was honestly hoping for the show makers to come up with a bittersweet reason for why he went to sleep for 300 years, (and I thought that's why they set things up with Sumi and Taka that he’d have something against his vampire nature). Personally it felt like they were trying to say “oh he’s all better now, he’ll never be sad or lonely again” and while that’s nice I suppose…for me it sort of…stops feeling like Alucard, in a way? I don't know if I'm explaining it right, or if that sounds terrible...😅

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. I do agree that’s very common of fandom that people are like “boom! Just add water! Instant father figure!” and I don’t love it either. Sometimes it can be cute if it truly fits, but it doesn’t fit every relationship between an adult-looking character and a kid character, and shouldn't be the first place people go to. In the same way every relationship doesn’t have to be romantic, not every relationship has to be parental/familial either. Sometimes it feels like fandom culture isn't really okay to have some characters just be good friends. A good friendship can be more wonderful than a romance sometimes.

If we have to put a label on it, I think he seemed like a nice older brother figure to them? I think that fits who he is in my mind. But father? Nope. Not for me. And again, I don’t think it needs a label.

Thanks again for sending me this ask!! It was nice to get the chance to work through some more of my feelings here too. Sorry if I went too overboard. And I hope I don’t sound too terribly negative, it really was a great season, and I definitely liked some parts of his arc, just not all of it.

If you or anyone else reading would like to discuss with me more, be my guest!! 💕

[thebreakfastgenie]

I think it's fair to point out the differences between Trapper and BJ! But I feel like when comparisons are made, they're influenced by the bias of whoever's posting them, howver unintentional it may be, even if you're just looking through the source materal. Like, (this is more extreme, but I digress) I've seen posts from people who adore BJ that say "Oh, BJ didn't just LEAVE like Trapper!" and it's like ... GFA, and also, like, yeah BJ stole a jeep for Hawkeye and etc, but he also like, gaslit him for an episode to prove a point (and I also think this sentiment comes from going straight to S4 and skipping the first three seasons). But I think in the other way, it can also crop up with people who prefer Trapper, like I've seen: "Trapper got along with Hawkeye WAY better," and "BJ isn't good for Hawkeye!" and -- I think Hawkeye and Trapper fit in a different way than Hawkeye and BJ, but they still fit, and I really don't think Trapper and Hawkeye got along, like 100 percent, even if we never see that in the show, and they do have personalities that don't clash as much as Hawkeye's and BJ's. So I think there can be a lot of implied bias in the whole Trapper vs. BJ comparison thing, especially if you're looking through both the shipping and friendship lenses. And BJ can be an asshole, let's be real here, and he's flawed in ... ways that I think are sometimes dismissed as him being a clown or something (which can be funny, and I find it funny sometimes, but I think sometimes it can deter from what he ACTUALLY does) but I think that also comes with the fact that we saw a lot more of him than we saw of Trapper, since we only got Trapper in S1-S3, which while having some serious stuff, did have a more sitcommy vibe, I think. That's why I think the comparison is kinda -- I don't know. Unbalanced. We didn't get Trapper in the dramedy half of MASH, though I really wish we did. We didn't see his evolution, like we did with BJ, and how the war messed with him, or how his relationship with Hawkeye may or may not change because of it -- we see a little bit, but then he's gone. Anyway, I think your analyses is great! Have a good one.

Yeah I absolutely agree which is why I try (when I write serious analyses, not off-the-cuff 3am posts) to always acknowledge both my own biases as a lean-Trapper and the way the show itself is unbalanced. Hawkeye's dynamics with BJ and Trapper ARE very different and I like both a lot! And I think the significance of the show's genre shift can't be overstated.

I desperately want to know what dramedy era Trapper would be like but alas we'll never know... We do get hints of how the war affects Trapper and I think it's enough to extrapolate from in a fandom context which is why sometimes I feel like Trapper is sold short. I'm sure Hawkeye and Trapper had their differences and conflicts that we didn't see, but the closest we get is the beginning of Bananas, Crackers, and Nuts where they seem very aware and consciously stop the argument from escalating, which is definitely different from what we see with Hawkeye and BJ. That doesn't mean they don't have more arguments we don't see or that avoiding it always works, but they do generally seem pretty good at conflict resolution. Anyway I agree with what you said about BJ!

I'm glad you like my analyses! I really try to be as even handed as possible and clear about my own preferences and biases. I hope you have a good day too!

[easilydistractedbyfanfic]

Surprised by your answer to the fave murven moment! Thought itd be something like that scene in s4 when they're under fire from drones and Murphy goes back for Raven on the beach. What are some of your headcanons for raven/Murphy? (As a couple or as individuals).

LOL! Well, I said it could change in ten minutes for a reason! Listen it is soooooo tough to pick a favorite, because I think so many of them are meaningful in different ways! S4 had some truly fantastic scenes - I could watch their argument in Becca’s lab and the fallout of that over and over again. Heck, I *have* watched that scene over and over again! And I love how in that drone scene Raven is so, so confused by Murphy’s help. She’s surprised and almost disturbed that her opinion of him has been upended but then she makes a serious point to thank him for it afterwardsI love that about her.

Sooo...how long do you have for these headcanons? A few hours? Because I could probably go on that long! LOL! I’ll put a few here but I really do have quite a lot of thoughts about them, and I both love and hate that we get to fill in so much ourselves - only hate it because I desperately want to see more of them & their stories onscreen!

~ I think Raven & Murphy hung out on the Ring more than anyone knows about. Six years is a long time, neither one of them like having nothing to do, they have similar senses of humor, and they came out of those 6 years much closer than when they went in, and that’s not just because they lived in the same place. I have fic ideas about this (what a surprise). I think Murphy is more interested in some of Raven’s work than he lets on - he sure tends to have a lot of opinions on what she’s doing and he thinks his sarcastic comments & suggestions keep her on her toes. Begrudgingly, Raven secretly agrees.

~ Maybe an unpopular opinion, but... I don’t think Raven ever truly hated Murphy, even soon after he shot her. Partly because I don’t think Raven tends to focus on hate or revenge, but also because she didn’t tell the adults that it was Murphy who shot her, and because I think canon shows us that she feels guilty when she tries to hand over Murphy instead of Finn to the Grounders. Her interactions with him after her injury tend to be more full of annoyance rather than hate. I do think she understands where he’s coming from even when she’s angry about what’s happened to her, and she feels empathy towards him even if she doesn’t want to. And even though she yells that she hates him during her breakdown in Becca’s lab, a lot of that is influenced by her strokes and her not being completely herself. To me in that moment where Luna gets Raven to calm down and she looks up at Murphy with a ton of regret, I think Raven fully understands that she lost control in the same way Murphy did in the past. That’s the moment, right there, where Raven lets go of her past resentment towards him, IMHO. Not that she doesn’t have reason to hate him after it all, of course, but I just don’t think she did, and I don’t think her canon behavior showed that she did either.

~ I think Murphy’s character is not well understood at times by fandom - not that I am suggesting that I am the best judge of him, fyi. I think he’s very smart, though in a different way than some of the other characters, and I don’t think he’s as selfish as people tend to believe. He’s no saint but I have read some takes that paint him as mean, selfish or ruthless and I don’t agree at all. With him going into the Sky Box so young, I like other opinions I’ve read about him being in solitary a lot. Also I think he read a lot during this time, and he does seem well-versed in past pop culture, so I’m going to assume movies were available in the Sky Box too, so I think he ate those up. I like to consider that Murphy isn’t a bad speller but wrote that message on the Dropship and spelled die wrong on purpose. To me this fits with his ability to influence & manipulate people, but he’s gotten much better at this since S1.

~ Of course we didn’t get it in S6, but there were a LOT of potential missing scenes between many of the characters, especially since they were just “off screen” at times. So I headcanon that Raven definitely had a chat with Murphy about how often he’s been getting himself drunk on Sanctum. It’s impossible for me to believe that she’d stand back and watch him do that to himself with both of their shared pasts with drunken parents. Their mothers both drank themselves to death - there’s no way Raven would let Murphy go down that same path without speaking up. But I think it would be the version of Raven that’s gentler with Murphy than she is with others, because even if she doesn’t approve, she gets why he’s doing it and she doesn’t blame him for wanting an escape - she just thinks he’s being too reckless with it.

~ This is a bit random and out of nowhere, but I think that on the Ring, while Echo and Emori were trying to teach everyone Trigedasleng, I think Raven & Murphy were the worst students. Not because they didn’t think it was valuable, but because Murphy rarely felt like taking things seriously up there, and because Raven was often mentally focused on repairs and ideas for getting them home, so she’d zone out during whatever lessons they had, her head caught up in something else. Eventually they both realized their inattention was hurting Emori’s feelings and they tried harder after that.

~ Alright, last bit! I tend to think of Raven as “the intellect”, and Murphy as “the instinct”. It’s the essence of their characters but also why they work so well together, because each of them brings something the other needs to the table. So to me in S5 when Murphy says he’s staying on the E-IV with Raven because she might need backup and it’s the ‘survivor’s move’, I don’t think he’s reacting just out of anger. Murphy can be impulsive but he’s also calculating - he doesn’t just make this choice on a whim, IMHO. As he says later, at first he thought he made the choice for one reason, but then he realized that wasn’t it. I think in the moment when he walks out of the shuttle and back onto the E-IV to stay with Raven, I think there’s a lot going on in his head that urge him towards this choice, including his memories of leaving Raven behind to die at Becca’s Lab. Maybe for the countdown to S7, I will finally write up the meta that bounces around in my head about Raven, Murphy and how their survival is often tied together, but to me it all IS tied together and I have a lot of examples to point to, LOL.

Okay, per my usual, I am a wordy bitch! I hope you aren’t sorry you asked! Thank you for the question! Ask me a ship question! 

[lisbonsteresa]

I have some ideas… I think bc the vail was open it triggered something (like when Nancy opened the archive boxes) & that Temperance isn’t actually dead! What supernatural hijinks do you wanna see?? What is your wish list?? Bc I’m hoping for a Drew Crew body swap ep or a Nancy Hudson AU whisper box where she was raised by Lucy/Ryan I really like the monster of the week stuff form season 2! BUT what are your thoughts for Tom Swift as well?? Since we know the road back is gonna be involved! (2/2)

Wait anon I think you're onto something here...

Because surely opening what was basically a portal to the netherworld - even if it was just a few minutes, it was still open - must have SOME kind of longer-lasting consequences. And if Temperance isn't really dead that could end up in a potentially very interesting wraith-like reveal later in the season. (would it really work with a 'back to basics' season? no, but it would be very very cool).

(also though, considering that post-finale interview where Melinda said the 'seeds' for the bodies mystery were planted earlier in s3, wouldn't it be so interesting if the spell that Bess cast in 3.02 was connected? i mean, it brought Kegstand back from the dead, and he was there meowing in the graveyard in the finale...who's to say that the veil opening didn't boost the energy in town left over from the spell and also bring a bunch of people back from the dead who then escaped their graves and did who knows what, and also add a lot of weight to Bess's 'wreak havoc on this town' prophecy? who can say; i just love spitballing)

Also you and I are on the exact same page anon - I need more monster of the week episodes! I love monster of the week episodes! And I think this show does them very well - even if it's just one or two scenes, the monster of the week/'filler' episodes still fit into and further the overall plot of the seasons while also just being very fun standalones. The monster of the week-esque episodes in s2 were absolutely golden - the stretch from 2.06-2.15 was so fun. And I think s3 did manage to have some fun episodes along that same vibe, but things got bogged down because of the shorter season (but that's a completely different kettle of fish). So if s4 really does have a more grounded approach I think more monster of the week episodes would be a perfect way to go.

When it comes to the episodes themselves, I need a bottle episode. I don't care about the context or who's involved or what happens but I need it so so badly. this is a lie; i have a very specific idea about the bottle episode but i will take literally anything I would love to see a body swap episode too - if there's any show that could pull it off with flying colors it's this one. (and another whisper box episode would be so good....anything Lucy/Ryan makes me so 🥺 🥺, i'd love to have some happier scenes with them).

I’d also love to see a classic ‘these two characters are locked in a room and you could cut the romantic tension with a knife’ episode, especially if it’s for Nancy and Ace while the curse is still in full effect.

Also DAISY DEWITT!! It almost definitely won't happen but I will never give up on Daisy showing up in any way shape or form.

I'm SO excited for Tom Swift - everything we've heard about it sounds so interesting, and Tian was fantastic in 2.15, I can't wait to see more of him. I feel like they're planning on making the road back at least mainly if not completely a Tom Swift thing, and I get that, I really do. It fits more with the scope/style/focus of it than ND, and I'm interested to see where they go with it. BUT. It had such a good build up in ND, and there's still a lot that could be done with it, I would hate to see if just fall by the wayside. (this may or may not be directly related to me really wanting another Grant episode and my very specific idea about how it could go, but it's still true).