#i really should bc i love identity reveals and misunderstandings

[bluenightfm]

reverse reverse transmigation binqiu/bingjiu/bingyuan aus hit so fucking hard when the way the identity reveal occurs is bc binghe goes to grab or kiss who he thinks is his a-yuan but instead of being loved and babied he is violently smacked away, grabbed, and pinned by a very angry, very confused, very much not his husband shen jiu who looks like he very much wants to kill binghe . bonus points if there's a scene where binghe's holy shit two cakes knee-jerk horny brain response to the possibility of double shizun action is stomped out in an instant when he realizes a, he has no idea where his ACTUAL husband is and b, this must be the scum villain version of his shizun shen yuan had told him abt and uh oh he's actually kinda scared . cinema

[nothorses]

Asking on anon because I don't feel like getting fucking lambasted by both radical sides of this. But I think they're are some folks that talk about transandrophobia (not you, baeddel-txt, etc) that are starting to pick up on toxic masculinity in the same way TIRFs picked up on TME/TMA shite and the like. (I have it on my blog but only because I'm tired of getting a toss up treatment from shallow transfems and getting reduced to either a cis man or them insinuating I'm not who I say I am, and the like. Frankly as of today I'm muting all of the related tags on both sides because frankly... I need a break).

I agree with y'all just like, be aware of it just like transfems should be aware of our own problems.

I also dislike the whole TIRFs "reclaiming" baeddel as a.) It's literally a ye old slur for intersex people (re: tfems having a problem with fetishizing intersex people, speaking from personal experience here)

b.) it reads like a far inferior version of reclaiming the tslur, which tbh, I would just prefer if they did that.

Also I guess if you ask this and you care so much about who's sending this, I'll reveal myself, just don't make it public because I don't need to be getting harassed by TIRFs for being a weird reject because I just choose to be both a girl and a boy identity wise and clearly the everything not binary fem phobia (even if I meet the criteria of not "CAFAB" to them.) they have is still clearly alive and well considering I took a soft ban 3 months ago for it. (After getting a full ban rolled back bc of staff reviewing it.)

The "baeddel"/TIRF ideology reminds me a lot of my own internalized transmisogyny turning me into a shithead radfem both pre and post coming out, but also everything else going with it.

That's not to say that there isn't some areas where it can be disproportionate. I also don't understand the obsession with violence statistics when a.) It shouldn't be happening period and b.) I don't think either side is accurately reported, really, unless it's entirely relying on self reporting. Also c.) I don't know how much of violence on trans SWers is reported in that, i could see it being even or even mildly trans fem biased, not statistically significant though.

I'll be honest here in that I am not 100% sure I'm understanding you correctly, but it sounds to me like you're making a couple of different points that I'd love to be able to engage with- I think I just need some clarification first so I can make sure I'm not completely misinterpreting what you're trying to get across.

So like, if it's cool, I would love a follow-up ask to clarify a couple of things!

What are folks doing with "toxic masculinity" that you feel is similar to what TIRFs have done with TME/TMA? My understanding would be that TME/TMA were turned into a kind of definitive label that people use to determine who's allowed to speak on certain issues, who's "oppressed enough" to matter, etc., but I don't really see a way that parallels "toxic masculininity" among folks who talk about transandrophobia. Unless you mean that people are distancing themselves from the possibility of being masculine in a toxic way on the basis of their identity? (If that's the case, I think I'm misunderstanding the connection to TME/TMA)

Could you expand on: "The "baeddel"/TIRF ideology reminds me a lot of my own internalized transmisogyny turning me into a shithead radfem"? I think the sentence after that muddied what you meant, for me, and I'm curious what insights you have there!

Also RE: statistics, I really agree that there need to be more studies and research into these issues in order to get any real sense of clarity. IMO the best uses for statistics of violence and discrimination against trans people, specifically stats that tell us who is facing what kind of discrimination, is to better understand the systems causing us harm in order to work towards dismantling them.

Trying to determine "who has it worst" overall is pointless and self-defeating. The goal should be to understand why transmascs tend to face more lifetime sexual violence, while transfems tend to face more childhood sexual violence. Not to decide which issue to give a shit about and which issue to ignore, or which trans people "deserve" to be prioritized over all the others.

I will also say that the study I draw from more than others is the U.S. Transgender Survey, which relies on self-reporting. I recommend checking them out if stats interest you; they're pretty expansive and had a massive sample size. The 2015 results have been published for a while, and 2022 results are coming soon.

[incorrect-koh-posts]

i know this is random, but i ask bc you're a KoH expert: i never understood the choice to have Imad appear as the servant when he and Balian first meet? i guess it makes for a surprise when he returns (tho tbh would the scene be significantly different if we already knew Imad's true status?) but what even was the point of it narratively? was it just a misunderstanding on the christian side? did Imad himself promote the idea?? why?? for fun?? for the drama?? any ideas?

Honestly I can only speculate here as well. I mean, the script is easily the worst part of KoH, and much as I love Imad as a character, he doesn't make much sense (or any at all) narratively.

Anyways, I did some digging and found this horrid little movie tie-in book on archive.org. The two measly paragraphs dedicated to Imad give no reasons for his weird game of hide-and-seek whatsoever, and, in my opinion, only make his character more contradictory:

"Another character invented for the story's purpose is the young Muslim knight Imad, Saladin's confidant and commander of his cavalry. He serves as a kind of Arab counterpart to Balian: similar in age, intelligent, honorable, and humane. He is the first person Balian encounters after the shipwreck that lands him on the shore of Palestine, and Imad escorts the Frenchman into Jerusalem. Although he hides his true identity from Balian then, it's revealed when they meet later in the story. While Imad is fictional, his name (and to some extent his character) is an homage to the eloquent Muslim chronicler Imad ad-Din, who accompanied Saladin on his expeditions and reported on the Battle of Hattin. In the screenplay Imad is described as 'scholarly' in appearance, and we might imagine that he will one day set down his own history of Saladin's campaigns."

What I gather from this is that Imad was mainly there for plot convenience reasons, both to provide a little narrative twist and to drive home the fact to sceptical Western post-9/11 audiences that such people as honourable Muslims do exist. *audible gasp*

So I'd say that in Imad's case, the features of the character and the film's ideological undercurrent probably took precedence over logic or narrative cohesion. Like, how would Imad even know that there was a Christian guy on his land when Balian, the way the movie frames it, only arrived via shipwreck perhaps a day ago? Do people report back to him that quickly so that he can think of unnecessarily elaborate ways to disguise himself? It's alllll for the drama, baby.

I suppose the whole thing was meant to show how crafty Imad is and how much foresight he possesses. But the levels of foresight needed to act like he did in that scene would probably equal prophetic powers, which is not what I imagine they were going for, lol. Like so many things in this film, this could have been handled much better.

But then again, the entire Imad character is just a baffling creation to me. I never understood why they didn't just make him entirely fictional, call him Nasir or Imad or some other cool name and keep the allusions to the historical figure out of it completely. Historical Imad ad-Din wasn't exactly a paragon of nicety, after all. Homie wrote about the mass rape of women and girls and made it sound like an achievement, so - dear Ridley Scott, my dude - I'm not sure this is the sort of guy one should be paying homage to in this day and age. On top of that, he was born in 1125, which means that by the time the events portrayed in KoH occurred, he would have been so old it would have made Salah ad-Din look like a spring chicken in comparison.

So yeah, the way I see it, logic really took a bit of a holiday here. As did historical accuracy (not that that is anything surprising in this dear trainwreck of a movie).

[tennessoui]

a few for the fic premise ask thing:

❤️ divorce never went through! obi-wan and anakin had to get married for a mission. years later, they realize that their marriage was never annulled or a divorce decree was never issued bc of a bureaucratic mistake or some other misunderstanding

🧡 arranged marriage! wherein anakin is mistaken for someone rich or royal and is therefore set up with king obi-wan. king obi-wan rolls with it, even when anakin’s true identity is revealed

💛 time traveler! anakin falls in love with time traveler obi-wan (or vice versa) either from the past, future, or both. they must deal with finding love in a different time and place

awww i love these!!!

❤️ i would absolutely write a 'the divorce never went through' fic. i think i can see it happening best with like...obi-wan is put on a long-term mission out on some tiny world that he's too important for (anakin's opinion), but with obi-wan gone, anakin gets closer and closer with padmé and then decides to marry her. but when they go to the star wars courthouse, it turns out anakin is already married....to his master. and he needs his master's signature on the divorce papers for them to go through so he has to go find his master and get him to sign and it should be easy, but obi-wan wants to know why anakin cares so much so suddenly and when anakin admits that he wants to marry padmé, obi-wan is like 'oh. so had we not still been married you would have just left the jedi order without telling me?' and anakin goes '..........i didn't say anything about leaving the jedi order......' which obviously makes obi-wan deny him

anyway yeah sweet home alabama au i guess!!! but with the added angst of a screaming fight where anakin is like 'you can't say the jedi don't marry, we're married!' and obi-wan is like 'jedi can't marry for love!' and anakin goes, 'i already did!!' and they both freeze :>

🧡 idk why this is what i'm thinking about but.....uh.... princess switch au there i said it anyway obi-wan is the crown prince of stewjon, set to marry Vader, the crown prince of Mustafar but there's no love there. Obi-Wan isn't sure his husband to be is capable of it, which is quite an awful thing to think about a husband to be. meanwhile, anakin is the son of palpatine, a very wealthy and vicious businessman, but he doesn't really have the heart for that. i guess somehow vader and anakin's paths cross and vader convinces anakin to switch places with him and pretend to be him so vader can experience a new and different life. but then anakin falls in love with obi-wan, obi-wan falls in love with anakin, vader falls in love with running the cut throat business empire palpatine has created,,,,,so...why switch back then?

💛 ooo this reminds me of a cracky au i have (the time date au), where if you don't find romantic love in your actual life (and you wanted to), in the afterlife you get put on a series of blind dates until you meet your 'soulmate'. anakin dies in world war one, while obi-wan died in idk ancient greece i left that pretty vague lmao

send me a premise to a fic you think i'd write, and i'll tell you if you're right

[coffeecakecafe]

So I have a few questions about the dp x bnha crossover.

Does Danny get to the bnha universe before or after Ultimate Enemy? If it is before how does danny discover his Wail?

Did Dani exist in the dp universe before Danny left?

Does Vlad come looking for Danny? If so how badly does he get beat by all the pros who have adopted ghost child?

Does Danny spend some time being a vigilante before the pros find him or do they find him right away?

What did the door/portal look like on the bnha end?

Is the language barrier being addressed?

That was a lot of questions sorry. I am in love with this crossover.

Thank u for all of the questions I love it, send as many as you have I’m always game for it. Okay so:

1 - Danny gets to the bnha universe like, right after Ultimate Enemy. I’m fudging the UE a little bit in that the key problem changes (Danny is a little older and instead of the threat of cheating it’s the threat of dropping out of school entirely, this will loop back into the Plot later) and the identity reveal sticks with Lancer and his folks - so Danny decides to spend some time away from home in the Zone, and goes through a floating door without reeeeeally considering the consequences. So he has the Wail but he’s only used it like, twice.

2 - She doesn’t! I waffled on the timeline for a while but since it’s right after UE we don’t hit s3. There was a v v early concept I had where she just,, also went with him,, but it didn’t stick lol

3 - ok so I think Danny is p cut off from the Zone (also will be Plot relevant, in as much as I have a plot) so Vlad can’t like get to him but the mental image of him getting his ass handed to him on a platter is v nice thank you

4 - they find him right away! Danny comes through pretty injured specifically bc I personally wanted to skip any drawn out initial misunderstandings - there’s a short fight where the nearby pros try to assess the threat level of this scary glowing child, but Danny only makes it through a couple of solid moves before he passes out and they quickly realize that this is Not a villain, this is a Child.

5 - I’ve just kind of been picturing it as a literal doorway, like Danny opens it in the Zone and comes out of the front door of like, a half-built shopfront.

6 - I don’t knooooow this is my biggest conundrum. Like on the one hand, it should definitely be an issue. On the other hand I don’t have the foggiest idea how to solve it or write for a multilingual setting, so I may just gloss right by it.

7 - He does have his family and friends back home, but I’m not sure yet how he feels about trying to find a way back. I’m leaning towards him coming to terms with his relationships as they were, but being stuck here anyway with no way home. So he has to just kind of make peace with his old life and make a new start? But like I’m not settled on it. I’ve got a 3k outline and no ending I’m really struggling with specifically this haaaaaa

[bestworstcase]

“The s3 parallels fall flat because Cass is the opposite of Gothel” Please bless us with your analysis.

okayyyy this is about more than one incident but i’ll start with The Big One

“You want me to be the bad guy? Fine, now I’m the bad guy.”

this is THE line. and the manner and visual framing of how cass repeats it are identical to the way gothel delivers it in the movie. and you know what i honestly don’t know what the intention was here in terms of what this repetition says about cass as a character or her relationship with rapunzel but...

when gothel says this line, it is an act of dropping the mask. taking off the kid gloves. ending the charade of what meager affection and kindness she had used to control rapunzel up to this point and revealing her true nature as somebody who would go to any length to keep what she feels belongs to her. it’s gothel announcing her choice to escalate into physical abuse, and blaming rapunzel for it in classic abuser fashion. and it’s provoked by rapunzel asserting her independence. rapunzel can’t be controlled the “nice” (read: emotionally abusive) way anymore, therefore in gothel’s twisted logic it’s rapunzel’s fault that gothel has to get violent. it’s a calculated, cruel, manipulative thing to say.

when cassandra says this line, what she means is: i tried to come back, i tried to fix my mistakes, i believed you when i said it would be okay, and you shot me in the back, so fuck you. from her perspective, it looks like rapunzel’s plea for her to stand down because it isn’t “too late” was simply a ploy to distract her so they could encase her in amber, something that as far as cass knows is intended to be lethal force. (hell, team corona does treat the gun like lethal force.) so cass is looking at this situation, looking at what rapunzel did to her when she attempted to surrender, and saying, fine. you’re right. zhan tiri was right. she tried to do the right thing and everybody, including rapunzel, attacked her for it. so cass accepts that, internalizes it, and lashed out in anger. in once a handmaiden, cass is a villain because the citizens of corona (with a little unseen help from zhan tiri) made her one. every avenue she had to escape from that role like she wanted to was closed to her when that gun fired. cass says “you want me to be the bad guy? fine, now i’m the bad guy” and then destroys corona the way a cornered animal lashes out and mauls somebody. it’s a blend of panic and rage.

also the power dynamics are reversed. gothel delivers the line as an abusive parent-figure, looming over a helpless rapunzel, who is now isolated from all her friends and trapped alone with gothel in the tower. cassandra delivers the line after literally every single person at the gopher grab attacks her. cass is in an extremely vulnerable position at this point and (given what she knew or believed to be true) her options were essentially try to fight her way out, raze the city, or accept being murdered. she has no power over the situation except through violence.

they say the same words, in the same way, but they mean wildly different things. so where is the parallel here? what purpose does this verbal and visual callback serve for the narrative, for cass as a character, for her villain arc, or for her relationship with rapunzel? it doesn’t make any sense to draw a comparison between gothel and cass here.

and the same is true of cass and gothel in general. cass as a character is defined by her ambitions and drive, to be a guard and later to claim her own destiny; gothel spent two thousand years living in a cottage where her only real achievement was vlogging about compliments she received. cass is self-sacrificing to a fault until it becomes to much for her and she cracks, seizing the moonstone in the first truly, purely selfish decision she makes in the entire series; gothel is self-serving to the point of being utterly incapable of caring about anybody else’s needs or wellbeing or feelings. cass wavers and doubts and displays guilt repeatedly over the course of her villain arc; the closest gothel ever gets to remorse is transparently fake performances of it to guilt trip rapunzel for asking anything of her. cass suffers from a crushing inferiority complex and her own self-loathing; gothel is shallowly obsessed with herself and egocentric in the extreme. etc. etc. every time the show draws a parallel between them it just... doesn’t work, because they aren’t alike. up to and including the last one:

“Felled by your own ego, just like your mother.”

except neither of them were felled by their egos and they were defeated by two very different things this quote makes me lose my MIND because it’s the exact moment zhan tiri, the masterful manipulator who knew precisely where cassandra’s strings were, was lobotomized into zhan tiri, the big dumb monster.

in the film gothel’s vanity and ego drive her to hoard the flower and kidnap rapunzel, then go to great lengths to keep her under control, and in that sense ego can be understood as indirectly leading to her death. but it’s not chasing her vanity that kills her; it’s her failure to understand selflessness and genuine love. she lets rapunzel attempt to heal eugene because she can’t fathom that eugene would ever willingly give up the very same magic that gothel has spent centuries clinging to, in order to save the girl gothel just sees as a vessel for that magic. her fatal weakness is that she can’t predict eugene’s compassion. it’s classic Evil Can’t Comprehend Good.

on the other hand cass is defined by her insecurity and feelings of inferiority, which make her miserable. to say that her desire to have her own purpose and her own life separate from rapunzel is egotistical is to fundamentally misunderstand the pain she’s in. bc it’s not about her ego, it’s about her wanting to not hurt anymore. and her fatal weakness is a kind of inverse of gothel’s, in that she underestimates the lengths zhan tiri is able to go to to stab her in the back. i guess one could argue that her assumption that zhan tiri was trapped in that cage comes from arrogance, which is a form of ego, but that feels like a bit of a stretch because that’s not the root of the problem really. the root of the problem for cass is that she’s so caught up in her pain that she can’t see anything else, and zhan tiri steps in and twists her thoughts around so much that even after she gets away her mindset stays the same until she’s shocked out of it. cass isn’t driven by pride, she’s driven by pain. and zhan tiri should know this god damn it

[deep breath]

the point being, cass is nothing like gothel, and every attempt the show makes to draw parallels between them fails because as characters they are perpendicular to each other. rapunzel has much more of gothel in her than cass, and that’s why the single most effective gothel parallel in the entire series is “enough, cassandra!” but that is. a whole other rant.

[mellarkandart]

I have a ridiculous amount of WIPs

okay so for Harry Potter, I’m literally so lost. I know I have a ton of ideas scribbled down somewhere, but I suppose the only really solid one I have is one with little Harry being sent to live with the Weasleys and he and Molly becoming close. I’ve never written their relationship before so… yeah. I love the idea but it’s slow going, I started it in early December.

Irondad never ends, like… it’s funny bc a few months ago I was like I love reading Irondad but I’ll never write it. Anyway okay so I have the parent trap AU with Harley and Peter, a Valentine’s Day one-shot I really should finish before Vday, a fic with Peter misunderstanding his and Tony’s relationship (it’s almost done and I personally like it but I think most people will find it weird and maybe too close to St*rker but it’s really not XD), a continuation of Itsy Bitsy Spider, working on a post NWH idea where everyone forgot Peter and he babysits Morgan while Tony is in coma and when he wakes up he remembers Peter and everyone is confused. Those are like my most solid ideas but I have a bunch of scribbles as well. Like, Tony and Steve go back in time during Endgame and see Peter, Tony is Peter’s dad before Civil War and hides him from Avengers, maybe he’s older and sneaks on a mission and like identity reveal, Tony’s breakdown in Endgame but he talks about Peter being his kid, hibernation, 5 times Tony sends Peter to bed plus 1 time he tucks him in or something, kidnapped Peter Stark, Tony upset about turning fifty and Peter annoyed bc Ben never did, Tony accidentally hitting Peter and Peter being fine with it bc he thinks it’s normal for parents to hit their kids or something, Peter plays LEGO Spider-Man video game and sucks at it… Basically I have a very easy time coming up with ideas, it’s the whole actually writing them thing I struggle with XD

[livingwithashipname-blog]

i used to love scorpion but it's become mediocre since the second half of season 2 bc all they've done is bait waige. tbh, it's not a good ship and maybe i'm biased bc i've headcanoned walter as aromantic (which would've worked much better in terms of his character since the show seems to be telling ppl with higher IQ that to find a place they belong they have to develop EQ to "evolve" when as a society, we should be accepting them and not making them fit in with us)

No offense anon, but…  Is there a question in this?  It’s unclear exactly what you’d like to discuss or know from me.  But I chose to take my time with this response in order to open a discussion within the fandom.  This isn’t a rant.  Lol!

I disagree with the notion that the show is telling its audience that high IQ, low EQ individuals have to develop EQ to evolve or fit into society.  This insinuates that the geniuses sacrifice their intellect in order to become less socially inept.  This is simply not the case.  One of the show’s core messages is to communicate the benefits of emotional intelligence in relation to one’s goals to share that intellect with the masses - learning to adapt without sacrificing identity.  The message is continuously addressed with Walter O’Brien because he is the genius with the lowest EQ, the creator of Scorpion, and uses his business as a hub for like-minded individuals with various skill sets.  

What makes us different from animals as humans is cognition - the ability to reflect on our thoughts and experiences and act on them to change ourselves and our environments.  Walter is not efficient at processing emotion to label it properly, meaning that he can not identify behaviors to which he can not relate.  This does not mean he can not emote, but the amount of EQ he gains over time is learned.  It does not derive from within.  The same is true of the other geniuses to a lesser extent.  (Elyes Gabel talked about this at the cast’s first SDCC appearance - Walter has an emotional vault that he struggles to access.)  Furthermore, Walter’s environment contributes to how well he can regulate his emotions.  In the show, Walter’s intelligence was fostered as a child through his work for the government.  But his emotional development was only fostered through Megan because she accepted him for his differences unlike his parents.  This is why he was so protective of her medical care and fought hard on an intellectual level to save her.  Since Walter’s emotional development is an arc for the entire series, his character will be written to show his successes and failures in various aspects of his life in relation to his life goals.  

As far as attraction is concerned, Walter could be written as aromantic in relation to his genius.  This would have been a great and intriguing development.  But various moments in the show suggest that Walter, at the least, is romantically attracted to women for now.  Therefore, his emotional intelligence will also have an impact on any romantic relationship he seeks to have given the show’s premise.  If you’ll indulge me, allow me to explain using recent scenarios from the show, present the conundrum that lies within fandom, and how that conundrum is capitalized in order to “bait” fans on Waige under the cut.  It’s long, so don’t say I didn’t warn ya! 😜

Examples from Canon

In episode 2.22 Hard Knox, the team mobilized to help Ralph win his court battle.  Ralph tried to explain his program’s functions to Walter, but he couldn’t understand Ralph’s approach.  Sadly, Walter projected his frustration over a problem he couldn’t solve in that moment onto Ralph.  This led to Ralph walking away feeling defeated and Paige threatening to quit.  When he realized the mistake in his behavior, he approached Ralph and said this, “what upset me is that you were willing to slow down for me to-to let me go down the wrong road, when that would’ve hindered you, because I couldn’t grasp your work.  Never hobble your intelligence for anyone… because if you do that in this garage, imagine what you’ll have to do out there… for humans.  The world needs to catch up to you… because if-if it can, just a little, imagine what a… a beautiful place it could be.”  This example is unique because it reinforces the show’s core message in IQ vs. EQ on the basis of intelligence, not emotion.

In 3.15 Sharknerdo, Walter argued with the client over the way he stated the service fee instead of accepting the fact that the client was not interested in learning the correct way to communicate $109,000.  This cost the team their job and dismantled the weeks of work Paige did to secure that contract.  Paige was rightfully frustrated because Walter couldn’t get like Elsa and let it go. 😂  Plus, it’s even more frustrating that Walter secured a new job on contingency, where payment is only guaranteed upon completion of services.  This is bad for Walter despite the fact that Paige is the liaison for several reasons: 1) he talked with the client in her absence, 2) he lost a job with a secured fee and replaced it with a less secure one (that’s not good business when you have employees to pay), and 3) he is the boss of Scorpion who makes the final decisions.  In Paige’s absence, he is the next point of contact for independent jobs (those not issued through Homeland Security).  This is the statute of limitations when it comes to his goals for Scorpion.  He has to acquire skill sets to make him more efficient at communicating with average/high EQ, non-geniuses if he wants to diversify his clientele to do more good in the world.  In other words, he has to learn and apply approaches on an EQ level to appeal to normals in order to get them to his level or create an equal playing field.  Another great example of this can be found in his interaction with the foreman in 3.14 The Hole Truth after his talk with Happy.  I apply the same tactic as a researcher.  I have to know my audience and how to address them in order to communicate my findings and spark interest.  If I do not, I limit my reach and open doors to miscommunication and misunderstanding.  

Also take into consideration instances where Walter has lied about facts in order to achieve the greater good.  Episode 2.04 Robots is a great example.  What’s also interesting about this episode and others in which this has happened is that Walter doubts the scope of his own emotional intelligence.  The same is seen with Happy Quinn whose EQ is closer to Walter’s.  If you have read any of my reviews, I talk about this doubt factor several times.  Walter and Happy have demonstrated emotional mastery in both their work and personal lives.  Their main issue is consistency outside the limitations their logical brains impose on their emotional functionality.  Yet overall, they improve each season.

This show is loosely-based on the real Walter O’ Brien, who is an executive producer.  If you ask him to choose between IQ and EQ, he will tell you, EQ over IQ, from his own personal experiences which has been infused widely throughout this show.  You can read that interview HERE and learn what he did to create the show.  It’s very enlightening!

Fandom Realities

Here’s the conundrum that stems from fandom.  (If you read the interview, then you already got a sense of what I am about to say.)  Scorpion is an action dramedy in two parts - personal stuff and mission stuff.  And these two elements are interchanged in every episode.  However, the majority of fan commentary on the show is about the romances first, the other personal storylines second, and the missions last.  This means the greatest pull, as far as spoilers and other marketing strategies are concerned, is information on the ships whether it’s through social media, press releases, or cast interviews.  The majority of fans don’t get excited over the missions (or else that would be reflected in fandom convo and creations).  Scorpion covers some real projects like the Chernobyl dome and the Svalbard Doomsday Vault (both of which are really cool btw).  And I am curious if an upcoming episode will take a note from a docu-drama on Mars that debuted on National Geographic.  Anyways, Waige is not canon and yet Waige-centric episodes receive behind-the-scenes exclusives on pop culture news sites like Entertainment Online.  Katherine McPhee and Elyes Gabel are sent out on press to talk about them.  You do not see similar treatment with the other ships because Waige is the main ship of the show.  All others are side ships, regardless how much exposure they get.  Quintis is highlighted in the storyline because the relationship is between two main characters, who are both high IQ, low EQ individuals, as opposed to Callie (RIP 💀) which is between a main and a guest, both of whom have average/high EQ.  

The showrunners, writers, cast have alluded and established in many ways that Waige is an endgame, slow burn otp.  The mystery lies in WHEN this will happen.  It would be stupid for them to reveal that information.  But they use episodes to answer that question for the fans.  As fans, we can choose to trust what is there to put our expectations in check or fall for the bait!  Besides, we get more receipts the more the writers use more than one episode to foreshadow.  If we don’t like what we see after some time, we have to determine what is the breaking point and move on or devise a new plan to indulge the content (e.g., skip episodes, binge later).  We also have to take into consideration that some decisions are in the hands of network execs.  At the end of the day, it makes no sense to engage in endless emotional masochism over something we no longer enjoy.  It’s silly!  But I digress.  If you want to know more about my theories on Waige, feel free to go to my page, type “the Waige flip” in the search engine, and read all about it.  As someone who ships Waige, I don’t have any questions on them until season 4, episode 12/13.

I will not argue whether Waige is a good ship or not because it’s not my place to police opinion.  What I will say is that Waige is an intriguing pairing because it is a relationship between a low EQ individual and a high EQ individual - a genius and a normal.  (Btw, high IQ, high EQ individuals exist - it’s a function of nature vs. nurture.  But that’s a topic for a different day!).  Melvester had the same dynamic, but the EQ gap between Megan and Sly was much less than that between Walter and Paige.  For this reason, Waige will always face unique challenges.  Like I said at the beginning of all this, Walter’s emotional development is a series arc and his triumphs and failures will extend to his personal life.  But one thing this show does well is communicate understanding in the team’s decisions, both geniuses and non-geniuses, whether you agree with their stances or not.  That’s necessary given the show’s premises!

If you’ve read up to this point, CONGRATS!!! You have survived another Emanda’s Inner Sanctum analysis/thought piece!  Toodles peeps! 😘✌🏾️