#i wonder if he's actually going to be at the mansion for the episode

[orionshounds]

this was the greatest revelation from the stream

[auroralwriting]

hii!! this is so random but i just read ur spencer reid x genius! reader fic and i was wondering if u could like expand on it?? or like maybe the team finding out that they went on a date and everyone is like oh gosh finally?? thank u and i love ur writing :P

wedding bells

spencer reid x genius!bau!reader

part two to the gun, can be read as a standalone

spencer and you were enemies, now, you’re just into each other. what happens when you show up to jj's wedding as each other's dates?

word count: 1.6k

warnings: the most insane amount of tooth rotting fluff (you're welcome)

thank you for this request! i decided to expand even more and connect it back to the actual episode i wrote about, 7x24 :)

It had been about two weeks since you’d gotten out of the hospital from your last case; the bank robbery. You managed to get out with a couple of stitches and bruises. You were lucky to be alive.

The one good thing that came from the whole ordeal was the fact that you and Spencer, who was your previous academic-agent enemy, had turned into somewhat of your lover.

It started with trivia night at O’Keefe’s. The two of you decided to just pair rather than join a large team, and you kicked ass. You allowed Spencer to handle more of the academic side of trivia while you took pop culture. Quite literally, you were the only team with points.

That date went so well, that you ended up going out to dinner at the new Chinese place by Spencer’s apartment. That one went great too, and a third came along, a simple date that included Spencer taking you to an art museum.

You actually got to know Spencer, and he got to know you. Sure, you’d been team mates for years, but with suck a strong rivalry, you never got to know the man. You were both eerily alike, and things were going great. There had been no cases, Strauss gave your team a break after JJ’s boyfriend had almost died, along with you.

Spencer and you were at his place watching Doctor Who when you got a phone call. You picked it up, “Hey, Rossi.” The tv was paused and Spencer was looking at you expectantly. “Mhm.. mh- Oh my god! Oh, Rossi. That’s such a good idea. Yes, I’ll be there. I’m, uh, actually with Spencer, so I’ll pass on the message.” Spencer raised an eyebrow at you as you hung up. "Okay, don't freak out, but JJ and Will are engaged."

"What!" Spencer exclaimed with a bright smile. "Oh my god!"

"And Rossi and Will are planning for the wedding to be this Friday," You continued. "JJ doesn't know yet, so we have to keep it a secret."

"Speaking of secrets," Spencer coyly began, "Does Rossi know about, well, us?"

You chuckled, "I didn't tell him, but he knows we've been together more. Significantly more,"

"I've been thinking," Spencer said. "What if we don't keep this a secret anymore."

The only reason it was a secret in the first place was because the team would freak out if they knew you were going out. "I don't think now's the best time to tell them. We don't want to steal JJ's thunder." you frowned.

"No, no!" Spencer quickly shook his head. He grabbed both your hands, rubbing them with his thumbs. "Do you want to be my date to their wedding?"

Your heart raced at his words, and you felt the heat rise to your cheeks. "Yeah, Spence. I'd love to be your date." You smiled brightly.

The wedding was only three days away, and you were quick to go out with Penelope to buy a dress. You wanted something elegant that wouldn't take away from JJ, so you decided on a flowey, burgundy-maroon dress. It was formal, but nothing too glamorous. The whole time, Penelope kept rambling about how since she and Kevin were no more, the two of you could be girl-dates. You casually agreed, not wanting to give up Spencer and your cover yet.

You'd asked Spencer if he wanted to see your outfit on Thursday, but he wanted it to be a surprise. So, with Pen, you both did each other's hair, makeup, and got ready. You arrived together at the Rossi mansion to make everything less conspicuous.

"Oh my god!" Penelope whisper yelled. "Kevin has a date--a date!" She grabbed you and dragged you to Emily and Morgan in a panic. "He brought a date, and I didn't bring a boy date, oh my god I look like an idiot!"

"Pen, you don't look like an idiot." You rubbed her arm softly. "He's the real idiot for moving on so damn fast."

Emily nodded, "And you look so gorgeous, I bet he can't help but think about you. Play it cool."

Penelope took a large sip of her drink. "I'm- I'm gonna go, go somewhere, uh, somewhere he's not."

"Hi, Penelope!" Beth, Hotch's new girlfriend, said cheerfully as she walked up.

"Hey, hi," Penelope quickly walked off.

Beth gave a soft laugh, "Hello everybody."

You smiled and pulled her into a hug, "Ex problems, don't mind her. Hi Beth, and hi Hotch. You both look great."

"Says you! You look absolutely stunning! That is so your color." Beth smiled as she took your hand to spin you around lightly.

The three of you said hello to Jack as well. As the group began to disperse, you quickly spotted Rossi. You made your way over to him, a smile on his face. Rossi was like a father to you. Growing up under his help and guidance, he was more than just a mentor. "Oh, honey. Look at you, you look so grown up."

"Dave, I've been grown up for a lot of years now." You laughed as he kissed your cheek. "Have you seen Spencer by chance?"

"Not yet," Rossi replied. He raised an eyebrow at you, studying your face. "You two are together, aren't you?"

A look of panic crossed your features. "Shh!" You quickly hushed, looking around to see if anyone noticed. When they didn't you turned back to him. "We've been going out on dates, hanging out. That sort of thing. We aren't.. boyfriend-girlfriend."

"I'm happy for you two," Rossi smiled. "You two make a good pair, especially now that you aren't planning each other's murders."

"Who was murdered?"

You turned around to see Spencer standing behind you. His eyes went wide when he saw you. The way you turned, bright eyed and graceful, it made his heart leap in his chest, especially when you looked so ethereal.

Spencer breathed your name softly, looking to Rossi. You gave a small nod, letting him know that Rossi knew. He walked over, giving you a small hug to secretly press a kiss into your hair. The two of you hadn't really kissed yet, but you knew it would happen soon.

"You're an angel," Spencer softly spoke, caressing your cheek as you smiled.

"You look amazing, too." You replied.

Rossi and Spencer gave each other a quick hello before he excused himself to go reveal to JJ that this was her wedding night. It only took a few minutes and JJ ran up to you. You hugged her before she could say anything.

"You knew?" Her voice cracked, but you knew it was from joy.

"We all did," You smiled. "Hey, while you and Will get ready, let Spence watch over Henry."

JJ's eyebrows furrowed as she watched Spencer nod quickly, giving your shoulder a squeeze with the sweetest smile she'd ever seen him give someone. "Uh-"

"Don't worry about it," You shook your head. "This is your night." When you saw JJ was about to ask again, you filled her in. "Going out on dates, not dating."

She just smiled, holding up her dress. "This is it. I wanted to ask you, actually, if you wanted to be my maid of honor? Help me get ready?"

Your eyes filled with tears, "Oh, Jayge. It would be my absolute honor." You hugged her again tightly, leading her upstairs with her mom.

It didn't take long until the ceremony began. You were already at the end of the isle, watching Spencer do a magic trick with the ring with Henry. You giggled, Spencer's eyes meeting yours as he smiled back to you.

JJ was the most beautiful bride you'd ever seen. She came up to the front and you hugged her, taking her flowers from her and standing next to Spencer and Penelope. As the ceremony went on, you found yourself tearing up. Weddings always made you cry. Spencer took notice, taking your hand and pulling you against his chest as he rubbed your arm. The team was too busy watching JJ and Will to notice.

The dancing was the best part. Penelope pulled you to the dance floor before Spencer even had a chance. You happily slow danced with her, then Derek, who stole you away. From there, Hotch had a dance with you, and then Rossi. Finally, at your favorite slow song, Spencer approached.

"Dave, would you mind?" He softly asked.

"It would be my pleasure." Dave passed you off to Spencer with one hand as Spencer slowly pulled you into his arms. If you took closer notice, you'd see him go to Strauss and begin to dance.

"Hi," You whispered, one hand in his as his other rested on your waist. Your free hand was on his shoulder. The two of you began to sway to the music.

"Hi," He echoed, giving you the softest look you'd ever gotten. "I missed you. I didn't even get a chance to dance with you."

You softly giggled, "Well, now it's yours. All yours, Spence." You leaned in closer, "You're the only one I wanted to dance with."

The position changed, both of Spencer's hands were on your waist as you wrapped your arms around his neck. This was much more intimate. "You're the only one I want, too." The double meaning made your stomach twist in the best way.

As the two of you danced, your teammates began to finally notice. "Oh my god," Derek mumbled. "Those two dumb geniuses finally got together."

"Actually, they're just going on dates," JJ corrected as she swayed with Will.

Emily smirked, "Not for long by the looks of it."

"They make such a sweet couple," Beth cooed.

Penelope gasped, "Oh my sweet baby Jesus, I took her away from him all night!"

"I'm sure he doesn't mind." Hotch smiled, actually smiled, as they all watched you lean your head on his shoulder, one of his hands coming up to the middle your back to splay out, almost protectively, holding you closer.

"I think I hear some more wedding bells in our future." Derek smiled.

[zeroslashsix]

Following my Gambit post, I love love love the way Rogue's powers are handled in X-Men Evolution. Like Gambit, Rogue tends to have a certain set of 'roles' when she's in a show/movie: she's focused on inner torment about her powers, on being a Spicy Southern Belle, or her romantic connections. Which is to say, her stories are usually about emotions and relationships, which is fine, I love those parts of her as much the rest. But if she's not fighting, her powers are only really viewed through a lens of how she feels about them, and how they impact her ability to connect with others.

And here's X-Men Evolution, fully leaning into the fact that Rogue’s power is one of the most dangerous in the entire show. I love the s3 ep "Self-Possessed" so much because it takes the brakes off her, and really commits to the idea that stacking powers is catastrophic when you consider she can wield multiple omega-level powersets at the same time. Her main limitation is that she doesn't want other personalities in her head, she limits her power usage because she just doesn't like it, and yeah, totally fair, but Rogue could absolutely wake up one day, go through the mansion and decide to be an omega squared. X-Men Evolution is about teenagers who are still figuring out their abilities, even at the end of the series when they're a year (two years?) older. By the finale, they have more control and training, but they are absolutely still growing into adulthood and have not reached full potential.

Which is why I think "Self-Possessed" is such a fascinating look at Rogue's powers. Every iteration of Rogue imposes a time limit on her absorption, meaning that any powers she absorbs will only stay with her for a short time. But in that episode, when she's succumbing to all those personalities in her head, her time limit stops existing. She can access powers for months, maybe even years after the initial absorption. Mystique's powers couldn't have given Rogue that ability; the only way Rogue could do such a thing is if that potential already exists inside of her. This implies that when she absorbs a power, that power stays inside her as long as the personality does, and her "time limit" is just a matter of control, or lack thereof.

This seems to be backed up by the s3 finale, where Mesmero and Mystique mind control Rogue to gather powers, and Rogue proceeds to SWEEP the X-Men, Brotherhood, Acolytes, and Magneto in less than 24 hours. By the end of it, she seems fully capable of using any and all their powers at will, ignoring any sort of time limit. Mesmero can mind control others, but he can't enhance them. He cannot give someone powers they don't already possess. The only reason Rogue could do all that is because she was already capable of it, and the fact Mesmero could mind control this out of her seems to imply that Rogue's limitations are entirely self-imposed, mostly mental/emotional, or maybe a lack of experience. (Similar to the season four finale where Rogue seems to use Leech’s power better than he does, probably just because he’s a little kid and she’s an adolescent so has a better grasp on powers in general)

Like, no wonder Mystique and Destiny wanted her powers. No wonder Magneto was so thrilled to have her in the ranks in the first season. No wonder so many people in the world want to use her; she is the all-mutant, the living multi tool that can gather multitudes of power in one place and then combine them. The only reason she isn't considered omega-level is pure technicality; in terms of destruction she could actually lay down, Rogue is absolutely as dangerous as plenty of omegas. The requirements for an omega are 1) infinite power, and 2) limitless power. Rogue has the first one; she can stack an infinite number of powers. But she lacks the second; all her powers must come from the outside, and she cannot generate them herself. But if she has access to multiple omega powersets like she does in Self-Possessed, that technicality kind of stops mattering once the punches actually start flying.

Which all leads into Rogue's main emotional journey through X-Men Evolution, which is perhaps my favorite she's ever had: being used. That's why she was adopted. That's why she was raised being unable to touch, being lied to by both her moms. That's why she was taken into the Brotherhood, and it's why Mystique will never leave her alone. Extra fascinating because after the reveal in season one that Mystique is Kurt's mother, Mystique leaves Kurt completely alone for the rest of the series, while simultaneously stalking and manipulating Rogue. Why the difference? Because Kurt is not a useful tool. Not compared to Rogue. And I think Rogue sees that difference, which makes for such a juicy dynamic when Kurt is so interested in actually loving Mystique, for insisting that Rogue should forgive their mother and 'let hatred go,' because he genuinely thinks that anyone can be saved with enough love. Whereas Rogue, who has seen Mystique's 'love' up close for her whole life, is desperately trying to get away from that, with good reason.

One of the reasons I wish we’d had more seasons, or at least more episodes in the last season, is how seamlessly Rogue’s feelings about her powers flowed into her feelings around being used, her feelings around family, and being dehumanized to the point of mind-wipe by her own mother. Yes she’s sad about the no-touching thing, but that’s nothing compared to being seen as a literal object in the eyes of others, because her powers are utterly perfect—for someone else to use. Which flows into questions of bodily autonomy, of who her powers “belong to” vs. who they “should belong to.” Especially considering that Rogue is only at full power when she loses control/is under someone else’s control, which could lead someone to conclude, “Well of course Rogue should be under someone’s control, preferably mine. She’s so powerful when someone else is controlling her, and so weak when she controls herself. It’s honestly such a waste for Rogue to be her own person when she could be so much more. She needs to be used to reach her full potential.”

In a perfect world, we’d have way more X-Men Evo than we got. More seasons, more episodes, more time to explore whatever the hell Rogue had going on. And if I was allowed to pick, I would have loved to see Rogue with a character arc of self-ownership. In particular, it would be so cool to see her powers develop to the point she can have a “Self-Possessed” crisis and control it, fully aware of herself and all the powers she holds. I’d love to see her use those powers for her own benefit, on purpose, independent of both her mother and the X-Men. I’d love to see a self-serving Rogue in the XMenEvo. Not necessarily evil (though it would be a fascinating villain arc) but a Rogue who chooses selfishness as an act of rebellion. Who can use all those powers simultaneously, consciously, and disobediently. Vengeance, maybe? Or something that heightens humans’ fear of mutants? I’d love to see Rogue become inconvenient to the X-Men, at the very least, either physically or philosophically. Certainly nothing so dire as the Phoenix saga, but something that uses her powers to their fullest extent. (Damn could you imagine Rogue as the Horseman of Death if this went in the opposite direction. How fucking overpowered would Death!Rogue be, how the hell would the X-Men deal with that)

Anyways. Fanfiction is the folklore of the now or whatever. And XMenEvo was already a crazy high school AU anyway.

[slaaverin]

ok, Im in with my Jikook prediction. Them living together is not even a prediction anymore, Im just waiting for their joint live, or JKs live interrupted by JM, I mean we all know JK built this fortress for them.

Sorry, I got sidetracked, anyway! I think that we wont get any BTS content as far as new album, world tour or sth like that this year. (With Jin and his world tour etc, I mean finally some concerts in Europe, Bh/Hybe finally remembered that Europe exists!) They might give us a RUN BTS episodes so that we can see them alltogether again.

As far as Jikook is concerned I would think they want to do more AYS, I mean they sort of promised 12 more seasons. And what would be greater than travelling Jikook style after mandatory MS? So yeah, thats my prediction for them. Busan maybe? Thailand? Australia? Europe, anyone? (They both shot their mv in Hungary so...)

But whatever they decide to do or not, they will have my full support and my heart - I just want to see them! All happy and giggly and in love!

Yess 👏🏻

I also think this fortress mansion is for two.

But they have to find a way to keep it private since it's already a tourist and fan attraction so I wonder if Jimin will actually be comfortable with this. I believe he may keep his own place just in case he wants to retreat sometimes.

No, clearly no new BTS album or tour this year - they need time. But maybe this would be the opportunity for Jungkook to do a solo tour before the end of the year? I'm sure he wants to but we'll have to see if it can fit into the schedule. (Glad they remembered Europe so it means there's a small chance Jungkook might come too 🥹)

RUN BTS for sure. But I also saw many people speak about Bon Voyage and if they indeed do it, I'm not certain jikook would make an AYS season the same year. Maybe rather in 2026 at a point where schedule calms down. But if no Bon Voyage is planned and it's another ITS, then perhaps AYS might still happen. It's true that it would be best to make AYS before the time next year where BTS schedule as a group will really pick up. Ahhh we'll see how it goes

I secretely wish for AYS this summer and then an AYS early 2026 😂

Can we have both? 😌

Ah you're right. I know many people have predictions intuitions and expectations but in the end who caaaaares! They will both be here and we will love seeing them happy and in love no matter what they end up doing 🥹 but it's fun to guess since we're bored while they're gone 😂 it would be so funny if something came out that nobody, absolutely nobody expected and blows out everything out of the park (side-eyeing keep going) WHICH COULD HAPPEN? At first we had no idea about AYS! I'll be happy to be surprised 😂

can't wait to find out 💜

Thanks and take care anon 🫂

[cursedmagician]

so. let's talk about that episode shall we?

major ii 17 spoilers under the cut, and lots of theories. read at your own risk.

divider by strangergraphics ✮⋆˙

I have no idea what to even think about that episode. I watched this at about 8 in the morning my time, and now I am in shambles and have been for the last several hours. I'm going to dump all my theories in this one blog post.

my first topic, and the elephant in the room - THIS IS NOT THE LAST ACT. NO WAY.

I've seen people asking if this is the last act and therefore the last ever episode in the series, and to that I say... obviously not. there's still so many plot points to be resolved.

like, for example, why would they add in a scene of the prime shimmers going to the contestant grounds if they weren't going to do something for it later?

yes I know that they were already used as merely a small plot device to allow the episode to progress, but when you think of it in the grand scheme of things there must be something more to it.

also, and - I may be going crazy here - but there might possibly be some sort of parallel of when cobs tells mephone to go "home" with him. we now know that all those previous theories of mephone being made with the shimmer egg are correct, because of fan. since that is the case, I feel like it would make sense for mephone's true home to be with the prime shimmer, right?

I feel like this could be a plot point in the next act. mephone feels more at home with the prime shimmer than he does with cobs (obviously). he would meet them and realise he feels strangely connected to them, and then he figures everything out which leads up to him discovering his true family. and I hope cobs rots and dies FOREVERRR

another point to add onto this is that remember how soap and mic took that photo together in the last episode?

well, soap was going through her recently deleted.

on apple (and I'm assuming meeple as well) devices, it takes 30 days for photos in the recently deleted photo to be fully erased from the device. before that, you can restore and fully erase as many photos as you like.

at the end of this episode when everything created by melife has been erased, baxter is seen walking up to soap's phone here.

in a scene where everything is gone, don't you think this is weirdly symbolic? they didn't have any other reason to show this which leads up to the next theory.

mephone is most likely going to find a way to bring everyone back through some way, and it might be through this system. I'm not saying I know how he's gonna do it, but this will totally be some sort of factor in the next act. hopefully.

second topic - what about bow and bot?

and I know what you all are thinking. I know that bow is definitely not gone, since she obviously isn't supported by melife anymore. (I'm a little curious, bow mentioned that she can't escape the confines of purgatory mansion, but since now that's been deleted, would she be able to roam free? just a thought...)

the same could be said for bot, since they were made by fan and test tube and not by melife. but there's been some speculation going around saying that since bot was made out of materials from test tube's lab, they would be deleted too right?

I actually think that's not necessarily the case.

we have no idea if test tube's materials or her lab was made out of things generated by melife. for all we know, she could have ordered the mechanical parts from overseas. she could have dug up the space she needed for the lab herself.

all we know is that the locations made for the game itself are generated by melife. however, test tube's lab has really nothing to do with the contest because it is its own thing.

so I think this entire theory is genuinely plausible. bot might still be out there somewhere, and I'm not going to say on the invitational island because we don't know if that entire thing was deleted too or just the floor's face. they genuinely might be making their way over to the season 2 grounds right now, wondering what is going on.

which could possibly make way for a bow and bot meeting, AND they might team up too to save the day!! that definitely feels like a direction that adam would be going for, and I personally would totally stand for it.

third topic - can mephone X be avoided or stopped somehow?

here's what I'm thinking.

lightbulb actually managed to dodge mephone X here, and even though yes she did get got in the end, you can at least delay the process or maybe even outrun them altogether.

there must be a reason as to why only the person who is being targeted can see mephone X, but that's a theory for another day.

now, this part is less of a theory and more of an idea - that is supported by numerous twitter posts - but what if you are able to see mephone X with another me device thingy?

think about it, what if taking a picture or just going through the camera app enables others to see them, therefore allowing the contestants to potentially disable mephone X for good?

assuming my theory is correct and they do come back somehow, I doubt that adam forgot about this plothole completely. there must be more significance to this in the future.

we all know how the main writing team writes. they think of everything, down to the small details, and the reference previous things that were thought to be insignificant before!! reminds me of bfdi in a way.

fourth topic - misc stuff/yapping

and well of course I had to dedicate an entire section to just my yapping alone. I know I'm still pretty new to blogging, I don't have many posts yet, but I think it's worth it to just leave my thoughts out here for people to cry over also.

firstly... OJ and paper's last conversation was an argument. lol!! XD!! also it was so funny as to how paper got so ticked off after salt said OJ is her boyfriend. I understand that he might have still felt pretty heated after everything that had been going on, + the argument they had earlier. and I know that OJ is very important to paper. but I still think it was really hilarious. some could say jealous. "he's not your boyfriend he was MINE!!"

ALSO!!! also also also THIS fucking scene...

this is gonna haunt me for the rest of my life man. what the fuck. imagine if slasher movies were like this... like jigsaw or something. if I saw this in a slasher movie I would be terrified for my LIFE (something these contestants don't have).

I really really liked the scene where paintbrush was crying over lightbulb btw. jazzy did an amazing job at that, and they said that they didn't even cry to be able to voice it!! she's a very talented va, I aspire to be like her someday...

another thing I wanted to mention is this tweet made by brian a while ago (screenshot I nabbed from me_phone4 on twitter) yes this is absolutely going to be for inanimate insanity. no questions asked. hope is on the horizon guys.

ok I think that is the end of this post. likes and reblogs are appreciated, and also reblog if you want to add onto my theories later!

for now, signing off!! - CURSED MAGICIAN

[takerfoxx]

So I've been having people trying to get me to watch Re: Zero for a while now, and I've always resisted because Isekais just aren't my thing, and I avoid multi-season shows as a general rule. But then I found out about the return from death gimmick, and how they actually take the trauma of dying and resurrecting seriously, and that definitely is up my alley, so now I'm finally giving it a shot. Just finished the mansion/demon dogs arc, so here's some quick thoughts.

I admit, most of the pilot didn't really grab me, as it was standard isekai fare. I even rolled my eyes a bit when Subaru started lampshading common isekai tropes. Like, how long has this genre been a cliche? But once he started dying and they began to really make use of the gory groundhog day loop thing is when I started to get into it.

However, the mansion arc really grabbed me.

I like this. I've always enjoyed traumatic time loops. Higurashi. Madoka Magica. Summertime Rendering. There's something about immortality that's as much a curse as a blessing that really vibes with me, and I got sucked in watching the poor guy try to unravel the mystery, trying different things each time, only to fail miserably every time. Even if he was functionally "immortal," it really makes you cheer for him to finally break the loop and make it to the next day with everyone else alive.

Also, I just like Subaru. Design-wise, he's nothing special. Standard anime protag. But he definitely is not you're standard bland isekai self-insert vehicle. Like, this guy has a personality. He's riddled with doubts, anxieties, and trauma, and overcompensates by being really extra and dramatic with a forced cheerfulness that people do come to see through. I also like that even though he's crushing on Emilia hard, he's also not doing the standard "can't spit it out" thing that I really dislike and find cringe. Instead, my man is shooting his shot! Over and over! And for as silly as his method is, he's so over the top with it that it keeps working!

Plus, even though he can be a real idiot sometimes, he's also clever. He examines his mistakes from previous lives and makes changes to try to unravel the mystery. When he finds out that he's cursed to being unable to reveal his return from death thing, he takes advantage of that, using the curse's dark magic as bait for those who could sense it! He uses his shadow magic's instability to his advantage. And though he makes mistake after mistake, he still learns from them and acts accordingly.

And I really like that they're not skimping out on the trauma that his repeated deaths is causing him. His boisterous is very much a mask, one that almost slips several times, until it finally does and he breaks down. Yeah, I can get behind this guy.

Though I do feel sorry for Emilia as a character at this point. As the love interest, she's fine. She's cute, kind, has an interesting power, Puck's funny, I can see why Subaru fell for her. Unfortunately, right after her introductory arc, she got overshadowed HARD!

So, you mean to tell me that you're going to give us Rei Ayanami. Who is a maid. And a demon. Who can kick all kinds of ass. Who also has a really tragic backstory that ties into her personal flaws and character. Who undergoes a hell of a character arc despite still being a supporting character. And there's two of them?

Yeah, I can see why I didn't know who Emilia was before starting the show but already knew about Ram and Rem. No wonder they're all over the place. And Beatrice is just hilarious as well. I really hope Emilia gets her own focused arc, because the twins have only been around for a few episodes, but they're easily the most interesting thing about this show.

But it's still early and there's plenty of time for character development. Needless to say, I'm kind of hooked. Gonna start the next arc tonight.

[helpfandom]

Hi, I stumbled upon your Yandere BTAS, which, along with Cape Crusader, is new. These are my top two favorite iterations of Batman. I was wondering if you could do BTAS-Bruce Wayne/Batman with an autistic Y/N. Where his need to protect leads to full-on smothering and Y/N is forced to stay in the manor rather than attend public school, etc. Can be headcannons or full stories. btw, I love your work, especially the yandere platonic.

Thank you anon!! I haven't seen Caped Crusader so I went with B;TAS!!

I actually got my autism diagnosis which was interesting, because so many traits I didn't realize were autistic traits, so I'll probably redo my asks about autism soon.

Can anyone guess the episode this comes from?

@lonleydweller and also @artisticdoofusxx because I think you would like this one

<333

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He met you, somehow, the details are irrelevant, but most likely through just interacting with his city, or perhaps he heard your name muttered through the city, no matter what, he's a little interested in how a kid like you gets through Gotham City with it's hustle, bustle and crime filled nature.

Naturally, at the start, he's not going to do much until Robin mentions a classmate of his with the same name as you and the same characteristics and... it's you. The same person he was curious about.

Well, why not do some research anyway?

He's certainly... intrigued with you. Far more than his normal obsessions would be, he's just... a little worried. (Far more than worried, really, it's bordering on insanity with how often he finds something and thinks of you - whether it be a crime he worries that you could have been the victim of, or simply a busy street that seems overstimulating to even him, the dark knight. He practically becomes a hypochondriac when he thinks of you, not worried about him, but worried about you.)

But when he finally does muster up enough reasons and courage to do it in his mind to actually kidnap take you home? He's far, far worse than he was then. It's already stressful enough for you to have been kidnapped by Bruce Wayne, the most successful man in Gotham, but his smothering borders on suffocating when you finally get used to living a new space, everything you've ever looked at or considered being spotted there in the mansion, but you're not allowed to leave, to see those you considered friends. Only Dick and Alfred and HIM as your only source of human contact.

Oh, and if anyone finds out that you, Bruce's newest and latest child is autistic, and decides to attempt to capitalize on that?

You are never seeing the outside again after that.

[kotegiris]

[Palace Memories] Main Story Episode 1 Side Story

side stories

Behave Obediently 

※Warning: There are spoilers for the main story Episode 1.

It is recommended to read up to Episode 1, Part 2: The Ball, Chapter 29 before reading this.

If you’d like to avoid spoilers, please return using the upper left button.

………

Lamli: …… The noble from earlier is in that carriage…

Lamli: Even though he made Lucas-sama bow his head and hurt Aruji-sama… He’s going back just like that…

Lamli: …………

Step… step… step…

Lucas: Lamli-kun.

Lamli: Ah, Lucas-sama ♪ Is something wrong?

Lucas: No…… I just didn’t see you around. I came because I was wondering what you were doing.

Lucas: Hm… All the nobles will be leaving soon. 

Lucas: We should hurry and clean up so we can go back to the mansion too. 

Lamli: …………

Lucas: Are you… maybe thinking about the noble from earlier?

Lucas: If you make such a scary expression, then the nobles’ guards might notice too.

Lucas: Please hold yourself back, so that the Devil Butlers won’t be seen as harboring intentions to rebel…

Lamli: ……If that’s what you say, then I will.

Lamli: But leaving after doing that to you and Aruji-sama without saying sorry…

Lamli: I can’t accept it. 

Lucas: I’m happy that you’d say that and get upset on our behalf, but I’m alright. 

Lucas: If I can settle things just by bowing my head, then… There’s nothing better than that.

Lucas: Most nobles will be satisfied if you just behave obediently on the outside. 

Lucas: Actually, I’m grateful that they’re so easy to understand. 

Lucas: Fufu, but…

Lucas: I think it’s very wonderful that you can honestly say what’s on your mind.

Lamli: …I can’t behave obediently even if it’s only for appearances, but…

Lamli: I’ll do my best so that I don’t bother you…

Lucas: Thanks, Lamli-kun. I’m happy that you understand. 

Lucas: …Now, shall we head back to the venue to clean up? 

Lucas: I’m worried about Aruji-sama’s injury, so let’s hurry and finish cleaning. 

Lamli: Yes!

END

[knaveumineko]

Umineko Episode 6 Blog: Curtain

When the Erika is Furudo.

By Episode 6 the events on the gameboard have been twisted so far away from the original message bottles that they're nearly unrecognisable. Erika already breaks verisimilitude by existing, even if you can technically justify all of her actions without her having explicit meta-knowledge, and now she's actively trying to break the universe. It's definitely wrong to think of the Episodes as timelines or parallel universes, even from a magic perspective, now that we've seen it from the gamemaster's point of view and we know that there is nothing underneath the facade, and everything left unstated is in complete flux.

There's some suggestion of an actual story with the development of the Jessica/Kanon and George/Shannon couples in ways we've never seen before, but once Erika gets going it mostly gets relegated to the love trial and the characters are reduced to purely to being purely functional. A game without love, just as she likes it.

What I suspect is the canon answer to the logic error - that Shannon snuck out the window before Erika set up the seals, then changed over to Kanon, followed her to the mansion and switched with Battler, then became Shannon again after walking into the closet - barely even makes sense from an in-character perspective. Given the existence of the letter, they would have had to plan this manoeuvre before Erika had even set the seals on Battler's room, based on them randomly guessing that Erika would repair the chain and that she would split up from the rest of the group so they could give her the letter in the first place. What were they going to do once Erika opened the closet? Maybe Sayo was planning on killing her at that point, but in Battler's game it's unclear if Sayo is even planning any murders.

I wonder if Erika's defeat will be marked by a turn away from all the metagaming and toward a story that's more concerned with the characters. Even this late, we have quite a few members of the cast that have never gotten much focus, especially those in Sayo's inner circle, not to mention that we probably need to get the payoff with Battler's parents at some point.

There weren't really any new mysteries to solve on this occasion, since the story does most of the work for you in the locked rooms that do show up, but I thought those of you who only know of me from Tumblr might still find my live reaction amusing:

We did, however, get a huge reveal that was bizarrely stuffed inside the Tips menu instead of being mentioned anywhere in the story itself.

We have an answer to what kills everyone at the end of the story now, as well as an explanation for the lack of evidence the police could find at the scene. The catbox is set up by obliterating the gameboard, making it truly impossible to reconstruct what happened on the island. This potentially ties into the backstory given in Episode 1, in which Kinzo made a lot of money off of procurement during the Korean war, and originally acquired the island under the guise of developing a naval base. Does this mean that Kinzo secretly kept a stockpile of explosives on the Rokkenjima all this time? I'm sure his family would say he's crazy enough to do so, but it'd be hard to get away with it, and I'm not sure what he'd use them for.

Bombs existing on the island would also explain where the torii went. The scene of Sayo travelling there to smash the mirror was alluding to her testing the explosives there. Makes more sense than a "purple lightning bolt."

I've exhausted as many words as I can without mentioning the grooming subtext, so I'll end the post here.

[kindaorangey]

so between this article, my own experience of watching season 2 and my understanding of the fandom's experience of it too, i think a lot of people read louis and armand's relationship (at least at first) as being something healing for louis because of the specific way lestat lorded power over him as a white man. and with the full context of the season... it's fair to say that their relationship is not the escape from white masculine abuses of power the audience thought it was. you factor in the trial as a "lynching", orchestrated by santiago but directed by armand (who did not save louis after all) and... yeah, the poetry of their relationship begins to fall apart.

but, i actually think that's by design with regards to armand's characterisation. he has a very complicated relationship to race that i think makes it harder for he and louis to relate to each other on that front.

this is the only time they really talk about race. just a moment of mutual recognition. and there's a level to this where there doesn't really need to be more than this - they don't need to say out loud that they might have similar experiences, they just know. it's unspoken. but again, that unspoken solidarity doesn't hold, or at least it doesn't hold strongly enough for armand not to sell louis and claudia out to the coven... and "unspoken" themes of race stick out like a sore thumb after season 1. i don't blame people in the fandom for wondering why there isn't more exploration of this, wondering if the writers just dropped the theme and only picked it up again once the trial episode came around.

(i also don't know for sure that's not what's going on. i have a lot of faith in the writers, but it sort of depends on how they handle armand's character in season 3 as to whether they have a coherent plan for his relationship to race)

all this to say i think it's useful to view the absence of discussion of race as itself a commentary on armand's experiences. armand has a lot going on about which we can speculate - he's 500 years old, his existence predates modern conceptions of race, he has been removed from human society for far longer than louis - not to say that he would be unaware of the racism around him, but insofar as being a vampire gives him a level of power that supersedes his status as a brown man living in a white hierarchy (as it does for louis), armand has been living with that power for far longer than louis has.

yet i think the main thing contributing to this is armand's displacement. first being kidnapped from delhi, then sold and treated as a commodity by his maker. again, we can only speculate about what living in 16th century venice was like for him as a brown man, how that impacted his relationship with the other boys in the palazzo and his relationship with marius, but being mortal he still would have had a inescapable sense of how he is viewed by the people around him and where he stands in society. but, being a vampire changes that position somewhat, and when he's taken by the roman coven and sent to paris, he is uprooted and displaced once again. even his understanding of where he stands within the palazzo is ripped away and reshaped and replaced with something different. his identity is made malleable by his circumstances and with every era of his life he gets further away from how he might have viewed himself as a mortal boy in delhi. he isn't even certain of his birth name.

armand's conception of his own race, and how it's changed over time/how the transformation of the racial structures around him has affected him, is too complicated for him to interrogate fully, just like the rest of his past. he knows what works, knows to send santiago after the security guards at the murder mansion rather than attack himself, and likewise knows if he debases himself and keeps the trial a secret from louis and claudia that the coven will accept him, albeit at a lower rank in the hierarchy than he occupied before. he doesn't have the same inclination to push back against these power structures that louis and claudia have. and it's another in a long line of things about armand that seem, at first, to separate him from lestat, and make him appear as the better option for louis, but that in the end don't save louis and claudia from the trial and do not secure the longevity of his relationship with louis.

[goldom]

Ave Mujica ep 12

How can there only be two left? With the massive popularity of this show among non-prior-Bandori fans, I have to imagine they're going to get another season eventually, but I wonder how much of this plot is going to be left for the game to cover. At the pace the En server is going, it's gonna be a looooong time before I see that happen...

Anyway, heading in with the following thought in mind. Thanks a lot, @keichocomint

0:16 Sakiko basically turning to the camera to remind the audience,

0:33 On one hand, lol. On the other, I think this says something about the way Sakiko still views her life as a drama, a play. But I also have to wonder why she's so docilely going along with this when she's, A) had no problem standing up to grandpa before, and B) just came off of reasserting her intent to stay with the band.

1:13 okay nevermind she's not going.

1:30 splat.

I shouldn't laugh but I did. How did her shoe get all the way up there?!

1:50 welp, episode's over! What a bold, avant-garde choice to switch the series to a 2-minute short 12 episodes in.

4:04 how does this random cab driver on Remote Island recognize Sakiko when she hasn't been back in years? Also what a voice lol I half expected him to mutate into a demon or something

5:43 Surprised Hatsune is just admitting everything so quickly. Good for her. But it's really weird to see her just being normal two episodes after listening to her sing about wanting to chain up Sakiko in her attic.

7:50 I'm gonna be annoyed if they're about to reveal there never was an Uika. I know a lot of people are speculating that, but I don't like it. If there being sisters had been a plot thread all along, maybe, but not when they just revealed her 11 episodes in.

10:47 It's really a mark of great writing that I can see this line and know it's about to break Hatsune – and it immediately does.

10:54 and then in a matter of seconds, Saki's voice switches into genki mode. Historically, that has always been a facade. Will this time be any different?

11:55 She reaaaally ought to know better than to say things like this to Hatsune by this point.

12:40 what is this reminding me of. There's a famous anime scene just like this, isn't there? I can't think of it.

13:36 I feel you can see in her eyes, in this moment, the thought, "Right now, I really could steal her away and take her captive forever..."

14:38 I don't know why grandpa has any power over Hatsune at all. He's never given her anything, so why does she struggle so much to resist his orders? Just a general cultural "obey your father" sense maybe. Orrrrr does he know the actual dark secret and is holding it over her? Is there still an actual dark secret left to reveal? I'm not really sure.

15:28 This episode is playing with time of day really blatantly. I saw it before and was willing to overlook it, but now I'm sure. Between 8:35 and 8:39 the sun instantly sets upon Hatsune revealing how she got Saki's dad in trouble.

And now again, they sneak into the Togawa mansion in the middle of the night, but the instant they stand up to the man and walk back outside, it's broad daylight.

The thematic meaning is obvious, but it's almost so over-the-top as to make me start questioning the reality of what I'm seeing.

15:50 He's just a little guy!

16:52 They forgot Umiri ;_;

But also… look at these girls? They look to have suddenly de-aged by years. Combined with how they were just acting like playful little kids in the garden, I have to assume that's intentional as well. With the shadows of their past exposed, it's like they're free to be children again.

17:02 Oh, they don't have outlines in this scene. That's why they look so soft.

17:07 I'm just glad I don't read online discourse because it's gonna be insufferable on both sides for months. It's a really complicated situation – and absurd in a way only possible in fiction – so yknow what, I don't hate this, but at the same time, it's like, reality's gonna come crashing back in soon.

17:40 And Hatsune admitting the dreamlike quality of everything. She knows this moment can't last. It's the healthiest she's ever been. And I can't hate her for wanting it. I get it. If you've read my fiction, you know I get it, it's all expressing the same thing: please, just let this peace last a little longer.

17:44 It did not last long. Sakiko already waking up to the realization that Hatsune's little domestic dream life isn't what she wants. God this show is good.

18:20 I love Umiri so much

20:25 Morf spotted!

21:08 FGGGFHSRFHGHHHH I just let out the loudest cackle Saki what the hellllllllllllllllllllllllll

21:58 "WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?" Sakiiiiiiii

I am having so much fun with this show. Hate that it's already coming to an end. And unsurprisingly, next week looks like it'll mostly be a performance. Perhaps this is the best way things can go, leading back into the game: everybody's plot arcs have resolved, but their underlying issues are still lingering, leading to opportunities for further progress. I've never read ahead of the English game (in any game) but I might have to for AveMu if we won't be seeing them over here for years.

But, so, where's the real Uika? During the whole time on the island, Sakiko never went "wtf are you talking about, you don't have a sister." And she correctly identified the moment it was Hatsune that came to her. This all still feels fully in line with a real Uika actually being alive somewhere. ("They moved to the mainland," said the cab driver.)

But at the end, when Saki calls Hatsune Uika again, it feels like she's saying, "Even knowing your origin, I accept you for the person you want to be seen as," which only works if HatsUika was one body all along, not if there's still a real person out there with a stolen identity.

Who knows. Well, one of you probably does. Lately every confusion I've had has been clarified by someone in the comments within 10 minutes of posting lol.

[devil-works-hard]

BATDR's Lack of Chapter Identity

As we all know, BATDR was originally going to be released episodically, similar to the way BATIM was released. However, the devs changed their minds, and opted to release BATDR as a full game. This definitely affects the pacing and outline of BATDR, for better and for worse. The most prominent aspect of this, for me, is BATDR's lack of chapter identity.

One of the strengths of BATIM's chapters was how location-centric they were. Chapter 1 was the Animation Department (even if it was more of an introductory chapter and less of an actual department); Chapter 2 was Music; Chapter 4 was Bendyland with a side of the Finance Department. Chapter 3 was mostly Heavenly Toys- there were other offices and little areas, but they didn't really subtract from the HT aspect. Hell, even Chapter 5 had 3 central locations (the Lost Ones' town, Administration, and the Ink Machine) and it still had an identity.

NOTE: I swear I saw someone already talk about that but I can't find the post, so if it was you let me know and I'll give you credit!

BATDR doesn't really seem to have that. While BATIM had us walking around in locations, BATDR has us walking between locations. Chapters 1-3 have a lot of tunnels and hallways, and I mean a lot. Animation Alley, Artists' Rest, Amok's sewer- we spend so little time in these areas compared to the hallways. Chapters 4 and 5 are a marked improvement in this sense. Chapter 4 gives us the City and the Gent factory, while Chapter 5 gives us Wilson's mansion, the laboratory, and whatever area Beast Bendy is in.

What's more, the names of the chapters in BATIM told us something about the chapter, alluding to the plot, location, or both.

Chapter 1 - Moving Pictures (Obvious reference to the Art Department)

Chapter 2 - The Old Song (Reference to Music, and also the first of Sammy's audio logs)

Chapter 3 - Rise and Fall (Reference to the elevator)

Chapter 4 - Colossal Wonders (Bendyland, and Bertrum's audio log before his boss fight)

Chapter 5 - The Last Reel (The Ink Machine, the Film Vault, the cycle, etc)

Now, let's look at BATDR's chapters:

Chapter 1 - Drawn to Darkness (It's a pun, but doesn't really apply to anything in-chapter)

Chapter 2 - The Demon's Domain (This is when the Ink Demon becomes a threat, but it doesn't really say anything about the location itself, which is mostly the Animation Alley and Artist Rest)

Chapter 3 - The Eternal Machine (I mean, Joey shows up too and explains the cycle thing, but the title still doesn't tell us much about the chapter)

Chapter 4 - Factory of Horrors (Now this title actually tells us something, since it references the Gent factory!)

Chapter 5 - The Dark Revival (I can't really complain about this one, it feels self-explanatory and pretty fitting for a final chapter, even if it doesn't say anything about the chapter itself.)

BATIM had some incredibly iconic antagonists that were (mostly) bound to the chapters they were introduced. Music gave us Sammy, the music-director-turned-cult-leader. Heavenly Toys gave us Alice, who felt incredibly at home in this chapter because of her interactions with Henry (and the mass amounts of Alice merch). Bendyland had Bertrum, which was perfect for the area.

BATDR certainly had some memorable antagonists, but they don't hit quite the same as BATIM's. There are a couple of reasons for this; the most notable is the lack of build-up. In BATIM, Sammy, Alice, and Bertrum all had some degree of hype. Sammy had his plethora of audio logs (from him and the other employees in his department), and we see him several times in the chapter before he actually attacks us. Alice toys with us multiple times and delivers some iconic lines. Hell, Bertrum only had two audio logs, but his fight still hit so hard, because it was so perfect.

The Widows are the most forgivable; they get revealed after Audrey falls down the elevator shaft, but they don't really show up before or after that. Lord Amok felt completely out of the blue; we're told through various signs that Emergency Shaft R is dangerous, but Lord Amok himself completely lacks context and backstory as a character. Even Alice, who makes a return in Chapter 5, comes out of the blue. There's no build-up, and she basically exists for Allison to show up and kill her. Character-wise, she's a sliver of what BATIM Alice was.

Each of BATIM's chapters ended very succinctly. I mean, they tended to end with Henry passing out and waking up in a new location, but it still felt like a solid end to a chapter. BATDR is much more fluid. Chapter 1 introduces the quest to find the missing pictures, but the chapter itself ends in the middle of this quest. What's more, the Ink Demon is introduced at the end of the chapter, but is instantly an active threat in the start of the next chapter. This causes the first two chapters to bleed into one another.

Chapter 2 ends in the spot where the first BATDR trailer took place, but, because the confrontation with Bendy in the Lost and Found took place a while before, it's a very anti-climactic end. Because of this weird ending, the first big conflict of Chapter 3 is the fight with the Widows, which is an odd choice for me.

Chapter 3 ends with Audrey teaming up with Bendy, but not quite setting out into the city. It's a good ending, and the other chapters end pretty nicely too.

In terms of pacing, BATDR has the opposite issue BATIM has. In BATIM we get from locations in chapters extremely quickly (see how quickly Henry goes from the Lost Ones' town, to Admin, to the Ink Machine). In BATDR, I'd argue we take too long to get between each significant area. BATIM could be filled out a little bit more, while BATDR could've been trimmed down.

With BATIM, once we finished a chapter, we would have to wait months for the next one; this reflects in the narrative, with cliffhangers and blackouts for endings. BATDR's chapters feel like they're meant to be played back-to-back, with chapters that blend into one another and lack the iconic cliffhangers of the first game. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to you.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s7 episode 14 “theef” thoughts

the good news is that it’s all up from the last episode, right?

so... hexes. on doctors. 

woah, i see the next episode involves scully AND CSM? together? journeying?? now, i’m very interested in this!!! but first we must deal with these doctors and their rare illnesses.

hey, if i time things right, i might be able to watch chimera- which says it takes place on easter, or around it- on easter weekend! that would be cool!

okay, back to the doctors, though. i wonder why the title is “theef”…

post-episode thoughts: oooh, a spooky one! how i was frightened! but it was a really great episode, so i cannot complain about being scared. i feel great relief at knowing the show can still produce wonderful episodes such as this, even after the ones i consider to be flops, like the biogenesis arc and closure and the last one that shan't be named.

i will think about mulder's scully impression forever and ever and it will bring me great smiles in trying times.

let's goooo!

we open on a beautiful california mansion. seems we have a grandfather, a husband and wife, and their daughter. and the father won an award for being the bay area doctor of the year. grandpa takes a picture of all of them together. it seems very sweet, but i am sure that there must be some evil going on underneath the surface. no one can get a house THAT nice by legitimate means.

he says that this is the cherry on top of how lucky he is, and the husband and wife kiss. his name is robert, btw. grandpa irv is going to stay on the couch. when he finds what looks like a stick figure made of… herbs? or blood, or something?? on the couch. eeeeww. he wipes it away- it looked like dirt- and a GUY WAS BEHIND HIM, NAAAAH, I DO NOT LIKE THAT.

their alarm system is going off. robert goes to investigate. irv is sitting there. menacingly.

OAUGH!!! he is hanging from the ceiling- NASTY. blood everywhere. scary scary music.

AND ON THE WALLS “THEEF” IS WRITTEN IN HIS BLOOD.

AH MAN, WE GOT A SPOOKY ONE TONIGHT!!! WELL!!! my timbers are shivered. the fuck!?! not the old man!! he just wanted to take pictures of his family!!

okay, so my first guess is that a rival doctor who didn’t win the award paid someone to put a curse in this family??? we shall see if that is true. 

nasty. nasty, gross.

intro time!!!! "government denies knowledge", reads the same text overlay as always. aww. these guys have a special place in my heart. 

mulder is investigating the blood on the wall. asking scully what she thinks "theef" could mean- “a name, possibly, or a code or an anagram?”

HE JUST TRIED TO DO AN IMPRESSION OF HER ASKING WHY THEY’RE HERE, LMAOOOOO. STOP. i’m SHOCKED, but in a positive way, bahahaaaa.

“mm, to be fair, i might have used the words, 'mulder, how is this an x file?'” “you see that, scully, you always keep me guessing” (he said this with so much affection it was actually stupid)

oh, we are so fucking back, baby. i’m gonna giggle myself to sleep.

irv was found hanged with his throat cut- and he was a doctor too, btw- his family was nearby but didn’t see or hear anything. they made the report, so it seems like it wouldn’t be them who did the killing, and if he hurt himself, who wrote the message? maybe he wrote it before dying, and "theef" means something to him?

she’s whispering at him “doesn’t make it an x file” and he whispers back “oh, there’s one detail that does” <- STOPPPPP. I’M GONNA LOSE MY MIND.

these two..... i'm giggling. they kiss ONE time and this is the result.

“this” “dirt?” <- LMAOOOO

he's showing her the smeared dirt where before we saw the stick figure fellow irv found. before he promptly met his end.

she asks if he really thinks it’s a magical murder… “now, i know what you’re going to say, scully-” “no, hexcraft. i mean, i’ll buy that as the intent here. certainly jibes with the evidence”

ooo, scully thinking hexcraft is a plausible intent is juicy. intent is different than method, though. so i wouldn't say it is her putting real stock in the theory that witches can kill people with their dirt and herbs.

he’s watching her as he puts the dirt in a bag, LMAOOO

she says they should talk to the family, gets up to leave, and turns and says “i’ll always keep you guessing” which makes him LAUGHHHHH OH. THESE DORKS!!!! they're so IN LOVE!

i almost didn’t watch an episode tonight because i’m a little under the weather, but now i am glad i did. 

robert says it was probably the greatest night of his life…. until… and scully wants to cut to the chase. in his time as a doctor, did irv make any enemies? robert says no. 

the daughter gets upset when they ask if her father, robert, has any enemies, saying he is a good man who saves people’s lives. which makes her a prime suspect to me. like, who knows what “theef” means? why does she assume someone is actually calling her dad a thief? it could be code!! she seemed a little too eager to defend him...

robert says that if he has any enemies, he doesn’t know them. hmm. a likely story.

we cut to someone cleaning a room, with the news of the murder playing on the TV. she hears someone muttering. knocks on his door- his name is mr. peattie. peat. like dirt. heh.

she tells him he isn’t supposed to be cooking. and he opens the door. 

AH! it’s the guy who appeared behind irving right before he died!! oh, i am spooked once again. people who show up places they were not momentarily before always get me frightened. 

“that smell like something you wanna eat?” he asks. he says it’s medicine. and then offers her a poultice for her back. “old peattie fix you right up”

so we are going back and forth from creepy to sweet agents to creepy tonight!!! okayyy!!!

maybe robert wouldn’t take this peattie fellow's insurance or something and he had to resort to medicinal healing?? or there was some sort of billing or clerical error that denied him treatment?? and that is why he hates him?? or maybe he thinks he should be doctor of the year for his poultices? hmm…

he has a bunch of potions and chicken feet in his room and is sewing up a little doll. oHHHH girl, i’m spooked tonight. maybe it’s the very quiet scary music playing as we see this. and he has another doll that’s been hanged!! is that supposed to be irving?? so…. many…. dolls…. and dissonant chords…. waugh!!

a more triumphal tune is playing as our hero scully is hard at work in the morgue, analyzing irv's condition at the time of death. mulder bursts in with news: the dirt they found at the crime scene comes from a graveyard. “it’s one of the most powerful hexing elements” he says. i would need to wife that man up so bad.

OHHHHH MY GOD she just says “uh-huh” into her microscope and he lowers his voice, smirks, and says “go ahead, scully, keep me guessing” <- HELLO???? i mean, we have seen some BLATANT flirting on this television program, but holy hell, that has to be some kind of record.

“kuru”, she declares. this word means nothing to me, but mulder knows what it is: a disease from eating brains. one that isn’t even supposed to really exist anymore!! but irv's brain is filled with the marks!! is he from a cannibal doctor family? and that is why they have all that money? from their secret cannibal doctor activities?

she thinks that he for sure had the disease and did that to himself. but mulder thinks that it was inflicted upon him. she nods, taking that in. 

back at the doctor’s mansion, the wife notices a picture on their wall is crooked. i feel bad- i don’t even know her name! she goes to fix it. oh, we learn it just then: her name is nan. and her husband is calling out to her.

NOT THE FUCKING GUY IN THEIR HOUSE AGAIN!!!

the photo that was in the frame is gone. she wants to know who took it. robert thinks maybe it was the police, who needed it as evidence. 

meanwhile, peattie is putting a picture of nan’s FACE onto one of his scary dolls!! he starts to sew it up. nan says she can’t live here, and neither can lucy (who must be the daughter), not after what has happened. did peattie just vanish?

robert grabs nan’s shoulders, saying that her father had an aggressive form of dementia- that is what the FBI found out in their autopsy, and he agrees. is… that really what they found out, robert? because i thought they found out about a cannibal disease. he tells her that they will get through it. 

GASP! he goes to get in bed and finds a dirt man in there!!! just like before. and when he turns around, his wife is turning into a zombie!!!

the effects kind of made me laugh, but also were kind of disgusting, EEEEWWW. lucy walks in and he yells at her to call 911. peattie is outside, mumbling into the doll.

i’m spooked!!! i’m scared!!!

nan is in a hospital bed, covered in horrible scabs. robert says he has diagnosed it as “diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis”, which must be a series of real words because my autocorrect knew them, but i have never seen them before in my life. scully looks shocked. he clarifies it is “old world type”, which probably means something important to someone like her.

mulder: “i take it that’s rare” scully: “in san francisco? it’s unheard of” 

i love scully showing off her doctorly expertise and mulder admitting when he doesn't know something <3 it warms the heart

mulder tries to tell robert he thinks someone directed this at his wife and her father. and robert demands scully tell him off for that. he clarifies he is talking about the use of folk magic, as if that makes it more believable (hint: it does not, but we still love you, buddy). 

“you mean like, baba yaga?” “i was actually thinking less eastern and more celtic. maybe scots-irish or appalachian, even” <- he’s such a neeeeeerd... i love him. i want to hold him close.

this, of course, does not go over well with dr. robert, who does not think he will lose in a battle of dirt versus modern medicine. even if scully tries to hit him with the “regardless of the particulars” and the invitation to accept their protection, he denies everything. you could see this coming. 

scully is not pleased. “oh yeah, mulder, win him over” she says. it's mulder, though- what else would he do but tell robert what he really thought? he is convinced that they need to stop the magic. he says he wants a second opinion. 

robert is putting up the MRIs taken on nan- and the markings spell out “theef” on her brain!!! peattie laughs. and appears behind him! “truth always hurts, don’t it, doc?” <- THEY KNOW EACH OTHER?

well, i guess not, because robert asks who he is. “what do you want for me?” “oh, don’t you be frettin’ none about that. i gettin’ my nickel’s worth” what does that mean…

he says it is about lynette peattie. robert doesn’t seem to know who he is referring to. he asks how he has offended peattie- and he says if he thinks on it for a while, it’ll come to him. and then he runs away. and seems to vanish. 

so robert looks "lynette peattie" up in his files alongside his assistant, and they can’t find anything. they try jane does instead- he treated 3 in the last few years. and he pulls a bracelet looking-thing in one of them that says “theef of mans heart” <- ohhh…. the dots... they are connecting

peattie is sewing up another doll, saying he will remember. talking about a dog. “he crawled up under that house the very day you left” <- what is going on…

someone approaches him. it’s the lady from before, thanking him for the poultice that helped her back. she would like a little more. she says it’s stinky. and he says stinky is good. 

the agents are in an occult shop. mulder asks for some alternative medical advice. scully looks deeply displeased.

he pulls out the dirt, which the lady working the shop declares to be “goofer dust”, used for conjuring. how would you make someone sick using that? and realizing that this seems very suspicious, he says they’re investigating a murder and flashes his badge.

scully’s face of disgust is soooo funny. 

“a voodoo doll!” says scully, sounding excited “no, they’re called poppets” corrects the shop keeper. LMAOOO, aw, poor scully. she doesn’t know all the demonic lore!!! give her some time to catch up!!

so to give someone a specific disease you need one of these, three rose thorns, a strand of hair, and a photo of the person. huh, the photo is a relatively new invention. wonder how they cursed people before then. but it explains the missing picture in the house.

if their guy is powerful enough to do murder, he is probably drawing off the power of a charm. so they will have to separate him from his charm.

who knew that charms are what give magicians their powers? not me! i would have thought that the doll alone could do the trick! but i guess it sort of makes sense. sort of.

peattie is at the hospital, trying to break a snack out from the vending machine. the assistant tells him he has to pay first before he can get some popcorn. and then tells him to put it in the microwave, and that is how you get the popcorn.

“radiation… come from the heart of the atom. i think it be god’s own glow” <- very ominous thing to say...

robert is bringing their daughter lisa in to come see how nan is doing, and peattie hears this from his nearby popcorn perch. robert says she is doing so much better, that the therapy is working wonders. and nan is talking to lisa! so it does seem to be working, i suppose. but nan’s scared of the machine used to treat her that gives off the radiation. can't blame her.

peattie takes out his popcorn. then another poppet. puts that in the microwave. oh no….. so nan goes back into the machine, and i cannot bear to look. AUGH!!!! she is burnt to a crisp!!! NASTY

(it has been 2 cays since i watched the episode and i am still thinking about how disgusting this was 😭😭)

peattie pulls out the poppet from the microwave and removes nan’s photo…. omfg….

robert is holding a different family photo and crying. asking the agents how someone could arrange for this. 

“theef” was branded into nan’s chest. scully senses that he isn’t saying everything he knows about the case, and gently reminds him that they cannot help if he withholds info from them. so he recounts the visit from peattie and the request to look into lynette. lynette peattie was in a bus rollover, the worst of all the victims. they had to triage. and she was in agony. scully looks heartbroken hearing this.

so he gave her morphine. and she kept screaming. and her heart rate was climbing. so he kept pushing. “i took maybe the last 20 minutes of her life. it was a fair trade to make for the pain” :(

so peattie blames him for not saving her… and mulder puts together that it must be her father they’re looking for, because now he’s stealing robert’s family. mulder says they can protect him. 

jump to a new scene. “if lynette peattie were carlos the jackal, i would have had an easier time tracking her down” oh, scully, and your big black umbrella…. <3

lynette has no records at all, except for from an inoculation program in west virginia. and her father wouldn’t let her be vaccinated against polio. mulder declares this to be deepest appalachia- like he predicted earlier. so he knows his magical geography! 

mulder thinks peattie is getting the graveyard dirt from his daughter’s grave, and that he is drawing the power from her body. he thinks that if they ship her off to quantico, he would lose his power. can they do that? just take a body they think is being used for magic and ship it back to their workplace?

scully doesn’t seem sure what to think, but she has to hold two umbrellas right now, and it is a little funny. augh! the grave is empty!!!

the woman whose pain he helped twice before is knocking at peattie’s door, saying she is hurting again. he’s not answering the door. she takes out a key and enters. it smells bad. she sees something in the bed, apologizes, not knowing he was home. but…. AUGH. her scream…. it is a very dead body. and then he appears behind her. 

the agents are shipping off robert and lisa to a cabin somewhere, but peattie’s watching them from a bush. it seems scully is the getaway driver. and mulder is hiding back in the mansion.

a 56 year old woman has developed a bizarre illness, says the news…. no, not back pain lady…. she has flesh-eating disease. that is so wild!!

someone enters the house of the doctor family. while mulder breaks down the door to peattie’s apartment. the head of the corpse is gone!!!

scully answers her phone from a cabin deep in the woods alongside robert and lisa. mulder thinks peattie is looking for her. he says to keep an eye out- he’s on his way.

augh…. is peattie in the woods??? yes, he is. with the head of his daughter in his bag. soon, he mumbles. very soon. 

he breaks into the car…. scully whips out her gun. NOOOO, he finds scully’s badge!!! which has her photo on it that he can use for hexes!!! she’s got a perfect shot if he tries to walk in the doors, but i don’t think he’ll do that… and he finds a hair from her car…. puts it in the poppet. starts mumbling. pokes something in the doll’s head. and back in the house, she’s gasping. she can’t see!!

peattie comes in!!! and she fires two shots at him, but she can’t see!!! he has a gun. and goes after robert and his daughter. 

robert tells peattie he did everything he could to save his daughter. peattie claims he would have saved her if he was there- but robert shouts that he wasn’t. it was wrong for her to be buried away from her people, peattie says.

scully is looking for something. peattie pulls out the doll. starts to cut into its chest. and robert is moaning. scully is trying to figure out what is going on and mulder pulled into the driveway just in time. he sees the doll and the nails in its eyes. 

DID SCULLY SHOOT PEATTIE WHILE LITERALLY BLIND??? and then her eyes work again after he hits the ground. 

oh my god. talk about a sharpshooter. mulder rushes in with a gun, but it’s been taken care of with agent scully on the scene. she comes over to investigate the poppet with the eyes poked out. 

peattie is in the hospital. scully is watching over him, and mulder says lynette’s body is going back to west virgina.

“you know, mulder, i would have made the same call… as a doctor, if i was certain that i couldn’t save her life and she was in that much pain. i would have done what wieder did” he nods “it seems pretty clear-cut”

“except maybe it’s not” (he’s confused)

“you’re wondering if maybe peattie could have saved her life?” (she looks at him… then looks away. and walks out of the room)

“you do keep me guessing”, he mumbles to no one.

a final look at peattie. and thus concludes the episode.

ohhh, i was HOOKED on this one today. we started off very scary. and then we got a little flirty and sweet, and then we went back to scary town. scully saved the day, and had a moment of uncertainty when it came to her beliefs. she was maybe opening herself to extreme possibilities. and mulder didn’t press. just acknowledged her questioning and accepted it. 

GOD. to have your faith rocked… and for someone to bear witness to that. whew. it’s happened to them both, but we’re fleshing it out more with scully. it was sort of loosely fleshed out with the first two episodes of the season... but only loosely. but i guess it has also been fleshed out here and there from the start, what with the "extreme possibilities" line from beyond the sea... oh, scully… you are so special to me.

and mulder, with his encyclopedic knowledge of magic… so earnest in his convictions

and scully, who can identify a disease that barely exists anymore, and then save the day by shooting an intruder without using her eyes. who is doing it like her?!?!

i’m emotional. i love Them.

i really enjoyed this one!! peattie was a very scary villain and his motivation was rather tragic, but that doesn't make it justified- but it does make it a lot more interesting. especially because robert seemed like such a good guy who made the right call in a difficult situation. at first, the family seemed too perfect, that house a little TOO nice, and then when he said that line about irv having dementia, i thought he was covering something up... but at the end of the day, he was just a genuinely nice person who was terrorized by someone lost in grief. eugh, seeing lynette's body in that body gave me chills, but also made me so sad.

sometimes i forget this show veers into horror because i have so much fun with the episodes that do not do that, LMAO. but this was an excellent example of what a standalone episode can accomplish in that regard.

there is probably something that could be said for the accuracy or lack therof when it comes to the on screen depiction of Appalachian culture and folklore, but i know nothing about it, so i cannot make any comments. maybe in the 80's you really could have a daughter and live so far out in the country that you have absolutely no records of her existence except for a denial of a vaccination. idk, man. i am not the expert in these matters. if you are, please do feel free to chime in and let me know what you thought.

it only took us 7 seasons to see mulder try and do a scully impression. and then he looked SO in love with her all throughout the episode. i can't blame him. but also, his levels of occult knowledge were incredibly endearing to me today, too. i love them both and they love each other. and they catch people using magic as a team.

i'm very curious to see what happens in the next episode with scully and CSM... i don't usually get too deep into title analysis, but the "en ami" sounding like "enemy" and "en ami" translating to "to friends" in french is right there... hmm. the CSM lore thickens. who knows if we will learn any truth at all?! i'm generally wary of the episodes where he features prominently, but i'll keep an open mind.

[starkdirewolflove]

Latest episode of X-Men ‘97, wow.

Omg there was so much going on in that episode can’t believe it was only 36 minutes.

Love square of Jean, Scott. Madelyne and Logan. Love triangle of Magneto, Rogue and Gambit, relationship drama galore.

I find it really amusing that Emma Frost has a front row seat to the drama with Jean, Madelyne and Scott like her own personal telenovela. Love that Madelyne has been forging her own path and becoming a part of the council of Genosha.

There’s a reporter doing a documentary about the X-Men and Xavier’s school. I’m a bit confused about Roberto being there. When we first meet him he’s a young rich party boy, heir to a wealthy Brazilian family that can just take a private jet wherever he wants to go and is ashamed and afraid of people, particularly his mother learning he’s a mutant so he leaves after episode one. Then he’s just always at the mansion hanging around with Jubilee and he’s in this documentary about a mutant school. Is he out to his family as a mutant or does he not care who knows anymore? I feel like this should’ve been addressed at some point.

Things are still really rocky with Scott and Jean, I can understand why he blew up at the reporter, she was being really invasive about his personal life and calling him a liar about having a son. And who was that doctor to make any statement about the birth? The bigot refused medical help to a woman in labour. But then he goes and has his psychic affair with Madelyne, dick move. And he’s been doing this since she left while shutting Jean out then turns everything around on her. Like Jean has been traumatised by what Sinister did to her. She doesn’t know how long he had her abducted, what he did while she was his prisoner, her mind is all messed up and on top of that her husband had a baby with her clone who had completely stolen her life (not Madelyne’s fault, this was 100% Sinister’s evil plan) and the only one who is actually supportive and understanding of her pain is Logan, no wonder she kissed him. Good on Logan for not trying to make the kiss into a big deal, Jean and Scott are married and he respects that even though he’s in love with her. The betrayal from Scott was even worse for Jean because their psychic connection has always been sacred between the two of them and her anchor when the Phoenix was overwhelming her and then he disregards all that because he’s in love with Madelyne too supposedly. Like I get their shared grief over having to give up their baby, it doesn’t give him a free pass to cheat on his wife.

Gambit was such a gentleman throughout the whole Rogue and Magento stuff, even though it was breaking his heart to see her with another man he respected her choice, didn’t try to blame or shame her about it and said they can be friends still. Rogue had a really rough time this episode. From the start of this season I felt uncomfortable with this Rogue and Magento pairing but when she explained their history to Gambit it was even worse because it just sounded like grooming and made Magento a creepy sexual predator. So Rogue ran away from home as a teenager after the trauma of putting the first boy she kissed in a coma and being rejected by her dad, gets taken in by Mystique who gets her to use her powers as part of her mutant terrorist group then brings this vulnerable teenage girl who is afraid to touch anyone to a middle aged man to help her control her powers and instead of doing that he fills her head with his ideologies and because he can touch her without it hurting either of them they become lovers. 🤢🤮 so creepy. Magento leverages the council of Genosha that he will only lead them if he can take Rogue as his “Queen” or co leader to the public, so she feels backed into a corner after seeing how amazing things on Genosha were for mutants now. Then after that amazing dance scene she realises that Gambit is the man she truly loves and what they have is more meaningful and goes beyond being able to touch and she chooses her swamp rat only to lose them both by the end of the episode.

The attack on Genosha was brutal but it was so amazingly done. Cable traveling back through time to try and warn everyone about the attack even though it goes against the rules of time travel, seeing Madelyn for a moment, her recognising him as her son by his eyes and him calling her “mom” as he got pulled back through time. The music, the chaos and panic you could literally feel through the screen, Magneto’s holocaust flashbacks, the Morlocks being trapped and thinking no one was coming to save them, Nightcrawler almost dying saving Rogue and Magneto.

Rogue and Gambit were the ultimate power couple fighting their way to the Morlocks, a better dance than the one she had with Magneto. Magneto saving Rogue and Gambit while he tried to shelter the Morlocks from the sentinel blast, so tragic. Then Gambit saves Rogue from getting herself killed by attacking the sentinel in a rage, takes it on by himself to save everyone and destroys it but sacrificing his own life in the process 😭.

The tragedy is they foreshadowed this in the first episode when Jean/Madelyne went into Trask’s mind and then both Jean and Madelyne got a psychic premonition of the attack just before it happened but were unable to do anything to stop it.

When the dust settles at the end you see the X-Men witness the aftermath of the attack, the few surviving mutants gather around the crater where Rogue is cradling Remy’s body. She’s finally able to touch him but only because he’s dead. “Sugah. I can’t feel you.” 💔

That killed me at the end, was so shocked that they killed Magneto and Gambit within minutes of each other. I know they probably won’t be dead forever but fuck that was brutal.

I know next week’s episode is gonna be Storm centric so we’ll probably have to wait 2 weeks to see what happens with the rest of the X-Men and hopefully by then Storm is ready to rejoin the team. There was a moment in the Genosha attack where Val Cooper is helping evacuate mutants to the gardens and she looks back at the sentinels and there’s this look in her eye that made me wonder is she Val Cooper or Mystique in disguise? We haven’t seen Mystique in the show so far but what if she’s been there all along? Maybe she was afraid of being exposed as an imposter by the sentinels because they’d know she’s not human.

[dayseedrawz2]

My thoughts on episode 3 + theories!!

I'll talk more about this on my YT, but for now here's a tumblr version

(SPOILERS BELOW)

Okay so starting off, my unfiltered thoughts throughout the episode

-They actually spend time together when outside the adventures aww! (Not like they really have a choice, but still neat-)

-Jax being a bitch

-"Zooble turns Straight" Welp, the whooooooole fandom was right!

-Bubbles reversed dialouge. Damn they really don't want those content farms no more.

-CAINE AN POMNI INTERACTION YEAAAA (It was one piece of dialogue I'm so delusional)

-He made this adventure JUST for Zooble cuz they never go and he really wants them to GUYS HES NOT A VILLAN SEE?

-Jax being a bitch

-LUIGIS MANSION REFRENCE FUCKING YESSS

-Wow the visual here are super pretty :o

-...and horrifying

-Jax being a bitch

-I haven't mentioned yet but the lil quirky powers or whatever are cool

-Wow the lore Caine writes for these stories is just like your average artist who torments their OCs (he so me fr)

-2D ANIMATION!!! Also Kinger and Pomni being like the funniest duo ever

-HOLY FRICKLE FRACKLE THEY DEFINITELY DID NOT WANT CONTENT FARMS TO FIND THIS EPISODE

-the monster is awesome looking tho

-THE THERAPY SESSION SEGMENTSS AAA

-Also Caine has a Trans flag hanging somewhere in the circus neat

-He forgot he could use his powers to just teleport Zooble to him lol

-Back to the spooky stuff

-Wow Kinger can actually use a gun! (Never thought I'd be saying that sentence-)

-KINGER AND POMNI GO TO ACTUAL HELL WHILE THE REST JUST HAVE A TEA PARTY WITH MARTHA

-Also JAX IS TIED UP BAHAHAHA

- "You know how men are, always having the silliest priorities..." "Heh, dont i know it!" I think the bunny doll shippers really like that scene

-Zooble has some sorta body dismorphia and has opened up about it to Caine multiple times seems like

-Uhh Caine... you okay buddy? CAINE YOU GOOD BRO? CAI

-CAINE HAS EMOTIONS/SELF AWARNESS CONFIRMED???

-Pomni gets fucking posessed ok

-now we know why it looked like kinger was hitting Pomni with the shotgun

-KINGER AND QUEENIE WERE MARRIED CONFIRMED???

-Father daughter bonding aww...

-I love how the whole fandom took one good look at Ragatha and went:

GAY GAY GAY HOMOSEXUAL GA-

-also Pomni and Ragatha are on good terms now aww...

-Caine and Zooble Should Pass that pipe from ep 2 and legitemently vent to each other

-Jax is pissed because the Jester actually had a good fucking day for once lmao stay mad

-NOW WE KNOW WHY HE STAYS IN THAT PILLOWFORT IM GONNA FUCKIN CRY NOW

Overall, this was definitely my favorite episode so far! The team is getting better each and every episode! SOOO much happened here!! I'm super excited to see what happens next!!

Okay, THEORY TIME!!

-Okay so to start lightly, so far, all the episodes we've seen contain:

Gangles mask breaking

Jax breaks the 4th wall

A cute/sad heart to heart conversation or interaction

A reference to angels or god or Christianity in some way

Interesting right?? Wonder if this keeps up...

-On the topic of Christianity, I saw a theory saying that if it's true that the gang developed the game (which may be true because of that computer science line), When Pomni says "I knew it would end up like this... He just wants me to suffer..." she may not be referring to Caine, but her Boss at CnA.

If that boss exists and is NOT named able, Imma be mildly upset-

-Okay, Alot of people have been talking about Jax being an NPC, and I wanna bring up my opinion on this:

As I mentioned earlier, he always breaks the 4th wall, witch could be seen as a character in a game being like "What do YOU think?" *Insert Game Options here*

I saw another theory saying that if this is true, Jax might be self aware or sentient to some degree, and This is why he tortures everyone. He knows that this world Revolves around the players and nit him so he wants to make them more miserable.

-OKAY, NOW WHAT (I) WEVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR... THE WHOLE DEAL WITH CAINE GLITCHING OUT AN' STUFF!

As one of many Caine angst connisuars on this platform, I really enjoyed this scene...

Caine knows that he only exists to make adventures and if he can't do it well enough than he serves ZERO purpouse and his existence is useless... (he's just like me fr)

This has SO MUCH POTENTIAL FOR A SERIES FINALE.

Since in each episode we've (mostly) seen a character being comforted (mostly Either Pomni being comforted OR someone being comforted BY Pomni)

What if the last episode had Caine and Pomni having a heart to heart?

(Shutup this is not about showtime I swear let me have this-)

Someone abstracts, (Ragatha or Kinger probably,) and it's Caine's last straw. He finally breaks and the circus goes into ruins. Pomni does her best to comfort him. This could go one of two ways:

Either she sucseeds and happy ending for everyone :D

OR, they fail and The Circus is destroyed, Taking Caine down with it.

Maybe then that would be how they escape cuz if Caine is emotionaly attached to the circus, it would be completely destroyed or erased if Caine finally broke...

The angst potential is crazy...

This is terrifyingly close to what I wanted to do with R-M AU UHHH I MEAN-

Anywayyyy I believe that's all! If yall have anymore theories lemme know!!

[bluginkgo]

Ep 8 Theories

With the series finale come my last minute theories and thoughts regarding the episode and what could be going on towards the end of the episode.

Spoilers, duh

I'll be trying to stick with how the episode played out, might occasionally end up jumping around though. I have heard plenty of rather negative/disappointed thoughts regarding the ep. Overall, I'm very happy with how it ended- yes there are a couple issues, but I don't think they took away from the main idea. Most of my theories will mirror that.

First being, V is alive! The queen returned in the best and coolest way possible. Couple things here.

I do wonder if V was more than suspicious of Tessa and her identity. So in the end, chose to not go with them on purpose- fake her death, and see how the rest goes.

Something that was on the sentinel's part/fault, they didn't actually boot loop her, giving her a higher chance of escape. Rather unsatisfying explanation to some, but to me, it is more than enough. The sentinels have less knowledge/programming made by humans, and it was already seen that V could overpower one of the sentinels. Seeing as they are a pack running team, seeing that defeat might have just turned those tides. A bit of a silly thought, but silly is this show and the reason I love it.

The biggest thing that had me confused was this. Perhaps I'm slow- and I am- but I had to think about what possible promise the Absolute Solver could have made and later tricked her instead. That would probably have to go all the way back to ep5:

"You will not have to discard your pets, and I will not discard you."

In a way, this line was aimed both at Tessa and J- who was simply a bystander. The Absolute Solver kind of promised not to get rid of Tessa, someone that J seemed to have a close connection with. Technically, the AS never got "rid off" Tessa, simply repurposed her just like all of the WD in the mansion to become DDs. Perhaps there was a background deal between AS and J that included the promise of leaving Tessa alone, or doing something for the AS and being freed from its control after. Either way, the AS broke that promise and J simply gave up. She chose to side with the "winning side" and lost all of her fighting spirit and reason to be. Perhaps that is why during the fight, she simply never returned. We saw J being tossed into a crevice and that was all- before her returning in the credits rebuilding the ship. When the tide changed, she didn't see a reason to keep on fighting alongside the AS and dipped out of her shift.

The comment of "I never needed either of you." also made me wonder if this also implied that all J needed was Tessa. Someone of higher authority to tell her what to do and which orders to follow. J never needed friends, only a boss that oversaw them all in an orderly manner. But then again, that's just my thought, in no way a concrete theory.

Less of a theory and more of a observation. Seems that a lot more of N's memories were wiped slowly one by one, and this would be one of the reasons as to why. If the AS wanted the team to retain their personalities, it would need to get rid of the things that could traumatize the team and therefore change how they behaved- especially seen with N. He seemed to always have the least amount of memories from the past, surprising until you see that maybe this was because he woke up during the transferring process between WD and DD. That would completely change how he behaved, his core personality would be gone- the one that the AS got so attached to.

A call back from ep4: "We do our jobs, and that thing leaves us alone." Perhaps V and AS also had a deal. Because they all retained their personalities, and at first maybe their memories as well- before the CYN administration started to delete them- V could also make a deal with the AS for her and N's freedom. The deal was broken, V chose to raise her sword against Cynessa entity instead which irked the AS. An attempt was made on V's side to salvage the moment, perhaps to say that she could still finish the overall job, choose the "winning team" as according to J earlier in the ep. Of course, that didn't work.

Gotta give it to my tired and sick brain, I couldn't figure out what Uzi meant by "Just me in here." Nor how Uzi was even able to start fighting the AS control unlike in ep7. What changed? Well Uzi, herself said it, "You don't fricking own me." Uzi's personality and desires was something that the AS could never use for its own gain. Unlike with Cyn- who did not want to be discarded- Uzi didn't really have any wishes and desires that the AS could fulfill/poach. Yes, in ep4 Uzi was often forgotten by her classmates and seemed to want to hang out with them all as well. "So glad you fit right in. Super cool-" is what she told V. She wished to fit in at some point in time. The AS took that thought and said, "'aight I got this. To fit in/make sure N doesn't leave her Imma just get rid of the obstacles!" in a very AS way. The snap that occurred between ep7 and ep8 was Uzi's dislike of being "owned" by something. She's always prided herself in being her own drone, with her own personality and character. The AS constantly wants that control, to be able to move its puppets as it wishes. Once Uzi said "no" to it once, it gets easier to say "no" to it again and again- because the method is always the same. The callback ping stops working and instead Uzi takes the control.

So, the Solver of the Absolute Fabric, the Void, the Exponential End is this. It has a final form that always resided in Cyn. It appears that Nori knew this as well, because she made a comment of:

"The Solver needs a host- destroy Cyn's heart."

The AS's final form is a black hole, much like those that the Solver drones have been able to create. Except in Cyn's case, the form of the AS is much bigger and more grand. Cyn's core behaved a lot like how J's core did back in ep2

All of her parts became miniature black holes before floating away off of the screen. Perhaps each drone that has some form of the AS in it- be it a DD or a Solver drone- will eventually become this. Hinting at the fact that if N and V were to die, their cores would become small black holes. In Nori's case, something similar would happen as well, if the core was to be destroyed. In Uzi's case, if her core is destroyed, the size of the black hole would be similar if not bigger than the one we saw in ep8 from Cyn. Depending on how much control the AS has in the drone, the bigger/smaller the black hole will be post core death.

Now as for the end. The ending I'm actually fine with. It's very open ended, leaving it to us to figure out the truth and the lies. For us, the viewers, to fill in the holes that may be left and choose where the story goes from there. Some may take the path of: this is all a lie, none of the things post Uzi integrating with the AS is real, others may take the route of the happy ending and that everyone figures out how to live on. I'm more with the happy ending gang.

The ending doesn't solve anything though. Much like how the image says "I'm not solved" the problem was never solved. The AS still exists and at best, what Uzi did was put the whole kill all of the universes thing on a pause. But here's where I give the one and only thing I have a gripe about regarding this episode:

The moment between N running to check on Uzi to Uzi waking up where everything is destroyed. Half of the confusion regarding the ending of the series and many disappointments I see stem from this scene alone. Because it's so sudden and rough that it makes the episode feel rushed. I expected the entire episode to be a big fight and then leaving about 5 minutes for the ending/denouement- that's generally how these sorts of animations go. My issue is with that scene and the rough transition. What could have helped, I think, was to have 2-3 minutes of Uzi chatting with the AS directly. Doesn't need to be anything grand- put her and the AS in a black plane/mindscape and have them chat. About why the AS is still even fighting, and make a deal/truce with each other showcasing the reasoning behind the integration/fusion of Uzi and the AS at a much better pace. Then, have her wake up with the Fatal Error, continue on with the ending. Granted, this method would take away from the suspense and tension feeling that was originally felt when we saw Uzi with the "Fatal Error" on her visor. Furthermore, the surprise that we felt when we first saw Uzi's eyes.

Another theory as to the possible sudden/rough transition would actually be this. When Uzi imploded the planet for the umpteenth time in the episode, the things that were surrounding her slowly started to go back up- much like they did when Cyn was calling for the second core collapse. Perhaps her actions, in fact, did cause the core collapse and then yeeting her into god knows where like Nori and Yeva in the past. All the while this was happening, the AS integrated with Uzi. But because Uzi is much stronger now- mentally and physically- the AS couldn't take complete control like it did with Cyn. Instead, it was a partial fusion of the two entities. Giving Uzi the extra solver powers seen with Cyn, but keeping her personality intact instead of the AS exploiting it like it did with Cyn.

Finally, my take on what the hell is happening with the post credit scene. I've seen a lot of people take this scene in the way that Uzi is living in a simulated ending. They never actually won, and the AS simply created an entire illusion of a happy ending just for her to cope better. Here's the problem with that theory:

Cyn was known for being able to switch between all of these forms without needing to lose her original body. The AS is now integrated into Uzi and has given her the power to do the same thing Cyn was capable of doing. "But Ginkgo, why does Uzi seem so tired then? And why show the empty halls?" To be for real, if I had a little tail that would constantly spout that I look good in a bow and other comments, I would be tired too. Regarding the hallway, depending on time of day could mean how many drones are out and about. In ep2, it was shown that a lot of places become deserted when it's not being used, same applies to the school. Furthermore, a small idea just came to mind, maybe hiding the AS parts of herself takes a lot of energy and makes Uzi tired. When the drones are all gone- the ones that are at least afraid of her- she could let that mask slip, thus glitching out occasionally and dipping into the other forms.

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed the episode and was really sad to see the series come to the end- still coming to terms with it really. While the ending is very open ended and gives a great opportunity for season 2 to pick from, I wouldn't be upset if there is no S2. If they ever did announce there was one, I'd be really happy, but if there isn't that's alright as well. Liam did a wonderful job with tying the story off, open ended for us to play around with and continue the journey of these characters in a way that makes us happy.

Glitch stated that they have some things they'll be using N and Uzi for, my gamble is they will mostly likely return for events- Glitch Inn, promotion of products, GlitchX, etc. What I would love to see is little snippet episodes of little shenanigans they might get up to. Post canon mini episodes if you will.

Most of these "theories" don't match up to some older ones I may have done, but when something comes to an end, there isn't much to theorize about in the future. Plus I've been under the weather for a little while TwT So I don't have many braincells online currently. But thanks for seeing through these last "theories" and thoughts I had. Maybe in the future, if I come up with some other insane idea I'll share it. Until then, I'll be seeing you later >:3

Have a cookie for getting through all of this bs XD 🍪