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rtfics · 2 months ago

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Seeing BJ2 the 3rd time.

LONG & FILLED WITH SPOILERS

SO much to think about, and my memory is shit.

I rapidly scribbled notes during the film. But when I got home and tried to read them:

So here's an overview. I'll post other details if I ever translate my notes.

First, the casting was perfection. I'd never seen Jenny Ortega, Justin Theroux, and Monica Bellucci before, so for me they were the characters.

It was interesting that the film opens with the Warner Brothers Studio lot in black & white. Why B&W? It sort of sets the tone.

Donna Summer singing lines from "MacArthur's Park" was a foreshadowing. This film was made by a guy who was a teen in the 70s, and it's for others his age (he's only 2 years older than me). BJ2 is packed with 70s nostalgia that only those who were alive then would get.

This sequel was also made for die-hard fans of the original Beetlejuice. Burton took special care to give us the Winter River we love, but updated it to show the story and its characters aren't stuck in the past. The covered bridge is there, the church, cemetery, Miss Shannon's, and fire station are there, and so is the Maitland's building, but it's a coffee shop now.

Seeing Lydia as shell-shocked and pill-popping threw me, but the plot gave it sense (I'll go into detail in a separate post).

Rory, OMFG, I've known Rory. Anyone who's had anything to do with the entertainment/media biz, even peripherally, knows Rory. His "enabler" bullshit was so spot-on; faking that he's going to get Lydia off her dependency on drugs while keeping her hooked by making it seem that he's doing it because she's begging him. Classic user methodology. You just know he's the one who got her on "coping" pills in the first place; all the better to manipulate her. I loathed him immediately.

I adore what they did with Delia. It completely fucking made sense, and followed what's happened in the modern NYC Arts scene. I love how she and Lydia now get along, I mean, shit, Lydia's in her 50s and Delia's in her 70s, they're both middle-aged women, and, bless their hearts, the screenwriters and Burton made them act like grown women.

Astrid seemed older than 16 to me, but hey, I'm not around teenagers these days. I appreciated that she wasn't a brat. Her resentment and having her back up were appropriate for her family situation; a beloved father whose body was never found (I think); a mom always working or promoting because of Rory, doped on pills and famous for being a ghost-seeing nutjob, who can't see Astrid's father. That's a lot to deal with.

The way they handled Charles was perfect, especially his claymation demise. His afterlife body was comically gross, and an ingenious way of including Charles in the film without having to recast another actor, except for his voice. Charles being in the Netherworld provides a great thread to Delia's later death. His headstone being the shape of a shark's fin was a humorously grim touch.

The Sylvia Young Theatre School Choir sang at Charles' funeral, and their voices were beautiful.

Arthur Conti was fantastic as Jeremy (70s teens remember his grandfather, Scottish actor Tom Conti). His American accent was flawless. He was the perfect balance of cute and mature, and his niceness made his being evil all the worse; while Astrid says the incantation you can see him slightly out of focus behind her, smiling in a chilling way. I love that there isn't the slightest hint that he's a multiple murderer, and of his own parents! When he's about to get his passport stamped he shows absolutely no remorse toward Astrid, which makes his damnation all the sweeter.

Beetlejuice . . . . What can I say? Michael Keaton created Beetlejuice as we know him, and he fit right back in character as easily as drawing breath. His body language, his weird way of walking, his expressions, everything is just as you'd expect Beej to be. But then we get to see more! I can't express how happy I was to see Beej's origin story, which turned the throw-away line about having a pretty good time during the Black Death into something more substantial. Seeing Keaton as human Beej was a delight.

An important detail was that, even though Beej says his heart had long since withered, he fell for Delores. He says he was "bewitched." Perhaps not love, but lust certainly. It's quite clear that Delores was much higher in social station than Beetlejuice, so he must have thought he'd won the lottery with her choosing him. My god, his ego had no problem with his drunken ass being hauled to bed by his new wife, and his enthusiasm was huge. I love that they gave him the gut in his human form (Keaton doesn't have one).

Richard was the nice guy I hoped he would be. But it was telling that, when he says goodbye to Lydia at the ladder in the mausoleum, they don't hug. They don't even shake hands. It shows the truth of Lydia's previous statement to Astrid that she and Richard's relationship had ended long before his death.

Wolf is every 70s crime drama/movie distilled. Hammy, over the top, constantly spouting his Catch Phrase.

Why are there so many shrunken head guys? And why did Beej hire people who can't talk to answer his phones? It's loony and fits the Netherworld random logic. They're Beej's Minions.

I've seen a lot of people on tumblr, as well as professional movie critics, say there were "too many villains" and that the plot was "too hard to follow."

For those who agree with this, I recommend you never attempt to read anything by Charles Dickens, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Edgar Allan Poe's detective stories, or Agatha Christie. Because your brains would fry.

Look, there are two villains. Just two.

Delores poisoned Beetlejuice, he killed her with an axe in revenge, in the Afterlife she reassembles and hunts him down, killing others in her wake, which sets Wolf Jackson and the Ghoul Squad after her, until she's defeated with a sandworm.

Rory has been manipulating Lydia, keeping her doped, gas-lighting her, until under the Truth Serum injected by Beej he spills the beans and Lydia rejects him, until he's eaten at the same time as Delores by the sandworm.

As for "Delores and Rory weren't given enough story," what more do you want? How Delores joined a soul-sucking cult? How Rory became a user, seeking out vulnerable, grieving women to exploit? We learn as much as we need to. Anything more would have stuffed the film with unnecessary crap.

The only shit I didn't care for was the baby.

The whole Counseling scene was a big gross-out, and I'm sure Tim Burton intended it that way. The original couldn't have been more gross than it was or it would have earned an R Rating, keeping out everyone under the age of 18 (21 in some states; this was the 80s). But now, Burton could be a lot more graphic. I was stunned that he had Lydia go through the "pregnancy," but it obviously didn't hurt her. For me Babyjuice has no point. It doesn't advance the plot, and its reappearance only drives home the weirdness of the ending.

What the ever fuck was the ending??

Especially Astrid giving birth to the Beetlebaby. It would suggest Beetlejuice is its father, which means he and Astrid had sex. Which we can be pretty sure they didn't . . ? In the counseling scene Beej refers to the baby as his "inner child." So its not his literal child? Even so, why would Astrid give birth to it the same way her mother did?

I've read all the theories about the ending, and at this point one's as good as the other. Perhaps that's the point: To keep us all guessing. Because I'm sure, all along, there's been a plan for Beetlejuice 3, IF this movie was a hit. If it wasn't, if it bombed (since 2010 all of Burton's films have bombed), the ending would lead to speculation forever, to people writing fucking dissertations about its symbology and metaphors, etc.

But if it was a hit, which it is, the seeds are there for a third and final film. But so fucking murky no one can guess what it'll be like.

The only part of the ending I liked was Beej shaking awake and saying, as he glances at Lydia, "I just had the weirdest dream." And Lydia looking over. Not terrified. Not screaming or leaping out of bed. Not seeing the indentation in the pillow and yelling in protest. Just staring.

Do I want a third film?

I love Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. I love it more every time I watch it. I accept everything in it as canon, even the baby, resentfully.

But Burton might fuck up the last one. He might do things I never wanted to be canon. When a sequel is made of a hit film, the creators sometimes become self-conscious. BJ2 wasn't, because it'd been 36 years since the original. They had no idea whether this version would fly. Since it has, massively, I'm afraid the screenwriters and Burton may become too aware of the audience and try to cater to it. OR they'll go the opposite direction and try to come up with a plot they think fans would never imagine.

So I'm pretty much stuck in the same place I was before I saw Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Wary, skeptical, and cynical.

#Beetlejuice Beetlejuice #beetlejuice #Beetlejuice 2 #Beetlejuice sequel #Beetlejuice 2 review sort of #Michael Keaton #winona ryder #jenny ortega #catherine o'hara #justin theroux #monica bellucci #willem dafoe

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shana-silver-fox · 25 days ago

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Le Paradis Pour Toi TBOC 2.04

Officially Caryl’s song!

I know other Carylers have already discussed the French song of the same name, but here’s the part that’s very Caryly to me

Life isn't hard at all

We're more or less fishermen

We don't have a home

We sleep here or somewhere else

I found paradise for you

This totally fits with the original nomadic theme their spinoff was supposed to have. Paradise is wherever the two of them are.

Lots of thoughts on the episode

This is my favorites of the series. It was like Consumed x1000.

The opening shot of super sad Daryl under that window, not knowing Carol was right outside! I really think he thinks he was going to die there.

Ok. Carol’s plot armor here was level 9000, but 🤷🏼‍♀️

Seeing Carol and Codron go Furiosa was awesome!

I already made a post about how Izzy dies. It was so Beth coded. Right down to the stupid little weapon and bad aim.

They held onto that Tinkerbelle theme to the end. Tink drank poison and was holding her belly like Izzy. Seeing her bleeding out alone, and then being saved by Carol was so emotional. Carol was so caring 🥹

The look on Izzy’s face when Carol told her name. She knew instantly. She knew she could never compete with this bond. She probably was a little sad, but like Clemence said I think it more acceptance. She still believed in signs and God moving their lives through fate. She knew she was looking at Laurent’s new parents.

And I must point out that Daryl didn’t shed a single tear. Dude was was just bawling all over Carol, but no tears for Tink.

It appears Carol put her down since she pulled out her knife at the end of the scene. No burial? No revenge mad Daryl tearing through the castle looking for Losang? No his focus was Laurent, which I think it always was. Izzy was just part of the package. Just like Carol/zeke/henry

I did wish the Caryl reunion had some dialogue, but what could they say that would fit, but wouldn’t trigger the TOWLers to claim they were copying them?

Flew half around the world in a feeling. More Peter pannery, Daryl is Carol’s happy thought!🥰 💫✨

ABCers were all claiming how romantic d’paysant was and how that would be the Tinkyl catchphrase. I loved seeing Daryl smile and say it to Carol not 24 hours after Izzy died.

I could write a book on Didi and Theo. We got a flashforward of future Caryl.

Carol stepped right into being Isabelle in a symbolic sense for the viewers. Pretty obvious what they are saying.

I wil have to do a seperate. Thidi/caryl post. There’s just too much. But how you can’t see Caryl coming after that is crazy.

The convo while Caryl were waiting shows Daryl is still thinking of staying in France even though Izzy is dead. So it was never about her, it was about Laurent.

I think they also hinted that Daryl just wants to start a new life. When Carol says, what about the Grimes kids back home?, he said “this is different” 👀 He just threw a little shade at having to play Rick’s nanny. He’s done and he wants a family with Carol.

Daryl saying he would never be afraid of becoming Carol! ❤️ He loves her just as she is. Flaws and all

Daryl apologized for losing himself

Theo bringing up sex eggs is a foreshadowing! It will be an actual Easter 🥚 ! Mark it!

Everyone being a little jealous of the old man losing his memories. 😢

Didi: Will you stay in Paris? Daryl: we’re still working in it.

See he still didn’t want to go home.

Theo : for you my love. For us. 💔 Sounds like something Daryl would do.

Genet saying “my love-my hope” equating her romantic love with hope. And the narrative has established Carol is Daryl’s hope.

God was not on Genet’s side 🫣 Her death was a really great death befitting a great villain.

Daryl tells Carol Laurent is Henry GLUE and Carol totally understands.

Don’t tell me Daryl Dixon isn’t head over heels in love with Carol.

Ending (happy ending) with Carol and Daryl both having giant smiles when he says Laurent is coming home with us.

Us. The two of us. Look at those smiles!

#caryl #daryl dixon #carol peletier #norman reedus #melissa mcbride #caryl is endgame #caryl positivity #twd #twd caryl #the book of carol #tboc #twd daryl dixon

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mulders-too-large-shirt · 5 months ago

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s1 episode 22 thoughts

i watched this episode in its intended setting: high on painkillers post surgery and holding an ice pack to my aching jaw. i think dana scully would be proud.

the first thing i thought was man, our duo has to deal with ANOTHER child. someone give them a raise.

the kid allegedly threw a cop out the window and killed him, to which scully says "you don't really think the kid had anything to do with it, do you?" which i think is a feasible conclusion to be drawn based on physical strength, but we also must remember that mere weeks? months? ago, 2 evil children tried to poison them so. never let ur guard down, agents.

mulder is trying to get a visual on the guy the little girl claims she saw and gives the guy a funny mustache to get her to laugh. to this i wrote "ohhhh fuck me" (stated as an expression of empathy, not literally. for now.)

he just wanted to make her smile and she did. and then she physically changed the screen to show the mystery man's actual mustache but come on. that was on the back of my mind here. mulder just wanted to make the little girl laugh.

(getting flashbacks to him letting the previous little girl hand the cashier the money for their soda. he is once again shifting into Protective Mode, this time trying to make a little kid caught in a tragedy feel normal. is it his psychological training or the innate big brother instincts? i will be analyzing this. he is the big brother in his family, right? that explains a lot)

scully was asking the girl's mom questions and the mom was like "she's scary and has no friends and we can't get her to go near water" but i was actually just admiring how beautiful scully was in this scene. sorry about ur daughter ma'am but have you seen the agent you're talking to? highly distracting

then mulder goes to leave but scully says "wait we have an autopsy at 7 :(" and i think this is sosososo funny because the last time "they" did an autopsy (scully doing the work, mulder trying not to gag) he looked like he was going to pass tf out. so him having a very convenient excuse to dip and visit the girl's psychologist must have felt amazing.

(but how sweet was it that she still wanted him there?)

((he tells her to look for electrocution from psychokinesis, though))

mulder asks the girl's psychologist, in all seriousness, if she's witnessed the little girl do any sort of psychic behavior and he has SUCH a straight face. she gets annoyed and leaves. mulder, the world isn't ready for your level of honesty, but i am and i appreciate it.

scully was then all scrubbed up, back in her autopsy era, talking to a recording machine and one of the cops burst in and asks "can i talk to you for a second?" scully is thrown off and says "i just started the autopsy" but the cop says "i don't think he's going anywhere" lmaoooo. i mean sure. guess that's true!

they think the guy the girl saw was another cop who died 9 years ago in a gang related bust... AND GET THIS! the little girl disfigures her dolls in the same way the dude died. fucked up tbh. weird seeing mulder with a doll on his desk but that's part of the job for a man like him.

new awful way to die just dropped: having ur scarf caught in the door of a moving bus. while a child stares at you. again, fucked up.

it seems that all the people who are dying were related to this drug bust a while ago... much to ponder...

they make a visit to the last living cop from the case's house and mulder stares at his fish tank for a while which i thought was lovely. i bet he does love tropical fish. this became relevant to the case later due to what tv writers refer to as "foreshadowing" but in the moment i really enjoyed his dedication to watching them swim about.

mulder immediately decides this girl is the cop that died 9 years ago reincarnated (which he seems to thinks occurs when a child is conceived the same time someone dies which. well. need to unpack that worldview at a later date)

"it's not so farfetched scully, reincarnation is a basic tenant of many religions!" <- said by a man who is a Nerd

(i say this lovingly as i also study belief systems. i'm expressing solidarity here. nerds need to have that in this world)

THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTING!!!!! scully's all, even if we DO get this child to go back into her past life with hypnosis, will the court take that as evidence? gagged him a little there tbh

(mulder's relationship to hypnosis is also fascinating. he seems to think that since it helped him find his missing memories with his sister, of course this little girl can go back into her past life using the same stuff! he doesn't seem very concerned about her screaming for her life, though, again complicating my view on if mulder is actually good with kids. because i would be like aww damn, she's screaming that she's dying, is that normal? he was just tuned in. it seems he is good at interacting with them, but unclear on if there's a level of real concern there or just a need to get to the bottom of the class. i will move forward in gathering evidence to support finding the Truth)

one of my favorite parts of this show is when scully recites some medical lore. like yeah he was drowned in sea water because of the stuff in his lungs or whatever. sooo cool babe how u just know that <3

turns out the cop that died 9 years ago was drowned in this other guy's fish tank!!! awful way to go. no need to get the fish involved.

the girl breaks into the only surviving cop from the incident's house and leaves threatening origami and starts blowing stuff up with her mind which is a standard evening around these parts

to get in the house mulder elbows through a window which OUCH! had to hurt. he then tries to talk some sense into a little girl who is about to kill her past life's murderer. she's 3 kills deep already idk what he thinks he's gonna do here.

BUT! she doesn't kill the guy! she just blows up his fish tank instead which was honestly sadder. rip those fish. and she walks away and then turns into a normal child and even starts swimming lessons!

mulder wraps up the case for the episode and it fades to black with a very confused expression on his face. i wrote "he's pondering at their splashing about".

a good episode! i like that scully got to see all the paranormal happenings going on, which usually she manages to miss. mulder is a believer in reincarnation, at least in some cases, so that information we can add to his psychological profile. need to know which course they took at the academy that was "dealing with very creepy children in stressful situations" because maybe we could all apply that into our life.

#didn't mention scully comforting the crying mother while she sobbed because her child was at the scene of 2 murders but.#it was another Moment for me.#neeeeeed to interview mulder on how he conceptualizes reincarnation #he said something about the evidence of the permanent human soul #need to talk philosophy with a freaky guy like him and see how the loch ness monster fits into #which lines up more with Hinduism than Buddhism right? because of the concept of atman? vs buddhism's anatta?#pls let me know if i have any other religious studies nerds in the chat if i got that right #mulder probably has his own unique religion called Mulderism and i neeeed a 15 hour documentary on its beliefs #juni's x files liveblog #the x files #txf

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sol-draws-sometimes · 1 year ago

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Disc World bookclub thoughts- Monstrous Regiment

Pages 12-20

Okay @anna-neko … and all the other people that found me(tho I’ll be writing to Anna here)

Buckle up cause I actually read more, so there’s A LOT more text!

Before I start, I'm fully aware that the book's premise is that the whole regiment turns out to be women in disguised(except one being trans??? That happens at the end so I won't bring that up till I get there). But for ease of talking, I will he/him everyone until they've been she/her-ed. Plus, there are other characters, so I could accidentally she/her a man thinking they would be one of the undercover women. So yah, following the pronouns corresponding to where I am in the book.

I wrote everything on a notes app while listening/reading, and then organized it. So my "knowledge" will flip flop since different parts were written at different points of reading. Also I’m playing around with the best way to show quotes. Okay here are my thoughts loosely organized:

—Critiques—

Some critiques. I want to start of with them so that we can end on a high note. At first it was hard for me to get that there were scene changes happening. Most books usually leave large space b/w the paragraphs, but at least in this digital book, it just looks like a normal paragraph spacing. And the audio book doesn't indicate that there's a scene shift, so there were a couple of times that I got lost because I didn't realize there was a new scene. Though I think I finally got it down how he switches from scenes, so I should be fine.

Also while I do like that he just says stuff, for example, him introducing Polly’s guy name by writing, "At least, Polly climbed out of the window, but it was Oliver’s feet that landed lightly on the ground," instead of saying, "she decided to call herself Oliver Perks.” At times I do need a bit more guidance. I can pick up stuff with context, but, sometimes it threw me off. For example, with the igor, while I would've gotten it eventually, I just decided to google it, because I was too distracted being confused to actually pay attention to the dialogue if that makes sense???? So I mostly like how he seamlessly intergrates new info, but sometimes I do feel like I'm going in blind, or suffering for not knowing about the previous books. Tho I will say the vampire lore was intergrated well. It's nothing so bad that it ruins the book for me since it's mostly executed well.

Side tangent, but I actually started the book by listening to it, so I actually didn’t catch the Olly name until I got to this line, “…but Polly was known to all the ferrymen by sight and the guard would want to see her permit to travel, which Oliver Perks certainly didn’t have.” I like this line! I mostly like when he does it, but yah, I get confused sometimes.

Okay on to stuff my other thoughts!

Short quippy stuff

Hee hee foreshadowing!

There was no question of anyone getting undressed.

I love that her nickname is Ozzer

Don't cry challenge(impossible)

AAAAH SHE GOT CAUGHT.

Nothing quippy, just a funny line:

Ugh. I hate strappi I hate Strappi I hate Strappi. Me and the boys hate Strappi.

You said these books are very pop-cultury. I'll say these aged well because I don't think I've caught any pop culture reference(or maybe I have without realizing) and I still find the book funny and it makes sense to me. So uh yah, go Terry Pratchett I guess.

—Longer thoughts—

Am I viewing everything as an American, or is this a reference to don't ask, don't tell??? I don't think so cause nothing else about it is queer coded and also Terry Pratchett is British, so there would be no reason for him to talk about that. My brain just short-circuited because it's a military book and I'm American 🙃

Thoughts on Maladict—

Maladict carries around silver-gilt coffee engine (which icon behavior) so idk how allergic he is to silver. Is he lying about the silver allergy or does he just suck it up for some coffee (cause if he does, again King behavior). I think my fav soldier rn is Maladict (can you tell???). Polly think's she's cool, but he's the actually cool one. Love his whole "even though I'm sobre from humans, it doesn't mean I can't/won't seriously fuck you up." I love when writers explore ethical vampires/vampires blending in with humans (I really should read vampire books).

I think the whole black ribbon thing is cool! I think there's a book that follows a vampire??? If you're down(and it makes sense), I'd love to read one of the vampire books since I'm already so intrigued by vampire society! Obviously after I'm done with this book

Thoughts I wrote about Jackrum—

Damn Jackrum has to keep telling Strappi to ease on the racism.

I like how Sargent Jackrum asked Polly if she was fine with fighting Strappi. I knew that his whole "stop being racist" is more of a "WE NEED MEN" than him actually caring about fantasy racism™️, or that's how I saw it at first at least. But now, I think there's a genuine side of kindness to him. So I'm excited to see more of that (be it, seeing more of his softer side or being proven wrong).

ALSO WHILE WRITING IN POLLY’S SECTION, I REALIZED THAT JACKRUM PROBABLY KNOW SHE'S A WOMEN!!!! Oh shit, maybe corpol too???? Definitely Jackrum I think!

"What's that?" said the corporal. "My signature," said Polly… "You can read and write, too?" said the sergeant, glancing up at them and then back to her.

THEY GOT SURPRISED THAT SHE KNEW HOW TO READ AND WRITE (an abomination for women). Also... I might have gotten slightly spoiled trying to draw Jackrum. I didn't read anything but I saw girl fanart of him???? I mean, I guess he's also part of the troop, I thought it was just the soldiers. HE MIGHT BE MYSTERY PERSON!!!! Anyways, this is for future me to figure out… So that's probably why he's nice to her. NOW I'M EXCITED TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HIM. Before I got to the scene where Polly fights, I drew this cause I thought it was funny, while being slightly out of character. But now, I think this not that out of character (I'll have to see). Anyways have this shitty little doodle.

Thoughts on Polly—

I was very slow to realize that Polly's from Borogravia. As for why Polly joined, Polly definitely doesn't believe the propaganda, so my best guess is that she's going to try and find Paul. Reading about her missing Paul absolutely broke my heart. Though it's very interesting how also she was raised.

Also I got so scared when she got caught even tho I knew it would happen eventually, just didn't think it would happen THIS early in the book! I knew the moment mysterious person gave Polly the sock. I find it funny how Polly was like, “damn I thought I was cool mysterious kid". Her inner monologue is pretty funny.

I didn't ask you for one, Polly thought, quite annoyed at being taken for being a frightened young lad when she was sure she'd come over as quite a cool, non-ruffled young lad.

Also I'm pretty sure mystery person is a girl, cause I know the permis of the book so it makes this line funny

"Why, is this the escutcheon of Her Grace the Duchess I see in front of me?" said the whisperer. "Well, it won't be in front of me for long. Beat it ... boy."

Wrote this section on mystery person before the realization 🧍🧍🧍. Now I don't know. AAAAAAAAH.

Also, I'm glad that Polly gave Strappi a taste of his own medicine. Tho Private Parts is kinda funny 🏃🏃🏃. Insert: "that's a good joke, a great joke even, but I'm gonna have to ask you to stop,” audio. Seriously tho, it's pretty cool how Polly's experiences from her childhood with her dad and the other soldiers has helped her to blend in at this point. She was funny when she was like:

"I'll try not to hurt him either, Sarge," said Polly, and then cursed herself for the idiot bravado. It must have been the socks talking.

I read it twice and listened to it a 3rd time, since I had to write this and I laughed each time. I can't believe I find this dick joke so funny, I'm truly an immature child. Also fuck man. The way Polly saw people die, or just the discussions of how wars fucks people up. I have nothing insightful to say. Just, man, war's rough (<- biggest understatement of the century).

Other Book thoughts—

One thing I wasn't expecting, was for the crew to be made up of so many fantasy™️ creatures. But that one is fully on me since the book is called monstrous regiment. I guess I was so focused on what I've heard about the book, that I just completely glazed pass that. I see that there is some fantasy racism™️, so hopefully that's done well. I'm not saying it's always bad, but a lot of time people try to do metaphors, but it falls apart (ex: monster=racism allegory, when one of the characters is literally Mexican (and is brown). I'm not naming the name of the show on purpose). I do think it can be done well when you take the more, "prejudice is a thing, this is how it would play out with these creatures," and you don't make it a one-to-one with any particular minority. I feel like that's a more productive criticism of bigotry that can be applied to minority groups. I mean, I think there can be some one-to-one allegories that make sense, but it needs to be done carefully. I hope I'm making sense. But so far, I don’t see anything that bothers me. Just have my guard up a bit.

—✨Deeper✨ Thoughts on the book—

I kinda alluded to this in the previous review but yah, it's very interesting how Terry Prachet writes about war. I mean, I'm only 18, so I won't pretend to know much about the world, but I think this book has very strong themes about the dangers of nationalism and what not. And obviously he exaggerates it in the book, but it can be applied to a lot of modern situations. Side tangent, but I'm not really a patriotic person. I'm glad that my country has provided me better opportunities than my parent’s country, but I've always seen being so patriotic to a fault very weird. Also, this is clearly a criticism of the monarchy. "God save the duchess" like, come on. Down to this religious fervor they treat the duchess with, that they pray to it. I feel weird commenting too much, since I'm not as connected/involved/know too much about the politics of the monarchy (I mean technically the US is an ex-British colony, but rn relationship b/w the US and the UK is way better than other countries with the UK). All I'll say is that I don't care how nice she was, she was a colonizer and the monarchy has and continues to harm people to this day. Also back to nationalism, I've always hated the whole "people from this country suck". Like maybe the government sucks but you can never ascribe what the country does to the people of said place.

Honestly I feel weird commenting on this book in general, because I have barely any religious experience, haven't been too exposed to war, nor am I British (I mean this more in respect of the whole monarchy thing). Also, even though I'm a woman, I haven't felt much sexism. Like no cat-calling, most of the people respect me. Besides, "normal sexism," aka unconscious bias stuff like, "strong men help me pick the heavy stuff,” I don't think I have had any notable experiences of sexism or have seriously felt it in my life. So I feel like I can't give any deep observation about sexism or religion besides, yup that sounds right! Same with any the politics about war than, yup nationalism bad! I'm really aware that I'm just an 18 yr old who doesn't know much cause young people think they know everything (I mean that gets thrown a lot to invalidate young activists but there is a kernel of truth of: less experience=less knowledge of the world). Basically, I am noticing deeper themes in the book, but don’t expect me to talk about these parts if the book too much, because I don’t think I have anything productive to add. I just feel super unqualified to comment on much of this, and like I could be wrong about 100 different things I just said.

Umm… with that being said,

—Some quotes that I thought were interesting but I can't articulate why rn—

"At Paul's insistence, she'd read the whole of 'From the Mothers of Borogravia!!' to him, including the bits about heroes and there being no greater good than to die for your country. She wished, now, she hadn't done that. Paul did what he was told. Unfortunately, he believed what he was told, too."

"Several copies of the pamphlet seemed to have reached every home, even so. It was very patriotic. That is, it talked about killing"

"She'd learned to read and write after a fashion because the inn was big and it was a business and things had to be tallied and recorded. Her mother had taught her to read, which was acceptable to Nuggan, and her father made sure that she learned how to write, which was not. A woman who could write was an Abomination Unto Nuggan, according to Father Jupe; anything she wrote would by definition be a lie."

"She'd be funny just as long as she was useless, and safe as long as she was funny." Ugh yah, some men get really threaten by women being better than them

Misc—

Thank goodness for the audio book. I love when authors write in the accents, I think it creates character and it's very creative... but I'm terrible at trying to understand what they're saying. I've been doing a mixture of audio book only, audio book plus text, and just reading text. Anyways, I was reading a line Strappi said where he was mocking Maladict and I literally couldn't understand it until I listened to that part later when I could use my headphones again.

"Private Bloodfnucker hnas a fnord, Fnargeant," he said accusingly.

This was the line btw. All hail audiobooks everyone 🧎🧎🧎

Also damn digital books and audio books help me actually pick up the book and it makes it a lot less intimidating. I like reading but, sometimes my brain views it as a chore. Like I used to start books, LIKE THEM, and then proceed to NOT finish them. I have been using audiobooks in the past but it was while reading the book, and almost never just the audiobook (unless I had didn't finish a chapter in time for class). But man, actually leaning into how my brain works makes it easier. Who would've thought! (Like I always forget how useful hearing the text it, even though I have been using this tip for years). So yah, even though I think I prefer the experience of physical books, I need to just let myself read the easiest ways to me. Audiobook only, has been nice since it takes the least amount energy, but it is the hardest for me to understand, especially if it gets too flowery/lore-y. So warning, I’ll miss small details because of this. I usually go back and skim the parts I did audio only, but I’ll still miss stuff.

Also, I'm using hoopla(and when the 21 days are up, my libby ver of the text should be available), but tip! If you like to annotate, download books on PDFs and annotate using the comments. Honestly, great with research papers too! I love to highlight with different colors and then you filter the annotations, amazing really. Obviously you can do this in irl books but I like that I can write more in the comment section thingy than in the margin of books.

But yah! I'm liking the book so far. I like how Terry Pratchett writes and I like Polly as a mc.

I will add alt text some other date cause I don't have the mental energy rn. If someone besides Anna find it and wants them, just @ me in the comment and I'll @ you when I finish this Also gonna add links to the previous and next review for better organization.

First | <-Previous | Next->

#my post #sol talks #long post #disc world #discworld #monstrous regiment #book club

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personinthepalace · 2 years ago

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I saw a local production of Legally Blonde the Musical today!

One of the local high schools in my city (my old school's "rival" in fact haha) is doing a production of Legally Blonde, and I went to see it today! I'm a huge lbtm fan, but this was my first time seeing a live production, and it was honestly very good!! I am very passionate about the door discourse so I was highly anticipating that moment in the ballad. And this production passed the test! As soon as I saw that they were wheeling out the door during that number, I was silently freaking out to my friend haha. Anyway here are some other random notes/thoughts that I had about the production:

Real dogs! Rufus was a golden retriever, and when he came out, the show paused for a bit bc of the applauding haha. Rufus also listened to Kyle's command to sit which was quite cute haha A HUGE ensemble (it's high school so it makes sense). But they bring back the ensemble for like every possible song Elle was great - she used some vibrato and trills during her solos. Most of So Much Better was kinda a mess (backing music/ensemble not really lining up well), but OMIGOD she held out that last note just like LBB did on bway so huge props to her! Warner was a good singer not as strong as the other leads but he has the best expression/acting choices - more on that later Serious: they didn't do the accidental proposal pose which I thought was a missed joke The violinist during Serious walked back out with some great sad acting after Elle left before playing the last notes of the song (I thought that she was someone from the orchestra but they were actually part of the ensemble so that was cool!) What You Want: Elle's white outfit was cute!! They used the "Jet Blue" line! The actors' school photos for the Elle x Warner poster which I thought was funny haha Harvard variations: they got rid of Sandeep's character so the song was shorter Aaron Sholtz and Enid Hoops were played by butch actors which was cool! Bruiser now loves the Bachelor Emmett - the actor playing him (who my sister knew from elementary school) is such a perfect emmett! Looks exactly like how one would imagine him haha Background acting: Emmett introducing himself to the students and shaking their hands while Elle and Vivienne had their first interaction in class Blood in the water: Callahan was also a very good singer. I think this was one of the strongest number of the show. They also added grey to his hair He was kinda touching Enid during his lines with her but she kept on pushing his hand away from her - foreshadowing! Paulette was amazing!!! I think she might be my favorite actor in the show. She sounds EXACTLY like Orfeh did on bway. Also asian representation!! Ireland - she killed it obviously - seriously amazing!! (though she did accidentally came in early at one part). The lyrics are different from the bway version though (they were about her grandpa) Playboy bunny costume - they added a little tutu to it which was cute! Enid sat near them near the end of this scene (in preparation for Elle stealing her glasses). She tries to drink from a bottle but Warner took it away from her and drank it instead Chip On My Shoulder: Elle wears Emmett's jacket! Emmett saying he hadn't slept since 1998 killed me bc this kid is definitely younger than me haha Elle and Emmett don't do any secret handshakes though :( Elle sat next to Warner during her squealing exit and I loved that so much haha Reclaiming Rufus scene: Elle ran back on stage and threw her arms around Emmett and Paulette - I am here for this trio friendship When Dewey re-exited the trailer and saw Elle, he twirled his long hair

So Much Better, as I said before, was sadly not the strongest number but I do like that Elle's parents appear offstage when she called them. And Elle held out that last note!! Once again no Elle x Emmett secret handshake :(

(Part 2 will continue in a reblog bc apparently I hit the character limit LOL)

#legally blonde #legally blonde the musical #legally blonde musical #elle x emmett #elle woods #emmett forrest #high school production #high school production of legally blonde the musical #rambles in the palace #guess what I just watched #door discourse #yes I am including that tag haha #THEY USED THE DOOR #an automatic win in my book haha #long post

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kmze · 7 months ago

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Thoughts on 6x12 - 6x22 I know it’s shocking but I LOVED IT AND WROTE TONS! I will say the plot was a bit tighter for the first half but this half needed a lot of set-up for next season so I'll allow it. There’s so much focus on Caroline as two of her biggest arcs happen with her Mom and humanity off. There’s great Bamon stuff and I like that even though they became besties Bonnie wasn’t going back to being pushed around. I enjoyed Lily and her scenes with the brothers. I zoned out during all the cure stuff as it is the bane of my existence. Definitely my favorite season still and this half gave me so much, all my bias thoughts below!

6x12

This season really picked it up again with the horror elements. There’s a lot of scenes that feel like scenes in a slasher movie, probably because the main villain of the season is a slasher styler serial killer as opposed to the usual serial killer.

Liv’s boobs are spectacular, just wanted to put that out there.

Nice contrast to earlier in the season when Elena asked Stefan to give her hope and he told her he gave up, whereas with Caroline he couldn’t take her hope away from her.

Kai just cracks me up! He just never stops talking but somehow stays funny. Chris is so good.

Love how they foreshadow Caroline turning it off in her Mom’s vision and that being what brings Liz back to life. She had to come back to make sure someone would watch over Caroline.

Also @ the morons on Reddit who will never see this post and say "Liz guilt tripped Stefan into liking Caroline" because she asked him to watch out for her lets all remember that Stefan ASKED LIZ FOR HELP WITH CAROLINE! She even felt bad for him and threw him a bone in two episodes ago to hang Christmas lights.

This episode was an emotional rollercoaster! I knew everything that was going to happen and I was still so stressed. I can’t believe they made it look like Luke won when he was fluttering his eyes only to be like SIKE! That was cruel! Kai and Luke merging together was a great scene too loved the leaves swirling around, looked more like the earlier seasons magic scenes. Luke’s death hit hard too because we did see him a lot and we gradually learned about the Parker family so I felt more connected to all of them. Jo breaks my heart here and Jodi is just so fantastic. Just really solid storytelling all around.

6x13

Why is Bonnie still in the prison world?? I hate it.

Enzo’s storyline is the only miss this season because just leave that damn girl alone! Damon doesn’t need to know he didn’t kill the baby because he did nothing to prevent it from happening! I get Enzo is supposed to be a foil to Stefan but he’s just such a loser of a character.

Sarah Salvatore looks so much like S1!Elena I wonder if she was meant to have a bigger role in S7 as like a pseudo-Elena with Lily until they changed plans.

These two idiots in love smiling at each other on the forest floor *flails*

Welp there goes Elena making a terrible situation affecting only Bonnie about herself again. Inevitable.

When I first watched this episode I was so not here for the Kai redemption hand wave they were doing with him gaining empathy through merging with Luke. I was like not this bullshit again just keep villains evil! But now I have changed my mind because it wasn’t fair that as soon as the big bad was interested in ONLY Bonnie now he can’t be redeemed. I’m not saying Bonnie had to forgive him or that I even ship them but it pisses me off how often Bonnie gets shafted in favor of Elena and Caroline. I’ll just forever side eye JP who was like “Bonnie would never love a murderous vampire she’s too pure” and then stuck her with Enzo!

Of all Steroline’s great moments (and they have a lot) this is probably THE SCENE for me. The laughter and the headiness when they find Miss Cuddles and she gets decapitated (great foreshadowing of the no humanity SC arc) are so great but then! The charged moment when they are looking at each other and the camera is swirling around and you just want to scream KISS HER ALREADY until he can’t because she starts to cry so he hugs her instead JUST GETS TO ME! What a ship!

Such a great Bonnie scene! She fought to live and Jeremy saved her!!!

No offense Tyler but you chose death over Caroline so let’s not throw stones from glass houses. God the writers really didn't GAF about him after he lost his hybrid powers.

6x14

Matt and Sarah could have been cute, would have been hilarious watching Stefan and Damon deal with the possibility of Matt being a part of their family.

This scene of Damon being like "I did all these murders case closed!" LMFAO and they had the audacity to put "Protector of Mystic Falls" on Liz's tombstone.

Elena is the most annoying older sister ever, no wonder Jeremy wanted to get away from her (plus you know the fact that she kept having Damon erase his memories).

Really love that Stefan and Caroline got almost two episodes of just scenes with each other away from all the other chaos. They never got that again so I'm always fond of this time where they got to just be together and slowly fall in love.

In my completely unbiased opinion this is the greatest first kiss of any ship ever on this show. No I will not be taking feedback on that and I’ll tell you why! The way the sunset casts Stefan and Caroline’s profiles in shadows so when they first kiss they look like two silhouettes becoming one. There’s also a moment where the space between them is on the shape of a heart. And the kiss taking place on Caroline’s cabin porch with the door open and the reflection of the two of them kissing in the door window. SHOWSTOPPING!

"I'm exceptionally ordinary, Caroline is anything but" I'm going to start crying already what a beautiful line

No no no no no this scene gets me every single time! Liz pushing little Caroline on the bike while she says she’s not ready makes me cry every single time I watch it so yep crying again. Only scene in the whole show that makes me cry every time.

6x15

BABY CAROLINE YOU’RE TOO PRECIOUS!

God dammit Damon! He is the biggest catalyst for this going so bad because he keeps giving everyone the worst advice imaginable!

I can tell Julie wrote this episode because it’s stressing me out! She used the missed communication plot device that I hate but she did it perfectly for the characters involved. Because at their core Stefan and Caroline are both control freaks and both of them overthinking this situation is why we get the conclusion that we get. Because Caroline can't wait a day because she needs to know now and she's already determined if it's bad he won't talk to her about it. And Stefan who just wanted advice about how to handle not starting something with Caroline at a bad time is now overthinking Damon's stupid advice.

I like how Matt just became Caroline's like assistant in the later seasons because that's what he deserves after he treated her like an afterthought their whole relationship. Karma.

Elena is really great in this episode. She is a pro at funerals and she’s really trying to guide everyone (and not making it about herself)!!!

The "Something even better" speech is so great and I love that Julie wrote it because she was always the writer who loved Steroline the most. There's a reason this line is used most often as OTP tags for SC on here because the show is telling you why this relationship is different than what we've seen prior. And it goes back to Stefan saying you can't be in love and friends at the same time because that's why this feels different! That's why when Damon said if it doesn't feel the same then it's not "true love" threw Stefan off until he stopped overthinking it! Until he listened to Damon's speech and he watched Caroline sing and he felt so much for her in that moment! Because yeah this isn't true love this is something even better, this is falling in love with your best friend. The person who accepts you at your worst, who laughs at your stupid jokes and who knows you better than you know yourself. The one person YOU CAN'T PRETEND WITH!

BAMON JUMPING HUG I AM GRINNING FROM EAR TO EAR!!!

Bruh the way Stefan walks into Caroline's house with the door unlocked hope plastered all over his face... this show is so cruel to me!

6x16

NH!Caroline slamming Liam against the window CRYING!!

If Lily died of consumption in 1858 wouldn’t Stefan have been 12 and not 10 in the flashback? Simple math people!

“Elena I shut off my humanity I didn’t turn into an idiot” 100% shade at Elena LMFAO!

Pretty sure Liam just asked Stefan if he wants to be in a threesome with him and Caroline and I’m sorry Liam but there’s already a line for that lol!

CTFU at the look NH!Caro gives Stefan when he walks over with the shots, she knows he’s about to play a stupid game! This was the part of Caroline's plan she failed to take into account BTW. She thought Stefan didn't care because she gave him a time limit when he didn't know what the time limit was. Then assumed he'd just leave her alone... and I mean... Caroline when has he left you alone ALL DAMN SEASON! Time and time again he keeps coming back!

Feels like Caroline insinuated she knew Stefan felt something in S4 because she said it took him a few years to figure his feelings out. Ian has some really great shots in this episode and I really love how the light plays across Steroline when he tries to trigger her by cupping her face. The light shines on them at the specific moment it looks like he triggered her only to fade back to black and her to say "you shouldn't have done that."

I love the chuckle Caroline makes when she realizes Stefan compelled Sarah to be uninterested in vampires. OMG she didn’t even have to try and get Enzo’s phone!

Did Elena not tell Stefan that NH!Caro told her there would be consequences if he tried anything to trigger her? Girl have you met Stefan? Did you really think he wouldn't try? Stefan "Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes" Salvatore! A Crazy Bitch needed saving that's his drug of choice!

Great Bonnie scene making Damon feel all the pain Kai put her through.

Love that final shot of Ripper Stefan and NH!Caro on the bar! Ian you kicked ass with your direction!

6x17

CTFU at Damon not being able to vervain needle Ripper Stefan because DUH DAMON he invented that move!

I find it HILARIOUS that Ripper Stefan is mocking NH!Caro's revenge skills when those same skills are the reason he's the way he is right now! He couldn't give her A DAY! And him not giving her even a damn day to see if she could keep herself in check was not about him not believing she could. Stefan more than ANYONE knows how good Caroline is at control (it's why his focus is making her lose control this episode, Ripper likes a challenge). No Stefan's motive to bring Caroline back was for himself 100%, he realized he was in love with her and could not wait to tell her.

This passive aggressive conversation between Damon and Lily is amazing lol, Annie and Ian are playing it perfectly.

The snow in the prison world is so pretty!

Ripper Stefan got up wayyyyy too fast while apparently being passed out and dragged by NH!Caro which means his crazy ass was just letting her do that!

Get his ass Bonnie!

"You think I don't know everything about you?! I taught you how to control your bloodlust remember!" I MADE YOU I CAN DESTROY YOU! I love how it’s a total reverse of 2x02 and I love that Stefan used himself as seduction as well as the blood. A+ vampire foreplay.

THE SEX HAIR AND THE EYEBROW WIGGLE!

Bonnie putting out there they could have used to cure on Caroline to get her humanity back if they needed it makes me shutter. Just the idea of it I hate!

6x18

He really booed her LMFAO

I can’t believe how much they made Candice sing this season lol. I mean she’s great I love her voice but I hope she got an extra check!

Lily absolutely appalled at Damon’s texting etiquette!

Ok DEAD at the scene with Jo and Elena and Jo is just like “this is all brand new information it’s only been 12 hours!” WHY DID SHE HAVE TO DIE!

Caroline Trivia is so fucked up LMFAO

Deadbeat Mom strikes again!

Ripper Stefan was so impressed with how NH!Caro fooled Tyler into stabbing Matt and possibly triggering his werewolf curse. No wonder he used her tricks when he was working for Cade.

The scene where Lily turns on Stefan’s humanity with Damon’s speech is fantastic. Just really well shot and well written and Annie does such a wonderful job.

6x19

I like the trio conversation about how Stefan is going to flip Caroline’s switch, it’s similar to the one they did with Katherine to flip Elena’s switch.

NH!Caro is so impatient for sexy Stefan time! Vanilla my ass Enzo! ALSO!!! I love that Stefan still spilled his guts to Caroline about his mother not loving him even though she doesn’t have her humanity on.

NO STOP NOOOO DON'T BURN THE LETTER!

I saw a post that said real Ripper Stefan would never have burnt it, he would have opened it and read it in the most mocking tone possible. And now I can’t not think that every time I watch this. I mean we know Stefan can use a "dimmer" on his humanity switch because he did it in S3 so why doesn't he do that here? My guess is Caroline makes him too emotional to hold up the ruse. He really could not keep up the farce for long, which is funny because Stefan has always been the best at being a lying liar who lies.

Elena why would you use your ace in the hole so early! Or more importantly WHY WOULDN'T YOU MAKE A COPY OF THE LETTER!

The hatred in this phone call between Lily and Damon is hilarious.

Bamon have amazing chemistry, and I mean all levels of chemistry too! Forever robbed!

See Elena Stefan used his ace in the hole when it was the only thing left! What a powerful and devoted thing Stefan does here, and I don't want to say he's never done anything powerful for Caroline before since he literally died for her last season but this was him channelling everything he felt when he turned his humanity on into his love for Caroline (the one thing that makes you strong). And the memory is absolute perfection! Because it showed Caroline why he didn't confess at her Mom's funeral because he wanted to wait until everything was perfect and that time was anything but. And showing her that her Mom gave her blessing to Stefan just so good! And the imagery of Caroline getting stuck outside the door behind her Mom with the curtains too, the significance! WHAT A MOMENT! That's how you do a heartbreaking moment, this episode was fantastic definitely my favorite of the season.

I chose to believe at some point Caroline gets to read the letter through something at the school. They had Klaus send Hope a Zoom message from Peace they’ll figure it out!

Lily was so great, love how she "taught Damon a lesson" like when he was a little boy. She is so manipulative I am in love.

6x20

TBH I completely agree that it’s tough to buy that Damon wants to be human, that guy loves being a vampire! And it’s not lost on me that the cure was forced on him in the end and he looked MISERABLE AFTER!

Stefan hanging out in his room pining for Caroline while a bachelor party is happening downstairs. I fucking love it, he’s such a loyal loser. This little spinning globe too, like the snowglobe for her.

Welp I’ve been triggered because now I am reminded of the fact that Stefan and Lily talking about their ripper bloodlust issues was NEVER EXPLORED PAST THIS EPISODE! FOREVER BITTER!

“Reformed Ripper” (!!!!!) I will say they did show between S3 and this season how Stefan got a handle on his bloodlust throughout the seasons based on how he reacted to blood. In 3x19 he was still very uncomfortable around Alaric bleeding. In 4x22 he had to stay away from the person who was bleeding with Damon and Liz but he could keep his composure. In 5x03 he had been starving for months but he was able to tell Tessa to stay away or he'd hurt her. Then in 6x02 he drinks a blood bag pretty easily though you still see that ecstasy when the blood hits. And then in 6x12 Colin is covered in blood and he's fine. I know it's not in your face and I'm sure most missed the nuance but I found it easier to notice during a binge-style rewatch.

OH ANOTHER THING I WAS ROBBED OF! The fact that Caroline and Lily both view their human selves as weak and that becoming a vampire made them into a new strong woman. Too bad they had literally ONE SCENE together in S7, thanks for that Dries!

LMFAO I told you Stefan always has a vervain needle in his pocket!

Of course as soon as Elena is human again she’s in danger. Why doesn’t Elena just tell Lily if she feeds on her she’ll turn human since the cure is in her system?

6x21

CAROLINE I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!

I love how Caroline comes in and is just like Elena have a drink, Bonnie the switch is there and Jo I see your shoes from here. THE BEST!

“I hate little Stefan mind games even more” oh stop Damon he doesn’t even play his meanest ones on you!

Tyler has been itching for YEARS to call out Caroline about her and Stefan, you cannot convince me otherwise.

I can’t believe Stefan called Elena a flip flopper TO HER FACE LMFAO

Matt always eager to kill a vampire you’d think he’d be better at it by now.

The way Caroline just TURNS AROUND when she sees Stefan! They are such a romcom ship sometimes (when the writers leave them alone!)

Love that the first thing we see is Stefan opening up to Caroline and asking for her input on how he’s feeling about Damon. And you can see he wouldn’t open up to Elena about it in the prior scene because he wanted Caroline’s advice not hers.

"That’s because you’re a control freak who’s lost control; I feel the same way when I’m around you" this line is so slept on because it's all the explanation you need for why these two had such a hard time getting on the same page this season. Because they are BOTH control freaks (and I think it's telling this is the only time Stefan calls her a control freak in a negative way) and the way they feel about each other is anything but being in control. Stefan makes Caroline vulnerable because she feels so much more for him than any guy she has in the past and she can't build the same wall she used to in order to protect her heart. Then there's Stefan has never fallen in love with someone who was his friend first, someone who's seen every part of him. And I think that's such a challenge for him because Stefan was always so good at only showing parts of himself and meticulously planning everything out before he makes a decision and he can't do that with Caroline. Going back to their first kiss where Stefan didn't plan to kiss Caroline that day, he was waiting he told Liz he wanted it to be perfect but in that moment all that mattered was that Caroline is perfect and she never really hated him and he HAD to kiss her.

DAMMIT KAI I REALLY LIKED JO

Why did this evil show decide it would only have two weddings and in one the bride dies and the other the groom.

6x22

Nope Kai they’re actually doing some inane baby swapping spell with the blonde vampire you just neck snapped! I know that was a tough guess.

I’m glad Liv sacrificed herself for Tyler so he wouldn’t die but boy this would have been a better death for Tyler than what they did to him.

I’m sorry I know it’s a serious moment but Stefan is shooting his shot with Caroline while Elena is in a coma next to him lol. Top 5 petty moment for me.

The look on Bonnie’s face ASHHTBFZBDDCDB

“I haven’t run out of nicknames for you yet” I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

“I spent my life doing exactly what I felt I was born to do” being free of you!

Omg Elena is like I can’t wait to see what you’re up to in 60-70 years” to Stefan and he’s says definitely not high school but that’s where their last scene is! That’s funny but also touching I can’t lie.

OPEN WINDOW NO CURTAINS I LOVE SYMBOLISM!

Stefan saying that loving Caroline "changed his life" is so significant and I think people don't take that part seriously enough. Because so much criticism against Steroline is that Stefan doesn't act the same way with Caroline that he did with Elena and it's like yeah that's the point! He's changed so much as he's finally accepted that he's not "The Ripper" or "The Good Brother" he's both. And Caroline was such a significant part of that process and that's what he's saying with his list. She was there for him when he needed a friend in S4 and helped him get in control of his bloodlust and helped him move on from Elena. She made him laugh and she made him dance two things he either hardly did (laugh) or hated doing (dancing) because she just loosened him up the way no one ever did before, not even Lexi. And then the big one that Caroline telling him he'd move on and fall in love again without realizing it, how much that meant to him that she gave him faith it would happen and that it happened with her (day by day, bit by bit, year by year)!

I said in my 4x23 recap I like how Klaus and Stefan's confessions work in tandem for Caroline, and now I also noticed that Klaus kissed her left cheek and Stefan kissed her right cheek. Even if I don't ship KC I just love that Caroline got them BOTH, like they were both like you're the one for me and "I'll wait" "however long it takes" SO GOOD!

Welp onto S7, lets see how angry it makes me!

Lines that made me laugh:

Caroline: Wow, you are so boring. No wonder Elena didn’t pick you. (DEAD I forgot how much she was mocking Elena being super special and getting to pick boys lol)

Damon: She has a vampire dollhouse! (All in the delivery!)

Damon: I had to vampire-proof a B&B, do you have any idea how many people you have to compel to make THAT happen? (I would have loved to watch that side-plot montage lol)

#tvd rewatch #tvd spoilers #S6 rewatch #k rewatches tvd #steroline for ts #bamon for ts

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joinmeinjoy · 2 years ago

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Ok so lets talk about that one scene in The Sound of Her wings, when Hob and Dream meetup in 1789. Specifically, when Johanna Constantine orders her men to slit the throats of Hob and Dream. I was inspired directly after seeing @avelera ‘s post (here) and watching the scene again to fact check myself as i screamed in the tags. (Before i even get to the fight, can we take a moment to appreciate when Hob looks at the drawing done of them in 1689 and goes “Is that meant to be me?...Oh i look terrible...” and then tips his head to Dream and says “You look worse :)”. I loved that he joked with him, that he fully went “i look horrible- ur worse tho hehe” and you KNOW he’s saying it in jest. Wonderful.) Its the way Hob attacked the man going after Dream first. He threw his tea at the man in front of his friend, first and foremost stalling His Stranger’s attacker, and then smashed the teacup over the guy in front of him and smacked him in to the table. Dream doesn’t even move- not that i imagine one such as he would need to fear any mortal wound from a human, but Hob doesn’t know this. Hob doesn’t know who or what Dream is, he doesn’t even know his name, so Hob defends- he attacks first, attacks for him. The fight literally goes: Hob throws tea at Dream’s attacker >> Hob smashes teacup on his own attacker and knocks him out against the table >> Hob smacks Dream’s attacker upside the head when the man tries to stab his friend. Morpheus doesn’t move at all, and he doesn’t need to. Not until Johanna has a knife pointed at Hob’s face. And as you can see here:

Hob is 100% ready to get stabbed in the face. He’s immortal, it’ll heal. It won’t be fun, but it won’t stop him from eliminating the threat. Its only then that Dream intervenes, says “Wait,” and stands up to incapacitate Johanna with his sand. Dream would know as well as Hob that no mortal wound could kill him, yet the idea of Hob being injured is unpleasant nonetheless. This idea is later reinforced when Dream says that Hob might not be able to die, but he can be captured and hurt- foreshadowing, for sure, but it also tells us a bit about what Dream thinks of. Before he says that to Hob, however, there is the Scene of the Hour; the ear pull. After Dream so tenderly says “You need not have come to my defence...”, Hob responds with a delighted “Clearly...Still, i didn’t want to be drinking alone here in 100 years time.” (this line also supports the fact that Hob has no idea who Dream is or what he’s capable of, thus defending him seems the obvious choice) And what does Hob do as he says this?

The ear pull. My man fully played with his ear with THAT expression. If his hair was untied, i bet you $100 he would have been twirling it around his damn finger. And what was this met with?

Dream looking at him like this. This about concludes my ramble but by god was there so much to unpack here. I urge you to go back and re-watch this ep (as if anyone needs any convincing to re-watch this show) and just really drink in the details.

#Hobs kicking his feet and giggling as we speak #that man went home and screamed into a pillow #oh and i didnt even mention the look they gave eachother #when Johanna called them the devil and the wandering jew #the way dream looked with disdain for the title over at hob #and hob looked back at him like #are you getting a load of this mate #i love them #they're in love your honor #they're idiots but in love #the sandman netflix #the sandman #Dreamling #dream of the endless #hob gadling

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the-queen-of-ships · 3 years ago

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What Made Gwendrick Special?

So, uh, we agree that their relationships have been bombed like a nuclear attack right?

So what happened in Ep. 131 & 132 really hurt me because I was rooting for the Pastel and Plaid to be happy together; I love all of them but as we know this was for the best. It’s a tough pill to swallow but it was foreshadowed from the very beginning, hell, Leland even told us about this.

You guys noticed that only Gwen and Fred’s colors corresponds? Purple and blue are very close together for Lance and Lorena but Maria and Blaine are red and blue which are not the least bit close in the color wheel compared to the other two.

This discussion centers around each Pastel and Plaid couple and why Gwendrick will be the only one left stand. If the roses really mean anything.

Frederick/Gwendolyn

We all agree is end game. Out of the three they have the highest chance of getting together in the end. Maybe not the fairytale happily ever after ending, but they’ll end up together in better terms than the other two.

It’s odd considering Fred and Gwen were the two who started on a rocky start before gradually become better but nonetheless still rocky because of the foundation they’ve built their relationship on. Arguably a tad toxic because of Gwen's reliance on Fred's opinion on her.

However I feel that rocky start is what makes Gwen/Fred possibly. If Gwen never heard Frederick saying “you’re ugly” then they’re relationship could be smooth sailing after the soup scene, but then it would’ve absolutely shattered Gwen if the first time she hears those words at the gala either starting from the girls who called her costume the ugly duckling and then learning that Frederick called her ugly and afterwards Blaine saying the same thing.

In that timeline Gwen wouldn’t have the cpc nor Prez’s advice and would’ve been devasted and all of them would’ve broke it off. Gwen is a kind and patient person, I see her just handing the ring back with a “thank you for the memories” before running off or just full on collapsing because that timeline no one would’ve called her ugly to her face, she would’ve remained confident in herself and she doesn't have a reason to rely on Frederick.

We've seen how she reacted the very first time she was called ugly, imagine hearing that two or three times by different people on the same day but if the girls actually walked up to her to told her about her costume it would confirm everyone who thought her costume was good meant that she really did look ugly.

But in our timeline, the reason Gwen doesn’t want to reveal this is because she doesn’t what to hurt nor ruin her relationship with Fred but also bc she’s thinking about her sisters’ happiness like even when Blaine called her ugly she didn’t care about that what Blaine said, she cared about her sisters’ arrangements. Her mirror shatters when her Maria threw her ring away, it pained her so much that she couldn't even walt herself.

Gwen is the only one who has her ring so ain’t that foreshadowing?

Gwen and Fred's as you know are the most prominent and sparkly.

Lance/Lorena

Will most likely get there, I mean maybe, maybe not, I mean technically speaking Lance did nothing wrong in his and Lorena’s relationship except say the wrong thing at the very wrong time.

They know how to communicate, they were willing to find that compromise for their future and they’ve been vibing throughout the whole story and their first fight ended quickly as it started and they’d agree to take it slow and find the solution.

Tbh I feel Lorena forced herself to throw the ring like it was her obligation as the big sister. The sisters look both heartbroken and angry but Lorena’s heartbreak is more prominent than her anger at Lance (she’s really more angry at Frederick) even her final line to Lance seems forced like she's trying to find something insulting to say about him like Maria and she choice to bring up his team which he does care about but it was something they’d agree to figure out together.

Compare Lorena and Maria's dialogue and expression.

They’re my fav so I personally want them to at least be in good terms.

Their rose if you notice is close but a bit sparkly. Less in comparison to Gwen/Fred's but there's some sparks there.

Blaine/Maria

This relationship is the most fragile. Y’know why? Because 132 chapters in, they’re still in the starting line.

Ep. 119 is the very first time Blaine and Maria are actually at the same wave. The very first time they’ve made progress like this despite how much is seemingly going on with these two. This happened on the same day the gala took place.

Blaine loves Maria and that is made clear if you see the way he looks and thinks of her. Maria, well, is it love? Or infatuation? Well she cares about him okay! I don’t necessarily blame Maria nor do I blame Blaine for the state of their relationship; one is in immense pressure and the other is touch starved and has no experience with relationships.

Maria romanticizes Blaine like any of his fan girls would. She regards him as perfection rather than a person with flaws.

And Blaine does not show his sides until the piano competition and he didn’t even want anyone to see that. He never shows his flawed sides to Maria which further fuels her beliefs.

And Ep. 119 was such a big step in their relationship but not big enough to stop what happened at Ep. 132. They’re still dipping their toes in the water and Leland just had to push them in like if Leland didn’t propose the idea of proposing tonight at the gala we would’ve had more time to flesh this relationship! Do I think it’d end the same for Maria and Blaine? Well, yeah, she’ll still throw that ring bc Maria cares more for Gwen, but I don’t she’d become so angry that she’d think he was lying to her about his problems of staying at the top. That’s, at least, how I see it.

Their rose is blurred bc there love is fragile and and until Ep. 119 it was superficial on Maria's part and Blaine was still hiding those parts of him from Maria.

Ending Thoughts

What’s painful about this entire thing is that Blaine and Lance, who are most definitely in on it, grew to love and care about Maria and Lorena. Like have you seen the looks those two give their fiancee? And tbh I don’t think the older Plaid brothers know the extent of the plan, they know some but all? Most likely not.

Their expressions it's not heartbreak nor guilt but fear. This is the very time we see Lance like this, Blaine when he's along with his father is always like this

All of them had their flaws but Gwen/Fred had the worse one with the Gwen's ugly line starting early on. They've been thru such a roller coaster that changed them.

Anyway do I still like Blaine? Sorry yeah I do, I was rooting for him not have that villain arc but that line was such a big oof like man I still like Blaine but that’s gonna haunt him, me, and his record.

Leland ruining his sons’ relationships because his didn’t work out, father of the year folks.

#cursed princess club #webtoon #cpc maria #cpc lorena #cpc gwen #cpc blaine #cpc lance #cpc frederick #analysis #its really just me talking about it #also that whitney theory be talking so long to write

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nalyra-dreaming · 1 year ago

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Throughout the first season the spectre of Nicki definitely haunts the narrative, and around most of lestat’s neuroses involving Louis, but rewatching ep 5 recently Armand’s presence really is felt strongly in the dialogue before the violence breaks out. Lestat is absolutely only thinking of one vampire when talking about vicious Europeans vampires of course, and while he may not be thinking that armand would try to seduce Louis specifically (although maybe?? Depending on if they go that way with armand/Nicki) when Claudia says that final bit out loud to Louis about finding other vampires worthy of his love, we as viewers/book readers know exactly what that was foreshadowing. The writers are layering things so wonderfully that there’s probably things retroactively that we will realise was set up for other thing in season 2 or 3 the writers have planned. I can’t imagine what it would be like not knowing anything from the books and then rewatching season 1 when things are revealed, and then also devils minion stuff potentially.

It will be interesting what choices they make when revisiting ep 5 if those armand ‘references’ are meant to maybe prepare us for his influence in the memories we are about to witness in those scenes 👀

Yes.

They have done their homework.

What did Armand say to Lestat: ‘You long for me and I for you, and we alone in all this realm are worthy of each other. Don't you know this?’

Claudia's comment in regards to the "worth" references and calls back to that (already), and also gives a damning judgement. I don't know if you read y fic "Laden as the sea", but I've just been over that scene - with a rather lengthy note comment *laughs*

Because yes, there is a lot in there.

I have said it there (and here), but I fully expect the throwaway, seemingly-cop-out-comment of "I don't know what possessed me that night" in episode 6 to come back, too. Later. Maybe much later. But I would bet anything that it will come back. Because they're doing the books. And... they're doing parallels. These parallels are everywhere, setting up so much already. With all the references they threw in with timeline and backstory they must have planned the next 3 to four seasons already... rough timelines at the very least.

In regards to episode 5... I think we will get another "episode 5" in season 2, I think that will call back to the first season. Whether they truly go and change what we were shown or if they only make it click into place what happened doesn't really matter to me I have to say... episode 5 had so many layers that it's hard to strip any of them off. And I don't necessarily need to see it - the show has gone to so many lengths already to make sure we are aware that it's not the (whole) truth. *shrugs*

As per who Lestat is thinking of... yes of course he thinks of Armand then, and Les Innocents, etc, but also... Magnus. It is no coincidence that there were tears in Sam's eyes when Lestat realized what had happened to Claudia. And it is no coincidence that he asked Louis to read her then. And it is no coincidence that he tried to track down "Bruce" afterwards, and kept track of him on long distance.

And as per Louis... Lestat goes to lengths to make sure that Armand won't kill Louis when he gets to him... he is terrified of the "old vampires" - the old rules. Both Claudia and Louis are not fit for the old rules.

And Armand often cleans up after all, later, too.

So yes, he thinks of Armand there. But not only Armand I'd argue.

PS: That said, if they go the Nicki/Armand route, too, then that aspect is of course part of it, too!

PPS: Rewatching when all is said and done will be sooooo interesting??? I am biting my nails already just thinking about seeing it all click into place *laughs*

#Anonymous #asks #ask nalyra #amc iwtv #iwtv #amc interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire amc #iwtv amc #iwtv 2022 #interview with the vampire #lestat de lioncourt #louis de pointe du lac #loustat #armand #loumand #nicolas de lenfent

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mettywiththenotes · 3 years ago

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Games and Side Quests

Absolute Shiggy and Izuku brainrot tonight, so I am doing an analysis post of them. This is about their interactions and generally how they’ve perceived each other throughout the story. This post will mostly be analysis but it’s also going to be a little jokey as well, so idk prepare for that

I’m largely making this post for fun. I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while and I love to analyze them, so two birds one stone. Without any further ado

I actually find their very first interaction quite interesting

Izuku sees Tomura want to quit, and his first question is what for. Izuku is very much the analytical type, a person to wonder why and how and for what reason. So for Tomura to come into Izuku’s life and provide such an environment where Izuku doesn’t know what the hell is going on - it’s dangerous and it throws Izuku for a loop

In fact, Tomura may be the first Villain Izuku has ever observed where he doesn’t know what to think exactly, apart from panic and questions. Why is this guy here? Why is he quitting now? What was the purpose of this invasion? Why is it Game Over when it’s only just begun?

And Izuku has no answer to these questions

Personally, every time I’ve come across this scene, the logic of it never came to mind until recently. That is, in my mind, I would think the events were “Izuku, Tsuyu and Mineta observe Tomura, then Tomura attacks them”

But I never thought about how this happens

In the first screencap with Tomura, it shows that he is standing a good distance away from the kids, but not that far. Because of Mineta’s commotion, it would have been quite easy for Tomura to hear the splashing and voices behind him, even if they were just whispers. He’s quiet for a second, adding that ~dramatic pause~, but I also think thats because he’s listening. He heard the voices, he heard the splashing, and he’s found a bit of fun in his little seemingly-useless USJ mission

Tomura even points to where the kids are, as if a tiny bit of funny foreshadowing before he actually attacks

So now, I think of the events as “Izuku, Tsuyu and Mineta observe Tomura, and upon Mineta hearing that the Villains are going to leave, he raises his voice a little. Along with the group talking anyway, Tomura hears their voices and moves to attack”

The decay; Izuku first seeing this happen. Rather, first seeing it up close and personal

(Also also this probably doesn’t mean anything, but I’m pretty sure the disembodied hand closest to Izuku is Hana’s. Not sure if there’s any connection to that, but it’s interesting I think)

The first confrontation!! The first in a chain of events that will spark their story!! Don’t mind me I’m just emotional

I also like how you can see Tomura is smiling back at Aizawa after his “You really are cool, Eraserhead.” line

I’m gonna say this a lot during this post, but this interaction is interesting

Tomura notices Izuku’s power, whatever it may be (as he doesn’t know yet), is strong. Not incredibly so, but it sure does get in the way and had an impact. The kid tried to hit him with everything he had and that must stand out to Tomura, the same way any quirk would once he sees it

One thing you have to remember about Tomura is he is analytical as well. Not to the exact same extent as Izuku I don’t think (though they do mutter and have physical evidence of their observations), but it’s obvious here that Izuku has caught his eye. Maybe not in the way Tomura seeks out All Might, but it’s definitely a start

I think what makes this interesting is that they are both observing each other. Izuku, before this, was watching Tomura and wondering what he was doing, and now straight after that we see Tomura wondering out loud about Izuku’s quirk and inspiration

As well as that, Tomura quite easily dismisses Izuku within the same page. Quick as a flash he goes “Oh, that move was interesting. And you said Smash, so you’re a fan of his, right? Anyway-” and threw him aside

Even as Tomura takes that very tiny interest in Izuku, he’s not even bothered about the kid. He aims for Tsuyu and Mineta instead. Whether this is because he saw Izuku’s willingness to fight with everything he had as a potential threat or because he couldn’t give less of a shit about All Might fans, the fact is that he dismisses Izuku and turns to the other kids

Love this panel! Just the whole “opposites” thing going on

(plus it reminds me of the Void hehe)

“Uh... that one... The plain one...”

I have to laugh. Oh Tomura, you’ve no idea what’s coming lmao

“He came at me with everything he had.”

So Tomura was watching Izuku, even if it was just for that brief second. Even with someone as insignificant as him, Tomura took him into account and used Izuku as an example

Their shock at All Might heehee

More observation from Tomura. Izuku continues to catch his eye

One thing to back up the idea of Tomura thinking of Izuku as a threat is that, because of AFO simply mentioning the word “strong”/”strong as All Might”, he thinks of Izuku. Rather, he uses the word “fast” because Izuku wasn’t that strong, was he? He was just somebody in the way, and somebody with a similar power to All Might though it was not equal to the Pros strength at all

When we get to the Sports Festival, we see this panel of Tomura watching the tournament and watching the moment Izuku crosses the finish line in the first game. We don’t get a continuous thorough follow-up to this and we don’t know why Tomura is watching the game, though presumably it is to spy (if you can call “spying” watching a broadcast on television for the world to see) on the next generation Heroes and find out their quirks. It is also assumed that maybe All For One told him to watch it for this reason as well

In this room, there is evidence to Tomura having physical evidence of his observations. Above his computers, we see a map and information on what look to be different Heroes and news articles, some of which contain All Might. As well as talking to themselves and muttering, we also have the physical evidence parallel

In these screencaps, AFO says that Izuku and Shouto may become obstacles in Tomura’s path, and Tomura replies “Oh? What a load of crap...”

My line of thinking with this is that, while Tomura may have thought of Izuku as “fast” or “as fast as All Might”, there’s no real panic or even as much interest there. Sure, he wondered about Izuku’s move and that he was a fan of All Might, but he wasn’t panicked or even engaged with the kid. He focused on the mission and didn’t even glance his way unless to make a comment on “the plain one” using violence. So yes, I can see why Tomura may think it’s a bit of a joke that Izuku could be an obstacle

Notably, the kid was fast and his power was sorta similar to All Might, but in strength? No correlation. No connection. This kid is unimportant, and not worth thinking about

With that being said, Tomura also prints out a picture of Izuku after this tournament and stares at it. But we’ll get to that in a second

I would have loved to see Tomura’s reactions to Izuku’s fights or the tournament in general. All we really get are these little ominous moments (which isn’t a bad thing, as Tomura is already presented as the Villain Character so naturally he is seen as a threat) of him staring at the screen and scratching. Two moments that are shown after the Izuku vs Shouto battle are this

(this is when Bakugou just finished his match with Tokoyami and was set to have his match with Shouto. its also immediately after we are shown Kurogiri warping Stain to the hideout)

And this

(what an interesting speech bubble to put next to a Villain)

We are never shown Tomura’s continuous reaction to the tournament like we were shown with the kids or Present Mic+Aizawa, but there are two things we can glean from these screencaps alone

1) Izuku has officially caught Tomura’s eye

2) Tomura is now interested in Bakugou

Tomura: I hate this kid he is annoying and I want him to die

Also Tomura: *prints out a picture of him*

As well as Izuku, we can also see that Tomura has printed out other pictures, one of them being Bakugou in chains (that had to be where he got it from), but I don’t know what the third could have been. I can’t remember if it has been shown to us either

Anyway, down to the analysis of this part

Clearly, Tomura doesn’t like Izuku. He says so in these panels. But the very fact that he printed out a picture of Bakugou, a kid he later took as a hostage and someone he saw as a potential member of the League, tells you that he is officially interested now. It’s no longer about how fast this kid is, his strength is something else as well. Tomura watched the match with Shouto vs Izuku, he saw Izuku’s strength, his recklessness, his stubbornness (how crazy he was to break himself over and over) and that grabbed him

The Sports Festival is the very arc where Tomura starts to think (or must start to think) that Izuku isn’t just fast. He’s strong too. He’s worth looking out for. Tomura sees him as a threat now

I also want to add that the whole “printing pictures out” thing is very like... how do I put this... remember when you were a kid and you used to print out pictures that you found on the internet because you found them pretty, interesting or inspirational? Yeah. It has that kind of energy

(am I gonna get hate for that? I can’t be the only one that did this when I was a stupid kid)

Not just with Izuku but like. everything that Tomura took away from that Sports Festival; Izuku, Bakugou and whatever that third picture is. He looked at these three things and thought “yeah I gotta remember them for later”

His expression seems generally brighter too. Idk he just looks even more fixated than he was before. That kid definitely struck a chord in him

Turning to Izuku, we have this of him thinking about the League

And this

Which, actually, I find quite funny

Because Izuku is implying here that the Villains at USJ (and I can’t put this any other way) ain’t shit compared to Stain

Here is the very first evidence of Izuku knowing that Tomura lacked conviction. Tomura is nothing like Stain. Tomura has no conviction. Tomura doesn’t have the eyes of a killer (especially considering that Izuku never saw Tomura kill anyone at USJ)

It implies, very much so, that Izuku doesn’t think of Tomura as an important Villain. Scary, perhaps. Needlessly violent, sure. But without conviction, it’s not a real threat. You could almost say that Izuku may have thought of Tomura as, like All Might did, a “man-child”. Though it never says this in text, it’s the only way I can describe what Izuku may have thought of Tomura

Tomura, in USJ, was a maniac in Izuku’s eyes. Directionless, violent, absolutely no will to carry on to the bitter end in a battle. Even in the first screencaps of this post, we see Izuku criticizing Tomura’s decision to run. This is also evidence to Izuku just not understanding Tomura at all (a lead-up to the iconic Mall Scene)

The reason I find this funny tho is that I remember seeing a lot of fan work going around (comics, fanart, fanfics etc) of Izuku treating Tomura like a big threat, that he had his nefarious plot to destroy All Might and Izuku being very serious about stopping him. But the reality seems to be that Tomura wanted to give up his mission, immediately talked big when All Might appeared and Izuku thought

Not to say that Izuku doesn’t find him scary, because he does in the way that Tomura is a Villain with the potential to cause some true chaos instead of invading a little class, but we also have moments like these from the USJ

Where Izuku puts his faith so much in All Might that he (a kid who is all about being analytical) just decides that there isn’t a reason to get worried and leaves All Might to it, before jumping in and trying to save him

And then we have Izuku seeing Kurogiri as more of a threat than Tomura himself, likely because Kurogiri nearly broke All Might in half while Tomura only called upon a Noumu to do his work for him

All evidence seems to point to Izuku thinking that Tomura ain’t shit

But the fact that he comes to the assumption that Stain and the League (aka Tomura) are working together means that, now, he has a reason to be more worried. After all, Stain has the eyes of a killer, and even if Izuku thinks Tomura doesn’t, there’s still a danger in Stain joining the League. A known killer joining a “nothing” organization means there could be more killers like him hiding in the League, or at least the League has more of a potential to recruit more if they recruited THE Stain. This is what I think Izuku would think anyway

Recognition. I wonder what Tomura must have thought when Stain saved Izuku. Obviously he’d maybe be confused, definitely think that Stain did that to spite him, but I also wonder if, narratively, that could do with the whole “Izuku being worth it” thing, as Tomura comes to realize in War Arc that focusing on Izuku is worth what he could gain

So, with all this in mind... The Mall Scene! Honestly one of my favorite Tomura and Izuku scenes so far!

Notably, Tomura mentions the Sports Festival. Which, you know, would be where any Sports Festival fan would know Izuku from, but I still find it interesting considering that the Sports Festival arc is where Tomura, as a viewer, realizes that Izuku is more of a threat and/or more interesting then he lets on

He also mentions Hosu as well, maybe foreshadowing to the fact that Izuku is useful to him?

Okay so the thing that interests me greatly about the Mall Scene is that these two are actually very honest with each other. In a hostage situation, you’d think the victim would do anything to get out of it; lie, struggle, wait until a perfect opening, you know? But Izuku doesn’t do anything like that. For the reason that he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, of course, but when Tomura asks him a genuine question, he doesn’t lie at all. In fact, he looks Tomura in the eye and gives his opinion, even though he could have seriously died. It was a very dangerous situation, yet Izuku didn’t hold back at all

The very thing I love is that Tomura chose to go to Izuku. He didn’t follow him to the mall, but he did choose to talk to him, to sit down with him, to spill his guts about his feelings, and even answers Izuku’s question honestly

In most Villain-Hero hostage/victim situations, there’s a certain give and take where one side of the two has more power than the other, where one of them chooses what they say very carefully for fear they will die or get caught

But in this case, Izuku spills the hot piping tea on what he thinks of Tomura. Tomura spills his guts about his feelings. They both answer each other’s questions honestly

But see, here’s how I view the scene

They both see each other as potential threats. Izuku is both fast and strong, like All Might, and Tomura saw that during the Sports Festival. Tomura is a maniac, violent, and anybody with those attributes is capable of doing some real damage, but the only thing he lacks is the conviction he needs, which would actually convince Izuku that he is a very real threat that can’t just be stamped down by All Might

Tomura, in the mall, is toying with Izuku. He’s out on a walk, trying to work out his thoughts, when he comes across the kid and thinks “Why not? Why not have a little fun?” and takes the kid hostage

We have to remember that Izuku thinks Tomura “ain’t shit”, especially because at the USJ, Tomura didn’t kill anybody and had to get his Noumu to do all the work. It’s kind of the same with the Stain-League assumption that they were working together during that attack, that Izuku would have likely thought Stain was someone for Tomura to send out instead of doing the work himself

But here, Tomura is saying, plain as day “I will kill them, 20- no, I could take 30 out.” and either Izuku could think he’s bluffing or that this statistic is backed up by experience

Either way, Izuku’s not going to challenge it if it means others could get hurt. So he agrees to talk

Izuku saw the danger in a known Villain joining the League, but now that it’s confirmed to have been wrong, Izuku doesn’t have much to worry about. After all, the League is just a “nothing” organization, right? ....... right?

Tomura asks an honest question, one he’s been thinking about since he left for his walk. Izuku answers it

And here is the clear-as-day evidence of Izuku not understanding Tomura

Izuku says Stain is destructive, but at least he’s doing it for a reason. This suggests he sees Tomura as, like I said, a maniac who uses violence recklessly and needlessly, and that scares him (as it would anyone). Tomura is scary to Izuku, but not in the “you’re a real threat” way. Tomura has the potential, but no real drive, and that’s exactly what Izuku says here

More than anything, Izuku suggests that Tomura treats it like a game to pass the time. Using violence needlessly but quitting whenever he wants to, and Izuku notices the gaming references as well to back this up

When I think about how Izuku acted in this entire scene, it makes me wonder if this was his thought-process: “I’ll answer the question and do what he says because he’s just a Villain who will get caught in the end. Doesn’t matter if I struggle or not, he will get caught just like he would have been in USJ had it not been for that warp guy. And the warp guy isn’t here now, not that I can see, so Shigaraki has nowhere to escape. If I just stay and listen to him, a Hero will come. I’ll answer his question because he won’t hurt me, he couldn’t even kill All Might at USJ. Plus, he wouldn’t want to alert all these people, right? He’ll get caught easily that way.” or something along those lines anyway

Point is, I think Izuku is scared because of the threat Tomura potentially poses, but the way he answers him so honestly, I can’t think of it as anything other than a kid that thinks so less about this Villain that he would look him in the eye and tell him what he really thinks despite the situation

I honestly don’t think Tomura was expecting Izuku to be so honest with him. I think he was expecting to get his feelings out, maybe scare the kid, but not for Izuku to look him in the eye and say he’s got no ideals or direction

And that makes him mad

It’s a hard pill to swallow, and as quick as he gives that dangerous look to Izuku, he’s swallowing said pill and taken in what he said

The funny thing is, Izuku’s hot piping tea was that Tomura lacked conviction. He knew this anyway, he didn’t see him as big of a threat as he looked, he mostly seemed to chalk him down as a Villain that could be taken away by removing the lackey that bodyguarded him. Izuku even tells him, straight up, “you lack ideals” so very honestly you’d think he was crazy to do so if it weren’t for the fact that Izuku doesn’t perceive Tomura as an incredible threat

But in the end, Izuku gave Tomura the conviction he needed in order to become the biggest threat in the world. Actually, he accidentally inspired Tomura to form his conviction, and now because of this exact moment, we have a possessed fusion god flying around

(how does it feel to be the catalyst of a domino effect, Izuku?)

This is a moment that changes Izuku’s opinion of him from “potential threat if you worked harder and weren’t such a coward” to “uh holy shit you have a conviction crap uhhh I take it back I tAKE IT BACK-”

This is a very serious sequence of panels but literally the way Tomura says “I’m glad we had this chat! Thanks Midoriya! I’m heading down the right path for me!” sounds so much like Izuku gave him advice on his problems, and that’s actually what happened lmao

(whats also interesting is that Tomura plays the “friend” role throughout the Mall Scene. Tells Izuku to “pretend I’m an old friend”, sit like close buddies next to each other on the bench, Tomura even thanks him like a friend would after being given advice)

Again, this is very serious, but to me it looks like Tomura pulls on Father to trick Izuku into thinking he has a weapon “so you have to play along and don’t cause a scene or else people will die”, but Izuku is so panicked that he’s like “NO LISTEN LOOK I’M GOOD I’M OKAY URARAKA SO STAY BACK HAHA EVERYTHING IS OKAY”

So Tomura has to let go and act like a Good Old Pal so Uraraka doesn’t call the Heroes

Introducing: My favorite panel lol. And I’m including it for the opposite energies they have, but also because I like it. There’s also the continuation of Good Friend Tomura behaving like a Good Friend who ran into his Good Old Pal Izuku Midoriya at the mall for a friendly chat. Tomura understood the assignment lmao

Anyway, Izuku actually asks a question back

And Tomura answers honestly. The reason I think this is because Tomura has never lied, throughout the series he is always honest. Maybe he twists words and meanings - doesn’t reveal the whole truth - but he never outright lies to anyone. And here is no different

Fated enemies. Tomura says it himself; it’s fate, it’s destiny, it’s inevitable

There is the chance in this sentence that suggests “if you meet me again” but I think it’s more of a promise than anything. 1) Because Tomura does meet Izuku again and 2) Tomura seems to tie Izuku to fate, which I will get to later

After this moment, it’s clear that this interaction has inspired him

Izuku inspired that conviction in him. All he had to say was “you lack conviction and thats the difference” and Tomura instantly came to his own conclusions. Izuku never meant to make him think about All Might and the fragility of society, but those words he spoke as he looked in his eyes triggered the spark that lit Tomura’s flame

These two now have one more shared parallel, aside from the mutterings and the physical evidence of observation; their convictions involve All Might. It’s all about All Might

One observation I want to talk about, before I get into everything after this scene, is that I think Tomura sees Izuku as a gam

I don’t know how to put this.... he sees Izuku as an NPC to toy with during his free time in a game. The NPC to push around and play with before a quest starts or because he is bored. I mean, look at what he did; he chose to go after Midoriya in the mall, scare the shit out of him, all presumably for fun (thats what it looked like anyway) to see what his reaction would be

To me, it looks like Tomura did have his fun with this little extra. At the same time, this little extra also gave him some useful information, highlighted in bright text and everything. Clear as day to help him on his quest. He didn’t realize this NPC could inspire him and he went on to complete level after level because of this information

(have I made enough gamer references yet? lol)

Anyway, so Everything After This Scene is just little moments before the big War Arc

First evidence of Izuku thinking about Tomura’s words and considering them. Not to the extent he does in the current arcs, but it’s a start

And then we have the disaster of the Training Camp Arc, where we have Tomura’s “game plan” changing due to conviction - he has more of an idea of what he wants now

We also have this

Where we learn that Izuku is still on the kill list, obviously. (I gotta know; did Tomura show the League the pic? does he still have it??)

Then we have this moment here, which still puzzles me to this day

Cuz why did she get Izuku’s blood? Did Tomura need it? Why would he have been thrilled? Was there supposed to be a specific use for it, or was it a “just in case we need it” thing? These are the real questions. Reveal the answers to me Horikoshi

In the Overhaul Arc, Izuku is now terrified by the League and what they can do. We’ve come a long way since him not thinking of Tomura as a big threat

“Tomura”, huh? Look guys they’re already friends, they’re on a first name basis😌 lmao

Jokes aside, we now enter War Arc, where there is just SO MUCH going on with these two

All the way from the iconic Mall Scene, the scene where Izuku finally realizes just how much of a threat Tomura actually is, especially since he left being inspired by what Izuku told him. Now it’s come full circle, where now he is experiencing the true terror of Tomura Shigaraki

Not only that, but Izuku is remembering the decay explanation from the Mall Scene. He saw the effects of decay on Aizawa during the USJ despite not having the explanation back then, yet he specifically looks back on the Mall Scene to supply that information. Idk I find that interesting, but also Its The Trauma

Looking up the mountain, looking down the mountain (they are connected)

At this point, Izuku knows who is at the top of that mountain, whereas Tomura doesn’t know who has One For All yet

See, Tomura has Search, which means at this moment here, he is following the brightest quirk he can see which is One For All

At this point, he’s only following

But then as he flies down the hill, getting closer and closer to the quirk

He has this look of almost fondness. Like he’s just realized something. If he’s looking at the quirk and saying that, it can’t be anything but him realizing that Izuku has One For All as he gets closer

Also the biggest evidence to this is that “Must be fate.” is a callback to the Mall Scene!!

“Something like fate... or destiny, maybe...”

It’s because of this that I believe Tomura associates Izuku with fast, strong like All Might, and now he associates him with the word “fate” as he has used it twice now with the kid

And look at that smile. When I first read this, I thought Tomura would be shocked to learn that Izuku had One For All. But he’s not even surprised, he just smiles like this is what was meant to happen. As I said before, they are fated, it’s destiny, it’s inevitable

Tomura just rolls with that. He doesn’t reject it, didn’t even reject it before, and neither does Izuku. They cross paths and that’s just how it is, like it’s expected

And now, suddenly, the NPC he’s ran into a few times is more important than he thought. He was having fun before, he was bored and playing around with the kid, but now the big reveal has come where the NPC that was so boring and plain is secretly the person he needs to complete his quest

Again I’m just kind of like. marveling at how far they’ve come because Tomura went from dismissing Izuku and not seeing him as an actual threat to now deliberately going after him. It’s a little thing but I still like it

And I love this battle personally because they just keep connecting in odd ways that are both as people and as enemies. I don’t know how else to describe it other than that

Because you have honest moments like these

Staring at each other like “what was that??”

Tomura telling Izuku he won’t forgive anyone

“What’s the date today...?”

This back and forth that I can’t take seriously because Tomura is seriously out here threatening to send Izuku and the other Heroes to Heaven of all places, all with that grin on his face

Tomura looking genuinely scared here which. again, a far cry from USJ when he dismissed Izuku entirely, teased him and generally treated him like an extra in a game. Now he’s getting pummeled by the kid who wasn’t a threat. “That plain one” is now kicking his ass

I don’t know how else to describe them other than honest. Vulnerable, maybe. There’s clearly a connection there that separates them from any other Tomura-Hero interaction

This is definitely the arc that changes Tomura though

Here we see the convictions he’d built up over the course of the story almost shattering by his own word. Because his conviction was to destroy All Might and show the world how fragile the system is, but the thing is the Heroes don’t pay attention. There’s no showing and there’s no telling, because they simply don’t get it

The consequence of Izuku’s advice was a conviction that Tomura built up on his own, yet now in this battle that involves Izuku, that conviction is being torn down because no one is listening. They don’t understand and they don’t want to understand. It’s the dichotomy of it all

Even when this speech is the clearest Tomura could ever be about what grinds his gears, they won’t listen. They won’t understand. Izuku doesn’t understand, and seemingly never will

I find this kind of a contrast to the Mall Scene, as Tomura is once again venting to a Hero(es) about his issues, yet nobody pays attention to what he is actually saying

And it is at this point he gives up on convincing the world. He loses his conviction. Now he’s in it to destroy, because what else can he do if they won’t listen? He’ll fight of course

This time there is no “advice” or questions. There are only statements and graves to dig deeper. Again, this is a big contrast, because the Mall Scene was such an honest scene, where both of them were talking to each other. Despite it being one-sided physically, they both talked and they both answered each other’s questions

Now? They say they can’t forgive each other. Not that they even would before, but it’s a short conversation set in stone, and they are shut off from the other

At the same time, we have Izuku accepting his own fate here. OFA was manifested to stop dreams of destruction, and it’s here where there is another “set in stone” moment

I would say this is also an honest/vulnerable/whatever-you-wanna-call-it moment. The fear, or you could say shock, in Tomura’s eye as Izuku goes berserk. Once again... same kid from USJ, guys. We’ve come very far

I also? cannot describe this?? The look on Tomura’s face is vulnerable, satisfied at getting the quirk, and tired. It’s a look that kind of says “There’s no use attacking, I’ve already won”

But as they enter the Void, it’s like a beacon of light in such a dark place. The tone shifts and you can feel it

THIS is the moment things change. Everything from before falls apart. The damage is done, the hate is the same, there is still no forgiving what has been done, but there is a connection so bright, it’s hard to miss

Here, as he is struggling, Tomura looks at Izuku. He’s talking to All For One, he should be looking at All For One, but he looks up... and Izuku is there, staring right back at him

That look is very much the “You looked like you needed help” moment. Even before you get the reveal of that in 295, it’s here, plain as day in the framing, the angle, the way they (especially Izuku) look at each other

This is the moment that changes everything about Izuku’s understanding of Tomura. It doesn’t change what Tomura has done and it doesn’t explain why Tomura did the things he did, but it’s clear now that he isn’t just “doing it for fun”

There are no gaming references, no retreating, no falling back. This battle had callbacks to USJ but we aren’t in USJ anymore. This is now Izuku looking at Tomura and seeing the truth; that the Villain before him is hurting and being used

Izuku sees him being strangled and leaps to stop it, and you can see that there really is a sort of compassion in his eyes (at least in the first screencap) that says “I want to help you. I don’t want you to get hurt anymore”

This dialogue can be taken two ways

1) Please don’t start moving again because I want you to stop hurting people

2) Please don’t start moving again because I don’t want to hurt you more than I already have

It can even be taken as both. That Izuku just wants this all to stop, for Tomura’s sake and everyone else’s

TomurAFO pushing Izuku away, and his hand spasming

This is more of a personal theory/headcanon, no evidence to it, but I wonder if the hand was spasming because Tomura was trying to gain control again. Like, AFO took control and pushed Izuku away, then Tomura tried to get his control back, hand still extended as if reaching out towards the kid, but then being taken over by AFO and simply watching as Izuku falls

(thats just a small theory though. i am in denial)

I also can’t get it out of my mind that Tomura’s hand lingered in the air as if reaching out for Izuku, then drawing it back, and then Izuku doing the exact same thing

Like a small weak gesture of “No, come back”

Izuku’s look of distress

TomurAFO watching him but also it looks like a sort of acceptance, the way his head is bowed down

It’s such a sad turn of events and it really tugs on the heart strings

To go from an interaction where Tomura dismisses Izuku and Izuku can’t think of Tomura as anything serious... to Izuku racing to help Tomura while he’s in peril?

All I gotta say is

STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM

NOW WE HERE

And then AND THEN we now get Izuku fighting for Tomura

A WILD CONCEPT given the beginning of the story but nonetheless so very good

Izuku is literally standing on the edge of a decision he has to make, something he must do or could do

Izuku saw Tenko. He saw Tomura, the one underneath all the hatred. And that’s what Tomura has been doing this entire time; crying out for help

How ironic is it that Tomura gave up trying to convince the world that the system was broken in the same arc Izuku realizes that Tomura has been hurting because of the system he’s protecting?

Izuku is so calm as he speaks. This page really shows how that encounter in the Void changed his view on Villains, or maybe he’s been thinking about this for a while now, given the way he speaks. The point is, he’s seeing the choices he could have made, the ones he may have regretted making and the ones he didn’t

Izuku sees Tenko. He sees him

And the shadows fluctuate around him, for the first time ever forming a mouth. He means what he speaks and he says it with conviction

The more he talks, the more he becomes the little boy who saved because he could and it was right, the one who takes the very essence of what All Might taught and fights for peace

And Izuku once again spills the hot tea, but this time he does it FOR TOMURA! INSTEAD OF AGAINST HIM!

In this scene, Izuku is inspired and gains a conviction because of what happened to Tomura! He was always going to be somebody who saves, but the fact that sentiment has now extended to Villains thanks to what happened to Tomura is amazing!

These two inspired each other’s convictions!!

Even through the Rogue arc, Izuku continues to think about Tomura and what he said

(ah!! he said the thing!!)

It’s nice to see as well that Izuku still isn’t forgiving Tomura for what he’s done. He wants to save him but that doesn’t mean he can just let everything go

A HERO THAT SAVES NO MATTER WHAT! WE LOVE TO SEE IT!

And now, as the story continues, we have another parallel; Izuku and Tomura are each other’s side quests

Don’t get me wrong, Tomura’s main mission is to destroy Hero Society and teach the Heroes a lesson (or at least cause destruction) and Izuku’s mission is to stop All For One and save as many people as possible

But see, in the War Arc, Tomura caused chaos among Hero Society while also focusing on getting Izuku’s One For All

In Izuku’s Rogue arc, we have him seeking out All For One to stop him while also focusing on finding Tomura

The main mission hasn’t changed much, but now they seek each other out when available

In a mall

In the middle of a battlefield

During the fall of Hero Society

They keep searching for each other, and though they are still committed to the impact they want to achieve, there is always that one spark of inspiration they give each other. For Izuku to help anybody, for Tomura to find his own purpose

In conclusion................. I love them and I love their development with each other

Thank you very much for reading this far. I’m sorry this is so long. I have many feelings about these two, as usual

When are they going to interact again, I miss them so much

#i had fun with this one #i love them i miss them hori please bring them together again #if you have read this post AND ARE ALSO reading the tags: here is a cookie🍪#this took so long to write but i love them and so it was worth it #also sorry for the 'ain't shit' stuff #just cause i know it could have been worded smarter but like #this post was for fun so if you have an issue with it thats your problem buddy #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #tomura shigaraki #izuku midoriya #shigaraki and midoriya #shigaraki and midoriya analysis #mettys posts #metty posts

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immaturityofthomasastruc · 3 years ago

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IOTA Reviews: Rocketear

The Rocketeer is a 1991 Disney movie set in 1930's America where a test pilot gets a jetpack and uses it to fight Nazis and— Wait, what? “Rocketear”? Oh, damn it!

Let's get into the eleventh (chronologically the seventeenth) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Rocketear.

We start off with Carapace and Cat Noir struggling to hold back some T-Rexes brought back to life by a scientist Jurassic Park style. Seriously, they reference the movie in the same scene.

Why wasn't this the plot of the episode again?

After managing to tame the dinosaurs with a whistle of all things, Ladybug notices something's wrong with Nino after he gives the Turtle Miraculous back to her. Apparently, he's wondering why Rena Rouge (who he knows is Alya) wasn't recruited with him today. Ladybug tells him that he was the only help she needed today. In reality, it's because Alya has adjusted to her new role of supporting Ladybug behind the scenes in her new form, Rena Furtive.

And I'm not a fan of the new form. I get the camo, but it doesn't really help her blend in when her suit is bright blue. I think it's based off the arctic fox, but that animal is able to camouflage itself because it's fur matches the snowy environment. I'm sure a bright blue jumpsuit won't stand out when she tries to blend in at all. Also, the fact that Alya can just change her hero form gives even less excuses as to why Ladybug's new form is only when she uses her Lucky Charm.

Alya is struggling to keep this a secret from Nino because they don't have a lot of secrets in their relationship. Marinette says she can kind of get it because she had to keep her identity a secret from her friend and has to keep keeping her identity a secret from everyone else. Basically, she's telling Alya to suck it up because this is what being a superhero is.

So the next time she sees Nino, Alya tells him she's no longer Rena Rouge, but not about Rena Furtive, which troubles her. The very next scene shows Alya showing Marinette pictures she took of her new costume and asking her which version looks better.

You could always try reviewing Akuma fights. I heard there's one blog that does it when they're not criticizing the famous director Thomas Astruc on social media.

Yeah, in case you can't tell, Alya was only able to rent her brain for a few episodes because she really doesn't seem as understanding about being a superhero as she was in earlier episodes. In episodes like “Optigami” and “Sentibubbler”, we saw Alya use more strategy and show discretion as Rena Rouge, seemingly taking her job more seriously, but then this episode just had to go and piss it all away. I also love how the first time the animators made Alya's skin the same when she's transformed is in a single frame for a joke.

Alya thankfully deletes the picture, but Nino overhears her talking about struggling to find more content for the Ladyblog, and decides to go to the movies with her to help take her mind off things. Nino, in turn, proceeds to give the same reaction to the in-universe Ladybug movie that Astruc gives to the PV.

Apparently, that movie's already getting a sequel and it has a teaser. So was the sequel animated at the same time as the original like Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III?

Nino gets pissed the next movie in the Ladybug Cinematic Universe will feature Rena Rouge and not Carapace... even though Rena Rouge debuted first. The teaser then shows Rena Rouge falling for Cat Noir (yet another creative liberty taken by the writers or something Astruc's self-insert threw in himself), and takes it like it's the real thing. Dude, the first movie said Ladybug was afraid of cats, and the director yelled at the person it was based on for judging it. He clearly has a hard time distinguishing fiction from reality.

Alya leaves Nino early so she can go on patrol, but Nino sees Cat Noir heading out as well. He then watches a video on the Ladyblog where Alya praises Cat Noir which is totally not Astruc projecting or anything.

I don't know what your definition of a prince is, Alya, and I honestly don't want to know.

So Nino takes this as evidence that Alya is in love with Cat Noir and decides to tell Adrien, who naturally laughs him off. And just before you think we have an episode where Adrien plays the straight man, Adrien decides to visit Alya because he's afraid he accidentally charmed Alya.

Yes, because Cat Noir is so charming, girls are just fighting over him, aren't they?

We then cut to a black and white film noir monologue by Nino (dressed like a detective with a fake mustache), who decides to spy on Alya. When Cat Noir asks Alya if she is attracted to him, she naturally laughs him off, though Cat Noir is thankfully a good sport about it, even giving her a hug to apologize. Unfortunately, Nino took this the wrong way.

The next day at school, Nino takes Adrien into his “office” (it's really an excuse to reuse the boiler room setpiece), and shows him the picture of the hug. Adrien says that Alya would never fall for Cat Noir because she's always dedicated to finding out the truth and telling her boyfriend everything. What's Nino's retort?

Okay, several problems with this bit. First of all, why would Nino even tell Adrien any of this? What would it accomplish? Why not say all this to Alya while confronting her about her alleged unfaithfulness? Second, Ladybug didn't give Nino and Alya their Miraculous at the same time until it was an absolute emergency. She outright said in “Hero's Day” that she didn't have time to recruit Nino and Alya separately.

Ladybug: I'm sorry for what I'm about to do. I know I'm revealing your secret identities but I don't have time to find a good excuse to give them to you separately. Rena Rouge and Carapace, I need you both!

Nino and Alya kept their identities secret from each other until then, with Alya even keeping the fact she knew who Carapace was a secret as well. Nino didn't find out because “they don't hide anything from each other” (which I plan to talk about later).

Other than that, I actually liked Adrien in this scene. It was really investing to see him try to justify the whole secret identities rule while Nino blatantly said there was an exception. This is the kind of stuff I wanted to see when it came to Adrien doubting Ladybug, not him destroying things in his anger.

While Nino rants about how Cat Noir “stole” Alya from him, Shadowmoth sends an Akuma his way, turning him into Rocketear.

And the design he has is just boring. It's just a blue jumpsuit with some black spots that look like teardrops, a teardrop-shaped head and a visor. I think the reason this season's been relying more on past Akumas and using more Sentimonsters is because DQ is terrible at character designs. I mean, compare this suit with Aigraon from Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger (his Power Rangers counterpart is Wrench from Dino Charge).

The design does so much more with the teardrop motif, giving him a perpetually miserable face with tear lines going all over his body. Add that to a more diverse color scheme, and you have a much more visually stunning design. And this was created in real life, not rendered on a computer. I'm not sure if this is a budget thing or a laziness thing, but if it's the former, you really need to do better, animators.

The powers are meh, giving Nino the ability to fling explosive tears at enemies. It's a clever idea, and it makes sense he gets a power that parallels Cat Noir's, but I think maybe it would have been more interesting if he couldn't control the tears at all. Like, imagine if he was constantly crying like Blue Diamond, and with every tear he shed, Rocketeer could send it at whoever he felt was causing him misery, mainly Cat Noir, all while serving as a metaphor for people who blame others for their own personal issues. Better yet, make him look like the detective outfit Nino wore for the second act. It would have made him more unpredictable instead of making his tears generic projectile weapons.

Marinette and Alya see the fight and transform into Ladybug and Rena Furtive respectively, the former summoning her Lucky Charm, a projector. Is it just me, or has this been happening with Ladybug a lot recently?

Back to Rocketear, we get a good moment where Cat Noir intentionally lets the Akuma hit him so he can get a chance to resolve things diplomatically. See, this is a moment where Cat Noir's self-sacrificing nature feels heroic and not selfish like when he does it without Ladybug's permission to spite her. Unfortunately, it doesn't really go anywhere as Ladybug shows up and plays the recording Nino took (Alya found his phone earlier), while Rena Furtive uses her Mirage to give the audio to what actually happened that night.

Rena transforms back into Alya and embraces Rocketear, who apologizes to her for his behavior. And then he just... rejects Shadowmoth's power while looking like it wasn't that much effort.

At least when Chloe and Alya did it, we saw them struggling for a little longer. I guess maybe it's because Nino is motivated by his love for Alya, but I think it should have been fleshed out more. So Ladybug purifies the Akuma, gives Nino a Magical Charm, and Cat Noir is still unsure about his feelings for Ladybug at the moment, though they still pound it.

Back in his room, Adrien ponders why Alya and Nino get to know their identities while he and Ladybug can't, but Plagg points out it's because she's the Guardian. It's brief, but I do like seeing Adrien start to doubt Ladybug's judgment, and it looks like it'll foreshadow future episodes. This is a problem I've had since “Hero's Day”, and I'm glad the writers are finally acknowledging this double standard. I just hope they don't end up blaming Marinette for whatever happens later on.

Marinette, of course, apologizes for what happened between Alya and Nino, and I have to say... yeah, no. It's obviously Nino's fault here.

Nino really pushed personal boundaries in this episode, much like Marinette's friends in “Gang of Secrets”. Yes, honesty is a valuable trait, but sometimes, people have secrets they want to keep to themselves. Nino's idea of “not hiding anything from each other” is somewhat controlling, like he's demanding Alya tell him everything whether she wants to or not. The fact that he immediately assumed Alya was cheating on him without giving her freedom to make her own choices doesn't make him look good. Let's be honest, a more realistic outcome would be Alya choosing to break things off with Nino or at least lecture him about how she can do what she wants and keep the secrets she wants. But instead...

And that's how the episode ends.

Okay, Marinette just said she trusted Alya to make the right decision, but I highly doubt she meant this. Marinette strictly said Alya had to keep Rena Furtive a secret, and now she's telling Nino this despite the risk? The whole reason Marinette and Luka broke up was because Marinette had to keep her secrets from Luka, but now it's okay for Alya to be completely honest? How is this not a double standard?

This episode was just dull, and there’s not even much I can really say about it.. There were a handful of standout moments, and the stuff with Adrien was somewhat compelling, but Nino's behavior was just insufferable and dragged the episode down. The Akuma fight was weak, only lasting about four minutes at most, and while the Lucky Charm was more creative this time, the plot was just frustrating. It's really one of the weaker episodes this season.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch the better Rocketeer.

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twdmusicboxmystery · 2 years ago

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TWD 11x17: Lockdown - Analysis

***Spoilers abound below! Don’t read until you’ve watched!!!***

Okay, how did everyone like 11x17? I actually loved it. It's one of those episodes that's very action-packed, which means it's fast-paced, but has less TD and Bethyl symbolism than we would like. There were still lots of good things though.

First off, there's Judith's voiceover at the beginning. From what I understand, they’ll be doing this at the beginning of every episode in 11c. We see flashbacks and scenes from previous seasons, which is fun. In this episode, the biggest thing that stood out to me was her last line. She says, "will it be tomorrow?" That's important because the “tomorrow” symbolism always foreshadows the CRM.

When Judith talks about having "found families," it shows a scene from 5×10, Them. Even though Beth isn't in it, any scene from Them always catches my attention.

This is a small thing, but I also like that when it talked about those who gave into darkness, it shows the obvious villains like the Governor, Shane, Alpha, etc. But it also shows Leah at the end. Even though it was always obvious to us, it's good to have even more confirmation that Leah was meant to be a villain.

There are also some differences in the opening credits. We see the Commonwealth flags draped over the fence in this shot.

And then near the end, we see both a bird’s eye view of Hilltop and then Alexandria. And at the end, when we circle around the walkers, we see an orange—almost pink—sun in the sky above.

The logo is all white. Except for some blood on one letter. But I noticed in episode 18, there was blood on two or three letters. So, I think the blood on letters is going to progress throughout the season.

Okay, then we get into the action of the episode. Negan and Annie join Daryl, Maggie, Gabriel, and Aaron. They put together a plan to take down Hornsby. First, Negan ambushes is a couple of CW soldiers and takes their car. It's a black SUV. Just before he does, he throws a gun and walkie talk to Daryl, who’s hiding in the back of white minivan.

I thought this car chase scene was probably important, and it was. But I had to watch a few times to take in all the details. The important thing here is that Daryl was hiding in the back of a minivan, waiting for Negan throw him weapons. It's not exactly the same thing as being left for dead in the back of the car, but remember that back in 4B, there is a small, nuanced scene with Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene, after they split up from Glenn and Tara, where they found a minivan that they decided to take to continue their journey to DC.

There was a female walker in the back that Abraham had to kill. It always felt like it was a death foreshadowed to me, but it was so small and seemingly insignificant that I haven't connected it to many things over the years. But I feel like the symbolism of Daryl being back this minivan might be the same as in that episode. The point is, he was somewhere people didn't expect him to be. He was hiding from the CW soldiers.

Then Negan threw him some weapons, which in the long run, allowed him to save Negan from the CW soldiers. And in turn, Negan would go to the Commonwealth to help save their people there. So, it feels similar to me to when we say that Beth survives so she can be a weapon to help save TF overall.

Then we see Hornsby get out of his car and he's yelling at people on the radio to find the car Negan took. Daryl starts shooting at them, drawing them in.

Daryl opens fire on Lance and his officers. He kills a bunch of them, and they continue to fire at the white van he's hiding behind. When Lance and the officers get close, Daryl has disappeared. He obviously ran around behind them and took their car. It's interesting to note that the SUV he gets into happens to be green.

Meanwhile, a black SUV full of CW soldiers is chasing Negan. The colors of the cars they are in are interesting. The CW soldiers are in a black SUV. Negan’s is dark blue. As they’re chasing him, Daryl comes from a side street in the green SUV and T-bones them, allowing Negan to get away.

Again, this is important because the person in the green SUV, who was hiding in the white van and was given the weapons, save Negan, which allows him to go back to the Commonwealth and save people there. It just feels like a great big template to me.

At the end of this, after he T-bones the Commonwealth soldiers, Daryl even has a wound on his forehead from the crash. We see it in the scene, but we don't see it again after that.

I also noticed that there were a lot of blonde female walkers in this episode. It’s not uncommon for us to see a few pretty much any time they're out fighting walkers, but I felt like there were a lot more in this episode than normal.

Back at the Commonwealth, people are protesting about Sebastian and Pamela is doing damage control. Per the plan, they send Negan into the CW as though he's just a new guy who wants to come in. He asks for Mercer and gives Mercer a message from Daryl. Mercer, being buds with most of TF, lets Negan into the CW.

Then we moved to Carol and the kids. Carol has pictures that show Sebastian heading into the train station. That becomes important when they go looking for his hiding place.

I did notice that Carol was making blueberry pancakes and burning them. I had to sit and think about this for a minute, because pancakes are definitely something that we’ve seen as a symbol before.

There are two times that I can think of that the pancake symbol was used prominently. The first was in season four when Rick was talking to Carol about how Lori used to make pancakes on Sunday morning. And they were really awful, but she kept at it because she felt like they were the kind of family who should have pancakes on Sunday morning. The other time was Abraham's funny metaphor when he asked Glenn, when he was pouring the Bisquick, did he mean to make pancakes? So, especially per Abraham's example, pancakes mean children. And that works for Rick and Lori example, because it was about their next family, including Carl.

So, I think pancakes generally represent children, but also a happy togetherness family kind of thing. Anyway, Lori making terrible pancakes was almost a sign that something was wrong in their family. She was trying to force it to be okay and for them to be happy, but we know their marriage had problems.

So, in the scene, everything seems like it's okay and the kids are having some normalcy. Carol is taking care of them and they're doing some crafts and some schoolwork. The fact that she burns the pancakes is probably a signal that things are about to go terribly awry, and by ep 18, they do. The normalcy of the Commonwealth is about to be shattered forever.

Anyway, Carol sees Shira and the plumber guy come toward the apartment. She hides outside and puts the kids in the cupboard to hide. Shira and the plumber come in and snoop around, and they clearly looking for the children. They take a picture of Daryl and the kids from the refrigerator. This was interesting to me because it specifically, shows Daryl, Judith, and RJ. Which means they know that Judith and RJ are the children associated with Daryl. Before that, they might not have known which kids were his, but now they do. That's probably going to be important to the future.

After that, Jerry sees Negan, who is looking thoroughly weirded out by the Commonwealth, LOL. I thought his expression was really funny. Jerry takes Negan to Carol, and Negan says something super interesting. He's just explaining their plan to Carol, but he says (paraphrasing), "Hornsby interrogated Herschel to get to Maggie, and the thought is that they'll try to use the kids to draw our people out." Now, that's exactly what's happening here, but as I think it's a foreshadow of something CRM is going to do. The kids are going to be taken in some way, which will probably lead to the spinoff.

Soon enough, a horde of walkers is coming toward the CW and has mysteriously gotten inside there are parameters. Earlier in the episode, we saw Pamela get on the radio and order someone to, "do it now." It's clear that Pamela unleashed walkers so that she would have a reason to lockdown the people and stop the protests. Jerry takes the kids and hides them in an attic space as Carol told him, and Carol and Negan go looking for the blueprints to union station so they can figure out where Sebastian's hiding place is.

There's a quick but sweet scene between Daryl and Maggie where she references the fact that he had to kill Leah. She says, "I know Leah meant something to you. I'm sorry." The reason this dialogue is important is that it calls back to what Rick said to Daryl in 5×10. He says, "I know you lost something back there." It just feels very similar to what Maggie said here. Daryl then replies that Glenn would've wanted him to watch out for and protect Maggie. He says, "you don't have to ever say you're sorry. Not to me.”

It occurred to me that this actually might be a call back to the old movie, Love Story, which features a famous line about love meaning never having to say you're sorry. I'm not sure if that's what they were going for, but AK said at the end that Daryl still feels like he owes Maggie something because of Glenn. So, he's always going to choose for above others. It was a very sweet and loaded moment between them that I enjoyed.

When Gabe, Aaron, and Annie arrive, they decide to go into the sewer to try and get underneath and ahead of Lance. Once there, they fire shots, hoping that Lance and his men will come down to them in the sewer.

Meanwhile, Negan and Carol find Sebastian's hiding place. The tell him they're going to take him back to Pamela. Negan has a funny line about Carol being a magician, and pulling bunnies out of her ass. Even Carol seemed to find that funny, but bunnies have been an important symbol that we've seen since S4. And of course the magician element suggests an illusion of some kind.

The people in the CW are rebelling and hold a midnight vigil for Sebastian's victims. When CW soldiers show up and try to break things up, someone sees Sebastian and all hell breaks loose. The CW soldiers throw teargas into the crowd. Clearly Pamela is losing control of the situation.

At one point, Mercer and Rosie go out together toward the perimeter. They have a really nice exchange where it's clear that Mercer trusts her. And she's very honest with him about not wanting to defend the corrupt people back at the Commonwealth, though she will always help him take out walkers.

Two CW soldiers get into trouble when they crash their vehicle. Mercer and Rosita go out to try and save them. It doesn't entirely work, and they lose one of them. Clearly, Mercer is disturbed by this.

What's really interesting is that we get a bird’s eye view of what's happening. Mercer and Rosita’s vehicle goes one way and the second vehicle with some more of Mercer's men goes another way. And we see the walker horde divide in the center to go after the two different vehicles. I just thought it was an interesting detail to put in and one they would have had to purposely shoot from above. It's probably a foreshadow of some kind. Dividing a walker heard by having vehicles go in two different directions.

Carol brings Sebastian back to Pamela, who first hugs him and then hits him. Carol brokers a deal for TF.

So, back in the sewer, two CW soldiers start looking around, and Aaron and Gabe jump out and kill them. When that happens, Lance shows himself with a bunch more of his men, but Daryl was expecting that comes up behind him, taking Lance hostage and putting a knife to his throat. But after that more and more CW soldiers jump out and it looks like TF is completely surrounded and in trouble.

The episode ends there. This cliffhanger will pick up in episode 18.

So again, not a boatload of TD symbolism, but I do feel like there are some templates going on here. Next week's episode will have a lot more TD stuff in it.

Still, this episode is very satisfying, and we get lots of action and lots of Daryl. So, I'm happy. How did everyone else like it?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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omgitsshrimp · 4 years ago

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[SPOILERS from Manga!] Attack on Titan Theory: The baby was NOT PLANNED.

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING!! IF YOU’RE ANIME ONLY SKIP THIS POST!

I thought I’d share my own theory on the whole situation with Eren and Historia. Keep in mind this is just my opinion/interpretation of everything so far. I just want to get my two cents in.

I know suggesting that the baby isn’t planned sounds nuts, but hear me out. In Ch 130 we’re shown panels of Eren and Historia discussing the military’s plans for her, Eren telling her his plan, and Historia discussing a baby with Eren.

In one panel, Historia is standing in front of the wooden fence, on the left side of the panel; then in a later panel she’s standing in front of the wooden fence on the right side of the panel.

I don’t think this is by accident. This implies that Eren and Historia met up more than once, which opens up a strong possibility of them meeting up several times in the past. So when Historia asks Eren about having a baby, we don’t know if she said that in the same conversation as the earlier panels. It could have happened at a completely different time. We only have a close up of her face when she says it, and we dont see the whole convo, which means we don’t know the full context around her bringing up a baby to Eren.

*Assuming they have met up several times, it begs the question, why does Eren even meet up with Historia? In my opinion, it’s because he has feelings for her, and they might be involved romantically.

We know that the songs for AoT can allude to or foreshadow events in the story. I feel like Eren and Historia’s meet ups were alluded to in two songs (that I know of) in AoT OST, “Zero Eclipse” and “Yuugure no Tori” (ed3).

Zero Eclipse (only later part of the song is related to Eren):

“Make a promise that I cannot regret, As long as I can see you but in secret”

Yuugure no Tori:

“I’ll sing out with my girl, Go to the meeting place sing alone”

If the Baby was Planned, It Would Contradict Eren’s ideals/motivation

Another reason I don’t think the baby is planned is because if the point is to not produce kids just for a strategic purpose then why would Eren and Historia make a plan to do just that? (ie having a baby to put off Historia eating Zeke). Having the reason for making a child be reduced to convenience/serving your plan doesn’t sit right with me. It doesn’t align with Eren’s beliefs, in my opinion.

Assuming that Eren and Historia are romantically involved and have been physically intimate for some time, I think its fair to consider that this baby was conceived by chance (as well as love) rather than some sort of necessity brought on by a situation. I think upon hearing what the military was planning for Historia, Eren decided to make plans for another way that wouldn’t sacrifice her. I don’t think that involved making a child. I think the child came about by chance and the panel of Historia asking Eren about a baby was maybe part of a longer conversation where she was telling him that she was pregnant. I know I’m making a lot of assumptions, but I don’t think its impossible.

I think from there, Eren and Historia came up with a plan to hide the pregnancy in order to protect Historia from being connected to Eren, since he knew he was going to start going against the military and wanted to protect Historia from any association with that. And also, kept it secret because if Zeke some how found out, it would compromise Zeke’s confidence in Eren and mess up Eren’s plans. Eren and Historia’s plan to keep the paternity a secret involved lying about the due date and using the Farmer as a cover. I suspect the farmer guy agreed because he really did feel guilty about bullying Historia as a child. The fact that he felt guilty enough to work there for years opens the possibility of him willing to go along with Eren and Historia’s plan, so he can make up for everything.

Paneling Choices

Now I want to talk about Isayama’s choices when it comes to the panels in ch 130, specifically in regards to the scene of Eren making his plans, Eren and Historia talking, and Eren and Zeke discussing Mikasa. How Isayama chose to order these panels seemed to me, very intentional and meticulous.

In the previous panels in the same chapter we see Eren refusing to allow Historia to be sacrificed and we see him willing to go against humanity for her (and Paradis as a whole). Isayama decided to shows us the process of Eren deciding to carry out this plan through his interactions with Historia, as if to convey that she’s a big reason for why he’s doing all this. He’s emphasizing her importance in how Eren came to start this mission by positoning her front and center. This sequence ends with Eren telling Historia that she saved him, paralleling Mikasa in a big way.

Then, we go to a conversation between Zeke and Eren about the Ackerman bloodline. Zeke is clarifying to Eren that there is no ingrained behavior and that Mikasa does all these things for him because she loves him. And right after Zeke says that, there is a panel of Eren and Historia. I feel like Isayama gave us an explanation of Eren’s actions right here. A discussion about Mikasa’s affection and devotion juxtaposed with images of Eren and Historia right after we saw several panels of Eren doing exactly what Zeke described Mikasa does for Eren, in my opinion, was meant to indirectly allude to why Eren is doing this and how he feels about Historia. Isayama doesn’t want to give it away just yet, but is giving subtle breadcrumbs. Using Mikasa’s feelings to juxtapose probably threw people off too.

It’s my opinion that Eren loves Historia. There’s other evidence that people have pointed out that I also agree with, but I won’t delve deep I’ll just mention them here:

-Hanji noticing Eren smiling at Historia and defending her wellbeing, then asking Eren about it. Eren snaps at Hanji when she brings up Historia.

-Historia getting teary eyed when Eren defends her in the meeting.

The only person Eren has been consistent with protecting this whole time has been Historia. His desire to protect her never wavered. He’s been talking about protecting her since the end of season 3. The only person we’ve seen Eren confide in (about his plans etc.) is Historia. She’s clearly significant to him.

What Eren Kruger Said to Grisha

Another reason I think Eren loves Historia and is romantically involved with her is because of what Eren Kruger said to Grisha. The Attack titan shifter can see future memories as well as past ones. Kruger told Grisha to “love someone in the walls, build a family. If you can’t do that, the same cycle will repeat itself. If you want to save Mikasa and Armin, carry out your mission to the end”. I think Kruger was also talking to Eren here, OR Isayama was alluding to what Eren will need to do in order to save everyone. In the anime, they added a line for Kruger, he says “someone in the future might see this [moment/memory of their conversation]”. I think it was added to establish that there may be a link between what Kruger said and what Eren is doing. Afterall, we know Eren saw this conversation.

I think Eren did fall in love, with Historia, and is building a family (conceived a baby by chance), and something about the experience of love and impending fatherhood has played an important role in Eren carrying out this mission and ultimately saving Armin, Mikasa and Paradis, while also ending the cycle of hate.

In Ch 130, we see Eren saying that he has to do the rumbling in order for the cycle of hate to end. Similar to what Kruger said. Everything is happening exactly as Eren saw it, we saw that with that little boy Halil (or was it Ramzi?). The future memories were all correct, so if Kruger was speaking based on future memories then what he said about love, building a family, saving Armin and Mikasa, probably had truth to it.

Eren’s Talk with Mikasa in Ch 123

A lot of people see this as an ErenxMikasa moment but since Eren and Zeke’s conversation in Ch 130, I don’t think that’s the case. In Ch 123, Eren asks Mikasa “what am I to you?”. Mikasa flusters and says “family”. I think Eren asked her this because he was suspecting that her Ackerman bloodline was influencing her decisions. This probably worried him because he didn’t want Mikasa to be a slave to her bloodline. Mikasa’s answer didn’t clarify anything for him. He was left ambivalent on the subject and that’s why he asked Zeke about the Ackerman bloodline.

Mikasa says in Ch 123, that maybe if she gave a different answer things would have happened differently, but Zeke did give Eren a clear answer about how Mikasa felt. Eren knew how she felt and it didn’t change anything. Eren was concerned about the Ackerman bloodline influence because he wanted Mikasa to be free, not because he’s romantically interested in her.

I do realize I could be dead wrong. I know suggesting the baby wasn’t planned is a huge stretch but I just thought I’d put it out there. I just want it to be true so badly lol. Even if the baby is planned, I think there’s still some truth to some of the other things I pointed out. This was just a fun thing for me to do. I normally don’t write long theory posts, but I figured why not since it’s so close to the end and everyone is speculating. Why not join in?

I think that’s it. I hope I’m not missing anything. As for how I think the whole story will end? I think because Eren freed Ymir, titan powers might cease to exist. But I don’t know how that’ll affect the 13 year Ymir curse if that does happen. So I guess we’ll see.

Feel free to share your thoughts. I’m not AntiMikasa or anything. Please be respectful! Thanks for reading!

#aot spoilers #Eren x Historia #erehisu #aot manga #snk spoilers #snk manga #snk 136 #snk 135 #Historia Reiss #Eren Yeager #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan spoilers #shingeki no kyojin spoilers #spoilers #snk 130

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