#i'm just so stoked about the potential for this arc

[dominickeating-source]

Starburst Magazine (2003)

ENTERPRISING FUTURE Dominic Keating talks to David Waldon about the past, present and future of Enterprise.

If the Star Trek empire truly is on the precipice of collapse after more than 35 years, you couldn't tell it form Dominic Keating. On a warm July evening in Hollywood, the British actor is at ease with his present and future. His cheery disposition belies his Enterprise character, the taciturn armoury officer Lt Malcolm Reed. And it definitely doesn't fit into the firestorm that has raged around (t)his series as it enters its third season. In fact, asked bluntly whether Enterprise needed repairs, Keating gives an equally blunt answer.

'Personally, I didn't think that it needed great attention,' he says. 'I watch the show religiously, and I don't think that our show needed any particular revamping or attention. I think we make a good show.'

That being said, Keating has proven to be the good soldier when it comes to Enterprise's new mission, a trip into the mysterious Delphic Expanse in search of the Xindi, a multi-species race that seeks to destroy Earth and all its inhabitants. It's a story arc filled with danger and action, designed to pump some energy into what many see as a moribund series that needs a ratings injection. But one particular alteration has gotten Keating's attention and has given him insight on a great way to jump-start Enterprise's popularity.

'Put Jolene Blalock in a very tight cat suit and make her lips look plumper than before,' he says slyly. 'And that's just what we've done.' Yes, not surprisingly, Keating is a big fan of the sexy new look Blalock's character, the Vulcan science officer T'Pol, will display, even if it initially threw him for a loop. 'When I turned up on the first day this season, I actually didn't recognise her, she looked so different in her new costume and her new hairdo,' he says. Other adjustments are a bit more galling, at least to Lt Reed.

Enterprise's new mission means new crew members - commandos, referred to as MACOs (Military Assault Command Operations), assigned to take on the Xindi by any means necessary. One would think that Reed, who's the closest to pure warrior than anyone else on the regular crew, would be stoked by the new additions. One would think.

'Malcolm is feeling that he's been thrown over or undermined,' Keating says about how he's playing the situation, at least so far. 'Malcolm understands their purpose, but there might be some sense of reticence that his team is not enough. I'm going to give a couple of looks here and there, like "Are these guys really up to it? We have spent two-and-a half years in deep outer space, where these guys have spent only two weeks in Jupiter Moon doing simulation tests on gravity plating and whatever else. Are they really experienced enough to encounter what it is we're going to encounter?"'

The tension that will be obvious in the new episodes of Enterprise has not trickled down onto the real-life actors, according to Keating. What is there is a drive to do the brand proud, in part because of what is potentially on the line. 'There is a determination, certainly in the sense that we've really got to make this work this year. We all want to be locked into the package. But other than that, we are a cost that has been together for two-and-a-half years now, so we have a complicity with one another. There's an ease on set where we don't have to be talking to each other the whole time - a cursory nod of the head. But, still, I have to say that the buoyancy is there, the fun is there.'

The nexus of that buoyancy, says Keating, is none other than Scott Bakula. As Captain Archer, he's in charge of the fictional crew, but the leadership goes further than that. 'He's the head of our team. He is such a great herald and such a great captain, and I mean that way apart from being a Starship captain. And it's great fun going to a set where he walks on and brings everything he brings with him. He's an actor's actor.' Though they had worked together for a year previously, Keating got his first real taste of Bakula's talent and friendship while working on the second-season episode Minefield, in which Reed and Archer attempt to remove a Romulan mine from Enterprise's hull.

'We never really had actually bonded in that way as actors,' says Keating. 'Beyond a cursory exchange on the bridge or in the situation room, we really hadn't done much. I was quite nervous about starting that week with him because I didn't know him that well, and it really bonded us as actors, and consequently as friends. And we've become really good chums since then.'

Keating counts the entire cast as pals; in fact, he lives right around the corner from Connor Trinneer (Commander Tucker) and is often visiting him. Keating says that when it comes to where the actors hang out with each other, 'It's houses, really, now that we've got 'em. It's a beautiful thing. When I became an actor, I resigned myself to rented accommodation for the rest of my days. And, my God [Enterprise] been good to me.'

And that may be the bottom line for Keating. After years of struggling as an actor both in the US and the UK, he realizes what a good thing he and the others have with Enterprise. And he's in no hurry to give it up, willingly or otherwise. Pressed again about his feelings regarding Enterprise's future, whether Trek's popularity can be salvaged, and he remembers a few weeks earlier, when TV Guide placed a 'can this show be saved?' headline on its cover.

'The strange thing about the TV Guide thing is that whenever they put us on their cover and tell us it's our last year, that's their best-selling magazine,' Keating says cheekily. 'When Star Trek is on the front cover of TV Guide, they sell the most. So go figure.'

Convention Corner

After more than two years on the crew of Enterprise, has Dominic Keating become used to the extracurricular activity that's known as the convention circuit? "The first ones I did were nerve-racking", says Keating. "Now I'm in a stride with it". Still, hitting the convention stages can count as hazardous duty. "Sometimes I wonder if my stories aren't getting a little tired, and occasionally I wonder, "Boy, I've really got to work this act up a bit", he says with a laugh. "So I'm looking for new stories on the set right now just so that I go to every convention, cause the first thing I always ask is, Who's heard my schtick before?".

Keating may have a new story after him most recent convention swing, which took him to Australia for a few weeks this past summer. "I met a girl who had me tattooed on her back", he recounts. "I had had a couple of glasses of the red stuff, so I wasn't too thrown when I met her. But the following morning when I woke up, I was, like, Oh my God".

New Direction

Besides such traditions as the Prime Directive (and violating it) and playing fast and loose with the Space-Time continuum, Star Trek has become known as a pretty successful directors farm. From Leonard Nimoy to Johathan Frakes to LeVar Burton, Trek actors have used their time in the franchise to make the successful transition to behind the camera. Soon, you can add Dominic Keating to those ranks.

Even before letting Rick Berman and Brannon Braga know what was up, Keating had completed a course at the Los Angeles Film School. And recently he got his first taste of direction by helming a segment of a local public-access show, The Heartbreak Kid, on which Voyager alumni Tim Rus and Roxann Dawson also got their starts.

Next for Keating is a short film, The Big Hand, which will be based on a story told by Scott Bakula about one of his own kids. His boy Will had just learned to tell the time, and it's a wonderful story about a boy who just got his first watch. Keating will drop this hint: "It's a truly beautiful story with an amazing, only-the-kid-could-say-that ending, all about Time and the passage that we all enjoy therein". And not a warp field in sight.

Source: www.dominickeating.com

[scumbag-the-hedgehog]

‘Ship Bias’ // hee hoo :3c

Ship Bias

Scourge x Bunnie

I had absolutely no idea I would actually like this - and comic canon had actually left me kind of averse to it - until it sort of accidentally happened with Burning and now the dynamic is incredibly fun where it's this semi-toxic casual arrangement where Bunnie is the one who wears the pants.

Scourge x Knuckles

Lee's sold me on this one - it's Spicy Soknux, where the "Sonic" gets Knuckles to loosen up a little except it's Scourge's version of "loosening up" and that doesn't really entail a positive development and probably involves a lot of stoking the flames of resentment. Also a lot of "kiss with a fist" action and that good old fashioned "enemies to lovers" dynamic.

Scourge x Mephiles (Or Any Kind of Faustian Bargain)

Thought about this a bit and I think about those little moments in 06 where Mephiles will like, make an offer to Shadow to do the whole "we can rule together" thing or otherwise turn his back on the world in an act of revenge and naturally Shadow, being the principled person who's gone through the events of SA2, Heroes, and Shadow to come out of it someone sure of who he is, roundly rejects the offer.

Scourge would not be so principled. He would collaborate with a world-destroying entity or outright let it share his body if he thought that it might potentially mean he can stop feeling so inferior all of the time. Basically I'm pitching a corruption arc that might also involve overpowered fusion bullshit.

Scourge & Maria (Platonic)

Friendships are a form of ship! And Scourge will always and forever be caught off guard by a girl who's genuinely kind and nice to him. Love redemption arcs and Scourge getting to be a positive mentor figure - even if said mentorship involves some petty crimes but those are just charming. A fake "corruption arc" where Maria gets a leather jacket and a familiarity with graffiti while Scourge gets a friendship bracelet and someone he genuinely wants to protect.

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

Who is your favorite character from every Ace Attorney game?

For me its:

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Maya Fey

Ace Attorney: Justice For All - Pearl Fey

Ace Attorney: Trials And Tribulations - Ron DeLite

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney - Trucy Wright

Ace Attorney Investigations - Kay Faraday

Ace Attorney Investigations 2 - Sebastian Debeste

Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies - Bobby Fulbright (not the Phantom tho)

Ace Attorney: Spirit Of Justice - Nahyuta Sahdmadhi (I like characters with missed potential

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles - Susato Mikotoba

SUSATO SWEEP!!!!! It's really hard for me to pick, like, favourite favourite characters from each game; I like them all so much <3 But just as an instinctive list, I'd go (under the cut because it got long):

AA:PW - I almost never talk about him, but I really love AA1 Edgeworth. I would say Larry, because I love Larry so much, or even Phoenix because. Guy of all time, but I think it really is Edgeworth. Got through 3/4 of the game going, "I need this man dead", and then spent the last 1/4 fighting so hard to save him, I was screaming for most of the case. Truly one of THE character arcs in video games. I also really like Cody Hackins and April May <3 I hope we see them again.

AA:JfA - Pearlsy is my little darling girl, and she ties with Franziska for obvious reasons, but you know who I think is extremely underrated in this game? Gumshoe. He's one of the few who can really sympathise with Phoenix's grief and Franziska's, he's compassionate, extremely helpful, SUPER cool with some fantastic lines and he saves Maya at the end!! JfA is the Gumshoe game to me; I love him so much. In terms of those exclusive to this game's cases, Mimi Miney takes it for me. I adore her.

AA:T&T - IRIS MY BELOVED!!!! IRIS IRIS IRIS. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, IRIS!!!!! And Dahlia, too <3 Also Viola Cadaverini because she's my world.

AA:AJ - Um... Probably Vera Misham or Alita Tiala? I'm not huge into the main cast, but I find how these two relate and are important to them and their themes extremely interesting, especially with Vera. She's so integral to Phoenix's story, and by extension Apollo and Trucy's, that it's wild to me that she doesn't reappear. Both their character motivations and background are really quite compelling, I feel (I know Alita is just technically a mix of Dahlia and Mimi, but I like both of them so I'm not complaining), and I really wish we got to seen more between Vera and Phoenix. I also like Machi Tobaye a lot.

AA:DD - Ah, we're on to the games I really Do Not Care For. Ummm... I want to give this to Athena, but, honestly, I despised her mechanic (not her fault), and Bobby was the only character really keeping me playing or entertained. So I'll have to give it to Bobby. Robin Newman was really fun, too.

AA:SoJ: Maya. I know this isn't the best depiction of her in the games, but it's her reintroduction into the series, and, despite the less than stellar writing and treatment of her character, she was consistently the one I was happiest to see onscreen. I really wanted to like the Khura'in cast (the first characters in the series to take direct and obvious inspiration from my culture and heritage? I was stoked), but, alas, the colourism and, more importantly, how utterly boring I found them, ruined them for me. I also liked Uendo Toneido as a witness.

AAI - Kay win. I love Kay so much here. She's so fun, and wonderful, and competent, and cool, and honourable, and funny. Kay, you're a dream <3 Also Rhoda Teneiro?? She was so funny??? I loved her as Edgeworth's assistant; I wish we got a bit more time with her. And Detective Badd? And Agent Lang? Calisto Yew? This game had a brilliant cast; I loved them all dearly. Calisto Yew, no one is going to do it like you again. They need to bring her back. For me.

AAI2 - JUSTINE, MY BELOVED!!!! JUSTINE WHO'S SO STRONG AND WHO'S BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH!!!! JUSTINE WHO HAS A SON SHE TOOK IN WHEN SHE WAS STILL IN SCHOOL!!!! JUSTINE WHO WORKED SO HARD TO ACHIEVE JUSTICE IN HER OWN WAY!!!! JUSTINE!!!!!!! Also John Marsh and Sebastian <3 They're a family to me. And I don't sleep on Raymond either. He brought a lot to the game (his theme is so good), and it was wonderful to meet Gregory's assistant. Honestly, the Investigation games generally have a really solid cast all around. So many fun characters.

DGS/TGAA - SUSATO-SAN SWEEP!!!!! SHE OBLITERATES THE COMPETITION. ONE OF THE FEW AA CHARACTERS I CAN POINT TO AND SAY, "THAT ONE'S MY FAVOURITE". But Ryuunosuke is my favourite defence attorney, and DGS Sherlock is my favourite adaptation of Holmes ever <3 This game is another whose cast I think just kills it the whole way through. Everyone was such a joy to meet and interact with. Hosonaga, the Skulkin Brothers, Nikola... Natsume Soseki was a shocking and utter delight <3 Shamspeare was hysterical. Olive Green was heartbreaking (I really love the gas case). But yes. Susato-san <3 Her <33

PLvsPW - Bonus one because I needed to put the main guy, the original man somewhere on the list <3 Phoenix, I love you so much. Genuinely, this game has so many great Phoenix moments, and him being a highly enthusiastic baker was phenomenal. I loved him so much here (the entire main cast was fantastic), and he had so many great moments with Maya and Luke that really showcased who he is and let him shine next to the Professor. PLvsPW, I will always love you. Game of all time, which helped set up so much of what would come in DGS, and it deserves all the respect for that alone. Stellar experience.

[krys-loves-otome]

Have been playing Cybirb games for a long time (off and on since about 2016), so naturally, I've had a lot of time to think about my favs. But, as that kind of rambling will be quite long  (as, again, been playing cybird games since 2016) so I think I'll just limit myself to a few lines for my top two to three of each game.

To start, I'll begin with my first Cybird Game:

Midnight Cinderella.

Byron: He's calm, cool, and collected, and interesting as the ruler of the enemy nation. MC is often afraid of him when she first meets him in various routes, but he turns out to be a pretty cool dude willing to work with her and Wysteria despite their troubled past. Plus, I still think about his Sugar route ending sometimes, where MC steps in to save him and ends up injured because of it and he kisses her scars and if that isn't romantic af, I don't know what is.

Nico:  He didn't know MC that long and he's shady af, being a double agent and all, but he falls hard pretty fast and he's willing throw down for MC despite not knowing each other that long.  He loves to tease, a lot.

Alyn: I have a lot of problems with his route (not as many as certain others *cough*) but I love him outside of his route, as I'm a sucker for protective knight types, and he can be really sweet and supportive outside his route. Been loving him in the webtoon version of MidCin lately too (can't read it as it's in Japanese, but I can recognize moments from his route and it makes me smile remembering some of those moments).

IkeSen

Hideyoshi: Might have been my second IkeSen route, but he made me love him in my first route (Nobunaga) unintetionally and I've pretty much been here since. His mothering aspects don't really bother me, esp once you find out why he does it in his route, it gives him a tragic edge that doesn't really pop up anywhere else in game, and that makes me sad. He's loyal to a fault, willing to put everything on the line to make sure Nobunaga's ambitions become a reality, no matter the cost to himself. I played his Eternal route a bit ago and, replaying his route reminded me of his loyalty and dedication to the cause, plus how much it pulled my heart when he was almost forced to choose between saving his love and Nobunaga and how difficult a decision that was. And now with Kicho's route being announced, while I'm curious about him too, from what I know about the JP release route order, Hideyoshi's Act 2 is coming later this year and I'm super stoked about it.

Masamune:  My third route when I first started IkeSen, he's outgoing and fun and lives life in the fast lane. He has an interesting character arc where we learn a lot of his bravado was a front to keep everyone to know how truly afraid he is of losing the loves he had in his life, how he was afraid of getting too attached to anyone that he could potentially lose later on. Just, something about him struck a chord with me and I've been on the Masa hype train ever since.

Mitsuhide: You know how I said that I fell for Hideyoshi in Nobunaga's route? Guess who stole the second half of my heart in Hideyoshi's route? Yep, this bastard right here. Not to mention how much I laughed at how hard this bastard fell for MC and how fast (like, Chapter 2, like hot damn fox man). His route has some problems, admittedly, but it has a shit ton of my favorite tropes that makes up for it for me. He's a tease, sure, but the satisfaction to one up him (when the narrative lets us one up him *cough*) it's so deeply satisfying to me. I wanna shake him in a jar sometimes. I wanna hold him when he cries, and hold his hand when he needs support. Must be the Hideyoshi stan in me to be worried about him while simultaneously wanting to strangle him.

IkeRev

Harr: Shy lil wizard guy. He so cute, I want to pinch his cheeks. But he also says fuck you to magical capitalism and I think that's quite sexy of him.

Zero: I mentioned in Alyn's entry that I'm a sucker for the knight/protector type and Zero fits the bill for that. He's one of the few Red Army members that got in on his own merits rather than being born into a powerful/influential family and still tries very hard to prove himself through persistence, despite the prejudice surrounding him for being common born (though he's really like… a magical test tube baby, if I'm remembering correctly)

IkeVamp

Comte: Fancy Time-travelling Frenchman that collects historical figures like Pokémon. Was interesting in him for the longest time. Tried doing Leonardo's route first just so I could get the most of him I could from the info available at the time. Collected as many event stories I could, bought all of his bday stories to date and… idk, just something about him tickled my fancy. In a way, he reminded me of Hideyoshi. Parenting vibes aside, it was that keeping you at a distance for your own happiness that did it, only it was a lil bit of a reversal from Hideyoshi in that he was keeping you at arm's length so you wouldn't be too sad when he died, Comte kept you away because he can't die (being a pureblood vampire) and he didn't want you wasting your precious time with someone that couldn't grow old with you, couldn't experience life in the same way as you could. Yet, despite that, he fell in love bc of MC persistence to keep him in her life despite the differences between them. And his 4th birthday story still lives rent-free in my head bc of how hot it was.

Vincent: He's very soft and sweet and I kind wish he was treated a little more maturely by the narrative, so I've took him into my own hands and extended his story (before he might be getting an Act 2 and ruins my headcanons), and gives him a little more nuance where the narrative didn't. He's an adult too, cybirb, smh.

Jean: A little guy with a sword that doesn't think highly of himself but learns acceptance of who he is as the narrative goes on, along with learning about the beauty of the world, that not everything is all doom and gloom all the time.

IkePri

Nokto: He evokes the same 'shake vigorously in a jar' vibes that Mitsuhide does for me. Like, in route, there's a lot of nuance to his character that both warrants shaking him vigorously in a jar but also feeling sorry for him because of what he has been through. He's a silly man, I like him

Rio: Cybirb shot me dead when the Dev Notes two-shotted me with the comparison to Nico and Hideyoshi, so of course Rio was right up my alley. Loyal and protective to a fault, he knew his time was limited with MC in that once Silvio came back into his picture, his memories started returning and his past was beginning to haunt him again. Still, he didn't want to break MC's heart or their friendship bc it was the best thing he'd had in his life, he didn't want to lose it and that's quite sexy of him.

Licht: His and Nokto's story is tragic and I'm sad whenever I think about it too hard, but I'm also in love with how affectionate he is once he and MC get together. Like, he's constantly back hugging her, esp in front of his faction, refuses to share her or let go sometimes. I think there was also one event where they're sleeping together and he notices her snuggling closer in her sleep for warmth and thinks that's super sweet and I died when he pulls the blankets closer over her and softly kisses her forehead, it was so cute and lovely.

begging Cybird Enjoyers to tell me their favorite suitors and why

[spelviin]

ok i know i was getting all pumped up for a prison break storyline, but the POTENTIAL of a courtroom drama. 

like, first of all, just the concept of glenn being held to account for his actions for once. one hundo percent here for it on that basis alone lmao. 

second of all, the other dads finding out, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that when glenn stole the van back in waterdeep, it genuinely was for his own selfish reasons rather than just wanting to protect his son. like we know they had their suspicions from the word go, and i feel like all the dads have grown so close at this point that it won’t be like. a friendship-ender or anything, but it will defs be interesting to see their reaction to having that shit confirmed, ESPECIALLY right after they all put their own lives on the line and opened themselves up to the very real possibility of PERMADEATH to save his ass. 

but honestly the most appealing thing abt the prospect of a courtroom drama, is the fact that nick will, in all likelihood, be called upon as a key character witness and asked to testify on glenn’s behalf. likely asked to testify under some zone-of-truth-esque deal, this bein a court of law and all that. and fuckin. 

y’all. 

the idea of nicolas close walking up to the stand, intending to keep up with his usual hero-worship, “my-dad-can-do-no-wrong” schtick, but under an honestly enchantment, and ending up just fucking UNLOADING to the court and his grandfather and most importantly, glenn himself, EXACTLY how he really feels about him and his parenting style? i can’t think of a better way to get into the meat of this arc.

like, nick tries so hard to act cool and chill and un-needy for his dad, but it’s just fucking IMPOSSIBLE that there isn’t some level of resentment brewing underneath. it’s impossible that he isn’t angry that his dad is gone all the time, that he’s so uninvolved, that he refuses to even come close to making any real emotional connection with him, even after all these years that it’s been just the two of them. it’s impossible that he doesn’t know, deep down, that he doesn’t need a manchild best friend. he needs a dad, he needs his fucking dad, and his dad has utterly failed him in so many ways, and fucking hell i want that shit to come out. and i want it to be fucking brutal. 

because i feel like that’s the only thing that could actually prompt glenn to make a change. unlike all the other dads, i feel like glenn is the only one who hasn’t even admitted to himself that he has a problem. darryl and ron were clear pretty much from the word go that they were not on top of things in the dad game, henry was also pretty stubborn, but given his constant underlying fear of himself, it’s pretty obvious that on some level, he has always been aware of his shortcomings. (and even then, it still took being utterly emotionally broken down and having his entire sense of self shattered to get him to provoke real change in him). but glenn? dude is still fully, 100% in denial. fuckin neck deep in that shit. which is why i think it’s such a good idea to force him to look dead on at the consequences of his actions and behaviours.  

and like even then, having a room full of people and his own fucking deadbeat dad sit him down and explain to him exactly what a dickhead he’s been would still probably slide off his back like water off a damn duck. but from nick? from nick, it might actually stick. it might actually get through to him, in a way that no other *living* (on earth, at least) person could, that he actually needs to get his shit together and step up his game and be a fucking father for once. honestly, i just want this entire courtroom, but ESPECIALLY. nick, to tear that bitch apart, just break him the fuck down and force him to confront himself so that he can actually rebuild as a decent father and human being. 

(also depending on how quick the trial goes maybe glenn gets sent to shitty dad jail and THEN we get our prison break bc i mean. idk man i’m a simple bitch i just really love a good prison break.) 

[fordearlife]

Let's talk about Felice in terms of queerness and racism~

I posted this screenshot of Felice with a rainbow key chain earlier, which showed up toward the end of S2, and today saw a tweet speculating about her potentially being a lesbian, and I got thinking–

Wille's speech is going to change social dynamics in Sweden but also at school in a big way because he, as the most high-profile among them, just came out to the world, which will likely inspire others to come out or start to question their sexuality if they weren't already. He added an element of safety for them to do so. Nils seems the most obvious – he said he didn't want to be the first out CEO, but with the crown prince coming out first, it's more likely that he'll just say f*** it and stop hiding that part of his life so intentionally.

The writers haven't shown us Felice questioning her sexuality, but they HAVE shown us a few things: the key chain (imo the scrambled colors of the rainbow could symbolize her confusion or hint at her piecing it together in the future), and now one of her best friends is out (to some extent) to the world and she has at least one other best friend who might feel more comfortable coming out in S3, even if Stella doesn't profess her love for Fredrika for the same reasons she told Sara. Especially because Felice doesn't feel close to her parents, these people would be her support system if she were to start questioning.

But I don't believe she would have her queerness challenged in a *season conflict* way by those around her – I think the conflict she faces will be racism. Madison, one of her other best friends, has shown culturally appropriative tendencies (possible use of sage for the ritual in S1?). I kept that feeling to myself when we only had S1 because I thought the writers were perhaps just misguided in presenting her as the "spiritual, witchy" friend, but S2 has me thinking it was intentional (which I'm stoked about). This always struck me as more of a US issue, but some of her hairstyles in S2 (the one below is from E1) are not ones usually worn by white people, and Madison is from the US or has spent a lot of time there, so we might expect her to know better. I would.

The reason I think this will (/should) be a theme of S3 is because the writers made a point in S2 to show Felice 1) expressing discomfort about the wig she was supposed to wear for the Valentine ball and being dismissed by her friends (including Madison) and then 2) being singled out for having her hair down at a meal while Stella and another girl were not. Everything is on purpose in Young Royals! Paralleled with Vincent looking down on Simon in S2 during the rowing team scenes, it seems like they're planning to bring racism, microagressions, etc. more into focus moving forward.

So, this leaves Felice with a possible significant self-discovery arc in which she questions her sexuality and/or chooses/is forced to address the racism she faces as the only (?) Black woman at the school. The show clearly takes on the responsibility of showing the nuance in many issues that other media tends to portray rather simply, such as mental illness, neurodivergence, queerness, and expectations, and as a setup, this would match that energy given that Madison is otherwise an excellent friend and would likely fully support Felice in coming out but be resistant to anyone questioning her character.

[missroserose]

happy wincest wednesday, rose!! I have a very broad question for you to take where you'd like, in any era or framing that gets you stoked: what does Sam love about Dean? what's he so attracted to that makes him willing to take the incest plunge?

Oh wow, that is broad. Let me consider...

I feel like there are two separate questions here, that are related but aren't quite the same. Sam clearly loves a lot of things about Dean—his passion, his skill, his charm (for all that he rolls his eyes), his persistence. I think for all that he chafes against it (especially in the early seasons), Sam also really loves the way Dean's always so focused on him—it seems to be a big part of his mental and emotional stability (enmeshment issues, ahoy!)

I think he also loves how much Dean cares about being a positive force in the world, in earlier seasons. Sam always feels a little separate from the world, so Dean's unabashed desire to Save People really hits him. (The way that this particular angle develops over the seasons, as the effects of repeated trauma take hold and Dean's personality hardens into something much darker, to Sam's frustration and anger and eventual resigned acceptance, is imo one of the more tragic arcs of the show. But I digress.)

As to what prompts the incest plunge, however...I'm not sure there can be a single answer to that? Like I was saying in this ask, there's any number of potential scenarios. It's more of a custard—there are the above ingredients, plus their claustrophobic upbringing, plus repeated shared trauma, plus ??? the phase of the moon or Jupiter being in retrograde or whatever, and maybe it sets, and maybe it doesn't, and maybe it just takes a long time but suddenly WHOOMPH (sorry, this metaphor's getting away from me). Part of what's fascinating about sex is that sometimes all the ingredients are there and the relationship never tips over. And sometimes there's a major roadblock in place and the people involved run right over it. It's a fundamentally chaotic and unpredictable and life-changing force, which I suspect is part of why I enjoy reading and writing about it.

[sheikah]

that interview saying that Mal is Alina's moral compass has me worried that they'll make Alina go dark in s2 and have her push everyone away and actually become greedy, all to justify punishing Alina to fit L*igh's vision 🙄 idk man I'm feeling hopeless today lol.

Okay hold on lol I honestly really really don’t think this will happen??? I agree the interview comments were a bit off because I never saw the Mal/Alina dynamic as “moral compass” from either party and also I’m not sure Alina ever needed an external moral compass. Her morals were always pretty clear and pretty in line with “the good guys.” So maybe the show might be different and feature a darker Alina. I don’t know! But even if it did, I sort of doubt Jessie could really hint that in an interview, so I didn’t put too much stock in those comments. 

But! Even if Alina were to show dark tendencies in the show, I’m not sure this would be entirely OOC? I wrote a post awhile back basically arguing that there is a part of Alina that always loved her power and wanted more. She does have a darkly ambitious streak and fears that part of herself that reminds her of the Darkling. (Though, again, I never doubted her ultimate morality or thought she’d “go dark.”) So if they include that in s2, depending on how far they go with it, it won’t feel inaccurate to me. 

And even if they did go far with it, I’d personally be stoked because I kind of like the idea of Alina pushing those boundaries! It’s just something fun and different from the typical YA heroine, you know?

Also, though, if they were to do that, I don’t think it’d be Leigh’s vision--because based on the way she ended Alina’s arc, Leigh seems to imagine her as someone who is not at all power hungry or immoral and who makes her peace with a simple life. So if anything, us getting dark!Alina would be something I’d attribute to Eric Heisserer before Leigh haha. 

Just my take though! Try not to worry too much. I’ve been having a lot of moments of fear about the show but I’m more excited than anything. Focus on the good we’re getting! I think there is so much potential. 

[unproduciblesmackdown]

this is really mostly just here so i can potentially reblog later with a verbose mini essay of more in depth grievances but for now the tl;dr re: Latent Cumulative Frustrations 5x08 Has Stoked For Me Concerning Winston is pretty much just that i'm now back to "is he really Only here to, at any / all times, be a plot device &/or specifically a joke" after 5x05 through 5x07 assuaged me by thinking he was being treated As A Character where his feelings where handled in earnest for their own sake in some serious emotional arc setup. which i am now in more doubt about, so i am no longer assuaged, and old [head in hands & yelling] about winston which has genuinely antagonized me in the past is now Active again, unabated

[loregoddess]

In your response about the new fallen banner too, just wanted to say something too and I'm sorry if this brings offense- my main complaint is another fucking Edelgard? Even if Dimitri sucks I'll give him a pass since this means he only has 4 alts now. If it was 5 by this point I'd start to have problems. (Also I only mean that he sucks as in this is a fallen banner- and they went with a slightly redesigned post-timeskip Dimitri. This is very boring because he's not possessed or has anything super dark going for him other than he's mentally broken and unstable and that's it, it was an awful choice. Dimitri is a good character, they're just dragging him through the mud here decision wise.)

As for Edelgard, I'm so sick of seeing her in almost every new legendary banner or otherwise since Three Houses came out. I don't even have anything against her, I love her and her route, I'm just tired of seeing her pop up so much. It's reminding me of what they did with Camilla and I wish they'd give more variety, it makes me sad to have to say this about her. She already has 6 alts now, maybe even 7 unless I'm miscounting.

My only exception to this banner is the twin Morgans, because while they are also a meh choice, at least it's only the second time that they've been added to the game as a new character (and I personally like to hope that it means we will get someone better later on.) Plus the Future Past wasn't that bad and I'm glad to get a tiny bit more insight into these versions of them, even if we could've had someone better. At least they're more relatively new than the other two and might actually have some new information about their characters that the other two won't really provide.

Thank you for reading this, and again sorry if this causes offense to anyone, I was only speaking my opinion.

(some stuff under the cut, bc local person cannot condense words into smaller paragraphs)

Listen, I can’t math either so don’t feel bad.

I don’t actually play the game bc gacha things aren’t my style--I really do just follow Heroes for the art and story and nifty ost--so I can’t judge IntSys on the mechanics of Heroes and the issues with having tons of alts of the exact same character, but like, as far as I can tell it’s a marketing scheme to make more money? Because all the characters who have ungodly numbers of alts tend to be popular with the fandom overall, even when said characters are sometimes simultaneously polarizing.

So like, I really can’t say anything about the number of alts a character has, bc for me it’s more “oh, this character has a new art” which is a 50/50 shot of “nice!” or “wow this is bad art” and that ends up being the extent of my criticisms. But I can also see how getting the same character re-released again and again gets tiring and frustrating.

Would I like it if more characters who aren’t in Heroes got included instead? Of course, especially from older games because I love seeing how some of the older character designs get re-imagined, and also all my favorite characters tend to be wildly obscure and not popular, and it’s always nice to see one of my faves get some really pretty art.

Like, I personally loved Hegemon Edelgard’s design in-game bc that specific final boss trope is one of my all-time favorites, and I genuinely like really creepy character designs. I figured she’d get added in to one of the Fallen Banners if not some other random event bc Edelgard was 3H’s flagship marketing character from the get-go. So I feel the frustration of “yet another alt” but I’m not that surprised either. And bc I just follow for the art and stuff, I’m sitting here like “make the art creepier” bc I read too munch Junji Ito and expect better, like some sort of fool.

I was actually kinda stoked to see the Morgans bc, as you pointed out, they don’t actually have a lot of alts, and Morgan’s entire weird arc (which is never clarified in-game, and therefore is perfect for expansion) makes for some really interesting potential designs. I just thought the art could be more sinister a la Grima’s entire aesthetic (I mean, c’mon, you have a dragon-almost-god of ZOMBIES and doom and utter apocalypse, and said dragon’s child wears clothing like that?).

Anyhow, the long and short of this is that I totally get your frustrations, bc I’ve seen a lot of fans who do play Heroes complain about the number of alts, so like, this isn’t some weird one-off thing, IntSys is just Like That and they could do better.