#im literally just discussing her on screen character

[familyagrestefanblog]

Fuck it, I'll say it. Marinette taking the risk to kill Adrien in Werepapas by ignoring 5 lucky charms, just to avoid there being a slither of a chance that she has to have an uncomfortable conversations or face consequences for HER actions by Adrien having NORMAL emotions, is not as big of a leap as people make it out to be.

Cause Ephemeral exist. And yes, that episode COUNTS. You don't get to decide that canon episodes aren't canon. And, no, what happened there isn't irrelevant because of the time loop. Most of the episode takes place outside of it and the Marinette we saw in it is literally the same Marinette as ours, the second time around she was just forced to turn back around instead of keep walking down the awful road she chose herself to take advantages of Chat Noir that set his doom in motion.

And that's the thing that makes Werepapas now just the next worse step to take for her instead of a whole leap. In Ephemeral, Marinette initially went on about how blameless and gorgeous she is for abusing Chat Noir's trust because that'll "keep him save" from Suhan taking his Miraculous (which is so stupidly nonsensical because now Suhan had all the power and information on Chat Noir behind Adrien's back that he could take Adrien's Miraculous without Marinette's being told of it first. Not that she ever thinks about Chat enough to notice that) and it'll keep THEM save from Shadowmoth getting both of them if either of them gets akumatized.

Marinette justified her whole awful and downright toxic and power-and-trust-abusing plan with the explanation of "it's for safety reasons"

Only to immediately throw all of that out of the window the second she sees that Adrien is Chat Noir and, to put it bluntly, she has a chance to get in his pants and have him be her perfect care taker and Prince Charming.

Marinette in Ephemeral disregarded ADRIEN'S safety BECAUSE it's Adrien and her reward was more important to her. There is no way around this. Werepapas is not out of character or far fetched, Marinette has been acting like this since season 4, you all just ignore it and think acknowledging it is "salt".

Marinette, canonically, looked in Adrien's eyes and decided that him being himself makes his safety worth being risked so Marinette can have her chance of getting in his pants as her perfect care taker and prince charming.

Werepapas CANT be out of character for her, her actions line up with previous characterization of hers to risk Adrien for her personal short term benefit and comfort, just taken one more step further which at this point is also perfectly in character for Marinette to do.

[cloudbends]

I did Not just cry over this

[layanomaly]

i know we're all entitled to our opinions about the finale and i do respect that really

but if youre someone who says that it was "lazy writing".....you can respectfully get tf out- literally- THERES THE DOOR BITCH😭👉🏻🚪

jkjk ahaha....

but fr tho i honestly think the finale was less of a "lazy writing" and more of a "OMG THERES SO MUCH TO WRITE AND WE DK WHAT TO INCLUDE" mess up-

i hope you guys get what im trying to sayy???

cuz even in that one wrap interview with jac.....she did say they discussed about the agathario flashbacks- “They met over corpses”??? “Then the room took it in a direction that then they lived in a cottage”???? “We talked at length about it, to the point of, is Rio Nicky’s father?”??? so its not like they didnt......but it was in a way important for the plot (and ill tell you how) for them to give more preference to nicky/agathas story it was to show why agatha did what she did for billy (AND NO SHE DIDNT KISS RIO FOR BILLY SHE KISSED RIO FOR HERSELF BECAUSE THAT HOW SHE WANTED TO LEAVE THIS WORLD.....TO BE IN THE EMBRACE OF SOMEONE SHE LOVES-......SHE DIDNT NEED TO KISS HER TO SIPHON HER POWERS BUT SHE STILL DID SO DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT OMG) ......and yes it wasnt a "sacrifice"....more of a "calculated risk" but we all know agatha did care about billy the key factor tho here was to show WHY she cared for him which was cuz of nicky so before any of you say "UGH THE WHOLE POINT OF AAA WAS TO ELEVATE BILLYS CHARACTER" dont- and also did we watch the same show??? i get being upset about being robbed of agathario....believe me i am too but if you try to look at it from a "positive" aspect.......that is in a way how marvel works.......we got introduced to billy the same way agatha and monica were introduced to us in wandavision albeit billy did get more screen time- and if youve read the comics youd know how important his character goes on to become so ig i do feel like the screen time was well deserved???.....although i still do think we needed more context on agathas story but hey like i said there was so much they wanted to include in the story but not enough time..... and im not a huge fan of his character so this isnt even me defending billy....rather its just me trying to be reasonable

plus i do think theyve left a good amount of loose threads to hopefully work with for a season 2 or a lady death spin off????

[pigswithwings]

okay 1 person asked for this so im talking about mirage now, specifically going to try and discuss her name. so the base definition of a mirage is an illusion or a trick of the light, usually it's used to refer to the fake pools of water seen on a hot road (those are caused by a very cool physics thing but i digress).

anyways there are several ways we can approach an analysis of mirage's name.

if we go with the common association of "fake pool of water", then mirage's name represents her personal beliefs. following mirage's line of reasoning, a person in the desert wants to believe that the water is there, much like how people regularly need to distract themselves from the idea of meaninglessness and/or people regularly try to believe that there is hope in the world. in this interpretation, having a purpose or a hope for life is the mirage. one must remove their idealistic view of the world and come to terms with their life's meaning being negated by the size/scale of the universe. probably the most pessimistic possibility of the bunch, but truthful to what mirage herself tells us about how she sees the world.

in a very literal interpretation, mirage herself is illusory. this is kind of a surface level approach, but it's not wrong. the entire 2-S level itself is basically a joke that's transformed into a more serious message. mirage is an "annoyed schoolgirl who ACTUALLY MIGHT FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU?!?!????" stereotype at first, and it's pretty cool to see that subverted with a genuine message about living one's life freely. ultimately, though, when interpreting mirage's name as literally meaning "she is not real", the message of her level loses a lot of its value because its says something like "you only succeeded at helping someone away from the cliff face of complete despair because this is a video game". this interpretation says that mirage's character and meaning are illusions and that neither matter, this is just a game

however! it's possible to argue that, by interpreting mirage as not real and therefore not having value as a character, you transfer the meaningfulness of mirage's story to the author and audience instead. perhaps mirage is not real, but you are. you played her story and you chose those dialogue options. this is a video game and mirage is a character inside of a screen, but you live in the real world and it matters more that *you* thrive and live your life the way you want. so this interpretation might ALSO say that mirage's character doesn't matter, but its effect on players does.

i think one of the more hopeful and perhaps true-to-story interpretations of "what is the *actual* mirage here?" is that nihilism and hopelessness are illusory when faced with the real world. mirage as a character basically lives a life under several kinds of illusions: the idea that life is meaningless and has no purpose, the idea that she has to continue conforming to the status quo, and the idea that she is alone. but here I'll just talk about the first one because it's most relevant.

mirage is basically depressed, or at least having a very bad time if nothing else. it's very clear from her dialogue that she is quite a smart person (robot? whatever) and that she likes to think logically - she gives us examples of a very specific extinct species (irish elk), she has a quick wit when it comes to insults (giving her skirt a "decorative dirt coating"), she uses academic language in her explanations (describing events of life as "temporary fluctation[s]"), etc.

however this reliance on thinking of things in a constant "direct cause -> one effect" way has lead mirage to convince herself that there is nothing of value in life. mirage goes about her days believing in something that the player character eventually disproves, so in this example the true mirage is nihilism, nihilism which prevents mirage from living well like a veil over her face. with this interpretation, it's implied that the character mirage needs to clear this illusion of meaninglessness from her life in order to be truly happy

anyways i care deeply about this character and her complexities i could talk all damn day about her

[generalluxun]

Hey. Asking about how Chloe was abused. My knowldge of abuse is fairly limited to general pop knowledge so I'm curious as to what abuse was done to her.

Okay caveats first:

I am not a medical professional, I am simply someone with a vested interest in the topic who has done more research than the average person.

There are many definitions of abuse. Legal definitions are rarely useful, as they are limited to concrete, provable, gross violations. Just as you can inflict a lot of pain on someone without leaving the marks to prove assault, you can do a lot of damage to a child without it being legally 'provable'. Medical definitions are much more helpful for discussions.

Lastly some level of extrapolation is required as it is a show. We take what we are shown. For example:We actually only have Felix's word that he was ever abused, and his first character traits sre being deceitful and manipulative. We still take his word though, because it's a show. (And also we should give weight to victim accounts!)

So both parents are guilty in different ways. We will start with Audrey, the simpler one. There's clear verbal and emotional abuse demonstrated on screen. Mis-naming your child is a form of abuse:please ask the trans community about the impact of deadnaming even in full grown adults.

Beyond that she is constantly dismissive and belittling of her child- to the exclusion of all else. Style Queen/Queen Wasp is rife with examples. There is also the clear behavior shift in Chloé. The wheeling, approval seeking, hunched posture expecting rejection. This is a *pattern* not a one off. Audrey may live in NY, but no fashion movil would be away from Paris for 13yrs straight. We are simply seeing the most recent interaction. This culminates im a child having to ask 'Why don't you love me mother?' and the response is telling

Audrey barely chokes out the strange word when trying to contradict the question. It takes Marinette literally making them both mad at her to get a bare minimum of interaction on Audrey's part. It doesn't last though. Audrey falls back into her negation behaviors and is now present to inflict them more regularly on Chloé, while also being a constant target for/model of behavior for Chloé. (Seriously it was such a misstep to write Marinette reuniting a victim with an abuser) We know the show itself considers Audrey'ss care as a bad thing because the original script had André divorcing her and takin Zoé because Zoé 'doesn't deserve you' so Chloé being in an abusive parenting situation in Representation is supposed to be 'punishment'(ewww)

André is not off the hook either. People look at him 'spoiling' her and leave it at that. Well, 'spoiling' can in fact be abusive too. Let's look at what we see:

André has been her primary caregiver for 14 years now, so he has had the most responsibility in molding what we see for good or bad(mostly bad). She does learn from him too. Darkblade she proudly announces she learned everything about winning elections from watching her father. He's also excessively arrogant (I'm the symbol of Paris!) and quite willing to abuse his power for his own ends(having Roger round up protestors etc) which explains where Chloé learned where power is to be abused.

André is also extremely neglectful as a parent, extreeeeemely. Let's hit a bunch of points in the order they come to me.

Chloé lives *alone* in a hotel suite. There's no shared space, no family area. It's not even really her room. It's commercial, sterile. Where sre her hobbies? Posters? Even her *colors*? She is so used to being ignored at home that the girl who is loud as heck everywhere else doesn't make a single mark on her living space.

A hotel employee seems to think he needs to step in to raise Chloé. Let that sink in. An employee can see how bad it is and tried to make some kind of change, (he's working against a lifetime of ingrained behavior and is not very good at it himself). He doesn't even think to you know... Get Andre in to do this.

André was unaware or didn't care his daughter hasn't done schoolwork since Sabrina *learned to write*(5/6 yrs old) that is a shocking level of disinterest in your child. 6yr olds aren't criminal masterminds.

Andre supplants actual attention and affection with *stuff* he gives material possessions in *place* of parenting. This is somewhat similar to spoiling but not the same. André's method denies the child something vital. You see- things aren't a substitute for affection/attention, developmentally. And so while they may delight they never satisfy the need. They never validate the emotional attachment. So after the shine wears off, the hole is still there. So, like someone with an addiction, the child needs more, and more, and more. Since the needs are never met, it is never enough. And this is what the child views as *normal* this is simply *how it is*. They rarely know they are being given inadequate care because it's just life to them. Seeing something different in a one off doesn't make a dent vs a whole life.

This sort of thing makes a potent cocktail when mixed with the abandonment issues from her mother too. See- if her mother left, and daddy doesn't pay attention, anyone can leave. This leads to a cycle of pushing/demanding/hurting. The child expects to be left and let down, so they both try to reassure themselves it won't happen, and *make* it happen on their own terms (because they believe deep down it will) so more outrageous demands, because when those demands are met, it shows that you are still 'loved' and when they are not met, then there you go, you are not loved and they will leave you. It's a self-destructive spiral.

You see it play out with her interactions with her classmates and Sabrina specifically. How does she express affection? Gifts. What does she do? Push. Push and push and find the breaking point because if she can make Sabrina actually leave then it shows that she herself is worthless and her mother was right to leave her and her father is right to ignore her. Pretty messed up right? Yeah. Child abuse does horrible things to kids.

We're not done with André yet. Some people might say 'he expresses love for Chloé!' and to that I say- performatively.

André likes the idea of being a father. It's what respectable people do. It looks good on camera. It's someone to love him unconditionally. It's an ally against his wife.(broken home dynamics are horrible too) André just doesn't like having to parent for more than a snapshot.

We can see his interactions with Zoé highlight this too. He's delighted she's here!(a potential person on his side vs his wife and daughter) what's his first parenting advice? 'lock your dreams away and get on with life' A+ André.

What's he do in Queen Banana? He uses his power to let Chloé manipulate the movie *kicking Zoé out of it* This is the guy who is supposed to be supporting her? He only draws the line when it comes to sending Zoé away... Why? He doesn't want to lose an 'ally'. It's power dynamics. Not parenting. Where was he when Zoé was stuck in boarding school? He was going to keep Zoé in the divorce so clearly Mr Lee isn't in the picture, Audrey probably forgot Zoé existed, why didn't André bring Zoé to France and let the sisters grow up together? Oh, right, that might be work.

André likes Zoé because she comes pre-raised(boarding school was probably better than either parent) he doesn't have to put in work and he gets a free good kid to make him look like a father. She's his 'do over' as he throws the one he raised in the trash.

André shows his true colors when he's lamenting to Gabe about his corruption and abuse and blames ot on his 'heartless daughter' you know... The child he raised. The grown man is actually shoving his own corruption and misdeeds onto his child. You really don't need much more than that.

So, via neglect, verbal abuse, and emotional abuse the Bourgeois parents raised an incredibly messed up child. Chloé is not a 'good victim' like Adrien, she doesn't sulk quietly under abuse. She lashes out. She is hurt and angry and she passes the pain on. This is why they call it the cycle of abuse.

The end of Revolution illustrates this perfectly. Audrey throws verbal abuse at her on the plane. Angry that Chloé embarrassed her(not that she did wrong, Audrey loved the power grab) and calls her a loser by implication. You *see* it hit, the physical cringe. Then Chloé immedietely goes to try and pass on the pain. She is hurt and making someone else hurt is the only way to lessen it. She calls Marinette. Marinette breaks the cycle though, and good for her. But the show seems to have forgotten there's still one hurt child in this scene, and it doesn't seem to care.

I'm going to stop here for now. I probably left a bunch out, but I do have other things I need to do. Feel free to ask more questions. Thanks for taking the time to seek answers.

[indireneedofanap]

As a literal half Chinese, half white girl I cannot express to y'all just how upsetting it is to see how this fandom treats the fact that Marinette is mixed. Homegirl is not a "whitewashed asian", shes literally half white.

"She can't even speak the Mandarin!" So? I can't speak Cantonese. My father is an immigrant, but I was born and raised in America similar to how Marinette was born and raised in France. Growing up I wasn't taught how to speak Cantonese because the only language my parents shared (and therefore communicated in) was English. That doesn't change the fact that I'm half.

"She looks too white!" No she doesn't? She might be (debatably) white passing, but many wasian people are, myself included. People seem to like to ignore the fact that when a kid is mixed, they may end up looking more or less like either parent. My father has dark tan skin and my mom is white. My older brother is the same skin tone as my father, possibly darker, while the rest of my siblings are more pale than my mom. Genetics just work like that, and Marinette does come off visually as being a mix of her mom and her dad.

"it's impossible for her eyes to be blue!" Not really. I babysit 3 kids, their mom is white with blue eyes and their dad is black with dark eyes. 2 of the 3 kids ended up with lighter eye colors like their mom.

"We don't see her experience her culture!" And what, exactly, is her culture in your eyes? She's mixed with Chinese, but she grew up in France. They never make a point to hide the fact that Marinette is mixed or that her mom is Chinese. There's little traces that really sell the fact that it's a mixed household all over their apartment: my personal favorite being the Chinese wall scroll art they casually have hanging up in their western style apartment, which is practically identical to my sister's house. There's nothing screaming "IM CHINESE LOOK AT HOW CHINESE I AM!", it's just casually shown throughout the show, which is the case for most mixed kids. Marinette's race isn't treated poorly, it's just treated casually, and I love that. You don't need to prove anything to anyone simply because of your race. People claiming that she's "not Chinese enough" are, in my eyes, hypocritical. I'm half Chinese, I'm half white, so what? I'd never deny it, but it also doesn't change the fact that I grew up in the American Suburbs, just like how Marinette's race doesn't change the fact that she grew up in Paris around predominantly French culture. Treating a character as if they need to look or speak a certain way simply because of their racial identity with disregard for their nationality and experience is ignorant in its own right.

You know who else is Teenage, Half Asian Superhero raised in a western society? Mark Grayson from Invincible (the show, not the comic). His Mom, Debbie, is Korean while his father (who's technically a Viltrumite Alien) appears white. His racial identity (in regards to being half Asian) is also never something that's shown to be of any importance to the story, but is also never swept under the rug. It's just there because that's how mixed families are in reality. The same energy applies to Marinette.

Her representation may not be accurate to everyone, but its accurate to me and many of the other half-Chinese people I've encountered :)

Note: I'm not speaking on Miraculous' depiction of Chinese culture via Sabine or her Uncle, just the depiction of a mixed Chinese/white kid via Marinette .

Also want to add that many people feel her character is "whitewashed" because the original concepts of her as a comic character made her appear more obviously Asian, where her on screen 3D counterpart is less so. Im not sure what happened during the creative process and if the decision to make her mixed was added later on, but the discussion above is simply in regards to those that claim her depiction in the show is inaccurate to actual mixed kids and not in relation to how her character changed during conceptualization.

[kindleaf]

Erlin, Albin for the obvious. Zirk for me. And as a curve ball. Also Luna.

[ask game] yayyyy so many :3c (under cut)

erlin:

how do i feel about this character?

gestures to my url. i'm normal. im literally normal. (favorite nadd character and maybe my favorite character ever. he's certainly up there.)

all the characters i ship romantically with them.

bev -w- truly no one else. no one else with bev either. no one can ever get involved with what they have going on at risk of their self esteem.

non-romantic pairings.

ofc egwene and erlin the siblings of all time forever. the most important guys. and then the rest of b-team obviously. him and hardwon make me cry. of course his other scoutmaster moonie as well. derlin. cran. probably ol cobb. i get weepy he has so many friends he's so LOVED...

unpopular opinion.

i'm a bev/erlin guy we all know this. and a large portion of his life is beverly and i love to discuss this i love to talk about the Themes And Motifs but i also think. maybe. both within the show and in fandom we could talk a little bit more about erlin and his desires outside of bev... we can look at his own tragedy as well... also he's gay. that's not unpopular i'm just saying it.

one thing i wish would happen/wish had happened in canon.

B-TEAM BONDING. ON SCREEN B-TEAM BONDING. PLEASE ON SCREAM B-TEAM BONDING. "MY FATHER FIGURE" BRIAN MURPHY ELABORATE.

albin:

how do i feel about this character?

LOVE HIM. loser wizard guy my favorite c3 character hands down. he's so sad. kicks him.

all the characters i ship romantically with them.

sol! mainly sol. sometimes i play dolls with him and calder, grem, or swag but it's mainly for the Bit and the Drama and the Sexual Ennui.

non-romantic pairings.

ma goblin and him are literally LITERALLY best friends bark bark ruff bark. they make me so happy to think about. also i have pretty extensive headcanons about him hanging out with the waterpark kids (liddy, tully, etc.) and maybe have a comic in the works for it hehe but i like that. and then also winch and callie. i think they should be FRIENDS.

unpopular opinion.

they should treat him better in canon before i start aggressively subtweeting jake and emily on twitter. be fucking nice to him he's literally just helping you and calder STARTED it.

one thing i wish would happen/wish had happened in canon.

i wish we had gotten to maybe see more flashbacks to launchpad with them in a more serious way? however the lizer fight flashback to albin crying out for help really does it for me i like that a LOT. i wish we'd maybe even gotten more of albin's story pre-launchpad but that's arcane knowledge that not even murph knows so. shrugs.

zirk:

how do i feel about this character?

i LIIIIKE zirk i think he's so interesting and fun. and ofc he's a blorbo in law. but i love alchemist characters by default and then ALSO he has mommy issues? let's fucking go.

all the characters i ship romantically with them.

uhhh not many? i don't really ship him but when people draw him with syb or henry i think that is a-okay!

non-romantic pairings.

him and fia. obviously. they are literally socialized together like kittens and they'll rip up your furniture if they're apart please do not separate. also i like your 🫵 zirk and hank jr stuff i think they should and could be friends even. also him and irina but that's mainly stuff i imagine in my brain. also i think him and tarragon could VIBE but i suppose we'll never know.

unpopular opinion.

hm. idk how unpopular this is with this certain audience but i literally hated the fucking through a bag scene so much. it sucks. it's not good. to me.

one thing i wish would happen/wish had happened in canon.

i would eventually like to see some third mates on their boat in the future :-) just to see what they are up to post All That Bullshit. and also for some zirk and irina interactions.

luna:

how do i feel about this character?

LOVE HER i love her role in the crick arc and i love her scene with melora and i especially love that we get a little peek into how the chosen recruits members because i am so horrible fascinated by how they function as a cult militia. i love her she's awesome.

all the characters i ship romantically with them.

i think shipping her with apple scrumper is literally just fun. so apple scrumper. also not romantic but i think her and moonshine could have a casual thing. in wolf beast mode.

non-romantic pairings.

also her a moonshine as mentioned previously. i think her and hardwon potentially also good friends and then this is so random i think her and tess from the bastards of none could literally hang.

unpopular opinion.

despite her relatively small role in the grand scheme of things i don't think luna is forgettable at all! i think she even brings about one of the most iconic parts of the series early on with melora's "you weren't cursed. you were born that way." i like her very much i think she was the most fun a tertiary npc could be.

one thing i wish would happen/wish had happened in canon.

i can't really think of anything specific i think her arc was very well done. i wish she had gotten to maim barret brisden if this counts.

[imminent-danger-came]

tbh you are so real for talking about the misogyny targeted to mei & other women in the lmk fandom. in general its like people only value mei as: a: the wingman to some basic mlm ship or b: macaque 2.0. its honestly crazy how so many male side characters overshadow her in the fanbase despite not even having a FRACTION of her screen time. idk chat i feel like the reason people dont care about mei but care about some random male side/background character is less because they're inherently more likeable but because some of you view women as inherently less likable. and everyone is always like "mei is so girlboss pussy cunt slay shes the only reason theyre still alive because she keeps them safe from their silly boy shennanigans shes their ultimate wingman shes so badass shes their lesbian best friend i totally paid attention to her when i watched this show LOL" and even ignoring the obvious misogyny here (ie. how people reduce her to being the male characters babysitter) its like... okay... i know mei is cool & badass already... could you name literally ANY other character trait she has. like people just value her as being "the braincell" who can get red son and mk together or something stupid and its like are we having fun still is this still fun. literally every day i go into the mei tag its like "look at mei shes red sons wifey and shes vaguely in the background of this drawing of red son and mk staring into each others eyes #trafficlighttrio am i right oh look shes macaques niece now this post is about ao lie why is it in the mei tag"

and thats literally JUST talking about mei and it doesnt even begin to cover the other female characters. chang'e constantly gets reduced to being red sons aunt/mom/big sister despite them like. not having any actual interactions in the show. lady bone demon constantly gets overshadowed by her minion who has like 2 seconds of screen time, or she gets made into a cartoonishly abusive madwoman who people call lady bitch demon. just in general people act like shes a horrible person for like. being a villain. liks yeah the trying to destroy everything was bad but also she was an antagonist and thats what antagonists do LOL. spider queen gets completely ignored. princess iron fan gets made into a cartoonishly abusive mother so that way red son can have a poor angsty backstory and some male character (usually nezha, macaque, swk) can take care of him.

(also theres just a great deal of ethnocentrism in the lmk fanbase? like im white so take what İ say here with a grain of salt but so many people will misconstrue aspects of chinese culture for their own personal hcs. people will say male characters are transfem or nonbinary while completely ignoring the time period/culture their from where thats the norm. like yippee youve implied that an east asian man is feminine/emasculine because he has long hair. how do you not see the negative connotations with this. people also turn pif (& lbd to an extent) into a dragon lady which obviously has negative racial connotations lol.)

anyway this is where my unhinged rambling ends have a good day have a good night İ had more to say here but İ reached the text limit. İ dont see a lot of people talk about the misogyny thats prevalent in the lmk fanbase so İm glad youre pointing it out lol.

Yeah, I totally hear you. The lmk fandom has plenty of issues with misogyny and, like you said, ethnocentrism. It's definitely something worth having a discussion about, along with these issues in fandom as a whole.

[destinygoldenstar]

I’ll probably post more about this in more detail, especially now that the reboot is pretty much done and dealt with. (There is no confirmed Season 3. Stop lying.)

So you know, most of what I have to say in this post is rambling and complaining, because I am ticked off. So if you like the ending of the season, good for you… this is the opposite opinion to that.

Spoilers for Season Two and it’s ending:

This season, for me, is definitely above All Stars and Paketiew. Definitely. I genuinely enjoyed the first two thirds of the season, and its slip ups weren’t too big of deal breakers for me on the season. (Except Millie. I will forever be salty about it and I can’t say I like her character anymore after what this season did with her)

The season was funny, it was engaging in a lot of plot lines, I thought the order was pretty clean, I’m enjoying it and really invested in how all of these plot lines conclude….

AAAAAAANNNND then Zee outs Caleb.

I break the season to three acts. Pre-Merge is the first act.

Episodes 6-8 is the second act.

And right when Zee outs Caleb, is where I’d say the Second Act ends, and the Third Act begins.

And the third act, in my humble opinion, is GOSH. AWFUL.

Like, OH MY GOSH, they screwed up EVERYTHING.

Except MK and Julia in Episode 9. That’s wholesome.

But other than them, literally ALL the other plot lines in the season that I was invested in were completely botched in conclusion. And I can’t like these plot lines anymore.

How do you do that?! Like, WHAT happened here?!

This may seem incohesive, but I’m just that baffled.

I don’t even care about the elimination order right now. You CAN make whatever finalist you want work so long as the story suits it. So Im not gonna say “Oh Julia should’ve won” or something like that, as a complaint. That’s personal preference.

Remember the post I made complimenting Priya and Caleb’s relationship plotline?

That aged like milk. I don’t like them anymore. They were obnoxious as I’ll get out and I just wanted them booted ASAP.

I made a post about how I thought Priya would quit instead of being eliminated. I do think that would’ve been better than what we got because at least there Priya would be making a conscious decision that no one else can factor in. Instead she acts stupid for the sake of Julia and spends the rest of the season whining about Caleb instead of the what they’ve discussed and learned from each other before.

And Caleb being a finalist? After what he’d done I’m shocked he wasn’t booted in a heartbeat after that.

I don’t think they should’ve became a couple tbh. Apologize and make up, sure, but not get together in this whole mess. With how the story was going, it seemed they’d realize and recognize that. But no. It lead to nothing. Way to go.

Damien? I don’t care if you thought he should’ve won or not. That’s not the point. The writers didn’t want Damien to be a finalist. Fine. Okay. Just make an elimination that’s logical and wraps up his storyline-

NOPE. Julia stole the idol. Which I expected, but it’s something she somehow managed to do when paranoid Damien was always around it btw. She did this OFF SCREEN. So even the writers don’t want to come up how she managed to do that difficult task. YOU COULDNT AT LEAST SHOW US?!

Why would they even eliminate Damien? No one was even after him. It’s because they didn’t want to separate Priya and Caleb…

Stupid.

It really solidified to me that Damien had no relevance to this seasons story and could’ve been written out of the story. As tragic as that is to say. Like, make Priya or anyone on the Rats the one Millie pushes down the 4 Point Slide, make Priya find the idol and lose it at her elimination to Julia, and nothing changes.

What a waste of Damien’s character.

I love Julia in both seasons. So you know. I genuinely think she and Bowie have the best character arcs of the two seasons combined. I was actually kind of routing for her in the finale?? Ngl???? Like, I didn’t hate her, I found a nastier World Tour Heather, someone who WORKED for her goals. Good person? No. But an intriguing one to follow.

But this is the definition of plot armor. Multiple times they had to make the other characters act irrationally just so they don’t vote Julia’s ass off in a heartbeat. Which, if they were rational, would do cause everyone KNOWS that Julia is a bad person!

That’s why in the first season and the first half of this season, she had to make herself getting voted off NOT an option for the others. So she won challenges to get immunity. She allied herself with MK to get an extra vote. She got on Bowies worst side to make him want to work with her.

But in the second half it’s pure plot armor.

I thought Bowies elimination and how she managed to convince an entire team to go with it was stretching things. But I could push it aside cause it made sense for Bowie to leave in that episode.

It just got worse.

Once MK is gone, Julia has nobody on her side and no excuse. They should all vote her off in a heartbeat. But they don’t because they are stupid.

They somehow trust her?! With everything she says?!

Even the smartest characters like Priya trust her. She says she knows she’s being used, but decides to let it happen. That is very OOC for Priya. One of the most game-smart characters in the entire series!

Julia being a finalist is actually an idea I’m on board for on paper. But it was just illogical how she got there.

Also, they cut the villains hair off AGAIN.

TOTAL DRAMA, PLEASE STOP SHAVING CHARACTERS HEADS. IT WAS GOOD EITH HEATHER CAUSE IT MADE SENSE FOR HER CHARACTER AND THE STORY. AFTER THAT ITS ILLOGICAL AND CRUEL FOR NO REASON. THERE ARE OTHER WAYS FOR VILLAINS TO GET COMEUPPANCE BUT YOU KEEP USING THE SAME ONE EVEN WHEN IT MAKES NO SENSE. ITS NOT FULFILLING ANYMORE AND WERE ALL SICK AND SEEING IT. YOU DRAGGED THIS THROUGH THE MUD, KILLED IT, AND NOW REVIVED IT JUST TO SMACK IT WITH A SLEDGEHAMMER.

STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!!

*breathes*

At least Julia and MK were great. Mostly because they mostly weren’t in the third act together.

Oh yeah, and there’s also Wayne and Raj. I like them. They’re fun. I like their pre-merge story.

And then Wayne won??

Yeah, Wayne, you know, the comic relief character with no strategy in a very strategic-centric season. Winning.

I can’t tell if it’s supposed to be a joke or not.

If it is, it’s funny like, the first time you see it.

If it’s not, and we’re supposed to take that seriously…

Ooh boy.

I see people compare this to Owen. I don’t think that’s fair given both seasons separate contexts, the characters screen time impact, and theming.

I personally compare this to Beth. Both are tied to someone very similar to them until the very end where their partner, who got more to do, gets eliminated, and then they proceed to fly under the radar because they’re the least nasty people left in a nasty cast remaining.

Now HOLD ON. I am NOT saying Wayne is on the same quality of a character as Beth. Far from it. Wayne will always be the better one of the two for me, because I actually enjoy him on screen, and most importantly, he wasn’t a hypocritical gross cheating creep.

Wayne winning a season CAN work on paper. I’m not opposed to it.

But this is not the way to do it.

This isn’t a guy who has won people’s hearts through being great towards them, he’s only interacted with Raj. This isn’t a guy who has quietly played his cards when necessary. This isnt a guy who has flown under the radar due to being the lesser evil. This isn’t a guy who has clear skills apparent to the viewer but not the characters.

He has done next to NOTHING all season.

I can defend Wayne having some variety of character in season 1, where he was sometimes capable of holding a leadership position, and willing to be patient and loyal, but NONE of these were portrayed in THIS season.

So pretty much, he has won by doing pretty much NOTHING.

At least Raj got a plotline that wasn’t being comic relief 24/7. And I’m not saying Raj should’ve won. Wayne can definitely be his own character, but Raj got eliminated in episode 11/13. Too little. Too late. Honestly, if you’re gonna have Wayne win, eliminate Raj earlier. Swap Raj and MK’s eliminations. At least then Julia making it far is justified cause in Episode 12 she has the idol.

I’m sorry if this is me rambling, but I was genuinely insulted and baffled by the ending of this season. This season started out really good, then declined in quality as it went on.

I definitely prefer the first season. While it’s not as funny as season two’s first two thirds, and has weaker challenges, it’s more cohesive and consistent in quality that reached logical conclusions for almost every character. Love or hate them.

This season, to me, is proof that you cannot botch endings to stories. You try something fancy and screw up, people are gonna remember the mess of an ending, and not the journey. I think that’s apparent with the reactions I’ve seen so far.

You can have a bad beginning. You can even have a bad middle. You can salvage those. But the ending is what you can’t afford to mess up because that’s what your audience will walk away from and remember.

When people look at this season, they’re gonna remember the badly handled ending rather than the good stuff in the first half.

That’s just sad, honestly.

[lostsyren]

I think rafe and sofia have alot of potential and the writers kind of screwed up with how they introduced her. we’ve obviously seen how soft he is with her and how he’s already comfortable by him asking for advice and how much of an influence she has on him already. like cmon she literally changed his mind on him having his father killed😭 i think that flew over alot of people’s heads tbh. and i think they will have a lot of scenes together and hopefully a lot of domestic and intimate moments together, i have hope for that considering she’s been upped to a series regular🤞🏼also we didn’t really see a lot of behind the scenes of fiona BUT i think that’s because they were hiding her?? or maybe people just didn’t recognize her to be taking pics of her. cuz i saw an interview of someone asking her of any projects she’s working on and she responded with “ i don’t know if i can say.” but she did confirm her character (sofia) was returning back to a tv show she was in last year. also his smile when he was looking at her?? i nearly died seeing soft rafe on my screen i already love them so much😣. i almost forgot people recorded drew, chase and austin having lunch and they were with two girls and people were saying it was fiona and the actor who is playing toppers love interest. so yeah i have a lot of hope we’ll be seeing her and rafe together🙏🏼🙏🏼

and with what i think should happen between them in season 4 is i’m hoping she’ll become rafes safe space and the person that’s always there for him. since ward was always pushing rafe to be tough and just being an asshole to him, maybe rafe could have someone he could turn to when things get hard or he just needs someone and sofia will be there <33

sorry this is so long i just loving talking about them😭 im seriously rooting for them🙈

Noooo don’t apologise for the long answer! I love hearing from you, and i feel the exact same way– it’s so fun discussing theories and overanalysing!!

I agree, they could’ve done so much more with her introduction, even just a small shot of rafe and her making eye contact in the country club before the party, just to give a bit of context to where she came from would’ve helped so much without eating the screen time. But ultimately i think they’re just quickly setting her up for the next season so they can flesh her character out then. (Hopefully!!)

Exactly!! Like yes she was just used as a plot device, like a manifestation of Rafe’s conscience almost, but that’s so interesting– and I don’t think she falls under the “I can fix him” trope, she doesn’t think there’s anything to fix. It’ll be a breath of fresh air having someone who doesn’t know Rafe’s past, giving him an incentive to be good.

You’re so smart!! Like that makes sm sense of why we’ve barely gotten any bts of the two. And both Fiona and Drew hardly ever post, so I’m not surprised somethings hasn’t slipped. And I doubt much of the fandom know/remember who fiona is :(

That’s so sweet!! I agree wholeheartedly– rafesofia soft scenes will be the death of me!! And the people saying him being with Sofia will take away from his villain arc– I think it will intensify his villainy even more if there’s a possibility he can be good and he just chooses not to. And especially how that will play with Sofia’s character. I think we as an audience will definitely feel the suspense, waiting for the moment rafe slips and becomes villainous towards her and that will just make his character that more enamouring and entertaining, whether you root for him or don’t!!

[tabithatwo]

you people are so weird. any person with a brain would understand that shauna would be the most affected by the loss of her baby. that baby is literally a part of her in a way that jackie will never be able to. you’re just mad that shauna’s character no longer revolves around the non canon ship that you made up in your head.

I’m only gonna respond to one of these the rest will be deleted but this is a good example to use to tap into more general concerning discussion I see!

Two parts, the easy one first:

everyone who says this stuff is missing the point completely, the conversation isn’t even about shipping like…at all, actually! It’s character continuity! The point is simply that s1 21 shauna was constantly impacted by a specific thing (the loss of Jackie) and now that we’ve seen that loss on screen in 96, the showrunners have shifted s2 21 Shauna a LOT (both on screen and in interviews). I also talked about Misty’s continuity. Im concerned about the 2021 CHARACTERS CHANGING BASED ON THINGS THAT HAVE ALL ALREADY HAPPENED TO THEM IN THE PAST BY THE FIRST FRAME OF ADULT THEM THAT WE EVER SEE IN THE SHOW. Because I worry that the writers don’t themselves know enough of what happened in the 96 tl to not have continuity issues in the adult characters and/or there’s been a push somewhere to make the characters more tolerable or sympathetic. Like that is the thesis statement idk if that helps lol cause I think you’re probably willfully misunderstanding me but in case you’re not there’s another rephrasing of it.

Second thing, less easy:

telling people that “anyone with a brain would understand that the loss of a baby would impact her most” is actually a very cruel thing to do! I’m taking the time to explain this in case you’re on the younger side or something and maybe just don’t understand, but when you talk to people you do not know what they’ve experienced. So imagining that you’re telling someone who has experienced the thing you’re lecturing them on when you say things can be a helpful metric in being less of an asshole in your phrasing. Pregnancy loss and stillbirth CAN absolutely be the hardest thing some people ever experience. But applying that rhetoric to every single woman is actually a very right wing bullshit propaganda sexist crock of shit, which is the other issue I have with this storyline that’s making me weary. The entire she showed no interest in this baby but every woman wants their baby and it just takes seeing it to realize thing? Rotted. Absolutely rotted lol. Can that happen? YEAH! Does it every time or even most of the time? FUCKING NO IT DOES NOT! Does constantly portraying that in media create a general understanding that is incredibly harmful? The one you’re actually sending back at me right now? ALSO YEAH! I’m not saying I don’t think there’s a way they can go with Shauna’s grief that doesn’t play into this, but the shift in her 2021 character PAIRED with the quote about the baby being the most profound loss worries me.

Especially when the proof is a little bit in the pudding, because there are so many people like you very loudly saying that miscarriage or pregnancy loss or stillbirth is unequivocally the worst thing that can happen to a woman and that questioning that is wrong.

So back to think about who you’re talking to and how they could have any life you don’t understand: you sent this to me! A stranger on the internet! And I, someone who actually quite literally experienced pregnancy loss at 19 years old of a baby that I didn’t want with a man that I slept with because of his proximity to a specific woman, woke up to a message telling me that I’m stupid for not understanding the impact of the loss of a pregnancy. Now is that the exact same loss as Shauna’s? No of course not but damn if it isn’t a little eerie in its closeness lol. Which is probably WHY I care so much how they’re handling this rhetoric.

ANYWAY LAYING THIS SUBJECT TO REST FOR NOW LIKE COACH BENS LEG Y’ALL ARE DOING TOO MUCH LET ME TALK ABOUT MY CONCERNS FOR THE CONTINUITY AND DIRECTION OF A TV SHOW I LOVE ON MY OWN BLOG WITHOUT TELLING ME I DONT UNDERSTAND A THING IVE EXPERIENCED THANKS SO MUCH!

[scoundrellyfeline]

great homestuck rereading discussion - day T+3 (Feb 13)

first last next

(cw: irl pet death)

SF 00:52

(forwarded from #homosuck | 00:50) i might go twice as slow with my reread and read every 2 days because college is a PAIN

also placing this here for future me:

also thinking about transcribing this to my website

actually it might be smart to copy this to my tumblr and then to my website

SF 13:34 (CW irl pet death)

just remembered i forgot to do the question for day 1: "do the inventory management shenanigans actually add anything to hometuck outside of padding?"

need to answer this :jadeAnnoyed:

also bella (old dog) was put down today and i feel really bad about what i said about her in #altgen i was having a terrible day then

she was almost 19 years old (may 3)

so yeah

i might not do catposting today out of paying respects

SF 13:49 (CW irl pet death

"do the inventory management shenanigans actually add anything to hometuck outside of padding?" - i think they might. theyre funny and make it seem more gamelike. i also like how it makes the characters flawed because they make mistakes. in all honesty i wish theyd done more with this in later upd8s/acts

ill continue with my day 2 reading later

SW 14:08

makin please im going as fast as i can :crybaby:

SF 14:11

day 2 lets go :33

[Ah, of course! The RAZOR! It's all so simple, you wonder why you didn't...] john no!!!

also thinking from now on im going to put quotes in [] to make it easier to read

ok figured out how to do gifs. now john can get bonked forever >:33

[Let's take this from the top.] okay... sounds good...

[You take three GLASS SHARDS in quick succession and duck for cover.

Your SYLLADEX rains devastation on your room from above.

And now that your cards are packed with glass, you probably don't want to do that again any time soon.] lmao john youre killing me (and anyone else in your room :PP)

[You open the package. There is something suspicious inside.

Something suspiciously dirty and smelly.] oh? OH???

[It is a STUFFED BUNNY. Much like the one held hostage briefly by Malkovich's Cyrus "The Virus" while taunting hard-luck protagonist Cameron Poe. And strikingly similar to the one scooped up from the soot of a burning Vegas strip by Cage's Poe and offered to his daughter, a gesture symbolic of a tattered exterior surrounding a heart of gold. Poe wasn't much to look at. But he was a good man.

But no, it is not merely LIKE that bunny. According to this NOTE OF AUTHENTICITY, it is the VERY SAME BUNNY.]

LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

wonder who that is...

oop, another pesterlog to read

[TT: It looks like you managed to retrieve the beta. Excellent.

TT: I'm going to try to connect.] i was about to say a "she must be psychic or something" joke but then i realized that TT was probably looking at the screen and waiting for John to come online so its a moot point *shrugs*

[TT: I've heard tales of this wretched creature often. Its Homeric legend is practically ensconced in the fold of my personal mythology by now.] TTs going to be one of my favorite characters i can already tell :33

HOLY SHIT OKAY EVERYBODY STAY CALM ITS FINALLY HAPPENING!!!

wicked beats!!! i am PUMPED!!!!! :DD

love me some semi-interactive media(brb checking out how far im supposed to read again)p247 is a bunch i still have to get through @~@SF 18:06           (also i forgot the timestamp for the above but it was a little after 17:42 i think. ill go with 17:42 for the above and be better about timestamps in the future)SF 18:07           ok back to sburbSF 18:07           time to select the magic chest ig

SF 18:08           theif! THEIF!!!

SF 18:09           [TT: I will try to be more careful next time.] im going to hold her to that lol

SF 18:11           another happy john :DD

SF 18:11           literally his face ==> :D

SF 18:11           heheheh :DD

SF 18:12           [You find your missing STACK FETCH MODUS, and quickly reapply it to your SYLLADEX. You can now opt for either the STACK or QUEUE modus any time.] amazing amount of progress! this will def be useful later (i hope)

SF 18:13           my GOG... its the fortnite storm!!!

SF 18:14           [JOHN abjures the meddlesome cursor.] :PP lol

SF 18:15           LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

SF 18:16           also new newspost. could be interesting or funny

SF 18:16           three more videos? okay i guess. lets watch them ://

SF 18:18           bro is literally colonel sassacre i think "ha HEE ho HOO"

SF 18:21 funniest one yet imao

SF 18:22           also thats only 2 videos. uhhhhhh wheres the third??? ',:<<

SF 18:24           w/e i still have a bunch to get through

SF 18:25           me when the sims

SF 18:26           idk why but this gif is cracking me up

SF 18:26           blink-BLINK blink-BLINK blink-BLINK :PP

SF 18:27           [You don't know what the heck this thing does, but it looks neat!] he just like me fr fr

SF 18:28           [TT: You should have received both in separate envelopes. I am running both on my computer right now.

EB: what??

TT: Did you get another envelope in the mail?

EB: no!

TT: Once you install the server and establish a connection, I'm sure you will be able to manipulate my environment in the same manner.

TT: Are you sure you didn't get it?

EB: oh man.

EB: i think i might know where it is.]

SF 18:29           cue image of that one cat meme with the forgetting music

SF 18:30           hes just a lil guy :3(:D)

SF 18:32           she put him in time out :,<<

SF 18:33           ...

SF 18:34           [EB: why is the floor shaking?

EB: are you dropping more stuff in my house?

TT: Yes. Two more large gizmos.] the astute observerrrrr

SF 18:35           his face... its so stupid. the utter gooberyness of it lol

SF 18:36           ok i need to stop for now but ill continue later (currently on page 158)

[toxifoxx]

ok serious thoughts on the fnaf movie this time. they're a little scattered but i did just see it so i gotta think on it some more before i give like an actually structured review. but immediate thoughts post-viewing:

i had fun with the movie! i thought it was enjoyable. was hoping for at LEAST a little more blood (i really wanted to see william fucking explode into blood for one) but i knew there wasn't gonna be much since its pg13. it wasn't scary like in the slightest except for 1 jumpscare that almost kind of got me but i wish they set up the atmosphere a little bit more.

MAJOR GRIPE. i hate that vanessa is related to william. please stop retconning the afton family scott pretty please. give that man his dead children back. i seriously seriously love the "man goes fucked up sicko mode because of his grief" trope but alas.

i think that the pacing is NOTTTT very good at all. william needed more screen time 100% and there wasn't that great of a build up to the climax. maybe its more impactful to people who didn't already know that steve is william, but i'd wager that they're probably like HUH WHUH??? at that reveal because its not really. set up that much. and yes im biased because i fucking love william ok.

i think matthew lillard did a great job, BUT... we barely got to see him at all! and, especially with the "i always come back line..." i cringed a little bit man. like what are you coming back from? you haven't died yet man. there's nothing to come back from yet tf are you yappin about. it felt like it was really shoved in there honestly. we DESPERATELY needed to see more of him! in fact, most of the characters needed more set up! like ok... mike lost his brother? why should i care. mike is gonna lose his sister? why should i care tho?? these kids died but they dont really seem like they care too much about being dead either so whats the big deal.

AND WHY DIDN'T THE KIDS HAVE BEEF WITH WILLIAM/THE YELLOW RABBIT. THEY CLEARLY WERE SHOWN TO KNOW HE KILLED THEM, BUT THEY DON'T TURN ON HIM UNTIL ABBY PUTS UP HER SHITTY LIL DRAWING? FOR REAL????? WHY? + THEY DONT EVEN GET NAMED AT ALL. THE MOVIE CARES SO LITTLE ABOUT THE KIDS AND YET THEY DONT EVEN ALLOCATE THAT TIME TO AFTON EITHER. THEY FUMBLED BOTH SIDES!

also a lot of stuff just kind of isn't resolved? like the mike vs his aunt thing. is his aunt dead or...? + what was the fucking freddy saw trap thing that doesn't get explained at all. did the police not see that or does william just lug that thing in and out of the building constantly. what's it even for.

im also curious about some things. whats up with that kid who had a midnight motorist shirt. whats up with the other random springlock animatronic that is never named nor do we get a full look at. Where's Henry. are we just straight up ditching henry this time around?

i came into this knowing it wouldn't be lore accurate nor gory because of the rating but ugh. Ughhhh. can we please settle on one fnaf timeline to be canon its been almost 10 years we don't needa be playing like this anymore bro. i want to see the afton family for REAL show me cc getting his fuckin head chomped off or elizabeth getting snatched. give us literally any of the original missing children give us cassidy or something. like even in the silver eyes at least we got henry ffs! it just makes me a little sad knowing that one of the rejected scripts WAS accurate to the game lore.

shout out to my homie @yellowbutterbear for seeing the movie with me and discussing this stuff with me 🔥

6/10 not enough william afton moaning and whimpering AMEN!!!

[sweatertheman]

!

the reason suselle fans are freaking out about the Susie Not Even Noticing Noelle Is There in the newsletter... it's because they're starved for content too!

people have likely emotionally registered the lack of content, but because noelle is enough romance for 20 people and makes any scene she's in feel romantic even when susie is just standing there, and because they like the ship and seem to put a lot of emotional stock in it happening (likely because they identify with it personally which i cannot fault anyone for, even as much as i dont like suselle) they take any scene with noelle and susie in the same room as food!

i've been so fascinated by the discrepancy between the actual newsletter, featuring noelle trying to approach susie to offer a valentines card, but susie not noticing her, and noelle running away the second susie flinches, and the fanart depicting susie nervously blushingly offering her OWN valentine, and the way people take it as food!

i was shocked earlier to see susie's cotton candy sprite from ONE OF THE MOST RALSUSIE SCENES IN THE GAME on a SUSELLE FERRIS WHEEL STIMBOARD.

it's so strange, how can these people act like their ship is a fact of life, totally inevitable, completely canon and susie is a lesbian who loves noelle, and then turn around and use sprite from other people's ship fuel for their stimboard, completely misunderstand susie as a character, and collectively fabricate a version of the newsletter where susie DID notice noelle and had the same romantic feelings as her?

and i can't think of a better reason than this, that suselle fans are just as, if not more starved for content than the rest of us, because there just really isn't a lot of good food for them. 3 unique lines of dialogue and one scene, which they have to keep talking about, keep going over again and again, using sprites from scenes where susie is having fun with ralsei in their stimboards, inventing a version of that scene in their minds where susie was having the time of her life, where the two of them held hands and it was like a scene out of a romcom, hyping up a gif from a newsletter as food which in reality depicts exactly the same non-food dynamic we see them in all the time, where noelle obsesses over susie, and susie fails to notice. this isn't normal ship behavior, is it?!

im not saying suselle definitely isn't going to happen, because it certainly kinda looks like it will, but i am saying that the continuous need to fabricate suselle material in order to maintain the hype combined with the absolute confidence people have in it confuses me, and that when i look at suselle, i see a familiar trope of a main character being obsessed over by a secondary character (i mean secondary not in the sense that noelle isn't important, but in the sense she isn't literally on the screen for 3/4 of the game, and isn't part of the main group of 3) with the main character being totally oblivious.

the need to fabricate material to maintain hype, the overconfidence in it winning the future, and the refusal to see any of the flaws, combined with the way some people harass disbelievers, accusing them of being phobic, reminds me of crypto!

the only explanation i can come up with for the discrepancy is that they are starved for a real win, and are taking anything they can find as food. why they have this crypto-like group, i can't say. i dont know why people put so much stock in this ship. if anyone who likes suselle who read this post wants to tell me why they like the ship, i very much would like to hear it!

even if i might act kind of jerkish sometimes, i really do want to have a legitimate discussion about these things.

[aemiron-main]

what if henry just ends up having killed people instead of it being edward creel or whoever that is because that is a whole new character youve invented babe.......................

also are you gonna keep stanning henrys ass if he truly does turn out to be a murderer who killed his own family because he decided to play god and punish them (including his sister. who is a child) for past mistakes

im pretty sure you said you think virginias abusive or something but im curious. what if youre wrong

“a whole new character you invented” babe he’s in the show. you can read his name and backstory on the screen in front off your eyes right now. open netflix. pause during the indianapolis gazette scene. and read alllllll the details of edward that are completely different from henry. i didn’t just make them up. they are In The Show. It’s not even like, speculation. It’s literally written there word for word in front of our very eyes. It’s Right There.

As usual though, people like you can never be bothered to read even one of the 1526384848484 posts I’ve made regarding Edward and/or the multiple 001s we see during NINA (all of which can be easily accessed from my pinned post). It’s clear that you’re not actually interested in having a nuanced discussion about the topic because if you were interested in nuanced discussion about it, you would have read the posts, and it’d be pretty clear to you that Edward isn’t just someone that I made up. Like it or not, his name and backstory and family and details of how long he lived in Hawkins is written on screen in S4. He’s there.

And two things about this question a.) so what if i was going to continue stanning? what are you going to do, explode me with your mind??? and b.) this is a redundant question because he didn’t kill his own family to try to play god and punish them, the evidence (and if you’d actually read any of my creel murders posts before whining in my inbox you would know this) overwhelmingly supports the idea that Henry didn’t kill his family/the only member he MIGHT have killed is his mother, and based on what we learn about him and his mother, her death was very much deserved because his choice was “kill your mom who is trying to send you to live with a pedophile scientist for the rest of your life” or “live with a pedophile scientist for the rest of your life”.

How did he supposedly trance Victor and kill alice at the same time? Why don’t we see Alice’s death? If he was so dead-set on punishing them, why doesn’t he ever actually give any indication of what he was supposedly punishing Alice for?

And just an interesting sidenote re: the Creel murders, I was listening to an interview with Kevin L Johnson last night (who plays Young Victor), and he said that when filming the multiple versions of the murders, he overhead Sean Levy talking about how there was “one version where Henry wasnt the one killing Virginia and one where it seems like he might be the one doing it,” so neither of the scenes in the show were intended to definitively portray Henry as the murderer. And this wasn’t just something Kevin was told as a coverup or something, it was something that he overheard that he wasn’t supposed to overhear, and what they did tell him on the matter/why they were recording two different versions of the scene was “incase we try to go a different direction,” but then as we all found out, they DID use both scenes.

And I know I’ve talked before about how the main focus should be what’s in the show rather than interviews etc, but again, this interview/the talk of Henry not definitively being the murderer completely lines up with what I’ve already analyzed from the show & how it doesn’t make sense for Henry to be the one doing things & how Hawkins Lab was very likely watching the Creels/messing with them from day 1 at the house. Both of the scenes of Virginia’s death/the murders leave a LOT of room for doubt about Henry being the perpetrator- and it’s intentional!!!! Because he’s not!!!!

And who gives a fuck if I’m wrong???? Are the Stranger Things Police going to arrest me????? Should i throw myself off of a cliff dramatically??? What sort of answer are you fishing for here, anon?? I don’t know about you, but I’m more than capable of handling being wrong- I just don’t think that I’m wrong as of right now.

Like if I’m wrong so what!!! The world goes on!!!! I won’t explode into a billion little teeny tiny pieces!! I had fun analyzing!! Who cares!!! Are you betting on me or something, anon?? Is that why you’re so worried about me being wrong?? Or- do you have 💕💕feelings 💕💕 for me, anon?? Are you worried that if i explode into a million little pieces if I’m wrong that we won’t be able to sail off into the sunset together?? 🥺🥺🥺🥺 rest assured, anon, our honeymoon in france is safe, as even if I’m wrong, nothing bad is going to happen and I’ll still be there on the beach waiting for you…

[legy]

media tag 2024

#42. Mouthwashing

mouthwashing is good in a way that im shocked it developed the fandom it did. its a dark, moody, atmospheric horror game with themes that broadly speaking are well handled. much of the visuals of the game are extremely inspired and WITH SOME VERY BAD EXCEPTIONS the actual gameplay is minimal but engaging enough to keep playing.

THAT SAID.

full spoilers for mouthwashing and tw for a frank discussion of rape and suicide

i talked myself into liking the cannibalism as a, like, wanting to become captain and have a slice of the success and fortune Curly had so bad you end up literally taking a slice out of him

but the way the game handles rape is just fucking miserable. completely unnecessary plot element. anya gets so little screen time compared to the other four characters and she's defined solely by being miserable and useless. and it doesn't even successfully utilize the dogshit trope of a woman's sexual trauma to further the narratives of the men around her bc Jimmy basically does not give a shit or even acknowledge it AND he probably would have snapped and driven into the asteroid either way

and it Sucks that anya is portrayed as "med school flunkie" when by just looking at her accomplishments on paper. she managed to keep a guy alive for five months despite needing to amputate all his limbs and his skin and face. she managed to keep Herself alive to third trimester of a pregnancy in a doomed dwindling resources situation (no indication that she miscarried outside of physically not showing at 6+ months). she's like working miracles here

when the game is good it's really good. I really like how the game does framing, sometimes, like how it shows Jimmy distancing himself from Daisuke's death by having you physically back away down a hall, but holy shit there is so much padding in a 3 hour game

the Daisuke's death bit would hit much harder if you didn't periodically break out of Jimmy's pov in contexts that have far less thematic substance

also the game showed its hand SO early on Jimmy being a piece of shit

if I were script doctoring mouthwashing I would probably combine anya and daisuke into one character

Anya is a plucky new intern who replaced their established medic at the last second and is completely in over her fucking head

the sexual assault subplot would suck less if she got any characterization at all. and I think we don't lose That much from folding swansea apprenticing daisuke and getting him to become mouthwash alcoholic into anya who is long game trying to overdose and kill herself

also i think the developer of this game is really scared of horses and decided to make it everyone else's problem