#it was probably partly because we don't have the many guys in the cast so that's why I have to have four roles but still

[trashmammal-7]

So I'm playing Kyle in my school's production of Legally Blonde this year, and during rehearsal today, the girl who plays Paulette came up to me randomly backstage and asked "Are you like Nikos?" and it took all I have to not laugh and interrupt the people on stage.

[herejusttosufferalong]

"I don't know if you received my ask but my phone keeps glitching so here it goes again. I have a genuine PR question. What if the cast were told when promoting the show to mention specifically that things felt real between Luke and Nicola? I noticed L&N kept saying in the beginning of the tour that lines were blurred, there were specific highlights they were all told to touch on. It must have been the strategy to create the illusion of a tv romance turned real life PR and it works and keeps the engagement from fans going long past the season being out. Considering Luke has a girlfriend this could be why he's remaining mum for now in order for the studio to finish their PR strategy until the 90 days are up. "

I am one of the anons w marketing backround and I had the exact same impressions during watching interviews and bts materials. Hear me out, even if the first part is not feeding our delulu.

I thought instantly that Shonda thinks Lukola is needed to validate Polin. Her interview also gave her away. She is a savy businesswoman, everything she says is with intention.

It is a show made by a woman's company, directed by a woman, targered to fellow women, it can feel and look as a wishful fantasy one woman serving the others, so a straight man's validation is needed. Especially because the story is a love story of someone who is wallflower falling for an attractive guy.

And yes, that straight man who needs to validate this is LN. I think he agreed to play it along. Or maybe he did, but not really wanted, and the continous leaking with A is his way of defiance.

But.

I am still here and ship them, because of the way L and N leaned into it. The unconscious moments gave them away. Their body language, the peeks, the adoring eyes. Those are not acted, but real. Anyone with eyes can see, they are in real-life-into- each- other. We would have not resonated with their feelings so strongly if this would have been merely an act. I am positive it wasn't.

Regarding A, I agree with those who think he was being casual with her, this is his rebound/biding time relationship. I am also on board with him being slightly feeling sidelined due to Nic's overwhelming success. Looks like this was not expected by him or his team. But back to marketing,

I think it could have been seen beforehand. Partly bc of Nic's delightful personality. The other reason is the trope. We always side with the "underdog" that is more relatable for most Bton fans. And that is her than him. Both Penelope and Nicola. The clever and funny girl ovrrlooked by many, for a long time.

For L this could have been still a wonderful opportunity to kick off even a diverse and rich career from. I think his expectations were not realistic, probably he is disappointed now.

His sm interaction with the show shows me that.

As for what is to come, I look forward to read other's opinions. There are so many clever people with good insights gathered here, I love it 💜

Thank you for providing a safe place for this community 🤗👏

thank you for sharing anon 💜

glad you are here 🥃

[this-acuteneurosis]

I kind of want to get you started on mind tricks. cause like weak minded to strong minded dynamic and the blur away, but also the sith back in the day were for SURE a Caste system of force sensitive rulers and non force sensitives, and the jedi were their ENEMY off and on for thousands of years, cultural bleed through and dynamics of their own power systems but Ben we are not the droids you are looking for go away so I dont have to kill you, versus Qui hey I want this thing trade it for me.

Alright, Oct anon, it's been a while, but I have not forgotten you definitely forgot this ask in my drafts for who even knows how many months but it's found again, whoo!

It's taken me a while to get this together partly to try and arrange my thoughts in a logical order but also...

Guys, I really, really care about the use of agency in stories. Like, I've ranted about it in relation to droids, I've explained some of my problems with it in the context of the thematic changes between the OT and the PT, I stew over it constantly in my brain, it's a central theme of many of my own stories (including DLB).

I really don't like mind control, and not just in Star Wars.

Now, just because I don't like a thing doesn't mean it doesn't have a place in story telling. As a device, mind control/manipulation can be useful or important to a plot. To a theme. Overcoming it can be powerful or cool (Ella Enchanted-I prefer the novel personally, Tanjiro in Demon Slayer: Mugen Train), watching someone succumb to it can be agonizing (Frodo in Return of the King, anyone? Princess Euphemia in Code Geass?).

So, what is the point of Mind Tricks (and that naming choice, "trick," making it sound almost...harmless) in the Star Wars story, and maybe in the universe?

I feel like in its initial reveal, the mind trick was supposed to a) convey how "magical" Jedi were and b) get the plot from point A to B. Obi-Wan waves his hand, someone believes something hideously untrue, move along move along, don't think about it too hard.

Like, literally, audience, please. Don't.

Luke uses it in RotJ for pretty much the same reason. To convery a) Luke is well on his way to being a "magical" Jedi now (oh but wait, there's more character growth he needs!), and b) Luke needs to get into Jabba's palace and why would they let him in? Because he says so, so we will take him to Jabba now. Move along, move along.

I don't like the implications of this power existing, and as an adult who has been in situation where I have to report to higher powers, the disregard of the consequences of these things are a bit darker if I look too closely, but like...move along, I guess. It's fine as long as we're only using these powers on space nazis and slavers. Right?

Except then we get more movies. And cartoons. It's fine if Obi-Wan mind controls a person into not smoking, right? Smoking is Bad and Obi-Wan is Good.

Only.

Only...

Who taught Obi-Wan to use mind tricks?

Ah yes, my old nemesis.

To all you Qui-Gon fans out there, you may wanna leave. This analysis is probably not for you.

So like, Qui-Gon Jinn. Qui-Gon "I'm friends with the current Chancellor and thus an obvious, notable representative of the Jedi Order but I don't get along with my higher ups" Jinn. The thing you have to understand about my opinion of him is that, as a young, first time watcher of TPM, I liked him. He was funny, irreverent, direct. He was wise, or at least seemed to know things no one else did. He was a maverick, ready to go against all orders and advice for what he knew was right. And everyone around him was just stuffy and uninformed.

And to be fair, he wasn't wrong about everything. He's set up to be sympathetic. He's trying to treat with the gungans and they won't listen? Well he and Obi-Wan are right, the Trade Federation does go for the gungans. The Order says there are no Sith? Oops, wrong on that one. The Council makes the ambiguous assertion Anakin is "too old" to train. We've seen the OT. We know "too old" is nonsense.

But like, what does Qui-Gon do when he's thwarted?

He takes away people's agency.

Oh, you don't want to help us, Boss Nass, political leader? Cool, well I'm gonna undermine you in front of your entire court and you're gonna give us a whole ship (that we won't return) to help us defend a people you've been in an active war with for centuries. Oh, my currency doesn't work on this planet? I think it will mister small time junk dealer with a gambling problem (jokes on you for that one, sir).

This to me is a huge red flag in a story that is about literal slaves. I know people will defend the above examples. It was necessary. There were lives at stake.

You wanna know who would have suffered if Qui-Gon had been able to con Watto out of that part?

Anakin and Shmi.

Worthless (or event mostly worthless) currency on a planet where you have to buy water is literal death under the right circumstances. And who do you think Watto's going to reduce rations on. He's got cash flow problems? What's the quickest way for him to make back what he just lost? I'll give you a hint, he gambles on them later in the exact same movie.

So like, well before we get to "weak minded" or anything dubious like that, there's this awkward question of, "Why are the good guys always using powers to make people do things? And not worried about the consequences?"

And like, if we go back to simple story narratives, and trying to move things from point A to point B, that's fine I guess. I enjoy the OT. I'll move along.

But if you ask me to stop and think about it.

Well...

[heyclickadee]

Things about "The Outpost" that are still killing me:

1. That airstrip was huge. And by the time we see Mayday and Crosshair on it they've been walking across it for a while, at the rate they’re going. The TK troopers don't see them at first, but once they do, they gather, see this:

These two men, barely on their feet, clearly in pain, one of them unable to keep holding on to his crutch anymore, staggering towards them inch by inch, looking towards them for help--not a single one of the TK troopers offers any kind of assistance whatsoever. No one calls for a medic, no one rushes forward to carry Mayday. They all just stand there and watch. And when Nolan tells them to go, they do, because they probably don't see the clones that differently than Nolan does.  

Yeah, Lieutenant Nolan is an asshole. He went from, "I'm probably going to dislike this guy," to, "LOATHE," in my book with a single line. He's a pathetic officer-wannabe who genuinely thinks of the clones as machinery he can push around and direct how he likes. He doesn't see the problem with kicking around someone like Mayday--someone who technically outranks him, I think--or the danger inherent in goading someone like Crosshair, because he doesn't see either of them as reasoning, emotion-having people who may just retaliate if pushed far enough. He's a snake and he deserved what he got. But his malice is more than matched by the TK troopers' apathy.

2. The way that there's ice and snow frozen to Crosshair's armor on the landing strip, and the fact that Mayday can't quite make it to the end of the tarmac, nor is Crosshair able to continue carrying him. They're both so cold and tired. They've both hit their physical limit and it would have been enough if anyone had cared to help.

3. Crosshair is--literally--stripped of everything that marks him as an imperial soldier or a soldier at all by the end of the episode, and most of it is stuff he casts aside himself. His CT number (in a way, when he gives Mayday his name), his helmet that he doesn't even look for (there as SO MANY good helmet metas out there, so I'm not going to get into it), his rifle (which he gives to Mayday to use as a crutch and doesn't retrieve when Mayday drops it), his backpack (I'm guessing it got too heavy so he threw it away to keep carrying Mayday), and even his armor, reflection mirror...sticker...things, and sidepiece (all of which are taken from him after he blacks out. I'm not real happy about the fact that the scientists at Mount Tantiss changed his clothes while he was unconscious). Of course, the last few function a little bit differently than they first ones do. The CT number, the helmet, the rifle, and I guess (?) even the backpack (though to a much lesser extent) are all Crosshair intentionally putting his imperial identity aside in order to help someone he sees as a brother and re-humanizing himself in the process. The last couple--the armor, the sidepiece--that's the writers telling us how vulnerable Crosshair is in his current situation.

4. The SNOW and the way it interacted with the CHARACTERS was just *chef's kiss* Credit to Joel Aron and the effects department, you guys knocked it out of the park.

5. Likewise, while I'm really glad The Bad Batch does list the names of the animators at CGCG who worked on each episode in the credits (because guess what--not every animated show does this. Sometimes they just list the name of the studio), I really want to know which animators were responsible for animating Crosshair this time around. Or at least Crosshair's shots, since the way I think it often works is that an animator will be assigned a series of shots and be responsible for animating everyone in those shots, because oh boy, was that a performance. Crosshair's animation has always been standout, I think partly (partly) because he's a character that doesn't actually talk that much, and says stuff he doesn't mean at least half the time, so there has to be a certain level of clarity and nuance in his performance for the character comes across the way the writers intend (and partly because being an ultra-expressive but taciturn bundle of emotions is a big part of Crosshair as a person). But the team working on this episode took something that was already great and kicked it up another level.

6. I want to know if Jennifer Corbett, the board artists, layout artists, the other writers, the directors, and others high-fived each other when they came up with the ice vulture symbolism and the rock-wings shot. I want to know if they knew we'd go crazy over it.

7. Mayday. Literally everything about Mayday. Mayday my beloved. *cries*

8. The look on Crosshair's face when he's about to pass out and sees the TK troopers coming still messes me up, because it's the closest thing we've gotten to a real smile (one that actually reaches his eyes) pretty much since he was teasing Echo in the med bay in "Aftermath." Crosshair's someone who's come across as to me passively suicidal since the moment he turned around after the droid fight in "Return to Kamino" and saw Hunter and the rest pointing their guns at him. Passively--meaning that he's not going to actually do anything, that he doesn't actually want to die, he’ll survive however he can, but that he's not exactly planning for the future, either. He'll just keep doing what he's doing until it (almost definitely) kills him. And. I mean. Crosshair's not stupid. He knows what killing Lieutenant Nolan means for him. I'm not saying that Crosshair didn't expect to wake up afterwards, or that he wanted to not wake up, but I am saying that he did decide that avenging Mayday and defying the Empire in whatever small way he could was worth dying for. And that he was very, very tired.

9. I'm so! Glad! That Crosshair's growth wasn't centered around Omega, Wrecker, Tech, Hunter, or Echo. We already know that he cares about them. Showing us the lengths he'll go to help a relative stranger instead and making that his breaking point does so much more to tell us that he's grown.

10. The thing that sticks with me most, though, is the fact that this episode wasn't just sad. It wasn't just unrelenting tragedy, or even like "The Solitary Clone," where overriding emotion of the whole episode is despair. I mean, yes, this episode is sad. It's tragic. You have Lieutenant Nolan's cruelty, you have the malice of the Empire, you have the apathy of the TK troopers, the dehumanization of the clones, the soul-crushing way in which Mayday and Crosshair find out that the clones were always going to be replaced, that inevitability, the futility (on one level) struggle that ends in Mayday's death. 

But it's not just that. There's warmth, too. There's camraderie and a little bit of humor. Mayday, a survivor starting to see how pointless it all was, and Crosshair, who's so desperate for companionship at this point that he'd pack bond with a rock, snark back and forth at each other a little bit like old friends. Heck, this is the episode where we get the most profound act of compassion we've seen in the show so far. Mayday didn't have to disarm that mine and save Crosshair, but he did, and it matters. No, Mayday didn't make it, but Crosshair carried him through a blizzard for two days and made sure he didn't get left behind or die alone, even if he couldn't save him, and that matters. Yes, Crosshair's a prisoner now, but he chose to avenge Mayday, grab hold of his own humanity again, and told the Empire where to stuff it, and that matters. Kindness and defiance have their own meaning, even if they don't change the outcome. But the fact that this episode is more than just sad is, I think, why it's so harrowing in the first place.

[canmom]

more Candle. around chapter 78. bloody addictive, these webnovels lmao

i read up to the end of book 4 and a little beyond last night.

this book develops Joon and Fenn's relationship, and the adventure of the week sees them attempting to teach Joon 'soul magic', which turns out to give him access to his 'true character sheet', which lets things get pretty wild.

that comparison i made to Baru Cormorant? seems like it's going to continue to be relevant, because most of this chapter was about dealing with an adversary who can rewrite someone's motivations, particularly 'values', here understood as a list of discrete concepts assigned importance by various criteria. this not by a lifetime of indoctrination but a magic touch. so we have a book with our cast forced to regard each other with extreme paranoia - paranoia which proves entirely justified.

also first party death. even though resurrection is possible, it's not surprising that this leads to everyone becoming worse, short-tempered versions of themselves

now the author's rat background is becoming increasingly evident, although I don't think this is going to become a HPMOR-style propaganda piece - it's more that the pool of concepts he's playing with is, well, the sort of thing that gets discussed on Lesswrong. it's clear there is going to be some kind of 'AI risk'-type question implied in Joon's ability to fuck with his own values, and if the author continues to be pretty good at writing, I expect he's going to do his best to make Joon's likely slide to the dark side seem entirely justified in the narration the whole way.

oh yeah there's more sex going on now. the mc's hangups are conveyed pretty well. it's putting him in the middle of a harem plot, which is not universal but not uncommon in litrpg (something else we can probably blame on Sword Art Online). given how openly metafictional this story is, I assume it's going somewhere with that.

one thing briefly about the power fantasy here. when I was much younger I read about half of another massive webnovel, Fallout Equestria. it's not an especially good book and I wouldn't go out of your way unless you really like deranged pony fandom shit and specifically the kind of story where the bad guys do a lot of (often weirdly creative) sexual violence to show how bad they are. anyway, I'm reminded of that because the MC of that story gets a girlfriend who absolutely adores her, and the MC of course turns out to be the best at sex ever, so she's oh-so-embarrassingly overheard by the rest of the party. I'm sure there are other examples.

so the fantasy isn't exactly that you have a lot of sex with different people. it's that you're recognised by your peers as attractive (and good at sex), and you get a committed relationship with someone who's perfect for you. this happens through no special effort on your part.

harem anime and manga used to be a major subgenre, usually a comedy where a hapless bumbling male character ends up in an all girl environment by some contrivance and antics result. I can't comment too much on its usual story devices since, well, I never watched much of it beyond a small amount of Urusei Yatsura, and what I have is pretty far from the core of it. as far as I'm aware it's a subgenre that's basically dead and buried now, partly swallowed by the isekai wave and partly just tastes change

all the same, afaiu a core part of the genre is that the protagonist does not really pursue the girls - he's just a nice guy and everyone's got low enough self esteem that that's enough. the expected ending is that the protagonist will pick one of the girls and settle down.

by contrast, the type of male character who is having sex with multiple women is usually depicted as a brutish character, probably a rapist, overflowing with dangerous sexual energy - a demon in Berserk or many an 80s OVA for example. this is actually true even in reverse come to think of it - consider Zero of DoD3. (exceptions definitely come to mind, notably Naze Turbine in Gundam IBO, but that's more recent. it also seems less likely to apply this sort of frame to lesbians.)

so in a very stereotypical harem story the point isn't that you get loads of girls and have sex all the time. it's that you could do that but you don't, because you're a good boy who observes the cultural taboo against non-monogamy.

I expect this may get explicitly addressed in the story at some point, because among rationalists, polyamory is a lot more accepted or even a norm. right now we have the amusing idea of achievements intruding into sex scenes, and it seems like the game 'wants' Joon to be fucking all seven of his current and future companions. Joon doesn't like this, and I can only guess what the author is planning with this plot, although if this somehow ends up with Joon fucking the deer that will be goddamn hilarious.

anyway, moving on...

I've changed my mind about Arthur being the DM, or at least it now seems less likely than the ancestor sim angle. I now think this simulation was definitely built by Joon himself, much older, as a way to resurrect Arthur and give him a good life, but something went very wrong and activated Joon's ruthless DM tendencies, or maybe the only way Joon could get the resources to resurrect Arthur was by building his dream immersive MMO or something. in any case, I think pov!Joon is probably a version of admin!Joon inserted into the game in order to save Arthur. or maybe Arthur took control and is now doing to Joon what Joon did to him. AI gods are not my favourite trope, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt, because I have no idea what modern ratfic is like.

(I kind of want Tiff to be involved in running the sim somehow, because to me she's the most interesting member of Joon's D&D group. seems unlikely right now, but I'd be glad to be proven wrong.)

the basic arc of litrpg is that a character goes from the bottom of the heap to the top. in accordance with conventional storytelling wisdom, the early part where a weak character survives by their wits tends to be the most fun. Wales has done a good job so far of maintaining tension - honestly so much of it that the death of this arc's fantasy-Mengele villain came as a serious relief, although as a character the queercoding was a bit much lmao (a lisp? seriously?).

but Joon getting the ability to fuck with his soooouuuullllll very directly seems like it's going to be a turning point, even if the 'soul' here definitely seems to be another abstraction; and given I'm not even at the halfway point of this behemoth, I'm curious what will happen if we finally move out of the reactive protagonist territory.

many lampshades have been hung on Joon's lack of a strong driving motivation, incidentally. the closest thing he has to a main goal is resurrecting Arthur, but that is more of a vague long term aspiration than a project that structures the story at large, and indeed, we now learn it officially ranks several rungs below Joon's devotion to his immediate companions. in RPG terms, the DM - the cosmic force of Narrative as the characters see it - is doing most of the work to structure the story, sending a series of threats and problems Joon's way to hook him into adventures; as an RPG player, Joon himself has given few 'flags' to help signal what he's interested in doing. ironically, while Joon seems like he'd be a great DM, he seems like he'd be a slightly frustrating player - although he'd probably give more to work with if he weren't playing 'himself'.

that Joon is a reactive type of protagonist is apparently important enough to call attention to in narration, although I can't guess where it's going with this choice. generally speaking that's seen as a writing flaw, and motivated protagonists are preferred, but this story is so eager to call attention to narrative devices and artifice that I feel like I must assume it's doing this for a reason. I'm just not sure what that reason is yet.

guh i promise I'm not going to be just blogging about this webnovel for a while. these webnovels really get their hooks into you in much the same way an actual game does, the chain of overlapping problems and solutions is a powerful thing.

[lilisouless]

Alright, the Jessie Mei Li shipping discourse has been around for long , but i still want to say something even if its nothing new

I have seen a lot of people saying that Jessie plays for both teams , giving both Malina and Dark/lina hopes. If that was true and they gave hope to both ships, which is something shows with a love triangle in their marketing do a LOT, that wouldn't be bad, they play the character, they were part of the fandom before being casted and they have the right of an opinion like everyone.

But that is not even true, Jessie has said in every interview , where people aren't creative enought to ask them anything else than about the love triangle, they always speak in favor of Malina pretty unambigously. And the arguments that "they pander the da/rklina fandom too" is just (for what i could find)

1- Putting a lot of effort in their kiss scenes with Ben

2-...having a friendship with Ben?

First one, they are an actor, acting is their job. They were playing a girl that was trying to be happy with her new life and starting something with this new guys she is atracted to, why would the character act with disgust on being distant? that was not the point of the scenes. The second one is just stupid, if Jessie had to work and kiss a man they were not confortable around then that would be a huge problem.

The actor´s relationships doesn't counts as "giving hints"

And i meant that in the mosts neutral way possible. There are people on the malina fandom that say Jessie panders and romantizes the relationship , when is not Alina and the darkling you are seeing, it´s Jessie and Ben, they are not their characters. Unless Jessie says "i think Alina should have ended up with the darkling because they were in love" or something like that, they are not romantizing anything. The whole "make the kiss scene more consensual" was mostly to give her character more agency (something i am not against, i mean the ship in the book has no chemistry at all for how unresponsive is Alina the whole scene). Is not like they stripped out the manipulative context, they leave there the reveal that Genya burned Mal´s letter at the darkling´s comand, that he tried to keep her away from an old friend, his bad actions are still there so the scene doesn't hurt the context. Besides, acussing someone of supporting abuse is very serious and should be out of shipping discourse. This also doesn't means it would be okay to call them an "abuser apologist" if they actually said "Da/rklina" in all those interviews.

On their side, the DA fandom went "Jessie clearly ships DA, so what they are saying on those interviews is not true" so, acording to them Jessie is either a liar, spineless or a sold out, never a person with their own opinions and preferences (not to say is plain rude to go and comment "DA is better" everytime they share a picture with Archie) A lot of people went "Jessie is probably being treatened by netflix!" as if they don't follow their discourse, there must be something wrong with them, "why are they not doing exactly what we wanted them to do?" (hey, just like Alina herself)

The thing is that both sides treat Jessie as if their relationships with other people were only there for show marketing. And yes, the actors sharing pictures together is partly a way to promote the show, but also why assume their friendship is only that? if they like each other (like friends, no real life shipping on this house) then why making assumptions about second intentions?

At the end, my intention is always the same: Treath actors like people, why is that so hard?

"You are just saying that because Jessie favors your ship"

No, i said before many times that Jessie has the right to ship whatever they like. And Ben Barnes is clearly a DA guy, he clearly likes the ship, and i have said too many times that he doesn't deserve to be bashed either or treated like he is his character (a lot of blogs that tried to argue anything like that about BB could testify i was the first person to jump on his defense)

[imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl]

Love On-Set (Pt. 05 of 10)

Pairing: Dacre Montgomery X Reader

Word count: 2.9K

Summary: You knew acting on Stranger Things season 3 would be a challenge, and you also knew, from the start, you'd have to work closely with Dacre Montgomery. But is wasn't a big deal for you, since this is your job and you're determined to act professionally. You had it all figured out, or so you thought, until the moment you were out face to face with Dacre. Then, this job became a lot harder than it was supposed to be, since you can't seem to focus whenever you're around Dacre. And you'll have to be around him a lot until the end of production.

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{Dacre Montgomery Masterlist}

{Stranger Things Masterlist}

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All The Right Signs

“Gaten, get it together! It's fake raining!” Finn yells as Gaten messes up the scene for the fourth time. Everyone just laughs as you brace yourself.

“Five minutes everyone!” James shouts and you follow the kids as they run out of the rain as the water is turned off.

Today, you're glad the scene is outside, with all the main actors. It's always fun, and you need to keep your mind away from what will happen tomorrow. You thought the kissing scene was too far away, but now it's just around the corner. And you didn't do as James said. Every time Dacre showed up to work on that, you'd just sit, watch something and talk. And you always have fun together. The director never asked about the video though, so you just decided to let it go.

But now, it's tomorrow. And you're trying hard not to think about it until it's inevitable.

“Are you cold?” Dacre comes to stand before you, messing up your train of thought.

“A little, yeah.” You answer, removing some hair from your face.

“Well...” He steps closer, his hands rubbing your arms. You immediately feel warmer, but you don't think it's because of the gesture. “If Gaten manages to say his line without bursting into laughter we'll get out of the cold very soon.”

You can't help but blush, staring into his blue eyes. “He is–”

A camera flashing gets your attention, and both you and Dacre look at the source. Millie tries to hide her phone as if the bright light didn't startle you.

“I can't wait for tomorrow.” Natalia comments.

Unfortunately, they will have to be here, because the kissing scene isn't the only one scheduled. You still don't know if it's good or bad. Probably bad.

“Alright, let's get it done.” As James speaks, the water is turned back on and it starts raining again.

“Let's go.” You say in a low voice, accompanying Dacre back to your positions.

It takes another four attempts for Gaten to finally say his line without messing up, and the rest of you are free to finish the take. Afterward, before you can run to your dressing room to shower and change out of the soaking clothes, the guys decide to make some silly pictures with everyone soaking wet. In the middle of the commotion to strike a pose, Dacre finds he's way to stand next to you, an arm either on your shoulders or around your waist. You try not to give it much thought, hoping Millie's phone camera won't get your blushing cheeks.

When it's all done, you take a warm shower before heading to the van and an hour later you're at your hotel room. But the day isn't over yet. The guys are coming here to finally start working on the Battle of Starcourt scenes. But you still have some time before they show up, so you make yourself comfortable on the couch, a blanket around your shoulders as you watch Jaws since you're in the mood for a classic movie.

A knock on the door startles you a little, and you notice you were too immersed in the movie. Dragging the blanket with you, you walk over there after checking your phone. There's still an hour until they come and you didn't order anything. But you unlock it and swing it open, biting your lip when you see Dacre. “Hey.”

“Hi.” He furrows his eyebrows when he looks down at you. “I absolutely love your dress.”

“Really? It's the last fashion in my living room fashion week.” Giggling, you step aside, closing the door shut when Dacre comes in. “You're early. Nobody got here yet.“

“Yeah, I know.”

Raising an eyebrow, you shrug your shoulders. It's not like you would send him away. “I'm watching Jaws. So we can either watch it or put on something else.” Making your way back to the couch, you watch as he does the same, settling down beside you. “You want the blanket?” You decide to ask, just to be polite.

“Sure.”

That you weren't expecting. It's not cold. Well, not that cold. You just took the blanket to feel more comfortable since you're wearing shorts and a light blouse. “Ok.“ You mumble as you take the blanket from around your shoulders, fixing it on both you and Dacre.

Then you focus on the movie. Or you try to focus the best you can. Why is Dacre here? Millie's voice comes back to your head, her lastest advise making you bounce your leg nervously. She told you Dacre is giving all the signs he's into you. And you should do the same, or else he'll get the idea you're not interested and step back. Natalia assured it'll happen because Dacre is a gentleman, always have been, and he won't keep pushing you into something you don't want.

Taking a deep breath, you think about your options. You feel how Dacre's arm is touching yours, and you have an idea. Feeling the butterflies in your stomach going insane, you lean closer to Dacre. “Can I?” You ask, laying your head on his shoulder.

“Sure.” He answers, and after a few seconds of the most uncomfortable silence you've even been through, Dacre moves, putting his arm around your shoulders, what makes you snuggle closer to him, your head resting partly on his chest and neck. Your whole body is frozen for a moment, wondering what this is. Then he moves again, his arm sliding down to embrace your waist, and you decide to just end the small distance that was between your bodies, completely leaning on him. “Is this ok?”

“Yeah.” You nod, eyes tightly shut as your cheeks start burning. “The shark is attacking.” Trying to ease the tension, you gesture at the TV.

“It is,” Dacre mumbles, and you feel his chest vibrating as he speaks.

As the minutes pass by, you feel more comfortable. And it feels good to finally allow yourself to do this. It's something so simple, so silly, but still, it feels right. You've been dying to do this and you didn't even know.

Unfortunately, the hour passes by, the knocks and the chattering announcing that your time alone with Dacre is over. Sighing, you leave the blanket behind and go open the door, hoping nobody will notice that Dacre was here already.

•

“Ok, ok. Positions...” Joe says after the coffee table and couch were pushed aside, leaving a free space in the middle of the room. You stand beside Millie, script in hand as you wait to find out what scene they'll start with. “You there. You can be... There.”

“Why do I have the feeling we interrupted something,” Natalia whispers as she walks by, tilting her head at Dacre, who's discussing something in the script with Sadie.

“Dacre just came to...” To do what? Did he even come to do something specifically? “He came a little earlier.”

“I didn't know you could get this red,” Millie exclaims, staring at you. “Oh, my God, I'm so happy I'll get to see the kissing scene.”

The kissing scene. Nobody in the freaking universe will let you forget it. As if you needed them to remind you that Dacre's lips will be on yours by tomorrow night. “I want to get it done on one take, so don't screw it.”

“You should ask us to ruin it as much as we can so you'll get to kiss him more times.” Natalia sing songs and you Millie laughs, nodding.

“It won't be Dacre and I. It'll be Billy and Amy. It's a scene, it's our job.” You don't know what gets to you, the words just roll out. And they're all true. It won't be a real kiss. It's not like you don't want to do it. You want to kiss Dacre, and this is making you nervous, but it just won't be real. “Let's just focus here, ok?”

The next hours are tiring. They were right to do this because the Battle of Starcourt will be chaos, and it'll be a lot better if you kinda know the dynamics before having to actually shoot it. But you're distracted, forgetting your lines so many times you have to just keep the scrip in hand and read it. You're thankful for the kids being so crazy because they make you laugh and forget your anxiety for a while.

It's past midnight then they leave, and as you're saying your goodbyes at the door, you notice Dacre falling behind. When he's by the door, the others are already disappearing down the hall.

“Guess I'll see you tomorrow.” You mutter, looking down at your feet. If it wasn't for a meeting James called with the whole cast in the morning, you'd have the whole day to deal with before going to the set. It's better this way though, you think.

“Yeah. I'd be down for another gym date but I have this job that won't let me.”

Giggling, you bite your lip. “You think it'll be about changes in the script?”

“I'm sure it will,” Dacre mumbles, giving a look at the hall. When you follow his gaze, you see three blurs in the shape of heads, vanishing into the corner. “We're being watched.” He lowers his voice as if you were in great danger.

“Hope it's not the Demogorgon. I'd hate to save your ass. Again.” When you look back at him, you find his blue eyes already set on you. It makes you sigh, wondering why your legs won't work, and make you step back, returning to the normal distance you should put between you and someone else. “I'll get some sleep... Rough day tomorrow.”

“I agree.” Another glance at the hall, but you don't have time to check if anyone's there this time. Dacre leans closer and places a kiss on your cheek, as he usually does. Only this time is different. It lingers, for far too long, and at the same time, it ends too soon. And you're sure you felt the corner of his lips on yours. “Good night, (Y/N).”

“Good night.” Whispering, you stand by the door as he makes his way to the elevators, giving one last look back before disappearing in the corner.

• • •

Your hands are shaking a little, and you blame it on the cold wind. But the wind isn't that cold. Is it?

You're already in your position, at Hawkins Community Pool's parking lot, next to this random car and your stylist is finishing with your hair and giving the final touches on your make-up. No lipstick. You can't imagine why.

On your left, you see many pairs of eyes set on you. After this scene, James wants to shot the sequence, when the kids find a Demodog in the pool, so everyone is here. But you can't think about that now, you have to focus. Amy needs to come to life today, and you need to act like a professional. You knew acting in Stranger Things would be huge, and difficult, but you'd never guess it would be this hard.

You take the deepest breath you can when you see Dacre coming your way. Mullets were an atrocity to humankind, you think, but damn, he did make it look good. How is it even possible? He shouldn't be allowed to do that.

“Hey. You–”

“Everyone ready?” James' thunder voice cuts him off, and you have no idea if that's good or bad. No time to figure out. “Clean the set, let's do this. Dacre, (Y/N), are you ready?”

Nodding, you force your mind to remember the lines. You're Amy now... Which sucks because by now, Amy is already in love with Billy. Nothing will help you, you just need to get it done, give the audience the show they want.

“Great. Alright then... Ready and... Action!”

You're not ready for that, but you move anyways.

“I can't believe you took almost an hour to get here, Hargrove!” Amy yells, walking fast to end the small distance between her and Billy. “There's a freaking Demodog in the pool!”

“It's dead. So why the hurry?” Dacre keeps the smug smirk, the one that makes you want to slap Billy. Just a little bit. “Chill.”

“Don't tell me to chill. Can't you miss one single date? Not even when there's an interdimensional monster involved?” You punch Dacre hard on the chest, well not so hard, but he does give a tiny step back. This is Amy's jealously attack, and you make sure to make her look frustrated because despite the emotions overflowing, she knows she shouldn't be doing this.

“Why the hell you always think I'm with some girl?”

“Because that's where you always are.” Jumping to conclusions. That's the way Amy found to keep her heart away from Billy. Didn't work though. “You know what, it doesn't matter. We have a bigger fish to fry.”

When you turn around to leave, Dacre gets his cue, grabbing your arm and forcing you to stop and stumble back. “The damn thing is dead, it can wait.”

“Let go.” Amy pleads, stepping backwards as Billy comes closer. That's the moment where she gives up trying. This thing with Billy has been going on for a while now, and, as in real life, there's just this point where you stop fighting it. “Seriously, I'm tired of this shit so let's just–”

“I know you're jealous.” He mutters, just when your back hits the car. James loves to have you trapped like that. “Just need to figure out why.”

“I've said it once, and I'll say it again.” It's hard to follow the script, it's hard to keep breathing normally. It's so damn hard to keep eye contact with Dacre right now. “I won't be one of your flings so back the hell down.”

It comes out too low, and you wait for James to stop the scene. And you want him too. You can't do this. You can't stop looking at Dacre's lips, you can't control the butterflies in your stomach. This is just a goddman scene, why can't you get it together?

“Who said I want you to be a fling?”

That's it. It's happening. Dacre leans closer, so close that you have no choice but to close your eyes. He's saying something else, but you don't hear it. Your hands find their way to his chest, grabbing his jacket as if to steady yourself, to get a grip of reality. When his lips brush on yours, Amy is gone and you break character, taking a deep breath before pulling him closer, eager to end the small distance and finally–.

A loud noise, an explosion, makes both of you jump. One of the cameras near you come crashing down and if it wasn't for Dacre pulling you away, it would hit you. The whole thing moves like a domino effect, knocking a few more cameras with it. You barely hear James's voice, stepping further back, making sure you're far enough. The rest of the cast abruptly stand up from their chairs, worried.

“Everyone back off!” James shouts.

“Are you ok?” Dacre asks and you simply nod, a hand on your heart.

James dismisses everyone while he and his assistants check what happened. You silently walk beside Dacre until you reach the rest of the crew, looking down and trying not to think about the kiss. Or the almost kiss.

“What the hell happened?” Joe asks, and everyone starts talking at the same time.

There isn't much to talk about. Four of the five cameras are wrecked, and the director is pissed. But still, you're too far away, your mind stuck in the phantom of the kiss you craved for so desperately. Dacre stands by your side, but you can't look at him right now. So you engage in the conversation, ignoring Millie's and Natalia's stares, hoping nobody will notice your blushing cheeks.

An hour later, the big news arrive. Well, they're big news fort he cast, not for James. After analyzing the damage, James will have to suspend the shooting for five days. Which means you'll have five days off. Everyone starts making plans, and the ride back to the hotel is filled with happy chattering about who will go where. But you already know what you'll do. You'll fly home and use these days to rest. And think.

“Hey.” Dacre gets your attention, following out of the van when you reach the hotel. “What are your plans?”

“Uhm... I'm flying home.” Shrugging your shoulders, you keep his pace through the main hall.

“Oh, you live in LA, right?” Giving him a quick glance, you nod. “I'm living there too, I don't know if I told you.”

This lights up a spark in your heart, and suddenly, you're not so excited to stay away anymore. “No, you haven't.”

“We can book our flights together... If that's ok.”

His hesitation gets you by surprise, but then you notice how distant you've been acting since the kiss. Damn, he might be thinking you didn't like it or something. That he made you uncomfortable. That's exactly what you don't want him to think. “It is. When do you wanna leave?”

“Tomorrow morning?”

“That's fine by me.” You finally decide to look at him, and you immediately regret avoiding his eyes. Being nervous is... Normal. Maybe. But his eyes give you the reassurance you need. “I'll stop by your room in an hour so we can buy the tickets.”

“I'll be waiting.” His lips break into a smile, and you can't help but bite your lip and smile too.

“I'll be there.” You say as the doors open on his floor. Dacre mutters a goodbye, and right before the door closes again, you see when he winks at you.

×

@baker151910 @shinydixon @dreamin-of-dacre @hanoi15 @lickmymelanin @foccus @multific @uncookspaget @kellysimagines @peakascum

[bthump]

I know this is very nitpicky, but what do you think is the level of awareness Griffith has during the stairwell scene? For a very calculated and rational guy like him, it's hard to imagine that he hasn't even tried to decipher where these strong reckless reactions come from. I mean... even king of denial Guts has reflected a bit on it. Enough to ask Griffith about it. I know yoy mentioned in a recent answer to an ask, that you don't headcanon Griffith as pining, so would you say that you (cont)

Would you say that you imagine that he compartimentalizes his thougts and represses to the point that he doesn't aknowledge at least to a certain extent, that his feeling for Guts are more passionate, than what he feels for other comerades. The fact that he fully realises the depth of those feelings once Guts leaves is clear. But Idk the stairwell scene makes me think that he is at least aware, that he has a bit of a crush, but choses to not give it much importance. Curious about your thoughts 

hmmm. okay first off I just want to say that I can see multiple possibilities, from full on repression and denial, to recognizing his attraction but not acting on it, to knowing he cares for Guts and wants him as a True Friend(TM) but often downplaying that because he believes Guts sees him mainly as a superior officer. But yeah I do prefer the denial and compartmentalization explanation and I want to go into why, because I think it’s fun to talk about lol.

So the big reason I read Griffith as refusing to acknowledge his feelings to himself is because that’s how he deals with all his other inconvenient feelings, like his guilt and fear and the fact that he cares about the Hawks. Like eg when he tells Gennon that he doesn’t feel a single emotion about him whatsoever, or when he tells Casca that he doesn’t feel guilty over the deaths of the Hawks, I don’t think he’s just lying to them, I think he’s convincing himself too, to the point where he really believes it.

It’s sort of hard to explain how I see this working in Griffith’s head bc it feels v intuitive to me but I know that’s not the case for everyone. So yk it’s not that I think he like, eg makes himself forget that he nearly had a breakdown in a river, but I think he doesn’t ask himself why he nearly had a breakdown beyond maybe a shallow ‘sex with gennon was unpleasant and made me uncomfortable for a couple hours but i’m completely fine now’ and doesn’t think about it afterwards if he can help it.

And when he tells Charlotte he doesn’t have any friends and tells Guts he belongs to him during the second duel, I think he’s telling himself lies/rationalizations he genuinely believes there too. In fact, I think his denial of his own feelings is straight up meant to be his tragic flaw, which is why he’s only able to finally acknowledge them in the torture chamber, after it’s caused his downfall.

In the torture chamber we see him remember the face-off with Zodd and acknowledge that it was an irrational thing to do and wonder why Guts is so important to him, and I think part of the reason the monologue works so well is because it’s the first time we see that kind of self-reflection sans lofty rationalization from him, because before he ended up trapped in his own brain for a year with nothing to distract himself in between bouts of torture he didn’t really ask himself these kinds of questions. If he had, things probably would’ve gone better for everyone.

And like, I don’t think this makes Griffith less intelligent, or negates his rationality in other areas of life. I don’t see a contradiction in someone being able to analyze a battlefield or read other people well but avoiding genuine soul searching whenever possible and lying to himself a lot. I think it’s actually pretty realistic - I don’t think very many people fully understand themselves or their feelings, even really self-reflective people, and it’s very easy to rationalize away inconvenient cognitive dissonance. and I include myself in that lol.

Griffith’s life is kind of a contradiction that would really fuck him up to untangle (he sends people to their deaths to achieve a dream for the sake of assuaging his guilt for sending people to their deaths to achieve a dream), so he doesn’t try to untangle it, he avoids the question and hides behind a philosophical ideal. And his feelings for Guts add to that cognitive dissonance because if he values Guts over the dream, that kind of proves his entire defensive life philosophy is bullshit and his whole life plan is built on a precarious house of cards, so it makes sense to me that he’d avoid examining those feelings closely too.

And you can look at Guts too, who does navelgaze a lot and tries to analyze his own feelings and motivations - when he’s faced with a contradiction (I want to become independent of Griffith and do my own thing solely to gain Griffith’s approval) he actually notices it and briefly questions himself... and then he still puts it out of his mind and continues pursuing his contradictory goal anyway, and manages to stay in denial for 3 days even after learning that Griffith ended up in a torture chamber because he left.

Along those same lines, Guts eg realizes that he kills things because it makes him feel better but he doesn’t make the connection between his irrational urge to fight powerful enemies and his childhood trauma the way the readers can, the King didn’t acknowledge his incesty feelings til Griffith shoved them in his face, Count Slug kept denying having human feelings til Puck went on a tirade against him and he couldn’t sacrifice his daughter, Casca lies to herself about her feelings for Griffith for a long time before finally acknowledging she’s in love and then doubles down on her Griffith feelings when her newer feelings for Guts threaten them until she has a breakdown and admits some things to herself (I mean I find that last one disappointing lol, but it’s also a really straightforward example of someone living in denial of romantic feelings and therefore a good comparison point to show that Miura does this on purpose), etc. So I think this interpretation of Griffith is also consistent with how Miura just like, tends to write people.

Like imo Griffith has moments where he comes close to self awareness and could’ve started potentially reflecting on his feelings and coming to better, more accurate conclusions, and those moments definitely include the Zodd conversation (as well as the river scene with Casca, and “do you think I’m cruel?”) but none of those scenes lead to useful self-reflection because they all go wrong. Casca tries but fails to reassure him bc she’s out of her depth, Guts reminds him of his dream, the King interrupts their conversation and Charlotte reorients Griffith towards his goal so he can move on from that moment of irrationality and refrain from thinking about it further for a while. Even after the duel Griffith tries to avoid self-reflection by fucking Charlotte imo (”take all the sad and frightening things and cast them into the fire” ie hey girl wanna repress some shit w/ me?), and imo his previous ability to do that makes it all the more impactful when it doesn’t work this time and he breaks down.

BUT YEAH all that said I don’t think this is the only reasonable reading of Griffith’s awareness of his feelings lol, it’s just the one I like best and consider the most satisfying and interesting and fun to think about. And honestly that’s partly because I love dramatic irony and have a real thing for characters who lie to themselves, so I’m biased in favour of it too. Nothing about Griffith being good at denial contradicts the idea that he could still be aware of an attraction to Guts (in that case he’d probably just write it off as irrelevant and deny the associated internalized-homophobia-related self-loathing lol until it all pours out while he’s projecting at the King), and he could eg be aware that he irrationally cares about Guts above and beyond anyone else and just doesn’t even try to reconcile that with his dream, ie compartmentalization in another way.

But I think the idea that he only fully admits it to himself in the torture chamber is just very narratively satisfying.

[bronyinabottle]

In a recent post on I Dream of Twilight Sparkle I said that I noticed asks that were not in my inbox the last time I decided to read through my entire ask box. So I did the same for my mod blog. And while there were some also that I didn't see before. Most are questions I feel either I feel like I may have already sufficiently answered enough with my thoughts on an episode and/or it'd be weird at this point to answer something that's obviously years after the fact.

But there is two I found that I feel like I may want to respond to. The person who sent it was someone who used to discuss the show with me almost all the time, though obviously they must no longer be on Tumblr as all their blogs are deactivated. But I still want to answer since it is sort of relevant to recent stuff. Particularly in their 2nd ask.

By the way, I'm always open to questions on the show or even non-pony topics here on my modblog. I still do love talking about G4 ponies and I wouldn't mind some questions if any of you would like to know my opinion on anything. Now that the show has been over for nearly 2 years , I can have a perspective on many topics about Friendship is Magic that I wouldn't mind sharing. Maybe some things have changed here and there, though I think I still generally have a positive attitude towards most things for certain. I stuck with the show until the very end, and was satisfied with how it ended. And I still have interest in doing more in G4's world even as G5 approaches. (Though I'm sure perhaps once that movie has aired that may be the focus of any questions sent here)

((My answer and more after the break))

For the most part, I think I still generally agree with what I said in my initial thoughts about the Season 6 finale. It's a solid episode with some great interactions between Starlight, Trixie, Discord, and Thorax. Though the way the ending is executed is a bit of a headscratcher. Maybe somewhat less so since thinking about it now, like even if Chrysalis did keep some things loyal. What would stop them from eventually seeing what Thorax's changelings did shortly after.

But I suppose I wanted to answer this mostly about Starlight. Since while the Season 6 finale made HomerJ get over some remaining feelings about Starlight. I'll admit it took literally until writing Secrets of the Dragon's Tear (A year after the show was over) to realize the sort of potential that Starlight had. The baggage from the Season 5 finale always felt like a cloud above her for the entire rest of the show's run. And I consider Season 6's largest mistake is not trying harder to endear us to Starlight. That's what that season's entire job was, to try to make us feel a little better of how rather rushed Starlight's redemption was by giving us a more expanded look into Starlight's character. And unfortunately, I feel like it failed at that in my opinion. Thus I basically disagree (Though respect the opinion of) with those who would say the Season 6 finale was when Starlight finally won them over.

Don't get me wrong, I like how Starlight is portrayed in the episode. But it would of been stronger if say the season had explained more about Starlight's past. How did Starlight get her cutie mark, and given her opinion on Cutie Marks how did she feel at the time?

Instead, we mostly just got Starlight reuniting with Sunburst that didn't exactly give any more details to her rather vague reasons for turning to darkness from him moving away other then finding out Sunburst's personality and how his side of the story went. And from there we had Starlight befriend Trixie... in an episode I still don't really like to this day.

Ironically, the character in the Hearth's Warming episode that casts Starlight as the story's version of Scrooge (Snowfall Frost) is given more reason to sympathize with then Starlight herself.

Starlight then just about disappears up until the episode that introduces Thorax. Where she doesn't do much other then be among the crowd that Spike has to convince that Thorax is not evil.

The next time we see her is Every Little Thing She Does. Which is something of a controversial ep from what I hear, though ironically despite my skepticism of Starlight at the time. I actually sort of liked that episode since it was basically Starlight's own Lesson Zero. Though I get why Starlight deciding to hypnotize all the Mane 6 besides Twilight against their will would not be approved of. Though it does feel like at the very least Twilight and the rest give her enough of a piece of their mind at the end.

And that's how things stood before the Season 6 finale happened. Even though I do think Starlight has good moments in said finale, nothing earlier in the season really dispelled many of my feelings about the Season 5 finale's ending. So despite a good showing, I could hardly care for it. I wasn't convinced yet we were given a satisfactory answer about the many questions that Starlight's sudden redemption prompted.

Another part of my thoughts I feel still applies is when I mentioned that Starlight's a "Diet Sunset Shimmer" (Which considering what I did to link the two for SOTDT, is a bit funny in hindsight). It took just one movie (Rainbow Rocks) for the fanbase to turn a 180 on Sunset. While an entire season with Starlight as one of the good guys goes by and she remained just as divisive as before if not more so by the end of Season 6.

Come Season 7, and Starlight appears quite a bit more often though under the assumption that the Season 6 finale was enough to warm you up to her. There were many complaints during the first half of Season 7 that she was appearing more then she should (Even in an Equestria Girls special where she got to meet the character she was so often compared to). Though another thing about Starlight in Season 7 in hindsight is besides from her meeting a few more friends like Maud. Starlight isn't actually given much to actually work towards. They dropped the whole student aspect so it's not like she was doing friendship lessons under Twilight anymore (Though I suppose on the bright side for the detractors, it lessened worries about her becoming an Alicorn). Season 8 and 9 does somewhat fix that by having Starlight employed at the school, first as a counselor and ultimately ending with her as the school's Principal as Twilight herself got promoted to sole ruler. Which I'm still unsure about if fans of her character feel that was a proper ending for her. Though probably the best that could of been done in context of not much having been done with her over time.

Still, at least for me personally it felt there was alot missing about Starlight and as time went on it became obvious I wasn't going to get the satisfactory answers about her that I wanted. So as a result, I only had lukewarm reactions when a new Starlight episode was coming up. It also didn't help that there were two episodes that raised my hopes of at least one interesting aspect that would of been cool to see. The first being the episode "All Bottled Up" which I had hoped would mean it would be an episode that's somewhat genie related. And then there was Road to Friendship where Starlight and Trixie try to travel to Saddle Arabia (which is an important location in I Dream of Twilight Sparkle)... and yet never actually get there. So even on the few times that I was hoping to be excited about a Starlight episode, it dropped the ball. Partly my fault for getting so hyped about something that wasn't promised, but I would of loved to at least SEEN canon Saddle Arabia.

I'd never say that I hated Starlight back during the show's run. But she was a frustrating character for certain back then. I couldn't hate Starlight as much as some others did, but at the same time I couldn't like her as much as others. She was in likability limbo. For every fun and or good moment that included her, it's brought right back by either lingering problems that arised from the Season 5 finale or otherwise dropping the ball in some way.

In some ways, she's still a frustrating character. Though that's just how it'll always be with the canon Starlight. It's up entirely now to fanon to give their approach on Starlight that was never done in Canon. With SOTDT, I obviously did a bit of a "Fine, I'll do it myself" when it comes to making Starlight a more satisfactory character for me. Though I'm sure there are many interpretations that are vastly different from how I approached it that can satisfy others and probably be more popular and better written then mine. (My interpretation might be understandably controversial just for Starlight being put back on a path where she'll likely become an Alicorn eventually. Something Starlight detractors feared the most. Though I think I at least try to explain as best I could that makes sense with the story, her cutie mark moment being similar to Twilight's, and the identity of her mother. And I myself sort of feared Starlight becoming an Alicorn might happen, so for me to actually write it so that it might be inevitable. That's just how much of a 180 I've taken on Starlight because of writing SOTDT)

I think I mentioned this before, but I can pretty much say that in a way that I can actually say I like Starlight now. But sort of in a "FiM's biggest missed opportunity" sort of way that it becomes sort of sad to look at how canon Starlight was done. Rather then me simply shrugging her off back when I didn't care so much about her. I also understand it's a bit cheating to say I like Starlight now after doing my own sort of fanfic that had her in a major role since that might be me tooting my own horn a bit.

Though I will say as much as necessary that I am very aware alot of what happens in SOTDT would have been impossible to do in canon and I don't plan on pushing what I did to expand on Starlight's backstory as gospel. It only applies to what I'm doing on the blog, I will not be making a case that my interpretation is the only correct one. I'd actually welcome seeing some different interpretations on things such as who Starlight's mother is, what they feel her past was like outside of the Sunburst leaving incident, and/or especially how Starlight originally got her cutie mark. (I've even said my personal guess is different then how I did it in SOTDT, as my guess is she got it the first time she discovered the cutie mark removal spell). Cause if nothing else, I've realized Starlight is a very interesting character that I think would be fun to explore all the possibilities with. It certainly could be something for those still on the G4 train to talk with one another about.

[habaritess]

I wanted to talk about Seb Stan and his interactions with other cast members. Saw your post but him and Tom Hiddleston. Always seems to me Seb is kind of the odd one out, shy, timid and not really talking or interacting much with others. Which is something if he wants to be lead in the franchise has to do. Something is kind of off about him and Evans. They seem friendly but I don't get that vibe i'm getting Chris has with others Mackie, Hemsworth etc. Seb /Chris are friendly but not that close.

Oh man, I can hug you. Thank you for asking! I just so happen to have a lot of different insights on this matter.

I just want to put a disclaimer out there that I’m not saying these things are facts. This is just how I read their interactions. Also, whatever feelings they may have had in the past, both Chris and Sebastian seem to have gotten over it during the Infinity War filming. They seem close now, and not simply workplace friends like before.

Anyways, I have to say Sebastian Stan strikes me as a person who so desperately wants to fit in with the cool kids, but can’t because of his own personal hang ups and insecurities. He desperately wants to be the social guy, the funny guy, the guy who everyone wants to be around, basically who Anthony Mackie is. But he can’t. He has a hard time relating with people, he is too cautious of what he says to to be the fun person who says anything on his mind, and his jokes come out as force and rarely hits the mark. His insecurities has made him the “quiet” person in the group. You can see it in press interviews when he with all his other cast members( it has gotten better over the years). He rarely says a word. Even if he wanted to, he is too insecure to speak up and joke around like Anthony Mackie and Chris Evans. This is partly why he is so drawn to Anthony Mackie and why you see two different Sebastians. The one who talks and can easily tell jokes, and the more quiet, jumbled up Sebastian. The Sebastian with Anthony is the Sebastian he always want to be 24 7. Anthony is so out there and fun, so witty and at the same time encouraging, that Sebastian feels he can be himself when he is around. Anthony has a kind of unique energy that you can’t help but be suckered into. Its why the cool Anthony is able to bring out the real Sebastian, versus the cool Chris Evans.

Now here is my theory on Chris and Sebastian. Sebastian was probably much more quiet and closed off during his days filming the first Captain America movie. It was noted by fans that Seb and Chris rarely promoted the movie together, which is odd since Bucky is Cap best friend so why wouldn’t they? I suspect that they Chris just could not hit it off with Sebastian. This isn’t hard to imagine because if Seb is as quiet as people say he is, quiet people tend to have larger barriers to break down so even if Chris was trying to be social with Seb, it probably would have came off as very awkward. Hince they weren’t seen together promoting their movie and only appeared together when they had to be. This awkwardness carried on into the Winter Soldier. You can see this awkwardness when they were  signing autographs for fans. Seb was staying clear of Chris and got up immediately after Chris got down. This than carried over to Civil War but something changed. Sebastian got to know Anthony during the Winter Soldier, and Sebastian was starting to come out of his shell more as a result.

Now I think during the Civil War promotions, there were some kind of “iciness” between them. I think part of the iciness came from the fact that Chris was trying hard to break down Seb barriers and really befriend him, and Seb, for whatever reason, wasn’t receptive to it. Another reason for the iciness may have to do with Anthony with Seb total embrace in Winter Soldier/Falcon. Here something interesting I noticed about Sebastian. He isn’t going to pretend to be friends with you to keep up appearances. He isn’t going to hide how much he prefers a person, even if that meant leaving out the person who is sitting right next to him. He has a hard time separating himself from Bucky. Now the reason why I listed those is exactly why I think there is some iciness. Chris tried hard to get close to Seb and Seb just wasn’t haven’t it. I’m really not sure why, but there were several moments during the promo where Chris would try and joke around with Seb and Seb wouldn’t be receptive of it. He would avoid Chris eyes, look away, or not respond at all. I notice the subtle disappointment in Chris eyes after it isn’t received. Like there was a point where, when they were promoting in Asia where they lost Sebastian, and when they finally spotted him Chris went over to bring him on stage, and Seb kind of deflected it and pretended that he dropped something, leaving Chris hanging( its funny because people saw that as a shipping moment when it was clearly not). While at the same time Seb isn’t receptive to Chris, he is completely enamored by Anthony Mackie, Chris also best friend. As we got to see through all the promos, Seb loves being around Mackie and he has no problem showing it. He talks about him all the time. He jokes about going places with Mackie. He says in several interviews that he wants to do films with Mackie. Now imagine knowing someone for a long time, never being able to really befriend that person, and all of a sudden that person meets one of your best friends and really hit it off. Not only did they hit it off, they hit it off so well that the person who you could never relate to, is always talking about going places and doing things with your best friend without including you in not once. That would be a sore spot for anyone, if you think about it. There were many times people saw how Chris reacted when Seb is giving all his attention to Mackie, and people saw it as Chris being jealous because he is in love with Seb, when it really just that situation( Seb hitting it off with Mackie so well). What makes it worse is that Seb has a hard time separating his character from himself. Notice how he views Bucky and Sam relationship as his and Anthony. He does that constantly, applying how Bucky feels with how Seb feels. For that reason, Seb refuses to address Bucky and Steve relationship since he isn’t that close with Chris. In fact, when confronted with it, he gets quiet or annoyed and tries to change the subject. Chris always talks fondly of their relationship, but notice he is the only one who does so. I definitely think Chris notices that snub. During the promotions, there were a lot of questions about a Falcon/Bucky spin off or buddy film because the chemistry was undeniable, and Sebastian went out of his way to answer those questions, even bringing up Falcon in question that weren’t about their bond. The movie is about Steve and Bucky relationship and everyone is talking about Falcon and Bucky, and Chris sees that and I can easily see that as a sore spot. I think he would like nothing more than for both him and Seb to discuss their characters friendship during the promotions rather than he being the only one who does it.

Whatever hang ups they had before, it seems to have melted away during Infinity War filming. I think that is partly due to Seb really starting to break out of his shell and talk more, with Anthony having a good effect with that since he filmed most of his scenes with him. I know you might not have wanted this essay, but here ya go!

[charmixpower]

Listen I've been obessed with s4 being a slower season that let the cast like get settled in as adults and let them have a slight break for a fucking second

Like I know it isn't realistic for them to suddenly be slice of life, but like?? Slightly lower stakes??! Let them breathe for a season!!!

I wanna see burgeoning adult Bloom awkwardly stumble around trying to teach Roxy, not student Bloom with plot armor just telling Roxy what's what

Relationship drama but not in the usual bullshit way but in a "we're setting down, how the fuck is this supposed to work" sorta way

Just I've been obessed with this idea sense I was a kid, I just want them to like sit down and think about what they've done and how far they've gone. It would be an amazing book end for this chapter of everyone's life, but especially Bloom's character arc

I've had some ideas rattling around in my head

Bloom and Sky trying to find the last earth fairy, partly because Bloom was raised on earth and wants to bring magic back to the planet that she loves so dearly, mostly bc both her and Sky are terrified of post Diaspro and post Domino politics. Bloom really doesn't want to be a princess of a lost kingdom she knows all most nothing about, like she thought she wanted this bc she wanted to know where she came from but having a bunch of strangers have so many expectations for her is the worst. And Sky's there supporting her and avoiding his parents like the fucking plague because now that Bloom is super famous and Diaspro is in jail their suddenly "sorry"

Stella actually and finally has like a genuine conversation with her parents about how they've hurt her and how they kept hurting her. Like in s2 I imagine she's accepted her moon powers to gain her Charmix but she's still not exactly on speaking terms with her bc as much as she's a class clown and acts out for attention she hates actually making waves. Well no more pretending every thing is fine under jokes, she is going to fucking confront her parents if it kills her. Bonus, Brandon struggling to get used to the idea that he's one of the important people now and not just a servant that probably wasn't treated amazingly by Sky's parents and especially Diaspro. Also can we talk about the fact that Brandon has been Sky's body double since his pre-teens?? What kind of parent sends their kid off to theoretically die in place of the prince?? I have questions about Brandon's parents ok

Aisha's and Nabu's would also be about confronting their parents for a life time of abuse and neglect. But Aisha just straight cuts her parents off and estranges herself permanently, contrary to Stella who's parents were trying and just utterly failed and now she's trying to repair their relationship. Aisha trying to cope with the fact that she actually cut herself off from her parents while Nabu desperately attempts to connect with his. Idk if Nabu's parents are receptive or not but imma go with yes. So Aisha is like "omg did I make the wrong choice? Nabu seems so happy reconnecting with his parents" and she stuggles with that while Nabu stuggles with the whole reconnecting with his parents thing. Maybe who ever the FUCK that Nex guy can be there too, for some flavor as a bonus antagonist! Or maybe the other guy Aisha nearly got with before Nex that I do not know the name of

No ideas for the others aside from Rivusa of course

I... I really want them to chill the fuck out and like think and settle into their own skin for a season (esp if s4 is the ending...which it probably will be bc I love Sirenix and have fond memories of s5 but that is not a satisfying conclusion and I don't think anything past that is sensical enough to salvage)

@renfricrey s4 except Musa complete personality 180 is instead of being the fault of shitty writing and agressive marketing changes, is now the fault of Jason???

Thoughts??