#it's a fair cop imo

[thedreadvampy]

our country is plagued with invasive rabbit populations you could just give me the rabbit cheap 🥲 it's not like pheasant or grouse or venison where they're cultivated populations for rich people to shoot, when I was at school you'd literally regularly see teenage boys crossing the playing field with a shotgun and a brace of rabbits over their shoulder. they're everywhere and we should eat them before they get myxy (a bioweapon initially cultivated bc there are Too Many Rabbits) and become inedible.

Torn on the rabbit stew thing bc on the one hand it was pretty easy to make and it tastes great but on the otherwise I checked my receipt and the rabbit cost £15. guess I forgot we live in a city and not out in the moors where game costs next to nothing bc people want rid, rabbit in my hometown is like half the price of any other meat.

on the other hand I reckon there's 6 portions of food here so that's still expensive but not insane, it's like uhhhh £2.50 of meat per bowl. but there's also almost a full bottle of red wine, a third of a pack of bacon, a bag of carrots a pack of mushrooms and a bag of tatties in there so idk it's probably like a £5 a bowl meal.

very very very good though. just not exactly budget cooking. living in the country as a kid really warped my perception of game.

[wilcze-kudly]

your analyses of Lin came to mind the other day when I saw someone post about how “Lin should be able to smack Korra at least once.” And like. It’s not just one post, it seems to be a common ‘jokey’ attitude in the fandom, and…it’s really interesting how much the fandom loves Lin acting violent and aggressive towards everyone - particularly against Korra, who acts in a similar “aggressive” manner but not nearly as shitty (imo), but the fandom seems to despise her for it.

So I was wondering if you have any thoughts specifically on Lin and Korra’s relationship? Both in canon and how the fandom treats them?

Oh yeah, I think I've seen that post! I've honestly been wanting to do more Lin metas but have been holding off because back when I posted a lor of Suyin defences I got a not insignificant amount of nasty anonymous asks, and I know that Lin is beloved by the fandom so while I make my passive aggressive comment from time to time, actually dwelling on the subject is a bit of a gambit.

Honestly, it's not even that I dislike Lin. I actually enjoyed her character a fair amount when I first watched the show and was totally on board with the fandom loving this character. But eventually I got so tired of the constant takes about how everyone in Lin's life is soooo mean to her and how she never did anything wrong and she's secretly just a lil bean , she's just a biy grumpy guys.

And, oh, the jokey comments about how Lin should be allowed to smack Korra, a teen, who, in my opinion gets smacked around fairly enough in the show. Or how she should be allowed to curbstomp Tenzin, despite us knowing very little about their relationship other than the fact that Lin atatcked his house and misused her power as a police officer to terrorise his new partner. Or how Suyin, a woman who has gone through so much to change and become a better person and still keeps ger heart open for those who hurt her, should die or be killed.

Like yeah, they're jokes, but they speak to how the fandom quickly takes Lin's side in most situations, even when there is more nuance to the situation. I think taht due to tlok having such a large amount of violence and fight scenes ans perhaps due to the personality of Korra herself, the fandom has normalised Lin's aggressive and often physical behaviour. And because most of the characters are teens, Lin's immaturity as a person doesn't stick out too much.

But Lin isn't a teen, like Korra or Mako. She's a 50+ year old woman and a fucking cop at that. She should know better. I think one of my favourite questions Lin's character mames me ask is: "how long can you cling to your trauma before its your responsibility to strive to do better?".

This isn't to say that Lin is a horrible person. I'd actually say she's a pretty good person. It's obvious she cares and she can try to be empathetic when the chips are down. But her lack of emotional maturity makes it difficult for her to actually act on her feelings when not in a life or death situation.

Ultimately this is what I like about Lin as a character, her duality. A very protective and thoghtful person, who has stagnated in a shell of anger and aggression.

And I think Lin's relationship with Korra ilustrates this duality perfectly.

I do enjoy Lin and Korra's arguments due to their chemistry and the excellent voice acting. But like it is still an adult yelling at and holding an actual grudge against a 17 year old. Who is already under a huge amount of stress.

I also think that we often forget that in her tiffs with Lin, Korra often starts off with a suprising amount of calmness and grace. She often attempts to actively connect with Lin and express her point through conversation, despite this being sonething Korra markedly struggles with.

Korra : But there were some thugs threatening a helpless shopkeeper, and I had it ... Lin: [Aggressively.] Can it! You should have called the police and stayed out of the way. Korra: [Slightly pleading tone.] But I couldn't jut sit by and do nothing. It's my duty to help people. See, I'm the Avatar.

[...]

Korra: Wait, Beifong? Lin Beifong? [Excitedly.] You're Toph's daughter! Lin: [Seriously.] What of it? Korra: [A hint of amusement suppressed in her tone.] Well then, why are you treating me like a criminal? Avatar Aang and your mother were friends. They saved the world together.

Through the first season, we're lead to infer that Lin's unfounded animosity towards Korra has something to do with her grudge against Tenzin. I can see this not only due to Tenzin's association witg Korra as her teacher and the son of the previous Avatar, but also due to some similarities between Korra ans Tenzin. They're both people saddled with a major responsibility and legacy, who struggle with forming their own identity due to that legacy. Plus, the comic we got about young Tenzin is essentially 1 to 1 Korra's first day in republic city.

Side note: can we stop demonising Tenzin for leaving Lin? I'm pretty sure it's not confirmed that Tenzin left her purely because he needed to have children. And honestly if after he broke up with Lin, she damaged his home, used her posution to terrorise his new partner, and held a grudge for 11+ years, I'm honestly not to sure what to think about their relationship pre breakup. ESPECIALLY with how willy nilly tlok plays with female on male abuse. No, I'm not saying Lin is an abusor, but there may be other factors we need to consider. I mean Lin does outwardly laugh and sympathise with Korra throwing Mako's desk across the room which is the Makorra abuse moment ™️

Though I also adore the implication in B3 that Lin is also reminded of Suyin by Korra. This also is a comparison that makes sense. Korra and Su were both young, rebellious women who had to leave home to find themselves. Both had tendency to be sarcastic and were opinionated and had a habit of defying authority etc.

And I think this may be even more of a reason why Lin has such an aggresive vendetta against Korra and also why she's so controlling in the later seasons. Particularly when she gets on Korra's ass at the party and says that Korra is "nothing special" feels targeted towards Lin feeling like Suyin got special treatment.

Lin being controlling towards Korra can also be seen as her trying to compensate for when she tried to similarly control Su, but Suyin ended up defying her. (While I see a lot of people bring up parentification between Lin and Su, I'll lean more towards it being a very intense rivalry)

Either way, Korra reminds Lin of people who have hurt her and the hurt she seems to cling to in some parody of comfort in familiarity.

This is one of the most visible patterns in Lin I see. Her absolute abhorrence of changing her mindset. She holds a grudge against Tenzin for over 11 years. She holds a grudge against Su and Toph for longer than that. She is so horrifically resistant to even touching the idsa that Suyin had changed as a person. And even after her and Su make up, the moment the opportunity arrises, Lin is back to typecasting Suyin as the bad guy.

People say that Korra was too harsh in The Metal Clan when she called Lin out.

Korra : Su's right. You're never going to change. You're always gonna be a bitter, lonely woman.

And yeah, it was objectively an incredibly mean thing to say and Korra was quite out of line. But she's not wrong. We see Lin struggle with making human connections, we've deduced that her grip on the past makes her hold grudges against people she's never met. We see her be immature, aggressive and emotionally closed off. If she were a healthy individual outside of Zaofu, I would encourage her distancing herself from Suyin. But clearly whatever coping mechanism Lin has is leaving her pushing people away and treating teenagers like her peers.

Like something clearly needs to change.

And I think that's another reason why Korra and Lin are such a fun duo. Because Korra goes through so mucuhchange herself. She shanges the world, she changes the lives of her friends, she changes herself.

And that's something Lin desperately needs and yet fears all the same. This also makes it even more interesting that Aiwei, a member of the Red Lotus who embody that "change" concept was a vital part of Lin and Suyin begining to reconcile.

And I think Lin knows this, to some extent. She knows her coping mechanisms are flawed, but she doesn't want to acknowledge this. But I need to talk about Lin's babystep trail of an arc in a different post.

I was gonna say that Lin and Korra are also similar but honestly other than their tempers and tendency to terrorise their tallass ex boyfriends, there isn't much there.

I still find Lin and Korra's relationship to have some sweet moments. I loved Lin and Korra's moment of kinship afterthey both lost their bending, how gently Korra grabbed Lin after she passed out in Zaofu, how Lin helped Korra get up the stairs after she was paralysed.

I think that one of the reasons they argue so much in B3 partocularly is because they care for each other quite a bit. They just embody two polar opposites. Korra- change and danger. Lin- stagnation and protection. Of course they'll fight.

----

I don't exactly like how fandom treats Korra and Lin's relationship because it always feels ao watered down. This kinda extends to the entire Krew too. The 'Lin is like the Krew's mom' thing. Because on the jokey surface, yeah, i see it. Female authority figure who makes sure they don't get into trouble. Plus fandom has a tendency to forcefully assign cishet traditional family dynamics to found family.

But on a deeper level, acting as if Lin were a mother to the Krew is in my opinion, a bit of an insult to mothers everywhere. Because Lin acts less like an adult and more like a... slightly older teen? Which makes sense, we see that very little has changed in how Lin approaches young people since she was 22. She treats the Krew like peers, bickering with them and making snide comments, but then pulls the authority figure when she wants something. That's like the worst type of adult.

[This is ironic because my mom is actually very much like Lin and this is probably why I gave her so much of a pass when I watched tlok the first time]

Lin is a big sister/aunt figure to most of the Krew at best. Maybe except Mako but he has his own demons and is making himself a son figure whether Lin likes it or not.

But Korra is basically Lin's stand-in for her sister and they both act like it too. They act like me and my sister tbh. And Asami and Bolin barely interact with Lin anyway. There's more ground to posit Su as Bolin's potential mother figure!

Lin is a fascinating character to me, but fandom tropes have sorta ruined her for me. I came into the fandom really liking her character but ended up sorta jaded to seeing the same questionable takes about her over and over again. It just makes me see how little her potential is explored in the show. The writers failed Lin, not by not allowing her to 'win' against Su and Korra and Tenzin and whoever. They failed her by not giving her the storyline she needed. The storyline for which the main catalyst, Korra already was at the centre of the board. They half assed Lin's storyline and now literally every character who so much as looked at Lin has to pay the price.

[Ooh wow symbolism Lin glaring at Zaofu, Suyin's home, but actually glaring at her own reflection.]

I now realise that I have gone on for way too long and got hotrifically off topic, but I hope I have explained at least a few if my thoughts?

[canonicallyobserving911]

My theory about "Brad" for episode 8x8

In a recent post (linked here), I indicated I would reveal "My Theory" regarding the reason why I believe the character "Brad Torrence" is still around this late in season 8 and here it is.

Full disclosure: Initially, I didn't have a problem with Brad because Bobby was working as the tech advisor for the TV show "Hotshots" and I thought he was interesting. Also, after 8x1, I posted that I hoped him and Bobby could be friends since Bobby hasn't had anyone to hang out with outside of the 118 since Michael left in season 5. But my opinion of him has changed because he should be gone and I thought he would be once Bobby went back to the 118 in 8x4. He's still there taking up screentime from the mains and I don't like it 🙄. Even though I'll be glad when he's gone, I've still provided a fair and balanced assessment of his character.

On Friday, I posted my review of episode 8x7 "Hotshots" (linked here) and earlier this week I posted about my expectations for 8x8 "Wannabes". After rewatching 8x7, I noticed a common theme between Bobby's and Athena's storylines and it was centered around preparation for their retirements with Bobby dealing with Brad, a fake firefighter and Athena working with Sparks, a rookie police officer.

Before I delve into this, I need to make something crystal clear! These are my interpretations and observations regarding what could happen in episode 8x8 and even though it's possible some might not agree, it's ok if they don't because two differences of opinion can coexist. I'm basing my analysis off things that happened in episodes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 along with the stills that were released for episode 8.

Let's get started.

At the beginning of season 7, I did a post about the way the show was setting everything up for Bobby and Athena to begin their retirement arcs (linked here) but something happened (probably during the three-week hiatus between 7x5 and 7x6) that changed their storylines. When season 8 started, they were and still are living in an apartment, they're looking for a home and once again, Athena was in peril during the opening disaster. At the time it seemed like neither of them would be slowing down but the "cracks" in their communication were shown again and they've been present throughout their marriage (especially in season 4 when they argued about not talking to one another and it was about their retirement). They don't talk about the important things and it was even more evident in 8x7 when Athena told Hen that she told Bobby she didn't want to walk around with a cane. IMO, they're setting up their retirement arcs again but this time they're inserting others (guest stars) to assist with the development (which is unnecessary to me especially since the main cast is large enough which means they could utilize the people who are already there. I mean HELLO Buck's right there but I digress).

After rewatching 8x7, the common theme I found between Bobby and Brad and Athena and Sparks was that both Brad and Sparks were inexperienced, hot heads who wanted power and they were aiming to use firefighting and police work to get it. Brad is an actor playing the role of a fire captain on a hit TV show that contributes to the LAFD while Sparks was a rookie cop (who Athena kept addressing as a "probie" instead of a "rookie" and I think that was done on purpose for Brad's storyline). Brad and Sparks were/are impressed with Bobby's and Athena's work and they admire them.

Athena - Sparks did his homework and learned everything he could about her including the number of arrests she'd made and her commendations along with all of her other accolades.

Bobby - Brad told Bobby to his face in 8x1 that he was going to study him and in 8x2, he suggested Bobby do a bootcamp in the mountains or at his home in Malibu with him and his friends so he could learn how to be a fire captain.

Sparks and Brad have a lot of similarities; however the major difference is Sparks is young and he doesn't have a LOT OF LIFE EXPERIENCE (Sound familiar? It should since that's what Bobby told Buck in 6x1 when Buck wanted to be interim captain). Even though Brad is older, he's an asshat and he's also a reckless manchild (Bobby's description of him in 8x7) who will likely get someone hurt and he seems like a womanizer (Sound familiar? It should since that's how Buck USED to be when he first started at the 118.) He's been married 5 times and in the stills; it seems like he's flirting with a woman during that water rescue call.

These two guest characters have a lot of similarities with 25-year-old probie Buck and I believe that was done on purpose. During one of OS's Entertainment Weekly Q and A responses, someone asked, "In 9-1-1 s8 was Brad the British actor a reference to you being a British actor" and he answered, "Yes! Well, not like based on anything but I think he is an "homage" to me." The word "Homage" means "to show respect or honor to someone or something." Therefore, I believe my theory has merit since Callum Blue the actor who plays Brad Torrence is supposed to be an "Homage" to OS.

I've included a quick video below of Brad's interactions for two reasons, one, I didn't feel like making the GIFs for them and two, I think when the things a person says can be heard as opposed to reading them, it provides more context.

It's evident that Brad is mesmerized by Bobby's and Buck's father/son relationship and before 8x7 aired, I completed a post that included the way Brad wants to be like Buck and how IMPRESSED he was by Buck's and Bobby's heroics during the opening airplane disaster (linked here).

At the end of 8x8, Brad said he talked to the chief and had the show put his character in a coma so that he could "job shadow" Bobby but in the stills for the episode, he's wearing full turnout gear with a name on the back. I found this to be problematic for two reasons. First, Brad is NOT a firefighter, therefore he shouldn't be wearing any 118 or firefighter gear period. Second, the turnout coat he's wearing has a name on the back of it. Now, it's unclear if he borrowed it or if it's his but the last name is "Boothe" and since his actor name is "Brad Torrence" it made me wonder if that's his real last name.

FTR, job shadowing means a person is supposed to observe someone while they're doing their job. It doesn't mean "participating" and they shouldn't be dressed to look like they're part of the team but Brad is and it's going to be a cluster f~ck.

Why is this a problem?

It's a problem for him to be wearing turnout gear because he should be standing off to the side without getting involved. Bobby's captain of the 118 which means Brad should have a notepad and an ink pen instead of standing next to him. Since he's wearing 118 gear, someone will easily mistake him for being a real firefighter and reminder, in 8x3, he lied to the soccer player and claimed he was one even though he isn't.

Also, during the Metro Dispatch fire in 5x16, Eddie was still a firefighter but he wasn't with the 118 and when Bobby told him to grab some turnouts, THERE WASN'T A NAME ON THE BACK OF THE JACKET.

Therefore, how is it that Brad "an actor who plays a fire captain" is wearing full turnout gear with a name on the back when he hasn't even gone through the academy to become a real firefighter?

In the above BTS stills, it seems like Brad's flirting with a victim and the statement about not dating someone they meet on a call has been spoken numerous times since Eddie said it in 6x15. Since Brad's not a firefighter, he doesn't know that and he appears to be fascinated with the attention he's getting from the people who recognize him. Therefore, it seems like he's going to hookup with someone from a call and it's likely to cause problems with the team and the LAFD.

While I was making GIFs and the video for this post, I noticed something from episode 8x3 that I didn't see before. After Athena landed the airplane and the emergency escape slide inflated, the spotlight was on Brad for about 3 seconds and he was standing there all alone. Then the camera showed Buck and Brad standing next to each other and I don't believe that was a coincidence.

Here's my theory... I believe Brad is there so that he can become a "Probie" and Bobby will be the one who has to make a decision at the end of the episode about if he wants him to be part of the 118. The interviews all indicate that Brad will be there, he's going to cause chaos and he's supposed to have a conversation with Eddie that will be life changing and I think it'll revolve around Brad asking Eddie what made him want to become a firefighter. TM (showrunner) said in an interview that their conversation will revolve around something that has to do with being an "All American" (I couldn't find the quote but I remember reading it) and based on Brad's propensity to want to be like Buck and that he does in fact have "daddy issues", it appears he wants to work with Bobby so that he can aspire to be like him. This guy has to be at least 45 years old or older so his daddy issues should be resolved but that's my opinion.

Brad wants to be like Buck so he can become a firefighter and like I said in a previous post, he was impressed by Buck's and Bobby's dynamic. Everyone knows Bobby is Buck's found dad and they've been working together for so long that Bobby didn't have to tell Buck what he needed while they were preparing to shutdown the I-110. Brad watched all of it and he called Buck, "Bobby's boy."

I don't know how long Brad will be around but based on everything that's happened so far, it seems like he could be part of the 118 at least until the end of 8B the same way Jonah was there until the end of 5B and he didn't leave until the real reason he was there had been revealed.

Do I think Brad is dangerous? No, I don't believe he is... at least not in the sense of him trying to capture someone and hurt them so he can be captain of the 118 or anything. But I do believe his reckless behavior is going to get someone hurt or they'll experience an NDE because of his actions and those someone's will likely be Buck or Eddie and/or Buddie.

All of this seems like a huge setup for the second half of the season.

These are more Bathena and Buddie parallels (related posts linked here and here) and I believe it's being done this way for a reason. IMO, it's still too early to tell if these things have anything to do with the 9-1-1 spinoff that's supposed to start filming in March but I'm not ruling it out. Since TM and RM (creators) like well-known stars with top billing name power (hence AB, PK and RL from LS) I'm not sure if Callum Blue fits that description to carry an entire series on his own but only time will tell.

The point of this post is to highlight the reason why I believe Brad is still around and it's so he can become part of the 118. That way Bobby will have someone to lead, teach and train since the core four (Chimney, Hen, Buck and Eddie) have been working with him for so long that they know what he expects. Even though Gerrard was a complete and utter terror while he was there (mainly towards Buck), when he got injured, they carried on with Hen as interim captain. It kind of seems like Bobby needs someone to lead who doesn't know anything and this is more about him than it is about Brad. At the end of season 7, Bobby left and he didn't tell his team that he was planning to retire. Now that he's back, it appears that he's realizing they can and did function without him and it's making him understand his role as captain could be coming to an end the same way Athena pulling her hamstring is making her realize her own mortality as a LAPD police officer.

It'll be interesting to see how this will play out but Brad being around at this late date is NOT a coincidence and I think Bobby will have to decide if he wants to hire Brad as a probie after Brad reveals he wants to change careers.

Just saying.

[blindmagdalena]

First of all, I really enjoy your content, as a HL fan it's really nice to enjoy the Fandom with others.

Secondly, you should check out cxd edits on YouTube because there are so many good Homelander edits.

Now for my question, what is the most fitting demise for Homelander in season 5? Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and Homelander will most likely be killed off in season 5. It is cliché for the villain to meet their end after all.

There are two endings that I'd like to see as a HL fan.

Quite a lot of people seem to think that Ryan will play a part in his dad's death. If this does end up happening, I'd like to see it in a way where HL sacrifices his own life for Ryan, or he accepts his fate if Ryan chooses to retaliate and fight his dad. It would be a redeeming end for HL because as we see throughout the show, HL experienced a genuine loving bond towards his son. The shining light in his world of darkness so to speak. I think this would be a nice ending for him.

Soldier Boy nukes the compound V out of his blood and he no longer has his powers. He becomes a boring, weak, useless human. He's no longer the most powerful man in the world. He goes into hiding (I think he looks very handsome in his blue coat, red t-shirt and hat) Ryan is the only person that knows he's still alive and they keep in contact. He then eventually meets a fan off Tumblr, which is great for him because he still has someone to stroke his ego, they have two children together and live happily ever after. The end.

Okay the second one won't happen but it'd be pretty cool imo 😂

What do you think will happen to Homelander in Season 5?

thank you so much! and yes i will absolutely check out those edits. now, onto the meat of your ask...

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGH. 😩

Kripke has stated very plainly that he can't see a world in which the series ends without Homelander dying, so it's fair to assume that yes, we will see HL meet his end in s5. i say, shaking with barely contained agony.

we've already had a lot of foreshadowing that Ryan will ultimately put Homelander down. season 4 especially bashed us over the head with it. i do think it's going to be a choice that he'll have to make, and god i just... i hope it's handled well. i hope beyond measure that there will be at least a little respect and empathy in his death, however "deserved" people think it is.

making Homelander synonymous with Vought when he started purely as their victim is a really good allegory for the cycle of abuse, and how people can often become their abusers. however, i really don't wanna see that used as a cop-out to completely erase his victimhood. killing Homelander isn't the solution! Vought needs to fall, and THAT is the choice that i hope Ryan will make. destroying Vought once and for all and breaking the cycle.

because without Vought, what does Homelander really have? it's currently representative of all of his power and influence. i don't really believe Homelander will ever go nuclear the way he teased in s3. if he wanted to destroy or rule the world, he would have done it by now. but he doesn't enjoy running Vought. he would hate running the world. he's just clinging to what he knows.

in turning on his father and destroying Vought, Ryan will effectively kill him. the grief may be so intense that Homelander lashes out, forcing Ryan's hand in ending him.

i mean. i would love it if what we see is the death of Homelander as a symbol. completely exposed and left in public ruin. leave him sobbing in the ashes of all he failed to accomplish, just like we saw him weeping in front of that TV. he would feel like the torment of his childhood, all the abuse he suffered... all of it was for nothing because in the end he still lost. he's not the hero he was promised he would be... but his son is, and maybe that's something worth living for? maybe that could be enough.

i know that won't be the case, but a girl can dream. 😭 imo there's no "fitting" demise because his death doesn't actually solve anything by itself. death isn't justice. it doesn't put a stop to the system that made him. i can be okay with Homelander dying if that isn't the sole win condition of the series. i need closure!!!

anyways i love your second option and i would like to volunteer as tribute to write it for them!!!! 😂

[5-7-9]

Saw someone else’s social media batfam posts so i had to make my own because i disagree

Dick would post gymnastic fun educational wholesome advice tiktoks

Jason would have a tumblr and rant about edgy stuff. Maybe have a gamer discord too.

Tim would post infrequent short shorts on instagram that make him look cool like shredding (skateboard) and sometimes his boyfriend’s antics or something really stupid like slime or ASMR

Damian might post his OC stuff and sometimes his animals infrequently, but he’d rather keep his privacy so you’ll never see his face.

Steph would troll people. Be the most ANNOYING internet troll and prankster but only towards genuinely concerning internet trolls and pranksters. So she’s constantly starting beef with all those weird tiktokers and instagrams and twitters that keep reporting her to take her down. She’s already gotten a few taken down but she prevails!!! With backup accounts.

Babs would have a twitter and make posts about history and books and libraries. Sometimes she feels like commenting on Gotham politics (wheelchair accessibilities and feminism). But since her dad’s a cop, she also feels obligated through connection to sometimes make a few statements regarding her dad’s involvement.

Duke’s at rallies and sharing speeches and interviewing other civilians about Gotham. He keeps getting flagged but after Wayne verified him he stayed up. Lots of highly influential political news reports are hating on Duke and his activist group. They tried suspecting Wayne to dismiss the legitimacy of Duke, which is fair, but all the effort Duke puts into making the small voices heard is appreciated by everyone. He also has a DnD podcast/streams with his friends :)

Cass wouldn’t have a media imo. She’d watch videos and ignore the comment section and/or record incomprehensible cryptid videos (like i used to) where people are convinced it’s an analog horror mystery and are trying to solve it

Oh and Bruce Wayne is obviously a verified twitter and only for professional business because privacy. Also he’s old and doesn’t understand the internet.

[nonsense-express]

one of my major beefs with house md is how mad everyone is with house for not wanting to attend his abusive father’s funeral; like every single character interprets this as the most unreasonable and terrible thing and fair enough most of those characters probably don’t know why he doesn’t want to go but i feel like the narrative wants the viewer to agree with them anyway. we never get an alternative point of view offered by anyone except house and the whole episode everyone he interacts with (including a random cop) just tells him what a monster he is for trying to avoid going without pausing for a second to consider there might be a reason he feels so strongly about it. idk i feel like the narrative wants you to agree that he should suck it up and go anyway but actually i think he has every right not to be there! he does a lot of bad things in the show (obviously lmao) but not wanting to attend his abusive father’s funeral is not one of them imo.

[miss-oranje-disco-dancer]

cute stuff above, rant below

fluff:

i've been thinking a lot about southern leon (ik raccoon city is midwest but i've been to ohio multiple times and i truly cannot think of a reason to go back) i like leon with his current standard american accent, but southern accent reader is so cute to me!

like imagine blue collar leon and reader in their little house/maybe even trailer (i hate using 'white trash' bc it's classist imo like i want a cute couple who lives in the trailer park)

like a town where everyone knows the ppl who own the mom & pop convenience store. reader works in the diner and sings country music with the band at the local bar. he's a mechanic or a construction worker of some sort. he can't afford college and she loves him for it, not despite it.

they rent tapes from blockbuster (i miss blockbuster so much holy shit) and they get the bags of cotton candy as a treat. save me blockbuster bags of cotton candy.

they go to the fair together and eat kettle corn and ride the little rides. they play the little games (that are totally unwinnable). but maybe she's good at skeeball lol.

and he cooks out hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill and they dance to the mixtape she made for him after drinking cheap beer. (like pbr lol)

rant below:

and yeah, this is a super romanticized version of the american south that doesn't exist for most people. like white american culture exists but it's this: getting wasted on fourth of july, legally setting off fireworks in your yard and then blowing your finger off (bonus points if you let your kid do it).

everyone makes rpd cop leon au's and it's so american in the sense of that's what blue lives matter people think the cops are like i wanna see real blue collar worker leon (shout out to the real ones - rail workers, miners, construction workers, mechanics, postal workers, factory workers, etc.)

[ro-rogue]

i have very mixed feelings about the new bostin confrontation that got john expelled.

it is portrayed as the worst of john's actions in new bostin, his lowest, most violent moment. and while that last part is not untrue, i feel like the confrontation is a lot more complicated than just john going insane.

by that point, john had already been king for a little while, and he was absolutely terrible at it. (i've written before on why i think that is, and even his objectively horrible actions here were not excusable but understandable.) claire decided he needed to be stopped, and she gathered a bunch of their schoolmates to confront him, as her vision had shown. then, instead of trying to talk it out, zirian (one of the people she had gathered, for some reason) immediately attacked john, and everything devolved from there.

now, a few things stick out to me here:

first of all, claire took zirian with her to confront john. the question is: why? john and zirian had already fought on multiple occassions, and last time they fought, john had beaten zirian. did claire think seeing someone john defeated in a fair fight would make him realize he was a horrible person? did she think that if people saw zirian, they too would be willing to confront john? but wouldn't those people then think they were going to beat john up? did she not realize that if people believed her lie enough to follow her, they would be prepared to act on it too? i really struggle with her thought process here.

next, zirian thought that they could beat john if they all worked together. this supports my theory that the kids in new bostin had absolutely no idea how powerful a god-tier was. the wellston kids would never try to gang up like that on pre-ability loss seraphina - they knew she was too strong.

however, they did gang up on john at least sixteen-to-one (in episode 185, the shot with the most classmates shows sixteen people). when claire was telling the story to seraphina, she made it sound like it was completely unreasonable that john assumed that a group of people who all hated him, at least some of whom he had fought before, including the former king, would want to attack and overthrow him. "he refused to listen" is true, and something john has struggled with a lot both before and after the ambush, but to be honest, in his shoes, i also wouldn't have believed claire.

moreover, he is criticized for going too far in beating them up, but imo that mostly applies to claire and adrion, who weren't actually attacking him. the other fifteen kids were very clearly willing to hurt him just as much as he ended up hurting them. besides, they were attacking him fifteen-to-one, with claire standing to the side - what was john supposed to do? hold back?

the answer, of course, is yes: he should've. it was absolutely not right for him to go that far. but we must understand that john was sixteen, stressed, hurt, and facing people who were likely his former bullies, in the sense that everyone used to bully him.

(plus claire, who gathered everyone there, and how was he supposed to know that she didn't mean for it to turn out like that? and plus adrion, who called the authorities on him, which was objectively a good decision, but it can be hard to see it that way when you're the one who the cops are being called on)

in addition to that, if seraphina or even arlo had been ganged up on like that, no one would be surprised if they, too, fucked up their opponents. (remember that turf war back in episode 17/18/something? where arlo clearly wasn't just going to stop hurting rein, not until seraphina physically stopped him?) john was out of control and very much Not Okay, but his handling of the ambush actually seems to be quite typical for a god-tier.

so to conclude, the new bostin ambush/confrontation was more complex than simply john going crazy, and while both he and claire definitely think that he is the only one at fault there and he acted completely irrationally, that isn't actually the case, and uno readers should be aware that we are viewing the story from the perspectives of biased and thus unreliable narrators.

[tevanbuckley]

My hot take is that tommy probably would have been included if episodes 2 and 3 had been originally conceived of as two eps. But they weren't. They were one episode that got expanded into two. If you imagine the whole plot being crammed into one, then it's obvious why tommy (or Karen for that matter) aren't there.

Then, when you stretch it out over two weeks, it retrospectively looks like there's tons of time for including more, but that's not how they made the decisions at the time.

But to the last anon, even though seeing tommy in action would've been fun, I personally think having him in the introduction episode is a stronger choice as far as setting up his role in the season goes.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

that's fair enough but if you're creating all that space you do need to fill it with something, which tbc didn't need to be tommy or even the other mains, they spent a good chunk of ep.2 building up all the passengers and then they all sort of vanished by the midpoint. imo all of the drama and tension fizzled out a bit with the shift to the cop plot.

tbh one episode or two, i just don't think the dennis stuff was high enough stakes to follow athena landing a commercial airliner on the freeway and could've been picked up in an episode or two once the opening disaster was out of the way.

[adracat]

GWitch 23 thoughts

Sorry for the wait on this, I had to rewatch a few times to really drink in everything that was going on. I didn't have the best knee-jerk reaction initially ( I enjoyed it ofc but was a bit ambivalent about some things) and wanted to give it a fair shake.

First up, seeing Suletta zip around like the ace pilot she is was quite rewarding and fun! Now all those auto-pilot rumors can be laid to rest. However, the circumstances weren't the best and it broke my heart she was gasping for air the entire time. I had no doubt she'd live but it's still miserable to witness that

Ah Lauda. Your tomfoolery knows no bounds. We knew this was coming after the last ep, but it's still a bit frustrating. On a technical narrative level, it works since we're seeing two sets of siblings confront their simmering tension with one another. On a personal level, I wasn't very amused. I first saw this at 4 in the morning and had no patience for Lauda lmao. But rewatching it a few times gave me a deeper appreciation for what's going on. He's really intent on scapegoating Mio for everything wrong in his life. Fitting for her role as the Rose Bride and Lauda's demonized witch

This little aside from Chuchu is so suspicious tbh. Considering Mio's failure at piloting, this seems to imply either she does not have a permet implant of any sort or a flat intolerance. I have a sneaking suspicion it'll become a factor in the next episode.

Mio staring wistfully at Cool-san/etc memento of Suletta will always grab me by the throat. Girl wants to wife up Suletta so bad. And really, who could blame her?

Schwarzette is so pretty and cool. Unfairly so. Like, why did you make that thing so unique and cool? For dipstick Lauda?? Who is that pink permet for and why does it look like Utena??? ANSWER ME OKOUCHI

That's nice of Delling to rise from his sickbed to try and negotiate with the SAL. Unfortunately, this would be for naught because they're here to purge and replace. Not make nice. It was the thought that counts, I suppose.

Speaking of, the debut of a solar ray blindsided me. I mean, yeah it's Gundam, but I kinda thought we were skipping the big death ray lmao. After sitting on it, I think I know where it's headed. Totally on brand for SAL too in hindsight. They like to act removed, but they're just as entrenched as Benerit in the skeevy corpo politics. Allying with Ochs and now Peil cements it

Check the link above to see my Utena related thoughts on this moment btw. It might be the highlight of the episode beyond the Prospera confrontation. Stunned they finally stopped playing coy and seemingly confirm Notrette is indeed a GUND entity residing in pseudo hell, and likely a GWitch newtype like Eri

This was very sweet and I enjoy it more on a rewatch but I also understand why I and so many people had a gut-deep aversion to this subplot. The issue is entirely investment based imo, and tbh I just don't care that much about the Jeturk family dynamics. At best, I don't mind them. Guel is a bro but Lauda is SO exhausting on multiple levels. His misogyny and gross negligence of Petra in favor of revenge doesn't help.

If something came of this other than Lauda/Guel sibling closure, I'd consider it fulfilling. But if you lack investment in the conflict, it's going to feel limp or frustrating in comparison to the siblings you want to see. So while I appreciate the parallel with Suletta/Eri and the continuing subtext of witch coded Mio, that's it for me. But hey, it serves a purpose. A tragic cycle was broken after all, thanks to love and MVP Felsi!

The one big gripe I have after consideration is this man's continued existence. Kenanji doesn't deserve to play buddy buddy with the cast. He's a dirty space cop who bullies children and murdered Nadim, now he's joking with 5lan? The hell. I get the theme of the show is forgiveness and not perpetuating the cycle of revenge but... really? KENANJI gets to be happy but Norea/Sophie don't? Sigh

It was so dirty of Eri to use Suletta's love for Mio against her. She knows Suletta would panic over their mother possibly 'gaining two'. It's crafty and unrepentant, but Suletta holds fast. Her faith in Mio is greater than her idle fears

Mio scolding Prospera over her favoritism was great. We love a fiancé willing to take a stand against her shit in-laws. Speaking of, looks like Mio has fully embraced becoming a Mercury one day. 'All of us will be family' YEAH YOU WILL so suck it up Prospera. The holidays are gonna be so awkward

Btw love Mio was shouting at her while having an emotional breakthrough deciphering her mother's QZ riddle. This moment was excellent and easily superceded my minor gripes. UGH when will you reveal Notrette's whole deal GWitch? We're waiting

Such a bittersweet moment. We know from the Blessing and Cradle Planet that Eri loves her sister but it may not have been until this moment that Suletta understands her feelings. Now, I don't think she's 'dead' tbh. Or deader anyway. I suspect it's a false flag to hook you until the finale. It would be quite anti-climactic if she passed without a proper goodbye. I'm still holding out on a Tempest end where Prospera voluntarily sets her free.

The next Sunday will be our last. Hard to believe tbh. Feels like just yesterday we set out on this spectacular journey. Que sera sera! I'll see y'all in the finale~

[sapphim]

Dragon Age reverse unpopular opinion things I'd love to see u talk about:

- depictions of Tevinter so far

- Hawke sibling death(s) (scene, story beat, later handling, whatever you feel led to talk about)

- high dragons in all 3 games

- favorite codex entries

- Thedosian food/drink (I have opinions about this so I love reading other people's)

depictions of tevinter - I don't really know that I've seen enough of tevinter depicted to have formed an opinion? I haven't been keeping up with supplementary material, fwiw

hawke sibling death scenes - I think their deaths in the deep roads are the good sort of impactful because 1) you actually know them as characters by that point and 2) you're being punished for meaningful decision points that you didn't know would lead to their deaths but like... in retrospect yeah, taking your sibling on the dangerous expedition, not taking the warden on the dangerous expedition, tragedy is kind of fair play, there. the prologue fails on both counts here, but I think the deep roads was implemented well. ofc this goes out the door on follow-up playthroughs or if you've got the wiki open in another tab but I love when something terrible happens and you look back over your choices and say "ok yeah I didn't see that coming, but I probably could have"

high dragons - idk if the "kill 10 high dragons" sidequest in inquisition Was Actually a reaction to all the "if this is dragon age then where are all the dragons" jokes but it feels like it was. and if so, that's funny. like they had to fill their semi-open world with something and they were like. fine. ykw, fuck it. have all the dragons you could possibly want. you dicks. tell us there are no dragons in our dragon age game this time. you can't. I hope that's how that played out.

and like there were already like three major high dragon fights in origins—the archdemon, flemeth, and best girl andraste—so like. objectively there were dragons.

speaking of best girl andraste I loveeeee high dragon reaver cults. the concept is soooo sexy to me.

codex entries - I love the idea of codex entries fr fr. one of the biggest strengths of origins from the beginning, imo, was the decision to drop so much lore and all of it from biased in-world perspectives. mass effect's codex never clicked for me but I devoured every scrap of paper in origins. the lore attached to items made them feel distinct and meaningful, as well.

as for specific favorite entries, idkkk, it's been a while. I will say that nothing has stuck with me like the descent's darkspawn emissary has. fucked up if true. oh and also the one about the darkspawn magister eating the other. fucked up if true

thedosian food and drink - this answer is gonna sound like a cop-out. and it is! but the only opinion I have on food in thedas, which I am going to share here regardless of whether it's on topic (it isn't) is that free marchers have cheese rolling events. like at their grand tourney and shit. and I mostly have this opinion because it is very funny to imagine various fereldans reacting to this discovery. but also bc it is very funny to imagine varric tumbling ass-over-teakettle down a hill alongside a giant wheel of cheese if he ever elected to participate in this fine marcher tradition. there that's my food opinion.

[reverse unpopular opinion - send me a topic and I’ll say what I like about it (or die trying)]

[erikiara80]

I found some interesting details.

Will is watching Ewoks on TV, right before the cops arrest El. Imo, this is a parallel to Leia being shot by a stoortrooper on Endor, and separated from her brother and Han, who later lead a search for her, just like Will, Mike and Jon do in S4.

In the LIFE magazine on the coffee table there's a hidden reference to El. The Sad Fate of our Stray Dogs. In S1, Lucas compares El to a stray dog.

This is similar to the graffiti behind her, in Kali episode: Stinky Fate

But there's more. Twin imagery, OR a hint at Vecna in the UD. And three flowers-> three siblings? El, Will and Jon?

Also, the movie (upside down) is My fair lady

Plot:

A poor Cockney flower-seller named Eliza Doolittle who overhears an arrogant phonetics professor, Henry Higgins, as he casually wagers that he could teach her to speak "proper" English, thereby making her presentable in the high society of Edwardian London.

And there's a mention of Henry's slippers in the movie that reminds me of Dorothy's slippers (in S1 Powell calls the lab Emerald City)

Every time I rewatch an episode I notice new details. I love this show!

[crguang]

ahajsksbywpqp sat guess who has 2 tests in the same week in the same class next week. Not very fun for me. anyway I was think abt Kafka (honestly when am I not is the real question). See if it wasn’t Kafka in ur au and I was r I would definitely turn her in for the money, but I unfortunately think I might like Kafka just like a little bit ig so I don’t think k would be able to do that .

Reread part 3 today is her fingers twitching bc she wants to shoot something or is it just bc Kafka and her fingers. Ok thats not what I meant but also…what I meant was that she works with her fingers a lot I wish she used them on me instrument, guns, etc. we still haven’t gotten an in game Kafka appearance w an actual violin, it probably won’t happen but I’m still holding out. And she’s the highest threat level possible for a criminal but she STILL commits petty theft. She is so I saw someone say that the stellaron hunters were all siblings, Kafka and blade are like the older siblings that have to drive/pay for everything, silver wolf is the gamer (so original) and firefly is the youngest. Wish they had more in game interactions, or like they had synergy, meta wise, since canonically they’re one of the most tight knit groups.

oh also your inbox must be full as fuck so it’s fine if you don’t reply to everything, esp bc you answer a lot of stuff, and even tho someone already said this ur rlly great to talk to ur thoughts are always more coherent than mine. And we all get to simp over hot fictional women together.

ngl I might start playing ptn, like I’ve been seeing screenshots and…wow, I don’t think I have enough storage tho. I think the two types of characters I usually like are tiny mentally ill ones and hot evil women, so…

im so sorry my messages are always so long btw, I keep rambling 😭

-🌠

aaaa study well and good luck for your tests!!! hope you get a good grade and if u dint i will hack i to your prof’s computer and change it for you

im with you entirely, if it was anyone else in that story i wouldve already called the cops LMFAOOO kafka gets privileges because shes hot and my fav unfortunately… for the finger thing, i think its just one of her quirks! in her idle she mimics playing the violin and like you said she has very dexterous hands (even mentions it in a voice line) so i think she’d absentmindedly move them around when her mind is elsewhere. this is the kind of overthinking i was talking about, when i map out a character in my head i think about the most irrelevant stuff that dont matter😭 but imo they add to her charm a little and make her a rounder character, idk. AND YES i love that her crimes go from suicide inducement to petty theft shes so ridiculous hfjfhdhfj that time in her character story where she just walked in a store and took clothes off the rack then left in front of everyone… shes funny as hell😭

i see the SH as family too! silver wolf and firefly are sisters to me, and both of them are def kafka’s little sisters. i think silver wolf is the youngest though, she even gives off sassy youngest child vibes. i wish they could work together too, having them all in one team would be so nice. but it’s also cool that each of them has a speciality, it makes sense for the work they do

my inbox is full i think i have around 70 asks rn…😭 but to be fair a lot of them are veryyy old i just havent gotten around to cleaning up my blog yet, i’ll do it at the same time i change my masterlist and actually make it pretty to look at. i usually try to click on notifs as soon as i see them but like i said, i just forget to type my answers </3

and omg. anon. if your type is mentally ill and hot evil women ptn is literally the game for you. there is an abundance of mentally ill women in there, trust me… like there’s every kind of character you could want in that game— you could give me a specific type and i could find you a character that matches it, you should definitely play. and if you do, do it before the second anniversary ends (starts around mid/late-october) bc trust me you are gonna be upset if you miss shalom :/

dont worry abt ramblingggg i love talking to u and answering every point it’s really nice!!

[basslinegrave]

its always nice to come back to a ship after a "break" from it to be able to look back at things and look at everything with fresh eyes and stuff.

thinking about stobotnik (and shipping them romantically, to be specific) and how easy it is to look at them and go yep, theyre together. i guess partially because theres nobody telling me otherwise (or im good at avoiding those peeps online) and its all quite open, but from a new perspective i wouldnt even say its That toxic (if you ignore the fact that theyre literally evil) only thinking of jims words saying its abusive, hes like the only one i care about saying stuff since hes part of this. i have thoughts about that... but besides that - maybe its some weird copium but. to me, at worst it can be one sided, at best its literally anything. couple, "married", weird unlabeled Thing going on, i eat them all up. (i understand a lovey dovey bot is quite ooc, but thats not the only way to show love, and he definitely has his own ways)

my biggest thought lately is how in s2 bot is much nicer to stone, but i dont take it as "oh he changed and grew as a person while exiled and isnt abusive anymore" but rather "this is the norm" and him being awful to stone in s1 was literally just because of sonic. like this little alien thing is a completely new variable in the flow of things and it made him so frustrated, he already has a short fuse, so this is just what happened. also thinking about how hes a bit more collected normally (in s2 its also from the emerald, and some newfound false confidence, But in s1 before they find sonic you can see him going from stern but collected to just a shouting mess ), like this brought out this side of him or amplified it (a side which he absolutely would not hide around stone) it is also fun to think, oh he just bullies him. (but i obviously dont look at that as too bad, i guess in fanon you can play with the idea that stone fucks with it) but with them deleting all of those scenes for s2, for a few reasons ig, it tells a slightly different story to me... does this make sense? the way he talks to stone at the start in s1 and in the good cop bad cop scene is like quite calm to me for robotnik. thats how i imagine he would normally be around stone. smiling at him more often than snarling, showing off etc. the way the manifesto is written too, theres respect given to stone, and i doubt it was written inbetween the movies or last second. like that is something that he made x time ago imo way before s1, so the way he barked at him in the 'pin yourself to the wall' scene, to me thats just plain frustration and lack of emotion control taking over. plus how he completely switches that off once he notices the quill, no he doesnt hate stone, hes not angry at him, hes just angry. and stone was the closest person to take it out on. is that healthy? no, but it makes for the most fun dynamic ive seen in my fav media so i love that.

and the whole thing with him grabbing stone and shoving fingers in his mouth and what not, in all fairness your honor, he is literally innocent. he is neurodivergent and his love language is on the same level as people biting other people they like. its literally just that (reminds me of someone that i strongly believe had a crush on me in hs and they would ask to sit next to me in class and then push me off my chair and write on and tear my notes and it was cute to me. so im projecting that onto stone okay)

[eeldritchblast]

Genuine question, why do you dislike Garrus?

Garrus: I hate being a space cop. Space cops suck. Me: Nice this could be a good story about— Garrus: We should be allowed to do whatever we want without repercussions or "red tape" it's not fair Me: Never fucking mind

(Also he's just plain boring compared to literally every other character imo he's got nothing interesting going on. And I can't stand how the series shoves him down your throat like he's expected to be your favourite - I know people complain about Liara being this way too but at least Liara is interesting.)

[newyorkran]

Belated Jessica Jones rant

Ever since the show started there's been the recurring theme of Jessica doing things by the book: get proof, get criminal, send to jail.

So when Jessica encountered the first antagonist AKA Kilgrave, she tries her routine while also knowing that no normal jail can hold him, so she tries the next best alternative to that but when all fails, she ends up forced to kill him.

In season 2, Alisa is the antagonist. Again she tries her routine but when Alisa does go to jail, it's the wrong kind, she's too strong and unstable for normal prison, (despite having accepted a deal which would not send her to The Raft) and because that fails, she ends up dead too.

In season 3, Trish is the secondary antagonist, and she forces Jessica's hand to fight her. Eventually she does send her to jail, the "right" kind according to Jessica, The Raft. And it works, Jessica sacrifices her best friend, the only family she has left in order to not have her end up like the other antagonists whose stints in confinement did not work.

And I suppose it does seem like a consistent sequence of events for the series but it does not make it a fair one. Because how do you send the weakest of the antagonists to the strongest of prisons?

Is it because Trish was never arrested by the NYPD first? Because they did not have the great Jeri Hogarth who can strike deals out of thin air representing Trish? Because the evidence against Alisa Jones is much more damning than anything Trish did (literally just killed criminals).

IMO it was a cop out by writers who knew the series was ending with no future plans of a reboot, and wanted to leave with a bang. Not a bad watch at all, but sure a messed up one.