#l m m meta

[regnigt]

Emily of New Moon, chapter 2: A Watch in the Night

In this chapter, Ellen Greene explains herself, Emily first goes to bed alone, and suffers alone till her father comes. Intensely, despairingly, but not (as I thought for a second) in a not-childlike way. Even as the ground crumbles under Emily's feet, metaphorically (this time), her father comes up and talks to her heart-to-heart, gathering her up and gives her back something to stand on - a faith in, if not events as they happen right now, then at least a kind of distant destiny.

Douglas Starr is by no means a perfect man, he is disdainful of those who he feels are unimaginary, showing ungratefulness to Ellen Greene particularly. He is proud and shows signs of possessiveness in how he didn't want the Murrays to get to know Emily as he fell mortally ill. And in how he still doesn't want to send for them in his last few remaining days. (Is Emily home-schooled because school is too far away from this house, which might have been the most affordable "out-of-doors" house Douglas could find for his poor health? Or did he seek out a distant house in part so he could have full-time company of his beloved, talented daughter with her bright imagination?)

Be that as it may, though. (Personally I find fault with him not contacting the Murrays as this point less for Emily's sake, and more for the sake of poor Ellen Greene, having to do the bulk of his physical care alone). I find myself curious as how Douglas Starr's relationship was with his own mother, the one who Emily is named for, and who she looks like. And his father as well. Did they understand him? They are not around anymore, but did he lose them as an adult or while he was still a child? I forget if we ever learn this. Perhaps he remembers a time when he wished to spend more days with a dying parent, but was whisked aside by uncomprehending other adults. If so, I can definitely see how he would want to spare Emily such an experience.

I also find it interesting that he reacted to the doctor's prediction in the way that would give him the most time possible with his child, yet leave his child with the lesser amount of monetary value. I think we the readers as much as Emily feel that was the right thing to do, but many in his own time might now have agreed. And certainly in other works of fiction one has often seen fathers sacrificing their health to work so their children will have more left to live on, but less time with their fathers - a choice narratives often seem to find sad, yet admirable. Of course, many times there are no Murrays waiting to take physical care of surviving children, so there might be not much of a choice... Sorry, I'm rambling, I'm rambling. (This whole post is probably rather incoherent, for which I apologize! I am several days late in posting it.)

That Emily is able to find her way out of despair and into tenderness and love is testament to her own strong soul and ability to take a leap of faith, but also to the strength of spirit and conviction in her father. Again, he makes her feel seen, listened to, centred, made important. It has become very central to her character to take her father's side in the narrative of her parents' backstory and the feud with the Murrays, and by extension to be drawn away from convention and in favour of non-conformist free thinkers. (Not non-religious thinkers, as faith in a life after death is very central in this chapter, and I don't think atheists are ever shown in a very warm light throughout the Emily books, sadly - but in thinkers who don't conform to orthodoxy - Douglas telling Emily that "You mustn't mix Him up with Ellen Greene's God, of course" is indicative of that.)

But the drawbacks of this is that she doesn't see any problems with her dad's caustic and contemptuous side, that she sees value in self-isolation, that she becomes perhaps rather invested in her own sense of specialness (not that children don't tend to be that in any case!), since after all she is the only surviving result of her parents' meeting... Although perhaps she would have become a nature-loving roamer and a person of great imagination in any case! If so then she surely has become a much happier, stronger and confident person through her father's influence than she would have been with less understanding caregivers in those crucial early years. And all the better, then, that he did make that choice to prolong his life with her as much as possible...!

[regnigt]

Great observation regarding the bracketing of Emily's world in this chapter by Ellen Greene's viewpoint followed by her revelation!

I grew up with the Swedish translation myself, but unfortunately it leaves so much out, I felt I had no choice but to go to the English-language source. But it can't help packing less of a nostalgic punch than the translated text I read as a child - even as it does pack a stronger artistic punch.

[That rabbit-hole on religion sounds quite interesting...!]

I'm thoroughly enjoying reading everyone's thoughts and analyses about the first chapter. I'm not a new reader, a rather seasoned one, as I used to read the books three times during every summer vacation between the ages 9 and 19. I'm now 41, so it's been a while, and I've never read the books in their original language but the Finnish translation. I did start once but got caught comparing the translation to the original which was endlessly fascinating.

I did study English language and translation as a major in university, so I'm supposed to be both familiar with the language and analysing texts, but I find it really hard to get to this mindset around these books. The emotional load is such that looking at them objectively is totally out of the question, so instead I'm going to lean into it.

What jumps out at me are the colours in this chapter. It's mostly filled with dark hues (as opposed to the start of eg. Anne, which is covered in pale apple blossoms and sunset), even most of the magical elements are very untame and ethereal in their aspects. And yet there's a glimpse of the pinky-green sky around the new moon. It's very much setting us up for a darker tale, and yet there are slivers of light in it too.

Nature plays such a big part in this chapter. Even the house looks like it wasn't built but grew like a mushroom. Everywhere Emily looks she seems to see shapes of nature, slightly twisted and a bit gnarled. Even Saucy Sal (best cat ever) is like something from a Tim Burton film. Wait. The other way around, surely.

The first and last paragraph of the text do seem pleasantly (and tragically) elliptical in this chapter. Assuming Ellen pities Emily because her father is dying. It's like everything between those two paragraphs builds for us this slightly mystical world from Emily's point of view, and then rips it away from her with that last line.

I also found interesting how Emily's attitude to god and religion is also very apparent from the start. Her views are very individualistic, and she sees it as very personal, as opposed to communal. [At this point the writer of this post fell into a deep deep rabbit hole about the Presbyterian faith, Calvinism and so on. It will take a while to dig all the way through, so ending here for now.]

[anghraine]

Ok, I've been thinking about this question a lot and there's not enough evidence in P&P to fully support any answer, but I wanted to hear yours: What is the Gardiners' economic status/How rich are the Gardiners?

Obviously, Mr. Gardiner is a tradesman, but I'm desperately curious to know the extent of his wealth. Does he have a similar income to Mr. Bennet but is just more frugal? Would he have been able to take in his niece(s)/sister when Mr. Bennet died? Does he have Bingley-level tradesman wealth without the massive lump sum Bingley inherited from his father? Darcy assumes that Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner are gentry - but like, Bennet gentry or Woodhouse gentry or Lucas gentry. JANE SKIMPED ON THE GARDINER INFORMATION AND NOW WE'LL NEVER KNOW. So what are your headcanons surrounding the Gardiners' wealth?

Really, the most important Gardiner headcanon that the Gardiner children are immediately charmed by Darcy and think he's like ~the coolest~

thanks queen <3

Six months later: hi!

My opinion is that the Gardiners are very well-off in terms of the usual incomes of the gentry. It's difficult to pin down an exact income range because I'm not a historian or economist, but the literary evidence is pretty suggestive IMO.

For one, Mr Bennet has no trouble believing that Mr Gardiner could have shelled out ten thousand pounds for Lydia; the problem is the struggle of repaying him, as Mr Bennet would feel morally obligated to do. The impression I get is that this would be a lot of money for Mr Gardiner to come up with, but everyone accepts that he could quickly do it, where Mr Bennet could not. And Mrs Gardiner does insist that Mr Gardiner would have paid the money if Darcy had let him, which again suggests that it was reasonably doable for him.

When Elizabeth and Jane first pass the news to Mrs Bennet and try to express the debt of gratitude they all owe Mr Gardiner, Mrs Bennet's response is a bitter remark about how if her brother had not married and had children of his own, "I and my children must have had all his money, you know; and it is the first time we have ever had anything from him except a few presents."

Aside from what this reveals about her character (especially given the remarkable understatement of "a few presents" given everything they've done for Jane and Elizabeth), I think "all his money" suggests an awareness that there would have been quite a bit to inherit if Mr Gardiner hadn't had the temerity to, uh, have children.

The summer tourism journey also doesn't seem to represent a severe expense for the Gardiners, though it would be outside the realm of possibility for some. They're not super frugal, but they're also not going to pull a Sir William Lucas and abandon the source of their income, or take an estate or something to distance themselves from trade, and end up unable to provide security for their children or any significant luxuries for their loved ones and themselves. So the Gardiners do make practical decisions like living near Mr Gardiner's warehouses and continuing his business in town.

Darcy (in Elizabeth's opinion) mistakes the Gardiners for "people of fashion" rather than gentry per se. This is interesting because Darcy originally considered the entire Meryton neighborhood, including the local gentry, as people noticeably not of fashion. This concept of people of fashion is typically more about fashionable high society than trade vs gentry IMO.

For instance, Mr Hurst is described as "a man of more fashion than fortune"—i.e. someone with high society credentials from his family, but not a lot of money, though he has enough to maintain a house in Grosvenor Street. (I think the implication is that the Hursts considered their status and Louisa Bingley's 20,000 l. from trade a fair exchange.) So likely, Darcy is not confusing the Gardiners for minor rural gentry, but even higher-status people if Elizabeth is analyzing his reaction correctly, based on their appearance, apparel, demeanor, etc.

This is definitely a time when wealthy people in trade could pass for people of fashion, but I think it would ordinarily take some doing, and though the Gardiners are stylish and relatively young, they aren't trying hard in the way that the Bingleys are. Yet Darcy, who went on a whole tangent about trade cooties during his proposal, can't even identify the Gardiners as people in trade upon meeting them—that's important.

(It's also significant, of course, that he's surprised to discover their exact connection aka that they're Mrs Bennet's relatives, which is honestly pretty fair. In any case, he evaluates Mr and Mrs Gardiner on their own considerable merits by this point.)

So again, I get the sense that the Gardiners are quite well-off people who spend their money on nice enough things that they can be mistaken for a completely different class than their own, but are not specifically aiming for that or super extravagant, either. Their habits seem rather similar to Darcy's, actually—I don't think they're anywhere near as wealthy, but they're wealthy enough that they can approach major expenditures fairly casually, as he does. But unlike Darcy, it will always be contingent on Mr Gardiner's business success and they have to plan around his work and the possibility of sudden changes in terms of his work.

I personally think that Mr Gardiner would undoubtedly have been able to take care of his sister and nieces in the worst case scenario. Six women used to a high standard of living (we know Mrs Bennet is extravagant; it's only Mr Bennet's frugality that keeps the Bennets out of debt as it is) would probably be a strain, but I don't think beyond the income level indicated, even accounting for the needs of his immediate family.

When Mrs Bennet is dramatizing herself during the Lydia disaster, she tells Mr Gardiner, "if you are not kind to us, brother, I do not know what we shall do," and he assures her of his affection for both her and her entire family. This could be seen as a sort of empty redirection that avoids promising anything, especially given that her catastrophizing fantasy scenarios are extremely unlikely, but I think that's a misread of his character.

I see his reply as a tactful assurance that, in the (improbable) event of Mr Bennet dying in a duel, his affection for her and her daughters would indeed ensure his protection of her and her daughters. There's no doubt from anyone that he's capable of doing this, though it would certainly mean a change in their style of living that Mrs Bennet would vocally resent.

So while this isn't super-specific, I hope it helped!

Normally I don't need to do this, but I would like to add a sort of credit/disclaimer: I didn't initially notice all these signs and my understanding of the Gardiners' standard of living and general circumstances was, I believe, strongly influenced by JulieW of the Life and Times board at Republic of Pemberley back in the earlyish 2000s (maybe about 2006?).

The L&T board is sadly gone (or was the last few times I checked), though ROP clings to life, but she knew a lot more about Georgian history and culture than I ever will, and these references to the Gardiners' prosperity seemed really glaring once she pointed them out.

(Her analysis of Pemberley's age, architecture, and general class significance was also really influential and I'm still really sad that I have to rely on the perfidy of memory about it.)

[iridescentjellyfish]

my copy of brothership arrived yesterday and now i can safely say this

[inkblackorchid]

What the hell happened with Crow: an autopsy (Part 2)

Hope you didn't think I'd forgotten about this post yet. Lads, ladies, and other lovely people, here we go. I have more yelling about bird boy to do.

But first, a few disclaimers. For people who may have missed part one, yes, as the title implies, this post is part two of an attempt to analyse Crow's character throughout 5Ds' whole run. You can find part one here. Now, both for people who may not have the time/energy to read my first, huge post about this right now, let me explain what I'm about here before we start again: My analysis is not meant to deter people who like Crow from liking him. It's also not meant to convince Crow haters otherwise, even if I admittedly personally like Crow. All of this stuff is just my personal attempt at dissecting how his character was handled in the show and why that might have been. And because this is part two, and I covered the Fortune Cup and Dark Signers arc in the first post, I'll start with the pre-WRGP arc, then dig into the backstory Crow was given directly before the WRGP begins properly. Also, mind the length of this post. I'm physically incapable of writing short things.

I also feel the need to reiterate another thing before I really get into the meat of things again: If you were hoping to see any old rumours about 5Ds confirmed, this is the wrong post. In fact, thanks to the very thorough work of someone over on Reddit (another shoutout to @mbg159 here, who's the author of those posts), I know for a fact that literally all the big rumours surrounding Crow are one big pile of logistically impossible horseshit, and I think after so, so many years of people citing this nonsense, the fandom as a whole finally deserves to let these go:

No, Crow was not meant to be a dark signer, least of all the final boss of season one, and Blackwings were not the reason he got more screentime later.

No, Aki being sidelined was not the result of her irl voice actress' pregnancy.

Yes, I know these two posts are both a long read each, but I cannot begin to tell you how tired I am of these rumours. So even if you don't have time to read the stuff above, please take away this: The big 5Ds production conspiracy theories are. all. bullshit. Because, to put it in as simple terms as possible, none of them work out logistically. The events people have pretended affected the show's production in a major way all don't line up with the actual production timeline. So just can the rumours already. Please let them die. And no pitting Aki and Crow against each other on his post or because of this post, yes? I beg you, I am so tired. Ok? Ok.

All right, now we can get to the good part. In my previous post, I left off at the end of the DS arc. So, in what position is Crow at the end of the DS arc? He helped save the world by defeating Goodwin and got his very own signer mark after Rudger/Roman Goodwin's death.

And now, where is Crow at the start of the pre-WRGP arc?

(Bam. Delivery bird boy be upon ye.)

This time, Crow wastes absolutely no time coming back on screen. We see him again within the first episode of the second half of the show, and wouldn't you know it! He moved in with Yusei and Jack and the three of them have a funny, brotherly, bickering dynamic between them. Also, as a fun little add-on that is very much in line with his deeply Satellite, down to earth characterisation from the first half, Crow now works as a delivery driver to earn money for the household. That's all very nice and good.

But what is his role in the plot from here on out? Well.

First, a small note about the pre-WRGP arc. Though this arc is fun to watch because it gives us a lot of silly character interactions the show no longer found the time for once the WRGP started, the pre-WRGP arc really can't be said to bother with actual plot much. It's the known filler arc of 5Ds, and as such, Crow is not the only character who gets pretty much nothing plot-related to do during this arc. Thus, I'll only give a quick run-down of what he does get up to, just in case any of these tidbits end up showcasing a relevant aspect of Crow's character I might come back to later.

Furthermore, another thing that's pretty much obvious to everyone who's ever watched the show in its entirety but still bears mentioning: Crow gets a lot more screentime from this point on out. Technically. Why do I say "technically"? I'll get back to that further below. For now, just keep it in mind.

So, how does Bird Boy spend his time during the arc where the plot's on the back burner? To be honest, on the sidelines, mostly. Don't get me wrong, Crow's there. Most of the time. But he gets pretty much only two episodes where he's the focus, and both of those aren't exactly known for being 5Ds' most memorable episodes (even though I still like them both tbh, but I digress): For one, in episode 68, he gets to convince Bashford to move in with Martha so the depressed old man isn't spending his entire retirement living in a scrapyard.

(This episode's comedic moments are actually fairly solid. But those are just my two cents.)

And for two, in episode 85, Crow gets to bond with the boys' somewhat cranky landlady, Zora, by duelling some sense into her son, Lyndon. (Which also introduces us to a duelling tactic only Crow uses that we will later see again: Losing on purpose.)

(And here we can see Crow showing off his skills at dealing with petulant children.)

Now, do these two episodes where he gets to be relevant actually do anything for Crow? As a character? Debatable. If nothing else, they strongly reaffirm the values Crow represents which we were introduced to in the first half of the show, though. They reintroduce us to his stubbornness, to his (in comparison to Jack and Yusei) more playful nature, to his very Yusei-ish dedication to doing the right thing, to his penchant for spite, and to his strong sense of family and community and his belief that these two things shouldn't be abandoned unless you have a damned good reason for it.

You may notice that there's a sizeable gap between these two episodes. That's because those episodes are where we get the only smidgens of plot in this arc. Among them, highlights like Sherry's introduction, the first reveal of accel synchro, Aki's turbo duelling license exam, three separate story beats hinting at the machinations of the emperors of Iliaster (Luciano's little stunt with Rua and Ruka, Placido getting started on building a killer robot army, and the Jack double being unleashed onto NDC), and Bruno's introduction. So, here's the thing: Crow is technically present during most of those episodes, too, but he doesn't actually get to meaningfully interact with the plot-relevant elements. (Which is not to say he doesn't have nice moments here and there. He does get to bounce off the other characters, and, just as one example, helps Yusei and Jack upgrade Aki's duel runner, as well as help Yusei build Rua's duel board. Crucially, he doesn't get to do anything that later becomes plot-relevant, though.) Moreover, not one, but two characters who end up becoming major players in the series' finale are introduced here, which is relevant insofar as that Bruno and Sherry both end up needing a good amount of development before they can impactfully take their later roles. Now, I say this with nothing but genuine appreciation for both these characters, because I do like them, but I feel the need to point out what this means not just for Crow, but for pretty much everyone who isn't Jack or Yusei: Every minute of screentime that was dedicated to Bruno and/or Sherry was one minute less the writers could spend on the rest of the cast. This is not to say that time shouldn't have been spent on them, they needed it, especially because they were introduced so late, but it's something I do want people to keep in mind when talking about who got how much screentime and whether or not that time was well spent. (I also have a larger gripe with the definition of "screentime" in general, but more on that later.)

So when does Crow get to be relevant to the plot again, now that he's even a signer and all? Well, not until episode 94, when the WRGP arc has already started. (Note that I'm using the 5Ds episode list on wikipedia as a general guide for which arc and which season starts where. You can find it here.)

*Deep breath*

So. Episode 94.

(Pictured: One very scruffy dragon. Bird? Dragon-bird. Bird-dragon. You figure this shit out.)

That episode. The episode where Crow, who was awarded with the status of a signer during the finale of the DS arc, finally gets a dragon to match his mark. And the episode where we finally, finally, get some actual backstory for Crow that goes beyond his involvement with the Enforcers and childhood with Jack and Yusei. A backstory that's only Crow's own. Except. How do I put this politely...

This shit doesn't make a lick of sense. Neither the events in the duel between Crow and Bolger in the present resulting in Black-Winged Dragon's appearance, nor the Pearson backstory.

Now, I'm not saying this to step on anyone's toes. From a writing standpoint, I can even make a fairly reasonable guess as to why this episode/mini-arc is here, I think: As I mentioned in part one of this analysis, Crow was not only introduced very late, but also got very little backstory of his own, which set him apart from the other signers. Don't get me wrong, he did get some backstory—we know of his strong connection to Duel Monsters because he learned to read from cards, and we know of his involvement with the Enforcers/Team Satisfaction. Crucially, though, Crow doesn't really get a backstory segment that feels as unique to him as the others. Aki gets her tragic past with her parents and her powers, Jack gets his betrayal of Yusei, which also doubles as part of Yusei's backstory, who as the protagonist understandably gets the most backstory, and even the twins, though they are as always treated as one unit, get their very own segment about the time when Ruka was essentially in a coma. Meanwhile, Crow only has that one-off tear-jerker moment about learning to read from his cards and his being a part of the boys' duel gang, which, and I cannot stress this enough, is treated as more of a Yusei and Kalin/Kiryu backstory by canon than a Crow backstory. Thus, it makes perfect sense from a writing standpoint that the Pearson/Black-Winged Dragon mini-arc would be here. Crow, up until this point, has neither a backstory segment dedicated solely to him, nor a signer dragon to call his own. So, how do we solve this? Give him both in a strategic double-whammy! The math checks out. Unfortunately, the writing of said mini-arc... doesn't.

Now, look. The juicy question of whether Crow would have worked better as a non-signer or not, which I already discussed in part one aside, I personally don't hate what this backstory is trying to do. It's just that the whole Pearson-drama has some very notable, logical holes which I'll get into below. Furthermore, this is not the first time something related to Crow has some unfortunate, logical and/or chronological issues. I already brought up the infamous fridge and Rex Goodwin's rather confusing backstory in part one, both of which raise some serious questions. However, Pearson and everything surrounding him arguably blow that clean out of the water. Let's examine this more closely, shall we.

The long-overdue backstory we get for Crow begins with a mystery: Mikage and Trudge, for a reason that is never given to us, are investigating the death of Robert Pearson (whose death would have been several years ago at this point), whom Crow knew very well, and they're doing it because they found a hint that the person who killed Pearson used an illegal card, Crimson Mefist, to do it.

(Post redemption-arc Trudge actually doing his job instead of bullying random Satellite citizens. Who would have thunk.)

Thing is, here, we already encounter our first, minor problem: Pearson has never been mentioned up until this point, not even as an aside. And this issue is compounded by the fact that not only Crow seems to know him, but Trudge claims to as well, because "Satellite used to be his jurisdiction". So, a named character who's familiar to both one of our protagonists and a notable side character, and we've never seen hide nor hair of him. If we pull our heads out of the story for a second, the irl reason for how this came to be is probably pretty obvious: Pearson was never mentioned before because the writers had nowhere near as solid of a plan for Crow as they did for the other characters, which leads to him being introduced out of nowhere here because we need a backstory and a dragon for Crow and we need those now. Moving on.

The mention of Pearson having been not simply killed in a fire, like Crow previously assumed, but having been murdered through a special, illegal card immediately makes him suspicious. So, he goes to consult Bolger/Bolton, another never-before-seen character who gets introduced in service of this backstory, and who knew Pearson well. And while this guy certainly acts amiable towards Crow at first, implying that the two have a good rapport, at least, he quickly starts acting suspicious when Pearson's murder comes up. Moreover, we as the audience at this point already know Bolger's looking for Black-Winged Dragon so he can use the card essentially as collateral to save his company. And the name "Black-Winged Dragon" already leaves very little to the imagination as to whose deck this monster is supposed to fit into. But, in a small twist, we learn from Crow that this was apparently Pearson's card, and supposedly lost in the fire where said man died, to boot. Then Bolger challenges Crow to a duel, too, offering to tell the truth about Pearson's death if he loses, but demanding Black-Winged Dragon, which he believes Crow to be in possession of, if he wins. So far, so good. We've got a mystery here, and canon is not contradicting itself just yet. Until we get to the actual backstory, which shows us the time Crow spent with Pearson, that is. Before we get into that, I'd like to highlight one theme this mini-arc introduces that actually feels like it fits Crow: Legacy. Over the course of meeting Bolger again and being reminded of his time with Pearson, Crow starts thinking about whether he's taking over his former mentor's/father figure's legacy well enough.

(Crow having some Deep Thoughts TM, featuring one of Yusei's most relaxed, easygoing smiles in the entire show, probably.)

This theme, I would argue, is one of the major things this backstory introduces that really meshes well with the Crow we already had until this point. He's a community-focussed guy and absolutely a family person, if him taking care of Satellite orphans is anything to go by, so leaving behind a good legacy for the people after him (read: the kids he took care of) would absolutely be something he cares about. We see this element of legacy again in his cards during this episode, too, which canon implies he inherited from Pearson. (I'll get to THAT can of worms below.) And on paper, with the themes he's already got going, Crow being the only one to inherit his deck rather than build it all by himself would actually make sense!

However. This is where we have to get into the meat of the backstory. I'll start by listing the barebones information Crow's backstory with Pearson gives us, then going into why several aspects of it are either logistical or chronological nonsense.

So, as canon tells us, Crow met Pearson after Kiryu/Kalin was arrested, when the Enforcers/Team Satisfaction all went their separate ways. During this period, Crow had already set up shop near the original Daedalus Bridge and started out taking care of orphans, but it wasn't all smooth sailing. He was, by his own admission, "living aimlessly". Then, during a pinch, Pearson and Bolger show up, take care of some bad guys for Crow and the kids, and Crow sees a new role model in Pearson. Pearson, who rides the Blackbird, plays a Blackwing deck and owns Black-Winged Dragon. So, he joins up with Pearson, presumably learns how to work on duel runners from him, and also befriends Bolger. Then, one day, a fire breaks out at Pearson's workshop and the man in question dies, but leaves Crow his runner and his duel disk before he does so. End flashback. Because I want to tie this together nicely, we also learn later that Pearson technically left him Black-Winged Dragon, too, by sealing it in his runner. And, of course, that dragon later becomes Crow's very own signer dragon.

Several points to be dissected here. And funnily enough, Bolger's duel with Crow isn't relevant for any of them. Let's start with the big one: The timeline. I want you to remember that as far as canon is concerned, Crow is 17 during the DS arc. Moreover, it's canonically stated that Jack stole Yusei's first duel runner two years before the show's start, at which time Crow would have been 15. And their time together as the Enforcers must have been even before that, because Kiryu/Kalin was already in prison for a while at that point and Crow and Yusei don't reunite until the DS arc is basically in full swing. So, I'll make a vague estimate here and say that during the time of the Enforcers, Crow would have probably been 13-14. (Which is hilarious when you think about the fact that this gang of angry teenagers essentially took over the entire duelling underground of Satellite, but I digress.) Now we add the idea that Crow met Pearson after the Enforcers, but that he died before canon starts into the mix. That means Crow first ran into Pearson sometime around age 15, and that he then died presumably before Crow turned 17. So far, so good, that still slots into canon, even if it makes Crow pretty damn young for some things. He's even missing the personalised Blackbird duel disk he later wears during the Enforcer days, I went back to check. What he is not missing, however, are his Blackwings. And this is where canon may or may not have made an implication that, if intentional, breaks this timeline. See, during the scene where Pearson's workshop is burning down and he's already trapped under debris and has embraced death, he tosses Crow his duel disk and leaves him his runner.

(Two important screenshots, in sequence. One, Pearson with his duel disk still strapped to his arm. His deck is very obviously still in there. Two, Crow with that same duel disk, as made obvious by its distinct shape.)

What this implies is that Pearson also left Crow his deck. Which, yeah, fair enough, if I were dying in a fire I'd probably also think "fuck it, not like I'll need my cards in the afterlife". What this (and Crow's look the first time he sees Pearson's monsters) implies, though, is that Crow didn't start playing Blackwings until Pearson left him his deck. Which is factually untrue, because there is literal evidence in the show that Crow already had Blackwings during his time as part of the duel gang, before ever meeting Pearson. (The exact episode, if you want to check for yourself, is 33, where Crow summons both Bora the Spear and Blackwing Armor Master during a flashback.) However, I will concede that the show never actually states this is the case, it's just implied by what we see on screen, so perhaps the idea here was that Crow already played Blackwings before Pearson, but grew to love them even more through his mentor/father figure, and so later happily integrated the deck he inherited into his own. Crucially, canon never states this outright, either, though, so the option remains on the table. But, to give the benefit of the doubt here, the possibility that this could still slot in with canon and that it was just handled poorly is there. The same cannot be said for the Blackbird, however.

(Uh oh. So much for canon continuity.)

The above two screenshots directly contradict each other. First we have Yusei, upon reuniting with Crow in Satellite during the DS arc, casually remarking that Crow finished his duel runner. Which means that canon at this point suggests to the audience that one, Crow built this duel runner by himself, for himself, and two, that Yusei knew about it for a while already. Then there's the second screenshot, from the Pearson backstory episode, where Crow outright claims the Blackbird was left to him when Pearson died. I don't think I need to tell anyone that these two things can't be true at the same time. And again, I think this is where Crow fell victim to the writers not having a clear outline for him. At first, he was supposed to be this scrappy guy who also built a duel runner for himself, just like Yusei. But now, he's a signer, needs a backstory and a dragon, and because a theme of legacy is introduced alongside Pearson, the runner suddenly needs to be inherited, as well as (possibly) Crow's cards. Now, a crafty fanfic writer could probably reconcile the above contradiction somehow, and I know some stories that accomplished that. But the point isn't that we, as the audience/fandom could make this work, the point is that canon didn't make it work. What canon, sadly, also didn't get to work was Black-Winged Dragon.

(We meet again, bird-dragon.)

Here comes the next elephant in the room: Everyone and their mother who has watched 5Ds knows that Black-Winged Dragon was never implied to be a signer dragon up until the duel where Crow acquires it. In fact, an entirely different dragon is teased so heavily long before BWD ever shows up that it to this day is one of many people's major gripes with the show's writing.

(Why, hello, Life Stream Dragon! Fancy seeing you here.)

And yet, Black-Winged Dragon is turned into a signer dragon before Life Stream Dragon, who was teased more than sixty (!!!) episodes before BWD was ever even mentioned. Why? Simple: Because Crow became a signer and Rua/Leo didn't, because the signers all need dragons (or else the "5Ds" part kind of doesn't work), and because Life Stream Dragon thematically doesn't fit Crow.

Now, I've seen people post theories to reconcile this weird hitch in canon, hell, I've even posted an idea for how it could be reconciled myself. But, again, that isn't the point here. The point is that as far as good old, barebones canon is concerned, it isn't reconciled. Canon at first states there are five signers, suggesting that there are also five dragons. But then, the fifth dragon never shows up, and one of the signers dies, to boot. Only for canon to then teach us, oh, no, look, the signer marks can wander from one person to the next. And to add insult to injury (at least where the show's writing and internal consistency is concerned), the signer mark that was "freed up" by Roman/Rudger's death doesn't wander to Rua/Leo, who any attentive watcher would have expected to become a signer because it was heavily teased during the DS arc, but to Crow. Frankly, I'm not surprised many people were angry about this, but in case my disclaimer didn't make it clear, I don't think it's productive to pin this on Crow by claiming his cards became super popular irl. There was definitely an out-of-left-field writing choice made here, but the only answers as to "why" were left in the 5Ds' writer's room, I believe. At a guess, if you want me to throw out a non-sugarcoated theory as to why, though? They probably thought Crow would be a more interesting character for their target audience. He's a scrappy guy who sticks it to authority, he's brave, he's funny, he plays a cool deck, and most of all, unlike Rua, he never embarrasses himself in a duel on screen. Why am I highlighting that last part? Because I feel like people sometimes forget that the target audience for this show, at the time of its creation, were about twelve year-old boys. And you can feel free to contradict me on this, but most twelve year-old boys I've known and know don't want to project themselves onto a chracter who loses and gets his butt kicked a lot, and who's a bit awkward and steps in it sometimes, which is much closer to how actual twelve year-olds are—but that's exactly why they prefer the cooler characters. And Crow is the cooler character, by average twelve year-old boy logic, regardless of what the grownups of this fandom think.

So Crow gets a dragon and the writing doesn't bother explaining the how or why of it, let alone tackles any of the implications made by Black-Winged Dragon's existence as a signer dragon. (Like what does this mean for the larger worldbuilding? Does the Crimson Dragon actually have more than five servants, but chooses to only ever bestow five marks at a time? Can any "dragon" the Crimson Dragon chooses be a signer dragon, and it just so happens that the constellation of signer dragons is nearly the same as the original one in present-time 5Ds canon? Did the Crimson Dragon specifically elevate BWD to a signer dragon because it felt like it? Was BWD always supposed to be a signer dragon? Was Pearson supposed to be a signer, but died too early before the dark signer prophecy was set into motion? Am I overthinking this? (Yes.)) He also obtains his dragon in what feels like the weirdest way possible to me, because it suddenly??? Just decides to appear in his runner????? Out of nowhere??????

(Why is that here. How did it get there. Why did Pearson even put it in there. And HOW. Is it just wedged between the machinery or what???? And how on earth did Yusei, Bruno, and/or Crow never find it before this point considering how often someone tinkered on the Blackbird on screen???)

(This scenario, of course, also raises the question how the other signers even got their dragons. But like many other, interesting questions, this episode chooses not to interact with that one whatsoever.)

In short, this backstory is a bit of a mess, to say the least. For as much good as it tries to do by contextualising Crow's character and giving him something that sets him apart from the rest of the protag group, it feels like a rough draft of an episode was given the green light to be produced without any editing, judging by the contradictions and weird implications. As such, it harms Crow's character as much as it builds it, as evidenced by how much fandom backlash he still receives years later for the things that were bungled in this backstory and also in different aspects of his character writing.

Now, you may notice this post has gotten stupidly long due to just how convoluted the specific hangups of Crow's backstory are. I originally meant to cover the WRGP and even the Ark Cradle arc for Crow in this post, too, but due to how much there was to say about canon's attempt to finally make Crow a "proper" signer, I've decided that trying to force another two whole arcs in here would be a disservice to the analysis and the character, and also make this agonisingly long, so I'll close this part out here and write a part three, perhaps even a part four depending on how much material the WRGP gives me to work with.

There's one more thing I need to get back to before I finish up this part, though: The "screentime" discussion. I mentioned far above that I take issue with how some people seem to be using the word screentime, and now I can explain why. First, I want you to take a look back at the episodes I covered here, those being 65-95, essentially. Now, as anyone who usually dislikes Crow will tell you, Crow is present in most, if not all of these episodes. He's on screen. He's getting screentime, and, according to many people, hogging it, even. Okay. Now, I want you to look back up at the analysis. How many episodes did I cover where Crow actually gets something to do? As in, where he's either the focus of the plot or gets to contribute to it in a significant way? There's the old man Bashford episode. There's the Poppo Time clock episode. There's his two backstory episodes. That's four. Four episodes. If you're generous, you might add in the episode where he gets to narrate Yusei's backstory alongside Jack and the two fake Jack episodes where he gets to have an emotional moment or two with his foster-brother. If you're less generous, you'll note that none of these episodes have Crow actually interacting with the main antagonists in a meaningful way or set up anything important that pays off later. (Hell, he doesn't even get any, and I really mean, any meaningful setup interactions with Sherry, who ends up being his final-boss-level opponent during the final episodes! Aki gets more meaningful interactions with Sherry than him, not that this ever gets a payoff.) And this is why I take an issue with people claiming Crow gets so much "screentime" post DS arc. Because to me, "screentime" should be time spent letting a character act meaningfully within the story, which most of the pre-WRGP episodes aren't for Crow. He's on screen, yes, but in many episodes, it wouldn't matter one whit whether you replaced him with a nameless side character, which isn't exactly a great look for a supposed third of a protagonist trifecta. Perhaps I'm being too strict with my definition of "screentime" here, fair enough! But the claim that Crow hogs screentime already rubs the wrong way during this comparably unimportant arc, so I can't leave it alone. It feels very decidedly malicious to claim a character who during some episodes seems to only be there to provide exposition or make whatever jokes Yusei and Jack's personalities aren't suited to is stealing screentime from other characters. As for the WRGP duels and whether he's "hogging" anyone's screentime there, I'll dig into that nonsense in the next part, please be patient with me.

...Phew. Okay.

Now, before I leave you to wonder whether I'm every finishing my Crow analysis in full again, I want to attempt to do the same thing I did in part one—propose some changes that could have been made to the writing for Crow's character in order to make things slot in better with the rest of canon. With a small disclaimer, of course: These are just my suggestions as to how Crow's character could have fit into canon more smoothly and been done less of a disservice by his own backstory.

So. First, a quick-fire thing about the pre-WRGP, to get that out of the way: Crow, alongside Aki, is the only signer who didn't get his own confrontation with either Iliaster or their minions. (Yusei had Ghost, Jack had fake Jack, Rua and Ruka had Luciano.) Instead of having him confront a cranky old man in a scrapyard or Zora's son, they could have easily given him a very short side-story where he gets to experience the threat of Iliaster up close and personal, too. Hell, they could have very nicely cut the recap episode where Crow and Jack lie in the mess of Jack's terribly built coffee table and philosophise about Yusei's backstory for this, too. (As funny as their interaction about the coffee table and Jack lying on the floor with a perfectly intact coffee cup are.)

(Pictured: Two idiots (affectionate) contemplating life among the scraps of a shitty, broken coffee table.)

Then, there's the Pearson backstory, of course. So, here's the thing, I think two very different kinds of "fixes" could have worked here. Crucially, they both depend on Crow's status as a signer. I argued in part one that Crow might have worked better as a character if he hadn't actually become a signer, so I'll give both versions here. Let's go.

Option A: We try not to touch canon too much and Crow stays a signer.

How to do this? Frankly, I think what Crow's mark and Black-Winged Dragon were majorly missing was setup. The mark is the smaller offence here, since, fair enough, the idea that signer marks can wander from person to person isn't too out there for 5Ds canon. However, the lack of a dragon despite the alleged 5Ds stands out, and Life Stream Dragon's wasted setup only makes it worse. Thus, making Black-Winged Dragon make sense would have required giving him the same amount of foreshadowing as Life Stream Dragon, at the very least. And you know who could have been great for that? Sweet, ever-forgotten-by-canon Ruka. She was already shown having flashback dreams to the signer dragons' first battle against the dark signers, so who's to say she couldn't have gotten dreams about a shadowy, new dragon she's never seen before? Perhaps even dreams where she's not sure if the dragon is good or bad at first! It could have provided intrigue, it could have made the audience curious. To strengthen that, canon could have also bothered taking the question "hey why are there only four dragons now" seriously. No character in canon ever questions why there are five marks, but only four dragons. Even Rua, who was previously hopeful that he might secretly be a signer, never brings it up. If canon had bothered to actually point this mystery out, they could have used it not only to foreshadow Black-Winged Dragon, but to aid Life Stream Dragon's setup, too. What the fuck am I talking about, I hear you ask. Hear me out: Life Stream Dragon is shown way, way later down the line, long after the audience probably already accepted that it was simply never going to show up, literally bursting out of Power Tool Dragon's armour. We are not provided with an explanation as to why. Imagine if they had sprinkled in another dream Ruka could have had about the ancient past here. Imagine if they had used the opportunity to show something like, oh, during the battle, Life Stream Dragon got injured so badly they had to protect its wounded body with a suit of armour, in the hopes that it would heal. And with one original signer dragon out of commission, the Crimson Dragon sadly had to choose a replacement in between, because the Earthbound Immortals were sure to return. Bam. Black-Winged Dragon. Two signer dragons, set up simultaneously, without forcing the canon lore to do somersaults. Furthermore, to actually explain why Pearson had the dragon but wasn't a signer, they could have easily sprinkled in a flashback between him and Crow. Maybe Pearson could have mentioned how the dragon always feels like it's never really his, as a joking aside. It would have been enough for me to suspend my disbelief, you know? And then the rest of canon could have played out exactly as we know it. Crow could have confronted Bolger, could have obtained Black-Winged Dragon because maybe the dragon finally decided he was worth throwing its weight behind. The mystery behind the missing fifth dragon could have been solved, and it would have made for satisfying payoff without kneecapping Life Stream Dragon's setup or conjuring an extra dragon out of thin air. And really, stuff like the runner thing could have so easily been solved by simply picking one version (did he build it himself or inherit it?) and sticking with it. All it took was a little more care.

Option B: We assume Crow didn't actually become a signer, but try to keep his backstory intact.

Okay, this version works under the assumption that Crow, despite partaking in the final battle against Goodwin during the DS arc, didn't receive a signer mark. To make this work, I would, bluntly put, simply make it so that Black-Winged Dragon doesn't exist. Pearson can still play a powerful Blackwing monster during his flashback that Bolger wants to find and sell later, but it simply isn't that dragon. Really, Blackwings have enough to choose from there. If the backstory episodes had been placed a little later, say, during the pause in the middle of the WRGP, he could have even received something like Blackwing Full Armor Master here. (Yes, I know that card didn't exist at the time, but my point is that he could have simply received a powerup like Yusei and Jack did, instead of a completely new monster.) With this setup, they could have still added the intrigue of taking the question why there are only four signers now seriously. They could have still set up a mystery about why no one ever saw the fifth dragon outside of dreams. And it could have made Rua becoming a signer later, and in this version getting the tail mark instead of a completely new one, that much more satisfying. And Crow could have kept his "fuck destiny, I'm trying to save the world here"-attitude from the DS arc, providing a nice, amusing counterweight to our heroes chosen by an ancient Incan dragon deity. All it would have taken would have been not giving him a mark and switching out Black-Winged Dragon for something else.

So, take your pick, I guess. In the meantime, I'll try my best to work on part three faster than I did part two, lmao.

See you next time!

[major-alenko]

there’s nothing wrong plot-wise with the horizon conversation actually. y’all are just babies who don’t understand kaidan’s character or the purpose of conflict in a story lol

[regnigt]

I have always interpreted Teddy as the preferred suitor almost solely because he would accept (and approve, and even inspire!) Emily's writing career. And secondly, much more weakly, because he isn't shown to be given to take pains to deceive her the way Dean does. He does have a jealous side but it's not as possessive as Dean's. In fact, one might speculate that for Teddy his mother's possessive approach might be a fine model of What Not To Do. I don't think Teddy is built up on his own in the way that Gilbert Blythe is when it comes to Anne to make it convincing that just marrying him is all that Emily needs for happiness. As for moving to Montreal, I don't think that's stated in the text explicitly, is it? Perhaps Teddy's artistic career is sufficiently established at this point that he could afford to live away from a metropolis at least for part of the year. Similarly, while I agree that Emily's creativity as an adult is linked to New Moon and Prince Edward Island, I think you could make a case for the contrast between Montreal and the island could be more beneficial than detrimental, as long as she still spends a substantial amount living of time living on the latter. Enough for the ex-Disappointed House to feel like her "real home" and a possible winter home in the city to feel like the more temporary place of settlement. And LMM also makes sure she shows Emily's literary success before Teddy returns with his declaration, as though to assure us that Emily did make a decent career of it before her "retirement." It could be viewed that way, but I got more of an impression that we were meant to be show Emily and Teddy on equal footing when it comes to winning acclaim in their chosen fields, and also to be assured that Emily really does have her own career going for real now, that she will live up to the faith Mr Carpenter had in her ability to find her own path. (Personally I also rather think that Emily and Teddy would find a way to make it work that includes sometimes living distanced from each other for part of the year, maybe up to 1 month or so, motivated by pragmatic reasons. But in the end that partial (planned and scheduled, and rarely prolonged) separation would also prove beneficial to their relationship in the long run. But we're probably not meant to envision exactly that...)

I am admittedly viewing all this with rose-coloured eyes and disregarding the very prevalent sociocultural pattern of the time, where an artist's wife would be assumed to support him in all sorts of ways, from helping him with his scheduling to modelling for him (I am not even thinking about children yet! Actually I'm not sure either of them would wish to have children...) Realistically, both Emily and Teddy would be likely to at least partially start following that pattern without meaning to, just because Emily would have a natural tendency to help the one she loves and Teddy is likely to have male privilege that would accept that help as natural - even as he may not intend to keep her from her own work. But I feel that LMM intended for us to view the couple and their future with that kind of rose-coloured eyes... And I can also for myself envision them both realizing that's not what they really want, breaking away from that pattern and make their own path forward.

@gogandmagog gifted me with this incredible essay by Mary Rubio and I haven't quite finished it yet but I need to screech about this very provocative passage:

When Emily finally accepts the jilted Teddy, no idyllic atmosphere is restored. In fact, the tone is almost elegiac against the backdrop of a dark hill and a sunset, as Teddy and Emily prepare to move into their grey house which, significantly, has always been called "The Disappointed House." Montgomery tells the reader that the "grey house will be disappointed no longer," but the reader knows that Emily's creativity will sink into grey domesticity within. The vivacious outspoken Emily-heroine with the accomplished and witty pen is dead, and the trilogy can end: she is no longer interesting or full of promise as a writer. She is ready to be a supportive wife whose husband's profession comes first. (30)

I once read a blog post (or perhaps a more scholarly article, it was a long time ago) that stated similarly that Emily would likely not continue writing after marrying Teddy. This insulted me greatly at the time because writing seemed so linked to Emily's nature that it seemed impossible that she should ever give it up. And it contradicted what I found to be the fundamental reason for Teddy being the better match: he would have loved and encouraged her own artistry (we assume) where Dean belittled and gaslit. Yet if the outcome would have been the same--then the difference between them grows narrower.

I can't believe Rubio the Montgomery Scholar could have fundamentally interpreted the end of the series so differently from how I've always thought LMM suggested it: that Teddy, and Emily's love for him, will be always kind of eternal wellspring of inspiration for her, made even stronger by their marriage. But there ARE suggestions that perhaps Emily wouldn't be able to write--one, which I noticed only recently, was that her writing life is so intensely linked to New Moon and PEI that going off to live in Montreal might fundamentally change her own relationship to her creativity. And LMM also makes sure she shows Emily's literary success before Teddy returns with his declaration, as though to assure us that Emily *did* make a decent career of it before her "retirement."

So I'm very curious to know other people's thoughts about this. Also, the article might interest the blue castle book club too, since Rubio analyzes The Blue Castle's subversiveness in addition to that in the Emily series!

[ray-nintendo]

I Know that luigi’s never going to have lightning powers again, it’s superstar saga and mario strikers Only. and I Know why nintendo didn’t want to draw a direct line between the mario & luigi series and the paper mario series.

but I Cannot get Mr L with lightning powers out of my head.

there’s how it works Thematically of course

- that tie between electricity and mechanics - Mr L naming himself “Green Thunder” - the Poses he makes. reaching up to the sky with one hand while he’s making his L with his arms, Pointing for emphasis. you know how fire benders shoot lighting out of their pointer fingers in avatar? It’s Like That. - Listen. Listen. the symbolism of Mr L retaining the power that ties him to his brother. one of a pair. in exactly the same way he filled that void he couldn’t quite name with brobot.

but there’s Also the functionality. not just making Mr L the Character cooler, but how it could’ve been used in game.

because Metal Conducts Electricity.

a pretty consistent complaint about super paper mario is that the boss fights are too easy, and Mr L is no exception. I think a potential remedy to that is having a phase (or core move set depending on how it’s implemented) that’s Super Charged with Mr L’s lightning !

you could just up the damage it does, but you could Also have the attacks be more accurate or have the net they cast be Wider because of the way electricity moves !

and what I Specifically can’t get out of my head is the Animation flourishes you could do with it. there’s obviously the fun you could have with his Poses. but making it Clear where the electricity is coming from in his brobot battles would be Cool (showing the transfer from his hands to the machine). have him get shocked when parts of the brobot break ! give him a little zapping animation when you’ve picked him up (with or without giving him the possibility of breaking out of it with enough wiggling) ! it’s Fun !

some other positives include:

- pushing that symbolism of brobot as a replacement for mario even further by having it fill the role in the bros attack that the lightning originates from ! mario and luigi are at their strongest when they’re working Together and Mr L’s subconscious knows that (in the same way that the paper mario series pushes that feeling of inferiority. luigi Needs someone else to be at his strongest, because he Can’t do it on his own. and yet he’s also Needed).

- it makes the fact that paper luigi never fights on screen before or after this that much funnier.

[oneofgothamsinsane]

Bro, i was looking at some meta laws so i know what i can do to treat certain patients, and i just found out,

I do not qualify as human.

: )

I do not qualify as a sentient being, and people need to realise that that is not a good thing.

ON THE OTHER HAND THOUGH, LAWS NO LONGER CAN APPLY TO ME.

i now resonate with Anonymous M on a spiritual level lmao.

[ellena-asg]

From crossover episode (Touch of death, part II, NCIS: LA 3x21).

In one of my metas about Danny and his mental health I said that Scott perfectly showed all details of Danny's (and in general) anxiety, depression and abuse victimage. I also mentioned that Danny's body language is very clear to me (not only me here, I know from the feedback that there are more people with similar traumas *hugs*), it's like having, you know, victim radar (victim recognizes other victim, signals, something like that).

Yup. Danny's body speaks. Speaks very often. Sometimes speaks instead of Danny. Yes, Danny is strong. Damn strong. He can be bamf!Danny ♥️ He always fights. Oh yes. But he also suffers 😢 Mentally. Still. He can smile, he can joke, he can try to be brave, Mr I'm Okay and/or I'll Be Okay but the pain is still there inside him.

Sure, Danny often talks about things that make him anxious - but not about them all. So much is still inside him. And his body "knows it". His body shows it. His body "betrays" him. His body reacts - f.e. when he has anxiety attack (of any kind) and when those who mentally abused Danny are still (damn!) around him (Rachel, her mother Amanda - the cases we know from canon) or when someone mentions them (like Chin in the scene above - heh, this episode is just one of the many examples).

Yeah, here Chin mentions Amanda. Oh, he says the truth - it's a blood feud. Amanda made Danny's blood boil, living with her (and Rachel), I mean: being in this family, was a pure horror to Danny's mind. Friendly reminder: He was mentally abused, he was treated like a shit, like someone worse, someone who should meet other people's expectations/visions (his dreams? his passions? his emotions? there was no place for them - this family only played with his feelings). Who should beg. Who should feel guilty for everything. He was treated in a very unfair way (Grace too). Once he started hating himself, all what he loved (including job/saving people's lives), his own life (attempted suicide) - because of other people's (Hollander family) manipulations. He suffered as a father, as a human being and as a man too, I guess (cause Rachel's mother seems to have damn misandristic vibes 🙄 - or did she hate/humiliate "only" Danny and "only" for Danny being Danny? ehh). And he was punished for... for having enough. For wanting escape (from "sweet and kind her majesty Rachel"). For telling the truth about Rachel's toxic/manipulative/narcissistic character. For fighting for his beloved daughter and his parental rights. Huh.

Well, Steve knows well how Danny feels. What Danny says about Hollander family. Danny says it, many times and Steve listens. Danny's Stockholm syndrome, signs of it (oh, that's what Steve doesn't see in the Sarin episode) like "I should try with Rach again, it's, um, love" (plus him thinking that it's good for Gracie) are still there but mostly, thanks goodness, there's "What are you doing here, Rachel" and "I love you, Steve" (Steve is like cure, like antidote). Steve knows well that this family hurt/still hurts his Danno (and his Gracie). Well, Steve was at Rachel's (and Stan's) house and he witnessed Rachel's: "Now I'll humiliate you in front of your partner/new friend - by the way... you have friend? Someone likes you? Someone believes/protects you? It can't be!". Steve saw all her lies. Saw her games. Saw her character. Saw her war against Danny and Grace. So... Steve knows and he doesn't want Danny to be with this family again (yeah, he's jealous too but it's another topic 😉). And... Ohana of course knows too.

Chin knows. Danny trusts him. Steve trusts him. Chin knows and sees Danny's past as bloody. As painful to Danny. Blood feud 👉 Hollanders (Savage/Edwards). Exactly, Chino.

Chino, Chino, Chino. Ay, look, I love Chin very much. But he mentioned Amanda, mentioned the past and... Look at Danny. At his body (cause Danny tries to act like everything is okay), his body speaking (seriously, it's just a random example and one day I'll collect them all and write about them, I swear):

The very first reaction:

Silence. Damn silence. No smile. No laughter. No jokes. No sarcasm. Dead silence. What else? Clenched jaw. Narrowed eyes. Tension. Where's that Danny who just had fun with Chin, G and Sam?

He suffers.

I can feel his pain (Chin mentioned Amanda and bad memories came back). I can feel his frustration (cause Chin, seriously, why? and why here? why in front of non-Ohana guys? why you think they should know about Danny's trauma - and about this one caused by his ex mother-in-law?). His anger. Anxiety (panic) attack is coming.

Next reaction: Closed eyes. Mouth open.

Anxiety, anxiety attack. Breathe, he needs to breathe. Inhale, exhale, inhale... Damn, it's painful. Damn, they are there and they are watching.

Third reaction: Okay (it's not okay but it will be - Danny fights with himself, as always). Danny ignores Chin's words (safety).

He literally pretends he didn't hear that. Pretends that Chin didn't say that. He starts talking to G Cullen. He wants to talk about anything, he asks questions, he tries to draw G's (and Sam's) attention away from Chin's words, away from Amanda, from Rachel, from his old life. Chatty Williams is back. And huh, looks like boys didn't notice any change - good, thinks Danny. BUT YOUR BODY, DANNY... 😭

It was a painful moment. Chin means no harm and Danny knows it but still - bad memories (they're painful). Danny doesn't need them. Danny doesn't want to remember that he once had SUCH mother-in-law (oh, it's not just another story about a hahaha salty man and his hahaha "awful" mother-in-law and hahaha "awful" ex wife, nope - it's a sad story about a really anxious person and their really abusive "family"). SUCH past. Danny doesn't need Chin to mention it now or joke about it (Chin doesn't joke but tell it to the anxious mind). If Danny needs to rant about it - HE rants. If Chin wanted to say "Hey, I remember who hurt you and I'm with you" - it's lovely, he's a great friend and brother and Danny knows, Danny appreciates. But hell, it's not a good place, not a good situation, not... (plus: Danny is frustrated and worries now about the world/their case and especially about Steve and Steve's issues in Japan and when he thinks about his beloved one... boom! suddenly Chin summons "ghost" of cursed person).

It was a painful moment but Danny is strong. Strong again. He tries to focus on something safe. On anything not-damn-past-related. He's like "Let's talk about YOUR past instead, G". G mentioned his past earlier so it's okay to talk. And G's past is tied to their case. Damn, Danny can talk now even about the clouds outside - just no more talks about his past. Not now. Not when he doesn't need that.

Yes and no, Chin. Amanda (and Rachel) don't count - they're not Danny's family (never really were), they're not his Ohana. He doesn't need them, doesn't want them - he is forced to hear about them/to see them because of Gracie (for Gracie). But yes, they count - they count as blood feud. As those people who make Danny highly anxious and depressed. And highly angry.

His past. It still makes Danny's blood boil. He is still not safe. He still needs to heal. His body shouts. Meanwhile show writers: 😈

[saltpepperbeard]

AAAAH so I’ve been inactive/lurking for years but I need to come out from the shadows for a second to THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR OFMD METAS. Especially your takes on Stede in 6/7!! I know a lot of people have said it, (bc it’s true and right) but you describe and explain things SO WELL IT BREAKES MY HEART. AGH. THANK YOU. I feel like this last episode especially was just the culmination of Stede putting all his core insecurities into a pressure cooker and leaving them there while he focuses on everything else. We all love to point out that this man just does NOT talk about any of his core issues while they are VERY MUCH still issuing! He still believes everything bad that has happened is all his fault!! He’s still thinking about that blood spattered little boy at his core!! (side note: a famous, deadly pirate getting killed via Stede throwing a violin at his head was NUTS. that concept is NUTS. I love this show.) Honestly I think at this point it’s just finally Stede’s turn to have a breakdown, and that’s where at least some of his behavior at the end of ep 7 is coming from. Most of our major characters this season have had one where they break hard, find support, and come out on the other side of it at least a little better. He has NOT. He hasn’t had a Stede centered heart to heart with anyone yet!! He’s grown so much in so many other ways, but like you’ve said!!! He just will not OPEN UPP. Because it’s scary!! What if you finally say the thing you know is fundamentally wrong with you, and the people you love finally see you for what you are?? Why would you do that when you can just try to fix it by shoving it down and making yourself into something else instead? And then what do you do when that all goes to hell anyways?? You act a fool and get your ass beat by a pirate queen is what 😭😭. It feels like we’ve all been side eying Stede not talking about his issues and the show just went, “Yep! For sure! Now look at what it’s done for him.” That compared to everyone else working through things and starting to move on?? Owie. Absolutely delicious- but also I think I’m different now. Like, as a person. And I trust this show to work it out!! I think Stede will get there eventually!! But like. Fuckin OWIE.

(This is an absolute WALL of text good god. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts and being yourself <33 I’m going to cry into the floor and try to function like a normal person)

...

Well goodness, do I feel honored to be graced by your presence and YOUR lovely thoughts too! Because your so-called "wall of text" is SO beautiful and so thoughtful and so very ACCURATE AS WELL. AND IT SUBSEQUENTLY PUNCHED ME IN THE KIDNEY </3 SJDKLS.

Because Lord, you're right, how do we expect this man to function when he hasn't had his bathtub moment yet? And to think--he ALMOST could have. Ed was opening the door and giving him a place to talk and share vulnerabilities. Ed came in and started talking about his DAD, which as we know is a MAJOR piece of vulnerability for him. He really came in and set the stage for them to go in that direction...

Onllllyyy for adrenaline and desperation and perhaps a bit of fear to still prevail.

Like, it kills me. HE kills me. People give him the opportunity. People try and extend an olive branch. And yet still, he hides behind numerous walls. He helps other people before he helps himself. His bathtub was used for the benefit of others in episode 6 as opposed to his own. And I think that's a perfect representation of his character as a whole, really.

And man I knew, I KNEWWWW he was going to have so much to work on when the season opened up with that dream sequence. I think that dream sequence spoke on SO MUCH of what's going on in his head. It really cracked his psyche right on open. The beard, the ruthlessness, the deeper voice, the posturing, the way he doesn't "gain access" to Ed until after he's made a kill...

It was all just SCREAMING self-image issues and toxic masculinity issues and trauma to me. Not to mention how DRAMATIC of a contrast it was to Ed's. Ed loves his darling, sweet, fantastic goldfish for who he is. And it kills me that Stede can't see that yet.

But yes, I do believe we'll get there. I believe that's WHY all of this is being shown/set up. The show is very clearly telling us that Ed and Stede have issues to work through, and that their relationship is going to take mutual effort to become mature and grounded.

...But man, is the climb up to that A BIG OWCHIE INDEED LMAO.

[regnigt]

Emily of New Moon, chapter 5: Diamond Cut Diamond

The Murrays settling the matter of Emily's future by having her draw lot is certainly good dramatic tension, but it's also a terribly way of treating her, and small wonder that this moment would linger with her and hurt her with its memory of being an unwanted duty to the person with the most authority over her from now on. Aunt Elizabeth keeps being described as rigid, upright, dutiful, with a good amount of honour to her, but completely uncomprehending in front of children wanting their own privacy. To Elizabeth, being responsible for Emily's wellbeing means she should be able to read anything Emily puts down on paper. I never encountered adults like this as a kid, but I have certainly come across this point of view numerous times since then, especially on social media. It feels very fundamentalist. Now and then, children's right to their own interiority and privacy often gets pooh-poohed away. The way Emily flings her very first notebook into the fire rather than have its privacy compromised is heartrending. In a way, it's the same thing as her saying goodbye to the beloved landscape around her and almost all her non-human friends (only Saucy Sal and the Wind Woman remain) - yet one more source of support and confirmation of self being taken away from her. I don't think this is presented to us in a way that makes Elizabeth hateful (crucially, she's not the one to destroy the notebook), but it does make us understand the way hers and Emily's outlooks clash and are bound to clash at this point. Because even if Elizabeth is not that bad a person, Emily still deeply feels Elizabeth would not understand her writings, and that misunderstanding would destroy them to her. It will take a good while yet for her to be able to withstand the exposure by unfeeling eyes to her writing...

I love when Laura says, "Thank heavens for that!" apropos of Emily not being a Murray. :D

I just realized I have a headcanon about Emily's bad spelling at this point. I don't think this is stated anywhere, but I could see her deciding at this point that her way of spelling makes sense and looks good to her so she'll keep doing it even if it doesn't match exactly what she sees in the books she reads. (Of course, it could also be that she gets so worked up with writing something she doesn't feel like stopping to look up how a word is spelt. )

[koushirouizumi]

Digimon T.C.G (Trading Card Game) {Revival} ~ Andiramon (Sample Card)

{from here!}

The card was previewed alongside a new "Tamer" card for 02 movies character Wallace BT17-088, from the 02 movies "Hurricane Touchdown" and "The Golden Digimentals", two separate movies in the original Japanese version.

Notes/Trivia: "Antyla", from Antylamon, the U.S. dub name, is a misspelling of "Andira". "Andira" is one of the Twelve Heavenly Warriors of Buddhist Mythology (one of the major religions of Japan). {Wallace, meanwhile, is an American Chosen, implied to be connected to the U.S. group of Chosen (though once mainly acting solo + within the movies specifically), specifically from the region of (one based off of the real-world) Colorado. "Willis", Wallace's U.S. dub name was a misspelling of or taken from "Wallace" and intentionally modified, but it is also a real English "name" of English, Norman French, and Scottish origin, that seems more commonly used as a surname. It may be less commonly used as a first name, but it isn't necessarily "wrong" as an uncommonly used first name that originates from a surname. "Wallace", in comparison, is a common given name meaning 'Wales' or 'of Wales', but it is also used within England, Scotland, and the United Kingdom in general.

[ilovejojo]

WELCOME to 🌟ILOVEJOJO💗, Living shrine & Loveletter to my favorite series.

🦋🌅❤️‍🔥🌈💪👠💫💜💎 JoJo: Human Soul Museum. I love jojo infinitely. Please feel free to talk to me about it... i enjoy meta, analysis, and the powerful forms of creativity JOJO inspires in people..... You can find my own fan-arts at @rosabienfuerte.

LOVE & FIGHT!❤️‍🔥🌈

[deus-ex-mona]

when the plot developments hit just ✨wrong✨

[kresnikcest]

reading that goncharov post about taking errors in good faith by taking them as deliberate writing choices is fun (because there is no canon and so it’s not fucking infuriating) but makes me realise whether or not i take x2 canon seriously depends on how fun it is to me

we all know ludger’s lack of friends is a limitation of needing to shoehorn in the x1 cast but it’s infinitely more entertaining for me to assume ludger was that happy chilling with julius. the fact that julius was canonically absent for days on end just makes ludger’s affection that much more meaningful and/or concerning.

meanwhile x2 canon stating that ludger is seemingly not surprised to hear that he and julius are paternal half-brothers is extremely optional to me because there’s so much more angst to be derived from ludger always having had the suspicion they weren’t related and then being really hurt to find out out the truth when julius is refusing to talk to him/involve him in the trial

so basically not “take all writing choices as deliberate with deeper meaning behind it” but instead “ignoring any statements on canon itself, can there be any deeper meaning derived from this detail for derivative fiction purposes”