#like a lot of people complain about that choice because of the fact we later got confirmation that it was made for reasons which were i

[fiapple]

other early buffy bi-coding includes: both her heart & spirit being initially coded as gay/bisexual (the writers weren’t sure which till tara came into the picture, & according to a semi-recent article, of which label pretty much until willow came out) & were intended as such, as the writers always knew one of them was going to come out.

[bluebugjay]

A lot of people aren't vibing with Charles and Crystal's romance and honestly i think it's because it's not necessarily supposed to be a full-fledged, endgame romance.

I think it's written to be a fling.

Charles is a flirt; one of the first things he thinks about when Edwin tells him ghosts can't feel is that he would miss kissing, he says himself it's nice to be seen by someone his own age, he calls Crystal fit, etc. Assumably between cases he has a very small social circle of literally just Edwin so it makes sense that this girl who he gets on with and finds attractive immediately becomes a bit of a crush for him.

Then Crystal picks up on his flirting almost immediately, again they get on, etc. She says if he wasn't dead and she wasn't dealing with the aftermath of her toxic relationship with David he would be a good addition to her body count, i.e. just a fling. She doesn't say they'd date or she could fall for him just that they'd probably hook up.

Their first kiss happens when they're both dealing with some heavy stuff, Charles is angry, continuing to push down his trauma with his father and his past, Crystal is annoyed about not being any closer to getting her memories back whilst trying to deal with the trauma her last relationship caused her. They find comfort in each other in that moment. Crystal says she wants something real and the care they have for each other is real, there's no manipulation, no secrets. It's honest and it's innocent.

The song that plays in that scene is called Young Blood (White Sea Remix) by The Naked and Famous and has lyrics such as 'we're only young and naive still' and 'can't help myself but count the flaws, claw my way out of these walls, one temporary escape' and 'we lie beneath the stars at night, our hands gripping each other tight, you keep my secrets hope to die' - It does align with the idea that they're what each other wants in the moment, a distraction, to be able to pretend everything is normal and ok (keep each others secrets)

Crystal in the next episode, the next morning after their kiss, literally calls Charles a 'cute distraction' and says they should be friends. This time both of their issues and trauma are the reason for them not continuing the relationship. Blatantly, Crystal isn't ready for another relationship so soon after David, she wakes up with a nightmare about him and Charles. They bring up Charles fighting the Night Nurse and Charles says that he thought they were on the same page about it and 'at least that's how it seemed last night' which again leans into the fact they were both looking for comfort. Charles and Crystal kissing had nothing explicitly to do with her supporting his actions fighting the Night Nurse and yet that's how he took it because that's what he was searching for comfort from and acceptance on. Which is most likely why he seems to take the rejection harder than Crystal, seemingly agreeing to be friends more out of respect for her choice than the want to call it quits himself.

Charles tells Edwin later on about the kiss (right after Edwin is complaining about having to cancel plans with Monty) and says though he didn't physically feel it, he did feel it 'up here' and points to his head. The mind is generally not the place you feel love, I feel that's a given. (reminds me of the starfish on the beach that Niko says are in love, Edwin points out starfish have no brain and Niko says love doesn't require logic, meaning: love is not stored in the mind.) Charles and Edwin's conversation veers off to being about there own relationship, with Charles saying he wouldn't want to be dead with anyone else - not even the girl you just kissed? No? Ok.

The way that episode goes (The case of the two dead dragons) Crystal and Charles end up arguing about the very reasons they decided to not continue their relationship. Crystal likens Hunter and Brad to David, and Charles defends them saying not everyone is her demon ex-boyfriend which seems like he's projecting and really defending himself. Then Crystal calls him out on his 'rage problem' and what happened with the Night Nurse. So though they comforted each other the night before, their real feelings for each others issues are surfacing and they're not so on the same page. Of course they get over this and apologise soon enough. Though in the end, it's Edwin Charles opens up to and actually talks to about how he's feeling rather than pushing it aside and looking for a distraction. And after that, Charles gives Crystal genuine comfort not just a distraction by listening to her talk about her nightmares/visions about David. (immediately followed by the scene of Edwin and Monty on the swings in which Edwin suggests they don't see each other anymore, then back tracks, they kiss followed by rejection which definitely has... parallels)

After that, Crystal and Charles are still an obvious source of comfort for one another, they talk to each other about their stresses, they stick close together a lot of the time but there's nothing inherently romantic to their actions aside from the fact we know they have kissed which gives their actions a depth that, for example Edwin and Niko's don't, despite them also being affectionate and spending time together alone.

Then in the last episode as Crystal is attempting to leave for London, her and Charles share another kiss. When she tries to say bye to Charles, he says it feels like a 'good-bye good-bye' rather than a 'see you back in London good-bye' and Crystal doesn't correct him, essentially confirming it was supposed to be a forever goodbye. She instead kisses him. It's a good-bye kiss. A (supposed to be) final kiss. A 'we had a good run' type of kiss. Crystal kisses him because she thinks she'll never see him again. It's similar to the first in which the kiss itself is the beginning and end, and it doesn't mean much past that. It's a kiss as a secret again, like their first kiss. A kiss to fill the space left by things they don't want to talk about. She doesn't want to admit she's planning on leaving for good so she kisses him instead, it's a comfort and it's a distraction. (and its consistent)

When Crystal decides to stay in the end, Charles says it'll be great, then specifies that 'solving cases together' will be great, not anything else that could of implied. Which could either be them just being awkward, or a flip in their dynamic that now Crystal is the one more involved in their relationship and Charles is the one setting boundaries.

Overall I think they have a really interesting dynamic. They are exactly what each other needs in moments and then the opposite in the next, they care about each other so much yet are possibly the people that unearth each others insecurities and traumas the most. They're both looking for a new, different kind of relationship and find it within the other but inherently once the novelty fades they fall more into being friends than anything more. I think like most of the relationships in this show, they're supposed to be complicated, they're supposed to be more of a journey than a destination. They learn and grow from their interactions together and I think that's something really beautiful.

[laswells-ashtray]

Your writings are so good that I’m entrusting you with this simple prompt: Dragon Hybrid Price and (Any Hybrid) Nikolai.

Do what you will dear wizard writer.

For the sheer sake of you never implied how silly I could get with this, I'm sillying it up:

Bear hybrid Nikolai [because it's too fucking good] and dragon hybrid Price standing about one day, the two sergeants and the lieutenant are training together while the older two men watch. They're on someone else's base, a hybrid-less base but they're making do with what the have.

John's leaning back against the wall, wings pressed up against the brick in a way that has to be uncomfortable or at least that's what everyone assumes. He's rubbing at the base of one of his horns as if trying to soothe a headache and he looks quite frankly exhausted when another Captain appraoches.

John decides that in comparison to this man, he looks like Marilyn fucking Monroe.

"Captain Givens, you look about as good as I feel." John is at least trying to keep a good relationship with the other team even if they have a habit of pissing off each of them.

"Too fuckin' right. Just got off the phone with the Missus and had to help her convince my little boy not to shove his Batman figure up his nose. It's exhausting." The man complains, running a hand over his face tiredly.

John makes a sympathetic noise but doesn't hide his amused look. "Oh, I'm all too familiar with that feeling." The other day he'd had to convince a group of rookies that Soap is indeed a liar and that oil paint is in fact not edible just because it has oil in the name.

"You have kids?"

"Yes." John should've been smarter than to think that Nikolai's silence was a good thing, he doesn't get a chance to correct the bear hybrid before the other Captain asks:

"How many?"

"Three." Nikolai tells him while watching the boys train in the distance.

For a brief moment, John wants to tug on one of his fluffy ears and tell him to quit it. On the other hand, fuck it, why not?

"Yeah, three over there are mine. Different mums but I was a bit of a tart back in the day." He's reliant on the fact the human knows nothing about hybrids, specifically dragon hybrids for it to work. It's no secret that dragon hybrids can live a lot longer than the average human if they're careful about it but to those types of hybrids, John is still a toddler, horns still in one piece with wings that are still vibrant and healthy.

He can see the amusement in Nik's big brown eyes, he likes it when John sinks down to his level of teasing humans. The only one exempt was Kate, they respected her too much and she wasn't an idiot, she'd never believe half of the stupid shit they've all told people throughout the years. Besides, Kate is family. She has five hybrids protecting her back and the average CIA agent is still more scared of her.

"Riley, MacTavish and Garrick? They're yours?" The human asks in disbelief. Simon was going to kill him for this later, Kyle and Johnny would inevitably laugh themselves hoarse.

"Aye. Didn't find out about Riley until he was a teenager and his Mum got in contact. Looks fuck all like me but he's certainly mine. Lad certainly wasn't a chipper wee thing but I managed to win him over, SAS was his choice, I just put him on the task force because I owed it to his Mum to keep an eye out." He's talking out of his arse now and he knows it but the captain seems to be hanging on his every word. Nikolai is making the conscious decision to look away from him but he can see the faint shaking of the bastard's shoulders, he's laughing.

"MacTavish was from an eventful night up in Glasgow one evening, we didn't know if he was mine or Nik's until we saw the little blighter's eyes."

Good on Nik for how quickly he sorts himself, turning around and nodding approvingly. "Ah, but young MacTavish has always favoured me. Would've been a good bear cub, very grizzly."

The captain looks over to the three men training with wide eyes, tilting his head as he stares at them all, surveying them before he looks back to John.

"And Garrick is yours too?"

Kyle had been ripping on him for being old earlier so maybe he plays it up just that little bit more.

He nods, looking over at Gaz with the most proud look he can muster, it's real but he can pretend it isn't just for the bit. "He was an angel when he was a tot, good sleeper and learned to talk quick. Was always a little grumpy that he didn't have horns too but he got over it eventually. Got him a blanket with a dragon on it when he was two and he didn't get rid of the thing until he was fifteen. Big Mumma's boy though, spitting image of his mother and more than proud of it."

It almost saddens him that the interaction ends when a sergeant whose name he can't remember calls over the captain about something but the sound of Nik's deep, gruff laughter is anything to soothe his short-lived annoyance.

Truthfully, he forgets about the entire interaction within a few hours until Soap barges into his temporary room on the base with a positively gleeful look.

"Price, I don't know what the fuck you did but Gaz is due to kick yer heed in."

"Excuse me?"

"Givens won't stop asking him about his dragon blankie."

Shit.

"And what's this about you and Nik playing who's the daddy when I was born?"

Shit.

[kaliforniahigh]

Being neighbors with the guys, knowing who they are just not caring because they're just people. Eventually becoming friends but also dismissing Noah's flirting because you're older (4/5yrs), on the chubby side, and just feeling like he's definitely out of your league. He loves that you are just able to be yourself (no makeup, messy hair, etc) and that you're a nerd like he is.

Thank you so much for the request!!! I hope you like it, nonny <3

Warnings: reader mentions that her dad has passed away, insecurity, a little bit of angst, comfort, mentions of weed, parties, probably some innacuracies regarding animes and mangas. I think that's it.

WC: 3.3k (I'll proofread this later!)

Requests are closed for now.

You didn't know the people that just moved in and were now living in the house next to yours, but you were about to find out. You could only guess they were young adults or fresh out of college and unemployed. Ok, maybe that was you passing jugdment before even meeting these people, but who throws parties on Sundays? Obviously someone who doesn't have to work on Monday, that's for sure.

You've been trying to ignore the bass thumping through the walls for the past couple of hours, as you were not ready to sleep yet. You just hoped they would quiet down by the time you went to bed. But as you laid there, the clock reading just past midnight and the music and chatter not giving signs of slowing down, you decided that a trip next door was in order. The music wasn't actually bad, as you were a fan of metal yourself. But your days of staying up late on a work night ended long ago.

You didn't bother putting any effort into your appearance, thinking your new neighbour - or neighbours - would already dislike you for complaining about their party.

Putting your hair up in a half-assed bun, wrapping your fluffy robe around your body that was clad in a less than decent pajama, you put on your slippers and made your way downstairs and out of the house.

You rang the doorbell a couple of times, standing there and waiting for someone to answer the door, pulling your robe tighter on your body, feet tapping on the ground. You assumed you must look like a grumpy cat.

The door opened and you actually had to look up to meet the person on the other side in the eyes. And as soon as you do, realization takes over you. But you didn't have the time to mull over the fact that Noah Sebastian - and the whole of Bad Omens, probably - is your neighbour, because he was greeting you.

"Hello", he said, leaning on the door frame, eyes going over you and a curious look takes over his face.

"Hey. We haven't met yet, but I'm your next door neighbour", you extend a hand for him to take, and his enveloped yours entirely. But his handshake is firm and his hand is warm.

"Oh, I'm sorry we haven't had the time to introduce ourselves yet, with moving and everything", you were actually glad he didn't have the time, you don't know what you'd do if Noah just casually knocked on your door.

"Well, I'm sorry we're meeting like this, but I actually came here to see if you could turn the volume down a little?" you pointed past him towards the house and the music playing on the speakers. "It's just that it's past midnight and I have work tomorrow morning", you explained.

His face changed into one of shock and a little embarrassment.

"Oh my God, I didn't realize it was so late already or we would've turned it down a lot sooner. I'm really sorry", he disappeared behind the door for a few seconds and you heard voices before the music cut off entirely.

"You don't have to turn it off, turning it down is enough really, I don't want to ruin your party", you told him, feeling a little guilty.

"No, it's ok, the other neighbours were probably bothered as well. Thank you for coming here and letting me know about the noise", he sounded sincere. "I would invite you in for a drink, but I take it you're already headed to bed?", he pointed out, reffering to your choice of clothes. You laughed a little at this.

"You're definitely right. It's already way past my bedtime", you joked, pointing to an imaginary watch on your wrist.

"Well, I guess we'll leave it for another time, right?", he crossed his arms over his chest, a smirk playing on his lips. You tried not to focus on the way his arms bulged at the motion.

"Yeah, of course" you didn't know what to say. You didn't even know this man for more than fifteen minutes probably, and he was already inviting you into his house.

"I'll hold you to it", the smirk never left his lips and you were beginning to wonder if he was flirting with you? It couldn't be, because you just came here in the most stupid clothes and completely crashed his party.

"Well, I better head home, I got an early start tomorrow. Thank you for turning down the noise", you said and started to back away from his front door.

"Anytime, sweetheart. Sleep well", he said, but made no move to get inside the house. Did he just call you sweetheart?

"You too", and with that, you finally turned away from him and walked to your front door. As you unlocked it, you looked over at his house and saw that he was still watching you, making sure you arrived at your house in one piece. Waving at you, he waited until you waved back and got inside to retreat into his home.

Noah saw you in passing for the next couple of days, when he was leaving the house and you were just arriving or the other way around. It was currently Saturday afternoon and he had just arrived from a studio session with the guys.

Parking in the driveway, he noticed your garage was open, but you were nowhere in sight. He didn't even know you had a car since your garage was always closed. Worrying a little, he decided to stop by and check what was going on.

Walking the few steps to your house, he noticed a beautiful Cutlass parked in your garage, and your feet clad with a pair of boots peeking out from underneath.

You must have noticed him arriving, because you slid your way out from underneath the car, a wrench in your hand, that were dirty with oil. That's when he noticed the overalls covering your body. You stood up, greeting him, but decided to not shake hands this time.

"Hey, Noah. What's up? I would shake your hand, but, you know", you trailed off, mentioning to your messy hands.

"Hi", he greeted back. His eyes going over your frame, noticing how your overalls were tight around your hips, highlighting the shape of your body, as well as your full breasts, that were being hugged by a white t-shirt underneath. The robe you wore that day definetely didn't do you justice. "Nothing, I just... I arrived and noticed your garage was open and....", fuck, he was stammering like an idiot and you totally noticed. "I decided to check on you", he finally said what he wanted to say.

"All good here. Just taking care of this beauty and making sure it's still running", your hands ran over the side of the car.

"It's a beautiful car. Is it yours?" he asked, wanting to facepalm himself. It was inside your garage, of course it's yours.

"It was my dad's, it got passed down to me after he passed away. My brother is not really a car person and he lives far away", you explained.

There was a lull in conversation after your statement, so he decided to say the first thing that came to his mind.

"I was actually meaning to tell you", he started, your eyes paying close attention to him. "We're having a party next Saturday and I was wondering if you wanted to come? To make up for last time?"

They were totally not having a party next Saturday and he didn't even know if he had something planned already. But if he has, it was now cancelled.

"I would love to come", you said, voice excited.

"Amazing. I'll see you around then?", he was slowly making his way out of your garage. Not wanting to say anymore dumb things.

"Sure", you sat back down to go back to work and watched his back as he left.

You decided that if this man was actually flirting with you, you would let yourself have this one, enjoy it and get whatever he was willing to give you. And if it went nowhere, you would go back to just being friendly neighbours.

You were never one to dress up for parties, so you standing in front of your mirror on Saturday with not too much time to spare before you had to head to Noah's house wasn't a surprise for you. You probably tried on five or six outfits by now, and none of them seemed party appropriate.

Ultimately, you settled for an oversized t-shirt and some biker shorts. You guess that's what the cool girls were wearing nowadays. Since you spent too much time on your outfit, you didn't realy have time to put any makeup on - not that you even applied much anyways, the feeling of stuff on your face made you extremely anxious. So you put on your shoes and headed outside.

The door opened just a few seconds after you knocked, Ruffilo standing on the other side. You still never mentioned it to Noah that you knew the band before he moved in. You kind of felt scared he would lose interest in you.

"Hey! You must be Y/N", he greeted you, moving sideways so you could come in the house.

"That's me", you made your way inside. The place wasn't that packed, but there was music playing in the background, and you felt a distinct smell of weed in the air.

"Noah has been mentioning you a lot lately. Sorry I haven't been around to introduce myself yet", you made a dismisse wave with your hand.

"We're all busy, I get it. I'm here anyways, so I'll get to know all of you"

You looked around and noticed a few people scattered about. You couldn't help but notice how young these people seemed. You know 34 isn't that old, but you couldn't help but feel a little out of place in the middle of so many people in their 20s. Did you even know how to interact with them anymore?

Being the older sibling in your household, you always felt like you had to act older than you really were, in order to take care of your brothers, that you often forgot to live your own life. Noah didn't have to worry about that, his life was a dream to anyone his age. Getting to travel around the world doing what you love. You suddently weren't so sure about encouraging his advances.

Nick showed you where the drinks were and told you he would let Noah know you had arrived. Picking a beer to sip on for now, you heard someone calling your name from behind you.

Noah stood tall as always, dressed in black from head to toe, somehow the color made his tattoos stand out even more. He wore a loose tank, so most of them were on display.

He made his way closer to you and you registered he was coming in for a hug. You wrapped the arm that wasn't holding your drink around his neck as best as you could with your height difference, and you felt the warmth of his hands going to your waist.

The hug lasted maybe a tad longer than it was supposed to, and when you parted, he kept himself close to you. You leaned your back against the kitchen cabinets behind you.

"I'm sorry our parties are a little lame. No one dancing on top of the tables or anything", he looked around as he said it.

"That's perfect, actually. I don't know if I could handle that", you said with a little laugh.

"C'mon, let's sit down on the couch. I'm not gonna have you just standing here", he took your hand and led you towards the living room.

"Wow, is that Attack on Titan playing on the TV?", you said, in a little shock. The parties here were different indeed. You sat on the couch and he sat beside you.

"Yeah, just in case someone wants to watch something. You a fan?", he asked.

"I love it. I'm a big manga fan overall", you seemed to catch his attention even more now.

"What's your favorite?", he moved more towards you.

"I mean, it has to be Naruto. It's the one that got me into it after all"

You slipped into an easy conversation with Noah, talking about your favorite mangas and animes. He introduced you to his friends whenever they approached the two of you, but mostly you kept close to each other, neither one of you considering doing anything else at the moment.

The conversation drifted to other topics, like music, movies and random stuff. Regular things you talk about when you're just getting to know someone. You watched him talk about the things he's passionate about with so much admiration in you eyes, you hoped it wasn't too obvious.

You got up to get another drink from time to time, choosing to switch from the beer to non-alcoholic beverages. Noah didnt drink anything alcoholic thoughout the night, and when you asked him if he wanted a beer, he told you he stopped drinking a while ago.

You noticed the party was slowly fizzling out. There weren't nearly as many people around now compared to when you arrived. You looked at the watch on your wrist and noticed it was already past midnight. You would have to leave soon. You didn't want to be those people who overstayed their welcome.

There was only you and Noah in the living room right now, and you looked over to see everyone hanging out on the outside patio.

"We can go out there if you want to", you told him, not wanting to keep him from enjoying time with his friends.

"Nah, I'm good here. I would actually prefer to stay here", he was honest and you could see it in his eyes.

You were facing each other, knees touching and one of his hands were resting on the back of the couch, close to your face. He took advantage in the lull of the conversation to move his hand to rest on the side of your face, gathering some of your hair and putting it behind your ear, thumb grazing your cheek ever so slightly.

You couldn't look away from his beautiful, dark eyes. And his gaze drifted from your eyes to your lips and you felt tingles run all over your body. He leaned in closer and you could tell he was going to kiss you anytime now. But the thoughts in your head ran rampant and you conjured up a million scenarios in just a millisecond.

He doesn't even know how old you are.

He is famous and everyone is going to call you a cougar and make fun of him for dating someone so much older.

He is going to trade you for someone younger soon enough

You didn't want to, your body was contradicting your mind and telling you to just kiss him, but you put your hand on his chest and it made him stop in his tracks.

"Noah...", you said, not wanting to look into his eyes, but knowing you had to. You saw his face change from confusion, to embarrassment and horror all at once.

"I'm so sorry, I should've asked you first. I guess I misread the signs", he moved his body away from you, creating a distance that became unbearable to you. You hated that you made him feel like this.

"No, you didn't. I just....", you stumbled over your words, not knowing how to broach the subject with him.

"It's ok that you don't want to kiss me. I promise you won't hurt my ego if you say so", he gave you a half smile, trying to reassure you.

"Noah, I'm 34 years old. Have I told you that?", you just came out with it. But his face remained the same.

"No, you haven't. Thanks for telling me, though. I'm 28, by the way", he told you, as if the information was completely irrelevant.

"I know, and that's the problem. I'm way too old to be kissing people your age", you saw his eyebrows furrow at this.

"Are you telling me you're too old to kiss me?", he asked and you nodded. "I'm a big boy, I think I can decide who I want to kiss", he informed you and you went to respond that it wasn't about that, but he beat you to it.

"No, listen to me", he closed the distance once again. "I'm attracted to you. You've been driving me insane with just your existence ever since you showed up on my doorstep, looking the cutest I've ever seen and asking me to turn down the music. I've literally not been able to get you out of my head. If you don't want to kiss me, that's fine, but that won't change the way I feel about you or the way I think about tasting your lips everytime I look at them"

"Noah, your life is very different from mine. One day, you're gonna find a 25 year old and realize she has so much more life in her than I do", you pointed out.

"That's impossible, because I've met many 25 year olds and none of them made me feel the way you do. I'm afraid this isn't an age thing, love, it's about how I so desperately want to stay in watching anime with you on Friday nights, show you places that I like, figure out what makes you tick and hear you complain about work to me at the end of the day"

You couldn't deny all those things souded amazing, and that you also wanted all of it with Noah.

"I'm afraid that if we do this, I might never get enough of you", you whispered to him.

"I might never get enough of you either. Good thing I have an infinite amount of kisses to give you"

The voice from the day in the garage, telling you to just enjoy this, came back in full force now, overpowering any other nagging thought that is sabotaging you and making you think that you can't have this. You can. You can enjoy your life and you can kiss the boy in front of you, who is pleading to be kissed.

So that's what you did, closing the distance between you, touching your lips to his, tentative at first. Noah was letting you set the pace of the kiss, and soon enough, your hand was on his hair and he used both of his to cup your face.

You couldn't imagine a word where you didn't get to kiss Noah Sebastian. His lips felt like heaven on yours, his hands so delicate on you, conveying all the emotions he talked about earlier. And you could feel every single one of them.

"Why don't you get some clothes from your house and we make good on the watching animes until late thing I told you about?", he asked you, lips still lightly pressed to yours, barely leaving space for the words to leave his mouth.

"I don't know, I think I live too far away", you joked, but you didn't want the night to end either. Other than kissing you for the first time, he also got to see your house for the first time that night, as you invited him in, grabbing a backpack and stuffing it with things you would need for the night. As you looked at him, sat on your bed, eyes looking over your room, you thought that you could get used to the sight of him in your house, your bedroom, your life.

Fun fact: the reader's car is a Cutlass because Son's of Anarchy is one my favorite series, and my queen Tara owns a Cutlass <3

[fascinating-yarn]

So You Want To Know About Chess The Musical

So you want to know about Chess. The first piece of advice I have to give you is:

Step 0: Are you sure?

Because trust me, it's a whole lot weirder than you think, even if you know that the story is, in fact, only very little about chess (the board game). But if you are sure, because you have a friend who, like me, can't stop talking about it, then, you're ready to begin with step one.

Step 1: Listen to the concept album

Yes, there are plenty of recordings of the full show that are easily accessible on YouTube. Do not be fooled. With very minor exceptions, they will not elucidate anything at all. Trust me, even if your favorite actor is in one of them, start here. You will have time to get back to them later, trust me. It helps to read the synopsis of the album while listening; this has been kindly transcribed here by @alovebizarre.

Already hooked? Yeah, probably. Now you understand why all of us got stuck down here in our circle of complaining about this show. We, too, all thought it was going to be good based on the concept album.

Step 1.5: Watch the 1989 concert

This is mostly the songs of the concept album and retains the two male leads, but has Judy Kuhn playing Florence, the female lead. It's a strong concert and only cuts one song, and adds another ("Someone Else's Story", the show's only breakout hit not on the album). There is plot narration in Swedish, but one of the versions on YouTube has been subtitled in English

Step 2: Acquaint yourself with The Big Four

Now you know the music but the plot may still not be totally clear. The next step is to get to know the major variations. These are, generally:

The 1986 London version (and derivatives)

The 1988 Broadway version (and derivatives)

The 1990 Sydney version (there aren't really derivatives for this one but the material shows up Everywhere)

The 2002 Swedish version aka Chess på svenska (and derivatives)

Now, you can watch the original productions of all of these, but the issue is that the first two are both... not great. So here are some alternatives.

Step 2a: London Alternatives

The London version is mostly an expansion of the plot of the concept album, with changes - most of the structural changes were initiated by director Michael Bennett, who left the production before rehearsals due to his illness, while most of the more distinct changes of themes are from later director Trevor Nunn.

There are videos of the original production, but they're generally poorly filmed and suffer from major generation loss. There was no cast album, but the score has been recorded twice: in 2002 with the cast of a Danish touring production (released as "Chess: Complete Cast Album," but recalled soon after and not on streaming) and in 2008 at the Royal Albert Hall (this is on streaming as "Chess in Concert" - one of two albums of that name).

Any one will give you an idea of the script, but the original London production is generally the most musically cohesive. The Royal Albert Hall version has some minor script changes, most of which make no real difference, but makes some bizarre choices in terms of transition music and is generally a poorly produced album. The Danish album is likewise not very strong.

The Royal Albert Hall concert was professionally filmed but the audio is poorly mixed and the show's cast varies from a few great performances to some that are... not so much. It's also got a track record of making people either latch on immediately or be totally turned away from the show, so watch at your own risk. For a possibly better experience, watch the original London production.

Step 2b: Broadway Alternatives

The original Broadway production still has a bit of a bad reputation in the fandom, but people have generally warmed up to it. The new book, by American playwright Richard Nelson, is generally strong (if a bit overlong) until about halfway through Act Two --- at which point it suddenly isn't anymore. The original production itself doesn't help, and though there are some good moments, it was not very well directed and some of Nelson's best scenes suffer.

Firstly, you should listen to the Broadway cast album. The cast is the best part of the show and does some incredible things. The new music isn't quite as good as the original material, but is still strong and worth knowing.

In terms of the actual book, your best chance at a good experience experience is probably the 1990 Long Beach production directed by David H. Bell and starring Jodi Benson, which has a watchable video online. There are some script changes, which serve to adjust the script to be less cynical, more palatable, and better paced. After this, do go back and watch the original cast, as it generally has a stronger overall cast and some scenes are genuinely great with them.

Step 2c: Sydney and Svenska

The Sydney production closed early due to the economic recession in Australia, and the script has never been revived, but parts of it appear all over the place, especially in the London derivatives of the early 1990s. It takes bits of the plots of both London and Broadway, and becomes its own thing. It is worth knowing, and there is a mostly bearable bootleg on YouTube.

If Sydney is its own thing for being a combination of London and Broadway, Svenska is its own thing because it resembles neither. The plot is streamlined to the essentials and takes place over a much shorter period of time, plus it has two new songs. There is a proshot that has been uploaded to YouTube with subtitles, and a very good cast album. There have been some productions since based on the script, but the original is still going to be your best starting point.

Step 3: Into The Abyss

There are so many other productions and they're all a little different from each other. Most are based on London or Broadway, but some are an odd combination resulting from people who wanted to produce the London version in the US being forced to retrofit the Broadway version (unavailable for US licensing until 2008). A non-exhaustive list is:

1992 Off-Broadway: Preserved only in an incomplete, poor-quality audio bootleg, plus a slightly more complete script from a lost recording, this script is Tim Rice's first (but not last) attempt at making something definitive post-Broadway. It is one of the most bizarre scripts out there and should really be experienced late to be fully appreciated.

1990 US Tour: An early attempt to jump off the Broadway script into something new, this production stars 42.9% of the original Broadway cast of Falsettos and has some wild stuff. Don't watch till you know Broadway, since it has been known to sour people's opinions on the show.

2003 Actors' Fund Benefit Concert: This one-night only concert is preserved on a leaked (but poor quality) archival video and a higher quality rehearsal performance. The script is an attempted hybrid of the London and Broadway scripts, but leans mostly on the London script with a few Broadway changes that serve really only to stay within the legal requirements of production still in place at the time (and doubly important due to Nelson's personal support of the concert).

2018 Kennedy Center Concert Series/2022 Entertainment Workers' Fund Benefit Concert: This script was eyeing Broadway for about five years but is no longer in the works as the rights were pulled. With a new book by Danny Strong, based on the London plot but with the details changed significantly, this production takes a more overtly political spin on the show and grounds it in actual political events. Start with the 2018 version, as it's generally agreed to be better than the later concert version.

2018 London Revival: To call this production a revival is generous, being staged by the English National Opera for a limited run and generally not being considered very important. It became well known mostly for being associated with the Kennedy Center production and the general knowledge that Rice was looking to bring the show back to Broadway. Despite that, this script is entirely unrelated to the Kennedy Center version and is mostly an onstage expansion of the concept album with the show being influenced heavily by Benny and Bjorn.

With all of these I have but one piece of final advice and that is:

Step 4: Be wary of The Discourse

This is not meant to scare you away from the fandom at all. I promise we're all very friendly and most of the discussions are quite civil. But every fan has very strong opinions about this show. I have tried to present this post as neutrally as possible but my bias has absolutely creeped in and you've already been influenced by my opinions on it. Some productions (notably the Kennedy Center script) are very divisive and I encourage you to consume them yourself and forming your own opinions.

And that is how to get into Chess. If you want to. It may not be the wisest decision, but hey, we all made the same mistake.

[elsaqueenofstress]

the daisy jones and the six series changing the interviews to be 20 years later instead of closer to 40 years feels like such a weird, superficially aesthetic choice, where they get to keep the young, attractive actors (how did none of them age a day except graham??) instead of committing to the fact that these people are only able to reflect on these events because there's so much distance from them and they have perspective now (though it also means that memories are contradictory, contributing to the lack of reliability). it also does a massive disservice to camila, who instead of getting to live a long, happy life with her husband who stated that he always loved her and would always choose her, is basically turned into the second coming of the mother from how i met your mother – a pit stop to give the main, important man some kids to tell a story to before dying so he can be with his real soulmate before they're too old for it to be sexy

i feel like too many people (mainly daisybilly shippers) are conflating the "unreliable narrator" aspect of the book with "oh, no one told the truth about anything so we can make up our own completely different story and have it be canon!" instead of understanding that while there were probably times that the interviewees lied, a lot of what jumbles up their memories is the time that has passed, the weed that was smoked, and their personal feelings toward certain events (why you get daisy and billy gushing over the aurora cover that highlights only them while everyone else talks about how much the shoot sucked) (oh and the fact that reviews are mentioning that the rest of the band rarely appears in scenes w/o daisy or billy?? meaning that the series did what the characters in the book were constantly complaining about and relegated them to backup?? i must laugh to keep from crying) (also if they weren't even going to focus on everyone, why the fuck didn't they keep pete?)

[wastingoxygensince1983]

Some thoughts about The Loyal Pin Ep. 09.

First of all I want to apologize for making long posts. I don't have anything more to give to the fandom than my words.

I am never gonna stop praising the quality of the production of this show. Everything and everyone looks so pretty.

There's another long post about this that I probably gonna make later; but I really wish to not be as naive as I am to enjoy this show without having to share it with people that are complaining about the CPR scene, not because this could bring problems with Aon but for what some comments said "I can't believe Becky kissed another woman in front of Freen". I was really hoping we moved out of that.

I feel bad for this but I am really liking the fact that we are seeing how hopeless are Anin and Pin around the Kuea situation. Is a sad true a lot of people have to learn. Pin has some status and Anin is literately a princess and they don't have a say about it. He wants Pin and sadly he is gonna get what he wants. Is the kind of world women used to live(some of them still do) and I think a lot of people that have more rights to have a choice had forgotten what we came from. I mean, see how beautiful the scene with the ring was but this is gonna be the start of the hell is gonna come from them.

I really, REALLY love how we get both the erotic scenes of last episodes but still have moments to show how lovely they are as a couple now. Is not just the moments of sex but is just a build up relationship.

In that tone, seeing both grow up and speak was great. Yes Pin was jealous about the CPR but what was great about this was the conversation that came out of it. In the kinda toxic possessive parts of them there was a great healthy conversation.

I was really hoping that the brothers weren't gonna became a nuance over this. It seems that the older brother is just shook and thinking what to do. I am having false hopes that he at the end helps when everything goes to hell.

It was so funny to me to see but Ueng is kinda the less problematic in this mess and she is literally in love with her cousin. Until the scene with the food she was just having a great time and enjoying herself. I am kinda hoping she an Aon get together in that way Aon stops being a problem for us.

The parallels between the obsession Aon and Kuea had for Anin and Pin and the love that both Pin and Anin have for each other hasn't been ignore by me. I love how we are having these type of things and we can compare those.

We are really reaching Episode 10 of a 16 episode show with zero major drama. I feel like I am spoiled. Even if the elements of what is gonna be a hell of drama are right THERE I have the opportunity to enjoy these 9.

In another note, for the last episode; I was wishing to be the fly that was in the office where the minister of commerce and the team of the Loyal Pin had a meeting for deciding to funding the show.

I can't imagine how that conversation went.

Government dude: "wait, the princess is gonna be tied up? is she ok? are you gonna included a scene where she gets kidnapped?"

IDOL FACTORY TEAM:"ehh...actually...LOOK! we include the scene in how we traditionally washed our clothes".

Anyway. Another banger of an episode. Looking forward for next sunday.

[ravenkinnie]

so uhhhh watched act iii yet. what do you think.

I was keeping track of which leaks turned out to be true because I saw people say these CANNOT be real because it's so ass and well i think that person was for the people like they are a whistle-blower. this was a warning

*there's something hysterical in the thesis that if hextech wasn't invented eventually we would all be rich. there's something so liberal about it idk. like a statement on assimilation or whatever

*heimerdinger saying he waited for ekko all that fuck ass time and then sacrificjgg himself for him...... I'm sorry who the fuck said christian linke projects on ekko and ships himself with heimer

*not vi being dead in the good reality. she was born to suffer ig

*not jinx living in some fuckass dwelling even in her good reality, she's just meant to live in someone's basement

*first of all the way when jayce had hextech he invented capitalism and when ekko and jinx had it they went back in time???? that's a statement somehow

*jinx has such ariana grande proportions like she needs a volume of hair to cover the fact that her head is so huge and she's so tiny

*the way time travel to these two is like an invention you show off at a party like they invented facebook. this world building is crazy

*I shockingly didn't even mind timebomb I can't lie, I'm not even mad. I'll find something to complain about later like idk the way they git torn apart by the invention of capitalism (by jayce) makes me giggle

*mel is like the most beautiful animated character ever I'm sorry and now she has magic??? this storyline kind of feels so detached at times but also it was so perfectly to my taste that I enjoyed it regardless. I'm fuckung OBSESSED with the dynamics between mel and her mother and I would watch this slowly unfold in a 20 episode season instead of being introduced through exposition

*viktor is so hot this season, they really ate that twink

*unfortunately the way jinxs storyline makes no sense bleeds into caitvi and caitlyns storyline so it's not really well done yk. but it feel like fanservice for a very specific type of a lesbian and I'm that lesbian. caitlyn is so beautiful and drama is so high like I kind of ate it up like I'm sorry I am watching with my pussy rn

*everyone was so hot acc. caitlyn had me mewling like cats in spring, jayce did get hot, jinx was so pretty this act

*the way jinx was like I didn't know your mom was there and that's it, okay bitch you still killed people. like the way she really perceives only emotional conflict and not moral or anything I fuck with that

*I have to just once again reiterate. caitlyns storyline and caitvi, and vis storyline too acc, were not well written and they need more seasons. however the bare bones were so hot

*this act made me realise that silco loves to say a bunch of nothing

*I mean this plot is just nonsensical the way we just held hands and sang kumbaya to solve poverty. everything solved by a speech cause we got limited as hell screen time. it's giving kendall pepsi commercial

*also they started a whole war in the time it took for vi to get out of that fucking cell

*caitvi sex scene was fucking fantastic. in a prison cell, I'm cackling. the world might be a cruel place but I just watched lesbian pussy eating in a league of legends show so sometimes good things do happen

*it really is like the best female characters come from the most misogynistic places. when ambessa slapped mel I screamedddd

*I mean they desperately needed more time and seasons there's no hiding this fact but I think ideologically this would always be like this

*like they couldn't make it good but they did make it wild instead so I appreciate this

*I am kind of sad about caitvi not getting more time because there's so much bullshit in how the character choices had to align to get them to necessary plot points and they had to speed through a lot of development but man. at least caitlyn got her pussy ate

*I acc don't hate jinxs hair. I do hate her storyline but burning down the last drop was beautifully dramatic I deserved a whole season like this

*caitlyns gotten the most pussy across this show I need everyone to remember this

*caitlyn assassinating ambessa and when that bitch went "bold little one" I'm sorry they should have been scissoring too, we didn't need maddie. it would be funnier when caitlyn has to tell vi she was with someone else too like no you do care acc!! tho caitlyn getting betrayed by a fling and almost executed is hot girl activities. like shes just my little female fantasy character

*jinx didn't get shit in writing but at least she got some cunt back. but oh my god the way her arc did nothing like both her and vi, for main characters esoecially, really adjust to the most nonsensical plot

*ambessa just got a mess of a season to be evil in like she couldn't live up to silco in s1 as a villain. I will be thinking about her and caitlyn touching each other tho. and then mel killing her??? incredible work ill cry over what could have been if it was good

*caitlyn losing an eye and getting an eyepatch girl you know this one is made for me

*mels mage lil look being just quite literally just lingerie and like one of those cheap sets you get from sex shops that come in a bag, just to remind you what game this show was born of. not that I'll hold it against her as a kai'sa main

*hollered when jayce told viktor there's beauty in imperfection mf he was dying

*I bet jinxs death scene could eat 8

in a show that isn't this. but this was so ass like the whole storyline was just ass so this doesn't feel like silos death where it's like obviously you don't want a bitch to die but it makes absolute sense for the character. this is just dumb

*I KNOW I SAID IT BUT AGAIN this show will try to fix anything through a speech I swear to fucking god. arcane believes these two cities just needed to go to couples therapy

*caitlyns so sexy with an eyepatch. like she just is. this was the highlight of the season, that caitlyn needed this fuck ass arc to get super hot

[chaifootsteps]

it's kinda sad fans will talk til they're blue in the face about how good it is for HB or HH to represent abuse and have messy queer relationships, but won't think critically about Stol*tz and just swallow what the show is telling them is the 'right' way to look at it.

I also think it's frustrating to see fandoms use having supposedly progressive values as a pretext to shut down critiques by generalizing all of it as 'just hating a bisexual Salvadoran female creator' (while ignoring threats, lies and doxxing done to the critical community), but then they'll completely refuse to do any class analysis in terms of the failings of how the show is written.

There's a really interesting conversation that could be had about the class structure in Hell and the way imps are obviously written as an underclass - they literally provide most of the food through farming and in nearly every other context we see them working, it's in menial or as literal servants (Stolas has a meeting about the divorce in a cafe literally called The Richest Cup with the side advertisement Where the Poor Pour For You! in Western Energy) - and how Blitzo fits into that.

As an imp he's supposed to settle for whatever he can get in life but he refuses to. He starts a business - something Striker says most imps don't do - and the idea is so ambitious he needs to get to the human realm to pull it off. And I think there's another conversation to be had in the way that critcizing Stolas for the Full Moon deal is immediately met with 'Blitzo could just wriggle out of it / Blitzo didn't have to start that kind of business / Blitzo should run IMP some other way' - putting it another way, viewers are more comfortable suggesting that Blitzo should settle for being a servant or working a minimum wage job & potentially bankrupt himself and his employees by closing IMP, than they are questioning why it is that the rich and powerful have unfettered access to the human realm through powerful artifacts when even lower class hellborns like Hellhounds can learn magic and use the Grimoire's spells proficiently.

They're more comfortable taking Blitzo saying he doesn't fuss about when he and Stolas hook up literally one time at face value and use it as 'proof' that Stolas never did anything wrong coercing him into a deal for sex because they claim Blitzo doesn't mind, instead of digging into the notion that Blitzo has internalized the message from a very young age that it's fine for him to be literally bought if he can get what he needs to live out of it, all because he was born a poor imp. In other words, viewers want any out that Stolas didn't do a bad thing and don't apply any nuance to the fact that Blitzo is doing what he needs to do to keep the lights on. Just because Blitz has learnt to cope with it by either disassociating or even trying to eroticize his own subjugation by being the 'dominant' one in his encounters with Stolas, it doesn't make it right. Being as blunt as possible, even if Blitzo looked happier later down the line in hanging out with Stolas the initial agreement was still made under coercion, and Blitzo keeping it going is not the evidence of a free choice.

I just think it's typical of the way people view power and wealth that they will endlessly nitpick someone trying to survive if they complain about their poor treatment and cherrypick examples to undermine why they aren't really a victim, instead of critiquing the wider system that allows Stolas all that power and wealth in the first place. And if we must do individual critiques - why is it OK to say Blitzo should just give up on the book and his business, but it's not OK to ask why Stolas couldn't just get him an asmodean crystal or not propose the full moon deal in the first place?

And on a more basic level, I think a lot of this is just human nature - fans want to like both Stolas and his creator so they'll do anything to say they're in the right. I'm sure if other characters or creators behaved the way Stolas & Viv did but they just weren't as popular or well-loved, no one would present so many bad arguments trying to defend them. It's just plain old cognitive dissonance because fans don't want to give up on a fandom/show/character they're attached to

This is a good analysis, Anon. Agreed.

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: “Spark of Rebellion”

With the Ahsoka show coming up here in August, I have just enough time for a full refresher so, you know, I Might As Well.

This is going to be different from my normal liveblogs, obviously, less real-time reactions and more commentary and meta analysis, though you’ll probably still get some incoherent nerdery and feelings spew here and there.

All right, let’s get into it.

You know with the benefit of hindsight, Vader’s speech to the Grand Inquisitor here is actually a perfect encapsulation and summary of the premise of the show.

“Hey so the Jedi are dead and the Empire reigns but the Emperor is still worried about threats to his rule, so your job is to hunt down and kill anyone a little bit too Force Sensitive and also anyone Order 66 managed to miss.”

It’s an interesting choice of phrase too.

“The Children of the Force”

Emphasizes the villainy of our bad guys in that they’re hunting down literal children and also seems to suggest some kind of protectiveness from the Force here; these are its children, people born into its “family”, so to speak.

Anyway.

OKAY WAIT NO I NEED TO STOP BECAUSE I STILL CAN’T GET OVER HOW THIS SCENE IS PARALLELED IN THE FINALE.

SHOT FOR SHOT.  SHOT.  FOR.  SHOT.

The show opens with the “boy who was lost” and closes with the “girl who was broken”, Sabine’s move into more narrative prominence S3 onward was not a writing mistake, it was purposeful, it was deliberate, the show is their coming-of-age arc, they are co-protagonists, they are each other’s Most Important Person and have so much influence on each other’s character development and it’s reflected so perfectly in that seventy-something episodes later we’re going to see Sabine standing right here where Ezra’s standing now.

*sobs*

Okay I’m good.

Right here is also when we hear our first classic Star Wars leitmotif, as the Imperial March blares out with obnoxious brassy flair.

Followed almost immediately by the short excerpt of the Rebel Alliance theme that functions as our stinger.

(I’m going to be talking about the score A LOT this time around, better get used to it lol.)

Ugh, there was this one stupid post that was like, “What’s so bad about the Empire regulating commerce anyway?  Controlling food safety is a good thing!”  REGULATIONS ARE A TOOL OF THE STATE TO CONTROL ITS PEOPLE SHARON, you notice they harass this vendor specifically because he hasn’t asked permission from the oh-so-benevolent Empire to make a couple credits selling a single basket of fruit, as if that’s something the Empire needs to control, and when he dares to complain about it they immediately want to toss him in prison.  That’s the epitome of petty state authoritarianism.

This is also such a wonderful character establishing moment for Ezra, because as much as he says he’s only out for himself and doesn’t stick his neck out for people the very first thing we see him doing in the show is surreptitiously sticking up for this harassed vendor.

We learn three main things here: 1. He’s clever and agile, 2. He’s a street kid trying to survive, 3. He actually really does care about people.  All in less than a minute.  Very tight writing.

I love the sound effect they use to signify Force use.  It’s very pretty.

Aaaaand of course accompanying it, the quiet string prelude to the classic Force theme.  An immediate auditory clue cueing us into the fact that Ezra is also Force Sensitive.  So unconsciously, we’re already primed to expect that.

Snrk, I still love how casually Sabine tosses the grenade onto the speeder.

There’s a strechiness and elasticity to the character models here that I think they lose later, as the tone evens out into being more serious, but it’s very Disney-esque.

Actually hilarious and kind of fascinating that instead of stopping Ezra, Sabine lets him keep part of the shipment and have a fair shot at escaping.

She definitely sounds like she likes his gumption.

If no supposed to ship, why let Tiya say the line so playfully here?

Zeb’s resigned thumbs up always cracks me up.

It bears repeating but the animation?  Very Disney-esque.  The whole way characters move, their design, how they emote and express.

I was always particularly impressed by the hair.

Look at it.

It’s always shifting softly around Ezra’s face and blowing in the wind and reacting to his movement shafkjghkajh.

SO much better than early Clone Wars.

No, shut up, go back and watch those awkward early episodes.

The faces don’t emote.

Kanan’s fond little smile. :)  He already loves that kid so much.

Again with the animation being very 2D Disney hand-drawn inspired in the way Kanan sloughs his shoulders here replying to Hera.

Hgnnnglllll the little shine in Ezra’s irises shifts like it’s an anime sparkle, I love this animation I love it I love it your Clone Wars could never.

If no supposed to ship, literally why have this moment with the classic Sees Her In Sparklevision trope?  (Okay so I added the actual sparkles but still.)

Seriously Filoni.  “I think there’s an automatic instinct to ship them.”  WELL WITH THIS COMING DAY ONE EPISODE ONE WHAT DID YOU THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?!

Hi Kallus!

Right so after this sequence where Ezra feels inexplicably guilty for not doing more to help the people of Tarkintown despite him literally only finding out they existed two minutes ago there was pretty much no way I wasn’t going to love him.

I think my brain subconsciously recognized, “Oh, he has a Hero Complex.” annnnd yep, yep, that did it, he’s my son now.

Interestingly, this is also I believe the first time we hear Ezra’s leitmotif, which like Luke’s theme is primarily in brass but in a minor key, slower, more somber, more introspective, almost a thematic foil to the adventurous bold excitement of Luke’s theme.

Luke’s theme, AKA the Star Wars Main Title theme, by the way, is primarily used throughout Rebels to denote heroism.  Typically it comes in whenever we have a Gunship Rescue from the Ghost or some other kind of Big Damn Heroes moment.

Side note appreciating the animation again, the storyboarding and blocking is very cinematic.  The camera moves as it might on a modern Hollywood production instead of a weekly TV serial, which I think helps makes Rebels feel closer to the Original Trilogy.

And here the full Force theme breaks through. :)

Note: At this point, behind the scenes, Hera and Kanan have already discussed Ezra’s potential Force Sensitivity, and agreed to test him.  I am still sorely in need of fanfics that cover that conversation.  Just saying.

AGAIN.  WRITERS.  YOU NEED TO BE A LITTLE MORE AWARE OF JUST HOW SHIPPY THINGS COME ACROSS BETWEEN EZRA AND SABINE THIS FIRST EPISODE.

Like, there’s a reason why this conversation and footage is used in a million Sabezra amvs.

Ezra rubbing his hand on his neck, Sabine’s soft looks of concern at him, how warmly she finally reciprocates on telling him her name...

(Also notice how Ezra, empath that he is, immediately cottons onto the fact that Sabine considers the Ghost crew her family and discerns that something or other happened to her bio family.)

Gremlin child Ezra. <3

I’m sorry, I just noticed this:

What is that look, Sabine?  Lolol.

Hera going into Mom Mode immediately.  Her cheeky look back at Kanan, lol, she knows exactly what she’s doing.

Edgy TWC bros complained so much about the humor in early Season One and I say they have no taste, “rare hairless Wookie” is hilarious.

Part Twooooooooo!

For all his bluster and his devil may care facade, Ezra had that Jedi compassion and drive in him from the very start, I will hear NO slander otherwise.

Something in this escape sequence I absolutely love?  Ezra clinging to Zeb’s back.  Just the way he grabs Zeb’s legs and climbs him like a feral cat.  And Zeb does not appreciate it lol.

Oh hey, we’re at The Scene That Basically Sealed Ezra As Tari’s New Favorite Whump Target.

Yeah, protip to all showrunners, you put an emotionally vulnerable young male protagonist in mortal peril and you basically guarantee that I will obsess and fixate on them forever.

EVERY SINGLE FRAME OF THIS SHOT IS MORE HEARTBREAKING THAN THE LAST.

Hngl and you can hear him hyperventilating too ow my heart.

A brief excerpt of Ezra’s theme plays right here too, as if to compound Zeb’s guilt about the whole thing lol.

Like the score itself is saying, “HEY AREN’T YOU MISSING SOMEONE?!”

Sabine automatically assuming Zeb did something to Ezra. <3

Hera full-naming Zeb. <333333

A couple people pointed out before that Ezra flinches pretty noticably when Kallus reaches for him, and Kallus definitely marks that reaction with his eyes.  It’s such a quick little sequence but it’s fascinating in the layers it suggests.

I reiterate: The subtle facial animation is this show is fantastic.  The minute little emotions that you can pick up tell so much story.

Chopper voting with Hera to go back for Ezra. <333333333333333  The murder hobo does have a heart.

I love the little sideglance these troopers give each other after Ezra seals them in.  You can’t even see their faces but you know they’re chagrined all, “Oh.  Ohhhh we’re in so much trouble.”

And the joke is even followed up on when Kallus demands to know how Ezra escaped and this poor dude just has all the notes of, “This is the worst day of my life.” in his voice lololol.

I gotta gives props to Taylor Gray, he pulls off Ezra’s impersonations really well.

So how much do you want to bet Kallus had unfortunate flashbacks every time one of Sabine’s bombs threw him?

“I’m sure your parents must be worried sick.”  “I don’t have parents.”

*URGE TO ADOPT HIM INTENSIFIES*

(Also, same, Hera, same.)

Speaking of entire stories being told in the subtle expressions...

Tangenting here a little bit, I’ve seen more than one bad faith reading chiding Kanan and especially Hera for “manipulating Ezra into being a child soldier” and hnnghghghgkjgdksh could you guys have any worse comprehension?

Ezra’s fate, narratively and meta-textually speaking, was sealed the moment he volunteered the information about the Wookies and actively took part in their rescue.  He didn’t have to do any of that.  He could have stayed quiet.  He didn’t.  He could have made Hera drop him off first.  He didn’t.  He could have stayed on the ship the whole rescue.  He didn’t.  And yeah, some of the reason why is because Hera told him it was better to fight for others than only for himself, but also have you considered that Ezra maybe is just that selfless at heart?

(See above where his Establishing Character Moment was saving that fruit vendor.)

ANYWAY, if he hadn’t done any of that, Kallus would have never seen him leap far higher than he was supposed to be able to, and would never have marked him as a Force Sensitive, would never have alerted the Inquisitor to him and basically marked him as a target.

Any time the local Lothal garrison spotted him, their impetus would be his capture and/or extermination.  Ditto for when news eventually reached the Inquisitorius.

The safest place for him was absolutely staying with the Ghost (where he could be trained to protect himself) and they even gave him the choice about it.

To say that he was manipulated or guilted by Hera into following instincts that were already inside him denies Ezra his narrative agency; he chose to become a Rebel and fight against the Empire.  Hera might have awakened his heroism but it was Ezra who Answered The Call.

All right, tangent over.

Oh ho man, you can tell they went into this with zero plans to redeem Kallus.

I mean, I’m glad that it happened, I definitely enjoy that aspect of his character.  But there was noooooo groundwork laid for it in these early episodes lol.

Writers got halfway in and realized, “Shit, we like him.” and then had to scramble to come up with something, which, I mean... I relate.

Ah, here’s what I mean when I say Luke’s theme is used primarily as a shorthand for the element of heroism.

And for an example of what I’m talking about re: cinematic camera motion, there’s the bit right where the crew charges out of the cargo hold onto the platform on Kessel.  The camera is behind our subjects and instead of immediately cutting to an exterior shot (which would be perfectly acceptable), instead it sort of rolls out behind them, pushing down and forward with them, for a more dynamic shot.

Add several tracking shots after that, that basically follow specific characters, and with that simple cinema magic, the action sequence feels more frenetic and energized.

Gosh, Ezra was so tiny back in Season One.

I do like this cue right here, when the Imperial ship drops in, don’t know if it’s generic action filler or it becomes a leitmotif later, will have to pay attention I guess.

With context from A New Dawn, we know that Kanan has not ignited his lightsaber since Order 66, though he apparently came pretty close it in that book.  I just find it rather beautiful and poetic that the Force tells him it’s time right when he has a padawan to protect. :)

And this reveal is still excellently done, fine candidate for my personal No Context Signature Scene Test (that being a scene which, when shown in isolation, showcases off the best of a movie or show and entices watchers to check out the rest, it must do a good job of selling the work, essentially).

POV shot as Kanan stands up out of cover, cut to in front of him, the action music drops out and fades into the Force Theme and Kanan just kind of... casually walks through shots, leaning around them, the sound gets muted slightly, we get the gunslinger shot of the lightsaber pieces clicking together and then the Force Theme gets a bass drum flare to emphasize the moment.  Awed looks from everyone.  A triumphant musical cue.

Even Kallus is unnerved for a second lol.

And I love the verbal hesitation when he says, “Focus your fire on... on the Jedi.” like he can’t even believe he’s saying that.

Is it any wonder why I love the whole Rebellion Era Jedi aesthetic?  It does such a good job of encapsulating pure eucatastrophe, the sudden happy turn for good, a beacon of light and hope breaking through the darkness and despair.

The Wookies look at Kanan like a living legend has stepped out of the pages of their storybooks.

HNGH no one touch me.

And of course, Kanan stepping up immediately inspires Ezra to do the same, I love these two so much.

Wilhelm scream, lol.

See people, Kallus already associates Ezra with Kanan and has marked them as a master-padawan pair, there was no chance Ezra was going to just be able to keep his head down and live his life after this.

And again with the subtle expressions, there’s just a flash of sadness from Ezra here as he watches Kitwarr reunite with his dad, HAVE I MENTIONED I LOVE HOW UTTERLY EXPRESSIVE THE FACES ARE IN THIS SHOW?

I do kind of wonder what made Ezra decide to swipe Kanan’s lightsaber.

He had a thought to sell the holocron but honestly it seems like he wanted to keep the saber.  As a keepsake?  To use?

Honestly though I love it when writers have Force Sensitives just kind of compulsively drawn to Jedi artifacts and tools.  Like some part of them is called by the Force within the items.

There’s a really cute, almost shy way that Sabine ducks into her shoulders here.  I see it in amvs all the time but no one ever really talks about it.

I mean, along with Chopper’s sad little moan I think it’s meant to convey that they’re already fond of him and regret him having to leave.

Chopper loved Ezra from the beginning and only gave him grief because that’s how he shows affection change my mind.

Ezra does not take Zeb’s playful hit well, flinches like he did with Kallus.  Of course later he’d get used to it but right now Ezra definitely does not associate roughhousing with affection.

Ezra gets so timid in his body language here.

I... I would really love to know how Kanan got up the tower.  Where exactly is the turbolift in this thing?  Is it in Ezra’s room?  How’d Kanan sneak past?

I know we’re meant to believe Kanan is physically there and just Batmans in and out but honestly I don’t blame the people with the wild theory that Ezra’s having a vision of Kanan in this moment.

Speaking of Ezra’s timid body language, have you noticed how often he crosses his arms, in an insecure kind of self-protective fashion?  This all but goes away in the later seasons as he grows up.

Aaaaaand we hear a snatch of Leia’s theme as Obi-Wan’s message plays again, a little musical Call Forward to the princess’s iconic plea for help perhaps?

Interestingly it fades into a very understated version of Luke’s theme, without the full orchestral accompaniment, just a single trumpet and then some quiet strings playing the notes.

I’m going to have to pay attention but I’m tentatively hypothesizing that Leia’s theme will primarily represent the aspect of hope in the series, to accompany Luke’s representing the idea of heroism.

Hope and heroism, two classic archthemes of Star Wars, lol.

Maybe it’s fitting that Ezra’s theme kind of blends the feel of both of the twins’.

On a completely different note, nice to see composer Kiner keeping in the tradition of assigning the Ominous Latin Chorus to the villains, lol.

I like Grand’s theme, it’s reminiscent of the Emperor’s, all bass male voices and dark minor chords in the strings.

I warned y’all I was gonna be talking about the soundtrack a lot in these.

And that’s the pilot premiere down.  Some people said they found it hard to get into the series at first, but I was never one of them, the pilot had me hooked from the get go.  Granted it was my birthday and I was a bit, ah... sloshed at the time.

Still, there was pretty much no way I wasn’t going to be into this show.  The classic Star Wars feel, the lovely animation, the fact that Ezra was basically exactly My Type... (Orphan, tragic backstory, Hero Complex, heartwarming relationship with (surrogate) father figure, this boy was ticking off boxes left and right lemme tell ya.)

Pilot still holds up.  Not every show’s first episode does but this one does.

This was a fun exercise.  I think I’m going to try to knock one of these out a day at a time until Ahsoka drops, maybe not as in-depth and rambly as this one, but we’ll see.

Until tomorrow then.

[highfantasy-soul]

NATLA - Episode 3: Omashu (3/3)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

An explanation of what I'm doing here and my history with ATLA.

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

<previous/next>

Katara is drawn to Jet as she sees her own rage, loss, and desire to fight reflected in him. In the animated version, Jet shows up to save the Gaang after they stumbled into a fire nation campsite and Katara immediately falls for him but it's not super clear why other than 'he's hot and beat up firebenders'. In the live-action, we meet Jet walking into Omashu and he helps the group with no ulterior motive - setting up his character as someone who truly cares about people struggling in the war and is willing to go out of his way to help. He only reveals he's a freedom fighter when Katara sees Sai trading info with a fire nation spy - so they both are sharing a secret about the enemy rather than an obvious connection of 'yeah, everyone can see the fire nation soldiers would be bad' connection like in the animated show. The live-action adds nuance and secrecy, and not letting Sokka in on seeing that secret adds to the conflict between him and Katara later on - they both have negative info on the person the other has attached themselves to in Omashu. I like how Sokka didn't 'immediately clock' Jet as a bad guy in the live-action or at least, didn't immediately get super jealous of him. Yes, their relationship starts out rocky with him annoyed Jet is taking the lead talking to the guards and flirting with his sister, but he doesn't have the heightened 'I don't like this guy because he's succeeding fighting the fire nation in a way different from me' that he has in the animated version.

It's funny to me seeing people complain that live-action Katara got a lot of agency taken away while saying nothing about how in the animated version, Katara immediately turns submissive to Jet and they have their whole flirtation and Katara defends him to the ends of the earth. I don't have a problem with the animated way the story was told, but it's funny to see people complaining about the live-action when the same issues (or more pronounced) are in the animated version. In the animated version, I didn't see Katara's connection with Jet being that he shared her anger and desire to fight the fire nation, it came off as 'he's hot and charismatic therefore everything he does must be right'. In the live-action, we see how Katara's fire and rage at the fire nation is reflected in him and that's what she's drawn to - yes he's hot and charismatic, but it's more clear that she identifies with every aspect of him: he's fighting back (something she's always wanted to do) and he's created a community to help those harmed by the fire nation. Having Jet help her through a waterbending block by remembering the good aspects of her mother added so much more depth than him just complementing Katara's skills and her deciding to blindly follow him. Instead of just 'Katara, you can do this' he actually gave her good advice - making her defense of him much more believable.

Animated Jet is cartoonishly evil, kicking old men, lying about him being an assassin, kidnapping Sokka, flooding a whole town, and tricking Katara and Aang into helping him kill the village - live-action Jet is much more believable and nuanced which I think is a really good choice. We see that he's "right" (ie, he IS rooting out spies and ineffectual leaders who have led to the fire nation operating with impunity in the city) it's only his methods that are wrong.

While it's good to see Sokka caring about someone just because in him defending the old man Jet was harassing, I think it adds a bunch of depth that the person Jet is attacking in the live-action is the person Sokka connected to - plus, the fact that he actually is a fire nation spy. The animated Jet is painted as 'look at this obviously bad guy going way too far' while the live-action makes him much more nuanced and less clearly 'bad'. Yes, he's willing to sacrifice some innocent lives for the cause, but it's not like he's just making information up to get people on his side or trying to kill an entire village. He's still 'wrong' to be willing to sacrifice Teo's life and the lives of people who aren't responsible for the state of the city, but it's not cartoon levels of misguided. In the animated show, he just attacks and bullies an old man just wandering around - in the live-action, he's actually going after spies causing real harm in Omashu - he's not a caricature of a rebel fighter, he's a real person who's mostly doing the right thing.

This actually mirrors and combines the lessons Katara and Sokka learn in The Great Divide - they each side with the group that's more like them and both don't want to believe that the side they identify with could be wrong. But instead of 'these people are clean, organized, and educated, therefore I like them' for Katara, she sees her desire for justice, change, and community reflected in Jet. Instead of 'these people like to eat, are ok being messy, and are more war-like so I like them' for Sokka, he sees his desire for more than just being a warrior, for him to contribute with his ingenuity and creation as well reflected in the Mechanist.

Sokka being drawn to The Mechanist as he sees his own ingenuity and curiosity - rather than strict 'warrior' expectations reflected in him. I like that he's directly responsible for completing the designs for the airship that ends up in the hands of the fire nation, not because they stole the wrecked ship, but because he trusted the Mechanist and helped him before realizing he was purposely giving the designs to the fire nation. It adds just that small bit of direct connection/lesson for Sokka. I also like the very clear parallels between the Mechanist and Jet - in the animated episode, the Mechanist is found out and there's no question, the jig is up immediately. I like how they handled his duplicity like they did Jet in the animated series - one of the siblings knows the truth but the other won't hear it. The Mechanist is also able to give Sokka some great advice to change his world-view while in the animated version, they just both fall in together naturally with no real character building dialogue to solidify that. The animated show does a lot of that sort of dialogue so I'm not sure why they didn’t make a point of it in this episode, but I guess in the animated version, the focus was on Aang and all the 'lessons dialogue' we got was Aang learning that it was ok that the Mechanist was changing the Air Temple. I like that Sokka gets a good character moment in the live-action and we get to see his nuanced arc with gender roles explored.

Because of this reassurance by the Mechanist, we now start to get Sokka stretching out his skill set and starting to come up with mad, slap-dash plans to achieve their goals. While that was always present in the animated show, I like that it took Sokka getting some confidence and growing as a character to start embracing that side of him. And what a first plan it was: riding those crates to the top of the mountain.

And finally, Aang's role in this episode: I adore the fight between him and Zuko. This is the first time in live-action that we've seen them go head to head and I'm glad they waited for it to be a *moment*. The fight was so stylized and classic - demonstrating Zuko's martial skills without bending and the differences in their fighting styles. The different sets and props used were such a nice touch and you can tell so much care was put into that fight.

Some specific things that were incredible there: Zuko's skill with the bowstaff, him screaming "YOU READ MY DIARY!!!!!" sorry, sorry "YOU HAVE MY NOTEBOOK!!!", the auntie beating him with a brush for daring to hit a child!!! How dare he!!, THE CABBAGE MERCHANT, and Aang constantly trying to stop the fight like 'bro, chill tf out!"

Aang's lesson is really delved into in the next episode and I like the 2 episode arc structure they move to so that the themes and lessons can breathe. Again, in episodic, 20 minute animated episodes, you follow a singular plotline and it's resolved within that 20 minutes, but all 20 of those minutes are devoted to that one plot - when you only have 8 episodes, that 20 minutes per plot is split up and woven together with other plots rather than seeing the singular story in one chunk. It's just a different structure (that fits better with the serialized, binge structure) of 8 hour long episodes.

I think people got so used to seeing ATLA in bite-sized chunks where the focus is super narrow and issues are solved immediately, their brain had trouble shifting gears to be open to a different structure for telling the story.

Anyways, there's my analysis for episode 3 - it was the episode where I became fully invested in this telling of the story and couldn't wait to turn on the next one.

[object-show-analysis]

Since the new Inanimate Insanity episode has came out, I am SO confused about Nickel and Baseball and how it was mentioned in the episode. If it's okay with you, could you clear it up for me?

I’d be happy to! I can definitely see how it can be confusing so I’ll do my best to clear things up.

A big conflict in this episode was Silver Spoon and Candle vs. Nickel, Balloon, and Bot. When the episode starts, Candle and Silver are spying on the other three. That’s when they learn that it’s Nickel, Balloon, and Bot’s goal to get to the final three together. Obviously this would be bad for Silver and Candle, because that would mean they do not win.

Candle mentions that she knows there’s a tainted history between the team of three (Nickel and Balloon’s rocky past in seasons 1 and 2) but she doesn’t know the specifics of it. However she knows someone who will know the specifics.

Cabby.

The implication we’re supposed to make here is that they’re going to attempt to use this information to drive the team apart, giving them a better chance at success.

So Silver bribes Cabby for a file. Making her feel like she has no other choice but to help him, because he’s offering to save her from elimination

We never see exactly what he asked for. But we do see later that she gave him the file on Baseball. We can assume he asked for information on Nickel and Balloon’s past in some way, because all he knows at this time is that they’ve had a rough history.

Now I think this is where most people get confused on exactly what’s going on. To understand what happens next, it’s important to keep in mind that this is All that Silver and Candle know. They never met Baseball or Suitcase. They never saw Season 2. No one ever talked about what happened between Nickel and Balloon. All they have to go off of are the files, which we’ve seen in the past are full of limited and basic information. So when they open up Baseball’s file and read it, they are given a VERY simplified and description of events that’s lacking a lot of nuance

They don’t understand at all what actually happened. I don’t think anyone would describe what happened as “Baseball and Nickel got split up because Balloon went rogue.” But they’re working with very limited information.

They approach Nickel with this same very limited sense of understanding, trying to convince him to turn his back on Balloon again

And really, it doesn’t work. Nickel comments that baseball always wanted him to get along with balloon, and how he should have listened. And they never actually convince him that trusting balloon is a bad idea.

However two Other plot lines are happening at the same time: Nickel’s Luck, and Balloon’s fear of betrayal

Nickel’s Luck is something he’s been struggling with for many episodes. The gift from Clover has been really negatively effecting him. He makes it clear that he hates this luck. That it makes him feel like he’s not really Doing anything. And when Silver and Candle are trying to convince him to betray Balloon, he responds by saying “none of it is real anyway”

When questioned about this, he says the relationships he’s forming in the game aren’t real, because they’re a result of his luck.

He complains that everything he wants happens. Even the fact that Silver and Candle are choosing to side with him instead of Balloon or Bot

On its own this would have been nothing but a sign of frustration. But that leads us to the other plot point: Balloon’s fear of betrayal

See earlier in the episode Balloon expresses that he’s terrified of Nickel and Bot taking Silver Spoon and Candle’s side.

Nickel assured him at the time that he has nothing to worry about, and that they’ll always stick together. And Balloon believes him at the time.

But he’s still very much present during Silver and Candle’s conversation with Nickel. He hears everything. He hears them call Balloon the reason that Nickel and Baseball split up. And he hears Nickel say that the relationships in the game don’t really mean anything.

Regardless of if Nickel really meant it in regards to Balloon (which I doubt, considering he got close with Balloon Before he gained his luck) or if he was just frustrated, hearing this dug into Balloon’s insecurities and fears. And from Balloon’s perspective, they confirmed what he had been worrying about.

I do hope this clears everything up! This episode was very fast paced and much was left for the viewer to imply, so I hope breaking it down made things easier to understand :)

[0shewrites0]

Hi! So I recently replayed both Lucas and Henrik routes in a really long time and there's something that makes me think.

We all know it goes Henrik wanted to pick Priya at the Disaster Recouping and Lucas was Hope. But, Henrik also likes Lottie, somehow he doesn't even glance at her? And you have Lucas suddenly worried about Priya who barely showed interest in. What happened there?

Now the guy who returns saying they would have chosen MC if they had the chance is a whole other thing. But the part that gets to me is the fact they'd make Lucas emphasize more than once that it's MC he was after. Yet, for some reason seemed to put more effort into how "disappointed" he was and how he doesn't like MC much, to the point he comes off as fake and Henrik comes off as more genuine. Does that make sense?

Like what is "You read things wrong" supposed to mean and why are you talking about a "spark" when you were dissing me five seconds ago?

I do think it had more to do with FB's cluelessness and laziness that seemed like an extra effort to emphasize no one is supposed to be happy they don't get who they want, but then go and insert "I knew you were the one I wanted" into his dialogue.

Like not to be biased, but you're making the man say it more than once and if that was his supposed "initial choice" then I don't see why the "no one is happy" was forced onto him as well, especially if you've been nothing but nice. He just ends up looking like he has a split personality.

Hey there!

So I just replayed s2 and I made Lucas get dumped before Casa Amor. I told him on the night it was announced that he was up for dumping along with Rahim and Rocco that I would’ve wanted him to stay. Then when he got dumped a day later I stayed with him (I took the gem choice) and made it clear that I would’ve coupled up with him if I’d had the chance. But I didn’t kiss him or did anything else that would be considered cheating.

I came back single from Casa Amor while Henrik had obvs switched to Blake, then saved Elijah for Chelsea and Henrik and Blake got dumped.

I’m currently coupled up with Bobby so when Lucas re-enters the villa on day 24 I’m acting really happy to see him again. He kissed me on the cheek and made it very clear that he would’ve chosen me to couple up with if he had stayed in the villa. Then he asked me how it’s going with Bobby and I answered that I was still waiting to be swept off my feet. When the date ended, I pecked him on the cheek and he did too and then we went back.

I did take the roof terrace gem choice later on but - again - didn’t cheat on him and later at night during the party I met him up there as well. He told me he really wanted me but didn’t want to put me on the spot and because I STILL didn’t want to cheat I told him I just wanted to chill, so that’s what we did.

Honestly, I really don’t know where he says stuff like “You read things wrong” or tells MC that he’s disappointed/that he doesn’t like her that much. Maybe you can clarify that? Because it never happened on my route.

Now, here are my thoughts/opinions on everything else. I said it in another post but I’ll repeat it here:

We were always supposed to participate in Operation Nope and kiss Noah so that he’d couple up with us during the disaster recoupling

IF it’s Lucas who’s still in the villa while Henrik’s gone, it really makes a lot of sense for Lucas to pick Priya because Hope is coupled up with Jakub and MC is coupled up with Noah by then. Marisol never interested him and don’t even start with Lottie

BUT I honestly think Lucas’s route wasn’t supposed to go like this in the first place. He was supposed to be “the one that got away” and that’s why they make him emphasise multiple times how he’s come back for MC and for MC alone and that he remembers what she told him the night he was voted to get dumped and whatnot

People are always complaining how it doesn’t make sense for Lucas to be so “pushy” about being intimate with MC when they’re forgetting that 1) he’s not pushy because he accepts your “no” without being pissy or sarcastic about it and without trying to persuade you to do something you don’t want to do and 2) he’s watched the woman of his desire crack on with the boys in the villa for two weeks while he was stuck at home having to WATCH her without being able to do anything more. He’s ACHING to kiss her and act out all his fantasies. And that’s so fucking hot, please.

Remember how he tells Gary on day 5 that he “doesn’t bed everything that walks”? And that still stands true. EVEN at this point. That’s exactly why he later on breaks up with MC, too, if she decides to cheat with him. Because MC knew that and she still let him get his way EVEN THOUGH she was coupled up with someone else at that point. Cheating is such a huge red flag in his eyes. And yes, maybe he’s testing MC here who knows? Maybe it’s bad writing or maybe it’s a mix of all three, i don’t know

Now with Henrik, it’s different. Because Lucas - unlike Henrik - will almost always say that MC is his type while you have to put in effort to get Henrik to say your name. You basically have to reject Lucas all the time. That tells me that Henrik wasn’t supposed to re-enter the villa on day 24. Henrik’s route was meant to be more of a slow burn I reckon. But maybe that’s just my opinion.

Also, why is he picking Priya without so much as a glance at Lottie? Well, that’s crystal clear. HE is actually the one to ask Lottie “trouble in paradise?” the day the dumping on day 7 happens. Lucas, Henrik, MC and Lottie are chilling on the lawn when Gary joins them and Lottie asks him to get her and MC the cuppas he had promised, then proceeds to say “I can’t put my finger on him”. Henrik is highly empathetic and he knows there’s unfinished business between her and Gary; and not just from watching the show (he saw their kiss the night Hannah was dumped, don’t forget that!) He probably also realised that Lottie wasn’t an option BECAUSE she was so hung up on Gary. So why would he force someone into a couple who doesn’t want to be there? Henrik is the opposite of selfish so that would be highly ooc for him. That’s why he then chooses Priya if we’re already in a couple with Noah.

Does that make sense for you? If not, my inbox is always open! It might take me a while to respond to your ask tho <3

[merge-conflict]

5 (it's wonc isn't it 😞) 16, 20, 21, and 22

ty for the ask :3 questions are here

5. worst discord server and why

idk the modding one? because it has a billion channels and as soon as I joined I got overwhelmed, muted it and haven't opened it again. you say wonc like I'm not logging on every day and going into a brainrot thread to play ocs. sammy and I are deep in a brain cancer arc right now. xD

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

getting Johnny back his original body. I don't hate it, but it seems like such an easy fix given how the original relic trials went and that it's not just growing a new limb but a whole body including the brain. saburo doesn't even do that with all his money in the DE, which tells me it probably would take a while to grow a clone like that, if it's even possible (if it was, why would they have tested on random bodies and know that that process works best with relatives?). and it's not like johnny was ever a well-adjusted guy in his original body.

I know the answer is fix-it fic. But I'm surprised more people don't want to explore the inherent body issues/compromises in the genre. But! I do think it's interesting if people do or do not write Johnny getting a cybernetic arm again -> something that both fucked him up and defined him. what a choice between honoring what was and trying to get a truly clean slate. anyway it's something like the happy ending with children thing where I don't personally see the appeal, and that's okay. I was just honestly surprised it was so popular!

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring

I already complained about tech and the blackwall in a previous post. I guess on replays I really get bored playing Johnny's sequences or doing the BD stuff because once you know what happens it's just a slog to get through.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

overhyped would mean that I hear about it a lot? and I so rarely hear meta discussions that I'm kinda starved for it. I guess I'm disappointed to hear the sequel in planning has a big AI component because I wasn't a fan of how the story seems to be going in the original game (i.e. I think they're going with a straight forward apocalypse monster angle which doesn't serve the underlying themes the way I personally want it to, which as we all know is what would be objectively correct).

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

this is a hard one because again I don't see a lot of discussion about it but again I see very little lore discussion so I could pick anything.

I think it's fascinating Johnny never once discusses where he gets the bomb (it's a Militech bomb) or the fact that bombing Arasaka tower is as good for Militech as it is for him. I thought maybe it'd come up in PL but nope! in game there's a shard that describes a Militech convoy being robbed by nomads, implied to be the one that was carrying nuclear armaments. was it a setup by Militech? or did they not want it stolen but get what they wanted anyway when they got Arasaka thrown out of NC? How did that contribute to the war later where NUSA tried to grab NC and failed and resulted in Dogtown's creation and Arasaka being let in? When Johnny signed up as a corpo soldier who was it that he joined? Was it Militech or some other corp that broke him by sending him into battle? Why can't you even discuss the fallout of Johnny's actions? Especially in that dream of his where he apologizes to the netrunner whose husband got killed in the blast? (does anyone else think it's spooky you can find that NPC selling vinyls on the street?)

Anyway besides Johnny's enormous hate-on for Arasaka I want to know what his opinions are on the other major corpo players beyond the simple fact he thinks they suck. But not even canon delivers on that sadly.

[lunyzare]

Hi there! I just wanted to tell you that your analysis of Izuna not accepting Hashirama's offer of 'peace' was really good and made so much more sense than some of the arguments I have seen in the fandom complaining about Izuna not placing his trust in the Senju even though he was completely justified in his suspicions. It was detailed and helped me a lot in understanding Izuna's choice back there and how this fandom forgets that Hashirama can only heal himself and not others.

If you don't mind can I ask to hear your thoughts on what would have happened if Tobirama and Izuna switched roles that day. Do you think Hashirama would have gone berserk at losing his last brother? How do you headcanon his reaction to be?

Hi there! First of all, This ask has been sitting in my drafts for way too long, my apologies. I hope my answer will at least a little bit satisfying for you, anon.

Thank you so much for your kind words, I am so glad you liked my analysis!

I agree with you, Izuna was justified in his mistrust. I think that Hashirama being able to heal others is nothing but a headcanon that for some reason is – by some people – accepted as canon, even though it's not.

Now, I'll try my best to answer your question, but before I do that, I have to say this post is sligthly critical of Hashirama's character (although I am analysing canon here), so be warned.

Do you think Hashirama would have gone berserk at losing his last brother?

I'll start with this question if you don't mind, because I feel like answering this question is crucial in order to answer the rest.

Short answer: No, I don't think he would have gone berserk. It would certainly hurt him a lot (he did want to protect his siblings like Madara, at least as child), but I personally don't think he would have gone berserk.

Long answer:

We saw Hashirama reacting to two of his brothers dying (Itama and Kawarama) and I wouldn't say Hashirama went berserk in either case. He cried and he mourned their loss, of course, but in both cases, his reaction was still relatively calm (look at Madara's reaction, when Hashirama tells him he lost Itama, Madara looks perplexed, shocked, perhaps sad and emphatetic, but other than that his reaction is very calm as well).

Shinobis are thought to hide all their emotions on the battlefield. Look again at Madara's reaction, this time to losing Izuna – given the fact his last brother was literally bleeding out in his arms, he still relatively managed to remain his calm and focused nature. The only sign of distress and/or lack of calm and focus could be the fact he left the battlefield while the members of his clan were still there.

Now, this was when Hashirama was still a child. Let's look at him as an adult:

Hashirama as an adult was given two options by Madara (although he still had the third option of actually killing Madara). And he chose to sacrifice himself. This means he valued Tobirama's and Madara's life (but also his dream) and chose to – instead of them – sacrifice himself. What's interesting about that scene though, is that Tobirama seemed unsure what will be Hashirama's choice. Tobirama had no problem telling Hashirama to "shut up", but here he's asking him what Hashirama will do? I find that a bit strange. Did Tobirama in some way believe Hashirama might actually sacrifice him there? I do not know the answer, it would be more of a guess, but given the fact that later on Hashirama sweared he would dispose anyone for the sake of the village, I wouldn't be surprised if Tobirama in some way...actually wasn't sure Hashirama wouldn't sacrifice him.

So, let's summrize my points so far: Hashirama grew in a times where shinobi weren't allowed to mourn, were thought to hide their emotions and at the end oh his journey, he was willing to sacrifice anyone who dared to oppose Konoha. All of these lead me to believe that while losing Tobirama would definitely hurt him (it probably hurt him to lose Madara too), he wouldn't have gone berserk.

Now, do I think Hashirama would still want to create the village? Yes, I kind of do – he still wanted to create the village after both Kawarama and Itama dying, Madara was the one who chose Izuna and his clan over their "pipe" dream, so I honestly think that losing Tobirama, while it would be horrible, wouldn't sway Hashirama from his dream.

In the end, the village, the dream was what Hashirama valued/wanted the most over anything (even his own life).

The thing is: I have a feeling that if Izuna didn't die, the village would never be created, because I don't think Madara would go against Izuna's wishes – as we've seen he clearly respected Izuna and tried to fullfill the promise he gave him.

My apologies, anon, if you've expected a more detailed headcanon on how things would go, but I fear I am not very good at pinpoiting how exactly the story would unfold.

[violivs]

NMTDaily: The last two costume party Ben vlogs

These are episodes 24 and 25.

Episode 24: Pedro’s beeeetch?!?!

- “How can she know me and yet not know me at all?”

- I love this line. I love this line a lot. It’s an adaptation of a line from the play, a line later paralleled in the play with “the god of love that sits above and knows me, and knows me”. Within NMTD, it connects back to Beatrice’s eventual “I’m glad that you understand me.”

- She knows and yet doesn’t know Ben because she was only friends with him for a few months before they fell apart, and now makes a bunch of anger- and hurt-based assumptions about him and goes off that. Yet she still knows him, knows exactly what to say to hurt him the most. Layers!

- Ben quickly arrives at “maybe no one is actually making fun of me behind my back and Beatrice is the only one laughing”, which is the truth for the most part. But he doesn’t believe it emotionally, so it doesn’t help. He still feels really insecure and anxious about everyone secretly hating or making fun of him.

- We know Pedro and Claudio often find Ben to be a little much, a little too loud, too stifling, too clingy. But they’re not laughing behind his back about it, they’re complaining to each other and eventually plotting to matchmake him with Bea about it.

- The song in the background is great because it’s essentially Beatrice’s POV about Ben. “Nobody loves you, everybody loves me.” “He is just an arrogant guy, thinks he can catch any girls eye… you’re just lonely inside, you really need to swallow your pride.” To have that in the background while Ben is venting about Bea and showing how insecure he is about how people perceive him- powerful choice. It’s in the background of the next episode too.

- Lots of great comments analyzing Ben’s character under this video, worth a read. Interesting observation by BeedlePencil that the school is in fact laughing at Ben AND Bea about their constant bickering and obsession with each other.

Episode 25: BATH

- Pedro is confused and concerned by Claudio’s disappearance. He also seems kind of drunk, himself.

- “Don’t shoot me!” “What?” “I’m the messenger, don’t shoot me.”

- “The chivalry of broship had been broken.” I love those moments where for a second we’re in 1598 again, like, chivalry? Oh you’re an adaptation of an old, old character, that’s right.

- The bird’s nest story is lifted directly from the play, and it’s incredible that the Candle Wasters made their modern Ben exactly the person who would think of that anecdote, even in a different time.

- Pedro’s FACE when Ben is saying birds are majestic creatures, especially flamingos. Pedro is pinching the bridge of his nose and clearly thinking ��oh god, not this again.” Lol

- Pedro, still totally lost: “but… birds nests are for birds?”

- I thought Pedro was going to figure it out at first, but instead he changed the subject to Beatrice and wanting to know how Ben pissed her off so bad. Was he around when Bea was insulting Ben to his face earlier? Or did Bea go complain to him afterward? If she did, does that mean she knew it was Ben behind the Batman mask all along? Or was it just a general continuation of her Ben tirade because the person she was talking to before (Ben, and she didn’t recognize him) left and she needed someone else to rant to?

- “I was just being defensive” Does this mean there was a second half to the conversation where Ben took off the mask and confronted Beatrice? Because in Ursula’s party video, in the scene we saw, Ben never fought back in terms of insulting Bea back. He only defended himself by saying his bird video was insightful and he thought Bea was being harsh.

- Wait! In Ursula’s clip, Beatrice never says the phrase “Pedro’s bitch.” That means the scene HAD to continue beyond what we got in the video, with Ben revealing himself and Bea insulting him more. Wow. I should fic that, that’s a hell of a missing moment.

- That’s really interesting, that Bea starts ranting to a masked stranger about how annoying Ben is (and how she’s annoyed that he isn’t there), and then after the scene cuts off Ben takes off his mask and confronts her, she gets even meaner in return, and hurts his feelings so bad he goes and hides for the rest of the party. Now I’m sad we never got to see the inevitable corresponding later scene where she thinks back on her behavior and apologizes.

- Either Pedro witnessed the end of the fight or he ran into Bea afterwards, and he clearly thinks she’s significantly angrier at Ben than usual. I really want to know if Ben said anything in the second half of the argument to cause that or what.

- Pedro can’t help laughing at the “Pedro’s bitch” moment, which is definitely going to make Ben more anxious that Pedro really is laughing behind his back.

- We do also have some classic ingrained societal homophobia coming out with “Pedro’s bitch” in the idea that the most degrading thing for a man to be is submissive to another man, especially sexually. Pedro’s laughing, but it’s also probably pretty uncomfortable for him on a being-deeply-closeted level that he won’t even understand until later.

- “She said you thought I was really annoying and you only tolerated me” ah yes, the thing that every socially anxious person’s brain tells them 24-7. That no one actually likes you. She really does know exactly how to hurt Ben.

- Pedro is in Beatrice defense mode. “Give her a break.” He has a crush on her right now, comphet or not, so he’s inclined to take her side. The combination of her coming to his, the Prince of Messina’s, party as a princess, and her making it abundantly clear that she still hates Ben via this public fight, is what will push Pedro to ask her out in the next episode.

- The assault weapon sound effects lol, this absolute dork

- Do we think maybe Bea was in a “hit Ben with a constant stream of insults” mood because her Q&A video made her explain and contemplate her past relationship with Ben and re-litigating that made her feel hurt and vulnerable and angry at him all over again? That’s my best guess.

- This is a friend group that all meddles in each other’s affairs. “Maybe we need to stop this thing with [Hero] and Claudio- or is it with you now?” No wonder it all goes down as it does.

- Pedro’s “it’s not just her” refers to Ben, and hilariously goes right over his head.

- There’s some really excellent face-acting by Jake McGregor in this episode. All Ben’s facial expressions are absolutely delightful. I just like to look at him.

- Apparently “catch you later” “no you won’t” is a Sherlock reference, according to the comments. Love Ben taking an interest in one of Bea’s favorite shows enough to reference it!

- Don’t turn the camera on and off with your foot, Ben, ya nasty! Lol

- “baths + sleeping = no don’t do it” in the video description omg. Ben literally fell asleep in Pedro’s bathtub after this.

- Winner of the Comment Section goes to simondarrow with “wow I can’t believe Pedro Donaldson invented being cute and bisexual… legends only”

- also shoutout to the person who said Ben looks like he’s about to cry. I’m glad I’m not the only one tuned into his face journey this episode, poor kid.

- And the other person in the comments who wants to hug Ben. Hard same.

💖🦩🥭