#might post more about episode specifics and will definitely draw some scenes out

[whitepine-estate]

I have a refined vampire theory to share! (a lot of this is repeat but there will be brackets for new evidence)

Before the events of the series, Ivory is born to a vampire mother and a human father (or vice versa doesn’t really matter) making her a dhampir. She’s born neurodivergent, probably a form of autism. Her tail is from being a dhampir. At some point she runs away for unknown reasons and is found by MinuteTech.

Also before the series starts, Div_y comes into contact with a vampire, becoming its’ thrall [I initially thought he might be a vampire himself because he isn't seen eating anything during episodes one or two, but since we see him in the sun he's more likely to be a thrall. The reason I've zeroed in on Div_y specifically is both that he's been sus in ep 2 and that on NameMC his profile is unavailable, possibly because it contains spoilers?]. The vampire has him get a job with the Hemlocks for their own purposes. The vampire, after using Div_y to scout out the house, starts feeding off of and kills Mrs. Hemlock. Since Mrs. Hemlock died from a vampire’s bite, she also rises and begins feeding off her oldest son, Pyroscythe [there's obviously all the TB symptoms I showed in the first draft, but the scene where Ivory's drawing a bath also stood out because of how uncomfortable he seems. Its common folkloric belief that vampires dislike running water. I'll admit its shaky ground but its more supplemental to everything else]. The vampire possibly loosens their grip on Div_y after this point allowing them more freedom.

During the series:

Ivory is recruited by MinuteTech and starts working for the Hemlocks. She feels a connection to the woods, possibly sensing the vampiric activity within. Pyroscythe has only gotten worse, the vampirism has progressed so far that he’s having nightmares and is violently ill. He thinks the disease is TB but doesn’t want anyone to know, not even Mysti; it is unclear if she or anyone else may have figured it out (the TB not the vampirism). It is unclear if Div_y is still spying on the Hemlocks; it's certainly possible, but if he is he definitely has more freedom.

A vampire, either the one connected to Ivory or Mrs. Hemlock, brutally kills Mysti for an unknown reason . Possibly mistaking them for Ivory [from a distance or from behind they look very similar][Mysti's time of death seems to be narrowed down to when she was discovered, and honestly I doubt someone could kill her that quickly]. This leads to the interrogation and Detective Bormethius becoming suspicious of everyone in the house. Jury’s still out on whether or not he knows what he’s doing. 

There is a possibility that Mrs. Hemlock is also feeding on Zombie [the Hemlock kids don't seem to see him very often at least not at dinner based on the first ep, maybe its cause he's sick like Pyro], and/or that Zombie is partially aware of the vampires. I doubt he’s fully aware however as he likely wouldn’t let his children into the woods to hunt if he was aware of the vampires. Or maybe he would, he seems like kinda a dick. 

I have more evidence, I'm just unsure of how to work it into this theory cause its worded very watsonian and the other reasons are doyalist. For example I already mentioned that the camera seems to be stalking everyone in Whitepine with the way its always positioned in a corner. However, I also noticed that the camera does seem to follow or show the perspective of 2 characters, Pyroscythe, and Ivory, the two characters I suspect have something to do with the vampires. Assuming I'm right about the camera thing, the camera showing the perspective of the two characters most associated with the vampires makes sense. They're not being framed as prey like the others, because they're not prey, they're predators.

I also have suspicions on what being "outed" means although I'm not 100% sure about them or how they tie in, so I'll keep that in the doc for now

as always sorry for yapping, hope you enjoy! -🌊 anon

Posting this for other people to enjoy, I’ll try and add my thoughts on because this is lovely when I’m not in school (if I remember)!!

[inksandpensblog]

I caved, I watched the teaser, here are my thoughts on it

Disclaimer: I will not be making predictions about the plot synopsis or character arcs of the upcoming episode in this post.

I want to keep a fresh mind for the episode, so that upon first viewing I can make my own observations without anyone else's influencing mine. If I get the notion to look for specific things that other people have noticed already, I might miss other things that maybe nobody has noticed yet.

I'll be perfectly happy and eager to compare notes with all of you after I've seen the full episode, but I'm doing my best to go into that first viewing with zero expectations about what direction the story might take. To that end, I'm not going to be making guesses about character motivations or plot points or anything along those lines.

With that said, I would like to point out some things about the teaser that I think are neat, the first being:

That is Victim. That is definitely Victim, without a doubt.

For comparison, have the opening seconds of AvA1 and AvA2, respectively:

Hmm, that figure on the left looks familiar.

The first half of this teaser intercuts AvA5 footage with, not the creation of The Chosen One, as one might expect given his presence in the rest of this teaser, but the creation of Victim, the very first character in the series (not counting the animator himself), whom we haven't seen since his debut episode.

...okay, I relent, I'll make one prediction: do I think this means we can expect Victim to come back, in this upcoming episode?

...no. Well, at least not in the way you might be thinking.

I don't believe Victim's character will return, and I have a few reasons for this:

As mentioned above, the Victim footage is all contained in the first half of this teaser, and it's intercut with previously-seen AvA5 footage. Once the new footage for the upcoming episode starts playing in the latter half of the teaser, there's no more Victim footage.

This also means that all the Victim footage in this teaser is old Victim footage. Victim's appearances in this teaser aren't new, in any capacity.

Moreover, it's all footage from the beginning of AvA1, before the animator had even named Victim. Before Victim moved on his own for the first time.

The editing of these clips makes no effort to connect Victim to what will be happening in the future, only to what has already happened. For this reason, I do not believe that Victim will have any agency in this upcoming short.

That doesn't mean he won't be there in some capacity, though. That doesn't mean his prior existence won't play a role in this short.

Notice I said "his existence," not him.

I don't think Victim will be making a reappearance in this narrative as a character with the agency to influence it. But. The fact that Alan is reminding his audience that Victim existed at one point has gotta mean something.

...okay, prediction over, back to neat observations!

Since I'm not making any speculations about the plot, the only comment I have on the footage of Chosen in a cityscape is that it is really starkly rendered, wow. They crammed a lot of detail into those buildings and that street. Look at the BRICKS.

It's a feast for the eyes, certainly, but...visually, it's an unusually busy setting for an action scene; there's so much visual information for the eye to take in that I worry I'll be distracted from the actual fight taking place.

We see Orange draw...a line XD and I'm not sure what we're supposed to get from that other than "this episode will feature Orange drawing again." Though I will note that he does this in close proximity to the cursor, which makes no move to stop him, so it seems that Orange and Alan are still getting along fine and still working together on projects.

We see Chosen being Chosen, making himself as unapproachable as possible by surrounding himself in a blazing arc of fire-breath and hovering over the water where no one can reach him unless they fly or take a boat. Yes the commentary in this paragraph is rather pointed, compared to the rest of the post.

I will say, though, that I cannot wait to hear whatever sound effects they've used for that scene. Chosen's fire-breath didn't actually sound like breath until The Chosen One's Return, and he hasn't used it since, so I'm really looking (listening?) forward to how it will sound in this upcoming scene ^_^

No comment on Orange apparently being in the outernet/interspace again...

...though I will say that Spyglasses' zoom feature looks a lot like the zoom feature in many computer programs XD

Speaking of, we've got new characters! Let's start with this guy, whom I've taken to calling Spyglasses, because frankly he's the least puzzling of the two:

Hello sir, please leave our orange boi alone.

Now, when I saw this guy, my first thought was to pull up The Flashback and take a closer look at the stillframe of Chosen and Dark terrorizing Stickpage. I'm sure many of you had this thought as well. Sure enough, our memories were not deceiving us, and it appears that some Spyglasses lookalikes did, at one point, dwell on Stickpage.

Awsome, mystery solved, right? Well, not quite.

There are, indeed, a grand total of four sticks in the Stickpage portion of Flashback who bear resemblance to our new friend Spyglasses, here. But if you take a closer look, you'll see that the resemblance isn't exact. Compare him, for instance, to these two Henry-Stickmin-looking guys near the bottom:

I think you'll agree that it's not the closest match. Spyglasses doesn't have visible eyes, and his hands look like the usual nubs instead of having distinct fingers. Plus, Spyglasses seems to have been drawn with a heavier lineweight than these two.

Well, I said he had four lookalikes on Stickpage, so what about the other two?

Aha, you might be thinking, here we have matches. Well, I say look again. Notice anything different?

That's right. The heads of these two were drawn freehand. You can see the slight imperfections in the circles; they're slightly wider than they are long, and there's a bit near the top of each where it's obvious the circle was closed.

By contrast, Spyglasses' head is a perfect circle. His head shape is too mathematically precise to have been handdrawn.

Gonna dip back into speculation territory just so I can talk about what I think this means: I don't think that Spyglasses is any of these four sticks that are shown on Stickpage in The Flashback. However, since Stickpage is the only other place in the entire series so far where we've seen black sticks with white-filled heads, I'm willing to bet that Spyglasses does come from Stickpage. Whether he still lives there now is another question that I won't be getting into, but I think it's fair to say that he lived there before The Flashback, at least.

And, if he comes from Stickpage, that almost certainly means he's a user-created stickfigure.

(My impulse is to say "score 1 for my theory about the rocket org. being founded by Stickpage sticks," but this teaser doesn't actually give us any confirmation that Spyglasses is connected to the rocket org. at all.)

And finally, we come to this guy:

Flowerbarrel has already pointed out that in terms of stylization, this guy bears more in common with the AIM icon than he does with any other stickfigures we've seen.

Not even anybody in the Stickpage Flashback screencap looks like him. No one else whom we've seen has that different-color outline, those proportions, those squared-off hands (and presumably feet), that…flat look…he looks like if you rotated him 90 degrees he'd just be a line XD like no dimension unless he's viewed directly from the front or back. He looks…almost artificial in a weird way. Granted, this is a digital space, so technically everything in it is "artificial," but still.

Honestly I consider this guy to be the biggest mystery in this teaser, from a worldbuilding standpoint. He looks like a desktop icon, but he's obviously not on a desktop in the short clip we get of him in action. He's in the outernet or interspace or whatever you want to call it; the place where stick-cities are, the place where Showdown happened.

Is he from a user-dominated, animation-populated website like Stickpage?

Is he from a stick-city that's populated by a different type of stick than what we've seen so far with Mango and Purple? So far, every glimpse we've gotten into a stick-city not including Orange's fundraiser dreams, from AvM30 to the Cherry Blossoms short two weeks ago, has shown them to be populated by sticks resembling Mango and Purple and their families: a single color, with small, filled heads, and toeless feet. We don't know yet if Orchid was buried in the same city that Mango lives near, or if they're in completely different cities, but either way we've only been shown one variety of stickfigure living in cities like this.

Maybe he's like RYGB, in the sense that, while he himself is animated, he didn't come from an animation? (Like… Slush Invaders and Henry Stickmin are both games where the player controls animated stickfigures, but…the animation in Henry Stickmin is mostly just the cutscenes, while in Slush Invaders animation gets used in the actual gameplay too. Or, like…animations on loading screens for programs, or something.)

I have no ideas about this guy, really.

And that about wraps up my thoughts on this teaser! Anyone who wants to offer their own input is free to do so, but if you want me to read it I must respectfully ask that you please refrain from offering theories on why the characters in the teaser are shown doing what they're doing, or what their motivations are, or anything like that.

Thanks folks ^_^

[tinyfieryghost]

FIRST OF ALL, THAT FLAPJACK DRAWING IS ADORABLE. FLAPJACK THE BELOVED...

Second of all I kinda rambled on and on, sorry about that iojuhygtfrgyuhi

[Long Post so it’s under the cut]

To be fair with Stringbean, I’ve watched that scene a few times over and I don’t think she was actually hit there? If she was, she wouldn’t have moved. I think what’s supposed to be happening is that the force of Belos’s blast on the ground pushes her away. At least that’s how it looks to me. It does get pretty close to her, though so I understand why people think she was hit.

I also have a theory that palismen might be more resistant in staff form anyway, and that’s why it was so easy to hurt Flapjack, because he was off his staff at the time(though that definitely doesn’t explain why Belos is able to kill them so easily when they’re inactive). Even then, I don’t know if it was a guarantee Flap was going to die from that? It’s probably just denial but I don’t think it’s 100% impossible for him to have survived if he didn’t give his life up for Hunter. Usually when palismen die, we see them immediately crumble into dust. They don’t cling to life like Flapjack did. I also assume they CAN heal from injuries considering Flap’s scar and the fact that Owlbert’s head crack heals just fine and doesn’t leave a lasting mark. (AND Owlbert doesn’t have any lasting damage from the Eclipse Lake scene where he nearly breaks.)

(Something that might support the “more durable as a staff” theory is that Flapjack has an actual scar, and not a crack like we see on pretty much every other Palisman who’s “scarred” or broken. But that’s also confusing because when Belos hurts him, his body is cracked, there’s no gashes or anything.)

I wish the show would have gone into Palismen more though. Like apparently when on the staff, palismen can be knocked out? And if that happens, they can’t fly. I always thought they were completely inactive and more so in a sleeping state like that. How deep do you even have to crack a palisman to expose what I assume is the magic inside? How bad do you have to hurt them for them to scar? And at what point does it kill them? Because you don’t see Owlbert “bleed” when he’s cracked in Escape in the Palisman(and as mentioned, it doesn’t leave a lasting mark, he’s fine in the next episode), and that DOES look pretty deep.

I don’t think it’s that weird that a staff can be fixed, since like I mentioned, BQ says her staff was broken. That makes me think that maybe the staff can break but the palisman can be okay? And if that’s the case, theoretically you could either carve a new staff, or maybe the palisman can go into staff form and make a new one, since half the time the staff just kinda. Shows up. But also the witch can still have the staff while the palisman is off it, we see Owlbert do that all the time(Notably in Escape of the Palisman and Really Small Problems. In both cases, Owlbert decides to leave his staff, but Luz/Eda still have it). AND on top of that note, if the palisman couldn’t just leave the staff if it wants, there’d be no reason for an interlock(Eda specifically says that Owlbert’s interlock is so he only fits on her staff and no one else’s)

Like I said it’s confusing. Another note though is in Hunting Palismen when we see the staff break, you see the magic come out so Belos can absorb it, but you don’t see that when Raine’s violin breaks which is. Also confusing. But it also confuses me that Belos can just break the staff when in Agony of a Witch he decapitates the palisman and pours the magic into the holes in his mask. Why did he do that if it’s not necessary????

But on the other hand, Bat Queen is clearly very different from other palismen considering she had kids and I don’t think other palismen can do that???

I love this show to death, and it’s a comfort show for me, but there’s so much that doesn’t get explained. Some things can be explained pretty easily(like you could say Belos lets Lilith keep her raven because she needs it later to go back in time) but like. Dana I beg of you to explain this in particular to us more.

(About Raine's Palisman) Yeah that's confusing. But I think it's more so as long as the scroll was undamaged it's fine? Like we know you CAN break a palisman's staff and the palisman can be fine. BQ says that her staff was broken, and that's why she was abandoned. (Though that doesn't explain why in Hunting Palisman Belos snaps the staff and absorbs the magic that way. Continuity error, maybe? Or maybe if you break the staff too close to the palisman that hurts it? Or, even more simply, it depends on the intent somehow? If you break the staff in order to absorb the magic, then that would kill the palisman?) So my guess is the body of the Violin acts as the staff, and only the scroll is the palisman? Then they just need to fix the staff.

tbh it's not clear how resistant palisman are sometimes

flap dies from being stabbed, but stringbean is not affected by the belos death beam when luz dies

hunter can smack flap around in a fight and he's fine, but owlbert gets damage from a fall in a flight.

and then all palisman are easily forced broken by the strength of belos, who seems to break them with fairly normal strength

given what palisman are, and that they are used for weapons, you would either think the witches would be more careful when using them or that the lil guys aren't easy to break since that sorta makes them bad choices overall to use as weapons.

the show does touch on some having abusive witches slightly, but we can only speculate regarding that.

most of that isn't plot breaking exactly, nor ruins the show or something

but the show can be weird about this aspect from palisman to palisman, and now that they propose the staff can be fixed that raises a number of questions.

[mochuelovelli]

ASOUE AU? ASOUE AU. Pt 1 (Characters)

Okay so I just posted a little doodle I did for an A Series of Unfortunate Events AU that I had been thinking about ever since I realized that Esmé was obviously Magica's VA (which was 3 days ago so oop). I don't have all the characters figured out right now (mostly bc quite frankly there aren't really enough adults that act so... neglectful towards the kids in ducktales). I'll list the ones I am pretty concrete on VS the ones I'm unsure or ones that I "reimagined" due to not everyone fitting perfectly in this world.

Characters that are Definite:

Glomgold as Count Olaf: Think about it, horrible actor/cosplayer (yes thats what he is). Both obsessed about riches, revenge and are generally incompetent. Really, Olaf is much more wicked in the ASOUE series imo (bc even tho Glomgold wants to kill Scrooge and steal his money. This anger only extends his wards if he wishes to use them against Scrooge and is less keen on the murdering of kids. Notice I said LESS). Not 100% if I want him to be as...well explicit as Olaf can be at times. Especially his characterization in the Bad Beginning if you know what I mean (pst it's child marriage)

Magicia DeSpell as Esmé Squalor: Like I said, this is a no brainer. She has the stage performance of Magicia with a bit of Mark Beaks Mom (forget her name) mixed in. Probably would downplay her love for fashion and replace it with an obsession with the occult. I would also not have her be obsessed with Glomgold, its more in character for Glomgold to be obsessed with her anyhow. It is also possible bc I tend to believe she is a more compelling villian in canon that she might take the place of Glomgold on the Island in "The End". But I also plan for Scrooges Number One Dime to replace the Sugar bowl so, maybe not.

Doofus Drake as Calmanita Splats: Duh, spoiled brat who is very creepy and probably has parents that want them dead? Instead of wanting to sing all the time he mainly wants to wreak things/people. He still definitely dresses up tho into a hodgepodge of things. It always changes and Glomgold is always annoyed by this but he likes him more than Magicia. She definitely wants him dead just like Olaf in the series (she really hates kids).

Duckworth as Larry your waiter: Yeah not much competition for this role. It was either him or Launchpad. Duckworth is too perfect for this role and he honestly will play a better spy than canon Larry. If I ever write it out a lot of the "fight scenes" and anime-esque "explaining how I fooled you" dialogue will definitely be reworked but still present. I will however not keep out the main theme of neglect or ignorance with the adults, they will still fail in that regard as always but will just not literally stand there and tell Olaf "We finally caught you, now let me explain why we are so smart oh no you set something on fire again". I mean...maybe for a Mr. Poe but not the VFD. Or...SHUSH I should say but more on that later (or in another post who knows?)

Scrooge McDuck as Lemony Snicket (sorta): Okay so OBVIOUSLY we can't have our "Lemony" have the hots for the McDuck siblings mom (yes another thing I must explain oh boy). Scrooge will still be gilted in love by, of course Goldie though I am still not 100% if she should play part of the the role of Kit Snicket (again NOT related to Scrooge) or should she be someone else entirely. Scrooge is basically the reason everything is happening in this AU just like the canon Lemony but writes sad letters to Donald and Della as well as Goldie. As you might of well guessed, Scrooge's Fortune is also the riches the McDuck's have.

Fethry Duck as Dr. Monty: Of course a snake lover will become a marine lover in this AU! Also of COURSE Mitzy will play the roles of the incredibly deadly viper AND the great unknown! Fethry and Dr. Monty not being mentioned by their family but also too enthralled with their studies to care all that much (but seriously thats fucked up ducktales). Totally made for this role. As far as setting goes this will be where the siblings will be underwater first but since the series already has plently of aquatic locals I will probably swap out the Lake Lacamose story with Peru or the Galapagos. Speaking of...

Ms. Quackfaster as Aunt Josephine: For narrative purposes it would make sense that Ms. Quackfaster would lose her edge as a brave and bold woman. For what exact reason I am still trying to figure out. Not sure if I still want to keep the "Ike" storyline, maybe she just got really spooked by FOWL. Maybe some creature from the Galapagos ate her leg or something.

Ma Beagle as Dr. Orwell: This particular role was sort of hard for me to cast due to the fact that Dr. Orwell is older and romantically involved with Olaf (at least its sorta there). I really didn't want to give this role to Owlson bc other than she isn't a bad person, she is also way too young. Ma Beagle already has a similar motivation im canon to want to reclaim Duckburg as Beagleburg so the Terrible Mills plot to frame the B for causing a fire in order to have control over the mill is very in line with Ma. I originally wanted the Beagle Boys be working in the Mill but since I am changing the setting to Egypt, I decided to use the people stuck in the pyrimid (idk what they are actually called) and will either use Amulet, Launchpad or Dijin as Cookie

Characters that are Mixed with others:

Huey Duck as the Narrative Role of Violet B.: I mostly imagined(?) the kid characters in a approximation of set characters from the books/series. For this reason, Huey plays the ROLE of Violet Baudelaire so that he can take the "inventor" occupation. I went back and forth on finding who would have Violet's quirk of using an object to help her think. My mind originally went to Webby since she has a bow and I wanted Huey's obsession with the Incomplete History of Secret Organizations to take the place of his JWG. However I reworked it so that Huey's JWG would act as Violet's ribbon with him having to flip through his beat up (and slightly burnt) journal to find a quick solution or just to calm his nerves. Something that applies to all the triplets and twins is that their last names are changed to "McDuck" mostly bc it sounds better that they are later called the "McDuck Murders" instead of the "Duck Murders" as well as Scrooges edited role in the kids lives. He has a mix of Klaus' social awkwardness and habit of talking at length about his special interests to whoever will listen. Huey is also the one who gets hypnotized in the Miserable Mill ep.

Louie Duck as the Narrative Role of Sunny B.: Pretty sure I swapped Louie and Webby for this role in my first post but whatever. I wanted to confusingly change Klaus' role into a "Charmer" or "smooth talker" (obviously still a work in progress) since I felt that Huey in DuckTales canon was always well researched as well a good mechanic and having two characters who pretty much fit the same role was... redundant. I also wanted to really make Webby's Sunny much more inline with her notorious/abnormal fighting abilities. However, I realized that instead of changing Klaus' role I should just change Sunny's characterization since I would have to rework it anyways since she was a baby. I also got the idea from recently rewatching the series and saw Sunny basically trick her way out of being trapped with the Hook handed man (i.e. Fernald). I will instead make Louie's role as what he functionally is in DuckTales (the guy who can talk his way out of anything). He would probably also say his occupation is "Defense Attorney" or something along those lines. He is also the one who gets captured the most but not by much. However while he still has Sunny's sarcasm, he also has Klaus' inherit skeptism and distrust of adults.

Webby Vanderquack as the Narrative Role of Klaus B.: Like I said in Louie's segment, Webby is changed to Klaus or more accurately the "Researcher" of the group. She is often the one who stays up late, researching ways to get out of Glomgold's schemes. Unlike Klaus though, she has more of the optimism of Violet but might not put as much belief into all authority as Huey might. She still has role models that she looks up to but isn't against bending the rules. She also unfortunately takes Violet's role of becoming "Olaf's bride" in the Bad Beginning. In the story she has always lived with the McDucks but didn't take their name and still had Mrs. B (until she was around 10, she was 12ish when the fire happened). However, she is still in the McDuck Will and therefore Glomgold hatches a plan to use her to get the fortune. She also tricks him by signing her name "Vanderduck" or "McDuck" instead of Vanderquack to make the marriage null in void. She is also a mix of Sunny since she is generally the most physically capable out of the children.

Dewey Duck as the Narrative Role as Quigley Quagmire: Okay honestly after a rewatch, I don't exactly know what makes Duncan and Quigley that different from each other. I'm pretty sure Duncan is the Klaus of his siblings but whatever. Dewey mostly just 1/2 of the reveal that two people survived the fire during the Carnival segment (which is changed to an underground wrestling theme for reasons to be explained). I am fairly certain that during the last part of the Village of Fowl Devotees I want Dewey be the one left behind with Webby and Lena that way we can have more time spent with him and Weblena/ Magicia v Lena drama. Dewey's occupation would be "Comedian/Host/Actor" . He also is the one the adults ignore during the first half and will be the subject of Triplet/only child jokes that the Quagmires face.

Gosalyn Mallard as the Narrative Role of Duncan Quagmire: Okay so like, no she isn't related or adopted by the Quagmires

Lena Saberwing as the Narrative Role of Isadora Quagmire: c'mon both these kids like poetry. Literally I can think of no other DuckTales kid that likes that (other than Webby but that was more of her liking Lena's stuff). She will still have her background as Magica's niece and might take some of the role of Fernald where he gets redeemed by betraying Olaf/saving Sunny. I am unsure by what extent though as she isn't going to be a henchperson of Glomgold or Magica. It might be that she is uses morally questionable ways to get what she wants/needs. Maybe she is "good" but has to commit a terrible act similar to how the Baudelaires have to burn down the carnival.

Characters that I am uncertain about or straight up don't have someone in that role:

Violet Saberwing as the Narrative Role of Fiona Widdershins: Like Fiona, Violet was also originally distrusted by a part of the cast (in this AU, it probably be Webby and/or Louie as Huey catches feelings lol). She is also obsessed with the occult not fungus and has to save probably Louie from losing his soul or something (wip). Violet more than any of the main cast of kids will probably act more like her canon self since she is naturally straight forward and booksmart. She probably gets forced to stay with Glomgold until her and Lena can escape again. Also since I didn't want it to be another underwater local and wanted it to relate to DuckTales17 a bit more closely I thought it be better if they were in the sky. Maybe Violet got the Sun chaser or maybe even the Spear of Selene. Maybe instead of going to look for their dads (since they are dead oof) they come back at The End to tell the McDuck Siblings et all that they might of found something...or someone important.

Boyd as the Narrative Role of Friday: This is definitely more of a stretch as really he is only Friday because in role only because I want him at the Island at The End so that he can save the siblings from whatever organic incident happens since he is still an android. I previously thought he could also fit the role of Fernald since he could go through a redemption arc easier due to him sorta going through one in the show. Its not out of the realm of possibility that Glomgold could have reprogrammed him to obey him (he might still do something similar I haven't figured it out 100%).

Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera as the narrative role of Hector: He probably won't faint as much as Hector but he will have to be pushed by the kids to be confident in himself during the Vile Village (which will probably change to a Capital city since I plan to rework FOWL into this). Maybe its similar to a military academy which makes having a set of rules make sense. Its also possible that Fenton escapes with some of the kids in the Sunchaser by the end of this.

Steelbeak as the Narrative Role of Fernald Widdershins: I mainly chose him because Steelbeak and Hookhanded man both most clearly are shown to be sympathic antagonists. They are still functionally villians, much more so than any of the children like Boyd or Lena who, yeah, have done bad things but in one case wasn't given the freewill to decide for himself or was but when she decided to stand up for herself she was literally tortured and had her freedom taken away (more so than in the beginning since. Steelbeak would, like Fernald, be making a choice as an adult man to be apart of a mad man's troop and was harden enough to commit murder if it meant he could impress his boss. But because he is not related to (by blood or otherwise) any protagonist I struggle to know where to put him. I might still have him defect during the end of what would have been the Grim Grotto ep and comes back with the Saberwings at The End. Maybe he brings Gosalyn back after finding her at some point, maybe he dies somewhere towards The End. Not sure.

Gladstone/Ghost of Christmas Past/News Reporter Lady as the Narrative Role of Mr. Poe/Mr. Poes Wife: wow this one is really confusing. My reasoning behind these picks is because The News lady would be a great pick for Mr. Poe's wife or at least a substitute as she has similar motivations in DT17. The biggest set back for her tho is that she has no reason to be on the Baudelaire case (or McDuck case anyways). Ghost of Christmas past is a bit of a stretch since why the fuck would he be in charge of making sure the kids had guardians? I mainly want him just bc of his motivation (or lack thereof) to do his job and being incompetent at it. Gladstone while making some sense that he also would be uncaring about where the kids go is also a stretch given he is a relative and he while he might not care 100% about their whereabouts he wouldn't lose them like Mr. Poe would simply bc he is so damn Lucky. Its possible to work that against him, maybe in a scenerios like where he drops off the kids but gets whisked away because some rando gifts him a boat. Still unsure.

Mrs. Beakley as either the Narrative Role of Jaclyn S (Mr. Poes Secretary/VFD spy)., Olivia C. (Librarian): I want Mrs. B to have a role which fits her being experienced and competent but also met a tragic demise. I might mix the experience of JS with the fate of OC. Poor Webby.

Justice Strauss as ???: I'll be honest, I am stumped with this one. This is a very important role to fill and I can't quite find an adult character that fits the bill of Justice Strauss. Mrs. B is too smart, Launchpad studying law while ridiculous, is something inline with the show but he doesn't have a DT17 motivation similar enough to Strauss where he's desires can be exploited nor has he really want kids in the same sense as Strauss. Drake Mallard is close since he is an actor but having him work with law is a bit of a stretch, I also think that making him somewhat bumbling is an insult to his character but Strauss is tragic since she WANTS to very much be the Baudelaires guardian but fails so much. Maybe in a safer world she could have been, maybe if they were luckier. She loves them so much, but they run away where she can't find them to at least try to be there for them and is left heart broken by the end. Whoever becomes JS is in for a world of hurt and I'm sorry. Goofy could also be a replacement, maybe Max died for more angst 😬.

Goldie or Daisy as the narrative role of Kit Snicket: This kinda gets really fanfic-y as neither of these characters really fit nicely into this role. Goldie definitely has the skill of Kit and her disregard for the rules but the pregnancy thing is... something. Not entirely sure if I actually want her to be pregnant but I also want a Beatrice II type character (of course she would be named Della II) but again very fanfic-y. Daisy I am more comfortable being the one who gets pregnant, she might take Olivias role as the new VFD recruit instead of Kits more seasoned one. All I know is that if either or both outcomes exist they will die also a Dewey Deanumont(?) Character wouldn't be the father it would of course be Donald or Scrooge depending who gets pregnant.

Jacques Snicket as ???: Another mystery for me. Functionally? Maybe Manny could play this role or even Launchpad (he really is just my go to for any character idk about huh?) Whoever it is will die but wont have a romance with the Olivia character(s). Maybe its Goofy lmao.

This is quite long enough, let me know if y'all got any more ideas. I'll edit this when I can since I am tired of writing. Please comment or reblog for suggestions and the like thx u. And please...Look Away while you still can.

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

today on Lula Can't Pick an Art Style

I finally did a few Gray Ghosts!

big shout out to @13minmailman for reminding me that the Anti-Creep Stick exists because it's Val's main weapon now

thanks @omegasmileyface for your awesome art! The gloves and boots were perfect and I absolutely had to pinch them

and thank you @burns-art-account for sending me some excellent advice and references ~ and also for just talking character stuff with me, I may yet make more posts about some of the other things we talked about ~

character design might not be my strength and I definitely think others can do and have done a better job but this was still fun! I just love making things glow

I need to share a really interesting idea that came up in a chat with Burns tho, Star, Paulina and Valerie are all into clothes and fashion and style, what if they changed Valerie's outfit every so often because they get bored of it or they think of something better?

it would make for a really fun episodic gag, like they do something weird to her costume every now and then but it always somehow becomes plot relevant

it also means that if anyone else comes up with a costume design or wants to draw her in a different style it could absolutely be completely within the canon of the au

also I felt she needed a hood specifically to emulate a vibe from this post, I love the idea of someone walking home alone late at night and finding this girl with a baseball bat suddenly walking silently beside them, the scene just looks better in my head if she has a hood pulled over her face with her eyes glowing in the dark

I love playing with this au so much y'all

[grumpyoldsnake]

Liveblog: Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski

Context: I caught bits and pieces of several scattered episodes of the Netflix Witcher series while at my parent’s place, and have had my curiosity piqued! I’ve already read The Last Wish since then; you can find my thoughts here.

I'm posting my thoughts about this book short story by short story. Part one is here!

Disclaimer: Names might be misspelled, and most quotes will be paraphrased. I’m reading via audiobook at work.

.

A Shard of Ice

I do really like that more often than not, fights aren’t perfectly easy or clean for Geralt. They take effort!

Goodness he is very upset with the muck, isn’t he. Poor guy.

Oh hey we’re back with Yennefer. I wonder if this is post-dragon incident or prior to the falling out that had her upset during the dragon incident? (There’s no particular indication that we’re jumping back in time, but then. There doesn’t often seem to be, with these stories. 😂)

Definitely post-dragon

Damn this guy--Istredd?--is a jerk

Ohh okay hey. This whole ‘witchers don’t have feelings’ thing is something I’d been wondering about, actually! I've wondered where it came from and whether or not it was just straight up fanon.

So let's talk about it!

Andrjez was very careful to thoroughly debunk this in the narrative well before letting the mage say this shit and before letting Geralt get all tangled up about it. I feel like that's pretty clear and intentional?

Pretty sure most of Geralt echoing the mage’s words is pure, dripping bitterness and sarcasm.

Like seriously we just followed Geralt being anxious and grumpy all morning, we just saw him being upset by people’s comments, we’ve seen him glad for a friendly face in the previous story, we’ve seen him genuinely desperate to help Jaskier, we’ve seen him lonely and regretful and longing to talk to someone, we just saw him genuinely disgusted by his work…

.

Actually yeah. Fuck. Let’s talk about that disgust specifically!

Because it actively stood out to me on its own merits just in that first scene as seeming like a strong reaction, and now… now it seems like it’s the one claim that Geralt maybe does believe to at least some degree, is echoing more genuinely.

And. Look. Completely different scenario, reversed direction, but… I can’t help but think of many unrealized ace-spec folk’s experiences, looking around at allo society and allo people’s actions and thinking, ‘Holy hell, surely they’re all just… exaggerating? Playing it up? Does no one have any self control?’

Because we genuinely don’t share and can’t imagine that intensity of feeling on that particular subject.

But no! Attraction is a real thing that people do genuinely feel, and quite strongly. Even if I just have to take their word for it.

And some people do have self control despite those feelings, and some people don’t.

And. I can’t help but think of that now, that type of disconnect in communication and experiences; the conclusions you draw based on what you see and how people act vs. what you feel.

Geralt sees his actions—his work, slogging through the muck despite his disgust—and he hears people express their disgust and their unwillingness to do the same, to the point where they declare he must not feel the same as them if he’s able to do the work… and maybe he believes them, on that front, to at least some degree. He believes that the disgust they feel must be so much stronger than his.

(Spoiler: I don’t think it is.)

(Disclaimer/context: I think that I do genuinely have a somewhat muted disgust reaction, or at least that I am not as disgusted by certain things as other folk are. There are things I’m willing to clean or approach and that genuinely don’t bother me all that much, but that send other folk away gagging.)

(Which is why Geralt’s reaction in the first scene struck me so strongly — my hindbrain went, ‘it’s just some trash and decay…? If you’ve already decided to commit, if you’ve had a few moments to desensitize, why is it still bothering you so much?’)

(Admittedly I’ve never literally submerged myself in that sort of thing but like. I’ve watched Dirty Jobs. People do!)

(Also admittedly I literally run away with my heart in my throat from people vomiting. The joys of phobias. 😂)

(Extra grumping: If it isn’t clear, I’m also obviously of the firm belief that some people feeling some things more or less strongly than others—or not at all—is a completely normal thing!)

(And that telling people what they do and don’t feel is an exercise in futility and misjudgment.)

.

BACK ON TOPIC

Huh. Interesting how averse Yennefer is to the word mutant.

I don't... much like the shard of ice metaphor? Or don't get it? Or...

Okay so look, at this point it's probably pretty clear that I do not often connect with or even clearly understand more... idk. Flowery? Indirect? Ways of presenting things.

That's a personal taste thing and a personal reading comprehension thing and I can admit that, hah.

I’m also not even certain that I’m putting it right because like. The Broken Earth Trilogy? FUCKING GORGEOUS, one of my all time favorites, and goodness if its narration and storytelling isn’t complex and confusing in some ways.

It has been too long since I first drafted these notes, and I read this last part of things without much time to write, so:

Asshole

^ I no longer know what that note was reacting to. xD

Fucking hell girl quarrels

^ This can be just a general complaint on its own I think, hah.

So look it's just. Like. Yennefer obviously has some poly leanings, but this is not a poly *situation,* and I'm not sure how to talk about it, but. I have. Feelings? Mixed feelings.

Oh! Hey! Hey!

This is very sad but I am finally confident in one (1) instance of guessing what the unspoken thing was. They aren't able to say to one another whether they love one another.

Glad I can pick up on it when it's *this* blatant at least :'D

And it's... character wise, this is honestly pretty interesting? I just. These two are so... *fractured,* they're both so doubtful that they can feel or be anything positive to one another or to themselves, and that very doubt is itself creating some of what they're afraid of, and it's.

Yeah. Interesting.

.

There's that story! I might need to reread this one in print, give it some closer attention without wandering off into my own musings, hah.

I really liked some things in it; I obviously liked some of the worldbuilding & character *info*.

I just didn't much like -- idk, the tone? All that much. And I still have issues with how Sapkowski handles women and romance and Yennefer's motivations. :')

[today-only-happens-once]

Thoughts on “Flirting with Social Anxiety”: Roman, Virgil, Bravery, and Self-Worth

I originally started by just keeping a running list of thoughts in my head as I watched the “Flirting with Social Anxiety” video for the second time through. But then it started getting long and involved, so I elected to just make a specific post for some of the reflections and analysis my thoughts started to follow down the rabbit hole.

Obligatory reminder that this is just my interpretation of the canon work. You may disagree or interpret things differently, and that’s totally valid. These are just some of my thoughts and where this video (deemed “essential viewing” for the canon story by Thomas) fits in the broader narrative with relation to character arcs (specifically Roman). 

Without further ado, here are some thoughts on the new Sanders Asides video. Apologies for the length. Turns out, I have a lot to say. 

I first found it interesting that the beginning of the video involves a series of scenarios in which Virgil and Roman repeatedly call out Thomas’s lying. First is the movie ticket (though Thomas rightfully defends that it’s not his fault), then the store alarm, and then several other examples--most of which we do not know the actual scenario involved. Given that Virgil has been at odds with Janus repeatedly and heatedly in the past, and the way things ended in “Putting Others First” between Roman and Janus (specifically Roman expressing concern that Thomas will not know where to draw the line between selfishness and taking care of yourself), it makes sense that they would be vigilant against Thomas lying. Perhaps it’s even directly a result of Janus becoming more accepted as a part of Thomas, though we don’t know that for sure. 

I think the first big hint we get regarding Roman’s lingering and worsening self-worth issues is a brief line during the food court scene. Roman is forcing Thomas up while Virgil is pulling him back down to sit. When Virgil snaps “Roman, you’re making a mistake!”, Roman immediately shoots back, “If I am, I’ll add it to the list!” and shoves Thomas forward. And honestly, it’s not an unfounded thing for Roman to say. 

He makes a mistake in the way he treats Virgil early on, he makes a mistake trying to convince Thomas to win back his ex during the Moving On arc, he makes a mistake with the lyrics in 12 Days, he makes a perceived mistake by causing Thomas to choose a cute boy over Joan’s play in Can Lying Be Good, he makes a perceived mistake wanting the callback, and then another mistake by forcing Thomas to attend the wedding instead... The list goes on. (Is it any wonder that he says “mistakes” when Thomas asks how he used to learn things in “Learning New Things About Ourselves”?) It might also be worth noting that nearly all of these mistakes are rooted in somethin Roman wants for Thomas. 

And it is the most recent mistakes (relating to the callback) that have the most narrative weight at the moment. Even though the plot surrounding the callback has moved on, the aftershocks of its ramifications still are impacting characters--perhaps Roman especially. And this video works specifically to make that apparent. Just take a look at the reactions and camera/POV choices during the mirror monologue. 

Thomas mentions a few times in the course of that monologue the idea that he isn’t sure what he wants anymore; the first being acknowledgement that the mall is the place you go when you’re not sure what you want, and again when Thomas says specifically that he doesn’t know what he wants. Both times Thomas speaks to that, the attention is on Roman. In fact, the second time where Thomas is speaking directly about himself and how he doesn’t know what he wants? Roman is looking at Thomas, which makes sense because Thomas is really speaking about Roman when he says that. Because all the times in recent canon that Roman has wanted something for Thomas, it has backfired and it has hurt parts of himself (i.e. other “Sides”, and sometimes Roman himself). 

Though it’s also worth noting, through the course of the mirror monologue, the moments the camera/POV focuses on Virgil. Thomas makes the comment that he doesn’t know anything, least of all himself (and the focus on Virgil in that moment brings to mind that the reveal that Virgil used to be one of the Others). He also says “I know that if I don’t act on these feelings right now, I’m going to regret it” and again, we see a focus on Virgil. Because in this video thus far, Virgil is the one that has been keeping Thomas from “acting on these feelings”. 

I’m not saying anything you all don’t already know. But this is sort of a “present the evidence before you state your case” kind of situation. Heh.

The vigilance and call-outs against lying that I mentioned earlier lends a certain credence to the confrontation that Roman and Virgil have with Thomas after he exits the bathroom. The fact that it is Virgil that initiates that confrontation I think is especially interesting. Furthermore, Virgil goes so far as to use the term “deceit” when he says “will deceit continue to be the answer to all of your problems?”. That term carries a very specific weight in this series. I don’t mean to suggest (necessarily) that Virgil is speaking directly about Janus. Time will tell when the script releases, but I don’t think Virgil means “Deceit”. But I also don’t think that it’s an accident that he uses that word (or that the team wrote the script having him use that word). Given that Virgil was absent in the last video, where Janus became a more accepted part of Thomas, this confrontation about Thomas’s pattern of behavior in this episode is a useful reminder for the character of Thomas and us as an audience that all Sides of Thomas need to be kept in check once in a while. 

But relatedly, Thomas’s conclusion that “he’s better off without me” is an interesting echo of his on-going canonical crisis about whether or not he’s a good person. In this confrontation scene, Roman and Virgil establish that starting a relationship with lies means that the relationship itself won’t be a good one. The blow that seems to cause (or rather, bring to the surface) on Thomas’s self-esteem is an interesting turn--precisely because Roman is no small part of that self-esteem and the issues it’s having. I think it’s a useful and telling glance into some of Roman’s psyche that, while he may be reluctant to admit it, is directly influencing Thomas. 

And that issue of self-worth that is first suggested by the aforementioned “he’s better off without me” gets echoed directly by Roman only a moment later. When he says “one more chance at happiness squandered”, the use of more suggests that he’s not just talking about talking to a cute boy at the mall. He’s talking about all the other chances at happiness that have been squandered--most recently, the callback. The fact that Roman follows it by saying “it’s probably for the best” is an indirect reflection of just a moment ago with Thomas’s “he’s better off without me”. They are, effectively, saying the same thing there. And it strengthens the notion that the comment from Thomas is really rooted in Roman’s self-worth issues.

Which is precisely why Virgil bein the one to shove Thomas forward to talk to the boy is such a big deal. Because Virgil--anxious, panicky (in this video) Virgil--essentially decides no. No, it’s not for the best. That chance of happiness matters, and is worth the perceived risk. What Roman wants matters. And Virgil backs that idea up with decisive, meaningful action more than just words. (I will never not be emotional about it). 

And also... it pays off. And that’s so important for Roman. Because when was the last time that what Roman wanted paid off? I listed his perceived mistakes earlier. None of those, as far as I think Roman would understand, have paid off for him. It’s been a long time since what Roman wanted paid off and was seen as good by others, y’know?

I think that’s why Roman describes Virgil’s shove as ���bravery”. I think it’s more than just Roman saying “I know that was scary for you and thank you for doing it anyway” (though there’s an element to that). I think Roman was afraid. I think calling what Virgil did an act of “bravery” might also be Roman saying “you were braver than I, and I am grateful for that”. Because Roman could have been the one to shove Thomas forward. He didn’t. Virgil did. And for Roman, that’s maybe a sign that someone else still thinks that what he wants can be good and right and worth it. 

(Side tangent that it’s also an interesting reflection back to that first episode when Roman claimed “rejection” as something he fears, and again in Fitting In when he acknowledges that Virgil has “been a little too familiar with rejection nad has had his fill”. Just another layer added to the continuing thematic thread about bravery and fear and rejection). 

Right now, its impossible to know for sure exactly why this video was deemed as “essential viewing” for the broader narrative of Sanders Sides. Maybe Nico will be mentioned in videos going forward, or maybe not. But this video definitely seems to have significance for Roman’s character arc and his continuing development, particularly as it relates to his worsening self-esteem issues. I am beyond excited to see where exactly this leads us, and the broader narrative implications of this key moment for Roman (and Virgil too). 

[onrainynights]

why you can't compare buddie to destiel (from someone who ships both)

this is kind of addressing the recent negativity in the buddie tag, but it's also a collection of my thoughts and reasoning for being buddie-positive despite my experiences with destiel and spn in general. the text of 911 is not really discussed at all, and this is relatively spoiler-free, so if you're thinking of watching 911 I encourage you to read it. if you haven't seen both shows it probably won't make perfect sense, but I wrote this with spn fans who haven't seen 911 in mind, since that's most of my followers (and also seems to be where much of the negativity was coming from) pretty long post under the cut to save your dash

I just want to prepare y'all for the fact that buddie could be the slow burn will they/won't they mlm romance we've been waiting for practically forever.

at this point it's not fair to call it queerbait because where their relationship is now fits the characters and their development. this is not like destiel, where there were many moments over the years that could've ended with them getting together and it would've made sense with the story. buddie right now is in this sweet, wholesome pre-relationship kind of place, which on its own is a compelling dynamic and so fun and good to see. a resolution of it right now would feel out of character—they both still have some development to do before that would feel natural. and so, I don't think we can really call it queerbaiting unless the characters get to that point and there is still no resolution.

also I'd like to point out the overall positivity from the cast when it comes to buddie. both Eddie's and Buck's actors have said (I'm paraphrasing cast statements in this post unless they are in quotations) positive things about the pairing, and Buck's actor has said that he likes the interpretation of Buck as queer, and he would be happy if the writers took his character in that direction. also Eddie's actor with "that's what they all say" when buddie was referred to as a "bromance". Jennifer Love Hewitt, who plays Buck's sister (another main character), is very supportive of buddie, saying she's "rooting for it", that it would be "amazing", she doesn't "see how it couldn't happen one day". this was in response to hearing that a fan insists Buck and Eddie will be a couple. She flat-out said "I think so, too." She jokes about buddie with Buck's and Eddie's actors all the time. Also, my favorite bit from the video of her saying all this, "Let's manifest it together!"

It's safe to say this is a VERY different environment to spn. I don't think I've ever seen a cast this positive about a show's main non-canon queer ship before. NEVER. I think it's safe to say that if/when buddie is canonized, the cast will be just as excited as the fans—at least JLH will be! Add into the fact that the show's PR seems to be leaning into bi buck and buddie right now, it's a VERY different vibe than spn had, definitely. There's no gaslighting of the fans here, at least not that I've seen. also, although 911 has a large casual viewership, I think it's safe to say the GA would not be upset by buddie—there are only 3 serious, long-term romantic relationships involving main characters in this show, and one of them is a lesbian marriage with two children. And yes, the characters are shown being lesbians, it's not just a stated fact; the audience is privy to their relationship (and their interactions with their adorable kids). I think it's safe to say that buddie would go over well with the fans, even the casual viewers (of which there are many). buddie doesn't seem to be a huge divider in fandom like destiel is, either. reactions generally seem to be either "I ship it" or "I don't care either way."

Also I'd like to point out that while yes, it's possible that buddie is only bait (which would be disappointing), there's a reason queerbaiting works. people WANT to be queerbaited, because it's nearly indistinguishable from a slow burn will they/won't they queer romance. queerbaiting allows fans to make theories, create fan content (including fic), and keeps them engaged with the dynamic and the show. fans who are vulnerable to queerbaiting want a slow burn will they/won't they queer romance, which is currently an almost completely untapped market. spn could've tapped it, but despite the huge fandom they did not. there are SO MANY people outside of spn fandom who want a slow burn mlm romance, one that keeps the audience guessing, one that's will they/won't they, one that is not guaranteed, and that is why queerbaiting works so well. the audience doesn't just want the payoff, they also want the build-up. the longer the build-up, the higher the payoff, and the suspense of the build-up is gone if you know from the start that the payoff is definitely coming. that's part of why malec from shadowhunters didn't fully tap this market—there was no question of if, only the question of when (which wasn't really a question either, given there was an episode in season 1 literally titled "malec" when they got together.) the characters were always queer, the show being an adaptation of a book series where they were in a relationship and eventually had children together.

this was why November 5th was such a big deal—fans were so far past the will they/won't they aspect of destiel, firmly believing that destiel would always end as a "won't they" and not a "will they" that when cas confessed his romantic love for dean, destiel trended on Twitter over the US election. you all know that story, but maybe not everyone reading this knows that after Nov. 5 there was a case of hundreds if not thousands of spn fans experiencing love sickness because of the confession scene. the payoff of making destiel fully canon (and reciprocated, in English) would've been huge. fans would've been throwing their money at the c/w.

which leads me to the possibility (this is not at all me saying that I think this happened or even is likely, just that it's one possibility that /could/ have happened) that buddie started as bait, that the writers never intended for them to be a couple, but saw fan reactions to buddie during season 2 and started to lean into it in season 3 (and 4 so far, but it just started so I don't want to make any generalized statements about it) possibly still as bait or maybe not deciding yet if they'll go anywhere with it. and then maybe they saw destiel trending on November 5th, realized just how BIG the market for a slow burn will they/won't they mlm romance is, and said "hey, we already have the foundations for one of those. why not go for it and draw in all those viewers who clearly want one so badly?"

if buddie goes canon, because the cast and PR have been so positive about it, unlike spn, and because of the text of the show itself, the show's creatives could VERY EASILY claim that they were never baiting, that it was all an intentional slow burn will they/won't they romance from the beginning, and most people would believe them; there isn't really any evidence to the contrary, although I am sure there would be at least a few fans convinced it started as queerbaiting, and there might not be any evidence to refute that, either.

the point is that 911 is currently sitting on a gold mine. if they play their cards right, and execute buddie well, they will monopolize this market that old straight white men serving as network executives have failed so far to really tap into. they queerbait without the payoff, which gives the show a reputation among those in the market who haven't seen it, guaranteeing they will never watch it. shows in this vein: sherlock (huge reputation for queerbaiting and a finale fans didn't like) and spn (huge reputation for queerbaiting and a finale fans didn't like). spn got so, so close with cas's confession but then continued to gaslight its fans, and PR did not lean into destiel AT ALL. if 911 did buddie? the PR team would be all over it. it would be a moneymaker, big time, and Fox knows it. if buddie, or even just bi buck, went canon, tumblr would be all over it. viewership for the show, which is already impressive, would skyrocket. 911 would monopolize this market, because fans wary of queerbaiting would watch it with the knowledge that the payoff is there, and there really wouldn't be a competitor until other shows saw the success of buddie and followed suit with their own pairings, and given the fact that the market specifically wants /slow burn/ queer romances, that might take a couple years. that puts 911 in a really good position, where suddenly the fandom of the show, not just the GA, is very large and likely very dedicated to the show. the success of canon buddie might just change the landscape of TV in the coming years, showing execs that while queerbaiting does work, actually going through with it is really where the money is. 911 would not just monopolize the market for a while; it would pioneer it.

if buddie never goes canon, I would probably be a bit disappointed at the wasted potential, but unless the characters get to that point where canon buddie seems like the most logical outcome and they /don't/ go for it, I won't be truly upset because I don't think it's fair to claim its queerbaiting until then. I can't tell you how likely it is that buddie will be canon at some point, but it seems FAR more likely than destiel /ever/ did, and we ended up getting cas's confession in the end. I have hope, despite being hurt so badly by spn. 911 is a genuinely great show with some fantastic writing, and they don't leave chekov's gun unfired, unlike spn.

really, it comes down to this: if Jennifer Love Hewitt is allowed to clown for buddie, then so am I, and I'll enjoy this show—which is amazing even without canon buddie—while I apply my clown makeup.

[xochitai]

So, I’ve been scrolling through people’s blogs for way too long, and I saw a bunch of posts talking about season 6—specifically the colony plotline and the issues with it—and it reminded me of what I thought was going to happen when the show was still airing.

I had a theory: what if it was Haggar all along?

Let me explain:

Just to get this out of the way, I came up with this either in the space between s6 and s7 when we were getting clips from s7 or after s7 aired. My memory of certain scenes are very fuzzy and I don’t remember the specific episodes where things I am going to be refencing happened so apologies in advance if I misplace things in the timeline or remember certain details incorrectly.

So this all began with the clip where Haggar remembers herself and she reverts back to her Altean appearance. We see her remove her hood and get a clear view of her full face, which looks very similar to Lotor’s. And this isn’t just the angle or a character being off-model one time, it’s just how she looks [besides, they wouldn’t be the first parent-child combo to share a face]. She also has white hair, roughly the same length, that is a bit choppy and gets fluffier on the bottom.

We know from the scene were Allura disguises herself as a Galra soldier that Alteans with the ability to shapeshift can change their height, build, and color. Would it be so difficult to believe that someone like Haggar, who is very gifted with quintessence, could modify things like their vocal cords as well? She knows how Lotor speaks well enough. And if it is beyond her abilities, she could use a voice modifier. 

He always wears the same thing and styles his hair the same way whenever we see him as an adult, which adds to how easy it would be for her to copy his appearance. Her markings would show, but she can cover those.

It would also explain how he got that big Galran ship to transport Alteans to the second colony and how he was working with Galra scientists so nonchalantly.

The Ship

Lotor doesn’t seem to have much of his own stuff. In his introductory episode, somebody says something along the lines of, ”he fights on the front lines with his men,” but we don’t see him with any troops. At most, it’s just him and his generals. He has those smaller personal ships in the beginning [which could technically count as a fleet] and later the sincline ships, but that’s about it. So where does he get this large Galran ship from, and how did he move it around without drawing attention?

The Scientists

[I’m not sure if they count more as doctors or medical assistants or lab assistants, but for simplicity’s sake, I'm calling them scientists]

We see people in uniforms similar to the one Ulaz wears in Shiro’s flashback. Lotor is incredibly secretive and paranoid, to the point where he killed Narti, the person he entrusted with Kova, in an instant when he figured out Haggar was spying on them through her. He didn’t tell Allura about the colony, even when they were both alone in Orionde. He has been trying to keep Haggar and/or Zarkon from finding out about this for thousands of years. So why would he work with multiple Galra scientists that work under Haggar and bring them to the very place he has been trying to hide?

For Haggar though? Obtaining a ship would be simple. She has Zarkon’s favor and it’s implied he gives her whatever she wants most of the time. As for the scientists, they work for her and with her abilities, she could easily keep them quiet.

And now, for the thing that kickstarted this whole colony plot in the first place: the harvested quintessence. Why would Lotor be harvesting it this way in the first place? From his time on Ven’tar’s planet, we know he found a better way to harvest that both increased yields and didn’t damage the planet. So why would he make the jump straight to harvesting from people, Alteans no less? Unless he was forced, it seems strange. But for Haggar, who is obsessed with quintessence, and who we later see has no problem manipulating and sacrificing other Alteans, it seems like something she would have no qualms about.

The generals might be a problem, but we don’t know how much they know. Besides those scientists, it seems like he goes there by himself or with sentries most of the time. [Perhaps he brought Narti once and when Haggar took over her mind, that is how she found out?]

Also the visual parallel of the Alteans all lined up in the pods and the clone Shiros all lined up in theirs.

Obviously, my theory turned out to be Incorrect and it definitely had some holes [though so did the show], but I thought it would be fun to share and finally let it see the light of day :-)

[secret-rendezvous1d]

“you did what?”

hello, hi!

surprise, i guess? haha. i’m struggling to sleep so i’m letting my imagination run a little wild on google docs and i gained a little inspiration from an episode i’ve just watched of criminal minds and this came out. a little fluff in the workplace. a huge contrast to the previously posted story, full of smut, which you will find linked here.

like, reblog and send in some feedback, please. it’s greatly appreciated and it helps me work out what you want to see and what you are after. if you want something specific then do let me know! i’d love to try and write something for you.

thank you. enjoy.

-

“you did what?” spencer reid x female reader (reader insert imagine) word count; 1.5k

* if you haven’t watched criminal minds then this does contain some spoilers to the show that you may want to dodge if you are thinking of starting the series up. *

summary; when the bau arrive home from a case, spencer has something exciting to tell yn.

-

As soon as YN had gotten word of the jet touching ground, the time around her seemed to slow down.

All she wanted was to see her boyfriend after a long day of doing nothing around the office. Having been injured in the field during their last case, with a gunshot wound to her right shoulder, YN had been given strict orders to stay away from any activity until her arm had almost completely healed. Hotch made sure she wasn’t placed actively on a case, using the help of Garcia to keep her grounded in Virginia whilst they flew across the borders, making it clear that she would still be on some use when she wasn’t with them in person. Something Spencer could agree one and was adamant that she followed orders because, even though they were vulnerable to any kind of violence and injury when working a case with a dangerous unknown subject and there was always a likelihood of getting seriously injured or caught in a predicament that caused onsight panic, it scared him to see her get hit in a crossfire. If he had it his way, he’d have requested that they both took their holiday leave so he could help her back to health at home - but he knew, deep down, it wasn’t necessary.

The ding of the elevator was enough to calm the butterflies in her belly.

Morgan was the first to leave the confined space and gave YN a side-hug, being careful not to jolt her arm with his sudden movement, before he rushed away and disappeared round the corner. Hotch gave her warming and welcoming smile and a subtle nod, which she returned in his favour, and she watched him walk into the unit whilst undoing the button of his sui jacket and carrying his briefcase in his free hand. Blake had given her uninjured shoulder a squeeze on the way passed with a knowing look in her eye, a twitch in her eyebrow directed behind her and had YN looking at the elevator. JJ and Spencer were the last to leave the elevator, deep in a conversation with Rossi, that YN could only work out was his time in the marines from the way he was talking to passionately.

“Hey, you. You’ll never guess what your boy wonder did today,” JJ grinned, squeezing YN into a gentle hug before releasing her, allowing Rossi to come along and show his appreciation of his welcome by squeezing her elbows. Squeezing one a little softer than the other to not add injury to an existing one, “genius here delivered a baby.”

And with that, the two of them had left Spencer and her alone in the hallway.

“You did what?”

YN stood stunned in her place, barely able to move any part of her body nor close her mouth that had gawped open in surprise, watching and feeling him step closer to her. His tattered trainers squeaking on the tiled floor beneath him with each step he took in her direction, his eyes never leaving the sling that her arm had been tucked into for the last few days, guilt sinking to the bottom of his gut because he probably could have prevented her from being in the pain she was in by simply following her when she disappeared to check a room and spooked the unsub who had been hiding. His body stopped before her, almost awkwardly and like they hadn’t been dating for almost 6 years, almost like they were new to a workplace romance and didn’t want anyone to see them so soft towards each other.

“Yeah, I- uh,” he blushed softly and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, something YN had found out to be one of the tics that showed up when he felt a little under pressure and anxious over a situation, “I delivered a baby.”

“You- you helped a woman give birth? In the field? A baby?”

YN had a million questions running through her mind; how the hell did he end up in a situation where he had to help a victim give birth to a baby? How was it safe enough for a woman to be giving birth if she was surrounded by police cars and police units and weapons all around with a dangerous unsub so close to the scene? Why did he decide he was the best one in the team to become a temporary midwife for the moment? When did he learn so much about labour and delivery?

She wished she had been there to watch as Spencer took control of the situation whilst keeping everyone in and around the scene calm and collected, a slight sense of panic in every word he spoke and every action he played, his mind tunnel-visioned on making sure the baby came out healthy and crying for the touch of its warm and nurturing mother. His calming tone being of good use, letting his hand go through the abuse of a woman taking her pain out on squeezing through her contractions, not letting anything get too out of control so that the baby was born into a room that had only, minutes before, been a scene that no baby should have been brought into.

“Yeah, yeah. I, uh, I helped a woman give birth to a baby out in the field,” he repeated, his arm falling down to his side, the leather strap of his go-bag slipping down to his elbow, something he corrected and hoisting it back up onto his shoulder, slipping it over his neck to keep it in a more secure place around his body, “something my eidetic memory will had trouble forgetting.”

YN snorted and rolled her eyes, stepping forward and wrapping her free arm around his waist, welcoming him home with a warm hug and a little intimacy that had gone missing over the last few days; he’d been on a case and YN had been the one left behind to work alongside Garcia on the computers, for obvious reasons. A time she took advantage of and used to complete files with deadlines she had missed because they piled up on the corner of her desk and almost towered her standing figure, that she couldn’t do as quickly as she could with two working arms.

“I read a lot of books about labour and delivery when JJ was pregnant with Henry. You know, just in case she went into labour somewhere where we couldn’t get her to a hospital in time. We needed someone on the team who knew what they were doing so she was doing it correctly,” he explained, arms tight around her waist and a kiss pressed to her forehead after he had concluded his sentence, inhaling the scent of her hair that hadn’t been used with the shampoo that held her usual scent - it was his shampoo and he’d know that scent anywhere and every now and then, keeping it hidden from Spencer, she liked to used his soap and his shampoo to smell like him because she missed his presence around her. “I’d like to think I’d get a job as a midwife almost instantly now. I have experience.”

“At least we’ll be prepared if we ever had to go through it personally,” she hummed, looking up at him and resting her chin upon his chest, his neck craning back so he could press a kiss to her lips and shake his head with a smile. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion though so she was unsure of how he truly felt on the subject of having children. Her fingers dug underneath the hem of his buttoned shirt, fingertips touching the naked skin of his hip, forefinger drawing circles into the soft flesh beneath, “what? We might have a baby and the story of daddy delivering them would definitely be one to tell at Christmas time when they’re all-.”

“We will,” he interrupted, squeezing her hips before releasing her body from his hold, “we will have a baby. I’m not even going to doubt that.”

Not yet, of course.

They had perfect jobs that they loved to be actively involved in, they had a life they were enjoying as just the two of them, they had an single-bed apartment that didn’t feel like a good fit for raising a baby, and they didn’t feel they had enough life experience to even think about trying for a baby. They may have been dating for six years but, in the last two, they’d only just learnt to live with one another, figuratively and literally.

“A baby?” Garcia gasped loudly from behind the two of them, a shocked yet excited expression written all across her face, coffee dribbling down the side of her coffee mug and droplets landing on the floor beside her feet, dressed in the brightest pair of pink high heels she could find in her wardrobe. “Are you guys-”

“No,” YN blurted out, and turned around at her sudden presence, shaking her head quickly with a giggle, “no, we’re not pregnant. Garcia, we’re not.”

“Damn it,” she frowned, her body sinking closer to the floor in dismay, “I was hoping for a new godchild to spoil.”

“One day,” Spencer smiled, dipping his head down and hiding the smile within the fuzz of YN’s air that had become a little messy over the stress of the day, “one day, Garcia. One day.”

[baebeyza]

Kingdom thoughts - Bae edition

Not gonna make individual posts this time, I watched the show at 1-3 am after sitting in a tight space for 30 hours with almost no sleep.

Just gonna share my bingo card and my thoughts under the cut! ~

No spoiler thoughts: show overall gets a 8/10 from me!

A little loose with the definition of personality for Unicron, but I did like the few scenes he had :D

Thoughts:

1. BW Megatron

Honestly? He worked. Good character, understandable motivations, nice use of references, you could really feel his affections for the Silver Megatron and how desperate he was about winning the future he fought for.

10/10, good german voice work, epic design, nice shows of the fact that he is still kind of an ass, he was STRONG, showed that he can be boss when needed, nothing to complain about, also YES, T-REX HEADPAT! xD

2. Dinobot

My brain-deprived head had trouble making sense of his actions, but overall it was fine, they could have needed more time for him though. And unlike most other BW references, I didn't like them with his character - the refs they used from "Code of Hero"...ike, that BW episode has a lot of build-up plot-wise and character-wise. The quotes matter a lot in that episode.

It just doesn't fit or have the same amount of weight as they thought they would in Kingdom. The honour quote didn't even make much sense context-wise.

But overall, nice enough. 8/10

3. Primal

10/10, loved him so much. Every scene with him was epic, the way he was written was great - Snarky, sarcastic at times, far less patient and calm than Prime, still a great leader who cares and doesn't take any shit! <3

4. Prime

I do love his story of WFC overall - he made one mistake that he admits to, goes through a lot to fix it and he did fix it and came out with a better future for it. Loved his last moment with Elita, loved the moments with the Allspark, and I loved his dynamic with Primal! 8/10

5. Megatron

He went unhinged as fuck, was still regal and sweet, loved a lot about him! As always, the angst he has about doing what he does was great! I especially loved the scene in the forest when the disk told him that he got lost, tried to go back to look a the road he took from another angle, but he refused to do it.

He went his way until he got defeated, and Starscream being the one who finally got him out of his one-way route was so sweet! 15/10

6. Goddamn disappointments

So, coming back to Megatron...I think I explained my problem well on discord:

7. Mainly comes to my problem with MAGNUS...yall know I am a MagsMegs shipper, but they could have fixed the problem with Megatron's angst coming to a closure with having him have a last moment with Magnus, just like Prime had with Elita.

It is clear that he feels guilty and horrible for the Death of Magnus, similar to how Prime felt responsible for everything else.

And Prime got closure at the end, while Megatron did not.

He should have had a moment of choosing to fight Galvs and Nemesis because he realised that his past deeds were wrong, and doing that with Magnus would have been a good representation of it all.

Like, I get that he might have gotten over his pride and selfishness which is representated by him choosing to save Cybertron over saving his own future, but still...!

They gave him such amazing angst, but just didn't end it in a satisfying way! Let him have peace with it in some way!

Oof.

7. Six episodes are not enough

I've been saying this since Siege - plot is good, characters are good, but in neither season have six episodes been enough to really flesh it out real good.

WFC is plot upon plot with no filler, and filler is usually needed to show give the characters more personality and show-case them in some way. Show us what makes them the character they are, what makes them unique.

WFC didn't have that, and you are left with having to draw the characterisations out of their plot relevance. And if you aint plot-relevant, you almost got no personality at all.

As far as I know, this isn't a WFC-specific problem though, as many shows have decided that 5-8 episodes are enough and we don't need more.

And I guess some stories manage with that limited time - WFC did not.

I still loved it, but they could have made it much better if they had more time.

Anyway, expect some art and stupid comics in the future - I will defend this show's and my own honour by contributing to it with content! <3

[goth-albino-angel]

Yugiri's smile is everything. She has so many of them and they all mean different things. When she's relaxed, when she's excited, when she's confused, when she has no clue what's going on but everyone else is happy so she's happy, when she's relieved, when she's proud... She has so many different smiles and if Tumblr didn't have the 10 image rules, I would absolutely gush about every single one of them in detail. Unfortunately, if I do that, all of those posts will probably be eaten out of the tag, so instead, here are my top 10 favorite Yugiri smiles so far, images included. (Pre-Revenge episode 9)

10. Season One, Episode 2: The First Smile/ 9. Season One, Episode 10: The Sentimental Smile

Episode 2 is the first time we ever see Yugiri smile. Before this, she seemed relatively nonplussed or generally disinterested in pretty much everything going on. Even though she was in a different time period with complete strangers and a madman demanding her to be something she has no knowledge of, she was fairly calm. Then the first time we see her smile, it's when she sees something completely familiar. Her own face. Not only that, but she directs that smile toward the character that is going to become basically her little sister. The first one means so much and it's so important.

Within the same vein, her smile to Kotaro in episode 10 is one during an emotionally heavy moment. It's the first time he's hit an actual snag in his plans. Sakura's singular focus on the Arpino show rather than on the bigger picture of the group as a whole would have been a massive roadblock had she not realized her mistake.

Yugiri is the only one who properly realizes the reason they were sent into the mountains in the first place. Instead of simply sitting on the information, she's proactive about it and actually goes to discuss the problem with Kotaro. She wants to understand his reasoning so that she might be able to help him. And when she turns toward him, she also gives him the observations she's witnessed throughout her new life. This smile may be low on my list of favorites, but it's still unbelievably important.

...Also, when they released the preview image of this smile, my brain short-circuited for ten minutes, so it had to make it onto the list regardless.

8. Season Two, Episode One: The Professional Smile

This smile isn't much out of the ordinary for what we've come to expect of Yugiri, but it's on here because this was our first look at Yugiri after basically two years of very little. None of us knew how the group would come back, how the writing team had incorporated the unexpected pandemic, how things would play out, or what would be happening. The Promo showed Tae's hand flying off to knock off Sakura's head, but as 2018 displayed, the promos can't always be trusted. This showed that, even in this new world where she's only been awake for a year, she's putting her skills to use and working just as hard as the others. Thanks to the conversation from Episode 10 of the first season, we know she was trained as a geisha which would make service work much easier than it would be for the other girls.

I don't have too much to say on this one, to be honest. I do like that she's in softer lighting, as opposed to the others who were all surrounded by harsh lighting on their season two introductions. The softer lighting lends itself well to the lack of pigment and coloration in the girls' makeup, allowing Yugiri to look like she has some color, even if she still looks somewhat pale and tired. It doesn't give her quite the same sickly look the others have at their jobs. The red dress? 100/10. Perfect decision.

7. Season One, Episode Five: The Proud Smile

SHE. DOES. GYMNASTICS. She has every right to this smile! I did the math for this specific part of the episode and Yugiri got third place. The judges liked her rope aerobics so much, they shot her all the way to third place even though her distance was zero meters. It wouldn't have gotten her interviewed, but it would have at least put Franchouchou at the forefront. I still applaud Tae snagging first place, but Yugiri deserves some praise. She really did go face first into the mud on a bike and said, "Never again." She's so proud of herself. I'll be gushing about the actual gymnastics part in a different post a little later, too, but she definitely deserves to be proud of herself. I'm really gay...

6. Season One, Episode Four: The Cute Smile

Originally, this was just going to be me doing some keysmash version of a squeal or something, but there's something I'd like to draw attention to. I'm pretty sure that, by this point, Franchouchou only knows two songs. Yomigaere, which was supposed to be performed in episode 2, and Mezame Returner, which is what's being performed here. Of these two, Yugiri has more experience with this one, but from what the audience had been shown, it wasn't good experience.

Memorizing the lyrics would have been the easy part for her. It's that a good portion of the dance practice was also spent helping Lily get the steps down and potentially calming her frustrations. Then the performance itself would have been a complete disaster if Junko and Ai hadn't gotten over themselves at the last minute to finally help.

This is the first successful performance of Mezame Returner we're witnessing and it's clear the group's had more practice since then. You can see how excited and happy Yugiri is here because this one is actually going well. They had a bit more time to prepare, the two lead roles were actually involved this time, and the audience also was clearly enjoying the performance. She's so happy and it's just so heart-warming to see. Yes, even with the CGI. Don't @ me, she looks adorable.

5. Season One, Episode Seven: The Sassy Smile

This one also was just going to be a squealing keysmash thing, but again, I have something to point out. Look how much more confident she is now that Junko and Ai have, once again, gotten over themselves. Yugiri sees the effect that Junko stepping in had on the others and just like the rest of the group, her movements are more relaxed and free.

It's more obvious, actually, if you look at the way the other girls are moving directly after Junko helps Ai up in comparison to how Yugiri is moving. She did a spin while waiting for Sakura and Lily to finish their segment, and she could be cheeky during her own. She sensed that the tension had mostly dissolved and because of that, she allowed herself to relax and could properly throw herself into the performance. When she throws out this smile and wink, it's not actually directed at the audience. It's Yugiri telling the others that they've got this without breaking the performance.

4. Season Two, Episode Four: The Gentle Smiles

I put both of these here because Yugiri's just... so... caring? So much of what she does is passive that you don't realize just how much work she puts into relieving the stress from the other girls until long after the problem has been resolved.

In the first, she's speaking to Sakura. No doubt, Yugiri probably noticed how worried Sakura was about Junko. Even though Sakura was trying not to let the others catch on just how anxious she really was, Yugiri still knew that something was bothering Sakura as well as Junko. Yugiri knew that the key to easing Junko's mind lay in placating Sakura first. She's seen what happens to them all when they fall apart and she wants to avoid that at all costs. So, Yugiri lifts Sakura's spirits and gives her back the fire and determination to make a great performance.

In the second, Yugiri is watching Junko eat. Unlike the others, it's clear Yugiri knows that Junko is in much higher spirits than when last they saw her. Junko would likely have still been a stuttering, quivering mess otherwise, but she wasn't stuttering and her actions were purposeful and self-assured. Yugiri is very observant. She would have caught on that something had happened to make Junko feel better. What makes this smile even better is that she's not the least bit disappointed. The reason she made dinner was to help Junko, but she doesn't view the meal as a waste of time. She's so focused on other people, that she's happy Junko is feeling better at all and even offers her different platters to help keep her mood up.

These are high on the list for two reasons. One, they're a show of just how much Yugiri does for her girls. Two, YUGIRI COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS HEADCANON CONFIRMED BITCHEEEESSS!!! I GOT ONE RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!!

3. Season Two, Episode Six: The Affectionate Smile

I will be completely honest, I have no idea why this one is as high as it is. I admit, I did spend three hours replaying this single thirty second scene because it's really sweet and Yugiri and Tae don't interact very often, so seeing Yugiri not only be worried for Tae, but also be immediately reassured that Tae would be fine was just something my heart didn't know it needed until it had it. The sheer level of affection Yugiri shows toward Tae is too adorable. Especially since Yugiri usually only has moments like those with Sakura and, to a lesser extent, Lily. This smile's really cute, it's in the middle of a wholesome scene, and it made me love both Yugiri and Tae that much more.

2. Season One, Episode Three: The Excited Smile

Once again, an entry that was going to be a simple squealing keysmash until I realized there was something to point out here as well. This is the first smile we ever see from Yugiri that's genuinely enthusiastic. She has plenty of them, especially during her performances, but this is our first time seeing her fully incorporate herself into the group as an actual member and actually look excited to do something with the others. This was an omen of adorable things to come and damn did it deliver.

Honorable Mentions.

I'm only going to touch on each of these briefly because to be honest, there are a LOT of smiles I could've picked.

The first one is from episode 6 when the group is talking about their very first meet-and-greet. Lily asks Yugiri if she's keeping up okay, and Yugiri remarks that she's taking things as they come. This was a small look into the kind of character she is. As I mentioned before, she's very passive in the way she operates, but that's to the benefit of those she cares for. This is her admitting that she doesn't want to be a problem and it's just sweet that even though Lily is worried about her, Yugiri's still highkey thinking about everyone else.

To the right is a shot of Yugiri during Electric Returner. This one is just the squealing keysmash because she looks so genuinely ecstatic, it's contagious. She's NO DAMN CLUE what happened or why they sound so different, but she is absolutely living her best second life.

The next shot comes from the beginning of Yomigaere and is somewhat of a repeat of the above. She's excited to perform for such a big crowd, she's glad Sakura finally agreed to actually participate, and she's living her best second life. Whoever animates Yugiri's CG model? I love you. I want to send you a gift basket. She's always so happy during performances.

Then comes her smile after the group finds out Sakura's memories are back. She's just glad Sakura, her Sakura, has come back to them, that she accepts her crap luck and is still willing to stay. For Yugiri, this goes under the list of Best Possible Outcomes. Her family is whole again and she's so relieved.

Last in the top row is the first full frontal shot we get of Yugiri in the Saga Jihen music video. She's so unbelievably adorable here. I wish I could've gotten her first expression, but the curtain was still rising and without photoshop, I'm not editing an image to the degree needed to get her whole face lightened. Point is, she's cute and everyone deserves to see her adorable face on the first song she got to be center for.

First on the bottom row is Yugiri looking apologetic from episode 8 of Revenge. She's so cute. It was an honest mistake and she had no way of knowing the paper belonged to Kiichi. No doubt, that was probably why she offered to help him rewrite them later.

Next is how cute she looks in big sister mode. She's wiping the mud from Kiichi's cheeks and is taking such care with him. Throughout the entire episode, she treats him like a little kid and it's likely because her role was big sister for so long that she doesn't know how not to treat him that way. It really does shed light on just how kind she is to everyone, though, that she doesn't even think about her dirty kimono and focuses on cleaning him up a little first.

Then we have her smiling at Kiichi as she remarks on how beautiful his dream of reviving Saga is. She even says she hopes it comes true. His dream means something to her. She can't even fully see it, he can't even fully see it, but they don't need to. What Itou didn't understand this whole time is something Yugiri understood immediately just from listening to Kiichi talk. They don't need to see it in their minds, all they need is to feel it in their hearts, and that's something Yugiri knows.

And lastly on the honorable mentions, because this post is already super long, Yugiri smiling while she's cooking for her guests. It was a tossup between this or the pinwheel because it's just really nice that Yugiri can simply enjoy mundane things. I chose this one because it's a direct contrast to how she was at the beginning. Before, she ate with a disinterested expression, but now, she's cooking for guests rather than just for herself. The lift in her mood is obvious, and it's something so small but so heartwarming, I couldn't resist.

I would've put the pinwheel moment anyway, but unfortunately, as a com major, formatting and design are everything and an extra picture on the top or bottom without a balancer would've thrown the whole thing off. Maybe next time.

NOW FOR NUMBER ONE

1. Season Two, Episode Eight: The Softest Smile

This should have been expected. There's something genuinely touching about the fact that Yugiri really does give her everything, even to complete strangers. These girls barely know her, everyone in town barely knows her, but because her dance students suggested Yugiri go out and actually experience, Yugiri gives it actual thought. She doesn't dismiss them, she doesn't deride them, she doesn't make them feel foolish or anything like that. She treats their suggestion the same way she would if it had come from a close friend. And she does actually take them up on it.

Later, we see her come into contact with Kiichi to demonstrate that even full-on strangers aren't exempt from her kind heart, but this means more. All we know is that these girls take Yugiri's dance class, and from the way they speak when we first meet them, it's clear Yugiri has a professional wall between herself and those she instructs. But she still treats them as she would the girls back in Shimabara. It's proof that, even in the past, Yugiri really was just as kind-hearted as in the present. It's a show don't tell kind of thing that just speaks so deeply to the writer in me. I love this smile. It's everything. Her smiles are everything. She's everything.

[cauldronofmorning]

Okay so.... I've encountered your tags about "the talking scene between trapper and hawk in dr pierce and dr hyde the stuttering the grabbing the not blinking how another of hawk's coping methods has bitten the dust#trapper being soft parental but annoyed and how he needs to check out while hawkeye needs to save the entire world"... if you have time, Go off! I would love that 2000 word essay and your opinions.

It’s a bit of a mess and would probably get a C- if I handed it in, but! Dr Pierce and Dr Hyde and how it shows the difference between Hawkeye’s and Trapper’s coping methods.

Context! Alan Alda wrote the episode, mental health is important to him (not to psychoanalyze an actor, but he had depression before the show and his mom was schizophrenic) and there’s a quote on how Hawkeye didn’t actually change much in the eleven years, just had his coping methods beaten down.

So throughout season one, Hawkeye and Trapper have mostly been ignoring the trauma of a war. Hawkeye naturally ended a movie with a speech about propaganda (Yankee Doodle Doctor) and Tommy tells them (Sometimes You Hear The Bullet) about a kid who should have been the blonde hero in a war movie actually dying and not hearing a bullet, forcing them to actually quietly think about it. But for the most part, they can distract themselves with booze, pranks and women, and Hawkeye can still draw a straight line between his tenuous sanity pre-war and the place he’s in.

There’s also two important episodes in season two before Dr Pierce and Dr Hyde, that make the war more personal for both of them. The first is Radar’s Report, where a scared prisoner contaminates Trapper’s patient by knocking the blood over. Trapper’s sulkier throughout the episode, obsessed with how it could have been okay if it weren’t for that incident, and less indulging of Hawkeye’s girl of the week problem. His patient doesn’t make it, and he makes a beeline to the POW’s tent, maybe would have killed him if Hawkeye hadn’t bought him back to reality. “That’s not what we’re about.”

The second is For The Good Of The Outfit. This one has a village bombed by American military and Hawkeye/Trapper run afoul of previously decent sounding generals trying to shut them up from talking about it, including passive aggressive threats to send them to the front, and specifically to Hawkeye, intercepting letters to his dad. It’s okay by the end of the episode, but he’s still livid when he finds this out.

In comes Dr Pierce and Dr Hyde. The episode starts with Hawkeye already slightly dissociated from a long shift, thinking it hasn’t ended, and Trapper having to gently take him by the arm and guiding him out of the OR, telling him he was taking the chest cases “like he was their only hope”. Hawkeye wanting to save everyone keeps popping up throughout the episode; here, when he’s stumbling into Henry and his ego filtered through deprivation making him think he’s the only one who can do chest cases, the scene I’m getting to, and the end where Trapper and Henry sum him up.

As much as Trapper is “let’s get drunk to deal, okay?” kind of comfort in comparison to BJ who can actually talk about emotions, if not necessarily knowing the best way to deal with them (Hawkeye has a type and it’s repressed blondes), he’s soft with Hawkeye – gentle touches, firmly telling him to go to sleep, indulging that chopper noise is just thunder – until he figures the best way to get his friend to rest is to sedate him behind his back.

The thing with Trapper is that while he might be a bad husband, cheating on his wife with no shame (but he keeps bringing up that Hawkeye is more perverted so that might make it easier for him to deal with, see the couple of times he glares at Hawk for flirting with Henry/a male patient, Divided We Stand, The Trial Of Henry Blake, Check Up, Life With Father, Adam’s Ribs), he’s a good father who ran into a minefield for Kim and tried to go AWOL for Cathy and Becky. That’s not to say he always treats Hawkeye like a child, that would be weird considering how much flirting they do, but when the other man is manic or badly affected, Trapper’s first instinct is to be parental.

After Hawkeye in his doubletalky way admits to Radar he’s compulsive and psychotic (sidenote:  his symptoms of strong emotions, not being able to think clearly and too many spirals to name actually bear that diagnosis out, instead of just using the word when one thinks another is behaving badly), he wanders around the camp like a ghost, making notes about corpsmen with guns and nurses checking patients in post-op.

As Hawkeye often does, whenever he finds something out, or thinks he has in this instance, he has to tell his live-in boyfriend of the season immediately, and if he can’t sleep then neither can anyone else. He sits on Trapper’s bed, extremely close and not blinking, and jostles him awake. Already Trapper’s slightly panicky, as no matter what he says about being the mellow one, any time there’s shouting or loud noise in the swamp, he always wakes up with a start. Even when he sees it’s Hawkeye it takes him a few seconds to process and get back into his role.

Hawkeye’s very sad and very quiet. For the past seven minutes, even though he’s dissociated, exhausted and not doing well, he’s still trying to do his normal thing of turning his anger sideways and being snarky or being a clown bottom for the gaggle of nurses. Going back to one of Trapper’s good qualities is that he’s a decent parent, Hawkeye can regress emotionally into being like a ten year old (incidentally, the age when he had the most trauma pre-Korea, with Billy, his mom dying, guilt over not wanting dad to remarry and at some point losing his virginity), both for funny like in Picture This and for sadness.

So he’s finally noticed that he’s in a war zone and he’s too tired to make jokes about it or distract himself from it. Trapper already sounds frustrated but still listens, telling him to go bed before he drives himself crazy. There’s been a few takes that Trapper would get sick of later Hawkeye, and given how much they really can’t talk to each other that often, even just a mention of Hawkeye’s will when he has to go to the front makes Trapper shut down and Hawkeye cover with a joke, that’s probably true. They’re both messes, but for now Trapper can give Hawkeye someone to lean on.

“If I thought I could stop it just by going to sleep, don’t you think I would try?” Hawkeye does a twitch of the head, still unblinking, and that’s just really asking Trapper to understand and take him seriously. Also the wording, he’s not saying he can stop thinking about it just by going to sleep, or stop feeling anything just by closing his eyes, although both of those are implied. He makes it very clear later on (Letters, Preventive Medicine, Blood Brothers) that he feels like he’s as bad as the war – god and martyr complex combined – and if he can’t fight against/blame everything on that then it’s time for some self loathing.

Trapper does actually pay attention and gives him some advice. Definitely not great advice, but advice nonetheless, to close his eyes when things get unbearable, and to keep checking out when it keeps happening. This can’t work for Hawkeye, who’s had a guilt complex ever since he was a child, but it’s how Trapper copes. The next episode when Kim’s mother turns up for the boy, after a time of being actually open, he goes right to dismissive snark. Plus in season three’s Mad Dogs and Servicemen, another one on how differently Trapper and Hawkeye deal with things, he shrugs that he pretends he’s not there all day along.

Hawkeye’s stuttering a bit at this point. Words are important to him, it’s why you should probably leave him a note even if you’re a man who 1) wants to forget about Korea as soon as he arrives in Boston but won’t 2) wants desperately to believe he’s straight but isn’t 3) cares through physical touch and can’t think of what to say for seventy two hours. Wordplay is important to him too, and he admits to Sidney in the finale that his brain thinks too fast. Obviously exhaustion is going to put his brain and mouth out of sync, and considering how he sounds like he’s going to cry in the mess tent when he can’t even get words out to Frank Burns, it makes him all that more helpless.

“Somebody, and it wasn’t you or me, started this war.” It’s the “whoever the them, we were always us” of it all. It’ll be more important in the third season, and what happens in Welcome To Korea, but Hawkeye has taken it for granted that he and Trapper will stay co-dependent no matter what happens or who they come up against or how their time is running out. Much how he probably didn’t tell Trapper about the abandonment trauma he’s suffered before, Trapper always reassures him to come back soon, or no charge for leaning on him, or it isn’t a Christmas goodbye, and doesn’t want to share real feelings.

Beyond that scene, with Hawkeye dragging himself off to be a hero, assume that everyone who tries to take care of him really just wants to sleep with him, and cry while singing, Trapper tries to sedate him while he’s not looking. He’s tried being parental, he’s tried the repression advice, it’s time to be passive aggressive for Hawkeye’s own good. Or what he thinks is Hawkeye’s own good. It’s not especially great on Trapper’s part, but a similar thing happens reversed in Mail Call, where a drunk Trapper tries to go AWOL and as soon as he’s distracted laughing at Frank, Hawkeye locks his bag away so Trapper won’t be tempted again. Both of them are repressed messes who can’t really talk to each other.

When that sedation attempt ends up in Frank falling over, Trapper goes to Henry to be the worried macho boyfriend. Like with the only comedic dancing allowed and not the time in Officers Only when a genuine offer gets turned down, being protective over Hawkeye where he can hear can only happen when it’s for fun/likely no real danger.

At the end, Trapper and Henry sit by Hawkeye’s bed when he’s finally asleep and talk about him. Kindly, but they know he’s unstable with a hero complex. Like Mulcahy said in season eleven, the camp has a lot of experience with not dealing with reality, and even Trapper says in Iron Guts Kelly that one man’s reality is another man’s fantasy. Nobody has the capability to talk about this yet, and Sidney and Hawkeye only really become friends in O.R. Hawkeye will wake up and he and Trapper will pretend this never happened.

When Adam’s Ribs comes around, and Hawkeye has a manic episode over needing to eat something that isn’t liver or fish, Trapper and Henry are again the ones looking after him, comparing him to their kids and Trapper in the background both snarking over Hawkeye’s slippage in sanity and looking out for him. It’s not as quite high stakes as Dr Pierce and Dr Hyde, but they’re still worried about him.

To end this out, Trapper and Hawkeye and mental health is a fun thing to look at. Neither of them are particularly emotionally intelligent yet, Hawkeye just kind of a self absorbed mess and Trapper finding it easier to be a reassuring rock and keep his own struggling to himself, and they keep things from each other while also taking past each other, but they comfort each other with jokes and distractions that only they can understand. The repressed clowns are trying, even if it does all end with a borrowed kiss and only just barely missing each other.

[where-theres-smoak-2]

JATP Analysis/Theory: Alex and Carrie

I know I need to stop but I am having way too much fun overanalysing this show. Besides I promised you all a Alex and Carrie post so here it is. So my newest theory is kind of to do with the phantoms unfinished business. All through out season 1 there has been this theme of connection, Julie’s connection to the boys, their connection to Julie’s mum, Julie’s connection to her mum, Luke’s connection to his parents etc. We also know that the phantoms have some burnt bridges, with their parents and with Bobby. Julie too also has a broken bridge between her and Carrie. I think their unfinished business is to mend all of those broken relationships and reconnect with everyone. This is where I think Alex and Carrie come in. 

I think that Alex and Carrie are going to be really important in reconnecting everyone and here is why I think that. I think you can draw alot of parallels between Alex and Carrie and I think the show producers have created these parallels because they want us to connect Alex and Carrie.

The first parallell is something I have spoken about before and I think it’s talked about alot in the fandom, but many of the characters in the show have a colour connected to them Alex and Carrie both have the same colour connected to them, pink. 

In fact its very rare to see either of these characters not wearing pink, it happens occassionally but not very often. This is interesting considering on the surface these are very different characters. 

 But the colour pink had a lot of symbolism around it and even more interesting than that, different shades of pink have different meanings. Pink is made up from two colours, Red and White. Red symbolises, passion, energy, power and sometimes agression. White symbolises purtiy, morality and innocence. Obviously these are two contradicting colours but when you put them together the passion of red is softened by the purity of the white creating a calming, romantic and gentle loving colour. The more red in the pink the more energetic the colour.  

Alex wears alot of light pink. Light pink is a much softer and calmer colour than the brighter pink that Carrie is often seen in. And that fits their individual personalities, Alex is a much calmer and softer person whereas Carrie is more engergetic and agressive. However pink is also a playful colour and I would say both characters have shown that playful side to them when Carrie performs and when Alex joined in with the dancing is one example. Pink also represents friendship, unconditional love, understanding and compassion. I think you could easily relate all of these things to Alex but you might have a harder time seeing Carrie that way. However I think from the fact that Julie used to be friends with her and that little clap at the end of Stand Tall she definitely has the capacity to be all of those things. I do think that clap at the end was the beginning of her redemption arc but that its going to take some time for her character to grow and I think Alex is going to play a big part in helping her with her journey.    

Dancing is another thing that is similar between them. The both seem to really enjoy that aspect of performing. I do think that this love of dance could be what helps them connect in season 2. Alex is always shown to enjoy Dirty Candy’s performance and has joined in with the dancing both times. But they also seem to be wound tightly and often seen as tense or stressed. I do think that they both use dance as an outlet, its their way to let loose and just be themselves without any cares. I do think this could be something they’ll bond over. 

So why is it important that Alex and Carrie make this connection? Well I personally think that out of the three boys Alex is the one that is going to be most willing to forgive Bobby. When they found out that Bobby had stolen their songs both Reggie and Luke had very specific reasons for being angry about it. Luke was angry because if he had been given credit then his parents would have known his dreams were worth chasing. Reggie was angry because if Bobby had given them credit then some of the money would have gone to their families and maybe his family wouldn’t have had their house turned into a bike shed. But Alex never gives a specific reason for being angry therefore I think he’ll be the one most likely to be willing to sit down and chat with Bobby and listen to his side of the story. I think it’ll be through Carrie that Bobby and Alex will reconnect. I spoke in another post (here if you like dot read it) about how alot of the characters have a necklace that they always wear and the symbolism behind those necklaces. Alex always wears a gold chain which as I said in that other post, chains have been a symbol of everlasting love and life since ancient times, its the circle that never ends. Gold is also a symbol of purity,  illumination, love, compassion, courage, passion, magic, and wisdom. Again all of these things are very similar to what the colour pink represents. What’s interesting to me is that even though Carrie doesn’t have a necklace that she never ever takes off she does have one that she wears more often than any others and like Alex this is a gold chain or rather two gold chains.

 Also if you look at the picture on the right where she has pink hair you can see she is wearing another necklace on top of the two gold chains. Now I’m not an expert on designer jewellery but I know there is a brand that is like known for its panther/ leopard necklaces called cartier. I’m pretty sure that’s what the other necklace is. I do think this is obviously suppose to show Carrie’s wealth, gold is also a symbol of wealth and glamour which is probably why alot of Carrie’s jewellery is gold. But it is interesting that it is a cat necklace, again in that other post I talked about cat imagery in the show and how Flynn is often seen in animal prints and has cat imagery associated with her. Cat’s in alot of cultures are guardians to the underworld and spirits. This necklace isn’t the only instance that we see Carrie with cat imagery in Edge of Great she is wearing a leopard print pale pink outfit.  

   Although there is nowhere near as much of this cat/ leopard imagery with Carrie as there is Flynn I do still think this represents that Carrie will also like Flynn will be on team phantoms at some point and like Flynn will act in a helper/ protector capacity. 

Staying on the subject of cats though there is something else I want to talk about. Like I said I think mending their relationship  with Bobby is going to be a big part of completing the phantoms unfinished business. Well I didn’t notice this until @this-is-a-name-dont-worry​ pointed it out to me but like the rest of the boys Bobby also has a necklace that he wears all the time and whch he was wearing in 1995 and 2020. 

I spent ages trying to figure out what the hell his necklace was because in most shots it just looks like a hunk of silver metal. But I finally figured it out and I’m 99% sure that its a lion. 

Sorry about the quality of the picture it’s as clear as I could get it. I’ve tried to make the features a little bit clearer by outlining them. The red dots are the eyes, the orange circle is where the nose and open mouth is and then the mane is outlined in brown. Also like Carrie and Flynn he has been seen wearing leopard print. This makes Bobby the third person to be associated with cats of some kind and what is also interesting is that all three characters are lifers. But the Lion holds a even more special symbolism. Most of the characters can be divided into being more connected to Julie/ lifers or to the Phantoms/ afterlife. For example  Willie and Caleb are very much connected to the Phantoms and the afterlife. But Flynn and Carrie are much more connected to Julie and life. However you could argue that Bobby is that one character that is very much in both worlds. He is very connected and was a big part of the phantoms lives but he was also quite a big part of Julie’s life and is very much connected to her and the living through Carrie. The interesting thing is that Lions are neither nocturnal (active at night) or diurnal (active during the day) but are sort of inbetween. Night time in many cultures is symbolic of magic and the afterlife, the haunting hour as Caleb put it. Daytime is very much the time of the living so its interesting to me that Bobby has a necklace that is the image of a animal that is part of both worlds just as he is. Also as a slight sidenote I do have a new maybe not theory but headcanon, all four boys from sunset curve each have a necklace that is unique to them and that they never take off, I like to think that they all brought the necklaces together, maybe at a stall or something and that they are a symbol of their friendship kinda like friendship bracelets but as necklaces. Still its really interesting to me that Bobby never took that necklace off. Anyway back on track I think the fact that all three of these characters have associasions with cats makes me think that each of them will be instrumental in helping the phantoms complete their unfinished business, especially as cats are often not just depicted as protectors for spirits in the afterlife but as guides. I think each of them is kind of like a roadmarker on the journey to the phantoms completing their unfinished business. 

Ok so going back to Alex and Carrie and why I think Alex will be an important part of Carrie’s character development and redemption arc. In episode 6 there is that truly iconic scene where Dirty Candy is performing and Alex ends up joining them on stage. During the dance Alex passes through Carrie twice. When Ray passed through Reggie, Reggie then formed an attatchment to Ray. The same thing happened between Julie and Luke they formed a deep connection. Obviously I do think that there were other factors than just they passed though them but I do think its significant and its for that reason that I think that Alex and Carrie will form a bond. Also from Reggie’s comment about being able to tell that Ray has a good heart and the looks on Julie and Lukes faces it seems like they can sense the other persons I don’t know personality or maybe even their soul, maybe when passing through for a moment your souls connect who knows. I think Carrie has alot of issues, clearly, but I think underneath all that she is actually more like Alex than we know, a gentle, sweet girl. I think this is something that Alex sensed and that he is going to help her get back to who she used to be and help her reconnect with Julie. I do think Carrie and Julie’s story is the same as Bobby and Luke’s/the Phantoms. I think like Bobby, Carrie has a deep rooted jealousy of Julie. I think that Carrie has a love for music and wants to be successful in the industry and she probably feels a bit like she’s in her father’s shadow and that there’s alot of pressure on her to succeed because of how successful her father is. Although she is good I do think she probably feels like she is constantly outshone by Julie and that Julie’s talent comes really easily to her. Like her father I think she was given an opportunity, I spose you could call it, by death more specifically Julie’s mum’s death. I think with Julie being unable to sing or play music Carrie was suddenly getting alot more attention but like Bobby I think she has alot of conflicted feelings about it because although she is now getting more success she is grieving for someone who has passed. It must be a very conflicting feeling and I think that is why she is so moved in Stand Tall because I do think she had a bond with Rose and just didn’t know how to deal with her dying. Also as another little detail during that scene Carrie isn’t in pink but is wearing a dress that is covered in hearts. 

I think this is suppose to symbolise how her heart is opening up. But the really interesting thing is that the hearts are coloured pink, red and blue which are the colours of the boys maybe this is an indication that the boys will be helping open her heart or that she will help open theirs to forgiveness for bobby. 

Another sign that Carrie might be getting a redemption arc is that in episode 6 again during that scene where she performs all eyes on me she is wearing a pendant of Saturn.

Saturn is symbolic of transition and transformation. I think the message here is clear that Carrie is going to go through a change. As I said I think Alex will play a big part in that. Part of the reason why I think that is because I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Carrie is wearing the Saturn pendant at the same time that Alex joins in with the dance and passes through Carrie. Also I think its significant that the song that Alex joins in with is All Eyes On Me. Again in that other post I talked about how I actually thought the song was telling the story of what happened between Bobby and the boys. Like I said Carrie and Julie’s situation I think is the same. I think just as Alex was interfering and making the dance better (because you know he made it better as fantastic as it already was) he is going to be ‘interfering’  and making Carrie and Julie’s relationship better and then as a result of that Carrie is going to help heal things with her father. 

Ok this one even I will admit is a bit of a stretch but it popped into my head so I figured I’d add in. But in episode 9 when Caleb gives the Phantoms new threads each of them have, well I’m not sure exactly what they are but lets go with brooch. I don’t know if there is any significance to Luke’s and Reggie’s because I haven’t been able to get a clear enough image of them yet but this one is Alex’s. 

 Alex has a cross and a chain that curves like a crescent. The symbol for saturn is this.   

Obviously its not the identical but I can’t help but think they look similar. The other interesting thing is that the Saturn symbol is made up of two components a cross and a scythe. Saturn is symbolic not just of change and transformation but with death, or more specifically death’s scythe. I don’t know I just thought it was interesting and if his brooch is suppose to represent the symbol for Saturn then that means that both Alex and Carrie have worn jewellery associated with Saturn. I do think that both of them will grow and change. I also think it would be really interesting to see these two getting to know each other and them bonding. I’d love to see a dance scene with them both. You know one where Carrie knows he’s there and can interact with him.  

So yeah that was my incoherrent ramblings about Alex and Carrie with a side of Bobby. Now all I need is for Netlfix to renew the show for a 2nd season already.  

[alyblacklist]

just read the promo for 8x10 and we’ve all obvioudly seen that audition of the woman saying to neville townsend that they had liz, do you think townsend has or gets liz?

I’ll put my thoughts on this below the jump with a *spoiler warning*

I’m not sure it’s fair to assume that everyone has seen it.  I’ve seen it, but I didn’t post it and I have to admit I am uncomfortable with it having been posted elsewhere for the sake of that poor actress who was just trying to get a part. However it’s definitely out there at this point within the fandom.

For background, for those not familiar, a video was posted (which has since been taken down) of an actress auditioning for a part on the show because some casting has moved online due to Covid.  It contained a scene that will *probably* appear on the show in close to this form because usually actors audition with pages for the scenes that apply to the character for which they are auditioning. The scene read as follows (this is my own transcript from the video before it was deleted):

Blake Brown: Godwin, I’m begging you. Please.

Godwin: It’s urgent.

Blake: He gave me very specific instructions.

Godwin: This takes precedence.

Blake:  Well, whatever it is, it’ll have to wait.  His last episode was four days. He was manic. He can’t be disturbed.

Godwin: Blake, my love, we need to wake Mr. Townsend.  Right now.

Blake: Neville?  Neville, can you hear me? It’s ok. Mr. Townsend, it’s ok, you were sleeping.

Godwin: Sir, I’m sorry to wake you sir, it’s Elizabeth Keen - we have her.

I believe this scene will be in Ep 8.09 based on the cast list for that ep that is now public. That’s the doppelgänger episode. 

I actually do NOT think Liz will be “kidnapped” by accident by Townsend because I don’t think that is how the writers are writing Liz this season. I don’t think she’s going to be a damsel in distress in need of rescue by Red or the Task Force. She seems to me quite in control from what we’ve seen. She’s supposed to be a formidable foe to Red and by hiding her, they haven’t let us see the full extent of that yet.

Initially I thought that Liz engineered being taken by/getting in front of Townsend in order to expose him as N-13 - basically finishing what Katarina tried to do. Perhaps also with the motive to draw Red to Townsend (shades of the Sutton Ross ep) and that might be the mid-season cliffhanger. However,  that was before learning more about 8x09.  

8x09 is the Cyranoid ep, so there are doppelgängers involved.  Specifically, the term refers to someone speaking into the ear of another and controlling what they say.  (You can read more on this here).  So my current thinking is that Liz hires someone who resembles her to go see Townsend and feeds her what to say (still with the aim of exposing Red or drawing him out).  It makes sense to me that Liz would hire a double to avoid putting herself at personal risk when she’s with Agnes.  Townsend doesn’t want Liz, he wants N-13.  That’s what the whole directive was about. That’s the information Katarina was trying to get to him before she was killed.

Now it may prove to be something entirely different - I have seen other spoilers suggesting Red is hunting for Townsend so maybe things will take a different direction. But for now I am planting my flag on the no kidnapping, in control Liz.

If all of this is Liz’s plan I hope they show us every single step.  Bring on the time turner.

[astrodances]

F.O.W.L. Case Files: The Unknowing Traitor

Some people have made some fantastic theories about Beakley being the traitor. I and others have speculated about it being Duckworth. And the show itself has pointed at it being Donald.

But Beakley and Duckworth, if they were it, would most certainly be in the know about it (no sleeper agent roles for them). Donald, if it’s him, wouldn’t be a sleeper agent (necessarily), just an unknowing traitor.

(Rest is under the cut!)

(Disclaimer: I know many have already speculated that Webby might be a sleeper agent for F.O.W.L. - but if that’s the case, that has yet to happen. I’m talking about Donald being an existing/current traitor.)

This is basically just gonna be a list of evidence for Donald being the traitor, in no particular order, except for the first point being my main piece of evidence (and the second one being a kinda wild sub-theory):

Donald wasn’t just the “ruse” for F.O.W.L.’s mechanical mosquito in “Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!” - he was bitten. I think he was their target.

Right after this shot near the end of the episode, and after the close-up on the mosquito, where we see that it’s a camera, the scene changes to F.O.W.L. HQ and specifically shows Gandra first, looking quite in her not-really evil scientific element. And what has Gandra made it clear she’s worked with?

Nanites (microscopic robots) and eyebuds.

What if that mosquito was more than just a camera? What if it injected Donald with some specially-made nanites that didn’t necessarily use Donald’s body’s electricity for external power (although, maybe in the finale?), but to spy on him and the family from his own eyes and maybe ears? (Whether it’s eyebud technology at work here or a different method is up for debate.) This way, F.O.W.L. was able to spy on them all a little closer from the beginning of this particular season, and know where all the Missing Mysteries were. The mosquito was just for this one trip, as they could have easily known about the Ducks going to Woodchuck Island, and they wanted to see if they found the journal.

Bonus crack theory: I was taking this one step further and thinking that, at the end of “Double-O-Duck”, when he brought them back from the lighthouse, Bradford could’ve totally injected Dewey and LP with nanites while they were still unconscious. XD

To put the icing on the above, I’d just like to point out that there’s that Donald/spying-centric episode of DT87 called “Spies in Their Eyes”. Between the major hints coming from that title, Donald being hypnotized into being a traitor in that episode (he does look hypnotized in the top pic of this post...), and one of the main themes of it being “loose lips sink ships,” it all seems veeery suspicious.

(A side thought I just had, but speaking of sinking ships and that DT87 episode dealing with a secret sub, I just remembered that in last week’s “Life and Crimes...”, Louie “accidentally” sold the sub. Gonna keep my eye on that...)

But anywho, actually speaking of “loose lips sink ships”...

Remember the fact that Donald has that “PARTY FOWL” fanny pack?

In this post, people were saying that Donald was accidentally around F.O.W.L., either at a party, where he got this fanny pack, or in general, and the fanny pack is just a hint. I’m personally thinking (and kinda half-joking) that said party is connected to the 3 Cabs concert in Acapulco. You know how there’s that very prominent, now-suspicious moment in “The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!”, where Donald says, “You did? Why don’t I remember that?” in regards to Panchito breaking his guitar over his head, and that he apparently got a concussion from getting hit with a chair but also doesn’t remember that? Well, what if it wasn’t just a concussion?

But what if it wasn’t a concussion? What if it was F.O.W.L. messing with his memories?

I don’t have any specific reason for why they would want to erase his memories - if they did, we’ll probably find out why, when, and how tonight. (I had some ideas though when I first got this theory - maybe they needed info or something else from him, and then didn’t want him to remember being questioned or whatever; he accidentally (or even purposefully) found out something about F.O.W.L. - ooh! after the whole Papyrus of Binding incident, maybe that Bradford was F.O.W.L.? or maybe something about Webby/the clones? or something to do with why Beakley went into hiding as Scrooge’s housekeeper and all that?; maybe it was a literal “loose lips sink ships” revelation about the Spear of Selene?; after “The First Adventure!” though, I am leaning towards it having something to do with the Papyrus - if Donald didn’t re-discover that Bradford was F.O.W.L., maybe it was that F.O.W.L. was trying to use Donald to get the Papyrus again?)

Regardless of the why, if F.O.W.L. did mess with his memories, it would explain why Donald didn’t know about Beakley being a spy at the beginning of the series, but Della did.

Anyway, some more quick points of evidence for Donald being the traitor:

the bottom-right corner of this screen in F.O.W.L. HQ:

Sure does look like the houseboat at the dock, huh?

the accountant parallel here (and I’d like to re-emphasize the fact that Donald’s moment there is from the pilot)

the way Donald was acting in “Impossibin!” - Beakley was definitely suspicious, but Donald had his own questionable moments, and he seemed suspicious of Beakley up on the roof with that eye glare in a way that seemed more than just about her immediate behavior, like he does know something (which goes against my earlier points, but still)

This is very much a stretch, but at the beginning of “Golden Spear!”, Penny’s all “treacherous spy�� about Della, but then the scene transitions to Donald. And in the rest of the episode, most (if not all) transitions to Donald have a line or moment before that specifically seem to reference him (like Della’s “My family is fearless!” before it goes to Donald clinging to his hammock). So, if the transitions are supposed to be about him, then this could be a very cleverly-hidden hint.

young Donald and his lyrics are against Scrooge’s wealth and all XD (just another point for being on opposite sides in the future, should the theory hold)

a very small hint, but if the nanite theory above is true, then Gyro’s whole “genetic experimentation” line in “87 Cent Solution!”, with the footage of Donald facing the traps, might have been foreshadowing?

Ok, I think that’s it. My last F.O.W.L. Case File before the end. (I had a couple more pieces of evidence for the traitor being Duckworth - he disarms Scrooge of his cane - perhaps the Action Cane? - before pushing him towards the buzzards at the Christmas party, and in his intro episode, there was that whole “fake ghost axe” thing - and some other smaller theories and parallels to make, but I think I’ve said everything important that I wanted to theorize about.)

Anyway, by this point, I’m sure some people on the east coast have seen the finale, or are watching it now, but I still have about 2 hours until midnight now, so I’m gonna keep drawing this one thing to post tomorrow while finishing my rewatch.

Let’s dewey this, people! 💜