#my own speculation and theory for season 6 and 7

[nothingtherefornow]

You summed up perfectly why this long-awaited revelation of Lila's true nature in front of her classmates and teachers tasted terribly bitter and disappointing.

Because in the end, if Sabrina hadn't finally decided to grow a conscience, Lila and Chloe's plan would have perfectly worked. Marinette's so-called friends would have entirely believed that she was guilty, that she really tried to sabotage their future out of jealousy and resentment.

And on top of being unfairly expelled and having such a serious transgression, of which she was never guilty of, permanently imprinted on her school record could have ruined Marinette's future, Marinette would have also lost all her friends. Even her parents would have believed in those lies, and their relationship with their daughter would have seriously deteriorated.

And Adrien, too used to being silenced by authority figures, and knowing that his worlds would be disreguarded by his so-called friends, he would have remained helpless and silent in the face of his girlfriend's horrible distress.

The only reason why Marinette escaped such misfortune and slander, she owes it not to the friends and allies she trusts to the point of entrusting them with miraculous, but to one of her former tormentors.

If Marinette's classmates had been just that, classmates, acquaintances with whom Marinette wasn't particularly close to, their behavior and reactions would have made sense. Yet they're supposed to be her friends, people Marinette feels that she can rely on behind her mask, that she can allow to be temporary heroes, yet none of them seem able to return the support and trust she has always given them.

And worst of all, neither of them apologized to Mainette, Kagami at least had not only acknowledged her mistakes in believing Lila's lies so easilly, but deeply regretted her misjudgment and asked for forgiveness to those she harmed under Lila's influence.

I just ... really can't understand why the writers are making Marinette's supposed friends in such a way, that's not how friends behave, and it pains me that the writers might think that's how friendship works.

How can i appreciate the temporary heroes which are so often promoted, while knowing that they make very poor friends for the main character ? I know they are guenuilly good people, better that what most classmates in real life are, but their lack of faith in Marinette is hurting the heroin, and I don't think this is right to show that it's okay to remain friend with people whose can mistrust you so easilly in favor of somoene who always hurt you.

It's so unfair, because Marinette shouldn't have had to rely on the help of a former bully to thwart Lila's plans. Even if it was good for Sabrina's redemption, the way they turned things out in this episode demonstrated that ialso shows that Apart from Socqueline, Luka, Zoé, Adrien and even Kagami, Marinette's friendships are very fragile, and it seems like she can't even count on the one she considers her best friend.

And yet ... There may be another potential explanation about why the ml writters are portrayng things this way :

The ml authors must integrate so many plot points in such a short time that sometimes they simplify many progressions by giving the characters attitudes and decision-making that are very questionable and that sometimes seem out of character. It's a form of scripwritting ease, and it can indeed sometimes mess up the writting.

Thus I have this theory that the ml writers put Marinette in a situation where her own friends can hurt her and deeply disappoint her (even though she doesn't seem to realize it yet) to set the stage for her future akumatization in either season 6 or season 7.

We already had Adrien/Chat Noir akumatized twice, and they never risked akumatizing Marinette before because it could have meant Gabriel's victory served on a silver platter. But I beleive season 6 and 7 will change a lot of statut quo from before, that this time akumatizing Marinette will be possible, especially know that it was established that Marinette has allies to whom she can entrust the ladybug's miraculous, allies who know her secret identity.

But if they want to go toward the akumanette road for the future seasons, especially with Lila being the future butterfly miraculous, they'll probably want to really push Marinette to her limits, more than they've ever done before, and put her in a situation where she really feels like she's all alone. And what better way for that than to have Marinette own family and friends hurting her in a way that she finally doubts their love for her ? Hurting her in a way that for the first time, Marinette finally feels anger and betrayal at them for turning against her so easilly, as if her own love and friendship never meant anything to them ? Especially now that we know Lila can still manipulate people under another fake identity, and has proven that she could also fool Marintte's own mother.

This is the only explanation that makes sense to me, because if the ml writters are able to show serious subjects on screen like school bullying or parental abuse, and in such a representative way of reality, why would they have a such a discouraging view of friendship ?

But this is only speculation on my part, every fictitious work has their flaws, and maybe some of mirculous writting of it's side and secondary characters is just one of those.

Liar Revealed

So Marinette and Sabrina worked together to lure Lila into a false sense of security that eventually led up to her spilling everything in front of an audience she was unaware of. Now everyone knows she’s been lying about everything, she’s a horrible person, and she and Chloé are about to be expelled for good… After 7 years, the fandom finally got what it wanted.

…then why do I feel like I’ve actually wasted those 7 years of my life? 

Buckle up, ‘cause this is going to be a long ride.

Afficher davantage

[alchemillalost]

The Season 8 Destiel Meta Post Nobody Asked For (and why I think the writers had a Destiel endgame option in mind for season 8)

Okay, so here's the long version of this post that almost nobody wanted, but I'm writing it anyway. This is LONG. I'm sorry. And I want to start with it seems like s8 is polarizing, but I rather liked it, and I think it's because I live in the (delusion?) truth of this theory. Stay with me if you want to Believe too. I think Season 8 was written with two possible outcomes in mind; and with an endgame Destiel being the more likely of the two that the writers anticipated. Sounds insane, I am aware. You will need to stick with me here and extend some trust, but I promise I can show my work.

We need to set the scene: It's 2012. We are launching headfirst into the height years of tumblr fan culture. Gangnam Style grips the nation. Destiel is huge in fanfiction & tumblr land. However, interestingly, we're about two years past show's peak. Already once SPN was slated to end with S5's natural arc conclusion, but it didn't-- it was renewed because it was making the CW money, simple as. They have pushed on into the Sera Gamble era with Seasons 6 and 7, which have their respective flashes of brilliance, but all-in-all generally struggled to find footing in the post-Apocalypse Supernatural verse that was never actually planned for. It's pretty evident that the writing and plotting isn't nearly as tight as S1-5, simply because 1-5 was all mapped out from the get go.

It's been interesting returning to the fandom after a decade, because I'm finding a lot of people now who really liked Season 7. No hate, to each their own, and maybe it was just the circles I was in at the time, but in the moment S7 wasn't received well at all. It felt like they kept inflating the "big bad" to heights that sometimes struggled to get fully fleshed out (which, to be fair, continues to be a writing problem going forward). And while watching S7 in Netflix binge-mode it doesn't feel quite so bad, at the time having a year's worth of your fave TV show where Sam and Dean are systematically and pointlessly stripped of everything that gave the show its signature personality was nothing short of torture (killing Cas, the Impala, torching Bobby's place, killing Bobby), all in the name of more man-pain. All of that punctuated with a lot of filler episodes that felt like more misses than hits, the absolutely insufferable Amy Pond plot, and dick jokes just because the writers thought it was funny.

Everyone's opinions on S6-7 aside, though, Supernatural wasn't landing financially for the CW either. Season 5 aired on Thursday nights, which is a fairly well respected time slot for established and successful shows, but with Season 6 and 7 we see a demotion to Friday night, 9 PM ET. This is basically the kiss of death for a cable TV show. You sent your shows to Friday night to die. The CW was looking to the future with newer shows and the writing was on the walls that this circus was probably wrapping up soon.

However, in true Supernatural fashion, it wouldn't fucking die. Honestly, and I can only speculate here, I imagine such a die-hard and still-growing fanbase coinciding with a huge spike in social media + ease of access to fan spaces with the surge in commonplace smart phones/laptop computers is probably what kept performing CPR on this show.

So along comes season 8. The show is being passed to Jeremy Carver and Ben Edlund as a returning writer to head up the show. Other people have discussed the Sera Gamble era in depth, but what you need to know here, basically, is that the Carver/Edlund mind are ones that a) have not shied away from queer themes and b) are a lot of those Destiel classics. We're talking Ghostfacers, The End, My Bloody Valentine, On the Head of a Pin, The Man Who Would Be King (Carver), and Free to Be You and Me, Point of No Return (Edlund). Essentially, Sera's philosophy tended to be "strip it back to just the Winchester brothers" and Carver & Edlund were generally more open to having the surrounding cast of supporting characters. And these two definitely don't shy away from Dean & Castiel's relationship.

Here is where my theory gets a little speculative: I believe this is the point where where SPN was given one last hail mary by the CW. New writers and a Wednesday night slot, you have one more chance to make this work, otherwise you're getting the axe. It was renewed pretty late, in early May of 2012 (compare to S6 being announced Feb 2010). S7 had barely scraped its renewal in late April the year prior, too.

Okay, so let's put ourselves in that position for a moment as showrunners sitting down in the Supernatural writer's room in May of 2012. There are two things that might happen: 1) you just might pull it off, and you do such a good job you pull the show from the proverbial grave or 2) you don't pull it off, and you need to make sure the show ends on a satisfying note that wraps things up neatly. And you need to write and film a season that, until you get the yes or no from the CW, can do either and both or neither, and you may need to pivot in one direction or the other pretty quickly while you're filming the back half of your season.

Enter the Destiel endgame theory, which I believe was their scenario 2. Time to introduce the exhibits from the season.

General: Flashbacks. I wish they'd explored Purgatory more too, but it would've taken up too much time if they might have to fast-track a series finale later. (Also Amelia should've been all made up in Sam's head to cope with losing Dean but again, different post. Maybe it became a time constraint to explore too much too, if they thought the show might be ending.)

The evidence:

8x01 We Need to Talk About Kevin & 8x02 - & What's Up Tiger Mommy? We get flashbacks of Dean tearing Purgatory apart to find Castiel. When he finds him, he makes it clear he's coming back to Earth with him.

8x03 - Heartache- This episode focuses on the love between an immortal being and a human.

8x05 - Blood Brother - Benny/Queer Dean discourse deserves its own post. You can take or leave this one for this post's theory.

8x07 - A Little Slice of Kevin - 1) Dean is clearly hiding a boner when Cas gets out of the shower? 2) We introduce that Dean is deeply upset that Castiel didn't make it through the portal-- to the degree he's faked an entire memory because he'd rather it be his fault Cas is gone than have been abandoned by him

8x08 - Hunteri Heroici - Castiel wants to join Dean as a hunter; we're beginning to establish Castiel's genuine desire to spend his life with the Winchesters. This is then juxtaposed when Naomi forces him to stay away at the end of the episode, further telling us this is Cas' desire vs. Heaven's.

8x11 - Larp and the Real Girl - This is mostly a fun episode, but it's an example of queerness being gently nudged to the forefront of plots without immediate dismissal or being the butt of a joke-- rare for SPN at the time.

8x13 - Everybody Hates Hitler - Ah, the Aaron "He was my Gay Thing" moment. Dean leans all the way into the flirting. Does not give the "don't swing that way" speech, gets flustered, is at a loss for words. He appears disappointed later when he was wrong. This has little precedent on the show when Dean's been perceived as gay, he usually dismisses it very quickly.

February 11, 2013: Supernatural is renewed for season 9, a week after Everybody Hates Hitler airs.

Per these estimates, 8x18 is the next episode to be filmed post-announcement, beginning 2/12.

8x16 - Remember the Titans - A Forbidden Love plot. You can take or leave this one for this theory.

8x17 - Goodbye Stranger - OK, here is our inflection point for editing, in my opinion. The last month of eps, more or less, have been pretty trials-centric or one-off. This episode airs 3/20/2013. At this point, we know we're getting a season 9, but we've been building with all of the above, and this ep was filmed pre-S9 announcement... so much so that we have an "I love you" in the original script for the infamous crypt scene. I fully believe it was filmed and edited out in post.

Second, Castiel turns the walls of Naomi's office/lobotomy lounge the bi pride colors during the crypt scene. Someone on the crew at Supernatural literally tweeted that morning to be on the lookout for special choices in Naomi's office. It was very intentional. Why else pick these colors and declare they're intentional? (I have searched up and down for this tweet but it was rare i was there i remember it [the tweet] all too well please trust me)

UPDATE: Tumblr hive mind found it and it was Jerry Wanek saying they were… crosses? In the intersecting lines in the windows? (that's how lines work? lol) And it was amidst a spell of saying fans were reaching in their analyses, and though some of his replies have that tinge, it's not direct about the color commentary. I never saw the back half of that saga or forgot about it, didn’t mean to misrepresent anything! Either way I’ve been corrected but that office is still bisexual and you can’t tell me otherwise

And don't get me started on the "unicorn" stuff, that one person you'd throw everything away for (but I understand this can be interpreted in many ways) However, the season is renewed, we've picked the path they never thought they'd actually pull off-- now we've got to backpedal this Destiel just enough to not impact our precious CW bottom lines, but not piss off our faction of fangirls who watch to ship.

8x20 - Pac Man Fever - Charlie tells Dean she thinks Castiel seems "dreamy". Charlie is very gay and would only say this to elicit a reaction from Dean, we don't really get much of one. Again, lack of a "speech" on his sexuality.

*Note 8x18 Freaks & Geeks and 8x20 Pac Man Fever are filler eps, I think they could've been pulled if we needed the extra time to sprint toward a series finale*

8x21 - The Great Escapist - 8x23 Sacrifice- We hit a real fast escalation toward the season finale from here. I actually think this overarching plot was more or less always the idea for the ending, but how exactly it was executed depended on the renewal status.

The Alternate Series Finale Ending (That I believe they thought they'd have to do when they wrote it): If they hadn't gotten renewed, we are set up for Sam to close the gates of Hell and Metatron to use a spell to close Heaven using the heart of a nephilim (product of human + angel love), the bow a cupid (an angel that arranges love in humans), and the grace of an angel in love with a human. Hell and Heaven shutter up, Sam dies, and Dean is left with a human Castiel who has, for the better part of the season, already been "testing out" being a hunter alongside Dean and has literally moved heaven and earth to have this. He will not have to be the immortal doomed to love a human, as in 8x03, or have the forbidden love of 8x16; we receive resolution on those subjects for our heroes that the monster-of-the-week characters did not. They resolve their feelings for each other, because if we kept Dean's crypt "I love you" and we establish Castiel's grace was in love with a human... well, what else is there to say? (Oh, yes, and they did exactly this and pulled the Destiel trigger in S15 when it was all ending.)

The Actual Ending (That I think they got surprised about the renewal and had to do): Backpedal. Edit. Only drop little subtext again. We just need Castiel's Regular Grace TM for this spell. We can keep selling merch and con tickets and get views if we appeal to the widest audience possible, and we're not taking risks now that we've performed a literal miracle rescue from a Friday night 9 PM slot.

And once we start Season 9, we get a LOT of being hit over the head with Castiel & Dean's Heterosexuality TM, so much so it's awkward and even out of character. (Human Cas sighing about boobs in early s9? Like please. Get real.) It's a HARD left turn, but it makes more sense if you consider it all in the context above. I just don't think they'd have gone in so hard on the bullet points I listed if they had thought Season 9 was in the bag.

TL;DR: I think we might've had Destiel in 2013, but if we had, we wouldn't have also had the rest of the seasons. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to you, but I think it was a combination of a lot of external factors, capitalism, and, well, it being 2013, sadly. I think they were cowards about it, but at the same time, even the writers probably weren't pulling every string, they also needed to answer to other agendas. Television is a medium that is rife with the push and pulls of a thousand factors that aren't the pure story. Idk how to really wrap this, but this has been over ten years in the making so enjoy the fruits of my brain rot.

[violethowler]

Me, My Self, and I: An Analysis of the Operation Kuron Storyline

Back when seasons 3, 4, and 5 released on Netflix, Voltron fans were split into two camps regarding what was going on with Shiro: One camp insisted that we were still seeing the same Shiro as the one we saw in the first two seasons, while the other argued that the current Shiro was a clone programmed with the memories of the original.

On the surface, the show’s 6th season appeared to side with the clone theory fans, and I saw multiple people who had argued for it being the same Shiro lamenting because they felt that all the development Shiro had gotten after the end of Season 2 had been wasted now that we knew the Shiro we’d been following since Season 3 wasn’t the real one.

Even then, however, fans who supported the clone theory were upset because they felt that the resolution of the original Shiro’s consciousness being transferred into the clone body was effectively killing off a separate, unique character who deserved to have his own life independent of the original Shiro.

Yet while I could understand where both sides’ complaints were coming from, I never had that same feeling of outrage.

At the time, I assumed it was just because I noticed that it served as a bit of meta commentary on how the original 80s cartoon took two identical looking characters in GoLion and melded them into a single character.

But after talking to @leakinghate​ and @dragonofyang​ a while back, I realized that there was a deeper meaning and symbolism to the whole Operation Kuron storyline that, in hindsight, I had managed to pick up on subconsciously thanks to being exposed to similar ideas in other stories.

And once I became aware of those similarities, I couldn’t help but look back at Voltron and realize that many of the assumptions the fandom has about the details of Clone!Shiro’s story are not actually supported by the show’s lore.

For example, despite the paladins referring to him as such in Seasons 6 and 7, the idea that the Shiro we see in Seasons 3-6 was a clone in the usual sense that we expect from science fiction - that is, being a unique individual made from an existing character’s DNA with their own separate consciousness who develops their own identity and personality independent of the person they were created from - is not actually supported by the show’s lore.

For starters, the only people who use the word clone to refer to the other Shiro are the human characters, who do not have any intel on how “Kuron” was created. Meanwhile, none of the characters who are involved in Operation Kuron use the word clone to refer to him at any point in the series. In fact, even Haggar herself treats “Kuron” and Shiro like they’re the same person when she’s telling him to lead Keith away in S6E05. When you would think that if there was no point in pretending anymore she would at least acknowledge that he’s not the original.

Furthermore, based on what we are shown of the technological and magical capabilities of the Galra empire, it is not possible for Haggar or the Galra to just download Original!Shiro’s memories into Clone!Shiro’s head. Pidge and Hunk speculate in S2E03 about the possibility that the Empire implanted fake memories of escaping in Shiro’s head via his prosthetic arm are part of an elaborate trap. But not only are they proven wrong, but the series never even confirms that such a thing is within the mystical or technological capabilities of the empire.

The Galra military is never shown doing anything tech based with memory manipulation or the kind of brainwashing that would be required to make “Kuron” think that he’s the real Shiro.

Meanwhile on the mystical front, the only person in the empire who is shown doing anything that involves messing around with other people’s minds is Haggar. And the only abilities that we have seen her demonstrate in that regard are:

Looking into someone’s mind and viewing their memories (seen with Zarkon in S3E07).

Using a person as a conduit for Haggar to spy on the person’s allies (seen with Narti in S4E03 and Shiro in Seasons 5-6).

Removing a person’s spirit/consciousness from their body and storing it inside herself (seen in Season 8 with the spirits of the original Paladins).

Forcing someone to comply with her orders and bend to her will (seen with Shiro in S6E04-5, Lotor in S8E06).

Flipping a psychic kill switch and remotely killing someone from a distance (seen with Luka in S8E01).

Projecting someone’s consciousness outside of their body (Seen with Zarkon in S2E03, S2E07, and S2E12).

Transferring a person’s consciousness from one body to another (Seen with Myzax in S1E02 and Prorok in S2E03).

Nowhere does she demonstrate the ability to create an exact copy of a person’s memories and personality that can then be implanted into another person’s mind so thoroughly that they think they are the first person.

Based on what we’ve been shown of Haggar’s capabilities, the only way it’s even possible for the clone to have Shiro’s memories and personality is for Haggar to transferring Shiro’s spirit into a new body.

Which is pretty much the same thing that we’ve already sen her doing when she creates her Robeasts in Seasons 1-2.

She transfers the test subject’s quintessence from their original body into their larger, robotic one. And her words to Myzax in S1E02 Some Assembly Required indicate that the Robeasts are all meant to remain aware of themselves in their larger form and have all of their memories intact.

Because why would Haggar bother asking if Myzax wanted revenge against Shiro if he wasn’t even going to remember anything after she turned him into a Robeast?

This basically implies that all of the extra Shiro bodies that we saw at the cloning facility in S6E05 The Black Paladins were basically the organic version of empty Robeast shells - lifeless and incapable of independent movement until Haggar does her ritual to transfer the pilot/model’s quintessence into the new body.

And she has previously demonstrated that physical distance from her target is not an obstacle to being able to transfer a person’s soul from Point A to Point B. Because Season 8 shows that Zarkon was one of the spirits trapped inside her mindscape, even though she wasn’t anywhere near the planet he died on in S5E02.

In fact, “Kuron” being Shiro’s soul moved to a new body would also explain how Haggar and the Operation Kuron staff knew to release “Kuron” when they did. How could Haggar know Shiro was missing from Team Voltron unless she already had the ability to locate, and therefore manipulate his consciousness.

But there’s still one question about the logistics and timeline of “Kuron’s” creation.

Because in S6E06, Shiro indicates that his consciousness has been inside the Black Lion since the end of Season 2.

So how exactly could Haggar have yanked his spirit into a new body if he was inside the Black Lion from the end of season 2?

Well perhaps it’s something akin to how Steven’s gem turned into a copy of him when White Diamond removed it in the finale of Steven Universe Season 5.

That even if she couldn’t get his entire soul before he got absorbed by the Black Lion in S2E13, she only needed a fraction of Shiro’s consciousness in order to animate the new body.

In theory, this could hypothetically allow her to split Shiro’s mind into multiple bodies at once, explaining why S6E05 showed that she had made so many extra bodies.

It would also mean that the merging of the two Shiro’s in Voltron was the equivalent of Steven and Pink Steven fusing back together: Two halves of a single individual being made whole again, rather than one character being sacrificed for another.

But if the lore indicates that this is one Shiro with two bodies rather than two separate characters, why does Shiro treat his clone self like a separate person?

In one of my older essays, I pointed out how the visuals of Season 6 frame Haggar reclaiming her identity as Honerva in S6E01 as a parallel to Shiro and “Kuron” being merged in S6E07

Once Honerva goes through her “merging of two selves”, she tries to distance herself from her actions as Haggar, acting like the things she did to Lotor and others were done by someone else.

And her reason for doing that is obvious: she doesn’t want to face the fact that she hurt and abused her own son.

So following the parallels between, Shiro treating his actions in Seasons 3-6 like they were committed by a separate person logically reflects a similar level of denial. 

Like Honerva, he doesn’t want to face the fact that he’s capable of doing the things he did as “Kuron”.

Because Shiro in Seasons 3-6 is not as patient or compassionate with his team. He’s less considerate of others, and focused on his own priorities above everyone else’s.

And Season 6, he physically attacks and in at least one case injures the people he cares about.

Thanks to WEP’s meddling with Seasons 7-8, the payoff where Shiro recognizes and makes peace with that part of himself got left on the cutting room floor.

But the parallels with Haggar helps to at least make it clear what the writers were going for and what the point of this whole storyline was.

I’ve seen multiple people over the years note that Honerva’s transformation into Haggar, particularly the state we saw her in immediately post-Rift and shortly after Lotor’s birth in S5E02 and S8E02, can be read as a metaphor for Post-Partum Depression or something similar.

If you use their status as parallels to apply a similar logic toward the existence of “Kuron,” then the entire clone subplot can be seen as a fantasy representation of how Shiro is affected by his PTSD.

He goes through a traumatic experience and comes out mostly the same as he was before, but slightly off enough that he doesn’t feel right.

He initially hides his struggles and tries to pretend that everything is fine, downplaying what he’s going through. But eventually the strain starts to become too much and he tries to reach out for help, as we saw him attempt with Lance in Season 5.

But as we saw, he was brushed aside and his concerns were not taken seriously.

Without support, Shiro eventually reaches his breaking point, culminating in a fight with Keith in The Black Paladins, where - in contrast with his silent and stoic demeanor when carrying out Haggar’s orders - he repeatedly taunts and antagonizes Keith as if he's trying to goad Keith into killing him.

But Keith refuses to leave Shiro or let him die, and makes it clear in S7E01 A Little Adventure that he will never give up on him.

By refusing to let go in S6E05, Keith demonstrates that he will always support Shiro unconditionally, no matter what. This allows Shiro to finally begin to heal and come back to himself.

He’ll never be the same as he was before, but all the pieces of himself are finally whole again.

As I’ve outlined in older essays, the main theme of Shiro’s character arc is learning to accept that you don’t have to deal with your problems alone, and that needing support from others does not make you weak.

So when viewed in that context, the entire Operation Kuron subplot serves as a demonstration of what happens when Shiro doesn’t get that help and keeps on trying to deal with his problems alone.

TL;DR: While I understand how the idea became so widely accepted, the concept of “Kuron” as a separate character from Shiro is a fan headcanon that isn’t supported by the show’s lore. Instead, the themes and patterns of the narrative indicate that the “clone” is literally Shiro’s soul in a duplicate body, and the whole Operation Kuron subplot is intended to represent the consequences of his reluctance to let others help him manage his PTSD.

[suckerforobliviousidiotsinlove]

I was just thinking about my theories for the next few episodes based on the episode descriptions for 6 & 7 and an interview with David Jenkins and I came up with something.

Don’t go further if you don’t want spoilers for the episode 7 description, this is all speculation at this point. If this happens to be similar to what actually happens it’s completely an accident.

Anyway read further at your own risk

So I’ve seen some of the reactions from reviewers who have got the final episode early and it’s very similar to what reviewers were saying about good omens season 2 so I’m not really expecting a happy ending. I mean this is David Jenkins so it’s definitely going to be a cliffhanger.

And then I saw this episode 7 description and David Jenkins interview on TikTok:

Now I really focused on the whole Stede wanting to be a great pirate and Ed wanting to retire part.

And I thought what if the season ends with Ed settling down to retire on land and Stede setting off to be a great pirate with the promise to return after a certain amount of time (let’s say a year). Now this would be technically happy but in a bittersweet way because they would be separated so soon after they’ve reunited.

And then it got worse…

I thought about Ricky and this other pirate guy (I can’t remember his name) and how they would play into this.

What if after Stede takes off on his pirating adventure he gets captured. Ed wouldn’t know because there’s not exactly an easy way to communicate so it wouldn’t be odd to not hear from Stede. And that’s where the season ends.

Season 3 starts. It hits the one year mark and Stede isn’t back.

No worries though maybe he got delayed by a storm or something.

But then more time passes and Stede still isn’t back so Ed goes looking for him (which would parellel season 2 Stede looking for Ed and we know how much they love a good parallel) but Ed has no idea if Stede is dead, has been taken, or has decided Ed wasn’t worth it after all.

And then if I was writing this because I’m really mean I wouldn’t let the audience know whether or not Stede is ok either. The only thing we see is Stede being taken so we don’t know if he survived until Ed finds him.

Anyway hope you enjoyed please don’t kill me and if this happens it’s not my fault I did not manifest it.

[lillie98]

Using the new Casting Announcement and website, I compiled Family Trees for the Stranger Things families. Some things I noticed:

1) Bob Newby’s sister is Black. His mother is not mentioned, but his father is white. Maybe she was adopted? Why is she never brought up in the show? Was there a contentious relationship between Patty and Bob?

2) Bob Newby’s father was a Priest. They call him Father Newby. We know religion plays a huge part in this story, so I’m interested to see how this storyline plays out. Makes Joyce and Bob’s relationship that much more interesting. There’s a promo shot of a little girl seemingly trapped inside a church, placing her hand on a window. Maybe it’s Patty (Bob’s sister) or Alice Creel? Did Father Newby have something to do with the Upside Down? Did he know Brenner? What happened to him? I had no idea they were going to focus so much on this family. Makes me so angry they killed off Bob!

3) Eddie’s father’s name was Allen, but his mother is not mentioned. How did an abusive, neglectful man end up alone with his son? Did Eddie’s mother die or leave them? Was Eddie trafficked across state lines? We know Allen is incarcerated, but Eddie doesn’t elaborate on why. Did he kill his wife, leaving Eddie and him on the run until he was eventually found and charged? Is that when Wayne stepped up?We know Wayne is not fond of his brother so, whatever Allen did must have been awful.

4) Claudia Henderson and Virginia Creel are both listed with their married names, whereas Sue (Anderson) Sinclair, Karen (Childress) Wheeler, and Joyce (Maldonado) Byers are listed with their maiden names. Did the church (Father Newby) not approve of their marriages. What does it mean?!

5) Hopper is a Junior and his father was also Police Chief. Was he killed in the line of duty? We know from Hopper’s monologue in Russia that his father was verbally abusive and made Hopper feel he had to prove himself, thus he ended up in Vietnam. Is that why Hopper took over the Chief position, to continue his father’s legacy? Maybe if he became Chief, his father would be proud? Also, his wife, Diane, is not mentioned. They had Sarah together before she died. We don’t know what happened to Diane or where she went/came from. Sarah’s life and death are such crucial parts of Hopper’s life, it would make sense to include them. Unless Diane and Sarah never existed—another case of falsified memories. This is getting trippy.

6) Alice Creel is not mentioned in the cast, but I added her because she’s a part of Henry’s story. Did she not exist? Is Karen Wheeler the actual Alice Creel as some have speculated? Is that why she had her own Season 4 poster?

7) Steve’s parents are not mentioned, though I really wish they were! I want to know more about this boy and his family. Is his father really a loser? Did he abuse Steve? What do they do for a living? Tell me!!!

8) Terry Ives (Eleven’s supposed birth mother) is not mentioned. She and Becky (Terry’s sister) were always an interesting duo to me. Why not include her if she birthed one of the most important people to our story…unless she didn’t. I’ve always said Terry is not El’s mother, but I won’t get into all that right now. This only solidified my theory that El and Will were twins separated at birth, but the memories were changed. They look too much alike. If that’s true, it adds a whole new layer to the story. The real Wonder Twins.

Overall, I think these small findings will have major implications for the story, especially Bob’s family. I’m excited to finish out this incredible story and learn the truth about Hawkins!

[miki-13]

So if you follow me or know of me, you know of this post I made after episode 1 of Helluva Boss season 2 which details my theory on Stella’s bitchy self.

https://www.tumblr.com/miki-13/691625047016849408/stella-is-a-bitch-and-the-amount-of-people-who-are

What you don’t know is that sometime after I posted the above but before episode 4 aired, I actually got even more theories that change some things in said post.

Paimon is not the only king of hell: in the Ars Goetia, there are nine kings of Hell.

1. Baal/Bael (I like the Stargate one better) 

2. Paimon- wait

3. Beleth (KITTY)

4. Purson. (HOT KITTY)

5. Asmodeus- dammit wrong one

6. Vine/Vinea (am now vibing with him being akin to a nuckaleeve in his design)

7. Balam. (That exposed nipple tho)

8. Zagan/Zagam. (”... the fuck are you looking at?” energy)

9. Belial. (Shadow Clone Jutsu before it was cool- manifesting this for his power)

After them are the different groups of grand dukes, dukes, princes, marquises, counts, grand presidents, regular presidents and the solitary knight.

My theory is that each king of hell’s children are sorted into these classes depending on the rank of said king and the age of said child (it’s possible consorts have ranking as well but to keep this from getting too complicated/ speculating on the unknown, it will not be a factor here). Paimon is ranked second of the kings of hell, so Stolas is a prince.

Meanwhile Andrealphus is ranked Marquise, which while it is one rank less than Prince, is ultimately ranked 65th in the 72 known Ars Goetia (compared to Stolas’ rank of 36). I put my money on his father being King Zagan, due to him being king over the sect Andrealphus is in. 

Andrealphus may be a marquis, but he was only a marquis of the second-to-last king of hell; and if fate had been crueler, his own noble title could have been a count, or Lucifer-Forbid, a mere president (for example, the death of another or multiple children ahead of him in succession). This fact haunts his every step and, in a world where rank is everything, it makes him especially grasping for more power.

Stelle being Andrealphys’ half-sister still works in this context, albeit paired with a different king than Paimon. Her being related through only their mother would explain why Andrealphus resembles the peacock-like form the original Ars Goetia depicts him as, yet Stella resembles a secretariat bird more.

And this can still work with Stella’s hypothetical backstory. 

Andrealphus, wanting more and more, decides that his half-sister is the perfect way to secure him more power. Angry at the world and everyone close to her, Stella was already alone and without power… just what he needed.

So Andrealphus either makes Stella legitimate or he covers for her so that she can live her best worst life, hence her whole attitude. Because she was covered up for most of her life, Stella was able to do what she wanted with little to no consequence. It didn’t matter she was a bastard or that her mother screwed over an actual king of hell, not with Andrealphus by her side.

Even her not caring about Stolas’ inheritance passing to Octavia makes sense: she’s already not only rich but she (in her mind) would have access to Andrealphus’ superior (in her mind) legions and resources. What did she have to fear in losing what little (in her mind) Stolas had to offer? After all, her precious brother was already superior to him in every way.

But to Andrealpus, who wanted to be more than a mere marquis, Stella trying to kill off Stolas without gaining anything from it was the worst possible scenario. It didn’t matter he was already the upper crust of hell. It didn’t matter he already had his own armies and powers. It didn’t matter that the sister he manipulated and wrapped around his finger believed that all they needed was money and power.

As long as Andrealphus is anything less than THE king of hell, it would never be enough for him.

Extra:

Stella is starting to give me Namami vibes, and her+ Andrealphus’ dynamic is giving me Nanami+ Touga vibes. If you know, you know. 

I would not be surprised if the two had something going on, if they do there’s two things for certain: 1. Stella absolutely is not 100% consenting to it, and 2. the only reason Andrealphus is doing this is to keep Stella under his control)

(Note: I was about 3/4s done with this post before watching this

And it influenced just a few things. Many thanks, Sarcastic Chorus)

[mrultra100]

Ultra's Ramblings- Top 10 Predictions/Hopes for PHP Season 2

A few weeks after my own hypothetical post about the second season of Prehistoric Planet was released, we finally got news about it a few weeks ago! Now, it’s no secret that I’m heavily obsessed with this series, and for a good reason; It’s everything that I could ask for in a modern-day dinosaur show, aside from a few things about it being outdated after the episodes were released. And to that, I say it’s alright. The series was a bit too late into production for some of these errors for the producers to go and fix (Things like the Carnotaurus’ scales, the size of the Nanuqsaurus, Antarctopelta having a tail just like Stegouros, etc) so I’m alright with it. Now that news of an actual Season 2 have finally been announced, I figured it would be nice if I shared 10 predictions/hopes for what I’d like to see show up in this next batch of episodes. Given how we’re returning to the Maastrichtian epoch of the Late Cretaceous (Which lasted from 72 to 66 mya), it’s a good possibility that we’re gonna see many returning faces from last time (Given how T. Rex has been confirmed to return, Hank himself will hopefully return), alongside a slew of new creatures making their debut, along with plenty of new traits, behaviors, etc. I’ve already rambled on for long enough, so let’s just get right into it.

10- Maastrichtian Baitball

It’s no secret that baitball hunting is a staple of natural history programs. For those who don’t know about this phenomena, it’s where a school of fish gather together for safety, only to attract multiple predators from all sides; Sea lions, diving birds, sharks, dolphins, various large fish like tuna, and even whales are the usual suspects in these sorts of scenes. With that in mind, maybe PHP could have a scene like this be in one of its upcoming episodes, maybe one about the open ocean. Given how Coasts was already taken up in the last season, maybe we could see a return to the oceans of the Prehistoric Planet. For my take on this idea, the scene revolves around a school of fish similar to Enchodus being hunted by various predators, all taking advantage of this moving feast. Creatures like Zarafasaura, Dasornis, either Alcione and/or Tethydraco, Squalicorax, Stratodus, and even Prognathodon, all feeding on the bait ball as it shrinks and shrinks. It’d be nice if the show did its own take on this sort of scene.

9- Ankylosaur Fight Club

With Tarchia being the first confirmed new animal to appear in Season 2 (Aside from a cameo in Deserts, this species barely had a major presence until now), one of the ideas that I had for the creature is one that not only has been speculated by scientists, but also an idea that I’ve covered in my hypothetical Season 2 article; Ankylosaurs using their tail clubs as territorial weapons. It’s a theory that’s been getting traction in the last few years, so an example of that being in Season 2 is a huge possibility. Bonus points are gonna pop up if the Tarchia come equipped with colorful tail clubs, that would make the whole idea pop even more.

8- Pug Croc

To those who aren’t familiar with Simosuchus, I bet you weren’t aware of how there were cute, plant-eating crocodiles during the Cretaceous. A huge hope that I (along with many people) have for Season 2 is the use of more animals not belonging to the Big 3 (Dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine reptiles) in the new episodes. And which other pick would be perfect than a crocodile that’s basically the reptilian equivalent of a pug?

7- Gone Fishin’

In terms of species that were scrapped for Season 1, Austroraptor was one of them. This particular species of dromaeosaur wasn’t just the largest of its kind in South America, it was speculated to be a piscivore (AKA, an animal that mainly feeds on fish). And given how it was considered for the show, maybe we’ll actually see the beast in action during Season 2’s run. Bonus points if its design is heavily based on a heron.

6- Ain’t no party like a Non-Dinosaurian Party!

Let’s be real here; We all love dinosaurs. Like, alot. With that said, however, a common complaint that fans had about Season 1 is how little non-saurian creatures that don’t belong to the big three (Dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine reptiles) show up. Darren Naish had implied that we’re gonna see not just dinosaurs, so maybe this particular prediction could come true. It could be possible that we might see more non-dinosaurian animals. Some of my biggest guesses/hopes include Gargantuavis (Alright, fine. That one is technically a dinosaur, but you get what I mean), the aforementioned Simosuchus, Xiphactinus, Didelphodon, Ocepechelon, and Diplomoceras.

5- Sequelitis

This idea originally came from the show’s WMG page on TV Tropes, but I like it enough to consider it fair game for this list. It would be cool if some of the segments in Season 2 were sequels to previous segments from Season 1. Something like the aftermath of the Dreadnoughtus fight, where the carcass of the fallen bulls are preyed on by scavengers, is just one example of how this idea could work.

4- India, Land Ho!

Similar to the Austroraptor, both Isisasaurus and Rajasaurus were considered for the show, even having unfinished footage that was quickly hidden by the channel that posted it by accident. Given how close to completion they looked, part of me thinks they’re being saved for this season. After all, why put perfectly good footage of dinosaurs to waste? They could definitely finish it up and drop it into Season 2.

3- “Bit of a Dodgy Question”

The long and short of this part; More tracks that have Hans Zimmer involved. It’s more of me being curious, given how Kara Talve and Anže Rozman have killed it in the Season 1 soundtrack, but would Hans be down to come back for this show? This is weaker than the other predictions, but it’d be interesting if the man himself returned with Kara and Anže on making more tracks that bang.

2- Into the Deep (Ocean)

Plain and simple, I’m hankering for an Open Ocean/Ocean Deep episode. Granted, this one is more of a wish than a prediction, but I feel like it would be awesome if one of these upcoming new episodes focused on the open ocean and/or deep sea. While this sort of thing wasn’t really know from the fossil record, a good animal to put in this particular episode would be Phosphorosaurus, a mosasaur species from Japan that has adapted to hunt in deep, dark waters, possibly having eyes that gave even ichthyosaurs a run for their money. Just have that hypothetical segment be like a mix of the segments that respectively featured the Scaphitids and Hoff.

1- The part where Ultra rambles on about how he wants Apple to turn PHP into its own franchise

Eeyup…This is one of the biggest wants that many PHP fans, myself included, have. Given how this show is THE biggest event of paleomedia since the original Walking with Dinosaurs miniseries, it should make sense that it should be successful enough to get a franchise of its own. Both The Future is Wild and the aforementioned WWD went through the same thing due to how massively successful they were, it should make sense that PHP goes through something like it. It definitely has a massive fandom, so the people behind the show should consider how they should dive more into it. And it makes sense that I saved the most ridiculous (Yet, biggest wish regarding PHP) wish/prediction ‘til last.

And those are the top 10 things I either predict or want to see in the second season of Prehistoric Planet. Funnily enough, as I finished writing this, today is the first anniversary of the show’s official reveal (on April Fool’s Day, of all days), so, while this started a few days after Season 2’s announcement in early March, consider this a neat first anniversary gift, from me, and to the PHP fandom. As I post this, we still haven’t gotten any updates. However, since it’s now the first anniversary of the show’s first teaser trailer, we could see something pop up later today, fingers crossed on that one. With that said, here’s to more years of pissing off awesomebros with science, logic, and chonky T. rexes with lips!

[pikahlua]

I saw your post about the parallels between PLW Shigaraki's death/awakening and Katsuki right now. I can't promise this'll be up to your standards, but I did notice some cool parallels XD. 1: Both think about an early childhood event before nearly (or literally) kicking the bucket. 2: Both show signs of an awakening quirk before their "deaths"

3: Both are facing a major obstacle in the war they're seeking to win, one way or another. 4: Both are having to face extreme pain as their quirk awakens. Shigaraki through the experiments, Bakugo due to his quirk overwhelming his body. Almost like it is experimenting itself, day by day.

5: Both seem to be getting help from an outside source of some kind. Shigaraki has Dr Ujiko helping him under go experiments, whereas One for All seems to be either lending Bakugo a hand or is becoming connected to him. 6: When Dr Ujiko's experiments on Shigaraki are shown, Shigaraki's chest has been pierced open, with tubes opening wounds much like the first time Bakugo sacrificed himself.

7: The ongoing experiments get interrupted and Shigaraki's body is left at 75% completion, which echoes how Katsuki's quirk was awakening but hadn't completed itself yet. 8: Both Bakugo and Shigaraki experience hallucination-like dreams as they appear death, both centered around early childhood and their mentors. 9: Despite the heroes destroying the tank at 75%, Shigaraki awakens with a fully powered quirk due to his own memories, willpower and newfound sense of purpose and identity. 10: This is simply speculation: Shigaraki pulverizes the heroes when his quirk finally awakens, but quickly starts to be manipulated by afo. I'm guessing that if this theory holds true, Katsuki will pulverize the villains when he wakes up, but afo's manipulations will strike again. After I read your post I decided you had a good point so here you go XD. Hope you enjoy!

Publishing for everyone to see. I think there are some here up for discussion and likely even more to identify from here, but here's a good start :)

(I'd add more if I wasn't having my worst allergy season in a while. Just trying to clear out the ask box however I can. <3)

[amarynthian-fortress]

It’s all coming together

With the rest of  the “big 4″ episodes of Helluva Boss finally arriving, we can already deduce from the previous ones the very important story bits that hint at what may happen in episodes 6, 7, and 8. 

Firstly, Stolas admitted in episode 1 that he knows he is giving them the book illegally. This already sets up the fact that he can get in huge trouble with both other Goetians and the Deadly Sins if they were to find out how he is using his grimoire. Considering that eventual conflict with Mammon and Asmodeus was already hinted at in both Loo Loo Land episode and the trailer for season 1, Stolas’s whole arrangement with Blitz could have very dire consequences. 

Secondly, in episode 2 we see that Stolas is fully aware of hired assassins being after him, and all of them are most certainly sent by Stella. Since Stella desires his downfall so much, it could very easily be possible that she eventually collaborates with the Deadly Sins against him, as well. 

From Robo Fizz we see that he is owned by Mammon, however Fizz also says that he is shipped from “Big Ozzie’s” factory, and from the trailer we already deduced that Ozzie is short for Asmodeus. From all the posters in Loo Loo Land we see that Robo Fizz also has erotic mode features, and this shows that he is basically a collab product of Mammon and Asmodeus’s profit. 

Additionally, the IMP did immense damage to Mammon’s property by destroying both Loo Loo Land and its robotic Fizzarolli, and it is certain that he would wish revenge for such an act. 

Which then leads us to Wally Wackford. I have already described my thoughts on him in another theory post, so I will not go too much into details on why I believe he is Mammon in disguise, so I refer to that post for more details. 

Now, notice how Wally began suspiciously following them around Hell right after the whole Loo Loo Land disaster, and this not only gives him access to knowing exactly how IMP is operating, who they are getting access to Earth from, and whether the Sinners they deal with are valuable to him. He manages to be exactly where they are, hears them from places he could not possibly hear them (especially when bursting in to recruit Loopty and Lyle), and hosting the Harvest Moon Festival exactly when the IMP are there. All of this goes beyond what an ordinary imp (or even an extraordinary one like Striker) could be capable of. 

In addition, we can only speculate what Lyle and Loopty are able to build for him, and at worst it can be a whole robotic armada. 

This coincides with Verosika’s rather enigmatic appearance and a very odd answer on how she managed to suddenly leave rehab and be hired by one of the more “infinitely successful companies” to lead a team of succubi for Spring Break. Now, who could be the owner of an infinitely successful company full of succubi? (I bet your answer would be Asmodeus)

Verosika may have easily lied when she said that she was released from rehab merely because she was famous. I believe she was bailed out, specifically by someone who had both the influence to do so and who needed use of her, and that someone could very well be Asmodeus. She quite literally is the most convenient spy on the IMP in episode 3. This way Asmodeus would gain knowledge of Stolas’s grimoire being used in illegal ways.

Which leads us to the importance of episode 5. The conflict with Striker not only gave us information on demon royalty being vulnerable to angelic weapons, but the angelic rifle itself is now left in IMP possession after Striker escaped them. This cannot be a simple one-off thing.

Since a conflict with Asmodeus and Mammon is inevitable, this gives the angelic rifle that the IMP now possesses a whole new role to level the playing field. This rifle can be the only thing that can help them in battle with Asmodeus and Mammon, their only shield. 

And finally, how the Cherubs can fit in all of this.

The Cherubs are now stuck on Earth, very vulnerable to any potential attempt of capture by the high level demons that are able to come to Earth and use them for getting more angelic tech. As we saw, Cherubs are capable of spawning their own arrow weapons. This cannot be a coincidence that this ability is shown to us. 

Having all this in mind, the culmination of all this build-up in final battles is bound to be phenomenal. In addition, they are already recording Season 2 and we can prepare for quite a wild ride. 

[hanna-water]

How and why did Isi and Constantpain become friends? 🤔 Since season 6 I was curious to know why Isi and Kieu My are actually friends with Constantin. They both expressed that they had issues with him (Kieu My: ”he can sometimes be a real asshole”  and the Spongebob/Patrick/Plankton analogy from Isi) and always had to take care of him when he was in “Consti-world” or fix his mess (Maike).  Since season 7 didn`t manage to give us a satisfying  😤  answer to that question, I will share my own theory about Isi and him: Isi was wearing acessoiries and clothes that society would call “feminine” (obviously clothes have no gender) since season 5 and we could imagine that it has been like this for a few years or maybe always. No matter how liberal and open-minded Berlin is compared to other german cities, I am sure that Isi often had a hard time because she is non-binary even before she could name or realize that. Other kids and teenagers in school surely made them feel uncomfortable by saying stupid and mean things about her appearance. I imagine Isi as a shy and more reserved kid because of that. Being considered “different” is never easy. I would assume that boys gave her a harder time about it then girls and that might be one of the reasons why Isi stopped playing football.  Besides all the negative things we can say about Constantin, I don`t remember him ever giving Isi a weird look or making any comment about Isis choice of clothes or make-up. I even would go so far to say that Consti liked that Isi was doing her own thing, beeing a bit extra. I remember one scene from season 6 (or 5?) were Kieu My is painting Constis nails. So he seems super relaxed and doesn`t give much about gender roles. A part of me wants to believe that Consti occasionally used to wear nailpolish too (long before Lou) because he wanted to make Isi feel more comfortable and encourage her. But that`s just me speculating.  Now imagine Isi, who has probably gotten a lot of shit from other boys (except Sascha) for her outfits and identity, to meet Consti for the first time and realize that this boy is accepting them how they are and maybe even thinks their style is really cool. It must have meant the world to Isi especially because Consti must have seemed super confident and cocky. I could understand why Isi would have given anything to become and stay friends with Consti, simply because he finally had someone in school who made them feel stronger and not as if there is anything weird about them. Isi maybe even looked up to Consti (hard to imagine, I know) because they saw him as someone who was what Isi desperatly wanted to be: strong, self-assured and invulnerable.  Even after all the hurtful and negative things Consti did over the time (to Ava, to Nora, to almost everyone)....that glorified image of him that Isi had must have  been the reason for holding onto this toxic friendship and beeing blind to the truth, that Consti is actually just a broken mess with anger-issues.

[maeglinthebold]

I posted 14,156 times in 2022

That's 4,856 more posts than 2021!

58 posts created (0%)

14,098 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@tasyfa

@megan-is-aa

@chuplayswithfire

@beautifulcheat

@ladynox

I tagged 14,148 of my posts in 2022

#our flag means death - 1,808 posts

#roswell new mexico - 1,482 posts

#blackbonnet - 1,067 posts

#our flag means death - 958 posts

#important - 724 posts

#blackbeard - 699 posts

#stede bonnet - 505 posts

#star wars - 481 posts

#tolkien - 423 posts

#fashion - 413 posts

Longest Tag: 135 characters

#the fact that rose and finn didnt get fancied up for their casino planet infiltration just shows how little rj thought about them 🤷‍♀️

I sent 1 gift in 2022

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

the greater chaves county area polycule, part deux

36 notes - Posted September 6, 2022

#4

Roswell, New Mexico Finale Cocktails 🍸👽🍹👽🍷👽🍾👽🥃👽🥂👽

Instructions below the cut for the following:

Joniz Attempted Murder Margarita (shot)

Rum and Cosmic

Dr. V's Iced Tea

DeLuca Daiquiri

Rosalinda's Spicy Lavender Lemonade (nonalcoholic)

Joniz Attempted Murder Margarita (Shot)

Strawberry margarita mix to mostly fill the glass; separately, mix blue curaçao with silver tequila to “lighten” it (literally to reduce the weight) so that you can use back of a spoon to layer the blue on top. The sweetness and amount of tequila you need to add to the curacao make this drink an excellent shot. 

See the full post

41 notes - Posted September 4, 2022

#3

i like that i haven't needed to follow any new ofmd blogs to get ofmd content it's just. we're all ofmd blogs now

52 notes - Posted April 12, 2022

#2

See the full post

98 notes - Posted June 18, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Reasons why Michael Guerin Has a Mustache this season, some speculations

Following the predictable trend, the entire 13 episode run of Season 4 will take place over approximately 9 days. Not too long for a mustache experiment. But why, you ask? Why would God and the CW do this to us? Here are our best theories:

During production there was a "Michael" mix up and they gave Trevino's mustache to Vlamis, but once they realized the mistake it was too late to go back and re-film everything and they didn't want to be like Justice League Superman

What is left is an attempt to CGI the stache away

Entire season takes place during the last week of Movember

Michael lost a bet

Kyle bet him he couldn't grow one

It's the Michael Guerin version of gaining 20 lbs. once he's in a stable relationship

Michael is going to be Ted Lasso for Halloween

He's trying to look gayer

He's trying to look more hipster frat-boy Vlamis

It's his Freddie Mercury bicon phase

He's testing how much Alex loves him

He's helping Maria move on (and not want him back)

It's a standoff with Alex to make him get better hair

He's going to be in a community theater production of Brokeback Mountain

Disguise so Ramos doesn't recognize him

Disguise so Flint doesn't recognize him

Pandemic-related razor-shortage and he selflessly opted to go without

Speculating on the soup strainer is fun for the whole family! Reblog and add your own below! (image)

111 notes - Posted January 7, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

just because you’re afraid it doesn’t mean you’re broken.

Titans 3.05

once more into the cold dark void of the internet with my stream-of-consciousness take on a superhero tv show...

spoilers ahead.

1. i cannot believe that among the first things i get to hear in this episode with my own two ears is the line 'eluded our overdudes'. why must you give me such pain along with so much joy, show?

1.5. scarecrow stringing jason along on this path to red-hood-dom is not something i would’ve ever expected, but does kind of make sense. 

1.55. i don’t know all the details of the original resurrection arc in the comics but i like that jason, weirdly, has a greater role to play in his own demise and rebirth? i think it makes it easier to draw a line between his past trauma, the demonstrably shitty and terrifying responsibility of being robin, the ways bruce and the titans wronged him, his responses to that, the reasons he turns to scarecrow, and his final evolution to red hood. it makes for a smoother character arc rather than a one that was interrupted for two decades before somebody went oh hey let’s resurrect that kid that the audience once voted to kill and make him an anti-hero!

1.75. what’s crane giving him? anti fear toxin? anyway, crane is a fucking creep and i’m not sure i want to see a whole lot of him on my screen.

2. oh, um, heads up: there’s a long sequence of unsteady cam + flickering lights right after the title card upto the 3:16 mark. it’s a bit headache-inducing so if you want to skip, you can go ahead and do that. 

2.45. that’s... weird... why would he dream about... donna...

ok, who am i kidding. i’m going to jump right into my theory about Why Titans Makes Sense Actually because the show itself is apparently not interested in explaining itself:

a) it makes no sense for jason to be conjuring up donna--who famously did not care much for him!--in his dreams. (he wasn’t even there when she died.) or for her to be telling him don’t go or there’s still time.

b) this leads me to think that that’s actually donna, in some sort of limbo between life and death, the kind of place where jericho used to be

c) rachel has demonstrated that she has the power to link the minds of the titans across great distances--she called jason and hank/dawn for help in 2.01, she linked up everybody later in the season, projected dick’s hallucination of his father into their brains without even realising she was doing it, and in the finale, she managed to get dick into conner’s brain. she’s in themyscira now. is this how she gets donna back to life? but reaching out to her in that non-space between life and death?

d) the next obvious question is: why isn’t donna appearing in the dreams of the other titans? she probably is, but they have better reason to be dreaming about her since they were actually close to her, unlike jason.

e) but why would she warn jason in particular? does she foresee jason entering the afterlife--however briefly? does she have an idea of what jason plans to do and what he will become?

f) anyway, more trippy mindscapes and weird psychic powers, yay!

2.5. my heart clenched when bruce comforted jason post-nightmare: clearly i’ve been reading way too much batfam fic. this is a side of bruce we haven’t really been told to expect by all the characters on the show calling him a ‘psychopath’ (*cough*unreliablenarrators*cough*) and him getting jason to speak to a professional speaks volumes about the kind of self-reflection he’s done post dick’s departure, and maybe some of the regrets he has with regards to how he dealt with dick’s traumas.

i mean, just look at him when jason dismisses his concerns! BRUCE IS TRYING JASON

anyway, i have a whole lot more i want to say about this, but i’ll save it for later. 

also: LESLIE THOMPKINS!!!!

3. i really like molly--and i love that she’s a friend from before jason got taken in by bruce, the implication that they meet up regularly and that she’s a grounding influence on him (tho clearly not grounding enough to not go along with his dumbass idea about confronting a child trafficker alone). 

3.5. aw, jason. robin was his armour against everything in the world that would throw him down and chew him to bits, but san francisco proved that even robin wasn’t enough to protect him. it’s really interesting how ‘disillusionment with the idea of robin’ is so integral to the traumas of both dick and jason but in such different ways. 

4. LESLIE!!!!!!! i even forgive her office being so goddamn blue because leslie! 

4.5. it makes so much sense for titans!verse leslie to be a therapist, because this show is so inward looking anyway, and therapist sessions are a useful tool to showcase this character work in a story. besides, at least in fanfic, leslie often seems to double up as a counsellor anyway. 

4.6. oh man. i’m not terribly convinced by walters’ red hood (tho i think that may be the point--argh. i’ll come back to this thought later. have to stop getting distracted!) but he plays the asshole kid that’s trying not to let any real emotion seep through really well.

“you’d like me to punch you, wouldn’t you”

5. not sure what to think of batman’s little trophy case other than the show winking unsubtly at us and going look look - catwoman! the riddler! two face! you excited yet?! it’s like the scene from the end of amazing spiderman 2 when they were trying to drum up excitement for a sinister six spinoff by having harry osborne walk by a bunch of display cases with stuff from iconic villains in them.

... but then again, bruce does like to display a lot of shit in his batcave, including his dead robin’s bloodstained costume, so.

5.5. bruce is so soft with jason it’s killing me. beyond just trying to learn from his mistakes with dick, it speaks to his own genuine desire to balance his dedication to gotham with doing the best by his sons, although he’s often not successful with that. 

i love that titans is really playing the long game with bruce wayne, with each season and character-perspective sliding in fresh pieces of a bigger puzzle. titans’ bruce has always been a phantom of other peoples’ making, but now we’re getting the idea that he’s a whole lot more complicated than other people make it seem.

5.75. it really recontextualises some of his actions from previous seasons: the fact that he locked dick out of his security systems in 1.06 is likely his way of respecting dick’s independence and his desire not to be associated with batman/gotham anymore. jason knowing about bruce’s tracker while dick doesn’t is probably bruce trying to be more honest and upfront with his charges. bruce sending jason packing off to sanfran to spend time with the titans is probably not him passing on a big responsibility to dick (as i first uncharitably thought) but him trying to get jason out of the toxic influence of gotham for a while and a sign of his trust in dick as a leader and a mentor,

5.8. i mean, bruce is a prick, but he’s also human.

6. i think leslie is doing some good work with jason here, though she may have overstepped the line with her line about robin as a construct being projected by a man with BPD. her speculations about bruce’s diagnosis have no place in her session with jason, and if bruce confides in her, an egregious violation of patient-therapist confidentiality. 

(about the diagnosis itself... i don’t know. i can’t really confirm or refute this without a whole lot more information, and i’m not sure if the writer of this episode means BPD in the same way an actual professional might.)

6.5. i think a huge thing that gets missed out in a lot of recent comics as well as movies/shows is that bruce didn’t create the robin persona out of whole cloth. dick did. he’s the starting point of that legacy and to call it entirely bruce’s creation is blatant erasure of that. in fact, i’m surprised that dick doesn’t feature more in the conversations they’re having about the pressures of being robin. after all, the guy had been robin--bruce’s partner--for such a long time before jason. 

6.8. (and here’s the primal part of me that resonates the deepest with dick grayson--the Eldest Daughter part--that’s sort of resentful: that jason gets the therapy and softness and the learning from mistakes when it took years and years for bruce to reach out in any meaningful way to dick.)

7. oooh that was a great scene!

it’s fun to do these stream-of-consciousness live reactions, because the moment you step down from your soapbox, the episode goes right into tackling what you were just complaining about. bruce means well, he’s learning, but he goes about exactly the wrong way to help jason: taking away robin now can’t be read by jason as anything but a devastating judgment call from bruce. and iain glen really sells the moment that bruce realises this--too late--and his helplessness in trying to get jason to see that it isn’t jason’s fault that he’s trying to do this. he loves jason enough that jason is enough. 

7.5. aaaah so jason brings up the elephant in the room at last. dick got everything makes sense from his perspective, where getting to put on a costume and fight crime means approval, means being something stronger and better than you are. dick got to be robin, then nightwing, and a leader of a whole team of other costume-clad heroes. 

8. ... how did jason just walk into arkham????? this is ridiculous.

8.3. i mean, clearly jason’s not thinking straight, but betraying batman like this puts his possibilities of being robin again even further away. 

8.5. watching that chemistry experiment montage was strangely funny. this guy is looking for an antidote to fear? well, constantly mixing up and inhaling gases concocted by a mad-scientist supervillain is something only the very fearless--reckless to the point of foolishness!--would do. what’s to say crane’s not given you a formula for a drug that will keep you tethered to his every will and whim? hmmmm?

8.7. so he sought out the joker to... test the formula??? 

9. wow the “loud and clear... boss” hits different after a whole episode of them referring to each other as father and son.

9.3. waitwaitwait HOLD UP. wait a DANG MINUTE. you’re telling me that scarecrow had enough resources that he could not only have folks on the outside steal jason away and dunk him in a lazarus pit (i TOLD you that this show would bring up and dismiss ra’s al ghul in a ten second aside! I TOLD YOU) but also have his own little chemistry lab in the basement, AND have enough resources for jason to build his red hood persona???????? all of this in barely twenty four hours?

well there goes my ‘jason orchestrated his death’ theory. it was nice while it lasted. *cups hands to the sky* fly away, my baby.

9.6. a part of me is gleeful at the rushed nature of such an iconic transformation though, especially when compared to all the character work that went before it. we’re so used to getting the opposite that it’s fucking delightful to have a show that’s more interested in exploring its characters’ minds rather than battle scenes or recreating transformations from the comics. that’s taken such bold and exciting steps to fully convey all the nuances of its most recognisable character, bruce wayne, from casting an older actor to play him to unflinchingly showing just how damaging the vigilante lifestyle has been to him and the people he loves. BRILLIANT

*sporfle*

10. again, heads up: a whole lot of flashing lights between 40:28 and 42:00. 

10.3. i guess it’s the super-compressed timeline that’s really throwing me off. where did he have the time to get/develop the mind control thing from? or is it something that he got from the cabal of villains that he intimidated at the beginning of 3.02? very messy.

10.5. i love molly, i hope she shows up again this season.

11. aaaand that’s it! that was a solid episode as flashback episodes go, but now i can’t wait to return to the present.

[salmonthestoryteller]

Salmon’s Roswell New Mexico Meta Masterlist

This is the last season, but I’ve written so much on this series, it kind of deserves its own list separate from the fanfics.

Alex vs Jesse

All about Isobel

Echo’s Series Finale Ending

End of Season 2 Reactions and Season 3 Speculation (RNM)

End of Season 3 Overall Likes and Season 4 Wishlist (RNM)

Friendships - Roswell New Mexico

How to Side Character - RNM Version I Have a Theory (RNM s4 Plot Speculation - Collective Consciousness)

Isobel and Female Character Stigmas

Just Gonna Nope on Wyatt Long’s Arc in RNM S3

Let Maria Be Angry (s2)

Liz & Michael (s2 & s3)

Liz Ortecho (s1)

Malex - Bunker Scene s2 Argument

Malex & Character Growth

Malex - The Guitar and Financial Status

Malex - Heading in the Right Direction (Season 2)

Malex - s2 Growth Malex - Summer Flashback and Miscommunication

Maria & Being a Caretaker

Maria - Being Irresponsible over her Health (s2)

Maria - Loneliness and Hope

Maria, Mimi, Elderly Care & Undiagnosed Illness

Maria’s POV (S1)

Marosa Feels Michael & Alcohol

Michael & Liz

Michael Funds His own Science Lab Michael’s Headspace 1x13

Michael’s Mindset (s2)

Mr Jones and Alien Powers Spec

My Struggles with the Writer’s Character Choices for Maria

Not Cool Max Part of why I dislike Miluca in s2

Pick a Character - Liz

Pick a Character - Max Please Stop Kidnapping Your Characters - I’m Begging You!

RNM Kidnapping Plot Struggles

RNM Season 2 & Health

RNM Season 3 Complaints RNM Season 4 Episodes 1-2

RNM Season 4 Episodes 3-4

RNM Season 4 Episodes 5-6

RNM Season 4 Episodes 7-8 RNM Season 4 Episode 9 RNM Season 4 Episodes 10-11

RNM Season 4 Episode 12 RNM Season 4 Episode 13 - Rant RNM Seasosn 4 Episode 13 - Rave RNM s04e06 Rant

RNM s04e08 Rant

Roswell New Mexico Ships - Plot Speculation (written before s2)

S1 Miliuca vs S2 Miluca Science Bros Season 4 Parallels The Stowaway and Nora - 47 Flashback Speculation

That Darn Love Triangle

That Scene (02x06) Tripp Manes & More 47 Flashbacks Speculations

Why I’ll Never Be Over Losing Nobel Why Wyatt Long’s Insto Redemption is Cringey

[violethowler]

My VLD Meta Masterpost

Last Update: 07/14/2024

I’ve written a lot of Voltron analysis over the last few years but some of them are old enough that it’s getting harder for me to search for them whenever I want to either share them with others or go back and re-read what I wrote myself.

So I decided to put together a masterpost of links collecting every piece of analysis I’ve written about Voltron: Legendary Defender up to this point, both here on my main blog, and my sideblog @fandomoverflow​. This will contain links to both the posts I’ve written myself, as well as posts that I’ve reblogged and added my own commentary to. Some of the observations made in order analysis change as I learned new information or refined by interpretation of existing info, but I’ve left the original essays as is to preserve my thoughts at the time.

I’ll update this list whenever I post a new meta in the future, so for the sake of keeping this post easily organized, the links to my previous metas will be divided based on main topics, and then listed in the order I posted each one. 

Also, I didn’t really understand the importance of preserving fandom history until after Tumblr’s porn ban happened, so unfortunately almost all the meta I posted before Season 8 has been lost because I had a thing about deleting pre-season theories/meta after that season dropped, so anything I wrote before December 14, 2018 unfortunately only exists in people’s reblogs. But if any of my followers have any of my analysis/theories not on this list in their archives as a reblog, please feel free to DM me because I would love to add those to the list if I can find them. 

Every meta I’ve written that I still have a link to can be read under the cut, and the post will be updated when I have more links to add:

Character Analysis: Posts analyzing character arcs, parallels, and backstories based on the details canon gives us, and extrapolating how certain arcs were supposed to end based on the last minute edits to Season 8. 

Lotor Was the Reason for Everything: Analyzing Haggar’s motivations and why she’s so fixated on keeping Lotor under her thumb. (December 25, 2018)

Misdirection and Manipulation: Looking at Haggar’s methods as an antagonist and why she wasn’t directly involved in the invasion of Earth. (archived on AO3 on January 01, 2019)

A Speculative Analysis of Shiro, Haggar, and the Rift: my attempt to piece together what Haggar’s plan for Shiro as the Empire’s “greatest weapon” was based on the information the show gave us about her goals. (February 21, 2019)

My analysis of the parallels Lotor’s story has with Rosiu from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. (February 28, 2019)

The People’s Champion: Figuring out what happened to Shiro during his year in captivity based on the details the show gives us. (March 26, 2019)

Reblogged with further evidence found on rewatch (December 14, 2022)

My contributions to a conversation about the two Dayaks and their relationships with Lotor. (May 2, 2019)

Exiled Brat: Figuring out the details of what Lotor’s banishment looked like when he clearly still had power in the empire even before Season 3. (June 12, 2019)

Reasons Why Lotor Fans Continue to Defend Him: why I and other Lotor fans don’t believe he’s guilty of the things Romelle accuses him of. (July 1, 2019)

This Isn’t a Zero-Sum Game: An explanation of why the Paladins were willing to believe Romelle without question, and why their treatment of Lotor in Season 5 was not the heartless and inhumane torture that I saw many people post-Season 6 making it out to be. (July 2, 2019)

In Control at All Times: a comparison of how the leaders of different teams at various points in the series embody the stated attributes of a Black Paladin. (July 4, 2019)

The Winding Detour: an explanation of Shiro’s character arc over the course of the first 7 seasons. (July 13, 2019)

Highlands Poppy: An in-depth look at what the merging of the two Shiros represents. (August 22, 2020)

My take on the merging of the two Shiros from the perspective of a Kingdom Hearts fan. (September 15, 2020)

False Perception: Why Lance is not Sokka, and what his arc should have been had S8 not suffered from executive meddling. (February 27, 2021)

Inverted Mirror: My thoughts on Shiro and Sendak’s final fight in Season 7 and why Keith being the one to kill Sendak was narratively and thematically fitting (Originally written on tumblr pre-s8, then deleted. Rewritten from scratch on March 29, 2023).

Me, My Self, and I: An analysis of the Operation Kuron storyline, the lore surrounding Clone Shiro’s existence, and what it represents for Shiro’s character arc. (March 30, 2023)

Continuation in response to comments on the original post. (March 31, 2023)

Worldbuilding: Posts where I analyze the world of the series and what the show tells us about things like the structure of the Garrison or how Zarkon justified the Galra Empire’s constant expansion.

My observations/additions to a reblog chain analyzing the implications of modern vs ancient Galra designs. (October 7, 2018)

A new addition regarding how this could explain one of the show’s “Galra Keith” moments. (April 16, 2023)

The Keystone Army and the Cult of Personality: my observations on the Galra empire’s stability in terms of both leadership and infrastructure. (January 5, 2019)

My additions to a post and reblog about potential family relations among the command structure of the Galra Empire, where I speculate what this could mean regarding the two Dayaks in Seasons 6 and 8. (March 2, 2019)

Symbol of Hope: Voltron’s relationship with the Coalition and why the latter fell out of focus after Season 4. (originally written on tumblr pre-S8, then deleted. then remade from scratch and archived on AO3 April 3, 2019)

No News is Good News: Figuring out the timeline of when the Second Colony was shut down. (June 4, 2019)

An Updated Guide to the Timeline of VLD: My notes on the timeline of the show’s events (April 21, 2023

False Analogy: An analysis of why treating the Galra Empire as Space!Fire Nation does not work because the circumstances of how their respective wars began are completely different. (June 14, 2021)

A Guide to the Galaxy Garrison: A detailed breakdown of everything we know about the Garrison and what it tells us about how the organization operates. (June 20, 2021)

Timekeeping in the Voltron Universe: A breakdown of all known information on time measurements in the series relative to Earth. (July 14, 2024)

FreeVLDS8: Posts aimed at specifically analyzing the evidence of executive meddling in Season 8 (and Season 7) to determine what the original pre-meddled version would likely have looked like (largely inspired by the works of Team Purple Lion)

An explanation of the evidence that Lotor’s survival was cut from Season 8 for someone asking about how he died in a reblog of an AU comic. (March 11, 2019)

Alchemist’s and Paladins: my take on a blank spot in @leakinghate​‘s breakdown of the exec-ordered changes made to Season 8 where we know what was supposed to happen but not how it would’ve happened. (March 29, 2019)

Dea ex Machina: analysis of how the Paladins were supposed to have caught up to Honerva based on visual clues in previous seasons (May 27, 2019).

My summary of the patterns in how the words and behavior of cast/crew members in interviews points toward Season 8 being the disappointment it was because the IP owner forced the crew to change the story to sell toys and set up his ideas for a sequel, in which I get a little salty at the fact that much of the fandom refuses to believe it in favor of scapegoating the showrunners. (July 1st, 2019)

Cutting and Padding: analysis of how the changes to season 7 mentioned in leakinghate’s breakdown affected S7′s pacing (July 4, 2019)

Audience Surrogage: a theory about what role Romelle was supposed to play in Seasons 7-8 (July 6, 2019)

Patchwork Quilt: A sequel to Cutting & Padding where I specifically focus on the obvious visual signs of last-minute story changes in Season 7′s earth arc, and how it would have originally looked. (December 29, 2019)

A VLD Production Timeline: An outline of the show’s production process and when in that process the changes to Season 8 were made. (July 23, 2020)

[weirwoodking]

Do you think Jon will come back as Jon, and not just be stuck in his dog? (Also if the show had just had a dog or maybe a dog puppet running around in seasons 7 and 8 with Kit doing voiceover, would you have respected that more?)

Hey anon I’ve been holding onto this ask for about 6 weeks because that second question is something that I just had to keep to myself and cherish privately for a while. Yes, I think they should have had a Samoyed dog play Ghost with Kit Harington doing voiceover, Homeward Bound style. I think that would have been 100x better than that butchering we had to watch anyway. Show!Jon coming back as just a dog with a disembodied voice would have been a vast improvement to his character.

All of you, look me in the eye and tell me that you wouldn’t have enjoyed that experience more.

Okay but to address question number one in all seriousness, yes I do think Jon’s soul will be returned to his own body. I don’t really bother forming concrete theories on the future of Jon’s plotline in TWOW, as George could truly just do anything with this (as long as it makes sense narratively and thematically, obviously). And of course, with something so open as this, sometimes my own personal hopes for what happens can bleed into my speculations. However, what I mostly like to do is just use little things that are already in the text and build off of those for possibilities. For example, the idea that Jon may not be able to sense temperature, or will only feel cold not heat. That’s a reoccurring thing in his chapters, the “memory of all warmth fleeing from him”. I think it would also make sense if Jon was unable to speak when he first comes back, and has to relearn to talk. Why? Not only because Ghost himself is mute, and Jon may still have some of Ghost’s traits clinging to him after having been in his mind for an extended period of time, but also because of smaller elements like the line “Can they talk?” from this scene:

“Might I ask about these corpses in the ice cells? They make the men uneasy. And to keep them under guard? Surely that is a waste of two good men, unless you fear that they…”

“…will rise? I pray they do.”

Septon Cellador paled. “Seven save us.” Wine dribbled down his chin in a red line. “Lord Commander, wights are monstrous, unnatural creatures. Abominations before the eyes of the gods. You… you cannot mean to try to talk with them?”

“Can they talk?” asked Jon Snow. “I think not, but I cannot claim to know. Monsters they may be, but they were men before they died. How much remains? The one I slew was intent on killing Lord Commander Mormont. Plainly it remembered who he was and where to find him.” Maester Aemon would have grasped his purpose, Jon did not doubt; Sam Tarly would have been terrified, but he would have understood as well. “My lord father used to tell me that a man must know his enemies. We understand little of the wights and less about the Others. We need to learn.” (Jon VIII, ADWD)

I think that this scene in general is very significant to examine when ruminating about what resurrection may mean for Jon, and how it will effect the story. I think the biggest struggle for Jon is going to be him grappling with his own humanity, what it means to be a “wight”. What is he now? Is he even human? I look forward to seeing how George will explore this immense trauma of being killed and brought back to life through the eyes of the resurrected.

So, to answer your question, while I do think he’ll come back to his own body, I don’t think he’s going to be unchanged. It’s not gonna be like waking up from a nap.

[strangertheory]

I'm so amazed at your and kaypeace21's DID theories, as someone with DID myself; I already headcanoned Billy as having DID, but seeing analysis that those DID Vibes & Subtext extend beyond him is eye-opening. I sort of dropped the series after season 3 chapter 7 because I didn't like the way they were handling Billy and the Mindflayer outside of chapter 6 and was spoiled on Hopper dying (or "dying"), but to sum up my view of your theories: "Too many parallels to just be parallels." I subscribe to more your theory on how there are external and internal versions of locations instead of kaypeace21's "alters made externally manifest" (I'm not really a fan of media depicting alters as external from the body anyway, a lot of media that does it tries to make the DID easy for singlet viewership while sacrificing its realism), though. I personally like to believe that the Mindflayer is an alter, but the demogorgons and demodogs are wholly external. Not only because them being internal throws off the whole external plot, but because many of them are killed throughout the series when it's impossible for alters to die without the body itself dying (ha, points for Billy and Inner Hopper).

I'm really glad that you enjoy some of the ideas we've discussed on our blogs.

You might be interested in learning more about what happened next and to Hopper, but I won't spoil it here in this reply since I'm not sure if you'd like spoilers or not.

I do find the way in which Will describes Billy as "a new me" and "a new host" in Stranger Things 3 to be strikingly direct. If Stranger Things truly is about a system, then this statement arguably pushes beyond subtext into the realm of text. I feel similarly about El's confession to Mike in season 1: "The gate... I opened it" if she's a gatekeeper. And since I do currently speculate that what we, the audience, are seeing in the show so far isn't in a physical world but within an internal world, I hypothesize that Will describing El as locking the Mindflayer "out here with us" is a clever matter of perspective and might be how it appears to the characters living in Hawkins, but that this "out here" which Will refers to is, perhaps, a reference to their internal world after all.

Billy Hargrove is a difficult character for me to feel comfortable discussing extensively but I have had many thoughts about him. As a singlet I'm wary of investing too much of my own efforts and time into articulating a theory like this one within the context of a deeply controversial and widely hated character like Billy. I don't want anyone to believe that I'm somehow romanticizing or making excuses for his bad behavior, his abusive actions towards others, and his racism. Many of his behaviors are very wrong and I don't think he should be overly romanticized as some type of sexy, edgy bad-boy. But I will say that I believe that what sets Billy Hargrove apart from characters who do harm like Lonnie and Brenner is that you can tell that Billy has an intense misery and self-loathing and anger and resentment towards his father's abuse which is rooted in him knowing, deep down, that these behaviors that he emulates are wrong. He demonstrates a frustration and hatred of himself and the ways in which his father has had a poisonous impact on his life and behaviors. I believe that we're led to recognize that Billy's bully-on-the-playground personality is a (yes, toxic) result of his attempts to protect himself from, ultimately, being hurt. He's become this caricature of toxic masculinity because he's imitating his dad and trying to be someone that nobody wants to mess with. If I'm the bigger bully, then nobody can hurt me right? If I'm the bigger monster, then other monsters can't hurt me. I currently share kaypeace21's speculation that Billy could be a persecutor alter who imitates their abusers' behaviors in many ways within the system in his mis-led efforts to protect other alters (such as Max) in the way he (incorrectly) believes is necessary. If you're interested in sharing more of your ideas about Billy, what are are your thoughts on Billy Hargrove as a persecutor alter, and is this likely if he's also a host at some point in the system's life? I've done some research and do my best to understand these terms and system roles and nuances, but as I mentioned I am a singlet. I have an appreciation for the story happening in Stranger Things and I've been seeking to better understand what these characters are facing, and when I started to notice certain details that appeared to align with my limited understanding of dissociative identity disorder I started to do more research on the topic and tried to connect more dots. I'm eager to understand what might be inspiring and guiding the writers as they tell this story about these characters that I care about.

Regarding your thoughts on the demodogs and demogorgons: I'm very interested in hearing more of your thoughts on them. I had up until now been guessing (re: kaypeace21's observations) that the demodogs were NPCs inspired by Chester and perhaps other dogs in the characters' lives, and I was interpreting the demogorgon as an alter within their internal world that embodies both past trauma but also the system's own subconscious, heartbreaking (and incorrect) opinion of itself as being "monstrous" (El saying "I am the monster") and the classic Dungeons and Dragons imagery of a demogorgon having two heads and two separate minds. Perhaps the thesselhydra may represent the continued growth of the system?

You said that you currently speculate that the demogorgon and demodogs exist in the physical world because they die. I'm really interested in hearing more about your interpretation of the demodogs and the demogorgon. What makes you see them as different from Billy "dying" in season 3? Do you see any way in which the demodogs and the demogorgon could exist within the system, or have you completely ruled it out? Could they still, in essence, still be there and not really be "dead" but simply not be seen on screen anymore because the focus of the story has been elsewhere? I have wondered for a while if Bob and Barb and Benny and many others aren't truly "dead" but someplace else now. However, you surely know much more than I do on this subject and I appreciate that you messaged me to share your ideas about the demodogs and the demogorgon so that I could share them here with others. I'm intrigued by your thoughts on this topic because up until now I've been viewing the demogorgon and demodogs as being similar to the Mindflayer and the Thesselhydra: alters that might exist within the system which are inspired by Dungeons and Dragons lore and that are metaphorically representative of various fears or traumas that the system has struggled with, and the system grappling with self-loathing and a fear of being "monstrous" as it wrestles with various traumas within the internal world. Bob Newby compares his fears to "demogorgons" in a brief promotional video that the official Stranger Things Youtube account shared in which Bob and Mews watch a video of their own deaths. What are your thoughts on this video and what it might suggest about what demogorgons and demodogs could represent?

Thank you for your message! I look forward to hearing your thoughts and insights any time that you would like to share them.