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addictedtostorytelling · 11 months ago

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Hello! I love to read everything you write, I think you have a lot of talent!

A few days ago I watched episode 2 of the third season of CSI again, the last time I saw this episode I was a kid and honestly I didn't remember it very well nor did I pay much attention to it, but as an adult I was surprised by the way in which Haviland's lawyer humiliated Sara implying that she was nothing more than a climber who is where she is because between her and Grissom there is something sexual maybe and she does what he asks to accommodate the cases, that is, they didn't even attack her with Some mistake she made in the case or another case, it was a very low blow.

And then when Grissom goes up, the lawyer doesn't mention any of this to him! Basically it is implied that Sara is the slut because she is the woman, Grissom the boss does not receive any comment about this alleged manipulation of evidence that Sabra does in favor of Grissom, I would like to know your opinion about this. I also have another question, do you think that at some point Grissom knew what they told Sara on the stand? Because if one day he knew it, I imagine that mortified him and contributed to his decisions later, justifying himself that he did not want Sara to be treated like that just because she was in a relationship with him and people would stop respecting her maybe?

English is not my first language so , sorry for any mistake !

hi, anon!

thank you for your kind words! i'm so glad you enjoy my writing! and no need to apologize—your english is great!

so i will say up front, i've always quibbled with this particular story beat, not on account of the line of questioning itself—which, as i will discuss below, i believe is unfortunately fairly realistic, and especially for the early 2000s—but rather with the notion the defense lawyer even has all that dirt on sara to begin with.

i mean, looking at the scene in episode 02x05 “scuba doobie-doo,” there is literally no one around to see grissom and sara down by the building’s entryway, let alone to see them from a close enough vantage point to realize she is touching his cheek “in a romantic gesture.”

neither clifford renteria’s apartment nor the property manager’s apartment has windows facing the entryway area—just check out where the main door to the apartment complex is located compared to the position of the two units in the hallway when we’re shown grissom and sara entering the building earlier in the episode—so it’s unlikely warrick, brass, the police detail assigned to the scene, or even the suspect property manager (i.e., all of the people who even know who grissom and sara are and/or might give a damn about how they touch each other) would have been able to glimpse grissom and sara while they were all still inside and grissom and sara out.

and even if there were a police officer or some other lvpd or lab employee standing in the parking lot taking a smoke break or talking on their phone or something and they happened to witness the interaction from afar, why would they initially hold onto that information only to then later share it with an unscrupulous defense attorney in an extremely high-profile case much later on? how would the defense attorney even find them (or they find her)?

after all, the events of episode 02x05 “scuba doobie-doo” take place within the universe of the show on 10.02.01, while the events of episode 03x02 “the accused is entitled” take place on 09.21.02, meaning nearly a full year passes between the time when grissom and sara are supposedly seen touching and the first time that information comes publicly to light.

are we to believe what this hypothetical unseen lvpd employee witnesses bothers them so badly they remember it almost a full year later but somehow have never done anything about it in the interim?

after all, there is never any kind of investigation into grissom and sara’s conduct during the renteria case, much less disciplinary action initiated against them, throughout the remainder of s2, so obviously if someone in the department witnessed the interaction, they never formally reported it.

i mean, that’s part of why it’s such a shock to people in the department when six years later it comes out that grissom and sara have been carrying on this secret romantic relationship, right? because prior to grissom’s confession during sara’s kidnapping (see episode 07x24 “living doll”), there has never been any kind of definitive proof of anything ~unprofessional~ going on between them previously. departmental gossip concerning their weird, flirty vibes aside, no cut and dried evidence (much less a paper trail) confirming they either have been or are romantically involved exists. that revelation just seemingly comes out of nowhere, at least as far as the department administration is concerned.

why would this hypothetical lvpd employee decline to file a report and then turn around and “talk out of school” to a lawyer in an off-the-record capacity? why would they hamstring the department’s case that way?

the whole idea doesn’t make sense.

and the possibility of a “civilian witness” being the one to provide the information is likewise implausible.

i mean, sure, maybe one of the apartment-dwellers on the entryway side of the building or some rando standing in the parking lot might be able to look out their window or across the way and notice grissom and sara’s positioning, but if so, would they even know who grissom and sara are? and would they even realize sara touching grissom’s face was inappropriate? and even if they did, would they even care enough to go through all of the trouble to report it? and would they even be able to accurately identify grissom (with his baseball cap concealing his hair color) and sara, both of them under cover of darkness, to lvpd hr if they did?

doubtful.

and especially not given grissom and sara are at the time dressed like maintenance workers. i mean, how many people would get up in arms at two plumbers or movers sharing a tender caress outside of their apartment building? might strike someone as a bit weird but not necessarily as “forbidden” and “actionable.”

of course, even if said hypothetical random witness did somehow recognize grissom and sara’s inappropriate actions, take the initiative to contact department hr about the issue, and accurately describe them to the point where they could be positively identified, again, how would tom haviland’s defense attorney end up with that information almost one full year later?

this hypothetical witness would have had to report what they had seen to the crime lab hr department back in october ‘01, filing some kind of formal complaint, for there to have been any kind of record of grissom and sara’s behavior available in september ‘02.

the attorney then would have had to somehow gain access to this formal complaint during the events of the haviland case.

and, as discussed above, said hypothetical witness obviously didn't file any complaint, as no record of it is ever mentioned on the show and it never comes up during the proceedings of the case.

in the absence of such a report, haviland’s lawyers would have to interview basically every coworker, suspect, person-of-interest, witness, bystander, etc. in every case grissom and sara have ever worked together in sara’s (by that time) two years at the lab, asking leading questions to see if they could turn up evidence of anything ~untoward~ ever having happened between them, until somehow they struck pay-dirt with this unlikely hypothetical witness from the renteria case, who could then confirm to them, ��oh, yeah, she did totally touch his cheek in a private moment outside the building.”

there's just no way this whole thing went down like that.

finding that person with that specific information would be like finding a single, specific grain of sand on a beach.

even if, based on grissom’s heart-struck reaction to finding out about sara’s relationship with hank, phillip gerard inferred his former pupil’s feelings for his young subordinate—and also perhaps her feelings in return for him, given how panicked she seems when the revelation is made—and went on a “fact-finding” mission, again, how did he turn up this information when no kind of formal record of it seems to exist?

while it’s somewhat plausible that, if properly plied, maybe someone at the lab might blab about how “oh, yeah, grissom and sara have always kind of had a ~thing~ for each other”—a la the comments the day trace tech, dorsey, makes to nick in episode 04x11 “eleven angry jurors”—how does said blabbing lead gerard and the rest of the defense team to the information regarding the events of episode 02x05 “scuba doobie-doo”?

if they were solely working off of department gossip, the lawyers probably wouldn’t have been able to pinpoint one particular occasion when grissom and sara had crossed a line.

instead, their tack should have just more generally been to throw sara off by confronting her point-blank on the stand with the question, “are you in love with your boss?” forcing her to answer under oath.

but even then, that’s a really long-shot possibility, contingent on both gerard’s ability to accurately diagnose sara’s feelings for grissom, even without having known her previously, and him and the defense team again finding this hypothetical anonymous witness who is willing to provide intel to them (even though they are presumably on the opposite side of the case).

i mean, it’s not like they would have had time to subpoena anyone or depose them under oath, so this person would have had to speak out of their own volition. and why would they, if they were a lab employee? even if they thought grissom and sara’s dynamic was inappropriate, why would they go to the haviland team with that information rather than to hr, right in the middle of the case?

so.

all of the above is to say that, by and large, for as fun and dramatic as it is to have haviland’s lawyer blindside sara with that allegation regarding her feelings for grissom while she is up on the stand, it isn’t particularly realistic.

it just doesn’t really make sense for the lawyer to have that information—not when it’s so implausible that she could ever even know about the infamous episode 02x05 “scuba doobie-doo” chalk touch interaction to begin with.

but i digress.

suspending our disbelief and ignoring the gaping plot hole for the moment, as stated above, unfortunately, i do think the defense lawyer’s line of questioning to sara—and lack of a similar line of questioning to grissom—is otherwise very true to life.

more discussion after the "keep reading," if you're interested.

to me, if we ignore the issue of informational provenance, it rings very true that tom haviland's lawyer would, in the absence of actual professional errors on sara’s part, attempt to undermine sara’s credibility by making allegations regarding sara's romantic relationships with hank and grissom.

that she would frame the "hank moved the bra" thing in terms of sara and hank's sexual dynamic tracks.

that she would choose to make a personal attack against sara’s behavior around men tracks.

that she would try to paint sara as some kind of pathetic, lovestruck loser hung up on her much-older boss and willing to manipulate evidence to impress him tracks.

that she wouldn’t level any kind of similar claims against grissom (who isn't vulnerable to those types of offensives in the same way sara is, just by virtue of him being a man) tracks.

—and especially given the episode’s temporal setting in the early 2000s.

we need only look to the bill clinton affair for a real-life analog.

in 1999, just three years prior to when this episode takes place within the universe of the show, sitting american president bill clinton was discovered to have had a sexual affair with a white house intern by the name of monica lewinsky. the affair had begun in 1995, when clinton was forty-nine years old and lewinsky twenty-two. he was in a position of extreme power over her at the time, not only as her boss but also as the leader of the nation, widely considered the most powerful man in the world.

while clinton did face some political repercussions for his actions—most significantly, impeachment for lying about the affair under oath before a grand jury—in the court of public opinion, lewinsky was treated far more harshly than he.

at that time, the affair was known as “the lewinsky scandal”—not the clinton scandal.

for years afterward, lewinsky struggled to find work, despite having an excellent education and credentials otherwise.

she was the butt of meanspirited jokes disparaging her sexuality and treating her as a naïve bimbo at best and an opportunistic whore at worst on every late night and variety television show in the country.

vernacularly, “lewinsky’d” became a crude slang term to refer to a particular sex act.

people questioned why she would seduce such a powerful man. identified her as a gold-digging, hypersexual homewrecker whose libido all but brought down both a power marriage and a presidential administration.

even supposedly highbrow news organizations such as the wall street journal and new york times referred to her in print as “a little tart” and a “ditzy, predatory white house intern.”

—and this they did largely without smearing clinton to the same degree or on similar grounds.

the public attitude toward him was far less hostile, with the prevailing national sentiment seeming to be, “well, he shouldn’t have jeopardized his own career or embarrassed his political office that way, but of course he had sex with her! faced with that sweet, young thing flat-out begging for it, can you really blame him?”

he remained in office to the end of his second term. did not ultimately end up losing his marriage. maintained a prominent position with the clinton foundation. by the time of his wife’s 2016 presidential run, had had his image almost completely rehabilitated, to the point where the affair was (and still is) almost a footnote alongside his other mainline biographical details.

lewinsky has since talked about her treatment throughout the scandal, highlighting the inappropriate power differential between herself and clinton (“[he was] the most powerful man, my boss, forty-nine years old. i was twenty-two, literally just out of college. and i think that the power differentials there are something that i couldn’t ever fathom consequences at twenty-two that i understand obviously so differently at forty-eight”) as well as the unevenness of how they were, as the two primary figures in the scandal, treated by the media and the public.

in the wake of #metoo, lewinsky has finally opened up about how devastating the effects of this nationalized character assassination on her were, admitting she suffered from “strong suicidal temptations several times during the investigation and one or two periods after.”

and while of course the two situations are ultimately very different, not only in scope but also in the nature of the relationships themselves, one can easily see how sara’s experience in episode 03x02 “the accused is entitled” bears resemblance to “the lewinsky treatment.”

particularly in that pre-#metoo era, it was unfortunately very common for the women involved in public sexual scandals to bear the brunt of the judgment and consequences more so than their male counterparts—even when the men in question were older and in positions of power over them.

the tendency was to question why the actress would “willingly” lie down on that casting couch, not how come the male director even had said casting couch in his office to begin with.

it was the woman’s morals and motives that were questioned, not the man’s.

so from that perspective, i think what sara endures in this episode—in all its unfair, sexist ugliness—is, unfortunately, realistic.

she—as the young, attractive woman who supposedly has something to gain from seducing her much-older boss—is the obvious target for that particular line of questioning, whereas grissom—as the older man, whose response to said “seduction” would be viewed as “only natural”—is not.

as for the second part of your question, it’s hard to say whether or not grissom knows the exact nature of what is said to sara in court.

i don’t think sara herself would ever tell him the nature of the cross-examination, not only because she would be too scared/humiliated but also because, at the time, she is probably trying to avoid him as much as possible (given their recent awkward “you deserve to have a life” run-in).

and, obviously, grissom also isn’t present to witness that line of questioning play out in person himself.

however, even without sara fessing up or him being privy to what happens in person, he might still potentially hear tell of the debacle from someone else later on.

in the episode, nick, warrick, and catherine are all present at the courthouse prior to the scene where sara provides her testimony. though none of them is shown on camera while sara is on the stand, one or more of them could nonetheless be sitting in the courtroom gallery.

since the scene where catherine is on the stand takes place immediately after sara’s testimony is shown, she might be the most likely candidate to “witness the carnage.”

if she is present, of course, she doesn’t immediately relay what she hears to grissom when she returns to the lab.

still.

it’s not outside the realm of possibility she could at some point later on fill him in (even after the case has been wrapped).

and of course the same goes for nick or warrick if they are present for sara’s cross, as well.

likewise, grissom could also potentially learn that information retroactively for himself if he ever reads the court transcripts from the trial after the fact.

and if he does learn it, either way?

then i'm sure he’s mortified.

for as selfish as many of grissom’s reasons for maintaining his distance from sara during her early years in las vegas are, he has always had some awareness his reputation is not the only one on the line where them potentially having a relationship might be concerned.

he knows very well if they were to commence a sexual relationship and it were to become public knowledge around the department—either because they came forward with it of their own volitions or because someone found them out—then there would likely be fallout for her, too.

she could be fired and blackballed from the field just as easily as he could—if not more so, considering his reputation is already firmly established, whereas she is still an “up-and-comer.”

and even if she kept her job, her reputation still might be ruined.

people might question: did she come by her position and professional accolades on merit or did she get them by “sleeping her way to the top”?

grissom hates to think of how such a revelation might negatively affect her—that she, like monica lewinsky, might get branded as some kind of opportunistic strumpet or naïve bimbo, all for his sake.

honestly, even if grissom never learns of what happens during sara’s cross-examination in the haviland case, i’m sure these concerns are still never too far from his mind anyhow—he probably can’t help but think about how damaging being with him could prove to sara’s career every time they work a case like the one in episode 04x12 “butterflied,” where a younger woman having a relationship with an older male coworker gets painted with a certain unsavory reputation in their shared workspace.

certainly, these concerns might play a role in his repeated rebuffs of sara during s1-s4 and, in particular, figure into why he—subconsciously—is so averse to granting sara the key position promotion in s4.

and especially if he does learn about her experience on the stand. it’s easy for him to keep telling himself, “it’s better for both of us if we don’t risk it,” even though, in his heart of hearts, he knows that line of thinking isn’t true.

anyway, i've gone on for a while now.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

#answered #anon #asks: csi #**#my meta #meta: csi #meta: grissom #let's talk shop #csiverse #02x05 #03x02

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gulfportofficial · 1 year ago

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It's no surprise to anyone, I'm sure, but god it's insane how like all of Antarctica is just named after the same guys and their boats.

Your Ross Dependency, your Ross Ice Shelf, your McMurdo Sound, your mcfuckin' Cape Crozier - the most easterly point of Ross Island. Mountains named after their ships, Ancient Greek Concept of the Personification of Darkness and Howling Dread.

Either that or monarchs. It's just insane. I kept thinking that, watching The Terror, how have these people already fucking named everything? They don't even know what's an Island yet, and it's still all Prince Edward This and King William That. It's the same in Antarctica, of course.

Anyway: Back when I was doing my ESCI paper on Antarctic fieldwork* I didn't think much of it while I was doing my map memorizing and recreations (a requirement of the course), but I DID finally kind of crack and write this mammoth essay about the expedition of Sir Douglas Mawson, who was engaged in mapping the uncharted Antarctic South Coast. He did not, of course, manage it and the two guys with him died, one of them named Ninnis has the glacier he died on named after him.

The thesis of this essay was that Mawson had no business being there besides imperialism and that it was ridiculous to regard people as heroes for willingly putting themselves in situations extremely likely to kill them for the sole purpose of claiming land. Doing this in Antarctica is not as egregious as doing it in the Arctic, of course, as there is no indigenous population to steal from down there especially, but it's still goddamned bonkers. And yet Mawson was so resoundingly lauded simply for not dying that he was at one time on the Australian $100 note.

One point of interest is that while Mawson was criticized for not having his party wear snow shoes (which would have distributed their weight more evenly and made them less prone to falling in crevasses) he absolutely did beat the cannibalism allegations. He was simply too pious a man for anybody to believe he'd've done that. Mertz, the third man in the party**, died either of eating dog livers (concentration of vitamin A will kill you if not careful), or of a broken heart from the loss of Ninnis (listen, I have read the diaries, okay. It was a very detailed and exquisitely researched essay.)*** Like, exploration is so romantic, romanticized, it's so easy to do it, and yet it's like bonkers stupid that there was literally no reason for them to be there but to claim the land. To make the "discovery". To manifest destiny. I've got no point here, I was just remembering how wild it was to remember all the different things named Ross all the way back in my Antarctic Fieldwork 101 paper. And how The Terror was basically made for me in a lab lol. *The school I went to had a really close relationship with Scott Base, and while I'd never be allowed to work down there - people who work down there have multiple graduate degrees, not just undergrad with field assistant training, but I was interested as hell and I learned a lot. Like for example how to put up a Scott - there's that name again - tent in a snowstorm. Remember Scott's expedition? That was the one that had Cpt. Oates on it. Of "I am just going outside and may be some time" fame. **No relation to Shackleton's third man. Another time. *** Also I wrote a song for the banjo about it. This was a long time ago and no records of the song survive.

#like #yes he was a geologist but still

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rappaccini · 5 months ago

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phillips run arc i part 2 thoughts

ok going in... it very much felt like issues 1-5 were arc 1 and 6-10 were going to be arc 2. i don't know if i missed that haunted was a ten-issue series or that it was decided later.

regardless, knowing now that that was just the first half, i rescind all my issues with the lack of resolution, given that there wasn't meant to be any. i still stand by saying gwen's character felt mostly fine, but her total lack of a supporting cast, and the confusing discontinuity was a problem. it still is.

i will say that up until this point, gwen's arcs have lasted 3-5ish issues on average. so this is a big change. i'm not sure if a ten-issue arc is phillips' preference, or if the book was in such good standing that she felt she could afford to take time on it.

if its the latter, then the situation mcguire was in-- ten issues, then a relaunch, then ten more issues under a new name-- is not the case anymore, so its a sign that gwen's fandom has grown a lot since 2020, definitely thanks in part to atsv. that's a good thing.

gwen going to a bar? we're beating the underage allegations.

the villain goon bar being called low life is fun wordplay.

i like gwen's internal monologue about being a visible hero. it may not be intentional, but it ties back in to why gwen's white hood design is so effective: you can see her easily in a crowd or a dark alley. gwen confirming that she made her vigilante costume like that for that reason closes that loop well.

it also ties in to the original motive of the character being that she became spider-woman for attention, and had to grow into standing for something. that was the end conclusion gwen reaches in the latour run. is it an intentional callback? doubt it. does it mean gwen's characterization is consistent? yes.

same for gwen mentioning how she tried to be a highly visible, optimistic hero and was rejected for it. that was the mcguire run. consistency.

and gwen deciding to return to working in the shadows? we're beating the girlboss allegations.

and we're returning to the space where spider-gwen works best: as a character who's a darker shade of gray than spider-man, who is disliked by law enforcement and distances herself from them.

if gwen's gonna be stuck in 616, having her separate herself from peter-miles-cindy and having the world refuse to embrace her is a good thing. it shoots the '~this is where she really belongs~' concept in the head and allows her to operate at a safe distance from them.

it also gives her name more meaning: yes, she's the 'ghost' of gwen stacy. she also maneuvers like a ghost.

gwen's cheapass laptop? love that she's back to being broke.

and using a coffee shop as her informal 'base' instead of some fancy lab? look they could have so easily had gwen join shield or the avengers or some bullshit. keeping her street level is Great.

gwen mentioning how she wants to find a way home? she's beating the 'voluntarily left' allegations.

and asking when she can leave instead of if? ok maybe 65 is still alive. or maybe she's in denial.

again you guys have to let go of gwen being a lesbian. it will never happen. she will have to date men and one who's clearly an adult and not peter, miles or one of their clones is a good way to show that gwen is an adult, not pining over them, and has agency. it's fine.

... and. this is the first time gwen's textually reciprocated attraction (the flirty moments she has with hobie and em jay aren't stated in-text, so they're open to interpretation). when peter was into her she was oblivious. when she kissed miles she was coerced and hated it. when harry asked her out she was underwhelmed. when em jay comes onto her as carnage, gwen isn't into it. when fabian approaches her as... a kind man who wants to get to know her and lets her decide to make the next move, surprise-surprise, she reciprocates.

(fine. technically it's the second, if you count mateo. which... hm. interesting that we're repeating the exact same scenario of gwen going uncharacteristically gaga over a latino guy she meets in a coffee shop, as she's trying to reacclimate to a world that's hostile to her. idk what this means, but i'm taking it as a sign that fabian would've worked in 65.)

yeah gwen's not asexual. that was never gonna happen anyway but now it's pretty much guaranteed that she's just jaded and uninterested in being with someone who doesn't respect her. it works just as well.

jessica jones teaming up with gwen is a great idea. they have a lot to bond over and their personalities would be a good fit. still wish it were on 65.

... also noticing that gwen's teaming up with an older woman named jessica. the spiderverse synergy's popping up, but in a way that suggests maybe the writer's using it carefully to squeak out with an original storyline: fine, gwen's on the run from the cops again, but it's to keep her from being embraced by 616. fine, gwen gets to learn from jess, but not that jess.

fabian's backstory is the familiar 'sad boy with evil dad' trope but you know what? cool. harry osborn 2.0 here we go except this time he's hot, not doomed to fail his redemption and i believe he and gwen would fuck. i miss this plot and i'll take it being resuscitated with a different character.

the symbolism of him taking the serum syncing up with him wanting to prove himself to his father, the black tarantulas having a long history of internalized hypermasculinity/machismo they pass down through the generations, fabian standing a chance at breaking this cycle if he goes against his father and sides with gwen... i like this. we're actually getting feminist themes back in our spider-gwen stories.

like... yes. if gwen's gonna date a guy, he has to conquer his internalized misogyny and toxic masculinity first to be a supportive partner. that's it. the story knows what it's doing with him. now it just has to stick the landing.

and fabian being a spider-man by technicality makes it juicier. one of the big questions surrounding gwen has long been is it possible for gwen to fall for a spider-(themed) man without it ending badly (read: without patriarchal bullshit swallowing her up). bendis tried to force it with gwiles (definitive no), end of spiderverse and web warriors took a baby step in the right direction with ghostpunk, but phillips is actually going for it with fabigwen. even if it doesn't work out, we're making progress.

"the shadows may feel like a comfort but they take more than they give." cool line. i'm wondering if this is the arc's theme.

jessica is sure gwen won't like it. gwen thinks she does. we'll see how this plays out.

jessica calling gwen a teenager. hm. well, miguel called her one too, and so does the editor's description, but she isn't acting like one and the world isn't treating her like one. technically, we can construe this as 'jessica, like miguel, is infantilizing gwen'.

okay confirmed that jessica saved her from drowning. cool. weird that it took this long to confirm it.

gwen being annoyed at peter matchmaking a supporting cast for her. yes!!! peter babying gwen? well, he's still on his bullshit from last remains.

... but i kinda hate that jessica is only looking after her as a favor to peter.

an acknowledgment that gwen is extremely risky with her fighting style and needs to learn to be more pragmatic. yes. she does. here's another avenue for character growth.

jessica acknowledging gwen needs her own supporting cast? good. you know where it is? earth 65. go there.

gwen getting flustered over fabian feels out of nowhere. especially since she barely knows him. getting a crush on a boy is fine! but getting one this intense on a stranger out of nowhere is what feels off.

but. since gwen confirms she wants to date fabian to distract herself from her situation, there's how we make this make sense. see, the context can make it work.

(... though it sure is telling that 3 issues in gwen can flirt with fabian and ten years in all gwen can tell em jay is 'maybe i like girls who knows' 🚬)

black tarantula leaving her a giant bouquet... ok i'm into it.

calling her "my" spider. hm.

good third issue in a row? okay???!!!

7 -

ok looks like tarantula's got issues with a judge.

new artist again. honestly i dig it. gwen's design inexplicably has longer hair again, but at least this style doesn't make her look like a fourteen year old. the way tarantula's cape is drawn is gorgeous. and the colors are moody and so well-suited to her (especially in comparison to the first three issues). von randal and matt milla killed it.

gwen staking out her meeting place: again, i like seeing her on her own, doing something simple and street-level. and that a writer's finally doing something with marvel's tendency to label gwen as a 'detective' in their character descriptions -- we're actually closing that gap now, in a way that expands on gwen's need to be a more analytical person instead of a brawler.

... and. the question of whether gwen will go 617 or 8 in terms of her future has always been hanging over her character. it's really nice to see gwen 65 take another step towards 617, the symbiotic multiverse-hopping detective, instead of 8, the spider-powered wife and mother.

alright they're addressing the age thing with the tarantulas. good. carlos being a well-intentioned antihero, and gwen being resistant to that idea is also good: gwen's done well in moral grays, and an enormous part of her latour run was learning about how justice isn't black and white. getting her back into that kind of story was a good move.

i like the dynamic of gwen being the field agent to jessica's researcher.

... the second you turn to the audience and say 'do you recognize this trope we're acting out' you break immersion.

also i don't believe jessica jones, given her history, would ever find a guy breaking into a girl's apartment to leave an unwanted gift juicy.

gwen commenting that nobody who likes enemies to lovers has ever had an enemy feels apt. it's interesting to see how she feels about her love interests being people who want to hurt her, and it follows that she'd have hard feelings about a villain flirting with her.

i'm unsure of what to make of the comic's take on fabian/gwen. is this going to be a takedown of the enemies to lovers trope, with gwen rejecting him when she learns the truth? is fabian going to prove himself to her by disowning his dad? or is this a case of gwen, sigh, protesting too much, and Secretly Wanting It.

because if it's the latter... well, both fabian and em jay have commented about gwen having a thing for being dominated by her love interests. it's a motif now.

so... does gwen have a thing for being submissive? i could see it. wanting to let down her guard and be vulnerable with someone could be an interesting wrinkle in her character.

or-- given that gwen hasn't reciprocated em jay's feelings and doesn't like black tarantula-- are they projecting their desire to dominate her and insisting that she's bringing it on herself?

i... do not know what to do with that. on the one hand, gwen feeling like she has to be the passive one in her relationships makes sense: look at how much time she's spent reflecting on being The Hero's Girlfriend (... and how she Can't Fight Her Nature). its believable that she'd draw that conclusion and it would be an interesting subject to explore, especially while she's in the world designed to turn her into that. but. man i hope she rises above that.

because on the other... i do not like the idea of What Gwen Secretly Needs Is To Admit She Wanted It All Along. no. do not do that. get that spiderverse bullshit out of here.

like... okay. what's happening here. is fabian supposed to be interpreted as in the wrong here? is the arc that he's going to stand up to his dad, disown his toxic masculinity and only get with gwen once he's handled his shit? and that gwen's going to learn to be vulnerable with someone once she learns to trust him and he proves worthy of it? are we going to watch gwen start to learn the difference between being manipulated and being flirted with and finally start to distinguish what she wants from an intimate relationship from all the unwanted attention she's dodged so far?

or are we about to watch gwen submit to a man who wants to control her because hey, at least he's hot.

it all comes down to the framing and it could go either way right now.

anyway. "you're not the gwen that belongs here" yes! she isn't!

... good point about how lots of people are told they don't belong in the societies they join. it being delivered by a character who, given that he was raised in argentina, is probably an immigrant, and maybe even undocumented, gives it added weight that also creates a shared experience for gwen and fabian to bond over.

(really hoping this won't lead to gwen deciding she'll stick around to prove she fits in after all.)

regardless, gwen getting exposed to the experience of being undocumented, and having a love interest from that world who wants to protect the people in it, who encourages her to help him do it, is great. i hate that gwen's here, but someone's finally going into the implications of gwen-in-616 and using them to help further radicalize her.

the question is: is gwen going to learn from this, or reject it and uh. sprint back into girlbossing, with the added unfortunate implication of 'i'm a Good illegal immigrant, unlike those others who are not coincidentally not white people'. we will see.

confirmation that fabian wants to help people in an extremely misguided way, and that gwen's going to be dealing with another story about a broken justice system. ok go on.

gwen insisting that the status quo has to be defended... hm yeah idk. on the one hand, it goes against what latour gwen learns. on the other, gwen spent 18 months being tortured in jail and was rejected for trying to do things differently. and she already showed she was willing to work with the cops to get her reputation back post-jail. backsliding is believable.

who's sara. fabian's mom?

... i'm getting a matt reeves riddler vibe from black tarantula. i don't know how well this fits with black tarantula's oeuvre, but i don't dislike the themes being played with. which is why if this were on earth 65, i'd be all in.

8 -

back to villanelli. the past two artists really feel right for gwen.

gwen protecting the mayor. hm. protecting the institution after all. really not digging that, but I See Why She Would: she's desperate to not get kicked out of another world, and she's understandably worried about mob violence being triggered by the app.

and to be fair it's luke cage, not jameson. of all the mayors to protect, at least it's a decent one.

a villain using an app to get a city's population to vote on the innocence or guilt of public officials is a cool idea in general and it fits in with gwen's kind of story. this thing would absolutely fuck on earth 65.

love seeing ordinary people weighing in on this and the class divide being highlighted. gwen's stories are best when they touch on real systems of inequality, and this arc's doing that so well.

...alright new masked villain using fear gas. i'm getting a real diet gotham city vibe from this arc but i don't hate it because that was the vibe of earth 65. spider-gwen was compared to barbara gordon when she was first created for a reason. these villains work REALLY well for her. it's just the location that's frustrating.

the extra legs on gwen's fear gas self look SO cool.

mister fear's the villain... okay i Really dig it now. yes he's filling the role of a diet mysterio but giving gwen villains that aren't peter's or miles's is essential so she has her own unique rogues gallery, it makes sure stories aren't disrupted by having them snatched up by a bigger character mid-arc (like the maker in the mcguire run), and it's a great way to repurpose villains that aren't being used anymore and give them new life. i'll take it. (and i'd rather him be a recurring villain of hers than mysterio)

add to that: he's usually a daredevil villain and honestly? daredevil's rogues are a great fit for her, being street-level and a bit darker than average.

gwen deciding to pretend to join black tarantula is a decent gimmick. i hope she unironically does.

okay we're acknowledging that gwen has a symbiote, and that it's capable of filtering out most chemical gases. we're finally getting expansion on her powerset.

and a new limitation on her powers: some compounds can affect her symbiote. is the fear gas effective against all symbiotes, or just hers, because it's from another world/has a different biology?

it also fixes a problem with smash: gwen, wearing her symbiote, was somehow hallucinating thanks to mysterio even though her mask should have protected her from that. now we know why. plot hole sewn up!

interesting distinction that gwen thinks her symbiote may have different fears than her. it's officially a sentient being again.

the nightmare sequence is gorgeous.

we keep seeing blackbirds following gwen and mister fear has black feathered wings in this apocalyptic cityscape. i don't think he's the bird villain gwen seems to be running from/pursued by. but the villain is in gwen's psyche even after leaving him.

... again. is the apocalypse world earth 65. has it been destroyed.

gwen's panic attack flashing to her falling from a bridge. i see. that's clever.

and being caught by a spider tarantula. that's clever too. a spider-man caught gwen as she was falling. fabigwen's gaining points in my book.

hard confirmation that fabian knows gwen and ghost-spider are the same person. he's not even trying to hide it.

another good issue. this arc's been great so far. or at least as great as it can be in the wrong setting.

... where'd her blue beam powers go. why haven't we discussed them in a while.

9 - caged gwen

oh this cover... the stripes on fabian's cape turning into prison bars is cool but we know why her legs are spread so wide and it's gross.

but the art remains beautiful. please keep paolo villanelli forever, he's the best artist gwen's ever had.

the big evil gwen bug hallucination is fun. gwen perceiving herself as a monster? love this.

.... aaalright. gwen hallucinating loved ones she failed in a fear gas vision isn't new. it happened in the latour run, then literally one arc ago in smash. its consistent, and at least it shows gwen is upset that she left them... but given that this is the second arc in a row where gwen's friends have appeared to her in a vision to guilt her for abandoning them, it's getting redundant.

especially given that gwen can't fix that problem because of this status quo. like. it's hard not to check out and say 'oh fuck off' when we KNOW she can't fix this for reasons that are out of her control. it's frustrating at best and cruel at worst to keep dicking her around like this.

anyway. we're pointing out that gwen leaving her world won't fix her problems and will make things worse. good. send. her. back.

liv the nurse seems to have a history with the lamuertos. i'd like to see more of her.

fabian getting a pov. neat! the disowning toxic masculinity theme continues with him discussing how his father wants him to have no fear because its a weakness, and his mother teaching him to treat it as a tool. and that he agrees with her perspective.

fabian backstory: mom fled the country with him to raise him. somehow, he ended up back in the fold. hmmm...

his father using the black tarantula mantle to help "those even the heroes of the city forgot about"... hm. nice to see him get some development too, from a d-list villain to a very gray antihero.

which begs the question. if carlos started redeeming the black tarantula name, then what's fabian talking about when he says he wants to 'create something better' and why does that something better start with gwen?

mr fear and fabian's fight is fun. good for him.

okay explanation for the black tarantula-gwen beef. carlos wants her dead, but couldn't kill her so he sent his son to distract her. and he caught feelings. hot. also them quickly discovering gwen's secret identity is a little hmm, but gwen's always been bad at hiding it, so sure.

gwen's hallucination taking her back to The Bridge and another fall, and merging it with those crows... ok who the fuck is crow guy.

well. em jay spotted and acknowledged. we're right back to her being the only person other than her dad that the writer acknowledges in gwen's supporting cast. but at least we're getting verbal confirmation that gwen wants to return to her.

gwen and fabian fighting mr fear together? hot.

... i appreciate the acknowledgment that gwen is driven by fear. she's not in 616 because she likes it better, its because she's afraid. she isn't dodging her supporting cast because she doesn't like them, it's because she's scared of disappointing them (and of coming out). good! let's conquer those fears please!

gwen insisting that punishing the judge isn't just... again i get it. i don't like it. but i get it. hopefully fabian can help her out of this mindset. especially since the judge was stealing from the homeless fund. fuck him!

.... gwen deciding she misjudged black tarantula after all? juicy.

the lamuertos' secret shelters for homeless undocumented people is great. also i'm getting shades of hobie from him now: imposing vigilante whose civvie design has piercings, who is willing to kill, who attacks the government to protect the poor and homeless of his city. even a dash of sv synergy, with gwen having a flirtation with him while homeless and exiled from her homeworld. i'll take the ghostpunk crumb. he's still her type.

well, that judge is probably dead. cool! we got a murder in a gwen comic. welcome back latour run vibe.

another good issue. i like this streak.

love the cover.

ok so the tva suddenly matters again. i'm struggling to place when the miniseries fits into her chronology so... do we retroactively place it before the phillips run starts?

same goes for spider-society. miles is hanging around gwen and not mentioning that the spider-gang are giving her the cold shoulder or that gwen's a fugitive, so... does ss take place after this arc? idk man.

anyway. tva. ob and mobius are here. there's that mcu synergy at work. interesting that mobius doesn't want gwen to be helped but ob does.

fabian's train tunnel lair having a big ol' heart graffiti'd next to him and gwen. tunnel of love. i see. i'm into it.

his pad's cool. idk if it's intentional but if we're playing on how tarantulas live underground it's very clever.

yeah their chemistry's great. i'm genuinely mad he's probably not sticking around in the next arc.

carlos and fabians costumes' subtle differences are great too. the art in general is excellent.

ok confirmation: gwen hasn't dated fabian yet, she's just been planning to. glad that's clearer.

fabian's outed as black tarantula. nice that we finally got a secret identity romance, and that it's wrapped up without being drawn out.

and good that gwen isn't giving fabian a pass for lying.

"change doesn't come without sacrifice but the sacrifices are worth it when they lead to real change." this line is weird.

ok confirmation on the timeline: gwen's been chasing black tarantula for weeks.

gwen using jess for support. good.

jess immediately finding the solution for tarantula's data center.... nah that's a little dumb.

gwens internal monologue explaining why she'd need to do that when it's obvious... also dumb.

alright fabian's out seems to be that he thinks they're killing this one judge, while carlos wants to keep murdering. fair enough.

gwen's opposition to killing corrupt officials being that starting a new foundation via murder is bad... fair enough.

but saying "it's no different from the corruption of the people who built the system"... no. it's not. not loving this both-sidesing.

bringing it home with 'it'll fuck up the good you're doing for the people you're protecting' is a fair point though.

ohhhh. okay. so this takes place a few minutes BEFORE the ending of issue 9. well that was confusing.

fabian taking the bullet for the corrupt judge... nah actually i hate that.

... loki showed up.... to deus ex machina away everything? and apparently he's part of why gwen left her world? what? was he the guy with the crows?

so no explanation for why earth-65 is inaccessible, or confirmation if it even still exists. no resolution to black tarantula's judge killing, or carlos shooting his own son, or gwen deciding how she feels about fabian.

yeah this one went splat right at the end.

so.

is gwen's character being protected?

✅discuss how gwen loves 65 and belongs there: gwen left because she was forced out, aka she didn't want to go, and wants answers about when she can go home, aka she intends to return. and earth 65 as far as we know still exists for her to go back to. fabulous. book the flight.

➖discuss how she doesn't belong on 616 and isn't gwen-616: earth 616 continues to not appreciate her, she has no strong emotional ties to this world apart from fabian and she wants out. cool. can we leave now?

✅ don't pursue gwiles: gwen and fabian are romantic interests and gwen doesn't pine for or mention miles. fabulous.

✅keep gwen an adult: gwen's still out of school, living independently, and in a relationship with a grown man. jess and miguel called her a teen during this run, but she clearly isn't one.

➖continue to lay on the queercoding: the comphet vibe of fabigwen's whirlwind flirtation is off the charts ('hiding in plain sight in a world that hates who i am and wants me to be A Man's Girlfriend, and i'm trying to get a boyfriend to distract myself'), but it doesn't seem intentional. at least for now.

✅keep exploring her symbiotic powers: gwen's symbiote continues to be represented in art in interesting ways-- and getting an acknowledgment that she can filter out most toxic gases through it but not fear toxin solves a plot hole and creates story potential.

it's a tentative yes.

is gwen's story being advanced?

➖explore her powers. gwen's blue beam of death is not being mentioned for some reason. but her symbiote's ability to filter out toxic gas is given a concrete limitation with consequences for this story and others going forward.

❌explore her education. gwen's not in esu and never references attending, skipping, being on break or even dropping out.

✅ explore the implications of being on 616. gwen's experience is explicitly paralleled to the experience of being an undocumented immigrant/asylum seeker. it creates conflict for gwen as a civilian, a reason for her to bond with her love interest, and it helps shape ghost-spider's politics.

➖explore her trauma. mister fear forcing her to admit what she's scared of is a solid use of this villain. her tendency to isolate herself, martyr complex, punch-first philosophy, avoidant behavior and fear of romantic intimacy are being acknowledged, and her abandonment of her supporting cast is a guilt that's eating away at her. great. so are we gonna resolve any of that?

✅explore her politics. gwen's an enemy of the police, questioning the corruption in city government and learning firsthand how it feels to be part of a marginalized community for the first time since the latour run. not loving that she's both-sidesing the political issue but she does make a fair point about how murdering corrupt officials won't change the corrupt structure. solid b.

➖ let gwen come out as bi. ... she's romancing a man, with no hint of interest in women, but no confirmation that she ISN'T into them either. the added context that gwen is using fabian to distract herself does create plausible deniability.

✅give gwen other love interests. gwen flirts with fabian.

so. the second half of this arc was solid. four solid issues and an ending that was not great.

i thought this would be mcguire 2.0 and it seems like i'm right. a writer who's a good fit for the tone of the book is stuck with a bad status quo and has to write around it. i hate that we're not on 65 and i'm so tired of gwen being stuck on this hamster wheel of being blamed for leaving when editorial is why she can't stay... but that's out of the writer's hands at least for now.

the biggest flaws that are genuinely on the writer/editors are

the lack of continuity. we may not be able to discuss gwen's 65-based plotlines, but on 616... gwen already was exiled here, and is supposed to have been going to college here. she has a multiverse-jumper necklace. where did that shit go.

the poor grip on cindy and jess. cindy would not tell gwen to hide out and not use her powers. jessica would not tease gwen about how hot it is that a strange man broke into her home to flirt with her.

kicking the mystery box down the road. it's been ten issues. where's that new blue beam of death power and why haven't we used or talked about it in five or six issues. what's the deal with 65. is it dead or not. why'd gwen leave. i get that you're trying to build intrigue, but dude. come on.

the lack of closure. no answers about the Big Questions haunting gwen. no personal life resolution with gwen deciding to learn detective skills from jessica or date fabian. did chameleon ever get help? loki crashes in and that's it.

otherwise... a lot of good is here. it's worth discussing.

gwen needs unique rogues who she'll never have to compete for the attention of with bigger heroes. she gets them in black tarantula and mister fear. the gothamy vibe to them is a great fit to her character and i genuinely want to see mister fear replace her mysterio, because he can fill the same function without being zapped away for use in a more prominent character's story. i love the effect black tarantula has on gwen and the exploration of carlos and fabian's dynamic and ideology. reusing old z-list villains no one else cares about is a good solution to the problem of gwen needing her own rogues that could sidestep a potential sony rights issue. and chameleon isn't unique, but making him this run's first rogue is 1) a fun reference to him being spider-man's first villain, and 2) a way to efficiently make 616 hate ghost spider. it works.

her stories work best with a grittier tone and political theme, which she gets in the mob justice storyline. her latour-era radicalization is finally returning through gwen's experience as, for all intents and purposes, an undocumented immigrant/asylum seeker. it's SO in character for her to become aware of this problem after personally experiencing it. gwen's counterculture politics are finally back... even if her conclusion is still "well taking violent direct action is just as bad." it's progress.

being regarded coldly by her world is also good: it would do that, and it's going to be easy for her to leave someday if she has no personal ties and is fully aware that she's unwanted. and honestly? it's refreshing that a gwen writer is finally talking about how peter condescends to her and miles barely registers to her at all. can the next step be gwen beating them up?

fabian lamuerto is a fantastic love interest for gwen. he's everything she needs while she's trapped here, and he's easy to leave behind if/when she goes home. great stepping stone boyfriend. the next step is letting them actually be together instead of teasing it.

her team-up with jessica jones is a good idea. this is a mentor that shares a lot of gwen's experiences and traits who can help her develop those detective instincts that keep being advertised but never canonized.

like. please think about what this run could have been. gwen could've been inexplicably a high schooler again, never talking about her world or dismissing it as ~not where she really belongs~. she could've gotten rid of her symbiote. she could've been flirting with miles, playing nice with shield, the avengers or the cops, talking about how she's ~found her real family~ with the spider-gang and she's the worthy heir to this world's gwen stacy so she totally belongs here!

instead... earth 616 hates ghost spider. gwen is uncomfortable with this gwen's legacy, didn't leave her world or her supporting cast voluntarily and keeps asking when she can go home. the spider-gang ignore or distrust her and she holds them at arm's length. she's living on her own, is old enough to go to a bar and open a bank account, and is barely scraping by. this is the most her symbiote's been utilized since the mcguire run. she has a new age-appropriate love interest who has a positive effect on her and she's totally indifferent towards miles. this is a very good use of a very shitty status quo.

and instead of copying atsv's homework (staring at you spider-society comic), phillips is using synergy beats in creative ways to push the story forward:

gwen is mentored by a badass older woman named jess, but it's jessica jones, not jess drew again.

gwen is on the run from the cops, but it's in peter's world and not her own.

gwen is fleeing a situation from her homeworld and sheltered by an interdimensional cop organization that was not so coincidentally just in a major disney+ show but it makes sense that the tva would be involved in an interdimensional world transfer, and we're not pretending that organization doesn't treat her like shit or that gwen doesn't wish she could return.

gwen develops a romantic attraction with a vigilante of color who hates the government and uses violent force to protect the city's homeless, but it's fabian and not hobie (would've loved hobie ngl but i'll take it).

gwen's haunted by the concept of gwen-616 and we're teasing a solution to 'can gwen fall in love with spider-man without it ending badly' but fabian is the spider-man (or tarantula-themed vigilante) who rises to the occasion, not miles.

yes, it's frustrating that we're getting reduxes of prior plots... but they're being done better this time. sometimes it's necessary to tread on familiar ground for an arc or two to get a runaway train back on track or stitch up plot holes (remember smash's aside of nat telling her 'hey i cleared your name and took out the storms for you' in an unrelated story? it's awkward but it fixed the plot hole of how gwen's back in nyc after they framed her. or the repeat of gwenom vs carnage? well, we got the payoff mcguire couldn't do the first time: em jay's in love with gwen, and gwen's about to come out of the closet.)

"gwen's exiled in 616" again... but this time we admit that she'd hate it there, be unwanted by her peers, be broke, and her legal status would be in dire straits.

"gwen's hanging out with the spider-gang" again except we admit that they treat her bad, and that peter-miles-cindy are the real trio.

"gwen crushes on a latino guy in a coffee shop" again except there's chemistry this time, he has a complex character, and he challenges her to be a better hero.

"gwen gets a fear gas guilt complex" again but this time it makes sense because it's explained that her symbiote can't protect her from it.

in the long run, and in the event of future adaptations, this arc will probably blob together with the mcguire run and the mini era to smooth out their flaws. the canon's being repaired. just this once, the repetition gets a pass. the haunted arc's a solid c+.

going forward though? we can't repeat the same beats forever. the holes in the ship are patched. now can we sail somewhere?

... and why is it space?

#sgtgs #spider gwen thoughts #fabigwen #spider gwen salt

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error404vnotfound · 2 years ago

Text

okay im posting it. it's unfinished and not revised and also a year old so. yeah. (i also wrote this after watching the whole 4 seasons) (also i added commentary in brackets) (this is almost 1.5k long so be forewarned)

i know this is an unpopular opinion but i also dont give a fuck about it. stranger things has been underwhelming for a few seasons, season 4 the most of all. now, listen to me okay, i’ve got a thesis.

so let’s talk about stakes through the seasons.

season one starts strong. from the beginning you know what the stakes are: there are dangerous people chasing our mcs and a wild monster on the loose. the biggest risk for the kids out there is 11 being taken away, and for the adults it’s the lab or getting injured by the demogorgon. These are our expectations of what the show will do: they are not going to brutally murder a kid, and we even expect the adults to be okay bc, really, few shows actually go and kill the main characters. There’s nothing wrong with having low stakes on a show, not if you own them, which season one does. 11 sacrifices herself and she’s taken away into the upside down. it makes sense with what we have been presented.

then season 2 comes along and bob is introduced, which, in the end, ends up being nothing more than a Chekhov's gun of sorts, a narrative tool to achieve a goal. A tool that, going forward, won’t be necessary and which also gets in the way of the endgame the writers have planned for (look me in the eye and tell me the joyce x hopper wasn't the desired ending for everyone and their mother). The stakes are mostly the same. 11 is out there doing her own shit, and the other kids have to deal with the doggies on one side, and the mind flayer on the other. The doggies are dangerous, but again, even if they show us they are blood hungry, the characters are never in any real danger because of them, and i’d even argue the MF is not even that much of a real danger to any of the characters. In the end, bob is killed off after he accomplishes what he was created to do, and he is made a hero. whatever. everyone else? everyone else is just fine.

and i believe this is the first crack the show makes on itself. Introducing a new loveable character to kill them off after they accomplish a mission. you might take it as a sign that the show is no longer scared to kill people off if it’s where the plot drives them, but i feel it just was the first red herring the show was going down.

another big ass red herring: season 3. i’ll go over why i think much of the problems st has comes from this [spoiler: i didnt], but as far as stakes are concerned, what matters in season 3 is hopper and his alleged death. with the stunt they pulled with this they totally broke the show. hear me out, okay:

you. can. not. pretend. to. have. big. stakes. and. then. not. make. them. matter.

hopper should be dead, it would have been tragic and sad, and it would have hurt, but it doesn’t in the end. him being alive makes all 11 goes through at the end of s3 worthless, all the emotions the audience experiences a joke, the writing is cheating the audience, it takes advantage of how much the fans love and care for the characters and uses it to make emotional beats that will amount to nothing in the end because haha we got you, you actually thought we were gonna kill him.

and season 4 just makes it even worse.

first with eddie. i just saw him and his introduction and i knew for sure he was not surviving the season. how could he? he’s just another bob, who joins the gang bc circumstances, sits around 80% of the season doing nothing until one of his skills becomes necessary, and then he’s killed off in an unceremonious death scene made epic by the context the characters and the script give it. his death is telling us we should be scared for our faves, but then the reality is that no, we shouldn’t.

bc then there’s max, the fucking last straw. the show loooooved to pretend vecna was dangerous, that max was in any real danger. i did not believe it for a second. even when the show was telling me “she’s dead” i did not believe it, bc i know the writers to be cowards, bc i know the stakes they like to pretend the show has don’t matter because they WILL bend the rules they established to get an emotional reaction from the audience. they’d already showed it once with hop.

max should be dead too, the story would be better for it.

im frustrated with the show because of this, because i can’t be excited for a season 5 when i know the stakes they keep insisting on making bigger don’t matter in the end. and who knows, maybe they end up killing off main characters in the end of season 5, my bet is that if it is the final season they will and that if it’s not they won’t.

i know many people cried during volume 2 because of what happens, because they are attached to these characters and they love them, nothing wrong with that, but if your emotional AND plot climax only has an impact if you love the characters, then you are doing something wrong [by this i meant that. i shouldn't have to be a hardcore fan to get emotional with the plot beats]

and this brings me to my second point: character vs plot driven stories idk how to name it yet [doesn't really matter because i didn't finish this lmao. basically my point i think was that the show went from being mainly character driven to plot driven (and that hurt the characters SO MUCH because. the kids and co were so good in the first season (and also second season i'll give them that), but they suffer from the plot taking precedence) which actually ties in with:]

third point: chewed more than they could handle:

you wanna know why season 1 was so good and was so successful? it’s because it was a solid story, it was a self-contained narrative with a beginning, middle, and end (minus that last will scene). [yeah that's basically it. i remember disliking all the lore they dump in the latter seasons because !!!! we didn't need that. no one was asking for that. they had to retcon a lot of shit to build this Big Bad that just,,,, idk i felt it cheapened the show in a way. let the unnatural aspects of your show go unexplained. you started as a horror show of sorts. sometimes it's enough to let the audience know the monster the characters are fighting is just this weird thing this little girl woke up] [maybe it was a me thing not asking the questions season 4 answered but. yeah. i never cared about where the demogorgons came from or why they were so on the hunt apart from. bloodthirsty monsters]

[also also i remember. the fucking russians. why. why would you want to introduce that plot thread. why would you do that. this was a small town show. not a world ending scenario show] [also going back to the vecna lore. another can of worms. it asks more questions than it answers. which didn't even need answering in the first place as i've already said. look i love worldbuilding. but you gotta do it right. sometimes a simple worldbuilding is better than a complex thing]

the show [i have no idea what this point was about]

11 powers wtf [i also have no idea what my complaint was here. prob that they weren't consistent enough or about that whole bathtub scene in s4 idk]

[and yeah that's all i wrote] [basically: for all the flash and color and big budget season 3 and 4 have, the show was at its strongest and best in season 1 with its strong characterization, good plot convergence in between the kids and the adults, every character had a thing to do on top of some inner and intrapersonal conflict here and there, storytelling, etc] [oh if it weren't for that last will scene. but alas. we need to make bank]

@my-cursed-prince tagging you. you asked for it

I Am So Correct Always

#giving thanks to past me for ranting in english to myself and not in #you know #my mother tongue #i think in english like 90% of the time which is often a curse because i forget how to spanish and how to catalan when i speak to other peo #le (tho that might also be the autism) (imagine having it easy to talk to speak outloud lmao)#but sometimes is a blessing (sharing thoughts on the internet)

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yandere-daydreams · 2 years ago

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For context, imma give you a little Spider-Man 2099 fact from the Spider-Man comics if you didn’t know about it already.

Before becoming Spider-Man, Miguel was injected by this drug called Rapture, a super addictive drug with really bad withdrawal symptoms, like you will feel like dying without taking it constantly symptoms. He was the top geneticist for Alchemax and he wanted to quit but the cooperation wouldn’t allow that, so they injected him so that he would have no choice but to be reliant on them and continue to work for them since they were the only ones that were distributing rapture. (It was actually due to him getting his spider abilities that he was cure; he had his DNA rewritten with spider DNA so he’s technically genetically half spider).

So basically Miguel injects you with rapture. So predictably you become more and more difficult, as he puts it. One day he offhandedly shows you a little vial in his lab that was used to turn him into Spider-Man, he drops little hints here and there that it’s what cured him of rapture. So it’s no surprise to him that you start acting so docile and pleasant soon after, your attempt to lower his guard are welcomed when he gets to cuddle you. So he lets you sneak into his lab when you think he’s away on a mission. It’s when you take the vail and inject yourself do your hopes for freedom start to dwindle when you feel a broad chest on your back and a pair of fans in you neck the next second. While the contents in the vail cured you of rapture, he also made it so that it acts as an aphrodisiac when it’s mixed with DNA; (injections of any sort are the fastest way to get anything going through your system, so the Miguel-activated-aphrodisiac binds with your cells really fast when you first inject it into your system), so whenever he bites you, your cells react almost immediately to his DNA and it turns into any season is mating season, Aka Miguel never beating the vampire allegations.

Ah sorry for the messy writing, English isn’t really my strong suite but you get the picture.

tw - dub//con, unhealthy relationships, obsessive behavior, manipulation through drug addiction.

oof,,, miguel knows first-hand how devastating rapture can be, so i'd like to think that he injected you with it in a moment of desperation, just thinking about the high and the wanting and how badly he needs you to give into him, even if he knows you'll be twice as difficult once the withdrawal hits. his plan to splice your dna, to cure you the only way he knows someone can be cured of a rapture addiction is an act of mercy in his mind, too. he can't keep you high and strung out forever, so he lets you believe there's an antidote, lets you think that he doesn't suspect anything when you suddenly start behaving and treating him like the hero he wants to be, rather than the captor he is, lets you sneak out of his bedroom in the middle of the night and into his lab, where his 'rapture cure' was conveniently left in plain-sight beside a syringe gun already prepared for injection. he lets you think that your alright, now, that you've escaped the worst thing he's ever done.

and then, he drives his fangs into your neck, holding you close as you go through the motions, as you realize that your body's reaction to him isn't something you can drown out with terror and loathing and fear, anymore. you haven't been cured, he just replaced one addiction with another and now, you're as reliant on him as he is on you. it's not love, but it feels close enough as you claw at his chest and pant against his neck, as you promise to behave and to follow his rules and to do whatever he wants, as long as he takes care of you. as you promise to love him, as long as he takes care of you.

#yandere #yandere x reader #yandere x you #yandere imagines #yandere miguel o'hara #miguel o'hara x reader #yandere spiderverse

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jinkicake · 3 years ago

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Sigh, back at it again😔 okay so hear me out; my fav thing is to like subvert popular fandom tropes bc everyone is wrong and I’m right. Like no Venti isn’t your uwu little blushy bottom boy he’s a god who can and will fuck you in his church on the altar and nobody will stop him🥰 so the chaotic switch Venti has grabbed me by the neck and will it let go and I’m just imagining everyone else, back to my (toxic) ex boyfriend Xiao propaganda I imagine like in your head your like “ lmao this man has not had ass in like 4 centuries imma Rock his world” and like 20 mins in you have to tap out and ask for a water beak and he’s like 🙄 is that all? Like you gotta train like your training for a marathon to fuck Xiao like even when he’s not all rough and animalistic, he’s just attacking all your weak spots at once, truly feel like he could have you suck his dick while he does like paperwork (in a modern Au) and he wouldn’t flinch like he has the best poker face ever so you gotta throw him off his rhythm 👀 itto I actually hc as bad at sex and it’s funny asf bc someone made like a tweet about it that and I’m like??? Your absolutely right!! He cums so quick but bc oni blood he can do it as many times until your satisfied and he tries rly hard to please you so it’s fun to tease him and his dick is huge so by default he’s already better than most, only time I will allow him to destroy someone’s insides is when he’s in heat and can’t think straight, gorou my beloved; he’s a whole war general like he’s killed people and seen his friends die same as kazuha there’s no way this man don’t know about sex.. HES A DOG! Like he in my eyes is a switch leaning bottom bc hehe funny god man have sensitive ears but if you tease him too much he will have to put you in your place, starts talking all sharp and serious likes he giving orders to his recruits and it’s a lil scary, and next to him kazuha , idk what I want from him exactly bc I do like mr steal yo girl I can make you cum without even using more than 2 fingers but also would like to tie him op🤔 he to me feels like a bag of tricks like he’s always a surprise, like he seems like a calm quiet poetry boy but he’s literally so unhinged like in the last summer event w everyone he body slams a delusional man to get him to come to his senses and every one is like😰 and done even get me started in his mirage,,,,, yeah that is not a good boy for even when we meet him in the quest he such a little shit!! “ you fight well” and telling the dude who stole the dead vision that he was gunna break his fingers???? Even paimon was like?? Ayo why we going so fucking fast??😭 he just be saying shit to throw people off!! Like him and Beido always got this “ flirting but not really but we have a secret that we can’t tell you but we gon talk about you infront of you” vibe going on like the way they speak?? Yeah I would not be surprised if you ended up in some back room on the ship at night w both of them bc they always scheming 😒 albedo my beloved melanin challenged man💕 he’s just like his twin so I feel like whole he wants to act all soft and romantic he will get scary if you test him or if he gets stressed enough, def the type to hit sore spots when you argue that’s like okay see I wanted to fuck you bc your hot when mad but imma punch you now🔪 definitely does everything w passion and romancing in mind. Would not be surprised in the slightest if he read books on flirting like noelle did in her hangout thing💀 mf is in that lab watching romcoms!! When I frost got into the game I was like he is never beating the weirdo allegations bc I always see him and trying to do some kind of experiment on someone like??? You can literally ask me like lmao I’m down you don’t gotta be sneaky unless it’s crazy

no, i agree that everything you say is right, nothing can prove that wrong!!!!!

but yes.... people always soften venti and it's like,,,,, come on.... come on!!! are we talking about the same venti? it's all a front he puts on to fool and distract everyone! i know he is crazy!!!! (.... i like crazy and reckless venti, hes the fucking free archon like?!)

AND I NEED YOU TO SPEAK LOUDER ON XIAO BECAUSE EXACTLY, EXACTLY. He's sometimes written as someone who doesn't know shit about pleasing a bitch and it's like LOOK AT HIM... LOOK AT HIM!!! Xiao knows exactly what to do and he can go for DAYS while doing it.... my heart is racing just thinking about it!!! I love toxic ex bf xiao!

itto is a himbo (that is my one cliche trope idc idc) so yes he cums in two seconds but can go for hours on end... I agree i agree!!! speaking of gorou,,, i love a good itto gorou ship,,, there i said it!

also yes kazuha would be insane bc it's always the quiet ones that surpise you the most!! the mention of beidou and kazuha just reminded me of how i literally ship anyone w everyone like itto sara the whole enemies to lovers is fun and theyre hot together- i could ship xiao w a fucking rock if i thought they were fun together omg

albedo.... i could do a thinkpiece on him truly- i just love the quiet psychos!!!! not that he's really a psycho but he could be! like his unleashed power that's supposed to destroy ****** ,,, wow..... just wow! but about his experiments.... i wouldnt hate them HAH YEAH I would read some good yandere albedo performing experiments on the reader..... it sounds fUN

#sarahandoikawatalkshit #xiaos spicy almond tofu

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sserpente · 4 years ago

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Pastel Blue (Chapter 13)

Synopsis: After his lucky escape, the Tesseract takes Loki on new adventures–but unfortunately, his journeys through space do not go unnoticed and he soon ends up on the TVA’s radar. Working for them, albeit reluctantly, he keeps finding himself in the company of a young woman, Jess, who works in the linguistics department and who has a truly strange effect on him. Smitten by her confidence and smugness, he seeks her presence like a bee hunting for honey and lets her wreak havoc in his heart without really knowing why. But he is determined to find out. He means to escape his new prison anyway.

Find all chapters on my masterlist! ♥

A/N: Here we go! Another week, another update! Enjoy, everyone! ♥

Back in Fred’s lab, Jess had been holding back her tears ever since she’d found the energy to heave herself to work to not raise any suspicion. Betrayed. What else should she have expected? The TVA had not yet found out just how Loki had freed himself from the collar but truth be told… it was only a matter of time.

This was it. She wasn’t going to be put on probation again. Not for this. Not for helping a Variant of one of the beings who caused the TVA the most trouble. She’d be pruned. If she didn’t leave… then surely, she would die today.

As of right now, the whole of the TVA had been in an utter panic for the past hours. Mobius flew about from left to right, asking for news and any dividing branches, leaning over dozens of documents to figure out Loki’s potential hiding spot and when they finally found a branch, they were all quick to assume it must have been him.

Renslayer was already on the verge of madness, not the mention the poor Hunters and Minutemen she was chasing about like a drill instructor at the military. It was the perfect time to escape and yet, part of her couldn’t bring herself to leave. The TVA was her home.

“Jess!” Her blood froze, as did her whole body. Swallowing thickly, she turned around to face a spooked Loki starting towards her as if her very survival depended on the next few seconds. As soon as he was close enough, she drew back her hand and slapped him across the face, a satisfying sound of skin hitting skin echoing through the lab. That had felt good—she kind of wanted to do it again.

Loki briefly closed his eyes, letting the pain subside with a deep breath before looking her deep in the eye. Her heart skipped a beat, even more so when he gently took a hold of her upper arms. How he had made it past all the guards would remain a mystery to her. Why did he even come back?

“Jess, you need to listen to me.”

“No, you listen to me, you Asgardian piece of shit! I should have never trusted you. Fuck, I should have never let lust get the better of me. Fuck that connection between us, fuck you, fuck everything! What do you think they will do as soon as they count one and one together and realise it was me who let you escape? I have nowhere to go. The TVA was my home and you took that from me, how is it that you ruin everything you lay your hands on?!” She shrieked.

It was Odin who had something similar to him once, along with Mobius when he had first arrived at the TVA. Hearing it from Jess, however, felt like a dagger cutting his heart right out.

“Jess, please. Listen. I know you think I only shared my bed with you as a means to an end but that is not true.”

“Right, you’re telling me you weren’t just pretending to like me this whole time?” She retorted sarcastically.

“No, I…”

“Fuck off, Loki! What did you even come back for?”

“Jess! You are the Tesseract!” He interrupted her, gripping her tightly and pulling her even closer to him.

The linguist blinked at him, lips parting in utter shock. Bullshit. “Excuse me? What on Earth are you talking about? Is this another one of your tricks?”

“I met you. Well, not you—some sort of Variant of you. I used a TemPad to return to my alleged death, took the Tesseract and it brought me to New York in the 90s. It… she… found a way to regain her physical form. She is you.”

“That’s ridiculous.” She stammered. “How can I be an ancient and powerful artefact? An object? Don’t you think I would know? You know why I ended up here, my parents…”

“The TVA is lying to you. This connection that Mobius kept speaking of, his interest in our interactions together… he knew. He knew all along. Jess, we don’t have much time. We have to find your Variant and get out of here.”

Jess bit her lower lip. Was he telling the truth? This feeling… this feeling cooking up in her heart and consuming her entire body… it felt like Loki had just handed her a puzzle piece about herself on a silver platter. Something to make her whole again—and something that would explain her very being. The teleportation—portals—the multilingualism, even her love for Doctor Who…

“Tesseract… Tess… Jess… they didn’t even bother with my name, it seems.”

She was about to say something else when the heavy door opened and B-15, Mobius and Renslayer, along with a few serious-looking Minutemen and Hunters barged in. Mobius slowed them down with a swift movement of his hand, albeit did not stop them from aiming their prune sticks at Loki.

“Nowhere left to run, Loki. It’s time to give up.”

The God of Mischief reluctantly let go of her and turned to face them.

“Where is she?” He growled.

“She’s right here, Loki. Infinity Stones don’t work here, remember? We only found out recently what that meant. That the physical laws that apply to Variants of other beings don’t apply to the physical form of an Infinity Stone. Time tears itself apart in a place like this. The Variant you met in New York City, the one B-15 took back to the TVA, she no longer exists.”

Loki frowned. But they did work. Jess was able to use her powers. But it was a question that did not need answering. Because in her physical form, she was stronger than the whole of the TVA. Mobius had just found a clever way to suppress them with her earrings. Loki glanced at her ears. She had taken them off again.

“What are you saying?”

“The being you encountered in New York was an absolute point in time. We… we can’t say we didn’t try to override it like an old hard disk when you arrived at the TVA because I knew that would mean you’d escape and well… cause chaos, as usual.”

“So what, you kept her around as an experiment?”

“You’re twisting my words.”

Loki scoffed. “Oh? I remember someone else telling me that a long time ago and they ended up being one of the most manipulative and cruelest men of the nine realms.”

“So it’s true?” Jess interrupted, swallowing thickly. “I am really… the Tesseract?”

Mobius took a deep breath, letting a few painful seconds pass. “Yes. He’s not lying, for once.” Jess held on to the edge of the desk, her knees threatening to cease to support her any longer.

“Everything you told me… my whole past… It was all a lie? You made it all up?”

“We had to tell you something.”

“You reset me! You… you took my memories from me! Fuck you. Fuck you, Mobius! Fuck you!”

“Jess, please…”

“Don’t you dare call me that! It’s not even my real name, now is it?” She paused, taking in Mobius’ guilty expression. “Why did you keep me here in the first place? Why not prune me?”

“We can’t prune you. We tried. You’re an ancient being from before the existence of time. We… when we recruited Loki, we had to be sure neither of you finds out who the other is but that…” He took a deep breath. “That doesn’t mean we weren’t interested in how you would play out if confronted with one another.”

“Like a lab experiment,” she spat, repeating Loki’s words. Mobius shook his head.

“Loki causing your transformation back to a physical being already happened, that’s what an absolute point in time is all about, that is what was supposed to happen and that… created a time loop he keeps triggering with his presence here at the TVA. We tried to close it. If Loki had not created an alternate timeline on the Arc where he died, we wouldn’t have taken you here.”

That’s why he had found him so quickly then. He’d known what diverging branch to look for. But there was another, far more devastating revelation.

“You knew… you knew this whole time that if you succeeded with closing that loop that I wouldn’t exist?”

“Yes. We had to. Your Variant creates portals that could drown the universe as we know it in chaos. It could potentially trigger a multiverse and the end of the proper flow of time.”

“You never truly cared about me then. You know, it all makes sense now. Why you kept me locked up and supervised like a goddamn criminal.”

“You’re a wild spirit, Jess. You needed security either way.” Mobius gave her a sly smile, a weak attempt to ask for forgiveness.

Jess glared at him, then exchanged a look with Loki, making up her mind there and then. She would go with him, wherever it was he was going to take her. Even if that meant he’d abandon her and that she’d be homeless. Escaping… escaping sounded tempting all of a sudden.

“That’s enough talking now. Let’s get this over with. Prune him.” Renslayer commanded. “And then reset her. I should have never allowed you to recruit this Loki in the first place, Mobius.”

“I thought you needed me.” Loki mused mockingly.

Renslayer snarled at him. “Our plans have changed.”

“Well, so did mine.” He growled. He shot Jess a knowing look and she understood. But was she truly ready? Where would they even go to? The portal she opened up swallowed them both within a fraction of a second, enveloping them both in hues of black and blue.

A/N: Be sure to let me know if you enjoyed this chapter and come say Hello on my Kofi! I really appreciate your support! ♥ ko-fi.com/sserpente

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why-this-kolaveri-machi · 4 years ago

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please. i can’t do this alone.

Titans 3.01

thoughts! thoughts! thoughts! some red hot thoughts!

SPOILERS ahead.

1. one episode in, and this season already looks set to give me everything i want. its abandonment of plot and storytelling conventions as it goes from one point to the next at breakneck speed; its cheerful bastardisation of iconic storylines from the comics; the ‘as-you-know-bob’ clunky exposition on one end and extremely restrained, subtle explorations of complex character dynamics on the other; endless shots of neon bleeding into black and blue corridors, shadows and silhouettes; my delight in seeing it celebrate and deconstruct the dark nolan-y batman aesthetic at the same time; my bafflement that it’s so fucking goddamn obsessed with the batfam when it’s supposed to be about the TITANS; kory just... saving every overburdened, clunky scene that she’s in by her sparkling charisma. just... *chef’s kiss*. muah. my show is back, in all its glory.

MY SHOW IS BACK, Y’ALL!

1.5. i mean... this show is so artful and weird and not afraid to go absolutely bonkers in exploring its characters’ psyche, but can just about barely stage a passable comic book fight when every tom dick and harry and their new streaming services can deliver ones that are far more exciting. i love this show with every atom of my body.

(there’s something to be said about rooting for the underdog as well. a pleasure in finding something to love about what other people dismiss. but! enough navel gazing! i have fictional characters’ navels to look at! metaphorically! and maybe literally!)

2. i expected jason’s death to come about pretty early in the season as soon as i heard rumours that red hood was showing up, but for it to happen in the first five minutes of the first episode... that’s a record.

(well. “happen.” still don’t know what exactly went down there.)

2.25. GOD. jason is such a tortured and tragic character in this show, used and passed around by people with alleged good intentions, never really fitting in anywhere. he’s veritably bleeding vulnerability and the need to belong, the need to be known, and yet the tragedy is that his death proves that nobody in his life knew anything about him at all; that they only saw the flimsy walls he put up to protect his soft core, and thought that that was all there was. that they say they loved him, but blame him for his own death.

dick is flabbergasted that jason can read, though we know from last season, from what jason revealed to rose, that he has a love for plays and music. barbara is quick to dismiss his actions as ‘impulsive’. bruce has no idea that his supposed son was building his own little chemistry lab right under his nose, and beyond that, no idea that jason needed structure, stability and validation beyond being left alone in a huge house with a treasure trove of dangerous weapons. kory thought his decision to fight the joker was from not learning and growing when the guy tried to kill himself last season and nobody apart from dick even tried to talk to him about it! did you consider that he might still be suicidal? especially after the titans admitted to having “given up” on him because he was just “too hard”?

2.5. the one thing that’s been consistent across all three seasons (so far) of the show is the unreliable narrator trope. there’s a reason why the characters’ dismissals of jason’s actions as impulsive is so repetitive; why jason’s death is a mystery dick feels compelled to solve. it’s a flailing attempt to know his brother much too late--but with red hood, maybe he gets a second chance, just like he got one with the titans. this is what jason’s arc has been building up to. this is ‘death in the family’ but more fucked up in some ways. it didn’t linger on the death because the death wasn’t the point. the joker isn’t the point. everything that came before it is.

this way it will also make perfect sense that the red hood’s main enemy becomes the titans rather than batman.

2.75. goodness knows what’s going on with jason’s little chemistry project. at first i thought he was immunising himself to joker gas or something, but maybe it’s what passes for lazarus pit juice in this universe?

anyway, it’s pretty impressive that jason learnt all of that from a college chemistry textbook. STOP BRINGING UP THAT HE READ SOMETHING, DICK--

2.8. i’m glad that dick doesn’t immediately sink into self-loathing and guilt and tries to investigate jason’s death while also acknowledging how he failed him. it’s like he actually learned something from the last two years!

anyway. more about dick later.

3. oh how i love titans!bruce. a lot of characters had a lot of Opinions on his reaction to jason’s death in this episode, but again, i ask you to consider that they’re unreliable narrators, and this universe’s bruce is a product of how it shaped him. bruce wayne has become a phantom to himself--an artifice borne out of vigorous discipline and crushing self-denial.

bruce has been batman for a very long time, and without a robin for much longer. (dick must be... in his early thirties? so he was robin for about, say, 10-12 years according to the timeline of the show. that still makes bruce pretty old when he took on his first robin.) things have... calcified (possibly parts of his brain). the personal cost and the collateral from the mission he’s taken up for most of his life is too much to countenance; it has to be a war, and war requires sacrifice.

on some level bruce knows that’s a lie. he’s so goddamned alone. what’s he going to do? sit down and cry? who’s going to listen to him now? oh, is he going to just stop being batman? who’s going to stop gotham from consuming herself then? he’ll just have to forge ahead, do better next time, maybe he’ll be firmer with them, or kinder with them, or notice more things, or train them harder, or spend more time--

3.25. don’t get me wrong: titans!bruce is an asshole and a half. his roster of potential robins was honestly bone-chilling. the fact that there’s a twisted root of compassion makes it more disturbing.

3.5. alfred’s dead! it must’ve been pretty recent, because i could’ve sworn that dick tried to call alfred in the very first episode of season 1, or at least considered calling him...

what a devastating double-blow for bruce then, losing his father-figure and his, uh.... son-figure so close together.

4. i don’t know about barbara yet. i mean, i like her, but she had so much clunky expository dialogue to deliver this episode, and for an episode that was named after her, she only showed up halfway through it. but i like the weight of history behind her interactions with both bruce and dick and her compassion to bruce before he cruelly crossed a line. i also like the implication that she and dick have been in touch recently, and that she didn’t immediately try to guilt-trip dick about some perceived abandonment. it’d be too repetitive.

4.5. there’s also a sense that she ran interference for dick a lot whenever there was something Too Big and Emotional for him to confront directly, and i like and appreciate that character beat.

5. dick, my man! it really does feel like a substantial length of time has passed between the end of s2 and the beginning of s3... kory’s got a new costume, they’ve become celebrities in SF, working missions together, and dick’s actually smiling! genuinely enjoying his work and having fun with it for possibly the first time in the entire series! it’s really a far cry from the fractured, dysfunctional mess that they were at the end of the last season.

i just hope this doesn’t mean that they’ve magically reached a resolution off-screen to all of their fucked-upness from last season, and that the repercussions--for gar in particular--are actually addressed on screen.

5.25. i mentioned this briefly above, but it really is so refreshing that dick doesn’t wallow in guilt and self-loathing after jason’s death; he acknowledges his and the titans’ failure, is able to admit to barbara honestly that he’s not doing great, and is actively trying to reach out to bruce to make sure he’s ok, is trying to investigate what made jason seek out the joker on his own, and is probably the only person not immediately buying that it was jason’s recklessness that got him killed. i love that dick is finally beginning to trust his instincts or just employ them at all after years of guilt and paranoia and self-loathing. we love some positive character growth!

5.5. another thing i love? the bruce-dick interactions on this show. every scene they’re in together is so fraught with tension, both of them holding themselves back, their emotions on a whipcord-tight leash. dick wants to reach out to bruce, is even somewhat familiar with this brand of denial in the wake of grief, but wants barbara to make the first move because he genuinely does not know how to get bruce to open up. his instincts are right, and wonderful, and genuine, but his expression has been smothered by years of trauma, emotional and physical self-discipline, and what i suspect is poorly treated mental illness.

it takes a lot for him to finally explode at bruce at the end of the episode--in a way he hasn’t done even when his only opinion of bruce was ‘fuck him’--and it’s all the more startling for how subdued he’s been through the episode, how much he’s been holding back his emotions for bruce’s sake. love it.

5.75. it sort of hurts my heart to see the flying graysons poster in jason’s room. there are a few implications:

a) jason settled into dick’s old room despite living in a giant mansion with dozens of other rooms he could’ve used

b) he didn’t take down dick’s poster--not when he moved in and was idolising him, not when he moved out of the titans and was sort of hating him. i wonder if the reminder of what dick was before robin--that he was forged out of unspeakable tragedy--gave jason the connection to dick that he so desperately wanted in real life

c) dick moved right back into the room and slept on the bed that was now jason’s. grief can be so quiet and piecemeal sometimes.

6. i spy the beginnings of actual arcs for both gar and kory! i just hope that with the move to gotham their stories don’t fall to the wayside...

6.5. i’ve known tim drake for less than ten minutes but if anything were to happen to him i’d kill everybody

7. this review has gone on for too long and i am tiRED. however, before i leave: i miss some of the dedication-to-aesthetic that titans season 1 used to have. remember how the first few episodes didn’t really feel like a superhero show but something out of gothic horror? there was something gorgeous and raw about that, about open landscapes and the road and creepy buildings looming up at the end of it. moving to titans tower in s2 really ruined a lot of that for me, given its ripped-from-architectural-digest aesthetic, all smooth and clean and artificial.

i hope that we really explore gotham’s hellscape in interesting and innovative ways instead of camping out in the batcave all the time and indulging in the show’s unending love for long corridors, neon backlights and silhouettes.

8.....

9. wait, fuck, HOW CAN I FORGET ABOUT HOT PSYCHIATRIST GUY (TM)??? NONE of you prepared me for his return! NONE OF YOU! i gasped! i got up and did a happy dance!

listen, titans writers, if you’ve had a peek at my titans s3 wishlist, please go ahead and give the other items on the list a go too, thankyouverymuch.

#titans #titans spoilers #meta #jason todd #dick grayson #bruce wayne #barbara gordon #a tragic jalebi #a byronic cupcake

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carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory · 4 years ago

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Diamonds Are the World’s Best Friend: The Important Roles Diamonds Play in Society

by Shelby Wyzykowski

In the classic 1953 movie “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” is a memorable musical number performed by silver screen legend Marilyn Monroe. Wearing a striking pink satin gown and dripping in dazzling jewels, she is surrounded on the stage by a bevy of handsome suitors that are dressed to the nines. In this glamorous setting, she sings the praises of diamonds…how nothing in the world can compare to how it feels to possess these glittering gemstones. But off-screen, Monroe’s taste in brilliant baubles was radically different, preferring costume jewelry to the real thing. I have to admit that I agree with Marilyn. Diamonds have never held much interest for me. That is until now. After doing a little research, I’ve discovered that, besides their use in the jewelry industry, there are other ways in which diamonds are utilized in society today. In fact, there is so much more to these captivating stones than just their scintillating sparkle.

Perhaps you’ve heard the adage “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.” Well, it just might surprise you that this saying holds true for diamonds. In the jewelry world, a diamond with perfect clarity is the much-desired ideal. But in the scientific world, a so-called “poor” specimen that is full of inclusions (imperfections), could hold a treasure trove of geologic information. Researchers are studying them to try and uncover the secrets of the deep-Earth environment. The majority of diamonds are created fairly close to the Earth’s surface, between 93 and 150 miles down. But there are some diamonds, called super-deep diamonds, that come from far down in the Earth’s mantle and are as deep as 500 to 600 miles (the mantle, which is mostly made up of solid and very hot rock, is directly below the Earth’s surface layer, or crust, and makes up more than 80 percent of our planet’s volume). These 3.5 billion-year-old gems formed at a pressure that is 240,000 times the atmospheric pressure at sea level, and this fact makes these tiny stone time capsules extremely valuable to researchers. No doubt geologists would love to travel deep under our planet’s surface like the characters in Jules Verne’s 1864 science fiction novel Journey to the Center of the Earth. Unfortunately they can’t, but these super-deep diamonds are the next best thing to journeying there themselves!

With these diamonds, scientists are uncovering clues to the origins of water on Earth. Did water come from incoming asteroids and comets, or was water an integral component at the planet’s formation? We’re still not quite sure. But diamond research has brought us closer to figuring out how much water lies deep underground. Scientists think that there may in fact be as much water present in our planet’s deep subsurface as there is found in our oceans. They have developed this idea after discovering a special water encased in the inclusions of deep diamonds. Called ICE-VII, this water ice can only be formed under tremendous deep-Earth pressure. In addition to water, geologists have found an elusive mineral in diamond inclusions. Scientists had theorized it to be an extremely common mineral that makes up to 38 percent of the Earth’s volume, but it’s been impossible to create in a lab. Now that it’s been found in nature, researchers have the proof of its existence and have named it Silicate-Perovskite (or Bridgmanite). In addition to Bridgmanite, they have discovered other trace minerals and elements that are commonly present in the Earth’s crust. This means that the materials were subducted (drawn back down into the Earth) billions of years ago by plate tectonics. Deep in the mantle, the materials were encased in a forming deep-diamond and then eventually sent back up to the surface by way of volcanic eruptions. Even more exciting than all of these discoveries is the thought of what geologists still have yet to uncover. They still hope to find carbon from primordial organic matter in these special diamonds. That matter could be a clue to the origins of life on Earth!

"Earth’s most abundant mineral finally has a name" byArgonne National Laboratory is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

In addition to their contributions to the scientific field, diamonds also have practical uses in society. In the mid-1950’s, synthetic diamonds were invented. Created in a lab, they are chemically and physically exactly the same as natural diamonds. However, these man-made gems do not possess the allure and mystery of natural diamonds, so they are not very desirable in the jewelry market. But since diamonds are the hardest known natural substance, they are ideal for industrial use. For example, they can be pulverized into a fine abrasive that can be made into a “diamond paste” and used for polishing other jewelry-grade gemstones. Small particles of diamond can also be embedded in tools like saw blades, drill bits, and grinding wheels. These diamond-coated tools are very wear-resistant and can be used for mining, deep-sea drilling, and road construction. And there are some ingenious uses for diamonds that you may find to be very surprising. Diamond windows can be made from very thin (thinner than a human hair) diamond membranes. These windows cover X-ray machines, laser openings, and vacuum chambers. A diamond can also make your music sound better. A speaker dome made out of diamonds can vibrate very rapidly because this gem is such a stiff material. So it is ideal for enhancing the performance of high-quality speakers. Diamonds can even help you keep track of time. Small mechanical devices, such as watches, have tiny bearings inside of them that make everything move (in a watch, it’s called its “movement”). A thin coating of diamond makes these parts wear-resistant and ensures accurate time-telling and lasting durability. From helping to build highways to making your timepiece tick, who knew that diamonds could be so useful in so many ways!

CM18561 is located in the Native Elements case in Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems. Source: https://carnegiemnh.org/emu_widgets/mineralogy.html#details=ecatalogue.2019718

Yet another important role that diamonds have played in our world is how they have influenced history. The brilliantly blue, supposedly cursed Hope Diamond, for example, has not brought much luck to its owners since it was discovered over 350 years ago. It was in the possession of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI until their untimely deaths during the French Revolution. Subsequent owners also met with unfortunate outcomes until it was donated to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History where it is now safely on display. Another famous diamond, the 750 year-old Koh-i-Noor, has been owned by many royal rulers. It once decorated the Peacock Throne that was used by the Mughal Emperors of India, including Shah Juhan, the builder of the Taj Mahal. Now in England, the stone is part of the Imperial Crown. Due to an alleged curse, it can only ever be worn by the royal family’s female members. Finally, there is the Regent Diamond, which was unearthed in the early 1700’s. After being owned by several rulers, it disappeared during the French Revolution. Years later, it reappeared in the sword of Napoleon. But he was unable to hold onto it for long. After being defeated by the British in the Battle of Waterloo, the once-great ruler was exiled to the tiny island of Elba in disgrace. Since 1987, the Regent’s home has been at the French Royal Treasury in the Louvre in Paris. But you don’t need to travel to France or Great Britain or Washington D.C. to see the Regent Diamond, the Koh-i-Noor, and the Hope Diamond. Replicas of these three stones plus many more world-famous diamond replicas are on display at the Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems. While you’re there, you can also admire some expertly crafted pieces of authentic diamond jewelry that would make any gem lover’s heart skip a beat.

Even though Hillman’s diamond collection is truly amazing, I can’t help but wonder if it would have impressed someone like Marilyn Monroe. Apart from a single piece of jewelry, the diamond wedding band that was given to her by Joe DiMaggio, she had no real affinity for diamonds. Apparently, the legendary actress didn’t believe that they’re a girl’s best friend. But if she had been given the opportunity to find out about all of the other meaningful ways in which diamonds benefit our world, perhaps this screen siren might have developed a new appreciation for these precious gems. I know that I have. I’d like to think that Marilyn would have too.

Shelby Wyzykowski is a Gallery Experience Presenter in CMNH’s Life Long Learning Department. Museum staff, volunteers, and interns are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

#Carnegie Museum of Natural History #Diamonds #Minerals #Super Science #Minerals and Gems #Diamond #Bridgmanite

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alternativewinxcontinuity · 5 years ago

Text

Well, I read the ‘sneak peak’. God I hope they cut a lot out because there were places where the pacing felt like they cut something out.

The was... a general level of ‘I think I’d have more fun beating my head against the wall’, but there were a few places where I had some things that needed to be said.

Under the cut because I’ve included the full available text in addition to my b*tchy little notes.

So I’ve just realised the whole thing +sneak peak is 14,232 words, that’s a bit excessive for a single post.

I might leave just the snark here (I chucked the +sneak peak chapters up on AO3, it’s just for more contexts.)

Prologue

Under her list of ideas, she’d written the results of her experiments.

July 6th—candles—no burns.

July 8th—camping stove—no burns.

July 10th—blowtorch—no burns.

Experimenting on herself had been scary, but not as scary as the memory of her home burning.

You set shit on fire and your only experiments thus far are: “does this burn me? How about this?” CHILD! Start with a candle, a lighter and a f*cking FIRE EXTINGUISHER and practice putting out a single flame!!!! Then: light a single candle!

Stop putting your hand in fire if it scares you! “I am this many kinds of fire proof” does not equal “control of fire so I don't hurt anyone else”!!!!

Also, the wall behind the woman had opened into a shimmering portal of light. Just another clue that something unusual was going on.

Bloom waved this off. “Is this the part where you tell me I’m magic now?”

“You always were, Bloom,” said Headmistress Dowling. “You just didn’t know it yet.”

That was enough. She might have mysterious powers that were out of control, the world might be going mad, but her parents hadn’t raised her to listen to strange adults who approached in the dead of night with what sounded like a cult recruitment speech. Bloom snorted, abandoned her sleeping bag, and made for the door.

The woman’s voice stopped her at the mouth of the warehouse.

“I know about the fire, Bloom.”

Bloom trembled like a candle flame in a gust of wind. Slowly, she turned around. The woman was watching her with a steady gaze, keen but not unkind.

“Where are you going? You can’t go home. You’re too afraid you’ll hurt your parents again.”

Headmistress Dowling was right.

Kay, so obvious magic goes unremarked upon, not even a “nice trick with the lights, is that suppose to convince me”.

Also, either someone's been stalking Bloom, or Dowling is some kind of Mind Fairy.

FIRE

Once upon a time, it was my favorite possession, the fanciest book I owned, with golden swirls on the cover. But I’d grown up and packed the book into my old toy chest along with my teddy bears. I’d thought I was long past fairy tales.

That was before I used magic to burn down my house. My toy chest and my fairy-tale book had burned, too.

Creators kick my nostalgia for the lulz: 01

My book of fairy tales hadn’t included a swarm of kids around my age. One long-legged, capable-looking African American chick strode by, wearing a denim jacket and carrying a bag full of athletic gear. Wait, she wasn’t African American. Fairies didn’t have Africa or America. I didn’t know the name of the fairy realm I was currently in. Also, I hadn’t pictured fairies being into extreme sports.

Another girl, pale with a cloud of brown hair, was clutching several plants to her bosom as she hurried across the courtyard. A third sauntered by, vaguely punk rock and olive-skinned and wearing enormous headphones that buzzed faintly on her ears. I hadn’t pictured fairies rocking out, either.

Oh look, this Bloom also subscribes to the: “it's not whitewashing if they're aliens” theory

There was a rangy guy with skinny jeans, overly sardonic eyebrows, and a knife-bridge nose. California had plenty of white boy edgelords, but this edgelord had an actual knife. Oh no, actual knife! I wasn’t interested in getting to know Knife Boy better.

Called out Riven.

A stunning blonde girl with porcelain skin was taking a selfie with a group of overawed younger students. A luminous wisp floated in the air, making her glossy hair shine. Talk about a beauty angle. Seemingly, fairies could create their own beauty lighting.

Bloom is gay for Stella count: 01

I sneaked a look at him and grinned. His hair had coiffed peaks like a gold helmet and his shirt was pink, which I liked because gender stereotypes were for the weak. He even had a summer tan that fishbelly-pale redheaded me could only dream of. But no matter how cute he was, I wasn’t going to encourage him.

“I guess that means we have to do this forever. There are worse things, but—”

I stopped and turned to him. “I don’t need help, but thanks.”

Now I was looking at him properly, Some Guy was very cute, with a hero jawline and a confident air. Some Guy might be cute, but I was the independent type.

By the way, it's very important you all know that Bloom is a strong independent woman™ who scoff at gender roles, because she's hip and edgy, but she's like, totes not an edgelord(!) She's cool(!) Even if she hates her super pale skin.

Some of the chandeliers in this place were so dainty and delicate, they looked like stars suspended on gilt ribbons. The rooms were large and bright, with sunbeams dyed by stained-glass windows that were as intricate as the embroidery on a princess’s hem. Much of the stained glass was different shades of green, subtly coloring the air around us as though we were in a world made of jade and emerald.

Welcome to the Emerald City of Oz?

She continued talking, full of ennui about the fairy-tale castle, while I sneaked another look at her ring. “If you ever want to go back,” Stella said as she deliberately flashed it at me. She was making some kind of power play, and I didn’t know why.

Stella might be a bitch now, but I'm pretty sure It's only because Stella is also Diaspro in this reality?

FIRE

There was a realm called Eraklyon, which sounded like a dragon clearing its throat.

I mean... that's one way to pronounce it? I guess?

FIRE

I’d do anything for my parents, including lie to them about my new boarding school in Definitely Switzerland.

Your parents didn't ask about any paper work? They just accepted that you were moving overseas without warning? Who's paying for this alleged boarding school? Actually how are you paying for school?

We’d get dressed up and she’d play me cheerleader-type music. I remembered one chant that went Close your eyes and open your heart! The cheesy brainwashing hadn’t worked. I never much cared about frilly princess gowns, but I liked the idea of being at home in my princess castle.

Creators kick my nostalgia for the lulz: 02

In what beautiful blonde Stella had called the Winx suite—a bright series of rooms with tall windows and a view I couldn’t allow my parents to see—only one person got a room of their own. To my total lack of surprise, that person was Stella.

Bloom is gay for Stella count: 02

Creators kick my nostalgia for the lulz: 03

Really? That's how you're chosing to shoe-horn the Winx brand in? It just happens to be the name of their dorm. Sorry, their 'suite'.

When Mom, always waiting for my transformation into Ms. Popular, asked about the other girls, I shrugged. “Honestly, it’s five girls in an enclosed space, so … it’s only a matter of time before we descend into a Lord of the Flies situation and kill one another.”

So... no. Lord of the Flies is an extension of a study in relation to a very specific mono-ethnic (white), male and privileged group. It is literally young rich white boys, and the break down in community and sense of ethics that results in their single bias attitudes in the face of adversity.

The Winx are firstly female, multi-ethnic (not as much as they should be) and from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. If it devolves into murder, it will be vicious but it will not be “Lord of the Flies.” Find a better reference.

I busied myself with unpacking to hide my discomfort. “Ms. Dowling said there’s a fairy somewhere in my family tree? A long-dormant magical bloodline?” I sighed. “One day I will get used to how ridiculous all this sounds.”

Aisha’s surprise became wry amusement. “Oh my God. Have I just met the one person in the universe who’s never read Harry Potter?”

… why is that your conclusion? Long lost princess/prince/hero/magical heir swept up for adventure is a common trope. It doesn't make it feel any less ridiculous.

I wondered if any of my new suitemates ever felt that way. Happy bustling Terra, cool girl Musa, glamorous Stella, and Aisha who seemed so grounded.

It is so amazing how the girls that Bloom just happened to notice outside, you know, the only girls Bloom noticed outside, are all her roommates.

MIND

Terra’s super sweet voice revved into overdrive, picking up speed and frantic pleasantness on the way. “She’s just having fun. And I know it’s a lot. Shocker, Earth Fairy named Terra likes plants. It’s a family thing. I’ve got a cousin named Flora. My mom’s name is Rose, and my dad works in the greenhouse here. That’s why I know a lot of the second years. I grew up around Alfea, and—”

ohp, there it is

Creators kick my nostalgia for the lulz:04

“Stella’s a second year? Why is she in a suite full of first years?”

“Oh yeah. Actually … I don’t know. Some administrative thing last year? I mean, I think …”

I think you’re lying, thought Musa. She turned her back and dipped her power toward Terra, getting a faint sense that …

Somehow I doubt it was blowing up a potions lab in pursuit of a new shade of pink.

SPECIALIST

Less cool was Sky, Riven’s super annoying best friend in the whole world, who was rattling on about the ginger girl from the human world he’d met yesterday. Riven was sure she was crazy. He knew this because crazy was what Sky looked for in a woman.

So Riven is Riven and Brandon, okay.

I hate these assholes.

Riven bared his teeth. “Correction: I got high this summer.”

… : /

There was no real point trying to beat Sky. He was the best. Anyone in Alfea could tell you that … right after they told you Riven was the worst.

There was no real point, but Riven kept trying to beat Sky, anyway. Hey, nobody ever said Riven was smart.

… >:(

Sky’s dad was Andreas of Eraklyon, the dead legendary hero, slayer of the Burned Ones. Sky’s dad-substitute was Specialist Headmaster Silva, their fearless leader with the cold blue eyes and passion for early morning runs.

So many dead parents suddenly

He passed the blue, shimmering Barrier and went into the deep, dark woods. He could almost hear Silva’s voice now, telling the first years that the Barrier was their magical shield against the Burned Ones. Beware those merciless monsters with their inhuman strength and speed, never mind that nobody’s seen one in sixteen years, woo woo, so scary.

And Bloom is how old? Also: guess who’s about to start showing up suddenly! Trick question, it’s the Burned Ones, the ones we’ve already been told are the new series’ enemy.

EARTH

Their suite was called the Winx suite, which was such a cool name. Maybe they could call themselves the Winx Club?

Yep, they're going with that, okay.

You couldn’t even name the suit Wings in the kind of obnoxious cursive that makes it look like Winx and have Bloom misread it and become a running joke amongst the girls?!?!?!

Terra nervously eyed the food laid out on the tables before them. Sometimes she felt as if food might bite her before she bit into it. She couldn’t take cookies. All the other girls in the Winx suite were so skinny and pretty. If Terra ate a bunch of cookies, people would say, “No wonder she looks like that.” But if Terra got a plate full of carrots, people would say, “Who does she think she’s kidding, when she looks like that?” It was hard to know what to do.

Wow, just, wow. Terra honey, they do you so dirty. Fat girls don't have to hate themselves, just a note for the creators. And Terra, baby, if people gonna talk shit either way, you eat whatever the f*ck you want.

(If this is not the set up for a personal growth arc in which Terra learns to not-hate-her-body and that she is worth loving regardless, and the creators really think plus sized folks just hate themselves as a constant state of being, I'mma be so unbelievably pissed off.)

She wasn’t going to hunt for her annoying brother.

Hold up, Terra has a brother?

FIRE

I still needed a breather. “Where can I go that’s the opposite of this? What’s outside?”

Cute Guy looked alarmed. “Past the Barrier? Depending on the rumors, bears or wolves or something much scarier.”

Did you not hear about the dead body? The very mutilated dead body? Sky, buddy? You're not going to bring up the very murdered and mutilated dead body in order to prevent the new girl from a foreign world (that you want to bang) from going into actual and legitimate danger? No?

I thought about Stella saying once she knew me, she’d find something to love about me.

It made me smile.

Bloom is gay for Stella count: 03

As if I’d conjured her by thinking about her, Stella’s voice rang out. “Hey, Sky. Can we talk?”

Stella was wearing her flawless new outfit and holding two drinks. Every twinkly light in the courtyard caught gold in her hair. She was looking right at Cute Guy, whose name was apparently Sky. From Sky’s expression, he knew Stella pretty well.

Yeah, Stella is Diaspro now

EARTH

Oh, for the love of … Riven was menace-flirting at some poor Specialist boy. This was Riven’s typical behavior when he felt off balance. Terra had once witnessed Riven looming at a fern in a way that suggested he either wanted to prune viciously or make out.

I... what???

“Really? Bullying the new kid? Be more obvious.”

Riven smirked, because of course he did. “Can’t bully the willing. Right?”

There was something loaded about Riven’s tone.

“I don’t know what that means!” the new boy said sharply.

The new boy was clearly feeling uncomfortable. Terra sympathized. The poor thing mustn’t take Riven’s terrible personality personally.

Well, someone belongs on a sex offenders registry. What the f*ck Terra, don't excuse this shit, it's not okay.

“But sometimes we’ve had a bad day, and a scrawny little twerp says the wrong thing at the wrong time,” Terra purred. “And all of a sudden, we’re not happy you’re talking to us. And we’re not nice. And most of all, we’re not harmless.”

“purred”, really? You gonna make it sound sensual? Let the girl Snarl! Damnit!

The vines were suffocating him so he couldn’t even talk. It was so nice and peaceful.

Terra smiled sweetly. “What’s that, Riv? I’m sure it’s clever. I just can’t hear you.”

His face turned red. He was about to pass out, Terra noted, still with that feeling of cheery distance. She shouldn’t actually let him faint. Riven would hate that.

Uhhh, so Terra might have psychopathic tendencies and maybe a dissociative disorder.

She shouldn’t actually let him faint. Riven would hate that.

Yeah, and his victim would have hated being assaulted, choke this douche.

Gods above I cannot stress how much I hate this Riven in comparison to OG Riven, and I was not OG Riven's biggest fan.

FIRE

THESE ARE THE SCENES FROM THE TRAILER!!!!!

Bloom continues to be a dumbass.

WATER

Aisha wasn’t used to Alfea, but she was used to being part of a team.

Well someone hasn't watched the show.

How her mother and Bloom had been fighting about her social life, and how Bloom would rather fix old lamps than cheerlead.

Who is this woman, where is Vanessa? And Bloom's art thing? The lamps sounds interesting, but I've never seen sign of it yet, was it cut for time?

“It was almost like the fire had a life of its own,” Bloom went on. “I don’t remember how long I let it burn. I just remember their screams.”

When Bloom finished the story, she was clearly fighting back tears. A subtle, weary tremor went through her frame, like a runner past her endurance. It seemed like Bloom had been fighting for a long time.

“My mom was covered in third-degree burns,” Bloom said. “Because of me. And if I hadn’t gone in there to stop it? To stop what I started?” She looked completely burned out.

“Every night after that, I sneaked out. I was so scared I’d hurt them again that I slept in this creepy-ass warehouse near home. Until Ms. Dowling found me and …”

Given the Tragic Backstory™ , I'm actually a little surprised Bloom didn't straight up run away from home completely, the fact that she went back at all...

“I’ve heard the story of my birth a million times.” Bloom’s tone brooked no argument. “Miracle baby. There was a problem with my heart in the womb, but the day after I was born, it was gone.”

Aisha went cold. “Oh God,” she breathed. “You’re a changeling.”

Because Bloom needs to be even more Special��, this is doing nothing to ruin my theory Bloom is a Burned One, by the way. (Actually starting to think Burned Ones are Fire Fairies whose powers pretty much consumed them or cursed that way or something along those lines.)

So where's the “real” Bloom Peters? Was the fetus even real, or just a simulacrum to have something to switch MC Bloom with?

MIND

Stella’s tone gave Musa pause. Plus, Musa could tell Aisha was really upset. Deliberately, she let her powers turn on, and faced Stella with her eyes glowing.

I'm sorry, I thought Musa couldn't control her powers and that’s why she “has to wear her headphones at all times to block out the noise of other peoples emotions”, now she can 'deliberately turn them on'? When did this happen? Did I miss some Implications?

“You’re a Mind Fairy,” Aisha observed, but there was no other judgment.

Aisha turned to Stella just as Terra came out of her and Musa’s room.

“A Mind Fairy?” Terra repeated sharply. “What’s your connection? Memories, thoughts—”

Okay, so now we learn there are different types of mind fairies. Explain to me why Musa is an Empath with Synthetic input? ('hearing' feelings, or experiencing them in a way that registers as audio.) Is this a “Song of their Hearts” reference, because I don't feel like that was done on purpose if it is.

Only Terra was moving toward Stella, and the way she moved wasn’t Terra’s usual going-nowhere happy bustle. The way Terra moved was that of a woman on the warpath.

Musa was almost impressed.

“She was talking to Sky, wasn’t she?” Terra demanded.

“And?” Stella demanded haughtily in return.

Terra pursued: “And I know what happened to the last person who talked to Sky. I was here last year, remember?”

A crack appeared in Stella’s veneer as she shot back, “You don’t know the full story!”

Didn’t seem like Terra cared. “Ricki was your best friend, then she talked to Sky. Now she’s not here anymore. Why is that again?”

Yeah, definitely getting the feeling DiaStella isn't being held back for a Pursuit of Pink Potions accident.

FIRE

There was even more rustling than usual in the detritus piled in the warehouse corners, but I didn’t care.

Why teleport there? Is there a Rule about where Portals can go? Or is is just Because Bloom felt this was the best place to pop in?

“You don’t have to be okay,” Mom assured me. “You’re only sixteen. Being that far away is a huge deal.”

Dad said gently, “I couldn’t have done it when I was your age. Be thankful you got your mom’s bravery.”

But now I knew that wasn’t true. I didn’t get anything from my mom. No wonder I was always such a disappointment to her.

Osmosis [noun] Def. 2. the process of gradual or unconscious assimilation of ideas, knowledge, etc..

You have some damn decent parents by the sounds of this scene, even if your mother is sure you're a likeable human being who will have friends one day, why are you this way?! For the Angst points?!

Only I could see Mom through the kitchen window. She didn’t seem disappointed. She looked so happy just to be talking to me. How could I ever tell her what I did to her? How could I ever tell her what I was?

Okay, so this line is bringing back the “they deserve to know what I am” line from the trailer, and now I'm torn between “The Winx deserve to know Bloom is a Burned One” and “my parents deserve to know I'm a Magical Fire Fairy (who burned down our house) and maybe a Changeling and thus not their biological daughter technically, maybe.”

My parents told me they loved me. I knew I loved them. And I knew I didn’t belong here. Maybe I never had.

May I advise you: remove your angst blanket, turn on a light and clean the room to remove the Dark and Gritty filters of your life.

I heard faint whispers. Sibilant. Strange.

Sibilant means hissing by the way. In case anyone was wondering.

The monster was on the grate above me.

I crawled as fast as I could. The ring was on the other side of the mesh, but there was a hole just big enough for my hand to get through. I reached for the ring, almost had it.

But in the crawl space in front of me, past the barrier, the shadow of the creature passed on top of the grate. The monster bashed frantically at the grate. Once. Twice. Until with a ringing metallic crash, the monster fell into the claustrophobic space with me.

I made one last grab for the ring, but the monster slammed its hand down on it.

Oh man, if only telekinesis was one of the most basic of Fairy abilities Bloom might have been able to do something, but no, it's basic bitch elements or nothing.

SPECIALIST

I really freaking hate this version of Sky, just, so much.

Terra has her suspicions about the Stella-Sky dynamic and she just, 'oh they's in love at first sigh nothing could possibly go wrong here' hand the number over? Really?

Diaspro!Stella confirmed?

#fate the winx saga #fate saga #winx #winx club #it's bitch o'clock #fate the winx saga book sneak peak reaction

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