#no idea if there’s an audience for this but bes is away so i have no one to ramble to!!! so now you are all part of my captive audience

[beskars]

undisclosed desires; a silco x reader fic

rating: explicit word count: 3.7k warnings: shameless smut, porn without plot, jealousy, resolved sexual tension, dirty talk, oral sex (fem receiving), possessiveness, subby silco if you squint, 'good girl' + other pet names. no use of y/n [ao3]

“Is that what you wanted?” he questioned, his voice dropping lower as he crowded you against his office door, “To make me watch while you let that worthless nobody touch what’s mine?”

The admission hung in the air between you as his gaze burned into you, demanding an answer.

“Yours?” you challenged softly, “that’s interesting, considering how deliberately you’ve been pushing me away all this time.”

He reached for you then, his hand dropping to his side before it found you, clenching into a fist.

“Pushing you away?” he murmured, a short, bitter laugh punctuating his response. “No. On the contrary, I have let you get closer—far closer than I ever should have. Do you have any idea how hard I’ve fought to maintain what precious distance I am able to keep from you?”

undisclosed desires

You’d chosen your outfit for the evening carefully, selecting an ensemble that would draw his attention without being too obvious in its intention. A part of you felt slightly embarrassed that you’d resorted to such measures, but after months of subtle attempts to convey how you felt about him had been met with that same practiced distance he maintained with everyone, you had grown almost desperate in your need to provoke a reaction from him. Even contempt would be better than indifference.

The Last Drop was crowded tonight, the thrumming bassline vibrating the floor beneath your boots as you wove through a mass of bodies to position yourself just below the balcony he often occupied. You resisted the urge to look up, but you could feel his presence — could picture him standing there, hands folded behind his back as he surveyed the scene below. How many times you had stood beside him, the distance between you a fathomless chasm, cataloguing the elegant lines of his profile. Hoping he wouldn’t catch you staring. Hoping even more that he would.

There was nothing especially memorable about the man who approached you, though he was handsome enough in a plain way. What he lacked in looks he made up for in enthusiasm, eagerly drawing your back against his chest as you undulated to the pulse of the music. His hands gripped your waist, pulling you even closer, and you tried to ignore that the shape of them was all wrong, the fingers too broad as they dug into your skin. Nothing like the fine-boned hands of the man watching you from above, whose stare was now too heavy to ignore. 

Tipping your head back against the shoulder of your nameless partner, you caught a groan escape from his lips as you rolled your hips back.

“Fuck, you’re so hot,” the man breathed out, and you forced a smile, willing yourself to keep up the false display for your audience of one. 

Unable to stop yourself from glancing up, you caught sight of Silco’s jaw tightening for the briefest of moments before his usual placid expression slid back into place. He held your gaze for a beat, his face betraying nothing, before he turned and strode in the direction of his office, disappearing from your line of vision. You tried to swallow around the lump in your throat, but found yourself unable to, suddenly suffocated by the closeness of the man behind you and the heat of his breath on your neck. 

“I’ll be right back,” you told him, disentangling yourself before he could ask where you were going, pushing through the crowd toward the bar. 

You were stopped in your tracks by one of Silco’s employees, his hand wrapping around your bicep firmly but carefully as he guided you through the club.

“You’re wanted upstairs,” he said by way of explanation, only relinquishing his grip once you reached the bottom of the steps. 

The walk to his office felt longer than usual, anticipation and dread building in equal measure with each stride you took. He was standing at the window when you entered, the angularity of his face thrown into even deeper contrast by the sickly glow of the city lights behind him. He was silent for several long moments, giving you ample time to take in the rigidity of his posture, the displeasure pulling down the corners of his mouth.

“Would you care to explain,” he began, a dangerous edge to his silky voice, “what little game you think you’re playing?”

“I’m not sure how what I do in my free time is any of your concern,” you replied, watching his features go taut at your insolence.

“No?” he asked, moving toward you with a predatory grace that made you shiver. “Then perhaps you’d like to explain why you were watching so closely for my reaction when that man had his hands all over you.”

Your pulse quickened as he all but closed the distance between you, fighting to maintain your defiant expression.

“Maybe I wanted you to watch,” you told him, the words slipping out before you could trap them behind your teeth.

“Is that what you wanted?” he questioned, his voice dropping lower as he crowded you against his office door, “To make me watch while you let that worthless nobody touch what’s mine?”

The admission hung in the air between you as his gaze burned into you, demanding an answer.

“Yours?” you challenged softly, “that’s interesting, considering how deliberately you’ve been pushing me away all this time.”

He reached for you then, his hand dropping to his side before it found you, clenching into a fist.

“Pushing you away?” he murmured, a short, bitter laugh punctuating his response. “No. On the contrary, I have let you get closer—far closer than I ever should have. Do you have any idea how hard I’ve fought to maintain what precious distance I am able to keep from you?”

“No, I don’t,” you snapped, unable to keep the hurt from seeping into your voice. “It doesn’t seem to be hard for you at all.”

He let out an uncharacteristically frustrated exhalation, his good eye fluttering closed.

“Then know this,” he said, his gaze snapping back to yours, “I have lain awake every night for months , replaying every single touch, every lingering glance you’ve given me. I have spent so long trying to convince myself that keeping you at arms length was the right choice, the rational choice, only for my resolve to crumble within seconds of being in your presence.”

Your breath caught, heart beating wildly in your chest as you watched him.

“If that’s how you feel, then why—” you started.

“Because everyone I allow close becomes a weakness,” he gritted out, “because watching you dance with that man tonight made me want to tear him apart with my bare hands. Because the way you make me feel, the things you make me want—that loss of control will be my undoing. You will be my undoing—”

He stopped, seemingly struggling for words, before reaching for you, his hands cradling your face tenderly even as his lips met yours with bruising intensity.

“Tell me what I make you want,” you whispered against his mouth when you finally broke apart, your fingers threading through the hair at the nape of his neck.

“Everything,” he admitted roughly, pressing a kiss to your jaw. “Anything you’ll give me.”

“Silco,” you breathed, reveling in the almost pained groan he let out against your skin, “it’s all yours. I’m all yours, have been for so long—”

He drew back to look at you, his composure beautifully disheveled, chest rising and falling rapidly as he caged you against the door within his arms.

“Do you have any idea what it did to me,” he murmured, “watching you touch him like that? Knowing you were doing it to deliberately provoke me?”

His fingers found your waist as he bowed his forehead against yours, silent for a moment as he attempted to steady himself.

“I could see it in every movement,” he continued, “the way you glanced up, hoping I was watching— knowing I was watching—”

“Yes,” you admitted quietly, “I just wanted to know you felt something for me, anything—”

“I feel everything for you,” he told you, the words scraped from somewhere deep within him as he clutched at you tighter, “every moment of the day, wanting you, needing you…”

He trailed off, his hands slipping beneath the revealing top you’d chosen so carefully, his thumbs tracing possessive patterns against your sternum. 

“And then you show up here, dressed like this…” he paused, his eye fluttering closed as you shivered beneath his touch, “knowing exactly what you’re doing to my control, knowing I couldn’t bear the sight of someone else touching you like this—”

You hummed in agreement, arching into the warmth of his hands.

“Yes,” you whispered, “wanted you to stop being so fucking careful and just give in.”

Tilting your head, you pressed an open-mouthed kiss to the side of his neck, inhaling the scent of cardamom and tobacco, tasting the salt of his skin.

“Fuck,” he exhaled, the uncharacteristic loss of eloquence causing scintillas of heat to race up your spine. “Getting exactly what you wanted, aren’t you?”

You nodded, trailing kisses down the column of his throat until you were hindered by his shirt collar, letting out a frustrated sound as you tried to undo his tie with trembling fingers. 

“I shouldn’t reward such behavior,” he told you darkly, “shouldn’t give in to you like this when you behaved so wickedly downstairs, making me watch the way you pressed against him like he was the one you wanted—”

His hands stilled and you whimpered in protest, cupping his jaw desperately. 

“You’re the only one I want,” you promised, pressing a kiss to his lips before continuing, “the only one I’ve ever wanted like this. Gods, if you knew the things I think about you…”

You trailed off, tracing his lower lip with your thumb, heart fluttering as he kissed the tip of it with unexpected tenderness.

“Tell me,” he commanded, his hands continuing their exploration of your torso, leaving your skin flushed and aching in his wake. “Make me believe you want this as badly as I do.”

Drawing in an unsteady breath, you leaned into him, your breath fluttering against his ear.

“I’ve lain awake at night thinking of you, too,” you whispered, a heat rising in your cheeks as you continued, “imagining us here, in your office, sitting on your desk while you kiss me, your hand between my legs so you can feel how wet I am for you…”

“Fuck,” he breathed out, his voice hoarse with desire, clutching at your hips.

“Pretending my hands are yours while I touch myself,” you went on, tracing the shell of his ear with your tongue, “not letting myself come until I imagine you giving me permission to—”

He sucked in a breath at your admission, turning his head to capture your lips in a dizzying kiss.

“The mouth on you, sweetheart—” he choked out, “saying things that make me want to—”

“To what?” you challenged, watching his control unravel bit by bit, “show me. Show me exactly what I make you want. Show me who I belong to.”

With that, his composure finally snapped, his mouth claiming yours in fierce, possessive kisses as he pushed your top up before finally lifting it over your head and discarding it.

“Mine,” he murmured, kissing his way down your neck, licking into the hollow of your throat as your fingers carded through his hair. “Mine to touch. Mine to taste. Only mine.”

“Silco,” you keened, clutching just tightly enough for him to exhale shakily against your stomach. 

Dropping to his knees, his hands skated down your sides to stop at your waist, holding you exactly where the stranger had earlier. 

“Mark me,” you begged, unable to stop yourself. “Make me forget anyone else has ever touched me, please—”

Letting out a quiet, desperate curse, he acquiesced, pressing heated kisses to your skin, erasing the memory of each point of contact from earlier with his mouth. He glanced up at you, a question in his gaze, and you nodded, gasping as his teeth sank into sensitive flesh. Each mark he placed was careful, deliberate, his tongue tenderly laving each bruise before he moved on, leaving you a trembling mess. 

“Perfect,” he breathed, leaning back on his heels to admire his work, his fingertips tracing the blooms on your skin. “You’re so perfect like this, so beautiful.”

You barely had time to bask in the adoration in his voice before he was reaching for your remaining clothes, hesitating at your zipper as if waiting for permission before you urged him on with a whispered plea. With painstaking slowness he dragged the garments down your legs until you could step out of them, kicking them to the side to join the rest of your outfit. Silently, reverently, he lifted one of your legs to hitch it over his shoulder, turning to the side to press a line of kisses to the inside of your thigh.

“Tell me you want this,” he urged you, looking up pleadingly. “Tell me I can have you—”

You nodded frantically, nearly sobbing with need.

“You can have me,” you babbled hoarsely, “you can have all of me, I’m yours, only yours—have been for so long—”

He let out a gratified curse, leaning forward and engulfing you in the heat of his mouth, moaning at the taste of the arousal gathered there. Your hips jolted forward at the contact, and you let out a soft cry as his tongue flattened against your clit. The sound seemed to bring him back to himself, pulling away and getting to his feet even as you whimpered in protest at the loss of his touch.

“Need you in my bed,” he told you, grabbing your waist and drawing you flush against him, “need to know that I’m the only one who gets to hear those pretty little sounds you’re making.”

His hand slipped between your legs, fingertips brushing against you teasingly before he covered your mouth with his, swallowing your moan. He walked you into his bedroom, his thumb tracing achingly light patterns against your clit all the while, stopping only to lock the door behind him. It was quieter here, the pounding bassline of the club a dull muffle beneath your feet as you watched him, your trembling breath audible above the faint music. When he reached for you again, you caught his wrist, giving a single shake of your head.

“Get undressed,” you said, somewhere between a request and a demand, and he halted momentarily, a vulnerable look flashing across his face. “Please,” you added, finding the fastenings of his vest, “let me see you.”

He nodded, his hands covering yours as you started on his tie, gently guiding your movements until you could pull it from his collar and let it drop to the floor, where it was soon joined by his vest. Slowly, deliberately, you began undoing the buttons of his shirt, covering every inch of skin in kisses as it was revealed to you. A tremor ran through him as you pressed a kiss to his sternum before taking a step back, pushing his shirt open to expose the lean, elegant lines of his torso. 

“Gorgeous,” you breathed out, reveling in the sight of the corded muscles of his forearms, the map of silvery scars that adorned the left side of his body, the tributary of dark hair that began beneath his navel and disappeared into his waistband.

You circled him slowly, your hand anchored on his narrow waist, leaning up to whisper in his ear.

“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” you asked, inhaling the scent of spiced cologne and pomade mixed with the lingering cigar smoke that clung to his skin. “How perfect?”

He didn’t answer but you felt him shiver as you placed a tender kiss between his sharp shoulder blades, your hand slipping down into the front of his trousers. 

“Take these off for me,” you murmured, kissing the nape of his neck once before he acquiesced, shucking off the remainder of his clothes and turning to face you. 

Cupping your jaw in his hands, he kissed you slowly, licking into your mouth as the warmth of his skin seeped into you, stoking your burning need into an inferno.

“Silco,” you pleaded against his lips, arching into him.

“Say it again,” he commanded, walking you backwards toward his bed, lifting you onto the edge of the mattress and fitting a hand back between your legs.

You obliged, watching his face transform with something like wonder.

“Again,” he breathed against your mouth, his fingertips sliding through your slick heat as you shifted beneath him, desperate for more. “Keep saying it. Let me hear how my name sounds when you’re completely undone.”

You bit back a sob as one of his fingers sunk into you, his thumb drawing insistent circles against your clit.

“Silco–” you cried out, an incoherent mixture of curses and pleas falling from your lips as a second finger joined the first, beckoning at something deep within you. 

Kneeling beside the bed, he bowed his head between your thighs as if in prayer, his tongue replacing his thumb, licking at the most sensitive part of you as you clenched around him. His moans vibrated against your core as he devoured you, letting out soft sounds of need that seemed beyond his control to contain. When your fingers tangled in his hair, tugging him even closer, his efforts intensified, each touch intent on making you fall apart for him. 

“Baby, please—” you gasped, the endearment earning a desperate groan from him, his gaze lifting up to meet yours. “Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop—” you urged, a telling heat creeping up your chest as you felt yourself go taut. 

When you came with his name on your lips, he made a sound that was almost broken with need, working you through it slowly and methodically, pressing soft kisses to your aching flesh. Overwhelmed, you stifled a sob into the back of your hand, squeezing your eyes shut as tears began to well up. In an instant, he was there, wiping the salt from your skin with his thumbs, capturing your cries in his mouth.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured soothingly, “so perfect. The way you look when you fall apart for me…the sounds you make…the way you taste—” he broke off, bringing his fingers to his mouth to suck them clean of your arousal. 

“Fuck,” you whimpered, the ache between your legs already returning as you watched him, “come here, please—wanna feel you, all of you—”

Pushing yourself back to make room for him, you pulled him down beside you, gasping as he slotted his thigh between your legs, giving you something to grind down on as he kissed you.

“That’s right,” he murmured approvingly against your mouth, “take what you need, sweetheart.”

He pulled back slightly, groaning at the sight of you undulating against him, before looking back at you, a possessiveness in his gaze that made you tremble. His thigh flexed against your sensitive flesh and you whined, leaning into his touch as he cupped your face with one hand. The pad of his thumb traced your lower lip, and you opened for him instinctively, moaning as he pressed down on your tongue.

“Oh, good girl,” he praised softly, the words pulling a muffled whimper from deep within you as you ground your hips against him, seeking the friction you needed to ease the throb between your legs. 

It was too much and not enough all at once, the feeling of him everywhere but where you desired him most. Carefully, you shifted your positions so that you were straddling him as he pushed himself back against the pillows. As he pulled his thumb from between your lips, you caught his wrist, pressing a tender kiss to his palm before pinning both his wrists over his head. 

“What are you doing?” he asked, shifting beneath you as you bent down to kiss him.

“Taking what I need,” you whispered in response, sinking down onto him inch by inch, so full of him it forced the air from your lungs.

“Fuck,” he gritted out, throwing his head back, exposing the column of his throat as you began to move. “Gods, you feel perfect. Like you were fucking made for me—”

“I was,” you murmured, slowly circling your hips down as you pressed open-mouthed kisses along his sharp jawline. 

He arched up into you, breathing out your name with a reverence that made your heart stutter.

“Let me touch you,” he begged, whining in protest when you shook your head and adding, “ please—”

“Not yet,” you told him, “I want you like this a while longer. You look so fucking perfect like this,” you continued, and though he let out a frustrated curse, he relented, his hands unclenching from where you had bound them over his head. 

You slowed your movements, watching as he surrendered to you, a beautiful flush rising in his chest. His lips were kiss-swollen and indented where he had worried at them with his teeth, errant locks of dark hair falling across his forehead, every shred of his usual composure gone. In its place was Silco as only you would ever see him, completely and utterly wrecked, gazing up at you with unabashed devotion.

“So good for me,” you praised, delighting in the shiver that ran through him at your words. “Making me feel so fucking good—”

He let out a sharp exhalation, straining against you once more.

“I can make it even better for you,” he gasped, “just let me touch you, I’ll make it so fucking good for you, please— please let me touch you—”

Your resolve crumbled. 

“Yes,” you breathed, relinquishing your hold on him, “touch me—”

He complied without a moment’s hesitation, one hand reaching for the place where your bodies met, the other curling around your hip, both working in tandem to bring you closer to the edge.

“Silco, Silco, Silco,” you whimpered, any semblance of coherent speech now gone, his name the only word you could conjure. 

“That’s it,” he murmured, his brow furrowed intently, focused entirely on your pleasure, “just like that. Let go for me.”

With one last cry of his name, you did. Trembling, you grabbed his hand as he slowly withdrew it from between your thighs, interlacing your fingers with his as he sought his own release. When he came, your name a broken plea on his lips, you brought his knuckles to your mouth, softly kissing each one before bending down to rest your forehead against his. You stayed there a moment, listening as his breathing slowed before pressing a gentle kiss to his lips and whispering,

“Yours.”

You felt his mouth curve into a small smile as he repeated the word back to you.

“Yours.”

[miwiheroes]

We analyse the rinkomania, pizza place, dessert but not so much the blyer scenes in the California house before the heart to the heart scenes. Maybe I haven’t come across any posts yet.

But did you spot any Blyer scenes or have any analysis surrounding those scenes?

Sorry for asking so many questions. All these years of being in fandom (more than 20 years) but finally get a slow burn and sweet queer couple where it might be really endgame and the feelings are all love and care from the very start.

Hi it's okay I love the questions :)

I'm not totally sure what scenes you mean, is it the one at the breakfast table?

Because I guess I have a little analysis on this scene <3 Thanks sosososooo much for bringing it up because I just watched it and I literally died because of how subtly sweet it is on Will's part, which makes it more painful when Mike walks away.

Basically, this scene is supposed to show the level of understanding and care Will has for Mike's feelings. Even after their fight. So when Mike ignores the feelings and walks away, it's all the more painful because it's like Mike has no idea what's right in front of him -- a guy that truly understands him. Therefore, the audience is supposed to root for Will's happiness and Mike seeing that Will loves him.

ALSO THEIR CLOTHES MATCH BUT IM NOT GETTING INTO THAT

So we start the scene with Will staring at Mike while Mike worries about his fight with El. This is to establish Will's POV in this scene. When Will notices that Mike is looking at the plate and the door to El's room, the directors decide to give a separate shot of Will's longing/upset look just to really drive home how much he cares about Mike's reaction and how he's feeling.

To the viewer, it should be pretty obvious by now that Will has feelings for Mike.

Jonathan then suggests that they see a movie and Will, instead of deciding for himself and thinking about what he wants, he looks to Mike.

In this small space of time, Will notices how upset Mike is. He knows that he's not in the mood to see a movie. He also knows that Mike won't say anything. So he makes a suggestion to Jonathan that's not for his sake, no, it's for Mike's. Even if it means making himself sadder, Will is ready to allow Mike to stay at home and probably heal his relationship with El.

What's so lovely about this is that Will doesn't embarrass Mike by throwing him under the bus. He doesn't go: "Mike's feeling upset so we should stay home", he knows Mike well enough to know that Mike doesn't like that, so he just makes a general suggestion.

Jonathan's annoyance at them moping is integral to the scene because it shows how much Will gets Mike's feelings. Jonathan doesn't understand Mike but Will does.

Will then defends Mike and says "It's just..." then looks at him, deciding what to say. In rhetoric, he's saying "It's just... Mike is upset and we shouldn't go", but again, Will understands Mike enough to not only know that he's sad, but also to know he wouldn't want to be thrown under the bus ofc. So he comes up with another excuse.

A super cute and painful thing about this is that Will could easily take all the credit for letting Mike stay at home like he clearly wants. Will could take the credit for understanding him. Instead, he just pretends that the movie is going to suck. Showing how selfless he is. Showing that all he wants is for Mike to be okay, no matter what, even if it makes himself sadder, even if he doesn't reap the reward.

So after all of Will's gentle understanding of Mike's moods and his needs, the audience wants a reward for Will's good deed. Instead, Mike walks away, completely oblivious to Will's act of understanding and love.

The camera lingers on Will for ages, showing that the scene is not about Mike missing El. The audience is not intended to be happy about Mike leaving the table to see El. They are supposed to be frustrated that Mike doesn't see how much Will cares about him. They are supposed to see how good Will is for Mike, and the writer's intention here is to build chemistry between them on Will's end.

oh my god this may just be the most painful scene now im so sorry

[theotherrookie]

The Twins shut up right away. It didn't matter in the end whether they were forgiven. They simply wanted to distance themselves from Ratchet and Five to avoid whatever was coming their way.

Their determination only became stronger at Travis' comments. The brothers looked at each other. That couldn't be him, right?

"Wait, it's you?"

"No way!"

"It sounds like you won't have to tell it after all!" Erica chuckled, watching Smokey purr as he received the pat, "Keep an eye on him, please!"

The Twins visibly flinched as the elf started crawling up and along the wall to get ahead of the others. Something about that scene was deeply unsettling to them.

Though that was nothing compared to what was going down in the other room. Ratchet had fallen off his chair at some point and had pressed himself against the wall while Willow was crouched next to him. The cyborg watched emotionless as two tubules extended from the back of her hand and pierced the skin of Ratchet's neck, cutting off his scream as he painfully gasped for air.

"You made this inevitable." Willow stated, "The nanoprobes are already spreading through your bloodstream as we speak."

Ratchet let out a pained gurgling noise when the tubules retracted and pressed his hand against the wound. He found no blood, but the skin around it had begun mottling and was tingling. Something was being done to him, but he didn't understand, nor knew what to do about it.

Willow kept her gaze firm on him like a hawk watching its prey squirm under its talons. While the intent was to scare Ratchet to almost death, she intended for the nanites to gather relevant information on his physical condition and perhaps strengthen him just enough to keep enduring these sittings without being in need of serious medical assistance. The nanites naturally decayed after a few weeks. This procedure would cause some discomfort, but leave no permanent damage.

So she could have a little fun. The nice thing about tech enthusiasts like him was how gullible they tended to be. She could have told him she was going to turn him into a borg and he’d most certainly buy it.

Now, that was a nice idea…

"They’re taking over now. You can feel them latching onto your tissues and prodding your nerves. I know you do. It has started. They will remove your imperfections and mold you into a new being."

Ratchet clawed at his chest as that tingling feeling spread, not doubting Willow's words for a second. The nanites were crawling under his skin and taking over his body. "N-No! Stop it!"

"I have no sympathy for you. Your talent is wasted on a little freak like you. But the one who will replace you won't disappoint me. It will be a perfect little faceless slave. Circuits for the brain, a heart of steel. Our thoughts are one."

She could have left him there whimpering until he cried himself into an unconscious state. But instead, Willow placed her hand on Ratchet's shoulder.

"You have one last chance to preserve yourself. You must hold tightly onto your humanity as you've never done before." Willow added quietly, "Tell the Core who you are now. Say your name."

"My name— My name is Christopher Strutton!"

The nanites switched to stealth mode right away, leaving Ratchet curled up in fetal position in a pool of his own sweat and tears on the floor. Willow watched him for a moment, ensuring his vitals were acceptable, before looking over at her audience.

"I suppose that might be of some use." The cyborg stood up, brushed some wrinkles off her coat, then made her way over, "I left him in one piece, as promised."

Rook rolled her eyes, "You're so fucking sassy. Who did you get that from?"

"That's our trademark!" Erica replied from the ceiling.

"Christopher." Lucien whispered, his eyes widening when he felt his magic latch onto the name.

The brothers shrugged. The offer still stood and it wasn't as if they had anything better to do. If they couldn't provide information, they could always go fetch things for them– Perhaps more snacks, or an iron maiden.

They were professionals, after all. They would adapt.

"Look, we did what we could. We don't do that shit."

"Five sent us away on purpose."

And there was very little they could do about the walking wasteland that was their former boss. Refusing to do something would have only got them drugged too. Five really wouldn't have hesitated.

Though at least they could hear his footsteps. The brothers wondered why, of all people, Antonio was the scariest of the bunch. He wasn't even doing anything! He was just staring at them and they felt like their minds were about to melt right there.

While the two silently panicked, Smokey started meowing at Leofric as he rushed through the last stretch between them.

"Oh. Smokey figured out you're a ghost too." Erica translated.

"I know we can trust Willow, but you should really be more specific." Rook said, "She can do a lot to a person before going for the kill."

She had enough blades on her to do it. Right on cue, Ratchet's screams resumed, followed by the sound of something heavy being tossed around.

Rook sighed, "I'll go check on her."

"I don't want to miss this." Lucien said, following.

"Yep, that's the idea." Erica replied, "Though it depends on whether there'll be anything left to hit."

[monokuromuheaven]

Vancouver actor Carlos Diehz’s big break comes in Ralph Fiennes film

(...)

“He (Edward Berger) wanted to hear from me what I had in mind for the character,” said Diehz, adding he explained to Berger that he saw Benitez as “a very pious man.”

“If he was a missionary, then an archbishop, then a cardinal, he has what it takes to lead a group. To be at the front,” said Diehz. “I discussed these ideas with Edward, and he liked them.”

Eventually, Diehz made the final callback and was brought to Rome to meet with casting director Nina Gold (The Crown, Slow Horses, Star Wars and Game of Thrones).

“She’s a big deal worldwide,” said Diehz about Gold. “So, no pressure, right?”

(...)

While he was onset, Diehz said he noticed Fiennes was watching him. Finally, Fiennes approached and said: “Now I know why they chose you. You are Benitez,” Diehz recalls the English actor saying to him. “He saw in me the personality of the character.”

Diehz was raised Catholic and understood the basics of the conclave process, but admitted the weight of the subject matter really hit home when he donned the heavy cardinal costume.

“When you look at yourself in the mirror dressed up like that, like someone that grand within the church, it is like an extra boost emotionally to perform,” said Diehz.

“Now I see Benitez the way he is in this situation. Benitez is a missionary who mostly dresses like any other civilian in his daily life, but here he has to dress the part. He has to look like the rank he has been given. So, being able to look at myself like that is kind of a strange situation. But very empowering.”

What was also empowering was the wealth of talent and experience he was surrounded with for his very first feature film role. His castmates were open to discussions and offered him excellent advice.

Fiennes, for instance, spoke to him about the importance of truly being heard.

“He said, ‘OK, every word you say is precious. And you have to deliver it as such. You have to put the time in, the correct enunciations, so the audience understands and is not wondering what you said … Treat every word as precious. So, I did that,” said Diehz. “The next day, when we were shooting the scene, every break we had I was rehearsing my enunciation, and I heard Ralph from another part of the area, he just said, ‘Bravo, you nailed it.'”

Later in shooting, Diehz faced a crisis of confidence as he prepared for a pivotal scene in which Benitez makes a speech in front of the 100-plus cardinals. This time, it was Lithgow who offered guidance.

“He asked me what are the main issues I wanted to talk about? And I said stage fright,” said Diehz. “He said stage fright really never goes away. You just learn how to manage stage fright. One of the things is when you feel it, it is a sign that you care about the scene. And that’s good.

“But what must guide you, drive you, is to know that when you speak there is no reason to hurry your lines. There’s no reason to feel rushed in any way because you control the scene. No one is cutting you off. Nobody is going to rush you. When they call ‘action,’ until you finish your lines, you own the scene. You set the pace and the tone. So that was very empowering, very powerful stuff.”

But despite Lithgow’s words of encouragement, Diehz said his nerves were still front and centre when it was time to shoot the speech.

“Edward Berger approached me and said, ‘You doing OK? I said, ‘Yeah, yeah I’m fine.’ And he said, ‘I can hear your heartbeat on the microphone,’ ” said Diehz. “So I was, ‘OK, big breath, calm down, calm down, calm down.’ And little by little, I did.”

While filming scenes caused his blood pressure to rise, Diehz says the evenings were made up of many wonderfully relaxing dinners of fabulous traditional Italian food alongside his very famous castmates.

And no, Tucci didn’t cook.

“You know what, that is a common question,” said Diehz when asked about his foodie co-star. “Being at a table with Ralph, Stanley, John, Isabella and talking about wine, cheeses, bread, it was wonderful. You could make a documentary of each of those dinners we had together,” said Diehz, who explained it was Rossellini who offered much of the insight into the nuances of Italian food.

(...)

“I remember Stanley asked me, ‘Are you really, after all this, going back to your daily job?’ Well, yeah, that’s what I have,” said Diehz, who continues to work for a Vancouver architectural firm. “But I’m not quitting acting. I’m going for more.”

Source

[the-owl-tree]

Everything seems to be connected to this Wolf. Who are they?

Wolfchase (She/Her) was a former warrior of TempestClan, born to Stoutsnarl and Oatwhisker, she had a tumultuous upbringing after Oatwhisker fled TempestClan and was raised by her abusive father. She was a closeted trans she-cat, something that was further wielded against her during her upbringing in the nursery. She eventually began to find her path when she was apprenticed to Threadfur (They/Them), an older cat who had once secretly been part of an old insurgent group that the Saints had managed to dismantle.

Wolfpaw grew up in an interesting time for TempestClan, who were experiencing a rare "apprentice boom". She made easy friends with a lot of the apprentices around her, including those her age - Harepaw and Silverpaw - as well as those were older and taking on their Warrior names - Blizzardstrike, Skuadive, and Houndfoot. Managing to form a close clique with them, helping her withstand the isolation she faced from the wider Clan and her own father. Things really changed when she managed to gain her Warrior name and met Sheepfall, the two hitting it off when Sheepfall was not so nicely not given permission to leave. While Sheepfall was bitter and anger, Wolfchase had gained a new passion with the guidance from her mentor and she had managed to give Sheepfall something she thought she had lost forever: hope.

Sheepfall's arrangement to Cariboucall was heart-breaking to Wolfchase, and she pushed to begin conspiring her own revolution with the help of her friends. They made their attack during a meeting...and were subdued after a tense fight, with Wolfchase being captured after being identified as their ring leader.

I like the idea that during this she pretends to "turn" on her friends, trying to make it seem like she'd manipulated them. she singles out sheepfall especially to try and protect her, making herself look like the bad guy to pull some sympathy for sheepy.

Stripped of her name and her rank, she is referred to as just Wolf, marking her as a rogue, as lesser. Imprisoned and awaiting execution, the cats who had followed her got together and made a plan. Big ol' public execution in the abandoned Church, she's roughed up a bit before the Saint clamps down on her throat. Messy on the details here, but Blizzardstrike is the one who managed to knock the Saint off with Wolf's group of rebels managing to race out of the camp and escape with her...except for Sheepfall.

All of Wolf's followers take on similar names. If she's a rogue, then they're rogues with her. It's a sign of rejecting TempestClan altogether, a way to bond them. They travel a long ways away, struggling with the weather until they find a cave they settle down in. Wolf and Sheepfall eventually meet up again, with Sheepfall staying in the Clan as a spy, something Wolf initially protests before eventually having to agree.

While initially small, her rebellion grows in size as more and more cats begin to defect and she's able to provide more stable security and guidance to them...before eventually, they make their attack.

Other fun Wolf trivia:

Wolf is infectiously dramatic and compelling in her ability to inspire, she is someone who can keep her audience locked on her during her speeches.

She has a soft spot for kittens, absolutely loves playing kit sitter for the cats who come to her rebellion with their litters.

Mentioned before but she's polyam! She's in a relationship with Silver, Hare, Blizzard, and Sheepfall.

Her relationship with each of them vary, Silver and Hare are together while Blizzard and Sheepfall are only in a relationship with her.

Blizzard and Sheepfall kill her dad during the first attack, out of view. Sheepfall isolates him and Blizzard takes the fucker out for good. She doesn't find out they did that until further along.

Wants to get to know all of Sheepfall's kits but by the end of it...one's dead, one's run off, and one is banished from the Clan. She and Stormrunner do hit it off, though it's more of a mentor/apprentice thing (which Wolf is cool with).

I think it's hard for her to reconcile that same warmness for Blightspirit when he approaches them. He was responsible for quite a bit of damage and even though he's Sheepfall's son, the damage is done.

She doesn't take on a -star suffix when TempestClan is destroyed. Not sure what I want to rename them to, but definitely something that isn't a Clan. She wants to scrub that entirely.

I figure her first appearance as a leader of a new Clan immediately sends the other Clans into Hostile Panic Mode, which has to carefully navigate. Hits it off with Dawnstar and Sandstar and manages to impress Swiftstar with how she navigates gathering politics.

[infernothechaosgod]

Im back from the movie and oh my god it was so so good I could just talk about the way it was animated for hours but rn im going to yap about the story bc i think it was wrapped out so well jesus christ

The way dog man gets introduced and its immidietly clear he is loved exactly at the same time as its shown theres a down side to it was such a great decision because most movies and stories as a whole usualy go with the "show the good great side first THEN wait a sec and show the down sides" witch is sometimes effective but often it does end up eating up lots of time for something we already are kinda aware of, dog man very quickly gets a grounding moment after its revealed Anne just left (also he got straight up insulted to the face TOT)

Montage with petey was peak idc what anyone says, it quickly establishes a long term pattern of petey getting out and out again and again getting caught attacking the city, jailed and instantly getting away while the visuals were just so vibrant and creative and accualy funny, they took the medium of animation and streached it all out so much in the best way possible I better see those animators get paid well and served fresh warm meals from today to the end of their lifes and a week

PETEY

Petey was SO much fun, he was so cartoonishly evil while at the same time accualy being a threat and being taken as one by both the narrative and the characters (I am SO done with the evil characters being made fun of by the narrative you have no idea The looking down at the audience and them goes CRAZY nowdays) but to a dose where you are able to belive in his change later on

his reaction to seeing his father being brought back to him was so sad and really made it clear that he accualy does get to him deeper than others, not just by his animation and facial expressions but also by the way he acts from around him as a whole, he seems to accualy try not to let his usual over the top anger out so much because he KNOWS that is a losing battle he already fought and lost enough to know there is nothing he can do to win and i dont think its too much to say he was still scared of him, grandpa leaving with all his stuff doesnt even shock him that much because he knows how much of a horrible person he is was and will be, and the way he was written as a whole also coming to realization he is slowly falling into the same line his own abusive father went through and getting moved by that sm it was the biggest domino block to fall making his Tower of current self image, horrible world view and false beliefs (he most likely came trying to cope/explain to himself why such a horrible thing could happen to him?) Began to shake and later fall

LIL PETEY THE LIGHT IN THE DARK THE BABY ILY SM

he is a baby and i love him sm, he was so cute while also being a great character that has thoughts on his own!? SHOCKING! Very often children especialy young young ones are more of "add on's" for the parent characters that drive the narrative just by "being the baby" and that being it. AND IM SO HAPPY lil petey wasnt that! I mean i KNEW he woudnt be it because of the comics (witch i have not read but will get my hands on soon enough) obviously but it still made me so happy to see him come up with his own ideas lisening but not always following the rules set for him by both petey and dog man, he really just wanted to help around and also got to act like an accual child witch was really cute (it's kinda sad that thats considered a high bar for movie children TOT)

Lil petey also being a direct contract to petey really helps it sink in that petey wasnt born evil or anything like that no one is, but its the way he got treated that turned him into what he is now but beneath that he still has some of that hope and goodnes in himself that just needs help to flurish again after getting stepped on so much

Oh my god theres so much more to say and you better prapare for me to make at least 8 more posts like this tomorrow, i really wanna talk about dog Mans (the cheiffs and other characters) characterization and writing more so you better prapare AND THE COMEDY

Also you bet im gonna make thousands of art with them all

[popculturebuffet]

Transformers More than Meets The Eye Retrospective: Issues 31-33: The Road Not Taken (Patreon Review for Brotoman.EXE)

Hello all you happy autobots and welcome back aboard the lost light as we venture deeper into space and into the awkardness of having a captain who defintely murdered at least one person you know. Megatron: The Blood Soaked Kevin Bacon of Cybertron.

Anyways last time we had a time skip that Rodimus spent moping in his quarters as Megatron was named co captain because Optimus really dosen't have boundries, Prowl continued to see civil rights as a suggestion and is thankfully gone for the foreseable future, Nautica arrived and was the best, Megatron got some much needed therapy, Chromedome did not and saw his dead husband, and the ship done disappeared. Now your all caught up, let's see what those wacky robots are up to now in the second half of this story.

And this second half.. is the better half by a mile. It's why it feels like two diffrent, if consecutive story arcs: While the first part sets up the mystery and the new status quo, it also feels dour and bitter: no one is happy Megatron is there, everything's about that, and thus the cast is all bitter and angry. While there is some great material here: Megatron in therapy, his fight with Whirl, Nautica and Brainstorm being best friends, FINGER TO THE HEAD and Rodimus unhinged behavior and clear sexual tension with megatron when he finally rejoins the story, it's more.. bitter than usual, not helped by the long trial segments and Rodimus being largely abesent. Even in the darkest moments ther'es usually a sense of hope and camraderiy that's largely absent.

We get that sense back as while the first issue is full of tension, i'ts more intresting given the setup and the series goes back to it's strengths: it's strong characters, dialouge and high concepts. The result is one of my faviorite bits of storytelling that I was happy went down just as well this go round. So let's get on board the rodpod under the cut as we have a mystery to solve

We open with the secret origin of the lost light... it was the day before the big announcment and Rodimus, being rodimus, didn't even have a ship yet and sent someone else to take care of it, in this case Drift. Riptide is here too. Commuincating with some Nails via paddycake, Drift easily secures them the ship. All that's left is a name and while Pipes, whose also there, suggests a contest. Sure they could do that...

We're back in the present and Megatron is being grumpy about storytime. Turns out Riptide wasn't saying it for nothing though: Nautica asked, as the Lost Light is far from a normal ship.

As it turns out the Engines are far more advanced, even past Perciptor and Brainstorm levels. I also find it very cute that she calls Perciptor brainstorm levels of brilliant. It's about time someone put respect on the name. He may be a weirdo, but who on this ship isn't a bit weird or has deep baggage to deal with? It's what makes this book great.

Anyways she points out something that the audience and the crew weren't aware of: Quantum Engines shouldn't be able to have made the jump these did... with her help of course. And after some nervous Nautica noises as she's not used to people actually respecting her, complimenting her or attention in general.

So with everyone intrested, Nautica decides to give a brief lecture. Best I can break it down as even in a one panel lecture it's.. a lot, the engines are powered by the pull between what's possible and what's impossible, the reality of the ingines weighed against the heft of the IDEA they can go faster than light. It's a bizzare yet neat idea. Nautica theorizes the reality part one and the Lost Light poofed itself out of existance.

Megatron.. still grumbles: they know a POSSIBLE why, but not what to do now with a small scattered fleet of ships and him stuck in the worst one. I find his disdain of the rod pod both unsuprising and a nice character bit to tuck away for later. I told you the rod pod would be important and while this isn't why, it does play off that intrestingly.

Blaster, whose one of the bots aboard, gets a commuincation from Rodimus> There's a planet they can rodevue on, Ofsted. Ofsted was a lectureworld, a world that taught knowledge. This one focused on Ethics and was presumibly taught by emma frost. Naturally being deeply corrupt the Galactic Council took it over, changed the cirriculum and instituted fees. Cyclonus finds this objectinable as does his new pal Crosscut. Crosscut... I guess has always been here, but hasn't been relevant yet. The Lost Light has a LOT of extras aboard.

Crosscut is one of 20 autobots aboard: Along with him and Cyclonus we have: Megatron,Crosscut, Skids, Gears, Blaster, Getaway, Nautica, Ammo, Huffer ,Chromedome, Swerve, Hoist, NIghtbeat, Riptide, Tailgate, Dipstick, Hound, Ratchet and Highbrow.

I highlighted the main characters... Riptide counts at least for this arc.

And then.. Crosscut disappears and the concept begins. People are gonna start vanishing and our heroes are gonna try and beat the clock. A cool thing the comic does is use a page of everyone on board to keep track of who goes missing.

Bot Count: 19/20

It's then things go sideways as everyone panics a little.. but Tailgate decides to pull a gun on megatron

It does not, though to his credit Megatron doesn't pull a gun back and is more.. amused than anything. Things break down the second Megatron pulls his gun though, not wanting to be locked up for something he did not do.. or period which given his horrifying pass being tortured in prison.. is reasonable. Sadly the autobots aren't and all pull guns.. while they were on his side, Riptide ven admits as much, this is a step too far and it's not long before Cyclonus, being the adult in the room, trying to deescalate things leads to calls to throw them in the brig.. then tailgate. Then uh... (checks chart) Hound pulls a gun on Nautica whose understandably freaked the fuck out. Only it's not her he's aiming at it's RAVAGE!

Bot Count: 20/21

Yup the cat is here. And having always loved Soundwave's casettes, I just love the concept, this cassette beast joining the cast was welcome. Megatron has no idea WHY his old friend is here, and knows damn well no one buys that but it's the truth, advising the cat to play dead for his own sake via sign language. Good for Megatron for being talented in more than just murder, literature and being a grumpus. While he trains a cat, another talent in itself, Cyclonus is pissed Tailgate did a stupid.. while Getaway compliments him for being brave.

While all this was going on though.. .a BUNCH more people disappeared Megatron, Skids, Getaway, Nautica, Swerve, Hoist, NIghtbeat, Riptide, Tailgate Dipstick, Cyclonus, Ratchet and Ravage

12/21

With the party dwinlding Nightbeat tries to solve the mystery and Megatron rather than grousing about things.. actually helps. He points out the power outages before each dissapearnce aren't a concidence but a symptom: whateve'rs going on with the ship, the lights, the rumbhles.. it's connected.

So Nightbeat tries to find a common denominator and asks who was forged and who was constructed cold? While this concept was introduced in Remain in Light, here it gets fleshed out more as we find out there's two generations: first were the ones back on cybertron that lead to all the debate and what not, and the second were MTO's, models forged not for work or what have you but for war, not even having a birth city: just whatever conflict they were made for. It's a truly bleak concept but one I love: that part of the reason so many cybertronians are having trouble moving on.. is they were BUILT in war. They were built for this. It also leads to another intresting train of thought, one we won't fully get into this time, but will be the backbone of our next arc

It's an engaging double edged sword: Megatron's reign of terror murdered billions.. but it also created billions. Removing him could save lives.. but it'd also cause undo genocide by well.. undoing a genocide. Are the lives that would exist worth the ones that would be lost?

Megatron dodges the question, and this will naturally be important later as "This will be important later' could be the series catchphrase, but Ratchet knows whose who.. and construction isn't a related factor.

As Nightbeat bangs his head against the table in frustration the rest give us some more worldbuiding: originally MTO's were given a through course, ten steps from frozen to gun in your hand. They eventually wittled them down as High Command assumed learning about the world wasn't important as "can you shoot people y/n?" We also find out religion is more common in MTO's and that info creep may be the cause..that what could've just been a flash of light becomes conversatoin with the primes over time. Nautica then breaks down, wishing Windblade and Chromia were here as she feels their better than her, and wondering if she'll never see them again. It's a sobering reminder that some of the lost lighters DO have friends outside this ship and how close they are to death. Quite a few bots didn't make it out of season 1 alive and without giving away who, several will not make it out of this one in one piece.

One blip later and we're down to the main cast... and down one of the main cast.

Megatron, Skids, Getaway, Nautica, Swerve, NIghtbeat, Riptide, Tailgate, Ratchet and Ravage

10/21

So things are only getting worse: Magnus arrives in his holomatter avatar.. but has nothing. Their having the same problem and he too is soon gone.

Nightbeat grasps for straws trying to find ANYTHING that matches.. but no go and with that we're down to our final roster for the arc

Megatron, Skids, Getaway, Nautica, NIghtbeat, Riptide, and Ravage

7/21

Nightbeat finally gets his break though as Riptide mentions all the crazy stuff "they" got up to... and is thrown off. Wasn't riptide in the origin story? He was, and fully intended to go aboard, but when investigating the guys they got the ship from found they were shady and got beaten into a coma. As a nice bit of tying up loose ends their also WHY the sparkeater was on board as they were transporting it and left it to be the next owners problem.

So with that , if you hadn't figured it out, we have the common deniomnator: everyone left came onto the lost light AFTER it first took off. Skids was picked up in issue 2, Getaway joined in the season finale, Nightbeat during the crossover, and Megatron, Riptide, Chromia and Ravage all joined when the ship left cybertron the second time.

Megatron gets one final moment of being a dick about things telilng Nightbeat he failed because he failed to figure it out BEFORE everyone was gone... Nightbeat admits the how has to count right... and spoilers it totally does. And the evidence of it is right in front of them as our maginficent seven find.. the lost light... looking beat to shit and surrounded by weird red bands

We begin the next issue with some context for what the heck the creepy red stuff is: it's quantum foam, which sounds nice and sciency but like many a thing with a nice sciency name will kill you if you so much as look at it wrong so our team does their best to manuver inside.

The atmosphere is eerie: the lost light is trashed and while they arrive at swerves.. it dosen't look like a bar, more like a theater. The kinda Nautica would've gone to on caminus had her anxiety not noped her out of there anytime she got within ten feet of the place. Or whatever the transformer equilvent is.

Everyone thinks this is the future.. and i'll just let "thinks" do the heavy lifting for now as Megatron has arrived with Ravage to no one's pleasure, with Megatron pointing out that he can pay for trying to attack them later, right now they need his sniffer. So the team splits up gang... not the wisest move in any derlict spaceship surrounded by space-time blood slowly leaking out of the engines, but Chromia explains they dont' have long before said space-time blood explodes, so they need to find any possible survivors. Chromia's alt mode can go short distances in space so she has night beat get inside her

While the rest find Magnus corpse. There is some dithering for a second as despite Ravage identifying him by smell, Minimus has been dragged out of the armor. Thankfully drift knows about all that and confirms the corpse.. and that it was killed by fusion canon. While Megs protests his innosense, he had that thing smelted, this time.. he actually agrees to be locked up in a show of character. He realizes he really CAN'T prove it's not him and geninely dosen't want to hurt anyone. This is entirely for his own good too: the only two around him are Riptide, whose a dick and Skids, and he has Ravage as backup. No one would know until everyone came back, if they came back.. but he does the right thing anyway because he just dosen't WANT to kill people. He will but for all Megatron's faults, his ego, his coarsness, his lack of empathy... he genuinely WANTS to be better on some level.

So while Megatron gets locked up, Natucia and Nightbeat bond, with Nightbeat filling her in on rewind and his ghost earlier, and just flat out asking if she's single. I mean I would and yes i'm aware she dwarfs me in size, that's part of it. Same goes for Rodimus though just for one night... the dude is even messier than I am. I can't see that ending well.

Chromia admits that no, same with Night beat and the two find something intresting to distract from dwelling on both being single: brainstorm's briefcase.

Back with Megatron, he's busy talking to his cat who quickly scratches him in what has to be the most violent garfield comic ever made using space robots.

Ravage is PISSED though as Megatron abandoned the cause.. and while Megatron points out the decipticon cause isn't him, Ravage disagrees, revealing Galvatron is leading them now and saying outright that if Megatron said the word he'd gut their new glorious leader himself.

Unsuprisingly Ravage was sent by Soundwave, who is also spinning out over this and wanted to make sure this was REALLY megatron and if so have Ravage take him out back and claw him a bit so to speak. Ravage is also the reason those decipticons attacked the trial a test for megatron he failed. What follows.. is the second best scene of the arc and one of my faviorites series wide

It's a great callback to Chaos Theory and the main reason WHY I covered it: it covers the gap between the over the top evil of megatron in the previous runs and the tired layred old man in this one. He was once a better man.. but that quote up top says it all. I also love Ravage's face... his sheer worry as he realizes the man he knew isn't the same... that part of why this all weighs on him now.. is time. There isn't much left, Megatron is aware of this: even if the quest goes on for years, he dosen't HAVE years left. And he's aware of it. He's too tired to be a monster, to keep doing horrible shit and justifying it... he doesn't want to be that person anymore and took a quick cheap route to get there. But as Ravage puts it when megatron answers who he was was dead "dead... or just sleeping?". It's the core of Megatron's character arc: can you really atone or is your worst self always there, watching you?

For now there is no answer, just corpses... but there is at least an id on who the murder victim is as he finds... a brain cog. The others also find corpses thoguh before that Gateway talks with Riptitde, who feels guilty.. as Gateway puts it "the bigger the tragedy the harder it is to process". It's hard to put what Megatron did into sheere scale so it's easy to forget just HOW much harm he's done.

At any rate the corpses not only include Overlord, who should be gone.. but spell out WHO did this and why they need to run the fuck away: the DJD. After the omnious set up of them last time they've crashed into the main plot in a bloody rampage.

Nightbeat is starting to figure it out though: they found a beheaded overlord... who shoudln't BE here to get beheaded as he supposidly died when Rewind sacrified himself. Still the ship's collapsing so they should get going... but Ravage finds one survivor and well.. i'ts worth showing twice

It's a fantastic panel not only showing that Megatron has indeed changed, happy SOMEONE surivived.. but also leaving the reader in shock. Rewind LIVES... and we'll find out why.. right now.

So everyone attends to Rewind whose understandably in shock.. not just due to what he's been through but finding out Skids is alive, Nightbeat is alive (Both were assumed dead), Megatron is an autobot and there are female cybertronians. He isn't a dick about the last part mind, wish I didn't have to clairfy that but .. the times we live in. He just..d idn't know it was a thing and is fine with it. He gives Nightbeat a data slug.

Meanwhile Chromia while talking with Riptide finally figures it out and we get the big twist this has all been leading to: the lost light didn't disappear... it split in half back when the launch happened. See quantum engines work by getting someone from point a to point b using quantum stuff. The point a is always fixed.. but B could be billions.. and the explosion threw it off, so instead of narrowing it down to ONE option.. it became two. Thus two lost lights were born and two perfect copies.

As Nightbeat and Skids found from the data slug, the Alternate Lost Light went through a diffrent set of circumstances: Rung died in the crash and was replaced as bait and Rodimus timing in throwing the spark eater into the engines was off so part of his head got clipped, hence his corpse.

In the aftermath Drift came clean about overlord... and that's what caused the massacre. Someone on board learned about him.. and leaked it to the DJD who came for Overlord.. and then kept going with everyone else. They learned the traitor thing as Tarn's a sadistic bastard , of course he's going to tell them about the betryal before he tortures everyone.

Rewind.. was forced to film the massacre to save Chromedome's life, and it's just.. an awful thing ot think about: recording everyone you care about dying... only for them to make the condition of your partner living that he erases his memory of you.. and jamming his needles into his head when he refuses. We'd seen from their intro how bad the DJD were... but this arc really hammers it in: their monsters, sadists who use their loyalty to megatron as a thin excuse to kill people and satisfy their addictions. Rewind barely survivied falling into the magnus armor and they mercifully left.

He dosen't have time to process this, nor does anyone as the foam's getting tighter.. and what's worse.. it's going to envelop the planet bellow. Priority shifts from "save ourselves" to "save the world" as tends to be for the autobots.... with Megatron holding out. If their not cybertronian why does it matter. Skids counters perfectly: If wearing the badge dosen't alter his behavior.. waht the fuck has any of Megatron's time as an autobot meant. If he can't see all sentient beings as valid... why be here.

So he relents. The Foam is tight but rewind offers to squeeze through as he's tiny. Chromia appricates it, but points out they need tow people to deactivate the quantum drums simeltaniously: if done it should erase the other lost light and thus the paradox. As for why it's only happening now it's simple: the two lost lights got close enough for the universe to stop ignoring the paradox.

Getaway makes a quip about "unless someone can pull a minimus ambus".. and Skids gets an idea; Search Brainstorm's lab as he used a shrink ray that one time. While searching it we iron out how all this works in way si've already descirbed, and our heroes find Brainstorm's corpse... who has a face. I geninely forgot about that.. and the reveal attached

Brainstorm was the traitor, something poor Nautica dosen't take well. They don't have time to process this reveal, and the fact if they restore him THEIR brainstorm is a traitor too. It also begs a question I forgot the answer too: if brainstorm learned about overlord, why didn't he tell the DJD on everyone even if he'd just blown up real good? Or report into the other decipticons present when the crossover happened? Why'd he stay undercover?

The next arc will answer these questions for now we find out that Brainstorm never made the mass displacement gun in this timeline... but Megatron pipes up: he could once transform into a smaller carryable gun and once your spark is primed for mass displacement, it's always primed. He just didn't stand up because as he puts it "when people are lining up for heroic sarcifices, stand at the back of the queue". And while pragmatic ... I get it. If they could get EVERYONE to do it with the gun, then they all could go through the foam. More numbers. There was no sense playing his hand until he had to.

SO Rewind and MEgatron bond with some sycnronized dodging the death goo and Megatron tiptoes around his horrible death. The two make it to the drums.. and Rewind is hit with a relization... if the lost light is restored and the duplicate goes away... won't he go away too? Nautica is horrified to realize this while Megatron asks if he wants to go back. It's a human moment from a very stoic asshole: that if they have to find another way out they will, he won't force someone to make a sacrifce they didn't sign up for.

But rewind.... is fine with it

So it's hours later. The lost light has remateralized, and everyone is slowly coming back. Chromedome arrives and skids has a suprise for him outside.. and we get one of the best sequences in the entire comic. Two entirely silent pages as Chromedome... finds exactly who you hoped out there and the two work thorugh their emotoins... before the ineveitble happens

I wish I could show you the whole thing. It's so damn beautiful. Just two people who thought they'd lost each other finding one another, thorugh time, through space and through pure fate. There will be more to sort out later, to the series credit it dosen't sidestep over the complications here, but for now it just lets us have the catharsis.

So how do I feel about Rewind's return? I'm okay with it. It dosen't dilute the impact of his death as that Rewind.. is gone. He blew up. He truly is dead and the pain Chromedome felt was still very real. And as I hinted at, the series does tackle the fact these aren't the exact versions of Chromedome and Rewind they fell in love with. It could do more with it, but they dont' completely just fall into "this is the same rewind." he went through diffrent stuff and the true horror he went through sets up the DJD as the big bad of this season very well: We saw them plow through some unamed decipticons and the scavengers barely escape.. but now we see they could easily kill everyone we care about with zero effort. They commited a gruseom slaughter that was easy to shake off the first time I read this: it wasn't OUR lost light... but on this run.. I got that these guys easily could've BEEN the crew we know. They aren't that diffrent. The few additions they gathered, first aid, skids, aren't enough to flip the tide. They have more NOW as seen with this issue, but it simply may not be enough. And Megatron himself thinks at first thier coming FOR HIM... and with Brainstorm seemingly a traitor, it's only a matter of time till word gets to them. The clock is ticking and our heroes may not be ready when it runs out.

Speaking of Brainstorm Megatron needs to tell Rodimus there's a decipticon on board.. and offers his decipticon on board a spot, pointing out that Ravage has now seen the worst extreme of the Decepticon cause... does he still want that?

Before our cliffhanger, Nautica has no idea how Rewind survivied. My honest guest is since there was no rewind on the lost light to replace, Rewind 2 stayed. But it dosen't explain another anamoly.. the other briefcase. And after being a mystery all series we finally find out what's inside.. kinda. Brainstorm realizing he's made opens it in Swerves and....

Yup. So that's where we're leaving for a few months. A bunch of the cast may be dead and Brainstorm is free to do whatever the hell he wants while also being a traitor maybe

For now we end this arc.. whic his good as I remembered it: it's an atmospheric tale on a derlict spaceship, perfect for this series with a heartwarming ending.. and a chilling vision of things to come.

Next Time: We travel in time to get answers as to what Brainstorm's endgame is. It isn't pretty. But that's a few months for now, we go back to the power rangers who aren't fairing much better.

[greatqueenanna]

Frozen 3 - What We Know So Far - 2025

(Note - official F3 concept art released during D23 2024)

Just as I’ve done in previous years, I will be compiling every new piece of information and article I can find regarding updates for Frozen 3. This project began in 2023 with the goal of preventing misinformation and rumors from spreading within the fandom while providing fans with reliable sources for new developments.

Eventually, I will compile a post or page dedicated to all of the sources, interviews, and articles we have so far in regards to Frozen 3 and its second part.

Aspects of this post will change when new information is revealed.

Shout out to the following blogs who also keep an eye out for new information regarding Frozen 3, and are the sources for many articles.

@frozen-snowflakesandsunflowers

@ericmicael

@frozensnetwork

@bigfrozenfan

You can find the older posts with links to news articles and other sources below.

2023 ║ 2024

What We Know Summary

Release Date: November 24th, 2027 Director(s): Jennifer Lee, Marc Smith Writer(s): Jennifer Lee, Marc Smith Producer(s): Peter Del Vecho, Jared Bush Song Writer(s): Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez Voice Actors Confirmed: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad

Story Summary: While specific details have not been released or leaked, we know that the story will be separated into two films, with the second part not having a release date yet. Both parts are being worked on at the same time, and are currently in early development.

The writers are currently looking into answering some lingering questions, including, but not limited to: more Ahtohallan and Nature Spirits lore, more explanation about Elsa’s powers and why Anna does not have magic, Anna’s role as Queen, Anna and Kristoff’s future plans for children, if Kristoff will be King, Kristoff and Sven’s past, what happened to Prince Hans, and more about the Frozen Heart concept.

However, it is good to keep in mind that none of these are 100% confirmed to be in the films, they are just some ideas that the film team are looking into.

------------------

Articles under the Read More.

Missed Article from 2024

In November, Head of the Walt Disney Animation Company Jared Bush, also Executive Producer of Frozen 3, gave a few more tiny details about Frozen 3 during a showcase at D23 Brazil.

Yeah, yeah, Frozen 3 is coming. And from what I've seen so far [of the film] I think people are going to be surprised. I can't give away too many spoilers, other than to say that Jennifer Lee is leading the charge and that the story and the direction that she's taking these characters, what they're going through, what they're going to go through, I think it's going to surprise a lot of people, but it's also going to deliver on everything that people love about Frozen. - Jared Bush, D23 Brazil

Articles from 2025

January

January 17th - Josh Gad confirmed in an interview with Entertainment tonight, shown here on TikTok, that the team has not revealed any story details to him.

---

January 26th - Josh Gad went on to explain how he feels waiting for the third film is a good thing, as it gives time for the writers to perfect the story.

There’s a reason the movie is coming out in 2027. And that is because no one wants to rush this. Everyone wants this to not just be a sequel or a money grab. They want this to be absolutely worthy of the story we set out to make in 2013 [in the first Frozen movie]. And we want to give audiences something that is worth the years of waiting and years of anticipation. And I know that they are actively working on that. And I know that they have a story that they are very, very, very excited about. - Josh Gad, People Magazine.

---

February

February 1st - Idina Menzel confirms that as of now, the films are still in early development, and that she has not seen a script yet. s

Idina Menzel Reveals She Hasn’t ‘Read Any Scripts’ for ‘Frozen 3’ Just Yet (Exclusive)

I think it's happening, but that's all I know. I haven't read any scripts or anything, but I look forward to reuniting with my entire Frozen family and getting in that creative space and getting to get in the studio and find Elsa’s voice again. Idina Menzel, Parade

[gingermintpepper]

In my Zeus bag today so I'm just gonna put it out there that exactly none of the great Ancient Greek warrior-heroes stayed loyal and faithful and completely monogamous and yet none of them have their greatness questioned nor do we question why they had the cultural prominence that they did and still do.

Jason, the brilliant leader of the Argo, got cold feet when it came to Medea - already put off by some of her magic and then exiled from his birthland because of her political ploys, he took Creusa to bed and fully intended on marrying her despite not properly dissolving things with Medea.

Theseus was a fierce warrior and an incredibly talented king but he had a horrible temper and was almost fatally weak to women. This is the man who got imprisoned in the Underworld for trying to get a friend laid, the man who started the whole Attic War because he couldn't keep his legs closed.

And we cannot at all forget Heracles for whom a not inconsiderable amount of his joy in life was loving people then losing the people around him that he loved. Wives, children, serving boys, mentors, Heracles had a list of lovers - male and female - long enough to rival some gods and even after completing his labours and coming down to the end of his life, he did not have one wife but three.

And y'know what, just because he's a cultural darling, I'll put Achilles up here too because that man was a Theseus type where he was fantastic at the thing he was born to do (that is, fight whereas Theseus' was to rule) but that was not enough to eclipse his horrid temper and his weakness to young pretty things. This is the man that killed two of Apollo's sons because they wouldn't let him hit - Tenes because he refused to let Achilles have his sister and Troilus who refused Achilles so vehemently that he ran into Apollo's temple to avoid him and still couldn't escape.

All four of these men are still celebrated as great heroes and men. All four of these men are given the dignity of nuance, of having their flaws treated as just that, flaws which enrich their character and can be used to discuss the wider cultural point of what truly makes a hero heroic. All four of these men still have their legacies respected.

Why can that same mindset not be applied to Zeus? Zeus, who was a warrior-king raised in seclusion apart from his family. Zeus who must have learned to embrace the violence of thunder for every time he cried as a babe, the Corybantes would bang their shields to hide the sound. Zeus learned to be great because being good would not see the universe's affairs in its order.

The wonderful thing about sympathy is that we never run out of it. There's no rule stopping us from being sympathetic to multiple plights at once, there's no law that necessitate things always exist on the good-evil binary. Yes, Zeus sentenced Prometheus to sufferation in Tartarus for what (to us) seems like a cruel reason. Prometheus only wanted to help humans! But when you think about Prometheus' actions from a king's perspective, the narrative is completely different: Prometheus stole divine knowledge and gifted it to humans after Zeus explicitly told him not to. And this was after Prometheus cheated all the gods out of a huge portion of wealth by having humans keep the best part of a sacrifice's meat while the gods must delight themselves with bones, fat and skin. Yes, Zeus gave Persephone away to Hades without consulting Demeter but what king consults a woman who is not his wife about the arrangement of his daughter's marriage to another king? Yes, Zeus breaks the marriage vows he set with Hera despite his love of her but what is the Master of Fate if not its staunchest slave?

The nuance is there. Even in his most bizarre actions, the nuance and logic and reason is there. The Ancient Greeks weren't a daft people, they worshipped Zeus as their primary god for a reason and they did not associate him with half the vices modern audiences take issue with. Zeus was a father, a visitor, a protector, a fair judge of character, a guide for the lost, the arbiter of revenge for those that had been wronged, a pillar of strength for those who needed it and a shield to protect those who made their home among the biting snakes. His children were reflections of him, extensions of his will who acted both as his mercy and as his retribution, his brothers and sisters deferred to him because he was wise as well as powerful. Zeus didn't become king by accident and it is a damn shame he does not get more respect.

[b4kuch1n]

siren

[legionofpotatoes]

everyone hates crunch and everyone wants the new dragon age to have 4x the scope with 8x the quantum content

[yume-fanfare]

undead girl time! toxic yuri also

[mapsofnonexistentplaces]

if i think about the dd2 rewrite backstory for sarmenti too much i will get mad and start throwing up and crying

[significant-narratives]

because i am who i am as a person, i looked up minty’s astro chart in honour of his birthday and like… your honour that’s the future heart of our team…

[unproduciblesmackdown]

among the boundless billions zaniness like laugh track as it definitely has that moment of expressing "rolling my eyes as The Left makes a kerfuffle of Acting like they have a stance as a veneer over the true belief that [xyz] is cool & chill actually" like what, approximate 0.000% chance wendy isn't, as usual, given the Objective Stance of "yeah yeah ohh we are cancelling involved parties talking about how we Don't watch this But. we all love this damn epic movie & already have it memorized so shut the fuck up, kids today" like. don't wanna really delve into how much billions thinks taylor or anyone is "really" trans / nonbinary like not too much benefit of the doubt in this material including what does provide info abt that specifically

& the general like [head in hands. what do you think any of this could possibly be about (you're the one that made your show at all about Power)] of "yes, it's bad/wrong to be someone that someone has done something to / victim of something" like that to be anti misogyny All Women Must Be Epic Winners b/c there's something to be proved: that they don't Deserve to be victims (of misogyny), not taken as a Given. while when we see some epic winner men stepping on other men (who need not all be guaranteed Winners so as to say misogyny is wrong), that's often Good, well beyond any assumption that various forms of basic disrespect / violation / patterns of emergent/entrenched power difference as Bad (for being things done to people, not for there being people they're being done to), & generally billions has to take an extra step when ppl get shitted on & tell us the Specific Cases when it was undeserved actually & someone was being mean to a specific person who didn't deserve that. & the specific cases when hey guess it wasn't that bad(tm) or when hey It's Okay that you're someone something was done to, in this case. & tell us what we were supposed to know all along like when someone who something was being done to (wrong Of Them, whether b/c they inherently deserve it no matter what, &/or b/c they failed to be someone who could make it Impossible to do anything to them, which, how do you do that besides being The Authority / Superior yourself, exactly? nonrhetorically? what if the in group vs out group / fascism / authoritarianism protected Me?) was actually being treated Too Well b/c ah well the abuse meant you were getting any attention, maybe it meant you were claimed as any superior's property, maybe it meant you weren't Already disposed of, as all Losers were in the end, You're Welcome.

obviously referring to winston where it's spelled out all the abuse towards him was deserved, & More than he deserved in the case of rian having more access & taking advantage of that, all for billions' enjoying its own sendoff there of, again, maximizing violation & violence short of [real violence is physical & leaves bruises / draws blood / Literally kills] which would be distasteful in general But doesn't it make wags look like the winner & winston the loser is that the former's completely unrelated completely impersonal ego blow gets way amplified taken out on winston, the most vulnerable recurring character when spyros as [first & ultimate Everyone Hates Him role] is more entrenched in there & billions still magnanimously pities tuk, as it does winston too, just not quite as much. again that like completely surface level realized power fantasy of forcing the mirror up to the Inferior so they're like nooo my inferiorityyyy & in doing so like, the projection in that lmao, we get it re: the valuing of & need(tm) for such Power Tripping & Reaffirming My Superiority & My Ego Restored; Everyone Claps like good god. & then for all ben & tuk are the slightly softer Two Too Nice Boys duo to the rian & winston quant duo, also like too nice i guess but not as much, ben is in charge of tuk but Any instance of rian being in charge of winston outstrips them in that "yay interpersonal abuse" dynamic, like then in the end billions may be like "yeah it's possible to be mean to them unlike how being mean to winston is actually Nice b/c he deserves everything he gets, we only vicariously enjoy it vs Feeling Bad for tuk & ben sometimes (still magnanimously & it's Not That Bad / just goofin)" like ben & tuk still Fail by not being people it's impossible to do anything to. & not Exceptions who anyone is really being Too Mean to. like if they were women, in which case, no problem surely with a "positive" kind of victim blaming where there is something Inherent that Will be victimized so hey how about to cancel that out there's this special Paternal Protection you Need always, Or Else? :) but instead they are men who are asian & is ben gay & w/tuk & winston nobody mentions glasses or fatness but billions doesn't really do much or very in depth textual mentioning of Anything, even w/nonzero mention that there may be gender & race in this world. a gay man, once. no disability. we just Know who are the inferiors who deserve it when they're treated inferiorly, or if they don't, they start deserving it when they fail to stop/avoid it, but if you start mentioning the factors behind who we all totally agree is inferior like whoa nobody was Saying any of that? being the real agent of oppression on the basis of the factors only You spelled out, much? nonbinary? i never say anything about the Gender Binary when i'm subscribing to it, sounds like You've created & enforced it. obfuscation & deflection onto [so Just Normal nobody has to label, explain, or argue it] couldn't serve a purpose & protect the existing power differences as they are. maybe You're the problem? perhaps you brought it upon yourself & now you're causing too much trouble standing up for yourself while everyone else's criticism is laser focused on you as the prior & continuing negative actions done to you are taken as a given / unquestioned / covertly protected to overtly encouraged?

anyway so wild if the Completely Normal(tm) Victim Blaming is uncritically recreated & oft embraced for "if you're watching this & don't wish you were axe / find him appealing" [billions as a sequence of vicarious power trips] purposes in this series....but a bit wild considering like this is your multiseason show that wasn't just purporting to be those power trips for [enough demographic & apparently specific personal tastes overlap w/creators] & was at all purporting to question the matters of power at play in the material, or yknow, at least to not be completely superficial material while said material is textually & thematically all about power difference being leveraged, how, the consequences, & so on. thus i will have to intermittently talk about it forever like this like lord unbelievable. & the funny little & sometimes less funny less little characters it has trapped in there so that those of us who were never meant to be in the audience can be cursed with this knowledge. like i have some feedback. "imagine not victim blaming" & "imagine adjusting your perspective can go beyond superficial layers added to politely defer to some other ppl while they're present but really like cmon do they deserve that. am i not just saying what we're allll thinking"

[britcision]

The trick is making those words and their meanings accessible for everyone

Young kids learn all the words for snow in their cultures

Most adults in the western world never learn exactly what quantum physics describes, or the names of half the tools in a standard toolbox

Good scientists build a glossary appropriate to the understanding of their audiences

(They use words you’ll understand when speaking to you)

The takeaway is: scientists are not doing it on purpose, the government is by making it hard for you to learn what those words mean without spending a lot of money

If someone can persuade you that people who use technical terms look down on you for not knowing them, you’re less likely to believe those people if they say something that someone doesn’t want you to know

Like that climate change is real

It is intentional, deliberate anti-intellectualism to make you trust anyone but the experts

We combat this by learning what those specific terms mean, and by teaching our scientists communication tools and not denigrating the humanities

The whole “scientists use big words on purpose to be exclusive” is such a bunch of anti-intellectual bullshit. Specific and concise language exists for a reason; you need the right words to convey the right meaning, and explaining stuff right is a hugely important part of science. Cultures that live around loads of snow have loads of words to describe different types of snow; cultures that live in deserts have loads of words to describe different types of sand. Complex language is needed for complex meaning.