#not worth it to predict plots or anything in this show lol

[concoulor]

the last two things in my list of things I wanted out of s4 were to see tabitha again & to get more about roman’s sexuality

[synthient]

15th Doctor Season 2 predictions

Spent this morning mapping out a vague direction of where I think the show is going (more on the level of "themes" and "emotional stakes" than specific plot beats, which I mostly handwave as "meanwhile, alien antics ensue"). Because I love to look for Patterns and Signs and things of that nature :)

Christmas special:

This is what I wrote in my notes app on the train this morning, before I even knew about the comic-con trailer:

We see "what the Doctor gets up to when he's alone." Which, I predict, mostly consists of him trying to convince himself that he doesn't need companions and he's fine on his own, while being obviously miserable.

And I think the trailer basically confirms this lol. Joy is a Doctor mirror. Her efforts to mask her loneliness under a plucky attitude are exactly what the Doctor is doing.

Anyway, at some point during or after the Joy-Doctor bonding session (if she's not going to be a companion, then hopefully nothing happens to her that reminds him why he was trying to be alone ☹️):

The Doctor runs into the new Varada Sethu character. He notices that she looks like Mundy and goes "oh weird! this is an impossible girl situation, just like Clara" (the intitial seeding of Clara-exposition for new viewers, a la the Doctor-Donna stuff or the Toymaker's puppet show. This Is A Surprise Tool That Will Help Us Later).

The mystery offers him a self-justification to bring her along (maybe he's not even endangering her! maybe she's already tied up in some supernatural shenanigans, and his presence could protect her, if anything. Is that why he agreed to bring Ruby along, when he thought she was at the center of a mystery? And is that part of why he left her as soon as he realized she wasn't?)

S2 E1:

Meanwhile, Ruby is becoming disillusioned with her ordinary, post-Doctor life. She's working a thankless customer service job. Her bio parents aren't as perfect as she always dreamed they'd be. She has new, more complicated family dynamics to navigate (and probably has to face the uncomfortable truth that, in the rush of finding her "real" mom, she hasn't been treating Carla great).

Some crisis bring the Doctor back to 2020s London. Ruby is thrilled to see him - but then, when she realizes he replaced her with another companion almost immediately, hurt and resentful. She thought they were best friends. She thought she was special. Are his human "friends" just interchangeable props to him?

A mid-alien-crisis emotional confrontation ensues. The Doctor tells Ruby that it's because he cares about her that he left. When he doesn't push people away, they get hurt. Clara is brought up as an example. (She's still fresh on his mind from the Impossible Girl/Mundy lookalike thing. More exposition is fed to new viewers).

Ruby declares that she cares about the Doctor too much to let him push her away, even if it's for her own good. And she loves their adventures enough for it to be worth the risk. With mixed feelings, the Doctor lets her back onto the tardis team.

(The Ruby/Sethu Companion dynamic becomes ?? Are they friends? Are they still competing to be the Favorite Companion? Will Mundy Sunday happen as foretold?)

Next few episodes:

Our Three Heroes set out on a series of one-off adventures. I won't try to predict the details, but I'm guessing the episodic stories won't have much literal connection to the Main Plot, but will tie in subtextually and thematically.

In S1, there were two big thematic throughlines: 1) abandoment issues, and 2) cultures that echo Gallifrey. Ruby was a Doctor mirror on the abandonment issues front. So my prediction is that Sethu Companion will somehow be a mirror on the "Doctor re-evaluating his relationship with his home" front. We have no idea what time and place Sethu Companion will be from - but Mundy's "soldier indoctrinated into an ideology that was all a violently-exploitative lie" background certainly tracks.

What is The Main Plot?

Again, I won't hazard many specifics. I'm going more for Themes than the exact way those themes are executed. But the big two reveals I'm gambling on are:

1. Rogue is the Master

2. We get a long-delayed payoff for why Missy introduced Clara to the Doctor (something to do with the hand that picked up the tooth?)

And with those two reveals, we unify our main themes: 1) The cycle of abandoment (the Doctor is abandoned by his parents, abandons the Master, abandons Susan and his future companions). 2) Re-evaluating his relationship to Gallifrey. And 3) What kind of relationships should the Doctor have with his friends? How much closeness can he afford? Is he a bringer of death? Of life? Of joy? What's the right time, and the right way, to say goodbye?

Not to get too Clara centric, but I am getting a little Clara-pilled re Mrs. Flood? I think it'd be fun if Clara spent a few centuries adventuring, eventually figured out how to undo the frozen heartbeat thing and start aging again, and came back to see the Doctor, with their old person/young person dynamic now reversed. Her Missy-coding fulfilled via an ominous, convoluted, yet twistedly-loving way of expressing her friendship. But I think there are multiple answers to the Mrs. Flood question that could still fit The Themes. Any timelord would work, for example

I'm also kind of leaning toward the "big bad" being not Mrs. Flood, not Missy or Rogue-Master, but Rogue and the Meep's boss. Who's some third party we can't really hope to predict, any more than we could've seen Sutekh coming. Assuming there's one at all - maybe Sutekh already met our "big bad" quotient, and we'll get more heaven sent-style personal stakes this time?

Entirely possible that there's some storyteller trying to craft a narrative out of the Doctor's life, put "perfect companions" in his path, etc. Mrs. Flood is the obvious suspect....but too obvious? What if the Doctor is subconsciously narrativizing his own life, and his story "ending in terror" is actually something Mrs. Flood is trying to disrupt

If Susan shows up, I think it'd be really funny if she was trying to parent-trap her two grandpas

Anyway, I think the biggest hole in my analysis is that the cue at the end of S1 was to look into Clara, Missy, and Romana. And I still haven't started my Romana Studies. Gotta get Romana-pilled

[vitos-ordination-song]

It’s hard to have a stance in the middle of the quality of such a beloved and debated work. ‘Cause on the one hand, you have those who will hear nothing but praise for it, and on the other, there’s a kind of mindless backlash to frame popular works as overrated. I wouldn’t call LOGH overrated. Just, its diehard fans are overlooking some major issues.

It’s fine for a story to have limitations. “Plot holes,” wonky worldbuilding in places, etc. But as someone who’s read a lot of sci-fi, I found it to be full of anachronisms and questionable writing choices. I mean, why are the space imperials talking about Valhalla? We’re given no backstory for how this galactic empire came to have Norse religion. This is from a society which views Earth as a long forgotten backwater. Like??? There’s a lack of attention to materialism, like technology is just able to do anything; the battles feel more based on sea/ground combat than anything to do w space; the story will drop a huge bomb like “the first kaiser only allowed people of Germanic descent into the empire,” only to never explore the issue of race again; etc.

None of the above issues are enough for me to criticize the story really. I just view them as limitations. No one person, no creative team even, can create a perfect world in fiction. And there are really interesting things about it. For instance, I found all the history episodes compelling. The author clearly has an interest in history, especially military and leadership history. It’s fun to watch a story where the past is projected on to space. That’s not to say that the story does nothing original, and it does have harder scifi elements at times. Besides, there’s no reason that history can’t repeat itself on a galactic scale.

My issue really is with the ending. I’m not sure the promise of the first half was fulfilled. I’m still sorting through why, but I’d say the number one reason is that it feels too satisfied with itself. The story became cliched at the end—how disappointing! I mean, the Church of Terra was just there to be Evil and mess things up for the protagonists; there was absolutely no thought put into making that interesting. Every single character moment felt telegraphed. There was none of the tension and excitement of the first half. It was… corny? Maybe it was always corny. Maybe I just liked Yang Wen-li’s corniness better, lol. But his self-effacing nature kept the story from going full soap opera. With him gone, it was like, Reinhard’s just gonna keep being the same guy and then die, ok, and now Julian is a generic hero, complete with under-written girlfriend. So why did I watch to the end???

I’m venting but there was a lot I did like. I thought Reuenthal’s episodes were extremely well executed. I really only lost interest when it was like “the alliance and the empire have to fight again despite both sides wanting to talk.” It made Reinhard more boring to me that he was that predictable. And the show had never felt so complacent on the topic of violence. It’s just boring to be like, yep, we’ll end with the exact same values that we started with: might makes right. Ooooh Julian proved himself to Reinhard through combat. I guess if he died his opinions wouldn’t be worth anything???? When this was framed as Reinhard’s fatal flaw, a personal foible that led him to recklessly pursue Yang, I really enjoyed it. But I’m supposed to respect the character, right? Well what’s to respect when you always have the advantage and end up fighting a kid with way less firepower than you? I suppose you could say that Reinhard earned that right by fighting from a young age himself, but it felt like the story took a step backwards. I get bored of one trick ponies. Then it’s like “Julian gets Revenge for Yang by going on a murder spree” as if that’s also supposed to impress me. Cool, you created completely two dimensional characters for your hero to justifiably kill, you want a cookie for that amazing writing? In the end the story ended up being short-sightedly masculinist. But yeah I did enjoy it. Yang was the realest and I’ll love him forever. The rest of you hoes can go home.

[aliothbuzzsawshark]

Notes for The Melancholy Of Yuuou

What a gift.

He stands so straight and baby boy get a belt it looks like you need it

They really are just nice siblings. Yeah some aren’t the brightest bulbs and still likely hold a bit of a grudge because of Yuo’s plan but it’s stil so sweet that they’re doing all this for him

Damn they really just pushed him out. At least Yuro waved

I DON’T LIKE FIRST POV STOP IT STOP okay thanks. 

Tiny.

NO IT’S COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE I DON’T HAVE WORK TO DO, BREAKS AND OFF DAYS AREN’T EVEN IN MY CONTRACT!

Nicely animated swing? Also we’ve seen this park before right

*Shaking Konami by the shoulders* WHAT EVEN WAS YUO’S PLOT? WAS IT JUST RECORDIBG YUGA SAYING “yeah sure why not lol” BECAUSE THAT’S STUPID. I KNOW YUO’S SMARTER THAN THINKING THAT WOULD WORK WITHOUT THE DUEL MAKER

Sliding down sound affects. while in heels like a madman. We love to see Romin have a flair for the dramatics.

Sorry, this is my one single off day since I was five and I’d rather contemplate my siblings and current situation while alone on the kiddie swings than be in a magical girl anime

Gakuto came out of the dog house because he’s a bitch

get him a nap he looks like he needs one

Not me simultaneously gasping with Yuo at the threat “curry.”

YO I CAN COOK UP YUO AND ROMIN PARALLELS LIKE ROMIN COOKS UP CURRY as in insane

LET HER COOK

that was such a genuine scream for a wave of curry

Romin really woke up and called Gakuto like “Hey remember our sick ass cosplays? Well what if you do that again but as therapists. No I don’t have anyone in mind but it’s still cool. Met me and the kiddie park in full cosplay I’ll work this acting like it deserves an oscar”

He’s sad and lonely and covers it up and never lets himself be truly vulnerable and like he’s 11 he should be playing with Barbie dolls and having friends not being alone at your job thinking about how much you’re siblings must hate you

Romin is so bad at comforting I love that for her

Roa stop being Cunty

Anyways while recaps happens *thinks back to the Yuo is just like me post* AHAHA OH

These guitars go hard man

WE LOVE A LIAR YASSSSS

HE’S HIS PUPPET.

Kill Roa thank you Luke

THEY’RE BOTH POWER HUNGRY AND PUT THAT OVER THEIR LOVED ONES *Shaking you up and down over Yuo and Luke parallels over and over*

WACK HIM WITH THE MAGICAL GIRL STICK. BONK HIM. DESTROY HIM.

it’s now just 10 minutes I talk too much 

Damn he didn’t even get ice cream for himself never mind lol

Yuo’s VA is so good at screaming no wonder he’s Izuku. Also why is that the default reactions to anything happening he dislikes/didn’t predict

Anyways now that it’s been revealed it’s a birthday time to get cake for meee <3

Oh Luke hired Mimi back? That’s actually really nice good job Luke

HELL YEAH FIRST FLASHBACK TO SWIRLY LET’S GOOO

Also yeah the Reborn event probably happened on Yuo’s birthday. Poor guy

Small hands. 

NO NO NO HE DOESN’T THINK HE’S WORTH CELEBRATING MMMMMNOOOOO

am. am I going to cry to Yuo knowing how much he caused and how he almost fucked over peoples lives and how he’s dealing with that

Welcome to the part of the notes with more projecting

Yuo is such a fascinating character. Like, yeah, in his very business and logical heavy mind, how could he repay the pain he must have given. He doesn’t expect forgiveness, he doesn’t expect people to like him, that’s his business side. That compares to his puppeteering side, a side of him begging to see his puppets beg for even implying a chance of winning after being beaten, a side knowing he’ll be the star of the show with his Ashurastar. But he’s still human, still an eleven year old that has human wants like love. This is a huge ass rant oopies

He wants to be a good sibling so bad that he’s now just going with the nonsense

“Just what kind of life have you led Yuuou-kun“ is the nice way of saying “what the fuck is wrong with you”

ROMIN A DOLL IS ONE OF THE WORST THINGS TO PRACTICE WITH HE VIEWS THEM AS SERVANTS TO HIS POWER

“Thannnn…anmmisszamm…THANKS FOR NOTHING!” Proceeds to sigh in self disappointment

USE THE POWER OF RACISM GAKUTO. OKAY

What a mood man

Mmmmmm I have too many words to say about the party and Yuo’s reaction

AAACHDDGGSSHIYCDJHFGJMMMMMMM

It’s so sweet and nice and Yuo looks so so happy and everyone is having a good time and I feel like I’m going to cry

After all this…he gets to bonk. Also Gakuto in drag fits weirdly well

EE THEY’RE PLAY FIGHTING THEY’RE PLAY FIGHTING THEY’RE LIKE LITTLE KIDS WITHOUT ANY RESPONSIBILITIES 

Obsessed.

Ooooooo that’s a great ending. Everyone is having a great time and then just the sudden flashbacks and reassurging memories. Yuo can still have fun but at the back of his mind it’s still there. Great

[pippin-katz]

I guess I’ll give my two cents on Mammals since I post so much about Merlin and watched it cause of Colin

I’m demisexual, so any show where sex and infidelity are the main plot points is going to make my experience of the show a bit strange. I genuinely can’t put myself in the shoes of the characters because I can’t feel the things they feel, so in a way I’m the worst and best person to ask the opinion of.

From a production standpoint (acting, writing, etc), I thought it was fine.

Colin’s back probably hurts like hell from carrying the show, but no one gave a bad performance.

The writing is predictable, but it’s not trying to be anything special. It’s a talking piece. They’re trying to open up the discussion of infidelity in modern day because it’s such a common conflict between people. Again, I can’t relate at all being ace-spectrum, but that doesn’t mean I don’t see what they’re going for.

Yeah, it’s a bit on the weirder side with some of its choices, namely Colin’s wife being off in la la land for half the show, but nothing so crazy or so weird happened that I turned it off.

Is it a masterpiece of cinema? God no, but if you support Colin, and can get over the fact that James Corden is in it, it’s worth a watch just to form your own opinion on it. Colin is fantastic, as usual. He’s one of those actors you could hand a script written by a five year old and he’d still make it look good somehow.

If you’re ace-spectrum and you’re uncomfortable with sexual content, I will say there’s a little bit of that, but nothing super insane like full sex scenes. It’s awkward for me personally cause I see Colin and go “oh that’s Colin, I know a bit about that guy” and then I see him in something where he has to act out sex or intimacy and I’m like “ok I don’t want to see this guy like this” cause when you know about an actor’s real personality or life it can feel like they’re a distant friend. I don’t want to see my friends having sex lol

That’s all I have to say I guess, Colin’s great, that’s all I cared about lmfao

[anemxvisions]

//ok my monster thoughts about the AQ

Ok first off Paimon read the freaking room omfg like please! Do you not see the state of Possion?! Like she just lost the two closest people in her life. On top of that I was crying laughing when Neuvillette showed up and clearly saw her going through it but he legit perked up and was so happy to hear how Sigewinne is doing like bruh XD

That out of the way lets get to the most talked about parts of the AQ

First the imfamous Childe throw by Skirk…honestly it’s actually what I expect from her. Listen Hoyo loves teasing us so they’re not going to show all dynamics with her. If anything this is a clear sign of her character especially as she referred to an all consuming whale as a pet. Her chucking Childe goes to show she���s not super entuned with human nature, given how long she’s been in the abyss makes sense. Bottomline I didn’t take away from the scene as comedic, yeah it got a little chuckle but after I heard how Skirk talked about him makes sense, Childe is the stray cat she found in the dumpster, stinky baby.

Moving onto the Focalor and Furina, yeah Furina needs a god damn hug and I’m taking her away from Focalor! My jaw dropped when I saw the hundreds of tally marks as she had to go through basically the same day for over five hundred years with the only thing keeping her going is Focalor’s message. God my poor bubble like she probably wanted to tell Neuvillette so many times but couldn’t I’m sobbing.

I do feel they could have hinted more at Focalor being separated, it would have made her sacrifice feel more impactful like Rukka’s but I digress she needed to be completely hidden in order to defy the heavenly principles which good for you girl. I just don’t like how Furina’s ‘reward’ for all of this is to live as a human like…five hundred years to get maybe at most sixty years? It does not seem fair or just, her suffering worth so little.

Neuvillette honestly was going through it but I’m so happy he wasn’t ‘betrayed’ by Furina like how a lot of us were predicting. I do however wished he had the like big emotional moment with her and not Focalor.

A thing I really liked is how the Fatui for once are not blamed for what happened and instead actually helped the nation out. The Knave said it best that organizations with abundances of resources should lend a hand no matter sides. She came to Fontaine first to save her home get the gnosis second. I am sensing the building blocks of her being friendly towards us for when she eventually becomes playable and yeah wincing and mourning the loss of her being the mean queen but who knows we still need Fontaine’s second world boss.

Nobody else said it but I am so mad at the lack of more Remurina lore! Like how can you heavily talk about it last quest and barely any mention of it?! I hear maybe in the future we will be getting more but I’m all huffy

So glad to see the arc was used, a small part of me felt like the arc in the fortress was never going to be used as a plot point so very glad I wasn’t disappointed.

Now onto the extra info at the end…the gnosis being the remains of the third descender is def giving JJK Sukuna fingers vibes lol like what the Tsarista gonna collect them all consume them and get the power of a descender hehehehehe…..

Anyways! Natlan crumbs and it’s the nation of war and dragons like hello!

Overall I don’t typically play Archon Quests expecting anything, I always set my expectations low so I don’t get unintentionally mad some bit I was hoping for isn’t add. I don’t really expect hoyo to really get into the nitty gritty details especially with archon quests and with a track record of many of the final acts falling short I was expecting this a fifth time.

I give this AQ as a whole a 6.9/10

The build up was great the cutscenes amazing urgency all the way until the end. There are ofc some parts where it fell flat but I still greatly enjoyed this quest.

[livinluxuriouslyselena]

— Beyond Strange Lands : ((audible original & as such, the link obviously takes you to this on AUDIBLE)) an Australia-based production & is pretty wild - very paranormal, edge-of-your-seat, thriller-sci-fi . From the website: “In 1982, the famous paranormal expert Grant Peters went missing while filming his TV show Legendary Australia. His wife Melissa was never able to find him. When Melissa herself disappears nearly forty years later, her daughter Fiona and grandson Ethan trace her to the small outback town of Boulia. There they discover a collection of old audio tapes that Melissa left behind: a set of clues they must follow if they're to solve this mystery in time. Insidious forces will stop at nothing to destroy them, and an impossibly ancient menace lurks deep beneath the ground, waiting for the chance to strike....” 7.3/10

— Dreamboy

— Daniel X: Genesis - ((another free audible original)) The pacing is … quirky. But then so is the story. From the website: “We meet Daniel, an ordinary teen just trying to navigate his way through high school. That all changes when he discovers he has super powers and can conjure up anything, at any time, just by imagining it. Suddenly he’s meeting powerful entities who tell him he is not, in fact, a typical teenage human but an alien...and his parents died not in a car wreck but in an epic battle with an intergalactic villain.” I want to give it an 8/10 because it’s amazingly produced & beautifully acted but it was predictable

— The Waystation : a surprisingly well-crafted, well-paced sci-fi horror/thriller/techno-mystery. The storyline was ace; all performances spectacular and with impressive audio engineering to boot. 8/10

— Ice Cream : traditional concise horror serial 7.5/10

— Spire : high-concept sci-fi (future alt reality? Still early days / ongoing)

— NORA : STELLAR writing, pacing & performances. Be warned, once you start you may be stuck in it for the full binge (but it’s not long and most definitely worth it for a thrilling & surreal experience) 8/10

— Duggan Hill*: This one isn’t on Spotify. I listened to it on pocketcasts. It’s terrific- quite a ride. I’m still feeling a bit hypnotized after finishing the ride with Zoe to find Sasha / the Canadian SCP-Foundation’s search for “Mother” ((* the 1st season, to me, is perfect for the unique experience that it is. The tension grows & grows; inevitably leading to a show down; which almost always ends in listener-disappointed & dissatisfaction. This one, however, ends powerfully; hauntingly-so. While many questions are finally answered in the S1 finale; the sweet & undeniable closure we’re mercifully granted is still shrouded in just enough mystery to serve as a bittersweet enigmatic but haunting finale. I think the show would have been a real piece of art had it been a limited series - and so, in short, while the whole thing isn’t bad, per say, the more information thrown into the mix seems to lessen the magical surrealism of that beautiful 1st season. So I’m only recommending the first season (ie : treating the season 1 finale as the end). I’m a completionist & I had to finish it; but I wish I had trusted my instincts & left it when I knew it couldn’t be topped… )) score for S1 only 8.5/10

— The Hyacinth Disaster : this is a psychological thriller and it definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat/biting your nails. Definitely made me anxious all the way through- so if you are into that kinda thing - this is for you. The actors give some truly beautiful & moving performances, and there is a lot of gorgeous character work; not to mention unexpected plot twists. 9/10

— Reluctant Persuaders : ((the link brings you to the BBC SOUNDS app)) - serialized comedy, very much like Cabin Fever (which I also recommend but just for a cheap & easy laugh lol) but instead of being set around the ✈️ plane, think super-small advertising agency & then swap 😉 9/10

— The POLYBIUS Conspiracy : a Radiotopia Showcase special (from the creator’s of The Passenger List) : this is the *only* way I want to hear the faux-journalist narrative trope of storytelling used. Bravooo to a tremendously well-crafted story. A true thrilling ride into the unknown. Are you (or were you) a fan of the X-Files? Then this is your start point (unless you’re already tired of this-now-done-to-death podcasted audiodrama trope) almost a 9/10

— The Incident of Ong’s Hat - (can be found as a part of the BBC’s Limelight feed on all podcasting apps) but it’s unique in that it’s not made by the BBC… from the makers of the controversial audiodrama The POLYBIUS Conspiracy & the original (also known as the first-ever ARG & online creepy pasta) Ong’s Hat creator Joseph Matheny, in the style of POLYBIUS & made for BBC radio. 7.5/10

— Damned Andrew : a BBC sounds paranormal lovecraftian comedy serial 😳😂🤣

— Uncanny Valley : I find this one hard to categorize because each episode is full-cast, beautifully written & well-acted. But it’s an anthology series that seemingly all take place within the same literary “meta-verse”. I call shows like this “bottle episodes”; in which each story is completely self contained. This one is not for kids; definitely rides the line of dark comedy/satire and horror/supernatural-thriller. The closest thing on this entire list to this show is Petrified in terms of format. I tend to prefer to invest in characters; preferring serialized audiodrama. But this, like Pertrified or the BBC’s Weird Tales, can be like Pringles chips - once you start, you may have a difficult time stopping 😉 7/10

— Reincarnathan : ((link takes you to BBC SOUNDS)) satirical, silly, episodic dark-comedy serial. From the Cambridgeek: “Nathan is a horrible human being. Or at least he is, right up until the moment he has an accident at a meat-processing plant. Famous person that he (kinda) was, he was opening it, after having endorsed the product in a terrible advert, that made use of his one hit wonder. Bit sad, really. Sadder still, he has acted so awfully to all those around him that his morality score is painfully low. No heaven for our Nathan. Instead, with the assistance of afterlife liaison officer (definitely not angel) Jenny, he must begin his slow climb through the reincarnation cycle, back up to human. Along the way, he will spend a life as many different creatures, possibly learning to become a better person.”

— Spire : it’s only 5 episodes in so it’s early days, but episodes are decently long (and complicated - I recommend reading the transcripts to better get your head around WTF is going on) - so far it seems like a sci-fi futuristic serial drama.

— Doctor Who Redacted : was pretty good (and this is coming from someone who really, really doesn’t like anything from the Chibnall/Whitaker years) for a classics fan (or those of us who call 8 “our doctor”) and I have no doubt that new fans will love it because it’s better than any of 13s TV run 😏 7.9/10

— Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature : from Wolf at the Door Studios (the makers of THE IMPERFECTION) ((ongoing)) - this one isn’t going to be for everyone. It’s (a) very cerebral and (b) ongoing and as a result - can be confusing. But, like Archive 81, The Imperfection & The Lovecraft Investigations has (& as it goes on this will increase) it has an incredible re-listen value.

— Where The Leaves Fall Purple : an excellently crafted mystery. Reminded me of a modernized audio-take on the OG’s “Scream” & “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. 8.8/10

— Cryptids : Starts off confusing but gets more interesting as the twists tumble in. (And don’t worry, it’s *not* your average Let’s-Follow-a-Bigfoot story) 5/10

— Science Fiction Theatre : similar to the Limelight Feed, one feed and (to date, feb 2023) has 4 “mini” serials. Some sci-fi-thriller, at least 1 post-apocalypse horror mystery (Social Construct)

— Bridgewater : a 3D Audio by iHeartRadio/iHeartPodcasts + Grim & Mild Media - written by Aaron Mahnke and Lauren Shippen (who wrote The Bright Sessions) a university professor who specializes in folklore studies puts his “life on hold to uncover a mystery” and unearths his own personal life’s “mythology”. 7/10

— Harbor : ((ongoing)) a multi-layered serialized drama with elements of the every genre. In short, harbor is the perfect title: as it tells the story of an enduring community tied together by land & ultimately (albeit begrudgingly) *love*. 8.8/10

— Harley Quinn and The Joker: Sound Mind : FINALLY we get a Harley Quinn with some AGENCY! Gone is the stupidly-violent classic prototype. This article gives a great run-down overview of what you have to look forward to. Overall, I score it a 8.3/10

— Undertow: Dark Tome by Realm : I’ve begun to think of this one as the “American equivalent to The BBC’s Limelight Feed”, if only within my mind’s audiodrama “canon”. Undertow hosts a variety of mini-serials that all take place within the same location: Simpson Falls, Maine (ie: same location, but characters and timelines are particular to each “season”/serial). All of the Undertow serials are written & produced by the same team & studio. They all fall under the umbrella of the horror genre. Unlike shows like Darkest Night (a bigger-budget, full-cast, “horror” audiodrama which is NOT on this list because, IMO, the majority of the series episodes prioritize cheap & predictable shock value & gore-porn-ASMR-type stylization over quality story telling & 3D character building; 2/10), these serials are all cleverly & concisely written. To sum it up, the first series of “Simpson Falls” is 10 episodes start-finish; each episode runs about a half an hour. The first episode seeds everything to come without anything feeling unnecessary. It establishes our 2 main characters & multiple mysteries & by the end of the episode, it’s hard to not continue onto episode 2. Episode 2 is very *Twin Peaks* as well as *Dark Shadow-y* but brought into 2020. I generally need to binge listen until the point where I become “invested”. Once I am “invested”, I can pick it up again on another day & not have to relisten. ((Score varies from mini-series to mini-series. Simpson Falls I would give about an 8.5/10. Blood Forrest about a 5/10…))

— Shipworm : from their website: “Wallace Conway wakes up to find he’s been implanted with an untraceable earpiece while sleeping. So long as he does everything the voice on the other end tells him, he and his family will live.” 7/10

— The Six Disappearances of Ella McCray** from ZoomDoom Stories : ((ongoing cancelled-mid-season 2 arc)) I have never seen this one recommended on the audiodrama subreddit. This is one of those shows that’s got a unique premise (think The Deca Tapes) & as a result, can hook certain people before they finish the 1st episode (or even just by reading the description!). It usually takes me at least 2 episode of any audiodrama before I get “invested”; but I could already feel it “hooking” me from the get-go! And that began to give me that sinking feeling… that “itch” in the back of my brain… there was something that was massively bugging me…I read the description & scoped out their website/Instagram, Facebook, Twitter pages etc - all because it seemed to have been a pretty big-deal-production… (and now you’re wondering “so?!”) I still see people pledging their undying allegiance to this production team’s earlier shows like SPINES & Mirrors all over the audiodrama subreddit… yet not once have I seen this being recommended or even discussed… I was getting King Falls AM deja-vu…Already-long-story-a-tad-shorter: I’m already well into the 2nd season, but unlike with King Falls (for which I hadn’t been warned for shit to fall off the rails & that none of the mystery box storytelling would ever be resolved) I have already done the aforementioned research into the show’s associated social media pages. Many of the sites linked in their domain site are now dead links. But from what wasn’t, it seems that the show was hitting it’s peak as the pandemic hit & tried to continue on with the quarantines being imposed. With the situation being what it was, and with a large & (refreshingly) diverse cast… the news that the show is (still) on “indefinite hiatus” - is understandable. So this show hit the ground running with mysteries but I am at least prepared now - for the idea that my many, many hypotheses may never be resolved to anyone’s satisfaction. Having been warned, I am still happy while on this ride. I will, however, return to this once I finish & include whether or not I would have done it had I known. ((And for those who are wondering about King Falls AM - I don’t regret having been on that ride. And I would do it again! I enjoyed the ride and knew exactly how and when to get off when that time came. I do wish I had been prepared…but it is because of the lack of conclusion or resolution that I don’t recommend King Falls AM on this list because it’s a very subjective experience)):: FOLLOW-UP**: while this was fun while it lasted; due to COVID (apparently) it simply ENDS with zero resolution 😞 it was fun while it lasted 🫤 4/10

— Celeritas : ((ongoing)) this one is perfection. One “nitpick”: it ends on a massive cliff hanger (like SPECTRE) and so don’t count on coming out of this one (as of February 2023) with any resolution to the main questions you may have had at the end of episode 1… but not sure that’s a bad thing 😜 S1 scores a solid 9/10. I look forward to it’s continuation.

— Station 151 : ((ongoing)) very hard to slate this one into a category or genre. Definitely AI-motivated sci-fi, but beyond that, given that it is ongoing and with only 1 season complete- there’s not much more that I can say beyond the fact that it’s got some amazingly surrealist quasi-absurdist elements, along with lots of dark & ironic comedy. Follow-up: I’m writing this a few weeks after the end of season one : I rarely listen shows during their releases (ie: following the show like a weekly/monthly podcast; per episode “drop”) but this 1 caught my attention & after binge-listening to the first 6 episodes I was genuinely impressed. I’d a few nitpicks about the script & the actor playing the main character… but I had high hopes…Summary critique: this show is meant to take place in today’s world - so far, so good. Our protagonist is meant to be an astrophysicist, “seconded” to Alaska; where he is to “supervise” a super-secret, privately-owned observation project in complete isolation. Solid premise A+. The issue begins once you hit “play” & our so-called “astrophysicist” sounds like Tim the Tool Man from Home Improvement, but with even less technical aptitude..? He’s basically written in the same style as the 1970’s Doctor Who companions were…but if you are willing to “check your IQ at the door” (ie: suspend your disbelief of the nonsensically illogical story-elements) upon embarking; the story is a fun ride. I do suspect that this may be could be a one man show… which would compensate for the clumsier bits (ie: if this is a one man production; their sound engineering capabilities are phenomenal - their performance is amateurish & the writing could have used oversight; but if it was a one-man/self-made & made completely out-of-pocket, who do we thing we are to expect more? Bottom-line, if this is a one-man-production, it could be deserving of almost a 9/10 rating) I really want it to be that the AI-“warden”, Mac & *spoiler* Astrid were all a clever use of whatever automated dictation software that was to hand (I was immediately reminded of The Tiktok text-to-speech options); because that would be truly innovative. Let’s move on to the storyline… things more or less work up until episode 9… in this episode not only does our “astrophysicist” say things like “oh my god that is a god damned wormhole!” And “the wormhole is stabilizing? What does that mean?” (Literally everything out of the characters mouth, from this point-onward, puts an immense strain on the average person’s capacity for suspension of disbelief to their limit) and the plot developing around the disastrous dialoguing doesn’t help; as things grow increasingly..well…eye-roll-worthy…with SPEGG: the “transgenic fish humanoid”. 👀 I won’t say anymore other than the finale episode being a bit of a let down; it definitely felt rushed & of a lesser quality than what came before it. Overall: a good listen for those of us with ADHD & having a bad day/lacking the patience for more cerebral story-telling

— Gather the Suspects: a slice-of-metropolitan-Welsh-life murder mystery comedy 7/10

— Mansfield Mysteries : a slice-of-live murder mystery comedy 7/10

— The Handmaid’s Tale (By Wondery) : available for free through the Wondery app (which is where the link in the title will take you); as well as on Audible. Description: “Award-winning audio producer John Scott Dryden brings you into a dystopian future, in which the birth rate has plummeted and the United States has become a theocracy called Gilead. Women who are capable of childbirth are pulled out of society and trained as handmaids, then assigned to men for the sole purpose of procreation. From the same source material as the critically acclaimed Hulu series, this six part series of “The Handmaid’s Tale” is audio fiction at its finest.” -> & IMO, this description is not overstating it with that glowing “review”. I’m not at all acquainted with the aforementioned TV show & nor do I plan to do anything about that lol. Certain experiences are best suited to the audio medium (like Archive81 😏) and this audio drama is a meager 6 part affair: clearly a well-planned arc was plotted & in the end, I cannot imagine that anyone having listened to the full 6 episodes could deny that said-arc was executed extremely effectively. 9/10.

— The Conception of Terror: Tales Inspired by M. R. James - Volume 1 (An Audible Original Drama produced by BaffleGab studios) : An award-winning collection of four ghostly tales inspired by M. R. James. The combined score of this set 8.3/10

— Arckham County (an audible original) : written by long-time Big Finish Audio writer Guy Adams & A.K. Benedict. Description is as follows: Welcome to Arkham County. Population: 749,824. But that number’s dropping all of the time.... Lying northeast of Massachusetts, just south of Hell, Arkham County is somewhere you find yourself, not somewhere you ever mean to go. Once you do find it though, you'd better get used to living there, as you may be there for however long you have left to live. From within the walls of Arkham’s asylum, reclusive writer Randolph Carter tells the story of orphan Violet Flintock, who arrives in Arkham County in search of her own history only to be instantly greeted by the bloody realities of this small town, whose foundations are built from the lore and mythology of HP Lovecraft.” - it’s free & enjoyable in small doses. I also have a huge amount of respect for BaffleGab Studios and can appreciate what they were trying to do. The production & acting merits a solid 8/10. Writing about a 4/10 but plot structure is a bit of a mess for the full run-time (about 8 hours).

— The Technomancy Project : ((ongoing)) : A sci-fi/thriller/horror full cast audiodrama following the adventures of a team of agents investigating paranormal cases. So far, the show seems heavily inspired by the X-Files, but less-aliens; more “magic”. Season 1 available now. A review from Apple Podcasts : “Every inch of the Technomancy Project is solid and it makes for a very satisfying listen. There’s a nice variety to the monster-of-the-week plots: haunted house, aliens, demon possession, workplace audit, etc. and the show is adept at bringing in the humor and the horror when it is called for. Also, the little bits of continuity from episode to episode snowball into an intriguing season ending." That review overstated the whole thing quite a bit. It’s definitely an amateur production. Acting is eh, the concept of the “man in red” is a clear X-Files nod, & the narration is… not necessary…? Overall for an indie audiodrama it’s a bit above a 6/10 … but it’s a fine listen if you aren’t in a thinking mood…

— GASLIGHT (BBC Sounds) : ever wonder where the term GASLIGHTING comes from? Listen to this modernized adaptation of the original Patrick Hamilton play.

— A Sting in the Tale : ((BBC Sounds)) : a full cast surrealist-horror anthology

— Blackwood : people call me a “snob” for “nit-picking” unbelievable voice-acting,“crap” sound engineering (like white noise etc) and/or lazy writing (resulting in narration). I’m not anti-indie projects (quite the opposite!); and if you’ve read this far into my recommendations-list, I’d hope that you’d agree that I am discerning. This show’s audio sounds crisp & clean. The voice actors were believable (for the most part) & the plot, while simple, is executed well. Released in 2018 - I’d classify it as being a found-footage-relatable-analog-horror “classic”. An audio-only facsimile of the trending online horror series like Slenderman.

— Married : a BBC Radio Sci-Fi Comedy: (series 1-3) also available from audible for purchase. From the description: “Cantankerous bachelor Robin Lightfoot is happily single – until one morning he awakes to discover he’s married with two children. And he has two half-brothers...both called Ian. Is it a nightmare, a practical joke or something more sinister? Robin gradually realises that he’s in an alternate universe, where the Lib Dems are in power, the Dimbleby brothers are sports commentators and alcohol is a class-A drug. He discovers that Arthur Smith is a children’s entertainer, Stephen Fry is a Royal Biographer and Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark is a homeless waif who sets fire to telephone boxes…” this is a surrealist comedic fever dream 🤣🥰🫥🖤☠️🧠

— Tapes From Beyond : yes I know it may seem hypocritical; me putting indie shows on the same list with professional productions with the backing of studios like the BBC or Realm/Q-Code (et al) - but it’s just a breath of fresh air when a lone creator shows up with the talent, the confidence, and the skill to set up not just an interesting premise; but to execute it in a clean, well-paced, and clever manner. I binged this in one sitting. For every 12 poorly written an executed budget-audiodramas there’s a single gem 💎. Gems like these are why I suffer podcasted audiodrama.

— Absolutely No Adventures : this one should be much higher up on this list but I forgot about it (it was one of my first podcasted audiodramas lol) - it’s a serialized fantasy-comedy - which sounds like it’s childish but it’s just great. Very funny - and it is easy to overlook how difficult true serialized comedy can be to write. For an indie project; this one’s a 9/10.

— Tower 57 (an Audible Original): a full cast audible-podcasted-audiodrama; 5 episodes. Description from the website (the category is supernatural horror) : “Luther’s first night in radio quickly becomes one he’ll never forget, when a mysterious caller known only as "Magnolia" begins to interfere with the station’s broadcast. As the night progresses, Luther and the station crew are pushed to their psychological and emotional limits as they uncover a life-threatening secret and deal with forces beyond their control. The desert is lonely at night...”

— Sunshadow (an audible original podcasted audiodrama): a full cast professional production. From the website description: “Welcome to Brisbane, Queensland. It’s 1970, and Australia’s 'Sunshine State' is a land of mown lawns, beer and pumpkin scones. But underneath this buttoned-down conservativism, the state is awash with dirty money that runs through a network of corrupt cops. And tonight, the man atop this rubbish heap, Senior Sergeant Paul ‘Squinter’ O’Toole, is driving young crime reporter Lawrence Rich to his death. He should never have got in Squinter’s battered old Kingswood. He should never have fallen in love with Frankie. He should never have come to Brisbane in the first place....

— Therapy Z (an audible original full-cast podcasted audio drama) Description from their website: “Part therapy, part horror, this drama is set right smack during the outbreak of a zombie apocalypse. While governments fight to contain the threat, a top psychotherapist seeks to help civilians recover mentally from these harrowing events. But Dr. Chloe Chung has unresolved trauma of her own - her missing son may still be alive within the zombie-filled containment zones.”

— The Temp (an audible original podcasted full cast audio drama) - very similar to the BBC Sounds comedy sitcoms minus the laughing track 🖤 Description from the website: “How far would you go to get your dream job? In The Temp, Warren (Marek Larwood) is sent to a variety of temp jobs by his recruitment officer Aimee (Vicki Pepperdine) on the promise that if he does a good job, it might become permanent. And each time, the job turns out to be more dangerous and ludicrous than advertised. Open-minded to the point of mindless, Warren never seems to notice that the job is very different to the job description - he just wants to do a good job, and get made permanent.”

— The Goodbye Party (an audible original, full-cast, podcasted audio drama) : this one sucks you in from the get-go of episode 1. Genre: suspense/thriller-horror. Description from the website: “In 1984, Detective Eric O'Malley investigated the bizarre deaths of a young couple, their bodies found naked by the side of a creek in Sydney's northern suburbs. Shortly before their demise, O'Malley learned, the pair had attended a swingers' party. The case was barely open before it was deemed an accident. But O'Malley knew it was murder. He just couldn't prove it. Thirty-five years later, O'Malley is found dead in his flat in what looks like a drug overdose. But his son James knows something's amiss. His dad was close to solving that case after all these years. And someone else knew it. To track down his father's killer, James must find the men and women who were there on the fateful night when that young couple died. This was the night of 'The Goodbye Party' - and uncovering its secrets will lead James down a dark path, filled with horrific twists and turns.” - this description does this audiodrama zero favors. It makes the plot sound far than it ought to have read. Just listen to a bit of episode 1 & decide from there.

— Motherhacker (by Gimlet studios) : description from their site: “Bridget’s life is a series of dropped calls. With a gift for gab, an ex-husband in rehab, and down to her last dollar, Bridget’s life takes a desperate turn when she starts vishing over the phone for a shady identity theft ring in order to support her family.”

—Looking for the Pleasant Green Universe AD’s? A sort of “prologue” series to The Lovecraft Investigations (by Julian Simpson) - look no further (but you must use SOUNDCLOUD to listen; but it’s free - I created a an in-order playlist)

— Fragments

— The Listener

— Bad Memories

— Kokomo

— Fugue State

— Mythos

— Mythos 2: Glamis

— Mythos 3: Albion

Then The Shadow Over Insmuth

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I also have lists on Podchaser, creatively cut into 2 categories 😝 “serious”/“not-so-serious”

— My “funny” list

— My “serious” list

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I also started the subreddit r/fullcastaudiodrama for lovers of quality (indie or otherwise, free & paid) audiodrama

Audiodrama Recommendations

Since I see so many requests for recommendations (mainly on the Audiodrama Subreddit) and make plenty of my own requests 😚

I decided a few months back that it seemed the least I could do was to pay the kindness forward (for all the times y’all have supplied me with suggestions).

Before browsing my list- I think it’s important to have a general idea of what kind of person the AD-lover is before getting your hopes up by their recommendations- because, taste is subjective, no? 😉☺️🌟

So, to me, audio drama is defined by having a full-cast of talented voice actors who’s job is to bring a well-written script to life. It is my opinion that *narration* has *no place* in audio drama **unless** it’s *absolutely essential* to the development of the plot as the script requires.

I’m a lover of all things **surreal** ( favorite Artist? Salvador Dalí, favorite author? Rob Shearman 🫠)- I have LOTS of weird sci-fi/horror/thriller/mystery AD’s under my belt.. (I have literally cleaned out the entire *Big Finish Audio* catalogue. 😳)

I grew up on horror everything - I was 5 when I saw *Poltergeist* 👀 so… and was reading my parents Stephen King books in elementary school 😅🙈🤷🏻‍♀️ - by the time I hit highschool I had watched every horror film in Blockbuster (wow I am old 🤦🏻‍♀️) - from the classics like *Psycho* & The Exorcist to the cheesy 80s b-roll slasher films 🙈😂🤣.

That said - I am an equal opportunity listener and I love many shades of comedy dramas. Though I do prefer my comedy to have a bit of *bite* to it.. 😅 and I’m not here for narration. Full cast audiodrama with sound production is my thing. 😅😉😘

as an adult I am partial to UK/Australian/Canada based entertainment. Even though I have lived in NYC my whole life 🤷🏻‍♀️

And here’s the list (I am sure I have forgotten about the audios from before I began this list - so feel free to add to it in the comments)

NOTE- most links take you to Spotify, some exceptions include the BBC SOUNDS app & audible

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Horror/sci-fi thriller/supernatural thrillers (simplified into “more-serious audiodrama”)

—Restart : by the creators of **The Cypher**

— Children of the Stones : (BBC) paranormal/sci-fi/thriller-mystery full cast audio drama.

—The Piper - (BBC) paranormal/sci-fi detective mystery/horror story (full cast audio drama)

— Jackie the Ripper : the infamous 19th century Whitechapel murders retold with some very sociologically-relevant, feminist twists. I debated whether to place this in the comedy or sci-fi/horror section because, technically, it’s a brilliantly British & even mix of both. Description from their website: “in this modern twist, men are the victims of dark, sexually aggressive murders. The kind that leave them penis-less... Behind all the bloodshed is a woman, Jackie, a ruthless serial killer ready to strike again, and again, and again….without a single ounce of remorse and ready to share it all on social media.”

— BODY HORROR (BBC) : psychological mystery thriller (contrary to the title of the piece, it’s not even remotely in the body horror subgenre lol - no gore or any talk of blood 🩸 because it’s not necessary - this one cuts deep, in particular for any1 who’s suffered from issues of identity or body-image disorders).

—In Another Room : paranormal investigation turned straight-horror

—Fulmar’s Folly uk-based post-apocalyptic water world

— Red Valley : surrealist-sci-fi-thriller-horror full cast UK audio drama. BRILLIANT plot & a few thought-provoking mysteries. S1 & 2 end w/ incredible twists & had me in tears one moment; and laughing the next. S3 is in the making & will be it’s final season; completing the story.

— Lusus - (BBC)- *like* an anthology (which I am not really into anthologies unless they are super original 😅) but if you *pay attention*, each very different story is linked. Each episode is unique in its own subgenre of the horror/mystery category.

—5 Week Countdown

— Murmurs (BBC) high-concept, surrealistic sci-fi-horror

—Limelight - another BBC AD: composed of mini-serials. My personal favorites are English Rose (5 part mini-series) ,The System series 1 (6 parts) & 2 (5 parts), Dead Hand (5 part mini-series, each episode a half an hour run-time), & Steelheads (5 parts)

—**Weird Tales** : (BBC) Some of these were just phenomenal. They ease you in with *The Fly* (not associated with the movie) and then they dial up the psychological fear-factor times 10 for *The Loop* - which was my favorite of the entire series. But they are all great (though the framing device is lazy & unnecessary)

— Malevolent : an indie lovecraftian tale

— Dashing Onions Audio : I read a review while Google searching best audiodrama - the mini series When We Were Two (3 part mini-series) was a perfect recommendation- this is how *every* Twilight Zone episode should have been. Upstairs, Upstairs was good just too short. Customs is a master class in script editing. Overall I prefer their mini series.

— Video Palace : traditional horror story

— The Man in Black bought on audible the version with Mark Gatiss; listened to the OG version on the BBC SOUNDS app. ((Anthology-horror)) Each episode is the length of many modern podcasted-audiodrama’s full seasons.

— Dangerous Visions (BBC) Horror/thriller

— Forest 404 (bbc) sci-fi/fantasy-thriller; hard to actually put this one into a genre category..but it’s written by Timothy X Attack, & if you’re a fan of his work with **Big Finish Audio**, it’s worth ur time.

— The Message sci-fi/mystery/thriller

— LifeAfter sci-fi/mystery/thriller

— Archive 81 : ((i suggest u start with S3. If you like it, wither go back to S1 & continue in order, or stick with the “backwards” route; going from S3->S2->S1 😉))

— The Imperfection : award winning. Any more description will ruin it. Go in cold.

— Who Killed Alaska? : sci-fi/mystery/thriller w/elements of surrealism,dark comedy, & possibilities of the paranormal..?

— How I Died : ongoing sci-fi/mystery/horror-thriller

— The Cypher : truly a great mystery (or mysteries..?), definitely a futuristic, world. Sci-fi thriller. Also by the BBC but available on most podcasting apps like the other BBC AD’s I have recommended here (spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pocket Casts, a few are even available on audible)

— Petrified: Ireland based award winning full cast horror audio drama

— Subsister: A Real Podcast ongoing sci-fi mystery with multi-media/arg elements.

— The Deep Vault : made by the Archive 81 team. Fast paced true horror.

— The Oyster : this one I was apprehensive about & it was just… great. Cerebral, thought provoking, *moving*, psychologically-terrifying sci-fi. You will laugh & likely cry & feel your stomach fill with butterflies & it leaves a definite impression that lasts for days…

— Tracks (BBC) There are 5 different seasons - each could be listened to in isolation as they all have their own individual mysteries that are solved. All weird sci-fi, psychological thriller fiction

—Steal the Stars (renamed STORIES FROM THE STARS) : a shortened version (and obviously far more streamlined in storyline, production etc) of Archive 81 but here the writing shines, the pacing is absolute perfection - and then it’s like a roller coaster that I didn’t see coming - that ending I was so, so unprepared for 🤯🫢🤐

— Marvel’s Wolverine: The Long Night (can be found under the feed “Marvel’s Wolverine: The Lost Trail” - which is the 2nd season of the series) : I am not into the DC/Marvel universe. The last super-hero movie I saw was the 1990’s Batman movies 😳. I knew literally *nothing* about Wolverine, the character, when I finally caved into trying this…and boy, am I glad I did. This AD serves as yet another reminder of how holding onto preconceived notions only limits one’s potential for enjoyment. Anyway… this is absolutely not for children, & not an origin story (which is what I had been expecting). I was shocked to hear that the titular character (the term “Wolverine” is never used. It took a bit of googling for me to see that the missing “Logan” = Wolverine) is played by none other than Richard Armitage (who I know most recently from his spine-tingling portrayal of Rassilon in the Gallifrey Time War boxsets) and oddly enough, said-titular-character has very, very few lines/appearances in this story. I could go on, & on, & on trying to sell the idea of what this thing is & why it deserves your time - but it’s easy enough to just Google..

— St. Mary’s School for Children with the Stigmata

— The Grove : short serialized mythological horror story (obviously full cast)

—The Deca Tapes : almost like an experimental ARG-type formula? Basically you are dropped into a futuristic sociological experiment of sorts- and it’s up to the listener to figure out wtf is going on. This one has narration but it’s integral to the storytelling.

— BOOM (by Stak) : From their website: “It's 1999 and Enron finance manager Jim Yang has received an email from the future.”

—Parkdale Haunt* ((*I found the first season to be almost intolerable due to the very slow opening and pacing issues - but when it gets going it is good. I get the impression that they were finding their feet so-to-speak)) a supernatural horror story- seasons 2 & 3 are great - season 1 is a treck so if you don’t have the patience or tolerance, I advise skipping this one

—The Bright Sessions* (slow the 1st season. But worth it come the AM Archives)

—SCP: Find Us Alive : a darkly comedic horror serial set in the SCP universe but doing something CREATIVE within it

—The Sink: A Sleep Aid (BBC) immersive experience in psychological horror

—Case 63 : a short, professionally recorded, concisely-written psychological thriller

—Blood Culture : horror/sci-fi serial

—Quiet Part Loud : by Jordan Peele. This is a must listen.

—Tomorrow’s Monsters : serialized horror/sci-fi thriller

—Eliza : A Robot’s Story : professionally recorded.

—Borrasca* : paranormal investigation turned horror series by Q-code so that in itself is an advertisement warning complete.

—Passenger List: slow burn mystery. Caitlin Le, an Asian college student from Kansas is attending university in NYC when news breaks of a plane going missing (ala the Malaysian airline’s mystery). As the “disaster” unfurls, she is surprised to discover her twin brother was on the flight from London to New York. Months later the airline announces a “bird strike” was responsible for the flight crash; despite the fact that no evidence of a crash has been found. Caitlin Le can’t move on until she knows what happened to her twin. Soon she uncovers multiple rabbit holes 🕳️ and she gets lost . Did she really ever truly know her twin brother?

— Batman Unburied : I’m not into the whole Marvel comics thing but this audio drama does something different with classic tropes

—Batman : The Audio Adventures : again, very well done. I was into the Gotham TV show for awhile - but that’s the only marvel/DC-spawned-entertainment that’s ever caught my attention. This is another one that works for both fans of the Batman and newbs alike

—The Secret of St. Kilda : this is more of a drama with some supernatural/mythical elements

—Give Me Away : I was torn whether to put this one in the comedy or serious section because it’s more of a “dramedy ”. And it’s scary because of what it says about society but not traditional horror. It’s also by the team who did *Steal the Stars*

—Paragon : an hour-length sci-fi/horror audio drama and is part of the PRIMORDIAL DEEP feed

—Wake of Corrosion : post-apocalyptic horror (ongoing)

—Quietly Yours : straight-up horror, bottle episodes (anthology of cinematic horror drama for the ears)

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Non-horror full cast audio drama (space operas, comedic serials, etc)

—Juno Steel : part of the Penumbra Podcast

—EOS 10 : comedic space opera

— Brimstone Valley Mall : dark comedy nostalgia fest

—We Fix Space Junk : comedic space opera

—Marscorp : comedic space opera

—Classified : Dark Comedy, triggers : mental illness/asylums

—Wooden Overcoats : dark comedy “sitcom”

—Mockery Manor : nostalgia-fueled dark comedy/mock/horror

—Eternal Strife : comedic serial

—Victoriocity : a less serious, less professional version of Jago & Litefoot

—Alba Salix : comedic serial fantasy

—Bubble : this one is a weird one because it is full cast and yet it has a designated narrator… so… 😏 give it a shot & if it doesn’t work for you probably give it a pass 😙

—The Candyman : Horror-comedy/parody - very indie but quite short and worth it 👏😂

—Human B-Gone : ongoing but so far so funny

—Two Flat-Earthers Kidnap a Free Mason: This one is definitely meant to be a farcical, satirical look at the internet conspiracy world (ie: the people who followed Alex Jones’ almost religiously lol) - it’s only 14 episodes in so far, and clearly ongoing… it’s not great but it works if you’re bored..? There are certain parts that would be really funny if the pacing had been better.

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Free Full Cast Audible Audio Dramas Worth Your Time (modern radio/audio drama & *FREE*)

—Space: 1969 (comedy/alternate reality) pieces of the description from the site: “What if President John F. Kennedy had survived and rocketed the Space Race of the 1960s into overdrive? And what if he was, maybe, not quite… himself? Space: 1969 is a retro sci-fi comedy adventure that has to be heard to be believed!”

—Heads Will Roll dark fantasy comedy

—Radioman (psych thriller/horror) from the site: “When a series of gruesome murders leaves a community in despair, a former local DJ decides to start a podcast and do something about it. But as his following grows, long-buried secrets from the past resurface revealing not everyone is who they truly seem....”

—The Method (serial killing actor- intense)from the site: “James Patterson leads you into the darkest recesses of the mind with this chilling, immersive audio thriller. We meet Brent Quill, a frustrated actor trying to take his game to the next level. When he learns about the intensive Method acting process, he dives in deep—and immediately lands the lead role in a TV series about a brutal serial killer.”

—The Catchers (straight horror/paranormal possibly cryptid) from the site: “Catchers is a small-town horror tale with all the charm of a classic ‘80s creature-feature, updated for the modern era.”

—Self Center (dark comedic horror; social relevancy)

—Hit Job (dark comedy)

—The Rivals: Tales of Sherlock Holmes’ Rivals (what it says on the tin - but very funny as well as delivering good mysteries)

—Tribulation : religion trigger warning. Interesting idea - religious cult on an AM broadcast is using electricity to “steal” people and force them into “tribulation”…

—High Strangeness : Doctor Who meets X-Files & Stranger Things - very good; very funny

—Apocalypse Untreated : “five mentally ill teenagers in an inpatient wilderness program during the apocalypse face not only the end of the world, but also the end of their prescriptions. Now, they have to figure out what’s real and what’s just a side effect, and keep their wits about them as they fight for their lives and their minds. Apocalypse Untreated is a multi-part, post-apocalyptic thriller brought to life with world class sound design, and performance.”

—Sorry Charlie Miller : another one w/Zachary Quinto (the protagonist/antagonist of The Method) but this is a modern comedy - from the website “Sorry Charlie Miller is a Tik Tok era mystery with twists, turns, and a whole lot of questionable fashion choices. It takes place in Florida, hello.” - so yeah, for me it depends on the time of the day and time of the month. It’s good for the right time basically 😂

—Sheltered : British humor - very bingeable just wish there was more 😔 Description from the site: “It’s been centuries since Armageddon and no one has ever left the bunker that has sustained what remains of civilised human life....When innocent simpleton Gary and social climber Veronica are sent to explore the world outside, they soon regret ever leaving the safety, soft furnishings and quilted toilet paper of Fallout Shelter 7421.”

—Sour Hall : magical horror staring Pearl Mackie (aka: Bill from the Capaldi years of Doctor Who, also the protagonist of AD Forest 404)

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[communistkenobi-archive]

okay sgdkshsgsjdk I’ve gotten like almost a hundred asks already so i think im gonna close my inbox and maybe just make a general statement. I don’t really have a lot to say about the show. like not anything intelligent anyway. this episode is like devoid of anything really worth talking about outside of making jokes about it and pointing out the obvious. and im not saying that as a dismissal of the criticisms other people are making, but it’s moreso like idk what else really needs to be said at this point, especially by me lol. the episode sucked ass, I don’t have any answers and I certainly cannot make any kind of predictions about where the show is going from here. if they’re gonna pull plot points and characters out of left field like this then analysing what’s going on or trying to theorise what will happen next feels like a pointless exercise. I don’t even feel invested enough to be outraged really.

and I promise this isn’t just doomerposting about star wars, like I’m not really angry at this point I’m kinda just whatever. and like I do genuinely appreciate that people are coming to me asking me to answer their questions and trying to engage with the content we got, I’m just feeling overwhelmed by the volume of asks/replies/reblogs/etc, and also I don’t really have anything interesting to say beyond damn that sucked. who knows why luke and ahsoka are so ooc! who knows why everyone seems to know din’s full name now! who knows why he didn’t push to see his kid despite coming all this way! who knows why anything is happening at all!!!!!

so anyway lol I promise I’m not angry at people sending me asks and replies, I’m very flattered and appreciative that people want to hear my perspective, but my perspective at this point is that I’m going to either engage very casually with star wars content or not at all for the sake of my own sanity. if other shows like kenobi are good then great I’ll have a fun time. if not then well I’ll move on. this isn’t like a goodbye or anything either lol I’m just saying moving forward I’m not going to be making big effort posts about a show that the writers are clearly just using for nostalgia bait and toy sales. Mando was fun for what it was but it clearly is not that thing anymore. I’m sad the show is actively being ruined but I can’t really do anything about that obviously so I’m just gonna chill out and reblog memes and goof around with other people on here yanno.

[stevethehairington]

I watched stranger things s1 way back when it aired and thought it was pretty good but then couldn’t be bothered to keep watching when s2 came out and haven’t paid it any thought since and yet now after seeing gif after gif of Eddie fucking Munson and reading headcanons and ficlets about steddie on tumblr I’m suddenly in a position where I’ve read at least 300k worth of steddie ao3 fics and I can tell I’m not about to stop any time soon. I still haven’t watched any more of the show. What is this strange power Steve and Eddie hold

omggg i feel this in my BONES. only difference is i have watched all of it (some seasons multiple times hskgsd) BUT. i totally get what you mean. like there is just SOMETHING about eddie goddamn munson. like, they put fucking CRACK in that boy or something lol.

i was a VERY casual fan before s4, like i watched s1 when it first aired too and i really liked it! but it was definitely one of those this is really cool i really dig it but i'm not like obsessed kind of likes. and i got excited about the other seasons too and i binged them all when they came out, but again, super casual!! like once i watched that would be it. i wouldn't really think about it all that much after. i didn't seek out any fan spaces for it, didn't really discuss the plots or analyze it or anything outside of like very general predictions with family and friends who watched too, and i certainly didn't create or write for it at all.

but then season god damn 4. season goddamn 4 and eddie goddamn munson!!!! i fell in LOVE. i got SUCKED IN. i was pulled DEEP. the obsession set innnnn, that funky little dude sunk his claws in deep and dragged me headfirst into a full on stranger things fixation - dedicating my blog to it, reading a million fics, writing a million fics, joining discords, signing up for zines - and i am STILL hooked, 4? 5? months later?

there's just something SO good about eddie and something SO good about steddie!!! steve and eddie just FIT so goddamn WELL it's insane, truly, how complimentary they are to one another. i reblogged a post about it earlier, where it pointed out how steve and eddie so clearly want the same things, how they have plans for the future but those plans are not set in stone, they're flexible, and all that really matters is if they're together and are able to get and give the support they need to. also i feel like they're both SO easy to put into any sort of situation - ESPECIALLY eddie. because like as much as the show gives him plenty of interests and traits and all, he is still SUCH a malleable character, still SO easy to project onto and relate to and to shape into what you want him to be. and that makes for a WONDERFUL canvas to work from.

and honestly, i am SO glad that this did happen, because like i've met so many incredible people through this fandom already and i've had such a good time, and also steddie has sort of like reignited my love for writing too? like, i didn't not love writing before steddie, but i felt like i was sort of in a writing slump for a very long time. like i wrote for other fandoms and pairings but i would never make it past 10 fics (barely even made it past 5 for some!!) and it just wouldn't stick, and i just wasn't coming up with ideas or getting that spark of inspiration. but with steddie ohhh my god!!! it's been FANTASTIC!! i've been writing more the past couple of months than i have the last like 2 years. i've broken the under 10 fics curse with them haha and i have sooo many ideas still. and the response to the fics i have posted has been insane!!! like so good! and i am blown away!!

so yeah, basically i owe eddie munson my goddamn LIFE sjfdhksf

(also, i totally do recommend you watch the rest!! like the show has it's issues and some rocky narrative choices, like all shows do, but overall it is a very enjoyable show and there's a lot of good stuff that comes out of the other seasons too!! ESP season 3, my beloved. scoops steve?? YES. scoops troop team up?? YESS. robin buckley introduction!!! YESSS!!)

[hamliet]

happy july kate 💖 hope you're doing well. as a long time lurker of your blog, you and your work has slowly highlighted my need to create and work on my creativity, especially when it comes to things i loved to do before such as drawing and writing. ngl it's been hard because ive been comparing myself to other artists and writers. for example i saw someone write this beautiful dragon-pheonix reincarnation fic for their ship. the plot, prose and the way everything intertwined was beautiful (1/?)

(2/?) but i look at myself and can barely muster up the courage to write vecause how could i when there's already people who write and draw that well. a lot of my perfectionism comes from past abuse but the way it's manifesting here is such a pain. therapy has helped in healing but god, im so scared to start. have you ever caught yourself in a similar dilemma?

(3/?) another thing i wanted to ask about is how do you approach incorporating other people's analysis and stuff into your own work? obviously give credit where it's due but im always wondering whether it's worth it to be reiterating the same stuff when someone has already done a comprehensive job of it. i guess an example could be lore related to some kind of show or game.

(4/?) last question but do you ever catch yourself justifying your ship? there's like 50 different reasons you can ship characters,,,, maybe I spend too much on twitter but I feel like I have to justify a lot or at least there's an expectation to do that. it makes it harder for me to enjoy other ships (even the ones i dont care for) because now im expecting others to justify for all the same reasons. perhaps i need a fandom break or need to set better boundaries

lmaosorry for the word vomit in your ask box. it's been bugging me a lot and i didn't know who else to ask this since my friends don't really participate in fandom spaces 😶😶 hope this isn't too much of a bother but thank you for even entertaining my chaotic rambling. have a great weekend 💝

Hi Lurker! Oh, I can relate for sure. I think most writers/artists can.

I'm not sure my advice will be anything you haven't already heard, but I can tell you that by living it I know it's true: write it/draw it anyways. Imperfect, sure. Nothing is perfect, and art is subjective. There are so many needs, and no artpiece can satisfy every soul on this planet.

Do it anyways. Even if it's not perfect. You'll get better and better without even realizing it. You'll have moments where you're like I'M REGRESSING *cries* and then someone will tell you this was their favorite thing ever. Art isn't a static thing you just create and leave alone; it's more like an interactive thing, a living thing even at the risk of sounding super fucking cheesy--because it impacts people in different ways, ways we can't predict when creating it. And the act of creating it will impact you, too.

As for the analysis part, give credit and write it on your own. You learn by writing--sometimes it's fun and you'll realize oh hey, I just uncovered something new as I was writing that I hadn't even thought of!

As for justifying, sometimes? And sometimes not. Less so the older I get, lol, and I don't think it's a great thing ever to feel like you have to morally justify everything from each and every potential dislike. Just accept that other people have different tastes, limits, and preferences--which of course is way easier said than done! Give yourself grace and allow yourself to rant from time to time (privately). Art does affect our emotions, and it's good to express those (just not good to be an asshat about it or judge people for it, but expressing "I don't like this opinion" privately to a friend isn't that).

Twitter is the worst for that, though. Everyone's jockeying to be the Most Moral and Change the World Through Yelling At Others You Don't Even Know on there, and I hate it so much. Even as I, y'know, go on pretty much every day and therefore have no right to complain. I do this to myself. Sue me. I'm human too and def a hypocrite for participating in the Bird Site Madness but oh well.

Wow, that's a tangent. Anyways. We're all just doing the best we can, Lurker. Even if you can't quite bring yourself to start art yet, or to stop comparing, give yourself some grace for that. It doesn't make you a loser and it doesn't mean you never will start. All of us have those moments--moments that seem way longer than they should, I'm afraid.

But you know you want to make something. That's good. You deserve to have your voice heard, to follow what you want. The abilities you want to cultivate deserve time and space to grow. You deserve to make imperfect art because you deserve to be here, because you're alive and life is growing and all people should have their voices heard. <3

[angelicmichael]

hoax - chapter two

Michael Langdon x Mallory

Summary: Mallory tries her best to put her feelings aside and to tolerate Michael; however she finds that she gets tested in other ways that aren’t so easily predictable..

Words: 6.3k+

Warnings: more death and general mentions of it.. sorry lmao, angst, blood, manipulation, unhealthy relationships, mentions of satan and satanism, slowburn, plot heavy, enemies to lovers, also reminder that this is a dark fic so.. it’s just generally not that happy of a story lol

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry if this seems random since we just got new cody content and a new character but I thought I would just upload this anyway since it’s finished 👉🏻👈🏻. But this is also the longest thing I’ve ever written.. like ever so hopefully y’all like it haha. Also fyi; Michaels and Mallorys POV switches quite a bit throughout this chapter lol.

Previous Chapter

Michael watched Mallory intently. Looking as she continued to be lost in thought. Her gaze fixated downwards at her black boots, which twitched slightly as she continued to most likely debate whether he was worth it or not… to say yes or no..

Michael swallowed, wishing he could do something to make her say yes, to maybe offer something but after all; he had absolutely nothing. Even Michael by himself seemed to be too much of a burden on its own, to Mallory.

He let out a dry cough; hoping to bring her back to reality, back to him.

Mallory’s head snapped up - brown eyes looking up at him curiously.. as if she really did forget that he was still waiting for a response or some type of agreement. She tried her best to relax her shoulders as well as her mind before speaking. Trying to silently convince herself to not snap at him, no matter how much she still truly wanted too. However, looking at him made that far more easier..

Michaels words; the pleading and begging that Mallory was almost convinced would never stop.. The pure desperation and urgency only really reflected onto his appearance. Sandy blonde hair that nearly looked brown due to the disgusting amount of dirt in it.. clothes that were still horribly stained and nearly doused with blood made him look hardly short of intimidating anymore, but the urge to yell at him still didn’t wane.

Anger still stayed present in Mallory’s chest, but it was starting to become something she couldn’t just ignore anymore.. it flowed through her veins, hot and fresh. It made her skin warm and her cheeks flush cherry red. Something she was typically insecure about but she really didn’t have the time or patience to try and hide it.. she doubted Michael realistically was even paying close enough attention to notice anyways.

“Fine,” Mallory finally answered. Her voice was soft and low which was merely a result of her biting her anger back - something she still desperately wanted to show but knew realistically would get her no where with him.

She tried her best to avoid Michaels gaze which still stayed solely focused on her figure. He seemed almost taken aback by her words, as if he was expecting to be further yelled at.. which wasn’t exactly a wrong assumption. The only reason Mallory found it in her to be nice was merely sympathy. After all they both had a long day - it wasn’t just her discomfort she had to take into consideration anymore.

“Do you trust me?”

The words almost felt impulsive to say but she didn’t regret saying them - after all; if they were really going to be sticking around by each other for a while then.. it was a valid question.

Mallory knew realistically what he was going to say and she tried to brace herself as she saw his mouth open hesitantly.

“I feel like I should.. why?” He asked in a tone which sounded purely dismissive and a bit annoyed.

Mallory wanted to smile, she wanted to grin and laugh that she was finally starting to get what she wanted but.. she did neither of those things. Instead she found herself immeadietly distrusting him.. wanting to know why on earth she would ever think to trust his words for a second when she literally killed him in the past.. and that’s not counting the other times where she attempted to do so or even thought doing it but; this Michael didn’t know that. This Michael barely even knew her name, let alone anything else about her but that didn’t matter to him - and she couldn’t help but to be a bit relieved at that feeling of finally being able to be free from her past.

Atleast for the time being.

“I need to go somewhere but I can’t go alone.. I think it would be good if you went too.”

Michaels brows furrowed at this; his face almost upturning in a sneer. “Where?”

Mallory took in a deep breath but didn’t exhale at first.. feeling irritated that he just had to keep asking questions that she didn’t have the answer too.

“I’ll tell you later, when we get closer, okay? But we need to go before the sun sets,” she explained.

Mallory hoped desperately that what she said would be enough reason for Michael to go along with her.. but thankfully it seemed to be. Or he seemed convinced for the most part, anyway.

“What happens before the sun sets?” He asked.

His blue eyes glared into hers - as if he was trying to get a read on her.. just like how he used too at the outpost.

Mallory’s throat suddenly grew dry at this realization.. Feeling incredibly uncomfortable at how he looked at her, and his question. Not necessarily knowing what to do about either situations but - she hoped for a second he would retract his words or rephrase but he didn’t.

He still waited.

“That doesn’t matter, we just need to get going. You said you trusted me right?” Mallory reaffirmed.

Her face was mostly expressionless as she watched Michael solemnly nod in response.

“Yeah.. sure. I trust you.”

His sentence cut off almost abruptly; as if he wanted to keep talking but knew that Mallory wouldn’t have the patience to hear him out - or that she simply didn’t want too.

Michael couldn’t really pinpoint exactly how he felt around Mallory. Every time she met his gaze he couldn’t help but to be overtaken briefly by far too many emotions than he could count. It mainly was a fight over feeling intimidated and being in awe. Even though Mallory hadn’t really let her powers show since she basically assaulted him earlier; he knew to keep his distance now.. to a degree.

He approached her now; feeling a little less intimated than he was before since she seemed to be acting civil.

Michael couldn’t help but to blame her behavior on himself; maybe he was too straight forward.. maybe it was him who was the true freak in this situation.. It wouldn’t exactly be the first time that he found himself in a situation like this, another situation that was surely his fault.

God.. why was he such a fuck up??

The closer he approached.. Mallory.. she said her name was right?? He felt almost sick to his stomach when he saw the look in her eyes when she finally bothered to look up at him. Her eyes (which he remembered were a golden honey brown when she stood directly in the sun) were nearly black now.. maybe it was the fact that the sun was finally dipping behind the trees.. or.. something else? Annoyance was really the only emotion he could read from her at the moment - the rest of her face was even harder to read. He guessed she was trying to remain expressionless on purpose.

Mallory was the first one to start walking - and Michael let her lead. She seemed to have a some kind of idea on where she was going since she had claimed she said a destination in mind, or somewhere for them to go.

Hopefully that wasn’t a lie.

Mallory didn’t look back once as Michael continued to walk directly behind her once the path she had chosen to walk on had thinned down to a trail. The sound of his footsteps were good enough proof that he hadn’t wandered off or turned around. She didn’t want to necessarily look at him longer than what she had too - she was more than certain that he still wore that kicked puppy look he had earlier. It was pathetic and painful.. and only a sharp reminder of why things currently were the way they were. Why she was here; still in the forest with twigs and leaves snapping onto her overly expensive dress which now had to be ruined.. (as if it wasn’t already from Michaels death fiasco’s) and not back at Robichaux.. with the witches where she belonged. Even if none of them necessarily knew her anymore.

Mallory belonged with other witches, her sisters. People that actually understood her and gave a fuck - not.. whatever she could even call Michael now. Who was not quite human but probably not the antichrist now, either.

That was just something else that Mallory would have to do and figure out on her own but, this wasn’t something that was meant to be done solo - she knew that deep down.

Michael was following her diligently and actually listening now for a reason, she came to the forest for a reason, and as much as she tried her best to avoid thinking about it; she also talked to satan for a reason.. And even though he was mostly a manipulative asshole- no.. not mostly. That’s exactly what he was. Michael was also proof of that.

No matter what, her and Michael would figure it out together.. on their own or certaintly without the help of him. They didn’t need him, not again.. not now.. not ever. It didn’t matter if he apparently owned her soul or not - she still felt the same.. nothing could’ve changed that quickly. Right?

That’s what she would tell herself anyway - and there’s no way she would ever dream of telling Michael any of that shit ever happened. It’s not like he would remember anyway.

Mallory continued to keep her head down as they kept walking .. deep in thought and trying to focus on just finding their way out until she felt something soft brush up against the back of her arm..

Mallory immeadietly paused when she felt Michael touch her, looking at her arm almost awkwardly and bearing witness to how Michael was now gently gripping her.. Hoping naively that it was something that happened accidentally but of course it wasn’t. Nothing happened by coincidence with Michael.

He let go after a couple seconds of awkward eye contact.. most likely realizing that she wasn’t exactly a touchy person. Not with him anyway. Not after the kind of day they’ve been through.

“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry,” Michael said sorely.

His voice shook when he spoke.. and even though it was tempting to ask exactly why he was apologizing - she figured it didn’t necessarily matter. At this point it was the effort and the fact he even cared enough to say anything, that made her feel a bit better.

She gave a slight smile, not really wanting to say that any of this was ‘okay’ or that it was ‘fine’ because she was truly tired of lying.. it was something she lost the energy for a while ago.

“Let’s keep going. I think we’re almost there.”

Mallory turned around to keep walking - looking up and realizing that she could finally see something beyond the tree line.. something that looked like vaguely like a skyline of a city.. Was that Los Angeles??

Biting the bullet and choosing to make small talk had its perks - Michael affirmed her suspicion that they were in L.A which was really neither a good or bad thing. She definitely felt more unsettled now that she knew for a fact she was farther away from home than she would like to be.. and also scarily close to Hawthorne, and god knows what else.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to reach the city; and now that she was here.. she really didn’t know what to do next or why she had the odd instinct to walk here in the first place, but thankfully Michael seemed to know.

It was obvious that Mallory didn’t exactly have a plan, in the way that she was starting to physically stall.. her steps slowed, her fingers fidgeted a bit more and picked at her clothes, and her gaze kept falling down to her shoes.. All little, minuscule things but Michael picked up on them all.

He didn’t bother to ask outloud if she knew where she was going. Instead he took the lead.. walking in front of Mallory suddenly and only briefly pausing to turn into a dark alleyway. Something that seemed entirely random but honestly wasn’t. He had a feeling, an urge that they were meant to go this way.. something was waiting for them both.

Michael only looked back to make eye contact for a brief moment; hoping that just for once Mallory would trust him.. but as he looked back into her dark brown eyes which still abnormally almost appeared black - she was still reluctant. He wasn’t necessarily thinking when he reached out to grab her hand. Something he knew that she would hate but he couldn’t help it. Physical touch felt nice, and her hands were soft..

They still were.

He still held onto her hand as he gently pulled and tried to lead her into where he was going - frowning slightly when he felt her grip loosen but he continued to keep walking into the alleyway. He kept going, nearly stumbling on the garbage and various shit that was left on the ground.. but he managed to find a door that was left slightly ajar.. just enough for him and Mallory to slip through.

Michael quietly opened the door further; the room that they suddenly found themselves in was barely lit. A dark, dim, red light was omitted along with several small candles but other than that, the room was kept blanketed in a thick darkness. Both physically and emotionally.

As soon as Mallory entered what she now knew had to be some kind of church.. she felt almost as if she had been punched in the stomach. She noticibly winced, physically withdrawing from Michael and reflexively pulling her hand back even further than she had previously but he wouldn’t let her hand go. Not completely.

The nausea and just the sudden heavy energy she felt made the rest of her body tense up.. and she found herself sort of being thankful that Michael still held onto her and seemed to be leading her to a seat.. but the gratitude she felt only lasted for barely a second. Just until she could actually take a deep breath and focus..

Where exactly were they?

It was clear as day that they happened to be in a church.. but no.

No.

Something was wrong. Something wasn’t right.

This wasn’t a normal church, nothing about this seemed normal in the slightest - the dark red interior and dim lighting, the candles, the late timing of the service and just.. what everyone happened to be wearing seemed horribly wrong.

Just like earlier, and so many times before today she felt herself starting to submit to panic. Her breath quickening and her skin started to grow incredibly hot.. she felt as if she was suffocating from the inside out but she felt foolish for feeling this way as she looked at Michael, as well as everyone else.. they all appeared nonchalant and completely unbothered. Particularly Michael, who didn’t look upset but instead almost caught in a trance listening to the high priestess of the church talk.

Mallory didn’t even notice the woman was talking until she finally bothered to make eye contact. Whom of which walked straight down the isle way that divided the two rows of benches apart; her blonde curls slightly moving as she spoke and moved. She continued to slowly pace up and down, speaking about.. exactly what Mallory had feared.

Fucking exactly what Mallory was trying to avoid.

The immeadite gut reaction to stand up and leave was nearly impossible to resist; and that would be incredibly easy to do given that they were sitting in a otherwise empty back row. But.. instead she didn’t move. She sat still. Barely moving, barely breathing but merely watching and listening.

Now that Mallory actually bothered to listen; she felt completely dumbfounded that Michael was actually buying any of this shit. However, that didn’t make the words that she heard coming from the blonde woman, the leader, any easier to digest. Currently she was boasting and bragging about her sins and how ‘evil’ she was.. or something along those lines. It was still nearly impossible to focus with the feeling that still layed dormant in her gut that refused to leave.

She winced at the words she heard being spoken. Her black nails curling into the soft skin of her palm and gently digging in. Something she consciously chose to do to try to distract herself but it still wasn’t enough. She needed to know that they were atleast sort of safe here.. or that Michael had a vague idea of what he was doing.

“do you know where we are?”

Michael turned to look at Mallory slowly.. looking almost furious - his lips slightly parted as if he silently debated on how to tell her off for interrupting his focus. She waited with baited breath for him to ignore her or to say some snide remark.. only exhaling when he did neither.

“Yeah, don’t worry. We’re in good hands here,” He said. Barely speaking loud enough for Mallory to even hear.

She couldn’t help but to slightly pout, not wanting to argue anymore but not really trusting his judgement yet either. She waited for him to turn his head back to blonde ‘cult’ leader but instead it dropped down her to palm where her nails still cut in.. pressing down until the point where blood was about to be drawn.

Mallory didn’t wince or show any signs of discomfort but Michael still noticed anyway. His gaze quickly flickering down from her palm up to her eyes in pure confusion in what the fuck she was doing..

His hand quickly went to hers without a second thought.

His fingers gently pried hers off of her own hand.. She didn’t try to fight what he was doing but rather looked into his eyes in a questionable manner.. probably wondering why he bothered to touch her again. Something that he truly knew better than to do but couldn’t help from himself from.

“Stop.. Why are you doing that?” Michael asked genuinely. His gaze lingered on her fingertips which now had blood lightly indented on the tips of her nails.

Mallory looked at him awkwardly. Sort of appalled that he even cared enough to notice or to even stop her.. his kindness wasn’t necessarily unwanted but it was something new.. and strange to say the very least.

Mallory wanted to apologize or to just give him a reassuring look but instead she carefully met his gaze and found herself muttering a careful confession, “im sorry I just.. I can’t stand it here. This place-“ her voice broke horribly as she whispered.

She suddenly grew paranoid that the members of this.. ‘congregation’ could hear her sudden disdain for the establishment; which made the feelings of dread and guilt she felt only multiply. She wanted to keep apologizing or to convince Michael to leave but.. that wouldn’t work for the sole reason that she couldn’t even pinpoint exactly why she felt this way. But all she knew is that she had to say something else. Something to make Michael not stare her like how he currently was.

Mallory was still terrified to make eye contact with him. Only bothering to briefly do so to simply affirm that he was actually looking at her - and it wasn’t something she was imagining.

Reality was starting to become something Mallory nearly craved; the day still wasn’t over and yet the fact that some of the earlier events weren’t real.. was something she still needed to process.

The fact that Michael even dared to follow her here, sit next to her, and let alone even give a fuck that she was unintentionally harming herself was beyond her. She wanted to know why, but she knew she still wouldn’t trust his answer if she were to ask. He’d lie.

Mallory spoke again in a tone that was far more quiet than the last, “Where are we?”

Michaels gaze bore into hers.. his face nearly void of any expression as if he was weighing his options on the best response.. calculating and thinking but he stopped the eye contact before he spoke. His eyes went to examine his hands instead which were loosely clasped together over his knees that he slouched tiredly over.

“Somewhere I thought I could feel close to my father.. I know- you don’t want to talk about it-“

“No.. it’s fine,” Mallory reassured hurriedly. Her voice was light and high pitched - happy that Michael was finally managing to communicate and be honest with her. Even if he was inherently right, this wasn’t a topic she wanted to remember or discuss at all but if this was how she got him to open up.. then there was no other option.

“Before you ask.. no. It’s not working. I don’t feel shit here,” he admitted, his voice breaking. “All I feel is just fucking overwhelmed.”

His hands were brought up to his face and Mallory watched him deeply inhale. His finger tips rubbed his temples and fell down the sides of his cheeks - and Mallory didn’t know what to do.

Should she offer him sympathy that.. as bad as it sounded, that she didn’t necessarily really feel? Sure she could relate to him but it wasn’t in the same way in the slightest - and it wasn’t fair to either of them to pretend that it was.

“People here are beyond pathetic.. their sins,” he sneered with something that almost could’ve been considered an chuckle that followed.

Michaels hands fell down to his lap again - suddenly refusing to meet Mallory’s gaze. Perfectly intent on watching whoever the high priestess was, someone that Mallory was more than thankful that she didn’t know the name of.

“Michael.. I can’t stay here-“

He gave Mallory an apologetic look, and for a second she thought he might almost finally agree but to no avail.

“Please. Just ‘till the end,” His face reverted back to the kicked puppy look. The one that finally made her not necessarily forgive him but.. made her realize that at this point he didn’t necessarily deserve to be yelled at.

After all, he wasn’t exactly the same Michael that had planned the death of seven billion people.. not yet.

“Okay,” she quietly agreed.

So they waited until the end of the ‘ceremony’. Or Mallory waited while Michael watched and listened- looking both completely horrified and elated as he did so.. However, Mallory waited and counted each minute that passed.. every one seemingly longer the last.

Even when the blonde woman that was apparently named ‘Hannah’ finally finished talking and most members of the congregation had left; Michael still didn’t budge.

His back, instead of slouching was now pressed up against the bench as he sat.. looking for exhausted and more tired than ever. Tears (or what Mallory suspected were tears anyway) made his cheeks glisten in the dim lighting. She stared at him for a moment - wondering if she should ask if he was okay or if he needed a moment when she felt someone suddenly tug sharply on her clothing.

It was her top, a quick pinch but it was enough to make Mallory’s head turn back immeadietly.

Her resentment toward touch wasn’t just exclusive to Michael, then.

“What is this? Chanel? Loui V? Do I want to know what it took for you to take this?” Hannah spoke in a amused tone.

Hannah stood behind their bench, both equally between Mallory and Michael - like she had the intention of speaking to them both and not one or the other.

“I didn’t take this.. it was a gift,” Mallory answered truthfully and a bit.. bashfully.

She felt insulted that Hannah assumed she would ever steal but then again, with where they were, maybe that wasn’t exactly the insult that Mallory thought it was.

“Yeah.. okay. Like I’m supposed to believe that,” Hannah laughed with a snort.

Mallory was about to retort anyway, but Michael cut her off to her surprise.

“What do you want?” He asked curtly.

His words were cut short. Obviously irritated and put on edge - the fact that he still had tears left on his cheeks explained his behavior plenty.

Hannah immeadietly looked taken aback - disobedience wasn’t something she was used too.

“What do you I want? Do you even know who you’re talking too?” Hannah answered without missing a beat.

Mallory’s eyes darted to Michael. His jaw was clenched, his eyes sharp and focused and his mouth was drawn in a straight line that slightly curved downward.. he looked pissed.

Why was he bothering to argue with Hannah? Someone who he should inherently love or atleast respect with the shared connection of their love for his father.. And over something as trivial as Mallory’s dress? This wasn’t making sense..

“I think I could say the same to you,” Michael answered with a clenched jaw, standing up as his hands started to go to the left side of his face. Inevitably headed for his ‘666’ mark that Mallory heard he was rumored to have.. but certainly wouldn’t have anymore. Not after what she had done.

Michael.. couldn’t. He wouldn’t. This couldn’t happen.

It was clear he was still under the false impression that he had powers, but Mallory wasn’t going to let him find out otherwise this way. Not right now.

“Michael-“! Mallory said urgently.

It worked for a second, just long enough to make him stall.

His hands came to a stand still, pausing as his eyes watched her. Waiting for her to continue but her mouth went entirely dry once she saw Hannah’s hand quickly fly to his shoulders. Screaming words that Mallory didn’t even try to listen too - blood suddenly roaring through her ears louder than any sound that Hannah could make.

Mallory didn’t think when she suddenly felt herself stepping in front of Michael; her feet accidentally stepping onto his as she tried her best to push him back beforehand with her arm but even so - the space in between benches was minimal enough as it was.

Maybe under normal circumstances, Michaels body being pushed up directly behind hers would’ve been distracting but.. Michael was really the last thing she was thinking of now.

Mallory’s hands flew to Hannah’s shoulders - grabbing them (and feeling almost sick with herself how she had done this to Michael not too long ago) with the intention to push her back as hard as she could naturally muster up the strength too. But, of course, that didn’t happen.

Her powers came flooding out unwillingly - the sudden loss of control and ache that was rapidly being released caused her to scream.. something that almost sounded quiet with the contrast of her adrenaline still pumping full force.

Hannahs clothes suddenly sparking a bright orange didn’t cause the immeadite alarm to Mallory that it should’ve; however.. maybe it was due to the fact that the color already blended in with the red atmosphere of the church.. She could only hope.

Hannah’s clothes quickly erupted in flames - the close proximity of the fire made Mallory’s skin quickly grow uncomfortably hot. Forcing her to act on impulse. Selfish impulse.

She stumbled out from the bench and grabbed Michaels wrist clumsily, nearly dragging with him with her as they both stumbling back and away from her.

Mallory’s back was turned to Hannah.. her body shook as she hauntingly realized that the sound had stopped. Hannah wasn’t screaming anymore.. and neither was Mallory.

She couldn’t bring herself to turn around and look, only braving enough strength to look up at Michael who faced the general direction that Hannah was in.. or used to be in. She stared into his eyes and watched the reflection of the fire dance in them - not in wonder but rather pure dread and regret.

Fuck.. what the fuck?

Michaels expression was something she couldn’t really decipher.. the fact he wore a neutral face when she just.. had done something like this wasn’t going to be something she found solace in.

After all; he was still Michael Langdon.

And what she just did.. saying it was stupid wasn’t simply enough.

Forming more complex thoughts was simply impossible, she found herself stumbling away.. going the opposite direction as the room started to spin and melt into a blur of red and black. The ceiling, walls and floor quickly became indistinguishable - her legs were starting to feel weak..

Fuck!

Mallory’s vision flickered to black and her legs gave out from underneath her; but she felt someone’s arms hook underneath hers and pull her up before she could hit the floor.

Her eyes snapped open immeadietly - trying to balance herself back on her feet as quickly as she could so that Michael wouldn’t have to touch her.. still feeling entirely out of it from nearly losing consciousness.

Mallory knew immeadietly it was him without even having to look… and she hated that she was becoming familiar enough with his touch to even recognize that it was him so easily. The tempature of his skin - his palms gripping her upper arms a bit too tightly - was a dead giveaway.

She wanted him off.

Mallory stumbled forward, trying her best to appear nonchalant as she brushed his fingertips off of her arms. Trying not to look bothered by the smell that started to raid the church.. a mix of burnt flesh along with just general fire. She wanted to feel bad but if this really was a satanic temple; it probably had seen worse..

But that wasn’t the point.

Mallory’s gaze searched the walls, wanting to leave but not.. actually leave.

It was too much; she needed time alone. Time to maybe cry or to throw up until she couldn’t breath.. perhaps both, but she still didn’t want Michael to see her vulnerable. Not if she could help it.

Her hands gripped onto the sides of the benches as she passed them; stubbornly intent on walking on to the bathroom which she could now see - selfishly not giving a fuck that she would be leaving Michael but.. she deserved to be selfish for once.

After all, all her choices recently hadn’t been for her own sake.. it was for Cordelias, Madison’s, Zoe’s, The Coven, seven billion people, Michael.. but not her own. Never her own.. none of her choices were really her own lately.

Mallory tried her best to ignore the sound of footsteps following her. Pushing the door of the women’s bathroom open quickly but stopping once she heard Michael whine.

God, why was he always fucking whining?

“What the fuck was that?” He nearly hissed. His tone had no malicious intent but it still set Mallory on edge.

He looked alarmed, bewildered. Blue eyes widened and his lips slightly parted, his teeth clenched.

“What part?” She asked cynically with a dry laugh.

She met Michaels gaze for a second before fully slipping inside the bathroom - hoping Michael would get the memo to leave her alone but she paused once she didn’t hear the door shut behind her..

“Michael-“

“I know you don’t like talking to me but I’m asking you, just once. What the fuck just happened?? Did you-?” His voice quivered, breaking softly as he spoke.

Mallory was in tears, the thought and realization alone of what she did finally sinking in.

“No. No.. I-I didn’t.. that wasn’t me, okay? I would.. would never..” She spoke as a confirmation to both Michael and herself.

Her back was still turned to Michael - thankful that he couldn’t see how fucking close she was to full on sobbing.. her vision blurred by all of the tears that had gathered in her eyes that wouldn’t spill. Her throat clenched, growing tight and forcing her to stop breathing - but there was no way she was going to let herself cry in front of Michael out of all people.

Showing weakness, even now.. even when it was proven he was no longer a threat to her, was never something she would let herself do. She wouldn’t let herself become that stupid.

Pain centered itself in her chest, but the grief she felt, rapidly spread throughout her body. Consuming her until she felt herself succumbing to the feeling.

Fuck.

Mallory wanted to push past Michael and run out the door.

Mallory wanted to scream at him and tell him to get the fuck out of the women’s restroom.

It was so easy to blame him for everything she felt - but she knew better than that now. Even though it was easy; it wasn’t the right thing to do.. and it’s not really like she was used to take the easy route to things, anyway.

She didn’t exactly welcome the feeling but she gave up trying to fight it.. letting the first tear run down her cheek. She still tried her best to stifle her sobs, her throat still clenching almost painfully.. not really giving a fuck about showing weakness in this moment but more so just.. embarrassed.

Michael stared at her almost blankly - wanting to say something but he couldn’t help but to feel stuck.

He wanted to feel bad, and he did.. she was clearly hurt but he didn’t understand exactly how.. Did she feel remorse for what she did? Did she think that Hannah or whatever the fuck her name was, didn’t deserve it?

Sure he didn’t exactly know her intentions but it wasn’t anything pure.. and Mallory needed to know that.

He approached her carefully, knowing damn well that she had the capability to do the same that she had done to Hannah.. or to perhaps throw him up against the wall without even so much as laying a hand on him, but he wasn’t scared.

Mallory wasn’t intimidating.. she wouldn’t hurt him.

Her head was tilted up and her eyes watched the ceiling - avoiding eye contact. She slowly moved to the wall, leaning against it begrudgingly but still avoiding Michaels gaze. Patches of dirt and bruises decorated her arms along with some blood stains and a couple of nasty cuts. Her black dress looked like nothing special anymore. It was torn in some parts but - Michael wanted to laugh that he was critiquing her appearance in the slightest as if he had any room to talk.

He watched her carefully and curiously as he decided to stand next to her and mirror how she was standing until they were nearly shoulder to shoulder. Mallorys eyes which were previously closed suddenly opened. Darkly peering over at him and their sudden proximity, something Michael wasn’t going to apologize for this time.

“I still don’t understand you, or why you did what you did but it was completely unnecessary,” Michael said.

He felt flattered that Mallory was fond of him enough to apparently kill for him but - this wasn’t adding up. And plus, Michael still had his powers (or atleast to the best of his knowledge he did) so it’s not as if he was completely defenseless. He felt almost insulted that Mallory would assume that he needed to be protected. He wasn’t a child.

But didn’t she hate him? She could still barely make eye contact with him and resented every time they touched - something which hurt Michael a bit more than he would like to admit.. No one (except for his family, of course) had ever reacted to him like that before.. most people, espically women, practically died for his touch.

Mallory was different.

That was one thing he was certain of. Every move she made, every word that came out of her mouth was never something he could predict.. and to think he once hated unpredictability.. but he didn’t trust her. Not for one second.

“It wasn’t a choice. I-I just.. it just happened and I don’t want to talk about it,” Mallory answered sheepishly.

Michael wanted to argue but instead he merely nodded.

“That’s fine.”

Mallory looked at him almost apologetically after she heard the tone of his words; which were a bit too harsh and forced in nature.

“So.. did it work? What you came here for.. to feel closer to him-“ She asked out of sheer curiosity.

“My father?”

“Yes.”

Michael swallowed and broke eye contact. “No. I still don’t feel a fucking thing.. Do you?”

Mallory’s eyes narrowed and she shifted her weight back onto her feet, ceasing from leaning on the wall. “What?”

“My father sent you to me, so I figured naturally you would have some kind of connection with him.. you do, don’t you?”

Sneaky bastard. Mallory knew this conversation was for the sole purpose of him finding out more information about her; perhaps to better manipulate? She didn’t exactly know.

“I don’t know. That’s something I still have to figure out,” she admitted truthfully.

“Together?”

Mallory nodded.

“Yeah. I won’t leave you,” she said. Her tone a bit softer than she would have liked.

Mallorys lips started to upturn in something that was reminiscent of a smile - their eyes lingered on each other for only a second but it didn’t last.

The door suddenly was pushed open; both Mallory and Michael snapped their heads up. The sudden intrusion gaining both of their full undivided attention - fear both running abundant in their veins.

The first thing Mallory noticed was the loud clicking of high heels against the tile floor of the bathroom.. something she was sure meant nothing to Michael but.. Mallory knew better.

This wasn’t a coincidence. After the day she had - nothing was a damn coincidence anymore.

The first thing she noticed was long blonde hair.. a black, tight fitting dress along with black high heels.

It was too familiar.. she knew all too well exactly who this fucking was.

Another witch.. her sister.. someone she was far too accustomed too but also.. no.

No.

Sure the woman who just entered the bathroom was Madison Montgomery but it wasn’t her Madison. After all, why the fuck was Madison at a satanic temple?

Taglist: @michaellangdonstanaccount @langdonsexual @jimmason @blakescoven @dark-mei-rose @9layerdevilfoodcake @prophecy-is-inevitable @matildaofoz @beautyiswithinchaos @frenchlangdon @instinctsxbaby @melodylangdon @littledemondani @celestialrequiem @sojournmichael @ritualmichael @twilightzone24

Let me know if u would like to be added or removed to the taglist <3

[universallywriting]

There is a controversy in the mlb fandom about the origin of Adrien. I was wondering if I could ask you to not address it? I have strong opinions on it, and I would find it hard to disagree with you.

I recently found out that a lot of people talk about stuff like this as in trying to figure out what will happen in the show. I'd like to add a disclaimer that I don't do that, and I literally talk about this stuff based on the idea of whether or not I think it would be a good idea for a show to go in this direction. People make writing decisions I hate all the time, and Miraculous is... I mean. I can't predict this show. Jesus.

Sooooooo anyway I don't get the point of sentimonster!Adrien. If you do, and you like it, there's nothing wrong with that. This is just my take.

I see a lot of people talk about how it could be true, but never really a why. I can't imagine what him being a sentimonster would add to the story. He's already sad. He's already directly connected to the villains. He's already struggling with find his own purpose.

It would make him sadder, sure, but he's already so goddamn sad I can't see why it would matter? There wouldn't be questions over his personhood, because sentimonster!Ladybug was immediately welcomed as a full person with her own thoughts, opinions, desires, ability to change, etc. If Adrien was a sentimonster, it'd be kind of weird if they all started having a problem with it when it took them about three minutes to accept other sentimonsters as people.

He would be more fragile, because he would have a feather that could be destroyed or be destroyed by any holder of the peacock miraculous, and that could probably make for some exciting plot lines? But, I mean, Chat gets kidnapped and nearly murdered every other Tuesday so it's not like villains don't do this regularly already. I could see doing fun stuff with it, but I don't even think it would change the story that much considering Chat's current role as frequent damsel in distress and villain bait, lol.

I've seen people talking about using the wish to make Adrien a real boy, but because Ladybug and Chat literally have the power to make that wish at any time because they are the holders of those miraculous, it's not like they have a quest to hunt the same thing the villain is hunting. So then it's just a matter of what the price would be, and it's just a question of whether real boy status is worth paying. Which, considering it's word of god that the only downsides to sentimonster life is A) immortality and B) being fragile, it's gonna be pretty hard to justify paying almost anything to make Adrien human.

Here's where I'll just brace myself for backlash and let it hit me, because, like... okay I think the internet is just really obsessed with Sad White Boys. Fandom loves Sad White Boys. If there is a way to make the story more about a Sad White Boy, especially if it makes him Sadder, fandom will latch onto it. People love that.

But, like... I just don't. Ever since I was born media has insisted that I empathize with these stories about Sad White Boys and I do, but I'm also really fucking bored of that story. I'm not white or a boy and I'm not really especially into boys in general and I'm sad but, like, humblebrag - my trauma's real deep so these boys aren't as sad as me - so like eeeehhhh?

Adrien has a great story set up already - he's the villain's son, he struggles with what he wants to do with his life, his strict upbringing means that there would be chaos if he tried to date Marinette, etc. He has lots of problems, and I'd really just rather see his character develop through those problems rather than just keep adding onto his ever growing misery pile. He's already a fantastic compelling character. Let's just develop him with what he has.

I mean, he's literally currently in an arc where he's processing his jealousy and discomfort over Ladybug relying on others more than him despite their partner status. That's a great storyline that literally just popped up. I'd rather just focus on that than keep adding onto his crying scene pile because he was never a real boy.

All that being said, if it does happen in the show, because I'm a heartless monster, I'll honestly just find it hilarious. He's so fuckin sad about his life and he's not even a real boy? Oh. Fantastic. Peak dark comedy. Good soup.

[deonideatta]

OK I've gotten through the 7 stages of grief, here are my arguments for and against Han Seo and his 'betrayal'

I do think it’s possible that Han Seo just decided to betray Vincenzo, though i don’t like the thought and I hope this isn’t the case. The greatest evidence for it is the way he acts. The way he reacted to Vincenzo pulling the gun on him did not seem faked, nor did his reaction to Mr Han’s smug announcement that he had found a way to off Vincenzo. It is worth noting that we do see what appears to be a moment of hesitation on his part before he enthusiastically praises Mr. Han for covering all their bases. For the last part of the episode all of Han Seo’s behaviour says that he’s betrayed Vincenzo for real (right down to him not telling Jipuragi squad about Mr Han’s promotion), but that doesn’t really mean anything if you argue that it’s all part of a wider plan, and that he’s just acting. So besides just taking his actions at face value, there’s also the point that there is no point to it being a plot? Like what do Vincenzo and Han Seo stand to gain from staging a betrayal and having Vincenzo get shot in front of Interpol?? What would the benefit of that be? (Edit: OK so someone told me that it might be to delay interpol deporting vincenzo so that they could work on clearing his name, and that gives a lot of support to the theory of it being a plot) Please enlighten me if I'm missing something here because it seems to me that the only entity that benefits from everything is Babel, as now their biggest pain in the neck is gone. This gives Han Seo every reason to actually betray Vincenzo, especially since it was in a setting where he felt backed up (Interpol waiting in the wings). He’s managed to take back the chairman position, oust his brother, and his right hand man (Mr. Han) is the chief prosecutor. Technically he doesn’t need Vincenzo to ensure his safety anymore, nor does he really have to keep helping him by leaking info, since it’d be fighting against his own company now. Plus Vincenzo already seems to have a plan in place, which he entrusted to Cha Young earlier in the episode. Not to mention Vincenzo getting shot, and how genuinely shocked he seemed. So perhaps Han Seo really will just be another example of how greed corrupts the best of intentions, a second Prosecutor Jung. Unless all of it is a ploy on Han Seo's part?

Which it might well be bc nothing is ever as it seems with this drama, so here are some points on why Han Seo’s betrayal might not be as simple as that.

Firstly we've seen so much character development for Han Seo, and it seemed like at some point the drama really began to try to endear him to us. He's clumsy, he's not very bright, he's funny, he's the underdog, we pity him and want him to succeed. We see him join up with Jipuragi squad, we see his quest to be liked and to come out of the shadow of his brother and his abuse. He’s flawed, but we grow attached to him, and we like him. Of course, you can argue that all this is to make the betrayal hurt even more later on. But just like the NIS director's buildup as a trustworthy character from the beginning was a good basis for assuming he wasn't on the wrong side, this could be the case for Han Seo too (though whether or not his character was ever built up as trustworthy is debatable). Prosecutor Jung’s betrayal already showed us that we can’t trust anyone, so why give us that again using Han Seo?

Secondly, that first hockey scene and how much Han Seo has come to idolize Vincenzo. We see how happy he is in the scene where they play hockey together, and how lighthearted their chatting is. We even get Is This Love played during the scene (lol). Han Seo is playful around Vincenzo in a way he can’t really be with anyone else, and from what we’ve seen, he really values that. I mean, look at the way he skated around like a gleeful child after Vincenzo left, and the way he called out grazie after him. As well as their interactions in the previous episodes, like when 80s Han Seo appears to brag about how he risked his own safety to save Geumga Plaza. Before the last 15 minutes of this episode Han Seo is a huge Vincenzo fanboy, and you can argue that he wouldn’t suddenly do a 180 like that. There’s also the fact that Vincenzo said he would kill Han Seo only if he betrayed him. The fact that that was the only condition he gave makes it even more significant if Han Seo has actually betrayed him. It having been said that that was the one thing he shouldn’t do, why would he go ahead and do just that? I mean, you could argue that Vincenzo mentioning betrayal was foreshadowing, both for Han Seo’s actual betrayal and thus his eventual death, but we’re trying to look on the bright side here lol Edit: ok so my memory is actually garbage and he never said that, disregard that bit lol

There’s also little things like the clip that shows Han Seo calling Vincenzo from a car wearing different clothes (why would they have a whole wardrobe change and shot of him in the car for a 3 second shot of him basically just saying “we need to talk” when they could have just had him call from the ice? so there is most likely a longer scene in the car), the fact that Vincenzo showed up with a gun (maybe it was just bc they were suspicious about the fact that Han Seo didn’t report on Mr Han’s promotion), or the fact that the movement Vincenzo made with the gun before he got shot was kinda odd. And perhaps most notably, Han Seo wondering who out of Vincenzo and Han Seok would come out on top in the end.

But truly, I dont know what to think. I definitely think we’re not getting the full story, but i’m not sure if that story is going to be good on Han Seo’s part. I really want to believe that it’s somehow all a ploy, but to me everything seems to be saying that it’s a real betrayal. Of course, no one can ever accurately predict things in this drama, and this seems like a cheap ending for a character that was sold to the audience so much, so I'd love to be wrong!! If anyone has any insights in either direction, please share!!!!

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 278: MOMO IN CHARGE

Previously on BnHA: Deku and Kacchan were all “SIR, THAT’S OUR EMOTIONAL SUPPORT SENSEI” and got really ferocious and made a very passionate attempt to blow Tomura up and it was great. It basically did nothing, but it was still great. AFO was all “COME HERE LIL BRO”, and Tomura was all “silly Sensei, you can’t just take over my mind and body just like that”, and he was very confident of this despite there really being no evidence to back it up, but okay! Gran was all “time to make the fandom mad at me” and grabbed Tomura by the collar and yelled at him about Nana a bit, and then Bakugou and Endeavor made an even MORE passionate attempt to blow up Tomura, which may or may not have done some actual damage. The chapter ended with Gigantomachia battling Mt. Lady, just kinda out of the blue, which is FINE, but she had better be all right, though!

Today on BnHA: Everyone is all “WAUGHH IT’S GIGANTOMACHIA” and running around freaking out about it. The U.A. alums all kick some ass, and pretty much everyone else not from U.A. does jack fucking shit. Mt. Lady, who I plan on naming all of my future children after, does her best to stop Machia but he keeps flinging her aside. Kamui Woods is all “here I come with Midnight to put Gigantomachia to sleep!” and is PROMPTLY FUCKING MURDERED!? by Dabi because he’s a flammable tree man, and so Midnight falls all the way to the ground and is badly injured. So then she’s all “well I better call the most competent person I can think of to fix this mess” and dials up YAOYOROZU FUCKING MOMO, who proceeds to take charge LIKE THE BOSS SHE IS, and mobilizes the rest of the kids. And honestly I have more faith in them than in any of the adults at this point, so yeah, you know what? Let’s do this.

so I am possibly a bit spoiled on this chapter because I did a “top five predictions” post earlier this week, and someone replied to that yesterday on Thursday saying that they were mostly correct. I don’t know exactly how close to the mark I was though, and in any case most of the predictions were just “so-and-so shows up, probably”, so it’s not too bad. we’ll see how it goes!

OH THANK GOD MY BABIES ARE SAFE

I mean, CLEARLY they’re all about to be in horrible danger, seeing as Jirou is about to inform them of the whole “THE BIG GUY EVERYONE WAS AFRAID ABOUT WAKING UP WOKE UP” thing, but in the meantime at least Kami and Toadette and Honenuki made it back to the group safely

also Kaminari’s use of “Jirou-Jack” here is fucking inspired and I want him to teach a class on nicknames. isn’t he the one who coined “Yaomomo” as well? this boy has a gift and it needs to be appreciated

so Jirou is all “SOMETHING REALLY BIG IS COMING”, and actually she says “INSANELY HUGE”, which if anything is still an understatement, hard as it is to believe

WOW

“A BAD GUY IS HEADING THIS WAY?? SOUNDS LIKE IT’S TIME TO ABANDON THE CHILDREN IN THE WOODS” kjlfakh okay you know what?? fine!! you weren’t even going to do anything anyway so let’s not pretend!!

holy shit it’s like Mt. Lady isn’t even there

look at those speed lines!! goddamn. I just felt this huge rush of empathy for Mt. Lady though. like can you imagine growing up with this super-destructive quirk, and managing to become a hero with it against all odds, and having to put up with the manga making fun of you all the time just because sometimes you have a tendency to DESTROY A LOT OF STUFF, but it’s not like you can help it!! but the upside has always been that when your quirk is on, you are fucking UNSTOPPABLE though. so even though it’s been a hell of a rough ride for you, it’s worth it because you’re a complete badass and the number of people who can beat you out in terms of sheer physical strength is probably in the single digits. and you’re working really hard too, and lately you’ve been moving up through the ranks and actually becoming a damn fine hero if I do say so myself (and I do), and it’s like, about time though?? like finally, finally it is all starting to come together for you. and then this snarling trashrock person suddenly comes stampeding along and you put your all into trying to stop him, and it doesn’t even do a damn thing. like, holy shit. that’s just not fucking fair and YOU DESERVE BETTER, MT. LADY

anyway so she’s still hanging in there for now though so let’s check in with our villain squad riding on his back

lmaooo they’re all “I don’t even understand what is going on here”

YOU GUYS, THIS IMPLIES THAT THEY WERE ALL PLUCKED OFF THE GROUND BY THE SCRUFFS OF THEIR NECKS AND THEY HAD ABSOLUTELY NO SAY IN THE MATTER OMG. like I’m picturing Spinner being held by his cape pinched in between Machia’s thumb and forefinger, and awkwardly trying to lecture him like a mom with his hands on his hips all, “BAD GIGANTOMACHIA! NO! NOOOUAGH -- !” and cutting off with a yelp as he’s dropped onto his back

and I am glad they got Toga some clothes! I like to think Gigantomachia grabbed those for her as well. so thoughtful

wow Skeptic actually wants to go back to Re-Destro??

color me legit impressed. I underestimated your loyalty my dude. and let me also just take this moment to extend my gratitude toward Horikoshi for leaving the rest of the MLA out of it because good fucking riddance to them, goodbye forever hopefully!!

I guess they’ll be needing Skeptic’s quirk down the line for some reason? maybe he is meant to be like a new, less out-of-control Twice. smdh y’all out here trying to replace your dead buddy like a pet goldfish

who is this “they” Dabi is referring to

do you mean the heroes? lol yeah I guess they’re pretty distracted by the literal fucking kaijuu you’re currently piggybacking on

SIGH

“the Jakku team must’ve made a mistake” BOY, I’LL SAY. you know what, don’t even talk to me about that yet. it’s still too fresh. suffice it to say that your suspicions are correct and things in Jakku are not very daijobu right about now

anyway here’s a closeup of this bubble person just cuz

they are everything and I want them to be my friend. also there’s a squid person a few paces behind them who can probably do anything a squid can do. or they might actually be a shark person, actually. I don’t know. either way I love them

GETEN PLEASE GO AWAY

WE ARE PHASING OUT THE MLA!! MOVING FORWARD IT’S ORIGINAL LOV ONLY!! I’M SORRY BUT YOU DIDN’T MAKE THE CUT. we already have an ice character so shoo

OH DAMN MY MAN CEMENTOSS HAS HAD ENOUGH OF HIS NONSENSE TOO AHHHH YESS

1) hey so Cementoss is legit terrifying who’d’ve thought

and 2), did Cementoss always have a mouthful of gigantic perfect teeth each the size of a slice of bread, or is this just something I’m only noticing now because I’m behind the curve. either way, let me just say sincerely, DKJDLKFJLSKJG

RE-DESTRO YOU GO AWAY TOO!!

@waywardfacegarden​ you asked the other day which are the characters I actually dislike, and this is one of them lol. he’s just a big ol’ prick, and on top of that has the audacity to not even be interesting in any way so as to balance it out. anyway so apologies to any Re-Destro stans out there but I basically spend every panel he’s in hoping that someone will punch him in the face hard enough to finally make him shut up

anyway so my man Edgeshot is here though, finally!! but of all the people for him to fight! this is a real predicament for me. the most soothing character in the series contrasted with the character who grates my nerves the most. Edgeshot’s sexy ASMR voice is gonna be drowned out by all of RD’s punching and self-important ranting in the anime and I’m lowkey devastated but I’m gonna pull myself together and read on

SPEAKING OF SELF-IMPORTANT RANTING

Edge, if you can liberate us from having to put up with his insufferable ass once and for all I will be so grateful to you. can you do this. please. for me

and it looks like some other boring MLA villains are following along behind Machia so I’m gonna need someone to kick their asses as well. please

-- YESSSSSS

okay so now I see what that comment on my prediction post was referring to lol. I did indeed have my fingers crossed that these two would show up again, and sure enough! THE GANG’S ALL HERE YAY

and Mt. Lady is being sumoed aside!

anyone want tonight’s lotto numbers. during this brief fleeting moment of having my predictions be actually credible, I would just like to say that Hagakure is the U.A. traitor. thank you and goodnight

OH NO KAMUI IS WORRIED

HE LOOKS SO PANICKED?? OUT OF THE BLUE I SHIP IT SO MUCH?? I keep forgetting they’re on the same team and stuff and wow, I need to calm down

LOL MIDNIGHT IS ALL “NO TIME FOR SHIPS!!”

I wonder if her quirk will actually be enough to take him down? this is something I’ve been itching to see for a long time, actually. just how powerful is she? we know her quirk is more effective on males than females, but is anyone actually capable of resisting it? imagine if she really did just knock Gigantomachia out after all of this buildup. that would be some god-tier shit omg, DO IT

(ETA: I am just going to assume that since Horikoshi had to go to elaborate lengths to take her out of the fight, this means that her quirk really was capable of knocking them all out. another tragic case of Too Badass For The Plot. y’all better respect Midnight.)

YESSSSSSSS

is she stripping. you know what -- don’t think about it. I won’t let you ruin this for me Horikoshi. Midnight’s gonna be a badass because the ladies are fucking ruling this arc and that’s all there is to it

NOOOOOO

DABI GET BACK HERE I JUST WANT TO TALK!!

oh thank god, she’s all right. BUT KAMUI ISN’T THOUGH DLKJSFLKSJDG??!

did Kamui Woods just... die

(ETA: okay but for real, is there an actual curse in effect on the Billboard Top Ten right now, though?? did one of them accidentally disturb the tomb of some ancient king??)

...

( ･ั﹏･ั)

oH MY GOD!?!

NOOOOOOO WHY ARE YOU SO QUICK TO SLEEP ON MAJESTIC, LET’S SEE IF THEY CAN DO IT!! GIVE US MAJESTIC GOD DAMMIT

(ETA: Horikoshi is seriously just yanking our chain at this point. when Majestic finally does show up, he or she better have the coolest fucking quirk of all time, that’s all I’m saying.)

okay how badly injured is Midnight here, though?? she just fell all that way?? DO I NEED TO BE REALLY MAD. I CAN WORK MY WAY UP TO IT PRETTY QUICKLY, JUST SAY THE WORD. I’M ALREADY HALFWAY THERE HONESTLY. WHERE’S KAMUI WOODS

!!!!!!!!!!!

AND JUST LIKE THAT MY ANGER EVAPORATES INTO THE NIGHT, YESSSSSSSSS!! MOMOOOOO

holy shit. “a quirk that can stop that thing,” she says. and goes and calls YAOYOROZU FUCKING MOMO y’all I am barely holding myself back from SCREAMING right now I...

you guys

you guys. if Midnight and Yaomomo team up to take down Gigantofuckingmachia using some sort of MOMO MADE A MACHINE TO SPREAD MIDNIGHT’S QUIRK strategy, or whatnot?? I will fucking die on the spot. you can end the manga right there. Kacchan you can keep your quirk I don’t even care

“IT MIGHT BE AGAINST THE LAW” lmaooooo insert John Mulaney “WE’RE WELL PAST THAT” gif here. holy shit. listen, that is fine. if anything it’s even better

WHAT THE FUCK

DO I NEED TO START GETTING REALLY MAD AGAIN!?!?! FUCKING WHIPLASH, IS WHAT THIS IS, BUT YOU JUST TELL ME WHAT SORT OF OVER-THE-TOP REACTION IS NEEDED HERE AND I’LL GO FOR IT

(((( ;°Д°))))

[GRABS HORIKOSHI BY THE COLLAR] listen, you. if you only just now, for the first time ever, gave us a lady hero actually mentoring another lady hero, which we have somehow NEVER HAD BEFORE in almost three hundred chapters, only for you to then KILL OFF THE MENTOR IN THE MIDDLE OF HER GODDAMN SPEECH TO THE MENTOREE, I will... there’s... I’ll... okay, listen. DON’T. THERE WILL BE A RECKONING. CAPSLOCK SUCH AS THIS WORLD HAS NEVER WITNESSED!!

ヽ(#ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ┌┛

I DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO REACT TO ANYTHING IN THIS CHAPTER AND I’M LOSING MY MIND OVER IT

so the other kids are all “what the fuck” and “so Momo’s in charge??” which, YES!!! IT’S THE ONE GOOD PART ABOUT ALL THIS SO DON’T YOU DARE QUESTION IT

MOMO NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BE CRIPPLED BY YOUR ANXIETY, YOU CAN DO THIS GIRL I BELIEVE IN YOU

hell, it’s not even just an “I believe in you” thing, because it’s not just belief, it’s fact. you motherfucking can do this, you are the most capable and brilliant student in 1-A, you just gotta have faith and let yourself shine!!

so now there are some more panels of Machia running and the villains and heroes fighting, blah blah blah. and Momo screwing up her face as she makes her decision...

YESSSSSSSSS

my baby girl is all grown up and TAKING THESE MOTHERFUCKIN REINS and MOMO I WILL LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU JUST SAY THE WORD!!

lol she’s all “Jirou use your ears and scientifically calculate how long it’ll take him to get here”, and Jirou is all “I can literally fucking see him, he’s gonna be on top of us in like two seconds” WELL OKAY THEN

thank god there are no adult pros left to fuck this up. is that weird that this is a real and honest and completely sincere thought that just ran through my head? like, at this point if any of the adults were around I’d just be afraid of them dying honestly. but with the kids I actually feel real hope that they’re somehow gonna do this. of course it helps that unlike the adults they’re pretty safe from being killed off

also! way to represent the entirety of class 1-B there Honenuki lulz. sorry, The Rest of Class 1-B

OH MY GOD

MT. LADY I WILL LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU AS WELL!! YOU HAVE MY LOVE AND FEALTY!!

I’M STANNING HER SO HARD I’M GONNA EXPLODE SOMEBODY HELP!?!

JIROU SAYS THAT MACHIA HAS SLOWED DOWN!! YOU GUYS I’M ABOUT TO GET “MT. LADY FOR PRESIDENT” TATTOOED ACROSS MY FOREHEAD

lmao at Shouji using his power of “putting some extra eyeballs on my arms” to inform everyone that Gigantomachia is Right Over There and Very Big

good job Shouji

oh my glob I have so much love for Momo right now that it can’t even fucking be contained. brb wildly flailing my hands around a little to try and release some of this excess excitement

maybe Momo can be president instead and Mt. Lady can be the vice president

NO THE CHAPTER IS ENDING I’M NOT READY

AND JUMP IS ON BREAK AGAIN NEXT WEEK TOO, FML!!

okay!!

Kaminari is so fucking brave right now I just want to crush him in a hug?! we know he’s still scared!! look at his eyes!! and he was freaking the hell out earlier too, and now the situation is much worse! but he doesn’t give a fuck because his friends need him! he is ready to be a hero, my little baby boy is all grown up and I’m so proud??

Mineta’s face in the bottom right corner is everything. I know, I know, boooo Mineta, but that’s still the best face anyone has made in the entirety of this manga

Tetsutetsu’s out here all “I humbly request to also represent class 1-B” and Momo is all “okay fine I guess we can have two of you guys”

can we all just stop for a moment to appreciate how KamiJirouMomo is alive and well. like, we had interactions between all three of them in this chapter, in all possible permutations? do you know how happy this makes me?? I am vibrating with joy??!

I really can’t stress this enough -- I have no clue at all what these little soda can things are (anesthetic, I guess??? you know, like how you sometimes buy cans of anesthetic at the supermarket?? what do you mean you don’t do that??), or what they’re gonna do with them. I have like negative clues. but DAMNED IF I GIVE ONE SINGLE FUCK. the next chapter can be them all fucking hurling them at his face for all I care. THE DETAILS OF HOW SHE KICKS HIS ASS DO NOT MATTER!! GOOD MORNING TO YAOMOMO AND YAOMOMO ONLY!! MY MOMO ACADEMIA

[littledevil-jpeg]

Okay, so last post I was giving Lucifer 5B some credit for getting me interested and intrigued about a shitty character, so, as all things should be balanced, here comes the other side of the question. I'll say right off the bat that Lucifer was never a show I took seriously, all at once because of the tone, the way they chose to develop and delve into the themes, the monster-of-the-week format (though also done in spn, there it's redeemed by the darker tone and more subtle theme-development. Obviously, this is S1-S5 I'm talking about) and again the overall way this world works. I've been known to accuse Cobra Kai and even Breaking Bad for coincidence-bending, but they don't even come close to the level of Lucifer here. Then, of course, there's how easy everything is, like a bloody sled on ice: drugs - no problem, kill someone - no problem, infiltrate a mafia group - no fooking problem. How? Well, glaze over that, it's not that important. Except it is. Remember how in that same Breaking Bad Walter's team spent considerable chunks of the show planning, hiding evidence, preparing, measuring little details, diligently covering up their tracks. And they were only involved in a measly drug manufacturing business. Imagine the shit Lucifer runs, with crime bosses, drugs, demons and prostitutes piling out of his front door. Obviously it's a show about angels and demons, and the realism isn't the focus of the program, but still, these things matter. There's always a convenience to it. Like, oh, you need to infiltrate the Russian mafia or some shit? Don't worry, I know a guy - and poof, problem gone. That's not even to mention the universe bending out of shape all around Lucifer, everyone (Chloe especially) putting up with his humiliating bullshit, the fact that he would be kicked out the police in anything even remotely resembling real life, that the mc's get away with almost everything, the unrealistic dialogue that no human irl ever speaks, the second-hand embarrassment, the cheesy "morale" speeches, the dull, predictable cases that are all done by the same formula... and more. So okay, there's a lot, a lot, of problems with this show. Which is why no one really takes it that seriously, we all know it's kind of trashy. But "kind of trashy" is one thing. Now, when season 5 introduces a genuine "evil twin" that we're meant to take with even a bit of seriousness, in the footsteps of such chef d'oeuvres as Dispicable Me 3, when that twin is the most caricature-like villain in recent history, when the allmighty is a buffoon with half a brain, forget omniscient, and isn't even in-line with the stuff he's done before, when one of the main cast is offed as though mid-sentense, with no lead-up, no foreshadowing, no preamble, like a toss of a dice, when the main character is on a race to become God himself, and his love interested Mrs God, and when, oh, Jesus fucking Christ, just stop already! I truly wonder if the writer's room a big dart board with all these drunk-ass ideas stuck onto it, and they blind throw to make the next season. It's finally hitting me now, as I'm writing this, what on god's green earth I watched yesterday.

Why does Lucifer need to become God? Why does a war in Heaven even have to be introduced? Why not focus of the more intricate inter-personal conflicts on Earth, on the characters and their mentalities, on those meaningful arcs that hold actual importance, and emotion, and down-to-earth (lol), well, meaning again. Why do we need a heavenly war? Why does Lucifer need the approval of the angels, when the moral seems to be that he makes himself who he is, not his status, not his people, not his past and not the Silver City (an excellent moral, by the way, so credit where it's due. This self-actualisation business is the second best thing in the whole show)? I get that this is why the majority vote doesn't work, but then what does work? Are they ment to self-actualise into becoming God? Now, I'm aware it's left uncertain whether Luci really is God, so I won't go there for now, but then we have the issue of his resurrection. Was it a reward for self-sacrifice? That wouldn't fit so well, considering all the previous sacrifices that were much more impressive than this one. And what's the philosophy behind that - he's acting out of love? But to what end, if by dying he practically fucked all the other people on Earth, including the very same Chloe he just brough back down? Are these really the qualities for a God to have?

Or did he once again self-actualise, but this time he actualised himself to life? That would truly be a stake-killer. I saw a theory that he finally saw himself as worthy of Heaven, which doesn't quite link to coming back to life. Well, these are perhaps, once again, speculations, and maybe this will be cleared up next season. As for Lucifer's God status, it's a shitty move on the writers' part. Not only was the execution rushed, but thematically, again, Lucifer becoming God to feel worthy of Chloe is nonsense. From a plot and theme standpoint, why does this need to happen? This Godly status holds no meaning, no emotional worth, it's not fullfilling, not symbolic of anything fitting other than that same old "bad to good" and I guess the irony of the Devil becoming God, but the irony is an empty one if it has no real meaning. Which is the case. The whole thing is empty of substance, and I don't know why they went there. You know, it's hollow anyway, not least because Lucifer really doesn't deserve it. Even this season, he is nothing but a child - he acts and thinks like a child, he unchangeably does the same "projecting" bs from season to season to season with no actual sign of emotional maturity other than that in the words of other characters. But you can say he's different all you want, it's not gonna work if the subtle signs of his change aren't there. Say, imagine if Endeavor kept running his mouth about atonement, but kept dutifully abusing his kids - this is that. And yeah, Lucifer loves Chloe in his own way, cares about her, and even comes out of his self-absorbed little world for her, which by the way bugged me about their uneven relationship since season 1 (you know, treating her like shit with a flimsy excuse and then "making up" for it with a grand gesture of sacrifice or a round of angsty suffering. Time after time, every time.)

And finally, of course, there's the issue of how inconsiderate it is to Chloe for him to become God. I mean, it's dead obvious no relationship will be possible there, not without becoming even more unhealthy than it already seems. Themathic significance and meaning aside, even then, even in-universe, it's a shitty thing Lucifer does, again, for himself. So that he feels worthy of Chloe. What she feels, once he's made it his goal to do something, essentially doesn't matter anymore. And the plot fascilitates this splendidly, I mean, she always forgives him without fault like a well-oiled machine. Always, whatever he does, and it's gotten old a long time ago. We know Lucifer can do anything, anything at all, and he will be forgiven - by Chloe, by Maze, by Dan, by Linda, by Amenadiel, by anyone that he needs to forgive him. You'll be lucky if they don't do it the same episode, and extraordinarily lucky if it takes them three or four.

There are many other things to discuss this season, like Dan's ridiculously badly written death, Chloe's whole character stagnation, the, khm, the musical episode, the saturaday morning cartoon villain problem, the fact that Michael manages to descieve an omniscient being, and God himself. I might do those separately, might not, we'll see, as those aren't nearly as interesting to dissect as the above.

Aaaand, anyway, if he is now God, I strongly suspect they'll play the angle of "even though he's God, he stills feels shitty, as true self-love/worth comes from elsewhere" and the usual thing.

[jake-marshall]

TGAAC: Adventures thoughts

So I finished game 1 last Saturday, and took a brief break from continuing so I could write a fic centered around it (won’t mention what character because ~Spoilers~), and will now continue on to game 2 starting today (albeit, I did start a little of game 2 last week but was so burned out from having marathoned Case 5, I didn’t really vibe with it so I’ll probably just start over).  Here are my, as well as my wife @morpheusdreamt ‘s (who watched parts with me) thoughts on the DGS/TGAAC 1, under the cut.  LOTS OF SPOILERS INCLUDED!  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

The Adventure of the Great Departure - discounting the fact that it’s the first case and therefore also a super-hand-holdy tutorial, I felt this was one of the stronger first cases in the whole series.  I really enjoyed Jezaill and Hosonaga, and just Kazuma and Ryuunosuke’s dynamic as a whole, even though I knew what was coming.  My complaint about this case was that it felt way too long for a first case - which, I mean, I get in hindsight because of needing to include the right amount of development between Kazuma and Ryuunosuke to make Kazuma’s death effective and to make it more believable that Ryuunosuke takes over as the main lawyer.   But also, it wasn’t satisfying to out Jezaill as the murder (even though I know she has a role in the second game) and then come to find out she probably won’t be punished for it. This lack of satisfaction became a sort of prevailing theme for me throughout the game. The Adventure of the Unbreakable Speckled Band - again, another tutorial case that felt way too long.  I’m pretty sure I was drinking the whole time I played this case, with Sholmes being the one to drive me to do it.  As with the first case, the characters stood out for me way more than the case itself. My favorite part of this was watching the bond form between Ryuunosuke and Susato.  As much as I also like Nikolina, I found this case overall to be fairly forgettable. The Adventure of the Runaway Room  - first of all, I haven’t replayed this since completing the game (and therefor completing case 5) but I feel it’s almost necessary to do so to fully grasp this case?  Which is, after having completed the game, something I really like about this case in particular.   I thought McGilded was a fantastic character (and not just because of his resemblence to Handsome Jack :p), and I knew we’d meet Gina and Van Zieks in this case, but I was still thrilled to have it happen.   Upon first playthrough, this case was like the others, extremely frustrating in the sense that I wasn’t really getting anywhere?  That the plot wasn’t going anywhere?  I mean, at least for me, I really had no clue as to how involved McGilded was in Mr. Mason’s death, so kudos to the writers in keeping me guessing.   Overall, this felt like a filler case until you get to the end and realize, oh shit.  It’s not, is it?  And then I wished I would’ve paid more attention to some details, so it’s definitely worth a replay. The Adventure of the Clouded Kokoro - But no, this is the filler case!  And I know some of the characters show up in the 2nd game, but oof.  There was very little I enjoyed about this case on an individual level, and I’m not one to get super salty about ~this is problematic~ but the consistent inclusion of joking about domestic violence made me uncomfortable.   Soseki was a fun character, but the Garridebs and Beates felt over-the-top, and, again, the fact that the attack was actually an accident just made this case feel like, ??? It made me wary of starting the 5th case.  I felt, there’s nowhere I’m going to come away from the game liking it more than “just alright”. The Adventure of the Unspeakable Story -  Let me start by just saying that this is one of my favorite cases in the entire series. So the only things I knew about this case going in was that Gina was the defendant and that Ashley was the killer, but I didn’t know anything regarding motive or his background, or Gina’s whole ordeal with McGilded. Both of their arcs spoke me to quite profoundly.  I thought Gina’s development and her fears and insecurities surrounding trust were so relateable, her self-loathing and resignation to never having anything in life go her way just because of her class.  Of her needing to look out for herself because no one else will, at least not without wanting anything in return.   Like dude, I was crying when she finally accepted Ryuunosuke’s offer to defend her. I don’t really see it brought up (and maybe I just haven’t looked hard enough) about how heavily it contrasts with Ashley’s story, of them both coming from a poor background and both clearly suffering from abandonment issues and how it’s molded them and their perspective on the world and the people in it.  I thought Ashley was so compelling, even though he starts off as a sort of caricature (which I gather was the intention).   His absolute contempt towards McGilded (and clearly at himself, by the end) was so palpable for me, and left me thinking about him and the case for days after completing it. I liked too, that for as many AA cases where the killer will be like “I’m so much ~smarter than you~”, Ashley actually does a pretty good job of backing it up, that it’s more show than tell (his making the deal with Gregson and the fact that what broke most of his testimony was the Skulkins and not things he himself said)  as it tends to be the other way around. I still want to know what went down in the bus between his dad and McGilded.  I have this terrible feeling that Mason went there to tell McGilded to leave his son alone and that he wouldn’t sell the disk.  Which would make it all worse, lol but I’m fine with that. Unless Gina undergoes some sort of terrible devolvement in the 2nd game, I can safely say that she and Ashley have become Top 10 all time AA characters for me, and that’s saying something considering how long and how deeply I’ve loved my faves from the original games. Anyway, getting back on point to the actual games and not just meta on the characters, I liked the pace that Case 5 progressed at, and how it had some expected twists and turns (like Sholmes’s appearance) that weren’t made any less enjoyable by being predictable.  And I didn’t find it terribly difficult but it was still outrageously fun (minus the stereoscope mechanic which I know is just a fucky misfortune given the game was originally designed to incorporate 3DS functions, which are obsolete on the Switch).  I just thought that Case 5 felt like everything that was right in the original series, both gameplay wise and story/character wise. Despite the fact that it hangs on a massive cliffhanger -__-  But luckily i don’t have to wait two years to play the 2nd game, lol. Maybe my opinion of this game will change after I play the 2nd game, but overall my feelings are that it’s enjoyable enough and if you like Ace Attorney, and you’re more invested in the main characters/their development you’ll like it/probably even love it.  For me, the fifth case and it tying together with the third case, specifically the affects it had Ryuu, Van Zieks, and Gina makes the rest of the game worth playing, but the rest of the cases are not as individually satisfying as many of the other cases in the AA series.   I would still recommend this, however, based on how eager it’s made me to want to play the second game opposed to just feeling like I went through all that for nothing (which is sort of my experience when I replay AJ or DD now, not that I still don’t love them).