#not that there's anything wrong with the latter! i love reading and doing that! obviously! but man it can get exhausting sometimes

[rookflower]

asoiaf/got/hotd is a fun fandom to exist on the periphery of because it fulfills that niche of engagement to me of "what if wc gave a fuck and was actually well written in regards to its attention to detail" (sprawling fantasy political drama series with 10 billion characters that's. riddled with issues to pick at but also raises a lot of interesting or engaging characters and ideas). however the thing is i would also not go to most places in that fandom with a sword

[ambivalence-is-me]

All I Want (One-Shot)

Pairing: Azriel x reader

Summary: Do opposites really attract? Feyre didn’t think so but Y/N and Azriel prove her wrong.

Word count: 1.8k

Warnings: fluff

A/N: this is kinda from Feyre’s pov, beginning of ACOMF. I’m in love with the idea of someone from the outside looking at two people in love. I’m thinking of turning this into a series? Or just more one shots? Like write about the dates, the wedding, that stuff. Let me know if anyone would be interested to read it!

————————————————————-

Feyre was shocked. Well, lately it seemed that’s all she was: shocked with a side of skeptical and scared. How else was she supposed to feel after everything she’s been through? She’s thinking of the very first times Rhysand took her to the Night Court. It was during one of those ‘’visits’’ that she first met you.

‘’She’ll help you with anything you need’’ he had said and that you did.

Feyre had taken one look at you and didn’t really know what to think. Physically you didn’t look like a threat, you were beautiful (it seemed there weren’t ugly faes) and your posture was relaxed, like you weren’t standing in front of the Cursebreaker but just another fae. You were smiling kindly at her, no judgement in your eyes and then you started talking.

And you never really stopped.

You were a yapper. Answered all of Feyre’s questions as best as you could and more. You walked her through the court’s history, culture, customs, everything. On her second meeting with you, she had concluded you definitely weren’t a threat. Instead, you were easygoing, kind and just freaking…happy? It seemed like you were always shinning, that nothing can bring you down. Feyre had tested that after a particularly bad day when Rhysand was driving her up the wall. But instead of running away, you stayed and helped her, saving Rhys from another shoe-throwing incident.

You had this soft and gentle angle that reminded her of her sister Elain. But you weren’t quite as graceful as Elain. You were louder, clumsier and upbeat, not afraid to strike up a conversation with anyone about anything. And you definitely weren’t like her sister Nesta but she could tell you shared her observation skills.

Truthfully, for Feyre, you were a saving grace. Someone she could go to in this new world that was thrown at her. She never really expressed any of this of course, scared that if someone found out you’d be in harm's way but she kept you close to her whenever possible.

That’s why Feyre was extremely happy that you were accompanying her to a dinner with Rhysand’s family. Thanks to the information Feyre had gathered from you and meeting them beforehand briefly, she inferred that you obviously knew them but you never stated what was your relationship with them.

Which is why Feyre is now shocked to see the turn of events.

She had expected you to be close friends with them, how can you not? You were a social butterfly and if Rhysand’s family was anything like him, she was sure you had befriended all of them. And you had but not in the way Feyre had expected.

‘’Feyre darling, care to share why you look so shocked?’’ Rhysand asked her with that stupid smile of his. But she couldn’t even bother to answer him, not when she was still staring at the scene in front of her.

Again, Feyre had met these faes…briefly. She’d experience Mor’s welcoming energy, Cassian’s cheeky smiles and jokes, Amren’s silver bright eyes and of course…Azriel’s quiet and intimidating presence. The latter preferring to stay in his shadows and observe the chaos around him.

Which is why Feyre NEVER expected for him to be with…you.

Obviously Feyre didn’t know him, not at all, just what you and Rhysand had told her but she was confident that her observations of him helped her come up with an idea of him. It seemed that she was wrong.

They were all gathered in this beautiful grand room, just chatting and sipping on expensive wine before dinner. Cassian and Amren were in conversation in a corner of the room, the latter looking annoyed at whatever the big Illyrian was saying. You, Mor and Azriel occupied a big comfortable looking sofa. You and Mor leading the dialogue and Azriel, unsurprisingly, was just sitting there listening and assessing. But that’s not what had Feyre shocked. No, it was the fact that you were almost sitting on the Shadowsinger’s lap.

He had one whole arm wrapped around your waist, it screamed ‘’she’s mine’’. His other hand touching your hair softly, as if he put any more pressure on it, it would break. His eyes went back and forth between all of the faes in the room but stayed mostly on you. And Feyre didn’t know if he knew that he was smiling.

SMILING

A small soft smile that Feyre didn’t know the Shadowsinger was capable of. It made him look a thousand times more irresistible. A thought that didn’t go unnoticed by Rhys, who arched an eyebrow at her in return. But Feyre didn’t say anything, she opted to try and hide her surprise and continue on with the evening.

An evening that only continue to bamboozle her. At the dinner table, you were sitting infront of Feyre. Azriel on your left side, Cassian on your right. It was a pretty funny picture Feyre would love to paint. Your frame and sunshine aura in the middle of two big intimidating Illyrian soldiers. As she had expected, you were mostly leading the conversation during dinner. Cassian and Mor quickly keeping up with your jokes and laughter, Rhysand chimed in at times but seemed content to take it all in with a soft smile. But Feyre was observing Azriel and Azriel was observing you.

His eyes didn’t seem to wander off too much, seemingly staying on you throughout the night. He looked at you like you held the world in your hands. Honestly, Feyre had never seen anything like this up close. There were no doubts that this male was incredibly in love with you and honestly, Feyre didn’t even know how to react.

Feyre thought she loved Tamlin at one point but now, after witnessing how Azriel looked at you, just this one look, she was extremely in the wrong.

If you moved, Azriel moved. He was so attentive to your needs: refilling your drinks, serving you more food, he held your hand, brushed your hair away from your face; all of it without you having to ask once. At one point, you looked at him with a smile Feyre hadn’t seen from you before and kissed his temple. An act so simple and yet so intimate that Feyre had to look away. Small tears graced the corner of her eyes, her chest felt so…whole?

She was in a room full of so much love that it was overwhelming her. This isn’t what she expected at all.

You seemed to notice that something was wrong with Feyre. Asking her with your eyes what was wrong. But she didn’t say anything, just gave her a look that you hoped would understand that said ‘’we’ll talk later’’. And later you did.

‘’You’re with Azriel?!’’ She had all but exploded the next day when it was just the two of you.

You smiled and said ‘’Yes’’ like it was a fact so obvious that Feyre should’ve have known. But it only confused her more.

‘’But-you-you’re so…’’

‘’Different?’’ You finished. The same smile still on your face. Feyre could only nod.

This wasn’t the first time someone had questioned your relationship with Azriel. To be fair, you were the very first one to question it back when you started courting a couple of hundred years ago. Because the truth was that you and him truly were opposites. You, an extrovert and him obviously an introvert.

But it was your differences that somehow made it work, that completed each other. At the beginning it had taken time. You never seemed to stop talking and you worried that it was only annoying Azriel. But you never did, at least, he insists that you don’t. But you’ve learned to know his little quirks and expressions. You’ve learned when to stop your yapping around him, particularly only for few moments after he’s had a bad day. You’ve learned his ways, and he learned yours.

He learned to interpret the moments when you kept a conversation going because you wanted to and not because you felt like you HAD to. He learned how to ground you back and remind you that your job wasn’t to make everyone’s day brighter. He learned to take care of you, and you took care of him.

You explained all of this to Feyre, a soft smile never leaving your face when you talked about your Shadowsinger and Feyre couldn’t help but smile back.

‘’In the human world, we- ‘’..She cleared her throat. ‘’When people love each other, they get married but here that seems so…miniscule. Like, marriage isn’t enough for the love you and Azriel have.’’

It was the best thing Feyre could say because really, she didn’t know how else to compare the love you and Azriel seemed to have.

You beamed at that. ‘’I thought the same actually but our wedding day was one of the best days of my life. Right after our mating ceremony.’’

Feyre looked confused. Mating ceremony? But you only kept smiling.

‘’ We’d already been married for a hundred years when the bond snapped. Mating bonds are so special and rare, Feyre’’ You looked at her.

‘’I was already blessed to have found a male that loved me and all of my loudness. And then, to be gifted a mating bond with him?’’ You shook your head as if you still couldn’t believe it.

In truth, even many years later, you still couldn’t. And that was all Azriel. He made you feel so incredibly happy and whole. He still made you feel like a fool, as if you’re a female who’s experiencing falling in love for the first time. And perhaps that’s why the shock Feyre had felt still hadn’t left. Because she couldn’t comprehend how you and Azriel made it look like it was just yesterday that you got together. Like you were still in the honeymoon phase.

Feyre had seen married couples in her village. They fought and yelled at each other frequently, almost never held hands and especially didn’t show public display of affection. But what you and Azriel had didn’t look like that AT ALL.

Later, after you had left saying ‘’Azriel said he had a surprise but I’m pretty sure I know what it is. I don’t care what his job description is, I can find out what he’s planning!’’, Feyre was still processing your love story.

It didn’t seem real. It didn’t seem real that two people/fae could love each other so much, who would do absolutely freaking anything, including die, for each other. After her experience with Tamlin, Feyre wasn’t sure if she’d ever have what you and Azriel have. Deep down inside, she wanted it. She felt like she didn’t deserve it, specially after what she’s done but…she hoped that maybe one day, however far it may be, she would have someone who would look at her like Azriel looks at you.

[mattluvr]

dad!matt, a concept.

best read in dark mode ⏾

🧸 part i — the pregnancy. . .

ᡣ𐭩 when you and your boyfriend of two years find out you’re pregnant, you’re both scared, naturally; young and only freshly moved into your first apartment together, this big step in life is not one you’re prepared to take.

but, when matt cradles your stomach from the second he saw that lethal second line on the pregnancy test, soft eyebrows and tears pricking his waterline, you start to consider the possibility of raising a kid with him. maybe he’ll be a good father, nurturing your child with his whole heart. it’s only something you can picture, but at the image, something within you lights up with sunshine. so you decide to keep the baby.

you want this with matt; in fact, as you share happy tears with the boy pressing you into his chest in a hug, you realise that you don’t think you’d want to do it with anybody else.

ᡣ𐭩 you announce it to your family first, more accepting than you thought about the situation, and your mom, despite her strict parenting style growing up and her imprinted frown lines across her forehead, even pulls you aside to tell you that you have her full support and availability if anything was to go wrong. which makes you cry. obviously; you’re fucking pregnant.

matt’s family are also just as accepting, but that’s no surprise; his parents have always loved you, certain that you’re made for each other, and his triplet brothers are simply pumped to be uncles. especially nick, who, ever the sensitive person, bursts into tears at the announcement.

chris elbows him in the side. “you big crybaby. this is meant to be something to celebrate.”

“i am happy. just have dust in my eye, that’s all.” nick shoots back, and you giggle. you can’t wait for the fun uncle this pregnancy is going to bring out in both brothers.

ᡣ𐭩 the first few weeks are rocky, the toilet bowl your best friend as morning sickness lines your stomach. but, with matt’s constant presence by your side, a reassuring hand pressed into the small of your back, it feels manageable. his lips, softer than you ever remember are forever attached to yours, whispering praise into your mouth. you swear the love for your boyfriend has doubled since you fell pregnant with his baby.

then, suddenly, it’s your first scan, and the sonogram has made you cry for the umpteenth time in the past week. the picture is a simple white blob against a black background, but it’s still the prettiest you’ve ever seen. you want to hang it up on every wall in your apartment, tattoo it on your heart. it suddenly feels overwhelmingly real, but still manageable. after all, matt is clasping your hand by your side, silently sobbing.

“it’s tiny.” he whispers, pointing to what is the assumed baby’s head.

you smile, squeezing his hand as you meet his watery gaze. “it’s ours.”

and the love triples.

ᡣ𐭩 you find out the gender at the next scan, and decide to surprise matt with one of those cake reveals you’ve been seeing all over your tiktok. it’s just you and him in the house, an all white, three tiered cake sat between you on the kitchen counter. matt’s nervous, his hands shaking as he moves to cut a slice out, but you’re over the moon. you can already anticipate his excitement over the pink inside.

although it is orange when matt pulls the slice out, and you both look at one another, bursting out laughing. “it’s meant to be pink.” you say with a smile, and matt nods, pulling you into his side.

“yeah i gathered.” then it sinks in for the boy, his eyes widening. “holy shit. we’re having a baby girl.”

you laugh and then cry. it’s all you seem to be able to do recently. “we’re having a fucking girl.”

and as you sob even harder, matt kisses your temple in a soothing manner, smiling. “you’re gonna be the best mom ever, baby.”

ᡣ𐭩 the morning sickness wears off after your first trimester, but brings with it bouts of tiredness and a showing bump. the latter you don’t mind in the slightest, even convincing matt to do a soft launch of the pregnancy on your instagram story. the feedback on the mirror selfie, matt positioned behind you, arms gently caressing your bump, is insane, and suddenly you find yourself in one of the car videos he films for his youtube, talking about the pregnancy to the camera on the dashboard.

“HOW BIG?!” nick is shouting, shocked when you tell him you have to be dilated the size of a ben and jerry’s ice cream tub lid before you can push your daughter out.

“10 centimetres, nick. i might die.”

“oh my god, don’t say that.” matt suddenly looks worried, reaching back to grab your hand. “i’ll have a panic attack.”

you roll your eyes and squeeze his hand, your special way of grounding him. “i’ll try and not die for you, babe.”

“‘preciate it.”

chris interrupts, brow furrowed. “but you’re gonna have painkillers whilst you do it, right? so it shouldn’t hurt that much…”

“actually, i want to try and do it without any medication. completely natural.”

all three boys look shocked. “WHAT?!”

ᡣ𐭩 your second trimester is uneventful, and your bump is growing bigger by the day. by the time you’re 30 weeks along, you’re sick and tired, wanting nothing more than the baby to just free itself. matt is working harder than ever, on his brand and with his brothers on his youtube channel, and there are days where you don’t see him until the late evening, when you’re so wiped out you can barely keep your eyes open for more than 20 seconds.

so, to make it up to you, matt comes home every night with a new piece of clothing for your daughter. the other night was one of your favourites, the eeyore fleece he’d found in the thrift so small and so adorable that you bolted wide awake and insisted on putting it in the nursery.

you’d already painted and built the furniture for the baby’s room, completed a few weeks back, so now it was simply the case of organising everything into closets and mounting pictures onto walls, including that first ultrasound.

ᡣ𐭩 at 35 weeks, you feel a pain like you’re never felt before, excruciating, and you’re sure your in labour. matt rushes to get the remnants of your hospital bag ready, panicking when you double over in the kitchen, hand against the counter to steady yourself.

the car ride there is scarier than the prospect of you having your baby earlier than planned, however, matt screeching round the corners and getting at least 3 tickets for speeding just to make sure that you get to the hospital in time.

for nothing, by the way. the labour is false, your baby just moving her head so that its downwards. which is a good thing, you know, but you’re not quite sure the pain was worth it. matt faces the consequences of two fines, and you’re back home within five hours, deciding to pack your hospital bag.

who knows when you might go into actual labour?

ᡣ𐭩 but, four weeks later, you’re still fucking pregnant. you’re due in exactly 7 days, and now you’re just restless, all your clothes too small and every sensation overwhelming. even matt burrowing his face into your neck when watching a movie, as he always does, sets you on edge, and you push him away, frowning.

“i’m too warm for cuddles, matt.”

“oh, sorry.” matt throws you an apologetic smile, and scoots closer. he rubs your belly, which always calms you down, moving his hands down to lift your bump up, bringing you instant relief.

“fuck, that feels really good. thank you.”

“anything for my girl.” matt mumbles, and presses a kiss to your neck. you suddenly don’t detest his closeness anymore.

ᡣ𐭩 one week later, on october 22nd, at exactly 6am in the morning, you feel a gush of liquid between your legs and sit bolt upright in bed. your waters have just broken; you’re having the fucking baby.

( author’s note. . . omfg i forgot to tag oops)

this is for my babygirls @mattslolita, @middlepartmatt and @chrissturniolossidehoe 😛🔥

[antiphilosophia]

Crowley's pre-fall name is BARAQIEL (THEORY)

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS OR RATHER CLUES FOR GOOD OMENS SEASON 2 CONTENTS, PROCEED WITH CAUTION 🤍

Very well. Who doesn't love the Crowley is the Archangel Raphael theory (I am certainly of those people who do). During my first watch of Good Omens S2 I was even somehow almost confident that that was the case.

However, my second, more careful, viewing of this lovely (but equally heartbreaking) season made me change my mind, likely for good. In episode 4, Furfur's book "Demon's Guide To Angelic Beings Who Walk The Earth" shows us a name of a certain angel Baraqiel. (see photo below) Knowing Good Omens that can hardly be a coincidence.

Unfortunately, the very text is quite unreadable. One thing, other than the name, which is pretty clear is the subheading "Angel of the Sky" and since the episode 1 lets us take a look at how Crowley did indeed take part in creation of what is to be seen in the night sky, one can hardly find that entirely non-fitting. One other sentence I was (at least I think) able to read is "Often draped in red."

(On a different note but certainly worth noticing are scribbles that generally just roast Crowley – his suspiciousness, hair and name (though I am not absolutely sure of the latter) "His hair is bad!" Wow, Furfur really does hate Crowley.)

Then there is something written above the name of Baraqiel, unfortunately in none of the picture frames does it get a bit readable. I wonder though, couldn't it be "former"? Since it comes precisely after mention of Crowley to whom should one report on Aziraphale.

Crowley is very powerful. Dominion

A word that is not exactly readable but can be deduced from its placement (it is situated just as Aziraphale's "Principality") is Baraqiel's rank – Dominion Angel. It should be noted here that I very much lack proper knowledge of either Jewish or Christian mythology and I would hate to provide any incorrect claims. I therefore think it is better for me not to overly state things, even more so since everyone can look into it on their own and figure out what that might mean for our beloved demon. What I will say, however, is that they are (as I understand it) very powerful and, placed within the 2nd triad in the angel hierarchy, ranked higher than the Archangels. This would go well along with the emphasis that was in my opinion laid on Crowley's powers quite a lot this season.

For example: "A miracle of enormous power happened last night. The kind of miracle only the mightiest of archangels could've performed," said Shax to Crowley, to which he replied: "How'd you know I didn't do it?" He didn't get an answer.

What I think (and I may be very wrong, obviously) is that a miracle of this vastness wouldn't have happened simply because of a regular angel and a regular demon did together half a miracle each. What is also worth noticing is that the tool with which Crowley created the Nebula is the same as the one he used to temporarily stop time at the end of season 1 right before Satan's arrival. So much to the size of his powers.

Baraqiel, lightning of God. Fallen angel

Finally, to Baraqiel himself. My lack of knowledge concerning this matter still stands and frankly I don't even know where to find valid information about angels and such on the internet. Baraqiel should, however, stand for "lightning of God" and is also regarded as the angel of lightning. In season 2 there are (as far as I remember) two occasions where Crowley is put in correlation with lightning. (1) His poor anger management issues in episode 1 and (2) his not at all better matchmaking in episode 3 ("I haven't done weather in ages"). Furthermore, Baraqiel is considered to be the one who taught astrology to people. Nevertheless, what points to Crowley and Baraqiel being one even more is that Baraqiel is indeed a fallen angel.

•

So... That is probably it. I usually tent to theorize about stuff in quiet, in fact, this is the first time I've used Tumblr for anything other than reading Neil Gaiman's posts. I didn't even think that I would actually post it but then I've searched on Twitter, TikTok and here on Tumblr if anyone else has already come up with this theory. The only post I could find (hopefully I haven't missed anything) was by @valaza_04 on Twitter (click here) where they refer to the same frame shot as I do here.

Now I know, we are still recovering from heartbreaking (but if you ask me, absolutely amazing) finale and the main thing currently on our minds is figuring out why would Aziraphale choose as he did and the many wonderful theories that come with it. However, considering the utterly virulent look that Metatron shot at Crowley before walking out of the bookshop with Aziraphale and also his "Well, [Crowley] always did want to go his own way. Always asking damn fool questions, too." makes me think that he absolutely does not care for Crowley and whichever angel he was before the Fall. And I reckon it won't remain unnoticed in season 3 and might even be really important (or that is just me wishing for more pre-fall Crowley scenes). Hence I decided that I will post this. And it doesn't matter if no one will see this in the end, it was quite fun to write. However, if there is someone who will read this all the way through, I hope they will accept my apology for the mistakes I have most possibly made (English is not my first language) and also for the ridiculous length this post has come to gather. It turns out, I am just as chatty of a writer as I am speaker.

Well maybe I will come around to write one more post about this theory, only with a proper research this time. Till then thank you and, please, support this season by streaming as much as you can so we can have season 3 of this masterpiece of a show. And be kind to those bringing it to us in your comments regarding the ending, even though it is very frustrating and heart-shattering, it is also maybe the best ending we could have hoped for with the prospects of season 3.

Thank you for letting me talk my heart out, Tumblr.

[himbeereule]

Орлёнок Demo Release

Finally, the demo is here! It's not exactly January anymore, but better late than never, right?

You can play it right here!

I also made a post on the CoG forums, if you want to check it out: Link

Features include:

Meeting your family! And getting bullied.

Getting executed!

Rising from the dead!

Celebrating life by slaughtering some rebels!

(Being extremely miserable!)

Feedback:

This is, quite obviously, a work in progress. It is made available so that you, the reader, can give feedback that improves the game.

So, while you can - and should - obviously tell me whatever you want, a specific list of what I need most in terms of feedback can be found here:

Language. English is not my first language (actually, not even my second one), and I mostly read non-fiction academic works when I read in English, so my writing is certainly not at the level it should be. If you have any concrete issues, please tell me, and I'll try to learn how it can be improved.

Spelling. I don't expect much in the way of outright errors, but I do know that I mix up British and American English all the time. The intended style is American English, so please point out spellings that are wrong in that regard.

Inconsistencies. There are a lot of variations between scenes, and I'd like to make the story as immersive as possible; so, if a phrasing, a character's behaviour etc. feel like they don't fit into the choices you previously made, please tell me. In detail, if possible, otherwise I won't be able to amend it.

Sensory descriptions. AuDHD makes my brain process sensations, including visual impressions, very differently, which means I often end up forgetting those exist. Please tell me about scenes that lack description in that regard. (My first grade elementary school report card called my writing 'efficient and devoid of feelings', and I'd very much like to move past that.)

Technical problems. The code should be pretty solid, but with how complicated it is, it'd be weird if there weren't at least some problems. If you find them, please try to include as much detail as possible when telling me about it. (CS Quicktest and Randomtest are not usable due to the complexity of the code, lol.)

You liking the story. I remain thoroughly convinced that I am a worthless person who isn't able to, nor deserves to create anything, and currently my only motivation to continue this project is derived from pure stubbornness. So, if you, for some reason, actually like this demo, please tell me. It won't change my mind about how bad I think it is, but it will force me to continue in order to avoid being even more of a disappointment.

Additions. If I like your idea, I'll probably add it right away; if I'm unsure, I'll do a poll. You can get me to do almost anything if you say you're sad if I don't do it.

Formatting. Although I try to playtest as much as possible, it's not that easy with how many variations there are, and in VS Code it's sometimes hard to see how well or badly readable text passages actually are.

CWs/TWs (v0.0.1):

Graphic violence and gore

Attempted sexual assault (against the player, avoidable, f!MC only; also against an NPC if massacre route is chosen (is dealt with quickly))

Suicide attempt (by the player, avoidable; f!MC only)

Loss of loved ones

Massacre of civilians and/or PoWs (avoidable)

General misery

(please let me know if you think this needs additions)

As of yet unfinished content:

Autistic variations do not exist yet for the latter part of the demo

Only one of three locations for taking a walk available for now

Tooltips are incomplete

Asexual is not available yet, as it requires a lot of additional scene variation text

Special (psychopath) routes are missing from some scenes as they were added late in development

Choices that are locked and marked as (WIP) are unfinished

Interaction routes for Semyon/Selena, Mikhail/Marina and Leon/Leah. They are top priority for the first set of updates

It is recommended that you play this with a stable state of mind. If you choose the suffering paths because it's relatable and/or as a coping strategy, please make sure you have support available and avoid triggering yourself too much.

The whole point of this game (apart from the dress-up part) is that, no matter how bad things get, you shouldn't stop fighting. It's your enemies who deserve destruction, not you.

Please keep in mind that I am both literally insane and pretty reasonable, so: if there is anything you find grossly offensive, don't assume I meant anything bad by it. Just explain to me why you think it shouldn't exist, and if I am convinced, I will amend it.

[mommyashtoreth]

what are your most hated popular aziraphale and crowley mischaracterizations

GREAT question I fucking love complaining

Not to sound contradictory right off the bat but for Az it's both like. "Aziraphale is mean" and "Aziraphale is SO cartoonishly nice that he can't even fathom of anything that could be construed by anyone as being somehow 'bad'", because I think both are really fundamental misunderstandings of Aziraphale as a dramatic character for the former and as a comedic character for the latter. "Aziraphale is mean" seems to be based entirely on the ending of s2 and I've certainly said my piece about that already, but to summarize I think it's a bad reading of that scene and I find "actually Aziraphale is manipulative and mean and Crowley is 100000% always in the right and never did anything wrong ever" to make for a much more boring story than what we've actually got. On the other hand, boomeranging right into the other direction and making Aziraphale way too nice is ALSO something I find boring, but in a more standard "fandom flanderization" type of way. Like, I'm sure you've seen something where Aziraphale is so nice and good and pure and soft and sweet and smol cinnamon roll needs protection that he passes out whenever someone says the word "penis." And I find that boring! It's a bad way to engage with his joke. Aziraphale IS nice, genuinely, and he's good to people and helps people and loves humanity, but also like, he's smug and he lies and he says guns lend weight to a moral argument and is kind of a cunt in ways people don't give him credit for. And that's good! That's awesome. He's really really really funny and I obviously really really like him. Basically I wish people knew how to balance "Aziraphale is nice" and "Aziraphale is a bitch" bc both are true and it's a fine-tuned craft managing to depict both at once

Crowley is harder to pin down... idk I just Also find a lot of fandom Crowley very boring in very similar ways, either stripping him down (God I wish) to form one half of a very basic very boring Good Guy Vs. Bad Guy dynamic, or making him this like Sexy Domineering Alpha Male Daddy Dom type that I find very boring. Not that I think Crowley can never be sexy or domineering, my url is literally, yknow, that, but I think all his "evilness" has an almost playful nature to it where like you know he's having fun with it, OR I like when it feels like he's doing it as a job. like Oh, fuck, have to make the quota today. Gotta go cause a pileup. I think people generally tend to make Crowley either too serious or too nice, and he IS nice, there's a guarded softness in like both renditions of the character that IS very important, but he's still Also kind of a bitch! And that's fun! Idk people always make "sin" out to be some huge thing like "Crowley has to literally murder a child" which makes for good conflict, but there's also little stuff that he's a) good at and b) likes doing, like causing traffic jams and moving construction poles around and just like, generally annoying people and I think that's really really funny. I read a fic once where she would order pizza for delivery to other people's houses, and I'm still workshopping mine where she, like, convinces this rich guy to invest in a bad industry so when his stocks plummet he'll be insufferable to be around (also bc greed is a sin. There are sins besides lust! Animals), and that's fun! And honestly Crowley's fun even when he's down in the dumps, he's funny when he gets annoyed with Aziraphale or when he gets angry at Gabriel or whatever. I wish people tapped into that more! Idk I also clearly like Crowley a lot I think we could hang out I could grab a beer with him and play Bowie and Brian Eno on the jukebox, and a lot of fandom Crowley does not feel like somebody I could grab a beer with. Let him loosen up! Misery is fun to write but all work and no play makes Tony a dull boy

[elumish]

You know, a while ago, I saw a post that was something along the lines of "On Tumblr, you could write a post saying 'I like pancakes' and people would reply with 'So you hate waffles???' like nah man that's a whole new sentence!".

These anon you've been getting are really proving the point of that post's OP. I'm sorry you have to deal with Tumblr's often rather mediocre reading comprehension.

FWIW I follow you for being one of the people with actually nuanced takes instead of that weird thing most of this site has got going on, where it's either "If you EVER even think of a character who did ANYTHING wrong in any remotely positive light you're irredeemably evil" on one side and "If you ever so much as imply that maybe there's some things people write or put in shows that can cause harm to real people, you're irredeemably evil.". I hope they all grow out of their black and white thinking. Or at least learn to leave you and others alone.

I appreciate it.

I think, if I'm to give a little bit of grace now that my frustration has died down a very small amount, that people have become so conditioned to reading one argument that they assume everything that looks even remotely similar is the same thing.

On my dashboard, most of what I see is people arguing the same exact points as the anons, usually using fiery overgeneralized language to rile people up about the dangers of censorship online. And so if all you see is people getting mad over and over about this point, written in a way that paints everyone who is critical of any content in fiction in the same broad brush, you are going to start to believe that it's all one thing.

And they're not entirely wrong about the dangers of censorship and harassment--there are, obviously, broad efforts across the United States (and I'm sure other places, but the U.S. is what I'm most familiar with) to censor certain types of literature based on conservative fears of their content.

There have also been efforts, generally well-intended, from the left to reduce "problematic" content. While some of these have been great (e.g., sensitivity readers), others have been abused, often by people who lacked the cultural competency to understand what they were reading or who wanted an excuse to harass people. Many of these efforts, especially those that were implemented most ineffectively or most abused, were focused on the criticism and removal of writers or existing content.

I understand the sensitivity, I really do. I also disagree with efforts that have happened across the board to remove wide swaths of content just because they made someone a little uncomfy.

And yes, I do talk about content moderation, because I also recognize the difference between "made someone a little uncomfy" and "we are welcoming to Nazi content" and unfortunately certain places err too much on the latter side rather than the former in the name of universal free speech with no exceptions.

But most of what I talk about is writing, because I'm a writing blog. I do want to change how people approach writing, because I believe fundamentally in our responsibility as human beings to 1) do what we can to avoid harm and 2) do what we can to improve the world around us. And if that means that there's less of certain content, like magic that relies on biological essentialism and love stories involving SS commanders, then I'm okay with that.

[katnissmellarkkk]

AN: I always see the take that Gale thought of Prim as his own family, his own sister, his own child. And I’ve just always felt like it was an exaggeration, not anything that was proven canonically. I appreciate headcanons but I feel like that one is just very widely accepted so I decided to isolate all the Prim/Gale interactions from the series to basically just put all the facts out there and let anyone decide for themselves if Gale really thought of Prim as his own flesh and blood, or if she was just the kid sister of his best friend/crush. I think it’s apparent that I’m obviously in the latter group. But I may be the only one who interprets it this way so lemme know. But don’t turn this into an argument.

Also @rosegardeninwinter encouraged this.

-

“Prim left us a cheese.” I pull it out.

His expression brightens at the treat. “Thank you, Prim. We’ll have a real feast.” Suddenly he falls into a Capitol accent as he mimics Effie Trinket, the maniacally upbeat woman who arrives once a year to read out the names at the reaping.

-

“Leave the district. Run off. Live in the woods. You and I, we could make it,” says Gale.

I don’t know how to respond. The idea is so preposterous.

“If we didn’t have so many kids,” he adds quickly.

They’re not our kids, of course. But they might as well be. Gale’s two little brothers and a sister. Prim. And you may as well throw in our mothers, too, because how would they live without us? Who would fill those mouths that are always asking for more? With both of us hunting daily, there are still nights when game has to be swapped for lard or shoelaces or wool, still nights when we go to bed with our stomachs growling.

“I never want to have kids,” I say.

“I might. If I didn’t live here,” says Gale.

“But you do,” I say, irritated.

“Forget it,” he snaps back.

The conversation feels all wrong. Leave? How could I leave Prim, who is the only person in the world I’m certain I love?

-

I can feel someone pulling her from my back. I turn and see Gale has lifted Prim off the ground and she’s thrashing in his arms. “Up you go, Catnip,” he says, in a voice he’s fighting to keep steady, and then he carries Prim off toward my mother.

-

Gale offered to carry [Lady]. I think he wanted to see the look on Prim’s face as much as I did. In a moment of complete giddiness, I bought a pink ribbon and tied it around her neck. Then we hurried back to my house.

-

“She’ll understand. I watched a lot of the Games with her and Prim. She won’t say no to you,” says Gale.

-

“Prim?” I gasp.

“She’s alive. So is your mother. I got them out in time,” he says.

-

He herded those he could in its direction, including my mother and Prim.

-

Then I hear it. The faint sound of footsteps on the stairs. “We’re coming!” I hear my sister call.

“Hold the door!” That was Gale.

“They’re coming!” I tell the guards, and they slide the doors open about a foot. But I don’t dare move — afraid they’ll lock us all out — until Prim appears, her cheeks flushed with running, hauling Buttercup. I pull her inside and Gale follows, twisting an armload of baggage.

-

Despite the disagreeable conditions, I’m glad to have time with my sister. My extreme preoccupation since I came here — no, since the first Games, really — has left little attention for her. I haven’t been watching over her the way I should, the way I used to. After all, it was Gale who checked our compartment, not me.

-

“Was it your bomb?”

“I don’t know. Neither does Beetee,” he says. “Does it matter? You’ll always be thinking about it.”

He waits for me to deny it; I want to deny it, but it’s true. Even now I can see the flash that ignites her, feel the heat of the flames. And I will never be able to separate that moment from Gale. My silence is my answer.

“That was the one thing I had going for me. Taking care of your family,” he says.

-

[ankh-morporkianpostalworker]

The Rise of Dimension 20: The Changing Face of Roleplay

I remember when I first heard about Dimension 20 in 2019. I had subscribed to Dropout to watch Um, Actually and I saw D20 being pushed on the platform. I sat down and watched the first episode, then the second. In two days I had finished the first season.

I had never seen anything like it. I had tried NADDPOD and CR and bounced off both (I'd eventually fall head over heels for the former, and gain a solid respect for the latter), but I fell in love with the Bad Kids, the Intrepid Heroes, the world of Elmville, and the style of Brennan Lee Mulligan.

Later, I would learn that the first season of Fantasy High was seen by most in the community as a sort of novelty, the last death-rattle of a dying company. It was cool and new, sure, but it was also a flash in the pan.

Escape From the Bloodkeep proved the naysayers wrong. It proved that Brennan was as much the source of the fun as the Intrepid Heroes, and it showed us something that set him apart from the pack - Brennan was constantly pushing himself to be better. Out of the starting gate, he proved a technical proficiency on par with Matt Mercer, the reigning king, but for Brennan, that wasn't enough. He wasn't facing off with Matt, he was facing off with himself, and he needed to be better.

The Unsleeping City continued this trend. It was another setting the DND actual play community wasn't used to - the real world. The characters were fresh, new, more nuanced than the children they played in Fantasy High. They were up to the challenge, with the same drive as Brennan. Brennan and Ally redefined how the Wild Magic Sorcerer was played, Lou Wilson brought an abandoned Unearthed Arcana to the forefront, and the pair played, perhaps, their best roles to date.

Tiny Heist showed that Brennan could bend 5e to be something it wasn't meant to be - a heist simulator.

Then came A Crown of Candy. Some hold this season to be Brennan's magnum opus and the best performances the Intrepid Heroes have ever given. The combat was quick, dirty, tactical, the characters textured and nuanced. Our heroes had to get out of impossible situations, both in roleplay and combat. Death was a very real possibility. And this season was what sealed Brennan as a real rival for Matt, and was when "I only have Dropout for D20" stopped being a joke and started being a reality. Brennan had hit his stride.

The sidequests and seasons two from this point don't really prove my point, but they're good. Brennan didn't do a couple of them, though.

Then we get to Starstruck. Set in a world his mother had created, it obviously meant a lot to Brennan, and so he strived to outdo everything he'd done up to this point. It was funnier, more moving, the combat more tactical than anything he'd done before. He included space combat, and the cast once again rose to the occasion, portraying those cast out and cast aside by the corporatocracy that was the Starstruck universe, forming a touching bond. It was as if he had peaked.

And then came Neverafter, and with that, Brennan became king. It was horrific, scary, brutal. Combat wasn't fun or interesting, it was intense and nail-biting. The party dropped in their first combat encounter. Children were brutally murdered. They were up against eldritch horrors in perverse retellings of fairy tales. The humor was there, sure, but it was twisted, dark, more about relieving stress than being funny. And again, the cast excelled.

And all because Brennan wasn't trying to outdo Matt or Griffin or Brian, but himself. Each season, he wanted to be better than he had ever been before, pushing his technical abilities, his storytelling abilities, to the max. And the world of actual play shows improved as well. Matt stepped up his game, as did the other big dogs. Brennan redefined the game.

Or I could just be a massive fanboy who's reading way too far into things. Either/or.

[boxx-sama]

Small Yuno Rant

CW: Abortion, mentions of sexual activity, mentions of suicide

Why Yuno Kashiki is NOT just “a girlboss”, as she has been mischaracterized by the Milgram fandom for who knows how long.

Oh boy.

I think most of you are already aware of the treatment Yuno gets by the fandom.

“Yeah girl, you abort that baby!”

“She did nothing wrong, she’s a girlboss!”

“She doesn’t regret anything!”

Well, to that, I say:

Do you know ANYTHING about Yuno, really?

These are all highly watered-down statements that prove that people see Yuno merely as some sort of feminine icon who did what was right for her body. And, that is right to an extent. I am pro-choice. But I don’t think they realize how unhealthy Yuno’s cravings were, how messed up her mindset is, and just how jaded she is.

I will debunk these statements one by one, so without further ado, let’s go.

Abortion in Japan, and Yuno’s Family

I’ve done my research on this, and I can easily say that getting a proper abortion in Japan is absolute hell. Taken from this article, an excerpt reads:

In Japan, abortion is essentially a crime except for certain indications. These indications have to do with mental illness, hereditary disease, leprosy, threat to the health of the mother, and pregnancy resulting from rape or threat. These indications entered into force under the eugenic protection law of 1948. On January 1, 1991, a new regulation became effective that shortened the duration of pregnancy termination from 23 weeks of gestation to 21 weeks in view of the advancement of medicine that made it possible for prematurely born children to survive outside the uterus.

Despite the limited availability for abortion, it is definitely seen as a crime by Japanese people. It is known that women are supposed to be held responsible for the death of the baby, not the doctors or pills that may be taken.

And even then, the chance of a proper abortion is slim. For example, birth control pills. The pill is not covered by Japanese Health Insurance, and the cost is approximately 3,000 yen per month. That is about $20 USD. Yuno is not struggling for money, either, as revealed by her T2 VD:

“I'm not pitiable. My family gets along super well. And I'm not particularly struggling for money. I decided, of my own free will, to do it because I felt that it was necessary for me.”

This adds evidence to my theory that Yuno did not want to be publicly shamed for having an abortion at such a young age, and as such, went to more extreme, private methods to rid of the baby; the latter of which I will get to later.

As I previously mentioned, abortion is looked down on in Japan. A few reasons for this include cultural influences, societal expectations, and historical factors, which contribute to a certain level of stigma. Traditional values emphasizing family continuity and societal norms may influence perceptions.

In a previous theory I had, I stated that Yuno had a highly religious family, and her own morals went against theirs. However, she loved her family, so she tried to seek a “cure” to her depression through sex. Many interrogation questions can add to this theory:

Question 4: Do you believe that god exists?

Answer: Obviously not.

(Note: The original TL had just said “no”, but Yuno has でしょ at the end of her sentence, and this can be used to emphasize a phrase or question, to my knowledge. As such, I changed it to be more fitting!)

Question 9: What do you think of your family?

Answer: I love them.

Perhaps she did everything behind their backs not only due to possible religious/traditional views, but because she wouldn’t want to be seen as someone who is “bad” for chasing after her ideals. On a slightly seperate note, this theme is fairly prominent in Umbilical:

Am I a bad girl? Please don’t answer What do you want to do? Please tell me

There are like more examples from the second trial interrogation, so if there are any let me know!

What Yuno Did + Her Regret

I think everyone has a general consensus as to what Yuno’s “murder” is. She participated in compensated dating, got pregnant at some point, and had an abortion, most likely by jumping off a set of stairs to kill the baby and herself.

This can be inferred by her Undercover shot, where she is standing at the end of her apartment balcony, seemingly holding her stomach from behind:

And not just this photo, but this brief shot from Umbilical:

(Fun little detail, but the whole aesthetic part of her MV is designed to be pink like a uterus and the balloons/white specs flying around may be sperm? Which implies she was “drowning” in warmth. Interesting.)

But wait, why would Yuno take herself as well as the baby? I like to think of it this way.

During her compensated dating, she met a man that she liked. One man who saw her for her, and not a complete facade. These dates, where she seems more like herself, are with said man—

The school uniform Yuno, as well as yellow Yuno.

It’s known that Yuno does look less happy in her other two personas by the second bridge, so I think she was more comfortable playing a lively character with this client because it felt more close to how Yuno wanted to represent herself.

So, progressing to Tear Drop, this man wears a gray coat. I saw a theory that I agree with once but forgot the source of it, so I’ll simply state it. I think that the Yuno in lingerie is representative of herself, and the Yuno in her uniform is the client. They keep and having sex and loving each other, but Yuno is betrayed when she finds out the man was using her for money and left her due to the pregnancy and then her life comes crashing down after. I’m kinda shortening this because this was supposed to be short but ended up long instead.

Does Yuno regret what she did? Yes, to an extent.

And anyone who doesn’t read into her character should really reconsider it!

[rei-ismyname]

From The Ashes: X-Men #5 Review

Spoilers, obviously.

A Journey to the Centre of the Mind Issue

Mambo number 5 is about as close to a bottle episode as it gets in comics, so the main question is 'does it succeed at that?' Cyclops appears briefly at the beginning and end, but he's not a main character per se. The focus is on Kwannon/Psylocke and Quentin Quire - two characters with little, if any history.

Let's assume this white lady is Kwannon, GRRR

It's nice to see Kwannon and Greycrow are still together, though he used to be a lot more attractive. I'm not talking about the weight he's gained, that's great. His facial structure is off - he looks like Kraven the Hunter. I don't think the art style is doing him any favours. They're having the same conversation they've always had so the Kwannon focus is off to a boring start. There's nothing here we haven't heard before, and she's not talking like a real person. Very writerly, like someone who's read the script and is telling us their blunt themes. Trauma stays with you and repeats itself over and over, but unless you're going laser focused on the subject you want to give us something new.

Okay that's pretty funny

Aside from that threat and Quentin saying 'kicks', nothing new here either. 20 pages is a very limited amount of space - I don't think this is the issue for using three of them to set up a smash cut joke. I'll come back to this intro. This mission is the reason these two weren't available last issue. A psychic rescue of Ben Liu, the dude they rescued in #2 and argued with Agent Lundqvist over in #3. He's in a coma and Cyclops tells them not to take their arguing into his head.

There's the 'aliens' he was projecting in #2, and Quentin thinks something is off. Kwannon is right, people usually use sign language and projection during psychic rescues/surgery. He disagrees, of course. The imagery is interesting, but again I feel like we're not learning anything new. I'd expect act 2 here to be more dense - it's a hyperfocused issue but the content is light so far.

Yes, he was experimented on. See what I mean? The art is showing the most blatant 'torturous experimentation by humans' imagery possible - is the most interesting dialogue possible to have them plainly state that? Or to have Kwannon just say she can't see something? This type of mission is an archetype at this point, so we've seen it done well before. Not just in comics either, this is a cartoon/sci-fi staple. People understand the premise, especially if you're economical in setting it up. I think it's a miscalculation to treat the new readers they're trying to hook like they need their hands held. Anyway, there's an entity of some sort - a psychic jack-in-the-box who looks and talks a lot like Cassandra Nova.

Except it straight up tells them who did the experimenting. Great security system lol, or maybe one that assumes they won't be able to tell anyone. 3K sound like overly elaborate dumbasses.

It goes straight for the jugular trauma. Quentin's fear of abandonment name checking his parents (who he accidentally killed, are we retconning that or is this his adopted parents? Probably the latter.) Also Wolverine and Phoebe, which are nice to see acknowledged as important relationships. And of course Sabertooth, who beheaded him and carried it round in a jar, using him as a tool to hurt his friends. It's both very effective and stuff he's mostly dealt with already. Maybe that's why it doesn't stop him for long. No mention of Idie, his oldest friend who's not very impressed with him? No mention of his guilt from X-Force war crimes or the hundreds of times he died? No mention of Krakoa, the loss every mutant should be feeling? Of course not.

Kwannon sees John Greycrow telling her she's wrong and killing himself, and that's it. She has wayyyy more hectic trauma than this so maybe it's fear or insecurity. Either way it feels very small - I love Greycrow and them together but she's a lot more than the relationship. She had a daughter who died, she was bodyjacked for decades, she's been terrorised by Sinister. This feels more like Greycrow's issues than hers. If this is followed up with them being super codependent then fine, it's worth the page space. Right now it feels like Quentin is the main character and Kwannon is a paper cutout. 'I can't' are words I'd expect from Quentin, but Kwannon keeps saying them this issue. If you're not doing it properly, maybe leave her outside as the anchor or something? Focus on Quentin so we get a deeper look under his hood, setup his arc for this run. Psylocke has a solo book coming after all, plenty of time to get to know her again.

Also, is that how Black Bug rooms work? The usage feels odd to me but I'm being hypercritical here. Weigh in if you know.

Quentin hears a psychic gunshot and snaps out of it. That was easy! Cassandra Nova must be losing her touch. I guess it's not the real her anyway, just an echo. Maybe she's not up to her old tricks and letting them know the name of the enemy was intentional. I doubt it, but we'll see. They use Quentin's Omega power and Psylocke's finesse on a psychic fastball special. His echoing of her threat to him as support is a serviceable callback, but it foregrounds Quentin again. Simultaneously too much and not enough, though at least it justifies her presence on this mission.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Is it just me or is that a shitload of blood on the ground? This is the last page, directly following the one I showed above it. Here's what we learned

- Benny Boy is awake.

- 3K are responsible for the adult X-Gene activations.

- On baseline humans, which might recontextualise a thing or two.

- Cassandra Nova is involved.

So a bunch of dipshits dug up an old villain for the fourth time and borrowed a scheme from the Ultimate Universe. Why? How? It'd be good to get Beast or Scott's reaction to that, but there's no room. There wasn't even enough room to show how Kwannon learnt this, but it's a pretty reasonable deduction. My earlier question was 'does it succeed at being a psychic rescue issue?' Just barely. It checks all the boxes but left a lot on the shelf. It took too long to get to act 1 for Kwannon beats that weren't worth it IMO. Yeah I want to know about her but having too broad a focus meant we arguably learnt more about Greycrow than her. We learnt nothing new about Quentin. The psychic rescue was setup last issue, I think starting in media res would have freed up 5-6 pages to put some meat on those bones.

X-Men comics have a long standing tension between new and established readers. 'Every comic is somebody's first' is admirable, but the patience of established readership is finite. I don't think it succeeds well at either, to be frank, and it feels like that tension is a factor. I think at some point you just have to tell the best story possible, otherwise we're left asking 'who is this for?' That's capitalism for you, always chasing growth often at the expense of creativity.

Also, KWANNON LOOKS FUCKING WHITE. She's Japanese. Do better, FFS.

I don't really vibe with numerical ratings, so I'll just say that X-Men issue 5 is totally skippable. The information will be mentioned again and the journey wasn't executed very well. What a shame. The art is okay, consistent with every other issue of this title, except for the whitewashing. It's got a lot of choices I don't love but I suspect they come from editorial (Quent and Cyclops' ages etc.) Thanks for reading.

[tonydaddingham]

I mean Neil said once that the sequel involved Jesus arriving in America on a plane with secret service agents, and the S2 opening sequence shows a plane, so I'm... fairly confident that he's an adult? Jesus died when he was like 33 right

afternoon anon!!!✨ see i recall this (ask on neil's page?) and remember the response but cannot for the life of me find it anywhere (and im pretty good at Finding Stuff), do you - or anyone else reading for that matter - have a link to this? just so i can save it for future reference.

now, i hope you don't mind if i do this, but i would like to use this opportunity to parse out a more coherent rationale on the second coming, if that's okay? yeah? cool.

(previous incarnation of this theory).

thing is that the premise of the baby swap in s1 is based on the omen, right? takes at least a huge chunk of inspiration from that as the origin of how the antichrist came into the story. but it goes wrong, obviously, and there's a third baby thrown in the mix. makes a cursory wave to the omen, but isn't a carbon copy of it.

now i can't help but feel that narratively it would make sense to bookend this and have the second coming be a bit bollocksed up too. seems to be a theme in GO. and actually, when i thought about it (with extreme bias, granted, because im chomping at the bit on this theory), the second coming was potentially already fucked up anyway.

now, disclaimer time -

i completely get that people will look to the bible in reference to parsing out the second coming (or indeed any other theory). obviously i do too, for references to certain verses etc. in order to draw the relevant parallels. but there are multiple instances in GO where it is based on the bible or other texts, but doesn't follow it exactly; how GO portrayed the book of job, for example. it takes these texts, and distorts or reimagines them slightly or completely.

the way i see it, we are reading/watching GO as if this is in fact the true telling of those texts, as if (and not trying to be diminutive here) the bible is an inaccurate telling of GO, not the other way around - because, of course, we're seeing GO from the angel and demon that were 'actually there', so to speak.

im not saying that this - or any - of my theories are indisputably correct, far from it. but to me, with the information i have from the narrative as first source, and then looking at the referenced texts that inspired it, what i come up with, and write, is what makes sense to me. and it might make sense because it would be poetically apt, is in-keeping with how i interpret the characters, and/or is just plain funny or ironic (GO is after all, a comedy).

so whilst i fully anticipate people to duly correct me on how it all goes down in the bible (as they should, i love being educated!!!), please know that im not trying to deliberately misinterpret anything, but more trying to think outside the box, from the viewpoint of the GO story itself, and what direction would make the most sense in which it will reimagine these texts.

- exit disclaimer.

anyway! theory time!

so we have the imagery from the s2 sequence of the "thy kingdom come" plane, and this is obviously a reference to the resurrection as you've said, anon: that jesus arrives by plane. i truly love this imagery because if we take matthew 24:36 (KJV): "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.", the concept that in the great plan the date and time might finally be revealed in the form of a flight number, airport, and ETA is frankly hilarious to me. furthermore, "cometh with clouds" (revelation, 1:7 KJV) being reimagined as a literal plane landing again sets up the comedic backdrop so well.

now wherever the plane lands, whether from the US or to the US (again, don't have the original neil answer to refer to, but going based on your ask, anon, it's the latter), it regardless involves americans. this is where i feel it would be a perfect narrative symmetry opportunity to refer back to s1/the book, and reintroduce the dowlings.

and you might be wondering, "well no because GO set up the dowlings to be involved only insomuch that they were meant to be custodians of the antichrist - why would they also be involved in the second coming?" well, i wondered this too. the only conclusion i can come to, frankly, is GO!god having a very warped, twisted and ineffable sense of humour. they saw what satan had planned for the dowlings in inadvertently raising the antichrist, possibly did a bit of shifting around in the mystical threads, and decided that actually - just to throw in the wildcard of chaos - they should instead be the bearers of the second coming. this degree of mind-boggling ineffability, to me, would be comedically on-brand.

regardless; whilst just a theory, the whole thing makes sense to me - that in any case, the dowlings are going to make a reappearance. and with them, or on his own (if we follow the biblical telling that jesus was resurrected as he was from the crucifixion, at age 33yo, and therefore would suggest a timeskip from s2, but this isn't necessarily guaranteed - ie: might not be how GO chooses to portray it!), comes warlock. now we know that warlock was meant to be the antichrist, before crowley and the nuns managed to bugger it all up.

but heaven wouldn't necessarily know that its the dowlings arriving, right? presumably they'd just all gather on the tarmac awaiting the arrival, and lmao SIKE, it's bloody warlock. heaven hasn't met warlock, and therefore still think he's in fact jesus resurrected... but aziraphale has met him. he helped bloody raise him. and he knows now that he is essentially a normal kid/adult (albeit a very stuck-up one) and definitely not the second coming.

well then, if jesus was meant to be on that plane, according to the great plan, a plane being used by the dowlings... then why isn't it warlock? well, because the dowlings' actual baby isn't warlock. lets go back to the baby swap in the book/s1:

*apols, editing to correct this somewhat because it isn't quite right and lateral thinking is not my strong suit*

ANTICHRIST was meant to go to: the DOWLINGS. instead, went to: the YOUNGS. this is Adam.

YOUNG BABY was meant to go to: stay with the YOUNGS, but got mixed up. instead, went to: the DOWLINGS. this is Warlock.

DOWLING BABY was meant to go to: adoption/something nefarious instead, and indeed did. this is... Greasy Johnson.

and i love this for all sorts of reasons. now im lifting this next bit, essentially, from another ask of mine, but to keep things all in one place:

"greasy is posed as the antithesis of adam/antichrist, has a gang surrounding him that you could infer are loyal disciples, and is a mirror to adam in that adam on the whole seems to be a well-adjusted and morally-upstanding young boy.

i further think the fact that adam is the antichrist put against greasy being the second coming is a well positioned reflection on the nature vs nurture argument. ultimately adam grew up in a largely loving and supportive environment, and as the literal son of satan, you'd expect his nature, the circumstances of his birth, to rule out every other influence.

ultimately it does for a short time, but adams narrative iirc is that it is reflective of his desire to save the world... he wanted to get rid of things that were Wrong, and naively (he is still an 11-year old boy after all) thought that destroying the world and restarting it would do just that. his friends however reinforce in him that destruction and reparation are not the same thing, and so his upbringing, the nurture, wins.

greasy? we don't know a lot about him, only that he is a bully and represents the opposite of adam and the them... [and there exists] the whole [sic] analogy that greasy and the johnsonites vs adam and the them are meant to represent the hell vs heaven war..."

and then we have this small, relatively innocuous detail from the book:

as i said, possibly something of nothing. but the deliberate wording of 'breeding the fish', which is left out of s1, is - i like to think - a bit of a clue.

and before anyone comes for me on this, i am aware that this is based practically on fuck all of jack shit; im painfully aware of that. im aware that it deliberately misinterprets certain passages (not going to do the soapbox speech again, promise), but i just like to have fun. i honestly do not care if this is wrong; whatever happens in s3 should and will be better than anything i can come up with. yes, it's fun to get a prediction or speculation correct, of course it is, but it's not the endgame here. i get that others will have conflicting schools of thought, see things differently, or just plain think it's crap - that's okay! but, if that's the case, just move on from this post with a shake of your head. im not here to do anything other than have a good time, lads (gn)✨💓

edit 21/08: additional reading because now i feel vindicated: here from amuseoffyre, and my tags on this post too.

[opereetveritate]

Frozen II - Secret Love

Summary: Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf embark on a journey to the Enchanted Forest to save their kingdom. But what happens when they meet again with an old enemy? And what happens when old yet strong feelings come up the surface? Read to find out!

Chapter 1

Holding her sister's hand tightly and without any intention of letting go, Anna and Elsa crossed the fog and entered the Enchanted Forest, followed by Kristoff and Olaf and Sven. King Agnar once told his daughters about his journey as a prince in the Enchanted Forest. The two sisters asked to know more information about this, but their father insisted that they were too young to withstand the violence of the events that followed. But they never got to hear the rest of thestory. Elsa could never imagine that story was about to repeat itself after so many years, with her and Anna taking the lead roles.They were all dazzled by the beauty of the forest. Everything around them looked like it was taken straight from a fairytale book.

"This place is amazing!" The two girls turned their heads to Kristof, who seemed really excited.

"It is beautiful, indeed!" Elsa agreed as they went deeper into the forest.

"Remember that this place has remained hidden for many years, which means there must be a good reason for it. Keep your eyes open for traps. We need to be very careful!"

"You are absolutely right!" Said Kristoff, imitating Sven's voice. Anna tried to stifle her laughter. In just three years, Olaf had matured enough. She did not expect anything less, after all. Her sister possessed powers that no one could imagine how far they could go. Elsa leaned against a tree and inhaled the fresh air. She couldn't hide her excitement. If only Arendelle looked a little like this place... Her sister had a great love for Arendelle, the place where she and Elsa were born. However, the latter knew that she had not yet found the place where she belonged. She wasn't like others. A flower of incomparable beauty caught Olaf's attention. Olaf came closer and examined the flower with his childlike innocence. He bent down to inhale his scent, when, all of a sudden, an eerie sound resounded in their ears.

"Olaf, no!" Anna shouted at him, preventing him from cutting the flower.

"But, it's soo beautiful!" He said in a sweet voice. Elsa and her sister exchanged a terrified look. A large rock was heading towards Olaf. Anna was about to run towards Olaf and save him, but Kristoff ran first and pulled him back, before the rock flattened the little snowman.

"I got him!" He called out to the two girls.

"Are you ok, buddy?" Kristoff asked him, causing the little snowman to look back at him with widened eyes."

Of course I am, Kristoff. That flower though..." His voice trailed off, looking at the destroyed flower.

"What were you thinking Olaf?" Anna shouted furiously at him, and Olaf lowered his gaze, obviously sad. Anna had never shouted at him that way before. He was still a child at heart, though. And it hurt him.

"It's alright, Anna. He's fine!" Elsa said, petting Olaf's head. He stared up at Elsa with teary eyes.

"Come on Olaf. Lets walk a little!" She told him, taking him by the hand. Elsa knew her sister's character. Anna needed her space. She needed some time to think. Kristoff looked at his beloved and understood better than anyone her agitation and fear. Anna was a burning, inexhaustible source of life, ready to give even her own life for her loved ones. Anna was on the verge of tears. She didn't want to upset Olaf, that wasn't her intention, but she didn't know what to do. What would have happened, if they didn't make it? Pabbie was right. This trip was quite risky. Kristoff approached her slowly.

"Anna, are you alright?" He asked her and Anna turned to look at him. There was despair on her face, and that made him regret questioning her such a ridiculous question.

"No, Kristoff. I'm not well at all," she replied with a sob and sniffed.

"Did you see what just happened? One wrong move and-" Kristoff wanted to comfort her, but couldn't think of a way to do so.

"But we are safe now. And that's what matters!" He told her softly.

"Besides, you don't need to worry. Your sister is quite strong and will make it!"

"That's the thing, Kristoff! I do not want to put her in danger. Just the thought that I could lose her..." She couldn't finish her sentence, and tears ran down her cheeks.

"It would not help matters over analyzing things. You need to overcome worrying!" She looked at him angrily, unable to understand that he was trying to make her feel better.

"Do you think I'm overreacting? Is that what you're trying to say?" The accusative look she gave him, it made Kristoff gulp. Why was he so bad at words?

"No, no, that's not what I meant! What I meant is that you shouldn't worry yourself over almost everything. Besides, some things are out of our hands and-"

"You don't think we're gonna make out of here?" Seeing the fear in her eyes, he rushed to explain himself. He ran a frustrating hand through his hair and inhaled deeply. He had made things worse than before.

"No, I didn't mean that. Of course not!" He told her, before pulling her into his arms. She started crying and Kristoff stroke her hair lovingly, in an attempt to calm her down.

"I'm so scared!" She whispered.

"Not for me, but for Elsa, for Olaf, for you!" Her tears prevented her from continuing. Kristoff couldn't bear to see her in such a state. Ηe had grown up without a family and understood better than anyone else the pain of loss. Elsa was so lucky to have a sister like Anna. Kristoff was lucky too, for he had met Anna. His feelings for the princess were clear. He had fallen in love with her and could not imagine his life with anyone else. He had waited a long time now and could not wait any longer. He would ask her to marry him. He had been meaning to ask her, for he was dying inside, but didn't find the right opportunity. He cleared his throat, before speaking.

"Anna, there is something very important that I want to tell you! I ..." Anna suddenly looked around. But where were the others?

"Where are Elsa and Olaf?" Kristoff looked at her tenderly and took her hands in his.

"I'm sure they're fine!" He tried to explain to her, but she looked visibly upset. Anna loved her sister more than life itself.

"Anna, you're the best thing that had ever happened to me and..." His voice trailed off as he saw her walk away from him. After all, her sister would always come first.

"Elsa ?! Where are you?" How could she leave her alone? She had promised to protect her, but broke her promise.Kristoff knew there was no other way to convince her. The wedding proposal could wait. He could wait for her.

"We'll find them!" He said as he took her by the hand and guided her deeper into the woods. After walking for a few minutes, they finally saw Elsa standing with her back turned at them, looking into the distance in front of her. Anna let go of Kristoff's hand and ran to her sister. Anna back-hugged her, causing Elsa to jump at the sudden contact. The younger sister giggled at that."You're ok!" She exclaimed happily and hugged her sister tighter than before. Elsa smiled at her sister's cuteness and hugged her back.

"Of course, I am!" She said back.

"'Cause you're here with me!"Olaf was sitting under the shade of a tree. He seemed to be in deep thought. Anna sighed deeply. She wanted to go to him and apologize for her awful behavior towards him, but Elsa's voice stopped her.

"Look!" She told her, pointing to the left side of the landscape. The princess gasped at that.

"It's just a dam!" Kristoff remarked.

"It was in Grand Pabbie's vision." Said Anna, glancing at her sister.

"It's the one father had told us about!" Elsa added with a heavy sob. Anna placed her hand on her sister's shoulder lovingly.

"Elsa?! Are you alright?" If there was one thing that the young princess could not stand, that was to see her sister upset. She would give everything, just to see a smile on Elsa's face. The young queen wiped her tears away with the sleeve of her dress.

"I wish he was here with us!" She said, choking back her tears. Her sister pulled her into her arms.

"But he is always with us, Elsa. He is always here!" She told her softly, pointing at her heart.

"What would I do without you?" She asked her, hugging her tightly.

"You will always have me!" She answered in a heartbeat. Kristoff looked at the two sisters with a smile on his face. Their love for each other was indeed something special. The sudden sound of a horn made everyone look at each other in confusion. Anna brought a finger up to her lips, implying them to be quiet and walked over to Kristoff. She pulled out the sword from his sheath.

"Anna, what are you doing?" He asked her but did not receive an answer from her as they heard footsteps coming to their direction. The people of Nolthuldra stood before them, holding spears and looking angry. Anna and her friends took a step back, but to their great surprise, they found out that they were surrounded by another group of people too. These men were holdings swords and shields and looked like nothing the Nolthuldra. They mostly looked like Arendelle's soldiers.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" The leader of the tribe asked in a cold tone.

"Anna, let me handle this!" He whispered to her, but she did not listen to anyone."Anna, lower your sword. You are making it worse!" Elsa told her and tried to take the sword from her sister's hands but in vain.

"What is happening here?" Anna felt a knot in her stomach. This voice sounded strangely familiar to her. But no, it can't be. A young man pushed his way into the crowd. He seemed different from the rest of the tribe. His green eyes widened when he saw who the intruders were. He couldn't believe it. His past was following him again.

"Hans?" The two sisters exclaimed simultaneously.

[nothing-suspicious-in-there]

Slightly more dramatic than necessary for what we know so far, but still, maybe it will finally deliver on some more Good Koga Trauma as I hoped it would, to make this drama look more appropriate.

The way this is going has the potential to address a number of less-than-ideal things that i had an issue with in this manga, even if nothing big enough to make me stop reading a story I understand to be casual:

After the renewed attention given to Koga not studying, and then this I start to have hope that I can engage with this story on a slightly higher ground than just cute gay fluff. (Slighlty, it's still a romance manga not fucking. utena or something. but my expectations are so low nowadays that the co-occurrence of something I like also being decently written is akin to a miracle to me.)

So I'm not raising my hopes too much, but potentially these things would be real good if they happened (so Incredibly basic I feel dumb by typing them out like it's complex analysis, but again my bar is low):

Small setups

First of all a number of things that happened casually in the last few chapters seemingly without much bigger significance about them or seemingly solved could be leading up to this and make matters worse.

We have Koga having a dramatic moment of being jealous of herself. All very irrational and silly. But it's clearly been shown to be rooted in trauma (that again I hope it'll explore better to give it more weight than it currently has, it's very vague and not well defined enough to keep up these moments of drama as effectively as it should.) This clearly serious moment for her is created and resolved in the span of 3 4-pages chapters, barely anything.

Many previous plot points that have been raised simply get "resolved" extremely quickly and/or easily like this one, or her social anxiety, her feeling of not belonging, her bad grades, aya fearing koga will relocate. In an episodic story where the author is not concerned with exploring stuff or giving it time to stew or a realistic length for its resolutions. it means the story is just like that, it's a matter of what you like and want to write. And I personally don't enjoy this episodic-ness as much as the alternative.

In a story concerned with having satisfactory earned resolutions and a long development, those issues are shelved for later use, and given the last chapters I'd really hope the author is showing that she's writing the latter type of story, since it's what I prefer. Having a dramatic moment with Koga and then telling us it's resolved in .5 seconds without exploring it deeply just feels like a missed opportunity for me and I'd love if this and other small details would come together to do just that.

The fact that her social problems are resolved so anti-climatically is. fine for a casual story, but it would be more juicy if they were not solved as easily as just her hanging out with a couple more people, since the story is also trying to sell me that these issues are pretty bad and somewhat traumatic in nature. Maybe this will go somewhere more interesting now that it's getting de-shelved, and hopefully it wasn't supposed to be a neat and tidy resolution before.

The last fer chapters also has a very small undercurrent that I could have done without, specifically something like that small aya remark on how she likes Koga in the girls' uniform while knowing full well Koga's not into it (not Aya's fault, but also not ideal to say to a butch lol), or the fact that Koga's clearly-serious-if-still-irrational-and-obviously-dumb fear on how she's not really why aya keeps hanging out with her was "resolved" by being dismissed as a dog whining for attention. I myself made Mirror Dog Comic jokes literally the second i finished chapter 76, the story doing that joke themselves was funny and Koga's hilariously wrong ofc, but also huh, then the dog joke went on for like 3 chapters and idk. With how it was all framed it doesn't give off the best respect-for-the-character-vibes specifically because it's also framed as the result of some serious issues.

I always thought that this manga, unlike some other stuff, kinda give the impression it respected its butch character enough, or butchness in general, none of that "haha let's give the butch character girly clothes and laugh at how uncomfortable they are lol" manga loves. She does dumb shit and is called out for that, but she feels like an actual person, neither a complete dumbass nor the coolest person on earth. Recently though there was this slight movement toward "what a dumbass" in a way that doesn't feel earned and clashes against the subtext of why she's acting like that, this or the thing with aya just randomly saying she likes her in the girls' uniform were kinda strange. I'd really like if this is less of a falling into bad habits with depicting butch characters and more a setup for what'll happen after the end of this chapter, adding to the pile of things thanks to which Koga will feel misunderstood.

The premise

Another thing that developing her trauma does is solving an half-issue that has been there since the start of this manga and is kinda a problem of this type of premise unless you do a really good job at making sure to solve it. When you're writing a standard romance story where two people are, more or less, still supposed to get together in the end and You the audience are supposed to Want them to get together, it's important to not write the story in such a way that makes the audience Not want them together. And when you're writing a story where one of the person, knowing full well they're doing this, lies about significant aspects of themselves and who they are while also trying to pursue a non-casual relationship with them either platonic or romantic with no sufficient excuse about why they're doing it, you're writing one of the two people the audience needs to be on board with being together just. Being an Asshole. Full stop.

Especially if they know the other person have a crush on them, they see each other in another setting (school) and have no indication to believe they are not straight, but that last thing would make no difference about them still lying. Unless you give that character enough of a reason on why they can't but do that, if they have any freedom to not lie to who they want to be friend and/or partner with, they are fullstop an asshole who you don't in any way want to get together with the other person in the end. (I'm talking about normal romance plots and their audience, not toxic romance stories and their audience, which by definition need the opposite to happen to get the story they want ofc).

All manga I previously read with the same premise as kinioto had this issue, which honestly I don't think it's that wild to understand and correct, but apparently it is lol. So kinioto fortunately is at least miles away better in this regard for a number of reasons, but it's not exactly perfectly ideal either because while it does try to set up an excuse for koga to act this way and it's technically a solid one, for now it has been expressed in very vague and wishy-washy ways that don't sit as well with me.

We have an entire bonus chapter about Koga being bullied for her gender non-conformity with Ryhthm B, which would give her a very solid case against being an asshole (she's just a temporary and involuntarily one.) If the issue is that she was very afraid that, by saying the truth, aya would not care to keep being friends and would had no reasons to keep to herself Koga's gender-nonconformity, so Koga was afraid of the consequences of the whole school knowing, plus the story telling me there's trauma in there, her lack of any other platonic relationships and loneliness, general self-worth issues, being Gay(tm) and wanting to interact with aya, but also still looking only for a platonic relationship (or it'd be way way worse to justify), and being a teenager with no idea about what she's doing, it's a reasonable amount of leeway.

None of this excuses Koga from lying to Aya but it does paint a picture of her not Being an asshole, just accidentally acting asshole-y, which give her the opportunity to stop not too long after they become friends, repair the damage and do better later.

Another thing it does right is that Aya is Pissed when she finds out, and for good reason. It's still kinda eh that she's doing a 180 so quickly after the school concert and I'd have preferred if she had more time to reflect but still, at least the story says it was fucked up and aya is obviously angry at being lied to constantly by someone that knew she had a crush on them and that Aya thought Koga was a guy but said nothing while pretending to be said guy. There was no romantic relationship previous to this, they were just starting to be friends, and Koga asks her to start anew with their friendship after doing something she was terrified of doing as goodwill. Works fine enough in these circumstances.

Given it's very crucial that one of your protagonists doesn't become an asshole accidentally while you write it's important for Koga's motivation to lie to be sufficient to bear the weight of this premise. And until know she only vagued about being afraid Aya would not want to be friends with her, a very dumb thing to say since if you're lying 1. she's not actually friends with You, 2. she won't want to be friends once she eventually finds out, and if she's in the position of not finding out she's barely a friend, more like a casual acquaintance. The reasons Koga gives to why she's afraid of saying the truth doesn't do enough to escape the asshole allegations, it's either she's an asshole or she's Dumb of Ass in a way that's not well-written trauma induced and it's just random Idiot Ball induced. As I said Rhythm B thankfully starts to give a solid reason on why she would want to lie, but while I can infer it from there, this is too crucial of a point to leave only as a subtext sorta-text vague contradictory thing, and I need it to be fleshed out more so that it's unmissable that that's the reason she's lying, and that said reason is solid. If now there'll be any exploration of her issues we may be getting this clarity that would retroactively solve this half-issue for me.

Ok I'll stop typing about shit we don't even know will happen, peace

[nanomooselet]

Episode Four: Hungry!

Full disclosure, it took me a while to warm up to Wolfwood.

I hadn't read the manga or watched the older adaptation. Didn’t know anything about him except his ridiculous gun and that he was a priest (hence the ridiculous gun, because anime). I couldn't figure out why he was present in the narrative, except... because he was in the manga and older adaption. It seemed a little indulgent; I wanted more time with Meryl. He wasn’t even a priest. Obviously Nick has plenty of homoerotic tension with Vash, but all due respect and sympathy to Vash/Wolfwood shippers, m/m pairings have always left me cold (to be fair, pairings generally do that irrespective of gender. Desire unfulfilled is more my speed).

Sad to say that I still don't ship Vash/Wolfwood, but I did definitely come to understand why people do and why they like the guy. Though am I the only one baffled that Vash gets cast as the virginal princess so often? After this look?

Whew. No wonder Wolfwood looks like he got hit with a two-by-four. Ahem.

This is a very necessary episode that feels maybe too "necessary", like they realised they needed to introduce everything it introduces and didn't leave enough time to integrate it all naturally. It's too tight, and Stampede is already a show so tight it squeaks. Still, I think blowing Wolfwood's cover before the day was out was, if not the only right decision, not a wrong one. Almost immediately this guy comes across as sketchy, half from that he's barely trying to act like he's not (which absolutely sends me; he really hates his job) and half that he's just... an awkward dude, angry and obviously hurt in a way he won’t admit to. And while we know there's more to Vash than his façade, it's hard to tell just how smart he really is, how perceptive, because this is Vash. Meryl is the type to show off her knowledge, because she's young and eager to prove herself. Vash is a creature of endless masks and insurmountable walls. He refuses to, as he sees it, burden anyone else with his thoughts.

So we do exactly what Zazie does in this episode: show Vash something wounded and vulnerable because he'd tear off his own skin if it would make things easier for someone else. Except instead Wolfwood is the one who feels a little too exposed, of course. It's so funny to me how obviously he didn't expect this? And how frustrated when he realises he'll have to drag this self-sacrificial lunatic all the way to July alive without becoming attached. I honestly think he failed in that latter part before they even got shot out of the Worm. Vash is just so loving, and so loveable.

Also, the Worm guys (as I mentally call them) might be my favourite minor characters next to Rosa and her offsiders. They're a hilarious audience to the madness. I’m glad they got so many dinners in one go.

And Zazie - what a great character, one I genuinely think is an improvement over prior incarnations rather than just being different from them. Nail game on point, entirely free of fucks given, and a sterling addition to the cast. I'll talk more about our buggy friend later, and I have more to say about Wolfwood besides that hitting him with the trailer forced me to pause the video until I stopped cackling.

Finally, the closing scene chills me in hindsight for a number of reasons, but what gets me the most is that it's a bookend. At the episode's start, Vash refused to eat. Wolfwood had to convince him to. And it's not that he can't use his Gate, it's that he's decided to keep it closed, so something will have to make him decide to lay bare his power once more.

And somehow, I can't imagine Knives asking nicely.

[dballzposting]

I............. the Namek Freeza battle ....... was I think all about Satisfaction. Goku going Super Saiyan - moving into "throws of unimaginable rage" as Freeza put it - was like moving into the ultimate fury of the Fight response. Pure aggression instinct.

He didnt drop this state until he deemed the fight over. Not when Freeza was DEAD - but when GOKU FELT that he was no longer a threat. He didnt need to kill him to find satisfaction. There just had be nothing left to kick around.

This partly makes me think of the way that aggression in predators is activated by movement and resistance - and is why an animal freezing will make a cat boredly leave. Cats especially dont just hunt becasue they're hungry - it's a set of behaviors that they DELIGHT in, that brings them joy, like how birds like to sing (even when they have no prospects for a mate - think caged birds) and have the impulse to roost (even doing so when there are no eggs - think pet pigeons.) Cats love to play with their prey after they catch them. Which is so morbid for the prey. But the cat just loves to do it. And obviously they'll play with inanimate things too - as long as they keep moving, or at least make a satisfying sound.

Saiyans seem a lot like that. They LOVE to fight, have to even, there is a reserve of energy in their soul that compels them to fight - but it's not pure aggression, no, it can be joy. But the prey needs to keep active and alive to stimulate that joy- we're constantly seeing Goku needing the enemy to give him their all, and not just for honor's sake, but becasue there is a very tangible thrill that he is getting out of this and he just needs the satisfaction of a good, FULL fight. It's disappointing when the enemy gives up too soon or never puts up much resistance. Think about how many times he admits high excitement when facing a strong enemy. Think about how much later in the series, Goku gets so FRUSTARTED when theres no one good to fight. He NEEEEDS to release this energy he NEEEDS to be equally matched. He needs the proper resistance in order to put in his all, and he needs the mutual reciprocation of - bare minimum, if not any other thing to agree on - Passion.

I mean dont get me wrong Saiyans as a whole DEFINITELY KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THEMSELVES when it comes to ANGRY AGGRESSION. But they also just like to fight. And "killing" is not the only satisfying end to that.

Goku, by nature, adheres to the call of mercy. He needs to fight more than anything, it's kind of his whole thing, but he never feels compelled to kill. Rather, he NEEDS the enemy to live so that they can come back stronger later and give him another Satisfying Fight...!

But that's not what's behind all of his mercy - really, his mercy is as instinctual as his need for fight. The latter we can attribute to his species, but the former is uniquely his own and just as integral. That's what makes him Goku. When Freeza was begging for mercy, Goku was incensed to hear it - but he could not resist the call. BECAUSE: This is about SATISFACTION, and he would FIND NONE if he let himself walk away in cold blood.

When he had to kill Freeza he wasnt happy about it. He had already found his satisfaction. He didnt want to also kill him, but he knew that Freeza had forced his hand - truly, truly forced his hand, wrote his actions, becasue right up to the end, Freeza WAS a worthy fight. BUT, Goku never takes Freeza's last-minute advice about how mercy's only beneficiary is your foe. Because right up to the end, Freeza was a fool. That's what Goku yells at him when he is forced to return a ki blast and end him, and it is the most pertinent thing for him to say. Freeza never learned to read into harmony and to be able to track the moving ki of living things. Freeza never learned how precious life is, which from Goku's divine wisdom, is an ignorance that to which there exists no greater indicator of a fool. Freeza was just a fool.

Anyway: I said earlier that this reminded me of how cats play, but that was a tangent. What this fight REALLY is is AWESOME, RIGHTEOUS RAGE and VINDICATION and REVENGE and SATISFACTION. It's immensely gratifying to the viewer, most of us walking around with no good way to vent the awesome survival rage that we're capable of, and for some, is locked inside of us due to past happenings that were never resolved.

THE SCENERY IS INTENSE - the sick, dead, EXPLODING planet, devoid of life, giving in to the epic violence of all that it's made of. It represents being past overdue, when you've gone under the tunnel and theres no sun, when God has written you off and theres nothing more to do and you're just waiting until you're not there to wait anymore. To Goku it's this pivotal time to nail the escape - but to the planet, it's past any salvageability, past the event horizon. It's not the fearful wait for death, it IS death, upfront and center and awesome and profound. So theres this backdrop of complete obliteration without desolation, consummate violence, the magma and tsunamis and lightning and earthquakes.

And Goku is burning with unwavering conviction to survive this. Hes not willing to die with Freeza like he was with Raditz - this is not about being tactful - this is about something higher, this is divine comeuppance. He intercepted King Kai and the Grand Elder's communication to tell them that they better not wish him away. This is HIS FIGHT - and anyone could see that this is his PURPOSE. If he dies here then he will with total satisfaction. This is what hes meant to do. The preservation of what's precious, the commitment to honor, to deferring to the calls of revenge, the electricity in his body and his blood inside and out - this is all his biology and he is one with his fate. He will not be removed prematurely. This cannot be thwarted. The impact of this perfectly-focused force of his spirit is, out of context, only destructive - and if you remove him from this before satisfaction, there is no way in this lifetime that he will be able to discharge this in an effective or meaningful way. If he cant win this, then he needs to die. This is all he is.

He had entered the Super Saiyan state again when Freeza attacked him again, and this time he didnt leave it when Freeza was deemed no longer threat. He maintained it as he tried to escape. The threat isnt over yet - he has even less time than he did, and all of this energy can now be converted into initiating an active escape.

Furthermore - and this feels like a weak detour now- when Freeza's ship fell into the innards of the planet and all hope was seemingly loss .. even though Goku was left there like "No ... this cant be happening..!" He still didnt feel trapped or hopeless and he didnt move into any sort of freeze response. No tonic immobility for our Goku. His fury is too POWERFUL, and his constitution POWERFUL ENOUGH to contain it without getting overwhelmed (INCREDIBLE!). He has not reached satisfaction yet - he has not escaped yet - so he will remain in this state.

Also Goku, by character, training, AND blood, will never ever resort to any sort of freeze .. THIS WE KNOW ... we saw baby Gohan fall into that a few times (the way he would have a burst of power and then drop to level 0 in overwhelming fear...) but even at his young age and limited training we see the fight response in him show up and triumph . I do just think that Saiyans will Always Fight rather than flee and they will persist with fight for a long time even if the situation becomes unsalvageable... I think it's just their coding. I've no reason to believe otherwise...