#obviously I do actually love all of Voyager

[muiromem]

Needed to make a version of this that encapsulated My Whole Deal

[cannedwyrms]

Spoilers for Shadow of the Erdtree but...

I'm gonna talk a bit about Miquella.

So, I've seen a lot of (what I believe to be) misconceptions about what we learn about his character in SOTE. I'd like to clear them up as best I can, although I'm no expert at the lore. Still, I think a lot of people are quick to discard him as an irredeemable villain too quickly, or believe that his character in the dlc is different from how he was presented in the base game.

Now, in the base game, I too thought Miquella was pretty cool. He had the rare honor of being one of like 3 characters to not be racist, he seemed to actually care for his sister and have a good relationship with his brother, and he just seemed like the only demigod with some kind of basic empathy.

However, while I believe all of those things are true, there were signs that there was something deeper going on.

Take the bewitching branch, for example.

It's description goes like this:

"The Empyrean Miquella is loved by many people. Indeed, he has learned very well how to compel such affection."

So, basically, we already knew he could charm people.

Here, I think, is the first misconception. Miquella does not brainwash or mind control people, he just has the ability to make people like him. "He wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men," as the honorable sir Ansbach says.

Shrive, by the way, means to confess, or in this case I think absolve.

So, while Mogh is absolutely the victim, it should be noted that he didn't abandon his original goal. He just factored Miquella into it. His plan went from "rule my dynasty" to "rule my dynasty with Miquella." Still bad, I want to stress, but I think people believe that Miquella can just turn people into mindless slaves or something. All he can do is make you love him and see his point of view.

Next, let's talk about him and Malenia. In the base game, he seemed to really care for her, going as far as leaving the Golden Order when he learned it wouldn't help her.

Now, though, people believe he actually never cared about her at all and even that she was brainwashed into following him.

For this, I'll actually quote Miquella's dialogue in the Consort Radahn fight. (We'll get to him, don't worry)

"My loyal blade, and champion of the festival. Both your deeds will ever be praised in song."

So, when he says "my loyal blade," he's talking about Malenia, right? You know, Malenia, the blade of Miquella.

It's obvious to me that Miquella did care about his sister. His actions in the base game reflect this, and he's the same guy in the dlc, so of course he'd still care about her.

I suppose he could also be talking about Leda here, but what I got from her arc is that she was always doomed by her own bloodlust to be a failure to her cause. In the end, she never truly understood Miquella, and he probably never even knew she existed.

But I'll save all that for another post.

Point is, Miquella definitely cared a lot about his sister, so much so in fact that, in the moment he was so close to achieving his goals, he praised her accomplishments.

But, there's more to his dialogue, which I will use to clear up yet another misconception.

Miquella also praised the tarnished here. "Champion of the Festival," and all that.

This is because Miquella doesn't hate anyone. He doesn't want to fight us. Consider his instant lose move, where he charms you. To me, this reads as Miquella looking for a peaceful outcome to your conflict. What does he say to you?

"I promise you a thousand year voyage guided by compassion."

And

"Lord of the Old Order, let us go together."

It's clear to me that he's trying for a peaceful solution.

See, I think a lot of people have begun to believe that Miquella is some kind of compassionless robot, but, as always with elden ring characters, it's more complex than that.

Miquella obviously has a lot of empathy for the world. Maybe even too much. Instead of him wanting to rule over everything as some kind of God, he simply wants to make the world a kinder place.

Like Marika, he sought godhood not for personal power, but for a cause. But, as we all know by now, to become a god in Elden Ring is to abandon your humanity.

Miquella literally does this, while I think for Marika it's a bit more metaphorical.

Elden Ring is about how people lose themselves in pursuit of their goals, and this is especially true in SOTE.

So, with that framework, Miquella is actually the obvious choice for the main antagonist of the dlc.

Think about it.

What better antagonist could there be for a game about purpose and cause being twisted than a highly compassionate person who became a monster? It's almost painfully on the nose. (In a good way)

Miquella might even be aware that he's done awful things, but as long as it's in service of a better future, he probably sees it as a necessary evil. Still evil, mind you, but necessary.

Normally, I'd just say that if he worked on making everyone be less being racist and mean, then no one would need necessary evil, but Elden Ring avoids this because, at the time out tarnished arrives back at the lands between, racism is literally a law of reality.

It seems like the only way to change that would be for a new god to write new rules.

I don't know, that's all mostly speculation on my part, but whatever. My point is, Miquella absolutely makes sense as the main antagonist of the dlc, but he is notably not the main antagonist of the base game, nor the story at large.

Personally, I'd argue those titles fall to Morgott and Marika respectively, but I digress.

Miquella is just one link in a long chain of people fighting for a cause they believe in. Really, his actions are no worse than Ranni's, but strangely no one is really as upset about the fact that she literally had Godwin murdered to attain her goals as they are with Miquella doing the same thing to Mogh.

Something interesting that I noticed is that Miquella is actually very similar to Messmer. Whether that was intentional or not is not for me to say, but I do think it's interesting that the oldest demigod and the youngest have a lot in common.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no Messmer lore expert , but, for example, Messmer is often described as being very compassionate and nice, only taking on the burden of being the face of the hornsent genocide to spare his mother that shame. It's an interesting contradiction, to be sure, and one that is quite similar to how Miquella sheds his humanity to make a brighter future.

Perhaps Messmer is meant, in part, to mirror Miquella to make his seemingly "villainous" turn make more sense.

Again, maybe that's just speculation on my part, but what's important is that Elden Ring stresses again and again that there is no such thing as pure evil. Everyone's a victim in some way.

All that to say, I don't think Miquella is out of character in the dlc. I think everything we learn about him is perfectly in line with his portrayal in the base game.

Alright, it's finally time to talk about the big guy with a little horse.

So, I've seen a lot of people say that Radahn was charmed and used by Miquella, or that Miquella only saw him as a tool, but I really don't think that's true.

Let's take a look at some more of Miquella's dialogue.

"Aspiring Lord of the Old Order. If you have known sin, if you grieve for this world, then yeild the path forward to us. To I, Miquella, and my Promised Consort, Radahn."

Now, I don't know about you, but of Miquella only saw Radahn as a tool, then what's with all the "Yeild the path forward to us," and "To I, Miquella, and my Promised Consort, Radahn."

If he really viewed Radahn as just a means to an end, then why specify the both of them, unless Radahn was always in on Miq's plot?

Also, if Miquella really only wanted a big guy to ride around on and fight for him, why go through all the trouble of making Radahn a promise? Why not just bewitch him from the start and just force him to follow you?

I don't know why Radahn and Malenia fought. Maybe that was part of the vow, if Miquella could grant Radahn a warrior's death, then he'd follow him, or something like that. So maybe my theory isn't totally sound, but I do still think it's just as plausible as the bewitched theory, if not more.

Another thing I've heard people say as evidence of the bewitched theory is that Radahn wouldn't have gone along with it because Leonard wouldn't be with him.

But, like, you guys, that horse is dead. You killed it in your fight with Radahn in the base game. And Radahn is obsessed with warrior's deaths and all that. He probably saw that Leonard was dead, mourned him silently, and even resolved to take take revenge on the one who killed him, which, again, is you.

And, as a side note, Starscourge Radahn did not treat Leonard with any amount of respect. Did we even see the same attack animations. He was pushing him into the ground, standing on him, and definitely not feeding him. Leonard was described as scrawny, but when we see him, he's downright skeletal. And of course Radahn wasn't taking care of him. He was a literal zombie.

So, I don't think Radahn was bewitched. I think he willingly went with Miquella, once his soul was put into Mogh's body.

Miquella, at his core, is compassion without understanding. He feels for the plight of the world and its inhabitants without having the context necessary to understand why they are suffering. It's a very childish outlook, reflected in his design and curse, his outward childlike form representing his nieve understanding of the world.

That's why he can only see godhood as the solution to the suffering. Because it's all he knows. He was an empearyan, after all.

Of course, if he was a little more emotionally intelligent, he'd realize that abandoning everything that made him who he was is a bad thing, but he's not. He can't see past his own status, not in an arrogant way, it's more like he just doesn't know or understand there's an alternative.

He's that theme I mentioned earlier, the pursuit of goals turning you into a monster, personified. I mean he literally leaves his humanity behind. Can't get much more obvious than that.

Well, that's everything I have on Miquella, at least for now. I've just seen so many "Miquella is actually super evil" type posts and videos, and just a general increase in Miquella hate, which maybe is to be expected, but I still think a lot of people missed the point.

If course, everything I've said is subjective, and if Miquella being evil is what makes you like the character, then more power to you.

But if you, like, actively hate Miquella or misunderstand what we're presented in game, then I don't know. I can't stop you, I guess, but maybe I've managed to change your mind. I think the fun of lore hunting in this game is that everyone kinda has their own version of events, it's almost like we're historians debating ancient history. Idk, I just find that cool, so if your interpretation differs from mine, I think that's fine. Just don't be an ass about it, basically.

Tl;dr: if you took a shot every time I started a thought with "now" or "so," you'd be dead.

Okay, that's all, bye.

A brief adendum to this post:

So I've done a bit more thinking, and somehow completely forgot about the fact that Miquella appeared in Caelid after Malenia bloomed, to help the wounded.

This does, at first blush, come off as quite the dick move on Miquella's part, as he didn't think to help his sister, but I do have some thoughts and speculations.

What if he couldn't? Like, he's a small guy, it's not like he could've carried her all the way back himself. Maybe he trusted Finlay (Malenia's gf, it's canon) enough to let her do it. I mean, I guess it depends on how he got to Caelid in the first place, but like how does anyone in this game get anywhere?

No one uses ships as far as I'm aware, and the only transportation we see is like horse or giant drawn carriages, which are already pretty slow. Maybe Finlay asked to carry her back. Maybe Miquella could have used Torrent, but idk. This is all just speculation on my end.

Anyway, I also think this points to my earlier speculation about Miquella's character thematically. He saw only the wounded he needed to help, but ignored the one closest to him in the process. This interpretation lends itself very well to the idea of his childlike, naive ideas of compassion.

Okay, that's really it this time. I'll probably talk about Leda and the others next.

Bye

[youleavethetardisbrakeson]

Steve Toussaint absolutely hit the nail on the head with this answer to how Corlys and Rhaenys would react if they discovered Laenor actually faked his own death:

"You might start questioning what kind of life we had created for him that meant he had to do that, had to fake his own death and leave. Particularly in a family with a father who is so about duty. [mentions the "He'll grow out of it" line] Because I don't really care about him; I want this for my son."

The absolute GUT punch that it would be for them to learn that their child, the thing they hold most dear, was so miserable that he would rather fake his own death than continue living as he was. (Obviously, we don't know what Daemon and Rhaenyra would've done had he refused to their plan.) Corlys pushed and pushed for what HE wanted Laenor to be, and didn't really care if the cost was his son's own happiness. Rhaenys knew that Laenor was miserable, but she couldn't do much to help him. She had to live with the guilt (and anger) of what their ambition and pride had done to him.

Rhaenys and Corlys were lucky enough to have a love match, and I think it made Corlys unable to sympathize with the experience of an arranged marriage. He fulfilled his 'duty' AND married the woman he loved. He also didn't have that huge pressure of legacy growing up since House Velaryon was pretty minor prior to his voyages; there wasn't much to lose. He had the freedom to go out, have his own ambitions, and execute them accordingly.

I think Corlys would initially be shocked and FURIOUS at Laenor, and then angry with himself once he'd realized his own role in it all. It would probably completely shatter him and his world view even more than Laenor's "death" did. Rhaenys would probably weep with joy, hold her baby close, and then absolutely rip Corlys a new one for a week straight.

I'm not sure if the show will ever go there, but I hope they do, and I hope Corlys can grow from it.

[lostyesterday]

As a visually disabled person myself, one thing I wish TNG had done with Geordi is show his disability actually affecting how he functions in his daily life. For example, I can’t remember a single time in TNG where Geordi is shown as needing accommodations in his work environment. You might say that’s because his visor means that he can basically “see” normally and so he wouldn’t need accommodations, but I find this explanation frustrating.

For one thing, real life visually disabled people absolutely require accommodations to do most jobs, so if Geordi’s meant to be any kind of accurate reflection of the experiences of blind people, he should require some accommodations. For me at least, it isn’t some kind of wish fulfillment fantasy to see a visually disabled character who can do anything a sighted person can with no accommodations whatsoever. Instead, it feels like a denial of everything that being disabled has meant to me over my life. Disabled people are disabled. We have more difficulty doing certain tasks than an able-bodied person would – that’s what makes us disabled. We require changes to our environment in order to function well.

Also, literally just based on the in-universe information given about Geordi’s visor, it doesn’t make any sense to me that he wouldn’t require accommodations. Geordi’s visor is not really described as simulating vision, it is described as providing completely different sensory information about the physical properties of the world around him. I like to imagine the visor’s input as a kind of enhanced spatial awareness with a precise knowledge of where certain objects are, what their shape is, and what they’re made of. As TNG mentions several times, Geordi’s visor provides much more information than human eyes do, but, importantly, in the few episodes where the details of how Geordi’s visor works are discussed at all, it’s never described as providing purely visual information such as the color or reflectiveness of an object. I think that if Geordi faces a mirror, his visor will tell him there’s a piece of glass in front of him and he’ll know about how large it is and what material it’s made of, but he won’t be able to see his reflection in it, because the visor doesn’t provide that kind of visual information. This distinction is important to me, because it means that Geordi is still functionally blind with the visor, and it should mean that he interacts with the world differently from a sighted person.

For example, I would have loved if Geordi had been shown to be unable to recognize particular people until they spoke. All his visor tells him is that there’s a person in front of him and about what size and shape they are, but this isn’t generally enough information to determine a person’s identity. He canonically perceives Data as looking very different from an organic person which makes sense because Data is made of fully different material. And maybe Geordi can generally tell different species apart based on different body temperatures or something like that. But I really wish that Geordi had been shown at least a few times to need the sound of a person’s voice or some other cue to tell him who they were.

I also think it doesn’t make sense that Geordi can apparently read text on computer screens. How can he read if the visor doesn’t really provide visual information? A computer screen should just register as a flat piece of material. Geordi should have required some kind of accommodation to be able to use the computer screens. For example, maybe Geordi could use the computer entirely through voice commands, something that obviously already exists in the star trek world. Or he could use some kind of tactile display. The Voyager episode The Year of Hell shows that computer terminals on starships are able to utilize a tactile display that I’m guessing is somewhat similar to braille. I loved this mention in Voyager of tactile displays, because it indicates that Starfleet ships are probably automatically equipped with such accessibility devices. Geordi needing an accommodation as small as this would have gone really far in terms of making him feel like a genuine representation of a disabled character, at least to me.

[that-ari-blogger]

A New Face (Separate Tides)

During its second season, The Owl House had hit its stride and wasn't slowing down. This is my favourite season, and that isn't an unpopular sentiment.

Separate Tides is the opening episode of this season, so it needs to recap the previous goings on and themes in a cohesive way for new viewers, and take the series in a different direction that stays loyal to those themes and plotlines. I think this episode does that well.

But this isn't a summary blog, this is a blog where I find something needlessly specific and gush about the implications of that something.

So... The Golden Guard is so ****ing cool.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD (The Owl House, The Harry Potter Series)

I've mentioned in the past that The Owl House uses archetypal storytelling to a truly masterful degree. It takes tropes and meets them on a superficial level, then twists them in a way that adds depth and makes the series unique.

For example, the series is directly drawing inspiration from the works of Robert Galbraith, with Willow being the bullied kid with a passion for herbology, and Amity being the school bully who definitely has a crush on the main character. Both take the archetype and shake it up a bit, as is the way with parody, but the baseline is there.

This leans into the themes of being your own person rather nicely, as it makes the deviations from the archetype more important.

I took great pains to point out that Luz is the only character who doesn't fit the mould at all. She has no analogue and is her own person completely. She has nothing to restrict her.

However, leaves the analogue for the actual protagonist of Galbraith's books. Obviously, not every character from the series is parodied, but the chosen one main character seems like a weird one to miss out on.

I would argue that Mr Potter does have an analogue, Hunter Whittebane (Or Hunter Noceda or Hunter Demonne or even Hunter Clawthorn. Whichever name you prefer, its the same guy).

He is a child soldier, raised by his uncle and manipulated into giving his life away for the cause by an old wizard. He bears a scar on his face, and is technically half witch, half human.

Although we don't actually see any of that in Separate Tides. Instead, we are introduced to the Golden Guard, a character who is suave and cool and confident.

The first time we actually see this character is in the final scene of the previous season.

"Worry not, Kiki. We'll be keeping an eye on the inhabitants of the Owl House."

The Golden Guard is a goon, an elite goon, but a goon none the less. He is simply a character whom Belos turns to in order to get the job done.

But, I find the use of vernacular here interesting. Belos doesn't refer to the Golden Guard with any name, or even as a separate entity from himself. Not "he will be watching them" or "this is the Golden Guard, I trust him to get the job done". This character is referred to as "we". He and Belos are connected. This character is simply Belos' eye.

Then, in Separate Tides, it is established that, when Lilith fell from grace, she was replaced by the Golden Guard.

"He always got special treatment because he was the genius teen prodigy. But he's really just a brat."

So, this is a child, but a gifted child. Lilith is dismissive here, but not of the Golden Guard's skill, just his personality. This is someone for whom things come naturally, allegedly, and who has never had to work for his abilities. Allegedly.

"Unfortunately, you won't have the chance."

The Golden Guard's first line is just cool. He is calm and collected. He is in control. And he has just easily captured one of the protagonists.

I also love the little fact that he has spent the entirety of this voyage in a dimly lit room, eating crackers. The room has nothing to do in it except books. So, he was definitely just sitting there, reading, and had to improvise when King burst into the room. He's a bookworm with an ability to think on the spot.

I'm saying this guy would definitely play Pathfinder or D&D if he was given a chance.

Anyway, the Golden Guard's actual introduction comes fourteen minutes into the episode, and it immediately sets this guy up as a threat. He's martially competent, magically adept, and fully in his element. This is a character who revels in control, just like the Emperor.

And that link to Belos is interesting. Because forgive me for asking, why would an Emperor's elite goon be a child? As in, there has to be a connection to Belos beyond what meets the eye for the Golden Guard to be anywhere near where he is.

We don't get told that here, but we do see that this character's skillset is kinda similar to Belos', in theory. He's commanding, and he gets people to do what he wants. But in practice, this isn't Belos at all. This is someone trying very hard to be like Belos, but coming at it from a different angle.

I do, however, think that the Golden Guard's greatest strength as a goon is revealed subtly in this scene.

"The Emperor ordered me to slay one. I'm just following orders."

We've seen through Lilith in the previous season that Belos covets blind loyalty, and that is what the Golden Guard offers him. He doesn't know or care why the Emperor does what he does, he just follows orders.

Essentially, the Golden Guard is a traditional Disney villain at this point. He is fun, bisexual, charismatic, and a physical threat. The Golden Guard we get introduced to is enjoyable to watch, and it sounds like Zeno Robinson is having a blast voicing him.

However, there is one element of the Golden Guard that we get introduced to in this episode that might fly under the radar. The Owl House is no stranger to masks, and people putting on a show to get the job done, but when we are first shown the Golden Guard in this episode, he is taking it off.

The intro sequence of this season features three characters who are under Belos' command. Lilith, The Golden Guard, and Kikimora. It then unmasks them, with Lilith becoming apologetic, and Kikimora becoming more aggressive. But the Golden Guard sits between them, removing his own mask to reveal... a single purple eye.

The eye is the window to the soul, of course. But there is something to the manner in which this is happening. Kikimora has been angered to the point of lashing out, and Lilith has been brought low with remorse. The Golden Guard, however, is lowering his own mask and staring directly at you with an air of "I'm doing this of my own accord. I see you, you see me, your move."

I wonder if agency is going to be a theme with this character.

Final Thoughts

I love Hunter so much it is obscene, and there is a ton of ambiguity about him right from the bat. What is his stake in this? Who actually is he? And why does he have a purple eye?

As for the rest of this episode, Luz's guilt is starting to be expressed. In my opinion that is for the first time, but I have heard it said that this isn't a new character trait for her.

And Lilith... *sighs* There is a sentiment online as to the expedience of Lilith's redemption arc. Some people like it, others think she should have been "punished" more, and I would like to take a third rout.

I don't believe in punitive justice for fictional characters, and I certainly don't believe in telling writers how they should write. I do, however, think that it could have been slightly more interesting if the consequences of cursing Eda were explored more psychologically.

In any case, however, the series we got is the series we got, and I think it is perfectly fine, if not better, as it is. I don't see a point in getting angry online over what could have been.

Next week, I am looking as Escaping Expulsion and boy, do I have thoughts about Odalia Blight. So, stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[curio-queries]

I’m loving your production breakdown posts, they are so interesting and insightful.

I think you mentioned it maybe in the first ep breakdown but it was about expenses. I just thought it was interesting in ep4 when JK mentioned at the chicken place, paying in cash, and he solely has this conversation with Tae, not Jimin. Would there be an arrangement do you think? Or was that scene cut and he’d have asked Jimin too? I’ve noticed in comparison to Bv where they were usually only allowed a certain amount of money between them, with one usually being in control, or a sum for a task, in AYS, Jimin and JK have been whipping out their cards, be it their own or a company card, in Big Dicks store, in Walmart etc.

I just found it interesting

Hi anon,

The finance bits are interesting in the most boring corporate sense if that makes any sense. 😅 Trust me on this. Let's dive in:

In my opinion, it really boils down to two concerns: taxes and sponsorships. Taxes to insure the company receives every possible benefit for every dollar they spend. Sponsorships because some brands can have fussy rules about how individuals interact with their product and especially any competitor's products while they have an active agreement.

Obviously I have no actual insight onto how the finances and budget were managed for any of these specific shows and I know absolutely nothing of the intricacies of taxes in South Korea but in the US, there are many regulations when it comes to how companies can claim expenditures for tax breaks.

Every company that has had me travel for work has gone to a lot of trouble to insure that I was aware of exactly all of the requirements on my part regarding expenditures. I'm 100% sure all of the BTS members are aware of their requirements as well so I don't particularly think there's any motive other than as a cute convo for the moment between JK and V. Imo, the only reason it made it to the final cut was JKs endearing tone in his response.

Let's go through some examples though:

Receipts: in both AYS and Bon Voyage, we see the members be very specific in getting Receipts. JM and JK talk about it as they're leaving Walmart. In BV, it's all of the shenanigans with the money pouch they acquired in Malta and continued using in New Zealand. This is usually documentation required for any operation that's going to be claimed as a business expense for tax purposes.

Personal Spending: off the top of my head I can think of several clear instances where we know that the members are using their own money for purchases we see them make on the shows. In Run BTS ep.70 in Toronto, JK pays for the member's clothing purchases himself. In BV4, JM pays for the member's clothing himself a couple of times (remember the drama of his lost wallet? 😅)

Budget as Content: BV 1 & 2 mostly only include finances as part of the game-ification of the show. The members had to earn money as an allowance for the activities and determine the best ways to spend it. (I do vaguely remember some members wanting to negotiate for more when buying souvenirs? Was that just in the extra scenes? It's been so long, I've been holding off on rewatching until I'm done with my Run series).

Thankfully, the success of BTS has basically nixed the budget games. I think the last time we saw something like this were the Run episodes of a hotel staycation? But the prices were ficticious and not necessarily about real-world spending but rather determining the secret number to not exceed. (If I'm misremembering and there are more recent examples, please share!) Imo, it would just be too tone-deaf to continue portraying the members in that context. I know we all joke about them being broke millionaires, but there's a reason why celebrity game shows always make it clear that the money involved is for charity.

Anyway, back to AYS, the interesting bit to me is wondering about the inclusion of Taehyung from a budget standpoint. How was that reconciled? None of us can possibly know the answer, but it's interesting to think about. Some costs wouldn't have changed at all with one extra participant, like the house rental, or booking the climbing gym or yacht tour. But there were a few extra concessions, getting the extra mattress likely was more a logistics headache on short notice rather than an impact to the budget. And most Korean meals are served family-style so there honestly isn't a huge difference cost-wise. Except maybe the omakase. That I can imagine was noticeably more expensive with an added individual.

But really, the most expensive item per person would likely have been travel. Did someone say Tae was already in Jeju prior to filming? If he wasn't, did the show cover his flights like they would have JK, JM, and the crew? Or is the budget on these shows big enough that it was just another drop in a bucket? Also, the intent likely was for JK to zip around on the motorbike and JM to be on the scooter. I'm curious if they weren't logistically able to get another such vehicle with the short notice or if the budget/sponsorship constraint didn't allow for a third one the day. Or it could be that the scooter exists because of the 3 member count and production thought one of them could be JKs backpack. That bike has the space for it. But perhaps the difficulty to get coverage and/or converse wasn't appealing. Or maybe there just wasn't a third radio-enabled helmet prepared?

I know the various shippers are using this in their arguments. I'd like to firmly state that I am not building a case for either side here. Go do that on your own and leave me out of it. Lol.

There are so many questions and it's interesting to theorize how the finances could have impacted the development of the show. Maybe we'll get some more insight with the remaining episodes and bonus footage but I doubt it. Finances don't usually make for engaging content.

Thanks again for the ask! It's one of the points I want to discuss when I start doing my BV and ITS posts but who knows when that will be!

[loth-creatures]

Ahsoka series from my head is just Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

That movie just has the exact vibes I personally would have loved for the journey to find Ezra and Thrawn and there are actually so many parallels I'm having major brainrot about it. I've seen people bring up similarities to Treasure Planet but I raise you. Just Look.

Follow a magic map off the edge of the world/galaxy

Sail through uncharted waters

Sail through the dead

Plane of existence between the living and dead

Land of Exile

Recover your long lost guy who was sacrificed to whales one way or another

This has Ezra Bridger written all over it

The point here was that POTC did it better. One of my biggest issues with Ahsoka is that the journey to find Thrawn and Ezra felt so rushed and straightforward like what was the point of going to ANOTHER GALAXY if there is no journey. Its supposed to be a voyage, an adventure, but we spent five minutes in hyperspace and found our guys within an hour of landing on Peridea. And don't come for me saying there wasn't time lmao OBVIOUSLY. The entire show suffers from having needed at least 20 episodes to make any sense.

I'm saying we deserved better and I'm ranting about this in particular bc somehow POTC made the journey to find Jack Sparrow actually feel like a magical, mysterious, uncertain voyage despite having far more time constraint and I wish Ahsoka had managed the same. There was genuinely so much cool stuff in that show I WISH WE GOT MORE

I wish we got the adventures of Ahsoka and Sabine intertwined with the adventures of Thrawn and Ezra drawn out in excruciating detail and in the end their paths come together and I wish it felt like this image.

just OUHGGHG LOOK AT IT DO YOU SEE MY VISION

[black-swan-slaps]

Top 10 Sus Jikook Moments

There are way too many moments to possibly list, but my friend and I thought it would be fun to compile a list of sus jikook moments. 

10. 2021 Jimin Birthday Live

Cute and flustered Jimin calling Jungkook? Jungkook coming immediately to spend time with his boyfriend? Hobi calling out why Jimin was in Jungkook’s studio? So many questions.

9. 2015 Award Show Back Hug

Let’s be real, there are plenty of questionable back hug moments, but this one is particularly interesting. The fact that it was so early in their relationship. The fact that it took place at a public award show. The way Jungkook held onto Jimin and how they swayed together. The questionable looks from the other members. I see you jikook, I see you.

Honorable back hug mention is the BE live and the way Jungkook caged Jimin for an incredibly long time with their matching hair. Exuding boyfriend energy to the max.

8. Cute Feet During PJ Run

Honestly, this is just one of my favorite moments that makes me feel giddy. How comfortable they are resting on one another. The way they’re playing with their feet. Jimin’s surprised laugh when Jungkook plays along. And let’s not forget the special photo of Jungkook spooning Jimin.

7. “Let me give you a hug” Dance Practice

Am I the only one who has watched this clip over and over? We get to see how even during work they are always having fun together. But how can we not swoon over Jungkook’s smitten face as Jimin fails to lift him, and the way his smile grows brighter when he lifts Jimin like it’s nothing. Jimin tries to lift him one more time, but fails and instead hugs Jungkook and nuzzles into his neck ever so slightly. 

6. Jungkook’s Snow Gift

We should all know this moment. Bon Voyage season 4 in New Zealand. This is the beginning of Jungkook really doing whatever the hell he wants, and he disappears one morning to go on a mountain hike and returns with a chunk of snow, much to everyone’s confusion. He specifically waits for Jimin to wake up and excitedly shows and gives it to him. Jimin is, understandably confused, but we all understand the intent.

5. Malta Room Sharing

I’ll be honest, finding out about this speculation was what thrust me into the world of jikook. (It doesn’t seem to exist anymore, but I had wandered across an analysis video a few years ago). Obviously, we don’t know anything for sure, but there are enough clues here, as well as in many other occasions, that make it possible jikook were room sharing.

(And let’s not forget their cute Malta date)

4. Osaka Live

Similar vibe to number 5, but cranked up to 100. I don’t need to go in depth into this, because we all know, but my two cents is that Jimin was in that room. (Just as he hid in Jungkook’s room during the 2019 NJ live). What were they doing in a dark hotel room with sensual music playing? Eating bread, of course.

3. GCF in Tokyo

Enough said.

2. MAMA 2018

What I would give to hear everything the man sitting next to them heard. Something was truly in the air that day. They were all over each other and incredibly lovey dovey. While we can’t know for sure what they actually said to each other, the look in Jungkook’s eyes speaks volumes.

1. Rose Bowl

Are we surprised this is my number 1? There are so many moments that exist, but all jikookers come back to this one. There are so many questions about why. Why nibble the ear? Why confess his love? Why give a kiss? (We all know why). But the emotions are palpable, as they would be at the end of a high intensity concert. Jimin was emotional, and Jungkook went to console Jimin, as we know he usually does. Hanging onto Jimin’s back isn’t out of the ordinary, but Jungkook took it a step further. And put Jimin’s ear in his mouth. My assumption is that he was saying something, but ultimately decided actions would speak louder than words. To be clear, he says something first, pulls back, and then goes back in, catches Jimin’s ear, and then delivers a clear kiss to Jimin’s head. There’s no mistaking it. Jungkook was taking care of his baby. 

Honorable Mentions:

Rainy day fight

“I was with Jungkook [at 4AM on his birthday]”

That award show moment where Jungkook is singing a love song to Jimin and Jin is staring at them lovingly. (There is a video somewhere, but I can’t find it. Please, someone find it. I think it’s from the melon music awards)

Jungkook waking Jimin up on In the Soop season 2.

Jimin breaking Jungkook’s mosquito net on In the Soop season 1. (And the spooning that occurred the next day.) 

Black Swan Lift

Honestly, there are too many moments to mention. Please share your top sus moments!

[phantoms-autistic-hands]

HERE'S THE OUTLINE ABOUT THIS BRAINWORM

i haven't rly thought of a name for my OC so i'm just gonna use the placeholder name jean for now [after Jean Vic. don't @ me on this]. he might not even end up french tho we'll see…… anyway he was a sailor (don't ask me for further details, it's blurry. it's Real blurry) and he just got back from a voyage but he was discharged from the navy.

what happened during the voyage was he got into a relationship with a higher ranking officer and they were close but was pursuing their relationship knowing that when they get to land they won't be able to continue it (not if the officer wanted to stay in his social circles) buuut it was kind of an open secret on the ship. then there was an Accident, in which the higher ranking officer died (yes i'm going down the dead lover cliche pathway--shhh it's for the plot later). so when the higher ups were looking into the death, they found out about their relationship, which is why the discharge from the navy [[listen. i think at this point france has decriminalized homosexuality but i have no clue what it's like in the navy. so i'm assuming it's the don't ask don't tell thing. so don't @ me on this. or do, i would Love to know if anyone knows]]

so heartbroken and out of a job jean found a job vacancy of being a stagehand at the opera house. his job would be way down below the stage or way up above stage, and the job requirements reminds him of finding his way on a ship, so he's doing just fine with this. he does his job well enough, keeps his head down, tries to be friendly when he can.

after a while of doing bits and pieces here and there and he's established himself, the new chief stagehand gives him the main job of maintaining the area on the mezzanine floor where joseph buquet was killed (i'm smooshing leroux canon and alw canon together here btw. canon is toy blocks for me to pick and choose) since a lot of stagehands avoid that place like a plague. it's not out of malice, it's just that they all realize that jean doesn't rly believe in superstitions or ghosts so they're all like why not? he's knows about the stories but since he doesn't believe in ghosts (and thinks that anything about phantom as an actual dude is an exaggeration of events to attract patrons) he's like eh, alright.

all this happens while jean suspects that he's definitely traumatized by the events that happened during his voyage, obviously. he knows of stories of what happens to people who's traumatized enough. at this point in time he's given in to talking out loud to his dead lover when he's alone, so this is how one day erik heard him through that trapdoor into his home (/torture chamber). when erik tries to scare him off by speaking to him in a disembodied voice, jean Naturally thought that his trauma has given him auditory hallucinations. he at first breaks down about this because he thought he was doing better mentally, but this is a sure sign he isn't doing that great actually.

erik, absolutely confused about this reaction, decides to show himself physically after some time, just to prove to jean that he's not Actually having auditory hallucinations. but jean first mistook him for a lost patron, and is like sir u can't be here without supervision?? and jean's worried he'd lose his job if someone catches a patron wandering down here with only jean watching him bc he sure as hell ain't qualified to give patrons a tour below stage. but erik would mysteriously disappear any time anyone comes close to them. cue a whole bunch of meetings like this bc erik's lonely and this man new to the opera thinks he's a patron and treats him like a normal man and he's been starved of company ever since christine left and the mob hunted him done and he stopped bothering the opera

so they get closer. jean's half worried that erik's a hallucination, since he disappears a lot and is never seen by anybody else but jean, but he seems so real……

they get to a point where erik tells jean of christine and they bond over having lost someone they loved. erik speaks longingly of his dreams of being married and having a wife to go on sunday walks with

at this time jean is a little (a Lot) in love with him and gets his heart shattered into pieces bc god damn it he wants a wife Of Course he'd want a Wife...........

and then somehow erik finds out that jean is in love with Someone and he asks about it (somehow feeling something like Rage and Something Else because jean? in love? WHO WOULD CAPTURE THIS MAN'S ATTENTION? WHO DARES? WHO DESERVES IT?) and jean is like its of no matter (because he thinks erik wouldn't reciprocate. he's not the exactly right gender)

then jean spends a long time thinking it over and realizes that even if erik doesn't return his feelings, erik seems like someone who would benefit from being told that in this world Someone does loves him, even if he [erik] doesn't love jean back. so he tells him and it takes a while to convince erik of it but then erik remembers that jean said his love for erik is "no matter" and goes batshit about it bc does this mean he doesn't matter to jean????

and jean tells erik that it does matter. it matters to him a lot. erik matters to him a lot. but he can't give erik what he wants, their relationship would not exactly be an open one. it would be some secret thing, at the very least half hidden from society. he won't impose that on erik when he knows erik wants his little walks in the park with his lover........ erik's showing the 404 error code.

anyways idk how it goes from here but they'll get together. i swear

[trillscienceofficer]

Imagine if Voyager truly cared about what B'Elanna and Seven wanted, like. once in seven years? For all the screentime Seven gets, it's never about what she wants, just what she has to do in order to fit in better, and B'Elanna... well. She truly gets shit from everyone for no reason whatsoever.

One of the main reasons why I would've love for them to interact more is that, for all their mutual annoyance, somehow they aren't as dismissive with each other as others are with them. Seven is a an arrogant little shit but she apologizes to B'Elanna very frequently when B'Elanna expresses her annoyance, more than most other characters generally do with B'Elanna honestly! And Seven seems to notice pretty quickly when B'Elanna is upset too, which always makes me raise my eyebrows because we're constantly told Seven is not very socially smart... she is though, once she starts learning. B'Elanna in turn only tells Seven to cut it out when she crosses a line and is not at all about giving her a lesson in 'humanity' or whatever.

@nebulouscoffee left some tags that made me think last night:

#on rewatch especially!! I noticed how much the script kept telling me these two hated each other #but they so rarely ever really came off that way? #and even when they did it always felt so... idk Scripted

And I totally agree with this. Voyager to me is a fundamentally unselfaware show, especially when it comes to B'Elanna: we're told things about her by other characters, but those never, ever gel very well with how she acts, how she expresses her feelings, how justified she she is in being irritated when others treat her like anything she says or does is unreasonable. On a lesser degree Seven is also treated that way; constantly, constantly told 'this is how you need to act', 'this is what you need to learn', 'this what it means to be human' and punished every time she's not good at it which is inevitable because literally no one else (except B'Elanna! or maybe Harry, although he is exempt from sexist tropes) is held to the same impossible standards. And Seven tries very hard every time! But of course the show is convinced that she needs to be taken down a peg in order to become 'a real woman' (yikes).

The way the show wants to present B'Elanna and Seven together is always 'look how catty they are with each other (wink wink)', and imho it isn't different from what's going on with them taken singularly. We're told they don't like each other, but what is shown to me is... way more nuanced, especially taking into consideration how they both fit (and not fit) within the ship. In a way, the way they relate to one another is the most honest rapport either of them have on Voyager. They don't really want anything from one another, they aren't thinking about fundamentally changing the other so their lives can be easier (again, when B'Elanna gets annoyed with Seven she only reiterates her own boundaries). Granted the show makes awful jokes at their expense sometimes (“Infinite Regress” and the cold open of “Someone to Watch Over Me” come to mind) but show me a character or a relationship on Voyager who is exempt from this kind of deeply uncomfortable and not actually very funny situation.

I truly believe that exploring this relationship more could have given them some much needed space. Space is a concept I always come back to when I think of B'Elanna and Seven, because I think both of them (especially B'Elanna) needed more of it to be themselves on their own terms for once. And I'm not talking necessarily about minutes of screentime—I'm talking about the writing being less sexist and racist, being less enamored with the idea of conformity, caring about them as characters and not as props in the absurd sexist, idiosyncratic fantasies of a 90s production: even beside Seven's horrible biosuit, B'Elanna is so often 'the girlfriend who doesn't understand what the protagonist is going through and will be insulted onscreen', it makes me genuinely mad!

Obviously I'm not exactly wishing Voyager had actually done it, because again, totally unselfaware writing all the time, but thinking about B'Elanna and Seven interacting always leads me to think about how they could both let each other simply be, even if they would still likely annoy the shit out of each other. And I wouldn't ever want to change that, honestly: willful women deserve to be themselves, that's all.

[causesciencethatswhy]

people first used this interview (question #1) to prove that Jimin and JK hadn’t seen each other at all in Ch2

Now with the travel show coming out, they’re using it to prove that Jimin & JK only met to record work content as colleagues

It’s hard to keep up with the narrative! also really don’t think that’s exactly what JK meant, they love to twist his words - but they seem obsessed with this interview and also JK on Suchwita saying that “the company set up a shoot” or something like that ..

https://youtu.be/FahJmJSXeQ8?si=klN3WcbwnWXPCLRv

Okay so I hadn't watched this interview since it came out and it's easy to say that the cultists are blowing it out of proportion as usual.

The interviewer ask him whose the best to party with and how long it's been since he's partied with the members. Which stumps him because bts collectively haven’t gotten together much since chapter 2 started.

He's talking about how he got proper time to actually hang out with a member after a while during the shoot for the travel show. Which checks out. Both jimin and jungkook have had incredibly busy schedules during 2023. They obviously had met during that time, we have literal proof of it, and more so jungkook has also hung out with tae (you know the other half of the ship the same people making these accusations belong to) and they went to literal after parties together.

But for jungkook it doesn’t account as the type of hang outs bangtan were Familiar with doing back before the solo eras started, you know the kind of unsolicited time they used to get before, especially jikook. Both of them clearly missed the exorbitant amount of time they used to spend with each other. If we observe jks 'I miss you too' live or jms pouty 'jk hasn't made me ramen yet' comments. So yeah, jikook probably were meeting a lot lesser last year and it's not a huge deal to admit that. Because their reaction to that time apart is very telling of their feelings for each other, than anything else we had seen till then.

Regardless, him calling it 'shooting content' doesn't make it company mandated fanservice or whatever those assholes wanna call it. Cause like, yeah? The travel show is content ?? Just like in the soop was or Bon Voyage?

To me it just seems like they're craving gotcha moments to make themselves feel better and convince themselves that jk secretly hates having to do this trip because the alternative is admitting how his excitement that he's shown towards the show has been genuine. And they obviously can never do that, so we end up here.

No amount of conspiracy theorizing will take away the fact that jimin and jungkook agreed to commit so much time out of their packed af schedules to shoot this show together when it seemingly adds no value to their actual promotional schedules.

And at the end of the day ,they're together rn, no cameras , no content to shoot because they trusted each other and wanted the other's support for a really tough period in their lives and there's no conspiracy theories to dismiss that. No matter how hard some may try.

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s1 ep6: Eye of the Needle

Another episode I'd almost entirely forgotten about, and so basically got to experience for the first time again. It was very good, and a bit heartbreaking, but in a good way.

Being early in the show still, when the crew were still kind of in the denial stage of grief, this 'almost getting home' story hits particularly hard. The cast all do a marvelous job of portraying the characters bouncing around from excitement, to desperation, to disappointment as the plot twists and turns. I really truly didn't remember where any of it was going, and it was quite the emotional roller coaster. Kate Mulgrew in particular puts her whole heart into it, and I got a little misty eyed at Janeway's pleas at more than one point. We get treated to more fabulous Janeway hair down moments in this one, but the scene is so heart tugging you forget how pretty she is and just want to give her a hug because she tries so hard to make this random incredulous Romulan understand how desperately they want and need to make some contact with home. (And while I've always been critical of putting Starfleet women in pink nighties, since it's a very obvious attempt to 'soften' them and reassure the male audience that they have 'a feminine side', regardless of whether their characters woud actually be the type of person to wear something like that- and I don't feel like Janeway would- however, I'll let it slide this time because there's literally no outfit they could put her in that could take away from how commanding and compelling she is. Goddamn I love her.)

The subplot of Kes advocating for the Doctor was also nicely done in this episode. Obviously the Doctor being treated poorly by crew members because he's a hologram is a metaphor for all the people society treats as lesser for one reason or another, and it was an important moment when Janeway realizes that whether he's a hologram or not, letting her crew treat someone with disrespect just because they can get away with it is not okay, in and of itself. When she decides to stop thinking of him as another computer program and start treating him like a member of the crew, it's a crucial turning point for his character to start thinking of himself that way too, and makes the scene where he tells Kes he'll have to be left behind if the crew goes back to the Alpha Quadrant all the more of a gut punch.

I also liked getting more of B'Elanna and Harry science-ing together. There really was a lot more of it in the beginning than I remembered. It was great, and I wish they'd kept it up. It was cute as hell when she called him 'Starfleet' again, and I wish they'd kept the nickname as a running thing through the show. Harry's the first Starfleet person she tells about her estranged parents to, and I think that's a mark of trust in their friendship that really should have been something the writers went further with instead of abandoning.

The ending was generally a downer, but left them with a tiny sliver of hope, which I don't think was ever followed up on, as far as I can remember, so I guess we can assume their messages didn't get through, unless I'm forgetting a later reference somewhere. But I really appreciate stories that remind us that even if goverments may be enemies, most average people are good people who are willing to help others in distress. That's the spirit of Star Trek, to me.

Tl;dr: a well written, bittersweet episode.

[wwillywonka]

nine people i'd like to know better

was tagged by @fruitsboots and @ccxssi ! thanks!

LAST SONG? - GEYSER BY MITSKI. and yeah it was because i was listening to my spock playlist, what about it

FAVORITE COLOR? - muddy green. i'm a big fan of natural/earthy tones and almost all of my belongings are green, brown, and/or black. #autism

CURRENTLY WATCHING? - pretty much all of star trek lol (which you know if you follow me haha). finished tos a few weeks back so obviously now i'm doing a rewatch. also i have one more ep of tas and recently started voyager and disco. i think voyager is the one i'm actually going to stick with considering i've already seen a decent amount of eps from various seasons. also i'm in love with tuvok so that's motivating me.

LAST MOVIE? - i watched undiscovered country three times last week. #autism

SWEET/SPICY/SAVORY? - sweet but i can't do overly rich things anymore. salty sweet is preferable (i love salted caramel it's my favorite flavour for drinks and desserts). love fruity things, too. i just had a strawberry matcha frappe it was very scrumptious.

RELATIONSHIP STATUS? - single and open to whatever comes my way but not actively going out of my way for anything. more married to the fictional people in my head. also don't get involved with me unless we're bonded by the hands of fate and keep blurring the line between friends and lovers but we're too afraid to say anything so we just keep pining until we die. :)

CURRENT OBSESSIONS? - STAR TREK TOS!!! littol spork... my babygirl... also willy is eternal, i'm never not thinking about him.

LAST THING YOU GOOGLED? - creative writing faculty of a university i'm applying for. i'm doing grad school apps can you tell

Tagging: @tea-earl-grey @ohbutwheresyourheart @n0isy-gh0st @dragons-dice @h4uures @etherealspacejelly @awwkie @torsamors @spockos

(no pressure ofc, just for fun!)

[mrs-monaghan]



Tk being a couple makes literally ZERO sense. To truly believe they are a couple is wild AF!! I for one think Tae is quite obviously straight but let's look at more empirical evidence...what Tae and JK have actually said/done...

JK and Tae both admitted to having a falling out that lasted years 2016-2021.

Tae back in 2016 during the bungee jumping episode said: "I didn't notice Jk ignoring me because he always does."

We've all seen Jk and Tae's live interactions when it's just the two of them, look at their vlives and even Bon Voyages--they struggle to not be awkward when it's just the two of them. Some can claim it's because they are hiding but anyone with half a brain knows the difference.

Legit GCFT is a whole thing...no Bf would make a whole vlog with romantic music about another man...RM even said GCFT would get more views if it was with Tae but JK did it for Jimin

Speaking of GCFT, that whole trip was paid for by JK

Jk looked peeved when he had to share a room with Tae during BOn Voyage 3

Bon Voyage S1 Jk (in front of Tae) said he wanted to share a bed with Jm

Body language alone shows that they are nothing but bros

Tae...get out your imaginations

Also Tae looking smug (on multiple occasions) when talking about Jk and Jm hanging out all throughout the night

JK sucked JM's ear on stage

JM gave JK a hickey and laughed about to members

when JK was sick only JM was allowed to stay no other member, even JK wanted them all to leave but not JM he was okay with him staying behind.

Tae literally said that if he could be any member he wouldn't want to be JM or JK because something alongs the lines of they do weird things.

Tae slick acknowledging JM's preference for JK during that Live where they had to write a note for each member and then guess which member the note was written for and Tae was like "I know JM well and this is deff for JK"

JM and JK are always together (according to staff), always going home together, etc. etc. and Tae doesn't seem to care less

JK had his own room (when they all lived together) for a while but chose to sleep in the same room as Jihope and was their unofficial 3rd roommate...so much so that he was grouped with them on Muster.

JK being able to choose who he spends the most time with but when on tour he chose to always be with JM to the point Tae said he didn't know if the room was JM's or JK's. (Tae didn't seem to mind)

When JK needs comfort he seeks out JM, this is clear in behind the scenes moments.

JK called JM his all nighter friend and when JM should have been home (he was at home) he was with JK (for his birthday) crying about their Grammy nomination?!?

Tae not knowing Jk's room number when they go on tour and would have to text the group chat.

JK only giving JM bday presents for a good while.

Tae telling JM he liked him the most (not JK, Jimin)

JK saying he didn't talk to anyone but JM and J-hope when they were on like a 3 month break (but somehow he dating Tae and not talking to him?)

Tae not being apart of JK's bday activities when on break but JM flying across the country

oh and let's not forget that JK dedicated a whole live to watching videos about JM and then in his other lives became an absolute child in love whenever JM's name was mentioned. Oh and when JM came into the chat how he begged him to come over...changed his profile pic to JM etc. etc.

This list could go on and but I will stop here. This is not to say JK and Tae aren't friends...I think they have a close relationship but are quite obviously nothing more than friends. Like it's the most obvious thing ever and I don't know how this ship is so big or why people believe it. I know some ppl ship them for aesthetic purposes but to actually believe it means either one is blind...doesn't ever watch real content...brainwashed...or doesn't have a fully developed brain i.e. a child. The lack of critical/logical reasoning in that ship baffles my mind.

Taekook hanging out or standing next to each other is more proof of two people dating then GCFT, JK planning a whole ass trip for JM for his birthday, a hickey, JM traveling across the globe to be present for JK's bday, Or them spending time together at questionable hours . . .make it make sense?!?!

I could say so much more regarding my one on one interactions with taekook shippers young and old but I'll stop here.

Damn anon. I'm out of mic drop gifs. So here you go. Just take it.

[lostyesterday]

My top ten favorite B7 scenes

B’Elanna/Seven is my current favorite Star Trek ship, so I wanted to make a list of my personal favorite scenes featuring the two of them in Voyager. These scenes aren’t necessarily good (although I do think some of them are), and they’re not necessarily the scenes that provide the best “evidence” for B7 as a ship (which isn’t something I care about all that much to be honest). These are just the scenes that I personally enjoyed and have thought about the most.

10. Someone to Watch Over Me

This episode is terrible, but given how much I’ve thought about this particular scene, I couldn’t not include it. This is the Voyager scene that most clearly demonstrates how obsessed Seven is with B’Elanna and particularly with her romantic relationships. To me personally, this screams oblivious gay crush taking the form of jealous obsession. Obviously, B’Elanna is right and Seven is stepping way out of line here. This is probably the worst thing Seven ever did to B’Elanna and she’s so justified in being mad about it.

9. Survival Instinct

I really enjoy this scene because it’s an example of both B’Elanna and Seven trying to change the adversarial nature of their relationship. B’Elanna is trying to help Seven here even though she has difficulty with her. Seven immediately regrets her defensive response to B’Elanna’s attempted helpfulness. I think it’s interesting to see how the two of them have fallen into a pattern, responding defensively to each other because they’re used to their dynamic being adversarial, when they both theoretically have the capacity to understand each other better than most other people understand either of them.

8. Infinite Regress

The infamous cheek bite scene. Is this scene good? No, probably not. Has it lived in my head rent free since I originally saw it? Yes, absolutely. Technically, you could call this the only intentionally sexually coded Seven/B’Elanna scene in the show. Mostly, the thing I can’t stop thinking about is the two of them joking about it afterward. B’Elanna jokingly asking if this qualifies as their second date… I will think about that line forever.

7. The Voyager Conspiracy

I love everything about this. Seven immediately calling B’Elanna as soon as she thinks she’s found a problem with the ship’s systems regardless of how early it is in the morning. The tone of B’Elanna’s response implying this probably isn’t the first time this has happened. B’Elanna actually investigating the problem even though she’s rightfully irritated at Seven for being so annoying. I love them.

6. Course: Oblivion

It’s so, so easy to interpret this scene as Seven being jealous of Tom’s relationship with B’Elanna. Me when the person I have a crush on just got married: Monogamy is stupid, and it would make way more sense and be better if everyone (you) would have sex with anyone they want to, whenever (me, right now).

5. Human Error

Ignoring my issues with this episode, it’s so interesting how one of Seven’s major attempts to become “more human” is to try to connect to B’Elanna in this way. I think she chose B’Elanna here because she’s someone Seven genuinely wants to connect with at this point in the series, but she still struggles with how to make that connection. Also, I cannot stop thinking about Seven thinking in detail about how B’Elanna does her hair. Given the rest of the scene, I think it makes sense to say that she didn’t choose this question/compliment/terrible flirtation randomly and has genuinely just admired B’Elanna’s hair a lot. Which sure is something. And of course I love B’Elanna’s confusion here. She can tell Seven’s trying really hard to be nice, which is so not like Seven that she can hardly believe it.

4. Message in a Bottle

I love how these two scenes represent both the adversarial tension between B’Elanna and Seven, and the potential ways they could relate to and understand each other with time. B’Elanna is clearly deeply frustrated with Seven, and yet she still tries to explain to Seven why people (not just B’Elanna) are reacting negatively to her. And B’Elanna can obviously relate to being perceived by others as rude, which makes her statement that she doesn’t expect Seven to change overnight, with the subtext that she understands deeply how difficult this situation is for Seven too, really fascinating. Seven initially appearing to ignore B’Elanna and then later saying thank you to her compliment is also great. Also, B’Elanna’s reaction to Seven shocking that guy is so fun.

3. Extreme Risk

This is a short interaction, but it’s so interesting. Seven initially tries to engage in their ordinary adversarial back and forth, but when B’Elanna doesn’t respond in the typical way, immediately asks if something is wrong. I love that Seven is the first person in the episode to notice that there’s something wrong with B’Elanna. It’s so interesting that Seven seems almost disturbed by the lack of any hostility in B’Elanna’s responses and by B’Elanna immediately putting Seven in charge of something she was going to do. I think that, in a way, Seven has grown comfortable with her adversarial dynamic with B’Elanna because it’s familiar. Maybe B’Elanna has grown comfortable with it to, to a certain extent, and her lack of willingness to engage in the typical verbal sparring of their relationship in this episode comes from the same place as her lack of desire to participate in the normal routines of her other relationships. I guess I’m suggesting here that maybe Seven and B’Elanna are both more important to each other than the show explicitly portrays.

2. Hope and Fear

The iconic “we’ll be outcasts together” scene. This is probably the single scene that best illustrates the parallels between Seven and B’Elanna – how both of them have been treated like outcasts and deep down expect to continue to be outcasts forever. How both of them feel deeply ambivalent about belonging – desiring it desperately and yet pushing away from it because they believe they can never have it. Also, B’Elanna’s defensive excuse that she was “joking” two seconds after she realizes she was accidentally way too vulnerable is so good.

1. Imperfection

Thinking about this scene makes me want to scream incoherently, but I’ll try to summarize my main thoughts concisely and analytically. This is probably the scene where B’Elanna and Seven genuinely connect and relate to each other most strongly. B’Elanna understands better than anyone else in this episode what Seven needs, and Seven trusts B’Elanna of all people to ask these questions to, to be vulnerable with in this way. B’Elanna saying that Seven’s made an impact on every member of the crew is… a lot. B’Elanna truly listening to Seven here and understanding what it is that’s bothering her and saying the exact right thing in response. The whole framing of this scene with the close-up shots on faces, the softness in B’Elanna’s voice. Fuck.

[manabombs]

billy bones blogging

I was Flint's first mate that voyage... three days east of Tortola in the Caribie. Flint knew an island. That's where we buried the treasure. Gold and blood, they were Flint's trademarks. He'd leave both behind him that day.

Muppet Treasure Island, 1996

As I was working on the art piece I just posted the other day, it occurred to me that it might have actually been my first time drawing Billy Bones. Which seemed Wrong, considering that he is, in fact, one of the main reasons that I fell in love with this show you know other than the vanerackham brain worms.

And I've spent a long time thinking that I should make a post articulating exactly why I'm so attached to him (I usually just keep my thoughts confined to the tags over on @benjaminagunn but this is just that important) Muppet Treasure Island came out when I was like 6 years old and was one of my favorite movies growing up. I watched it enough times to have most of the songs memorized, along with large chunks of dialogue. In particular, the opening scene. The film opens with a musical number that presents the backstory of Flint's treasure-- then cuts to a scene at a busy inn, where we are introduced to the narrator of the aforementioned tale: Billy Bones.

"Oh, aye. Fifteen men went ashore that day... and only Flint, his own self, returned. Oh, aye, and then old Flinty... up and died afore they could get back to that cursed island... and dig up the treasure. No one knows to this day who has old Flint's map. Now, isn't that a story worth the hearing?" "It was the first dozen times we heard it."

A couples scenes & a musical number later, it's revealed that Billy had the map the whole time, and he passes it to our protagonist Jim Hawkins before promptly dying. His job is to set the plot in motion and then be completely absent from the rest of the story.

In high school, I decided that since I enjoyed this movie so much, I should read the full unabridged version of the book. And the first thing that really struck me about it was the description of Billy Bones. Obviously, I was expecting there to be differences between this 19th century novel and the adaptation that involves Muppets. And the I do think that the character of Billy Bones, as portrayed by Billy Connolly, is a great adaptation of the character!

But the novel paints a more complete image of him: The boisterous side of him that we see in Muppet Treasure Island is only how he behaves on the nights he gets incredibly drunk; most of the time he is quiet and brooding.

He was a very silent man by custom. All day he hung round the cove or upon the cliffs with a brass telescope; all evening he sat in a corner of the parlour next the fire and drank rum and water very strong. Mostly he would not speak when spoken to, only look up sudden and fierce and blow through his nose like a fog-horn; and we and the people who came about our house soon learned to let him be. Every day when he came back from his stroll he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along the road. At first we thought it was the want of company of his own kind that made him ask this question, but at last we began to see he was desirous to avoid them. When a seaman did put up at the Admiral Benbow (as now and then some did, making by the coast road for Bristol) he would look in at him through the curtained door before he entered the parlour; and he was always sure to be as silent as a mouse when any such was present. For me, at least, there was no secret about the matter, for I was, in a way, a sharer in his alarms. He had taken me aside one day and promised me a silver fourpenny on the first of every month if I would only keep my “weather-eye open for a seafaring man with one leg” and let him know the moment he appeared. Often enough when the first of the month came round and I applied to him for my wage, he would only blow through his nose at me and stare me down, but before the week was out he was sure to think better of it, bring me my four-penny piece, and repeat his orders to look out for “the seafaring man with one leg.”

When I read the book, I got a greater sense that Billy Bones was a man suffering from a great deal of trauma-- which is very significant for the character, considering that he literally gets Scared To Death.

So! Years later when I heard "Starz is making a pirate drama that's a prequel to Treasure Island", I was stoked! So much so that I felt like I couldn't actually watch it until I was Emotionally Ready... which wasn't until 2019.

I watched the first episode, and I cradled Billy Bones in my hands, and I said "oh my sweet summer child.... you're going to have some serious Long John Silver related PTSD by the time this is over..... you're going to become a husk of the man you are now..... you are Unkillable because your death is already written in stone baby!"