#s12 liveblog

[normalbrothershow]

fellas...

[timothyslucy]

chicago fire s13, here i come!!

[liamgallaghermpreg]

ok. what is with this showing being afraid to say that sam is a vegetarian out loud

[kerryweaverlesbian]

What happened to Rowena where is she at the moment....I miss her....they're doing magic she should be here....

[weaksspot]

I have been enjoying your live blogs immensely even though i myself don't have enough context for late late seasons. Since you've been going through it recently, I am curious to know how you view early s13 episodes that get called "widower arc" by d/c shippers. They really bring it as the proof that Dean CANNOT live without Cas, while he can move on from Sam but now that I'm reaching there, I'm a bit confused 'cause Dean lost more than just Cas at end of s12? I would love to know your thoughts on this part of the show because I still get a bit of anxiety about watching any further...

hello beloved anon omg i'm so pleased someone is getting something out of my liveblogging <3 haha. sorry it took me a little while to get to this - it feels like actually forever since i watched 12/13 and i'll admit right now that i was not watching them with my full focus. so take that into consideration haha

but okay i would not worry about watching further. the show does not suddenly become a destiel fest in late late seasons - if anything i feel like it's this strange combination of "ah shit we should do something with castiel" and "we can't actually think of anything to do with castiel" so he's THERE, but like, irregularly. and while NOW, in 15 (maybe also late 14? they blur) there is starting to be some "ok they're setting up for cass to have confirmed romantic feelings for dean" it's very much... uh... in the background. genuinely doing my best to be objective and use neither my wincestie goggles OR my destiel-hater goggles but silly domestic brothers are definitely still at the forefront and i assume that will remain the same up to the finale.

as for a widower arc... um, well, again my memories of early s13 are not super crystal clear. i actually had to go back and rewatch a little to remind myself what was going on because i forgot cass even died then lol. you know where my focus is. but like you said anon dean lost so much at the end of 12 and like, in general that whole season was kind of a headwreck. i think he was already in a bad place and then lost yet another person that had been in his life long-term. we KNOW dean doesn't do well losing anything that's been in his life for a while which makes complete sense given, you know, his life. lol. he's cut up about cass because he has lost yet another friend. nothing about it suggests "widower" to me - ESPECIALLY not compared to how he "coped" whenever he lost sam. again, trying my best to be objective but i don't see it, lol. i think it's a fanon interpretation that suits the ship, which is fine if you're into it but if you're not - like, i wouldn't be watching it going "god damn, i wasn't a destiel believer before, but dean is clearly grieving him like a widower! the scales have fallen from my eyes! deancas forever" lmao

also, like, when they ARE reunited the response is kind of tragically one-sided dkfjgh. dean is happy to have him back clearly but their relationship settles down again very fast and dean goes back to like. uh. what i personally can't read as anything other than viewing cass as one or two shades more important than like, the family dog. SORRY i know that's harsh and they are friends. but their interactions are so sparse and dean is so unbothered lately lmao which you cannot convince me is down to repression. he just has other priorities!!!! (sammy)

okay i hope this wasn't too incoherent. don't worry about watching further!! there are tangents like there have been for the last like, 10 seasons but all in all. it's brothers front and centre forever. and there are enough sweet moments imo to keep you going even when the show is not so good (been saying this to myself since like, s7. if i can do it anyone can do it). just think of the 14x12 hug. all things are possible through the power of the 14x12 hug

[red-hood-vigilante]

mary seeing sam again for the first time since he was an infant and not commenting on how tall he’s become is the most unrealistic thing that’s ever happened on this show

[croatoans]

dean will just stand a certain way and all i can think is Oh My God Hes Transgender.

[thewertsearch]

AG: I 8n't managed to cloud a scenario yet you couldn't squawk out of in a 8lazing trail of cluck8east feathers.

Ah, I think I see what’s going on here. 

Tavros, the casual FLARPer, has been beating AG. No matter how many overpowered monsters she throws at the guy, she hasn’t been able to pull a clean win on him. 

He doesn’t even beat her ‘properly’ - he escapes, ending the game on his terms. This ‘coward’ is playing the game wrong -  using one of the weakest classes, to boot - and she still can’t trap him.   

We can’t have that, now, can we?

AT: wHERE IS EVERYBODY, AG: What does that have to do with your present cowardice?

Is AG responsible for the absence of the other FLARPers? 

Would she really torpedo the entire campaign in order to assert her dominance over Tavros?

Is Build Grist blue? 

AG: Are you going to roll? AT: hMM, AT: nO, i CAN'T, AG: Why not? AT: bECAUSE, i WAS THINKING ABOUT THE NUMBERS, aND, AT: iT'S IMPOSSIBLE FOR THERE TO BE A FAVORABLE OUTCOME,

She knows she’s finally got him in checkmate, but that’s not enough - she needs to be able to actually say the word.

You can tell that she really, really wants to see him squirm here, but Tavros isn’t following the script. If your game is clearly rigged, isn’t it better just to leave the lobby?

AG: Why would you want to cheapsk8 me out of 8onuses like that? It's so thoughtless. AT: uHH, AG: Am I going to have to take matters into my own hands? AG: To make your move for you?

Tavros has essentially forfeited here. She still hasn’t beaten him - not the way she wanted to - and for someone like AG, this may as well be an outright loss. 

It is literally impossible that this girl isn’t a sore loser.

AG: How a8out we take to the skies, Pupa! AG: Hahahaha, oh you like that idea, Pupa? Yes, you do. I can feel it in your simple, mallea8le 8rain.

“Hey Sally, out of all the classic psychic abilities, what’s the most dangerous power that a troll could possibly have?”

“Mind control, but it’s not going to happen. Most trolls wouldn’t use it effectively, and the ones that would would become much too powerful if they had it.”

She still couldn’t beat him. 

She still couldn’t beat him, so the next best thing she can do is hurt him as much as physically possible. 

Tavros is the most harmless troll of all. He couldn’t fight back against her, even if she didn’t have mind-control powers, and she knows it. 

He was pissing her off, so she decided to hurt him, and did. 

And she loved every second of it. 

Troll of all time. If this doesn’t turn out to be Vriska, I’ll eat a bowlful of Mind Honey. 

[inthiswhisper]

still can’t believe sam and billie spent the whole episode saying dean wasn’t himself, he lost his belief in anything, was ready to accept death. and then billie said to keep living. and then he immediately got cas back. and then he was the happiest he’d been all season. it just boggles my mind how much the writers nudged their romantic subtext into main text this early on.

[liamgallaghermpreg]

i'm so nervous for dabb showrunner era lol please...i know he's going to do dean dirty and i ain't ready

[billiewena]

why is this so funny to me

[catch57]

both obsessed and depressed w the fact that there are truly only like. five of you watching sunny live

[red-hood-vigilante]

jack hasn’t even been born yet and i can already write an essay about the parallels between him and sam

[croatoans]

12.09 is genuinely such an embarrassing episode.. like... what the fuck was that ending supposed to be

[thewertsearch]

AT: aG JUST JUMPED ME OFF A CLIFF, AT: wITH MY BRAIN, [...] CG: HEY ASSHOLE, STOP PLAYING GAMES FOR GIRLS.

Karkat, if there weren't bigger fish to fry, I'd be so mad at you right now.

Ok, I think you’re about to redeem yourself. We need some of that classic Karkat rage! 

AG: Can I join your team? CG: YES I'M GLAD YOU ASKED, BECAUSE THERE IS A WIDE OPEN SLOT FOR THE MOST VILE BACKSTABBING SOCIOPATH WHO EVER LIVED.

So, the elephant in the room here, of course, is: why are any of these people friends with AG?

This isn’t so much a question of why they’d ‘excuse’ her behavior. They were raised in a dystopia, and taught that violence - in the name of Alternian glory, of course - is a virtue. It’s worth noting that Karkat hates her specifically for her manipulative tendencies - he doesn’t bring up her violence at all.

No, my question is much more practical. Why would you *ever* be friends with someone who can control your mind?

CG: WE WILL NEVER BE FRIENDS, MORON. AG: Not even h8 friends? CG: NO. MORE LIKE TWITCHY EYED PROJECTILE VOMITING IN UTTER DISGUST FRIENDS, WHILE I PERFORATE MY BONE BULGE WITH A CULLING FORK. AG: Yessssssss. I'll take it!

Something that’s pretty funny about AG is that despite her caustic personality, her dialogue is actually really fun to read. She’s really enthusiastic, and always puts 100% of her effort into everything she does. 

If she’d been one of the Act 4 trolls, she’d have been one of my favorites - and I don’t think I’ve have ever recovered from The Tavros Scene, when it finally arrived.

AG: Yes, Aradia and I have an arrangement. We will 8e co-leaders.

Right, so Aradia’s hatred obviously makes a lot more sense now. Even in her current state, she remembers what AG did. 

Even if nothing matters, she cares about her friends. 

CG: JUST DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT USING YOUR MIND CONTROL TRICKS ON MY PLAYERS. CG: REMEMBER YOUR TRUCE?

Well, that’s helpful. 

I doubt she’d make a deal like that unless she absolutely had to. Who could back AG into a corner like that?  

AG: Anyway, I can't control just any8ody. They've got to 8e impressssssssiona8le. Like you!

She’s a lot more limited than I thought, then. That’s a bit of a relief - I think it locks her out of all the psychic trolls, sans Tavros. If I were to hazard a guess...

She can control Tavros, Gamzee, Karkat and Nepeta.

She can’t control Sollux, Aradia or GA, and there’s no way in a million years that she could control Terezi.

AG: I find your mind totally unpalata8le to 8rowse. Looking into your 8rain is like pawing through a smelly dumpster. AG: Full of 8roken glass and razor 8lades!

Her mind control has already proven itself a dangerous tool, but let’s not forget that she can also read minds - and she doesn’t mention any restrictions for this one. 

This means she has access to Sollux’s visions, Aradia’s Voices, and whatever source of intel GA is pulling from. This girl is so dangerous!

CG: I'VE GOT THE BETTER SCOURGE SISTER ON MY TEAM AND IF YOU BREAK YOUR TRUCE YOU'LL HAVE TO ANSWER TO HER. CG: THE FUNNY THING IS SHE WAS ALWAYS WAY BETTER THAN YOU EVEN WITHOUT ANY POWERS.

Terezi could back AG into a corner like that. 

I should have guessed. She’s kind of AG’s perfect opponent, since like Karkat says, she has a similar schtick, but no powers to rely on. I have no doubt that she’s a better manipulator. 

carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling arachnidsGrip [AG] carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling arachnidsGrip [AG] AG: Oh, 8ack so soon! Did your thum8 slip on the 8utton???????? AG: I guess you can't get enough of me. AG: ::::) CG: YOU MADE ME DO THAT.

Why would you ever be friends with someone who can control your mind remotely? 

Well, you might want to read that question again. It kind of answers itself. 

[castiels-pussy]

i know you had a complicated upbringing dean but dont confuse me with your dad most fucked up line of all time