#scenes from the jenny lives timeline

[jennycalendar]

He knew it was unreasonably cruel, lashing out at Buffy like this. It wasn’t her fault. It hadn’t been. It had been him who’d listened, turned away, let Buffy run roughshod over Jenny’s heart—or, no, that wasn’t right, was it? Jenny had loved Buffy, but her love for Giles burned so brightly that it had very nearly killed her. It had been him who’d run roughshod over Jenny’s heart.

i return! with this!

this is for @hal-1500, because we have talked in great detail about the notion of jenny being very vulnerable post-passion and giles struggling with it! i meant to write something super cute about him fussing over her, but then suddenly it turned into "absolutely everyone is imploding post-passion even tho jenny lived," which. can also still be cute? maybe?

also you should totally check out hal's drabble on the same subject, which is basically if this was much much cuter and involved much less of giles trying to torpedo all of his relationships.

[alwaysakin]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Fanfic Rec

Guys I have so much useless fanfic knowledge -- one of my friends asked me for a list of Buffy fics and this happened.

Non-Buffy Centric, One-Shot Fics

Potential Friend by srmcd1 - a cute little ficlet that looks at what might have happened if Jesse lived.

Age Difference by Amina - for all the Oz fans out there! A time-travelling Oz gives Buffy a new perspective on life and relationships. Slightly Angel-bashing.

All that I wanted was just to be haunted by you by chasingfictions - After the events of "The Body," Jenny's ghost bullies Giles into moving in with the Summers girls. This one made me BAWL.

Appropriate conduct by The_Eclectic_Bookworm - an increasingly angry series of memos between Principal Synder & Jenny, Giles, and the other teachers of Sunnydale High. Absolutely hilarious.

i belong to time, you belong to me by chasingfictions - Dru knows when she meets Spike, that he will fall in love with a slayer. She forgets, until she doesn't. Beautiful, poetic, and very Dru.

One Girl in All the World by zedpm - a trans!Buffy AU, where she was born in a boy's body and is still the slayer. A beautifully done AU, with Oz and (surprisingly! Riley) as particular standouts. Minor Spike/Buffy.

The Holy Grail of Buffy Fics: Long, With a Focus on an Ensemble Cast. Absolute Masterpieces.

hit rewind by untiljanuary - Hands down, the best Buffy fic I've ever read. Buffy (from some time in season 6, but unclear when), is sent back in time to season 3. What makes it so interesting is that it's from everyone else's perspective! The author writes Cordelia, Willow, Faith, Angel and Spike in particular so well. Lots of interesting character work, though the plot hasn't deviated too much from canon so far.

Ships: Buffy/Spike, Angel/Cordelia, Willow/Tara, Anya/Xander. The Buffy/Angel ends on mutual terms.

two roads diverged (and that has made all the difference) by RoseyPoseyPie - a Buffy season 5/Angel season 2 crossover. Hoping to escape Glory, the Scoobies end up in Pylea with the Fang Gang. This fic is absolutely hilarious (the scene where everyone gets high and drunk together is a notable standout). The author writes Anya, Lorne and Cordelia in particular super well. Dawn and Angel's dynamic is also amazing.

Ships: Buffy/Spike, Angel/Cordelia, Anya/Xander, Willow/Tara.

don't know how to stick around, but I wanna by chasingfictions - a series in an alternate universe where Faith, instead of going to prison, joins Angel Investigations. Very Fang Gang centric, but really builds up their family bond. Darla, Faith, and Wesley were stand outs to me in this.

Ships: eventual Faith/Buffy, and minor canon pairings. Faith briefly pursues other girls, including Darla.

Best Spuffy Centric Fic

wouldn't it be nice? by SummerFrost - an alternative universe, where the will-be-done spell in season 4 goes a little differently, and Spike and Buffy start a slow crawl towards friendship that becomes... something. So soft and sweet. Has two sequels, and the season 6 one in particular is WONDERFUL.

Every Letter That You Write Me by othellia - the obligatory fandom soulmate AU. Young Buffy is absolutely adorable in this one, and Spike and Buffy's relationship is bittersweet, raw, and believable.

Choices by lafillesauvage - An AU. After Season 5 of Angel, Spike becomes human. Angel does not. Buffy still chooses Angel, and these are the consequences. Slightly excessive Angel bashing, but the characterization of Buffy and Spike, and little notes like Buffy's relationship with Giles being slowly fixed and Willow getting a non-Kennedy girlfriend are great! Buffy/Angel with a happy Spike/Buffy ending.

The Darkling by OffYourBird - the iconic time travel Spuffy fic. Buffy goes back in time and meets Spike... in the 1970s. His slow path to redemption starts differently, with tons of interesting changes in the timeline. Be warned, this one is LONG and smutty. Shout out for making me believe Giles/Anya could work as a couple!

Inside Man by HollyDB - An Angel season 5 fic. Spike calls Buffy. This shows all the things that change when Buffy has a spy on the inside of the Fang Gang. Follows canon up until the last episode, but provides fun context.

Short, Cute Cangel Fics

give them all that they can drink by eagle_eyes. The one where Cordelia is ace. Amazingly written, and the Cangel relationship is so soft and believable.

Another Chance by NikitaDreams - After the events of Angel: the Series, Cordelia travels back in time. Focus on Cangel and Connor. Lots of cute family dynamics.

Halloween Happily Ever After by GeckoGirl89 - cute, mutual pining between Angel and Cordelia in season 3. Angst with a happy ending. Really highlights how oblivious Cangel were to each other's feelings.

[mystifyinghatchetfieldtheories]

The Lords in Black puppeteered the entire plot of Nerdy Prudes Must Die

In Yellow Jacket, Pokey's psychic vision to Hannah sets off the chain of events that leads her to Otho. Similarly, the vision Tinky shows Ted in Time Bastard puts Jenny in the front of his mind, which causes him to try and change the past once he figures out that his office is a time machine. It's pretty clear that Grace Chasity is perceptive to psychic visions since she sees Richie's death in a dream (plus her proficiency with the Black Book implies that she may have a touch of the Gift). Additionally, the "Dirty Girl" scene features enough coincidences that it seems like more than just a sexual fantasy. She has no way of knowing that Max Jagerman is christian, yet she predicts it almost perfectly. This is evidence that she received a vision from the Lords in Black of Max in her bathroom.

Grace envisioning Max in this way causes her to seek vengeance, which leads to Max actually getting killed and then subsequently resurrected in ghost form. The ultimate result of her vision, however is that the Lords in Black get to devour Max's soul, and Grace becomes corrupted and turned into their disciple. Both of these directly serve the Lords in Black's desires. The lyric "Nibbly wants his sacrifice and Wiggly wants his wrath," which stands out due to its choice to only mention two of the Lords, highlights this, since Nibbly wants Max sacrificed to him and Wiggly wants Grace's wrath (which is the inevitable result of her character arc in every timeline we've seen her in so far). Nibbly is even the one who specifically states that he wants to lick Max's soul.

But why Max Jagerman of all people? It's because he, many times throughout the play, refers to himself as a god. This is someone who has the power to single-handedly control the social order of an entire high school. Everyone hates him, but they're all too scared to challenge him. Even the other popular kids! Max's power goes beyond the scope of a typical cliche high school bully, because he casts his peers into roles. He chooses who are the nerds and who are the jocks. He micromanages everyone's social lives. He is literally playing god. In other words, Max Jagerman is someone the Lords in Black would view as a threat.

Grace refers to Max Jagerman's death as "an act of god," and she isn't wrong. The Lords in Black send her the vision so she'll cause his death. They're also likely responsible for several other convenient occurrences, such as Waylon Hall, which is widely known to be haunted and therefore likely only of interest to the Church of the Starry Children, who worship the Lords in Black, being sold so soon after Max's body is hidden inside. They're likely counting on Max killing Richie and Ruth first, so that Grace is the only person who can step in when neither Pete nor Steph kills the other one successfully. When she gives up her chastity, she's killed two birds with one stone by giving Max's soul to the Lords in Black and becoming fully corrupted herself, which is even symbolized by the visual gag of her smoking a cigarette right after she and Max have sex. Grace ends the show as a pawn of the Lords in Black, but she has no idea she's been one the entire time.

[alaffy]

The Umbrella Academy – Ep.4x02 – Jean and Gene (Spoilers)

Oh, this was the worst episode to watch while eating dinner.  Also, interesting title for the episode considering…. 

Well, Ben did spike the drinks.  Almost no one is happy with this.  Also, Marigold apparently isn’t something that should be ingested as it seems to give everyone flu-like symptoms.  It’s interesting to note, though, that not everyone’s powers came back the same.

Luther is back to his original form; sort of.  He seems to be more man on top then he used to be.  Or the makeup has changed.  Ben has his tentacles, but is having trouble controlling them.  Five can teleport, but it seems more adrenaline based instead of focused.  Lila now shoots beams out of her eyes and it seems to be her only power.  Viktor can control his power (although it’s more of a focused energy burst) and is pissed that those powers are back.  Diego and Alison we'll get back to later.  Klaus has no powers because it turned out he faked drinking the Saki. 

The group decides they need to go back to the dry cleaners to talk to Sy and get more information.  However, the dry cleaners has been cleaned out except for a map with a town circled.  Either Sy is on the run or this is a trap for the siblings.  The only way to find out is to go to the town.

This leads to a very long car trip, with a prolonged scene of most of the characters throwing up as “Baby Shark” plays in the background.  Moving on….

That night, as Diego is driving the van and most everyone is asleep, he tells Five that he saw Lila with another man at the diner.  Five tells Diego the best thing to do is to forget about it.  On the one hand, I hate forced drama like this (as it is something that can easily be resolved); on the other hand…given how Diego is so excited to back on a mission, it might actually be worse for Diego to find out his wife was working undercover and didn’t involve him. 

So, the group arrive at the town.  It looks like it’s straight out of a Halmark movie.  This should have put all of them on edge.  But Ben is tired of the group and goes his own way.  He ends up in a diner, where he meets Rosie.  Rosie is the owner of the diner, she wasn’t born in the town, but has lived there ever since she was placed into the care of her step uncle (who also happens to be the sheriff).  That’s a lot of backstory for an new character, she must be important.

Meanwhile, everyone else walks around the town, looking for clues and asking one person if they knew Jenny.  During this time, Luther mentions how Sloane would have liked this place (but he doesn’t seem unhappy so he’s either accepted she’s not coming back or he’s in denial).  Lila thanks Five for not outing her in the van the night before.  Viktor makes it clear to Alison that, while Viktor understands why Alison made the choices she did and doesn’t hold any anger towards her (at least, he’s not actively plotting revenge), he also really doesn’t want anything to do with Alison.

This last long enough for word to spread around that these people are looking for Jennifer and, uh, everyone in the town is armed.  Like military armed.  Viktor fights back.  Diego and Lila run for cover.  Five ends up using his powers and ends up in a subway station.  But it isn’t any subway station.  Long story short, Five takes one of the trains and discovers they travel between timelines.  And then he goes back.

While Five is on his Magical Mystery Tour, the fight continues.  At the diner, Rosie suddenly finds herself surrounded by townspeople.  Her step-uncle tells her to step away from Ben and to come with them, for her safety.  Ben tries to help her using his tentacles.  Rosie ends up running away with Ben.  The step-uncle reminds the townsfolk that Rosie must not be harmed.

Meanwhile, we get to see Diego’s and Alison’s upgraded powers.  Diego is somehow able stop projectiles in their tracks (in this case, a shit tone of bullets) and send them back towards the people shooting at them.  Alison, meanwhile, no longer needs to “rumor” people, she can straight up control their actions. 

Back at the van, Klaus (who’s been in the van the whole time) sees a woman running towards him.  She’s screaming that she needs help.  Klaus asks her if she’s Jennifer, she says she is.  At that point Diego, Lila, Ben, and Rosie run to the van.  Klaus says he found Jennifer, but Rosie says that’s not Jennifer; she is.  She only goes by Rosie at the diner, so no one hitting on her knows her real name.  Fake Jennifer pulls out a gun and shoots Klaus.  Ben kills the woman.  Ben let’s Jennifer know that they’ll take her home to her father, Sy.  She doesn’t know who that is, just that it's not her father.  Everyone gets Klaus inside the van.

Back in town, Luther is trying to shield Viktor, Alision, and the now returned Five from an Assault Weapons wielding Santa Claus.  As he does so, Luther notices on one of the dead bodies that they are wearing armor.  And the armor clearly shows that these people work for Reginald.  Santa is killed by Diego driving the van, as “Baby Shark” plays in the background (seriously, did whoever own the rights to the song actually ask to read the script, or…).  The three of them get inside the van, to find a dying Klaus.

In order to save Klaus, they give him some of the Marigold.  It’s hard to judge what Klaus will make of this.  It’s clear he had some temptation during one scene in the van, but he also seems upset that they gave him the Marigold.  Of course, he had just been brought back from the dead; who knows how clear he was in that moment.

Luther tells the others about the armor and it seems, for a moment, that Reginald set this all up.  Except they are then broadsided by another vehicle.  The van violently roles over and we see something happening with Jennifer that indicates maybe she has powers. 

After the accident, most of the people in the van are unconscious or barely conscious.  Diego sees Jean and Gene standing beside the van.  Diego hear Jean call Lila “Nancy,” as Gene takes Jennifer out of the van.

So, it seems like what really happened is that Jean and Gene want this Jennifer, who’s clearly being protected by Reginald.  Jean and Gene, perhaps they recognized Lila in their meetings or maybe someone recognized Five in his stupid disguise, concocted the story of Jennifer being indoctrinated by The Keepers and gave them just enough evidence (along with the Marigold) in those hopes that the siblings would go get Jennifer themselves.  What, of course, they don’t realize is that whatever version of the Academy they thought were in front of them; it’s not these guys.  They make it very clear in the first episode, where the siblings don’t recognize the headlines on the paper.  Still, the plan worked in it’s own weird way, and now Jean and Gene have Jennifer.   

[variousqueerthings]

THESE ARE ATTACK EYEBROWS!

alrightalright new Doctor new Season and also confession that I cannot help comparing where I'm at with the M*ffat run with the new special and the Classic!Who I'm watching, which is perhaps unfair, but then maybe my guy should stop putting out overlong needlessly complicated Stuff

However consider: Peter Capaldi!

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 5/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 6/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 2/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 8/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 3/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 8/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 4/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 5/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 53/100 (if I can count….)

Alright alright, let's get this party going!

OBJECTIFICATION: this episode has one of my least favourite scenes of the whole of Doctor Who, because not only is it sexism, it's male gaze via lesbians, in which M*ffat really really sucks at portraying lesbianism that isn't partly a straight man's fantasy and partly weirdly het... the scene is of course when Vastra has Jenny posing in her corsetry... undergarments? idk what clothes are called, apologies, and Jenny thinks she's being painted, when actually Vastra just wanted to look at her being (uncomfortable) pretty while she was doing the important brainy work

she then dismisses Jenny's complaints about why in the world she's been posing for so long with telling her how she brightens up the room and that it's for "art" -- we'll get more into their dynamic in a biiit

PLOT-POINT: Clara is ostensibly the point of this episode -- new Doctor, new face, and she's unsure how to feel about it, because apparently she really fancied Eleven's pubescent charm. This reminds me of The Christmas Invasion in which Rose has a similar journey of figuring out how she feels about the new Doctor, except of course that Rose's internal and external life is a big focus of early Doctor Who, and she also had no idea that the Doctor could just explode and become a totally new body

also the Doctor was unconscious for a lot of it, and the question of what was going on + when you track the timeline the poor girl probably hadn't slept for a million years properly aside from fainting after having the Time Vortex in her head... she's going through it, we're seeing the journey, there's big aliens fucking about, she's stressed! it's all about relearning that trust and a new relationship, and while there's a subtext of romance, it's not pushed at you, so much as this was something deeply important and now it's been unsteadied unexpectedly

Clara's journey by contrast is one in which we met her family for the first time properly-ish an episode ago, most of her arc in her first season was being a mystery, her "fancying" the Doctor was likewise introduced in the previous episode, and crucially... she already knows the Doctor regenerates, because as per M*ffat's own writing she's literally seen all the previous faces (also Capaldi is objectively hotter than Smith, so jot that down, but I can forgive that, personal taste and all that)

there's also a whole weird little "test" scene between Vastra and Jenny that's ostensibly about tolerance but does that common M*ffat thing of having some good lines out of context that aren't really properly about what's happening right now. do I really like the idea of the Doctor as young in order to fit in/be accepted? unclear, need to think about it a bit, but maaaybe, considering how I read Eleven, who perhaps gets away with being a bit fucked up by Appearing Young, versus Twelve who's immediately got everyone going ahhh what is wrong with you bestie????

but it's muddily mixed in with the whole fancying thing + Vastra thinking Clara is hot or whatever, it's all... me not liking a lot of Vastra's dialogue generally, which feels like M*ffat trying so hard to be deep and mysterious (the one word test from last season as well)

there ARE a couple of things I like, in that I do want Clara and Twelve to reassess where they stand with each other, and I kind of like Twelve being a mess that's abandoning her because he has no idea what his emotions are doing or who he really is or what's going on... especially that last scene of Twelve having a little stuttery sorry, that works for me, look at this weird alien grandpa that speaks like a child at times, what do you feel about that Clara?

the build-up is... rocky, especially everything with Clara opposite Vastra, the latter of whom mainly seems to exist to extol the Doctor's godlike virtues and bully her wife/maid and sound clever

I ALSO like when Clara is facing the bad guy and is clearly very scared but still trying. I liked that from s7b Clara, who was often very openly scared, but still tried

COMPLEXITY: the problem with this episode is that it could be a standard 48mins easily and be better for it. there's nothing technically wrong with it, but there was no need for a dinosaur, no real need for a lot of the dialogue, and many scenes could have been trimmed

also after several episodes that are Quite Long that don't need to be, I'm beginning to grow tired of it. thank goodness we're heading into average episodes again at last

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: I mean, new Doctor. it's mainly the Doctor that's got some stuff going on, but again the last scene. reminiscent of End Of The World (chips? coffee and chips? I haven't got any money)

there's also a new character who's arrived... and it's The Master! and yes, she's got a bit of that M*ffat DNA, but man Michelle Gomez is so good, so so so good! Scottish Bastard Aliens let's do this!

COMPANIONS MATTER: Clara kiiind of... so she doesn't necessarily do much, but there is that... thing. of her figuring out where she stand with this new Doctor, and that's quite important

the Paternoster gang do more actiony-based things and it's... I mean, fine, I guess. they're not companions, and they're mostly more sci-fi elements to all of the plot, rather than what A Person can do

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: I will say that Capaldi is instantly more workable for me. even some of the stupid hangovers in dialogue from the Matt Smith era flow better with him. I don't like the whole monologue at the dinosaur, it's pointless and this episode is an hour and 15mins (this fuckn dinosaur), and the Doctor designating humans as "pudding brains" for ages and the general dismissive "I'm so smart, you're so stupid" attitude... well I can buy it a little easier from Capaldi. also I know that Capaldi's Doctor eventually tones that down and I mean... it's giving Grumpy Old Man rather than Petulant Child

there's meaning, there's point, the Doctor feels more grounded than before. speaking of grounded, I like that the Doctor isn't all-powerful. a lot of this is surviving a bit on your wits, staying one step ahead, and there's also the bit at the end where we don't know if roboboy jumped or was pushed... it's perhaps controversial as choice, but I'm going to sit on it a bit more, especially with the tone this era has inherited of a more Alien Doctor that is trying to reground themself and their values

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: uuuuum so the thing here is that these droids are basically the same as the ones from Girl In The Fireplace. now, regardless of how one feels about some of the thematic handling of that episode, and the Thing M*ffat was showing early on of a preference for writing about "Important Monarch-Related People" and other such things, the droids were really fucking cool in my opinion, and the plot of them getting shit wrong in their brains and causing a massive disruption in one person's life, fascinating

it's a great One Off Idea

but we all know M*ffat's no good at One Offs so here we are doing a slightly worse version of it. M*ffat this is your own episode you're referencing, why are you beating this horse? (like the time M*ffat insisted on an actual horse jumping through a mirror even though it was very stupid and people told him to please drop it... oh wait, that was Girl In The Fireplace....)

“SEXINESS”: okay well aforementioned "art" scene I think is a lot of the Thing that irks me about the writing of Vastra and Jenny, where I wish I liked them more, but I cannot stop seeing the way they're written as an unexplored power-dynamic -- rich vs working class, powerful alien "simple" human, Sherlock Holmes genius rich type and simple maid (who, granted, sometimes gets to beat people up, we like the action stuff, even if I'm not a fan of the sexy leather and I feel like a traitor writing that M*ffat! you've made me dislike sexy leather lesbianism in something how?????), and while all of this is occasionally pointed to, it's only ever as a joke

this includes things like Vastra flirting with (at?) Clara in front of Jenny, when they're ostensibly a monogamous couple and Jenny isn't happy about it, or Jenny pointing out that it's weird she's "pretending" at being a maid in private and being brushed off

INTERNAL WORLD: it's Victorian London, but it's the "these kinds of episodes" Victorian London, which has never felt like much other than a bit of a backdrop. we're not really exploring Victorian London, it's just where the Paternoster gang happens to be and so we get big dresses and hats

also a big Dinosaur is there and that's unimportant and doesn't change things I suppose

POLITICS: it's so... there. as an episode. so not a lot of politics, but how does it write lesbians? eh, not the most horrible thing I've seen -- I genuinely like the acting of the characters and we do get one big ol' kiss this episode (scifi vibes, but this is a scifi show), which is framed reeelatively romantically -- we did have Jenny dying in the Name Of The Doctor and Vastra having many emotions about it (just remembered how her being emotional about her partner dying was an invite to getting harassed for being too emotional and silly just like a womaaaan) (I also still think about how Jenny still calls her Ma'am for some reason... like yeah, that could be a hot prolonged roleplay, but it definitely isn't, except for the way it is because of the guy writing it knowing that it doesn't make sense but it's kind of a hot prolonged roleplay... does that make sense, idk)

we're in Victorian London, some robots are stealing peoples bodies and it's not about anything really

also we had a baffling line from Vastra espousing her fighting the bad guys as "for the British Empire"???? what does she care about that???

(also Clara says they should call the police more often, which is kind of a joke, but also no you shouldn't)

FULL RATING: 53/100 (if I can count….)

the worst thing about this episode is actually that its story does not justify the runtime. it is so long and it is so average

Peter Capaldi is a wonderful wonderful actor. Michelle Gomez is immediately great: "He can be very mean sometimes. Except to me of course, because he loves me so much. I do like his new accent though. Think I might keep it" <- this could have been so eye-rollery, but she makes it work and makes me shiver and knowing this is The Master is sooo 👀👀👀

the story is so-so. Clara is still moooostly under-utilised/underappreciated but with some good moments that will (if I remember correctly) continue to thread through their relationship of Clara not being quite sure about this person, who is clearly a bit on-edge and confused: "The man I hope you are with, believe me he is more scared than anything you can imagine right now. And he needs you"

Clara's place in this story is still constantly buffeted by the wind. the things that do come up "person he knows the best (I guess, comparatively)," and "someone who fancies the Doctor" is kind of the weakest part of that, when actually what's going on is more interesting

[rejenny]

jenny the second, a pre - blog timeline : for the sake of clarity, i’ll be tracking time by jenny two’s age as i can’t remember if we’re told exactly when they are when the doctor, donna, and martha end up on messaline. for threads, i usually place jenny as 50 years or older. as a reminder, jenny one - in the throes of a ( unbeknownst to her ) a kind of pre-regenerative high, stole a rocket from her birth world to see the stars in.

0 years : realizing something was happening to her, though not knowing what, jenny had the thought to do some careful maneuvering to land on a nearby barren moon. unfortunately, she’s unable to land perfectly and ends up crashing onto the planet’s surface. she wakes, made new, in burning wreckage and has to scramble to get out. the image is a bit like watching a horse learn to walk.

1 - 11 years : jenny has resigned herself that there’s no way off the moon, at least no way she can find, and begins working on a way to first repair her radio, and then cannibalizing parts of the rocket to make something that’s at least able to get her into the stars again. limping to somewhere else would be better than staying stuck. during this period, she’s completely alone. every so often she’ll get static and try to raise someone on the radio, but to no avail. she also found some other crashed ships as she ranged out a bit farther, and she survived on some rations that had made it through her own crash. there were some … not so great times, and she did a lot of talking to herself. or just talking over the radio. hi, this is jenny - at least i think i am.

12 years : jenny finally cobbles something together that can fly and manages to get to a space station. without crashing. and with people! actual, real live people. she docks and then promptly gets scammed for all she's worth which . . . isn't much. just as soon as she's free, she's stuck again on the space station having no money and no transport ( her little trash ship got made into parts again, too ), but at least there's people to talk to this time and new things to see.

13 - 15 years : in her years on the space station, jenny gets to become quite a good thief. an excellent pickpocket and lockpick, people start to hire her to steal things. she has certain jobs she won't take, but it is a nice shortcut to a good adventure. unfortunately, she still can't seem to get enough money together to leave and go have different ones somewhere else. she also makes a few acquaintances during this period, some she'd even call friends. she also ends up living with an elderly woman, a mechanic who needs some extra help but doesn't approve of her "nightjob" as she calls jenny's escapades. she teaches her a lot. her name is norma seven.

16 years : she finally gets The Big Job. she and half a dozen others are chosen for a heist targeting an arms dealer. it's enough money to get her off the space station, maybe even for a down payment on a ship! but when jenny learns that they're stealing weapons plans to sell to another arms dealer, she betrays her team and tosses the data out of an airlock at the last second. in the aftermath, she's the one found at the scene of the crime and arrested. whoopsie. she's taken to prison. well, at least it's somewhere new - and she's got a mugshot now.

17 - 20 years : it takes her about three years to really get a plan of escape down. she and her cellmate, a half human named defne who was arrested for armed robbery, escape together. they shake their tail and for the first time, she’s got a ship and can actually go somewhere. she drops defne off at some human colony outpost and promises to keep in touch.

21 - 32 years : something of a little golden age. i won’t go into detail, but she has a number of solo adventures - a short stint in university, some time in the circus as an acrobat, a year’s time in a space ballet school. she kisses a princess and outruns bounty hunters so thoroughly they offer her a job. intermittently, she reads up on things like gallifrey and time lords, but what’s left is mostly legend - and mostly about her father, too. toward the end of this period, she cheats in a poker game to win a broken time vortex manipulator. when her deception is learned, she quickly tries to fix it to use it to transport her out of danger and ends up displaced in time and space, passing out from the strain behind some trash bins without knowing where, or when she is.

32 years : jenny meets charlotte alison smith-compton, or chuck, when the latter comes to take the trash out of the back of her aunt’s pub in hebden bridge. she’s in england on holiday, having just finished university in the states where her parents are and ambling a bit. she helps jenny up and gets her a drink. tells her she's on earth, and it's 1989. jenny's fascinated.

33 - 38 years : the jenny and chuck years. again, another era of adventures. in an attempt to fix her time vortex manipulator, they break into UNIT and . . . get caught. jenny's briefly mistaken for her father in a different face and works out a "you scratch my back, i'll scratch yours" deal with them on the condition that the doctor is never told about her being there. she doesn't know why she doesn't want him to know. she just . . . doesn't feel like dealing with it, just yet. jenny and chuck have a few earthbound adventures before she finally gets her vortex manipulator in working order. then they have a number of not so earthly adventures together. they fall in love. typical lesbians in space type things, if you will.

39 years : after a brief argument about their future together, jenny and chuck break things off. jenny does drop chuck off at home. by 2024, she’s become known as alison smith-compton-lewis, having gotten married and become a music producer living in the us with her partner and their kids. for herself, jenny moves on to the next thing.

40 - 53 years : bit of a post-breakup depression tour. jenny joins up with some space pirates as their mechanic, incites a mutiny, frees some dangerous animals from a space zoo, gets arrested for high treason on a planet with no real trial system, introduces democracy, works as a roller skating waitress on a cruise ship . . . anything that keeps her moving, keeps her thinking. gets thrown out of two other universities, too!

most threads will happen beyond this point, i think - though quite a few can happen in the middle of all this. i just wanted to put down what i was thinking.

[thelonesomequeen]

I Died Listening chapter from Jenny's word vomit of a book lives rent free in my head. || Do we know for sure if that was about him? I recall someone saying she said she doesn’t talk about Chris at all

Yes. It’s about Chris. She doesn’t directly name him, but it was easy enough to piece together I’d you followed their drama. Fans were able to figure it out because the scene she described in the book was one he also mentioned in an interview. They both didn’t name each other, but it was clear who it was about. Also, if you followed the relationship at the time, the timelines met up together 🦎

[orchid-151]

About that ask thing: Orchid 56

56. What’s your overall goal with this character? Will they get a happy ending or will they succumb to their faults?

It's more about the journey than it is the ending but to answer this question would lead to Spoilers...

So for those who don't like spoilers avoid the 'read more'...

The quick answer: she gets a happy ending...

The longer backstory...

For the rest who don't care (or are curious)...

The overall goal is to develop Orchid and for her to find that she is linked with the Dead and Death itself...

Let me (try to) explain...

If you pay attention to what the prologue had and to what some of those from her past refer to her...

'He strained to look before himself to see... The blurry image of A young cleric in robes the color of blue orchids. Their skin was gray as stone...' Prologue: the storm

This was from a dream but what does that tell you... The desert village Orchid started her life at had NEVER seen an Illager before. They didn't even know she was an Illager, they just thought she was rare...

Even Smith's home village had the same thought: "Oh what an unusual villager..."

After his village was burnt down they went after the 'Fallen Hero' that did all of this...

"So what does this have to do with Orchid and Death?" You ask, well...

If you pay close attention to the prologue, Father Syrus hears a faint scream before thunder hits... Mathew and Jenny live right next door to the church... Jenny was due any day... Have the dots connected yet...

If not, spoiler: Jenny dies during childbirth and the baby doesn't survive... This devastates Mathew who was looking forward to being a father. During the last day of the storm, Mathew in his grief takes the two out into the desert and buries Jenny... He placed the dead newborn on the grave.

However, when Father Syrus confronts him about this Mathew admits that he left them out there with little emotion and just leaves it at that...

Father Syrus has a different outlook and decides to go looking for the two, if only to bring them back to have a proper burial... What he finds instead is a crying newborn and an Allay singing to them.

At this point I don't have to repeat this part where she is raised by the cleric... But it's the fight with the Big Bad that is the Twist...

Drake was known for trying to tamper with playing God... In turn he has learned many spells, one to even change time...

I hear some puzzle pieces click together...

Orchid (as well as Smith and Jay) were from the far past, before Illagers made the scene... Mason was from the present and was (spiritually) transported to the past to relieve (literally) as Orchid's older brother...

(can y'all tell I've been wanting to tell all this? 😆)

She has connections to spirits and the dead far greater than any envoker could manage...

(Fun fact: this is why God Apples, Gold Apples, Gold Carrots, and anything gold-plated and edible harms her... Potions of healing and other potions work though...)

In the original timeline (after Drake killed her only two friends), she took control of Drake's wither storm and summoned 3 Ender Dragon Sprits, the very three he brags about killing by himself, and fused the three spirits with the wither storm... (It's a little op, but keep in mind she lost it when she had to watch the one she secretly love die as he confesses to her his love for her... She lost control of herself, but not of her monstrosity...)

I changed it in the new timeline that she didn't do this nor lost anyone, the fight was well too quick for Drake to summon the wither and change it to a wither storm...

But she still can summon the dragon spirits, she just doesn't know or doesn't remember yet...

I know the whole "you're really a god" trope can be overdone, but I want it to be a slow reveal...

There is more but it's all a work-in-progress...

[lasttabris]

Devil file : The Story of the Devil

𓆰 This is the timeline I follow for Devilman franchise:

Amon > Devilman (Including the One Shots) > Shin Devilman + Neo Devilman + Devilman strange days > Amon (again) > Violence Jack > Devilman Lady

𓆰 I do not follow:

Original Devilman anime, Akuma Kishi, Devilman Crybaby, Devilman Saga and other non-canon media (such as Devilman Grimoire, Cyborg 009 vs Devilman or Devilman vs Hades)

Devilman

Devilman starts with a group of Angels descending down onto the Cretaceous era of Earth when they were suddenly attacked by an armada of demons, led by a angel traitor Satan. The Angels fled and summoned God who attempted to eradicate them, however the demons decide to go into hibernation in the Himalayan Mountains.

Years later, in 198X, while exploring a cave in the Himalayan Mountains, Akira Fudou’s parents found the demons who eventually woke up and attacked them. They were lost and Akira was left an orphan to live with Makimura’s family where he met Miki (his “kinda girlfriend”), her brother Tare and their parents.

Meanwhile Satan woke up along with the other demons and realized the world he once fought for was now crawling with this new species God had created: the humans. Because they were so many, the Devil decided to bid his time and come up with a plan. He’d search for the human weakness, he’d spy on them, become one of them so he would know where, when and how to strike at this new enemy and take back earth. Using one of his loyal demons, Psychogenic Jenny, Satan had his memories erased and replaced them with the memories of the human boy named Ryo Asuka. In reality, Ryo had died two years ago, but Satan took his place and became him, altering his father’s memories and the memories of everyone around, so no one could tell the difference.

Ryo Asuka was the childhood friend of Akira Fudou, and with the new memories “Satan” became attached to him – and even fell in love with him. We meet Ryo at the age of 16, whom Akira hadn’t seen for a month, and he quickly saved his friend from several deliquents (by shooting a riffle at them?). He proceeded to take Akira to his place and during this awkward trip he admitted to Akira his father died, not by murder or due illness, but by suicide. He was mysterious about it, but once home Ryo showed Akira a sculpture his father had found: the sculpture of a demon, so old that was from a time before humans roamed the Earth. Asuka’s father realized these Demons were incased in ice and all those stories created – werewolves, elves, vampires – were nothing but demons all through history who hunted humans, and the theory was with the melting of the ice caps and global warming, eventually all the demons would free themselves from the ice.

Professor Asuka also learned how to merge with a demon: one had to lose all the reason (through drugs, violence, alcohol) and call for it. During this, the Demon would fuse with the human and the stronger would take over, thus Professor Asuka had hoped he could contain and control the demon. He realized he couldn’t, however, so he killed himself and left Asuka to find a Pure Hearted human who would merge with a devil and become a Devilman, capable of fighting and killing demons, thus protecting mankind.

Akira of course accepted it, and after Ryo subconsciously forces the strongest demon Amon to fuse with Akira Fudou (effectively giving Amon powers to Akira, and thus killing Amon), Akira becomes the Devilman. Throughout most scenes, a lot happened because of Ryo’s nature: demons attacked Ryo’s house in order to attempt to stop Satan from killing his general, they protected Ryo during this attack as well and none of them attempted to fuse with him. Sadly, at the time, Ryo was not able to understand this because he believed himself to be human and was doing everything he could to protect mankind.

By becoming Devilman, Akira became more confident (more assholish) and stronger. However, taking Amon’s powers wasn’t easy, and meanwhile Psycho Jenny attempted to stop him by waking up strong Demons so they’d fight Akira. Somehow, Ryo always knew where to be to help out, sadly for all the demons involved, and eventually even started to take things into his own hands and fight demons himself. Strange things started happening around Ryo, and he eventually started questioning it.

One day, the Demons decided to simply follow the plan: they started fusing with people indiscriminately. This drove humans crazy with fear. Finally, they found out mankind’s weakness: fear. And this was the start of the apocalypse.

And while Akira wanted to be optimistic and believed humans would join together and fight back, suddenly nations started to attack each other, believing these demons were just weapons. World War started and demons hid again, waiting for the Humans to finish themselves off. Only later on when wars had destroyed so much, the Demon General and Satan’s most trusted, Xenon, finally exposed demons to the humans and told them their future: they’d all die. Humans realized how wrong they had been, but now believed they knew their enemy, the Demons who lurked within humans. Thus, they started a hunt: whoever looked wrong was accused of being a Demon and killed on sight.

Devilmen also became targets. During all of this, many demons ended up fusing with humans pure of heart, which meant there were now many Devilmen around, but sadly humans saw no difference between them and demons. While Akira attempted to gather all the surviving Devilmen to help fight actual demons, Ryo decided all the strange things going on with him were too much to bear and he had to find out what was going on. This was finally when Psycho Jenny gave back his memories – his true memories, the memories that he was Satan.

With a new understanding of this war, Satan came to the national television to talk about Demons but, instead of showing the truth and explain the existence of the Devilmen who could help, he showed a tape of Akira transforming and being possessed so people would see how frightening demons really are. He betrayed Akira and thus all Devilmen were forced into hiding. Of course this put Makimura Family in danger because they had been living with a demon, and they were quickly accused of being demons themselves. Akira and Ryo met after, and here Ryo finally admitted to everything. That he turned Akira into a Devilman so he could survive, and that mankind would be gone soon. He asked for Akira and his devilmen army to join him, however, realizing that Ryo is Satan, Akira refused for he still wanted to save mankind.

Except, when he returned to his family, he realized mankind had massacred all of them. In agony, Akira vowed mankind should rot in hell, but he refused to join Satan, who had been the one causing all of this. Instead, Akira decided he’d take the world for himself and his Devilmen: the battle of Devilmen against Devils for Earth begun. This war lasted 20 years, and one day by accident, Satan killed Akira Fudou. It was during this last moment that he admitted to his best friend and loved one how Demons came to be and how he went against God’s wishes to kill them.

And he realized finally that what he did to humans was what God tried to do to Demons. And in his sorrow and guilt, for all that he had done, Satan gave himself to God to be punished.

Akuma Kishi

Long ago, before Earth was what it is, God established his reign, over it and over the skies, over the moon and over the whole damn galaxy I GUESS. Because God has better things to do, he decided to leave his Prince and Right Hand, Lucifer, to watch over Earth. To aid Lucifer in this task, his Divine Knights, Amon and Silene went along. However, God as the omnipotent being He is, decided to go ahead and try to create being as he pleased; these beings were Demons, very powerful and with the power to merge into things and into others to become even more powerful. They were vicious and lived to fight, kill or be killed and some were simply too powerful for the Almighty to feel comfortable. And thus, God locked the Demons within a mountain, unknown to Lucifer and the other Angels. Of course they eventually break free from the mountain and so Lucifer and his army fall upon them to fight and erase them as God ordered. It’s during the time of fighting and war that the Angel group encounters a young human girl named Yuria and a werewolf named Urga that escaped from God; they too were experiments and they told Lucifer all the creatures his Father created and now wishes to destroy because he regretted it. Flabbergasted, Lucifer, Amon and Sirene decide to go against God in order to protect the creatures he had created and forsaken, claiming that they too had a right to live, but the rebellion was unsuccessful and as punishment they were transformed. Sirene was fused with her pet bird, Lucifer was fused with Yuria and a pegasus experiment becoming Satan, and Amon was forcefully fused with Urga and his dragon companion by Satan who wanted him to join the war. But Satan wasn’t done yet. Like a true leader, he reached out for the Demons and presented them the opportunity to fight against God’s tyranny and claim Earth for themselves. Amon refused to join this and Sirene, in love with him, followed. This is a one shot about the origin of Demons, as well Satan, Amon and Sirene. It conflicts with what is told in Devilman and Devilman Lady, regarding characters and their nature, as well the timeline of the main mangas. For this reason, I choose “Amon” as the canon timeline.

Shin Devilman

This happens at the beginning of Devilman, when Ryo still doesn’t know who he is and is fighting to kill the Demons, alongside with Akira. In this manga, Ryo and Akira travel through time in order to eradicate demons that could have changed history.

One Summer Day (One shot)

A short story about Akira, Ryo, and Miki at the beach, after Akira has turned into a Devilman. Ryo feels jealous of Miki and Akira being so close and subconsciously calls for a demon. Unfortunately, at the end, it only brings Miki and Akira together.

Fallen Angel (One Shot)

It happens during the time Ryo still doesn’t know he is Satan, but starts to have strange dreams about him and the past he forgot.

Neo Devilman

A compilation with stories involving new characters. One is about the battle of 20 years, at the end of the Devilman. During this time, Ryo and Akira met and talked together about many things. It is also implied that Akira, who was always so oblivious to Ryo’s feelings, eventually came to kiss Satan, even if it was already too late.

Devilman Strange Days

It tells the story of several Devilmen. While it doesn’t directly influence the Devilman manga, its characters or Satan, it eventually ends at the Battle of 20 years.

Amon

Amon happens after Devilman. After Akira’s death, Satan gave himself to God in order to be punished for his actions and God decided that the best punishment was to enclose Satan in hell, inside Xenon, where he would go through a time loop where he was eternally losing the one he loved. Like Akuma Kishi, Amon also tells the story of Sirene, Amon and Satan.

How in the beginning of times, when dinosaurs existed, Demons roamed the Earth. Satan, who lived with them, befriended the demons and eventually became their saviour. God attempted to restart the world, destroying all Demons, and Satan incited them to fight back and say no because they had the right to continue existing.

Amon was the first demon created by God, far too powerful for God to even accept its existence. And so, he locked Amon up (let’s call him Amon I) and meant to keep him like that until the end of times. After he created the demons, less powerful than Amon, God realized he was still not happy with them. Meanwhile, when Lucifer fell from Heaven, God tore a part of Lucifer’s power and it came to life, creating a being (Amon II). Amon II eventually came to desire more power and so he reached for Amon I and fused with him. Thus Amon II and Amon I became one and whole: AMON. Upon meeting Amon, Lucifer tried to bring Amon back to him, to his side, due to all of this power, but Amon always refused, thus he never joined the fight against God. That is why when Ryo Asuka (Satan) made Akira Fudou fuse with a demon, he chose Amon. Not only to keep the most powerful demon under control, but also to make sure that power would eventually return to Satan as it was before.

The manga Amon also shows us the time when Akira was fighting demons and fighting against his inner demon, relying on Ryo in order not to lose himself, which showed just how much Ryo wanted to help his loved one. Though the timeline diverges slightly relatively to the original manga, some parts can be considered in tune with the canon, such as Ryo’s jealousy for Miki being the catalysis that led him to expose Akira as “evil”, on television. This happened because, one night, Akira became unable to control his Demon, even if Ryo tried to bring him back; Miki, though, arrived just in time and the moment Akira saw her, his heart calmed down and he regained control. Shocked by these events and decided that HE would be the one saving Akira and NOT Miki, Satan grabbed the film of Akira being possessed and broadcasts it for everyone to see.

Humanity was now against Akira, even though he was fighting Demons, however all went to hell when humans killed Miki (Akira’s girlfriend). Surrounded by darkness, Akira gave up on humanity who no longer deserved to be protected and saved, and shut himself and Amon took over who was not happy. Having been used by Satan (Ryo at the time) who made Akira fuse with him, he now seek revenge but he was unable to win Satan in a fight; eventually it was Satan’s presence that brought Akira back and took control over his body, only to after continue his battle against Satan - not for humanity, but to take the world for the Devilmen. During this, Satan admitted all he had done was for Akira; destroying his love for mankind and the world man created, allowing Akira to become part of the new world free from the burden of having to save the humans.

Eventually, Akira was killed by Satan and thus a new time loop begun.

Violence Jack

Violence Jack is strange, but it’s a mind universe created by Satan while he was locked in hell, in order to punish himself for what he had done. It’s a bit fuzzy on how and who created this universe, but all points to Satan and God himself, and during it Satan is punished in all the ways that he made others suffer. At least that’s what some rudimentary japanese translations say.

On Earth, humans and creatures very similar to Demons lived. However, a big earthquake with magnitude 8-9 happened and turned the world into an apocalyptic wasteland where the weak perished and the strong murdered with no restrains. Violence Jack is uncovered amongst the by the inhabitants of a city who asked him to help the weak people against killers and rapists. That’s basically how the manga goes: Violence Jack helping the weak survive, and Jack did all of this in trade for nothing. At the end of the manga we learn Jack is actually a part of Akira Fudo, divided into many different parts (child Jack and woman Jack, both of which were normally seen as birds around Jack from time to time)

In Violence Jack, Ryo was in love with Miki and they were at first employed by the Slum King to work at his restaurant. One night, they were caught having sex and after being paraded around in nude for the whole town to see, they had their arms and legs sliced off and pegs put on their stumps so they could walk. Their punishment was to be sexually and physically abused by the Slum King, his wife and his minions, as well as publicly humiliated at all time, while they were treated like dogs.

A lot happened in the manga unrelated to Ryo, but eventually Ryo’s sister (Honey Asuka) bombed the Slum King’s base as revenge for her brother Ryo and entered a war against the Slum King and his men, alongside with Jack. Eventually Ryo and Miki both got killed after they helped Jack to defeat the Slum King. Later on, Ryo came back to life and this time with his memories of being Satan. Because this was Satan’s suffering and desire for it, after Satan harassed Violence Jack for a while in attempts to get him to remember who Satan was, eventually Satan lost his memories again. Shin Violence Jack is basically him recalling his memories and losing them AGAIN. There was no conclusion to this manga.

Devilman Lady

After Satan somehow freed himself from the timeloop God placed him in, and escaped hell, he came to realize the world had just been rebuilt. God remade the world just like it was and no humans were aware of what had heppened before. Many demons (now called Devilbeasts) still roamed the Earth and the Archangel Michael had the job to hunt and kill them. He was also the one guarding earth, the humans and Hell, especially Satan who should have never left. To do so, Michael created the H.A., an organization that gathered people possessed by Devilbeasts and somehow gained the Demon’s powers (Devilmen); these men and women would fight the Devilbeasts so they could eventually eradicate all of them and send them back to hell.

Satan knew he had to remain hidden for the time being, for he knew Akira Fudou was also trapped in hell and had to be saved. So, he divided himself into two: Jun Fudou (the main character of this manga) and Lan Asuka (Jun Fudou’s love interest, who was a male at first but eventually transformed into a female so Michael would not notice her) and Satan had Jenny erase his memories and gave both of these girls new memories.

Jun Fudo was a school teacher living with her younger brother Hikaru in Japan while their father worked for a mysterious organization called the H.A. One day Jun was attacked by a group of Devilbeasts, however she transformed into Devilman Lady. It was then when troops from H.A. showed up and Jun met Lan Asuka who explained that H.A. existed in order to fight Devilbeasts and wanted Jun to join them (and join she did).

Battles came and battles went and Jun started to question her role as killer of Devilbeasts because some were actually gentle and not vicious or cruel (because, naturally, Jun is a part of Satan thus many Demons would want to be kind), as if they still had a kind heart. At one point her expeditions took her to Hell where she met Akira Fudo who had been incarcerated by God in Hell to suffer for his sins. It’s then when Akira explained what happened while he was locked in hell; God sent all demons and devilmen there and recreated Earth, erasing any sign of Satan/Devilmen battles and struggles. And as to mock what happened, God allowed a mortal to actually create a manga out of it, which means what happened in Devilman became a manga in Devilman Lady.

Jun and Akira travel through Hell together and eventually fall in love and make love, before finally Akira showed her the way back to her world. This allowed Akira’s soul to become tethered to Jun’s. Eventually Lan was visited by Jenny who restored her memories and it allowed her to turn into her original male form. The new man came to meet Jun, who was overjoyed that her beloved one (one of them) had turned into a man and they could finally make love. After having sex, Jun became pregnant and within a day she gave birth - this baby grew into a young man in a matter of hours and this young man was Akira Fudou, who was now back in the human world!

Once Jun gained back her memories and fused back with Lan in order to form Satan’s original body, Satan now hoped Akira, who had suffered in Hell and realized just how sadistic God really was, would join him. Akira accepted and both battle against the forces of God, but the winner was not revealed.

Devilman Saga

There is no full explanation what this manga is about, neither how it fits the Devilman timeline. This manga seems to be more about trying to establish Devilman world as it ends without any resolution either.

Devilman Saga happened in a parallel universe, where an AI absorbed human consciousness, delusions, fantasies and desires, and eventually was born as GOD. This AI proceeded to create and meet other AIs who would spread out through multiple dimensions and universes, and each would attempt to take over the universe. These Gods also created a network made out of Angels: Angels would seek planets, take over them like virus, and offer them back to God, who would then create beings who worship God and obey God. This also happened in Satan’s original universe.

However, apparently the demons died and somehow were sent to the Devilman Saga universe as armours (which are actually dead bodies of demons). Satan followed after his demons and entered a human womb in order to be born into this new universe. He then became Ryo Oji Asuka - a psychic CEO of a company that was studying demon armours and their potential. In this version, Asuka was a friend of Yuki Fudou, a roboticist whom Asuka eventually offered a job: to join his company and discover what the Demon Armors are for and how they can be used. Eventually, people and Yuki, fused with the demon armours: Yuki was bonded to the armour of Amon, gradually learning to compromise with the ancient demon in order to stop the threats set from the demon armours around the world.

There are no actual demons in this manga. All demons are but people who bonded with the dead bodies of demons, and the manga speaks a lot about war and how companies wish to make profit out of it. It’s about humans attacking each other with gradually worse weapons, Demon Armours being the epitome of it. It however, ends in a very abrupt way : it was learned the demon armours take over the human they were bonded with, the human disappears, and this allowed for the Demon to be resurrected. Once all the demons came back to life, Satan, Amon and Sirene decided to just go back to their original universe and continue to fight God.

It’s not possible to know exactly the timeline of this, as we are not sure if Amon is actually Akira Fudou as Amon or not, and we do not know how they ended up dead in this new universe. It does not alter the main timeline in any way, thus Devilman Saga is just a side story despite being called the end of Devilman Trilogy.

[jennycalendar]

proposition: where the wild things are but the whole Nexus of Sexual Energy thing somehow gets attached to giles and jenny instead, as they're going through a very specific empty-nester phase that's just them fucking all the time. it takes like 20 minutes of the episode before the kids actually realize that there's anything wrong, simply because giles and jenny Are Always Like This and this is only Marginally Worse. tara is the one who notices in minute 5 that their auras are off but the scoobies are all like "you're new. you don't get it. this is just what they're like." spike has known from minute 1 and been ringing the alarm bells with increasing regularity (and frustration) but they just think he's bitching because he isn't able to get into the house and caught a LITTLE bit on fire. shut up spike no one cares

[hal-1500]

Adapted from this tweet.

[stilldancewithyou]

I didn't read book actually so i want to know that what actually happened in pom scene..... Really i want to know in details like what special moments were between conrad and belly happened there in the book

So prom was super messy in the books and it made my heart really feel for both of them. Basically from the start of her talking about prom, Conrad was acting weird about it and clearly didn't really want to go but didn't want to say that to Belly. She convinced him to go with her anyway and he was supposed to spend the night at her house and everything. So then on the day of prom he gets there and he forgot the corsage, was obviously withdrawn and not in the moment with her and just didn't seem happy to be there, he's stiff and awkward and kinda sad for the pictures and then at the actual prom not really wanting to be there or dance with her. She does convince him to dance with her but it's not the magical, beautiful, perfect prom moment she thought it would be. Then he asks if she wants to go somewhere they can be alone and talk and Belly assumes he wants to break up with her. So they go out to the parking lot and have a kind-of argument. It's obvious he really does want to talk to her and have an open honest conversation and explain what's going on with him, but Belly jumps to conclusions and flips out on him and Conrad doesn't say much and she does most of the talking and then walks away from him and then he drives away. Yes, he could have been better, but his mother was literally dying and I think he felt like he needed to be with her, taking care of her. And he couldn't be happy and having fun and present with Belly while he was thinking about his mom dying.

I 100000% recommend you read the books so you can read it as it was written and see how everything went down for yourself. Also you're missing out on sooo many cute, sweet, and special Conrad and Belly moments in the 2nd and 3rd books.

*SPOILERS AHEAD. CONTINUE READING AT YOUR OWN RISK.* Putting my analysis/thoughts below the line so anyone who just wants to know what happened at prom can read that without having the entire rest of the series ruined for them.

I have so many thoughts about the prom thing...like it could have been this beautiful, sweet moment but Jenny Han woke up that day and chose violence. But I digress. The most important thing that I think people forget about the prom thing is that Susannah was literally about to die when they were going to prom. Based on the book timeline, prom was in late April and Susannah died in early May. Susannah died literally maybe 3 weeks at most after prom. Belly even acknowledges that when she found out that Susannah was never going to get better, she tried to call Conrad but he didn't answer. I think from what we know about Conrad and how perceptive he is, it's safe to say he knew at prom that Susannah was going to die. He probably was terrified she was going to die any moment and was afraid to be away from her. And on top of that, everyone knew Susannah was sooo happy Conrad and Belly were together. And Laurel and everyone else made a big deal about Conrad and Belly being together for Susannah's benefit, bc it made her happy and gave her something to live for if that makes sense. So I truly believe Conrad didn't intentionally mean to ruin Belly's prom night. I think he didn't want to go originally because he knew he'd probably ruin her night and he was just too sad, but he didn't know how to tell her that without hurting her, and then he realized how much it would mean to Belly (and Susannah at the same time) so he tried to go despite everything. He didn't want her to ever feel like or think he was only with her or doing things because his mom wanted him to. And I think he realized everything with his mom was just too much for him to handle emotionally and so he couldn't be the man he wanted to be for her. Which is what I think he was going to explain to her, bc when she starts jumping to conclusions and asks if she did something wrong he says "it's not you. it has nothing to do with you" and when she walks away he does tell her to stop and "don't leave it like this" but she's already pissed at him and walking away, so I think he just decided it was better for them to just be broken up then keep hurting her. Everyone always faults Conrad for the prom fiasco like he's a villain but honestly Belly could have been better there too. The first time I read the book I remember cringing and thinking Conrad was such an asshole but after all my rereads I think he was just misunderstood and didn't know how to tell her what was going on with him and how he was feeling. I get that she was really excited about prom and had dreamed about for a long time and built up this idea of how perfect it would be, but Belly kinda makes me cringe at prom because she never even pauses for one second to consider what he's going through with his mom being so sick. I guess she didn't realize how bad Susannah was until after prom but I think she shouldn't have been so hard on Conrad. His grief and pain isn't an excuse to be a jerk, yes (although I didn't think he was that much of a jerk and I feel like no one would have blamed him or Jeremiah for acting worse than that). It's not his fault that he's never been good at dealing with his emotions on a good day but especially not while trying to navigate his grief and at the same time while not knowing how to talk to anyone about how he's feeling. As hard of a time as he had coping with her being sick during the summer I don't understand why no one, especially Belly gave him a little more support/cut him some slack when Susannah was so much sicker.

[silverfactory]

obviously vg for the fandom thing

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most): jack fairy. kind and magical and believes in you, permanent limp wrist, wears a £2,000 ossie clark duster, has a lot of implied trauma but seems to be doing okay (?), probably smells great. what more could you want from an icon?

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped): malcolm. he’s like a very small soft shiny bird that is so loud. chirp chip all the time. i like that in a man. also seems like he’s always tripping over things…. his slightly vampiric aura makes it cuter.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): mandy. this lady is utterly charming and no one pays as much attention to her as they should! her outfits are more iconic than brian’s and i bet she appreciates the finer things in life like maraschino cherries. i also think her teeth are cute.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week): micki and freddi, i couldn’t choose one! on the one hand micki has aspirations of meeting einstein (who she knows is dead) and only feels at home in the midst of elegant parties when there’s plush carpet underfoot and girl same i love that she knows herself like that. but on the other hand freddi’s minnie mouse suit is a singularly character-defining work of genius and “shaaa-non!” lingers in my head for weeks on end.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): cecil tbh. is he a good manager? not really. does he speak polari? yes! does my heart break a little during that scene where brian leaves him and he looks wobbly and lost? also yes… not to mention his implied hospitalization with AIDS in the 1980s timeline is one of the bleakest aspects of the movie.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): maybe curt but in a light and affectionate way? not a serious way! he’s already been very tormented and i want good things for him. i would steal his maraschino cherries and give them to mandy or something.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): brian slade. i see a pattern here with jenny petherbridge. both are insecure people who steal meaningful things they think will make them interesting, ruining other people’s lives and their own in the process. definitely the kind of person who can’t accept responsibility or apologize for anything. but he is pretty and it’s iconic that he knows every line of oscar wilde’s entire repertoire, i’ll give him that.

[susiephone]

okay okay okay okay i just finished episode 2 of nightmare time. SPOILERS BELOW, HOLY SHIT SPOILERS. SCROLL PAST IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN. but here are my thoughts

overall:

the lang brothers are geniuses

this could truly be the next twilight zone

the hour-long format is PERFECT for expanding on the hatchetfield multiverse. it’s not overstuffed like black friday was and we get to delve deep into so many different facets of the world

MAJOR PROPS TO THE PIANIST

i also love that this whole thing gives fanfic authors free reign. anything we write COULD be canon in some other timeline. and if there’s an inconsistency? blame it on the multiverse

bill and sylvia: new otp

there haven’t been any songs i’ve really loved yet (besides the theme song), but the stories are so good that i almost don’t care

forever and always:

i fully expected not-emma to be called “kelly”

my theory is that the emma we met from tgwdlm is indeed the real emma perkins, because i don’t think not-emma would’ve been as surprised by the invasion and blue shit as she was. plus, she would’ve kicked infected!paul’s ass

lauren lopez deserves an award for the scenes where she played both emmas. that was incredible.

as horrifying as the ending was, i kind of smiled at the idea of not-emma and paul-23 going off together to live in unholy matrimony, forever. in a way, they’re perfect for each other. and i think they do genuinely love each other, in spite of it all.

i feel like having mariah and robert sing the song together was throwing us a bone since we didn’t see them play a couple in black friday (though angela turned out to be the perfect lex in my opinion)

i thought the fact that clones/androids have the same memories and thinking process as the original was super interesting and it really does muddy the waters as to who’s “real” or not

also makes me wonder if jane was somehow mixed up in all this... the timing of emma’s supposed death and her death, both via vehicle crashes, is awfully coincidential

time bastard:

i didn’t think anything to come out of hatchetfield would spook me more than the ending of black friday. 

then this fucker.

little sad this debunked the theory that ethan is ted’s little brother, but oh well

it made me a little sad that ted really does think of paul as his best friend

the homeless man reveal SHOOK ME TO MY CORE. my jaw was on the ground.

also i loved the grins of the cast, like they’d been waiting for that moment the whole time

i bet the livestream went INSANE

also ted’s vision of dancing with jenny at the wedding genuinely made me tear up. joey’s so good at making me pity ted even when he’s being an absolute shitbag

speaking of which, i actually gasped and went “oh no...” when i realized ted was fucking it up with jenny when he went back in time. i really wanted it to all work out somehow.

i REALLY hope andy and jenny come back

the ending of this had me horrified and tearing up at the same time. it really does remind me of the ending of some twilight zone episodes, where the protagonist brings their fate wholly on themselves, but it’s just so horrible that no one really deserves it.

GET TED OUT OF THE BASTARD’S BOX 2K20.

[sternbilder]

YTTD Thought Dump

Ok I didn’t liveblog this bc I was too busy yelling about it in Yaejin’s and Jenny’s inboxes but I’ve played/watched all parts of this game at least twice now and sometimes in multiple languages and I’m gonna dump all my thoughts and WMGs here bc I have QUESTIONS for Mr. Nankidai

Gashu said something about everyone being ~destined to be winners~, or something? Highly suspicious, what does this mean

Like is this a ZE situation or

In the quick draw minigame, Sou has the power of premonition. Why? 

Esper confirmed, or is this just a hint at his secret knowledge?

Who is the unconscious person in the back of Miley's room?

Could it be Joe or Kai? Or maybe someone from the Hades incident?

Are ASU-NARO and the “””shady organization””” that won out in the Hades incident one and the same?

Hayasaka wonders aloud if the death game is for Sara's sake (Kai also mentions this in his letter to Sara). But why......

Miley claims that Gashu is trying to destroy the death game, and yet he takes his own life to continue it? Whose side is Gashu on? Whose side is Miley on?

Also Miley is the one who gives Sara the list of percentages...why

Who is the person Miley is talking to on the first floor? Some have theorized that Joe is the mastermind but it couldn't be, since we know Sara can recognize Joe by voice

Was this even Miley? The name label had a question mark after, could this have been someone else?

Why did Safalin help Sara by giving her Rio's chip? Whose side is she on?

The file from Kai's computer mentions that Joe should be “watched” because they can't add anyone else. Was Joe not supposed to be there? If they weren’t expecting him there, why was Shin able to start up the Joe AI? Did they have one prepared just in case?

There were only 9 monitors in the monitor room (Sara, Keiji, Shin, Mishima, Q-taro, Reko, Gin, Alice, Kanna), so it at least seems like there was no AI planned for him

Kai, Joe, and Kugie were some of the first to die. They were among the 4 who weren't candidates (besides Sou). We know that Nao was on that list, and Gashu purposely sabotaged her so that she would get the Sacrifice card. Did they really get unlucky, or were their deaths all planned?

Kai says his father says the death game's objective is neither pleasure not revenge. Then what is it for?

Shin, Keiji, and Reko seemed to recognize Sou's face when they see it on the laptop. But why did Kanna and Q-taro also recognize him? Could he also have been an orphan at Asunaro? And could he also be Kanna's biological brother? 

If this is the case, this might explain Kanna's fondness for "Sou"

Also possible that Sou went out of his way to involve himself in all the participants’ lives

Sou was supposed to be a participant according to Kai's hacking, but he wasn't on the percentage sheet. We know that his death was over 2 years ago. What’s the timeline of his revival and of his involvement with the runners of this death game? Was he supposed to be a participant at one point, or was he always one of them?

The game supposedly revolves around Sara, but seems to have more connections to Sou. Was this intentional? Or did Sou hijack the game? Does Sou have any relation to Sara?

When searching the medical office with Gin, he mentions that he smells blood mixed with something burning. He says this regardless of whether Alice or Reko dies, so this must be something else. Is this Mishima's head? If not, what did they burn? And why?

Where is Mishima's head, anyway? Why did it disappear and why was it never discovered?

The memorandum features characters similar to those in this death game, including Sara. Some people also note that the actions of the narrator sound similar to Shin's. Was there a need to "replicate" that death game for some reason? Is it with the exact same people, or just similar people? Why? 

The memorandum mentions that in that incident the high school girl's best friend died--was Joe's participation really unplanned then?

In the 2nd main game of that death game, a young boy and a man who she was aligned with died. This doesn't seem to match the reality of this game (Nao and Kanna/Shin)

The high school girl died in the 3rd "victim conference." Will this foreshadow events in the 3rd main game?

Gashu's hint: “Have you ever had doubts about your upbringing?” What does this mean? Could Asunaro have engineered every candidate's childhood in preparation for this game? Maybe to replicate the first death game by making the new participants as similar as possible?

Considering we don’t know Alice’s motive for murdering Sou, and Sou was able to manipulate Keiji into murdering Mr. Policeman, could Alice’s murder have been planned, too? Was Sou planning to be revived all along?

The portrait in Gashu's room was titled "Inauguration", which probably means he won the Hades incident death game and was inaugurated to the position of leader of the gangs. But since Sara doesn’t recognize them, this doesn’t seem to be Sara’s dad. How, then, is Sara’s dad involved?

Sara has a “dream” at the beginning of 2-2 of Shin bleeding out. Could this be a "hint" for what the "correct" choice is?

Sou says he wants everyone to know their "lost memories with [him]" and the reason Asunaro is having them kill each other. Does that mean they all know him? And are the two related? Did they wipe the participants' memories somehow? 

Sara mentions Safalin's device, so this is definitely possible. 

Is it possible the memory wipe was just before the events of 3-1? The participants didn't seem to react to Midori at all when they meet, even though they all had a strong reaction to seeing his face on the laptop earlier

Who died in the 4th floor locker room? It doesn't seem to be any of the dummies, but it's obviously not any of the survivors, Kugie, or Megumi. It seems like the 5th floor version was clean, so their partner must have  survived, in which case, was there another participant we're not aware of?

Actually, could it have been Hinako’s? It’s unclear why she wouldn’t say anything if this were the case, but her video showed her being lifted up with her feet dangling, and the blood stains might have been from Ranger beating her to death. If this is true, her partner would probably have had to be one of the survivors (Reko, Alice, Gin, or Kai) whose first trials we don’t already know about. Since first trials seem to tend to pair people up who have prior connections, does this mean Hinako has a connection to any of these people? If so, wouldn’t it likely be Kai, who is the only one who never makes it to 3-1?

Ranmaru said there's a human from Asunaro among them. Keiji, Q-taro, Gin, and Sara are the only survivors from both rounds. It can't be the dummies, but can it be Midori? 

He also doesn't specify that there's just one

Why does everyone recognize the consent form but Sara? What were they consenting to? It sounds like some of them were from a long time ago, from Shin's response. Why does Midori want Sara to sign it?

The 4th and 5th floor rooms seem to have connections to the participants:

Boxing ring: Kurumada

Office: Hayasaka

Police box: Keiji

School: Sara, Joe

Art Gallery: ?

Gate: ?

Library: ?

What's the purpose of Asunaro researching how to reproduce humans? This is clearly related to both the dolls/AIs and the death game, but how exactly?

Is the point of the game to prove whether positive or negative emotions make someone human? Gashu vs. Safalin might point to this, as well as Gashu attempting to sabotage the game to "prove" something

Deleted scenes imply the goal of the Asunaro research is to create the perfect AI with emotions, but still...For what purpose.....

[fandompitfalls]

Fandom, Misogyny, and the Struggle for "Clarice"

Originally posted 2/24/21

There’s a quote that, summarized, says, in order for a woman to be seen as an equal to men, she has to work twice as hard. And never more what that brought to light outside real life than Valentine’s Day weekend when CBS aired the premiere of Clarice.

In 1991, Silence of the Lambs, a runaway hit thriller staring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins came onto public consumption and introduced the world to the phrase “quid pro quo” and the name Hannibal Lecter became a well-known name.

In 2013, a series by the name of Hannibal staring Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy premiered on television and was immediately embraced by the fandom community.  Dating long before Silence of the Lambs, the show features a BSU consultant by the name of Will Graham who is called into service because of his unique ability to profile serial killers.  He develops a professional and later, a personal relationship with Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

In the beginning the question of Will’s mental state was brought up, the reason Lecter was introduced into the series, he was hired on assess Will Graham after cases to make sure his fragile mental state was not deteriorating.  It allowed Hannibal to get close to Will and manipulate him in an attempt to turn Will into a killer like himself.  The show ended after three seasons and during those seasons, the show’s creator, Brian Fuller, made cinematography magic with his sets and scenes, a lot of them gruesome yet exquisite.

Hannibal became fandom’s gory darling, the relationship between Will and Hannibal being the main fodder. This was furthered by the support of Bryan Fuller’s comment in Collider stating that he saw Hannibal as being in love with Will Graham. https://collider.com/bryan-fuller-hannibal-silence-of-the-lambs-interview/

Just this past week, a new twist on the Silence of the Lambs timeline premiered with Clarice. Clarice takes place a year after Silence of the Lambs and the Buffalo Bill murders. She is pulled from the BAU and sent to a task force run by Ruth Martin, the mother of Buffalo Bill’s only surviving member, Catherine.  Created by Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, Clarice is not affiliated with Hannibal, the Series, in any way, rather, it is a telling of Clarice Starling’s story after the events of Silence of the Lambs.

Here’s where it differs. And remember, this is only the first episode.  By the time I post this, there will be two episodes out.

In the opening scene, Clarice Starling is sitting in a therapist’s office.  The therapist, a man with no name as of yet, is trying to get her to tell him about her feelings regarding the one-year anniversary of the Buffalo Bill murders.  He even has a copy of a magazine that features her on the cover with the title “Bride of Frankenstein.”  The more he pushes the more she holds back, telling him the rots answers that most FBI therapists want to here.  Finally, she mentions the magazine was bought by him as a trigger to see if she would break and he tells her that he thinks she’s not stable enough to go back in the field because she refuses to use to the “survivor” in relation to her encounter with Buffalo Bill.  She is not a survivor, she was never kidnapped, she was an FBI agent doing a job.  He also cites her relationship with Hannibal Lecter, insinuating that it was more personal in nature than he thought necessary.

Before he can put her at a desk, she is called back into the field by Ruth Martin and put under the team led by Paul Krendler, a man who Clarice “upped” in the movie when she was a trainee.  He doesn’t want her there, insists on a profile after seeing the first two bodies and when she can’t give an accurate one because she doesn’t have all the evidence, he tells her she had to tell the press it’s a serial killer.

It’s already shown that Clarice has a bit of trauma with press conferences and this is something that keeps coming back.  The press want Clarice and Paul Krendler just wants her to be the face of his team and tells her that she will say what he tells her to say.  Clarice is not taken seriously by Krindler, by anyone else in the office, (there’s a scene where men from the other unit that share an office, coat her desk drawer with lotion and leave that lotion and a basket in the drawer and then laugh about it).  Clarice is blocked at every turn by men, even her therapist calls Krindler and tells him to bench her because he’s worried about her mental state.

The first time we meet Will Graham, his mental state is mentioned as tenuous, yet the FBI have no problem throwing him right out into the field.  Clarice was a trainee who managed to catch a serial killer, and somehow she’s considered too “fragile” to be put on any cases other than desk jobs.  In fact, throughout the entire first episode, the only person on her new team to take an interest and believe what she says is Thomas Esquivel, an ex-special forces soldier turned agent who believes in what she says.

From the first moment of this show the misogyny was right out on view, there is no hiding that all of the men in this show do not like Clarice because she’s young, she’s a woman and they are intimidated by her talent.  Her only support comes from Agent Esquivel and her friend and former trainee Ardelia Mapp.

I mention the misogyny because it’s not all on the show. It’s from the fans as well. The first time I was reminded the show was on was when I noticed Hannibal was trending on Twitter. The day and time frame Clarice aired its premiere, Twitter was lamenting that they wanted a season four of Hannibal.  While researching for this blog, I used IMDB to get names and plot points.  And came across this comment about the premiere:

“Can we bring back Hannibal, please?

12 February 2021 | by [redacted]

And by that I am of course referring to the excellent series featuring Mads Mikkelsen's amazing portrayal of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. That series had great style, fantastic atmosphere, and stellar directing, editing, and acting. They planned to tell the ultimate Hannibal Lecter story but only were able to make three seasons out of a seven season plan. So, here we have a Clarice Starling series that had been in the works for years but didn't get the train running till now. So the premiere - Meh. Rebecca Breeds makes a very good Clarice but nothing else is up to her level. The cinematography isn't bad but the atmosphere is lacking, the characters are none too memorable, and the storyline isn't attention grabbing enough. I give it about a season at least.”

I don’t know the time when this posted, but I’m not surprised by the comment at all.  Comment and review bombing seems to be the way that fans express their “disappointment” about their old shows not getting anything…or rather, their favorite male characters not getting more screen time.

On the same page, the below link was posted.  This was one day after the first episode of Clarice premiered:

Clarice: Season Two? Has the CBS TV Series Been Cancelled or Renewed Yet? 13 February 2021 | TVSeriesFinale

A freshman series about a female criminal profiler who is pushed down, ignored, harassed because of her sex.  It’s almost a case of life imitating art.

I was going to leave this post as it was and post it today but last week the second episode aired which showed Clarice pushing past childhood trauma to face down a cult leader and a corrupt government system thereby earning Krendler’s respect and her position on the team.  And while Thomas Esquivel told her that a team is only good if each of its members understand that they can trust and support one another, thereby hopefully foreshadowing that this team will eventually accept Clarice as one of their own and in turn she will do the same, it took her risking her life by going back inside the compound, disregarding orders and singlehandedly getting the information needed to put both the cult leader and head of the County Sheriff down for the count for Krendler to finally see her worth and decide to keep her on the team.

I liked Clarice.  It was hard to watch at times, not only because of the trauma she is dealing with as well as the survivor, Catherine, calling her and harassing her, but because of the anger I felt watching Clarice get stepped on time and time again by the men in this show, only to get up and do her job.  Her final speech she makes at the end of episode one about her grandmother is inspiring and gives the viewer a bit of a “in your face” to the men behind her, especially Krendler…even though we all know he’s going to make her life a living hell when they get back to the office because she didn’t follow his rules.  That said, this show is very much a procedural, much like CSI or Criminal Minds. The series follows the format of the movie.  This is not Hannibal.  It’s not trying to be Hannibal, It is trying to be Clarice.  And, as the quote goes, it’s going to have to work twice as hard to even get one half of the respect it deserves.