#so why the fuck am I actually STILL in a depressive episode???

[clonerightsagenda]

Ok there is. a lot that could be said about Vi and Jinx but I'll hone in on a couple of things for the sake of this post:

We're back at it with character duos representing dueling worldviews, and Vi and Jinx are both struggling with the past. Vi wants things to go back to how they used to be. I have to keep reminding myself of this because of the show's breakneck pace, but she's been in prison for what, 6 years? And then seasons 1-2 take place over a few months. Vi stepped out of a timewarp into a nightmare. Her last clear memories of the world outside her cell were an entirely different situation; it makes sense that she's struggling to let that go. And it also makes sense that she latches onto the first real positive interaction she gets after all that (Caitlyn) and is so willing to take her back the second Caitlyn reverts to their past dynamic. Vi cannot move the fuck on. More on this later.

Jinx, on the other hand, wants to make the past go away. She changes her name, her look, her life, but of course she can't make a clean break of it. She keeps dolls of her dead siblings. She's literally haunted by figures from her past. I am not psychotic and have not done a lot of reading on psychosis, so I can't speak authoritatively on how Jinx's mental illness is portrayed (I suspect not well), but there's a noticeable shift between seasons. Part of this could be that Jinx's symptoms are intensified by stress and parts of season 2 Jinx (and AU Powder) are in a better headspace, but it also reeks of 'this character is more of a protagonist so we're going to get rid of some of the unsightlier symptoms'. Suicidal depression is prettier and more poetic, right?

So we have two sisters with two different ways of handling the past (trying to kill it versus trying to resurrect it), and while I found the whole Vander/Warwick plotline annoying, I recognize its symbolism as the undead weight of their history. What's interesting to me, though, is that despite Vi getting the more traditionally 'good' ending, Jinx is the one who escapes this mindset. Vi doesn't get through to her, but Ekko - whose powers allow him to turn back time, but only 4 seconds, a more limited engagement with the past that acknowledges you can't live in it - does. She changes her look again in a way that references multiple important people from different phases in her life. She also appears to be wearing a hoodie made out of an Ikea shark maybe. And although the finale episode starts with Jinx trying to fall to her death, her eventual "death" isn't actually caused by her issues. She did not go into that fight with the goal of a heroic sacrifice. She ends up falling with Vander because Vi refused to leave his inert body, because Vi still cannot let go. Jinx is the one who pays for it. Maybe that's why after her heavily implied survival she doesn't come back.

(Also, sidenote unrelated to the core idea being explored in this post: Both of the sisters are far more interested in personal relationships than ideology. Jinx doesn't dislike Caitlyn for being a topsider; she dislikes her for stealing her sister's attention. She never meant to be a figurehead for Zaunite liberation. So I guess her giving Vi her blessing to date their military dictator doesn't represent her betraying Zaunite ideals (she never actually cared about that and is very upfront about it) but it's still sort of annoying. Though maybe it's just another warning sign that she's given up on everything, that she no longer has the energy to fight for her sister's attention. And when Vi gets released she has jail cell sex with Caitlyn instead of running after her sister so, fair read of the situation there, Jinx.

I just finished Arcane. I have deeply mixed feelings but re: PPLN: I would be interested in hearing your thoughts about everything that went down with Vi and Jinx. Or Mel and Ambessa.

re: send me PPLN asks while I'm snowed in, the sleet has begun and so do I

This ask could probably keep me fed for my entire snowbound experience because oh my god, but let's start off with Mel and Ambessa since there's a little bit less material to work with, and I'll come back to Vi and Jinx later.

Stuck it under a cut because this got long

Arcane loves its character duos who represent dueling worldviews, and Ambessa and Mel represent hard versus soft power. In Mel's childhood flashback, Mel advocates for sparing a captive and using her as a figurehead while they become the power behind the throne, and Ambessa decapitates her instead. In the present, Ambessa is a warlord coming to Piltover looking for new shiny magitech to use against her enemies. Meanwhile, Mel is the richest woman in the city and a major political player, making alliances, swaying council votes, and backing rising stars.

We see the two of them come into conflict in season 1 and the beginning of season 2. (Although, we can note, Ambessa is using political maneuvering here by manipulating Salo and Caitlyn! She has more range than just brute force.) As viewers, we can anticipate that the characters will be used to explore these two different philosophies of power and control.

Aaaaaand then.... Mel gets kidnapped, joins a sisterhood of witches, comes back, hands over her mom to one of the witches, then decides she doesn't trust the witch after all, and then her mom dies and she gets her job. I'm. Not quite sure what philosophical statement is being made here. Which is possibly one of the reasons why Mel's sections feel so untethered from the rest of the show, beyond that it's clearly spinoff bait. Ambessa proclaims she is the wolf - is this a vindication of hard power? But Mel mostly just showed up to do some sparkly and ill defined magic and then introduce a new villain.

As I've been contemplating this ask, I've been thinking that while Mel votes for Zaunite independence and opposes the use of hextech weapons on the Undercity (she frames this to Jayce as 'I won't let them corrupt your dream', although she does seem distressed at the unnecessary violence as well) she sure didn't seem to be using her wealth and power to do much for the Undercity beforehand. Judging from Caitlyn's 'can you believe they live like this??' speech in season 1, the Undercity is literally beneath the notice of the privileged of Piltover. Plus, Mel is an immigrant, and I'm not sure how long she's been in town. To wind her deeper into the season's storylines and explore her philosophy versus her mother's more, I kind of wish she'd ended up spending some time in Zaun. Maybe she gets dropped off there after leaving the witch place (still not entirely sure how she got home from there...) I'd be interested in her trying to use her political skills in that environment, and seeing how the leadership of the Undercity responds to this wealthy outsider. Caitlyn who got vocally upset about the Undercity's treatment and then teamed up with Ambessa to oppress it versus Mel, Ambessa's daughter and privileged councilor, who now tries to do the opposite despite a distrustful reception...

We see Sevika serving as the loyal right hand woman to whoever she sees as Zaun's best figurehead (Vander, Silco, Jinx), but at the end she's taking a seat at the council. It would be interesting if she'd had some interactions with Mel, who also spoke about being a power behind the throne, as they both navigate having to stand out on their own. Maybe Mel could be the one brokering the conversation between Zaun and Piltover, which is a missing scene I would've loved to see. (It's implied the councilor with the cool necklace thingy gained respect for Sevika and advocated for her, but seeing that actually go down would've been nice.)

[sunshineler]

.

[milo-is-rambling]

I am so high I love you dabs I love you big bong rips I love you huge heavy bong I love you only having 20 dollars to my name and no plans but getting high and ignoring it I love you oh no I’m thinking about it

[1-800-dnkichu]

i had a psilocybin journey back in march. at one point i looked out at the little back garden the facility has and i just looked out at the nature there and it brought me so much peace and joy and, outloud, i said "i love existing..."

this took me completely by surprise because i have been extremely suicidal since i was 7 years old. before that moment i dont think i had ever thought about life in that way. but there it was. my subconscious letting me in on a little secret. i love existing. living, thats different; living is hard and it will always be hard and i have come to accept that. but existing? having moments in nature like this? being surrounded by people that i love and that love me? finding something so pure and good in the world where there was always nothing more than deep sadness and anger at my situation?

ever since that day, anytime i start to feel depression creeping in to take over my life again, i try to take time to stop and think about nature, about the people i love, about how there can be hope even when im in the deepest pit of sadness ive ever been in before. and it helps. because omg. we're alive. this is happening. somehow, in all the universe, i am here and you are here and the trees are here and everyone we love is standing beside us and its beautiful. more beautiful than anything depression can try to darken.

trees are very 🥺 because sometimes i’ll stand under the shade of a tree and look up at it and it’ll sway its branches about in the wind and i’m like oh my God i’m alive and YOU’RE alive. we are alive together and made up of the same starry stuff and standing right next to each other in this moment on this earth. do u feel it when i reach out and press my hand to your trunk? can you hear me? i think you’re so neat. and then the sunlight filters through its leaves just so and that lovely green color leaves me dazzled. it’s just very nice to be an alive thing next to a different sort of alive thing

[hattersarts]

gomens s2 thoughts, all spoilers!

I spent 10 hours talking to my housemate about the season after we binged the whole thing in the morning but here are the highlights and the biggest takeaways from the season.

okay i did love the ending, i love that we get the conformation of love AND going into the divorce arc next season (if they're not properly together by the end of season 3 however, i am rioting) they're slow burn and a whole season of them getting to the final 10mins was tasty.

HOWEVER. it was an extremely clunky season when it comes to writing, lots of either set ups missed OR set ups repeated 4 times that they're drilled into out heads. there was also lots of dialogue that really needed to be tightened up. the lesbians were so poorly written i thought they might have needed to be cut BUT they just needed to have more bearing on the rest of the plot AND say things like real people would say things and LITERALLY SHOW ONE SINGLE REASON WHY THEY WOULD LIKE EACH OTHER WITHIN THE FIRST EPISODE.

gabe/bulz romance was the one that should have been cut, have them do more of a oh-my-god-my-boss-sucks kind of thing, lean into them complaining about having to avert a civil war after armageddon stopped and touch on the "structural problems" the angels mention later. Have gabe/bulz be super punished for working together which puts huge fear into az and crowley about what happens if you try to team up as an angel/demon pair (but an extra reason why az takes the job at the end so he and crowley can be the same)

imo it works more if the only mirror of their romance is the HUMANS which should lean into themes to season 3 of how they need to team up with humans (re:"us vs them" line at the end of season 1) to actually achieve their happy ending.

Nina and maggies best scene was their last one telling crowley he needed to talk to az but i think that was one that needed to be cut, it would have been far more satisfying to have crowely work out it out himself that he loves az and wants to tell him (still via maggie and nina but more subtle rather than them telling him to his face AND via spending more time with az in the season)

flashbacks were all pretty good, loved the jobe one and that final "lonely" scene. the nazi one needed some trimming the most (why did all three come back to earth, it made scenes too crowed, have them fight to be a zombie)

shax was disappointing, she was kind of just incompetent the whole way through which didnt make the stakes very exciting, (that whole scene of her talking to the legion was unfunny and pointless) i wanted crowley to mentor her more like when he gave her advice in the first few meetings we saw (kind of in a very non-demonic way, not expecting anything in return) and her to then meet him on equal footing in the finale. would have been a little accidental taste for Crowley to have his good deeds come back to haunt him while showing he's different to demons.

speaking of the finale fight, that halo had NO set up, it was sick as hell but ??? the fuck did that come from. the fight should have been won by az and crowley performing another HUGE miracle together, discorporating the demons (which then would alert heaven and hell something was up in the bookshop and the final scene can happen)

az taking the job from metatron was very good, its consistent with his character where he still hasn't let go of his faith in good/god, he's only been upset by the angels running heaven and still has faith in the system while crowley has realised none of it works and it's only them together that matters. it was nice to show he still hasn't truly accepted crowley for who he is now (tho imo he knows he loves him, he just hasn't quite unrepressed himself) and him not turning down the job after crowley confesses to him shows he still thinks he can fix it. Crowley on the other hand thinks he's now lost him, az has broken he the trust he had in him, he's going to be in big depression mode

few thoughts of good directions for S3:

finally delivering on what crowley said at the end of S1 I think is the most satisfying. the final showdown should be humans Vs heaven/hell with Crowley and az on the human side, helping them win the conflict. there would be suggestions that this is actually god's ineffable plan, this is a conflict she wants to happen and the things that Crowley and az went through are what make them perfect ambassadors to help the humans.

the set up for az in S3 to finally work out he and Crowley can't work out within the unfair rules of the system and for him to abandon heaven (tho not I think, becoming a demon) is good. a sucky ending imo for season 3 is if az somehow "fixes" heaven and via bureaucracy and not via blowing it all up.

growth moments for Crowley in S3 might be having more contact with humans since he's already abandoned hell and it would put az & crowley on similar footing (as az very much loves humans already) when they decided to side with humans for a humans Vs heaven/hell conflict.

anyway, gay people

[viv-hollande]

Ok, so this is a post that I should have made sooner. I've been somewhat out of the loop with regards to current events and the state of discourse on this website courtesy of a pretty serious depressive episode from which I am only just now recovering. As I have emerged from this state I have been pushed towards a conclusion about this website and the state of discussion around the ongoing Israel-Gaza War that I had thus far avoided due in part to my barely possessing the energy to keep myself alive and due in part to my denial that the conclusion could be true. But that denial can no longer hold.

It has become openly apparent that the pro-Palestinian camp on this website has become popularly infused with a degree of blatant, aggressive antisemitism that I, in my naivety thought impossible in the days just after October 7. I am trying to avoid turning this into a mea culpa because that would be unproductive and feel self-serving, but I do feel an obligation to admit that I disregarded prescient warnings from Jewish users whose warnings I dismissed as over-blowing a problem that I felt was real, but more limited in scope than they made out.

I'm neither an idiot nor am I ignorant. I am well aware of the long history of antisemitism in leftist politics and in the Palestinian Liberation movement. Back at the beginning of this crisis I was prepared to see the occasional instance of antisemites using the inevitable, overwhelming Israeli retaliation as an excuse to air their hateful politics. I was prepared to see both the well-meaning but ignorant and the malicious alike sharing tweets from antisemitic pro-Palestine accounts, spreading and normalizing low-grade, subtle antisemitism. Make no mistake, this should have been condemned. Antisemitism, like all bigotries, has no 'safe' level. There is no background level of antisemitism that society should just accept as normal. But I was more focused on the inevitable cacophony of suffering that Israel would almost certainly begin meting out, and so I failed to act.

The fatal blow to my denial was the increasing prevalence of the use of quotation marks around the word "Israel" and "Israeli". The first few times I saw this, I didn't really understand what it meant. Still laboring under the belief that antisemitism was a manageable problem on the left, I was certain that most of the users on this site, well-intentioned, goodhearted, critically thinking people that they were, would have recognized and called out even disguised antisemitism before it took over a good 20-40% of all posts about the conflict. I was a damn naive fool. For those, like past me, who have not cottoned on to the meaning of the quotation marks, they have become a way to express the denial of the legitimacy or even existence of, individually or all together, the State of Israel, the Israeli people, or the right of either Jews or Israelis to identify as Israelis.

CONGRATULATIONS TUMBLR! You have successfully revived from depths of 4chan neo-Nazi boards the (((fucking echoes))).

Are you serious? Are you fuckers for real? This, right here, encapsulates the pitch-black absurdity of this whole situation and why I remained in denial for so long. Never, in a million years, would I imagine that the proudly pro-Social Justice, anti-fascist, 100% Certified SAFE-SPACE(tm) website would end up using the same language as the goddamn Nazis on 4chan. I thought this website was smarter than that. But noooo, it turns out that I was a damn naive fool.

This was where the post was originally going to end. I say my piece, hope to change a few minds, and commit myself to actually fighting antisemitism instead of sitting back and dismissing the problem. But I figure, while I'm here and while I still have the driving forces of anger and guilt pushing me along, I may as well put pen to paper and spew forth my other thoughts on the ongoing crisis. I am thus compiling a much longer post detailing my thoughts on some aspects of the current situation. [EDITED ~1:25 AM GMT, 5 Dec 2023: add link to finished post] That post will definitely be long, probably be angry, possibly wrong on some aspect of fact, and will absolutely be pretentious, preachy, self-righteous and hubristic to a positively Hellenistic degree. Brief, non-comprehensive summary so you can decide whether or not get mad at me ahead of time;

Israel does apartheid, or near enough for government work.

Israel is definitely conducting a campaign of forced displacement, possibly amounting to ethnic cleansing, but I remain unconvinced of the claim of genocide.

Hamas may or may not be a anti-colonialist revolutionary group, but it definitely is an antisemitic terrorist organization with genocidal aspirations and actively supporting them is morally indefensible. Yes, this includes the Al-Qassam Brigades.

Anti-colonial and other revolutionary movements do in fact have fundamental moral obligations and suffering oppression does not give you carte blanche to do terrorism, even when an oppressor attempts to render peaceful opposition impossible. There is a middle ground between peaceful marching and 850+ dead civilians; aim for that.

The left is just as prone to unhinged conspiracism as the right.

Verify your sources, for fuck's sake.

Use nuance. It won't kill you.

There's more, but it's a little difficult to summarize an unfinished post. If you want to argue with any of these points, go ahead, just keep in mind that a longer, more comprehensive post is in the works that might have the answer to your argument/complaint/insult/intellectual disagreement. If that post isn't up by midnight GMT on Friday, assume I forgot about it and argue away. In conclusion, antisemitism is bad, apartheid is also bad, Tumblr is a hellsite (derogatory), "From the river to the sea" is, in fact, antisemitic, seriously, stop saying it, take Jews seriously when they warn you about antisemitism instead of writing them off like a damn naive fool, and last but not least, free Palestine.

[space-owl]

LUCIFERS ROLE IN HELL

First of *inhales deeply*

FUCK YEAH LUCIFER MENTIONED WOHOOO YES YES YES IT MIGHT NOT BE A DIRECT APPERANCE OF HIM BUT HE IS PRESENT EVEN WHEN HE ISNT PRESENT! HIM BEING RARE IN HELLUVA MAKES HIM SOMEHOW EVEN MORE POWERFUL THAN HE ALREADY IS! (<- Im very deaperate for content of my blorbo)

I dont actually think the sins do like Lucifer that much? At least currently they dont seem as if they do. He was the only one not present during the meeting. And I mean, fair, he probably is still dealing with his depression and cant be bothered. (Also he is owned my amazon so I doubt he isnt even allowed to show up from that standpoint gosh I wish Hazbin was still indie animated)

Lets start with how Hell was created in the first place.

By Satan it seems to be confirmed that hell existed long before Lucifer fell

But how can this be? In the first episode of Hazbin Hotel it was said Hell, aka "a new realm of darkness and sin" was created when Eve ate the apple.

However at the same time, evil and darkness did exist BEFORE hell did and before Eve ate the apple.

After all here its mentioned how evil was always a thing. It existed before. But when Eve ate the apple, it finally managed to reach into earth and into humanity. To me, it is a bit unclear where the evil existed before. But it is a fact that it was a thing. Maybe "the endless dark" Satan was talking about, was a realm of evil that wasnt "opened up" to human souls before? Neverless, it did exist and Satan was the ruler above and about it.

So it seems, Lucifer is the newest in the group.

And the other sins - or at least Ozzie and Bee - dont really seem to be fond of him. Look at the looks the two besties are giving each other!

I know its highly up to interpretation. Because Bee looks concerned when she looks at Lucifers throne. But when she looks at Ozzie she looks annoyed. And he looks displeased as well. It might also be a direct reaction of what Satan is singing. But the fact they both looked at the throne before and then away with that kind of expression tells me this is about Lucifer.

In the Hazbin Hotel playbill its mentioned how he is the ruler of the sins and the king and all of hell. And also how he used to perform with the Deadly Sins before. I do believe the sins and him had a good relationship before and they seem to be at least content with him being the ruler over them. Which is interesting to me, especially when youre thinking about the former leader Satan. Why would he suddenly accept a new ruler over himself? Especially an angel? Neverless, they did have a good relationship before but I am sure there was a fall out.

I really hope we do get more context of how all of this went down! I really really hope someday Lucifer will make an apperance together with the other sins!

[oneatlatime]

Sokka's Master

pleasebegoodpleasebegoodpleasebegoodpleasebegoodpleasebegood

Strange choice of master but we'll see where this goes.

The meteor shower animation is quite meditative. I wouldn't mind it as a screensaver.

How to describe something exceptional to your blind friend: "You've never not seen anything like this." It's amazing the quality put into even the tiniest of throwaway jokes.

Are meteor strikes flammable?

I love how whenever Sokka's disappointed he gets noodle arms. A surprisingly consistent characterisation.

Momo butt skate.

Iroh. The fuck?

ok. So he's playing a part for the guards. Why?

Pretty.

Funny to think about, but as a former WWE character, Toph's probably had more hero worship than the Avatar.

Lots to say about this! First, I stand corrected! i honestly thought that Sokka would be immune to this specific insecurity by virtue of him not being a bender. I was wrong! Second, I love how, as soon as Sokka expresses that he feels that he isn't as talented as the rest of them, the others respond by listing his actual, invaluable talents, without which the group would be completely at sea. They don't respond with "no you're perfect!" they respond with "no one can read a map like you can" and how he keeps their spirits up with jokes. They're not using false praise. They are using specific facts. I love that an episode that looks like it's going to deal with a character feeling down on themselves establishes from the get go that the character is invaluable, actually. So often, the 'low self esteem stock episode' puts the affirmation of the character's value at the end. Which means the viewer spends the whole episode being convinced that the character in question might actually be useless. Here, we're told from the start that the character is invaluable - the problem is that they do not perceive themselves to be so. Quite on the nose for a show that deals so much with identity.

OMIGOD IT GETS BETTER!!!!!!!!!!

Validating Katara sweeps in and a) validates his feelings, while b) clearly explaining that his self-perception is not in line with how the others see him, which c) doesn't invalidate a) !!!!

Katara has such emotional intelligence when she chooses to use it.

Nuanced intelligent discussion of the complexities of emotions and self-perception in a Sokka episode I am so happy I am blessed the gods are shining on me today I'm sitting here twirling my hair and swinging my feet and doodling hearts on the corner of my journal

SHOPPING!!!!!

btw that's the same face he makes when he says SUKI!!!

"Reinvigorate my battling" this boy. just. this boy.

He lasted a lot longer than I would have with nun chucks.

Aang the Happy Meal toy.

Some say that Halberd is still spinning today.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present: the 45 degree Sokka.

Some Foley artist had the time of their life with this weapons sequence.

Why thank you for that exposition, Mr. Exposition. Now walk away and we'll never see you again.

Toph does NOT move ONCE this whole scene and it's ever so slightly freaking me out.

Toph tells you she learned from Badgermoles and no one wants to discuss this further?!? We're going to gloss over that?

So this episode has a training montage theme.

Sokka goes freestyle on those door knockers.

That's one hell of a castle. Must be dark in there though. Tiny windows.

Which explains the several hundred candles. This show. Set up with one hand; slam dunk with the other.

This guy's reciting Sokka's s1 introduction on Kyoshi Island.

Sokka: Actually. I am a dumb. The Master: Sold.

The face of someone who is definitely picking up what you're putting down.

It's been ages since I watched the episode, but is some of what the Master saying here about swords an echo of what Zuko says to the kid in Zuko Alone when he's decapitating sunflowers?

A Sokka-less Gaang. Depressing and they know it.

The way Katara's voice actor says "oh everyone's a critic" is gold.

Multidisciplinary education vs. kid who's never been within a mile of the box he's being told to think outside of. Fight!

Yikes that was a meaty hit. Does Sokka have a nose left?

They're wearing beehives on their heads.

Was Sokka always this short?

The greens in this episode are such a delight.

The way he says "I'm finished!" Sounds like "Am finished" and you can actually hear the smiley emoji he throws in.

He's good.

What do they FEED him?

Sokka's voice actor had a great time this episode. All the voice actors had a great time actually.

Sokka invents the La Z Boy

Katara inadvertently invents a fandom war by attempting a joke.

They're all so useless and it's wonderful.

That was all only one day? That's a lot of outfit changes for one day.

"You mess things up in a very special way." Compliment? Let's go with compliment.

Sokka is so very Sokka this episode.

A reason to live is coming!

*thundering herds of shippers in the distance*

That's clever. The inciting incident gets smelted. Haven't seen that before.

This whole Iroh gets buff montage has been completely dialogue free on Iroh's part. Crazy levels of inner peace, that he'd doesn't need to snark back at the guard.

Seriously. What are they FEEDING these children. Also how is that door that shiny.

Sokka really has it in for those door knockers.

Apropos of nothing, the clouds in this episode are all so yummy. All these soft slate colours and misty layers.

Meteoric iron is actually a thing, right?

Ok but aren't mold made swords crappy?

HI YUE

I love how they managed to made a crafting montage where the character who does the least work is the one who looks like he's working the hardest.

"I saw a heart as strong as my garden decor"

"No it certainly wasn't your skills. You had none."

Creativity, versatility, intelligence, meat, sarcasm.

You've known him like two days and you can already tell he's more worthy than any man you've ever trained? Sounds like you had poor taste in students.

"No. This is my fight. Alone." Bro you are going to DIE. The first time you held a sword was two days ago. You might need the avatar on this one.

Guard who never shuts up actually kind of has a point here. He's a dick about as usual, but it's entirely possible that the rank and file of the Fire Nation army view Iroh's actions as a betrayal. Does anyone remember in Star Wars movie number 7, or maybe 8, when that Trooper sees Finn after he's switched sides and yells "traitor!" and it's the best part of the movie? Yeah, like that.

This episode throws the concept of linear time out the window. In two days, Iroh gets swole and Sokka masters sword fighting.

Do you think Sokka's realised yet that this is his final exam?

Yummy yummy clouds.

One in a million pocket sand shot.

One in a million stick placement.

So this master is like a sword spirit or something. He can't be human. There's no way he could get the scabbard to fly on perfectly without seeing.

"Try Lee, There's a million Lees. There's a tea shop in Ba Sing Se that has a super cranky waiter called Lee."

This guy's just this side of committing treason and I love it.

I see this Master is a devotee of the 'Hakoda school of shoving outrageously over the top compliments into Sokka's thick skull in the hopes that 1% of them will stick.' I approve.

This last scene has gorgeous hills and skies but you'll have to take my word for it because I've hit the image limit.

Sokka's been inducted into the super secret boy band!!!

He saved space earth for Toph! He's so considerate! He's fuelling the ships!

Let's compromise and call it space dirt instead.

Final Thoughts

This episode every two minutes: Sokka, you are currently flawless and you're about to get better. Me: Yes. Yep. Yeah. Seconded. I concur.

I like it! It's great! It's 24 minutes of the writers and characters fangirling over Sokka! Of course I like it! It made me criminally overuse exclamation marks! What else can I say?

Hands down my favourite episode is Bato of the Water Tribe. For Sokka's story, this episode is Bato of the Water Tribe part 2. Of course I'm going to love it. This episode was lab grown specifically for me.

Now let's see if I can say something about this episode that isn't poorly disguised squealing.

I love how the characters respond to Sokka saying he's not special with an evidence-based refutation rather than blanket reassurance.

I love how shopping cheers up Sokka. I love how Katara knows that shopping will cheer him up. This must be something she's learned since the show started. I don't think there were malls in the South Pole. So Katara was paying attention when Sokka and Momo went through the bag saga.

I love how much the master is baffled yet impressed by Sokka. He seems almost charmed by this breath of fresh air. I think it's hilarious that, when Sokka first approaches him, he's expecting early season 1 Sokka. He'd better send Suki a thank you card.

I also really like "The way of the sword doesn't belong to any one nation." It seems obvious to us, but in a world where there are weaponisable skills that are quite literally inseparable from the nations their wielders inhabit, it's probably something no one in the Gaang has ever heard before.

Obviously the episode is a little rushed - half hour kid's show and all that - but it's still pretty crazy that you can apparently impart a solid basic knowledge of swordplay in two days.

Toph going all tsundere is funny, and makes Aang and Katara unapologetically desperate for Sokka's company twice as funny as it already is. Toph's like "whatever" and the other two spent the day making a welcome home banner.

I love how Sokka's happiness is always so loud and shameless. It makes it contagious.

This episode highlights what Sokka's actual strengths are, by instructing him in what he thinks his strengths are. If that makes sense? Sokka is brain, which he's finally starting to realise by attending brawn lessons.

He's also heart, and I'll die on that hill.

Iroh getting swole was honestly just a thing that happened. No comment really, except it was interesting to have a reminder from the guard that a character we perceive as the good guy is currently perceived as the bad guy by everyone but us. When the Fire Nation does inevitably get defeated, a whole nation is going to have to reset their worldview and that will not be an easy process.

More like this please!

[scientia-rex]

Good morning! I have a question. When I look up info about vitamin D, I come across many claims that people generally don't get enough of it. In a recent episode of Maintenance Phase, however, the hosts called it a "scam" or overblown, at least (I don't remember the exact wording). So, like, what's the deal with vitamin D? Do Americans get enough of it?

Probably, mostly. At the very least, people should be tested before starting repletion. It probably has a role in osteoporosis treatment and prevention, BUT how much to take and what form and when is HOTLY debated and frequently conclusions are changing.

Just to take you on a spin through the most recent Cochrane reviews (THESE ARE NOT SINGLE STUDIES, in case any of the research-naive out there want to get pissy about them; look up what a Cochrane review actually is before trying to shit on it; also note that I did NOT say this will cover every fucking person and every hypothetical they can come up with, jesus CHRIST):

No role for vitamin D in asthma

Insufficient evidence to recommend it in sickle cell

Raising vitamin D levels in cystic fibrosis patients is not beneficial

No evidence of benefit of vitamin D in MS

Supplementing vitamin D in pregnancy may have small benefits but also risk of harms

No clinically significant benefit from vitamin D supplementation in chronic pain

Insufficient data on vitamin D in inflammatory bowel disease, but no evidence of benefit

No evidence of benefit of vitamin D supplementation in liver disease

Vitamin D does not appear to prevent cancer in general population

No evidence for benefit in supplementation of vitamin D in premenopausal women to prevent bone density loss

Possible small mortality benefit of D3, but not D2, in elderly patients, but also increased risk of kidney stones and hypercalcemia

Vitamin D alone ineffective, but combined with calcium may be effective, in preventing bone fractures in older adults

Insufficient evidence for vitamin D improving COVID-19 outcomes

Now, vitamin D plus calcium in people who have post-menopausal bone density loss does seem to prevent fractures. This is why doctors routinely recommend it. However, dosage and formulation are still debated as data are insufficient, and uncertainty still large.

So, do you need to supplement? Probably not. There is some fairly weak evidence that vitamin D supplementation may help with depression, but I would argue that it's going to be most relevant in people with pre-existing deficiencies, which Medicare is just hellbent on not letting me test for anymore. They've narrowed the coverage codes for testing so now even know vitamin D deficiency isn't considered a good enough reason to test. So Medicare has very clearly decided it's not relevant, for whatever that's worth, I spit on their graves, etc. Of course, then you get into the question of what counts as a deficiency, which we also really don't know.

And to be clear, I wasn't looking through the Cochrane review results with an angle--those are most of the first page of search results on their site, with the only one skipped being similar to another one I mentioned, and I stopped when I got bored. These should not be paywalled, as I am not logged into anything and I can read it all, so try clicking the side menu on the right if you have trouble getting into the weeds.

If anything, running through this little exercise has made me less likely to recommend vitamin D supplementation, so do with that what you will.

[solitudeandseclusion]

SPOILERS. ALL of my thoughts while watching love next door ep 9 (i don't think i've done this since crash course in romance)

every time i see a new love next door episode is longer than the last one, i feel more alive. let's feast.

in most (almost all) kdramas i've watched till date, they don't really show intimacy between an ex-couple, especially no kissing (marry my husband is a recent example). even in flashbacks. love next door at least has some physical affection which is nice to see. seokryu really seemed happy with hyeonjun in the past.

seunghyo being all chivalrous is indeed weird to witness, but i guess he's trying. also the car he drives is ugly af (i guess i'm chatty today 😂).

god, the loneliness of being in another country and not being able to tell your parents about your health issues.

at least seunghyo is still a bit objective even when he's jealous. jung mo-eum, ily you're a great wingman. your love story is gonna be fun.

SHE STILL CAN'T TELL HER PARENTS. THAT HOUSE IS NO GOOD FOR HER!! and now she's feeling sick again :/

ooh choi seunghyo's parents romancing a bit. LOVE IT. lmao the difference between them eating that ramyeon. i hope their past wasn't too ugly 🙈

dramatic ass seunghyo screaming for that milk carton. boy, you already have a photo of the thing, that carton is not so important. desperate loser you're never in the office to care of that tree 😭😭

WHEN WILL THEY ADDRESS THAT HYEONJUN CHEATED???? CAN HE STOP ASKING HER TO GET BACK WITH HIM??

look i love seokryu to bits but she was rude to negate seunhyo's feelings like that. i know there must a reason but it's hurtful. and i'm glad my boy said it.

you can't convince me that danho DIDN'T know what he was doing with that t-shirt. poor mo-eum lol. really really enjoying seokryu's knowing look when she looks at mo-eum praising dan-ho.

oh fuck off chris. i am glad she beat you up & you got fired.

oh so hyeonjun didn't cheat. but i don't like his attitude with her anymore. i get it, it's hard to be with someone who is depressed. i wish they could've talked it out instead of letting it fester and him then blowing up in her face. but well, that's how it goes.

she's rejecting love entirely noooo i'm gonna kms. i hope she gets better pls pls pls.

i don't ever care about anyone's occupations in a kdrama but i have to say seunghyo is a good boss. oh now i see why he was so mad at the end of ep 6. seokryu really does drive him to madness so much so that he is actually unwell.

the child actors are so good. (the last time i was so happy with child actors was in the good bad mother). AARRGHHH. his mother is always away from him and seokryu is always by his side all through his childhood. and now when his feelings for seokryu are making him sick, he sees his mother. OH now seokryu's there too. both women the bane of his existence at different points in his life.

aww my lovely mo-eum being so awkward lmao. every interaction between her and kang danho makes me happy.

ohh so seunghyo's mom wasn't really there then? nooo don't look into her stuff, that's rude. nooo seokryu don't brush it off girl wth? he is DEVASTATED. no great now i'm crying. GIVE ME EPISODE 10 NOW.

[flower-boi16]

the thing is with viv's fat "rep" she could've actually done something good with it if she put THOUGHT behind as to WHY these characters act that way. she has such a large audience she could've impacted them in a meaningful way but as we all always say, it's viv. so that dream goes down the drain.

as someone who is overweight *because* of eating disorder issues, someone who fits the stereotype of "eating too much" and thus being heavier, i am the punching bag for people and "jokes" and harassment because of that. i remember watching the beezlebub episode, being excited for the design, and maybe just a LITTLE representation - and then boom! It's just furry bait 2.0 with lava lamp hair and the same build like every female character in the hellaverse. you can make asmodeus horny, you can make mammon greedy, but you can't make beezlebub a glutton? she literally summons FOOD. if you're gonna represent nothing but stereotypes, why not stick to it?? same went for mimzy. only character i was excited for and she's just another asshole and hated for it, even though the main cast isn't better in any way, but that's H*H and H*B for you, hypocrisy.

maybe adam got severely depressed when lilith left, and thus, he started stress eating, or that mammon does it because he feels like he never has enough (greed). just a half-assed explanation would've sufficed.

anyways, much much love to the beezlebub redesigns out there.

All of what you said would require Viv to actually put effort into her fat rep, which she clearly doesn't care about. She'd rather make all of her fat characters one-dimensional stereotypes than have actual depth, while she tries to put effort into her skinny-ass characters and give them depth, the fat ones are all just one-dimensional assholes with little depth.

I don't hate Beezlebulb's design as much as others do but the fact that Viv made a GLUTTON look skinny af is very weird, but then again, that's probably because then Viv would be forced to make a fat character that's more than just a one-dimensional asshole, so she made her skinny instead.

Also, the fact that Adam is apparently supposed to be fat despite STILL LOOKING SKINNY AF. Like, if you want to make a character fat, do the bare fucking minimum and ACTUALLY MAKE HIM LOOK FAT!!!!! But that would take effort, now would it? And that's the thing, Viv doesn't put effort into her fat characters; she always makes them one-dimensional assholes with no depth, none of them are actual characters, they all have the same fucking personality.

Oh, and I'll also never forget the fact that Viv had a fat character, Mammon, fat shame fucking FIZZAROLLI OF ALL CHARACTERS. Fizz looks skinny as hell! Yes, fat people can be fatphobic but like wouldn't it make more sense for Mammon to fat shame an actual FAT CHARACTER? But again, doing that would take effort, and Viv clearly doesn't want to do that.

I used to think that Viv can't be fatphobic because she herself is fat - until someone in my replies pointed out that fat people can still be fatphobic so...

...ya, judging by Viv's writing, she's very fatphobic. Until Viv actually makes a fat character with actual effort put into them, my mind is not going to change. Honestly, when I become a writer when I grow older I'll look at Hellaverse as a clear lesson of what NOT TO DO when making a fat character.

[thetreefairy]

Platonic Aizawa and Present mic where reader was doing a patrol with a few friends of class 1A and Hitoshi and something happens and reader gets trapped with this hero that panicked saving their self and left reader for dead.

Did I make this while in a depressive episode yes, so if its more like comedy then angst hehe-

Kofi

Warnings: implied murder, class 1-a tells erasermic what happened much to the heroes dismay, Reader wakes up kidnapped, class 1-a is also a yandere.

It was Reader’s first mission together with Hitoshi and Uraraka. They were incredibly excited, especially since they were with their favorite hero: NYX. “We will be doing a rescue mission, if you sense any danger get out of there.” Nyx told them. “Take care of each other. [Hero name], you are with me.”

“Understood!” Reader agreed happily. “Stay safe.” Hitoshi whispered in his sibling’s ear as they separated. “I will.”

Well, Reader tried. During the rescue mission they were caught by villains, and NYX left Reader and the victim as the main villain made the building collapse. Reader used their body to protect the victim causing Reader to pass out.

“[Hero name]? "Please be okay!” the victim shouted. The victim kept shouting for help and help.

“Where is Reader?” Hitoshi asked NYX when he saw them come out alone. “They were supposed to be behind me.” NYX lied, turning around in fake concern. “Where are they?” Uraraka asked, feeling nervous.

“Uraraka, call Eraserhead. I will deal with NYX.”

When Erasermic had arrived at the scene, multiple heroes were trying to get into the building and get Reader. Uraraka made the ruins float and when Tokoyami arrived together with Hawks he used Dark Shadow to lift up wrecks. “Bird!” The victim shouted. “[Hero Name] is injured! Please help! Please!”

“Go to Reader, Hitoshi. We will take care of NYX.” Present mic told his adoptive son. “Fuck them up.” Hitoshi told his dads. Eraserhead just nodded and pushed them away.

“We are going to talk.” Eraserhead told NYX and Present mic started to drag them towards an alleyway.

“Fucking hell.” Hitoshi gasped out when he saw his siblings' injuries. “I am so sorry.” The victim apologized. “You have nothing to say sorry for.” Hitoshi promised her. “Hitoshi, go with Reader into ambulance. We will give Eraserhead and Present Mic the location.”

Hitoshi nodded at Uraraka.

When Reader woke up they were in a  hospital-like room. But when they looked out of the window they saw that they weren’t. It looked like Aizawa’s home scenery.

“Shouldn’t I be in the dorms?” Reader mumbled out loud. “Reader!” Hizashi shouted happily and hugged them. “You woke up.”

Hizashi started crying as Aizawa, Hitoshi and Uraraka rushed in. Luckily there was a lot of room. “What the fuck is going on?” Reader mumbled out. “Papa, why am I here instead of a hospital? Is Miss Butterfly okay?”

“Miss butterfly is okay.” Hitoshi told Reader. Class 1-a nodded and Uraraka said: “She is alright, she gave me this letter to give to you.”

Uraraka showed Reader the letter and then put it down on the desk. “she was really sad when we told her you wouldn’t become a hero.” Hitoshi chuckled as Aizawa petted your hair. “Wait, why wouldn’t I become a hero?”

“Don’t worry Reader! Class 1-a will visit a lot!” Uraraka said in a comforting tone. “Now hold on, who said I won’t be a hero?”

“We did.” Aizawa said. Reader looked at Hizashi. “Mainly me actually.” Hizashi casually said. “Shota thought you would still be able to be a support hero, but you are way too precious for that!”

“What the fuck.”

[idrawstuffidk]

Ok. I’m typing this while watching the premier bc I don’t know if I can do this. Live reaction I guess.

30 second left, why must I suffer this way? None of these emojis are accurate to how I’m feeling

Fuck you monotv

Someone voted for Teruko? Who?

NOOOOOOOOOO

Why would you think that, whit?

You absolutely can blame yourselves, hu.

Oh ace he looks so tired

Acevi is dead and alive at the same time oh my gosh

Oh here we go Teruko! Killing monotv is an idea. I don’t think it would matter though

OH SHIT GO OFF ACE

Well… you did kill monotv in a way… bc you messed up their personality

This is not going to work

Awwwwww whit telling Charles to cover his eyes is so sweet

Well… I respect that Teruko, I guess

That’s depressing, Teruko

Oh wow that’s not teruko’s blood is it

LEVI!?!?!?!?

OH MY GOSH HES OK

Ace is going to let himself die to save Levi??

OH MY GOSH ACE YOU SWEET THING

C’mon, Arturo! I know you can do it!

Oh my gosh ace you are so sweet and so right!

I don’t want to watch this, my poor baby. I love you so much Ace.

NO I DONT LIKE HIS CRYING SPRITE

Oh this is an interesting execution I guess

STOP TORMENTING HIM ALREADY

At least he wasn’t drawn and quartered like we thought he would be. I don’t know if this is worse…

I’m liking this character development, Teruko! I’m liking you more more!

No it’s not your fault Teruko, your choices didn’t kill them, so it isn’t your fault. Her crying spites are so sad btw.

Ok so, final thoughts.

1. Ace running through his execution was likely because he was trying to get to the end as fast as he could to save Levi, and I like the autonomy that gives him

2. Levi saved Teruko just like he said he would. Levi said he would never let Teruko get hurt as long as they were classmates

3. Everyone is projecting this episode, Teruko projected onto Ace, Ace projected onto Arturo, wow.

4. I hate Hu with a burning passion still, I hope she and Veronika die!! ❤️

5. Acevi is so canon and I am openly weeping (actually I’m not this time probably bc I’m writing this which is helping more than I thought it would)

6. I cannot get over this, Ace is so fucking cool and I love him so fucking much

7. I loved reading monotv’s robo voice. Very fun

8. So Ace clearly blames himself for whatever happened to the one person who he ever considered a friend, it involves his hands or his gloves or smt, idk what that’s about but I hope we learn more

9. I think Levi will live, it seems like good character development potential for him

10. The CGs and animations were on fucking point.

[venus-is-thinking]

DRDT Chapter 2 Episode 12: Initial Thoughts

Hello everyone! I thought it'd be fun to do a post going over some of my first thoughts from the episode after each release. "Initial" is a bit of a stretch, considering I did watch it a second time while making this post, but it's more "initial" in the context of being before the next episode drops. It's sort of like my "initial thoughts" of the Milgram MVs, which are actually the result of, like, 3 hours of obsessing and research, lol.

(By the way, @accirax and I watched the episode together, so apologies if her initial thoughts end up being, like, the same as mine.)

SPOILER WARNING FOR DRDT CH 2 EP 12!

T/W: Body image issues/body dysmorphia, murder, suicide

The Reactions

Confirmation of what I think most of us already suspected! I do think it's a little weird that Nico didn't bring up their testimony about all of the fish being there at the last time they fed the fish. That probably means it's being saved for later in the Trial, I guess?

It's okay Teruko, I saw literally no one in the entire fanbase figure this one out either!

Why is everyone so mean to her though. Everyone here has been an idiot in the Trials at LEAST once

God I missed David

This was so funny. Get his ass.

(In all seriousness, though, I do wonder if we're going to come back to what J said. I don't currently (?) think Arei was drenched, unless the real purpose of the water WAS just to confuse the time of death, so if the water didn't connect with her enough to cool her down, it might be weird that the body isn't warm after all.)

This took me out. Who let you say that. What.

Okay, but Ace, outside of a killing game... why. Like, literally why would a plastic surgeon need to know how to do an autopsy. King.

Like Felicity...? /hj

All in all, though, this was a really interesting character moment for Arturo! And god, the fact that he started learning medical knowledge and spedrun plastic surgery specifically since age 12 HAS to mean something. My vague theories of Felicity having struggles with body image/dysmorphia (Arturo's section of this post) are... maybe real???

Honestly, I'm starting to wonder if Arturo is going to go farther in this game. I don't expect him to survive or anything, but I could see it taking him a surprisingly long time to die. He feels like he's got too much lore to unpack to die, like, next chapter. Unless he gets HELLA focused next chapter, which is definitely possible.

This is so silly. I love them.

(Note: I'm not a Whit mastermind truther, but if I were, I would point out that MonoTV sort of covering up a rules violation for Whit could be relevant. I'm not a Whit mastermind truther though, so I think this is just a very silly joke a la "no wifi! why live :(" )

Well you see Eden, the killer would have actually had all night to prepare. If, say, they mentioned that they could dial in and focus on their work for like 14 hours straight, they could have gotten a lot done before 7:30 AM!

I'll talk about this more later, but the fact that J, David, Veronika, Hu and Nico seemingly have alibis that actually matter is so iconic. I can't believe that many theories died that quick. I'll talk about that more in my theories section, though!

It's been said before, but. Funniest fucking reaction to being declared innocent of murder.

"David still has a family history of depression even if that isn't his secret" nation where you at?

This one made me laugh out loud. Who does it like him

How truthful do we think David is in this next section? I refuse to believe it's 100% a lie, just because he's cooking SO hard on SOMETHING, but I could also believe David thinks he's lying to an extent. I could definitely see a "the best lies are based on the truth" kind of thing?

Also, damn. Xanvid really is real. LGI got me to believe it but WOW David's just being gay on main now

This was a really good, succinct way to have Teruko show her opposition to David's ideas. Even if it is to end the killing game or do something "good' or whatever, Teruko is still hurt and betrayed by what Xander did. Xander tried to kill her, and presumably would have tried to kill everyone else. David is now doing the same thing.

It's going to be really interesting if, whether genuine or not, David is kinda taking on Xander's position. That's going to give Teruko a reason to (outwardly) hate him even more. I'm really looking forward to learning more about how both Teruko and David view Xander.

Also, it's so fucking funny that Teruko and David are literally fighting over Xander. Like, valid, but. Guys.

(Also, David soooo knows Teruko's secret is the killing game is all your fault. Idk if he specifically knows that Xander's plan was to kill Teruko no matter what, but he's definitely caught on to some extent.)

This was crazy. Is Xander famous? Why would everyone recognize him? Like, did David just take particular notice of Xander because he's a simp, or is there something else going on?

Notably, it's also extremely interesting that David says "Even if you all lost a year of memories for this killing game." It almost implies that David didn't? What do you know???

Also, if David DOES have weird memories about this that no one else does, it's a really interesting comparison to Teruko remembering the existence of a killing game in the area investigation when she was talking to Veronika. Are these two getting special memory privileges because they're important? Or does everyone have some kind of memory that they all should have, but only one person knows each thing?

At first I was confused when David said this, because I really don't know how dear anyone in DRDT's life to him was other than Xander. But then I realized, if David is talking about killing 15 others and yourself, he's definitely still talking about Xander's mindset. Xander had something worth the lives of 16 people that he was trying to do.

I don't know how much David cares about ending the killing game. I wonder if "belief in Xander" is the thing he's willing to kill 13 people plus himself for?

I'm starting to get REALLY curious what J's deal is. Between this and her voiced line earlier in the trial saying something along the lines of "it's like you all still haven't grasped just how serious murder is," she definitely seems to have strong opinions on specifically the morality of killing other people. WHY is she being singled out with these beliefs, what does it say about her, and where is her character headed?

(If she is the mastermind, does this couple with the "all murderers must be held accountable" rule?)

"Any answer" is so funny. I think she's looking for the truthful answer, David. This is why no one believes you when you say anything ever /aff

Notably, this is VERY similar to the plan Eden came up with that Veronika described: using the fact that TV shows need entertainment to continue to end the killing game. It's the same thing, but with a much more depressed "everyone should just give up" kind of flavor.

The level of similarity does make me think David is probably not being 100% truthful, and that he just repurposed Eden's escape plan to be something sort of similar to what he was going for.

I do think that he WAS trying to defeat the killing game by killing people through the class trial. I just think that, between Xander's actions and the motive secret he received, he was trying to kill Teruko specifically. Yet another way that David's unhinged behavior ties into the Chapter 2 secrets.

*Hu hopeless child looms in the distance*

I'm so glad that Hu gets to pop off though. She really hasn't gotten, like, any content in the series so far. Here's hoping this is kicking off her getting a bunch of time to shine!

Interesting that they had both Ace and Hu cut Nico off in this interaction. The staging definitely implies that they're trying to show that while Ace is wrong for talking over Nico and not letting them say anything, Hu is also wrong to an extent for not letting Nico defend themself and running to their rescue all the time.

I am begging you. Please discuss the murder method. I didn't realize until my rewatch of the trial that they have actually literally not talked about the murder method at ALL except for telling David that he doesn't know shit about it.

HUH?????????????

Theory Update/Analysis

Well, I'm gonna start this off by saying that I'm still pretty locked into Eden being the killer. We still need to address the tape, and I personally still found her to be decently shifty now behavior wise (she seemed nervous when we turned back to solving the trial, and she says something about "it's too hard to narrow down the killer :/" when people were talking about morning alibis). I just think it makes the most sense.

While obviously my logic for why Levi would be the accomplice has to be at least somewhat flawed, given Levi's surprise confession (!!!), I still think it's possible that Levi is the accomplice here. He could be doing this to further confuse/complicate the state of things (hence why he calls it leading people astray), and it's possible he's not being 100% honest here.

Something that Levi could be doing here is taking control of the situation and spinning the truth in his favor. Hu mentioned earlier (e11, I think?) that the secrets are phrased dramatically. Similarly, Levi may be trying to offer an explanation for his secret that might be more tame, but still believable.

For example, if Levi says that he killed one of his parents because of the circumstances he grew up in, but it turned out that his parents were extremely abusive to him in some way (cough cough Amane Momose), wouldn't people be more willing to forgive the fact that he's a "murderer"? There are different levels to the culpability of murders.

So, it's definitely possible this is still an attempt by Levi to conceal the truth of his secret. It's true that, right now, no one's really trying to match all of the remaining secrets up with the remaining secret holders in-universe, but the entire fanbase pretty much slam dunked this one. Once the content of the secrets was revealed, it wasn't too difficult to track the origin of this secret to Levi. Levi might know that, and might be trying to spin it in a positive way while he can get everyone's attention and tell everyone the same narrative here in the class trial.

I don't think any Levi accomplice or killer truthers have to fully give up on the idea, or at least not until we see what Levi actually says after this. It's a WILD topic to reveal we're going to talk about, but we haven't actually talked about it yet. If we were told "we get David's motivations for trying to throw the trial," I doubt literally any of us would have locked in the prediction of "David is trying to follow in Xander's footsteps by killing everyone via the trial because he kind of remembers Xander." So, until next week, I'm keeping an open mind!

This was insane. I can't believe we actually got a new episode, and that we're gonna KEEP getting new episodes until the chapter finishes. What the fuck!!!

[the-scooby-gang]

Character assassination and delayed puberty: VelmaHBO mishandling of Fred Jones

As I write the "I watched Velma HBO so you don't have too" reviews for episode 1 and 2, I decided to post this thought process I had regarding Fred's mischaracterization and, specifically, about the choice of giving him delayed puberty.

In the show, Mindy Kaling's self insert (because that ain't Velma in this or in the next life) comes to the conclusion that Fred is such a "spoiled white privileged brat" that his body didn't see the point of growing up at all.

First of all: Fuck that

Second of all: Whose brilliant idea (we all know who, but lets pretend for a second here) was it to turn FRED JONES: cheerleader; net lover; circus enjoyer; himbo friend; golden retriever sunshine boy and "I love my friends and my van so much you guys" into THIS?!?!

Is it because he is white, blond and has blue eyes???? Because it would be easy to make him into a caricature of white supremacy???

Yes. That's exactly why they changed Fred. Because it was easy.

I will go deeper on this in the full review of episode 1 and 2 (god help me) but this whole show is written in the most lazy way possible with jokes that would have fit perfectly in a edgy early 2000s show, where characters become those straw men versions of liberals conservatives IMAGINE exist.

Where people of color complain all the time about white supremacy but don't go deeper into it, its just complaining for the sake of complaining;

Where they bring genuine arguments people make but with zero nuance or though behind them, instead the writers put what THEY imagine it is about and, 99.9% of the time, they attribute it to people being "tOo sEnSiTiVe" and " tRiGgErEd SnOwFlAkEs"

Where people blow things out of proportion and accuse people left and right of being fascists (when they call Fred "Hitler" the background character says "he looks like Hitler. And I'm not just saying that because we call anyone Hitler nowadays") completely disregarding the WHY people in real life are calling out fascist behavior when they see it. Hello rise of fascism happening on the world, how is the INVASION OF CAPITOL IN AMERICA and THE INVASION AND DEPREDATION OF THE PLANALTO IN BRAZIL going for you?!;

This show is Family Guy. I would say it's worse than Family Guy even.

Third of all: Delayed puberty is an Actual Thing That Happens To People. It's something that can happen at random or it can be a genetic disorder shared in the family. It can be a symptom of something way more serious or something benign.

Many people that suffer from delayed puberty suffer from low self esteem because they have to watch their friends grow and develop when the same thing's not happening to them. They may feel like they're never going to catch up.

People are bullied over this, people develop depression.

And now these people are the punch line of this mean spirited joke.

I can even envision a better show where Fred still has delayed puberty, but instead of being the butt of jokes where people keep commenting on the size of the penis of this HIGH SCHOOLER, they treat as the constitutional delay it is. Fred is a late bloomer. It may be caused by a pattern of growth and development in his family, it may be a chronic illnesses he has. Can you imagine Fred with something like asthma or diabetes?

Lets go with that, lets imagine a Fred with diabetes, who is not receiving a proper treatment for said diabetes (maybe because his parents subscribe to that style of parenting where they are more concerned about appearances than the well being of their kid. "No, he has no problem. He is a perfectly healthy Jones."

Or they are the kind that say shit like this: "He doesn't have blurry vision he is just a lazy student, that's an excuse," or "You would stop going so much to the bathroom to piss if you stoped drinking water all the time" or even "I told you to not stay awake all night on those weird net making websites, now you're tired in class. What kind of mother they must think I am..." "But I didn't stay up all night, I swear–" "Don't you lie to me Frederick") and as such the side effects and symptoms are left unchecked.

So the Fred Velma, and we the audience, are introduced too is the heir of this fortune... who can't stay standing because he is constantly tired, has completely given up on trying to apply himself on school because he can't see the fucking board his vision is so blurry, has passed out at least once in gym, drinks water like he lives in a dessert and is so self conscious about his body that even his girlfriend hasn't seen him shirtless even once. The swim team hasn't seen him shirtless even once, so there are these whiplash inducing photos in the year book where is a bunch of guys in speedos nest to this one dude in an early 20th century striped swimming suit.

In episode 1 itself Velma's vision of Fred can start biased, after all from a distance a person that doesn't know Fred personally can chalk his behavior to "rich dramatic boy that knows he doesn't need to put effort into learning since he already has a fortune guaranteed for him after all this, so he is just sleeping and vibing and being dramatic through high school" but as the episode progresses and she gets to know Fred, she notices that the image doesn't fit. Fred, who has such in depth knowledge about physics and mechanics, who clearly loves his girlfriend very much and feels bad about the murder of this girl he considered a friend. The image of "Rich guy that doesn't care" is not fitting.

I want it to be a Velma and Daphne epiphany. About Daphne talking about all these things Fred has told her or that she noticed about him to Velma as they look for clues and it hits Velma as a she connects all together. The tiredness, the pissing, the thirst, the blurry vision.

Daphne may have not seen it because she is too close but with Velma's outside perspective the pieces fall into place.

Now lets imagine that instead of cop lesbian moms, Daphne could have lesbian doctor/nurse moms. They take him to them and they give him what he desperately needed:

"No, dear. You're not lazy, or broken, or an attention seeker, or any other bullshit your parents called you. You have diabetes. Type 1 to be precise."

After Daphne and Velma hug a crying Fred until he has no more tears to give, the series progresses with Fred now treating his diabetes as one of its recurring plot lines.

I want Daphne to have extra insulin in her purse, I want Shaggy to help Fred with his new diet, I want Fred and Velma to go exercising together and have deep conversations about body image and how they deal with it (Fred with his delayed puberty, Velma with her extra weight)

"Mature" and "Adult" content doesn't need to be edgy sex-violence-and-drugs.

It can be simply a story of a high schooler having to deal with diabetes in a country were insulin is expensive as fuck, some parents are more willing to let their kids suffer than offer any kind of help or even admit that there may be a problem in the first place, of dealing with body image and things that are out of your control.

Just a thought.

This is a post by The-Scooby-Gang, thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[fwitolei]

The Dragon Prince Thoughts 6x08 - We All Fall Down

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Spoilers under the cut

Omgg i’m so scared—

AHH

And it starts

Omg sol regem banging into the towers and stuff too this is wild

OH NO THEY’RE TRAPPED

Shit—

OH SHIT

SOREN NO—

Plsbeokayplsbeokayplsbeokayplsbeokay—

HE’S ALIVE WHOO

Omg babeee ur bleeding—

Now he’s really gonna have a scar like corvus

“Get everyone out”

See he learned from the pyrrah incident in s2 he’s prioritizing the people now that he’s not in the whole “xadia is evil” mindset

Hey wait where’s he going—

“Take good care of Hat.”

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN??

SOREN—honey—wHaT aRe YoU dOiNg—

WHAT

AARAVOS IS CONTROLLING PHAROS—

Is this cuz the dark magic infection thingy

Omg viren’s been in there for a long time lmao—

“You have your other way! Dark magic!”

Notice how soren said “your other way” as if he still doesn’t condone it, but he knows it’s the only way to save everyone

Dark magic is so nuanced in situations like these like yeah it’s last resort but if you’re someone who hates it with a passion and then you end up needing it what are you supposed to do

Do you give up your ideals for the greater good or stand your ground and risk disaster

That’s why i love this show so much there’s no clear bad guy

“Take my heart.”

SOREN N O

S T O P

NO

I mean what else is he supposed to do yeah but STILL—

N O O O O O O o o O omg pls—

No not soren

Omg i’m so scared not soren PLEASE—

I’m actually gonna cry if he dies please no—

OH MY GOSH IS VIREN USING HIS OWN HEART—

GAHHH I CAN’T TAKE IT

Just as i forgave him too—

GAHH NO it’s the way he’s ACTIVELY DYING while doing the spell to the point he can barely say the incantation 😭😭😭😭😭😭

“I am a… servant.”

This scene pretty much speaks for itself idrk what to say

This shit is sad like fuck—

“My dad! I need to find my dad!”

CLAUDIA NO

Oooomg she’s gonna lose it if she finds him

Full azula mode

“What happened to your beloved mate who disappeared?”

If he says he ate her imma pop off—

Who even is aithne solaire? Was she mentionedin something?

“In your fury, you buried her.. Alive.”

WHAT THE FUCK—

Like actually???

Not the way aaravos just dies laughing after dropping the darkest most depressing truth bomb ever—

OMG HE ATE PHAROS

“Choke on your own pride.”

HOW THE FUCK IS HE CHOKING ON A TINY LITTLE ELF

Oh my gosh—

This is just brutal

i'm terrified of choking too so it's that much worse

AND HE CATCHES ON FIRE—

“I don’t think you should see him like this.”

Ugh i love terry for being so considerate after everything she’s done

Like yes save the last of her sanity while she still has it

This episode is hard to watch—

The voice acting is impeccable tho like give claudia’s va a raise

OH SHIT SHE FOUND THE PEARL—

Lujanne giving no fucks about the crown is the funniest thing

But wtf is she talking about the diamond don’t tell me it’s fake—

“Her dad just died. Can’t she just take a moment to grieve?”

FINALLY Terry’s talking sense like shit aaravos at least give her a minute—

I KNEW IT

I FUCKIN KNEW IT

VIREN’S STAFF HAS A QUASAR DIAMOND

I literally said it like 2-3 episodes ago too

WAIT THAT MEANS—

“I can only save two of them.”

Oh you’ve gotta be kidding me—

Alright y’all it’s a wrap. Katolis is gone, viren is dead, aaravos is getting out, it’s a whole ass shit show. Ooooooomg i’m scaredddddd. Especially when callum finds out the real pearl was in katolis all along, i guarantee you he’s gonna spiral like he did in kosmo’s vision. This episode was really hard to watch, I was surprised, but in a good way. One more episode to go, then season sevennnnnnnnn whoooo

Time to cry :D