#sucks that they’re not video episodes but it’s still cool (:

[okcoolthanks]

The name for episode two of bitb being “they are among us” is FOUL

[droppingartintotheinfinite]

watched the first episode of the live action atla adaptation and took notes:

-what is this opening. who are these people. am i expected to care about this random earth kingdom man because i really don’t

-opening fight is kinda meh :/

-sozin looks weirdly… nice? like he has “harmless old man” vibes. i don’t actually dislike this casting choice i think there’s a lot of potential to having him look friendly and approachable even as he does war crimes

-seriously did someone in the writer’s room watch rogue one before coming in and then go like “HEY I KNOW WHAT WE SHOULD ADD” WHAT is this plot doing here

-where is katara’s opening narration. like i get they aren’t adapting one to one but that’s such a loss. the opening cutscene from the original series was so good

-WHERE THE FUCK IS THE GAANG SERIOUSLY. WHY ARE WE STARTING WITH RANDOM EARTH KINGDOM MAN AND SOZIN

-all of these people are so fucking sweaty what is this

-sozin’s outfit is appropriately fuckable

-“my sights… are set… higher… because… it is… our time…” “[screaming]” wow very emo

-KATARA IS HERE!! MY BEST GIRL

-why did they change the narration. this is objectively worse.

-oh no this isn’t katara is it… dang :(

-air temple looking neat. why are we here tho. where are katara and sokka

-why is everyone watching aang jumping around like he’s a fucking celebrity. have they never seen an airbender before in the fucking air temple

-at least they say aang’s name right. step up from shamalalalam or whatever his name is. of course that bar is so low the devil declared it a tripping hazard, so

-these people do NOT talk like actual humans. have these writers never had to write natural exposition before

-genuinely what was the point of that first scene. WHAT does it add

-“when yangchen died the next avatar was born into the water tribe” what, does aang not know this. my fucking god this exposition is shit

-aang didn’t know he was the avatar?? and then didn’t immediately get an ego about it when gyatso told him??? who is this and what did you do with my BOY

-the acting isn’t bad but the lines are so shit it’s hard to tell

-aang is NOT sufficiently goofy

-appa’s kind of ugly :(

-TEAM ROCKET’S BLASTING OFF AGAIN (<— my unfiltered reaction to sozin going jetpack mode)

-unnecessary airbender fight scene. i think this is literally just here to look cool and honestly? 6/10

-aang just fuckin… wandered off? instead of willfully running away? bro you can’t take my boy’s agency like this

-i want a video of appa’s va making those noises into the mic. come on netflix do it it’ll be funny

-WHY is everything so WET all the time

-20 minutes in and i have yet to see the south pole. literally none of this is necessary to the story. you could cut all of it and nothing would change

-HERE SHE IS. FINALLY. IT’S HER

-no funny boat scene with sokka? insert no bitches megamind here

-oh they still have a boat scene. unfortunately it sucks ass

-WHERE IS PISSED OFF KATARA DECIMATING AN ICEBERG BY ACCIDENT

-seriously. they’re removing all the good scenes to fit more unnecessary action and/or melodrama filler in

-shitty zuko cameo

-WHAT is that scar. why is it so small. did he fall and get a scrape on his face? looks more like a scab than anything. 2/10

-baffling why the iceberg even reacted to katara when she’s apparently so fucking incapable she can’t even lift a water orb. they’re massacring my girl

-why does sokka want to leave this random child to die

-kanna!

-“it can’t be… this… is an airbender…..” i am rolling my fucking eyes

-iffy on this iroh so far but i’ll reserve judgement

-tumblr was right. zuko’s actor is absolutely putting his whole pussy into this. he can have rights

-how are NONE of these jokes landing. even the ones they directly crib from the original just… lose all impact

-why is kanna saying the intro dialogue randomly with no prompting. seriously these writers are SO. FUCKING. SHIT

-every emotional beat in this comes off more wooden than a fucking tree

-seriously. everything i could say about this just boils down to the wooden writing, unnecessary and poorly executed exposition, the action scenes shoehorned in for no discernible reason, inability to create any impact from anything ever, and the removal of all the good scenes from the original in favor of more unnecessary poorly written TRASH

-oh one more thing actually

-AANG TEACHES KATARA TO WATERBEND. GET OUT??

-basically

-they took all the good stuff out to fit in more melodrama and action, but their writing (and directing. and acting) is too shitty to actually sell said drama and their fight scenes are mid at best

-3/10

[bvannn]

Weekly Update January 5, 2024

I’m still recovering slowly. I never mentioned this because I want to be as vague as I can about my big congenital medical issue, but the surgery last week removed some tissue that affects my endocrine system, and now that it’s gone I’m having some problems with my mood. I have a medicine that corrects it, but I need to wait another week and a half to get my dosage adjusted, so all next week I’m going to be volatile which sucks. Stomach has seemingly gotten better though so hopefully that pain was just caused by those cysts and nothing else was wrong. Sorry if I ramble on a bit too much tonight, I am loopy because of the endocrine stuff so I might go on too long. Anyway artstuffs.

I got a music project done. It was for Mav, and it was pretty small but I stayed up all night working on it. Working on it I discovered a big set of plugins that I got somewhere that look to be automatically doing some of that balancing I was worried about. I still need to double check what exactly it can do, since I’d like a widener plugin, but I don’t want to stack my brain over it if I already have one. I have a few ideas floating around for the next song thing, I’m a bit hesitant on continuing that vocal one I haven’t finished because I watched a bunch of videos today in the bad lyrics of the Wish soundtrack, and the lady kept bringing up cadence and pentameter which are concepts I know about but can’t hear. Like, pentameter is supposed to be the natural inflection a syllable has, but like whenever I hear it, I just hear the inflection of the vocalist. I think I’m overthinking it, since she used a writing scheme to explain it and I think the vocaloid software uses that same writing scheme so maybe I can learn through practice? Or I can just write lyrics that match the melody and call it good as long as the flow sounds natural because of subconscious understanding, like how I figured out how to do harmonies. Whatever. Music theory is hard but my stupid will and brute force is harder.

Other instrumental things I’ve been kinda thinking about include a little Zelda medley that I already recorded the melodies and stuff for, instrumental themes for my OCs because of course. And then I kinda want to just do a big fat medley that goes on for like an hour-ish because I love those kinds of medleys they’re great for car rides and stuff. And the final two I’m thinking about would be for animation memes: either an arcade beat-em-up style boss fight sounding theme, or a cover of a 90s pop-punk-rock (idk what genre) song. I think that one would be cool because I could use it as promotional stuff for a comic.

Oh yeah that O’Malley comic! I actually did good thumbnail work on that this week! I was going to do more today but mood and sleep schedule were wonky, plus I had a meeting this morning, so good chance I’ll put it off until tomorrow. But either way, chipping away at it, trying to watch more movies so I can get better at understanding shot comp, watched Kill Bill part 1 last night and wasn’t expecting it to be like, the best fucking movie ever? Like why does everyone talk about it like ‘eh it’s pretty good’ like no that shit was *Phenomenal*! Hoping part 2 lives up to the first, planning to watch it maybe tomorrow night? Definitely before I go back to uni. Anyway pitch comic is coming along nice, after it’s drawn I can either work on the rest of that story or a pitch for the secondary story I’ve been working on, depending on demand. Right now leaning towards series, since I have general synopsies for a couple more general ‘episodes’.

Also only done like one general drawing for comsheet practice hehehe it’s fine I can try others as time comes and is appropriate. Also did epithet stuff but not as much as I’d like. My original plan tonight was to work on TTRPG stuff but maybe I’ll do writing or thumbnailing instead. Or maybe both.

TRGA: got shot 1-4 done enough. Also got Jon tweened for 1-5. I need to clean him up and do his face and stuff. Tonight maybe if I’m having trouble focusing on the other stuff I’ll clean him up, I think I want to go back to that ‘one significant development a day’ schedule I was on for a bit, but pushed a bit further since I have better strategies now. I’ve also started the ‘every time I sit down and open clip studio I’m going to draw one (1) prop’ strategy so hopefully props won’t be as bad in the future either (even the ones I can’t just recycle). Tomorrow if I’m doing better I’ll try to get 1-5 Jon’s face done (and clean him up too if I don’t tonight) and maybe do another drawing. Maybe more epithet TTRPG stuff maybe not.

I’m trying to get my priorities back in order. 1) TRGA 2) Comic work 3) fix your commissions 4) other projects. Inspiration is fickle though so I’m really all over the place. My mood being volatilized is also not helping but I’ll keep going until my brain explodes. For now I’m able to plan out enough with time for sleep and stuff. I don’t know what’s exactly going to happen when classes start but I am taking *fewer* credits than normal so theoretically that means more time.

[kait16xo]

Dance Moms: A New Era: Thoughts (Episode 7)

As usual, spoilers under the cut :)

* Every time Domenica talks it gives me whiplash…love her curls tho

* Oh they’re talking shit about a kid how cute

* Well, Ashlan is spoiled but I still don’t think that was her mistake 😐

* Girl Gina NEEDS to be there sorry not sorry

* Not episode related but my god does this website I’m watching this on SUCK. Guess we’re moving to music free youtube 😔

* Aww happy tears from Bellatrix! :)

* Yay Bellatrix finally got a solo! Also I did not know that name meant “female warrior”

* THE MENU MENTIONED!!

* Girl I would’ve been that head in a heartbeat but good for her

* “I’m a dance mom of course—“ STOP ITTTTT 😭 at least they’re having fun

* “Yes chef!” Ohhh my god lol

* Ashlan absolutely needs a break maybe Domenica ate for once

* Omg of course it’s this fuck ass music

* Ashlan didn’t get in trouble bc of Gina…Gina didn’t fuck up the circle

* “Good for you, Roxce” eat her ass up Gina actually

* Can you not two take your issues with each other on your fucking kids please. Let them fucking talk to each other or this dance is gonna fall apart

* This “cut off their breast” line reminds me of when Abby told the s8 kids what happens to an injured horse and Brady was just “ 🫢 “

* “I’d rather have my butt than my boobs cut off” oh Leilah I can’t with you lol

* Omg Roxce the least you can do is apologize to the kid for being nasty right in front of her 😐 idk if she messed you up or not

* She took her shoes off she means business. Also THANK YOU for not doing this in front of her kid

* *literally not even a minute later* Well…nevermind I guess! :D poor kid

* Lily taking yet another L :(

* “This isn’t a fair team” girl…your kid wasn’t holding her weight I wouldn’t say this is why the team is unfair

* Aww bellatrix and her short hair I love it

* GIRL NOT GINA GETTING A LAST MINUTE SOLO WHERE HAVE I SEEN THIS PLOT BEFORE

* “Cinnamon Paradiso” that is…okay subtitles

* Ugh Gina’s technique is SO GOOD

* Bellatrix’s jacket in her interview is so cute

* Leilah is doing ALL the dangerous stuff I see lol

* You know it’s bad when even Domenica is over it

* Well Jing and Roxce just jinxed the next 7 years of their lives 😭 also damn the producers bought those cute little mirrors for y’all and you’re just gonna throw em 😔

* “Go out there and kick some ass” abby is in the corner having a stroke at that whole interaction

* OMG THE MUSIC ISN’T CUT FROM THIS VIDEO WE’RE SO BACK BABY

* Gina is such a good technical dancer

* It took me way too long to realize what MD stood for

* Oh nope Bellatrix’s music was muted 😔 but the cheers weren’t so this is so awkward!

* Oh no bellatrix fell :/ she did some cool stuff too

* “Yes chef!” 💃 “yes chef!” 🕺

* No one: Lilly: 👁️u👁️

* THE STREAM JUST…CUT THE GROUP DANCE?? IJBOL…GUESS IM GONNA PAUSE AND WATCH THAT RQ

* Ok so update the dance was literally amazing. This was Audrey’s best lead performance + everything that initially went wrong went off without a hitch 👏 this is probably one of my favorite groups so far alongside medium

* Uh oh Bellatrix got 5th

* gina got first slayyy (no one is surprised)

* HELL YEAH 1ST PLACE GROUP

* Holy shit is this the first episode Ashlan didn’t cry??

* Gina deserves a solo at nationals idc

[riordanness]

before i add anything,, i just want to clarify that i do love the show. i love it, i love so much about it, but i’m also not above saying that it isn’t perfect by any standards.

my first issue is the way they’re pacing and planning the episodes?? like,, where’s the urgency? where’s the suspense?? i feel like every scene is just people chilling and explaining stuff and it’s getting almost annoying at this point. like i get that a lot of the audience will be old book fans but i still think that it’s a really bad choice bc so much of percy jackson is the constant increasing urgency. the STAKES. where are they?? like did you lose them in the mail or something rick??

secondly, the whole ‘we already know what we’re going into before we even get there’ constantly. i get that annabeth is smart, and i’m glad they’re really showing that in the show, but they’re supposed to be twelve. she hasn’t left camp since she was seven. she shouldn’t know everything. she shouldn’t know things straight away every time. it ties in with the urgency again. where’s the sense of impending doom and danger?? that’s what percy is about??

also percy not being… for lack of another word, kinda dumb?? i loved the addition of sally (and grover) teaching him myths, but he’s still percy. he isn’t supposed to be majorly clued in, he isn’t supposed to be guessing things, he’s just little baby percy with his one track mind like cmon.

sally and poseidon lore?? did we really need that?? i mean, it’s kinda cool, but that’s not… sally?? she isn’t still in love with poseidon. they don’t talk. they aren’t in any kind of relationship or friendship or anything. i don’t really love this element of the show ngl

hades… the underworld… what the hell (literally). the scene with charon that got completely cut?? the bathtub story?? why would you cut that?? the whole underworld felt pretty flat and boring and had no real suspense imo. also the cerberus scene felt very dull and not really exciting like it should’ve been. also having annabeth gone for most of it?? why??

the crusty scene……. i am so upset about this ngl. why did percy know. why wasn’t annabeth and grover trapped. why did it suck so much.

the whole lotus hotel scene as well, like yikes. them knowing right away made me mad as hell. i wanted to see annabeth engrossed in an architecture game. i wanted percy and grover playing old tiny video games together. i wanted percy being like “ayo wtf” after someone says ‘groovy’. i did not want rip off percy-movie set and hermes and that random ass satyr.

i wanted the gladiolia scene too. “say hello to the pink poodle”. i wanted more camp time. i wanted luke and percy’s first sword fight lesson.

i honestly do feel a little disappointed by this show. it doesn’t feel exactly right, and as much as i do love it, some changes have made me extremely sad and some of the writing decisions have been poor in my opinion. i get that rick saw this as an opportunity to rewrite a second draft as such for this book, but that’s not what we were promised, and at this point it’s feeling almost too changed to be a rewrite.

i will say, though, that i absolutely adore the casting. every cast me ever has been spot on, immaculate book vibes, the cast is carrying the show on their backs istg. walker?? the persassy vibes are there. leah?? annabeth’s facial expressions are spot on. aryan?? his comedic timing is perfection. i love the whole cast and i really do love the show too, i just wish it was closer to a so called ‘book adaptation that you’ve been waiting for’.

anyways thanks for coming to my ted talk

Something that is confusing me is how many people are defending the changes Rick made and defending Rick himself in regards to the show.

He lied to us.

He got the entire fandom to hype up the show, got the show made on the basis of getting a book accurate adaption. This was supposed to be something accurate to the books, including the book characters, the book scenes, the book stakes- we were supposed to get to see our favorite moments in the books on screen.

And then he went and rewrote the book.

This adaption isn't the book we read. The characters aren't the characters we read. Grover's personality was wholesale replaced. This is something entirely new-

And whether you like it for itself is a different matter entirely, but the point is that... this isn't The Lightning Thief that we read years ago.

He lied to us.

[miraculouscontent]

“Sentibubbler” summary? “Sentibubbler” salt?

Why not both at the same time?

Something a little experimental, though also somewhat reminiscent of some of my past videos. Calling it “summasalt” for now, based on the word “somersault” because this episode was an exercise of my patience.

It’s basically just me going through the episode with my usual episode summary, but salting along the way instead of making you guys read a wall of text without any images or clips or me making snarky comments.

(By the way, yes, I did in fact have caffeine before recording.)

script below for anyone who wants/needs it:

"Sentibubbler" begins with Marinette having food with the Cesaires and I already know this isn't real because Marinette is actually getting to interact with her best friend's family. That's only happened, like--when, two episodes of Season 2? [”Sapotis” and ���Anansi”]

Marinette sees Trixx and points out how they're supposed to be a secret, and Alya asks why while calling Marinette "Ladybug." Marinette plays dumb but is told by Nino that everyone already knows her secret. Chloe is also there, chiding Marinette for her identity rule - it's not Marinette's rule but after "Reflekdoll" I've just gotten used to Marinette being blamed for things she didn't do - and Marinette goes to question Chloe's apperance when there's a knock on the balcony door. Alya invites Shadow Moth in and--[Shadow Moth has to duck to come inside]--huh, I thought Sole Crusher was seven episodes ago.

Anyway, now obviously, Marinette is just being ridiculous and overemotional as usual, because why would Marinette ever think that Alya would reveal any information to--["Feast"]--oh yeah, that's right.

Tikki doesn't transform Marinette and says that Marinette shouldn't have trusted Alya with her secret. Enter Chat Blanc, who says that they can be together now without any secrets. Not really sure what this episode is aiming for with the mixed message of "your identity rule sucks" but also "your fault for trusting someone instead of having a mental breakdown," but a’ight. Trixx also gets another dig in on Marinette for giving Alya the fox miraculous.

Marinette wakes up from her nightmare and panics, but Tikki reassures her that Alya is loyal. [”Chameleon”] Mm. Also, that kind of support might've been nice from Tikki literal seasons ago when Marinette could've used a confidant.

Wayzz - I swear, they've had eyelashes more often than not in this season - points out that Trixx is mischievous and Xuppu talks about Trixx being the cause of the Loch Ness monster rumors, which worries Marinette further. Marinette runs out in her pajamas and I can already predict that neither Tom nor Sabine are going to check on her later or care.

Marinette finds the Cesaires looking for something, their words vague enough for Marinette to think that they're talking about Trixx. Alya brushes Marinette off and tells her to help with looking instead of lecturing her.

Marlena makes a comment that reminds Marinette of her nightmare, only increasing Marinette's stress. A tarantula crawls up a ladle and Marinette freaks out when she sees it, which Marlena has a laugh at because Marinette's anxiety, fear, and panic is hilarious, guys!

This is my laughing face. [not a laughing face]

Nino exits, having been too afraid of the spider to leave the room, so Nora compares Marinette to him. Nino tries to play it cool, then changes the subject to point out Marinette's pajamas. Alya wonders aloud why Marinette showed up and Marinette tries to act casual, but Alya sees through it and states that she doesn't usually lose things when someone lends them to her.

I presume the exception is Marinette's trust. OH-HOOOOHHH, we'll get there.

Nora takes a jab at Alya for losing the spider and Marinette drags Alya away to talk. Nino tries to join but Alya states that it's between her and Marinette, which makes Nino sad.

Nino, does the phrase "guys' time" ring a bell by any chance?

Marinette is explaining her nightmare and is simply told to calm down by Alya, though Marinette is briefly startled by a phone ringing. Marinette puts together what she knows that Shadow Moth knows, including that Alya is Rena Rouge, adding on that Shadow Moth could steal the fox necklace if he figured out that Alya has it permanently. Alya reassures her that no one will ever know and Marinette states that this must include Chat Noir. Alya agrees and brings attention to the fanny pack around her waist, which Trixx has been hiding in, and Marinette has Trixx promise not to show up at the dining table like in her nightmare. Tikki tells Marinette that everything will be fine and Marinette admits that it was silly of her to worry, which it was! ...If you ignore all the anxiety, mental scarring, and constant pressure to be perfect or risk Paris lighting itself on fire, much like I presume they accidentally did with their original script for this episode.

Alya tells Marinette to trust her and also herself - I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Alya, thank you - then Alya loses her temper at the phone continuing to ring. She leaves to find an empty living room, then answers the phone only to hear Shadow Moth on the other line. Alya turns upon hearing Marinette scream to see that Marinette has been trapped in a bubble. Cue the reveal/return of the Bubbler, who is definitely Nino akumatized and not--like--a sentimonster, because the episode didn't spoil it at all with the title of Sentibub--

show, this is freaking embarrassing. Why even bother akumatizing someone when you can mold a sentimonster with the exact power you want?

At least they reveal it quickly, though that also means I have to live with the knowledge that Shadow Moth wINKED AT ALYA, NO.

Anyway, Shadow Moth tells Alya that he wants her to betray Ladybug. Marinette, meanwhile, is panicking over being unable to transform while in public, whereas Tikki remains calm and reassures her that Alya will figure something out and it's why Marinette gave Alya the fox miraculous in the first place.

Weird, I thought it was for the show to continuously validate Alya as a worthy choice for a confidant despite repeatedly covering up her sINS and so the show can push for more anxiety on Marinette's part while simultaneously not having to make a new hero model for Alya, which they would have to do if the realistic decision had been made to give Alya a different miraculous due to Shadow Moth knowing her identity as Rena Rouge.

Marinette texts Alya to inform her that the Bubbler is a sentimonster and so Rena can tell Chat not to use Cataclysm on him or the bubbles will burst due to the sentimonster's lack of control.

Hate to burst the show's bubble but Alya could literally see Nino up in the sky and they could see her; the bubbles are in viewing range. Did this even go through a quality check?

Alya goes to look at Marinette's text, but the phone is bubbled away by Sentibubbler. Marinette sees the phone floating by and panics, only to be reassured again to trust Alya and at this point I vaguely wondered if I was watching this episode on repeat. Tikki also adds that Alya has never let her down - [”Ladybug”] MMMM - and Marinette agrees, also certain that Chat Noir will show up soon.

Oh yeah, he exists. Oh no.

Cut to the Agreste mansion where Adrien is watching the news - dude, how is there never anything better on when you need to be told that there's an akuma? here, look, I'll show you [”Silencer” Lukabug clip] there, much better, see? - and it's pointed out that the bubbles are identical to the ones Bubbler had, yet Nino is in one of the bubbles. Adrien readies himself while Plagg is - for once - okay with leaving since his cheese isn't "edible" yet.

I feel like he should be a little more concerned about Marinette being in a bubble.

Meanwhile, Shadow Moth is explaining to Alya that Ladybug will come to give her the fox miraculous due to the bubbled people in the sky - plenty of other choices that aren't within breathing range of the obvious danger zone, but a'ight - and SentiBubbler will catch Ladybug. Alya brings up Chat Noir saving her but Shadow Moth states that she'll create an illusion of Ladybug and Rena to lure Chat Noir, who won't see Sentibubbler coming, at which point Rena will hand Shadow Moth her miraculous. He adds that her loved ones will only be returned once all three miraculouses are in his possession, though if she tries to warn the heroes then Sentibubbler will send the bubbles into space, too far for any hero to save them.

[clip of space power-ups] Hm.

Also, I would've just let her keep the miraculous as an extra bribe since he doesn't need the fox and she wouldn't have time to recharge anyway - at least to his knowledge - but that's just me.

Marinette is relieved that Alya still hasn't been captured--TIKKI, I KNOW, YOU'VE BEEN PARROTING THIS ALL EPISODE, I KNOW--but Marinette changes her tune when she sees Alya blindly calling out for Ladybug's help, unaware that Alya is buying time. Marinette laments the idea of transforming there and having using the rabbit to go back in time to reverse, as that's never a good thing (seconded), but gets the idea for Tikki to take her miraculous to someone else. Tikki rejects the idea, as the earrings won't go through the bubble, and Marinette realizes that Chat Noir is their only hope.

I mean, it was nice knowing them. Sure is interesting how Marinette has only been getting herself into these situations where she requires saving when the show needed to present Alya as a valid choice for a confidant.

Meanwhile, Chat Noir is leaving a message for Ladybug about the bubbles in the sky, saying that he'll wait for her; I already see where this is going and I don't like it.

Alya mutters to Trixx about how they need a plan to release Marinette. Through Alya Vision, we're shown Sentibubbler, a bowl of fruit, and the bathroom door. Alya tells Sentibubbler that she needs to go to the bathroom and - wow, we're really doing this, aren't we? - which Shadow Moth rejects. Shadow Moth is also on top of a building holding a coffee cup which honestly makes about as much sense as the rest of the episode, so whatever. Alya claims that she can't wait and that it'll be awkward for Ladybug to find her like that, which gets Shadow Moth to relent but also remind her of what's at stake if she tries anything. Alya states that she can't do anything without a miraculous anyway, then purposefully falls onto the table, concealing her long enough for her to transform and allowing an illusion of herself to go to the bathroom while she escapes. She detransforms in the twins' room and feeds Trixx with some grapes that she'd picked up.

Alya explains her plan to trick Shadow Moth and Sentibubbler since they don't know that she has a miraculous, though she also has to make sure that Chat won't ruin things. Rena then proceeds to call Chat Noir and claim that Ladybug wanted her to call him with her plan, but adds that it's a two-person plan and Chat himself isn't needed, so he needs to wait for further instructions. Chat demands that Ladybug call him to tell him herself, but Rena insists that she can't, as Ladybug is very busy. She warns him not to use Cataclysm if he sees the Bubbler, as he's a sentimonster, then promises to talk to him later before hanging up.

She uses Mirage again, making the Alya illusion reappear as well as creating a Ladybug. Chat Noir, infuriated at being left out, destroys part of a building with his baton. He then dismisses the action because Miraculous Ladybug will fix it.

Spoiler alert, it will, which is a very fascinating detail! I mean, I can't imagine another situation where a hero did something while there was an akuma going around and Miraculous Ladybug decided to help 'em out, but it just goes to show what happens when you're the writers' pet. Just look a little pitiful and they'll give you all the sympathy in the world.

By the way, didn't expect them to actually confirm my theory that Chat Noir does Chat Noir things because he knows that Miraculous Ladybug will fix it anyway, essentially allowing him to earn brownie points from Ladybug via sacrificing himself regardless of how it affects her mentally, yet here we are and I don't know whether to be sad, angry, disappointed, or a mixture of all three.

Chat Noir sees the Ladybug illusion jumping off and gives chase, refuses to stay where he is. Marinette, seeing that Rena Rouge's illusions are active, panics at the sight of Chat Noir, as the illusion will vanish if Chat touches it.

I like to imagine the immediate concern is the idea that Chat Noir will try to take Ladybug's hand while trying to flirt.

Anyway, Marinette flails inside the bubble in an attempt to reach Chat Noir, while illusion Alya and SentiBubbler get into position. Chat Noir watches what he perceives as Ladybug heading into the Cesaire house with Alya, but Marinette gets to him in order to tell him not to go anywhere. Chat complains about everyone telling him to stay put, but Marinette explains Rena's plan to him. Chat is skeptical of how she knows that, to which Marinette insists that she saw it from where she was. Chat Noir relents with a sigh and stays where he is.

SentiBubbler watches as the illusion of Alya and Ladybug talk to each other, Rena making it look like Ladybug is piecing together what happened and refusing to give Alya a miraculous ever again due to Shadow Moth knowing her identity. She claims that she'll find another holder and give them an even more powerful miraculous, which interests Shadow Moth and gets him to follow after the Ladybug illusion. Once Sentibubbler leaves as well, Chat sees this as his chance to stop the sentimonster, as the Ladybug illusion will vanish if it's touched. Marinette strokes his ego for the token love square moment of the episode, and Chat Noir fights SentiBubbler while Shadow Moth goes after the Ladybug illusion.

I'm noticing a real lack of tension in this episode. Once Alya has her plan, it's kind of a clean sweep from start to finish with no interference or unexpected roadblocks in the way. Even Shadow Moth following the Ladybug illusion goes fine, with Shadow Moth even punching a building thinking that Ladybug actually got away from him.

Dude, it's fine, Miraculous Ladybug will fix it, just put on your best sad face. Maybe Chat Noir gets it from you actually, is treatment from the writers a hereditary thing?

Sentibubbler and Chat Noir are still fighting. Shadow Moth shows up and Marinette tries to warn Chat, but Chat gets caught in a bubble and Marinette apologizes; she doesn't have anything to apologize for but after "Reflekdoll" I--wait I already did this.

Chat Noir uses Cataclysm to escape, only to get caught in another bubble. I'd just like to throw out there that this guy's a hero three seasons going and the love interest for the main character, yet his role in the episode has amounted to complaining about the authority of a hero Ladybug chose, throwing a property-destroying tantrum over being excluded, and wasting his power without a single thought which just got him captured again.

Chat, does the name "Syren" ring any bells by any chance? I'm just sayin', you could always quit. In fact, wasn't it you literally one episode ago saying that you understood if Ladybug couldn't always come get you? Then, after seeing the jump from "Glaciator" to "Frozer," I'm about as shocked as rubber.

Back with the competent one, Alya notes to Trixx that Rena Rouge can no longer be seen by Shadow Moth or else the jig is up. She transforms and texts Marinette to be ready, creating an illusion of Marinette that simultaneously hides the real version, allowing her to transform into Ladybug.

Chat Noir's bubble gets dragged down and Shadow Moth gets SentiBubbler to mute Chat Noir's bubble.

[clip from “Silencer” where Ladybug takes amusement in Chat being muted]

Ladybug uses Lucky Charm and receives a pot, her Lucky Vision spotting Shadow Moth's coffee cup, then SentiBubbler, then the tarantula trapped in a bubble. Ladybug deduces that the cup is the sentimonster's object, then pulls the horse miraculous out of her yoyo and unifies it with the ladybug--oh.

Oh my.

You know, it's times like this where I'm reminded that the show knows nothing about fashion... or girls... or good writing actually--there's just a lot of stuff they don't know.

Sentibubbler does a countdown, then starts sending the civilian bubbles up into the sky. Chat Noir is about to de-transform while PegaBug notices of Shadow Moth's two miraculous, up for grabbin'. She notes that she won't be able to catch everyone, so she forms a portal behind Shadow Moth and goes for the coffee cup first, thus putting her in control of SentiBubbler, who happily brings the bubbles back down at her command.

Shadow Moth erases SentiBubbler from existence though, causing everyone to fall, but Chat and PegaBug manage to catch them. PegaBug de-transforms and presents the Cesaires with the tarantula, which had been trapped inside the lucky charm. Ladybug and Chat Noir watch Shadow Moth escape and Ladybug laments that it could've been the end of Shadow Moth once and for all because it's not a Miraculous episode without Marinette being at fault or feeling guilty in some way! Chat Noir reassures her [*by “reassure,” I mean he might as well have said, “Well, you saved ME, so you did great!”] - wow, that's two token love square moments for the price of one episode, don't I feel spoiled - and Ladybug leaves to retrieve the tarantula's tank.

Rena Rouge is waiting for her and they hug, with Rena repeating that she doesn't lose something that someone gives her. Ladybug states that she never should've doubted the idea of giving Alya a miraculous and Imma just give you guys a counter real quick. [counter that shows that Tikki has complimented Alya four times, Alya has complimented herself/told Marinette to trust her thrice, and Marinette has said that she was wrong thrice]. Miraculous Ladybug is cast and everything returns to normal, with Alya explaining what she did and Marinette being relieved that Shadow Moth won't be going after her anymore. Alya confidently asks if she was smart and Marinette is happy to praise her, confirming it and stating that Alya is a real superhero and honestly? If the narrative wanted to marry Alya this badly, they should've just used some of the budget to buy a ring instead of projecting onto the other characters.

Then again, the apparent budget can't even afford a new hero model nor new akuma to a very noticeable degree, so I guess they're taking what they can get.

Alya praises Marinette as well for her work as PegaBug and they do a fistbump, thus ending the episode. There's also this ever-so-lovely post-episode scene with Gabriel and Nathalie where Gabriel laments the fact that Ladybug never makes mistakes which--I... has he even watched the series at all? Gabe, babe, Babriel Agreste, it's literally part of the show's formula that Marinette makes a mistake in every episode and she felt guilty like a minute ago over not yoinking your miraculouses when she had the chance, where have you been?

But, yeah, anyway, the episode.

Needless to say, not a fan. Like I said, the show seems so intent on immediately validating the choices they make with Alya in order to make her look like a better character. "Gang of Secrets" basically replaced her with someone different at the end of the episode, and the episode immediately afterwards in chronological order, "Mr. Pigeon 72," did everything it could to push Marinette out of her guardian position long enough for Alya to figure out the grimoire despite having zero onscreen experience with it, the episode even trapping Ladybug in a situation that forced Rena Rouge to come into play to validate that decision as well.

And now we have "SentiBubbler" here following immediately after "Optigami," desperate to reassure its audience that Alya is cool, smart, truthworthy, and that not needing to make a new model--sorry, I mean Alya continuing to have the fox--was a good decision. All the while, they continue pushing Alya's flaws under the rug [Note that it’s not even considered that Alya is even remotely at fault for Shadow Moth going after her specifically after her stunt in “Optigami” when no one else but Ladybug and Chat have ever given out a miraculous], hiding them instead of Alya actually acknowledging them, the only reason she did so in "Optigami" being the same as in "Gang of Secrets"; to make her look good while Marinette makes a big decision in their relationship.

The episode tries so hard to drill in this idea that Alya is a good friend who can be trusted, and I'm just not here for how much they try to hammer it in. Marinette's very real anxiety over Shadow Moth's power and ability to plan things is played off as her being silly instead of something to be concerned about, and instead of giving her a hug and trying to help her calm down - [clip from “Heart Hunter” of Luka hugging Marinette] I miss Luka - she's just told to trust and believe and hAVE fAiTh in Alya.

Shadow Moth is an adult; he has abilities that the teenage heroes don't. I'm not even saying that Marinette isn't overreacting [Basically, her concern about Shadow Moth is valid, especially after “Optigami” where her identity was almost found out], but she has anxiety and some obvious trauma over "Chat Blanc." I was already upset that Alya got a free pass to Marinette's identity, but the constant stressing over how much Marinette should trust her just doesn't affect me when I know Alya and I know the kind of stuff she's done that the show blatantly ignored in favor of pushing for her.

But okay, show, I'll give Alya the benefit of the doubt that she doesn't deserve. Let's say that she's turned a new leaf, and has become the reliable, trustworthy, and loyal partner that Marinette deserves. I'm sure that Alya has Marinette's back, and will never go behind said back in order to do something completely unsurprising and wholly indicative of the character I actually know her to be.

Especially not a mere three episodes later...

[ace-thinks]

Building Your Glass Closet

I made a post about coming out via the glass closet which is basically just dropping subtle hints over time until the people in your life get the message, and someone asked for tips on how to do this. 

Unfortunately, I can’t guarantee that you won’t still get the “you just haven’t met the right person” response while you’re using this method, but I still think this is worth a shot. 

At the very least, it can lay the groundwork so that if you ever come out explicitly, people will be able to think back to all of the very ace/aro things you’ve said over time and they may not be as surprised or reluctant to believe you.

Okay so without further ado, here are some ideas that you can use for inspiration as you attempt to create a beautiful glass closet for yourself:

1. Talk about yourself

Find a way to slip some variation of “I never really had any crushes in school” into conversation.

Try to phrase this in a way that it’s clear you’re saying “I did not get crushes because I don’t get crushes” instead of “I didn’t get any crushes because no one at school was my type.”

When people make quips about you dating someone, casually respond with things like:

“I hope not” “Not if I can help it” “That would be unfortunate” “Yikes that would kinda suck.”

You can say these in a way that’s light but still clear that you’re not joking.

2. Ask questions

Start sprinkling very aro/ace questions into conversation.

Casually talk about the latest pick for “Hottest Celeb of the Year” or something and throw in “What does ‘hot’ even mean anyway? I never know what people are talking about when they say that.”

“My friend was telling me about this crush they have, but like how do you even know when you have a crush on someone?”

“I saw this post online that said that guys and girls can’t be friends because one of them will always catch feelings, but like what’s the difference between being friends and being a couple anyway?”

Make it clear with each question that you’re being lighthearted but also you’re genuinely confused/trying to get an answer.

People around you might still brush these off with a “You’ll know one day” or something like that, but I bet they’ll start to notice a pattern.

General aroace confusion is also useful:

“I heard [show/movie] has like a lot of sex scenes in it. I will never understand how people are into that stuff tbh.”

At first they might think you’re talking about sex scenes, but try to make it clear that you’re actually talking about sex in general. This is also a chance to slip in that you also don’t get sexual attraction in general.

You can use a similar method for really sexual ads.

3. Show them some ace stuff

If you ever watch TV together, then perhaps you can make sure to casually watch some very ace content around them from time to time.

A particularly ace episode of BoJack Horseman or some other ace media (unfortunately there isn’t much).

If you have a way to watch YouTube on your TV or something, maybe you can find a youtube video that features ace people or someone explaining asexuality.

If they ask why you’re watching this, you can just say it seemed interesting or someone told you about it or something.

The goal is to basically expose the person to the concept of asexuality without it having to be about you in particular. 

This could be especially helpful when combined with the other steps because if you make the idea of asexuality fresh in their minds and then start saying very aro/ace stuff around them, they’re probably more likely to connect the dots.

You can also use these videos/episodes as a way to gauge their attitudes towards asexuality in general.

This is also a way to strike up general convo around asexuality.

4. Reference representation

“Apparently there’s an ace character in [show/movie/book]. That’s so cool!”

You could also openly critique some particularly bad ace representation/erasure.

Critique is gives you a chance to go a little deeper about asexuality in general and dispel myths while also potentially getting the person to engage with the nuances of the orientation etc.

And if they ask why you care so much you can either come out or come up with some excuse (good ally, it’s just interesting/important, I have ace friends, etc.)

_______

Again, these are just general ideas. You can use them exactly or treat this as an overall template that you can adapt for your own style/purposes.

I’ve used all of these in some way or another and have had good results so far, so I hope this is helpful for y’all too!

Let me know if you use any of these idea and how it works out for you, and also feel free to add your own “glass closet” strategies!

@apocalypsewriters (hope this helps!)

[septmilleneurones]

OK, I’m a heathen who doesn’t give a shit about looking perfectly virtuous when it comes to media consumption, so I’m gonna run through these points.

1) “I would rather pay a person than a corporation, so I’ll pirate the corporate stuff.” OR you could just pay for the indie stuff. 

They’re saying “I steal from the greedy, not from the struggling”. I'm cool with poor people taking that approach.

2) “You’re making up a dude for me to be mad at!”

You gave the “why pirating the antisemitic wizard game is still supporting the antisemitic wizard billionaire” spiel to someone who wasn’t talking about that. They have a point.

Look, you just said you don’t want to pay for corporate work. So engage with indie work rather than pirating. Simple. You’ll be giving indie artists more exposure and depriving corporations of buzz. 

If an indie work appeals to me, I will consume it legally if I have the money to do so. If not, I will not steal it for the reasons covered in 1), but I won’t prioritise it over the things I need my money for.

3) “But, but, but, I can’t because uhhhh I have no money!” Libraries.

Yes, I go to mine. I still don’t give a shit about people illegally watching Disney.

There are also a multitude of independent creators online who earn money for ad clicks/views, and you can view their stuff for free. My favorite dude on YouTube does this. His name is Simon Whistler and he does all kinds of cool science videos, for which I’ve never paid a dime.

I watch a number of things like that. I also watch Disney legally and don’t give a shit if people watch it illegally because Bob Iger is a greedy piece of shit who has more wealth than he will ever need.

4) “Libraries aren’t free!” Literally the definition of a library is that it’s free. That’s why they exist. 

https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/Pages/fees-and-charges.aspx

Click “Borrowing fees”, scroll down. I think those are very cheap fees relative to the content, but some media at some libraries is indeed not free.

5) “They don’t have what I want!” Interlibrary loan will solve a lot of your problems, but for the rest, well, unfortunately you can’t always get what you want. I want front-row tickets to see Billy Joel. They’re over six hundred bucks. It sucks, but that’s how it is. I can go see a local band for like ten bucks, give them some eyeballs and maybe find a new fave. 

I still don’t give a shit about poor people stealing from corporations that, by your own admission, still get buzz from it.

6) “you just don’t get what I’m saying!” Apparently not, because what I’m hearing is that “I want to support indie artists” is a morality smokescreen for “I want to see the latest episodes of The Mandalorian but pretend I’m not supporting Disney.” Every time I say there is other media, you have an excuse. And you’ll have one this time, too. 

I don’t see that as something that needs a morality smokescreen.

One fallacy, I think, of anti piracy arguments is that a lot of them seem to assume that if I'm unable to pirate something I'm going to pay for it instead rather than going "oh! that's a terrible shame" and then quickly forgetting about it

[velissiamemes]

♡  Euphoria Sentence Starters - S1 Ep 2 ♡

Quotes from Season 1 Episode 2 of Euphoria! Feel free to adjust as needed.

“Sometimes, when I get really high, I kind of think I'm psychic.

“I have a very pretty dick. Do you want to see it?”

“What do you like to be called? Mister? Master? Daddy?”

“I've always admired that in you. Because some day, it will lead you to greatness.”

“No one in this world will ever root for you.”

“All right, let's fucking go!”

“She was basically hairless.”

“If anyone ever tried to hurt you, I'd kill them.”

“You're, like, the sweetest guy ever.”

“You're a virgin?”

“Have you ever been fingered?”

“Wanna get high?”

“Didn't you just get out of rehab?”

“I feel like this isn't a good idea.”

“Drugs are kind of cool. I mean, they're cool before they wreck your skin... ...and your life.”

“It's just embarrassing. I feel like everyone knows.”

“Alcohol is not good for me.”

“Honestly, I think I blacked out.”

“Oh, look! It's our new sexpert!”

“What's your Reddit username?”

“Are you doing drugs in my house?”

“Back the fuck up. Back the fuck up and let me out of this fucking house.”

“You're being fucking rude.”

“I already flushed everything down the fucking toilet.”

“I slept like shit, too. Yeah, I miss you.”

“I was a stone-cold crackhead.”

“As long as I saved lives, I was well within my right to destroy my own.”

“What if I, uh... suck your dick?”

“You know what? Fuck it. Fuck it, I'm going to the police.”

“First, delete the video off your phone... ...and whoever's phone you sent it to.”

“Is this about that video of that girl getting banged from behind?”

“I just want to be clear that I haven't personally seen the video.”

“I'm not jumping to conclusions.”

“I, 100 percent, do not feel safe right now.”

“Breathing is clearly not a priority to you.”

“You wanna come over for dinner tonight?”

“Are you talking to your momma about me?”

“Why don't you let me take you out tonight?”

[text] im just fascinated by u

[text] ya i totally get it. My dad left when i was a kid.

I don't think I have an attention span for real life anymore.

“Oh, my God. That's not my fucking problem.”

“Give me drugs.”

“I could fucking kill you right now.”

“Look at my stats. Shit pisses me off. I don't get it.”

“Let's fucking kill him.”

“I thought about you all week. I'm dying to fuck you.”

“Why you gotta make everything so sexual?”

“I'm trying to have a real-ass conversation with you.”

“What, you don't trust me?”

“Fuck! What the fuck, man?”

“What the fuck are you doing here, man? Get the fuck out of my apartment.”

“Who the fuck are you, man?”

“You're talking about that crazy chick that was at the party?”

“Hey, get on your knees.”

“I only have two dollars.”

“Where are my pants?”

“I thought you was too good for Fentanyl.”

[text] yo I didn't mean to hurt ur feelings today.

[text] College is really stressing me out.

You want to know if his dick was bigger?

“Dead or alive, he'd still have a bigger dick than you.”

[text] nudes? 😊

[text] pls im so horny

[text] u give me butterflies.

[a-write-for-soreeyes]

IF ANYBODY IS LOOKING FOR GOOD DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS PODCASTS/SHOWS HERE ARE THE ONES THAT I ENJOY:

- Critical Role (Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein): can be watched as a video/twitch stream (live!) or listened to as a podcast! Very classic fantasy, LONG episodes (2-4 hours every episode), they’re all voice actors so it really attaches you too their characters! I’m a simp for Matthew Mercer :), there’s 2 campaigns the first one is 115 episodes and the current second campaign is 120-ish episodes that’s still going!!! A ton of content!!! - Find on, YouTube, Spotify and Twitch!

- The Adventure Zone (Balance and Amnesty): can be listened to on YouTube or listened to as a podcast on Spotify! 3 brothers (who have their own advice show) and their dad! SUPER FUNNY. Easy to follow for first time players/listeners! Emotionally investing!!! I have wept over this podcast!!!!!! There’s a comic book series that’s a novelization of the podcast and it’s super well done! I have laughed so hard I feel like I’ve formed abs listening to this! I personally enjoy their first Campaign ‘Balance’ the best and their second campaign ‘Amnesty’ is my close second! They are on their 3rd campaign and there’s a TON of episodes for each!!! - find on, YouTube and Spotify!

-Dimension 20 (Fantasy High and A Crown of Candy) can be watched on YouTube or listened to as a podcast on Spotify! [I personally prefer to watch the videos because drawings of the characters come up on screen, (even for the side characters that we rarely see!)] Brennan Lee Mulligan is my favourite DM (dungeon master) he does amazing voices and is so great at immersing you in the world him and the other players have created! Fantasy High has a HUGE mystery element that genuinely had me guessing until the end, Brennan said that he wanted to make a game that “was if John Hughes made a Dungeons and Dragons game” and it works amazingly together!! I binged Fantasy High over the summer and the chemestry the cast and characters have is so good it feels like a little family :) A Crown of Candy I’ve just started watching and it’s awesome so far! The characters are so much fun it’s like DnD CandyLand! Also the sets for both campaigns are beautiful!!!! They do a great job of pulling you into and adding life into the world the cast has created!! - find on, YouTube and Spotify!

- Dungeons and Daddies: can be listened to as a podcast on Spotify! I just finished getting caught up on this podcast! It made me LITTERALLY laugh out loud multiple times, it’s about 4 dads who get sucked into a DnD world to rescue their sons, the DM plays all of the kids and all of the characters who aren’t the dads, THE PLOT TWISTS OH MY GOD, I have cried a LOT listening to this podcast, they do this thing at the beginning of each episode where they say a dad fact about their character and they’re always so funny and it’s a great way to start off the episode! Since it’s a podcast the editor adds music and super cool sound effects to really immerse you in their world! LOTS of references and really funny real world-esque jokes, had me hooked from episode one and is still keeping me entertained!!!!!! I love how much stuff the DM lets the players “get away with” when it comes to plans and combat it’s always funny to see what kind of Wile E. Coyote plans they come up with!! - find on, Spotify!

[waynedunlaptheorgandonor]

watched s11ep1

i will provide you with a quick review before i disappear back into the ether of twd avoidance

lots of spoilers under the cut. also i wrote way too much and i worked all night and haven’t slept so i didn’t bother to reread literally any of it, so it might be completely nonsensical, tho if you don’t expect that from me by this point idk whose blog you’ve been reading

enjoy:

hokay, first off, i’ll start by saying that i enjoyed it more than i expected to. i’ve been avoiding any sort of discussion about stuff, but my google algorithm is so fucked at this point that i still get recommended articles and stuff every now and then, so i was already pretty aware of what i was walking into, and was expecting it to be eh, but actually i prob enjoyed it more than i enjoyed the finale

(don’t get too excited tho, the finale was rly boring lmfao)

anyway

episode starts off with a tense scouting mission

it takes .005 seconds into the episode for caryl to exchange a look of longing, establishing that they are still having weird conflict and are both too fucking stubborn to do anything about it even tho they hate it desperately

i imagine that will continue for a while

rosita, kelly, carol, maggie, what’s her face with the bad hair, and lydia (i think that’s everyone?) lower down to some army bunker or something, where a bunch of walkers are taking a snooze, and the girls are very respectful of walker naptime, and do their best not to wake them up

obviously they eventually wake up, but i’ll get to that in a sec

as they’re tiptoeing through the walker tulips, there’s this split second where carol spots a machine gun, and looks at maggie with a face like, “can i plzzzz, i am mad horny for that machine gun,” but maggie tells her no. (i 110% expected her to defy orders and accidentally wake up all the walkers, but she actually behaved herself for once. well. mostly)

never fear, tho, after the girl gang collects a bunch of MREs they go back to wait for the dudes waiting up top to pull them up, and bc men ruin everything, one of the ropes break, and daryl catches it before it falls, but then a slow motion drop of blood falls on a walker’s face, and just like that, walker naptime is over, and carol uses her bow and arrow for two seconds before she is like “fuck this” and whips out the machine gun

yes, she is super hot using it

yes, daryl watches her do it

anyway, all the other girls get rescued, and carol is about to be pulled up, but bc she is a #girlboss, she first makes a beeline for one more crate full of MREs. daryl covers her while she gets the loot, and when she gets back up top they have another charged moment as carol hands him back his knife

just fuck already, jfc

titles!

cut to alexandria where everything is still not smilestimes

BUT, we do get to see uncle daryl run and hug rj and judith (and dog), and FUCKING HERSHEL JR, LIGHT OF MY LIFE is also there

istg, they could not have casted a better child, i a d o r e him

oh, and some friends of maggie’s show up too, idk

cut to a staff meeting where everyone is like, whomp whomp, we’re all gonna starve to death unless we figure out something quick

cue maggie going, “oh, i know where food is, but it requires me to tell you my tragic backstory, in case anyone didn’t watch my bottle episode”

she tells her dramatic backstory about all her friends getting slaughtered by the reapers for no apparent reason, and then she’s like “anyway, let’s go back there!”

no one thinks it’s a great idea, but a group of people decide to go anyway, including daryl and gabriel. rosita is super pissed that gabriel is going, and carol doesn’t go, probably partly bc it’s a shitty fucking idea, and also bc they have to keep caryl apart bc otherwise they’ll fix their problems ahead of schedule and they won’t be able to drag out the needless angst

daryl looks kind of annoyed that carol doesn’t volunteer to go 

bitch, i thought you wanted her to stop putting herself in the line of fire! make up your damn mind!

moving on

cut to a thunderstorm, where, if you look closely, you’ll notice daryl is wearing the STUPIDEST hat i’ve ever seen. just get an umbrella, jfc

for some reason negan is with them, bc ig he knows his way around washington dc, and no one in six years has bothered to figure out how to get around the city and/or get a map, and he is like “hey guys, maybe we shouldn’t try to walk in this fucking hurricane,” and everyone is like “FUCK YOU NEGAN, YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF US!!!” 

this will be a common occurrence 

but eventually daryl is even like “actually, it’s rly unpleasant out here, and my hat is mad stupid, can we go inside plz?”

so they go inside an old metro station, which is actually a rly cool cinematic choice. i rly like the idea, and they executed it rly well

speaking of executions

there are some fucking RULL CREEPY walkers. idk why they bothered me so badly, but they were what they at first assumed were corpses wrapped up in tarps, but turns out none of them had been properly put down, so they go through killing these rotted bodies that had supposedly been there since The Fall, and it’s very gross and cool

this entire time, btw, negan is like “hey, i know i’m a shitty person, but i have some rational arguments about why we shouldn’t be doing this right now,” and everyone is like, “FUCK YOU NEGAN, YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF US!!!” and he’s just like “god fucking damnit”

(i forgot to mention that at one point, when they’re headed into the metro station, negan is trying to warn ppl of the potential danger, and everyone is ignoring him, and he tries to talk to daryl, and daryl is like “fuck you, you think we’re BUDDIES?” and negan is like “oh, ok, so you’re gonna be like that too? fanfreakingtastic” and it’s very funny)

anyway. a fat monster zombie escapes its tarp at one point, and tries to eat some npc, and negan saves him, again is like “hey, anyone else realize that this is a FUCKING BAD PLAN?”, and everyone is like “we don’t care, you’re still shitty and we’re not listening to you, and you don’t actually care about random npc i would literally not be able to pick out in a lineup bc his face is so generic, you’re not the boss of us!!!”

it’s at this point that negan finally is like, “why am i even here? bc i know how to get around washington dc? do none of you have a map?” and i was like, “right?! that’s what i said!” 

it’s then revealed that maggie only brought negan along to murder him under the guise of “oops, he got hurt in the line of duty, it wasn’t my fault,” and daryl has this look on his face that says, “i seriously need to stop hanging out with lethal women bent on revenge bc it’s gonna give me high blood pressure,” and maggie has a badass moment where she points a gun she has for some reason at negan and is like “i have like, one shred of human compassion left inside of me, and if you keep pushing me i will fucking kill you without a second thought, so shut the hell up”

(in her defense, negan had just dropped glenn’s name to purposely antagonize her, which was rude as hell)

(for the record, i’m completely on maggie’s side here, but negan still is right that trapping themselves in a metro station is a bad call)

anyway, moving away from that briefly

i think this jump cut happens sooner, i don’t actually remember, but whatever who cares, point is, we get to the part of the show that actually matters, and that’s anything involving my love, juanita “princess” sanchez

and also eugene, yumiko, and ezekiel

they are being asked increasingly invasive questions by commonwealth ppl, some of which i wish they actually would of answered (what do they use to wipe their asses with?? surely toilet paper has long since become extinct)

zeke, who is so much more tolerable as a character now that he’s not larping as a king, has this incredibly weird and sort of sexually charged moment with a dude in an orange stormtrooper costume, where he’s like, “i bet you were an asshole cop back before The Fall, you stupid fascist, #fuckthepolice, mb literally? idk, this moment has a lot of pent up aggression that could easily translate to hate sex, it might just be the intense eye contact, but w/e, let’s just move along,” and then he has a coughing fit to remind the audience that he’s currently dying of cancer, and orange stormtrooper is like “lolz, loser, drink some water you dumb piece of shit”

cut to the wholesome foursome sitting at a picnic table in a guarded courtyard eating gruel, and yumkio, who finally has a personality, and princess are like “hey, this place fucking sucks, can we leave?” and zeke is like, “yeah, i met this orange stormtrooper who i think might be dtf and/or murder, so we should probably bounce”

but eugene is like, “but i want some hot stephanie ass, and also some bullshit excuse about how mb commonewealth will save alexandria” which, they left before things went super downhill, right? idr. it was after hilltop fell, but they don’t know alexandria got fucked either, if i recall? w/e, not important

two seconds after he says this, they talk to some people who are like “we’ve been here for four months, or maybe it’s been nine, i don’t actually remember, i’ve stopped processing the passage of time,” and the wholesome foursome takes this as a bad sign, tho that’s just the life i’ve lived as a night worker during a pandemic, so i was like #mood

but then they watch some guy get dragged away screaming to get “reprocessed” and eugene is like “ok, nvm, let’s bounce”

(my theory on what “reprocessing” is, is that they’re stuck in a room and have to watch hours and hours of customer service training videos on vhs from the 90s)

i definitely got my jump cut scenes mixed up bc i think the negan accusing maggie of a murder plot thing happened in between this scene and then the next commonwealth scene, but w/e, i’ll just finish what happens in the commonwealth arch

the wholesome foursome are trying to hatch a plan to escape, except princess, my love, is distracted watching some stormtroopers flirt, and the other three are like “wtf, dude, how can you even tell any of them apart?” and princess then tells them every stormtroopers backstory bc she is brilliant and pays rly close attention to shit, and the other three are like, “this is useful information, thank you for being an insane person”

their plan involves yumiko and eugene dressing up as stormtroopers and leading princess and zeke out of the place, which works fine actually, except on their way out they come across the Depressing Wall of Probably Mostly Dead Missing Loved Ones

they’re about to leave, when princess is like, “wait, yumiko, you’re on here, that’s weird huh?”

sure enough, yumiko  is on the wall, with a note from ig her sister 

the scene ends with yumiko going, “guys...i can’t leave...i have tragic backstory to unveil”

tragic backstory to be continued ig

back in murder metro town, npc and some other npc have stolen all the supplies, there’s a train blocking the track, and a horde of walkers are coming towards them, so things are not going fantastic

they horde is too big to take down, so they start to climb on top of the train car to get away

but dog runs away!

and daryl, being every pet owner ever, is like “gotta go get my dog, guys, try not to get killed while i’m gone, c u soon!” and he ducks under the train and disappears

#priorities

the episode ends with maggie climbing up the train car but getting grabbed by a walker and dangling off the edge, and negan is there and they have a lion king moment where maggie is like, “scar! help me!” and negan is like “long live the king, bitch” and walks away into the shadows, leaving maggie to a potential death

which, while i know isn’t actually going to happen, would be a really fucking funny move on the writers’ part

like, “look, lauren’s back! and now she’s dead, bet you didn’t expect that!”

anyway

my assumption is negan will actually end up helping her up or something, continuing his ambiguous morality bullshit that actually isn’t ambiguous bc he BEAT GLENN TO DEATH WITH A FUCKING BAT WRAPPED IN BARBED WIRE IN FRONT OF HIS PREGNANT WIFE

the maggie/negan arch is kind of dumb, but whatevs, i’ll tolerate it, as long as my boy glenn gets justice in the end

anyway, cue credits!

final assessment: good episode. i’m much more interested in commonwealth than the reapers, tho i am hoping that daryl’s personality-less ex turns out to be a monster killing machine with no conscience, that’ll be fun. princess is a gift from god. hershel jr needs his own tv show. needs more carol (and caryl)

the end! going back into my walking dead free chamber! see you next episode!

-diz

[raincitygirl76]

It’s because they’re enforcing compulsory heteronormativity. It’s a salad bar of toxic masculinity and homophobia. Nobody at Forest Ridge gives a shit if the Crown Prince fucks other boys behind closed doors. But acting in public like the working class boy he used to fuck actually matters to him? Not wanting to brag about his new thing with Felice in front of said boy? Not cool. Gotta be steadfastly ignored. Until even the Crown Prince realizes he needs to be more discreet about his same sex dalliances.

This is why Henry kept his mouth shut when he overheard an intense conversation between Wilhelm and Simon in 2.02. It’s not because Henry’s not interested in gossip. It’s because he knows the Crown Prince already denied being in the video. Therefore the Crown Prince is obviously ashamed of his same-sex dalliance with a working class brown socialist. Henry, as a loyal monarchist, will keep quiet about the Crown Prince begging his ex-boyfriend to come back. Because that’s behind closed doors shit, and Wilhelm would be furious if Henry spread damaging gossip like that.

It’s also the same reason Henry does gossip about Felice in 2.04. In both cases, he was trying to do the Crown Prince a favour. Gossiping about royalty still being mixed up with another boy is damaging gossip. Gossip about the Crown Prince making out with Felice on his bed is the kind of gossip the Crown Prince should be delighted Henry is spreading.

It makes it more likely people at Hillerska will overlook the fact they all know Wilhelm lied about the video in December. They’re just being polite and never bringing it up. Because of course he lied, that was the only socially acceptable thing he could’ve done. But now the first in line to the throne is making out with a girl! Order has been restored to the galaxy! Henry will gossip, and Wilhelm will be grateful for Henry building up his rep (or so Henry assumes, until he gets a look at Wilhelm’s rage in the dining room).

Compulsory heteronormativity is so strong even the Crown Prince himself can’t do a whole lot to change it. In the lunch scene, Wilhelm is livid with Henry for gossiping, and for Vincent bringing it up at lunch in front of Simon, and pushing Wille on the subject even after Wille tries to stop him (Vincent). If Vincent cared about sucking up to the Crown Prince, you’d think he’d shut up. To Vincent, enforcing compulsory heteronormativity is so important he’s willing to take the hit on the Crown Prince holding a grudge against him. It’s his duty as Forest Ridge prefect.

It’s not just about the Crown Prince personally. It’s about reinforcing to every single Hillerska student in that dining room that no matter what you do in private, you act straight in public. Or else. Every Forest Ridge boy steadfastly ignoring Simon’s anger and hurt, ignoring Simon’s very existence as an openly queer student, is them all reinforcing the rules. Protecting the status quo against any rebels who might destabilize it.

They’re giving a refresher on the rules to Simon and to Wilhelm (who’d been shoved back in the closet in 1.06, but seems ambivalent, and needs to be reminded the closet is the only possible choice for someone in his position). Also a refresher to Nils, and to anyone else in that room who’s not straight and hiding it. Reinforces that they need to shut the fuck up and continue pretending to be straight in public. Remember, Nils and Vincent are very close friends.

We find out later that episode Nils is pretty sure his best friends Vincent and August already know he’s gay. They’ve just never talked about it openly. Vincent enforces compulsory heteronormativity on the Crown Prince and that no-account openly gay non-res even though it’s highly likely he knows his best friend is also gay. And even though his best friend is sitting at the same table. Because Nils plays by the rules and is discreet about his queerness, he’s not a threat to the status quo. Vincent acts as an enforcer of the status quo.

Simon isn’t someone who matters. If anything, ignoring his reaction and pretending he’s invisible is the best way to protect compulsory heteronormativity. Because he’s queer and doesn’t hide it. Because he’s not white, because he doesn’t pay to attend Hillerska, because his mom’s an immigrant, because he doesn’t know his place in the hierarchy. Because he’s indiscreet enough to publicly act like it bothers him when the guy he used to fuck is now finally getting his act together and getting physical with a girl.

Even the Crown Prince needs to be reminded of his responsibilities in this system which glorifies performative traditional masculinity and performative heteronormativity.

Super random: Thoughts on why you think the boys didn't react when Simon walked out of the dinning room when it was exposed that Felice was in Wilhelms room? I ask because I'm assuming that most if not all of the classmates know that it was Wilhelm and Simon in the video...they know their past, so I lowkey expected the crowd to go "oooohh" or LOL or sniker when Simon got up and left. But we got no reaction. I can't say that it was them trying to be respectful of Wilmon because clearly they don't gaf, especially since Wilhelms bedroom activities are being exposed once again publicly

It seemed like the only person to even remotely acknowledge Simon's exit was Wilhelm. And it wasn't like Simon left quietly...the chair squeeked when he moved back, his silverwear rattled on the table and he stomped away out the room.

Unless their silence was the reaction and I missed that point completely 😂😂

What do you think?

Oh I am also confused by this scene 😅 I understand the point about celebrating heterosexuality and erasing queerness but like. Everyone KNOWS it was Wille in the sex tape, and that dramatic ass exit wouldn't have been so completely unnoticed, I feel like 😂 no one even looked in Simon's direction 💀 Idk, i feel like this should've been the juiciest gossip of the day instead of just "Felice only sleeps with the royals"

[logically-asexual]

just went back to see how they explained the asides, he said "we were attempting to make a slightly simpler sanders sides series that wasn't directly tied to the main narrative" but the word "slightly" also popped up on screen, in quotes, when he said it, and that it would help give us more content, "hopefully. we'll see"

guess we can’t say he didn’t warn us then .-. still disappointing.

… i’m going on another rant. bear with me. i think im saying something smart for once.

i genuinely don’t understand what their idea of “not directly tied to the main narrative” means.

what is the “main story” now ?

my guess is that the “main story” is Thomas figuring out who he is+getting to know himself+getting the sides to get along with each other and the rest is ? Thomas doing random stuff, making small decisions and having his Sides help.

that distinction of the two types of episode would make sense and put most episodes of Season 2 clearly in the first category and the first Asides in the second one. these categories are also independent of length of the video and of how angsty the plot is, so i guess that would help with some of my doubts of the Asides.

however

1. the second Asides isn’t just Thomas making a small, short-term decision, what happened then can’t. not affect the future of Thomas’s life, and the plot is heavily based on Thomas figuring what he wants and who he is and being honest to himself about it so?? still don’t get why it is an Asides?

and 2. i just don’t like that distinction either way and i think it’s not helpful.

it was really cool (imo) of Season 1 and up until Can Lying Be Good i think how the show was : Thomas goes through some relatable situations and solves them by exploring what each Side of himself has to say about it, and in the meantime he learns a thing or two about himself and sometimes he dedicates an entire discussion (episode) to figuring something out about a side/the relationships between them.

it’s hard to distinguish when “thomas is just discussing with his sides what he should do for christmas” ends and when “thomas uncovers new truths about his identity” begins. and that’s good. that was the charming thing about the show. it was casual and fun and you could use Thomas’ development to learn something about your own self, too.

but now you turn those heavy, previously-rare episodes that were purely/mostly about Thomas figuring one Side out into the main narrative. ?? and thats how you get stuff like Dealing with Intrusive Throughs, which was good but (in my opinion) way too on the nose. there’s nothing casual or funnily-relatable about it except the occasional jokes. the whole plot is “Logan explains everything there is to know about Intrusive Thoughts and Character Thomas’ particular relationship to them while Remus illustrates each example.”

Sanders Sides was educational about mental health in small, entertaining ways but this is way too much. Season 1 individual episodes could pass as just some comedy show and ignore the lessons but in the past episodes the entire video is the “lesson”.

there’s no story of Thomas going through his life as a normal human while he finds himself in the process because that’s? going to be left for the asides i guess? ?.

so now the “main” (main!!) episodes all become just therapy sessions at this point. which a) is exhausting, b) gets boring, c) is super unrealistic for some guy to manage on his own head by himself, and d) involves tons and tons and tons of research for Thomas & team to get only one (1) episode done, for them to make sure they nail every single detail perfectly about the thing they’re trying to address. which must be exhausting for them too and also means they take way too long to write.

so basically… this sucks.

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket Manga Review ch (90)- First pages ONLY.

I skimmed thro ch-89 to know the context of ch-90. it was Cinderella’s play. In this chapter, Kyo says early on, that time has passed since the play & that they are NOW starting their third year in high school. cool.

This part will ONLY focus on the 1st few pages of ch 90 abt (kyo & tohru) & stop before kyo’s memories starts, because the early pages contain:

Tons of new unexplored analysis of (kyo & tohru) characters that unfortunately was intentionally cut & worse! “changed” in the anime.

No space to add kyoko’s story in this post.

Kyoko’s story is full psychologically & socially.. I need to take a deeeeeeep breath before I unpack it. very deeeeep breath!

-Glimpses of Tohru (the silent grieving girl) Subtle Writing of Grief:

Right from the beginning, I hate how much insight into tohru’s grief & weakness as a human being is already there in the first few pages of ch-90 than the entire 3 seasons of the anime! From few pages we have:

Tohru’s seemingly delighted watching a video. Subtly, showcasing tohru’s grieve & paving the path for tohru’s trauma exploration later in the story. Grief is not sth you quickly past, that’s the most tragic misunderstanding of grief. Time will pass, so, you’ll be better & healthier. Really?!. Tohru’s inner desire to see her mom alive manifested in her words: “ like a photo comes to life” T_T.

The story/writing/manga is acknowledging tohru’s heartbreaking & NOT cute habit of talking to her mom’s cold dead photo! In the anime, tohru talks to her a lot in se01 & it’s up to you to see as as “ cute” as all the canon characters do or actually feeling it IS wrong. Kyo’s  “ what would she do if there were a video of her mom”! “ drives the point more abt tohru being a sad grieving human~not the “advice-giving, optimistic angel, & rain-stopping sunshine in the anime.

Tohru telling kyo to NOT catch cold connecting it to se01, ep 9 (haru’s ep) when tohru was afraid that yuki might catch cold & kyo noticed that! so now in se03, they’re dropping this plot altogether within the main anime, for what? we dont even know if this part would be included in whatever “ kyoko’s” spinoff content would be. -_-’.

That’s how you write subtle trauma such as (grief) for a main (female) MC. subtlety is the key. Respect the viewers intelligence & do it.

You don’t have to give her the long speeches or the many focused ep that yuki had. he’s the kind who confront himself inwardly constantly.

You don’t have to showcase drama, confrontation & force the emotions out like you did with kyo. he runs from his trauma & punishes himself.

Tohru buries her feelings! she’s different from both kyo & yuki. So, with her subtle & symbolic scenes are enough!!!The viewers will catch it if you show it, but ignoring it, cutting it & hoping the viewers will magically predict what you cut, is weird. But the anime isn’t even into us predicting nor subtly showing her cuz this tohru is NOT the tohru we have in the anime. How?

Simply cuz there is no kyo’s inner thoughts abt small things such as tohru’s photo obsession which subtly shows her grief & trauma. If kyo didn’t monologue abt her, tohru does not exist as she’s meant to be. You loose the subtle insights into tohru if you cut kyo’s inner thoughts. Not everything kyo thinks abt in regards to tohru is romance!!! That’s a very narrow & superficial look into the writing of kyo/’tohru dynamics. Flip the pages, hmm..cut this kyoru scene here & there cuz we dont want the anime to be only their love story.. But the story itself IS NOT only their love story at all. These pages/scenes here are abt tohru as a PERSON. Not tohru the lover...

- Writing Clashes between manga & anime: (Kyo’s Conscious Gradual Psychological Exploration vs Shock Value & Drama)

In ch 90 i really love all the inner self talking that kyo’s doing. It really explains why he ended up rejecting tohru so strongly. Also, going for a trip into kyo’s mind is hella exciting, new, refreshing & full of analysis-worthy exploration! Kyo’s inner psychological argument with himself is a psychologically-informed presentation of a tried guilty mind:

“ Why can’t I stop thinking of (kyoko’s words) lately? Acknowledging that he IS remembering kyoko & never forgot her. This is also supported in the anime itself. When he apologized to a sleeping tohru in se01, ep14 & se02, ep9 , confronting yuki in the stairs & other instances as well. 

“ It’s like a lid been opened & all the memories came pouring”. Acknowledging that kyo DID open his lid since se02, ep9 byt chose to run & not confront it due to his guilt of ruining tohru’s happiness by confessing his connection to her mom. 

“ pretending I didn’t know, pretending I forgot”. Here is a blatant clash in kyo’s writing (1) between the anime & manga (2) between the anime’s episodes themselves!!. In the manga, again kyo chose to ignore & pretended to forget. Death is NOT sth you forgot. Kyo saw kyoko bleeding & dying.  The anime chose to make him totally forget & it could’ve worked if they didn’t included all the canon moments of him actually remembering & pretending to forget. Is that lazy writing? or was the director for se03 different from se 1 &2 &? chose to NOT watch the two previous seasons? Why would you consciously include a contradicting depiction of your character on screen for thousands of confused viewers? Was the scene of kyo’s shocked gave upon seeing kyoko’s photo that artistically appealing that you forgot everything? I really have NO problem of kyo forgetting kyoko if that was written in the anime since se01, but it wasn't. that's why it sucks. 

“Is this payback? maybe I want to blame ME?” augh! i love this line so much! Directly hinting to the viewers that this is kyo’s one-sided guilt before his story with kyoko even started! subtly paving the path for the reason of his rejection of tohru” I dont want forgiveness. I want to blame ME.

-I don’t mind that the anime left kyo’s thoughts of kyoko until the climax in eo8, cuz ep 8 was SO well-done! Se03, ep 8 pacing was very suitable to (1) uncovering dark secrets & death, trauma, & guilt. (2)  for exploring the effects such secrets on kyo’s character, decisions, mentality. Also, the animation of kyo’s face all ep 8 was one of the most expressive facial expressions the anime has ever delivered! The eyebrows, eyes, mouth, tears, body languages, heartache was all 100% perfect. The fact that the following eps didnt have much time to express everything & chapters were cramped is not ep 8′s fault but the decision to have 13 eps. Kyo’s delayed trauma deserved to have its own ep.

-What I DO mind is the added scene of ep 6 where he freaked out upon seeing kyoko’s picture, the concept of shock is perfect & so suitable for an anime but was NEVER properly written into the anime itself from the beginning. On the contrary, the anime itself contradict such usage of such value. Good job ruining an otherwise perfect-depiction of two traumatized characters (kyo & tohru) with ONE scene.. -_-

Side Notes:

I thought tohru is narrating the 1st page in ch-90, turned it out it is kyo!!!! Kyo narrates sth? Kyo monologues? kyo has a POV? Just the setting of kyo doing that feels different! I duno if it cuz when that happens in the anime it’s always clash & drama! lol, or cuz it’s sth original!

Shigure’s “ it’s broadcasted all over the nation” is epic! XD! you know poor stupid kyo would fall for that! XD. kyo, you really are an idiot! XD... man this scene would’ve been epic comedy~ lol.

Tohru not knowing what a “dvd” is is outdated for the anime, but to still keep the sentiment of “her wishing she’d have a video footage of her mom”, they could’ve replaced her words with “ It’d be fun watching this play years from now & remembering all the details”. I know that to some, it feels weird that tohru doesn't have video footage of her mom in this era. but trust me, this is more common than you might think. My late brother, who’s way younger than me, doesn't have much video footage, he always felt awkward & preferred not to be filmed. We got photos for him tho~

Even if you want kyo’s knowledge of kyoko to be in the climax only. You can always include this scene of tohru & kyo in the first pages in the anime somehow. It doesn't even need to be abt the dvd even tho that’s manageable. Cutting this short scene of them talking abt videos, & catching cold is cutting tohru’s trauma from its core. Then, the old grandpa’s narration from se03, ep6 would at least have some backup in the anime’s canon.

Momiji & shigure are perfect as a comedic duo!

I can’t get over tohru’s art~ <3

Pinning kyo at the beginning is epic~ kyo always gets the BEST romantic lines when he talks to himself. “ burning (tohru’s ) memories into my head or forgetting everything”. The torturing fire inside him is only distinguished by loving her but is also ignited by loving her~ what’s the solution~

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High: The Seven Ep 5

Through a Glass, Darkly

Welcome back to the Temple of the Earth Defiant where the girls and their magical horses (and one pony!) have found refuge from the strange, twisted, fae creatures that have been chasing them. The statue of Asha Hammerheart that Ost animated last episode is still alive and wrecking house on the remaining harpies and beasts that are foolish enough to keep fighting and the rest soon get the hint and flee. 

Ost does some healing (boosted by the ambient Hallow effect of the temple which gives everyone a short rest) and then, seeing the damage to the temple caused by erosion, starts using Mending to fix things up. Her friends help out too with Sam and Yelle being most effective--Sam by repairing water damage and Yelle by creating tree cover and other druid-y tricks. But of course, we can’t overlook Katja’s crucial addition of carving “A Horse is a Home” into one of the walls of this sacred temple. 

Anyway, the girls are nesting super hard, the horses are having their scrapbooking reviewing club (an insane thing that was established last episode) and then Sam asks a question. Did y’all mention something about a photo of me going viral? Everyone’s like yeah, but don’t worry, you looked super hot. That’s not the part Sam was worried about. What she’s worried about and what all the girls except Zelda don’t really seem to know is that Sam doesn’t really have a social media presence. So like, 180k and climbing views (as decided by a dice roll) isn’t really what she wants. She scrolls through the comments really quick and sees that they’re not awful but one person is like, “Hey that girl looks a lot like that character from that old show”. Which Sam doesn’t love. She says that she’s fine but also that, even without an Insight check, she’s obviously not. 

Sam kind of looks to Zelda to bail her out and Zelda is like, “Hey, I’m gonna delete this video.” The other girls follow suit, even though they don’t quite know what’s happening. When they have to split up to investigate, Sam has Zelda kind of bail her out again and they split up to go check a nest outside--Zelda waving off Danielle when she wants to go with. Ant and Yelle decide to check out a cache of some treasure they saw earlier and Ost and Katja stay with the horses to keep fixing the temple up. Penny initially goes with Ant and Yelle but rushes back to be with Ost and Kat when Ost discovers a hidden lock while she’s fixing a wall.

So, the girls are split up, let’s run all these scenes.

Antiope and Yelle

Ant and Yelle go see the pile of treasure (near the statue of dwarven paladin Yvonna) which they learn is like a “take a penny leave a penny” situation for weapons and items. They were left by adventures who were similarly chased here and you can take what you need as long as you leave something to help others. Like, “Oh no I only have an ice sword and I need flaming arrows.” It doesn’t have to be equivalent exchange, you just need to leave something useful.

In this space, Yelle feels a weird melancholy and like they’re within the watch of something vast and powerful. She tries to check for TK’s presence but rolls low. Antiope leaves her Kalvaxus killing shortsword and takes some really nice, white feather fledged arrows with mirror tips and an ax Kat wants as a present for her dad. Danielle takes a bandolier of potions (3 healing and 2 mystery I believe) and leaves a bunch of mushrooms. Some of them are psychedelic and Ant takes one because this is probably a good time to be high, right?

It’s not messing with her competence obviously though because she rolls a 25 on Primeval Awareness and gets a weird sense, like something is closing in on this place. And like something very powerful is bleeding, which combined with the chaos of the mountains might explain the weird harpies and the cat/dogs. But she’s high so she explains this is a very spacey, stoner way. Probably a good thing she’s with Yelle.

Sam and Zelda

Sam can fly and Zelda can basically walk vertically with her goat legs so they check out the nest. Well, ostensibly that’s what they’re doing. Really they’re just having a heart to heart. Sam thanks Zelda for saving her ass and apologizes profusely for being so short with her. Zelda gives her a huge mid-air hug and says it’s not a big deal because she knows Sam is just lashing out because she’s hurting but Sam says it’s not a good enough excuse and she’s truly sorry. It’s been her coping mechanism for so long but she doesn’t want to be that way. She tells Zelda that the Everpetals are divorcing and that she’s living alone and Zelda says that any one of the girls would be happy to have her stay with them. Sam further explains that this is a big part of the reason she’s been so broken up about the possibility of their group splitting up and Zelda immediately takes out her crystal and texts her “I’m in” in the thread, breaking Sam again. 

Since they’re in heart to heart mode, Sam tells her that she talked to her bio-mom and an agent and she’s not sure what to do. Zelda says that she’s gonna be spectacular no matter what she does and she doesn’t have to do any of them but it’s cool doors are opening for her but also Antiope and Penny are gonna be PISSED that she’s out here making side plans after she gave them so much shit for theirs. Lol, well it’s a nice moment in the meantime and we cut to…

Penny, Ost, and Katja 

While Penny is lockpicking (and also trying to teach one of the horses to lockpick because sure) Katja and Ost go talk to the statue of Asha Hammerheart. It seems to be animated with at least some level of her true consciousness from beyond the grave and that she can kind of woge into her statue when she wants, which is cool. She’s been there for like 250 years so that’s a lot of history to see. 

Ost is maybe the most polite we’ve ever seen her talking to Asha (at least to begin with lol) and they ask her about TK. Asha says she saw TK show up 12 years ago but she never left, at least not through the front door. And then about 2 years ago (right around when they were in the crystals) that’s when the harpy queen showed up. At first they were normal and then they started mutating. Also, recently, Korra (one of the other statues/heroes) saw a woman in the mountains--not TK. 

Ost then takes a page from the book of one St. Kristen Applebees and asks, “Hey. What’s the deal with our god? He never talks to us, does he just suck?” Asha--who has never talked to him even though she’s a martyred hero and literally in dwarf heaven makes some excuses for the guy but Katja scoffs at them. “If people wanna take care of you, they do.” Ost then straight up asks if Logran Soulforger is even real which sets Asha off but Ost isn’t mad AT her, she’s mad FOR her. You go and do all this cool shit to the point where you have this cool ass statue, you fully DIE for him and he doesn’t even say hi? With a 21 Persuasion check, Asha admits that yeah, she would have liked some recognition. She decides she’s gonna go do some talking to some people and leaves after getting Ost’s number but before they can ask more about the woman Korra saw (who they think is Charity). 

OK, that’s all the small group stuff! Everyone comes back as Penny finishes up with the lock and they go down into this room that’s full of polished, precious stones. This is probably where people who were upkeeping the temple stayed. While everyone else is going down, Sam feels some powerful magical pull--much like her episode 1 Lightning Lure--calling her from the top of the stairs so she goes back up. We’ll get back to her in a bit. 

Penny rolls a high check to clock what’s going on down here. First off, she finds flintlock bullets and airship uniform scraps which makes it seem like there was a battle here involving some airship guys from the Baronies. Which is not just the place of origin of Riz’s imaginary Romance Partner. It’s a cluster of nations known for high rates of monarchical turnover and renaissance style intrigue. I’m picturing just a nation of [REDACTED]s from Crown of Candy. 

With all of this stuff, Penny finds an emblem of a billionaire airship mogul named Lord Talcidimir Tallbreeze who is a friend of her dad’s. Yelle is immediately like FUCK billionaires which isn’t plot relevant but it’s nice to know she’s always on brand. 

Oh also, Penny just casually finds the Legendarium so that’s neat. 

To be safe, Ost casts Protection from Energy on Ant (who is the one who knows how to use it) and brings out her Spirit Guardian (who is a combo of her mom, nona, and Asha, with her dad’s rings). Ant checks it out and sees that there are currently no A, B, or C quests in all of Spyre. While Penny cross references the bylaws to see if there’s a way to get around this, Yelle does some druid BS that I still do not understand to use the crystals in the cave to jailbreak this super powerful magical Artifact so they can just have copies on their crystals. While that’s happening, let’s check on Sam. 

Sam goes back up the staircase where she sees Ending who doesn’t look menacing at all, just extremely sad. She’s looking out the mouth of the cave and, when she turns, Sam can see she’s crying blood. 

“What’s wrong?” asks Sam, the acid-tongued but good-hearted. “Can I help you?”

With a 25 Persuasion check to get her to talk, Ending apologizes for scaring her and her friends before. She didn’t mean to. She sometimes forgets that her very nature can be frightening and dangerous to others. She says that when she escaped, she tried to rejoin her sisters but found their mirrors shattered and them gone. Sam thought they escaped but that doesn’t make sense to Ending. If they had, why wouldn’t they have freed her as well?

Sam asks who her sisters were and we finally get true names for Ending and her sisters:

Chrona, Terra, Pyrria, Nira, Zefira, Anima, and herself, Talura (which is what I’ll be calling her now that we know). Talura is the baby, the youngest. Sam realizes she’s talking about the Eidolons and Talura seems surprised and a bit pleased that Sam recognizes them. 

Sam asks if she can hug her and Talura hugs her tightly in a very cold embrace that doesn’t hurt. Downstairs, she hears her friends (Penny specifically) freaking about about the lack of quests but she doesn’t break the hug. 

“My own sisters are struggling right now but I’m gonna stay with you because you don’t know where yours are. But maybe we can find them.”

Talura clocks that the way that Sam is being is her true nature, not the bitchiness she often uses as a shield. Then she starts to talk about her history. That she and her sisters were sealed away when the gods were done with them (Sam can relate to being used and set aside) and the only way out was death. Talura has been crying and looking for her sisters to no avail. Her tears of blood leaking seems to be what caused the monsters to mutate which is in line with what Yelle and Ant were sensing. 

Talura doesn’t think anything could have destroyed her sisters so she’s very confused. Sam offers Talura her Mirror of the Past because it almost knocked out Sam to get god-tier information but Talura presumably won’t have that problem. Talura offers her a boon in exchange for this great kindness but Sam says she doesn’t need any quid pro quo. “This is just because you’re hurting.”

Talura is supremely touched and still wants to do something for her new...friend? Sam accepts the title and says that what she needs is some help on her GED quest. Once she explains what she means, Talura again recognizes Aguefort and is like, Oh, you need a quest? I can totally help with that! As we learned earlier, these guys are kinda genie connected so it’s not super surprising when Talura very happily goes full your wish is my command.

Downstairs, a Class A quest suddenly appears in Spyre on the screen. 

Back upstairs, Talura says that it’s been too long since she got to grant a wish and seems really happy about it. Sam gives her the mirror so she can check what happened to her sisters but when she does, she totally flips out and gets super angry--not at Sam, just at whatever she’s looking at. She can hardly believe it. Sam tries to figure out what’s wrong but she just gets super big and then disappears into a puff of smoke, leaving Sam's mirror on the ground, covered in frost. 

Downstairs, the Class A quest expands across the entire globe and then the Legendarium cracks. Ost’s spirit guardian disappears because of alarm bells ringing in the afterlife. And the girls learn that a Class A quest is a quest that affects the whole MULTIVERSE. Yikes!

So anyway, they girls go upstairs to check on Sam (on a bear that Penny makes because sure) and they see that something clearly just happened with Sam. Yelle asks if she’s good and Sam is like yeahhhh I don’t think ANYONE is good right now. Sam seems like she’s about to cry and Antiope instantly forgets all the petty bullshit going on between them and rushes to make sure she’s not hurt. 

Sam gives the girls a rundown of what happened and Yelle concretely puts together what I said earlier about Talura’s tears messing with nature. 

Sam wants to check her mirror to see what Talura saw and Brennan says she can do it the safe way with risk of failure of the surefire way with risk of personal harm. She, of course, picks door 2 and rolls a 13 on her con save which means she rises into the air like Storm from X-Men, eyes wide, and then instantly passes out and goes into shock. Antiope is there to catch her as she does. 

Also, she looks SUPER hot while falling on a 31. Honestly, it’s a shame she doesn’t allow herself a social media presence. 

Anyway, we’ll get to what she sees in a bit. Yelle and Ant make sure she’s OK (she is, but the has to be knocked out for this or she won’t be able to handle it). 

Penny tells them what she knows about each Eidolon from her earlier research which is what element each goes with:

Chrona: Time (Related to astral and elemental planes) 

Terra: Earth

Pyrria: Fire

Nira: Water

Zefira: Air

Anima: Life

Talura: Death 

They also talk about TK never leaving via the front door and all this airship stuff being around. Maybe she left out the top of the mountain on an airship? Katja has the hookup with this Tal guy (she’s met him when she was younger) so they decide they need to check it out once Sam is good. 

The girls fix the Legendarium and Ost, when she goes to pray for her spells for the night, doesn’t pray to her usual god. She prays to Asha. And not only does she get her spells, she also gets a new one--Commune. 

And now let’s get to what Sam is seeing in her Vision Coma. 

She was told by Talura that the only way out of the mirrors given to them by the gods was death. And what Talura saw that drove her to do whatever multiverse threatening thing that she did was every one of her sisters walking out of their mirrors and choosing death. I will specifically highlight that the oldest sister leaves almost immediately with a small, “Oh,” of realization and Anima, the closest sister to her seems terrified before coming to a joyful realization and leaving.

And that’s the end of the episode! Join us next week when apparently there is talk of a masquerade ball?????? Brennan, you shouldn’t have!   

Superlatives 

Sam: Most Likely to Accidently Snag a Brand Deal

Did you guys ever read the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche? Where Psyche was born so hot that it was basically a curse and she was miserable because she was so hot that Aphrodite hated her? That’s Sam. She is incapable of almost dying in a non-aesthetic way. It’s like a Pantene commercial every time. This is my favorite running gag.

Random Thoughts

Man, I have so many feelings about Sam. She’s such a BITCH in so many ways but it’s so obvious that she has a good heart. Every time she has an opportunity to be nice with no gain--helping Lola find her dog, magically turning the pages for the horses during book club, fully refusing a boon from Talura--she does. And I’m glad she gave Zelda such a sincere apology and didn’t let the extenuating circumstances absolve her because she said some pretty uncalled for things. But at her core she’s so kind and I want only good things for her. 

Also those of you who know me from my FH recaps know I’m a messy bitch for sister stuff so Talura and Sam both referring to the other maidens as her sister had me dead. You can tell when something in this show is f’ing me up when I just start directly quoting instead of paraphrasing. 

Katja being richer than Helio but having no idea what any of the brands Ost is mentioning are is peak comedy.  

As is Ant’s response to the take and penny leave a penny translation from Ost, “No, Penny didn’t come with us.”

Ost: I get service in the afterlife.

You could really tell which of the players watched Sophomore Year because the Baronies came up and all of them went into fight or flight immediately. 

Very Elsa vibes from Sam during the top of the scene with Talura. (Sam is, of course, a better sister but we simply do not have time to get into my feelings on Frozen 2 right now).

I was wondering why this season was called just “The Seven” when it dropped initially. Like, was it snappier? Did they not want to use the word “maiden”? But they still call themselves the Seven Maidens in the show so it’s probably not that. Now I’m wondering if it’s just to parallel the 7 of them w/ the 7 Eidolons. 

So it seems clear based on the reactions of the first and sixth sisters that they didn’t just “go gently into that good night” as Ant would say and ditch Talura. It seems like they figured something out. Also Brennan isn’t really a “and then they all died, the end” kind of DM, you know? Credit to my friend @camwritery for getting here before I did but the gods said the only way out was death and she is death so you know? Those def seem like puzzle pieces that go together. 

The only crit rolled this episode is a 1 by Penny which she gets to reroll as a halfling. 

[dicaeopolis]

compilation of empire siblings being siblings:

the first time they hugged each other and it was so awkward they both needed encouragement from their other friends to finish it out

the SECOND time they hug each other 78 episodes later when they've just ended a war and Caleb is still like... why are you hugging me... and Beau makes him hug her again because she doesn't think he hugged back enough the first time

in their Mighty Vibes video they hang out for like an hour and once in a while one of them idly says something to start a conversation and the other one dead refuses to respond to it

when beau tries to express affection and ends up just screaming FUCKING COOL, CALEB at him several times

when beau shuts the door of her Xhorhaus room on Caleb trying to talk to her and Caleb just yells through the door til she opens it

when Caleb is all melancholy describing Astrid to Jester and he keeps being like "she had... beautiful brown eyes..." and Beau's in the background like "lol she prolly still does" every time he says another descriptor

when Caleb learns to start sharing loot and Beau immediately starts making fun of him and punching him on the shoulder for it

when Veth is calling caleb Lebby to be cute and Beau suggests "we could just call you Leb-ia"

when Essek first comes over for dinner and at the end of the night Caleb murmurs like "may I walk you home?" and Beau yells "I'M COMING TOO"

when beau is trying to bow out of a conversation and goes "man I feel itchy I might be getting sick" and Caleb instantly understands what she's going for and says yeah let's get you home but DOES also take the opportunity to tell Essek all about how she has chronic syphilis

"look at my guns, they look good now" "you look like Gandhi" "fuck you"

"I'm taking a dragon firework, Beau" "...we only have two of those" [petulant as hell] "well, I have one"

when they have the "I'm glad we're friends" moment when they're having a dance and they barely get through two sentences of sincerity before Beau is telling him "I hated you, you sucked" and Caleb is criticizing her dancing

the next episode they have the "YOU’RE MY BEST FUCKING FRIEND, CALEB!" moment and it’s in the context of him putting a sex mirror over her bed in the Mansion

when Caleb asks Beau to help him build his snowman and she kicks it over and throws a bunch of snowballs at him for absolutely no reason at all?? The cain instinct i guess?

so he burns a 5th level spell to throw her into a snowbank

Caleb shitting on her every time he polymorphs

fighting over rock paper scissors

when Caleb figures out how much Beau annoys Lucien and siccs her on him every chance he gets

the extreme "mom and dad are out of town can you stay out of sight so I can get laid" energy of Beau asking Caleb to make modifications to the tower for her date with Yasha