#tbf not a lot of it. but one of the main characters lives there

[sheylads]

day idek(???) of researching for my ocs: today I had actual tears of joy in my eyes bc some legend posted a drawn map of all the shops uxbridge had in 1963 in an uxbridge local history facebook group

[yogsandchaos]

I clicked on a video essay about the problems with mcrp by frostbyfreeman, and boy did I regret it, giant rant under the cut

I genuinely think the dream smp as a story and it's failings can only be done by someone who was a fan or at least had some respect for the series. Listening to anyone who doesn't try and talk about it is very...painful, like I'm sorry but the Hamilton homages were really good and fun and helped make sure everyone understood what was going on! I've been listening to the frostbye freeman's video on scripted minecraft videos and i am wincing at the incorrect details and honestly somewhat pompous takes on what counts as a good story.

Wilbur's writing was genuinely good and moving at times, and the smp hadn't hit it's BIG popularity yet when it super was leaning into the hamilton stuff so they still were mostly just goofing around and the scripting was a lot looser. Like he spent the entire opening gassing up the early more obviously scripted stuff as if there wasn't like 30 over a million views yandere simulator knocks via all the yandere highschools, it's the same thing!

By the time the story shifts into Technoblade's allegories the entire genre of the smp has changed from a goofy joke about countries that also tackled things of justice in the background, into a more tense action and espionage story that fits allegories better (which tbf i always thought were a little forced, tommy is not theseus at all really, techno has more in common but thats a whooole other rabbit hole)

Also head writer? Since when was Technoblade a HEAD writer, he wrote the stuff around his own character yes, but everyone else around that was being written by dream quackity and tommy after Wilbur stepped down! It was not or never was his goal to tie all of the dsmp into a cohesive story to my knowledge or according to anything I can find.

While he has some points about people fighting for attention, a lot of the arcs that went nowhere or suddenly pivoted or stopped were for a lot of reasons outside the server's management. While I am sad some things didn't get proper endings, their existences weren't problems or a sign of arrogance, it was people excited to tell their own stories. Some failed, some didn't, that's natural for a collaboration of this size, and while things could have DEFINITELY been organized better 100% its just how its going to go in a project like this that not everything is going to be able to get the attention and streams it needs, people have lives outside the smp and have other things to do or run out of ideas, it happens.

If anything I liked how everyone had their own lore! Everyone had biased versions of events or thoughts and opinions! No one needed to agree on everything because the inherent nature of choosing a streamer is choosing a bias! No one 100% knew the truth, and everyone who saw the same event came out with different interpretations! That's just how things work! Thats not a writing error!

You say none of it made sense but did you actually ask someone who cared about the series about it! People have spent so much time piecing everything together it's actually kind of insulting to flat out state that it makes no sense when so many people could just straight up tell you the entire timeline for their streamer, or of events, or how things led into each other!

God I hate the use of "if everyones the protagonist no one is" like first of all, pretentious as hell. Second of all, the point of the other streamers isn't to just be supporting cast but to ALSO have their own goals and desires, because all characters have goals and desires! While tommy is the quote unquote main character, everyone in the dsmp has clear goals or at least interests that make sense for them to go after! Do you expect badboyhalo and quackity and everyone to just do nothing while tommy's in exile? No! That's stupid and he is ALSO a streamer who needs a story to tell!

It would be completely immersion breaking and so much less real feeling if every single story and every action was just about tommy and if he's not in the area it just stopped until he got back! You can just admit this kind of format isn't for you! Lifesteal isn't "worse" because there isn't one singular main character, that's not how servers work! You pick your favorite and see their pov and how they see events unfold! It's not supposed to be an unbiased telling, it's one person in this world giving their biased and personal accounts! THIS KIND OF CONTENT HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE LIKE 2012 WITH HERMITCRAFT, IT'S NOT NEW!!!

"The dream smp's only lasting legacy besides the amazing countless fanarts is infecting all the wannabe content creators it spawned with a terminal case of main character syndrome." Oh fuck offfff, have you literally talked to anyone in this fandom ever? Songs, animations, cosplay, stories, and CAREERS were launched off the back of the dream smp "and that final folly" say you've never talked to an inniter without saying you've never talked to an inniter.

Genuinely the entire dream smp part of this video is insulting, misinformed, and lazy. Getting key differences wrong and presenting opinion as objective facts. The worst part? You can find every single issue in an old school scripted series. He spends the entire opening talking about the good days when minecraft roleplay was earnest and was well written and had meaning but like?

"its homage" every single yandere highschool series but especially the main og of samgladiator's

"it has too many main characters" mianite

"too many dropped plots" aphmau, just aphmau in general

"the lore is confusing" jurassic craft

in fact, you can sum up ALL OF THAT UNDER THE YOGSCAST

YOU KNOW?

ONE OF THE BIGGEST SOURCES OF THOSE SCRIPTED MINECRAFT EARLY ROLEPLAYS THAT GOT SO HEAVILY PRAISED AT THE START? SHADOW OF ISRAPHEL?

IT HASN'T GOTTEN WORSE AT ALL, EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM LISTED, IS NOT THE DREAM SMPS FAULT, BUT IT HAS BEEN THERE SINCE THE GODDAMN DAWN OF MINECRAFT ROLEPLAY!

Calling all of the dream smp, life steal, all of those smps "crude performance art" is genuinely the most disrespectful thing I've heard I just, how is this video not disliked into oblivion!? You say they've yet to change from genre to it's own medium of art, but that means nothing! That has no meaning! It is the same thing! The medium is just the place the story gets told, it's the lens the story is created with. Writing is a medium! Drawing is a medium! Painting is a medium! Minecraft smp videos are inherently in the medium of the minecraft program!

The utter constant disrespect of the genuine stories and tales people try and tell with minecraft, saying minecrafters have nothing to say, it's cruel! I can find you so many minecraft videos over an hour long that are poignant! I can give you so many stories about minecrafters handling tough themes! To dismiss it ALL as lazy slop is at worst a show of utter pure pretension, and at best a lack of understanding for the genre and a lack of research.

Why are you trying to engage with a minecraft scripted story as a FILM it's NOT A FILM and it is not TRYING TO BE A FILM, it's closer to a tv series! You say people cant be off their cellphones during a film, but you're BINGING something not MEANT to be binged! You are also engaging incorrectly! You would fail to grasp the merit of a podcast because people listen to them while doing other things! Each video he showed of parrot's has MILLIONS of views so clearly, this isnt a universal fact! you just do not like this kind of content! That is okay! It does not mean theres a secret sickness!

Genuinely every word out of this person's mouth makes me want to start biting, he calls the videos entertaining, then DERIDES THEM for not being "actual stories" and that "he needs to sit at the grown up table if he wants to be a story teller" like literally? what the fuck is wrong with this guy? Just because it's not fucking brokeback mountain doesn't make it not a story. A story is just that, a story! You can tell a story in three lines

"Once upon a time there was a dog named spot Spot had a nice nap about chasing squirrels before he woke up Then he went to chase squirrels before taking a nap again"

THAT'S A STORY, that's objectively a story! im being a storyteller! Its not a long story, it's not LITERATURE, but it is in fact. A story. Just because it's not the odyssey doesnt make it not a story! THAT'S HOW STORIES WORK. How can you deride a story taking place in minecraft...for being bound to the rules of minecraft? thats a part of the medium! YOU JUST SAID YOU WANTED IT TO BE IT'S OWN MEDIUM AND YET YOU CONSTANTLY DERIDE EVERYTHING THAT MAKES IT UNIQUE

The lack of self awareness, the lack of care, the lack of understanding why these videos get so many views, it's insidious, it infects every pore of this video. The premise is "i dont like something therefor its bad and im going to ramble about cinema to make me sound smart for saying that" and it's so goddamn blatant that he worked backwards from an inherent bias against a type of medium to condemn it as a whole without taking any real steps to question that bias!

Also the sheer nitpicking against "content creator" vs "storyteller" like i get content creator is an annoying term and everyone hates it, but its literally just shorthand for "makes something for other people to enjoy" like oh my god you don't need to treat it like it's this disgusting plague on the minecraft community. Like you ask why minecraft roleplays have to be scripted smps, and the answer is that some stories want to be told through that lens, while others want to be told through different lenses of what minecraft can be used for. You might as well ask why some people use pens instead of pencil or why people use fantasy instead of sci-fi for all the meaning that question actually has. It's either so benign it has no meaning to ask, or complete apples or oranges!

God, how am I only 30 minutes in. I don't even want to continue. This was only supposed to be me rambling about how the dream smp cannot be understood fully as a story from someone who refuses to engage with it on it's terms, but the sheer audacity of everything this video says is just...disgusting to me and I had to keep commenting on it.

For someone who talks about how important brevity is, this hour long video is full of boring unrelated nonsense that easily could have been cut, false dichotomies being drawn, and far too much time talking about stories you clearly dont want to give even a chance. It's just bad, it's the "why is minecraft boring now" video for minecraft roleplay where it demands it be something its not and never has been, and then throws a fit about it and about people who do like it and holds a nostalgia for something that has the exact same flaws and thus polishes into something Better.

As a story teller myself, as someone who enjoys minecraft roleplays, who has been watching mcrp videos since 2012, it's genuinely disgusting how little respect or care he has for the creators he talks about. As if those creators and all the people who like it are idiots while He is the only one with True Taste that everyone else must go up to meet. It's annoying as hell, and i regret clicking on that video

[sepublic]

With this analysis of Luz having Belos, and King having the Collector, it does feel as if Eda herself is technically missing her own personal antagonist; Though tbf, she does parallel/foil Belos in a lot of ways too. So it could simply be interchangeable, esp when we have Luz and the Collector; But a part of me wonders if there would've been a third villain, for Eda?

Like, maybe the Archivists; They're out there, and their relationship with the Collector can be comparable to Eda and King's. It's just that Eda lied to King and was at times a neglectful parent, but nevertheless came around... And since I believe it was an Archivist and not the Collector who turned the Owl Beast into a scroll, there's a very personal connection for Eda there, given how much the curse really shaped her life and made her self-doubt in a way even the coven system didn't (Though you could argue she only got cursed because of Belos' cutthroat system pitting Lilith against her).

Maybe the Archivists would've recognized their magic on Eda, would've recognized the Owl Beast especially and we'd get more lore on it; Not that the Archivists needed it to be special to 'preserve' it, per their stated MO. Given the Owl Beast's reaction to the Collector, imagine how it would've responded to the actual Archivist who transformed it? And we could've gotten more collaboration between Eda and the Owl Beast, more understanding as the latter became more active as a character...

Who knows, maybe the six-legged form we see in the finale is a super-harpy form that the two could've achieved against the Archivists; Or the 'Owl Deity' mural within the Owl House's living room.

I also wonder if Eda's antagonist is Lilith; After all, we've seen in the storyboards that she was originally going to be much more antagonistic and mean-spirited. I wonder why the writers changed this. I suspect it's to make the twist of Lilith cursing Eda actually impactful, since a Lilith who clearly cares and is struggling to have it both ways feels like a genuine betrayal to Eda and the audience, as does her dangling Luz over a cliff (Which in the storyboards, happens but isn't as huge of a deal).

So Lilith is an occasional antagonist and rival, but never a malicious threat and even someone who teams up; Which makes the revelation and her crossing a line hit extra-hard. So she's basically a twist villain, revealed as the 'mastermind' behind the curse that Eda struggles with in S1, with S1 having the most emphasis on the curse as a conflict for the protagonists to navigate; And Lilith sharing that curse is the resolution, as it's no longer an active problem threatening Eda's existence. There's still more (like the aforementioned Owl Beast) to address in S2, but the curse itself is not worsening anymore.

With all that in mind, I guess this makes Lilith technically the villain of S1? Since Belos only really takes initiative in the last two episodes. She's more recurring, and her being less antagonistic kind of works with S1 being much more light-hearted. I've already suggested before that each season corresponds to one of our main trio; S1 for Eda, S2 for King, and S3 for Luz. Belos definitely plays a bigger role in S2 while the Collector is more S3, so it's not exactly one-to-one...

Still, we can see the progression as the villains get more powerful; But in the end, Lilith and the Collector were both manipulated by Belos, and are won over in the end. Lilith gets the most screen time as an ally due to when she turns around, and thus her time as a protagonist overshadows her time as an antagonist.

I also have to wonder if Eda isn't meant to have her own villain? Eda is unlike Luz and King in that she's already a full-grown adult who's seen and learned plenty; She's got more to learn as we see. But she's more certain of her place in life, whereas Luz and King are going through their coming-of-age, and thus they have their personal antagonists to represent that big character conflict.

For Eda, it's more confronting herself; Or maybe the Owl Beast is that antagonist, since she does blame it for ruining her life and all that. Maybe it's Raine and Gwen and Dell and Lilith; Less in an "Antagonist" sense, and more as people Eda needs to make resolution with, that she's in conflict with.

And as an adult, that conflict is less overt and more quiet, internally painful, and really about just talking things out. By contrast, Luz still had her Gildersnake moment coming up, set up in THE very first scene of the show, and King had his arc renouncing his destroyer status to be more mature with the concept of power.

Maybe it's because Eda's not one who operates on fantasy like Luz and King do, either; In the second episode, Eda delivers the lesson about 'being special' which tell us a bunch. It suggests she's already been there and done that, she's the mentor. Her antagonist is less of an overt face per adulthood, but maybe it represents how she's done most of her growth.

So Eda's arc isn't about her relationship with fantasy; King's is abandoning his in favor of a quieter, sustainable reality; Luz has a nuanced dynamic with her fiction (due to it being less inherently destructive than King's), where she healthily distinguishes when and when not to embrace it.

It could be that since Dana originally held hopes for a prequel series involving teen Eda, that we would've gotten a more overt antagonist for her that way; Maybe Principal Faust! With his rantings on kids as evil, being an insincere teacher while Eda becomes a genuine one and even a dean! And that conflict’s resolution leads to Bump taking his place. And/or it's Terra Snapdragon. Hell what if it was the previous Golden Guard, and Darius not yet realizing what his mentor did wrong (even if his mentor realized but never vocalized it to a kid who could get in trouble) contributed to him no longer being friends with Eda; Because she defeated the Golden Guard.

(This reminds me of my speculation on Eda and the Golden Guard, before we learned Hunter's name, being parallels and having connections. They're not exactly parallels... Well maybe in some ways they are with their lacking magic... But they definitely have that lost-to-time familial connection.)

I did notice that in S3, Eda didn't have as much focus compared to Luz and King; Again, for the reasons I listed above about her having done most of her arc already, and what she had left had already been resolved. So it makes sense to focus on Luz and King, who are still struggling. But also again; If we got that prequel series, we would've gotten a bunch of solo Eda development and screen time, but without any Luz and King alas.

So when evaluating all these factors, maybe Dana and the writers chose to focus on Luz and King, and let Eda take the backseat for this reason; They'd still have a whole show for Eda, or at least a mini-series, afterwards. But this was the last we'd see of Luz and King, so I think that priority worked. Even if we evidently aren't getting that prequel series, if Dana's acceptance of this is any indication... Plus, again: S3 being short means they can only fit in so much, meaning Eda could only get so much too; Esp with the set-up of Luz needing to make her way back to Eda and King, which means they only have 2/3 of S3 where they can appear.

[woman-of-many-fandoms]

Honestly though, it must be so weird to work with some people for a few years of your life and for years, decades, later people are shipping you with your co worker.

I'm obviously all for shipping fictional characters, but this is the actors job. Where they get a paycheck. They are literally being paid to act like found family.

Like imagine you worked in an office with some people for 3 years in 2004-2007 and in 2030 people are making clips of you and how in love you look while eating lunch with Carol or saying hi as you both arrived in the parking lot.

I've seen this in pretty much every fandom I've been in. Star Trek, good omens, X men, Marvel. I do not think RDJ has any emotional attachment to Chris Evens or that Shanter really cared about and enjoyed spending time with Nimoy. I'm positive for David Tennant, Good Omens is just his next job and Michael Sheen only likes it because it made him much more well known in the acting world and it'll be easier to get his next gig. Yes Pine and Quinto look like they are actual friends outside of the movies but that is an exception.

Anyway, just my thoughts since I just saw a post of some Trek actors in I'm assuming the late 80s or 90s and people were saying 'how could he not be bi saying stuff like this'. Money, the answer is always money.

edit: OK let me address some of what is in the comments. Do actors say they are friends, sure, and if you want to take that at face value then you are right, they are friends. I personally don't think it counts if you are being paid to do so. And before anyone says anything, no not directly. But they have a whole 'image' to uphold that their income is tied to.

I don't know much about the entertainment industry and don't know why people would want that life but it's .... well, different, is the nice way to say it. My sister's career is considered part of the entertainment industry though she is behind the scenes. (And, side note, even being behind the scenes I've still found photoshopped images someone made of her in her in sexy lingerie ... )

TBF we don't talk that often but I've heard some stories (apparently Bill Nye is more then a bit of a jerk behind closed doors) She's lived in Hollywood 12 years now and there is the face people put out in the public and who they truly are. Yes, we all have a self that we hide (I'm autistic so I know all about masking) but it seems that is pushed to extremes.

I've seen her act like many people's best friends (house parties and giving favors and gifts that I question) and promoting their good name in public then she'll tell me in private some horrible things that person has done to others and how it's just how it works. She house/cat sat for a guy (and sent me views from his balcony, my god it was nice) who I think a lot of people would recognize from TV but their relationship was built on respect for each other careers.

Sure, you can tell me not to base the examples off my sisters stories and, ok fair. But I'd also want to point out - the part of RDJ buying evens a car, I did some math. He has 300 million net worth according to google. I have a salary, not net worth (or a negative one cause of student loans I guess), but it is the equivalent of me buying my co worker a $32 gift assuming the car was 150k. I met a guy who performed in Vegas shows and told me how they've had dinner with (I honestly don't remember if it was Penn or Teller) at their house with their spouses. And private chats ... doesn't really tell me much.

I'm currently seeing a bunch of clips of the main actors for the new Wicked movie saying how each other changed each others lives and it just comes off as more acting to promote the movie to me.

And even with Pine and Quinto , I only gave that one a pass because they said knew each other and got along before being in Trek and even then, eh..

Again, just how I interpret things. I know friend can mean different things to different people and a lot of what I see I don't interpret as friend, I see it as networking. I would absolutely be 'friends' with someone if it helped me make and maintain my multi millions .

[midesastremanifiesto]

I have a theory. The reason why some people don’t like Carlos or hate Carlos is because in this day and age there’s a certain entitlement that fans have towards drivers. They feel entitled to knowing about their personal lives and they feel entitled to knowing every aspect of the driver so if a driver is more reserved or more private like Carlos is, they feel that they don’t have access to his personal life that they feel “entitled” to. Therefore leading to the dislike. However, people that do like Carlos appreciate that he is more reserved or more private and they respect him for it. They typically have more empathy and are nicer to others because they don’t feel entitled to knowing every single aspect of Carlos’ life.

I hate to write essays in english because I promise I am much more eloquent in my mother tongue (duh) and also sometimes I don't want to spend half of the time searching on Google because I don't know what correct preposition I should use or if that word really exists in the english language (a bitch, if you ask me), but I have so much to say about this topic *cracks knuckles*

-First of all, I don't think Carlos is generally hated (not that you said that), in fact, I think he is quite appreciated by actual fans of the sport. Usually when he wins most of the people who are not rabid lecfosi are happy for him, and they see him as a valuable driver and a good person (if we take what people say in social media as a measure, that is)

-For the people who actually "hate" Carlos, I think it mostly comes from being paired with Charles. Charles has an insane amount of fans of only him, not the sport, not Ferrari, just him. I'm sure some of his most insufferable fans don't even like F1, they don't even watch the races (as they prove again and again with their stupid takes). Before him (Carlos) being in Ferrari, he wasn't as hated as now (also because Ferrari is huge so you naturally get more attention, for good things but also bad). One thing that bothers me, actually, is how some of said fans have convinced some people that Carlos is this evil teammate that only wants to ruin Charles' career. But that hate I don't take it seriously, even if it makes me rage sometimes and I like to bitch about it on my blog, because that kind of people treat the drivers as TV characters, and they like to categorize them as such instead of seeing them as real human beings. They love to have a heroe (Charles) and they love to have a villain (Carlos).

-Coming back to your ask especifically... about the privacy, one thing people have to understand is Carlos' dad is very very famous in Spain, and Carlos has been surrounded by cameras since he was a baby, so it's only normal he wants to protect his privacy now (and yes, he has done PR before but I think that's more about getting it done because he is going to get papped anyway so better do it his way, or more... his family way. Also I have a very solid opinion on his relationship with Rebecca and how some people think is PR but I won't elaborate so anyway). I don't know if this makes people hate him, but maybe he is seen a less approachable because of this and people looove to invent stories about things they don't actually know (they do that with everyone, tbf).

-One of the main reasons I think Carlos gets hate (or not even hate, but bad comments from time to time) is that people doesn't really understand his character (I obviously don't know him personally but yk, observation). Carlos is a very introspective guy who likes details and to explain things, and people often see this as him making excuses when in fact he just.likes.to.explain.things.in.detail (a lot). People see this as whining and see him as a loser or as a weak person, and for some that's a very bad trait in F1 (which it is, but Carlos is neither of that).

-Every driver it's PR driven to an extent (every public persona is), but Carlos, for me, is a little less in some aspects. Sometimes I wish he would shut up so he would stop giving fuel to haters, because the more someone says, the more the people (and the press) will take it as an amunition to go against them, but he is who he is, and I also like him for it. He is not going to pretend to be someone he is not, even if he gets hate for that. Some drivers do, I am not going to give names, but I don't think Carlos is that type of person.

[justanotherhh]

Hi! Love your blog! I have a question:

Maybe it's because I listen to a lot of crime podcasts, but I have never associated psychopathy with being aro and/or ace (despite or maybe because I'm on the aroace spectrum myself?). Is this one of those things where there are people out there equating – I imagine especially aromanticism – with being emotionless? I feel like I've mainly heard the – also horrible – comments of aroace people being "like robots". Then again, I'm not "fully" aroace, nor have I had the need to be super open about it, so I don't pay much attention to this stuff.

Anyway, while I agree that calling Alastor an "evil psychopath" is simplifying things something that frustrates me in parts of the Hellaverse fandom in general....or just fandom in general, tbf...I don't think considering him to be on the ASPD spectrum is incorrect?

Enough rambling and onto my main question: in your opinion, should I always clarify that when I call someone a psychopath and that person also happens to be aro and/or ace, that the two things are not correlated? I don't want to accidentally imply something hurtful/feed into a horrible social mentality. P.S. I want to be clear that I don't want to imply that all people with ASPD are murderers/rapists etc either. Though clearly Alastor is the former. Of course they're not. And I can only imagine how much of a struggle living with such a disorder might be.

hello hello, thank you for the questions. i shall try to be methodical and not rambly (we'll see how it pans out)

yeah there's a big ableist and queerphobic cliché around "emotionless" characters being psychopaths who don't love -- basically it's an oversimplification of psychopathy and often conflates it with being psychotic, and of course, it assumes a correlation both between psychopathy and being evil, and being aspec -- especially the kind that's further down the end of repulsed and loveless and aplatonic -- as being evil (with "love" being the opposite of these things, which, tangent, do have a whooole other post on with this show, because it's done some very fun and potentially future-interesting things on love and sex)

the key here is that aro and/or ace is often never spoken of in narratives when this happens because well... people don't know wtf that is, so it's got that similar flavour to "oh well buffalo bill isn't transphobic, because actually the character isn't trans, the cisgender psychiatrist said so!" (actually... whole other thing on that too, but not on this blog... basically jame gumb is underrated and i root for them every time i watch the movie), but it's the Idea that "love makes you human, and sex is always assumed with love, and if you don't feel those things, it's a clue that you're evil, and the shorthand for that is psychopathic" -- generally the person writing this has never actually researched the words psychopath or psychotic, it's not about being interested in those concepts in characters, it's just a synonym for Bad

and yeah, the "like robots" fully ties into this -- the other side of the coin is aspec people as children, but alastor sooo far doesn't seem to be read this way, although the whole "but if he just discovers how to do Love/Touch/Sex in [insert whatever is wanted for this narrative] he'll become better" does play into some of those tropes too, that there is inherently something mentally ill about being aspec, and that being mentally ill is a sign of Badness (there really is a whole Essay i could do on this, and the general overlap between aspec-writing and trans-writing but! i will resist!), and it's about whether or not the Badness can be cured. if not, he's a psychopath, if yes, it's through normative relationship structures/fundamentally changing the character

it all comes down to actual curiosity -- hc'ing alastor as ASPD is totally fine (i also hc blitzø from helluva boss as BPD) and can open up a lot of doors for interrogation and interest, it's whether someone is using mental health as shorthand for shutting down further interaction with the character (think Psycho's "ah yes, this character is schizophrenic and has mother issues, hence why wearing women's clothing, the end"), or if this allows further play with the character, opens up potential doors, considers the character as rounded, rather than one-note. some aspec people do have a history of trauma or have personality disorders or are autistic, but is someone actually interested in exploring the rich variation of queerness within a character, or are we "explaining it away" as something that's merely a symptom (often one that is imagined to be fixable)

generally, im so into poking at villains and i think alastor is one of the juiciest characters ive had to play with in awhile, mainly because it feels like a lot of his writing is intentional and isn't me deciding to delve into the motivations of [slasher/monster/villain/etc] that doesn't actually exist in the text -- and i think alastor definitely does have some Stuff that could be unpacked from a neurodivergent and mental health perspective, even and including parts of his aroaceness

so in the end, picturing him on the ASPD spectrum and even linking that to aroaceness... I mean, totally chill. al-old-pal does have low empathy, and a pattern of reckless, violent behaviour, and fundamentally views relationships differently from the norm. im making arguments that he hasn't been able to create the kind of intimacy that works for him, except for perhaps with rosie and maaaaybe mimzy and niffty (@creepysora has had some very cool ideas of him connecting in alternate ways that work with his way of being and boundaries), but that doesn't mean he's suddenly More remorseful or empathetic about how his actions affect others

it's about whether or not one is using that as a way of minimising or pathologising aroaceness, and/or as a way of making aspec identities all about self-hatred (and that in turn fuels villainy), and/or generally as an explanation of his villainy as some inherent degeneracy, and/or using the word "psychopath" to mean something completely different from what it actually is... that's when we get into sticky territory

and in the end, it can be hard -- something that's perfectly reasonable to one person, could be crossing a boundary for someone else and we just have to live with that, so don't wait on my blessing, i just think as long as one's caring and curious it's heading in the right direction. i watch a lot of horror, and i can usually recognise when something is well-meaning and something is lazy, and even times when it's the latter i can still find enjoyment (think angela from sleepaway camp -- on the flipside the movie they/them was well-meaning and a complete miss in its final political statement)

i recognise also im bringing up a lot of trans villainy as-example, rather than aspec villainy. that's a. because my special interest is trans horror so go figure and b. because that overlap is soooo real

(another example, not horror unless you're a karate kid 3 truther, is the character terry silver, who is never stated to be aromantic, but whose villainy on the later show cobra kai is intimately tied to an unspecified madness that includes low empathy and... no love, vs all the happily monogamous (het) relationships around him. he's not aromantic, he's not diagnosed with anything, it's not of interest to the story that he may be mentally ill or have PTSD or be aro and possibly loveless or that he may be gay -- because yes, he's coded that way too and that overlap is also real, and a whole other tangent i could go on -- it's just subtext to add to the villainy)

now another tangent, but loosely connected: was reading a transcript of the 1974 TS/TV conference (the first of its kind that was organised in the way it was) -- a series of talks over the course of a weekend discussing trans rights, especially in healthcare, and it fully contained a section of someone saying that "true" transsexuals can be recognised because before they physically transition (into binary genders)... they're asexual. because they hate their bodies so much that they can't feel sexual attraction to others. lot to unpack there, but really in this little conversation as example, what i mean is that the roots of pathologising aspec identities run very very deep, including within the wider LGBT+ community, and since alastor is quite a complex character that has done some very bad things, it's worth really thinking about what headcanoning him as one way or another says about the character for oneself. what does it add? what does it potentially demonise or minimise? what does it allow?

the neat thing about hellaverse is the sheer amount of queer characters meaning we can go beyond "if x character is Bad this represents Every person within this group" but with alastor being (so far) the only character who's not doing the whole love-and-sex game (although i think striker counts in this as well, personally + listen... sir pentious givin' real demi vibes. and if we're looking for a link between trauma and asexuality, well, angel is right there. and, and, and...), it does bear going the extra length to learn about -- especially since a lot of people really don't know that these biases even exist in the first place, which leads to a lot of unthinking perpetuating

i think a good place to start would honestly be: "would this feel like a queerphobic and ableist coding if the character were gay? trans? bi?" not because we're totally over queerphobic writing in general (lol, can you imagine), but as a starting point: are we treating aspec identity in text in a way that makes the idea of being aspec in and of itself degeneracy?

but like. hell yeah villains. hell yeah neurodivergency, mental illness, low empathy, lovelessness, unhealthy coping mechanisms, Bad Mean Queers, cannibalism, and characters you just can't quite suss out. big into a fucked up little guy

how did i do on the ramblyness

[alwayshasacold]

Right I’ve given it a bit since I finished the season so I’m not coming fresh off the binge with my thoughts. I’m not like great at phrasing and they’re not fully thought over yet but like I need to get them into words so here we go.

The short version is that while I still had fun with that season it is definitely the worst by far. Not sure if it was a necessary addition but I’ve never been solid on ending with season 3 either so won’t argue that making it was by itself a mistake. Ending was alright I guess, wasn’t good but like wasn’t horrifically bad yknow, very okay. I think that reduced ep count definitely did the season in ultimately, though we will never know now if that would’ve fixed some of the worst issues it has.

The apocalypse itself was very shitty, every other season plays into a common apocalypse trope and tbh from what we’ve seen of the death of Reggie’s world there were plenty of options to go for there to keep in trend and make it the same. Massive cgi monster you have to invent new lore to have is just boring as fuck.

Character writing wasn’t great, though the potential is there for them in most cases which is definitely at least one consequence of reduced episode count. Klaus relapse makes some sense (his powers and his addiction are always closely connected) and while I’ve seen people arguing about it being pointless if season was longer I could perhaps see it go somewhere. Luther living in the academy is very in character, he’s always been the one with the most positive connections to the place and it’s no coincidence he always tries to return there when possible. Diego not finding purpose in family life checks from his whole action hero complex, though obviously it needed more time and respect. Alison not being able to get a career off the ground or be a perfect wife or parent could’ve gone somewhere but I’d just mostly played for jokes so I’m still iffy on that one. Lila not being able to adjust to family life also checks considering she’s never had anything even resembling it, and her seeking solutions independently works from her character so far. Viktor doesn’t really have anything at first, but being able to have the time with his dad is probably the best relationship stuff we got all season and it was quite nice, though could’ve done with a bit more depth. My main gripe with his storyline is the lack of interaction really with Reggie’s wife, who’s obviously the original owner of his violin, though the showrunners not doing anything with the sound guys musical talent has been a problem since season 3 so. So we’ve got at least four decent character threads that could’ve worked, and until proven otherwise I will assume the reduced episode count is to blame for given the foundations aerosols enough.

Now onto the plain bad. They clearly had no clue what to do with five. Guy goes from wanting to retire to working for the CIA which is of course not explained. Him almost abandoning his family also doesn’t work from the guy who’s entire motivation is protecting them. And the whole romance with Lila doesn’t really make sense mostly. Five has historically turned to things like that in similar situations (Delores) but obviously he wouldn’t disrespect his family in that way which is the main issue. Same goes for Lila on the same issue. With Ben they seemed to also have no clue what they were doing, especially with consideration of the clip at the end of season 3. While I appreciate getting the reasoning behind his death, the reasoning itself isn’t the best tbh. And not giving him a proper ending is just shitty tbh, though I do appreciate his last moments are trying to help his family with the last of his ability to do so.

The lack of music this season was also very disappointing. There were very few tracks used and none really stood out beyond baby shark, which was a funny bit tbf as much as I hate the song but like the fact we got four lots of baby shark and barely more other pieces of music says it all. The choreography also fell flat - we got what, one choreographed fight scene (which I did enjoy tbf, but it’s far from the best and it being the only one is genuinely shitty) and one dance scene that didn’t fit the music? Like the music and choreography of umbrella academy is one of its most iconic features and it’s honestly the most disappointing thing about the season to me that a lot of that character that it’s always had has been lost.

Also on the lacking side was the costuming but that’s only a minor complaint, just wasn’t enough variety imo but once again probably just the reduced episode count preventing more organic costume changes.

As for other things, I loved Jean and Gene, once again they needed more time like everything else this season but they were great from what we got of them. I liked Reggie and his wife, the whole plotting of her not appreciating being revived needed more time and establishing but I like the concept and roles they played this season. The idea that people are able to figure out that the timeline has been reset is neat and I like that being used as a secondary antagonist group who want an apocalypse to fix things. This season obviously carries over prior issues the series has always had: lack of seriousness about series issues (sexual assault, drug abuse, etc) though slightly improved for making a slightly better effort at addressing klaus‘s self destructive behaviour was made if nothing else, being a bit too reliant of jokiness at times etc but nothing it’s never had issues with. The gross out vomit humour this season wasn’t great and could do with a warning also. I would’ve liked them to do more with the subway and timeline stuff, especially considering both how sick it looked and how all over the marketing it was, but it was probably another casualty of reduced run time.

I believe I’ve addressed most major thoughts I’ve had so far on the finale, though I’ll come back later if I have more. Overall, I definitely don’t think it was the best ending to the series, but I prefer it ending now while at least it’s got something left than it continue and tire itself out for good. It was a very okay six episodes that were fun enough, but I expected and hoped for more from a series I have consistently loved, and unfortunately I don’t believe this series will benefit from the boost in opinion season 3 has gotten from subsequent rewatches.

[demonsfate]

Whilst Asuka and Lili are yuri bait, tbf... Tekken as a series is just horrible with romantic relationships. I think Harada himself has confirmed that he sucks at love stories. It's not just the "gay" ships that suffer this, but even the straight ships.

Of course this was filled with comments like "wHaT wOUlD mAKE yOU thINK tHEY'RE aNymORE tHAN fRIENDS???" but like...

look at Jin & Xiaoyu. Most people can agree that Xiaoyu is indeed Jin's love interest. But... what have the two done that's any special from other type of relationships in the games? That Xiaoyu was willing to hunt down Jin no matter what? Hwoarang is literally the same way. Xiaoyu held Jin's hand? Jin held a lot of people's hands in the games, the only difference is that he held hers a little more "tenderly" and longer. The only ""confirmations"" we got that Jin & Xiao are supposed to romantically love each other is in 1) Xiaoyu said "you're the same Jin I've always loved," and 2) Xiaoyu's (noncanon lol) ending in TK8. Other than that, there's... nothing else. Yes, it's obvious since, at least 4 maybe, that Xiao has had a crush on Jin. But there hasn't been much of anything to show that Jin felt the same. Jin himself never even utters the word "love" to Xiao. Yes, people use that Jin flashbacks to Xiao when saying "I want to live" but again... that's also a blink & you'll miss thing because he also flashbacks to his other friends when fighting Kazuya. Jin & Xiao haven't even kissed each other - no, scratch that, Jin & Xiao haven't even HUGGED EACH OTHER. The only time we've EVER seen Xiao hug was in a noncanon daydream in TK6. Why couldn't they have at least hugged?

Jun & Kaz are such a wreck that, until TK8, fans HEAVVILY debated whether or not they were ever actually together. Some people argued it was a one night stand, some people argued Jun loved Kaz but Kaz didn't love Jun, some people had more unsavory theories. This is all because there wasn't a SINGLE OFFICIAL GAME where Kazuya mentioned how he felt about Jun. Even in TK6's recaps of the games, Kaz just mentioned that she was "mysterious" and nothing else. He never said that she was the only woman he's loved, or that he even misses her. It wasn't until TK8 that they made it more apparent (with his ending, and I guess Jun's ending) that Kazuya is genuinely in love with Jun.

Alisa & Lars, from what I remembered, are probs the "clearest" of these relationships, especially in 6. Fuck, at least we SEE Alisa hug Lars (in TK7, I believe she tackles him) "Jin" mocked Lars for "loving" Alisa in TK6, and both of their TK8 endings involve them being "lovey dovey" toward each other. But even then, they're NOT CANON since Alisa's bio for TK8 mentions she feels "weird" around Lars, which heavily implies she's in love with him... but it implies it as if she's confused, that they're not in a relationship yet. Hell, in the canon story, Alisa seemed more interested in Jin than Lars like lmao.

Eddy & Christie are also often debated if they're supposed to be a couple. But from everything in canon, it just seems like they're only good friends.

Kuma and Ganryu both have unrequited crushes that never go anywhere and...

Heihachi & Kazumi are the only ship where it's evident that they were married and loved each other.

Other than that, everything else is just so... vague! Even with the main character ships (Jin & Kazuya) - it's unclear, and we don't even get these characters hugging. Most of these "ships" are just a character having a crush on the other for 30 years and nothing really developing. I don't know why this is. I don't know if Tek really just doesn't care about relationships (if so, why add all these "crushes" and stuff?) or if they're just really that bad at writing relationships. But regardless, even if Bamco was relentlessly teasing Asuka & Lili, that's... literally what they do with all their ships.

[cheetahsprints]

(If you don't like mentions of a slash ship featuring certain anthro hedgehogs just scroll past!!!! Quickly!!!)

TL;DR (You can skip this blurb if you want the full story)

I went from being like neutrally aware of the Sonic franchise characters' existence to totally obsessed practically overnight with Shadow and Sonadow. Went full speed ahead brainrot on them because of a freaking dream where cartoon (unspecified) Sonic & co accidentally entered the dimension of live action Sonic. Shenanigans ensued, most notably a dreambrain-hatched live action Shadow fighting his cartoon version because of his attitude toward Sonic & co.

(End of TL;DR)

[Text wall below for details]

A few nights ago I had a random as hell dream about Sonic the hedgehog and I am now here I have watched freaking Sonic Prime on Netflix because the mental images wouldn't leave me alone so I treated it like a weird message from the universe e send Help

My only previous interactions with sonic stuff was some person I followed on twitter for something else posting art of it (mega long time ago), watching the sonic live action movies why I have no idea (super long time ago), and that joke game that went surprisingly hard The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog which I completed even though the minigames to progress got hard AF for me (pretty long time ago) and like even before all that I knew of Sonic from ads, memes, and various posts on social medias. But I didn't fully engage with it.

Side note: the twitter posting was mostly sonadow and I would look it over like uh-huh ok the vibes check out and just keep scrolling like lsdfkjdskl but that is pretty much the main reason I knew Sonic/Shadow existed but at the time I didn't actively seek it out or try to learn more.

Onward...

My brain is so so so weird and the dream was somewhat vivid like watching a movie omg where the live action sonic and pals met the cartoon versions of the characters?? even though I never watched any of the cartoons before??? as such it wasn't a specific series, I just knew it in the dream they were from a generalized cartoon universe

Specifically it was Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in the movie group, while the cartoon group had Amy and Rouge instead of the other two alongside Sonic, who I only even really knew about because of the April Fool's game. And Shadow was also there in both groups because why not I guess and they (the Shadows) fought each other because the movie one thought the cartoon one was a jerk lmao idk? Yeah my subconscious decided it couldn't wait for Sonic 3 and made up its own version of movie Shadow.

Early in the dream there was also a little kid clone of Sonic who belonged with the cartoon group. There were some cute interactions but in nonsensical dream fashion that character just disappeared later like he was never there lol

…There was some plot about the cartoon group needing to get back to their dimension because Sonic accidentally got them blasted into the movie one somehow... after watching Sonic Prime I'm like my dream was so FREAKISHLY similar to that show's plot, but I SWEAR I knew nothing about the premise of SP before the dream. Although, in the dream they were like... multidimensional travellers doing hero stuff and had met other variants before, just this time it wasn't intentional and it messed something up.

Uh getting off track... (which the dream itself did a lot tbf)

Anyway, what I remember is the movie dimension made the cartoon group look in the more realistic style so at first Shadow thought the actual movie group were the ones from his dimension (Shadow & Amy got separated from Sonic & Rouge) and was rude to them because he was so ticked off blaming Sonic for being a dumbass and yelling at Tails for not preventing whatever happened or something, so actual movie Shadow appeared like. don't talk to my friends that way asshole and beat the absolute shit out of him. There was an explanation Tails gave that the movie Shadow was more powerful for some reason I don't remember and Amy told cartoon Shadow to stop trying to beat him. But yeah bro was so pissed movie Sonic had to step in and physically stop him because he wouldn't listen to and/or overpowered anyone else. He reminded Shadow that the other Shadow was still him, in a sense.

Cartoon Sonic and Rouge appeared and Sonic started bickering with cartoon Shadow. but the movie versions were best friends so they were watching them like wtf is wrong with y'all. Movie Shadow got fed up quickly and punched cartoon Shadow again and stood protectively in front of both Sonic versions bristling and wouldn't take his eyes off his counterpart. Cartoon Shadow was so goddamn confused by Shadow's protectiveness and asked how Sonic had made movie Shadow his loyal bodyguard (derogatory) Amy and Rouge like explained the backstory to the movie crew, which is fuzzy to me but it was something along the lines of, Shadow had been brainwashed to rival Sonic, tricked to think that Sonic was evil (unbeknownst to that Sonic who in his pov had this random edgy hedgehog start attacking him out of nowhere during a mission) and they had a lot of intense fighting before Shadow found out the truth. But the two of them never quite got over the misunderstanding. Listen I didn't know Shadow's backstory, literally none of it, but I have read the wiki since ok

Meanwhile movie Shadow, in the dream, was made and raised in a lab and similarly believed he was made as Sonic's rival/equal. Behind the scenes some government thing or whatever were afraid of Sonic's power and wanted a backup plan. But some evil guy stole and unleashed Shadow. At first it was basically just a duel, Shadow admired Sonic, but the evil guy had put a chip in his head that when activated made him try to kill Sonic. Eventually he was subdued and the chip deactivated- and despite everything Sonic insisted Shadow come with him to his home and the rest was history. This unfolded in like flashback style.

There was a funny part where Shadow questioned Sonic's home like "What kind of base of operations is this?" In a very unimpressed tone. Sonic said sarcastically "Oh, sorry if you were expecting my own Fortress of Solitude." And I guess Shadow was allowed to watch tv because he got the reference and shot back "Does that make me Lois Lane?" Didn't make a whole lot of sense sdlfkjds but movie Shadow delivered this line very confidently and flirtatious and just walked away leaving Sonic shocked LOL

And then later Shadow complained that the government people would always rewind and loop the villainy parts and he never got to see if Lois and Clark kissed (It's been too long since I watched any Superman movies so I couldn't tell you if this makes sense) and Knuckles teased him for being a romantic, and then the whole team binge watched every Superman movie.

In the "present" at some point movie Sonic and Shadow pulled their alternate versions aside and like told them off for being mean to each other lmao cartoon Sonic was kinda like uwu I didn't know Shadow had feelings he's like a lone wolf and like was surprised by his counterpart's vehemence. Movie Sonic told cartoon Sonic that Shadow can be a great friend if you give him a chance. I don't remember the Shadowses convo much but it was a lot more chill despite the fighting before (though still prickly) because Shadow's reasons were more valid and it was more of a pep talk from movie Shadow that if he opened up more it might give the others around him more opportunity to know and accept him.

I remember there was this one specific heavy emotional line in the dream that stuck with me when I woke up said by cartoon Shadow about Sonic, "He's my best friend but I'm obviously not his" DFKLJDSKJ

Additional small detail that movie Sonic and Shadow had known each other for over 2 years during dream events. And they were quite close and in sync. But still bantery

My brain basically conjured a LITERAL FANFICTION in my sleep and I have been thinking about it a lot What's hilarious is I knew next to fuck all about these characters my brain pulled the plot points of this dream out of its ass

Typed out, this dream probably sounds a lot longer than it was... the "scenes" just felt oddly detailed for how mashed together and quick passing they were.

But yeah I kept thinking about the dream and like daydreaming more scenes and it somehow turned even more into Sonadow (like, I imagined Cartoon Sonic & Shadow finding out in a very abrupt way that the movie versions were an item. <- to my delight I did find a fic with a premise very similar to this just not movie universe related. Also played with the idea of Sonic and/or Shadow accidentally kissing the wrong counterpart in their excitement at being reunited which Awakened Some Things for the receiver of the unexpected passion😂 )

The dream kinda acted as a base that inspired daydreams to spiral out from my brain without permission but I just... mentally jumped into it because ships sometimes grab you like that.

And Sonic Prime made my sprouting interest worse, basically fuel to the fire, so now I am obsessed with them... like what a fucking way to get into a ship

[myjunkisyuzuruhanyu]

Some thoughts about One Piece on Ice

Thanks to some help by one kind fan I managed to watch One Piece on Ice. 😍 Thank you so much! ❤️

Admittedly I probably wouldn't have watched the show if Shoma wouldn't be the star of the show. I was so interested to see his character portrayal because it's so out of Shoma's own character.

But before I talk about Shoma here are some other thoughts...

First of all I am quite clueless about the anime or manga of One Piece which probably would have helped to understand the story better because I don't own any Japanese language skills, so I won't say anything about the story. I just wish I could appreciate the whole story better. (I have basic knowledge of the characters and I watched a couple anime episodes when I was like 12 years old so 😅)

I think anyone who has seen pictures of the show, knows how amazing the costumes are and how close they are to their animation counterpart (I mean at least I know the characters with my less than good one piece knowledge)

It's quite a different than usual ice show. It really tells a complete story, no "extra" skating to just show off, every skating is implemented into the story. It really feels more like a theatre on ice than an actual ice show. It's not easy to produce a theatre that needs to tell a story from 3 viewing angles. Usually theatres are directed to watch from the front. Here it's watched from 3 sides, which on a stream made it sometimes difficult to see the conversation that was going on but in the arena it's needed. (Tbf no stream or video can ever give justice to a theatre production no matter if on ice or in theatre just because the circumstances are wildly different. I won't elaborate on that but let you tell this by a musical nerd who watched countless musicals live and on screen)

The choreography ideas are great. Especially cool are the choreographies for the fight scenes, each fight scene has a different set up. The spcial effects on top of it are so cool. Congrats to Kenji Miyamoto for this show and also congrats to the lighting and special effects designers. These things really add a lot.

The ACTING!!! OMG the acting is so good for an ice show. These are skaters not actors (besides Miyu) and all of them do an amazing job. There is a lot text going on especially for Marin, who is actually the main star of the show, no one has as much to do besides her and she is emoting so well to an audience. She really should be thinking about going to theatre. Rika Hongo is one of my favorite characters in this whole show. This suits her so well. How she can implements the skating skills into the character and how she is never off charater. And SHOMA OMG OMG OMG 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 How can this be Shoma? He can act. Like really. He's full of energy, full of different expressions, he is a come to life animated character, acting over the top like it's suited to the character and on top he does skills on ice I haven't seen him do anywhere before. Admittedly I was sceptical about Shoma acting and on top such a "quirky" character, but they couldn't found a better person for it.

I applaud the full cast for their acting. And they stayed in character until the very end until the curtain call.

It's a great show from the ideas, to the choreography, to the costumes, to the acting! ❤️

What an amazing show! 😍

Do I have any negative points about the show? 🤔 Well only one thing...the availability for ppl outside Japan is a disaster. I know countless ppl who would have paid to see the show on stream but weren't able to because of the geoblocking and trouble finding a working vpn or credit card. It probably has to do with copyright but then at least give the fans an explanation...The other small critique is simply on me personally😅...without knowing Japanese or One Piece it was not the full experience it would surely give...but you know what maybe that actually gives me a reason to really learn Japanese and to watch the anime/manga 😉

If anyone wants to and is able to watch. Do it, you won't be disappointed!

[broodwolf221]

mythal, flemeth, or flemythal?

my opinions on this incredibly complicated woman. nothing here is like... hard canon i can firmly prove, i'm just extrapolating based on what we see (mostly in dai tbf)

i don't even have a super strong read on what her deal is, these are just some of the thoughts i'm having about her tonight

note: this is NOT character hate and if u add character hate to this post you WILL get blocked. but i'm not softening her either - she is pretty fucked up and i'm not going to ignore that

cws: abuse

flemeth and mythal

flemeth: a (human?) woman who was betrayed, whose love was killed

mythal: an elvhen woman, an evanuris, who was killed by her family

when mythal was killed she found her way to flemeth because they were similar. something in flemeth drew mythal to her. there's a lot of options here, although i tend to think it's their shared personal histories and experiences that drew them together, particularly their shared pain. they bonded in some way, some physical manner of becoming one, inseparable, inexorably connected

early on, they might have been more distinct. sharing a body, but still with an individualized sense of self. however, i believe that over time that separation became smoothed, blurred. it's like how very wounded people can sometimes come together and find resonance in their shared experiences, a sense of familiarity, and let it go too far. into the territory of codependence, but so extremely literal in this case

maintaining their body

i'm not sure how they manage this. the way i see it, there are two main options, with a lot of branching details:

body hopping through her daughters, or

literally any other way

#1 is of course possible, but i don't tend to lend it a lot of credence. but let's say it's true, and that what flemythal tells morrigan in the fade is true, that the hosts need to be willing. in that case, her daughters - throughout centuries - would have had to consent to having their selves taken over to host their very complicated mom. i can buy that some of them would have consented; maybe flemythal twisted them into feeling like they had to perform a function, that they had a fate, a destiny, and then revealed what it was. but all of them?

perhaps some did deny her. maybe she forced them to accept - threatened their loved ones, maybe - or else gave them up and started again with a new child. but it's still a lot of finding a new body throughout a massive period of time. it just doesn't feel very likely to me

so, that brings us to option #2. there are many particular ways this could go - the men she brought home and drained, perhaps they sustained her single body, flemeth's original body, that she has always worn. perhaps she uses blood magic, or elvhen magic, or elvhen technology, or- like there are a LOT of possibilities

but i also think #2 is more likely because that would mean the grimoire was a total lie. and why would she lie to morrigan in that way? perhaps because morrigan was curious, intelligent, inquisitive, and flemythal had to throw her off the truth? so she provided a horrific lie, let morrigan "discover" it, let her live in that horror, all the while it just... concealed how she actually continued her existence. give morrigan an answer that was appropriately awful and horrifying so she'd think she found the truth, because it fit what she thought she knew of her mother. and if she found her answer, then she'd stop looking for the real answer

that feels more in line with flemythal's character. she's very much a chessmaster, positioning people throughout the centuries. which leads me to my next point...

flemythal and feelings

first off, i think that both flemeth and mythal have suffered abuse at the hands of people they lived with, perhaps people they loved. i think in both cases that led them to being closed-off, cynical, and self-centered

in the case of body-hopping, i think she would have developed a very thick skin regarding her children which would limit - or even eliminate - any real feelings she might have had for them. if she doesn't body-hop, i still think she'd be tempted to keep herself apart, and in either case she enacts some of the abuse she(/they) were subject to

in the body-hopping scenario, she's used so many of her daughters, in some manner or other. but in both scenarios, she's existed so far beyond a normal mortal lifespan. if she did care about people, she'd inevitably see them die. again and again and again

both mythal and flemeth were abused by the people around them (in mythal's case she was literally killed by her family - the fact that it didn't take is intriguing, but doesn't lessen what they tried to do to her or the emotional toll it would take)

so all this is to say... i don't think she'd really care about mortals. maybe she did once, maybe not; maybe she's too mired in her pain and anger to care about anyone else, or maybe she's lost too many people she did care about and hardened herself to avoid more suffering

but yeah, idk if she cares about morrigan, or about kieran, or even necessarily about solas, although with him if she's scared of losing the people she cares for, he's safe. but if she's just closed off, then it wouldn't matter that he's (possibly/presumably?) immortal as well

she fascinates me. we know so little that's absolutely beyond a shadow of a doubt true about her - and we know that some of what was presented in-game as truth turned out to NOT be. flemythal is keeping secrets. she always has been

and final note: the line to morrigan about a willing host, about her never being in any danger from flemythal... that could've been her referencing her own act of coming together. perhaps the only willing host in their entire joint history was flemeth herself

[elatedandexasperated]

So RWRB was a movie with some discourse...

In all honesty, the discourse has bugged me more than any issues with the film itself. I get a film adaptation not living up to personal expectations set by a book is... a response that people have, but the fact some people have been trying to convince people it's not worth watching bothers me.

Don't get me wrong, I've seen all of the love for it too and I know the antis for the film are definitely in the minority. No one can control how anyone relates or who is allowed to enjoy a piece of media, but the sheer hatred I've seen from some of the people on here for the film hurts a bit to see. The arguments seem to be no deeper than "x character was removed" , "there's these plot holes" and "it's too formulaic" that last one of which I feel was kind of the point: it's a formulaic romcom so that queer people can have a fairy tale romance story like the straight ones that get shoved down our throats from a young age by companies like Disney. McQuiston, an NB writer, has gone on record stating that a huge reason why they write is to feature queer identities and make stories that people like them would have liked to read and feel represented by when they were younger.

If this was a straight Hallmark romcom (which tbf, it basically is in terms of story structure, and I low-key love it because of that) it wouldn't have made so much as a blip on most people's radars. But because it features queer characters the threshold for scrutiny seems to have been dropped to the floor (insert "Get Low" joke here). I can get having criticisms of the film, I have a few myself, but the attempt to convince people the film is bad and to disregard it as a whole because of them ignores the positive qualities, what the film means to people in the queer community, what its success can lead to in terms of representation for underrepresented people in the community (Ace, bi, NB, trans, etc.), and an understanding of intricacies that go into adaptation.

At the end of the day, this film was competently made (and in my opinion, well made) by a gay director with an inclusive team and a deep care for both the source material and an understanding of what the film would mean for millions of viewers. It featured experiences and themes that are common to many people in the community with several very poignant messages that actually have huge metatextual implications with the film (The "forced conformity of the closet" quote sticks out in particular to me: the number of op-eds speculating Nick and Taylor's sexualities and how they've been mum about them makes me think a lot of people missed that one; also looking at you, people that forced Kit Connor out of the closet 😒)

The film is a celebration of love featuring characters that people like me and others in the community can relate to. Is it formulaic? Yes. Did they remove some characters to try and create a tighter narrative focused on the main romantic pair? Yes. Is it overly cheesy and so unrealistically sweet that it will give me diabetes? Delightfully so.

So ending on a positive note, I just want to run down some things I've loved about it:

- An mlm story with an actual happy ending that features adult main leads! (Credit to youth stories, they're important, but as an adult it's hard to relate to teenage characters sometimes)

- The charisma both TZP and NG just radiate throughout the movie

- Sarah Shahi eating the absolute SHIT out of every scene she's in (Touch her and die)

- Same for Rachel Hilson

- Uma Thurman and Stephen Fry (enough said)

- The acting overall was fantastic

- The care and work put into intimate scenes and inclusion of an intimacy coordinator

- On a personal level, I loved seeing parallels between Alex and Henry's relationship and the relationship I have with my husband. For the first time in my 30 years I actually see a little of myself in an uplifting and happy piece of media and not portrayed as a dramatic tragedy, villain, or inconsequential background character.

Tl;Dr if you didn't like the movie, that's your opinion. I'm not here to try and convince you otherwise. But please stop trying to convince people it shouldn't be watched. Regardless of your opinion, this film means a lot to a lot of people, including the author of the original book! Just let us enjoy this imperfect, but tasty cheese with our w(h)ine ❤️

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

https://x.com/dolliejimn/status/1780668223878238285?s=46&t=XuCx8v8aEyRQWy2cALbK1Q

How did you react when this filter performance dropped? 😵‍💫

Ahhhhh I watched it live! And I was commenting with a twitter friend as it happened, so I went to look for my comments. I didn't really say much, now that I'm reading the chat again. But tbf I am a chill person, I don't really do the whole keyboard smash or anything lol.

"The quality of Jimin's voice" this was during zero o'clock.

This was after his black swan solo performance:

"I can't believe it. Flabbergasted. I might cry"

"When he acted as if he was growing wings. FML show me filter right now. NO OFFENSE, I just want to see the choreo."

This is the funny part... WE DIDNT TALK DURING FILTER 😭 the messages from both sides just stopped and we went back to it when filter finished.

"The last part with the red suit. He's the only one who could do a coreography using so many props and be good at it. He's so beautiful."

It reminded me of when I went to the cinema to watch BTS Love Yourself show in Seoul and people were singing and talking the whole movie but for Serendipity everyone went silent. People just watched, there was literally no noise at all during the minutes Jimin was performing. And when Serendipity ended, a guy behind me went "wow". I swear.

Just a funny comment lol this was during inner child and I said "vitches just came online and clogged up the stream" I guess the stream started glitching at that moment and I blamed it on Taehyung's stans lmao. We (pjms) used to call them vitches I don't know why we stopped☹️

"The only smile in the world. He's about to cry whyyyyy. And his birthday tomorrow. I hope they've prepared an event."

I really thought they were going to celebrate Jimin's bday during the concert on the 12th, but they didn't.

"Jimin main character I think"

"Riiiiight I was just thinking the same. He always has his special part in almost everything".

"As he should. No, but I seriously believe everything in him allows him to do a lot of different things, I mean his dancing his body his face"

"Yessss, he really is all-around"

This was after Filter day two.

"The best in the universe"

"The black fit and his hair 10000000000 points"

The image quality of the stream was so bad that I actually thought the purple outfit was black😭

It's funny that we really didn't "speak" at all during his performances, we actually chatted so much more during the rest of the concert lmao.

[murfpersonalblog]

[book!Lestat is the carbon copy of Marius, but on meth. The ultimate narcissist misogynist racist imperialist colonial neoliberalist hell demon]

I'm unfamiliar with anything VC past Merrick so I wanted to ask since you mentioned that Lestat gets something of a redemption arc in it - what is the tone of the Prince Lestat trilogy, specifically in how it frames the establishment of a vampire monarchy? Because some of the most hair-ripping parts of TVL are when he pontificates on his secular, rational, progressive quintessentially 18th century mind that rejects superstition & tradition. Plus Marius giving that white supremacist monologue on the value of human life in the west doing away with monarchy ofc. 

OMG I've been wanting to talk more about the Chateau Era! 😭

"some of the most hair-ripping parts of TVL are when he pontificates on his secular, rational, progressive quintessentially 18th century mind that rejects superstition & tradition"

You'll be seeing a LOT more of this, my friend! XD The Prince Lestat trilogy & its tone encapsulates precisely how AR felt about Lestat (who was inspired by her husband Stan Rice): Lestat's her golden child, her favorite character, the main protagonist & hero & Aryan white savior of the entire vampiric/human/alien-replimoid/Taltos/angelic/demonic race. The Chateau is the Savage Garden going back to Eden/paradise--it's AR's final chapter, the New Heaven and the New Earth after the apocalypse--21st century vampires twirling around in LITERAL 18th century ballgowns as they celebrate the New World Order under Lestat. The last book, Blood Communion, was actually illustrated, and this is the final page, showing the Chateau & the Vampire Court as they were in 2017:

The Chateau is the perfect happily ever after fairytale ending, cuz that's how AR imagined her vampires: romantic, opulent relics/encapsulations of the Old World, and all that implies. (Which is why I NEED to see AMC!Louis become the Prince Consort in France; I'm gonna crack up and die; the Meghan Markle parallels are too good to pass up! 😅)

AR's vampire covens of the Old World Europe are microcosmic monarchies--each coven leader is effectively the king, the Master/Maker of his Fledglings and hangers-on. What's wild is that AR THOUGHT she'd totally removed vampires from religious irrational backwards thinking and moved them into the scientific "Modern" age. But look at the TOP HATS & BALLGOWNS they're wearing in 2017. 🤦 TBF, Lestat said people could wear whatever they wanted, but VELVET was the fabric of the Court--a la Marius & Lestat, as Marius had painted on the Chateau's ballroom ceiling.

Lestat had adopted Benji's philosophy about vampires being one Tribe/family (which is Judeo-Christian at its core, esp. since Benji's an Israeli and the "tribes" are Biblically inspired); a family that should live under one roof (his) & follow one way of life (his) & answer to one God/Voice (his/Marius). AR's books had been leading up to PL & BC the whole time.

The establishment of a vampire monarchy started with Akasha herself, queen of Egypt who wanted to make a matriarchal empire of undead. Naturally, being a mouthpiece of the white patriarchy, AR made the black woman the villain of the VC and had her killed (same w/ Replimoids TBH)--ultimately for Lestat's benefit.

There's 3 main vamps who defined what a vampire monarchy looks like: Marius, Armand, & Lestat. Marius isolated himself from his vampiric peers to keep TWMBK safe. His painting workshop/studio full of little human boys is no equivalent of a vamp court, but it's an intentionally stark parallel w/ legit covens like Santino's Children of Darkness/Satan. Marius lived in his art-nerd "court," in the "light." The image of the vampire Marius in his opulent red velvet cloaks was such anathema to Santino that he burned down Marius' villa. The image of "Master" Marius had Armand reeling when he saw Lestat prancing all over town in his red velvet--The Once and Future King reborn--Marius 2.0.

After being brainwashed by Santino, book!Armand became the coven leader par excellence, a "real, monstrous" vampire--controlling his coven with an iron fist; killing young vamps on sight & "purging" the territories he claimed. From Night Island to Trinity Gate, Armand was always making mini-empires for himself, a modernized neocapitalist take on the Old World regimes he had been born under (AMC moving Armand to Dubai is genius). Armand's dark where Lestat is light; not afraid to get his hands dirty (as seen in PLatRoA when the Replimoids start becoming a "threat" to the vampires).

Vampires are inherently a product of the Old World's fears & flaws. It's no coincidence that Castlevania Nocturne depicted the French aristocracy as a bunch of hedonistic bloodsucking vamps, draining the lifeforce of society to fuel their voracious appetites & unsustainably lavish lifestyles--the Savage Garden indeed.

The Chateau Era is AR's literal Versailles, and Lestat is AR's literal Sun King--(I'm surprised there aren't more Loustat/Monchevy AU fanfics). But the twist I've pointed out several times is that Lestat is actually nouveau riche. Son of a Marquis, he was born to the Old World nobility, but the Marquis was a bum and DIRT POOR. Lestat never grew up like the French aristocracy did--he didn't know what it was like to let them eat cake. The crumbling Chateau was a relic of a bygone era, back when the de Lioncourts actually had a COURT status & could afford their castle.

And just like it was Amel who told Lestat to go home and make the Chateau his court in PL, it was also Amel who told Lestat to win back Louis and ask him to be his Prince Consort in PLatRoA--Lestat had been being guided by Amel for decades without even realizing it, cuz Amel had already chosen him (and Louis) to lead the vampires.

The topic of Inheritance and White Privilege is a big one, cuz in death he got EVERYTHING with The Dark Gift--vampirism from his Maker Magnus (Latin for "The Great"--Alexander the Great, Ptolemy the Great, Pompey the Great, and the horror of all of those white imperialists who "inherited" the ancient AF empires of Egypt & Persia; who ransacked Africa & Asia for treasure & bled the land dry till they crumbled the second they died (a la Alexander's rabid Diadochi, the busted inbred Ptolemaic dynasty, etc); the dragon (Devil/Dracula) Smaug sitting on a mountain of gold not doing a effing thing good with all that money; the deadbeat Marquis who let the glorious Chateau fall to ruin).

And TWICE they had this French White sitting in a room FULL of black folk talking about how privileged he was while trauma-dumping at the same time; ugh it's hysterical; AMC ifs feral! XD

In TVL we got BOTH Lestat & Marius backstory, and just as Armand noticed, Lestat & Marius are polar opposites, but eerily similar when you think about where they started vs where they went. 👀

In life, Marius had been a LITERAL Brat Prince, who pranced around without a care in the world except for his books; traveling the world, charmed by the unwashed peasants.

"Plus Marius giving that white supremacist monologue on the value of human life in the west doing away with monarchy ofc."

LOL, Marius is full of SH!TE. 😂 First of all, the sheer irony of Marius "de Romanus" being born of a CELTIC woman in GAUL (FRANCE), a colony the Greek AND Roman imperialist machine CONQUERED. Marius is no moralist agonizing about the value of human LIFE--Marius is a hedonist & an aesthete who cares about human ART--he was GLAD that imperialism preserved Roman values.

Marius is an ARTISTE. He doesn't GAF about the plight of conquered enslaved persecuted oppressed peoples--not even his own MOTHER. He talks about the destruction of civilized society & the Roman Empire ad nauseum, while not batting an eyelash to how those empires were built on the back of destruction & death: THE Savage Garden; BEAUTIFUL ROME. Monarchy & imperialism was the vehicle pushing human "progress/civilization:" and for him it peaked in Rome & the Renaissance.

Rome only claimed it didn't want a monarchy cuz the SENATE (that had KILLED the last Roman King) was monarchy enough. Julius Caesar knew democracy is hypocrisy, and was like eff all y'all, make me EMPEROR. 👑 Lestat's no Pompey or Alexander--he's CAESAR, the one who "inherited" ALL of Magnus' empire and became Dictator for Life (until he was backstabbed ofc, LOL).

Marius had nothing on Lestat--the ARCHITECT obsessed with building homes for his whole family; the patriarchal overlord. Louis XIV built Versailles to keep a close eye on all the nobles, moving the entire court to literal Nowheresville France to orbit around him as the Sun King, the absolute monarch.

Every single VC book was a smaller scale rendition of Lestat as the savior, Lestat as the Brat Prince, pater familias, king, and GOD. Even moreso than Louis (i.e.: AR herself), Lestat's the Prime Mover whose antics pushed the narrative forward every time.

In PL Lestat renovating the Chateau happened at the same time that he took his son Viktor & his ward Rose in. (Rose's entire arc is like night & day compared to what happened with Claudia--Loustat looking after her was like a do-over for Claudia.)

This is where the Redemption Arc starts, cuz what Lestat had always wanted was to make a change & have a family & REBUILD. His life was TRASH, and he'd HATED that Chateau and all it represented--it was the tomb he was scared he'd die in. But Lestat HAD to die in order to finally GROW UP.

Marius dubbed Lestat "the damnedest creature" and the "Brat Prince" for a reason--he's impossible to control, or reason with. He's very much a giant walking manchild--there are 12 year olds way more mature than he is; just look at Benji in TVA onwards. AR is NEVER subtle about her hard-on for Lestat, but she also doesn't shy away from how incredibly immature he had been for so long.

To his credit, in PL Lestat right away chose a Vampiric Council of Elders for himself, knowing full well he was in over his head. Lestat called Marius his Prime Minister--NOT in the sense of today's PMs that lead the gov't for monarchic figureheads the way the parliament/senate/congress does. Instead Lestat namedropped Richelieu, Mazarin, & Colbert--the famous supporters of Louis XIV.

But in PLatRoA it started dawning on Lestat what it meant to take REAL accountability for his actions; that the careless things he did actually had serious consequences for everyone around him (sunbathing to get a tan, etc). He'd finally earned Louis' forgiveness, and they were basically engaged. Things seemed peachy...until ish got REAL in BC. Lestat had royally effed up by underestimating Rhoshamandes back in PL, acting like everything was a laughable game--little Lord Fauntleroy PRETENDING at being king.

SPOILER: Lestat only became Prince cuz in PL Rhosh killed Maharet & Mekere was too sad to go on, so she gave the Sacred Core to Lestat. Lestat forgave Rhosh even when everyone said he was being too lenient, caught up in everyone being a loving Tribe, Rhosh included, when they're KILLERS. Then everything went down with Rhosh vs the Replimoids in PLatRoA. Then in BC Rhosh kidnapped Gabrielle & Louis. When he came for Marius & Marius fought back, there was a HUGE battle that nearly burned down the Chateau & its village.

What Rhosh's goons said about Lestat's Court was just like the Children of Darkness. Like what Marius said to Santino, & Lestat said to Armand, the Court told Rhosh's coven that the Court (a microcosm of the world) was there for the benefit of vampires. Lestat's DUTY was to protect vamps from ANYONE who threatened them--including other vamps, whom they'd literally CANNIBALIZE.

Just like the Theatre of Vampires, the Court was a horror with a beautiful veneer; Blood and Gold. When the court ate Rhosh & ate Baudwin, it was like ANIMALS/demons. It did nothing to help find Gabrielle, Louis & Marius, and served no real purpose but for the mob to act in Lestat's name, shoving a signet ring on his finger in the shape of a MONSTER (Medusa) while the vamps danced & Lestat was busy grieving.

He hated what the Court was turning into in Marius' absence, in the wake of Rhosh's war, renovations happening beyond anything he'd planned before as they needed to repair all the structural damage to the Chateau. Like Armand told him afterwards: the Court/Coven gave them all the illusion of purpose on what Louis called "The Devil's Road." (What was REALLY cool is that Armand was begging Lestat to kill the Replimoids, but everything he said ALSO fit when applied to vampires themselves--they're ALL monsters, but as Lestat insisted with the human dungeons:

"There is killing and there is killing. There is murder; there is massacre; there is slaughter. And what I willed for this Court was something that was now in great peril.... We are not barbarians."

"some of the most hair-ripping parts of TVL are when he pontificates on his secular, rational, progressive quintessentially 18th century mind that rejects superstition & tradition"

So yeah, AR pretty much tries to have her cake and eat it too? The Prince Lestat trilogy stresses that vamps will rise above the religious/superstitious castigation of both humans AND vampires who see them as nothing more than uncivilized monsters, living with Lestat & feasting on the Evil Doers locked up in the Chateau's dungeons, dancing all night and never in-fighting again. But ironically, this is NOT the secular Enlightened Age of Science AR though it would be in PLatRoA. The Chateau was fully restored by the Winter Solstice--the start of the New Year; the Chateau decorated to look like Christmas. Marius gives a big speech explaining that Lestat had fought Rhosh fully expecting to have died, and that because Lestat was willing to lay down his life for all of them, he deserved to be their Prince forever--the messianic Christ figure. They celebrate having become one Tribe. Leading the Court, Marius is the Prime Minister, Gabrielle calls herself the Queen Mother, Lestat is the Prince/King, and Louis is his Prince Consort. (Even Lestat's favorite architect is turned into a vampire, LOL.) NGL Anyone who doesn't like Lestat should probably never read the PL Trilogy, cuz AR basically creams herself every other page over Lestat--he's her GOD.

It's not a plea of sympathy for monsters, but rather a celebratory paean to the Vampiric Court; "We take what we must have to live and we do it without regret." 💀 God & the Devil don't exist, cuz AR retconned Memnoch by making all angels AND vampires aliens from Atlantis. Everyone cheers & dances as Lestat declares "May we never drink the poison of self-loathing!," the way Nicki did, and Rhosh, Santino, even Armand & Louis. Loustat dance in the ballroom before taking their places, Lestat sitting on his golden red velvet throne, Louis standing beside him, and everyone cheering on their Blood Communion.

Sorry this was so long, @undecimber-of-joy XD

[chjroptera]

tbf, the cbbh mains i knew left before a lot of the other fans did bc the egg arc in general was treated so poorly by other fans and ignored/deemed not important. I think it’s also not coincidence that the CCs with the largest character poster base are the ones that were more “”mainstream”” for lack of a better word to begin with

i can’t even lie i found a lot of the egg stuff uninteresting at times but going back and revisiting some streams made me realize how cool it is, sure it’s lacking in some parts and maybe isn’t as grand as the final disc war but it’s really creepy and fun. i love cbad and cskeppys dynamic i wish their bond was explained more Just everything with lives, soulmates, demons etc needed to be explored more

[aadmelioraa]

PLEASE tell me the context of the line, "If this fails and there is no escape for you, please tell me you'll find a man you trust to kill you softly." that is THE most intense line of dialogue i've ever ready holy shit i need to watch this show??

AHHHHHHHHH Beth it is literally SO intense, like…ok, so…Uhtred, the main character and guy who says that line, is at this point in a relationship with Aethelflaed, the woman in the gifset. I very decidedly do not ship them together, I resent how often her character is sidelined to prop him up, among other things…the historical Aethelflaed is an incredibly impressive figure, but a lot of her achievements are given to the fictional Uhtred in the show…I will stop there, just…I really really do not ship them for a variety of reasons and that is a big one lol.

I do, however, ship Aethelflaed with the bowlcut dude, aka Aldhelm, our favorite morally flexible Mercian who at this point is ride-or-die for Aethelflaed. Their storyline makes me feral, which you know at this point given my unhinged posts. But like…Aldhelm is canonically in love with her and has been for a while (he confesses it during the s3 finale while bleeding out in Aethelflaed's room, having been stabbed by her abusive and nefarious husband for siding with Aethelflaed's leadership tactics over his, after he'd spent many years being loyal to the husband, scheming on his behalf, etc).

It's a GREAT scene, his s3 arc is just him slowly shifting to her side entirely and it is so FUN, the actor (James Northcote) is excellent and provides so much depth to what, in s2, had been a fairly straightforward characterization (though still very fun, I loved him in s2 also). Anyway, Aethelflaed never reciprocates Aldhelm's affections (which I personally think is a great writing choice) BUT they are like…functionally a team, very much operating as partners, he is supportive of her and she can rely on him fully in her function as a leader but also in a personal capacity. 

So the thing with that find a man to kill you softly moment: they're about to fight in a huge battle with the odds stacked against them and there is a risk that Aethelflaed, as Lady of Mercia, might be taken as a political prisoner and be tortured, used as collateral, etc. Uhtred, her love interest, tells her to be sure she won't be taken alive, and then Aethelflaed reveals SHE ALREADY PICKED SOMEONE TO KILL HER SOFTLY and that THAT MAN IS ALDHELM because OF COURSE IT IS!! BUT THE ACTUAL THING IS when it comes down to it…ALDHELM CAN'T KILL HER. HE HAS A KNIFE TO HER THROAT AND THEY'RE SURROUNDED AND SHE'S LOST HER SWORD AND HE'S WAITING TIL THE LAST SECOND but HE CAN'T KILL HER!! LOOK AT HIS FUCKING FACE WHEN HE REALIZES IT!!

They're only saved by the last minute archery intervention from her brother, their ally, who shows up with his army in the nick of time. This is a mere season and a half (though this does include significant time jumps, tbf) after Aldhelm suggested to Aethelflaed's husband that he HAVE HER ASSASSINATED. And a season after ALDHELM WAS SENT TO BE THE ONE TO ASSASSINATE HER! He has a knife to her throat there too, though he doesn't intend to actually kill her, he's just a lowkey dramatic bitch. There is so much fucking knife kink in their storyline, I swear to GOD. 

Also, back to the original question (sorry)…the writers made the choice to have Aethelflaed be in a battle couple with Aldhelm during this ep, not Uhtred (her canonical love interest), and it FUCKS. The whole sequence is just FLAWLESS. I have my issues with that season (season 4 out of 5 total) as it relates to her storyline, but the ship moments are so good. I can't recommend watching the show on the basis that it's good but I can recommend watching it on the basis that those two have burrowed into my brain and live there permanently. I have never written so much fic for a ship as I have for those two, they make me insane, I love them. The show is very much not about either of them (they both appear in s2, also), but they have a really satisfying joint arc for the most part. It's the perfect recipe for shipfic, for me: I am dissatisfied with enough that I have plenty of canon-based ideas, and that pairing has an extremely compelling relationship that's never consummated. Plus it hits all of my kinks: loyal advisor/queen, enemies to lovers, pining, angst, repression, and there is sooo much fic potential for secret relationships, and of course my beloved sexy paperwork feat competency kink as they tackle administrative duties together.

Thank you for letting me yell at you about them, I hope this answers your question hahaha.