#that winning is more important than trying
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onsomenewsht · 17 hours ago
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Jazz for Peanuts
About the time your daughter shows her attitude
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》 Leah Williamson x Reader
》 words count: +1.1k
》 All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.
Deciding to have a kid with Leah is a no-brainer choice, probably the easiest you ever made in your life.
Never been more sure of anything in your life.
She’s exactly the person you pictured growing a family with. Loyal, passionate, caring. Ready to win any fight for the ones she cares, the ones she loves.
The process of having a kid with Leah, however, is anything but easy.
Months of consults, check-ups, exams. Months of doubts and insecurities. Months of waiting out of your power. And for a control freak as the footballer is, those were the worst.
When it finally works, it’s the best feeling ever.
The English captain is over the moon, you’re pretty sure you never saw her happier – you know, you were right by her side when she won the biggest awards of her career, when she promised you forever in front of the most important people in her life.
It’s the best feeling, until the reality of pregnancy hits you like a wall.
It’s up and downs. It’s morning sickness and weird cravings, it’s kind kicks that reminds you there’s an actually living being inside you and painful reminders it’s growing and moving. It’s waves of emotions, all at once and all the time.
It’s a process and you’re glad more than anything that you can go through it with Leah next to you.
Finley comes into your lives loudly, immediately asserting her character and determination.
She surprises the nurses with big, curious eyes and even more impressive lungs. She shows her interest in Amanda’s hair with strong pulls, the same hands that, oh-so-gently, have your hearts wrapped in a thigh grip.
She grows so much and so fast that you end up questioning if such a tiny human being could shape time as she pleases.
Scrappy kicks turn into dangerously fearless tiny steps, and now she runs around the house like the miniature version of an athlete training for some mad competition.
Tiny onesies with animals and Arsenal’s badges turn into colorful and sparkling dresses she wears just a couple of times before she moves on. Now, she apparently inherits her mother’s fashion sense.
Sleepless nights spent crying turn into tantrums over underappreciated lunches, and now she negotiates her screen time like an unfair trial.
Finley is growing into a really determinant, stubborn kid despite being barely tall enough to get on the car seat on her own.
She’s witty, smart, and definitely too cute.
Leah looks at her with a light in her eyes that sparkles just around your daughter, a light that didn’t even exist before Finley.
You may have made her from scratch. Your own organs may have had to find new positions to let her space, but she has your wife’s flame burning inside. It’s something that never fails to amuse you, as annoying as it is sometimes.
Like right now, stuck in North London’s traffic with an inpatient Leah and a bored five-year old daughter in the back seat.
“Finny, my life, can you please stop kicking me?”, the blonde asks, voice over the edge in a way just a kid could get fly over their head.
“I’m not kicking you, I’m kicking the back of the seat”, she argues, as a matter of fact.
You hold a scoff just to not be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Of course, the traffic light turns red exactly when the car is about to run over it, making the defender drop her head in frustration.
The real challenge is fighting the urge to remind Leah you had, indeed, predicted it.
She had to watch the last minutes of Arsenal’s game, so sure it couldn’t be a problem to delay the drive to your mother’s house. And now you’re stuck, traffic laws and any kind of universal rule against her.
You place a comforting hand on her thigh, trying to be a supportive wife.
“Mama, I’m hungry!”
“I know, we’re almost there”
“Not if mom keeps driving this slow”, your daughter mutters, loud enough to be heard by Leah.
“I’m driving as fast as this idiot in front let me”, she grumples in the exact same way, earning a discrete slap for her words choice, “What? You shouldn’t be allowed on the road if you could be faster by walking, it’s not safe”
“Can I have the candies mama hide under the seat?”
Traitor.
“Finny, keep playing with Bear”, you change the subject, avoiding Leah’s raised eyebrow to divert the little girl’s attention to her toy.
“You could let me starve? That’s not really nice, mama, you always say sharing is caring”
A backstabber, your own daughter.
The English defender is the one trying to suppress an amused laugh now, guessing she’s not in the position to piss you off more, “Finny, it will ruin your appetite, granny made your favourite pasta”
“My appetite is already ruined. It’s taking so long granny’s gonna be dead when we get there”
“Finley!”
“What? You’re pretty old, and granny is even older! She keeps saying she’s ready to reunite with grandad anyway”
You need to have a serious conversation with your mother about the things she says in front of a smart kid that soaks up knowledge like a sponge.
Right now, though, Leah must be the proper adult as you’re trying your best not to burst laughing.
It’s inappropriate, the way you’re both reacting at the witty remarks of a five-years old girl who needs help to brush her teeth but apparently has no issues at roasting her entire family.
You can’t let her realise how clever and funny you think she is. It’s going to make her unstoppable - and insufferable.
Finley shows every sign of listening and understanding the lecture on being patient and gentle with her words that you and Leah are trying to give her. Two adults more troubled with getting a grip on themselves than with their kid’s attitude.
You just know she’s going to use it against you at the first opportunity.
“Fine, I’ll play nice”
It seems to get better after that.
The slowest car ever been on the road finally makes a turn and allows your wife to goose the engine, mother-in-law reassured over the phone for the second time.
Your daughter is calmer, still kicking the back of the seat, but reassured either granny or her are going to die anytime soon.
You, on the other hand, are debating if you could get through it all over again, knowing this is what your life with Leah and Finley looks like.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“How long?”
And, just like that, peace is over.
“Five more minute”
“You sure?”, the kid asks your wife, doubtful but innocently enough.
“I said five more minute, Finny”
It’s coming, she is preparing for the final blow.
You know it’s coming.
Finley waits a moment, then screams, “Siri, start a five minute timer!”
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03den · 2 days ago
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bfhamzah headcanons - part 2 ( gnreader )
a.n: my god i was not expecting allat on my first post, thank uuu sm have some more fun w my rambling (slightly suggestive & reader is referred to as gf/wife)
part 1
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in part one i briefly talked about how hamzah texts you a lot, and i stand my ground on that. he def spams you with the most random things. if he encounters a funny thing on the street, he immediately takes his phone out and sends you a photo. wait, did hamzah just thought about a really bad joke that is not funny in the slightest? he's proudly texting you it with no context at all. sometimes you're sitting in the same room, both on your silent phone time, and he's just repeatedly sending you brainrot reels, laughing to himself. oh, and you better watch them and the tiktoks he sends you, because he will reference them later and be dramatic about it if you don't understand it. "hi im ol- ol- oliver" "what?" "you don't know what i'm talking about? babe, no. i literally sent you the og tiktok!" ohh he's going to be salty about it.
onto that, i don't think he's the biggest pet name user. i think he prefers to call you by a nickname only he has for you—he thinks it makes him more special. once, martin tried to call you by that same nickname during a video, and hamzah just side eyed him and went "dude, no. stop.” occasionally, he will call you babe or baby in situations where he's attention seeking, half-asleep, high, trying to win your affection back after pestering you for too long... but that's also what he calls you during those moments, when his mind is foggy with different thoughts, and constant stimulation steal his ability to self-control. anything other than babe or baby, i can see it lowkey making him cringe
something corny that def doesn't make him cringe though is matching clothes—oh, this man loves it. and i don't mean subtle matching. yk those iconic t-shirts hamzah and martin constantly wear? the ones he buys to match with you are like that—white t-shirt with black letters saying 'i think they're hot' with an arrow each pointing to different sides. he for sure has asked you to wear that shirt with him for a youtube video, and made you sit so the arrow on his shirt pointed to you, and yours to him. has bought himself the ‘i love my gf’ black hoodie and wears the ‘i don't need an encyclopedia my wife knows it all’ t-shirt more often now that you're dating. don’t worry tho he let's you choose normal matching clothes as well
he can be a very silly bf, specially in public where he feels too exposed to be vulnerable, however, deep down he’s so so sweet, so caring. mumbled confessions against your neck late at night, hamzah tells you things weighted with such love it puts you under some daze. it’s not so easy for him to be in such vulnerable state, his words come out messy and shy, but the fact he tries nonetheless gives his voice a certain rawness—there’s no room for you to doubt his words
his heartfelt ‘i love you’s are always heard during these moments. repeated over and over, in between kisses, one no more genuine than the other. hamzah feels every word in ‘i love you’, and so do you, so they’re more reserved for times like these. that doesn't mean you ever separate ways without a quick "love you" with a peck though, that's an essential for him.
you are so important to hamzah, like actually so important it’s in everything he does. it’s in the way he does his groceries thinking about what you’d want, in case you come over; it’s in the way every other concern is pushed aside the moment he sees you; it’s in the way his house is covered in evidence of your presence; and in how he cannot stop posting you—be it on tiktok, youtube, or wtv
something else the fans noticed during a video is how he keeps a polaroid of you two on his phone case—a selfie of you next to each other, camera too close to your faces but that still managed to capture your laughing fit and his grin. it’s cute, and even tho it was a moment between js the two of you, the picture clearly conveys the love you have for each other.
after some time dating, youtube gets flooded with compilations of your relationship. ‘hamzah annoying name for 15 minutes straight’. ‘every clip of Hamzah being absolutely in love WARNING: long video.’ ‘moments where name and hamzah openly flirted in front of the camera.’
extras!
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literally had no idea on what to put on the brainrot line.. i havent been keeping up w brainrot also im so obsessed with every photo of him included in this post
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vannyinthestars · 1 day ago
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TGR SPOILERS AHEAD:
Welcome to Vanny’s live reactions to all of that
I have 259 Kindle highlights
There’s lots of thoughts and reactions so proceed with caution cuz this list is gonna be long
Will continue to tag my posts for spoilers but this is just everything from the entire book.
Guilty Lucas and Lucas being the one to get Rhemann because he was scared for Jean when Zane turned up hurt me more than expected
Emma Swift being introduced as a character feeding my soc med au shenanigans.
“Where is your rage?”
Some of the Trojans actually wanting Jean to snap (Derek) is interesting to see
Jean just casually admitting his MOM had his first ever captain and her entire family killed???? What???
Jeremy having a military dad oh he is so me. I’m trying so hard not to project rn but “Yes, sir” has me feeling lot of things
Notebook symbolism!
Jean quoting Neil and fighting back his own insane smile after Grayson is so important to me.
“Ill-bred child” is such a funny dig
“A single word is seldom rude enough to make a point.” SASSY JEAN WE ARE SO BACK
Jean saying he would’ve slashed Kevin’s tires before allowing him to escape makes me physically sick. I’m so normal about them.
JereJean sitting back to back.
Jeremy can’t sing being canon leads me to believe Karaoke is scene is possible for TSC3
“There you are.” I am UNWELL
Insight into Aaron’s trial and I was about to cry? Neil having to be there for Kevin but being stuck on the staircase
Jean not wanting to hurt BarkBark
“I like him Jeremy. Let’s keep him forever” “that’s the plan” FERAL FOR THIS
Cheek kiss.
“We’re his people” I was floundering around they are so found family and it’s what Jean needs.
Andrew being terrified that Grayson did something to Neil had me crying again. He came to Cali for Kevin only to find out Neil had gone without him probs to protect him from his feelings and then he was SCARED
The floozies calling Kevin Queen
JEALOUSY
Jeremy getting between KevJean and saying “back off” ohhhhhh I would’ve been shaking in my boots
JeanDrew scenes? Unexpected and unmatched. Ate them up.
Kevin teasing Jean over Jeremy?? Is he that oblivious intentionally? Will it ever get acknowledged???
Jean going after Bryson I AUDIBLY SCREECHED
Emma being the one to have the bandage idea for Jean’s fingers I need them to actually interact
Jeremy teaching himself French (Alsoooo who is his tutor gonna be??)
“You and me against the world.” I was crying
What did Jean say in French after the banquet when Jeremy got back with Laila. I need to know.
I was not expecting the Orgy mention at all- I could not even explain my reaction to that.
“The Trojans seemed to fall in love so easily” this is gonna get brought up again mark my words
Jean saying “Have a winning day!” I SCREAMED
Jean having to help carry Jeremy off the court paralleling Andreil in the later chapter (I’m getting there) is insane Nora
Rhemann punching Zane- I literally threw my phone.
“Fuck what I deserve. What about what I want?” THIS IS GONNA COME BACK I SWEAR IT
I actually cried and became nauseous over the Ravens v Foxes game. I understand why it had to happen plot wise but oh my god I thought they got their happy ending?? Andrew and Neil fighting for one another??? Dan defending Neil? I was so not okay I swear Nora you could’ve killed me with this one.
Browning is so real.
“I will choose you every time” is going to come back and be “Choose me” next book I swear
Yo-yo mentioned lmaooo
Jean’s favorite color being Brown? (Jeremy’s natural hair and eye color?)
“Cat wanted to be the voice of reason, but she would pry the stars from the sky if Laila asked for them.” I love them
Jean opening up about Elodie to Laila because they’ve both lost things they don’t know how to lose
Also circling back to Jean asking if it gets easier about grief hurt me so bad
The fact that Andrew appears to be the only character with a functioning Gaydar SENT ME
“Embrace fatherhood” and Jabberwocky Moreau have my soul
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randomfoggytiger · 3 days ago
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React: A Late-Canon Reviler Gives the Revival a Try (My Struggle IV), Part X
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We're here.
We're finally here.
My Struggle IV.
I've got my snack, I've got the snark on tap, and I encourage you to buckle in. This is gonna be an exercise in tearing apart a piece of garbage as entertainingly as possible.
THE OPENER
"Previously on The X-Files"-- OH, we're opening on Chris Carter, now are we???
This is gonna be a doozy.
Skipping past the entire rehashed monologue: Scully says, "Mulder, William is the key"; and I'd just like to rip a handy dandy little list from this excellent post that tears the later mytharc apart quite succinctly and emotionlessly:
Sveta is also referred to as the “key to everything” in “My Struggle.” Gibson Praise is referred to as the key to everything in “The End.” Cassandra Spender is referred to as the key to everything in “Two Fathers.” The alien artifact from “Biogenesis” was said to “hold everything.” The spacecraft from that same “Biogenesis” arc is referred to as the key to everything in “The Sixth Extinction,” and so was Shannon McMahon in “Nothing Important Happened Today II.”
So, pardon me if my breadth of belief has been sharply narrowed over The X-Files's tenure. Pardon me further if I happen to take CC at his word and believe there is no plan to this show; and pardon me even further if I dare to suggest all of this-- the mytharc past Season 8 (which made sense in a limited capacity until Season 9 blew it...), the continual renewal of a dying franchise, the random plots and threads thrown at walls without justification and very little reason-- is not only a failed attempt at intellectual justification of its egotistical creator but also a failed negotiation with the audience and studios to finally, finally get that movie franchise Carter was lobbying for since Fight the Future first aired.
And spare me the narrow-minded and small-hearted blame that is often tossed at fans for not "getting" what Chris Carter was going for. No one can get inside another's head, translate that madness, and coherently put it to paper (except Frank Spotnitz, apparently.) That's the writer's job. It's also the writer's job to make us believe in the events that unfold: artistic merit and expression aside, that artist is still trying to sell his wares to people-- ordinary people that work 9-to-5s, 40 hours a week, and could spend their money on another artist's project that more consciously and masterfully weaves together a world and its expression. That's not a knock against any artist's vision-- that's a knock against their expectation that you should like this, without criticism, because I made it.
So before we even begin, let me address the writer(s, for they are all involved) directly: woo me with your words. Regale me with your presentation. Win me to your side with convincing arguments. Charm me with your magic. But do not expect me to abandon reason for madness, no matter how prettily it's packaged.
MY STRUGGLE IV
OH, LOOK, it's Jackson's struggle: Struggle I was Mulder's, Struggle II was Scully's, Struggle III was CSM's, Struggle IV was William's.
So, in total: Chris Carter "planned" (despite pivoting that plan ideologically between My Struggle II-- post here-- and My Struggle III-- post here-- four mytharc tie-ins but... decided not to put any work, thought, intent, or consistency into it other than--
Restructuring the mytharc in order to take significant jabs at (and slide around like a velcro snake in) modern politics;
Breaking up the leads for shock value and unresolved-resolved sexual tension;
Creating a pathetic though pitiable disappointment in their son so we the viewers will let Jackson go, as his plotline now become irrelevant-- and was never considered, seriously, in the first three parts.
I'm sure this will be lovely.
William is connected to Scully... but we're told in My Struggle III that he is reaching out to protect and help his parents, assuring them he won't be caught by the Syndicate... only to have that message directly contradicted in Ghoulie when Jackson is revealed to be an ordinary, out-of-his-depth teenager who has no idea who Scully is, what his role to play is (with any clarity), and that he did or didn't have powers growing up that did or didn't manifest really until recently. And if that confusion isn't confusing enough, he isn't Mulder's son: he is, as Skinner believes, CSM's.
I guess CSM always fathers losers, then (Mulder always losing to the Syndicate, according to latter canon; Jeffrey getting shot in the head then disfigured then nearly killed then on-the-run over the course of his life; William being a mostly powerless philanderer.)
Oh, yes: William is a man with two girlfriends probably because his birth father (CSM)-- according to Revival canon-- is a womanizer, too. Since Mulder has no game and Scully has no game-- we can assume this was CC's intention, since he kept both in a holding pattern for nearly seven years-- and CSM seems to have bedded, or wished to, every woman he came across-- according to Chris Carter's own lore-- that only points to one ugly conclusion. A conclusion which Carter seems to have eased the breaks on in recent years, justifying that William shares mitochondrial DNA with his "father" (Mulder) and his father's father (CSM)... which, scientific inaccuracy (and impossibility, as mitochondrial is traced through the maternal, not paternal, line), is not only a crock of nonsense according to Scully's fertility timeline (established in Per Manum) but also becomes layers and layers of greasier grossness. In short: CC's inability to own up to his failures makes his work-- and him by proxy-- look like the sleaziest, slimiest, most perverted mind in the business; and his appalled "no, you" deflections only make him look worse. And while it's true he truly didn't mean to achieve these levels of toxic intent, his roughshod writing and inability to take an L have doubled back on him two-fold.
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As Jackson Van de Kamp continues to narrate, I'd like to break it down in chunks:
William's childhood is a retelling of Ghoulie which is a retelling of My Struggle III which is a retelling of William: in Ghoulie, Jackson's therapist states he'd been signed up for her sessions very recently because his new symptoms were troubling to the Van de Kamp family. The therapist (and his parents, most likely) diagnosed him as schizophrenic; but shortly thereafter, Jackson realized the extent of his powers and played a prank on his two girlfriends (who did not know about each other, and who he still yanked around even after both were hospitalized. Stellar kid.)
In one breath he states that he had a "happy childhood" while in another acknowledges his use and abuse of his powers in anger-- to throw a fit in front of his parents, to gain attention from his classmates, to put a bully in the hospital after their fight was broken up. All of these points are to make us, the audience, realize Jackson is a danger: someone who needs to figure himself out and will only bring havoc and chaos into Mulder and Scully's life-- a cheap way, in short, to make up dislike William and back up Scully's decision to disown him. Not only is this lazy because it doesn't honestly address the life Jackson had to have led to make him act out on impulse with those behaviors, but it simply dumps a ton of information on the viewers for us to swallow blindly, accept, and regurgitate as "what little psychopaths with powers are like."
Spot the difference between young Jackson and Goob from Meet the Robinsons (both adoptive kids with developing victims' complexes):
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As he states flippantly, "And I, uh... just became a criminal."
The obvious conclusion we're supposed to ignore is that some teenagers are just jerks pumped full of hormones, and that handing that kid the equivalent of a biological weapon will cause them to feel superior, ostracized, and alone.
The meta conclusion we're also supposed to ignore is that two of-the-earth farm folks somehow messed up so badly while raising a child they always wanted that he now feels entitled and selfish to whatever cheap tricks, maneuvers, and pain he has to inflict to get his way. And that is not only a moral failing on them but also on Mulder and Scully, who the show continually reminds us loved and wanted William but gave him up.
The second meta conclusion we're supposed to ignore is that Mulder and Scully's failings don't end there: their genes somehow created the worst possible human. Or William became the pseudo-monster that he is (as the writers doubled-down on in this episode) because he shares genetic markers with the CSM-- despite both of Spender's sons turning out morally and ethically better than their father (setting aside my quibbles with Mulder's paternity, etc.)
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"So I was sent away to a school for bad kids-- devastated my parents, but I couldn't help myself. ...I'd talk to psychologists and tell them what they wanted to hear."
Really.
Really now.
Not only do I not accept this excuse in-canon, I don't accept it on a meta level. Jackson's actions are shown to be deliberate and malicious, repeatedly. When he talks to the assigned therapists in his flashbacks, he's manipulatively vulnerable on the outside; cocky, self-assured, and completely detached from the consequence of his behavior on the inside. Superior. Grandstanding in an ego-driven teenager way. To quote Mulder, "Boggs does it because he likes it."
A shame that William became the men his father was taught to hunt in the BSU. In another universe, Mulder could have made his career as the VCU's Golden Boy had he tracked down and locked up his own son, instead.
Also: psychologists who are well-trained will be able to spot a faker dead-to-rights. And perhaps this sequence could serve as commentary for the lacking mental health services in Outback, Wyoming but I doubt, highly, that that was the writers' intention.
"I was smart-- I didn't make any mistakes until I played a stupid joke on these two girls."
WOW. The minimization. "Didn't make any mistakes"-- like an act of violence-- "because I was smart"-- code red thought pattern right there-- "until I played a stupid joke"-- oh, so it's not JUST a joke, it's a stupid joke; which makes everything better, I'm sure-- "on these two girls"-- OH, "these two girls" as if they were nobodies, as if they weren't your betrayed and terrified girlfriends who didn't know about each other, nor the fact that you were having a relationship with both. behind each other's Got it.
How's he a normal teenager again? Further: how's he a pitiable character again?
He isn't. And that was the point.
Stack up Jackson's raw dialogue next to CSM's My Struggle III pity party and you'll start to see how much well poisoning CC was committing to justify his rushed, hack job ending.
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Jackson already believes he's CSM's son. ...And canon is backing that up because William Redux was given visions that connected him to each biological parent: Scully and CSM.
If you accept the Revival as canon, William's paternity is lumped in there, too. At no point in-canon does Jackson come to see Mulder as his father, and at no point in-canon does he seem to give him a sense of loyalty or love.
Further: Mulder is made into a buffoon-- a chump. He embraces a son that isn't his, who he loves; and one who not only rejects him and tricks him into believing he's dead, but one who doesn't tell him "You're not my dad-- CSM is" honestly. Further further: we know Mulder would love him, regardless; but Jackson, little William all grown up, doesn't seem to care.
Even further: Mulder is given three moments to connect with his son in this show-- dreaming about a life with him and clutching his picture in Founder's Mutation (an episode not written by CC) and holding him once more in My Struggle IV (albeit briefly)-- only to be rejected. William played baseball in Ghoulie, but only Scully is allowed to mourn him. Jackson "dies" before his eyes in MSIV, but Mulder's anguish is reduced to his identity as a father and brushed aside by Scully's insistence that Jackson wasn't theirs and should be forgotten.
As much as Scully is reduced to an inactive participant in My Struggle IV, Mulder's role as a father is cast-off-- despite his alleged depression, despite Duchovny's on-screen anguish-- and he is not allowed to express his seventeen years of buried-deep pain... and when he does, Scully tells him he's wrong.
The writing destroys them both:
Scully is over-emotional: given to outbursts and chaotic gun-jumping to prevent herself from living with more pain. She becomes an agent of the plot, twisting about according to its whims, without mitigating her own overreactions with logic and coherent thought.
Mulder is denied emotion: burying it down and being blamed for his deflection with unnecessary lines in the sand, being diagnosed with unexplained (and wrongful, post here) depression, and aggressively and irrationally insisting on charging head-long into danger without checkmating his impulses with Scully's level-headed advice.
Both are reduced to caricatures: depressed parents who lost their child, who drifted away from each other, who only connect over their son or the empty place his absence leaves in their life; and only offered a reprieve via comedic bits (i.e. a Darin Morgan script) or a thigh squeeze and bed cuddle here or there.
Both are stripped of their agency. Mulder knew 2012 Colonization wouldn't happen before 2012 arrived (according to My Struggle I) yet fell into a depression tied to... what, exactly... sometime after. Scully left her partner after he sank into depression while spouting she was afraid it would get worse (according to My Struggle I)... which means she left before it got bad. Mulder and Scully share a thigh squeeze in My Struggle III but only get in bed together again to (accidentally) create a baby in the St. Rachel (a patron saint of older mothers) Motel. Scully expresses concern in finding her son until the plot says "no"; then expresses concern again when the plot says "yes." Mulder expresses no immediate concern in finding his son until Scully says "yes", and loses that concern when Scully says "no."
CSM is the only character to keep to the same idea, consistently, the entire mythology. And while that is befitting for a villain that never grows or changes, it also reflects catastrophically on the two main leads who yo-yo back and forth with their characterization, agency, consistency, impulses, motivations, goals, hopes, and fears.
It's... sad-- a destruction of the legacy and hard work, talent, imagination, and sheer grit of an entire team of dedicated, loyal, and hardworking people that breathed life into the original series.
A teaser for CSM's slaying of "Mulder."
Opening credits.
Depressing.
Oh, the episode starts here, with Mulder finding Jackson? ...Didn't expect that, not mad about it.
Mulder just tells this random stranger that the boy is not a criminal, "he's my son."
Why?
That's just brutal, man. Mulder believes he's going to see baby William all grown up; and we, the audience, have just watched an opening segment detailing how Jackson believes (as CC wants us to believe) that CSM is his father-- that he doesn't even know Mulder. That's... how mean-spirited.
Chris Carter's a slow burn angst writer, we all know this. But.... Mulder was done so dirty here.
And Scully-- let's not forget she's barely in this episode. But if she had to be in it just to suffer more angst... I don't know, do I want her here? At the same time, she's told about William's paternity off-screen (by Skinner); and that's inexcusably lazy. WHY DIDN'T THEY HAVE A NEAR-END SCENE, ALA REQUIEM, WHERE THE TWO TALK ABOUT WILLIAM'S PATERNITY THEN-- THE PRESENT RHYMING WITH THE PAST????? That's in CC"s wheelhouse, WHY.
Kersh being angry at Mulder being on the internet... I DON'T care.
I will say: yes, that would get under an employer's skin if they're mouthing off on a known conspiracy theorist's show-- couldn't have happened without consequences (rightly or wrongly) in 2018. But also... WHY wouldn't Kersh just call Mulder in and breathe fire down his neck. Why is he spewing at Skinner, of all people?
Kersh "I'm shutting down The X-Files. I want Mulder and Scully's badges."
That... wouldn't happen. If anything, Mulder would be put on leave, not fired (to save face for the government)-- perhaps even softly fired (read: retired.) This reaction? This late in the game? Nah. Toothless.
Kersh acting irrationally and unreasonably-- "I don't care if it is true, that's someone else's problem"-- is also a butchering of his established character. So, add that to the list.
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The camera work and patchwork editing is so bad in this show, wow. Lipstick on a pig; and lipstick you have to stare at every day as the pig whines and squeals in inexhaustible, incorrigible levels for breakfast, lunch, and supper.
Scully's bad voice is back, WHY. GILLIAN, whyyyyyyyyyyy. You had a good mix in My Struggle II and My Struggle III.
My only explanation at this point is Scully took up stress smoking when on the run, off-and-off post IWTB, full-time during the breakup, and off-and-on again during the Revival. That's it.
SKINNER'S BEING PRECIOUS NOW ABOUT MULDER'S BEHAVIOR WHEN HE AND WILLIAM ARE IN DANGER AND BEING PURSUED.
SO, SKINNER IS WILLING TO SIT BACK, TAKE KERSH'S GUFF, AND REAM OUT MULDER AND SCULLY FOR MULDER'S WORDS (and figure out a way to keep their jobs, probably by licking a few boots) INSTEAD OF HELPING MULDER, WHO IS ON THE RUN WITH WILLIAM.
SO, SKINNER THINKS WILLIAM SHOULD GET CAUGHT, ESSENTIALLY, BY THE CSM-- who, by the way, he took a call from right before Scully came to ask for help; and who, by the way, told him the plague might all go away if he got his hands on "the boy"-- because he's not Mulder's son, anyway. AND IF YOU TAKE OFF YOUR GLASSES AND SQUINT AND ONLY FOCUS ON YOUR RETIREMENT FUND, THAT DOESN'T MEAN HE'S SCULLY'S SON, EITHER, RIGHT, BECAUSE WILLIAM IS NOW CSM'S, RIGHT, AND THAT MEANS HE SHOULD BE DISCARDED, RIGHT????
And Scully, when told off-screen, believes this is sound logic, I guess.
Also, it wasn't Mulder who gave Tad those statements, if was Scully.
1. But Tad gave Mulder the credit.
2. Despite him and Scully always talking.
3. And despite that statement belonging to her.
Real nice of you, Tad.
And Scully doesn't seem bothered, so I guess she's chicken about owning public statements and hid behind Mulder? Or let Tad hide her behind Mulder? Real nice of you, too, Scully.
Oh, look at the sign: I didn't know CC and co. had taken to self-parody, too:
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What a talented bunch.
Monica called Mulder and Scully to tell them where William was while CSM was on a smoke break.
That's nice.
Um. This probably won't be nice. it'll probably be a trap that we, the audience, are supposed to be fooled by because Scully just trusts Monica now despite having a vision that Monica was teaming up with the CSM-- and despite the fact that righteous loyalty means everything to her (because she regularly tore Skinner apart during the original run for being a coward or a traitor at sundry times.)
Scully had a sense that Jackson wasn't on the plane. But let Mulder go anyway even though Mulder was looking TO HER to tell him what to do, even though Mulder was trusting HER to have a good counterargument. So, while this doesn't strip Scully of her agency here, it DOES strip her of her character: normal Scully would have assessed the risks, laid out the possibilities, and presented facts combined with her own gut instinct and come to an agreement with Mulder. This Scully doesn't have anything to counter with, and just lets the matter go... even if you or I, sitting wherever we are in the world with our snacks in the midst of reading (back through, for me) my woe-is-me insights, can immediately think of a multitude of dangers and traps right off the top of our heads.
So... Scully has agency-- y'know, before she's tossed aside like a doll for the rest of the episode-- but she's also an idiot. Whereas Mulder has little agency-- and is given the most screen time while being caught-up in the current of other peoples' agendas-- and is also an idiot.
Just.
Lovely.
Not to be that fan who debates Earth 2 theories on a weekend (always going to think of that poke from Blood, thanks CC), but WHY is Scully letting Mulder go ALONE, AGAIN, knowing she's pregnant, when he could be in danger, captured, or killed when she's--again-- PREGNANT. AGAIN. Did she just want to relive Requiem, or...?
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10:30 in and... it's ridiculous but not atrocious. Yet.
The least offensive My Struggle thus far.
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, the Russian agents who attacked their home in This(?) were sent from Second Syndicate groupies, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. (Yes, I did watch the episodes out-of-order.) And here they are again. ...Continuity?
Mulder shoots off a gun outside? Or rigs a gun to go off? Or rigs his car to make noise...? Somehow? And aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall the guards run out to run off the intruder. Because of course they do. Which allows Mulder to sneak inside. Because of course it does.
MULDER'S CAUGHT IMMEDIATELY and just turns around and grabs a weapon from the guard's hand while holding said guard in a choke hold which holds off the other guards....?
I don't think that's how that works. I'm not buying it.
Three bullets go off and Mulder, we're shown, ducks into Syndicate Man Y's room.
WAIT, MULDER JUST KILLED ALL THOSE MEN. HE SHOT AT THEM AND THEY DIDN'T SHOOT HIM BACK THE MOMENT HE TOOK ONE OUT??????????
Whoa, whoa, whoa, go back a sec: MULDER. MULDER. KILLED THREE MEN. POINT BLANK. Instead of just backing up with his hostage, which is what he was already doing. Even IF that situation were to happen plausibly, HE KILLED THREE MEN IN COLD BLOOD WITHOUT A CARE IN THE WORLD. THREE MEN WHO WERE ARMED BUT SUBDUED.
Nope, we're back in Earth 2, ladies and gentlemen. GET OUTTA HERE, get out.
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MULDER JUST KILLS TWO MORE PEOPLE INCLUDING Y (at least this time in self-defense.) AND ONLY NOW REACTS BECAUSE HE SHOT Y, who he needed information from, WITHOUT THINKING.
There goes your information, BOZO.
One look at the security cams and Mulder's going away for a long time.
I will say: fans could use this as justification that like father, like son when it comes to violence. ...IF ONLY My Struggle IV wasn't breaking pre-established characterization to perhaps, maybe (definitely unintentionally) make that point.
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This whole facility only had five guards total? ...Odd (read: lazy writing.)
Jackson's outrunning militia men with twice or three times his experience? When one is right behind him in one shot then further behind in another? (Read: lazy writing.)
At least Scully found some info on the web. She couldn't BE THERE IN PERSON (read: lazy writing), but wherever Mulder ends up is due to her efforts and final conclusions. So... that's something?
Wait, wait, wait, "They found him"????? HOW DID SCULLY KNOW CSM'S GUYS FOUND WILLIAM??????? Did Monica send coordinates or something?????
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I'm a little over a fourth of the way through, siiiiiiiiiigh.
Gas station scene was... what was that? Obvious Canadian accent aside, the dialogue was so unnaturally punchy and to-the-point that... again, updated for the modern, punchy audience, I guess. (Read: lazy writing.)
Mulder's car just got tracked, great stuff. Fantastic.
Scully and Mulder's dialogue is SO BAD. SO BAD. (Read: lazy.)
DD's acting is suffering, too: it's not inherently terrible... it's rushed. He is rushed-- more to the point, he is being rushed. WHY? Why rush your principle actors for the finale of your television season, even if you hope there'll be another season to smooth things over then???? IT'S SO LAZY.
I hate how this episode is shot so much.
I hate Mulder's muscle car now. Where did he even get it, why does he even have it, how can he even charge it around the country like a heavy-duty, high-speed monster? Doesn't that wear on the engine? Because I'm lazy I typed in "does speeding a jaguar/mustang cause problems" and Google has informed me that, yes, it does: in fact, it causes safety and performance issues, especially at those maintained higher speeds. So, now I'm expecting Mulder to drift off the road sometime soon and die in a careening mushroom of fire and smoke.
Truck driver trying to give Jackson consolation and good advice: "I've seen it all-- driving can drive you mad." Cut to Mulder BECAUSE THAT'S CLEVER, GUYS. (Read: laaaaaaaaaaazyyyyyyyyyyyyy.)
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Truck Driver is supposed to be some sort of wise man who gets Jackson to reflect on his life choices, I suppose? All this time to yourself leads you to get into trouble-- what kind? "The kind you're looking for." And that'd be a cool beat... if it had lingered. Or mattered.
Or, I dunno, if Jackson had started talking to Mulder in disguise (on the same bus, for instance) because he'd been doing some digging or maybe because he'd read some of Scully or CSM's thoughts and saw Mulder prominently featured. And asked him those questions because he needs guidance, and he's alone, and afraid; and his loneliness hopes to find advice or balm from another solitary, lonely soul. And Mulder could have given him sage advice, shown off the wisdom he'd learned: that the Truth is elusive, a fantasy; and that it'll keep driving you to madness and never ending lines. WOULDN'T THAT HAVE BEEN COOL, CHRIS.
It definitely would have given Mulder more to do than DRIVE and ASSASSINATE people (and his character.)
And you know what would have been cooler? If Scully tried to reach out comfortingly to William when he connected with her briefly and that's how he learned bits about Mulder and that's how he knew Mulder was coming after him and that's what made him curious to hitch alongside Mulder and ask him these questions.
Here, I wrote a better episode for Chris Carter (didn't even need the plane tip off or the Second Syndicate segment): could have just had Monica say Jackson was spotted in a localized area and that CSM's men were after him. Then you send over Mulder, have William connect with Scully, have her try to reassure him, have him seek out and hitch a ride around with Mulder (as "Jackson's friend") and "lead" Mulder to "Jackson's" hiding place while probing and prodding him for guidance and advice. Then CSM's men show up, Jackson runs; Mulder finds him again later at a motel, BOOM, SIMPLE.
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We see the scene when Scully called Tad-- I don't care-- and didn't put her name to her claims. And said "Agent Mulder's our only hope" because he was out there trying to find William.
Why.
Because Mulder's the big beefy action hero now, of course; which the writers shall swiftly undercut and back down from for the "SURPRISE, THEY'RE HAVING A BAAAAAAAAAABYYYYYY" finale.
Weak. (Read: lazy writing.)
Tad's assistant is named Karen, wow.
Jackson just terrifies a driver who kindly picked him up and kindly gave him advice and kindly tried to help him open up BECAUSE HE DIDN'T BELIEVE JACKSON COULD SHAPE SHIFT. And because Jackson could and felt miffed that he wasn't believed, he did.
BECAUSE JACKSON'S A PSYCHOPATHIC MONSTER.
Chris Carter, what are you DOING.
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Mulder completely passes the truck then goes back to see what happened-- which is in line with his character, sure I guess.
Jackson gets a vision of the future about "Mulder's" death, which means he will finally live up to his destiny and stop being a meanie, guys, and save Mulder's life-- which is supposed to be a redemption arc. Except it's undercut by completely selfish reasons: he needs to "die" so he'll stop being chased... and also, the finale's confrontation turns out to be a happenstance misunderstanding. Great stuff.
He'll be all happy, too, when Scully says to leave him alone. Mark my words.
MULDER IGNORES SCULLY'S WARNING. COMPLETELY. Looks like we're back on Earth 2, again.
"You're not listening to me," Scully begs./"You're not listening to ME," Mulder insists; and I do Not CAAAAAAAAAARE.
"I've seen how it ends, Mulder" means NOTHING, SCULLY, there is no SUBSTANCE, SCULLY, use your words, SCULLY.
STOP BEING AN IDIOT, MULDER, YOU WERE NEVER THIS STUPID, MULDER, GO ON THE DOWN-LOW IF YOU WON'T TURN BACK, MULDER.
CHECK FOR FOLLOWERS, MULDER.
CSM's dude found Jackson, of course.
I don't even want to THINK about the travel logistics in this episode.
Also: look, man, I'm sorry, Jackson isn't Mulder and Scully's son. You know who he SHOULD have been? A Project baby ala Emily Sim. It would explain Scully's visions. You know what, who cares, let's go there: I'd rather William had never existed than see him turned into THIS. Let's be real: he's sadistic. He's not a wayward teenager, he takes gruesome delight in using and frightening well-meaning people for his gain. He was raised right, taught to act right, and disappointed those parents (and by proxy caused their deaths) through his own choices.
You can argue "this is Chris Crust's episode and we should ignore what he says", but THIS is William, too: an unadulterated, unfiltered, unbuffered look at how Carter envisions William after his adoption, with his powers in tact. We as a fandom can point out the damage and flaws and stupid mistakes to the conception timeline, but William is a psychopath no matter how you slice it. He could chose to be an ethical one, he could choose to be a pity party one, or he could chose to be a sadistic one. The point stands... is this who you would consider to be Mulder and Scully's son, no matter how much Morgan tried to soften the blow in Ghoulie?
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Oh, look, there's West Duchovny. She did just fine, good chops. I can see her finding her niche and excelling in it. Thumbs up.
Also: I don't care about Jackson's old girlfriends... but he immediately shows up and starts emotionally manipulating Girl A, and IMMEDIATELY puts down his ex's sister-- "You're up past your bedtime"-- because she calls him out on his behavior. AND GOOD FOR YOU, WEST'S CHARACTER, YOU STOOD UP FOR YOURSELF AND REFUSED TO STEP DOWN, simply nodding while sweetly "you can't bully me" smiling. GO, GIRL.
So. Jackson's not only a psychopathic manipulator, he's also a tad abusive and controlling. Just... just a lovely combination.
Also, also: Mulder found the other ex and is questioning her. So, like father, like son; except, like mitochondrial brother-father, like mitochondrial brother-son.
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OH. So they aren't even his exes. Or one of them isn't, at least.
So he's a liar, a coward, a manipulator, a psychopath, AND resource-using bum. Fantastic.
And Girl B seems to know he has two girlfriends, seems sad about it, but... lets it be. Girlie deserves better.
"I can't believe you, Sarah," says Girl A's sister (West) and honestly she's 100% correct.
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Jackson is giving himself a pity party because he's on the run from the people who killed his parents AND YET won't go to the two agents who he knows want to help him because....
Because then he wouldn't get to live with the excuses he does now.
Sarah is too emotionally tied to her cute, freak monster man and not in a cute Tumblr way.
NOW JACKSON IS THREATENING, in effect, SUICIDE AND HOLDING OUT THE CARROT THAT HE WON'T KILL HIMSELF IF SARAH COMES WITH HIM. TO WHERE AND FOR WHAT.
And when Sarah turns him down-- "I can't"-- he pushes past her "no" by immediately bartering for them to live a nice life on their own terms because he has "money."
There is no excuse for this, at all. None of these behaviors mark Jackson as a good person, none of them mark him as a dumb teenager in trouble, none of them mark him as a troubled soul who is forced into the situation he's in and just wants to be free. ALL of his behaviors expose him as a selfish, self-righteous, angry, egotistical, psychopathic, self-centered little narcissist. A little black-souled humanoid who will do and say the things he needs to to get his way-- being kind to Scully because she cried over him (a stroke to his vanity and ego), being kind to his girlfriends in order to string them along for free food and housing (self-serving and self-centered cash-ins) and vulnerably crying and admitting suicidal thoughts to Sarah (a diabolically manipulative tactic to not feel so alone in his self-imposed exile.)
Insane.
I'm calling him "Little Riverdale Psychopath", LRP, from now on.
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Mulder shows up, "West gets a little meta "I don't believe you're his father" (and honestly? Wish Mulder and Scully had had a kid with her sense and "prove it to me but I'll listen" instincts and good manners. OH, WELL, I GUESS.)
Plot, who cares.
Mulder shows up at the hotel; and answers LRP's direct, "Who is it?" with an equally direct, "I'm your father." Go, Mulder. (...If only this wasn't Earth 2 Mulder.)
Mulder delivers his infamous, "You're taller than me. I held you when you were a baby"... and BOY does that moment fly past quick: three seconds later, Little Riverdale Psychopath says, "Okay, maybe you did but I don't remember that" and Mulder the NPC draws back to dole out expositional dialogue. WELP, MOMENT OVER, I GUESS.
THE DIALOGUE IS SO BAD even David Duchovny's letting me down. It cuts from Mulder's genuine emotion to Little Riverdale Psychopath's reaction to Duchovny's suddenly flat, emotionless, and disconnected expression-- who then, without warning or precursor, yells, "I can PROTECT YOU if you trust me!"
WHERE DID THAT COME FROM.
WHAT HAPPENED.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY BOY.
WHO directed him to do that and WHO said that was the best take and WHO even wrote this dialogue to begin with-- oh, wait.
The entire thing feels so stitched together, with no seamless transition between takes; and the disconnect is even more pronounced because the editor chose the WORST takes to stitch together in the cutting room. WHY.
Firstly, LRP tries to point out that Mulder doesn't share the same visions that he and CSM do (without mentioning CSM) but Mulder doesn't get it. Secondly, CC is trying to soften LRP up here so we'll see he's a scawed widdle boi deep down, see, he did these things because he's just pwotecting himself, guys.
I don't buy it. It's just more evidence of how BADLY Chris Carter's writing has devolved. What happened, Chris, did you just not care, was this all flash so you could delve into substance in yet another season in yet another hopeful bid to FINALLY get the movie franchise you so desperately wanted? How many more seasons will it take before you accept that you're not getting any closer to your dream because you won't put your all into the opportunities you have right in front of your face? How are they less valuable, less deserving of your time and attention, of your care and abilities, just because they're not what YOU deem to be enough? What is enough, and when will you have enough before you have to face yourself and your failures in the mirror? Never enough? Always on the move, always driving towards that elusive Truth, Chris? Always following never-ending lines that lead you ultimately nowhere?
When will it end, Chris Carter? Can you not bear the fact that it will, that it has? That it's over?
MULDER, like an idiot, DOESN'T LISTEN TO LRP'S WARNING AND JUST OPENS THE DOORS SO THE MILITIA CAN COME THROUGH. Proving immediately that LRP CAN'T rely OR trust him. Wow.
What happened to the Mulder that took his cues from the paranormal participants around him, that sensed when danger was closing in because he paid attention to the signs no one else did? What happened to Earth 1 Mulder? Can I exchange this idiot for $2, at least?
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FOR A SPLIT SECOND, Little Riverdale Psychopath contemplated killing Mulder; then decided to leave well enough alone.
Wow.
Can he stay dead in the water? For me, as a treat? No, not a treat-- as a deserving award.
(Hey, I forgot to eat my snack and provide commentary on it. But there's still 14:44 minutes left, and if I start now it might be done before the ending. Do I save it for afterward, or chance it now...?)
Mulder the Buffoon lost LPR again.
Back to present: Skinner post-Kersh reaming.
Scully gets a call, and is told Mulder lost Little Riverdale Psychopath.
MULDER FAILED YOU GUYS, GET IT. So he calls Scully and mourns his failure and Scully insists on coming down because, "He'll listen to me." Scully gets another check mark on her agency tab BUT AT THE COST OF HER AND MULDER'S CHARACTER. WHY wasn't she there to begin with?
And here's the truth, the truest truth of all: Scully's not there-- NOT because she's a woman, NOT because she's a mother, NOT because she's pregnant-- because if she were there, William WOULDN'T have run away, Mulder WOULDN'T have opened the motel door, Mulder WOULDN'T have walked into the light in Requiem.
While it made sense in Requiem (abductions and cancer concerns looming over her head), it makes ZERO sense now, especially when she'll just pivot on a dime and fly out to talk to William, anyway.
Ironically, she is actually the key to everything... and that's why she can't be there, because then the plot has to progress; and then WHAT WILL the writers do????? They'd have to write a coherent plot!!!! The HORROR!
Scully's gonna go, Skinner nearly whines ("I'm supposed to reign you in"), and Scully becomes the voice of sole reason in this entire episode-- "This isn't about the FBI, Sir: this is about our son"-- before she waltzes away to commit the highest treason of her character. LOVELY.
Lazy, lazy, lazy. CC really thought he aced this finale, didn't he?
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Skinner is going to drive her; which is, we're left to assume, when he tells her about William's true father. OFF-SCREEN.
Tad's back, oh well, I don't care.
(Also, forgot to mention: Little Riverdale Psychopath killed the undercover agent that picked him up. Without remorse. Oh, well, I don't care. Do you expect me to feel pity?)
Here's a blurry screenshot because no one-- including myself and Chris Carter-- care about Tad:
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We could be frustrated that West's character is covering for her sister (who is gone? or something?) but she's a real ride-or-die. And as far as she knows, this strange man didn't say he was FBI just that he was LRP's father; and as far as we know, she doesn't believe a word he said. I'm on her side all the way.
THEY CUT AWAY JUST AS SKINNER WAS GOING TO TELL SCULLY; and of course they ate up the time with meaningless filler dialogue ("There's something I gotta tell you, something that you need to know, something that you might not want to hear" WHO CARES, just TELL ME.)
West's character is convinced-- we don't get to see that either, shocking-- and guestimates Sarah and LRP would be meeting up at the docks. Tumblrinas, here we go.
Wait, so we DO get to see Scully's reaction to hearing the news. WE'RE JUST NOT GIVEN ANY TIME TO DWELL ON IT because she immediately spots Mulder's car and changes the conversation. ...That's even worse because-- according to the script and on-screen dialogue-- that means she processed it quickly and readily disowned him later knowing she was already pregnant. Not just lazy writing but completely alien... and awful. And so detached in intent that it comes across as mean-spirited.
I'm convinced that CC meant to have Scully "owning" her agency and bodily autonomy by having her reject William, tell Mulder to move on (by following her lead), and forge the way into a new and better future with their confirmed miracle baby.... and that is SO off the mark to Scully's character, to parental instincts, to human nature itself that it's BAFFLING.
Not only does this make her seem callous and selfishly uncaring-- reminiscent of her not caring for the missing women in IWTB because the case inconvenienced her, and stabbing Sveta with a medical instrument in My Struggle I-- but it strips Scully away from a fully empowered choice. If the writing had been just a tenth better, we would have sat with her digesting the news, with Gillian emoting Scully's conflicted feelings; and come away from that obscene ending with a better grasp of her head space.
Instead, the final pages were withheld-- exactly what CC did to Gillian and Mitch Pileggi in Requiem, seventeen years earlier-- and no time was given to focus in on, let alone explore, Scully's emotional state and burgeoning decision. Gillian herself had no idea how the episode would end; and, with vanishing night and mere hours to film before the location was a wrap, didn't have much time to explore those territories herself in preparation.
And Scully isn't the only one to suffer: Mulder is made into an action-hero shell of his former self-- empathy and in-tune sensitivity gone' eyes only for the mission, reckless and heedless and one-track minded on his goal. Exactly the kind of men he'd derided and warned against in the original run. A man so focused on his own wants and wishes that he overlooks the warning signs that even he, paranormal enthusiast and UFO-light chaser extraordinaire, wouldn't miss a mile away.
The two of them bounce between useful idiots and plot devices. As do Skinner and Kersh and Monica Reyes and CSM, who have no character. As do LRP's girlfriends/exes. As does the Second Syndicate. As do the undercover agent, the truck driver, the gas station employee. None of them are people, let alone characters.
WHAT HAPPENED: it's simple, and I'll put it in caps for my sake: CHRIS CARTER CAN ONLY FOCUS ON FLESHING OUT ONE CHARACTER AT A TIME.
In My Struggle I, Mulder was center-stage and humanized; and Scully merely an addition to his findings.
In My Struggle II, Scully was center-stage, and Mulder merely a prop to her medical science.
In My Struggle III, CSM was center-stage, and Mulder's driving and Scully's visions merely a tool to further the plot to his next monologue.
In My Struggle IV, Little Riverdale Psychopath is center-stage, and Mulder's hopeful quest and Scully's declaration merely side plots in his end goal of freedom.
It's literally as simple as that: the same pattern held true in a lot of CC-centric episodes, with the exceptions of the Pilot, Triangle, and How the Ghosts Stole Christmas. Every other one focused heavily on one character (a Christmas Carol, All Souls, Fight Club, etc.) at a time; or if Mulder and Scully shared screen time, one usually got kidnapped (Deep Throat, The Erlenmeyer Flask, etc.) or both were separated (every mytharc to date.)
Ironically, the episodes that were solo-focused were mainly Scully, not Mulder, story lines (Irresistible, Revelations, A Christmas Carol, All Souls, Orison, Fight Club, etc.) My guess? Carter considered Mulder a less empathetic character, and thus not as juicy to lob dilemmas or emotional gut punches to. Scully, meanwhile, as the normal and sane character would be most in-tune, I'll bet he supposed, with the audience's reaction. In short: LAZY.
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Monica Reyes tries to stop CSM from running over Skinner, but... lets him drive a very, very long distance to run Skinner over. Because, as established in my My Struggle II reaction, she's selfish and self-serving.
Another beloved character butchered-- literally, she's dead.
Skinner's decision to stand his ground against an on-coming car THEN start to lightly run back to his own was... stupid. Especially because-- aren't there stairs to a door right behind him? RUN THERE.
Also: Mulder and Scully hear Skinner's shots, and Mulder stops her from going back to help because... he wants to reiterate that William wants to be found. ...WHO CARES, SKINNER'S IN DANGER.
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"Stop, it's no use!" Mulder monotones. ...Really buying that line delivery.
OH, WAIT, this is Little Riverdale Psychopath. He's being flat because he's manipulating her-- saying, "He [LRP] knows that you love him" as a way to convince her to let him go later. ...'Kay.
It makes sense that Mulder wouldn't go check on Skinner-- this is bloodthirsty LRP. Got it.
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Mulder shows up, yells, "Scully, stop him!" and I'm thankful for small mercies-- that Mulder didn't betray his own character to give up on Little Riverdale Psychopath.
Now this is where Scully realizes this kid has no idea what he's doing or how to keep himself safe and decides to completely ignore what he told her-- except that he loves her-- and claim him anyway, right???
Or are we going to get an Emily 2.0 where she lets another child go because that child asks her to-- DESPITE that situation being a entirely different context and piloted by entirely different reasons-- repackaged (read: lazily) anew to justify the finale's decision.
Guess which one, boom, you win a prize: nothing. We all lose.
Scully chooses here to chase after him... SOOO why does she let him go later? Because the last hidden pages told her to do so, that's why.
You're telling me Little Riverdale Psychopath is able to outrun Mulder the Nimble? Not a chance.
I can't believe they slowed Duchovny down to make William appear faster. What a travesty. You can TELL he's holding his back: walk-jogging at MOST.
This long chase scene was absolutely necessary, guys. More necessary than giving Scully any time to process William's parentage. Definitely.
Oh. Wow. The final confrontations' lazy.
CSM somehow beats everyone to the dock.
Little Riverdale Psychopath for some reason decided to dress up as Mulder again.
CSM thinks LRP is Mulder and shoots him.
Wow. That clever twist was certainly worth the entire mytharc and Spartan virus buildup and Monica's death and Skinner's supposed death and this entire episode's butchery.
I'm, frankly, impressed by CC's super villain powers of laziness.
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CC's absolute lack of nuts, wow. He gave the paternity question an out: "That I'm the one who made him. That I'm his creator." What a sneaky little--
And you know why, too: so he can bait the "is he or isn't he?" next season. And when that didn't happen, he leaped to mitochondrial DNA instead of, I don't know, saying CSM restored Scully's fertility (a complete and total rewrite of history) an leave it at that.
But no. He's so, so smart and we've gotta deal with it.
"When I gave you life," CSM says, "I never fathomed the moment when I would end it."
That's 'cuz you're not the daddy, CSM, until later canon deemed it so. Or, if you want to stick to the bio dad heresy: you never knew Mulder was your child until years in (after One Son, at least.) Perhaps you had suspicions, perhaps you guessed; but never with any proof before Amor Fati-- hence why you kept trying to kill him, then pivoted to grooming and sacrificing later. And now that the game is tired and you are old and ready to father more sons with Scully, Mulder has run his course.
The whole thing's so stupid.
I have more criticisms of Duchovny's acting, I know, I know: he's acting as LRP acting as himself... but there is no mania, no wide-eyed expressions, no soul inside of himself that is separate from Mulder's. We all know he's capable-- Small Potatoes, for example-- but why isn't he doing so here?
Again, I'll BET there were some... unique directions on set. If I were to wager a guess, I'd posit that CC's paranoia over his "vision" being lessened (via studio interference or scripts leaking) also extended to his actors-- that he couldn't let their in-the-moment-instincts get in the way of his ideas, that what they brought to the table wasn't good enough for his thematic shots-- and that his final say overrode their input or gut reactions.
Definitely something I need to look into.
WHY DOES DD ACT MORE LIKE LITTLE RIVERDALE PSYCHOPATH WHEN KILLING CSM IN COLD BLOOD THAN HE DID AS MULDER ACTING AS LITTLE RIVERDALE PSYCHOPATH???????? YES, Mulder is emotive, YES DD acts him that way in a rage; but WHAT IN THE WIDE, WIDE, PEARL-CLUTCHING WORLD WAS THAT.
CHRIS CARTER, you let DD rage when slaying CSM but not EMOTE as LRP, an emotive person, WHO WAS FACING DOWN A BULLET.
And yes, I'm aware that Little Riverdale Psychopath was manipulating the CSM into pulling the trigger, hence his "Would you really be able to do it?" moment, but COME ONE, GIVE DAVID SOME LEEWAY HERE.
Or, and I shall lay this criticism down now: David Duchovny, what was this? I know if you were to watch this back you'd find a million places you could improve. Were you rushed, did you not care, were you following CC's directions to the letter? Did he have more restrictions for you than Gillian? What happened here, man?
And yes, I know: Mulder shot CSM multiple times and pushed him in the river.
CSM wouldn't still be standing.
Um, no. Mulder's a one shot kinda guy.
And yes, I will agree with fandom sentiment: why didn't Scully get to pull the trigger here? Because it was about fathers and sons, yeah, I see the themes. AND SO WHAT. WHAT ABOUT SCULLY, the one who had a tie to William, the one who led Mulder this entire episode, the one LRP knew loved him?
Was CC's decision to have Mulder shoot CSM a way of proving Mulder's love to/for William? To give Little Riverdale Psychopath a frame of reference? ...Or just because it would be cool?
Who knows because there won't be a Season 12.
I will say: there's a sadistic glee I derive from that ending for CSM-- he's dead before he can even figure out what happened, or even that he'd been duped. But also: I'm so emotionally tapped out I might hate it later. Depends.
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Here we go, time for the worst part of the episode.
I'm not going to try to make sense of any of this because there is no sense to make.
Mulder is working up to a break down-- oh LOOK, David Duchovny CAN act. WOW. INTERESTING.
Scully hears William just died and says...
"He wanted us to let him go."
I don't think he really wanted to get MURDERED though, Scully.
"He wasn't meant to be"/"He was our SON"/"No"-- get sniped by a thousand paper cuts.
"Scully, he was our son." Great voice crack, great emotion, where was this before, HMMMMMM? (100% it was suppressed due to action man on-set Chris Carter. I'd bet that $2 I wanted from trading back Earth 2 Mulder on this.)
"No. William was an experiment, Mulder. He was an idea, born in a laboratory" BYEEEEEE get ye gone, shoo, vamoose.
GA's REALLY trying to save this, bless her heart. But... what a disservice to Scully. Mulder, too-- sure, fine, whatever: but he got to grieve and Scully did not. How... did CC think this was okay?
Scully stopping to release a breath after denying herself as William's mother is.... heartbreaking.
Her sentiment in this scene is not even in line with THIS canon, nor the exchange she and Little Riverdale Psychopath had MINUTES ago when LRP assured her he knew she loved him. THAT was a motherly moment between Scully and her child-- that should result in the EXACT OPPOSITE of her conclusion on the docks. THAT WOULD HAVE CEMENTED HER FEELINGS EVEN IF SHE LET HIM GO, what were you THINKING, CC. TH-THIS DOESN'T EVEN MAKE LOGICAL sense in your own SCENES, CC.
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"I carried him, and I bore him... but I was never a mother to him." UM, you were mere minutes ago-- and LRP recognized that repeatedly IN HIS OWN MONOLOGUE, CHRIS CARTER, you lazy, LAZY man , you.
"For so long I believed.... What am I now if not a father?" DD did his best but even I can recognize he doesn't believe that line.
My blood pressure's about to go through the roof.
"You are a father."/"What are you talking about." I'm literally crawling through this exchange at a snail's pace as if to put off the inevitable.
You know, this would have been great, say, seventeen years ago. And while Gillian and David are knocking this scene out of the park,
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I WANT TO HANG CRUST CRACKER BY HIS SURFER SHORTS IN THE TOWN SQUARE.
GIVE ME ONE MOMENT ALONE WITH HIM,
WE NEED TO TALK.
To me, My Struggle I was the worst... but these last couple minutes? Might rival that. Does, honestly, because while MSI can be swept aside as insane ramblings, THIS is a measured, introspective dive into Scully and her motivations: pure, unadulterated self-preservation. One that casts aside her loyalty and love for little William; and one that hand waves away Mulder's feelings for his son, as well. Her character is dealt the greatest blow in service to CC's boredom and flashy vision, and her and Mulder's legacy and happiness are scrambled around and mashed so incoherently that both have officially shed their skins and lost themselves on that dock. To me, they were gone a looooooong time ago. But now, there is no going back.
We end on them sniffling sadly, at the end of their emotional tethers,
AND OH, LOOK, LITTLE RIVERDALE PSYCHOPATH'S ALIVE--
I don't care.
CONCLUSION
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The psychic toll of this episode is immense. My Struggle I made me rage the most... but this one... this one is cumulatively the worst.
MSI was a rewrite of the mythology that ripped Mulder and Scully apart; but they were knitted back to the files with hope(ish) for their future. MSII made some progress and gave Scully a significant role fighting faux Colonization. MSIII stripped away MSII but was, largely, useless. MSIV, though... destroyed everyone. No pity, no mercy.
And all in the last ten minutes. Wow.
I said what I've said, and now I'm counting to three.
Thanks for reading, I'm mad.
Enjoy!
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silly1billy · 3 days ago
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~ Taking a Break ~
pairing: Changbin x f!reader genre: fluff word count: 560
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Changbin was in the middle of his workout, his brows furrowed in concentration as he lifted weights, arms flexing under the gym lights. His hoodie was long discarded, leaving him in a fitted tank top that showed off just how much effort he put into training. You had tagged along, claiming you just wanted to “spend time” with him, but in reality, you just loved watching him.
At first, it was kind of fun—seeing him get all serious, his lips slightly parted as he focused on his form. But after a while? Boring.
He had been at this for at least forever.
“Binnie,” you called sweetly, swinging your legs from your seat on the nearby bench. No response.
He had his earbuds in, lost in his own little world. Okay, plan B.
Standing up, you padded over to him and gently poked his bicep. Nothing. You poked again—still nothing. Your pout deepened. Fine. He asked for this.
With a mischievous glint in your eyes, you stepped forward and wrapped your arms around his waist from behind, resting your cheek against his back. “Binnie,” you whined dramatically, dragging out his name like a child asking for candy.
That got his attention. He sighed, setting the dumbbells down and pulling out one earbud. “Babe,” he said, amusement clear in his voice. “What are you doing?”
“Distracting you,” you answered shamelessly, squeezing him a little tighter. “You’ve been working out forever. Pay attention to me.”
His low chuckle vibrated through his chest. “It’s been, like, twenty minutes.”
“Exactly! That’s so long.” You pulled away slightly, moving to stand in front of him with your arms crossed. “I think you’ve worked out enough for today.”
Changbin tilted his head at you, lips twitching as if he was trying to hold back a smile. “You just want attention, don’t you?”
“Maybe,” you admitted with a shrug. “Is that so bad?”
He sighed in an exaggerated manner, shaking his head like you were such a handful, but the fondness in his eyes betrayed him. “And what do you suggest I do instead of working out?”
“Cuddle me,” you said instantly, stepping closer and pressing your palms against his chest. “I’m much more fun than lifting weights.”
Changbin raised an eyebrow, pretending to think. “Hmm… I don’t know. Lifting is important.”
“So is cuddling,” you shot back, stepping up on your tiptoes to nuzzle his nose. “It helps with muscle recovery, you know.”
He snorted. “That’s not how that works.”
“Shh,” you placed a finger over his lips. “Just listen to me.”
A beat of silence passed before he let out a dramatic groan, as if this was some huge burden for him. But before you could react, he wrapped his arms around your waist and lifted you up effortlessly, making you yelp in surprise.
“Binnie!” you squealed, wrapping your legs around his torso on instinct.
“What?” he said innocently, adjusting his hold. “You wanted me to stop working out, right? I’m stopping.”
“You’re still lifting something!”
“Yeah, but this is way more enjoyable.” His lips curled into a smirk, clearly enjoying the way your cheeks flushed.
You huffed but didn’t argue, instead burying your face in his neck. “I win.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, pressing a small kiss to your temple as he carried you over to a nearby bench. Sitting down with you still in his lap, he sighed contentedly. “You really are spoiled.”
“And whose fault is that?” you teased, poking his chest.
He only smiled, hugging you closer as he murmured, “Mine.”
And just like that, workout time turned into cuddle time, just as you had planned.
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haleigh-sloth · 1 day ago
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idk if youve written about this before but who do you think will heal like "fix" Rin: Isagi or Sae? (sorry for bad english)
(don't apologize!)
I kind of did
This was not too long ago and I still think feel the way I did when I wrote that.
I still think Rin's issues will be one of the core conflicts later on, seeing as how this entire PXG match was written to develop him further (make him more insane). Dedicating 200 chapters to developing one character means that character's conflicts are important and there will be more shit for that character later on. As far as fixing or helping (I get what you mean) I think it's gonna be a combo of both of them but more than that, Rin pulling himself together. Mostly because that's the pattern in Blue Lock so far. Nobody really discloses their baggage with anyone, the only one to do that was Bachira and that's because of how his relationship with Isagi is (very different from the other dynamics in the manga) and how Bachira just is as a person (very open about everything, esp w/ Isagi).
Bachira*, Chigiri, Barou, Nagi, Hiori, Yukimiya, Kaiser--> all of these people were "helped" by Isagi, but Isagi didn't do anything. He reached out to them to get them to collaborate and win matches. He was either met with resistance (Barou, Chigiri, Yuki) or willingness to make it work (Nagi, Kaiser**). Each time the outcome is the same though. Chigiri remembered why soccer was fun, so he jumped back in, Nagi realized what it's like to actually feel fired up about something, anything, Barou realized he can't just be The Way That He Is and win matches/be useful in matches/be a part of the team and given the opportunity/chance to score for the team. Hiori and Yukimiya found inspiration just playing with Isagi, Hiori moved past the pressure his awful parents put on him and found his own personal reason to play, Yuki and Isagi had a couple of Bad Moments and it worked out because they're both willing to admit mistakes and learn and change.
*Again, Bachira's situation was quite different from the rest, so we won't dive into his stuff here **Kaiser is unreliable and this comes with a grain of salt and that is an entire other post in itself, but the point still stands
Soooo moving back to Rin...I expect him to follow the same pattern. When you compare Rin's reaction to Isagi just PLAYING SOCCER and literally EVERYONE ELSE'S REACTION to Isagi just PLAYING SOCCER it's really wild.
Everyone else:
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Rin:
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Even fucking Kaiser started out acting like Rin and then shifted to feeling like everyone else (Kaiser and his unreliable narrating is a whole other post so I won't get into that here).
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Everyone figured their own stuff out on their own terms (Not Kaiser lol). Rin should probably work out the same seeing as how he is seeing the same Isagi as everyone else but having a total 180 reaction. Rin is very much an anomaly though because unlike everyone else in the manga, he's stuck in his emotions and broken heart and can't get past it, and *his issues/narrative conflicts actually involve other characters who participate in the story (Sae). We're never gonna see Hiori face his parents or anything like that, so Rin is clearly a different type of story than everyone else.
*Kaiser and Ness but again, different post
Rin has two obstacles:
Figuring out what Sae was trying to tell him when he dumped him (in a fuck awful way, Sae is an idiot)
And the way he views Isagi
I didn't include "fixing relationship with Sae" as an obstacle because THAT will not happen unless he realizes #1. This story is all about "egos" (ego meaning finding your reason/motivation and not relying on anyone else). Rin always just wanted to be in his brother's shadow and Sae got really tired of that because he knew Rin was capable of more than that, so he dumped him.
Rin loses his shit a little (understandably honestly, really sad), uses his anger as a motivator (still missing the mark, that makes Rin codependent on Sae still), realizes there is finally someone who isn't just one of Rin's stepping stones (how Rin used to view everyone around him, first character flaw we see), and lost his shit a little more. Decided that beating Isagi was his next goal, which setting more reachable goals like that is good (it's what Isagi did with Kaiser), but because Rin has so many other unresolved issues he wasn't able to be normal about it and he let Isagi send him into a spiral/borderline meltdown on the soccer field in the PXG match LOL. Rin placed Isagi in the same playing field as his brother, literally compared the two saying he needs someone who makes him suffer in order to play to his fullest potential.
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I don't think I need to explain why that thought process is completely fucked up lol. Sae legitimately hurt Rin. Isagi did nothing to him, so this comparison is evident of how desperate Rin is to keep finding a reason to play (his own ego).
I think the order of events for Rin has to be:
Get over this weird fixation on Isagi. Shift from letting Isagi ruin his life to letting Isagi inspire him like everyone else. View Isagi as someone to fight alongside and compete against without escalating into a mental breakdown lol.
Realize why he's playing soccer---> he SHOULD come to the conclusion that this sport brings him joy and it's fun. So far we've never see him really enjoy it. That's been the core of several arcs, Chigiri, NAGI especially my god (that's literally been the whole reason anything in blue lock has gone the way it has for Nagi lmao), Hiori. And even Bachira calls him out on it.
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If things go that way---> THEN I think Sae will see this change and their relationship can mend itself. Sae just sees Rin as an annoying sibling who wants to ride his brother's ass and annoy him forever being happy with settling for living in a shadow (literally, this was confirmed by Kaneshiro that Sae does not view their little spat the same as Rin does, he thinks Rin is just being annoying, Sae is an idiot lol).
I also think Rin needs friends. He has none. Realizing that people are playing WITH him is started this WHOLE downward spiral in the U20 match, so for me it seems that Rin's endgame should be embracing the 10 other people he's playing with and enjoy it with them, not feel like he has to be alone and do everything himself otherwise he's not good enough. I think Isagi (and Bachira too tbh) will be key to this part of Rin's story.
To answer your question:
Yes. Lol.
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Note
I continue to love your writing, and the components continue to have my heart. So, I am asking for the components racing with their S/O for the first time. (possibly a continuation of the components x steamer reader if you want) (Again, you don't have to do all of them, but I'm again asking for all of them because they all have my heart.)
Thank you for your contribution to the STEX fandome❣️😘
Sorry this took a bit! I love all of them as well so you're getting every single one of them :> (Also for everyone's knowledge, inbox is fully empty now)
Thank you so much for loving my writing it genuinely means a lot! <3 I will continue to write for the STEX fandom and provide self indulgence o7 it's important
Cut for length
Wrench
Wrench would be extremely honored to race with you. I feel like it’s kind of a next step in your relationship since racing is such a big deal in that specific trainyard. 
She would try to hide her excitement, but trust me when I tell you that she is extremely excited about this race now. She wouldn’t even mind if the two of you lost, she just loves being shown up together with you as if she’s your truck
Wrench doesn’t admit it out loud, but the idea of her being called your truck really feels like it had a nice ring to it. She would never leave Electra, but maybe figuring out a way she can work for both you and them is kind of in the back of her head the entire race
If the two of you end up winning, oh it will be a memory forever ingrained in her brain. Racing over the line with the bright lights shining over you and her. The skate around just receiving fans’ applause and you just look so amazing under the lights
She didn’t know she could love you more and then you turn back to her and show her off to the public, showing that you won with her and that you think she deserves as much applause as you do as an engine. 
Trust me that she’ll do everything in her power to let you know how happy she is with that and takes you out to properly celebrate 
Killerwatt
Killerwatt isn’t the racer, he’s the one keeping people like you and Electra safe. Also he’s usually used at the messenger to go get someone else to race, so for you to ask him if he’d like to race with you…
Just pure confusion from this man. He’d start quietly prattling on about how that’s not a good idea as he’s a security truck and a lot heavier than more, as well as bulky and not nimble like someone like Joule or even Purse for that matter-
But no you’ve made up your mind, you want him to race with you. After all it’s not about winning for you like it is for Greaseball and Electra and really most of the rest. For you it’s more about that you get to spend time with him in such a thrilling setting
He’s never going to show you, but he’s actually super nervous about racing with you. After all he hasn’t ever done this before and he’s afraid he’ll be the reason you lose
You just tell him that no matter what, you’d just be happy to race with him. That he shouldn’t be so nervous about winning and losing, you just want him behind you no matter what
He hides how touched he feels, but he feels so lucky that someone like you loves him so dearly. He’s a lot less nervous after your little talk together. After all he’ll always have you to love him, no matter what the ending is of the race
If the two of you end up winning, he’ll be really surprised, but ultimately happy about the outcome. He wouldn’t know how to take the applause that the two of you would be getting, but at least you know you’ll immediately be protected from any fans that might try to get too close
He’ll thank you afterwards with a rare soft smile on his face. So hey that’s a proper win for you >:D
Volta
Volta would be a little bit torn. As she is usually the go to coach for Electra. The last time for some reason they just had to have Pearl and so that time she ended up not being together with him. This time though she was assumed to be with them once more
But her lover just asked her so lovingly and Electra does have more people to ask… After a very long time thinking about it, she decides to go to Electra and have a talk about it. Even though they’re not happy about this question they decide that Volta doesn’t often ask for things like this, so… “Sure whatever, go with your lover. I’ll just take Null instead.”
She is very quick to skate over to you to tell you about how she would love to race with you. Honestly you didn’t expect her to actually be able to race with you as Electra can be a bit protective over his components, but you’re delighted 
If the two of you end up winning, Volta isn’t very surprised as she was very confident about the two of you as a team. It was still somewhat shocking that you managed to beat Electra. All in all she’s very pleased with this. 
After the race you can expect to get a lot of love from Volta, because she does love that rush of winning. You get a lot of kisses and she’ll want to celebrate with you alone with some snacks and a good movie. It feels domestic and like a job well done in the end.
Let’s hope that Electra lets the two of you race again- Judging by the fact that you two won, that window has probably gotten a lot smaller by now- Like a lot smaller… you’re probably never going to race with each other again-
But hey! You won :D rejoice!
Joule
Ecstatic to race with you. Oh my god she thought you’d never ask. Honestly would ask herself if you take too long
Joule loves racing, the audience, the thrill, the adrenaline it gives makes her feel alive and amazing. So to be able to share that with a partner that will absolutely lead her to victory is a must
Also yes Joule will 100% believe you will race her to victory. She loves her boss and knows just how fast they can go, but she will stand behind her partner as their personal hype woman. So you got a dynamite truck always ready to be your cheerleader behind you
She will be so excited for the race and cannot stand still for a single moment. Just skating around you or not being able to keep her hands off of you. Expect a lot of kisses all the way up to your intro into the race. She’ll even give you a kiss for good luck just before you put on your helmet and Control starts counting down
Now if you win she’ll give you the biggest grin and would kind of look at you like. “I told you so.” Yeah she believed wholeheartedly without a doubt in her mind that the power couple you two would be paid off. 
Absolutely already has a celebration in mind and would practically drag you with her after wrapping up sinking in all the attention you two would get from the audience. Get ready to get a real good treat with her as she continues to throw all of her love onto you
Null
Oh this boy would be ecstatic to race with you. He’d feel so honored that you asked him. He’s one of the people that Electra sometimes races with, but since Electra is currently going with Volta he doesn’t even have to ask if it’s okay to race with you instead!
Null would kind of stick together right next to you for the entire day practically. He would be so excited and nervous at the same time. He’d be like kind of jumpy and jittery, because he doesn’t exactly know what to do about all of his feelings
Before the race he’s so excited to go and be seen out with you and people assuming he’s yours. He just is obsessed with the idea of people knowing the two of you are more than just race partners. 
Then if you two win he’d be so ecstatic. It’s almost adorable how the usual mean boy is just so happy and carefree for once. Congratulations you made sure that you won’t get a single snippy comment sent sideways towards you!
You better go out to celebrate, he won’t plan it and won’t mention it, but trust me if you want him fully satisfied and happy to shower you in love, then celebrate the victory with him. It’ll turn out perfectly. 
Krupp
Is extremely confused. Like more so than Killerwatt. Why in the world would you ask him to race with you? He’s heavy, clunky and made to store a bunch of weapons. Why would you ask him of all people to race? Especially since he has done no racing whatsoever in his life
He would think and tell you that it’s rather foolish to ask him and that you’re better off getting someone else to race with you. But of course you’re insistent that you want to race with him
Eventually he would realize it’s not about winning or losing like it often is with Electra. You just want to race with him, because it’s him and it would honestly make him more confused about his feelings
He has a lot of trouble showing off his emotions in general, let alone romantic ones, but he feels really touched and will agree. He does warn you that he’s not good at the whole going with turns as good as others, so that you’re making it a lot harder on yourself to race with him
Of course you don’t mind or care so you race together with him and you’re set on showing him that you can win with him no matter what.
And surprisingly you do! You win with him behind you and Krupp is more than confused. Yet he’s very proud of you and makes sure you can get your moment of fame. He would uncouple from you because he really doesn’t like the attention to be on him
When you come back to him, he actually has a soft smile on his face and gives you a soft kiss against your head. “Good job, baby.” He would murmur in your ear and then make sure the two of you go somewhere quiet to properly celebrate
The rest of the day is really quiet, but it’s perfect for the two of you
Purse
Acts like he was waiting for you to ask him, but really he had no clue that you were even thinking about asking him
Don’t get him wrong, he has always wanted to race as he saw how thrilling it was and even though he’s a bit of a diva. He would like to once race in his life, but he knew that wasn’t going to be any time soon
He’s a money truck, he’s armored and heavy. He wouldn’t be the first pick whenever it came to racing. If you were logically thinking about the best coaches and components to race with if you wanted to win after all
Well you didn’t think of anything like that. You just wanted to spend something special like that with Purse and so you asked. He of course said yes, but would tell you almost bashfully that he doesn’t know too much about how to race himself, but that he will do his best
Please praise him, he’ll get an ego from here to tokyo, but at least he’ll be confident for the race. Honestly he needs it, as he doesn’t like going into uncharted waters without a solid rock to help him out
Well you two win and Purse feels amazing! He would be just taking in all the applause like it’s his life force and after the two of you manage to get somewhere private he would be all over you, kissing you and being super happy
Definitely would drag you out to go to some fancy restaurant of some sorts to celebrate! Will spoil you and will scour the internet afterwards so he can find a good picture of the two of you. Would print it out and hang it on his wall, he’ll forever remember this moment <3
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bullshit-tqia · 15 hours ago
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Why can’t any of you fuckers read? I said LSAT. Not SAT. Law school admission test. Scholastic assessment test. These are different tests. Why assume what the acronym means when you could easily be wrong and make yourself look like a dumbass?
Tests outside the states have lower standards (well, up until recently, but they’re rolling that back now because they lowered standards to give specific races an “advantage” - sounds more like infantilization. I took the LSAT after they rolled out the newest version, which is currently the hardest version)
I’m not a feminist beyond what has already been achieved. I think there’s sex equality already. Just deluges of past eras that’s dissipating and only the material effects of sex differences. I don’t think there needs to be anything else other than women getting the hell over it and making them more emotionally tough. And women to stop abusing the courts against men. I’ve seen a lot of injustice towards men in the courts and I hate it. A lot of women will use old social views of women to advantage if it’ll allow them to win in the courts. Which is pathetic.
And you’re reading the chart wrong. 0-1 is the overlap between men and women. Anything below 0 and above 1 is “super.” When you account for this, there is only one transwoman with a distinctly “female” brain. More transwomen have more distinctly “male” brains than all the women. How are you going to be so cocky yet so wrong. Embarrassing.
The “drugs” are we talking about here are synthetic hormones. Ethinyl estradiol. Testosterone cypionate. Etc. We know what these do. We’ve known for decades. You’re acting as if drugs that have been approved for decades are the same as new COVID drugs being administered for experimentation in Brazil. We’re talking about science that started with surgeons who would later become Nazi scientists being widely unquestioned until the past 10 years.
The reason why I call it human experimentation is because it doesn’t function on actually trying to see if it works. It’s the same to me as Nazi human experimentation. Doing shit for the sake of seeing what happens, controlling and removing organs for “scientific progress” instead of considering human ethics. When the surgeons we’re talking about brag about how they increased the shelf life of flesh tunnel increasing from 4 years to 5 in their circles, I think we should start second guessing whether these doctors are motivated more by morbid curiosity and money than helping people.
“Helping people” is just the reason they advertise to avoid criticism. It is amazing how one minute people will talk about how evil the pharmaceutical and medical industry are for jump starting the opioid crisis and for robbing the poor but then they are nature’s little angels for carving new holes into people that have to be dilated everyday or they’ll close.
The testing of synthetic hormones was for addressing hormonal imbalances in low T men and menopausal women. They were never rigorously tested for whether these hormones cure gender dysphoria. Recent review are showing that a lot of the studies used to justify HRT were bullshit. Y’all shit talk the Cass Review but isn’t it monumental to how it closed down the British pediatric gender clinics so quickly, only to be reversed after a far left party took control, in a move that was monumentally unapproved by the majority of UK citizens? Maybe reading the review will be beneficial to you. I read it. It made me feel sick to my stomach.
I posted complication rates of phalloplasty the other day. A surgeon said there was a 100% chance of “minor” complications from the surgery, and a 40% chance for severe complications - some of which can lead to organ failure and death if prolonged. It is disgusting. This shit isn’t equivalent to knee surgery at all. You can’t just whack around and remove organs in such an important location like the lower torso. It’s important for digestive and hormonal reasons. “Yeah, you can survive without organs, hehe” - are y’all sociopaths??
My first thought is almost always: “that should be a last resort.” Y’all are resorting to something reserved for people dying of cancer for a mental health issue. It’s crazy. And I’m supposed to act like this isn’t the modern day lobotomy.
Consent can be coerced. Consent can be uninformed. I would say the majority of those who get phalloplasty do not know that there is a 100% chance of complications. But to me now, that seems logical, because you’re trying to invent a new organ.
“No more risk.” Give me a fucking break. I’m tired of seeing account after account of these flesh tubes falling off, flesh tunnels rotting from the inside and dispelling human shit out of them, and people dying young from steroid induced organ failure. I see it everyday. I see grotesque images of people’s lower bodies decaying and posts saying that they wish they died instead. But hey, why should we care about those who died? They don’t matter. They’re unimportant in comparison to the beauty that is the ambiguous ideal of “choice.” Which isn’t free at all from influence.
Y’all care more about the ideals you’ll never see the effects of rather than keeping people alive. Yet I’m the bad guy. I’m tired.
As a psychology student, I'm interested in how you say in your bio that you'll debunk transgender identities through logic. As someone who has written essays approved by college professors about transphobia, gender dysphoria, and gender identity, I would like to know what's your main argument against transgender identities (trans women, trans men, non-binary people, and so on).
You can refer to me in any way you want. He, she, it, they, I don't care. My identity isn't important, only my arguments and knowledge are. Let's talk about it.
-📚
I’m going to assume you’re a B.A. in psychology, not a B.S. in psychology-which is an important distinction. Most psychology majors are B.A. majors.
But also, I graduated college so you saying “approved by college professors” doesn’t mean much to me. What does "approved" mean, I got consent to write about 'XYZ' for my term papers sometimes, is that what "approved" means? I also wrote essays and got A+’s on them. I don’t see myself as an authority on the history of the U.S. South or Southern legal history. I graduated college feeling like I didn’t know enough to ever consider myself as an authority on the topic. I felt like I knew nothing. Which is why I’m going to law school.
My arguments against transgenderism are based on the “treatment” of gender dysphoria. I think gender dysphoria does exist, but I don’t think it is biological in nature like many trans theory states. This is why the distinction between a B.A. and a B.S. matters. A Bachelor of Arts focuses more on the humanities, so reading and interpreting studies through a linguistic and theoretical lens, while a B.S. focuses on conducting research and interpreting studies through a quantitative and objective lens.
In logic, it is very important to point out assumptions in people’s arguments. Many arguments for transgenderism are based on assumptions, things assumed to be true, but not things proven to be true.
For example, the fact that transwomen have “female” brains.
This study (very narrow in sample) compares the white/grey matter content of female, male, and transwoman brains.
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The graph corresponds with the amount of white and grey matter in the brain, meaning that the more "female" a brain, the more grey matter it'll have, and the more white matter a brain has, the more "male" it is.
0 is female, 1 is male, -1 is super female, and 2 is super male. This study looks legit at first until I point something out.
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There's only one person that was slightly below 0 in this graph in the transgender woman violin plot, half of the men meet the "obscure brain sex zone" and a little less than half of the women also meet this "obscure zone," and the majority of transgender women meet this zone.
More of the transwomen stretch into the "super male" zone than into the "super female" zone. Only one did, while a little over half of the females did.
This is supposed to prove transwomen have female brains? It seems like it does the opposite. Because of the obscurity, none between 0-1 really matter as they overlap. It is the extreme cases that matter the most. No males go below 0, no females go above 1. Many transgender women go above 1, but only one went below 0, and just barely. This can be doubted based on this one person's brain was mismeasured.
And the key assumption is, what these scientists ignored and simply assumed was true:
How does an increase in grey matter in a male's brain lead to gender dysphoria? What is the connection between grey matter and transgenderism?
Sure, they pointed out that 1 male fit into the "female" range, and that was only after meeting a prerequisite: identifying as transgender. As for the "cisgender" people, it's never specified if they included lesbian and gay men.
If they tested for that, could we have seen even more overlap? And if gay men dipped into the "female sexed brain" and lesbians rose into the "male sexed brain" then the whole study is bullshit based on these gay men still identifying as men despite having "female brains" and lesbians identifying as women despite having "male brains." But we don't know this because they didn't test for it. If it is true, then something else leads someone to identify as transgender and white matter & grey matter have nothing to do with it, but to me that is already established as the majority of the people sampled overlap each other.
The primary differences seem to be based on the influence of testosterone and estrogen in the body. None of the trans-identified men were on HRT. This is based on their natal hormone levels.
Another assumption is that in the womb, trans-identified people were exposed to more testosterone/estrogen in their brains while their body was exposed to more estrogen/testosterone. This is an assumption because:
We don't even know if this is possible, how does testosterone/estrogen begin to collect and localize to one place
How come we have never observed this in any other body part, it is the excess of androgens/insufficient androgens that cause intersex conditions, not a localization excess of estrogen in their genitals or something like that
Why haven't we tried to observe hormone flux in the womb and do long-term studies on their gender/sexuality first before assuming that HRT/SRS would fix everything?
If there is no biological basis for transgenderism, then why are we trying to fix it through biology?
If it isn't like my fucked up & misaligned teeth, something observable, then why are we assuming that the solution is just as observable as inverting a penis or stitching on a flesh tube?
If it is not something objectively measurable, how can we truly determine who is trans and who isn't?
Correlation ≠ Causation
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delphinidin4 · 1 year ago
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I am allergic to the word "success". I have been ever since middle school, when it was plastered all over the planners the school gave us.
Screw success. Try for contentment.
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snailfen · 28 days ago
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at the very least heres this. go my suitloon qpr
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feroluce · 10 months ago
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Connecting dots tonight (didn't connect shit, I've connected them, etc) because of this post about item descriptions to do with Sampo I saw a few days ago and! I feel like there are so many interesting things that could be implied from this!! Because the recipe for the High-Tech Protective Gear is given to you by Bronya (before the IPC invaded Belobog!), who says this little interesting tidbit about it:
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This is an item from before the Eternal Freeze, 700 years ago. Even to the rest of the universe, it would be SORELY outdated. It cannot be made in Belobog anymore due to the loss of entire eras. It is effectively useless; this recipe had to be somewhere gathering dust, kept around solely for archival purposes. There is no reason for Sampo to know about this item or have any idea how it works and yet. AND YET. He's just running around selling knock offs!!
He shouldn't even know how to make these, but the fact that he does means Sampo either
had the blueprints from off-world before he came to Belobog (most likely but also most boring answer)
broke into Qlipoth Fort and copied down the blueprints (completely plausible - he's possibly shown doing exactly that in his splash art)
found another copy out in the ruins of the old world (also completely plausible - Sampo is astoundingly resilient against both the Fragmentum and the cold, as noted by Lynx haha)
Meanwhile, the Inferior Protective Gear recipe comes from an NPC in the underground, and when she gives it to you, she talks about building robots and the robot fighting scene sorry about the quality I didn't have screenshots for her dialogue so I had to use wiki
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Which makes me feel like it's safe to say that the inferior gear is mostly being used in the underground, especially by the vagrants and their robots for fights, because...well, who else would use it? Cocolia has made it illegal to explore too far into the Snow Plains, and besides, it's way too dangerous for most civilians even WITH gear. The Silvermane Guards are funded by official sources, they have no reason to rely on Sampo for armor. So it makes sense for an underground mechanic to know the recipe; there's probably not as much market for it up in the overworld.
And if you look at the descriptions, you can see why this probably wasn't something that could be made in Belobog anymore; it requires a charging system of some sort.
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We know it's not a problem with the basic materials because all three ingredients can be found right in the administrative district. But the underground only has two of them; somehow, despite being in the planet's crust, and literally crawling with robots...there is no metal down there. It isn't found anywhere, sold by anyone, or dropped by anything. And metal just so happens to be the one ingredient Sampo replaces in his knock off version.
The Inferior Gear uses trash instead, something which, going by the words of that same mechanic, is MORE than abundant in the underground- any good quality parts are extremely difficult to come by down there.
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Anyway, all his shadiness aside, I love the implication that Sampo is smart enough to be able to take this item that no one else on the planet probably knows anything about, and was able to figure out what he could replace, and how, and with what, in order to make it easily accessible to the people of the underground, even without access to overworld resources. Because his version DOES work! It literally gives you the exact same amount of defense boost as the IPC one!
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Someone should absolutely still knock him around for it, though, world's most slappable face fr fjkdsjfdkjafk
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tafaha-means-apple · 3 days ago
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Good stuff. I think most of the disagreements come from whether or not to give riot the benefit of the doubt on interpretations and how much certain things are intentional attempts to undermine tropes vs just playing tropes completely straight. I'm definitely much more in the latter camp in that I don't think Riot is doing much more than using Ionia as a asian-trope factory to make popular champs at this point.
"Stripping Ionia of competency” man what does that mean? Ionia defeated Noxus in the war – by the way the Noxus fanboys hype it, it should not be.
There's a couple of ways that I meant that. You touched upon one right here in that Riot actively undermines Ionia's "win" over Noxus in several ways. They've actively established that Noxus wasn't even trying to win the 1st war in the first place. The Black Rose just used the war as cover to eliminate political rivals and search for/steal magical artifacts. Even "wins" like Irelia's stand at the Placidium have been undermined as Riot has also specified that The Black Rose specifically sabotaged Swain at that battle in order to cause him to lose. This stuff with Swain goes even further in that riot has even said that the Ionians didn't even end the war. The war only ended because Swain went back to Noxus, did a coup, and then chose to unilaterally *pause* (not end) the war. I don't think Riot actually wants the impression of the 1st war to be one of Ionian triumph, rather for it to exist as a contrast to Swain's new invasion where he and Noxus will actually try to win this time having cleaned house of the Rose.
Ionia didn't so much "win" in Riot's eyes as much as not-lose and this was even explicitly stated by one of the writers way back in 2018 (and who still works at riot as one of their head editors) when he basically said that the way he views the Ionia-Noxus conflict is in terms of "You can't ever beat Noxus all you can do is stop them again and again, and I find that inspiring". While arguably not entirely unrealistic it's also just really annoying how they only do this with Ionia.
Vietnam successfully fought off multiple colonial invasions, a Chinese invasion, ended the Cambodian genocide, and established themselves as important independent power on the world stage. Riot can't even muster up enough competency in Ionia to depict them as being much more than just farmers with pitchforks (see Awaken and many LOR cards) because the people at riot legitimately don't see Ionians as anything but an orientalist version of "noble savage" tropes.
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Hell, the writer/creator of Jhin had to go to bat and fight with Riot to make him an Ionian at all because the people at riot didn't think that Ionia should be allowed to have guns or technology because they were the Asian region and Asian people don't have technology. Asian people are only allowed to use swords, magic, and martial arts. Odin here talking about wanting Jhin's weapons to be hextech in inspiration, but of a markedly non-piltovan design (that piltover wouldn't even be able to make themselves) to reflect the ingenuity and uniqueness of Ionians and that Asian cultures aren't just defined by western martial arts tropes and vague mysticisms.
Riot isn't making some statement trying to "question" the assumptions that technology is a biased metric for judging civilizational development. They just straight up don't think Asian people can have technology because of orientalist prejudices. We got the Jhin LOR cards which depicted some of the Kashuri technology but it's really clearly framed as an aberrant and evil thing (which is fine given that it's jhin, but less fine given that it makes Jhin's technology the exception that proves the rule that Ionians can't have any).
You mentioned that Ionia is more than just the invasion and has a rich and storied history, but they really don't. We know a grand total of 5 historical events prior to the war: The Vastaya'Shei'Rei fighting some group of "sky titans" 10,000+ years ago, Ivern cutting down the God Willow 9,000 years ago, Varus getting put in a well in Ionia 1,500 years ago, Syndra getting put into a coma some centuries ago, and Zed and Shen capturing Jhin. That's it, and I wouldn't call any of these events particularly relevant nor illuminating for Ionian history or society. They are a random hodgepodge of unconnected events with no consistent through line. The war is what defines the vast bulk of Ionian lore and champions and I find that quite infantilizing. It's an entire lore dedicated to making Mathew Perry the most important person in Japan's entire history. Riot certainly sympathizes with Ionians, but they don't really see them as an independent or particularly deep people with a history and culture all their own.
Riot in 10 years hasn't put any real legwork into making Ionia a place with depth and importance. More often than not Ionian lore is used to provide Noxian characters/Noxus region as a whole with plot and emotional development (See Swain's lore, Riven's lore, and, without going into too many spoilers, a few things that happen in the Ambessa novel). At this point it's hard to for me not to see it as much more than just their Noxus-fetishisms and latent orientalist prejudices. Noxians are the main characters and the Ionians are the Native Americans in Dances With Wolves who exist to push them onto their character arcs.
I disagree with the sentiment that having a different culture that doesn’t rely on industrialization is a “sheltered, naïve” culture when the lore even is explicit as to why the culture exists the way it does. It’s a land that is based on balance and any extreme measure is met in kind. There’s also the rather dicey implication in general that a culture in which there isn’t technology or certain advancements is seen as in the Western world these cultures are “primitive.” Like we’d have to go into the concept of “civilization” and “modernity” and the Western centric, white supremacist implications of the definition of what is “modern” or “civilization” vs “wild” and “nature” that “has to be controlled” and how “modern civilization is control over nature.”
I agree but I'm just telling you what riot already does in the lore. Repeatedly Noxus is portrayed as bringing "modernity" to the world and that the world is unironically better off for it. Both in terms of governance, trade, and industry, but also socially in the form of tearing down "backwards" cultural institutions and replacing them with more "pragmatic" and "enlightened" ones. There's a multitude of Noxus stories and lore pieces that do this (The Principles of Strength, the Garen Novella, the Noxus Tales of Runeterra short, etc.) and every time Riot plays it 100% straight. Noxus *is* bringing modernity according to Riot and they do not see that as something to question or even take a cynical view of because it is a form of modernity that the writers consider good.
Ionia's lore doesn't just depict it as naive and sheltered because of its lack of industrialization (which I agree *shouldn't* be a factor, but Riot doesn't actually ever go deep at all into how Ionians don't need industrialization because of magic and whatnot so what we get left with is depictions of Ionia that don't showcase it as a unique civilization, but as a hodgepodge of rural village and poor farmers which will carry esp to a modern audience notions of simplicity and under-development). It goes even further than that by depicting them as isolationist pacifists who didn't "understand how the world works" who must be taught by Noxus or die. This theme is shown in Yi's lore in "Poetry With a Blade", it's in Kennen's lore where it remarks that "There have been many threats to the Kinkou over the centuries, but none as grave as the Noxian invasion and its aftermath" (Shen's lore before riot retconned it several times had him fighting off entire armies of Demons btw, but nah, Noxus is apparently the worst thing Ionia has ever faced ever in 10,000 years of history), Sett's lore where Ionians gained "a new bloodlust they never knew they had before", etc.
This doesn't even get into the physical level of the binary they created wherein Ionia's culture was apparently so fragile that after 10,000 years of flourishing it was nearly wiped out in barely 5 years.
All of this draws heavily from Orientalist norms about East Asia. The superstitious, mist filled lands, isolated from the world and filled with a barbaric and inscrutable people whose fate is to die to modernity for which they are unprepared for. It's like straight out of a diary entry from Richard Wellesley.
I do not get the impression this is Ionia’s first contact with Noxus or the outer world either either – Mel’s flashback speaks to as such, the Kirammans seem to come from there and maintain some contact – and they are not traditionally Ionian as such.
I can tell you every international interaction we have in the lore between Ionia and anywhere that isn't Noxus:
About 9,000 years before the "present" a guy named Ivern sailed from the Freljord and cut down the God Willow (Yggdrasill, basically) in Ionia
A Demacian noble family fostered some Ionian orphans who were escaping the Noxian war.
The Navori Brotherhood sends Jhin to intimidate some Piltovan clans who were selling arms to Ionia.
...that's it. Ionia really doesn't have much lore that isn't Noxus focused.
and how they behaved different in contrast to Noxus, and died for it. Irelia and her faction meeting Noxus in the middle to fight them can be also said, ironically, as symbolically balance itself
This gets to one of the core issues. Why is Noxus considered some indominable thing that Ionia must culturally balance itself with? Riot is like a bad Star Wars nerd with this where they really really really want the Sith to be "right" and for them to be affirmed of their values within the narrative. Other regions don't have to "balance" their cultures with Noxus. Why is it the Asian region that has to?
“emotional trauma response” – because they experienced a massive war where the land and people are destroyed, cities are leveled (genocides are even done with Wuju for example), people are left without much of anything, culture is lost – that they are not scarred by it? Scarred by the effects of the land? Do you expect them to get up by their bootstraps or something? Somehow not struggle with how they were before vs the things they are forced to be now, or even the factionalism as people come from a war differently – a war that was continent wide.
A lot of places in the lore experience war, struggle, and strife, but Ionia is the only one that is consistently depicted as having been emotionally broken by violence. Innocence Lost is a great theme for a story focusing on individuals but it's really infantilizing to extend that theme onto an entire continent of people (and particularly suspect given how it is the Asian coded region that is the one they chose for this depiction). It'd be better if there were at least some variety but there really isn't much of that in Ionia. The way Riot handles it borders more on trauma-fetishism than a genuine attempt to depict a place that has experienced warfare.
Thinking about Irelia and violence and how she both resents it and uses it as a balm for her pain. "Killing you won't bring them back, but it still felt good." She hates what she has been forced to become - something that goes against her family beliefs, but still cannot separate herself from it. There is a little part of her that enjoys it - the thousand pebbles to sink a warship line, the way she goads ppl into "dancing" with her - ie fighting. and so forth. She loathes it, but she can't help but enjoy it still.
And it's all a product of her being a soldier since she was 12. Something about the worse of one's tendencies being brought out in excruciating circumstances. And I say tendencies cause I still think of the line in Frostblade Irelia where she goes "Oh I just love the way blood pools on ice" which is just flat out unhinged, let alone violent. Not to mention her canonical anger issues, and there's always a link between anger and violence.
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chaos0pikachu · 7 months ago
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on a meta-textual/Doylist level what I like about the Korn/Tonkla/Win subplot is there's actual tension and the fact that JJay & Fuiaz are a "branded pair" doesn't influence the story so much that the subplot overall lacks tension.
Tonkla as a character has genuine feelings towards Korn and they've shared on screen intimacy that enforces their relationship - even if that relationship is partially transactional on Korn's side or otherwise. This provides tension in the narrative with the characters and makes their overall relationships with each other and thus the story much stronger.
Comparison - one that might get me kicked but it be what it be - example the Sand/Ray/Mew/Top storyline in Only Friends which had zero tension.
Why? Because the audience pretty much knew from the get RaySand and MewTop were endgame but that's just a factor, knowing the endgame isn't contingent on poor storytelling - don't we all know how Romeo and Juliet ends after all?
No what made is weak and flimsy was the narrative never provides any real stakes or tension for those characters.
Mew never once feels anything for Ray that isn't friendship, they never even attempt to have sex (even bad sex), Ray openly continues to hookup and pursue Sand whilst with Mew (and Sand is even mostly okay with this as tho it matters none at all because ultimately, it doesn't) and while Top was bothered, he wasn't threatened. It was all just narrative punishment and penance for his cheating. We don't even see Ray and Mew on a real date or share a real moment of genuine emotional intimacy that's romantic and/or sexual, their bookshop date only makes Mew think of Top, Ray spends more time with Sand, etc.
It's not just that the endgame is Sand/Ray & Mew/Top it's that the endgame is FirstKhao and ForceBook. It's that this is an rpf au dressed up like a tv show rather than a story.
Which is where Korn/Tonkla/Win feels different.
Off the bat Tonkla and Win are already vastly different characters from White and Tee from their roles in Dead Friend Forever. Korn is obviously different from Arm in Kinnporsche. And the narrative has built genuine feeling between Korn and Tonkla, where Win's feelings for Tonkla - at this stage - appear more one-sided. Yet Tonkla's slept with both characters, he's showcasing agency and desire in different ways with both of them. His relationship with both is very different. Will he even "end up" with one or the other? How will Korn react if/when he finds out about this affair? Especially since Win's a cop and Korn is involved in illegal shit. We don't actually know which makes the story far more exciting to engage in.
Even though objectively I knew Win and Tonkla would "get together" in some capacity because of JJay/Fuiaz, there's far more tension and character motivation here which makes for a vastly more interesting story.
My issue with "branded pairings" as a whole is more often than not I find it hurts the narrative potential of a story by cutting the tension off at the knees, by not allowing more interesting and complicated relationships and character motivations to form and develop. As well as hurting an actors growth and ability to like, act when they're playing the same boxed archetype to fit their branded pairings, well, their brand.
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swordmaid · 9 months ago
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i am wide awake thinking about that post canon jb au again when I should be sleeping …!!! such is the nature of the jbrainrot…
#the whole setting is jb hanging out in the rock post war#and tyrion became lord of the westerlands / the rock is his but he’s off doing stuff in kingslanding and jaime is just filling in for him#atm . but after tyrion comes back his original plan WAS he’ll get married to brienne right away and they can move back to tarth or be#travelling hedge knights together or whatever brienne wants to do he’s down for it. but the important thing is that he wants to stay with#her .. so he’s using the time they have together currently to court her bc she deserves that at least !!#so jaime goes off trying to court and woo brienne but she just thinks they’re hanging out bc they got relatively close in the war#so jaime being touchy feely isn’t anything new. jaime making innuendos and being kinda flirty isn’t anything new either#but this time he means it LOL he’s like I want to kiss you SO badly and brienne will be like lol silly jaime (:#I was also thinking they’d help rebuild lannisport just bc it’s a time for healing now and it would be good for the people to get to know#jaime and the lannisters in general bc of how they would just used to sit high above the rock looking down on everyone#but now jaime is like. actively helping and being known and being with the people rather than just being that absent distant lord#also he’s thinking he might as well try and foster some relationship with the commoners to his house bc it’s for tyrion anyway#so he’s off doing that and brienne is tagging along bc she does not want to go home yet#she wants to stay with him and she’s helping out as an excuse to stay a little longer but she doesn’t exactly want to leave him#but how do you tell someone that and ignore the big glaring part that she’s actually in love with him and the fact that they both survived#the war is getting her hopeful???? u want her to admit that?? like a normal person??? no..!!#so she’s just staying and helping out bc a) it’s the sensible thing to do b) so she can bask on the sun that is Jaime Lannister#for like a few more days. weeks. maybe a month bc the weather is soooo bad in the stormlands rn 🙄😳#anyway jb hanging out! and everything is going well and good but jaime is now getting popular w the people and he’s also looking quite#rugged and handsome post war now that he’s thirty flirty and thriving and he also has a new scar across his lip that makes his#smirks even more ! rogueish … ! and he looks quite nice with the greying hair 👀 so now there’s gossips around him#not to mention he’s single too and I think if you were one of the heroes who helped win the war they’ll forget the kingslaying#man with no honor business so lo and behold brienne eavesdrops a group of ladies bc she’s a chismosa at heart and they’re talking about a#potential marriage for a lord lannister (!!!) and there’s going to be a big tourney held in Kingslanding for it (!!!)#and brienne remembers jaime mentioning the ought to go to Kingslanding in the next few weeks (!!!) and now she’s remembering jaime IS a#lord though not theee lord of the westerlands STILL a lord from one of the seven houses and he’s single and very eligible for marriage rn#and now she’s realising everything is returning back the way it was before the war where society rules matters and she has her own role as#now the evenstar bc rip selwyn and jaime has his own role too and the court is a whole different battlefield#one that she isn’t equipped in and even though she had found some new confidence in herself bc killing a bunch of ice invisible zombies#with your own magic sword will do that for you she doesn’t think (and she’s being objective not negative) she stands a chance in THAT
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moeblob · 1 year ago
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I missed these boys too much..... I spent four hours doing this for my beloved two sons and also Felix. (the foremost is genderbent versions I'm sorry, let me know if I need to tag it)
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transvampireboyfriend · 3 days ago
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read an art book in 2h please clap
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