#that's generalizing a bit since they are different for obvious backstory reasons

[fstbmp-a]

They have the same character motivation, your honor.

[mongrel-mage]

A Spoiler-free review of Edge of Sleep

Fucking incredible. Like...9/10 and the only reason I say so is because there were only 6 20-ish minute episodes and I wanted the show to be longer and give us more backstory on the characters and such. It'll be a bit longer of a post, but rest assured that there are no spoilers under the link.

Main differences from the podcast, but still minor: the character of The Trespasser does not feature in the show, nor do Dave's story about the Moobles and the ensuing hallucinations he describes. However, I was satisfied with how they used the information from The Trespasser's subplot in the actual TV show, and there was a little reference to him at the beginning of Episode 5 that made me smile, so I'm really not that fussed about those things being missing.

I'm going to take a minute to rave about Eve Harlow, who plays Linda. What a goddamn POWERHOUSE of an actress, honestly. Perfect casting. She nailed a character who is tough as iron, focused, determined, and intelligent without making Linda come across as unnecessarily cold or unlikeable--I'll go so far to say that Linda was my favorite character (by a slim margin, but still there). Eve Harlow has an incredibly expressive face and eyes that convey complex emotions without relying on the same few expressions or overacting what she's feeling. I really want to see her get some sort of awards or accolades for her performance because she carried damn near all of her scenes.

Let's talk about Mark. I already knew that he could act well because I'd watched his other projects, but most/if not all of them have at least some level of comedy, humor, or character who lightens the mental load at least a little bit. We all know that he's a giggly bitch and likes to have fun, and there's nothing wrong with that. That said, I'm comfortable saying that Edge of Sleep is easily his most ambitiously dramatic project--there was a lot of raw stress, grief, anger, and pain that Dave Torres went through, and I was impressed at how well Mark portrayed it. It's obvious how much he tries and how hard he cares; it's so clear that this wasn't some celebrity vanity project. You can really feel the love and the energy and the care that he put into this, and I was, like I said, impressed at his range as a drama/horror actor. There were some moments and expressions he had in the show (namely in the first episode, when the people at the party are giving Dave a hard time about his sleep disorder and past episodes) that hit me unexpectedly hard. Amazing performance, Mark. I'm proud of you.

I also want to take another moment to rave about the makeup and hair department. Standing ovation. The gradual increase of the characters' exhaustion and general levels of dishevelment (the thing that stuck with me the most was Linda's makeup and hair, SO good) looked very real and read well on camera. Anyone who knows me irl knows what a freak I am for good practical effects/makeup, and I want to make sure that those artists are acknowledged and appreciated. I'm also going to throw in some kudos for whoever was behind the Elephant Monster--that thing was FUCKED UP (/pos). I love a Creature and it was sufficiently more disturbing than I had expected it to be, since The Elephant isn't given much of a description in the podcast. I'm not sure if it was practical effects or something computer generated, but whatever it was it was amazing. Hats off to the Creature Crew!

Lastly: I WANT SEASON TWO. GIVE IT TO ME. I WANT TO RIP IT APART WITH MY TEETH. I HAVE BEEN GOOD AND COHERENT FOR THIS LONG NOW GIVE ME MORE.

Also. I promised no spoilers and there shall be none. But that last shot of the last episode? fucking HAUNTING. Here's hoping that us catapulting Edge of Sleep to the TOP FIVE, BEFORE THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH, will seriously throw some weight to whoever can decide to give us a second season.

[greenerteacups]

Would LOVE to hear more re: Lily Evans as the bolter of you want to share more about that idea

Ogh god I have So Many thoughts about Lily and the Marauders in general because I had to basically do a full outline of the Backstory in order to have context for the living Marauders' backstories, but here is my official Harry's Mom Was A Player dissertation:

I like the idea that Lily grows up with relatively few people around (we only see her with Petunia and Snape, which you could read as a function of Snape's perspective, but I prefer to read it as Lily and Snape being "those weirdos in the corner of the playground making Potion in the dirt" buddies). From that, she becomes pretty closed-off emotionally, and despite having general charisma and kindness, she's pretty hard to connect with. Nice, but a little brusque. She's glad to help you with your homework, but when you invite her to Hogsmeade, she'll smile and make a vague excuse, and you'll never hang out again.

This would also explain why she and Snape remain friends for five years, despite being in different houses and having a lot of political differences: he's one of the few people she's vulnerable with. So we're picturing this Lily who's beautiful, charismatic, clever, but also very closed-off and hard to find. I.e. 100% the kind of person who attracts a lot of admirers, but doesn't actually get close to any of them.

My headcanon for her is a long series of two-month relationships running from around fifth year through sixth, none of them very intense, and petering out around the time that the other person starts asking for labels or commitment. Because (a) she's Busy, but (b) she's not really comfortable with any of them. And so she gets a bit of a (slightly mistaken) reputation as an ice queen.

We know Lily and James started dating in seventh year, after he "stopped being an asshole." ACCORDING TO SIRIUS. This is his account of his best friend's love story. A lot of the read here turns on (1) how much you think James told Sirius about him and Lily, and (2) how much of that Sirius wants Harry to know, as someone trying to protect James's memory.

"He was a cad" is obvious big James energy, especially since we know (1) he's an unserious arrogant jock for most of his Hogwarts career, and (2) she would have absolutely no reason to take him seriously if he expressed interest in her, because — he's a dumb kid! And a bully, from her point of view.

Because they're not close, verging on antagonistic, I tend to think that his interest in her actually was superficial to start with — based on her looks or her reputation (or both). Which, of course, plays right into her issues with intimacy and not being really Seen by anyone. And the ritualized game of his pursuit only contributes to her disbelief in its sincerity.

So basically, by seventh year, you have these two incredibly desirable, successful, popular people who are both in fact really locked-up and struggle with sincerity, but have the beginning of real feelings for each other, and are freaking out about that.

And then you get a great Player4Player love story about intimacy and the mortifying ordeal of being known.

[victorckk]

PLEASE DRAW X-2 AND CASIMIR 😻

This has been in my drafts ever since you first sent it I apologize ong,, have not had the energy or motivation to draw lately

Tried to draw X-2’s helmet from memory,,, -1000 HP

Okay so on a more serious note, this actually made me realize that I NEVER made a design for Casimir’s D.D AU, so this counts as an answer to your ask AND an info post.

Yippee!

I have never seen the show so… take his backstory and information with a grain of salt? I’m hoping I didn’t get anything wrong or nothing, that would be EMBARRASSING !!!!

I did change his backstory though, so uh.. he’s no longer Queen Tyr’ahnee’s son.

———————

Basically the general idea for the DD!Casimir AU is that his home planet was destroyed by the Martian Empire (with the help of the other planet’s Empires), and he was taken in and raised by the monarch(s) at the time. He was given the name Phe’tulente, which is pronounced as petulant.

They only took him in because he was the only Saturnian who was royalty and young, but for reasons I can’t exactly mention (because they’re not kid friendly).

He and Tyr’ahnee are sibling-like rivals who are constantly fighting over the throne; Phe’tulente hates the Martian Empire for destroying his planet and eliminating his kind, and Tyr’ahnne despises Phe’tulente for always trying to destroy her empire from the inside out.

The two grew up together and were actually raised as siblings, but Phe’tulente was less respected and loved, because he was seen as weaker than Tyr’ahnee. They used to be very close, almost like twins; Tyr’ahnee thought it was unfair that he was treated the way he was, but Phe’tulente didnt pay attention to it and just assumed that everybody hated him. They did care about each other, but it didn’t last.

He was banished after Tyr’ahnee became Queen, and at one point he ended up faking a relationship with General Z-9 to get information from him about the Empire. The two worked together to overthrow the Empire, but for entirely different reasons.

As for his relationship with X-2… haha. Well, let’s just say that they have a love/hate relationship. They grew up together and X-2 can understand where Phe’tulente is coming from, but he also can’t abandon his Empire. Phe’tulente on the other hand, might have developed a bit of a crush on X-2, but he doesn’t like to talk about it much to keep up his Anti-Martian facade.

It’s obvious whenever he starts stumbling over his own feet and starts spewing words out of order from talking too fast whenever he’s around X-2, though. And Tyr’ahnee makes sure to tease him for it like the insufferable jerk she is.

———————

I also did a bit of research for the planet and the mythology of the Roman god to sort of get an idea of how his own Empire might’ve been like back on Saturn.

Saturn was mostly known as the God of time and agriculture it seems, so I was thinking that the Saturnian Empire may have followed the Steampunk aesthetic, but they also probably had a bunch of plants and whatnot as well to fit the agricultural theme too. So.. maybe something more like the Arcadia level in Bioshock (which is a favorite game series of mine).

I know I designed DD!Casimir’s parents not too long ago and they looked like moths, but I’m thinking that they could also be based on honey bees. The only reason Casimir looks more Martian-like in every AU is because his body adapted to Mars’ warmer environment, as compared to Saturn’s colder environment.

[antiendovents]

heyyy its ussss! its r (or maybe Eva idk) (nope yeah its r) and I just wanted to say you're awesome!!! (EVA GET OUT) we think you are super cool,sorry, but evalynn wanted to say smth to ya.

hiiiiiiii I think you're so cool and um I'm back and feeling way better and anyway yea love you (platonically) you're so cool yeah 💕💖

well that was rather embarrassing. the love letter we were referencing was our second message to you, in which saturn got way too in detail about me.

we are not dating lol, I have a gf (well, me and Eva share her, I think Saturn is aroace and evalynn is a child so yeah) (and our other alters almost never front) (cept one but I do not want to introduce her to you because she sucks and I really hate her) (shes very abrasive and generally assholey, she yells a lot at r and the rest of us).

anyway uhhhhh yeah I have like a quick question. can an alter have a backstory that's basically me but kinda tweaked? so evalynns backstory is basically mine (I'm the host), except I have a lot of trauma from COVID so for her COVID never happened. shes like forever in third grade, before COVID started and um kinda like a fictive but from real life. she also hates reminders of COVID so I'm gonna make sure she does not read the rest of this message cuz her mental health is already sorta iffy!!!

OH I NEED TO WARN YOU BOUT SMTH. my parents raised me z!onist and I'm not anymore cuz like... a lot of very obvious reasons, but evalynn does not have the skills to process this, so she generally does not talk about any of this. I've been doing my very best to make sure she doesn't know anything, so she may be a bit oblivious. we were never the sort of z!onist who wanted to like, kill everyone (tho I know some of those) we actually thought that the west bank and gaza should be allowed to be its own country even when we were younger, but she is still very connected to israel (we are Israeli, but again, stand for Palestine) so ummm please ignore her lol anyway bye lol (insert nervous laughter)

PLEASE DONT HATE US

-🌌🌠

hi again you two!! Thank you so much! You seem cool too (all of you) :D

And hi Evalynn! You're awesome and I'm glad you're feeling better now! Love you too (platonically ofc!) and I hope you have a great day(or night depending on where you are in the world!)

Also I didn't even notice that lol! When I go back now yeah that kind of was a love letter lol! but I guess a platonic love letter since you have a girlfriend and they're aroace?? Either way it's kind of cute (like in the way where you see best friends or siblings give eachother gifts or care about eachother a lot and you just go "awh")

And don't worry about that, we kind of get that! We'd probably introduce ourselves too if we didn't switch so much, infact we still need to work on introductions on our personal blog, we just don't know who to do cause they either stop fronting for a long time or cant be bothered to do it (and also we have a few alters like that, so we get why you might not want to introduce her to us, but either way you should know she's welcome here even if she is a bit "assholey")

And yeah, it is possible for alters to have similar but different "backstories" or whatever one would want to call it! I'd assume it would be that your brain just witholds memories of COVID from her due to it being too traumatic or stressful for her to handle, which might explain why she only seems to remember what happened before COVID and why she doesn't like reminders of it? (I don't know, I'm making assumptions based on how our system works a little, but our point is yeah it's entirely possible!)

And that's fine, we don't hate you for that. You cannot control how you were raised or what your parents believe in or even where you were born, you've changed and recognised that the belief is harmful and that's good enough, that's literally all you can do. It's understandable that some alters may not be able to fully process it, sometimes these things can be incredibly complicated and trying to change what you grew up with is hard, we're proud of you for doing it anyways, even if not all of you understand it perfectly

[telomeke]

Thai QL Favorites Tag Game

Tagged by my Internet buddy and fellow QL fan @pandasmagorica! Thanks 🥰

Credit also: this game was created by @thatgirl4815 as Thai BL Favorites Tag Game.

So let's get into it:

Favorite Thai QL: Bad Buddy, still. After all this time it continues to hold up, I think because it packed so much intelligence into its short run of 12 episodes. I also have a soft spot for Moonlight Chicken, although it is arguably more queer cinema in episodic form and not classically a QL/BL.

Favorite Pairing: Umm, gonna leave aside the ships and talk about professional pairings for QL series. Ohm and Nanon as PatPran still top my list; they tore my heart to shreds in Bad Buddy and healed it too. But I don't need to see them as any other pair in another series also for that reason. MaxTul seem to bring it in any series they're in, so they get a mention too.

Most underrated actor: Have to agree with @pandasmagorica about Fluke Gawin Caskey. They need to use him more – he's doing a truly credible job in Be My Favorite plus wow he can sing really well. And I think Krist Perawat in the same series is also surprising all of us; he's certainly matured since his stumbly, mumbly turn in SOTUS.

Favorite Character: Eep. This is like trying to choose among your children. I love so many! Pat and Pran for different reasons (I'm very much like one, more than the other, but I love them both). But I also like Li Ming in Moonlight Chicken, maybe because of his confident self-knowledge, and all the hope he represents for the next generation.

Favorite Side Character: Arm from KinnPorsche for the wrong reasons; devastating combination of nerdy and also hot when shirtless. Also maybe Daddy Chan from the same show. And (odd/unpopular choice) maybe Dissaya from Bad Buddy; I'm just fascinated by her character and backstory, and wish we got told more of it. Also Manaow from Until We Meet Again and Yihwa in Together With Me for being the effervescent supportive besties I wish I had growing up.

Favorite scene in a QL: The opening scene in Ep.5 of Bad Buddy because it tells us so much, in so many layers, and upon the re-watch you can sense that something's starting to turn (though the closing scene on the rooftop is a very close second, for obvious reasons).

Favorite line in a QL: Pat and Pran at the end of BBS Ep.5 going "Do you want us to be friends?" followed by the softest, most gut-wrenching "No..."

Most Anticipated QL (& why): Only Friends – looking forward to something steamy for a change. Been too long since KinnPorsche.

Healthiest relationship in a QL: HeartLiMing in Moonlight Chicken. And PatPran in BBS, but only post-Ep.12 timeskip. They're so respectful to each other – but also a bit boring, so I'm not sure I'd want to watch them in another show because a drama with no drama wouldn't be a drama, now then would it?

Most toxic relationship in a QL: VegasPete in KinnPorsche? I'm still divided about their dynamic. Or TharnType in TharnType perhaps. That was just badly written.

Guilty pleasure series: KinnPorsche. Nuff said.

Most underrated series: He's Coming to Me really needs more love. Production values not the strongest but themes, acting, storyline are all top-notch (with some minor points only that I might want to quibble about). One of the earliest to deal with cultural themes in Thai QL and it was fascinating.

Tagging @airenyah, @dribs-and-drabbles, @waitmyturtles, @bengiyo, @twig-tea, @colourme-feral, @miscellar, @ranchthoughts, @chickenstrangers, @dudeyuri, @inventedfangirling, @dimplesandfierceeyes, @wen-kexing-apologist, @starryalpacasstuff, @kattahj, @lurkingshan, @neuroticbookworm...

...@theheightofdishonor, @dimpledpran, @silvercrystal1, @mineonmain, @sharingfandoms and anybody else I might have missed, feel free to play (or not!).

[kryptonitecore]

Reread: The Transformers (2009), #1-4

This comic really wants you to know that Spike Witwicky fucks, and I hate that.

We’ve gone from Furman to McCarthy to Mike Costa, who, as TFWiki points out, was at one point the third most prolific author in the Transformers canon, writing more than thirty issues. He would eventually be outstripped by later writers like Barber and Roberts, but I think I really underestimated just how much of IDW1 Costa actually wrote.

We have another time jump, this time to either two or three years into the future after Megatron’s defeat. I’m slightly wobbly on exactly how long it has been, since the comics themselves waver back and forth. Costa begins with his version of Optimus, who is very verbose… if in a slightly unfortunate way. No to be juvenile, but when you put together phrases like ‘reduced, in our impotence, to naked hope’ I can only assume you are doing it deliberately.

The art is similarly interesting, as Don Figueroa began to opt for Bayverse-inspred designs, which appear in several issues. I’m not a huge fan of that, though it does perhaps indicate who they are aiming this comic towards. A slight quirk in the art of the human characters, meanwhile, is that they often look kind of sleepy, with their eyes half-lidded. That, or they have a sort of resting sneer.

Characterisation with Costa is extremely variable. In some cases he picks up right where Shane McCarthy left off and builds from there, for example with Thundercracker, but with others he takes characters in a completely different direction. I think the most obvious example of this here is Prowl. In one of the first scenes, Prowl sees that Breakdown is potentially about to be captured or killed by Skywatch, Spike Witwicky’s anti-Cybertronian task force. Morally outraged, Prowl impulsively rushes in, breaking cover and disobeying orders to try and help the Decepticon, eventually getting captured for his trouble. Now, character interpretation is subjective, but this is coming after Furman’s strict Prowl, McCarthy’s embattled Prowl in All Hail Megatron, and the introduction of Nick Roche’s cynical, pragmatic version. Not only is this pretty out of character by any of those standards, it’s just kind of a confusing move - there were so many other Autobot characters who could have done something like this more believably, but it ends up being Prowl for some reason.

Ironhide is killed off very early on, so new readers probably would not have had much time to develop an attachment to him, and his backstory with Optimus was only filled out in one of the coda stories at the end of All Hail Megatron.

Speaking of Optimus… Wow, is Costa’s Optimus Prime not working for me at the moment. He’s combining a lot of verbose narration with some very high-handed actions and overall the character seems sort of clueless, vague, and oddly indifferent to the wellbeing of his own faction. I presume that Costa was interested in exploring the idea of a martyr complex and I honestly don’t mind that angle at all, but here the character seems to view himself as beholden to humans to a weird degree, even defecting to Skywatch. I know that Costa was interested in a human-focused storyline, but it’s really kind of jarring to see the character change so abruptly.

This isn’t helped by the fact that a lot of the Cybertronians in general, not even just the Autobots, come across as a bit hapless and are pretty easily captured by small teams of humans with some advanced technology, when only two or three years prior the US military was so incapable of fighting the Decepticons that other countries were preparing nuclear countermeasures. The time-skip helps make this more plausible and characters like Breakdown are presumably not in good condition, but it’s still a massive turnaround that takes place off-page. Regardless of these technological surges, Optimus is portrayed as feeling intensely guilty and somewhat pitying towards humanity, even as Skywatch begins attacking and abducting Autobots, including Prowl. And that’s a thing! Optimus seems weirdly complacent about Prowl being captured, despite the fact that Skywatch were actively trying to kill a fleeing Breakdown and, say, what the Machination did with Sunstreaker. I think perhaps Costa was so focused on developing Optimus’ relationship with the human characters that any sort of loyalty or camaraderie or concern about the second in command being kidnapped is framed as an overreaction. Certainly, Hot Rod/Rodimus is painted as impulsive and over-emotional, even as Optimus abdicates and defects, abandoning his faction in a crisis situation, because he feels really bad, you guys. The problem is that I don’t know if the irony is intentional or not.

Ironhide’s comments really don’t help in that scene, as he is written with a very condescending tone: ‘You did the right thing, Prime. Make the kid [Hot Rod] feel like he’s doing something’. Keep in mind, this is in response to Hot Rod taking a team to rescue Prowl… The apparently shocking revelation that the humans are willing to use lethal weaponry against them (despite the fact that they have killed and abducted multiple Transformers by this point?) results in Ironhide taking a shot for Hot Rod and dying. To be honest, it didn’t have a ton of impact on me, especially as it felt rather hurried. Apparently, Costa wanted to kill of Bumblebee, but Hasbro refused, so Ironhide was substituted in. Initially, I thought that Ironhide’s death was going to be used as a sort of ‘punishment’ for Hot Rod for not listening to Optimus, especially given the emphasis those panels put on the fact that Ironhide died protecting him and his reaction afterwards. However, in the following issues it didn’t seem to head in that direction at all. If anything, it helped to speed up Hot Rod’s alienation from the Autobot hierarchy. Also, a lot of characters call Hot Rod ‘kid’ in this, despite the character not being younger than them in this canon. It’s minor, but the character is written to be particularly immature here in a way I don’t think some fans would appreciate.

The strongest moments of these issues probably come in the one focused on Thundercracker, which I don’t particularly like, yet I suspect is the most competent bit of writing. Between this and ‘Heavy Lies the Head’, perhaps this is an indication that Costa fared better with character-focused issues? However, I didn’t enjoy the slower pace as much as I could have, as one of the chief complaints about the Costa run overall is that it is very decompressed, essentially not a lot happening in each issue and some arguably wasteful uses of limited panel space throughout. As a result, this feels like a slow issue among already slow issues, rather than a change of speed. 

Costa leans heavily into the change of heart for Thundercracker that McCarthy began, really developing his appreciation for humanity and Earth into something more philosophical and personal, a choice that would influence the character’s portrayal for the rest of the continuity. Nevertheless, I don’t love it, as I feel that his internal narration relies on a few too many faulty premises (the Decepticons were incapable of wiping out humanity, Transformers are a static and unchanging species, lacking in personal development, that Earth is the first time that Thundercracker has had an opportunity to appreciate beauty). Ultimately, I think that Costa turns the very internal process of Thundercracker reevaluating his life and then focuses that outwards… But it ends up going in the direction of putting humanity and the Earth at the centre of everything in a way that feels a little self-aggrandising. It feels like it flattens the Cybertronian characters (and any other alien species that are portrayed later) in favour of the human ones, I suppose.

Speaking of flattening, this is a minor bugbear, but IDW1 in this period had a bit of a fixation on ‘brothers’. Characters use the word a lot in dialogue: talking about literal brothers, members of their faction, members of their team, particular friends, and even just anyone with a similar frame type to them. I don’t like it because it’s used to so many times and in so many contexts that it starts to lack any meaning, effectively just flattening social dynamics between specific characters to very broad, boring ideas of loose alliance. Costa also makes a point of having several characters fail to understand idioms, despite the fact that it hasn’t really been a problem in previous comics, which further helps to make their speech seem formal and distant. See also: Optimus Prime’s voice.

This is also my first extended look at Spike Witwicky under a new writer and it’s not great. Thing is, I think there were ways Spike could have been a much more interesting or sympathetic character than he has ended up being so far, even keeping this general shape.  They clearly wanted a more action-hero-esque version of the character, so they aged him up, made him and his father military, had him be incredibly central to the plot and way more adversarial… Yet you also cannot tell me that Costa was not writing him to be obnoxious on purpose. I think wish fulfilment is the only explanation I can think of, that Spike was intended for certain readers to project themselves onto. Hence the insistence on the fact that Spike fucks. And drives a cool car. And is really muscular. And is in a super prestigious position with authority yet does whatever he wants, regardless of the consequences. And the frequent references to incredibly non-specific problems with his father.

Swindle does have good finger guns, though.

[folklauerate]

Your last story has many quote-worthy moments (it made my forever child free heart skip a beat, i admit it. You have a gft, my friend) but i am still here : "Three years they’d flirted around the edges of something greater between, push and pull, antagonistic and tender, unyielding until something snapped, and they’d kissed, one fateful night, drunk off of something far stronger than the drinks at the karaoke bar. Kissed and brought each other into each other's lives, thoroughly intertwined, irrevocably joined." Idek why, again the story is great all around, for many reasons and not only the obvious ones lol- it's like with the prof AU or my personal, all time favourite, "an affair,three ways", i need to know everything, the past and future and the present...gah. All this to say, you're really great and i'm happy you write, and that youhappened to like Kate and Anthony and that we're both here rn ... :)

First of all--thank you :,,) This ask would've been nice and so welcome any day, but it's specifically lovely today as I've been having a weird couple of days with writing and irl stuff, but I also got some personal news today that's not so great, and this really made me smile, and so I really want to thank you for this! <3

I'm so touched that you liked that oneshot--and that you love the Prof AU and the cheating au! Those are some AUs I'm the most proud of. I'm also so touched to hear it made your own childfree heart skip a beat :,) <3 that's so sweet.

That quote is so interesting for you to mention specifically, and I'm chuffed to hear you liked it! With PWPs/oneshots in general, I find that world-building is so important to make stories feel immersive. I'm the sort of writer who really values making sure the world of the story feels real and realized, and, if it's PWP, that the kink/porn feels earned, that there's a level of emotional investment and heft so that it all feels realized. Just writing a breeding kink for the sake of it wasn't something I could do, lol! In this instance, since I'm establishing the kink within the context of an established relationship, it was important to me that the relationship felt familiar and real. That was sort of in two bits--first, in that sentence, that summed up their entire history and the start of the relationship, and then them living together quickly after getting together, and the familiarity with which they do chores together (Anthony cooking dinner+doing laundry when Kate walks in, Kate picking up things for them at the department store). That sentence was did a lot of heavy lifting lol, as it really did condense years of their backstory into one bit. It was a tricky one and I'm glad to hear it stood out to you in a good way!

I totally get the need to know more haha. I feel that way with any fic I'm a fan of. With this AU, I imagined them meeting at a holiday party where they're there with mutual friends. I mention offhandedly that they both work on Wall St; they do vague finance jobs for different firms. In my mind, Anthony and Simon both work at the same firm, and Simon and Kate are friendly, and he invites her along to the holiday party. Simon introduces her to Anthony then, and it's not really an enemies to lovers arc, but they have a little antagonistic banter, ya know? In real life, who is really having a enemies to lovers arc lol ya know? People just meet people, and they exist on the periphery of their life, and sometimes you don't like someone! I think these two thought the other person was hot, kept running into one another in social settings because they're both friends with Simon, and then with Simon and Daphne getting married, they continue to bump into one another. So you have this three year period where they go from feeling like "oh this person is hot but kind of rude" to feeling ambivalent, to thinking the other person is funny/a good laugh, to sort of looking forward to being the person they can hang with at a party when they don't want to be there, to sort of having a crush on the other person but not making a move. And it's three years, so they're dating other people throughout that time, so maybe the timing just isn't right. But they go from being in the same social circle to being friends, you know how it works, that sort of slow build. They realize they like spending time together, they realize there's feelings, they're both single, and they end up the last ones at a karaoke bar after Simon's birthday party. Anthony offers to walk Kate home and they kiss and have a one night stand with the understanding that it's going to be more! Like at this point they were already friends who know stuff about one another's families lol, and have a good understanding of each other, and, like I said, have been crushing on and off/not single at the same time. But yeah, after that night, it moves pretty quickly from there. Kate's lease happens to be up six months into the relationship and he insists she move in with him, they're both very happy together, and know that the relationship is heading towards marriage.

That's the long version of that sentence :)

Thanks for reading, and thanks so much for the ask <3 I'm really grateful to be here with you <333

[technoturian]

Okay, well, I watched Ahsoka.

I didn't have much investment in the plotline, as someone who DID watch Rebels but didn't enjoy it, I can't imagine how it was for people who never even watched Rebels. If you don't know or care about Ezra, Hera, Thrawn, the dathomir witches, etc, the Ahsoka show doesn't give you much reason to nor does it bother with more than a cursory explanation. Thrawn is especially a problem because they're setting him up like some SW Thanos and there was absolutely nothing about him that wasn't every other Imperial officer angling for succession. At least Gideon has his silly, narcissistic darktrooper obsession to make him stand out. Thrawn's just a chilly British guy who says "for the Empire" a lot. Groundbreaking.

Sabine was one of the few parts of Rebels that really stood out to me and they flattened her so much. Where's the artist? Where's the tech genius that was making superweapons in her early teens? How does it take until the last episode or so to talk about Mandalore? Her plot with Ahsoka happened so much off-screen that it lacked emotional punch. The only really exciting part of her storyline was when she chose to go with the enemy, and I was disappointed with how little conflict resulted from that. I loved that they went there at least, very unexpected considering Rebels' goodie-goodie "every episode must end with a heavy-handed moral lesson" thing that drove me up the wall.

As for Ahsoka herself... She felt like a generic jedi character for most of her screentime. That said, the visions of Anakin were some of the only stuff that landed emotionally for me and were definitely the highlight.

Ezra's actor did an amazing job, especially since I found Ezra to be a bit obnoxious in the cartoon and I found him so likable in Ahsoka, while still being very recognizable as the same character. The problem is the whole plot of finding him relies so heavily on the relationships and storylines built in a different show. I kept wondering how people who hadn't seen Rebels felt about this guy who has no backstory showing up with such obvious "main character" energy being put into him.

Also just an aside, wish they'd left out the contact lenses. It's not worth messing up the actors' eyelines and focus to match a cartoon character's eye color, I'm sorry but it's just not. Actually I feel like this is indicative of this whole experience: It was so important that all of the most minute details from Rebels made it in unchanged, regardless of how it hampered the show we were watching.

The only original -- at least, in that it didn't require investment in Rebels or Clone Wars -- idea this show presented that I was really invested in were the fallen jedi duo, who seemed full of potential... Until they ended up leading into a tease for the Mortis Gods, which is a plot I have less than zero interest in.

The show really just felt very flat, but in the exact opposite way The Book of Boba Fett was. TBoBF was all style and no substance, it didn't give me anything to care about. Ahsoka had a lot of substance and a lot of lore and just... a lot... happening, but it expected me to already care about it and skipped the part where it gave me a reason to.

If you're a Rebels fan you probably enjoyed it. (Maybe? I haven't really looked at reviews.) Which would make sense, because it was just a new half-season of the cartoon that inexplicably was made live action for no other reason than because these characters need to get some buy-in from the general audience before they show up in a team-up movie with the Mandalorian characters. I don't believe it makes a convincing argument for that buy-in.

PS: Also just as a KOTOR fan, the continued disrespect on the HK designation is intolerable. Justice for HK-47 and death to those personality-less pretenders.

[ruffian-writings]

Writing For My Faves

Note ; Getting back into the swing of things and all (both writing and now reading the series itself), I thought it might be nice to start off by writing about some of my favorite characters! These guys are gonna be from all over the place, so bear with me here-

>> GORDON AGRIPPA

Yeeeah like this one was even a question-

I don’t think I really spoke about it much before my hiatus(es), at least not on here, but he’s part of the reason why I really caught interest with the series. Yes, probably one of the quietest characters that (so far) hasn’t had much screentime has lived in my head rent free since I started. My brain really looked past the popular, flashy characters and went ‘ah yes, this one’. Am I mad about it? Definitely not <3

Literally the sweetest mf to ever exist. Even if Gordon’s not too well-versed in relationships and is more than a little awkward overall, it’s obvious that he’s trying. His methods of showing affection might be a little unconventional, but that’s kinda the charm of it right? 

Remember the little part where it’s revealed that he makes tiny dolls of the rest of his team? Yeah, you’re going to be joining that collection. 

It’s pretty likely that Gordon’s going to be at least a little self-conscious if you two go out together. It’s nothing against you, there’s no doubt that he adores you, but his family doesn’t have the best reputation. It’s easy to pick up on the whispers, the eyes that follow you both. It’s unnerving for him, so please, bring him back down from that anxious spiral. 

He also really enjoys quiet nights with you! Whether it’s both of you doing something together or you two are working on separate things in the same room, spending time like that is really nice. 

>> DOROTHY UNSWORTH

For someone who was quite literally asleep for a majority of what I know of the series, I’m a little surprised that she grew on me so fast. While I don’t know her backstory (if it’s even revealed in the current story) her powers and upbeat, playful attitude weren’t what I initially expected. 

In a relationship she probably wouldn’t act too much differently. It would be pretty often that she naps leaning against your shoulder or holds your hand, sleeve, or just you in general when there’s somewhere you both need to be. Dorothy is perfectly capable of guiding herself when she’s sleepwalking (or whatever it would be classified as), but she finds it nice to have someone there.

Other dates and hangouts consists of both of you spending time in that dream realm she has. What better place to spend time than somewhere that can literally become anywhere? 

Still, though, it’s also good to actually go do something instead of slipping into dreamland. In that case Dorothy would prefer something a little more mellow - something like a walk around the forest trails or simply window-shopping. Also nap dates, nut, y’know, staying active is also important-

>> SOL MARRON

I recently got to the point in the manga where Sol first shows up and I’m legitimately so excited to see her pop up again in the coming arcs. Her magic is super interesting and her backstory/reasoning for joining the knights is really compelling imo. 

She’s your own personal cheerleader - loud and energetic, Sol’s all too happy to encourage you whenever you need. 

I could see her showing off a little here and there. Sol knows she’s strong, of course, but watching your reaction to a particularly impressive spell of successfully pulling off something equally stunning gets her a little bit giddy. 

Is also super protective of you. If anyone even thinks about giving you trouble Sol’s right there to help you. Even if she does occasionally go overboard, the only thing that matters to her is that you’re okay. 

Sol is also pretty physically affectionate! It’s all too often that she had an arm around you, or a hand in yours. She’s also a fan of surprising you with cheek kisses. Overall she’s pretty spontaneous with her affection, so be ready for that-

>> RADES SPIRITO

Honestly Rades is a difficult one to pin down. Overall he’s a bit of an asshole, very cocky and more than a little selfish, but under all that is probably someone a little softer. He’s obviously pretty beat-up over being vilified for his magic, and while the concept is definitely… morally wrong at best, he definitely has power. 

Around you Rades doesn’t act too different on surface-level. However, he’s a little softer with you in private. He’s loud and confident in the presence of others, seeming to always be like that, but in the presence of one of the few people he trusts, Rades is more vulnerable. 

Just like he brags about his own abilities and power, he’s just as likely to show you off. I mean this both in he’ll literally do so but Rades also has a habit of boasting about his lover’s abilities. Even if your magic isn’t all that impressive, he’ll find a way to make it sound like it is. It doesn’t stop there, either. If you have another talent he’s also not going to shut up about how good you are at that.

[shihalyfie]

With Digimon Ghost Game starting, I thought about how different it is from previous Digimon series, though it's still undoubtedly Digimon... and then I realized all Digimon series are like that. So I wonder, what do you think sets each Digimon series apart from the rest?

I think both Ghost Game but also the reboot have been a wake-up call for people in terms of realizing that likes, dislikes, and tastes are subjective, and I think it's especially important in terms of this fanbase that is so obsessed with this idea you can objectively rank things by quality -- especially when each series is often deliberately trying to have its own identity, so it's arguably apples and oranges -- and forcing this idea of what's Good and Not Good on everyone else (especially when there's a nasty double standard phenomenon where Adventure and often Tamers get to be so impervious to criticism that people conveniently forget they're perfectly capable of being scrutinized for a lot of things they're weaker in). Very frustrating to see everyone who likes less popular series treated as if they have to accept that they like a "badly written series" for some things and everything else is a guilty pleasure, which I find to be incredibly dumb.

The most important take-home here is that the fact each series has its own identity is always going to be the main factor in what makes it "good" or not to you, not some arbitrary bar of comparison that's based on some narrow-minded view of "good writing" (which is usually unreasonably based on Adventure). For instance, the reason why 02 is so important to me is because (see below), to me, it has the highest amount of meaningful, important life lessons and themes that it wanted its audience to remember, to the point that I frankly do not care about where the plot goes in comparison. That may not be the case for everyone else, and that's fine, but should my tastes be called unreasonable for that? I think we're also coming to realize that because of Adventure (and kind of 02)'s precedent, so many people have been judging series purely by how intimate their individual character development style is, but this is unfair because Adventure and 02's ridiculous level of character depth to psychological detail is extremely unusual and unrealistic to expect of others; Adventure and 02 only achieved this by practically considering the plot utterly subservient to its character arcs, and it's arguably why they have some of the weakest "plots" in this franchise. It's so bizarre that I can see character development in other Digimon series that outstrips even most kids' anime on the market, but it's not as much as Adventure's so apparently it's bad. And, moreover, as it turns out, some people have priorities other than characterization; just because Adventure had that as its strength doesn't mean that's the only thing anyone should care about. Is the plot fun? Is there a meaningful message besides characters (also important to me)? Do you vibe with the tone being dark, or being silly? How much do you care about resourceful usage of Digimon lore? That kind of thing. Everyone is different, so that's why everyone has their own priorities. If you’re someone who prefers darker content, you may not realize that writing good and well-timed comedy is actually a very, very difficult task, especially when said comedy simultaneously has meaning (in comparison, it’s surprisingly easy to write “dark” but shallow content).

I think it's fair to like every Digimon series for its own thing, depending on your personal tastes. I can't speak for everyone, but my impressions are that it has to do with the following:

Adventure: Significantly easier to understand than 02 due to its more straightforward plot, and focus on individual character development ("individualism" being a strong point here). In terms of characters, it goes a lot into some very real social problems (the divorce around the Ishida and Takaishi families and the pressures surrounding Jou, for instance) in a very realistic manner. Also, it has that sense of mystique and absurdism to the Digital World that's both whimsical but also mysterious, and while 02 has it too, Adventure's the isekai story that has it the most.

02: The first is its focus on the importance of human relationships and the compelling group dynamic unparalleled in this franchise, and the second is its important themes and life lessons that I think are some of the strongest in said franchise. I have a whole tag for the ridiculous amount of nuance packed into every detail and dialogue line for this series, and I think every time I've rewatched an episode I've learned something new about it because there are so many things that clearly wanted to be said in each line. The entire series is basically an unpacking of the feelings of insidious self-hatred and the crushing feeling of being subject to society's expectations, and ones that are so deep-seated that you often don’t even have a single answer to how to unpack it (for instance, Miyako hardly has a tragic single event in her backstory, but she says and does a lot of things that'll be painfully familiar to those who have experienced chronic anxiety). Almost every plot point can be said to connect to each character arc in some way, and the mantras for appreciating and treasuring your own life and living life the way you will make this, in my opinion, the strongest series in terms of speaking to those who struggle with this kind of existential crisis for reasons of depression or otherwise. (Oops, I think I went too passionate about this; my biases are obvious...)

Tamers: I think it forms an interesting study and unpacking of the kinds of things you take for granted in Digimon or the monster-collecting genre in general, and an examination of how they'd work in a real-world context (although 02 had a focus on daily life, it didn't quite merge the Digimon and the real world factors until very late in the series). Also, probably the second highest on "hard sci-fi" (the only one that outstrips it is probably Appmon, but Appmon has a very different, more simplified take on it).

Frontier: A series that lies somewhere between Adventure's scale of individualism and 02's scale of group dynamic, and one more discussing the feeling of having your heart hardened from being an outcast, and what it takes to accept the idea of opening yourself up to others again. Recommended for those who like transforming hero and magical girl stories, too. From the Digimon perspective, also the one with the most detailed and consistent Digital World mythos.

Savers: I think this is the series that most drives home "life is complicated" (i.e. there isn't a single mastermind behind everything) in the most tasteful manner, because while it drives home the point that you can't just simplify everything into a good side and a bad side, some bad things really are evil (hi, Kurata), and it doesn't change the fact that everyone's responsible for cleaning up the fallout. The portrayal of the evils of government bureaucracy is probably the most realistic out of any of these series.

Xros Wars: For those who like fun, most of all! For those who like seeing Digimon finally get more of the spotlight and individuality since so much of it had been geared and biased towards the humans prior to this. For those who really like worldbuilding, and, after all, this is called Xros Wars, so it's interesting to see shakeups on the usual formulas in the form of the different factions and their priorities. Hunters is very different in tone, but I do think they have some of these aspects in common; that said, it being closer to having single partnerships brings it a bit closer in line to conventional Digimon partnerships, and it also has more of a picture of daily life. Also, as much as Tagiru is probably your-mileage-may-vary since he's not exactly a very nice kid (I get it if you don't vibe with that), which may also rub those hoping for not nice kids to become nice the wrong way, I do have to say I find him to be one of the funniest characters in this entire franchise, and you'd be surprised how hard good comedy is to write.

Appmon: Probably one of the strongest theme narratives besides 02, since it has a very clear and obvious theme about the importance of kindness in a world where technology is dominating and we're almost encouraged to strip the feelings out of everything. (Bonus for more straightforward plot than Adventure or 02 while still retaining a lot of its elements in terms of how to characterize them.) Also the first series to be speculative about the near future instead of taking place around the time it airs, and it's very obvious it wants to provide important and necessary commentary about what we need to do in the incoming era, especially as a lot of what it has to say becomes increasingly relevant.

Reboot: For those who like Digimon mythos and null canon -- this is probably the only series to show it off in this level of detail -- and the kind of cool action fights that would usually be saved for the climax in prior series (and animated in much more intimate detail with battle choreography than prior series would have). There are a lot of people into this franchise who felt like it genuinely was not making enough use of its Digimon roster and its potential because it kept going back to the old standbys (especially Adventure-based ones), so it was a huge relief for that crowd to see attention finally being paid.

[glorioustidalwavedefendor]

The argument that one does not like Sylvie because they “hate a strong female character/a character with complex arcs” is so pathetic. I don’t think I would’ve liked Sylvie even if she had the most elaborate arc in the MCU (which she doesn’t) because it just wasn’t meant to be about her.

Also

Oh you have a tragic backstory?

So does everyone

If you wnat to be a reacuring character in a comic book you have to have a tragic backstory

(or be a love interets … )

And that tragic backstory either makes you a hero or a villain

I mean … Sylvie wnats to do the trama contest?

Sorry … Natasha wins, everyone els ecan go home

Like … I really just want to take Sylvie aside and give her the Carla speech …

I think Loki was one of those characters that neither needed a love interest nor was ready for one. I don’t ship him with either Sylvie or Mobius, because it feels like neither of them genuinely like Loki for who he is.

THIS

Also, Loki is still not out of the potted plant stage of recovery …

And I dodn‘t know how long that takes for a Jotun (beeing immortal and all that) but I assume a decade is not to long

And then we can try an animal …

For another decade or two …

And THEN we can try a love interest … if we absolutely have to

I mean … I am fine with just giving him a bunc of platonic friends (I mean now XD not in tree decades)

I like Verity, I think she is a greta character and honestly, they are perfect for each other (friend wise)

Loki had far more compelling things they could have explored like his jotun heritage, his trauma from the time with Thanos and his magic that is the only memory he has of Frigga instead of his love life.

THIS!

The whole show felt like it was written by someone who wasn’t the least bit interested in Loki and barely looked into him before creating his female counterpart.

Ding ding ding

They are both toxic selfish people who mistreat and look down on Loki so I’m not at all happy Loki changes for them. I

And the thing is

I wouldn‘t mind, if the framing was different

If it was framed as him snapping back to the survval mechanism he has leared since he was a kid

Accomodate and become easy to maintain … don‘t take up space … don‘t draw attention … your very existace is already to much to ask … so the lest you can do is apologize with every breath you draw … be usefull … be a godo lttle tool …

→ Topical … offers the show an opening to talk about his jotun heritage … emotional neglectful if not abusive parenst … and just general badness all around … also … touch on his time with the other … how the reason he survived was becasue he could be used … becasue he had neat powers that coud be exploited …

I dodn‘t mind him playing along and wearing teh TVA uniform for now becasue he is pretty much at the end of his rope

Becasue just leaving the TVA isn‘t cutting it

His very existance in the timeline will cretae nexus events and draw the TVA

SO, he would have to run from apocalypse to apocalspse

SO why not hibernate at the TVA for now … try to get to the bottom of all of this … fund where to aply the crowbar so to speak …

And he kind a does that … but only to tak eover the tVA which again could work if frame dcorrectly, as „If I am in charge of the TVA they will stop being a danger to me“

But it is framed as his need to satisfy his narcessistic* nature which …

argh!

SO yeah … a lot of te shows problems yould have been solved through framing …

*The thing is ... Narcissism comes in different flavours ... like the loud "I ma the best how dare you disrespect me" crowd is just one flavour

The most obvious

The most noticable

But there are socialy not just acceptable but wanted and desired flavours of narcessism ...

Person B acts really mature and responsible the whole time, nodding along and agreeing and promising to do better, just desperate to maintain and improve their status. Desperate to be liked. Later they go home and handle their distress through self-destructive means, and spend the next few months overworking themself to the point of illness.

...

Does that sound like someone we know?

But that is a flavour that makes you easy to controll ... easy to abuse ... so it is socially acceptable ...

and of course it is not the flavour the show wants to choose ...

Despit the fcat that Loki suffering from NPD would make sense ...

Narcissism tends to emerge as a psychological defence in response to excessive levels of parental criticism, abuse or neglect in early life.

SOURCE

But again ... that is not whta the show wants to do ...

Sadly ...

A lot of people watched it

And due to ... reasons ... the word Narcessims is sadly

currently used by EVERYONE

So ... having some good represntaton and bringing up the different manifestation of NDP would have done a whole lot of good

But that would mean

Adressing Lokis past and the trauma and neglect he faced and not blame him for that ... further more, the as "good" classified charcers would have to offer support and love ... instead of blame ...

And we can't do that ... we are bussy editing Sylvie out of the trailer to Loki bait the audiience ...

I just want to reflect how much the Loki show ruined Loki as a character for me and how much disheartened I was with it.

I had always wanted a spinoff on him, which explored him more. And the Loki show did anything but that.

Do you guys remember how Loki was in Infinity War for like 5 minutes, yet Tom Hiddleston was at almost every media interaction the cast had? The same thing happened in the show as well. They used him to market the show, then sidelined him in his own show. I think that was unacceptable, because they used Loki as a bait to promote a character that I held no emotions for.

Sylvie.

The argument that one does not like Sylvie because they “hate a strong female character/a character with complex arcs” is so pathetic. I don’t think I would’ve liked Sylvie even if she had the most elaborate arc in the MCU (which she doesn’t) because it just wasn’t meant to be about her.

I wanted to see Loki’s story, his journey, and if you take this moment to interject with the statement that “she’s Loki too, just different”, then I say that I wanted to see our Loki, the one who was broken when he found out that he was the monster parents told their children about at night, the one who had plethora of iconic dialogues while fighting the avengers, who was killed only for us to realize that he wasn’t.

Everytime I said that we needed a Loki spinoff before it was announced was not because I wanted new characters, it was because I wanted to see more of the character that was already there, very much beloved by the fans. I wanted them to explore his character in a deeper sense and maybe dip a little into mythology as well.

I think Loki was one of those characters that neither needed a love interest nor was ready for one. I don’t ship him with either Sylvie or Mobius, because it feels like neither of them genuinely like Loki for who he is.

Loki had far more compelling things they could have explored like his jotun heritage, his trauma from the time with Thanos and his magic that is the only memory he has of Frigga instead of his love life.

The whole show felt like it was written by someone who wasn’t the least bit interested in Loki and barely looked into him before creating his female counterpart.

It feels like a disrespect for the fans who were connected to Loki on an emotional level.

Why am I saying this now, after like 2 years since the show came out?

I don’t know, after hearing the news about season 2 releasing in October, I just feel so upset. Tired. I hate this show much because it made Loki so irrelevant to me. A sidepiece in his own show. He went around in ugly costumes and all the regal vibes I had from him just disappeared.

I still remember a time when Loki was on the top of my favorite characters, and I loved him so much. I still do, but I’m not sure if I’ll watch the 2nd season and my 13 y/o self would hate me for this.

I’ve gotten detached from his character and I hate myself for it because Loki was someone whom I adored more than anything else in the fandom world.

Loki is that one character who is loved by the fanon but absolutely despised by the canon.

[mala-sadas]

On the Legendary Wolves’ Plot in Pokéspe SWSH

I really like the way the legendary wolves’ plot is being handled in Pokespe so far. They’ve made a handful of changes and additions to the plot as it’s presented in the games that make it feel integral to the main characters and the overarching story, as well as just being more interesting to follow.

Part of the reason why this plotline is weak in the games is because it’s presented as just a minor subplot. You occasionally get more information about what really happened as you progress through the game, but it doesn’t seem important for you to pay attention to it until you get to the climax and Rose reveals that he’s caused the Darkest Day. Even though you encounter Zacian or Zamazenta in the Slumbering Weald at the beginning of the game, it’s not until Circhester that Hop connects that encounter to the legend you’re unraveling. And in the grand scheme of things, all that encounter does is confirm that the sword and shield Pokémon live in the Slumbering Weald - which Sonia apparently also learns about in a book that mentions Zacian and Zamazenta by name. So, why was it necessary, again?

But right out of the gate, Spe immediately ties the legendary wolves into the main characters’ backstory and motivations. A year prior to the beginning of the chapter, Sou goes to the Slumbering Weald to try to find the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield. He knows about them – and has an interest in them – because he’s from a family of swordsmiths, and he wants to see genuine, historical pieces of armor in person. Meanwhile, Schilly goes to the Weald to look for a Wishing Star that she had seen falling, since she wants to get it made into a Dynamax Band. The pair encounter the illusory Zacian and Zamazenta, and Sou immediately comes to the conclusion that these two are here to protect the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield – a conclusion supported by the fact that when they walk through the illusions to try to take a look at the artifacts, they’re knocked out by a flash of light. When they awaken, the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield are gone - as are all of Schilly’s Pokémon. Sou decides to start traveling with Schilly because he feels partly responsible for her Pokémon going missing, and Schilly decides to compete in the Gym Challenge to spread the word about her missing Pokémon and make it easier for her to find them. Additionally, it’s later revealed that Sou decided to participate in the Gym Challenge so he can get stronger and challenge Zacian and Zamazenta to a battle, believing that they’ll only allow someone with skill as a Trainer and an earnest desire to see the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield to see the artifacts in person.

So, in short, the reason why Sou and Schilly met and their respective reasons for taking on the Gym Challenge are both intrinsically linked to their encounter with the legendary wolves. This makes the wolves’ presence relevant throughout the whole story, ensuring that the reader doesn’t forget about the encounter by the time it becomes relevant again. (I also appreciate that they gave the wolves a concrete reason to appear before the protags in the Weald, something which the games and anime never really bothered to provide.)

Additionally, the decision to introduce the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield right away instead of saving their introduction for the climax like what happens in the games was a really smart choice. First, it ties directly into Sou’s interests, giving him a good reason to be interested in the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield as well as the other legends involving swords and shields. Second, it allows the characters to link together the encounter with Zacian and Zamazenta to the information they’re learning about the legends - Sou observes that the sword and shield held by the statue of the hero in Motostoke as well as the sword and shield depicted on the Hammerlocke tapestries resemble the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield, suggesting that the legends have a connection to the artifacts. And when I say “suggesting”, I don’t just mean in the sense that it’s something you can interpolate from the text. I mean that Sou literally says, “It’s not entirely unlikely that the three are all the same,” and Raihan brings up later that if they’re the same sword and shield, the legendary wolves may be connected to these events in some way as well.

This is another thing that I really appreciate about the way that Pokéspe is handling this plotline: the characters actually speculate, hypothesize, and draw conclusions about the evidence that they’re being presented with. In the games, most of the encounters with Sonia just involve you pointing out incredibly obvious things about the historical artifact/legend, and Sonia agreeing that they’re significant. She asks a lot of questions, but doesn’t postulate answers to them unless they’re directly being shown to you. And even some of the conclusions she draws seem like leaps of logic, like when she assumes that the statue behind the Stow-on-Side mural must be correct because it was made in “truly ancient times” - like, we just discovered this statue, Sonia. We have no idea how old it is.

But in Spe, the characters draw logical conclusions from the information they have, which means they can figure things out a lot faster than they do in the games and makes the conversation interesting to read whenever they learn new information. For example, Sou speculates that the sword and shield wielded by the hero might’ve had special powers, which is true. How did he figure this out? He explains that he thought about it because the hero used them to fight giant, rampaging Pokémon, which is a bit difficult to accomplish with a normal sword and shield.

Another great example of this is in Hammerlocke vault, when Sou guesses that Chairman Rose wants to cause the Darkest Day. One might think that he’s figuring things out way too quickly, but the thing is, this conclusion makes perfect sense given the information he has. While looking at the tapestries, Sou notices that the first one depicts a Wishing Star falling and the second one depicts the Darkest Day occurring. Thus, he guesses that Wishing Stars might have caused the Darkest Day, a hypothesis that Sonia agrees with because they’ve already figured out that the Darkest Day has a connection to Dynamaxing, and Wishing Stars cause Dynamaxing. But Sou had previously learned from Bede that Chairman Rose is collecting a massive amount of Wishing Stars, so it’s only natural that his next thought would be to wonder if Chairman Rose is - advertently or inadvertently - going to cause the Darkest Day again. This immediately ties the Rose plot in with the legendary wolves’ plot, a connection that doesn’t start to be made until your third visit to Hammerlocke in the games.

In general, the Hammerlocke vault scene is way better in Spe than it is in the games, where all you get is Sonia saying that the disaster depicted is probably the Darkest Day and wondering if there was one hero or two. Besides the conclusions that I already mentioned, Sonia also connects the disaster shown in the tapestries to the disaster shown in the Turffield geoglyph, concluding that they’re both depictions of the Darkest Day. However, Sou points out the lack of giant Pokémon in the tapestries, which are always associated with the Darkest Day. I really like how they point out both the similarities and the differing details between the stories, which makes it a little more understandable why no one has ever put together that this myth of the creation of Galar and the legend of the Darkest Day might be referring to the same event.

Finally, the last major improvement that I want to talk about is the one that was introduced in the latest chapter: an explanation for why the legendary wolves’ existence was lost from the legends. The destruction of the Stow-on-Side mural happens offscreen in this story, which is kind of understandable - the main significance of this statue in the games was to introduce the concept of Pokémon being involved in the legend, which Sou, Sonia, and Raihan had already figured out. This statue holds a completely different significance here: when Sonia is telling the protagonists about the newly discovered ruins, she says that she thinks the mural was put up by someone who wanted to deliberately hide the two Pokémon from the legend, giving all the credit to the humans. She points out the tapestry at Bob’s Your Uncle as further proof of this, which - given its condition - looks like someone threw it away so it would disappear from history. 

I don’t believe that the games ever explain how the tapestry ended up in the restaurant, so the fact that it’s given any sort of context here is really neat. But more importantly than that, it’s really interesting that they’re stating outright that the legendary wolves were deliberately removed from the legend. In the games, Sonia wonders why the ruins at Stow-on-Side would be hidden, but doesn’t offer an explanation - she doesn’t even say anything to suggest that it was done intentionally. The question is never brought up again. So I’m really hoping that Spe won’t go that route, and this revelation will have broader implications in the story next chapter or even later - that we’re going to find out who covered it up, or possibly that someone in the present day knows about the cover-up and is willingly propagating it. The immediate assumption is that it’ll be connected to Sordward and Shielbert in some way, since they benefit from the legend being that their ancestors were the heroes who saved Galar. But I think it could also be interesting if we find out that Rose knew about the statue and is deliberately trying to keep the existence of the sword and shield Pokémon covered up - it’d make a lot of sense why he was so unforgiving to Bede for trying to destroy the mural if that were true. Either way, I’m excited to see where they take this concept.

tl;dr The way Pokéspe has been handling the plot points related to the legendary wolves has been really good so far, much better than it was in the games, and I’m very excited to see how it develops going forward!

[babygirldennis]

This shit is fake bby!!!

Here she is.. My masterpost of all the dumb, illogical bits of info contained within these s15 “leaks” that make me fairly confident they are complete bullshit. It also includes my little tinhat theories that have absolutely no evidence.

I will be putting it all under a Readmore in case you don't want to risk it or if you simply Do Not Care

First up, I'd like to point out that these call sheets repeatedly give very detailed backstories to characters that have few lines which conveniently paints a picture of each episode's plot. And I'm not an expert so correct me if I'm wrong, but after looking at other similar casting calls, they only ever include the demographic and necessary skills.

Basically who in their right mind would write up casting calls that give away so many spoilers? Seems like that could cause and issue if they were leaked lol. But anyway that's my 1st point. But onto the actual content

So the conceit of this episode as a whole is that during the pandemic, the gang "gamed the system" and received three (3!) Loans to start businesses that went bankrupt. One of these businesses is implied to be the one started by dee and charlie who end up selling to Qanon shaman. Already this is so impossible baby.

1. We've already seen the gang try to get a loan and it didn't work. They don't have good ideas. Ur telling me, they managed to finagle 3 separate loans for 3 separate business ideas from an actual bank?

2. Maybe I just have bad reading comprehension but how does one have a business that is both fictitious and bankrupt?

3. If the customer is supposed to be Qanon shaman, an actual real life guy, why are the only descriptors white and male? They say he's shirtless so are they going to paint on all of the tattoos he has? And if so, doesn't that kind of ruin the dramatic reveal when charlie "throws in" the viking helmet? Why would he do that anyways? Sus.

Moving on

Alright this episode would fucking blow for obvious reasons but im going to refrain from looking at this through my gay dennis thruther lens because im biased.

Purely from a narrative standpoint, a woman hasn't been shown to be interested in dennis in nearly 5 years during the wade boggs episode. Ever since, every single woman he approaches has been actively creeped out by him. And now I'm supposed to believe that 3 "smart, passionate woman" (In Their Twenties!!!!!!) agreed to go on a date with him? And Anna even slept with him! Just because he what? Agreed with her? I'm not buyin it.

Plus the concept of this scenario lacks any potential for comedy. When iasip gets political, they always discuss a very specific topic using hyperbolic situations and flawed metaphors. If this is supposed to be a political episode, what ultimately lukewarm point would rob be trying to make here? So far we know they're ranting about

The patriarchy

Privilege

Socialism

No more personal responsibility(?)

The... nature of power in society(??)

How on earth would an episode like get approved? This shit sounds like a Ted talk. It sounds like it was written specifically to sound like a political episode so boring and pointless it would generate outrage and mile long essay posts from Tumblr users and reddit users alike. Almost like this one lol.

On a completely unrelated note, do not try and convince me that Frank "casual cock ring wearer" Reynolds is unable to perform.

Jeez this is getting out of hand fast. Let's move on

Ok now we're starting to getting into the Ireland of it all. Let me go on a bit of a tangent here about all this.. Now I thinq there are just 3 possibilities. Either this is all a publicity stunt and there is some truth to the Ireland rumors, the entire thing could be bogus from some weirdo fan (ps, if a fan did write this I want you to know I fucking hate you. You did this to me), or it is a publicity stunt but Ireland is just more bullshit.

I am going to assume it was a publicity stunt, otherwise I just wasted my entire evening and I can't have that kind of mentality rn. Additionally, I'm Going to tinhat here for a second and say that the Ireland rumors are true, but the details are different.

I say this because if they were going to do filming in Ireland, they probably figured that that information would be impossible to hide. In essence, my completely unfounded hypothesis is that this leak was their fucked up little way of controlling the situation while simultaneously messing with us.

Ok tangent is over, returning to the casting calls. From the looks of it, dee starts a "scam" acting class and has some very devoted students (Note that Tony was also the name of the porn shop owner. Seems weird!) Presumably after the gang replaces her with a monkey as the title suggests.

Honestly, there isn't too much here that's a red flag to me... seems like a nice little dee-centric episode that is the link to the Dublin angle. Assuming I am At All right, this could be a genuine plotline for Dee. However, the monkey could be a red herring and there could be a whole different side plot with the guys. who's to say. Next one!

Ah yes this is the dennis we all know and despise.. no red flags for me here really, I'm also running out of steam because idk if it shows, but I am majorly sleep deprived atm. Anyway I'm going to the next one

Okay this is where things start getting weird again ough a migraine just hit, anyway back to my earlier point about how casting calls would never contains major spoilers bc the people who see these wont be under any kind of NDA..

These ones reveal that bonnie dies. Again, that info wouldn't be in a casting call.

But also they suggest charlie has a irish penpal named Shelley who is his biological father. First off charlie is illiterate, although as pointed out by @undeadbreeze shelley could also be communicating in symbols. However, this scenario is still unbelievable to me for a couple reasons:

1. Bonnie's last name is Kelly obviously, and we know it's her maiden name because Jack's last name is also Kelly. But Shelley's last name is... also Kelly? In the context of this big ol hoax, it feels like it was written to show that look! his last name is the same as charlie's! That's how you know that's his dad! But It would be way too big of a coincidence if charlie's dad happened to have the same last name bonnie.

And 2. There's the whole mystery of charlie's long-lost sister from 'charlie got molested' but never any mention of a brother which according to this, shelley has been pretending to be his brother for years. And we all know how much rcg loves their continuity, it seems uncharacteristically lazy to just tack this on without any prior buildup.

And finally let me talk about mac for a second and specifically the line in gus's summary "both are gay men who are attracted to the priesthood for all the wrong reasons"

Iasip has commented on pedophilia in the priesthood many times in the past which leads me to believe that they are implying that mac is a pedophile? Please let me know if I completely misread the implications of that statement, but if not, then that is completely insane and one of the biggest indictators that this is fake. Mac is awful, just like everyone in the gang but he is definitely not a pedophile.

However even if i did completely misread that, it's still proof this is fake.. For all his faults, Rob put a surprising amount of care and effort into mac's coming-out. It hasn't been perfect, but Mfhp in particular firmly established that mac's faith is integral to his identity so Its unlikely that rob would throw all of that away for a cheap shot at priests.

Ok my brain is irradiated sludge at this point, but in conclusion. I hope that 1. I'm right, at least about it being fake (Otherwise damb that'll be so humiliating for me) And 2. This eases ur fears a bit. I don't want to lose all faith in future seasons bc I love iasip and miss the gang. If you read this far youre insane but I literally love you so goddamn much because I spent so so long tapping this out on my silly little phone

Please feel free to add on or message me your thoughts and opinions I need to know I'm not the only one who uhhh went a bit insane. And finally: whoever made these is a cunt. Mwah.

[enixamyram]

Since I am now up to date with the anime, I figured I might as well update my:

Ranking Naruto's Next Gen Kids

(Previous Ranking)

1. Shinki - For all the same reasons as before. I have a soft spot for his story, his relationship to Gaara and feel he could be such an interesting character if the series just gave him the screen time he deserved.

2. Himawari - For all the same reasons as before. She's sweet, she's fun but she's also got skill to one day being a total Kunoichi Goddess. (You know, if that's what she wants to do as a career, of course!)

3. Kawaki - In a short space of time he definitely pushed his way high up my list. Like Shinki, part of this is because of my love for adoption stories, but also because he just in general is such an interesting character. He has a tragic backstory that reminds me a lot of Gaara and I'm not gonna lie, I was just so happy to see Naruto giving him a hug. The boy needs it. The only thing that kept him from over taking Himawari is actually the flashforward we saw in the first episode. I'm just not that great a fan of it and it does sour my enjoyment just a tiny bit. That said, I'm still very excited to see more of him and truly hope he gets a happy ending otherwise I'm gonna be pissed.

4. Wasabi - Same as before. She doesn't get as much focus as other characters, but all the episodes with her in are always enjoyable to me and I'd love the chance to see her grow and build as a character.

5. Yodo - Same as before. My obvious bias for the Sand influences me a lot and so do my own headcanons that I make - you know, those essays we're all writing that read way too much into the two seconds of screen time she got.

6. Araya - Same as before and same as above. Now I just need this whole team to at least get one episode where we can properly see them show off and prove they are strong in their own right and not just hanging off Shinki's coattail.

7. Inojin - The episode where Inojin used his Sensory Perception really pushed him up a spot for me. I liked seeing how great a mum Ino was to him, and it was refreshing to have the kid characters be their own person rather than constantly copying their parents. I look forward to the kind of man Inojin could grow into.

8. Sarada - I still very much enjoy her! ... But she did drop a bit in my list. I just didn't like how she's become kind of stuck up with Kawaki, constantly nagging and moaning at him. I wouldn't mind if she did this at first and then relaxed a bit, but even after she literally saw him have an episode of PTSD, she still complained about his attitude. Like the dude's been through hell. Maybe let him mope and heal a little first before you expect him to act like everyone else.

9. Tsubaki - So, a big big big reason I like this character is because of how different she is. It's just so interesting to bring in a samurai character to join in on a ninja team. The personality isn't entirely original (the whole too-strict-for-her-own-good) but at the same time it works in regards to her story so I don't mind it so much and I'm looking forward to seeing her continue to grow and accept new things around her.

10. Metal - For all the reasons I put last time. Even if his design is lazy, I like his personality and I think it would be interesting to further develop him in a way that separates him from his dad.

11. Sumire - She has dropped a bit and that's just because she hasn't really done anything lately. Having her join the Ninja Tec Team was a cool change, but unless they actually do something with that, it isn't that attention grabbing and now I could take her or leave her either way.

12. Shikadai - Same as before. Due to his lack of having his own character or story, I don't really feel anything for him. He's just kind of these and it's disappointing in a way and I'm still just gonna be hoping they do something different and interesting with him later on.

13. Boruto - Same as before. I just don't personally care for him and while he's not a bad character, I do not find him all that interesting to watch. The only moments of him I truly enjoy are when he's being an adorable big brother to Himawari and just honestly want to see more of that more than anything.

13. Chocho - Same as before. Not a bad character but her personality is a little off putting and I'm not bothered about her. I feel like one way that could make her more interesting would be if they actually showed more of her relationship with her mum since we really don't know anything about them really.

14. Namida - Same as before. A good episode here and there but a lot of that is due to Wasabi more than it is her. I feel like she - and a lot of characters - biggest problem is a lack of screen time and build. Maybe if we saw more of her, I might change my mind but so far she still doesn't really impress.

15. Iwabee - Same as before. Not a bad character, just not interesting to me. The reason he's dropped down a spot is more just because Namida is just slightly more interesting to me than he is the more we see of them both.

16. Denki - Same as before, however I will say I don't necessarily feel an urge to skip his scenes. Now he's more on the line of Iwabee in the sense that I have no feelings what so ever and just barely react to him being on screen.

17. Mitsuki - Same as before. I don't like him. He's more annoying to me than anything and I feel like he's the most unoriginal character related to an already existing character. I don't even know how I'd improve him because I honestly would just rather getting rid of him somehow if I didn't know it would make him a forced martyr for the other characters.

[affableboar-zero]

Part 2!!! (Only just realized I did the math completely wrong lol but anyways here's the rest)

12-The Hanged Man: Azazel (Azra)

The Lord of the Lost Circle of Hell, Heresy, Azra has the ability of hearing hushed whispers and rumors. When Heresy fell, Hell still had plenty of use for Azra and Heaven wanted her even more. So, she fled, and Satan made everyone believe she was dead. Even after we find out the truth and what she knows, she ends up dying soon after. She is, quite literally, needless sacrifice. The domino that causes everything else to fall. I feel like she fit this card very well.

13-Death: Lucifer

The Grim Reaper. The Lord of the Seventh Circle, Violence. She is considered, very widely, the Boogeyman. Her backstory is a mystery to all but three people. I feel like this card fits her because A) she was quite literally The Grim Reaper for a good bit, but B) this card represents change, whether that be fear of it or inevitable change. And Lucifer I feel like almost refuses to change in certain aspects (like in the way her revenge plot has been going on for centuries and she's still not satisfied), but she also *fell by choice.* She chose to undergo a sort of Metamorphosis both literally and figuratively and the Butterfly can never change back into a Caterpillar.

14-Temperance: Beelzebub (Bee)

The Lord of the Third Circle, Gluttony, Bee is a very good representation of the Reverse of this card, which is excess, extreme and a lack of balance. Honestly this card was one of the harder ones to pick, but I feel like Bee also can represent the upright of this, as he finds meaning in her work and excess because of Modey. Don't really have much to say for this card but yeah 👍

15-The Devil: Mammon (Ma'am)

Now this card I feel truly fits the Lord of the Fourth Circle, Greed. Being a Lord of Hell, ofc he's going to be immensely materialistic and be super flirty and just generally an asshole. But one of the other reasons I picked this card for him was because of the reverse, which is freedom and release, which is his entire character arc in the story! He learns how to stop feeling trapped and actually do shit he enjoys! He takes back control of his life so to speak. Plus, having Satan here is a little too obvious lol

16-The Tower: The Falls

Now since this story deals with angels and demons, obviously we have to talk about The Fall™, which is something that occurs quite often in this story for different reasons. We have Satan, obviously, Lucifer, Eve, Archie, Mammon, and finally Wesley. The Tower is one of the most infamous cards, meaning disaster and sudden change upright, and delayed disaster in reverse. Having such a plot important part of the story be this card felt like it fit too perfectly.

17-The Star: Death (Dea)

I had a pretty hard time figuring out a card that fit Dea, as she's a very complex character. Being the Horseman of Death and the youngest child of a broken family tends to do that to you. But this card is something that represents hope and faith and rejuvenation and I feel like Dea not only delivers a lot of hope to lost souls, but also she regains a lot of hope throughout this story herself. Now the reverse of this card, faithlessness and insecurity fits her perfectly as well. She's pretty insecure throughout most of this story, but this card really shines after Wesley's fall when she loses all faith in the world and helps to start the Apocalypse. She fits this card pretty well, but it also helps to enforce that with the next card

18-The Moon: Pestle (Pestilence)

The only Apocalypse Child to accept their fate from the beginning. Pestle is the Horseman of Pestilence and Disease and he wears that badge with a lot of pride. This Card represents illusion and unconsciousness in the upright and confusion, fear and misinterpretation in the reverse. Pestle does a very good job at convincing himself that being a Horseman is necessary, and when that illusion gets broken at the end, there's a lot of fear and confusion inside him that has been there the whole time but just never saw the light of day. Plus I think having him be the Moon and Dea the Stars is really cool lol

19-The Sun: The Creation God (Creed)

The Sun is a card that represents positivity, happiness, and success, and reversely depression and negativity. Creed is a character we don't see much of but hear a lot about from various characters. Creed is a big mystery to many, but, in reality, Creed was a pretty simple person: they just wanted to stop being alone. Much in the way The Sun attracted the planets at the beginning of the universe, Creed created beings and brought them closer so they wouldn't be alone. A being who should be the most successful and proud and powerful in the universe, is, in reality, nothing more than someone who was looking for love. They never got it, or else people would get hurt. Isn't that the Sun's curse anyways? It can provide life, but only in the most specific of circumstances or else it will kill the same life it created.

20-Judgement: The Justice Gods

Perhaps an obvious one, The Justice Gods are considered The God in absence of Creation. They decide the fate of souls and judge them in the same way a jury who has been working for centuries would. Judgement is considered "The Finale" almost, and while the Apocalypse does help bring that about, it is The Justices who decide who goes where after everything. They are quite literally a reckoning and a reflection of humanity, and they are the mirror souls face when they die.

21-The World: The Final Battle

In the book, the finale is very reminiscent of a battle we see previously. It is Wesley, the only and final vessel of Creation, who faces off against The God of Death and the Ruler of Hell himself, Satan, who was the only creation Creed ever admitted that they truly loved. It is the battle to decide the world. To decide judgement. It is fitting that this battle should be on the card that represents completion, a battle that ends the longest feud in the cosmos. A battle not between Heaven, Hell, and Humanity, but rather Fate, Death and Creation. Between the three who started it all.

No one really asked for this but I went through the Major Arcana Tarot deck and basically assigned the cards to Between The Crayon Lines and here's my thought process (And maybe I'll draw these one day oop--)

(BY THE WAY THIS IS ONLY PART 1, I WILL POST A PART 2 SOON)

0-The Fool: Wesley

Perhaps one of the easier ones, The Fool is usually a card that means Innocence and New Beginnings and reversely those that are taken advantage of and recklessness. Innocence and Being Taken Advantage Of are perhaps two qualities that are very accurate towards Wesley in the story. Plus no one else in the story really fits this as well as Wesley does, other than maybe Creed.

1-The Magician: Crystal

Who else could this one be lol the mother who tricked Heaven and Hell in the first place. Much like the Reverse side of this card, Crystal is pretty much this series' main trickster, plus I feel like she has the most will power and desire in the show.

2-The High Priestess: Asmodeus (Modey)

Now this one took a bit of thinking, but I feel like as the Lord of Lust and Hell's biggest (and only) Singer and Star, they would have a pretty big internal and external voice. Plus, the Reverse of this card also means repressed feelings and...yeah I feel like they fit that

3-The Empress: Fae

Fae and Satan ended up being tied for Emperor but I thought Satan fit it slightly more than her. Mostly why she's this card is mostly because it's a cool Parallel to Satan, but I feel like it also works because Fae presents herself as the upright version of this card (nature, soft, caring, guiding like a parent to the Apocalypse Children) when she's more accurately the Reverse of this card (Emptiness, Nosiness, wanting to be involved in everything, etc.)

4-The Emperor: Satan

I almost ended up being boring and made Satan The Devil Card but The Emperor fits him much better; authority and control in upright and tyranny and coldness in reverse? Literally him. Plus, having him and Fae share Emperor/Empress is hella ironic and fits well with the story so

5-The Hierophant: Belphegor (Gore)

The Hierophant being all about tradition and conformity in the upright and rebellion in the reverse fits hella well for the Lord of Fraud that is a literal factory. It is a textbook definition for a wealthy owner of a factory, all about keeping "tradition" and wanting workers to conform while hating/dreading rebellion. Though in this case, rebellions are very swiftly taken care of.

6-The Lovers: Eve and Jo

Who else? Eve and Jo are practically the main couple of this show. It couldn't be anyone else. Plus the upright fits when their relationship is in good standing and the reverse fits when their relationship isn't.

7-The Chariot: Leviathan (Levi)

Levi is the Lord of Wrath, so of course he's going to be super in control and have a lot of will power, such as a commander of a fleet of ships should be. But, reversely, he also has a severe lack of control and has anger issues. Plus, I thought strength better fitted someone else.

8-Strength: War

The First Horseman of the Apocalypse. The first of her siblings to be cast out from Heaven and Hell. She represents the raging battlefield, and yet the loyalty and the bravery of soldiers. She fits every part of the Strength card, both upright and reversely. She's brave, compassionate, and yet she has self-doubt, insecurities. Perhaps the best fitting card for her.

9-The Hermit: Famine (Fami)

The Second Horseman of the Apocalypse. The first of his siblings to leave of his own accord. Fami in this story after completing his training in Heaven, practically disappears off the map. He fits the Reverse of this card really well, as he is almost completely isolated the entire story. He's on a search of self-discovery, of trying to find himself again after losing someone close to him, but he can't. At least, not until some drastic measures are taken.

10-The Wheel of Fortune: The Horsemen of the Apocalypse

I thought these guys fit because...well, all of them are constantly trying to break the cycle they believe is the problem. They all think it's different things, but in trying to break out of their cycle and make a change, they end up going down the path that continues the cycle. All of them are clinging to any sense of control they can have (War does this by refusing to listen to her family, Fami does it by leaving entirely, Pestle accepts his role, and Dea tries to prevent it) but then after it's all said and done you realize *none of them were in control anyways.* And that's what The Wheel of Fortune really is, a feeling of cycles and change and never being in control anyways

11-Justice: Archie

Basic as hell to have the Justice Angel be the Justice Card, but Archie really fits this card. On the upside of it, clarity and truth and cause and effect...all of those are pretty much Archie. Constantly seeking out the truth from everyone, wanting to know how he died, what happened, why things are the way they are and he *questions.* Now, obviously that leads down some dangerous roads as an angel, so the reverse of this card isn't really him, but rather what happens because of this path. He's going to be lied to and have to lie, the real villains won't be held accountable but he will for their mistakes, and everything about his fate in this story is just...unjust. How ironic is that?

(Part 2 coming tomorrow! Or sometime soon lol)