#that's it and we get why that happens for the scene it's good

[username0204]

If Byler isn't endgame, I'd assume this has to have happened at some point during a ST crew meeting after S4 dropped:

writers: *storm into the room* WTF guys?! What have you done?! *confused looks* set designers: What do you mean? writers: What do we mean?! Ok, we'll start with you. Why the hell does Mike have a "one way" sign pointing to a closet in his bedroom? People might think he's gay! set designers: Oh, sorry.. were we not supposed to give it away yet? writers: HE'S NOT GAY!! composers: He's not? Well the script and the plot kinda implied it tbh... So what's up with that fight at Rink-O-Mania? Mike being so defensive seemed kinda gay, so we titled the track "In the closet" - smart right? writers: You WHAT?! No, it was supposed to be just 2 platonic bros you know... growing apart a little. He wasn't supposed to be defensive! Finn: No? Oh... I guess I just assumed that since Mike didn't hug Will at the airport and was so dramatic to call their few months apart a year that there is more to it. writers: What do you mean? Finn: Yeah, In the script it says that it was like a few months but in my dialog Mike says it's been a year so... I thought it was on purpose?

writers: Oh fuck... We forgot to change that... shit. Millie: Wait, so if Mike isn't gay then why he can't say he loves El? Isn't that why Nancy and Steve broke up? I already told one interviewer that Mike doesn't love her the way she wants to be loved... I tried to be cryptic though... writers: You did WHAT?! No, no, he just isn't good with words, you know? Shit, we forgot about that Nancy plot... But it's different, ok?! At the end he has this beautiful love confession! Didn't you catch that? Finn: So it was meant to be genuine? Damn... I even did my "lying face"... So the part about love at first sight is for real? I thought you didn't believe in that? writers: Of course we do! While we're at it... who the hell posted on our account that we don't?! writers intern: Sorry boss... I thought the tweet said CORRECT not INCORRECT... composers: Shit, we even titled the track after Will's quote... why the hell he was in the frame then? camera men: Don't look at us, we are as confused as you, hun writers: So you all thought Mike was gay?? costume designers: Yeah... We even sawed a big ass triangle on his shirt just like we added them on Robin's outfit. Wait, Robin IS gay right? writers: Yes, so is Will... it was supposed to be this beautiful heartbreaking story of a suffering traumatized gay boy who sacrifices his feelings so the OG couple can end up together! Noah: dA fUcK? camera men: Really? Damn... and we wasted a whole day on that van scene... editors: We know! We spent days choosing the gayest heart eyes possible! Great work Finn, btw <3

Finn: Awww, thanks <3 subtitle guy: Seriously amazing, Finn! Not just then - the whole season! I just kept adding [tender, emotional music], couldn't help myself tbh Millie: Wait, why didn't El and Mike get a scene together if the confession was genuine? writers: What do you mean? It was on page 458! writers intern: Boss? We run out of printing paper that day, remember? We only printed up to page 451... writers: Holly fuck, we're screwed... Where are the directors? We need to fix it somehow! Finn: No idea, haven't seen them since S2 tbh

[thrawns-backrest]

Still thinking about that scene where Murderbot interrupts Gurathin and Mensah's emotional moment because we didn't get any of its internal monologue this time which means one of the following:

it needs to get as far away from DeltFall girl as possible asap (99% sure that's the case but pretty boring on its own)

social cues? what are social cues? we're on a tight schedule here and there's a perfectly good logical reason why I need you two to hurry tf up

it's seeing something mushy happening before its eyes (right in front of its salad) and needs to stop it before it throws up

'fuck you Gurathin, you are not getting a single moment of joy on my watch'

[glitterspaghettiketchup]

MY VERY ELABORATE THOUGHTS ON [SPOILER COLD CHARACTER]:

So in my other post i said "i hate Noelle's mom" and barely elaborated. So here's the elaboration.

i don't think it's as simple as that. I think Carol is an effective antagonist, and she only has a total of a single minute of screentime. She's an incredibly dislikable character, who has every single chance of being expanded upon and rendered more interesting that way.

i'll adress it now: this is most likely going to be THE thing the fandom hates her for (and on some level already disliked her for). Her parenting of Noelle.

...I don't think this is healthy.

Yeah, based on the one scene AND prior context it's not that much of a stretch to say that she's at best, an overly strict mother who's emotional distance since the death of her oldest and illness of her spouse is getting in the way of having any kind of healthy relationship with her youngest, and is using work as a way to avoid adressing those issues.

At worst, she's a woman with abusive tendencies who's lost the one check she had in her personal life and is now free to do whatever she wants, while she's surrounded herself with people who will enable her actions. I don't think this is the case! At least not fully! We just... Can't definitively know unless we see more of her. (we also can't know if she was always like this, but based on a Chapter 2 scene she might've already been strict before Dess disapeared. More on this later)

Granted, this isn't the best first impression of her, but the way the atmosphere shifts the second she's present, how intimidated she makes Noelle, the way she apologises for the scene TO KRIS later and the context from Chapter 2 especially... Yeah i don't think Carol's a great parent!

TO BE PERFECTLY CLEAR: We have no evidence of Carol being abusive to Rudy. We have no concrete evidence of Carol being abusive to Dess, nothing outside of Dess wanting to run away and take Noelle with her at the very least. We don't know what happened after Noelle went in the Kitchen, only that Carol left to say goodbye to Kris. We have no evidence of Carol being abusive to anyone outside of her family and if i see anyone saying otherwise in the replies without any proof i will fucking delete your comment. Let's not make things up to dislike her for, there's already enough here, trust me.

I do at least want to remind people that (i believe) she's implied to own the Flower Shop and be the one that gave Asgore a place to live and didn't kick him out when he hasn't payed rent in a while. She lets him in her house and is only kind of hostile to him for eating the snack tray inside. Granted. Kind of the minimum for an old family friend, but this is also the man who failed to find your missing daughter when you counted on him to do that, so im surprised she's still giving him the time of day. She's not a flat character, that's why i said her getting a more sympathetic motive later was likely or even for sure happening.

and hell, even if she was, i don't think that makes her a bad character, not at all! I love how well her brief appereance followed up on her build-up! When she's near a place, the entire atmosphere is tense. Her entire color palette is cold, her hands are icy, her haircut and horns are much sharper than both Noelle's and Rudy's, she's intimadating, uninviting... and scary. and not the good kind of scary, like Susie is. It's excecuted really well.

Now, i will also briefly adress something. The Voice-On-The-Phone character. I've seen alot of people run with the idea that it's Carol, most obviously because she unexpectedly shows up right after Kris calls a mysterious person on the phone who says they're coming over. Based on the lines that play when you hover in the kitchen vents, this person:

has seemingly been told about Susie being in the Mayor's house

needs to know about Dess's guitar and have a reason why Susie shouldn't get it

knows about the Church Dark World before it's been made

Talks about a "Dark Fountain... next" which could just be "next Dark Fountain in Church"

has at least some knowledge on how Kris's soul works in Dark Worlds

Possibly knows about Undyne's disappearance and talked about a POLICE SACRIFICE NEXT WEEK?

Considering all this knowledge. And that line. There's a good chance that voice is Carol. But i do have an issue with that and that is the voice text noise. It's completely different from when you call other characters in this very game. The speech pattern is also weird, but that's maybe a gameplay thing?

That, and i don't get why she would've made the Closet Fountain or the Librarby Fountain. Why make a Dark World where your daughter learns to get her own agency and stand up to you, hmm?

I also have a couple questions:

When was the Promise mentionned in the end scene made? Why did Kris make it, and why does it make Kris hesitate from climbing out their window? Is Carol watching them or something

Why is Kris working with Carol against finding the code for the Bunker?

Why does Carol know so much about Dark Worlds, and so keen on not letting Susie get Dess's guitar?

WHY IS CAROL SACRIFICING THE POLICE NEXT WEEK. IS SHE IN A FAUSTIAN DEAL WITH THE DEVIL TYPE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE KNIGHT

Oh yeah, speaking of which, Does She Know about the Knight?

Does Carol have an interest in Dark Worlds due to her husband's mystery illness? We've seen now that Dark Worlds can revive the dead if their dust and maybe a treasured item of theirs on top of that are present at the place the Dark Fountain is made in. Maybe it's a last resort?

Does Carol know Kris is possesed. Is that why when she says "You are welcome here", the text is red?

Why does the Knight have deer horns. And also why does their sword look like a baseball bat and have. Mystery Man Sprite hand holes. Also i've seen some people compare their body shape to Papyrus's and im annoyed by the fact i see their point

...We're definitely not getting an answer to any of these questions before 2026. For sure we aren't.

I've mentionned her already, but i'll just adress it here: I do see the Roaring Knight being related to Dess, or even being a Dess corrupted by pure darkness or whatever the fuck.

Dess has been connected to the character lost in the code, in a Dark World so Dark they can't see anyone or anything. The Bunker, a sealed up, mysterious area is implied to have a dark fountain inside considering how the RK manages to slip inside it with Undyne at the end of Chapter 3; that's a good candidate for where Dess ended up! And who do we think know anything about it's code?

The Police Force (the people tasked with finding Dess) and the Mayor (literally her mom).

There's also the horns, looking similar to the horns the Holidays sport on their heads, and there's been a pattern of monsters who seem to be from similar species that ended up being related, with the notable exception of Ralsei, but even then he's a Darkner, so it's debatable if he counts.

And there's also it's weapon: While in the sprite i picked it looks like a sword, the way it summons it...

Yeah no that's a fucking bat. That's just a bat. There's one in Dess's room. There's also some projectiles that look similar to snowflakes, but that one's a little more debatable? But it would fit with this theory, the Holidays have been repeatedly associated with snow after all.

Finally... The Knight can make fountains. Only Lightners so far have been said to create Fountains. the RK being connected to Dess, or being a manifestation of Dess while she's stuck in the Dark Worlds, could make sense to explain that (and especially explain how the hell it carried Undyne IN THE LIGHT WORLD BTW. THE DREEMUR HOUSE ISN'T EXACTLY NEXT TO THE DAMN BUNKER.) Oh, yeah, and the CODE to the BUNKER is in DESS'S ROOM? In her guitar too. extra connection i just realised.

If Dess is the Knight, Carol being the VOTP makes a bit more sense. Because the impossibly powerful being made of darkness isn't just some shmuck trying to end the world for some fuckass reason... That's a lead to her lost daughter. A daughter i don't think she's ever let herself grieve and move on from.

Maybe, like some Mayor Knight theories stated, she's working with the RK to open fountains in a desperate hope to locate her daughter, while neglecting her family and throwing herself into work outside of that.

Look, im not an expert on how to handle loosing a child. Im a teenager barely out of highschool that can barely keep track of their University's schedule. But im pretty sure keeping your kid's room in the exact state it was in when they died/disappeared, and cleaning it enough that it's not dusty is uh. Not a healthy way to deal with loss.

Carol strikes me then, with this information, as a woman who has diffculty handling change. A woman who, to avoid this, needs control on things, so much so that she's the Mayor of the whole town and can only bring herself out of her work for absolute emergencies or catastrophes. A woman who, prompted by loss and uncertainty, choose to burry herself in her work and force her daughter into a position where she won't ever create any change. No uncertainties, no surprises, she'll know what to expect when it comes to her. Because it's the only family member she can be sure won't change.

...Which is probably why she reacted so badly to Susie's general presence.

Im also deeply curious as to what her relationship with Dess was like before she disapeared. Because she VERY MUCH was NOT the kind of daughter she'd want today; while Dess most likely tried meeting her mother's expectations (the Violin and Flute being on the floor in her room), She also seems to be the rebellious type, the cool older sister, the one with all the cool games you aren't supposed to play and the sporty hobbies.

I think Dess would've gotten along great with Susie, or at least would've shared interests with the girl. I don't even think Carol was mad about only the code in Dess's guitar, considering that burrial with Dust and an item cherished in life seems to be the usual custom for Monsters in Hometown.

Maybe the big reason why she wants Noelle to not talk to Susie ever again is because Dess didn't want to stay; she openly told Noelle as such, and had army rations under her bed (most likely for that reason). Maybe whatever incident that caused Dess to disapear was blamed on that misbehaving? Maybe Susie's reputation as the "Bad Kid" extends so much farther than just school? Did people bother the Mayor about her?? Or maybe Carol just saw a complete stranger she didn't approve of dressed in ripped jeans with their shoes on her couch playing her missing (?) daughter's guitar badly in front of Noelle and she was just incredibly pissed off.

...You think im done with this post now. But you'd be WRONG, because it's

CRACKPOT THEORY TIME!!!

So if we assume that Voice-On-The-Phone is Carol, and that RK is Dess in some way. And that Carol is indeed using the RK to bring Dess back or something. Would that mean that Noelle and Queen's relationship doesn't reflect Noelle and Carol's dynamic... But Dess and Carol's dynamic?

Think about it. Carol doesn't need anything from her daughter. she only needs her to be a picture perfect innocent daughter with good grades who participates in the church choir and 0 skeletons in her closet. I don't think she's even trying to make Noelle happy or make her life particularly better outside of her own idea of better, outside maybe that pushing her to get better grades could let her get better universities later down the line?

That doesn't fully map onto Queen, who, while she is controlling and manipulative and uses the teenagers around her for her own ends, those ends are to help Noelle; she says she saw "her [Noelle's] sad searches", and thinks making a second fountain, a different Dark World, would help Noelle be happy. Once Noelle stands up to Queen and makes her agency known, Queen relents. She admits she was wrong. She lets Noelle choose her own world.

I think, with the theories and possibilities i've expressed in this post, that Carol working with the RK or being on the same side is possible, especially with the Dess connection you can make. In this, RK (or Dess) would be the willing peon of Carol, opening up more Dark Worlds to bring about either The Roaring, or finding more information on Dess's whereabouts, and the Knight messing with any of the Darkners before the Fuck Gang reaches them would be prehemptive attempts to stop them, or at least slow them down.

The main difference would end up being that... Contrary to what happens at the end of Chapter 2, RK wouldn't stand up to Carol. In this framework, it's willingly being used for this purpose and seemingly doesn't mind that at all (Maybe like how Queen thought Noelle didn't mind being ordered around all Chapter). Although, we still have 3 chapters left and a roaring to cause, so perhaps the RK will betray Carol, and she'll have to face her loss head on.

...This post was supposed to be a footnote in my dumping info post from earlier, why did this balloon so much in length Oh my god

EDIT: WE HAVE MORE LINES FROM THE CHARACTER STUCK IN THE FILES... AND IT IS ABSOLUTELY DESS. I WAS SO RIGHT

Ok so this changes that final crackpot theory. a bit. Because the Roaring Knight isn't Dess. The deer horns and somewhat deer-skull shaped head it bears during it's intro animation in Chapter 3 is still sus, but it's likely not LITERALLY Dess.

...So Mayor Knight theorists might've been right again, and instead Carol's taken a Faustian Bargain with the RK, possibly to find Dess. Which could explain why she needs Kris (and maybe why she knows of the soul situation) to seal dark fountains and shit. Unless the sealing is unintentional and instead only the Roaring would bring them closer to finding Dess. Hmm.

[artist-issues]

I just rewatched all the Lilo & Stitch movies today and have a new appreciation of Jumba ngl. Especially after Stitch Has A Glitch(best Disney sequel ever. Easy).

If possible could you do an analysis on Animated Jumba? I was looking for a good analysis on him in the animation but Youtube is full of Lilo and Stitch 2025 reviews rn.

I just Like Him a lot

Of course I will! I love Jumba too! (An Uncle to one and all of us)

Okay so basically the main point of the original movie is “Family love chooses you and transforms you, whether you make it easy or not.” Right? I mean, it says “Ohana means family, family means, etc.” but that is just the simple charming one-liner. If you dissect that phrase, based on what happens in the movie, it’s “Family love chooses you and then transforms you, whether you make it easy or not.”

And Jumba is a really good opposite of that theme when we first meet him. Not even Stitch is the exact opposite of the theme like Jumba is, because Stitch is learning where he fits in the world. When we meet Jumba, he thinks he’s already figured that out. Think about it:

When you meet him, he’s on trial for a crime he did commit—and he’s actually working for the same government that’s accusing him (Galaxy Defense Industries.) So it should tell you something that even though he works for a Galaxy that’s United (under a federation) he’s not unified with them. He’s out here making monsters to tear them down. Jumba thinks he has no place in the Galaxy. And for a guy who works for Galaxy Defense Industries, he’s certainly not interested in defending it.

…you know what he is interested in defending? Himself. He’s lying to save his skin at first, but then when they reveal the evidence, he gets overwhelmed with passion about describing Stitch’s abilities and function.

That’s still Jumba defending himself. As long as Stitch is associated with him, (that’s important, remember that for later) he’ll defend his idea, which Stitch represents. He’ll describe his powers, chuckle with glee when he breaks stuff, laugh at the fact that he designed Stitch to be unstoppable and it’s working. Because that’s the only thing Jumba really cares about: himself, and how he thinks he fits in the universe, which is: “I’m a genius, I don’t fit, so I might as well own it.”

He wants to be called “evil genius.” Emphasis on the genius.

Not that we don’t see that much evil, at first. He did create Stitch. He’s definitely insensitive. He’s throwing Pleakley around and insulting him and aiming guns carelessly at children. And he is there to capture Stitch, his own creation, just to save his own skin. But! That’s the thing. Is he in a big rush to do it?

No. Obviously he can’t do much, that’s the point of Lilo being Stitch’s human shield. But even right before that, when he has a shot, he doesn’t immediately take it. Because he’s fascinated with his own creation.

And then for the rest of the chase, he’s just hanging out, enjoying Hawaii, watching his creation. This is Jumba’s idea of a good time—he’s not in a rush to catch Stitch as long as he can watch his creation doing what he made it to do.

In fact, the only moments we see Jumba get mad at Stitch are moments when Stitch mocks him. Because remember, Jumba’s always defending himself.

Even that whole rampage scene, where Jumba’s determined to start doing things his own way and he still wants to take Stitch apart, is so interesting! Because 1) he wants to take Stitch apart only after Stitch has insulted his creator and thrown him across the ocean. And 2) Jumba is excited about being fired, because it means he can do things his own way. And remember, he thinks he’s an evil genius, and the most recent offender in treating him like he’s not a genius is his own creation. So he’s going to get payback.

That’s why he says to Stitch in the woods, “You don’t have (a family.)” And then he lingers on, “I made you.”

Do you see what I’m saying?

For the whole movie Jumba is fine with Stitch as long as Stitch represents him: an unstoppable variable who doesn’t belong in the rest of the universe.

But as soon as Stitch starts insulting him and making his life harder, Jumba turns on Stitch. He wants vengeance. He chooses to get active when he notices that Stitch has developed beyond what Jumba programmed him for: going into the water that could destroy him, and for what? Not to destroy anything, like Jumba intended. But because Stitch is searching for belonging? That’s not fascinating in the way Jumba likes Stitch to be fascinating. It’s not devious. So it’s like in that moment Jumba remembers why he’s there: to catch this little monster that’s mocked him and landed him in prison.

And when he does catch Stitch, he’s beating him up. Because Jumba’s been insulted. And that’s all he cares about: defense of Jumba, Jumba the Genius Who Doesn’t Belong.

But then…he sees Stitch cares about the Earthling family. Even though he knows that Stitch knows that he “can never belong.” He sees Stitch, in one scene, stop being the monster he created, and turn around and ask Jumba to help him save a family that isn’t his.

DO YOU GET IT

Jumba thought this whole time that he was alone in the infinite universe, a genius, and so he owned it. Nobody’s ever going to make a place for him to belong, nobody’s on his level, so he’s going to make whatever he wants to burn it all down. Stitch was just an extension of himself, in his mind.

And then it’s Stitch (an extension of himself) who transforms, so that he can fit into a place of belonging. Instead of being the creature Jumba created him to be, a creature that can NEVER BELONG, Stitch is transformed and teaches Jumba to belong.

In like one funny, quirky scene. And from that scene you can tell that Jumba always would have belonged somewhere, if he thought it were possible. He doesn’t hurt Lilo even when he could’ve, for example, and he does turn around and decide to become a hero really quickly. But the point is, before Lilo’s love transformed the monster Jumba made, Jumba didn’t think it was possible to belong.

He was defending himself. He was even willing to take everything out on the creature he created as SOON as that creature made his life harder. But that’s the thing: Nani doesn’t leave Lilo even though she makes his life harder. Lilo doesn’t leave Stitch even though he makes her life harder. And Jumba is witness to the result of that: Stitch won’t abandon Lilo, even though rescuing her and asking for help to do it technically makes Stitch’s life harder.

Jumba goes from selfish to selfless because he sees Stitch do it, and he knows on like a molecular level that that shouldn’t be possible. But if his monster can be changed by a love that powerful, Jumba learns that he can be, too.

And he like. Jumps at the chance.

That’s what makes him so great. He goes from “I’m special and I’m going to be me, and if anyone has a problem with it or makes my life harder I’ll drop them” to “Love isn’t about me” in like two minutes. It’s amazing.

[uniquethingtastemaker]

I've been working on a series called "Dreaming of You.” The premise is that when you jump into the romantic interest’s dream in Chapter 7, you’re there as their significant other

This is an update to this post, since much has changed! I'll add my writing status for them. I'll also include some samples for the ones I've been writing for. I'll put this on the Masterlist for everyone to see as I update it!

Another aspect that will be included in this series is showing how each love interest fell in love with Reader in the real world. This is usually formatted as a few flashback scenes from his POV, but some of them are special

(The writing status list from beginning to end is [Concept-> Idea-> Outline-> Writing])

Riddle — [writing. currently 24k, closest to done] Spicy! However, the focus is on character development. Multiple panic attacks with comfort (what can I say? the man is unstable). Lots of screaming from the cast. Riddle learns affection. Samples: Spicy! Hilarious. Serious

Trey — [concept] Vague, but supporting Trey in Riddle's dream is what I want. Parent couple.

Cater — [outlining/writing. suspected to be 30-40k] Angst with comfort (gut-wrenching. the type where you have to pause, get up, and hold your head because your heart hurts. Don't worry, there's comfort!! A lot of it. that's why it's so long). Character deep dive and analysis. Peeling back Cater's mask to find insecurity, pessimism, low self-esteem, and more. He gets the attention and love he deserves. Still funny. It can't all be dark

Deuce — [idea] If Azul’s dream is most embarrassing in canon, Deuce’s is the most ridiculous in this series. I love him, but he can be so unobservant at times.

Leona — [concept] Leona's not happy in his dream... Idk what's going to happen, but it's going to be angst with a happy ending. (It's not like Cater's. That one can sneak up on you. This one is obvious depression)

Azul — [writing. currently 10k] Despite the cringe context, Azul is a good and dedicated boyfriend. Money's on the mind even in his dreams. MVP Floyd (it's a delight). Business power couple (be scared, run away). A few deeply (often unwillingly) vulnerable scenes with Azul due to outside circumstances. Reader swoops in to save the day, Azul style. Samples: Hilarious

Jade — [idea] He likes you the best, and it shows. You encourage crime.

Floyd — [idea] He missed you, and it shows. Gets angry and upset when he first sees you. Then, he figures out you're the fun Shrimpy and glomps you.

Kalim -- [idea/outlining] Kalim gets help in the real world! Yay! He acquired more self-sufficient skills. (You helped him, but didn't become his parent... Lilia became his dad, though lol) Unexpected intro to dream, but makes way too much sense once you think about it. He's surrounded by too many competent people, including himself, surprisingly (we like character growth here). It's a problem

Vil — [outlining/writing] Chill Reader (Vil needs someone a little calmer than himself). Vil loves physical affection. Envy moment! Then, he immediately regrets something, like in canon. Open mouthed, can't breathe, gasping sobs from Vil. Slowly feeling out the new relationship.

Rook — [concept/idea] Rook usually takes a spectator role. It's not too different in his dream. Just a little more involved in Reader's happiness. A lot is unclear for this one

Idia — [idea/outline] "My family saw my search history and crush. Now I have to work with my target LI to defeat the ultimate boss, but my family and their company keep trying to wingman me," the fanfic. I love the Reader in this one. It's so funny

Malleus — [concept] Ace uses his unique magic on Malleus to put him to sleep. Unclear about the content

Silver — [idea/outline/writing? unclear. it's been through phases] Soft Silver. Helping the Diasomnia crew with their fundamental problems (Malleus-> Time management, Silver-> Narcolepsy accommodations, Sebek-> Racism). Getting Lilia's approval. Intense fight scene (it's so good. so tense, but so good). Sample: get wrecked sebek

Sebek — [idea/outlining] Reader schools Sebek, then chooses him over anyone else to confide in and trust (this is so important for him. I could do a whole analysis about this, but not here). Tactician Reader! (Sebek needs a strong leader figure, let's be honest) Multiple near-death experiences (was not expecting it to be this intense). Sebek steps up and does the right thing to protect Reader. Sweet relationship. Sebek is a little shy. Rollercoaster of emotions. It's intense

What do you think? Who are you excited for?! Leave it in the comments. It motivates me. Do you see how long my fanfics tend to be? I work hard lol. I need max support!

(I hate tags. I need more of them)

[cheri-cheri]

EN vs CN: No-Return Night Trailer

Let's have a look at some of the translation differences in the No-Return Night trailer which I have not recovered from:

1. The title

In CN, the title of this card is "无可逃逸夜", which directly translates to "a night with no means of escape." I can understand why EN wouldn't use the direct translation because it lowkey sounds like a threat LOL.

It's possible to take a more poetic interpretation of the title where it could be read as "an inevitable night", which is pretty sweet because it carries the idea that regardless of how much Caleb held back before and regardless of how ignorant MC was of her romantic feelings towards Caleb, whatever is going to transpire on his birthday night is something inescapable and destined in the stars.

While the EN name "No-Return Night" sounds a little clumsy, it does leave room for meaningful interpretations. Clearly, one of them is not returning home that night (´ ∀ ` *) More importantly, the title makes us anticipate that whatever happens in this date marks the point of no return for the romantic evolution of their relationship.

2. Comparing each line:

EN Caleb: Is this the post-credits scene? Well, I'm here. CN Caleb: Is this a post-movie Easter egg? Good thing I didn't miss it.

The CN version creates a greater sense of anticipation.

EN Caleb: It's not midnight yet. Don't leave me. Not until my birthday is over. CN Caleb: It's not twelve yet. Stay. Spend the rest of my birthday with me.

The EN version portrays Caleb as somewhat vulnerable and insecure in the way he is almost begging MC not to leave him.

The CN version is more positive in the way he is more assertive and gently "commands" MC to stay with him.

EN Caleb: Lemon-flavoured. Whenever you give me candy, it's always the sourest one. CN Caleb: Lemon-flavoured. The things I get from you always seem to be the most sour things.

While the EN version makes it clear that Caleb is referring to the sourness of the candy, the CN version is more ambiguous and general in what exactly is the "sour" object.

Aside from the candy, he might be talking about other types of food in general. Stretching this further, he may also be playfully hinting that MC may have unintentionally given him "sour" or unpleasant emotions over the years, whether it's in the way he has had to hold back his feelings for her, or that he's always shielding her from negative experiences at the cost of his own comfort and happiness.

EN Caleb: And I'll wish that every year, I'll follow these coordinates on this day, as I venture through the darkness, all because they'll lead me back to you. CN Caleb: On this day every year, I'll follow these one and only coordinates, cross the darkness, and reach your side.

The EN version comes across more poetic and emotional, with an emphasis on his love for MC being a guiding and motivational force through any trials and tribulation he may face.

On the other hand, the CN version comes across more resolute and unwavering in the way he emphasis that there is only one set of coordinates that would lead to MC, his destination.

EN Caleb: I'll twist your words on purpose... and use them to catch you. Gravity can't be responsible for people who fall in love. See? This is how you draw me in every time without fail. CN Caleb: I'll deliberately misinterpret the meaning in your words... and use the things you say... to grab onto you. Gravity can't be responsible for people who have fallen in love. See? This is how I'm drawn to you.

I will reserve my comments on the above lines until I have read the full story because I have a feeling that the way I'd translate his CN lines would differ depending on the overall context :>

⸜( ´ ꒳ ` )⸝ Thanks for reading! Let's hope the next few days pass by in a flash so that we can feast on Caleb's mouth content!!

❀ Masterlist

[lvciddreqms]

Pairing: Logan Maddox x fem!reader (Motorheads)

Genre: fluff, romance, friends to lovers

Warning: this is insanely cheesy

A/n: this story was requested!

Scribbled hearts

"These promposals are going to kill me." You groaned, smacking your head onto the lunch table. "What, because you don't got a date to the prom?" Logan chuckled. "No.. because they're cheesy, and dumb, and did I mention cheesy?" You said, looking over at the promposal in motion. "You did." He responded with a nod. "I mean, can we talk about the fact that half of them aren't even based off of what the girls like?" You scoffed.

"They seem pretty happy to me..?" He replied, leaning back into his seat as he watched a guy across the quad hold up a giant glitter poster that read: "You auto be my date to prom!" next to a rusted out car with pink balloons tied to the mirror. "Okay, that ones kinda funny." Logan said with a snort. "Funny? Logan, she's terrified of driving. She literally failed her permit test three times." you pointed out, your tone flat.

He winced. "Oof... yeah, uh.. that's rough.." You groaned again, sinking into your seat. "It's like these guys don't even know the people they're asking. They just wanna get a scene, get a video, and go viral." Logan tilted his head, studying you for a second. "Okay Y/n, so what would you want then?" You paused, caught off guard by the question. "What do you mean..?"

"For a promposal. If it wasn't dumb or cheesy. If someone actually did it right." You narrowed your eyes at him to see if he was teasing, but he just seemed to be asking a question. "I don't know..." you said slowly. "Something small, something thoughtful, something that feels like me. Maybe custom to a special memory or something.."

You were about to press him, to ask why he was curious when the bell rang. He stood up, swinging his bag over his shoulders. "Cmon we got auto." He said, pulling you by your sleeve. You followed behind him, observing, a weird flutter kicking up in your chest. You shook your head. Nope. Not going there.

But later that day, when you opened your locker to find a small piece of paper, with a scribbled message surrounded by small doodles. "You're right. Cheesy isn't the way to go." You couldn't stop the smile that pulled your lips, glancing down the hallway to catch Logan looking at you from a distance with a boyish grin on his face. And your heart absolutely did not flutter. Not even a bit.

You slipped the paper into your pocket, cheeks warm, and shut your locker with a soft click. The hallway buzzed with end of the day chaos-slamming lockers, shouted goodbye's, and the occasional squeak of someone's busted up sneakers. But your gaze narrowed in on one thing. Luke. Or more specifically, the way he didn't even wait for a reaction. No smirk. No expectation. Just.. walked off like it didn't matter.

But it did. More than it should've. You found yourself smiling again as you walked into seventh period. And when you sat down in your usual seat, Logan was already there, chin propped in his hand, doodling something in the corner of his notebook. You didn't say anything right away. Just slid into your seat and let the silence stretch for a moment.

Then, casually. "You know, for someone who 'doesn't care' that was a pretty thoughtful note." Luke's mouth twitched, but be didn't look up. "Must've been a coincidence. Maybe your secret admirer's just got good timing." You snorted. "Right. Secret admirer who also happens to have the same terrible handwriting as you."

He finally looked at you, eyes dancing with something you couldn't quite put your finger on. "If it was me-which I'm not saying it was-I'd probably do something better next time." "Oh?" You raised an eyebrow. "Like what?" He leaned in slightly, voice low. "Not telling. You hate spoilers." You hated that he knew that. You hated how he was right. And you especially hated the heat crawling up your neck.

Class started but your brain was somewhere else entirely. You glanced at him from the corner of your eye, trying to decipher if this was still a joke to him or if..maybe he was serious. The next day, another note appeared, this time tucked between the pages of your sketchbook.

It was written on the back of a cafeteria napkin, in the same messy writing. "Today's prompt: list three things you'd actually say yes to. Bonus points if they're not cheesy." You looked up sharply, No Logan, just a blur of students. You bit back a smile and grabbed your pen and scribbled under the prompt.

1. A promposal that doesn't involve glitter

2. A date that starts with milkshakes and ends with a movie

3. Someone who actually listens

And underneath, in smaller letters. "You get points if you bring gummy worms."

You left your sketchbook half open on your desk during next period. And when you came back from the bathroom? The list had a fourth item, written in a new line below yours.

4. Logan

You stared at it. Blinked. Then closed the sketchbook quickly, your heart racing in your chest. This wasn't a joke anymore. And honestly? You weren't sure you wanted it to be. You spent the rest of the day in a daze. Like your brain had just hit the gas and the brakes at the same time. One minute you were replaying the moment you found your list edited-edited by Logan of all people. You were trying to convince yourself that it meant nothing.

It was a joke. It had to be. Logan teased everyone. He was effortlessly charming, full of that casual confidence that made it hard to tell when he was being serious. But item four? That didn't feel casual. That didn't feel like a joke. That felt like he saw you, really saw you.

By the time the final bell rang, you'd make exactly zero progress in calming down. Your stomach flipped as you shoved your books into your bag, barely even registering the conversations happening beside you. You were halfway down the hallway when you spotted him-leaning against the lockers like he had nowhere to be and all the time in the world.

"Hey." He said, straightening when he saw you. You stopped, adjusting the strap of your bag. "Hey." There was a pause. "So.." He began, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Did I get any points?" You stared at him, your heart thudding in your chest. "For what..? Stealing my sketchbook?" Logan tilted his head, grinning. "For honesty. And the gummy worms."

You blinked. "You didn't even-" He pulled a little bag from his hoodie pocket and held it up. "Sour, not regular. I pay attention." You stared at the bag, then at him. Then back at the bag. He shrugged, a little less smug now. "I meant what I wrote, by the way. I know I joke around a lot, but... I wouldn't have put it on the list if I didn't mean it."

You swallowed hard, your voice coming out quieter than you expected it to be. "And what does that mean exactly?" He looked at you for a long second, all the teasing melting from his expression. "It means..." He said. "If you wanted to go to prom-with someone who doesn't believe in glitter signs or public embarrassment-I'd like to be that someone." He said, handing you a piece of paper once more, in the middle it read "Prom?" surrounded in the doodles of his that you loved so much.

Your breath caught. You could say no. You could make a joke, deflect, pretend your heart wasn't doing summersalts in your chest. But instead. "Okay." You said softly, a soft smile growing onto your face.

✩

Marcel held the small piece of paper in his hand, looking at it curiously. "Hey, check this out." He called out towards everyone who was inspecting a car. Caitlyn walked over, taking the paper. "... Wonder why Uncle Logan would have this.." She spoke, raising her brow. The paper in her hands looked a bit aged and worn out, it was slightly crumpled up and had some tears on the sides, but the ink remained in the same condition as the day "Prom?" and those small drawings were written onto it.

[theferbtones]

HERE ISSSS MY COMPREHENSIVE FIRST THOUGHTS ABOUT THE FIRST PART OF PHINEAS AND FERB SEASON 5 (FROM THE POV OF A LONG-TIME SUPERFAN)

SPOILERS BELOW!!! DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE NEW EPISODES OKAY!!! THANK YOU MUAH

General thoughts:

animation is actually quite good! I think summer block buster / license to bust were noticeably rusty but everything else was pretty good + there were some moments that were really well animated. especially in the b plot scenes

I like that they overdubbed phineas' lines in the theme song! I think that should have happened a long time ago!! like, yeah im used to the original lines, but it sounds more cohesive in my opinion

adding onto that I'M SO GRATEFUL THAT THEY DIDN'T REMAKE THE INTRO OH MY GOD THANK YOU DWAMPY THANK YOU TH

Voice acting was great! There were some wacky moments but like overall I didnt have any issues with any of the voices. I feel so bad I was so concerned because there was Candace’s theme song takeover and Ashley Tisdale’s voice sounded so autotuned there but in the show she sounds just fine. All the new VAs did great as well (ily David errigo jr. as ferb)

Buford’s bread bowl hot tub joke the whole season was really funny to me. Honestly, buford overall was SO awesome this season. he was carrying the backyard gang

I also quite liked ferb and baljeet so far. my sillies

---

Episodes:

Summer Block Buster / Cloudy With a Chance of Mom

great way to reintroduce the characters. Im glad we didn’t linger much on the school part and we jump right into summer

The twist with Linda being vaporized was perfect. I liked how the gang interacted with cloud Linda.. seeing Candace be emotional is always SO important to me okay

Idk what else to say. Super solid beginning, great intro song

Submarine Sandwich Submarine / License to Bust / Dry Another Day

I love how normal these episodes were!! Really feels like they could fit into season 2 or 3

I don’t have a ton to say about them other than I really liked them all. seeing Candace finally get her license felt like a proud parent moment lol. loved the callbacks to mud mud world!

Deconstructing Doof:

NOT what I expected from this episode but I was not opposed to it! The therapist character was insane but it was interesting. I liked having a Candace and doof duet again… love seeing when the connections are acknowledged in the show :smiles:

Linda was really pissing me off in this episode though. girl pay attention to your daughter oh my god!!!

Tropey McTropeface / Biblio-Blast!

oh my god. Tropey mctropeface I laughed SO hard at some of these gags. It was an out there idea, but I loved it! Zoetrope god canon. thats all I have to say

Dont have much to say about biblio-blast either it felt like a standard episode (good) 

I liked the part where they all jumped into the air high school musical style. Did they make it just to include in a trailer? Probably… but I still like it. 

A Chip to the Vet / More Than an Intern

the vet episode had SO MUCH potential. But . I did not like it thaaat much. Perry and doof’s fighting was cool, but otherwise the big invention for the day just felt too similar to phintastic ferbulous car wash :’(

Also WHY ARE WE USING SCREAMING GOAT IN 2025. THE EPISODE DID IT NOT ONCE NOT TWICE BUT *FOUR TIMES*. SERIOUSLY it really took me out of the episode

I like that its canon that ferb went feral. Feels in character

More than an intern was good and I liked seeing carl’s life outside of owca.. I feel bad for him. Im glad he got to vocalize some of his feelings

Also the setup and payoff with ferb in more than an intern made me laugh

The Aurora Perry-Alis / Lord of the Firesides

aurora was OK, nice to see monty again! And the scene with Perry and Stacy!!! I liked the song in this episode as well

also why do the Flynn fletchers keep going on cruises. these guys are loaded /silly

I feel like lord of the firesides was fun at first but it was too repetitive if that makes sense… the song was a banger though

The Candace Suit / Agent T (for Teen)

the Candace suit is horrifying. Can’t wait to see more of that freaky thing

Loved seeing buford be a little freak honestly. Loved the continuity regarding the “I have life sized molds of all of my friends”

Why did Isabella make fun of Candace for liking ducky momo

STACY HELPING WITH OWCA / PERRY. ITS ALL WE WANTED. ITS ALL I EVER WANTEDDDDDDDDD YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAA NO NOTES GREAT EPISODE PEAK PEAK PEAK PEAK PEAAAAAKKKK I LOVE AGENT P AND STACY FOREVER AND EVER

The Haberdasher / Out Of Character

I LOVED THE HABERDASHERRR I like learning about the extended OWCA staff! Such a fun episode. For sure going to be one of my faves from this season

Moth doof was weird but in the BEST way possible. reminded me of my OCs (if you know my OCs... you would understand what I mean.)

Out of character was pretty standard but im sad baljeet didn’t actually get a role

Meap Me in St. Louis

sighs heavily. This was for sure my least favorite episode in the season (so far) (I HOPE nothing is worse than this) as someone who really likes the meap saga this episode was such a slap in the face after really looking forward to this :(

What happened to meap’s og actor? Like I understand about Jeremy’s but AFAIK Lorenzo lamas hasn’t done anything crazy. (If he has let me know bc im unaware of it). And WHY did they have to redub the iconic meap soundbite? It was unnecessary… no shame to his new VA but I guess im just so used to the og it caught me off guard. AND WHY DID THEY DITCH THE MUSTACHE TRANSLATORS. CAN ANYONE HEAR ME. HELLO

I just hate how the episode felt like it was trying to meet the requirement of existing rather than actually continue the story? Like, the meta part was fun (AT THE BEGINNING). But it quickly turned annoying and like an excuse to not make things cohesive. Nothing really felt relevant and they just shoehorned each part of the trailer (especially the jerry part).

I liked mitch as per usual and I liked the song that the backyard gang sung, but otherwise it just fell so flat…… meap deserves so much better…

No Slumber Party / The Ballad of Bubba Doof

YEEEEAAAAA VANESSA CANDACE STACY BEING FRIENDS . WE WIN!!! 

The jokes in this episode really landed for me. The friends parody, baljeet falling asleep after his bedtime (so true dude) and Lawrence sleepwalking were all so funny

Ballad of bubba doof was fun, honestly i’m surprised they hadn’t had an episode like this earlier. Ah yes my favorite PnF character: lunch <3

---

Overall, I think the pros were the B plots (all of them were really solid to me, and that’s saying something, because I’m generally more invested in the A plot) and the successful feeling of “more of the same” (in a good way of course). You don’t watch phineas and ferb for something new— well at least I don’t…

Cons were that some jokes that fell flat / went on for too long, and I think there weren’t enough standout songs either. Hopefully as the season goes on we get more iconic song moments.

I can’t wait to watch the rest of the season! I have no doubt that things will find its footing. Its got a really strong start, perhaps I’m just being too nitpicky…

Some things I’d like to see in the future:

More Jeremy?? Please??? Can anyone hear me

Actually just more of the teens overall. Vanessa content… now!!!

I just want to see my favorite guy forever (phineas) sing more OK. Thank you

Also I want another fireside girls centric episode (akin to Isabella and the temple of sap / bee story)

Favorite episodes: The Haberdasher / License to Bust

Least favorite episodes: Meap Me In St. Louis / Chip to the Vet

[sirfrogsworth]

Some additional thoughts and clarifications...

Looking back, I think I made it seem like motivated lighting was good and unmotivated lighting was bad. That was not my intention. My issue has more to do with watching something with almost exclusively motivated light and then a scene with unmotivated light breaks that train of immersion.

Or, like with West Side Story, the unmotivated lighting breaks the intended facade. The filmmakers wanted a soundstage to look like a New York City street. But the lighting made it look like a Hollywood soundstage. People had already seen the show on a stage and I think the artistic intent was to avoid that impression. But their lighting limitations made that illusion difficult to pull off.

Some people gave the impression that motivated lighting was less artistic or less emotionally impactful because it is grounded in realism. And lighting should be thought of more like music where we don't question where the music comes from.

I like the spirit of that analogy, but I'm not sure it fits. You choose music to fit the mood and emotion of the scene. And the genre and tempo of the music needs to be motivated by what is happening.

If a movie has a scene where someone is weeping because they learned they have a month to live and Eye of the Tiger starts to play, that could really break immersion.

If your film is grounded in reality, it would make sense that the lighting matches that.

Beyond that... "grounded in reality" and making logical sense does not mean the lighting is 100% realistic. It is still very crafted. In fact, motivated lighting requires a lot more design and artistic thought.

Which is why I would argue that motivated lighting can be more artistic and impactful.

When you don't limit yourself, sometimes that can lead to poor artistic choices. If you give a kid a box with a thousand crayons, you're probably going to get a drawing with a thousand colors.

You get a Zack Snyder movie.

Limitations and constraints on art often help creativity and force you to use your problem solving skills. If you can do lighting however you want, you may be tempted to just film everything on a green screen and use magic CGI lighting in post. Or you may pick an ugly environment and use good lighting as a way to improve the aesthetics. You end up using lighting as a crutch.

But if you constrain yourself to a more motivated lighting philosophy, that can force you to seek out places with beautiful light. To find locations that already look amazing without any additional light. You may be inspired to build amazing sets with the lighting design in mind from the beginning.

Motivated lighting is harder to make look good and requires more effort. And I believe that when art requires more effort, you tend to get a better end result.

Motivated lighting isn't just DPs wanting everything to be realistic for realism's sake. It requires more thought. It makes more sense. And if you can create beautiful, motivated light, it usually looks better.

Severance is widely considered to be a beautiful show. And it uses nearly 100% motivated lighting. They built a lot of the lighting into the actual sets.

That is not to say unmotivated, stylized lighting cannot look cool.

Wes Anderson overlights his films to great effect. He relies on vivid color palettes and strong symmetric composition to inform his aesthetic. He wants you to see all of the details in the frame as clearly as possible.

Sin City uses strong contrast for its aesthetic design.

The lighting is more photographic than filmic, with strong edge lighting. A very common style when photographing athletes with muscles.

And then you have John Wick, which uses a heavy mixture of motivated and unmotivated lighting.

I think this lighting style is called "make it look fucking cool."

I guess my big clarification is that I wasn't advocating for one type of lighting over the other. I love unmotivated lighting. Almost all of my photography is unmotivated lighting. But I wouldn't use studio lighting to do street photography. And Spielberg wouldn't light Saving Private Ryan like John Wick.

It's just a genre of lighting to choose from.

My post was about what to do when motivated lighting interferes with the legibility of the action on screen. I was curious how much this bothers people. And what approach they preferred to solve the problem.

Is it best to abandon the philosophy and lose your stylistic consistency?

Should we explore new solutions like the day-for-night scenes in Nope?

From the poll it seems people are split between "stay in-genre as much as possible and cheat when you have to" and "I just want to see everything."

Personally, I think cheating when you have to is probably where I land. Space helmets bother me, but I do like to see the actor's face.

But I would like to see more cinematographers experiment with new ways to represent darkness on screen like they did with Nope.

And once most people have OLED-style screens with HDR, I think this problem will be easier to manage.

In this scene, they are in the middle of the woods under a canopy of trees. They show the sky and there is no moon.

The light has absolutely no motivation.

Motivated lighting is a philosophy where all of the light sources on screen have a logical source. The light from a smartphone on someone's face. A lamp next to the couch. Sterile overhead office lights.

Often filmmakers will still use their own custom light sources, but they will simulate these things to give the impression the light has motivation.

Compare this to when all they really had were bright spotlights and insensitive film. An indoor scene just couldn't have this warm and cozy feel. And the light was just blasted in from everywhere.

Black and white helped a lot. You could still get dramatic effect despite things needing to be overlit. Or you could play with contrast ratios and shadow.

All the stuff you need to see was very bright and exposed well onto film and all the stuff you didn't was very dark.

But there was no graduation in between. It was hard to be subtle.

And when television and movies went color, this black and white contrast advantage was lost.

You can see EVERYTHING. And look at those sharp shadows. Everyone is just being blasted in the face with lights.

This sitcom lighting persisted long past when it was necessary. It became part of the sitcom language.

I think M*A*S*H was one of the first shows to subvert the overlit sitcom aesthetic. They began to play with lighting that had more motivation.

But aesthetic standards are hard to kill. And despite the heavy influence of M*A*S*H, sitcoms persisted all the way into the Friends era.

Her lamp isn't even on. Everything is just lit by God.

I don't think you will see a living room or kitchen scene lit like this very much from here on out.

People are getting used to lighting making more logical sense.

With the advent of LED lighting that can be any size, shape, and brightness, as well as cameras that can interpret very dark images, modern shows can now use bright and dark as narrative tools.

I think Severance does this well, and still keeps everything properly motivated.

But this newfound flexibility has created new problems. If you can film dark things, how dark is too dark? And how do you make sure the audience can see all of the important visual information?

The two worst examples of unmotivated lighting are always space helmets and cars.

It's a conceit. You gotta see the faces so these things are usually forgiven.

But the biggest debate in the realm of unmotivated lighting is night scenes. People have lots of opinions on how best to use light in the dark.

This is because following a motivated lighting philosophy can be especially tricky. Particularly if your setting is a secluded area without any artificial light sources.

Many cinematographers will try to give some sense of moonlight. But moonlight is very hard to replicate, so the effect usually ends up looking pretty fake.

This scene during a blackout in Die Hard 4 looks like they took the brightest light they had, mounted it as high as possible and said, "Fuck it, that's moon-ish."

If the DP is hardcore into motivated lighting, they just make the screen really really dark, like the Long Night battle in Game of Thrones.

The really really dark option bugs a lot of people.

Froggie Tangent about Dark Scenes:

I originally thought people needed to adjust their display settings. But then I realized not everyone watches content in a darkened room like a vampire. But if you find a show or movie is too dark, turning off any room lights will help a lot. Watching it in HDR will also help. And watching it on an OLED will help even more.

Scenes this dark are mostly a fad. DPs are experimenting with the possibilities of new technology. But sometimes they forget not everyone has that technology yet. And they forget some people watch stuff on their phones in a room full of sunlight.

Eventually the fad will fade, we will all adopt better screens, and the darkness will land somehwere between "I can't see shit" and "it would never be that bright in real life."

[End of tangent]

In the olden days, since film wasn't sensitive enough to do scenes in the dark, almost everything needed to have unmotivated lighting just to make sure their film wasn't a grainy mess. And as a culture, we sort of got used to that style. They'd mess with the contrast ratios to give the feeling of night, but if you think about where the light is coming from too hard, it won't make any sense. They took a Broadway theater approach to lighting and so a lot of movies felt like they were on a soundstage.

The 1961 West Side Story is a good example.

They've got a spot light hitting them, but not the building behind them. I guess that could be an overhead street light. But street lights are meant to flood the area like an ever expanding donut of light. A spotlight is like a directly projected cone of light. It is perfectly pointed at the side of their face and not coming from above.

She has some magical purple light coming from... somewhere.

And then they are in an area under a bridge, far away from any lights, but they've got soft fill light with a bright rim coming from the right.

Speilberg's version has much more motivated light.

This one is a bit of a cheat, some very bright source off in the distance. But it feels more plausible to the brain and gives a better sense of darkness. It feels like some kind of industrial lighting. Or a security light at a junkyard.

Here he straight up shows you where the light is coming from. And his preference for anamorphic lenses.

And here he uses bright train lights to create silhouettes. This is clever because it allows everything to be very dark but everyone is still legible in the scene.

I'm torn. Because I study light. And so I am very aware of how shows and movies are lighting things. And unmotivated lighting sticks out in my brain. Like when I watch someone miming playing the guitar. Or using a camera improperly. When you know too much about something, inaccurate onscreen depictions just drive you nuts.

There are some techniques being experimented with to make night scenes more legible while maintaining lighting realism. I think the most promising is the infrared day-for-night process used in Nope.

But maybe it doesn't need to be solved. Maybe DPs should just light the night even if it doesn't always make sense. Maybe general audiences just do not care and I am a big nerd who should be ignored.

[m0r1bund]

Things have been quiet lately on account of my house burning down. Nobody was hurt, and I haven't lost my physical / digital art pieces, but I have no way of working on them right now... which means I'm going a little stir crazy! haha! ha !!!

I had the foresight to draft a post with some of my favorite panels from my twine game, Threadbare. I was originally just gonna use them to promote the game, but this is all I can to work on right now, so you're getting the director's commentary reel I guess. but first

Play Threadbare!

Or don't, I can't control you.

I started making Threadbare so that I could weasel my way out of drawing comics. it was supposed to be a low-effort way of telling Frey and Kairos' story, which is, in the grand scheme of things, ancillary to everything happening on wasteland Earth.

(honks clown nose)

the art is also made to be low-effort, even if it doesn't stay that way. unremitting red/white/blue/black takes the guesswork out of painting in color, and also feels like propaganda art. mapping characters to certain colors makes simplifying them easier. Frey can be reduced to an angry blue smudge and Kairos can be a stupid red hat on a triangle.

I had already written out most of the Frey-Kairos scenes back in 2023. The holding cell scene is actually one of the first things I drew LOL. Everything else sprang up from the twine game format. I knew I wanted some buffer between Frey breaking out of the Abattoir and Frey confronting the Oracle, so that we could learn more about the two of them, and also the Archive, without rushing into prophecide. This ended up changing the structure of the story more than I thought it would... and created a lot of self-inflicted scope creep... which is for me to unpack at a later date (when I'm done) (girl help im not even done)

but probably the biggest addition is

her

and ES I guess.

ES and Rhodes were originally funnie little nature spirits, but I long suspected that Rhodes would make a kickass ex-secutor, and I needed some NPCs to explore the Archive with, so. here ya go. I promise I'm going somewhere with them. Rhodes is filling the shoes for another old character concept I had (which was partly cannibalized by the Oracle of Caeres, funny enough.)

<more spoilery stuff under the cut. play my twine game.>

The other characters like Petrei and the Undertaker were designed on the spot, which is to say I just opened a canvas and started painting and hoped for the best. because this was supposed to be low-effort. haha.

I want to go back and figure out Petrei's anatomy because the idea of doing horrible manweevil origami is fun.

The other big surprise in all of this was having sound and music figure so strongly into things. My last twine game, Killswitch, had maybe three little songs to set the mood, and no SFX. I guess something broke in me and I decided I wanted to make an ace attorney game this time. You're all getting bespoke vox files now. my gift to you. and part of why this took like 9 months

I feel lucky that I found the musician ROZKOL, whose work is featured prominently in the twine, just as I was dipping my toes into audio editing and really scripting the meat of things. I was not expecting to find a musician in the Creative Commons scene who had totally figured out what a ceaselessly grinding imperial death machine sounds like. I have a hard time thinking in music, even though it motivates so much of my work... sometimes I feel like I have aphantasia but for compositions LOL. So I really enjoyed this kind of post-hoc surprise collaboration, it was cool to watch the scenes start to mold themselves around ROZKOL's music.

The slideshow-quicktime-event-fight-scene is especially molded to ROZKOL's song "Good Soldier." A fun return to the fine tradition of warrior cats AMVs that I was raised on. bringing in player participation is something that I would like to explore in a more elegant way in the future, I really like the idea of a music video being an active, participatory experience and not a passive one. and honestly I just want other people to feel the same unhinged rush that I feel when I put a song on repeat 70 times while painting.

There's I think four different routes in the first part of that encounter, leading to some variant panels like these.

depending on your choices, Frey gets roughed up a little more or a little less, ES may or may not stick their neck out for you, and the Oracle has choice words for you if you're a good soldier dancing partner.

(fun fact: if you don't choose to act during this scene, Frey picks a route and acts at random.)

I'm still learning what does and doesn't make a meaningful player choice. is there a branch because the possibility of choosing to / choosing not to see it is compelling, or is there a branch just to be a branch? I don't really think that you need to fundamentally alter the narrative to have fun with it. little things like ES and Rhodes remembering your name still feel meaningful to me, even if they don't change the outcome of anything. but I'm also bending to certain limitations that I cannot fully discuss until I finish this damn thing.

Speaking of finishing, I made the denouement in a deranged fever haze. I got sick twice in the span of, like, a month. It was pretty miserable. but hey, at least I had time to finish my twine.

^^^ how it feels to finish your twine (she doesn't know her house is about to burn down)

further in the vein of things burning down, I'm glad I found the song "In Your Mind" and didn't get cold feet about keeping it in the tracklist. I was struggling to nail down the tone of the ending scene, until I gave it a few listens and things clicked. but at the last minute, I nearly swapped it for "Burn it All Down." It's a really good song, too, but it's probably for the best I briefly possessed Kairos' gift of prophecy and didn't pick the one about uhhhhh. burning.

I think that's all I got for now. thanks for playing and/or flirting with the idea of playing by reading this post. kill petrei for me. and try not to be on fire.

[localcuttlefish]

You know what. Fuck it. Classic horror AU Edward Little. Everyone sit down. Today you learn.

The scaffolding of Werewolf Edward Little:

Remember that dog that bit his hand as a boy? Not a dog. That was a whole ass werewolf mauling. He was lucky to have survived, and his father made a point of instilling the idea that he had to make something worthwhile out of his now cursed life, because who else gets a second chance like that.

(I bet the reason why he ALLEGEDLY threw hands and was involved in a court martial during his time on the HMS Dublin was because someone called him the Beast of Gévaudan or something on top of being called blackguard.)

Crozier, regardless of whether or not Ned is the only supernatural entity on the expedition (which he more than likely is not), would know Little is a lycanthrope. You can’t sneak that past Captain Francis Rawdon Moira “it’s not paranoia if I’m right” Crozier. The notion that the crew takes silverware aboard the expedition is also more notable— it’s insurance in the event of a werewolf attack.

Several scenes Edward can be interpreted as showing restraint or bottling up anger. Werewolves don’t only transform under the full moon in many modern iterations— they can transform under extreme stress, anger, fear, or even misery and sadness. He’s not just bottling up anger, he’s preventing himself from becoming a damn horse-sized wolf-monster on a ship barely big enough for most of the men to stand upright in its largest rooms.

(He’s not a violent dog, he doesn’t know why he bites.)

Fanbase characterizes Ned as a guardian dog a lot. It’s a really fun subversion of expectations for Edward’s “lunacy” as a wolf just being an overactive, twisted, violent, haunting need to protect, instead of a merciless bloodlust. He’s a resource guarder. It just so happens the resource is men aboard the expedition. It actually makes him quite a good Lieutenant when not in a massive tragedy, since he takes into consideration the importance of group survival, coordination, and safety.

The months where the moon is just spinning overhead in the Arctic are the worst of it. His skin itches from the inside out and he wants to peel himself to shreds to shed everything he recognizes as human about himself just for sake of his comfort. He can’t go outside. He can’t see the full moonlight.

Scientifically, it probably burns a TON of calories to transform from human to massive wolf thing. He’s spontaneously creating and reallocating muscle and bone. Realistically, he would need a lot of those lead-lined tins of meat to survive and not start looking to. Other meat sources. To stay alive. Which is why he’s so devastated and horrified to find out how all of the tins were poisoned. He needs to keep poisoning himself to keep everyone else safe.

The ending desperation and starvation hurts more if you consider the fact that most of the crew probably expect him of all people to snap and eat a sailor. But if we just change those watch chains from gold to silver… then he’s fighting to the end to remain human, remain calm, and not let the horror and hunger overtake him. And he succeeds in the end, actually.

I bet Le Vesconte told him frank that if the resource shortage continues, they won’t be able to trust Ned not to go feral. Ned takes initiative to PROVE the men can trust him and pierces his face with silver to poison himself and stay human.

Cainids can synthesize their own vitamin C. Scurvy was never going to be an issue for him (part of what made him good on the sea)— it was always going to be caloric deficit, starvation, thirst, and exhaustion. When Crozier finds him, Crozier can tell Ned is too weak to go feral with hunger if Ned transforms. Crozier can take the silver chains off Ned’s face. Ned can stop tearing at his skin and just be the monster everyone thinks he is, and he lies there, wolf head in his captain’s lap, whining with every weak exhale until he stops breathing.

[emberphoenixisgoingtolive]

we need to talk about that scene in camp cretaceous season 4

yk... the one where the campers all scream around the campfire???

the one that makes most people watching it immensely uncomfortable?

yeah, that one. it's my favourite scene in season 4, quite possibly one of my favourite scenes in the whole show, and a lot of people are completely missing the point of it. which makes me more worked up than it should, but you'll understand why it does by the end.

to begin with, let's recap what's happened to the campers so far. within the last three days (let alone the rest of the show) they have:

had their camp attacked by a horrifying hybrid monster that almost killed them

almost lost one of their best friends to said hybrid's deadly venom

had to outrun two of said hybrids to get to the boat

said goodbye to (almost forever) one of their best friends after they presumed him to be dead

been separated, half of them crashed the helicopter

one of them was literally kidnapped

the mosasaurus attacked their boat and they all almost died. again.

and the cherry on top... their boat got shipwrecked. their mission ruined.

let's not forget how hopeful and desperate they were in season 1 to get back home. on the monorail, they were all so excited about getting back, it hurts to know they have to survive for four more seasons.

which leads me to my points:

point 1: it's not supposed to be funny

i don't actually care if you laughed during this scene. if you laughed, you completely misunderstood. it's not supposed to be remotely funny. it's not just some random scene put in there for the fun of it. it's not a joke. if the tone of the characters and scene is clearly joking, then it's intended as a joke. but the characters are exhausted, frustrated, and angry as hell. if the characters are quite clearly laughing, the audience should be laughing. but since they are very clearly not laughing or even smiling or enjoying themselves, it is obviously not intended to be funny.

point 2: you are supposed to be uncomfortable

obviously, screaming is an extremely public display of emotion, and that alone is enough to make people uncomfortable. personally i've never been good at handling when people are crying. that scene felt really uncomfortable.

but it also should feel uncomfortable, because these are kids displaying such evident emotional reactions. and honestly? they're the most justified screams i've ever heard, because when you think about what's happened to them in the last seventy two hours, let alone the six months before they got off the island, you're uncomfortable with the thought of anyone, let alone kids going through that. you, as the audience, should be uncomfortable- no- horrified that kids are put through this. it, and every other acknowledgement of the camp fam's pains and fears, holds the show accountable for what happened to them.

it's an accusal of all the adults in the show who overlooked, ignored, neglected, and downright abandoned these kids. other than Dave and Roxie, no one cared for these kids at all.

so yeah. you should be uncomfortable. if you are uncomfortable, that means the scene worked.

[shuteyeshuttle]

The outsiders musical is the only peice of Outsiders media that is truly out of Ponyboy’s perspective and I think that’s why I love it so much.

The book is already good, completely told in the eyes of Ponyboy. We see through his eyes how each character behaves through him only. I think that’s why some fans blame Darry for the conflict happening or idolize Dally even though he is an objectively bad person or sympathize with Cherry less. It’s all through Ponyboy’s eyes, that’s how we see the characters.

The movie is less in depth but it’s where we shift away from Ponyboy’s narrative. The movie is made to be a representation of Ponyboy’s perspective since it is the narrative the book is written in but seeing the actors interacting on screen gives an idea of what they actually were like outside of Ponyboy’s eyes. Like when Dally’s last word is Pony in the movie but we don’t see it in the book, the movie is less like Ponyboy is writing his theme and more like a flashback before he writes it. Still heavily influenced by his ideas on who everyone is to him.

The musical almost completely shifts away from this. Ponyboy is still our narrator and storyteller but with the musical it’s less like he’s writing his theme or a flashback but more like we are seeing everything in real time. All the characters in the musical feel elevated to some degree, they act like the characters we know and love from the traditional story but just more, because we shift away from Ponyboy’s perspective. He’s on the stage almost the entire time during the musical, sometimes interacting with other characters but other times he’s just watching, like he’s apart of the audience like us. The musical is also the first time we see scenes that don’t actively have Ponyboy in them, such as when Dally gives Johnny the switchblade, or how we see the aftermath of Bob’s murder in justice for Tulsa, we see Two-bit getting jumped by the socs after Ponyboy and Johnny ran away which started as a one off line in the book, the entirety of throwing in the towel and the scene before where we see Soda and Darry actively breaking without their little brother Ponyboy is not directly present for. He’s just watching. Every singe is almost told in the perspective of the character who’s singing it, such as Darry’s true and raw struggles in Runs in the family. Little brother is the most interesting one of these examples because for a moment, Dally completely takes over the narrative, all of it is his struggles and raw emotions and grief, the perspective stays with Dally from when Johnny dies up until the moment we hear the train and Dally dies, then the control of the story snaps right back to Ponyboy.

The storytelling of The Outsiders musical is nothing like we’ve seen before in the entirety of this book being written and existing. It’s what pushes some of the fandom away but it’s also what keeps a good amount of us enjoying the new take.

[cupidsworstcrime]

since theres been a lot of kink posts today, and some of you may not know what some terms are so allow me to explain R.A.C.K. and S.S.C. for the class,

R.A.C.K. stands for Risk-Aware Consensual Kink.

that means:

risk-aware → we know what we’re doing isn’t “safe” in the bubble-wrapped, soft-hands, vanilla sense. we’re doing things that can hurt. that can leave marks. that play with power, fear, control, pain, shame, etc.

consensual → everything is negotiated, agreed upon, talked about before anything starts. you say yes, they say yes, and if someone says no? it doesn’t happen. period. safewords are a big deal in kink, scenes end immediately without question* when used.

kink → not therapy, not morality, not your business unless you’re invited. we’re doing what gets us off, what makes us feel alive, what makes us feel powerful or small or free or filthy or real.

it’s not about being 100% safe. it’s about understanding the risks, communicating openly, and choosing to do it anyway—together. it’s not reckless. it’s intentional.

S.S.C. stands for Safe, Sane, and Consensual.

and yes, that’s exactly what it sounds like.

safe → not “zero risk,” not “nothing bad can ever happen,” but safe as in informed, prepared, and practiced. we’re not winging it. we’ve read the guides. we’ve learned how to tie a knot that won’t cut off circulation. we know where to hit and where not to hit. we’re not out here doing surgery with a butter knife — we’re doing kink with intention.

sane → we’re of sound mind. we’re making decisions with full awareness, not in a dissociative fog or under pressure. sane doesn’t mean “boring.” it means we’re grounded. we understand the difference between fantasy and reality — which is more than i can say for the people throwing tantrums over someone’s consensual knife play scene.

consensual → (again) the golden rule. the backbone of everything. the full, enthusiastic, informed “yes.” not coerced, not manipulated, not assumed. every scene, every role, every toy and word and title is agreed on before anything happens. you don’t get to play if you don’t get consent.

S.S.C. is the foundation. it's what separates us from abusers. it's what turns kink from chaos into care. it’s the baseline that says “you matter, and i want this to be good for you.”

no one’s saying you have to like what other people are into.

no one’s asking you to watch.

spoiler: if it’s done with safety, sanity, and consent? it’s not your business to shame.

you don’t have to like it. you don’t have to understand why someone wants to get caned until they cry or call their partner “sir” while scrubbing the floor.

but if it’s consensual and informed and everyone involved knows the game they’re playing? it’s not your place to shame them for it.

if you see people in a scene that doesn’t fit your comfort zone, and your first reaction is to scream “abuse!!!” like a purity culture parrot? maybe take a second and ask yourself if you actually understand what you’re looking at.

so next time you feel like opening your mouth to say “this is abuse!!!” or “why would anyone want that :(”

maybe shut up and google what things mean first. because some of us are out here building trust and pushing limits and doing the work—while you’re just yelling into the void because you don’t get it.

read. listen. grow.

* without question: your partner will not judge you , they will not be angry. they will make sure you are okay and safe after. then they may ask what they can change (if anything) to avoid you safewording in the future. its to assure your safety. dont be ashamed to safeword ever

[vidavalor]

I'm not in the Aziraphale Defenders community (though I support the cause wholeheartedly), so I couldn't reply to your post, but I was wondering, what was it you were referring to when you said Crowley canonically finds Gabriel attractive? I've either never seen anything saying that, or I've forgotten about it. Thankyou

Hi @crow-bee23 💕Yes, I can let you know to what I was referring, no problem. It's not just Crowley-- all the girls are crazy 'bout that sharp-dressed archangel.

The first scene referencing Crowley's thing for Gabriel is the 1827 flashback. When Crowley & Aziraphale were looking at the Gabriel statue, even as Crowley was mocking what he perceived as Gabriel's ego, Crowley's "marveling at his own beauty" comment was also an admission of Crowley's own that he thinks that Gabriel is beautiful.

This is also partially why they're there in the graveyard in the first place, which is present in the innuendo of how Aziraphale was phrasing his diary entry about the night.

Aziraphale wrote that Crowley had recently "come upon" something that he thought might "amuse" Aziraphale, with "amuse" being not just find it humorous but something that could serve as a muse, in the, ah, "artistic inspiration" sense. The "come upon" is a double entendre: "come upon", as in: 'just happened to stumble upon', but also "come upon", as in: 'came as a result of', suggesting something used as a fantasy to get off.

And, yeah, this is suggestive of Crowley telling Aziraphale what he was thinking about while masturbating, which also isn't really the first time something like that has shown up in the story.

The innuendo in Good Omens: Lockdown was the same thing, just reversed, with Aziraphale calling Crowley to tell him he had recently had this whole fantasy about stopping these hot robbers that had tried to break into the bookshop and then coding everything else he'd been thinking about while, ah, eating cake by himself, as various forms of Crowley-esque baked goods.

So, we're saying that Crowley happened upon the Gabriel statue not too long prior to the night we saw in 1827, probably in the midst of a horrible meeting with demons in there, and found it to be such a combination of hilarious and very hot that he had to show it to Aziraphale, knowing that Aziraphale would think the same thing.

Also of note here is that the Gabriel statue has him basically wearing a dress with very feminine legs alongside an otherwise more masculine presentation. Crowley and Aziraphale finding a bit of gender fuckery where Gabriel is concerned attractive, in addition to his usual, more overtly traditionally masculine presentation, isn't terribly surprising, since Crowley and Aziraphale also find that attractive in one another.

Crowley brought Aziraphale to the statue and confessed he's got a bit of a thing for Gabriel, though, because he knew that Aziraphale did, too, which is also evident in a couple of scenes.

The most overt one was probably in the sushi restaurant, after Aziraphale had started to recover from the heart attack of it being Gabriel and not Crowley who had just arrived. He and Gabriel were a bit flirty in this scene, though Gabriel's innuendo was mostly suggesting that he knew that Aziraphale had been hoping to be on a date.

S2 showed that Gabriel does find Aziraphale attractive, though, because that "who told you I was naked?" moment-- of blasphemous innuendo, no less, as that's a Biblical quote-- was very flirty.

In the sushi restaurant, Aziraphale eyed Gabriel up and was all "what an unexpected pleasure" while Gabriel was knowingly smiling. So, Aziraphale is not immune to the Supreme Archangel hotness, either.

Since Crowley and Aziraphale talk about what does it for them and they both know that they share a mutual thirst for Gabriel, this appears to have become a bit of a recurring joke between them.

In 2.01, Aziraphale knew that Crowley was going to freak out when he found out that Gabriel was in the shop but he thought that, at some point after he calmed down lol, Crowley would find it amusing that Aziraphale had Jim wrapped in a drapey toga, just like the statue in Edinburgh-- this one made up of what was probably one of their bedsheets.

Jim doesn't get an actual outfit until after Crowley arrived because Aziraphale was like yes, I know this situation is a mess, Crowley, but I thought you might like this view as an early Christmas present?

The other scene that mentions Crowley's thing for Gabriel is the "smitten" scene and the 'when Gabriel smites you, you've been [x]':

By this point, it had been days and Crowley knew that Gabriel was very unlikely to be anything more than he appeared to be. He was really bringing this up to flirt with Aziraphale by pretending to forget the past participles of the verb to smite because they are dorks. Have we mentioned today how wonderfully dorky they are? 😇

Most verbs in the English language with multiple definitions are conjugated the same way, no matter which definition a person is using. For example: I can say "she passed out the cookies" and "he passed out during the heat wave" and it doesn't matter that the first sentence is saying to hand out and the second sentence is saying to faint-- the word I use remains the same. The verb to smite is an irregular verb that is one of the ones in English that doesn't work like this.

[Crowley and Aziraphale flirting over an irregular verb here is also interesting when you compare it to the other scene that takes place at Marguerite's and the villain's use of "it might be considered irregular" during the job offer. Irregular originally meant that which goes against the rules of the church.]

To smite has a separate past participle for both of its definitions. If you're talking about the original version of it-- "to hit/strike/attack with the force of a righteous angel of God"-- then you would say smote. If you mean the second definition, which is now more common, clearly amusing Crowley & Aziraphale greatly-- "to strike down with infatuation; to become besotted with someone"-- then you would use smitten.

Crowley flirts with Aziraphale by saying that Gabriel could smite him, pretending like he sounds concerned about just the first, angel definition of that, and then jokes with if Gabriel does that, what would be the right past participle?

Would it be smited? (Not a word lol and, amusingly, what conjugating the verb would sound like if it were a regular verb and not an irregular one. So, no, that one's out, because any Gabriel smiting by definition would be too homoerotic for 'smited' lol...) Smote? (The actual past tense and a past participle of to smite, but only if you're referring to the angel attack definition. It's not a real possibility-- surely, Gabriel would have smote them already by that point if he were truly a villain and Crowley knew that.)

Aziraphale flirted back, teasing Crowley by saying that the correct one to use in that sentence would be smitten, which is the past participle for if you mean the infatuation definition of to smite. He was basically saying oh, please, if Gabriel were to smite you in any way, we both know you'd love it, honey. You've always had a little pash on him.

Crowley just points at Aziraphale in agreement-- yep, that one, I would be smitten, that's true. 😂

The paralleling characters also get into this, too, as Mutt and his Beloved Spouse join Mrs. Sandwich in flirting with Gabriel during The Meeting Ball, with Beloved Spouse-- an overt Crowley parallel-- having their biggest scene be hitting on Gabriel hard: "It is seldom that our little village has the fortune to welcome one so amiable, so gentile, and, if you'll allow me, sir? So well-made, in form and feature."

Can't say I disagree with that, Beloved Spouse, and I doubt that Crowley and Aziraphale would, either. 😉 This post on Crowley & Gabriel in S2 & Crowley's PTSD has some thoughts in it on why the story might have gotten into Crowley being attracted to Gabriel in S2, should you be interested. There are also some different thoughts on how it relates to Aziraphale's S2 story in this post.

I'm not saying that any of them really would, more that they all think Beez bagged themselves a hot one. They're all just like mmm Gabriel yes...

[whydoihave]

Moon's Starless Reviews

PitBabe S2 Ep 6

MY GOD THAT WAS AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL...

We are going from the couple that are barely doing anything this episode and finish with the ones that made me want to scream several times, because my nerves were already fried as it was, and last night, language was failing me altogether.

Chris and Pete

Here we go showing the true colors of what this specialist and businessman relationship gimmick is, because I was bored of both of them pretending that they were standing on some sort of the same ground.

Pete and his believes that Chris can somehow subsdidue Way while Chris is treating that entire thing as an outlet of stress and a bit of excess energy (Case and Point, the smoking scene, Why you are smoking? All the other stress relief things failed and nothing was left... My god I wanted to scream at Pete).

And Chris and his ZERO... ZERO emotions as he told him that if there's a choice between the experiment and Babe, He hopes Charlie chooses the experiment, MY GOD, PETE ARE YOU BLIND? THIS LITTLE THING HERE IS NOT A LOVE STORY, MY ESTEEMED DUDE YOU ARE A LITTERAL DICK TO HIM AND NOT EVEN A GOOD ONE WITH ALL OF YOUR WAY SHIT!!

North and Sonic

I AM TIRED OF THIS... I AM REALLY TIRED OF THIS...

The fact that they are not actively talking, they are not doing anything but sharing those longing looks, but none of them has taken a step towards the other makes me want to pull my hair out, it's as simple as talking, and even that they are not doing.

Jeff and Alan

Look, I love Alan... I love his wisdom, the whole I am your elder brother, you idiots, and I will keep you all in check is amazing.

BUT... BUT...

I would have really loved it if he had given a piece of his mind to Babe instead of that soft berating; he is helping Babe, he is defending him, while in reality, what Babe just did with Willy probably put the entire team at risk (JEFF INCLUDED).

Kim and Kenta (My heart)

The little nods when he feeds Kenta, the confusion on Kenta's face when Kim first put the food on the table, the willingness to just sit and eat with Kim just because he asked... I cannot... I just cannot...

There's something about the way Kim is written this season, the way he is seeing Kenta and loudly letting Kenta know that he is visibly, that he can see the wheels in his head and not in a degrading way, but in a way that makes Kenta feel SEEN AND HEARD.

I don't think I am going to survive Ep 7 if the trailer is any indication... MY GOD

AND NOW, BABE AND CHARLIE (AND WILLY)

I don't remember ever feeling sorry and angry for someone as much as I was for Babe... I feel sorry that he is once again in a situation that can be easily described as traumatizing... and because he is facing one of his worst fears again, losing Charlie for good and this time by his own hands.

I am angry that he is too egoistic that he is failing to see the point of everything, the point of Charlie's anger and the effort in the lab, the risk of following Willy around wether he had powers or not, he is too obsessed that it can easily lead him to trouble and yet he is not seeing it.

But I feel even more sorry for Charlie, not only is he in a position where his feelings and angry is under valued, He is in a position where his efforts are unapprechited, He is not aiming to come up with the serum for him, he is doing it because all the war they went through had been basically on Babe and because of Babe's powers, he is trying to protect the people closet to him and Babe is not getting the damn memo...

And not only that, but also now his intentions and actions are being bet on, and he has knowledge that not only will drive him to leave Babe to protect him, but to deepen his guilt that it's because of him everything is happening the way it's happening.

MY GOD THE MESS WE ARE ABOUT TO GO THROUGH><

WILLY WILLY WILLY...

I am pretty sure we are not done with the revelation that he had been testing both Babe and Charlie to figure out which one of them had the powers, but the shock on his face made me realize that he had feelings for Babe beyond teasing him, and it would be amusing to see how he balances Tony's orders with what he wants...

Sounds familiar? It's Way all over again... and this time He is not scared to kill to get what he wants...

I think the trailer for the 2nd half already delivered the info that we are done with the emotional games and it's time for the heavy shit, I am holding the edge of my seat because I am scared, terrified that a final win can come with the cost of some lives...