#the guy we meet in season one is so so so much sadder and is suffering so much more

[leupagus]

Ted Lasso, the character, is one of the only representations of 'sometimes getting better with your mental health issues means that you are less visibly happy, and that is okay, because you are not required to be happy in order to be loved' out there and I am really discouraged that so much of the audience is angry at that.

[lyndentree63]

Let me talk about genre, expectations and Burrow's End.

The tl;dr version is that I felt betrayed by Dropout's marketing of Burrow's End, and I'm trying to figure out how much of that is a me-thing that I need to work through in therapy, and how much is due to ineffective communication of genre. (If you feel the need to defend Dropout, or want to say "I was fine with what happened, actually", please do it somewhere not connected to this post, so I don't have to see it. I'm not here to trash Dropout, I love them very much, but I am working through some Stuff and don't need to hear defences right now.) Dimension 20 traditionally has very clear genre-coding for their shows. Game of Thrones meets Candyland. DnD meets John Hughes teen drama. LOTR but it's the bad guys in a workplace comedy. Americans go to wizarding school. The Burrow's End trailer dropped, and it was different. There's not a single joke. It's explicitly Secrets of NIMH/Watership Down, but what's the twist, beyond "it's with stoats"? The trailer gives off melancholy, heartfelt family drama with mysterious danger and the promise of violence. Many comments about "this is going to rip my heart out, I'm going to cry so much, I love this little stoat family so much already." Now, Burrow's End is already a bit sadder and darker than something I prefer to watch (I don't go out of my way to watch sad movies, and have intentionally never seen or read Watership Down). But I trust Aabria and this cast to tell a great story, and I trust Dimension 20 to deliver a series that touches you in the deepest part of your humanity in a way that ultimately makes you feel whole (even though it might rip your heart out in the middle). So even though I don't feel 100% comfortable, I'm excited about watching Aabria DM, and I want to watch this weekly as it's released because it's FUN being in suspense with a whole bunch of other fans and nobody except the creators knowing where the story is going to go. (But I'm not watching live as it's released, that's too stressful.) So I watched the first episode of Burrow's End. I was prepared for cute animal trauma. I was not prepared for environmental toxin terror. This is 100% a me trigger. I work through it. And then the second episode of Burrow's End is released. The One With The Bear. I'm reading people's reactions to it, seeing the content warnings. It turns out this is body horror? With Annihilation influences? I don't really do horror. There's a reason why I waited until Neverafter finished, why I haven't watched it yet. I did not sign up for this. And this is when the feelings of betrayal start to settle in. Because the trailer promised violence and mystery. The trailer did NOT promise body horror. The 'warning' we got ahead of time was stuff like "you have no idea where this story is going", "episode 2 is WILD", and one tweet from the art team about having nightmares working on the battle map. And content warnings the day of release about body horror. And I'm not upset that those things are IN the story. Aabria can do what she wants. Dimension 20 can tell whatever stories they want to, and if it involves body horror, more power to them. You narsty. What I find upsetting is that I was set up to expect one thing with the trailer and conversation about Burrow's End, and got blindsided by something else. Something else that I needed more emotional energy and preparation to deal with because I was expecting a story more. . . within my window of tolerance. Now that Episode 3 has been released, there are more articles about Burrow's End, and we know that the comps for the season are Watership Down/Secrets of NIMH/anthropomorphic junior fiction and Annihilation and some other third thing yet to be revealed.

I think that Dropout wanted to keep the influences under wraps so things would be a surprise to the audience. And boy howdy were they a surprise. But not a good one. In my opinion Dropout dropped the ball on this, instead of it feeling like a fun surprise to me, it feels like they pulled a bait-and-switch — promising a certain kind of story but delivering something else — and now I'm left reeling with a bunch of mental mess and crap I have to clean up. But if they had been just a little bit more forthcoming with the influences and genre and tone of Burrow's End, I could have gone in more mentally prepared and had FUN. This is why I'm upset. Genre gives us vital information about what to expect in a story. And there's a difference between subverting a genre, and making a hard left into an entirely different genre than the audience expected. I feel like the latter happened with Burrow's End, from the trailer to where we are now in the season (waiting for Ep 4). (What I find fascinating is that this is a unique issue to this moment in time. By the time the season is over, we'll know what the genre is and the influences are, so there won't be this expectation gap. Even now, people know about The Bear, so it's not as shocking as if you experienced it as it was being released and didn't know what was coming.) Anyways. I don't really know how to wrap this up, but I got hurt by the trailer and marketing for Burrow's End seeming to indicate one thing, and delivering something entirely unexpected.

[simptasia]

ages of LOST characters when we first meet them vs the ages of the actors when they first started playing them. reminder that the starting point of LOST is september 22nd 2004. if a character’s age seems one less than sounds right to you its because their birthday is coming up. if a character is missing from this it’s because we don’t know their age in canon (looking at you, desmond)

jack shephard: 34 matthew fox: 38

kate austen: 27 evangeline lilly: 25

hugo “hurley” reyes: 25 jorge garcia: 31

james “sawyer” ford: 35 josh holloway: 35

sawyer says he’s 35. but lostpedia only has sawyer’s birthyear, 1968, making him 36. however an easy explanation for this is that sawyer has a birthday coming up in the post september to december range (like many other characters here) thus making the birthyear and what sawyer said still right

john locke: 48 terry o’quinn: 52

sayid jarrah: 36 naveen andrews: 35

jin-soo kwon: 29 daniel dae kim: 36

sun-hwa kwon: 24 yunjin kim: 31

claire littleton: 21 emilie de ravin: 23

charlie pace: 27 dominic monaghan: 27

okay so an odd thing happened here. we don’t actually know charlie’s age in canon, except that based on a statement from liam that he’s absolutely less than 30. and basically what happened is there was big debate on lostpedia, the general gist being he’s 25 to 28, until everybody just gave up and they slapped dom’s birthday on charlie’s page. and it’s still there to this day

walt lloyd: 10 malcolm david kelley: 12

walt’s actor was gonna age outta the role anyways due to the nature of lost’s timeline but their first mistake was casting a 12 year old. like, hello, puberty?

shannon rutherford: 20 maggie grace: 21

boone carlyle: 23 ian somerhalder: 26

danielle rousseau: 44 mira furlan: 49

ethan rom: 27 william mapother: 39

the consequences of season 5 are starting to hit

bernard nadler: 56 or 57 sam anderson: 58

ana lucia cortez: 29 michelle rodriguez: 27

eko tunde: 35 adewale akinnuoye-agbaje: 38

alexandra “alex” rousseau/linus: 16 tania raymonde: 17

benjamin “ben” linus: 39 michael emerson: 51

this isn’t even due to later timeline decisions, they just decided to do this

miles straume: 27 ken leung: 38

daniel faraday: 26 jeremy davies: 39

charlotte lewis: 33 rebecca mader: 31

and theeere’s the season 5 whammy. for those who don’t know (you must be new to my blog) dan and miles ages differ so much from their actors because when our guys are in 1977, it suited the story and characters better for miles to be a baby and dan to be an embryo (and char to be 6) at the same time. the writers were set on 1977 being the year everybody got stuck in and that’s how we get daniel faraday being an oxford professor at fucking 18

it’s something that gets funnier and sadder the longer you think about it

anyways. thank you for your time!

[questforgalas]

Something that just hit me like a brick while falling asleep

When we meet TBB in clone wars, there’s a very obvious effort to make Crosshair’s disdain for regs (other then Cody and then eventually Rex) clear. It’s black and white that he hates regs and his batch are his people and the only ones he needs. Connecting this now to TBB, both seasons so far, makes my heart hurt for Crosshair. That pointed effort of his loyalty to the batch makes him staying with the empire even more fishy (if you know my blog you know I’m in the “Crosshair is a good guy he’s just the grumpy asshole sibling” camp), and for me, it makes Ep 3 of season 2 that much sadder. He’s miserable, he’s in pain mentally and physically, he misses his brothers. As a sibling myself, I’m willing to bet Cross wants to leave but is too scared of how his brothers will receive him because any rejection by them will hurt more than anything the empire throws at him

[roboromantic]

I thought Mandroid's tower was supposed to affect energon-based lifeforms and that since it was established that the Terrans don't need it, just the cave water, they wouldn't be affected but oh well. guess not

they had a lot of death fakeouts that were getting pretty old by the end but damn, they really eviscerated Karen, huh. Kinda wish she'd had a bit more time to establish herself as a villain but unless this weapon actually teleported her somewhere or she's brought back some other way I guess we're done with her.

Since Mandroid probably wasn't healed, I'm guessing the source of the ancient weapon and the reason there's an energon eater down in the caves is gonna be the focus of the next season? btw are they gonna say anything about the time dilation he experienced or gd forbid have a version of him from the future but not THAT far into the future show up?

I don't have any particularly strong feelings re: Tarantulus but he was like. the only bot who was nowhere to be seen during the finale, which seems weird

the last few minutes were corny as hell but the rest of the show was great so I'll allow it

oh right I gotta check another copy of episode 24 because either the one I have is wonky or there's just a really weird cut at about 5 minutes where Thrash sees a guy running and then saves him from......nothing? I think part of why it feels so weird is the guy's running to the left and then all of a sudden it cuts to Thrash carrying him to the right. NO sign of danger and COMPLETE reversal of movement made it very jarring imo

uuuhhh what else. It's interesting that they touched on Megatron's past as a tyrant and then just. did not have that affect anything. maybe in the next season?

Why'd they name one of the Sharkticons Blitzwave lol, sounds like a ship name for Blitzwing and one of the —waves.

_________________________________________________

looking through the production bible that got posted on the tfw2005 forums and it's got concept art for the Terrans! I'm sure it's already been in the tags a zillion times by now but I think it's neat.

I think I prefer how Thrash looks in the show, but much as I like Nightshade's current aesthetic, I do like this one more

I think the final kids designs look better too

It says the kids' cyber-sleeve can retract to the size of a watchband whenever they need to hide it; I don't think we've seen that happen? If it were gonna happen it would've happened in the school episode, and I'm pretty sure it didn't so I'm guessing this ability was cut for whatever reason.

Dot apparently got a BA in Environmental Science, I don't think that's been mentioned on the show or other biographies? it's also not like. super important but it's a nice detail that links her to the park ranger job. Sadly not a lot of details on how she met Megs

It says Alex has a degree in history and used to be a professor of Human-Transformers Relations which I think changed a bit - more recent bios say he specifically studied Cybertronian history, iirc. It also mentions that after the move he teaches high school history and quickly becomes everyone's favorite instructor, but I don't think that's come up in the show. There's also Zero mention of him being Filipino which is kinda weird since the newer biographies mention that he's proud of his heritage and wants to pass it on to his kids, but I guess that just got added later. It also says Dr. Meridian was his closest friend at his old university, which makes me even sadder that the payoff for them finally meeting face-to face was kinda. Nothing.

ooh more Terran concept art as we go through the kids one at a time

jsdhflkjhgfj with the color scheme on the right she looks kinda like Flarepath

Of all the siblings, Jawbreaker is the most curious about the Terrans’ Transformer heritage and what they can learn from it. This can generate conflict, because some Terrans (Hashtag, Nightshade) want to stand apart from their Cybertronian ancestors and forge their own identities. Jawbreaker dreams of being as great as Optimus, and he’s teachers pet when it comes to Cybertronian history. [...] And yes, JB will hug his siblings with those tiny T-Rex arms!

I don't think we've seen the conflict over heritage all that much, I'm hoping we see more of it in season 2. I did like this latest batch of episodes but I do wish we got more of the Terrans figuring out who they are and less of the fighting. It does state he's a stygimoloch, the comment's not referring to him originally having a t-rex altmode or anything. It also doesn't have a picture that really shows off said tiny arms though so it feels a bit weird to mention that at all? w/e

Gargoyle altmode??? I get why they went for an owl instead but damn. imagine.

Nightshade is the only sibling who identifies as “Terran” and not gender coded, as they are mechanically minded and feel gender serves no function to their identity.

not really a fan of that tbh but if that's what you gotta do to get nonbinary characters in the show then go ahead, I guess

Hashtag was gonna be a News Van but tbh the GHOST van isn't really all that different from one so.

The charismatic leader of the Autobots, our version of the revered Prime is a bit like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, complete with the ability to speak magnitudes with a raised brow.

I was not. expecting that sjkdhfgjkdfghdfjkghjdg. please someone draw that

He still hasn’t quite figured out how to comfortably communicate with humans, and he often overdoes the jocular likeability with thumbs up and “okie dokies.” Dot especially finds this off-putting, and she’s in a strange friendship triangle where she gets along with Megatron, but not his one-time partner Optimus.

"one-time partner" you say 👀

He is truly reformed, so he makes every effort possible to right the wrongs of his past and show his new and improved self to humans. Despite this, Megatron will eventually discover that Optimus and Dot have been keeping secrets from him. This shattered trust, compounded by the temptation to claim the Emberstone himself to save his species, will make him turn heel once again.

hmmmmmm kinda hoping this plot point got dropped tbh. I can't even think of any secrets they'd be keeping from him atm, so if it is still gonna happen I'm guessing it'd be in the next season.

looks like Mandroid was gonna be more of a cyborg than he uh. starts off as, anyways. His shoulder kiiiinda reminds me a little bit of TFA Colossus Rhodes? It's a bit of a stretch and probably wasn't intentional, but that coulda been neat.

oh lol, in the pilot here they write that Robby wanted to compete in a gaming tournament with his friends in Philly but then the town was put under emergency weather lockdown, so he just. tries biking out there anyway

Nightshade’s wacky “improvements” make life harder for the Terrans and Maltos, and they take their experiments elsewhere, accidentally recruiting some of Mandroid’s spider-bots in the process. Ultimately, she converts the family barn into a tricked out clubhouse and HQ for the Terrans and kids!

squints. somebody fucked up

Most of the episode ideas for s1 they've got here were exectued in some fashion, but the 2 that weren't involve meeting more citizens of Witwicky and revealing how it's mtmte and full of GHOST secrets, which feels kinda similar to Griffin Rock but evil

and the other is Hashtag being part of a fan community and wanting to go to a convention in town, but she's been posing as a human (and her profile states she "low-key wants to be" one) and presumably hijinks ensue

Obviously this was like, the pitch for the show and things changed but it's always neat to see exactly how and what might come up later 👀

[elirandom]

Rules: List 8 tv shows for your followers to get to know you!

1. A selection of movies I rewatched so many times I wore out the VHS tapes. The Terminator 1984 (when T2 came Linda Hamilton blew me away), Platoon 1986, Aliens 1986 & Die Hard 1988. It's a lot of bonding strangers to survive, h/c, antiheroes or plain charismatic bad guys, hypothermia or fever, there was only one bed and bantering. The original wet rat blorbos. Also if it's not bloody obvious I had such crushes on Bruce Willis ,Tom Berenger and Michael Biehn, I watched so many bad 80s-90s movies because of them.

2. Wait a minute, TV shows, not MOVIES. My bad, I'm keeping nr 1 as is anyway. Hmm, I always list Hannibal or Buffy tVS/Angel tS whenever I do this so I'm gonna try to list something else that's major loves. So, Miami Vice 1984-1989. Baby me had such a crush on Don Johnson you could see it from space. Adult me gets it, bought the box & rewatches it from time to time, incl writing fic but never anything going somewhere.

3. The Expanse. It's probably a very obvious choice if you ever looked around my corner of Tumblr but I want more people to post about it so. Amos (my favorite pansexual murderbear), Holden (who gave me the Captaincy? Holy shit. How can I fix everything while also being stubborn and chaotic) Naomi (I live with my choices every day but I've got a new life here to do something with & I'll defend it with everything). OT3. Sometimes I want something of poly where Naomi & Drummer (dragon in the shape of a woman, a hoarding underdog with so much fight in her belly) gets to be happy too. But that's just to name a few, it's not often I'm so very invested in so many characters in a show but they all have arcs and space to exist. Unfortunately one of the mains isn't clicking with me at all so the first season took me a while to find all the gold.

4. 9-1-1; besides the love I have for the firefam I'm completely sucked into the grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one. And the sunshine one is a golden retriever who's loyal to a fault and just needs food and love. While the grumpy one finds that letting the sunshine in makes life a helluva lot easier even if both of them almost dies a lot.

5. Hawaii 5-0. Talking about grumpy and sunshine. These two fit the bill too, they just can't decide who's who depending on the day and the drama. Danny's usually the negative one always predicting chaos. But Steve tends to be tortured or have shitty family secrets so his sunshine isn't that shiny all the time. But they're brilliant at bickering about everything which kinda gets them even. Instead they're great at hugs and saying I love you. I despise several plotlines but I can't quit them (I couldn't find a gif that includes Danny saying "Stop looking at me like that" in this scene but alas)

6. Stargate Atlantis, my first team turned into family, and my one and only OT4. McShep was my biggest fave, but i enjoyed team!fic just as much as OT4 fic. Reluctant leader with slinky hips and no self-preservation, paired with a smartass with a big mouth who always came through, a smarter woman who didn't get to kick people in the balls enough and stoic warrior who actually was the puzzle piece missing and more than meets the eye. They're a comfort fandom.

7. Due South. A weird cute soft series I didn't know had a fandom until after it was finished in early 2000s. And then I fell into fic (I never got to see the Ray wars up close luckily) and read so much by Speranza among many more. I've rewatched it a few times, esp if I'm home sick it's a comfort show.

I ran out of allowed gifs😭. Well, fuck.

8. Criminal Minds. I've rewatched this show many times because it's something about catching the bad guys and solving the case all neatly tied up. Another show I love but is even sadder and more horrible is Oz because happy ends doesn't exist because humanity is rotten and we pay for our choices. But it's so good I sometimes wanna rewatch it, I bought the DVD box. But then I remember how much I cried at certain eps, like the brothers and I don't. But sometimes it's good to cry over fictional characters.

[vegangirldiaries]

I Miss Him

The first time I met John, he was sticking up for me in high school. Being the quiet goth girl that I was, of course, I was teased often in school. John had this sort of 'metal-head' aesthetic about him so I guess he found me somewhat relatable? He was a tall dude, and kinda chubby, so no one would be brave enough to go up against him in any way. In my English class, he stood up for me when one of the guys stole my treasured book I had been reading (LOTR). After John was through with him, not only did he return my book and apologize, he actually looked like he was going to cry. Despite this, John wasn't ever a mean person, he was more like a gentle giant. This big and tall guy that almost became like my body guard. I loved darkwave music but the only punk band I loved was the misfits. He was a HUGE fan of Glenn Danzig, so we got along just fine and shared earbuds in class. What we had was platonic, almost a brotherly/sisterly love and respect for one another.

After High school, we both got REALLY into game of thrones. after season 3's 'red wedding' episode, he swore he'd read all the books so he'd no longer be surprised with heartache. We worked on a podcast together called 'game of thrones re-watch' he was so much fun to work with! I would've had him on every episode, only we never finished a full season because of scheduling issues. There were too many things in our way, so we stopped. I still have one episode recording I fondly listen to when I miss him.

In 2019, when the final season of GOT aired, John wouldn't be able to finish watching the show. In April of that year, he was hospitalized with a bad cold. It became pneumonia and he succumbed to it on April 6th, 2019. This past Saturday was the 5th anniversary of his death. It was so strange to know someone my age die at 31. It felt so unfair.

In 2018, I found out a childhood friend of mine had committed suicide. A year later, I get this news. and in 2020, I had to suffer through watching my mother pass away while in hospice. It was a strange time for me to have to grieve for three years in a row.

My husband had the pleasure of meeting John a few times. We used to host Game of Thrones watch parties at our apartment, which John was always invited to. My husband got that gentle giant vibe from him same as I had so many years prior to that.

We both shared the same thought when we got the news he passed... 'he was too nice a guy to deserve death at so young an age... if anyone had ever deserved to die... it was definitely not him. We've never met anyone as genuinely nice as him'

So, now whenever I get the chance to, I visit his grave and sit and read to him. Whatever game of thrones related book I have on hand. Since I'm always readding GRR Martin, it isn't too difficult a task for me. He never got to see the ending of GOT, which is another sad though. and as a reader, he'll never get to finish the books.... an even sadder thought. I think he would've liked the ending. I think he would've been angry at first, but in the end, the very first house he rooted for ended up with the win. and he definitely would've liked that.

RIP John, we miss you, buddy

[quillandrapier]

One of my top episodes from the first season.

1x05 - Moonah Stone by Martha Howe-Douglas and Laurence Rickard

We meet the neighbours! The Beg-Chetwynde immediately knocks it out of the park as the slimey poshos. They are so loathsome but so charming you love to hate them. Again this is both a credit to the writing and they way they are played.

There is something quite interesting in seeing the selfishness and disrespect on all sides. Alison doesn't actually respect the ghosts space and cultures beyond what doesn't annoy her and the Ghost don't respect hers at all. Here this ends up causing a lack of communication and conflict meaning Robin doesn't get his ritual and Alison doesn't get her proper dinner party. So seeing how the relationship between Alison and the Ghosts develops throughout the show is quite lovely, and the first real time we see the Ghosts and Alison doing something truly lovely and family like is at the end of the episode with the brilliant stargazing scene.

Its also quite interesting that even Pat is quite selfish here but does further the plot and Jim really delivers some great gags, it's very interesting to see Pat, the nice guy, make quite selfish choices until the end scene with the couch outside. I think its a great bit and reveals so much about how a ghost would think, being unattached from society for decades. It goes to show how much all the ghosts and Alison have to grow as the show goes on.

Robin here is the star (pun intended). This story is his and really questions the existetinal horror of being a ghost: Everyone moves on, everyone leaves except you. How do you cope? What do you hold on to.The one thing that does stay the same is Robin and the moon. Robin is the heart that elevates this episode. This with the ending of Gone Gone really makes you fall in love with Robin and understand the sadder parts of his story more.

This is a fun episode which takes a simple and familiar premise of the dinner party and does it well while adding the great element of Robin's story and his relationship to time. While again, it's not my favourite episode but has some amazing gags throughout and still, earns its sweet ending. A great way to see a common sitcom trope done well but with a very silly ghost twist.

7.5/10

( Prev: 1x04 | Next: 4x05 )

Masterlist of reviews

Made a random ghosts episode generator here.

If you use this app you can toggle on and off slices you may not want to use.

Anyway see the reblogs to follow my random rewatch ready for Friday and I'll be reviewing each episode. (Thanks to @baynton and @gethisshithumptyfuckingdumptied for the idea.)

[chatonnoir]

How does the French dub differ from how the eng dub tones down the affection between ladynoir?

lol I actually had a few examples of this in my notes already bc I was switching between Eng and French while rewatching the earlier seasons to compare the script

In Stormy Weather/Climatika, after Chat Noir was sent flying and Ladybug helped him up and said “I thought cats always landed on their feet.” (the iconic hand kiss scene):

In English he says "Thanks, Miladybug, but I had it covered." [Kisses her hand]

In French he says "It was on purpose, my Lady, for the pleasure of meeting you again." [Kisses her hand]

Bro the second one is so much cuter like there’s no comparison

(Another minor thing from this ep is when Climatika says there’s going to be an endless Winter, in English Chat Noir says “but I look so good in a swimsuit” while in French he says “but I look super hot in a swimsuit” Lmao the english dub just really likes to censor our boy)

In Dark Cupid/Dislocoeur, when Chat Noir throws the akumatized pin to Ladybug:

In English he says “Happy Valentine’s Day”

In French he says “Happy Valentine’s Day, beautiful”

(He actually calls her the term of endearment “ma belle” which literally means “my beautiful.” I know it’s not as common to say “my beautiful” in English so it could also be taken as just “beautiful” or “gorgeous” etc.)

The way he says “Joyeuse Saint-Valentin, ma belle” is literally so much cuter than the English dub version of the line

This isn't necessarily related to flirting/affection, but in Copycat/L'Imposteur, when Chat Noir is leaving the art studio at the very end:

In English he says "Better help the fellow out. His crush just got crushed!" [walks away from Ladybug] "...That makes two of us."

In French it goes "You better help him. You just broke his heart after all!" [Walks away from Ladybug] "...Not just his, by the way."

dude I really couldn't take the English version that seriously but the French version sounded so much sadder & carried more weight

In Puppeteer/La Marionnettiste, after Chat Noir says “Don’t let her turn me in to a puppet!”:

In English he says “You know I like to be in command~”

In French he says “Only your wishes are my commands~″

smh this simp erasure

In Guitar Villain, when Ladybug is riding the dragon:

In English Chat Noir says "Nice job."

In French he says smth that doesn’t translate directly but was basically like "You're awesome..."

The delivery of the French version of the line just has him sounding so much softer & unabashedly in awe of his Lady

In Prime Queen/Audimatrix when Chat Noir says “I know how we can prove our feelings” and tries to go in for the kiss:

In English Ladybug says “Not a chance, kitty.” and when he tries again in the freezer she says “Still not a chance, Cat Noir.”

In French Ladybug says “Now is not the time, my kitty.” and when he tries again in the freezer she says “it’s still not the right time, my kitty.”

Smh why would you even change this?? Like it completely changes the meaning and just feeds in to the false idea that Chat Noir is “pushy”/harassing Ladybug against her wishes when her ACTUAL annoyance with him was that he’d flirt at the “wrong time” i.e. literally in the middle of a battle. Also it’s just soooo much sweeter whenever she calls him “mon Chaton” compared to just “kitty” in English

In Frighteningale/Rossignoble, when they’re speaking in rhymes and Ladybug asks Chat Noir for a “dance”:

In English Chat Noir calls Ladybug “Miladybug”

In French for the same line Chat Noir calls Ladybug “Lady of my heart”

Bro????? “Lady de mon coeur” is so fucking sweet there’s literally no contest here

tl;dr: imo the French dub is more romantic, not bc of the stereotype of the language itself being romantic but because their lines are actually blatantly more affectionate/emotional, imo the French version makes Chat Noir sound more unabashedly affectionate whereas the English dub slightly tries to keep him sounding like a Cool Guy(TM)/tones down their flirting/also generally makes the script a lot more "childish" to really push that whole “this show is for 7 yr olds” vibe (lmao @ "darken their heart" vs "evilize them" and "I free you from evil!" vs. "tIMe tO dE-EviLIzE")

[itgirlification]

supermodel | jjk

the last three months have been hell for you, but Jungkook seemed to be living his best life.

pairing: ex-bf!jk x thick!reader

warnings: explicit mentions of body image and insecurities, infidelity, anal sex, oral (male receive), foul language (kinda), etc.

now playing: supermodel by sza

part two part three

Exactly three months ago, your and Jungkook’s 2 years relationship officially ended. Unofficially, it ended about 5 months ago. And for about one month now, Jungkook’s been seeing someone else.

Your heart and mind told you not to do it but you couldn’t help calculating. Three months ago, you were still dating, two months later, he started dating someone else. That must mean he’s known her for a while. Did he cheat on you with her? Well, it’s not like it matters now anyway, does it?

Her name was Yuki, an undeniable Japanese beauty. You were still in college, studying music and she was a famous model who appeared in internationally known magazines. You assumed she met Jungkook during a photoshoot since he was a professional photographer who often worked for companies like Vogue and Playboy. You couldn’t help but compare yourself to her.

It wasn’t the fact that he moved on so quickly that hurt you the most. It was the fact that he knew all about your low self-esteem and how you lack confidence. Especially about your body. And he still went and dated a model, of all professions in the world. He was definitely over you.

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think he did it on purpose. But thankfully, you knew better, he looked too happy for that to be even considered. He forgot about you.

You’re making yourself sadder by remembering all the times he assured you you were beautiful and your body was nothing to be ashamed of. The times he let his fingertips run over the lines of your stretch marks, whispering in your ear how much he loved them and how they reminded him of Tiger stripes. The times he caressed your jiggly thighs and told you how sexy he thought they were.

Then your mind would drift back to the phone in your hand, the Instagram page of Yuki Sakurai opened, careful not to accidentally like anything and expose yourself. Not that she’d notice anyway, she had 3.7 million followers, while you had a private one with 500 followers and no posts, and she gets around 300 to 700 thousand likes on each post, depending on whether she posts random photos or pretty pictures of herself. Or newly, your ex-boyfriend, Jungkook. Oh, how crazy everybody goes whenever she posts him. People love them together. You couldn’t blame them. Two attractive people? Of course, they’re gonna look great together.

Fucking great.

That the end of your relationship with Jungkook would look like this was semi-predictable from the beginning. He did admit to you that he never thought he’d date someone that looked like you when you first dated. And your heart broke a little. But he also made up for it in those two years, it was a beautiful relationship nonetheless.

While you weren’t exactly his ‘ideal’ type, he was definitely yours. You always heard from other women ‘when in a relationship, the man always has to love the woman more than she loves him. Otherwise, it won’t work.’ You never really got the saying until your breakup with Jungkook happened. It was the fact that you clearly loved Jungkook more than he loved you that lead to this.

“Oh my goodness!”, your roommate, Jane, dramatically exclaimed. “Will you stop feeling bad for yourself and do something? That’s not what hot girls do, sis.”

Jane was a lovely girl with a not so lovely temper. She always means well and you got along perfectly as soon as you met. Which was around 3 and a half years ago.

She looked over your shoulder to see what you were looking at. You obviously didn’t want her to see you snooping around your ex-boyfriend’s current girlfriend’s Instagram but it was too late.

“Seriously, yn?”, she took your phone in her hand and threw it on the bed. “Let’s go somewhere, you can’t do this to yourself anymore. I’m not letting you.”

Jane was clearly worried about you at this point. The only thing you did these last few weeks was eating, shower, cry, sleep and miss a whole bunch of classes. This wasn’t good at all.

“Where?”, your question was short.

“To the mall? Or the nail studio? Anything that’ll get you out of this fucking dormitory.”, Jane sighed, pulling the blanket off of you, making you whine a little. “C’mon, go put on some cute outfit and we’ll go.”

You felt bad since she was trying hard to make you feel better. But it didn’t really work.

You nodded, standing up from the bed, nonetheless. You picked out a cute two-piece dress, that brought back blurred memories of the time you went on a date with Jungkook, wearing the same two-piece. Bet Yuki would look cuter in this...

‘Shut your petty ass up, yn. It’s embarrassing, the way you’re stuck on a taken guy who wants nothing to do with you’

You wish you could change the way you think, even if it’s just for an hour or two. You wish you would stop imagining Jungkook judging you when he saw you naked or when you told him that you wished you could cut off some of your fat with a pair of scissors.

You were beyond ashamed of yourself. Why wasn’t it easy for you to just stay by yourself? why were you so desperately in need of Jungkook by your side to the point where you’d lock yourself in your room for a month just because he isn’t there?

You needed Jungkook. You became so attached to him in those two years, because you always saw him as a permanent, a forever. Not just a temporary, not just a distant memory. You already saw him as the father of your children, as the man you’re gonna marry.

You were so blinded by the fact that you had him, that you forgot you could lose him anytime.

“I’m done, let’s go.”, unenthusiastically, you announced to Jane, who was already waiting for you.

“Let’s get the fuck outta here!”, In contrast to your spirit, hers seemed to be all roses and daisies. “Lord knows you need it...”

__________

“Look at this cute ass skirt, girl”, Jane pointed at a chic, wine mini skirt she was holding. “You know, when I saw it back there I wanted to have it, but it’d look so much better on you”

You took a few seconds to admire Jane’s beauty. She was about 3 cm taller than you, had a great posture, and almond, dark brown eyes that suited her dark skin tone perfectly. Her body leaned more towards the slimmer side.

“Shut up! No, it would not”, you let out a small giggle. “It would look gorgeous on you, buy it.”

She smiled a little at your laughs. She was happy to see you at least a little cheerful again. “Yeah, but I think it’d look better on you. I’m entitled to my own opinion, am I not?”

You knew this debate was gonna go back and forth, because of her stubbornness. “Let’s both buy the skirt.”

You ended up doing so, added by a bunch of bags full of clothing. This may’ve turned into your new coping mechanism. Who needed therapy when you can go on a shopping spree?

Two hours were spent in boutiques and clothing stores and Jane decided she was tired, wanting to visit the local spa.

“No, seriously, these Riverdale seasons just keep on getting worse and worse. Netflix needs to step up their game ASAP”, Jane ranted, making you laugh at how serious she takes it. “It’s getting embarrassing. I’m being for real.”

The two of you were sitting in the whirlpool at the spa, relaxing your whole bodies a little.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, I don’t watch these new Netflix shows anyways. Been stuck on the vampire diaries for the last 7 years”, you chuckled, knowing you hated trying new things. “Can you pass me one of those magazines?”

Jane nodded, grabbing a random one from the table next to her and handed it to you, without looking at it.

The cover of it caught your eyes immediately. How could it not, when your ex’s new girl looks absolutely dazzling on the front page of it.

‘Supermodel Yuki Sakurai talks summer fashion tips, struggle with self-love and most importantly, her hot, new boyfriend the media is going crazy over’ was the headline of the Harper’s Bazaar Magazine cover.

You felt your stomach getting sick and your breath getting heavier, but you still flipped the pages until you found the one with her interview. You began reading it, skipping the boring parts.

‘Int: so, we see you have a new boyfriend. Tell us, how did you guys meet?

Yuki: Yeah, he’s an amazing guy. We actually met about six or five months ago at one of my photoshoots, since he’s a photographer and we exchanged numbers and stuff, and then we made it official mid last month.’

About six or five months ago? You were with him back then, but her answer was too unclear to find out if he cheated or not.

“Woah, yn, you okay?”

You entirely forgot about the fact that you were with Jane, let alone somewhere other than your bed.

Before you could react, Jane snatched the magazine out of your hand.

“You really can’t escape them, huh?”, She sighs, taking you in her arm. “It’s gonna be okay, baby. In a few months, you’re gonna look back to this and think wow I really was stuck on a guy who’s scared of microwaves and cried like a bitch when Iron Man died.”

You laughed, punching her arm playfully. “You know, I actually love these things about him. Shows his sensitivity and the way he perceives things.”

Jane looked at you as if she didn’t believe you were actually saying that stuff. “Girl, you’re overanalyzing this. Let’s just throw this shit in the trash, okay?”

She put the magazine aside.

“I just don't know what I did wrong.”, You murmured. “I know we weren't the best, but we didn't even fight that much. We could’ve talked it through.”

Jane pursed her lips and cooed. “You know, relationships are complicated sometimes. The reason why he broke up, to begin with, is probably not your fault.”

“Well, what if it is? I mean what if I was too fat or too ugly for him?”, you asked. “If he wanted a skinny girl so bad, I could’ve lost weight for him, I don’t get it.”

Jane looked at you like you lost your mind entirely. “I can’t believe you just said that! Even if that was the reason, which it wasn’t, you shouldn’t make yourself suffer because of it. That’s his loss. You’re beyond gorgeous and you have an amazing body.”

“You’re just saying that.”, tears slowly started coming up in your eyes. “But the thing is Jungkook knows all about my insecurities. Why would he do that to me? I know he knows that I’m still not over him.”

You usually didn’t like crying in front of other people, but you didn’t really care at the moment, besides that was Jane. You trusted her with your life.

“Girl, men are trash, I can’t believe you’re crying over one right now, seriously.”, she wiped your tears and held your face between her hands. “You know, honestly, I’ve read so many articles about how models actually hate themselves and have like the lowest self-esteem so in conclusion, no matter how miserable you are, his new girl is even more miserable.”

You knew Jane didn’t mean it in a harmful way, but it sounded harsher than needed. “I don’t hate her, she probably doesn’t even know about me. I’m just really insecure. He upgraded from me. He’s dating a whole model now.”

The situation just felt like a deja vu of these last few weeks laying in your bed, even though you were at the spa with your friend. You were supposed to have fun, yet you didn’t feel like having any.

“Why would you feel insecure when all you’ve seen of her are Instagram posts and red carpet pictures? She’s supposed to look beautiful, it’s her job.”

To a certain extent, Jane was right, but that didn’t really help your situation, you still felt bad about yourself. You stayed silent.

“C’mon, this isn’t fun anymore. Let’s leave.”, Jane mumbled.

_______

it’s been two days since the incident at the spa and you felt a little bit better now.

Those days were spent reading the same three book series you’ve read your entire life, overthinking, hot Cheetos, Indian takeout, and Netflix. It really wasn’t as miserable as it sounded.

You were just taking a little rest before term break ends and you have to go back to the shithole college again.

Jane was using the time until college starts again, but in different ways than you were. She was planning on going to some frat party in an hour and forget about the world’ for a minute. Or till 4 in the morning, where she will most likely drunk call you and ask you for a ride back to the dorms, because the friends she went to the party with were shit-faced as well and were in no way capable of driving anywhere without the cops stopping them.

Going out partying on a Friday night was a Jane tradition. In the past, you’d sometimes go with her, but you mostly spent your time out with Jungkook doing something more fun than partying could ever be. Now you can’t do that anymore, but laying in bed is more ideal than a party for you at the moment.

“How do I look?”, Jane twirled around to show off her black cocktail dress. She looked beautiful.

“You look beautiful.”, you responded to her question. “Are you leaving now?”

“Hm”, she said, to which you nodded. “You sure you don’t wanna come with me? It’s gonna be really fun.”

You shook your head no.

“Alright”, she shrugged, making her way out of your bedroom. “But I told you, it’s gonna be fun.”

You chuckled, rolling your eyes. “I’ll stay here, I have shit to do.”

“Yeah, right, like binge-watching the vampire diaries and taking 5-hour naps”, she said in a sarcastic tone. “Anyway, bye-bye, Vic’s already waiting for me in the car.”

Victoria was perhaps one of the most obnoxious people you know, yet she was too much of a nice person for you to talk shit about her. The voice of your intrusive thoughts couldn’t help but to, though.

“Alright, bye, take care and say hi to Vic from me.”

After Jane left, an hour went by like it was just a couple of minutes. You were starting to get real bored and decided to watch some regular tv in hopes to find something you enjoy. You ended up not finding anything fun, but you still watched it, because you didn’t have anything else to do.

A few moments later, the doorbell rang and you were suddenly worried. Either this is a serial killer or Jane forgot something.

But to your surprise, it was neither, but it was none other than

“Jungkook?”, truly, those were the only words you were able to mutter out at your shocked state. “What are you do-“

At the speed of light, you were interrupted by your ex-boyfriend pressing his lips to yours. He didn’t say a word.

You weren’t expecting him. Not knowing how you were supposed to feel at the moment, you just let it happen. You were sure your mental state couldn’t get any worse than that, no matter how this will affect you in the end.

“Is Jane home?”, for the first time in 3 months, you’re hearing his silky voice again.

Jungkook knew Jane always had some type of special hatred for him with her killing stares and her bitter comments. You didn’t notice either though.

He also knew she must hate him even more after your breakup. Or maybe she liked him more now since she was able to get rid of him without killing anyone.

“No”, your answer was short and it made a weight fall from Jungkook’s shoulders before he continued kissing you.

It wasn’t anything you haven’t done before, yet it felt like it’s been ages since it last happened. Your mind drifted to the thought of Jungkook and his model girlfriend. You were asking yourself what their sex life was like, if she was tighter than you or if she had stretch marks and scars.

Jungkook’s lips were moving south, giving your neck wet kisses, while you were wondering why he broke up with his model girlfriend. Or if he even did. You felt selfish for not caring.

Removing your clothes one by one, you were left in your underwear, while Jungkook only had his boxers on.

This body was yours. You knew it inside out. Where he liked to get touched and where he preferred not to. You knew him better than anyone else. You were sure.

You already moved to your bedroom, since Jungkook effortlessly carried you there. You were sat on his lap, facing him and your hands were in his messy hair. His hands were around your waist, he was slightly smiling into the kiss, as you started grinding on him. He loved how easy it was for him to turn you on. You were still his.

Cutting off the kiss, he looked you in the eyes, while his hand was on your cheek. “Say aah.”, he said.

You widened your mouth obediently, which was followed by him collecting as much saliva as he could in his mouth and spitting it into your mouth.

“Swallow.”, demanding, he spit on your face, his eyes become darker with every passing moment. You did as he said.

You looked at him with big eyes. He knew you loved it. You’ve always had a thing for him degrading and humiliating you during sex.

He started grinding on you almost desperately. You knew exactly what he wanted.

Getting out of his grip, you dropped to your knees and freed his hard dick from his drawers. You reached for it and started pumping it, and licking it. Your spit was leaking down his dick as you used it for lubrication. Then you started sucking on it, just the way you used to.

Jungkook’s groans and satisfied sighs were enough to make you even wetter than before. You enjoyed giving more than receiving.

Your mouth was wet and warm around him, giving him a feeling of familiarity. You lick over the tip a few times, then proceed to fully take him into your mouth.

The bulge in your throat could be seen and the way your eyes were tearing up a little wasn’t bothering you at all. You loved giving.

Jungkook started thrusting in and out of your warm, welcoming mouth, his tip hitting the back of your throat multiple times.

“Fuck”, a throaty moan left Jungkook’s mouth, giving you hints that he was about to cum. And he did, releasing in your mouth before you swallowed it. “Shit, baby, that was so good.”

You felt your face heat up and a sheepish smile made its way to your face. Your throat was sore.

The two of you were on the bed again. To you, it felt like it was the times before your breakup again, when you’d purposely start an argument just for the makeup sex because Jungkook wasn’t giving you any anymore. It was like sex was the only thing to look forward to.

You felt attached to Jungkook to a point where it was dangerous. You weren’t okay when he wasn’t around. He affected every part of your life and God knew it wasn’t always a positive thing. Maybe it was the fact that he took your virginity. Maybe because he was your first boyfriend, the first guy that made you believe you were worthy of love and that someone was actually capable of loving you. One thing you knew was Jungkook had an expansive influence on your life.

While you were practically drowning in your own thoughts, Jungkook was busy taking off your underwear.

“You okay?”, Jungkook calmly asked you, looking at your riddled face.

“Huh? Yeah, I’m okay.”, you sounded distracted, Jungkook wasn’t sure about asking you what it is though. He didn’t feel like getting personal.

So he shrugged it off and started kissing you again, his dick was unsurprisingly hard again as he played with your tits. He drew lines over the stretch marks of your thighs and kissed them.

“Can I fuck your ass?”, Jungkook’s raspy, tired-sounding voice casually asked, to which you quickly nodded, knowing that Jungkook’s favorite position had always been anal. He was massaging and gripping your ass firmly.

“This is gonna hurt at first, but I promise it gets better.”, He warned calmly into your ear, while putting some lube on his dick and just went right into your ass, slowly thrusting so you don’t feel as much pain.

He was right, it did hurt a lot when he first put it in, but the pain just changed into pleasure in a matter of time and his slow-paced thrusts helped with the adjustment.

“Fuck, I missed this ass”, he practically growled into your ear, as he kept on thrusting in and out, steadily gripping your wide hips with his big, veiny hands. “It just doesn’t feel right when I’m inside her ass.”

You knew your confidence shouldn’t rely on Jungkook bringing his girlfriend down, but you couldn’t help but feel good about your body when he said that. It’s been a while since you felt even a tiny spark of confidence. You weren’t so fond of him mentioning her while he was inside of you.

Your soft moans rang through the whole room like sirens, while he watched your ass jiggle against his pelvis, thrusting in and out faster every second. He missed this.

You had always thought you were indecisive, but you knew exactly what you wanted. You just couldn’t have that, so you’d eventually have to settle for less.

Jungkook wasn’t to blame for it, you just couldn’t concede your shortcomings. The movie’s villain wasn’t always the real villain.

Your hands traveled to your pussy to make sure you’d orgasm as well, when you heard Jungkook’s breathing getting heavier and his thrusts getting gentler than before, indicating that he was gonna cum soon. You were certain he could make you cum with just anal, but you wanted to cum with him.

With furrowed eyebrows and drops of sweat dripping down his body, Jungkook looked down at your arched back. The whole scene was sticky, especially when Jungkook presses his upper body to your back, whispering sweet nothings into your ear and kissing the spot.

It was kinda odd, having sex with your ex-boyfriend you were crying over just a day ago. There was a certain intensity to it though. Like your long-lasting nostalgia was finally fulfilled.

You’ve realized you couldn’t imagine yourself being intimate with anybody else. Jungkook already knew your body, how it looked without the material protecting it, the strawberry skin, the slightly sagging breasts you swore you’d surgically remove once you had the chance to but didn’t. He knew where you liked being touched, he was the first one to even touch you in those places.

You were unsure what you’d do with yourself when he leaves.

Jungkook’s thrusts slowly started stopping and you too felt the familiar sensation in your stomach.

Suddenly, you two were nothing but desire, fear, and pleasure. And faster than you could process, you came together.

For minutes after your orgasm, you were just laying on the bed, thoughtless. Maybe a little regretful. Not you, but him.

You weren’t facing each other, but you could hear each other’s breathing. Your stomach was filled with something you’d describe as post-sex melancholia.

All of a sudden, Jungkook stood up from the bed, startling your resting self a little, but you decided to keep quiet, wanting to see what he was going to do.

He made his way to the door to leave what he thought was your sleeping body laying there. You couldn’t keep quiet anymore.

“Where are you going?”, your soft voice suddenly rang in his ears. “Don’t you wanna stay?”

He didn���t know how exactly to tell you. You’ve always been a gullible little girl, you were the type of girl to think fucking equals love. Little did you know that wasn’t the case at all.

“Yn.... you know I can’t”, Jungkook responded, you knew it wasn’t gonna be good when he said your name like that. “I got a girl at home and I don’t wanna mess shit up with her.”

There it was. Your suspicion was corroborated. He was still going out with the model and you were a certified home wrecker. Great.

You physically felt your heart breaking. “Bu- but why are you here then?”

You were incapable of being mad at him at the moment. It was your fault for letting him in, again. After breaking your trust and your heart.

“This was a mistake”, he declared, not looking into your eyes. “I’m sorry, yn...”

He’s moved past your room now, already at the exit of your dormitory. He was about to leave.

“You already ruined shit with her when you came here and fucked me.”, your voice was small, but your words were heard.

Without looking back, he left.

And you went back to your room, standing in the middle of it for a minute in silence before your brain fully processed what had happened and your tears started pouring.

[lazy-drawn]

Young Justice 04x08: Good Episode Ending, Sad Character Implications

Wow this was a very good and emotional episode. Seeing Jon not really understanding what it means about Conner being dead and having it be explained to him was sad. Part of me thinks it really hasn’t sunk into him what death mean. Obliviously I know he’ll understand more of what it means as he gets older.

However with that being the case I had a thought and a question come to mind. Especially with LOA being so prominent in this episode. And don’t hate me for this but am I the only one wondering if Damian is gonna die in Young Justice? Right now he’s a toddler and won’t be fighting crime until later seasons. However Wally, Conner and Jason (even though we didn’t see it) and bunch of other characters all have died in the show just like they did in the comics. Sure Young Justice has put their own twist on their death but they still die. (The only exception being Lian and hoping that one really doesn’t happen.) Which makes me wonder if they’re gonna do the same with Damian.

Dick has already had his best friends and brother killed on the show what’s to say the writers also won’t do that again. Hell this time we might actually see it happen instead of it being a flashback or not being seen at all like Jason’s death was. Damian’s comic death really effected Dick you know since he was there.

Another thing is since we saw Jon learn about death this episode it got me curios if Jon will know Damian when he dies. I say this because a lot of people are speculating about Nightwing’s Arc coming this season and we all think Jason is going to be involved. So since this episode left Cheshire in Infinity Island where Jason and Damian are staying with Artemis promising check up on her this might be how the Batfamily will find out about the boys.

Now if this does happen this can go one of two ways. One they only find about Jason and want to take him home never finding out about Damian leaving the boy to raised by Talia and later seasons go to the Batfamily when he’s older. Or two they find out about Damian and do end up taking him with them. Which would mean Damian being involved in the superhero community early on and meeting other heroes along with their kids. Therefore meeting Jon early to. Which will only make it that much sadder if Damian does die because this time he’d known Batfamily and his best friend longer. There also the fact of how apocalypse played a big part in Damian’s resurrection.

Again Young Justice could do it’s own twist on it. What do you guys think? Will this happen or not? Young Justice does it own thing so who knows. Give me your thoughts.

[savethedots]

Gender identity in s7 of DRUCK

I tried to compile all moments that could belong either to the gender identity or the body dysphoria storyline of Isi’s season. Hearing that the s7 main is non-binary (or could be) brought me back to watching live. Which I stopped doing after s4 of Druck. And yeah… it was frustrating this time around.

I started this list shortly after the final episode and it took a while (yeah, i know). I hope I got everything. I’m sorry if something is missing. This got very long…

Episode 1:

1. Isi meets Lou in the toilets. Two gnc people seeing each other for the first time. Is it a mixed toilet? Maybe, but I kinda doubt it. So, one of them is challenging the binary toilet system in the school. Maybe…

2. “Hi Lou, I’m Isi.” - an introduction with gender neutral names. Both of them never use the other’s birth name and therefore respect their choices.

3. “Is this your brother or your sister?” - a teammate of Umut thinks it’s alright to comment on Isi’s appearance and make assumptions, representing society in a nutshell with this. At first it seems like Isi doesn’t really care but then Umut makes it clear that he is effected, which gets to Isi.

Episode 3:

4. The threesome scare. I’m not sure if this belongs here but Isi’s reaction could be caused by body dysphoria. It also could very well be, because Isi doesn’t want to get sexual with Lou, or Constantin or with both of them together. We don’t know and this is a problem, as it was NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN!!! What was the reason for it? Getting some outrage?

Episode 4:

5. Isi removes the nail polish after Constantin wore it in an insta post to “fuck with stereotypes” - it’s probably performativ on Consti’s part (and he gets applauded by Lou), but for Isi it goes much deeper than that.

6. “Let’s try to introduce a part for men.” “Not so much hip movement.” “Like dudes in the club.” “Put your hands on my hips like I’m your date.” - the girls say all of this without realizing that Isi is uncomfortable the whole time bc they seemingly don’t identify with any of these stereotypes.

7. Isi is watching the YouTube video about gender identity. It is nice. It’s a nod to how the mains always google stuff. But again it’s a shallow treatment of this topic. It’s only one short scene that is later overshadowed by family trouble. It could‘ve been the start of something but -like a lot of other things- was never really picked up again.

8. Sascha calls their get together ‘girl‘s night’ and Isi is okay with it. Isi feels comfortable with the girls and with Sascha calling it girl’s night. They know Sascha isn’t mocking them.

9. Consti assumes that Isi only likes guys because of the way she dresses/presents. Consti has no idea that there is so much more to it and I think he doesn’t care enough to learn more about it. Again presenting society in a nutshell.

Episode 5:

10. “You know exactly who you are?” - “Don‘t you?” - “I‘m always different.” - “I like that about you.” - “You can be everything you want.” - important convo for Isi to hear, after Isi didn’t know how to dress and and style himself and was so overwhelmed that he covered up the mirror. Isi kinda relates to Lou and her saying this and making them feel better is so important.

11. “I nearly didn‘t recognize you.“ - Isi tries to fit in by dressing like ‘one of the boys’. She does this for her brother, even tho you can see how uncomfortable she is. This is really sad. Even sadder that Umut is still mad (even if it is understandable, he is a very impressionable young teenager). In the end no one is happy with this.

12. “You don’t have to adept for anyone.” - “How would you know? I have to adept every day. Whatever I do. I don’t fit in. They want one or the other.” - honestly one of the best scenes. Sascha is like the audience that finally gets to hear how Isi feels and listens intently. Sascha/the audience cannot make it easier for Isi but it’s important that Isi knows someone is in their corner to catch them if they need it. Finally some insight! Finally some feelings! (They still do not really continue this throughoutly)

13. “Boys right. Girls left.“ - with Isi being unsure where to go but eventually deciding to ‘fit in’ with the boys and society norms before Lou ‘saves’ them and gives them an excuse to get out of the situation.

Episode 6:

14. Mailin and Isi talk about Umut ignoring Isi. And Mailin asks about Isi playing and quitting football. Isi says that it was too “football-ish” and Mailin agrees and says she, too, had a hard time when she started training the boys. I think it is heavily implied that gender roles/expectations played a big part in both their stories.

15. Isi goes to the queer youth center with Sascha. They meet David, by chance. Isi talks to him and David mentions body dysphoria. I still don’t know why they didn’t dig deeper after this. They had a good set up. Wasn’t the show supposed to educate about important topics? They really dropped the ball with this one. This could’ve been a catalyst.

Episode 7:

16. “Hey Umut. Your sister is here.” - the teammate at it again. And he chuckles. He thinks he’s funny. Isi makes Umut listen to him. They talk about it beautifully, touching topics of what being ‘normal’ even means, pretending to be someone you’re not and losing yourself over it. It was way too short but heartfelt and very important.

17. “Just because you think I kiss men anyway. Or whatever you made up in your head.” - “no worries. I know now how you are. You made out with Lou.” - The talk from the garage never really got solved and it is kinda picked up here. Isi still is mad at Consti’s assumptions, rightfully tho. And Consti doesn’t even listen and continues to assume stuff about Isi without ever asking. Consti still mistakes gnc clothing, gender identity and sexual orientation. He doesn’t care. He is hurt and doesn’t try to understand, not even for his friend’s sake.

Episode 9:

18. Mr. Önder is harassing Isi and Umut by stopping them and telling Isi that he disapproves of who Isi is and how Isi presents. Again, nobody asked but this is sadly pretty accurate, nosy neighbours and all. I love (!) how Isi is very angry, at first, but then looks at Umut and sees that he is afraid. Isi changes her behaviour on the spot and exposes Mr. Önder’s double standards in a really mature way.

19. Umut and Isi talk about Zeki Müren and this may be the sweetest talk they have. Isi tells Umut about the singer and Umut compares Isi to him. It’s a beautiful end to their storyline where Umut just excepts Isi and encourages them.

20. HOLY RAINBOW NIGHT: the culmination of Isi’s journey (if you can call it that). We have Billie who is very good at creating a calming environment. Billie also shows Isi that it is okay to have no pronouns by simply showing the name tag.

21. Then we have David who introduces the idea behind the name tag: no awkwardness just enjoy the night without feeling wrong. And he, too, creates an atmosphere that feels save. At first Isi goes along like always and just bends herself for society norms. But then they look around and recognise a safe space. Unlike ep 5, where Lou came to the ‘rescue’, Isi now stands up for himself and chooses a name and pronouns that feel right. But this is all new and Isi is still unsure about it. Then David steps in: “just try it out.” Reassuring Isi again, that she is save here (that’s when I cried).

Episode 10:

22. At the Christmas dinner we have the family discuss Mr. Önder because he came around to complain. When Isi’s parents hear the whole story, they immediately start reassuring Isi about herself and telling her, that they are proud. Then Baba Inci plays best of Zeki Müren. And all of them dance and celebrate the music (and Isi).

23. Since body dysphoria is also part of Isi story, at least in some scenes, I wanna mention Isi and Sascha’s Christmas night clip. I think it’s refreshing that the one being a bit insecure seems to be Sascha, not Isi. Isi feels save and therefore is confident in the physical part which is heartwarming. They found someone who takes them as they are. Isi CAN just be who they are. Kinda leaving body dysphoria and struggling with their gender identity as problems for the outside world, while they create this permanent safe haven, which is really beautiful.

24. As they’re preparing for the their dance performance Isi tells his friends that they only want to use Isi as a name from now on. Isi still seems precarious and tries to give their friends (and themself) an out, if they don’t take it well. But both, Kieu My and Nora, make sure that Isi knows that it isn’t an effort for them and that they will adapt for Isi, no questions asked. With this, another safe space is created. This also spilled over to Insta where Isi and their close friends now have their pronouns in their bios. This should’ve been a Clip, tho.

25. The last clip is Isi just embracing herself and enjoying it. First Isi sits in front of her mirror again. While they struggle to use the right lipstick, in the end Isi is satisfied with how they look. Later at the dance performance she is confident and you don’t see any of the struggles she had at the beginning. The new year begins for Isi surrounded by friends, finally having the strength to embrace herself.

In conclusion:

The build-up in Isi’s journey isn’t always super clear and should’ve been a center piece of their story but it did linger there throughout the whole season. They could’ve (or should’ve!!!) done better. Still, some scenes/clips are amazing and have a special place in my heart. I’m proud of and happy for Isi, this fictional character, who struggled with their identity and got to a good place in the end. It’s what Isi deserves and what everyone else deserves, who’s struggling because society is harsh, if you don’t fit in.

[gellavonhamster]

la casa de papel s5 part 2

spoilers under read more

Turns out I predicted many things right, such as, most importantly, that no one else is going to die :) The writers of the show seem to be very concerned about subverting expectations (like many show writers these days, often to the detriment of the writing), and letting all main characters make it to the finale actually is unexpected after making it clear that no one is safe by killing the narrator. I kinda started suspecting that Matías Pamplona might be the one to die after he was given the code name - thought that they’re making him a more important character so that the audience feels sadder when he dies - but I am glad to have been wrong. Also called it that Arturito is going to survive as well - he’s the Thénardier of this story, the despicable character who gets to live and thrive while good people die because Life Just Ain’t Fair sometimes

I was also right about Rafael and Tatiana playing some role in the plan (otherwise their flashbacks would’ve been completely pointless), but I expected either him or her or both of them to help the Professor, not steal from him. It’s kinda more interesting this way, though, because otherwise it would’ve been too deus ex machina. However, I do think that Sergio managing to persuade Rafael to return most of the gold was one of the weakest, most improbable moments of this half-season. Of course, the Professor is grabbing at straws at this point, but Rafael agreeing to do this (without even meeting him, just based on a note) out of respect for “family tradition” when the family in question is the uncle he met once and the father he betrayed... let’s just say the Professor got very, very lucky.

Oh, and Tatiana has a little more agency now, but still little to no personality. A pity. Not so much pity about Rafael because I couldn’t care less about him, but I really hoped that I would grow to like her.

Very disappointed by the absence of Nairobi in the fish party flashback :( I get that it was probably not worth bringing back Alba Flores, who probably already has a lot of other work, to do just one small scene (I guess the scenes of her in class were filmed during previous seasons), but I still really wished we got to see more of her. She’s still one of the best parts of this show for me.

Also I wish Helsinki had more scenes, but okay, at least he’s alive. What’s up with his leg, though? When the entire gang leaves the hangar in the season finale, he walks just fine, but wasn’t it highly likely that even after the operation he was going to lose his leg? But alright, I’m willing to close my eyes at that, because I’m happy for him

Most of the romance stuff was extremely annoying. The Manila/Denver/Stockholm love triangle? I couldn’t wait for it to end. Tatiana leaving Berlin for Rafael? Do I look like I could care about these flashbacks when there’s a life or death situation in the present?? Denver and Stockholm having sex in the vault? Wow, guys, do you really think it’s the right time to do that??? I enjoyed Stockholm’s little striptease as a reference to that time Denver danced for her in the Mint - one dance in the beginning of their relationship, and another for its fresh new start - and the Serquel proposal was really sweet, but otherwise - ugh. Big ugh. Maybe if I shipped literally anything in this show, it would have helped

I fucking love Alicia Sierra. She was great as a villain, and she is great as a villain-who-reluctantly-joins-the-heroes too. Her friendship with Sergio seemed a little rushed, but then again, she’s lost everything, her superiors screwed her over, she’s alone against the world with a newborn baby on her hands. If I was her and the only person who cared about me and made me dinner was my enemy, I would probably get attached quickly too

The fact that the entire gang is going to remain in the memory of the general public as fallen heroes except for Denver who is going to be remembered as a traitor and a collaborator though :(

The fact that Benjamin is referred to as Logroño in the end credits while he didn’t even officially have a code name, it’s just what Alicia called him, and then everyone just rolled with it... love it

I know I’m basically just repeating what I already said in the tags, but the pump theft/meeting Bogotá flashback is gotta be one of the funniest scenes in the entire show. Marseille tolerating Berlin’s singing in the helicopter, Berlin’s stupid coat, Bogotá being like “You come here wearing your mom’s coat”. The whole fucking exchange about rough/soft hands. Palermo “interpreting” for Berlin while he’s telling to the manager’s face in Spanish that they’re gonna steal from him. Berlin, who hates children, nodding politely as Bogotá tells him about his seven (7) children. It’s hilarious

Overall I am satisfied with how it ended. In my opinion, seasons 3-5 can’t hold a candle to seasons 1-2, but it was gripping enough for me, and I love the characters, so seeing them get a happy ending made me happy.

[evakuality]

Matteo - episode two

Social media - I feel like the social media doesn’t always work for me just because I often sleep at the wrong times of day for Germany and so when or why things happened sometimes feels difficult for me to judge.  For example, I feel like the Sara and Leonie and messing around with David at PE feels somehow out of place.  They didn’t seem to know each other much on Friday when Sara interrupted Matteo and David and yet here they are hanging out and playing together like long time friends on social media not long after.  It’s a lovely set up for Matteo finding out more about David as he reluctantly follows Sara’s social media, but the connection from one moment to the other is difficult to follow.  More than ever I wish we had more of a sense of David and what he was up to behind the scenes so to speak.  Also, Sara’s desperation around Matteo when she’s talking to Leonie is so painful.  By the end of this episode Leonie is all ‘you need to get over this asshole’ but Sara is still super invested in this thing she’s built up in her head.  She wants this to be real so much that she’s ignoring all the red flags.  It doesn’t help that Matteo is actively curating his social media presence to fit in - so he does a lot of stuff with Sara for her Instagram.  That it’s all the same sort of stuff he does with his friends seems to go over her head - he doesn’t see her the way she wants to be seen, but then he also does things like knee-jerk into an invite to his home when he sees David hugging Leonie.  What he does and why makes sense (we’ll get to that in the actual clip) but it doesn’t make it any easier for Sara.  Though, really, she should listen to Leonie who is the only one in this scenario who has her back and can clearly see what is happening.

clip one - I really like seeing characters peacefully chilling in their own space and just being relaxed.  Matteo’s not exactly happy, of course, but he seems content in this scene.  He has his game, he has his little stalker moment on David and there are no expectations on him.  But then of course Hans comes along.  Hans, bless him, doesn’t mean to be forcing expectations on Matteo, but unfortunately he’s hitting some sore spots for Matteo.  Matteo knows he’s into guys, is fairly obvious about his attractions, but there’s this very painful understanding that the guys he likes can’t or don’t see him the same way.  David is still something exciting at this point - they made a connection and while Matteo doesn’t know if he likes guys too, he also knows they have some kinship on some issues.  So his gut reaction is to hide the picture he’s been looking at despite it being on his girlfriend’s Instagram, because it feels incriminating to him.  Here he is fantasising over yet another guy who is probably straight and probably has a thing with Leonie (he is extrapolating HARD from the small bits of info he has and from Sara’s reactions).  It’s sweet that Hans literally comes to Matteo to get advice on his choices of guys, but it feels threatening to Matteo both in a ‘I can’t let on that I’m gay’ way and because it feels like someone expecting something of him which he isn’t capable of giving - it’s very obvious that the guys Hans is choosing from and the type of guy Matteo likes are poles apart and so he literally doesn’t know which of the guys Hans wants is best.  They really aren’t his type at all.  

I also have to say that Sara’s demands for instant answers is exhausting.  Why do we have this expectation?  She’s decided that he’s not being good to her because he’s not instantly responding, but it shouldn’t be such a norm that we reply right away.  In Matteo’s case, he’s trying to chill and relax and we have both Hans and Sara intruding on that space with expectations of him.  My introverted self shudders at this and I feel for Matteo.

clip two - this of course leads into clip two when Sara confronts Matteo again.  She is once again, the one trying to use words and communicate properly.  This is exactly what we tell people to do when trying to work with relationships but she’s not really forceful enough as yet and she chooses to do it in front of his friends which doesn’t really work.  For her, she thinks this will legitimise it and has perhaps subconsciously picked up that he’s far more willing to play along if he has an audience and so this works for her.  But for him, it’s even more awkward than usual because she’s showing up his lack of attention in front of his friends.  So while she probably thinks she got some sort of positive sign out of this, for him this was very uncomfortable and he’s really starting to find it difficult to keep this up.  The discussion of relationships and communication in relationships is also very interesting.  Abdi, who seems to be really off the wall and stupid here, is the one who actually hits on the reality of the situation.  We see how attempted communication works in relationships alongside Matteo and Sara, but we also hear about Carlos and his frustrations with Kiki and a lot is being set up for the future.  We’re already getting set up for Matteo feeling really shit when David won’t contact him, when he feels played and on and off, hot and cold.  This thing with Sara here comes back to bite him later when he’s on the receiving end and it allows him to find his moment of kinship with Sara later on.  Once he knows how this feels, he realises how shitty he was being here.  

The ‘when they don’t talk to you, they want to sleep with you’ stuff is fascinating because a) that’s definitely not what’s happening with Matteo - he absolutely doesn’t want to sleep with Sara, but b) also it kind of IS what happens with David later.  He wants things to progress with Matteo but doing that means he has to come out and so he has to retreat.  Totally different reasons, but the idea is the same.  ‘You have a lot to learn’ the boys tell Matteo, and they’re right even if not in the way they mean.  Most of what Matteo needs to learn and figure out in relationships is actually touched on in this clip.  Of course, to really ram this point home, we get the deeply awkward Matteo and David meeting by the lockers.  David appears to be invested as well - coming up to Matteo, making the first contact here in a way.  It’s awkward for sure, but in a very different way to Sara and Matteo.  Here, they both want to actually connect but are still feeling out how to approach each other.  Of course, they are again interrupted before this can develop better, and again Matteo’s response to a romantic advice question is ‘I don’t know’ - it’s his way to slide out of having to be committed to something, but also both questions (Hans’ and Leonie’s) veer quite close to things he doesn’t want to be open about - interest in guys on the one hand and specifically David’s relationship status on the other.  So he hides behind these words and in both cases the person fills in their own gaps and assumes he’s helped them.

The bit with Amira and the weed is so close to the original that there’s not a lot to say, except that I do like that she gets to make her own defence with Matteo as a back up more than the one speaking for her the whole time as Isak does.  I’m also highly amused that they never attempt to make this exchange again and the weed just gets used by the girls.  Neither Matteo nor Abdi seems worried about it after this point.  For Matteo that makes sense - David starts to become much more important, but for Abdi it’s just funny.  Maybe he got some more weed somewhere and just decides it’s not worth pursuing anymore.

clip three - this clip is just sad all around.  Matteo clearly does care about Sara and he’d make a good friend for her but she has these expectations of him that don’t work for either of them but in totally different ways and they talk at cross purposes throughout the whole thing.  We find out later everything that’s going on with Sara here and why she wants distracting, but she’s chosen the wrong person or at least the wrong way.  And this whole idea that she can force sex on him when he’s very very clearly not ready is so uncomfortable.  Even if this was a very normal relationship in which both parties genuinely had feelings for each other, him pulling back and not being ready isn’t a bad thing and should be respected.  That Sara uses this as evidence later that he’s a shitty boyfriend is unfair.  He is a shitty boyfriend in many many ways but this isn’t one of them.  @sun-undone made a wonderful series of videos on this season and mentioned how awkward and uncomfortable the extreme close ups are in this scene (and many of the others between these two).  It works to make a claustrophobic and trapped feeling for Matteo.  We’re so tight on his face that he has no way to escape and what’s really interesting about it is that often when Sara is in reverse shot to these close ups the camera is further away allowing her to feel more comfortable.  Which sums up visually everything about this relationship really.

I want to touch briefly on the food thing - in this scene Matteo brings food for Sara, and food is usually used to show nurturing and caring etc etc.  And then he places it as far from her as he can.  Contrast this with how he uses food with David, making it playful and literally bringing him into its production and they eat together.  It’s very clear that while he cares about Sara and wants to connect with her, he’s not willing to properly nurture her in any of the ways she needs.  He also makes it very clear that it’s from her mother and not him.

clip four - in this context, clip four is very sad.  It’s just a short moment where Matteo watches David and sees him smile at Leonie and hug her.  It immediately makes him sad (sadder than usual, which is fairly sad at this point) and we just saw how little interest Matteo has in sex, but that sight and all the things it brings up for him (which have been set up through the previous episode) results in him deciding to just get it over with and try to sleep with Sara.  Of course, for her this means a whole different thing to him.  The emojis etc that he uses are really playful and happy but the Matteo we see on screen as he does that is so far from that it’s super painful to watch.  More examples of how his social media presence does not reflect his genuine lived experience.  She sees this as a final acceptance of what’s happening between them and how he now wants to be with her.  For him, it’s a final desperate attempt to stop being so invested in these guys who don’t want him and to focus on someone he knows actually does.  But it doesn’t make him happy, and he in fact looks much sadder at the end than he does at the start.

clip five - A continuation of the previous one really.  He’s decided this has to happen, has actively set up the date for the end of the week and is now trying to find a way to make it work for him.  But he looks SO depressed and out of sorts when he does so, made more so when the responses he reads are things like ‘why would you want to sleep with someone if you’re not into her’ which is a question he has no good answer to.  Of course we also get the moment when he finds David’s Instagram and the picture he’s posted and the way he responds to that is much more genuine and authentic than anything he’s done with Sara.  I do like how often we get subtle moments of comparison between how Matteo reacts to Sara vs how he reacts to David.  Once again the social media is nice in this part.  Hans and Linn and their conversations and the way Matteo is then drawn in and included.  I like that they chose to document such a small and insignificant moment, eating food together, in such a way.  It makes the ‘big’ stuff that’s scattered through feel more authentic when it’s mixed in with such normal social media behaviour.  

clip six - The cross dressing in this clip makes me feel really awkward, partly because cross dressing in general feels weird (just... dress however you like whenever you like, you know?) but obviously also because of David.  How horrible this must feel for him (and as an aside, the school must have known why he changed to them so late and how traumatic it has been for him - why did they approve the topic????), but consequently how good it must be for him that Matteo doesn’t engage with the dressing up.  On another note, Sara talking over Matteo is again a great representation of the whole way their relationship works (and how she thinks one should work maybe?)  She speaks for him and makes assumptions about what he wants in many of their interactions and it’s no different here.  I guess she’s so desperate for this to be something real that she can’t let anyone speak who may ruin that - up to and including her supposed boyfriend.  He looks so checked out and irritated with this whole situation when she’s talking for him and it doesn’t get any better after she leaves and the boys go right back to sex talk.  This whole episode is a good representation of how little presence Matteo has in his own life, particularly when he’s outside his own space and/or with other people.  The one person who sparks any sort of difference is David.  In this whole clip, Matteo doesn’t speak a word (he tries to but Sara leaps right in as if she owns his home, which.... hmmmmm) which is a huge contrast with the final clip:

clip seven - this is such a great clip and it’s fascinating that it’s so long compared to the rest given that not a lot actually happens in it.  But that’s part of its charm - this is Matteo’s and our chance to meet and get to know David properly which is allowed time to breathe and relax into it.  And over the course of the nine or so minutes, the two of them do get more and more relaxed and easy with each other.  Also, here’s to the random ticket collector who facilitated the start of this.  If he hadn’t come along and David hadn’t decided to step in to save Matteo from the consequences of his own actions, they’d probably still be staring awkwardly at each other to this day.  But also, Matteo’s flirting when he genuinely wants to do it appears to be ‘hey do you want to smoke?’ and despite David clearly not being all that into it, it works presumably because David is also besotted already and happy to go along with literally anything Matteo might suggest (like some terrible sandwich toppings).  

But honestly, the heart of this clip is literally this developing bond between the two boys and I was trying to work out why the montage ‘getting to know you’ sequence works better here than it does for Mia and Alex and I think in the end it comes down to baggage and also timing.  David is not dragging baggage behind him; we don’t have the same sense of ‘why does s/he fall for him?’ with David that we do with Alex.  In Alex’s case, Mia had been very open about how much she hated Alex and how he was treating Kiki and also just how awful she felt about being bribed into going on a date with him.  Given how important that was, we needed to see more of their bonding so we too could see Alex’s personality.  Instead we’re told that Mia starts to like him without being shown any real proof.  Whereas with David, we don’t know him just like Matteo doesn’t know him, so having some conversation filled with compliments and small moments of bonding and developing trust interspersed with the montage actually works.  We have a real sense of the sorts of things they’re talking about and the way they’re talking and we’re shown in montage that there’s more happening behind that.  In this case it works to show the development where for me it fell flat with Mia because of how long we were told and shown Alex was an asshole for.  

The upshot of this is that they have both shown vulnerability on screen by the end of the episode and have both shown themselves to be careful and considerate of the boundaries around those vulnerabilities (Matteo respects David’s wish to keep certain pages of his art book private and David doesn’t mock or scorn Matteo’s fears about not knowing what he wants to do after school).  It means that when David tells Matteo what his favourite movie is, Matteo is able to admit that he doesn’t know it.  There’s a long pause before he says it, almost like he’s weighing it up whether he wants to admit that or not.  But in the end he does say it, allows himself to show more vulnerability.  Unlike Isak, who tries to bluster his way through knowing what Even finds interesting, Matteo is willing to be real and genuine with David.  

Basically, this clip serves as a nice contrast to the rest of the episode, where people speak over Matteo and don’t allow him the space tp be himself.  Both boys here are able to be open and show themselves in a way that we repeatedly see Matteo at least unable to do so far.  So it’s not surprise that when reminded that Sara is coming he tries to remove himself from that situation.  The long look he gives David while Sara’s message is on screen really shows just how different these two people feel to him and honestly, she needed to take Leonie’s advice after this.  Matteo has made it very clear that Sara’s needs are not at the front of his mind and she really really should take that hint.  

[supercantaloupe]

on Aelwyn Abernant, the Reformed Villain Squad, and redeeming teenage antagonists

an analysis on antagonist character development in Fantasy High. spoilers through sophomore year and (mildly so) the most recent roll20 oneshot. essay under the cut bc i am very long winded

the turnaround with Aelwyn in s2 is handled so well  i cant get over it. she was such a major antagonist in the first season and just. despicable. she had no pathos. we hated this bitchy older sister who tried to kill Adaine and her friends and raise an evil dragon, and when she gets knocked on her ass and thrown in jail, we cheer.

and then s2 fucking starts saying “hey she’s in jail still if you’d like to look into that” and pursuing that thread ends up being almost as comedic an idea as it is a reluctant one; it’s also quickly shunted to the background as soon as more pressing leads present themselves, to the point where we almost forget about her until Adaine is kidnapped and then the first time you see her it’s just. viscerally upsetting.

she’s bad. she did evil. she got what she deserved.

but she already got what she deserved. last season.

she got her ass handed to her by a bunch of 14 year olds including her little sister (how embarrassing!). her plans were thwarted. she got punched in the face and made fun of. she already got her punishment.

it just……immediately registers as over-the-top Wrong to be told “hey, remember that antagonist you beat last season? she’s still being punished for that, except it’s way worse than just going to mumple.”

and there’s that reminder that like…this is a teenager. a child. who has been manipulated and abused. which is a really fascinating look at this character we used to see pretty much unilaterally as a one dimensional bitchy villain.

i mean we got a more in depth look at Penelope’s and Biz’s motivations in s1 (Penelope being the popular rich girl sorceress obviously hungry for power and the alllure of the high school clout that is being prom queen, but also we know that her having to turn on her best friend Sam Nightingale as part of the scheme was something she was reluctant and not happy to do; and Biz being that predatory incel creeper type dude besides just a nerd with computers and a lack of social graces). and they were as much willingly active in the plot as Aelwyn was. yet in s1 they really never do bother to explore Aelwyn’s motivations. i remember after watching s1 but before s2 that was one of my biggest lingering questions: why tf was Aelwyn involved?

well. she was manipulated and abused. her terrible parents raised her in an awful environment that conditioned her to Listen and Obey and Behave and Be Perfect, and then Kalina helped cinch the noose around her neck with threats and coersion into the KVS Kaper and the NMK crown debacle. she doesn’t freely choose any of it; she’s coerced, manipulated, abused.

and she already got justifiably punished for her bad actions in s1. the torture is almost literal overkill. it’s just……there’s this immediate turnaround in sympathy and view of the character. on first watch, it’s viscerally upsetting to see her getting so brutally punished for actions she already faced consequences for, and on rewatch, it makes your skin crawl to know she’s being tortured for terrible things she had little choice in carrying out. and tortured by some of the very same people who coerced her to behave terribly in the first place, to add insult to injury.

and it’s still fucking frustrating when they rescue her and her memory gets reset and she goes back to her parents because it’s like “well shit, she’s evil again, and we just wasted all that effort for nothing” but it’s also sad cause we know she’s running back to her abusers and she isn’t happy about it but doesn’t feel like she has a choice. and it’s sadder still that what eventually inevitably gets her to turn to good for good (i.e. away from her parents) is just. a full dissociative mental breakdown.

(but then she survives and it’s gonna be good!!! until Adaine dies in her fucking arms. which is. almost funny. she’s been through so much shit and that isn’t something that Brennan would have just. preplanned. like a written in plot point. no, that was just an unpredictable consequence of the battle. what a juicy fucking moment. she’s been through All That Shit™️ and has finally turned to fight for good and her sister just fully dies in front of her. yeowch)

and she turns out okay in the end. she comes out the other side alive and whole and supported by her sister and her friends, with the hope of a future and recovery. there is an acknowledgement that A) she can and will grow from her mistakes and damage, B) it’s going to be really hard, and C) the post-s2 one shots both prove that she’s doing okay now. hell, she has a whole squad now of other former-teenage-villains-turned-good-guys. she has friends now, Ragh and Zayn, with common ground, and a secret handshake and everything. they’ve all grown from the mistakes of their past into better, happier, healthier people

and about Zayn and Ragh. we’ve seen a lot of characters, protagonist and antagonist, teenage and adult, PC and NPC do some really fucked up shit and get punished for it. but why do they get happy endings? why are Aelwyn, Ragh, and Zayn the only members of the RVS and not someone else like Biz or Penelope or Dayne? 

well, the latter two are dead by then; but then again, Biz and Ragh were also killed by the Bad Kids in s1, and subsequently resurrected. (Zayn died too, but was neither killed nor revived at the Bad Kids’ hands, so i’ll get to him in a sec.) and there are plenty of adult antagonists the Bad Kids face who are killed and left that way by the Bad Kids without second thought: Johnny Spells, Coach Daybreak, Captain Wicklaw, the Abernant parents (presuming Arianwen doesn’t survive in the forest for very long, which i doubt). why do some characters get second chances while others don’t?

in the case of Zayn, his death was pretty much out of the Bad Kids’ hands, and they later found out he was manipulated by Daybreak into being bad anyway because of his sad living situation. he was a pretty minor antagonist in the scheme of things, and when we re-meet him as a ghost in the s1 epilogue, he’s pretty obviously remorseful for his actions. and dying seems like a steep enough punishment to me for the shit he did to contribute to the KVX caper; returning as a ghost, free from the trappings of his unfortunate living life, he now has the room and freedom to grow into a better person.

in the cases of Daybreak, Spells, Wicklaw, and the Abernant parents: these are bad people who should know better. these are fully grown adults who actively choose to do evil. whether they think it’s the right thing to do or not (in Daybreak’s case), whether they think it will benefit them and don’t care about anyone else (in the Abernants’ case), or whether they don’t care much at all and are just doing shit because they feel like it (in the cases of Spells and Wicklaw), these are all adults who consciously make the decision to do terrible things and hurt other people. of course Johnny Spells, who is generally a punk thief and thug, is not on the same level of bad as Angwyn, who kidnaps and tortures his own daughters for political gain, but the point remains. these fuckers should know better. they’re grown ups. they had their chances to be good and they chose not to heed them. their minds are set on bad actions and they are a continued danger to other people as long as they are alive. when they die, the Bad Kids do their damndest to make sure it stays that way.

now, in the cases of Penelope and Dayne: these are teenagers who actively chose to participate in an evil plot. Penelope, Dayne, and Biz were all fully cognizant of what they were doing trying to raise KVX back to his former power. why? well, to some extent, we can only speculate. i suspect Penelope was just one of those Regina George bitches who is rich and popular and powerful and obsessed with power and popularity within high school as if that’s the end-all-be-all of existence (which, like, when you’re currently in high school, is a somewhat understandable worldview i think). Dayne being her boyfriend and a musclehead jock probably falls into a similar line of thinking. they are actively and willingly trying to cause harm, and teenager or not, must be stopped. they’re killed, anyway, during the Climactic Battle™️ anyhow; it’s not like the Bad Kids were going to gain anything at that point by keeping them alive.

now, Biz: Biz is the creepy Nice Guy incel type, sees woman as a prize he deserves to win, yadda yadda. he does, like Penelope and Dayne, actively choose to help KVX. there might be something to be said about his motivation the Bad Kids discover after the arcade battle by detecting his thoughts (that being to upload the captured maidens from the palimpsests to “call the shots” himself) is an altered memory; whether this was his original motivation from the start or not, i’m not sure. but the Bad Kids do kill him – and then resurrect him for important, time-sensitive information. and they beat it out of him – he gets two of his fucking fingers blown off. and Riz reattaches them once they have their info, and they realize his memory is altered. of course, the Bad Kids don’t know at this point that the altered memory was something he, Penelope, and Aelwyn had planned and agreed on and done to themselves, but this points to something important in my opinion: the Bad Kids, and the narrative/show as a whole by extension, acknowledge that external manipulation affects how guilty someone is in a crime.

which brings us to Ragh. Ragh, introduced from episode 1 as the meathead jock. Ragh the archetypical one-dimensional high school bully. Ragh who works with the harvestmen in effort to (ostensibly) end the world/provoke international war. Ragh, whose low intelligence but high loyalty and internalized homophobia led him to be fully swayed and blindly led by his coach and captain, who have actively chosen to do evil. Ragh who is killed in combat by the Bad Kids and resurrected for information, not Daybreak. Ragh, who the Bad Kids realize was probably not aware of exactly what he was being made to do and how bad it really was. Ragh, who by their kindness in sparing his life and directing him on a better path, becomes a well-rounded character and an active ally to the Bad Kids during and after prom, an invaluable companion during their quest in sophomore year, and overall a really good friend and person. 

(it might also be worth considering the case of Jawbone here, too, who started out a very minor antagonist in a fight but ended up becoming a major NPC because the Bad Kids talked to him, found out he came from an unfortunate situation and set of circumstances, and showed him kindness in offering the school guidance counselor position, a kindness that isn’t really owed but given anyway and ends up changing his entire life for good.)

and then, Aelwyn, whose case is already discussed above. so, why is the RVS what it is, why them but not others?

if you’re familiar with Avatar: the Last Airbender, you’re probably familiar with Zuko’s character arc, and how it’s often lauded as a masterful example of developing a villain into a hero over the course of a narrative. what makes Zuko’s arc so well done and exceptional is that he starts out as a kid in a bad situation under the influence of bad adults seeking to do bad deeds, but he later realizes the error of those ways, actively removes himself from that situation despite the difficulty and danger in doing so, goes through a lot of shit and reflects on his past mistakes and learns from them, and then actively chooses to fight for good in the end with the help of close, trusted friends, found family. 

this, i believe, is the same in the case of Fantasy High and its treatment of the RVS. its members, like Zuko, are all teenagers who came from shitty situations and were manipulated by evil adults to do bad. they are punished for their bad actions, and they learn from their errors and mistakes. with the kindness and help of good people, friends and chosen family, they are able to escape their abusers and bad situations and grow into their own people. and they actively choose to improve themselves with that help and fight for good.

Fantasy High, through the arcs of Jawbone, Zayn, Ragh, and especially Aelwyn, asserts that it is not your fault if you come from a bad situation and are forced to behave badly as a result. it does not pretend that you are absolved of any responsibility for those actions; quite the opposite, as even though they were externally manipulated into their evil actions, all of those mentioned characters face tangible consequences for their actions and later express remorse for their mistakes. but Fantasy High also asserts that even if you have made great mistakes in your past, even if you came from a bad situation beyond your control, even if you were manipulated and abused, with care and love and support and a hell of a lot of work and effort, you can improve your situation and find good, happiness, peace, you can thrive. evil adults who should know better don’t get redeemed. teenagers who aren’t coerced but actively choose evil don’t get redeemed. but abused kids deserve another shot at happiness. with enough work, and some love and help along the way, they can get there, even from the lowest imaginable point, from rock fucking buttom. it’s possible. 

[that-house]

Viego Rant (villainy and character design and tragedy and all that jazz)

Introduction The more I think about Viego, League of Legends’ newest character, the more enamored I am with him as a villain (unrelated to his general sexiness, though that does tie in with what makes him such a good villain).

I’ve seen a lot of complaints about his design. The Ruined King, one of the greatest threats in Runeterra, the progenitor of the Shadow Isles, the lord of the undead, is finally released as a playable champion and he looks like this:

People were expecting another Mordekaiser (who is similarly an undead king with a ghost army), a lich-tyrant clad in iron, decayed flesh peeling from an aged face. What we got was an angsty anime prettyboy, and it was infinitely better than the alternatives. 

Lore Viego isn’t a conquering king. While his combat abilities are indeed badass, his personality is far from it. He’s a whiny brat and that’s incredible. He isn’t bent on world domination. His character arc revolves around just how human, how fallible he really is. For those unfamiliar with his lore, I’ll paraphrase it here:

Viego was the second son of a great king. Overshadowed by his brother and with no expectations upon him and near-limitless wealth, he wandered around being an idiot fuckboy for the vast majority of his formative years. Disaster struck when his brother died in an accident, and Viego took the throne with no training, no experience, and no desire to be king. He was a shitty king. The worst king. Just all-around apathetic. Gave zero shits. Can you blame him? It’s a lot of responsibility to be thrust upon someone who isn’t much more than a child, and with no preparation. He didn’t care about anything, that is, until he met Isolde. She was a poor seamstress, but he fell in love with her upon their first meeting. Together they ruled the country but it was really just them staring longingly into each others’ eyes. His allies were kinda fucking pissed about that, and one day an assassin came from Viego. The assassin fucked up and stabbed Isolde instead, and the poison on the blade made her fall gravely ill. As she lay in her bed, slowly dying, Viego went mad seeking a cure. He ravaged the land seeking any knowledge that might help, pouring all of his money into finding an antidote. He failed. As a last resort, he brought Isolde’s body to the Blessed Isles, a place rumored to be able to resurrect the dead. It worked, to an extent. Isolde’s wraith, confused, afraid, and angry at being ripped from the peace of death, unthinkingly stabbed Viego in the chest with his own magic sword, creating basically a magic nuke that turned the Blessed Isles into the domain of the undead. Viego resurrected as the king of the Shadow Isles some time later, having totally forgotten that Isolde killed him. He controls a big-ass ghost army, could probably beat up any living thing in a fight, and has evil ghost magic. Now this stupid simp wants his wife back and if he has to kill every living thing on Runeterra, well, anything for his queen. He’s even a tier 3 sub to her Twitch.

Music His musical theme isn’t some heavy metal anthem or intense cinematic piece (unlike the Pentakill song named after his sword, Blade of the Ruined King). It’s mostly sad and slow, almost sinister, with a piano and a music box. It has its loud moments featuring violins and choral bits like any villainous music, but the song is mostly subtle. It is a banger though.

In the comments section of this video, someone pointed out that the music reflects his story from beginning to end:

Everything about this champion is so well done. Riot Games really outdid themselves on this one. Bravo, encore please.

Motivation While the Mordekaiser circlejerkers on r/LeagueofLegends won’t shut the fuck up about how powerful Mordekaiser is, Viego is the better villain. Mordekaiser may be a bigger threat to all life on Runeterra, but Viego is a better character. (There’s a guy on my League discord server who won’t shut up about Mordekaiser so forgive me for being pissed at Morde stans).

Mordekaiser is motivated by a desire for control, to rule the world. Viego is motivated by obsession and misplaced love. There aren’t a lot of Mordekaisers on Earth. Supervillains are rare in real life. But Viego’s motivations are a lot closer to home. People in positions of power that they don’t deserve can do a lot of harm (for example: Trump).

He’s a grieving husband who was never prepared to deal with anything more difficult than choosing what wine to drink with dinner, who is trying to get his wife back because the world had always complied to his every whim. He’s a funky mix between a truly hopeless romantic and a spoiled brat throwing a temper tantrum.

Obsession is scary. It’s a real-world emotional state that’s been the cause of a lot of murders over mankind’s history. In contrast, Mordekaiser’s cartoonish Genghis Khan XXL schtick isn’t something that we encounter often. Of course a superpowered ultradictator would be worse for the world, but if you give ultimate power to a random person, you’re more likely to get someone like Tighten from Megamind. Or, more relevantly, Viego.

Design His design is sexy and stupid, just like him. He wears an open shirt into battle and wields his sword like an idiot (I’ve seen all the rants about how that’s not how that sword is meant to be used) because he was never really a warrior. Even at his most violent, right before the end of his mortal life, he didn’t do much combat himself, leaving his military endeavors to his underlings. Even now that he’s essentially a god, he still has a colossal wraith army that causes far more devastation than he ever could personally.

Despite his slim build (by League of Legends standards), he easily wields his colossal sword because of the strength of his state of undeath. Like his political power when he was alive, his posthumous magical and physical powers were never something he sought out, they were just given to him by circumstance.

The big cool-ass triangle hole in his chest where Isolde stabbed him is the source of the Black Mist, which is evil ghost mist that ebbs and flows from the Shadow Isles, bringing with it hordes of the undead. The sadder Viego is, the more Mist he creates. Poetically, his invasion of the world is inspired by his sorrow at his wife’s death and enabled by his wife’s reluctance to return to him. His story is perfectly reflected by his design.

Isolde Isolde’s spirit took up residence inside a young Senna (who’s another League champion, not particularly important here). This led to some Black Mist-related shenanigans and at least for the time being, Senna uses Isolde’s power to fight off the servants of Viego which threaten all life on Runeterra.

It seems pretty clear that whatever love Isolde felt for Viego is gone by now. Whether or not she ever loved him or was just unable to say no to the king is up for debate, but I’d like to believe there was something there. In my opinion, Viego’s story hits harder if they really were a great couple at first, torn apart by circumstance and obsession.

Much like the Maiden of the Woods in that one comic that circulates around here, to whom the knight gave his heart and she was like “yo what the fuck i literally never asked you to do this,” Viego went a little too far in trying to save her. They may have once been happy, but the Ruined King ruined his own life, too.

Unless Isolde is a lot less morally decent than we’ve been led to believe, I doubt she can forgive all the massacring that her husband’s been doing lately. In the recent cinematic, she was shown to be pretty anti-Viego. Maybe she’ll get a bastardization arc, but it certainly seems unlikely.

All of Season 2021 is based around Viego, Isolde, and the Shadow Isles, so we’ll just have to see what comes next. It’s possible that we’ll get Isolde as a playable champion, which should clear a lot of things up.

Final Thoughts Unlike so many villains, he’s not fueled by rage or hatred, but rather by sorrow. He’s stuck in his past, unable to move on. He regrets the actions of his life but is set on his course now. The sunk-cost fallacy comes into play here; he’s put so much time and effort and blood into bringing back Isolde, that turning away from it would feel to him like an insult, not only to her but to the innocent lives he’s taken in her name.

His tale is a tragedy, a love story gone horrifically wrong. Viego has suffered throughout his thousand-year life. Despite this, he’s undoubtedly the villain. His permanent death would be a net positive for the world. In has rage and grief he’s destroyed multiple civilizations, and will burn down the world to get Isolde back.

His heart may be in the wrong place, but it’s in a very human place. I don’t think he’ll get the ending he’s looking for, but I hope he finds some closure in the end.