#the debatable podcast

[lazylittledragon]

ok someone please correct me if i'm wrong but am i weird for thinking those 'audiobooks don't count as reading' posts are ableist as fuck????

[z0mbgender]

Saw fandom crazy bc how do you get a confirmed saw 11 ONE DAY after saw 10 comes out

[sleepsucks]

[nesperus]

i don’t know who made the original meme edit but heres my artistic rendition just for you

[raceweek]

how to obtain cats and alienate people: another instalment in the alex albon epic otherwise known as his life

[arthur-lesters-right-arm]

I think it's kind of neat how the seemingly abrupt breaks in Yorick's speech somewhat mimics the line breaks in Shakespeare's writing

[achllles-heel]

One of my mutuals did this with different characters and I thought it was so funny

[wilsons-divorce-papers]

can’t listen to ANY SONG without being like “oh that could be when Arthur—” or “that reminds me of when John—” AKBXKSJAJDJDKXN STOP PLEASE I AM BEGGING

[theholmwoodfoundation]

FAN LETTER Tom Van Helsing to Sam [REDACTED] Dated October 13th 2017

To Sam, Thank you so much for your amazing fan letter, man! Much better written than anything I could write when I was sixteen. I also loved the comic included, I will treasure it deeply. I am so happy to sign your posters of Sam Von Bloodgorge for you. These were some of my favourite shots from the second film. Please find them enclosed. I am sorry to hear your mum has not been supportive with your transition, and I wanted to let you know that I understand that feeling. I had a few people in my life who were telling me it was the worst thing I could do, but you will find your family, the one that supports you. Focus right now on existing, because living your life your authentic way is a much more powerful fuck you than anything else. I’ve included in this package a support booklet from the charity I support regarding Trans Youths. If you need anything, there’s a hotline on there you can call. I wanted to say too, that choosing the name Sam after my character made me very emotional. I think you might be the first person that I know of to do that since taking this gig and transitioning. Sam is a wicked name after all. It took me a little while to come to a conclusion on Tom, but when a name feels right, there isn’t a better feeling. Thank you again for writing to me, all the way from the United States. I hope to see you at a convention soon! In the words of Sam Von Bloodgorge: Stakes High! Vamps Low! Yours,  Tom Van Helsing

Letter posted by Sam on High Stakes Fan Forum with the caption: Isn't Tom Van Helsing the best?

[arthurtaylorlester]

malevolent season 4 was... something, that's for sure

i want to preface this by saying i LOVE malevolent as a show and this is no means an attack on the creator or anything like that, i don't think i'll ever stop listening halfway, no matter how i feel about it. i'm not saying season 4 is all bad either.

it is a deviation for malevolent, though i found it VERY well written up until part 31 (and part 31 is my favourite malevolent episode ever)

s4 started off really strong for me, part 29 set the tone really well, much lighter after s3's emotional lows. the butcher was an interesting enough new villain to put yarson aside for now. part 30 had some charming moments, but the real star of the early season was part 31, a truly incredibly written and directed look into arthur's psychology. it truly gave us everything, from lore to highly comedic moments (to me)(no because why was arthur dreaming of waking up next to a shirtless man who tried to kill him)

parts 32 through 34 i'm not sure about, but i can write them off as awkward mid season points. part 34 was an interesting shift in perspective, but here is where my doubt's about the season's villains started rising

but the oscar & scratch arcs.... guys i'm gonna be honest, i might be oscar's #1 hater

scratch and oscar in this season were functionally useless filler. it's not unusual for arthur and john get sidetracked during their missions, but it usually ends up leading them right where they need to be by the season finale. this felt like a parenthesis that killed any tension created by the butcher.

this season had, quite unnecessarily, 3 antagonists. now this wouldn't be a terrible idea, had they been established before. but no. for some reason it was chosen to leave the only villain we could genuinely be afraid of alone, in favour of introducing not one but two antagonists yet to be established. neither because of this have the adequate fear factor (the butcher is better about this) and both get the most abysmal ends i could've imagines. what do you mean scratch is just gone like that after causing some emotional conflict with his deal. what do you mean the butcher was KOed by the fucking priest with a bedpan? what? that's it? you expect me to be scared or even care about the butcher now?

speaking of the priest. i want to like oscar i really do but. he's a terribly written character. we get to know him while arthur is teaching john intimidation tactics so out of gate our initial impression of him is as someone meek. and then in part 36 after "sorting out" the butcher, oscar just dumps out his trauma point blank to someone he's spoken to a handful of times in the past 3? 4? days.

malevolent in general has a bit of an exposition problem, but it usually works out if it's john expositing because. that's literally all he can do. but when a character with more agency do it, it makes them flat. oscar didn't have to tell us all that, he didn't have a reason. arthur confessing to 7 murders isn't a prompt to make himself vulnerable like that. i did not start caring for him, just because he had a tragic backstory. that's... not how you get someone to care about a character. oscar could be defined as a static character, and while it's not too unusual for a static character to be the focal point of an arc, i don't think it works the way most authors think it does.

also the worms in the farm only happened because of him messing with the stove so like. that's not helping his case.

the completely unnecessary farm arc concluded, we return oscar to the hospital, with arthur caving very quickly to john's demands if he truly cared about oscar so much. and so, a single episode before the finale, we get properly acquainted our main ally for the showdown. a choice definitely, but i feel like this one worked out pretty well considering noel had time to simmer before we got know of his past + he had interesting conflict with john and arthur.

and then there's the big one, the thing that appalls me entirely. leaving larson and yellow, the main villains of the finale COMPLETELY alone until the very end. why? why would you choose to not use them earlier? we spent so much time away from larson, so we weren't really as scared of him as we were at the end of part 28 (i literally was listening to the last 15 minutes of this ep on my toes because i thought he might do something) and we had had no CHANCE to even fear yellow, since we knew nothing of his power?

and what, the butcher is on our side now because noel granted his release? just like that? i know he's a contract killer but arthur insulted him to his face, he can believe they understand each other but did he feel no anger?

the finale did well, considering the context it was given to work with, though i did not understand the point of the memory thing... that didn't go anywhere? because not arthur nor noel actually lost anything. we don't know what the box was for, we only know some guy wrote "the birth of my son" on slip of paper and put it in. arthur assumed it was a memory, when it just as well could've been a literal offering, arthur assumed it would involve losing said memory, and they assumed it was related. initially i thought it would only go through if the ritual took place, which, it didn't. but reading back here is no further clarification on it. hold your angst horses, blindfaith enjoyers

i feel like john physically manifesting, if now an established power of his, was very cheap. unless it was a one-off, or some sort of power up, it just literally took away the main premise of the show. an all-powerful god rendered powerless by being stuck in some guy's mind and being forced to confront the troubles of someone infinitesimal to him. if you let him astral project and save people, then what's the point?

but i do actually think it was a one-off, so we'll see how it goes

simply put, john saving arthur when he jumped in s3 had more impact than this because he did it with a single, human, hand. no magic.

it was pleasant to have kayne and his expected chaos back, jarring as always. john's deal was exactly what we all thought it was going to be, maybe more about himself than arthur, but i don't think anyone can fault him for that.

one things though, and this questions may just be me not remembering, is arthur supposed to know that yellow is a separate entity from john when they realise larson has him in his head? because i remember arthur just assuming that 'yellow' just had all of his memories returned in part 23, and therefore not knowing that he's a separate guy from john.

just in general, i feel like s4 had a LOT of good ideas that weren't given enough room to breathe and therefore weren't written very well that really weighed down my enjoyment of the season. that's not to say there weren't things i liked. the emotional moments hit just as hard, like reconciling with daniel, the comedy was on point (genuinely this season was so funny) and even the most out of pocket thing arthur has ever said, calling john a child, no matter how much discourse it caused, was actually sort of in character for him? i mean arthur is an asshole so like i get why his immediate reaction to his severely emotionally unintelligent friend being possessive is babying him. they're awful people. they deserve each other. it made somewhat sense in retrospect.

all this to say, while i didn't hate s4, i think it had a lot of writing issues, especially when comparing it to the other 3, and it could've been done WAYY better but hey we all have our moments.

i await anxiously intermezzo's public release and the rest of season 5 👀

[thedoodlebuggo]

someone needs to sedate me. im currently shuffling around fourteen malevolent animatic ideas on top of the currently ongoing one and a possible comic (series, question mark?)

[clownenergyy]

testing out some brushes and such

anyway love this podcast normally (lie)

[murderandcoffee]

what the fuck is The Dome

[arthur-lesters-eyebrows]

THE DEBATE ?

OH MY GODD WHAT THE SIGMAAAAA

[captainofthetidesbreath]

I feel like it says a lot about the relationships between the major institutions of the Trust and the Consectorship's place in it that Spahr's role, the role of any Prime Consector, can be summarized as: show pony, attack dog, scapegoat.

[anotheraccountonthisapp]

By pull I mean do you think he got a lot of romantic/sexual partners? The answer (in my humblest opinion) is yes. I mean just look at all the love letters he got!