#the grain is a choice btw (lie)

[kazeiia]

this is just a lot of rambling, so bear with me for a second. i only got into the social media side of st after s4 when i couldn’t wait to get more of the story, and byler was one of the first ships i ever got into because i was getting edits and theories left-and-right. there were people that had byler theories for every single little thing, including stuff like lighting, the use of color, metaphors, analogies, etc to show how it was going to be cannon, but i took it all with a grain of salt because no matter how much i wanted gay representation (without the kill the gays trope) in one of the biggest shows in the world, the creators are still mostly middle aged white men.

BUT,,,, i recently rewatched s3 and things don’t add up. mike was so adamant about his feelings for el. he said he loved her to the whole extended party, and spend the entire summer trying to tell her that he loved her through his usual rambling, but it took will’s “not possible” to realize will was the only one who wasn’t willing to grow away from their party, even if they were going to be a thousand miles apart. when el finally said i love you back (even if mike never told her that directly btw), he looked confused and shocked—not the catharsis you would expect from someone whose partner finally said the Big Three Words.

there is a part in hopper’s letter to el that talks about not wanting to move on, and the scene focuses only on mike, looking back to the empty byer’s house on his bike. he goes back to his own house and hugs his mom (like he did after the quarry incident) looking just as lost and confused as he did when el kisses him goodbye. then he spends a hundred-and-something days giving will the cold shoulder??? like, why??? it’s not like mike to NOT be glue-trapped to the rest of the party. at this point, he still hasn’t said i love you to el. he can’t even say it when el brings it up directly, and he deflects by asking her what she the hell she was talking about. it might be chalked up to his family ties and how the wheelers don’t seem the type to show affection naturally, but i also think it could be a little bit of his aversion to lying to people he cares about. mike genuinely cares about el, but it’s a little bit like idol-worship, like this ideal in his head of superman el needing her own lois lane.

will is different because, to mike, he isn’t superman. he puts mike on the helm of the ship as the heart of the party. he looks up to him. he believes be understands him and he genuinely needs him. he believes he is smart, strategic and funny. he’s his best friend. so mike has the option to take on this responsibility, or to conform to what everyone around believes he will do—love el and be in love with her like a good boyfriend would be.

the only time mike genuinely smiles around el in s4 is when he gets the chance to help and save her from the whole owens-brenner lab thing. so it’s kind of obvious which choice he prefers. mike wheeler seems like the type of person that desperately wants to be needed because he hates it when people treat him like a good-for-nothing kid (his parents, steve, hopper etc). he even tells will that he’s scared of not being needed in the van scene, and will shuts him down by telling him about his role in the party. he spends all this time missing will (he goes back to dnd), and then when he finally sees him again, he pulls back because he doesn’t want to miss him. he doesn’t want to lie to him by not telling him how much he missed him. in s5, i really hope that the writers realize it makes the most sense plot-wise and theme-wise to get them together, but that’s a whole another theory and lots of people have discoursed about it before me.

anyways, i know no one really cares because i’m just one of many, but i wanted to let it out that now i’m fully convinced that mike wheeler is canonically a little fruity. let the delusions commence!

[winxys]

YOON JIA ♡ ROSE (220930)

[hamliet]

Watching/listening to the RWBY Volume 8 commentary (something I recommend doing for all volumes btw), when they came to the episode with Cinder's backstory they explained their intention as making us "kinda feel bad for Cinder, but not completely sympathize" with her. So contrary to what the "male authority figures bad, angry evil females actually good" crowd believes, I'm starting to think a Cinder redemption arc has more or less been thrown out the window.

I disagree with your conclusion, but I do agree that the sentiment does highlight what I see as an example of misreading among the fandom.

For why I disagree, I have a rule: never ever ever ever take creator commentary without a shaker of salt. No creator is going to give away secret future twists in a statement, and sometimes they outright lie. See for example Horikoshi Kohei once saying that Shigaraki couldn't be redeemed, when he is now being redeemed. Creators trying to explain their works face an impossible task and often contradict themselves, because we use stories to explore complex ideas a lot of the time. To quote Dostoyevsky:

“Don't let us forget that the causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex and varied than our subsequent explanations of them.”

But this principle aside, I think you're missing context. The context of the Volume 8 commentary is, well, Volume 8. Cinder seemed to be on a precipice here and made choices that led to her spiraling further into villainy. Of course you want to set up sympathy, but you're not going to have the audience screaming for her redemption right before she makes a horrible choice (or series of horrible choices). That's not a great writing choice.

Sympathy for a character must matter; to quote a Jenny Nicholson, the worst thing a work can do is make fans feel stupid for caring in the first place. If they are asking us to care about Cinder, even if not excuse her, I very much think that's in line with redemption.

However, I also have been saying over and over that I do not think Cinder will survive her redemption, and this quote kinda reinforces that to me (with grains of salt!)

I've talked about this at length before, but just to reiterate: I'm not against redemptive death even if it is one of my least favorite tropes; the reason it's a least-favorite trope and gets pushback lately is because it's become not only over-used but cheapened (as in, the set up is not specifically for this, and the writer is clearly just taking an emotional punch and avoiding answering other difficult questions like what if they survived?). I don't think this will be the case with Cinder. I'm not opposed to her surviving; the set up currently though, what with Cinder having a major role in the two major tragedies so far (both with her killing girls who are associated with red, just like Cinder is) doesn't look good. Plus, I think the set up is for Emerald and Mercury to survive their redemptions, and hence those pesky forgiveness questions will not necessarily be avoided.

But! As I said earlier, I do think your ask highlights the fandom issue. I think RWBY is the Twilight Zone of fandoms: I've never seen a fandom have such double-standards for male characters. Every other fandom, the female characters are the ones that get the double standards. And I know there is a subset of dudebros on YouTube and Rebbit (probably?) who probably still embody this, and are still licking their fragile toxic masculinity after RWBY deconstructed it and the girls in heels and short skirts sometimes are ending up with other girls instead of them.

This fandom, though... I'm sometimes baffled by how Mercury is treated in comparison to Cinder. Like, I know he has less development, but his backstory is such a punch, and every time he appears on screen his conflict is built up, that I am sometimes stunned that the woobifying is placed on Cinder and not on him--and like, by all means woobify both, but sometimes I see analyses that literally pit Emerald + Cinder against Mercury as Redeemable vs Irredeemable, and that is just textually wrong. Merc's the one who has the extreme wooby backstory and is likely to end up friends with RWBY+JNOR. He has the set up to survive redemption. He's clearly an abused child still being abused. Like, he's Cinder trapped with the Madame, wherein his Madame is Tyrian and Salem, and he has no Rhodes. I do not like this. I do not like this at all.

Like, Mercury gets called out on smiling after Beacon's destruction as an example of how he's truly sadistic while people handwave Cinder's murder of Pyrrha--which was fully unnecessary, by the way, because Pyrrha was already defeated. Cinder just killed her because she wanted to kill her for... reasons. I'm not saying write texts on how Cinder is the worst or anything; I love her and think she's going to ultimately be the one who saves everyone, but my goodness, be intellectually honest with yourselves.

Anyways. I do think the fandom has issues, though honestly those issues are probably reactionary and caused by legit pain (how female and queer characters are treated in 99% fandoms). But that doesn't make these reactionary takes textually supported or fair, or even not uncomfortable in their real world subtext (male abuse victims... do face obstacles in having their pain recognized).

[wichitalk]

Hi you saw my post ty <3 I’ll put this under a cut :)

Basically it all comes down to the fact that America and the American justice system doesn’t care about rehabilitation, it cares about money (see: the amount of private prisons in America).

The point of prison should be rehabilitation. Yes, there are criminals who cannot be rehabilitated, especially serial killers, but they made up such a small amount of criminals and are so infrequent that it really shouldn’t be included in conversations about rehabilitation.

A vast majority of people in prison are there for small crimes, drug dealing or drug selling specifically. Those people shouldn’t be in prison for the amount of time they are (with our current infrastructure drugs shouldn’t even be illegal, but I digress). It’s proven that being in a space surrounded by other criminals, where you are fed shitty food, forced to do manual labor, and are essentially cut off from the rest of the world, fucks up your brain. In the same way rehab can fuck up mentally ill people by them being in the toxic environment and learning bad habits, the exact same happens to criminals but 5x worse.

Especially with drug users the prison system is harmful. Addicts deserve therapy, not punishment. It’s not the fault of the addict no matter what, even if they made the choice to start using, they deserve just as much help as a depressed or psychotic person does, and imprisoning them just makes them use more in prison, and then once again when they get out.

To flip the switch a little bit, cops are fucking asinine. Like, horrible at their jobs. Even FBI members and detectives fucking hate them. Cops in the past have been known to fuck up evidence, let the statute of limitations run up, and run faulty tests that are not even admissible in court (read: doing lie detector tests even though they haven’t been used as evidence in like 20 years). They take eye whiteness testimony way to fucking far (even though most of the time eyewitness testsimony is manipulated by said cops, or skewed by faulty human memory), which causes people to get put in jail for shit they didn’t do. There was a case of a completely innocent man getting picked out of a 20 person lineup (which is fucking insane, btw, way to many people) from a woman who saw a robber in the dark for 2 minutes, nothing about that is proper investigating or proper evidence collection. The man had a proper alibi and his only connection to the woman was the fact that he knew her through her ex boyfriend. That was it.

Cops don’t care about arresting the correct person, and they don’t care about proper evidence. Cops care about arresting someone, but it’s only to do less paperwork and have one more coldcase “solved”. So they bitch evidence, they manipulate victims, and they fucking lie to get someone who didn’t even commit a crime behind bars, or worse, dead. Most of them are asshole white men with savior complexes who get to sleep safe at night after being abusers or alchoholics, while bagging people who are addicted to other substances. They’re paid far to much for a job they don’t even do correctly, and aren’t jailed even when they commit serious crimes (murder, spousal abuse, and drug abuse, which they regularly arrest black youth for).

Uhhhhhhh in conclusion. This was very rambley and unorganized so yeah :) if u have any questions feel free to ask and take this with a grain of salt as I am a random person on the internet, make sure to do your own research. My credentials are that I’m a double major for psychology and criminal psychology, while getting an associates in criminal justice so I have a wide range of information on the topic :)

[pendraegon]

happy new year! this is going to be a slightly wild ask I apologize. so I just watched the live action Dora movie (amazing btw) and was reblogging stuff on tumblr and saw ppl comparing the energy of it to Jupiter ascending which I have not seen. Searched it on tumblr, saw your posts and I’ve already followed you for quite some time so! I’m watching Jupiter ascending asap and was curious if you know any other movies for afterwards with similar vibes? thanks!

im not gonna lie i burst out into giggles at live action dora but like. i have horrendous taste in movies so like. no judgement at all aslkdfjsalkfda hmm, well, let’s see... in regards to jupiter ascending i will say that it has fantastic one-liners but to keep in mind both the CWs of the movie (notably incest) and the wachowskis’ racism that are overt in their work. i personally...dislike the whole phenomena of asking some random person on the internet whether or not you have permission to view a film or show due to X, Y, and/or Z like.........based on the information at hand, you can make your own choices and reflect critically on them etc. if you do end up watching jupiter ascending that’s your own prerogative but it’s crucial to not be blind to both the subject matter + the producers/directors/actors beliefs and statements (especially, in this matter, in regards to race) and how that then impacts the media as a whole. again, use your own critical thinking skills and i would always recommend looking up CWs beforehand just in case.

here are some movies i rec :3c

Dark City (1998) — this is one of my favorite movies of all time. it’s so stupid. it’s so brilliant. it has everything. aliens. mind control. powers. a dude with dark curly hair. a secret society. there’s a genuinely hysterical scene where this one alien goes “karl....uncle karl..” and then floats through the air towards the apartments that make me LOSE it each time. i genuinely think it’s really good but also like alksfjodakslfjasfsa you’re going to have to take that with a grain of salt.

And because I’m on a Lupin III kick here’s two Lupin movies I think you’d enjoy (if you’re interested in any other Lupin III stuff, keep in mind this franchise is OLD and there’s soooo many movies and seasons and the content for it ranges from acceptable to watch with kids to adults only. look up CWs). No one can really decide on which are the best movies but these two are arguably the most beloved by a wide range of people: [1] Lupin III: The First (2019) — i watched this recently and I’m gonna watch it again! it’s a 3d animated movie and the animation is GLORIOUS. like i fucking HATE the whole cgi animation shtick normally but it’s done INCREDIBLY well here in that the motions and designs are all fluid and distinct while also still being reminiscent of the original anime designs. this movie is SO much fun — if you like heists and thieves, you’ll really like this one. CW for nazis though so keep that in mind. you don’t really need to have any Lupin III background to it i would say :3c [2] Castle of Cagliostro (1979) — honestly one of the gems of the Lupin III franchise. It’s so much fun, the animation is lovely, Hayao Miyazaki worked on this, it should be on American Netflix still I think. Again, it’s about heists and thieves and causing unnecessary drama and trouble which is, imo, the best kind of movie.

Paddington (2014 + 2017). It’s good. I cried during it.

Pacific Rim (2013). My favorite movie of all time. I never watched the sequel and I’m not going to lmao.

Blood and Chocolate (2007). Is this a good movie. No. Is it hilarious. Yes. Hugh Dancy's in it and he looks beautiful. There are werewolves. I watched it with two friends and laughed hysterically throughout it. It's genuinely not a good movie but I would say it's in my favorites list because it's fucking absurd and zany and that's all I need for a good time.

[tishinada]

100 Days of Writing – Day 31

Continuing the last few days’ examination of the class stories AS literal stories and who their audience is.

The Imperial Agent story? Is very dark and emphasizes the agent's loyalty and all the ways they're betrayed and used. I feel like the Agent is justifying their decision about what to do with the Black Codex to their audience (which I think could vary depending on their choice.) They may have gone rogue. They may even have become a double agent for the Republic. So this is less entertainment than emphasizing what they went through and how they were treated to justify their choice.

It varies a bit more by gender than most, I think. The female agent's view of some of the men she has the option to seduce---quite oily at best---points out the lengths she was willing to go to for the Empire. The one positive involvement she has (which is hard to actually navigate to if you don’t already know about it) is the fellow agent on Balmorra. And there's an element of sacrifice even to that encounter. They can't try to build it into anything more because of their duty.

The male agent's description of the women he's involved with is generally a lot more positive. I get the sense he's boasting, even preening, a bit. But if he romanced Watcher Two/Keeper/Shara Jenn, that relationship is also sacrificed. BTW, while Shara’s been conditioned, which leads some people to criticize starting a relationship with her, the story---particularly Watcher X---suggests the agent has also been conditioned previously, just milder than what happens right after Act I.

I won't go into all the other classes, but I think anything in any class story should be taken with a grain of salt and viewed through the lens of the audience for the class character's story.

By the way, Jadus and Zhorrid deserve at least a full post to themselves, partly because they are also told as an extreme, possibly to justify the failures of Imperial Intelligence. Am I the only one who has found it peculiar that the only grounds we have for believing that the order to use the Castellan restraints on the agent is Keeper’s word? I mean, we know he ultimately gave the order, and does anyone think he wouldn’t lie to save his own skin? After all, Watcher X warned us that Imperial Intelligence has been doing similar things to agents already. We never get any verification of who gave the order. I think Marr can mention it obliquely, but that’s not confirmation that the Dark Council gave the order, only that he knew about it.

In fact the Agent’s story tends to put the blame for everything on Sith and they’re all described as unbalanced and dangerous, which could be because they made the decision to dissolve Imperial Intelligence (even though we know the Star Cabal was ultimately responsible.) But Jadus and Zhorrid are a huge hole in the Agent story. We're never told what happened to them if they lived past the end of Act 1 (other than one cryptic message from Jadus on Hoth) and why they lost control of Intelligence by the time it’s dissolved and the Agent is sent to Corellia. That seems like an odd oversight for the agent’s story.

(Day 30 here) (Day 32 here)

[twdmusicboxmystery]

More Spoilers!

All right. I have lots to talk about and probably won’t be able to get it all into this post. But everything I’m going to say here is about spoilers for episodes 10x17 and 10x18. As always, let’s remember that we always have to take spoilers with a grain of salt because, while they’re probably mostly true, some of the details might not be. 

***So if you don’t want to read spoilers, stop reading now! You’ve been warned!***

Yup! This is true. Check it out below:

Okay, let’s unpack this. First of all, we’ve been told Beth would be mentioned, but not by name. I’m seeing two different places from the above spoilers where she’s mentioned, but not by name. First, Daryl’s “some people are just gone” line. Yes, he’s talking about looking for Connie. But she’s been a Beth proxy since she showed up. And of course the “just gone” line is a direct callback to what Daryl said to Rick back in 4x16, which WAS directly about Beth. 

It also occurred to me more recently how interesting it is that that conversation (in 4x16) happened between Daryl and Rick, rather than Daryl and Maggie or Michonne or anyone else. I mean, many seasons later, Rick was “just gone” too and we believe he and Beth are in (mostly) the same place now. So it was a foreshadowing. Annnnnddd once again we KNOW Rick is alive.

Searching for people has been a theme for Daryl since Sophia in S2, so from a symbolic standpoint, this “just gone” line is freaking huge!

Second, there’s Maggie and Kelly’s convo where Kelly asks if Maggie is a big sister. I’m kind of thinking this is the reference that first reviewer referred to. It doesn’t sound like they mention Beth by name, but it’s definitely a reference to Maggie’s younger sister.

But then we get this bit about Daryl and Maggie’s convo. We have two different references to Beth there. First, Maggie telling Hershel, Jr stories about her (and Hershel and the rest of the family). 

And then Maggie saying that after Beth’s death, she and Glenn talked about going to the ocean. 

Now, let me put a disclaimer here that it’s possible neither of these references will actually use Beth’s name in the episode. It’s possible the reviewers/spoilers just wrote it up this way for ease of explanation. 

But even if they don’t actually say her name, these references sound really specific. It mentions stories about Shawn, Beth and Hershel. Why not just say “my family.” There must have been something particular (a name or something else) that made the reviewer mention these names. And as for the “after Beth’s death” thing (I’d be surprised if she actually uses the word “death” but that remains to be seen), what else is Maggie going to say? After we left Atlanta? After Grady? No matter what it is, it’s still a reference to Coda and what happened to Beth. 

So guys, we have not one but FOUR different references to Beth in one episode. 

Third, it strikes me how MANY sister references we have. Obviously the ones about Beth I covered above. Then there’s Connie and Kelly, and even Elijah who apparently lost a sister. So....what? Now EVERY character has lost a sister and everyone decides to mention it in the same episode? Come on! No way this is accidental. 

And, I’ve said this before but it bears repeating. Because these are bonus episodes and somewhat outside the usual structure, we need to view them as their own season or at least their own half season. (Even though there are six instead of eight, we should view this as it’s own half-season arc. Many people are referring to them as 10C, which I think is fitting.) 

And the end ALWAYS mirrors the beginning. 4x01 they mention Macon. 4x16, the group goes to Macon (where Terminus was located). 6x09, Daryl blows up the Saviors on the road. 6x16, Negan/Saviors symbolically blow up TF (by killing Glenn and Abraham). You get the idea. We have so many mentions of sisters and people Daryl has searched for here, I really think there’s a good chance we’ll see Beth in 10x22. (Which airs on Easter, btw.)

Finally, there are all ocean references. We know Beth = Water, and we’ve always seen her symbolism around Oceanside and water/ocean locales and other references. So again, this is pretty huge! 

Not to mention, this Maggie/Daryl Convo definitely seems like a callback to their 5x10 convo about Beth in the barn. 

Here are more spoilers from this episode:

I’m not gonna say much about the Reapers right now. I’m excited to meet these new baddies (I’m always intrigued to learn who the next villains will be). But what catches my attention here are the stars and talk about how “she’s out there, under the same sky.” References to stars, and missing family members who are out there somewhere, alive. 

So yeah. These are great. I could go into much more detail than this about the symbolism, but for now, I’m just posting spoilers. Best to watch the episode before going down more detailed rabbit holes, lol.

But didn’t we tell you there would be TONS of great symbolism for us to dissect?

The only other thing I’m going to address today are the pictures of Daryl and Leah laying on top of a refrigerator. Yeah, really not kidding.

Exactly, Nonny. It’s definitely a choice. I mean, obviously there’s some kind of board across the top so they don’t fall in. But who opens a refrigerator of the woods and decides it’s a comfortable place to lie down in the middle of the day? So weird. 

@wdway​ also pointed out that this is out of character for Daryl (just as with all things Leah) because he doesn’t seem to have his crossbow or any weapon within easy reach, and it’s not like him to let his guard down that far.

So, it’s a weird picture and a weird scene, for sure.

But do you all remember @frangipanilove‘s Cooler Symbolism posts? The refrigerator (anything with water running through it, actually, so coolers, air conditioners, etc) are Beth symbols.

So I know no one likes to see this picture, because it’s Daryl and Leah, but it’s just more proof to me that she’s a Beth proxy and/or will lead to Beth in some way.

And I know people will ask what they’re looking at. We don’t know. In the bts shot, it’s blank. Probably a map or something they’ll put in with the computer. 

This isn’t actually uncommon, and I’m actually glad this is the case. See, we’ve noticed that in bts shots, there are other things that are also blank during filming. One of them is license plates. But that makes me happy because it’s shows we’re right to look at the license plates as clues. They aren’t just generic plates for whatever car is being used. They’re purposely and thoughtfully put in by the writers after the filming. Which means they’re symbolic clues.

And I think this map will be the same way. It probably won’t be that important in terms of the plot of the episode. Just something Daryl and Leah are scrutinizing. But I’m very curious to see what’s actually on it in the episode, as I bet it’ll be chalk full of Beth symbolism. 

Of course, my fellow FB groupie fixed these pictures for us. This is the way they really SHOULD look. 

Thanks Bella! 😊

Thoughts?

[filled-with-tomorrows]

Star Trek: TOS - title references

A list of all references (I think, I might have missed some) in the episode titles of Star Trek: The Original Series. In addition to the references to various literary works, I’ve also included the titles with references to proverbs or obscure words that non-native English speakers or even some English speakers might not catch. So, basically, a bunch of useless trivia for nerds like me.

(I’m using the chronological order for the episodes. Also, I’m not putting links on the sources because Tumblr is a b*tch)

S1EP1 Where No Man Has Gone Before - the title is obviously a reference to the final line in the series-opening poem "To boldly go where no man has gone before". Appropriate for the pilot episode

S1EP4 The Enemy Within - the origin of this phrase is unknown, it has been used for a long time in various contexts like within religion and military. Example from A Course of Family Prayer by Augustus Montague Toplady (1794) "Lord thou knowest our weaknesses... our danger from the enemy of souls... and above all, from the enemy within, our vile flesh and deceitful hearts, so apt to betray us into sin." (source: wordhistories.net)

S1EP5 The Man Trap - a slang word for a woman who is purported to be dangerously seductive or who schemes in her amours; a femme fatale. An obvious reference to how the creature lures its victims in by changing its appearance according to the victim’s preferences. (source: Dictionary.com)

S1EP6 The Naked Time - Nakedness can refer to literal physical nakedness or a figurative baring of the soul which we saw happen to the crewmembers, but especially to Kirk and Spock.

S1EP7 Charlie X - X is often used to represent the name of a person or thing that is not known or stated, can also be used to indicate a mistake or to remove something from lists (source: Cambridge English Dictionary)

S1EP8 Balance of Terror - the distribution of nuclear arms among nations such that no nation will initiate an attack for fear of retaliation (source: Dictionary.com)

S1EP9 What Are Little Girls Made Of? - "What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and all things nice, that's what little girls are made of." Old nursery rhyme from the early 19th century.

S1EP10 Dagger of the Mind - Machbet, Act 2, Scene 1, Line 38, "Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?" (37-39) Machbet is experiencing a moral crisis about killing Duncan and is imagining the act he is about to commit. This manifest itself as a hallucination; “a dagger of the mind”. “ "Dagger of the mind" can read in two ways. First, there's the literal contrast of tangible reality and Macbeth's imagination. Second, you have the metaphor of Macbeth's guilt—and doubt—manifesting itself as a vision as he waits upon the signal from his wife. False in this context plays upon a number of meanings. While the primary reading is "unreal," shades of "deceitful, inconstant; not to be trusted" are equally applicable.” What Machbet is seeing is not reality, just like the feelings the neural neutraliser causes in Kirk. (source: Bardweb > SRC Features > Speech Analysis > Machbet > Go to line analysis)

S1EP11 Miri - Name with a Hebrew origin that’s most common meaning seems to be “bitter”. Other possible meanings are “sea of sorrow, beloved, wished for child”. (source: various baby name sites, lol)

S1EP12 The Conscience of the King - Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2, Line 565 "the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king" (564-65) Hamlet stages a play of his father's murder to get Claudius to confess his involvement. This is also the play that the Karidians perform on the Enterprise. Since this episode is also about catching a murderer the title choice should be obvious.

S1EP15&16 The Menagerie - menagerie: a collection of wild animals kept in captivity for exhibition; A strange or diverse collection of people or things (source: Oxford Eglish Dictionary)

S1EP22 The Return of the Archons - from the Greek word archon: ruler, to rule 

S1EP25 This Side of Paradise - possibly taking its name from F. Scott Fitzgerald's book This Side of Paradise or the poem that gave its name to the book Tiare Tahiti by Rubert Brooke. The book explores love warped by greed and status-seeking. The poem explores afterlife and how it might not be all that it's made out to be, hence the phrase "this (worse) side of paradise", possibly alluding to how Spock and the other crew members have to give up their personalities and real feelings to reach euphoria. In short, paradise is a lie they have to wake up from. 

S1EP27 Errand of Mercy - The title comes from The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens "It is an errand of mercy which brings me here. Pray, let me discharge it". Errand of mercy is “a trip undertaken to help someone who is in trouble” (sources: Memory Alpha - Errand of Mercy: Story and script, Collins English Dictionary)

S1EP29 The City on the Edge of Forever - “The title is a reference to both the dead city on the planet and New York, in the original script when Kirk first sees the city sparkling on a hilltop like a jewel he says it looks like "a city on the edge of forever"“ (whatever that means) (btw the original script was so bad guys, like so bad (Kirk orders his crew to execute a guy for murder, like wtf) (source: Memory Alpha - The City on the Edge of Forever: Story)

S2EP1 Catspaw - “The title of this episode, "Catspaw", is a term that describes a person used by another as a dupe; as McCoy points out, Scott and Sulu are used as catspaws to lure more crewmen down” (source: Memory Alpha - Catspaw: Story and production)

S2EP2 Metamorphosis - Definition of Metamorphosis 1a: change of physical form, structure, or substance especially by supernatural means, b: a striking alteration in appearance, character, or circumstances 2: a typically marked and more or less abrupt developmental change in the form or structure of an animal (such as a butterfly or a frog) occurring subsequent to birth or hatching (source: Merriam Webster)

S2EP3 Friday's Child - The episode's title is derived from a traditional English poem, known as "Monday's Child". The reference is to a line in the poem: "Friday's child is full of woe" or alternatively "Friday's child is loving and giving". Given the unfortunate circumstances of the child’s birth, it would seem that the former version of the poem was intended. (source: Memory Alpha - Friday’s Child: Background information)

S2EP4 Who Mourns for Adonais - “The title is taken from Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Line 415 reads "Who mourns for Adonais?". Shelley's Adonais is derived from Adonis, a male figure of Greek mythology associated with fertility. Also, "Adonais" would be the English plural of the Hebrew spoken name of God, so it would mean "Who Mourns for Gods?"” (source: Memory Alpha - Who Mourns for Adonais: Story and production)

S2EP5 Amok Time - Definition of Amok: an episode of sudden mass assault against people or objects usually by a single individual following a period of brooding that has traditionally been regarded as occurring especially in Malaysian culture but is now increasingly viewed as psychopathological behaviour occurring worldwide in numerous countries and cultures, 1: in a violently raging, wild, or uncontrolled manner, 2: in a murderously frenzied state (source: Merriam-Webster)

S2EP7 Wolf in the Fold - An ancient expression that means that there is someone in a group who presents a danger to the rest of the people in it. The first known usage in written form is from Virgil's Eclogues:

“The wolf is fatal in the fold, and so Are hailstones to ripe corn, wind blasts to trees—  Or — Amaryllis' anger to us all."

S2EP8 The Changeling - Definition of Changeling: 1) archaic: turncoat, 2) a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy, 3) archaic: imbecile (source: Merriam-Webster)

S2EP9 The Apple - The title is most likely a reference to the Apple in the creation story. The citizens of the planet Gamma Trinaguli VI (which was referred to as the Garden of Eden) were being controlled by a computer called Vaal. When Vaal was destroyed, they bit the metaphorical Apple from the Tree of Knowledge and were banished from the Garden.

S2EP12 I, Mudd - “Possible inspirations for the title include: I, Robot, Isaac Asimov's 1950 android-themed short story collection, the title of which was itself inspired by "I, Robot", Eando Binder's 1939 short story with an android hero, which had been adapted for TV in 1964 with Leonard Nimoy in a supporting role; I, Claudius, a 1934 novel by Robert Graves about the life of the Roman Emperor Claudius (the 1976 BBC production of which featured Patrick Stewart). Like Mudd "The First" in this episode, the subject of I, Claudius is also a despotic ruler who views himself in a more flattering light; Lines from Kurt Vonnegut's 1963 novel Cat's Cradle, which detail the creation myth of Bokononism: "I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done."” (source: Memory Alpha - I, Mudd: Story and Production)

S2EP14 Bread and Circuses - The title, "Bread and Circuses", comes from a line in the Satire X by the Roman satirist Juvenal, and refers to the practice in ancient Rome of providing a regular free bread (or grain) dole to the lower classes and free entertainment in the city's arenas and circuses, both of which had the effect of preventing civil unrest in the populace. (source: Memory Alpha -Bread and Circuses: Story and script). In a political context, the phrase means to generate public approval, not by excellence in public service or public policy, but by diversion, distraction or by satisfying the most immediate or base requirements of a populace by offering a palliative: for example food (bread) or entertainment (circuses). Juvenal used it to decry the selfishness of common people and their neglect of wider concerns. The phrase implies a population's erosion or ignorance of civic duty as a priority. (Source: Wikipedia - Bread and circuses)

S2Ep20 A Piece of the Action - If someone wants to have a piece of the action or a slice of the action, they want to take part in an exciting activity or situation, usually in order to make money or become more important. (source: Collins English Dictionary)

S2Ep21 By Any Other Name - “The title is part of a quotation from Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene 2. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Kirk recites it to Kelinda. It is often used to convey the idea that although you can change the name of something, its nature will remain the same. In this case, the Kelvans become Human. In doing so, they start behaving as Humans do.” (source: Memory Alpha - By Any Other Name: Story and production)

S2Ep07 Is There in Truth No Beauty? - The episode title is from a poem by the 17th century English poet and clergyman George Herbert, from his poem "Jordan (I)", line 2: "Who says that fictions only and false hair/ Become a verse? Is there in truth no beauty?" (source: Memory Alpha - Is There in Truth No Beauty?: Background information) ‘Jordan (I)’ is a poem about poetry: George Herbert takes as his theme the proper material for poetry, as well as the proper language for poetry. In the first stanza of ‘Jordan (I)’, Herbert asks, why is it that people consider only made-up or fictional stories and situations suitable for poetry? Why aren’t things that are true to life considered beautiful, and therefore fit material for the poet to use as well?... Herbert is questioning why poetry, which is itself a construction, has to express itself by referring to other false constructions, rather than directly depicting life as it is. (source: Interesting Literature - A Short Analysis of George Herbert’s Jordan (I))

S3EP11 Day of the Dove - The word dove in the title is a possible allusion to their status as symbols of peace and love. Appropriate for an episode where the Klingons and the Enterprise crew come together to defeat a common enemy.

S3Ep16 Whom the Gods Destroy - An adaption of an anonymous Greek proverb that is often wrongly attributed to Euripides. An early version of this phrase appears in the play Antigone by Sophocles, "Evil appears as good in the minds of those whom God leads to destruction ". The version in the title is spoken by Prometheus in the poem The Masque of Pandora (1875) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow "Whom the gods destroy they first make mad” (source: Memory Alpha - Whom Gods Destroy: Story and Script)

S3Ep21 Requiem for Methuselah - “This episode's title is a dual allusion: first to a ritualistic liturgy of Roman Catholicism (and other related religions), the "Requiem" being a Mass for the dead, and second to Methuselah, son of the Biblical prophet Enoch and paternal grandfather to Noah, who was the longest-lived Human being in the Bible (in Genesis 5:21-27) having lived 969 years; existing for nearly a millennium, Methuselah's lifespan has historically become a proverbial reference for longevity.” (source: Memory Alpha - Requiem for Methuselah: Story)

S3Ep23 All Our Yesterdays - Machbet, Act 5, Scene 5, Line 22. A soliloquy after Macbeth's wife dies. "She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word. — To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury. Signifying nothing." To paraphrase: people see the future as bright even though eventually everyone will die. Life is a walking shadow that will end in death, not a litten path to a brighter future. In the context of this episode, the title seems to allude to the time travel that takes place. Spock and McCoy are literally trapped in “our yesterday(s)”. Spock’s love interest Zarabeth is also long dead when they return back to the future, so she’s taking on the role of Lady Machbet. 

[nemirutami]

Excuse me for being a weirdo who backreads people's blogs, but I had a small additional question regarding your answer to this ask here: /171315404167/ Do you also hate Alcor? If so, I'm incredibly curious to know why, since never harbored any ill will towards humanity and genuinely cared for the protagonist. (I realize I'm a little biased as I ship them together, but that's beside the point) I do agree most of the characters' motives and views were pretty selfish though.

I LOVE DESU ASKS.... AS EVIDENT BY THE VERY LONG REPLY... (SORRY!)

I’m glad ppl are reading them bc sometimes I feel like I’m yelling directly at a wall and my opinions are just bouncing right off, but I have an answer for that. 

I think the game did Alcor disservice in how he was represented. He would have benefited more from being impartial (but he isn’t impartial- and I’ll go more into detail about how he meddles to tip the scales) but I will admit anime!alcor was worse and just a sloppy attempt at making a NGE reference- but I won’t go into that because I could write an essay about how shitty the DESU2 anime is (I think everyone can- no one that played the game liked it and I can’t blame them).

The characters I actually can’t stand are: Yamato and Ronaldo. Because they’re actually the ones that actively go out and wipe out even ALLIES for their own benefit, not gonna lie- I might hate Ronaldo just a tiny bit more because of Makoto’s fate events, even if Yamato is just as bad if not worse. On top of that, they’re both awful hypocrites and unlike Yamato where I can kinda see the appeal, Ronaldo is completely unlikable. Even so, I can enjoy ships with Yamato in them. Tho I ship absolutely no one with Ronaldo because why would you evoke that kind of suffering in anyone. 

Everyone else is either bordering on annoying, bland, or just a mean spirited asshole. I feel more sympathy for Keita than I do for Hinako because at least Keita calls everyone a piece of shit, whereas Hinako seems to single out Daichi to shit on... on Daichi’s own route. Fumi also talks down to everyone, but in this case, Daichi’s just caught in the crossfire. Similar with Airi, she hates EVERYONE apparently, and will even punch Jungo. Hinako tho seems to specifically target Daichi on his route like... what the fuck is your problem? You called him an idiot twice in 1 battle Hinako holy shit, go chill??? I will never let this go because BOY was just BREATHING and she went “UGHHH YOU’RE SO STUPID” LIKE LET HIM BREATHE HOLY SHIT IS HE NOT EVEN ALLOWED THAT ANYMORE? 

Anyways, onto Alcor.

There’s a lot of plot holes and inconsistencies surrounding how the summoning app actually works (Alcor invented it after all, and gave it to us to use) and all these inconsistencies just make Alcor look bad from a writing standpoint (more of that below). He could have been a good character had he not been written poorly (Much like Yamato and... like 99% of the cast really. Even Daichi suffers from shit writing and I’ll never forgive them for this.) and had the plot not fucked him in the end and basically had him destined to die even on Daichi’s route (which sucks but is understandable since he is a septentrione) perhaps I’d have actually liked him. 

I tend to love characters that obsess with the protagonist, and they’re usually my absolute FAVORITE characters. I’m really surprised I didn’t jump on Alcor’s ship with the protag because it HAD the setting I absolutely adored for relationships to form? Especially the alien/human dynamic since I came into DESU2 right after exiting NGE so I was IN THE MOOD. Alcor in and of himself was just. Not satisfying to interact with (bored me to tears too) because of his cryptic messages that (more than anything) just waste time and bring the player nowhere unless they rank up to like 4 right before Yamato basically THROWS EXPOSITION AT YOU AND EXPLAINS THE ENTIRE PLOT ON THE 2ND LAST DAY (it’s even worse and comes even more out of nowhere if you haven’t interacted with Alcor at all in his fate events. More disservice. They should have made Alcor’s fate events more intimate and given Alcor more plot relevant lines within the plot itself instead of his events. Much like... Daichi really. They fucked up with Daichi by making his fate events more relevant to his character growth than the actual plot. I guess they did the same for Alcor but truth be told, I remember so little about Alcor because more than anything Alcor just bored me. Never quite pissed me off. Just bored me.) 

Ok, but onto the cake. The things that made me iffy on Alcor’s character in general.

Alcor supposedly gave humans fire and culture and blah blah. Already this is telling me to practice immense amounts of disbelief since it’s well documented how these things came about, but I suppose if no one actually knows the history then they can accept this at face value? I wasn’t tho. He acted responsible for it and it put me in disbelief and just made me think he sounded like an idiot. It also made him seem very arrogant, because it implied people NEEDED to be given culture, and that we just didn’t develop culture and diversity on our own. It implies we were all lifeless husks until he came along and granted it to us. Which is insulting.

The fact he’s a septentrione isn’t foreshadowed well and is very obvious from the second we see him floating and talking to other demons/septentriones since he clearly knows what they’re saying. Not really a character-specific issue. Just more problems of bad writing. “Who is he...” Daichi have you seen a HUMAN float in space like that god fucking damn it i love you but why u so duMB WHY YOU ALL SO DUMB IT’S CLEARLY EITHER A DEMON OR A SEPTENTRIONE, THE REAL QUESTION IS- WHY IS HE HELPING US?

Btw that’s another point. Why is he helping us? Oh, right, because he messed up.

He doesn’t want Yamato’s world, but he gave Yamato the power to reform society. Then, when Yamato tries to do what Alcor granted him the means to do, he’s like. Hm. Well. Shit? This guy’s a fucking psycho. Time to place my bets on the protagonist instead (which he does favor a lot- which doesn’t make him impartial really since he clearly favors explaining things more to Hibiki/Protag than anyone else in the game, and it puts everyone else at a disadvantage when a GOD LIKE ENTITY is behind the protag boosting him to make the “right” choice for humanity). I know Alcor was fascinated by humans and wanted them to live (which is fine), yet he didn’t bother to warn the MILLIONS that died (and remained dead in one of the endings- thanks Alcor) due to his negligence. Knowing about it and at least not issuing a warning is cruel. Sure, he gave people the demon summoning app, but the app was considered a “prank site” (nice advertisement, Alcor) as Daichi said at the start of the game (which i hate more than Yamato himself. Daichi. This. This idiot. This idiot signed his best friend up to a DEATH SITE just cus LOLS- the writing is bullshit, and I really disliked early Daichi, too. I disliked some of later canon-Daichi too because he was just rendered to a joke outside his Fate Events). The writing is really unfair on everyone, and it doesn’t help that the app doesn’t work the way it’s advertised to work anyways, seeing as Alcor can twist it to do what HE needs it to do at any time.

For example, the app is said to send death videos regarding people you’ve made a bond with, but clearly that’s all bullshit considering Alcor manually sends Hibiki a warning (and only Hibiki alone) of Otome’s death video so that NO ONE BUT HIBIKI CAN SAVE HER. This implies he can manipulate the death videos personally and exclude others from receiving videos. This. This is not kind. Not at all. I know he was testing Hibiki, but at THIS RISK? Losing Otome can FUCK YOUR PERFECT RUN and outside game mechanics, ELIMINATE ANOTHER HUMAN LIFE. If he wanted to, he could kill characters he actually doesn’t like this way by basically not sending the videos out to people, which, if you don’t go to save Otome right away- will be the end of her. He’s putting all his bets on you alone and testing you by cutting off everyone else from the app- potentially hindering backup to save Otome. Sure, you save her but you can just as easily kill her. I can’t say this wasn’t a sleazy test because he was basically playing with Otome’s LIFE and showed no signs of remorse. Some love for humans you have Alcor. Shit dude. This isn’t kind at all.

But I guess these are my main qualms about him- at least the ones I remember- but take everything I say with a grain of salt bc I tried to avoid confrontation with him completely in my 2nd and 3rd run so I have vague memories lingering. I don’t hate him? I can actually like him if he’s written well by other people, but given how he is in the game, I can’t say I ever enjoyed interacting with him. He didn’t annoy me other than the 2 times I’ve stated above, where he basically talks down to us about how we got to our culture and how he kinda lets Otome PERISH if we don’t respond quickly enough. I know it was a test to the protagonist’s will, but aren’t the septentriones a test enough of my conviction, Alcor, honestly. Unlike Airi, Hinako, Keita, and everyone else, Alcor doesn’t annoy me at all. Io annoys me more, if not only because the game wanted Daichi to be plot relevant only for Io to get all the spotlight. Io is genuinely maybe the better written character- it’s just such a shame they flipflop on her as a lead when in any other game, she could easily have been a lead. Her love triangle kills any enjoyment I get from her at all tho and just makes me bitter. More bad writing- who would have guessed.

Tho from a shipping standpoint? You can ship Alcor with Hibiki for good reasons, obviously. There’s a clear connection and fascination there that doesn’t surprise me people flock to (because I would have been there too had they just written him better). I don’t really mind the ship itself. When I say “i don’t mind it” I just mean I don’t feel anything for it and I’d probably not draw it for myself. There are really no ships I hate or really... dislike? There’s just stuff I don’t ship, but I can definitely ship Hibiki/Alcor if it was for a plotpoint of some kind in a fic or art or whatever. It depends on the idea really. 

I guess it’s too late to say something like this so far into the post, but I like to believe that ANY ship works if the construction/buildup to it is good enough. I believe you can make any character do/say anything under the right circumstances with the right motives without it being OOC or feel out of place. I’d like to think talent is wicked like that- a double edged sword of risky ideas that can either make or break your interpretation/perception depending on how you build it up. Though, that takes effort. Something DESU2 sadly lacks in a lot of ares, but it’s still a game worth playing for the experience and I wouldn’t not recommend it for the good parts that are (while few) really, really good.