#the of course discourse

[stophoranmyheartaround]

As an actor and writer myself, I love when a show will do little phrase callbacks that are so loaded and can have so much punch. And for S3P1 so far in my head, one of my faves has been what I’ve started calling “the ‘of course’ discourse.”

For me, Colin kicks it off in 3.2 in that gorgeous final scene in the Featherington garden when Pen asks if she can ask him something and Luke Newton delivers that “of course” without hesitation. He’ll do anything for her, no question. Colin is here for Pen. (I could get into what all was he expecting/feeling in this late night visit but that’s another time perhaps…) The loaded part of that “of course” obviously comes from Pen’s response here but now we’re off. At the end of this exchange, we all know Colin’s world is ROCKED. SHOOK. CANDLE FULLY BRIGHT. (Those fierce flames in his dream sequence immediately opening 3.3 aren’t just mood lighting IMO.)

And then we see how every time Colin responds “of course” after that shift, they mean so much more. Like him affirming to Alice and Will that it’s “of course” the goal for her to find a husband. He doesn’t think that anymore. But it’s what he’s expected to say and agree to. (Again, great layering by Newts.) Like agreeing to act like he’s not talking to Pen in the tent to get the deets about Debling. He’s agreeing but he doesn’t want that to be the case. Like under the willow tree when everything is crumbling on his end with Pen but he’s still trying to agree to what she seemingly wants. (Fab work on both their parts here because no one is really saying what they fully mean.)

But the best part to me is the gut-wrencher when Pen gets involved in that final scene of 3.3. Colin has approached her, determined to find out the answer to his all-important question confirming their feelings, and as he’s drawn into her lips and can’t quite get the words out and Pen is definitely feeling a lot of things back, there’s that block from Debling with his reminder of their time to dance. And Pen and Colin have that lingering look, Colin wants so desperately to ask and can’t muster the words and Pen can’t help herself on her end because she is also SO conflicted. But she turns and takes Debling’s offered hand and delivers that “Of course, my Lord” that just hurts all around. The kick in of “Happier Than Ever” is the perfect amplifier here because Colin AND Pen are represented here. Yes, a part of Pen enjoys her dance but she would’ve enjoyed it even more if she thought it could’ve been her and Colin. Colin is trying to process how him letting that moment go could’ve been letting go of more than he bargained for. (Absolutely brilliant all around here, especially the musical button of his look right on that last plucked chord at the start.)

Ugh. I just love it. (I know there’s more I could go on about but this is wordy enough.) I can’t wait for S3P2 and to see all the moments we get in store this back half. And here’s to many more layered moments, of course. 😉

[sharpjay217]

New Wels post, with context.

[watchingwisteria]

listen there really was just something about how in the book, snow’s 3-page descent from hesitant lover boy to deluded mfer happens entirely in his mind. lucy gray gives him no indication whatsoever that she suspects him, that she’s going to leave or betray him. he’s just sitting quietly in the cabin waiting for her to return when that seed of calculated suspicion, which he has needed to survive the capitol, takes a hold of him and chokes the life out of any goodness left inside him. it really drives home your terror as a reader that “oh my god did he kill her? did she escape? what happened to her? why would he even think that?” in a way that when the movie had to adjust for visualization it lost some of that holy shit this guy has lost it emphasis.

[psychotrenny]

Listening to Tumblr Users has taught me a lot of things about Trans Women. For example:

Every Trans Woman I disagree with about video games is a pedophile

Every Trans Woman I disagree with about politics is a Russian psyop and

Every Trans Woman I disagree with about transmisogyny is an androphobe

I can't wait to find out more ^^

[that-satireguy]

'You're a child you didn't live through the ages of REAL transphobia like us. Thats why you became a tmra!'

The trans kid in question, who is from the global south.

[riacte]

Honestly pissed off at people going “Iskall and Stress didn’t have much presence on the server anyway, I only watch the ✨Mountain✨ people, those two barely appear” why don’t you shut the fuck up. Literally shut the fuck up. It’s giving the vibes of “well at least not MY hermit!1!!1!2!2!1”. It’s just a really weird and irrelevant thing to say in public when ex-fans are disappointed and hurt. Worse when people immediately jump to “ooooh who will the hermits replace them with” like it’s purely a transactional/numbers game when it’s clearly not how HC works. Like the hermits aren’t dealing with a stressful and upsetting situation.

[oyanagicake]

i don't think that's the type of thing you should casually say to a random person on internet fam. joking or not. also please do not harass this person. i've censored the username for a reason.

and "doesn't affect reality"... yes, but... why are you thinking about skinning a real person alive? they're a real person. they're NOT fictional. you're kind of contradicting yourself here :|

[lapdogchase]

the current "is smoking around people rude" discourse is really annoying on both sides as we've all gathered but like as a certified Weed Enjoyer i think what's getting missed (/intentionally glossed over?) is that some people have disabilities and allergies and lung problems etc that make being around smoke dangerous for them, and the least u can do is move away from people a little bit to smoke. like, there are disabled people everywhere & you have no way of knowing if someone around u has a condition that could be triggered by u smoking. and i don't think it should be the disabled person's responsibility to leave any situation where people might be smoking because i think disabled people deserve to be in public without having to worry about other people making that unsafe for them. but the past 5 years of the Ongoing pandemic have taught me that people either consciously or subconsciously do not care if disabled people are shoved out of the public if it makes things slightly more convenient for them. and like yeah people are being a little dramatic with assumptions that standing near a smoker will give u cancer or get u high but. if you want to smoke in public maybe step to the fucking side, i dunno. like sorry to be the Bitter Joyless Annoying disabled person but it's so fucking easy to walk a few yards away to smoke instead. and while i'm on my soapbox wear a damn mask the pandemic's worse now than it was in 2020 and soon You might end up being the Bitter Joyless disabled person with a lung condition

[bookwyrminspiration]

i need you all to be normal about people deciding they don't want to explore their identities. we're not inherently repressing anything, and we're not lost opportunities for self-fulfillment and finding community. maybe some people are, but we are allowed to decide we're satisfied and digging deeper isn't what we want, and we're valid for it. it is our choice. please stop treating us like we're naive and gonna regret it

[gay-cartoon-enjoyer]

Gravity Falls meme I made in 5 min

Might as well repost this, since it’s the month of Maybel. 💫

[yasminthespiritfaninnit]

I will say one more thing before moving the fuck on and waiting for more. Cause I have a feeling there will be more eventually.

I am completely believing and supporting Shubble. Shubble’s the victim and she did not name her abuser for a reason. We should not jeopardize her plans.

Now, on a unrelated note, I will still be supporting Wilbur as well until if he’s found to be 100% clearly the guy who Shubble is talking about.

I believe in innocent until proven guilty and similarities and coincidences (like Wilbur also being a biter and someone with a messy place (and an ant infestation), and Zoe leaving Lovejoy for some reason) don’t equal evidence.

It’s hearsay and conjecture and I want to see more shit then that to believe that Wilbur’s the abuser.

So, I believe Shubble and that she needs all the support she can get. And I believe that Wilbur is innocent. Until there’s a legitimate update, I will be moving on from this.

Speculating on who the abuser is will only put Shubble in more danger. There’s no good result coming from jumping conclusions right now.

Hug Shubble and keep Wilbur out of this until there’s a legitimate connection. And even if there is a connection, focus on helping Shubble. We aren’t the law, y’all!

[arcadecoconut]

There's a lot of great meta about how Bells Hells never seemed to realise how powerful they became over the course of the campaign, and how this skewed perspective gave them a strange and at times hypocritical relationship to authority. There's also been a lot of discussion about how having a single-focus plot established early in the campaign was detrimental to individual character development, but I don't think I've seen much about how the single-focus plot is directly connected to their ignorance about their own power level. I think one of the key benefits of having various smaller arcs across c1 & c2 was not only that it supported individual character development better, it also gave the parties a sense of their own growing capability and power scale in the greater world. By having distinct arcs with enemies who were overcome and defeated, the PCs have concrete evidence of their own growth. Each arc follows a mini heroes journey too. For the MN, the Lorenzo and Obann arcs both involve PC characters being killed or overtaken early on, setting high stakes and establishing difficulty. Eventually, with persistence and planning, the Nein were able overcome and eventually defeat them. For Vox Machina, it's the Briarwoods, then the Chroma Conclave, then Vecna. At the start of each arc, every mission feels like an impossible task but again with persistence and planning, they conclude each arc in a stronger position - not just on their character sheet, but with concrete in-world elements too - the resources of Whitestone, key allies in powerful government positions, etc. These victories give each party a material sense of their achievement, which is mirrored by their internal acknowledgement, which is so natural it's mostly not explicitly acknowledged unless they're pointing out how they're capable of stepping up and helping more people. Bells Hells, by comparison, got very few distinct arcs. As a result, they never really achieved the same smaller victories to give them a sense of escalating power and agency over the course of the campaign. To be clear, it was possible this could have been achieved anyway, even within the constraints of the moon-plot. Defeating Otohan, defeating or flipping Lilliana, severing the alliance between the Unseelie Court and Ludinus, explicitly winning allies out of The Volition, or the Grim Verity, or Vasselheim and the Judicators - each of these could have been distinct arcs with victory conditions that would have served as markers of Bells Hells growing power. If they'd had concrete mini-goals to achieve along the way to dealing with Ludinus/Predathos, they could have taken time to focus and plan. In this way, we could have gotten larger investment into the world and NPCs. Imagine what it could have done for her personality if the party had to research Otohan’s role in the Apex War! Maybe if they needed to broker peace between the Grim Verity and Vasselheim to unite them against a greater threat, we could have seen Bells Hells establish their own authority in Exandria. Instead, all these potential villains and world building hooks ended up largely ignored or accidentally achieved along the path of some other muddy goal. By not giving the characters this sense of growth, BH and particularly Ashton and Laudna ended up with a very skewed perspective of themselves. They never realise their power grew well above average, putting them in a much more privileged position than the average Exandrian. It’s this skewed perspective - and their resulting attitudes towards various NPCs - which gave many viewers an 'ick' factor about their interactions. I also can't help but juxtapose this with exu: divergence, where the party's relationship to power (both their own and others') has been a core element. Their story has also been conducted over a very short time period in-world, yet their responses show a marked difference in awareness and empathy.

[sforzesco]

BALAK, PANGAGAD

uhhh conspiracy. can be a courtship dance. ritual. so to speak. & hosting one in your house is an act of service

[luxurystark-jackson]

so wait. mark s saves gemma scout by locking her out into the stairwell. then takes one (1) moment of personal autonomy to run through the halls with helly r, with the knowledge that their fate still hangs in the balance. so mark s gives mark scout his wife back and still allows himself those few last minutes to die with the woman he loves. beautiful

[sad-endings-suck]

some of you are once again getting too comfortable disproportionally headcanon-ing disabled and neurodivergent characters as ace and demi-sexual without examining why you always seem to do so.

[thedailydescent]

I think what kills me the most about the “Gemma is destined to die” crowd is that they’ve broached that writing possibility as if it’s something to celebrate instead of, like, deeply troubling and racist. (I know it’s because they don’t give a fuck about Gemma or if the show is racist as long as she’s out of the picture, but it’s kinda blowing my mind how much of a foothold that position has gotten without much pushback until recently.)

YEAH exactly like I'm still trying to figure out how killing off a woc in service of a man's arc in 2025 is good and intelligent writing when there are so many more things they could do with Gemma's character. They seem to have gone way too hard on the Eurydice/Orpheus analogy and think now she HAS to die. But yeah, like you said, it's not even about that, they just really want her dead because of their ship.

Not to mention, Gemma isn't simply Eurydice here, she's also been compared to Persephone. And do know what happened to Persephone? She came back.