#the other wolf arc

[ask-the-determined-river]

“Hold on, lemme see if I can address the heat…”

Fen turns away and curls over himself, seemingly trying tonfocus on himself.

Suddenly, you hear static glitching in your ears.

For a brief minute meant, you see something overlayed on Fen, as though it was standing in his position. Something blue and metallic.

But that’s not what draws your attention.

It was the glitching, violet object that is visible through his body and clothing, before it then disappears.

“Damnit. Never mind, it’s too visible.”

River Person discreetly rubs their ears, looking at him thoughtfully, once again fully intrigued by him.

"Tra li li... thank you for trying, but it's okay, we're smart, we'll survive...,"

They then remember something and stick a hand back into their pocket, and pull out an ice bone that they received from a boat rider a few hours earlier.

"I have this, it should come in handy, if we break it in half, we'll both have an ice treat to cool us off...and you can have most of it since you're fluffier,"

[hyakunana]

Until the End and Beyond

[jessmalia]

stiles and malia playlist: the only exception by paramore

and up until now, i had sworn to myself that i'm content with loneliness because none of it was ever worth the risk well, you are the only exception

[mischeva]

haha….. reference

[namisweatheria]

There's MUCH BIGGER STUFF IN THIS CHAPTER TO REACT TO but it is my duty as tumblr user namisweatheria to say: WEATHERIA MENTION!!!!!! Hoping this will eventually create a cool moment for Nami. OH HEY WAIT the place Robin went to in the timeskip was also mentioned!!!

Well, that being important eventually was always a given. I totally get people wanting the timeskip to have more personal relevance with the strawhats before now, and I feel that, but I also always had faith that it was all gonna come back. Here we goooooooooooo!!!!

[jaxihammer]

You will never convince me that Isabel Lovelace is not disabled post-canon. Think about it.

Of everyone in the crew, she's spent by far the longest time in space. Sure, she's probably been exercising, but that isn't going to fully stop her muscles atrophying. Her bones are going to weaken. Not to mention the fact that she went into the cryo chamber, which we know isn't GREAT for you (I know Eiffel is kind of an outlier but still. Even once is gonna fuck you up at least a little).

Then add to THAT the fact that the body Lovelace has now was created by the dear listeners. Not only are they recreating a body that's already undergone almost a thousand days of the trauma of space; they're doing it with zero existing knowledge of how a human body functions in Earth's gravity. The clones are almost perfect, but there are notable differences in internal organs, and I wouldn't be surprised if Lovelace was put back together with some inconsistencies.

All this to say, I think Lovelace would become a mobility aid user when the crew lands back on Earth. Everyone on the crew would probably end up in physical therapy, but the damage done to her body would be by far the most extensive. Whereas I don't doubt Jacobi, Minkowski, and Eiffel could regain most if not all of their mobility, I think Lovelace would use a wheelchair, and eventually with PT could use crutches or a cane some days. Even if she were to regain muscle function, she would probably have some sort of chronic pain that would necessitate mobility aids!

In conclusion Let Her Be Disabled thank you for coming to my TED talk

[bapydemonprincess]

Just went through screencapping more green witch arc manga panels of Seb for icon possibilities and went through the famed "exploring the forest and Seb crying" scene and just. oh my god. the fucking mom/dadbastian energy is actually fucking off the charts in that scene. like, the CONTEXT after everything that has happened in their contract so far, and then the current situation, of Sebastian himself never having been in this whatever this is (SPOILERS: a forest set up to keep outsiders away and not a natural forest. With no animals and a trap to trigger mustard gas) and IMMEDIATELY insisting they go back before things get bad.. but oh no they GET BAD ANYWAY-

...

God I cannot wait for this to be animated.

[xarva]

Virgin Mary - wych elm

Squaring Up- Sir Chloe

[commsroom]

the opening of into the depths - the thought experiment about the swamp - sticks in my head, because, well. because it's interesting why it's stuck in hera's head.

narratively, of course, it serves two purposes: 1) to frame and present a question about what happened to lovelace, and 2) to connect what is currently happening to lovelace to what hera experiences when she reboots. (which: combined with the ways lovelace is also paralleled to eris, one of an infinite potential iterations of herself, serving a similar purpose for the dear listeners that eris does for goddard - there is even a perspective from which you could argue lovelace is herself "an AI" that i think presents some interesting questions. regardless, the struggle lovelace and hera share in having their humanity recognized is deeply significant to me.)

in-universe, though: why was that thought experiment put in hera's head, for her to think about while she reboots? well. lovelace's s4 arc centers on a certain type of self doubt: she fears a loss of self, of personal identity and continuity of experience, and she fears it's already happened. if hera thinks about this thought experiment as she reboots - does she fear the same? does part of her always worry that the version of her that comes back online is not the same as before? i think that's the purpose.

part of it may be general cruelty, in the same way pryce threatens to give her "a new recurring nightmare" as punishment, but making hera doubt her continuity of experience feels like a very intentional aspect of how she's been dehumanized - it encourages her not to think of herself as a full person, and casts doubt on her future. consider ep 52, where hera hasn't done a full reset of her personality program in months, and is notably hesitant to. or ep 48, where she initially votes against leaving (which is emotionally complicated for multiple reasons, but that's a whole other topic.) it's not the only factor, but i believe hera has lovelace's identity crisis in mind, and i think that casts a certain light on these interactions.

most importantly: these things are not true. she's being emotionally manipulated. obviously. but the fear, i think, is very real, especially in the context of trauma. lovelace's death and resurrection as a clone of herself, from a more metaphorical standpoint, is a strong emotional representation of having been changed, on some unseen but fundamental level, by trauma. lovelace fears that she can't go home because she's already died, and whoever she is now is just something else trying really hard to be isabel lovelace. hera has a hard time imagining a life on earth because she's never really had one, but i think part of her also fears she can't go back because of how it might change her - it's not that she prefers things the way they are, but she fears she'd lose something fundamental and be a different person if her circumstances changed. both of them returning home, and having futures in spite of that fear, means something to me.

[vanmarkus]

okay, as much as i wanna see how wolfnichols is doing after that inadvertent coming out and watch Nichols deal with a high-off-his-ass Wolf, i am still so very intrigued by this whole John Doe situation

[electricabsolution]

ok but why did they have to make oz a cheater AND homophobic… he had truly the worst fall off of any character ive ever seen

[ask-the-determined-river]

"Fen. Short for...Fenris."

He seems embarrassed telling the name. Like he got it from Asgore.

You can't see his face from this angle, but the Strange Wolf, Fen, briefly flicks his head in the direction you know to be where the knife is dropped.

At the same time, you spot something else hidden in the tree line peek out as the two converse.

It looks like another strange wolf. This one is not anthropomorphic, but instead it has a brilliant crimson-red coat and appears to be covered in growths of various sizes all over its body from head to toes.

You see one of the growths flap, and you realize it is a wolf covered in bird wings.

Two gold pinpricks in its black eyes briefly meets with your own eyes before looking where Fen had briefly turned his head.

Flowey eyes Fen thoughtfully and is about to say something but chuckles nervously without smiling as he spots the other Strange Wolf.

Flowey: "Okay. Now there's a second one.......howdy... would it be too presumptuous to ask if you're both from the same place?"

"...Furthermore....," he looks to Fenris "....are you some goody two shoes with a hero complex? Or do you personally know River Person?"

Flowey then veeeerrry sllllooowly grabs onto the knife from beneath the snow and pulls it close to his person underneath the ground.

Flowey: "Because you had a very dramatic reaction when all I did was give them a little cut,"

River Person lets out a tired and heavy sigh full of disapproval, but they stay quiet.

[hyakunana]

Ah yes, the Prismatic experience when they deliver your main subclass in the starter pack 😌

[haven-of-dusk]

So according to some Teen Wolf fans...

Derek: was "never a willfully bad guy"...in the season where he concocted a plan to murder a teenage girl (Lydia) on shaky and inconcolusive evidence.

Ethan and Aiden: definitely willfully bad in 3A when they followed orders given by their abusers.

Hell, throwing out the Steiners comparison and just talking about Derek, the plan to kill Lydia was willfully bad. No one forced him to make or go through with that plan. And if Scott hadn't stopped him, Derek would've murdered an innocent teenage girl that night for no reason.

That does not mean that Derek was willfully bad the whole season. That does not mean that Derek is inherantly a bad person. That does not mean Derek was a villain. All it means is that he acted in a way that is unequivocally 'bad'. The closest real world comparison I can think of is a crime being committed at a store, so a member of the community decides to set up outside the store, and one night shoots and kills a teenager who happened to be coming to the store at an odd hour dressed a bit differently from the standard customer. That is the type of action Derek was partaking in.

I love Derek. I do. But it gets exhausting when people try to tell me I have to do a better job at acknowledging the 'bad actions' of the Steiners, or Theo, or whomever, and then turn around and act as though Derek never had any malicious/bad choices/actions.

Is a little consistency too much to ask for?

[aq2003]

the diehard clara hater/lover quiz is fun because some of the lover descriptions feel like they're describing the most toxic evil person on planet earth and it's like guys i think we have all forgotten the fact that canonically she is twelve's one tie to earth and has to remind him of how to care about people. and like she dies in a doctor-esque sacrifice to save someone. she just reflects the worst qualities of the doctor she is not an evil possessive selfish girlboss woman. i do wish she was more awful though i think it would be funny to have a sole companion like that making the doctor worse

[chirpsythismorning]

Rick Conroy's Recent Rentals:

Teen Wolf (1/2/3)

As a refresher, this is a shot from 4x02: Vecna's Curse. Robin, Max, Dustin and Steve are using the video store's database to look through the most recent rentals of all the Ricks in town as hints for which one Reefer Rick is, so that they can get his address and track down Eddie.

Unfortunately for them, this selection here from Rick Conroy didn't give off 'reefer' vibes and so they moved on to the next one.

However, luckily for us, this could very well have been hinting at events that are either already happening in s4, or are perhaps still yet to fully come to fruition in s5.

2. Teen Wolf (1985)

This is easy/hard because although it could be fairly simple, it could also be complex, to the point where it may very well go even further than this film. So I guess I'll just humor the implications, both simple and complex, because why not.

The entire plot of Teen Wolf revolves around a protagonist who is tired of being average, only to find out that he's actually the opposite of average: a frickin' werewolf.

There are a lot of possibilities for where elements of this film could align with certain concepts in the show. I even feel like it could be related to a specific arc on the most basic level (ie. Sixteen Candles = Birthdaygate).

Ironically, something I also noticed related to this, is that in the same episode we get the Rick selection with Teen Wolf, we also see the poster for it in the exact same spot as the Sixteen Candles poster was at the end of s3. We even see the letters ARC(ADE) in the right corner of the frame for both (probably just a coincidence, but a cool one at that).

Notice the pole going straight through the Teen Wolf poster here? More on that later...

Initially, I was going to just associate this film with the storyline related to the basketball team, because we do see a prominent arc related to basketball in s4, and so that felt like an easy way to pinpoint that reference?

However, I did feel sort of inclined to dig deeper, and this is because the other two films from this specific Rick selection connects to Will's character more than any of the other characters arguably.

Basically, after being stumped with the Teen Wolf mention, and intending to just stick with the simplicity of how the reference could apply to s4, I moved on to Romancing the Stone, only to find out it screamed Will, and so a part of me began wondering if it could be more complex than it seems when it comes to this reference.

And so, what exactly would Teen Wolf (1985) have to do with Will and his present/future arc, assuming that these three movies are indeed related to his character?...

Well, Twelvegate.

Just take a look at the film's slogan at the top of the movie poster:

He always wanted to be special. But he never expected this!

Upon rewatching this scene I also noticed there are twelve Ricks total...

As many of you probably know, there has been a decent amount of imagery with Will's blocking being obstructed by rods/poles/stakes, etc. (ie. Phineas Gage). So the fact that a pole interferes with the poster for TW could also be intentional in its attempt to give it some association to Will.

Here are the several other shots we get of the TW poster in this same episode:

I remember so much discourse about how this shot above was foreshadowing Max's confrontation with Vecna, which I do still fully believe to be the case. However, now I'm also rethinking about how that claw representing Venca looks just a little too aligned with the TW poster to not at least be a little bit intentional...

Look at Dustin and Max's bikes! They're blue/yellow directly in front of the poster!

And that's that on that!!

Though, if I’m being honest, this all still felt a little too simple to me.

The poster with Michael J. Fox opening up his shirt to reveal the title Teen Wolf also reminded me of the official reveal that Vecna was 001? Where the UD vines sort of scatter to reveal the number on his wrist...?

While it could be relevant as a potential hint for Will only now discovering as a teen that he has powers/is connected to the lab, similar to the protagonist of Teen Wolf only now discovering as a teen that he is a werewolf, I still want to try to take it another step further.

Now, going back to the basketball plot in s4, because I do think there still could be some connections between the show and the basketball theme in the film, is that there's actually a really layered connection to Teen Wolf going on here. And it has very me intrigued.

Although, this connection can be easily overlooked, as it's not related to the 1985 version, but actually the 2011 drama series, loosely based on the 1985 version, which goes by the same name...

As it turns out, Mason Dye’s most notable role before he was cast as Jason Carver in s4 of Stranger Things, was his role as Garrett in s4 of Teen Wolf.

So I guess the casting department decided to typecast tf out of Mason, by giving him the role of a character in a storyline potentially inspired by elements from the movie Teen Wolf? A role which also happens to be almost identical to his role in the series Teen Wolf?

Jason Carver character description in Stranger Things: popular basketball player ends up hunting down Hellfire Club (ALSO peep his #12 jersey... yep.)

Garrett character description in Teen Wolf: popular lacrosse player ends up hunting down Scott's pack

This also reminded me of the Duffer's talking about the casting of Amybeth McNulty. For those who don't know, Amybeth starred in Anne with an E (2017-2019), which is a drama series based on the book Anne of Green Gables (1908). There's also a well known TV mini-series based on said book which came out in 1985. After casting for Vickie was announced, the Duffers revealed that they were fans of the AOGG book and the mini series as kids (which is why the book was referenced in the show a few times), but also made a point to add that they were big fans of AWAE.

This is interesting to me because I feel like TW and AWAE are the kind of shows that have a bad rep (mostly deserved for TW atp), but specifically because of how they present themselves on the surface?

Werewolf teens and a talkative red-haired girl in braids don't exactly scream quality TV to most people? Which like, fair enough. Not to mention, both adaptations were based on stories that were very popular in the 80's, being modernized for future audiences. And so a lot of people hated them for that reason alone, without even giving them a second glance.

However, within the context of the Duffers, who are well known film nerds, who literally watch anything and everything under the sun, I think it's possible (and even likely) they watched Teen Wolf the series.

Arguably, TW's most impressive narrative moments come from season 3b. Which interestingly enough brings us back to the main focus I had for this post, which is how exactly this could all relate to Will.

Answer?

Will being possessed by the Mind Flayer is EXTREMELY void-Stiles coded:

Void-Stiles is easily recognized as one of the strongest arcs in the entire series, and for good reason. S3b season truly tested the limits of Dylan O'Brien's talent, along with a lot of other elements in the show just really hitting the mark that season. The story-building, the vibes, and the acting from the cast overall was pretty good, making it well regarded as a fan favorite (sound familiar?).

At first it starts with Stiles sacrificing himself, essentially dying for a short period of time, only to come back to life, but to have also left a door open in his mind. This door (ajar) makes Stiles vulnerable to the Nogitsune (an evil spirit that feeds off of chaos, strife and pain), who of course takes advantage and attaches to Stiles.

Slowly, Stiles starts experiencing an inability to focus, sleepwalking, vivid dreams during the day, while also not being able to tell the difference between dreams and reality. Eventually this leads to the Nogitsune gaining control, who then starts to have more influence on Stiles' behavior, leading him to trick his loved ones around him into believing that it's him by acting like Stiles at times, when really it's the Nogitsune. He uses Stiles' body as a vessel to wreak havoc on the town of Beacon Hills, but also specifically Stiles friends/family.

He even goes as far as to make Stiles do things like twist a sword into his best friends chest, then finally detaches himself from Stiles' body only to in that very same moment kidnap Lydia (his love interest), and ending in a battle with him orchestrating the attempted murder of an entire floor of a hospital, along with successfully killing a beloved main character.

While I do think it's possible we could see some similarities between these storylines here (we arguably already have), something I realized a while back when researching for birthdaygate, was that it did remind me a great deal of Stiles' arc in s6a of TW.

What makes this arc kind of ironic in the context of this post, is that there are some parallels to Back to the Future...

Basically everyone forgets Stiles existed, to the point where he's completely erased from reality, including photographs (Back to the Future reference). Other details about him, like his name and his connection to the people around him, is what plays a big part in his return (including radios being used between realms to communicate with him... yep).

As it's happening, Stiles starts going up to everyone he knows, first casual friends, and slowly down the line to people that mean the most to him. Suddenly his best friend doesn't know him, then his dad, finally the only person left who remembers him is Lydia, only for him to be taken and for everyone to forget (including Lydia). And this was basically the big cliffhanger that closed off the first episode of the season, with it being a guiding force to them getting Stiles back in the following episodes.

Now, I just want to make it clear that I do NOT think that this is how s5 is going to play out, like barely, if at all.

My main purpose for this post was to look at the simple and complex in relation to this reference and how it could relate to what is to come, in any shape/form.

Like, we know they draw a lot of inspiration from Star Wars and Lord of the Rings (along with 100+ films and more). And yet still, that doesn't mean we're expecting the show to play out exactly like it does in those stories.

What we're expecting is some inspiration & parallels.

S5 is said to be drawing a lot of inspiration from s1-2, which are two seasons most tied to Wills disappearance and possession.

Clearly in the case of this reference, there are A LOT of possibilities for what this could be hinting at related to Will's arc in particular.

I'm excited, but also terrified to find out what...!