#this is either post canon or between the next to last and last eps

[aeternallis]

Kim and his home / A Meta Rant

Y'know, in a lot of post-canon fics I see for Kimchay, there's sometimes this common theme of Kim refusing to move back home, either because he likes his freedom too much, or he just hates Korn to the point he refuses to share a roof with him.

And tbh, strictly speaking from my own personal experience as an Asian, I've always felt this aforementioned theme to be more in line with a western individualistic mindset, rather than the one the show is more accurately set in: an eastern collectivist mindset.

So I thought I'd talk about it~ Having said that, please do not take this as an attack or critique of anyone or their works, it isn't. Fics are fics, headcanons are headcanons, they're meant to be enjoyed as they are. This is simply an observation I made, so again, I want to yap about it.

See, I am of the opinion that since Chay has moved into the Theerapanyakul compound, it’s actually more in line for Kim to move back into the mansion as well, rather than continue to keep away.

This idea is also foreshadowed by Tankhun when he asks Kim in ep. 5:

But before I continue, here's a theory I've been nursing for a while: technically speaking, if one were to line up how Kim and Chay were left off in the show, and how their story picks up in the first KP novel in that order, we already have some idea of how their story would have gone, had BOC and DAEMI’s working relationship not broken down, they weren't as problematic to work with, and Build didn’t have his scandal(s). 

At the very least, we have the skeletal roadmap of what BOC theoretically would have had to work with, had they been greenlit for a KP season 2.

A short summary of KimChay in the first novel:

During Porchay’s special chapter, Chay secretly follows Porsche to the Theerapanyakul mansion. When he’s at the gates, he makes a show of bravado of justifying why Porsche shouldn’t work there anymore, until Korn sees him. Korn tries to calm Chay down, but to no avail, until Kim pulls up in another car. It’s at this point that Chay mentions being familiar with Kim, and that they have some bad history that was never resolved. Kim corners Chay against the wall like the Theerapanyakul hubby that he is, until Chay kicks him in the nuts for acting all intimidating. 🤣 The special chapter ends with Chay getting dragged away from the compound, unbeknownst to Porsche. Later, Chay moves into the compound around the time Porsche and Kinn are kidnapped. Before facing the kidnappers, Kinn had told Chay to get ahold of Pete and ask for help, hence why Chay is brought to the compound in the first place. Presumably, this would also be around the same time he gets reacquainted with Kim (and most probably makes up with him). During the kidnap scene, Kinn tells Chay to call Pete and ask for back up. The next time we see Chay, he's visiting Porsche in the hospital, and Kim volunteers to take him home (as in, back to the Theerapanyakul mansion); it's implied that they've been spending quite a bit of time together, if Porsche's comments about it throughout the rest of the novel aren't indication enough. The rest of the story has them appearing here and there, mostly when Chay is complaining about the prospects of Kim cheating and/or no longer being in love with him. Lol There are some especially important moments between Chay and Porsche when they talk about their circumstances, but I don't want to spoil that scene in this rant too much.

In the show however, Chay's moving into the Theerapanyakul household is delayed later in the show's adaptation of the events, and he doesn't move in until the incident with his own kidnapping. By the end of the show, he's seen to be firmly ensconced in the Theerapanyakul compound, as we see in his last two scenes.

Focusing on Porchay's special chapter and his mention of the "bad history" between him and Kim in the novel, I'd always wondered if BOC had taken that line from the book and just ran with it, yknow? It would make sense (to me personally, at least), since Kimchay's story is different in the novel when compared to the show.

Although their stories are different, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they contradict each other. And with the first official art of the KimChay novel having been released, it’s clear now that DAEMI/Tiara_ME intend to incorporate the show’s KimChay story into their own (to what extent, who knows).

Having said this, let’s get back on topic: the likelihood of Kim moving back into the mansion had KP been greenlit for a season 2.

For a little bit of cultural context, I'll bring up three points (very generalized, mind you).

In Asia, the idea of children moving out once they’re 18 (or older, depending on the country’s age of consent laws) is very much a western concept. Most children in Asia don’t leave their family homes until they’re married, and even then, they sometimes still opt to live with their parents along with their spouse, so they can save money to buy their own in the meantime. In fact, a lot of Asian households can also have multiple generations living under one roof (I myself am also in this situation, at least part of the time when I go home overseas). That's not to say that children moving out early, or running away, or getting kicked out from home is unheard of, but for the most part, it's a rarer scenario compared to how normalized it is in the US.

For all that Kim goes behind Korn’s back, outwardly and at least towards his two elder brothers, Kim is a good son, in so far at least that he’s willing to go undercover in order to figure out the stink of what his family is connected to. He is loyal to his family—he’s protective over Kinn, and he’s gentle in how he interacts with Tankhun. Despite having moved out, the bored ease with which he strides into the compound shows that he visits often enough that it’s not an uncommon occurrence; the deference the bodyguards show him also supports this theory.

And finally, perhaps the strongest clue: when Chan tells him that Korn wants to see him at the end of ep 13, Kim cannot bring it in himself to disobey his father, no matter his own desire to go after the Kittisawasds. No matter what suspicions Kim may have of his father, at the end of the day, as my previous point—he is a good son, a filial one (all of them are, tbh). He doesn't outwardly show disagreements against Korn, and even during that tense meeting between them in ep 5, Kim shows some level of affection by bringing his father food. And yes, while I do agree that a lot of his smiles and behavior towards Korn is just for show, it doesn't change the fact that Kim doesn't want to disrupt the family harmony amongst them. At the very least—he actively chooses not to be the cause of that disruption.

So, with this context in mind, I’m of the opinion that Kim is more likely to move back into the compound, rather than continue to keep away. In fact, in the book, this is one of the big themes with Kim and Porchay: it’s due to Chay’s presence at the Theerapanyakul household that Tankhun comments about how Kim is often at home now.

It's Chay's presence in the mansion that brings Kim home.

The way I see it, Kim moved out because he had the luxury to do so. And I don’t mean this in the way that he’s able to discard his family obligations and pursue his own dreams, not at all.

I mean it in the most basic sense: Kim—or rather, the Theerapanyakuls—have the financial luxury to allow for Kim to move away. For any person that age, who wouldn’t choose to have their own space if they could honestly afford to do so? Besides that, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the apartment complex Kim lives in is owned by their family, hahaha! But I digress!

Getting back on point: Kim is most likely to move back in, because he now has a reason to do so, that being Chay.

I've always been of the belief that throughout this couple's story in the show and all the way from the beginning, it was always Chay unknowingly stepping into Kim’s world of the mafia and becoming further involved, not just because of his brother, but more because of Kim’s growing feelings for him.

And then by the end of the show, how it makes for a resounding statement that it’s Kim who reaches out to Chay: he’s now the one stepping into Chay’s world—which just happens to be the world of the mafia.

In that sense, it’s Chay’s presence that ultimately brings/keeps Kim home, literally and figuratively. The way I see it, the fact that it's Chay's singular, enduring presence that would be the one to inspire Kim to come home is what makes their love story a powerful one, and one that can measure up equally to the other two.

[vague-bisexual-crimes]

hiiii I wrote this at midnight last night and edited it like five minutes after I woke up so please be nice and forgive any grammatical errors 🙏

Description: almost 3k words of post-hiatus, pre-relationship Jimmy and Lister, ft. pining and background Frances and Rowan.

Rated: G

TWs: canon-typical anxiety, brief mentions of alcohol and drinking

Without any further ado my first (bicci) fanfic ever!

sleepless nights (as long as they’re with you)

Somewhere between Lister almost dying, drunk and alone in a river some short ways from Pierro’s and the release of The Ark’s first post-hiatus album, Jimmy realized something. Jimmy realized that maybe, just maybe, Lister wasn’t just objectively attractive, but, in fact, Jimmy was attracted to him. Jimmy tries to think back to when they were younger, or even just a few years ago to try to figure out if the attraction is recent or had always been there. Either way, the romantic feelings began to develop a few months after they’d brought Lister home from the hospital.

Rowan is gone visiting his not-girlfriend Frances Janvier, so it’s just Jimmy and Lister in their new-ish apartment. It’s just outside London, close enough for them to be in London on short notice, far enough that they can breathe.

None of the three boys have technically dated during or after the hiatus, but Rowan has been talking to Frances Janvier for a few months, since they’d met at a movie premiere and she had no idea who The Ark was aside from “that’s a band, isn’t it?”, and Rowan was immediately enamored. Jimmy and Lister had placed bets on how soon Rowan and Frances would get together that same night.

It’s getting to be late for Jimmy and Lister. A few weeks into the hiatus they had all begun to put in a genuine effort to get a solid 8 hours of sleep a night, but tomorrow is a day off, and tonight they just don’t care.

The two of them are laying on Jimmy’s bed while Brooklyn 99 episodes auto-play in the background, although they haven’t been watching for some time now.

Lister is ranting about the book series he’s just finished, one that Jimmy read a few years ago and remembers very little of, but is content to listen to Lister tell him the entire plot, along with all of his opinions.

That said, Jimmy is finding it difficult to pay attention to what Lister was saying. Lister’s sitting next to him, wearing Jimmy’s well-loved Black Parade hoodie that Jimmy pulled up from the floor after Lister kept complaining about being cold, but not wanting to get up. Something that should be known about Lister is that whenever he speaks enthusiastically about something, his hands and his arms move a lot. Normally, this is fine and not really notable to Jimmy, however tonight, every time Lister raises an arm, Jimmy’s hair-too-small hoodies rises up and a sliver of Lister’s bare stomach becomes visible.

You would think that when Lister had been laying in his bed shirtless, Jimmy would have been distracted, but Lister had so rarely ever worn anything more than boxers that the sight no longer phased Jimmy. But Lister was in Jimmy’s bed, in Jimmy’s hoodie, and Jimmy was struggling to not stare at his stomach.

“—and I despise love triangles, they’re entirely unnecessary and frankly annoying, but somehow this book did it well?” Lister says, sounding mildly distressed at his own statement.

“Yeah, it’s not like an Edward and Jacob love triangle at all.” Jimmy replies before Lister is rushing off on an entirely different tangent about Twilight.

Blame the Twilight talk, but now Jimmy can’t help but notice Lister’s newest tattoo, a floral piece on the side of his neck. It looks pretty—Lister looks pretty.

Lister looks healthier than Jimmy thinks he’s ever seen him. He’d stopped drinking and was beginning to put on a bit of muscle. But it’s not only that, he has this look in his eye that Jimmy hasn’t seen since The Ark finished recording their first EP Kill It. Like he’s really happy.

Jimmy shakes his head to himself, tears his eyes away from Lister’s neck, and his eyes land on the long forgotten television.

He got over you years ago. Jimmy reminds himself. It would be cruel to do this to him years after the fact. Lister doesn’t deserve that, and Jimmy isn’t going to do that to him.

“—Jim-jam?” Lister’s voice breaks through his thoughts.

Jimmy turns his eyes back to Lister, who seems mildly amused as he takes in Jimmy’s expression.

“Were you listening?” Lister asks, not upset but genuinely inquiring.

“Sorry, I got caught up in my head.” Jimmy replies, which is not technically untrue.

“Are you alright?” Lister asks, his expression shifting just so slightly from amusement to worry, now.

“Yeah, yeah, go on, I’m listening now.” Jimmy coaxes Lister to keep talking and forget his concern.

“Are you sure? You looked upset?” Lister asks. A good and bad thing from The Ark all getting some therapy during the hiatus was that Lister was keen to communicate now. Which was good most of the time, and bad right now.

Jimmy doesn’t say anything, he just looks at Lister. At his Black Parade hoodie, the sleeves fitted where they should be baggy, Lister’s hands no longer moving, but tucked into its pocket. At Lister’s floral tattoo on the side of his neck that Jimmy has wanted to kiss since Lister came home and showed Jimmy and Rowan the piece in the middle of their kitchen while Rowan was making tea and Jimmy was sitting on the counter listening to Rowan go on and on about Frances.

Jimmy’s eyes finally slid up to look at Lister’s face. At the lips he kissed once, in a bathroom, years ago, when Lister had been drunk, and Jimmy didn’t feel that way about him. Where Lister had profusely apologized and begged Jimmy not to hate him. It was an absurd statement then, and it still was. How could Jimmy hate Allister Bird?

Jimmy’s eyes find Lister’s. Lister’s gaze is unwavering and kind. Sometimes Jimmy wonders what his relationship would be to Lister if The Ark hadn’t become what it did.

“Jimmy?”

Therapy also means that Jimmy has learned how to properly communicate. Still, that doesn’t mean he wants to.

Jimmy can feel the panic start to actually build in his chest, the real panic, lively and nauseous, not the thought spiral that Lister had seen moments prior.

It’s now or never. Jimmy seems to realize all at once. He can tell Lister how he feels, potentially ruining the closest relationship he has ever had, that isn’t Rowan or Pierro and Joan, potentially distancing himself from one of the two people in the world who actually know him and understand his life, potentially ruining everything that they had spent the past six months building back up for the band, the band which had managed to have wildly unprecedented success after what their management had considered a far-too-long hiatus.

Or he can tell Lister how he feels and Lister could feel the same way and they can live happily-ever-after.

The latter seems too good to be true.

Lister has always been too good for Jimmy. He always will be. Jimmy is a mess. Even now, when he’s at the best place he has ever been with his mental health and The Ark is doing better than it ever has, what with the new album doing even better than Joan of Arc had at release, Jimmy is still a mess.

But Lister is still looking at him like that. Looking at him like he cares.

“I’m okay, Lister.” Jimmy puts on a weak smile to combat the lumb in his throat. “Do y’want some tea?” Jimmy asks, already halfway out of bed.

“I can do it, watch Brooklyn 99.” Lister says, his hand on Jimmy’s shoulder, gently coaxing him to sit back down.

“You didn’t want to get up—” Jimmy begins to protest.

“I don’t mind.” Lister says so simply that Jimmy nearly begins to cry.

Jimmy says a much-too-quiet “okay”, and Lister slips out into the hallway.

Jimmy tries for a brief moment to actually watch Brooklyn 99 and wait for Lister to get back so he can tell Jimmy about his books. It doesn’t work.

Jimmy sighs in frustration and puts his head between his knees like he can cure romantic feelings in the same way as motion sickness.

Lister either makes the quickest cup of tea known to man, or Jimmy doesn’t notice how long he’s been staring at his fitted sheet, his mind somewhere between a panic attack and a confession.

“Jimmy?” Jimmy wishes he would stop doing things to make his name sound so laced with concern every time it falls off Lister’s lips. “You alright?”

Jimmy sits up and quickly takes the cup of tea from Lister.

“You look like you're about to be sick.” Lister says. “Do you want me to hand you the bin?” Jimmy shakes his head. “Do y’want me to call Rowan?”

“Please, don’t.” Jimmy finally says. He takes a sip of tea if only to avoid this conversation for a moment longer. Chamomile vanilla. Jimmy’s favorite.

He looks up at Lister who’s still standing next to Jimmy’s bed watching him. “You know you can talk to me, yeah?” Lister says, and god there’s a tinge of hurt in his voice that Jimmy knows he didn’t intend to slip through.

“Of course,” Jimmy says, his voice more level than it’s been since the start of this evening. “I tell you everything.” Not necessarily true, but not a lie either. He tells Lister everything…except this.

Lister crawls over Jimmy to get to the other side of the bed, not spilling Jimmy’s tea by some miracle, and immediately wraps his arm around Jimmy. “I love you, you know that?” Lister says with his cheek pressed into Jimmy’s hair.

“I love you, too, Lister.” This doesn’t really feel like a lie. Jimmy, Rowan, and Lister had loved each other for as long as they’d been friends. They haven’t been so vocal about it until their early twenties, but that has never made it any less true.

Jimmy drinks his tea in silence, the only noise in the entire apartment being Jimmy’s TV, and the soft rhythm of Lister’s breath in his ear.

When Jimmy sets his mug on his bedside table, Lister asks, “Want to go to bed?”

It is properly late now and all of Jimmy’s panic has made him exhausted.

“Yeah,” Jimmy answers and Lister’s arm falls away from Jimmy and he begins to crawl out of bed.

Jimmy catches Lister’s arm, moving a bit too fast, and says. “You don’t need to get up. My bed’s big enough for both of us.”

“It’s okay,” Lister begins to slide his arm from Jimmy’s hand.

“Your bed isn’t even made and you’re already here.” Jimmy tries to shrug nonchalantly and sets the TV to turn off after an hour.

“Okay,” Lister says only a bit louder than a whisper.

Jimmy lays down and pulls the covers up and around him, pretending he isn’t aware of every move Lister makes as he sets his phone on the floor by the bed, takes off Jimmy’s Black Parade hoodie and crawls fully under the covers.

Jimmy wasn’t lying when he said his bed was big enough for both of them, there’s a solid foot of bed between them and they still have wiggle room on the other side.

It never takes Jimmy long to fall asleep whenever Lister is there.

***

Rowan comes home the next morning with the news that he’s officially going out with Frances Janvier and Lister slyly hands Jimmy a twenty under the table when Rowan isn’t looking.

“Is she gonna be coming ‘round then?” Jimmy asks between bites of cereal.

“She’ll be ‘round next week, but not for a while after that, she and Aled have some Universe City stuff to do.” Rowan replies.

“That’s great, Ro,” Lister says. “‘Bit jealous that you’re the first one of us to be in a relationship since the hiatus but still.”

Rowan rolls his eyes but his smile doesn’t waver. Rowan and Lister’s relationship has massively improved over the past few years. Partially from Rowan learning that he doesn’t need to take care of Lister all the time, partially because Lister has learned to take care of himself.

“You could date anyone.” Rowan says.

“Of course I could, have you considered none of them are good enough for Allister Bird?” Lister replies instantly.

“Yes, that’s the problem,” Rowan says.

“I’m with Lister on this one, Rowan, how come you’re the one who always ends up in good, long-term relationships?” Jimmy says as he puts his empty bowl in the dishwasher.

“I dated Bliss for two years and I haven’t even been dating Frances for 24 hours.”

“That’s longer term than Jimmy and I for like five years running.” Lister points out.

“That’s a lie! I dated that guy for three weeks when I was 16.” Jimmy protests.

“Relationships from when you were 16 don’t count.” Lister shrugs as though it’s law. “And you can’t even remember his name, can you?”

Jimmy ignores the last part. “You’re counting Bliss!”

“Because they dated while Rowan was also 17 and 18.”

“Impeccable logic as always, Bird.” Rowan says with a pat on Lister’s shoulder. Lister grins smugly at Jimmy.

“Rowan agrees with me.”

“Don’t put words in my mouth.” Rowan says and then they’re all laughing.

***

Frances comes round the week later to stay for two nights. Jimmy and Lister gleefully tease Rowan about having a girlfriend (although they maintain that they’re perfectly nice and civil to Frances, who is lovely), but eventually the novelty begins to wear off and Jimmy and Lister decide to leave Rowan and Frances alone and retreat to Jimmy’s bedroom.

Watching Brooklyn 99 in Jimmy’s room has become something of a routine of theirs lately. Some nights they watch a few episodes until they actually feel tired and Lister will go to his own room to sleep, other nights he sleeps in Jimmy’s room.

Jimmy prefers the nights where Lister sleeps in Jimmy’s room. He can always sleep when Lister is there, despite the background anxiety about his feelings for Lister, he feels safe with him.

Tonight neither of them are really watching the show, instead they’re scrolling through their respective personal social media accounts that the fans somehow have yet to find. It’s a content silence and Jimmy is perfectly happy to continue to watch Brooklyn 99 and scroll through his phone until he falls asleep, but then Lister says,

“Tell me to shut up if I’ve got the wrong idea, but,” Lister pauses and takes a breath. “you seemed genuinely very stressed about something the other night, and you don’t have to tell me, but you haven’t seemed that stressed in so long and I’m worried about you.” Lister looks at him.

Jimmy means to say more, but all that comes out is, “Lister…”

“You don’t have to tell me just…I’m here for you, for anything. I need you to know that.”

Jimmy opens his mouth to speak and closes it.

“Do you remember when you were drunk and you kissed me?” It’s not at all what Jimmy means to say and as soon as it’s out of his mouth he feels shit for bringing it up.

“I—yeah,” Lister looks embarrassed and slightly pained at the memory.

“And I told you, more or less, that I didn’t feel that way about you,” Jimmy continues slowly.

“Jimmy, you don’t have to reject me again. I got it the first time, haha.” It’s the saddest laugh Jimmy’s ever heard and for a moment his entire train of thought derails.

“What?” Jimmy asks.

“I didn’t think I was being that obvious. God, I’m sorry, Jimmy, you must’ve been so uncomfortable.” Lister explains and he looks like he might start crying.

“D’you still like me?” Jimmy’s voice is soft.

“It feels a bit juvenile to say it that way but…but yeah…” Lister thinks for a moment. “What’d’you mean, did you not know?” Jimmy can see Lister trying to work out what the hell is happening and coming up more confused than before.

“No, no, Lister…” the words are still stuck in his throat. It’s now or never.

Jimmy turns to properly face Lister and puts his hands on his cheeks, the tips of his fingers brush against Lister’s soft blond hair. Lister leans in slightly to the touch, but confusion dances across his face.

Slowly, with plenty of time for Lister to stop him, Jimmy leans in. He stops a breath from Lister’s lips and presses his forehead against Lister’s. Lister’s hands come up to rest on Jimmy’s biceps, his breath quickens and seemingly against his will, his eyes flutter shut.

“Can I kiss you?” Jimmy whispers.

“God, please,” Lister whispers and then Jimmy’s lips meet Lister’s and this time it feels right.

Lister’s hands move from Jimmy’s arms to his waist, pulling him gently so that he’s sat in Lister’s lap. Jimmy’s thumbs stroke Lister’s cheeks as they kiss, every anxiety he’d had about telling Lister how he felt washing away with each brush of his lips against Lister’s.

After a moment their lips part from the other’s and Jimmy presses his forehead to Lister’s again as they breathe.

“That’s what you were having anxiety about?” Lister whispers, his breath fanning across Jimmy’s face.

Jimmy nods and slides his arms around Lister’s neck to rest on his shoulders.

Lister kisses him, once, chaste, before burying his face in the crook of Jimmy’s neck. Lister’s arms tighten around Jimmy’s waist and they hold each other for god-knows how long before they hear Frances and Rowan laughing at something in the living room.

They pull back just enough to see each other’s faces. Jimmy runs his fingers through Lister’s hair, pushing it out of his eyes and then kisses him.

“Stay with me tonight?” Jimmy asks.

“Always.” Lister replies and kisses him again.

[trelinha9]

Every time I see a Friede x Amethio post, ten of my neurons die. I know these posts come from new fans who only watched the episodes released on Netflix (which goes up to 13 if I'm not mistaken), and he's only appeared in 6 episodes at this point (which is a crime against my mental health. What the hell is he doing in that time offscream? I WANT ANSWERS!!!) I remember in the first episodes of Horizontes, that Tumblr and AO3 were full of posts and fics about Friede x Amethio, and they disappeared over time as the episodes went on.

It's funny, because nowadays, almost a year after Horizons officially started, fans who watch the subtitled episodes are all worried about the mental health of this teenager and wondering why the heck they are in Exploradores, while the new fans are in the same boat as most of the old ones were and abandoned, shipping the poor guy with Friede.

I personally never shipped them because:

1: Amethio is, canonically, and confirmed by his original voice actor, a teenager (on bulbapedia it said he was between 13 and 19, but now they removed that part and only added the fact that he is a teenager, without mentioning a possible age) I headcanon him as 16, because, for me, it's the age that makes the most sense for his behavior and mannerisms, but that's just me. You can imagine him as 18 or 19 if that makes you feel more comfortable shipping him with Friede, but it doesn't change the fact that he's still a young and emotionally immature person, with no apparent emotional support base other than his Pokémon and his subordinates (Zir and Conia will get there someday, I know they will), while Friede is a fully grown adult, and clearly more mature than Amethio (there's even a line about it in episode 25). Friede had already been a Pokémon teacher for probably a reasonable amount of time when Liko was around 5 to 7 years old (we find out about this in episode 18), and honestly, Amethio doesn't look that much older than Liko. The clear age difference between them makes me uncomfortable. There are a lot of adults in the Horizons cast to be shipped with Friede, leave the traumatized teenager alone.

2: The way Friede, especially in the first arc, keeps teasing Amethio, even though he's clearly irritated and on edge, makes me want to punch him. I love Friede. But the way he interacts with Amethio, one minute he's having a good time taking care of Liko and Roy, and the next he's ready to annoy the shit out of a teenager make me so angry. I love this idea that Friede is a complete social disaster who doesn't really know how to pick up cues (scareing a deaf girl, for example, is definitely something he would do by accident 👀), but there's no way he can't see how negatively his actions and words affect Amethio. Amethio wants to prove himself. He wants to fulfill the mission ordered to him, and this idiot adult, in addition to getting in the way, bothers him every chance he gets (ep 5, ep 22 and ep 25 are the best examples). I'm amazed at how Friede either doesn't really realize the harm his actions cause to Amethio, or he does and simply decides to keep doing it.

This post may make it seem like I don't like Friede, which isn't true. I love Friede. I think he's a very funny character, but he also has a lot of flaws, and bullying a teenager is one of them.

I don't want to start fights about ships, because I'm not in Horizontes for the ships, but for the story and the characters. The only ship I really like is Friede with a certain Explorer who erased a child's memory (because for the love of god, they couldn't have made their battle in the last episode any less gay, could they) I don't want to offend anyone who ships Friede and Amethio, I just wanted to give my opinion on the matter and why I, with my interpretation of the story and characters, hate this ship. (Hate is a strong word, but I feel uncomfortable whenever I see this ship somewhere)

I'm really sorry if I offended anyone at any point in this post, I just don't like seeing a teenager and an adult being shiped.

[beepject]

Inanimate Insanity Mouthwashing AU (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

hi. the title is just as it is. idk.

I haven't watched or played mouthwashing yet, but my boygirlfriend is suuuperrr interested in it and we got to making an au abt this cuz we were talking about "what if I drew mephone4 in daisuke's clothes because inankmate insanity invitational" and it lead to this.

so,,,,

Anya = mephone3gs Curly = mepad THAT FUCKING LOSER THAT JAS THE NAME YHAT STARRS WITH A JAY = mephone4s Swansea = Steve cobs Daisuke = mephone4 Polle (the horse mascot idk) = knife

uhh. The reason mephone3gs is anya is because we didn't have any more characters and um. his dynamic with mephone4. Im Sorry mephone3gs. No section for you I'm afraid

also here's the names I'll just be referring them to:

Anya/MePhone3GS = Anya3GS Swansea/Steve Cobs = Steve Cobs (sorry I can't be bothered) Daisuke/MePhone4 = Daisuke4 JayJay/MePhone4S = Jim4S/Jimmy4S Polle/Knife = Knife (sorry I can't be bothered either) Curly/MePad = Curly.........pad....?

i had no ideas for curly/mepad's name so like. we're gonna call them cryopad because curly got sent to a cryopad in the ending of the game. I think. atleast that's wjat my girlfriend told me.

anhwho! Reasons below! Idk! (also the SA has been removed for this au because. they're objects. I guess idk.)

Daisuke4 and Steve Cobs

These two were picked because ONE.

i had an advantage here.

And TWO. Their dynamic. Father and son.

I know Canon Cobs doest gaf about mephone4 or whatever but he does in this au I guess. and cobs did try to kill mephone4.

In summary we picked them both for this because:

"pretty much the only reason we do that is for the father son relationship + mephone's insecurities abt not being good enough + mephone4 being drawn with daisuke's jacket" "+ axe thing"

I would've used him as curly because of his dynamic between Jimmy (jimmy is mephone4s) but we just decided to go with this instead

Knife and Jim4S/Jimmy4S

In summary. Knife4s. I'm sorry everyone. Sighs.

IN LONGER DETAIL!!!!!:

Jessica (sorry om calling Jimmy that for the rest of this whole post) loves horses. mephone4s loves weapons. Knife is a weapon.

now. go rewatch ii s2 ep 18 and go to that one mephone4s and knife scene.

in girlfriend's words:

another fyi thing, in one of the scenes, Polle was the one who talked to jambalaya (jimmy) and revealed all of jambalaya's plans and shi

the scene was just (simplified ver) jambalaya: i was sorry for curly, i know i did shi wrong and im sorry, very sorry polle: mf if you were sorry why are you still thinking about him you orange

think about that as the conversation mephone4s and knife had! anywho I'm brainrotted. next section. maybe ill explain more on this section if my brain wasnt burning right now

Cryopad (MePad/Curly) (also known as CurlyPad)

uhh. mepad was just chosen because of what the fandom says. (curly and daisuke being a good duo)

in girlfriend's words. Agaun:

actually mepad and mephone r kinda perfect since in the last scene they hugged and curly & daisuke kinda have a good duo (based on the fandom)

ok yhh that's it. For now I guess. Uuuoiggghgfhh yeah.

[definitely-not-an-alb]

21 & 24

Thank you for asking!

21 Canon that is overhyped

This is going to be a ‘touch your own nose’ situation, but unironically: the romance plots. Again: Absolutely a thing I spent a lot of time on especially wrt. Fanfic thoughts, and obviously who’s hitting on who is fun ep-to-ep gossip, but I feel like the attention the romances specifically get in comparison to the amount of canon they actually make up is, like, *wild*. I will once more blame genre and genre expectation and genre familiarity or lack there-off because like. These are action-adventure shows, not romantasy or YA (also why is YA now synonymous with teenage romance, I hate it here).

Like, canon Orym/Dorian is fun, but a) I’d like it in fandom/fanfic a lot more if it was actually the trope it is in the show instead of … *points at all that* and more importantly b) it is absolutely not everything that’s going on with those guys. The romance is a tertiary plot sharing screen time with all those other tertiary plots and standing half a step behind, I’d say, these two’s individual (also tertiary, because that’s just how it goes this campaign) arcs.

While I do think the romance plots have gotten qualitatively better from c1 in c2 and c3, fandom seems to think there’s quantitatively a lot more of them and that they are, overall, more important, and I just don’t see that. And in some cases (like with Orym, but there’s other stuff playing into that) the Romance-focus and overhyping of the few-and-far-between romance scenes over everything else warps their characters in fandom in a way that I just find unpleasant or uninteresting. Orym, for example, is just a lot more interesting to me if he’s the type of guy he imo is (standing next to the other Quiet Salt of the Earth Apocalyptic Action Guys) than when he’s warped into a Cute Tumblr Slash Man who only exists when he’s having an interaction with or emotion about either Will or Dorian.

I do think this is separate from an (imo) ‘shipping ruins analysis’ or whatever take (which are dumb, sorry not sorry), because my point here isn’t really that I have a problem with shipping, I have a problem with how people distort the canon to be all about canon romance that just often is not that fucking important. To be quiet clear: I think CR would be banger if none of the characters ever canonically banged, and I’d still be shipping in that case. I’m confused what other people are watching, because last time I checked the romance scenes are always like. 5-10 minutes in-between long fights and platonic shenanigans and intrigue plots and someone defacing a temple. Instead of the main event. You know.

24 Topic that bring up the most rancid discourse

Well, I was not here for the apparently garbage shipping discourse of C2, and quite frankly I am bored of the gods-drama but at least that’s, like, canon, in-universe drama. So after that long post about how people are to obsessed with the romances, I will immediately touch my own nose about it some more and say: Most rancid discourse happens when people randomly decide to defend a character’s lesbian gold star, especially if the character in question is, like, actively trying to fuck dudes in canon. Extra rancid whenever those people have to square their ostensible trans-inclusiveness with their blatant terfness the second they are reminded multigender people exist. To the people doing this stuff: I’m really so sorry for you that Laudna keeps hitting on the Nightmare King and trans people exist in Exandria, have you tried not exuding incredible amounts of ‘I am banned or discouraged from all my local irl queer community events’-Energy in the main tag?

[chainedupgirlsblog]

Masterlist | 2024-2025

⚡Currently working on: ⚡

➥ October Challenge:

➥ The Loyal Pin Commentary:

➥ I’m currently writing:

It wasn't over for me ~ Multi Chapters Story | 36,613 current words | 9/? | Link to AO3

main tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence | Break Up | Post-Break Up | Years Later | Aged-Up Character(s) | Mutual Pining | Doctor Tinn | Singer Gun

summary:

Gun and Tinn’s relationship was the topic everyone talked about by the end of their senior year and the years that followed too. It seemed like the young couple always was a great topic to gossip about for those surrounding them. Always commenting about every new step they took, either praising them or criticizing them, with no in-between. With all this much attention upon them, it was kinda expected from the couple to at some point break apart. People were even betting on when this was going to happen. They were too young, too naive, too in love to last, everyone was sure they were going to break up at some point. But it didn’t happen, or at least not when it was expected. They did break up, but it took more time than people bet on. Or, Where they break up after years of relationship and are unable to move on

➥ Writer Studio - FREE Notion Template

➥ My Fics in AO3:

TinnGun ~ My School President Fics (5) :

Descent into chaos ~ Short-Story | 4,170 current words | 1/8

main tags: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse | Crushes | Secret Crush | Teen Crush | Idiots in Love | Focused on TinnGun | any other couple is just slightly mentioned | Major Character Injury | Not Really Character Death

summary:

“What is going on?” Tinn is the one who asks this time. Both Tinn and Gun are extremely confused and scared. The sound of the alarm is now a background sound not as terrifying as the next thing the instructor says. “There’s a high possibility that the damn zombies are back…” Right after that, their entire school descent into full chaos. Or, The TinnGun version of All of Us Are Dead where all the 'bromance' becomes romance, as it should've been! lol

Five Study Sessions Plus One Photoshoot ~ Short-Story | 11,134 current words | 3/6

main tags: College Boyfriends | Post-Canon | Leaving Together | Singer Gun | Med Student Tinn | 5 + 1 thing type of fic | Domestic Fluff | Established Relationships | Jealous Gun | Protective Gun

Part 1 of College Boyfriends TinnGun Series

summary:

Gun doesn’t understand how accepting to help his med-student boyfriend has bound him to lie flat on their shared bed with just his underwear on. Or, Five times Gun wants to help Tinn study for his med classes plus one time Tinn helps Gun.

May I have this dance? ~ One-Shot | 4,503 words | ☑️

main tags: College Boyfriends | Post-Canon | Leaving Together | learning how to dance | Singer Gun | Med Student Tinn | dancing together

Part 2 of College Boyfriends TinnGun Series

summary:

A silly little fic about Tinn learning how to dance bachata and Gun going pretty much crazy about it. Works the other way around too, they’re equally crazy for each other lol

Keep flirting with me, I’ll keep falling ~ One-Shot | 2,838 words | ☑️

main tags: College Boyfriends | Post-Canon | Established Relationship | Going out to a bar with friends | Hand Job in a public space (nothing explicit) | Rated Mature

Part 3 of College Boyfriends TinnGun Series

summary:

Tinn uses his cheesy pick-up lines again. And Gun hates to admit they’re working on him, again... but they are. Things might escalate a little along the night, they might even get heated, watch out!

MorkDay ~ Last Twilight Fics (1) :

No more loneliness, Little Day ~ One-Shot | 1,337 words | ☑️

main tags: Canon Compliant | Mork’s POV | last scene from ep 2 | fluff

summary:

Mork takes Day back to his house with a new friend in hand. There he realizes of some new things. That one last scene from episode 2 but told by Mork's POV. That's it. That's the fic.

SandRay ~ Only Friends Fics (2) :

priceless night (smoke rings, smokey kisses) ~ One-Shot | 3,675 words | ☑️

main tags: Canon Compliant | Sand's POV of episode 02 | First kiss and first night together (is a combo) | canon tattoo kissing

Part 1 of Do you dare to be mine? Series

summary:

“Some friendships can start with sex…” says Ray. Making it clear that what they have won’t go further than ‘friendship’. Good, Sand thinks. This just makes things easier, right? RIGHT? It has to. “Sure…” says Sand accepting the rules of Ray’s game. “But when you want more there won’t be more. We’re just friends, no matter what” he adds, setting his own rules of the game. Or, A much-needed Sand's POV of episode 2 (SandRay last scene).

nothing feels better than this ~ One-Shot | 4,714 words | ☑️

main tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence | Ray's POV of that first scene of episode 8 | jealous Ray

Part 2 of Do you dare to be mine? Series

summary:

“Let him undress you and pick a new style for you…” Sand whispers as a hand starts wandering over Ray’s shirt. “Mine doesn’t fit you anymore, does it?” Sand asks in another low whisper, his gaze fixed on Ray’s expression through the mirror, while the hand now wanders over Ray’s chest unbuttoning the first two buttons of his shirt. Or, Ray's POV of that first scene of episode 8. Plus a missing scene that occurs after that one. Missing, as just happened in my imagination.

VegasPete ~ Kinnporsche Fic (1) :

I'm All Yours ~ One-Shot | 13,355 words | ☑️

main tags: Post-Canon | Canon Compliant | Light Bondage | blindfolding | Light BDSM | Spanking | Masochist Vegas | Dominant Pete | Switchers

summary:

After the confrontation between the two families, Vegas finds peace and comfort only in his boyfriend's arms, Pete is there to support Vegas in all ways possible. Or, Where they fuck and they're switchers, so be aware of bottom Vegas! and top Pete!

[beloved-child-of-the-house]

My dear friend Abelard @sincerelywrong turned 25 today!!! Happy birthday my dearest frog <3 Here’s a little ficlet I wrote in celebration with hair dye and self acceptance and best friendship. 

“Are you sure about this, Steven?” Connie snapped on her plastic gloves with relish, but still looked a little concerned at Steven in his bathroom mirror.

“Sure I’m sure!” Steven adjusted his makeshift smock. “It’s just hair anyway. It grows back if it comes out looking weird. Besides I trust you!” They smiled at each other’s reflections in the mirror. 

“I’m just reading the directions on the box,” said Connie, stirring the little jar of hair color. “I don’t have like. Expertise or anything.�� 

“Well, I trust you to follow the directions! Plus I really don’t think being a platinum blonde works for me, so I’m ready to be something else now.” 

“That makes sense,” Connie still paused, spreader stick in hand and hovering over Steven’s curls. “Just. Are you sure you want. Pink hair?”

“Because I’ll look like my mom?”

“Well. Yeah.” 

Steven smiled and shrugged, “I already look like her. We have the same nose. She’s my mom.” Connie still looked a little skeptical. “I know I used to be really scared of being like my mom, but. She’s my mom. I am like her. It’s okay. I’m also like me. There’s a lot we have in common and a lot we don’t. I don’t have to be nothing like her to still be me.” 

“Okay,” Connie started to apply the color, “I just wanted to check in.”

“Thanks,” Steven raised his phone to take a picture of them in the mirror as Connie covered his hair in the glop. “Plus pink is my favorite color; I’m gonna look so pretty!”

“You really will!” Connie tried to hug Steven and avoid contact with the hair glop simultaneously but since she couldn’t, she kissed him on the cheek instead, and they both giggled. “I wonder if the dye will show on Stevonnie.”

“I hope so! Stevonnie would be so cute with pink hair.” 

“They would!” Connie finished applying the dye and set the dye pot and stirrer aside and peeled off the gloves. 

“All done? How long does it have to stay on?”

Connie checked the box, “Twenty to thirty minutes but no more than forty five.”

“Okay!” Steven set an alarm on his phone and stood up. “I think Garnet and Amethyst are watching tv in the living room. Wanna go hang out with them? Or we could play video games in my room. Or get a snack? My dad and I just went to the store, so we have a ton of snacks.” 

Connie’s mind seemed to have wandered, “Hey Steven?” 

“Yeah?” Steven sat down again. 

“It’s um. I just. It seems like you’re already um.” She sniffled a little, “I’m glad you’re still here.”

Steven smiled a big wet smile and wiped away a tear, “Me too. Thanks for helping me. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” 

“Jam buds forever, right?” Connie held her arms out for a hug. 

Steven stepped into them and hugged her tight, “Jam buds forever.”

[eulaties]

marionetta: first impressions

as you can tell, i veryy much love marionetta so far and i am super excited to see where the story will go in terms of conflict + character development! so below, i will be theorizing about the connections between anthonn and the ah’kon people, as well as julia’s overarching role in the story. please bear with me bc this'll be pretty rambly ^^;; and because everything is subject to being proven horribly wrong by canon, please also take everything with a grain of salt!

edit (1/4/23): ok so apparently the Hot Guy isn’t anthonn. unless....he’s just lying and he actually IS anthonn.........../hj

jokes aside i have no idea whether this entire post was immediately proven wrong by ep. 4 or not so. i’ll just leave this here in the very slim chance that my crack theory is right...or, if anthonn’s identity is finally revealed and i am proven horribly, horribly wrong, i’ll still leave this up but make another edit.

in either case—happy reading! i am truly excited to see where this story’s mystery will take us ✨

edit 2 (1/10/23): ok yeah i was proven horribly wrong lol but also i would die for tonnie

1. anthonn & the ah’kon people

firstly, with all the emphasis the narrative places on the ah'kon people within just the first 2 episodes, i think it’s clear that—with the whole three eyes thing, and the fact that they look pretty similar—anthonn is related to them in some way. maybe they’re kin, or maybe they only have a shared identity. either way, they are connected.

another interesting thing to note is the way that kalgratti citizens speak about the ah’kon:

a) episode 1 ➜ the scene on the bus

b) episode 2 ➜ julia’s conversation w/ her father

J: “No way am I sitting there! Can’t you see who’s sitting next to it?!”

K: “Oh, right. That man is one of those Ah’kon people. Do you think it’s true that under that badge they have...?”

J: ...“Stay behind me. It’s dangerous letting this guy travel with normal people...Don’t make eye contact with him, Kamille.”

Afterwards, the people on the bus excitedly talk about going to the circus.

J: ..."But the new uniform orders just came in! The rest of us will have to do twice as much work! You're all just slackers!”

c) episode 3 ➜ the scene after julia wakes up from the dead

F: “We have to return some Three Eyes to the Aspett Research Center.”

J: “Yes, I saw one on the bus yesterday. Why are they letting them walk around like that?”

F: “I don’t know, but don’t even think about talking to them...They’re superstitious people.”

After this, Julia tells him that she went to the circus last night.

F: “To the circus? What for? Only slackers go there!”

these three scenes give away a LOT of information:

J: “Yes, that’s it! Are you trying to drive me crazy?! I’ll report you all!”

D: “Hey...”

J: “You use cheap tricks to poison the minds of Kalgratti citizens! You’re a bunch of—” [censored by the speech bubble]

D: “Calm down, young lady...”

julia, as a character, is very restrained in that she is pretty conservative with her lifestyle and perspective of the world (ofc i don’t mean “conservative” in the political way, i just mean that she’s more traditional compared to someone like kamille, who is naturally free-spirited and inclined to adventure). this is mostly seen in episode 1, where she acts grumpy all throughout the trip to the circus, and consistently wishes that she was anywhere but there. she also doesn’t hesitate to say “i’ll report you!” whenever she gets angry at other people (namely, the circus troupe).

this characterization makes a lot of sense when we consider that julia’s father seems to be a decently ranked official in the village. he looks like he may work for the law enforcement, given his uniform and how he says, “we have to return some three eyes.”

the fact that the three eyes, or ah’kon people, are regularly sent to research centers signals that not everything is as innocent as it seems. it’s almost as if kalgratti citizens generally accept that ah’kon people are all “crazy” subjects that need to be studied by researchers. this dehumanization is similar to what we saw in hooky, though it seems to be more covert; not as outwardly violent as burning someone at the stake, and yet just as harmful. this silent persecution may be one of the driving conflicts of the story.

2. julia’s identity & narrative role?

from the scenes outlined above, i believe it is also pretty obvious that julia parrots a lot of the rhetoric that her father says. from thinking that the circus is just for slackers to wholeheartedly believing that the ah’kon people are freaks, she doesn’t seem to have an identity for herself. even her steadfast work ethic and “stick-in-the-mud” attitude is largely due to her upbringing. this means that the way julia perceives the world is very much molded by her father; she believes she leads a respectable, normal life, while in actuality she lives according to convention and doesn’t question societal norms.

and here is where the circus comes into the picture.

everything that she has ever known is suddenly turned upside down by the contract that she hastily signs (and doesn’t even bother to read the fine print of). anthonn’s wandering troupe presumably gives the unfairly deceased a second chance of living, at the cost of shedding their former identities, so when julia is simultaneously killed by the circus that is so very diametrically opposed to who she is at that moment, it’s ironic! because she’s also given a second chance through the circus—only that, rather than shedding her former identity, she must pay her dues through murder.

regardless, it seems that when she does commit the murder months later, her former identity is already long gone.

and there is certainly a lot to unpack here about her chosen (or assigned?) circus costume.

as preface: miriam bonastre tur is an artist from spain, so i think it is reasonable to assume that she’ll be incorporating spanish and/or latin american cultural influences into marionetta. therefore...

julia’s mushroom hat & makeup: mushrooms in spanish and latin american folktales have strong connections to spirituality and are highly respected in traditional shamanic culture. this is super interesting when we consider the context of the circus in marionetta...

“Shamanism is a system of religious practice. Historically, it is often associated with Indigenous and tribal societies, and involves belief that shamans, with a connection to the otherworld, have the power to heal the sick, communicate with spirits, and escort souls of the dead to the afterlife.”

julia’s mismatched tights: they may be a visual representation of going against what is perceived as “normal,” and breaking free from strict conventions. perhaps by being in the circus, julia will gradually unlearn her own subconscious prejudices. this ideological change would then set up conflict with her father later on in the story.

julia’s braids: instead of wearing her hair in only one braid, like what was seen at the beginning of the story, she now wears her hair in two braids. this parting of her single, unified braid visually parallels a fork in the road; in turn, this may imply that she will come to make a crucial decision (i.e., to kill or not to kill anthonn). maybe she won’t choose either of the paths laid out for her. maybe she’ll create a new path for herself...and maybe that'll involve her trying to escape the contract.

3. miscellaneous wonderings

is there narrative significance to having julia (& everything she represents, especially in relation to the ah'kon people) “kill” anthonn?

in a society where ah'kon people face covert persecution, was founding the circus troupe anthonn’s way of surviving?

who wrote the contract? who “chose” julia to kill anthonn? alternatively, are there more people in the circus tasked to kill him?

[rairites]

Episode 7: Psychoanalyzing Stolitz/Why the Episode Ended the Way it Did

So, I've seen a lot of posts (not just on Tumblr) where people argue about who is to blame for what happened at the end of the newest episode of Helluva Boss, and I had to say something. Some blame Stolas for not defending Blitzø, some blame Blitzø for leading Stolas on, and we're sitting arguing about the worst thing to deal with in an abusive relationship such as this one, but after a lot of thought, I've come to the conclusion that this is not how Vivienne wanted viewers to interpret what happened, and here's why:

ART BY PANDALEAFS ON TWITTER

First of all, we know for sure that Stolas has feelings for Blitzø deeper than just sexual, evidenced by his excitement that Blitzø called him to take him on a date (PLEASE RECALL AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EPISODE STOLAS DID THINK THEY WERE GOING ON A DATE). He thought this because, although he was the one to call it a date originally, Blitzø did not deny it. Or, rather, he did not deny what it looked like. What Stolas interpreted it as. I'm afraid this was red flag one, people.

The next largest thing I noticed but did not fully understand until after reading a shit ton of YouTube comments, Tumblr posts, and rewatching the episode about ten times, was where the turning point was for Blitzø, because I think it's extremely important if we want to understand exactly what happened here and why it happened.

So, obviously, the entire humiliation scene in general would probably be enough to put anyone in a bad mood, but it's hard to believe that Blitzø's acting out at the end of the episode was only caused by seeing Verosika and Fizz again. He's seen them both before and been called out by both before, albeit separately, yet neither of those episodes ended in a similar way at all to this one. In fact, this is the first time we've seen either Blitzø or Stolas cry, and I wanted to know why that was. I wanted to know exactly which buttons were pushed to make a character like Blitzø so upset. And, after paying very close attention to facial expressions and body language, we can start to piece together where exactly it all went wrong: from the moment they stepped into that club to the moment they left, and which emotions who felt when.

After they're sat down at a table, Blitzø starts to spy on M&M, which is what he came there to do. He doesn't stop to think that what he's doing is rude or unfair, because his and Stolas's relationship has been written as strictly sexual up until this episode. Fans (including myself) have been shipping Stolitz for a very long time but we forget that a romantic relationship between these two characters is technically only semi-canonical. Although they may not have seen each other in a while and Stolas seems to think Blitzø has asked him out on a date, Blitzø still most likely assumes that the relationship they've established thus far, from pilot-ep 6, has not changed. A relationship that can be summarized as: if you do this for me, I'll do this for you. Red flag two, folks.

When Stolas realizes that Blitzø didn't really invite him to spend time with him, and when Blitzø realizes that Stolas really did think this was a romantic date (see above picture), things get awkward. Thankfully for Blitzø, Fizz interrupts this conversation.

Fast-forward to after Blitzø calls attention to himself in an attempt to defend Moxxie (which is for another break-down). He then goes on to be humiliated by Fizz in front of an audience: "Last I checked, your love life is a pile of shit" he says, and although visibly upset, this doesn't necessarily seem to be the thing that fazes Blitzø.

When it's Verosika's turn to roast, Blitzø rolls his eyes and appears annoyed. Although, his expression changes as, at the last line of her song, she calls him "reckless" and a heartbreaker.

Stolas rises from his seat, most likely in concern, only to have Asmodeus recognize him. I believe that this is where things really take a turn for the worst.

"Who's that at your table? Is your date a demon prince? Stolas, is that you? My dark lord, how the mighty do fall. You used to have a smoking wife, a kid, you had it all.

I hope you didn't give it up so you and him could get it up."

Stolas is visibly uncomfortable to have his and Blitzø's relationship scrutinized and judged so mercilessly by the audience, but Asmodeus himself isn't criticizing Stolas. The Prince of Lust is ecstatic at a display such as Blitzø and Stolas's because their relationship began out of sheer lust for one another. That same sheer lust which, arguably, ended Stolas's marriage and put a damper on his relationship with his daughter. Asmodeus lives for that shit.

And what hurts Stolas is the fact that he CAN'T DENY IT. He can't deny the fact that his sexual attraction to Blitzø may just have ended his marriage, or that his daughter thinks less of him because of it, which brings us to the Menu scene, which is so very easy to misinterpret and isn't talked about enough.

"You sold your life for a thrust

Now that's the spirit of lust."

Blitzø, at this point, feels terrible for asking Stolas here after they both just got attacked. He's embarrassed beyond belief and recognizes that Stolas is as well, so he looks at him apologetically, which Stolas responds to by blocking Blitzø from his view.

From Blitzø's perspective, Stolas did this because he was ashamed to have slept with an imp (imps being the lowest class in Hell, superior only to Hellhounds). Red flag tres. It's not Blitzø's fault that his mind immediately resorts to the most likely conclusion based on his personal experiences. After all, it's a very human thing to do. But it is an issue that I'm sure must be resolved in some way if these two ever have a chance of becoming a couple. No one can be romantically involved with someone whose superiority makes them self conscious. I.e., Blitzø could never be with Stolas if he keeps believing that someone so high-class can't love someone who's lower-class.

His issues don't end there, though. Blitzø clearly hates himself, as evidenced by all those pictures with his face scribbled out in his and Loona's apartment. Until he finds a reason to stop hating himself, I don't see how he'd ever be able to allow Stolas to love him, even if he wanted him to.

The fourth red flag is the reason why Stolas felt the need to block Blitzø from view in the first place. Unless that's not what he's doing. I think the easiest way to explain this is to say: Stolas isn't trying to keep from seeing Blitzø, he's trying to keep Blitzø from seeing him.

Hmmmmm, nope. Still confusing.

Stolas is ashamed, which we've established, but while Blitzø believes that he's ashamed of Blitzø, what he's truly ashamed of is himself. He hides behind the menu because he doesn't want Blitzø to think less of him. Because what Asmodeus said was true: he "sold his life for a thrust" and it's not something he's proud of, but he still has feelings for Blitzø.

ART BY AMES_ARTNANIMATION ON TWITTER

Although, unfortunately, neither have any way of knowing what the other is thinking, and this LACK OF COMMUNICATION is what really hinders any hope Stolitz may have in the future. Their problem is that neither of them know how to say the things they need to say.

When Stolas reaches across the table towards the end of the episode, only to have Blitzø reject him, it's so hard to watch because after that menu scene, we see Blitzø's guard go completely up, and Stolas doesn't understand why.

When Blitzø drops Stolas off at his house, it's clear that this whole experience, from Stolas's perspective, was nothing more than a date gone wrong. So, he invites him inside.

Blitzø, who is now completely certain that Stolas could never want anything more from him than sex, (because how could he? they're on such different levels) doesn't believe Stolas when he tells him they don't have to have sex that night. He doesn't believe that Stolas could genuinely ever want to spend time with him because he must be ashamed of him. And Blitzø thinks Stolas is lying to him when he tells him that he enjoyed their time together, which makes it all the more heartbreaking, because we, the viewers, now know for sure that he isn't lying.

"Stolas, don't act like what we have is anything but you wanting me to fuck you, okay? You make that really clear all the time."

Previously, I had struggled a lot with determining whether Stolas's affections for Blitzø were reciprocated, but I think this scene confirms what we've speculated for a long time: there are feelings on both sides that go deeper than the physical. That line really changed the game.

And I screamed at the tv, too, when Stolas let Blitzø drive home without declaring his love for him, but I get it. No one isn't scared of rejection, not even demon royalty. Why he didn't deny only wanting sex from Blitzø, I couldn't tell you. Maybe he figured it wasn't the right time, or that, similarly in episode two, he just doesn't "have the words." Whatever his reasons for not clearing this up, he doesn't do it intentionally, but as was made clear, the car scene obviously struck a nerve.

I don't believe that either of them would have been so upset by what happened if they didn't care. But it was still difficult to see Blitzø's sobbing at the end of the episode after seeing that picture of his mother and sister(?) which seemed to basically drive him over the edge.

In conclusion, I really don't know what they're going to do after this. Most likely, someone's dying, but I don't really want to think about who. Who who.

Please stop arguing about who did what and who's more fucked up. They're both fucked up. They both have issues. It's neither one's fault. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

Feel free to agree or disagree in the comments : )

[sortasirius]

what makes you think the writers want deancas? not trying to be an asshole, i'm just genuinely curious as to why you think that. i know berens' episodes are pretty heavy with subtext so i can see why you'd say that he wants it, but i'm not so sure about the rest of the writers/dabb. it seems like meghan isn't a huge fan either, given her "they twisted it so fast" tweet :/ of course she's a very new writer (think she's only writing one ep this season?) but still

OKAY this is a great question, welcome to my dissertation.

I’m going to address the end of your question first. Meghan is actually DeanCas positive, she has been for quite a long time. She actually, a few years back, posted a picture of her reading a literal book about Destiel and captioned it “writing reading” or something like that.

This whole thing just comes out of a boiling over of tensions because of how nasty fandom twitter can be. Like I said here, I think this has just gotten blown out of proportion, they shouldn’t have posted all this randomly disparaging stuff, but also like...can you blame them? The fandom is a lot, we always have been, and they’re probably also under a gag order not to talk about the finale, and are annoyed that people keep asking.

So nah, Meg is not anti Destiel.

To the first part!! So let’s take a look at the show runners since Cas has been around.

Seasons 4 and 5: Kripke

Seasons 6 and 7: Gamble

Seasons 8-11ish: Carver

Seasons 11ish-15: Dabb

So starting with Kripke. Okay, yes, I will be the first to admit that we have some pretty incredible Destiel moments in these seasons, but it’s less directly written into the plot and much more from Misha and Jensen’s uhhhh ~chemistry~. The only times it was directly written into the script was when the episode was handled by someone like Edlund (“On The Head Of A Pin,” “The End,” “My Bloody Valentine”). And you have to remember, if in season 5, there are moments here and there where you’re like huh that’s suspiciously romantic dialogue, remember that Cas took Anna’s place. Anna was supposed to be endgame for Dean, but due to a myriad of issues and Misha’s general greatness, Anna was replaced with Cas.

Onto 6 and 7. Hmmm. Gamble. 6 and 7 are my two least favorite seasons and that’s no secret, and that’s not only due to the plain old weird shit in the overall storyline, but also that homegirl killed off Cas in s7 and then Bobby like four episodes later. (Also it ALWAYS rubbed me the wrong way they couldn’t have Baby in that season lol). We still had some great DeanCas moments, but again, it wasn’t really written into the overall arc (until they had to change the end of season 7 because of tanking ratings and bring Misha back lol, anyone remember the fact that Dean kept Cas’ jacket and would randomly dream of him? Yeah.). But we still had those moments, those distinctly romantic moments, probably the best example in these two seasons is from Edlund again, specifically “The Man Who Would be King,” I wrote a little about that here.

We move onto Carver, who gave us, at this point, the most overt DeanCas season with season 8 (season gr8 is a better name imo), and this is the first time Dean and Cas’ relationship is directly written as an arc of the season.  I mean, you have everything in Purgatory, Dean “seeing” Cas everywhere, the fact that he felt so guilty that Cas stayed in Purgatory that he manipulated his own memories to think that he was the one that failed Cas, because he couldn’t comprehend that Cas would want to leave him, and let’s not forget Dean snapping Cas out of Naomi’s hold on him in “Goodbye Stranger.”  It was a very obvious shift, not enough to alert the general audience, but more than enough for most of us in fandom.

It’s also important to note that this is when Andrew stopped co writing with Loflin and started writing his own episodes (”Hunter Heroici” anyone?)  I like Loflin fine, but Dabb was able to stretch his legs a little bit more once he stopped co-writing, and we also began to see some DeanCas themes in his solo episodes.

In any case, them and their issues being a big part of the seasons continued with Carver, and Berens entered the scene, his first episode (”Heaven Can’t Wait”) is one of my favorites, with human Cas and the fanfiction gap and Dean and Cas just generally being awkward and funny and sweet.  This is Bobo’s FIRST episode, remember that.  He comes right out of the gate with it.

Also in Season 9, this is when Dean takes the Mark of Cain, and the Cas/Colette mirror is born, so obviously, Dean and Cas are the fabric of the season once again.  This is also the season where Metatron says Cas is “in love with humanity,” and then immediately refers to Dean as Humanity so uhhhh yeah.

Onto season 10, Dabb and Berens continue with their greatness (I could write pages on the DeanCas date in “The Things We Left Behind” alone).  And then we have one of the best scenes in the entire show in “The Prisoner” where the Cas/Colette mirror continues and Dean, driven by grief and pain and rage and the Mark, still doesn’t kill Cas.  He still can’t kill Cas.

Season 11 is important because it takes choice away from both Cas and Dean, and shows us, as the audience, how much losing each other takes out of them. We saw in season 10 how much losing Dean takes from Cas, but what about Cas losing Dean?  Dean loses his choice with his connection to Amara this season, and loses even more when Lucifer reveals he’s been possessing Cas, and plays on Dean’s connection to Cas like a mockery.  It’s also worth noting that, similarly to season 8, Dean breaks out of the connection with Amara when he’s worried about Cas, and that’s something that even SHE is surprised by.

But then season 12, the beginning to the Renaissance.  This is when we get the writer’s that become important for what Dean and Cas are today, and, truly, why I believe they want canon Destiel as much as we do.

This is the first season with Dabb’s writers: Davy Perez, Meredith Glynn, Steve Yockey, and of course Bobo all come in with their incredible talents and gave us episode after episode of good content.  “Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets” is probably my favorite, probably the best example of what I’m saying.  An episode where Dean is called out by an enemy directly, told to “roll the dice” on Cas’ life.  And Dean won’t, it’s not even really a hesitation.  And this comes from a character that has known Dean for ten seconds.  I also wrote more in depth about this episode here.  There are also some.....distinctly domestic details we get this season, specifically in “The Future” (written by Berens and Glynn) with the mixtape.  The most tropey of tropes mixtape.  Yeah, I’ll just leave that one here.

And then season 12 ends with Cas’ death, but also with the parallel between Sam and Dean with Jess and Cas.  Sam literally has to drag Dean away from Cas, just like Dean had to drag Sam out of his burning apartment in the pilot.  The episode drives it home in every way that it can: Dean is the one left kneeling by Cas’ body, while Sam goes to find out what is upstairs.  Dean is the one who stares at the sky, finally broken.  This isn’t a random thing, this is Dean’s whole arc, it’s the entirety of the beginning of 13.  Dean’s pain, his anguish, his anger.

Season 13 starts with them burning Cas, with Dean, who has begged God to bring him back, who has split his knuckles punching a door, standing, staring at Cas’ pyre with brokenness on his face.

I mean.....

Anyway, season 13 is where it gets interesting (well, I think all of this is interesting but I’m a writer nerd so).  So Cas comes back from the Empty in “Advanced Thanatology” written by Steve Yockey, and then a wombo combo of “Tombstone” by Davy Perez next (”Brokebacknatural” as the PR said at the time).  Listen.  This is the part that SPN crossed a line that they couldn’t come back from.  With Cas being Dean’s “big win,” the fact that Dean and Cas watch movies together, “I told you, he’s an angry sleeper.  Like a bear.” Talked about it here.

This is where, in my opinion, the network stepped in, but the damage was already done.  They had already established that Cas was Dean’s big win, that Dean’s poor coping was not due to Mary’s disappearance, but solely due to Cas, and that Dean and Cas have more married energy than anyone else.  The network had nixed blatant canon at this point, and they writing room had been pushing the boundaries of what the network would allow. 

After these episodes, we see a marked drop off of DeanCas heavy scenes.  They’re still there, still a part of the fabric of the season, but not as...obvious as it had been in early season 13.

And this continued through season 14, we’re back to scraps of Destiel scenes here and there, but to me it always felt like there was something bubbling under the surface, something distinctly unsaid in the themes of the season, even after the walk back of obvious “Dean and Cas are in love” scenes.

And then we get to season 15, which, y’all know I talk about all the time.  What’s important here is that Bobo and Glynn are both executive producers, calling more of the shots than ever before.  Additionally, it’s important to note that, though they only co write occasionally, Glynn and Berens refer to each other as “work husband” and “work wife.”  Each episode has just turned up the volume, and, not for the first time, but certainly the most obvious, Dean and Cas ARE the season.  Sure, they’re trying to beat God, they’re trying to finally find peace, defeat the final big bad, but really?  This season has been about Dean, and Dean’s relationship to Cas.

And not only do we have obvious and clear Destiel in nearly every episode, but we have episodes like “Last Call” which canonize bi!Dean (wrote about that here).

And, maybe most importantly so far, we have “The Rupture,” the breakup, and “The Trap,” Dean’s confession (both written by Berens).  And here’s the thing.  These episodes feel connected, but also feel like they’re missing something.  Beren’s last episode is 15x18, “The Truth.”  We’ve all spec’ed about what could happen in this episode, and I think *I* know what it’s leading to.  But for it to be leading to that, it means that the network has to have approved what we’ve all been waiting for years for.

Who got this change to happen?  Who got the network to change their minds?  It wasn’t us.  It was them.  I am fully convinced that Dabb and Berens quite literally put their careers on the line for Dean and Cas.  They believe in them, they’ve shown that from the beginning, but the only thing standing in the way was the network, never allowing them to take the final step. 

So, to answer your question: I think the writers want canon DeanCas because they’ve already shown us that they do.  Take a look at their episodes, at Dabb’s, at Beren’s, at Glynn’s, at Perez’s, at Yockey’s.  They’ve been telling us what’s going on with Dean and Cas for years.

Sure, I’m not in their heads, I guess I don’t know for *sure* that this has been their thought process, but if we put it all together, from the marked shift when Dabb fully took over in s12, to the change right after “Tombstone,” to the new shift, the blatantly romantic shift in season 15, what else is there?

I’ve said for a long time that we, the SPN fandom, are beyond lucky to have the writer’s that we do.  They’re all going to go on to have prolific careers and we were lucky to get them at the end of our little show.  I give them a lot of credit for what we have in the show today.

Just remember, they’ve been telling us in all of s15 who Chuck is.  He says he’s the writer, right?  But a writer who doesn’t have control of his characters?  A writer who wants to do the same ending over and over because it “works”?  That doesn’t sound like a writer, it sounds like a network exec.

They’ve been showing us what they want for years, and the way s15 is going?  I think they may have convinced the network to let us have it.

[nikadoesanart]

My predictions on BSD getting animated going forward

I’ll be taking a look at the novel page counts (Japanese and English) and comparing them to the screen time they’ve gotten so far and then using this to predict how long the remaining light novel adaptations will be (approximately). At the end will also be my rough prediction/hopes for the order of some of these being adapted. I say some because I have yet to read what there is so far of the gaiden novel translations, the main story manga has essentially still been on the DOA arc almost since where the anime left off, and I personally think that it’s currently too soon for Storm Bringer (aside from money purposes).

Note, most of this was written well before the anime 5th anniversary livestream but the announcements wound up not affecting it. I then of course made adjustments as needed account for the novel content we do have so far, both in Japanese and in English (officially).

Page to Episode Count

Not counting the afterward, ads, etc for the English/US copy, Japanese is including it

Also all eng page counts are using the Yen Press release and jp page counts are taken from the fandom wiki

*148 is purely counting the Untold Origins portion of the novel. If we also count the A Day at the Agency short story that’s included before it (56 pages), then we get the full 203

Also the English page count for BEAST was noted before the English release date but after page counts have been posted by affiliated retailers, so subtract a couple pages from the written count of 176 for the time being to account for the afterward and possible character sheets being included

Now that we have our page to episode counts (as of April 5th, 2021), let’s find the actual content run time of what we do have animated so far.

Seasons 1-3 and the OVA all have the same episode length/duration. Each episode is 23 minutes, and we can subtract 3 minutes on average from that to account for the OP and ED being played. This leaves us with an average of 20 minutes of BSD story content per episode. So on average, each of the first 3 seasons contain 240 minutes, or 4 hours, worth of story content.

Dead Apple’s total run time is 91 minutes, with the OP and ED making up 9 of those minutes. However, we do have a bit of the story content being played while the ED is playing (as sometimes happens in the anime as well). To keep the math simple, I’ll be approximating story content time at 82 minutes.

Apply these numbers to the novels that have been animated so far and this is (approximately) what we get:

Now let’s use these numbers to predict the screen time needed for the other novels

Note that we can’t really use Entrance Exam as a fair measure because of how much got cut out (just compare the run time of it to Dark Era and it speaks for itself). However, the numbers for Dark Era and Dead Apple are the best ones to use, as they both have minimal changes between anime and novel and both have official English translations currently available. Take out the approximate time taken up by OP/ED and and the numbers pretty much match up.

So with that being said, we can estimate Untold Origins (only) at approximately 3 eps/60 min and 55 Minutes at 1h 40-55min/100-115 min or 5-6 eps if it doesn’t get a movie. We can also estimate the A Day at the Detective Agency short story at the beginning of Untold Origins to take up about 1 ep, probably even a bit less.

1+ 3 + 5-6 = 9-10 episodes which isn’t enough for a full single cour season unless they all get put into one big OVA season, but also 10-11 eps (or less) seasons are a thing (ie. Fugou Keiji: Balance Unlimited, Blood Lad, Black Butler: Book of Circus, The Seven Deadly Sins: Signs of a Holy War, FLCL)

My personal predictions/hopes for the anime adaptation timeline going forward

This is considering the manga content, current “pausing/stopping points” what wouldn’t be too awkward, each of the novels relevancy/necessity to the main story manga, and assuming we continue with single cour (12-13 ep) seasons

Hopefully/ideally a 55 Minutes movie

S4: ch 54-70

Early S5 (preferably) or end of S4: Untold Origins or A Day at the Agency

S5: ch 71-88/around where we are now?

A Day at the Agency can, in my opinion at least, be chucked in at any point either as a single episode OVA or as the light novel content for s4 (maybe not even taking a full episode and then starting ch 54 in the last few minutes for example). Keep in mind that the current DOA arc is a long one and has plenty to it, so personally I think it may even be better to not include a novel adaptation in a future S4, as it would likely already be a right squeeze content wise. Remember, we also have a few XX.5 chapters that are continuations of the chapter directly before them.

I still need to read what’s currently available of the gaiden novel fan translations but it can probably be adapted at any point as well. I’m estimating approximately 5-6 eps as an OVA series. I don’t really think it would get a movie, partially because you can make it only so long, especially since it’s an anime movie and unlike Storm Bringer, it doesn’t have Chuuya to practically guarantee the profit.

BEAST also doesn’t directly impact the main story and can be adapted at virtually any point. However, seeing as we do have a live action confirmed for it and it’s page count lines up very closely with Dark Era, it can be either 4 eps or (more likely in my opinion) a movie, as it can be considered almost stand alone content.

Personally, I believe it is currently way too soon to animate Storm Bringer as it came out only a little over a month ago (as of writing this) and has minimal plot necessity as of ch 91, but I do believe it should be either split into 2 movies (a part 1 and part 2) or it would need 8 episodes, likely as an OVA season. If it were to get animated sooner than 55 Minutes or Untold Origins, which I believe to be very unlikely, I feel that it would almost certainly be driven by the financial gains of Chuuya being included, and his popularity alone. Reminder, SB is about Chuuya and not SKK. Dazai’s appearance in SB is proportionally a very small percentage and he’s not even mentioned in the official plot summary.

However, you can argue that SB is starting to have some relevance now, with the recent mention of the Order of the Clock Tower in ch 90 and the increased relevance of sealed ability weapons in ch 91. However, I really do believe that you can’t adapt Storm Bringer before 55 Minutes because of Standard Island and its treaty, it also talks about sealed ability weapons, knowing who Wells is, and 55 Minutes canonically takes place during the “downtime” portion of S3. In fact, here’s Asagiri’s words directly from the Afterward (translation by Yen Press):

“this volume didn’t take place in the past, but rather sometime after the tenth volume of the manga. In other words, it’s a tale about the ‘usual’ detective agency in novel format.” (55 minutes, p 237)

Untold Origins also should be adapted sooner rather than later (at least compared to SB in my opinion) because it’s about Ranpo and Fukuzawa’s shared past, which becomes increasingly relevant ch 70 onwards, as well as the need for the ADA being founded (which ties in with Yosano’s backstory in ch 65-66).

In regards to whether I think each of these would be better suited to a movie adaptation or as multiple regular length anime episodes, it’s mainly due to page count and partly due to the budget difference between the two, as well as how difficult I think it would be to animate each of these based on what needs to be drawn. The anime industry isn’t the fastest to switch to newer technology, hence why we see issues with 3D blending sometimes. I really do think that at the very least, 55 Minutes deserves the movie budget because of how detailed and complex the architecture of Standard Island is described as, as well all the mechanical parts needed for the final battle of the novel. Hate the lizard mouths introduced in Dead Apple all you want, but you can’t deny that the 3D cgi was blended very smoothly. For any of the other novels to be movies, it’s more so because gaiden and BEAST can be considered their own stand alone stories that don’t rely too heavily on the main story in terms of when they take place and get adapted. I feel that SB is more likely to get its own season or an OVA season more so due to its length, but multiple part anime movies have also been done before (ie. the Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel movies), so it’s not entirely impossible. Especially considering that merely having any Chuuya screen time means that you can expect the profit and popularity to really go up, especially with SKK being on screen together (regardless of whether you love or hate how the fandom tends to push a shipping POV on them).

These are all of course just my hopes and predictions and estimates based on information currently available, so take them with some salt. I’d love to hear opinions on how, when, and why each of the currently non animated novels should be adapted going forward. Also please stop begging the relevant BSD official Twitter pages for SB to be animated next and go read the other light novels you Chuuya simp

[multimetaverse]

HSMTMTS 2x12 Review

Second Chances was a lacklustre finale for an uneven season. Let’s dig in!

Earlier this week I re-watched S1 in preparation for the S2 finale and the contrast between the two seasons is jarring. In almost every way S2 has been worse and after seeing this finale I’m less optimistic that Tim will be able to fix the long list of things that have gone wrong. Tim has said in some of his interviews today that pretty much all of S2 was written before the pandemic and that they didn’t have to do as much re-writing as people might think due to the stringent safety measures Disney put in place. Of course, that removes an excuse for the bad writing we’ve seen so much of this season as according to Tim what we saw of S2 is largely what he envisioned minus big crowds and background dancers.

 Across his many interviews today, the one consistent point is that Tim does not have any real plans for future seasons; things like Ricky’s endgame he hasn’t decided on and he can’t even guarantee the summer season the finale sets up due to the weather in Salt Lake. I do think a S3 is an almost certainty given the show’s popularity but I’ll take Tim at his word that he truly doesn’t know if they’ll be renewed since it seems to be a new Disney tradition to wait until seasons are done airing before making a renewal decision (the same thing happened for the popular and well received Mighty Ducks: Game Changers which got a silent renewal only after all of S1 aired). That being said as poor of a season finale as Second Chances is it is also a terrible potential series finale. In large part it goes back to his lack of planning, he wants to keep all options open but in doing so Tim is crippling the show’s ability to deliver any pay offs or tie up loose ends.  

The one mostly well done plot line this season was Portwell which got a happy ending tonight as they canoned. The only good thing about the big brother angst was that it was so insane that it had to be addressed and sure enough it was and Gina got her first kiss with a guy she really liked. If Tim is to be believed the reason we didn’t get an on screen Portwell kiss was not because of their age difference or covid concerns but because he felt that everyone’s first kiss was different so he wanted it off screen so viewers could fill in the blanks themselves. Tim’s line of reasoning is profoundly stupid. Imagine if they had Jamie show up and he and Gina talked off screen and Tim tried to claim that because everyone has a different relationship with their own siblings that he wanted the audience to fill in the blanks as to how their conversation went!

Still we saw great character development on Gina and EJ’s part as both really grew from the people they were in S1. As Tim noted, EJ bringing Gina back in 1x10 was kind of the set up for this story line. The only thing missing was a brief Portwell scene sometime in eps 2x01-2x04 to set them up. The consistent development they got from 2x05-2x12 is unlike any other ship on the show; only Rini exceeds their development. 

Unfortunately I don’t think that will last in S3 because Tim will always favour Ricky over EJ and if he wants to do Rina he’ll dispose of Portwell before doing so. I was surprised that they never bothered to have Ricky and Gina have a conversation about Gina’s S1 confession. It was a huge mistake to have Gina pine over Ricky for half the season and it was no surprise that Gina’s story line got instantly better once she stopped interacting with Ricky. Tim has made clear in interviews that he’s still interested in the possibility of Rina which makes his poor writing of them even more bizarre. What conclusions are the audience supposed to draw from the Rina story line this season? That Ricky never cared that much about Gina? That it’s totally fine for the show if they don’t interact for 6 eps in a row? That Gina has moved on? I’ve said before that a wiser man than Tim would recognize that doing both Portwell and Rina will do tremendous damage to the show and he should pick one and not do the other. Of course he’s not that smart but it is wild how he’s accidentally written their story line to make for a perfect end to Rina. 

Second Chances was great and is the only part of the finale that would have been well suited to being part of a potential series finale. 

The Rini closure was a sad inverse of their S1 opening night confession. They’ve fallen so far from being the it couple of the series and I fear Tim doesn’t actually know what to do with them now. He really needs to decide if he’s tearing down that treehouse for real. 

The less said about the Valentine’s chocolates the better but at least Gina and Nini are cool again and Nini can explore her budding music career with Jamie’s help. Tim repeatedly said in interviews that the scripts about Nini’s music career were all written before Driver’s License came out and I think he understands that the audience is just going to see the show as copying from Olivia’s life. 

The wildcats just deciding to drop out of the Menkies was a lame cop out. Tim has said he always meant for that to happen though they were originally going to compete at the Menkies then drop out (presumably that’s where we would have heard Lily singing Home). Somebody should have mentioned the $50 000 prize money which the East High theatre department could surely use after Miss Jenn and Mr. Mazzara burned it down (remember that story line that had no consequences?). And that NYU scholarship could have been life changing for one of them and yet no one even brought  it up once this season. 

I did like the twist that it was EJ and his dad who got Mazzara into Caltech. He’d be a fool not to take it but I’m glad he confessed to Miss Jenn. She’s had a really rough season and I hope she redeems herself in S3.

Howie was acting so weird tonight and last ep that I have a hard time believing he was really so awed by Kourtney’s talent rather than feeling guilty for helping to steal the harness. The harness is another useless plot device; there are no consequences for Lily stealing it, she’s not caught, East High pulls off another version of the transformation off screen, and then East High withdraws from the Menkies anyways. Doubtless the harness will eventually come up to serve Rily angst. 

At least Lily was straightforward, I’ll give her that. She has such an odd way of speaking, almost child like. As awful as it is there is potential for a forbidden/secret romance story line with Rily. It really does not speak well to Ricky’s character that he’s so easily fallen for Lily’s act when he has no reason to trust her and she never apologized for making fun of Big Red during the auditions or making Ashlyn feel insecure during the dance off. 

The one way in which S2 was drastically better to S1 was in regards to the Seblos story line. Clearly Joe being bumped up to regular made a big difference. We got the first same-sex kiss between two boys and the first love song sung by one boy to another in Disney history and that is a legacy to be proud of. Of course, there was still some Disney censorship such as Carlos and Seblos being unable to use the word gay in the same ep that focused on Carlos singing In a Heartbeat to Seb. 

S1 of HSMTMTS had a clear direction, the wildcats would have to try and come together to stage High School Musical and Ricky and Nini would have to decide if they still had a future together while Gina and EJ had to work on being better versions of themselves. It was simple sure but it worked very well. There was a lot of heart but also a lot of humor and the show never took itself too seriously. What has S2 had? Beauty and the Beast was hardly the main focus of the cast or the writers and the central couple that S1 was built around is now broken up either for a long time or for good. There was a lot less of the meta moments that jokes that made S1 such a hit, for far too many eps this season the show took itself way too seriously. Hell even the lighting this season was darker than in S1. 

Olivia Rodrigo’s team had complained in a recent article that Olivia wouldn’t be able to potentially tour until fall 2022 due to her contractual commitments which is a sign that they think a S3 is very likely though I wonder how late S3 filming would have to start to keep her occupied until late 2022. There’s no confirmation of this but I thought it might be worth keeping an eye on; a post on r/hsmtmts by someone who claims to have a source working on production says that the plan is for S3 to be a summer theatre camp possibly with Camp Rock renditions and the plan for S4 is to jump 6 months ahead to the final semester of senior year and end with Ricky, Nini, Big Red, and Kourtney graduating from East High. They also say that part of the delay in the S3 announcement is a conflict between Tim and Disney executives. Tim wants to move production to LA and film on sets as it’s easier and cheaper while the Disney execs still want some on location shooting in Salt Lake. Again this is all unconfirmed but if it pans out it will represent a major shift in the series. 

Regardless if Tim wants the show to remain successful he needs start planning out what he wants to happen. He should not assume he’s getting more than 4 seasons. If the series gets a S3 but then is suddenly cancelled then how would he want all the main story lines to wrap up? And if they make it to S4 where does he see it ending? The graduation of the current juniors is a logical series ending point but if Tim wants to do something different he needs to start thinking of that now. I can’t say I’m excited anymore for S3 but I do really hope that Tim and his writers can turn things around and that will only happen if they recognize what they did wrong and learn from their mistakes. 

Until next season Wildcats

[mikeap0logist]

hello! we have not talked before I think ( it’s @joyce-bi-ers on my main🙋‍♀️) but you asked for some asks and so here I am

Some questions for you to answer:

Have you written fanfic, drawn fan art or made edits in the st fandom?

Which st season is your favorite and why?

Which has the best first ep and which the best last ep?

Who’s the best canon couple on the show?

Who’s you’re favorite character out of the original party?

Who’s your fave grown up character?

Who’s your fave teen character?

When you were watching s3 for the first time, before Suzie actually appeared on screen, did you believe that she existed?

Hope you have fun answering them! :D

I didn't have the time to answer this yesterday so let's get into this;

I've written fanfiction but I never post it, like, ever. The other night I wrote a small angsty Mike fanfiction, although it was mostly me venting, but that's it. as for fan art I'm not quite of an artist and I don't edit either so, :p

All seasons are really good imo, but nothing beats s1. (s2 gets close though). and Why? Well, I guess s1 its just appealing you know? sends me back to 2016, I remember being fascinated by it. And I still am; the music, the story, the visuals, how everything goes down. It was so different from what I had been watching then, and still is. Just groundbreaking.

S1 has the best first episode. The Vanishing of Will Byers will ALWAYS be famous. Best last episode.... I'm between s2 and s4. Like, S2 was INCREDIBLE. The Mindflayer creeping over them as a distorted version of Every Breath You Take fades away? Iconic. But The Piggyback was just so good and emotional, it had us all at the edge of our seats, and the last scene is just so good, it really sets the mood for the next season. To be honest, I can't choose.

JOPPER. Healthy, great development, THEY'RE EQUALS, PARTNERS. they're great

I mean... I am a Mike stan. No further questions LMFAO!

Joyce!!! I LOVE HER. Also Murray is hilarious.

Nancy!!! I love her sm. She's so underrated even though she's one of the protagonists!!! GIVE MY GIRL SOME LOVE

Oh yeah I did! Dustin never lies, why would he?

I had fun!! Thank you!! <3333

[ninjago-bingo]

final month recap

wow, everyone.  we’re here.  we’ve made it.  we’re reached the end of our bingo time, and i’m absolutely floored by the sheer creative output that i’ve seen over these last four months.  everyone, take a moment to give yourself a pat on the back!!!  no matter if you made 1 piece or 10, there’s now a work of art out there in the world that wasn’t there before.  and truly, that’s super heccing rad no matter how you look at it.

so let’s celebrate!  for this recap, we have a total of 20 new pieces, bringing the total amount of ninbingo pieces up to 50.  in the span of four months, this little event has created 50 individual works (five of them in the last day!)  holy cow ya’ll.

i’m putting out this recap now, but don’t worry, it’s not the end yet!  any submissions made to the end of the 30th still count and this post will be updated accordingly :D

fic:

all the things i’ve never done by @sa-you-na-ra. tumblr || prompts: competition and teasing

It’s always a funny thing when the ninja realize new things about each other. Even though living with each other meant they had to see each other all day, there were still small habits or actions that amused the others.

(mod comments: all these little interactions made me smile so much :D looking forward to the rest!)

error 404: answer not found by @m-aster-of-spinjitzu. tumblr || prompt: memories

Akita and Zane talk after the battle in ‘Awakenings’. The conversation… doesn’t go as either of them expect.

(mod comments: the nuances in this fic are fantastic!  also Akita is always a win :D)

Five times kai was a good brother by @/master-of-fluff. tumblr || ao3 || prompts: nightmare and brother

I'm writing kai centric stuff again.

(mod comments: kai IS the big bro of the team!!! i support him all the way!!)

How Garmadon became a chauffeur by @master-of-fluff. tumblr || ao3 || prompt: driving

"um...Kai? Don't you think we should go Slower?" Garmadon asked nervously trying not to panick as they raced down the road at what had to be over the speed limit.

(mod comments: who let Kai drive?  no but honestly this is canon alskdfj)

little things by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: hugs and crying.

"Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things." -Kurt Vonnegut

Lloyd’s tired of being left behind. How is he meant to be the green ninja when he always has to work harder, train better, and wait longer to go on missions with his team? He wants nothing more than to be their equal.

At least, that’s what he thought he wanted.

(mod comments: a post-ep-18 resolution scene?  SIGN ME UP!)

Neither Snow Nor Rain by @fangirltakesall. tumblr || ffn.net || prompt: post-fight

After their return from the Never Realm and all its troubles, Zane is quiet and Nya is incredibly worried. A call to action to a peculiar sort of battle might be enough to change both of those things.

(mod comments: the concept of these two on their own mission together is just so good! excited to see how their dynamic plays out!!)

Never Put Off Until Tomorrow by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: video games and chores

…what can be done today, yada, yada, yada, we all know the saying. So do the ninja- when Master Wu is drilling it into their heads every minute of every day, it’s kind of hard to forget.

Naturally, it only takes them a week (and the biggest new video game in Ninjago) to do so.

(mod comments: this is so in character that it’s frustrating lol.  also Pixal ftw!!)

oh take me back to the start by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: comfort and 3 am

The past should be left in the past. Or, at least, that’s what Jay keeps telling himself. Nadakhan is gone. It’s not logical to still be afraid. But he is, and now everything that he left behind suddenly feels like it’s never going to be the same again.

Cole isn’t so convinced.

(mod comments: Cole is truly the man we all deserve in our lives.)

On Our Own by @redefine-your-identity. tumblr || prompt: home

It’s been a few weeks since Kai and Nya’s parents disappeared without a trace. Needless to say, they’re struggling.

(mod comments: OU C H no poor babies 😭 the relationship dynamic here is great!)

orange and gold by @/m-aster-of-spinjitzu. tumblr || prompt: cooking

...I just need more Cole and Vania content, they seem like they'd be great friends.

Basically it's just 'Cole goes to visit her there, they almost burn down the kitchen, and make way too many puns', lol.

(mod comments: I also always need more Vania content!! the puns in this were breadful!)

permafrost by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: loss of control and promise

It’s not like this is the first time this has happened. It’s not like none of his teammates have ever suffered this kind of guilt and pain. It’s not like Zane himself hasn’t walked through hell before and come out the other side (mostly) in once piece.

Except, this time, it is. It shouldn’t be different, but it is.

(mod comments: super sweet moment between two ninja who deserve more interaction like seriously!!)

Precautionary Tale by @/fangirltakesall. tumblr || ffn.net || prompt: protective

Fighting is different now, and Zane doesn't know why. Yes, he is titanium now, but why should that change anything? It seems to be changing everything, although is all really as it seems?

(mod comments: a great start to a zane-centric fic!  interested to see where it goes next :D)

Star-Ninja! by @rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: siblings and competition 

What happens when the loveable gremlin the ninja adopted off of the streets introduces them to Starfarer comics?

Chaos ensues, of course.

stuck with you (through bright and blue) by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompt: protective

Kai only wants two things: to protect Lloyd, and to give him the best birthday ever. Unfortunately, Lloyd seems hell-bent on making that as difficult as possible. Kai’s always prided himself on achieving the impossible, but dealing with human emotions is much more complicated than beating up Garmadon’s generals or shooting enemies with fire, as he quickly learns. Movie!verse

(mod comments: happy birthday lloyd!! look at him getting the love he deserves uwu)

Take a walk in the rain. by @/master-of-fluff. tumblr || ao3 || prompt: rain

Cole had always loved the rain, the way it smelled, the way it felt on his skin, and especially the mud! Whenever it rained his Mother would put on his rain coat and boots And they'd both go out and splash around in the puddles and make mud cakes and do all sorts of things.

(mod comments: this fic made me smile a lot :D loved the way it was arranged!) 

the hues of an empty sky by @/m-aster-of-spinjitzu. tumblr || prompt: crying

Missing memories, or having two of them for one moment - not quite the same, but if there’s one thing Jay’s leant over the last few weeks, it’s that literally nothing makes sense anymore.

Or, some Skybound aftermath, Zane actually expressing emotions about his memory switch being turned off for all those years, and what was supposed to be a ‘they tell everyone about the erased timeline’ fic, but it turned into a 'two characters who barely interact on screen talk at like one am in the morning, and don’t actually tell the other what exactly they’re alluding to the whole time’ fic that I wrote at like one am-

(mod comments: Skybound resolution? SIGN ME THE HECK UP YES)

The Make-Cole-Realize-How-Much-We-Love-Him Competition by @21st-century-ninja. tumblr || ao3 || prompts: bets and competition

Jay and Kai share a horrified look.  “He really doesn’t get it,” Jay says.

Kai shakes his head.  “We need to show him somehow.”

“Show me what?” Cole asks, exasperated again.  

“How much we love you!” Kai exclaims.  “Somehow, it’s not getting through your thick skull that we want to sit next to you because you’re you, so I’m gonna have to just prove it to you.”

(mod comments: a silly little movie fic!)

twitter was a mistake by @/21st-century-ninja. tumblr || ao3 || prompts: teasing and birthday

Kai 🔥 @flaminhotninja ☑

so who was gonna tell me that Jay used to be a game show host huh

🌺✨ the Gift of Jay ✨🌺 @zaptrap ☑

Replying to @flaminhotninja

NO WHO SHOWED YOU

(mod comments: twitter was a mistake)

two halves of a broken whole by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: scars and post-fight

The Sons of Garmadon have been defeated. Garmadon is in prison. The city has been saved.

In the aftermath of the battle, Nya is more than ready to take a much-needed break. But the life of a ninja is messy. Recovery is never that simple. Although the wounds may have healed, the scars still remain.

Zane’s scars seem to match up, though. And maybe together, they can begin to heal.

(mod comments: aggressive care is my jam, and this is it!)

wait by @rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: home and memories

Lloyd’s not so great at being patient. It’s not his fault though- maybe he would be better at it if waiting didn’t always end up being so disappointing- if people actually kept their promises. But this time’s going to be different, he knows it. His father will come back for him. And Lloyd’s going to wait.

As long as it takes.

(mod comments: baby.  baby boy.  baby.  protecc him plz.)

[sally-mun]

After re-reading Season 1 of BHO, I can only think of two questions! 1. What scene hurt you the most while writing it, and which scene left you the most positive while writing it? 2. How hard was it to come up with ideas for this era of the Echidna history, given just how much of it gets blown over in the original Knuckles and Sonic comics? It's kind of amazing that almost everything between the white comet and Edmund and Dmitri's brotherly spat is just a fat load of nothing in the source material!

It's probably not a surprise to say that the most difficult thing I've written so far in this series was the last sentence of the last episode. Per my original outline I hadn't intended to have Kayla's death depicted within an episode, but it's the sort of thing that just sorta presents itself as necessary while you're in the middle of working. The worst thing about scenes like that though is the fact that I'm well aware that I COULD change things around if I really wanted to, but I'm less able to live with present an inferior story than I am with having to kill off characters I like.

Most positive thus far, incidentally, is also a last sentence. In this case, it's the last sentence of episode 7, Abandon Ship. Somewhere over the course of writing that ep, or maybe it was the one before it, was when I realized that Kayla was actually the original Guardian, but it was SO HARD sitting quietly on that epiphany until the right time. If I blew the lid early, that last line wouldn't have so much punch! Finally getting to post that was definitely a release for my nerves.

(Next section is long, so below the fold it gooooeeess)

As for how I came up with my version of echidna history so far... honestly, I don't know if it's a matter of easy or hard. The way I come up with pretty much any of these stories is by sorting out what things I -am- going to keep from the source material, and then continually asking myself questions. "What sort of thing would explain [x]? What kind of person would be needed in [y] situation for [z] to occur? If I take [a] as a given, what would be the expected consequences/side effects of that status quo? If [these characters] have [this kind] of relationship, was it always like that? If not, what changed to get it there?" Those sorts of things.

I think my way through these questions and come up with plausible answers, and if the answer makes sense and I can use it to further the story I'm telling, I add it into my outline, and then I start asking the same sorts of questions about this new element as well. By repeating this process over and over, I gradually fill in the gaps in the narrative and gain insights into characters, organizations, and other elements, which I wouldn't have realized without that analysis. It's not always a fast process, either; sometimes the answer to a question takes weeks or even months to finally work itself out! There are also times when I only suddenly realize something literally RIGHT before I need to use it, and I get the writer's equivalent of a near-death experience as I think about how things would've turned out if I hadn't had that epiphany.

This also works in reverse if I stumble across a piece of canon I hadn't accounted for previously; if, say, I'm looking something up in one of the Sonic wikis and I trip over a bit of information I didn't have before but that I know I want to include, I start asking questions in the other direction to see where I can fit the new element into the existing outline. Sometimes things slip right in easily, sometimes the outline needs to be adjusted in order to incorporate it.

(This, by the way, is the reason why I constantly recommend writers outline their shit. Even one or two rounds of this process will leave you with a LOT of information in your lap. When your brain is continuously working out the details of your narrative, it's going to get to a point where there's too much data to keep track of just in your own mind. You WILL lose track of something at some point, that's just how the human brain works. Making note of any information you've decided to include saves you from having to remember, which frees up your mind to do other things.)

Anyway, a lot of this takes care of itself in the back of my brain on auto-pilot these days. Sometimes I'm sitting around and pointedly working on my story with all of my focus, but there are other times when I'm doing something completely unrelated but some background process in my brain that I'm not even aware of is still analyzing, and all of a sudden a critical idea that fixes a huuuge problem I've been struggling with will just spontaneously fall into my lap, seemingly out of nowhere. It only feels out of nowhere because I wasn't consciously working on it, but my subconscious still was, and every now and then it spits out a receipt.

SOOO YEAH, like I said, it's really not a matter of it being hard or easy, but moreso a matter of asking myself questions and having enough patience for my mind to reach the answers. It's a very long and gradual process, and each time I gain ground I just have to be sure to make a note of it.

[grim-on-the-darkside]

George Lucas Sequel Trilogy [Some new info and some old]

 George Lucas's Sequel Trilogy

~ George Lucas Interview, Star Wars Archives: Eps I-III: 1999-2005: by author Paul Duncan.

"Darth Maul trained a girl. Darth Talon, who was in the comic books, as his apprentice. She was the new Darth Vader, and most of the action was with her. So these were the 2 main villains of the trilogy. Maul eventually becomes the Godfather of crime in the universe because as the Empire falls, he takes over.

The movies are about how Leia - I mean, who else is going to be the leader? - is trying to build the Republic. They still have the apparatus of the Republic but they have to get it under control from the gangsters. That was the main story.

It starts out a few years after Return of the Jedi and we establish pretty quickly that there's this underworld, there are these offshoot stormtroopers who started their own planets, and that Luke is trying to restart the Jedi. He puts the word out, so out of 100,000 Jedi, maybe 50 to 100 are left. The Jedi have to grow again from scratch, so Luke has to find two- and three-year-olds, and train them. It'll be 20 years before you have a new generation of Jedi.

By the end of the trilogy Luke would have rebuilt much of the Jedi, and we would have the renewal of the New Republic, with Leia, Senator Organa, becoming the Supreme Chancellor in charge of everything. So she ended up being the Chosen One."

............................

[Luke dies in Episode 9]

.............................

Commenter - 'How many students were at Luke's Jedi 'academy"? Was it even an academy?'

Pablo - "We'd likely never use that term. That's very EU, not very George. It'd be a temple. As for numbers, can't say now."

~ Pablo Hidalgo, 2015

https://ibb.co/k38HzwX

..............................

"In late August 2012 Star Wars fans from all around the world gathered in Orlando, Florida for the sixth official Star Wars convention, Celebration VI. The lineup was strong despite the live action movies, always the brightest and biggest stars in the franchise’s galaxy, coming to an end seven years earlier. Though he was not scheduled to attend, series creator George Lucas was there. Publicly, he was just there to make a surprise appearance during the panel for the animated The Clone Wars TV show. But privately he was there to talk to original trilogy stars Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. They were brought to a conference room away from the convention floor where George broke the news: he was working a new Star Wars trilogy and wanted them to reprise their iconic roles." [Disney didn't buy Lucasfilm/Star Wars until October 30th of 2012. This meeting occured two months before the sale, and at that point, the sale couldn't be assured.]

(1/3/2018)

Just days after posting this, Lucasfilm Story Group member Pablo Hidalgo tweeted out some information about the early versions of Episode VII (Skyler is another name for the Sam/Finn character).

Skyler and Kira (and Kira wasn’t the first proposed name either; she had at least two others) became, after a fashion, Finn and Rey. The Jedi Killer morphed from Talon corrupting the son to becoming the son. Uber became Snoke. The starting point shifted. Yadda yada yada.

The son falling to the dark side was always in the mix. The movies just ended up having it already an established fact.

Skyler was the son in some versions. And as for how all that was gonna go down, that ain’t my story to tell.

And in 2016, he confirmed that Thea (Kira/Rey), Skyler, Darth Talon, and the planet of Felucia were in George’s plans.

Question - ‘But Talon was in the treatment, right?’

Pablo - “Yes.”  “

‘Hmm… assuming this is still 30 years after RoTJ, wouldn’t that kinda mess with the Chosen One thing?’

Pablo - “Depends on whether or not she was a Sith, I suppose. George wasn’t all that interested in her EU backstory.”

~ Pablo Hidalgo Tweet [Archived] (June 19, 2016)

https://ibb.co/NYVW7w3

......

(1/6/2018)

Added quote from Harrison Ford about George Lucas telling him during their first Episode VII related call that Han would die. Also added more information about the timeline.

(6/14/2018)

Added information and quotes from George about the inclusion of the Whills in his sequel trilogy.

(6/26/2018)

Added information from Mark Hamill about Luke training Leia in Episode IX before dying.

(11/28/2018)

Added concept painting from artist Christian Alzmann that received a “Fabulouso” stamp from George Lucas.

https://medium.com/@Oozer3993/george-lucas-episode-vii-c272563cc3ba

“The ones that I sold to Disney, they came up to the decision that they didn’t really want to do those. So they made up their own. So it’s not the ones that I originally wrote.” ~ Lucas on his Sequel Trilogy

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

More generally, Hamill compared the approaches between Lucas and Disney's Star Wars films:

Mark Hamill quotes about Lucas Sequel Trilogy -

"George had an overall arc – if he didn't have all the details, he had sort of an overall feel for where the [sequel trilogy was] going – but this one's more like a relay race. You run and hand the torch off to the next guy, he picks it up and goes.

"I happen to know that George didn't kill Luke until the end of [Episode] 9, after he trained Leia. Which is another thread that was never played upon [in The Last Jedi]."

Where Lucas would have taken the second set of prequels. Though Leia and Luke communicate telepathically, fans have never really seen her use the Force. Mark Hamill had this to say about Leia using the Force in George Lucas' original writings.

   "This is always something that interest me because we can communicate telepathically and I tell her in one of the movies, I guess the third one, you have that power too. So I always wondered, and I don't read the fanfiction, [Expanded Universe] why she wouldn't fully develop her Force sensibilities and I think that's something George Lucas addressed in his original outline for 7, 8, 9. I was talking to him last week, but they're not following George's ideas so we'll have to wait and see on that one. But it seems like a waste of an innate talent that she should utilize in some way."

https://movieweb.com/star-wars-leia-originally-used-force-george-lucas/

[The next three Star Wars films] were going to get into a microbiotic world. But there’s this world of creatures that operate differently than we do. I call them the Whills. And the Whills are the ones who actually control the universe. They feed off the Force.

  Back in the day, I used to say ultimately what this means is we’re just cars, vehicles, for the Whills to travel around in…. We’re vessels for them. And the conduit is the midi-chlorians. The midi-chlorians are the ones that communicate with the Whills. The Whills, in a general sense, they are the Force.

   All the way back to — with the Jedi and the Force and everything — the whole concept of how things happen was laid out completely from [the beginning] to the end. But I never got to finish. I never got to tell people about it.

   If I’d held onto the company I could have done it, and then it would have been done. Of course, a lot of the fans would have hated it, just like they did Phantom Menace and everything, but at least the whole story from beginning to end would be told.”

~ George Lucas, James Cameron interview

https://io9.gizmodo.com/george-lucas-ideas-for-his-own-star-wars-sequel-trilogy-1826798496

Dear Maker, You are missed. You are the canon.