#this is the wrong question to ask btw . the show establishes very early on that he invited himself | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

joezworld · 4 years ago

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📁

Specifically, any headcanons of the Sodor Engines interacting with the internet, or the internet in general?

For some reason, I’d imagine that podcasts and the like are popular among vehicles in general.

That is a question that I've been working on for some time - because I'm workshopping my own Tornado headcanon (and boy oh boy does she use the internet a lot) - but I have some ideas for the Sodor engines as well:

Henry is probably the most "plugged in" engine on the island, weirdly enough. One of his drivers gave him an iPod back in the early 2000s, and kindly preloaded it with a bunch of torrented music.

BTW, that works because all the engines are now equipped with automatic train warning systems, and the little on-board computer has a USB port - as a nice side effect it allows music players to work with the engines in the same way as bone-conducting headphones do. The computer also acts as some kind of computer interface, which I am not going to explain how that works because Jesus Christ I don’t know how it does either.

Henry has managed to upgrade his iPod a few times since thanks to hand-me-down units from NWR staff, so he eventually got his buffers on a wifi-enabled iPod Touch and now downloads new music from the station wifi. He does listen to podcasts, but as every other engine will tell you, you could show Henry ten thousand new and exciting songs from the best artists in the world, and his top ten played songs are still going to be Genesis, Phil Collins, and Yes. Bear considers it a win that he managed to convince Henry to regularly listen to Rush after a mere twenty years of convincing.

Mavis and Daisy listen to a very interesting program called The News, because as stated elsewhere, they invest a shitload of money and need to be on top of things. Thomas and Percy wish that Daisy would use headphones or something similar to that, instead of listening to Bloomberg TV at loud volumes in the middle of the night. Toby frankly doesn’t mind, as it’s very nice to be kept up-to-date on the outside world.

In a move that surprises no-one, Bill and Ben have a podcast where they talk about whatever they think about at that moment - usually horse-racing, investing, and clay mining. As such, they have a wide audience, almost none of whom know that they’re that Bill and Ben, as their podcast is audio-only.

In an also unsurprising move, Edward and BoCo have been made very much aware that Bill and Ben have a podcast, but are still unsure as to what the hell a podcast is, despite being frequent guests on it.

Of the main line diesels, only Bear has shown any real interest in the internet, and was immediately put in charge of the Amazon Alexa when a unit was installed in the diesel shed. He also has an iPod that he got for Christmas a few years back. (The NWR has a very good personal electronics recycling program called give it to Henry, he’ll make use it.)

Bear does listen to podcasts as well as music, but his choices are so insufferably boring that even Henry refuses to listen to them. (I don’t really listen to podcasts - despite making one - so insert the most boring podcast you can think of here.)

As for other internet uses...

Gordon is very up-to-date on the newest social media trends - somehow - but only really cares when he is involved. He won’t admit it, but he’s been trying to figure out how to work a camera/selfie stick for some time so he can start up his own Instagram account. So far he has been unsuccessful, but one day he will manage it.

James has had an ongoing feud with his own Wikipedia page for about a decade now. The article sourced most of its information about his construction off of some out-of-print book about the L&Y. The book in question is accurate about James’ class, but not James himself - as he was a prototype engine. There’s no other primary sources available, so the very dedicated Wikipedia mod who created the page won’t change it - no matter how much James complains that he was there! He knows what happened!

Every now and again a TTTE fan blog/tumblr will make a post about hypothetical “ships” of the Sodor engines. Most of the time it’s shipping the core characters like Gordon and Henry, much to Gordon’s bafflement and Henry’s amusement!

Only one blog (a ttte fan tumblr by the curious name of @mean-scarlet-deceiver ) has gotten it right. Henry actually reached out to congratulate this blogger, but was unfortunately mistaken for a very dedicated roleplay account.

James is very annoyed by these blogs, as they have never once correctly guessed who he is “shipped” with! He has tried several times to be seen in public with Delta, but these events have never gone as planned - the “best” instance is when Edward rolled by at exactly the wrong moment, leading to months of speculation that JamesxEdward was the ship to look out for!

Thomas, being a generally oblivious sort of engine, was totally unaware of the online fan community around the TV show until he started getting actively harassed by vloggers and Instagrammers in the early 2010s. He’s fine with it now, but it was a deeply unusual experience for most of 2012.

Toby has developed an unexpectedly popular following on social media following his collab with Stormzy. His official twitter is huge now, with over a million followers, even if he has no idea what to do with it. He posts rarely, but usually manages to make an incredible post when he does.

No-one is sure who told Oliver what a “fan-production” is, but if you manage to get ahold of him for any period of time and ask him nicely, he will lend his voice to your TTTE fan-project, so long as it isn’t about [INSERT TERRIBLE SOCIAL/POLITICAL VIEW(S) HERE]. This means that he has 100% voiced dramatic readings of NSFW Fanfics before, which is always an absolute riot to spring on people unannounced.

There is a series of slice-of-life TTTE fanfics on Ao3 that have been written with such accuracy and innate railway knowledge that people are sure it was written by a Sodor engine, but nobody knows which one.

The Culdee Fell Railway has very active Instagram, Twitter and YouTube accounts, with all of the engines and coaches showing up regularly. It’s about the closest any of the railways on Sodor have come to what those outside the UK would call “normal locomotive social media”.

The Skarloey Railway has social media accounts too, but they don’t really feature the engines in any meaningful way, instead being used as a normal service announcements page.

The SR is a real working railway that doesn’t rely on tourism money as much as the others do, so they get a bit of a pass here.

The Arlesdale Railway has Twitter and YouTube, which didn’t usually get a lot of hits until 2020, when Ivan and Amanda Farrier started badgering the staff to make some videos just to alleviate some boredom. So far the most popular videos on the channel are a front-mounted camera video of the entire line slow-tv style, Bert explaining how steam engines work, and a video of Mike complaining about Justin Bieber for a solid half-hour.

That’s about it as far as Sodor goes, but before we’re done, I want to take a moment to talk about Tornado, because I have some fun ideas for her...

First of all, we need to establish that Tornado is very young. Her construction only started in late 90′s, and she was steamed to life in 2000, putting her firmly into the “Zoomer” category. Add in the fact that she was built by a bunch of old men who didn’t really know how to treat a new engine, and she was raised much more like a human than a locomotive - I’ll get to this much more in the proper Tornado Headcanon post, but what this means here is that when social media started being a thing in the mid-to-late 2000′s, the people at the A1 Trust decided that they needed a young person to run things like Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace... and, well, Tornado was the youngest person in the trust by a large margin.

I should state here that in the rest of the world, locomotives are on the internet at roughly the same level as humans are, so there’s plenty of equipment to connect a phone/computer/camera to an engine - being English, the A1 Trust didn’t know how common it was, but they managed to get it up and running just the same.

So Tornado has very quickly become attuned to the internet, just like any other teenager would. (yes, let’s let that settle into our minds for a moment - Tornado is barely old enough to drink in the US!) Quite naturally that means that she knows social media inside and out, and is actually quite a proficient social media manager for the trust, managing all of their social pages. More than one person who has complained about the trust on twitter has unknowingly been complaining to Tornado herself!

“On the internet, nobody knows that you’re a dog Engine”.

Tornado has her own personal social media accounts too, but most/all of the time she gets mistaken for a very dedicated role-player, as the general perception of British Locomotives is that they don’t tweet. This has resulted in some amazing reactions from podcast hosts (because, as you might expect, Tornado is very knowledgeable about steam traction in the 21st century, and tweets about it often, so train podcasts want to talk to her) when she gets invited onto video calls, turns on her webcam, and is met with screams from people who suddenly realize that her profile picture is accurate.

By far the best instance of this is when she was invited onto a video call with a railfan podcast. She was at the NRM at the time and managed to convince them to let her use their Skype setup. A wide-angle lens was needed because she was on the turntable in the Great Hall, so that podcast quickly got sidetracked when her webcam was turned on and revealed Tornado, with Mallard, Evening Star, City of Truro, and Green Arrow visible behind her. Whatever the original topic was quickly got thrown out in favor of a 2-hour Q&A with some of the most famous engines in the UK.

#ask response #the internet #ttte thomas #ttte toby #ttte bill and ben #ttte gordon #ttte daisy #ttte mavis #ttte henry #ttte bear #ttte oliver #tornado #nrm #trains using the internet #ttte #sodor #sodor shenangians #the formatting on this one is super fucked up and i can't figure out how to fix it - sorry

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gallavictorious · 3 years ago

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bottom!mickey nonnie here, i had some more thoughts in response to your reply, if you don't mind? :) i can see where the trust aspect might come into play for mickey re: bottoming and i understand your thought process. the only thing that makes me doubt that is how quickly that trust must have been established between him and ian if that is the case. they haven't been fucking for that long when kash walks in on them (which is the first instance we actually know mickey bottoms). i suppose that there could have been a lot of off-screen developments and interactions, but it's too quick imo. their relationship in season one seems more puppy-love to me rather than a deep bond (which i see as starting to form in season two). the way i see it, the only level of trust that needs to be established is "i know you won't tell anyone because you're also closeted and you won't treat me like a bitch because if you do, i'll beat you tf up and just never fuck you again" which is pretty shallow and something mickey could probably have reached with other guys, too. idk, i just don't see their relationship in season one as deep enough for mickey to start trusting ian with things he's worried or insecure about. it makes more sense to me that he lets ian fuck him because it's not that big a deal, rather than because he's already let ian past his walls. we know that ian is all in by that point, but i just don't think mickey is. he likes ian, is drawn to him (probably against his better judgement), but that's as far as it goes, as i see him. since there are such few scenes between them in season one we have no choice but to make our own interpretations, and those are bound to differ. i've just never seen mickey indicate that he thinks bottoming = being a bitch, or even that it's something he worries about. the only thing to support that would be his attitude to prison, but like i said before, i don't think mickey views sex in prison the same as he views sex on the outside. he probably views everything in prison differently. on the outside, with guys who share his secret? i don't think it's too much of a stretch that he would just do what he wants. the danger is the same either way. just my interpretation of him, of course :)

Hiya, Bottom!Mickey Nonnie No. 1!

I don't mind one little bit; in fact, I'm delighted! Apart from enjoying the fun discussion, it's always gratifying to hear back from anons: you usually never actually know if your answer has reached them.

First off, you're damned right it's quick! I personally don't subscribe to the idea that Mickey knew that Ian was gay or had a crush on him preceding their 1x07 tryst (nothing wrong with that notion, btw, it just doesn't appeal to me), so when they suddenly start tearing off each other's clothes that's very sudden. I tend to assume there might have a tiny bit of vague interest prior to this, the proximity and tussling triggers mutual attraction, they both spring boners, and yeah, off they go? You're also quite right in (implicitly) pointing out that we don't know that they had penetrative sex at that time – maybe they moved up from mutual handjobs or just plain grinding to something more a few trysts later. Either way, you make a good point about the danger of sex outside of lock-up would be the same regardless of whether Mickey bottoms or not. I'd never really thought about that before, so thank you for pointing that out!

However, it's probable that the reason I haven't thought very much about it is because when I speak of Mickey's easy trust for Ian I don't primarily mean him trusting Ian not to reveal his secrets to anyone else, but trust him to know Mickey in a way others are not allowed – and here we disagree and that is fine. :) If you see Mickey as unbothered by being into bottoming, you can certainly find support for that in the narrative. We do have the famous ”liking what I like”-line, which absolutely can be taken at face value! The fact that I tend to interpret it as (partly) Mickey being deliberately unapologetic because he feels a bit uneasy about his preferences and is somewhat defensive about Ian's brief allusions to common prejudices around bottoming, has more to do with my assumption that – given Mickey's circumstances – this is something that Mickey's likely to feel insecure about. He's internalized his father's homophobia to some degree; it just seems reasonable to me that he'd have internalized Terry's strong conviction that Milkoviches don't bottom too. (He certainly seems ready to embody that when he attacks Ian's army fuck buddy in season 3, citing the need to kick him straight because he's the one taking it up the ass. However, that could also totally performative or seen as him making a twisted kind of in-joke, so it's hardly conclusive.) Furthermore, I feel that it's not unreasonable to question Mickey's sincerity in regards to the line mentioned above, since we do have instances of him acting seemingly geuninely dismissive even when we know he probably cares quite a bit. I'm thinking primarily about his reaction to Ian's sex strike in season 11; I just don't buy he was unbothered by that, but there's nothing in the way he expresses his lack of concern that suggests it's insincere. This doesn't mean that I think my reading of the line is the correct one, though, just that it's a possible reading given what else we know of Mickey.

But of course, this really is just my assumptions and interpretations. It's very possible to infer from his actions onscreen that Mickey is totally unconcerned about bottoming, and always has been. After all, Mickey is in many ways a genuinely confident person, and I think this extends to his sex life. (I just think there's insecurity and concern, too... Basically, I think Mickey's relationship with his own sexuality and preferences is complicated, a paradoxical tangle of confidence and shame. I find this complexity is fascinating, and if we're being honest that's probably one of the reasons why I'm not so eager to let go of the notion of it.)

That said, though, and regardless of whether or not bottomingrequires any particular trust on Mickey's part, I think we dohave some concrete evidence of Mickey letting Ian past his walls already in 1x07. Not the sex – because we don't know anything about that – but the return of the gun after. That look on Mickey's face just then? That's vulnerability. He knows that by giving the weapon back when he doesn't have to, he shows hint of a softness he can ill afford people to know he possesses at this point. It's walls dropped, if only for a moment, and I just don't see him allowing that with many – if any – other people. While it isvery quick and while there's no telling whyor how, I firmly believe that there is an immediate trust between them that goes beyond just sex. It might not be logical, but I think it's there, and that this easy, natural understanding is a huge part of what has them coming back to each other again and again in spite of the odds being stacked overwhelmingly against them. Like you, though, I don't see this as a deep bond or anything, not this early. Ian falls in love quickly and easily; for Mickey is a much slower process, because he fights even the possibility of it tooth and claw.

And ah, I'm aware that in my first response to you I promised to elaborate on my thoughts on Mickey's stint in Mexico in my reply to Bottom!Mickey Nonnie No. 2, but I ended up cutting that because it got absurdly long in comparision to my notes on what they were actuallyasking about, and that didn't seem fair or relevant to them. However, I now have a third (and a fourth... apparently this is a subject dear to your hearts, sweet followers) Bottom!Mickey Nonnie in my inbox, so if this is something you're interested in, despair not! We'll get there!

Thank you so much for getting in touch, both with your first ask and with this follow-up. I've enjoyed reading your thoughts, and developing my own in response to them, immensely! I highly value being able to civilly disagree and argue viewpoints without either side feeling the need to convince the other, so this has been a real treat. <3

#for a person who isn't very interested in smut at all #i sure have a lot of thoughts on this #mickey milkovich #gallavich #meta #asks #my stuff

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illfoandillfie · 4 years ago

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I don’t know if you’re still doing asks for the advent calendar. But just wondering if you could do a Ben x Reader x Present!Roger, where Ben and reader are the subs for Rog and he is hard!dom and they’re getting punished but at the end it’s super fluffy with my fav poly relationship. Idk if this makes since and I hope you could be comfortable with writing this! Btw love your writing! ❤️❤️

Oh i absolutely love this prompt and honestly i can’t think of a better way to end this thing than with a rog x ben threesome!!

Warnings: smut, spanking, edging/orgasm denial, sir kink, dom! rog, sub! ben, sub! reader, collars, a tiny bit of hair pulling, overstimulation, minor mentions of oral sex (m and f receiving), there’s also a bit where rog steps on reader, also its like 4k lmao

Blurb Advent: Day 25

It had been natural to let Roger take the lead, so to speak, in your relationship. Even in the early days, there’d never really been a question about you submitting to Roger. For one thing, you trended towards submissive anyway but something about Roger, the way he carried himself, automatically made you want to kneel before him. Age probably had something to do with it too. There was a perceived expertise because he was older (and as he frequently joked, wiser too), that had you agreeing to call him Sir and to follow his instructions, even within the first few weeks of getting together. Normally you’d wait a while before jumping into anything especially kinky with someone new, and to be fair he hadn’t rushed into bringing out the harder stuff, but it was almost shameful how fast you’d let him toy with you, agreeing to wear a collar to symbolise your submission. You’d well and truly established your dom/sub relationship before you’d agreed to consider each other boyfriend and girlfriend, (His age may have been a hinderance there, the word boyfriend not often associated with someone like him) so when Ben first met you, he assumed something entirely different. Roger had invited him around for dinner, with the added intention of being able to talk drums for as long as they wanted. Ben had shook your hand and made a comment that implied he thought you were Roger’s niece or grand daughter or something along those lines and before you’d been able to correct him he was caught up in a discussion with Roger about one of the songs he had to play in the movie. You left them too it, shrugging Ben’s assumption off. If you were going to date a man in his seventies then you had to be prepared for people to think you were connected by blood or else that you were in it for the money. Neither was true but it’s what people would think and there was no reason to get upset about it. Ben’s impression was re-evaluated later that day when he’d wandered away from the drum kit to find Roger and walked in on him giving you a quick edge. As soon as he realised Ben was there Roger apologised.

“Oh, that’s um, no, uh, no need for that,” Ben stuttered out, “I just thought, but, uh, I was obviously wrong,”

“Family or sugar baby?” Roger asked curiously.

“Family. Then sugar baby when I saw your hand up her skirt.” Ben seemed to realise what he’d said, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

“She’s my girlfriend actually,” Roger turned his head to smile at you, “I would have said so but we’ve really only just started telling people so it kind of slipped my mind that I could,”

“No worries, um, I’ll leave you to it and just go try out that bit on the drums again.” Ben turned and walked back down the hallway as quickly as he could, Roger chuckling softly as he kissed the top of your head.

“How would you feel if I invited Ben to have sex with us?” he asked suddenly.

“What?”

“I’m not saying I definitely will but…he’s been looking at you a lot this afternoon. I figured he was probably trying to work out who you were to me but if he assumed family he might have been checking you out.”

“You think?” you asked, trying to keep your tone level. Ben was fit and you wouldn’t have minded him making a pass at you, even if you’d had to turn him down.

“I’ll keep an eye on him, see if I can work it out, but would you be okay with that? If he joined us?”

“That sounds kind of fun,”

“Alright then, I’ll feel him out and see if I can’t convince him to stay the night.”

Over the course of the afternoon and evening Roger used every trick in his book to determine Ben’s attraction to you, and if he’d be interested in a threeway, steadily getting less and less subtle. By the time dinner had been eaten just about all delicacy was out the window.

“Look, sorry again about earlier,” Roger said, passing Ben a scotch and soda, “I’ve been edging Y/N a bit today because I’m planning on fucking her rotten tonight and I want her dripping wet and ready to beg for it,”

You weren’t sure whether you or Ben was more embarrassed by that but Roger didn’t seem to notice.

“Not that I really need too because she’s got, well let’s call it a very healthy sex drive. Edging her keeps her in her place and makes sure she knows I’m the one who controls if and when she gets an orgasm, but honestly she’s ready to go whenever I ask. I could tell her to strip right now and she would.”

“Is that right?” Ben said despite himself. His eyes darted about the room, not knowing where to look, but his tone was curious.

“She’s very obedient. If you wanted I could tell her to suck you off and it would take literally two seconds for her to be on her knees.”

Ben audibly gulped, his face beyond pink.

“Should I tell her to do that Ben?”

“Umm,”

“I think she’d like it if you joined us tonight. She does think you’re fit.”

“J-joi-join you?”

“We can set up one of the spare rooms for you if you want to stay. I might even see about lending her to you for the night.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, hypothetically, if you did stay, we’d share her for a bit, make up for all those edges I gave her. Then afterwards you could take her off to another bed and have her as many times as you wanted while I got a good nights sleep. Twice this week she’s wanted me in the middle of the night, it’d be nice to let someone else deal with her instead. Of course, there would be a few ground rules but they’re easy enough.”

“Like what?”

“Oh well, you can take her raw if you like but we’d prefer you not to finish in her cunt. Anywhere else is fine though. Obviously safewords are a must and limits have to be respected, hers, yours and mine. And you do need to understand that I’m in charge. She submits to me, she calls me Sir and she wears a collar for me. We both enjoy it, we both get off on it, and we expect anyone who joins us to understand that.”

“I understand,” Ben nodded.

“Does that mean you want to stay?”

“Yes.”

Roger had grinned and turned to you, “Well, why don’t you give our guest a proper welcome.”

Ben fit in better than you might have assumed he would. It had been natural for you to submit and apparently Ben felt the same. That first night he constantly looked to Roger for guidance and permission, not wanting to overstep any boundaries or do something that would bring the night to an end. As you’d sucked Ben’s cock Roger had commanded you both, telling you when to deepthroat him and when to come up for air, telling him to grab your hair or push you down further. After that he’d suggested Ben repay you and walked him through edging you with just his fingers, teaching him the signs of your impending orgasm so he could stop it at the last second. And when you did finally make it to the bedroom, he’d told you both how to position yourselves, giving instructions and making demands as you’d been filled by both of them. Ben joined you in calling Roger Sir, giving up control as fully as you did. When Roger suggested edging Ben himself, Ben didn’t object. He dropped his eyes and bit his lip and whined prettily as Roger stroked his cock carefully, always stopping short. Afterwards he’d been rewarded, as Roger had promised he would be, with you as company in his bed. Mostly you’d stayed up talking, Ben curiously asking questions about your relationship with Roger and how it had come about. He was most intrigued by the dominant and submissive dynamics, how it worked and how you’d felt adding an extra person to it. Of course, you’d made sure it wasn’t all talk. Ben was hot and Roger expected him to fuck you so there was no harm in it. Besides, you knew Roger would call you a good girl if you were obedient and took Ben however he wanted. Ben seemed to like that aspect of your reasoning too. He didn’t want to disappoint Roger by not using you and the chance of being called a good boy for it was motivation enough.

You’d expected it to be a one night thing but a couple of weeks later Roger had extended Ben another invitation to dinner. Things went in much the same direction, only Ben had fallen asleep in the bed you shared with Roger rather than taking a spare for himself and the next morning had offered a repeat performance of the night before. It was the same the next time Ben came for dinner and the time after that. On the sixth time you all gave up the pretext of dinner. Ben arrived earlier in the afternoon and Roger greeted him with the order to strip, which he did without question. The next morning Roger, pleased with Ben, made a suggestion that it become more official, and offered him a collar identical to yours.

“You can say no, of course,”

Ben hadn’t even hesitated before he picked up the collar and fitted it around his throat. You’d helped him with the clasp at a look from Roger who’d then ordered you both to suck him off. From then on it became a much more regular thing. For the most part both you and Ben would submit to Roger, gradually showing Ben harder things like spankings and restraints and all the fun stuff. Sometimes Roger would just sit back and watch Ben have his way with you and sometimes he’d disappear with Ben while you were busy or not in the mood. When Roger was called overseas unexpectedly Ben stayed with you. Roger asked for photos and videos and you delighted in sending him pictures of hickeys and scratches you gave each other as well as videos of each of you edging or Ben’s cock sliding in and out of your cunt, your moans in the background. Of course, the shifts in your sexual relationships also impacted your non-sexual relationships. Ben was important to you and Roger. He wasn’t just someone you hooked up with, he was part of things. When you redecorated the kitchen, Ben helped pick out the colours and when Roger wanted someone to listen to the first demo of a new song he’d written, Ben was there to give feedback. He was an extra shoulder to lean on, an extra pair of hands when there was chores to be done, and extra person to spend time with. But even with all the changes, your sexual dynamic remained the same. Roger was in charge. And that was how he liked it. Especially when he got to punish one or both of you.

Not that his punishments were ever really punishments. Once he’d come home from a weekend trip, expecting a clean house only to find the kitchen covered in rubbish and dirty dishes while you and Ben giggled away under the covers upstairs. He’d got very stern and made you both write lines. I will complete my chores before I have sex one hundred times each. But for the most part his punishments were actually fun, if a little painful. Spanking and orgasm denial and bondage, things that you could get off on, and always for small misdemeanours like poking your tongue out at him or going over an edge before you had permission. Because you and Ben enjoyed giving up control so much, your slight bratty tendencies generally just signalled a desire to be pushed or for something a little harder than what he was giving you. When one of you acted out without involving the other he’d let them help with the punishment, giving you both an outlet for any of your slightly more dominant inclinations. But more often than not you’d wind up being punished together.

On one such occasion, you and Ben had started teasingly referring to Roger as Mr Softie within his hearing after he’d dripped ice cream on his shirt. He’d smiled and laughed along but that evening he’d got back at you, using your collars to chain you to the desk in his office, your hands bound in cuffs in front of you. For a while he left you there, just out of reach of each other, wondering what he had in store. The silence was broken every so often by one of you making a quiet suggestion as to what he might do to you or wondering when he’d return, the anticipation building with each passing minute. Your heart pounded in your chest but you only grew wetter as you were forced to wait and Ben seemed to be in a similar predicament, his pants getting steadily tighter. Finally, Roger returned, ignoring you as he placed a paddle and a vibrator down on the desk you were tied to. Without acknowledging you he unclasped Ben’s collar, giving it a tug to make Ben crawl toward the couch set up at the other end of the room.

“Sir?” Ben asked as he reached the couch, looking up at Roger from his place on the floor.

“Up on the couch. Face down. Now.”

Ben jumped to follow the direction, settling with his face pressed against one cushion, his knees resting on the other, and his hips as high in the air as he could comfortably manage.

“Right,” Roger said, turning back to the desk and continuing to ignore you, “It seems you need to be taught a lesson about respect. And I think the fastest way to teach you is to spank your arse raw. Maybe a few days of not being able to sit down will be a strong enough reminder that I own you and you will respect me.” As he talked, Roger retrieved the paddle and tapped it against his hand, just loud enough that Ben could hear, his whimpers rising as he waited for the first strike. You watched as Roger stalked towards Ben, raised his arm and brought it down hard on Ben’s arse, the shocked cry that escaped Ben almost enough to have you whining yourself. Roger didn’t pause, just lay three or four hits on Ben, each one hard enough that Ben tried to wriggle away and the sound cut through the mostly quiet room. Suddenly Roger reached for Ben’s cock, stroking his already hard member before laying another few spanks on him. Ben made a mixture of sounds, some of pain and some of pleasure but all of them egged Roger on as he edged Ben and turned his arse a dappled purple wherever the paddle struck.

“How does that feel slut? Does it hurt?” Roger’s tone shifted to one of mock whining and back in a matter of seconds, “that whore’s going to be in for it too since it was her idea to disrespect me.”

Ben howled as another few spanks hit him, tears getting lost in the cushion of the couch, but you could see how his hips jolted with every light touch to his dick and how he twitched when Roger retracted his hand.

You’d lost count of how many edges and spanks Ben had received by the time Roger hooked two fingers into the collar, using his grip to pull Ben up higher, “Do you think you’ve learnt your lesson or should I keep teaching you?”

Ben shook his head, eyes still watery and voice more of a sob, “no more, please, I understand,”

“I’m very happy to hear that. Do you think you should be allowed to cum now?”

“Yes please Sir,”

“Yeah? You think I should stop being mean and wank you off already?”

Ben nodded.

“Okay then Benny. But only if she manages to hold out.”

Ben whimpered but nodded, falling to his side.

Roger gently stroked his fingers through Ben’s with a few quiet words of praise before he turned to you. Just like with Ben, Roger unchained you and then made you crawl to the couch. It was awkward with your arms bound but you didn’t dare sit up straighter to walk on your knees, that would only leader to a harder punishment. When you reached the couch Roger stopped you, telling you to turn around and get into the same position Ben had been in, your face against the carpet and your arse in the air. The only difference was that you remained on the floor, your arse facing Ben. The first spank took you by surprise. You’d been so concerned with your position and wondering how closely Ben was watching that you’d forgotten what was coming. It was followed by another three in rapid fire, the paddle thwacking you with such force that you jolted forward each time.

“You’re in trouble Benny,” Roger said, bending slightly to drag his fingers along your cunt, “She’s already soaked. Don’t know she’ll last.”

You whined and squirmed as his fingers traced over you and then yelled when he hit you again. There was no pattern to his punishment, try as you might to find one. He gave you two hits and then pressed his fingers into you, fucking you with them for a moment, and then another five hits, his fingertips lightly rubbing your clit, another two spanks, a spank to your cunt, another three to your arse, and then his fingers again. But there was no way to tell how many spanks you’d endure before he edged you or even how he’d touch you, whether he’d twist his fingers inside you or circle your clit.

“Finger her for me,” Roger said and you heard Ben wince as he stood and knelt behind you. You heard Roger walk away as Ben sank his fingers into you. He slowly pulled them out and pushed them back in, wanting to do as he’d been told, but not wanting to accidentally push you over the edge lest he not get his own orgasm. That was until Roger, over his shoulder, told Ben to do it properly or be spanked again. After that Ben was merciless, shoving a third fingers into you and roughly pounding his them as deep as he could go.

“That’s better,” Roger said when he returned to your side, “make the whore pay for getting you into trouble.”

You cried out and tried to wriggle away as another spank came down on you, but it was impossible to escape with Ben’s fingers hooked in your cunt and your bound hands. All the same Roger placed one of his feet on the side of your head, holding you down against the carpet as he whacked you again and again, ignoring your screams and the tears soaking the carpet. He stopped and you breathed a sigh of relief but it was short lived as a buzzing noise filled the room and you remembered the toy he’d brought in with the paddle.

There was no way to suppress your moan as Roger held the vibrator against your clit, warning you not to cum. He held it there for a matter of seconds and then pulled it away again. Ben’s fingers left you a second later and then you were being tugged up by your collar again, the thick leather band pressing into your throat.

“On the couch, whore.”

“Yes, Sir,” you managed to sob as a few more tears rolled down your cheeks.

Once you were on the couch, positioned the same way you had been on the floor, Ben was handed the vibrator.

“Against her clit, highest setting. Don’t move it until I tell you.”

You whimpered, knowing there was no way you could hold back an orgasm with that kind of stimulation. But that didn’t seem to matter to Roger. He expected you to hold it, reminding you that you didn’t have permission in low growl as he spanked you on the back of your thigh. Your arse tingled all over, stinging twice as much whenever he hit you again but it was nothing to the sensation of the vibrator against your clit.

“I’m close,” you whined before another cry was ripped from you as Roger spanked the back of your other thigh.

“Don’t move it slut. The whore needs to fucking hold it.”

You tried but it was no use, there was nothing you could think of, nothing you could do, that could keep you from disobeying. You moaned as the orgasm rolled through you and heard Roger drop the paddle.

“Don’t move it Ben,” Roger growled as he stalked around to your head, pulling it up by the hair, “I thought I told you to hold it whore,”

“I’m sorry, Sir,” you half yelled, whining as the vibrator kept buzzing against your clit.

“You will be.”

You lost sight of Roger as he shoved you back down and walked away.

“Guess we have our answer Ben. Since the whore couldn’t stop herself from cumming, you won’t be allowed to.”

“No, Sir, please, I really need to,”

“That was our deal though slut.”

“Sir,”

“Don’t argue, it’ll just make things worse for you. And don’t move that vibrator.”

Ben fell silent, though a few whimpers escaped him as he pressed the vibrator against you harder.

You were expecting another series of spanks, so when you heard the small jingle sound of Roger removing his belt you cringed away, assuming that was what he was going to hit you with. But instead of the swishing sound it made before a strike, it was followed by the sound of a zip. Roger grabbed your hips and pulled them around so he could press his cock into you. By now the vibrator against your clit felt painful, the overstimulation enough to make you sob but the feeling was only amplified by Roger fucking you hard, his jeans rubbing against your arse since he hadn’t bothered to push them down. You squealed and sobbed as he used your cunt, the vibrator torturing your sensitive clit and making you cry into the couch cushion. Roger just grunted about how tight you were and how your sobs just turned him on more, until finally he came deep inside you. Only after he pulled out did he take the vibrator from Ben, shushing you when you sobbed out a thank you. He stood behind you until he saw his cum dribble out of you and then pulled Ben up by the collar and told him to clean you up. There were footsteps as he left the room but neither of you dared disobey so Ben continued to spread your lips with his thumbs and lick along your slit, pulling a soft moan from you. Roger returned with a warm damp cloth and told Ben to stop. He swiped the cloth over your thighs and up along your lips, gently cleaning off whatever Ben had missed. When he was satisfied he asked you to move over and sat down in the centre of the couch.

“You did so well, Y/N,” he said softly, letting you rest your head in his lap and smoothing back your hair with his palm, “Do you wanna come up here Ben?”

Ben nodded and gingerly knelt on Roger’s other side, too sore to sit properly.

“You were such a good boy Ben, and I’m so proud of you for holding out,” he said as he lay the damp cloth flat against his hand and then reached for Ben’s dick, using the cloth to wank him, “You can cum now.”

Ben panted out a thank you, his voice falling into a moan as he finally got what he’d needed for so long. You watched through tired eyes as Roger’s fist pumped over Ben’s length until his hips stuttered and he moaned with his release. Roger kept praising him until he was completely spent, using the cloth to gather the evidence of the orgasm. It was thrown to the floor and Roger carefully unfastened Ben’s collar, leaning in to give him a soft kiss on the lips and whisper that he loved him. He wrapped his arm around Ben and let him settle on his chest.

“Y/N, love, can you sit up for me?”

You nodded and slowly pushed yourself up, feeling a little dazed.

Roger gently removed your collar and kissed you too, taking an extra moment to cup your cheek, his thumb wiping away the last of your tears, and remind you how good you were and how much he loved you before he let you settle in his lap again. He knew he’d have to move you both eventually. There were ice packs and aloe downstairs in the kitchen that would help with your bruised arses and he’d have to make sure you both ate something and drank some water before you went to sleep. But Roger was happy just to sit there for a while to comfort and cuddle the two people he loved most.

#my writing #my blurbs #my fics #roger taylor x reader #roger taylor smut #roger taylor imagine #ben hardy x reader #ben hardy smut #ben hardy imagine #roger taylor x reader x ben hardy #Anonymous #(technically im a day late but its fine #its probs still the 25th for most of ya'll)#blurb advent 2020

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florrickandassociates · 3 years ago

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TGF Thoughts: 5x02-- Once there was a court...

Season five is off to a great start. I’m feeling more energized about TGF than I have in ages, maybe since the beginning of season three. After the mostly standalone premiere, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the rest of the season. Episode two introduced a lot of new elements that I’m intrigued by and excited about, so here’s hoping the rest of the season can sustain that energy. (Many) more thoughts under the cut.

And, again, since the most consistent thing about Tumblr is its inability to roll out new features that are actually helpful, here is a link to view the post so you don’t have to read it all on your dash. (Omg, Tumblr, not only do you force people to keep reading on their dashes but you also jump down to the middle of the post when the full version opens? Do you have ANYONE beta test these features?)

Reddick/Lockhart is bustling when the episode opens. The fact they’re calling it Reddick/Lockhart seems like an indication that Liz chose to partner with Diane��it's not. The firm just needs a name, and it can’t have Boseman in it. (The signage still says RBL... for now.)

Everyone in reception is talking animatedly, except for Carmen Moyo, who’s just taking it all in. You might be tempted to read her as nervous. You would be very, very wrong. But we don’t know that now. Right now, it wouldn’t be wrong to assume she’s Maia 2.0. This scene strongly parallels Maia’s first day at the firm (opening with the reception saying “Good morning” and the firm name, then showing new associates waiting for an orientation by David Lee). And in that scene, Maia is absolutely nervous, like you’d expect a new hire might be.

Carmen focuses on another associate’s hand. I assume this is meant to be a parallel to how Maia fidgets with her rosary ring in that initial scene. Carmen then peels a price tag off her portfolio—possibly another Maia parallel, since the portfolio Diane gives Maia is such an important symbol in Maia’s arc.

I also see shades of Alicia and her first scene here—Alicia's silent and focuses on small details (the thread on Peter’s jacket) too.

I don’t say any of this in hopes of comparing Carmen directly to either of those characters. Carmen is not like any other character this show has had before. But these parallels are quite good at establishing character, building intrigue, and showing contrast (even if you don’t see them as parallels, we’re still getting a lot about Carmen just from watching her reactions, even if we don’t yet have the context to understand how to read Carmen). Since I’m now thinking about Maia and Alicia, I’m also now thinking about how Carmen is different from them and triangulating her spot in this universe—that's a good thing. She’s not a copy of either character, but I understand a little more about what the writers are telling me about her from the parallels.

The RBL sign in the background is being taken off the wall. It falls and adds even more chaos to reception.

David Lee walks in and screams, “Stand up! Those seats are for clients.” This is the exact same language he uses in the 1x01 scene; this is definitely an intentional parallel.

Btw Carmen already has more personality than Maia and she’s been in one episode so far! I didn’t hate 1x01 Maia, but I will say that nearly everything that intrigued me about early Maia was that I could project more about Alicia (whom I, obviously, care a lot about) onto her. I can and will compare Carmen to Alicia, but when I do, it won’t be because Carmen is an interesting lens through which to analyze Alicia... it will be because Alicia is interesting precedent to use to understand Carmen.

I still hate Maia, yep.

David Lee accidentally instructs a client to stand and then has to save face, heh.

In David’s tour of the office, we see the partners squabbling. Sounds about right. And STR Laurie is still a thing, which explains why David is there (though not why he is giving a tour).

Throughout the tour, we get a lot of shots of Carmen. Again, she’s silent and looks like she could be nervous. (Spoiler: this is a fakeout and when you rewatch this scene, you can see what new cast member Charmaine Bingwa is doing here—expertly putting on a face that looks like anxiety in one context, but is actually just Carmen calmly sizing things up.)

Marissa eagerly joins the tour. “That’s right. They’re letting you play lawyer, Marissa. How nice,” David says. Carmen takes this in, too. “Fucking prick,” Marissa mutters. Carmen hears.

David Lee introduces “someone from HR” which is a great sign that HR is very effective at this firm.

In the conference room, the partners are still arguing about who should replace Adrian. Diane tries the “all options are open to us and we plan to decide in the next 48 hours” strategy, but this audience is too smart for that. Madeline asks about the new leadership structure. (I am kind of hoping that one nice side effect of having to kind of shoot the season in a COVID bubble will be that we’ll get more small recurring characters. Madeline’s been around for a little while but we’re already seeing her get to do more this year.)

“Diane and I are going to run the firm together. For now,” Liz says. Oh, no, Liz, do not open the door to change. Letting the partners know you’re not sure is probably the worst strategy. You’ve gotta decide or they’ll sense weakness.

“Just the two of you? A black firm being run by a white woman?” a partner asks. “Well, I’m not running it alone. I’m here to assist Liz,” Diane says, trying to deflect. “Really? Because she needs assistance?” he counters. Diane doesn’t know what to say, but she and Liz both know these questions aren’t going to go away.

HR is running an orientation for the new hires and it involves having them all take pieces of toilet paper. Man, I hate ice breakers. Carmen takes a moderate amount and then passes it to Marissa, who takes only one square. Carmen notes this and makes eye contact with Marissa. And this is where it starts to become obvious that Carmen is not nervous—just observant and not chatty. Carmen knows Marissa is one to watch from how David reacted to her presence. She gives Marissa a look that’s meant to be noticed and start a conversation. It works, and Marissa explains that for each square you take, you have to share a fact about yourself. Carmen hates this and hides the rest of the toilet paper so she only has one square.

Liz tries to say there will be a discussion about the partnership, and Daniel (that’s what the captions call him, though they do reference him as “Barry” at one point but I'm like 99% sure I know which actor is Barry and it’s not him) says it feels like they’re just being told what the new state of things is. Liz says she hears him but right now they need a senior associate to backfill Lucca.

Daniel doesn’t think they need one. I don’t get why, unless it has to do with the budget cuts.

“We need someone with real experience to take on her caseload,” Liz notes. Hell yeah you do!

Liz asks if any of the partners want to take over family law. None do.

After the meeting, Liz asks Diane if she can call a head hunter. Diane approves. David Lee pops up to ask which one of them is taking Boseman’s office and they haven’t discussed it yet. I love that they managed to order a sign with their names on it before they’ve talked about how being partners will actually work.

(Also, Adrian’s office is quite obviously going to end up with Liz. And it would be weird if it were Diane, anyway, because it’s Diane’s old office from Lockhart/Gardner and it would look it if she sat there again lol)

David notes that an empty corner office looks like failure. He is correct. He gives them until Friday to decide.

Marissa does not like the ice breaker at all and pointedly notes she only has one secret, and it is that she used to be married to a mime. She makes a whole bit out of it and then whispers to Carmen, “I usually just make things up.”

Carmen’s next and she finally gets to speak her first words of the series. You know who else didn’t speak at all in her first scene? Alicia Florrick. Very different scenes, but I can’t help but think this is intentional. From what I’ve seen of Carmen, both she and Alicia use silence strategically and are comfortable with quiet. Alicia’s first scene is silent because she doesn’t need to use words to be expressive, but it does establish that she’s going to be a character with a lot of internal thoughts she won’t vocalize and that she’s observant and tries to maintain composure. Sure, you can watch the first scene of Pilot and just see a woman who’s stunned into silence, but when you watch it knowing Alicia and realize how much of the essential parts of her character are in her totally silent intro sequence that kicks off the show... it’s kind of amazing.

So comparing Carmen’s introduction to that? I mean this as a huge compliment. Carmen deploys silence for reasons both similar and different to Alicia. While Alicia uses silence to maintain some kind of boundary between her inner thoughts and the outside world, Carmen uses it to get a chance to observe and take things in without showing her cards. (We do see Alicia do that as well, especially at work, but I would call this a side-effect of Alicia being a quiet person rather than her intention; Carmen seems to be more conscious of how she uses her silence.)

Carmen is from Victorville, California. That means nothing to me but I’m sure there’s some significance. Carmen mimics Marissa’s response when asked for her secrets—she also responds with, “secret,” emphasizing she only has one. But what she says next also shows her in contrast to Marissa. She says her secret is she hates games. We already know so much about her and she’s said like ten words!

I think it’s smart to set Carmen up as a contrast to other characters. I know who Carmen is not because of how she differs from more familiar presences like Alicia, Maia, and Marissa. Marissa hates ice breakers, but her reaction to them is to use them as an opportunity to say something funny and over the top. Many others (including probably both Alicia and Maia) would likely resent the activity but play along and say something unremarkable (I could see Alicia overthinking it and sharing something surprisingly quirky though!). Carmen just does not give a fuck, and in a different way than Marissa doesn’t give a fuck. Marissa insinuates that she thinks the whole activity is stupid... Carmen just flat out says it. I would not pull this move on my first day of a new job! And that is the point—who is this person who is so self-assured she’s willing to insult HR on her very first day of her very first job as a lawyer?

ALL OF THIS FROM A FEW WORDS AND SOME WELL-ACTED GLANCES! As I said, I’m very intrigued by Carmen. I have some questions about the logistics of this plot, her endgame, and how she’ll function when brought into the firm drama/debate plots, but for now, I only have good things to say.

Liz interrupts the ice breaker to announce that everyone will be assigned a mentor. She then pauses to greet Marissa, which Carmen, again, notices. Liz is really there to say that they’ll be working on client maintenance that day, and each new hire will get to help with one of their clients. When she reads off their top clients, all the hands shoot up—except Carmen’s.

Madeline’s last name is Gilford. Noted. John’s last name is Wilson.

No one raises their hand to assist with Oscar Rivi, who is in a maximum-security prison. Carmen confidently raises her hand.

Barry’s last name is Poe. Noted.

Marissa and Carmen exchange glances. Super curious to see how this evolves. There are too many Marissa/Carmen exchanges in this episode for the writers to not plan to have them interact more in the future.

I’m kind of loving that it seems like the show’s leads are now Diane, Liz, Marissa, and Carmen. Diane’s obviously great, Liz is someone who’s been deserving of leading material for ages, Carmen seems interesting, and I’m so impressed they have managed to make Marissa, usually good in small doses, into a character who can handle larger plots without wearing on my patience (like that awful Elsbeth centric episode of Wife).

Diane has a client who received a summons directly, which Diane finds strange. But, since she is already working with this client on the same case (teaching kids during COVID) in another court, Diane is optimistic about this second suit. She thinks it could set a good precedent.

Diane introduces Phoebe, an associate who will help out on the case. Diane says she’s not personally going because it’s a formality and Diane needs to work on the brief. I’m like 99% sure Diane isn’t personally going because Diane’s role here is to convince the client she’s getting senior-level attention while having junior people do the work, but nice story!

Diane asks Marissa to go along with Phoebe. Marissa thinks she’s going to get to argue in court... Diane says no, Marissa gets to hand hold a client.

Oscar Rivi is basically Lemond Bishop, which is the only explanation I have for why RL would represent him. And, you’ll recall, I didn’t understand why RL would represent Bishop either. But we’ll just have to go with it.

(I think representing multiple drug lords is probably a bigger PR issue for RL than having a white partner! How come no one ever talks about this! Actually, new complaint: wasn’t Liz, who now has more power than before, the one who was most against representing Bishop?)

(I guess it may make sense that she’d be more okay with this Rivi dude than Bishop. Whatever Rivi’s done, I don’t think he’s threatened Liz’s kid like Bishop did!)

(Also, I’m fine with them switching it up and suddenly having this new drug kingpin. Mike Colter is obviously unavailable since he’s a lead on Evil, and I was tired of Bishop anyway. If the writers stop using Bishop and Sweeney as shorthands for corruption I will be very happy; I don’t think there’s much more mileage left there. Speaking of, Dylan Baker popped up in 2x02 of Evil!)

“I don’t want you to be intimidated,” Barry tells Carmen as they arrive at Rivi’s prison. Carmen reads articles about Rivi on her phone, saying she’s taking notes. Barry tells Carmen to “sit, listen, leave.” But then he discovers his ID is expired (he didn’t get it renewed during the pandemic) and he can’t go visit Rivi as a result. Carmen says she’s fine alone—she'll sit, listen, leave. She’s calm and not at all cocky as she says it, and it really takes until she’s actually talking with Rivi to realize that she’s not (just?) a hypercompetent law school grad trying to impress. She doesn’t seem to care at all what people, no matter how powerful, think of her, as long as she’s able to find security of any sort. (Tbh, it is kind of amazing she doesn’t get fired in this episode.)

(I’m getting ahead of myself but in Alicia’s first ep, she also changes up strategies on the partners. Alicia does it almost without realizing she’s gone against their wishes—she's just sure of the right strategy—and Carmen does it much more intentionally.)

Marissa and Phoebe can’t locate Judge Wackner’s court. Marissa asks a security guard she’s friendly with (of course she is) for help. He says there’s no Judge Wackner there, and the security guard notices that it’s a summon for a “9 ¾ Circuit.” The guard laughs at the Harry Potter reference; Marissa is not amused. They leave the courthouse when Marissa spots a sign for “9 ¾". She follows the sighs down an alley. Phoebe wants nothing to do with this; Marissa and the client are intrigued. They end up in a store called Copy Coop and are directed to a warehouse.

In the warehouse, an argument is resolved through Rock, Paper, Scissors. Then it’s Marissa’s turn. She asks for a continuance just like she was supposed to, but she uses the wrong phrasing. Judge Wackner notices. That’s when Marissa notes she’s not a lawyer, and Wackner responds that he’s not a licensed judge. So it’s fine that Marissa isn’t a lawyer.

Marissa tries to protest again that she’s not a lawyer, and Wackner basically tells her to proceed anyway. The client wants to stay, weird as this fake court seems.

Carmen reads with Rivi. She stares at him, getting him to speak first. His translator asks if there’s another lawyer with her; she just introduces herself. The translator does a terrible job of translating Rivi’s complaints, sharing very little of what Rivi said with Carmen.

Unsurprisingly (to me at least, because scenes like this ALWAYS have the twist where a character doesn’t let on that they speak the language until the exact right moment), Carmen speaks Spanish.

She lets Rivi know she speaks Spanish AND insults the translator in one go. Pretty big move. That gets Rivi’s attention and he kicks out the translator. He asks who she is and she repeats her name again (characters reacting like this will never not remind me of “Who are you?” “Kalinda.”).

Carmen notes that she’s just out of law school, explaining that’s why she’s eager to help. She doesn’t reveal that by mistake—she's using it to her advantage.

Credits! As I predicted, things are blowing up again this week like normal. No more kittens and puppies. There’s a new couch that blows up in the credits. Wackner’s desk also makes it in. I can’t remember if the purses were in this position before; they might be new. All the exploding TVs show footage of January 6th (which I hear is going to be a major theme of the season, though it’s not heavily featured in this episode). And the zoomed in shot of the closet (that I’ve never really liked) is gone, as is the falling curtain!

I still hate the font of the logo for this show. I also don’t understand why the show seems to have three logos—the one that’s the TGW logo but with “fight”, the one in the credits, and whatever the one they’ve come up with for this season’s marketing materials is. I like that they’re trying with the marketing of this season but I don’t get why the show has three logos.

While I’m talking about the marketing, can we just talk about the “Goodbye Lucca” graphic the official social media account posted? It had a fucking crown drawn over her head like this is a 2013 Tumblr shitpost!!! Who are they targeting with this?! WHO ARE THEY MARKETING TO? DOES THIS WORK ON ANYONE??? It literally says, “Chi-Town” on it. I cringed so hard. Sometimes I feel like the marketing of this show is meant to cater to the people who would, like, watch the credits of last week’s episode and be like, “Yes! It IS all now puppies and kittens! Everything bad in the world has been resolved!”

But hey, at least it’s better than the absolute trash they used to post for TGW. Remember when there’d be episodes about Alicia making career moves and they’d be like, “#TeamPeter or #TeamWill????”

OR, OR OR OR, the fucking time they tried to crosspromote TGW and the Victoria’s Secret Fashion show (yes) with a tweet that read, “All ‘Saint Alicia’ needs is a pair of wings&she practically turns into an Angel.” I... have no words.

Hey, Caleb is back! I was not expecting them to actually wrap up his arc with Liz. I think I’m actually pretty thankful it’s ending like this—he comes back for what I assume is one last episode and I don’t actually have to deal with the Liz/Caleb plot. Apparently the writers were setting that up so they could do some plots about power dynamics and interracial couples and who is seen as having power. Caleb and Liz were going to have an encounter with the police, who were going to listen to Caleb instead of Liz even though this encounter would’ve taken place in Liz’s house and Liz is the name partner and Caleb the employee. Interesting enough, but anything boss/employee just squicks me out and I don’t need it around and Liz deserves better.

But I did like Caleb as a character, so I’m glad he gets an exit, unlike past characters who have just disappeared. (Remember Robyn Burdine? Or that time Taye Diggs was a major character for two seconds?)

Liz was NOT expecting to see Caleb as a candidate for Lucca’s old role. Things are instantly awkward. I guess Caleb left STR Laurie?

Diane immediately senses that things are awkward with Liz and Caleb. Caleb is very professional throughout all this. Diane gets an important call and leaves the room, so Caleb and Liz can chat privately.

Caleb says he thought Liz was reaching out; Liz says she should’ve reached out but things ended abruptly. Love that Caleb checks that no one else is in the room with Liz before getting even more personal. He says they should just act like nothing ever happened between them and Liz asks if he can do that. “I’m the employee. Of course I can,” he says. This is why you don’t sleep with employees.

He says he really does want the job and he liked the firm. Liz says she’ll talk to Diane. Caleb says if it doesn’t work out he’ll be fine.

Phoebe tells Diane about 9 ¾ and Diane does not understand... at all. “If it has no power, and it doesn’t have jurisdiction, what does it have?” Diane wonders.

A little more on the case: RL is representing a woman who taught a small group of students during the pandemic, and some parents are suing her for preaching socialism at the children.

The woman suing did NOT like being called a Karen by her daughter or being compared to the family from Parasite. She wants a refund.

Marissa objects and makes up her own grounds, realizing that since it’s not a real court, she can object for any reasons she wants—as long as they follow common sense.

These scenes could so easily feel ridiculous, like a gag that goes on for too long. They do not. There’s just enough zany humor and theatrics to make the 9 ¾ court feel surreal. And, most helpfully, Wackner is a GREAT judge. He is engaged with the work and only concerned with the facts and arguments rather than politics. He’s tough but fair. He’s direct and he maintains control over his court. He’d be one of the best judges in a normal court. His sincerity is enough to make you wonder why courts DON’T operate like this. It’s easy to see why the characters are sold on this BS-free, rational, and effective system, even if it makes no sense that it would exist and it has no power. It’s simultaneously idealistic (if only things were resolved fairly) and threatening (how can something like this exist?! What does it mean that the real courts are so ineffective that there’s a need for something like this?! What happens if this goes beyond what are basically mediations for simple issues?).

This type of thought experiment is where TGF excels. I think they were going for something like this with Memo 618 (which hasn’t gone away!), but that arc always felt like it was on the verge of going off the rails. Mandy Patinkin’s performance and the writing for the 9 ¾ court already have me more invested in this than I was in Memo 618.

Marissa tries yet again to wait for help to arrive, but Wackner insists that they keep things moving. She tries to stall and ends up referencing George Clooney. Wackner cuts through that, too—he hates speeches “unless I'm giving them, and even then I’m just trying to stall.” Then he holds up a sign that reads, “CUT THE SHIT” and the audience laughs. He says this isn’t the kind of court where you can just run out the clock. Kind of ridiculous that real court IS that kind of court, no? (And that’s why this is an effective device so far.) (I say so far because I have watched content from these writers for long enough to know that things that work in small doses or initially can go wildly off the rails.)

Marissa changes strategies and does what she does best: she goes on instinct and adjusts her strategy as she goes. She eventually catches the woman accusing her client of teaching socialism in a lie about Parasite. It’s very Legally Blonde and very smart of Marissa. And I’m rather proud of myself for seeing what Marissa was doing (getting the woman to commit to a time frame and then baiting her to talk about a moment that proved the time frame fake) before she revealed what she was doing.

Sarah Steele is so good in this scene. I love her smile when she realizes the woman took the bait, and that she reacts with “AHA!” instead of something more proper. This is pretty much the perfect court for Marissa.

Diane and Jay arrive; are confused.

Carmen leaves Rivi after quite a bit of time has passed, making Barry nervous. Carmen tells him very little and repeats that she sat, listened, and left. She told the translator to go fuck himself (almost in those words) so she’s gotta know that Barry will hear what happened from someone. She does not care. She lies to Barry like it’s nothing.

Diane does not understand the 9 ¾ court, nor does she understand why a non-lawyer like Marissa is arguing. She does not understand why losing in this venue would matter or why a lawyer she knows (ha, I looked him up to see if he’d been on Wife or Fight before, and he has... as a totally different character!) is there.

“Okay, I’m losing my mind. Look, this is not legal. We have got to get out of here,” Diane says. Toni, the client, wants to stay.

I don’t actually know the answer to this—would there be repercussions to someone who is a member of the bar participating in something like this? Everyone knows it’s not real or binding, so nothing is being misrepresented, but this FEELS illegal?

Toni notes that a lot of people suing her are there watching, so walking out or losing would look bad. She also likes Judge Wackner because he is “better than the judges in real court.”

“Diane, what is real?” the client asks when Diane points out again that this court is fake. The client’s spent 8 months on this case in limbo, so this feels like reality to her. Fair point.

Diane chats with the other lawyer and asks what he’s doing here. He says he’s getting paid—with business down and court dockets backlogged (how much would that affect a large firm that settles most cases out of court? I’m actually curious about this), it’s a good source of money.

Diane realizes it’s basically arbitration. Then says she doesn’t understand anything anymore. The other lawyer replies, “Sure you do. That’s why this is throwing you. Welcome to 2021.” Yup.

Diane goes with it. A former teacher is on the stand. He’s got a grudge and wants money, so he’s helping out. He tries to say something that is the most obvious hearsay ever... and Wackner has no problem with it. Marissa likes that.

Wackner basically says he’s fine with hearsay because he can use his brain to figure out what’s real and what’s fake, just like we all do every day. Crosstalk is also allowed.

Wackner also doesn’t allow for bullshit breaks where lawyers tell clients what to say, because he “likes the truths found in sudden utterances.” All his rules make a lot of sense. They are all also counter to every single sneaky legal strategy these characters tend to use.

Toni made a comment that she “couldn’t fall in love with anyone who voted for Trump.” That gives a point to the plaintiff. Diane notes that this belief is shared with most of the country, and Wackner asks her if she shares it. “I’m not the question,” Diane replies, because she definitely doesn’t want to talk about her husband who worked in the Trump administration.

Wackner flat out tells Diane that Marissa should argue instead of her. “Marissa is not a lawyer,” Diane tries to say. “Well, I’m not a judge!” Wackner responds. And that’s it for the day.

Diane asks Jay for intel, and then we get one of the most effective Jay scenes in a while—he bonds with the Copy Coop security guard, who only has good things to say about Wackner. I like how the writers use COVID in this episode—they treat it like it’s recent past (fingers crossed) and reference it when it makes sense, like how the courts are backlogged, or this guard was laid off.

The security guard notes that he thinks Wackner is building something good in his spare time. He also notes that Wackner is a big Grateful Dead fan.

Carmen takes it upon herself to visit someone else in prison to help Rivi. She points out they’re under surveillance and convinces this other dude to take the fall for Rivi so he can go free. It’s very smart. I assume this is all her own strategy, as we see her look up this other dude before she’s even met with Rivi, though it’s possible Rivi came up with some of it.

There is something about Carmen’s demeanor when she deals with clients that is very Alicia-like in interesting ways. She’s very direct and unflappable in a way that people seem to take to (remember how all the creeps loved Alicia?), and she only shows emotion when she decides to. The similarities stop there. Carmen doesn’t seem remorseful or conflicted (Alicia always did). Sociopathic definitely isn’t the right word for her, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say it didn’t cross my mind. Carmen knows that her clients are bad guys. That doesn’t trouble her. And she doesn’t try to take the easy way out—she does more than she needs to. I don’t know what she’s really trying to do here, but I suspect she does.

Carmen is 28, just fyi.

Liz gets a call from Charles Lester. Obviously, Lester now works for Rivi, because Rivi is New Bishop. (Usually I’m a bit against saying any character is the new version of an old one, like how Lucca was not the new Kalinda (even if she was brought in to bring new energy to the space Kalidna occupied) or how Carmen is not the new Lucca (same), but I’m pretty comfortable saying Rivi is New Bishop. He’s not the same personality, but he... is New Bishop.)

Lester notes that Rivi only wants to meet with Carmen from now on. Liz does not understand this and she’s not thrilled with it. She notes that Carmen is a first year who has been there for two days, but she doesn’t want to lose Rivi’s business so she goes along with it. Was that Carmen’s endgame? Job security? Does she not care about the RL job and see a good opportunity to... just represent Rivi without a firm behind her? I can’t tell.

(This is where I could see this arc faltering. I get why Liz keeps Carmen on—she doesn’t want to lose the client—but I don’t really understand why Liz wants Rivi as a client. Losing Carmen who’s been there for two days and Rivi who she probably doesn’t want to represent seems like a fine outcome to me. And, beyond that, if Carmen doesn’t care about the firm and also doesn’t need them, what’s in it for her to stay? I don’t think she really cares that the firm would have more resources to use in defending Rivi. Like, why isn’t the outcome here just that Carmen teams up with Lester and leaves RL behind?)

Diane listens to the Grateful Dead and writes down lyrics she can use in court. Kurt gets home from work. Diane asks him if he thinks she should give up her name partnership since it’s a black firm. Kurt asks if she’s the best lawyer there. She says no, but she’s one of the best, and besides, it’s a bad look and she wants to do what’s right for the firm. “You and I disagree on so much. You obviously ask my opinion because you know that I will argue something you know you won’t,” Kurt says. This is a very good, and very accurate, response.

Diane keeps going, though. Kurt plays along and starts talking about identity politics. Diane starts debating back, ignoring that Kurt is not really wanting to play devil’s advocate. Kurt doesn’t give Diane an easy out and tells her she’s right—she should step aside. That’s not what she wanted to hear. Kurt laughs and then goes to take a shower.

Liz is eyeing Adrian’s office when Carmen walks up. She’s invited Carmen to talk to her. She asks her how things are going. Carmen just wants to know if she did something wrong. Carmen says she likes the firm and it’s great to be out of the legal clinics.

Liz shares the news that Rivi only wants Carmen going forward. Carmen is pleased and says that’s surprising... though she looks more pleased than surprised.

Liz suggests maintaining a professional distance, to which Carmen replies “I’m very professional.” “Oh, I don’t doubt it,” Liz tries to backtrack. “Is the firm dissatisfied with my work?” Carmen asks bluntly. Liz says no. “It’s my intention to treat all my clients like humans. Even the ones who might be murderers, or definitely are murderers. And I think Mr. Rivi might be responding to that because it’s something that he hasn’t received at this firm previously,” Carmen notes. This is QUITE the tone to take with your boss.

One question I have—and this is mostly inspired by the recap at I think Vulture?-- is to what extent Carmen knows what she’s doing. It seems like a lot. I can’t tell how much Carmen knows vs how much Carmen THINKS she knows. She’s definitely smart, and I don’t think she is an idealist (when she says her intention is to treat her clients like humans, she means that’s her strategy), but she is young and new to the law and only out for herself, which makes her vulnerable.

Liz does not take well to Carmen’s talk and notes she’s talking about her personal safety. Carmen thanks her and says she’d understand if Liz doesn’t want her on the case.

There is something a little unnerving about Carmen. She keeps saying things that are boldly inappropriate but masked by how professional and correct her arguments sound (like the line about treating clients like humans). And she has a way of gaining power over a conversation. Liz squirms way too much in that conversation and loses some of her control as a result.

I just need to know more about her!!! The fact that I can’t understand her makes her immediately interesting.

Diane and Liz interview Julius for Lucca’s position. They all know it would be a demotion for him, but they’re seriously considering it. I feel like this would look awful for the firm and they are going to handwave it anyway after a few lines about how bad it would look.

Diane quotes the Grateful Dead in court and it works. The other lawyer tries to quote songs too... it does not work.

Carmen gets Rivi a bunch of candy bars from the court vending machine so he can have a snack he enjoys. The security guard doesn’t want to let Rivi eat them, but Carmen is right that this is permissible. The guard smashes the bars in defeat. Carmen opens one for Rivi.

It is a little distracting to see the main characters pretend that COVID is in the past when the extras have masks, but honestly, that’s kind of what life is like right now?

Carmen zones out a little in court—not sure if she just does that or if she is trying to look unfamiliar with the rules so people will go easy on her/have low expectations. I think it’s a combination of both, considering that we’ve seen her laser-focus on things elsewhere in the episode AND she tells the judge it is her first day in court.

Court stuff happens; Carmen’s strategy works.

The judge tries to give Carmen advice and a warning. Liz is also there, watching, which is good because I was shocked anyone would let Carmen do this unsupervised.

Carmen is also kind of like if you removed all of Maia’s worst traits (her selfishness, her spoiled brat attitude, her sense of entitlement) and skipped right to her willingness to partner with Blum.

Liz and Carmen talk again, this time about the reputation of the firm. Liz notes that Carmen is clearly capable and reminds her sternly that she needs to conduct herself in a manner that does not put the firm at risk and that’s the only reminder she’s going to get. Carmen twirls a pen and stares at it instead of listening to Liz. She says she’s just listening like she’s perfectly innocent. It’s the right thing to say and, again, it’s SUPER UNNERVING.

“Wow. You really don’t give a shit what people think about you, do you?” Liz says in frustration. “I’m here to do a good job for my clients,” Carmen notes. Is she??? Does she just not care who she’s representing and want to do a good job, and that’s her whole motivation?? I would find that interesting but I need more to believe it. She’s so perplexing.

(Again, I don’t really get why Liz hasn’t fired her, because if she and Carmen keep having these interactions, Liz IS going to end up ceding all of her power and looking weak. But maybe Liz is as intrigued as I am.)

Liz also tells Carmen she’s going to be her mentor. Carmen says thanks and that she respected Liz’s father. Liz does NOT take that well. Audra’s reaction—a mix of shock, irritation, and confusion—is perfect here. I think Carmen is trying to say that she respected Carl Reddick—but she has no such respect for Liz. (It could also be about the sexual harassment, but I don’t think that’s public knowledge.)

I noticed earlier that the courtroom was #305 and was wondering why they chose that number (it’s similar to Courtroom 302, the book that inspired the bond court arc, which is why 305 stuck in my mind). I see now that the Copy Coop’s address is 305. Heh.

Turns out that the woman suing Toni is someone who would break COVID protocol and be generally terrible. I’m shocked.

Wackner decides to skip closing arguments and rule. He sides with Toni.

See, this is where this kind of thing is dangerous. Wackner is great and fair. But you can’t really replicate a system like this (though I also think this system would fail if replicated on too large of a scale; the reason it works is that everyone involved is buying into it and if it were to be corrupted no one would buy into it unless forced to—and if people are forced to buy into an extrajudicial system then that’s its own problem). What if some other judge were to just decide to skip closing arguments or decide suddenly a trial was over? That could be unfair in so many different ways.

After the resolution of the case there’s clapping and even Diane is surprised at how reasonable the verdict was.

Wackner then insists that everyone shake hands because “the thing we all crave most is respect and acknowledgement.” They also have to say, “I respect and I love you.” And they do! And no one even seems that unhappy with it Marissa and Toni are super into it.

And, someone in the gallery wants to get Marissa’s number because she did such a good job. Yep, sounds about right.

Diane fills Liz in, and Liz can’t believe it. Liz wants to hire Wackner (jokingly). Then she says she wants Julius since they know and trust him. Diane’s good with that, but she also chooses this moment to playfully let on that she knows Liz slept with Caleb. We’ve seen Diane observe Liz’s reaction to Caleb/mentions of Caleb all episode, and I don’t think it’s coincidental that Diane brings this up now, and in a friendly way. Diane doesn’t need to bring it up. I don’t think Diane needs the answer. I think she just wants to throw Liz off without making it obvious that’s what she’s doing.

I really, really hate to say it, because my whole thing about this season is wanting to see Liz be a great manager, but I don’t... actually think... Liz is a great manager? She’s second-guessing herself far too much. She’s more thrown in this scene than Carmen, who has like two days of experience, is by anything she encounters. And worse, she doesn’t hide it when she’s thrown. I think Liz is very smart and capable, but this episode is a pretty good case for why she might not be able to manage alone.

I know I’ve said that I want to see Liz manage and think she’d be good at it. I still think she could be. But I’ve also tended to think that Liz is a good manager and Adrian talks down at her, and I’ve dismissed some of her less strategic ideas as the fault of the Adrian/Liz dynamic. But nothing in this episode seems out of character, so now I’m less sure. (And to be clear, Liz not being a great manager isn’t a problem with the show, it’s actually pretty interesting to me.)

(Here are some of the things Liz has done in this episode alone that she needs to stop doing to be more effective: 1) Everything about her reaction to Caleb (and the fact she slept with him-- and yes I would, and did, say this about Will too so this is not a double standard!) 2) Not having a clear plan when meeting with the partners, even though she—and not Diane—is the one who is seen as having power. 3) Not being able to hold her own nearly as well as she should be able to with Carmen. I’m curious to see how the other partners hold up, and in fairness to Liz, I may be able to make this criticism of any character who doesn’t just immediately fire Carmen.)

And, I say all of this now because Diane in this scene is SO smart and SO strategic. She mentions Caleb to disarm Liz, then casually notes that she thinks Liz should take the corner office since it’s a black firm.

Liz isn’t sure if she should thank Diane for that (it is a little patronizing) but she does anyway.

Diane has another “last thing” to say, and it’s that she wants to bring on another partner, a black one. She wants to be in the discussion and to retain a name partner position. Liz says yes, as long as she has any power over the decision. This is a very smart move for Diane. It’s a compromise that’s to her benefit, and she makes the request of Liz at exactly the right time. I think Diane likes Liz as a person and wants to work with her, but she’s definitely buttering her up. This is kind of like an audition to show Liz that she should stick with Diane—Diane will be friendly with her! Diane won’t judge (but definitely knows about!) her indiscretions. Diane is reasonable and not power-hungry! Diane is understanding!

(And again, to be clear, I don’t think Liz is falling for Diane’s trap or anything. If Diane is smart enough to plan all this out, Diane is absolutely someone you’d want to keep on as a name partner. It’s just that Diane showing how smart she is, is a pretty stark contrast to Liz getting disrespected by a first-year associate.)

(And, because I feel like I'm being quite harsh on Liz, I don’t think Liz has handled the Carmen situation badly... yet. I just see signs that Carmen is able to shift the balance of power in her favor without really trying, and that Liz is getting flustered. I think Liz mentioning the mentorship is a way of Liz asserting power, and I think/hope that now that Liz knows the situation, she will try to regain control. And, I could very easily see this same plot happening but with Diane—it's just that there are a few other plots where Liz seems flustered in this episode alone, so it feels like a pattern. I’ll be looking out for more of this.)

Marissa and Carmen, both with large folders of casework, get in an elevator together. “So. I guess it begins,” Marissa says as the episode ends. I very much want to see more of Marissa and Carmen interacting. Mostly, I just want to see what Carmen does when she’s in situations that aren’t about representing a client or defending her work. I know what type of lawyer and employee she is, but who is she as a person?

Wow, this might be the most I’ve written about characters on TGF—as opposed to plots—in quite a while. I think that’s what has me so excited about this season. Carmen is interesting as a character because she’s so unique (or, perhaps, because she feels so much like a part of this universe yet so little like any other character—that's why I keep trying to compare her to others and find out where to place her). The 9 ¾ court is interesting because Wackner is so grounded, because it challenges Diane’s sense of reality in a way that’s new and interesting (this whole series is about making reality seem like it’s shifting under your feet; this is a new take on a familiar theme), and because it is a great match for Marissa’s personality and will give her a lot of opportunities for growth. It seems like we’re heading for some interesting material with Diane and Kurt, and there’s been a little bit of a tense undercurrent in their interactions in these first two episodes—I truly can’t tell if it’s supposed to be part of their banter or if there are mounting frustrations; I think the former but could see it being the latter. And, as I’d hoped, Liz is getting a lot more material.

#tgf thoughts #the good fight

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clearturtletrash · 4 years ago

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Horikoshi’s writing of Shouto and the problems I have with it

If you’re a fan of the way Shouto’s treated in the manga, don’t read, we’ll end up disagreeing on everything and you’ll probably end up offended lol. Because I’m not (satisfied, that is).

This post is spoiler-heavy for anime onlys, and for manga readers not up to date with the last arc (and last chapter for that matter, which is 301).

So, about Shouto and how he’s handled, along with ‘his’ story.

I don’t get how Horikoshi, whose writing I respect immensely, managed to depict such an incredible and alluring storyline with the Todoroki family, with some of the most complex character writing I’ve seen, but fumbled the one character he had to actually focus on.

Literally more than half the people in the Todoroki storyline are more interesting and more developed than Shouto at this point. Hawks, Endeavour, Dabi, Rei… a good bunch of fans are way more invested in their story than his, and I am too. It’s really sad, because if you asked me two years ago Shouto would have probably been one of my favorite character. But he was completely shafted, given no internal conflict, and at this point, I have the same interest in him as I do for Fuyumi and Natsuo, which basically means his only interesting feature to me is that he’s Endeavour’s child (oh, and he does have a cool design, but that can only get you so far).

Deku and Katsuki are more popular than him by a landslide compared to before if we believe the Japanese popularity polls, because Hori actually bothers to give them focus, conflict, and cool moments (even though, sometimes I feel like Horikoshi forgets Deku’s his main character lol). It’s a testament to how great Shouto was and how much potential had that he’s still that popular despite everything. Because, let’s be real, Endeavour and Dabi have taken the focus because they have much more emotional energy, while Shouto is just stuck in the crossfire, as a punching ball and stress relief (and eventually as the person who’ll save him I guess) for Touya (see how he was relegated to first aid during the big fight against Tomura? how he did absolutely nothing against Touya who was burning him alive? And how Touya had no interest in Shouto outside of the fact he was Endeavour’s son? Story of the way Hori treats him). He has no particular interesting insight to give on the Todoroki family either as he was too small to remember the important events, so even on this point we can’t count on Horikoshi to write something for him, everything comes from Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Rei. He's really had one great moment in S2 and S3 and that’s it. The way Horikoshi struggles to give him a personality doesn’t help either (he admitted some time ago he was hard to write sometimes, and… yeah, I can see that). I’m really trying to like his character but the manga gives us nothing, and keeps developing Endeavour, Dabi, and Hawks, which is great (I really love all three of them) but makes no sense given who’s supposed to be the main focus.

In the Endeavour agency arc, Endeavour’s thoughts and struggles were heavily touched upon, and Bakugou and Deku are in sync for 90% of it while Shouto’s just… there. as fodder for Endeavour, and maybe as a link between Endeavour and Bakugou/Deku too. He’s supposed to be a part of both these storylines, but instead, he just ends up as a way for them to overlap. we don't even take a peek in his thoughts, even though it's supposed to be an arc about the Todorokis!

I say all this as someone who eagerly waited for the day Horikoshi would portray Shouto, Katsuki, and Deku as a trio, but yeah, Shouto feels more like a third wheel than anything. if he wanted to establish them that way, he should have done it right after the sports festival arc, but after this arc, they have no scene together, and the focus shifted on Deku and Katsuki. Too little too late I guess.

To come back to the Todoroki storyline, I feel like Horikoshi simply woke up one day and decided Endeavour was more interesting to write lmao. at this point, it’s more Endeavour’s storyline than Shouto’s, even though Shouto’s supposedly one of the main characters. it has come to a point where, even though I know it ought to focus on Shouto because he’s (at least he should be) the main focus of this particular storyline, I’m hoping it won’t, because that’s just the least interesting aspect of this whole thing.

I’d say even Ochako’s treated better by the story, because at least Horikoshi tries to challenge her views and beliefs (even though for now it’s not very conclusive), while Shouto’s inner growth hasn't been put into question in how many chapters?

(btw, by inner growth, I’m not talking about his problem with his fire side, because that’s just been rinse and repeat for more than 200 chapters. I mean, srsly it’s been already 3 times since this problem has caused him to lose/fail... and it's not even satisfying like Katsuki or Deku (except for the first time in the sport festival, because that was when his character was still handled very well by Horikoshi). Why? Simply because when he loses, the stakes aren’t high, it’s all training or exams, so he’s just like, "oh, I have to maybe learn how to deal with it!", but there’s no real pressure he’s under. It’s not like Deku, who, if he does not progress, will break all his bones, and who failed to rescue Katsuki because of his broken arms (=and had a mental breakdown immediately afterwards and blamed himself). It’s not like Katsuki either, because Katsuki has a personality that makes low stakes feel like high stakes, which isn’t the case for Shouto. just compare Shouto's reaction when he loses because of his setbacks to Katsuki's reaction when he lost to Deku the first time (mental breakdown), or when Katsuki failed the provisional license exam (another mental breakdown, not caused just by his failing, but yeah). And anything else about Shouto's inner growth is tied to his reaction to Endeavour’s arc, which isn’t a flaw, and 100% depends on the way Endeavour acts. Apart from this, he has 0 internal conflict).

Sorry, I’ve gone off on a tangent lol.

To get back to the point I was making, and to further develop my analogy with Ochako, let’s look at their relationship with Deku, because there’s a major difference there, which is clearly in favor of Ochako. Deku has a big impact on Ochako, yes, but the reverse is also true. People complain she’s all about him (which, yeah, probably), but at least, she made a big impact on him too. She was the main reason ‘Deku' became his hero name. Shouto and Deku have a nice friendship, and Deku clearly considers him one of his best friends. but... it’s all one-sided in terms of impact, I can’t think of a single thing Shouto has done who changed/motivated Deku, while Deku literally changed his life. Because of this, he’s not one of the people who’s intrinsically tied to Deku’s character development, because he’s not Ochako, Inko, Katsuki or All Might (and probably soon Tomura).

His writing feels so fast compared to the others too. Shigaraki / Deku and Toga / Ochako have been paralleled for ages, have had a conversation at least once, and have had deep encounters early on. Nonetheless, both Deku and Ochako are just coming to terms with the fact these villains aren’t so different from them. However, Shouto’s only interaction with Dabi is a ten second eye contact when Dabi kidnapped Katsuki. Dabi had more interactions with Endeavour for fuck's sake! Shouto then learns Dabi’s Touya, and speed runs the development of Ochako and Deku. He doesn’t even need 10 chapters to process they’re ’the same'. Where were all the reflection and doubts? Okay, it’s his brother, so the parallels are easier, but still, it shows Horikoshi doesn’t allow Shouto to have that much introspection, and I feel it’s because Horikoshi just doesn’t care that much. Even worse! Horikoshi introduces another hero parallel to Dabi in the character of Hawks. A parallel much more interesting and compelling, because it parallels Dabi MUCH BETTER. They’re opposites in every ways (particularly in regards to their relationship with Endeavor), and know each other. Touya and Shouto don’t even seem to have spoken to each other...

And so, the only thing that still was interesting and that Horikoshi still bothered to develop was Shouto’s relationship with Endeavour, but in the end, even that was overshadowed by the much more complex, fucked up, and challenging relationships of Endeavour and Touya (and Endeavour and Hawks) as seen in 301 and before. Clearly the one Dabi’s fixated on is Endeavour.

one last thing: Shouto's stuck in a weird loop where Horikoshi kind of makes him comes close of the Bakugou and Deku duo, and then when we start to think they’re an actual trio, he does everything in his power to make it very clear how that’s NOT where he belongs either, since OFA/All Might/Deku/Katsuki is another storyline. It’s as if Horikoshi doesn’t want him here (see: how he decided the ‘win all might’ scene didn’t have to include him), but puts him there sometimes anyway. It’s probably because Shouto’s so popular, which, yeah, would be fine, if he could stick to it!

His supposed admiration for All Might (I feel like everybody forgets it's a part of his character, and I don't blame them) is brought up once every blue moon, which compared to Deku and Katsuki, is just ridiculous. And, once again, All Might has a much deeper and more interesting relationship with Endeavour than with Shouto. At this point, I don’t even know what Hori could do to make me want to read about him. I much prefer the dynamic of Hawks/Endeavour/Touya and Katsuki/Deku/All Might.

I hope the future will prove me wrong for his character. Actually, I hope everything I’m saying is wrong and idiotic, and Horikoshi will make every scene I criticized worth it and a means to an end. I mean, he clearly has the talent and writing ability to pull off some of the best character development I’ve ever seen, so anything’s possible. but yeah, I don’t really believe it for now, and I’m frustrated, because Shouto had so much potential.

tldr; I liked Shouto as a character, but he dwindled after some time, and now I feel as if he’s not the focus of his own storyline, because this place is occupied by the much more dynamic relationships of Endeavour, Touya and Hawks. And I’m not even mad, because their dynamic is much more interesting. However, I feel like Horikoshi grew bored of Shouto, and has put much more soul into Katsuki and Deku as of late.

I’m welcoming any responses, if people are seeing an aspect of his character I don’t, please enlighten me! I miss enjoying his character, and I’m not opposed to seeing him in a different light. I just needed to put down my thoughts in writing to make sense of them lol.

#bnha manga spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha 301 #todoroki family #endeavour #todoroki shouto #todoroki enji #todoroki touya #ochako uraraka #I guess #im kinda new please inform me if I'm crosstagging I swear its not on purpose #todoroki shouto meta #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #boku no hero academia #my hero academia

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b-rainlet · 4 years ago

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Just want to say I love your blog. Your TUA content is lovely and I can't say what a breath of fresh air it is to find another Luther champion. The fandoms treatment of him, istg, some of the most ludacris nonsense I've ever had to read. Especially love how you point out he's ALWAYS been so sweet and selfless when it comes to Allison and her personal happiness. Anyway I saw you say you seem confident alluther will actually happen. I sure hope so, but why do you figure? The antis are so loud.

Awwwww, thank you anon, you’re so sweet! Yeah, this blog is on 24/7 loving Luther lockdown! I feel like the antis are easing up a little bit after S2 aired because most of Luther’s scenes were used as comedic relief and the faves he was clashing with (Diego and Vanya) seem to have a better relationship with him now, so it’s not as bad anymore, but I have to admit I never ever go into the main tag so I can’t be 100% sure.

Maybe you should try looking through the ‘Luther Protection Squad’ tag to find some more like-minded people? I swear there are more of us out there!

But to come to the Alluther question:

I know that the antis are loud and I’ve noticed that most of them have counted S2 as a win for them, talking about how Allison ‘moved on’ and how Alluther won’t happen but I disagree (and I will now launch into a rambly post about why lmao).

WARNING: CONTAINS S2 SALT. PROCEED WITH CAUTION

All of this is based on the assumption though that they will be somewhat consistent in their writing regarding Alluther and S2 taught me that that isn’t very likely, so maybe I’m completely wrong and Alluther will never ever be mentioned in S3, but based on what happened so far, I could see them as an endgame couple.

I mean in S1 they were a pretty big plot point so I don’t think I have to say anything about that but even though the Alluther scenes have been toned down in S2 they were there.

Let’s see what antis would say about why Alluther won’t happen:

Allison is married

And? Allison has been married before and still mentioned comparing every man she ever loved/dated to Luther. Allison has been married and she has had a kid with another guy and still Alluther was going strong.

Not to mention that the end of this season has made it very clear we won’t see Raymond again.

Raymond (and Sissy) are temporary love interests for this particular season and both of them cannot leave their timeline without majorly fucking things up - at least according to Five, but the whole timetravel rules can change at the drop of a hat - but more importantly, both of them had a talk with their respective lovers about wanting to stay in their timeline.

So unless Allison will return to the 60s (which doesn’t seem likely tbh), Raymond is gone for good.

Raymond was her true love tho! Like Klave!

I don’t think antis actually word it like this but I’ve noticed how all of them hopped onto the Almond train immediately and keep gushing about how good and cute they are and that’s great! You can ship what you wanna ship! But I think a lot of the love for this ship has to do with how it prevents Alluther from happening. If Allison is deeply in love with this wholesome man, she can’t ever like her brother.

But tbh….I didn’t buy Almond. For two people who are happily married they crumble and burn awfully fast.

And tbh, I was thinking about making a post about this so I’m gonna add this rant here but I just wanna preface this with the fact that I don’t hate them and I don’t hate people who ship them, I’m just….using this opportunity to poke some hole into their relationship.

I think it would’ve been more believable if Raymond and Allison would be in the early stages of dating while all of S2 goes down. Think about it.

They are married? After one year? I mean, as far as I know, Allison has been in the 60s for about two years - since Luther was the first one who arrived and he spent 3 years there??? But I am not fact-checking this, so correct me if I’m wrong - so she had time to get used to being there, adjust to having no voice, meet Raymond, fall in love with him and get married to him.

And considering she could already talk again it must’ve have been a while before she started talking to/dating Raymond? I don’t think a wound like that wouldn’t take a while to heal but with this show’s consistency, maybe it did.

I was actually hoping Allison would stay mute for a while longer but alas

So, they got married pretty fast imo, and you could argue that it’s the 60s but

Allison isn’t from the 60s

Allison just got out of a bad marriage. There’s like, a year?? maybe?? between her first marriage and her second one and tbh, I don’t think Allison would get married again so fast, tying herself to someone again almost immediately, especially if you consider what getting married in the 60s means for a woman and her personal freedom (it’s hinted at with Sissy but not with Allison and even though Raymond was probably a good husband who let her have her freedom and her say in things - as we can see with their movement - it’s still the 60s. Women couldn’t earn their own money. They couldn’t even spend any money without having to ask their husband. They were basically property of their husband and I can’t believe Allison would immediately jump back into being married, no matter how nice and good the guy is).

“That just means it’s true love! That’s why their marriage may seem rushed!”

Yeah true love. I also keep secrets from my true love.

I mean, I understand that Allison couldn’t start talking about time travel or Raymond would’ve started thinking she’s crazy or something - and maybe would’ve sent her to a mental institution as is his right as a husband, so good idea getting married! - but she didn’t mention stuff like “I had a child.” or “I lost my family.” either and those are vague enough to not raise questions.

I mean, she could’ve lied! She could’ve said Claire is dead, which considering the apocalypse was what they were escaping is true!

She could’ve talked about how she had a family, but they kinda lost each other - maybe talking about how they all moved away and she doesn’t know where they are now, even though she misses them terribly.

I mean, I simply can’t believe that she had to grief for her own child all on her own and she didn’t even tell her husband (and she couldn’t even properly be sad about it since Raymond and her lived together, so she probably didn’t have many moments where she could think about the future and the things she lost without the possibility of being walked in on).

And how much it would’ve meant if there would’ve been a scene of her crying over Claire when she thinks she’s alone, but alas.

Then there’s also the whole added drama to their relationship. Which was btw, so unnecessary.

@showwriters: Why do you establish a relationship you obviously want to be viewed as full of love and instead of letting it be the steady rock the character can lean on during all the already ongoing chaos, you add drama to it and let it fall apart as a side plot which immensely suffers from not being shown/explored enough.

I mean, we already have relationship drama with Vanya/Sissy and that relationship feels more natural because their obstacles are outside forces and not...one of them distrusting the other.

You know, I get why Raymond is suspicious, I totally do! I just don’t think it makes the relationship believable.

Once again, if they would’ve been in the early stages of dating and suddenly Allison’s weird brothers appear and she seems to be in cahoots with the cops, I would also think ‘???’ and it would’ve made perfect sense for Raymond to be confused and distrustful and not want to talk to Allison.

But they’re married. They’re married and they vowed to love each other in sickness and in health and yet Raymond immediately jumps to ‘Allison is a spy’.

The woman you love enough to marry. That’s your first thought. Okay.

(And if you wanna compare that to Vissy...Vanya suddenly drives off in the night to meet her family and disappears for a while and she apparently did something to Harlan and now he’s behaving weirdly and has powers….and she’s talking about taking Sissy and him to the future…..and yet….Sissy trusted Vanya).

And tbh, I was done with their whole relationship the moment Allison spent the whole night calling every single hospital, trying to find out whether her husband was in one of them - was even alive - in tears and close to breaking down because the last time she saw him they were both involved in a riot and the possibility of him being in jail or hurt is very high only to find out…..

…..he had a meeting with their group without telling her because he doesn’t trust her.

And what? He couldn’t have called her to at least tell her he’s okay and he’s gonna stay somewhere else overnight because shady shit did just go down that they need to discuss but he wants to be alone for now? That’s the bare minimum and yet he doesn’t do that. He doesn’t even call to make sure she is okay since running away doesn’t mean she couldn’t have accidentally been dragged into a brawl and hurt.

Once again: They are married.

So tbh, all I got from this relationship is the feeling that Allison simply didn’t wanna be alone in this new timeline and that isn’t an explicit point against Alluther.

Okay, but….Allison moved on! So she still won’t get with Luther!

Did she? Did she really? I don’t think so. I mean, one of the first things we get from Allison aside from ‘She’s married’ is ‘She looks at the moon so often, her husband notices and gets her a book related to that’.

That’s one of the most blatant ways they could’ve said: ‘She misses Luther.’

And Luther only. Not the whole family, Luther. If they wanted to somehow make this platonic or familial, they wouldn’t have taken the character she is canonly interested in romantically (which she is and has been since S1, no matter what antis say).

I mean, if they only wanted to show ‘She misses her family’ they could’ve added a scene where she listens to the kid next door playing the violin or sees a boy in schoolboy shorts or maybe mistakes someone for Diego or whatever, endless possibilities. But they didn’t.

They made it very clear she misses Luther and I don’t think she had a scene that shows her missing any of her other siblings in such a way (which is btw paralleled by the scene where Luther mistakes someone for Allison, which is also the only scene where he’s shown thinking about one of his siblings to the point he thinks he sees them - as far as I remember).

But that’s probably only a coincidence, right?

Then there’s them meeting for the first time. I mean, they hug and the rest of the world disappears.

They took the time to shoot/cut this scene in a way that, when Allison and Luther hug after years of not seeing each other, everyone else isn’t in the shot anymore and it’s just them. Because they tried to make this as platonic as possible.

(In comparison, Allison and Diego don’t even hug. And Klaus and Allison do hug and it’s a happy moment but there is no romantic music and it’s more focused on them being happy to see each other and not framed as a romantic scene. I mean, I have no clue regarding things like ‘motifs’ and ‘scenery’ but just watch those two hug scenes back to back and you know what I mean).

Then the scene proceeds and they talk and sit down and Luther mentions her marriage and Allison tries to apologize.

Just think about that. She doesn’t outright apologize but she does try to explain why she got married by saying how hard it was and is only stopped by Luther telling her he’s glad she wasn’t alone.

How….how can you read that as a platonic convo between brother and sister? Just replace Luther with Klaus. Why would she feel the need to explain herself and seems guilty about being married? Is it because it implies she gave up on finding her family? If so, that would be her reaction with every sibling but she is explicitly like this with Luther. She tells Klaus she’s married too, and in that scene it’s definitely a ‘siblings catching up’ moment and it’s a happy moment and she doesn’t seem apologetic about being married.

She is with Luther.

Because they both know that there’s something between them and has been for a long time, to the point that Allison is visibly jealous when Luther has other relationships (his one-night-stand in S1) and this is the second time Allison has turned towards another man instead of waiting for Luther. And that’s why she tries to apologize. That’s why she tries to explain that she couldn’t know whether they - whether Luther - would ever show up, so she tried her best to move on - but she didn’t really, hence the moon scene.

(This is also the scene where Luther could’ve been angry with her - and she probably would’ve thought he’s in the right - since during the days leading up to the apocalypse it seemed like they were slowly working towards being together - even if the kiss never happened, there’s still the phone booth scene which is basically Luther confessing his feelings - and now she once again leaves him standing alone, waiting for her to possibly return to him.

But he isn’t, he just tells her he’s glad that she wasn’t alone. Because he is the actual embodiment of a gentleman and this world doesn’t deserve him).

And this is just what I remember from watching the season once and then not really engaging with it, I can’t understand how antis can see those scenes and come to entirely different conclusions. But I guess, you really only see what you wanna see, huh?

But, but…...Incest is disguting! Even their siblings think so!

They don’t. They really don’t. There’s a gifset on tumblr somewhere compiling the scenes in S1 that show how chill the sibs are with Alluther, but let’s disregard those and just focus on S2 since they changed up a lot from the prior season and antis seem to think S2 was them finally saying ‘No Alluther’.

I guess there’s the hair salon scene where Vanya, Klaus and Allison talk about relationships and Klaus lightly teases Allison for liking Luther.

Now, he mentions Allison crushing on their brother in the same sentence where he talks about Vanya and her ‘Farmfrau’ and unless I missed it, he doesn’t change his voice. He doesn’t suddenly sound completely disgusted, or like he wants to vomit or whatever people think, so either, he thinks Vissy is as ‘disgusting’ as Alluther, or, he thinks both are simply relationships his sibs are interested in pursuing and he teases them about them like a sibling may do.

And then you have Allison’s reaction.

She doesn’t go: ‘Oh yeah, that was gross, what was I thinking’, she doesn’t make a face or disgusted noises or what, no, she tries to defend herself and her feelings.

Which tells us:

Despite popular belief to disregard Allison’s say in the Alluther relationship, she wants the relationship and she is obvious enough about it their siblings know (and Klaus makes it a point to say ‘Allison is into Luther’ and not ‘Luther likes Allison and Allison tolerates it).

Alluther is brought up while they talk about current relationships, implying Allison still feels this way (especially because the way she reacts doesn’t make it seem like it’s a long over relationship with no longer relevant feelings. But again, I watched the season once and I don’t remember everything that was said. I think this is telling enough though).

So..tell me again how everyone thinks Alluther is disgusting?

By now anon is thinking: ‘What is the point of all this rambling?’

And yeah, I am sorry for going way too into detail but I just wanted to make it clear that if the writers were intend on killing Alluther off in S2 - like antis believe - then everything I just mentioned wouldn’t have happened.

(And that’s without even mentioning the cpr scene).

Alluther did get reduced but it didn’t vanish even though they decided to completely erase other things (like Claire and Eudora who are barely or not at all mentioned or things like Kliego being very close).

This would’ve been the best opportunity! They re-meet in the 60s and Allison is happily married and takes the time to tell Luther he should move on. Or both are single and Luther tries to ask where they’re standing and whether she would like to try with him and she goes ‘This would be a mistake’ and that’s it.

(I am making Allison the one who ends things because it would be ooc for Luther to just end the possible relationship after waiting for Allison for years and there needs to be some consistency even in the mess that was S2).

But! This didn’t happen!

Alluther is more or less back where it was in S1. Allison isn’t in a relationship anymore and won’t get back with the guy and Luther loves her no matter what. And the cheek kiss seems to leave them both on a hopeful note of finally getting together.

So unless they use S3 to once again redo the show, it feels like Alluther is set up to be endgame. Like, I am getting ‘star-crossed lovers’ vibes where you’re just waiting for them to finally get together - because they just belong - but things keep getting in the way.

You could compare it Diego/Lila in that regard, I think it’s pretty obvious those two are gonna end up together too.

I have another ask about how they could get together, where I will definitely ramble more, but this shall be it for now. I hope it was halfway consistent. (And doesn’t have too many typos, I’m too lazy to check).

Also the formatting is shit but idc, I spent like two hours on this

#Alluther #tua s2 spoilers #anti tua s2 #Long post

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ais-n · 5 years ago

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Why do Boyd/Hsin work? (anon ask)

I moved this ask over from a different place where the person sent a number of questions, as they were unable to get it to fit in tumblr’s space restrictions. In case they didn’t want their name known, I’m referring to them as an anon. But I thought they had good questions others may be curious about as well so I’ll be putting them (and the answers) over here.

ANON ASKED:

I think you mentioned somewhere that at some point during the writing process you guys thought that Boyd and Sin would fall for each other, and that’s how the idea was born. Why do you think, personally, that they fit so well as a couple, and what made you decide that they would fall for each other?

Yep, you remember correctly :) So basically we started ICoS just to fuck around, honestly, because we were bored. Because we didn’t figure it would become a thing, we thought that rather than wasting all our energy/motivation/excitement on character creation and some in depth setting on another world or something, we’d be best off doing something in our world, kind of our times, kind of dystopian, and then to pull in characters we had created for roleplaying games elsewhere that we didn’t get to play as fully as we wanted, or we thought would be fun to play more here.

Sin came from one game, Boyd from another. We knew Sin was going to be "Sonny’s” main character pretty early into it, if I recall correctly, but I didn’t know which of my characters I wanted to bring over. I initially threw out Boyd as an option because I thought the juxtaposition would be really funny, and because I liked him as a character but he barely got anywhere in the other rpg. (Lou came from that RPG too, btw, as did Vivienne and Cedrick of course)

The point at which we realized they would fall for each other was practically right away - we wrote like, I don’t even remember, 4 scenes or something? And already they were seeming like they had great chemistry and wanted to flirt and just somehow, bizarrely, felt like they would gravitate toward each other.

I don’t know how to explain how we knew without probably sounding like a lunatic, but to me characters are people - and most of the time, I kind of take my cues from them as to what they think, what they would do, how they feel, etc. I know they aren’t real, I know they don’t exist in our world, but maybe I just get interested in the psychology of characters and because I’m an empathetic person, maybe I just naturally start thinking of them in terms of what they want and how that affects what I had thought I had planned for the story.

It was just one of those things where we realized as soon as we had those two characters in the same room as each other, as soon as we tried writing a scene that we had intended to establish them as partners who didn’t get along and who didn’t trust each other and who would never be particularly close, we realized both of them kept somehow responding to the other character in a way that showed they had chemistry and they would like each other. Maybe even love each other, given the chance.

So we started writing the story over again, reworking it this time with the knowledge that they wanted to be a thing, so now it would be a story with a romance, instead of just a story. But being that they were both super messed up, of course that whole journey to love in any way that’s even remotely healthy was a process in and of itself.

(Sorry for rehashing all that since you remember that - but wanted to say all that for anyone who hadn’t seen the context on the previous posts where I talked about that)

As for why they fit so well, honestly I think it’s because of their base characteristics and their default tendencies, and a lot of it too is their backgrounds. It seems like their backgrounds were made to create characters that fit each other so well as a result but that was totally a coincidence that they each already had backgrounds we’d individually decided which ended in life experiences forming the characteristics that drew each other to them.

So, for example, Sin doesn’t trust almost anyone in the beginning of the series; he’s used to being used, he’s cynical, he kind of hates people, and he just doesn’t have much faith in humanity or humans because people have shown him time and time again that they will turn on him if given the chance, or they don’t really see him as a person, or they do but he can’t help feeling like they have an ulterior motive in it all. Then Boyd comes along, and he doesn’t have an ulterior motive whatsoever; he just genuinely does not have any preconceived judgment of Hsin, he doesn’t care either way about him at first, he doesn’t treat him like shit like so many other people have Hsin’s whole life. He just kind of treats him like a person, for good and for bad. Which means they have arguments and they have good moments. They find they have similarities in some things and are way different in other.

I think it’s the fact that Boyd was willing to judge Sin on Sin’s actual actions and actual words instead of basing things on fears, rumors, or the like, that over time made Sin realize Boyd was different. Similarly, how Boyd stood up for Sin even at his own personal detriment, when no one else had in quite the same way. The fact that Boyd cared so little for himself he was even perfectly comfortable sacrificing himself for Sin’s benefit even when they weren’t friends. I think that the fact that Boyd didn’t give a shit about anything, that he only was interested in seeing Sin for who Sin was and not what everyone thought him to be, was something that really spoke to Sin and helped him slowly come out of his shell. And made him feel comfortable starting to trust others on his own terms, and even fall in love, and feel safe doing so in the long run.

As for Boyd, he also was used to a certain treatment in his life, which was at times indifferent, at other times even cruel. He was used to people judging him by his looks, his family, all sorts of things. He was used to people hurting him. And he was used to losing the only people who had cared about him. He was, in short, used to suffering. He just wanted to die and be done with it all.

Similar to how Boyd didn’t judge Sin for what others judged him as, Sin didn’t seem to treat Boyd the way he was used to - or at least, not for the same reasons. Over time, it let him feel like it was okay to be himself; that he wasn’t inherently wrong for being born, or for how he was born, or for being alive until now. I think for Boyd the fact that Sin was so ridiculously strong and powerful was a relief; it made him feel, on some level, that he wouldn’t break and destroy and kill Sin just by being in his life, the way he felt he had for his dad and Lou.

In the end, I think they both just happened to be the right kind of person to make the other person feel like it was safe to slowly grow into who they were at the core of themselves without all the trauma of the past being the only thing that dictated their present. They each ended up being the right collection of characteristics to let the other person feel loved, and feel safe loving in return.

Of course, because of all that trauma and everything else contextually in their lives, the process of coming to that realization was a long one, and had a lot of ups and downs, and a lot of unhealthy behavior along the way. They aren’t always the healthiest for each other as they grow, but I do think they were what each other needed to, in the very long run, trust in the world to some extent, and through that learn to trust in themselves.

#ask ais #icos #icosbooks #in the company of shadows

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flydotnet · 5 years ago

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Brighter than the Starry Sky

Summary: Kirino wants to show his boyfriend something while they're in Hokkaido.

Fandom: Inazuma Eleven Go Ship: Established RanTaku

Wordcount: 1.5K words

Notes: The stars are beautiful tonight. This was written for my giftee for this year’s Secret Soccer, @elestialgz-scraps! We sadly don’t share a lot of ships, and the one we do didn’t inspire me, so I hope you’re all right with some awkward RanTaku! Considering Kirino is one of your favs, it’s written in his POV. I hope you’ll like it nonetheless! (Btw, you’ve got some nice character tastes, my friend: Tsunami is :ok_hand:). I also happen to suck very hard at Japanese geography (I was already not the best History-Geography major in prep class and I’m not the best at Brazilian and French geographies to begin with), so I’m in doubt concerning Hokkaido and freezing temperatures. I got all my Hokkaido knowledge from Inazuma Eleven and Detective Conan and this was the result I’m afraid. Anyway y’all, happy holidays, and let’s hope for an Inazuma-filled 2020. (TL;DR: get your shit together Level-5).

Event hosted by @inazumasecretsoccer.

AO3 version available here.

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It came to Ranmaru in a frenzy, almost like a spontaneous fire started by a little spark, while he was doing some homework: what about stargazing?

At first, for a couple seconds, it seemed like a bit of a dumb idea: it was cold outside, especially in Hokkaido, the wintery air would bite them, and Takuto would most likely refuse in fear of catching something. It’d be a wise move, even if it bothered him, yet he couldn’t bring himself to hold a grudge against his own boyfriend.

Yet, there were more reasons to at least ask him about it; in fact, too many of them for Ranmaru to resist. The winter sky was the best to see stars sparkling in the dark, especially in the clearer north, where the lights of Tokyo couldn’t obscure the view, where there were far less luminous pollution, in a place where they (hopefully) wouldn’t be disturbed in the middle of a moment of intimacy. Usually, the group liked to interrupt, so spending some time alone together, far from the rest of the world and society, seemed more than welcome…

After all, what could possibly go wrong? Well, a ton of things, and Takuto would be the first to point every one of these out with surgical precision, but he guessed he’d ignore them until they came up, for once. It wasn’t his kind to be reckless, unlike some of his friends; yet the appeal of the idea he had just had was too strong for him to deny. He supposed playing it risky couldn’t hurt, from time to time…

To his surprise, Takuto only hesitated for a little bit, most likely the time it took him to calculate the balance between risk and reward. They agreed on an evening, after his piano recital (to nobody’s surprise, he had managed to have his instrument carried all the way north), behind the backs of literally everyone else but the coach. Surely they could benefit from some alone time, couldn’t they? They deserved it, after going through so many events.

This spontaneous idea became real right before his eyes only on the following evening. Yes, it went this fast: one moment he was hesitating even bringing the idea up, the next they were in the snow and the starry darkness of the night, hand in hand, covered in hot clothes and cheeks reddened by the cold and the sudden intimacy of the situation. With a little luck, nobody would disturb them…

If Ranmaru didn’t know much of Hokkaido, he still spotted a comfortable spot fairly quickly. It was a landscape-viewing site, high in the air, the wind blowing under it and through Takuto’s red silky scarf (and Ranmaru wished he even had half the money to buy him such a good item of clothing, but alas, he was a bit too poor for that, which his boyfriend didn’t hold against him in the slightest). Invaded by a sudden blow of enthusiasm, he brought the both of them with his legs running.

When they arrived, considering the ground was covered in snow, he hesitated to make the both of them sit. Considering Takuto didn’t seem too keen on doing so either, he felt content staying up, fingers enlaced. Needless to say, he hadn’t seen everything through and was just realizing it. Oh well, sometimes, you had to leave yourself to the arms of fortune, didn’t you?

So here they were, alone together, facing the sparkling starry sky. Despite the coldness of the winter winds and their breath transforming into mist as soon as it met the air, they both felt warm. At least, Ranmaru sure didn’t feel like he was in the middle of a polar-like region, which seemed weird considering it was the opposite way earlier this day, but he wasn’t going to openly complain about it. Sometimes, life was good; right now, life was at its best.

Neither of them talked, profiting from the calm and serene silence. Gazing at the sky, then each other, then the sky, was absolutely enough for now. Well, that was what he thought until Takuto was the first to open back the conversation, much to his surprise:

“This is Orion.”

Takuto’s hand showed the way to stars forming, indeed, the double-triangle shape of Orion. Ranmaru, being fairly bad at spotting constellations himself, was already in awe by just being with his special someone in a charming place with no one around to disturb them: this was only making things better from then on. Of course his boyfriend would be knowledgeable there too! Was there a single thing Takuto couldn’t do?

Well, frankly, Ranmaru didn’t know, but also didn’t want to. He was fine thinking his boyfriend could do literally anything as long as he wanted to. It made him stronger. The spark shining in his eyes, lit by the pale light of the full moon smiling upon them, only made it even more beautiful than it was before. At some point, he may have forgotten to look at the stars.

They continued stargazing for a time, Takuto pointing different constellations and explaining the myths behind their names. Sometimes, while they couldn’t per say see some of them, Ranmaru would still get the story of Andromeda, Chiron the centaur, the vase pouring its stars into the sky. It was less the stories themselves that interested him, as he was more focused on the fun Takuto had telling these to him, sometimes humming music that reminded him of the different myths he’d mention.

The conversation eventually slowed down and came to a halt, right before starting back up.

“I’ve really enjoyed our time so far. Thank you for bringing us here.”

If Ranmaru felt his face burning again, he preferred to hide it behind a laugh.

“Thank you for accepting it in the first place, then. Wouldn’t be the same without you.”

If they didn’t usually dare getting more physical, they went for the kiss this time. It wasn’t exceptional, considering it was the very first, sure; but it’d have been a lie to say it didn’t make him want to live that experience again. They’d have to give it a second shot once their lips wouldn’t be this affected by the cold.

Unfortunately, the wind wasn’t letting go of their evening, eventually forcing them to abandon the sight-seeing spot and find shelter inside. The inn the team was staying at being quite a long walk from where they had gone, until the wind let out, they had to find a nearer place. It didn’t quite help that, shortly after they finally decided themselves to leave and find a warmer place to stay in, the snow had started falling. Talk about a misfortune! Good things always had an end, he supposed…

As not to get lost, they held onto each other’s hand as they traversed through the early stage of an incoming snowstorm, clinging to the other for some human warmth. Of course something would go wrong, what did he expect? Something always has to go wrong! Ah, well, at least, they’re together, and that does fill him with determination. They’ll find a way out and then drink a nice cup of tea or chocolate, once they’ll have escaped from potential frostbite. Hokkaido truly is a polar region.

It should have been easy to spot the light of a warm building in the night, but the snow made it much harder than it had any right to be. Most of what they were both seeing was the white of the capricious weather, the darkened browns of the trees, sometimes the stars and the moon breaking through the incoming blizzard. They had gone through much worse than this, Ranmaru recognized that fact every single day with little to no doubt, so it was just a question of time.

They didn’t talk much, only reminding the other not to let go or asking him if he was fine enough to continue without taking a break. Blame it on the oxygen trying to bite them from the inside if they breathed in too much of it and the supplementary effort of walking up to a place they didn’t know the location of.

To their relief, they eventually found a place with bright yellow windows shining in the dark of the night, warm and welcoming, albeit familiar-looking. To be fair, Ranmaru didn’t care at this point: he just wanted them not to freeze outside. As long as they could stay here until the storm let out, they’d end up perfectly fine. In the short term, that was all that mattered, so they started running towards the lights, still silent aside from their panting.

Once they arrived in front of it, Ranmaru immediately rang the bell next to the door. No time to waste outside, even if he felt his boyfriend get closer to him for more warmth. Perhaps that hadn’t been such a good idea on the side of weather risks and temperatures, but the adrenaline and dopamine of it all lingered even as they waited for some help to come to their side.

As soon the door opened, Takuto’s hand still in his, Ranmaru immediately remembered why this place seemed so familiar, even in the uncomfortable circumstances they had found themselves in.

And that was Tenma greeting them with a big smile and a very loud “where have you been, guys?!”.

#Inazuma Eleven #inazuma secret soccer 2019 #rantaku #kirino ranmaru #shindou takuto #fluff #fanfiction #ao3fic #slash

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sterlingarcher23 · 7 years ago

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First of all: as a fan of the comics I might be a bit biased. Although I haven’t read them all yet because when I was younger I lend them from the library but missed the later volumes - still could get the money to buy them all. A shame!! But does somebody have a 130 bucks??)

But a fair warning because:

The cast:

Yes, Dane and Cara seem to be younger than their comic counterparts. It is actually never said how old they are in the comics - my guess is that Valerian is in his early 30s in the beginning. Later, he might be between 35 or older and he is different from the one in the start

Just read Vol. 0, yes, Zero. In the comics he is a Jean-Paul Belmondo-type, edgy faced, tanned skin, but even Belmondo was once young and smooth. And Valerian becomes edgier over time. So, are the actors to young? Maybe not. Besson has two other scripts / two more movies in mind. - If we do the math and give the films 3 years each, Dane could be 36, maybe older, edgier and in the “correct” age. In short: “Valerian and the city of the thousand planets” is, and the film does not make even a secret out of it, the beginning of Valerians voyage, because he and Laureline are relatively new partners in the film.

But age aside some may have their problems with Dane’s acting. I also thought sometimes that it isn’t quite the right tone but then he was just perfect. Is his acting inconsistent? Occasionally, yes. But if he is meant as a young Valerian it even makes sense. A bit of an asshole, a joyful rascal and dedicated to his work yet not so much into it than Bruce Wayne in his “work”. And not yet the Valerian readers are used to. Think of James Bond in Casino Royale. That Bond is odd, isn’t he? He even wants a stable relationship. Bond!! Many had their problems with this new Bond, allthough he is exactly what Bond is in Flemings work.

Back to Valerian : The examples are from the later comics of the first series - yes. There is a split, everything before Hypsis and after. Read it, it would be to complicated to explain. And Valerian is also not all but the same. So , Dane is not yet the “old” Valerian. He could play out his strenghts in later films (if hopefully done), when Valerian as a dedicated Time-travel agent sometimes shows a “Kiss my ass” attitude as he seem to have not a real care in the world or beeing mentally absent or clueless (see: Metro Chatelet/Brooklyn Station or Wrath of Hypsis).

Or doing what ever is necessary for the mission!

He does care and he loves Laureline but still he is just a human being (meaning he can be a complete ass) that can get “distracted”. And on other occasions Valerian wants just one thing: going home and leave the work behind. Yet, he doesnt. (see: Ghosts of Inverloch)

This results in a odd finale in “The Wrath of Hypsis” in which he has, except for his outburst of “WTF is going on?” nothing else to do. Strange? Yes. And that’s the key. The first major decision was made by Laureline and later Valerian has no real say in the finale but others, like Monsieur Albert, an agent who lives in the 1980s, and Laureline do.

Valerian cares but what is the main character doing in the finale of one of the most important stories with literally nothing to do besides asking the question for the reader: What’s going on here?? - Good question. He is just stands there in the background.

Weird, but I wanted to give you a hint on how franco-belgian comics sometimes work. Like the fact that the 2nd act is more important than the 3rd e.g. the climax is in the 2nd act like pointed out by "Pipelinecomics". That can be seen also in the film, as it follows a more european (in this case franco-belgian) way of storytelling!

Back to Valerian as a character: That doesn’t mean that Valerian is constantly as described above. These are just facettes of him, he is a character that is let’s say “different” from what the broader US-audience might be used to see and that is the reason why the film got more praise in France and Belgium.

I mention this because some say that Dane Dehaan doesn’t work as an action-actor. But looking up Valerian especially when it gets to this little undertones of his personality I’d say Dane is a perfect match. Because he is untypical.

And don’t forget: in the film Valerian seems (!) to be driven by his own ambitions. But is he? Or do we see sort of two different personas in one character? Actually we do. And with that in mind Danes acting, sometimes looking like he is mentally absent, makes sense.

My guess is that Luc Besson knew exactly what he did in the way he directed his main cast - that is btw. his job. And in a project of this size you don’t leave it to pure chance how your actors deliver their roles.

And they do it with passion, Dane’s rascal-mimic and Cara with her fiery look are just a perfect embodiment of of Valerian’s and Laureline’s reactions in the comics. They even work as a very odd not-average couple. (It’s not what you would expect.) Yes, they are a bit different from their drawn counterparts but as a basis for more adventures it’s fine. I give Besson, Dane and Cara the benefit of the doubt. Why? Because there are hopefully more films up ahead.

The Universe & message:

That universe is odd, the storytelling, the creatures… Which leads to something else.

Diversity. Thats the main topic of the story, that and immigragtion of people that where forced to leave their country because of the deeds and wars of others.

For Valerian they created round about 1000 species (=Thousand Planets - makes sense) mostly put in the background, and beside the fact that many of them we see have a humanoid shape of some sort (although not all if you remember), they have not much if not nothing in common.

In order to do this Besson contacted several (Dozens? Houndreds? Do the math.) artists from all over the world and everyone was given one task: Here is an object e.g. nautilus-seashell, make an alien out of it. And every artist worked independently…. And the result are aliens created by different people from all over the world. I have to point out that without MatPat from the YouTube-channel “Film Theorists” I would have not known.

This just screams it into your face that Valerian is an intercultural film, celebrating diversity yet states that we are all one, that we share the similar needs and rights: living together in one giant city. This is underlined by a “humanitarian” crisis of one species whose people are just refugees seeking a new home and that not helping and even beeing hostile towards them threatenes us all: it paves the road for more conflict.

Besson just honors the source material that was e.g. about diversity or feminism. - Wait? Then why is Laureline’s name missing? Several reasons: 1) obviously its the name that could confuse people. How do you pronounce it? 2) the original comics actually just have Valerian’s name in the title and 3) because you should ask the question. (Like: Why is Laureline just a Sergeant?) I might be wrong here but it could actually be just the case that it should provoke. It might be trick by using a title closer to the original: putting something offensive in your sight that raises a question. And that is the entire goal.

Why does Laureline fall for Valerian in the end? In this schmaltzy, teeny love setting? That’s not feminist, some might say. Feminism has nothing to do with that. - It’s about equality not the question if a woman should be a romantic type or not or even fall for a guy like Valerian. As it is established in the whole movie. Valerian tries to use (sort of) his position as a superior officer (he is a major, she is just a sergeant) to get Laureline, he tries his charme but nothing really works. In the end she says yes to his proposal but not because he tried every trick he has up his sleeve and his winning “charme” but because Laureline likes him with all the good and bad sides of his personality. - That is a fundamental difference.

There is also something else: Valerian appears to be a creepy stalker, trying to get the next best girl into the horizontal position. His proposal looks like a lame trick to win Laureline over. But is that so? No. Valerian is actually honest. So, his character is up to change from the very beginning but the audience is quick in judging him. It’s a interesting way of writing a character.

Think about Venkman from Ghostbusters, he is this creepy stalker through the entire film - there is no change or development of any kind with this womanizer but Valerian is a different kind of “stalker”. He is a ladies man. Venkman lies to girls to win them over, thats what a womanizer does. … But Valerian doesn’t lie to Laureline at least meaning he wants to change. If people think that he is a womanizer then this is just prejudice.

And this “little” truth about the main character coincides with the story of the movie and Laureline’s decision as a feminist character. - It feels like Besson is holding up a mirror to us and showing his audience that they also can have prejudices.

The villain:

Valerian is more than an sci-fi flick, it’s a political statement about humanity as a whole. And because of that it stays true to its source material.

Diversity, feminism etc. where always topics between the lines and panels.

But it might only work for you if you like both Besson and are open to storytelling and characters that are not like your average superheroes. Besson’s movies are different, and the characters are and so are the topics. That doesn’t mean that you will, have or should love every movie he made.

But it’s a bit different if you are exited about a bunch of superheros lumped together to fight a villain that looks like something formed out of a chewed Hubba-Bubba, who is lazy as hell, sitting in his big chair and sends his cronies (really I do prefer “Spießgeselle”) that fail him again and again… And wants to do what exactly?? Oh, yes, reign the world. Universe, I mean. So, nothing new in the Superhero-universes. Screw that Thanos, really, that guy is ….Yawn

But now I’m going to use “Whataboutism”… Nothing original there? What about (told you I would use that weapon) a villain that wants just one thing: No one must ever know what kind of atrocious things he did. And to accomplish that he is willing to do even more bad things!!

So, actually that kind of guy might not be really bad or villainous at all. That guy would be just: human. What he does is despicable but nothing far fetched. It’s a relatable concept.

Like Loki in the the first Thor-movie before his character was butchered by Whedon for the Avengers (seriously, do you know anything about characters? "What does not fit will be made to fit." ) Or even the motives of the main characters in that “Civil War”-garbage (and yes, I watched that recently again and its still garbage) are more relatable than a crazy guy who wants to reign the universe.

Photography/Images & Director

For the first part: Just watch the damn movie! - But to tell at least something: Yes, its eye-candy. So are the comics, especially the space-adventures. Which I highly recommend.

But underneath that eye-candy there is more as I already pointed out. And that is what people seem to overlook, even if it is a clear reference to e.g. the Syria refugee crisis. Or the people fleeing Africa.

The movie is just done with real love for the characters, the universe and the source material. - And that is a rare thing.

It’s just crazy what Luc Besson did. Like that artists-from all over the world-make-alien thing I mentioned. What he pulled up to make that film.

The movie is just done with true love for the characters, the universe and the source material. - And that is a rare thing.

Just watch the beginning of the movie: this is not just brilliantly made concerning cinematography and soundtrack, it tell’s you something about the City of a Thousand Planets without flat out saying it. The city is the Universe. And it is everyones home. A metaphor for earth which is, and that’s a truism, the home of us all. Hurt one and you hurt all. By diminishing or nearly wiping out whole civilizations like our ancestors did with e.g. the Native Americans, we are less as a whole species.

That’s heart Besson put in here. Others however do just there job. Not even really good btw. Unlike other movies directors and executives, Monsieur Besson created a consistant universe he dedicated himself to.

When I gave King Legend of the Sword a 6.5, I was very generous.

The movie ranks near 7 at IMDB or 4 stars on the German Amazon page. WTF? This mess gets a higher rating than Valerian?

Take the assassination/chase-sequence for example, this takes 25 minutes of the movie. ¼ of the movie for a sequence that contains no story- or character-relevant elements. You might argue with the swordscene. Yes, but first, it’s not really relevant and could have been placed somewhere else and second you don’t make a 25 minutes long sequence just for that. What Guy Ritchie takes 25 min and repeatingly scenes with Uther for, it takes a few seconds in the film Excalibur. What is the point here, Guy? And worse: how can people rate this overall higher than e.g. Valerian??

If I was honest than Legend of the Sword would just be a 5. But I gave that movie more credit than it deserved…maybe because I liked its game references.

Rating

But how to rate Valerian than?

Unlike others I don’t have such a big problem with the actors and the rest speaks for itself as it is a scifi/fantasy film that gives you more than some others of the recent years, not just on it’s surface but in it’s core.

The actors are fine and enjoyable, the optics amazing and it has more to tell about humans and humanity then many other movies in recent years.

You might remember that I rated Wonder Woman 8-8.5? And if Legend of the sword is a 6, well, then Valerian is a 9 out of 10.

#movie review #movies #movie #valerian #valerian and the city of a thousand planets #valerian and laureline #valerian und veronique #luc besson

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abadpoetwithdreams · 7 years ago

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Nirvana in Fire Episode 3 Reaction

I’m back with more long-winded babbling about this incredibly complicated show! I mean that as a good thing–this plot has so many plates spinning at once, and so many layers of character interaction, and it’s all done really well and we haven’t even really started yet! This is still just setting the stage! By the end of this episode, however, it feels like things are actually getting ready to kick off more. The basic foundation that we need of who all these people are and what their agendas are is firmly established and now we are ready to see where the story goes. Or not ready? Ready in the mind but not in the heart.

Note: this reaction is really just a glorified recap. I tried shortening it because, uh, LONG, but this episode is SO FULL OF IMPORTANT EXPOSITION that I couldn’t really comment on my reaction to any one thing without having to contextualize it with other things, and any of the few seemingly non-important things were all really fun character bits so I want to talk about them and. Um. I guess I’ll alternate how I format my reaction posts between more streamlined bulletpoint reactions and long-winded recapping depending on episode content.

Also! This was the last episode I watched where I took any kind of notes until episode like 12 (I’m on ep 17 now guys help but I’m holding off watching more so I can write these. Barely). When I write up eps 4-11 I’ll keep my later knowledge from coloring what I remember my initial responses to be as much as possible.

(And a HUGE thank you to everyone who has welcomed me to this fandom and to those of you who have sent me feedback on my recaps and helpful commentary! I LOVE THIS SHOW. I will reply to your comments in a separate post because I want to foster this dialogue, because I LOVE THIS SHOW and want to talk about it! So thanks, guys, don’t hesitate to send me messages or whatever, every one of them makes my day!)

We resume the story in this episode exactly where we left off in the last one (as seems to be the norm with this show): with Ni Huang and Lin Shu–I mean, Mei Chang Su–I mean, let’s be real he’s always Lin Shu whenever Ni Huang is around–ok let’s start over. We resume the story with a slave child getting beaten by a eunuch. When the eunuch realizes the boy has a book on him, his rage only increases, but I’m immediately interested because this slave can read?? Hm.

The eunuch taunts the boy, telling him the fact that Prince Jing favors him does not protect him because no one likes Jing, lol. But Chang Su instantly looks even more interested in the scene, and speaking of Jing, he comes running up, and insists the eunuch stop hitting the kid. The eunuch responds by listing the boy’s punishable offenses (among them “talking back” and like lol did you forget which Prince you’re talking to??? I’m pretty sure all you did was make Jing high5 this kid mentally) and trying to pull rank via the Empress, but while Jing just stands there tongue-tied and stormy like he seems to be a lot (I really love him and his Serious-Sad-Grumpy face) Ni Huang interrupts by WHIPPING THE EUNUCH FROM LIKE SIX FEET AWAY.

Have I said I adore Ni Huang? Because I adore Ni Huang. I love how she uses her popularity and power to sort of defend Jing. Based on the last two episodes we can see what a good match she is for Lin Shu, as she is brilliant and charming and you can see how they click intellectually (even as he tries to disguise himself from her, their minds work together too easily) but here we can also see what a good partnership she has with Jing. I don’t mean romantically. I just mean she is exactly the friend he needs. “Thank you for your help, but I can handle a servant,” he tells her gravely. No, Jing. You can’t. It’s adorable. While Ni Huang kindly explains to Jing about how politics works, Chang Su, who has been watching this all with poorly concealed heart eyes, hurries over to comfort the boy and ask his name. THAT gets the immediate attention of the other two. Jing looks worried as he suddenly remembers that Chang Su is there. Iiiiiiiiinteresting.

The boy’s name is Ting Sheng, and he’s eleven. The big battle that killed Lin Shu’s father? Happened twelve years ago. Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinteresting.

Jing doesn’t seem pleased at this line of questioning. Chang Su looks startled when Jing speaks up, like he was so interested in this kid he had forgotten he was not alone. Whenever he looks surprised about something or like he’s scrambling about something I can’t help but wonder if it’s legit or if he’s just playing what he wants the others to see. This time, it looks genuine to me but he recovers fast.

Meanwhile, back at the tournament, the Crown Prince and Prince Yu look bored out of their minds because Chang Su isn’t around for them to fawn over. As soon as they realize he isn’t coming back, they ditch. I know that doesn’t sound funny on paper, but trust me, it’s funny as heck. I love these actors so much. Their mannerisms as they squabble (both when they’re actually arguing and just in the tension whenever they’re near each other) are hysterically funny, but their power and motivations in the story are very serious, so they remain formidable opponents for our Hero With Three Names. It’s a wonderful balance that the show’s writing and these actors manage to achieve, and I am enjoying it a lot.

(I hope Yu Jin and Jing Rui can relax and have a bit more fun now that those two have left the premises, btw. I want only happiness for those sweethearts. Ha. Haha. Don’t mock me in your replies to this, fandom. I know it’s a foolish hope. Don’t crush my dreams, not this early in the show.)

Back with our dream team, Jing is suspicious of Chang Su. In this whole conversation, Ni Huang plays an intriguing role in both supporting Jing but also defending Chang Su. Chang Su asks Jing why he cares about this boy. Jing, after an uncomfortable pause, says the kid is literate and his mother was a disgraced woman who could read and so Jing feels bad for him and that’s all. And okay, granted, I haven’t been given enough time yet to get to know Jing very well, but what I do know is that he is a TERRIBLE liar. Even Ni Huang looks like she feels a bit sorry for him. I believe what he’s saying–up to a point. But no way does Jing care just because this kid wasn’t born a peasant. There’s more to this for sure.

Chang Su offers to help teach the boy how to read, as I guess he is technically literate but not very good at comprehension yet. The boy is excited, but Jing seems even more unhappy at the attention Chang Su is showing the kid. Poor Jing. Learn to stop wearing your unhappiness on your sleeve, man.. Be like Ni Huang. Everyone should be like Ni Huang.

Then we get some exposition courtesy of our favourite princess, explaining that as a slave Ting Sheng cannot come and go freely, and only a decree from the Emperor could free him, but not only does the Emperor never free slaves, he dislikes even the suggestion that he free them. Thus Jing, who is already on dangerously thin ice in court, has had to keep quiet on the subject, which also explains his worry at Chang Su shaking things up. Our sneaky drama boy just smiles and says he’ll think of something. Attaboy, Shu.

Jing asks aggressively why Chang Su is so very interested in helping this kid, Chang Su replies with what I can already tell is his patented “I’m sorry could you repeat that I can’t hear you over the sound of my illness and harmlessness” smile. Hilariously, Ni Huang then cuts in to turn the question back on poor Jing. Chang Su’s smile turns just a shade smugger at that. He’s got to control himself around Ni Huang. She already clearly suspects him, and he’s only been around her for like ten minutes.

Anyway, I’ve spent way too much time on this scene because I loved it so much (I love these three people so to see them all spar together for the first time was super fun) but the scene ends with Jing walking away with the boy and looking quite adorable as he does, and saying he will wait and see what Chang Su does. And Ni Huang continues to be very intrigued by Chang Su.

Back at the tournament, Ni Huang’s baby brother arranges to have one of his men test Chang Su somehow because he’s alarmed that this strange scholar has been getting friendly with his sister. It’s hilarious that this brother thinks that Ni Huang needs protecting, but also that’s very sweet of him. I guess.

The show is unnecessarily cruel by having the old Dowager’s calling to Lin Shu play as VO as Chang Su walks pensively out of the palace. I’m never getting over that scene. But then he gets attacked by baby brother’s man and doesn’t so much as blink when the soldier charges because Fei Liu is there to save him! THIS KID. He is all ready to Hulk Smash the soldier, but Chang Su almost amusedly makes sure he doesn’t. (Side note: The attacker mentions Chang Su looks weak. I can’t help but wonder more and more if Shu is frustrated about how his body has (apparently?) failed him, leaving him with only his mind and charisma as weapons against the people who wronged his family? Since he’s such a great thinker, I am assuming he must have been a prodigy in warfare as well when he was younger. Since filial piety is a huge thing for his culture (basically virtue #1 if I remember my Chinese studies from college accurately) I am guessing a major motivation for him isn’t just revenge for his sake but for his father’s sake somehow. That’s a huge task he has set up for himself, but his means to accomplish it have been very handicapped, and meanwhile all these other characters get big action sequences and stunts and he just has to. Stand there. And smile blandly. And bury every part of himself that IS himself deep down inside. Related to this, I wonder if the actor himself found it frustrating at times how he just has to dress up and stand in the background of all the fun wirework scenes, lol. Maybe he gets to let loose a bit more later in the series. I have no idea.)

But things only get REALLY interesting here when who shows up but that general I liked last episode!! He’s still great, and dismisses the soldier angrily: “You’re not leaving yet? Are you waiting around to have a meal with me?” -best burn of this show so far, oh my gosh.

BUT THEN.

“It’s been twelve years. You’ve finally made your way back.”

!!!!!!

HE KNOWS WHO CHANG SU REALLY IS.

Not only that, but they apparently were corresponding for five years now, and he is worried because he had repeatedly warned Lin Shu that it would be too dangerous for him to return. But, now that he’s here, he’s 200% ready to do whatever Lin Shu wants and to help him do whatever it is he’s trying to do in whatever way he can. This guy is an AMAZING friend. And, given his high status in the palace as the head of the guard, from what I can tell, he’s an immensely valuable ally. I’m so glad!! I’m honestly also surprised, as I did not expect people to start recognizing Lin Shu as early as episode 3..

(“I’m finally home,” Lin Shu says, and ugh, isn’t that depressing.)

Also, it’s confirmed that he planned to have Fei Liu attack the general so that would serve as their sneaky introduction, because Lin Shu is ridiculously dramatic. Was he always this way, or is that just one of the ways falling off a cliff Mufasa-style changes a soul?

They arrange to meet at his house on Jing Rui’s dad’s estate that night(it’s called Snow Cottage, apparently? Cute name) to talk more freely. Cut to that night: Ni Huang is furious at her brother for his horrible attempt at protecting her. The actor who plays her brother plays the character as so much more casual and spontaneous than 99% of the characters on this show, and it makes him seem both very likable and very young. Don’t hurt him, show. Pls.

Ni Huang explains that Chang Su isn’t just a random scholar friend of Jing Rui’s: he’s the lord of that Eastern Yangtze Alliance and he sent tactical help once when she and her brother were having difficulty defeating their enemy at some battle. She’s convinced there’s more to him than meets the eye.

Then we cut to mister mysterious himself, who has fallen asleep sitting in his chair all wrapped up in his robes and then if that isn’t cute enough Fei Liu hurries up to tuck furs over him and I nearly died from this cuteness squared. Then, alas, the moment is ruined by the arrival of the general–Commander General Meng, actually, seems to be his name proper. Fei Liu still hates him because of their fight, and Meng is concerned that Lin Shu is burning coals in a brazier even though it isn’t that cold. Remember: he’s sickly. The show keeps throwing up little “HE IS UNWELL” flags like this, but so far there isn’t any evidence really of what exactly is wrong with him beyond his restraint in action and his apparent sensitivity to cold. I’m guessing this is planting seeds for episodes to come.

Something else that jumps out at me is that for the first time Lin Shu admits he isn’t 100% sure of what his plan is. He has obviously planned ahead a LOT (he did have 12 years to scheme, after all), but there is a certain amount of winging it that seems to be happening, too. Part of the fun of this show so far is trying to figure out how much of what happens is Lin Shu influencing events 20 moves ahead like a chess master, and how much is him being very adaptable and fast on his feet with strategy.

Meng insists on being Lin Shu’s ally in whatever he’s doing and will continue to pretend they don’t know each other well. He is apparently this loyal because he was part of the Lin army at some point. He asks how many people survived the battle. Shu says as far as people Meng would recognize goes, it’s only him and someone called Wei Zheng. I don’t think we’ve been introduced yet?

Meng then asks what happened in the battle. YES. TELL US THIS.

Flashback time!!!! … It shows nothing we haven’t seen before, though. Dangit. But when we cut back to Shu’s face, he’s got actual tears in his eyes and it’s all very intense. Poor boy is still traumatized, seemingly. And angry. He tells Meng he’ll reveal all when the time is right. I want to argue that the time could be right right now, but oh well. I can wait. Maybe.

Meng agrees, because he is a Good Friend and can see how the topic affects Shu. Then he basically asks for orders, and I guess we will find out what those are later! Next day, Yu Jin and Jing Rui are leaving for the tournament and are greeted at the door by literal wagonloads of gifts from Prince Yu and the Crown Prince. This got a good laugh out of me, I love how their very serious rivalry manifests in absurdity at least in this stage of the game. I also love Jing Rui’s frogface expression of “I am not amused but secretly I rather am.” Protect him, show. I’m worried about how close his story is tied with Chang Su.

Montage time! Jing Rui looks splendid in his fight at the tournament, and Yu Jin actually looks almost as good! They’re both great fighters despite being so laid-back, and that makes me love them even MORE. “You could have won with 58 stances, but you had to stall until the 65th to show off your gorgeous pose,” Jing Rui tells a very, very pleased with himself Yu Jin, and it’s so Good. Just. I want these two to run far away. Now.

Btw, I’m assuming they’re in the tournament to try to take two of those top ten spots, not because they actually want to marry Ni Huang. I’m pretty sure it’s established she could defeat them in combat anyway.

There’s a brief shot of a giant hairy wall of a man who is winning his bouts by punching out swordsmen. I am guessing he will be important as the tournament progresses. Oh, and the boys do get spots in the final two. Yay! I’m very proud of them.

The emperor is pleased that most of the final ten are not foreigners and thus make his kingdom look good. The lady who I think is the Crown Prince’s mother tries to coyly convince the emperor to favor a candidate she likes, but he replies that the Empress has already asked the same thing, just for another candidate. Ha. He then says that it doesn’t matter anyway because he’s not going to judge the exams: some random impartial scholar Ni Huang recommended is going to.

Good Lord, Emperor. You are making a mistake. It’s almost pitiful how wrong you are.

(I am distracted throughout this scene by how beautiful the woman’s eye makeup is. I tend to paint my eyes exactly those colors when I do my own eye makeup, so I feel vindicated. I guess it’s the Chinese ancestry in me coming out in mysterious ways.)

Chang Su’s reaction to the news he is to grade the exams is curious to me. I don’t know for sure, obviously–but it looks like the wheels start spinning very quickly in his head. I feel like Ni Huang requesting him as the examiner was a power move on her part; I do not think he was expecting it and now he has to adapt fast. I could be wrong. But I think his question of “how does the emperor know about me?” is him genuinely thinking out loud. Did he not plan on being this conspicuous this fast?

The giant man at the tournament is Baili Qi, and he is from Northern Yan, so outside the kingdom. This is problematic, because he totally demolishes another one of the finalists in a single punch, leaving the three boys (Ni Huang’s little brother, and the duo) thunderstruck. I LOVED Yu Jin’s tentative “maybe we could beat him together?”/Jing Rui’s incredulous face/Yu Jin conceding that nah, they’re toast. These two. I believe in you guys! Defeat him with the power of friendship!

The Emperor is LIVID. Marrying Ni Huang off to a former enemy would strengthen that enemy with her considerable following and would potentially embolden them to new war. He asks the Princes for a solution, and for once they are dead silent. Meng says when asked that he does not think Ni Huang can defeat Baili Qin, but I wonder if he has something up his sleeve here because he looks a little shifty, and in his nighttime meeting with Chang Su he did ask for orders … He looks uncharacteristically calculating as he watches the princes, is all I’m saying.

Meanwhile, Ni Huang’s little bro (whose name I must learn) is even MORE LIVID. He is acting like he is the one that’s getting married, lollllll.

Ni Huang, however, seems weirdly calm until she asks gently, with a pensive smile: “Do you know what a perfect match is?”

AAAAAAND CUT TO MEI CHANG SU.

I live for obvious editing like that. It was very satisfying. Oh this sad couple.

Now here comes what feels like one of the most important scenes in an episode filled with important scenes (this show is ridiculously dense, guys. I can’t believe I’m only on 3?????): a long bit of exposition explaining the significance of Jing Rui’s name. Told by a gleeful Yu Jin. Can he do all exposition for this show? He’s so fun.

I’m not ashamed to say I rewatched this scene twice to make sure I followed, because it just feels like such an important story I don’t want to be confused ten or twenty episodes on. But basically: Jing Rui was named so to mark him as being related to the Imperial family. This is because (I THIIINK) his mother is the current emperor’s sister??? HOWEVER. When he was born, there was a plague or something that made it necessary for his mother to leave the palace and go to some remote area for her safety. Because the princess is a kind person, she let another traveling pregnant woman (who I guess is from a powerful family in her own right but is not royalty) stay in the same place while she was there, and they became friends. They also ended up going into labor at the same time, and birthing sons the same stormy night. During the storm, however, the lights were doused and in the confusion the babies were misplaced so when the lights were restored, no one could be certain which boy belonged to which mother. This problem was compounded when one of the infants died the next day. So each family had equal claim to the living baby. Instead of solving this problem like Solomon would have done, the Emperor just declared Jing Rui is the son of both families, so he has two moms and two dads I guess but he only lives with one set of parents? Anyway his name signifies that. So it could confuse foreigners into thinking he is the emperor’s son, which we see borne out when one of the Northern Yan delegation bribes a eunuch to find out this whole story.

In addition, him being the son of both families has bound his families together into one big happy family??? The son of one set of parents has married the daughter of the other set and it’s all very confusing but Jing Rui seems comfortable so ok. I don’t know if I’ve met both his sets of parents. I know I’ve seen the princess and the Marquis … Xie? Something like that. Roundish face, beard. But I don’t remember seeing a Zhou or Jing Rui interacting with a Zhou, so. Hmmmmmm.

This story is too detailed. It’s gotta come back to bite us later. I don’t know how, but I’m already upset.

Jing Rui plans to challenge Baili Qi at the feast for the final ten suitors, in hopes of injuring him enough that Ni Huang will be able to beat him. He’s so pure. Ni Huang’s brother bursts into the manor like a breath of fresh air and literally drags Chang Su away, babbling at him about how he trusts Chang Su to defeat Baili Qi and totally steamrolling Chang Su’s attempts to keep his usual reserved and polite man of mystery facade intact. The unspoken rule of this show is that everyone hangs of Chang Su’s every word; Ni Huang’s brother just cuts him off mid-sentence lol. Arguably the best-delivered line of the episode: “If you can’t handle him, I’d have to have him beaten up.”

And then! Chang Su! Is announced! In the palace! Well, it’s his other fake name but whatever. He walks in and Ni Huang looks very pleased with herself and the theeeeeme music plaaaaaaays

The music feels very internalized. This moment isn’t important to anyone except Lin Shu right now but it’s SO important to him, so–MUSIC.

I also got a bit giddy at this whole scene because the camera keeps cutting to show all these characters gathered in one place and it was like–oh. OH. Everyone is here. Our major players are here. The game is officially started. It was a pretty cool moment.

And he gets to sit next to Ni Huang, so he’s already winning. And so is she, judging by the look on her face XD

Prince Yu suggests the finalists duel each other as entertainment. The Crown Prince, of course, immediately bounces up to argue against this idea, but hilariously in the middle of his pompous speech he notices Chang Su ever so slightly shake his head: no. The lame, stuttering backtrack the Crown Prince clumsily manages is beautiful to behold, and Yu looks very smug. Both princes seem to think Chang Su is helping them, which I feel like might lead to problems later, but for now Lin Shu is just having fun with playing them both like a couple of bratty, red-gold fiddles.

Oh, and intercut with this is the harem of Emperor concubines (is harem the right term here? Idk. You know what I mean) discussing Ni Huang’s upcoming marriage, but it isn’t that interesting a scene so I’m glossing over it. It just reinforces that the emperor’s actual wife and favourite concubine hate each other and are playing power games of their own, trying to one-up each other. Meanwhile, Jing Rui’s mother is both angelically lovely AND angelically nice, apparently. I really like this actress’s voice.

Ok but enough of that scene. At the feast, the emperor happily agrees to this idea to have the men fight, and good ol Jing Rui immediately jumps up to challenge Baili Qi. Ni Huang watches keenly, but Chang Su is seemingly entirely absorbed in peeling a tangerine, this jerk. He is having waaaaay too much fun with this.

To be fair, tangerine peeling is a task that requires 100% attention. Gotta get rid of all those white fibers that stick to the segments.

Jing Rui gets into this amazing stance that almost kills me from how pretty it is, and then–fight, fight, fight! This is my favourite bit of combat of the entire show so far (admittedly there hasn’t been THAT much fighting anyway) because of the contrasting choreography. The styles are very distinct and the camerawork is so smooth. I also feel SO BAD for those actors, because filming complex choreographed sequences while wearing all that fake hair and layers of satin and silk must be the WORST. I would know; I’m an Irish dancer.

While Jing Rui easily looks the faster and more disciplined fighter, however, it’s like he’s hitting a wall; Baili Qi is simply too strong. So our boy ends up only barely holding his own, much to the Liang crowd’s distress. Except for Chang Su, who still only looks mildly interested as he chews what looks like the entire tangerine in his mouth. This jerk. I love him so much. No one is even watching him and he’s still gotta be extra.

Yu Jin, worried about his friend, calls out that for the match to be really fair, Jing Rui should have a sword, because that’s what he usually fights with; he’s not a brawler like Baili Qi. The emperor nods, and so Meng CHUCKS A SWORD AT JING RUI. I would not feel like that was a greaaaat help if I was him, but Jing Rui has much better reflexes than I do and so he does this fantastic flip-kick-the-sword-into-the-air stunt and tries to maneuver Baili Qi under it. Alas, he forgets that he is not the stronger of the two, and Baili Qi easily spins so Jing Rui is under the sword instead. In the nick of time, however, Jing Rui snatches the sword out of the air BEHIND HIS BACK and presses to the attack. Once again, however, Baili Qi wins the upper hand and manages to both snatch the sword from Jing Rui AND send Jing Rui flying into a table, smashing into and over it and scattering fruit everywhere.

(“Oh no, the tangerines!” Chang Su says for the benefit of anyone listening, or at least I’m headcanoning this is his reaction offscreen. In the wide shot literally NOBODY ELSE in this entire hall is eating except him. Extra funny: he looks like he’s having issues swallowing that ridiculously large mouthful of fruit he took earlier. He needs to curb that part of him that likes Drama, because if he wants to be inconspicuous he shouldn’t be so obviously flagging that he’s impartial and uninterested here, good lord. LOOK AT ME IM SO NOT WORTH LOOKING AT, he screams. I wonder if he was a prankster growing up, as he seems to get a prankster’s delight out of stuff like this. It isn’t all grim and dark on his journey to do whatever it is he’s doing. Not yet, anyway. I still don’t trust his friendship with the boys. And he’s already manipulating the heck out of everyone, including Ni Huang–although that latter might be a mistake, because she clearly knows something is Up with him.)

Before Baili Qi-with-sword (aka Baili Qi the Grim Reaper) can take Jing Rui out, however, the emperor yells for the fight to stop–and that’s the cliffhanger ending of this episode.

Will Baili Qi marry Ni Huang? (HA. As if.) Will Jing Rui be okay? (I have my doubts about the long run because he is Too Good, but for now I think he’s pretttttty safe.) Will Mei Chang Su manage to swallow that tangerine fast enough to say whatever it is he needs to say to spin this situation to his advantage? (50/50 chance on that one.) Only one way to find out–on to episode 4!

#badpoet watches #badpoet watches nif #nirvana in fire #long post #nirvana in fire episode 3

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moved-to-ultraniceness-blog1 · 5 years ago

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Nicki Minaj history of life

Many people understand Nicki Minaj as a result of her horrendous physique, particularly her big busts and also large butt in a tiny body. She is, nevertheless, an hardworking lady who fired to her popularity through sheer devotion as well as effort, not even if of her star looks. Click on the next page of the website about famous and successful people!

Secondary School Years

We understood she could sing, but that would have assumed that she'll be that proficient at acting as well.

Yup ... she would certainly have made it in any case ...

Her Face

Nicki Minaj Face Contrast

There has been a great deal of noise surrounding Nicki's face, so we figure we'll have a look at this initial by showing you images before and also after she ended up being a success story. From what we can see, her face shape has virtually remained the very same. So has she had any cosmetic surgery done to her jawline, lips, chin, cheekbones, as well as brows?

We do not assume so ...

If you take a look at her nose too, we can not actually see any type of proof recommending that the star has actually had a rhinoplasty or any kind of rhinocerous surgery. Although the photo quality isn't that great, it suffices to see the general contour. Then if you check out her eyes and that great smile, one is merely the full-grown variation of the same person.

Her Body

Okay, before we show you this photo, we desire you to take a deep breath since this might shock you. If you have been asking yourself whether Nicki has a fake bum and also boobs, after that this may quite possibly address your concern.

This was an image taken when Nicki was young; you can see that she has no boobs & bottom

If this photo is not phony, then it would undoubtedly have been repossessed in 2006 and also considered that Nicki was born in 1982, she would certainly have been 24 years old when she took this image. Yet in some way we are getting a feeling that she is much younger in this picture, possibly someplace between 18 to twenty years of age.

So the day displayed in this photo does make us examine the authenticity of it. But then, the face which tattoo on her arm tells us that it is her. So if this picture is genuine, not photoshopped, or if the data revealed was merely a referral as to when it was submitted onto the web, then that's a totally various tale.

To put it, she had no boobs or butts that we are so utilized to seeing from her typical self. She was pretty much "flat" in both areas, which do bring questions among many people's minds, consisting of ours ...

An Additional Teenager Picture

Below's one more picture of Nicki in her young people years and also you can see that she is still establishing in her breast location, so one needs to question what truly happened throughout these times before she came to be a celebrity. In stating that, if she had done breast augmentation, then it would have been someplace hereafter ...

The year 2014

She reaches the 42nd Yearly American Songs Honors held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Something does not reasonably accumulate in this one, either there's something wrong with her dress (the design is wonderful btw), yet if you consider the top, it seems like her busts are pointing somewhat upwards.

Of course, she's at her early 30s currently, so this doesn't truly make sense. Like, come on ... you've reached provide gravity a possibility! In saying that, her legs look high as well as slim though ...

The year 2015

Nicki Minaj dressed as an instead "exposing" fairy princess as she attends a Haunted Funhouse Halloween celebration at 1 OAK Bar at The Mirage Resort & Gambling Enterprise in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her "DEEP V" cut outfit had not been genuinely aiding her to rip off all the plastic surgery talks that are surrounding her headings.

In stating that ... she only reached where she is today due to the fact that she's put in the effort, although there's no rejecting that her instead abnormal properties have helped to record the interest of numerous.

The year 2016

Nicki participates in the Manus x Machina Fashion In An Age Of Innovation, Outfit Institute Gala at Metropolitan Gallery of Art New York. Again it's no more information than she is not timid in exposing components of her boobs in this one-of-a-kind black outfit. We like the blonde highlights in her black hairstyle though, yet did she gained some weight?

The year 2017

Here we see Nicki in 2017 using a strawberry pink latex dress, once more flaunting her 34 F mug size. Unsure about you. However, something seems odd about this image. Seriously, if you informed us that this was a wax figure of her, we'll possibly think it.

Take a closer look! Every little thing on her face and also her breast appears a bit too smooth ... do not you reckon? We just hope that Miss Minaj right here will not be using any type of Botox, renovation or any type of sort of injectable fillers anytime quickly.

The year 2018

After going away for a couple of months (no, she's NOT dead!), Nicki came back with a collection of new tunes consisting of Chun-Li, Barbie Tingz, FEFE with 6ix9ine, and additionally her new Queen album. We definitely love this makeover!

Did Nicki gain weight? Her thighs look bigger ...

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newgeekcity · 8 years ago

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New Geek City is Live Blogging MST3k The Return

Once a upon a time there was a bored kid. He just moved to a new place where he didn’t know anyone. Hair was coming in weird places. His face looked like it came from a rare Garbage Pail Kid card.

Other things were changing for the kid, namely his tastes. To him everything started to be so childlike. His books, Full House, even Saturday morning cartoons. There wasn’t anything that really appealed to him anymore.

Except for Batman the Animated Series, that was still awesome.

So one day while trying to avoid the Smurfs or some shit, the kid flipped on Comedy Central. Gamera was on. Everything sucked, but he wasn’t too big for Toho movie monsters.

Just look at it...

And see those guys on the bottom? They were cracking jokes, making astute observations. Then they would do silly musical numbers. It was the best, and for years after, no matter what, the kid would tune in to see what crazy schlock the boys of MST3k would do next.

And yeah yeah, the boy was me. Twist ending, M. Night Shyamalan style. Blah blah.

Since MST3k came into my life so early, sometimes I wonder where it started and I begin in the soup of neurons and my memories. Am I sarcastic and love terrible movies because it brings me back to my safe space? Or am I drawn to MST3k because I am sarcastic and I love 1960s Godzilla movies.

I don’t think there’s a real answer to that question. However, after a long long departure. MST3k is back and on Netflix... so lets dive into the first episode which is called... episode 1? Seriously guys? Way to be descriptive.

We got movie sign after the jump

00:00 - Hold on I need more coffee.

00:00 - Alright, back. Lets see what’s up. I’m really curious about the opening. If I remember right the opening song was sung by Mike Nelson. So lets see how this stacks up.

I’m not looking for a perfect recreation, but something in the same spirit.

1:39 - People? There’s other people in this universe? I thought there was like 10 tops in the entire world in the original series. Then there’s Wil fucking Wheaton. I don’t mind the people, but I do mind Wil Wheaton, that fucking guy. The DIY effects and models are really great though.

In what looks like the Gizmonic mission control, the staff are puppets. I love that.

Wait I know that lady... She’s Erin Gray. Colonel Deering from Buck Rogers. When I was 5 I wasn’t sure if I was going to marry her or Princess Leia.

Hey it could have happened, I was a cute kid.

But seriously, Fuck. Wil. Wheaton.

2:00 - I have to admit, I’m sort of liking Jonah. He has the same affable quality as Joel and Mike.

4:30 - Gypsy could talk? Like for reals? Weird.

I also did like the opening sequence, a lot. Its different. It feels like that’s what the sequence should have been for the movie. But I really liked it. Great work Joel.

8:00 - Invention exchange is back. Patton Oswalt is perfect as TV’s son of TV’s Frank. Although I was doubting Felicia Day, I have to admit she is charming here.

The movie doors are different, you could tell they used a computer for this one. Not sure if I like that, But whatevs its minor.

The bots voices are actually pretty good too. Crow sounds like Crow. Tom sort of sounds like Tom. I do have to get used to Jonah though.

9:00 - Its not skin, its beef. Just saying.

Delicious ground beef.

10:30 - Tom can fly! He can fly!!

13:15 - We have Super Dragon reference! Also one of the best MST3k songs

14:00 - “You know an aquarium is just a pet store that doesn’t sell anything.” Made me lol.

14:41 - Gypsy showed up and made a quip. I already forgot what it was. I wonder if it’ll be a thing.

16:35 - I’m hoping the movie picks up. I doubt it because its MST3k. But they did a “commercial break” just now. They repeated the name of the movie and showed I guess would be the Deep 13 House Band.

I think a skit would have worked better. Its not like they have to fit in actual commercials. But they’re probably trying to keep as close to the original format as possible.

18:30 - Scientist 1: “I envy that young man.”

Scientist 2: “He will be busy now.”

Me: Yeah with your daughters, you Dane weirdo.

20:00 - Who just keeps an electric eel in a tank in a hallway? Nothing is gonna go wrong there. Nothing at all....ARRRRRGHG

22:00 - I’m having a really hard time picking up who’s speaking. Particularly with Tom / Jonah.

But Jonah’s Monster Mash / Reptilicus cover was definitely out of the Joel Robinson playbook.

25:00 - Can someone tell me if that Dane blonde, scientist daughter has a single daughter along the R line? And that wound looks like pudding. Just saying it looks like delicious reptile pudding.

27:00 - Ok the skit break is this kaiju monster rap. The bots, particularly crow are more animated. He’s able to move his arms around now.

The song itself is way different from the original series. Which I’m giving it a thumbs up. It fits well into the original ethos. Its catchy, fun. Its a good update. Nice work modern MST3k writers.

32:00 - One thing I’ve noticed is the actual filmic quality of the movie. In the old MST3k’s you could still see the scratches and dust, and the warping. It looks like that this is a restored film.

Its not awful or really a distraction. But its just something I noticed as a long time fan.

35:00 - Dickweed. It makes me laugh every time.

36:00 - Of course the goofus stuck his hand in the electric eel tank. You know comedy. It had to happen. Like the sun rising, and the rain falling in the amazon.

38:00 - I wish netflix would have some way that it counts up instead of down. It would make my life easier here.

Another “commercial break” I was wrong, in the new series its Moon 13 and Patton Oswalt gave a fun fact about the doors. The house band is playing at the same time. Its very Svengoolie.

39:00 - Xanadu reference. Not sure how many youngin’s would get it. I barely do because my dad had a bootleg VHS tape.

It was awful.

41:00 - I was about to say a lot of the jokes are falling flat, but when that scientist “screamed” and one of the guys dubbed it with Opera, that was brilliant.

43:00 - I get that MST3k was never really about plot when it came to the host and bots. But they seemed to jump into the riffing really quick. I was expecting some sort of intro for Jonah, like he’d ask questions about why he’s there throughout the movie and the bots would fill him in and he’d grow into the host role.

I think it would have added some sort of dimension to it. But I would get why they would just jump right into it.

45:00 - Also I’d expect the Mads would show up more by now. Maybe in the next skit sequence?

47:00 - No Mads, but the cloning of Tom Servo in the “genesis tank that’s conveniently off camera” was real classic MST3k.

So far, Jonah I would say earned his spot. He nailed it.

Crow, yup classic Crow.

Tom, well. He’s not awful. He’s funny but I just can’t get past the voice. Kevin Murphy really owned the character. I hope its just matter of getting used to it. Like when Kevin originally took over in Season 2 (I think) of MST3k.

51:00 - Hold on I need a gif of that.. give me a few minutes.

Ok, I couldn’t get a gif. I’ll have to check into that. BUT I did grab a screenshot.

Single handedly this is my most favorite special effect ever.

54:30 - Although another stray observation, when the people are in frame, the film is alright. Like no scratches (for the most part) but when the monster is up it looks like someone went through it with sandpaper.

Which lazy bastard only did half a restoration?

55:00 - It feels like Tom should have had that ability to fly all along. His bottom always reminded me of a hovercraft.

56:00 - Yup the commercial breaks definitely is reminiscent of Svengoolie, Paton Oswalt should just show up on that set one day as TV’s Son of TV’s Frank.

It would be some great cross promotion.

BTW, go watch Svengoolie. Its not as funny as MST3k, but it’s really charming and fun.

Occasionally they show a good movie. Which I guess defeats the point, but whatever.

60:00 - We’re about at the halfway point. So far, I will admit the new MST3k is... I don’t want to say a worthy successor but Joel Hodgson really did something special. This definitely feels in place with the originals. Almost like it never went away.

I do want more Mads for this episode. Where are they?

62:00 - How did they get letters? This is like the first episode in almost 20 years. How many 8 year olds could sit still long enough to watch reruns? Aren’t they making methlabs and sexting?

63:00 - Just a note, I know nothing about modern children.

71:00 - Have you ever wondered why Kaiju are impervious to tank shells? Think about it, they’re designed to punch through concrete, steel plating, etc. I don’t think they’d have a problem with reptile skin, prehistoric or otherwise.

74:00 - Another thing I noticed is that the guy and the bots are more animated compared to the originals. They’ll move around, fly by, bring in barrels to interact with the screen.

I know the originals did similar, but it seems to be more frequent here. Its not unwelcome. Its actually nice.

77:00 - Another commercial break. Its a TV seal of quality with the Moon 13 house band. I’m still liking them.

Patton talked about how Kinga established some TV group, probably to make profit.

Its not so much how the joke was clever, I just liked how they used that to add some background of the world of MST3k. Because we really don’t know much about it, besides the SOL and Deep 13 and such.

I never thought it was missing, but now that I’ve seen some glimpses into the surrounding world I am interested in learning more. Does the world know about the Forresters? Have they always run in secret? Or they make their intentions known and the government is powerless to stop them. Who is the government there anyway?

Are they considered brilliant or total fuck ups? Are they part of something bigger? Like SMERSH or the illuminati or something?

78:00 - They’re freaking out about getting a gallon of some sort of lizard knock out drug. Do Danes know how much a gallon is? It’s not that much, if it was like an oil drum’s worth then you got problems.

80:00 - The gallon is really just a beaker. So I guess Danes don’t get the imperial system after all.

83:00 - Seriously the guy playing Crow is really good. If I close my eyes I’d have a hard time telling the difference between him and Trace Beaulieu.

Although I noticed the mouth movement on Crow isn’t as pronounced as it was in the originals. Its a little detail, but it went a long way in figuring out who was talking.

85:00 - Monster’s dead, yay I guess.

86:00 - “Push the button Max” doesn’t have the same cachet as “Push the button Frank.” But I’m glad they brought that back.

87:00 - The end credit song sounds like it was made with a real orchestra. It gives it some gravitas. Its rather lovely.

88:00 - They’re repeating the monster rap. Not bad, still cute.

89:00 - Wait, in the end credits, They gave the proper name for the Moon 13 House Band, they’re called “The Skeleton Crew.”

I like Moon 13 house band better.

90:00 - Nice touch--

And of course--

The end tag. Its nice to see some old standbys come back.

Final Thoughts -

I suppose if you really wanted to you could say its worse or better than the originals. I guess its like how you wanted to fight over Joel vs Mike.

They’re different. They had their own styles, and they were very funny in their own way.

MST3k The Return is a lot like that. There’s enough elements of the originals that it feels familiar, but stylistically its been updated. I personally think its a good thing.

With the bigger budget, and more modern delivery I feel a lot of the fun, DIY, anarchic, lo-fi qualities that was so mind blowing about the original show is very much here.

I like the new cast, except for Wil Wheaton (fuck you Wesley Crusher), and I think they’re as charming and clever as the previous casts. Just... different.

So if you loved the originals as much as I did, I definitely think its worth binging with your kids. Personally I plan to make this a Saturday morning thing like I did way back when.

One last last thing. From what I saw of the preview for the next episode it looks like Pearl, Bobo, and Brain Guy are visiting. Hopefully Mike shows up too.

I. Can’t. Wait.

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survivorbouvetisland · 7 years ago

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Lily’s Responses

QuilLynn:

Hey QuilLynn! Glad to see you’re still opinionated as ever. I didn’t expect you to put on any sort of fake niceness for this. Thanks for the question.

So, first, let me address the part about how giving credit to my competition makes me look pathetic. I’m simply showing respect for my fellow players who made it to the finale with me, even if it isn’t 100% deserved, and I think that that’s, like… the baseline expectation for a good finalist, the way I see it. It’s unfortunate that some people can’t even meet that, but I digress. Second, I’d like to address your comment about the idol play. Yes, I know that from an outside perspective, it may have looked like I just gave it to him and asked him to play it on me. It makes sense why you’d think that, honestly, but it wasn’t the actual story behind this, so let me tell you what actually happened. So, I figured, upon hearing that my name was out there, that an idol was all that could save my ass. Obviously I was wrong, but whatever. Anyway, I managed to actually find one soon after hatching my plan, and I managed to do the puzzle and get that done. But once I had the idol in my hands, a new problem came to mind. Looking at my past seasons (or at least, the ones where I’ve had idols and was deciding for myself what to do), I saw the pattern that I wouldn’t really play idols very accurately, and I wanted to take that personal flaw into account. So, my way of making sure things wouldn’t go to shit was to give Andrew the idol, and I told him not to play it. I mean, he didn’t listen, but I digress. So, that wasn’t really my plan, for him to play it on me and negate a whopping one vote, but I see why you’d assume that and it’s a fair enough question. To address the complaint about me “hibernating up Andrew’s ass”, this might just be due to how I was somewhat clueless when you ended up leaving the game, and also potentially in terms of how I ended up playing after your vote. It may look like I was just playing things in a “boring” manner, but then again, it wasn’t like many big moves were made at all this game after the super idol. Things were rather mundane, even if votes weren’t unanimous, going forwards. However, I don’t think my gameplay can be painted as me just sitting in the sidelines and sticking like glue to the majority, even if I managed to stay in that aforementioned majority. A good portion of my moves had to do with both jury management and keeping myself safe, whether it was making myself less of a target to the opposing side or making sure that my allies were on my side. And, just as one last note, I find it a bit funny that when my game was largely social and had to do with jury management, you drag it for being pathetic, and yet you also end up dragging Andrew for his lack of jury management. Hm.

Jacob:

Thank you very much for your question(s)! I appreciate them, and will answer to the best of my ability.

In terms of the three pillars of Survivor gameplay, I’d say I probably value the social game quite a bit, despite some people potentially thinking that I relied on my immunity wins to make it to where I did. Like I described in my opening statement, the first swap was where I began to work to establish various alliances with players who I would find myself working with as the game went on (mainly you, Jay, and Andrew), which obviously relied on very good social skills. Then, once the merge came, I found myself on the bottom for a short while, but was able to once again utilize my social skills (and those past connections) to pull myself into a majority that let me make my way to the end of the game where you see me now.

On the topic of #Furbygate, people who were there that first night probably remember that I was closely sticking by Trixie’s side. I didn’t initially realize or even suspect that it was faked, and I’ve seen lots of people being made fun of in the past for special interests or things that traumatize them. I didn’t want to be one of those people thinking “lol it’s probably just a joke” and teasing her over it, in case it was real and I might’ve created a divide between us. It’s best to err on the side of caution in these scenarios for that very reason. And once I found out it was fake, I was shook.

When it comes to my immunity wins, it really depends which one you’re looking at. The plan might’ve been to vote me at Final 9 had I not won there, but it might’ve ended up somewhere else (like the super idol with Andrew and Nehe) regardless of my immunity, so that’s really a bit of a toss-up, although I have a slight suspicion that I might’ve been one of the early merge targets. As for the Final 4 win that guaranteed my seat here in the finale… I definitely feel as if that was a moment where I needed it. Not only would it leave Nehe as a threat to win, but I’d probably be left as the one on the bottom, either in a fire-making challenge or in just a straight up 3-1 vote.

If there was a final 3, and I was the one who was unable to make it (despite Bodhi being kinda absent now), I don’t think there’s any question in my mind that I would vote for Andrew. Not because I’m his puppet or anything, like SOME people might tell you, but because Bodhi was a fucking mess throughout this merge, constantly trying to play every single side in the early votes and throwing my vote away into the void as if I was just a pawn. It completely severed my trust in him, and if he thinks that that’s MY fault, then obviously he doesn’t have any awareness of his social game and how it affects others. Andrew, meanwhile, actually played a decent game and stuck to his alliances, keeping loyal and actually telling the truth when asked for it. I mean, sure, he did have that one silly idol play on me that I tried to talk him out of, but that’s really nothing much in retrospect. As for who I’d vote for from the jury to win… My choice would probably have to go to Jay. He was an obvious threat to win (as evidenced by the fact that y’all voted him out for that very reason), and if he had managed to get further I think he would’ve been a serious threat. And for Fan Favorite… Trixie. Furbygate was honestly iconic. That’s all I gotta say on that subject, especially when I look back on it, knowing it was fake. What a shookening move.

Trixie:

Thanks for the question! Looks like you and QuilLynn are still kindred spirits, just as I remember things. I would say I’m happy to answer your question, if not for the fact that most of your concerns were already addressed in my answer for QuilLynn. If you read that over, things might become clearer. Thanks again!

Nehemiah:

Hey Nehe! Thanks for the question!

So, loyalty means a lot to me too, which is why you won’t often find me flipping on alliances too often unless I think it's the optimal thing to do in order to further the game. In this game, I think my greatest display of loyalty was, in all honesty, towards you, up until final 4. You were part of the main alliance that I was in, even if you didn’t seem fully on board with me being there, and despite your constant votes against me, I always stuck by your side, keeping you on board even when I could’ve flipped things around and taken you out.

Nicholas:

Hey Nicholas! Thanks for the question, and thanks again for not letting your dislike of me factor into your vote. As for your question, I have to thank you yet again, because I've already answered it and won't have to answer another time :P You can consult my answer to QuilLynn for that.

Jay:

Hey Jay! Didn’t expect much else from you with this question :P Thanks, btw. I’ll be basing most of my answers off of side games (mostly Pokémon Mystery Dungeon) that actually give personalities to the Pokémon, for the sake of making this somewhat easier. Jay: Not even in regards to your profile picture, but I’d label you as Grovyle, due to your constant perseverance in games like these, being viewed as a threat, and your unbreakable loyalty to your allies. QuilLynn: My choice for the Pokémon to represent you, QuilLynn, would have to be Skuntank, due to how he constantly chooses to remind the main characters (or in this case, the finalists) that they’re weak and puny (or in this case, incompetent and/or egotistical). Trixie: Trixie, if I had to pick a Pokémon to represent you, I’d go with the great Dusknoir. You manage to paint yourself as being in the right at all times, but no matter how much you try, your scheming (Furbygate) all comes crashing down in the end, being exposed to everyone else. Kinda fitting, too, since you were one of the ones that orchestrated the plan to take out Jay. Jacob: Jacob, I’d say you’re most comparable to Bidoof, due to how you can be a bit of a worry wart on occasion (that idol play, for example, and your worry that Bodhi would be working with the other side and a desire to blindside him), but you’re still trying your best. Roxy: If I had to make a choice, Roxy, I’d choose Wigglytuff. You’re overall a pleasant personality, even if you may seem a bit aloof at times, and although you can get rather serious if you want, you’re often a more light-hearted person. Nicholas: This one’s a bit of a tough choice, honestly, but if I had to pick a Pokémon to represent you, I’d have to go for Uxie. You took on a more menacing personality, like Uxie did with the Groudon hologram, in order to try and keep yourself secure, but it didn’t end up working in the end. Nehemiah: Nehemiah, my choice for what Pokémon best represents you would have to be Nuzleaf (the one choice that’s NOT from the Explorers games), even if it is due mostly to my personal experiences. You made me believe that we were on the same side of everything, despite you having ill wishes towards me, and it never really made me view you as anything less.

Roxy:

I wish I had the time to actually write up a proper Furmit fanfiction, but unfortunately, I don't. So just imagine that I wrote you a story where a Furby named Jake Paul dumped his boyfriend Nick Crompton in order to pursue a relationship with famous actor Kermit D. Frog.

#yousuckatthisgame

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