#to believe he's the main character in his own story

[that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction]

Sometimes I think Merlin and Arthur started the sacrificing each other to save each other shit too soon into the series.

Then I remember this scene exists.

(Screenshot from S1E2 - Valiant of Merlin bringing the snake head from the enchanted shield to Arthur to warn him that he’s in danger.)

They moved quickly, but they have a damn good reason for it. I honestly can’t say I blame them.

Merlin learned two things about his destiny with Arthur from this episode:

The first is that Arthur will listen when it matters, but his father’s influence runs deep. Arthur cares more about people’s opinion of him than anything else because he’s been groomed his entire life to become the future king, and Uther is tyrannical in his power so he believes that his is the only way to rule. Arthur picked up bad habits, so while he’s still young and learning what kind of man and leader he wants to be, he could still go either way and Merlin can’t yet trust him to always make the best decisions. (Proved in S1E3 when he enlists Morgana to talk to Arthur about the Afank)

The second thing is that Arthur believes in the systems that Merlin knows to be broken, so he learns it’s better to come to Arthur with results rather than warnings, because Arthur believes the systems in place can help, even in situations where they’d be more of a liability.

Both points are then enforced through season 1 and reinforced by Merlin himself in season 2 onwards.

Arthur learned that Merlin is loyal and honest to a fault, but because of the lifelong grooming as royalty and someone who’s supposed to be “above all others” - as proven when Uther says “his life isn’t worthless, it’s worth less than yours” to Arthur in S1E4 when he denies Arthur a group of men to take to save Merlin - it takes a while for it to really sink in that someone can be loyal and genuinely like him without ulterior motive, and when he finally does recognise that Merlin’s devotion is genuinely sincere, he pushes Merlin away (S2E1) in an attempt to keep himself from getting too close and then hurt by what his father would call his own naivety, rather than just admitting that sometimes people are just bad people who do bad things.

He then subconsciously or not learns that Merlin not being by his side is bad so he keeps him around but at a distance with walls built to protect himself. I can go more into that another time. Uther scapegoats Arthur for a lot, and even acknowledges that he’s a bad parent a few times but never does anything to change the behaviour so his apologies aren’t worth shit. Add that to the genocidal tyranny, and you’ve got a fascinating character who somehow isn’t the main villain of the story. I hate him, he should go play hop scotch on quick sand, but damn is he interesting from a writing/analytical standpoint.

So, yeah, they moved from “if anyone wants to kill him, they can go right ahead. I’ll give them a hand” (-Merlin S1E1) to “…Certain death. Few who have crossed the mountains in search of the Mortaeus Flower have made it back alive” “Sounds like fun” (-Gaius and Arthur S1E4) pretty quickly, but it makes sense when you think about why they moved that quickly with context of how they interact and their (assumed) past experiences.

[godzillabreath]

unfortunately I do have more to say about wwdits.

I think one of the most egregious things about the development of the show over the seasons is the tonal shift. I was watching it from the beginning to convince myself I wasn’t crazy for feeling the first three seasons were better, and I felt vindicated.

It was always a dark comedy, but it wasn’t always a zany dark comedy. It had been grounded in real, everyday life. The vampires prey on a LARP group, the vampires ride a late night bus to go to a city council meeting, Nandor tries for citizenship, etc. I think once they started introducing a slew of supernatural creatures like a monster-of-the-week a la carte, the show became increasingly less focused and outlandish. There are episode I don’t like even in seasons 2 and 3 that are emblematic of this shift. The siren, the gargoyles, the troll—they just feel out of place in a story that is supposed to focus on out-of-time vampires and how they engage with the modern world. They aren’t really adding anything to the characters or the plot when they appear either. They just make a flashy CGI appearance and give some quippy line, which ultimately eats up time where our main cast that we actually care about could otherwise be on screen, doing things. And then there was a point in time where this show just did not allow itself any more sentimental moments between characters. These moments, for me, made for refreshing moments between comedic situations. It balanced the humanity in all of the main cast. But the show opted out of those moments, and it just became a back-to-back comedic situation with less and less interesting character moments to look forward to. Anyway, I just find it kind of sad that the writers completely detonated all of the characters’ inner emotional lives by the series finale. I liked to see Nadja bored in her marriage and pursuing this lustful encounter with Gregor through reincarnated generations. I liked to see Colin challenged by another energy vampire undermining his territory. I liked to see Guillermo struggling with his fractured relationship with his family, his discomfort in his own sexual identity, and his need to cling on to this group of vampires that disrespect him if only to find family and personal liberation in their company. I liked Nandor being so disconnected from modernity that he became listless and depressed and lonely and clung on to the idea that he might make himself human again. I liked the romance that the writers were building literally textually and in all of their marketing material from season 3: that Guillermo (at least) had these unrequited and very frustrating feelings for Nandor and how that affected their relationship with each other. I liked the idea of Laszlo forming these personal connections with both Sean and Colin, even if I found their conclusive arcs to be lackluster, strange, or unpalatable (baby Colin to weird co-parent Colin was a bizarre arc.) I liked the idea of Nadja wanting power and community because of the impoverished, desolate conditions she grew up under (especially the class dynamic of marrying Laszlo and how that could be at times a schism in their relationship), even if the writers did not care to expand upon this. The potential just drives me crazy. I can’t believe they opted out of tying up any of these emotional hooks. I think it might drive me crazy forever.

[blueteller]

Blue-nim.... I... I, I asked ai about original Cale Henituse and original Kim Rok Soo and, and I'm... I'm crying 😭😭😭

Original Cale Henituse

1. Weak and timid: Initially portrayed as a frail, incompetent noble.

2. Innocent and naive: Lacked worldly experience and political savvy.

3. Replacement protagonist: Ultimately overshadowed by Kim Rok Soo.

4. Fateful connection: His life intersects with Kim Rok Soo's.

Original Kim Rok Soo

1. Protagonist of "The Birth of a Hero": Novel-within-a-novel's main character.

2. Heroic and idealistic: Classic fantasy hero archetype.

3. Transmigrated: Reborn into Cale Henituse's world.

4. Influential actions: Rok Soo's decisions significantly impact Cale's life.

Proof you can't just believe whatever internet tells you, man, whether it's AI or not!

About OG Cale:

1. Weak and timid who?? Tell that to all the gangsters he single-handedly traumatized

2. Innocent and naive where?? The boy was more politically savvy than his freaking FATHER, at the gosh darned age of EIGHT

3. Replacement protagonist – well excuuuuse me, PRINCESS, he survived 20 years of world-ending war before becoming the new Team Leader of Team One in Korea! I say he's the protagonist of his OWN story!

4. Fateful connection: true, except less "intersects" and more like "they were probably cousins all along ".

About KRS:

1. Protagonist of "The Birth of a Hero"? That's MOTHER FLIPPING CHOI HAN!!!

2. Heroic and idealistic??? Pfff, tell that to all those poor fools Cale scammed for money

3. Transmigrated? Sure, except less "reborn" and more "swapped"

And lastly:

4. EXCUSE ME?? KRS's decisions significantly impact Cale's life?! More like literally THE OTHER WAY AROUND. OG Cale was the one who made the deal with the God of Death!

Thanks, this was hilarious to go over. Merry Christmas, everyone!

[illmoraineakoi]

Some Thoughts on the rest of AvA Season 3

You know, I'm a little bit baffled by how many episodes are left in Season 3.

It's supposedly set to run to episode 15, which means there are four more episodes in this season.

But I really don't understand what else could happen?

Victim has Chosen, Orange and Yellow. He has the means of summoning the Cursor. He also has the means of finding Alan's PC location too, via the memory scanner, if that's something he wanted.

He even has the means of containing the Cursor, with The Box.

For all intents and purposes, Victim is so close to achieving his goals.

Literally all of it, from Yellow summoning the Cursor, to Victim having a confrontation and fight with the Cursor, to Orange inevitably intervening and ruining his attempt at vengeance and saving the day, it can all be wrapped up in a single episode.

So...four?

Four more?

Something's not right. There's more we're missing. There's more that will happen. It's not going to be that straight forward.

Chosen is an integral part of this arc. And he's left far too many mysteries in his wake thus far.

Orange's origin and his connection to Chosen, too, has yet to be explained.

Which Alan has confirmed would be, at some point, quote, "explained in the story". (Thought to his credit, he did not specify when it would be, nor if it would be in S3. This was also a quote by DJ, not Alan's actual words, when DJ was asking about Orange and Chosen, for added context. Alan's response was "Uh-huh.", to the above quote.)

I do not think it's a coincidence that we received a MASSIVE lore dump on how the Outernet works, and the "green energy" along side it, in the episode immediately after Orange's powers became known. The green energy played a massive part in Victim's episode, symbolizing both the creation of life, but also the loss of it. Orange's powers are going to play a more significant role going forward.

Though it will be difficult to say if his reviving powers will play a role or not.

(I personally believe they will, because I don't understand why Mitsi would get a plush otherwise. Her role in Victim's story was very important yes, but...a plush? Alan's never done that before, made merch of canonically, permanently dead, only-appears-in-one-episode characters. It feels a little strange. Unless they were just banking, literally, on the audience's heartbreak and swift attachment to her character? People's desire to want to make her and their Victim plushes a set? That feels so disingenuous for Alan, though...So why?)

(I don't believe Mitsi's role is complete. That might just be the cope, admittedly.)

The new gap in TCO and TDL's story is also very suspicious. There must be a REASON that Alan decided to set the Newgrounds attack in 2011, upending most people's assumptions for how they spent their time after they escaped.

And therein lies a problem too: our assumptions. We know so very little about TCO and TDL's time after they escape until Showdown, and it's starting to feel like it's becoming a problem. Especially when things keep tying back to them.

It's intentional. Alan isn't rewriting the timeline for no reason. He's not casting doubt onto Chosen for no reason.

We are going to get more information on Chosen and Dark. The new gaps in the timeline and the ambiguity to their character arcs needs to be completed. Alan and his team have been very good at tying up those loose ends.

I firmly believe one of the four remaining episodes is going to be Chosen and Dark's 'extended'/'improved' backstory, an episode that is going to massively clarify both their characters like Victim's did.

Dark's strange absence from Victim's arc in particular is feeling very odd. Why is the narrative trying so hard to push Chosen as a main perpetrator for Victim's antagonist arc? Is it to set up his own expanded redemption arc better? Is it to fall in line with the theme of "actions have consequences"? Is it to forcefully beat it into the thick-headed fandom that Chosen is a morally grey character, a fact so many people seem to chose to just ignore because they like him?

But then why immediately show Dark after Agent has left, if we are supposed to focus on being upset at Chosen? Why is his appearance on that tank treated as a reveal?

What is there to reveal? We already knew he was there. Why was that important to show?

It's just so weird. By willfully hiding Dark, Alan is calling even greater attention to him. His absence is perplexing. So why?

Something is important about Dark. Dark is going to play a bigger role in what happens in the future than we might currently think.

Either he's being set up for the 'grand reveal' that he was the only one actually throwing attacks around during the Stick Page and Newgrounds attack (A weak reveal because people already think this, think that Chosen is being used a bait-and-switch) OR, and I really hate to be 'that person'-

He's being set up to come back.

I hate to be 'that person', because I've frankly gotten tired of people theorizing that Dark's going to return in Season 3. There was never any evidence for it, before. The arc, originally, had nothing to do with him. He had his arc in Season 2, and Alan being undecided in his fate didn't magically mean he'd pop back up in a brand new narrative with a brand new antagonist. Especially when, at first, it didn't seem like he was involved.

But there is evidence for it now. He is involved, at least a little. Dark is, by his absence and the complete lack of acknowledgement of his very existence by Victim, important to SOMETHING in this season.

Though in what way, I can only speculate. And those speculations sound like fanfics, fam, so they're going in a reblog.

There is also the issue of the Animator's character. Something huge needs to happen to redeem him in the eyes of the audience after what was revealed in AvA11. So many people are horrified and appalled by his past actions, and his current "redemption" doesn't feel like it hold up. It's too weak.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: The Animator needs to do something more. He needs to show he actually cares about his stick figures.

And he needs to apologize to Victim. That is one of my biggest desires to see, in the final episode: Alan apologizing to Victim. I want to see it as badly as I want to see the Cursor burst into pixelated flames in a fight scene. Chosen, too, deserves an apology.

I personally think that Victim is going to receive a good ending - the fact that he's being fleshed out with a backstory that makes him very sympathetic is a good sign that he might have a nice ending in this story, if not the one that he perhaps wants at the moment (that being his vengeance lmao.) And Alan usually goes for good, feel-good, endings to his story arcs. The only one that didn't really feel very 'complete' is Season 2, which, y'know, might now be for a reason.

In any case, I at least don't think Alan has it in him to kill Victim off permanently. Victim is the stick who started it all, who started him on his path to success that's brought him to where he is now. Victim is special to Alan's life story. Animator vs Animation would not exist without him. Alan wouldn't be here, doing what he loves, without him. Victim literally changed his life, just as much as Orange has, if not more.

This is why I hope Alan gives Victim the same respect of a good ending. The same respect of the ability to be happy and kind again.

It would be such a nice bookend, that the stick figure he originally created with the intent of beating up and tormenting is given love, happiness, and closure for his arc end.

That's what I want more than anything else. I want Victim to have a happy ending. I want him to have what he was deprived of in AvA1.

He deserves it, so much.

We have four more episodes to go. And a lot is going to happen in those episodes. Maybe I'm wrong and they stretch the whole 'confrontation with the Cursor' out really long, but it'll still play out mostly as expected. Or maybe something utterly batshit crazy will happen that will catch us by surprise, like Dark returning (either as an antagonist or ally, both would be awesome and unexpected) or Mitsi returning as an antagonist for some reason (probably not, but it'd be insane.) Or maybe I'm extra extra wrong and Victim will die, which would utterly devastate me and break my heart into a billion little pieces.

It's impossible to tell right now.

But I'm looking forward to the wild ride. Regardless of what happens, Alan and his team are going to make some beautiful art. Scott Buckley is probably going to make some amazing music. Everyone is going to continue to breath life into this amazing, gorgeous world, an tell an amazing story alongside it.

I don't love AvA just because of the story of the characters. I love it for the passion that goes into it. I love it because it's clear Alan loves it, and all of the animators, editors, artists, and sound designers clearly love it too. I love seeing all of that effort, all of that work, all of that love, come together to make something truly amazing and beautiful. I love that the team are in a position where they can make these animations for an audience who loves them so much.

I cannot wait to see what more their passion and love can make, and where they will take us from here.

[screwsfall0ut]

Tim Drake Befriends a Bee Minific

When Tim was young and very lonely, he befriended a bumblebee. 

Back then, he was curious in a way that teased wonder on every rusted fire escape. At 9 years old, even Gotham’s grimiest streets sparkled under the right light and perfect Summer days were for adventure, not dread. 

It had been one of those perfect days - balmy, sunny, fresh, and crisp - when Tim almost stepped on a bee. He paused, one leg raised, light up sneakers still flashing, and hopped to the side. 

He carefully picked it up. The poor thing didn't have wings. It was so delicate. Its tiny legs tickled Tim's palms.

Tim was stricken with fear that it would die on the hot pavement, alone and scared. It needed to be protected. It needed a chance.

An eyedropper of sugar water and 30 minutes later, the bee was moving - crawling all over the table and, eventually, over Tim's hands. He brought the bee out into the garden, letting it examine the roses, the lavender, the yarrow.

Tim couldn’t leave it out there, defenseless, with no one to watch over it, to make sure it wasn't eaten or crushed or lonely. 

He named the bee Sisko, after his favorite Star Trek character, and because it was an onomatopoeia of the strange buzzing sound Sisko would make while traveling up and down Tim’s arms.

Day after day, Sisko and Tim would make new sugar water, then go explore every flower and bush and stone on the Drake property. Sisko’s favorites were the yellow roses, which had bloomed brighter and taller than anything else that season. Sisko would always crawl back to Tim’s hands in the end, or his arms, sometimes even up Tim's neck and into his bushy hair to keep Tim company while heating up chicken nuggets or peeling open protein bars or chowing down cold pizza. 

At night, Sisko slept in the ratty, soft stomach of Tim’s favorite stuffed animal, a bunny his Mom had given him when he was too young to remember. Tim moved the stuffy from his bed to his dresser (he was nervous about rolling onto Sisko in his sleep) and every night checked that Sisko was safe and sound before turning out the lights. 

They were friends - best friends. 

With Sisko, Tim lost the urge to wander off in Gotham proper for batwatching. Instead, he’d re-learned every step of Drake property, fell in love again with the flowers and trails, the old, old trees, and the pond out near the property line. 

Tim knew Sisko was on borrowed time (of course he did) but against all logic, Tim was certain that Sisko wasn’t any normal bumblebee. How could he be? Not when he’d chosen Tim, not when they'd made a home together. Anyway, why should it be so ridiculous to think that Sisko might be a witch's familiar or a companion like Jiminy Cricket. Magic was real, and there were stranger things on Gotham's streets every day.

Tim started to believe, actually believe, that one day he and Sisko might slip into Narnia or Wonderland or Middle Earth. Every day was an adventure.

Eventually the cold began to creep back, hardening the ground, taking the flowers, and turning the leaves. It was a chilly Sunday afternoon when Sisko crawled into Tim’s palm, fell asleep, and never woke up again. No matter how much Tim begged and begged and begged.  

He'd died so quietly. So unceremoniously. Tim wasn't ready. It wasn't fair.

Sisko was just a bee, and Tim was just a boy, and there were no magic wardrobes waiting for them.

Tim buried Sisko under the yellow rose bush, long gone spindly and brown. He cried so much that he'd thrown up in the dirt. 

Later that week, Scarecrow broke out of Arkham. For the first time since June, Tim pulled out his black clothes and his camera bag to watch Batman and Robin save the day. 

The click click of his camera shutter, the smoggy sky, the sweet rot smell of the dumpsters: that was familiar. Tim was a shadow again. He could lose himself: in the dark, in the night. 

Tim tucked his bunny stuffy into the back of his closet. He stopped waiting for magic to find him, at least, not the kind you'd read about in storybooks. Magic may have been real, but it was for people like Robin, people who swung from rooftops and laughed loud and made the world brighter. It was never meant for someone like Tim.

[fujii-draws]

OKAY! Chatot rant in tags below! Read at your own discretion.

[magnusmodig]

ovo whispers menacingly abt his grandstanding .

[amorremanet]

seeing a post that has interesting canon analysis and wanting to reblog it until you get to the last paragraph and just

[redeemed-wren]

Throwback to the time I was 16 and watched Classic Who for the first time and was so upset over Mike's betrayal in Invasion of the Dinosaurs that I created a character called Captain Yates in the story I was writing and had him be working for the badguys but ended up having a redemption arc

[cyle-stuff]

SPOILERS FOR S5 EP11 BUNGOU STRAY DOGS!

BULLSHIT!

I’m calling bullshit on this!

No way Sigma is dead!

(May or may not be possibly delusional again)

[bleue-flora]

https://www.tumblr.com/tobi-smp/765541010649530368/tobi-ctommy-lore-in-2024?source=share

I can't decide what you want me to say... I mean I think I covered all the points of why this doesn't work already... in fact I’d say half of that roleplay seems like there like literal feelings as ccJack expresses when he first logs on, and the other half seems to be ccTommy trying to retcon stuff to please his fans in with ccJack actually outright disagreeing with him. Mind you I planned on watching it but honestly Tommy’s comment about op pissed me off to the point that I didn’t care, however given that comment and Jack logging on as a joke to begin with that sets the tone for this to take place and that context is important. Also, Jack literally spawns in the prison so let’s say we are retconning shit, what are we retconning? Because the bench was in prison, Jack was in prison with his first statement being basically ‘bet you didn’t expect to see me be here again’ framing things as we’d expect taking place right after the finale for Jack. And if he’s in the prison then that lore took place, meaning Jack set off the nukes like he says so in the messages. So, we can’t retcon the finale it happened and that’s why Jack is where he is, what you are changing is the potential aftermath. However that still doesn’t make sense to me. If the Incident stopped the nukes and the Egg, then if they have their memories and are wandering around as if things never restarted then presumably the Incident didn’t happen, but if that didn’t happen, then the nuke and Egg wouldn’t have been stopped so they’d be dead… right?… unless we gotta recon allll that lore — oops but wait we can’t because Jack literally spawned next to the bench Tubbo placed in the prison so that lore has to be canon to make sense… so then we are back to the Incident Had to happen to stop the nuke and if it did happen then we do some speculation and such and say everyone left and Tommy and Jack stayed, which again more work than accepting the actual lore.

Also - who is Tubbo selling honey to if everyone is gone? - and if people could leave this whole time why didn’t they before? (Unless we just mean leave the area aka the start at their Incident houses?)… which in that case everyone didn’t leave, Tommy left and went back to the dsmp area and presumably not many followed… like I just it doesn’t make sense, I want to be on your side innitors I really do, I want to understand you, in the same way I want to understand why retconning the staged finale makes sense to people, but this finale just doesn’t work. It’s closer to George’s whole stream that turned out to be a dream… like it’s this same thing like staged finale, where people take the part of the lore that aligns with their narrative, not taking all the truth just the bits they like. And that’s just a headcanon/fanfiction at that point. Just because you took lore doesn’t make it true, you took some of the facts but not all of them to use it to fit your idea but that doesn’t mean it actuality fits your idea. And spreading posts with screenshots with no links to videos or clips or full context just - OMG Jack and Tommy did lore and retconned the finale - which is not what happened. Context is important, in the same way reading someone’s posts without the connecting ones or months later can become harmful to people. It’s taking things out of context and then cutting off the edges to make it say what you want. Like it’s a huge part of the political problems right now because people can’t even agree on the damn facts.

Why? Because this right here. This grabbing things that align with your beliefs and ignoring the other facts and logic that contradicts it. It’s the picking and choosing - oh I like this lore so that’s canon but I don’t like this so that’s not canon - It’s shaping the truth to fit your narrative and claiming it’s still truth even when it no longer fits. Tommy burning down Tubbo’s house doesn’t align with how you view Tommy as this golden boy -> oh it’s not canon. Dream pretending to be evil to get put in prison -> yea that’s not canon. The finale where Tommy and Dream see eye to eye for the first time -> yeah that’s not canon. But this short convo a year later after the dsmp has officially ended, where Jack is literally disagreeing with him -> yea of course that’s the real canon.

It’s like taking a book and ripping out pages you don’t like and then glueing pages over the other ones in the end and trying to sell it as an original copy...

[ruvviks]

having yancey and stevie from my original story the diner thoughts 💭💭💭

from all the characters of the diner i feel like these two are the most like two puzzle pieces instantly clicking together. just in general the story is very focused on starting over far away from the life you used to know and carrying knowledge with you that you'll never speak about for a variety of reasons (and will remain unspoken of throughout the whole story because you'll never know everything there is to know about a person even if you do end up growing very close to them; this is one of the main themes of the story) but especially yancey and stevie understand this like no one else and that's why they work together so well

from the moment they meet and through the first handful of interactions between them it becomes very clear that they're already very comfortable with each other; they skip the small talk, share cigarettes together in their break behind the diner, know that the other went through some heavy shit and they just kind of immediately offer the other their friendship; a judgment-free zone where they can both be their unfiltered and unmasked selves, no need to keep up appearances because they KNOW they both feel like fucking shit and they allow the other to feel like shit with them

but at the same time they know they can't help each other. which is why all their issues remain untalked about until the end of the story; they can't offer the other the comfort they need and deserve because if they'd try, they know they'd start making mistakes. i've thought briefly about letting them have a romantic relationship instead of yancey ending up with rafiq and teddy, but quickly realized it wouldn't add anything else to the story other than the same cycle of mistakes yancey went through with his ex girlfriend which is specifically the situation he's moving away from. so having a redo of all that with stevie wouldn't tell anything new. they'd make each other worse and end up having to get out of there AGAIN, when the whole point of the story is supposed to be that blightwood crossing ends up as their new home because they MADE it into a home

so instead their friendship is both profoundly strong because of the mutual understanding about each other's issues without even having explained anything about it to the other, as well as kind of stuck on becoming closer than they are on account of how they'll never be able to talk about any of it. they won't ever know about each other's past, they'll never learn what the other was like when they were younger, and when either of them needs to talk about something they know they can't go to the other for it because that's just not possible. but what they CAN do is sit with the other and for a while just be miserable in peace, and they know that no matter how bad it gets they WILL always have each other

something something their misery remains forever their own but no matter how ugly it gets the other will still be there at the end of the day

[blorbosexterminator]

In the newest interview, alvaro said that big chances that professor wouldn't be in the spin off because it's berlin's project and focusing on his new cast or crew. He said this one (Berlin) is separated from LCDP. Does that mean that we wont get Palermo too? 😢 I mean, if the whole 8 eps are just about berlin having fun with strangers he pretends to be friends with, whats the point of watching? The only thing we can hope, maybe the plot would be good, but from the teaser, I too have a doubt about it.

I haven't seen that interview (if those are his exact words, "big chance" is a weird way to phrase it since shooting is done, he's either in it or he's not lol.) Anyway, I wouldn’t take too much away from his words. They are pretty much a rephrasing of what Pina has been saying. They might mean Sergio won't show up at all, or that Sergio will only show up through a cameo, not in as a central way as LCDP. And that makes sense to me either way. I would personally love a cameo but generally regarding Sergio, it makes sense that he wouldn't be present through all his brother's heists and gangs and day to day life (which was already established in canon).

So I wouldn't compare Sergio's situation with Martín. At least on a textual level. Once established that Andrés had met Martín, it would make zero sense that Martín wouldn't be there since we know from canon Martín has been on his side for ten years prior to the monastery flashbacks. And generally speaking, there is not a single character from LCDP that belongs more in Berlin the show than actual lcdp lmfao. Martín's entire construction in canon was in the framework of Berlin.

That's not to say the show won't be about Berlin having fun with strangers for 8 episodes lmfao. That will probably be it. But I'm still in the belief that Palermo will guest-star or cameo in the last episode, as a form of Berlermo's first meeting. And I think if Rodrigo agrees and Netflix grants Pina a second season, he might be a main character going forward. I don't think there is a lot to hope for from the spin-off but I still believe it will be better and more surprising than we imagine now.

[cannibology]

i think about this a lot. because the thing is, i don’t think either of them are truly to blame for the seals they broke. dean was tortured into submission and had no idea that there could be such massive consequences to giving in; sam was manipulated and deceived and honestly thought what he was doing would stop the apocalypse, not set it in stone. neither of them willingly chose to break a seal, and neither of them had any way of knowing what they were really doing. they were key pawns in a game they didn’t even realize was being played, not active participants in it. and i don’t think you can really blame someone for falling victim to that.

but if you are going to blame sam for his part in it, you also have to blame dean for his. either both of them are responsible for accidentally breaking the most important seals, or neither of them are.

didn't...didn't dean break the first seal? why is everyone on sam's case for being manipulated into killing lilith (which he thought was a good thing bc hey demon dead) but not on dean's case for torturing souls and LIKING it? protect sam winchester oml

[09232003]

Thinking about an overprotective Ace who considers yuu his responsibility. He believes he has a right to stake claim over yuu, he talked to yuu first after all. When you were written off as a trouble maker with no knowledge of their world, no redeeming qualities, and cast aside as a janitor, who bullied enlightened you on the great seven? Right? 😭

It's cute. He doesn't have to be so protective, he's obviously not naturally inclined to take that role. His identity, outside of mischief, is informed by his relationship to his older brother. He could just default to mimicking those patterns with yuu, but he doesn't. With his senpais, Ace coaxes them into taking more responsibility for him than necessary. Like, in his loungewear vignette, Kalim throws him an audacious feast after his birthday which he has no problem accepting. Evidently he's not against being the younger brother or being shamelessly taken care of.

But, in regards to Yuu, his voice-lines, vignettes, and main story dialogue, all subtly express a desire to take on more responsibility for their sake. (He says it outright in his level up line) His suisui vignette has him taking control and trying to protect yuu from an unknown threat at the time. This is a major shift in contrast to his presence in Playful Land, where he is reluctant to lead while older students are still present. He gathers Deuce in book 5 to rescue yuu from Scarabia, and takes a stern tone with yuu after they admit to leaving of their own volition to follow Malleus in his enhalo vignette. Yuu is the catalyst for Ace growing up, we don't see Yuu have such an impact on other characters. 😭

But of course he wants to protect his prefect, they're only magic less and he's only human after all lol

[artist-issues]

If you haven’t seen Wish yet and you love Disney, do not go see it. I am telling you now. It is ripping out the hearts of the Disney movies you love and then waving their corpses around as if celebrating those hearts.

I’ll explain why, again: the message of Wish? Awful. Anti-Disney.

But they've been doing this for a long time. Saying one thing with their movies, and saying another with their PR and Disney Parks Soundtracks.

I'll explain.

Main Idea of Disney's Wish (and the You Are the Magic theme park song and merch): "The power to make your wishes come true is in you."

≠

Most Disney Movies' Idea on How to Have Wishes: "Do what's right, (trust a higher power) and something even more wonderful than what you wished will happen."

Don't try to argue with me about this. You have to look underneath the slogans and the sweater designs and the song titles to what the stories actually support to acknowledge this.

Because you can’t say “do what’s right” has power unless you answer the question “who gets to decide ‘what’s right?’” (Which, coincidentally, is a question Wish brings up and then doesn’t answer.)

Audiences of Disney used to accept that wishing on a star was much like prayer; there’s something you long for, and it’s out of your hands, but you wish for it and you do what you know is right in the meantime. And you’re not crushed, you’re not downhearted, because somewhere in your mind you trust that the combo of those two things—wishing on a higher power and diligence to do what’s good—will be what makes your wish come true.

Trust in a higher power—COMBINED WITH:

—diligence to do what’s good.

The Blue Fairy (higher power) gave Geppetto his wish specifically because he had demonstrated commitment to do good, whether he got what he wanted or not. The Fairy Godmother (higher power) gave Cinderella her wish specifically because she kept on being kind and good to low creatures like mice and wicked stepsisters, whether she got what she wanted or not.

Do you know why that combo (higher power + diligence to do good) is impactful? Timeless? Important?

Because it’s selfless. You want something, but you’re not going to sacrifice doing the right thing to get it. You’re not going to focus so hard on making what you want a reality, on your own, that you miss out on things that could be more important than what you want. And, you’re not so self-focused as to believe that if you don’t do it, it won’t get done.

Jeez, that’s the whole point of The Princess and the Frog!

Tiana wishes to have her own restaurant, and she believes that only her own hard work will grant that wish. She misunderstands her dad’s advice before he dies. She isn’t willing to trust a higher power combined with her own diligence to do good—she only trusts her own ability.

It’s not until she realizes that Ray, the character of faith, was right all along that she learns—what she wished for was too self-focused. It wasn’t complete without love. Something bigger than herself. And getting that was never going to happen just based on her own hard work.

But you know what? It was never going to happen just by a “higher-power” flavored shortcut, either. Because Facilier offers her her wish if she’ll just trust him, no hard work needed. But what does she say?

Trust in a higher power + diligence to do what’s right = selflessness, and getting more than you could have ever wished for. And if your wish is selfish, doing those two things will change your wish into something selfless.

More examples? Get ‘em while they’re hot, in case Wish made you forget, just like the current #NotMyDisney executives have forgotten, what real Disney wishes are for.

Belle wishes to have adventures in the great wide somewhere--but when she's imprisoned and that chance is taken from her it's not reversed because she worked hard to make her wish come true. It's granted because she gave up her wish for her father: she just did the right thing, regardless of her wish. And in the end, she does get what she wished for, which is adventure in an enchanted castle...and much more, because she gets true love, a throne, and a castle full of friends.

How about the One Who Started It All? The one Wish is failing to pay genuine tribute to?

Snow White wishes for someone to love her, and he does--but when they're separated, she does not exercise power to make The Prince come back to her. Instead, she loves who she can where she’s at—the Dwarfs. In the meantime, she has faith that he will keep his promise, and that pure trust in a higher power outside of her control is a big contributing factor to why the Dwarfs come to love her, and learn from her...and in the end, even more than she could've wished happens. He does take her to his castle, but she also has seven new friends who also love her, and the Queen is dead. And she didn’t need to use “the power in her” to work harder and get it done. She just needed to not focus so much on herself at all.

How about a male main character? One who’s wish starts out selfish, but after learning to wish on a higher power and be diligent to do the right thing, gets more than he could wish for?

Aladdin wishes to be somebody different (somebody he believes Jasmine could love, somebody who lives in a palace and is respected and “never has any troubles at all.”)—but doing everything in his own power for that wish proves that it was selfish all along; so he switches to doing the right thing, regardless of if his wish comes true, and he gets even more than he could’ve wished. He gets real love with Jasmine, he gets his friend Genie, and he gets to be free from feeling “trapped” because he doesn’t have to hide who he is anymore.

Or Simba?

Simba wishes to get to do whatever he wants as King—but when Mufasa dies and he’s convinced it’s his fault, it isn’t for that wish that he goes back to Pride Rock to confront his past and his Uncle. It’s because he had an encounter with a higher power—his father—that helped him to realize his wish was selfish all along. He gives up the selfish wish, and he goes back to take his place as king, not so he can do whatever he wants, but so that he can take self-sacrificial responsibility that comes with ruling. And because he just does the right thing, finally, he gets more than what he wished for.

How about something more recent? Zootopia.

Judy wishes to make the world a better place by proving she can be what she wants to be and catching bad guys—but when she tries to make her wish happen on her own, in her own abilities, she fails and is forced to realize that she should’ve been looking for help by understanding “bad guys,” like Nick. It’s only after she humbled herself, admits she’s wrong, and changes her wish from “proving I can be what I want and catching bad guys” to “proving that understanding each other makes the world a better place” (much less self-focused) that her wish comes true—and so much more. She does make the world a better place, and she does get to catch bad guys, but she also gets to befriend one who was a good guy all along, and become all-around more effective at her dream job.

This is how Disney always has been. Because it’s at the heart of good storytelling, and even life (not to get too dramatic.)

The power is not in you. Because it’s not about you. Self-sacrifice, faith, and doing the next right thing regardless of if you get your heart’s fondest desire is what makes more than just your wishes come true. And there has to be belief in a higher power to make that message powerful.

But Wish?

Not only is it bad at showing instead of telling. Not only is it lazy and soulless.

But it’s characters rip the Star out of the sky and say “don’t wish on this. Wish on yourself, to get what you wish for. You don’t need a higher power. You don’t even need to sacrifice to do what’s good—whatever you do is good, because you are the one doing it.”

That is wrong. That is not true, and it is not powerful. There’s no sacrifice in focusing on or placing your trust totally in yourself, and it undoes every good thing Disney has done up until now.

And it undoes it on the 100th anniversary, and it flaunts Easter eggs of the very things it’s undoing.