#unpleasant implications tbh

[marzipanandminutiae]

Yeah, tbh all the concerns about DracMina ship and how it doesn’t give Mina proper agency or replaces her book agency with newly false created agency to fit the ship and stuff is valid but the minute Dracula/Jonathan is introduced as a more worthy alternative ship somehow I literally go yikes because this ship is as you said has exactly same morally bad implications and in majority of such cases is propelled at the total expense of Mina as character in general which sidelines her sometimes to the oblivion. The notable unpleasant case is when Dracula’s attack on Mina is framed to be about Jonathan somehow for the sake of this ship. 🤦‍♀️

Also it’s very symptomatic that discussion about canonical F/F vampire ship is highjacked by either the sudden concerns about faithfulness to the novel or by bringing non-canonical ships discourse involving male vampire from another novel to the table.

Yeah, the thing about it for me really is just… Look, I can absolutely respect if somebody is like “I ship this for the toxic goodness that makes brain go brrr, and I don’t ship this because it doesn’t scratch the same itch for me narratively.“ I’m not the fanfiction police. They’re not real people. Do what you want

However

If you’re going to say that Dracula/Mina is bad because it’s toxic and horrible in many ways, and then you turn around and say that Dracula/Jonathan is fine and dandy, I think you might need to reevaluate your criteria for a healthy fictional relationship. And also consider whether you actually care about morals here, or you’re just trying to justify shipping one thing and not another on some higher level to make yourself seem objectively correct

(also yes it was extremely tiresome that people couldn’t see how my post was just using Dracula as an example to talk about Carmilla adaptations. But I guess the power of attractive men kissing is just too strong for some people to refrain from making the conversation about them, for one singular post)

[paleturtlecherryblossom-blog]

My thought on the Rise of Ning, Pt 3

I finished 24 episodes of The Rise of Ning, and I wanna add in my two cents about the storyline so far, which, considering that I wake up everyday at 6 am to catch up on, is pretty damn good XD:

I was very pleased they adapted a scene of Lu Jiaxue observing Yining’s calligraphy and noticing that it bears a heavy similarity to Luo Shenyuan’s. This is an often emphasized point in the novel, given how prized a skill calligraphy was for scholars/officials back then, the fact that Yining can replicate his style is indicative of how very close they are. Now whether that’s a sibling thing or not, is anyone’s guess ;) hehehe

At this point, many of the drama plot lines are very different from those in the novel. But the one thing that the drama preserves in full glory, despite all the plotline modifications, is the sheer depth of Luo Shenyuan’s yearning for Luo Yining! And it’s just so!!! The way she is his most important consideration, the detail with which he prepares everything for her in the event of his death, and the extreme passion he is clearly repressing every moment sitting next to her… I’m so very satisfied, I’m giving five stars just for this alone.

Another thing this drama does excellently is to more subtly portray Yining’s extreme levels of attachment to him: the way in all her visuals of the future, he is eternally just accompanying her, reading to her, living with her (girl has truly never accounted for a possible future husband and sister-in-law in all these dreams lolol), her headlong jump into the river to avoid implicating him, even though she has to have heavy trauma of falling off high places… Also her keenness in noticing all the girls who are trying to marry him, while he couldn’t care less. (Also I daresay her determination to matchmake for him is also her oblivious way of staking a claim on her San-ge)

Also, shame they made Lu Jiaxue and Zhao Mingzhu adoptive sibling, putting them on the same generational level. This is because there is a point in the novel where our hot pining Marquis Lu becomes Yining’s godfather without having a clear idea of who she is, and the way he manipulates that seniority is truly a delicious read.

Notably the drama ALSO preserves the forceful and unpleasant aspects of his obsession with regaining Yining; in the novel, he truly cannot conceive that she has a whole life and family she will protect above him. Also in the novel, Yining is reborn in the Luo family after twenty years as a wandering spirit, so by that time, she mostly moves on from her romantic attachments to him, though she does blame him for her death. The blaming for death section is there in the drama, but here I feel that Yining's primary feeling towards him is raw fear, which also biases me firmly against Lu Jiaxue rn.

 Now I’ll begin my usual rambling commentary on plot changes lol. They’ve quite significantly changed Daoyan’s character here, enough that he’s basically a whole new person. While this makes sense with the drama plotline of reopening the Chen Jiuheng case, that’s not a plotline found in the novel. Novel! Daoyan is an eccentric monk who is also a military genius. My first read of him in the novel was that he was very ruthless, but tbh it’s more of that he is unaffected by emotions and is exceedingly practical, and in this he contrasts both Lu Jiaxue and Luo Shenyuan, who have an obsession with Luo Yining in common. So that’s a dynamic we are probably not going to see, oh well.

With regards to the side plot of Luo Yixiu and Lin Mao… I somehow don’t really care for it? Sure, with regards to my personal life, I believe in marrying a person you sincerely like, but in a feudal context like in this drama… it honestly feels a bit out of place. The princess’ son is genuinely a pretty good choice for her, given that he cares for her, has an odd personality that is not likely to take concubines later and has a pretty reasonable mother! Also I just instinctively dislike Lin Mao for always lecturing her about her weight and giving her weird weight loss medicine! Even if she says she likes Lin Mao, it comes off more as a childish infatuation than anything else.

Now that I’ve gotten started on this, novel! Lin Mao is actually shown to have a crush on Luo Yining, which no one except Shenyuan ever takes seriously. He does propose marriage, only to be turned down pretty firmly, and he goes off to a border region. Throughout the novel, he is portrayed as a playful individual who keeps wriggling in and out of sticky situations. He eventually does make his name by securing disaster relief for the border but throughout the novel AND the drama so far, he’s the kind of person I may want to have a short summer romance with, but never the kind of person I can depend on for a steady life. And that is kind of a very important criteria for marriage for a noble lady in those times!

Anyway moving on, regarding the plotline of Gu Minglan’s death, it is not a mystery in the novel: she forces herself to give birth to Yining prematurely, so that Yining’s parentage is not suspected. In a way, the novel portrays her as a very sensitive woman deeply conscious of the social taboos of her time, after Yining is conceived, giving birth to her is the only thing that keeps her tethered to life. 

The drama alters Gu Minglan’s character to be more self-reliant and thus adds in an element of intrigue to her death. I feel this is primarily driven by the fact that they will only reveal that Yining isn’t the garbage Luo Second master’s blood daughter much later in the drama, but this reveal actually happens pretty early in the novel. And THEN all the courtyard intrigue takes place when Yining joins her blood related paternal family (I don’t wanna spoil this, but maybe you guys will guess who it is anyway). In the drama plot, the intrigue continues to happen in the Luo family, after all, as a main character, you NEED to have some family member scheming to kill/ruin/wrong you always. 

Although Madam Chen’s character is more fleshed out here: her resentment is only human, considering that she loses her first son early and has to watch her husband harbor feelings for her sister-in-law, which is probably the highest level of social damnation for her, if it ever came out. Both in the novel and drama she is a person obsessed with maintaining ‘face’. In the novel, her first son is alive and well, and also her husband occupies a higher position than his brother. In the drama, she possesses neither of these comforts, and it’s not illogical that she plays a more vicious role. And the actress is also killing it; her expressions when no one is observing, do give off an ominous feeling.

[jellybeanium124]

Ok something I've literally never seen anybody talk about ever is the fact that Izzy apologizes for his little "insane, unpleasant, shell of a man" speech in episode 4.

To quote: "I said some things I regret last night. I don't think you're a shell of a man... or a twat."

Ed responds: "You were right man, about all of it." Imo the most common explanation for this line is buttering Izzy up to agree to his Stede-killing plan, which is something I agree with. Izzy turns and looks at Ed after he says this and Izzy gives him this look that tbh I can't fucking decipher.

Sad? Confused? Blank stare? ?????? idk

Anyways, what are the possible interpretations of that line? Let's start with the least charitable one and work our way to the most charitable interpretation.

Option 1: Izzy is lying and intentionally manipulating Ed.

I don't agree with this because like most people I agree that Izzy does a lot of things without understanding the consequences/implications. To agree to this option you have to think that Izzy has intentionally been abusing Ed for however long they've been working together, and imo Izzy isn't doing that on purpose here. I think he isn't doing that most of the series. At this point in the show things haven't gotten serious enough. Also he's not that smart and doesn't tend to think about things in the long-term, and to imply Izzy has been playing the long con for years abusing and manipulating Ed on purpose is just something I have trouble agreeing with.

Option 2: Izzy is lying, but just so he and Ed don't part ways on a bad note.

Izzy is trying to leave when he says this. Is he just trying to make sure Ed doesn't hate him after this? Ed's kind of an important connection in the pirate world, and Izzy could just be trying not to burn that bridge with the most powerful pirate. (and also he doesn't want Ed to hate him, I think, for some very repressed reasons.) I think this is a plausible interpretation. However, as I've posted about a loooong time ago, Izzy isn't a big liar. He tends to be weirdly truthful about his own emotions, with some exceptions (lying to Stede so Stede can die "doing what he loves).

Option 3: Izzy is telling the truth and means what he says.

Oh man. Dude. The implications of this one. The way Izzy hurts Ed over and over and doesn't even fucking realize it man. The way Ed acts when Izzy gives his little speech implies that this has happened over and over again and ed hardly notices it anymore (until the decade of repetition gets the better of him in episode 10). Izzy loses his cool and apologizes. Izzy loses his cool and apologizes. Izzy loses his cool and apologizes. Over and over and over. And if he's being honest, what does that even mean for Izzy? We know he cares about Blackbeard. How much does he care about Ed? Is there a difference between Izzy in episodes 4 and 10? I think there might be.

By episode 10, Izzy has doubled down over and over and over. He succeeded in getting rid of Stede, and Ed is, to him, behaving more differently/"weird" (bad, soft, effeminate) than ever. In episode 10, Izzy goes after Ed's clothes. He doesn't make a remark about Ed wearing Stede's clothes once in episode 4. Would episode 4 Izzy bully Ed into being the Kraken? I don't think so. I think it takes all his successive loses throughout the series building on each other to get to that point. In episode 4, Izzy is, at the very least, trying not to end his relationship with Ed on a sour note. In episode 6, in his mind, it has totally ended on a sour note and he has a vendetta against the man who stole his man.

I guess this post is part of my ongoing impromptu exploration of early-series Izzy and why I think he's fucking fascinating. Because early on we see more of an Izzy who, while of course still being an asshole, is a little more human. He's having fun in the woods with Stede. He's apologizing like a grown up to Ed. Starting in episode 5, he gets crueler, targeting Lucius because he's the most effeminate person on board besides Stede (with his most human moment in that episode being his perplexed and strangled "fuck off" at Lucius's come-on). In episode 6 he says "I'm good thanks" (or something like that) to Stede offering a draw and tries to kill him. By episode 8 he's bringing the ocean cops to Stede and Ed's doorstep. And of course, in episode 10, he's verbally attacking Ed and threatening him with murder unless he becomes Izzy's version of Blackbeard. Strangely enough, at the end of episode 10, we have another human moment. Izzy seems very conflicted just underneath the surface after the toe scene. The way Con's acting in that scene makes it seem like Izzy is just barely repressing "oh God what have I done oh fuck oh shit I'm in over my head fuck fuck fuck fuckfuckfuck."

Well... like a lot of my metas (can this be called that???) this has been a stream of consciousness.... thing.... that I don't know how to conclude. I guess I'll say I lean more towards option 3 but if you read it as option 2 that's valid, but I don't think it's option 1. I also can't wait to see what this bizarre little man gets up to very soon. What a guy.

[ozfi]

misogyny in agito past hojos pathetic useless waste of space behavior begin ... well it was always there tbh! [i think this began drafting at 17?]

seeing hojo as not someone with a specific vendetta against ozawa is a failure of the police by default. but then we bring in his teacher, tsukasa, who immediately addresses hikawa first at the table out of all three SAUL members, asks for his point of view, and then prompts ozawa to follow up on hikawa. like shes not the woman in charge of all of it. he asks if they know why, and hikawa goes uh.. and ozawa says No. We don't know yet. and he immediately says oh so you dont know ANYTHING you USELESS FUCKS. obviously we know where hojo gets it

the thing about ozawa is that she is a genius. she went to MIT young. she invented the entire G3 system with her bare hands. she runs SAUL and its her duty. but it does not Belong To Her. the other officers are all men, her senior officers are all men. and they constantly try to take the wheel out of her hands. they constantly take hojos word over her own despite his constant failures and proving himself to be a pathetic coward. ozawa gets NO special treatment, which in theory is reasonable, but she doesnt get Standard treatment either. no matter how smart she is, she is a woman, and in the police (or anywhere in the workforce) that means she has to tolerate pathetic loser men with no talent and no skill beyond being an obsessive bootlicking dipshit being treated as on the same level as her. IT FUCKING SUCKS!

even the addition of tsukasa as his mentor does not absolve him. take a gander at this very funny screenshot.

see, the plot in the episodes leading to 19 is that tsukasa is rigging the game against SAUL to get away with murder and nepotism, and in doing so being a misogynistic and condescending prick towards ozawa and her unit and their intelligence overall. the thing is that hojo goes along with this! there is no point in these episodes where he is acting differently than usual except when he realizes his mentor Probably killed someone. if he is otherwise, its because hes so happy to torment ozawa along with his mentor. if anything, this shows that hojo is good at detective work when he applies himself. but he doesnt apply himself to anything but trying to make ozawa's life worse because hes obsessed with the G3 unit.

the only person who gets the grace of a bias being removed is another man in a senior position. not a woman. never a woman.

and ozawa is still kind enough to invite him to bbq afterwards. 🖕

then, you know, V-1 with a board full of male builders, the "best in the world", trying to surpass the G3-X. there is no implication that hojo did a smidge of it himself.

"i flaunt you to express my own ability, but how dare you think youre anyone who matters". feeling threatened by her intellect to the point of admitting that if he saw G3-X's proposal he would give up on V-1, to try to knock her down pegs that she earned and deserves. these are all the kinds of people hojo allies with willingly! doubting her honesty and her will and her dedication to her job. not listening to her as a person and going over her head to the men in charge. and there is nothing ozawa can do about it but prove them wrong, over and over, even if they keep doubting the abilities shes proven she has. over and over.

even her own unit member!!!

for hojo, after G3-X proves its worth, this stops his overeager direct haranguement of them, though hes still unpleasant whenever they meet. at least now hes actually doing his job, and for what its worth, hes pretty good at it when hes not wasting his time annoying SAUL.

ozawa is fantastic because these obstacles are neverending, but she never gives up, and she never truly backs down. she refuses to cede any undeserved ground. and her flaw is exactly the same as her strength: shes too smart, she makes things that are too powerful, and theyre hard for others to handle. G3-X injures hikawa so badly he should not be able to move. in that way, things that are too perfect are dangerous, and human flaw is what allows us to shine. it's not that she believed too much in either G3-X or hikawa, but instead that the pursuit of perfection is, in of itself, flawed. in that way, shes a true agito protagonist.

[sablegear0]

So I finished Axiom Verge 2

A little while ago, actually. I didn't post about it at the time because I didn't (and still kind of don't tbh) have any hugely profound thoughts about it, but I recently played through and beat Axiom Verge 2.

I'm not sure what it's missing but it feels as if it's lacking something of the original. Still a decent game; interesting exploration, gorgeous pixel art, unique abilities, and if nothing else the soundtrack still freaking hits. More thoughts under the cut including spoilers for both AV1 and 2.

Tl;dr Overall, I liked it. Not a bad game, but I feel some story stuff was a bit fumbled. Not to any critical degree but it's the sort of thing that's noticeable if you're looking for it.

If you liked the first one, give it a look. It has some interesting implications for the overall lore of the Axiom Verge universe. I found the overall gameplay enjoyable, upgrade-hunting and getting to pick your progression is neat, the changes to the hacking mechanic are implemented well and create a sort of secondary resource management loop that's pretty clever. And of course the soundtrack is excellent, I'd say overall more listenable casually than AV1's.

To get into the story stuff, I feel like some of the major story beats were a bit fumbled in AV2 compared to the original. AV1 plays to the strengths of the game whose skin it's wearing - mimicking Super Metroid's vibe of (near-)total isolation by presenting Trace's presence on Sudra as a mystery in itself to be solved by exploring. With the help of some cryptic supercomputers, of course; the iconic Rusalki feature prominently in AV1's promotional art, and are introduced early on in the game's story as a constant background presence.

By contrast in AV2, while Indra ends up in Kiengir by accident, she goes to the location of the portal very much on purpose. I feel like Indra's motivation to find her estranged daughter is kind of... weak? In the very brief intro and in a few of the notes scattered around, she's presented as a driven, rather cold, corporate powerhouse type. I think the lengths she goes to during her adventure would be more interesting if her motivation was solely to figure out what Hammond and the other scientists had been up to in Antarctica and Kiengir. Especially given how AV2 ends, it's clear her motivations are still mostly self-interested (Though I did like that she seemed to soften a bit dealing with Damu and learning the plight of the other Arms, I feel like that arc leading to some reconciliation with her daughter Samara maybe got abbreviated for time.) I wasn't overly bothered by the lack of "isolation"/the presence of other humans, I thought it was interesting to see what the other trapped researchers got up to and how the various factions interacted. Talking to the other people also lets the player see a bit more of Indra's character, which isn't a bad thing. (Also, the way a lot of these interactions are written supports my point that her motivation could have been left as solely selfish and still been compelling. It felt like the team didn't want to fully commit to Indra just being kind of an unpleasant person...)

My other story gripe is the freaking Lamassu. I feel like the Lamassu's presence was predetermined by how the team wanted to market AV2. Like it was the first thing they came up with, visually. Its presence and presentation are engineered to stand in contrast to AV1's promo material. Trace, a tiny male figure, standing in a darkened space before the looming, Giegeresque feminine figure of a Rusalka is the striking imagery that was AV1's visual hook. In all the AV2 promo imagery, the small feminine Indra stands among the clouds face-to-face with the Babylonian-bearded masculine Lamassu. (Both compositions even have their figures facing opposite directions!) It feels like all the visuals of that beat were predetermined, while its actual story significance was secondary to that.

You meet the Lamassu basically halfway through the game and the first thing it does is tell you to off yourself because you're infected with nanotech, then basically refuses to help you. It pops up a few more times to guide you around, but doesn't have the kind of distinct personality the various Rusalki did. It's supposed to be a being of pure logic, and that quirk comes up a little bit in that it runs into some internal conflict over the course of the story, but I feel like that, too, was underutilized. (Though admittedly there is some unintentional comedy to the lost, grumpy Indra finally happening upon this fabled, supposedly benevolent AI overmind and the first thing it says to her is basically 'kys'.) In AV1 the Rusalki are introduced fairly early by comparison, so the player can get it into their head that they're around. They keep in pretty frequent contact with Trace, they have their own interpersonal conflicts, and even figure directly into some late-game events so their presence is constantly being felt. The Lamassu by comparison is a very hands-off guide who shows up too late to feel as significant as its presence in the marketing material would suggest it is.

Now that I'm done complaining - and truly these are fairly minor complaints, this is just me being nit-picky because I'm a writer and I feel like a few shifts in presentation could really have made this game a gem - I can talk about all the other stuff!

The optional "bosses" thing was an interesting choice. They're required for 100% items but otherwise are totally avoidable, with the exception of two, maybe three "bosses" that are sort of in the way and would require very careful play to avoid. One of them however is not directly aggressive, and is more of an environmental hazard that slowly follows you around. (This one is also a very cool puzzle and is one of my favourite challenges in the game, on reflection.) The game's hacking mechanic does foster the option for pseudo-pacifist play, with the ability to slow or disable, or even flip the allegiance of most common enemies.

There's also a sort of secondary resource management thing that encourages hacking. Some enemies drop these little canisters of nanite stuff that can be used to do a few different things. The canisters themselves can be hacked to become volatile on-hit, to explode when hacked, or to drop a bit of health. A bit later after encountering these types of enemies, the player gets the ability to pick up and carry these canisters and consume them to restore health on-demand. This creates a choice between hacking enemies to get them to drop their cargo and stealing that for later, or hacking the cargo itself to explode those enemies (many of which are a bit difficult to kill for one reason or another, so the choice isn't always obvious!)

I liked the changes to the Breach as well. Rather than being an extra-hard corner of an area you could loot for goodies, the Breach is now a Link to the Past/Between Worlds-esque mirror-realm with its own internal progression, enemies, and playstyle (as you can now only access the Breach via your remote drone). Flipping between the Breach and Kiengir and manipulating your position via portals becomes a major component of mid-late gameplay, especially if you're going for 100% items. It's also... I don't know how else to say this but, cute? that the whole breach dimension is at a lower resolution than the main area. Everything feels small and cute, and a lot of the enemies are re-used from AV1 so it's a fun little homage-dimension in addition to being an actually challenging part of the game. (Also training the Player how to maneuver and fight in drone mode before the mid-game thing-that-happens by doing a lot of Breach stuff was a clever choice. Good job devs, I see what you did there.)

And of course I have to gush about the soundtrack real quick because this is getting to be a long post. It's good. It's real good. I like that Happ leaned into the Mesopotamian aesthetic by also choosing some Middle Eastern-sounding instruments to go along with the main chiptune-y compositions. It works really well, imo. Each area has an overworld and a Breach version of its music, which can be quite different! (ie. Not just "covers" of one another but separate melodies and progressions in some areas.) The Breach tracks are much chirpier and exclusively chiptune, while the overworld tracks have (midi) instruments and actual vocals (there's a vocalist credited in-game and in the OST, which is cool bc all the vocals in AV1's OST were just samples!) I also really like the two bonus tracks included in the OST. "Ancient Axiom" is a cover of AV1's main theme with the traditional instruments plus chip drums (which if I'm being honest I may have to choreograph something to, it's so good), while "Afterworld Axiom" is a catchy medley of the two games' main themes.

Anyway, until next time!

[joannerowling]

Man PinkNews really can't stay away from Jo for too long lol, they're back at it again with more slander, this time with a supposed like of a pretty offensive tweet. And as always people are eating it all up.

Now I went to check and that supposed like wasn't there which makes me think it's fake(either that or much like few years ago when she liked and then unliked that one tweet-I forget what was it about, and if her like was real then it could be the same case again, an acidental like).

But like, I really don't get these people...I get it, they hate her, but why make up stuff? Is it cause perhaps normies are waking up and seeing that Jo isn't this evil person the likes of PinkNews and TRAs are trying to paint her as...it's so weird.

Well they can't exactly go and talk about anything wrong she would have actually done, can they, since when you look up what Jo really does with her money it's all charity and paying her taxes. We're still waiting on that list of anti-trans organisations she would have supposedly funded or donated to - you'd think they would line up to claim her patronage, and yet! Crickets! Strange, isn't it?

So they are reduced to this: dishonesty, defamation, and just making shit up when they run out of ideas. Take this week's example of what has the gendiboos shitting themselves: Jo liking a darkly humourous tweet saying "at least the Talibans know what a woman is". Someone tried to paint that as a) original tweeter was supporting the Talibans (yes, in this era where people can just say "kill yourself" to a celebrity over them claiming to like raisins); b) JKR herself implicitly supports the Talibans by proxy because she liked the tweet. Now, the person who said that claims to have received a cease and desist order. Gee, why would that ever happen??

… Yeah, i guess Jo's a little sensitive about that particular brand of defamation of her character. It's almost like, unlike these bozos, she actually cares about hate crimes against women.

Honestly i wish she'd actually take them to court, just once. She would absolutely wipe the floor with them and that would set the record straight for any more who wants to try her. And i'm not even saying that with her sake in mind tbh.

But for the sake of the ACTUAL WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE EAST SUFFERING THROUGH ISLAMIC REGIMES RIGHT THE FUCK NOW.

Like hey!! guys, gals and nonbinary pals! Maybe… just maybe?? we shouldn't use victims of horrible religious tyranny as pawns in some stupid gender wars?? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I know we're all convinced in our heart of hearts that JK Rowling is a big bad meanie, but maybe we could act like the better people we pretend to be for once and treat this topic with the seriousness it warrants?? ufuckingwu!

And since i had the unpleasant surprise to see that in the tag this morning: same thing with Ukraine. No, JK Rowling is not friend with Putin, she has actually helped Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war, and the fucking Harry Potter store being maybe still up in Moscow on Google Maps is the last of Ukraine's problems even if she had the actual power to shut it down (assuming GM's infos are even actualised).

Like, i can sort of laugh it out when these idiots make up bullshit about the Goblins being antisemitic caricatures. (Except, it's not actually funny, not when you take two seconds to think about the implications that a whole generation of people apparently think that this is what antisemitism is, OR, care so little about antisemitism that they are happy to pretend that this is it.) It's a whole 'nother business to pick victims of current wars and religious extremism and make up a story about how it's all some writer you don't like's fault. Those are real people ffs. Whom JKR is tangibly helping. What the fuck is Pink News doing for them, hmm? Not even showing them an OUNCE of decency and respect, that's what.

Anyways, apologies for this outburst. To answer your question : why do they do it? Hatred. Hatred is the point. It goes nowhere deeper than this i'm afraid.

[reachexceedinggrasp]

Why do you prefer the original ending to Pretty In Pink over the rewritten ones? Ringwald and McArthy have apparently not vouched for the original ending from the beginning

My understanding is that Molly Ringwald was one of those who most wanted it be changed. And I think she's completely wrong if so.

I wrote a post about this back when I first saw the film where it was fresh and I could explain why, which unfortunately I can't find, but yeah it was obvious to me watching it that she was not supposed to end up with Blane, that he did not respect her, and the film/her character arc would have been much stronger if she'd gone to prom with Ducky as was originally intended.

I'd have to watch it again to go into it, but I remember it was clearly a theme where she wanted it to be Romeo&Juliet thing, but it wasn't. It wasn't people connecting across a class divide and transcending that, he was an actual snob and she liked an idea of him that didn't exist. It was in fierce contrast to her really genuine connection with Ducky. It was not a 'settling for the Nice Guy' triangle or something where Blane was a foil and equal she's not allowed to have, the original ending was about missing what's in front of you because you're too tied up in trappings and what you're supposed to want. There was a powerful affirmation for her in realising she didn't need approval from assholes. There was commentary on disposable wealth and consumerism versus authentic creativity. Middle school level, but it was there.

Hughes went on to make Some Kind of Wonderful which follows the original outline/themes of Pretty in Pink, just genderswapped, but that movie didn't have the chemistry or strong enough characters to make it very satisfying imo.

[2hoothoots]

Have you ever heard of the concept of "reparenting the inner child"? I'd like to imagine that Raz's archetypes can be physical manifestations of that in the literal sense, like seeing his older archetypes comforting his inner child whenever some unpleasant childhood stuff comes up

oh, i hadn't but that's an interesting concept!

i think with the Inner Child, though, it's almost the other way around? like, one thing I do want to clarify is that I'm not trying to make out that Raz had a particularly terrible childhood, because I don't love the implications of that tbh. instead, the Inner Child is more a safe way for Raz to express his feelings without a filter, and almost kind of like a proxy for self-care? one that was inspired by his meeting with his younger self in my fic. hold on i think i can draw it better than i can explain it in words

[hollowwhisperings]

agreed.

the series made a point - multiple times! - that "hawkmoth vs cat noir = everyone loses". it was one of the key elements to maintaining the need for ladbug&catnoir to NOT know each other's true identities (and thus ensure the plot relevance of the love square).

there is no way to write a 14-year old facing their abusive parent in a way both consistent with the show thus far (s5 was all about emotional honesty & the series overall is idealistic)... and "kid-friendly".

it is a very, VERY bad idea to put a child in open confrontation with a parent like gabriel agreste.

not just dangerous in a "boss fight" kind of way but in a "you are putting a kid into a violent situation with their caregiver".

adrien (& thus cat noir) would NOT be able to fight his own father. hawkmoth/monarch could not be "taken down" without secret identities getting revealed because, for one thing, ladybug was only able to locate him because she LEARNED HIS IDENTITY. the "win" condition for S5 was the yoinking of gabriel's miraculous: i was very impressed by the boldness of the show in how the "ladybug vs monarch" finale went down. how much of its "something is OFF here" was deliberate versus being due to "we only planned for 5 seasons but got renewed for 3 more" has yet to be seen.

i suspect that gabriel "winning" was planned well in-advance, though the specifics of his redemption/changed!wish likely changed over time. the wish & "gimmi" were just too well-designed within the series lore to go unused. the full zodiac's worth of extra miraculous? THAT screams "this cartoon is trying to sell you merchandise"... standard practice for modern animation, tbh.

the extra miraculous DID allow the series to narratively set up its audience for how a "villainous victory" would affect the characters, their relationships with each other, and the story being told. shadowmoth's triumph, his claiming most every miraculous, was ALSO a very convenient means for the writers to get rid of all those "made for merch" super allies (from seasons 3&4) ahead of s5's Serious Plot Business.

oh! another reason why "cat noir vs gabriel agreste = everyone loses", aside from "do not try IRL" family dynamics, "hawkmoth is supposed to win" & love square retension for seasons 5+?

adrien is literally incapable of disobeying his father. not just because "do not try this at home" (effects of abusive family dynamics) but, like, actual magic. felix tried to get adrien's control ring from gabriel, like, 3 times? across different seasons? he kept failing. neither marinette nor adrien were going to succeed in ignorance where FELIX had failed (he had a whole villain arc about it). unless the writers wanted to write seasons 6+ of miraculous WITHOUT a lovesquare? ladybug AND gabriel needed to be oblivious as to HOW cat nr's presence consistently resulted in Bad Timelines for everyone: in the s5 finale proper, ladybug is only able to defeat monarch because... gabriel freaked out about how close her cataclysm-ready hand was to ADRIEN'S AMOK (&control ring). since ladybug is an idealistic teenager & gabriel was an increasingly immoral (& privately wealthy) supervillain? the ONLY way ladybug could have defeated monarch is via unwittingly threatening gabriel's son out of existence... or by killing him.

even then ladybug still - technically! - only defeated hawkmoth/monarch by getting gabriel agreste killed. from the POV of [future plot devices] & herself, anyway.

(that monarch was "dying via cat noir" anyway is just more fodder for the continued presence of the lovesquare/"ladybug & cat noir cannot reveal their true identities to each other")

for all the reasons above & more, cat noir could NOT have been present for the final battle against hawkmoth/monarch. it would have been a plot-holed character assassinating scenario RIDDLED with unpleasant, kid-UNfriendly Unfortunate Implications.

Honestly I think my take on the "Chat Noir was not there in the final battle" comes down to the fact that I kind of just don't think a satisfying final battle between Chat Noir and Monarch was actually possible.

I read a lot of fic, for example, and I've read the scenario play out a lot of times in a ton of ways and I've never been fully convinced of it tbh (and not because they weren't great fic!!). It seems just completely traumatic for Adrien in a way that the scenario inherently cannot properly focus on, because it's all happening in the middle of an action scene and Adrien is too busy being Mid-Battle to properly have a cathartic breakdown about it all. I mean, Chat Blanc already showed us what would happen if he did have a breakdown mid-battle (and why wouldn't he?). And though it'd be fun to have a big triumphant moment of him defeating his abusive father, Adrien simply isn't a character who would find that scenario triumphant, or cathartic, or anything other than viscerally traumatic.

Also, I agree that it's unfair that Chat Noir was not present— like it was unfairly tilted in Ladybug's favor— but I don't think it'd be fair if he was present, either. Because Marinette is, in fact, the main character. The main character whose character arc is primarily focused on her finding her footing as a hero and discovering all the responsibilities that come with that power (as opposed to Adrien, whose character arc is moreso about freedom and identity). And let's face it, in a fight between Ladybug and Chat Noir and Monarch, nobody would be focused on Ladybug at all. It's not about her. It's not her fight. She'd just be there as moral support and an extra set of hands, which really doesn't work for her character arc at all and is completely unfair to her!

Basically, it would just be Chat Noir temporarily acting as the main character and having the worst time of his life in the most un-cathartic battle for him possible left completely traumatized with Ladybug in the background awkwardly trying to comfort him after the fact? And then the season ends? And then the next season presumably goes back to Ladybug being the main character? After a time-skip to the new school year? It's just an ending that I feel like is a lot better in theory than actually on paper. And you can probably make an argument for ways that it could be made to work, where it would enhance Ladybug's story in a meaningful way where she still feels like the main character, and would somehow be triumphant for Chat Noir despite it probably being the worst moment of his life, and somehow not make the rest of the series following feel like bonus content as opposed to a continuation of the story...... but, I dunno. I think it's a lot easier said than done.

The fact of the matter is, I've always been waaayyyy more interested in how the aftermath of Gabriel's defeat affects Adrien than the battle itself. Post-Hawkmoth defeat is one of my favorite types of fic for a reason, and it's because the aftermath can be so juicy, especially for Adrien as a character. I think whether or not Adrien is actually there in the battle itself has always been kind of irrelevant to me, because no matter how Gabriel is defeated, his defeat will have immense repercussions on Adrien's life going forward. And the way they did it, Marinette is now a part of it in a more active way, too. Which is good for her character!

( Also, if he was there to triumphantly defeat Gabriel, would that mean he would just.... watch his father die? of cataclysm? a-and.... nathalie would just.... die, too? so he'd have three dead parents after all that? who he watched all die (or, in emilie's case, saw her corpse)? or is this a scenario where MONARCH BEATS CHAT NOIR and still makes the wish? is that cathartic? for Adrien to lose to Gabriel? Frankly, I loved seeing Gimmi and The Wish, it's been teased for so long that I was expecting it, and I loved the fact that Nathalie got to live as her narrative reward for coming to her senses and trying to murder Gabriel with a crossbow. I like that we got to watch a full season of Gabriel painfully dying to a cataclysm— poetically inflicted on him by Adrien, but of Gabriel's own doing. I like that Nathalie has presumably adopted Adrien after having an arc of her trying to be a parent to him once she realized nobody else would, that's so much more interesting than any other alternative. I just don't see how all of these things, some of my favorite things that season 5 gave, can still all exist at once with Chat Noir present in the final battle in any way that's satisfying. )

[utilitycaster]

So… What do you think about Susan Calvin? And do you have any recommendations for people who like to read robot stories (assuming what everyone knows about Asimov already.)

I LOVE Susan Calvin, more so because I'm pretty sure her appeal now (or in the early 2000s, when young me first read I, Robot) is mostly unintentional. I truly love Asimov's writing, I think he had a lot of fascinating ideas, and even his nonfiction essays are worth a read, but he was, as many science fiction authors of the time were, Not Great Towards Women. He designed Susan Calvin to be brilliant...but unattractive and brusque and unpleasant, while the recurring male characters like Powell and Donovan get to be cool and brave. And yet, by making a woman who was in defiance of what a sexist man would find attractive he made one of the most compelling women in classic sci fi. She is married to her work. She is a huge asshole. She's real and complex because he actually had to put thought into her as a character rather than being like "ah yes the woman scientist is a blonde bombshell who echoes all of my own feelings", and I love her and honestly, a lot of my thoughts about Dancer are probably influenced by Susan Calvin - a weird, smart loner who is horrible at interpersonal relationships but actual has a great deal of respect for robots.

The thing is...the part of robot stories I love is more the society around them and how this responds. I'm not actually that invested in robots as the main characters, so the robot stories beyond Asimov's positronic brain stuff/The Bicentennial man that I know of (that was what I was referencing in my tags, incidentally; if you read a bunch of Asimov you will be fine) are mostly also really popular: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (and Blade Runner); Battlestar Galactica (everyone should watch the 2003 BSG because it's fucking phenomenal and it's also a very good companion to everything I've said about pacing, lately, namely, you can have utterly fucked pacing as long as the characters are deeply of this world and given enough space to breathe); The smattering of Star Trek: TNG I've seen indicates that's pretty good. But yeah, it's not actually an area I tend to personally explore.

[this is directly related to the above but it is not what you asked, letting you know so you can bounce if you're not interested.]

What I do think people should do though is 1. Read a shitload of Octavia Butler and Ursula K. Le Guin specifically and 2. Go to their local library (might need to make a trip to the central one, actually, for this) and find the battered sci-fi short story anthologies from like, 1972. I read SO MUCH OF THAT as a high schooler, and on the one hand this means that I'm cursed with many memories of stories I will probably never be able to find again (shout out to someone on a weird forum who was able to identify The Silk and the Song from my fragmented memories); but on the other hand I think it just gives you a grounding in classic sci fi you cannot otherwise get. Science fiction meant short stories for a good portion of the 20th century, and a lot of the most interesting and weird stuff that really engaged with modern and near-future technologies is in there.

TBH that is what I'm getting at with recommending classic sci fi short fiction just...in the abstract. I think a whole lot of it tried to engage with the idea of "what happens to our society if this happens" in a way that modern sci fi sometimes does not (for a huge number of sociological reasons and because the immensity/political implications of nuclear and space technologies being obvious in a way that the internet was not). I brought it up in reference to FCG because...look, there's still a lot I feel could have been done better, and that's a separate post, but FCG's presence in the world is fascinating. It's asking the question of "imagine a world where no one even has a proper conception of artificial intelligence - and where you can summon a low-level fey or celestial and require they do your bidding - but there's a bunch of mindless automatons. Ok imagine one of them has a soul now." The people who react most normally to FCG are the people most ignorant of automata! Anyway, I think reading a shitload of shortform classic sci fi is the most efficient way to rewire your brain to automatically go "ok but what is the baseline of this fictional society and what is the change this story is exploring and how would people of various types respond" with speculative fiction in general, and I think it's such an important part of analysis! Also it's fun! If you come across a moderately humorous story from the 60s or 70s where people keep messing with the timeline and keep not realizing they've done so please send me its title because it pops into my mind now and then and I haven't been able to find it in like 15 years!

[misscrawfords]

My Fair Lady is one of my favourite shows (I first saw it when I was about 3 and there is photographic evidence of me dressing up as Eliza and dancing around singing "I could have danced all night" from about that age; not much has changed) and I saw it in London last night, first professional production.

I have mixed feelings about the production tbh but it's made me think about how MFL really is very confused about what it's trying to say and do as a show and how it's presenting its central relationship between Higgins and Eliza. I've always been a shameless Henry/Eliza shipper (don't worry - I've been told off about this quite enough, thank you!!) but they're definitely problematic. Or maybe it was just this production in which I didn't really know what they were trying to achieve.

The first problem is Henry being a raging misogynist. He doesn't really change. He comes to understand how important Eliza is to him by the end of the show and we certainly understand his perspective more and see aspects of its validity - that he treats everyone the same, his genuine belief in speech as a way to level class distinctions, and so on. But still by the end he never really faces up to what his feelings for Eliza mean - as can obviously be seen in the very fact that "I've grown accustomed to her face" is famously a love song without the word love in it. Henry is not yet ready to admit he is in love with Eliza or deal with the cataclysmically life-shifting implications of that. The fact that what he says to Eliza at the end of the show is "What the devil have you done with my slippers?" proves that he has not yet changed. Not that he is incapable of change but he is not yet there.

There's also the fact that he can be really quite unpleasant and that has to be shown for absurdity or it just makes him ultra dislikeable. His first song "I'm an ordinary man" is deeply uncomfortable if played straight. My mother once said that the only time she could deal with that song and didn't actively dislike the show was when she watched my school production and Henry was played by a teenage girl. That casting alone showed all the absurdity of his position and the song, but productions with an adult male Henry have to do that as well. It also means that we actually need Henry to be completely ruined by the end of the show. He... kind of has to be completely head over heels in love with Eliza! If he wins, if he is allowed to continue smugly in his existence, not really changing, then it's deeply unsatisfactory. Not to go too Aristotelian on you all, but he needs some serious peripeteia going on for the audience to be invested in him. If he starts the show with deeply unpleasant and absurd misogynistic ideas then all of this needs to be completely and utterly destroyed by the end. He needs to be absolutely laid low by Eliza and her victory over him. But a lot of productions don't push Henry so far and the script itself and its ending don't help.

I thought the London 2022 production actually did Henry really well, played by Harry Hadden-Paton. They made him young, which was excellent. Young men can be pedantic misogynists as much as old ones! And it made his romantic feelings towards Eliza much more palatable. He played the development of his feelings very naturally. Perhaps I was reading too much into it, but at the beginning around "I'm an ordinary man" he almost came off as defensive and alone, using extreme views about women to hide his inability to understand or deal with women. I felt that was a really interpretation and I wish they'd pushed it further and makes much more sense if Henry's younger and inexperienced than in an older man. (More could have been done with Pickering and his reactions, but that's another story.) Later on, there are a few moments when he clearly has a physical interest in Eliza but doesn't quite know what to do about it- subtle, but present. And he's clearly bowled over by her appearance before the ball. The best moment was in his confrontation in his mother's greenhouse where Eliza says she isn't interested in him romantically "and that's just how you feel about me" and he's like "uh, yes, definitely". It got a laugh. I loved that. This production realised Henry had to be fully in love with Eliza for it to be satisfying and also that he had to be destroyed by it, which is the ending worked, in which he was left alone to grapple with his defeat.

But while Henry on his own was masterful, Eliza was problematic. What does Eliza feel? The script is so contradictory! Eliza is attracted to Henry. "I could have danced all night" spells this out. And this production gave her a delightful moment during "The rain in Spain" where she touched her heart in surprise after dancing with Henry and didn't have time to think about it before Henry is sweeping her off again, denying Pickering a chance to dance with her because he wants to. Very nicely done. And fine. We watch Eliza's growing feelings and her deep frustration because Henry is incapable of reciprocating in any kind of sensible way. But then what to do with what she says to Henry in the greenhouse? She very clearly spells out that she isn't interested in him romantically but "more friendly-like". But that really isn't justified by what the text says previously or her utter disdain for Freddy. (I always think it would be interesting to play "Words words words" as being really addressed to Henry and Freddy just happens to be there.) Either Eliza is in denial about her feelings about Henry or she is determined to squash them because he's so annoying (valid) or she's really got over them, as suggested in "Without you" ("What a fool I was,what a dominated fool, to think you were the earth and sky!"). But if she actually has got over him then WHY DOES SHE GO BACK TO HIM AT THE END? It makes no sense. You see why I find the script itself problematic and contradictory? This production played it as if she was acknowledging his feelings but saying a proper goodbye which was an interesting and not awful decision, but it rang a bit hollow. Why would she do that if she really didn't need him and was as done with him as was suggested in the previous scene? But if you play it as if Eliza was returning to him properly, then it's also unsatisfactory because he hasn't changed properly and she's just said she can stand on her own. They're not there yet!

The best production I saw was a student production in Cambridge when they just went hard on the romance. They conveyed subtext and longing and ended with a passionate kiss when she came back. It worked because they built a completely convincing counter narrative running underneath the script. But I felt like this production didn't quite know what it was doing, mainly with Eliza's feelings.

I suppose the good thing is that I now really want to write post-show fanfiction with torturously slow burn that allows both Henry and Eliza to grow fully as the production teased but the show never allowed them to rise to.

I'll always love My Fair Lady but damn, it's a deceptively tricky show.

[heretherebedork]

Francis Watches Tharntype

Goal of Day 1: Watch to episode 4. (ACHIEVED!)

First thought: I don't care about soccer.

Second thought:... let's throw a cut in.

Episode 1

"I... hate gays" lol really, that's where we start? I mean okay.

And, of course, his roommate is gay I mean I already knew that I guess but lol that expression is just... WELL.

I can't even be made yet tbh because this feels kind of goofy to me rather than as serious as it probably should.

I mean, this homophobia is so over the top it's just... kind of stupid? I dunno, y'all, I know that it's a real thing but the way this show does it is just so over the top.

I do like Tharn so far, no denials. He's a good boy.

I mean, even Type knows it's a stupid complaint to just say he's gay and doesn't say it.

"Everyone must be close to their roommate by now." I... dear lord, I lived in dorms for years and I never liked a single one and probably would have happily switched for a chance to live with someone else who behaved better.

Also, just switching rooms without asking if they're gay doesn't guarantee anything dude. Seriously.

Honestly mostly bored right now. Not even Type's homophobia can make me care. Viki REALLY needs a 2x speed option y'all.

I like Tharn's teasing friend. Most fun I've had yet. Also ahahahahaha Type's staring.

Okay, now the homophobia is... I mean, look, it's really bad and unpleasant and yet somehow I'm just rolling my eyes and laughing because I know how this ends, I suppose? But poor Tharn. Though I suppose doing the exact same thing back is equal revenge.

First episode is literally just "Tharn exists and is gay and Type hates it." isn't it. Techno realizing EXACTLY what Tharn means is hysterical and all of Type's friends just not giving a shit is great. Type is so pissed and they're like "Hey, Tharn! Let's hang! :D" and it's darling.

omfg I haven't finished the episode yet HOW IS THIS STILL GOING.

Okay, that kiss was mostly just obnoxious and very uncomfortable but I'm also uncomfortable with all the implications about being near a gay person meaning it makes them gay because, frankly, Type never implies that. Only Tharn.

Do people really group watch porn?

See, the little homophobia is so much worse to me than the big stuff, the little like 'you got drunk with him in the room and this bad thing might happen to you' or 'I've never known one like you before". Thats gets to me worse than Type's grandiose statements.

Teaching Type a lesson is not going to help at all, ugh, I already hate this plot point. Also Techno just ruined all my goodwill for him. Riiiight out the window.

Oh, ew, do not do this to sleeping, drunk people. Like... no. Ew. Boo. I very much dislike this. This is... this is not an okay response to homophobia. Can we just stick to punching, please? Seriously. Yeah, not okay with this at all. This is what I was avoiding. For fuck's sake, there was more consent in H4 than this!

Episode 2

Yeah, imply things at the person who already thinks your a predator. Like, for fuck's sake, this isn't helping anything. Poor Type. I actually feel horrible for him. He's obviously terrified and hurt and Tharn did things to him against his will that he doesn't even know about.

All this is doing is proving that his assumptions were all entirely correct and that all gay people ARE predators. Fuuuck this plot point. Assaulting people to prove that gay people aren't predators doesn't work for some reason.

Oh, Tum and Tar! I'm trash for stepbrothers and still sad that their storyline in LBC never went anywhere and then got destroyed in LBC2. Oh, poor Tar.

Okay, why... why are you going sappy? Child, boy, he is literally harassing you for being gay to the point of absolutely destroying your room. This makes literally no sense.

Oh, a bad masturbation joke. Okay. Fiat did it better.

Type's panic is painful. He's so absolutely terrified. Poor boy. But also, like, Tharn needs to stop pinning people down to win arguments.

I mean, yeah, he hates you? You made out with when he was drunk and left hickeys and then pinned him down and yelled at him and like... seriously?

Ah. Yes. This. I knew this was coming. And, again. Poor Type. Another MAME characters that needs therapy!

Yes, the comfort from the nightmare is cute. Would be a lot cuter if it hadn't been proceeded by assault and huge amounts of homophobia. But, like, I don't get what Tharn is expecting to happen? How the fuck else is Type gonna react to this?!

Also, nightmares are nightmares because they are scary. That's.... literally what they are. Like of course he's scared of his nightmare? If he wasn't, it wouldn't be a nightmare.

Why the fuck are you still waking him up!?!? LEAVE HIM ALONE. Just stop and leave him alone, holy fuck. I'm sick of both of you.

He said he had a headache and was going back to sleep. Why would you automatically assume he's seriously sick?! How does that follow?! But also fuck that Tharn, let Techno take care of him. Like, he's his friend and Type hates you and told you to leave him alone like 436934605439 times.

Oh ew he's way too sick and out of it to consent to that fuck that what the hell is going on here? Poor Type is just not allowed to have free will, I guess? I mean, yes, he's homophobic and pretty disgusting about it but that doesn't give Tharn the right to constantly ignore his wishes and requests.

I can see the chemistry, okay? No denying it. But I just hate all the rest of it.

/eyerolls hard at the whole lying about how took care of him/

Tharn, what the fuck. I'm just so lost on how this relationship turned and also Type is, at least, staying fairly steady.

Oh and Tharn asked someone who can't lie to lie for him apparently. Why? I am so confused. Didn't he agree to lie to Type? Why isn't he? WTF y'all.

Episode 3

If I were watching this week to week, I would not have been excited for this week's episode.

See, the problem here is that they do have real chemistry as friends and as more. But the surroundings make SO LITTLE SENSE and are so actively toxic that I don't want to like them.

See, the biggest thing is that Type has literally EVERY reason not to trust Tharn because Tharn constantly crosses all his boundaries and touches him regularly against his will.

Type is working through an interesting little convoluted argument in his mind about good gay versus bad gay and how he can handle the concept as well as Tharn's presence. While Tharn seems to mostly just be figuring out new ways to molest Type in his sleep.

STOP FUCKING DOING THINGS TO HIM IN HIS SLEEP GODDAMN IT.

lol drinking from a waterbottle. Still prefer Nitiman's version.

I'm sorry, I'm just... this is a strange combination of goofy, slightly disturbing and just plain annoying. I really just want Tharn to leave Type alone and get over his slightly creepy crush on him.

What the fuck, Tharn? Why? Why is this even happening? What the actual fuck? This is just... look, I get chemistry. But what the FUCK. Type, punch him. Seriously. Punch him and punch him hard. Goddamn that was so viscerally uncomfortable for me. Like, I get that it's supposed to be a turning point in their relationship I guess but it's mostly just me feel wrong and dirty. Ugh, poor Type.

Thank you for at least elbowing him. Seriously. Punch him in the fucking face. Please.

And poor Tar. Darling boy deserved so much better and lots of therapy.

I don't care about soccer! At all!

Ugh, seriously, I kind of agree with Type? Not in his homophobic rants and reasoning but seriously they don't have any right to grab him or grope him. It doesn't matter if you're gay or straight, you don't have any damn right to grab him and hang off him without him agreeing to it. You did NOT just approach him for a photo. You grabbed him and hung off him and groped him and didn't take no for an answer! Fuck that. Fuck this. DAMN.

Episode 4

I seriously did not go into this expecting to feel bad for Type so many times. But I do. He has a right not to be groped and assaulted randomly and he shouldn't apologize for them not accepting that his no meant no.

Dude, Type, you've been insulting Tharn this entire time. Literally every moment of the entire show. So how the fuck are you asking him which side he's on in this situation?

lol he threw the line back at him, that's interesting. But wow what an insulting response to Tharn's offer to help. Still feel bad for Type, though. This only happened because apparently no one at this fucking university can keep their hands to their goddamn selves.

What the fuck, Tharn? Also, how the hell would you 'know it's not his fault'? Like... that doesn't even make sense? You know he's actively homophobic so why would any of this be a lie? That doesn't make sense!

And trauma. Wow. I mean, I knew about it so it's not a surprise. But yeah. I will say that this is the best scene so far because at least the touching is consensual for once.

Hey, maybe stop groping people and you won't get people so upset at you!

At least Type's stayed a steady character this entire time. And it absolutely makes sense that he'd assume Tharn told them about his part because Tharn refuses to have a single boundary around him apparently. Even just basic ones.

Is he? Is he really? Because honestly he's never done anything good for you? I mean, I think he's a better guy then you because he doesn't seem to molest people on a regular basis. But still? Really? None of this makes sense. Y'all very confusing.

DON'T GROPE PEOPLE.

Okay, so pressing charges is bad too. Got it.

You know, I'm glad I waited this long to see this. I don't know if I would have watched a lot more shows after this tbh. This and 2gether, both glad I put off a bit.

Well, that was interesting.

I do like the really strange mindgames that lead to everyone accepting that Tharn liking Type would explain this. I mean, they make no sense but whatever fine.

I will admit that i like Type more than Tharn mostly because Type has stayed steady and also, you know, hasn't assaulted anyone. He might be homophobic but it's a reaction to trauma and never getting therapy because MAME obviously thinks that sex is a better solution to things than therapy.

It is very weird to me to prefer the homophobic character to the out gay character and yet here I am... I mean, I don't like any of them (besides Seo, he's fun and I want his hair!) but like... tiny preference?

lol what

i... lol what

You absolutely do not understand how hard I am laughing.

I am CACKLING.

My mind is GONE.

Dude he already gave you hickeys in your sleep and sucked you off in the shower. What even is this? lol what.

I will never deny their chemistry. But dear lord the number of times Tharn has kissed Type before this makes the idea of him saying no to kissing but yes to fucking even goddamn funnier to me.

The chemistry is so mismatched to the story.

Ah, yes, the "I am only a top and a top only' argument. Of course.

Hey, STI testing is better than nothing. I'll take it.

Ugh. I don't like Tharn. He's got that same sort of cockiness to him that I tend to dislike in characters. It's that EXACT personality. Type is more of the tsundere I like with a helping of homophobia and I can handle that as he grows.

First cute moment: ordering Tharn Sprite.

Why do I love MingKit so much and yet hate so many other couples that feel like they should have the same or similar vibe?

Well, that moment of cuddling was also cute.

... Will I keep watching? That's the ultimate question.

[somebody-909]

Yeong-gi was arrested as a kid [I Love Yoo Theory]

In celebration of the return of my favourite webtoon, I thought I'd share the theory I shared on reddit a while ago about our favourite red head (revamped with pictures and extra discussion). This theory was eventually pretty much proven correct in Episode 112.

TLDR: Allusions to violent behaviour, a bad period of time where Yeong-gi was away, and stigmatized treatment resembling how you treat a criminal, lead me to believe that Yeong-gi, having been deeply affected by the events with his mother, developed violent behaviour, that resulted in legal trouble of some sort. He was then sent "away" somewhere for some time, likely either juvie or a rehabilitation centre of sorts for juvenile delinquents.

1. "How long has it been since you got out?"

In episode 16, when Kousuke visits Yeong-gi at Mrs. Lochlainn's (Yeong-gi's granny) place, he asks:

"How long has it been since you got out? Four years, maybe five? I'll stop for today. I know you don't like being reminded of what happened back then."

This suggests that Yeong-gi "got out" of some place/institution. The words "got out" are also quite ominous... (I would even argue that it implies being "locked" away). I find it hard to believe he would be using this for something that wasn't incredibly unpleasant/hard for Yeong-gi to get through. Kousuke proceeds to say, "Four years, maybe five? I'll stop for today. I know you don't like being reminded of what happened back then," confirming this implication.

I have seen a few possible interpretations of where Yeong-gi might've been "away" for a while. I personally think it's most likely something legal (juvie or juvenile delinquent related rehab), although others believe it might've been a mental institution, and others think it was a boarding school.

I see how "got out" could be used for the first two options easily, but the last one is a bit more shaky. "... since you left boarding school" might be a more natural way of referring to that, since it would have to be a really bad boarding school to refer to it in the way Kousuke does.

The following clues lean more towards Yeong-gi being away due to criminal reasons, however.

2. Treated like a delinquent.

The next clue and the biggest is how everyone treats Yeong-gi. His family treats him like a delinquent (I choose this word specifically because of its connotations... not just a troubled, hopeless kid... but more a kid you can't trust because he will be irresponsible and bad).

In episode 19, the students talk about how Yeong-gi hangs out with Soushi (who they think is a delinquent as seen in episode 20 probably bc he's a brown guy with a scar tbh TT)

"His family's got some great connections, that's the only reason I'm being friendly with the dude."

"But what's the point in doing that? He only hangs out with this delinquent from another school."

"You're joking..."

"I'm not! I saw him! Got a scar too... probably got it from a fight..."

"So it's true what they say then... Him being..."

"Shh! Don't say it out loud!"

They think Yeong-gi is hanging out with and is friends with a delinquent who they associate with having been violent. They immediately ask, "So is it true what they say then … Him being …"

What kind of rumour would they think is true if they saw Yeong-gi hanging out with a "thug"?

It would make sense to finish that question with "So is it true what they say then … Him being a criminal" or "a delinquent".

If we were to go with the mental hospital theory, it might work if they said "him being violent" but that doesn't really work as well here in relation to Soushi being a "delinquent."

There is a bit of nuance between what they would associate with someone with a criminal history, in comparison to someone who had been admitted to an institution for mental health issues, even if both possibilities were linked to violent outbursts.

As for his family, they treat him terribly. Like he's a screw up, a troublemaker. Not so much like someone with mental illness. I think by this point its clear that Yeong-gi made a big mistake, but what would be so bad that they treat him like this?

3. Hints of being "away" and having a criminal past.

There are several subtle hints that indicate Yeong-gi did have a criminal past of sorts. Or at least spent some time away.

Episode 79 - significant criminal past

When Yeong-gi and his father meet the lawyer about the assault and drug case in episode 79, the lawyer says:

"Your son does not have a significant criminal past."

Why not just say that he doesn't have "a criminal past" at all, period? Now this seems negligible, but Quimchee has used very subtle hints like this in the past so I wouldn't put it past her (eg. Yui calling Yeong-gi, "kid," and Kousuke "son," to indicate she is related to Kousuke and not Yeong-gi).

Episode 79 - Hansuke couldn't get to know Yeong-gi

Kousuke's cousin, Hansuke, states that he never got to know Yeong-gi back in their college days because:

"I was busy with my residency and [Yeong-gi] was… you know… "

This alludes to Yeong-gi having been unable to hang out because he had something going on...

Kousuke's Corner 2 and Episode 72 - a year behind

Yeong-gi is also a year older than Shin-Ae and his twelfth grade peers... Having any sort of legal trouble could cause a kid to flunk a year.

References to violent behaviour

In Episode 51, Kousuke mocks Yeong-gi, stating that he can have his assistant bring his punching bag if he needed an outlet for his frustrations.

Not being in "control" of his emotions is a recurring motif, with Yeong-gi's family members and even with himself.

Affinity for physical fitness (boxing) as a coping mechanism

I think it's significant that after being alluded to having had violent behaviour, his coping mechanism is something very physical. Boxing, interestingly, imitates violence.

Thematically fits with the end of the Black and White Formal arc

This is more my personal opinion... But I think Yeong-gi punching that pos Sangchul after constantly being passive aggressively criticized for violent behaviour is... cruelly fitting. Him being arrested and possibly repeating what had once happened, and after he had constantly been told not to repeat it, would be a sad parallel to what he once had to deal with.

Possible alternative explanations

TW: mentions of poor mental health and suicide attempts

I think it's most certain that Yeong-gi had legal trouble of some sort, likely due to a violent altercation, and that he was sent somewhere as a result of this incident.

Where he was actually sent to as a result, however, is a bit more shaky.

Since it was a minor criminal past, it's possible could've been simply arrested and not been sent to juvie at all. If his father was heavily involved in his life, he would likely have intervened if juvie became a possibility.

There are some who speculate Yeong-gi had very poor mental health, likely due to what happened with his mother and may have even attempted suicide. While this is possible, there isn't a lot to indicate past depressive or suicidal tendencies. For sure, his violent behaviour was coupled with poor mental health... but not necessarily poor mental health of this nature. I also feel that there is some nuance in how people would talk to Yeong-gi if his time away was precipitated by a suicide attempt. Someone who had self-harming tendencies isn't treated like a thug. Someone who beat up a kid might be though. (depressive tendencies could've been coupled with violence that caused his time "away," but once again, there is not a lot to really hint at severe depressive behaviours).

There are also theories of foster care, if his mother died (which seems to be the most likely scenario with her). I don't think this is the case because we have seen a young Yeong-gi interact with a young Kousuke. The two brothers (and their parents) were aware of each other. There is also his nana.

I think the most likely scenario is that Yeong-gi, having been deeply affected by the events with his mother, developed violent behaviour, that resulted in legal trouble of some sort.

He was then sent somewhere as a result: either juvie or a rehabilitation centre of sorts for juvenile delinquents, or an asylum (due to aggression issues). Regardless, it must have been tied to a violent incident, resulting in legal action and detention and possibly a follow up mental health related thing (rehab/asylum).

Episode 112's confirmation:

There is a vague flashback alluding to a period of time where Yeong-gi was in trouble, specifically stating

"Poor kid. No one is going to want him."

"Why not?"

"...Behavioural and aggression issues".

This alludes both to Yeong-gi getting into trouble for hurting someone, AND for being guardian-less for a period of time (no one "wanting him" seems to reference foster care or adoption).

Later in the episode, Yeong-gi's classmates gossip and say:

"Wasn't he at a detention centre for a bit?"

"I thought he was in an asylum?"

"He was sent somewhere for sure..."

[wlfkssd]

When in Frankia ( oneshot )

Piece based on the prompt ‘a stolen kiss + hvitserk/aethelred’ sent in by the lovely @issadoragreen​ <3

Summary : Having raided Spain, Hvitserk chooses to stay with Rollo after he returns to Frankia. During which time, Rollo hosts several members of England’s most powerful families in hopes of striking up alliances between them. Aethelwulf’s son, Aethelred, happens to be the envoy for Wessex.

A canon div. au that will eventually be expanded into a fic, probably. 

Pairing(s) : Hvitserk x Aethelred, Rollo x Gisla ( mentioned )

Warnings : mention of alcohol ?? and there’s one kiss. that’s it. 

Word count : 1,455

Addition Notes : Having watched back, Rollo has such a good relationship with Hvitserk when they’re raiding Spain and I’m just sad that nothing really came of it aside from Rollo giving him those troops that were really for Ivar anyway. Still, that’s what aus are for, I guess. But I really do want to expand this idea at a later date tbh.

Soft sunlight peeks in through the small window, carved high into the stone wall of Hvitserk's bed chamber. He turns over, refusing to let go of his dream as a heavy sigh escapes thin, pursed lips.

Rollo had kept him up until the early hours, regaling the young viking with stories of his father and England; vast amounts of wine flowing without heed nor hinderance. Much is the way of their people but having finally stumbled to bed with the aid of a servant, heavy eyes and rosy cheeks immediately led to an almost unconsciously deep sleep.

It could have lasted for minutes or days - he doesn't know - but when Hvitserk finally does manage to persuade his eyes to open, everything feels too bright. The room isn't spinning but the taste of those bitter red grapes still clings tight to the back of his throat. It's wholly unpleasant.

And yet.

There's hope for the day when Hvitserk hears footsteps outside his door. Faint as they are, he knows to whom they belong.

The Saxon prince, Aethelred.

Another softly pained sigh finds its way out as he sits up and rubs his eyes with one hand, index finger pressing slightly across the line of his lashes, catching the hard dust settled there. He flicks it away and somehow finds the energy and orientation to stand. Arms stretch gingerly above his head, muscles faintly screaming from the exertion of the past weeks.

For here, in Frankia, his uncle Rollo has been teaching him many things. Frankish manners are one. How to speak Aethelred's language is another. Both are tiring enough without having to mention the fact that he has daily lessons with Rollo's men in the central training courtyard. Sword skills and archery used to be a pleasure. Now they're simply a chore.

Especially when all he longs to do is sit by the river and listen to Aethelred talk about a letter he's writing to his family in Wessex. Or watch him form elegant characters onto the parchment with all the intrigue of a small child. Of course, that's another part of his new life here; learning how to write in something other than runes. It's painstakingly slow and his hand hurts most of the time but proud was the day when he perfected his own name.

A clean tunic and trousers wait for him on the small chair in the corner and Hvitserk pads across to quietly dress. This is as private as things will be, he knows, and for that reason, he takes a moment longer to fix his appearance before pulling on his soft boots and leaving. The arm ring from his father hangs heavy at his wrist. It shines gold in the light that fills the hallway leading to the staircase.

"Prince Aethelred!" Hvitserk sees him halfway down the second set of stone steps and leans over the banister to call out. Clear, sea blue eyes meet his own as the prince glances up, dark robes tight to his body as usual.

They both smile.

"Hvitserk." Aethelred says in return as he continues on his way, not waiting but expecting the Viking to simply catch up. There's something so refined about him that puts Hvitserk to shame sometimes but there's also a thoroughly fun game hidden there too. The challenge of seeing how far to push before pink cheeks flush.

Hop-skipping down, ignoring the fact that his body tells him not to, the young Ragnarsson is soon in step with the prince.

With his prince.

"You're awake early." Aethelred observes, calmly, hands folded around a closed book at his front. The high collar of his tunic hides a multitude of sins from two days before that nobody, aside from the Saxon himself, seems to care about. Nobody but the one who put them there, that is.

Perhaps it's uncommon to show any kind of attraction or affection in England. Hvitserk doesn't know. What he does know is that whatever little marks were left are probably fading by now.  

"I want to get the worm." He shrugs and smiles, baring teeth. Aethelred shakes his head but he's smiling too. "What?"

"Nothing. It's nothing, Hvitserk."

Saying something is nothing hasn't ever made sense to him but it gives rise to the fact that there is a secret hidden; a piece of treasure buried within the words. A very little something to be found in the nothing it claims to be.

And Hvitserk is still thinking about that when they come to the bottom of the stairs and turn down the lengthy corridor, towards the hall for breakfast.

"Boys!" Rollo's voice is just as expected; booming and cheerful as he welcomes them with arms open, gesturing to seats by him at the head of the table. "Hvitserk. This is a surprise. Did you piss the bed last night?"

Both take their seats as Rollo fingers up another cold leg of chicken.

"He wants the worm this morning, Count. At least that's what he told me." Distant glee shines in Aethelred's heavy, lidded eyes as he carefully picks out his meal, transferring several different things from the platters to his own silver plate.

"Is that so? Hm. Shouldn't you be out in the gardens for that?" Rollo teases and one greasy hand slaps to Hvitserk's shoulder in the way only an uncle's can. It's almost the affection that should be expected of a father and that's what makes the younger Viking blush.

If only he were Rollo's son.

"Perhaps I should be. At least that way I wouldn't have to make a fool of myself trying to learn how to write." He says back, a little defeated, in the tongue both still hold onto from their homeland. Not a glance to Aethelred as they speak to one another.

"I never liked learning, either. But when I found I could express my thoughts to Gisla - those I couldn't say - I found it to be useful. I think you will, too. In time." The implication comes to fruition as Rollo's chin juts, eyes following in the direction of the Saxon, across the table.

Hvitserk pretends not to see.

"So. You have until the sun is at its highest before your lessons begin today. What will you do? Aethelred?" Thankful for the attention turning away from him, Hvitserk begins to eat, filling his cheeks as usual with anything and everything.

Aethelred is much better; swallowing his food before addressing his host.

"Practice a little with the sword, I think." Aethelred is nonchalant about the fact but Hvitserk can't help the way his mouth stops chewing. Surprisingly enough, he never imagined any more of the prince than scholarly pursuits. But thinking of him with a blade in hand, shield up to protect his body, giving as good as he gets; there's something stirring in that.

"Hvitserk?" As with his sleep, it could have been minutes or hours between the Saxon's answer and his uncle's summons. He doesn't know but when he's nudged and Aethelred is clearly staring at him too, the food in Hvitserk's throat is suddenly very hard to swallow.

"Uh. Yes. Training." He manages, around the bulk and forcibly pushes his tongue to catch the remains, pressing the tip to the inside of his cheek. "We should do it together."

They've done far more intimate things together and kissing is definitely something Hvitserk enjoys but even the thought of fighting a worthy adversary excites him just that little bit further. Call it lust or battle joy but he knows it's a feeling inherited from Rollo. Or he can assume as much, given the way the stories of the berserker were told.

"Then it's agreed. Once we've eaten and-" Aethelred cuts himself off - an expression of confusion writing itself across his face as he does - as Hvitserk's chair scrapes out and the Viking makes his way around the table. Their eyes lock. "Hvits-"

His name dies easily upon the sigh into his own mouth.

The world consists only of their heartbeats in shared moments like this. Heartbeats and the warmth of barely touching cheeks; embarrassment holding onto just the right side of shame as it colours especially the pale skin of the prince. It's unexpected and, therefore, a stolen kiss. But Hvitserk doesn't care. Anyone and everyone could be watching and he would only see and feel the young man before him.

"I'll see you there." He says, slipping back to ease their parting with the tender touch of foreheads before the prince can protest. Aethelred's only response is a soft sound, made in the back of his throat and Hvitserk smiles, unabashedly.

Rollo watches on, knowing that something more than battle lust is blooming between these two boys.

[firelord-frowny]

Ok, so here’s my rant about ~critical race theory~ and Certain People’s gripe that all it does is Teach White Children To Feel Guilty, and there’s prolly like a 60% chance that i’m not going where you think i’m going with this. here we gooooo!

There is NO. WAY. to teach a fact-based curriculum on the history and legacy of race and racism in america (or anywhere, for that matter), without kids feeling hurt or embarrassed or ashamed or otherwise Unhappy. This goes for ALL kids. Not just the white ones. 

Why??

Because when you learn about living, breathing human beings being brutalized and exploited and humiliated and treated like animals, you are SUPPOSED to feel bad. That feeling is called compassion. It’s empathy, and it’s a GOOD thing. If you can learn about the atrocities committed by humankind against other members of humankind, and NOT feel any degree of despair or shame or disgust, then there’s something wrong with you, tbh. 

And if you happen to have some Major Traits in common with the demographics that were primarily responsible for whatever atrocity you’re learning about, you are GOING to have a negative emotional response to that, whether the source you’re learning from tells you to or not. It is NORMAL to feel uncomfortable with knowing what kinds of horrors your ancestors may have been responsible for, and that those acts continue to impact the present-day world. It is NORMAL to feel upset about the fact that even though you obviously didn’t Do Anything, you still have certain privileges thanks to those who did do everything. No, you can’t wave your arm and Fix It. Nobody expects you to. 

You might think I’m talking specifically about white people, but I’m not. I’m talking about ANYONE who belongs to a demographic that, historically, has caused or participated in the mistreatment of a different demographic. Think: Christians who feel bad about the ways Christianity has been used as a weapon against certain groups of people. Straight people who feel badly that Other Straight People have made the lives of LGBTQ+ people so difficult for so long. Like, you don’t have to have ever called somebody a homophobic slur in order to still accept a moral obligation to do what you can to mitigate the effects of homophobia in your community. You don’t have to have ever personally forced an indigenous community to abandon their spirituality before you can go out of your way to do whatever small things you can do to support the interests of indigenous peoples.

So yes: when it comes to racism in america, you feel ashamed and sad when you learn about it BECAUSE IT WAS SHAMEFUL AND SAD. Literally, how is somebody NOT supposed to feel shame or sadness or disgust when they learn about all the many ways black people fucking died on the slave ships before even reaching their destinations? What, other than utter revulsion, should you feel when you see images of the torture devices that were used on black bodies? How should you feel when learning about slave “owners” raping enslaved black women? About how even toddlers were forced to do labor? How should you feel when you learn about black protestors being mauled by police dogs? assaulted with fire hoses? About people pouring acid into a swimming pool because black people are in it??? 

You feel sick BECAUSE IT’S SICKENING. And to try to avoid that discomfort is an act of cowardice, tbh. 

Also??? The implication that ~critical race theory~ isn’t a difficult topic for black kids (and all kids of color, really)???? Ridiculous. 

Trust me: We do NOT enjoy sitting in a classroom and having to take turns ~reading aloud~ passages about black people being chained and beaten and murdered and lynched and spit on and shat on and humiliated. But we fucking DEAL WITH IT because we know that if we let The World forget that shit, there are people out there who will do everything in their power to bring it all back. 

You NEED to feel disgusted, and yes, you even need to feel a little bit ashamed. And you need to feel that way so that, inevitably, when someone in your day-to-day life does or says something repugnant about a race, you will EAGERLY shut them down, because you are incapable of stomaching that kind of hideous and dangerous attitude. 

Which leads me to my final point: OBVIOUSLY the white people who are alive today are not responsible for what was done decades ago. Duh. Nobody thinks that. But these two things are also true:

1) White people today... ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SHIT THAT WHITE PEOPLE ARE DOING TODAY OMFG

and,

2) White people today are not responsible for the past, duh, but they ARE responsible for the future. 

We’re all responsible for the future. 

And the reason why it’s critical for white people to play an active role in continuing to right the wrongs and heal wounds isn’t because they’re the ones who hurt anybody decades ago - it’s because they should CARE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE. They should care about the future. When you see people suffering, whether it’s because of a natural disaster, or because of famine, or because of whatever, you are supposed to help. You just ARE. You help because it makes you sad to know that people are hurting when they don’t need to be. You help because the idea of being ABLE to change the world for the better and then just choosing not to do it is repulsive to you. 

What do you do if you see somebody being robbed or beaten on the street in broad daylight? You help. You call 911. You do whatever you know how to do, whether it’s consoling the victim, or administering first aid, or staying with them until Actual Help arrives, or even just making sure that the situation is being handled and that you don’t have anything of further use to contribute before moving on. You don’t huff and balk and sneer that “I’M not the one who mugged them, so why should I have to do anything? The mugger should be the one calling 911 and helping to stop the bleeding, not me!”

THAT SOUNDS SO FUCKING STUPID! And it’s EXACTLY how people sound when they bitch about how They’re Not The Ones Who Were Racist 200 Years Ago. 

but the REAL gag is that they are the ones being racist Right Fucking Now. 

Anyway, I guess I lied lmao bc here is my ACTUAL final point: 

Children will survive the unpleasant emotions that inherently come with learning about unpleasant parts of human history - especially ones that continue to have deeply damaging and GLARINGLY obvious impacts on all of our daily lives. And the BEST way to ensure that they survive it is for the adults in their lives to learn to stop being such fucking cowards and start taking responsibility for the future instead of bitching about who’s to blame for the past.

[fishoutofcamelot]

So here's the thing. Stuff like destiny and soulmates is...messy. Because if that thing was always meant to happen, and if those people were fated to fall in love, how much of their actions are free will?

I know you guys like your soulmate aus, but we can't shirk aside such fundamental - and existentially unsettling - questions. If X has been predestined to fall in love with Y, then how much of their love was actually by choice? How much of their feelings/actions are controlled by destiny? (It's unpleasant to think about, I know, but bear with me for a moment.)

I bring this up because, as yall know full well, BBC Merlin is chalk full of destiny stuff. Arthur is the Once and Future King, destined to unite the lands of Albion. And Merlin, as Emrys, is destined to protect him. They are both two sides of the same coin.

I think you can tell where I'm going with this.

So my first question is obvious: did Morgana and Mordred turn evil by free will? Or was fate puppeteering them to act in those ways? However much autonomy they may have had, it's impossible for them to habe had total 100% free will over their actions. Because destiny necessitated for them to become evil, and so they did as they were meant to. But to what extent?

Of course, if Morgana and Mordred weren't totally in control of their actions, then it stands to reason that neither were Merlin and Arthur.

Now you may argue that the fact that Arthur doesn't fulfill his destiny means that destiny can be averted and changed. I would argue that he's called the Once and Future King for a reason, and that it's entirely likely that he'll fulfill his destiny once he's resurrected. Kilgharrah said he'd unite Albion and free magic, but he never specified when. The ending of Mordred killing him at Camlann and being sent to Avalon to await resurrection - that's exactly what was meant to happen. And while Merlin likely torments himself with the notion that he failed Arthur and failed destiny, the truth is that he did exactly as he was meant to do.

And then we see all of Merlin's other attempts at circumventing fate, and all of them have failed. When you think about it, that's the penultimate moral of the story: fate is an unchanging, controlling force on your life that you can't defeat, outrun, alter, or reason with.

Kinda grim, tbh.

There's even implications that Gwen and Arthur falling in love/getting married was yet another machination of destiny. If we assume that a majority of her actions and feelings are the result of destiny controlling her, then it certainly explains her vapidness in season 5. She's fulfilled her role of marrying Arthur, and now destiny has no use for her, leaving her an empty shell of her former self. Like a puppet with its strings cut...

This naturally draws into question the autonomy behind all of Merlin's actions. But I'll do you one better - how much of Merlin's feelings are his own?

I know a lot of merthur shippers will be pissed off at me for this. And trust me, I'm a big fan of the relationship between Merlin and Arthur, I don't like thinking about it either. Even so, I can't help but ask:

At what point is the love between Merlin and Arthur organic, and at what point is it a symptom of their shared fate? Is destiny the reason they never canonically fell in love despite the subtext between them, or is destiny the reason that subtext existed in the first place?

Just something to think about, I guess.

Or maybe this is just the gratuitous amounts of tylenol talking