#wait. isnt that just the episode title

[beesbeesbees42]

Every instance of One I could find in the new episode!!!

[lufyuu]

,, Tied Up Prince ''

Psychotic villain x Isekai'd second prince male reader

Tw/s: bondage, stockholm syndrome-ish, reader is into how the villain puts him in his place, dub-con, ripping clothes, degration, angry sex, punished reader, yandere-like oc, agressive sex.

The original post

The sound of blades clashing is loud. Ear deafening even. The sound continues for what feels like a century to the young man. When it finally stops, he lets out a frustrated sigh. Not being able to guess what will happen next.

The masked man refuses to fall down on his knees. Instead, he limps a bit while looking up at the sword wielding main character, his sword casted aside. His long messy hair covers even more of his features due to the fact his mask has sustained some damage and yet he still finds a way to taunt the other. “你真的觉得这样就结束了吗？” , letting out a chuckle. With only a few seconds left in the episode, the viewer watches in anticipation, wondering what will happen. The semi masked man limps towards the other and out of nowhere, throws needles towards the main character. As he passes out, so do the end credits.

"WHAT!??? IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS???", you freak out over the cliffhanger ending, urgently scrolling to see if it's ongoing or if there are more episodes— unfortunately, it's neither. You feel as if you're about to metaphorically cry due to frustration. Nobody warned you there'd be a huge cliffhanger after 50 episodes! "God damnit!", you yell at nobody in particular while trying to do more research. Maybe if you look hard enough, the 51st episode will appear...right?

Even after 2 hours, you refuse to give up. You've wasted almost 3 whole days to watch this stupid series, it can't just end like that. You even go through some tiktok comments and edits too find any clues to an episode 51. Though, it's odd that nobody cares to mention the fact that there's a huge cliffhanger on the last episode. Everyone seems to be okay with it? That can't be right. Either everyone's crazy or you're going crazy.

"AHA!", you finally find a "clue" of some sort in the official website. It states that although the series does end on episode 50, it's based off of a novel which is completed. Without a second thought, you search it up only to find that the novel name is...your name? It clearly says [Name] [L. Name] as the title. As they say, curiosity killed the cat. You mindlessly click on the link.

“我们终将相遇，灵魂伴侣。”

.ᐟ.ᐟ

'My head's killing me...', when you open your eyes, you're faced with a ceiling. It wouldn't be odd if it weren't for the fact that it's not your ceiling. "What the...", you instantly sit up on the bed to look around. Not only is the ceiling not the one you usually wake up to, the entire room isnt even yours. You scramble to get on your feet, almost sprinting towards the door. When you are about to open it, it opens from the other side. "Ah!", the short, well dressed girl lets out a shocked noise, "your highness, you're up early", she regains her composure and sesms to be waiting for something. You stay quiet for a few seconds which prompts her to try and break the silence, "may I come in..?", to which you take a step to the right, allowing her to enter the spacious bedroom and put down a tray with food. Before she exits, she opens the windows for you to which you thank her for as she walks out the room, leaving you all alone once more.

"Gosh it's bright out", you walk over to the now opened window and look out. The scent of nature lingers on your nose, it calms your panicked mind in just a few seconds. The birds chirping, the leaves rustling, the sun shining brightly. Far different from the traffic jam and loud vehicles you'd normally hear. This gives you enough time to think about the situation in a calm and rational manner. 'Your highness?', is what you think of, along with the fact that the room and environment is vastly different from the messy, dark room you would usually wake up to. Questioning yourself only led to even more questions and so, you turn to look at the plate that has been served to you. Two steamed buns and a few fruits for nutrients.

"Alright let's see what I can find!", you have some optimism in you as you begin your "investigation". The courtyard is ridiculously big and so are the halls. You alnost got lost halfway in! Deciding it's time for a little break, you sit down on a nearby pavilion. "I've been here for almost an hour, am I just dreaming..", you pinch yourself a few times but end up with a red cheek and still no answers. "Ow...", you sigh, nothing has given you any answers.

"What's gotten you so stressed?", a voice rings out behind you, prompting you to turn around just enough to get a glance. A good-looking and well built man stands behind with a small smile on his face. He takes a few steps forward and sits next to you, "I don't think I've ever heard you sigh that loudly before", he tries to lighten up the mood seeing how blue you look right now. "Well...", realizing something, you do a double take, "Zhou Jian!?", you jump up in disbelief to which he responds with a very shocked face, "yes..?", he looks worried for your well, "was I really gone that long?", he chuckles and scratches his head, "I could have sworn it was just a month", you could only stand frozen in time, jaw almost wide open but you manage to keep it closed. "C'mon, sit down, tell 哥哥 what's on your mind", he smiles with his eyes closed, patting the seat next to him. You slowly sit down while staring bullets into him. "Are you mad at me?", he asks with a worried expression, you turn away, realizing your stare was bothering him. "Ahem no, of course not", in all honesty, you're trying your best to act like a younger sibling and it sure it hard when your older brother is THE Zhou Jian.

He had previously heard of your dissatisfaction with how he is almost always away from home so it wasn't unreasonable for him to think that way. "Hm, then?", he asks, tilting his head and moving closer to you. You don't even know what you want...maybe just a bit of help 'recalling' who you are. Of course you can't just say you lost your memories or something like that, it'd worry Zhou Jian.

What to do...you have to continue exploring this strange world but also can't risk alerting Zhou Jian...That's it!

"I think I just need a stroll out", you look at him. He tenses up and his eyebrows begin furrow. "You know that's not a good idea", he shakes his head, shit you just fucked up..how were you supoosed to know you're not allowed out?? "Please? There's something I need to do", you try to plead, "and I won't be out an hour", but no matter how you persist, he doesn't waver. "弟弟, if it truly is important, I'll send someone to do whatever it is for you", he offers an alternative but that doesn't work for you. There is no way to convince him so you think of another idea. You close your eyes for a moment and nod, "it's okay, I changed my mind", giving a half smile.

"Oh...they're so tall..", you look at the walls you planned to climb to get out. You never learned how to climb a rope either so that's out of the question. Maybe your secret get out plan won't be happening afterall.

'Think [Name], think!'

You pace around, trying to think of another plan. Those cliche romance shows lied to you! You can't possibly climb a tall building. While pacing around, you can't help but feel as if you're forgetting something but what? You try your best to recall the whole series, the plot, what happened and what started it.

"Zhou Jian has to defend his kingdom against the villain due to the fact that...", you talk to yourself, trying to regain memory of the show, "the villain seeks out the Kingdom's rumoured hidden temple in order to seize...", as if everything's connected, you remember the most important thing, "..the power within!", your fist gently hits your palm, and your eyes widen with excitement. "That means I probably have powers like that too!", you almost let out a happy noise but remembering that you are most likely going to be spotted faster if you do, you contain yourself. "How to activate it..", you try to think of jumping over the wall, maybe gracefully flying over to the other side but nothing happens. "They make it look so effortless in the shows", you start to wonder if there's really not a single system window to guide you.

"Your highness! It's time for your tea", a maid is clearly looking for you, shouting loudly as she searches for you everywhere. "Oh shit!", you'll get found out in no time if you don't escape now! A sudden wave of panic sends your body suddenly flying over the 40ft tall cement wall. "W-wAoHH", You brace for impact but fortunately for you, your body doesn't hit the ground roughly, infact, your fall is cushioned by an invisible object. You need time to process what just happened but the guards right around the corner says otherwise. Without missing another second, your legs sprint towards the town in hopes of not getting caught red handed. 'It seems my magic is unstable..is it because I'm not from here or is it just my new body that's weak..?'

You huff and huff due to how fast you just ran from the imperial palace to the bustling streets. After a while, you pull yourself together and look around, finally noticing the amazing scent of the street food being sold. "Excuse me", a little girl says, trying to get past you as you're blocking the middle, "sorry!", you instantly move to the side to let her get past. "Now, where to start", your eyes dart around, a mom and daughter sharing a tanghulu, a couple enjoying their stroll together and even a homeless looking man being given a baozi to eat. Looking at everything up close in person gives a different feeling than when you're watching behind a screen. Despite being here, you still have little to no clue as to who you are in this world and what your purpose is. All you know if that you're the brother of the protagonist. In the original show, there were no mentions of the protagonist ever having a younger brother so people assumed he's an only child. The only heir to the thrown, who knew there would be a spare?

Well you can't dwell on that too much, you have to at least find out what arc you're in right now. Maybe by knowing, you'd be able to assist the protagonist in fighting! Technically you're the main character now that you've isekai'd into the world so there's no way you'd be in any sort of danger!

You turn your attention to your right, the neverending displays of food makes your mouth water. Unfortunately, due to you not paying much attention to where you're walking, you bump into someone. The impact was enough to send you stumbling backwards. The stranger's hand instinctively wraps around your waist, preventing you from falling onto the people behind you and potentially creating a domino effect. His taller stature surprises you. Only when you stabilize yourself, he removes his hand. "Next time, be more aware of your surroundings", his voice is somewhat elegant yet intimidating and indifferent. You can't really diciphere him as his face is covered by a very oddly terrifying mask. It definitely stands out which makes you wonder if he does like the attention if brings him or simply he's unaware of his unique accessory. Though, before you can ask anything, he walks in past you, dissapearing into the crowd. Something about him seemed...very familiar.

After several hours of strolling and finding absolutely nothing, you notice the sun going down, dusk is coming and the night is about to settle in. So, you decide to get back to the palace the same way you got out of it, panicking and then being thrown over the wall.

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

Nobody seemed to have questioned why you were gone for half the day. Fortunate for you of course but does beg the question why nobody noticed a prince going missing.

In the morning, however, the same maid who had been calling out to you for tea did question where you were. "I wasn't feeling tea", was your simple yet effective answer.

"Gosh I was out for so long and yet found nothing in return", you kick a rock in the courtyard while sighing loudly. The masked man already erased from your mind. What's even worse is that with your hair this long, it takes more effort to take care of it, not to mention the hanfu which made you stand out like a sore thumb. At just a glance, one could tell you're royalty due to your attire. Maybe you should have thought of that before going out yesterday. This time, you'll dress up just like any other commoner there. There must be at least one that doesn't look like a prince's daily outfit in the closet. You look through the ginormous closet, sorting them out one by one until you finally stumble across an acceptable one.

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

Back to the bustling streets once more. The smell of food is still as amazing as you remember it. You seem to have forgotten something but fret not, your stomach is here to remind you of it. "I forgot...I didn't have breakfast..", you vaguely remember the picture of a plate filled with food on the table of your room. Well you can't turn back now, you're too far in. "I'll just buy something in the market", you say to yourself, walking towards the nearest food stall which sells roasted meat on sticks. The sight is already mouth watering, you can't wait to sink your teeth into it. "老板! One roasted meat please", you grin ear to ear knowing you'd have one in your hands in a few seconds, "that'll be 3 coins", did you even bring any money? You desperately try to search your hanfu for any signs of coins but to no avail. "C-can I have it...for free?", you awkwardly ask, "hah? Who do you think you are, just so you know, have to feed my family too."

'Time to pull out my status' you thought to yourself, "well, I'm—", "I'll pay for it", a hand behind you gives a few coins to the seller, prompting the seller to give the roasted meat to you. You look behind to see who had stolen your spotlight only to be face to face with yet another mask. The same mask actually. "Thank you but I could handle it by myself", you give a slight smile, "oh? It seems to me you had no money, or perhaps you'd like to pay me back?", you can tell he's a bit annoyed but what you can't tell is that he's amused. "In that case, I take it back", getting a sudden eerie feeling from the man, you leave immediately and he watches you run off.

You run until you're sure he wouldn't be able to see you anymore. "Jeez what even was that..", you wonder to yourself, why did your guts just tell you to run?? That's odd. Really though, something about that man is super familiar but what?

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

6 months have passed since you've been transmigrated to this world. Fortunately, you adapted quite a long time ago. The strange masked man hasn't been seen at all and because of that, you forgot all about him. The past few months have been relatively peaceful, with some royal guards getting occasional injuries from the amount of fights they've been in. Thankfully, Zhou Jian isn't one of them. You had a hard time accepting that your life in the original world might never return but hey, at least you're treated like royalty. The only downside is that you still aren't allowed outside. A huge bummer.

You enjoy some afternoon tea with Zhou Jian as bonding time for the two of you. "I'm surprised you haven't been sent to the battlefield yet", you jokingly comment, earning you a playful glare from the protagonist, "don't jinx it", he puts his porcelain teacup down, "though, it is strange that the scoundrel hasn't shown up in a while", he's referring to his enemy, the man who has been trying to get rid of your kingdom so they say it. "He's so mysterious too, no matter how many men I send to discover more about him, it's as if he doesn't exist at all but at the same time, he does", Zhou Jian says, looking up and wondering to himself, confused. "One day when you do catch him maybe you'll find out who he truly is", you sip on the hot fragrant tea. The two of you chat for a while before a guard interrupts it.

"Your highness! It's an emergency! The King himself has personally requested you on the battlefield to fight alongside him, it seems the enemies have gotten stronger", the voice is panicked, shaky, stumbling over his own words and trying his hardest to keep his composure but ultimately failing, miserably. Zhou Jian immediately gets up, grabbing the weapon he always carries by his side and rushing out with the guard, "I'm going to be back soon", he glances at you while he says this. Without anyone to chat with, you get up from your seat and head towards the library. Behind you, the servants bow as they take the cups and desserts away.

Even when night falls, neither the king nor Zhou Jian has returned. It's quite common for soldiers to camp out for a few days so you don't worry too much about it.

The hallways are oddly quiet. Probably since there are less guards and servants surrounding the place seeing as a few went to tend to the King and heir. More peace and quiet for you. The stars at night twinkle, the moon glowing so brightly, the sound of crickets. Not even the cold air bothers you. You yawn a bit, "time for bed", your legs carry you to the bed, not as comfortable as the one you had back at home but you can still sleep on it. You tuck yourself into bed and close your eyes, wondering what you'll have for brekafast tomorrow.

At the stroke of midnight, the sounds of blood gushing doesn't even wake you up. No scream can be heard due to the intruder's silencing them. "PROTECT THE SECOND PRI—", the loud voice cuts off, indicating the murder of the man. The imperial palace is a mess, filled with fresh blood and dead bodies. You sleep peacefully, blissfully unaware of the massacre happening just outside your room. Even the door creaking open doesn't wake you up from your deep slumber. A tall man hovers over you, a crown in his hand. He mumbles something but it's so quite that not even a soul can hear it. With a snap of his fingers, your hands and ankles are bound together respectively without you ever even noticing it.

"你真是个可爱的睡美人"

.ᐟ.ᐟ

Your eyes are half open, your vision all blurry due to just waking up. Your whole body aches but when you go to stretch, you find it to not be possible. You struggle and notice your hands and ankles bound by something that's glowing red. It hurts whenever you try to get rid of it. "Go on, the sight of you struggling amuses me", a voice says out loud from a corner of the room. The masked man gets up from his seat and as he walks closer to where you are bound, you notice that his mask is slightly damaged. Well, a part of it has broken off, revealing his blood colored eye.

He carries himself with such elegance that you'd think he's royalty at a first glance. He brings himself down to your level, his eye crinkle softly at the corner, the look on your face is just so adorable. "I never would have thought we'd meet again, 小王子", he grabs your chin, lifting it up so you two make eye contact. "I had an inkling you were apart of their little kingdom, I just didn't expect you to be so naive", he continues while looking at your frustrated face which he adores, "did you really think those pesky little servants could ever protect you?", you turn your head to the side, not wanting to even touch him. It is honestly a bit embarrassing for you as you've watched this whole series, know the plot and yet here you are, kidnapped by the villain himself of whom you finally remember the name of, Xu RenFeng, and not even getting the chance to put up a fight.

Xu RenFeng thinks for a moment, the silence deafening. "How about this, you and I become partners so to say", you're confused by what he's suggesting but he elaborates, "since you're hidden and have no purpose in that palace, you could be with me could you not?", he looks at you expectantly with a psychotic look in his eye. "I would kill you now but you're way too adorable to be killed just like that, I'm offering a role of a lifetime", while it does tempt you in a way, you're still not too sure about dying with him at the end. "No thank you", you don't even look at him as you say this, "I'll give you some more time to think", he stands tall and turns around, walking out the door to your prison.

To say it's a prison is exaggerating. At least it looks like an average bedroom. Not as luxurious as the one you had before but still comfortable. After a few seconds pass, you find your hands and ankles no longer bounded, giving you some freedom to explore the room you've been captured in.

Of course the surviving servants and royal guards had to inform their king and future king what had happened. From the massacre of many, many servants to the second prince going missing, presumably taken by their enemy. "We should've known it was a trap the moment he left", the King is referring to the man himself, Xu RenFeng. "Why would he want [Name]?", Zhou Jian questions, frustrated by how the situation has gone from manageable to a complete mess. His hands balled into fists, worrying for his brother's safety. They have to find you, and fast.

Meanwhile, you've been held in the room for about 5 hours. All you've been up to is trying to think of a plan to maybe just maybe, trick him long enough for the psychotic guy to let you go. From what you've seen in the show itself, he is a very calm and calculating individual, making it hard for anyone to get past him. "Gosh, it seems that the only way to get out is by relying on brute force!", compated to modern times, the door isn't made out of very strong material, maybe you can knock it down or something. When you body slam the door, it doesn't move an inch. "Well that goes my plan", you just sit against the door you had just tried to body slam in defeat.

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

As days passed, you try a different method of breaking out each day but they all fail in getting you out the the prison-like room. The only time the door would open was when Xu RenFeng himself would bring you food and place it on the table in the room. Even then, when the door opened, you would be bound once more. At least the food was always good. Each time he brought food to you, he'd try to persuade you into joining him. Something about you really did pull him in. You had power over him whether you knew or not.

One day, when there's a knock on the door, you get an idea. Xu RenFeng enters the room in silence, holding a plate in one hand. He puts the food down and as he's about to open his mouth, "can you eat with me?", you ask, surprising him. Today he's wearing a different style of mask. It doesn't cover his lower face, only the eyes. You wonder why he covers his face and remain mysterious. Even towards the end of his life, he never once took off his mask. The reason was never revealed. Though, it did add to his charm which is why a lot of people fell for the guy. He hesitates but gives a slight nod, closing the door with a wave of his hand.

He takes the seat across from you, not having anything on his side of the table. "Oh, I thought you'd grab your own food?", you ask while munching down on the prepared food. "No, I'd rather enjoy the view while I can", his lips turn into a smirk. Unsettling but not the weirdest thing he's said while with you. You get a bit nervous, wanting to pull off the plan but what if he notices beforehand? 'Agh, no more overthinking it, it's now or never [Name]!', you think to yourself and reach over the table, violently tearing the mask off his face, taking him by complete surprise. With great strength and agility, he grabs ahold of your wrist which has his mask. You stare at his face. He wasn't an average looking man. No scars or bruises. Instead, he's the most gorgeous man you've ever laid your eyes on. You're left speechless and so is he for a few seconds.

The look of shock in his eyes is replaced with that of anger. Without uttering a single word and with your wrist still held in his hand, he walks over to your side of the table, glaring at you before pulling you to the bed and throwing you on it. Fortunately you aren't hurt, only frightened. You're pinned to the bedframe by the intimidating villain. Your back is against the frame and you have nowhere to run. "I've been painstakingly patient with you and yet here you are taking off my mask. Was it not obvious to you I didn't want it off, EVER?", to say he's angry is an understatement, his eyes are even more psychotic. All you can do is freeze up due to fear, knowing neither fight nor flight are options in this very moment. You can't muster up an apology, both due to fear and also the feeling of superiority, to you, this man is just a character, he'll be no longer once you find a way back to your home! Without an answer, he takes it as you not wanting to apologize. "Do you really think just because you're a prince that I can't hurt you?", he chuckles at your pathetic expression. With another snap of his fingers, you're bound once more.

As much as you'd like to deny it, the way he's aggressively holding you is really turning you on. Xu RenFeng grabs at your clothes and rips them, leaving your body vulnerable to the man. "What a sight", he looks at you up and down. You try to cover your face with your hands because of embarrassment but he pushes your hands away. "Oh my prince, don't hide your adorable expressions", he purrs.

When you blink, his hanfu has already been diacarded on the floor not far from the bed. "Won't you help a stressed man out?", with his clothes being gone, you can see his hard cock. You stare at it for a little too long, long enough for Xu RenFeng to notice. "Hm? Lost for words are we?", he seems proud of that. "I..It's..—", you bite your lip to contain the moan you were about to let out as the man lifts your legs up to his shoulder and stretches you out with two fingers. "There's a much easier way for this but I'd rather do the old fashioned way to see how you writhe in pleasure just from my fingers. You close your eyes shut, clenched fists as his fingers move around inside, "I'll stretch you so well that this big cock slips right in", just that alone makes you tighten up, earning a satisfied hum from the other. Before long, he decides it's time to add another finger, stretching you out even more. "Ah..ngh...", your moans aren't really heard, the noises you let out are more comparable to humming. Xu RenFeng doesn't like that one bit.

His take his wet fingers out of your tight hole, leaving you feeling empty and opening your eyes as to why he did that. Relying on his strength, he pulls you onto his lap, your hole hovering over his cock, almost touching the tip. "Hu–aggh", you barely have time to react before he plunges you down all the way. You let out the loudest moan that Xu RenFeng's servants are able to hear from outside the magic-sealed room. "What an amazing voice you have, 小王子", he looks up at the person who is unable to speak due to the pain and pleasure he has brought them. His cock remains inside your hole without moving an inch, "a-are you trying to tease me...move", you try to stimulate yourself by bouncing on his cock to the best of your abilities but you can't seem to do that due to him having a tight grip on your waist. "You're so fragile, I'll have an easier time breaking you", he lifts you up until the only thing left inside is his tip and immediately slams you back down on his large cock, repeating this over and over again. "Fuck..", he groans while you're almost screaming-moaning. You never imagined this would be how your first time would go. Xu RenFeng pounds your ass so rough and fast that your ass is turning red.

You feel his precum inside you as he hits your prostate over and over, showing no mercy. "Your hole was made for my cock, wasn't it?", you can't even come uo with a response in that cock filled head of yous, "I'll make sure you remember the shape of my cock by fucking you everyday", he lets out a deep laugh, watching you bounce up and down his cock. Just when you think you can't take anymore, he goes deeper until you can't think of anything anymore. You cum while moaning loudly, still being bounced up and down. The stimulation is driving you crazy, everything feels like a fever dream. Not long after you came and without warning, he cums inside while still pounding you, not stopping for a second. He's cumming as he's thrusting inside, giving a new sensation you never thought you'd feel. "I see you're enjoying this more than I am, how adorable that expression of yours", he points out, "aren't I glad I picked you up along the way", if he could, he would have given himself a pat on the back that moment. You try to push him off, wanting to go at your own pace or to possibly just take a breather, "ah-ah, we're not done", he keeps thrusting deep inside, "don't worry, I'll return you in one piece to your family soon~"

He didn't stop until he had pumped at least a few cups worth of cum inside of you. You passed out due to how rough he was being. Xu RenFeng made sure to tuck you into bed. When he came out the room with his mask back on, he appeared to be very refreshed, some servants even whispered to the others that he was practically glowing. All because of a certain young prince named [Name].

You may not know it yet but you're now stuck with a psycho of a man.

Translation notes!

你真的觉得这样就结束了吗？

Do you really thinks this is over?

老版

Boss (in this context, used to address shopkeepers/vendors you want to buy from)

我们终将相遇，灵魂伴侣。

We will meet eventually, soulmate.

弟弟

Little brother/younger brother

哥哥

Big brother/elder brother

你真是个可爱的睡美人

You really are a cute sleeping beauty

小王子

Little prince (endearing)

I have so many ideas for this man but couldn't fit all of them in one fic🥹

There's this one kink I know you'll love but unfortunately didn't make the cut, maybe next time/drabble!

[megadoomingir]

Yo, I cannot even begin to explain to you how interesting I find the bond you’ve created between Starscream and Soundwave. And Starscream and Knockout. And Starscream and Optimus. You do such a great job building the connections without outright stating them, but using context clues that allow the reader to kinda sorta create a name for the bond themselves while still also outlining exactly what they are.

Soundwave’s loyalty to Starscream after he saves him from Megatron, admitting his faults, begging for forgiveness for what he did to the timeline because of something selfish. Soundwave knowing Megatron isnt the mech he swore his loyalty to all that time ago. Seeing Starscream as a mech he can follow and will follow, not only because he saved him, but because he’s a better leader now than Megatron will ever be, cause disregarded because it doesn’t matter.

(I especially think the commandeering the Autobot showers scene was excellently played. It really showcased a side of Soundwave that made him even more enjoyable and endeared him not only to Starscream, but to the readers as well.)

Not only am I a HUGE Soundwave fan, but I’m very aware of how difficult it is to characterize TFP Soundwave specifically. I’m a huge fan of how youve chosen to do it, and just all of the characters in general. You make them work so well, with where and when you’ve put them!

I just love it all! I love it all so much and I cant wait to read more!

Hi, hello~!

Oh my goodness, writing for Soundwave is such an interesting challenge! He was given very little personality in the show and while some may find that it makes him difficult, it actually creates this wonderful slate to work with. Because he gives so little, it means you can allow more! We only saw blips of how he conducted himself in very specific situations. But how would he proceed given a more drastic, or even more complicated, situation? Soundwave is always going to collect information to give to Megatron; what happens when that information doesn’t have an answer to a big WHY? or HOW? Soundwave deals in rumors, yes, but he also needs basis and facts for those rumors. That’s actually what gave him his initial pause before running to Megatron in the first place; not having reasons and information to answer such big questions. And then it turned into so much more by the end. Soundwave lives and breathes loyalty to Megatron and his cause, but his pause before giving Megatron anything regarding Starscream’s collection of the relics and even his ‘future sight’ is what gave him a look into Megatron’s mental decline. Things were wrong. The obsessions were unhinged. The orders weren’t adding up towards a victory in the war Cybertron suffered for unfathomable years. All of this, all the situations and events that Soundwave was exposed to gave me a wonderful board to have him play off of and it was a delight to flesh him out more as an individual instead of the ‘background tattletale’ and ‘guard dog’ that the show titled him as.

And this is the same for the rest of the cast. They’re dealing with critical situations, some of which they can’t tackle because they had no answer at the time. Tweaking the events allowed myself as a writer and all of you as readers to digest different aspects and characterizations of these wonderful mechs, femmes and humans. A show is a show and it’s meant to entertain and I respect that wholly. In a 20+ minute episode, there’s no time for a proper conversation about a traumatic experience without it taking over completely and making it a three-parter. I’m glad you enjoy the way I’ve written these characters and pushed them to grow and I hope to continue that trajectory onward.

Thank you for reaching out and thank you for enjoying my work so much. It’s truly appreciated. :)

[digitulworld]

spooky month theories and things i noticed so far lalala

-jack isnt part of the cult, and his actions are not intentionally meant to keep john from his goal, but like captain and shotgun man, he was hired specifically so his weaknesses would slow john down and prevent him from investigating the cult. jack is easily distracted, scared of clowns, and seems to not care enough about the cult compared to john. in one of the endings, although john looks out the window suspiciously, jack has a smug look, as though he isnt taking john seriously. intentional or not, its this action that allows ignacio to burn the evidence

-ignacio was ordered to burn the evidence in johns house, but, presumably by his own decision, kept photos of johns family. it may be to gain further knowledge on his family for potential blackmail. whether the attempt to burn the photo of a younger looking john is for personal reasons or not is also unknown. it is also unknown why ignacio would wait for jack and john to leave the house so that they would survive the housefire, but it might be to eventually indoctrinate or sacrifice them

-the candy dealer, due to having the same va as john, might actually be a relative of john. possibly his brother, because so far, out of all the hatzgang, robert is the only one with unconfirmed parents. he has three confirmed siblings, an uncle, aunt, cousin, and grandparents, but no mom and dad. there is no explanation or reasoning for why roberts parents havent made an appearance or mention yet

-there is a track titled "aeternum" that plays during the spooky month secret endings. aeternum means forever and eternity. this track plays when a cult member or multiple appear on screen, dead or alive. however, this track also plays in strebers rehearsal, when the scene cuts to a closeup of his now cracked photo

-frank is either a victim, servant, or has some affiliation with the cult due to him possibly being part of the undead. we know his black eyes are natural, since we see a small photo on johns corkboard of him wearing a disguise containing a mustache and white eyes. frank also shows a visual similarity to the frankenstein character trope with a massive body and square head. hes also been seen kidnapping children and selling drugged treats, similar to what mr clown and the candy dealer do

-on the topic of the undead, streber is not confirmed to be a part of it, but his short foreshadows the details of his fate, all except livs comment on him becoming a part of the undead. evermores lines on bobs attacks, saying its unknown if anyone got killed or if its just a show, along with strebers theatrical performance as a vampire, and skid and pump believing his injury was faked once they left the haunted house, leaves questions as to why bob didnt kill streber, but rather just ate his arm. i cannot find a reason why he didnt eat him in a way that would be fatal to streber, unless he knew the amount of blood loss caused from losing an arm would kill him. bob is confirmed to dismember his victims after killing them, and streber is foreshadowed to be part of the undead

-semi related to the above observation, bob is confirmed to have a kill count of at least 8, but has only had a single joke killing in his episode with the pelo cameo. bob was specifically targeting skid and pump that night, which is why he stalled and ate candy instead of directly killing lila and kevin. he also only ate strebers arm, and stole the hatzgangs candy instead of murdering them. the only ones he actively stalked and made an effort to kill were skid and pump, even after needing to be revived by the pendant multiple times

-on the topic of the pendant, pumps eyes only turn blue when faced with a supernatural or demonic entity. when bob was run over, pumps eyes turned blue. there is a slight chance that the eyes of the universe was either allowing bob to revive, or was possessing him

-the cult has been creating the happy fella dolls with the sole purpose of being possessed. dexter was forced into the doll, as stated by pelo, and as a result he now sits in a bucket in the attic observing the items around him that he can now conclude are important, especially the mannequin which has been seen moving on its own multiple times. dexter also knows about the spider, and the thieves needing the items not for themselves, but for a higher up. it may be thematically important that the cult created the dolls, so that dexter can use this knowledge against them if he were to make a return

-pump is fascinated by eldritch monsters and befriended one, while susie is infatuated with demons and the underworld, creating a school project themed after hell and drawing demons during her free time. this may or may not be important, but the siblings do share a love for powerful beings and their interests could be relevant to the plot in later episodes

[richardsphere]

Ranma has a mom‽

Ranma 1/2, Episode 70: Im gonna be honest, i assumed this was just "generically missing parent"-syndrome. I did not expect his mom to ever be relevant. The concept of introducing a parent seventy episodes into your story is honestly kind of weird? Like Seventy is more episodes then most series get. Most successfull franchises would've been cancelled due to dwindling sales twice before Ranma got a mom. Most proper, big-time successes would've hit syndication at 52 and quit before now. We're on our fourth title-theme and you're introducing a mom now? Like that's fucked up man, thats fucked up. Where was she when her husband was feeding her son to starving cats. Where was she when her son was being sold for some pickles. Has she just been sitting at home recieving occasional visits from various police-agencies investigating her husbands decade-long crimespree? ---

Why does this episode start with a clown? Is Mom part of the circus? is she a liontamer or something... OH GOD the felinophobia... Of course she's totally gonna be a liontamer in the circus isnt she... fuckdamnit. --- Im gonna be honest, if it werent for the title-screen, i would've assumed that "mysterious woman who wants to speak to Genma and calls Ranma 'dear' in a kodachi-like fashion was gonna be fiancé number 7". Wait... is the count seven? Akane 1, Shampoo 2, Kodachi managed to make a bid once so i'll count her 4, Ukyo, 5 Fast-food-Delivery-specialist in the white bridal gown who was in 1 episode total makes 6 but that episode ends with a "here we go again" for 7... shit Mom would've been the 8th!.. Assuming im not forgetting anyone. (Blue Thunder doesnt count, he's a pursuer to girl-ranma, but he has no claim to engagement) --- Ok so the moms name is Sakura (first or last? I cant tell rn)... like a good 10-15% of all women in anime. And the version that Happosai tells is a tragic Romeo-Juliet affair, but judging by Genma's reaction that is not the truth. If it was just "her parents didnt want the two together" there'd be no reason for Genma to run interference. She also does not seem to be holding anything against Genma, she's barely even annoyed at him running interference. So she isnt even likely to be a victim of his crimespree. --- And we're back to the circus. Oh no she wants him to be a part of a Freakshow?! Motherfucking bitch. Just a quick question: Is this actually Ranma's mother? Did either Genma or the alledged mother ever say she's his mom or is that just something Happosai concluded. He's just trying to sell his kid for money, again. MOTHER FUCKER (literally this time, i am refering to Genma). Here you introduced a perfectly interesting thread for some actually interesting drama, and you just fucking rug-pull it like this? It does open up the question as to what's going on with actual mom though, maybe they're just setting up a new mom-focussed arc by planting the question for Ranma to think about. Cant be worse then "wants to use Ranma for a freakshow" though.

[thecoolerliauditore]

Recently (A couple of months ago I just finished like a week ago) I decided to rewatch all of Scott and Pearl pov and idk why, but I'm getting yandere vibes from Scott and not Pearl. Like isnt it supposed to be the other way around???? Idk maybe it's just because in secret life Scott was more mad that Pearl didn't say "I love you" than Jimmy, and in double life when supposedly Pearl was a 'yandere' Cleo said "I have everything you want" which made Pearl confused for a second of what Cleo meant, until it hit Pearl that it was Scott and replied something like "Wait you think I want Scott?". That's really all I have rn, but idk I feel weird about it cuz Scott is gay.

This is why I'm here cause your the Scott expert, am I delusional or is this vibe no one is talking about?????? (Pls help)

First off being called the Scott expert is wild to me I think of myself at most as a grad student taking notes for my research paper studying his behaviour but this feeds my ego so keep going.

Anyway you are totally insane anon I totally don't agree.

Definitely have not made multiple posts in the past basing my analysis of Scott's character on him being weird about Pearl.

Definitely have not had other ppl in the past happy to hear they're not insane for seeing it too.

Or addressed it feeling illegal to acknowledge this aspect of Scott's character.

don't look under the cut haha nothing is down there

HE'S CRAZY HE'S FUCKING CRAZY HE'S INSANE HE'S THE WORST HE'S LITERALLY THE WORST THE WORSTTTTT THE WORST MAN ON EARTHHHHH UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

LL they were like. Very affectionate but it was just cute to me (I think I was watching with a friend and even remarked that they acted like siblings at one point. oh how naive). Like yay they're besties! Double Life was when I was like. Oh something's. Something's strange here.

The way Scott automatically slaps the "ex-girlfriend" title on Pearl despite that not being true. The way Scott is the one constantly using romantic terms to refer to her while Pearl never does the same for him. The fact that Pearl explicitly said she "felt like (she was) being broken up with" which means she didn't see their relationship as romantic.

Also that's an insane thing for Cleo to say ?? I don't remember this but that's. That sucks. That sucks so bad. If you can give me the episode/timestamp I would thank you forever.

She literally didn't see him in that way anon she literally never did. It was never about forcing Scott to be her boyfriend/soulmate/etc it was about being abandoned and lacking closure. <-- my totally correct opinion.

Maybe slight side note but I really need to study the way people use "yandere" when referring to Pearl because as a weeb and a former yandere enjoyer it's. idk. fascinating to me. The culture I mean. Because the life series fandom is relatively less weeby than what I'm accustomed to I think "yandere" is like. slotted in as a sillier way to say toxic/obsessive female love interest And because at least in fanon Pearl kind of fits the description for your standard yandere which is conventionally attractive weirdgirl but Evil!!!!

And there's like. Something about that and the way like you mentioned if anything it's Scott who possesses more yandere tropes i.e. referring to Pearl as his (ex) girlfriend without her knowledge/consent, fishing for affection from her and even killing her friends.

Just FYI I wouldn't personally consider Scott a yandere and I would definitely do a double take if I saw someone referring to him as one in the wild. But I do think it being completely unacknowledged by fandom is interesting not only as a byproduct of the"scott can do nothing wrong" fanon but also as a reflection of how the yandere trope is approached In General when applied to male characters. I remember there being like a fairly big discussion back in the day within the anime community regarding male yanderes and how they weren't as enjoyable/iconic as their female counterparts because they were "too real" -- lots to unpack there, very fun for me specifically. That sounded sarcastic in text somehow but I'm serious I find that super interesting.

(side side note getting this ask made me really happy. I love that people agree with my opinions whoaaaa. )

[pinyeti]

Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

hERE WE GO

Man can they stop infodumping in the beginning wf is a supreme chancellor

Ik this is a prequel so its ?? the empire?

OHMYGOD A SILVERFACE?? IS THIS THE SAME ONE

Who are these 2

WAIT IS THIS THE GUY FROM TAKEN

Oh this is the jedi killing spree

QUEEN AMIDALA IS GORGEOUS Is this natalie portman

Woah the gRAPHICS REALLY UPGRADED THIS LOOKS AMAAAZING

My god this guys rat tail is so funny i just know people thought it was the coolest thing

Its giving the shire 

OHMYGOD THIZ IS SO COOL UNDERWATER CITY

IT LOOKS BEAUTIFUL

Omg r2

Ooo darth isnt a name its a title 

Why is Padme also natalie portman? do all the women in this country have the same face its obvious shes the queen

huh does she split herself into different women is that it

Is this young han solo BABY ANAKIN OHMYGOD HES ADORABLE

ANAKIN BUILT…CP3JDNC

He’s adorable, a little baby with so much potential MAN ITS ALMOST LIKE IM WATCHING HIS LIFE FLASH BEFORE HIS EYES CUZ IN THE LAST MOVIE HE DIED

Shut the fuck uP

OBIWAN IS THE ONE WITH A RAT TAIL

FUCK OFF THIS ISNT MY OBIWAN GIVE ME THE OLD HOT GUY BACK

This is by far the coolest star wars movie

Ugh jabba the butt

This reminds me of f1

Obiwan calling anakin a pathetic life form

ANAKIN YIPPEEING EVERYWHERE IS SO FUNNY

Im sad, this is so heartwarming 

Im so SAD OHMYGOD WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG 

He;s so SMALL ANI IS SOOO TINY OHBFVHISDDNK

Ohh i get it he’s the chancellor now cuz he;s still getting power 

AYO NICK FURY

Oh the poor boy THEY REJECTED HIM CUZ HE WAS TOO AFRAID

“Quigon sir i dont want to be a problem” proceeds to become the biggest problem ever made - is he the phantom menace?

Midiclorians - the voice in your head?

Is quigon gonna die and then obiwan trains anakin

WHOSADISSS MESALLIKADISSSS

Obiwans teenage dirtbag phaseis killing me

OHMYGOD THE INFINITY WAR SCENE IN WAKANDA IS THE EXACT COPY OF THIS 

AYO THE SITH HAS A DOUBLE LIGHT SABER THATS SO COOL

HAHA QUIGON DIED CALLED IT

ALL THE WOMEN IN STARWARS ARE SO BADASS I WANT MORE 

ANAKIN IS HIRO HAMADA

…why did qui gon caress obiwan’s lip oh so tenderly right before his death hello???

Haha yoda hated him and luke from the start

WHOS THE OTHER SITH 

Ohno ANAKIN GOT A HAIRCUT

Padmes so pretty

(4/9)

[starsoftheeye]

TMAGP 18 Reaction

Pre-Episode

The tags of this episode are worrying me

Based on the tags and the title I think this episode is gonna have something about Alice maybe investigating whatever she saw, or at least being reminded of it

Pre-Statement

Alice!!

Teddy!!

He didn't recognise her? What does that mean

Only faintly?

Creepy basement nightmare factory is a good name for it

ALICE THINKS CELIAS HOT??? PLEASE SAMALICELIA HAS TO BECOME A THING ATP

aw

Sam and Lena hi

pffft im loving lena more and more with each episode

no celia :(

oh no is jack okay??

"it"??? alice and lena can bond over their inability to talk normally about babies lmao

Statement

oooh augustus statement

i cant remember if willow tree close is a name we recognise but i cant find anything on it on the wiki

wdym "i hope she stays silent"??? what does that mean!!

oh thats what that means

shes just built different its fine

wait thats like the lady alice saw. is this a common occurrence?

omg she walked for so long her feet broke and she died of starvation

now im really starting to believe the "talking dead victims are from the fear domains in tma" theory bc how else can you explain this

"can i have a cigarrette" guy from tma?

wait what was that noise. thats the first time theres been a proper noise separating the reader from sounding more human to their usual monotone voice isnt it?

Post-Statement

sam maybe... dont talk to the recently traumatised woman about the case that is extremely similar to her traumatising experience

alice you're deflecting with humour isn't working we know you're traumatised babe

alice youre way too nonchalant about this

sam honey i get you wanna know things but please stop

curiosity killed the cat

oooh is gwen gonna tell them?

omg she actually is

things are happening so fast im very worried

see i'm kinda hoping she doesnt mention mr bonzo because i think if my coworker told me that the weird tv mascot who liked to prank ppl in the 90s was removing limbs then i would think they were insane

oh god she is gwen honey thats the least plausible example you could ever give. like yeah lady mowbray is a human but shes been involved in a case and celia met her too shes a better example to give

oh god i hate the "someone doesnt get believed when telling others about something supernatural" trope but i hate the "someone gets laughed at when telling others about something supernatural" trope even more

samama "doesnt quite get when to quit" khalid everyone

oh gwen honey :(((

"so... that was weird" bro you just made your coworker cry maybe apologise????

i am not liking sam rn im sorry

alice gnot wanting to interact with gwen rn is killing me since shes the only one who could understand any of it but she refuses to get involved and its killing me. girlie you know its real

GEORGIE AND JACK OMG

CELIAAAA HI

oh does georgie not know about celias little sleepwalking/teleporting habit

nvm she might be about to

lmaoo georgie ilysm

[annimator]

YO WHAT

(DUDE THAT NEW EPISODE WAS CRAZY)

• Derek changed his mic pog

• “With an idol play, only Spencer’s vote mattered, sending home everyone’s favorite goth.” DON’T REMIND ME THAT TRISTAN’S GONE. THEIR EXIT INTERVIEW MADE THAT WORSE

• Damn, Jade’s cooking- YO WAIT WE GOT A ZAIVY MOMENT

• HE’S DUMPING HIS BACKSTORY ONTO HER. BRO I HOPE HE WINS

• “Hey, I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier. It wasn’t at you. Not really. And for the record, the kiss was nice.” AWWWWWWWW

• THEY’RE HOLDING HANDS OH MY GOD

• “HEY! UNION JACKASS!” GET HIM HANNAH

• ALSO TO EVERYONE BITCHING ON TWITTER THAT “IT’S JUST A GAME” & THAT HANNAH GOING OFF AT SPENCER IS IN BAD TASTE. IMAGINE LOSING BOTH OF YOUR PARENTS AT A YOUNG AGE, YOU MEET A BUNCH OF FRIENDS, AND SOME BRITISH BITCH KEEPS VOTING THEM OFF

• Yeah that british bitch title’s going strong, damn lmao

• “I don’t know what Diego saw in you.” HOLY SHIT YOU FUCKING KILLED HIM GIRL

• NAW, SHE’S SAD- WAIT HOL UP SHE JUST SAID SHE ISNT GONNA GIVE UP ON THE GAME. FUCK YEAH HANNAH

• YOOOO HANJI INTERACTION

• “Don’t beat yourself up! I did too.” “Yeah, but… people expect that out of you.” “DAMN! CHILL, CHILL!” LMAOOOOO

• BENJI’S LOCKING IN. I REPEAT, BENJI’S LOCKING IN

• “Tristan’s blindside fucked me up. Yeah, I miss them, but it’s also reminded me this is still a game. I noticed Jade wasn’t shocked during the Tristan blindside. Something tells me she’s not as passive as people think.” FUCK YEAH BENJIIII

• OMG HE’S SEEING THROUGH JADE’S BULLSHIT

• “What happens if Zaid & Ivy get tighter?” damn, like they aren’t already tight af?

• “Goddammit, they’re a cute couple!” REALLL

• Ngl Jade playing both “sides” is pretty smart on her end imo

• Ah fuck, they’re gonna find out about Ana getting the advantage

• The fucking noises Logan makes in this episode almost got me laughing lmao

• “Well, I suppose the early beaver gets the tree.” SIR, YOU GOT THE FUCKING SAYING WRONG. IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM-

• oh shit, he fucking swore :0

• THE SAPPHICS ARE FIGHTINGGGGG

• if I had a nickel for everytime there was a same-sex pink x green ship with tension in DC, i’d have 2 nickels

• anyways THEY’LL BE FINE IN THE ENDDDD

• “It was what?” “Gone! Finito! Hasta luego…” HC that Nat taught Logan some spanish :>

• “I’m a publicist not a forensic psychologist… Not that I wouldn’t kill that job!” yeah, she probably would

• Natalia endorses kleptocracy pog

• “I don’t know about this..” “Richard… it’s for a good cause.” “What good cause?” “Uh… helping the elderly?” LMAOOOOOO

• “I love napping! It’s like a little microdose of death as a treat.” THAT CAME OUT OF NOWHERE???

• “I’m reporting this to Trevor & Derek. A.S.A.P!” Respectfully, I don’t think those two’d probably care lmao

• ISABEL CLUTCH

• “Mom, if you’re watching, I promise I’ve NEVER sinned! E-Except for stealing that trading card when I was 10… but I apologized a million times!” I’M CRYING HE’S SUCH A WHOLESOME MOMMA’S BOY

• HELP, NAT’S FACE IN THIS SCENE

• Damn, Isa clocked her in the end

• YO WAIT SHE ALSO WANTS TO WORK WITH THE GUYS

• “Marissa’s leadership is questionable, Anastasia just supports anything she says.” They’re sapphics, Isabel

• SHE WAS GONNA SWEAR WHEN TALKING ABOUT LYNDA LMAOOOO

• NEW ALLIANCE DROPPED LEZGOO

• also why does Isabel kinda sound like Fiore in this episode. No offence, she’s one of my faves

• STOP RICHARD LOOKED DEVASTATED WHEN HE REALIZED THEY WERE GONE

• “Today’s challenge involves man’s greatest invention.. The engin—! No, no, wait, no… Fire!” Lmao I love how Silly Billy delivered that

• HELP, DEREK SLOWLY WALKED AWAY SEEING EMILY AGGRESSIVELY CONSTRUCT THE RAFT

• IVY SABATOGING THE CHALLENGE FOR RED TEAM, FOR THE SOLE HOPE OF VOTING OUT SPENCER IS LITERALLY A MOOD

• Girl was using an advanced technique called LYING- oh wait wrong term, ACTING

• SHE & ZAID DECIDED TO SABOTAGE THE CHALLENGE FOR RED TEAM FOR THE SOLE HOPE OF VOTING OUT SPENCER & AVENGING TRISTAN IS HONESTLY BASED

• Trevor & Derek were deadass trolling the contestants this episode with how much they announced teams managing to do certain things like making the rafts & lighting torches lmao

• AND AS ALWAYS, THEY’RE STARING AT EACH OTHER

• Bro I cannot get over how great all the swimsuits for this season look. Ivy’s is still my favorite

• Ana boutta crash out lmao

• Lynda, you’re doing great sweetie

• MORE SAPPHIC TENSION

• ngl that boat looks like shit, srry Lynda

• Damn, the animation looks great this episode! The animators were having so much fun this episode fr

• THESE DORKS ARE SPECTATING THE CHALLENGE THROUGH BINOCULARS LMAO

• LOOK AT DEREK CHUCKLING OVER THE BLUE TEAM’S FIRST RAFT BREAKING

• “Sorry, Lynda, but we’re tanking fast than Katy Perry’s relevancy!” THIS FUCKING QUOTE TOOK ME OUT DURING THE PREMIERE LMAO

• DON’T COME FOR MY CHILDHOOD LIKE THAT NAT, I LOVED HER WHEN I WAS YOUNG

• also fun fact, for the spanish dub for this scene, Natalia shit-talked Emilia Perez instead of Katy Perry lol

• “this game would be so much easier if I could run it like my book club. Listen, here, if I can get Kathy to shut it every week, Blue team shouldn’t be this difficult.” lot of funny lines from this episode :p

• THESE TWO ARE STILL SABOTAGING THE CHALLENGE

• ZAID LITERALLY HAS A ONE-SIDED RIVALRY WITH SPENCER OVER HIM VOTING OUT TRISTAN, AND CALLED HIM SOME FUCKASS BRITISH CUISINE INSULT. I LOVE HIM

• Damn, Spencer clutch

• Ivy cursing Spencer under her breath is a mood. She’s just like me fr whenever somebody pisses me off in public

• Damn that raft looks great Marissa

• IVY CRASHING THEIR RAFT INTO THE BLUE TEAM’S THAT WAS ACTUALLY A BIG BRAIN MOVE

• HELP, RED TEAM’S RAFT ENDED UP BREAKING & KEPT SPRAYING WATER ONTO BENJI’S FACE AS THEY WERE ROWING TO SHORE

• THE WAY DEREK SNATCHED THE MEGAPHONE FROM TREVOR, AND HE DIDN’T LOOK ANNOYED/ANGRY OVER IT. MY GOD, THESE FUCKERS ARE GAY… or uh, Bi, if… y’know :p

• ANDDDDDDD, IVY DID IT. SHE SABATOGED THE CHALLENGE

• GOOD FOR HER I BETTER NOT BE SEEING ANY IVY HATE

• HELP, IVY WAS THE ONLY ONE SMILING OVER LOSING

• “As for Red Team, I am so sorry to be seeing you guys lose… again?! Like four times in a row?! That must sting a lot!” I’M CRYING TREVOR DID NOT HAVE TO TAUNT THEM LIKE THIS

• DEREK WAS EVEN GIGGLING OVER HIM SAYING THAT LMAO

• Blue team’s vibing

• MORE LYNDA BACKSTORY

• “You always seem so… miserable no matter what happens.” Yeah, well, I got plenty of reasons.” oh???

• “I only came on this moronic show… so that I can say I’ve done something with my life besides looking after my boys for 18 years. Married at 19; never went to college. What do I have to show for it?” MY EMOTIONS

• BRUH WDYM SHE HEARD ONE OF HER SONS CALL HER A BITCH

• Silly Billy’s gonna have a field day with this scene. He did say in this DC4 ranking vid that Lynda was his favorite (also speaking off, mad respect to him for Ranking Benji in his top 4)

• JADE REVEALED SHE GOT THE IDOL HINT FROM THAT TRIP FROM EPISODE 1, AND THAT ISABEL HERSELF GOT AN IDOL TO SPENCER. OH FUCK

• ANOTHER ZAIVY MOMENT LEZGO

• THEY REALLY DID DO IT FOR TRISTAN

• WAIT OH MY GOD. SHE GAVE ZAID A KISS ON THE CHEEK

• “Everyone ready for elimination?” “Are you motherfucker?” DAMMNNNN BRO’S GOT STREET CRED

• I’M CRYING SPENCER SHIPS THEM

• “Look, I’ve watched way too many rom coms not to noticed Ivy & Zaid shacking up.” Real. Also Hannah’s a mood for questioning if she really wants to break them up for the sake of the game. i’d think that too

• Aw, they’re nodding before announcing tonight’s vote- WAIT HOLY SHIT

• WHOEVER’S GETTING VOTE OUT IS GONNA SWITCH TEAMS AND PICK OUT WHO FROM BLUE TEAM SWITCHES TO RED & RED TEAM’S GETTING A MAJOR DISADVANTAGE NEXT EPISODE

• THEY’RE STILL BOUTTA VOTE SPENCER LMAOOO

• THEY ALL HATE HIS BRITISH BITCHASS

• STOP HE WAS GONNA TEAR UP OVER JADE VOTING HIM. HE’S BESTIES WITH HER

• OH SHIT, BENJI’S STILL LOCKED IN. THAT’S MY FAVE

• WAIT IVY ALSO CLOCKED JADE.

• WHO’S SPENCER GONNA PICK?

• my fucking god- OF COURSE IT’S ANOTHER GODAMN CLIFFHANGER

• Peak episode as always!

[disappointingcabbage]

The Dragon Prince Season 6 Episode 8 live reaction, spoilers under the cut!!

This episode title (We All Fall Down) scares me tbh

The dramatic shot of a jelly tart falling to the ground as Sol Regem flies overhead is exactly what I expected from this show in the best way possible

Oh shit he’s attacking Katolis castle

Oh fuck the only people guarding the pear are Soren and Opeli and they don’t know that it’s the real one and not the decoy this is very Not Good

Oh and neither of them have even seen sol regem before so they don’t even know what the fuck his deal is

This episode really shows how absolutely terrifying dragons can be

Oh fuck Soren got Jason Grace’d (hit in the head by a brick)

Soren going “fuck this let’s just evacuate” is such a smart decision

“Take good care of hat” sounds very self-sacrificial Soren I don’t like how this sounds

“The spell requires a human heart” Soren no

SOREN NO

I think Viren is using his own heart. Fitting end to his redemption tbh

How fucking dare this show make me feel sad about this asshole’s death

Well, he’s dead for real this time. Third time’s a charm I guess.

I’m assuming since Pharos has the shadowbeast corruption he now works for aaravos probably and so his end goal of attacking Katolis castle with Sol Regem is to get the pearl, right?

Oh fuck seeing Viren dead is gonna be the thing that makes Claudia free Aaravos FUCK HE DIED TOO EARLY

Aaravos why are you bowing dramatically to Sol Regem he can’t see you

The fuck does Anak Arow mean?

Oh fuck that’s a cruel truth to dump on a dying dragon

The TMA brainrot is real because I literally just went okay Aaravos and Elias Bouchard would get along really well

Well, RIP Sol Regem I guess. I never liked him but damn that’s a brutal way to go.

Oh poor Claudia. This is a phenomenal vocal performance. Also damn this is really dark for a kids’ show

shut the FUCK up Aaravos get out of her head

Lujanne I cannot emphasize enough that the romance drama here isn’t the point

LUJANNE WHAT ARE YOU DOING

are the quasar diamonds fake????

“Are you still willing to help me, Claudia?” “… her DAD just DIED!” Terry out here saying what we were all thinking

Oh Aaravos wants to Frankenstein this shit with all 6 primal sources

Good luck getting the quasar diamond Claudia, Callum and Rayla have all three

wait WHAT

One of the ones in the crown are fake

Ah fuck, Rayla can only summon 2 out of her 3 coined parents

LMAO CLAUDIA’S DEMON SUMMONING RITUAL DIDNT WORK LFG

TUMBLR DOT COM STOP SUGGESTING MAGNUS PROTOCOL TAGS THIS ISNT ABOUT THAT

[podfeels]

Podfeels Adapt8ion Notes: Episode 5

hello, dare again! just as a reminder for how these posts work, stagelights will be covering the notes as a whole, and if i ever have to pitch in it will be with purple text like this! with that said, lets get back into it!

just as a side note i love the pun in this episodes title. 10/10 no notes. yeah riley is a hero. anyway i want to say that i dont think i really appreciated this episode enough before now. but like i think it really serves as both a nice bit of respite after the intensity of the previous episode, and as sort of the calm before the storm that is next episode, which i think is desperately needed. 

these first couple of changes were made because roxy’s typos dont work as well when said out loud normally. we changed it to make her sound more like how someone would actually slur their words here. (also, not an adaptational change, but “librarby” is a fucking undertale reference, sarah you sneaky bitch)

narration cuts, and a bit where we changed it because we needed to kind of make the whole “june talks with 8’s” thing a bit more clear, because thats kind of a big deal.

more “call and not text” shit you know the drill. also june fucking said “cripe a doodle dandy” despite everything june is still a massive dork ass nerd.

narration cuts. moving along

this change is actually kind of significant i think, because this is completely new material and not just stuff changed or removed for the sake of replacing narration. junes feeling bad about herself and shit. so, i actually had us add this because i felt it was necessary to get some details of june moping and feeling lonely, yearning for that kind of t4t romance, in order to butter her up for terezi's arrival later on. however, i kind of regret these inclusions now, to an extent. they add a lot to the pacing of the episode, giving her a moment of melancholy at the fire. however! i forgot that she already had a "moping at how cute roxy and callie are" moment. after she wakes up from the trickster rampage retcon, in what will be our episode 7. so i did just decide we needed something, forgetting it would come later. lol.

some more roxy re-slurring, and also re-ordering of stuff for pacing.

elevatorstuck plays here, but otherwise this is fairly minor. disagree! we used the fact she mentions not wanting to narrate it in the original, and me not wanting to put sound to it in our adaptation, to justify turning this into a cutaway gag. elevatorstuck plays, yes, but the scene sound also fully cuts out at the same time. its an auditory version of a TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES - PLEASE WAIT sign. im proud of this segment and i will NOT allow it to be passed by as "elevatorstuck plays here"!

couple more narration cuts. and that’s it for this episode. fairly simple.

to add to this ending description a bit, i want to gush about what we did with the ending here because im damn proud of it. so, this ending here isnt just ending cuts. we moved the lollipop reveal to be the second to last line, to really get across that its kind of horrific that its here. calliope's trickster sucker is, in and of itself, the scary cliffhanger. and further to that end, whereas the original fic ends that chapter on just that line, i wanted to really hammer it home. so once calliope says that line, the scream from the start of Red Sucker blares out, which then leads into "wherever the breeze takes this", a track from the first godfeels fan album by ash taylor and dj terezi, which was written to be about the aftermath of the rampage. whereas the original text ends on the sucker as a cliffhanger but potential gag, of calliope going "now normally im not so crass but do you want some Hard Drugs?", in our case, with retrospect and a fandom-cultural awareness of what is to come, we took the opportunity to tonally acknowledge where this is actually about to head, and i think it turned out beautifully

_____

so thats it covered! thank you to stagelights for doing the breakdowns for these episodes! check back tomorrow for episode 6's breakdown!

[thefringespod]

We're gonna do something a little different this #AudioDramaSunday! This week was one where music was my go-to rather than podcasts so instead of episode reviews, I'm gonna do a track-by-track breakdown of all of the music released so far for The Grotto as I had it on repeat

Starting off with Hush which is the first song on the album and also the show's theme. It's got a brilliant beat to it accompanied by these bursts of vocals that crescendo into a harshness that's excellent. The HUSH gives me chill every time. I'm fully obsessed with this song

The next track is the first instrumental. Dejected feels like the music you would find in a cave. It's creeping and wet and a little haunting before the softness of the piano and the beat hit. This song has a heartbeat to it that feels tangible in the best way

Buried Alive has some of my favorite lyrics Athan has written. There's just something about the way he sings "Maybe I would be happier buried alive" that chills me to the core. Also something you'll notice is Athan likes vocal modulation a lot and it always works so well

Matt's (Usually) Confused is very aptly titled. It starts soft and slowly builds to become more all encompassing, feeling like Matt's racing thoughts as it does so

I Will Follow You Into the Dark fucks me up (positive) "Love of mine, you will die, and I'll be close behind" like Athan how am I meant to recover from that? This song as a depth to it that can be felt, like it's carving its way into a deep cave and submerging itself in the dark

I absolutely adore Emily's Theme! There's something about it that brings the word "fleeting" to mind, like Emily is running through the music and making her way out through the song itself

Which leads us to Stumble Into You and holy fuck yall Lyssa Jay has a lovely voice. Yes I'm biased because I love Lyssa but I'm also RIGHT! This song makes me a little feral, especially where Lyssa and Athan meet in the song its beautifully done

We're at the first cover on the album! This is literally the only version of Ghost of You I will listen to, Athan brings a life to this song that punches to the lyrics way more effectively than the original version does

It's Cryptic in the Grotto is another very well named song because it sure can be cryptic in this godsdamned Grotto. The whispering of it all leaves me unsettled in the best way before opening into this plucky instrumental I'm obsessed with

Looking for Answers is so Orpheus and Eurydice coded that it drives me insane. "I still feel you behind me. Your breath is slow. I'm terrified I'll end up alone." Athan you can't do this to me. There's also a lovely fast bit in this with lyrics ricocheting through the verse

Athan's cover of Hurt might actually be my favorite version of this song I'm sorry except I'm not. It suits Athan's range so well and has this almost gravely texture to it that makes me feel like I'm going feral. Everything about it is deep and dark and wonderful

Coping is NOT aptly named. You know what Matt ISNT doing? Coping. He's not coping AT ALL. It's a beautiful song and it also has some of my favorite Athan lyrics but it's from an episode called Coping and let me tell yall Matt is not making good choices in this show

If You Could See Me Now breaks my heart in the best way. The idea of trying to make someone proud while knowing that you're disappointing yourself so you're not making them proud kills me. The instrumental/electronic portions of this song are incredible

Hush (Acoustic) is wonderful and light and I cannot hear it without thinking of the episode 4 credits which make me want to shake Athan (affectionate)

There is a cover of Chasing Cars (one of my favorite songs of all time) performed by the Fringes' very own @taytayheyhey (one of my favorite people) and it became my most played song of the year *so fast* Its a wonderful and almost haunting cover of one of the songs of all time

Last song! Waiting Room also breaks my heart open in my chest because Athan did lyrics too good. "If you were a waiting room, I'd never see a doctor I'd just sit there with my first aid kit and bleed" circles through my brain at all times and I'll never forgive Athan for it

Everyone should listen to The Grotto because it kicks ass And you can check out the whole album on bandcamp https://thegrottopod.bandcamp.com/album/the-grotto-season-1-part-1. Athan said it should be on Spotify soon as well

In terms of shows I actually listened to this week, I listened to the new eps of @tellnotalespod , @woebegonepod , and @camlannpod which were all incredible as always

Here on the Fringes you can access episode 21 right now by visiting patreon.com/PineTreePods! This episode is very dear to my heart and I can't wait to share it with y'all

Thats all for this week! Please check out The Grotto if you haven't already (and not just because my friends are there it really does kick ass) Should be back in the swing of podcasts this week so expect a regular ADS post next week :)

[richardsphere]

Werepapa's reaction

Ok so cute baby-drien with mom, its a cute scene. But its worrying Like for the effect it might have on real kids with distant parents. Cause... a lot of kids feel one of their parents isnt present enough in their life. Usually cause they're something like a truckdriver or other job that involves being away from home for long periods of time. The fact that Adrien's "but we dont see dad, does that mean he doesnt love us" is textually correct insofar that Gabriel doesnt love him... (he loves Emilie, Adrien is just a glorified pet kept around cause Emilie wanted a kid). Im kind of worried this scene might make some real-world children conclude an actually loving parent, working hard to keep the family fed is the equivalent to Gabe. --- Oh new designs of Mari's grandparents, they look good. Its nice that Mari actually asks for permission (and gets it) for this episode's hijinks. She's there to support her boyfriend through a difficult time. --- Look, I absolutely dont believe that Lord Graham-Cracker is gonna be at all suprised to find his grandkid flirting with a maid.

Ok so we're going from "Highness' to "duke". I dont know if thats realism (in that a lot of inbred-types have multiple titles, born to some married into others) or if thats inconsistency. But i do believe that if its realism, that realism would probably be missed by most of the target audience.

Wait, Adriens Dad-Gramma uses Jagged Stone as an expletive. That is hilarious. OK FUCK YOU PLAGG. Adrien needs his father now more then ever you do NOT go off to the fucking kitchens for the cheesballs. like i get we're trying to make an episode happen, but this is our first time realy seeing Plagg in the Post-Gabe! world and for him to immediately leave adrien when he needs the support the most? HasttagNotMyPlagg. --- I agree with Gabemom (look if you introduce 4 people at once with half-a-line each, im gonna struggle with names. I managed to get Emil&Milie cause of the obvious Emilie-naming and Johny because it stuck out but i forgot your name immediatly,) So the rings represent their dual citisenship? Is that what Emil just said cause that feels like it must be a mistranslation on the captioning.

Emil is a cunt "suffer in silence as you're known for doing so well". I hate the fact that i already know the twin rings are gonna contain the akuma. both because adriens fucking soul is in there and because the cheeseballs feel like they'd work just as well. 1-it'd be a parallel to the Dearest Family! cake. 2-As Johny's attempt to reach across the aisle that Millie embraces and Emil rejects, it represents the family dynamics in this episode better then the rings do. and if for some reason that isn't "one object" enough, the fucking custody contract could be the item instead. there are 3 props in this scene and they chose the one that is both the heavy-handed-est and that will make the episode explicitly end with the show further devaluing adriens life by once more killing him in a way that'll inevitably emphasize how little his life is worth to the narrative (cause he can always be resurected). Now there is something they could do with this that'd be interesting. but i doubt they're willing to move the plot along in episode 4. That'd be: Have LB breaks the ring to get the akuma out, Adrien dies a senti-death on-screen and have Adrien realise that he's getting "Mr. Stark I dont feel so good"-ed as he dies. Then have an end-of-episode scene of him asking Plagg about how he started turning to dust only for Plagg to struggle with a partial non-answer. End with a lingering shot of Adrien clearly curious and dissatisfied with Plagg's Platitude. Like this could theoretically be the episode that starts Adrien pulling the Senti-thread. But given that this episode started with the Emilie flashback and knowing how bookending works... they're not ending the episode with that scene. They're ending it either with adrien's last time seeing Mom alive, or Gabriel returning home and actually proving kid-drien correct about not loving him.

Basically: I disagree with the choice of the rings as the akumatised item. Now its time to place a bet: Does the episode actually acknowledge that adriens soul is in there. 1-Do we actually get to see him die on screen. Will the episode acknowledge that breaking the rings in the episode killed adrien or are they going to just leave that entirely off-screen so the Senti-Denialists can continue to live in their Bargaining Stage. 2-Will Ladybug actually struggle emotionally (as in will it make her hesitate) to break her soulmates soul in two to save the day. While i think its possible that Mari will have a textual line about the soul-rings and senti-stuff. I dont think that the show is going to bother with actually dealing with the implications. --- Ok so the "woof woof who can growl the loudest" line doesnt work unless you give this woman a puppy or something. Ringmaster. its a good bit of wordplay, cause she owns the rings, and because she's gonna make them fight in an arena. Oh gab-mom was named gabrielle. Ok the mnemonic there is... obvious. Giant circle-staircase serving as this episodes equivalent to Weredad's grapevines. Ok so Ringmaster-millie is saying the episodes point out loud here. That Adrien SHOULD get to make his own decisions. But we all know that this episode is going to shoot itself in the foot by having Adrien stuck as a literal prize to be won and having him do nothing to cause his own freedom because he's just a prize for Mari to win. He's not going to get to choose to free himself, despite that being the explicit fucking text of the episode. Mixed Messaging. If the episode is about adriens right to self determination, then this episode should have adrien escape the prison himself. --- So maribug just tied Ringmaster and the Weredads up with her scarf, stole the ring and kicked them down a hole that is at an unspecified height implied to be of a "terminal velocity"-nature. Ladybug, our hero, goes out of her way to non-lethally incapacitate the Grandkuma's and then follows it ub by just casually executed them. We even get to hear them do a little "falling scream". They actually had her struggle to kill adrien. As much as im relieved that they did, im dissapointed it was ever a question i felt i needed to ask. Still to see if they acknowledge Adrien just died though. I dont like the "admit you love frenchfries" line. It comes out of nowhere. (1-french fries are belgian, 2-there is no setup. it feels like there should be, or used to be, a set-up line about him prefering British Fish and Chips that would've ended with "well chips and fries are the same thing") --- And straight to the post credit "your father truly never loved you" scene i was afraid this episode was gonna end with when we started with Emilie. No acknowledgement that Adrien just had to see watch himself die. OK im going on a tangent cause this shot lingers on Nathalie's over-blued eyes a bit. Has all the "my moms eyes were blue" things in previous seasons not been a senti-based inconsistency, but a "deep down inside, adrien knows that Nathalie is his mom in all the ways that counts" thing? Cause this shot feels like its meant to say that. --- In summary: this episode had 3 goals 1-Remind us that Adrien's life is expendable and he doesnt even know it (check) 2-Remind us Nathalie is his real mom. (success) 3-Adriens right to self determination (mentioned and alluded to, but explicitly defied. He doesnt escape the Trophy, and he doesnt decide that Nathalie is his mom Marinette decides that Nathalie is his mom) Normally i'd say "two out of three aint bad", but given that number three is about the abuse-victims basic right to autonomy. NO this IS bad.

[hermanunworthy]

!DNDADS S2 EP41 SPOILERS!

hoooo boy im not gonna be able to listen to this episode normally after seeing the cast irl. im freaking out

- was the "part 1" in last eps title just a joke then? i thought it was gonna be a two parter

- ARE THEY SERIOUSLY GOING TO HEAVEN??? i thought shmegan said heaven isnt real. oh wait i just remembered brad said he went to heaven. hm. this will be interesting

- IF RON REALLY IS IN HEAVEN THAT MEANS HE GETS TO BE W ROGUE. HE. WAAAAA 😭

- okay time to actually start the episode

- the fact that they actually fell for anthonys trap is so adorable tbh THEY WERE SO EXCITED

- i love how they laughed over lincolns new intro AGAIN

- so funny how beth brings up that scary fact right after i wounded myself by cutting bread 😭 ur right beth. it is all about pain.

- i just realized scam pulled a mascot related scam. like father like sondaughter

- SCAMS SOLDIERS ARE THE CAST OF FAMILY GUY.

- LEVEL UP!! wonder what theyre gonna change

- SHES GONNA BE A BAD GIRL!!! :3

- "u gotta find ur own way, u gotta do it ur style, dood!" normals talking to dood the way he talks to hermie im gonna throw up

- HOLY SHIT WILL AND FREDDIE BRAIN CONNECTION AGAIN

- what a christian episode this is we got heaven AND santa claus

- WAIT DIDNT THEY ESTABLISH BEFORE THAT ST NICK IS NICKY

- WHY IS FUCKING SANTAS VOICE JUST HERMIE

- okay nvm its becoming more its own thing

- why does santa seem like another likely

- THE PETER THING HAS ME SCREAMING WTF IS THID PODCASTTT

- 20 minutes in no hermie yet (im insane)

- LINCOLNS NEW PERSONA IS KILLIBG ME DUDE

- HERMIE!!!!!!

- i have lost track of freddies garbage can plan shidjk

- guys swiftlis ship name is foot buddies now /j

- DID WILL JUST SAY "BREAD" INSTEAD OF BLOOD

- NOT ANOTHER LINCOLN VOICE CHANGE

- ANTHONY. AMERICAN DAD WORKS FOR THE GOVERNMENT.

- OUCH TERRY JR REMINDER

- STILL MAD THAT FREDDIE WASNT WEARING HEELS AT THE LIVE SHOW

- OH MY GOR NORMALS GOING OVER TO HERMIE OH MY GOD

- RON FUCKING STAMPLER!!!!!!

- ROGUE???? OH MY GODDDD

- ROGUE SOLOS EVERYONE

- THIS IS BETHS FUCKING SHOW NOW

- THEYRE ALL GONNA RIDE ON ROGUE AWWW

- WERE FINALLY GETTING SCARY AND RON INTERACTION

- HE FAKED HIS DEATH SO GOOD THAT HE DIED

- ERIN IS DEAD???

- TERRY JR TALKED TO RON ABOUT SCARY WHAT IF I CRIED

- SCARYS GONNA TELL HIM ABOUT TERRY JR. OH GOD. OH GOD I CANT DO THIS

- HE KNOWS. HE ALREADY KNOWS. IM GONNA CRY

- "im sorry that u dont realize that it is ur loss" OKAY YEP IM CRYING

- NOOOOO DOOD

- WHAT IS W BETH AND ALL THESE 11S

- HOLY SHIT NOT THEM DROPPING ALL THEIR SAD COPING MECHANISMS

- THE KIDDADS ARE ONLY JUST NOW REALIZING THAT THEY NEED TO BE BETTER PARENTS.

- LINCOLN STRAIGHT UP CALLING FOR GOD

- IF DOOD DRINKS THE POTION AND HAS MEMORIES OF SPARROW IM GOING TO FUCKING DIE

- THEYRE GONNA FIND THE REST OF THE GRANDDADS???

- SO WE FINALLY KNOW THEYRE STILL ALIVE. AT LONG LAST

[orionsangel86]

Good Omens S2 Episode Review - 201 The Arrival

You know how here on tumblr we often voice our grievances about modern film and television? Everything is too dull and washed out, too dark and grimy, too muffled to the point we can barely hear, and the writing seems to be done in such a way that you can almost feel the contempt oozing off of the writers for their own fanbases?

Maybe Neil Gaiman came across those posts and had a good chuckle, before nodding in agreement and taking notes, because at least so far in episode 1, GOS2 makes none of these vital mistakes! I can already tell I'm going to fall headfirst into obsession over this series again, and I've only watched one episode!

Spoilers for episode 1 only under the cut. Safe for anyone who hasnt watched any further (because I haven't either at this point!)

Gods its gorgeous isnt it? To the extent that I think gifmakers wont have to spend hours and hours doing colour corrections for once! The opening scene blew me away. I wonder if we'll ever find out who Crowley was before he fell? Seeing as he was clearly a high ranking angel. This is where the Crowley-was-Raphael truthers are throwing a party lol.

From that first scene its clear they are going heavy handed on the AziraCrow romance. Zira's little double take when he thinks Crowley is calling him gorgeous before realising he was talking about the nebula was already less subtle than anything they gave us in the entirety of season 1. So we are off to a good start!

"How much trouble can I get into just for asking a few questions?" Oh Crowley, my poor naive little angel! :'(

It's interesting how already there seems to be a general mockery of creationism and creationists (which I love btw) because of how idiotic these beliefs are. Crowley is asking all the right questions of course. Creating the universe just to center everything around a little planet called Earth just seems a bit, well, silly doesn't it!

The title sequence is an absolute ball and I consider it sacrilegious to skip it!

This episode sets up an interesting new dynamic for Aziraphale and Crowley that raises questions. If we consider where things were left off at the end of season 1, you would think they would be on very good terms, happily enjoying their retirement together (whether as friends or something else) but that doesn't appear to be the case. It was already something I picked up in the promo scenes, but seeing the full episode now it really isn't subtle that something has gone sort of wrong or at least somewhat disjointed for them. There is a tension between them which is completely new.

"There's only three reasons why you ever call me.

You're bored.

You have to tell someone about something clever you did before you pop.

Somethings wrong."

Do I detect a hint of bitterness there Crowley?

That plus the clear jealousy towards Aziraphale's "naked man friend" and the anger with which he responds "SO DID I!" indicates that Crowley is very much not happy with the current state of their relationship. Why would Crowley not be happy with their relationship when he should have everything he wants? Freedom from Hell, relative safety in retirement... okay so he's living in his car which isn't ideal (but something tells me that's more because he's waiting for Aziraphale to invite him to live at the bookshop than that he couldn't find another apartment if he wanted to). What else could Crowley possibly want thats causing this tension? Hmmmm.

I love how with Crowley, there is at least consistency in his motivations to do anything. In that if it's something that he doesn't want to do, but Aziraphale is in danger if he doesn't do it, he'll leap head first into the fire just to protect Aziraphale. Beelzebub's threat about "extreme sanctions" is clearly a horrible thought, and what would Crowley even be if Aziraphale was erased from existence? It raises the stakes beyond the threats of the first season. Destruction is bad enough, but at least you'll have your memories of your friend/6000 year old life partner, but to be erased from the book of life completely? Ooof that's worse. Far FAR worse. Poor Crowley.

So he returns. Of course. The catty bitchiness between them when Crowley returns though and has to grovel with that silly little dance (and I do hope I see at least a dozen gifsets of that silly little dance when I eventually remove my filters!). OMG Aziraphale you are such a bitchy gay I love you! But does Crowley tell him about the threat? No of course he doesn't. Because draaamaaaaa babes!

I have to scream about Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy being the first Queen song to play. You gotta hand it to Neil, he clearly knows his fanbase well!

Moving on to Maggie and Nina, I find their dynamic lovely and awkward, though I do think the narrative parallels are more heavy handed than in a season 8 monster of the week Supernatural episode (which is an impressive feat of brick-wall-to-the-face obviousness believe me). Still, I love narrative parallels as a storytelling device, so I am of course gonna eat all this up and gorge on "the grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one" tropeyness to my hearts content.

Clearly Maggie is the Aziraphale and Nina is the Crowley (the twist being that Maggie fell first, whereas we all know Crowley has been holding a flame for Aziraphale since the Garden - then again, that opening scene puts Aziraphale's feelings in a new light!) so I am looking forward to seeing how else their budding relationship compares in future episodes!

Re the central mystery around Gabriel, I've gotta hand it to John Hamm, he's hilarious. I love him. I have absolutely no idea where this is going after only 1 episode, other than to giggle at the fact that if all of Soho didn't already assume Aziraphale was "as gay as a treeful of monkeys on nitrous oxide" then they certainly do now!

"You're funny. I love you." Amazing. No notes. Keep making Aziraphale squirm lol. Though doesn't it also pose an interesting question? Gabriel is still an angel right? Beings of love. They are supposed to feel love and I think part of the point of the beurocracy of Heaven is that the angels have forgotten their original purpose - to love others. Right? Maybe I'm just making that up, but I found it interesting that as soon as Gabriel found himself enjoying Aziraphale's company, he was so comfortable just expressing his feelings like that.

(side note that I love how in GO, they always give a fairly accurate representation of the streets of Soho, too many films and TV shows filmed in London underestimate just how bloody crowded the city is. You can't move without bumping into someone in the West End at any point and GO has gone all out on filling their film studio with extras which is a nice touch.)

So whats in the box? What's in the matchbox? I'm calling it now there is a connection. I also don't think either are actually "empty". Gabriel said his arms were heavy from carrying the box around, but if it was empty then it wouldn't have hurt his arms to carry it. A trick of some kind perhaps? Something invisible perhaps?

The Book of Job quote on the matchbox "Out of his mouth go burning lamps and sparks of fire leap out" Probably important. Isn't one of the episodes coming up about Job? Still, I am in no way a bible scholar I haven't even read the thing, so I'm not gonna attempt to analyse all this and I am sure some other very intelligent person on Tumblr has already done so!

It was a really good really enjoyable episode with some laugh out loud moments. I like the mystery, and all the new characters are interesting. So far nothing has bored me and I really am gagging to watch the next episode ASAP. Its wonderful having Aziraphale and Crowley back on the screen again, like coming home to see some old friends, but this time for some reason its all a bit awkward and the tensions a bit off and so I am sitting here wondering if maybe they got really drunk one night and almost fucked but then didn't go through with it and refuse to discuss it so now i'm going to have to subtly get them to talk about their relationship drama. Lmao.

I'm a slut for other peoples relationship drama though, and Neil Gaiman just handed it to me on a platter. ;-)

[saltlickmp3]

okay so. war of the coprophages right. i think this is one of my favourite episodes now definitely one of my favourites recently theres a lot of the like.... gritty crime ones in s2 & 3 which isnt really my thing but this felt more like an s1 episode? and the first thing i thought was damn the title sounds like a classic who serial and it does! its referencing science fiction as genre & the scientist with the voice aid, & the way dr. bambi said to mulder 'idk if you know anything about ufos' and the references to planet of the apes and the general like. silly nature of the ep. what if there were killer cockroaches. combined with the profoundness of being scared of bugs, thinking of them as primitive, how might aliens view us etc. and also it was just well written for them as characters!! i really liked how they let scully be right about the first three deaths! like yes girl your logical & rational conclusions can be correct!!!!!

i really liked how mulder wakes up in the middle of the night & the first thing he does is call scully & she fell asleep holding the phone waiting for him to call. & woke up instantly to pick up. & the way that TWICE !! mulder was oh yeah well i guess youre right thanks scully :). i liked when she was in the shop being like 'dont be so ridiculous youre all fine' & when they all panicked & ran out she just casually walked over the tipped over shelf & ate a chocolate thing <3 nonchalant queen i love her so much <33 & they way she & mulder joke with each is so nice i do think its funny & sweet when mulder jokes about scully being attractive after she does something logical & rational. shes going on about how evolution is pure chance & the possibility of intelligent enough life on other planets is slim and he jokes that he finds that attractive & like im sure he does lol. & asking dr. bambi to tell him about bugs even though he tells scully he hates bugs i guess he just likes to hear women explain things to him <33 which is so real of him honestly. mulder guy ever. i just liked how silly & goofy they were in this ep like :) yay i love them :)