#while she seems to be having some issues those are best solved on her own

[teafiend]

Watching Jung Eun Chae in all her glory as Moon Ok Gyeong is ironically making me miss Kang Gil Young 🥹😭 a lot 😭

MOG is so handsome, gorgeous - hot, hot, hot 🥵 - and everything magnificent, and am swooning and melting every time I see her on my screen 🤩😍🫠

Yet…

(A good time to rediscover KGY while I squee over MOG 🥰)

[sasheneskywalker]

dc fic summaries i have in my drafts

(the fics are in various stages of completion, but i plan to finish them all)

demolition lovers [jason/tim]

The last time Tim saw Jason Todd, the man had brutally beaten him up and stabbed him in the chest with a batarang. He hadn't heard anything about him since Dick and Damian helped Red Hood rescue his sidekick, so Tim put him out of his mind, focusing on more important issues.

But a chance encounter in another country makes him realize that he and Jason are working on the same case and when the fate of the world seems to rest on their shoulders, they are forced to team up, racing against time to solve what might just be the most dangerous mystery in their careers yet.

triangles are the strongest shape [tim/kon/bernard]

Tim comes out to his friends and tells them he has a boyfriend. Kon mopes over ice cream like a moody preteen girl. Bernard eyes his boyfriend’s hunky best friend contemplatively

three for a wedding [jason/tim/roy]

While on a mission Jason and Roy touch a strange artifact that forces them to get married or risk dying painfully. It wouldn’t be a problem except Jason is secretly dating Tim and Roy has been pining after his best friend for ages.

baby, i'm an outlaw [jason/helena]

They woke up together in an unfamiliar bed, with no memories of who they were and no idea how they ended up in this situation.

Then there was the dead body lying in the corner of the room.

Or, Jason and Helena go on a road trip, kill some people, and fall in love along the way.

practical application [jason-centric]

Five times Columbia University students are surprised by Jason Todd’s skills and one time they find out how he acquired them

author’s notes [jason-centric]

Jason writes fanfiction. It's not that big of a deal, but some people apparently disagree.

Or, how gargoylejay becomes a fandom sensation.

ouroboros [jason-centric]

Jason knows the circle cannot be broken. Yet he never stops trying anyway.

keep your enemies closer [tim-centric]

Five times Tim calls on unexpected allies for help and one time he doesn’t have to.

fourth-wall observer [tim-centric]

Ever since Tim was a child, something about the universe felt off to him.

It wasn’t until he started reading books and watching TV that he realized that the world he was living in functioned in a disturbingly similar manner to those that were fictional. It was ruled by certain patterns, tropes, as he called them, and he could use his knowledge of them to uncover the past, understand the present and predict the future.

Or, Tim Drake and dealing with the fact that your existence and reality are just figments of someone else’s imagination.

The Dark Dame [bruce-centric]

When Bryce was first designing her vigilante costume, she decided to leave the official name of her persona in the hands of the public. She expected something relating to the darkness, the night, the shadows that seemingly enveloped her entire being while she fought criminals in the streets. So the first time she heard the moniker “Batman” in reference to herself, she was quite taken aback. Both because people apparently thought that her suit resembled an anthropomorphic bat and that she was a man.

wheel of fortune [oc-centric]

A bored college student finds herself in the DC universe and decides to have some fun. It turns out that you can achieve a lot when you own one of the most powerful artifacts in the world.

[midnightsun-if]

If mc were having a bad day (you know one of those days that everything went wrong) how would the ros try to cheer mc up?

Koda: Lots of hugs and snuggles! He’d be the embodiment of a teddy bear while he tries to cheer you up— not leaving your side for even a moment as he strives to make sure that you have a small back on your face. Would try not to be too overbearing though if you needed your space, but he’d always be nearby regardless (just in case you need him).

Scarlett: She isn’t the best at cheering people up— doesn’t truly have a lot of practice with it. When she’s having a bad day, she typically likes to be alone— whether that be somewhere with Balerion or in a dark alcove somewhere… So, she’d probably get you some of your favorite things, leave a note detailing where you could find her, and let you go from there. It’s what she’d want to have happen with her; so she’s going off that.

Cyrus/Cyra: Would just sit quietly with you— either reading or writing something in a journal. They’d let you talk to them at your own pace, not forcing you to do anything, and they’d simply be there waiting. If you didn’t wish to do so? That’s completely fine. They’ll still be there for you.

Quinn: Will try their best to get you outside and go on a nature walk— the fresh air, sunshine, and sounds of wildlife always cheer them up when they’re feeling down. They’d take you to their favorite spots that they’ve found, wanting you to share in the joy of being there, and simply try to help you forget about the issues plaguing you.

Caden: Would try to figure out the source of the issue— what has gotten you so upset, was it a specific person, an event, etc? Wouldn’t force you to answer them, but they always believe that to solve the problem that’s weighing down on you, even if it seems immovable at times, is the best way to go about it— as the weight always has a way of coming back even heavier.

Sloane: If it’s a person that caused your bad day? They’d offer to go handle it (if it was severe enough). If it was just a generally bad day? They’d simply do what they always do— trying to make you feel that everything was normal, that they didn’t expect anything from you (or think that you needed to act a certain way for it to be like that), but they’d still make sure you were doing okay.

Blake: Koala Mode… Would be near you at all times, making sure that they kept your attention so you didn’t get pulled back into your thoughts. Will make sure that you’re happy and smiling by the end of the day— they don’t like seeing you sad and they’ll strive to make sure that you aren’t.

Reginald/Regina: Would offer if you’d like to cook something with them or if you’d like to make tea with them— just a calming activity for you both. And, as you’re doing it, they’d calmly ask you questions about your day, about what happened, and let you destress as you do the activity. Keeping a mindful ear on anything you revealed— in case they needed to help with it in the future.

[84reedsy]

Okay but picture Scott, Roddy or whoever you think fits this best saying this to you " You know i love you right? Good, because im about to fuck you like i don't"

Yeah...I went with Scott...

Scott Hall was in one of those moods. One that told Michele to steer clear of him until he cooled down.  He would never hurt her,  but to avoid a fight or making things worse,  she kept herself busy in the bedroom, folding clothes,  organizing the bathroom and finally settling on reading a book she'd been putting off for way too long. 

A heated call with his ex, a contentious conversation with his boss, and her credit card statement arriving in the mail - all three within the matter of an hour understandably set him off. Making herself scarce was the best move. 

She could hear him stomping around,  mumbling to himself as he moved through the house as if his little tantrum would solve his problems. She smiled behind the pages as she turned them.  Scott could be such a hot head,  but he always more than made up for any cold shoulder. 

She felt bad that part of it was her doing,  but if he'd just let her get the mail, he'd have never even seen the bill. The dark stare over the top of the creased paper directed at her as she'd walked in his office made her shiver even now as she thought back to it. 

“When were you going to tell me about this?” He had dangled the paper in front of him.  She'd fidgeted, knowing she'd broken her promises to watch her spending. 

“I was gonna…”she lied through her teeth.  Scott only huffed an annoyed sigh out of his nose as he stood,  nearly slapping the paper on his desk. 

“Just my fucking lucky day isn't it….” He'd growled, walking away to blow off steam. 

She could hear him now in his gym, weights being racked, music playing loudly,  and even his strained grunts echoed through the halls as he tried to burn off his frustrations. He hadn't even bothered to come to the room to change into workout clothes.  He had to have been pretty upset to work out in jeans. 

Michele tried to think of ways to make it up to him - she could get a job to work while he was gone to help pay it back. She wrinkled her nose,  rereading the same page a second time due to her own distraction. She would apologize and mean it of course…but that probably wouldn't be enough. 

“He likes a good steak…” she mused aloud, wondering if a nice dinner reservation might help.  But her trying to throw money at a problem seemed to be part of the issue,  so she scratched that idea, “Maybe a little excursion to The Landing Strip…” Scott still enjoyed a visit to a strip club or two. Michele had to admit she didn't mind him going and she loved going with him even more. 

Of course being around that many naked women turned him on. She did not feel jealously when he'd slip a few dollars in a g-string or ample cleavage, because only she was what his hands touched. They'd barely make it to the car before he was inside of her in some way. 

Michele grinned thinking about the time they only made it to the car…but not in it.  It was a miracle they weren't arrested. Perhaps there might be a private room available for her to reserve. 

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

Scotts muscles bulged under the heavy weights. He pushed himself past his limits. His negative energy was coursing through him. He pressed the heavy bar upwards a few more times before racking it safely above him.  His chest was taut and sweaty,  rising and falling quickly with each labored breath. He sat up,  raking his hand through his damp hair. Grabbing his discarded shirt, he dried the sweat from his face. 

Adrenaline and testosterone were fueling him now,  the irritation he felt dictating both. He had a lot more things he'd thought of to say to his ex.  He had a few choice words for his boss that he honestly hoped the tiny man would choke on. 

And as for Michele, while she didn't purposefully push his last button - she'd sent him over the edge today. Whether or not she had so on purpose, she was here and she'd have to deal with what he wanted. 

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

Michele hung up the phone,  knowing the room she'd reserved might have been a risk with the deposit she'd put down. But she seem his cares all melt away before with a good lap dance.

She was feeling proud of herself, smug as she tried to find where she left off in her book. She jumped though when the door to their room flew open and Scott stalked in, slamming it behind him with his foot. She looked at him wide-eyed and holding her breath a little. 

There was a hungry look in his eyes and it was anything but gentle. 

“Scott, I-” she started with an almost meek voice,  but he cut her off abruptly.

“I don't want to hear it,” he said bluntly. She felt her mouth grow dry as her book fell to her lap slowly. 

“You know I love you, right?” He asked, already knowing the answer as she nodded slowly, not taking her eyes from his. Her heart hammered heavily against her chest,  knowing what he wanted and what he would do to get it. 

“Good,” he undid his belt roughly, slipping it out of the belt loops in an aggressive, swift move,  “because I'm about to fuck you like I don't,”

[rubberduckyrye]

Me: yay! I get to talk about my favourite oc of the bunch now!

My brain: hey what if I *forces me to hyperfixate on how I'm rewriting Angie instead*

So I'm talking about Angie instead, more specifically what steps I want to take to make her less.... problematic?(Best word I could think of) But for plot reasons I have to have some reference to what she's like in canon.

I mostly focused on Angie's religious side for the rewrite. She's no longer monotheistic and instead follows a polytheistic faith, specifically Hawaiian. Most of the time when she talks about her gods she specifies which one, like she'll say that "Lono will keep you in good fortune". I've also made it so that her whole "Kami-sama can't answer cause he's taking a nap" thing is just a light hearted joke she makes when people mixes up or gets her gods wrong.

Now the blood sacrifices-

They are not gone, instead I've made it so that Angie's community saw blood as the soul itself. So her island had simply had a tradition where they made a religious dish for weddings that the newly weds eat, the dish contains the blood of the couple and it represents their souls mixing and becoming one. They also tended to have a culture of solving spiritual problems (ex: depression, personality disorders, trauma) by having the person bleed out the damaged part of their soul.

There's definitely more to consider but I don't remember it and I don't know where to look. Criticism and advice from you or someone else reading this is welcome :P

Okay so.

I like your spirit, you're on the right track and going places, but. I would just remove the blood thing entirely. If you want to go the route of Headcanoning the problematic away that's one thing, but since you're changing the story up anyway, so you might as well throw out the entire suitcase.

I was actually having a discussion with my partner about the stereotypes Angie presents just last night, as was going to reblog my posts on her racists caricature elements with a slight amendment.

I was struggling to find resources that specifically talked about Native Pacific Islanders being stereotyped as wild savages, and I was complaining to celest on how no one was talking about it and I felt like I wasn't able to do research right anymore. She calmly explained to me why I was having those issues and why no one seems to talk about the "savage Pacific Islander" trope we had seen so many times in movies.

1. The term Pacific Islander is, itself, a problem--as well as terms like Native Hawaiian, and other terms that are just not really used much in discussions about media. That's why I was getting so little information when I was trying to research of my own.

2, and this is the kicker: The stereotype of "Savage Pacific Islander" actually IS talked about as a trope--it's just under the same category as when we talk about the "Savage Native" (Like Native American, or the savage Indian (Indian being used incorrectly to talk about Native tribes of America) the whole Damn time.

While this specific link talks about a slightly different iteration of it, the Savage Native (I refuse to call them Indians that is blatantly incorrect) also has ties to human sacrifices and blood sacrifices, all of which paint indigenous people and culture that in a bad light.

The traditional acts you described could be used in a real life culture somewhere in the world, idk, but I would advise against using it regardless. The use of blood in any kind of ritual is seen as savage or cult like, which with the Native Savage Stereotypes, you REALLY want to avoid if you're making up new shit. Even if you explain it away and make it more symbolic, the fact you're writing a new story means you really should not have the blood thing at all.

As for changing up her religion, I do quite like it! I myself wasn't sure if I should use the Atua or the Kupua as a replacement, and it's something I'm still on the dense about since I am making it blatant that she is Native Hawaiian. I was personally advised by Celest to keep it as the Atua for recognizability's sake, and it'll allow me to throw in some fun facts about actual Atua, but I still can't find anyone who will tell me if Atua and Kupua are interchangeable.

I suggest you do as MUCH research as you can about the culture of your choosing. Like for example: Native Hawaiians sometimes have names that mean disgusting or horrible things, not because their parents cursed them though--in fact it's the opposite. Ugly names are sometimes given to a child to protect them from evil spirits and bad omens if they get sick or hurt in some way. I HV that Angie actually has an ugly name that the Atua call her on her head, one that her mama gave her, and Angie is sort of a white Christian name that was probably forced onto her ngl.

Anyway.

Do research on bad tropes for Pacific Islanders, and especially more research on the "Native Savage" tropes and anything cult related to it. Do research on Hawaiian and native Hawaiian cultures and be respectful about them.

I hope this helps (and sorry if I sound abrasive or curt) xndjxjsjnxaj

[randomfoggytiger]

Updated! X-Files Mulder Trauma Responses: Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn?

I've seen various takes on Mulder's and Scully's trauma and stress responses; and I wanted to autopsy the issue carefully to reach a conclusion. We're focusing solely on Mulder here-- but! Scully will get her own post in future.

Kitsunegari Sums Up Mulder's Trauma Responses in One Scene

Mulder is too late to stop "Scully" from pulling the trigger against her temple, screaming in agony as she drops to the ground, "dead."

He then cycles through all of his First and Secondary Trauma Responses (will be discussed below):

Running up in horror, then plastering a smile in sickening denial--

Mulder attempts to feel a pulse. There is none. Scully is dead.

His grief overwhelms him-- an aggravated and more violent (if shorter) version of his sorrow in Redux II-- scrabbling at her scalp and shoulders, silently screaming into her face, before turning away so as not to vomit.

He mentally starts to drift;

but denial-- denial, denial, denial-- holds sway as he pops his head back up, reenergized,

vainly feeling for a pulse once again, eyes desperately and obsessively focused on his partner.

There is no hope.

Mulder is now losing all control, probably gearing up to an epic meltdown of Biblical proportions-- heavy breathing, desperate eyes, nothing to grasp at or solve or hold onto--

when he hears a noise. A reprieve. A focus. An enemy.

Furious, he snatches a gun and levels it at Linda Bowman, spitting in his fury

...but doesn't fire.

And allows "Bowman" to talk him down.

And further, when "Linda" fires, Mulder flinches, puts his gun up as he dissociates (looks down to his mid-left)-- freezes, if you will-- and doesn't fight back, expecting to die.

This is Mulder's Trauma Responses in full: Freeze-Fight.

He will also begin to repeat this cycle in Milagro (if shorter-- because Scully pops up, alive, sooner.)

Why Mulder Is Primarily a Freeze Type

I'm going to include this entire segment from Pete Walker's Complex CPTSD: From Surviving to Thriving (see notes at the bottom for more info) because it's such a powerful piece of Mulder-psyche that it should stand on its own:

"A Freeze Response is triggered when a person, realizing resistance is futile, gives up, numbs out into dissociation, and/or collapses, as if accepting the inevitability of being hurt.... The Freeze Response, also known as the Camouflage Response, also triggers a survivor into hiding, isolating, and avoiding human contact.

The Freeze Type can be so frozen in the retreat mode that is seems as if their "Starter" button is stuck in the "off" position.

Off all the four Fs, Freeze Types seem to have the deepest and conscious belief that 'people' and 'danger' are synonymous.

While all 4 F Types commonly suffer from social anxiety as well, Freeze Types typically take a great deal more refuge in solitude.

Some Freeze Types completely give up on relating to others and become extremely isolated. Outside of fantasy, many also give up entirely on the possibility of love."

These Types have learned from a young age that fighting back will only get you punished and that fleeing will only get you reprimanded; so, they collapse inwardly instead. Dissociation becomes the name of the game, coasting through life without being attached to it, accepting its blows and distracting themselves from reality with either fantasy or the pursuit of a fantastical idea they want to achieve.

Frank Spotnitz said it best when he reflected on Mulder's character growth and seeking 'The Truth': ""You can't get the truth. You can't. There's a larger truth, though: that you can't harness the forces of the cosmos, but you may find somebody else. You may find another human being. That may be kind of corny and all of that, but that's really it: Love is the only truth we can hope to know, as human beings. That's what Mulder and Scully found after nine years. And that's a lot."

But what about those moments when Mulder runs at danger, demanding answers and yelling down the sky?

**Edit: This is the section i had to refurbish based on proper research.**

Secondary Trauma Responses develop when circumstances are so extreme that a person's initial trauma response is not removing them from danger fast enough; and they then develop a second polar opposite response in the hopes that this will help. More often than not, it simply becomes a ping-pong whiplash between one extreme to the other. The four Hybrids are Fight-Fawn, Fight-Freeze, and Flight-Freeze. In Mulder's case, if he stays frozen for too long he will very quickly become very dead; thus, Mulder developed a secondary response: Flight.

Freeze-Flight (or Flight-Freeze-- potato, potatoh) Types

Below is an excerpt from Pete Walker, but it's so completely Mulder that I have nothing else to add:

"The Flight-Freeze Type is the least relational, most schizoid hybrid. He prefers the safety of "do it yourself" isolationism. The Fight-Fleeze Type avoids potential relationship traumatization with an obsessive-compulsive dissociative two-step. Step One is working to complete exhaustion. Step Two is collapsing into extreme vegging out and waiting until his energy reaccumulates enough to relaunch into Step One. The price for this time of no-longer-necessary safety is a severely narrowed existence."

(**Note for the below paragraph: the author is not talking about alpha/beta in the current, dilapidated vernacular. Think of it as an academic term describing more aggressive or assertive behavior as compared to more passive or dismissive behavior.)

"The Flight-Freeze cul-de-sac is more common among men, especially those traumatized for being vulnerable in childhood. This then drives them to seek safety in isolation, or "intimacy lite" relationships. Some non-alpha type male survivors combine their flight-freeze defenses to become stereotypical technology nerds. Telecommuting is, of course, their preferred modes.

Flight-Freeze Types are the computer addicts who focus on work long periods of time and then drift off dissociatively into computer games, substance abuse, or sleep binging. FF Types are prone to becoming porn addicts: when in Flight mode, they obsessively surf the net for phantom partners and engage in compulsive masturbation. When in Freeze mode, they drift off into Right-Brain sexual fantasy world if pornography is unavailable. Moreover, if they are an intimacy-light relationship, they typically engage more in with their idealized fantasy partners than with their actual partner during real-time sexual interactions."

An interesting note: these types are often misdiagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome, which explains why some fans theorize that an Oxford graduate-FBI field agent might be on the spectrum (Mulder isn't: it's a symptom of him coping very, VERY badly.)

Mulder's Freeze-Flight response kicked in sometime after his sister's abduction, since his primary Freeze response "prevented" him from saving her (even if he couldn't do anything to help.)

Since then, Mulder has buried all trauma or deep emotion in the bowels of his work in the basement, printing them out as X-Files to brand his work as his life.

For all of Mulder's talk about disliking others for dismissing something that cannot be explained, labeled, or categorized, when he can't do it himself, he goes berserk: first freezing, horrified, before he launches with righteous fury into his work, demanding answers and running himself ragged.

A potent demonstration of Mulder's yo-yo-ing Freeze-Flight Response is the Russian Roulette showdown in Pusher: Mulder more readily accepts his own death than Scully, terrified but determinedly compliant... until she becomes the next target of Modell's mind games.

It's a pattern that has already been established since her abduction, and which repeats for her cancer (and every perilous moment after and in-between.)

An important

There are countless examples where Mulder disconnects from reality in the face of great grief, ala his father's death, CSM and Diana Fowley's oily plan in One Son, and-- especially-- his mother's suicide.

In all these instances, Mulder immediately ran into work mode, trying move the world by force and come up with an explanation-- any-- to make everything right. When he is forced to sit and deal with tragic loss, his Flight peters out, leading him back to square one: an unhealthy Freeze Response.

Luckily for him, Scully is a stable, reliable support; and coaxes him into properly grieving by not sugarcoating the Truth, thereby helping him turn into healthier coping mechanisms (if he wants to use them-- he doesn't in Paper Hearts, but he does in Sein und Zeit. Baby steps.)

In short: Mulder is a Freeze-then-Flight man.

Why Mulder Isn't a Fight, Flight, or Fawn Type

To make quick work of this, I'll rely mainly on Pete Walker quotes again and add my commentary after his statements:

"A Fight [Trauma] Response is triggered when a person suddenly responds aggressively to something threatening.... Fight Types are unconsciously driven by the belief that power and control can create safety, assuage abandonment, and secure love." Extreme Fight Types often become bullies or narcissists to their loved ones as well as their enemies if left unchecked. They are demanding, demeaning, and punishing, equating strength as exerted power over someone weaker. They usually grew up in homes where they had to fight back against physical abuse or protect others from it. This translates to a bitter outlook on the world, always suspicioning the motives of others in cruel or judgmental ways.

(Note: Not much of the above is directly related to Bill Scully-- or Bill Mulder, even, see my previous post about him here-- but his natural bent is Fight above the other 3 F Types. Doesn't mean he's a bully or a narcissist; just that those would be his extremes.)

As we have seen through the entire series, Mulder as an atypical American masculine archetype: he does not resort to violence, preferring to save victims and even villains, willing to give everyone a second chance (and, by extension, giving backstabbers a clear target for their next strike.) The only time he has exerted violence over another was as a last possible extreme to stop a threat (shooting Modell, shooting the Peacock brothers, shooting Schnauz, shooting Roche, etc.)

Back to Walker:

"A Flight Response is triggered when a person responds to a perceived threat by fleeing; or, symbolically, by launching into hyperactivity. .... Extreme Flight Types are like machines with a switch stuck in the 'on' position. They are obsessively and compulsively driven by the unconscious belief that perfection will make them safe and loveable. They rush to achieve. They rush as much in thought in action, compulsion."

I will be talking about this response a little bit more in a follow-up post; but the core with this character is their ability to distract themselves from their problems into oblivion. Mulder's pains and sorrows and traumas are a constant of his life, eating away at his heart and shoving themselves in his face every day. The difference between his obsessive work ethic and a Flight Type's work ethic is the motivator: he is dabbling in his fantasy, building empires from ideas and discovering new kingdoms with every possibility; while Flight Types have ceased to function at all, robotically going from task to task until they overload or shut down.

And, lastly, back to Walker for the Fawn Trauma Response:

"Fawn Response is triggered when a person responds to threat by trying to be pleasing or helpful in order to appease and forestall an attacker.... Fawn types seek safety by merging with the wishes, needs, and demands of others. They act as if they believe that the price of admission to any relationship is the forfeiture of all their needs, rights, preferences, and boundaries. The disenfranchisement of the Fawn Type begins in childhood... learns early that a modicum of safety and attachment can be gained by becoming the helpful and compliant servant of... exploitive parents." (As an aside, this Type is also formed from having at least one narcissistic parent.)

While Mulder is often used by those around him, he never loses the core of who he is to their abuse: when Phoebe comes knocking, he may set aside the case to (try to) get some hotel action; but he's still self-aware of his and her actions, disentangled enough to self-deprecatingly (and knowingly) smirk when he catches her red-handed with another man. When his father or mother weave in and out of his life with their soft or outspoken demands, he doesn't bend from the Truth, risking his relationships continually for It. He is willing to tell Scully to her face she is lying to him; and he is willing to sacrifice what new closeness they've achieved if he believes she's being purposefully blind or obtuse. Mulder, while reliant on Scully as his human credential, is not co-dependent on her: he can stand on his own two feet, even if she were to walk out of his life. The wounds would go deep; but he would dissociate from life (like he had in Little Green Men) not erode away completely.

(As an aside, that's why probably why Mulder would have committed suicide in Gethsemane but not during the Break Up Years TM. Post IWTB Scully, while she had walked away from their life together, was still a part of his reality; whereas, S4 Scully would have been dead, deceased, gone from existence... and Mulder could never escape that, no matter how much he dissociated from it.)

How Mulder Can Use His Freeze Response Healthy

In a nutshell, a person should work through their traumas so they can pick among the 4 Trauma Responses for the healthiest outcome in each situation: Fight for healthy boundaries, Flight for healthy retreat and perseverance, Freeze for healthy awareness and distanced assessment, and Fawn for healthy assertive listening and peacemaking. Unhealthy childhoods create fixations on one of these four; and it takes a while to learn the patterns and triggers in one's life and how to manage them.

For Mulder, he grew exponentially through the years, becoming less detached and more engaged with "life on this planet" (growing from a sarcastic S1 recluse to a more emotionally honest person in S2 to a more openly supportive person in S3 to a transformed heart-on-his-sleeve man in S4-5 to someone who can find joy in S6 and peace in S7 and recreation in S8. Is there canon after that?) So, as it stands, he's doing just fine. Because if one truly searches for the Truth it might not be aliens: it might just be a whole, happy life and how to enjoy it.

And there you have it, folks!

Scully will get her own follow up, soonish (though if you don't want to wait that long, she's a pretty obvious *spoiler* Flight Type. No one's really surprised because of what happened in Fight the Future.)

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

*Note*: There are four main trauma Responses: Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn (taken from the book Complex CPTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker-- see Disclaimers section below for info.) In short: Fight Types responds to stress by physical intimidation or verbal bullying; Flight Types run as far as they can from danger or distract themselves from it as much as possible; Freeze Types disassociate, seeing fight and flight as futile and becoming numb to life; Fawn Types try to win favor from their oppressor, leaning co-dependently on others.

**Note**: Most of the information was obtained from Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker, a private counselor and lecturer for thirty-five years. As a victim of CPTSD himself, he made a study of its victims and helped craft a system for CPTSD recoverees to understand themselves and progressively heal. (Highly recommend his book-- excellent.)

***Note***: I will ghost edit later. Brb.

[sirwow]

Oo you like reading oo.. in addition of posting wraiths call intro I give you all the current pikmin character summaries I have with it tehe

Alt text under the cut for those who dont wanna zoom in on the images

Olimar

A Father of 2 and a reserved average man. Grew up in a relatively uneventful life but with a constant want to escape to the stars and see the unknown. His parents, while passable, admittedly instilled early ideals of how a good family should be and often normalized their fighting that seemed a bit more then most families but nothing he couldn’t get through. Jumped jobs after failing to pass biology in college and ended up staying at hocotate freight for 15 years. Eventually quit when pushed to his limits of risking his life.

Louie

A young, quiet and usually estranged guy with dreams of being a cook. Growing up he was immediately dumped with his nana as his father had him by accident and neither him or his GF really wanted to raise a kid as they were busy enjoying the prime of their life after highschool. Nana didn’t mind raising another darling but admittedly had some of her own issues that lead to some strange or sometimes even cruel ways of raising Louie. If he didnt help with something or caused trouble, he’d be locked outside to let off steam but often ended up walking off into the hill side for sometimes days at end. He only saw his father when he came by for more money from his dad. Hocotate freight was his 6th job after dropping out of highschool and the only one he held for awhile till quiting when he actually really did need money and was getting stiffed.

Koppites

Alph

An engineer fresh out of college now working with his best friend to try and make tech to solve the food crisis n help his family. Alph was born the second youngest in his family and though never being close to his parents, was very close with his two eldest siblings and studying under his grandfather Drake w/ Yorke. Upon his recommendation from Yorke and Drake, the capital of Koppai’s top college accepted him to get his bachelors. After 2 years he meets Brittany in a Bioengineering class and become fast friends. He starts to drive her to college and they get each other drinks. After graduating together they’re selected to be the assistants to a possibly world saving mission.

Brittany

A botanist with a hope to solve the world’s food issue with her best friend but finding herself constantly stone walled by officials. Brittany once lived the high life in Koppai with her well off mother, safe from the world’s famine. Unfortunately her mother fell horribly ill when she began college and passed shortly after, leaving Brittany to move in with her Aunt Bea and cousin Nelle. She had to grow used to her new life in a much lower end of the city and deal with her grief, being relatively lonely for the next 2 years. This is until she met Alph in college and found his willingness to push on despite his situation inspiring and became friends with him. Often calling him late at night to vent or meeting up on the beach at 10 pm to hang out. Eventually after graduation she was selected to be a team botanist on an incredibly important adventure

Charlie

A lonesome ranger with lots of fame for his adventures but little to show in friendships or any kind of companionship past his pet duck. Growing up an orphan, Charlie always yearned for love and found it In his orphan mate Don. Growing up they were best friends and the local trouble makers but with time and joining a government program together they turned from friends to something more. Together they became known as an unstoppable duo across koppai and eventually did several odd job government missions with Yorke and Nelle as their crew. Upon their 5th anniversary though, Don proposed to Charlie and his nervousness about their dangerous job got the better of him, saying no. Afterwards he couldn’t bear the broken heart eyes of Don, ghosting him for 2 weeks straight. When Don finally did catch him they had a massive blow out and broke up. Charlie continued his job as a ranger but now was completely alone for most all his missions. This was until he was asked to go on a important mission to a relatively unknown planet to save the world and the government officials wanted him to get to know his crew that would be coming with him.

minor chars

Penelope

A stay at home mother and avid jewelry maker. Though her husband Olimar is always away she does her best to take care of their kids despite feeling a bit neglected herself. As such she usually finds her own solace in small time jewelry making whenever she’s alone at home with nothing else to do. Due to a past with a mother chastising her and saying she’d never get some things in life, Penelope can make very impulsive choices when she feels she has an opportunity. This helped her meet and marry Olimar but also making some much more horrible decisions when finding his hidden stash of money. Olimar raked her across the coals for this once he got home n now she gives all her money she makes from jewelry back to him to repay slowly. She still suffers from impulsive behavior but in a better light like buying their kids nice things or taking olimar out as much as she can.

Terry

The first child of Olimar and a lover of creatures and the unknown. Terry has always had a fascination with creatures since he was 7 (as long as he doesn’t have to touch them) and since his dad’s adventures to pnf-404 he’s been longing to see it for himself. When his dad switched jobs though, their family had to make a move from Hocotate to Giya meaning a new home and new school for Terry. Terry had a friend group on Hocotate but now he’s become the punching bag for his love of biology and science. Things only felt worse after his dad left again for his mission so in a fit of spite (and stupidity) he decides to just sneak out on a taxi to see PNF-404 and surprise his dad. This to say the least did not go to plan

Lebe

The 2nd child of Olimar and princess of the house hold. Lebe being young and quick to please has always being the more social of Olimar’s kids. She was quick to forgive their mother aswell but her need to be perfect still remains after. She never liked hocotate’s small town she grew up in and has been in love with Giya since she set foot on their new home. Lebe became a popular new girl in class in contrast to her bullied brother but she thought it was just a older boy thing. This was until Terry left for school one morning with Lebe and disappeared from school and home after dropping her off. Lebe did her best to act brave in the situation like her mother but she can’t help but be scared for her brother.

Bulbie

Once when Terry and Olimar were walking home from school on Hocotate, a soft whimpering sound caught Terrys attention and dragged his dad to the bushes. Inside was a small pup only a few weeks old who seemed like the runt of the litter. Terry easily convinced his dad (as a dog person) to take the dog home to take care of. Penelope was already tired from having another kid to handle so she was pretty resistant about having a dog to worry about aswell but it slowly grew on her until she agree with Olimar to adopt the dog. Olimar named him Bulbie after the Bulbs (Hocotate version of a mushroom) like pattern on his back n has been a loving part of the family since.

[canonicallyobserving911]

Storylines for the ensemble cast aren’t being equally distributed and a lot of them lack resolution

One of the most important promotion points for 9-1-1 has always been its ensemble cast but for the past 2 and a half seasons, some viewers have noticed the way storylines haven’t been equally distributed amongst all the main characters.  The lack of equal distribution is causing some viewers to feel like the show has been off balance since season 3 or it seems like something is missing.  There’s no depth or breadth in the storylines that are being established and while some of the mains are continuing to get storylines each season, they rarely last for more than one or two episodes.  Others haven’t had individual storylines in more than 4 or 5 seasons unless it was inextricably linked to their significant other’s storylines, while only one of them has consistently been given storylines that last for multiple episodes or entire seasons even though he is also constantly involved in other main cast members’ storylines.  There has also been an issue with the lack of resolution for some storylines because they were abruptly ended without any closure which means the audience had to do mental gymnastics to try and figure out what could have happened offscreen as opposed to those resolution scenes being shown onscreen.   To illustrate the way storylines have been unequally distributed, summaries of the main characters’ storylines or lack thereof have been included below.

Disclaimer: This is a long post but it had to be long so that each main character’s storylines or lack thereof could be analyzed and evaluated.

Main Characters

Athena’s had several storylines over the years that were all her own including the unsolved murder of Tonya Kingston that was finally resolved and closed in 6x3 “The Devil You Know” but once she returned to L.A., she didn’t tell anyone, including her best friend Hen about how relieved she felt after it took them 45 years to find out who did it.  Also the man who killed Tonya knew Athena and she told Bobby that Junior used to chase her through those orange groves so that should have been traumatic for her.  She first told Hen about Tonya in 2x7 “Haunted” so it would have made narrative sense for them to have a conversation about it instead of them talking about lottery tickets in 6x8 “9-1-1 What’s Your Fantasy?”.  After all the trauma her and Harry had to deal with regarding Jeffrey in 5A, it would have also made sense for Athena to still be in therapy about her attack and Harry’s kidnapping.  Additionally it would have been great to show how Athena coped after she worked with the police in a different state to help them solve Tonya’s murder in 6x3, especially since she knew the murderer and since she has two children of her own and one of them is living in another state. Unlike May who is an adult and is in college, Harry is still young and even though he’s in Florida with his father, Michael, it’s clear Athena still worries about her son because she was upset in 5x14 “Dumb Luck” after that teenager got hit by a car because he was wearing sneakers that reminded her of Harry.  To illustrate how she was feeling, she should have been shown dealing with all of that in therapy instead of it being brushed under the rug like everything else has been including her therapy after 3x17 “Powerless”. While it’s great that she’s a sergeant, it’s also noticeable that she’s usually the first and sometimes the only one from the LAPD to respond to a scene with the 118 like she did in 6x8; therefore some other recurring characters should be continuously included in those storylines that require police or detectives to be present during a call like Detective Ransone. Athena can’t be the only police officer who responds to the majority of the 118’s calls even though it appears their paths cross a lot since they’re probably assigned to the same geographic region of L.A.  In real life, the same police sergeant wouldn’t show up at every scene with the firehouse that’s captained by her husband. There are so many things they could do with Athena’s storylines including have her train a rookie.  Maddie did a ride along with her in 2x5 “Awful People” and they worked great together as a team to save the owner of a restaurant who had been stabbed; therefore it would be interesting to see her train a young police officer who is fresh out of the academy.  If she were allowed to do that it would be a callback to 3x7 “Athena Begins” because she was a rookie and the audience had the chance to see all the things she had to deal with as a young African American woman who joined the police force when it was still being predominately employed by Caucasian males. If the rookie is a woman, then Athena could tell her about some of the discriminatory behaviors that still exist within the police force.  Or maybe Athena could pursue another promotion again even though she turned down the one that was offered to her in 2x4 “Stuck”.  It would be great to see her have another awesome storyline that doesn’t require her getting almost killed or having her family put in danger like they were in the past including when May tried to commit suicide in 1x3 “Next of Kin”, Michael became ill and it was diagnosed in 3x10 “Christmas Spirit”, Bobby getting shot in 4x14 “Survivors” or when Harry was kidnapped by Jeffrey in 5x2 “Desperate Times”. She’s an awesome police sergeant and she definitely has the skills to teach rookies how to be good at their jobs.  Her and Bobby have discussed retirement a few times after Athena was attacked in 3x17 and the reality for both of them is they are maturing and will likely have to consider retirement sometime in the next few years.  Therefore a “beginning to prepare for retirement” storyline is plausible so that she could begin to explore available options that will include what she will do once that day arrives.

Bobby is captain of the 118 firehouse but based on the way his storylines have been treated since 2x16 “Bobby Begins Again”, the only way new viewers would know that he’s the captain is by reading his helmet.  He hasn’t had a storyline that didn’t include Athena since season 2 when he got suspended. Yes, they are married but Athena’s had several storylines that didn’t include Bobby because he was just there for her moral support like he was in 6x3.  What happened after Bobby was shot in 4x14 “Survivors”?  Did he go to therapy? Like Eddie’s shooting, Bobby’s shooting was told from his partner’s, Athena’s perspective so the audience would like to know how Bobby dealt with or is still dealing with being gunned down by a former LAPD sniper?  Eddie had panic attacks (of course his attacks were about more than him being shot again) but Bobby’s the captain and his team was in danger.  He told Eddie in 5x18 that it’s his job to protect his team; therefore a sniper who was targeting firefighters had to be traumatic for all of them.  There’s a lot to explore with his character including his legacy firefighting family, his interactions with other fire captains and he should be training someone to take over as captain of the 118 since he and Athena are maturing which means they will have to face retirement at some point in the future. When will the audience be introduced to someone, anyone from his family of legacy firefighters?  Are his parents still alive?  How many brothers does he have?  Is he the youngest, oldest or in the middle?  Does he still communicate with them or did they write Bobby off after he caused the apartment fire that killed his wife, children and more than 100 other people in Minnesota? Has his family met Athena?  It’s a fair question because Athena’s parents met him during season 2 but other than his deceased wife and children, no one has seen any of Bobby’s family.  It would be interesting if one of his brothers moved to L.A. to join the LAFD after being involved in a scandal in Minnesota.  The audience hardly knows anything substantial about Bobby so it would be great if he could get a storyline that’s all his own.  He’s getting older which means he can’t keep working as a firefighter/captain forever.  Also why can’t he be sent to an LAFD retreat with other fire captains so they can discuss any problems/solutions that happened within their firehouses, i.e. Jonah Greenway? When will Bobby be allowed to deal with all the guilt he’s been carrying for years?  In season 1, he had continuous conversations with his priest about the things he experienced on the job but he hasn’t been shown talking to his priest in more than 5 seasons.  It was clear in 5x3 “Desperate Measures” after Harry had been kidnapped by Jeffrey that he still prays.  Also Bobby is still carrying the guilt associated with the Jonah situation from 5x17 “Hero Complex” but it hasn’t been mentioned since he poured that bottle of alcohol down the drain after Eddie left.  How is he dealing with the fact that two of his paramedics were almost killed by someone he hired?  When Chimney said, “The call was coming from inside of the house” in 5x13 “Fear-O-Phobia” regarding his and Maddie’s breakup, his statement can also be applied to the Jonah situation because unlike 4x13 “Suspicion” and 4x14 “Survivors”, the call/traitor was already inside of the 118 and the LAFD not the LAPD; therefore Bobby should be in therapy discussing the way he feels responsible for hiring Jonah which put his two best paramedics in danger.  He should also be working with Chief Alonso to implement some standards regarding new hires to prevent someone like Jonah from being hired again.  Additionally he can send LD back to the 147 where she came from since she was hired at the same time as Jonah and Bobby was shown to not trust her in 5x18.  Why hasn’t he done any evaluations with Chimney, Hen, Eddie and Buck?  He should have annual performance reviews with them to determine what their goals and aspirations are and/or where they want to be from a career perspective within the next 3 to 5 years.  If he knew what everyone wanted to accomplish, then there wouldn’t have been a need for him to go through the motions of choosing LD in 6x1 “Let the Games Begin” to be interim captain since he didn’t ask anyone to do it and he just assumed her 10 years of experience made her more than qualified for the job.  It appears he and Athena like to be detectives and solve crimes during their off time so maybe the show could explore them thinking about starting a detective agency when they retire which would be a callback to 4x12 “Treasure Hunt” since they worked together to find the treasure.  Bobby’s the leader of the 118 and while he has been there for his team, whenever they needed him, when is someone going to be there for him like Eddie was in 5x18 “Starting Over”? Bobby needs his own storyline that revolves around him being a fire captain but it doesn’t have to be about everyone else at the 118.

Chimney hasn’t had a storyline since season 3 when Albert arrived in 3x11 “Seize the Day” and prior to that he didn’t have one that wasn’t linked to Maddie since season 1 when he had the rebar through his skull and it included his relationship with Tatiana.  Even during season 2, since he was stabbed by Maddie’s husband Doug, that storyline doesn’t count as one that was solely about Chimney. Season 5A could have been the perfect time to give him an awesome storyline since he was a single father after Maddie left. Buck, Albert and the Lees could have helped him raise Jee-Yun while she was away but just like everything else on the show, the storyline they chose didn’t make any narrative sense at all.  Why was a paramedic, who had a 6-month-old baby, sent on a road trip to drive across the United States to find Maddie when he could have been at home working and getting help with their daughter from her two uncles?  Maddie could have been sent to an in-treatment center in Northern California if they didn’t want her to be in L.A. (more on Maddie in the Maddie section) but that would have been too easy or made too much sense.  Also Chimney could have his own storyline in season 6 regarding the way he's struggling with learning to trust Maddie again.  It was clear in 6x1 that he still has trust issues with her because he told Eddie and Bobby that he was still waiting for…after they had their one-night stand. Of course his trust is still affected since she left and didn’t tell him where she was going.  Also it would be a callback to season 1 with all of the trust issues he’s had with women like Tatiana when he didn’t believe he was enough so he told her stories about other firefighters instead of telling her the true stories about himself.  This is one of the many storylines that just evaporated into thin air and wasn’t revisited. Maybe they should have kept his and Maddie’s couple’s therapy in 6x1 instead of foregoing it for a lackluster blimp emergency that only had two emergencies and was over before the first commercial break.  Also Chimney had a rebar in his skull after he got into an accident in 1x3 which means him being trapped in a car with a drunk driver in 6x4 should have been somewhat traumatizing for him.   Additionally his brother Albert was involved in the drunk driver accident on the freeway in season 4 so that too should have prompted a reaction from Chimney since he could have died if the driver would have wrecked his car.  Why wasn’t he allowed to go to therapy to discuss that?  He went to therapy after the stabbing and he mentioned it to the team in 3x9 “Fallout”.  How is Chimney dealing with almost being killed by Jonah in 5x17 “Hero Complex”? That had to be traumatizing since his heart was stopped twice.  Yes, he and Hen discussed it while they were in the hospital but Chimney literally could have died at the hands of someone they all trusted (except for Hen because she never trusted Jonah).  Finally Chimney could have a storyline about helping Eddie become a full paramedic since they’ve been paired together throughout season 6 instead of them just being together to make jokes and laugh at things about curses like they did in 6x7 “Cursed” which was almost identical to the way their friendship was portrayed in 4x6 “Jinx”. Chimney could be his mentor and help Eddie get whatever certifications he needs to become a full paramedic instead of him continuing to be a medic.  What are Chimney’s goals?  Does he want to be captain at another firehouse someday? Why can’t he be the lieutenant at the 118?  Does the 118 even have a lieutenant? These are topics that could be explored instead of just keeping him on the sidelines to sit in the bathtub with Maddie to talk about her job like they did in in 6x5 “Home Invasion”. Have they even had any meaningful conversations since 6x1?  No but they certainly had a lot of time to talk about Magda, the nanny Maddie ended up re-homing at the end of 6x5.  Why can’t Chimney’s storyline involve the dangers associated with the job especially since he has a daughter now who needs him to come back home? Are they ever going to talk about him being trapped in that car with a drunk driver?  Probably not but Chimney needs a storyline that’s all his own so that he can get closure on things that haven’t been resolved since season 1.

Christopher could receive his own storylines since he’s older and he has asked Eddie for more independence.  He was skipping science club meetings to meet with his friends so maybe a storyline that illustrates how he has to make a tough decision like skipping school instead of just skipping science club meetings could be beneficial.  It would show that he knows how to take care of himself since he told Eddie in 6x4 that he wasn’t a baby and that he didn’t need Eddie to take care of him.  He’ll be entering his teen years soon which means he should start having storylines all on his own like the crush he has on someone he goes to school with that was mentioned in 6x8.

Hen’s most recent medical school storyline ended in 6x6 “Tomorrow”, however prior to that, she hasn’t had a storyline all of her own that didn’t include the others from the 118 since her and Karen were foster parents and had to deal with Evangeline’s, Nia’s mom, return; since her mother, Toni showed up during season 4 or since Eva returned in 5x7 “Ghost Stories” to say she was moving away (Hen and Karen’s interactions with Eva could have happened OFFSCREEN!  She could have written them a letter to say she was leaving forever so that Karen didn’t have to talk to her).  In season 5, her medical school storyline was practically ignored except for in 5x6 “Brawl in Cell Block 9-1-1” but Toni’s storyline was front and center in 5x9 “Past is Prologue”.  Hen was the only one who was ALWAYS suspicious of Jonah so what happened after they were adult napped and tortured by him?  That was Jonah’s storyline not hers so will she be called to testify before a grand jury or will he be taken to trial?  Has anything else happened with Jonah or are they going to act like Jonah just went to prison until two more seasons have passed like they did with Jeffrey and Athena? It was obvious in 5x18 that she was still upset about it because she was the one who turned off the TV when the announcer mentioned TayKay. How is Hen dealing with the fact that she had to watch Chimney’s heart be stopped by Jonah?  She discussed it with him in 5x17 but that had to be hard for her to watch as her best friend’s heart was stopped, not once but twice. She was very distraught after she hit that woman with the ambulance in 3x8 “Malfunction” so the incident with Jonah should have warranted some type of therapy session instead of it just being resolved and everyone moved on from it.  What does the future hold for Hen? Will she and Karen start fostering children again since Hen dropped out of medical school and their lives won’t change the way the social worker said Karen told her their lives would?  Hen was an excellent interim captain so what are her future career goals? Is she just planning to be a paramedic until she retires?  Does she even want to be a captain again?  Is there a role as a lead paramedic she could aspire to obtain?  What will she do now?  Since she’s been in medical school will she be allowed to implement the medical training she learned as a paramedic or will it be like it was in season 3 where she’ll get reprimanded for performing a medical procedure that she wasn’t supposed to? Since she’s no longer in medical school, there should be a way to incorporate the things she learned into her job as a paramedic.  Maybe she and Chimney could both work with Eddie to help him become a full paramedic.   All three of them have been working as paramedics since the beginning of season 6 so it would make narrative sense if that was an option they decided to implement for her storyline.  Also based on the synopsis for 6x9 “Red Flag”, Denny is supposed to ask about his biological parents again so hopefully they WILL NOT BRING EVA BACK because Hen and Karen have suffered enough.  They are happy now especially after Karen and Denny were in danger in 6x6.  Can Hen get her own storyline that doesn’t involve or include Eva?  It would be great if she could because there are so many other things that could be explored with her character.  She’s a natural born leader and now that she and Bobby had a conversation about her being the interim captain there shouldn’t be any guessing as to what her character can do next.

Maddie’s storylines are always GLOOM AND DOOM and even though the actress has the ability to cry and it’s unmatched by some, it would be nice if some of her storylines didn’t revolve around her ability to cry.  Many viewers have commented that they are tired of seeing Maddie cry in almost every episode and if one were to view her scenes, it’s true, her storylines always have her crying.  The audience gets the fact that she was in an abusive marriage and while no one expects for her to ever be over that, there should be some lighthearted storylines that can be written for her.  During season 5, was the only option to let Maddie run all the way to Boston to learn how to stop running? Seriously? She couldn’t learn how to do that from a treatment center located in Northern California?  It wasn’t like she went to Boston and visited the house she and Doug lived in or to move on from that part of her life.  Actually, she said her goodbyes to Doug in 3x10 “Christmas Spirit” when Frank took her back to the woods where she killed him so the Boston thing didn’t make a lot of sense or the storyline didn’t include enough details for it to make narrative sense.  Also she tried to help a woman who was being abused by her husband in 3x8, the woman accused Maddie of stalking her and Maddie almost got fired because of it.  Therefore it would make sense if a position was created within the dispatch center that would allow Maddie to incorporate specific protocols for callers who are involved in domestic abuse situations that would get them the assistance they need like she was able to obtain for Lourdes in 6x4.  Since Maddie experienced domestic violence and it’s obvious from the call she took from Claribel that it still affects her, she should be allowed to start a First Responder’s Foundation for Victims of Domestic Violence within the call center and she should be allowed to assist with those types of calls if and when needed.  There are so many things that can be written that are lighthearted and fun especially since Jee-Yun is growing up. Why can’t she have a mother daughter day with her?  Or maybe she could take some different types of 9-1-1 calls instead of her always taking calls that reignite her personal traumas?  Why can’t she take a call from a child who needs help with their homework in CANON?  She mentioned they take calls like that to Albert in 5x13 “Fear-O-Phobia” but she’s never been the one taking them.  Maddie had to raise Buck practically on her own when their parents emotionally checked out of their lives so that is definitely a topic that could be explored since some children have to step up when their parents won’t in real life.  Also Maddie said in 5x12 “Boston” that she doesn’t talk to her mother about things like depression so that would be a good storyline for her to have with Margaret.  Maybe they need to talk to each other directly without Philip and Buck being present so that Maddie can tell her how she felt as a 9-year-old who had to become a mother way before it was time since her little brother, Evan needed her.  That conversation could be EPIC if it’s handled properly and Maddie should be able to share how she doesn’t want Jee-Yun to experience the types of things she had to experience while she lived with them in Hershey, PA. Maddie’s storylines should be allowed to evolve and show how much she’s grown since she had the courage to leave Doug in season 2 and since she’s been able to rebuild her life and happiness.  It hasn’t always been sunbeams and moon pies but she’s trying and things are getting better. She still has a long way to go but she’s back at work and she told Chimney that she missed the call center in 5x18 so she’s on the right path.

May’s season 4 and 5 dispatcher storyline was never shown to be closed because there were two things that were left unresolved.  May was never told about the cause of Claudette’s death since they finally became acquaintances in 5x16 “May Day” while they were in the quiet room which wasn’t long before Claudette died.  This is especially jarring since May was the one who said, “Hen, she was fine. I don’t understand” at the hospital and she also said, “It feels like it should be somebody’s fault” after the funeral in 5x17.  Did anyone tell her that it was Jonah?  It obviously wasn’t a secret since Taylor broadcasted the story to the greater L.A. area before the man had even been charged so why couldn’t the show have included a scene that had May asking Bobby about what happened to her?  Or maybe she could have had a conversation with Hen and Athena about it.  The second thing that didn’t receive any closure involved May not being shown telling her friends and co-workers goodbye after she worked at dispatch for two years.  Like Eddie, she just left dispatch in 5x18 but neither of them were shown talking with the other people who worked there before they left.  Finally where are they taking her storyline now that she’s in college? Especially since she had to revert back to using her 9-1-1 dispatcher skills in 6x8 “9-1-1 What’s Your Fantasy?”  What’s her major in college?  Is she still planning to be a lawyer or will she change her mind after 6x8 and become a police officer like Athena?  One thing that would close one of her storylines is if she could participate in her college campus’ suicide prevention center since she was affected by the 9-1-1 call she took where the young woman took a lot of pills but was saved after the paramedics arrived.  She could also be a student career counselor because she worked for two years before she decided to enroll in college.  Even though the actress is enrolled in college in real life, her storylines could be more exciting than just having her rescue her boyfriend Darius from the disturbed roommate who assaulted him in 6x8.

Eddie’s storylines are always shortened and his scenes are crammed in at the end or somewhere during the middle of an episode but they always end abruptly and it seems like some of his scenes were being cut or didn’t get filmed.  That’s how his hero storyline was handled in 5x17 “Hero Complex” because his part was over right after the 30-minute mark within the episode which also includes the airtime used for commercials.  The reconciliation scene with Ramon just ended and it was like, ok all is good now with Ramon and Eddie since they made up but there weren’t any additional scenes to confirm that until 6x4.  Also most of the time his storylines get sidelined so that the spotlight can be pointed towards Buck.  His introduction in 2x1 “Under Pressure” was shown from Buck’s perspective and most of his storylines have continued in that manner. Eddie had a support system with his abuela and his aunt when he first moved to L.A. but once Buck stepped in and introduced him to Carla in 2x4, Isabel and Pepa were sidelined and only included in episodes that have Eddie’s other family members in it, the Christmas party at the 118 in 3x10 or his welcome home party in 4x14 which also included TayKay (who everyone knows Eddie never liked and therefore her being there didn’t make any NARRATIVE SENSE other than to keep the audience from believing that Buck and Eddie will end up in a romantic relationship) but his abuela and aunt were barely shown in seasons 3, 4 and 5.   He hasn’t had a storyline that was solely about Eddie since season 3 when he started participating in that fight club in 3x5 “Rage” that didn’t end until 3x8 “Malfunction” and that too was somehow made to be about Buck because Buck made that about himself in 3x9 when he asked Eddie if he really wanted to punch him while he was fighting. In 3x15 “Eddie Begins” the whole episode and storyline was supposed to be ABOUT EDDIE (hence the title Eddie Begins) but one of the most memorable scenes from that episode included Buck clawing at the ground in an effort to dig Eddie up with his hands. Eddie was sidelined from his own shooting in 4x13 and 4x14 because even though Eddie was the one who got shot, THE AUDIENCE NEVER HEARD anything from Eddie about The Shooting based on the way it affected him because just like Bobby’s shooting was told from Athena’s perspective, Eddie’s was all told from Buck’s perspective.  Bobby told Buck that what happened to Eddie wasn’t his fault and even when Buck arrived at the hospital after Eddie woke up from his coma, Buck told him it should have been him who got shot instead of Eddie.   Eddie’s panic attacks were also overshadowed by Buck because Buck was the one who made Eddie tell him what was going on in 5x2 and he was also the one who told Eddie to break up with Ana.  The same thing happened with most of Eddie’s PTSD storyline because he told Buck to move on in 5x11 “Outside Looking In” but he said it during the dinner he prepared for Buck that took place at his house but Buck brought TayKay with him which also didn’t make any narrative sense because EDDIE HAS ALWAYS DISLIKED TAYLOR so her being there was JARRING.  Then he walked into the bar, looked at Buck and left because he felt left out since he quit firefighting.  To top it all off Eddie’s breakdown was also told from Buck’s perspective in 5x13 because the audience didn’t see the destruction he caused to his bedroom, only the aftermath was shown after Buck broke down Eddie’s bedroom door.  His breakdown scenes were shortened and pushed to the end of 5x13 when there was only 5 minutes left before the episode ended and it seemed like a lot of the scenes were left out and that was confirmed when a season 5 “We are family” recap video for 9-1-1 surfaced and it included some unseen breakdown footage of Eddie and Buck that never made it into the episode.  Even the Equine Therapy scene was overshadowed with Buck and TayKay because he asked her to help him find Charlie when he should have been allowed to talk to Athena especially since she’s a REAL POLICE SERGEANT and not some amateur detective like TayKay was in 5x7 “Ghost Stories”.  They didn’t let Eddie tell Buck to break up with Taylor in 5x18 even though they should have because Buck was the one who told him to end it with Ana in 5x2.  Now Eddie has his own storyline and it’s all about Christopher growing up and Eddie learning how to let go so that Christopher can have some independence.  That too is being overshadowed by Buck’s ridiculous sperm donor storyline because it’s preventing him from being there for Eddie and Christopher ONSCREEN.  It’s been clear for a while to viewers who’ve cared to notice that BUCK AND EDDIE HAVE BEEN CO-PARENTING Christopher for years so it’s not a stretch for viewers to notice that something is off with their relationship in season 6.  While it's obvious that they are talking to each other OFFSCREEN, hence the Hoover handoff in 6x5, it doesn’t make any sense especially when they’ve always been within arm’s reach of each other.  Buck has always been there for them even when Eddie’s deceased wife was present in 2x10 “Merry X-Mas” because Eddie took Buck with him so that Christopher could visit with Santa instead of taking his wife who is also Christopher’s mother.  Is Eddie still in therapy?  If so, it would be nice to see more of his sessions especially since he hasn’t been shown talking to Frank since 5x14.  What is going on with Eddie and Helena, his mother?  He went to El Paso for Ramon’s retirement party in 5x17 but he never told his mother how she affected him while he was growing up.  Reminder, Ramon wasn’t there since he spent 40 years traveling for work but she was so it doesn’t make any narrative sense for Eddie to avoid having an in-depth conversation with her too.  He’s talking to Ramon regularly but does he talk to Helena?  Where is Eddie’s Tia’ Pepa?  We haven’t seen her since 5x17 and she still lives in L.A. so that doesn’t make any sense either.   Since Christopher is getting older and is almost a teenager now, is it still necessary for Carla to be involved with Eddie’s and Christopher’s father/son moments?  It seems like those moments would be better served if they happened with someone from his family instead of with Carla.  While Carla was in 5x10 “Wrapped in Red” and she was also mentioned in 5x18, why couldn’t Tia’ Pepa have been the one who was allowed to help Eddie and Christopher get ready for the dance since Buck wasn’t allowed to do it?  Pepa knows Eddie better than anyone except for his abuela Isabel, therefore she would be able to provide more insight about his feelings regarding his son growing up along with the things Eddie will have to start doing for himself. What are Eddie’s goals now that Christopher is growing up?  What will he do other than sit home alone whenever Christopher’s gone out with his friends?  Does he want to move up in the LAFD?  Or is he happy where he is now as a firefighter and medic?  He needs a storyline all his own too just like Chimney and Bobby. Can the audience please see Eddie and Karen’s friendship ONSCREEN instead of them having to scan through episodes to see them standing next to each other to try and figure out when they became friends?  A wine night between the two of them would be EPIC!  Also can the audience please get some serious ONSCREEN conversations happening between Eddie and Chimney?  After 6x5 when Eddie went to Chimney’s apartment, it was evident that they are friends but their friendship is never shown outside of the firehouse.  They had breakfast in 6x2 so that would have been a great time to show them talking about other things like Chimney’s trust issues with Maddie so that Eddie could give him advice on how he handled or didn’t handle the trust issues he had with his deceased wife. There are so many things that can be done with Eddie’s character but they’re being overshadowed and ignored.

Buck gets the most and the longest storylines of any main character on the show and he’s also included in almost everyone else’s storylines.  But it hasn’t always been like that because in seasons 2 and 3 his storylines lasted for a maximum of 1 to 4 episodes but now his storylines last for 14-18 episodes and one carried over from season 4 into season 5. He’s a part of an ensemble cast which means everyone should receive an equal and balanced number of storylines but that’s not happening.  The storylines for Buck aren’t even good ones because they don’t show him growing, progressing or maturing and the audience is not happy about any of it.  Comments from audience members that have been posted on different social media platforms include: “Whiny baby!”, “I hate Buck’s sperm donor story with my very being”, “He’s so immature.”, “I can’t watch his scenes anymore”; “When are they going to let Buck grow up?”, “I just fast forward through his scenes now”, “OMG, he’s becoming so hard to watch”, “Stop regressing him”, “Buck just gets stupider and stupider every season”, “Is Buck going to always be someone’s punching bag?” and the list goes on and on. His storylines have been all over the place during season 6 and it started with him wanting to be interim captain but that ended after he moved his leather chair to the middle of his living room in 6x1. Then he started his search for happiness in 6x2 “Crash and Learn” but he quickly abandoned it after Lev died while they were on the scene at the Happiness Convention.  Then he started a year of saying “yes to the possibilities” but that dropped off after he agreed to be a sperm donor for his former roommate in 6x4 which doesn’t make any NARRATIVE sense because he hadn’t talked to Connor in more than 3 years. He was hiding it from his found family which means he really didn’t want to do it but he made the donation anyway in 6x7 and now he’s spending all his spare time with Hen since they’ve had several conversations about his “swimmers”.   Buck constantly blames himself for everything (including things he has no control over), he makes other people’s problems about him, he never admits when he’s hurting and unhappy and since he’s not being allowed to grow and mature, the audience would like to know when his storylines will show the way he’s grown over the past six years.  If he’s supposed to be regressing or suffering from some mental health issues then it’s not translating well to the audience because his erratic behavior isn’t much different from where it was in the past.  What’s with the showrunners’ fascination with what’s in Buck’s pants? Every season his storylines revolve around someone trying to get into his pants. In season 1 it was the random women he hooked up with, Dr. Wells and Abby. In season 2 it was Taylor and Ali, in seasons 4 and 5 it was Taylor and in season 6 it’s Kameron, even though she’s doing it indirectly through her husband Connor. There’s an abundance of storylines available for each character but for some reason Buck gets most of them and his storylines always drag out for 18 episodes unlike everyone else’s, who is lucky enough to even get a storyline, are usually over within 2 to 3 episodes.  Buck should be written as more than just a HIMBO who hooks up with women because he has other characteristics that aren’t being properly explored. He was an excellent mentor to TK in the LS Crossover episode 2x3 “Hold the Line” when Owen and Hen were missing after their helicopter crashed. He told TK that even though his captain wasn’t his dad, he may as well be because Bobby never gives up on him even after he stole the firetruck.  But one year later, on OG when Buck was training Ravi in 5x5 “Peer Pressure” he acted like a narcissist and didn’t treat Ravi with any respect at all. That would have been the perfect time for Bobby to step in and tell Buck that he didn’t train him like that so he should have been more of a leader especially if he wants to become a captain someday.  But that was probably too much because Buck wanted to transfer out of the 118 after he saw Ravi getting a simple pat on the back from Bobby for doing a job well done.  Please explore Buck’s other characteristics instead of continuing to use recurring characters who are being incorporated into his storylines for the sole purpose of doing the same things to him that his parents did which was use him for his body parts because he’s smart and he has a lot to offer. Not only does Buck get a lot of storylines that drag on for multiple seasons; he’s also included in other people’s storylines as well.  For example, instead of either Karen, Athena or Chimney being the one to encourage Hen to ask her professor to retake her exam in 6x4, it was an offhanded albeit drunk comment from Buck that caused her to make the decision when he said, “You would have made one heck of a great doctor” after she helped the 118 with a call about Hoover the dog.  Why was Buck the one searching that woman’s house in 6x5 after Athena told him they had already completed a sweep of the house and didn’t find anyone? Shouldn’t a detective have gone searching in the kitchen? Buck has time to go to a Renaissance Faire with Hen and Denny in 6x8 but he couldn’t go to Christopher’s school with Eddie for Christopher’s first dance?  Why didn’t Buck admit how unhappy he was in 5x18 when he broke up with TayKay instead of admitting something he already knew about her?  The available interim captain spot in 6x1 was another storyline that was made to include Buck but nothing came of it since he stopped talking about it.  He asked Hen about happiness in 6x2 but just like the interim captain spot, nothing came of that either.  It made sense for Eddie to show up at Marisol’s house since he was in the ambulance with Chimney when they transported her brother to the hospital in 6x5 but why was Buck there instead of Chimney? Or in fact, why wasn’t all of the 118 present to help repair her house instead of just Buck and Eddie and all those other people the audience didn’t recognize? Why is Hen not telling Buck things he needs to consider about being a sperm donor since they are besties now? Why is Buck not talking to anyone about his decision to be a sperm donor?  He’s always told everyone what’s going on in his personal life so this storyline DOESN’T MAKE ANY NARRATIVE SENSE because he’s acting OOC. Will it end soon since the Buckleys will be present in 6B?  How much longer will Buck be regressed back to the season 1 version of himself?  While it’s true he’s not having sex with random people anymore, he’s still not able to make any formidable decisions for himself. Buck had a conversation with Thomas in 2x8 “Buck Actually” more than 5 years ago but he still hasn’t grasped what Thomas told him.  Basically Thomas told him that he could live his life however he chooses and love whomever he wants to in order to be happy but Buck STILL DOESN’T UNDERSTAND. He talked with Red almost three years ago in 3x16 “The One That Got Away” but he’s still not getting it because he's supposed to be building a life for himself instead of being committed to his job but he is still stuck and continues to neglect building a life of his own which is the exact opposite of what Red told him to do. Eddie and Christopher are right in front of him but he keeps looking past them. Then Lev told him months ago in 6x2 about the secret to happiness but Buck missed it. He was supposed to realize that he can choose to be happy now instead of waiting until he’s Lev’s age and regretting everything he did since it would all end up being a blur anyway. Buck’s storylines could be so much better than the way they are being portrayed but for some reason the ones being chosen for him keep him looking like a HIMBO.  He isn’t portrayed like that when he’s with Eddie because when they’re together he's more of a HUSBAND.  It would be great if the show finally allowed Buck to mature and grow so that he can realize what’s in front of him.  It’s the family he’s always wanted with Eddie and Christopher but for some reason they keep putting people in his path within the storylines to stunt his growth and to delay him and Eddie from becoming a romantic couple.

Buck’s storylines have been drawn out to last for entire seasons while Bobby and Chimney haven’t had dedicated storylines since season 2 for Bobby and season 3 for Chimney.  Any storylines they’ve had were inextricably linked to Athena for Bobby and Maddie for Chimney.  Eddie gets storylines but they’re always sidelined or overshadowed by the ridiculous storylines that have only shown Buck regressing and not growing. Other than Hen’s medical school storyline (which is over) it appears there aren’t any plans to do anything other than have her possibly have to talk to Eva again since Denny will ask about his biologically parents in 6x9 “Red Flag”.  Instead of recurring characters being brought on solely for Buck’s storylines that last for 18 episodes, recurring characters should also be considered for the other mains’ storylines too.  There’s no reason why Captain Mehta couldn’t be brought back to have conversations with Bobby or another fire captain from a different firehouse.  Maybe they could bring back RAVI since the audience loves his character but his storylines have been vaporized and it’s like he was never on the show since they won’t mention the character anymore. Recent comments from viewers on one social media platform have stated how they will decide after 6x9 “Red Flag” airs if they will return to watch in 6B because they haven’t enjoyed the first 8 episodes of the season so far.  While the second half of the season appears to be promising, it has a long way to go if the show wants to get all of the viewers who stopped watching in 5B and to prevent those who might decide to stop watching after 6x9 to return. The storylines have to be better for the second half or they might risk losing even more viewers than they already have.  Just like at the end of 5B, the audience is EXHAUSTED but season 6 won’t be halfway finished until after 6x9 airs, therefore this shouldn’t be happening especially since all the mains are present and accounted for during season 6.  Also with 5 million or fewer viewers watching episodes each week, it appears all the show cares about are the demo numbers instead of reading the complaints from viewers that continue to be posted regarding the way something seems to be missing from the show. The number of viewers they have achieved this season is still a far cry from the success of other shows that have been on for a lot longer.  Hopefully things will be better in March 2023 and storylines will become more balanced for the entire ensemble cast.

[e17omm]

Interesting. Welp, lots of thoughts about HSR 2.2 below.

Lots of thoughts so Ill start with a checklist.

Firefly: good so far. It doesnt seem like she hates her life being trapped in the SAM suit, and thats good. I was worried they were going to make her despise having to be Sam. Seems that she can survive for a while without the suit, which I find fine.

Now as long as they make her fight AS Sam and they wont really have screwed up anything with her. Not everyone needs to have superpowers. Let Firefly's powers come through Sam. She'll be a really unique character that way. Seriously, who else fights using a mechanical body armor like an anime Iron Man in a Hoyoverse game? I'd have no issues with Firefly then.

Well, except one thing, but I'll get to that later.

Now, the fucking plot twist? Holy shit. This really went from "that was kinda anticlimactic. We really went from "we do the cool thing" to "someone else does the cool thing" to "we pass out before we see the cool thing" like, really? Everythings solved and we're already ready to leave? We get on the train, have a chat with everyone, vote on where to go. And (presses hands together in front of my mouth) holy fucking shit.

My one issue is that I wish they actually ended the 2.2 story after the plot twist reveal. Of all the "cliffhangers" and "plot twists" they have tried to do, THIS WAS THE SPOT TO DO IT. THIS WAS IT. This was HUGE. Its in the third Penacony mission, so it would have avoided that thing with "oh yeah you totally wiped out the Herrscher of Dominance halfway through the second chapter" thing. Like, this is the end. We're done. We won and are leaving. In the 3rd story mission. This was THE moment to reveal the plot twist, just barely start it to not leave everyone confused, and then end it and save it for a 4th story mission in 2.3

But it was way too short. It was way too easy to just, get all the crucial pieces and solve the puzzle. We started Act 3 of the story and it only lasted like 20 minutes. It really could have done with SOME difficulty in getting all the important pieces to solve everything.

But we just learn about the plot twist, everyone important groups up, and we fight the final boss. Just like that.

Next on the list, Acheron! Or should I say, Raiden Mei? When that shadow asked for her name, I was PRAYING that Hoyo knew what they were doing, and they did! They didnt skimp out on it! Didnt go the whole "I have lost my memory of it" which would have been such a cop-out. But nope! They did it!

And the Honkai music? Fuck I had chills. And this is pure nostalgia of the best parts of HI3. Those parts were so good that you remember the music and the feelings you had with those notes.

I cant remember much of the music at the later stages of HI3. The story just hasnt grabbed me like chapters 5 to 25 did. (Hoyo should take notes of their own work, ngl)

Now... onto "Death"

"Death" might be the WORST character design I have ever seen. Not from the looks, but from their role in the story and how Hoyo uses it.

A shady character shows up, pulls out a gun, and shoots another character in the head. And later you tell me that that wasnt actually a murder? Bullshit. Get that garbage out of here.

And you know the worst part? ONE SCENE is what ruined "Death" for me.

Firefly's "Death" scene. Delete it. It ruins so much. She is the only one we see "Death" "killing". Why. She's not dead. Why did you show that "Death" "kills" like that? Who sat down and wrote that part? Literally just make us not see this scene and heavily imply that it killed her like they implied that "Death" killed everyone else and this would've been fine!

I can buy that Robin and Sunday are alive because we see neither of them dying. Robin is off-screen and Sunday is hidden from the camera.

But we saw a death when it killed Firefly.

Next time someone is shot in the head on screen I will be expecting it to be an imposter, a stunt actor, an illision, or WHATEVER ELSE. BECAUSE EVEN WHEN THEY SHOW DEATH THEY CHICKEN OUT. AND ALL THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF FIREFLY'S TRACES DISAPPEARED RIGHT BEFORE WE COULD SEE HER. WE COULD EVEN SEE "DEATH" SNEAKING AWAY AS WE ENTER THE ROOM. BUT DONT SHOW THE DEED BEING DONE.

...

Onto the final boss. ... Its... I mean, the boss fight is neat. Um, not sure if Hoyo now thinks that "big thing is intimidating" but this boss was just kinda, eh.

We've already defeated two big things with Cocolia's (now our) mecha, and then Phantylia. And now this sympthony thing.

Uh, Hoyo does know that big doesnt immediately equal "intimidating" or "scary" or "impressive", right? I just wanna be sure. Because this boss is none of that.

Uh the music also get a bit too pop-star-y? Its not bad, I just feel like it goes against the tone of what the story wanted this moment to feel like.

I also wish that Acheron actually did something to help in the end. She kinda just "eh well you can fight now. Me? Byeeeee~" I know that she had a glory moment in 2.1, but like, come on. Sunday just gives up fighting because we told him that people dream in order to wake up. Which doesnt sound philosophical enough to me to make Sunday have a freaking reality check and fall from the platform in shock and defeat.

Hoyo has really been trying to make so much of their stories in the Honkaiverse have a higher meaning and be a matter on philosophy, and then they keep asking why birds fly and I am so fucking tired of it.

Like, this is all they got and its not even a joke.

So, yeah. I kinda really wanted IX to show up and just, consume Penacony. That would've been cool and been decently foreshadowed. Could have had everyone go numb or like, whatever happens to us when we get close to IX in the Simulated Universe, and then have most people try to scramble to the ships to gtfo, and then have IX appear and consume the place.

But as long as we head to the Edo Star next, I'll be happy.

A place under attack by the Antimatter Legion and their distress signal recently went out? Send me there. Right now. Not even a question. I want to see the Antimatter Legion actually live up to what everyone has said about them. Dont fucking bait me on this Hoyo.

Oh yeah, another thing before I finish this!

Where are our ability to hear Stellarons? Did Hoyo forget that we can hear the voice of Stellarons? That is like, one of the most interesting parts about the Trailblazer!

Imagine a world where we get to Penacony in 2.0, and everything's fine and the same as it was. Except... we can hear the voice of a Stellaron. But, there's no signs of it. There's no Fragmentums. There's no sign of it at all. But we keep hearing its voice.

It could have slowly told us the story of Penacony over the course of these three patches so that we didn't have to get a history lesson before the climax of the story.

It would have easily added some mystery and questions while basically requiring no changes to the current story. Is there a Stellaron on Penacony, or are WE the only Stellaron on Penacony?

Speaking of the Stellaron inside of us... It has barely mattered after Belobog...

Hoyo... This should be a big deal throughout the story. Herta is shocked that a human body can host a Stellaron. We can hear the voices of other Stellarons. We could go nuclear if it goes out of control. Why has it not really mattered after Belobog? Hoyo, this isnt something you should just wave off like you have been doing with the Traveler's ability to wield 5 of the 7 elements. Dont make the same mistake twice.

This is dragging out, but I just keep remembering more things!

Hoyo, please dont tell me that you are unable to make long-term stories anymore. Everything has been self-contained recently. And sure, you've TRIED to make it feel like it has a larger impact, but in the end it always hasnt.

HI3 Part 1.5? It MIGHT be important later. I dunno if Vita has any importance at all to part 2 so far. All the regions in GI are basically self contained. You could take Mondstadt Traveler and toss them straight into Fontaine and you would basically not have to change them at all. All of HSR has also been rather self-contained. Happy that Dan didnt actually call the Luofu, that would have just made this all seem even more miniscule and also extremely convenient.

But... Remember when Himeko fucking died and the next 16 chapters was the fallout of that? Remember when we could have big story moments that still mattered for more than 3 months of real time?

Penacony's story is over, and I dont think that anything that happened here will have any impact on the next destination. Did we even actually pick up any new crewmembers?! Please tell me that the cowboy and Black Swan actually joins us for a while. You Chekhov's Gun'd it all the way back in Belobog!

So in short. I liked Penacony act 2 and 3 a lot. Not close to anything in HI3 chapters 5 to 25, but it was good. Could have been a lot better with (imo) rather small changes.

Also wtf is up with Hoyo's budget allocations? They put so much budget into the filler generic battle part of act 3. That was so much effort put into just filler. What's up with that?

[rappaccini]

I found your gwen analysisis and I have to ask as you seem pretty well informed on her comics-- what's the deal with earth 8 and why do the gwen and mikes shippers cling to it so much? Does it represent anything ? I see a lot them claim it's the only way Gwend can gain true happiness, but I'm not an expert in the comics

earth-8 is an alternate universe that's introduced in sitting in a tree, the crossover event by bendis and latour (miles and gwen's creators, respectively) that shipped miles and gwen together in the first place.

in the event, miles travels to gwen's dimension searching for his father, they bond for the first time while searching for him, fighting various supervillains on both of their worlds, and bouncing around the multiverse. gwen ends up on earth-8, a utopian future created when that world's miles and gwen (who she's told are 'the best possible' future versions of miles-1610 and gwen-65) are publicly known beloved superheroes who lead their world's greatest superteam, and are blissfully married with children. she meets those future kids, and seeing earth-8 makes her kiss miles because she's in a rough spot and thinks that might be the answer. then she immediately backtracks, insists she was just confused and would rather stay friends. and that's that.

i'm not a gwiles shipper, but i figure it's so loved by them because it's literally a perfect happy ending for their otp. gwen and miles get married in a big royal wedding ceremony that 300 billion people watched and they're so happy together after twenty years that they're going on yet another honeymoon. they have an adorable precocious son and beautiful genius possibly-psychic daughter who both have superpowers (and like twelve middle names for some reason), spider-ham's their nanny and their family leads a spider-themed super team that's their world's avengers. they're clearly rich, they're the biggest celebrities in their world, they have a penthouse in the fantastic four's old home, they're "america's favorite supercouple," they use their powers so responsibly that their world is in an "era of peace and prosperity unlike any seen", all their problems are solved. in sitting in a tree, it's sold to gwen as a "brighter tomorrow" -- it's not just a possible future, it's The Best Possible One, and the only way to get to it is to leave her world and get together with miles.

i get why it's their flagship. it's a canon universe where their otp ends up together and it's "perfect." their ship went on one pseudo-date and were told by fate "by the way, you're destined to end up together and if you do, look how automatically inherently perfect that ending is. you don't even have to work for it. it just happens and stays that way forever. your love will be so important it'll create a whole new world where you're the most important people in it." and this future is full of all the things that superficially, you'd want for a relationship: a happy marriage that's still going strong twenty years in, talented kids, money and success, a safe and prosperous world to live in.

the issue is, this definitely isn't a happy ending. at least, not for gwen.

getting the Weird Shit about this future out of the way:

1: how the fuck do miles and gwen end up on earth-8 instead of earth-65 or earth-1610/616? if they left on their own, isn't leaving your friends, family, community and responsibilities to go get famous irresponsible and selfish? and if they lose those worlds in the future, shouldn't the focus be "how do we prevent that" instead of, "well, at least we get a happy ending"? 2: according to the in-universe timeline, gwen-8 leaves her world after the latour run when she's ~20, has her daughter at 26 (she's 38, charlotte is 12), and marries miles halfway between those events at ~23, when miles is ~19-20. isn't that weirdly young? they should be at the club. 3: they're public heroes who broadcast their wedding to billions of people and turned their preteen kids into superheroes who they send on dangerous missions with adults instead of letting them go to school and have friends their age. and miles and gwen are never seen spending time with those kids either: they're always sitting at home with a babysitter while miles and gwen are off on adventures or vacations. what the fuck. 4: all information about how happy and content miles and gwen are is told to us by everyone but them. the media gushes about them, spider-ham and the kids insist everything's great, the watchers insist that this world is soooo necessary and more important than earth-65's own future, but miles and gwen-8 are conveniently never around when earth-8 is visited. their perspectives are always sidestepped. we still don't know what they think about it. which is interesting given that...

5. if gwen-8 is really a future version of gwen-65.... then she's miserable. gwen-65 isn't that attracted to miles, doesn't care about getting married, is queer, is a loner who doesn't want to lead a super-team, dislikes being a celebrity with a public identity, doesn't care about money and status, and has no maternal instincts whatsoever. she also seems to lose her symbiote on this world, where it's demonized by her family. and one of gwen's worst fears is being treated like silk (so: being thrust into a relationship with a spider-man that she has little say in). earth-8 takes away all the things gwen actually cares about and leaves her in a situation that she'd hate in exchange for nice things she doesn't even want.

you know who does want those things? miles. he's the one who keeps carrying a torch for gwen after siat ends. he's the one constantly looking for female love interests to sweep off their feet. he's the one who's great with kids. he's the social hero and natural leader. (sure, his family and supporting cast are completely gone, but that's not acknowledged at all)

and given that earth-8 was bendis's idea, he's miles's creator, he loves writing swirl ships, and every time brian michael bendis writes gwen stacy he's always weird about it, it's real clear that this is the ideal future he wanted for miles... where gwen gets to be there as his trophy wife/babymaker.

this isn't a world where gwen finds happiness. her happiness was never considered when it was created because the world isn't meant for her. it's meant for him.

and it's not even true that this is the only happy ending gwen can have. gwen's comics disown earth-8 immediately: she isn't happy when she sees earth-8, rejects miles and never changes her mind. every time she talks about earth-8 after siat (... when bendis isn't around and latour can say what he actually thinks about it) she says "yikes, not going back there, even if it means i'll die", and the comics introduce another future spider-gwen, gwen-617, who shit-talks a group of omniscient watchers (... aka, you, the reader) for messing with gwen-65's future, and gwen-65 takes after her instead.

and the funny thing is, gwen-8 is revealed to be completely aware that gwen-617 is trying to prevent her world from being created at all, and is a part of a secret society of spider-gwens that have been facilitating that situation all along. so if gwen 8 is supposedly so happy with her marriage to miles and family with him... then why is she trying to wipe them out of existence by preventing her past self from doing it?

the answer: she isn't happy. gwen 8 hates her circumstances so much that she tried to paradox them out of existence. she doesn't want her marriage, or her children, or her big fancy penthouse, or her new sparkly world, and she'd rather pull an interdimensional mass-murder-suicide than continue living with them. and she's doing it in plain view of her own kids... but behind her miles's back. add that to the list of red flags about him and their marriage.

the reason earth-8's seen so fondly is, before the spiderverse movies, most gwiles shippers were miles fans whose only exposure to gwen was sitting in a tree and crossover events. they didn't read her comics, they didn't know her personality, and didn't really care to because the appeal of gwen to them was that she was a hot white girl with spider-powers, a nice design, and a famous name that could make miles look cool if he got with her and got her pregnant. they don't care that gwen wouldn't want earth-8, or that it would hurt her, because they don't care about her as a person, just as a fantasy.

after the spiderverse movies, the new influx of younger gwiles shippers have only watched those movies and either only read siat, crossover events... or the wiki pages summarizing them. so they're taking earth-8 at face value too because they've never seen it in context. these fans might care a bit more about gwen, but they still don't know anything about her and mostly only see her as one half of a relationship that they think is the central point of the trilogy. if they even know or acknowledge that she's queer, they still expect her to want a heteronormative relationship. naturally, the universe where their otp is endgame, the center of the world, and have all the superficial elements of a happy ending is gonna be what they cling to. it's basically a fanfic come true.

and to be fair, the spiderverse writers clearly love earth 8. it's what made them put gwen in the movies to begin with. they've liked tweets about it. there's a dangerously high chance that the spiderverse movies are going to shape up to be the origin story of earth-8.

(... in which case, this ~perfect love story~ is doomed. they might have chemistry now, but eventually, spiderverse gwen is going to come to hate spiderverse miles so much that she's going to pull an adam-from-netflix's-dark on him and their kids to save her younger self from ever being with him in the first place. best of luck to her. fuck them kids and fuck miles for putting and keeping her in this position.)

the deal with earth-8 is on the surface it represents a happy ending. as long as you don't think about it, or don't know much about the characters (especially gwen), it seems great. but the second you look closer, all it does is raise bad implications. it's framed as a Perfect Future, but it really represents one where miles and gwen have respectively sold out their worlds, values and the themes of their stories for fame, safety and success. and where gwen gets nothing out of it.

[ryanmeft]

Movie Review: American Fiction

Thelonious Ellison is an angry man. You get the feeling that he is always angry, always has been angry and unless he changes something, always will be angry. He is right about the world and about people when he thinks that they all want easy answers and spoon-fed entertainment, but being right won’t fix what’s wrong with him. The movie is about whether he can do that himself.

What does he need to fix? Everyone around him has an opinion, and everyone may have a point. Understanding broken people requires broken people, so Monk, as he is usually called, is fortunate that his whole family is broken. They are still suffering from the suicide of the father, an unseen phantom. The mother (Leslie Uggams) is in the early stages of dementia. The plastic surgeon brother Cliff (Sterling K. Brown) has recently been divorced after being caught with a man, and has responded to his outing with unreserved debauchery.  The only really responsible member of the family is the older sister Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross), a doctor at a fictional version of Planned Parenthood, but when she unexpectedly dies, the family’s remaining broken pieces must come together to solve the puzzle that is them.

Monk does this while struggling with the low sales of his books as readers prefer more salacious fiction that gives them what they think the black experience is like---guns, drugs, hopeful stories of rising out of imagined ghettos painted in the most generalized of lights. Monk doesn’t want to tell that kind of story, and indeed argues that he cannot. He is a well-educated black professor from an upper-middle-class background, and he wants to write about the experiences of black people like himself. The audience doesn’t want to read them, and eventually in a night of doubt he gives in and dashes off a quick book that plays to the stereotypes, with Keith David and Okieriete Onaodowan as the hilarious personifications of two of his characters. Like the play in The Producers, he intends the book to be derided and to fail, and also like The Producers, it is an unexpected hit. Hurting for money, Monk and his long-suffering agent Arthur (John Ortiz) play along to increasingly hilarious results.

The most pressing issue on Monk’s mind is his mother, who deteriorates rapidly. Uggams’ performance is full of sympathy. She has a single screenplay-dramatic moment that ends up forcing the family’s hand, but mostly her condition is treated as a slow descent. Notes of The Father, one of the few successful depictions of Alzheimer’s on screen, can be detected here, as she becomes abrasive as a defense and only turns lucid long enough to recall her husband’s infidelity. Brown as the brother injects comedy into the proceedings with his many drug-loving younger lovers and his acid tongue, but it is to the film’s great credit that he doesn’t remain merely comedic relief. His story eventually gets a catharsis that allows Monk to think he might, at some point, receive his own. Monk’s only real ally seems to be newfound girlfriend Coraline (Erica Alexander), but there are cracks there from the beginning, as he covers up for his actual abrasive nature with the kind of humor that is meant to hide hostility.

Monk’s nemesis is Sintara Golden, a best-selling author who “writes black” in every way Monk disapproves of. Played by Issa Rae, she comes off initially as a cheap plot device, but shifts a little when the two are thrown into the same panel of judges for a book award contest. Yet another brave touch in the movie is how their inevitable confrontation is handled. We can at least sort of respect her as long as she thinks she is doing a genuine thing, even if she isn’t. Trapped in a candid moment, she lets down her practiced talk circuit defenses and reveals her true reasons for writing the way she does. What those are I will leave for you to discover, but the character is much stronger and a suitable nemesis for Monk by not being made into a “girl boss” figurehead.

The movie is rife with conversations meant to expose the deep racial and personal biases well-meaning white liberals often inadvertently show. It is sometimes subtle and sometimes not, and for the most part each kind of depiction is effective. What strikes me most about this aspect of the movie is entirely subjective. I saw it in a preview screening at a film festival where the audience was mostly older and mostly white. Every time the film skewered some convention of “black” popular culture and the way non-black people see it, I couldn’t help wondering if I was the mark. If I was, I didn’t feel attacked by that, but rather encouraged to re-examine my views. The fact I did all this while laughing my ass off should at least tell you one thing: you should go see this movie.

Verdict: Highly Recommended

Note: I don’t use star ratings. Here are my possible verdicts:

Must-See

Highly Recommended

Recommended

Average

Not Recommended

Avoid Like the Plague

[palaceofimperium]

6

As Delilah watched the others get matched up, she became more nervous.  While she knew that these weren’t supposed to be romantic matchings, there was something about them that also kind of felt that way.  That was one area where she had always sucked. She was the one that guys never gave a second glance to.  The computer nerd, the too tall one at almost six feet tall, the weapons expert who was a better shot than they were, it seemed she was always firmly in the friend zone.  Being an extreme introvert after her parents’ death and dealing with the PTSD from that didn’t help.

Dreya had understood. Dreya, everyone loved her.  She’d had her pick of men, and women if she’d wanted them.  They’d been like sisters and it had been Dreya that had helped her start her tech and armaments company.  Then as they were doing work for Dreya’s mercenary company, someone took out Dreya, right in front of her.  Some nights she could still see the bullet impact Dreya’s skull in slow motion, feel the warm spray of blood before the impact of her friend’s brains on her face.  She couldn’t forget.  Would never forget. 

Back then, she hadn’t know what Abriella and her friends were.  She’d known they had bought tech and weapons from her company, a LOT of tech and weapons, but not what they did with them or why they needed so many.  Many of the organizations and governments that she had worked with were black ops, and she learned not to ask questions early on.  She had become friends with Abriella though, and it was she that Delilah called from the hospital as she sat in shock after being taken there for evaluation by the ambulance that responded to the scene of Dreya’s murder.

She should have known something was up when it was less than a half hour till the beautiful brunette strutted into the hospital with her brother and obviously held command of the entire ER.  Delilah was still in such a state of shock that it wouldn’t occur to her til days later that it was off.  By then, she’d met Arch and knew about magic, a plantation house in the Louisiana bayou that made the T.A.R.D.I.S. seem a little dilapidated, and that there were beings amongst humans that weren’t.  More surprises came later, including being granted her own immortality.

That was one thing that her guide that Abriella was going to give her was supposed to help with.  Unlike everyone else sitting at the table, she had only been immortal less than two months.  Annabella had been a complete doll, understanding what being a new immortal was like.  She’d introduced her to her good friend Jean Pierre and his husband Armaund who had helped her through her initial transition.  They were amazing too.  However she was still grappling with everything.  So, as Abriella drew close, Delilah grew nervous, very nervous.

For Abriella’s part, she was feeling pretty confident after three successes under her belt in pairing up her friends with other friends that could help them. Now she was coming up on another one that she felt might be the best match of all.  When it came to the statuesque redhead that she adored and wanted to help heal from deep wounds and pain, there was only one person who came to mind.  “Delilah, you were worried about coming and sticking out being so new to immortality and your life having been so different than everyone here.  As you can see, even those who were born immortal have their share of issues and problems that they’re needing help with.  You’ve had your own battles, not unlike the others, and not unlike those who have lived in Imperium for some time.  After all, that is how we met, we needed something you had and that you did better than what some of us could do.”  Abriella gave her a warm and affectionate smile. How she wished she could take the pain and worry from her friend, but that would not solve things.  Some things had to be worked through, not just erased.  

“Now you too are immortal  and I can think of no one better to guide you through not only your introduction to Imperium but immortality than a dear friend of mine, Talon.  A demi-god who has learned in the last few years that his life wasn’t exactly what he thought it was.  So, starting over and discovering who he truly is, well that’s something he is very experienced in.”  Dez chuckled and so did Deacon, then nodded in agreement.  Talon had proven himself over the preceding months of navigating discovering that Thinius was his father, to handling all of the fallout from Talia’s insanity and ensuing drama when she had betrayed them all.  Having to deal with learning that the first half of his life had been one big lie from his mother without ending up like his sister was something a few still were impressed by.

Tech nerd and weapons guru, how could Talon have asked for anyone better?  It was like Abriella  had given him the ultimate gift for not absolutely losing his shit since they’d been reunited.  He’d have to make sure to get her a bomb gift later if he got along with Delilah.  It seemed his life had been one twist or turn after another, but he’d somehow kept his footing with the help of his friends who were more like family.  He was a mix between how his dad was dressed and Deacon, which fit him.  He WAS like a mix of the two.  Jeans and a button down shirt, sans tie.  Ties were nooses you willingly put on.  He wasn’t too formal, not too relaxed.  All swagger as he crossed the room, fuck yeah…he was a demi-god after all.  

He had to hand it to Abriella, her friend was HOT.  No complaints from him in that department at all.  Talon stopped in on the opposite side of the table from Delilah and gave her a wink.  Then came a couple introductions.   “He’s my dad,” he pointed to Thinius, who looked more like he could have been his brother, and who also gave her a short wave.  “And he”, he pointed to Deacon, “is my best friend.”  Deacon chuckled and gave a short mock salute.  “So you’ve been warned.  I can be a little crazy around those two especially, but I tend to be kinda down to earth round the rest of these assholes.  And I slay at Gears of War, so you better be able to keep up, gamer girl.”  He saw Del’s eyes light up and he knew he’d already scored a brownie point.   Hot gamer girls were his thing and now he got one that was on this side of the screen, not a bad deal if he had to say so.  He might have overhard she was single.  Single for now?  Possibly.  He was a demi-god, who could resist?

She had to be dreaming.  Had. To. Be.  THIS was who Abriella was going to have working with her, and he was FLIRTING with her?  Talon was drop dead fucking gorgeous and a gamer?  She’d think Abriella was playing a joke on her, but had it been anyone else she would not have believed any of this was real.  Del almost wanted to cry, she was so happy.  Hopefully he had some kinda hot immortal friend who needed a girlfriend too.  She was sure Talon already had one.  Men like him didn’t walk around without one, not in her experience anyway.  And that was fine.  She could look, appreciate, and not touch.  She’d just like one of her own eventually.  Hell, it wasn’t like any of the men sitting at the table were bad looking.  Of course Abriella had all the luck.

“That’s fine…I think you’ll be the one keeping up with me, few can.”  She smirked up at him and winked.  “I’ll be the judge of how good you are, pretty boy.”  She had no idea where that self confidence came from, since she wasn’t sitting on another side of the screen with a headset on.  There were laughs around the table, and Talon just grinned.  No awkwardness at all as he came around and plopped down next to her and threw his arm on the back of her chair and gave the back of her hair a light tousle.

Abriella tried not to just stare at the newest pairing.  They were getting along better that she could have even hoped.  Delilah tended to be on the shy side.  Talon could be as well, but he HAD been excited to meet her.  He’d never even asked what she looked like.  Tech, weapons, and a gaming setup was all he had to hear to be on board and excited.  Those were the things he asked about, along with her personality.  Maybe that’s why they were hitting it off, they were peas in a pod.  

It did seem that things were going well and the arrangements were getting better with each one, and Yael was even smiling now, her hand more wrapped around Leandre’s than Deacon’s.  Not that Brie was surprised.  She knew that Yael needed a guardian, and Lee was definitely that.  A Knight of Imperium and a member of her Royal Guard, his duty was just that, to guard and protect first and foremost. She had no doubt, he would do likewise for Yael.  

Two more friends to go and she was trying to decide which one to do next.  She decided to leave the most surprising for last.  It was the one that she was most sure of, and the one that Div was as well, which still surprised her.  However, it was also the one that they had told no one else about.  Since everyone other than Cruz, Div, and Arch had been gathered in the same room, no one knew who would get called and she doubted anyone had been brave enough to ask.  She looked forward to seeing the looks on everyone’s faces.

[hermesserpent-stuff]

something to think through ox's brain for once. mm could be better perchance.

Ox is a man of few words. English never seemed to hold all the meanings he wanted. His native tongue also failed him most of the time. German allows him a broad range of emotions and held much affection in his heart. But he also did not use it as often as most people spoke. He found that most of his issues needed to be solved with his fists or a look. Words had never truly been a tool for him to wield as a weapon or support. He contents himself listening to the words of those around him. 

Ox had learned German at a young age. Ten. What an age to be left alone on the streets. He had been lucky. A kind couple who owned a german restaurant in a run down area of New York had let him in. They were struggling, but they fed and housed him and loved him. He did dishes in exchange to not feel useless. Tante Anke and Onkel Matthäus. The best couple in the world in Ox’s eyes. They taught him to speak like them, cook, and how to care. 

He returns to the restaurant often and makes sure they want for nothing. Not that they wanted much, other than for him to be happy and visit. He had been hesitant to bring the Enforcers, not wanting to expose his greatest weakness to just anyone. But both had demonstrated a willingness to care about him, never leaving him behind. It had taken the introduction of Montana for Dan to grow a little more understanding of Ox’s lack of language, but now the three move as one. And he wants them to meet his family. He had already met part of Montana’s and knows that Dan has none that he still speaks to.

As far as his partners know, they are just going to some restaurant that is a little farther out than they normally go. It is Ox’s turn to choose and he decides to take full advantage of this fact. As soon as he opens the door, his short uncle makes a beeline for him, chattering in quick german.

“Mein Sohn! Wie geht’s dir?” (My son! How are you?)

Onkel Matthäus grins while hugging Ox. Ox is very careful with his hug back.

“Mehr geht’s gut. Das sind meine Kampfbrüder. Dan und Montana.” (I am good. These are my fight-brothers. Dan and Montana.)

His two friends look a little stunned. Probably because it is the most they have heard out of his mouth. Montana opens his mouth and it becomes Ox’s turn to be shocked.

“Guten Tag. Wie geht’s Ihnen?” (Good day. How are you? *formal*)

“Nien, nein. Du bist Familie. Du kannst “du” zu mir sagen. Ich bin wunderbar. Ich habe so viel über dich gehört.” (No, no. You are family. You can say du to me. *inviting to be informal* I am wonderful. I have heard so much about you.)

Onkel Matthäus expounds. Dan looks a little lost while Ox speaks again.

“Montana, das ist mein Onkel Matthäus. Er ist mein Hertz. Und meine Tante Anke ist auch mein Hertz.” (Montana, this is my uncle Matthäus. He is my heart. And my Aunt Anke is also my heart.)

His uncle lights up and tries to hug him tighter, despite not being able to fit his arms around Ox. Montana gives a nod with a tilted smile.

“Understood partner. Dan, this is Ox’s uncle Matthäus. His aunt is also here somewhere and her name is Anke. They own the place,” Ox gives a slight nod to Montana's questioning eyes, “And he cares about them quite a bit. So be nice to them. Which was always the plan.” Montana’s eyes turn back to Onkel Matthäus, “It's nice to meet you, Mr. Matthäus.”

“Good to meet you.”

Onkel Matthäus says grabbing Montana and hugging him tightly. He then hugs Dan in the same way. Tante Anke had always been the more reserved of the two. 

“Come come. Best table for you.”

Ox smiles as he watches his partners get herded into the back of the restaurant, the perfect distance from the heater, the door, and the kitchen. Tante Anke comes out a few minutes later to greet them. She gives Ox a small head pat and shakes hands with Dan and Montana. While more reserved, Ox can tell that she is just as excited as Onkel Matthäus to have them there. This was a good choice.

[tinseltine]

#1 – EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE | A24 | Writer/Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert - I was so mentally ready for this movie, as in the last month I rediscovered JJ Abrams FRINGE and have been Fringe Bingeing!  For those of you unfamiliar, it’s a Sci-Fi show from (2008-2013) about FBI agents who solve X-Files type cases, but rather than dealing with Aliens, the main through line story delves into a Parallel Universe, way before Marvel movies began giving us Multiverse storylines.

In addition, I’ve always told myself the reason things didn’t go as planned in this life is because in another life, I’m living large. I know a LeAnne Lindsay on another or other plane(s) has been living a life without fear and possessing gallons more ambition than I ever could muster. I don’t know why this gives me comfort, but it’s as if I can let myself off the hook by thinking, I did do things, just not here. These thoughts have been with me for many years and then one day I feel like I got proof. I have a chronic issue with my spleen often becoming enlarged.  I’m able to address the problem with acupuncture and have never (so far) needed an operation.  But one day I came back from a walk, took off my shirt and there was a thin horizontal cut across the area of my spleen. It was slightly bleeding like a scalpel incision had been made. Nothing had taken place while I was on my walk, didn’t go through any bushes, didn’t feel any pain, wasn’t even having a flare up. Eventually I chalked it up to the me in another Universe going under the knife for the same condition, perhaps she never believed in the benefits of acupuncture; and thru the Universal connection her scar somehow showed up on me, perhaps as a warning?

For all these reasons and more is why I was completely and immediately pulled into the Daniels Everything, Everywhere All At Once.  Which starts off normally enough – Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) is an overstretched first-generation Chinese immigrant who owns a laundromat with her sweet husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), who she pretty much ignores unless she’s bossing him to do some chore.  Their 20-someting daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) also feels unseen or heard by her critical mother and is struggling to make good decisions in her listless life – despite having a great girlfriend who seems to accept her unconditionally. A girlfriend, who is not invited to her grandfather’s (James Hong) party, celebrating the Chinese New Year, as Evelyn’s not ready to reveal Joy’s lesbian relationship to her old-world father.  But mainly Evelyn’s concentration is on preparing (poorly) for an IRS audit to be conducted by an awful looking, overzealous, IRS agent Deirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis), her best role in years!!!  It’s here in the IRS office that Evelyn first meets a Waymond, from another Universe who tells her she is the key to fighting a vast evil that threatens the entire multiverse.

Apparently, in all the other Universes Evelyn is awesome – a brainiac, a celebrity, a chef all possessing many accomplishments, but this Evelyn, as this Wayman informs her “you’re living your worst you”— meaning that every other possible Evelyn made more successful life choices. And yet, her failed existence is what’s needed to defeat this evil.

Collaborative filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as the Daniels (feature debut, “Swiss Army Man”, 2016) have created a high-octane, intriguingly conceptual, action spectacle and philosophical look at the nature of existence — layered on top of an emotional mother/daughter relationship story of generational trauma, all told through crazy humor, disgusting acts and imaginative sci-fi premises.

I’m not sure I’ve properly sold the brilliance of the film. I know it’s way too soon to make these types of assertions, but this could become my #1 film of 2022. { Post update: And as you can see, that prediction held true!}

[hareemqportfolio]

Having Courage and Being Kind: Rethinking Cinderella and Bravery as a Whole

Written in 2017 for The Scroll

Disney princesses are pretty much inescapable; they’re everywhere. No matter where in the world you live, you’ve most likely seen movies like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White, leaving you with a remembrance of the iconic images featured in the movies. An example of this is the rose from Beauty and the Beast. Most young girls wanted to be a princess like Belle at least once in their lives. Even with these stories being deeply ingrained into our culture, there’s been a fierce backlash of the Disney princess movies. With feminism pushing for better representation of women in the media, a lot of people take issue with the classic stories, saying that the princesses aren’t the best influences on young girls because they rely on the men around them instead of themselves.

This has led to movies like Brave, Moana, and Frozen, which don’t have love interests, and they make the leading ladies solve problems on their own. While I think it’s great that the Disney movies are trying new things with their female leads, some of the criticism may be unwarranted.  

People focus on Cinderella as the epitome of a weak damsel in distress character. Leah Holstien, owner of a blog called themagicalworldof.com wrote an article explaining why she thought Disney’s Cinderella was problematic. The writer claims that the movie teaches girls to be ‘martyrs’ and care for everyone before themselves.

“Cinderella never once complains or fights back… She never complained, never showed any sort of weakness, or any form of meltdown,” the writer states.

It seems as though the writer hasn’t seen Cinderella since she was a child  because she has gotten so many facts about the plot wrong.

Cinderella does fight back. More than once.

If you don’t remember, when Lady Tremaine locks Cinderella inside her room in order to stop her from trying on the glass slipper, Cinderella fights back. She doesn’t fight Lady Tremaine, but she bangs on the door and tries to break out the bedroom. Not to mention the fact that Cinderella even attended the ball in the first place is already an act of rebellion. If her stepmother and stepsisters saw her at the ball after they already tried to stop her once, she would’ve been in big trouble. But, she decided to go anyways. She could’ve told the fairy godmother she didn’t want to go because it was too risky, but she didn’t. She even asserted herself  to her stepmother by telling her she wanted to go to the ball.

The writer also claims Cinderella never has any human meltdowns, even though she breaks down in tears after her stepsisters tear apart her dress.

You have to keep in mind what kind of environment Cinderella lives in. Holstein acknowledges that Cinderella’s family is abusive. Even the movie does. In the very first scene, the narrator tells us this: “Cinderella was abused, humiliated, and finally turned into a servant in her own house…”

The idea that Cinderella isn’t strong enough because she doesn’t fight back against her abusive family the right way is just infuriatingly small minded. Cinderella’s been made into a servant in her own home, she faces mental abuse every single day, and yet people think of her as weak because she can’t stand up to her abusers. Those people never take time to consider how hard it can be to confront someone in a position of authority, especially when that authority figure ridicules them every day. To imply that it’s Cinderella’s job to stop the abuse would be victim blaming, which is maddeningly problematic.

Cinderella was given a fairytale ending because even though she had such a difficult life she remained positive and brave. She was brave enough to tell her family she wanted to go to the ball,  brave enough to try to break out of the attic, and brave enough to stand up for herself by trying on the glass slipper. Wielding a sword and fighting a dragon isn’t the only way to be brave. You don’t have to fight a bear like Merida or join the army like Mulan to be heroic.

Cinderella is heroic because even when she’s living in a pressure cooker environment, she’s optimistic and kind. The narrator tells us this:“For with each dawn, she found new hope that someday her dreams of happiness would come true.” Cinderella looks out for the animals that live around her, defending the mice from Lady Tremain’s cat, saving Gus from a mousetrap, and making clothes for the animals even though she doesn’t have to. This isn’t the movie telling girls to care for everyone else before themselves, this is the movie telling children that they can survive a stressful situation if they stay calm, stay positive, and face the problem like Cinderella. She doesn’t allow her tormentors to change her outlook on life, and actively fights back against them.

More recent princesses like Tiana, Moana, and Elsa have hardworking and outspoken personalities, and that’s great. I think Disney should have more variety with their characters. But I don’t think that automatically negates the heroism of other princesses. To me, Cinderella is so much more than just a damsel in distress. Cinderella teaches us––in the words of the 2015 adaptation––to have courage and be kind.

[rkivestation]

When my last remaining acquaintance from my school life said that we should spend our last days with everything that we have,only then,it hit me. It ended. And all I could ask myself and wonder internally,“It really ended?”.

The moment that I wanted to end desperately has now officially come to an end. And now that the moment is here,it rather seems a quick one. Everything happened too slow to too fast. And I'm here wondering that, isn't it what I always wanted? Since nursery to now? I wanted it to end. But now that it's finally coming to and end,I am seemingly holding back from going back to my memory lane. My childhood to teenage life served no memories that I could hold on to. Or so I thought. But I hate to admit I miss it all. I always say,“it was good while it lasted” and move on. Or at least try to. Untill I'm left with nothing but a wall around me that I built to avoid people.

I was never fond of a school life. I still am not. I wonder if it's because of how I had to push myself to be better each year. Push myself to blend it with the standards. Push myself to take in the criticisms. Push myself to let the people connect with me and my soul. And the conclusion I came to lately renders me speechless everyday. That, I've always pushed myself. I've pushed myself to the edge to not seem hateable. But in the process,I seemed to forget who I am. And how I'm not cut out to be a part of the society. I've also come to learn that it's not because I'm introverted. In fact,I'm not. Now I wish,it was the case. But the problem all along was my very soul not being able to connect with the people who are born with a standard pattern of personality. And I fail to be counted as any of the category.

I remember being home schooled by my father till I was almost five. And his means of educating me wasn't the type that's considered ideal. It was rather suffocating which taught me to stay isolated and in my own bubble where I only tried solving maths with tears streaming down my face everyday. And those long sessions shut me off terribly for me to function right when we moved to the capital.

I struggled with getting into a school as I was taught differently by my father. The capital made my head spin. It was overwhelming and I was afraid. And I continued to be afraid when I finally got myself admitted in nursery. And I remember being amazed when I saw students having the same books as me. I remember wondering it out loud.

I admit,back then,I was introverted and a kid with anger issues. My nursery and kindergarten phase is a blur of events to me (and I wish school will seem the same someday) but I remember being not so likeable ever since then. I had a childhood best friend from there who continued with me to my school but on a different and distant path. She didn't feel for me. But I seemed to feel for her and felt her absence when she was trying for a different school.

And luckily I found myself being in the same prestigious school as her the following year. The school that gave me a lot. The school that took a lot for me. The school that became a generous part of my life. The school that became a cruel part of my life.

My childhood best friend changed. She chased goals. And so I let her be. And it's funny how we are still in the same class,she's now less competitive, trying to blend in and make friends but it's her nature that allows her to come as a little awkward. But I'm proud to see her chasing better things now.

My start of the same school wasn't smooth. I remember not wearing socks as mom thought that this school doesn't need the students wear sock. Although,mom doesn't remember. I find the thought funny yet cute as mom's first child has to bear some good amount of embarrassment for her innocence.

I remember feeling the first ever thrill on the orientation day, it's what our school always takes pride to. Following the culture with love and ecstasy and I happened to enjoy it,with no socks,of course. When I was in nursery and kindergarten I always used to miss out the events they would held as I was in my own bubble to hear any announcement of it and that made me go there once in my uniform when everyone was in dresses. It was embarrassing,kinda,so I made sure to never do it in my current school.

But still each step I took was uncertain and challenging. I remember going to wrong class after the orientation(wherever the line led me) so I was sent to the other section by a teacher as I was struggling to wear my socks that fortunately mom put in my backpack. And unlike the class I went to by mistake my assigned class were a chaos of people and teachers. And in that moment,I realized,I have to say goodbye to my solitude and prepare for the crazy years ahead. From meeting my first friend there to having an unexpected person remaining just as a friend it was a crazy, melancholic journey. And I don't know if I feel thankful to these almost fifteen of years of feel the bitterness of resentment.

Maybe it's both. Considering my first friend Nawmi having a shit load of friends till now and on her way to presumably become a successful influencer.I wasn't fond of her when we first talked. And I'm still never fond of her when we wave. Maybe it's because how her group of friends was introduced to me by her and maybe we headed with a good start but it couldn't last long. As they are nepo babies. When the two Saras were all about bragging and shit I instantly felt off. And it ended up with me being teased and picked on by them for the lovely nickname my father decided to write on my notebooks. In the end of that year,I had to discard my nickname,scare them with the help of my father (which I shouldn't have done cause they still kind of hate me for that) and just continue to be on my bubble.

It's funny, right? I became a hot topic for my nickname. People would make fun of me. Mispronounce it as ‘Kiss me’,‘pick me’. But irony is,it was always a mispronounced nickname by my father. He named me wrong and even now I groan at the thought of it all.

I was fortunately unfortunate to be rolled as 2. It's quite a mix. Fortunate because my bench partner never really came and when she came she was to stupid to function. But unfortunate because said bench partner made me feel quite stupid too cause whenever she came I hardly knew what to do. And being roll 2 for my precious name made me quite the introvert I was back then.

I never planned to stand out. But I fortunately unfortunately ended up being the talked of topics for my grade. Stupid little me used to be one of the top 10. Although I never saw the light of coming in the third to first place. But I soon started becoming a competition to everyone. My childhood best friend was far ahead of me and one of the nepo baby Sara was the one to always see the fortune of being in the first place. Although,I'm starting to think it was all the magic of having connections because she stopped being anything not long after.

And my parents saw the potentials in me unfortunately and I was forced to keep on doing good, better. Untill I couldn't do best. And I never managed to do best. And it makes me laugh. Because I should have never done good and brought it up on myself.

I am always put to think I'm an unique individual with all the right and wrong spice.

Even now,I know I'm a part of the conversation somewhere in the capital. It's not my pride,nor a flex. It's rather a curse I live with.

People are either the talked of topics or nothing at all. But I seem to hang in between that. And it's exhausting.