#yeah there are gonna be like a thousand more of these posts before s2

[katatonicimpression]

It's the middle of the afternoon on New Year's Eve and I have fuck all to do so let's watch the Sam episode of What If?

DISCLAIMER: This is the first, and so far only, full episode of this show that I have ever watched. It did not inspire me to watch more. So, that's my bias I guess.

Background

There was some controversy about all of this. Sam appeared briefly in the zombies episode in the first season of this show. He's already a zombie and is quickly killed (re-killed?) by bucky, who makes a quip about it.

The line feels kinda off, like they're trying to recreate the banter between the characters in the live action (finding each other annoying etc) but it falls flat. There's no love there. In civil war (which takes place before the canon divergence in the show), their banter still has a level of camaraderie to it. They're riffing off each other, and fighting together and saving each other. It's weird to have bucky quip at the prospect of sam's death in a scene that takes place after those scenes.

It feels like reading one of the thousands of "incorrect quotes" posts on this app that write Bucky being horrible to Sam for no reason. It's the exact same emotional experience. Put a pin in that.

There was another controversy related to this, which is that in the same episode, Sharon also dies. Allegedly, one of the main writers (matthew chauncey) said that they should give her a particularly violent death because "no one likes her... he belongs with peggy". This is an open expression of violent misogyny so yeah that's fun. What a piece of shit... allegedly.

Sam does not appear in any other episode of what if s1. When s2 came out, his absence felt conspicuous, and many people commented on it. In particular, there's an episode of s2 that is vaguely medieval/robin-hood vibes, and Sam is noticeably absent from Steve's band of merry men. Steve's best friend, closest partner of over 50 years of comics isn't there. The falconry themed superhero is not in the medieval episode. People rightfully called bs.

The show felt similar to reading posts and fics in the fandom, and the way that people will minimise Sam's existence in Canon. Put a pin in that.

One person involved in making it (I think a writer but I can't remember and I searched for like ten minutes it's NYE gimme a break) responded publically to these complaints. They cited a supposed uncertainty over sam's future in the mcu (specifically whether he was cap or falcon) as a reason for not including him.

This was very funny, because 1) There was no ambiguity over whether Sam would be cap - it was a dead cert since Endgame what are you on? and 2) no one would've been mad if Sam had appeared as Falcon.

This response had the same vibes as when random fans say weird and ignorant things in Sam's tag and, when confronted, will offer weird excuses that don't make any sense. Pin it.

The other bit of context here is the (admittedly heavy) discussion of how What If launched Captain Carter, a decision that had to have been made around the same time that they decided to do samcap. I've talked before about this; it's complicated and the discourse is annoying. But ultimately, it comes across very badly for the mcu that they created a white female british captain america (not captain britain from Excalibur, but specifically a captain america character) specifically to launch near simultaneously with a Black captain america. It looks bad and I don't like it.

Anyway, so after this person who's name i can't find put their foot in their mouth, Marvel released a few stills from s3, revealing that Sam would be in one episode. People were happy to see him, and (aside from the VERY VALID CRITIQUE that WhatIf!Sam doesn't have the eyelashes he so clearly ought to) people were mostly placated.

The Episode

I love mark ruffalo but his voice performance in the opening scene is not it. Also the narration is mixed a lot louder than the dialogue... which is a jarringly amateur mistake. Ok whatever i'm gonna try to keep my salty complaining sam-focused

So, the show opens with a version of the opening samsteve meetcute from CATWS. But this time, without a mutual exchange of vulnerability. This time Sam is just offering Bruce comfort.

Then he literally gives him therapy.

Then he takes him to Louisiana to the boat, a redo of the sambucky scenes in tfatws. I'm not the first person to point this out, but there's a big difference here. Bucky came to louisiana uninvited with a (technically unwanted, but still very impressive) gift for Sam and then spent the day working on the boat as a gesture of friendship. He was performing acts of service (or however you express it) because he wanted to preserve and nurture this relationship. He knew he'd treated Sam badly and wanted to make it up to him.

Then, Sam invited him to stay the night (or, rather, accepts bucky's self-invitation to sleep in his house), because he's nice and welcoming and generous yes sure. But also because he likes Bucky back, despite everything. They both want to be friends and partners.

That's not happening here. It's just Sam offering Bruce his home because he is apparently motivated by a desire to help random white men he meets.

It reminds me of the countless fics and hcs that write Sam exclusively as a caretaker and therapist for bucky or other white characters. It reminds me of the takes that rewrite canon to make him be the one to pursue bucky with a desire to help and nurture him - a thing that has never happened in canon. Urgh. Pin that thought up with the others.

Oh and of course, we can't have a story about samcap without paying tribute to our holy special boy steve for a bit. Whatever it was just a few overly long shots.. still annoyed me though. Wow I really am a hater.

Oh and Bruce is the one with the arc? He's the one the episode is about? But his change of heart happens entirely off screen and with no implicit turning point? Lol. Lmao even.

And "friends who accept us for who we really are." I want to take this entire writers room aside because no. You can't end with a thesis statement that wasn't the theme of the story. Go back to school.

Am I Nothing but Negativity?

It was nice to see sarah again! Shame all she got to do was scream then get violently shoved to the floor.

Ok but in general, once the episode gets started in earnest, it's fine.

I did genuinely like seeing Sam again. I like him in the lead, even if the episode was about Bruce, Sam was still the main character and that was fun to see.

Mackie's voice performance is strong.

I enjoyed the 0.0003 seconds of sambucky. I liked seeing Sam and Monica together.

"The man wants to have tea with Lenin." This line is so bad it's good again. Yeah he probably would. And he'd be fine. Vlad would love the guy, everyone does.

I like the visual of Sam facing down a giant kaiju and just chatting to it. That's very sam coded. That and Sam with the shot of the monsters walking past him and him standing strong.

What is the Point of this Show?

There's nothing spectacular in this episode. The dialogue is astoundingly predictable, the jokes fail to be funny.

At times, the animation style (much like TDP which recently finished) feels like it's holding them back. A lot of the quieter, less actiony, shots are ugly frames with people walking less naturally than sims do. And they do have some more expressive stuff in the busier scenes, so it's not artistically empty, but it's not doing a lot for me either.

Maybe it's an interesting technique for those who know more about these things, but honestly regular 2d animation would've been (i assume) cheaper and potentially better. Then again, if it wasn't visually distinctive, what else would it have going for it?

Conceptually, a mcu what if show is an amazing idea, but in practice IN MY VERY BIASED OPINION, it's done very little with that potential. The comics offer such a rich trough of ideas that could be spun into very entertaining short episodes with versions of the characters that would otherwise not be able to encounter those story beats. Hell, Sam in particular has an entire massive part of his character cut from the mcu (his powers) that they could explore... and that would be really well suited to animation!

But they've stuck to the comparatively shallow mcu lore for most of it.

I've seen people express disappointment that it's ending after only 3 short seasons and I see why. This is obviously the sort of thing that you could do so much more with. But I also feel that the writing is uninspired and betrays a real lack of interest in the worlds of most of these characters.

I Hate its Vibes

So let's take a look at those pins, shall we?

We have:

Ignoring Sam most of the time

Mischaracterising his relationship with Bucky

Writing him as a caregiver, a nurturing therapist only

A lack of an internal world and motivations beyond his desire to help others

Ignorance over his character's history including his powers and the depth and longevity of his relationship with steve

Nonsensical excuses when faced with criticism, unintentionally displaying even more ignorance and incuriosity over the character

I mentioned that writers comment about sharon earlier for a reason. The vibes are not good. They are rancid. They are reminding me of every dumb post I've ever read on this site. Every weird jab at the character for stupid, racist reasons. Every fic with the "magical negro" trope. Every moron i can think of tbh.

Yeah, so maybe I'm not being fair to this show. The episode was uninspired, but not bad. I liked seeing sam do things. If people gif him looking cool in it, I'll reblog it I guess. But I'm not gonna watch the rest of the show, and I won't mourn the fact that it's ending.

I guess my conclusion is that it's very funny that Marvel placated disgruntled sam fans with a still from this episode, and then when it finally comes out, it's everything we've ever complained about.

[starplusfourletters]

Random takes on ahsoka ep 5

Okay actually spoilers this time

Thesis statement: Ep5 was absolutely ridiculous and I loved every second of it

For those wondering what it would look like if the peak of Zirakzigil and King’s Cross smashed into each other at a thousand miles an hour…

YASSSSS THIS IS THE ANGST CONTENT I SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED. I’m not even gonna think about it for a minute just gonna sit here and wallow

Ohhhh he’s got the early season CW armor on he’s just a little guy <3

[Referring to the Teensoka section] Man I was emotionally prepared to hate whatever this was gonna be but I really liked it. Like, multiple different character beats that all hit really well. Nice job guys.

When you’re 45 and just learning what intergenerational trauma is. Better late than never

Why is S7 Teensoka so short. I just think Ahsoka from ~S7 onward should be freakishly tall and yes I know Rosario Dawson isn’t super tall but let me have this

I guess there’s an argument to be made that all Ahsoka character beats get executed multiple times (lookin’ at you, Vader reveal) but guys. Guyyyyyyyys. How many times can she go swimming and then return as Gandalf the Orange because I’m counting three now (I feel like world between worlds and rebels finale are separate level-ups, but if you see them as one beat I’d throw Mortis into the mix). Admittedly part of that might be that I’ve been taking post-Rebels S2 Sith Temple Baptism as canon and I guess not everyone watching this show became completely feral in May 2016

This is totally unrelated but omigod those were Topps cards? The makers of Dinosaurs Attack? Universes are colliding for me rn

Huh we’ve never seen how her face and her montrals meet up before. And… I’m not sure I like it. Put the headband back on

Yeah I know we all knew the white robe was coming but Dave. Dave this is a lot. Like she has white gloves now? And white boots?? ([Channels Bojack Horseman] Do you get it? Do you get my joke?)

Also possibly unpopular opinion but I’m just sayin’ white isn’t her color. The combo with her montrals just makes her look washed out.

Alternative hypothesis: the white clothing is the spare outfit she hates but hasn’t gotten around to getting rid of yet and the grays are coming back as soon as they’re out of the drier

Alternative alternative hypothesis: Seatos’ ocean is 0.1% bleach.

Oh sweet baby Space Jesus she can do psychometry now. She hit level 20 at Malachor and just kept taking levels anyway. My blorbo is op and I can’t even be mad

I’m not even gonna touch “surviving without oxygen for several hours without even intentionally meditating”

Suddenly realized we’re more than halfway thru this show and we haven’t seen Thrawn and we still don’t have any substantial information about the Dark Jedi so like… who is the villain? Is it intergenerational trauma? Please tell me it’s intergenerational trauma

Why do space whales have baleen? Oh to filter feed on midichlorians. Never mind I retract my question

Aaaand Filoni just hit “Jonah” on his Biblical Hero Dartboard

So you wasted billions of dollars on this technology when you could have just asked a whale nicely? How embarrassing.

Come to think of it tho why didn’t Ezra just take a whale BACK? Then again if I start thinking too much about this it’s just gonna devolve into “How Rebels Should Have Ended”

[warsamongthestars]

Hi there. Sorry bout this, but the way I saw this post had some... well, I know epic rages about TBBshow (i've had them myself), but I mean internet typical rages, the kind with a lot of buzz words being thrown about.

So how bout I help keep the tone, at least, with my reblog?

Honestly? I agree, and you're not the only one who sees it.

In truth, a lot of TBBshow is forced. Its Contrived writing. It doesn't give time for things to build before it throws them at you, and then it doesn't take time to take rests--no communcation between characters, no discussion on events, its just a constant state of being thrown one place or another.

Can't argue episodic format, because the show strives to change status quo--whilst somehow attempting to keep status quo, and nothing has a good explaination for any.

Now for Phee.

Phee is a good Indiana Jones archetype without having a Han Solo Copycat. Now if they only actually leaned into that aspect of Phee. They give her One Episode to show off... and then every other appearance is just... she's there now, or its in support of the Bad Batch.

The show does not give Phee the time of day.

And since the show doesn't give Tech the time of day... and the best anything that is down is that she nicknames him Brown Eyes, and they stand next to each other in background shots...

That's... not a development for anything.

Oh yeah, there's gonna be Shippers regardless--but as an old fandom surfer, there are Shippers for Everyone and Everything. I expect Shipping from the fandom, I've seen gloriously written ships--upto and including Tech and Phee.

... the actual issue is, the Show itself doesn't do it. It barely gives character to anyone that isn't Omega, let alone anything about poor Phee, or even Tech.

( And remember, for all the "development" Tech received--they fucking Killed Him in S2. Because Reasons, I Fucking Guess. )

Ultimately, if the fans are shipping it, then they'll make reasons for the ship to work. Those who love a thing are going to make things out of love for it--and there are some fantastic ideas out there.

But if the Show tells you its a ship--I wouldn't believe it. It'd be forced. It has not taken steps to make that a thing. It hasn't even taken steps to make Character Relations between Brothers who supposedly Grew UP with Each Other, a thing. (That's a rant for another post.)

Does that mean the rest of us have to ship it?

Absolutely not.

I personally am not fond of Indiana Jones or Lara Croft archetypes, and the TBBshow did not make steps to make me any more comfortable for the Indiana Jones of Star Wars.

Nor did it give her the respect that kind of writing requires--because honestly, being the Lara Croft of Star Wars is a Brilliant Fucking Idea (even though I don't like that archetype, doesn't mean I'm not going to acknowledge how well that would work.).

Phee could've had her own show, honestly. Given that STar Wars has thousands of years of ancient temples and stuff to poke around and stuff. Perfect place for her.

Unfortunately, they stuck her in TBBshow, and she'll be remembered as "that one chick that the writers tried to force a relationship with Tech, because they can't writing ladies nor can they write the bad Batch."

Okay…okay- I’m just gonna say it!

I don’t know if I like Tech and Phee together 😬

It isn’t because I have some WIERD complex about characters I’m in love with being in love with other characters. Far from it!

It’s just….

I feel like it’s kinda forced? Like I know he needs someone to kinda bring him out of his “shell”, but I just feel awkward when they’re around one another like it’s been kinda randomly thrust upon us??? I don’t know how to really explain it, but tell me I’m not the only one that sees it?

I’m not saying it’s because like they’re different, but I just feel like it doesn’t feel like it’s natural, or something?

This is a lot of nonsense I’m giving you lol but I’m just not feeling it. Maybe that’ll change if I see more in season 3, but it just seems….weird to me

It could also be that I feel like Phee is a really random character that I’m not super fond of, personally?

Echo and Senator Chuchi tho 👀👀

[astrologista]

Important facts about Varian: he doesn't see himself as a child.

"But I-I'm not a... child..."

At 14 some would argue, especially in Varian's time, that he's right. He's not a child. By modern standards, he’s coming of age. Not a kid, but definitely not a full adult.

But Varian tends to act in immature and impulsive ways and, as we've seen (almost got himself killed how many times now?), still needs his father's protection very much so. (Even now. Uh oh. I just made myself sad.) He may be much more intelligent, creative and insightful than the average 14-year-old, but an important distinction to make is that smarts does NOT equal maturity. (Seriously, even in real life, for me as a "gifted kid", that particular false correlation gave me such a weird complex, I can't even tell you.) Just because a 14-year-old skips three grades and is now a senior in high school, or goes to college, does NOT magically make that person a mature adult capable of consistent and rational decision-making. (’tis developmental biology, friends.) Sure, parents should always let their kids "try on" independence and let them make some of their own little decisions, but all the time knowing that, being young, the child will end up making some mistakes and learning from them. And the parent will be there to pick up the pieces. But eventually, they’ll learn how the world works.

This is a problem for Varian because, at least when it comes to authority, he doesn't learn. He hears, but he doesn't listen. He thinks he always knows better, and that based on sheer accumulation of knowledge, he should be able to conquer any challenge. We've never seen Varian with a friend his age. You could conclude that he may not have any, based on the rumors that have always said he's dangerous. So what's a kid to do instead? He reads. He accumulates enough knowledge in his solitude so that one day he can prove how great he really is to his dad and to the world. (But no pressure, right?)

But the weird thing is how Quirin thinks of Varian. I guess all parents think of their children as children forever and into perpetuity. (Heck, look at King Fred.) "Children have no place in court." As if to say, "You're a child, and you really should know that by now." Old Corona, being a more rural region than Corona proper, is likely a place where social roles are more heavily enforced. No one is to go "outside the mold", so to speak. A kid like Varian sticks out like a sore thumb. He's effusive, he emotes a lot, he can be shy, but once you get him talking about a subject he's passionate about, you just can't shut him up. That's part of the reason why Quirin seems so exasperated. Varian just won't act the way Quirin thinks a child should act, but despite everything, I think he loves Varian too much to crush his spirit. If he were crueler, he'd use all his power to keep Varian from doing alchemy. But I think Quirin knows Varian's going to do alchemy anyway no matter what happens. That, and he just really wants for Varian’s happiness (and god willing, his safety).

The most interesting piece of this is that despite everything, Varian really does know his place... but only when he's threatened. When Quirin growls "That is enough, Varian." and glares at him in a threatening way, Varian immediately looks like someone slapped him, because that's the last look he wants to see on his dad's face AND he actually looks like he might be genuinely scared of his father right then. (Corporal punishment was a big thing in these times.) Even though Varian was correct and justified in demanding a reason for all the lies, the way in which he petitions his father isn't the most tactful approach he could have taken. Only when Quirin treats him like a child, does Varian remember that, hey, he is kind of a child. And he remembers who he's talking to, his father in a direct position of authority over him, and musters up the conditioned response of "Yes, sir." (Later, Varian has mustered up enough courage to not only interrupt his dad when he's really at the end of his rope with him, but also to physically push him aside, again using a disrespectful tone. It makes clear that Varian seem to think of himself as Quirin's equal. At least when it comes to black rocks.) I don't think Quirin wanted to treat Varian in that manner. It seemed to be something he only did as a last resort. And it's kind of sad, in a way. Once kids reach the age of reason, they should be able to be reasoned with concerning their behavior, moving away from the toddler method of punishment vs. reward, or using fear of punishment to control behavior. I mean, you would probably whip out "That is enough, Varian." maybe if he were 3 and pitching a fit down at the alchemy supply store because you won't buy him the deluxe Bunsen burner or something. But Quirin seems to have other things to worry about other than his son's pride or what he has to say, so he uses it anyway. And Varian seems really hurt and sad after Quirin just walks away. He actually pushes Rapunzel's hand away. It's like that moment of weakness is what he's really trying to avoid, to keep private. That he's not really what he says he is, and even though it might be painfully obvious at times, still no one can know.

It's not even a coincedence that Varian talks to Rapunzel, the King, and the Queen in the way that he does in SotSD. Varian just shows zero respect for authority in that episode. Any good kid should, and in his earlier episodes, he SEEMED to have the utmost respect for the crown and all it symbolized, bowing and calling Rapunzel "your Highness", and insisting that every word from Rapunzel was important. So why the 180? Or was it just Varian's true nature coming out? In SotSD, Varian was just very sharp, cruel actually, with his language. Any other kid in Corona would never dare speak to an adult, much less the KING, QUEEN AND CROWN PRINCESS of the entire fudging kingdom in the manner that Varian did. Literally, the three most important people in the whole kingdom. And he didn't just get sassy or fresh or make fun of the way they dress or anything. He went right for the jugular. "For the first time in your life, YOU are in no position to demand ANYTHING." and "Oh, so NOW you care about what I WANT? And all it took was threatening the things you love the most..." and casually talking about "shattering" Rapunzel in front of her parents and, who could forget, "She's right, DAD." Not to mention how he treated Queen Arianna when he kidnapped her. 

Worse and worse yet, probably one of the most shocking faux-pas that I think Varian committed was yelling "Quiet!" at Arianna during Ready as I'll Ever Be. This gets back to my earlier point. Varian does not see himself as a child (unless Quirin is "reminding" him of it). He now sees himself as not just the Queen's equal, but actually "higher" in status than even her because he has the power now. He's holding the cards. He has the queen in checkmate. (What do you want to do in a chess game? That's right. Capture the Queen.) But like, let's forget that she's the freaking QUEEN OF THE ENTIRE KINGDOM for a moment. Let's put that little nugget of info aside. This is an adult woman in maybe her early 40s and a 14-year-old boy we're talking about. In my house, if I ever told my mom "Quiet!" in the manner than Varian did, I would not be able to finish my singing number because my ass would be grass before I could continue. Telling someone "Quiet!" in that way would actually assume that THEY are in the lesser, child role. Disrespectful doesn't even begin to cover it, man. When you consider the social context, yeah, it’s really pretty bad. Varian just has a very distorted view of his "place" in Corona. Maybe he even feels that there’s no place for him. While there's nothing wrong with challenging and bending the rules of who society says you should be, and no one says you have to conform to every cultural norm of your identity, Varian seems to have this very warped view of his identity re: Corona, especially where he's leveraging social power that he simply doesn't have. He's not old enough or mature enough to wield the type of judgement skills or tact that would allow him to be perceived the way he wants to be perceived, and he’s demonstrated that. Perhaps in Varian's mind, he sees himself as an older, more proficient alchemist and he hopes that if he performs that role, everyone will indeed see him that way. But when the facade fails, he sulks and starts acting more childish and restrained again. It's actually hard to tell which personality is the real Varian. But I think the writers may have been trying to get at an important truth about growing up - when you're 14, you've got your childish self and your adult self warring for domination over your soul. Varian's good, pure but childish self is still intact in there. He can’t stay that person forever, he has to grow and change. But instead of growing into an honorable and stable adult, his adult self is being twisted into this dark persona, partly because of events outside of his control. His immediate response to this is to project as much of the blame outward, externally, as much as he can, and this is more of a coping mechanism than anything. Basically, he's trying to subconsciously protect his developing mind against the overwhelming guilt and shame from what happened to Quirin. That's too much emotional pain and baggage for someone that young to deal with alone. I'm pretty sure seeing Quirin frozen in the amber literally scarred him for life, not just because of the state that Quirin’s in, but because Varian knows deep inside that he played a huge role in putting him there. But that doesn't mean Varian can't redeem himself. It just means we're going to see probably more erratic and unpredictable behavior before he can organically reach that point, and forgive himself.

Speaking disrespectfully to the Royals is just part of that process, but it struck me as just being really a self-empowerment exercise. Some people listen to self-help videos. Varian does this. And if he can exert his power over them, he can exert power over anyone. And not only to speak like that to them, but to literally put his hands on the Queen as he's talking to the King. There's something just really creepy about that. The point is, no matter who you are, you just... don't say these things? It's a matter of respect. It's the society and times and the context that they live in under a monarchy. Obviously, the laws that govern speech are much more loose and lax in our democracy and real life. But think about the context here. Some off-color language could easily get somebody hanged in these times. And if Quirin could see what Varian's been doing, he would actually be shocked. Horrified. How could his son say or do these things? (lol now I'm imagining what if the amber had stopped around Quirin's neck so he was still stuck but he could talk and be aware of the proceedings around him. He'd be like, "VARIAN! Please, your Majesty. My deepest apologies. He hasn't had his nap yet.")

tl;dr Varian's never going to grow up unless he starts dealing with the reality of who he is and how he can grow to be a better person, and start taking responsibility for things he's done, while acknowledging that some things are just out of his control. And to do that he needs like, a lot of love and respect and hugs :^3 I mean, a lot a lot.

[beepboop358]

A Prom in S4 Theory & Music Coding Predictions

Some leaked set pics indicate that there MAY BE a junior/senior prom at Hawkins High, which they are calling the "Lover's Ball". It's unclear if this prom will be included on screen, or if it will just be mentioned as an event coming up at Hawkins High because this flyer could just extra set decor. Regardless if the prom happens on screen or not, there will probably be some tension about 'who's asking who' to the prom that we will see in s4. Given that this picture was just leaked a few weeks ago, it probably falls closer to the end of the season sequentially.

Having a big school dance in s4 is suspiciously close to how they had the Snowball scene in s2. This would certainly follow the even/odd season patterns, (and actually add to the list of the patterns), which kind of makes me think we will see this prom on screen, or at the very least it will be mentioned in the course of the season.

The Duffer Brothers love Steven King and reference his work and especially 'IT' a lot in the show, but they haven't done anything with Carrie yet so maybe we will get a Carrie moment this season at the prom...

Carrie was on the video store fridays movie inspiration board for ST4.

At the "Lover's Ball", there will be definitely be some music coding relating to Byler. Since music coding is kind of a key thing in the show, I've been rifling through 80's songs to try and find some that may fit with s4's themes/character storylines (and I may do a seperate post about that later), but for this post I'm just gonna focus on what they might use at the prom for relating to Byler.

Since the season is most likely going to take place in 1986, I only selected songs that had a compatible release year so it would be historically accurate. (these songs would also be great for a byler playlist!)

Some strong contenders for the songs that might play at the prom to reference Mike and Will's relationship could be:

"True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper (1986)

This song is honestly too good of an option for them not to use. I'm reallllyyy crossing my fingers for this one.

It's hard to take courage In a world full of people You can lose sight of it all And the darkness inside you Can make you feel so small

"And I see your true colors Shining through I see your true colors And that's why I love you So don't be afraid (don't be afraid) To let them show your true colors True colors are beautiful (you're beautiful, oh) Like a rainbow Oh oh oh oh oh like a rainbow"

If this world makes you crazy And you've taken all you can bear You call me up Because you know I'll be there

"Heaven" by Bryan Adams (1984)

This first verse is literally just the story of Byler... 😭 The rest of the song applies but that verse verse is just sooooo accurate. (I'm crossing my fingers for this one too)

"Oh thinkin' about all our younger years There was only you and me We were young and wild and free Now nothing can take you away from me We've been down that road before But that's over now You keep me comin' back for more

Baby you're all that I want When you're lyin' here in my arms I'm findin' it hard to believe We're in heaven And love is all that I need And I found it there in your heart Isn't too hard to see We're in heaven

Oh once in your life you find someone Who will turn your world around Bring you up when you're feelin' down Yeah nothin' can change what you mean to me Oh there's lots that I could say But just hold me now 'Cause our love will light the way"

"Take My Breath Away" by Berlin (1986)

This song is on Will's Spotify playlist, and I thought it could also be used at the prom since it's a romantic song. I see it as an 'entrance to the prom' moment song, almost like a 'first look' - like the Mike and El moment at the snowball when she first walks in, but with Mike and Will this time. I think the lyrics clearly hint to this kind of 'first look' moment as well.

"Watchin' every motion in my foolish lover's game On this endless ocean, finally lovers know no shame Turning and returning to some secret place inside Watchin' in slow motion as you turn around and say...take my breath away"

Watchin' every motion in this foolish lover's game Haunted by the notion, somewhere there's a love in flames Turning and returning to some secret place inside Watchin' in slow motion as you turn my way and say...take my breath away"

"In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins (1981)

This song was originally meant to be included in the snowball scene from s2, but it ultimately was not used and "Every Breath You Take" was used for this scene instead. Since it was intended to be a part of the s2 dance, that's why I think it may be used at the prom this season. (you can read the scripts on 8flix)

——— I forgot to include this explanation originally BUT, I think this song might be used to show some anger/resentment between the two, and to show a decent amount of tension, depending on their development this season. Like maybe Mike is kind of leading Will on in private by continuing to initiate intimate scenes between them, but in public Mike is still trying to put on his “straight boy act” and kind of being a jackass about it, and this song could be used to show the tension between them that has caused.

"And I've been waiting for this moment, for all my life, (Oh lord)

Well, I was there and I saw what you did I saw it with my own two eyes So you can wipe off that grin, I know where you've been It's all been a pack of lies.

Well I remember, I remember don't worry How could I ever forget It's the first time, the last time we ever met But I know the reason why you keep this silence up

No you don't fool me The hurt doesn't show, but the pain still grows It's no stranger to you and me"

"In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel (1986)

Some of the lyrics in this song just SCREAMS byler, just look at the 1st, 2nd and 4th paragraphs. I would be suprised if they didn't use this song in either s4/s5.

Love, I get so lost sometimes Days pass and this emptiness fills my heart When I want to run away I drive off in my car But whichever way I go I come back to the place you are

All my instincts, they return The grand facade, so soon will burn Without a noise, without my pride I reach out from the inside

In your eyes The light, the heat (in your eyes) I am complete (in your eyes) I see the doorway (in your eyes) To a thousand churches (in your eyes) The resolution (in your eyes) Of all the fruitless searches (in your eyes)

Love, I don't like to see so much pain So much wasted and this moment keeps slipping away I get so tired working so hard for our survival I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive

"Heroes" by David Bowie (1975)

David Bowie was bisexual. A cover of his song “Heroes” is used in the show twice already, sung by Peter Gabriel. The song plays when they pull Will's fake body out of the water in season one and Mike cries in his Mom's arms, with some very queer-coded lyrics in the background, and after Hopper's letter in s3 (which is very Byler-centric)

"I will be king. And you, you will be queen 'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact. Yes, we're lovers, and that is that. Though nothing will keep us together. We could steal time just for one day We can be heroes forever and ever. What d'you say? I, I wish I could swim, like dolphins, like dolphins could swim I, I can remember (I remember) Standing by the wall (By the wall) And the guns shot above our heads (Over our heads) And we kissed as though nothing could fall (Nothing could fall) And the shame was on the other side. Oh, we can beat them forever and ever. Then we could be heroes just for one day We're nothing, and nothing will help us Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay But we could be safer just for one day"

I just thought the above songs might be some highly likely possibilities given that they fit the year of the s4 and also make references to not only love, but the idea of hiding, pain, shame, longing, etc., and can make some (partially stretching here) references to other things in the show such as:

RAINBOWS and TRUE COLORS, SHINING THROUGH (rainbows imagery is always associated with Mike & Will in the show and a is symbol of lgbtq+ pride, True Colors shining through = who you really are on the inside finally coming out)

IF THIS WORLD MAKES YOU CRAZY ("crazy together", "only love makes you that crazy" and references the "world" motif in the show)

YOUNGER YEARS, ONLY YOU AND ME, YOUNG, WILD AND FREE (references "not wanting things to change" and wanting "to make things go how they were" part in Hopper's letter, and the "But we're not kids anymore" comment during the Byler fight)

ENDLESS OCEAN and SWIM, LIKE DOLPHINS (references water's significance in the show)

FLAMES (Will in front of the burning car in s4 teaser?)

LIES and LYING (Mike lying to El about how he feels)

INSTINCTS RETURNING, FACADES BURNING, WITHOUT MY PRIDE, I REACH OUT FROM THE INSIDE (Mike's feelings for Will are his instincts, the facade is the act he put on in s3 to seem straight, burning could reference Will & fire, and I think the last 2 lines of that 2nd verse reference vulnerability- perhaps in an apology/confession)

I GET SO LOST (confusion about his sexuality, feeling lost without the other) and SO MUCH WASTED TIME (known each other since kindergarten but were unaware the other felt the same way/was dealing with same things, they could have been even closer)

KINGS and QUEENS (the d&d game mike wrote where he has king Tristan give him a medal in s1)

STEALING TIME (references "turning back the clock, to make things go how they were" part in Hopper's letter and the time theme in s4 and time is central to the s4 plot)

AND WE KISS - AND THE SHAME (references the shame they both feel about being gay since it was so stigmatized in the 80's)

Byler @ Prom Possibilities:

If Mike and Will did dance together at the prom, they will probably get bullied because they live in a small conservative town. They will probably either run out, upset, or Eleven will step in to protect them which could lead to the Carrie moment.

Or Mike and Will will not dance together in the actual dance room, but instead sneak off to somewhere else in the school and have a private Byler dance moment where they can't be teased and it's just them together.

OR Mike and Will are still acting weird at this point in the season because neither of them is communicating what needs to be said out of fear, or one of them has confessed or done something to indicate how they feel, but the other hasn’t so everything is weird between them. There would be lots of tension from this and we would get lots of longing looks and adoring moments between the two of them from the sidelines. (I think this one is the most likely)

[ravenadottir]

Hello hello! Can I just say that I absolutely adore your writing and the way you bring even more life and depth to the Litg s2 characters?! Like you’re doing gods work luv fr<33

I’m not sure if you’ve been asked this before, and if so I apologize, but I was wondering what you think would be the islanders from s2’s Hogwarts houses? Unfortunately I’ve relapsed into all my childhood obsessions and rewatched all the Harry Potter movies recently and for some reason I find myself thinking who would be in which house and why. As well as thinking up random funny scenarios they would get up to at wizarding school like the disassociating weirdo I am. 🤪✌️I’ve also been thinking like you’d assume Chelsea would be Hufflepuff which I mean isn’t completely wrong, but I also kinda see her as like Luna Lovegood and being in Ravenclaw! Lol idk kwjsksjsjsjsjsns I could totally see the sorting hat being the narrator from litg and just reading these bitches as it sorts them into a house and them being like 👁👄👁. Also ps I would never trust Jakub with magic that fool would probably maximize his muscles until they popped tbh 🙄🤚.

Anyways, thank you for your time regardless if you answer this or not! I hope you have a lovely day! <3

oaskoaskoasoask the narrator sorting them into houses is honestly GOLD!

now... i have answered this before. there are a couple of posts lost in the i-don't-know-how-many-thousand posts i have on litg, but i can say this: chelsea was indeed a hufflepuff! the loyalty and the dumbassery in general? the friendship and the emotional intelligence? i love her in hufflepuff but i can see her complaining about the color of the uniform lol

probably adding as many accessories as she can to break the darkness of the vests and the yellow of the tie.

because i've done it a couple of times, i think i'm gonna include s1 and s3, 'cause you know, new stuff to read! so here it is:

slytherin:

lucas, elisa, hope, jakub, rocco (he's that year's mascot), lottie, graham, shannon, blake, allegra, lucy, reese, jasper, miles, seb, harry, rafi, lily.

gryffindor:

gary, ibrahim, kassam, priya, elijah, levi, mason, jake, talia, jen, bill, genevieve.

hufflepuff:

bobby, chelsea, henrik, arjun, felix, erika, tim, rohan, sammi, tai, ciaran, nicky, aj, elladine.

ravenclaw:

marisol, noah, hannah, carl, yasmin.

and if i'm not wrong @theclowneryqueen said jo was a squib lol

but yeah, that's it! hope i didn't forget anybody... and i probably didn't get as many right but man! i really am surprised about how many ravenclaw's are in this list... oh well!

[still-a-morosexual-help]

Gonna be posting my asks and answers from @well-shit-im-a-morosexual-now here cause tumblr's fucking up that blog:

Hii!!! I basically agree with everything you just said but I'll go into more detail on it with your points:

- I do 100% believe S4 should be a new character/angel focused season. I think I said so in the lesson 60 summary too that it'd make sense and be interesting to meet the angels and get their side of the story without the brothers' interference (the angels give me HEAVY morally grey characters who think they're wholly in the right vibes and I love it) + there's still a lot of Simeon and Solomon backstory to explore!

- The way S3 ended and how much of it was anyway about the angels I definitely think S4 will expand on it and introduce them

- And I think it'll possibly start right after S3 ends? I mean Raphael's here now and Solomon wants to start properly training MC so why not. And there's no other reason to leave Simeon and Luke behind than to start it up with them in the centre

- ALSO!!! ANDISJSHSKS "RAPH" given what they've showed of him he seems like the type of person to take HEAVY offense to that

- S3 did end with Raphael. Simeon called him by name.

- As much as I do want to see more Diavolo and find out more about his and more importantly Barbatos' backstories I don't think they'll turn up much? Or at least not until the last few lessons cause he left saying he had important personal issues to take care of back in the devildom

- I genuinely thought they would be shown in S3 after Solomon mentioned them and yeah damn I wanna know more about them. Also I just saw the Solomon UR+ animation card from months ago today

- I definitely want to know whose grave he was leaving flowers at

- As much as I want an angel focused season the amount of withdrawal I'd go through without the brothers is insane. I'm heavily invested in them but at least for now their arcs are at a place that can be paused

- they all got together to help Beel, a lot of Satan & Lucifer's + Belphie & Diavolo's issues have been resolved. I do want to know more about Lucifer's fear though and how he met the rest of the brothers (since they already told us Beel's story)

- With what they've said I kinda see Michael & Raphael being parallels to Diavolo & Lucifer, respectively. The somewhat childish boss and the long suffering right hand. I can see Diavolo wanting to like Michael purely because he wants to make proper peace with the Celestial Realm but also being somewhat internally pissed with him given how protective Diavolo is of the brothers and I can see Michael being sweet and friendly in return despite the fact that given everything Michael has said about demons, even in current times, he would probably be looking down on Diavolo for being 'wicked' and 'evil'. Basically I imagine them having the same kinda passive-aggressively polite relationship that Diavolo and Simeon had in S2 but somehow even less friendly

- Yes!!! Like I said the Celestial Realm gives heavy morally grey vibes and I want that to be explored more. I also need Luke's realisation that the Celestial Realm isn't always right to continue

- I have SO many Lilith HCs and I desperately need them to talk about her more. Like I understand why she's a sore topic and that Lucifer never even told them about her room in the HoL depite the fact that they've probably lived there for thousands of years and she does get brought up a bit in Belphie's fear but I need more. I also want them to explore why Belphie was so insistent with blaming the humans for Lilith's death when it was the angels that killed her, I gave my theories behind it in one of the summaries but I really need more solid answers

- I've always wanted more girls (or any girls really) and the way I was disappointed that we never got to see Lilith (I mean I understand that some players would HC her to look like their MC even though she died thousands of years before MC and they probably wouldn't share a resemblance but still) but I never considered Solomon's apprentice was a girl and I dunno why.. OKAY BUT CONSIDER GIRLS AS NEW LIS!!!!!

- I definitely think they would, it would make no sense if they didn't after how much they were hyped up and I might actually scream if they don't get designs. That being said I have very clear ideas of them in my head and I'm gonna hate having to part with them

[boasamishipper]

hello! 1,3, and 4 for the writing asks! also, i wanted to ask if you know of any top gun discords? thank you so much!!

1. Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

At the moment I've got four major projects I'm working on:

i don't know what you've been told, a tg:m fix-it fic where hangman and the other pilots play matchmaker to get mav and ice back together (and hangman ends up realizing his feelings for coyote along the way). the first two chapters have been posted, and the remaining three are outlined and partially written. it's been an absolute blast to write - i love balancing crack/shenanigans with angst and drama and Feelings, and this fic is the first time i've gotten the chance to do so in a while.

Austin Alone, a 911 Lone Star fic co-written with @lilalbatross, a canon divergent au in which owen and billy start a friends with benefits relationship after 3.04 and inconvenient feelings ensue along the way. we've just got the epilogue and part of chapter 10 to finish up now, and it has been so very fun to write these two falling in love (and then being So Stubborn and Dumb about it). caroline is also very very fun to write with and bounce ideas (evil and benign) off of. love u babe <333

Wide Open Skies Ahead, another tg:m fix-it fic where ice lives and he and mav rekindle their relationship. this one is more serious in tone than IDKWYBT, and takes place entirely from ice's pov, who i have missed writing so very much. i've just finished outlining it and haven't begun officially writing it yet, but i have a feeling it's gonna be Very Fun once i finally get started.

Sharp Dressed Man (Or, How Nate Learned to Stop Worrying and Got Seduced By Colin Hughes), a ted lasso post-s2 fic that functions as a sequel to my Natedemption fic from late last year. in this one, nate sees to the downfall of rupert mannion, stands up to his dad, considers stress-induced homicide, bonds further with his players, and agrees to go out with colin hughes - not necessarily in that order. i'm about three quarters of the way done (it's been slow going lately), and hopefully should have it (and its sequel) up and posted before s3 drops!

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

i'm not sure, honestly! every scene i've really wanted to write i've eventually written, or tried it out and found that it wasn't as good on paper as it was in my head.

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

most recent bit from my writing that i'm Very Very proud of comes from chapter 6 of Austin Alone:

-

That made Owen feel even worse. “You are my friend.”

Billy looked very tired all of a sudden, like he’d aged a thousand years since this conversation got started. “Yeah. I know.”

-

they're so dumb!!!! they're talking past each other Again!!! owen thinks that billy doesn't believe that owen thinks they're friends, but billy DOES believe him and takes this as further proof that owen will never see him as anything BUT a friend and just....alksdjflasdkjfladf. sometimes i really really love my brain.

[kikiscastleinthesky]

THE SOKKASM ZUTARA

I’ve seen a lot of tumblr blogs that ship zutara and I decided that is time for me to open mine too. So, yes, I’m a zutara shipper. And for the time being, my posts are going to be dedicated principally to analyze the ships in ATLA. 

Disclaimer alert:  I’m not forcing anyone to ship zutara. And I won’t accept hate because I (and many others) may have a different opinion, If you are one of those persons I invite you to leave, don’t waste my time and yours, because I’m not even going to reply. Everyone has the right to ship whatever they like and want, without been mocked, harrassed and humiliated. 

Well... now that everything is settled: 3...2...1 go!

I’m starting with this small analysis, because every zutara shipper has been attacked on why zutara and zutara is horrible yada yada but, this ocassion I’m gonna use all the attacks we get and defend it. 

I. Zutara is way the worst toxic relationship:

You call Zuko the abuser, the toxic and the bad tempered? Then you     didn’t get a clue of his redemption arc.

You call zutara toxic for:

a)     giving your mother’s closure and final acceptance into the group?

b)     saving each other’s life?

c)     being the “leading co-parenting” of the group?

d)     support you when you’re about to beg for his uncle forgiveness?

II. The cave scene didn’t mean anything, and just think about it, they would never ever get along well:•      

  Of course, I misunderstood Zuko confessing his own grief, probably he just hates her.

When Katara opens to her mother sorrow like she never did with anyone was like no big deal.

 That part when she offers to heal his scar with SACRED water was totally illogical.

And being the first person who he let touch his scar really said to me that they were absolutely toxic.

 Yes, he betrayed her initial trust. And it hurt, but guess who betrayed worst? The man who for three years was his father. But nope, Iroh, should never forgive Zuko, for what he did. (Right? Katara was betrayed and she should bever have interest in him, so Iroh would never forgive his abuser, right?)

III. Zutara is about getting in love with your abuser:

The abuser love? When did Zuko abused Katara? When did he forced to do something she didn’t want? Did he ever physically abused her or sexually assaulted her? Even if he tied her to a tree, he never humiliated her, he never hurt her or overpass against her. Or are you trying to make up his whole plot to eliminate all his attacks towards team avatar only rest in the female character? (Have you forgot how he betrayed his uncle? Or even himself?)

IV. Zutara is an age gap, it would be underage thing. “You don’t like Aang because he is a child and still pair Zuko, being a minor.” You want to hypersexualize two kids (Aang and Katara) into having sexual interest.

Katara would have been dating an underage guy too. She would have been 18 and Aang 16. I know! Age gap only matter when the man’s older. Both Katara and Zuko had gone through puberty, and both were in adolescence, both shared the same maturity level. Yes dude, there a huge difference in being a CHILD and being a TEENAGER, yes, still minor, But with puberty hit already.

Actually, I still believe even being 11-12 you can get like a… spark… a hint. Even if its not a relationship whatsoever, and not having sexual interest of any kind. If you really want to see what closest we get to a “real” attraction and potential between kiddos that age, you get S1Mike and Eleven (stranger things) / you get Chihiro and Haku (Spirited away) / you get Pazu and Sheeta. (The castle in the sky) –Wooo, that really changes things right?

But yet there are people that believe shipping zutara is “pedophile” I thought in seriously not replying to this stupidities but, here I am, dismantling their theories.

So, this is real life. An adult person trying to sleep with a prepubescent kid. So… there is no support on this. Because a ship is about two fictional characters in a fictional story.

What about fictional pedophilia? Well, we can change that: Fictional pedophilia is a psychosexual disorder when you ship an adult fictional character (+18) to have a sexual interest in a fictional prepubescent child (-12) and / or attempt to engage both characters in sexual acts.

So step one… are either Zuko or Katara either an adult or prepubescent child? As you can see in the image at the right, both have gone through puberty. Step two, are you trying to a couple of minors to get sexually involved? No, this is a love story, not porn. And before you yell at me for the porn zutara comics/fics on the web, I guess you should see the porn Kataang /fics comics on the web too.

But I don’t hate any ship. So, technically, neither Kataang, nor Sukka, nor Yukka, nor Jetara, nor Maiko is pedophilia.

Ok, yeah yeah its not pedo, but is statutory rape, so yet it’s illegal.

Oh yes, if we state that 18 is the age where you are considered an adult (at least in my country) both are minors, your term is partially correct. But guess what would be statutory rape too?

Sukka (15) and Maiko (16-17), both implied to have sex relationships and canon during the series.

The episode "The Southern Raiders" became (in)famous among the fandom for what is a truly epic instance of this trope. Zuko bumps into a very flustered Suki on the way to Sokka's tent, and she hurriedly excuses herself. He walks into Sokka's tent to ask him a question and finds him pants-less and surrounded by flowers and candles. He even greets Zuko with a suggestive "Well helloooo..." before he realizes who itis. After a short talk, he rushes Zuko out and sticks his head out to call for Suki. And if there was any doubt, Sokka is shown the next morning fiddling with a flower necklace for no apparent reason... except to indicate that maybe Suki had been “deflowered”.

And yet, if Kataang had sex, it would be statutory sex at some point too: 16 and 18 -Conclusions: Statutory sex takes all ships equally.

V. Poor Aang he would be devastated.

Kid, he’s 12, in the comics he’s 13-14. Or what? Haven’t you guys had a broken heart ever? Your high school sweetie? Or Aang’s so frail to not be able to find love? To close himself for a better opportunity? Seeking your own happiness in not selfish. What is selfish is seeking your own happiness at the other expenses.

And even that, we all know what would Aang do if Katara starts a relationship with Zuko. (Even if it wasn’t Zuko, I highly doubt he would like Katara dating someone else) He would go on avatar rampage. That is NOT healthy, that is NOT romantic. That is extremely possessive and selfish to do. It’s psychotic. Because Aang cares more about himself than Katara’s feelings, even if she would be happier without him.

VI. Zutara is all about sex interest.

Well once more you mistake chemistry with sexual needs. Wanting me to sleep with my husband means I only use him for sex relief? If I find myself sexually attracted to anyone probably means I just want to sleep with that person and nothing else.

VII. A hug is all zutarians have to acknowledge zutara:

We have a complete extended analysis in all the small details, but we like to use that forgiveness hug because in that hug you have more potential that all the kataang scenes all together. We have thousands of complete analyses, pages dedicated exclusively zutara. 

VIII. Katara “fell in love with Aang” and it’s not one sided.

Uh... Nope, just because two persons are good friends it doesn’t mean they are a good couple. Yes, the way the both of them interact is absolutely beautiful, But not romantically.

Do we see Katara’s view on romantically being drawn towards Aang? Yes, we see it, and yes, unfortunately, is one sided.

How Kataangers complete this:

·       The fortune-teller: I didn’t see like “Wow omg the avatar is going to be my future husband!” But… was like “uh… really?… well, I guess it’s him” Zutarians and Aunt Wu are the base for many backs up theories. ;) Aang is not the only powerful bender you know? And actually, that episode is way trying too hard to demonstrate the crush Meng has for Aang and Aang has to Katara. How is even healthy to accept that sometimes persons don’t like you back and it’s not the end of the world.

·       The cave scene: I forgot that Katara is telling him to be her boyfriend and they will live happily ever after. And really, it all gets us to a real Oma and Shu theory. Not to mention that they were “forced” to kiss because their kids innocence believed if they kissed, they wouldn’t die, and that Aang messed up things as well. But if you see it beneath, if she was truly interested, she would have told Aang: “wow omg we kissed, ok. let’s give him a clue…” nothing, she goes back in treating him same as always.

·       The headband dance: Well that’s a fair point yes. Actually, I felt something different…unfortunately Katara later had to tell him not to kiss her.

IX. Zutara is because you projected on Katara and had a crush on Zuko, because Katara and Zuko were your favourite characters and because is the bad boy style romance.

My crush was Jet <3, and zutara was the most logical endgame for girls. Ask any girl, ANY 14 yo who would like to date: A high school, nice and handsome guy or a 7th grader that had potential to be her best friend. (See the logic) 

And nope is not like “Insert fav characters of the opposite sex to ship them” You need to see real development.

I don’t know why they stereotype Zuko as the “bad boy” – relationship archetype. Zuko is never seen to be the classic fuck boy who treats girls like shit and suddenly there comes a lady to change him. Maybe he is a “bad boy” (confused though) in S1 and S2, but his redemption arc is literally the answer of why he is not “bad boy” anymore.

If Katara was truly and really romantically interested then she wouldn’t have friendzoned Aang. Once? Nope 4 times. And also… are we forgetting kind of imagery…

Friendzoned  

 When Aang fixes her a small necklace with the fishing  thread.

 When he kissed her at the invasion. She didn’t  reciprocate it. (I’m not even mentioning the mommy proud speech)

 When he wanted to talk about the kiss in the western  air temple (Comic love is a battlefield)

 When he kissed her at the play and she had to told  him to back off.

 Strange imagery

 She was June Pippinpaddleopsokopolis (Aang’s  granddaughter)

When Aang got shot, she held his body in her arms in  the exact way Mary held Jesus in Pieta’s sculpture.

 She was Sapphire Fire. (Aang’s pregnant mother)

After they got married, in the book legacy, she said  she enjoyed most seeing Aang becoming a man. (Honestly ladies if I got a BF  the least I want is seeing how the kid transforms into a man)

I’m looking forward to watch you grow into manhood  as I did to your father (Katara’s letter to Tenzin)

 I’m really  trying to deny Oedipus complex here.

Still hard for me to track Katara’s love interest for little Aang since all we see is more a relationship mom/sister or Harry/Hermione. I have heard rumours that Bryke wanted to give the ship “mystery” and “expectation” but I think they really messed up, I didn’t see expectation or mystery, I saw a child insisting to a girl that didn’t reciprocate. It wasn’t even like she didn’t have much of a chance, because her love interests:

Was killed by Long Feng

Gave him a hideous mustache and disappeared him after Azula’s attack in the western air temple.

Forced to be attached to a toxic relationship.

Apart that all those points I’ve mentioned, Kataang is not a relationship for me. Staying in a formal relationship with the first person they met of the opposite sex at 14 -12 (guys not even Disney does that, jeez not even studio Ghibli) and not having any chance to experience any other relationship. Never experiencing a broken heart, or someone better. I think that it gives the wrong idea, telling guys that no matter how long they are placed in friendzone, eventually the girl will fall for them. They just have to keep insisting.

You could say, but what a hypocrite! Snow White was 14 years old when she went to live with that prince! Many princesses are 16! And not to mention that many men were the first they met! Like Aurora, Rapunzel, and Cinderella. Well, you are right at one point. But ... the interaction of these characters changes radically, mainly because they never "give cute kisses" to their future husbands, nor do they treat them like their brothers or their children and ... the men were never friendzoned, except for Naveen at the beginning. You see the real attraction of teenage girls with an older boy. And I'm not saying that they should never be friends or support each other. Mulan and Chang were allies, friends, they supported each other, they saved their lives. But at no time was there the kind of interaction Katara and Aang had.

If Kataang was to be endgame, we would see Katara’s reaction to Jet, totally different, THAT kind of reaction was what I was waiting. (That kind of reaction is what every princess do, at least one time)

The same chemistry we saw in Yukka / Sukka. Honestly, I saw more chemistry between Haru and Katara.

Or at least give us some character development like: Aang, I know my feelings where not as you wanted but now I decided I want to be with you because (list everything here except he being the avatar), I really like you, perhaps we can give it a shot. Or like several things that could clue us that she is interested (come on people, two persons can kiss/hug/ have sex and that doesn’t imply they will be together in a formal relationship) But all we got was: Oh, right, he’s the avatar... suddenly I fell for him and I’m gonna kiss him fully in the mouth and that’s how I’ll tell him and that all my confusion has magically disappeared.

X. I’ve never saw that kind of spark between them. Again, it was “Just a hug”

Yes! That’s initially the whole point of it, a friendship hug, the truth of why we don’t need silly blushes. Because that forgiveness hug shows their initial relationship, they are friends! All their love needs to come first from a truthful friendship, by the contrary of calling the “immediate falling” like Aang did for Katara, it shows us that friendship love can evolve into something more beautiful, and that’s why we like the ship, because all zutara shippers know Zuko and Katara wouldn’t fall in love like that all of the sudden, they have to create the romantic relationship, and that’s what we portray in the fics.

What makes Zutara exceptional is that he, sees her, he hears her, he listens what she had to do, at anytime he forced her to do something she didn’t. And before a “teenager adolescence ship” he sees her as a human, with feelings with own ideals and goals.

And there is a complete and extremely well based analysis in: The crossroads of destiny + The southern raiders + The lighting saving.

XI. The comics show us how toxic they really where.

Their interaction in the comics was something I like to call: destroying a character. Not only Katara, who turned to be that awesome badass to the submissive girlfriend. From how I see it in the series to the comics there’s all I have to say: That’s not my girl.

XII. How Katara could be queen of a country that almost aniquilates her tribe and killed her mother? It would be a betrayal.

I think this argument is out. Not valid. Is like saying a Jew can’t date a German because of the holocaust. (German doesn’t mean nazi, just as Zuko, who was from the Fire Nation and didn’t order Katara’s mother assassination, and not every citizen of the fire nation means a ruthless killer). Is like saying that a Japanese can’t date a us citizen because of the bombs in WW2. And even if we see it “political”, is like… an aphrodescendant can’t rule a country that is racist, then Mr. Obama would have never reached the presidency.

Two persons can unify them, because they can demonstrate that being from different country that initally has not good terms can reach peace. The union between those countries represents the power of maturity, of overcoming adversities and the power of forgiveness. *Our lands now connected by love* And I want her to be queen, I want her to rule, I want her in charge, I want her in power. Imagine all the potential she could have (politics, business, negotiations, rebuilding, restoration, education, public health!! ***faints***) Not only for the fire Nation but for the whole world! Imagine that once Zuko abdicated they left to the south pole and she opened a fighting school and a healing school of her own (like master Pakku, but now her students are given a medical license that acknowledges them as professional healers) And this is just an idea. Like these ideas are hundreds. It would have been the perfect feminist role model!

XIII. Since the beginning, Katara was always interested in Aang and she always supported him and was for him when he needed her. That’s proof they were meant to each other.

If a girl expresses faith in your abilities, she loves you, she hugs you, and she supports you clearly she’s completely into you. Because obviously female best friends don’t exist.

[well-shit-im-a-morosexual-now]

Time to talk about Lillith :)

So her being MC's ancestor in the story was... A bad choice, in my opinion.

And I don't hate that she was the one who revived MC, quite the opposite, that was a fine move. I like to think that it was to show that MC had a connection to all the siblings, dead or alive, hate or love. It's just...

Why are they (technically) related? What was the purpose?

That could sound mean, but if some of your playbase could call incest and (possibly) have a leg to stand on, it's a bit... Much, let's say. But, either way, there is an alternative that I like. (And one I made up, but that's besides the point.)

I like the idea that Diavolo lied to the brothers to keep the peace. To me, it makes sense, because:

He needs to keep the peace between the three realms, and y'know, one of the humans dying kind of prevents that. So, why not lie to them to make sure this never happens again?

It would also get to a quick resolution for the brothers, since I'm pretty sure that Belph was about to kill MC... Again.

Sadly, I only have two reasons, but you're smart, you can probably expand upon this.

Anyway, this might be a bit sloppy, but I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say.

Your Anonymous Color Coder,

Lesson 42 Anon

(P.S. I have issues with Lesson 16, 17, and 18. I say this just in case I want to rant about it. :)

So initially I wasn't the biggest fan of them being related, though when they first started hinting at a connection between Lilith and MC I had a "OH GOD. OH DAMN. PLEASE DON'T BE LILITH'S REINCARNATION" moment so finding out MC was just a distant relative was a relief but not one I was necessarily happy with? Because of all the "Is this technically incest!?" feelings I had at the time.

But it did grow on me? I think all the human au's I had roaming free in my head helped me get over it? When writing or thinking up human Aus I try to make them as close to the Canon situation as possible so it'd be:

The brothers and Lilith all living in a foster home with only Lucifer and Satan being blood related, but they all see each other as a found family. MC would be a distant (and I mean distant enough it equals to the thousands of years that separate Canon MC and Lilith) cousin who they don't even find out is related to Lilith until much later (after Lilith either leaves and joins a more permanent family or....well dies I guess).

The way I see it, it'd be the same as a group of "we're so close we see each other as siblings" friends wanting to date the distant/estranged relative of one of the group members.

So yeah, now I see the whole Lilith, MC, brothers thing as "Incest if I'm willing to reach so far my arm tears straight outta my socket" so yeah.

Though obviously it's completely valid if people are still uncomfortable with it.

ANXUSJWMNZRATQVX8 Belphie would have totally murdered MC if they didn't bring up the whole Lilith thing! And I'm so upset they all just get over it? Like damn I love Belphie no lie, but are we just gonna gloss over the fact that he was 110% okay with the genocide of the entire human race???????

I also have this headcanon that MC has chronic pain that flares up on and off after Belphie murdered them, cause remember how the ghost of the fortune teller,Gisella (?), on the train said you never forget the feeling of dying and MC had a pretty violent death so.....

I also HC that there are days, specially when the pain is bad, where they can't stand to be near Belphie and that while he was initially upset by this and was persistent about still being with them by around mid S2 or S3 he's learnt to identify those days and understand why MC can't even look at him then and he makes himself scarce and sleeps away the day in an out of the way dark, corner probably with Beel around for emotional support because honestly those days would hurt him as much as MC.

I like that in the Canon storyline that none of the brothers were 100% okay with Belphie right after Lesson 16 and how they went out of their way, more so than usual, to make sure MC wasn't alone with him? I maybe reading into that too much but I liked it..

And I mean generally MC's a very calm, collected, headstrong and stubborn character so as frustrating as it is I understand why they would want to help Belphie get along with the others again. "I died for this shit, so I might as well see it through" kinda mentality

I didn't initially like the two timelines cause it made me really sad imagining the one MC left behind and to ease that angst I always imagined since MC changed the past their original timeline -the future timeline- got erased with a new future unfolding. but someone on tumblr posted a headcanon with evidence on why they thought Barbatos joined the two timelines together so that they live with the extra day of memories and experiences that came from the original timeline AND I JUMPED THE HELL ON THAT BOAT & actually recently wrote something about it. Here have the link and some shameless self promotion cause I'm an attention whore:

Deadlines

"When Mammon meets his soulmate he's going to punch them in the face. It doesn't matter if he'll only find out who exactly his soulmate is when one of them is on their deathbed. He's still going to punch them."

Um anyway that's all my thoughts on 16, 17 & 18 (I think. There might be more that I can't remember at the moment tbh) and since I rambled to you about it you are now contractually obligated to rant to me about yours. Sorry, those are the rules🤷🏽

About the thing you said about Diavolo and his reasons I honestly have nothing else to add, I mean the reasons you gave make total sense and I'm okay with just what the canon gave too so

It wasn't sloppy at all! My rambles are always too long and all over the place!

Edit: I forgot! As to why they were related, yeah I don't think it was completely necessary but still I can see reasons behind it?

1. As a way to make MC other. A devilgram and a little line in S3 makes it seem like MC is neither angel, demon OR human. I HC that Lilith died right as she was changing from angel to demon making her one of a kind and that pure "Fallen Angel" magic came with her when she was reincarnated and then was passed down to MC.

2. How lilith's known as the mother of monsters in some myths and how MC is related to them... I just think it's neat. Plus MC has an insane amount of raw power - truly a monster in their own right

3. It's closure for the brothers. They never got to see Lililth as a human, never got to see her grow up, fall in love, start her own family. The last they saw her she was in pain and dying. They don't get to see if she was happy. MC's the closest proof they have to that. That she found love and had a family and was happy

4. It's closure for lilith. Just the fact that her spirit passed down from descendent to descendent along with her magic till she could see her brothers again just to see if they were happy and to tell them she had lived a long happy life. I don't know I'm really happy she was able to do that

5. The brothers find similarities between Lilith and MC but they're rare and 6 of the 7 brothers already liked MC before they found out about MC being her descendent. And even Belohie starts to like them as their own person. Just I always worry that they like MC just because of the connection between them and Lilith and that they see MC as a replacement but then U remember their Canon interactions and it feels like the brothers actually forget about that connection. MC is Lilith's legacy, they're living proof that you can be born in one world but find your true home in another, but they're not defined by Lilith. They're their own person. Even their magic is their own considering Lilith used the last of hers when she helped them in Lesson 15/16

[fcmilybonded]

so i wanna post it and hurt more people than just @fcmilysacrificed .this is soulmate au. based on the ‘they feel each others pain and touch’ sort of thing. it’s also based on gialijah bc that’s what we’re currently yelling about but it can work with other ships too! it’s also kinda rambly rip sorry

ok so imagine. back in viking days. human elijah. tatia is his soulmate. they have that connection. they love each other. all that. elijah kills tatia, he FEELS that pain, and he probably remembers the pain even when esther shoves the memory away. but okay, elijah goes on for a few centuries, not feeling the touch of a soulmate until one day

he does.

a new soulmate.

maybe he never finds them, maybe he avoids looking, maybe he does find them but pretends he doesn't. after all, love is a vampires greatest weakness.

eventually, that soulmate dies. either violently or from old age. elijah feels it. 

and maybe he meets people that he falls in love with that aren't soulmates. like aya. and he loves them as if they were soulmates, and maybe a part of him prefers that kind of love over soulmate love bc selfishly this way he can't feel their pain when they die.

maybe katherine is not a soulmate but he loves her. or maybe she is and that makes klaus planning on killing her for the ritual no matter what a lot more painful. for the sake of continuing along to modern day i'm just gonna go with she's not a soulmate

but yeah, over the thousand years, new soulmates come. maybe celeste was one. they make new orleans, they have a fresh start, everyone seems so happy, and he finds a soulmate. maybe, he figures, he could allow himself to be happy now. to be with a soulmate.

he feels celeste drown. before he gets to her. 

then that would be a soulmates to enemies plot in s1. elijah chose to stand by the man responsible for his soulmates death. celeste would be even more pissed over that. maybe while she's body jumping she blocks the whole soulmate touchy thing somehow idk.

until she kisses elijah to knock him out, he feels it again. then he kills her. and feels it. and maybe killing your soulmate feels really BAD. idk.

maybe you can even have two soulmates at once with the whole... age thing. maybe while celeste is still around, elijah starts to feel his soulmate connection with like, gia or hayley (but for the sake of this i'm gonna go with gia)

elijah falls in love with hayley in s1, even if she's not a soulmate, with celeste still around, which might piss celeste off more. and everything happens as plot does. s2 comes along, everything happens, hayley gets married, elijah moves out. hangs with marcel bc he has no friends. elijah walking with marcel, when marcel brings gia out, snaps gia's neck, and oh NO elijah feels it

he says nothing

elijah would have remembered that he killed tatia too. so thats 2 soulmates he's killed. nice fun fact there!

but yeah marcel wants elijah to teach gia. elijah wants nothing to do with her bc he KNOWS. gia doesn't know yet. he doesn't WANT her to know. he wants to avoid her at all costs.

but that doesn't happen. he's VERY careful tho. he does not touch her to alert her of this. he's distant. until he finds himself enjoying her company and relaxing around her and oh no he's falling for her help

gia prob finds out pretty soon tbh. she’s smart. she’ll work it out. it'd be hard to hide something like that. maybe after she sasses him with the suit thing, but before they sleep together. idk exactly.

then he feels her burning alive.

justyna added this lovely addition:

worse yet if klaus figured it out cause he knows the signs. klaus hdhxd always knows. he kills their soulmates with more happiness than anyone else

[hayleysstark]

Sugar Plum Queenie popping in! I've noticed you've posted about the Netflix Green Eggs and Ham I mentioned a while back. Have you finished the series? What are your thoughts on it? I binged the whole show with my sister last weekend and we both adore it! We love how smooth the 2D animation was, how expressive the characters were, the emotional moments (EPISODE 10 GOT US RIGHT IN THE FEELS) and the humor that both kids and adults could enjoy. Plus all the references to other Seuss books!

may i just say, i would binge Green Eggs and Ham in a boat. i would binge it with a goat. i would binge it in the rain, and in the dark, and on a train. and in a car. and in a tree. it was so, so good, you see. so i would binge it in a box. and i would binge it with a fox. and i would binge it in a house. and i would binge it with a mouse. and i would binge it here and there. say! i would binge it anywhere~ 

GOD it makes me feel so much better to hear how you and your sister also marathoned it. did you feel the call-out when Sam said his adventures with Guy were “binge-worthy”??? did you feel it????? did you feel the call-out???? did you feel that exact moment when your wig got snatched straight to the rafters by one (1) Samuel-I-Amuiel? 

And the traditional animation was so, so lovely!!! The world has really moved away from the 2D style in the past decade or so, but the 2D style is the one I grew up with!! I’d never put CGI down to lift traditional up, but there’s simply something so..... cozy, so Saturday-morning-cartoon, about traditional! It’s like a cup of hot cocoa, and it’s just wonderful to see it again, especially for a Dr. Seuss adaptation - which, if you ask me, absolutely demands 2D animation. or death. but preferably 2D animation.

YEAH, E10 was definitely a ride and a half!! brutal honesty, here, I did see a pretty good portion of all that from about a few thousand miles away - the truth about Sam’s mother is very obvious, with how he only ever discussed her in the past tense, and always got really over-the-top excited or super emotional at any mention of family, and it’s pretty plain to see he never had the best intentions for the poor Chickeraffe!! but I figured that would tie in to all the rest of it - he’s clearly unbearably lonely and desperate for friendship at the start of S1, to the point where he literally throws himself at a total stranger in a diner, so I naturally assumed this would stretch to the Chickeraffe as well. He would decide he couldn’t go back to the lonely life he had led before, deliberately delay the journey back to Chickeraffe Island, and drag out the trip as long as possible until Guy proved, one way or another, Sam would always have a friend in him, Chickeraffe or no Chickeraffe, and Sam would finally set the poor thing free.

but!!!!! obviously that didnt happen lmao and canon was a hundred times better and a hundred times more painful.

AND !!! Guy-Am-I was just!!!! a whole-ass mood!!! this man!!!! this!!!!! 👏 man!!!!! 👏 the energy!!!! 👏 is UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! 👏 when Sam refers to himself as Guy’s “best friend” and Guy’s like “I LITERALLY JUST MET YOU”???? a whole-ass mood!! when Guy checks out the classifieds in the newspaper and it’s like “JOBS FOR FAILURES”????? a whole-ass mood !!!! when Guy literally crawls a hundred miles through a fucking desert just so he can be alone ????? a whole-ass !!!!! fucking mood !!!!!!

My only gripe is Guy, honestly, he’s very relatable (sometimes in a not-so-fun sort of way) and the narrative sort of treats him like he’s an asshole just for ???? liking solitude ????? being very independent ???? not wanting to talk to complete and total strangers ????? could really live without that casual implication that if you’re not a goddamn social butterfly, you’re automatically a Heartless Demon. but !!! 

oh, and Michellee and E.B.’s arc fit SO WELL with the rest of the story, I won’t gripe about how Guy and Michellee’s romance was clearly shoehorned in to stop us all from the natural conclusion of SamXGuy. i’m not a fucking coward ???? Guy-Am-I has two hands smh. BUT !!! i did think the romantic subplot was a tiny bit unnecessary, i wouldn’t have bothered with it 🤷 

but yeah!!! ultimately, Green Eggs and Ham was a real fun romp, hit nearly every note right, exactly to my taste!! definitely gonna come back for S2 👌👌👌

Have a great day, Queenie!! 

[daturanerium]

finished season two of the magnus archives! here is my s2 livetweet thread and here are my reflections/predictions from season one. 

jon:

you are so fucking stupid. so incomprehensibly dumb. it is absolutely incredible how you lack any brain cells at all.

if jon was a dnd character he’d have a plus three to intelligence and a negative two to wisdom. i’m right.

[jon voice] people care about me? Must Be A Manipulation Tactic!

[jon voice, continued] literally everyone except for me is a) a murderer, b) using me, or c) hiding something. i, however, am totally fine and also sane and if you imply otherwise you are definitely Hiding Something and i need to stalk you.

seriously it’s a goddamn miracle he wasn’t fired or didn’t just like....explode on the spot

that awkward moment when you befriend a cop and get tapes that may lead to your successor’s cold murder case being solved but in the process you learn that you and your place of employment are actually owned by The Great, All-Powerful [REDACTED] 

it’s so interesting listening to a man’s mental health and sanity decline in real time!

martin: do u want some tea? jon: you’re going to kill me huh?

[jon voice] it is a good idea for me to enter these dangerous tunnels alone on multiple occasions. i am fine. 

his fatal flaw is still pursuit of knowledge. love that for him. 

baby please you work for an entity that probably literally thrives off knowledge.......please grow some brain cells in season three before you literally die doing something stupid

i literally can’t say anything more about s2 jon that isn’t me just repeating “stupid dumb paranoid baby” over and over again

martin:

martin [shaking hands emoji] me playing the mediator as our family loses their minds around us

martin blackwell recieves everything he has ever wanted and needed challenge!!!

baby i love you

HE CARES SO MUCH AND NOBODY CARES ABOUT HIM.......

martin’s job this season is literally the concerned husband but we’re not ready to talk about that yet

my dude really stepped up at the end! he was gonna fight michael in hand to hand combat for jon and sasha and i’m so proud of him!

martin went from baby to hold my flower

martin saw some shit in season one and now he’s a badass

his poetry.....i cried i literally love him so much

when he was talking to tim in the tunnels and he just breaks. and yells. and says he wants to get out of here and save jon and help sasha and be happy and you know what if everything DID turn out in the end that would be kind of nice actually!!!!

we didn’t see much of him this season but from what we did, especially at the end......the character development.......he’s so much braver now, so much more ready to confront the horrors of the world around him. martin is one of those special people that runs on love and uses love as a driving force to fight for the things he needs. 

i hope someday martin gets to sit down in a nice little cottage in the middle of nowhere with someone who loves him and just. relax. it’s what he deserves.

tim

you are the only bitch in this house i ever respected

literally just trying his best

so incredibly valid

GIVE HIM A BREAK

as someone who is the least confrontational person on the planet i really respect and admire tim calling jon out on his bullshit

that scene was so cathartic.....god.....

@ THE ELDRICH BEING RUNNING THE ARCHIVES CAN YOU PLEASE LET HIM GO HE JUST WANTS TO LEAVE

tim at the beginning of s2: hey jon you okay? you’re acting weird and it’s kind of freaking us out tim at the end of s2: fuck archivist lives and jon in particular,

and you know what? he’s right

i hope tim gets to go home. it won’t happen but i can dream.

are we just gonna brush over that part in the finale where michael just???? bamfed them to another dimension or something????? because neither tim nor martin seemed the least bit phased

honestly tim/jon has rights. i enjoy it.

he’s just so angry and hurt and done. he’s reached his limit. goodbye

get tim out of the archives s3!!! do it!!!

gertrude

wow i love you

every time i hear gertrude’s voice i just go [one thousand teary-eyes emojis]

there’s a lot we don’t know and there’s a lot that she knows. i wish we could like. raise her from the dead or something. altho honestly with a horror podcast who the hell knows

jon listening to/hyperfixating on gertrude is just a fancy way of him claiming her as his new mother figure

GOD I LOVE HER I WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT HER CAN WE GET A SPINOFF PLEASE

basira and daisy

the only cops with rights

that part where tim thought basira was jon’s girlfriend and they both dissolved into gay panic.....priceless

daisy step on me challenge. i’ve met her twice and i love her.

honestly basira is such a badass. stealing from the cops while being a cop? that takes guts and i really respect her lack of respect toward cops while being one

not to mention that entire business with that sentient cult darkness shit. she killed it in there (no pun intended). give her like a purple heart or something idk how cops work

daisy.....please tell me your secrets. what have you seen. what do you know.

melanie

please work for the archives i am BEGGING you

my ghost hunter girlfriend

i love her and jon’s relationship. just pure loathing. tension between the hunter and the archivist. i live for that shit.

but under that it’s like Oh Shit I Actually Care A Lot???? like their loathing comes from their businesses being judgemental enemies, but personally they actually have a lot in common and care for each others’ wellbeing.

i really hope melanie sticks around so we can learn more about her and see her friendship with jon grow into....an actual friendship

shes also a total badass and both her research and deducing skills are so good. she’s just a great archive candidate overall.

michael

[REDACTED]

what the fuck are you

what the fuck do you want

why do i like you so much.

okay there’s a lot more going on here but i’m putting my predictions under the cut!

okay lets check out my predictions from last time.

okay this one was partially right! “entities” rule the world apparently, and the archive is run by one of them. sort of got that!

.....yeah that didn’t happen.

hell yeah! i’m proud of myself for this one, even though the time loop part wasn’t true. i thought “time loop” because her voice started echoing when she hit the table, but turns out that was just her crazy long copy taking over. oh well!

nope. gertrude was killed by elias, apparently. fucker.

WELL.........

okay. this one is complicated because i was sort of correct but there’s still a lot of information i don’t know. gonna give myself half credit for this one i think.

REMEMBER IN THE FINALE WHEN MARTIN THOUGHT HE SAW SASHA AND TIM HAD TO STOP HIM FROM RUNNING IN TO SAVE HER? YEAH.

okay, season three predictions. let's go.

(disclaimer: while i haven’t been actively looking up spoilers or engaging in the tma tag, i also haven’t muted the tag or anything associated with it. i have ideas of what’s to come but they’re vague and mostly come from fanart on my dash/timeline).

jon just gives up. he’s having to much of a crisis to do anything other than his job.

jonmartin endgame still

michael becomes a sort of??? constant presence??? at the archive. everyone just kind of accepts it.

the books and the entities make a lot more things make sense. that’s really vague i know but like. 

predictions for the entities:

fire/destruction 

knowledge (jon stans rise up)

empty/alone (these stories always get to me the most. the ones where you’re endlessly falling or trapped in a cave or can’t sleep or stuck in space. shit scares me more than anything else)

chaos (i think michael is with this one. the doors also fit into this category, and maybe that shipping company)

death/id (brings out the bareness of human instinct. the meat, the bloodlust, and the death. maybe even the bugs go here, but they’re confusing. i don’t know where they fit.)

each entity represents a deep-set human fear. they were created to either teach us lessons or keep us in line.

sometimes they have devoted followers. sometimes they have disciples or avatars. you can lose yourself to them if you aren’t careful. jane was probably an avatar, that girl with the heat powers on hilltop road was an avatar, that guy with the lightning powers was an avatar, etc.

the books can teach you how to connect with the entities, but you have to be actually insane to try it. (if you aren’t already, you certainly will by the time you finish the reading/ritual. if you even survive)

anyway back to actual plot.

jon learns more from gertrude’s tapes about elias and the archives. maybe even the entities. he doesn’t want to know, but as we’ve learned, he Just Can’t Not Know. 

jon finally grows a brain cell and lets people (martin) take care of him. a little.

tim is just there. he hates it but he can’t leave. (someone please get him out this is so sad)

melanie and basira join up with the archive, but for different reasons. melanie because jon asks her to, basira because despite her best interest she couldn’t stay away.

at the end of the season we’ll either meet a powerful avatar person of one of the entities themselves. that will be.....interesting. 

elias gets hit by a bus. won’t happen but i can dream.

what ever happened to that one man from season one who had the dreams about death? i loved his statement. is there anyone out there like him? will jon receive a message like gertrude did?

WHAT IS THE LIGHTER FOR. i completely forgot about it until i looked at my last predictions and saw it mentioned.

martin is more active in tapes (again unlikely but i can dream. i love him)

that’s about all i got! i’m going to post this and immediately start season three. wish me luck :)

[ikolmagpi]

harringrove fanfic rec

I've been hyper fixated on this ship

¯\_(ツ)_/ ¯

in waves

It’s March and it’s too cold for Billy to be shirtless and wearing shorts, but he hadn’t noticed until Harrington appeared and made him hold still. Harrington can’t seem to stop looking at the bruises. “What’s it to you if I miss a little school, Harrington?” Billy asks. He feels goosebumps rising on his skin.

“I don’t know,” Harrington snaps back, looking uncomfortable. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other. Plant your feet, Billy wants to scream at him. I’m going to bowl you over.

They Don't Believe In Us (But I Believe We're The Enemy)

“Fuck,” Steve laughed, spilling scotch all over the back seat of his BMW as he tried to refill his flask. Billy leaned against his side and stole the bottle when Steve was done. He took a long swig, gasp on his tongue when he was finished. “I didn’t know you were a light weight,” Billy teased, but his hands wobbled as he put the bottle back on the seat. The glass dinged off Steve’s bat. The liquid sloshed against the glass. “I didn’t know you were full of shit,” Steve replied. “Liar. We both knew that.”

Switchblade

Billy's obsession with his knife has Steve's attention, but then Steve starts noticing other things about Billy Hargrove. Eventually, noticing turns into liking, and liking turns into something he doesn't want to name. Especially since he is sure Billy doesn't swing that way. It doesn't stop them from stumbling into a careful dance around music, though, even if Steve pines for something he doesn't believe he'll ever have.

a prayer for which no words exist

"There's blood on your face," Steve said numbly. He touched his own mouth. His fingers came back dark and slick with blood. Billy threw back his head and laughed. Red stained his teeth. "You gonna still kiss me, darling?" (Or: The one where Steve and Billy find something in each other they couldn't find in anyone else.)

F*ck Me Up (On a Spiritual Level)

He got all of Steve's memories in sharp fragments and horrible pieces. Who knew all this pain would come from Steve 'Princess of All that is Good' Harrington--the perfect golden boy himself? Billy certainly didn't. It wormed deep within him, made Billy hate himself more than he already does, made him want to beg for that Wheeler girl to come wrap her arms around him, made him hate these woods and the demodogs that might be in them. Billy knows what a demodog is now, and it's all thanks to Steve. -- Billy is an experiment, a faulty one at best. When his powers start kicking up again, things get out of control and Steve finds himself being the Mike to his El. (Several chapters have been written already)

Focal Point

Billy half convinced himself that the alien-dog in the forest was a drug-induced hallucination from whatever his bitch step-sister had injected into his neck. But something weird is happening. And he can't control it. Naturally, Steve Harrington get's himself involved.

Don't Tell Me There's No Hope At All/ Together We Stand, Divided We Fall

Billy's used to being afraid of his father, and he knows he's not the only one scared. But it's one thing to know your stepmother gets smacked around every once in a while and another thing completely to find her body on the bathroom floor. He's a mess, Max is even more of a mess, and Joyce Byers is a queen among mothers, she really is.

Mixtape

“Get the hell out of here, Harrington.” Billy was annoyed but Steve couldn’t detect that aggressive note in his voice that he usually had when he was really angry. “And wipe that smile of your face, or I’ll do it for you.” “Fine.” Steve said stepping away. He wondered – was Billy nice or was he batshit crazy? OR: A close look at Hargrove's (and sometimes Steve's) life and slow build romance (starting 3 weeks before the Snow Ball)

All Four Walls Make A Home

Things are supposed to be normal. El closed the gate, and now the shadows Steve thinks he sees in the middle of the night are supposed to be figments of his imagination. But knowing what he knows, can he ever accept that? When it turns out that maybe an evil from another dimension and a government conspiracy aren't so easily silenced, Steve finds himself cornered in a unexpected way: having to balance his new kind-of friendship with Billy Hargrove, and his top secret detective/security guard night job. Thanks, Reagan.

Words Left Unsaid

When he gets drugged at a party with Steve, his absence at home lands Billy in trouble with his old man. The next night, a call from Max drags Steve back into the circus at the Hargrove Household, trying to help. After that, a tentative truce of sorts forms between the two Kings of Hawkins, along with a shaky friendship built around ferrying kids around town. But they're soon reminded that the world is full of monsters, both human and...not. The Upside Down isn't done trying to break into our world.

Who's Gonna Drive You Home?

“Steve,” she says again, with more urgency, and now he’s sure it’s Max. “I need your help.” Steve’s pulse goes into overdrive. “Max, what’s wrong? I can get Hopper- ” “No!” she cuts him off, talking fast. “No cops. There’s no time and, and…it’s so cold out there and—and there’s just no time okay? You have to trust me. Please. You know the road I live on? I need you to come here now, but DO NOT stop at the house, just keep driving past it, but come as fast as you can and…” she hesitates “And—you’ll know when you see. You’ll understand.”

The Last-Ditch Efforts of Wayward Boys

The night that Billy is sent out to find Max doesn’t end when he wakes up on the Byers’ living room floor. Instead, his father’s rage reaches new heights and Billy finds himself at the end of his rope. When his only chance out of Hawkins lands him in counseling and partnered up with Steve Harrington of all people, Billy expects to play his part until he’s in the clear and back in California for good — but his life has seldom ever gone according to plan and, as it turns out, Billy’s not the only boy in town haunted and scarred and desperate for one last shred of hope.

Smalltown Boy: The Ballad of Billy & Steve

Steve Harrington encounters his rival, Billy Hargrove, and is surprised to see a different side of the troubled rebel. Friendship is inevitable, but could there be something more between these two magnificently coiffed high school dandies?

Close It Off. Board It Up.

Because deep down, Billy Hargrove was just a scared little boy with the world on his shoulders and a secret that he was desperate to keep hidden. Starting post-S2 ending. Potentially triggering content inside

Hargrove

“Chief?” “Yeah?” Hopper responded. It was barely eight o’clock; he’d just made it to the office. “Principal Wallace needs you down at the high school. The Hargrove kid’s sleeping in his car again, and they can’t get him to wake up.”

we can't go on just running away Billy gets his camaro back.

Billy Hargrove Sucks Hopper puts Steve in charge of sobering up a wasted Billy Hargrove one afternoon and suddenly things start to make sense. Until they really don't.

John Bender Loves Steve Harrington

In which Billy is trying. No, really.

magic soaking my spine

Steve Harrington survived the apocalypse. Twice. Now he has to survive community service with Billy Hargrove, which is honestly ten thousand times worse.

Yourself or Someone Like You

Maxine looked happy as they parted from Steve and walked down Main Street away from the theater. She slid into the passenger seat of Billy’s car. 'That was really fun,' she said. She looked at him like a gremlin and then smiled real cutesy. 'Did you and Steve hold hands in the popcorn?' 'I hope you had a real good time, I’m going to kill you in your sleep tonight,' Billy told her.

Only The Freaks Come Out At Night

After a long pause, long enough for Steve to think he’s not getting an answer (not that he knows if he wants one anyway) Billy responds, “All the fucking time, pretty boy.” Because sometimes getting hypothermia sounds more appealing than going home. They each smoke another cigarette in silence. Harrington’s face glows softly in the cherry light, his eyebrows furrowed as he stares into the inky water. Aka some sort of character study of Billy Hargrove. (Previously named 'You Make Me Not Want to Die' but that's the name of the series now)

dried up, half full

Steve’s been coming out here searching for a monster in the woods. He’s finally found one. “What do you want, Hargrove?”

knit more nearly together

takes a second to feel relieved he’s not Dustin getting all sorts of arrested in places he shouldn’t be, then he goes back to staring. Steve hasn’t seen Billy Hargrove since high school. Three years ago. The cop is staring at them, looking back and forth. “So uh,” the cop says, “Are you boys…good? If you’re still willing to vouch for him, then I’ll need you to sign for him, Mr. Harrington.” “Steve,” Steve corrects absently, at the same time Billy corrects, "Princess." The cop coughs awkwardly, and Steve walks up to the front, signs for Billy like he’s a package, or he guesses, in trouble with the law.

[uniformbravo]

i have too many thoughts bouncing around in my head so uhhhh im gonna talk abt shit

welcome 2 episode 43647 of my shitty slice-of-life text post series

school tomorrow i dont wanna go!!!!! !!!!!!!!!! depressions been hitting me tf up like some kind of MotherFucker n im so tired i h8 both of my classes i just want 2 lie down & turn into the floor -______________-

read 12 chapters of fma yesterday its good............. i dont love it yet but im definitely entertained so far & looking forward to getting further into it

also started reading silver spoon & it turns out the things i hated in the 1st ep of the anime didnt even happen in the manga who fuckin knew (im sorry i doubted u arakawa) so im actually enjoying the series a lot more this second time around! though that’s probably partly because i got rly attached to the protag halfway through s2 & now i get to dig out all the little signs of his low sense of self-worth on the reread so like. im having fun lol (watching him react to being told about livestock being offed for under-performing just the smallest bit again is..... so good.......)

watched all of aggretsuko today, like the original 100 shorts & the new series, it was p good! i honestly never planned to watch it bc like. i hate death metal / screaming bc it gives me anxiety & i knew this show would aggravate that but idk i heard good things about it from literally everywhere so i was like w/e im in the mood today i’ll just try it out & i blasted through it and enjoyed it v much

i think i like the shorts better than the show but that might be bc i watched the shorts first & got used to their rhythm? but at the same time i feel like the concept generally works better as little 1-minute tidbits. the show is a bit awkward sometimes in comparison but it’s a v good adaption regardless. it was interesting to see the concept executed 2 different ways at least. v fun show!

mmmmm still working on my silan portrait kind of!! i took a break for 2 days because 1. depression and 2. i was a fucking fool and played a Lot of piano on thursday so that put me out of physical commission for 2 days (honestly i was still feeling it today but i rly wanted to get back to work before it started to fade into yet another unfinished project). so yeah i got back to work on it today, and made some decent progress i think!

i mentioned in my other post that im working in clip studio paint, a program im not used to painting in, and i’ve definitely been struggling trying to get used to all these weird brushes but i think im slowly coming to an understanding and finding a technique that works for me? there’s an “oil paint” brush that’s good for blending & previously i was trying to use only that, since in photoshop i never switched to other brushes, i only used the one (hard round). the oil paint brush being a blending brush though, it’s basically impossible to lay down any new color on top of the old ones because the new color automatically blends with the old ones instead of coming out pure, so as a result all of my shading was coming out super soft and light which is not the effect i’m going for

so i found that using a different brush to lay down color first and then going in with the oil to blend made a huge difference & i was finally able to get in the darker shadows i wanted, but there was still the problem of details because like. the oil brush blends rly soft and it makes everything look kind of fuzzy, and it’s especially hard to deal with small areas for details

so today i started experimenting with a “watercolor” brush, which is basically just a normal brush with low opacity, and i’ve found it’s a good kind of middle ground between blending and carving in details, so that gave me a lot more control and is probably the closest i’ve gotten to my old painting style when i was working in photoshop

this whole process has just been rly confusing & im sure there are easier ways to go about this but i know i’ll get the hang of it eventually & get some good use out of this program, & it’s good to experiment with new tools i guess so?? it’s all good?? i’ll be honest im getting tired & this topic is kind of getting away from me uhhhh in conclusion im still working on the thing & i dont know when i’ll be done but i’m gonna fuckin. Keep at it

back to aggretsuko for a sec, something i rly noticed was the ost is?? really good????? i wanted to listen to it while i drew but i couldnt find it on yt & that’s like the extent of my music search capabilities on the internet so im p sad abt that bc that was like my fave part of the show rip

instead i listened to houseki no kuni’s ost which is fuckin beautiful ugh i finished that show a few weeks ago & it was very very gorgeous, like. weird and disjointed and a little tangential but fuck if it’s not put together in such an artful way that i can forgive all of that like what a way to create an atmosphere what a way to adapt a fuckin manga?? i tried reading the manga a bit bc lets be honest that anime ending was super unsatisfying but it just?? wasnt the same??? theres something abt the show being a 3d show and having the music to accompany its visuals & the way they did the lunarians especially holy fuck, it’s a completely different experience watching the show vs reading the manga & now im sad bc i want a s2 rly rly bad,,,;;;

anyway i didnt mean to talk abt hnk so much lol uh. i ended up listening to the op a thousand times bc god when i say the music for this show is rly good i mean it, both the op & ed are fuckin great (speaking of the ed that gorgeous animation holy shit,) along with its super atmospheric bgm just. god

as a reward for anyone who read through all this shit lmao here listen to hnk’s op it’s super good i promise

also watch the ed lmfao trust me it was a gift benevolently bestowed upon my eyeballs and now so too shall it be upon thine

anyway im fuckin tired & i think that’s all i wanted to say so like. peace

[kinetic-elaboration]

April 12: Thoughts on 1x11 The Calm

Thoughts on 1x11 The Calm:

S1 Bellarke is the hottest Bellarke fight me.

My boy Jasper doesn’t even appear in this ep and he’s STILL being useful literally making gunpowder like fuck off.

Bellamy is all for just killing everyone and Clarke wants to find some other way. I dunno if I read this as her being influenced by Finn or more like...her mind always whirring, always thinking of better solutions. She’s never content with just the most obvious thing. That said, their positions are reversed a season later: Clarke is all for just blasting the top off Mount Weather and Bellamy wants a more nuanced plan because he sees the people on the inside.

Why wasn’t Murphy + Octavia ever a thing? Also Murphy is smart about cooking meat. Chef!Murphy (head)canon already forming.

“When you’re really pissed off, you always find a project. Something to keep your hands busy so you don’t punch someone in the face.” Finn is annoying but this is good Raven characterization intelligence. Also their conversation is so painfully awkward. She really does just tamp it all down, bottle up those emotions.

Literally nothing is hotter than Bellamy being a leader and giving orders and the delinquents being a competent little group defending and taking care of themselves.

And yet again, Clarke suggested hunting and Bellamy essentially had to sign off on it (not only did he challenge on her and make her explain herself, but tbh if Clarke had told people to pick up spears and go they would have been like yeah right princess)--but it was Bellamy who gave the actual orders, BELLAMY who appears as the leader in the delinquent pov.

I wish there were more young delinquents--really young not Jasper-and-Monty young. Like this loquacious kid who goes hunting with Finn and Clarke. Or even Charlotte, kids that age. ...Really I just wish there were more delinquents. :/

So Raven’s first instinct isn’t to fuck away the pain, it’s to run. Dumb but understandable. She insults Bellamy based on his Ark job (”Aren’t you a janitor?”) which also feeds into my other theory about Ark and class status.

I know I’ve written B/raven stuff and I do ship them in a low-key way, in a ‘they would be interesting together’ way...but I don’t ship them in a canon way, tbqh. In this Bellamy and Raven scene, I see them having a good rapport, but in a way I also see him working her, getting her back on track not just for her own good but for everyone’s good. He has a double agenda and both parts are important.

I wonder how much familiarity everyone on the Ark has with everyone else. That’s not totally clear... people seem to have passing familiarity with others, but not close familiarity. On the other hand, Wick seems pretty comfortable just talking to a Councilor like whatever nbd. On the other, other hand that could be Wick’s personality and/or the circumstances. Most of the ship is probably dead and the rest will die soon so why be formal!

The creepiness of the Ark in this ep should not be understated.I love this aesthetic.

I want to know what the best part of a boar is! Clarke, don’t interrupt. Rude.

Two main characters and a kid you’ve never seen before go hunting in the woods. Which one is going to get speared?

Say what you want about Wick but he and Kane made a good team and I will stand by this opinion too.

In describing their route, Finn said they crossed a road. What road?? When have there ever been roads anywhere in this show?

Kane found a dozen survivors, Jaha has, like, 3....and somehow in Camp Jaha/Arkadia there are like several hundred (?) people. From only two stations like how is that possible? Also didn’t Farm Station have a couple hundred? They must have sent down over a thousand people lol. Kane did not find very many.

Also that Earth Monitoring Station is where the space survivors are living now and it was fucking destroyed in a fire but I guess we’ve just conveniently forgotten about that, huh useless show writers who can’t figure out their own continuity?

Kane has this annoying habit of just being uselessly self-sacrificing all the time. He would be so much more effective if he didn’t do that. He has a lot of hubris, I think. The unforgivable sin: thinking yourself so debased as to be unforgivable. It’s also another way of elevating yourself, of thinking yourself so important that you have sinned more than any other, are worse than any other...it’s still all ‘me me me.’ I think Kane is like that. He’s always looking for ways to sacrifice himself or to be dangerously heroic. I wonder if that matters more to him than, like, actual other people. (Some of this analysis could apply to Jaha at certain parts of his story, though mostly imo in S1. In S2 he starts thinking a little differently.) (ETA it definitely applies to him in this ep, where he wanted to sacrifice himself [and Sinclair] and Kane’s like ‘I’m not a dumbass, we need you smart people to save everyone else, this isn’t a wholly altruistic rescue mission you know.”)

Anya’s idiotic guilt trip re: Tris: “You did this to her.” Yeah I know she’s like 12 and that makes Clarke feel bad because her people don’t use pre-adolescents as soldiers but she should take the attitude she took with L. later. You don’t want me to fuck you up? Don’t attack me first. Would Anya be shedding any tears over the dead, disgusting bodies of the children her chemical attack killed? I doubt it. And they weren’t even soldiers! I mean really the Grounder attacks on the delinquent camp are the equivalent of an attack on a village of civilians, especially initially.

So Monty finds some of the first evidence of Mount Weather (the exodus ship logs showing interference) and Raven’s like ‘neato...give me that for parts.’ He’s much more curious than she is. She’s more...practical? Single-minded? Not that Monty isn’t practical. I dunno. Unrelated but I had this sudden image of modern!Monty listening for signs of alien life, for some reason.

Monty wants to keep the radio because he still believes in the Ark and he wants to see his parents again. “My family is up there.” Makes me even more curious what his relationship with his family is like. (You’d think S3 would have answered that but...not really.) He’s one of the few people who seems to care about those left on the Ark. And he looks so sad when Raven unplugs it... A rare moment when he lives up to his fandom cinnamon roll image. And when Raven leaves he picks up the radio thingy and I wonder if he’s considering putting it back together.

Murphy has a fish.

I gotta love Raven’s confidence: I’m hot and I’ve identified a straight man, if I start undressing, he’ll sleep with me. If I were as hot as her, I’d probably be that confident too, but still.

Bellamy’s “I’m not that guy” speech is actually hilarious when parsed. It’s like the equivalent of “IF I were going to say X, it would sound like this, but since I can’t, I won’t.” Like “If you’re looking for someone to tell you [a list of things in detail], that’s not me.” But you just did dumbass. His ‘bad boy’ persona cracks so easy.

Right before Clarke unpacks the medical tools, there’s a shot of a random $50 bill on the ground. Mmmmm something tells me that our weak U.S. paper isn’t going to survive a century post-apocalypse lol. There’s also a piece of paper. What is that stuff doing there?

Oh never mind. It’s an old bank. There’s paper and cash all over and lots of little drawers. Makes sense, banks would have vaults, and bunkers did have money in them. Maybe they’re in the Treasury’s old bunker. I never noticed that before, but it’s actually quite clever. The set design on this show is A-PLUS.

I’m not into the enemies-to-lovers thing generally but Anya/Clarke should have been a thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.

What an incredibly unsatisfying sexual encounter.

Kane says ‘no more than 1,000 survivors’ and ‘at least 1,500 dead.’ There have to have been at least 1,000 though, because they send them down on 12 ships and assuming they spread themselves about equally (which isn’t necessarily true but would be the smartest thing), that would be about 83 people to a ship. And I’m fairly sure Farm Station had more than 83 people and I’m also semi-sure that Arkadia as of 3x01 had more than 166. I mean it’s really hard to tell, and I can’t remember what sort of casualty numbers they gave for the Mount Weather explosion, but these seem like very low numbers to me. I don’t know. Maybe it does make sense and I’m just missing or mis-remembering something.

Having said all that, they did find another cache of survivors after this dialogue (including Abby), which might explain the discrepancy. (ETA not really because they only find, like, 10.)

Kane’s trip through the vent is a nightmare scenario for me so I’m just gonna...not watch.

Lindsey Morgan is so kickass in this ep, like how she stutters a little bit on “family” when she’s talking to Monty.

I completely forgot about this but the Grounders literally try to steal Clarke away like wtf. First of all, I wouldn’t trust her even as far as I could throw her if I were them. And second...she’s the enemy? But “prove your worth and you’ll be welcome here” I guess. Maybe Anya’s into her. I guess it’s good to poach the best talent from the other side before you destroy them. Also love that Clarke pretends to consider it.

The kill marks are to symbolize kills in combat so, really, Clarke’s 3x01 crack abut not having room on her back for all the deaths she’d caused misses the point...as far as I can remember she’s never actually killed in combat. Killing in self-defense, in group self-defense, or as part of an overall military-type mission isn’t the same as in combat, especially as she mostly acts as a general-type person, giving orders rather than doing deeds. Even pulling the lever, with Bellamy, is an awfully sanitized way of killing.

Going after this guy, getting him talking, taking out his knee and then slashing his throat, is one of Clarke’s best moments. HIGHLY UNDERRATED. Really second only to her escape from Mount Weather in early S2. Also props to Eliza Taylor, I appreciate how her expression afterward is half ‘oh shit I killed a man, this is terrible’ and half like steely resolve and determination.

Can Monty not tell the cardinal directions? (Your other West, Monty.)

A rare moment where Octavia and Raven seem like friends. Actually this is a good Octavia episode. She’s only in 3 scenes, which might explain why...

Also underrated is the tense but quick blnk-and-you’d-miss-it horror movie moment of Monty being taken by the Mountain Men. “What’s that creepy signal?.... Omigod... “ And he was never seen or heard from again.

So...why did the Mountain Men take him? Shits and giggles? To see if they could experiment on him? They seemed to have decided pretty quickly that the Sky People were like them, guests rather than blood resources. I wonder what the thought process was.

The end of this episode was aces. Great set up for the finale. I miss when this show was good.