#yes it might be obvious they are different but the comparison is making things more interesting imo

[saucerfulofsins]

I haven’t seen any posts comparing Buck’s coming out to Eddie and Tommy breaking up with Buck, which is a shame because the similarities drive me insane.

Or well. I say similarities, but that’s wrong. What I should be saying is: these scenes mirror each other. This post is more about the highlights than shot by shot comparisons – for that, I’d recommend you watch them side by side yourself.

Let’s start with the first and most obvious structural parallel: both scenes happen around 32 minutes into their respective episodes/between two-thirds to three-quarters in.

Now, for the scenes themselves. They follow the same basic outline, which I’ll discuss one by one. I’m following the same structure throughout: I discuss the coming out scene, then the breakup, and then give some analysis. At the end, I’ve included a section on further things of note that I couldn’t neatly fit into this structure and my final thoughts. Is this the first time I’m using the media analysis I was taught during my minor in Arts, Culture and Media with a focus on film in 2019? Yes, yes it is.

Buckle up, because this meta/essay is nearly 3k. For that reason (i.e. accessibility/readability and the amount of work I put in), this entire piece has been cross-post to AO3 (CLICK FOR LINK).

Opening shots

Seating 1.0

Buck in the kitchen

Seating 2.0

POV shots (both perspectives)

Eddie and Tommy leaving

Miscellany

Final thoughts

Analysis under the cut:

1. Opening shots

This part includes some of the most noticeable differences between the scenes, which explains why they feel different – at least at first.

CO: Eddie’s phone comes into view first – this is his chat conversation with Marisol, which the first part of the CO scene is about (note how this mirrors the gym scene, where Buck intended to come out before the conversation lingered on Eddie and Marisol). Eddie is also closest to the door during this part of the scene – which is where he will remain throughout.

BU: The first shot is of a closed door, which Buck opens for Tommy, i.e. Tommy certainly has no keys to Buck’s place, and this might well be a callback to doors as a recurrent theme. They greet with the briefest kiss possible. I rewatched this several times to make sure it really happened – it happens immediately after a cut and it’s filmed in such a way this could easily have been an air kiss lmao. (No seriously, I had to watch this screen by screen to properly catch it, and the audio is a lot more obvious than the visual). They make small talk about the movies and Tommy having ordered an uber (clearly a throwback to 7x05), and they switch positions so Buck is actually closest to the door.

As for clear similarities: Eddie and Tommy are standing up and remain mostly in the same place; Buck is moving around the loft – it’s an expression of his nervous energy, and the major changes in these scenes are about Buck, not Eddie or Tommy.

2. Sitting down

I made this a separate point for one reason, and one reason only: In CO, Eddie takes his own initiative to sit down, while saying he should go home and Buck offering him a beer, so clearly he won’t be leaving to go home any time soon(ilu Eddie but I’m begging you, stop putting yourself and also us through this 😭). In BU, Buck tells Tommy to sit down... which is in part to signal they need a more serious talk than can be done on the way to the cinema, but also shows a massive contrast in terms of familiarity and comfort, regardless of what Buck tries to tell Tommy later.

Both Eddie and Tommy sit down on the leftmost stool (closest to the door, i.e. it’s easiest for them to leave and Buck can’t get between them).

3. Buck in the kitchen

Fun fact! Before writing this post, I checked the scene where Buck confesses to Taylor that he kissed Lucy. During that scene, Buck is sitting down at the kitchen island, while Taylor lingers in the kitchen proper (i.e. with the island between them). She has moved in at that point – kitchens represent ‘being at home’ – but there’s a physical barrier between her and Buck, and it doesn’t actually keep from her leaving (even while saying she has nowhere to go).

CO: The camera uses a dolly shot to follow Buck throughout the kitchen – to the fridge and then back to the head of the kitchen island. He’s attentively listening to Eddie complain about Marisol and God watching him have sex (cursing God while sluttily drinking his beer).

BU: Buck walks out of view of the camera, through the kitchen, and there’s a dolly shot to the right to focus on Buck finding his place on the head of the kitchen island. He leans on the counter at this point. He does have a pretty open posture (identical to CO); Tommy sits with his hands/fingers folded together but he’s turned to Buck i.e. paying attention.

This is the position Buck has when he comes clear to Tommy about having dated Abby in the past; it’s also when his phone comes into the picture. Well. Pictures. Of Buck and Abby.

4. Seating 2.0

This is the longest section of analysis, and contains the part that makes me SCREAM but let’s start at the beginning. From the moment Buck sits down, the conversation turns serious in both scenes. This dialogue consists of mostly POV shots (which I will discuss next), and these medium shots that show Buck and Eddie, and Buck and Tommy.

CO: Buck sits down while Eddie says, “You and Tommy have the right idea, stay single.” This very clearly introduces a new section of the scene. Overall, the lighting of the loft is muted besides the yellow for visual interest and gay Eddie, thank you for your hard work Buddie colour theorists. Buck’s dining table is unlit and barely visible, so the space really takes a back seat and allows us to focus on Buck and Eddie. Please take note of the chair between them – this serves as a physical barrier, where someone is getting between them (a place for Marisol and Tommy, respectively).

BU: Here, the segway happens right after Buck’s come clear about being Abby’s ex 2.0. He sits down on the middle chair, but it’s quite obvious he’s shoved it away from Tommy. In fact, compared to CO, Buck is almost at the same distance from Tommy as he is from Eddie. There’s a barrier between Buck and Eddie, but there’s space between him and Tommy. This is emphasized by the lit dining table, which draws even more attention because of the white decorations: the loft is a space to be distracted by, focus on or even flee into.

Now. This is what kickstarted my obsession with these scenes, especially the coming out scene. The chair between them? Buck reaches out to Eddie, leans his arm onto it and in the process drawing attention to it. He actually leaves his arm there for an extended period, throughout several of the following shots, and only seems to pull back when he says he and Tommy were on a date.

The following shots – of Buck’s coming out and Eddie’s initial response – are back and forth POV shots. The first shot from medium distance, is this:

Do you see it. DO YOU SEE IT. Do you see what drives me crazy! Eddie is mirroring Buck’s earlier posture – also this is immediately after Buck says Tommy left him on the curb (i.e. Eddie realizes there’s no Tommy getting between them). Eddie’s not just opened up, he’s reaching out, extending his arm back onto that empty chair between them. And again, like Buck, he leaves it there for several shots. It’s still there when he tells Buck to call Tommy, although he briefly vaguely gestures to himself during the “He’ll love you! We all do!” It’s not clear when he takes his arm away; no shots show it and then he’s getting up.

This just. This drives me insane.

For comparison, Buck doesn’t reach out to Tommy during the BU scene. And, compare Tommy to Eddie:

5. POV shots

Okay, the section header is a bit of a misnomer because the scene consists mostly of dialogue and therefore has POV shots. Like I said, there’s also overlap between the POV shots and the wider establishing shots I used in section 4. The bulk of this part of the scene, however, shows a lot of over the shoulder close ups with quick POV switches. In both cases, this is where the subject at the heart of the scene is discussed.

Now, these differences are pretty small and they could be a consequence of these episodes having different directors. However, there’s zero doubt in my mind that Chad Lowe closely studied the CO scene for its sheer number of cinematographic parallels and therefore it might be entirely on purpose too YAY.

There’s some variation in the distance of these shots, but the most intimate ones look like this:

(Still not over that face he’s pulling here, dear Lord). Buck takes up most of the screen – his shoulders are visible, but the top of his head isn’t. I guess this is technically still an over the shoulder shot, but barely. Eddie is out of focus, just enough there to be a blurry ear. These shots are intimate. This is almost what Eddie is seeing – and actually these shots make it feel like they’re sitting a lot closer than they actually are.

"Until now.” Buck’s entire face (including hair) is in the shot, and we can see Tommy’s shirt. This is the closest/most intimate we get to see him (and Tommy, in reverse). For both sides, they’re very clear over the shoulder shots. Yes, this is intimate – but it is not intimate. A quarter to a third of the screen (esp as the conversation moves on) is dedicated to the other person. Buck is more visually interesting too. He has more colour in his face and his background is more clearly white than in CO, whereas Tommy blends in more with the brown coat rack background (shout-out to @sparklespiff for pointing out that difference while I was trying to figure out why Buck felt more noticeable, btw).

SIDENOTE: I know some posts have already been made about the pictures on Buck’s fridge and Eddie’s mantelpiece, like they seem thematically relevant (or perhaps not yet, but soon). Buck’s walls in general have more pictures on them in S8, which is evident both in Buck’s background and Tommy’s. I am nowhere near talented enough to identify them, but going by their general colour and composition, I believe all of Buck’s wall art pieces are that, art, not family photos.

6. Eddie and Tommy leaving

These scenes have some of the clearest parallels, and of course an incredibly clear difference in how Eddie and Tommy are leaving Buck.

CO: Eddie leaves not because of Buck (well, not technically), but because he has to go do something: “I gotta go talk to Marisol.” Buck is smiling while Eddie gets up and is on his way out. Of course, this is when Eddie stops, turns around, and Buck looks up. In fact, Eddie says “Come here” but he’s the one to walk up to Buck to give him a hug. Buck just stands up from the chair. During the hug, we get shots of both Eddie’s and Buck’s faces, and of course Eddie holding Buck’s shoulder. When Eddie leaves, we hear the door open and shut – the focus stays on Buck.

Again, when Tommy leaves, we only hear the door while the camera cuts to Buck. The show then picks up his response (with the same expression) during his arrival at Eddie’s, where Eddie lets him into his home.

BU: Of course, Tommy has nowhere he needs to go to (hello, return of the failed cinema date) – when he says “I should go” it is because of his conversation with Buck. There’s a medium wide shot of him getting up while Buck looks confused, looking like he’s about to reach out for Tommy – the first time during their conversation. The camera uses a slow dolly to the left, which is when Buck calls back Tommy to ask for clarification: “Did you just break up with me?” Tommy says, “Yeah, I guess I just did.” This has been pointed out before, but they’re clearly not sure. Tommy also says, “Believe me, I didn’t see it coming either.” (Was LFJ speaking from Tommy’s perspective in that interview?). That line is fascinating, actually, because only moments ago, he was incredibly adamant about being Buck’s first, not his last. This feels like a throwback to “Enjoy it while it lasts,” leaving them both overwhelmed/confused.

Look at how similar these shots are! Also, the reason I was adamant about calling these scenes mirrors and not parallels is because Buck and Tommy greet each other with a moment of physical affection (which, as I mentioned before, is incredibly short and barely visible). Eddie wouldn’t have ordinarily but feels it’s important to hug Buck to show him nothing has changed. In terms of meaning and cinematography, their interaction is a lot more substantial and reciprocal. They’re also making sure to leave on good terms – whereas Buck and Tommy meet on good terms, but part essentially as strangers. Buck and Tommy ending the scene like truly feels like an end. Buck and Eddie’s scene feels like a significant shift in their relationship, and for me part of that is a result of Eddie hugging Buck, and shaking up their routine.

7. Miscellany

Just some bits and bobs I couldn’t fit elsewhere in the analysis!

“I like him too. Just not the same way as you.” 7x05 was truly out there foreshadowing 8x06’s “I am not gay.” (I want to do a full 7x04 + 7x05 parallels post at some point, but that’s going to be a fuckload of work and possibly even larger than this post).

Like I pointed out, Buck and Eddie drink beer during their scene (which they often do during their conversations). Buck and Tommy are breaking up without accoutrements. Of course, we know Buck brings over beer to Eddie after the breakup. Because the scenes mirror each other so closely in every other aspect, it feels incredibly poignant: Eddie again fills a role in Buck’s life Tommy should have had. I also figured I’d check their fake brands, and they are different labels. I would assume Buck brought a new flavour, considering Eddie’s looks.

Speaking of continuity, Buck opening the door to Tommy in a sense mirrors Eddie opening the door to Buck at the end of 8x06. The key differences in their cinematography is that during BU, the establishing shot of the entire scene is of the closed door without a peephole shot. When Eddie opens the door, it follows his Risky Business tribute so the door takes up less presence, and even when it’s closed, Buck is clearly visible through the peephole.

Phones clearly are connected to (past) female love interests; Eddie is interacting with Marisol but it’s through text and impersonal – we don’t see the messages, we just hear Eddie complain. On the other hand, Buck is out of contact with Abby but he still treasures that relationship – otherwise he wouldn’t still have those pictures on his phone after 7 years. I guess that’s kind of cute? Idk, I never really liked Abby or how she treated Buck, but Tommy’s speech has turned me into an Abby defender lol

Like Buck, Maddie also stands at the head of the kitchen island during her conversation with Chimney. Chimney’s in the kitchen proper, though, and Maddie walks up to him so they can actually stand face to face and be happy about the new pregnancy together! (I genuinely missed that scene the first time I watched the episode, I was so caught up in the bones of it all SORRY MADNEY I LOVE YOU FOREVER).

8. Final thoughts

I mean. Are we really surprised? I’m not! Actually that’s a lie. I saw the similarities but was shocked at just how close these scenes are in full. However,I do think this scene in particular does a lot to show just how deliberate these parallels between S7 and S8 are (and between S8 and previous seasons in general – we’ve seen similar/near identical cinematography a couple of times now), and how deliberate the parallels are between Eddie and Tommy (who are literally taking up the same position in these two scenes).

And just. The fact it’s the coming out scene between Buck and Eddie, which was about opening up & telling the truth, and it doesn’t change anything (allegedly), versus Buck and Tommy, which is about opening up & telling the truth, which changes everything... it reaffirms how I feel about the coming out scene – this is a major moment of change, and that change is deeply entwined with their respective romantic relationships. AAAAAAAAAAHHH!!

[aroceu]

i've been rewatching the good place with a friend lately so i've been thinking about it a lot and i just keep thinking

about how eleanor says so much that she's not a bad person, she's just a "medium" person. she didn't kill anyone, she didn't technically abuse anyone, she was selfish but not "horrible," she was human.

except when we see eleanor pre-death, we see something different. no, she didn't murder anyone. but she was pretty horrible. she was really good at lying to elderly people to sell them fake drugs. she abused her friend's dog. she lied to her coworkers to get out of driving for them at the bar. she felt so threatened by people feeling like they were better than her that when she saw concrete proof that a coffee shop manager was misogynistic and sexually assaulted someone, she enthusiastically supported the cafe to be contrary to her boyfriend.

she is very obviously a horrible person. even in season 2, michael calls her a manipulative demon; that's not something you get called if you're just a "medium" person. what we're told, and what her reasoning is a lie. but she doesn't know it. it's a lie to the viewers.

she also stands in stark contrast with jason—who has broken the law multiple times, has gotten arrested multiple times, likes celebrities and hobbies that have a terrible reputation (not just for being "trash" but for being actively hateful), and even if he might not have killed someone, there's probably something in his repertoire that comes close. but at the same time, it's very, very obvious to see that he's a good-hearted person, who wants to do more good than harm. compared to eleanor, whose bad actions are much smaller in comparison, but her bad personality makes her less likable, and much worse. yes, of course it's about environment—but it's also about how goodness might be more accurately judged by intent than by action.

i saw someone say that it was unrealistic that eleanor didn't call chidi a racial slur when she was a white woman from arizona. sentimentally, i agree with the realism argument. but at the same time, i think it would've been out of place. eleanor would know that saying a slur is on a different level of wrong. a lot of the bad things she did were indirect; it was a lot about what she did when no one was looking. but she didn't want to see herself as a horrible person, so she wouldn't have wanted anyone to see either. as long as they didn't get too close for her.

eleanor being a "medium" person is a lie. of course she belongs in the bad place. she's initially presented as a "medium person" because the story wants us to be on her side, wants us to believe that she's as human as us, until the season one flashbacks start to tell a different story. then it makes us squint and go, no, eleanor really is a terrible person. but the show is aware of this too!

and yet, the thesis of the show is that bad people can always get better. that no one is beyond rehabilitation; that society fucks us up but it's still the choices that we make that mean the most about who we are in the end. we get to see the growth of eleanor's good person journey through the entirety of season one, so that even as we realize she was a shitty person on earth, we're still rooting for her by the end of it. season one is the show's entire thesis; seasons two through four are just proving it to us. and eleanor proves herself to us over and over again, so that even as we know how terrible she was, and how terrible she's capable of being, we still know and believe that she belongs in the good place at the end.

[anheliotrope]

Rambling About C# Being Alright

I think C# is an alright language. This is one of the highest distinctions I can give to a language.

Warning: This post is verbose and rambly and probably only good at telling you why someone might like C# and not much else.

~~~

There's something I hate about every other language. Worst, there's things I hate about other languages that I know will never get better. Even worse, some of those things ALSO feel like unforced errors.

With C# there's a few things I dislike or that are missing. C#'s feature set does not obviously excel at anything, but it avoids making any huge misstep in things I care about. Nothing in C# makes me feel like the language designer has personally harmed me.

C# is a very tolerable language.

C# is multi-paradigm.

C# is the Full Middle Malcomist language.

C# will try to not hurt you.

A good way to describe C# is "what if Java sucked less". This, of course, already sounds unappealing to many, but that's alright. I'm not trying to gas it up too much here.

C# has sins, but let's try to put them into some context here and perhaps the reason why I'm posting will become more obvious:

C# didn't try to avoid generics and then implement them in a way that is very limiting (cough Go).

C# doesn't hamstring your ability to have statement lambdas because the language designer dislikes them and also because the language designer decided to have semantic whitespace making statement lambdas harder to deal with (cough Python).

C# doesn't require you to explicitly wrap value types into reference types so you can put value types into collections (cough Java).

C# doesn't ruin your ability to interact with memory efficiently because it forbids you from creating custom value types, ergo everything goes to the heap (cough cough Java, Minecraft).

C# doesn't have insane implicit type coercions that have become the subject of language design comedy (cough JavaScript).

C# doesn't keep privacy accessors as a suggestion and has the developers pinkie swear about it instead of actually enforcing it (cough cough Python).

Plainly put, a lot of the time I find C# to be alright by process of elimination. I'm not trying to shit on your favorite language. Everyone has different things they find tolerable. I have the Buddha nature so I wish for all things to find their tolerable language.

I do also think that C# is notable for being a mainstream language (aka not Haskell) that has a smaller amount of egregious mistakes, quirks and Faustian bargains.

The Typerrrrr

C# is statically typed, but the typing is largely effortless to navigate unlike something like Rust, and the GC gives a greater degree of safety than something like C++.

Of course, the typing being easy to work it also makes it less safe than Rust. But this is an appropriate trade-off for certain kinds of applications, especially considering that C# is memory safe by virtue of running on a VM. Don't come at me, I'm a Rust respecter!!

You know how some people talk about Python being amazing for prototyping? That's how I feel about C#. No matter how much time I would dedicate to Python, C# would still be a more productive language for me. The type system would genuinely make me faster for the vast majority of cases. Of course Python has gradual typing now, so any comparison gets more difficult when you consider that. But what I'm trying to say is that I never understood the idea that doing away entirely with static typing is good for fast iteration.

Also yes, C# can be used as a repl. Leave me alone with your repls. Also, while the debugger is active you can also evaluate arbitrary code within the current scope.

I think that going full dynamic typing is a mistake in almost every situation. The fact that C# doesn't do that already puts it above other languages for me. This stance on typing is controversial, but it's my opinion that is really shouldn't be. And the wind has constantly been blowing towards adding gradual typing to dynamic languages.

The modest typing capabilities C# coupled with OOP and inheritance lets you create pretty awful OOP slop. But that's whatever. At work we use inheritance in very few places where it results in neat code reuse, and then it's just mostly interfaces getting implemented.

C#'s typing and generic system is powerful enough to offer you a plethora of super-ergonomic collection transformation methods via the LINQ library. There's a lot of functional-style programming you can do with that. You know, map, filter, reduce, that stuff?

Even if you make a completely new collection type, if it implements IEnumerable<T> it will benefit from LINQ automatically. Every language these days has something like this, but it's so ridiculously easy to use in C#. Coupled with how C# lets you (1) easily define immutable data types, (2) explicitly control access to struct or class members, (3) do pattern matching, you can end up with code that flows really well.

A Friendly Kitchen Sink

Some people have described C#'s feature set as bloated. It is getting some syntactic diversity which makes it a bit harder to read someone else's code. But it doesn't make C# harder to learn, since it takes roughly the same amount of effort to get to a point where you can be effective in it.

Most of the more specific features can be effortlessly ignored. The ones that can't be effortlessly ignored tend to bring something genuinely useful to the language -- such as tuples and destructuring. Tuples have their own syntax, the syntax is pretty intuitive, but the first time you run into it, you will have to do a bit of learning.

C# has an immense amount of small features meant to make the language more ergonomic. They're too numerous to mention and they just keep getting added.

I'd like to draw attention to some features not because they're the most important but rather because it feels like they communicate the "personality" of C#. Not sure what level of detail was appropriate, so feel free to skim.

Stricter Null Handling. If you think not having to explicitly deal with null is the billion dollar mistake, then C# tries to fix a bit of the problem by allowing you to enable a strict context where you have to explicitly tell it that something can be null, otherwise it will assume that the possibility of a reference type being null is an error. It's a bit more complicated than that, but it definitely helps with safety around nullability.

Default Interface Implementation. A problem in C# which drives usage of inheritance is that with just interfaces there is no way to reuse code outside of passing function pointers. A lot of people don't get this and think that inheritance is just used because other people are stupid or something. If you have a couple of methods that would be implemented exactly the same for classes 1 through 99, but somewhat differently for classes 100 through 110, then without inheritance you're fucked. A much better way would be Rust's trait system, but for that to work you need really powerful generics, so it's too different of a path for C# to trod it. Instead what C# did was make it so that you can write an implementation for methods declared in an interface, as long as that implementation only uses members defined in the interface (this makes sense, why would it have access to anything else?). So now you can have a default implementation for the 1 through 99 case and save some of your sanity. Of course, it's not a panacea, if the implementation of the method requires access to the internal state of the 1 through 99 case, default interface implementation won't save you. But it can still make it easier via some techniques I won't get into. The important part is that default interface implementation allows code reuse and reduces reasons to use inheritance.

Performance Optimization. C# has a plethora of features regarding that. Most of which will never be encountered by the average programmer. Examples: (1) stackalloc - forcibly allocate reference types to the stack if you know they won't outlive the current scope. (2) Specialized APIs for avoiding memory allocations in happy paths. (3) Lazy initialization APIs. (4) APIs for dealing with memory more directly that allow high performance when interoping with C/C++ while still keeping a degree of safety.

Fine Control Over Async Runtime. C# lets you write your own... async builder and scheduler? It's a bit esoteric and hard to describe. But basically all the functionality of async/await that does magic under the hood? You can override that magic to do some very specific things that you'll rarely need. Unity3D takes advantage of this in order to allow async/await to work on WASM even though it is a single-threaded environment. It implements a cooperative scheduler so the program doesn't immediately freeze the moment you do await in a single-threaded environment. Most people don't know this capability exists and it doesn't affect them.

Tremendous Amount Of Synchronization Primitives and API. This ones does actually make multithreaded code harder to deal with, but basically C# erred a lot in favor of having many different ways to do multithreading because they wanted to suit different usecases. Most people just deal with idiomatic async/await code, but a very small minority of C# coders deal with locks, atomics, semaphores, mutex, monitors, interlocked, spin waiting etc. They knew they couldn't make this shit safe, so they tried to at least let you have ready-made options for your specific use case, even if it causes some balkanization.

Shortly Begging For Tagged Unions

What I miss from C# is more powerful generic bounds/constraints and tagged unions (or sum types or discriminated unions or type unions or any of the other 5 names this concept has).

The generic constraints you can use in C# are anemic and combined with the lack of tagged unions this is rather painful at times.

I remember seeing Microsoft devs saying they don't see enough of a usecase for tagged unions. I've at times wanted to strangle certain people. These two facts are related to one another.

My stance is that if you think your language doesn't need or benefit from tagged unions, either your language is very weird, or, more likely you're out of your goddamn mind. You are making me do really stupid things every time I need to represent a structure that can EITHER have a value of type A or a value of type B.

But I think C# will eventually get tagged unions. There's a proposal for it here. I would be overjoyed if it got implemented. It seems like it's been getting traction.

Also there was an entire section on unchecked exceptions that I removed because it wasn't interesting enough. Yes, C# could probably have checked exceptions and it didn't and it's a mistake. But ultimately it doesn't seem to have caused any make-or-break in a comparison with Java, which has them. They'd all be better off with returning an Error<T>. Short story is that the consequences of unchecked exceptions have been highly tolerable in practice.

Ecosystem State & FOSSness

C# is better than ever and the tooling ecosystem is better than ever. This is true of almost every language, but I think C# receives a rather high amount of improvements per version. Additionally the FOSS story is at its peak.

Roslyn, the bedrock of the toolchain, the compiler and analysis provider, is under MIT license. The fact that it does analysis as well is important, because this means you can use the wealth of Roslyn analyzers to do linting.

If your FOSS tooling lets you compile but you don't get any checking as you type, then your development experience is wildly substandard.

A lot of stupid crap with cross-platform compilation that used to be confusing or difficult is now rather easy to deal with. It's basically as easy as (1) use NET Core, (2) tell dotnet to build for Linux. These steps take no extra effort and the first step is the default way to write C# these days.

Dotnet is part of the SDK and contains functionality to create NET Core projects and to use other tools to build said projects. Dotnet is published under MIT, because the whole SDK and runtime are published under MIT.

Yes, the debugger situation is still bad -- there's no FOSS option for it, but this is more because nobody cares enough to go and solve it. Jetbrains proved anyone can do it if they have enough development time, since they wrote a debugger from scratch for their proprietary C# IDE Rider.

Where C# falls flat on its face is the "userspace" ecosystem. Plainly put, because C# is a Microsoft product, people with FOSS inclinations have steered clear of it to such a degree that the packages you have available are not even 10% of what packages a Python user has available, for example. People with FOSS inclinations are generally the people who write packages for your language!!

I guess if you really really hate leftpad, you might think this is a small bonus though.

Where-in I talk about Cross-Platform

The biggest thing the ecosystem has been lacking for me is a package, preferably FOSS, for developing cross-platform applications. Even if it's just cross-platform desktop applications.

Like yes, you can build C# to many platforms, no sweat. The same way you can build Rust to many platforms, some sweat. But if you can't show a good GUI on Linux, then it's not practically-speaking cross-platform for that purpose.

Microsoft has repeatedly done GUI stuff that, predictably, only works on Windows. And yes, Linux desktop is like 4%, but that 4% contains >50% of the people who create packages for your language's ecosystem, almost the exact point I made earlier. If a developer runs Linux and they can't have their app run on Linux, they are not going to touch your language with a ten foot pole for that purpose. I think this largely explains why C#'s ecosystem feels stunted.

The thing is, I'm not actually sure how bad or good the situation is, since most people just don't even try using C# for this usecase. There's a general... ecosystem malaise where few care to use the language for this, chiefly because of the tone that Microsoft set a decade ago. It's sad.

HOWEVER.

Avalonia, A New Hope?

Today we have Avalonia. Avalonia is an open-source framework that lets you build cross-platform applications in C#. It's MIT licensed. It will work on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android and also somehow in the browser. It seems to this by actually drawing pixels via SkiaSharp (or optionally Direct2D on Windows).

They make money by offering migration services from WPF app to Avalonia. Plus general support.

I can't say how good Avalonia is yet. I've researched a bit and it's not obviously bad, which is distinct from being good. But if it's actually good, this would be a holy grail for the ecosystem:

You could use a statically typed language that is productive for this type of software development to create cross-platform applications that have higher performance than the Electron slop. That's valuable!

This possibility warrants a much higher level of enthusiasm than I've seen, especially within the ecosystem itself. This is an ecosystem that was, for a while, entirely landlocked, only able to make Windows desktop applications.

I cannot overstate how important it is for a language's ecosystem to have a package like this and have it be good. Rust is still missing a good option. Gnome is unpleasant to use and buggy. Falling back to using Electron while writing Rust just seems like a bad joke. A lot of the Rust crates that are neither Electron nor Gnome tend to be really really undercooked.

And now I've actually talked myself into checking out Avalonia... I mean after writing all of that I feel like a charlatan for not having investigated it already.

[kojitheopossum]

this is about the siren’s song au

Theory: siren’s have some sort of obvious sexually dimorphism traits. You mentioned that sirens are highly territorial, so I think it would make sense for the species to develop some sort of sexual dimorphism to help differentiate between siren-that-is-trying-to-kill-me and siren-that-is-trying-to-mate-with-me. The two options that come to mind are different coloring (like cardinals) or a size different (like angler fish). There could also be some sort of different fin pattern maybe?

Alternative option is that they do the thing salmon do during mating seasons and look completely different.

Second Theory: the temperature of the water a siren is living in, especially or exclusively during childhood, affects their coloring. This may be a fact that I missed/was heavily implied tbh. I know Eeltho cannonically lived in deeper and colder waters than most sirens, and is also paler than most sirens, so it would make sense that warmer water temperatures create darker coloring/markings in the skin of sirens.

for ur first theory, I'd definitely agree there's some elements of sexual dimorphism. Coloring, while interesting, probably wouldn't work because of how varied the colors they come in, I also absolutely love the angler fish comparison. I will say that female sirens fins tend to be much longer while the males have basic stretched oval shaped fins. They also mimick the human sexual dimorphism trait of chest size. The salmon idea is also rlly interesting but siren don't die after mating (unless killed by partner lmao). I know the fish changing shape doesn't directly kill it, but it still feels too much like an "end stage." The main conclusion I've come to regarding the issues of telling whether another siren wants to fuck or fight is a combination of body language and the hormones released into the water by both siren during mating season which draw the two together.

For your second theory, yes that's 100% true!! While siren can dive very deep, they'll spend time at the surface too. Etho, however, did not get much sunlight at all. The warmer the water the more vibrant the siren will be, however the coloring is first and foremost determined by their surroundings, many deep sea fish are red because it absorbed so much light, similar to etho. Sirens in the artic while often be darker and grayscale to match the surroundings. Siren who frequent the open ocean might be deep blue and green tones. Siren who spend time in reefs will match the coral backdrop etc etc.

[exo-raskreia]

Imma rant about Ichigo and Orihime cuz your blog has waken a outrageous fire in me!! And rightfully so! I agree with literally everything you said(btw Karin and hitsugaya are endgame for me too🤭🤭)

Ichihime makes literal sense and it genuinely sucks as a ship and i don't get why the shippers are satisfied with the results. I asked my friend who he wanted to be endgame and answered Ichigo and Orihime cuz they are a better fit. LITERALLY HOW?!! I didn't go psycho on him cuz if Ichigo and Rukia ain't your cup of tea then fine. But why are people answers automatically always Ichihime?? Is it cuz they are canon??? Where the hell was the build-up for it then?! It is nothing compare to ichigo/rukia or orihime with tatsuki/uryu. Idk if Kubo was trying to punk us by pairing them up or not. I feel like he didn't plan our their relationship properly! People say it was obvious from the beginning that ichigo likes her back but i sure as hell didn't see it! Maybe i'm just salty and refused to see the signs cuz Ichiruki is the best ship( and i had a crush on ichigo since forever soooo... 😖😖) ?? I've always been a rukia and ichigo fan rather cuz they actually had the chemistry and insane connection. I'm so mad that they weren't endgame. My girl Rukia was elite why didn't Ichigo went for her and vice versa?? Don't get me started on the poems, the speechs, the way ichigo always and always thinks of rukia. Like the ingredients for the cake was perfect, why the hell would you put gasoline in there💀💀

Some people say that cuz the show is shounen and not a romance, i shouldn't be upset about ichihime ending up together and not be mad of lack of their romance. I'm not expecting ichigo and orihime to have some epic EPIC love story or anything just make it more sense for ME at least. If Ichihime was some side-ship then i wouldn't care as much, but this is the MC of the show i want to see something greater than what we received! If they were to have a love story(ya know a real one) then they should've played it out like in Fruits basket

Ichigo and orihime actually remind me alot of kyo and tohru from fruits basket. And they're all very similar to think about it! Ichigo and Kyo: the grumpy orange haired protecters that have a heart of gold. Orihime and Tohru: the loveable sunshine character that are super traumatized but still manage to keep smiling. The only difference is that Kyo and Tohru actually have the emotional moments and had the chemistry and ya know they actually TALKED and were ACTUAL FRIENDS(as in kyo didn't treat tohru like a acquaintance) before dating. But since Orihime is so much like Ichigo's dead mom, their relationship would've been like Yuki and Tohru. I know the comparison might be dumb to do cuz they are very different anime and different genre but still!! Excuse me for caring so much about that my fav ain't canon. Yes this is a shounen anime but they could've at least squeezed in a bit of the love story of the mc to show they actually care about it. The MC of the show has a better and stronger bond with his bestie than his own wife. Like how is my girl Orihime not bothered by it?! Should've end up Tatsuku i swear. I mean they're literally Nana and Hachi!! 🍓🐶✨

I feel like orihime just exist to be his love interest and that's it! Girl had the potential to be a great character that ain't always there to be the love interest. Her becoming a housewife was insulting cuz what do you mean she ain't a robot destroying a city (i can't remember that scene from the earlier seasons but something in between those lines🤣) I do like Orihime enough but not that much cuz it's Ichigo this and Ichigo that. Like girl i get it. I wanted(and still do) him too but don't settle for being the second choice) HOMEGIRL YOU HAVE OTHER LUCKY DUCKS THAT WANNA BE WITH YOU!!

And another thing: I read somewhere that: just cuz Uryu had a crush Orihime that, that doesn't mean that Orihime should be together with him.... Okay then why can't that also imply to Ichigo and Orihime?? Like why just cuz "She'll fall for him in every lifetime" doesn't mean that he has to do the same too!! Rukia is already the queen of his heart mind you

BUT ANYWAYS!! It's a shounen after all so i shouldn't be expecting the mc to have a well-written love story and not to have high hopes of the MC love interest to be something more than that. But whatever at the end of the day they're CANON and have a kid together so all i can do is cry about it and live in fanfiction.

Ahem, I'm done with my rant thank you 😌 (And yes anti-IchiRuki fans I'll still be salty in my 40s cuz of the ending and I will never shut up about it just cuz they have canonically have kids)

No worries, anon! You've come to the right place! Let it all out~

Not surprised your male friend would choose Ori. Typical. For dudes like him, her appearance, superficial crush on Ichigo, & the word "canon" being slapped on are enough for them, despite there not being any actual chemistry between IH. It is also a common trope in other manga/anime, so they convince themselves that it was meant to happen, but it doesn't mean it makes sense for every story, especially not in Bleach's case; it doesn't make narrative sense if they actually looked into it.

(Canon ≠ good. Just look up what went wrong in 'How I Met Your Mother' or even 'Game Of Thrones' S8).

(While on the subject, since Rukia is a much better written character than Ori, if she had a body like Ori's, & Ori like Rukia's, even less dudes would care about IH 🫢, since they never even have good arguments in favor of it that aren't the 3 things I mentioned already up top).

Ichigo & Rukia had the most chemistry in the entire manga/anime, & it baffles me when people didn't/don't (wanna) see it. I went into Bleach almost blind when I first started watching it & IR really stood out. Their bond is right in your face, playing along the border between platonic & romantic, making you wonder what exactly it is, but knowing they aren't just mere friends. In the manga, I was constantly awed & amused by how borderline romantic it came off as, despite having already watched the anime (which did not do the manga justice in many ways; and then antis claim IR was mostly anime-based, PLEASE 🙄). Kubo really wasn't playing when it came to these 2. What a freakin' troll.

Haven't watched Fruits Basket, but I can see what you mean. Grumpy & Sunshine is a fun trope, however, as you said, IH just didn't have what it takes. If Kubo had wanted to, he could have properly developed IH at some points in the manga, such as the Fullbring arc, & it wouldn't have to be anything big, as Bleach is not a romance. He could have opened the arc with those 2 already going out, like them holding hands as they head to school or something, maybe showing some flashbacks of them talking things out, comforting each other since HM to show how they got together. Instead, in those 17 months since Ichigo lost his powers & contact with Rukia, you're telling me Kubo couldn't make IH bond? Instead, Ori's still pathetically pining after him while Ichigo is still thinking of, longing for, Rukia! How am I supposed to believe IH was meant to be endgame?!

Orihime had more chemistry with other people than the man she ended up with 💀. I personally ship her with 2 other men (Ishida & Ulquiorra). She was different with them. One selflessly cared for her, had her at the forefront of his mind in her own rescue arc (unlike Ichigo), while the other challenged her, found her fascinating & wanted to learn more... Not to mention they both protected her from Ichigo a couple times in the HM arc.

She really did have potential to be a great character but it all kept going down the drain, never achieved her dreams nor goals. She kept regressing as the story went on, especially when it came to Ichigo. She was never able to encourage him nor fully support him & was usually a complete damsel in his presence (he even seemed annoyed by her during the Ywach fight, which mind u, she was only there cuz there was no one else left & Ichigo had no choice?). She was more interesting whenever she wasn't around him. All her best moments were when she wasn't thinking about him. Saving Tatsuki? Bonding with Ishida in SS, standing in front of him to protect him in the Fullbring arc? Bonding with Ulquiorra (the only good thing she did the whole HM arc)? She could've done more in HM but didn't. In TYBW, she didn't do anything special, couldn't even encourage Ichigo & was treated like a ragdoll by Ywach. This is how Kubo wanted us to remember her. She was mostly reduced to fanservice by the end (and she's still not as popular as Matsumoto or Yoruichi in that department 💀). I sometimes think he didn't like her all that much with how he treated her character...

While watching the anime, I seriously had been hoping she'd get over Ichigo in the SS arc when she wistfully said Rukia was a very special person to him who changed his world (oh, boy, was I in for disappointment). Right off the bat, there was nothing interesting/exciting about her interactions with Ichigo (I was shipping her with Ishida by this point). He was just so blasé with her, I almost felt bad for her & it only kept getting worse. I then hoped she'd finally get over him after the traumatic experience at the dome in HM, but her ongoing silly crush made my eyes roll & lose hope in it. LIKE GIRL, HE'S HUNG UP ON ANOTHER GIRL, & U SHOULD'VE STOPPED PUTTING HIM ON A PEDESTAL BY NOW; HE'S NO PRINCE CHARMING & ESPECIALLY NOT FOR U WHEN HE BARELY GAVE U A SECOND THOUGHT IN UR OWN RESCUE ARC & ALMOST GOT U KILLED LIKE 3 TIMES & U HAD TO GET SAVED BY ULQUIORRA & ISHIDA, LIKE-

Orihime doesn't have anything in common with Masaki other than maybe their appearance (which imo, Masaki looks more like short-haired Matsumoto anyway?). Besides the cheerful part, their personalities are very different. Masaki was more like Rukia: brave, strong, selfless, teasing & annoying Isshin/Ichigo, etc... IR has actual dynamic parallels with IsshiMasa in the narrative... Kubo just copied IR moments, especially considering he wrote as he went... So, don't be fooled by those morons who go by appearance alone & even those weird lines in one of the novels (Oedipus complex anyone?) instead of the legitimate parallels between IR & IM shown in the manga, such as these:

What was going thru Kubo's head if he supposedly "intended" for IH to happen? Ichigo & Ori had more chemistry with other characters than with each other. Kubo went about this all wrong. Bleach not being a romance is no excuse for shoddily pairing up characters in the end. In a few scenes scattered throughout the manga, he could've implied them. Every time they interacted, their relationship should've progressed somehow. And he actually did this with IchiRuki. (In regards to Naruto, for example, Kishimoto at least admitted he didn't put enough effort into his ships by saying romance was not his forte & he's not good at writing female characters, but at least most of the ships made sense & esp NaruHina had actual good moments scattered throughout the manga...).

Sigh, I've said this before, but why can't more battle shounens be like Fairy Tail when it comes to developing the ships throughout the story? There'd be less drama. Even Gintama did a better job at developing the main ships, lol, that if they became canon, hardly anyone would've been surprised (they were somewhat implied if u squint, tho 🤪).

There are theories Kubo wanted to spite Shounen Jump for their treatment over the years so he ended things this way (and maybe to spite the fans too, since his manga sales had been on the decline for years). Ever heard of the "choosing unhappiness" theories? Basically, remember that Ywach said he'd come back at Ichigo's happiest moment? Well, he didn't come back at Ichigo's wedding with Ori, not even at the birth of his son. He came back when Ichigo reunited with RUKIA after 10 years.

So what could this be telling us? That Ichigo chose to be unhappy by not getting with the one person who made him the happiest. Rukia gave him that push by choosing unhappiness first (since she knew Ichigo couldn't make the first attempt to) & married Renji, who in turn, also gave Ichigo that push to go for Ori. IR chose unhappiness to defeat Ywach. Could this actually be what Urahara meant when he said he'd leave everything to "Kurosaki-san & Kuchiki-san" after his defeat in TYBW?! (we deserved the IR tag-team we never got in the final fight, screw Kubo)

One could also say his friends chose unhappiness to help too? Ishida becoming a doctor he'd never expressed interest in & seeming isolated from the friend group (maybe not agreeing with the farce they're all in), Chad becoming a boxer instead of using his fists to protect, Ori marrying a man who doesn't love her & she knows never will, Renji marrying a woman who doesn't love him & never will (and whom I think he doesn't love either? My view on that here)... Isshin is nowhere in sight, could it be he also doesn't wanna be a part of this farce in which his own son chose to marry a woman he doesn't love?

Still, everything about this ending is so wrong, makes no sense, a bunch of retcons too. Heck, remember the rebuilding of Sokyoku Hill in SS? Made Ichigo destroying it meaningless 🙄.

Anyway, I didn't mean for this post to be too long. There's so much to rant about lol. There's also so much to make fun of 👀. As I said in this post, IH was never popular & never will be. Kubo himself can't bring himself to give them content & his affiliates (like Shounen Jump, Studio Pierrot, etc.) can't be bothered either, as IH doesn't sell. Canon for almost 10 years & still no official couple/family arts nor merch 😂. If they end up getting thrown a bone in the future, the fact it took them that long would still be laughable.

In the end, it's best to ignore canon, its fans, & engage with what you like. It also doesn't hurt to sometimes make fun of Bleach's failures~ Kubo has made it so easy, can you blame us? 🤷‍♀️

Also, glad u like HitsuKarin as well 🤭. Would you believe it's my #1 Bleach OTP? I had brainrot for it a few years ago, like I literally scoured almost every bit of content that I could find, & while it's died down, I just know that if Kubo &/or his affiliates were to feed us HK content now, I'd eat it up like a starving dog-

Sorry for the late reply, anon! 😓 Been having brainrot for a different fandom, if u can guess

[witchhazelevesque]

There's something about the change and progression from Leo's hesitancy to rescue Nico because it would definitely be a trap to his willingness to go back for Calypso and all the ways his death is involved in that journey.

And I don't even mean progression as in Leo's stance on Nico influenced his decision about Calypso- though that could have been a really satisfying way to take that. But they are at the core the same situation: a rescue mission, with vastly different circumstances.

(I don't like romantic ca/eo, but them as friends? Sign me up. That's the only way I can imagine them, and what I mean when I talk about them here.)

The situation sometimes gets boiled down to 'Leo and Jason wanted to leave Nico in the jar', but there's more to it . For one thing, Leo wasn't even able to voice all his thoughts on the matter, because he was interrupted by Hazel, Frank and Jason. That doesn't negate the overall suspicion/wariness Leo has; he brings up two major points: that the giants are using Nico to bait a trap for the rest of them and that Nico hid the camps from one another. But Leo was surprised by Frank and Hazel’s reaction and question about whether Leo meant they should leave Nico. So, it seems in part 'can we trust him?', but also in part something like, 'this is a trap, we should be aware of that and be on the defensive when doing it'.

Leo's actions later also factor into this, though they were mainly for Hazel's benefit. He wanted to use Nemesis's deal to save Nico. And in a way, this decision is more reckless and dangerous than any ways death was involved in going back for Calypso. And in a way, more romantic, which is kind of funny because it could be interpreted for either Hazel or Nico. That aside, this offer was voluntary and unconnected to Leo’s other duties.

But his decision to die was connected to those duties. It wasn’t dependent on Calypso. He didn’t do it for her. Yes, he does think about how he feels his place is with her and not the rest of the seven, but that’s not the only reason. Even without her in the picture, he was going to sacrifice himself. He died because the Fates put a choice in front of him. He died to defeat Gaea, to spare Jason, to save all his friends and the world.

And to avenge his mother.

Yes, his decision to go back to Ogygia without first letting his friends know he’d be okay is not fair to them, but RR was always gonna make it happen this way, which I'll get into in a second. But working with what is here, I do understand Leo's decision. Leo explains this best when he says, "Calypso is a priority”. It’s plausible that they'd want the other to be a little selfish about them / want to be a little selfish about each other. To prioritize them. This could have been something they connected over, and it would have been cathartic for this to have played a larger role. To choose one another.

And maybe that makes more sense if you look at it in a vacuum, without the context of how their interactions were executed and just the overall shape of their intended dynamic in the story: both isolated and alone, brought together by someone else's design, connecting regardless. Someone who never felt chosen wanting to make sure someone he cared for does feel chosen after waiting so long both to be the first choice and to have her freedom.

And that might not be compelling to everyone, but it is small in comparison to the actual major reason I understand Leo’s decision to prioritize Calypso: because it’s about fulfilling the plot, not about characterization.

Which may seem obvious because these books are about fast paced plot, but it matters so much here. I would say RR wrote himself into a corner, but I don't think he actually minded being there.

But it was still a corner.

It parallels Zeus saying that Hera bringing the seven together wove fate in a way that only left so many avenues open.

It was pretty clear by the end that RR did not care about the quality of finishing the quest, since another line of the prophecy, ‘the world must fall’ was built up so much and then the final battle between ‘fire’ and ‘the world’ took six pages.

Six pages.

RR just got it done. 

The choice to have Leo's trip back to Ogygia happen at this moment ultimately is about tying up loose ends of the prophecy. Prophecy has always been made clear by the end of each book in this verse, iirc. Leo's characterization basically turned into just him thinking about Calypso, which is disappointing. But it feels, at least to me, that Leo only left before talking to his friends because it was a lynchpin for those plot requirements of the prophecy, and because RR wanted the situation the other characters ended the series in to be ✨dramatic and mysterious✨

Sort of a benefit, we at least get to see Hazel and Frank deliver the news (one of the few things they got to do in BoO).

It's also strange that Leo set the timer for 24 hours the night before the battle, maybe it was because he couldn't have anticipated Zeus sending them back to New York so fast, maybe he thought the battle with Gaea might last longer. But it was set to resurrect him long after he died and Festus flew him from camp. Leo heard Asclepius say to administer the cure as soon after death as possible. Maybe Leo didn’t know what would happen, but RR did and he set it up this way. If this time detail had stayed the same but Leo didn’t leave for Ogygia right then, I wonder how that would play out. If he hadn't gone, would the others have taken his body off Festus? Would they have been able to find where he’d put the cure? (That’s a bit of a tangent though.)

The details of how it actually worked are never addressed to maintain the ✨mystique✨ around what Leo’s plan actually was. BUT it could have made a big difference in the reception of the end of the novel if something had been explicitly set up earlier, and that’s if Leo would have needed a massive power source to 'break out of reality' so to speak, to kick start his return to Ogygia, since it doesn't exist in the real world. When Percy ended up there, it was during Mt St Helens' erupting and Hera guided his way. Leo's first trip was powered by another goddess.

And what a convenient power source he had in himself, his body turning molten, releasing everything inside himself, this literal gift and burden from the god of fire, in a genuinely once in a lifetime event- because it was so powerful it literally killed him, created an explosion strong enough to vaporize a primordial deity. It would have been a now or never situation, when else was he going to have the power of a force of nature except the one he has inside of himself?

It's one possibility that wasn’t taken.

Maybe if this had been the case and had been explained beforehand, this plot point would have been more palatable.

But then it also could have supported the idea that Leo did die for Calypso. But it didn’t actually happen this way.

However, a driving force that is known for sure is the oath with a final breath line that RR needed to get done.

Having Leo fulfill the oath with his final breath, when he died, was necessary to deliver on everything the story had been promising. It checked off the last item in the central prophecy of the series. Prophecies have been a focal point of each book in all the PJOverse and having the meaning unfold and come to fruition plays a major role, think Rachel literally crash landing into the Battle of Manhattan to tell Percy he wasn’t the hero in the prophecy.

So, with the way HoO and BoO are written, the only piece of the prophecy missing after Leo defeats Gaea is the ‘oath to keep with a final breath’. It didn’t matter if it made sense or not, if it was a good idea or not, if it was in character or not, the oath being kept had to happen in this moment. Leo had to go back for Calypso right then. It was the plot bending the character, not the character driving the plot, which, I mean, isn't too surprising, these books aren't really deep dives into the characters.

Back to the original topic though, Leo was in very different head spaces with different circumstances in these two rescue missions. He had to take into account the safety of the entire crew and the quest when considering Nico, and when he did decide to take a risk, it was one that would only put himself on the line. With Calypso, he knew he was going to die one way or another, that in doing so he would complete the quest, and that he had to keep his oath 'with a final breath', which, again, is a narrative point that needed to be checked off. There were already multiple plot lines that didn't pay off (Frank bringing his family full circle happened off screen within six pages a g a i n Hazel's curse being washed away wasn’t explained satisfactorily, etc.) but this one had top billing, RR couldn't get away with not delivering.

Again, a plot choice, not a characterization one. RR had to write it that way because of the choices he'd already made.

This got very far away from my original thought of valdangelo pining with Nico cycling through some of these thoughts while waiting for Leo to get back to camp. Him thinking "you wouldn't do it for me, but you would for her.”

And if that was the case, then Leo dying- which would have been an extreme version of one of his worries about rescuing Nico- would make more sense as a point of contention between Nico and Leo in ToA. Maybe Nico would logically recognize all the reasons aside from Calypso that Leo sacrificed himself, but he couldn't get his feelings to understand the difference.

[bhnsby]

Since you like jo, i need to hear more about your opinion about her

GOD I THOUGHT ID NEVER BE ASKED

Resident Jo guy here ready to talk about her too much

Funny enough I think Jo might be the character I’ve talked about the most on here? Not that anyone asked but I know I’ve done one on her and her dynamic with lightning, multiple jomarias, and whenever AS or roti comes up I always talk about her it’s like there’s some unknown force making me.

But for my jo take for today, I wanna talk about her/heather and the dynamic as well as the parallels between both.

Jo and heather are like one of the only mix gen dynamics, which is crazy. I can only think of like Scottney and like every other interaction between characters are so basic they have the essence of just “hello _____ character from other season!” “Hello _____ character from other season! We’ve now hit our interaction check box meaning this season wasn’t entirely pointless and definitely couldn’t just have been another roti season but everyone complained at the new characters” “huzzah!”

Sorry got sidetracked. Butt Jo and Heather do interact beyond that and I WISH we got more of them

To compare both, both are a “villain” in the series they compete in. And both are a take on a type of “bully”.

Heather is your classic mean girl but better. She’s the Regina George the Heather Chandler thats her trope. Yes there’s more depth to her but for this comparison I just want to talk about her in relation to Jo. Now to contrast Jo is more of the “jock bully” archetype. But once again, better.

Despite there clear differences they actually have more in common than I initially thought. Both take advantage of people they see as “less than them”. Heather with Beth and Lindsay, and Jo with Cameron and Lightning. Lightning and Lindsay clearly have some similarities in they’re both stupid and their manipulator uses this to their advantage, making them think they have an ally/friend but in actuality they are just being used. And Beth and Cameron are similar in the sense that their dynamic with their “bully” is also disguised as a friendship. Beth wants to be in the popular clique and Cameron wants to just survive this, meaning he’s willing to work with Jo despite her clearly being mean rude and horrible to him. Both Jo and Heather use these people to make it far, but ultimately their downfall is due to the people they used all season (jo being betrayed by cam and voted off by cam and lightning and heather having Lindsay being the reason she looses the challenge).

They also both have a very similar dynamic, heather with Gwen and Leshawna and Jo with Zoey and Anne Maria. Yes I know the Gwen/leshawna dynamic is very different to the Anne Maria/zoey dynamic, but when it comes to heather and Jo they’re actually kinda similar. Gwen is typically a little play thing for Heather to torment, with Leshawna always being at her neck standing up for other people and not being afraid to put heather in her place and fight back, and while Jo is rude to everyone Zoey will often not retaliate back, unlike Anne Maria who is, like Leshawna, always at her neck usually standing up for herself and other people (seen with how she defends the likes of cam guys wait till I drop the AM essay I have proof of this) and not being afraid to put Jo in her place and fight back against her rude/pushy/bossy/etc.

Their competitiveness and want to win is also something that both have. While it’s not as evident in heather (more in world tour than any other) they both have a desire to win individual and team challenges, as well as overall too.

Also just remembered in All stars they both make an alliance with an enemy of some kind only for them to immediately try to get them eliminated, both times backfiring with heather getting out instead and lightning being seen as useful later on (stfu no he wouldn’t have been)

The first clear difference between both is Jos internalised misogyny.

GOD I hate when people deny this it’s so obvious to me am I the only one that sees this but yeah anyway Jo makes an off handed comment about heathers “girly short shorts” or something idk I can’t remember I’m not rewatching I’m at college right now

Butt, I think some of Jos hate for Heather comes from some of her internalised misogyny. They would genuinely make for good friends if they weren’t both such haters. But alas Jo sees someone she’s compatible with and would get along with, but said person is a girly teen girl and doesn’t want to allow for a platonic female relationship. She doesn’t want to be friends with someone who is what she hates about herself. She’s not feminine and I don’t think that’s the reason for her internalised misogyny, I don’t think she needs to be “girly” or anything, and I don’t think she’s implied to be trans to me, I see it more as a societal thing where she feels like she “isn’t one of the girls” and better than people who are girly because to her she’s an exception and society tells her that guys are better than girls and her personality/attitude/interests/identity aligns more with the masculine gender (not trans just vibes ykwim) and so she denies all of her feminine traits to be better than everyone else. I think had jo and heather had more time, she could’ve overcome this and eventually formed a bit of a alliance/even friendship with heather, similarly to what started to/would’ve happened with jo and Anne Maria guys jomaria canon guys guys please

So yeah tl;dr Jo and heather are peak and would’ve been even more peak had they had more time

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

It's so annoying to see people in the tag comparing Byler to other queer ships that didn't happen like no Byler is unique and wasn't made by bad writers. Idk if you were in one of those fandoms but it would be amazing if you could explain to all those people why Byler was written differently because I am tired of the classic: "they are queerbaiting you,deal with it". I am like :" wow they queerbaited the Lgbt+ community and the heterosexuals too then because a huge majority of the GA audiences who see Byler aren't from the Lgbt+ community". They also made the "main" ship do unlikeable that it lost at least 40% of their supporters between season 3 and season 4.

Well, I can see where they're coming from, even if I don't agree.

I have never been involved in a fandom before, but I have been a fan of shows/movies where I thought "so and so would make a good couple" only for nothing to come of it. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, though. This is the first time I've ever thought it was going to happen, and I've felt that way since season 2. Each season since has left me disappointed, as I don't want it to be a final episode "twist" in order to avoid losing fans, but it's still only become more and more obvious to me that it's inevitable.

I think a lot of fans get caught up in headcanons, particularly between seasons. As a result, they end up forgetting what is actually canon, and they create elaborate predictions that just don't fit the reality.

Yes, queerbaiting is a thing. I'm not familiar with many of the fandoms that this is used with, but I'll give the fans the benefit of the doubt on it. If a show hints at a queer couple, that's not enough for it to be queerbaiting. But if they continually build it up, only for it to go nowhere, then it might be. If they actively use it as a means to market the show, then it definitely is.

Without knowing more about specific fandoms, it's hard for me to make any direct comparisons. I suppose, should, somehow, Byler not be endgame, then I'll probably understand a lot better. However, I will also be extremely confused and will have lost considerable respect for the Duffers as writers.

However, Byler is a unique animals, as far as I can tell. It's something that has had seeds planted to it from the very beginning of the show. It's not some response to fans that the producers felt they could then exploit for marketing/merchandising purposes. It may not have been obvious back in season 1, but the clues were there. There was no retconning done to make Byler fit. There was no sly stoking of the flames in the fandom to get fans excited about it. That all happened organically as more and more people caught on.

I don't think the Duffers are dumb. They built a slowburn same-sex romance between main characters over the course of an entire top-tier series. As much as it annoyed me that it's taken this long, it does make the most sense, both in-universe and as a matter of mass appeal. Both the fans and the characters themselves had to come to terms with teen boys falling in love in the 80s. That's not something to be rushed if it's to be taken seriously.

Will, the one we've been told was gay, has come to terms with his feelings, only to come to the conclusion that it's not meant to be.

Mike, the one we've seen to have more-than-friendly feelings for Will, is still not ready, yet.

Season 5 will be the catalyst for Mike to realize what his deep feelings for Will really mean, so he can show Will that love is something for him to experience.

[erazonpo3]

Erazon's Characterisation Essay (Part 1 - Cynthia Edition)

General preface; This is me snowballing on a thought I had earlier about canon v fanon trends given that it's a pretty evergreen topic. Without getting too much into the subject itself, I made the point that you can use the source material as a starting point for analysing characterisation, but in a lot of cases it's highly interpretive; using Pokemon as an example, most of the non-player characters exist to enable the player's autonomy throughout the game's storyline, and only a small handful have their own detailed arcs and backstories.

Therefore if you want to build on characterisation for them for transformative fanworks, you only have a handful of dialogue lines and some environmental storytelling that borders on olympic levels of mental gymnastics. Things like backstory and character motivation needs to be invented, to which end the concept of 'canon' characterisation becomes pretty insignificant in comparison to the story you are trying to tell, and whether or not that characterisation is thematically appropriate and compelling. Everyone is going to have a subjective opinion about the 'essence' of a character, the core traits that make them who they are, and how integral those traits are for it to be a 'canon' or 'fanon' interpretation.

And yet there's still ways to analyse the games to draw some conclusions that aren't always obvious straight away.

I'm going to go into how I draw characterisation for Cynthia for Way Out, but keep in mind that I don't consider my characterisation perfect or the One True Depiction To End All Others etc and so on and so forth. There's things I need to discard in favour of the story– adults in the Pokemon games, including Cynthia, have a pretty laissez-faire attitude when it comes to kids handling crises so that the target audience (kids) can feel acutalised as they play through the story, but it's not always what I consider a core character trait so much as a function of the medium.

I play up a sense of responsibility and duty that isn't really depicted in the games but is nevertheless an easy takeaway in order to give her character a bit more depth and relateability. And when other people take her character in a different direction, I try to keep an open mind about what they're saying about her character in their story, because their story is not a video game for children nor a webcomic, and they will need to do different things depending on her narrative role.

(I don't have to like it, but I'm no less a subjective soul than anyone else).

I also pull here and there from other sources of inspiration, one I've mentioned before is a meta-analysis of how she's treated by the fandom in general, assuming she'd be treated a similar way as a public figure in-universe. A lot of my character work is about peeling back that legendary status and asking who the person underneath is and how she might deal with the pressures of being expected to consistently meet other people's high standards, and how to balance a healthy competitive streak without it becoming toxic.

But more to the point– here's some material exclusively from Platinum that I think collates to a pretty consistent depiction of her character, to keep in mind and interpret any which way, arranged into some key traits.

She is the granddaughter of a village elder in a traditional rural town.

"My grandma has this sort of bossy atmosphere about her. I think you'll recognize her right away. Yes, I'm sure you will. She's the elder of Celestic Town"

An overlooked aspect of her character that I think holds some of the ripest potential for her character is that we know a fair deal about where her family is from, potentially where she was raised. My personal conclusions are:

It is likely she has an ingrained sense of cultural values of humility, respect, duty, and tradition. While she may not be ruled by these traits, they would influence the way she interacts with the world.

Her interest in mythology is likely inspired the mural in Celestic town, and reflects a value of heritage and history.

It's a common 'fanon' that her grandmother was her primary guardian through much of her childhood, which isn't substantiated anywhere (just because we don't meet her parents as NPCs doesn't mean they don't exist) but this idea strengthens the connection she has to Celestic town and emphasises her position as the elder's heir.

Cynthia introducing herself as a trainer and not a Champion suggests humility; she positions herself as an equal to the player as opposed to a superior.

2. She is earnest and sincere

"...The places we are born. The time we spend living... The languages we speak... We are all different. But the presence of Pokémon unites us. We share our lives with our Pokémon and our happiness grows as we all become greater than we were alone. That is why we can battle and trade with anyone we choose..."

This is a reflection of her position as a narrative foil to Cyrus; where he dismisses the importance of emotion and 'spirit', she holds it in high regard. Thus;

She sees strong emotions as the source of her bond to her Pokemon and therefore the source of her success. While it's not to say she's an overly empathetic person, I think it follows easily that is generally emotionally intelligent (generally).

I think she's self-aware about how emotional she can be too, which is to say it's something she consciously embraces despite knowing she comes across a little overly earnest (and cheesy) sometimes.

"I love the sound a piano makes. I savor every note with my entire being. It's not only my ears; my spirit hears the music it makes... Ehehe, I made myself cringe saying that."

3. She is intelligent

"I think I let myself get carried away and talked for far too long. I'm sorry, and thank you"

This feels like a no brainer (ha) but it's also easy to take someone who comes across as emotional and write them off as being illogical or not having the depth for complex thought. To me, her emotional intelligence goes hand in hand with her analytical intelligence.

Her fascination with mythology is one of her defining traits, and her dialogue is the source of much of the lore surrounding the Sinnoh legendary Pokemon.

Her pursuit of knowledge is one of her defining traits; her interest in mythology and the distant past is referenced more frequently by herself and other NPCs than the fact of her being Champion. "My big sister is studying the myths of Sinnoh. She wants to know how people and Pokemon interacted in the days of myths."

As a Champion, I consider that she's very calculating and analytical. Even without the strategic held items given to her in BDSP, her Pokemon have perfect stats and have solid type coverage. It's not something she would accidentally stumble onto.

"When you are facing a Trainer in battle, you can learn everything about them. What Pokemon they have. What moves they've taught. What items they make Pokemon hold."

4. She is kind

"I want you to keep traveling to many far-off places. I want you to keep meeting all kinds of people and Pokémon. I came all the way here just so I could say that to you!"

A Champion in this game being kind isn't really a revolutionary idea, but it's still something I consider very integral, particularly in conjunction with the prior traits; there is diplomacy and there is compassion, and to me Cynthia balances both.

She is something of a mentor figure to the player, giving them the solution to obstacles on multiple occasissions (HM Cut, the Secret Medicine), and imparts a lot of lore to them. Notably she gives them an egg which hatches into a Togepi; while this event doesn't happen in BDSP and Platinum doesn't have the Fairy type, it's still retroactively made more interesting for the fact that Togekiss' modern Fairy/Flying type grants perfect immunity to her Garchomp's Dragon/Ground typing.

Some of the few interactions the player will have with her is giving medicine to the Psyduck blocking the route to Celestic town, and then delivering a charm to her grandmother– it gives an impression that she is regularly invested in small acts of kindness.

5. Other tidbits

Every time she interacts with you as the player, it is always through the lens of an adult with a public position speaking to a child; I take it as a given that all her interactions have a slight amount of professional distance, and a formality she wouldn't have if speaking to an adult friend.

She reveals that she went on a similar journey as the player character after being given a Pokedex by Professor Rowan, which could imply she experienced similar experiences to the established protagonist journey formula.

There's a slight goofiness to some of her dialogue that suggests she doesn't always take herself too seriously. "You've seen that group of Psyduck huddled with their heads in their, uh, hands...?"

It's a pretty common 'fanon' for Cynthia to have known Cyrus in her childhood, but this isn't really substantiated in text; her dialogue towards him would be a lot colder with that context as opposed to a stranger. It's a common headcanon because giving them a history together strengthens their position as foils, but in my opinion it's equally as interesting that Cyrus succeeds as far as he does because he exists in Cynthia's blind spot- she admits she didn't pay enough attention to what Team Galactic was up to, and can only stand in opposition to him ideologically, unwilling to entertain (or empathise with) his perspective. It hints at a certain stubbornness she has when she believes she's right and someone else is wrong.

This is just what I personally glean from the text; it's possible I've missed something that somebody else considers ultimately integral. But I hope that my writing in Way Out speaks for itself in how I apply all this to her character in the story, and why I feel it's important to do so. Cynthia is the character I second-guess the most in her characterisation because she should always be recognisable, even while going through different arcs. Her values, her intelligence, her sincerity, and her kindness are all things that need to be balanced with the needs of the story; how strong she is is just a relative thing to what any particular scene demands.

There's a lot I could still elaborate on but for the sake of at least attempting to keep this (relatively) concise, I wrote all this to highlight how I try to stay on track with consistent characterisation, which may not be the perfect ideal for this character but nevertheless is the best version for my story. There's nobody I hold to a higher writing standard than myself, and I try to constantly ask myself if I'm really writing what's best for the narrative or if I can do something better. I'm not interested in the most canon depiction that exists for another story, I'm interested in what's right for my story.

And uhhhh peace ✌️

[quailxcrossing]

💄 🍄 🎈 WONDER

💋 and ❗️(if it’s not too spoilers) Runo!!

🎸 🚨 Bartenn

💔 🌹 Machwell

🥩🍒🍎 Imogen <3

🪓 🍷 Kennedy !!

HOPE I DONT OVERWHELM YOU I KNOW THIS IS A LOT HAHA. I’ve been thinking abt these guys a lot (as always)! :3

JUMPS UP AND DOWN WITH YOU .hiiiii <3 i got really busy with hw so i wanted to wait until i had a moment i could sit down and really dig into these >;3ccc

i will always take an opportunity to talk about Wonder

💄 - What does your oc think of their face? Do they have a positive or negative opinion? Do they wear makeup? Do they have a skincare routine? What traits do they like most about their face?

Wonder has such a contentious relationship with its entire body; its face is no exception. It knows objectively a lot of people find it attractive, and it pays attention to its skin and makeup (usually focusing on its eyes) a lot. It'll stare at itself in the mirror and go yeah i know i'm hot shit. but also i don't think this body belongs to me and the only way I find that semblance of freedom and control is putting metal into it. it really wants more piercings, which is why in AUs i often give it the nose ring, bite piercings, eyebrows, etc- but in canon, it was advised by its team that getting more piercings would make it "harder to look at". they were appalled when Wonder showed up one day with the lip and bridge, but it was too late! being "hard to look at" is a phrase Wonder has not ever let go of.

(I think it makes them look super hot but whatever what do i know)

🍄 - Does your character like being in nature or do they prefer the indoors? Do they have any outdoor hobbies like camping or fishing? If they prefer the indoors, why?

Indoors all the way, Wonder dislikes the unpredictable nature of what makes the outdoors so great :( its house is extremely sterile and plain and empty because Too Many Things make it stressed out, and well! the outdoors is full of things. Its warming up a little bit to some things, Marya takes it down to the beach and it sits all bundled up in towels and a huge hat and sunglasses on a reclining chair while Marya wanders the shore and swims.

🎈 - What does your character do at parties? Are they a wallflower or a party animal? Do they go with friends or alone?

Wonder is still a fan of going to parties, its where it meets most of the people its in cahoots with, but things are a little different since its mental break. As I stated about disliking Lots Of Things, well parties are full of things, and very loud and very messy, so Wonder usually has to be in some state of mind to handle parties. It used to be a lot more rambunctious but the break caused the difficulties with busy locations and lots of socializing - but it still goes. Wonder doesn't really care if its uncomfortable.

runo love of my life

💋 - Is your oc a good kisser? Have they kissed anyone before? Do they even enjoy kissing? What was their first kiss like in comparison to their most recent?

This is such a cute question.....yes he's a perfectly fine kisser! he's just some straight man....he likes it, he likes kissing his wife......he just never knows when it's a good time, so sometimes he misses the mark or just waits for Peony to tell him "yes this is a good and normal time"

his first kiss was when he was first living away from his mom's house in a group home, definitely a little too rushed but there was a pretty girl his age and he was delirious on freedom

❗️(exclamation point) - What was the scariest moment of your character’s life? Does it still affect them?

OKAY WELL. okay the obvious answer feels like when he realized he might lose his younger brother forever (and he did) but there were a lot of other emotions happening there- grief, guilt, confusion, stress.....

the second scariest moment of just Pure Fear wassss probably when he found out Peony was gonna have their first daughter. he'd grown up his whole life with his mom beating into his head that having him was the worst mistake of her life, and that his dad was even moreso; Sunny was tentatively talked about before she was conceived, both Runo and Peony were like "yes this is something that would be cool" but when it Actually Happened he was terrified that he completely fucked everything up, and this was it, the end, that he was doomed to repeat his parents' mistake and Peony had been lying to him the whole time and she actually didn't want this at all- thats it! the relationship is over! and its all his fault!!!

obviously that was not what happened and Peony was extremely excited!! once the blind terror passed Runo was also a weepy excited mess, bc yess this is something that would be cool <3

bartenn questions from the bartenn enjoyer

🎸- What’s your character’s music taste like? Do they have one or two artists they play on repeat or do they have a varied and eclectic collection of music? Do they like mainstream artists or prefer underground musicians? What genres do they enjoy?

i mean you knowwww this guy is a classic rock dad YOU KNOWWWW IT I MEAN CAN HE BE ANYTHING ELSE!!!!!! you know he's got the most varied and crazy collection of old rock bands and his gas station exclusively plays oldie and if he hears a tiktok song from Harlie's phone, he keels over

🚨 - What’s your character’s relationship with the law? Have they ever been arrested? What for? What are their opinions on law enforcement?

he's never been arrested, despite his many crimes such as Starting A Time Loop. he's gonna be some big trouble with the Fold when he dies but i think they can forgive him....i mean just look at his scruffy little face he didn't mean it.....

he doesn't like police officers he doesn't give them free coffee when they ask

machwell machwell MACHWELL

💔- Who has your character hurt most? Physically or emotionally? How did it feel? Do they regret it?

absolutely Runo ABSOLUTELY absolutely runo absolutely Runo....his baby......Runo was so betrayed by him, Machwell's non-existence in his life was not a shadow out of the corner of his eye like it was for Goat- for Runo it was this big gaping hole, never able to be filled and always something Runo was blamed for.

Machwell regrets a lot- the leaving Runo guilt is humongous- which is why he's working very hard to completely forget about Runo so it doesn't hurt him anymore! yay! coping mechanism that's slowly killing his cognitive abilities!

🌹 - What does your oc find attractive in other people? Are these traits found in their friends and/or romantic partners?

blue hair and round little ears

personality wise he likes people who are very self-assured and assertive, strong people who can nudge him around, but not too much or else you've got a Francine who overhandled him to the point of regressing; he needs someone who is confident in themselves but also confident in Machwell, who'll nudge him around but in a way that's pushing him to stand up, instead of making him dependant on them again

imogen you have no IDEA i have wanted to talk about imogen 4 so long....underrated baby girl.....she is so important to me

🥩 - Does your oc have any coping mechanisms? Healthy or unhealthy?

the most major one that comes to mind is comic spoilers, or at least its something i'd like people to notice her doing and go "ohhh..."

🍒 - Does your character have a best friend? How long have they known each other? What do they like most about each other? How did they meet?

oh!! claps my hands!! no! no, Imogen doesn't have a best friend, she doesn't have a lot of friends, really! Imogen has always been pretty isolated by her peers- not because of anyone's choice, but literally, her peers don't like her. she's weird to them. there's been some light friends here and there, but after an event that happened when she was about 8, she realized her classmates genuinely didn't like her and felt she was too uncanny to be around :(

If Imogen were asked who her friends were, she'd say well, her dads! and her dad's friends- ooo! and her aunts and uncle!! and her grandparents!! and her dog, Bunny!! she has lots of friends!! she's friends with the grocer who has known her since she was small, and she's "friends" with plenty of retail workers around town who watched her grow up and are kind to her. she's friends with some of the older neighbors, and she's friends with....uh...her dads? oh she said that already

she hopes when she goes to college that she'll meet others who are more accepting! she's really really hoping for friends THAT ARE HER AGE....and she'll get some, although i don't think it happens in the comic. she ends up meeting Vega, and well. Vega is VERY used to strange uncanny people, so they're already starting off on the right foot!

🍎 - Does your oc go to school or take classes? Did they go to college? What was/is their favorite subject? Did/do they get good grades? Did/do they enjoy school?

Imogen LOVES school, her favorite subject is earth science and her least favorite is language. it just bores her. she loves learning about the planet and about cool rocks and plants and SPACE!!! she got her dad Caius's love for learning, having grown up on their books and lessons. she doesn't love it AS much, but in general, she doesn't mind school itself. what she does mind is the previously mentioned isolation, and how difficult it is to fit in, no matter how many shapes she tries.

kennedy

i like them.

🪓 - Does your oc have survival skills? Have they ever had to use them? What would they do in an apocalypse? Could they survive?

Kennedy doesn't look the part, but they do have some decent survival skills. they grew up out of their house quickly, so they had to learn early on how to couch-surf and feed themselves. for urban survival skills, they've got it covered!

would they survive dropped in the middle of the woods?? maybe for a little bit, purely because i think they'd be so scared they would go into some kind of override where suddenly they don't care about being covered in dirt and eating worms. but the instant they find civilization they're rolling over and crying bc their hair is sooo greasyyy

in an apocalypse i think they'd be awesome haahaha twirls my hair. kennedy knows how to fight and use blunt weapons so yeah i think they could get down to business. i think they'd be awesome haha

(the last question discusses alcohol!)

🍷 - Does your oc drink? What kind of alcohol do they enjoy? What are their drinking habits? What kind of drunk are they?

yess....maybe too much.......they drink white claws. white paws whatever. they love fruity shitty little drinks, but also they'll drink almost anything if you make it look pretty enough. they usually drink socially, and they're pretty used to it (a tolerance-built heavyweight) but sometimes they're just miserable for a variety of reasons, and this is their Not Great Coping Mechanism. it's not great because Leah knows if she finds them black-out that they've been drinking a lot. luckily this doesn't happen too often, but even once or twice is too many times.

as for what kind of drunk they are, the weepy clingy touchy annoying one. drunk Kennedy is a lot happier and chattier and it takes a lot more to make them angry at people! yyyayyy....?

[tomuchabotme]

https://www.tumblr.com/tomuchabotme/757819876078501888/it-seems-hybe-keeps-sabotaging-jimin?source=share

The thing is, I think, that they ARE earning money off Jimin. Probably more so than they did from Jungkook's debut just due to the sheer amount they would have had to spend on all that promotion for Golden.

What's struck me about all the "privleges" Jimin has gotten this era is that they don't actually take much from the part of Hybe. Having covers and remixes helps with streams and buying, sure, but it's also just giving more avenues Jimin fans to spend money. This became even more obvious following the raising of prices on itunes. It's funny that he's been getting all these payola allegations from twitter stans left and right but Hybe refuses to actually put money towards anything that don't require fan support such as high playlisting and radio. All the alternate covers and remixes in the world mean nothing if there aren't devoted fans willing to buy and stream them, and they certainly don't really help with introducing Jimin to new fans or expanding his audience the way a number one placement on TTH does.

In comparison, JJKs can brag about his numbers and 'GP' audience all they like, but he has those specifically because Hybe was willing to invest big money into the rollout of Golden. For as many solo fans as he might have gained, they aren't nearly as organised or dedicated to his work. They complain that JK is mistreated by the fandom but the reality is the achievements they love to brag about ride on the tail of Hybe America's promo. Actual payola. But if he was as impactful as GP-loved as they claim, then it shouldn't matter whether or not armys stream for him, right?

Anyway, I'm unsure of whether or not I think Jimin resigned, and I don't think it really makes a difference what we think. In the grand scheme of things we as fans have very little control over stuff that goes on behind the scenes.

yes, they just gave us more tools but no real promotion for who/muse.

jks fans are not dedicated because they have never had to work for him. they know armys carry a lot of his streams and they will never admit it but then you see them cry over a jimin's recomeback

exactly, the only thing we can do is support his music.

[chainelunaire]

body confidence

shigaraki

he's deadass horrified of the idea of you touching him, but you can never tell, since he hides it really well. no, contrary to popular opinion, not because of his quirk, since he’s very confident he mastered it to a perfection. he doesn’t like to be touched at all - at least that’s what he himself thinks - so he personally is fine, but he knows it might be important for you. and since he cares about you a lot, he’ll eventually be able to tolerate your affection towards him. he’s actually one of the most socialized characters here, but in a very subconscious way. yes, he did not get the socialization he needed, but through games he kind of got the idea how the world works. and even though he does not show it, society and it’s standarts already made their way in his brain. he knows he’s not conventionally beautiful, and he truly did not care all this time. but the more he thinks of it now, the more of a dread he feels. it sits in his mind, that with time you’ll understand, you’ll see him, and that’s not what you’d want. he can’t even explain this fear to himself, let alone you. he’s partly in denial that he lacks confidence to some extent, especially in something this stupid. but, unlike others, he lets people inside quite easily, especially in comparison. and since he let them inside, he trusts their judgement. he has very hard time saying ‘no’ to those he loves. so, with enough care and some persuasion, he’ll gain that confidence he needed. it’s surprisingly easy tbh. he still won’t be the most touchy person to be around, but he’ll hold your hand on occasion and even let you lean on him on public. in private - whole other story. he’ll be much more relaxed and affectionate. he likes that how touching other person feels, he just genuinely enjoys it. so he’ll let you almost throw him around, like he’s fine don’t worry he’s having a time of his life. and it’s also very peaceful, lying on him under a blanket, while he plays some game, and just listen to his heartbeat.

hawks

you see, he’s pretty confident, and it’s kind of obvious. he was trained since he was a kid, he’s widely loved and popular and he is undeniably good-looking. however, none of it makes him feel appreciated. he doesn’t care about his body or his looks, sometimes he even has a hard time recognising himself in a mirror. he often has that feeling that his mind does not belong to his body, that his body could look different and it’s not him in a reflection. don’t get me wrong, he fully recognises his attractiveness and if needed he’ll use it without hesitation. but this is more of a learnt thing than his own feelings, you know? he was told he’s beautiful, so that’s what he grew up believing, it was never one of his concerns. he himself does not care, as long as he’s healthy and alive, he’s fine. in fact, unlike shigaraki, he really, really, dislikes touching. like, he genuinely doesn’t like others even standing close to him. he’s annoyed if someone breathes too loud for his liking. maybe it’s because everyone used to touch him without his consent, especially at the beginning of his carreer, when he didn’t know how to escape this very unwanted attention. so you’ll never tell, because he’s great at hiding his feelings and he doesn’t want to offend anyone, since it’s more of a him problem. if he’s handsy with you, too close for a comfort, hands down he needs something from you, it’s just straight up a lie. the real hawks is very reserved and introverted. his trust issues are not something to joke about. he needs a lot to truly warm up to a person, especially to an extent of letting that person touch him, especially to an extent when it’s him who initiates physical affection. so when you feel how calm and serious he became and suddenly not always friendly and funny, it’s actually a good sign. he trusts you enough to show who he really is. be patient, though he doesn’t need reassurance about his looks, he’s not so confident that he’ll be able to give you what you want and you’ll leave, disappointed. so he’ll ignore that elephant in the room for as long as he can. you need to be the one who’ll make him face his fears. only like that he can become more open and chill version of himself.

dabi

dear god, a lot to unpack here. to say that he’s walking contradiction is to say nothing. he is very confident in himself, all the while being perfectly aware of his horrifying appearance and rather weak social skills. see, his confidence comes from the fact that he knows that he looks the way he looks for a reason. those horrors his body witnessed, all the torture and abuse, they’ve changed him. all of this made him who he is today. he sort of sees his body in a very interesting perspective, as if it’s an exposition of sorts and he himself is a narrator. he very much enjoys scaring people with the stories of his life. god forbid you actually listen to even some of these (and he sadly has a lot), you’ll get why he has so much hatred in his heart. it’s you who’ll get sad hearing what he’s been through, when he lived when his family and later when he tried to survive on streets. you better not overthink it. and while it looks like he doesn’t give a damn, well, he actually does care about his looks a lot, and that’s where contradictions come from. even though he despises those societal standarts and restraints, he still in some way wants to fit in. he's a monster, but he’s a cool edgy looking monster, yfm? he’s fine with blood oozing out of the seams, but he’ll literally get dizzy hearing his own scent, and it’s burning flesh. you also won’t get too touchy with him, because those staples are here not only for the looks, they serve a purpose. he views his body as a tool, he’s not attached to it at all. that’s the result of the years of abuse and constant reminders that he’s weak. it’s still sitting in his brain, eating him alive. truly sky is the limit, he’ll never be satisfied with his powers, because that’s not what he wants. he wants recognition, for someone to say that he is strong, enough. and you see, he still won’t believe it, because his body in itself is a proof that he is weak and therefore his body has no value. he had sold it in a hundred different ways, devoting it fully to revenge is only one of them. it’s really weird how he’s very confident but has low self-esteem? you can touch him, you can hug him, you can kiss him. do whatever, he doesn’t really care. it was even worse when he was younger, because he didn’t know what to do with himself. but now he has a goal, so he’s more careful with his body. he needs it to fullfill his purpose. he doesn’t care about anything or anyone, and it’s rather sad, because it hurts him too. he can’t allow himself this, because this will mean he and his weak body mean something, and it was enough, and things that he did to himself were not okay at all. but that’s just how he’d learnt to survive, you can’t do anything about it, it might actually kill him mentally. deep inside, in some better world he would touch some grass be finally heard. he’ll learn that he’s in fact very strong, since not a lot of people would’ve be able to survive what he’s been through.

[thegamingcatmom]

Would the sisters know when MC is about to get her period? And how would they deal with it? Like as vampires would the blood bother them for example, or make them feel hungry(hope not yikes) or make them uncomfortable? Uncomfortable bc I think that kind of blood doesnt have the same scent as fresh blood from another source. What if MC got unbearable pain for a couple days with fever and such so she had to be on bed? (Maybe projecting myself there, is terrible) I have a feeling they would spoil her to no end after the panic fades away, perhaps Carmen would need to intervene, we can call it Divine intervention 😂😅

Would the sisters know when MC is about to get her period?

Yes. Defo. 100%.

I´ve made a post about this quite a while ago actually (I´d search my blog but...am too lazy atm tbh 😅). Basically, it´s all about those subtle changes that occur in and with the female body just before period hits. Yknow, things like-

hormonal shifts (estrogen levels and all that stuff)

release of pheromones (due to the hormonal shifts)

physical changes (bloating, tenderness, cramps)

mood swings (those are dangerous)

etc.

While mood swings are a dead giveaway, stuff like hormonal shifts isn't as obvious. At least not to your typical human. Meaning:

They can smell it. They can smell any changes occuring in- and outside MC´s body. They´ll probs know she´s about to bleed long before she does.

.

How would they deal with it?

I don´t think it would make them uncomfortable in the sense of making them hungry. They got centuries of experience when it comes to dealing with their bloodlust, so I think MC´s quite safe there, lol.

However, I can´t imagine that, in all their years, there hasn´t been an opportunity for them to get a taste. For a vampire, there´s gotta be some curiosity whether there´s any difference to their "usual" source. So I think the sisters very likely gave into their curiosity at some point. Especially during their Succubus phase in which they pretty much acted like horny teenagers 24/7. (Good times. When we leave out the why...)

Also, perhaps it works as some kind of...nutritional supplement? For some vamps? Like, I don´t think they could sustain themselves SOLELY on that type of blood. It´s just entirely different in composition, and the amount they´d get from it pales in comparison to their usual food source. Let´s also not forget the fact that it´s only available for a limited amount of time, then they´d have to wait for a new cycle to begin, literally lol. It´s just a very taxing way of getting blood because you constantly have to be on the move to get that good stuff before it runs out again. Can you imagine the pressure?? 🤯

Right, to get back to the sisters:

I don´t think it would bother them. On the contrary:

The need to be close to MC would probs increase tenfold because something about the way she smells is just so...addicting? But also kinda soothing?? Like you said, the smell is probs different because there´s other stuff mixed in that blood as well, so I´d like to think the experience wouldn´t be as intense for a vampire. It´s more like a cat getting a healthy dose of catnip I´d say:

The sisters just wanna bury themselves into MC, rub themselves in all that is their mate whilst purring aggressively, only to flop over and cease to function for a while. It´s like a drug. 😅

(Yes, that stick is MC. And there ain´t no way they gonna let her go anytime soon. And yes, they might also try to lick-)

Also, their protective instincts would go through the roof because of all those hormonal/pheromone changes. In the animal kingdom, lots of the communication happens through that stuff. Vampires are more on the animal side of the spectrum imo, so the need to defend what is theirs might be stronger than usual.

.

What if MC got unbearable pain for a couple days with fever and such so she had to be on bed?

(I feel that. Luckily for me, I only gotta deal with that crap twice a year. ✌️😎)

Right, as I said previously, there ain´t no way they´re gonna leave MC´s side if there´s no need for it (like to go hunting). Especially not if their fragile hooman is in pain. No power on earth could tear them away from her while she´s in that state. In fact, they might even cease to take care of themselves-

Carmen: "You need to feed, my loves."

The Sisters: *refuse to even acknowledge her presence*

Carmen, realizes she needs to get out the big guns: "For her."

The Sisters: *reluctantly lift their gazes from a sleeping MC to share a look, only to realize all the gold has indeed been swallowed by darkness*

The Sisters: *turn to regard Carmen*

Carmen: *has that I told you so look on her face*

.

LIKE, YKNOW???

I mean, they very likely would have thought to go hunting before that period hits. Especially because they´re aware of its presence before it´s even there. So, a scenario like that probs won´t happen unless the sisters weren´t able to hunt for some reason. BUT STILL-

It´s just so ugh to imagine, ain´t it?? 😩🤌

.

So yes, there´s defo gonna be lots of pampering and spoiling to no end. Anything MC desires shall be hers. In fact-

They´re a bit too overzealous. Bringing MC stuff that she didn´t even know existed. (They purchased it for that exact scenario.) Like, all MC wants is some chocolate, perhaps a heating pad and her wives showering her with their love. Which means lots of cuddles and kisses.

And what does she get instead?

Literally anything else because the only time the sisters aren´t on the move is when MC is asleep. Thus, they´re never stopping, always searching for something to get her and make her feel better-

Enter: The Divine Intervention

(I fucking love that btw.)

Carmen´s gonna have that look, yknow? The one that says how utterly charming she finds the attempts that have been made, but also *affectionate* wtf are you even doing, you fools? Like, yknow, she´s gonna go all "Oh, honey..." on them.

In other words: Carmen becomes (even more) Momma.

She´s gonna bring MC that chocolate and a heating pad, she´s gonna give her the biggest hug and a kiss on the forehead, and then she will proceed to fluff up that pillow, tuck in that blanket nice and tight, basically turning MC into a burrito-

And MC? Finally at peace, in heaven even. Can´t contain her sigh of utter relief and satisfaction. This is the shit-

...And the sisters?

...

What can I say? It´s the simple things, sometimes. 🤷‍♀️

The sisters will get it. Eventually.

...Perhaps.

LISTEN-

Only the best is good enough for their darling mate, aight?? Don´t judge them. 😭

.

.

.

Thanks a lot for your ask! 💋

[acourtofthought]

Hello!! Don’t know if you already have a post about this but I was thinking about it and wanted to know your opinion (its always so factual and clear I enjoy it thoroughly)

Okay so I think Elain and Lucien are not Light & Light, I may be mistaken but some people seem to think thats the reason why they would be boring or something. I do believe out of the many Elucien symbolisms (Fox and fawn, sun and flowers) I don’t see Elain as the “light” itself (dont know if there is more canon associating her as light aside from Feyre’s painting idea of Azriel and her).

I feel like SJM spent more time making Elain seek the sun and light than her being that. I do like that her color scheme during ACOSF has been amethyst and lavender, a color maybe associated with the sunset, and obviously flowers.

All this to say that’s one of the reasons why I’m not convinced with the Light and shadow aesthetic E/riels want to assign her to. I don’t think Elain would be light with Azriel, (as he described the necklace needing light to shine I do think that was probably a symbol of her maybe?) I do think the light and shadow aesthetic is a lot more prominent in gwynriel when Gwyn is continually associated with colors, and glowing etc.

Let me know what you think! I believe this is so interesting.

You keep making me smile!! Thank you for your very sweet opening paragraph.

It's so odd that people would consider a Light / Light aesthetic boring when Feyre / Rhys and Cassian / Nesta are of a similar aesthetic. Feyre might glow because of Helion's light but she herself claims she couldn't be with someone like Tarquin because of the darkness in her. Just as Rhys has a matching darkness.

Cassian and Nesta share the Lord of Bloodshed / Lady of Death warrior aesthetic, also dark and dark like Feysand.

Aelin and Rowan are the Assassin turned Queen and Warrior Prince.

In comparison, Chaol and Yrene had a bit of a light and light thing going on. Yrene had the light of a healer and Chaol had the whole Captain America good boy vibe, the "I'm trying to do right for my kingdom by fulfilling my soldiers duty", while being bothered by how dark Aelin could be at times because her work fell outside that of the typical combat. Yes he made mistakes and had prejudices against magic that he needed to overcome but there are very obvious personality differences between Aelin and Yrene and and he and Rowan.

SJM's aesthetics aren't an opposites kind of thing. Yes, she loves the imagery of "light" and dark like Stars in the Night Sky but those two things are still complimentary to one another. Her imagery lends itself to things like moonlight and shadows (Gwynriel cough cough), warrior who has walked alongside death and Nesta as death, his blade, NOT the blooming life and light of Spring (Elain) with the darkness and shadows and death of the NC (Az).

As far as Elain there are mentions of her having a light aesthetic as well as that of optimism and hope.

She had always been so full of light Elain had always been gentle and sweet - and I had considered it a different sort of strength. A better strength. To look at the hardness of the world and choose, over and over, to be kind. "She had looked at that cottage with hope. I had looked at it with nothing but hatred. And I knew which one of us had been stronger." Her sister turned toward her, glowing with health (wearing a lilac gown) She glowed with good health (wearing amethyst). Her sisters delicate scent of jasmine and honey lingered / like a promise of spring / a sparkling river. "the lovely fawn, blooming spring vibrant behind her. Standing before Death, shadows and terrors lurking over his shoulder. Light and dark." "Instead I spent most of my time with Elain in her little garden. / She had come alive here and her joy was infectious." (Elain in nature)

Elain is full of light, kind, full of hope, glowing when in certain situations. I think the reason we haven't seen much light from Elain is because of where she's at and how where she's at often absorbs that light from her.

Something E/riels fail to acknowledge, that the things associated with the Night Court take away from Elain's light.

"Light and dark, the space between their bodies a blend of the two. The only bridge of connection….that knife." "Elain in black was ridiculous." "The color of her long-sleeved modest gown leeched the brightness from her face." "But wearing black, no matter how much she claimed to be part of this court….it sucked the life from her." Her gaze shifted to the carved wooden rose she'd placed upon the mantel, half-hidden in shadows. "the brutal, beautiful armor so at odds with the lovely garden. And my sister sitting within it."

Elain retains some of her light no matter what but it's still subdued. Yes she's found some joy in the Night Court but that is because that's who she is, something Nesta confirms "had ALWAYS come easy to Elain. Had always made Elain special."

And we can tell that light is diminished because of the constant mentions of Elain choosing, while in the Night Court, to remain by the sunniest of windows, to her commenting how she needs sunshine, how darkness is not something she prefers.

"The suite was filled with sunlight. Every curtain shoved back as far as it could go, to let in as much sun as possible. As if any bit of darkness was abhorrent. As if to chase it away. And seated in a small chair before the sunniest of the windows, her back to us, was Elain."

"Still staring at the window, but she was out of her room."

"Sunlight on gold caught her eye - and Elain slowly turned from her vigil at the window."

"Elain stood at the wall of windows."

"Elain politely refused, taking up a spot in one of the wooden chairs set in the bay of windows. Also typical."

"What can I get you, Elain?" But Elain shook her head once more. "Sunshine."

To me it seems apparent that Elain is trying her best to hold on to her light and optimism but she clearly needs more. She loves her sisters and she's doing her best to fit in at the Night Court but she's not really coming into her own in a way where she stands out and shines from the others. In the Night Court, she's always in the background, always waiting by the windows and staring at the sun, being drawn to the sun.

Lucien literally has Sunshine within him. I don't think SJM is telling us Elain has to be with him because of his power but there is something in the fact that his power is that of the sun and Feyre notes that the gates to Elain's mind are covered in flowers or would be if it were not for the fact that the blossoms were all sealed, sleeping buds. It all lends itself to the imagery that she will come alive when with her mate. And it's not really about his power so much as the court the power is associated with, Day Court (or even Spring with his connections there). And how those in Day Court and Spring aren't mentioned as having the same darkness as those that exist in the Night Court. Something SJM tells us with her writing of Lucien's characters.

If you think of it, Lucien has been through JUST as much as Az, had just as traumatic a childhood. Lucien is still taking hit after hit while Az has the love of his brothers and even Feyre, Mor, etc. Yet Az did become the embodiment of darkness and cold, revenge and anger. Lucien, despite what he's gone through has maintained an affectionate, apologetic, non confrontational nature. He doesn't lash out or seek revenge, he maintains his composure and prefers not to battle to solve problems.

It's not only about Lucien's powers though that enhances the imagery associated with what Elain needs. It's that Lucien, while having the light of the sun in his veins, actually embodies that lightness. He is about life and peace (though he'll fight when necessary), not violence and revenge.

He is warm and loving (comforting Feyre in her sadness, covering both she and Elain with cloaks to prevent them from being cold), shows emotion on his face (like the devastation over Elain's hollowness). He vomited over the faerie losing his wings and Elain vomited over the Cauldron decimating the Illyrian forces. He and Elain are both very expressive in how they care for others, how they respond to unnecessary violence.

I'm not sure how two characters understanding one another fully and being able to live their lives in a way that doesn't upset the other, that doesn't bring the other discomfort could ever be considered boring. It's much better than Elain's light and penchant for life slowly being drained away by someone who lives in the shadows and embodies death or on the flip, Az contantly feeling guilty for who he is because he knows those things bother her.

[leonenjoyer69]

Wanted to ask something about your bbg Elias, s there any difference between his face shape to Robert's the way Edward is different from Henry?👀

Been a while since I've last read your fic about Elias (two weeks in total but MAN those were some ling weeks-) so I might be forgetting stuff or small details about it cmdbcjbdksbxksbd

Don't worry, I forget things about my own fics very quickly 💀 I need to reread it and pump out the next chapter already, no matter how much I may dislike it. Also, honestly I've rambled and come up with so much stuff seperately from the story that I don't even remember what lore has been included in it! I just know there's really not much at all 💀 But!!! Yes there are differences! Uh, more below the cut cuz I'm gonna include art and stuff lmao

Okay, so, first of all, Elias's face is less round than Lanyon's, and a bit shorter. basically, his jaw is a bit more refined and also less chubby than Lanyon's, I guess. You know how hyde's face is shorter and chubbier/rounder than Jekyll's? Yeah, well, since Lanyon's already got his cute chubby cheeks, I figured Elias could lose some of that, he's still got very squishable cheeks tho, lil fella :3

otherwise, other facial differences include:

-lighter freckles, but still definitely visible, and he may have more than Lanyon

-lighter(?), less saturated skin

-usually has more of a flush on his cheeks

-less round eyes, generally have a more squinted look, since he's more sensitive to light (blue and green eyed gang with a sensitivity to light, rise up!)

-eyebags/sunken eyes

-hair is a pretty obvious one, they have completely different hair types (what those types are I couldn't tell you tho) and colors (and lengths, obviously)

-more scrunched up nose, basically always has that line between his eyes on his nose. kinda gives a small feeling that he's always a little disgusted, though people kinda got used to it as his usual appearance.

-funky lil eyebrows! They kinda end like Jekyll's do, with the little squiggle, but way less extreme and more up than down, if that makes sense? (pic of him bald for ref lmao) this is something that usually doesn't get noticed I feel because of how his hair covers them

-when front facing, he has the same lil nose thing that Lanyon has, that goes over the bridge of his nose and under his eyes. He's also just inherently got this insanely sad look I suppose 💀

And then there's,,,, this one. Uh, his body is far more lithe than Lanyon's, and his ribs show a bit. His freckles also span his chest and back and shoulders like Lanyon's do. His collar bones and such are also more present

OTHERWISE, for comparisons, this is,,,, one of the 3 times (basically) I've drawn Lanyon, and I don't really like it ngl, messed up the eyes too much, but some of the differences should kinda be visible.

Otherwise, there's also this piece--

Where I like how Lanyon looks and kinda,,, don't like how Elias looks, bc I kept messing up HIS eyes and mouth 💀 literally the best Lanyon I've drawn tho, shout out to this Lanyon specifically 🗣️🗣️

Anyways!!! Yeah!!! They certainly have their differences, as well as their similarities, I love my babies so much and I really really need to update my fic... Once the English language returns to me. Thank you for the ask, and I'm glad you enjoy my story and characters :D

[snorkling-in-sodasea]

Moments of Stupidity 16

Well, since Full Moon came out, it was probably only a matter of time before this, huh? I guess I wanna say first is, I'm feeling rather different than when I first started.

At the beginning, I just wanted to vent. Let anger out. I mean, as much as I have people on the lookout for my posts - which I'm flattered by - I'm still just one of many posting stuff on this site. I'm definitely not the first one to share their dislike over what goes on in Helluva Boss and I doubt I'll be the last.

Over time, I watch the shows more and more and now pretty pictures and some good songs are the standard I have now because, irrational and angry or sane and calm, I still can't get behind the writing at times. Still, I continued this series of posts about stupidity in the shows because I was being fueled by people liking these posts.

Now I'm wondering if I'll just be disappointing one of my parents if I make these posts. Because I talked with them about something and they were right. No matter how much people don't like Vivienne, she managed to be successful and do something right, if she's managed to get A24 interested in airing her show and get that show on Amazon Prime. No matter who doesn't like that, that's still what happened.

Like Stephan King and J.K. Rowling, for example. Those two got their haters but they still got their fans because they're still doing something right, especially writing wise. You might not think that's a good comparison considering the examples I'm using but it's true in the sense that they and Vivienne still are successful due to their works because they all got their fans who helped them get that successful.

So yeah, I know that I can seem disappointing to my parent that I've been angrily posting about a successful show despite how it's not going to change that success and there's a very real chance that I will, should I tell them about it. Especially since I'm still doing at least this post. I guess I can still do this for fun or because I know people will still look forward to these moments of stupidity. I'll have to think on it

In any case, I started this post to still talk about how actions in the screenplay are dumb so I might as well deliver on what I promised. Thanks to anyone and everyone who bothered reading all of this, as well as those who don't get upset over the above.

Full Moon -

So there's D.H.O.R.K.S. first. They not only didn't get any better at interrogation since they got no real way of knowing that Keenie and Cletus were really telling the truth - and they weren't, especially about the exorcists - but there's also the suits. The suits obviously fit the cherubs but Agent One and Agent Two reasonably would never expect to meet them to give the suits to so that the battle suits could be used. I can't even think of kids being sent because they decided not to after last time. So who the fuck would Agent One and Agent Two put in those battle suits?

I guess there's the cherubs, too, for having been stealthy enough with the 'worried mother' bit but then be obvious as fuck when following Blitzo. I mean, the disguise as the mother was kind of strange but like Moxxie said, they weren't exactly covert. How could the cherubs think they would never be spotted when their upper halves were sticking out of the damn bushes?

Other than that, then the biggest moment of stupidity goes to none other than Stolas. Starting up the conversation the way he did is one thing (yes, really, it could be chalked up to Stolas being severely sheltered and alone growing up) but it's another thing entirely to make it sound like Blitzo is the one who makes it all about sex and getting upset about it. Seriously. Stolas is the one who made the deal that centers around sex. He's the one who always spewed sexual shit out of his mouth in most of season 1 and a couple episodes in season 2. He's the one Blitzo was talking about when he said 'don't make it anything more than you (Stolas) wanting me (Blitzo) to fuck you'. Even at the very first meeting that Stolas and Blitzo ever had, Stolas was the one who thought of taking Blitzo to his room and say that he's there to ravish him. How was it Blitzo's fault that that was on Stolas's mind? Yeah, Blitzo may have been the one to initiate sex but it sure seems like to me that he only did that because Stolas gave him the idea of sex being a possibility. Even if Stolas just said the 'ravish me' line as a joke, it still gave Blitzo the idea to have sex. (By the way, that's a very weird joke to make with a friend, especially one you had literally only one playdate with over twenty years ago). Naturally, by this episode, Stolas has practically conditioned Blitzo to make everything about sex when Stolas is in the picture yet this damn owl is upset that his confession wasn't being taken seriously