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atomicengineerdetective · 2 years

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Toh Theory: Boscha Joined The EC

So with the Season Finale Upon Us Is the last Chance for Crazy Fan Theories and Here's Mine.

So I was rewatching some of the episodes to prepare for the finale and, maybe encounter some Possible Foreshadowing when A particular tidbit of information caught my Eye

In reaching out, It is revealed to us that The emperor Coven Tryouts are being held THAT day, (probably because belos wanted some easy dead fodder for the day of unity who knows?). Now the EC tryouts being mentioned is Probably just foreshadowing Odalia's knowledge and support of the emperor's Plans

BUT it also Tell Us that Witches around Amity's Age are completely Eligible for joining the EC now. Maybe It's Implying someone from amity's class Would Try to Join. But Who would be the most likely To?

Boscha

The Former (lol) Queen bee of the school who has been loosing Power, seen as Her being almost beaten by willow in WILW, but also more importantly FRIENDS. First Amity in "Understanding willow", Then Skara Who in ASIAS not only joins WILLOW'S team But ever since that episode We never really see her hang out with boscha

We see her with the emerald Entrails( particularly Viney)

And even some extras

But Not Boscha. Which Makes me think something Happened between them in ASiAS. Which would make this line even more telling

The "I still have more friends than you" thing always sounded a bit unnecesary to me but in the context Of Boscha steadily loosing her friends, Could Denote some form of insecurity

And what's the episode RIGHT after the one where Boscha presumably "lost" Skara?. Reaching Out. The day When the coven tryouts take place.

So to recap, following the events of reaching Out Boscha Would be Feeling pretty Upset and Angry. She finds out about the EC tryouts and sees it as the perfect opportunity to regain control (they literally control the BI), power and Status. (And MAYBE take revenge on Willow and Luz, the witches who started her downfall if you are into that)

And Honestly, following What she Knows in reaching Out why SHOULDN'T she join?

She Knows(or at least THINKS) she's one of the most proficient magic users and athlete in her year. So she would pass for sure

She doesn't have a particular attachment to Wild Magic (Except if you count her palisman Which she could just say she doesnt have one). She has always seemed Content In JUST potions

She doesn't have any friends AGAINSt the emperor at the time to convince her otherwise. She's actually Mad at the main enemies of the emperor.

At this point, she would think thats "the best coven there is" and she Know(thinks) Getting in would give her recognition among her peers I mean it was "Amitys dream" for a while

This could explain Why even though She was AT the school In Labirynth Runners She didn't fight. She couldn't. Even if she then realises the emperor is not good. She already pledge loyalty(don't know if she got a Sigil yet though). Also, This is Boscha We are talking about. She's been shown To double down in her beliefs even when proven wrong (see WILW) so I doubt she would admit she was wrong to join now.

Lastly This Last part may seem farfetched But I think it's worth mentioning. So its no secret Now that TOH likes to show character alliances and development Through the use of color. The most obvious case Being amity Changing her hair colour from green(showing devotion to her mom) to purple (which yeah i know "it's abomination colored" but it's also Luz signature color so). You can also see it in Hunter, Leaving all the Gold Color Behind after Hollow Mind and Wearing Mainly Blue and green in Labirynth runners (Alliance with gus and willow) But thats a thread for another time

Now whats Boscha's main color (aside from pink of course)? Yellow.

"But she wears Yellow because thats the potions track colors" Yeah, I know. But wanna know something Funny? Nearly Everyone that we see use The Full potion tracks uniform: Eda, Lillith, and Hunter. Has been part of the Emperor coven Tryouts at somepoint in time. Hell, 2/3 were PART of the emperors coven

And That's all Folks. Happy day Of unity!

#Boscha #The owl house #the owl house season 2b #Toh Theory #toh theories #Toh #Toh boscha #Toh willow #willow park #Toh skara #Toh Amity #Toh luz #luz noceda #Amity Blight #emperor coven #the owl house #toh #toh spoilers

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inklingofadream · 3 years

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hey ok 3 seconds into tma rewatch and i have Thoughts:

Now, the Institute was founded in 1818, which means that the Archive contains almost 200 years of case files at this point. Combine that with the fact that most of the Institute prefers the ivory tower of pure academia to the complicated work of dealing with statements or recent experiences and you have the recipe for an impeccably organised library and an absolute mess of an archive. (MAG 1)

So this is on a Doylist level part of the justification for why the archives gang do so much practical research on the statements, but the early installment weirdness on not quite knowing how the institute functions yet, but that plus jon a bit before this stating he’s familiar with their “ongoing projects and contracts” and later in the season tim talking about the grad students implies that the institute also does a lot of like. Books and articles about the supernatural. (idk where these are being published bc it sounds like they aren’t necessarily respected enough for most academic presses or journals lol)

But we know Jon was in Research, along with tim and sasha. And later he goes up to help out with the influx of new garbage statements they get around Halloween (MAG 55). So clearly someone is gong through the new statements,although based on the description they’re mostly p lightly researched- probably calling up ppl mentioned besides the statement giver and saying “hey did this happen?” and when the friend or whoever says “no he said he was gonna go give y’all a statement for a goof” it’s marked closed.

What I would like to posit is that the institute has several functions practically:

the library probably gets a fair bit of funding, so they can get basically any relevant work published and add it to their collection.

This is where you’ll have a lot of the grad students hanging around. probably a handful of other academics from various institutions, too. In addition to the students working on paranormal stuff, I’d guess you also have a fair number from history, folklore, psychology, and a smattering of other disciplines who’re there for rlly rlly niche projects on physics or architecture. Like i’d imagine anyone in the area doing work on spiritualism ends up in the institute library eventually- if they have any primary sources like journals or manuscripts from jonah’s whole gang, for example, i’d assume they’re in the library bc the archives seem to be exclusively statements.

Honestly Im like 50% sure the institute has contracts with whatever like ghost hunting type shows exist in the uk to contribute research and have someone respectable looking come do talking head segments as needed. this goes up to 100% for the usher foundation, bc i KNOW we have hella programs like that in the states. like Finding Bigfoot has a donor plaque in the foyer of the usher foundation

Other contracts and projects are probably with a handful of other, non-entity orgs devoted to the paranormal, plus whatever the Lukases, Fairchilds, et al decide they want.

Research, I would like to propose, is supposedly all one big department, but in practical terms contains 2 factions:

The segment Jon worked with for the most part, following up on statements and artifacts. probably smaller, except when they manage to draft the rest in for like halloween and such. the regulars are probably mostly the ppl jon gets annoyed at for being credulous and thinking every statement’s legit

the rest are ppl under the institute banner who are working in the library, doing research for outside contracts, institute wide contracts, and writing whatever gets published out of the institute. probably mostly more concerned with the supernatural as like. an intellectual exercise than jon would be, instead of finding out what’s legit and what isn’t. otherwise they’re mostly more jon’s type of ppl, with the academic distance etc.

Artefact Storage is prolly a host unto itself. Sometimes research’ll get tagged to get an item’s history but like. only ppl who work there go there

The archives are also their own thing. no one goes there.

Why does this matter? I would like to posit 2 reasons.

The first is that it explains part of why the Institute isn’t v respected academically. Everywhere else would have whatever primary source stuff and unique books they have down in the archives/special collections with the statements. I don’t know a ton about library science, but I don’t think things usually end up split/mixed like they are at the institute. Plus, there is very much an area where the Institute could be a valued collection! If the archives were organized. In theory, the Archives should be a valued and respected resource for folklorists! No one in folklore studies cares if a story is true; as far as they’re concerned, the archives are full of memorates that could be really useful. Like academic texts in folklore will generally have quotes from ppl’s ghost stories (or tall tales or folk songs etc) intercut with analysis of patterns and what they mean. But they’re organized so terribly. If they were devoted to folklore instead of the supernatural, you’d expect a taxonomy of subject- our collection here at my university stuff organized by like “supernatural: religious” “supernatural: non-religious” “customs” etc. But no one would be terribly put out combing through them if they were organized by date or like. at all.

The second is that since the archives and artefact storage are pretty much self contained, most of the daily interaction between institute employees is between people in research and the library. Giving you people like Jon as a put upon minority among “ivory tower” types, from that sub population of researchers and the ppl in the library. Jon’s worked at the Institute for like 5 years, and he’s too himself for a proper rivalry, but it’s very easy to see the people like him and tim who believe that Some Things Are Supernatural and would like proof bumping heads with the rest. Giving him a general dislike for people from the library. AND! an extra reason he takes an extra dislike to martin instead of going “o thank goodness, libraries are way more like archives than research what do we do?” :)

#tma #the magnus archives #tma meta #meta #my meta #folklore #adjacent #srsly the guy with the field hospital book talks abt the released statements being laughed at #but folklorists would b into them! but the archives would feel like a slap in the face to that #mine

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egg-emperor · 3 years

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not sure if you didn't get my ask the first time but what about Sonic X , version of Eggman? its Yuji Naka's vision and he isn't that evil as many of the other characters that appear in the series, I would really love to hear what you think about it as an Eggman fan

Oh I did get your ask, I was just trying to think of the best way to word my answer.

X Eggman has a very special place in my heart for being one of my first pieces of Sonic media, aside from Heroes and Shadow 2005. As you may know, that two games didn't have that much Eggman in them and his character was being mistreated with the way he was being sidelined. But something about Eggman was already appealing to me and I wanted to see more of him, so I watched X before getting any other games. It was one of the first bigger looks I got at Eggman as a result.

X really helped me fall in love with Eggman because I got to see much more of him and how charming, funny, and evil he can be. Literally every time he was on screen he made me smile and laugh, I just found him so entertaining. I still do to this day and I rewatch it annually. But it wasn't the idea they tried to push of him being 'not that evil' or capable of doing good that appealed to me about his character from the very beginning. I loved all the evil and assholic things he did throughout the show.

He still had evil, selfish, and rude moments that made him look like a big dick and I loved it. The idea of him suddenly caring for Sonic and friends later on came out of nowhere and I don't like how it was handled, so I like to imagine it was just another one of his acts to get on their good side, so they could all defeat the Metarex. I know that wasn't really the case and I'm not very happy about it. It was random and out of nowhere and it contradicts things that Eggman did in this very show. It downplays his villainy for no good reason.

I think the "when you actually hurt them, that's going too far" line was one of the most ridiculous things to come out of Eggman's mouth of all people. It makes him so hypocritical, even when it comes to his portrayal in the show because he still hurt plenty, attempted to kill Sonic and friends, tried to blow up Station Square, and did countless other terrible destructive things, and there's no way that multiple of his plans didn't result in collateral damage.

Chris wasn't even the exception either because remember when he jumped onto Eggman's Egg Mobile in an attempt to take the emerald, and when he grabbed Eggman's mustache, he shook him off and sent him plummeting to his doom? Where was the good in his heart when he allowed the twelve year old to fall and almost die and only cared about the fact that he'd just accidentally let the emerald fall with him? It doesn't seem very kind and caring to me, but very in character selfish, as he should be. So yeah, he's one to talk in that scene when he's even put Chris in harm's way himself.

In the Japanese version of that line, he said he doesn't hurt hostages. But what I think would've be more in character would be that he just wouldn't care if hostages get hurt, as long as they're still alive to use as the bait. I said in the little rant that I slipped into my Eggman X supercut season 3 video that the only way I could really see the scene working was if Eggman was just pretending to take the moral high ground just to piss off the Metarex or something. Because otherwise it just really doesn't make sense.

I despise the Metarex for being boring villains with generic designs. They really wanted us to think they were amazing, powerful, and scary but they were try hard and had no interesting motive. Eggman made them look stupid by pointing out how their plan doesn't make sense and results in destroying planets so they won't have anything to rule over and prove their power to. They have a boring motive, unlike Eggman who has an egotistical dream that he'll go to great lengths to accomplish, rather than just being "haha I'm so evil I'm going to destroy everything for no reason"

It feels like just another case of Eggman's villainy being downplayed in an attempt to emphasize how much better of a villain and bigger of a threat others are supposed to be, which I'm never a fan of because it's not true. Eggman isn't innocent compared to them, he just has a better plan that doesn't involve just destroying the world. And when you have to either put Eggman down or make him act OOC so he doesn't seem as evil, then they're clearly not good villains that can prove themselves on their own. Other villains shouldn't take away from Eggman, instead we should be told why we should see these villains as a dangerous threat like Eggman.

I can't take away the idea that 'oh Eggman is actually a kind and caring guy compared to the big scary super evil Metarex' away from the scene. He's a terrible person too, the only reason he frowns upon the Metarex's acts isn't because he has a good heart, it's because they're going to destroy everything he wants to conquer. Eggman has always been selfish and only cared about what he wants and he doesn't care who gets hurt as long as he gets it. This even applied to X Eggman himself earlier on in the show.

If he was truly a good guy, why wasn't he holding back and showing care from the start? When people were getting hurt because of his actions and he was intentionally trying to kill others, why were there so many moments of him clearly enjoying it? And if it was supposed to be seen as some type of character development, they didn't do a very good job at showing it because him actually being concerned for others came out of nowhere. And even so, I just don't think it works for Eggman because if there isn't some secret evil and selfish motive behind his actions, it just makes him a big hypocrite.

But besides that bothering me because it's not the kind of development I think Eggman should have, I love X Eggman for many other reasons in a way that I can rewatch the show without it getting to me much. But I still really wish they would've done some things differently because earlier on it seemed like they had the right idea but had to bring that whole twist out of nowhere which I just don't think suits a deeply selfish, narcissistic, dangerous man that lacks empathy. (Because yes, there were even blatant moments in X that showed Eggman's low empathy was still there. That's how he does the things he does without shame.)

And one thing that stops me from being as bitter about it in the end is that, despite who was involved with X in Japan, it's still clearly very separate from the games. Just like how Boom Eggman, who is also portrayed as being a nicer Eggman, is entirely separate. Game universe Eggman has done a lot more evil, selfish, fucked up catastrophic shit than both X and Boom Eggman combined and clearly has no ounce of remorse. That's why I've never been a fan of people attempting to merge the separate universes/canons together when they just don't work.

There's nothing in the games that implies game Eggman has this same mindset and ability to care about anyone other than himself, unlike X or Boom Eggman. And even though X Eggman was the first time I got to see a version of him really in action, it didn't shape my view of him in the games because I could recognize the differences. I'm happy that it didn't affect his game portrayal because I already think those moments in X were OOC enough for X Eggman when they contradict his actions, so it would've made even less sense for him in the game universe.

The concept of him being not such a bad guy doesn't need to be a part of his character to make him charming, lovable and entertaining to me. He's perfect just the way he is as the prideful, selfish, egotistical bastard that I fell in love with. 💜

#asks #dr eggman #eggman #dr robotnik #dr. eggman #sonic x #analysis #opinion #my post

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intothewickedwood · 3 years

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Once Upon A Time Rewatch: 6x19 The Black Fairy

Peter Pan! So weird to think they were married but I mean they’re both kinda obsessed with collecting children that aren’t their son which is a weird coincidence.

Aww baby Rumple!

Malcolm looks so happy to have a baby. It seems it was the loss of Fiona that made him resent Rumple. Perhaps he could have been a father with her support but he just couldn’t handle being a single father. 

I wish we got to know more about fairy lore

Rumple was born in winter. He’s totally a Capricorn!

Aren’t Saviors meant to save realms from dark curses? But the dark curse wasn’t created yet. Maybe they retconned it and they’re just meant to save people.

That dragon egg is awfully convenient. What happened to the characters going on quests to find things like this? It’s too easy to wake Blue up.

Snow straight up strangling the Blue Fairy. I know it’s not her but I think Snow deserves that opportunity. 

Quick thinking Rumple with that cuff! 

Why does Emma have to have sleepy time too?

Is the shack Rumple was born in the same place he and Milah lived in? Probably not.

Yep. Really shouldn’t have given her that book of prophecies. What did they expect? Fiona to be overjoyed her son would die at the hands of a great evil?

Wait. It’s not possible for someone to turn themselves into a fairy? There must be something about Fiona. There’s something about that family, I swear. It seems they were all destined for great power and great evil.

Regina teaching Zelena to drive is the best thing ever but she totally could have escaped with Henry on her broom if things went wrong. If people in New York saw her and Henry flying high defying gravity they’d just think it was promo for Broadway’s Wicked.

Lmao! Omg Zelena! This scene is glorious!

Oh yeah, baby Robin could fit on the broom too. They’d make it work!

Regina: “I trust him to raise you.” Lol. So true but now I need all the fics with Henry raising his little cousin and Auntie in New York. 

The Black Fairy is so freaking creepy singing a lullaby to Blue.

The hatred emanating from the Black Fairy for Blue gives me shivers. 

And then she’s like “I’m so happy we get a chance to play,” and sits down like a child. Chills, I tell you! Like, Blue has completely destroyed who she used to be.

What was she going to do to the child if she’d found one with the crescent mark? 

Aww. Rumple breaking down and saying “I would do anything for you, son.” This man freaking loves his children. 

How did they end up in Rumple’s dream when Gideon was the first to be sprinkled with the night night sand?

Hook: “How do we know you are actually you.” Regina: “Because it’s me!” Sounds legit.

Aww, Hook just called Regina “love”. Are they getting along again, now? I saw a meta the other day that noted how Regina only started to dislike Hook when he got serious with Emma and I’m pretty sure that’s true. Interesting!

I wanted to see a proper witch fight dammit! For a show with so many sorcerers, we deserved more magical duels.

But omg Zelena suddenly running the Black Fairy over and her flipping over the car is the best thing in existence! 

Aww the sisters’ little smiles to each other. 

The sacred vault of the fairies? Are they, like, religious? 

This poor woman. I feel so sorry for her. She’s just desperately and feverishly trying to protect her baby. What did they expect from her? Most mothers would go to those lengths if they were told their child would suffer such a horrible fate. That would bring anyone to the end of their tether.

Omg wtf. “He’s destined to die so that other children may live.” That is a beyond cruel thing to say to the face of a mother. What the hell? Omg the pain on Fiona’s face. No child should be sacrificed for another. How heartless of the fairies.

So did Emma replace Rumple as the EF’s Savior or can their be multiple Saviors? 

Agggh this is so horrific. Poor Fiona finding out she is destined to kill her own child. She’s devastated. 

Oh, did she get the crescent scar when she was disarmed? 

Oh cool, the Black Fairy can project memories! That’s quite a unique power.

Blue could have saved a lot of people by remotely teleporting their hearts into her hands from the EQ’s or Cora’s and yet she didn’t.

She has a point. Even if she severed her destiny so she wouldn’t be the one to kill him, he could still be in danger from some other threat.

Blue, what the hell! Summoning a portal was absolutely uncalled for. What because she dared to upset you as you were so desperate for him to become the Savior for some reason? Probably part of her long-game evil plan. So what if he didn’t become a Savior?! Blue’s going on like that was the worst crime. She was just trying to protect him and you separated a doting mother who was no longer a danger to him from her child! You had no right! She is so self-righteous, I swear to god. It’s nothing to do with her. Who does she think she is?! Blue has ruined so many lives and gotten away with it because she believes she’s all high and mighty. She’s just as much of a villain as any other on this show. It makes me so mad. Poor Fiona. No wonder she hates Blue. 

Fiona: “I promise you son, I will spend every moment of every day trying to find my way back to you!”

I think she let Rumple hate her because it was too painful and she didn’t think she deserved his love. 

There are a lot of parallels between Rumple and his mother’s stories. They are much alike. 

Malcolm genuinely loved Fiona. He said she was the love of his life. Gosh I needed backstory with those two! After her he felt the only way he could be happy again was to return to childhood and Neverland so he didn’t have to think about Fiona. It was too painful. Easier to pretend he’d never loved. 

Malcolm must have lied to Rumple and told him his mother had abandoned him.

The fairies imply Fiona is dead to cover their own asses. They won’t say they banished her because they damn well know he’d fight them to get the love of his life back.

Lol. Sorry but calling your child Rumplestiltskin just to spite him is hilarious. What does it mean? Oh! It means “Little Rattle Stilt.” I mean it could have been worse it could have been “Little Sh*thead.” 

Also the Fairies hearing him blame the baby for his wife’s death should have rung alarm bells. They should have put him in a home where he’d be loved and cared for. Nope, just leave him with this guy who hates him.

Eww. They put a heart on the dinner table.

Giddy Up’s got his heart back! Yehaaaw!

“A seafaring man does not take superstitions likely.” So he is superstitious! He allowed a woman on his ship for years so maybe superstitions are different in the EF.

Oh my God, next week’s the musical episode!!!! I can’t wait!!!!

#ouat #once upon a time #rumplestiltskin #mr gold #mr. gold #the black fairy #ouat 6x19 #6x19 the black fairy #ouat rewatch #ouat rewatch 2019

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bjornthorsson20 · 3 years

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I Regret Everything

Trigger Warnings: suicidal thoughts / implied suicide / implied character death / trauma / nightmares about traumatic events / panic attacks

All seemed well.

Ron had come back, saved his life, destroyed a Horcrux and warned them of the Taboo placed on Voldemort’s name.

Harry had been elated beyond words to know his best friend had been alive and well during his time away, and had forgiven Ron immediately after seeing what the locket had been doing to him whenever he had worn it. Harry reassured him that he and Hermione shared nothing beyond a sibling bond, and that he had been deeply missed by them both, leaving them miserable without him.

While Harry had been quick to forgive Ron’s departure, Hermione had been incensed upon seeing Ron back, immediately unleashing a flurry of punches at whatever vital parts she could hit him on. All the while, Ron had covered his nether regions, hoping to preserve future generations of Weasleys. Thankfully, Harry had Hermione’s wand with him at the time, so Ron’s life had been spared long enough for him to explain how he had found his way back using the Deluminator. Ron’s speech had been so powerful that Harry had to admit that if he were a girl, he’d have pounced on him right then and there.

Hermione hadn’t been convinced by it though, instead turning away and marching back to the tent with furious steps. Harry had offered Ron an apologetic look, which Ron had dismissed muttering under his breath that “he deserved it”. Once inside, Ron had recounted his run-in with a group of Snatchers; how he had managed to fool them with the name Stan Shunpike, how he had learned of the Taboo and his snatching (pun fully intended) of their wands.

Still, Hermione had just cast Ron a murderous look and quickly averted her gaze with a disgruntled twist of her face. His red-haired friend sighed and asked her if they could talk, to which Hermione had seemed to consider for a moment before standing up and stomping her way to a corner of the tent wordlessly, turning to face Ron with an impatient tapping of her foot. Ron had glanced briefly at Harry, cocking his head slightly in his direction, clearly indicating he wanted to take the conversation outside, with Hermione’s only response being a hard glare and a huff that undoubtedly meant she had been within an inch of hexing him if he hadn't moved his arse there.

Defeated, Ron heaved out a bigger sigh, and finally headed over to where Hermione stood. He had been whispering just quietly enough that Harry couldn’t quite make out what he had been saying to her, but judging from the way Hermione’s expression immediately softened - her furrowed brow clearing and her eyes misting over - Harry was pretty sure Ron told her the locket’s destruction, and all the foul things it had fed Ron’s mind.

What happened next caught Harry completely by surprise. Hermione jumped into Ron’s arms and proceeded to kiss him hard, causing Ron to stumble back, no doubt shocked by that, before he started to kiss her back (fuck, more like snog the life out of her). Witnessing that should’ve made Harry smile with the stupidest grin ever, despite how gross they looked sucking each other’s faces like that, happy that they had finally gotten their shit together.

Instead of a grin though, Harry could feel his face set in a deep frown, as his two best friends kept devouring one another, hungry like a tableful of Weasleys, most likely having already forgotten the third wheel getting front row tickets to their show of burning passion. Eventually, they pulled back to catch their breaths, before going right back to it a moment later, this time making their way slowly over to Ron’s bunk, without breaking their ongoing snog. For some demented reason, Harry couldn’t take his eyes off of them, wondering how long they’d go at it until they remembered they weren’t alone in the tent.

Their passionate session of sucking and licking noises, mixed in with moans, whimpers and grunts - had Ron growled? Holy shit, they were animals - hadn’t ceased until Harry heard Hermione gasp and sit up, finally looking in his direction. She buried her face in Ron’s chest, most definitely mortified by what they’d been engaging in while Harry beared witness. Ron turned to him with wide eyes and a face as red as a tomato (Harry never liked tomatoes much), silently mouthing all kinds of apologies while holding Hermione tight and helping her calm down. Harry glared daggers at Ron, who at least had had the decency to look ashamed. Harry felt his frown gradually morph into the biggest grin he could muster without permanently disfiguring his face. Ron’s face had gone pale, most likely alarmed from Harry's sudden shift in mood, and when Hermione finally lifted her head to look at Harry again, her face too had borne an expression of pure shock at him.

They were saying something, but Harry wasn’t listening anymore, not even to his own responses that surely sounded very forced. He was thankful for his best friends’ inability to pick up on nice falsities, and for them not pressing him too much. His feet were dragging him somewhere - he wasn’t sure how long he had kept on walking - as his mind kept replaying the scene of them both attached at the lips, like a broken record of what Ron saw from the locket (as if having Voldemort trying to possess him constantly wasn’t enough mental torture). Harry had tried sorting through his emotions in an attempt to understand why he was feeling so bothered by this turn of events. It couldn’t be jealousy. It hadn’t been anger, nor had it been disapproval.

Eventually, he had come back to Ron and Hermione still on Ron’s bunk - by the looks on their faces, they hadn’t stopped worrying about him for even a second, a fact that made him feel extremely guilty for some reason. They immediately asked if everything was okay. This time, Harry managed to put up a more genuine looking smile for show, because after a quick dismissal of their worries, they seemed to relax and return shy, embarrassed smiles. He had gone to his bunk after a quick goodnight and tried to fall asleep, but as soon as he closed his eyes, that cursed image would reappear on the inside of his eyelids. He could still hear their voices exchanging hushed whispers, until they faded out - good thing he taught them the silencing charm. Merlin only knows what’s going on in there.

The thought caused that unknown, ugly feeling to come back before he finally succumbed to a nightmare-ridden sleep, forced to rewatch their snogfest. Except this time, they didn’t stop. Harry had tried closing his eyes - was that even possible inside a dream? - but found that he couldn’t, and he almost didn’t want to. The more he watched it, the more he felt like the memory was suffocating him from the inside, as if slowly consuming his body.

Sometime during the night, he jolted awake, sweating profusely and scrambling for his glasses. His eyes immediately landed where he knew they were sleeping, but they had the curtains drawn, so he couldn’t see what went inside after they silenced it. Harry thought that was for the best. His nightmare had scarred him for life in every way possible, and the sight of either of them at the time would certainly have made him sick to his stomach. How would he even look at them in the eye after that?

So, he hadn’t. It was now a whole week after that dreadful day, and Harry had yet to make eye contact with either Ron or Hermione. His whole mood and disposition, already tainted by the stress of the hunt, was at an all-time low, especially given how he hadn’t slept more than a half-hour every night, stuck on the same loop of being tortured into watching his two best friends go at it like rabbits in heat, and then jolting awake sweating buckets before giving up on sleep entirely. Even after waking up, he could still hear every sound, and experience that suffocating sensation constricting his chest. As a result, he now had very prominent bags under his eyes, but thankfully he was able to cover them up with charms, so neither Ron nor Hermione noticed anything wrong with him. He didn’t want them to worry; he couldn’t bear the guilt.

The whole week through, Harry continued to watch them have their quality time together. Sometimes, they would remember Harry was there fairly quickly; other times, they would go at it until they were almost undressing. But, at no point did they ever remember to cast a silencing charm, or draw the curtains around them, and Harry never once tore his gaze away from their displays of passion. It wasn’t until today, watching them quietly as usual, that all the pieces fell into place in Harry’s mind about what exactly he felt regarding them.

Envy.

He envied them. They had each other during all of this. They had hope for something after all of this if it ended. And that thought immediately sent him into another state.

Fear.

He was scared. Even if they succeeded in the end, his future didn’t look bright. He ended the one thing that kept him going, kept him hopeful, because he was a fool that always had to do what was right. If he could seize that moment again, he would choose to be selfish and bring her with them. That way he wouldn’t be alone.

That was the reason he couldn’t stop staring at them each and every time. Because he wanted that.

He wished it was him.

At the same time, he felt extremely guilty about the whole thing. He made them worry when they should simply be enjoying themselves and this new phase in their relationship. He made them worry because he dragged them to the middle of nowhere, in the midst of a chaotic war. Ron and Hermione might not come out of this alive, either one of them or both, and now the relationship they just began exploring could be taken away in an instant. Instead of being happy and hopeful for a future for both of them, he felt contempt at their sight, wanting them to be apart again and silently struggling through their unresolved tension. He was a piece of shit. He didn’t deserve the love he was given, the friends he had. He didn’t deserve the life he was given.

After Hermione removed Ron’s shirt and he did the same to her, Harry quietly slipped away out of the tent, putting up a silencing charm on the entrance. He wondered how far they’d go this time, and hoped they enjoyed it the whole way through.

Harry just stood there looking at the sky above the trees, knowing what he wanted to do. What he deserved after all.

All seemed well. But all wasn’t well.

One thought passed by Harry’s mind right before he uttered one single thing. I regret everything…

“Voldemort”

#harry potter #hermione granger #ron weasley #horcrux hunting #hp drabble #romione #ron x hermione #horcrux #trauma #traumatic experience #panic attack #dark drabble #heavy angst #self loathing #implied smut #implied character death #bjornthorsson20

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whentheynameyoujoy · 3 years

Text

So the ATLA Movie Is... Good, Actually?

Just kidding, of course it’s not, it’s so bad it sucked the paint off my walls. But after ten years of people pointing out its glaring flaws, why would anyone bother talking about this garbage heap if not to go the other direction? So here’s a very brief and very superficial list of things the movie does get kinda... not atrociously wrong.

And they won’t be fake hipster pokes, like “It’s fun to laugh at”, “The Rifftrax for this is OK”, or “Kudos to the actress for managing to say we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs with a straight face”.

(though now that I mentioned it, it is fun to laugh at, the Rifftrax for this is OK, and massive props indeed.)

Rasta Iroh

Yes, I know it’s not exactly the aesthetic of the real Iroh or that it makes no cultural sense for him to sport this do when no one else in the racebended Indian “OMFG what were you thinking Shyamalan” Nation does but goddamn, long-haired dudes are my one mortal weakness and I will ogle the hell out of him.

Jesus is that a man bun I see that’s it mum I’ve been deaded

Yue’s hair

No.

Now we’re talking. Yue’s hair turned white when the Moon spirit gave her life, so it makes sense for it to go black again when she sacrifices herself to revive the koi fish. It’s a neat detail I find myself expecting whenever I rewatch the scene in the show. Yes, I realize it’d be a pointless hassle to animate since she, unlike in the movie, immediately goes on to become the Moon herself but still. I like.

The Blue Spirit’s mop

Zuko, hun, what’s with the dance-off?

First of all, I want to imagine that Zuko the Theatre Nerd was about to leave his ship with just the mask like in the show but then stuck his head into the cleaning cupboard and went, “Yeah, more coverage might be good, even though it do seem mighty fried to shit”.

Which makes me giggle. I like to giggle.

And secondly, the hair’s movement is what makes the static mess of the Blue Spirit’s solo fight scene appear at least bit more dynamic because God knows the cinematography isn’t doing it.

Any particular reason why it’s at the edge of the action, shot all boring-like?

Now, I get why circular shots would be reserved for Aang while he’s in the practice area and then used once the two join forces. What I don’t get is why Aang’s part of the action scene has a defined visual style while Zuko’s delegated to a few stationary wide shots from afar as though he’s a tertiary goon, meaning that when the time comes to combine the respective pieces of cinema language and visually convey collaboration, there’s not really much to combine.

But as long as Zuko is stuck in this static mess, it’s that awesome disaster on his head flopping about that draws the eye, helping me understand that something even is going on over there.

It also prevents me from paying much attention to how the extras are mostly just staying put and a lot of the hits don’t land, so that’s good.

The music slaps

James Newton Howard is too good for this.

youtube

Pls ignore that the word “gods” is used in the ATLA universe

I can’t be the only one who constantly uses this piece to daydream about writing specific fanfic scenes instead of, you know, actually sitting down and writing them. It’s just so good at communicating a sense of sorrow while speaking of rebirth that I find myself getting misty-eyed whenever I listen to it. Unfailingly, the soundtrack as a whole manages to break through the mile-thick crust of horrible acting, confusing writing, and uninspired cinematography and make me feel things. And considering how everything on screen is working against it, that’s no small feat.

Imagine what a powerful experience it would be if the score was used in service of an actual movie.

Dev Patel

No wonder since he’s the only one in the film occupying that crucial intersection between “is a good actor” and “was given something to work with”. It also doesn’t hurt that he breaks with the trend of actors starring in martial arts flicks despite never having done any martial art.

And all EIP-jokes about “stiff and humorless” aside, he’s a pretty decent Zuko considering how abridged this version of the character is. A while ago, I remember hearing a reviewer say that with his comedic chops, Patel should have been cast as Sokka. And on one hand, yes, god, absolutely, I need to see that asap. But on the other? He captures all layers of Book 1!Zuko, the desperate obsession, rage, and self-loathing, and at the same time gives you a peek at the soft momma’s boy dork that’s buried underneath. For Christ sakes, he exudes intensity and ambivalence even when acting against an emotionless hunk of wood that’s giving him nothing in return.

Oh, and I guess there’s a tree in the frame.

Ba dum tss

What can I say, the guy’s good.

Showing vs telling

OK, so this movie is all tell and no show, except for one single moment. And it’s the exact moment where the original goes in the other direction in terms of how information is conveyed.

See, I never liked this. The revelation is preceded by Iroh giving advice to Zuko who scolds him for nagging. Iroh then apologizes, moves in to say the line above, and is interrupted by Zuko who seems rather uncomfortable with Iroh laying his feelings out like this. And once they’re out, Zuko verbally confirms that he knew already and Iroh didn’t need to bother.

All this extraneous information and pussyfooting ends up weakening what should be a profound scene that reveals to us, the viewers, how deep the relationship between these two in fact runs.

Compare to the movie where Dadroh acts like a parent by fussing and worrying, with Sonion needing a single look to tell him and us that he understands what it’s all really about.

It’s genuinely efficient and just good.

No Cataang

Fine, a bit mean-girl bitchy from me since I only start minding the ship in Book 3. And probably unintentional on the part of the creators since there are moments where I think they’re trying to set the romance up? There’s a, well, an attempt to recreate the famous introductory shot of fateful meaningful destiny of meaningness, there’s some slight note of saving each other’s bacon going on, I’m pretty sure they’re the only ones in the film who smile, and oh, right, Katara’s shoved into her post-canon useless role where she doesn’t ever do anything, and is all about Aang right from the get go.

Yes, I will blame the “executive producers” because a) I’m incredibly petty, and b) it’s perfectly in line with their vision of the character so why the hell not.

Hilariously, none of it reads on screen because the actors are just... yeah. These poor kids are struggling so much with delivering their own lines and portraying their own characters they don’t seem to have any strength left to create something between them. To be fair, the bare-bones shot-reverse shot style of their scenes doesn’t exactly lend itself to the idea they occupy the same universe, let alone are friends or each other’s crushes.

And I enjoy this immensely because it allows me to forget the depressing horror show Katara’s life turns into post ATLA.

Yes Zutara

I need to delve into this because it’s fucking hilarious. So in a movie which fails to establish the original’s central romance so spectacularly that if Aang got lost in a crowd I don’t believe Katara would notice, SomEOnE thought it’d be a good idea to add an utterly unnecessary non-canon moment where Zuko for some reason feels the need to pause his character-defining hunt for the Avatar which otherwise has him ignore everything and snap at everyone, and explain his central conflict to an unconscious peasant he doesn’t know, complete with gently pushing the hair from the pretty girl’s the soulmate’s the Water Tribe Ambassador’s the Fire Lady’s the love of his life’s her face away, AFTER his uncle nagged him twice to find a girl and settle down.

I just wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page and this is what we really saw.

Celibate Avatars

I have no idea why the decision was made, if TPTB thought expecting viewers to understand the story through the lens of Buddhism would be too much, or if the “executive producers” already worked their retconny magic. What I do know, however, is that there’s a big shift in worldbuilding and Aang’s struggle with his role as the Avatar stops being a personal conflict defined by a) his grief for Air Nomads, b) his notion of being robbed of the loved ones in his life, and c) the selfish attachment to Katara he confuses with true love. Instead, what he has a difficulty to accept is apparently a general notion of who Avatars are supposed to be, i.e. a fantasy version of Catholic monks, no family and worldly relations, period.

I guess either someone understood the original’s portrayal of de/attachment as “hermit no freaky”, or thought the audience would so why not go there outright.

Now, do I like this on its own? No, God no, it makes the world infinitely poorer and changes the story from an exploration of ideas which aren’t all that ingrained in the West, to a cliché tropester about a Catholic priest going Protestant so that he could be with a girl.

At least I assume that’s where they were going to take this eventually.

I mean, I think the direction was “look conflicted, this isn’t the final stage of your journey”?

But consider this—the show went there, it built on the concepts of Eastern philosophy and touched upon the ideas of spiritual awakening, only to swerve in the end and strongly imply they’re bullshit and Aang should have never wasted his time with them.

So honestly, I much prefer scanty worldbuilding to an insulting retcon by a damn rock.

Multiracial Air Nomads

Probably the most substantial “no hint of irony” point on this list and a genuinely good addition to the universe’s worldbuilding.

See, the notion of the elemental nations being perfectly separate and never mingling before Sozin has always been sketchy but it’s especially ridiculous in the case of airbenders. It never made sense to me for all airbenders to be Air Nomads and for all Air Nomads to be monks and for all monks to be chilling at the temples all the time to facilitate a quick everyone-dies genocide should an imperialistic warlord ever decide to commit one.

Because committing everyone to a single way of life at a handful of places kinda goes against the central philosophy behind airbending. Like the freedom and nomadism part.

Instead, there should be more variety to the airbending culture, with some staying at the temples as monks, hermits, and teachers while others live as nomads, travelling the world and creating more airbenders, with the resulting children in turn being influenced by the non-airbending cultures they grew up in.

And thus, not only should airbenders not be modeled after a single culture to create a one-size-fits-all lifestyle, but they should have the most diverse and dynamic culture out of the four nations.

And it’d be precisely this diversity which would pave way for an eventual reveal that some of them survived, that their complete extermination is impossible.

Because they’re everywhere.

You know.

Like air.

#atla #atla movie #zutara #anti bryke #dev patel #the last airbender #anti-kataang

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itwoodbeprefect · 3 years

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decided to just compile a bunch of comments about my sga 1x01 rising rewatch into a single post because i don’t actually want to make a hundred posts in a row, so here, under the cut, many rambles:

announcer guy does, in fact, speak english upon a second attempt. well done on not forgetting to not speak german, announcer guy.

“i’m afraid of the thing” elizabeth says, about the drone chair, while standing next to it and looking like she wants to fuck it

rodney in that orange sweater! very orange! very warm!

john is on screen. john’s first words are helicopters he knows how to fly. john KINDA LIKES IT in antarctica. john has barely done anything and i already feel like crying a little bit about this guy who LIKES ANTARCTICA because he just wants to fly

POOR CARSON when he almost kills two people. “ai told ya ai was the wrong pursohn” :(

i really love how john sees the drone coming at the (landed) helicopter and yells “get out!” and they throw open their doors and john JUMPS and then it’s just “ugh.” and he’s belly-down on the floor and still like, almost under the helicopter. an attempt was made, for sure. just not a very succesful one.

the way john looks around like he’s never seen a ceiling before when he enters the base is just. very funny. and then some guy in particular is looking at him because he’s a bit of a weirdo and john looks back and the guy sort of looks him up and down and john looks away as if to check if anybody saw that. hmm.

john’s face of “oops” after he sits down in the chair and it ACTIVATES and carson RUNS OFF to go get literally everyone and john is realizing he MAY have just made a very giant big mistake. PRICELESS

teyla: my people have long believed the wraith will come if we venture into the ancient city. sumner, when the wraith come after he ventures into the ancient city: [surprised pikachu face]

gotta love how john insisting on saving his people is what wakes up the wraith, and saving his people is also what landed john in antarctica in the first place because he tried it in afghanistan once before. which wouldn’t have happened if there hadn’t been an american war in afghanistan in the first place, which there wouldn’t have been if bush hadn’t thrown the us into it, which wouldn’t have happened without 9/11, so... bin laden woke the wraith?

on the other hand john would never have had to go on a rescue mission on his first day in pegasus if sumner hadn’t gone into that city against the wishes of the people that already lived there and had a history dating back thousands of years with the place, so more realistically, the expeditions’ colonizer mentality woke the wraith. and then they just kinda... kept going with that for the rest of the show, because it worked out so well on that first day.

anyway i’m not even there yet - puddlejumper! it jumps puddles!

have to love the moment john realizes the puddlejumper is pretty literally reading his mind and giving him anything he can think of that is within its power (so no turkey sandwiches, but that’s okay). john is already in love with it just based on the fact that IT CAN FLY AND GO FAST (“i kinda like it here”, restored) but then all the ancient technology just seems to know him and love him back and gives him way more than he even thinks to ask for. which, for john, who doesn’t really do well expressing desires? a FLYING SHIP that then READS HIS MIND? starstruck. love at first sight. john&puddlejumper, instant bffs. i bet it would have popped a compartment with some stray bits of wire if he’d asked for a friendship bracelet right then and there. ford sitting there witnessing this doesn’t even know how hard he’s thirdwheeling it in that moment.

now i am at the bit where sumner is taken from the wraith prison to see the actual wraith, and look, obviously they’re evil and feed on humans etc etc, but this particular wraith’s sense of dramatics? unparalleled. she has them bring her victims one by one to a large foggy room with a looong table set with a wonderful dinner and then she LEAVES a DEAD BODY sitting at the head of the table (implied to be the athosian that was taken before sumner?) and drops down from the ceiling while sumner has his back turned for no reason except the spectacle of it all, and dracula himself literally couldn’t have made a better display out of this. it’s maybe scary in the way that it makes clear she’s a cat toying with a helpless mouse before she eats it, but it’s also hilarious in the way that this is absolutely a very bored immortal being who had to stay up while the rest went to sleep and is inventing high school improv plays with her dinner for some diversion. don’t play with your food, wraith queen. you’re scaring your dinner.

life signs detector!!! ford didn’t get to name the puddlejumpers gateships, but that one stuck, no matter how much “we can name it later” john was trying to throw at it!!!

(god. there’s a ficlet somewhere in there about season 2 john having a moment where he realizes he’s on the hunt for ford using the thing they first discovered together and that ford gave its name.)

getting sidetracked here, but when john and ford find the group of humans caught by the wraith teyla goes “major!” and it makes me think that. well. how are the athosians supposed to know things like “major” and “colonel” are military ranks? what are the chances the pegasus galaxy uses the same designations? (don’t really know how the language thing works here - we’re hopefully not supposed to think they’re all speaking english, are they? i’ve never watched sg1, there’s probably lore about this, i assume. maybe alien titles somehow get perfect translations to earth ones and vice versa.) but i mean, teyla is too smart, she’d have it figured out already even if those words don’t exist in her galaxy, but some athosian somewhere is going to be very confused by this earth tendency to name way too many kids private and lieutenant, and then put all of them into the army. strange, to have your job decided for you at birth like that. earth people are weeeeird.

fjdkl john is like bye, gonna go find colonel sumner all on my own, run if you don’t hear from me in twenty minutes, and ford’s like “you’re the only one who can fly these people out of here” and “i’m saying i should be the one to go, sir” and john, with his savior can’t-leave-anyone-behind-gotta-do-this-personally-or-i-will-literally-die-from-not-almost-dying complex DOES NOT LISTEN to ford’s EXTREMELY ACCURATE objection. which is his right, as ranking officer, but is also a perfect showcase of why john Should Not Ever be in charge of atlantis, and why sam saying he was totally on the shortlist when she takes over command in s4 is funny but frightening if you’re on atlantis and like being alive.

sumner: “we travel through the stargate as peaceful explorers.” FDJKFD. god, that line, from that character, hilarious.

rodney comes to elizabeth full of enthusiasm about all the interesting stuff they’re finding in the city only to find her staring at the empty gate and when she says she should never have let them (the rescue party) go, he sobers up and says awkwardly “for what it’s worth, you made the right decision” and that’s GOOD that’s KIND.

back on the planet with the wraith everyone is running to the jumper while there are wraith darts whizzing through the air and teyla turns back, catches up with ford who was told to cover their six, disarms him (because he was firing at illusions, revealing their position), hands him back his weapon, pulls him in the direction of the puddlejumper, and PUSHES HIM ASIDE when they’re almost scooped up by a wraith dart, and i’m so here for teyla being allowed a moment of heroics that saves specifically ford, guy with a gun, and not a random athosian damsel in distress. teyla is fully on their level. teyla is perhaps above their level. thank you.

that scene at the end of this episode!! in which there’s a sort of party on atlantis and it’s all buzzing and relaxed while the athosians are mingling freely with the expedition members and they’re talking of friendship and ugh. UGH. there’s a better version of sga in an alternate universe where the expedition didn’t decide atlantis was totally theirs, actually, and they cooperate with the people that were already in the galaxy when they came there and learn from sumner’s mistake to actually respect what they have to say and form a single front and teyla takes over as head of the expedition in s4 when there’s a void left by elizabeth’s absence.

final thought that has always haunted me a little: john suddenly becoming the ranking military member on atlantis after sumner’s death is ?? one of those things where i wonder what the sgc was thinking in their personnel assignments. john wasn’t even supposed to BE THERE. if john hadn’t gone and sumner had still died (which was something they should have considered as a possiblitiy! they didn’t know what they were walking into at all! sumner is apparently the type to lead his own missions!), then what exactly would they have done? i don’t know much about how the us military operates but i’ve watched enough mash to have figured out the order of the ranks and it just seems. very odd to me? to take one (1) colonel on this mission and then ZERO lieutenant colonels OR majors (if john hadn’t stumbled his way into it, that is). like, are there any captains on atlantis? (i think there are?) or would ford, a lieutenant, have ended up ranking military member? this is like the surely-they-only-need-a-single-medical-doctor-right thing. WHAT IS THE SGC THINKING.

anyway. this was good. i liked this. i hadn’t rewatched the pilot in a while, and i only just now figured out how much of a while, because there was a bunch in here i didn’t remember. ON TO EPISODE TWO.

#stargatezing #here that's the stargate liveblogging tag now #sga #*#stargate atlantis #this is apparently 1600 words so uh. i think this is a better format than stray posts

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sir-adamus · 3 years

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Me upon rewatching Taiyang's lesson with the suspicion that the show has been flagrantly ignoring his "advice" in terms of "what if you miss/weak and tired" since Yang's character short in Vol 5: "You were predictable in using your semblance in the Doubles/Single" The Single which was bluntly a white room match with no environment and down to weapons, skills and semblances was predictable? Also the fight with team FNKI? Predictable? Are we sure he actually watched the matches?

yeah in the FNKI fight, Yang losing her temper allowed her to vent her built up frustration and refocus - after which she changed tactics from trying to hit Neon to breaking up the arena to destabilise and separate her opponents and pick them off one by one (and her Semblance is a strength boost, which wasn’t helpful at all in that situation as breaking up the arena was solely achieved with her gauntlet shots, and she took out both of her opponents with her gunfire as well - hell she tried punching them and when that didn’t work because they kept dodging she took them out with gunfire). what’s that, changing tactics mid-fight after figuring out what works and what doesn’t (something she has done consistently since the bloody Yellow trailer; adapting to her opponents moveset and changing things up)? sounds to me like that’s finding another way around

and them dodging her punches also neatly answers Taiyang’s stupid hypothetical of “what if you miss?”, because we’ve seen time and again that it literally doesn’t matter, she just keeps going, she doesn’t lose the power-up. the only time Yang has actually burnt out her Aura charging her Semblance is also the one time she has deliberately taken an attack to charge up, against Adam, after this idiotic and vague “advice” from her father who clearly wasn’t paying attention (which plays into her theme of her being judged on surface level reads because no one’s looking deeper, especially from the guy who neglected her as a child and very clearly doesn’t know her all that well - i mean fuck, he kept comparing her to Raven and volume 5 showed they’re nothing alike, as well as calling her out for “stubbornness”, a character flaw she literally pointed out in volume 2 as something that nearly got her killed in the past and had already worked on to avoid the same thing happening again), the winning move against Adam there was literally directly against what Taiyang told her to do

and yeah, the Mercury fight, like, the fuck else was she supposed to do against an opponent that’s directly in front of her, using AOE homing attacks? teleport away at the last second and not get hit because she’s DEFINITELY got that power, right Tai? not use the strength boost that she gets accordingly, that does not at all change the way she fights because, once again, she has always adapted and learned her opponents moves during her fights with them?

also “find another way around” only works if there is another way around - sometimes the situation doesn’t give you that many options; like the one Yang lost her arm in that he was implied to be talking about (which is some victim blaming bullshit honestly), Yang didn’t have the time or the emotional distance (because she’s not a goddamn soulless machine, and she was already exhausted and on edge from the last 24 hours since the Mercury fight being emotionally exhausting - what with being framed for assault and then finding out she’d been lied to for years about Raven’s whereabouts and what she’d been up to in the intervening years - and then having to fight her way through the school) or any idea of what she was dealing with (so no way of knowing what Adam could do) to come up with “another way” of stopping Adam from hurting Blake again; charging him directly gets his attention on her and away from Blake

it was never an issue of how Yang fights (also just wanna point out that Taiyang is the moron who trained her, so if she’s fighting “wrong”, it’s his fucking fault for doing a bad job in the first place - like, what, did he purposefully not address this before, as a joke?), her real problems were always the emotional trauma she went through and Taiyang did fuck all to help on that score (and basically seemed to be avoiding the problem altogether; a habit his kids have replicated and is basically central to both their issues right now, though in different ways. Yang avoids talking about her issues but Ruby outright buries them) - it wasn’t until she was on another goddamn continent that she opened up about any of it, to someone else

#rwb/y #grundpfeiler #the fact that people act like Yang's success against Adam by fighting smart was achieved because of her idiot father is so grating because #a) she has ALWAYS been a smart fighter #and b) she literally did the exact opposite of his ridiculously general and vague 'advice'

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imaginaryelle · 4 years

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I just re-watched THAT scene and a thought hit me: Lan Wangji just stands there watching Wei Wuxian fall from the cliff... Why doesn't he jump onto his sword and swoops down to at least try to save him? Or is he all out of spiritual power? Or does it simply take to long to start and rev the sword? Not saying it's a plothole, I was just wondering...

I mean, I think this is a fair question and I know I’ve seen it discussed elsewhere. I just can’t seem to find the post or remember if any conclusions were reached, so I’m excited to dive into this. As always if anyone has insights or headcanons they want to add on to this, please do.

Because I like pictures, here’s ep 33 Lan Wangji holding his sword and staring in horror as Wei Wuxian falls (what is Jiang Cheng thinking? Who knows.)

Why isn’t Lan Wangji doing anything? He just stands there for long enough that Jiang Cheng backs away and leaves him on the outcropping, all alone.

Poor guy.

Okay, moving on. I think there are at least two ways to approach this, and one is from the production perspective (since this cliff encounter is a thing that only happens in the drama) and the other is from the in-universe perspective (aka, Doyalist vs Watsonian), so I’m going to look at both.

For the production pov, there’s really only one scene (I think) where we see anyone actually riding a sword in the drama, and it’s when they’re confronting the water demon/abyss in Caiyi (ep 5). At that point there’s no prep time, everyone just jumps up and then steps onto their swords (which is actually even more ridiculous to me than the image had already been in the novel because I thought they were at least riding on the scabbard but no! Riding the bare blade like a skateboard. I love it.)

How majestic.

Lan Xichen is the only graceful and cool person here. The only other sword-riding shot in this scene that shows more of a person’s body than their head and shoulders is when Lan Wangji drags three people into the air at once and we get a brief glimpse of Su She’s feet kicking wildly.

So, based on this scene’s execution and the general scarcity of other sword-flying scenes (even with the Nightless City confrontation, Lan Wangji just flies in with his quqin, no sword under his feet), my out-of-universe theory would be a combination of budget and aesthetic at play. If the production can get by on wire work with super extra long jumps that don’t seem to require actually riding the sword, they will. It’s logistically simpler, and it frankly looks better on screen. It’s also a staple of the entire film genre, whereas this sword thing is not, so the crew and effects people would have more experience with it as well. (In-universe I have a lot of questions about Wei Wuxian’s retained ability to do those jumps. Do they not use spiritual energy? Does he still have spiritual energy, just not a golden core? Is he using resentful energy instead? How does this work?)

From a more story-side view on the production, they’re working against the fact that they changed the plot to add Lan Wangji’s presence at Wei Wuxian’s death and they want to capitalize on that relationship, so having Wei Wuxian knock himself over the edge as he destroys the seal (or something where he steps back as Jiang Cheng rushes him or any other number of possibilities) no longer fits with the emotional beats they’re trying to hit. Also they really need Wei Wuxian to die here for the plot to function. Having Lan Wangji mount a sword and swoop down to try and save him again just adds extra complications and delays the desired outcome of WWX = dead and LWJ = distraught. In that sense, it really does start to look like a plot hole, because it feels like they’re ignoring the capabilities of a character in order to get the result they need. I do think they try to address this, but since multiple people have this question and I personally had to watch the scene more than once while actively thinking about it to notice all the relevant details… the efficacy of those efforts is maybe questionable. (Also like.. why does Jiang Cheng wait three days to go look for Wei Wuxian’s remains? Why is anyone waiting at all? Why is anyone surprised they can’t find a corpse when the visual we get implies Wei Wuxian is falling into lava? There are many, many questions that can be asked here and for a lot of them the out-of-universe answer is probably going to resemble “because the plot/original source material demands it” without much helpful in-universe support.)

In-universe (and probably more pertinent to your question), yeah, Lan Wangji could be low on spiritual power (and upon rewatch, I think he genuinely is). He could be physically exhausted as well as injured, too. For someone who carried three people in two hands 2-3 years ago and canonically has only gotten stronger since, he sure is having trouble pulling one person up over the side of a cliff. And that exhaustion really isn’t outside the realm of possibility, no matter how strong and powerful he is. He just traveled pretty far! If the theories that he found A-Yuan before coming to Nightless City are true (since he’s not injured in those flashbacks), he likely spent a ton of spiritual power even before getting into this battle where he first confronted Wei Wuxian and then started fighting pretty much everyone on the field by himself. Then, in a moment of fear-induced distraction, he gets injured! He’s actively bleeding! So yeah. He could definitely just be physically exhausted.

All that blood loss is not a good sign, and it actually speeds up (visually) as he expends this effort. We can see his arm trembling all throughout this scene, and then his grip slips (thus the face). Even after that he slips again, not losing his grip, but losing the strength to hold himself up at all. In the end he’s literally just lying on the rock depending on gravity to keep him in place and putting everything else he has into holding on to Wei Wuxian. He can’t do more than glare in Jiang Cheng’s general direction and tell him to stop.

Bichen is right there. If he had spiritual power left, I think he’d probably be sending his sword out to block Jiang Cheng’s angle of attack. That, or he needs two hands to accomplish such an action (It doesn’t require hand motions later/in the future, but maybe he develops that skill precisely because of these events). So yes. He’s physically exhausted. He’s spiritually exhausted. But I think there’s more going on here, too: He’s also at the end of his rope emotionally, and that’s how he ends up standing there, horrified and unmoving.

He’s had a rough time recently: Everyone hates his best and only friend/love of his life, and he has to listen to them call for his death/judgement at fancy dinner party meetings on and off for over a year. No one will listen to him when he tries to present a different view. Even his own brother is (not unreasonably) much more concerned about Lan Wangji’s personal safety than what his silence on this issue is costing him emotionally, and his uncle is distinctly unsupportive of the friendship from the beginning.

I think Lan Wangji spends a lot of time questioning his upbringing in those months (we see him actually verbally do so when he’s punished after Wei Wuxian’s death, but I think it starts well before that). What is right and wrong? Who decides it, and how? When does justice and holding people responsible for their actions turn over into unjust persecution? What is true, and what is a lie, and how much does that matter when weighed against social/political/spiritual harmony? These are concepts that are buried pretty deeply in the Lan Sect’s teachings but the world is twisting all of them before his eyes, and I have to think that takes a toll on him. Additionally, just as things start looking up (they let him write the letter to invite Wei Wuxian to Jin Ling’s celebration! They listen to him, other people support his idea!), he has to deal with the facts that:

1) His best friend who he’s in love with just killed a bunch of people, including Jin ZiXuan and some of Lan Wangji’s own Sect brothers.

2) Wei Wuxian is clearly losing control of his resentment-based cultivation path, and is thus personally in danger on a spiritual level, and

3) Everyone now wants to kill Wei Wuxian again, possibly even more than they did before, and anyone who supports Wei Wuxian is an enemy of the entire cultivation world.

Later in the series, Lan Wangji says he regrets that he wasn’t at Wei Wuxian’s side at Nightless City. That he didn’t support him, despite what we see of him trying to help Wei Wuxian find Jiang Yanli and then, after she dies, stop him from killing himself. To me, this could very easily imply that Lan Wangji is still trying to walk a tightrope in those scenes, or perhaps trying to be a bridge. He’s deliberately not choosing a distinct side, because he refuses to hate and reject Wei Wuxian, but he’s also refusing to declare open support. He’s acting entirely on his own, in a balancing act between friendship and love vs his family, his entire life’s teachings, and all of his society. Certainly I find that sort of situation exhausting, and I’ve never had to do it for something so high-stakes or large-scale.

Then there’s the actual cliff scene itself, where he’s visibly desperate. How intense does an emotion have to be for Lan Wangji to so clearly show it?

Wei Ying, he says, come back. He knows Wei Wuxian is breaking down. He at the very least guesses that he’s going to do something wild like step off that outcropping, which is why he follows him in the first place. But he has no idea what to do, so he tries the same thing he’s been trying for years: Come with me. Let me help you. This is a bridge, and he’s offering to help Wei Wuxian cross it. But just like every other time he’s tried it since the Sunshot Campaign ended, it doesn’t work.

Note that Lan Wangji actually is flying here, without the sword, so if he doesn’t have any spiritual power when Jiang Cheng shows up, this is probably a last, desperate burst to go with this last, desperate act.

I don’t think he really has a plan here. Not a new one, anyway. This is a still a plea of Let me help you. And, notably, Wei Wuxian doesn’t accept his help.

Not once during this whole scene does Wei Wuxian reach up with his free hand or try to help Lan Wangji help him in any way. He smiles, and he says: Lan Zhan, let me go. Because he doesn’t want a bridge. He doesn’t want to go back. Honestly it’s a pretty explicit and heartbreaking message: Lan Wangji’s offer of help is not enough to make Wei Wuxian want to stay alive. Not right now. He needs more than that. He’s lost too much to believe, right now, that anyone is going to choose him and his side, or that he’s worth that effort. And to be clear, Lan Wangji isn’t even offering that in this situation. Wei Wuxian is one slippery handgrip away from death, and Lan Wangji is still not saying “You, I choose you.” From anything Wei Wuxian can be expected to infer, his offer here is no different than it’s ever been: let me show you the way back to the right path. Let me help you fit back into the world the way you used to. And Wei Wuxian can’t do that; he has no golden core, it’s literally impossible even if the rest of the world would let him try. But at this point he doesn’t want to go back either. He doesn’t even want to try. That world hates him, and willfully misunderstands him, and has taken too many people from him now for it to be worth staying in. He wants to die.

And then Jiang Cheng arrives.

Wei Wuxian’s reaction to his brother’s presence is to smile, say his name, and just–accept his hatred. He closes his eyes and waits for the sword to fall even as Lan Wangji calls for Jiang Cheng to stop. The only time he shows distress between stepping back off the cliff and his actual death is when Jiang Cheng twists his sword and compromises the stability of the outcropping so that Lan Wangji is also in danger.

I think it’s possible that if Jiang Cheng had also reached for him and tried to pull him back up, things might have gone differently. Maybe that would have been enough to alter Wei Wuxian’s thinking. But as it is, when Wei Wuxian falls, he falls with his limbs relaxed and a smile on his face. There’s no flailing and screaming like when he was thrown into the Burial Mounds (in ep 33. There’s some arm-waving in ep 1). And I think that moment of him pushing Lan Wangji back and then letting go, more than anything, is what stops Lan Wangji in his tracks, because Wei Wuxian could have saved himself. He had strength and energy left. Enough to push Lan Wangji up and back and nearly to a standing position. He could have accepted Lan Wangji’s help, easily. But he didn’t, because he wanted to die, despite all the effort and inner turmoil Lan Wangji has gone through on his behalf (most of which Wei Wuxian doesn’t know about but, still).

That’s a pretty serious emotional kick in the head. Lan Wangji cannot ignore, at this point, that even if he did have any physical or spiritual energy left, Wei Wuxian doesn’t want to be saved. And that’s when we get this face (actually from ep 1):

He has nothing left. He has at this point spent over a year, maybe two, trying to save someone who, when it came down to the final moment, didn’t want to be saved. There’s nothing more he can do, in this state of exhaustion and despair, and it wouldn’t matter if he tried.

Personally, I think he looks like he’s about to be sick, and I don’t think it’s just the image of Wei Wuxian falling and dying that’s working on him here. It’s also the knowledge that he fucked up. He didn’t do enough, or more accurately, didn’t do the right things, in order to encourage Wei Wuxian to keep fighting for himself or anyone else (I’m not saying this is a healthy or reasonable thought, I just think it’s a thought he’s having). And I think this realization plays directly into how he treats Wei Wuxian when he comes back sixteen years later. He knows that questioning Wei Wuxian on his path of cultivation doesn’t go where he wants it to, so he doesn’t do it. This time is going to be different. He’ll break rules. He’ll drink alcohol. He doesn’t scold Wei Wuxian for making dumb, selfless decisions like transferring the curse mark from Jin Ling’s leg to his own, he just accepts it and expresses concern over Wei Wuxian’s well being. He stops asking if he can help and starts just doing it: Wei Wuxian can’t walk so he’ll carry him. Wei Wuxian needs someone to speak for him, so Lan Wangji will do that, with his brother and with the whole cultivation world. And then we come to this:

This is exactly the same move. Wei Wuxian will protect Lan Wangji, but not himself.

But.

Lan Wangji is no longer trying to be a bridge. He’s not going to hold out his hand for Wei Wuxian to accept or disregard. He’s crossed over to be on Wei Wuxian’s side. And that’s what makes the difference.

#lakritzwolf #cql meta #the untamed #chen qing ling #wangxian #lan wangji #wei wuxian #possibly i got a bit carried away #but this was fun #tw: blood #tw: suicide #in the novel lwj makes that change before wwx dies #and is thwarted by a combination #of wwx's breakdown and his own clan #but the drama cut that scene #so it had to happen after #long post #so long #seriously

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fectless · 3 years

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(This is technically in response to the post right below this one, as world building totally counts for it, right?)

Anywho, more fandom thoughts, but for BLEACH this time. I recently started rewatching the anime again for the nth time as part of my language practice (and having the Japanese subtitles on while watching it in Japanese is an experience) and reached that episode where Aizen and co. get rescued by Menos Grande after declaring their intentions to Soul Society. And then a few things hit me.

The first: Rukia says, the first time Ichigo sees her sending someone on via Soul Burial, that one neither feels hunger nor gets sick in Soul Society. We know that this is false for a few reasons.

Those who can become shinigami definitely need to eat and all souls need water which implies that they can suffer from thirst (and perhaps heat exhaustion).

Captain Ukitake is suffering from an unknown disease that makes him literally cough out his lungs. I’ve read something about it being a defect in the make up of his soul that is only not killing him because of the pact with the Soul King’s arm, but I cannot recall if this was canon or fanon (as the Blood War arc was just like that). If so, does this mean that sickness does occur in Soul Society, but so rarely as to not be mentioned? Or does it occur more in the outer districts? Why does it occur?

Hisana died from a sickness as well. Yes, it’s stated to be exhaustion, but I feel like that doesn’t make sense? Like, the flashback in the anime has her abandoning Rukia after she collapses while carrying her around. And she collapses later when she regrets this and goes to look for her sister. And then she dies.

Seriously, why does it occur? It’s weird. And it cannot be an Aizen thing as I’m pretty sure Aizen is younger than Ukitake. Is it because of what happened to the soul king? Does it have something to do with when people get sent on (like if they were close to being a hollow)? Is it because they died while sick? Is it because of their resolve?

...Do we never see sick souls in Soul Society other than them because they usually just. Die pretty soon after arriving?

And if spiritual power leaking is what causes spiritual pressure, and the “vents” can be closed... do people in the districts sometimes close them by mistake and then blow up? Is spontaneous combustion a thing in the afterlife?

The second: I’m pretty sure “Ichirin no Hana” is a love song that Byakuya is singing to Hisana’s memory.

Someone has probably stated this before, but the lyrics of the song literally say how some one, a “single flower,” is precious and can’t be replaced. How that flower bloomed despite being stuck somewhere dark and how they looked lovely but like they were about to wither away. And that the singer would accept all of their pain if only that person would smile and stay with them...

The title of the song also matches the title of the chapter in which Byakuya reveals to Rukia the secrets he’d been keeping from her about Hisana. He uses the same words, “ichirin no hana” to describe the season in which she died

Literally his whole dilema during this arc, the entire way he interacted with Rukia up to this point, was that he was conflicted between his sense of duty (to his parents, his wife and keeping his word) and his feelings for his beloved Hisana. Rukia’s physical resemblance to her sister is almost uncanny and the lie she is told when she asks why she was adopted was, “You look like Byakuya’s late wife.” How much must he have hated that? A person whom he had sworn to protect that, had she arrived two years earlier might have saved his wife’s (after)life? A person that looks just like his beloved, who reminds him of her every time he sees her (for those first 50 years), but is not and never will be Hisana. And then. To know that she’s going to be executed for crimes, that she felt she could not rely upon him enough to even let him know she’d encountered trouble in the human world when he’s been doing his best to ensure she’s safe (because that is one of the few reasonable explanations for why Rukia hadn’t been promoted yet, and then was promoted during the 3 year gap)? To see her stripped of her rank, her strength even (with that collar and the stone of the prison tower). To see a small form who so resembles his beloved all listless and soon to die, wearing a white yukata like his wife had in her last days...

Watching it again made me feel things, okay? Like yeah, it seems like it’s a stupid dilema from some perspectives. Especially considering Central 46 had a run in with Aizen by then, but. Byakuya was raised in the Seireitei. He was raised knowing that his life was the Seireitei’s tool. That his duty, his reason for existing was for the sake of his family’s honor, so he must be composed, must act as the family and Soul Society bid him. That’s some mighty powerful brainwashing/indoctrination right there. And he broke it once already to marry some nobody from the slums. He did something not only against the norms, but something selfish. Maybe if she’d had high spiritual power this would have been accepted, but she was sickly and likely did not. He went against the clan elders who had probably instilled obedience in him since birth and was afraid of doing it again.

(And if you count the filler arcs, you can bet that they held that one Kuchiki who went traitor against him too. Like: “he married that Hisana girl against our orders? What next? Will he betray Soul Society too?”)

And maybe I’m making a bigger deal out of his upbringing than I need to. Maybe it wasn’t really like this. But I feel like it really was. (Moreso with the filler arcs and what I’ve heard of the light novels.)

Also, this song and the way that the opening animation fit together really solidifies the whole “Ichigo and Rukia were always meant to have a tragic romance” vibe that I kept getting the first time I encountered this series.

The third: Rukia was likely younger than six months (physically) when she was abandoned, but I’m pretty sure that she was older than three months when she and Hisana died.

Her blanket was pink in the flashback.

Sure, the above might not seem to have much significance but it’s been proven in canon that clothes are part of oneself. I reblogged a post a while ago that went into detail, but to sum it up, clothes are part of your self image and your self image determines a bit about what you look like when you die.

Babies are usually no longer swaddled by the time they’re six months old, and some places recommend that you stop by the end of their second month.

Babies have pretty bad vision when they’re born. They take four to six months to reliably track objects in motion and use binocular vision decently. They take about four months to see across a room, and about two months to see farther than maybe 30 cm away. And around the three month mark, they start having decent color vision. Around then is when babies supposedly start showing color preference.

Babies tend to have poor long term memory. (To be fair, they’ve got a lot going on compared to being in the womb and sensory overload sucks.) Their memory by the age of six months is only a few weeks. Two months old had a memory span of a few days.

If she’s been consistently wrapped in a pink blanket, then by the time she’s old enough to see color, she would be old enough to remember what color her blanket usually is— or if it was a different color that particular day.

The fourth: when Gin raises his spiritual pressure on Aizen’s orders, Chad remains standing. This raised a bunch of questions as Gin is stronger than Yammy (to the best of my memory).

Chad remained standing. Yes, his whole fight with Captain Kyouraku was about his resolve and how he would stand by his friends and fight for their safety/ideals but. Like. Earlier that year, his spiritual strength was on par with Yuzu. He’d been friends with Ichigo for years which was why he was even that strong. He’d been in a Hollow attack maybe three times before Rukia was arrested and could only barely see them the time Ishida pulled a stupid and used Hollow Bait. Sure, he has experience fighting and he’d trained under Yoruichi, but it feels sus considering how the others fared.

Orihime fell to her knees pretty quickly after Gin turned up the pressure. She’d also fought against high-ranking shinigami at that point, and trained under Yoruichi, and fought off Hollow (alone even! And she was the reason why Sora moved on, despite Ichigo’s Blade purifying him) before. And yet... It could just be a lack of resolve, as that had come up in earlier chapters but it doesn’t feel right.

Ishida is excused from this due to circumstances.

Tatsuki has been friends with him for ages. Sure, it seems like they weren’t as close after his Mom’s passing, but by then they’d already known each other for quite some time. I’m pretty sure that they were hanging out semi-regularly through junior high/middle school, at which point he got close with Chad and she got close with Orihime. She also has experience fighting (admittedly in martial arts rather than the street fights Ichigo and Chad get dragged into). She experienced at least one hollow attack during Ishida’s Stupid Day. But she collapses as soon as Yammy shows up? That feels off.

In contrast, Ganju was struggling about the same amount. He was born to a noble family— who are known to typically have decently high spiritual power, like his older brother Kaien and his cousin/uncle Issin. He was raised in the Rukongai, meaning he likely came across Hollow attacks. (And those definitely occur.)

Makes me wonder things about Karin’s strength. Like, she managed to escape from the hollow who attacked their house to run for Ichigo’s help (manga) or lived long enough while alone with it that Ichigo and Rukia could come save her (anime), both of which are quite impressive for an eleven year old. She also kept up with Hitsugaya when they played soccer and he’s a captain. Based on Ichigo’s experience, it’s likely that she too will become stronger as she grows up. And does she have an inner hollow too, or is that Ichigo only? If White was simply a parasite and decided to stick to Ichigo I could accept it. But as a hollow Ichigo is a Vast Lorde, and hollows of that level can split into parts (like Starrk and Lilynette).

Does Yuzu not really have any spiritual strength because she inherited more of the Quincy genes from her mom and the hollow genes she inherited don’t balance out that same way it does in her siblings...? Food for thought.

TLDR: how and why is sickness as thing in Soul Society? Byakuya listens to rock music and I’m p. sure the third opening song is him angsting over his wife’s death; it also gave me strong feelings about how he was prolly brainwashed growing up so his angst over Rukia’s fate is not actually stupid. I continue to have IchiRuki feels. Rukia and Hisana died when Rukia was about 3 months old. And I am more confused now about how spiritual power works than I was before I started rewatching the anime for language practice. Also, more questions have arisen about hollows.

#bleach meta #bleach anime #remind me to look into Japanese textiles and dyes during Meiji era #maybe I should have split this into multiple posts...#long post #wish I knew how read mores can be put in on mobile #this is more than 3 sentences #bleach

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sevenkittensinatrenchcoat · 3 years

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1998 Film Demeter Rewatch: The Last Part

This took a long time, since there were a lot of scenes to dissect.

When Tugger starts singing Misto’s praises, Demeter and Bomba start backing him up before basically anyone else. I think this goes along with my theory that the spiked collar cats all live together and Mistoffelees lives with them. They’ve seen a bit of what he can do.

You might ask “If Misto lives with a bunch of cats who have spiked collars, why doesn’t he have one?”. Well, spikes really aren’t his aesthetic. He might also just not like wearing a collar. The humans tried to give him one, of course, but every time they put it on him, the second their back was turned, it would be gone. They had no idea how he managed to remove the collars himself and hide them where they could never be found. They just disappeared, like magic...

Demeter now sits between Bomba and Munkustrap. She’s comfortable with them both now. The two queens are getting into singing back-up while Munkustrap, though this is cool and all, doesn’t know what Tugger’s talking about. Yeah, Misto can do a bit of magic, but he’s not a miracle worker, right?

Well, whatever’s going on, Demeter’s into it and he’ll roll with it. I think Jellylorum might still be skeptical.

Before Mistoffelees descends from upon high, Munkustrap and Demeter move out of the way, as if they know that they need to. Bombalurina isn’t there this time. Demeter’s leaning on Munkustrap, comfortable enough to sit with just him.

Presto! Demeter’s response is basically just :) Munkustrap seems kind of confused about where all this glitter came from. Bomba’s paying close attention. Cassandra might be turned on. Jellylorum still looks kind of disapproving, which is very sad. Jenny’s losing her goddamn mind.

When Misto hands the rainbow to Jemima, Demeter reaches for it. I think she wanted to hold it.

The fact that everyone’s even more thrilled than previously were towards the end of the dance break might have something to do with this being right after the Conjuring Turn, which was cut, for some stupid reason, but they saw it, even if we had to wait around 23 years to join them.

Anyway, Demeter and Bomba wave when Misto leaps past them. Munkustrap kind of does too, but I think he’s still hung up on the glitter. Who’s going to clean that up after the show? Is it even ordinary glitter? It could be some kind of magic dust. Who knows what it could do.

So, Old Deuteronomy’s brought back and fun is had by all. Let’s get to Grizabella:

Demeter doesn’t try to interact with Grizabella this time. While the others turn their backs, she sort of curls up around the car. She’s actually a good distance away from both Bombalurina and Munkustrap. That doesn’t happen very often. Even though Exotica’s right next to her and I think there are some cats on top of the car, she looks alone here.

Each time Grizabella appears, Demeter’s reaction is slightly different. First, she clearly wants to touch her and shows sympathy towards her, but she stops herself. Bomba comforts her, because whatever’s causing this is hard for her. Perhaps she was attached to Grizabella before she left and felt betrayed, but also missed her.

The second time Grizabella appears, Demeter seems almost desperate to connect with her before Bomba stops her.

But, the third time, not only does she not try to reach out to Grizabella at all, she seems to cower as she turns away. What changed?

I’m still not sure what’s going on here, but I’ve noticed that Grizabella’s appearances and the Macavity scares happen close together. There’s one musical number between the first two. The second two are only a scene apart. Now, we have this big Macavity scare, and just as things begin to settle down, Grizabella appears. Demeter saw Grizabella in the bad part of town, most likely when she was with Macavity. Whether there’s a connection or not, Demeter might see one.

I doubt Grizabella’s backstory is anything as simple as “she was with Macavity in some way and we hate her now.”. Both Bomba and Demeter are implied to have been in some sort of relationship with Macavity at some point, and Bomba doesn’t even seem to regret it much, but they’re not shunned. So, if Demeter now thinks Grizabella had some sort of connection to Macavity and doesn’t trust her, that’s not the reason why she’s rejected by the others.

Well, whatever happened, Demeter’s happy to welcome Grizabella back into the group.

In fact, it looks like doesn’t want to let her go.

As Grizabella is led towards the Stairway to Heaven, still seeming a bit confused by this turn of events, Demeter and Bombalurina are right behind Munkustrap, close to the action. I think Old Deuteronomy, Munkustrap, Bomba, and Demeter are the ones with backstories involving Grizabella that are worth exploring. Munkustrap and Bomba will both get their turns. The only characters that aren’t getting turns are ones that aren’t around very often (Bustopher, Macavity, Grizabella), and Old Deuteronomy, who is kind of better off mysterious. But, we’ll still learn a lot about them from their interactions with other characters. Misto can give us a connection to Bustopher. Demeter gives us most of our knowledge of Macavity. Everyone has their own dynamic with Old Deuteronomy...

...And, the next rewatch should give us some more time with Grizabella. Jemima is next and they develop a connection throughout the story.

#cats 1998 #cats demeter #bombalurina #munkustrap #mr mistoffelees #grizabella

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arcticwaters · 4 years

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So I was thinking about Yasha’s secret crush and I wondered if it was possible to narrow down and determine the moment where she fell for someone. Because I live for being able to see The Moment™ of a starting crush in romances. So I rewatched episodes 9, 10, 14 – 46 (I believe that’s when her first playlist dropped, after 46? I’m new.) And I paid close attention to Ashley when she was actually there, particularly when she was talking with someone to try and gauge her thoughts and read her expressions.

…Unsurprisingly given the improv nature of the show, as well as Yasha’s character in general, this is extremely hard to do, and we’ll never be able to know for sure until Ashley confirms it. So I don’t have the answer, but I do have some theories. Here’s my list of the most likely moments where Yasha first got a crush (and why I think it’s on Beau.) I’m gonna focus on these 34 episodes, but will use more recent ones as emphasis.

(Also I started this in June; this had nothing to do with the recent discussion of Beau maybe-catching-feelings for Yasha, tho yes, that is some immaculate shit.)

To start I’ll do some housekeeping and explain why I don’t think it’s any of the guys. (Aside from the fact that signs point to Yasha being gay, but I won’t at all count out the possibility of her being bi/pan. We won’t know until Ashley says.) Her playlist says “sometimes it’s hard to hold a stare. Even a conversation. It’s best to keep them at a distant though, she decides.” So these were the body languages I was looking for – which actually was kinda hard to narrow down because Yasha is already awkward and distant naturally, so there was a lot of “is this a crush, or her 7 charisma?” But in general Yasha isn’t that bad around the boys.

It’s not Molly. We know it wasn’t Molly. Ashley wouldn’t have phrased it like “Yasha’s gonna stick with Molly for now, but whoops, someone new is making her feel things” if it was.

She has no problem talking to Fjord or looking him in the eye. Their relationship is pretty surface level in those early arcs. There’s also a moment in a more recent episode where Yasha uses healing hands on him, and when Jester makes a - pretty icky - joke that she might grope him, Yasha gives a look and goes “not my thing.” If she did have a crush on Fjord this whole time she probably would have been more flustered. She seems to have no problem with Fjord/Jester as well.

Caleb…… She is actually really awkward and stilted around Caleb, but I feel this is likely more a result of their mutual “I don’t know how to people.” If we measure her crush by oh-man-this-is-awkward then Caleb is probably the most likely male, BUT, I’m going to stop thinking about this because if it ends up being true I would stop watching the show. I have to tell myself that it can’t possibly be Caleb to stop myself from becoming viscerally upset. (Iiiiiiii don’t like Caleb much. I don’t ship my faves with my leasts.) Plus,,, I dunno, I don’t think she would have encouraged him to act on his own mystery feelings if she liked him. That conversation probably would’ve just ended.

Not only had Yasha not known Caduceus long enough during these episodes for a crush to be likely (Ashley’s only there for like three episodes, one of which being their first meeting, and Yasha was pretty frosty to him) but the placement of the song in the list implies that the crush formed before Molly died. I probably could have stopped watching at ep26 for this but, eh, I like the pirate arc.

So that leaves Jester and Beau because let’s be real, it’s probably not Nott. (Aside from there being no romantic chemistry between them, we know that Yasha still has that crush and I find it unlikely that she, as a widow, would hold on to feelings to someone who is married with a child. Besides, pretty sure they all thought she was a kid herself in the early arcs.) I do not think it’s Jester, because honestly Yasha seems to like Fjord and Jester together, with moments like “Jester will probably hold your hand ;3” and Ashley being very concerned for Jester when his Avantika ship tease started. (And I could be biased because if they reveal that a FOURTH person has a crush on her I’m gonna revolt, they can’t all like her jesus fUCK two is one thing but FOUR?? it’s too much) BUT in the interest of fairness, cuz it is still very much possible, and I’m an “anything’s possible” kinda gal, I will list three moments that stuck out to me.

3) Episode 34: “We’re like a strong….. couple of women.” It’s the amazed tone she uses.

2) Episode 46: The talk about her past and the Zuala reveal. Both this, and the above, happened after Molly’s death which make them unlikely, but this one was the most significant character moment Yasha had had at this point, and she had it while talking primarily to Jester and that’s certainly nothing to sneeze at! But that’s also a point against it too, because not only does she have very little problem looking Jester in the eye and having a very long talk with her – and this goes for Caduceus too, tho he stayed mostly quiet – something that’s supposed to be hard for her to do when early feelings were evolving, but I kind of don’t think Yasha would form a crush on someone while in the same breath saying her lost love will always be hers. Before or after, sure, but not during. Frankly I don’t think this talk would have happened at all if feelings for either of them were involved. But I’m also not going to discount the importance of the moment.

1) I don’t remember the exact episode – it was during the harvest fest, so 17 or 18 – but at one point Jester says something nice to Yasha and Ashley specifically points out that Yasha starts blushing. Now given we know that Ashley was not looking for romance with Yasha early on, I feel like if this really was romantic, she would not have pointed it out, she more likely would’ve have Yasha quietly think about it. But,,, a blush is a blush, a pretty significant “oh” indicator, and I think it was the first time anyone had gotten a reaction like that out of Yasha. The timing works out too, that’s why I put it at one, over the Zuala talk.

(Sidebar, I didn’t watch episode 1 for this because I felt there’s no way Yasha got a crush on anyone that early, but wouldn’t it have been fucking hilarious if Ashley was like “my character is a widow and is not looking at all………… Failed step one.” Edit from a week after posting this: I also didn’t watch episode 4, because I honestly completely forgot Yasha was even in that. So there could be some character things I missed, but like with ep1, I find it unlikely feelings happened so early on. Ep4 was only Yasha’s second encounter with them.)

Ok so with that out of the way, I really do think its Beau. I could go more into why exactly, and how differently Yasha talks to Beau, but this isn’t a relationship analysis post, this is a Moment of Realization™ analysis post. All of that above was just to be fair to the others. (Plus I’m trying my best to stick to the 34 episodes I watched; the really good Yasha-likes-Beau stuff happens later.) Now I’ll start the top 5 most likely moments Yasha went “o-oh” for Beau:

5) Episode 34: During their talk in the tavern, Beau asks Yasha if she’s doing okay twice. It’s one of the first things she asks, and notably she’s the only one to ask how Yasha’s handling her best friend’s death in that whole conversation. Not even Jester does; just “I don’t comfort people” Beauregard. (Unfortunately, no real mention is made of the fact that she was kidnapped and beaten, and unlike Fjord and Jester, didn’t have a friend group to help, but, I think Beau asking how she’s doing is the closest we get to that.) She doesn’t say much, but both times asked Yasha seems affected by it. Beau also says she’d be willing to buy Yasha expensive wine, and excitedly tries to include her in their puppy training, and ass kicking. This is good shit and honestly the only reason it’s #5 is because the timing doesn’t really work well; I think Yasha already liked her at this point. Kinda surprised I don’t see more people talking about this moment.

(Also the episode after this is the start of “Travis makes Yasha clearly in love with Beau” and wouldn’t it be so funny if Ashley was like “no, he’s right. Yasha really would slice a man in half after seeing Beau in danger.”)

4) Episodes 15&16: I’m including both of these together because they happened in the same place on the same day, but the fights with the cube and Siff. Bit of a weaker example, but these fights stuck out to me compared to others Yasha had been in, because she sticks to Beau a little more and they seem much more excited to fight together (I believe the cube was their first time using Sentinel together?) realizing that they work extremely well together when they flank. Beau also does that thing where she parkours off of Yasha’s shoulder and I don’t believe for a second Yasha didn’t feel at least a little something. I think it’s very likely that a crush on Beau could’ve started during a battle, and something’s telling me it’s probably one of these two. I also can’t help but feel like Yasha started becoming more socially awkward right around this time. Compare how she acts in episode 9 vs 18. Could be just a character thing, Ashley finding her groove, but I still “hmmm” a little.

3) Episode 25: The healing hands scene. A classic, you love it, I love it. The healing itself aside, what I personally find most interesting is that Yasha looks a little put-upon, her “okay…” sounding a little like she’s thinking “are we really doing this right now?” but Ashley confirms on Talks that Yasha actually thought it was funny, she got a kick out of it. It’s the first time Beau’s flirting got a genuine reaction out of Yash, in a way that almost almost feels like flirting back. Makes me wonder what would’ve happened if Ashley hadn’t left, what they would’ve been like from episodes 26 – 34 if they’d gotten more time together. (I also wonder,,,, if Yasha thought a lot about this last moment of playful affection while she was captured. The last time someone messed around with her and got her to laugh before things went to shit.)

2) Episode 18: The scene where Beau joins Yasha to talk with Oremid and Trent and puts her hand on her lower back. This almost passed me by at first, because other than being near each other, not a whole lot happens; they just talk to some old guys. But then I thought more about it and wondered “… when do you think someone last did that to Yasha?” In this moment she becomes noticeably more flustered, nervous, and stumbling over her words. Now this is probably just because she was told to lead a conversation with two people she doesn’t know and her 7 charisma was showing, but she honestly was never that bad when talking to people in earlier episodes, she actually had quite a bit of confidence. I find it pretty believable that having an attractive woman putting her hand on a frankly rather intimate place, something that probably hasn’t happened to her a long while, would have an effect on her.

1) Episode 19: The Church Youth Group flirting watch. And I actually don’t mean the “huddle for warmth” part – although Yasha offering her shawl is pretty significant – I mean the little talk they have after that. Even after a bit of very awkward flirting, Yasha decides to reach out, talk about something on her mind. Beau immediately stops trying to make a move, her tone becoming genuine, and just engages with Yasha. She doesn’t pry or push, just asks questions. How long had she been away, what was Xhorhas like, did it still feel like home? And Beau ends it by saying she’d like to see it someday and she seems to mean it. She just learned it was a barren, marshy, unpleasant place, but, it’s where one of her new friends is from, and that’s enough. (In hindsight, it might’ve even struck a chord in her about her own home.) Then it becomes weird again – but in a silly way – and they go to bed. It’s a very quick conversation, like 2 minutes, but it does so much for both of them. Because I could be wrong, but I do believe this was the first time anyone stopped and asked Yasha to talk more about herself and where she came from. Hell, it might be the first time Yasha had a one on one talk of that degree with someone other than Molly. Beau was the first to think to ask “what was your home like for you?” and there’s something kind of intimate and special about discussions of home.

It lines up because, if the beauyasha compilations I’ve found are right, this is their last real moment of significance until healing hands. They still talk, they interact, but not to this level again until episode 34. It would make total sense if, after all those little moments from before - “Will you hold me through the show?” the flirting, the looks, the hand on her back, watching Beau - after this moment of real connection, something clicked for Yasha. And, just like the playlist described, she pulls back, keeps just a little bit of a distance. They’ll take watch, but the conversation’s a little weird. She’ll cast healing hands, but she won’t really look at her as she does. Because it became too real. (And maybe she’ll spend most of an underground fight against merrow following Beau around and trying to heal her, but, she won’t say that’s what she’s doing.)

That, I believe, that genuine “I hope to see it someday” was Yasha’s oh.

#critical role #yasha nydoorin #beauyasha #yashter #is that their ship name??? it's only a little bit anyway #discussion of other yasha ships kinda #arctic spent six whole months bingeing this show so now she has to do something with that #beauyasha: heaven is where you are

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dreamingofscully · 4 years

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7x15. “En Ami” - X-Files Rewatch

WRITTEN BY WILLIAM B. DAVIS

(Sorry but that taints this episode completely for me. I rant a lot about how incredibly creepy and stupid this ep is - warning ahead!)

This episode is ALLLLLLL about WBD/CSM wanting to possess something (Gillian/Scully). Also he’s stupid (I prefer to think of him as the bumbling thug from Anasazi than into some sort of sympathetic and omnipotent villain that the show keeps wanting us to see him as).

Mulder is unused to Scully knowing about random stories before he can tell her. That should arouse his suspicion, and is one of the reasons he is so adamant something is wrong later on in the episode.

Scully’s light blue turtleneck. 😍

CSM tempting Scully and telling her not to contact Mulder. That should be her first warning something is wrong. She’s written pretty stupidly this episode (no surprise given the writer) but I explain it by her confusion over not being able to trust herself. She’s slowly transitioning from a position of absolute skepticism to something with more ambiguity. Her instincts scream at her to NOT TRUST CSM but she ignores them because she’s not sure if she can trust herself anymore.

CSM traps her in the building so she can’t change her mind about seeing him. What a fucking creep. The only way he can possess her is if he tricks her, forces her into it. Gross.

That Mulder immediately calls her when he uses the “family emergency” excuse. ❤️ He either knows something is strange or is just concerned about her because he loves her and he’s worried about Maggie. 😍

All of the “revealing” shots this episode. CSM/WBD is just a fucking creep.

“You keep your guard up, a wall around your heart. How else do you explain that fearless devotion to a man obsessed, and, yet, a life alone? You'd die for Mulder but you won't allow yourself to love him.” - CSM

He has no idea that M&S are already involved, Krycek has been easily keeping that from him. What a fucking idiot.

Her sarcasm. How wrong he is. He’s completely off the mark. She HAS been walled up about believing things, that’s her downfall this episode, she’s not sure what to believe or who to trust.

“I’ve been a destroyer all my life.”

He really has a high opinion about himself which I couldn’t care less about.

It’s all about the power for him. How original.

He compares his want for power to Scully’s decision to go into medicine. That they are similar at all. They couldn’t be MORE different. He can’t comprehend that people have different motivations to him. He has ZERO empathy.

Scully doesn’t want to talk to Mulder on the phone, she knows she wouldn’t be able to lie to him.

He’s so worried about her. 😥

How she’s able to stay asleep. I could see her falling asleep because she’s exhausted, but it would be a LIGHT sleep. She’s definitely been given something to make her deeply unconscious. There is NO WAY she wouldn’t wake up when she’s carried from the car to the room and undressed. He puts the gloves on to inject her with something. The implication that his weak ass carries her is fucking hilarious (it was his stooge that did it, and who probably undressed her too).

That she doesn’t leave immediately upon waking is the biggest error of her character this episode. I can see her doing the rest not trusting herself but there is no way she’d stay after this. The writing is fucking terrible.

LGM/Skinner interaction is the best part of the episode. But I still hate it. Fucking WBD/CSM.

The fucking sexy dress. This episode is all about objectifying Scully. More than even fucking Milagro. Who cares what her motivations are, what she would normally do, lets show her bra over and over and put her in a strapless dress and imply that CSM fucking changed her clothes while she slept.

She’ll be reluctant to wear a similar dress again, because it reminds her of this stupid creepy asshole.

Calling her “Dana”. UGH.

She’s finally had enough, returns immediately. Mulder’s pissed - understandably.

CSM realizes how much he likes her after all, thinks he has a right to her company. Ugh what a creep.

Scully trying to justify her actions and explain her decisions. (They were just stupid because the writer is a hack! WOW IMAGINE THAT WBD AND CSM ARE SO SIMILAR.)

That she trusted his words - so uncharacteristic. Mulder’s disappointment.

CSM throws away the disc which can supposedly save millions because he can’t possess Scully. The world must burn because he’s a petulant child that can’t have his way. What a fucking asshole.

A few points to address:

He doesn’t do anything to her while she’s sleeping, he just wants the sense of power and control it gives him. He wants her to feel that he COULD have done whatever he liked. UGH.

The implication that he’s the father of William is complete horseshit. Scully would have done a paternity test, WOULD HAVE PERFORMED IT HERSELF TO ENSURE SHE COULD TRUST IT, and would have known who the father was as soon as possible after his birth.

I prefer the theory from @dnscully that she was healed/returned to normal from the craft in Biogenesis/Sixth Extinction, and thus became pregnant naturally. Like with any pregnancy, it takes time and luck (and the effects are not immediate), so she conceives William around the time of “all things”.

This episode takes away Scully’s agency (forces her into CSM’s building early on, takes away the normal decisions she would have made, takes advantage of her vulnerabilities - her mental state at this time and her desire to cure people, AND DOES THINGS TO HER WITHOUT HER CONSENT WHILE SHE IS UNCONSCIOUS). It should never have happened, and I am really upset about the existence of the things that happened - for Scully and for Gillian.

After the events of this episode, Mulder is really hurt by Scully's actions. She's his only person in the world and he feels as if she broke his trust. He needs time to forgive, to get over what happened. Scully feels really awful about what she put Mulder through, and in hindsight knows she made a terrible mistake.

It doesn’t matter that Mulder has gone off and done stupid things like this before, that he’s trusted people he shouldn’t. That’s one of the things that Scully has tried so hard to rid him of - his willingness to trust and believe in anything. That the person he looks towards, his TOUCHSTONE, goes against everything that she seems to hold as true would be devastating for him.

The “you always keep be guessing” gets twisted in this episode. Does he really know her? Can he trust her? Does she really love him? Should they be together?

A headcanon:

I think the events in this episode, combined with his brain surgery in Sixth Extinction, his mother’s death, and his mixed feelings about finding out about what happened to Samantha would trigger a depression. M&S go through a rough patch for a bit.

My fic Momentum takes place directly after this episode and deals with the above theory/headcanon and goes through the next two (Chimera, all things). I’d love it if you gave it a read and let me know what you think! (Or you can wait until after Chimera/all things.)

#xfiles #x-files #x-files rewatch #x files rewatch #msr #msrheadcanon #mulder and scully #fox mulder #dana scully #season 7 #csm/wbd is a creep #objectification

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aros001 · 3 years

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Read through light novel vol. 2. Random thoughts.

Man. Bilbo became an asshole after he left the shire.

Again, I really like how these books give more insights into the goblins as well as the other characters. The Goblin Champion runs away, not just because he's in pain, but because he's still a goblin and every goblin cares about their own safety before anything else, no matter how powerful it gets or how much authority it commands. Add that into that they view themselves as victims when it comes to, well, anything and that it's always everyone else's fault when they do bad things to them and they feel less like mindless monsters and more like actual characters...that you really want to see die. They're worse than pests in that way. It's not just about survival. They are active and deliberate in their cruelty and selfishness.

It's a small thing but I do like the little shows of respect and understanding between Lizard Priest, Sword Maiden, and Priestess when it comes to their religions. They all worship different gods and have different beliefs but what seems to matter most is the intent. Priestess and Lizard Priest have completely different prayers they say upon the dead but there is no conflict between them because both are still wishing for a peaceful rest for the departed.

Funny thing, back when I first saw the scene of Goblin Slayer waking up naked in a bed with Priestess, I actually didn't think it was anything inappropriate (probably partly being so focused on being glad they were alive and out of the goblin nest). Before Sword Maiden had come in to explain things, I had thought Priestess simply crawled into bed with Goblin Slayer because it was the only way she could feel safe enough to sleep after what they'd been through.

And the reason she was naked was because...! ...People sleep naked in this world, I don't know. We had that one very loving shot of Cow Girl waking up naked the first time we saw her in the present.

Also...the anime implied Sword Maiden's blindness was because of the goblins. I didn't put it together that it was because they burned her eyes. Rewatching the arc, I can see where I missed the big clue but her actual eyes whenever she took off the blindfold just looked kind of foggy, so I guess them being burned wasn't an idea I had in my head and I just kind of didn't notice that part.

“They’ve even got flails.” These consisted of two sticks with heavy metal fasteners connected by a chain; they were said to have evolved from a threshing tool. Clergy of the Earth Mother had been known to use them, and Priestess puffed out her little chest proudly at her modicum of knowledge.

What the f**k kind of church did she grow up in?

It was the same in the anime and I'm not surprised it's even better here, but I really like whenever Goblin Slayer and Priestess are together. It's one of my favorite things in the series. They're about as opposite as you can get and yet I never question how well they're able to bond and get along, with Priestess slowly but surely getting him to open up a little more as time goes on. I am hoping we'll get to see more of what Goblin Slayer thinks of her as the series goes on. We know her thoughts on him pretty well but he spent five years being trained by Burglar and then at least five years after fighting goblins by himself, so what's the draw to this random priestess he saved? Is it just because she's the only one to make the active effort to be with him, both on quests and outside of it?

"No fire. No water. No poison." In the anime it wasn't entirely clear why Goblin Slayer was forbidden to use such things and one of the reasons given here, that High Elf Archer thinks it takes the fun out of an adventure, is a little foolish when a quest is just about exterminating goblins, something she knows how dangerous they can be. But the other reason, that they don't want him to damage the surroundings or environment, I think is a bit more fair. He apparently burned down an entire goblin headquarters and admitted to redirecting a river to destroy a nest. I can see how there'd be a lot of unintended consequences to extremes like that.

“Even... Even in my...my dreams?”

“Yes.”

“You...will... You will come...?”

“Yes.”

He is going to Freddy Kruger the shit out of those dream goblins.

A good rule of thumb I've heard for dark stories is that having mature content does not automatically make the story mature. Rather, it's how the story handles that content that makes it mature. While GS doesn't handle the subject of rape perfectly, the story is still using that concept well enough to be considered actually mature and not just edgy. It's not fetishized and it's not just "something bad that happens to women". Sword Maiden I think was a very good example of this. A woman powerful enough to take on the Demon King and his forces but will freeze up at the idea of fighting mere goblins because of what they did to her in the past. It's not treated like she's weak or cowardly or that she needs to just get over it. She was traumatized by a completely horrific experience, one which the audience knows not to take lightly because of what happened to Priestess' first party. Priestess herself thankfully didn't share the exact same fate but it did still almost happen to her like it did to Fighter, and what both of them have in common is that killing the goblins didn't make the trauma just go away. They were saved from the the goblins but not really "saved". It's staying with them and they're trying to deal with it as best they can. Even High Elf Archer has a moment when having to face the goblins again she's having to fight through the reminders of what they almost did to her in those same catacombs. There is weight to the fact that this stuff is happening to people. It takes it seriously and not in the "Oh! GRR! We're so adult! Look how dark and f**k up we are! GRR!" way but rather by dealing with the fact such experiences would really mess a person up and how they may and may not act because of it.

Another good detail is that Goblin Slayer, despite being traumatized himself by the goblins, admits he can't fully understand Sword Maiden's pain, because they experienced different things. He had to watch the goblins do their business from start to finish on his sister and his entire village while she was someone they did their business on. Both are horrible, serious, and have goblins as the common link but they are not the same, meaning he can't give her the help and understanding she wants so badly. But he understands enough that he'll still do what he can to help.

And just what a great note to end off on. The party in a wagon heading back home, Goblin Slayer talking about wanting to try his hand at making ice cream and his companions getting excited about having some. You get through the darkness so that the light feels even brighter.

I have not seen the Goblin Crown movie yet (no idea where I'd even watch it until it gets on DVD), so I genuinely have no idea what happens next, as I've read through everything anime covered. I am cautiously looking forward to vol. 3.

God count: Earth Mother, Supreme God, Deity of the Basin. Please feel free to point out any I missed.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/GoblinSlayer/comments/frj2rz/read_through_light_novel_vol_2_random_thoughts/

#goblin slayer #random thoughts #reddit repost

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marvella15 · 4 years

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Astaire & Rogers Rewatch Part 10: The Barkleys of Broadway

• So here’s the story. Fred Astaire tried to retire. He’d been performing his entire life and he was ready to finally retire. In 1946, he did Blue Skies, which was meant to be his farewell picture. Then two years went by. Meanwhile, Gene Kelly was on the rise. He was booked to do a film with Judy Garland. Then he broke his ankle.

Kelly was extremely competitive and he and his wife often hosted volleyball games at their house. He either broke his ankle while playing or, as one story goes, he was so mad at having lost, he stamped his foot on the doorstep and injured himself.

• Kelly couldn’t do Easter Parade with Garland. So he called up Astaire and basically was like, please help me. Astaire agreed and had such a fabulous time with Garland and the film was such a success that the studio immediately wanted to pair them up again. But then, Garland’s health precluded her from doing The Barkleys of Broadway.

• So Astaire called up Ginger Rogers and said, hey how about we reunite for the first time on screen in ten years? And although she’d essentially stopped doing musicals at all, she agreed. And so we have The Barkleys of Broadway as the final Astaire/Rogers film and their only one in color.

• Our characters/actor: Josh Barkley (Fred Astaire), Dinah Barkley (Ginger Rogers), Ezra Miller (Oscar Levant), Jacques Barredout (Jacques François)

• Right off the bat, this movie makes a dumb decision. They put the credits over Astaire and Rogers dancing. (You can see this routine minus the credits as part of That’s Entertainment 3.)

• One of the critiques of this film is that Rogers was no longer the lithe young dancer from her and Astaire’s heyday. And to that I say: shut up. Heaven forbid she have, quite frankly, a healthier and stronger look to her than she did ten years prior when she was working herself to the bone and routinely losing 10-15 pounds from all of the dancing. I support her healthier look, lifestyle, and the ice cream she was surely enjoying from her custom home bar.

• The main tension of the story is that Josh is essentially credited with all of Dinah’s success because he “made her what she was.” This was a real-life argument reporters of the day made about the Astaire/Rogers partnership, casting her as the brainless actress whom Astaire molded into the perfect dance partner. Which is incorrect in every sense, as we’ve seen in these past nine films.

The bickering between the Barkleys is also likely poking fun at another frequent and false report about Astaire and Rogers, which is that they hated each other and regularly fought while making their films. They had their squabbles, of course, such as the feather dress affair, but from all first-hand accounts, they got along extremely well and spent most of their time during rehearsal and filming having an incredible amount of fun.

• I adore how they cuddle up in the car. There’s so little physical affection in Astaire/Rogers films outside of the dancing that every moment of it feels like a treat. It’s slightly ruined by a rough cut, which includes the magical appearance of a lit cigarette in Josh’s hand.

• Josh doesn’t fight fair at all. While Dinah insists on knowing what “detail” wasn’t perfect in the show, Josh doesn’t allow her to respond to his criticism. So she’s left simply to stew in anger and hurt feelings.

He does apologize to her soon after and they seem to make up. But as we know, the same issues will resurface again and again for them because if you don’t ever have a fair, honest conversation about your problems, they don’t ever go away.

• I have to point out how Astaire looks at her adoringly after Josh’s apology. I also love the way she hooks her fingers into the lapels of his suit. It’s a small gesture of affection only borne out of being comfortable with someone. I’d be surprised to learn that action was in the script.

• See, when you don’t have an actual conversation with your partner you end up freezing and starving out on the balcony at a party while a snobby, elitist playwright gives them the attention and thoughtful feedback they crave.

• Oscar Levant always plays a version of himself in every film and he does a great job of it. When you can play piano that well, there’s no need to do a lot of heavy lifting in your acting.

• Astaire and Rogers do a really fabulous job of portraying a married couple famous for their dancing but who are also major drama queens. For example, this line from Josh, “What with walking pneumonia and concussion a fine performance I’ll give tomorrow night.”

• Some light domestic violence humor here in 1949. 😒

• Dinah hums in pleasure after Josh surprises her with a kiss and I just can’t say for sure whether that’s acting or not…

• "You'd Be Hard to Replace" is another lovely song that I really enjoy hearing Astaire sing. I also really like how Rogers caresses his elbow when they hold each other’s arms. When he wraps her in his arms from behind, their hands knead one another’s.

They kiss again at the end of this song. There are so, so many kisses in this movie.

• "Bouncin' the Blues" is a great tap number and they both look excellent in it. The only thing that I find a tad grating is Astaire’s exclamations, which seem too manufactured (maybe because some of them are dubbed in?). Far better is the moment when they reach out to link hands and both look like they’re having a blast. For that instant, there’s a hint of that special Astaire/Rogers magic.

• The artwork in tribute to Josh and Dinah is atrocious, misogynistic, and rude. The artist calls her a ball of shapeless dough only formed into being by her husband, the frying pan.

• "My One and Only Highland Fling" is… an interesting choice. Was anyone looking for Astaire and Rogers to sing in Scottish accents or dance in kilts?? The kisses on the cheek are cute though and so is their interaction after the number in their dressing room.

• They look pretty fab while playing tennis during their weekend in the country. When they make plans to meet up for dinner, they say goodbye with kisses on the cheek. To me, those natural moments between them are the best parts of the movie.

• Omg I totally forgot about the part where Dinah pretends to be faint so Josh sends Ezra to bring her some brandy and Ezra returns with the ENTIRE drink tray with four massive bottles and glasses hahahaha

• Not to be outdone, Dinah hurriedly correcting Josh when he thinks she’s faint because she’s pregnant is also hilarious.

• Dinah does the worst possible job hiding her script from Josh. He’s angry for a lot of reasons but the note from Jacques, which implies an ongoing secret relationship between him and Dinah, is what really ticks Josh off.

• "Shoes with Wings On" is another example of Astaire’s continued interest in special effects. Green screen technology was used to make the shoes appear to dance on their own. The finished product was one of Astaire’s enduring creations and probably what The Barkleys of Broadway is best known for outside of being a reunion picture for Astaire and Rogers. He does a convincing job of making it seem as though his shoes are dancing despite his own ability or effort.

• Unsurprisingly, Jacques is revealed to be an even bigger pompous dick as a director than he’s been on social occasions. It’s also even more glaringly obvious that his intention the whole time has not been solely to nurture Dinah’s dramatic career but to steal her away from her husband.

• It was Rogers’ idea to have them dance to "They Can't Take That Away From Me" rather than a new original piece. Astaire didn’t like repeating himself, and that included songs from previous films, but he made an exception. It’s a nice dance and is certainly the closest thing this film has to offer of the OG Astaire and Rogers duets. But as I said in my Shall We Dance rewatch, it’s just not the same as if they’d danced to this song the first time around.

The use of the song made sense since Ira Gershwin was the lyricist for The Barkleys of Broadway.

• Considering it’s 1949, Dinah does a remarkable job of standing up for herself and getting to the root of the couple’s issues. He’s been taking her for granted and stifling her own creative interests and she’s been smothering her frustrations as best she can but they hit the breaking point. Something needs to change or their relationship can’t continue. But that doesn’t mean she’s happy about it.

• Dinah’s terrible acting in the play had to HAD TO be intentional on someone’s part but I can’t for the life of me think who or why.

• Love and support are what we all want from our partners. Dinah is still in love with Josh but it’s only once she knows that Josh has been helping her despite the fact that she ended their relationship and it didn’t benefit him at all that she goes back to him. Though, she does also take a bit of pleasure in making him agonize a little while.

I like the little whistle she does upon entering their apartment. It must be something they did to alert the other they’d come home. Wish we’d gotten to see it some other time in the movie.

• The truth is, Dinah and Josh enjoy being dramatic together and I get that. When you’re with the right person, it’s fun to play around.

• "Manhattan Down Beat" is wasted as an ending song. It could’ve been a good lively number, perhaps instead of "My One and Only Highland Fling.” I’d say that Astaire was just trying to avoid being in a top hat and tails more than necessary but he also reportedly hated being in silly costumes like the Scottish getup so 🤷‍♀️

• And that’s how the greatest on-screen dancing partnership ends. The Barkleys of Broadway is a more interesting and somewhat better film than The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle so it functions as a better finale for Astaire and Rogers. While their dancing isn’t quite the same, the chemistry between them is still very evident, which speaks to their enduring personal relationship. But that probably deserves its own post, which is what I’ll do next and how I’ll end this rewatch.

#fred astaire #ginger rogers #the barkleys of broadway #classic hollywood #old hollywood #astaire and rogers rewatch

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