#he still has his reggie related trauma but | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

frogsmulder · 9 months

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The X Files 30th Anniversary Mulder Appreciation Post

The thing about Mulder for me, more so than Scully (I don't need to explain the cultural impact her representation has for women) is how relatable he is. When I watched the x files for the first time, even as I thought I was a woman at the time, I didn't at all identify with her. I think this is because of how queer/ neurdivergent coded (or at least the lense I read it through) Mulder is. Don't get me wrong, I wholly believe that this is unintentional, but the facets of his character add up in this sense.

I think also the time in which I watched the x files is somewhat removed from it's creation meaning that I have been fortunate enough to not experience workplace misogyny to the same extent that Scully has, meaning I relate to it less (? Idk) and The Scully effect has already taken place unbeknownst to me, so I have seen more women in STEM than there was during the nineties so her representation is less significant to me who watched this in 2019.

First of all, the childhood trauma is very much a real representation neurodivergency. The important thing for me is how it changes him and I forms his character/decisions into adulthood even if he doesn't realise it. There have been several times where Scully has pointed out that Mulder is chasing his sister in whatever little girl their case involves which he denies, to the point where Scully stops mentioning it, even though both we the audience and she can see it.

We can see how it informs his trust issues and attachment/abandonment issues. Mulder is generally a dichotomy of too easily trusting (like of deep throat, phoebe, dianna), which then he knows he gets hurt by, so he is also slow to trust (Scully, Skinner, X), creating an inner turmoil of logic vs feeling. Scully is an especially important example of how trust/attachment inform each other in Mulder, where once he trusts Scully isn't a spy, he immediately trusts her with everything, which is a big leap. With Scully, he feels like he doesn't have to hold back and can be who he really is, which is where the queer coding comes in: in Scully he has an ally.

Aside from the fact that queer people often experience all or some of the above neurologically, socially Mulder shares similar experiences because of his beliefs. He is portrayed as an outsider, who doesn't really fit in, even though it feels like he should: he has other normal hobbies like basketball, he can work well with others in a team and get on well with them (I know he doesn't always most of the time but the point is he can) writing profiles to help out other departments when asked, having a good partnership with Reggie and report with the VCU etc. But he is still shunned and ostracised for being different. Despite this, he never properly tries to hide that side of him, standing up for his beliefs in face of the damning consequences (insisting in front of the court that Pusher had supernatural powers for instance).

This also resonates a lot autistic experiences: being able to put on a mask to fit in, but never properly fitting in, a fierce sense of justice and truth despite how it may be perceived. This isn't to say that Mulder is autistic but that his experiences are relatable.

Mulder is also kinda queer coded in that he is never shown to have a dating life (neither he or Scully have let's be real) outside of work, but where as Scully, has had fairly normal seemingly healthy relationships in the past (excusing Daniel), Mulder hasn't that we know of. We get to her about Scully's high-school boyfriend but we don't here about Mulder's high-school relationships. Whilst the absence isn't fool-proof evidence that he didn't have any relationships it is more likely to be perceived by the audience as so. This is much like some queer people's dating experience, where we come to sex and relationships later in life because of both social constraints and internal figuring-stuff-out. Then his past two relationships we do know of have been unhealthy, which isn't to say that all queer people start off in unhealthy relationships but that Mulder's initial relationships feel wrong much the way that some queer people in their initial relationships feel whilst they are still trying to figure stuff out.

Then there is the last straw for me which is his inability to sit still, he is always fiddling with something, throwing pencils in the ceiling, impulsively running off, or calling Scully at inconvenient times because he either misses her or has had a thought that he needs to share immediately which is very adhd of him <3

#anyway all this to say #Mulder is an interesting and relatable character #And I don't ever want to see any more unjust mulder bashing #Yeah he ain't perfect but noone is and I feel like he is held to an unfair standard in some parts of the fandom #And when people mulder bash they are actually hurting people who relate to him as well 😘#fox mulder

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luckycheesefoodie321 · 2 years

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TUA S2 Rewatch

Elliot sticks a gun up on Five, Diego and Lila. Diego: You wanna take this or should I? Five: No, I got him. Diego *turns to distract Lila*: Hey Lila- Five *deflects the gun*

Yknow what good on you Luther for coming clean. Could’ve gone the easy route and used Viktor’s memory loss to his advantage but apologised straight up and was honest about the terrible things he did

The Swedes are just weirdos and it is kinda sad how it’s just big brother Swede at the end trying to avenge his brothers

“I was alone for 45 years”… it’s still only been like… 2 weeks for Five, and he hasn’t had a moment to breathe

I maintain that Diego vs Reggie is one of the best fights in TUA. But the way Reggie just destroys Diego’s self-esteem once more with one word (even tho he doesn’t know who Diego is) straight after shanking the guy!

Five wanting to protect Viktor from the truth and saying it was an asteroid that caused the 2019 apocalypse (which is technically true)

Klaus having literal trauma mannnnn they all wonder why he has so many vices

Diego getting to meet Grace IRL >•<

Allison tucking in a drunk Klaus

Reginald Hargreeves sucks. Periodt (referring to his encounter with Luther)

“I can handle it” says the guy who burst into tears and stuffed chocolate into his mouth in front of her husband, got pummelled by a big dude during a pit match to avoid his emotional pain, and is currently gorging on scrambled eggs

Diego being bitter and shady about Viktor, but them immediately accepting his apology (partially bc he’s taking his feelings about Lila out on him) “I don’t remember what I did, but I’m sorry…if that means anything” “…it does”

JUST LISTEN TO DIEGO’S LOVE TROUBLES LUTHER

Ok but the epic music behind their reunion was fun

And the fact that even tho Viktor still doesn’t have his memories back, they’re all still so cuddly with each other. THE LIL “HI” FROM VIKTOR AND THE THE LIL KISS KLAUS PUTS ON VIKTOR’S HEAD

Five apologising for messing up the time travel!!!

“Klaus is… doing something weird and pervy but probably related” *Ben makes a semi-agree face*

Five desperately trying to contain his sorrow at finding his siblings dead (for a second time) but these fools are all so caught up in themselves they don’t see how messed up Five’s life and the past two weeks have been

“The healthiest long term relationship this family has had is when Five was banging that mannequin” VIKTOR’S LOOK OF CONFUSION HAHAHAHA

“Oh does this mean I have to face my cult?”

VIKTOR’S LIL HOPS INTO THE GROUP HUG

Ok I spoke too soon. I forgot about Five vs Lila set to Bad Guy. Also a dope fight

Ok but the Swedes losing their first brother and then they got the nerve to set his funeral to Hello in SWEDISH. WHY YOU MAKE ME FEEL BAD FOR THEM LIKE THIS

Is Big Brother Swede gonna come back in S3 like Hazel did???

Ok but being a black woman landing in the 60s in Texas??? Scary enough. Add to that she can’t even speak and as someone whose ability relies on her voice and not being able to use it is already rough, but then she can’t even call out for help even without her superpower? Goddamn terrifying… and it’s just personified by those white men who chase after Allison. And those women who don’t know a thing about her but just see a terrified woman immediately jump to her rescue

“I just realised who you sound like” “Who?” “Dad” “Don’t say that” Ben is not immune to the trauma caused by Reggie

HOLD UP BEN WAS 17 WHEN HE DIED. 1989-2019 = 30 years, + 3 for time in Dallas = 33 - 16 = 17?!??? So Justin’s been playing a 17yo this whole time?!!!! Bro I was like maybe he died in his 20s but no that is so young!!

Oh god the way Reggie sweeps in and immediately takes control of the room and they all immediately fall silent and sit even without a word from him. The freaking power this man has over them. Even Five who hasn’t seen or talked to the man for 45 years. The only one who isn’t significantly affected is Klaus and he’s always been irreverent and has had recent interaction with him in the afterlife and Viktor who doesn’t remember him

Just the descent into children in front of their father

Viktor’s little oops after flexing their power

I hear Allison is gonna get some trauma assessment in S3 and the fact she’s been doing some heavy day drinking this season is… set up??

REGINALD HARGREEVES IS A LIL BITCH (in reference to him completely ripping apart Diego’s self esteem)

Luther rips open his shirt “LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID TO ME” Five: “oh shit. why?”

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TAKE KLAUS SERIOUSLY FOR ONE SECOND ISTG

Funnily enough this whole scene is the reason Reggie doesn’t choose these particular kids and ends up forming the Sparrow Academy

The fact Luther has to drag Klaus out the elevator

So interesting that Five can talk as equals with Reginald as a 58 year old. In turn Reggie treats him quite well.

I feel so bad for Elliot

The murder spree! The fbomb they let Aiden drop XD

My darling Ben WHO IS SIXTEEN being able to prance about the dirt and flowers and the situation quickly turns to sex with a woman who is anywhere between 17 and 25 (tho she’s prolly around 18-21 given she gave up university when she joined Klaus’s cult)

DIEGO AND BEN REUNITING DUDEEEE IT WAS SO CUTE AND YOU CAN TELL BEN IS STILL TECHNICALLY YOUNGER THAN HIM

Five has such love for his family and it makes me sad when none of them recognise that behind his actions. That said the fact that he and Viktor both powered up to fight but then simultaneously powered down to avoid a fight was both sweet but also so fun bc I’m wondering if they’ll pay that off later down the track

Ray is too good for all this Umbrella nonsense. But man Allison is gonna have it rough in the next season since Claire prolly doesn’t exist huh

I know they killed Elliot and I felt sad for Elliott and they were trying to kill Allison and Ray but man being forced to kill your own brother and the guy who plays big brother Swede sold it HARD. Like dude was ready to chop off his hand!!

The Reggie-Grace fall out was sad.

HAHAHAH THE 7 SYMPTOMS OF PARADOX PSYCHOSIS

Luther gently patting away Five’s sweat

Klaus you are so much more than sexy trash bby

Lmao Diego appreciating the Antonio Banderas compliment from Klaus

Diego sending back the fire hose for Klaus to hang onto before he lost consciousness

Klaus getting a shitload of numbers in just a sarong

KLAUS MAKING IT TO THE DOOR AND BEN BEING THE ONE TO GO IN FOR VIKTOR. But also interesting that Ben isn’t totally unaffected by Viktor’s energy waves

IM THE DADDY HERE. Five, please, you’re being unseemly!

they really Second-Death’d my boy Ben!! Sad that this version of Ben is effectively gone. And the fact he’s this teenager trying to desperately help his family

She really just ate that goldfish

Forgot Reggie was an alien

So Ben “grew up” as a ghost. So not technically a teenager like I thought. How much of that was Klaus projecting I wonder. Also Reggie you suck. Blaming your children for Ben’s death

Thinking about Klaus sobering up in preparation to attempt to summon Ben. And he freaking did!

ALL OF THEM PILING INTO THE CAR. AFTER VIKTOR ASKS THEM TO BE WITH HIM BC HE WANTS HIS FAMILY BY HIS SIDE. AND THEM SAYING NO. ONLY TO CHANGE THEIR MIND STRAIGHT AWAY

Diego blinks with Five. “Five, I think I’m gonna puke” “NO TIME”

DIEGO BENDING THE BULLETS. LUTHER WRAPPING HIS ARMS AROUND ALLISON AND KLAUS. And then wrapping tighter when they realise Viktor’s joining the fight!!!

FIVE PUSHING LUTHER OUT OF THE WAY OF THE BRICKS

Man the sequence where Five rewinds time is so cool

The big grin Luther gives Viktor when he takes the…alien powers?? Away from Harlan

Diego and Viktor sitting together

HAHAHA BIG BROTHER SWEDE JOINED DESTINY’S CHILDREN

EMO BEN!!!!

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chonidale · 1 year

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how would you rank the characters in s7 i assume cheryl and toni take the top 2 spot but everyone else?

yes, they are top two, always.

cheryl: forever my fav, but i think what they've done with her this season is so, so good. the way they've used the 50s to show cheryl's growth is on par with how well they're using it show choni's. i do think the difference in her is also a result of her not having jason related trauma, but it's also obviously showing how much she's matured over the course of the show. i'm just so proud of her every week and pray they can keep it up for just nine more eps.

toni: her best season, bar none. they've finally figured out how to write her and write for her, and it's both so satisfying to finally see and frustrating that it took them this long to do it. but this is the toni i always knew she was, and seeing her perspective and struggles has been so nice. my single complaint is that she's missing so many episodes. anyone that has a bad word to say about her this season is dumb and nasty and has no empathy for black characters.

tabitha: no we haven't seen much of her but i love her so much and i miss her so much and i just can't rank anyone else higher than her, sorry.

reggie: we haven't seen much of him yet but i already love him so much. it's so interesting to see such a different version of him and think charles is doing a great job. best boy for sure.

archie: i do not find most of his plots interesting and he's been kinda meh in the last few eps, but i can't deny that i've found him really endearing for the first time in seasons. i do wish they would pull back on the straight savior stuff a bit, but still. i'm charmed most of the time.

kevin: it's been nice to see him get some meaty stuff to work with again, and to not be made a villain for once. i wish the writers would give his relationship with clay more onscreen development, but i'm glad kevin's journey has at least gotten some focus and has been taken seriously. i really hope they take the time to show that it helped him with his internalized homophobia in the present.

midge: listen is it unserious of me to put midge so high? yes, but i think she's cute and i love her dynamic with cheryl and toni and i appreciate her existence when it comes to fangs and i don't care which way they choose to bring her back to the present (there's a lot of ways i can think of), just that they do.

clay: i really like this guy and think he's sweet and a great match for kevin and a great fit on the show and in the gang. i wish we knew more about him and still think he should have been a topaz to give toni a family as well as kevin a love interest, but whatever.

veronica: i'm happy to see her with a bit of her spunk back, but i will just always struggle to find veronica or her stories interesting. i think she started the season off strong but now she's just fallen back into boring business and family related plots or mooning after boys with betty. meh. still, gets point for variety.

betty: i usually love betty, but find her kinda meh this season. i understand what they've been trying to do with her and i think lili is doing a good job, but it just feels so repetitive every episode, omg. we get it, betty is horny and wants to fuck the patriarchy both literally and metaphorically, can she come up with something else?

fangs: i don't mind him this season at all and i appreciate that he shaved and cut his hair so he doesn't look like the nasty man he was last season, but it's not like he's gotten anything to do for me to enjoy. but i don't hate him so good for him.

jughead: ranking him below fangs... look how they massacred my boy. i grew to love him at lot in the time jump, but i guess i'm just never going to like high school jughead because woof. the fact that i completely forgot about him until i almost hit publish says it all. completely isolated from the rest of the cast, with the most boring storylines on the show that's largely just him and guest stars... it's bad for him. not even tabitha could get me to pay attention to him.

julian: he does his job as a villain well and nick seems lovely, but obviously he's last. the one good thing i can say about him is that i'm glad they went with him over jason because i hate jason and think they've beaten that dead horse more than enough, and i'm actually intrigued by the dynamic between julian and cheryl.

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scover-va · 2 years

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do you have any irving hcs?

*gently lifts my totally coherent and real list of hcs* yes Warning that this gets VERY long bc I put on my Irving playlist halfway through and my brain went into half ramble mode half many thoughts mode. I also just have so many thoughts on Irving

Starting off by once again promoting my 'Irving has a brother and sister' hc

Irving handles character correction/role assignments (and also would be the brawns/strength in the trio, working mostly with the Combat Arena X folks but just overall anything Lionel related). His brother (Sterling) handles punishments (got lazy with sol and just handed that off to Irving) and uses magic (he's the beauty of the trio by default. The charismatic one) and then his sister (Eleanor) handles all the logistics/diagnostics/bug fixes and doesn't properly work with game characters, though has files on all Gmaeworks-owned/associated characters (she's the brain of the trio) [sectioned off from the others so this is easier to read]

Gay and homophobic

No one gets rights but him. He's the only gay person allowed.

Before the "Lionel wants this" incident, Reggie was adamently trying to befriend Irving. It never worked, Irving never cared for him. At fucking all

Irving, watching Bryce train: Haha I hope this doesn't awaken anything in me

It did

I'm sorry, but him getting super excited and then just going "*clears throat* I mean good. Anyways so-" feels so fucking gay to me. You cant convince me otherwise idc how much he likes violence. That was AT LEAST a teeny bit gay. Fruity, even.

Was constantly 5 seconds away from fucking killing someone in the Combat Arena X cast. He may like fighting, but he's very happy Lionel ended up selling the franchise, he can't deal with ANY of those idiots again

Doesn't honestly understand why he's so devoted to keeping Lionel happy and alive. As far as he's aware, nothing happened, and he doesn't think of Lionel as anything more than one of his bosses, so he doesn't get it

Ik the original line from Catarina was about Jeremiah, but the line "An unswerving loyalty to his master. Must be hard-coded." also makes me think of Irving with Lionel. Like,,,everything Irving does is for Lionel in some way. He punishes the characters that destroy Lionel's career, even killing other characters to make it happen. He 'gets rid of' Reggie. He warns him of the stolen artifact. There's gotta be SOMETHING going on

Is. Somehow not aware his other boss (Lou) is the devil. It just. hasn't clicked for him.

Was recreated/revived after The Hex's finale by Lou, though he now adamantly avoids the Six Pint Inn.

On that note, doesn't understand how trauma/mental illness works

"Yeah my uneasiness about going back to the inn is just me being careful, considering what happened last time. Nothing more."

The thought of it makes him spiral a little. Sir please look up what a panic attack is im BEGGING you. Same with mentioning going there. ;)

Also his dead body is still very much so buried behind the inn. So, technically he's just,,,a remade version?? The sequel. Irving part 2 electric boogaloo. Same personality and memories, though. So, nothing changed, he just has trauma now

Overlooked the work done on Inscryption when he wasn't helping Lionel. Was overworked, but never really,,,noticed it was happening. He just noticed he was extra tired and then never acknowledged it again

Was sent to solely overlook the development of Inscryption once Lionel was dead. Wasn't given much time to move on

At this point, all the basic coding had been done, as work on Inscryption (or at least Kaycee helping develop it) had started at some point at the same time as Waste World's development in my hcs. I'll write up a proper timeline for my hcs eventually. But yeah, he was just sent to watch over the characters and make sure they all stayed in line

Here's the link to all my Irving + Trader hcs bc im not relisting them all

His cruelty and devotion (to Lionel, obv) were coded into his AI by Lou. It wasn't Lou's first time fucking around with programs after all, and fucking around with something that was purely an ai was much easier than something that was once alive

The devotion was coded in during Lionel's time making games for Gamefuna, so at some point during Combat Arena X or Secrets of Legendaria. The incident with Reggie was purely cruelty based, and was Irving twisting Lionel's words to fit his own goals

This was kicked into high gear shortly after SoL's failure

Constantly struggling with Sado. She's both exactly like him and the exact opposite to him at the same time. They're both sadistic, sentient programs that don't care for the lives they endanger. But while Irving strives to protect Lionel, Sado strives to destroy him, whatever that may entail.

Was unfortunately busy with Inscryption due to Lionel's lack of progress when Sado invaded Waste World, and was in all unable to stop the damage that happened with that game. Found out about it shortly after the damage had already been done, and sought to capture Sado, no matter what.

Obviously, though, she got freed. That mixed with the stolen artifact just stressed him the fuck out, but protecting Lionel had to come before dealing with his own stress, even if that inevitably became his downfall

His devotion was actually coded in by Lou bc Lou kinda realized after making a deal with Carla that he was putting Lionel's life in danger, and. Well. *Looks at my Lou and Barry pre-canon hcs*

Taking a less pre-canon dependent approach, his devotion could honestly just also be that Lionel's one of the very few that are earning Gamefuna money, even if Gamefuna's games suck. So, if Lionel dies, they lose one of their best programmers.

Either way, Irving's devoted to Lionel purely because Lou wants him to be

I could honestly write a whole ANALYSIS on Irving's character, so. Take it in loose hc format instead. Maybe one day I'll write a proper analysis on him. One day

#the hex #the hex game #the hex irving #scov.txt #ty anon!! ive been waiting to get some thoughts down abt him since writing The Gameworks Assistant #really wish the read more thing would stop fUCKING MOVING-

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in-tua-deep · 5 years

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me n a friend have been talking abt how to make a happy au where everything works out for the best and tbh my proposal is: that last time five time travels he doesnt make it to the apocalypse, he jumps right into reginalds funeral and just the fact that their annoying rebellious preteen brother who needs people to look after him is there, they collectively pull their heads out their asses and the apocalypse doesnt happen thru the power of sibling love (+being made more responsible), ur thoughts?

OOH curious, an au where Five travels straight from when he was thirteen to his dad’s funeral?

Five absolutely doesn’t believe that Dad is dead or that his siblings are his siblings until they PROVE it and then he basically is like what the fuCK luther you’re HUGE and allison your hair!! klaus you got so tall!! why is everyone except vanya tall as fuck!!

“Hey where’s Ben?” Five asks, all excited and wide-eyed and the rest of the squad is like surprisedpikachu.jpg

When he finds out that Ben is dead he tries to travel back in time to prevent it and that’s when he comes to the realization that moving forwards in time is a whole different kettle of fish than moving backwards in time which sparks its own little breakdown because until that moment he was treating this as sort of a fun vacation with his cool older siblings and didn’t realize that he was stuck there

So the whole squad gets to find out via breakdown that Five hadn’t really meant to run away and was always intending on going back to them and that he just got stuck

Five calls them out on their bullshit regarding Vanya because he literally just came from a time where Vanya used to sneak into his room in tears after Reginald called her useless and ordinary for the nth time so maybe he’s a little protective and he’s just like “holy shit dad is DEAD and y’all are STILL spouting his same bullshit regarding Vanya”

Diego, who hates the fact that he was just compared to Reginald, decides to be a contrary bastard and immediately start treating Vanya nicer because honestly sometimes spite is the best motivator

Seriously how do the siblings not cotton onto the fact that their brother who sees the dead can see their very dead brother?? whatever, Five is from a time where Klaus was just doing weed and not heavy drugs so as soon as he finds out Ben is dead and after he has his subsequent breakdown he turns to Klaus like “hey hey ask Ben where the fuck he put my book on interdimensional theory I need it for reasons” and Klaus is so surprised he just automatically relays the information and then the rest of the family are like “what” as Five jumps to go retrieve it

Five is still conditioned by Reginald to like. Be a good little child soldier. And I’m gonna say the running out wasn’t a common occurrence, so instead Five gets to bug his siblings to take him places because also he’s thirteen and can’t drive

“Dad is DEAD” five says, wide eyed with possibilities, “holy shit. Is griddy’s still open? can we go to griddy’s? in DAYLIGHT? without sneaking out? holy SHIT”

in the face of this excitement over something as small and simple as being able to go to a diner when he wants, it’s not like they can say NO. even luther wavers because honestly griddy’s is a nostalgia trip and a half and he’s been on the moon for four years and… dad’s dead it can wait for like, an hour right?

The commission is like “hmm. fuck. better send some people to get the timeline back on track” except now it’s the whole squad who deal with the Griddy’s Assassin situation and Five helps because this is what’s he trained to do!! taking down armed gunmen! look at them doing their job as a family

meanwhile the others are freaking out internally because five is a BABY and he’s in DANGER also looking back they were ALL BABIES WHAT THE FUCK DAD and five is just smiling while warping around bashing people on the head with diner mugs

Klaus and Vanya are ducked under a table bonding about not being super helpful in fights and Klaus is like “tbh idk why dad let me go on missions and not you like i remember when you got allison to teach you that highkick p sure you’d be more useful than me” and vanya is touched

they don’t come out unscathed and Five is bleeding and everyone is freaking out over it and five is just like “dude i’ve had worse lmao like literally dad has given me worse than this” and everyone is reminded that their dad was a dick and even luther finds his faith shaken because five is so little and he doesn’t remember them being that little,,,

they still make Five get patched up when they get back home as they try to figure out Hey What The Fuck Was That and five is literally getting stitches and he’s still excitedly asking them questions about their lives

and he’s thirteen and so sheltered i cry so he’s very impressed by like, everything

“we should watch some of allison’s movies!! we can watch movies together now, right?? i mean even dad would let us watch a movie if it had one of us in it surely! i want to see!” “!! Luther you went to the MOON? what was it like? were there aliens? did you see the flag? did you bring back moonrocks? can I have one?” “klaus your skirt!! i know dad never let you wear the stuff you wanted and now you just can! you can wear whatever you want! that’s so cool. can i do that? can i wear whatever i want? klaus klaus can you paint my nails? can ben pick out the color?” “vanya you’re in an orchestra!!! and you have a concert! that’s soo cool! does it matter that you aren’t first chair? you’re in an ORCHESTRA. i knew you were gonna be great with the violin!! can we go to your concert?? please? how much are the tickets? I probably still have my piggy bank in my room if no one’s touched it”

(Klaus touched it. Klaus 100% stole that money a long time ago. Allison cuts in and decides that as the wealthiest sibling and the currently most maternal and she is just melting at all this she will buy the whole family tickets to Vanya’s concert and they’re all going to attend as a FAMILY even if she has to drag everyone there by the ear)

everyone is immediately like “i am going to give this child the world and do all the things that we never got to do as children holy shit also now that i’m more distant from the events i never realized just how little autonomy we had and the fact that Five is so excited about being able to wear non-uniform clothes is a little depressing”

luther out here like “but,,, but the murder mystery”

and they all consider that and think that hmm. maybe those mystery griddy gunmen actually had something to do with dad’s death? okay okay, maybe just maybe luther isn’t being an idiot about this

if you think thirteen year old five doesn’t JUMP at the chance to be a part of uncovering a murder mystery you are incorrect and the siblings are immediately like “hmm. five has already gotten hurt. he is child. we should be,,, protective.”

vanya goes back to her apartment and still meets leonard peabody sorry guys but it’s kind of her job and i don’t want to take that away from her

she does still end up going to leonard’s house except five gets really bored of being smother by the rest of the squad (and they’re all WEIRD about the oddest of topics it’s stupid) so he goes off to find her and ends up ALSO at leonard’s house except he find reggie’s notebook and is like “hey i recognize this!! this is dad’s! i saw him writing in it yesterday!” and instead of letting anyone know he just kind of stuffs it up his shirt and steals it (it’s not stealing if it belongs to dad) and bugs Vanya into going home with him

he looks at the journal (he was always too curious for his own good that’s what got him into this situation) and so he reads about vanya’s powers

and immediately busts into the kitchen for family dinner like “GUYS HOLY SHIT”

and so that’s how the family finds out vanya has powers, it’s a big revelation, five is super enthusiastic because now vanya can come on missions with them suck it dad!! because he 100% isn’t aware yet they don’t still go on missions together and five is already like “we gotta train this!!”

idk pogo probably comes by and reveals the whole nanny situation and allison makes that reveal and vanya is fucking DISTRESSED and tries to leave but five latches onto her wrist and is like “vanya’s never been ordinary a day in her life!! have you heard her play the violin!! your rumor didn’t even work!” which is v touching to vanya and calms her down at least to continue the convo

luther is like “clearly she’s on the meds bc she’s dangerous so we can just continue those it’s fine” because it’s not like she’s hurt someone he cares about in this timeline tbh

allison meanwhile is trying to be a better sister in general so she counters back with “she was FOUR she didn’t understand the concept of death, now that she’s older and past the toddler tantrum phase i think it would be fine for her to actually learn about her powers”

but it’s klaus who’s like “hey, maybe we should ask vanya what she wants??”

and vanya is like,, i want to know. it wasn’t nice feeling like a burden back during the diner shootout, and i think i’d like to maybe try and explore this - and if it’s too much then there are always the pills (bc at this point vanya is still on those and doesn’t realize they inhibit her emotions, when she does she ends up not wanting to go back on them)

vanya gets the love and support she needs!! luther gets some validation for his dad was murdered theory bc the squad investigates with him and they find out about reggie faking his murder a lot earlier! allison doesn’t get her throat cut! klaus gets the love and support HE needs!! and decides (with ben’s input) that he needs to at least attempt to be a good role model bc five has already asked him if the drugs are more important than family when klaus tried to duck out of an allison movie night! diego gets to leak his protective instincts all over five and also take out his anger issues on the commission agents being sent after them! five gets to have an actual childhood even if he does chafe sometimes at his siblings being weird and protective!

literally the apocalypse is ended by five gasping and saying “WAIT can we go to the ZOO?” and making them all go on family trips together where everyone is included because!! they’re his siblings! he wants everyone to be there! he’s gonna see a lion motherfuckers! in person!

also a lot of the things five thinks of are things the siblings just,, never had time for. so it’s a first experience for a lot of them, and so no one really has a good reason to say no?? because they kind of want to go, too?

five, literally vibrating in excitement: i want to go on a roller coaster

like i know you said about preteen rebellion but look he’s come out into a world where his dad is dead and so there’s the potential to do ALL the things he’s always wanted to do but knew dad would never let him like holy shit!! family laser tag! paintball! let’s take a roadtrip to the beach guys i’ve never seen the ocean!! let’s go ice skating! go on a ferris wheel! eat ice cream on the couch! throw popcorn at the tv! lets blast abba songs through the house and make a blanket fort!!!

like it’s gonna take a while to get through the exhausting excitement of “LOOK AT ALL THESE FORMERLY FORBIDDEN THINGS I CAN TRY”

and just throughout this they’re dispatching commission agents and fighting hazel and cha-cha and trying to figure out what the fuck is going on with that as well as teaching vanya how to control her powers which everyone is trying to help out with and also dealing with five literally bouncing off the walls one half of the time and the other half of the time being passed out somewhere due to running out of energy

“klaus i want to get a puppy” “we are absolutely doing that, no ben we don’t need to consult anyone else about this” “i’m gonna name him mr. pennycrumb” “you do that buddy why the fuck not”

but yes. what an absolutely blessed and happy au. i love u and tell ur friend that i love them, too

prevent the apocalypse through the power of reconnecting with your inner child and dragging your family along behind you

#ask me #bpdfive #happy au #this was such a cute ask/au idea #thank u very much for sharing #i probably got a little bit carried away but like #i remember me at 13 #i wanted to do fucking EVERYTHING #my school actually did a disney trip the summer before we started highschool #if u think my ass wasn't running around going crazy with a bunch of other little shits u are wrong #we had like no supervision we went bonkers #they literally just took us to the parks and then unleashed us saying 'come back at this time'#so yeah #five realizing there's no parental supervision and wanting to go HAM #maybe he should be sadder about reggie or whatever but also fuck that #he still has his reggie related trauma but #he's too excited #they can deal with that later #tua #the umbrella academy #five hargreeves #number five #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #ben hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #instant arrival au

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curvesomesunsets · 2 years

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it’s time to think too much about the way alex reacts to ray vs how he reacts to caleb so here we go, alex and authority figures 2.0:

there’s a part of alex’s story that i can never really stop thinking about, and that’s his relationship to authority figures. i’ve made a post about alex looking up to caleb before so bear with me there might be repetitions.

alex—compared to reggie who latches onto ray immediately, and luke who has the parent plotline—doesn’t have a parent-related development throughout the show. all we learn about his family is from what luke mentions (i know we learn shit all about reggie aside from luke’s comment either, but his genuine attachment to ray is incredibly beloved and gives him an indirect sort of connection there). and still, alex’s relationship with authority is a neat little thread my mind keeps getting wrapped up in. alex, with his most recent memory of it being his parents and their bad response to him being gay, doesn’t fuck with authority or parents, a trauma that is intrinsically connected to how he responds to the two major authority figures we have within the show.

like there IS a wonderful authority figure in ray. ray is a great parent and a genuinely nice person. but, and here i reach back to my ‘alex’s parents were great before he came out based on luke saying “they were never cool again”’ headcanon, alex has known people like ray, grew up with them, was raised by them. nice, genuine, accommodating parental figures that seem to want nothing but good things for you. he doesn’t trust it, refuses to fall for it again. he’s dismissive and distant, waving ray off and never engaging with him (as far as they can engage given ray doesn’t know they’re there), despite reggie’s immense attachment. alex keeps his distance.

and then there’s caleb. bright, queer, loudly encouraging caleb who overruns alex’s walls using not just willie but himself. he’s flamboyant and entertaining, sees alex and gives him male dancers, seemingly accommodating to every bit of alex. and it’s exactly what alex needs, to be shown no hesitation, no difference. just immediate understanding and encouragement. caleb is like him, alex thinks, caleb understands and supports and provides this queer space of celebration and freedom. alex is awed, fully drawn into the magic and the absolutely overwhelming experience of being at a place he can be himself in, with people who won’t blink an eye, who are like him, who will support him. alex might not have been looking for an authority figure, but sheer relief and caleb’s intentional digging completely obliterate his walls regarding this topic. alex kind of ends up looking at caleb with stars in his eyes, not to mention the fact that where caleb is, willie is.

then he learns what caleb is really doing, that caleb manipulated him, and alex is burned again. and there’s ray, still being an understanding father, going along with carlos’s ghost hunting shenanigans, giving reggie some form of connection without even knowing it. and alex still can’t get himself to accept it. sure, part of it is the fact that they won’t be sticking around, so why get attached now that there’s only days if not hours left? but he sticks stubbornly to his dismissal of ray despite reggie’s nudging and just barely acknowledges that he isn’t completely indifferent towards the molinas.

alex allowed himself to trust an adult, an almost fatherly figure, and got stuck with a looming axe above his and his friends’ necks. ray is sweet and wonderful and such a good father, but alex can’t trust again. he tried it, tried it in a place that felt safer than with a man who is already a father with a family, and still got let down. he could admit that ray is worth more than his dismissal, but that would be opening himself up to disappointment and betrayal again. so he doubles down, even if he ends up admitting that he will miss the molinas when they go. he can’t get himself to take that extra step of dismantling his walls again, even when there is no more time or even really any circumstances in which ray could betray him. and honestly, who can blame him?

#jatp #julie and the phantoms #alex mercer #ray molina #caleb covington #jatp meta #many thoughts head full basically

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winter-came · 3 years

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Luther Hargreeves defense rant.

Okay I just have to write my thoughts down and feel free to unfollow me after this. Luther Hargreeves DOES NOT deserve the hate he gets. /I know I used to hate him too but I changed my mind and now you will all hear why/ First of all, he is Number One which essentially means he is oldest when it comes to dynamics of siblings. It was drilled into his brain (since he was child) that he is the leader, that he is supposed to take care of his siblings, that if anything goes sideways - he is the one to blame. (I think in comics Luther blames himself for Ben’s death). This kind of pressure fucks you up enough, you never learn how to take care of yourself or to think about yourself first because there is always someone else (sibling) to be taken care of. Luther was literally the last man standing. His team, his siblings - he had to watch them leave one by one. Some without explanation (Five), some by tragedy (Ben) and eventually the whole academy dissolved. He was the last man standing, staying with Reginald. Okay, granted, you can call him stupid for staying with Reggie for so long. The blind devotion he bore to his father. Take this: we all at some point of our lives had an illusion about our parents, and it eventually ended up shattered. Especially with abusive parents, there is always a hope we hold for as long as possible (that they love us, that they mean well, that there is reason for their behaviour, an excuse to excuse them). Imagine losing all of your siblings one by one right in front of your eyes, having no one to talk to anymore, being a ghost in that huge mansion without a person to care about you (examples: *that shot of Luther eating alone in kitchen*, “You don’t have to call me by my number anymore.” “Why?” “Because I am the only one here”). That is burdening and heartbreaking and sad and you can fight me on that. Secondly, he literally almost died and then his father turned his body into something Luther hates every second of his existence. And then, he is sent to the Moon, for four years. (Lot of you could start pulling out “Five spent 45 years in apocalypse” card and let me stop you right there. Yes, Five’s trauma is valid - so is Luther’s. It was still isolation, it was still being on your own and to add spice to it, Luther believed it had purpose (which upon finding out it was all fake and lie, shattered him completely) and Luther knew his siblings were well and living/ enjoying their life. He was there, trapped, serving his father and (according to that one quote by a producer) thinking about ending it all. You can’t dismiss all of that just because it was not an apocalypse and 45 years. In season two, Luther was suicidal and self destructive /him implying he doesn’t care he will die with the rest of world, him letting that guy beat the shit out of him, etc./ and some of you just ignore it. Luther Hargreeves has as much of trauma as the rest of TUA but because he isn't "funny/dramatic/addicted (Klaus) or fucking furious (Diego) or actively sarcastic and self-sacrificing (Five) or numbed down bisexual (Vanya), people love to ignore it and brush it off and hate on him. He is not that relatable or that funny or that tragic but THAT DOES NOT MAKE ALL OF WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM ANY LESS VALID!. You wanna say: Oh but he locked up Vanya! Okay, granted he did. He did hella stupid shits. So did the rest of them. Klaus never told them Ben was there, Vanya killed Pogo and ended the world, Allison manipulated everyone around her, Diego has been reckless without regard to law or his own life often enough, Five is a literal assassin, etc. And as my good friend @old-goddess-writer pointed out: the rest of them can hide their trauma, their powers, they can choose not show them off, they can fake and pretend (I am NOT! saying that's advantage or a good thing or healthy thing, but it is choice they have). Luther won’t ever be able to hide what has been done to him, because the proof everyone can see -is his body. And he hates it. He won’t ever be able to go and pretend to have life because people will point

fingers at him. I don’t intend to make his sibling’s traumas any less valid or important. I am just saying I will no longer stand Luther Hargreeves slander. F I G H T M E. btw. @disco-tea you might like to read this.

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jabitha-endgame · 3 years

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A rant/Jabitha/and Bughead fandom

Ugh! I’m so sick of some people claiming Jabitha came out of no where. I’m sorry you all had your shipper goggles on and weren’t actually watching the show but cherry picking BH and then extrapolating your own fan fiction from it. What is hard for you all? Betty sleeping with Archie? Or saying she “wanted to do that since HS”? Or Betty literally not caring if Jug was missing or dead (and told Tabi she shouldn’t either)? Ignoring and being passive aggressive about him (until this most recent episode)? What do you think playing that VM was about? It wasn’t to make Tabi and Jess feel warm and fuzzy about Jug, it was to paint herself as the victim cause he was “mean” when all he did was bag on the fact that she cheated on him (and V by extension) and has blown him off for YEARS. As for Jug I’m sorry BHers you didn’t understand Betty IS JUGS TRAUMA. She was perceived as just as toxic as Jess (in his most recent hallucination) It’s not that he can’t move on from Betty, he can, he dated Jess longer than B, its that he can’t form any deep meaningful connections because he trusts no one, because the two people he trusted most betrayed him in the worst way. And I don’t want to hear how Jugs parents fucked him up (first), of course they did but they pretty much always sucked and Jug knew it, he was consistently let down by them, Betty made him believe he was worth someone loving and pulled the rug out from underneath, sorry that you don’t get that’s worse. Sorry you don’t get her lack of compassion after he almost died and was still suffering various after effects, including PTSD and depression was horrible. And insult to injury cheated with his best friend, her childhood crush, a guy who didn’t graduate while throwing Jugs academic situation, through no fault of his own, in his face. THAT IS JUGS TRAUMA. And all these years later still no real apology or explanation. (and DON’T get me started on Betty jumping Jugs bones while he was reeling from the shock) As for Tabitha herself if she wasn’t going to be a love interest for Jug why introduce her at all? The core 4 could’ve returned to Riverdale on thier own, all thier lives were a mess, a trip home to reset would’ve worked just as well (or better) But instead they had Pop’s retirement and made Tabi the granddaughter of the only character everyone can universally agree on. If the role was just going to be supportive black BFF cheerleader to BH why cast her at all? Wasn’t that what Vanessa was complaining about? If it was just so Jug had a friend the Serpents were right there, hell fellow outcast Reggie would do. Why not some random recurring character? And I’m sorry you BHers didn’t understand that Jabi agreeing to be “friends” was Jug and Tabi tabling a relationship because Jug knew he wasn’t in a headspace to date (which makes him more self aware than anyone else in that town) and liked Tabi enough not to jump into anything until he was ready. The false equivalency and cognitive dissonance of a certain corner of fandom is telling. Why do you ship Tabi with ANYONE BUT JUG? Why is Jug not good enough for Tabi but okay for Betty then? Why do you want Tabi relegated to BH cheerleader? Do you not know how systemically racist that trope is? Really? Why are you okay with Betty “getting Archie out of her system” (so she realizes Jug is the one, which is just 🤢, that’s a horrible mind set, 7 yrs apart and absence hasn’t made her heart grow fonder??) But now that Jug is in the same town as Betty he needs to be celibate until Betty decides to grace him with her attention? FUCK THAT! Jabitha has been building slowly but surely all season, you just took scenes that were supposed to show how disconnected Betty and Jughead were and turned them into the opposite of what you were being shown and told. Meanwhile the Jabi scenes were trivialized and to pile on that insidious racism so many BHers are unaware of, if the scenes between Jug and Tabi had happened between Jug and Betty you’d be loosing your shit and crying from the hill tops how cute it was and how much they were into each other and

true love. I hate to break it to you but Jabi has had more build up than any couple on the show. Tabi is Pop’s granddaughter for a reason, its not an accident she is related to the only person who has ALWAYS been good to Jug. Maybe deep down you BH stans know it and that’s why your so angry and deep in denial. For me personally a former Bughead stan, who was convinced they were endgame I don’t want it anymore. From my perspective too much has happened to walk them back now, better to let them both move on and be happy elsewhere.

Sorry for bringing this rant into your blog but I deleted mine a while back and I have read A LOT of nasty things about Tabitha, Jabitha and Erin and I needed to get it off my chest. If you made it to the end thanks💙

#Riverdale #Jabitha #Jughead Jones #Tabitha Tate #submission #let it all out #a good read #with good points #the nastiness and dismissal towards Jabitha is what makes me most upset #like just be nice lol #if it's not for you it's not for you #but it is real #Betty's betrayal messed up Jughead #and Jabitha is so healthy together #they are so good together

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joyandthephantoms · 3 years

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‘cause I heard that you might be broken too

1k, T, Willie/Alex

Content warnings: a character intentionally triggering themself, multiple references to abuse and related trauma

ao3 link

Willie didn’t talk about Caleb at all for a while.

Alex is willing to admit he can be a little pushy sometimes, and he’d be the first to say the same about Luke. But Willie is a little bit too good at deflecting, and no one wanted to make him talk about anything, and there were more than enough other complications to their new, semi-resurrected afterlives to keep everyone occupied.

So Willie got by with brushing off concerns and redirecting questions and staying breezy and selfless and above it all, for weeks and weeks.

Until they disappeared for a full day and scared the hell out of everyone, and came back to the studio and didn’t speak a word for hours, which scared them all almost as much as not being able to find him, until finally, late at night, they looked up and whispered, “I think it was really bad, Alex. I think he messed me up really bad.”

It’s a little more common, since then, for one of them to find him shaking with their arms wrapped around themself, or, like now, staring blankly at a wall in the studio in a post-panic haze.

Usually Willie doesn’t remind Alex of anyone—he’s so Willie, and he’s everything Alex never had—but sometimes they get anxious and antsy and they’re like Luke, bouncing all over the place in search of an outlet for his nervous energy, or he gets quiet like this and Alex can’t help thinking of Reggie.

Alex sits down next to him. “Hey, Willie.”

“Hey.” They don’t move.

“Can I touch you?” When Willie nods, Alex twists towards him, rests a hand on their knee, sweeps his other hand up and down their back.

“Sorry,” Willie says after a minute, like he always does.

“It’s not your fault,” Alex replies, like he always does. “You can’t control what triggers you.”

Willie meets his gaze, looking scared and guilty and desperate to make Alex understand. “No, I did it on purpose.”

Alex feels everything go still. It’s like sitting in a quiet room when background noise you hadn’t even registered cuts out and now it’s suddenly so much quieter. It takes him a second to remember to speak. “You don’t have to punish yourself for anything; you know that, right?”

Willie shakes their head. “Not that, I promise. Just . . .’

They’re clearly struggling to express this right, and Alex takes a second to marvel at it—it would have been so easy to let him think he was right, and to accept comfort that wasn’t actually the right kind of help and keep the real hurt locked up in their chest. But they trust him enough to search for the words right in front of him and to give him a chance to take a messy explanation in good faith instead of giving him nothing.

Nothing has ever made Alex feel more honored.

“I started thinking maybe it wasn’t that bad,” Willie says finally. “So then I was, I don’t know, checking in on some of the bad memories and bad feelings, just to . . . make sure.” He tries to laugh, and chokes on it. “But hey, at least now I know that he definitely fucked me up.” They glance up at Alex for half a second and then look back down at their hands. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I mean, don’t . . .” He doesn’t know how to say God, Willie, please don’t do that without sounding like he’s chastising him. “I’m not mad. I get it, okay?” It’s what they need to hear, and . . . well. Alex can’t say he’s unfamiliar with the habit of poking a bruise just to make sure you didn’t overreact to the blow.

“Okay,” Willie says. Nothing changes. Alex can’t stand to just let them sit there and feel terrible.

“My parents sucked,” he breathes. He’s relieved to find that his voice doesn’t shake; he doesn’t cry; he’s somewhere above tears. Good thing, too, because the last thing Willie needs right now is Alex crying all over them. “And I don’t think Luke and Reggie really know, I mean, not . . . most of it.” Bobby knew more than anyone, but only because he was the only one of them with a license and a car, the only one Alex could call when he needed out. “Anyway. I know it’s not the same, but I don’t. Not understand.”

“Okay,” Willie says again, and this time they relax a little, and Alex pulls him closer, shifts around so he can lean back against Alex’s chest.

“You don’t have to prove anything, you know? I will give you an itemized list of reasons he’s awful.” He’d do a lot more than that, really. Willie told him they’d do anything for him, and Alex tries to tell him all the time, in as many ways as he can, that it goes both ways.

“Make sure you alphabetize it too.”

Alex snorts. Sometimes Willie making jokes when he’s upset is a bad sign, means they’re trying to hide again and go back to being upbeat and unshakable and helpful and easy to care for. But they’re still letting Alex hold them, and not apologizing again, so Alex decides that this time it can mean something good.

He’s too relieved to be witty, so he just says, “You got it.” And then, a little softer, “Just come and find one of us next time.”

Any of them, because they all understand in different twisted fragments.

Julie knows too much about grief and anger getting all mixed together and making it harder to know yourself, and Reggie knows too much about trying so hard to just be bright and gentle and good enough that it’ll make everyone stop wanting to raise hands and voices against each other.

Luke knows too much about being backed into a corner and having so much stolen from you and then being left to wonder if you can even blame the thief, if maybe it was your own idea all along to be hurt.

And Alex knows too much about being controlled by someone who pretends to have your best interests at heart, about agency and dignity and safety being confiscated “for his own good,” about feeling caught and ashamed when someone cares enough to call it out.

Something about Willie makes each of them a little more willing to be vulnerable about it all, because they’re all trying their best for him, for Willie who lights up all of their lives and loves so hard and deserves so much better.

For Willie who right now is relaxing further into Alex’s hold and saying, “Yeah, I will. Just don’t go anywhere.”

Alex holds him tighter, and he doesn’t go anywhere.

#my writing

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michals · 3 years

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That post reminded me I never actually posted this and it's one of those ‘kind of embarrassing I spent so much time on it but I’m posting it because I spent so much damn time on it’ things.

Klaus and Luther similarities/parallels

So the show doesn’t give us a ton of Luther and Klaus interaction but I think just them being the characters they are they’re really similar and have interesting parallels.

Of all the siblings I think it’s actually Luther and Klaus who are the most diametrically opposed in terms of their place in the Academy and their childhood. Obviously there’s the dynamic between Reggie explicitly calling Luther his favorite and Klaus his biggest disappointment, both of them had high expectations thrust upon them and one excelled and the other failed. But then again Luther was set up to excel and Klaus to fail. For all that Reggie wanted from Klaus he went about it in entirely the wrong way which only hurt Klaus’s abilities, and comparatively Luther’s powers are very straight forward so his training had to be mental in that he became exactly what Reggie wanted him to be.

Basically: Reggie’s abuse had opposite effects on them. Luther was brainwashed and isolated, Klaus was discarded and left to fend for himself. Luther loves/trusts his dad, Klaus hates him. Luther thinks they have a purpose and what they did was worthwhile, Klaus thinks it was all a big joke and meant nothing beyond Reggie’s little experiment. Luther’s at one end of the spectrum, Klaus the other, and everyone else falls somewhere in between.

How they show the effects of their abuse however, is actually more in sync. Klaus has a habit of either ignoring or talking around problems, acting like they’re not problems, or being flippant about them. Klaus acknowledges Reggie’s abuse but it’s usually in a jokey, casual manner, he usually moves on from talking about it quickly without getting too deep. He knows Reggie did a number on them but confronting it head on is difficult. And this is from a character who’s been in multiple rehab centers that obviously include some kind of therapy sessions.

Luther of course outright denies it until he’s faced with it in the worst way, and even then he can’t really get his head around it. One of the first things he did when landing in the 60s was to go to Reggie and expect him to welcome him, even though he doesn’t even know him. And then for all his talk in s2 about having moved on it reads like lip service, it sounds like he knows that’s what he should say, what he should feel, but it’s not entirely working. It’s like he’s just trying to dismiss it to the point where he will literally run away from the conversation. I still think the moment of him telling Sparrowverse Reggie that he’s happy they’re all home and together is a huge sign that he still thinks of Reggie as his dad no matter what.

Klaus and Luther either don’t know how to talk about their trauma or aren’t willing to. Whether it’s that Luther still doesn’t want to face up to it completely or that perhaps he does have the littlest bit of hope that actually Reggie did care and there was/is a chance he might care yet, or with Klaus trying to put the trauma on the backburner so he doesn’t have to relive it or process it in a way that means he won’t be able to drink it away or perhaps be forced to confront the powers that have caused him so much pain.

I also think they are genuinely sensitive. Not in the same way the others are, but empathetic and gentle in ways they never got to explore as children. I think that emotional wounds go much deeper than they let on. They’re always on the cusp of reaching out but not only do they not like dealing with their problems, they were taught not to. If given the chance they’d probably be happy to play support for the others but that wasn’t Reggie’s goal. I can easily imagine Luther as the kind of leader who takes everyone’s plans and thoughts into account and makes sense of it from there, who’s better at dictating than just demanding. And I imagine Klaus would probably be capable of understanding and connecting to his ghosts in a way that helps both him and them if he had been given different training.

Next is how both of them have poor self esteem and what comes across as a passive view of self preservation. Klaus has a very conflicted view of his place within the Academy. Apparently he was regulated to being the ‘look out’ often and wasn’t as active as the others. Obviously this is because of his complicated relationship with his powers and how Reggie treated him within the group dynamic. If he didn’t think Klaus was important (because he wasn’t doing what he was supposed to) then he wasn’t important. Now, having embraced his place as the black sheep of the family, Klaus still doesn’t know where he fits in and often comes across as “useless” (in quotes cause obvs that’s not the whole story, just a simplification).

Just in general he sees himself as an outsider. For all that he’s flippant and casually cocky he’s not actually all that confident in what he’s capable of to the point of not even trying sometimes because he’s convinced he’ll fail. It’s a smokescreen. It goes hand in hand with him not confronting his feelings or trauma, easier to play like he’s confident than to deal with it.

Luther’s self esteem came entirely from his place in the Academy and his father’s opinion and what Reggie made him. Even then his confidence gets shaken all the time when someone doesn’t listen to him or when they argue with him. He too tries to cover this up, Klaus is glib Luther is bossy. Then there’s the whole gorilla body thing, which he is very obviously mortified by. (Side note: interesting contrast in Klaus being usually the least physically covered up sibling and Luther being the most.) He’s wildly ashamed and embarrassed by his appearance. (There’s a whole other point I could make about how Luther only willingly shows his body when he’s being exploited and pummeled – or high – but that’s another post.)

Then Luther’s whole foundation crumbles with the discovery of Reggie’s true nature. He doesn’t have much left after that and then he’s dropped into a foreign world with no one and no way of coping and then Reggie once again lets him down. What’s he do? Gets into a situation that mirrors his relationship with Reggie, lets himself be taken advantage of, does what he’s told to the point of physical harm - because he knows nothing else and the bet is he doesn’t think he deserves better. Then he spends all of season 2 saying that he messed up, he’s not a hero, he’s not a leader and that he has no place thinking highly of himself. Guy straight up doesn’t have any self esteem at this point.

(Klaus also doesn't see himself as a hero even though he was on a literal superhero team.)

And in terms of their sense of self preservation: Klaus obviously has very little regard for his own health and wellbeing. Even if he doesn’t throw himself in front of bullets he’s still drinking and doing drugs to an extreme degree, to the point where they’ve actually killed him. He knows it’s bad for him, he knows it’s dangerous but he doesn’t care. Even with Ben in his ear he continues. When he dies in s1 he’s relieved.

Speaking of throwing one’s self in front of a bullet: Luther does this 3 times that we see. This comes obviously from his protectiveness as a leader but there’s an undercurrent of other people surviving being more important than him getting hurt. And when Five comes to him to say the world’s ending again Luther says he doesn’t give a shit. The Luther from s1 was all about saving the day, s2 Luther is shrugging and saying ‘yeah well, so what?’ and when he does start to care it’s mostly because he’s looking out for Five.

(Sidenote: I realize that my headcanon that Luther is becoming an alcoholic and has an unhealthy relationship with drugs is probably me reading into things but were the show to go in that direction: that they both would find comfort or an escape through substances would be another thing to tie them together and explore how their traumas affected them and what they do to deal with/avoid dealing with them. They’ve become pessimistic about the prospect of answers or catharsis so they look for escape instead.)

(Also also pointing out that the two times Luther was the most candid about his trauma was when he was drunk/high and one of those times was with Klaus – who for the first time in probably a long time, or ever, got to be the shoulder someone cried on. And what a great thematic idea that it’d be the two of them that’d be the most honest and open with each other eventually.)

Bonus item: Luther and Klaus have both died outside of their apocalypse related deaths (pretty sure Allison never actually died in s1 but was close) and in ways that none of the others were there for. Neither of them have talked about it. Maybe it’s because they don’t want to seem weaker than they already are, maybe it’s more of that ‘let’s not talk about trauma, let’s just get drunk’ mentality, or maybe it’s because they don’t think anyone would care. None of the others have really talked to Luther about the accident or the aftermath, none of them have approached Klaus’s addictions as an actual problem. Whatever reason why it would probably do them a world of good to find out they have that in common in the same way it would be good for Luther and Five to talk about their isolation.

They really seem like they should be very different characters in all respects and they really are in a lot of ways but there’s also this laundry list of ways they mirror each other or are similar and I hope the show takes advantage of that.

#tua #tua meta #luther hargreeves #klaus hargreeves

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writhingcreature · 3 years

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Are you still doing the character ask thing? If you are- Jason Blossom?

I am ALWAYS doing this, no joke. I've been having so much fun please feel free to send in asks about any of the characters of any of the shows you see on my dash. (based on this post)

1. Favorite thing about them

Okay so here's the thing we don't see a lot of Jason, and what we do see isn't super flattering I'm gonna be real honest. I will say, wherever he started and whatever mistakes he made, the willingness he had to not only protect the love and relationship he had but the willingness this seventeen year old boy had to leave his entire family to be a good dad is genuinely so heart warming. Like you know what, not my favorite character by a mile but this boy chose his new family over his old shitty one and on a lot of levels he absolutely deserved the life he would have had if his shitty dad hadn't gotten involved. I bet it would have been happy.

2. Least favorite thing about them

God I will never forgive him for leaving Cheryl behind. He was valid for leaving! In fact, the narrative I've always gotten from Jason was thus: he was a douche, and then he met Polly and she made him a lot better but he was still very easily pushed around and so he decided the best way to find happiness was to get away. I have no problem with any of this. Only one bump in the road actually: why didn't he take Cheryl with him? Like... he was aware of all the shit their family was facing and all the really really bad things that were about to slam them in the face and he was just going to pass it all onto Cheryl who's even worse off than he was? Like. What the fuck Jason

3. Favorite line

HE DOESN'T HAVE A SINGLE LINE IN THE ENTIRE SERIES PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG. Never says a single fucking thing. Not even one time. It makes me crack up every time I think about it

4. BrOTP

Again we have. So very little context for literally anything this boy has ever done, but I always hc'd that he'd have a really good relationship with Reggie. I think they were like best friends actually and that Reggie and Cheryl bonded over losing someone they both cared very much about. No I don't anyone named Canon sorry you have the wrong number

5. nOTP

Literally any pairings that have him with anyone other than Polly? I hate it. I loved the sort of story we get between them so much and no matter what happened with Polly's storyline after Jason's death I really loved the painfully little amount we get about their relationship. They were each other's freedom and GOD it makes my heart ache. Like they really were both trapped in so much trauma and bullshit and honest to god abuse on both sides and they found something good and it was so good they were willing to leave everything else behind? Amazing! Fantastic! I'm here for it

6. OTP

I have said enough about Jason and Polly at this point. It has a lot of negative connotations in the show as a ship but I think when they were together it was very good.

7. Random headcanon

Jason learned classic "woman work" while Polly and he were planning on running away. He promised her he was going to take care of her and he was going to hold up that promise. They talked about baby names while he learned to sew and cook and clean and Polly learned how to knit and she'd make sweaters and he would sew the buttons on you cannot convince me it was any other way.

8. Unpopular opinion

I am genuinely terrified of posting this because I already know people are going to come for me - "But Cameron they're related!!!" Okay listen here. First of all, they're like cousins five times removed or some shit and at that point it's just too far of a relation to matter. Not as far as I'd like, but like. It was like Betty's dad great grandfather wasn't it? I don't know, but my weird take is that it's a big enough gap. They never hit me as incest, the show was just trying to be really fucking dramatic. (Please don't lynch me oh my god.)

9. Song I associate them with

"Better Man" by 5 Seconds of Summer

10. Favorite picture of them

This is literally the only good image I could find if him so here ya go folks

#jason blossom #riverdale #I am: ready to be attacked oh gof

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neuronary · 4 years

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tua au where after five leaves (and stops helping klaus get out of personal training), klaus has a really bad panic attack in front of vanya. she offers him some of her pills to help because they're thirteen and stupid. klaus is like "these make the ghosts go away like... completely. they're all just gone. like they were never there." and it's different from weed which makes them look significantly more ghostly (translucent, silent/muffled, blurry, etc.). so vanya is like... "well, you take them then. i'll be okay. it's not like i have powers that need to be stopped."

[spongebob narrator voice] three days later...

so that was a fucking lie. vanya figures out about her powers and reggie figures out about the pill swap. he tries to get allison to rumour everyone into forgetting, but she can't rumour herself, so she creates a code phrase to snap them out of it and remember when she needs to. she eventually uses it but, once again, vanya's powers make themselves known very obviously (or, for spice, luther rats them out). this time, reggie just gives up and starts forcing vanya to take the pills and locks allison up in the vault downstairs to make sure she's scared enough of him that she'll do what he says next time.

things... sort of return to normal? aside from vanya trying to rediscover her powers every few months (aided very covertly by grace, who eventually helps her lower the dosage of the pills so she doesn't go through such heavy withdrawals). they keep going on missions, ben still dies, but this time klaus can't see him (angst time + outsider POV) so he doesn't spend as much time haunting them before he comes back to life. (no matter what, She needs the hargreeves alive.) vanya grows much closer to the rest of her siblings, particularly luther because they relate about a weird amount. they're still split apart a Lot by ben's death. klaus, who hasn't had steady enough access to vanya's pills to avoid his addiction (and they don't help with the trauma anyway), and allison both leave almost immediately after, followed by diego. vanya tries to convince luther to leave but he won't, so she goes without him. (they try to stay in touch but it's difficult what with reginald.) luther still goes to the moon, allison still becomes a movie star (although she never rumours claire because she's learned about the seriousness of her rumours much earlier on), vanya is in constant but friendly competition with helen cho for first chair but still teaches as her main gig, diego still becomes a vigilante, although he spends a lot more time getting patched up by vanya, who keeps trying to get him to go to therapy and get his shit together so that he can reunite with patch. (so sue her, vanya's invested.) klaus carries on with his drugs and is harrowing enough to know that his siblings don't do much more than fund his rehab attempts when he sends them the bill.

then, on march 24th of 2019, thirteen-year-old number five drops out of the sky, directly into his dad's funeral, to the excited yells of his six year old niece.

#q #tua #the umbrella academy #ngl i am Obsessed with the idea of klaus not being able to see ben all the time #drugs work fine on most ghosts and sometimes he takes vanya's pills just to spite him #ben spends a lot more time hanging around his other siblings #not that they know he's there #ft. thirteen year old five being really mad at everyone all the time #including himself #because he can must should and will blame himself for his siblings' shitty childhoods #for maximum angst #anyway this is an outline should i write it #lmk

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daniwoitkowski · 3 years

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A Closer Look at Milwaukee Zip Code 53206

After reading A Closer Look at Milwaukee Zip Code 53206, an article published in the Milwaukee Magazine in 2014, I’m ashamed of the city I currently call home.

Contained between I-43 to the east, 27th Street to the West and North Avenue and Capitol Drive to its south and north sides is one of the largest zip code areas in the city of Milwaukee. Zip code area of 53206 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is often written off as the poorest area in the largest city in the state.

An eyesore in Milwaukee, zip code 53206, is where a third of the city’s vacant lots reside. The greatest percentage, nearly 95% of its residents in zip code 53206 are African Americans. Surrounding counties implemented restrictive covenants preventing African American tenants' equal rights, which confined most African Americans to the northwestern portion of the city, or around the 53206 area. The Supreme Court ruled such covenants to be unconstitutional in 1948, they remained on the books until Congress passed the Fair Housing Act in 1968. Milwaukee known for being one of the most segregated cities in the United States.

Warren’s Lounge on Hopkins Avenue, owned by 81-year-old Warren Harper, a “Cheers” like bar hides itself in the middle of the deserted condemned buildings. Warren and his wife, Shirley, have been married for over 59 years, with four children and multiple grandchildren. Warren and Shirley bought the lounge back in 1970. Back in the lounge’s heyday factory workers from around the area would stop in for lunch or beer relaxing after their shift. During the time when the Green Bay Packers played at county stadium, players could be regularly seen enjoying the relaxing atmosphere.

Life has changed and the lounge is not the same, feeling the pain of the abandoned factories. Even though, their children attempt to sway them into having hip-hop bands play into the addition to the jazz and blues bands that periodically play at the lounge. Life has been hard on them, however they will not close, “It’s their life.”

Wandering around 53206 tends to make people, especially white people, uneasy. Too many businesses are either closed or enclosed in metal bars and padlocks. Even with a gem like, Warren’s Lounge, can be intimidating to its visitors as you enter through the small, dark doorway hidden behind a locked heavy metal grate with a bell that must be rung for entry.

Opportunities seem to climb and decline rapidly for African Americans in Milwaukee. So, what happened?

One generation hopes and dreams becomes heavy burdens on the forgotten generations that follow. Looking past educational statures, joblessness and the crime in the areas of poverty, we need to begin looking into the history of the African American population of Milwaukee, Wisconsin at once was and why it became what it is today.

The African American population increased with the Great Migration north, which affected the African American communities in Milwaukee. Like most African American families, Warren and Shirley moved to Milwaukee in 1957 during the Great Migration in search of a better life.

The Great Migration was when millions of southern African American people migrated north for better opportunities between 1916 to 1970. Many came to Milwaukee for the ever-growing jobs with the industrial factories at the time. Families settled down bought homes in the area, new businesses opened and grew, times were good. By the 1980s, times were not so good. Factories started to close in the area and businesses started to move out of the once flourishing neighborhoods. Some people moved out to the suburbs, while the majority of the African American population stayed behind and survived.

Barbara Miner, the Milwaukee-area freelance writer, purpose in this article was to educate by showing a face to the neighborhood around the Milwaukee 53206 zip code. The article brought tears to my eyes as I read about the longevity of people who make up the community even through the absence of jobs, transportation, and sort of conveniences that those of us who live merely blocks away take for granted. Then there is the stealthy growing abandoned housing market. However, many families have still stuck around to support their community or stay for the affordable housing.

Through the article, Miner, is attempting to educate the audience on the poverty in our own city. We have created this blind spot within our own community, and we tend to forget the area’s history. We are left with the assumption that the people living in these areas have chosen their fate instead of understanding the truth behind our ignorance. It’s well known what happened in Detroit after the auto industries started closing, but it is not known how the same affects had and still affects so many in our own city.

Beauty exists, such as with Dr. Carter, a retired Pharmacist who continues to go back and visit his community passing along trusted remedies to his neighborhood residents. Dr. Carter broke down barriers back in 1968 after he founded one of first Milwaukee black owned pharmacies. Now after selling his pharmacy, Dr. Carter can still be found at the store as a consultant in natural remedies.

Yet the media has forgotten about this area as though it doesn’t exist except for the inquiries pertaining to shootings in the area. The problem, or exigence, here is with the ignorance surrounding this forgotten and disregarded area of our city. I begin to ask myself, why do we have such a blind eye with our own neighboring areas? I wonder how the decline to industry in the city of Milwaukee and the poverty relates to the poverty that was created with the auto crisis in Detroit. I would have liked to see more of the information we read from the A Closer Look at Milwaukee Zip Code 53206 article on the non-existence of corporate businesses and declining public transportation and after school programs ties into the jobless market that intertwine in the poverty rates in these areas.

Current circumstances in 53206 go deeper than the loss of factories and that the jobs in the area.

“There’s investment out there, and there are jobs. But they’re in New Berlin or Waukesha. There’s no bus, so how are people going to get there?” (2015, Jan 28)

Perceptions have also been made that the housing bubble was the issue that affected people in this area, and they were of the many that shouldn’t have bought a home in the first place. However, a lot of families that lost their homes in 53206 were long-time owners.

Miner goes on to talk with a group of students from North Division High School who are studying zip-code-53206. Miner gathered their thoughts on how they feel about the area and what they would want people to know about the area, some of which that were mentioned as follows:

“Notice that we are here, that, like you, we are human, and we deserve the same things you want.”

“The police, I can’t explain it, but they don’t like black people.”

“It ain’t got no future.”

“Nothing’s going to change, ’cause nobody cares.”

Unfortunately, conditions such as the few mentioned have contributed to demolish government help enabling people to believe such areas are beyond any genuine rehabilitation, deeming the area in the past too black and ghetto.

Poverty is so much more then people just making bad choices or the wrong decisions in life. The purpose of the rhetors with this medium explain how trauma that stems from poverty begin way before one can make their own choices in life.

Regardless, parents in 53206 want the same things as any other parent anywhere in the world wants. We want our children to be safe, happy and a better childhood than we had. Is there anything wrong with the hope that our children grow up without the worry of crime surrounding them or to be able to go through school without bullying? We all want hope for the future.

Whether we live in Milwaukee or not we can relate to the exigences mentioned in the life cycle of the Great Migration and African Americans in Milwaukee mentioned, you cannot deny the purpose. The effects of poverty have an impact with your entire life, from childhood on through your adult life and passed on through the next generations. We become our parents, our community, our surroundings. We are what we are familiar with whether it be hiding money for emergencies like those who lived through the Great Depression to as unknowingly as our dialect or accent we commonly use day to day. If raised in poverty the traumatic affects you would carry through life, even if you leave those surroundings, the effects remain.

For Milwaukee, the future needs to bring education on the history of the African American population. Milwaukee doesn’t give the same possibilities to the people in the now poverty areas affected by the industrial decline. Such possibilities as, public transportation to give access to jobs and convenience stores, such as Wal-Mart or even McDonalds. Overlooking the truth and ignorance of the past never helped humanity in the future.

Source Cites:

Barbara Miner, Milwaukee. (2015, Jan 28). A Closer Look at Milwaukee Zip Code 53206. 1/28/2015 https://www.milwaukeemag.com/milwaukee-zip-code-53206/

Reggie Jackson, Milwaukee Independent. (2019, Apr 19). REGGIE JACKSON: REMEMBERING A TIME WHEN 53206 WAS KNOWN AS A LOVING COMMUNITY TO GROW UP IN. 4/19/2019 http://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/featured/reggie-jackson-remembering-time-53206-known-loving-community-grow/

Dan Schneider, Dollars & Sense. (2015, Nov/Dec). The Worst Place in the US to Be Black Is... Wisconsin 11/2015 http://dollarsandsense.org/archives/2015/1115schneider.html

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nobody-wants-ice-cream · 4 years

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Everything Wrong With The Umbrella Academy. Episode 1, We Only See Each Other At Weddings and Funerals.

Some context before the cut: This is all in good fun! I wanted to do a really nitpicky re-watch of the series and found some really cool and interesting things I didn’t notice before. This is meant to have a Cinema Sins-esque tone. However, I did take off a lot more sins than Cinema Sins would have because I do genuinely like the series and the people that made it possible. So all of the good things got one sin off and all the bad things got one sin added. This is a really long post, so grab some popcorn. If there’s anything that I missed, feel free to add it!

We Only See Each Other At Weddings And Funerals

The story opens with a random scene. I know why this is important now, but for a first time viewer this is a strange Russian show with no subtitles. Sin for the fact that this opening scene could drive away audiences when they could have opened with Pogo’s monologue or the sudden birth scene. +1

Sudden birth. I know that this is what starts the whole series, but not once do these assholes discuss the implications of sudden birth. That shit is traumatic and must have induced a lot of trauma in the mothers. Sinning for trauma. +1

The russian ladies all help this poor girl. Teamwork and togetherness gets a sin off. -1

How did they get her swimsuit off enough for her to give birth without just taking the whole thing off? Did one woman happen to have a pair of scissors on her so they could cut the crotch? Because one piece suits are not that flexible downstairs. They didn’t take it off her, it’s still covering her. Sinning for lack of realism or explanation. +1

This narration should have happened much sooner. +1

Buying children. Literally buying children. And he gets seven so he buys them wholesale. Seven sins because Sir Reginald Hargreeves is a dick that bought seven children. +7

One sin off for the soundtrack now. All the songs used in this show are bops! -1

Ellen Page starts playing the Lindsey Stirling Phantom of the Opera piece on the lowest string when the piece starts on a high note. One sin for lack of musicality. +1

Minus one sin for Ellen Page’s vibrato. Not many people pretending to play the violin get that so accurate. That or this was the talented body double. Either way one sin off for musicality. -1

“Please send more food” Reginald Hargreeves is a dick to his adopted children. He didn’t feed Luther enough, so who knows what he did to the ones he didn’t like as much. +7

Also, Luther has presumably spent four years in this base on the moon. Did he hit his head every morning? You would think that he would learn to duck. +1

One sin off for the moon plant. -1

I’m taking 10 sins off for the special effects of this entire series. -10

That car transition between Diego’s and Allison’s entrances was out of place. I know it’s meant to show that Allison is far away from the action. But did we really need that? It’s not shown when transitioning from the red carpet to Klaus in rehab. +1

What is keeping the lawnchair that Luther has on the moon down? It looks lightweight. Does he have it nailed to the moon? Is there now a lawnchair on the moon forever? +1

Tom Hopper is an excellent actor. He nailed the “just got the news that my father is dead” without saying a single word. -1

Diego doesn’t bother to untie the family he saves. He caused property damage and severely injured the thugs that broke in. No wonder Patch has a problem with him being a vigilante. +1

“Allison, will you wear Valentino to the funeral” +1

One sin off because Robert Sheehan has already won my heart as Klaus and he hasn’t said a single word yet. And for the little jig he does when he gets the drugs. Interesting choice, but I like it. I could be biased because I’ve watched the series already, but I don’t care. One sin off for Robert Sheehan. -1

Why was Vanya allowed to be playing to this empty theatre with spotlights on her? Does she have an arrangement with maintenance? Is that why the orchestra isn’t set up? +1

One sin off for the Hargreeves mansion. The set designers did an amazing job.-1

Creepy shrine portrait of Five is creepy and somehow manages to not look like Aidan Gallager. This could be a stylistic choice to show that Reggie didn’t care about Five, in which case, another sin for child abuse. +1

Creepy statue of Ben is creepy. And it doesn’t look like Justin Min or Ethan Hwang. Who is this statue honoring? +1

It has been stated that Ben’s death broke up the academy. Yet, the other four assholes stuck around for one more portrait after his death? +1

Vanya doesn’t close the doors behind her when she walks into the mansion. +1

Diego’s outfit is central to introducing his character. However, it is dumb as hell and he probably stabbed himself with the knives in the harness multiple times. Especially the ones on his back. +1

Diego is a dick to Vanya at their father's funeral. I know Reggie was a jackass, but Jesus Christ, Diego. Have some tact. I know this is meant to show that Diego doesn’t have any tact, but this is such a severe line. +1

In the first shot of Reggie’s bedroom there are 6 freaking lamps. What is he, Bella Swan? And later, there are three more. +1

David Castaneda really brings Diego to life with his interaction with Luther in Reggie's bedroom. -1

I know I already took sins off for the special effects, but Pogo deserves another two off. Special Effects team, you did good. -2

“How long has it been since Five dissapered” is the most obvious bit of exposition/foreshadowing. To the point where it reads lazy. Another option would be Vanya asking “How long has it been since” and trailing off from there. Pogo knows what happened. This is a crucial reveal, let the audience wait for it a bit. +1

One sin off for Vanya being a good sister to Five. Fluffernutter sandwiches and leaving the lights on is heartwarming. -1

Props to these child actors for being able to portray the way Reggie treats them and how that affects their emotions in the scene where they wanted to say goodnight to Reggie. -1

However, Reginald Hargreeves is a dick to his adopted children. I will keep sinning this. +7

After Reggie shuns and ignores his children, Luther’s hand on Ben’s shoulder is a subtle way to show that Luther and Ben were sort of close, which is what an excerpt from Vanya’s book implies in the comics. Good job directors or actors for making that choice! -1

Robert Sheehan in the office scene. This is where we meet Klaus as an audience for the first time with dialogue, and he fucking nails it. -1

“Thank God he’s not our real father so we couldn’t inherit those cold dead eyes! Ahh! Number Threee-” The delivery on that line is excellent. -1

Klaus’s dangly necklace that looks kind of like dog tags foreshadowing the real dog tags he wears later on in the show. -1

No way in hell Klaus’s skimpy outfit provided enough concealment for that massive box. In fact, in the shots we do see of his back, we should have seen the outline of the box. +1

Sir Reginald Hargreeves is as obsessed with lamps as he is with collecting children. His office is full of them! +1

“Do you think he wears that thing in the bathroom” “Like in the shower” “Yes, absolutely” Allison and Luther have some good interactions. This is where they really act like siblings making fun of another sibling. -1

A woman who told bedtime stories to her kid about her uncle on the moon forgets that said uncle has been on the moon and judges him when he doesn’t know about her divorce.+1

“Rumor thing” Way to be specific, Luther. +1

Allison’s expression at the family meeting when she takes a sip of her drink. Emmy Raver-Lampman is what makes this character likeable. -1

Reginald Hargreeves was a dick to his children. The whole favorite spot thing? Yeah that. Golden child abuse victim. +7

Sir Reginald playing tennis with Hitler line. -1

Luther accuses his siblings of killing their father. Have some tact man, not at the funeral. This makes sense for the character and his circumstances, but I am still sinning it because Luther doesn’t think he did anything wrong. +1

I feel kind of bad for Luther after his siblings leave the room. Great acting on Tom Hopper’s part. -1

How did Allison get into the bank? +1

Luther straight up throws this man out of a building! That guy is 100% dead. And then he admonishes Five for being a killer later! +1

“Guns are for sissies, real men throw knives!” is a line that would only be spoken by a twelve year old that has never faced the judgement of people he isn’t related to. Also, Diego practiced this line in front of a mirror. +1

But that throw was badass, so... -1

Also, how did Klaus, Diego, Five, and Ben get into the bank as well? We only see Luther enter. And presumably Five teleported in. So were the rest already in there? +1

Five manages to jump faster than a bullet here, but in episode two he’s a lot slower when jumping from one side of the table to the other. You could make the argument that the table is in the way, but there was a human being and a bullet in the way here. +1

“Woah! That’s one badass stapler!” This is the first sin off because Aidan Gallagher can act, and it will not be the last. For all his grumpy 58 year old man, he also manages to shine while playing a young version of said grumpy 58 year old man. You would think that one or the other would be a little weak, but no he nails both performances. -1

But, how did Five switch the gun and the stapler? And why do we never see him do this again with more useful items like a briefcase or one of the machine guns used by the local commission hires? Can he only switch items with a similar mass? How does this power work? +1

Luther is the one that tells Ben that there's more guys in the vault to kill. Not Klaus who could have been like “a ghost said there's more guys in the vault”. What exactly did Klaus do on missions? He isn’t shown helping the hostages or fighting in any way. +1

“I didn’t sign up for this.” yeah Ben, like it’s a summer camp and not your abusive father buying you as an infant and then forcing you to kill people. +1

Kenny’s mom appearance. Also, the woman mixes leopard print leggings, a black dress, a square pattern cardigan, and a hat with stripes and a pom-pom. +1

“Can we go home now” Ethan Hwang had great delivery on that line. -1

Sir Reginald Hargreeves is a dick to his children. He forces 6 of them to kill, and then makes it seem like it’s all fun and games to the one he isolates. +7

When did they get coats and scarves? Did Reggie bring them coats and scarves while coming down to address the crowd? +1

Also, Reggie was on the roof of a different building with vanya! What did the kids do while they were waiting for him? Stand around and look pretty? Not likely, Ben was covered in blood. +1

Also, when did Ben have time to clean up? He is significantly less bloody in the scene where Reggie talks to the press. Yet his mask, uniform, and a bit of his jaw still have blood. This suggests he had time to wipe down. What kind of magic wipes are these that soak up and remove blood quickly and where can I get them? +1

The way the children wear their scarves show their personality. Luther has it done properly, Diego has his flapping around, Allison and Klaus have tied it fashionably, Five has it done well, but not as proper, and Ben has it done like Luthers. Well done costume people or actors who made that character choice. -1

The entire scene when Klaus attempts to summon Reggie from the afterlife. -4

I forgot that Klaus actually calls him Reggie in this scene. I thought it was just a fandom thing lmao. -1

How did Klaus clean up the ashes without leaving evidence on the bar? Did he vacuum it? +1

The cutesy fighting posters are a great set design choice. -1

Allison had her trauma tattoo refreshed at some point. It’s faded on Klaus, but on her it’s perfectly visible and stark. I’m sinning because they don’t show or tell why Allison might want to do this. +1

Also, that guitar Klaus was cuddling in a later scene, was just in the kitchen for some reason. Why? +1

Five and Ben are not part of the I Think We’re Alone Now dance party. I know it’s for plot, but come on! They don’t even have another dance party later to make up for this. +1

Diego and Vanya totally saw each other when Diego went to close the door between the foyer and the living area. +1

Luther and Vanya’s dance moves. No hate on either though because I dance like them if it isn’t swing or any other partnered dance +1

Diego, Klaus, and Allison’s dance moves. -1

Also, the song is heard all the way in the kitchen. There is no soundproofing in this mansion. +1

Luther punching down the airplane is funny. -1

David Castaneda doing those amazing dance moves in character. -1

Oh hello Five. Nice of you to show up and kickstart the plot into being something other than washed up superheroes are really sad and abused. +1

“Daddy!” -1

Why were Five’s powers affecting random objects? +1

Klaus is the only one with self preservation. “I vote for running” +1

“Does anyone else see little Number Five, or is that just me” is a great line because Klaus can see the dead. However, the dead don’t show up in massive portals, otherwise something like that would have happened when we see Dave in The Day That Wasn’t. +1

Five asks for an exact date and then Vanya gives him “the 24th” real specific, Vanya +1

Five doesn’t close the fridge properly because that doesn’t matter in the apocalypse -1

“In the end I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time” “That makes no sense” “well it would if you were smarter” the mark of someone being smart is being able to explain concepts like this in layman's terms. If Five were as smart as he said he was, then he could have been able to come up with an analogy. That or the showmakers have no clue what they’re talking about and wrote a bunch of science-y bullshit to make Five sound smart. +1

Diego was ready to throw hands with Five, someone who looks thirteen and was thirteen until Five explained otherwise. +1

“Dolores kept saying the equations were off” so in other words, Five knew that his equations were off, but he still risked it. +1

But also, Five knew his equations were off, but he was so desperate to see his family that he risked it anyway. -1

Nations Gazette paper has articles that look like they’re actually about the headline. -1

“What part of the future do you not understand.” -1

Aidan Gallagher’s delivery in that scene really set the tone for his character. Impressive. -1

Five decides to dress in the full on school boy getup. Complete with the tie and the blazer when those items aren’t necessary. +1

Aidan Gallagher and Ellen Page are two kick ass actors. They play off each other surprisingly well. -1

“You mean like what happened to Ben” “Was it bad?” What happened to Ben? This remains a sin until they explain it. +1

“May the darkness within you find peace in the light” that sounds really bad. What a horrible thing to have on your statue. +1

Jordan Claire Robbins’s performance of Grace -1

Luther and Diego are so emo that they don't need umbrellas. You’re in The Umbrella Academy! This had to be a personal choice to not carry one. +1

Klaus’s face when Luther dumps out the ashes. -1

The camera cuts to Five when Diego says that Mom gave them actual names. -1

The fight between Luther and Diego is stupid. +1

Klaus and Five fight over who is going to protect who. +1

“Stop it!” “Hit him! Hit him!” -1

The detail on Ben’s statue. It shows his toe and knee have been touched many times by people who presumably miss him and love him. -1

Luther punches Ben’s statue in the crotch, which makes Klaus’s face 10x funnier once you remember that Ben was probably there too. -1

Luther punches Ben’s statue in the crotch and beheads it, suggesting that Luther had something to do with Ben’s death. -1

Luther punches Ben’s statue in the crotch. +1

Klaus puts his cigarette out in reggie’s ashes. -1

Reggie narration +1

Reggie is a dick to his kids +7

The stupid, bright green jumpsuits +6

What is the point of this exercise? How does running up the stairs make them better heroes? +1

Young Diego either practiced “That’s not fair, Five’s cheating” or his stutter is only there when the plot calls for it. +1

Child Abuse tattoos +12

The fact that Vanya feels left out because she didn’t get a child abuse tattoo. Reggie, you fucked up these kids real bad. +2

We think that Reggie is comforting Luther after he got a child abuse tattoo, but no, he’s actually just attaching monitors to his head. +1

Reginald Hargreeves likes to watch young children sleep. +7

Vanya foreshadowing. Her monitor showing more activity then the cut to her taking one of the pills is brilliant. -1

Vanya still doesn’t close the academy door behind her when she leaves. +1

“An entire square block, 42 bedrooms 19 bathrooms” Five are you a real-estate agent now? +1

“Dad hated children too, but he had plenty of us!” Klaus would be excellent at cinema sins. Seven more for child abuse +7

What are the rules to Five’s jumps? We only really see him jump to places he can see unless he is time traveling or in the instance where he jumps to the car. Speaking of, the car had the keys in it. Reggie, are you trying to get it stolen +1

Diego is a dick to Allison about her divorce. +1

Klaus and Diego’s interactions make me happy. -1

The Klaus theme is a wonderful piece of music. -1

Robert Sheehan making David Castaneda laugh. -1

We get our first glimpse of Luther’s arm here. It’s super weird and vague and only teases the reveal. This is where the ape reveal should have been for the audience and where it would have made sense. Doing the reveal in a later episode is weird. +1

Five doesn’t know how to break correctly, which contradicts “I know how to do everything” +1

Something I just noticed, Five completed the uniform not only with the tie and blazer, but with the hair gel too. +1

The towing guy chooses to sit next to Five at an empty counter. +1

Five looks so offended when Agnes refers to him as “the kid” -1

The creepy smile Five pulls in an attempt to look innocent doesn’t make Agnes scream in terror. Seriously Aidan Gallagher, what the fuck was that that was absoulutely terrifying. +1

Five attempts to relate to a man that looks the age that he should be, but it ends up exceedingly awkward because Five looks 13. +1

The tow truck driver helps him out, but how was Five going to pay for his coffee? We don’t see him with money. Was he just going to jump out to the car? +1

Five never gets his cup of coffee :( +1

“Istanbul was Constantinople/ Now it’s Istanbul not Constantinople”. This whole scene is great. Five plays with them like he did in the bank scene which shows that even if he did age, he didn’t do it around people so he doesn’t have maturity. -1

Five stabs a guy with a mop and kills him. -1

Five stabs a guy in the crotch with a pencil, then uses the same pencil to stab him in the eye. In between he throws a plate at another guy. This is badass. -1

Five jumps in a way that actually does make two of the idiots shoot each other. Which means that technically, Patch was right. -1

Five kills a man with his bare hands. -1

But he stops to put his fucking tie back on. +1

And yet after all that, the goriest thing is when Five pulls the tracker out of his arm. Props to the makeup department and Aidan Gallagher’s acting skill for making that look so real. -1

Five should be way sweatier when he walks out of Griddys. Unless he moped that up with some napkins? What are these super absorbent napkins and where can I buy them? +1

Agnes should be far more traumatized. And definitely shouldn’t have survived that. +1

Diego is emo with the monocle. +1

Luther flashback narration. +1

Klaus, thankfully interrupts this. -1

“Number 6 “Ben” (deceased)” -1

We can see Ben depending on if it’s Klaus or Diego talking. -1

The vigilante mask Diego wears +1

Five jumpscare in Vanya’s apartment. +1

“Rapists can climb” yes Five. Continue with the criminals that can climb. Including you. +1

This whole scene is the best ending to an episode in the entire season. -1

Aidan Gallagher and Ellen Page play off each other with subtle expressions. This acting talent is amazing. -2

“The world ends in eight days and I have no idea how to stop it” “I’ll put on a pot of coffee” roll credits. I love this ending for many reasons. It’s a total mic drop moment. -2

Overall review:

While actively looking for nitpicky things, I got to see the first in a whole new light. Both the great parts and terrible parts stood out in a way that they didn’t when I wasn’t looking for them. Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, and Ellen Page were the stand out actors in this episode. All three contributed something significant that didn’t heavily rely on the script writers.

The child cast also really stood out to me. All seven of them had very limited screen time (I am counting Gallagher playing a child version of his character in this assessment) and they absolutely made the best of it. Out of all of them, Ethan Hwang stood out to me because of his overall great delivery. I hope that we see him play Ben in a more in-depth way in season 2.

Don’t get it twisted, I genuinely like this series and I think that it tells a great story. I just think it’s fun to nitpick and look deeper. After over analyzing everything else, it’s time to get back to basics. Especially because the season 2 trailer could drop any day now.

Total: 82 sins

Sentence: Tennis with Hitler and Sir Reginald.

#The Umbrella Academy #all in good fun #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #Allison Hargreeves #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #i worked really hard on this

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