#like just to be emotionally honest! like i know i keep IMPLYING romantic love in a VERY serious not-even-a-little-cute way
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so i thought too much about this.
i like the toxicity between peter and wade.
pete and wade could not have had a perfectly healthy romantic relationship with anyone bc they were so fucked up before they met each other. like if you think how much they’ve grown since the start of the blog…
they bring out the worst in each other but they’re willing to confront their worst when they’re with each other instead of repressing it like they did in the past. this might be the most communicative either of them have been in any of their partnerships.
these two are so codependent but it’s the main reason either of them improved at all.
most people would leave. and alone, they don’t leave their comfort zone, even if it’s miserable… these two push each other too far,,, they get uncomfortable. when it’s time to fight or fly,, they fight with each other for each other.
and it’s kind of comforting ?? maybe it’s my experience, but i think every close, long-term relationship has some hurt in it. you do your best to prevent but that doesn’t guarantee peace. and i think that’s okay? like an occasional struggle can be satisfying after the fact bc it’ll likely lead to some growth
so, idk.. i don’t hate the idea of there being some underlying toxicity between them. and it’s kind of satisfying to admit that
they bring out the worst in each other but they’re willing to confront their worst when they’re with each other instead of repressing it like they did in the past
you’re after my heart anon
i wouldn’t go out and call them toxic, exactly - i feel like toxic means that there’s no hope for them and they’d be better off without each other and that’s - that’s not the case, i don’t think. they might be unhealthy - but toxic kind of implies they’re totally irredeemable.
but you’re on the money, you’re on the money - they both share this trauma over being unworthy of love - they’re both so, so desperate to be loved but so, so convinced they’re undeserving of it, and they’ve both convinced themselves they have to hide or contort themselves in some way to fit some ideal. to become eligible for that happily ever after.
[x]
[x]
wade compulsively feels like he has to become someone else - put on a performance, become anything other than what he is, just so he can be deserving of love.
wade’s consistently frustrated that he can’t quite fit into any role. he tries - he really, really tries. he has a desire to transform - he tries to be anything his lover asks of him, or tries to become what he thinks they want. because he’s convinced that what’s underneath the mask is unloveable.
and peter, peter’s just the same. he’s convinced if he puts all of himself on display, with all his faults and baggage and underlying ugliness - he won’t be loved.
so peter parker rejects and denies so much about himself, all for the sake of feeling like he can assimilate. he can pass by undetected. he can live an ordinary life, and keep his secrets locked away.
[x]
[x]
they both have these expectations for what love is and what it should look like - and i think being together, it’s forcing them to reevaluate what love really is. peter, finally, finally - is in a relationship where he doesn’t have to hide.
he can be ugly, he can be gross, he can be a freak and it’s celebrated by wade. wade wants all of him on display. but... to an extreme.
peter, on the other end of the spectrum, wants to see the authentic wade but is scared to push him.
[x]
he wants wade to unmask, constantly, but knows it’s something wade has to do on his own.
they’ve really come so far, because peter’s learning so much about emotional sensitivity from his exposure to wade. because yep! historically, peter’s been a jerk and the reason his relationships fell apart was his inability to be honest about himself and a general ineptitude when it came to dealing with other people’s emotions. with wade - he’s forced to confront all of that, and become a better peter parker. one that’s emotionally sensitive, and one that’s making peace with himself and all his hang-ups.
wade forces peter to finally address all his shortcomings to become a better man - and peter does the same for wade in kind of - embodying everything wade wants to be. not only that - but being a presence in wade’s life that is ever-present
he’s willing to wait it out until wade opens up on his own. just like wade did for him.
peter, for all his trouble finally embracing his authentic self - adores wade’s authentic self. loves what’s behind the mask. loves wade’s soft, soft core that he tries so hard to hide. underneath the machismo and the violence that they both hide behind.
peter’s afraid if he pushes wade too far, he’ll lose him - whilst wade is doing the opposite - he’s actively pushing peter to see how much he can get away with before he loses him.
i love them! they’re always at complete opposite ends of the spectrum when approaching issues, but they’re such similar animals with the exact same fears.
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So since Sherlock Holmes is apparently in the public domain today (tumblr trending told me), I've got to make a post about it, and by that I mean I'm going to ramble about Enola Holmes for a hot second.
(500+ words of analysis below the break)
I am not a big Sherlock Holmes person. I don't keep up with every single adaptation. I've read a couple of the books and watched Enola Holmes, and before Enola Holmes 2, I was never a Johnlock person. Aroace Sherlock is something that's very important to me, so I don't seek out adaptations where he and Watson are implied to or do feel something for each other. It's just wasn't my cup of tea, but I didn't care if it was other people's. I just wanted a Sherlock who didn't need romance (and I still do tbh, but that's not what this post is about). That's part of the reason I watched Enola Holmes (1) and loved it. Besides Enola herself and the story (both of which I absolutely adore), we get a Sherlock who's got only his two siblings and is doing just fine (yes he needs friends, but you get the point-).
Then I watched Enola Holmes 2.
A big part of the lesson Enola learns in this movie is that she can be independent and hold her own, but it's also ok to ask for help when you need it, and to let other people in (both literally and emotionally). Some of this involves Sherlock and Edith, but mainly, it's about Tewkesbury. It's about the fact that having a person to lean on and a man who you love doesn't take away your agency or your sense of self. Enola learns this, and everything is all sparkles and sunshine for her post-case...and then they introduce Watson. The whole time I was watching the movie, I interpreted the hints being dropped about Watson to be teasers for the next movie that will hopefully be made, but then he shows up at the end of this one.
Intentionally or not, they've created a narrative parallel. There are little hints dropped throughout the movie about Enola's feelings for Tewkesbury. She's suppressing them, hard, but you can still tell. The movie also focuses on Enola and Sherlock's relationship, and how similar they actually are, to the point where Sherlock invites her to be his case-solving partner. They also tease the introduction of Watson, who anybody who knows anything about Sherlock Holmes should know is his closest ally. The movie also clearly establishes that Sherlock hasn't learned Enola's lessons yet. He still needs to find his person, and unlike the first movie, this is a role his family can't fulfill for him. Enola herself recognizes this and sets him up with Watson as a new roommate. And where does she go while all this is happening? On a date with Tewkesbury!
Call me crazy, but they're basically saying "Tewkesbury is to Enola what Watson is to Sherlock."
That sure looks to me like something romantic is being implied.
And no, this isn't me saying "Enola Holmes 3 WILL have canon Johnlock," (because, to be honest, I doubt it, and I don't want to start discourse) I'm just pointing out the narrative parallel they've established lends itself well, and that I'm not biased in pointing it out because I'm not a Johnlock shipper. I would actually like to see an "our platonic connection is just as important as your romantic one" storyline, because that's the type of Sherlock Holmes media I connect with, but they have set themselves up for a Johnlock storyline here, and I would love to see that come to pass as well.
(Enola herself should, of course, remain the main focus of the movies. Ultimately, it's about her and about women and about the Holmes family and I wouldn't want it any other way.)
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Angeal
For the Opinion Meme || Still accepting!
Sexuality Headcanon: Per usual, I do HC him as bisexual, with a slight leaning toward het preferences, and super romantic when he's involved with someone. But I also just imagine that he holds himself apart emotionally as much as he can so that he can focus "without distractions."
Gender Headcanon: Cis male.
A ship I have with said character: I really do love Angeal/Genesis, and I like Angeal/Sephiroth. I can see why Angeal/Genesis/Sephiroth is popular. That said, I think my favorite is probably Angeal/Zack, but I notice people don't really lean into the whole, "mentor/mentee" part of their relationship when it comes up?
I might just be unlucky when I'm looking for it, but I want angst over that. XD
I also adore the idea of Angeal and Shotgun (Freyra/Freya), since they're both from the same part of the world and his dad was a monster hunter while her family clearly hunted things (monsters?! it sounds right) for sport. I like to think that if Angeal and Genesis hadn't escaped to go to Midgar and become SOLDIERs, Freya's family would have been trying to arrange a marriage between her and Gen, and Gen was just like, "Omg, no, she and Angeal are a much better match, thanks."
A BROTP I have with said character: Mm. That's easy. Angeal+Genesis and Angeal+Sephiroth, yes please.
Now, outside of that standard set, I think that Angeal and Reeve would get on pretty great as bros (who's surprised here), and I'd love to watch Angeal+Rude. Rude could hustle him at pool a few times before Angeal realizes that he's been had.
Also, I'm firmly of the opinion that Angeal would just adopt Reno if Reno was left in his range for longer than a few minutes.
A NOTP I have with said character: I... am not a fan of Angeal/Cloud? But to be honest, I'm not a fan of Angeal, Genesis, or sane!Sephiroth with Cloud. I just can't see it.
That said, if you enjoy that, then by all means. GO FORTH AND SHIP.
A random headcanon: I like to HC that Angeal often sits in on meetings for Lazard any time that Lazard is unavailable. And that more than once, Reeve's personal assistant, Chelle, has noticed him struggling with dealing with the insanity that is the political machine of Shinra, and after the second time of watching him fumble through a meeting, she appeared at his office door with her notebook to tell him that he did great.
She knows it doesn’t feel like he did, but it was really good. And then she offers him her notes that she uses when she has to sit in for Reeve. And like. They’re mostly notes about the people in the meeting, but also notes about how to talk to them?
Palmer: Use small words. Encourage him to think of things as a business. He’s got a head for that since he still runs his family’s business.
Scarlet: Avoid direct engagements. Gently praise recent weapon tech, but be sure to imply that you expected slightly better. It keeps her focused on something other than what you’re doing. Etc.
General Opinion over said character: I like Angeal a lot. I think he makes a nice balance for the Sephiroth+Genesis dynamic, and honestly, it was really fun to see the influence he had on Zack (and by proxy, on Cloud). I love that he's a flawed individual just as much as the other Firsts are instead of being a shining paragon of perfection.
I'd offer a bonus song, but I've not actually written much with Angeal, so I just don't have any for him specifically. All of my stuff for Angeal is heavily filtered through Zack or Genesis.
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I think I overall really prefer writing for honest characters over more dishonest, cunning ones, but god, are the liars' relationships and dramas just so much more interesting and complex sometimes.
Arvid is easy. He's a fairly simple man, he wears his heart on his armored sleeve, says what he means and means what he says- he's trusting, kind, communicative, and indeed, it's against his very nature to tell much more than a benevolent white lie. In love, while insecure, he's honest, caring, and devoted, and Gale is the same: their relationship (even early on in the will-they-won't-they friendship part of it where both think themselves unworthy of the other's affection) includes a lot of mutual reassurances, and emotional care that grows organically into romantic love.
It's nice, and the stressors and conflicts generally come from either outside of the relationship, or from both wanting to feel worthy of the other, but through honest conversation, they can face it together. (It's really a lot like my own relationship, so that, I can write partly from experience.) His inner conflict is of his own making, and Gale is the balm to his soft little marshmallow soul, the sedative that helps him get through the night.
Iona on the other hand... she lies. She puts up a front, puts on a smile, raises brick walls around her heart that are miles high and equally thick, and plays her cards so, so close to her chest that not even she knows what they are anymore, only that she's bluffing. As does and is Astarion, which throws a real wrench between the gears of any genuine progress between them that would let them get actually, emotionally close to one another.
They are two people who have only recently shed their respective long-time disguises, and neither of them fully know the person they are underneath yet. They're both just finding their autonomy, they're getting to know themselves (she's a mistrustful woman who's been playing a character for 50 years and is finding a home in the magic she was denied for so long, he's... a bundle of issues in man-shaped footie pajamas who is frankly unsure of who he even wants to become), and at such a fragile time for both of them, it's... really not ideal for them to be falling in love. Especially not with someone equally as vulnerable and unsure as them.
She thinks he just wants to get into her pants. He flirts and flatters like he usually would, which is so obviously phony to her that it only reassures her in her incorrect assumption: that he only cares about getting a hot piece of ass to warm his bed at night. Yet, though she calls his bluff, she still plays along, because she's not opposed to what she thinks his goal is.
Unbeknownst to her though, just her clearly knowing that it's a lie but playing along anyway alone, is enough to keep him woefully off-balance. He had relied on others being honest in their reactions to him for so long that he critfails insight check after insight check, as he tries to decide what actually pleases her, and what is a reaction she just puts on because she thinks it'd please the version of himself that he's pretending to be.
That makes both their moods unpredictable, the rules they follow for their pantomime of a "courtship" are volatile and change by the day, but they both continue following the outdated rules all the same because they're clueless that the other's feelings are changing, developing just as their own feelings are. They both think themselves to be the only one slowly falling, and the other to merely be humoring their new schoolboy/-girl crush they themselves hate that they've developed.
He teases her with an "I love you" not realizing that, in that moment, she takes it as a horrible insult she'd desperately want to call cruel, but can't in good faith. Calling it cruelty would imply he's aware that it hurts her and says it because of that, but she knows that it's at best callous- which might even be worse, because though she catches herself wishing that it could be true, he clearly thinks it so absurd that it's fair game for mockery.
So she reacts as if it was nothing but the joke he had clearly intended it to be, which only leads to his heart constricting as she laughs, because he thinks that must mean that even the thought of them actually in love (or something approaching it) is actively ridiculous to her. He's not even fully sure himself if he said it as a pure joke, or as something meant to gauge how open she might be to the concept of that being said honestly... at some distant point in the far future. (Honestly, he would have preferred either for her to believe it and react favorably, or get visibly upset and force him to talk honestly. This third outcome, that she doesn't believe it and yet is not upset, is somehow much worse than he could have anticipated.)
And on the sidelines, here I am, writing this mess of emotional sludge about them, wishing for them to just fucking talk to one another, because if one of them just put on their adult panties and communicated with the other it'd be fine, but that doesn't happen till act fucking 2, and uuuuuuuughhhh.
#squirrel plays bg3#oc: arvid trygg#oc: iona raedir#scratching at my face tbqh#JUST TALK YOU IDIOTS#how is saying “hey I know we were like. joking about it but I think I might actually be starting to like you” MORE embarrassing#than fucking in the woods????????
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My DA2 Review [pt.3]
These are my thoughts about Thomas´ storyline. You can also find my character review [pt.1] and my overall rating [pt.2].
::::::::SPOILER ALERT::::::::
To begin with, I would like to start with something positive.
Thomas looked fantastic! I liked his look extremely well, even better than in the first film, as the hair was now not quite so radically shorn short on the sides. Unlike some of the other actors in the film *cough*, RJC looks natural and his age. And looks simply gorgeous. He's just a classic beauty. 😊 I liked his performance too, I had several real Thomas moments that I enjoyed a lot. And the sideburns! I almost fell off my chair. 😂
So, now for the less pleasant part. The story.
Okay, where to start... We see a Thomas who takes his role as butler very seriously, and compared to the first film seems more serious, more mature and less humorous. The smile on his face, which we found so unusual and at the same time, so beautiful in the first film, seems to have disappeared. Like Carson once did, he takes on the position of manager and exhorts the staff here and there to get back to work.
Then Mr. Guy Dexter appears, who already makes a clear sexual allusion in the first conversation that he and Thomas have together. To be honest, I wondered how this man came to make such an innuendo out of nowhere, to a man he doesn't even know? Nowadays, that would almost be classified as sexual harassment.
Thomas still seems rather irritated there, understandably so. Because at this point we all know that his heart belongs to someone else. But this is soon no longer relevant, because Thomas receives a letter from Richard in which he reveals that he is getting married. What is completely unclear to the viewer here is what was the status of this relationship during the two years since the first film?
From the conversation with Mrs Hughes, it is clear that Richard was certainly never at Downton again during this time, because Thomas asks if she can remember Richard. This also implies that Thomas could never have even mentioned a relationship with Richard to the staff. It does make you wonder what happened after Richard gave Thomas the silver locket, kissed him and disappeared back to London? After he had so clearly signalled his love and serious interest to him? After he risked his neck for him? It seems to me that there was no intense love story between them, a relationship that could have developed. How else could there have been this marriage, announced in a letter, not in person? It's like breaking up via WhatsApp nowadays.
Imagine the frustration and disappointment Thomas has to suffer (again). And then this dapper actor (who seems nicer than I first suspected) makes Thomas an incredible offer, again out of nowhere. As a viewer you have to understand all this ... And here comes my biggest criticism of this story. You simply learn NOTHING about the emotional state of the protagonists. What is going on inside Thomas? What does Guy think about him? Everything is absolutely unclear.
As the film progresses, Thomas becomes more and more responsive to Guy's advances, which leads to the assumption that he has distanced himself from Richard and is open to new acquaintances. But is it out of hurt pride, does he want to distract himself? Or have his feelings for Richard not been so strong? We do not know.
Soon after, Guy makes Thomas an offer to go with him, without any relevant, emotionally profound interaction having taken place between them. And Thomas agrees.
Although it doesn't even seem certain that it's for romantic reasons. The only way I can personally explain Thomas' decision is that the disappointment of losing his love for Richard frustrates him so much that nothing keeps him at Downton any more. As I am currently going through a break-up myself, I can even understand it a little. Because in this situation it's important to move on, to create new perspectives and also to do something good for yourself. And to have fun. That's the only way I can explain it. There is no real romance between Guy and Thomas. The bottom line is that Guy is the exit scenario for Thomas. It would only have been great if that had been addressed in the film as well.
Now the question, what happens next? Thomas leaves Downton without any goodbyes. How crazy is that? To me there can only be one logical explanation. He must/will come back! His departure was not thematised because it is not necessary, because he will be seen again. I have to cling to that thought because if JF lets Thomas/RJC go SO, then I'm really through with it.
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aroace│mcyt hc
warnings: small mentions of hate, fluff
prompt: (requested) “could I request headcanons on how each mcyt would react to reader coming out as aroace? platonic btw!”
pairings: irl platonic! dream, ranboo, and tommy ; c!technoblade
a/n: as i myself do not identify as an aroace, pls correct me on any misconceptions or things i did not portray accurately
a special thanks to new friend @youtubesthings! they’re pretty pog and gave helpful insight to specific parts
wc: (1.0k) - m.list
dream -
you’ve known dream for a while now, long before he began to attract online fame
even then, you were still hesitant to come out to him
rationally, you knew how supportive dream was for his friends, but reason doesn’t stop the fear of rejection for being yourself
he’s an affectionate guy that isn’t afraid to express his (platonic!) love for others, and while you’re not romantically involved with him, it’s still terrifying to think that he might push you away for how you perceive relationships
whether you identified as an aroace for some time or only recently discovered the fact for yourself, you felt trapped and needed to tell someone
would approach him one evening and be closed off the entire conversation
he obviously would take note to your strange behavior and softly confront you about it
“Y/n, you okay? You seem on edge.”
“Actually, I-I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.”
moment you managed get get the words out, there’s a slight pause before he speaks
“Oh. Is that all?”
he’d pause and realize the implications to how his words sound and begin panicking
“No, wait that’s not what I meant. Y/n, that’s honestly so amazing, I’m so glad you trust me.”
if you were still wary to telling others, dream is the most trustworthy of your secret until you’re ready (he’s able to disclose only the things he wants people to know very well considering he’s faceless)
but if you decided to fully come out, you can bet he’s the loudest and most supportive person you know
will not hesitant to defend you from any haters or trolls and tries speak out for all aroaces
admits he’s not the most knowledgeable but tries (will search things up in his own time)
genuinely takes your coming out seriously but treats you the same like the person you’ve always been
c!technoblade -
let’s be honest here, technoblade isn’t canonically shown to have any romantic advances towards anyone in the smp
as a close ally and friend, you trusted techno easily and didn’t think much about coming out to him
“Hey Techno.”
“What?”
“I’m Aroace.”
“‘kay cool.”
this isn’t to say he doesn’t care, but he doesn’t see a point in fawning over the fact when it’s just you coming out as yourself
he’s closed off to some degree about how he normally feels on certain things, but your trust in him makes him feel more welcome to sharing his own thoughts and feelings
will honestly become confused should a person mock or be unaccepting of the fact, and instinctively will unsheathed his weapon
“Why are you laughing?”
*pulls out Orphan Obliterator*
“No seriously, why?”
that being said, he honestly just forgets about it from time to time
he can keep secrets, no doubt, but considering how normalized he finds it, he isn’t really strict about talking about it if the situation comes up
if someone were to somehow imply you both were romantically involved, Techno would be so casual about it
“Aren’t you two together to something?”
“What? No, y/n’s Aroace, that’s weird.”
“…what?” :D
i mean you should’ve expected this when you first told him-
he’s the almighty Blood God, a fearless warrior that strikes down all his opponents mercilessly, and truth be told, someone who respects his friends greatly
ranboo -
ranboo is unmistakably someone you thought of first when contemplating coming out
from his donation stream to his constant efforts of normalizing LGBTQ rights, ranboo has always been considerate of the fact
so one day you decided to tell him after a stream
it was late and he was honestly tired, but you wanted to get it out of the way before you lost the confidence go through with it again
“Hey Ranboo?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m Aroace.”
“…”
“Ranboo?”
“Sorry what? I didn’t hear you.”
he had yawned in the middle of you talking and didn’t hear you come out
honestly it was really funny to look back on, but he’d probably feel awful every time you reminded him
once you repeated yourself though, he was quick to celebrate and congratulate you
ranboo isn’t one to go into many heavy conversations, but if he noticed any hate or criticism once you fully came out, he will stop his stream just to emphasize how any hate is not tolerated on his channel, especially regarding his friends
if ever need be, he will (with your permission) speak on your behalf if someone didn’t understand what being aroace meant
he knows how to lightly joke around the topic and chooses to do so as a way to show he accepts you for how you are
that being said, doesn’t mention it often since he knows doing so can be demoralizing like a label
overall, never fails to express his support and (platonic!) love, and sees you beyond your coming out as his friend that he respects and appreciates
tommy -
alright, okay
this is tommy we’re talking about here, a known advocate for LGBTQ rights; though he can say some mixed up intentions, his devotion to enforcing those rights on his channel and throughout his daily streams has always been endearing, but much like dream, the idea of telling someone so emotionally driven was nerve-racking
it’s not like you didn’t plan on telling him, but he probably would have found out by accident
you had been in a discord call with him late at night and it slipped out naturally
“Have you noticed you’ve been shipped recently with (someone someone) lately?”
“I have, yeah. I hate it.”
“… why?”
“Oh it’s nothing against them, I’m Aroace.”
“Wait really?”
“…”
“...”
“Oh fuc-”
after you explained to him how you trusted him but honestly didn’t mean to tell him, he’d respect you for what it was and leave it be
tommy is sincerely mature when he needs to be, and won’t bring the subject up until you wanted to talk about it with him (since he wasn’t originally meant to know)
once you were ready though, he would go full protection mode
online, he’d make his support loud and clear, and while he’ll make mistakes from time to time, he has good intentions to heart
privately, he always tries to be subtle in his understanding if the topic or situation called for it
he’s proud of his friends (that’s a given), and will never hesitate to make it known that you are someone he admires for being themself
#dream smp x reader#dream smp x you#dream x reader#dream x you#dreamwastaken x reader#dreamwastaken x you#technoblade x reader#technoblade x you#tommyinnit x reader#tommyinnit x you#ranboo x reader#ranboo x you#mcyt x you#mcyt x reader#mcyt headcanons#dreamwastaken headcanon#technoblade headcanon#tommyinnit headcanon#ranboo headcanon
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*rubs hands together*
The first thing to talk about with this episode is the pacing, and I think this might contribute to why people think it’s the best/least bad of Season 4 (personally, I’d rather watch “Furious Fu” but that’s just me; also, this isn’t the only contributing factor as to why I think people might feel this way, but I’ll get there later).
The episode has a very serious pacing issue, particularly with its more intense scenes. There’s only one minute of time dedicated to Ladybug landing on her bed, de-transforming, and her snapping at her friends plus them leaving. More time was spent on Chat Noir and Ladybug in the movie theater and Ladybug storming out.
I particularly remember watching the episode and getting eighteen minutes in, at which point I had the realization of, “It feels like nothing’s happened?”
This episode is supposed to be a big gut punch, but the season has been going by at the speed of sound, like they’re trying desperately to play all their cards at once (Lukanette break-up, Adrimi break-up, then Alya is told Marinette’s secret identity). Instead of letting things build and play out for a while in the interest of suspense, the show just throws whatever will get a big reaction out of the fandom (whether positive or negative) and it doesn’t care how shoddily put together everything is. The first two episodes feel like hastily put together drafts, and while this one is technically more put together, it still feels like a draft.
Let’s just start with Chat Noir, who feels completely out of place in the episode. Not only does he imply that he intentionally calls Ladybug “Bugaboo” (which she has told him to stop doing) in order to get a reaction out of her, but when Ladybug insists that she doesn’t want to talk, he tricks her into thinking that he has a good location to do so (and my heart breaks a little at how readily she trusts him) only to then take her to a romantic movie, then shush her when she calls him out for it because she “said she didn’t want to talk.”
Gee, and people wonder why she didn’t tell him her secret (even outside of “Chat Blanc” existing)?
And... look, I know it’s a joke, but I do not find it funny. The “joke” is basically that Chat Noir is taking advantage of the situation to flirt with Ladybug, and though I find it at least mildly cathartic that Ladybug is unaffected by all the people staring at them while Chat Noir is embarrassed, this episode is coming right after the one where Kagami broke up with Adrien, and here Chat Noir is getting his flirt game on. I already talked about all my problems with “Lies” so I won’t do it again, but I’ll just say that it’s not a mystery why Ladybug doesn’t want to talk to him and would rather avoid her problems.
(Not to mention that Ladybug knows that Chat Noir likes her, so talking about her romantic problems with him is awkward to say the least and would come off as insensitive.)
Honestly, at this point I feel like they must be building to something with Chat, like Ladybug finally going off of him with no mercy and that forces him to give up/fall out of love for her because reverse love square, but if that’s what they intend to go for, then that means Marinette is going to fall for this guy who’s repeatedly disrespected her feelings for multiple seasons, almost abandoned her and let Paris drown because she wouldn’t tell him a secret that wasn’t hers to tell, and just generally all the other things he did????
Ugh, I don’t wanna think about it. Let’s just move on.
Talking about Ladybug and her rant next, it basically summarizes the whole show in a nutshell, but simultaneously casts a shadow of sorts over “Truth” for people who maybe missed the episode entirely (which is also sort of the show in a nutshell). I mean, Ladybug confirming to the audience that she was genuinely in love and happy with Luka (you can’t watch how depressed she was over the break-up and not think that) was great, but Ladybug’s dialog implies that Luka “hated secrets” and that’s why they broke up, when Luka was more just... hurt that she couldn’t be honest with him, and he didn’t actively hate secrets. Marinette broke up with him because she felt like she had to; because she had to keep ditching and lie to him.
In addition, what she says also hints to the audience that they’ve both held and kissed each other, which not only indicates cowardice on the part of the staff (”yeah this happened but--um--off-screen; we’d still like credit tho plz”), but may perhaps go back to the theory I had about how Adrimi and Lukanette were supposed to last longer in Season 4 but their arcs got cut (based on the Adrimi kiss having supposed to have gone off). This could mean that Ladybug’s statement was originally accurate to canon but the scenes got cut and the scriptwriters just awkwardly left it in, which is made more awkward by the cinema scene in “Truth” that felt like Luka and Marinette were kissing for the first time (again, alluding to the whole, “this entire season has been a draft” thing).
Also, if you think about what that actually means - that Luka and Marinette did have successful dates and kisses but they were off-screen - then all it adds up to is that showing Marinette happy and comfortable was something that the series didn’t deem as “interesting/fun enough” to show, because Marinette being happy isn’t something they want to see; only watching her be miserable, which is exactly what Ladybug says, along with how everything was “almost too simple, too easy,” because Marinette isn’t allowed to have nice things without being jammed through the wringer first.
And... sure, let’s say that Chat Noir thought the movie was genuinely a good idea; let’s assume that it could be a joke, him wanting to flirt, and him believing that it’d make her feel better somehow.
If that’s the case, then where’s the apology when it fails miserably? Ladybug goes from her semi-anxious state at the start of the episode (a little scatterbrained but ultimately just looking for a distraction), to outright enraged by the movie, and then to this upon leaving the cinema.
She just got her heart broken from being forced to break up with a boy she genuinely wanted to be with and there’s not a single, “Okay, maybe coming here was a bad idea, I’m sorry,” (which could’ve been seen as another joke with the audience like “lol no duh Chat Noir” so there’s no excuse not to have it) or, “My bad, that was insensitive of me. I really thought this would’ve helped but I wasn’t thinking about what you would’ve wanted.”
No. The only people Chat apologizes to are the other people at the theater because he’s embarrassed by Ladybug’s reactions, yet he himself feels no remorse for taking her there and has the gall to go on now about how he’s “there for her if she wants to talk.”
Again, it’s no wonder Ladybug doesn’t want to open up to him.
And I’m sorry, I just don’t buy that Marinette suddenly has all this free time. It’s one thing for her to have a little more time now that she’s broken up with her boyfriend (likely avoiding spending time with him altogether now), but “Truth” went out of its way to talk about all of the emergencies she had to deal with and how she doesn’t have any spare time. which is causing her to become forgetful and lose track of certain events (patrols with Chat, dates with Luka, etcetera), yet Marinette spends most of “Gang of Secrets” simply sulking on her bed. It’s so jarring to go from “Truth” where she was doing “too much” (which I called them out on for not describing what the “too much” she was doing was) and now “Gang of Secrets” where she’s not doing anything.
It’s almost like they invented that plot point to break Lukanette up and it served no purpose outside of it.
Furthermore, the scenes of her finally talking to Tikki and then deciding to live as Ladybug does nothing outside of making the plot more predictable, the latter because of the “Alya almost sees Ladybug” moment (an obvious indicator that Marinette is losing control and is struggling to maintain her secret identity due to her emotionally breaking down) and the former because of Tikki herself and what she doesn’t say.
Because, really, think about what actually goes on in the scene. Marinette (eyes rimmed red and filled with unshed tears, as she is for a good chunk of the episode) is venting to Tikki about - yes - her love life, but also that she has to lie to everyone in order to keep her identity a secret. The fact that Tikki focuses solely on the note of Marinette’s love life and not say a word about the identity/lying issue or even consider telling Marinette, “hey, this is clearly too much for you, you should tell someone, I think the benefits outweigh the risks right now,” really proves that the episode tried to avoid the topic altogether to try and make the ending more shocking (which ironically made it more predictable).
So yeah, not only does Tikki’s dialog with Marinette provide nothing except for a line about how she can’t help Marinette with love issues due to kwami not falling in love (alright, I guess aros can’t give good love advice then or have any input whatsoever), but Marinette’s line about lying to everyone being why she can’t pursue Adrien nor Luka is repeated in the very last scene of the episode. The only reason that scene and the scene after exist is because the writers needed Marinette to be emotionally devastated enough to leave for her balcony as Ladybug for the almost-reveal to Alya and so Rose would get close enough to the dollhouse to have an almost-reveal with the Miracle Box, making the scene feel further contrived because the emotional punch of Marinette wanting to live as Ladybug lasts for barely any time at all.
And it could’ve served a purpose, like if Ladybug had genuinely left and Alya finds her goggles and towel, recognizing them from a news story about how Ladybug had gone to the swimming pool after losing her temper at the cinema, which could’ve led to Shadow Moth making the girls believe that Ladybug was no longer heroic and had kidnapped Marinette, or... heck, Ladybug coming back inside would’ve been so much less jarring if she came back because she heard the girls’ voices talking about the dollhouse and had to hurry (but of course, then they’d have to point out the ridiculousness of Ladybug not hearing Alya calling her and the girls not hearing Ladybug literally shouting for Shadow Moth to come fight her, even though the kwami heard the girls calling for Marinette from the balcony).
But instead, the entire scene feels off and unnatural, forcing every part of it in order to get to where Marinette has to snap at the girls to make them leave.
(Oh, by the way, just a little detail to add to the annoyance: they bothered putting Tom and Sabine in the episode when the girls are leaving, clearly saddened by something that happened, and neither parent even bothers to go and check on Marinette to see if she’s upset or just to see what might’ve happened. They’re such a “blink-and-you’ll-miss it” moment in the episode and it’s not like I’m surprised because they’ve done this multiple times by now but really?)
As for the girls themselves... oof, where do I even begin?
Alright, first off is the annoyance that they assume Marinette’s problems relate only to lovesickness. Marinette has been an anxiety-prone mess throughout the entire series, and suddenly now the girls care about Marinette’s love problems on an emotional level rather than “we’ll meddle sometimes unless we don’t feel like it and be wholly inconsistent on how much we push for it.”? It’s not that I don’t see how they came to the conclusion (hearing that Luka and Marinette broke up and now seeing Marinette is depressed, it checks out), but considering they bothered noting that Marinette hadn’t told them anything, one would think they’d come to the conclusion of, “okay, we haven’t talked to her, we have no idea of what’s going on, maybe we don’t know her as well as we thought then and shouldn’t make guesses.”
Secondly is the “eternal friendship bracelet,” which comes off as a copy of the “Secrets” game from “Syren” extremely manipulative. Mylene goes on to explain that one is supposed to give a secret to the pearl “mentally,” yet when the girls actually show up to see Marinette, they expect to be told the secret directly. I’ve already talked at length about peer pressure and the mental stress Marinette goes through when they mock her and/or meddle for her, but this idea of, “well we all used this friendship bracelet after we mutually agreed to it so now it’s your turn because we said so!” just comes off really bad. I know the episode is going for this idea that their hearts are in the right place, but they’re really not. It feels like they’re the ones in denial and are trying to compensate by forcing Marinette to prove that they’re friends, unable to handle the idea that they might not be as close to her as they thought.
Thirdly, the show acts as if the girl squad are her only friends when we know that’s not true because we’ve seen episodes like “Befana” (the guys in the class), “Reverser” (Marc), “Ikari Gozen” (Kagami), and “Silencer” (Ivan) that all established Marinette having more friends than just them, but for the sake of “drama” and the depressing line of, “at least I don’t have any more friends to lie to,” the episode just pretends like Marinette’s friends are limited to Luka (who she had to break up with) and the girl squad (who she forced to leave and refuse the friendship of).
Fourthly is the actual set-up and the sheer grossness of it all. The girls call Marinette and leave a message about how they much they love her and how she can talk to them “where and when” she wants, and then - immediately afterwards - decide that they’re going to go straight to Marinette’s house completely unannounced, go into her room completely unannounced (not even knocking, by the way), and when Marinette begs them to leave, Alya basically tells her that she’s overreacting. When Marinette demands that they leave, Alya refuses and makes demands right back that they won’t leave until she tells them what’s wrong.
So much for “where and when” she wanted, right? It’s already one thing for the girls to invade Marinette’s privacy and demand/guilt-trip answers out of her, but it’s another thing to give the illusion of respecting her feelings and personal space only to actively plan to go back on it. I can’t tell if it’s a bad draft that they didn’t catch in quality check (you know, the quality check that they definitely don’t have) or just an intentional way to make them seem more sympathetic so Marinette looks worse for driving them out, but either way, it’s awful and I hate it. I would’ve rather had them be all in on invading Marinette’s privacy and learn a lesson in the end than outright contradict themselves.
There are also little nitpicks I could make (like Juleka’s constant mumbling despite Luka’s crush on Marinette playing a role in the episode, Horrificator getting sidelined due to being mute, and the girls’ akumatization ultimately being for spectacle and nothing else, serving no purpose to the plot and being furthered by the fact that Timebreaker goes after Marinette despite it being a bad idea and Reflekta’s power clearly not lining up with any sort of plan), but the real issue issue here comes down to the fact that these are Marinette’s so-called “friends” and the episode refuses to address their actual issues.
Alix, who is known for making rude comments at Marinette (”Gigantitan,” “Chat Blanc,” “Miraculous New York”) and then gives mixed messages by going along with meddling anyway.
Mylene, who is the closest thing to a background character in the girl squad but nevertheless finds her way into being definite voice against Marinette in “Chameleon.”
Juleka, who blamed Marinette for things she didn’t do in “Reflekdoll” and got huffy with her until Marinette apologized for said things.
Rose, who outright screamed at Marinette in “Chat Blanc” over a freaking stuffed animal, which pressured Marinette enough that she snuck into Adrien’s room to deliver her gift which nearly led to the end of the world.
And, of course, Alya; freaking Alya. I don’t even have to go into every single thing she’s ever done because I have a history of giving her absolutely no mercy.
...But let’s go through some anyway because I want to.
“Copycat” - Alya gives Marinette a script and tells her to memorize it, then immediately pushes the “call” button when Marinette hesitates after Marinette had just told Alya that she’s awful at improv.
“Darkblade” - Alya takes a jab at Marinette when Marinette says that she’s too busy to be class representative, implying that Alya thinks that Marinette does absolutely nothing with her time.
“Gamer” - Alya is busy recording the gaming competition when she and Marinette were supposed to be researching for a term paper. Alya then scolds Marinette for wanting to use the competition to get close to Adrien only to do a 180 and put up a fight about it when Marinette decides to quit.
“Animan” and how “The Puppeteer 2″ follows up on it - oh, I’m not going to touch that particular point right now, but keep those in the back of your mind, because I am going to absolutely go off later
“Simon Says” - Similarly to Marinette’s parents, Alya gives zero damns about whatever might be going on in Marinette’s life that's causing her to miss classes.
"Despair Bear” - Alya laughs at Marinette being forced to kiss Chloe’s cheek and then outright compares Marinette to Chloe after knocking Chloe multiple times during the episode (sure, just compare your “best friend” to her multi-year bully, how "hilarious” of you).
“Gigantitan” - Alya has no qualms about mocking Marinette’s over her failures, even if it embarrasses her and she’s been through enough already.
“Frozer” - Alya tries to find ways for Marinette to prevent herself from third-wheeling for Adrien, but when Marinette tries to show character growth by wanting to go, Alya gets into a shouting match with the other girls over how Marinette has “liked Adrien forever and isn’t going to give up now”.
“Catalyst” - Alya claims that Marinette is only salty over Lila out of jealousy when “Frozer” exists and literally is the prime evidence of Adrien liking another girl and Marinette telling Alya outright and very genuinely that she’s not jealous.
“Chameleon” - Alya doesn’t care about her best friend sitting in the back by herself while Alya herself get to sit next to her boyfriend and everyone else in general gets to sit where they want (Alya even acting confused at the mere suggestion that she’d tried to engineer things to let Marinette sit next to Adrien), then not only believes Lila over Marinette but contradicts herself twice (asking Marinette for proof when she has none herself, then claiming that she wouldn’t let her best friend sit by herself).
“Christmaster” - Alya leaves Marinette to babysit so she and Nino can go out on a date.
“Desperada” - Alya suddenly is for Lukanette for literally one episode and doesn’t know how/doesn’t even try to cover for Marinette’s Adrien blindness despite mocking her for multiple seasons over it.
“Reflekdoll” - Alya invites Adrien to something that’s crucial for Marinette to focus on after Marinette has already told her not to and continues meddling to the point where it gets Juleka akumatized (she also doesn’t get punished for it and the blame gets thrown onto Marinette).
“The Puppeteer 2″ - Alya pushes her luck with Nathalie to try and get Marinette to come with her, Nino, Adrien, and Manon to the museum, then traps Marinette in a room with Adrien to force her to spent alone time with him, even abandoning and forgetting about the child that she offered to watch for Marinette so she and her boyfriend can go off alone.
“Miraculous New York” - Alya is told directly by Marinette that she needs help seeing Adrien as a friend, which leads Alya to do the exact opposite throughout the entire special, at one point shouting at Marinette and pressuring her to chase after a car, in the rain, while there’s a supervillain rampaging through Paris, and all of this right after the scheme that Alya had set up caused both Marinette and Adrien to go missing.
And just saying, as Marinette’s supposed “best friend,” Alya sure doesn’t know how to handle her. It was acceptable back in “The Bubbler” when she asked Marinette about signing the gift too late and the same goes for “Dark Cupid,” but by the time we get to late Season 2/3 and Alya refuses to learn Marinette’s weak spots (unless it’s to mock her) and adjust accordingly (like if she’d already made sure the gift was signed in “Chat Blanc,” which would’ve prevented Adrien seeing Ladybug at all due to the time difference), it starts getting infuriating.
A best friend is supposed to cover for their friend’s weaknesses. Alya doesn’t do that; she meddles and often drives Marinette’s anxiety even further up a wall with absolutely no consideration for Marinette’s feelings (”Dark Cupid,” “The Puppeteer 2,” “Reflekdoll,” “Miraculous New York”).
And here, she and the other girls are rewarded for it. Luka actively resisted his akumatization whereas the girls gave in immediately, yet Marinette still opens up to them in the end, likely because they had pressured her and made her feel bad for the secrets she was keeping while Luka was willing to actually wait for her to be ready to talk to him. I can’t put into words how frustrating it is watching these girls trample all over Marinette’s feelings, not have their worst actions called out, and then jump cut post-deakumatization to Marinette telling them exactly what they wanted to know about her love life.
You know what this entire episode is really missing, outside of a coherent plot, properly-paced development, and a basic understanding of rewarding a character for things they’ve held firmly to?
It’s missing the apology. Chat Noir apologizes to a bunch of moviegoers and Rose apologizes for the broken dollhouse, but no one apologizes to Marinette for how they treated her, especially not the “friends” who got rewarded in the end.
“Sorry, we shouldn’t have told you that we’d respect your feelings and then showed up unannounced to make you talk about them.”
“We’re sorry we came into your room and invaded your privacy. You were right to be mad at us.”
“Oh my gosh, Marinette, we got akumatized and we’re so sorry for literally all five of us going after you and probably scaring the living daylights out of you.”
And as if that wasn’t enough, guess what else this is missing? It’s kind of important and brought up directly in the episode, yet the episode simultaneously goes out of its way not to bring it up again.
It’s the reason why Marinette didn’t tell the girls about her relationship with Luka. It’s not there - it’s missing - and the girls never try to pursue the subject. They talk about how Marinette didn’t tell them but don’t think for a second that maybe it’s them who have failed as friends. Instead, they don’t guess anything about why Marinette wouldn’t tell them (which is already strange considering how much they already assume about her) and jump straight to, “well clearly we just need to push for her to talk to us.”
Gonna just go out on a limb here and say that maybe - just maybe - Marinette didn’t tell them because they are habitually pushy in everything they do.
Because they would’ve teased her relentlessly about, “ohhhh you’ve got eyes for Luka? what about Aaaaaadrien~? aren’t you sooo tooorn between both of these cute guys?”
Because they would’ve meddled to force her and Luka together and gotten on her case when/if she ever had to bail on him.
Because their intrusion on her feelings for Adrien had caused her nothing but problems and she just wanted to be with Luka in peace without them forcing their way into things.
Because--hey, wild thought--maybe they’re not really friends???
But the episode completely avoids it, because that would’ve meant addressing it; it would’ve meant acknowledging that they messed up, which - fun fact - they actually don’t do in the episode.
They invaded Marinette’s privacy, insisted that she tell them how she feels (not about them of course because that would imply that they felt like they screwed up), and in the end it’s Marinette who gives them exactly what they asked of her, and the closest thing we get to acknowledging anything is Alix telling her/joking with her that they’ll help her confess to whoever she likes as soon as she tells them she’s ready.
That’s not an apology. That’s not an acknowledgment of wrongdoing. Even when the five of them are about to get akumatized, it’s not a circle of them saying, “here’s how I screwed up, I could’ve done better but I didn’t and I lost Marinette because of it.”
No. It’s just them talking about how sad the situation is. Mylene has the closest thing to remorse in saying, “I hoped it would work,” but where does it go? A grand total of nowhere, especially because Marinette still takes the bracelet in the end instead of the girls mutually deciding, “okay, maybe the bracelet was a bad idea; how about we all agree on making something together instead, no requirements attached?”
And then the episode has the gall to act as if Alya has gone through character growth when all they did was put Alya through the same thing that Chloe did. I’ll explain that last bit momentarily, but first let’s talk about the whole “growth” thing.
Because there’s no apology or acknowledgement of wrongdoing, all Alya does when she’s finally alone with Marinette is do a 180 from where she was at the start of the episode, going from, “friends have to tell each other everything,” to, “hey, if you don’t want to tell me, then that’s your right.”
The crucial part that’s supposed to go in the middle is missing. Instead of acknowledging her failures, Alya just cuts straight to “””being a better friend,”““ but storytelling doesn’t work that way.
It literally would have taken zero effort to fit an acknowledgement into that scene. “You don’t have to tell me everything, I get that now. All my meddling’s done is hurt you and I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t trust me.”
In a world where Marinette has to apologize for everything, has to learn lessons and suffer because the narrative says so, I will not accept anything less from other characters who are trying to develop and improve. That’s not fair to Marinette, nor has it ever been.
Instead of properly developing Alya, the show does whatever it can to get its audience to root for her as Marinette’s “best friend” (ugh) without having to put in the effort of admitting that Alya hasn’t been Marinette’s “best” friend.
Remember when I brought up Chloe? Yeah, “Malediktator” did a similar thing, showing Chloe doing something awful, then being sad (while not actually acknowledging the thing she did wrong), and in the end she was rewarded with a miraculous prematurely.
One show of character from Chloe and Marinette gave her a miraculous. One show of character from Alya and Marinette told her that she was Ladybug.
(Also, for the record, I think Chloe is far worse than Alya character-wise and I’m not comparing their characters; this is just the simplest comparison I can draw here from a narrative standpoint.)
“Miraculer” is another apt comparison, perhaps even more so. Chloe got Hawk Moth in her head after an akuma landed in her photo of her and Ladybug, but Chloe resisted and fought back, ultimately forcing the akuma out of her and freeing herself from Hawk Moth’s control.
But it wasn’t to develop her character; no, it was to convince the audience of Chloe and Sabrina’s friendship so they’d feel something during Sabrina’s happy flashbacks, then lay the foundation of tricking viewers into believing that Chloe might not go to Hawk Moth’s side.
At the end of the day, it was doing something that’s “never been done before” in order for the character to earn brownie points for something that the writers can just have them do because willpower is an easy thing to just write in. “Gang of Secrets” does the exact same thing when Lady Wifi breaks free from Shadow Moth, with Ladybug even hammering it home by talking about how no one’s ever done it before.
And the pacing is - again - awful. Not only is Ladybug banking on this working when she herself says that it’s never been done, but the conversation between her and Lady Wifi where Ladybug tries to convince her doesn’t even take a minute.
It also has nothing to do with Marinette herself; Ladybug relies on Alya’s adoration/friendship with her as Ladybug (you know, after Alya took a photo of LadyNoir kissing and posted it online without Ladybug’s consent, betrayed her by putting information on the LadyBlog that Hawk Moth was able to take advantage of, and is the only hero outside of Chloe to resist returning a miraculous) in order to break from Hawk Moth’s control, because talking about Marinette with Lady Wifi didn’t even work.
(Ladybug also uses her yoyo as a portal to the Miracle Box when this has never been pre-established to be a thing despite Ladybug acting as if she knew it was; further proof that this episode was rushed.)
And of course talking about Marinette didn’t work, because that would’ve meant convincing Alya that her reason for getting akumatized was “wrong” and the episode didn’t want to do that. It didn’t want someone else actually learning something and feeling bad; surely, this is just Alya being manipulated by Shadow Moth and having the power to break free because Ladybug “needs Rena Rouge” and not because Lady Wifi and her friends are chasing after their supposed best friend and that’s--you know--wrong???
Rena Rouge’s reappearance is also yet another thing the episode refuses to address because it avoids the topic of “but my identity--”. At least “Heart Hunter” had the tact to have Kagami question why Ladybug was giving her the dragon again, but “Gang of Secrets” treads as lightly as possible on any discussion of identities outside of Marinette saying that she can’t, as if it were Marinette who made the choice of concealing her identity and not the basic idea of heroing that has been stressed over and over for the whole show.
Even Plagg of all kwami stated back in “Origins” that no one is supposed to know about secret identities, a rule that continues becoming flaky and muddled with each passing season, almost like they kept attempting to retcon and make the audience dulled to the idea so that the reveal in “Gang of Secrets” would be more acceptable.
But now, with the way they did it and how they don’t even have Tikki comment on the matter, it once again has it look like they’re making it - say it with me, everyone - Marinette’s fault.
Alya says that Marinette has a choice in telling her secret, Marinette insists that she doesn’t and goes on and on about how it’ll change everything, and then just... tells Alya her secret in the end.
And remember all the way back in Season 2? “Sapotis”?
Alya: What were you saying about her secret identity?
Marinette: Ladybug needs it to protect her family and friends. Otherwise the villains could use them to get to her.
Alya: Well, if I knew who Ladybug really was, I'd keep it a secret. I would even help her! Like say, if you were Ladybug, I'd cover for you — when you needed to transform in school, go fight the "baddies", you know?
Marinette: Oh yeah? Well, if I was Ladybug I wouldn't even tell you, to protect you from the "baddies", you know?
Alya: You serious? If I was Ladybug, I'd totally tell you! Because I tell my best friend everything.
And now here we are in “Gang of Secrets,” as if the narrative is saying, “See, Marinette? Alya was right all along, you were just being ridiculous and making yourself suffer for no reason!”
Yet Marinette had a right to keep her secrets. When Alya and Nino learned each other’s identities, Alya took a hit for Nino in “Catalyst” and both of them fell to Scarlet Moth’s akumas. Chloe was a mess and a half because of Hawk Moth knowing her identity. Fu had told Marinette that her miraculous would get taken if she and Chat Noir learned each other’s identities.
The only ones who received no consequences due to someone knowing their identity were Pegase (who Chat Noir and Markov knew), Ryuko (who Chat Noir, Ikari Gozen, and Hawk Moth knew), and Viperion (who Adrien knew). “Chat Blanc” also exists where Marinette got the impression that people discovering her identity would be a disaster, and even all the way back in “Lady Wifi” insisted that not telling anyone her identity was “listening to her head and not her heart,” and the narrative has relentlessly humiliated her for going with her heart, so yeah, probably for the best.
I hate that the episode avoids talking about anything identity-related outside of what comes out of Marinette’s mouth to make it appear like it was her choice all along. I hate that they had Tikki fixate on Marinette’s love problems instead of having her actually support Marinette and admit that Marinette should tell someone before she has a mental breakdown. I hate that the episode inserts Rena Rouge into the plot as if to brush all identity issues away so as to make Marinette’s identity reveal seem less jarring.
Now, of course I’m glad Marinette told someone. Of course I want her to get love and support from someone. Of course I think the benefits outweigh the risks, or I wouldn’t have written multiple fix-its where her identity gets revealed in some way or someone already knows.
But I didn’t want it to be Alya, because I knew how they’d do it. I knew they’d do it wrong and I knew that they wouldn’t have the courage to address Alya’s issues properly.
Those familiar with my blog will know that I’d been taking negative predictions for future seasons for a while and adding them to cards whenever they were proven right. Does anyone remember the Season 4 predictions that were proven correct for “Gang of Secrets,” specifically these ones?
- “Alya will suddenly be portrayed as a good/worthy friend to Marinette in/if there's an episode where Marinette tells her that she's Ladybug”
- “Alya resisting Shadow Moth/fighting back against him will be used to excuse telling Alya Marinette's secret identity“
- “Alya will know that Marinette is Ladybug first because "BFFs" despite being one of the worst candidates for it“
- “The secret that broke Lukanette up will be resolved in episode 3 when Marinette tells Alya“
Each and every one of those were mine, because I knew that whether Season 4 had a proper chronological order or not, the writers would not have the guts to develop Alya first and then have Marinette tell her in a future episode after Alya has properly earned it.
I knew that they wouldn’t take time to develop Alya. I knew that they would have Alya resist Shadow Moth to make Alya look “worthy” of the secret. I knew that Alya would swoop in during the last minute and a half of an episode, insisting that Marinette “didn’t have to tell her anything” when Alya had been pushy and insistent for the entire rest of the episode and the whole series in general, and would ultimately be rewarded with the big secret simply because she’s “the best friend” and that’s it.
The Alya at the end of the episode isn’t the Alya I’ve known for the entire rest of the series before this, or at the very least they turned her into an Alya I don’t recognize.
Alya claims during the ending scene that she knows that Marinette is hiding something beyond her love problems because she - as a reporter and “her best friend” - can sense such things, and all I’m left wondering is
w h e r e ?
Where and when has Alya been suspicious or worried about Marinette keeping a secret from her? What, back in “The Pharoah” where she didn’t immediately disregard Marinette for the role of Ladybug, or “Simon Says” where she vaguely teased Marinette about having a double life, both Season 1 episodes?
Where was Alya in “Truth” saying that she didn’t know Marinette’s secret but knew that she was keeping one? Where was Alya anywhere in Season 3 being concerned that Marinette hasn’t told her something? Where was this “supposedly very observant” Alya when Marinette needed her to out Lila because Lila got her expelled--oh wait, Alya “observed” that Lila did nothing and Marinette was just jealous.
What, is it only now that Alya suddenly “knows” that Marinette is hiding something else? Now, after Alya has already not known that Marinette was literally dating someone, even when Alya had multiples pictures of Marinette and said someone giving each other heart eyes and saw Marinette leaving school with said someone riding on the same bike together, you know, like normal, typical, average friends would?
Where’s the line where Alya acknowledges the problem? Where’s Alya sitting down with Marinette and admitting, “hey, I’m sorry I haven’t noticed this stuff, but I promise I’ll do better starting right now, and that’s how I know now that you’re hiding something else, and I’m sorry it took me so long to realize that it’s been hurting you”?
I can’t tell you where it is, but I can say that it’s certainly not in this episode. 60% of the episode features the Alya we knew from the rest of the series and then switches her out the second she’s de-akumatized for another Alya who hasn’t done anything that the old one has because she pretends like it didn’t happen.
You know how I know? Because of this absolute gut punch of a line that showed that the series wanted to handwave everything away.
“I know how to keep a secret.”
...Really? Does she now? Well, I hope everyone remembered my point about “Animan” and “The Puppeteer 2,” because I’m bringing it right back.
Considering that “Truth” has been burned into all of our memories, we all definitely remember when Truth shoots Alya and questions her on Marinette’s secret, to which Alya states that Marinette’s secret is, “She’s in love with Adrien Agreste.” Now, at the time of Season 4′s airing, this is very much not a secret, as most characters already knew about Marinette’s crush, to the point where it’d been broadcast on television during Season 2.
But do you know when it was actually a secret? Back in Season 1, specifically in the episode “Animan” where Alya told Nino.
And not only did she tell Nino, but she lied to Marinette by claiming that she didn’t, acting as if Nino knew that Marinette had a crush but didn’t know who she was crushing on, which is then directly proven false as Nino accidentally implies that he does know who it is. This is also after Alya had gotten on Marinette’s case for trying to set her up with Nino, and then she had the gall to say that she wouldn’t spill Marinette’s secret because she, and I quote, “doesn't go around making decisions for other people,“ a statement that is directly contradicted by this little thing known as everything Alya has ever said and done in the entire series.
And while Marinette meddling in Alya’s love life actually ended up working out for Alya, Alya meddling in Marinette’s by telling Nino who Marinette is crushing on comes back to bite Marinette - not Alya (because of course) - in the infamous episode of “The Puppeteer 2,” where Marinette realizes that Alya really did tell Nino that she was crushing on Adrien.
Marinette: You told me you wouldn't tell Nino!
Alya: I haven't told him. Right, Nino? I didn't tell you anything. (elbows him)
Nino: She didn't tell me. And besides, I told her I wouldn't tell.
Then, when she’s called out on it, Alya lies again, and shamelessly so.
Marinette: Why did you tell Nino everything? You promised you wouldn't!
Alya: I didn't, I swear! Besides, even if I had told him everything, he would still be clueless. Ugh, who cares anyway? I've set everything up with Nino, who doesn't know a thing, so you can finally pour your heart out to Adrien, girl!
And now, here we are one season later - and not even half of a season if you go by production code order - and Alya claims that she knows how to keep a secret.
No. No, she does not. In fact, she does even worse because she won’t even admit when she’s spilled said secret. I absolutely refuse to accept that Alya is “worthy” or “deserving” of learning that Marinette is Ladybug when she couldn’t even keep a basic secret like who her friend was crushing on.
And no, it didn’t matter that Nino was her boyfriend, or that maybe she thought it would work out because Nino was friends with Adrien. By that logic, Alya would tell Adrien that Marinette is Ladybug if she heard that Ladybug is who Adrien was crushing on and we all know how that would’ve gone.
Marinette has a right to tell her secret to whoever she wants and I’m glad that a burden has been lifted from her, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy that it’s Alya. That doesn’t mean I have to be happy that, after so many moments of Alya disrespecting Marinette’s feelings, she is the one who gets to hear the big secret that the fandom has been waiting for someone to find out about since the very start of the series.
Luka said it best in “Truth” that the truth is meant to be shared, not taken by force, but Marinette was forced to tell Alya by the narrative because Alya is her supposed “best friend.” It pushed Marinette to her breaking point, forced her to break up with the guy who has respected her agency and feelings since the day they met, and gave her a version of her “best friend” with the same name and face but with none of the responsibility from previous events so that said version was there at the right time and the right place to hear what had to be heard.
And in the end, I end up feeling nothing. Marinette doesn’t even have a “Marinette” reaction to saying it as one would expect; for her to blurt it out and then immediately start panicking until Alya hugs her to calm her down. Instead, Marinette just says it and stares silently at Alya - after blabbing this huge, very big deal of a secret - until Alya goes in for a hug (the “happy/hopeful” ending of which is why I feel like this episode also gets less flak, as the previous two ended off rather depressing/upsetting).
It’s off. Everything is off. The pacing, the delivery, and the logic that the episode uses. The emotion in Marinette’s voice when she’s rambling about how hard it is to keep her secret is so powerful, but then the ending hits and she just says it, breaking the momentum they had going. They pulled the card of Alya walking away too soon when they could’ve saved it, having Marinette go quiet and letting Alya take a few steps away in order to let the moment build before Marinette finally blurts out the secret she’s been painfully holding in.
But they didn’t, and I’m so many levels of dissatisfied. I wasn’t against the idea of Alya learning Marinette’s secret at some point (though honestly, Alix would’ve been a better pick considering that Bunnyx will know eventually anyway, and I say that not even liking Alix!), but not now; not when Alya had so much to work towards.
And now what? What happens now? Now Alya will turn against Lila, not because she learned to have faith and believe in Marinette, but because Marinette is Ladybug, which disproves Lila’s ultimate lie that got Alya’s attention in the first place? Now Alya will be supportive and less teasing/mocking whenever Marinette will be late, not because she understands that Marinette isn’t perfect and has so many other things on her mind, but because she’s Ladybug and has “hero stuff” to take care of? Now Alya will be careful about what she puts on the LadyBlog, not because she respected Ladybug and what Ladybug would want, but because Ladybug is now her best friend and that changes everything?
Because now, Alya has a free pass to all of that, the show making her spontaneously “developed” now so they won’t have to develop her later, and disappointing doesn’t even begin to describe it.
#category: salt#episode: Gang of Secrets#other: ml spoilers#category: long post#word count: over 7000#other: ask and answer#((I know this is long so I did what I did in ''The Puppeteer 2'' where I had pictures to break it up.))
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Here are my initial thoughts on ep 502:
The helicopter rescue has the heart transplant at its emotional core. I love the team effort to save the pilot and medic, and especially the heart. We know that the heart/transplant is parallel to Eddie’s storyline. He needs to connect with his own heart/feelings. The way the rescue went down lends fuel to my theory that Bobby and of course Buck will be important to that process. I originally talked about that here.
This episode takes place in a blackout. The metaphor basically indicates that there are things the audience and/or the characters can’t see very clearly. I think it’s meaningful that in that context, Buck (and Eddie) go fix the generators at the hospital (so that the transplant surgery can get started), and Buck is the “Power Czar”. Seems to me that Buck is going to be instrumental in shining light on matters of the heart for Eddie throughout the season (and we see the start of that in this very episode when Buck calls Eddie out for “pretending” and initiates the conversation with Eddie about the panic attack.
When Ana and Chris came to the firehouse and we all saw what we saw, I expired. I mean just wow. Eddie and Buck both greet/give Chris big hugs, smiling from ear to ear as each has his turn hugging their son. Ana is background noise for both of them in this scene! Buck barely looks at her during the scene, his eyes are glued to Eddie, especially when his mini-panic attack starts over Ravi mistaking Ana for his wife. Then, bonus round: Ravi was conscripted into Ana Management while Eddie literally ran for the hills with Buck looking on with that Confused Husband Needs Answers Now headline of a face.
The firetruck zoo conversation was beautiful. It felt like (further) confirmation that they have a life together already. Eddie explained that Buck takes Chris to the zoo so much that he has the animals memorized. Eddie is beaming! Absolutely radiant while explaining this to the team. Where everyone else looks mildly annoyed with Buck, Eddie’s joyful and really in sync with Buck. We also can’t ignore the fact that 501 did a small callback to the tsunami via the false text notification that Buck received AND in 303 (the end of the tsunami arc) Eddie suggested Buck take Chris to the zoo. The zoo stuff in this opening s5 arc is a callback to that. Again linking Eddie Buck and Chris strongly and emotionally. Buck took the zoo rec to heart and now we know those boys practically live there, and whether Eddie goes with them every time or not, i just know that he hears all about the zoo from both Buck and Chris after every trip. Y’all that fire truck zoo convo warmed my cold dead heart and I’m alive because of that scene.
Then we have the panic attack heart to heart between Buck and Eddie. Send help immediately bc I’m ending rn. Y’all…Eddie pretending loudly, Buck’s persistence, Eddie’s initial resistance and then opening up abt Ana and the panic attack, Buck’s hard truths for Eddie encouraging him to be honest with himself AND Ana bc he knows what it’s like to be emotionally abandoned in a seemingly committed relationship. Then he wraps it all up with The Line: “well, go to sleep. You don’t need to decide right now. It’s not like we’re going home anytime soon”. That screamed subtext and hopefully foreshadowing to me! It’s like “fine then ignore your feelings for now but the longer you take to choose me the longer we have to wait to be an official romantic couple”
Also Home is a whole ass theme for Buddie. In 303 we get a whole song (Photograph) and voiceover (from Buck) about it. I talked abt that among other things here. It’s also mentioned or implied in other episodes with those two. 408 comes to mind on that front.
It really does look more and more like we will get canon Buddie. I’m trying to keep my hopes in check but it’s not working. At this point if tptb drop me on my stupid clown head I’m writing Tim a strongly worded letter.
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in all sincerity, kim dokja makes me happy and he deserves to be so too :^(
incoherent yelling and sobbing under the cut. these fEELINGS will not be contained aaauuunnghhh.
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anyway i binge-read all 500+ chapters of ORV this week and i honest to god feel bad for this -- completely! fictional! aghhhh -- guy. in case you haven’t figured it out, the following is some spoilerly shit
i went in expecting a fun, brainless power trip fantasy for dudes with an isekai addiction. instead, it turns out ORV is actually a gigantic, self-deprecating prank on the entire genre itself. kdj plays more into the sad -- if high-functioning-- clown trope than the sexy, edgy, chuuni bastard type i was prepared to laugh at. there were -- gasp! -- female characters with personalities! parents (aka ADULTS who act like ADULTS) who actually survive and feature prominently! adorable children! a real sexy, edgy bastard! a power trio with amazing fashion! sexual tension and bickering! friendship! life and death bonding!
*breathes in deeply* fouND FAMILYYYYYYY.
like, yeah, the plot around the first few arcs seems a little aimless, but the buildup is worth. the world-building is pretty decent. there’s discernible effort put into the fight scenes, and i can appreciate that. but -- but! what i stayed for were the characters -- namely, the fantastic OT3 of KDJ, HSY, and YJH -- who come together despite their initial rivalries and end up saving each other’s asses, like, every other day. granted, the other characters don’t get as much focus, and they do fall into certain character tropes..
but a trope done well is nothing i would gripe about. every significant character in ORV has a coherent, and more importantly, respectful take on their respective trope. maybe it’s because sing-shong is actually a married couple, but all the interactions between even minor characters are a convincing blend of awkward rambling, suggestive humor, sharp remarks, and casual banter. in other words, this cast of mostly working adults (plus a teen and two kids) talks like working adults. the relationships built throughout the story are, frankly, some of most realistic of its genre. sing-shong has managed to craft a dynamic that undoubtedly brims with fluffy fondness all around, but also drips with sarcastic tension, with unspoken urgency, with a wariness that softens into sincerity over the course of many, many chapters. it’s the kind of progression that makes even stock characters read like more than just the 2-bit villain or comrade or love interest. here, we have relationships both straightforward and not, strained or otherwise, romantically-oriented as well as decidedly the opposite -- and then numerous others scattered along the spectrum with the freedom to shift either way.
it’s also an interesting point of note that our MC kdj actually does not end up with a stated romantic partner, much less a conventional heteroromantic harem. he gets teased about that fact from time to time, but it’s with less of the sleazy shonen locker room humor one would expect and more of the good-natured ribbing you’d find among friends or that one especially nosy auntie at the yearly family reunion. kdj is a grown ass man. in the background, i applaud his maturity, and he handles all the prodding like a champ.
so instead of finding and fulfilling his horny, he builds himself a wealth of loving family. yeah, there are beautiful men and women around him. yeah, they unequivocally adore him. but they’re also adults, and they have priorities, too -- which are not so much finding a way to bang kdj’s brains out and more so simply keeping the damn guy alive. this is truly not ‘oblivious mc with his thirsty, sex kitten harem’. it just so happens that a guy proves himself to be unflinchingly gentle and capable in an apocalyptic setting despite his broken self-esteem, and lots of people find that attractive, romantically and platonically.
it.. kinda makes sense? he’s a hard worker, thoughtful, and good with kids. kdj is the kind of guy you know would make a reliable partner, and anybody with eyes can plainly see and appreciate that.
and it’s not that our MC’s a total brick wall. in fact, it’s likely the opposite, and he’s just too darned repressed to admit it. from what has been implied, kdj does indeed recognize and accept love, or at least a primitive concept of it. i like to imagine that the kind of love that he ends up seeking out simply manifests itself more easily as acceptance and safety, as warmth and a home of people to return to every day. even better, the people who surround him know this, and they give him exactly that. it’s refreshing, and honestly, really sweet.
(as a side note, i really, really do appreciate the cosmic bi energy radiating off of kdj, who canonically earns the title of being loved by all and is all but in name married to yjh and hsy. he also respects women and small children and honestly anyone who isn’t total scum to him or his family. i respect that.)
but the happy stuff aside, you know it it just ain’t ORV without the generous screaming dollop of angst. admittedly, there’s self-sacrifice, injury, lonesome wandering, more sacrifice, some epic fighting, reunion and confrontation. all of it is a lot to digest, sure, but never does it feel entirely hopeless, or truly, truly heart-clenching. ORV, up until the final act, is a mostly light read. you relax in your chair, thinking that nothing beyond this point can disturb you.
yeah fucking right.
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and then the beginning of the end arrives. when the squad finally break through to their ‘ending’, the scene that kind of breaks me is the reveal of the Most Ancient Dream. it ties so much thematically into the little tidbits that we get of kdj’s past, and it though it feels like almost a joke that the source of the goddamn apocalypse is a kid with bruises smeared across his skinny ass body -- it’s such a pathetic picture that it’s kinda poetic, actually. you’re left mystified but somewhat convinced, like a math problem explained halfway through. this.. child.. is a villain somehow, isn’t he?
and then 999th turn uriel speaks up, and she. just. hugs him.
[[You are this universe’s most powerless existence, aren’t you.]]
that. that gets me. kdj’s reaction immediately upon this revelation? absolute murder. seeing him essentially self-destruct upon realizing that all these people he’s surrounded himself with -- some who continuously proclaim their loyalty and affection for him throughout their journey, some who suffered eons of war and loss and trauma because of his existence -- not only forgive his younger self but smother him with unconditional acceptance and love is stifling, is too vulnerable and exposed and he simply can’t cope -- it’s so telling of his true mentality, of his crippling insecurity and crumpled sense of self-worth. kim dokja is a liar, through and through, so much that he fails, or perhaps refuses, to comprehend the veracity of others’ kindness and love towards himself.
by some miracle, the events at the end of the world somehow resolve.. or so it seems. there is a departing train, a liberated team of ex-gods, and a child rousing from his slumber. in the aftermath, i am left shaking. somehow, despite the ending having been (happily?) reached, there’s still another chapter ahead. what is this witchcraft?
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and then ah, yes -- the epilogue arc. i teetered on the edge of being critical for a little bit there -- is that display of deus ex machina, of sad, self-sacrificing nobility a bit too egregious to be acceptable? is this some wild last let-me-yank-this-outta-my-ass plot twist to drag out the chapter count? i sincerely thought that the arc before it would have been the finale. i was wrong. thank god.
anyways, as an answer to the above: no, and no. i stake my firm claim on the belief that the epilogue arc was meticulously planned out well in advance of its release, confusing and time-warpy as it is. i liked it. tremendously. even if it entirely invalidates all of kdj’s supposed development (”haha lol yeah sure i won’t sacrifice myself or anything anymore guys don’t worry about me” -- KDJ, at some point because he’s a lying rat bastard). actually, our beloved MC disappears for a large chunk of this arc, and i think it’s great. in his absence, the other characters not only go absolutely fucking nuts, but they have to figure out this new problem on their own, even if the lure of peaceful complacency in the newly saved Korea might convince them otherwise.
and then the whole time paradox thing comes around. yjh goes to space, hsy saves the only life she can, and kdj grows up. the crew waits, holding onto their hope even if it bleeds them dry. sing-shong does a damn good job of illustrating their fraying calm, their lurking madness, the unseen but pervasive depression that seeps in from kdj’s absence. the kids lose their father, lhs and jhw lose their reliable leader figure, ysa loses a best friend and confidant, lsk -- as distant as she pretends to be from her son -- loses her only child. and then there’s hsy and yjh , who are essentially bereft of the other half of their existences. their pain is palpable, is grounded in the hopeless, gnawing frustration of an utterly meaningless victory. emotionally, ORV hits all the right -- if agonizing -- beats.
however, a story can’t sustain itself just through its pathos. i’m happy to say that ORV doesn’t drop the ball after the first milestone, and after all the hurt, the characters do leap straight back into action. even better, the plot holes actually do get patches, and the poetic cycle of writer, protagonist, and reader comes full circle by making use of all those supposedly throwaway characters from the myriad world lines.
at the end of the road, there is a distinct sense of unity, of a delicate but undeniable cohesion to the world lines and their origins. sing-shong lets us guess a little here at the finish, but there’s just enough information to feel hopeful. maybe there never had been a definite start -- or finish -- to the story of kdj company, and... that’s okay. everybody ends up where they were meant to be, where they fought and struggled to reach. it’s.. almost like a happily ever after, if we’re allowed to dream of that.
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now, i realize, this was all an orchestrated maneuver.
i’ll take it.
to me, all of this work sounds like someone put some serious thought into this behemoth of a plot. it cements the entire original premise of the story. it suggests -- but never explicitly confirms! -- the possibility that breaking free of the cycle is possible through the exact same system that sustains it. it’s terribly interesting -- and inspirational! with all the dramatic revelations and life-threatening scenarios and the cast’s resigned acceptance of them that essentially make up ORV’s entire mood, there’s still that last hint of rebellious and righteous anger that lights up the whole damn nebula. it’s like the kdj company blasting away at the heavens just to yell into the nether: we’re not looking for the happy end, but the free one. stay alive.
it’s subtle, and yet it’s such an emotional gut punch. i came away with the most ruinous, frustrating, bittersweet sense of longing in ages. i pined. for these fictional darlings. god, i am weak.
so. yeah. ORV is pretty good. flawed, but ambitious and impressively thought out. i’m stoked that the webtoon is making pretty good progress, even if it’ll take an eternity and a half to meet that monstrous chapter count. i’m still gonna follow it. hell yeah.
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(by the way the idea that secretive plotter and co are literally gonna take care of and raise baby kdj and spoil him and be the best friggin family a kid could ever want does things to me. protect him. he’s suffered too much. let at least one worldline’s version of him know happiness. and actually, aLL OF THEM DESERVE DOMESTIC BLISS TOGETHER IN A BIG OL MANSION WITH SUN AND FRESH AIR AND TENDER FAMILY MOMENTS UGH)
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and there you have it, folks. you made it to the end. in the far, far distance, i’m cheering you on and crying my eyes out in gratitude. thanks for tuning in!
#omniscient reader#orv#omniscient reader's viewpoint#kim dokja#fanart#kdj happiness rights!#protect him!#let! him! have his big house! with everyone! he loves!#please!#long ass emotional screeching#look i can't do him justice with drawing but hell can i yell out my love for him :'^DD
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Hi, since you seem more positive/excited about the triangle possibility than a fair amount of people, can you talk more about why? I fall into "the not thrilled about the possibility, but have a little hope it could result in some good moments" group and would love some more reasons to not dread it. Thanks! And love your writing and love reading your tags :)
hey anon!! i am v sorry you are not thrilled and am always happy to shriek nonsense about why i’m excited (though idk how much it will help bc the tl;dr is more or less i’m hype for a triangle bc i am an incredibly messy bench who lives for drama and if you are not a similarly messy bench, ymmv)
don’t get me wrong, i super understand the trepidation, pop culture is LITTERED with absolute shite examples of love triangles but here is an incomplete list of reasons i personally think beth and rio are the perfect kind of disaster to set up a spectacular love triangle:
the existence of a triangle implies there are FEELINGS at the various points
the use of the descriptor "romantic" applied to said triangle implies ROMANTIC feelings
i am a simple woman and my pulse has already picked up
one of my absolute most favorite things about the toxic stew that is beth and rio is how completely balls to the wall obsessed they are with having and holding each other’s attention and focus
like straight up possessive nightmare people
now imagine wedging an actual rival for one or the other’s attention between the two of them
(something we have not reeeeeally seen before, 206 withstanding and i’ll come back to that, bc lbr beth doesn’t give a fck about dean and rio’s known that for sure ever since he walked LITERALLY RIGHT PAST THE GUY to rail his wife in a public bathroom at her invitation)
(the 204 proximity point has nothing to do with this list it’s just a source of endless delight and that was enough for me to justify adding it)
where was i
mmmmm feelings, possessive nightmares, OH RIGHT
they are also nightmares in the sense that it appears to be physically impossible for them to use their words with each other unless it’s like, ripped out of them which means they’re sitting on ALL THE BAGGAGE between them and it’s just stewing and boiling and
wait, let me back up
look, i want brio sex as bad as the next person
but even more than brio sex? i want them to fight
i mean like, Fight fight
i want the kind of knockdown drag-out brawl that brings Stuff to the surface and leaves them with a bunch of nasty, ragged, pieces dragged out into the light bc lbr they’ve both done some incredibly awful things to each other
(kind of like what 213 was looking like before it all went to shit tbh)
(i’m just saying, beth saying you put it all on me with that kind of jagged, disbelieving betrayal behind it? my catnip)
(it’s up there with rio at the picnic table in 306 telling her that ship sailed when she put three slugs in him)
i live for them being raw and honest and emotional okay
IF ONLY THEY COULD BOTH DO IT AT THE SAME TIME
bc here’s the thing, for the magnitude of horrifying shit between the two of them? i (personally) think that they like it because they are so! twisted! when it comes to each other and i love that for me, specifically
like no seriously a huge part of what i love about the ship is that whole i see your monster and it looks like mine thing they’ve got going on when they let themselves and i am full on foaming at the mouth feral at the thought of them leaning into that
i’m sorry i’ve lost the thread again
wait no that was the thread
okay so basically they’re both ticking time bombs of smothered angst and rage who are absolutely incapable of being normal about each other but are also keeping all of that locked tf down and the only time we ever really see it come out is when one o them is too emotionally overwhelmed to keep their iron grip
you know what brings emotions to the surface?
TRIANGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!
CAN YOU IMAGINE THE SEETHING MESS OF EMOTION THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BRING TO THE SURFACE??????
AND HOW UTTERLY UNEQUIPPED EITHER ONE OF THEM WOULD BE TO DEAL WITH ANY OF IT????????
AND HOW SIDEWAYS IT COULD EXPLODE???????????
like don’t get me wrong there is absolutely no way it’s gonna be pretty but i didn’t get on this busted ass carnival ride expecting nice things, i am in this to feEl stuFf and nothing makes me feel stuff more than seeing the two of them feel stuff and this is perfect set up for that
you know how they say the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference?
you know what’s not indifference? big messy emotions
but okay okay okay i am icarus and the sun looms large, lets say they don’t fight, that doesn’t mean they’re not gonna feEl stuFf on their own
do you remember beth’s face in the van when rio hugged dylan??? do you?????
and what did she do after that? went out and robbed him blind and held his shit hostage until he caved in what is one of my top 10 of all of their scenes
and god, idk if we’ve really seen rio really get jealous of attention lavished on beth yet but when i think about it i want it so bad my teeth hurt
and i know i’m not alone here bc i have i think 3 jealous!rio prompts in my inbox rn
(i’m not saying i’m working on it but i’m also not not saying it)
god i just
can you imagine how much fun it could be to watch rio seethe over having to watch someone else be into beth
WHAT WOULD HE DO?????????
ESP IF HE COULDNT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT DIRECTLY BC ITS SOMEONE HE CAN’T INTERFERE WITH
oh christ and if beth responded to it??????????
oh gOD thE mESS
idk even if it doesn’t lead to a confrontation (but i feel like??? it would have to????) just the idea of the kinds of feelings they’d have to grapple with and confront within themselves is D E L I C I O U S
also, to jump back to an earlier point: brio sex
i know some people are feeling like the sexy chemistry between beth and rio is lacking this season
you know what’s great for chemistry? fuel
you know what provides great fuel? messy emotional situations that tug at intimate connections and make people feel out of control
you know what’s a messy emotional situation that tugs at intimate connections and make people feel out of control?
you probably guessed it
A TRIANGLE
(and we know that neither of them does well with feeling out of control period at all even without the intimate emotional stuff mixed in so like oh boy)
listen i am just saying given where they’re currently at with each other i cannot think of any situation more ripe for an explosive hook up than one or both of them feeling driven to reassert their claim/mark on the other
would it be nice? no, probably not
would i care? not even a little bit
(don’t you judge like any of y’all are any better than me)
look. to quote marie kondo horrifically out of context: i love mess and the mess potential in a romantic love triangle with beth and rio as two of the three points is stratospherically high.
#i hope this helps! or makes sense!#beth x rio#nbc good girls#in defense of love triangles#(a thing i never thought i'd tag tbh)#also while this is probs not a popular stance and debatably helpful#it's worth mentioning that the stakes of this are at the end of the day not very high#it's a tv show#i'm here to enjoy myself and when i stop enjoying myself i'll walk away#i'd be sad sure#but life's too short to put this much energy into something that does not spark joy#so idk remembering that makes it easier to not get that worked up#i lean into what i love and know that i can bounce if it doesn't deliver#shut up meg#anon
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Are any of the Burns LGBTQA?
Hello, Transformers fans. Today’s topic is a question raised by the fabulous @petrichornial and considering that LGBTQA fanfiction is very popular in the Transformers lore, it does raise the question if any of the characters in Rescue Bots officially are. Before I get into my honest, respectful analysis, I want to make things crystal clear;
I think the concept of being LGBTQA being sin is not only ignorant, but also false. If the Lord had a problem with them, he wouldn’t keep putting them on this Earth. His concern is if we are good and the fact that LGBTQA people are capable of love is proof of goodness.
This is not an attack on slash fanfiction. Just because something isn’t or most likely isn’t true doesn’t mean you can’t have fun in your own AU fanfic. With that said, anyone who uses this article here as an attack on other fans who write slash fanfiction involving the Burns will be reported by me first. Yes, some slash fanfiction has unhealthy and sometimes, criminal undertones, but most doesn’t and most fans of it are harmless, so just leave them alone if you don’t like what they write.
Anyway, I will start by saying that I am absolutely sure that none of the Burns including uncle Woodrow are transgender, genderfluid or non-binary. We have seen them show enough skin to be able to tell that they are all born with the genders they identify as and there is no talk or scenes of them taking anything transgender people who have undergone surgery would still need. Also, none of them identify with the “they/them” pronoun. Each one of them identifies as “he/him” or “she/her” and consistently only identifies that way. So all this evidence tells us that none of them are non-binary or genderfluid and I am very sure none of them are transgender or intersex.
Now, we get into the gray area which is orientation and to do this analysis properly, I will observe each family member individually. First up is the head of the household and the star Chief Charlie Burns.
Charlie Burns has only shown a romantic interest in women as he was at one time married to a woman and he even got involved with a nurse during the course of the series, so he most definitely likes women. He is also very progressive as well as open minded as he welcomed aliens into his home and grew to love them as family, his best friend Doc Greene is black and he always shown kindness to everyone regardless of who or what they are. He is also confident enough to be openly in tuned with his masculine and feminine as he loves to wear that apron that has the torso of a woman in bikini on it. However, if he is so obvious about who is and has the confidence to put it on display this blatantly, I think it is very likely that he is straight as he has only shown a romantic interest in women and if he also had one in men, we would know by now. While I have no doubt that he would be very accepting if any of his kids, friends or relatives were gay/lesbian/bisexual, he is clearly not gay or bisexual himself. He is straight though clearly not narrow.
Next up is Kade Burns who we know for sure isn’t gay at least because he most certainly and shamelessly is head over heels for Hayley. Despite not being the sharpest tool in the shed or handling romance with an outdated approach, it is clear as day that his feelings towards Hayley are deep and he values what they have no matter how many times he fumbles. So he is most certainly not gay. With that all said, there is a small fraction of a chance that he might be bisexual or pansexual. While he has never shown a romantic interest in anyone who was not a woman or just not Hayley, the possibility is there and knowing how macho and insecure Kade can be, he would be in the closet about it in the beginning.
Then we have Dani Burns who like Kade, cannot be a homosexual because she had a very real relationship with Taylor despite it being complicated and at times, on the verge of not working out. She clearly can be attracted to men so she is not a lesbian. However, like her older brother, it is possible that maybe she is bisexual or pansexual, though if she was, she would be open about it because Dani is a lot like their father Charlie. She is open and proud about who she is, so if she does swing either of those ways and we just did not get the chance to see it, she would not hide it.
Next up is the heroic nerd Graham who like the others listed so far is also not a homosexual because he too has been in a romantic relationship with someone of the opposite gender who might add is also a great match for him: Amy. So that puts that to rest. Like Kade and Dani, it is possible that he is bisexual or pansexual, but we never got a chance to see it. If he did swing either way, like Dani, he would most likely be open about it simply because Graham is pretty easy going about what he is for the most part.
Now, the wild cards start coming out. When it comes to orientation, Cody Burns is a blank slate because he’s just a child. He is not romantically aware yet altogether, so the idea of dating or kissing anyone disgusts him in general. Also, his relationship with Frankie Greene is clearly just them being best friends and it is heavily implied in the series that it will never be anything beyond that. However, I recall that in one episode where he was physically aged into an adult, he displayed disgust when Hayley kissed him. It could simply be that he still had the mind and emotionally maturity of a little boy so romantic gestures would be off putting to him. Mind you, it could have been a sign that he could be or rather, will turn out to be gay or asexual when he matures. In Rescue Bot Academy, Cody is a teenager and has no interest in girls or romance in general which backs up the possibility that he might be asexual. Or like me (I’m straight if you’re curious), he is simply a late bloomer when it comes to being romantically aware and will not show in interest in relationships until his adult years. In short, Cody is to officially be determined, but there are some possible flags that hint that he just might be asexual or gay. Like I said though, these are just possible little flags and officially, he’s still just a blank slate.
Lastly, we have Woodrow who we know for sure is single, always has been and remains so throughout the series’ run while showing no romantic interest to anyone altogether nor does he ever bring up ever having had a crush, ex or dream significant other. While it is never officially confirmed, evidence suggests that Woodrow is most likely asexual. It is possible that he can be something else on the list yet isn’t interested in a long term relationship, but if I had to wager, I would go with him being asexual.
And that concludes my analysis. Overall, the possibility of any of the Burns family being LGBTQA+ is there, but in very specific ways and when it comes to Charlie, the evidence suggests that he is as straight as they come. I hope my analysis was fair and respectful. Like I said, I could be wrong, but I am just going by the facts that I have before me.
Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think of this theory. And please, have a good day and stay safe.
PS: Support LGBTQA+ rights. Like I mentioned before, if you have the capacity for love, that alone is proof of goodness within and this group is not the exception. They merit just as much kindness, respect and decency as any other people do.
#lgbtqa#gay#lesbian#bisexual#pansexual#asexual#respect#kindness#gay rights#straight#homosexual#heterosexual#rescue bots#transformers fandom#transformers fanfiction#transformers rescue bots#transformers rescue bots academy#cody burns#charlie burns#woodrow burns#kade burns#dani burns#graham burns
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what do you make of Eliot's pre-show reputation for working alone? it makes sense for Parker and Hardison, who've always worked that way, but Eliot has a history of working as part of a team in various contexts
Yeah, it's definitely interesting! Really, Sophie never gets that label of 'always working alone' (and in fact later we see her bringing in Tara, which supports that she has friendly contacts still). It's just Parker, Hardison, and Eliot. And like you said, it makes complete sense for Parker, and even Hardison's hacking is just typically more suited to be done alone even if he is a social guy on a personal level. Eliot is different, given his history.
One thing I noticed a while ago, which is also interesting, is that Eliot's job by its very nature depends on other people. Sophie, Parker, and Hardison all steal what they want - as retrieval specialist, Eliot had to be hired. That's not to say he never just took something he wanted, necessarily, but his role majorly depended on people a) knowing of him in the first place, b) trusting his reputation enough to hire him, and c) being able to get in touch with him to hire him. I highly doubt he was handing out business cards left and right, so he had to have a network of contacts to at the very least pass his name along as an 'I know just the guy for the job' kind of thing. In fact, we see him bring in a friend on a con early in S1, and he is in contact with/does jobs for old military contacts throughout the show. (Once again, in the first episode Parker and Hardison were successfully recruited for someone else’s job, so it's not like that never happened for the others. But the general trend was that they picked their own heists; Eliot was hired on by other people.)
So we have a guy here who has a history of working on teams, a reputation as a loner, and yet still actively works for people who he has to keep on good enough terms to keep hiring him. How did that happen? In my opinion, it all comes back to Damien Moreau.
Eliot's timeline goes through some distinct phases:
Rural teen with a relatively poor family, I think they mention he played football; very all-American.
Joined the army with "a flag on his shoulder and God in his heart" or however that quote went.
Highly trained military operative involved in very classified operations.
Working for Damien Moreau.
Working solo as a retrieval specialist.
Leverage.
It's easy to track him through 1-3. He was recruited into the army with promises of heroism and glory, excelled at what he did, was eventually disillusioned. Getting from there to Moreau is a bit more of a jump, and likely didn't happen immediately. Given how protective Eliot gets over people he's working with, and how vigorously he hates betrayals of trust from his team, I think it's not unreasonable to assume that part of the reason he left the army had to do with whatever unit he was in getting very hurt. Likely in a way that made him feel he failed to protect them; maybe he was the only one who made it out of one specific situation. Maybe just a bunch of people he worked with got whittled down, or maybe it wasn't anything so deadly but he saw how little their lives mattered in the grand scheme of those in charge, saw how amoral the missions he was given were, and it was more of a gradual slide into illegality. There's also the detail that as he got into more and more classified work, he might be less and less likely to have a large group of people he could talk to/be a regular team with. Either way, I think Moreau didn't completely hire him straight out of the army, but there probably wasn't a tremendously long time between him leaving that group and joining up with Moreau.
*I originally thought Eliot didn't meet Toby until after he left Moreau, but a helpful anon corrected me on that! 'In the French Connection Job he says to Nate "I was out of the service and working for my 2nd PMC", doing wetwork.' He 'should've' killed Toby but instead stayed with him for months, 'learning how to cook and how to feel'. It certainly seems like he had gone some degree of numb after his experiences in the army and even since leaving it. His second private military contract/company... still implies he was working for organizations of some sort, though I get the impression he wasn't sticking around for terribly long times. Still, even if he then works solo retrieval type gigs for a while, I don't think he was nearly as insistent on working alone/had such a clear reputation about it, not yet.
Eliot no longer believed that he was doing good. He'd lost his naive patriotism and seems to have lost his religion for the most part as well. He didn't trust the system, but for the most part he still seemed to have faith in individuals. He still kept in touch with some old colleagues, he'd learned from Toby; he still wanted to be a part of something, even if that something couldn't be the US Army. He's a self-motivated criminal now but he still isn't averse to working with others.
Then comes Damien Moreau. Whether you read their relationship as romantic or not, it was undeniably important and personal. They knew one another well. Damien even still liked Eliot years after he'd left. There's good evidence for them having an emotionally abusive relationship where Moreau took advantage of Eliot's tendency to do things for those he cares about (I reblogged a great meta on this a little while ago). But essentially what we see here is that in all his time working for Moreau, no one else made such a strong impression on Eliot. Moreau definitely seems the type to play favorites and emotionally distance Eliot from other goons - Eliot isn't just another goon after all, he's the best. He's worthy of Damien's time and attention and specific assignments that only Eliot can be trusted to get done right. Whatever process of estrangement Eliot's superior skills may have begun, Moreau quickened until there was only one person who was the most important to him. Eliot didn't just work for him as a part of some vast criminal network by the end - no, he worked directly for and with Moreau himself. He was part of a team of two for all intents and purposes, regardless of how often he may have cooperated with others on specific jobs (though I suspect that got less frequent over time as well).
And when Eliot realized how deep he'd gotten, how terrible he'd become? He left, and left Damien Moreau specifically behind. Maybe he took a break for a while, went underground... it certainly doesn't seem like he had a conversation with Moreau and resigned so much as he just ran. And when he returned it was as a solo act. What this tells me is that not only did his time with Moreau break Eliot's trust in himself, it broke his ability to trust others. Not everyone necessarily, but in a working capacity. It probably was not the first time he'd experienced betrayal (in some form or another, his time in the army definitely qualified) but it was the most personal. Eliot trusted and liked Moreau - and he did the worst things in his entire life for him.
He couldn't repeat that. He couldn't leave himself open to getting sucked in like that again. And what's more, at this point he really didn't need to. His skills were such that he could get the job done himself (and had perhaps even honed those more solo skills while working for Moreau), and doing so meant that he never had to leave himself vulnerable to someone else like that again. He didn't have to be responsible for someone else getting hurt, and he didn't have to accept that he'd put someone else in charge of who he hurt. Eliot starts being more careful not to permanently injure or kill people, starts getting more selective with his jobs, and makes it a requirement that he works them alone. He still has to accept jobs from others, yeah, but he has ultimate control over what jobs he does accept, and if he operates purely on a freelance basis without getting too involved with any one client, then he can avoid the emotional entanglement that lead to such horrific loss of judgement in the past. It's hard, because he is naturally drawn to other people... but Eliot thinks that letting no one in is by far the safer option for everyone involved. He still builds relationships with others in order to get his name out, and may do repeat work for certain people, but no one is going to own him anymore. He is good enough that he can afford to set the terms like that; when he keeps getting the job done the word will spread that even alone he is worth the money. Eliot relies only on himself and any relationships he has are necessarily shallow. Professional, brief. This extends even to friendships (that seem to involve infrequent contact for the most part) and romantic relationships (he has plenty of sex but doesn't get emotionally close to anyone, does not fall in love). He is alone - in fact he is emphatically and outspokenly alone, because he doesn't want anyone to get their hooks in him like that ever again.
(*Doing jobs like this also limits the likelihood, especially in the beginning, that he's going to end up working for Moreau again in any real capacity. As time passes and Moreau doesn't attempt to bring him back too hard, that may become less of an issue in his mind, but it could certainly be a perk at least as the start.)
Then of course we eventually come to Leverage. It's been a while since Moreau. Eliot has built a solid reputation for himself - and he is being offered a LOT of money for a job that promises to be fairly quick. At this point, he probably feels like maybe he can trust himself as part of a team again without getting too sucked in - he will just keep it to one job and go his own way afterwards. It'll be fine.
...And then he immediately gets sucked in, bonds right away and wants so badly to stay. But even then, it's because of Nate. Eliot knows Nate, trusts him to be the 'honest man', is certain enough of Nate's moral compass that it's okay to get drawn in if Nate is the one making the plans. If it weren't for him, Eliot would have walked right away. Eliot was never going to allow himself to be ruled by others again... but Nate isn't like any of those people, he is a good man. Eliot can trust him not to lead him into anything too morally wrong, and in fact the work with Leverage is a way to bring some good back into the world. Not redeem himself, that won't ever happen, but under Nate's leadership Eliot can do something good for once. He doesn't want to stop.
By the time he moves past trusting Nate's judgement so much, he already trusts and loves the whole team. Parker and Hardison especially, so now he has to stay to keep them safe... even from Nate's plans sometimes, when he gets drunk and reckless. Eliot is secure in his role as part of a team again - and he probably was very lonely without one for all that time. It's not really in his nature to work alone long-term. And a key difference this time is that everyone else gets just as invested as he, and there's a good balance of power and respect unlike all of the more hierarchical teams he was in before (army, Moreau, they would have clear command structures - hell, even high-school football has a captain and a coach). Nate is nominally in charge but they talk back to him and lead where they have the most expertise. They dedicate themselves to him as much as he to them, they change together. And they change for the better, together.
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so what are your thoughts about bi ty lee? (i don't really have an opinion either way but i think you do a really good job of explaining how your head canons are based in the text so I'm really interested to know why)
oh well this is officially the worst thing you could’ve asked me (affectionate). first off, a headcanon is not the same as doing an analysis imo. i talk about the difference between them here. anyhow!
i think ty lee being sapphic is a given, off the top of my head i can say because 1) i think she’s in love with mai 2) i think using that attraction as an empathy vessel of sorts to figure out azula was attracted to her was a very ty lee-esque move to make 3) she is not attracted to any boys (except one? we’ll get to that) on-screen, and was instead manipulating them into doing what she wanted them to do and toy with azula’s (maybe mai’s?) jealousy a little bit. watching “the beach” it’s safe to assume she behaves and feels that way about every boy she meets — say, she isn’t actually interested in them but the things she can get from them. it’s a fair assumption to make that she was acting like that with sokka when she was flirting with him (in the middle of battle. what an icon) you know, in order to distract him, catch him off-guard, a very ty lee-esque thing to do as well. however the comment towards mai (“was that boy kind of cute” or some shit) still makes me doubt.
now, this reading probably implies ty lee is a lesbian, but this blog is 60% analysis and 40% kinda forced analysis in order to achieve a comedic effect, mainly for me and myself. in other words i think the situation would be a lot funnier if ty lee was genuinely attracted only to sokka, and not any other fratboy from ember island. just plain physical attraction, not even a crush. nothing romantic there. because of all this it implies:
ty lee is indeed in love with mai, given sokka is also mai (sharp things, visibly depressed, dry humour, repression etc etc) in a different, loud expressive font
ty lee is, in theory, a lesbian. but she’s strangely attracted to one (1) singular boy and it’s a nightmare for everyone around them both
as previously discussed, sokka could technically count as lesbian adjacent, in all but gender and sexuality
ty lee saw one (1) man she was actually attracted to and gave absolutely nothing away. she starts out flirting (in the middle of battle!!) with him of course, because she knows her role, nothing out of the ordinary. but then he flirts back (a minimum amount, because he, too, knows his role) and ty lee is... amused? pleased? not absolutely disgusted? weird. chi-block!
the one man ty lee was ever attracted to was just some guy. sure, sokka is the most perfect man and the entire gaang silently agrees on the fact (except sokka himself) but to figure out how deep sokka’s specialness runs you need to stop and analyse it. on the surface he’s just... some guy. the only guy ever ty lee (living GODDESS) is attracted to. it is kinda funny
having in mind that all of this is speculation and not That much backed up by the text, i like to think the fact that sokka was the only boy ty lee was ever genuinely attracted to leaves her very stunned. she concludes that she is technically bi, but emotionally a lesbian. sokka’s reaction can range from confused, weirded out, smug, to absolutely on-board. and that’s where the funny part comes.
this is a non-exhaustive list of people ty lee and sokka would piss off if they made out once in a while for funsies;
zuko, who has a very well-crafted imaginary line inside his brain that separates his friends into the categories aang friends / azula friends, and if they ever touch the universe will simply collapse
azula, who is very hurt and offended by the fact that ty lee would hook up with sokka who is the smarter, kinder, male version of azula and azula’s arch nemesis, but not with azula herself
toph and aang, who, as any twelve-year olds, hate seeing people kissing
mai, who is ty lee’s girlfriend and soulmate. it’s more of a mild annoyance, really. everything that happens between sokka and ty lee is consented by mai, and mai even finds it sort of funny, especially when she can make fun of ty lee for liking... a boy
katara, who reasonably dislikes the vivid image of her brother making out with anyone and espeicially ty lee, who, to be honest, freaks her out a little bit
ty lee, who to this day cannot believe she’s attracted to one boy. not even two or three boys in total, ONE. she often pulls away from sokka mid-makeout session like “i can’t BELIEVE i’m doing this” and sokka is like “yeah well.” and ty lee is like “i can’t believe i’m ENJOYING it” and sokka says “crazy, right?” and then they keep going
and i have so much to say actually. this is not by any means a serious analysis but a very fun scenario. and as there is nothing in the text (in my opinion) that contradicts bisexual ty lee (maybe she’s homoromantic & bisexual??? is that a thing??) i have decided to adopt it as a headcanon of mine. you can take it or leave it!
#i have SOOO many thoughts on sokka ty lee friendship#friends with benefits. friends who make out occasionally#ty lee is actually reluctant sometimes to make out with sokka because she feels they’re breaking zuko’s little heart :(#(they are. sadly)#but all to its time#SO MANY THOUGHTS.......#ty lee#sokka&tylee#lesbian ty lee is probably the most accurrate reading but. i don't care!#bi ty lee has such a potential. 4 me#headcanons#? maybe???#n#asks#i-hate-mayo
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Hey! If you're up for it how about The Fool, The Hierophant, and The Tower for Solomon. And The Moon as a bonus for any character that strikes your fancy!
hell YES i am up for it! i would do the entire thing for Solomon in one go if asked (please don’t ask......let me pace myself lol)
major arcana headcanon requests!
SOLOMON
The Fool - what are your muse’s thoughts on new beginnings? does it frighten them or excite them?
Well, I think Solomon has a different opinion on new beginnings for himself than he does others, first of all. Considering all he’s seen and been through and what role he has in the universe now, it makes sense that he’d hold himself to a different standard.
I think for him, he doesn’t necessarily think there’s even the option? Like, he has stagnated. His power and knowledge grows, sure, but in terms of personal development he’s kind of stuck. (At least, that’s how I think he defaults to seeing himself. Can’t keep the realms under control if you’re distracted by trying to be a better person, you know?) He just has to move forward without any thought to “starting over.” Maybe there’s too many layers to get through to start from the top again. Maybe he can never have a new beginning because he cannot end. Maybe he just forgets to take a personal day and do some self reflection because he’s busy, haha. But I can kind of see him not really...thinking that’s an option for himself. The concept seems like wishful thinking, but if ever given the opportunity he’d definitely have some reservations about whether or not he could make it through the transition. Not scared per se, but...wary.
For others, though, I think Solomon definitely thinks it’s possible, especially for humans. Angels and demons have such a stiff role they have to fulfill, but humans? They can kinda do whatever they want. Even if he feels a bit detached from humanity, he still cares deeply for it (them? us?) and the ability to just decide you’re unhappy and completely reinvent yourself, especially with the little time we have, probably just adds to our charm, you know? It’s probably one of the things he’s jealous of or misses, if he thinks about it
The Hierophant - what are your muse’s morals / ethics? do they follow their moral code strictly?
oh boy, solomon and ethics....
Solomon’s ethics are better off described rather than labeled. If you labeled them, you’d start with “gray” and then you’d get nowhere else. I definitely don’t think he’s amoral, and I don’t think he’s immoral either. It’s very easy to determine a person void of morals or ethics when judging them based on a life where there aren’t many choices that would be “immoral” but necessary. Like, in the average life, the most immoral thing is easy to not do. But considering he’s got, ahem, large responsibilities on his shoulders, there’s probably quite a few times where the best course of action would be horrifying for someone to hear of him doing.
Overall, he prioritizes humanity above all else, along with its longevity and preservation. He definitely has a different internal attitude (at least) when interacting with angels and demons as opposed to humans, a combination of not really feeling as directly responsible for them and also knowing that if he ever is, he would have few to no qualms about giving them the short end of the stick in a situation that would benefit “his team,” if he could manage to pass it by Diavolo or Michael.
I don’t think his internal values change, things like autonomy and equality for all, free pursuit of knowledge, y’know, all the good stuff everybody wants. And in his day-to-day life, he doesn’t seem the type to pass quick judgement or have some inherent unwillingness to compromise. “Morals” and “ethics” seems to imply a more grand scenario, and as the “keeper of humanity” or however he sees himself, he wouldn’t exactly be hesitant or emotionally torn apart by having to hurt somebody if it meant he could protect and support humanity as a whole.
I feel like I spent however many paragraphs being extremely vague and I’m not sure if this makes sense or even says anything of importance, haha...
The Tower - what event drastically changed your muse’s life? do they resent that event or are they glad of it?
Well, I mean, there’s a few obvious answers here. You have his fall from the graces of the heavens, the exchange program, any number of biblical events, his discovery of magic and the path he took to immortality, the fallout with his apprentice....and to be honest, with the exception of the exchange program, i think he is resentful but also glad? He’s the type to see the good and the bad outcomes of the situation. He’s probably made peace with the sentiment that “oh it made me who i am today” but he does have days where he grapples with all he’s lost and must now deal with for practically eternity.
Though, and these aren’t drastic events that shatter him forever (but i think they can be mentioned here), I do think that he takes little pieces of the people he meets and cares about until he becomes a sort of mosiac of the people he loves. Not necessarily romantic love, either. He met a witch who he was close friends with who couldn’t put down cheesy teen romance novels from a specific author, so you can find a few copies of her favorites sandwiched between spellbooks and old archival texts in his room. He isn’t big on self care, but Asmo did teach him a quick and efficient way to wash his face and keep his skin clear. Simeon and Luke gave him an appreciation for finely crafted tea sets. Again, the event i guess would be “making a friend” (which for him very well may be a once in a lifetime kind of deal lol) and isn’t what the question meant, but idk. I think it was worth mentioning here because long-term, it does incorporate into him as a person.
LUCIFER (my other fave <3)
The Moon - what does your muse long for? is it a realistic desire?
Not to be surface-level and cheesy, but I think he longs for him and his brothers to feel like a family. Not that they don’t already, but I think he longs for the way they used to be in the Celestial Realm, how complete they used to feel. In that way, it’s probably the most unrealistic desire. The hole in their family isn’t one that can or even should be filled, and your addition is just that - an addition, not a replacement.
Something that could give him (kind of) what he craves is if he and his brothers could heal. They’re already on the right path, but they’re still all kind of dysfunctional. The complicated part of this is that a lot of their strife is due to the nature of demons, and the wholesome unity is a brand that has never really been found in he Devildom. That’s not to say it’s impossible - the brothers still love each other, they still are loyal to each other, but Lucifer can feel that there is some sort of rift between them that has not yet been fixed that he yearns to solve.
(If you ask me, the “rift” is probably something caused by trying to heal in an environment that will never offer mercy or forgiveness. If the brothers can find solace in each other, maybe that’ll get them a step closer. But sometimes their interactions still feel like walking on eggshells, and...I don’t know. I really do think Lucifer longs for the type of relationship they had when they were angels, and he’s trying to deal with the realization that maybe that type of relationship just isn’t in the cards for a demon.)
#i think maybe this is just me saying a whole lot of something#ask game#lucifer#solomon#obey me#obey me solomon#obey me lucifer#solomon hcs#lucifer hcs#asked and answered#elvishdork#mine#asks
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imma be super honest in that ive been waiting to read Fortnight until its done cuz i would like to keep my heart tyvm- but now im super confused lmao cuz i always thought it was like, established relationship frm the beginning considering the summary but the ad about wwx bein all "bro" implies otherwise xD im actually rlly curious now bcuz i mean. i thought Fortnight was established relationship and that renouncement verse was complicated mutual pining but now i learned Fortnight is the same?
or wait is the difference that in renouncement verse wwx KNOWS he's in love he's just all "lan zhan can do better than me he'll move on at some point im sure" and Fortnight is balls to the wall wwx literally not knowing there are more sexualities than Straight (2/2)
oh look an opportunity to scream about my favorite fic ever *cackles*
To make a long story short, Wangxian aren’t in an established relationship until the end of TMAAF, but it’s not really a case of complicated mutual pining. Wei Wuxian straight up doesn’t jive with the concept of being in love, because he’s still emotionally recovering from the last few years before his death and figuring out his place in a new, changed world while leading Yunmeng Jiang.
However, he and Lan Wangji openly acknowledge each other as soulmates, so WWX is 100% comfortable with sharing a bed with him, giving him hugs and platonic kisses, and otherwise living out all the aspects of married life with him that aren’t explicitly romantic. Like, they won’t kiss on the lips, but Wei Wuxian does write Lan Wangji letters when they’re apart saying how much he misses him and dreams about living with him in Gusu someday, so. They gayyyyyyy (also baby Xiao-Yu is there and they’re coparenting him ;~;)
Twelve Moons and a Fortnight is framed as Wei Wuxian deepening his relationship with the love of his life while going on a journey of healing and self-discovery, so the actual “love declaration” happens at the end even though Wangxian are very obvious with their adoration for each other from the get-go. In particular, Lan Wangji calmly orchestrates an obvious courtship and makes his intentions known every 0.2 seconds, and Wei Wuxian participates eagerly even if he has no idea that that’s what it is. He also doesn’t really have a clue yet that he’s Not Straight, but he will get a clue very soon. ;)
#wangxian#mo dao zu shi#the untamed#this fic is my baby#i cradle each kudo and comment to my heart and cry#twelve moons and a fortnight#asks
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Honestly I have kinda been sleeping on this specific moment from episode four. It is so pretty (I mean just look at the use of light and focus to create such a spellbinding atmosphere) and a lot more emotional than I remember it being. The first part of this scene is honestly quite an underrated moment. I would recommend people to re-watch it. It is very interesting and is beautifully directed.
Jeong Tae-eul becomes quite emotional when seeing Lee Gon in this scene, which does make sense story-wise (and is something which the episode has been building up to). There is some subtle character work going on in episode four. A big part of which is about showing, hinting and implying how Tae-eul is actually feeling about Lee Gon and about how these feelings are developing. In her first scene of the episode she remembers their conversation in the bamboo forest. The moment at which they properly connect for the first time. Later on she also recalls their ‘autumn moment’. Specifically him stating that he saw something beautiful, and she subsequently wonders out loud what that was. Revealing to us that she is a bit oblivious (haha) and that she actually misses him. The important clue being that she specifically thinks about that moment: Lee Gon looking (at her, which she doesn’t realize) with adoration. In addition to the fact that she is curious about what exactly caused him to look (at her) like that (LMH is shot deliberately dreamy in that scene lol). That she actually kinda misses him is further implied by her not letting the mystery which is him go (she even spends time in the library reading about parallel universes). Something I find fascinating with Tae-eul is how her thoughts and emotions are kept slightly inaccessible to the viewer (only being hinted at) at the beginning of the drama, which I suspect is meant to mirror Lee Gon’s ‘access’ to her.
There is something incredibly romantic in Lee Gon’s ‘courtship’ of Tae-eul. Haha I know that might sound a little bit strange but let me explain... There’s several instances of him simply standing in front of her, asking her to spend some time with him and just waiting around for her. The important context to be kept in mind being that he is an actual King, with important duties but also normally with the ‘power’ to have people pay him attention (I’m not talking about coercive power here). He doesn’t have that kind of ‘power’ in the Republic or with her though, something which he admits to actually liking later (ep 7). He is literally powerless in front of Tae-eul. The opening episodes do not only strip him of his powers as King, but he is also penniless (for the most part) and without any connections. He has nothing concrete he can use to ’prove himself’ to Tae-eul (not even an ID-badge). He can only stand in front of her, present himself as he is (without any titles or anything else) and hope she will give him a chance. (I’m not the first person to make these latter observations. See link 1 and 2 below. I highly recommend these metas. They speak of the romantic dimension of this fact: About how Lee Gon is powerless and ‘simply’ a man in love in front of Tae-eul and about how it relates to the development of his identity and his and Tae-eul’s relationship).
It is very telling that a source of annoyance for Tae-eul is that he so adamantly refuses to share his name. She continually brings it up. In the beginning she asks because as a police officer she needs to ID him, but she continues after the fact and is personally incredibly frustrated by his lack of a name. Why? Because when she asks about his name she is really asking about his identity, and she asks about his identity because she wants to get to know him. The fact that he doesn’t share his name becomes a barrier which stands in the way of them truly connecting and is finally resolved in episode five, which also arguably marks the start of their ‘real’ relationship.
When Lee Gon arrives in this scene he tells her he’s there to repay people and to see that she’s alright. He is respecting her boundaries and is not there to make her believe him. It is only when she really asks him about the parallel universe (about her ID-badge) and about him (’does he really have a house?’ etc.) that he actually asks her to come with him to his world. Tae-eul reveals to him that she really wants to know the truth (and that she might really want to know him). As well as that she might now finally be starting to believe him. An important aspect of their dynamic is that they are always honest and straight-forward with each other (even when it makes Lee Gon seem crazy or Tae-eul rude). So because Tae-eul is ’rude’ (honest) and not ‘polite’ Lee Gon can justifiably deduce that she is asking because she genuinely wants to know. Lee Gon also asked in episode two if there might be a reason for Tae-eul helping him, the implied question being if there could be something between them. This question keeps hanging over them in moments such as this, since it went unanswered in the episode (I suspect for that very reason). It could also be read as a hint at Tae-eul’s interest in Lee Gon since she doesn’t simply deny his question outright when he put it to her.
Lee Gon standing in front of Tae-eul (as he does in this scene) is kind of a recurring motif during the drama. It reveals to us how their relationship develops and changes. This moment hints at how Tae-eul’s feelings and opinion of Lee Gon has developed. It is a stark contrast to their first meeting, when she pushed him away. He also walked up to her at that point and hugged her, whereas here he just stands in front of her and waits until she approaches him. The next time this ’motif’ occurs she runs into his arms, as a way of finally responding to his earlier implied question (’Could there be something between them?’). Lee Gon’s apprehensive look at her in the second screenshot is great, revealing that he is a bit worried about her reaction to him being there. He has missed her in the Kingdom but doesn’t know that she has also missed him. This worry and his uncertainty about her feelings for him builds until the climactic moment in episode 6/7 when he returns and admits to worrying that she might not want him to come back for her - and her running towards him and embracing him in response. Again in that moment all he can do is stand in front of her and hope that she will return his feelings. Later (in episode 14) Tae-eul will imagine him standing in front of her when all she can do is stand and wait for him and hope that he will be able to return to her (from his time traveling). The both of them goes through moments of only being able to stand and wait for the other (be it physically or emotionally).
During the course of this scene Lee Gon’s stoic expression changes into apprehension and then relaxes into subtle happiness over seeing her (someone has fallen quite hard). Tae-eul’s emotional reaction at seeing him again is also very revealing (especially because she has tried to seem unbothered earlier). She has at this point started processing the fact that he might actually have been telling her the truth this whole time and she will shortly get to see it all with her own eyes.
Link 1: https://bebebisous33analyses.wordpress.com/2020/05/16/the-world-in-numbers-science-versus-belief-from-the-king-eternal-monarch/
Link 2: https://maculate-mango.tumblr.com/post/620774610616647680/lee-gon-the-name-that-must-not-be-called
#the king eternal monarch#lee gon#jeong tae eul#visually this scene is so pretty I mean seriously wth#the king: eternal monarch#remember this is an interpretation feel free to disagree about something#LMH and KGE are great as always in this scene#I spent too much time on this so it is a bit of a mess#tkem#tkem meta
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