#props meta
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edit 16/04: pouring one out for the bullet theory, you were fun whilst you lasted babes x
okay ive remained sceptical about the 'something in the mouth' thoughts making the rounds but you know what, i love a batshit theory (exactly how batshit, remains to be seen - im fully prepared to eat my words) as much as anyone, so let's take a look.
first off, i truly just thought it might have been a wee bit of slobber. that's fair, right? saliva on aziraphale's tongue, catches the light, whatever. but it's the frame before that one that has me wondering how much weight the theory has:
because in that first one, just as aziraphale's mouth opens, you can see that there is - what looks like - a dark, round object. it doesn't match the surrounding colour and texture of aziraphale's tongue, and then in the next few frames it catches the light in the same exact spot. the highlight is also curved, in such a way that, yeah, it definitely looks like a metallic object.
i know im not breaking new ground when suggesting it contains memories. idk if the object itself is:
a bullet from the rifle in 1941 (although i do doubt it; the calibre it would take would be rather unwieldy to hold in your mouth like this? plus: copper plating - this looks to be steel)
a pistol round from the hitherto-unseen derringer (more likely than the above, and in terms of potential significance of s3 would fit rather nicely in with a 1941 spec of mine regardless: potential crowley discorporation but. it's purely hypothetical), or
a ball bearing (which seems like it would just be a bit anomalous in terms of what props we've seen so far, but who knows. and i feel like if any prop was going to be at most risk of being swallowed accidentally, it's this)
but my current favourite is the derringer round so far. which would indicate that if - big if - crowley were discorporated in 1941, he could potentially have the bullet on him that 'killed' him, so to speak, for the time that follows afterwards.
i'll come back to what memories would be contained within it in a sec, because first, there's the question of whether aziraphale accessed them. if this theory is true (im fully taking this all with a pinch of salt, idk how i actually feel about it yet), i think aziraphale probably accessed them right then and there, as soon as crowley kissed him.
as soon as crowley kisses him, aziraphale looked mighty confused - arguably because of the kiss itself (im predominantly in this camp for the moment), but also possibly because he's just been volleyed something in this wild-ass game of tonsil tennis - before he begins to relax into it. potentially, as he relaxed, that could be when the memories first begin to 'play'.
and then we have the video below - sharpened and at 0.2x speed - that captures after the kiss breaks:
there's a moment, after his mouth presumably is handling around said object and sliding it under his tongue, that his expression clears, and - im sorry, but i'll die on this hill - instead takes on a look of betrayal. it's almost a realisation, a near instantaneous revelation. so let's say he does access the memories during the kiss, has been 'watching' them since the kiss first made contact/the object switched over... what would make aziraphale take on that expression, and react in betrayal and with an 'i forgive you'?
well, i have my thoughts, but let's go back again to the kiss itself. y'all remember this, right?
it suddenly feels a liiiiittle more deliberate that a) aziraphale would reach for crowley's wings, and b) the camera would capture this particular angle. maybe it's not, but again - humour me a sec.
so in terms of what the memory is? that crowley would place inside said object, would make aziraphale reach for crowley's wings, and result in aziraphale's initial upset and then expression of betrayal? the damning "i forgive you", and crowley's responding look of dejection and resignation, followed by "don't bother"? the memory that crowley would see fit to impart in the context of aziraphale choosing to return to heaven - the memory that would fit the scenes that have come before the kiss?
im wondering if it was the fall.
aziraphale sees crowley's fall, responds in sympathy and sadness in the back touch, but then perhaps remembers now/knows now the potential part crowley had to play in it.
now, it could be crowley's own account of the fall that he watches, sure. but we haven't seen that as a possible mechanic in the show - being able to access someone else's memories. we've only seen gabriel accessing his own. but that doesn't preclude that it's possible. however, that would suggest that crowley himself now can't remember his fall etc, which would be weird and potentially open too many loopholes.
alternatively, as others have put forward and would be logical, crowley accessed the records whilst in heaven and found that aziraphale's memories were incomplete. that, for me, would be the more plausible, because im not convinced that aziraphale does remember the fall. he makes references to crowley having 'been an angel once', and that he remembers 'the angel you were', and frankly it's all a little loosy-goosey. it would make wider narrative sense, too, that aziraphale can't remember - heaven doesn't want dissent to become an institutional problem, after all; so what do you do? you wipe away the crucial information that would give the angels any ideas in rebelling just like the fallen did.
if crowley did in fact have something to do with the genesis of the rebellion in heaven, instigated it or played an active, crucial part in it... and aziraphale can't remember that... maybe that is where the 'i forgive you' originates. and why crowley would reply with 'dont bother'. he attempts to make aziraphale understand why he can't go back, and why aziraphale shouldn't go back either, but all aziraphale can now concentrate on is the part that crowley had to play in it... the part that, for good reason, crowley has kept from him all this time.
again, idk how i feel about all this, but i do have to eat humble pie on my initial reservations about the narrative value of the theory and admit that it's compelling. especially as it would have aziraphale return to heaven with full understanding as to what heaven did in cause of, leading up to, and in response to, the rebellion - knowledge that presumably the metatron does not know he has... dangerous for the metatron especially, when you consider that he may have had a bigger hand in it than aziraphale previously thought.
#good omens#feral domestic/final fifteen meta#memory wipe theory#the fall/the great war spec#props meta
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Gabriel’s (missing) cross
Let’s put everything we know about that spooky statue of the Archangel Gabriel in one thread to make the conversation about its possible meaning as a Good Omens 3 clue more structured. Starting off with the relevant part of the official commentary from X-Ray:
Douglas Mackinnon got one thing wrong in his part of the interview — Gabriel wasn’t carved by “some guy in Italy,” but a British sculptor and prop maker David Field working as a part of the team at 3DEye in London.
Technically speaking, it’s a gorgeous piece of hand-carved expanded polystyrene with a clay sculpted head on top of it — even if the Archangel’s smug likeness isn’t that pleasant to look at, all things considered. The scenic artists from 3DEye made it look like stone afterwards.
The body itself took ten days to sculpt and is a faithful copy of the famous statue on Ponte Sant'Angelo in Rome called Angel with the Cross by Ercole Ferrata. It stands on the inscription “Cuius principatus super humerum eius” (“Whose government shall be upon His shoulder”, Isaiah 9:16), and this quote makes much more sense for Gabriel than the cross in his hands. The usual iconography of the Archangel uses a trumpet or a white lily instead.
Ponte Sant'Angelo was originally used to expose the heads of those sentenced to death — each of the angelic statues on it carry Arma Christi, the Instruments of the Passion. Like the Second Coming, what seems to be a hopeful message to the Chosen Ones can also be a warning for the others.
The statue of Gabriel, first shown in full in the cemetery scene of the Good Omens 2 title sequence, reappears at the very end as a part of the bridge leading to the biggest Easter egg — at least according to Peter Anderson, the animator behind it — which is the lift in the background, implying how we’re getting closer towards the Second Coming. Notice how the cross broke down in half at some point between these two scenes!
And it disappears in the plot as well: Gabriel’s memory depicts it only from his point of view, with the camera deliberately moving slightly to the right and stopping at his eye level. The centered, establishing shots show the statue with empty hands as a bookend.
I believe that this cross is meant to serve as a foreshadowing, a reminder of the absolution of sins and eternal life through Christ’s sacrifice and Second Coming. We see it only through Gabriel and Aziraphale’s eyes — when Beelzebub looks at the statue, the cross is not there.
As seen in the BTS photos and videos, it’s not an editing error, but a deliberate positioning of the physical props on set. The cross was clearly meant to be a removable part of the statue and displayed in a specific way to convey a message to the audience.
The question remains: is it a reassurance, something to look forward to, or maybe rather a warning?
Not helpfully at all, the traditional use of angelic imagery in Christian cemeteries matches both interpretations.
#everything has a meaning#the good omens crew is unhinged#good omens props#archangel fucking gabriel#gabriel’s statue#good omens#good omens meta#yuri is doing her thing
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Current obsession - the updates and changes to the Diaz house!!
Eddie has a new painting over the mantle
and a new one next to the front door in red and blue. The fire engine/truck on its side on the table has me feeling a certain type of way - it feels like a nod to the ladder truck explosion that crushed Bucks leg, but it could also be foreshadowing for this season as well - we'll have to wait and see how things shake out!
The water painting has moved again - its now on the wall next to Christophers room ----------------------------------------------------vvv
and these have appeared on the sitting room wall where that water painting has been seen previously - are they making you scream??
what if I showed you this picture from 4x14
are you screaming like I am now?? Becasue I am very very feral about that picture appearing - pennyfarthing megaphone mans megaphone is pointing right at Eddie nad Bucks ears ini these scenes - saying ... at the top of ones voice - the universe is screaming at you and you refuse to listen!!!!
There are new band posters in Christophers room - the Lunadeers one under the solar system mobile. The name Lunadeers is a fun one - its obviously a play on the band the Lumineers - a made up name, but is a play on the concept of illuminating something - the idea of lighting the way in the darkness - illuminating is also the idea of becoming enlightened and seeing things differently or in a new light.
Luna = moon and is obviously connected to the space theming, but there is also the deers part of the name - deers are crepuscular animals - they are more active at night - in the darkness - under the moon
I'm also clowning is a reference to Buddie because the 'mun' in Edmundo is pronounced moon and a male deer is a Buck - so moon-deer - Eddie and Buck - a nod to Christophers two fathers rom the set and props departments!
Then there is also the Violet Brothers poster on the back of his door - heavily leaning wards the yellow and blue colour ways, there is also the fact that violet is a really interesting colour - it represents future hopes and dreams, imagination and sensitivity!
Not to mention all the watery themes things I've already spotted - mostly what seem to be camp stickers on his wardrobe and the pinboard
theres also a 'boom' sticker - which I love as a possible nod to Christophers roast of Buck in 6x01, but also as a nod to the explosives buck and Eddie have dealt with as part of their job - the grenade and the rocket from this episode plus the foreshadowing of the ship going boom!
The cool cool cool sticker is giving me Abed from community vibes (a queer coded character in his own right!)
and Christophers room has now gained a plant - it moves around a bit - its on the table next to the lamp by the window, then its in a basket next to the table, but its possibly a nod to Christopher growing up!
#this got rambly#but I'm obsessed with the props and set departments#911 spoilers#911 abc#eddie diaz#evan buckley#christopher diaz#meta#long post#set meta (sort of)
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Digging up some more cosplay shenanigans with the Knight Squad from last sdcc anfjdgj--would have had more but we sadly ran out of time! Maybe next con though who knows :p
Meta Knight: @alagaesia-overlord
Galacta Knight: @humming-fly
Morpho Knight: @aseuki
Photography: @nymphofnovels
#kirby cosplay#kirby#meta knight#galacta knight#morpho knight#cosplayseuki#if you Squint you can find the photo I referenced in a previous art!#gosh a dip is like. so hard to do if you have No Idea what you're Doing#Legit one of my favorite photos to come out of this cosplay squad though hahaha#puts hand on chin. I do have some photos from last ala that haven't been shared here so maybe those will be next haha#will say btw major props to nymph for being So Patient with the photos I Swear next con we Will get more Kirb Inclusive Photos We Will
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Not-sure-how-popular opinion, but. I disagree w the people who say "jason should go back to being the cunning and powerful villain he was in utrh and he should make bruce question things BUT at the end jason should be wrong." The first part, sure, but making him an all-out villain is kinda meh. But having Jason be wrong? No. In fact I think Jason being wrong ruins his whole thing. The reason Jason's return and the utrh confrontatiom hit so hard is because Jason is right lol. Maybe not abt the crime plot of utrh but abt joker stuff?? Hes like %100 right. What is the point of it all if he's going to be wrong at the end just to prove how good of a person batman is :/
#jason todd#red hood#i would like to elaborate more but im just not in the mood#also “it should remind us why we love batman so much” NO#why are you ppl so obsessed with using jasons character to prop up bruce??#“oh jason should stay dead bc hes batmans greatest failure”#“oh jasons return should shake up batman mythos”#“oh jasons moral compass should be used to make bruce right”#stop it.#jason is his own character#not everything he does should be used to benefit bruces character#jason todd meta#?
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MLC's prop department has been having fun
Tinfoil hat time. I've been tracking the movement of Li Lianhua's pillows at the Lotus Tower (yes I know, crazy)
Anyway, here are my findings that I think will be interesting to know:
(Episode 1) We are given 1 shot of a pillow. It's rust colored with a white center - he uses it in his own bed.
(Episode 8) We now see 2 pillows. One white one on the bed (llh's) and a grey-bluish colored one on the side dresser. Being that Fang Duobing has been staying there, I have assigned this color to him.
(Episode 13) We still see the grey-blue pillow that I assume is FDB's. He was using the white one here because LLH's put him in his own bed after he was injected with gangchi
(Episode 19) This looks similar to the grey-blue pillow, but I've dubbed it blue-grey because it's more blue and it's darker. Which means this is not FDB's bedding, but who is it for?
(Episode 20, images A and B) Ah here we go. It's Di Feisheng's. In the second image, you can see that he is a messy blanket folder.
(Episode 27) Post A-Fei getting taken away, and post-fdb breakup, LLH passes out and wakes up several days later. Su Xiaoyong has found him and has apparently been nursing him. I assume she helped herself to his prettiest pillowcase while she made herself at home. At first I thoguht she gave him his own white pillowcase, but on closer inspection, it looks grey. So I can't tell if it's a lighting/color-filter situation or if Su Xiaoyong actually grabbed fdb's pillow when dragging LLH to bed.
(Episode 28) The upstairs room - This is while they're traveling to the city and Su Xiaoyong is still with him. As she's a young unmarried woman, I assume for propriety's sake, he moved himself temporarily to the upstairs bedroom while he's still feeling ok, so you see his white pillow, fdb's grey-blue, and dfs' blue-grey. Yes, they look like the same shade under different lighting - but they're actually under the same strength shadow. So one is a full shade darker than the other.
(thanks @difeisheng I completely missed this one)
(Episode 40) No spare bedding on the side counter. FDB was sleeping in the chair against the table. LLH has been alone.
Conclusion:
LLH color codes his pillows for people who stay over
So in the previous episode 19 DFS had told LLH that he would come find him later. Apparently, that was enough for LLH to get out some extra bedding. Just in case. And then DFS shows up with amnesia immediately in the next episode.
Clearing out his loose bits and bobs wasn't just about people or situations, but included packing away all the extra bedding
FDB and DFS (With and without amnesia) totally shared the upstairs bed without murdering each other at night. Somehow. despite the bed being tight enough they would probably end up cuddling at some point. And then never spoke about it during the day. LMAO.
#this honestly makes me think that dfs' yinzhu armor being swimtrunks/disco-panties are 100% on purpose - the props dept was having fun#mysterious lotus casebook#di feisheng#li lianhua#meta#fang duobing#my royal ramblings#analysis#su xiaoyong
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I usually prefer to listen to the og album recording for The Bifrost Incident but I really cannot hear "no I can't the data's too corrupted" without thinking of "... and a bit came off"
#it's sooo silly to me. and the meta character stuff happening#jonny sims breaking a prop but that means Jonny d'ville broke a prop but that means lyf broke the box#the mechanisms
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blackhill stans punching the air rn this is not what we meant when we said endgame
#secret invasion spoilers#ep 1#secret invasion#mcu#maria hill#natasha romanoff#blackhill#this joke is quite meta props to you if you get it#the cinematography is part of it
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“Arya’s proxy to power in the North is an abuse victim!”
Don’t let Sansa stans know that Sansa’s proxy to any power is the murder of an eight year old and the plans and resources of Littlefinger. The man who forced Jeyne to work in his brothel and sold her off to the Boltons in the first place
Any victory or queenship Sansa has in the North using the Vale’s money, power, and resources are co-signed by Baelish. But I’m willing to bet these losers wouldn’t consider that dismissive of Jeyne’s experiences
And if we want to go one step further, we could ask WHY Littlefinger sold Jeyne to the Boltons in the first place when everyone involved knows she’s actually a steward’s daughter, if his grand plan is to make Sansa Queen in the North? But that would be an inconvenient truth for the lemoncakes and their delusions about Sansa’s 100% morally righteous pathway to becoming Qween 😁
All of this...the goalpost is forever being moved by them. The fake activism they invent kills me and it's so obvious they only bring it up to police our discussions; they can't stand to see people acknowledge Arya's importance to the Northern plot, so they came up with the "trying to make Jeyne's pain about Arya" accusation. If they actually cared about Jeyne they wouldn't be using her as a prop against stans/discussions they don't like.
What's funny is that they invent these moral guidelines when all it does is make them look worse. Cause if it's wrong to point out that Jeyne is posing as Arya, the entire point of her marrying Ramsay, how is it okay to write meta about Sansa benefiting from the poisoning of a disabled child (one orphaned by LF's plotting no less)🤔? They never want to touch those moral implications though...at best they're sticking their heads in the sand and pretending Sansa has no idea, at worst they're writing meta about SW being an abuser :/. It's just hilarious that they swear we can't see how hypocritical they're being. That's why their metas make no sense, they don't have any cohesive logic 😭
#ask#anon#anti sansa stans#like if the plot was Sansa manipulating LF that would be one thing but the plan she's going along with hinges on SW dying#and a majority of fandom expects him to die so it isn't even like this is some niche theory#Jeyne being abused somehow always gets separated from LF selling her unless they can use that fact as a prop#anyways they need to keep Arya out of their mouths cause it's obvious they don't care about her#and stop pretending to read metas by Arya stans cause its obvious that the comprehension skills aren't there
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What are your thoughts on Ted? Is it good he went home?
These are two separate answers but I'm gonna try to combine them into one thought bubble (bear with me).
My short answer regarding Ted's ending is that you can't create a fully fleshed out character for 2-3 seasons and then in the final hour decide he was Mary Poppins all along. The Mary Poppins is meant to be strange, not-quite of normal ilk. She's the static character who leads the change in others, the one who inspires. You don't usually see the inner thoughts and workings of a static character.
From the very first time the audience meets Ted, we understand that this is not a static character because he is literally one of our starting POVs. We see his uncertainty about flying across the globe to go teach a sport he doesn't understand. We see him turning to Beard for reassurance. We see him stick his hand out where it isn't wanted while he tries to find common ground with people in a new country. We see the beginnings of a panic attack at the press conference.
That is is episode one. He is not a static character. He is not a strange and unusual person impossible to understand. He is inspiring, yes, but that is because of his humanity- his kindness.
He is not a Mary Poppins.
Ted is at his most interesting when he is a complicated, struggling, but ultimately kind man who tries his best to show genuine empathy and compassion towards others. The fact that this same trait doubles as a flaw is equally intriguing.
Ted can reassure Sam that Jamie won't be coming back, or Ted can reach out to Jamie when he's struggling and ask him to come back. Both are acts of kindness. He can not do both.
Ted can show Rebecca empathy and understanding for her trying to sabotage Richmond, but it ties his hands on being honest to Jamie about why he was sent away in the first place.
In trying to balance kindness, Ted struggles to be direct. He struggles to come right out and tell people how he's feeling about situations. Despite encouraging other people to talk about their feelings, he dances around his own and avoids awkward confrontations. I think that is the flaw that Ted most needed to explore. At the same time, I hesitate to say he could have learned too much given how he was struggling to process his own trauma with his dad and how it effected his relationships with those around him. (Put a pin here, I'll be back for it in a later.)
Pivoting back to Ted's purpose in the narrative, unfortunately as the show ran through season three, it became too near-sighted on The Message and in turn lost sight of making sure the characters had fulfilling interactions with each other. This especially becomes apparent when it comes to Ted, whose motto in season one is 'be curious not judgemental.' I maintain that season three was a low point for Ted emotionally, and if I were to assign a reason in-universe as to why Ted seemed so off from his usual self, it would be that in his depression, he no longer had the energy to realize he wasn't being curious. One indication of this would be how many times Ted casts assumptions on people in season three, compared to his hey-do-you-think conversational openers from earlier seasons. Some examples would include:
-never trying to figure out what makes Zava tick (this is a big one to me. I think season one Ted would have been all over trying to crack Zava like a nut)
-assuming he already knows why Jamie is upset about Zava joining the team and brushing it off
-assuming that Dr Jacob would propose + assuming that Michelle would say yes instead of trying to ferret out whether
-his assumptions about Henry being bullied (the knee-jerk reaction as a parent to protect your kid is understandable, the lack of delving into the situation and why it happened are more what I mean here)
-his whole conversation with Jamie about his dad. Other people in more succinct words have pointed out how it feels like he fully projected what he needed to hear onto Jamie's situation, and I think that's fairly accurate. This was not a 'talk to me and tell me what's going on so I can better understand how i need to help you' conversation. This was a 'oh that's whats going on? how about you do this? that work? alright then' talk.
So the finale struts back around and Ted has made a decision. He's going home. And it's meant to feel like closure. They play the Cat Stevens song and it's supposed to feel like Ted has finally made a step in the right direction (which is certainly one take on those lyrics but I digress). He's going back home. He's going to be with his son. He's letting go of the damage his father leaving did to him. He's giving up on something and he's finally okay with that. He left Richmond better than he found it and that's what matters.
Everyone else can cry but he's not crying. He's finally with Henry again.
So here's my two cents. And this is definitely just my opinion but-
THAT'S FUCKING STUPID.
Because the only way that Henry OR Richmond exists is in a false dichotomy wherein the two cannot possibly coincide, despite the fact that there are MANY KIDS' SHOWS ABOUT CHILDREN MOVING TO NEW LOCATIONS EVEN NEW COUNTRIES because that is a NORMAL THING THAT HAPPENS IN THE NORMAL WORLD ALL THE TIME.
Like holy shit that is. That is just the plot of a Disney channel show. 'My dad the football coach moved to england to coach the other football.' That is just the plot of a Disney channel original movie with a $300 budget that magically gets a sequel. Is that what I'm supposed to say 'oh no, that could never happen' over? Because I"m already watching a TV show. You can put a show in another show- I'm fine with that.
Remember that pin above? Time to pull it out. Because you know what would have been a more narratively satisfying conclusion?
If Ted had actually asked Henry and Michelle if they'd liked to move to London to be closer to him. If he had actually expressed his fucking need to have both his Kansas family and his Richmond family close to him. Maybe they would have said no, maybe they would have said yes, but you know what? It would have at least opened the door to the discussion about what Ted might need as a person moving forward, whichever way the chips fell. At least he would have done the one thing we didn't see him do all show:
Ask for something for himself. Because he wants it. Not for the good of his family, or the team, or anyone else. Just for Ted.
I am not saying his son isn't the most important thing in his life. I am saying as a goddamn adult person, you can NOT mold your life around your kids. You can't. Full stop. It is not healthy. You put your kid's needs above your own, but as a parent your needs have to come second. You have to take care of your own emotional health so that you have the bandwidth to give them support. You have to set the example of what healthy boundaries and taking care of yourself looks like.
Could Ted make new social connections back in Kansas? Well that's the thing isn't it- season one Ted could have. Easily. Season three Ted? The one who's checked out and looks tired all the time and isn't even following his own motto anymore and didn't even cry like he'd miss his friends when he was leaving? I'm not sure about that Ted. I'm worried about that Ted. I'm worried he's going to put himself in a situation where for the next 9 years of his life his only priority is going to be keeping Henry happy by giving Henry the attention he never got from his own father. And after that? Henry's an adult. Henry has to go live his own life.
And Henry's going to be able to tell, by the way, if his dad is struggling. Whatever Ted's emotional health is like, Henry is going to pick up on it. This isn't a one way road. Kids notice.
Ted untangled himself enough to admit that what he wants is to be close to Henry. I commend that. But then he decided that there was only one way to do that, and he didn't look any further than that. The narrative didn't look any further than that. For a show that itself raises the topic of mental health, it feels tone-deaf to pretend that Ted moving away from his entire support group is a happy ending. He doesn't even have Beard!
So to summarize: what do I think about Ted? I think he's a fascinating character. I think he has a genuine kindness to him that is rare. I think he is flawed, and a little bent up on the inside, and he's got a lot of issues to work through. And I think the show did him a disservice by painting him going back to Kansas as a sign that everything was going to be okay.
#that's my very long take!#sorry!#and yes i am a 'how dare the found family break up at the end' type of person#but I can usually give props to canon if they at least made the reasons satisfying#lotr for example gets a pass on this#here tho? not satisfied#love ted; not satisfied with where we left him#would've preferred to run him through the washer a few times and see what happens#ted lasso#ted lasso meta#complaining about the finale#adding this to my 'i guess i'll fix it myself' pile#i am so sorry anon i just looked back at your ask and it was just two innocuous questions#and i busted out the capslock#mea culpa
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and what’s so tragic about izzy’s death is exactly what makes it make sense to me which is that izzy was never going to be anything other than a symbol.
so much of izzy’s journey hasn’t even been about himself, especially in season 1. season 2 made him branch out, have to figure out who he is a little bit, but so much of what he does is reactionary and all symbolic of blackbeard.
izzy is at his most frustrated in season 1 because ed is at his most emotionally frustrated as well (i.e. he’s bored, feeling restless, and that rubs off on izzy). he reacts to ed’s crush on stede poorly, tries to destroy their relationship because he sees it as a threat to the persona that they crafted together. in season 2, when ed’s at his lowest point and suicidal, so is izzy. when ed starts to heal, so does izzy. and season 2 lets that be about izzy too, and his own journey, but it is still so unbelievably tethered to ed. in season 1 especially, I read izzy almost as a physical manifestation of ed’s self-loathing or intrusive thoughts.
izzy says it best in the end: “blackbeard was us. you and me.” izzy was a permanent fixture of blackbeard. he was instrumental to what ed was trying to construct, and izzy himself built it too. encouraged it. was the foundational pillar of blackbeard. that identity had higher meaning to him. except then ed didn’t want to be blackbeard anymore, and izzy was the only symbol of that life left. killing him off was, symbolically, killing blackbeard off.
and it sucks because izzy was his own person, he was growing to thrive as his own entity and learning to accept who he was, but he also spent so long being part of someone else’s person. I don’t think he regrets that. I think he quite enjoyed it, in some weird way, for a long time. izzy died before he could really even begin to fathom what he wanted for himself. besides, all he really wanted to be was a pirate.
and it’s a cautionary tale for how it’s so hard to come back from losing yourself in your own idea of somebody else, but it’s also just really sad that his death cements him as someone like that, someone who lived and breathed for other people, who spent so long being invested in a collective and the power structures that enabled it that he never got the chance to discover and embrace the kind of person he was outside of all that. briefly, a glimpse of it, with la vie en rose, but only ever an echo.
like it or not, izzy was a very inherently symbolic character. he was never going to be anything other than a symbol. he died a representation which furthered ed’s story and his journey. I think it’s devastating, I think it makes a lot of sense for ed and for izzy both as individuals and as a duo, and I think it’s the only way izzy ever would have wanted to die anyway.
#and some people might hate that he died a symbol which is okay#but I personally like it#I think it’s kind of refreshing to see a white man die to prop up a moc’s story after it’s been vice versa for so long#I still will miss izzy greatly though :(#izzy hands#ofmd#our flag means death#ofmd s2#ofmd spoilers#ofmd season 2#ofmd 2#ofmd season two#ofmd s2 spoilers#meta#ed teach#blackbeard
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clearing out the drafts of Random Things I've Noticed if you can't tell but here, have another one - this building on the end of aziraphale's row of shops, on the other side of the record shop:
now im fairly certain about two things. first, it's called 'Alf Laylah wa-Laylah' - translated to english from arabic as One Thousand and One Nights. i can't quite tell at this quality if the writing below it is hebrew or yiddish, nor if it's a translation of the text above it (although, as best as i can tell? it isn't? but not sure)
im also not entirely sure on the relevance of the reference - if there is any to be had - to the story compilation that is One Thousand and One Nights, to tell the truth. the immediate thought that springs to mind is how scheherazade tells the king countless folk tales and stories over 1001 nights in order to keep him in suspense of hearing how the stories end - so he essentially stops killing women as revenge for the infidelity of his wife (it's a whole thing), whom he eventually pardons/spares from execution.
all the tales - as well as returns to the 'present' - include debate on philosophies and ethics, and explore various themes and topics, but regardless... my thoughts are somewhat jumping between this, the questions around the reliability of events as presented in s2, the flashbacks and the Lessons, etc. maybe that's not the link to make here, but it's all im coming up with so far.
but back to the building, and the second thing: think that the stars on the bottom half of the building, in the specific configuration they're shown, are the kaheksakand (estonian) / auseklis (latvian) - an eight-pointed star representing fertility and life, the triumph of light over darkness, as well as used as a protection symbol against evil (aptly placed outside the door).
there's a lot to go into re: the symbology behind '8', including its relationship to the concept of balance and harmony, especially in nature. the eight-pointed star in general, not just in the above exact shape, has dozens of cultural, religious, and mythological links (tbh it's probably featured in some capacity in nearly every culture), but i think particularly apt is how it links to venus aka. the morning star.
in the interest of keeping this brief (im sure cleverer people may wish to clarify/develop this more!!!), and keeping on track with where its place may sit in the show, i think it's first of all potentially of interest how this building is lit, given the above. we see the shot of the bentley arriving to whickber street in ep1 at night, and this particular shop (?) front is the most brightly lit... might mean nothing, might mean something:
but when the demons descend in ep5, a good portion of them appear out of the mist from that direction; a green mist (green shop?), reflecting the hell vibes we saw in ep1 etc. that being said, when crowley starts sensing Trouble Is Afoot earlier on, he's looking in all directions and certainly we see some demons behind him (in the direction of the dirty donkey) when he confronts this particular little gang of them, so unless some demons started arriving ahead of schedule, they may not have all come through this building:
but. we know from eric that the lift is broken, and the only other routes are the small lift, one at a time, or the stairs. shax obviously arrives in style, but the other demons? taken the stairs. what if this front is that exit onto earth? but just the back stairwell?
there's so many potentially loose threads to weave in here, and im sure i'll come back to this at some point, but felt it was an interesting design choice nonetheless, even if it ultimately means naff all✨
#good omens#i'll come back to this im sure#props meta#thats probably the most accurate tag for the moment
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Maggie’s pendants and good omens
Yes, you’ve read it right. This post is going to deal with some literal good omens, not just title drop! But first things first, let’s take a closer look at the topic of this analysis.
A toucan
The top necklace is a lovely design involving a crowned toucan — believed to be a messenger of gods able to travel between the spiritual and the physical world, often associated with rain and rainbow (a Christian symbol of divine love, grace, and mercy, a reminder of the covenant between God and humanity to spare the latter from future trials like the Flood) — encircled by a gold band (a symbol of infinity, eternal love and promise) spun by a small butterfly (a symbol of transformation, hope, and rebirth). All three symbols combined seem to deliver a divine message of hope for rebirth, possibly resurrection, and the eternal life. Very fitting in the context of the Second Coming.
The fact that toucans were revered by the native South Americans as rainbringers strengthens the symbolic meaning of another type of bird we can spot on Maggie’s clothes in the very first episode, as her character introduction — a swallow. Swallows flying low are also believed to be harbingers of rain and bad weather. If you see one close to Earth or a building, it means that there’s a storm — or a certain biblical tempest — on the horizon.
In Ancient Greece and Rome swallows were representing Aphrodite, goddess of love. In Christianity they were considered to be of God and symbolized hope, awakening, and revival of life as messengers of spring and protectors from winter colds. Also helped Jesus on the Cross — according to a Christian legend, a group of swallows was supposed to take out the thorns from the Crown of Thorns and alleviate His Passion on the Cross. Humans banding together in the name of good have been a big theme in the series ever since The Them made an appearance, and from what we already know about the unpublished Good Omens sequel, we can assume that Jesus is going to take the spotlight in the upcoming season.
Maggie definitely attracts sudden inexplicable weather changes, like a thunderstorm with weirdly localized lightning strikes or a sudden downpour. And we’re still waiting for some vavooming (and the following happy ending) to happen in S3.
A heart with an eye
Now, the more nuanced clue hidden in the bottom necklace. I know that some of us were trying to tackle the concept of Maggie’s eye in a heart pendant suggesting her Masonic connotations, but this symbol (or the Eye of Providence in general) isn’t strictly Masonic, it isn’t even limited only to Judeo-Christian art. And while it is used a lot in Christian iconography, we should focus on a very specific example of it already referenced in the show.
Buckle up, we’re making a parachute dive into S1.
It seems like our old friend, Agnes Nutter, still has our backs.
Prophecy 4020:
Let the wheel of fate turne, let harts enjoin, there are othere fyres than mine; when the whirl wynd whirls, reach oute one to another.
If you look closely at the bottom right corner of this frame, you will see that as an illustration for the above prophecy the production team chose a 1611 engraving titled The Minde should have a fixed Eye On Objects, that are plac’d on High first found in Gabriel Rollenhagen’s Nucleus emblematum selectissimorum.
In 1635 it was published in A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne Quickened With Metrical Illustrations, both Morall and Divine, Etc by George Wither with the accompanying hymn:
A Heart, which bore the figure of an Eye
Wide open to the Sunne; by some, was us'd,
When in an Emblem, they would signifie
A Minde, which on Celestiall Matters mus'd:
Implying, by the same, that there is nought
Which in this lower Orbe, our Eyes can see,
So fit an Object for a manly thought,
As those things, which in Heav'n above us be.
God, gave Mankinde (above all other Creatures)
A lovely Forme, and upward-looking Eye,
(Among the rest of his peculiar Features)
That he might lift his Countenance on high:
And (having view'd the Beauty, which appeares
Within the outward Sights circumference)
That he might elevate above the Sphæres,
The piercing Eye, of his Intelligence.
Then, higher, and still higher strive to raise
His Contemplations Eyes, till they ascend
To gaine a glimpse of those eternall Rayes,
To which all undepraved Spirits tend.
For, 'tis the proper nature of the Minde
(Till fleshly Thoughts corrupt it) to despise
Those Lusts whereto the Body stands inclin'd;
And labour alwayes, upward to arise.
Some, therefore, thought those Goblins which appeare
To haunt old Graves and Tombes, are Soules of such,
Who to these loathsome places doomed were,
Because, they doted on the Flesh too much.
But, sure we are, well-minded Men shall goe
To live above, when others bide below.
And hey, guess what 4020, i.e., the number of the prophecy, symbolizes in Strong’s Concordance? Periergazomai, a Greek word meaning “to waste one's labor about something” — to meddle, going beyond proper boundaries (where a person doesn't belong); to fixate on what others are doing, instead of doing what the person himself is supposed to do.
It appears only once in the Bible:
2 Thessalonians 3:11: We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.
To make things slightly more interesting, in the Hebrew version of Strong’s Concordance 4020 has another meaning — migbaloth, meaning “twisted things, i.e. cords”. Which doesn’t make much sense until we read the actual passage:
Exodus 28:24 and two chains of pure gold, twisted like cords; and you shall attach the corded chains to the settings.
And compare it to the most recent post on the topic published directly by Word of God:
What if all these clues didn’t apply to Maggie and Nina, but Aziraphale and Crowley instead? What if Maggie served as a messenger — consciously or not — just like the toucan, delivering the prophecy to those who need it most?
“When the tempest comes and darkness and great storms, and the dead will leave their graves and walk the Earth once more and there will be great lamentations for the end is near, don’t lose hope, hold hands and look up.”
Basically what Aziraphale and Crowley already did when they performed the 25 Lazarii miracle, only with no interference from Gabriel this time around.
And, if both Strong’s Concordance and Maggie’s personal addition to her second pendant are to be believed, with a wedding band somehow involved in the process.
#everything has a meaning#the invisible and unbreakable line that joins Crowley and Aziraphale#two chains of pure gold twisted like cords#never tire of doing what is good#don’t lose hope#hold hands and look up#the good omens crew is unhinged#good omens props#good omens costumes#the nice and accurate prophecies of agnes nutter#agnes nutter#good omens#maggie service#good omens meta#good omens analysis#strong’s concordance#yuri is doing her thing#ineffable husbands#wedding bands
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I actually don’t remember what that alien in the power of the doctor whom appeared as a child was called, but I object to the insinuation that it had no plot relevance to be there.
There’s a reason it appeared to 13 as a small girl, one needing saving after having been taken, experimented on, used to augment the power of somebody else’s evil empire against their will.
13 symbolically saved the timeless child. Saved herself.
A little girl is found by a scientist, one who loves to explore the universe and left their people to see it all. Once upon a time the person who found the child was a monster. They weren’t the hero. They didn’t see this child as a person, a miracle, somebody who could do amazing things. They just saw a potential benefit to Them. They hurt and harmed this child and did horrific things to them and dumped them when their usefulness had been expended. Nobody saved this child, nobody even got to remember they existed. Eventually they save themselves.
The cycle repeats.
A little girl is found by a scientist, one who loves to explore the universe and left their people to see it all. Once upon a time, a long time ago, the child this happened to had nobody to save them. Not this time. The first child saves them, the first child looks upon this one and sees not an opportunity but an incredible and beautiful Lifeform who deserves to be free and happy. She tries to protect them, puts herself in danger to save them. They won’t leave a child behind. They cannot stand a child crying.
“One of the greatest mysteries of the universe” the first child says of the second, with no urge to defile it. Not want to harness it. Nothing but awe. The urge to set her free.
The first child says “I’m sorry for what was done to you. I’m sorry that you were taken and have been harnessed” because she Knows what it’s like to have it happen to you. She knows what it is to look at the person who did it and see them defend their actions as if they did nothing wrong. The first child had no part in harming the second, this was somebody else, but she apologises to them anyway, knowing they need it.
13 saves the child she was, the one whom never had anybody to care, by saving This child.
The Doctor breaks the cycle of abuse.
There’s a reason that a random generator isn’t used to power the master’s plan. This is full cycle.
This is the doctor being the hero person they were denied.
#dw shit#sorry but like... thematically that alien appearing as a small girl is SO important to the themes of the cycle of abuse#the master has shouldered tecteun's mantle and has propped up the cycle#the doctor breaks it#dw meta#full honesty i genuinely thought the kid WAS the timeless child when they appeared on screen#i thought the idea of time lord cyberment travelling through time wasn't massively farfetched#turns out it wasn't#but i connected them for a reason
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I think it’s interesting when people say that Moon is an unreliable narrator with the implicit idea that Pebbles isn’t. I agree, Moon is an unreliable narrator. But that doesn’t make Pebbles de-facto reliable.
Almost everything we know about “karma” and “ascension” that’s not empirically seen is explicitly filtered through those two. And the rest is through other iterators. I think everything they say should be taken with the idea of their bias in mind, especially with the knowledge that almost all of them are bitter and/or uncaring about the Great Problem anymore.
We don’t know what happens when beings ascend. But Pebbles was a part of the Sliverist movement - which WAS explicitly “what if the way for Iterators to ascend was death - a non-traditional method that had no backing except the mysterious disappearance of Sliver of Straw.” It’s an ideology born of desperation - of the want and need to escape, but having the very nature of yourself be antithetical to the concept.
I don’t think that ascending is death, and I don’t love when the two are conflated. It’s kept purposefully vague what happens after the end-game cutscenes, and there’s a lot there to speculate on. I do think it’s - explicitly - not death as we know it here, But Pebbles was a part of a movement that conflated the two.
#rain world#rain world spoilers#looks to the moon#five pebbles#rw meta#I tried to keep this in the realm of the vanilla game#this is inspired by a post I saw (props if you’ve read it) that was very good overall but I disagree with some of their pebbles takes#I’m not linking it bc I don’t want anyone to harass them. rain world is a very interpretable game#and again I liked a lot of their points#but these are thoughts I’ve been having for a while anyways
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Hey, @mask-of-anubis hope you don't mind that i made a separate post with your tags as the main focus point. ( the tags are taken from this post if anyone is curious) But I felt the the topic is too important to just be kept in the tags.
Thoughts under the cut.
I want to preface this post by saying that you're completely right, that the hoa girls are held at a much higher standard compared to the boys. Sadly this is a common reccurence in most media.
Female characters are scrutinized for everything they do, no matter if you are a "traditonal gal", a "female warrior" or something in between.
As you pointed out, these girls are complex and they make mistakes ( and thank god that they do, because if they didn't and were instead some mary sues hoa would be boring as hell). We have to thank the writers for that because they wanted to create human characters.
Simply put: people scream about wanting "complex female characters!" and when they get them on screen they whine about how "toxic" "pathetic" "whiny" "bitchy" they are.
Let's take for example the worst form of this behavior: The S2 Joy-Nina rivalry. (yes, i'm really going there).
I'm one of the few people in the entire hoa fandom, that thinks that their rivalry ( while i can agree that it overstayed its welcome sometimes) was actually a good arc, and in some ways was inevitable.
People thinks that feminism means "the girls must always get along!" Ignoring that forcing two girls who have very different views, becoming friends just for the sake of Feminism™ is actually going to diminsh the quality of the story, and the characters themselves too.
In fact, since its quite implied in the pilot that joy has a major crush of Fabian, and i'm sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but no girl is going to be happy that her crush isn't single anymore, especially when (at least from joy's pov) she and fabian were quite close. Of course, the way joy went about it in s2 was wrong, but the girl is traumatized ( as all the characters in the show are to various degrees lol) and instead of blaming the teachers, she focused her anger on the easy target.
But keep in mind that Nina isn't a saint either: she's passive aggressive to an unhealthy degree, she lashes out at her friends, and is very possessive about a boy who isn't her boyfriend anymore.
But people, instead of trying to understand why they act that way, They prefer the easy way out aka calling them something along the lines of "Bitch" "Horrible" "Toxic" "Pathetic" "Whiny" "Bully" and everything else under the sun.
Really it's quite concerning that i've seen this behavior in multiple fandoms, and it has no intention of stopping. And no matter how you spin it, female characters can never win, because people will find a way to hate them regardless.
Because as you said, when did male characters ever been held responsible for their own actions? Right, never.
Because fans, somehow to make their fave male character "he's just a soft boy™ who can do no wrong ever" , they have to ignore every single flaw they have. Even if those flaws make them interesting.
Instead female characters are always blamed, villified for the same things the male characters do.
And really everything comes down to the double standard , doesn't it?
#house of anubis#hoa meta#fandom critical#selikor rant#sorry i'm quite heated about this topic#since its something i debated quite often in other fandoms#where people villanize the female characters just to prop up the male fave#sorry for any incoherence i wrote this right before i went to bed lmao
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