“sydney is too good for carmy” “sydney shouldn’t have to fix him” listen listen, if sydney wants her sad little white boy, she will have him

ridiculous that we have to jump through hoops like this (low animation budget my beloathed. also his official s3 design drawn by Phil Bourassa REALLY annoys me. why is he such a TWIG, Phil???) but you know how Bart was drawn/animated in s2? not ripped but clearly muscular? broader shoulders, definition in his arms and legs? i like to just translate that into an older Bart in my head (with thick thighs, duh). he's canonically strong enough to EASILY carry another teen by s3, let him LOOK LIKE IT

“with thick thighs duh” ah yes, the holiest of words, amen to that.

Hes definitely speedster built in S2 and I don't think he was incredibly twig skinny then either, though I do think that due to limited resources in his timeline he was on the skinnier side of things and that his suit then and even now in S3/S4 has padding that makes him look stronger (which I think is just standard hero suiting). Now that he's in a comfortable environment he can afford to train and get stronger to the point he can run to carry ppl, a speedster essential lol. 

BUT YES its kinda terrible how we need to jump through those hoops, I really don't enjoy it. This topic actually kinda ties in to my post on the YJ renewal and to its animation in general. Because usually YJ animation woes are popularly tied to budget constraints, when I don't think this is as much the case (Greg has mentioned they've been given decent budget, though ofc with the woes of animation industry, no matter what they're given honestly they could always do with way more), buts its more of a time and staffing issue. Both Seasons 3 and 4 were created on an individual basis and seemingly rushed (not so much the right word, but they sure sped thru it to keep up with either ig u could call it the expectations or demands, don't know if they were given a set time frame for how long they could work). This means for each season post invasion, the creators had to from scratch re-assemble and re-organise a complete team of staff as well as studio to collaborate with. I feel like ppl don't rlly understand how incredibly difficult this is managerially, especially for season 3 where they went for years their separate ways. Between each season, including airing-time, they were out of work (well specifically for YJ) and the teams behind the show weren't maintained, needing to build all this up as well as actually get the work into motion is incredibly time consuming and not easy and I think this reflects on the animation side of things which is essentially rushed more than anything, rather than low-budget.  

An easy fix to this would've been that when they got renewed in the first place, they should've been renewed for three seasons in one go. This would've given them the time and space to set up something with the vision of doing things for the long run without the need of rushing things. Ultimately, its about animated shows like YJ being given the right type of support so that they can achieve their full potential. But oh well, for now we need to work with what we got.

I need u to explain something to me

Phoebe forgave Cole when he spent the whole season 3 trying to kill her because « Balthazar did it » and Cole «changed » (🤷🏻‍♀️). Like Balthazar and Cole were two differents entities and Cole was a victim (I used to think that was bullshit and Cole should have been killed in s3.) Phoebe was even dating him when he was a demon using his power for « good »

So Why did phoebe was so hell bent on killing him in s05 and say that he was evil when he was infected by the Source ? You could argue that Cole and the Source were also two entities ? And that he was under the influence of the Source / a victim ?

In s05,He even tried to use his demonic powers for « good », exactly like S3. I guess i don’t get why in s03, Cole was a « innocent That had to be saved » but in s05 he had to be killed ?

SHORT ANSWER:

LONG ANSWER: 2k under the cut

pt i - 1k so out of universe explanation like as we moved into s4 the show really favored these long overarching plotlines as opposed to something like s2 which really didn't have any big plot just vibes. inching back a lil further i think in s3 the introduction of a demon love interest was really like. like kinda bound to happen now that we've given pleo their type of happily ever after the will they won't they is over the heavens forbid it is over now we need another relationship to add a bit of spice to the mix and what better than like. a demon? so you run phole and they're kinda. your main source of drama consistently throughout the season yes there's the vague looming threat of the source but really it's phoebe and cole weaving together thru these episodes putting meat on these bones. i think the first faux-vanquish was bound to happen, because like the relationship is still so fresh and you haven't even got to the demon-tries-to-be-good point yet you're still in the heat and angst of betrayal like baby. there are still miles to go here. there's no way you're ending this yet. (which like. yeah i agree like. in universe cole totally should have been killed in s3. also out of universe bc like. i can't say i was hella in love with what was going on over there lmao. whoops.)

anyways. we hit season 4 and you have cole being good demon! yeah! but this whole time you kinda know what you're leading up to like the source is being name checked a bit too much here chekhov's demon if you will if the source doesn't actually you know fuckin show up and try to kill them this season well then what the fuck is he doing? but then. what do you do once u kill the source like end ur show r u joking moniee baby let's add some drama ooh u know what what if cole the demon became the source. which i think like. you need someone to become the source someone close to them and you can't do a sister (or can you?) because u need the power of three also what r u gonna kill a sister and you can't really do leo just because you've made him such a softboi healer kind emotional type. but u know who's dark n mysterious with an evil past who is very much tied up in the lives of our girls? cole.

so i think like from the beginning they knew they were doing source cole because how do u pick between the love of ur life and ur sisters the drama so on so forth i think they knew they needed phoebe married to cole before they went all in because you really need that he’s family too pull. but out of universe for the life of me i cannot tell if they were implying cole was actually evil or not. my personal conspiracy theory is that some people in the writers room were like cole is misunderstood and really trying to be good and others were like okay he was underworld’s top demon for 100 years maybe reflect on that?? and both these views are heading towards the same goal (source!cole) but have different opinions on who cole is beyond that plotline. but idk!

and then as a personal opinion i think the source plotline really bogged down s4 like. :/. and i think the show kinda felt that too that this wasn’t really sustainable the show is charmed after all named after the charmed ones if you have a show where there are just two witches one of them’s trying to kill their sister the other just got here and then our third sister is like. queen of hell, but is kinda being a bimbo about it (respectfully) like. that’s not charmed. it could be A Show, but it’s not this show, which i repeat. is charmed. which i think is why they immediately backtracked on the s5 intention to do Phoebe: Queen of Hell and then like snorted a line and powered out the quickest way to get phoebe back in the fold, to which the conclusion was: him or us. the whole core of the drama how do you pick between the love of your life and your sisters like. better decide the answer. you only get one. and obvi it’s gotta be the sisters; again: this is charmed also you already played your back pocket half-sister card you only get to use that move once. which means. sisters have been chosen. cole has to go.

but!! everyone loves cole everyone loves phoebe and cole they’re the ones bringing like. the heat the passion the sex appeal because respectfully piper and leo Are Not they’re the domestic fantasy and paige just got here so she’s not really ready to shoulder that burden quite yet. so like. phoebe and cole am i rite. let’s bring back cole. but u already had phoebe definitively chose her sisters you already had them vanquish cole you can’t really revert back to the same him vs them thing that powered s4 because you already know the answer. (i guess. again this is all just speculation i was not there when this was happening i was 5. wait actually. okay yeah s5 started airing in september 2002 i was 2. lmao.) but you’ve brought cole back what are you going to do with him what’s his main motivation. well. his motivation at first was kill phoebe. then it was i’m in love with phoebe. like it’s always been phoebe. so clearly it must be phoebe again. cole will do anything!! to get back phoebe. but it’s too late. phoebe has already made the irrevocable decision to be with her sisters. so therefore. cole will be obsessed with her and she will reject him at every turn. we’re gonna give cole a lot of screentime in this futile and cringe chase for love tho why? bc julian <3 what a guy. hey should he date paige?

pt ii - 1k and then an In Universe explanation let’s get started. phoebe has had no longer term relationships. definitely no on screen ones. the closest thing we got to any implication of serious romance was clay in s1. she didn’t get anywhere w eric bc his mind got wiped, the cupid was obvi a no-go from the beginning, and billy Isn’t Real. so this relationship with cole is really like the first serious relationship she’s had in a minute and she fell hard and she fell fast, but could you blame her? cole was literally her perfect guy he built himself to be Literally her perfect guy. and when you find out your perfect guy is a demon like. how do you rationalize that. because quite frankly he has had many opportunities to kill you can he hasn’t so like. he can’t be that bad. it can’t all be fake. you really hope it’s not all fake. and then, like, of course, there’s the belthazor element. like. he literally has a demon form. turns big red and scary. phoebe’s no demonologist. i’m sure she can just rationalize that as a jekyll and hyde situation cole is just some innocent strapped along for the hellish ride manned by some evil beast. but around her, he can conquer that demon. because that’s a demon. belthazor’s a demon. cole is a human cole is good cole is an innocent and he had no power over those things. so i think that’s the mentality that phoebe really carried thru to s4, and then cole becomes human. and then cole becomes the source, but you don’t know it. and cole really tries to fight the source when he’s with her you know true love is the greatest force blah blah blah so like. odds are phoebe doesn’t notice. a) we’re still kind of settling into the “new cole” because he hasn’t been demon-free well, like, ever, so u need to figure out what that looks like and then b) now that he doesn’t have his jekyll-side or whatever you two are free you can be in love and god do you want to be in love you want something that’s yours something to hold on to because lately it kind of seems that everything you love is being ripped away so god please can you just have this one thing that’s yours. so i think phoebe really overlooked any signs of cole’s source possession. she only saw cole. her cole. the man she loved. Which Means When Shit Really Hit The Fan, phoebe doesn’t see this as the source possession finally taking over she has no idea of the internal battle cole has been facing inside himself (and then not to mention phoebe is also kinda drugged up rn on pure evil so we’re not in the Best headspace) phoebe kinda just seeing this as the mask being ripped off. all the clues she’s been ignoring over the past couple months have been finally exposed: cole is evil. (which: the clues actually read as cole is possessed By evil. but who’s gonna tell her that? the seer? no one else knows if anyone should know it’s phoebe but she was so busy trying to pretend everything was perfect that she was finally gonna get to be happy that she missed the source living right under her nose so. whoops.)

and then entering s5 i think phoebe keeps with the mentality that cole was actually evil this whole time. like she didn’t know he was possessed she didn’t know when this possession started so the natural conclusion is cole is just Like This and she’s a bimbo. blinded by love. and i think this really starts to backtrack and put everything else in a negative light because like. had she not been trying to save cole prue wouldn’t have died. also. cole never explicitly told her that belthazor was a separate entity. she had just assumed. because she thought she knew him. but clearly she didn’t because he was the fucking source of all evil and she couldn’t tell because evidently she didn’t know cole at all. he and belthazor were probably just one and the same. he let her believe that, let her see what he wanted to see, so he could have what he wanted. her. all to himself. no one else no other life but him. and i mean again who’s gonna refute that i think phoebe really builds up an echo chamber in her head calling herself and idiot calling cole evil and promising to never fall for it again that by the time cole shows up ready to give it one last shot at good, phoebe’s like no. i’ve seen what you are before. and i’m not gonna get another sister killed i’m not gonna fall for evil again. because!! cole trying to be good in s5 looks the same as cole trying to be good in s3 s4. cole being in love with phoebe in s5 looks the same as cole being in love with phoebe in s3 s4 (actually it’s a lil bit more bonkers and possessive but u get the point). and this is because he was! he was in love with phoebe he was trying to be good, but phoebe, post-source!cole almost killing her sisters, has reached to conclusion that cole that whole time was consciously evil, because she was never able to tell the difference between her cole and source!cole, given the fact he always actively suppressed that side around her. around her, cole never changed, despite getting progressively more evil to the world around him, because his love for phoebe fought it off. which really was the downfall. because if she had seen the markers and seen him as something other than her cole, maybe this whole thing could have been salvaged. but she was blinded by her love for roughly like what. two three months? and in her head reached the conclusion that she was actually blinded by love the entire time. so rather than fall for that again she just kept her eyes shut.

hannibal questions! 🍖🔪

@nietzscheantrout @horrorlesbians and @hanniba1 wanted me to answer these hannibal questions and i wrote too much but oh well! thanks to all 3 of you ilu!!!

favorite episode and why: oh we’re just goin straight to the hard questions huh um OKAY so i think i can only do an ep a season - s1: SORBET SUPREMACY! you get to see the exact moment will looks at hannibal and thinks “.........shit. it’s him isn’t it. he’s The One. SHIT.” and that is so important to me - s2: this one is really hard maybe naka-choko? it’s so fucking gay and sexy. but tome-wan... but mizumono............ yeah idk - s3: torn between digestivo and the wrath of the lamb cuz they both hurt SOOO good much; i love will breaking up with hannibal and hannibal manipulating the situation so will can’t leave asldkjansk it’s so toxic we have to stan..... and for twotl i mean do i really have to give a reason every scene LIVES in my mind and it contains my favorite shot in the whole show:

that is LOVE baby! that is DESIRE! that is being ENTHRALLED!!!!

least favorite episode and why: i feel like they’re all so necessary that it’s kind of impossible to say but probably antipasto. i get sick of hannibal and bedelia’s shenanigans really quickly and as much as i hate to admit it... i miss will. i also think it was an extremely weak season opener and i blame it for getting the show canceled sjshshsgsg the resentment...

favorite side character: chiyoh or jimmy or actually wait— RANDALL TIER 🖤

if you could bring back one character who died, who would it be?: RANDALL FUCKING TIER. i want there to be a weird thing with him and hannibal and will going on. but also i love what his death did for will so idfk, other than him it’s gotta be beverly

dish prepared in the show that you would like to try eating/making: i was supposed to make hannibal’s osso bucco recipe like 3 weeks ago but it completely slipped my mind so i guess i’ll get on that my next grocery trip  

which side character would you kill off?: chilton just because for god’s sake just let the man DIE ALREADY poor guy <- i’m taking ava’s answer because YEAH

was there any scene that you didn’t like to look at?: nah. the skin ripping scenes at the beginning of either kaiseki or sakizuki (idk i don’t remember, i hardly watch s2a) are particularly brutal but i tough it out

biggest ship: i mean do i even have to say

why did you start watching hannibal?: my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, and her dad were watching it as it was airing and i was like “oh cool hannibal lecter origin story” but due to inconsistent access to the episodes i would just watch it randomly and that is... not the way to watch hannibal. i gave up around the end of s2 but knew hannigram was It regardless. i decided to watch s3 for the first time earlier this year just to have finished it and was like HOLD UP and did an immediate rewatch that left me... well, how i am now

favorite hannibal fic if you’ve read any?:

oh boy. yall ready for this? all of these can be found on ao3 obviously (i’m so sorry this is so long but i guess i’ve been asked to put together a fic rec anyway)

as soft, as wide as air by blackknightsatellite, the ladders series by emungere, blackbird by emungere, consenting to dream series by emungere, taken for rubies by emungere, at first meeting by emungere, protect me from what i want by @alienfuckeronmain, god of the cold, cold wars by highermagic, the abyss smiled back by highermagic, pomegranate seeds by highermagic, absolute zero by highermagic, in the truly gruesome do we trust by sidnihoudini, TKO by sidnihoudini, oh dear by lunarwench, each according to its kind by chapparral_crown, a flood in our hearts by nanoochka, let me sinful be by darlingred, uncomplicated by stratumgermanitivum & youaremydesign, good bones by @damnslippyplanet​, like they do in babylon by @damnslippyplanet​, your obedient servant by kareliasweet, past our satellites by shotgunsinlace, only the tender meat by isagel, the shape of me will always be you by missdisoriental, a white-walled room by rodabonor, spleen et idéal by rodabonor, the paper doll series by rodabonor, a common point of interest by rodabonor [i do NOT like a/b/o stuff but if i did... it’s this fic], just thought you should know by earthsickwithoutyou, the sacrificial lamb by princesskay, transcendent suffering by itsbeautiful, not something polite by moistdrippings, leave your message after the tone by onewhositswithturtles, holes in the floor of the mind by feverdreamblood, crossing caina by feverdreamblood, the archipelago series by melusine10, but seas between us braid hae roar’d by kareliasweet

have you watched any of the hannibal films?: yeah all of them except manhunter! i grew up watching silence of the lambs because my mom loved it and i went thru a big edward norton phase as a teen so i’ve seen red dragon like 10 times

have you read the thomas harris books?: no and i’m not going to lmao #fakefan

favorite murder tableau: if we’re talking just hannibal’s- the judge. if we’re talking Murder Bad But Kinda Pretty like in general probably the mushroom people or the totem

favorite blood spill: will imagining hannibal while he beats randall to death or The Gutting of Will Graham

what’re some of your headcanons?: - will is good at shibari (backed up in canon: his fishing knots, the firefly man’s full body hishi karada harness) - hannibal rarely listens to modern, non-classical music but he’s a björk fan and he saw one of her chapel performances during the vespertine era and was Moved - will listens to classic rock (zeppelin, the doors, pink floyd) with some classic country (patsy, merle, johnny) and blues (billie, muddy, bessie) thrown in. he’s also a sucker for early/mid-90s college rock/alternative/grunge - will plays the piano (because of the piano in his living room) and the harmonica (because he’s country white trash); he’s kind of shit tho - hannibal fell for will somewhere between “my thoughts are often not tasty” and “you won’t like me when i’m psychoanalyzed” (love at first sight! at last sight! at ever and ever sight!!!) - will’s circumcised, hannibal isn’t 🤪 - hannibal’s a gemini!!!! adaptable, creative, intelligent, outgoing, impulsive, etc - will’s an aquarius!!!!! analytical, a loner, temperamental, unique, compassionate, etc - will’s mom was jewish go read my fic about it https://archiveofourown.org/works/26774326 - hannibal is an agender man (tbh i think of this as canon, it’s just unstated/undefined) - hannibal can speak russian, spanish, and a teensy bit of portuguese in addition to the other languages we know he speaks (lithuanian, english, french, italian, japanese) - will speaks limited amounts of french; he learned it as a kid in louisiana - ED TW will sometimes has a Difficult relationship with food due to food instability by the way of poverty as a kid and goes through periods where it’s hard to keep himself fed, but hannibal is so good for him in that way because he keeps him from going hungry 😓 (yes this is me projecting but also it makes SENSE) - hannibal typically bottoms but THEY DEFINITELY ARE BOTH VERS and will never stops being surprised by how much he loves catching a dick. every time is like religious experience. okay? okay - they’re also both very kinky and switches but tbh.... will was made to Dom hannibal like that’s the reason he exists he could drag that old bitch around by a leash and hannibal would be in heaven HANNIBAL WOULD CALL HIM SIR - the first time they have sex hannibal comes like immediately but he isn’t embarrassed because he’s hannibal fucking lecter and hannibal lecter doesn’t get embarrassed - i have a hc for their favorite sex positions but i’m not gonna put that here because i don’t want yall calling me crazy any more than you probably already do but if you wanna know just DM me all i do is think about them fucking it’s a curse - okay no more dirty stuff abigail called hannibal “dad” on more than one occasion and it was half-joking but it also felt comfortable to her; she never thought to call will “dad” because he’s a weirdo and never knew her as much as he knew his idea of her - hannibal taught her to play piano at the cliff house - beverly is pansexual!!! - brian and jimmy kissed one time when they were drunk and they NEVER talk about it EVER - chiyoh is straight probably. i know, i know, everyone says she’s a lesbian and if she’s a lesbian to you that’s awesome! she’s a lesbian! but idk i just think she’s SO fucking straight and tbh i mourn bc that’s my wife. she could MAYBE be bicurious... - chiyoh is non-monogamous and doesn’t do serious relationships, she doesn’t like the idea of being tied to one person ever since she left the lecter castle - she helped hannibal and will escape after The Fall; she told hannibal she would continue to watch over him and i think she did, she got them a boat and got them the fuck out of there - MOLLY IS DOING SO MUCH BETTER WITHOUT WILL. SHE’S SO GLAD SHE GOT OUT OF THAT WHEN SHE DID. she has a good, long talk with alana and finds out all the shit about him and hannibal that will never told her (and it was a lot), gets drunk and burns all his shit, and then washes her hands of the whole thing; moves to a different state, gets a girlfriend, and never thinks about will again

okay i’m capping it there or i’m never gonna stop!! i’m not tagging anyone cuz i think everyone has done this by now lmao but if you’re a mutual who hasn’t and you want to just do it and say i tagged you!! mwah!!!!