#the girls are actually discussing time off for twilight
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the girls are fightingggg
buy me a coffee
#the girls are actually discussing time off for twilight#wise has gone into code red (for thorn princess)#everyone is keeping a fifty meter radius from the room where the two women sit#various gadgets and tech have been wired up to listen to what theyre saying#its a full spy op but just to listen to their terrifying handler and twilights equally terrifying wife talk about time off#agents wonder with bated breath if yor will accomplish what has never been accomplished before#twilight stands in the corner ears red at the hubbub but equally awed at his wife's bravery#anyways this is my first time drawing sylvia LMAO#spy x family#spy x family art#sxf#sxf handler#yor forger#sxf yor#sylvia sherwood#my art
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Species relationship (Cinnamon rewritten) : werewolf!Jason Todd x werewolf!fem!reader
Yes, I think this is way better than previous one. :D
***
„Where’s Jason?”
All the batfamily has gathered in the batcave, the only one missing being the wayward son, the black sheep.
“I believe he’s with that girlfriend of his….” Damian muttered with the roll of his eyes.
“Girlfriend?”
“Yes, father… a fellow female…. Ugh… I don’t understand that concept either….”
“Hm.”
“Was it like a good hm or a bad hm?” Dick chimed in. “I swear your grunts are sometimes so hard to decipher, Bruce…..”
“Who is she?”
“We don’t really know…..” Dick threw up his hands “He’s very…. protective over her….”
“Is she…..?” Bruce hesitated. Sometimes it was still hard to admit that werewolves and all the supernatural occurrences to come with it were real. Yes, Bruce had an open mind when it came to technology and reality, but accepting the fact that his second adopted son could transform into a hairy beast was… a lot. However, if there was anyone who could pull that thing off, it was definitely Jason with his 6.0 ft height and 225 Ibs weight.
Imagine the heart attack Bruce would get if it was tiny Damian with such skills…….
“Is she what Bruce?” Dick teased “come on, say it… you can do this….”
“Is she…..a werewolf?” Bruce hissed through clenched teeth.
“Good job, Bruce!” Dick laughed
“She is.” Tim answered, trying to mitigate the situation before someone does something regretful. “A pretty one from what I heard….”
“Who is she Tim?” Bruce turned to his third adopted son.
“How would I know?!”
“You have access to all the Wayne Technology and you’re you. Don’t tell me you haven’t googled her”
“I did no such thing! That would be a gravy invasion of privacy!” Tim made an innocent face that no one bought.
“Hm.”
“What?! I’m serious. You can’t just go and spy on people….werewolves… whatever. “ Tim said it with so much belief that Dick couldn’t help it and burst out laughing.
“Dick.”
“I’m not sorry Bruce. You’re definitely wasting your comedian and acting talent, Tim.”
“I’m being serious. She’s just a girl. A girl who turns into a giant animal every full moon and then sometimes…. It’s not her fault she imprinted Jason…. I won’t be searching for that poor unfortunate soul.”
“Imprinted?” Damian and Bruce asked in unison.
“No.” Dick says sternly. “Just no.”
“But…..”
“You’re too young to hear about it Damian.”
“I’m 11 years old, Grayson!”
“Precisely my point.”
“You will tell me everything……” Damian reached for his katana, but before he could actually do something, Bruce held him back by the cape. “Let me go father…… this is humiliating….”
“You will now go to your room Damian.”
“But….’
“I got some things I need to discuss with your brothers.”
And with those words and Bruce stern expression Dick and Tim knew. They were toasted.
***
Regardless of what was happening in the batcave, Jason couldn’t care less. He was in fact meeting Y/N, but to say she was his girlfriend or that he imprinted her would be too much. There was something happening between them, but they never really put a tag on it. Besides, the whole concept of finding your soulmate just by looking at them was a false ideology blown by movies like Twilight and Jason scoffed (both internally and externally) every time one of his siblings (or honestly anyone) came as close as even suggesting it.
They felt good with each other, sure, but neither of them were fully convinced whether it was because of the fact that there weren’t really that much werewolves in Gotham and it was nice to have someone to go through the same struggles or whether they liked each other as humans.
Not that they had many opportunities to see one another in that shape.
Werewolf form was… comfortable. It was easier to hide oneself in all that fur and muscle and avoid unnecessary emotions. Being human meant vulnerability, awkwardness and too many words and feelings.
And Jason was not good with feelings. And, to say the truth, he never trusted them. He was rather used to teasing, deflecting and covering that side with snarky, harsh humor.
At least until he met Y/N.
She was working at the little bakery in Gotham. The only bakery. Maybe that was why it was so easy for Jason to figure out her true identity.
It was not even a challenge considering the fact that as a human, she was always covered in flour and her wolf fur was a mix of tawny and white, almost as if someone sprinkled that ingredient all over her. And what was more, her signature dish was an apple tart with flavoring, and she always smelled of cinnamon. And wolf senses never fails, especially when it comes to nose.
What he didn’t realize what that Y/N was not only a simple baker girl. And it was amazing what a smart head could do with the access to the Internet and some dot connecting.
Let me repeat: there weren’t many werewolves in Gotham.
For months it was their tradition to meet at the meadow on the outskirts of town to run together or hunt together or just do anything together. He used to swing by her place by the end of her shift, always as a wolf and let her tag along (of course he was not going to admit that he wanted her company. He was an alpha after all. ). So the surprise he felt one day when he showed up at the bakery seeing her as human, not ready for the unwinding was beyond words.
She was just sitting on the threshold of the shop, reading a book, but it was pretty obvious there was something going on in her mind. Again: wolf senses never fails and he could literally smell how distracted she was.
“I know who you are.” She simply said looking straight into his animal eyes.
Jason shook his wolf head. She couldn’t …….
“Jason Todd….”
Whoops.
“Wasn’t really hard to figure.” She shrugs. “You should cut on smoking it’s not good for your health and you reek of cigarettes.” It might have been the first time since they knew each other that he heard her laughing.
The way she acted was… doing something to him. For the hell of it he couldn’t figure why that light reproach made him feel…. Guilty. Chastened. Maybe it was unfair. He knew her identity, maybe he should have told her sooner? It was actually pretty funny that a giant, predatory animal let out a whimper and hung his head in shame in front of a girl, so much smaller than him. It was like at that moment, she got some power over him. A beta!
“Can I?” she asked reaching her hand for his fur and holding back before touching it. Only when he nodded, she tangled her fingers it his silky pelage. “It’s ok, Jason. I know it’s hard to reveal yourself…. Been there, done that… But you’re not alone anymore.” She cooed, caressing his back lightly. “We’re the same kind…..”
In any other circumstances, he would never let anyone touch him like this. But she was… different. The way she talked and comforted him… but surely it was only because of the wolf in her calling to the wolf in him. Kind of a “species relationship”, nothing more.
Definitely nothing more……
So why did he felt the sudden urge to nuzzle her and actually acted on it?
Just a species relationship……
It was month ago and their acquaintance developed.
He learnt that while being a little messy human in her wolf form Y/N was full of grace and gentleness. Acting like one of the Aristocats, even if the werewolves were in fact.. dogs. When she was hunting it was never bloody. She always took care to be clean of the mud, to avoid unnecessary dirt and to choose the nice paths to run in the woods. Each and every of her move were careful, thoughtful and intentional.
Absolutely opposite of Jason who was the perfect definition of running wild and free. But even with her queen-ish attitude she never complained. And he really appreciated that, since Y/N was so different from all the members of his family, who were constantly trying to shape him, tell him what, how, why and when to do (or nor).
With her… he could just be himself.
Just a species relationship.
And after a long night of patrolling he was searching for that freedom he felt with her.
Just like he was doing at that point, escaping the batcave, leaving Bruce, Dick, Tim, Damian and all his Red Hood shit behind, running to the bakery just to spend some time with that beta.
It was purely coincidental that of late she’s been working night shifts, finishing in the very early morning. Her boss found out about the little ailment of her which was hypersensitivity to light. To put it simply, working during the day was nearly impossible for her since she was becoming half-blind, getting clumsy and ashamed of said incapability. But still, she was the best employee, letting her go was not an option, hence the work schedule alteration.
Pretty lucky work schedule alteration.
Pretty lucky work schedule alteration that gave them opportunity to spend some more time together.
But still it was just the species relationship.
Nothing more.
And his wolf heart definitely did not start beating faster when he saw her turned into that majestic animal, waving her tail awaiting his arrival. When she senses him approaching she tilted her head playfully, imitating the way she used to do as human when something got her attention and her eyes sparkled.
Jason let out a single howl as a form of greeting. Of course, he had to show off. He was an alpha and had to underline his presence and position. And it scaring the shit out of Y/N’s coworkers came in pair with that, he was more than willing to tease those people a bit. Even if his werewolf female friend shook her head in disapproval and was definitely going to tell him off later.
He knew better. He knew she liked him being like this and her every action was only proving that theory.
However, at the moment they were just looking into each other’s eyes. Two giant animals in the middle of the city, lost in the connection they had. Just a for a second though, because Jason got a bit scared of what Y/N may see in his mind if they were standing like that for too long and started running, signaling her to follow him.
She just couldn’t ignore the calling of an alpha. Her alpha. It was too strong to disobey so she followed right after him, keeping safe distance to avoid getting hit with the dust he raised. She was a lady after all.
Soon enough, with their speed, they reached the meadow in the forest. Their spot. Their place for relaxation and sleeping after a hard day (night) of work.
Jason just tumbled to the ground not having a care in the world, but Y/N took a few turns to make a proper place for herself and settle down. The sun was about to raise and she needed a spot in the shadows to avoid extensive exposure. Even if in her wolf form she wasn’t really prone to the light sensitivity, it was a bit of a habit now. Not every human instinct was turned off during transformation.
Unfortunately, the place she choose was too far from Jason for his liking as he raised onto his paws and moved closer to her, laying close enough that if they were humans they would be cuddling. And this time she couldn’t care less about his dirty, messed up fur.
It was Jason.
It was her alpha.
And she was the part of the pack. She had to obey.
Obviously only because of that she let him approach her and lay his head next to her, their noses almost touching, their tails waging happily at the presence and warmth of one another.
Only because of that she felt comfortable and safe enough to close up her eyes and enjoy that fuzzy feeling inside her.
Only because of that she let him shift his position slightly so that he laid in a way that would give her additional protection from the light. Just in case.
Only because of the pack thing they let their guards down, slowly drifting off to sleep, away from all the people, away from reality, lost in one another. Protected by one another .
Species relationship, my ass.
#jason todd x reader#red hood x reader#jason todd x oc#jason todd x you#jason todd x y/n#jason todd fanfiction#jason todd fic#jason todd au#jason todd imagine#jason todd fluff#red hood x oc#red hood x you#red hood x y/n#red hood x fem!reader#red hood fic#red hood fanfiction#red hood fluff#werewolf!jason
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Anime only watchers and people who aren't caught up with the Manga, BEWARE... Cuz I'm about to discuss Spy X Family Mission 91... You have been warned...! 👌
[SPOILERS AHEAD FROM THIS POINT ON]
This chapter was very interesting and quite informative...!! 😲
And though I was not too feeling well this morning (and I still feel a little unwell now), I still wanna discuss today's chapter...! So let's talk about it, shall we? 😊
This chapter begins with Anya heading off to school and Yor going to an event that her city hall job is helping with... And before they head off, they greet the Authens...! 😊
And I just love that Anya calls Sigmund and Barbara "Grandpa Siggy and Granny Barb"...! 😆 It's both so adorable and continues their new found relationship from the previous chapter!! 🤗
And this might be a little off topic, but I've noticed that we haven't really seen Twilight go to work since the mole arc... 😲 I mean, it could just be that we aren't seeing him go to work, but this also makes me wonder if WISE actually gave him a break for once! 😅
Anyway, back to chapter...!! 😁
At the event, we see Yor's coworkers, Dominic (who we haven't seen since Mission 24 I believe, which was FOREVER AGO 😵) and even McMahon...!! 😁 The event is a charity event to help disabled veterans and the Lady Patriots Society is gonna be there... Hearing that, Yor remembers that Melinda is apart of that group:
Yor tells her coworkers that she's met Melinda and is even her friend, but they believe her and Dominic even suggests that she might not even show up. Then...:
We see that Millie has an issue with being here... But then, these ladies from the Lady Patriots Society started to butt in, even saying things like this:
This saddens me because I know that there are people that are like this in real life that belittle others because "they had it worse"... Though not everyone has suffered through the horrors of war, it doesn't mean that what they've been through is less painful...
After that, Millie shares her thoughts...:
...And those women start to berate her...:
But my girl Yor steps in to defend Millie...!:
Then one those horrible women were going to attack them, but Melinda steps in to stop her...!
Yor's coworkers see that Yor was telling the truth about her and Melinda being friends, but Millie gets upset by this... In Millie's eyes, since Melinda is the wife of Donovan Desmond, the man who started the war, then Yor is not a good person for being associated with her... But, McMahon refutes Millie's claims about Donovan...:
This is a very interesting development... 🤔 If memory serves me right, we've never truly gotten confirmation about how started the war, but we knew that Donovan was involved with it... I feel like there's something else going on here, but my brain is really jumbled up today from being sick to really think on about this development for to much...! 😩
Melinda then adds this:
Millie then apologizes to Melinda, and decides to stay and help out the event... Lastly, Millie thanks Yor for helping her out today and makes me hope that they'll become true friends in the future...!! 💗
And that was Mission 91, it made love Millie as a character more than before and even Melinda a little as well...!! 😄 This chapter was quite the serious one, so not that many funny moments time around, but that's what I love about this series...!! 🤗 Endo always seems to maintain a fantastic balance of serious and comedic moments in my opinion, that's why I feel that Spy X Family is unlike any other...!! 💗
I really wanted this review come out sooner, but I woke up feeling horrible... I know I don't have to release something about the new chapter on the day it comes out, but I have a bad habit of procrastinating projects, and these reviews are my way push out of that habit, by making myself write a review before it gets too late it the day...! I typically get mad at myself for missing the deadline that I set for myself, but since the next chapter comes out on Christmas Eve, I might postpone my review until Tuesday the 26th because Christmas is my favorite holiday, but we'll see...! 😉
Sorry for rambling about my personal stuff, but I'll see you all tomorrow when I talk about the anime because I should probably lay back down and try to feel better!! 😷 So until the next Mission, take care, be safe out there and be kind to one another...!! BYE!! 👋
#spy x family#sxf#spyxfamily#spy x family spoilers#spy x family manga#sxf manga#spyxfamily manga#Mission 91#yor forger#melinda desmond#sxf millie#sxf camila#sxf sharon#sxf domimic#matthew mcmahon#This chapter singlehandedly made me like Millie as character...!#I just love all the layers that Endo gives his characters...!! 😊#A lot of interest info this time around... 🤔#manga spoilers
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Do you know of any fics with an emphasis on Moroha’s and Kagome’s relationship? I’m looking for some juicy mother-daughter stuff. Thank you so much for your time and help!
Hi anon! We thought this would be an easy one, but after lots of searching, what we found is that most fics with Moroha tend to be centered around Inuyasha's relationship with her, or are more general InuKag parenting fics. The short list below are the few we found that focus specifically on the mother-daughter relationship between Kagome and Moroha.
If you're interested in more general parenting fics that feature both Inuyasha and Kagome, we previously put together lists of InuKag being new parents to Moroha, and InuKag raising Moroha.
Enjoy!
Safe by @keichanz (T)
Inuyasha is late coming home from a youkai slaying trip. Moroha worries and Kagome does her best to reassure her.
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Her Mother's Daughter by @omgitscharlie (G)
Moroha has more questions than normal, leaving Kagome happy to indulge her daughter with some answers.
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The One Right Wish (Chapter 4: My Favorite Part) by @hanmajoerin (T)
While InuYasha and Miroku stay overnight at their latest job, Kagome tells Moroha a bedtime story at home.
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Canis Pater by @fawn-eyed-girl & @ruddcatha (T)
On a night when Inuyasha is away on an exorcism, neither Moroha nor Kagome can sleep. Kagome takes Moroha outside to look at the stars, where she tells her daughter a very special story...about a hanyō whose act of bravery hangs in the heavens.
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A Mother and Daughter's Bond by @misteria247 (T)
Some much needed bonding time between Kagome and her daughter Moroha.
Basically the fic of if Yashahime won't give it to me I'll just do it myself.
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How did Moroha get her ribbon? by @vikingknight90 (NR)
Inspired by a lovely fanart I had to put this into words. If this isn’t close to how she actually got it, I’ll be rather disappointed with Sunrise, haha.
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Like a Burning Fire by UlisaBarbic (T)
With Inuyasha off to discuss with Koga and Ayame what happened with Moroha, Kagome has some much desired private time with her daughter. But they can never really get a true off day, can they? But protectiveness is their family's lifeblood.
--
Little Peachling by @unlockthelore (G)
On a trip home in twilight's wonder, Kagome tells Moroha she's like a peach, and Moroha disagrees.
#inukag archive#inukag fanfic#inuyasha fanfiction#hanyo no yashahime#moroha#mother daughter relationship#parenting
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I hate all of this “well he was Buffy’s first love!” talk when discussing how much pain and devastation Angel caused in Buffy’s life as if for women our first loves MUST be horrible and painful always???? As if it was unavoidable anyway so let’s not be too critical of him.
First off, HE LITERALLY WASNT EVEN HER FIRST LOVE
The show acknowledges what happens in the movie so canonically what happened in the movie happened to tv show Buffy INCLUDING HER RELATIONSHIP. ANGEL WAS NOT HER FIRST LOVE.
Angel was just the first guy who stalked and targeted Buffy when she was at her most vulnerable and continued to constantly lie and manipulate her for his own selfish gains only to toss her aside once she no longer served her original purpose while continuing to lead her on and show up in her life every time she tried to move on and THAT is why it was so painful!!!
STOP NORMALIZING THE PAIN CAUSED BY ABUSE AND MANIPULATION AS THE SAME THING AS REGULAR HEARTBREAK IN NORMAL RELATIONSHIPS.
I did not have a good childhood, my parents had a horrible divorce when I was 7 and I had never seen a healthy relationship modeled IN MY LIFE - AND YET - my first serious relationship when I was 16 while it definitely had it problems like all young love does (his friends didn’t like how much time he spent with me and his mom both hated me for “taking her son away” but also loved me because she wanted a daughter so badly but only had sons - she was insane lol and we were both teenagers who made stupid teenager mistakes) he was with me for 3 1/2 years and absolutely would have married me if that was what I had wanted.
He would sneak out to see me when I was sad despite his strict parents, always bought me lunch because I would eat what I was sent to school with by 10 AM because I was STARVING because I had an almond mom who never fed either of us enough. Would happily listen to me rant about the twilight books as I read them during that whole phase, WROTE ME A SONG for my birthday (he was actually a talented musician and works as a sound engineer and music producer now) and basically just spent every second he could either with me or talking to me when we were apart. He loved taking me on dates and writing me love notes and we just laughed all the time. He was my best friend as well as my boyfriend and ending that relationship because I had outgrown him was SO PAINFUL because he loved me so much and even during the break up - which I handled HORRIBLY - he was kind and even gave me the birthday present he had bought me because he wanted me to have it even though it was still months away. (I say all of this to try and just show first loves CAN be more than just pain and devastation and if it isn’t making you happy a minimum 80% of the time and you instead just feel sad and confused THAT IS NOT NORMAL AND YOU DESERVE BETTER 🩷)
I know good experiences are not the case for everyone when it comes to first relationships and that’s awful and is not fair because young love SHOULD be innocent and naive. Just two idiots in love who have no clue what they’re doing but just happy to be around each other no matter what they’re doing (like what willow got to experience with Oz in high school) and Angel robbed Buffy of those experiences. He broke her trust of other people and in love and her trust in HERSELF - that’s not her “first love” that’s her first abusive relationship and calling it “her first love” or worse “her soulmate” only serves the patriarchy and harms little girls everywhere who grow up not knowing to look for or expect better because everyone around them and society is telling them “your first experiences with love and sex will be awful and painful and there’s no escaping it” when that is just NOT TRUE at all, especially if you date someone age appropriate in high school. Angel is the first older “man” she dated and like all older men with high school girls do, he took advantage of that imbalance in power in literally every way possible and I will despise that whiney little bitch until the end of time for that and wish he would have just stayed trapped in that hell dimension until the end of time as it is what he deserves.
“True love” doesn’t require severe pain and tears for it to be deep or meaningful. Don’t believe the lies terrible men like jw and so many others feed us.
#fuck joss whedon#fuck the patriarchy#fuck misogyny#buffy summers girl you deserved better 🖤#anti angel#anti bangel#spuffy#btvs meta
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rainbow dash human headcanons wooo!! (going to be mad long j a warning)
she is 19. i actually do not like the idea of her being short/average height! I see her as ab 5’9 so tall but not taller than applejack duh
she is def very thin but toned!! she just zooms around toooo much for me to think she’s jacked 😢 i HIGHLY dislike it when people use bra sizes as a guide bc they vary so much depending on the band sizes. she is flat chested like let’s be real here. i also j LOVE this idea of rarity basically forcing her do to modeling for her fashion designs bc of her proportions and because everyone loves rarity she will do it just for her 😏
ethnically i like the idea of her being hispanic & white, was thinking along the lines of colombian or cuban?? and then i feel like the white would be italian, specifically having an italian mom bc they are something! skintone i see her as very tan. naturally and due to being outdoors allll the time
it’s time to discuss the classic one.. what is rainbow dash’s sexuality? my idea is she would only ever date a girl because she is literally a gay horse but BUT she is not opposed to getting w/ men. this is because she is kind of a slut! i just see her having a higher libido and not giving a fuck about being “ran through” bc she knows it’s all misogynistic bullshit. i also feel like she ends up getting w/ a lot of her friends bc she is just that bitch. definitely twilight, rarity, pinkie, & aj. no fluttershy bc she sees her as the sister she never had.
appearance-wise she mainly wears shorts, jeans kinda like a levi’s 501, crop tops and sweats. she will dress up depending on the occasion. she is obsessed with converse for sure. she has a bunch of ear piercings and three big tattoos. one of them is ofc a pair of wings on her back, then lightning bolts under one ribcage and clouds under the other. in general she is very pretty and she in fact cares a lot about her appearance. she keeps her hair about armpit length because she feels more traditionally feminine that way, and she keeps it up all the time. i’m thinking naturally light brown hair and blue eyes and she would eventually bleach her hair and dye it rainbow.
she has ADHD, PTSD, and seasonal depression, with the PTSD and seasonal depression stemming from a major car accident she was in at 14 that killed both of her parents and severely injured her. she kinda “copes” with it by smoking a ton of weed during the off season from soccer since she wouldn’t want to test positive for any drugs & she just for sure has a thing for beer and cider. scotch if she wants to get really fucked up
last but not least, applejack ❤️ she has had a crush on applejack for FOREVER and after they drunkenly hookup AJ begins to see her in this way.
okay that’s it! that’s my dashie. i feel like there’s a LOT of potential for fanfic writing with all of these headcanons so we’ll see how it goes
#my little pony#my litte pony friendship is magic#rainbow dash#humanized version#equestria girls#who’s idea was it to make rainbow dash wear a FUCKING SKIRT in the first EQG movies??#appledash#gay horse#headcanon#i forgot to put this in but she plays D1 soccer!
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More KH-Critical Doof Memes!
Following up from this post.
"If I had a nickel for every time Tetsuya Nomura created some mysterious new protagonist character with an unclear connection to Sora that would feature heavily in a numbered title and then was given his own backstory spin-off game afterwards..."
"If I had a nickel for every time an aesthetically appealing spin-off title for mobile phones was released that was then totally ruined by being pivotally connected to the overarching series narrative and lore rather than just be allowed to be a spin-off..."
"If I had a nickel for every time in Kingdom Hearts III that two assholes in black coats, one on the side of good and one on the side of evil, dragged things to a halt by discussing a mysterious girl who isn't even a character in this game's story..."
"If I had a nickel for every time Kairi's professional Keyblade wielder training, in a space lacking the passage of time, somehow left her completely useless against an incarnation of Xehanort wearing Terra's face during Kingdom Hearts III's climax..."
"If I had a nickel for every time Kairi died in Kingdom Hearts III..."
"If I had a nickel for every time Riku was inserted into a narrative position that would make infinitely more sense for Kairi to be in, purely for the sake of fan pandering..."
"If I had a nickel for every time Kingdom Hearts III brought back a replica who already met a pretty definitive end in Twilight Town, then do almost nothing with them..."
"If I had a nickel for every time the entire premise of the story Kingdom Hearts was presenting us with is invalidated and rendered impossible by a basic fact check as to what actually happened in previous games vs. what is now being said happened..."
"If I had a nickel for every time Kingdom Hearts made most of the series' past events amount to nothing by having an omniscient mastermind be responsible for them..."
"If I had a nickel for every time Tetsuya Nomura killed the Kingdom Hearts series by suddenly dragging it in a radically different direction at the start of a decade..."
#Disney#Square Enix#Kingdom Hearts#Phineas and Ferb#Dr. Doofenshmirtz#Meme#Funny#Comparison#Anti-Kingdom Hearts#Anti-Square Enix#Anti-Nomura#Anti-Tetsuya Nomura
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MLP Rewrite AU - Equestria Girls first movie (if you haven't done it already)
Okay I've done bits and pieces and I've rewritten it once or twice as I hammered things out over the years but this is a more Offical one where I will go back and retcon my old rewrites BUT:
Just some bullet points:
Let Spike be Human! He's the CMC age so a High School Freshman while the Humane 6 are Seniors.
some discussion of why the age difference between the Pony and Humans(the Mane 6 are grown adults but the Humane 7 are still in school?) (if only so I can keep my sanity re: shipping)
Something a little more solid on like. The crown goes through the portal, Sunset follows 10 seconds after it, but Human!Flutters has already found it and sprinted off to the Principal's office to turn it in and they just go 'well a student found this crown let's use it for our Fall Formal!'. I don't..... /quite/ know how to do this other than making Sunset get detained for a bit so that the Crown can make it to the principal's office in a timely manner?
Twilight does actually properly enroll in the school with Princess Celestia having helped her make a fake identity because 'oh I've popped through there before so I know what you'll need'. But also she's 100% in contact with her Counterpart to make sure this goes smoothly. Her not just having her Counterpart return the crown is because she's once again turning a dangerous situation into a test. Both for Twilight to see how she does, but also to see what all Sunset does in the other world and when faced with this. (I will call Tia out later for this BUT-)
Let Flash be more than a Sexy Lamp PLEASE I'm begging!!! Like even if we just use conversation between him and Twilight to learn more about Sunset and what she was like other than being a bitch. (Like. Why'd they date? Was she a jerk the whole time or was it only until recently that she went off the deep end(aka: when she found out about Twilight replacing and surpassing her. Which like, /how/ did she find out???)
I need to have something else to help Twilight convince the other five that there's some Magic Fuckery since I made Spike Human. Hm. Okay so like my thought process has to do with the body's Magic Pathways and how they channel Magic, which means Twilight can't access her Magic since it's designed to go to horn and wings but she might be able to access Earth Pony Magic since that's more body, but Spike could still play a part since /his/ Magic is more tied to his body and he'd just. Be able to do shit with fire still.
Maybe a touch more aftermath re: the Humane 5 helping Sunset and Twilight going home and meeting the pony!Flash.
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I'm sorry, Raxis has a history of sporking fic? He has a TVTROPES page about it?
Then literally, aside from defending his saintly waifu.png's delicate honour, grounds - moral or otherwise - does he have to stand on? He knows what the purpose of sporking is, in theory. He should know that sometimes it's just about discussing a fic, thematically, in depth, to see what it says or how it fails to say them, instead of just plain mockery.
Or maybe it's that he's only ever sporked a fic to insult or send harassment towards the 'cringe' author, so he's unable to comprehend that anyone else might do it for any other reason.
I'm sure Raxis thinks he's the main character and all, but even this is way more transparently hypocritical than usual.
YEEEEEEEEEEP. He even wrote his own little character profile on the Das Sporking TV tropes page. Which was a community primarily geared toward mocking Twilight and Fifty Shades originally, so you might not be off about the "sporked fic just to insult or send harassment towards the 'cringe author'".
Also like here's the thing. He's gonna claim it was a long time ago, and that's true, but he's 35. He was also editing the Das Sporking TV tropes page back in 2013, 2014, and 2015, which means he was at least 24 or 25 and active in these communities. The earliest he could have possibly joined up is 2009, when he was like 21, given this entry:
Where Raxis writes that his first spork/intended spork was the Sword Art Online light novel, which was released in 2009 in Japan and 2014 in America?
Also he's still editing the pages. He only marked himself down as "retired" last month when people started calling him out for being a hypocrite for trying to shit talk BWIIDT when he was an active sporker himself.
Also you're? Still doing it? You're LITERALLY sporking a fic right now. YOU CALL IT A SPORK. Like yes if this was just some dumbass shit he did as a teen or even a twenty-something then I wouldn't bother bringing it up, but he's still doing it. So uh yeah, it's still relevant? Especially when you spend most of your fucking Reyna sporks whining about what a big ol meaaaaaaaaaaaaanie BWIIDT is for... pointing out racism and sexism.
Like you, a cishet white man, spent your 20's when you were a grown ass man, in a community apparently known for shitting on teenage girls who like Twilight and you appear to have done no reflection or growth on that.
I did cringe and offensive and ignorant shit ten years ago too (granted I was an actual teenager ten years ago). Like, I definitely had some weird hangup about Demisexuality. Thank GOD I don't think I ever posted any of it publicly. And now ten years later I'm not such an ignorant fuckwad and I don't think or say those things anymore. You know what I don't do? Claim to have learned from and regret my mistakes, continue to post demi-phobic shit all over my social media accounts, and then get mad at people for calling out my hypocrisy because "you're bringing up stuff I did ten years ago!"
It was ten years ago but shit ain't changed, so why wouldn't your past behavior still be relevant? Especially since you were old enough to know better then, and you're sure as shit old enough to know better now.
Also I just want to point out the irony of Raxis breaking THE FIRST RULE of the Das Sporking wiki with his sporks
Sooo you had no idea linking to a fic directly could possibly cause harassment, huh? That was just a big oopsie on your part?
He doesn't give a shit about Reyna's fic. He just views it as a way to dunk on the "Edelcrits" and specifically BWIIDT, which is why he CONSTANTLY brings up BWIIDT in his posts about Reyna (I've seen a few more snippets). Like he genuinely thinks it hurts our feelings when he mocks a fic none of us had ever even fucking heard of before. It doesn't, it just makes him look like a massive fucking tool.
And like I pointed out in this post, BWIIDT started talking about Cap's fic because people were out here shoving it down fandoms' throat and insisting it was "essential" to understand canon. Like it was getting recc'd to Joe fucking Zieja, and it has SO MANY problematic elements. Racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. I won't rehash them all.
What even are Raxy's criticisms of Reyna's fic, other than "it's cringe", "I don't like how she writes Edelgard", and "BWIIDT hurt my feelings by talking about a fic I like"? And again, what the fuck does this random fic author have to do with anything BWIIDT has done? If your issue is with BWIIDT then why do you insist on dragging a random person in for no fucking reason?
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Since I am in a Wayhaven Chronicles mood and it is Halloween, here are my Halloween head canons.
My HC is that Wayhaven does some kind of community event and the detective has to show up, in costume. Since the detective is now an official member of Unit Bravo, A has declared they will all show up. Couples costumes are then discussed and the following is the result.
Emma and Felix. Emma enjoys dressing up, but she does not have the time or energy to get crafty or creative, so her costumes are usually pretty simple. Felix has so many big plans and ideas for their first couple costumes and at first Emma has to shoot many of them down has too hard to pull off but he is so excited and she takes him to the big costume shop outside of Wayhaven and agrees to go with whatever he chooses as long as it is two seperate costumes (she refused to be half of a cow or something). This unfortunately means she finds herself wearing a giant egg costume because Felix spots the bacon and egg costume and cannot be talked out of it. But his excitement is enough to help her get over her ire at teh costume, she is just so happy to see him so happy.
Nate and Lauren. When Halloween is mentioned, Nate reveals that he has already been thinking about and planning their couple costumes for months, many of which are quite elaborate. Lauren tries to point out it is a simple small-town Halloween party not a grand Halloween masquerade, but Nate is still very excited about the idea of costumes and presents his ideas to Lauren, all literary couples of course. She chooses Elizabeth and Darcy and assumes they will go to a costume shop or order online (Hah, she should have known better) and finds herself in front of an actual seamstress getting fitted. But she loves the costume and she loves how excited Nate is. Plus he makes a very dashing Mr. Darcy.
Dinah and Mason. Dinah is a Halloween slacker. She usually does the bare minimum, much to Tina’s disgust. However, Mason’s refusal to even consider dressing up sparks something in her and makes her decide to put an effort in for the first time ever. First, she tells him that is fine and she will dress up to match Felix (who thinks it hilarious) instead. Mason does not like this and finally tells her to pick whatever costume she wants for them. This is how they end up dressed as Bella and Edward. Mason scowls all night, Felix is dying with laughter and even Adam is repressing a chuckle (although he does caution that it might not be the most discreet and her response is “it is actually the best cover, because what self respecting vampire would dress up like a character from Twilight?” Adam conceded and Mason’s glare grows stronger).
Charlie and Adam. Charlie loves Halloween. She is the costume queen of Wayhaven. She has gotten a prize for her costume every year since she was a little girl (as a destructive she is ineligible for the contest part, but still takes pride in her costume). She is resigned to dressing alone since her relationship with Adam is as complicated as ever but he surprises her by suggesting it (she is pretty sure Nate and Felix were involved somehow). She doesn’t want to push too hard but her tragic romantic heart can’t resist suggesting Romeo and Juliet. After a moment’s hesitation, Adam agrees. The costumes are beautiful (although Adam comments on the authenticity) but it is very bittersweet for Charlie as she can’t quite picture her love story having a happy ending and wonders if they are doomed to be a tragedy.
Not touching the love triangle. Katie wants no part of that mess and instead deliberately pairs off with Tina like she does every year.
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so just watched the S3 finale where twilight becomes a princess, which was also the first episode I remembered not really liking that much. looking back I had thought I just didn't like it because ew changing the status quo, but no it is actually pretty bad lmao.
the first half of the episode is basically the same plot as the SU movie (musical where the main character's friends all lose their memory of who they are and the main character has to jog their memories to change them back), except mlp tried to do in 11 minutes what SU took nearly an hour and a half to do, plus MLP has more characters who need their memories back and lacks the character development that SU had that made it so emotionally impactful.
the second half of the episode is just twilight is a princess now lets celebrate with no conflict! it also really feels like it comes out of nowhere. rewatching and knowing in advance that she becomes a princess, it's easier to pick up on little bits of foreshadowing that pretty much only come in the form of "Celestia is secretly testing Twilight for something", but even catching those moments it feels so weak
the songs are all decent, but not good enough to justify the trade off of extra time to develop a more engaging plot, especially in such an important episode. it feels like this needed to either be a two-parter, where the cliffhanger before the commercial break is the end of part one instead, or Celestia telling everyone that Twilight is a princess now is the very end of the episode instead of the middle, and the season ends on sort of a cliffhanger for what the implications of that are
season 3 is the only season with 13 episodes instead of 26, and I'm guessing that has something to do with the equestria girls movie. if the last episode had ended with the cliffhanger "Celestia tells everyone Twilight is a princess now", you wouldn't even need to change the movie that much. just start the movie with the coronation as the excuse for why the gang is at the castle instead of some nebulous "Celestia called me out here for my first princess thing"
anyway I'm looking forward to season 4, since that's when I remember it getting bad and I dropped off because I got banned from the pony forum I was on because I was falsely accused of hacking the forum servers and causing it to go offline, and the show by itself wasn't good enough at that point to keep me invested without my forum friends to discuss with. plus I've heard it gets better again later.
#pony posting#this episode so far is the only one I have Opinions™ on that are more in depth than 'haha fun pony show :)'
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Twilight is a stockholm syndrome horror franchise (A Raccoon Court Case)
I wrote this essay as an argument for my podcast (which you can listen to here!). If you want to hear this argument along with my friends picking it apart in our court of law, listen to it on Spotify! Enjoy!
Opening Statement
Hello, my name is Mel, and today I will be defending myself against the charge that i have bad taste for “believing Twilight is a horror franchise about Stockholm Syndrome”.
Before I begin, lets get something straight. I would never, ever come on this podcast, in front of the court and God and Jesus and everyone, and say that Twilight is a bad movie because it’s not. Catherine Hardwicke put her everything into this movie, especially when the 2007-2008 writers strike forced her to improvise the line “hold on tight spider monkey.” This movie has some of the best lighting and editing choices EVER. The soundtrack RIPS! The actors are COMMITTING to the weird shit they were given. Like just watch Emmett walk around with that bag of hard boiled eggs. Look at Alice’s insane haircut during the baseball scene. Watch Anna Kendrick be the most passive aggressive and insecure girl in that school. How do they make Arizona look fucking blue somehow? It’s everything to me.
That being said, I believe that Twilight should not be considered a “romantic fantasy film” as Wikipedia describes it. This movie, and the franchise as a whole, follows a serious episode of Stockholm Syndrome where Bella Swan, after trauma bonding with Edward and his family, becomes convinced that her relationship with Edward is good and healthy and worth leaving everyone she knows and loves behind. While Twilight is my main source for this argument, I will be discussing the less entertaining, more biblically accurate movies in the franchise for some key evidence. Before we jump into them, I would like to note that my praise of Twilight does not unilaterally apply to the rest of these movies. I could feel myself lose years off my life watching Breaking Dawn part 1 with Jess back in June. That being said, Breaking Dawn part 2 revived me and I’m actually happy and healthy and young and vivacious now because of that Alice girlboss moment with the Volturi at the end.
With the current group of Twilight fans in the studio, I am sure we will get distracted and just talk about how good Twilight is, but I will do my best to keep us on track. In the case today, I will give us all an AP Psych background on Stockholm Syndrome. I will then detail all of the weird and creepy things that Edward does in Twilight to trick Bella accidentally into falling in love with him. Finally, I will provide examples from the other movies in the franchise to back up how this unstable and unhealthy relationship fits the telltale signs of a Stockholm Syndrome situation.
Defense case-in-chief
One note before we start. This is a fun podcast for fun. We are in no way trying to trivialize or minimize anyone’s mental health struggles or traumatic experiences. I am just interested in using this lens as a way to understand this dumb fucking franchise.
Now, before we talk about how Edward tricks a teen girl into falling in love with him, let’s quickly go over the basics of Stockholm Syndrome.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, “Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response to being held captive. People with Stockholm syndrome form a psychological connection with their captors and begin sympathizing with them. In addition to the original kidnapper-hostage situation, Stockholm syndrome now includes other types of trauma in which there’s a bond between the abuser and the person being abused.” (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22387-stockholm-syndrome)
This syndrome was named after an incident in 1973, where bank robbers in Stockholm, Sweden held hostages for six days in the bank. During that time, some of the hostages started to like the bank robbers, and upon release, they refused to testify against the criminals. Some of these victims even raised money for the robbers court costs.
Again, according to the Cleveland Clinic,
People who have Stockholm syndrome have:
Positive feelings toward the captors or abusers.
Sympathy for their captors’ beliefs and behaviors.
Negative feelings toward police or other authority figures.
Other symptoms are similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and include:
Flashbacks.
Feeling distrustful, irritated, jittery or anxious.
Can’t relax or enjoy things that you previously enjoyed.
Trouble concentrating.
(https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22387-stockholm-syndrome)
I would like us all to remember these key symptoms and characteristics of the syndrome. First, a victim is put in a traumatic situation, or multiple traumatic situations over time, with the abuser. Then, as they spend more time with the abuser, they start to empathize and form good feelings towards the abuser. A key part here is that they also form negative feelings towards POLICE like say maybe a certain DILF from Forks, Washington??? Anyway, the other symptoms of flashbacks, feeling irritated and anxious, losing interest in your hobbies, trouble concentrating, and distrust all come into play here. In our next sections, I will be giving you concrete examples of times Bella displays ALL of these symptoms and how we can use that evidence to diagnose her as suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.
Now that we have our psychological background information, let’s talk about Twilight!
When we first meet Bella, she is nervous about moving to Forks, and she is a generally shy person, but she is personable. Bella has consistent dinners with her dad and is nice to the townies. She laughs with her mom on the phone. She immediately makes friends with Jacob and finds a group of friends at school on the first day. She smiles a lot considering her character in future movies. She makes jokes when she first meets Mike and Jessica (”aren’t people from Arizona supposed to be like really tan?” “yeah maybe thats why they kicked me out”). I like this weird Bella. She is doing a great job at making friends despite coming in the middle of the year and being shy!
Now, Edward - he is looking ROUGH when we are first introduced. He looks like he’s actually dying a painful death when the rest of the Cullens look like legit immortal and young. Jessica describes him as “totally gorgeous” but as we will see as the movies progress, he won’t reach his hottest until the last few movies. He is not a catch right now. Watching him react to smelling Bella is one of the worst things that I’ve ever seen. I know that it’s just because he is Horny for that Blood, but it is awful to watch. He kinda looks like when a little kid throws up and has to go tell their mom about it in the middle of the night towards the end of the scene.
Anyway, Edward and Bella have now met, which is the beginning of the end that will stretch out over the next 5 movies. But currently, there has been no trauma bonding. There is no psychological damage, except maybe to Bella for thinking she smelled so bad Edward was gonna yak. We are not in Stockholm Syndrome territory yet. Edward comes back to school, apologizes, and becomes Bella’s lab partner again. He’s cuter in this scene somehow, and while it isn’t the same glow up we will see after him and Bella trauma bond, there is something to be said about him tearing her confidence down and then building it back up as the movie makes him look more attractive…
Now, 21 minutes into the movie, Bella is about to get crushed by a car when Edward appears out of nowhere and saves her. He crushes the door of the car, stops it, and then runs away. Here is our first instance of Bella associating Edward as her protector. In the future, this white knight syndrome seems to justify any future danger that Edward puts Bella in. Also, this begins my favorite Edward trait in this movie - this man is a GASLIGHTER. Bella confronts Edward about how he got to her so fast and why his eyes are different colors and he says 1) he was right next to her and 2) “its the fluorescence.” Bella fights back, but he laughs her off. He talks about how she hit her head and is confused. When she keeps fighting, he says “well, no one is gonna believe you,” WHICH IS A CRAZY THING TO SAY!!!!
In the next scene, Bella is having some small flashbacks to the car accident, which could just be PTSD, but as I mentioned earlier, PTSD shares a lot of symptoms with Stockholm Syndrome. Bella is zoning out and not paying attention to Mike while he asks her to prom, but at this point, she is still nice fun Bella. She even puts in a good word for Jessica. However, at the greenhouse, Edward gets mad at Bella for tripping and tells her that she can’t be his friend. It’s a weird back and forth that definitely isn’t helping her psyche. She thinks the guy who saved her life regrets it, which would fuck you up for sure.
This has nothing to do with my argument, but I need to mention that in the next scene, we get both “its la push baby, la push” as well as Edward kicking the apple up into his hands in a way that defies logic and gravity. It’s cinema perfection. To be fair, in this scene, Edward says that Bella would be smart to stay away from him. He may not be trying to force Bella into a Stockholm syndrome situation, but I am sure those bank robbers weren’t either.
Bella is still herself at this point. She goes to the beach with her friends, hangs out with Jacob, and gives the girls advice about the Prom. She asks to go with the girls to prom dress shop all on her own, but she is kinda zoned out and reading a book because she just wants to go to the bookstore. I appreciate that she tried to participate in the girly things her friends wanted to do, but then she is dumb as fuck and walks down the darkest and creepiest alley ever. These gross ass adult men jump her, and Edward comes to the rescue in his teeny tiny little car. Slay! But do you wanna know what’s not slay? Edward was literally stalking her, but Bella feels blessed because he saved her once again. At dinner, Edward, in the creepiest way possible tells her that “he feels very protective of her.” I am obsessed with how quickly Bella accepts that he can read minds. Like what the fuck is wrong with her. But here, we can start to see the change in Bella despite the warning signs - Edward was LITERALLY STALKING HER. GET A GRIP GIRL!!
After Waylan’s death, Bella has flashbacks for a second time! and it makes her start reading the book about vampires. This leads us to an incredible scene of internet sleuthing about vampires and having MORE FLASHBACKS to when Edward saved her. Someone get this girl some help. In the next scene, we get the incredible confrontation between Edward and Bella in the woods. Something I need to bring up here - this girl knows that Edward has stalked her, and she is pretty sure that he is a dangerous vampire. YET!!! She decides to walk out into the forest ALONE with Edward to confront him somewhere no one could see. These two aren’t even together yet, and she has the worst self preservation skills of all time! Then - when she finds out that he has been 17 “for a while” she STAYS AND KEEPS TALKING TO HIM!!!
Now, here is where I truly feel like my evidence really begins. When Edward talks about what vampires eat and how he is dangerous, Bella says “you won’t hurt me.” We are certainly seeing some crazy amounts of trust and sympathy for this man who was literally stalking her and may kill her out in the woods and is also a vampire. Remember how the Cleveland Clinic notes “sympathy for their captor’s behaviors” as one of the key signs of Stockholm Syndrome… She has no reason to believe in him, but she does. Edward drags her through the woods and then forces her up the mountain to reveal how weird and shiny he is. “This is the skin of a killer, Bella” should have really made her turn around and run, like he is literally admitting to being a killer and she says “I don’t believe that.” GIRL!! GET OUT OF THERE!! RUN BITCH!!
I find it interesting that Edward in this scene says that his voice, his face, and his smell are tricking Bella into being drawn in because he is a predator, and it is a trap. He talks about how he was designed to kill and how Bella would never be able to out run him or fight him off, and he is trying to physically demonstrate the threat by throwing shit around. It is a scary display! Edward does a lot in the first few movies to stay away from Bella, but eventually, he does fight to keep her around despite the fact that he KNOWS that he’s 100 years older than her (ew) and he KNOWS that his vampire whiles have tricked Bella’s brain into being attracted to him. Honestly, if he were a good man and not a weird criminal, he would have just moved. Like why do the Cullen kids even need to be in school. Let them pretend to be in their 20s for a while and move away from this poor dumb girl.
As soon as Edward and Bella get together in the woods, she says she is in love with him. Girl, BFFR. We start to see Bella pull away now that she has Edward. Bella ignores all of her friends at school to be with Edward.
Ok, now Charlie is on the hunt for the “animal” killing people. Bella fully knows that its a vampire and that those vampires can kill Charlie and her friends, but she doesn’t say anything because she now has this weird allegiance to the Cullens. She also won’t tell her dad that she’s dating Edward. Mike tells Bella that he doesn’t like Edward dating her because “he looks at you like you’re something to eat.” I know that Mike says that shit because he used to have a thing for Bella, but it says something when your friends are worried about your boyfriend and you brush them off… That’s not a good sign.
That night, Edward just appears in her room while she is on the phone with her mom and ADMITS TO SNEAKING INTO HER ROOM FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS??? TO WATCH HER SLEEP??? Bella thinks its hot. Literally what the fuck girl get a GRIP. Now, when Edward introduces himself to Charlie, he looks hot. My theory, and you can test it as you watch the series, is that Edward gets hotter over time because Bella gets deeper and deeper into her Stockholm syndrome situation. A lot of the other characters are their hottest in this movie, but Edward gets hotter as Bella loses her mind. I think that is saying something.
BASEBALL SCENE!!! BASEBALL SCENE!!! BASEBALL SCENE!!!
Now we are in the first instance where Edward has put Bella in danger - the three rogue vampires find out about her while the Cullens play baseball. This won’t put Bella into danger until later, but it fully is Edward’s fault that she was out in the woods where the vampires could find her. What it does do is force Bella to choose between Edward and Charlie, and this one singular time, she chooses correctly. Bella tells Edward to leave her alone. She isn’t fully sucked into the Cullen trap! JKJK!! It is all a trick to get Charlie to think she is leaving so he doesn’t worry about her! It is absolutely devastating to watch Bella hurt Charlie because Edward says “you have to.” Oh my god it is so hard to watch. DON’T HURT CHARLIE THAT’S MY MANZ!!!
This scene of Bella leaving really solidifies her jump from normal Bella to what we could call captive Bella. She is forced to leave her dad. She is painfully watching her friends have fun while she runs away with the Cullens and a boy she just kissed for the first time after he admitted to sneaking into her room for months. From here on out, we will watch her slowly pull away from everyone until it is just her and Edward. In this scene, Bella admits to being afraid and Edward says “Bella, you are my life now.” Insanity. It’s actually so scary. He also says that when it is over, they are gonna go somewhere alone. Isolating a 17 year old from her home, her friends, and her family is manipulative creep behavior, even if it’s because a scary vampire is trying to get her. Especially when it’s your fault for the vampire even knowing she was a target to begin with.
James tricks Bella into coming to the ballet studio alone and beats the shit out of her before biting her, which nearly kills her. Edward has to suck the poison out because Alice gets horny off Bella’s blood. Bella has to watch a murder happen while Edward just lets her suffer until he decides what to do with her. Edward then takes too much of her blood despite Carlisle telling him when to stop, which is a cool and totally not bad thing to do to your girlfriend when she is on the brink of death. When Bella wakes up, she thanks Edward for saving her, solidifying this savior idea she has about a man who will continue to put her in danger.
Oh god and I totally forgot about the boot to prom. Now, right before the end of the movie, we get one final attempt at a friend trying to save Bella. Jacob gets paid by his dad to tell Bella to break up with Edward. Another adult man informing Bella of what a mistake she is making. She is just like ok whatever bye! Note, she goes to prom with Edward and not any of her friends, even though her friends were so excited about it. She does say hi to her friends, but Edward takes her outside, and they spend the entire prom alone together. It is really fucked that the soundtrack goes so hard in this movie because I start to tear up even knowing that she is going to lose all of her friends and family for Edward.
At the end of this movie, we know a few things about Bella and Edward. Bella starts off as a shy girl with friends who spends time with her dad and calls her mom often. When she meets Edward, she idolizes him after he saves her life a few times. He tries to explain how much of a fucking creep he is by admitting to stalking her, being a murderer, and sneaking into her home for months. She thinks its hot and says that she loves him. Edward, despite being 117 and knowing better than to be into a 17 year old girl, brings her into his family and exposes her to other vampires. Those vampires hunt her for sport and to “protect her,” Edward forces her to lie and leave her friends and family. She now has no one else besides the Cullens. While they do save her, it is their fault for putting her in this situation. However, because they save her from James, she sees them as her savior rather than her captor.
Now, we will complete our analysis by quickly going over the evidence from the other four movies. It is going to be less descriptive because I could not make myself watch this entire series again after watching it literally 2 months ago.
Everyone, buckle up because it is New Moon time. Before we get started, I would love to read the character descriptions from the New Moon entry of Wikipedia:
Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, a teenage girl who falls into a deep depression after her true love, Edward Cullen, leaves her. Her friendship with Jacob Black is expanded as she realizes that he can mend the hole left open by Edward
Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen, Bella's vampire boyfriend who abruptly leaves town to protect her.
Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black, a cheerful companion who eases Bella's pain over losing Edward. He reveals to Bella that he is part of a pack of werewolves whose main goal is to protect her from the vampires Laurent and Victoria
Totally off topic, but I went into the talk page for this bc I love Wikipedia editor drama and someone reviewing this page marked it as stable because it doesn’t have an editing war happening in it. I just love Wikipedia editor culture. Anyway -
In the beginning of this movie, Bella gets a paper cut at her birthday party, which is with the Cullens and not her friends, and Jasper tries to kill her. Again, we are so clearly in “the Cullens are the threat” territory but this bitch has her blinders on hard core. Edward freaks out about it ,and his family moves out of Forks to protect her. At this point, you must be saying, “how could she have stockholm syndrome if he left to protect her?” Just you wait. If you remember from before, sometimes Stockholm syndrome manifests as anxiety, being unable to relax or concentrate, and withdrawing. Well, my girl Bella goes through a major depressive episode when Edward leaves and seemingly stays in her room for months just moping around. The only reason Bella reconnects with anyone is because Charlie threatens to send her to Jacksonville to live with her mom. So, Bella goes to see a movie with Jessica. However, instead of just enjoying the movie like a normal person, she goes up to some bikers she sees on the street and gets on a fucking strangers bike so she can see a force ghost of Edward.
This entire movie is about Bella doing dangerous activities so she can see a memory of Edward even though she has a support system she could use to safely get over the breakup. Jacob tries to be a friend but ends up helping Bella do dangerous shit to see force ghost Edward. Unrelated to literally anything, Jacob goes through werewolf puberty and has to ditch Bella too. The distance doesn’t last long thought. Bella is quickly attacked by Laurent, one of the rogue vampires. You remember, the guy who discovered Bella when Edward had her out in the woods to play baseball. Remember the guy who was friends with the guy who literally almost killed Bella like a few months ago. Yes, that Laurent. The werewolves save Bella and that starts a whole other thing for these movies with the pack politics and the werewolf - vampire feud that we won’t get into.
Bella says yolo and does the dumbest shit ever - go cliff jumping alone in Washington to see her ex-boyfriend. I do want to note that Bella and Edward have known each other at this point for 6 months, and they have been apart for 6 months. Literally, they were together for less time than they have been broken up. It’s insane. And I know that I usually like to give teen romances a break because teens have big feelings and love can be all consuming at that time, but this girl is constantly in danger and depressed because of a man she has maybe kissed 3 times and is 117. Also unrelated, but this twilight wiki article on the timeline mentions that when the Cullens move away, they move to Ithaca where Jasper becomes a philosophy student?? Are you talking about the same Jasper who fought for the confederate side?? Ok yeah ok.
Anyway, Alice sees this in her vision, and Edward, thinking Bella is dead, tries to kill himself. I literally don’t care. Alice and Bella fly to Italy to save Edward. They do, and after some negotiating with the Volturi, they get to leave when they promise to eventually turn Bella into a vampire. At the end of the movie, we see Edward make what Stephanie Meyer would call a compromise and I would call a quid-pro-quo. He promises to turn her into a vampire, which is her dream, ONLY if she marries him. Remember, he is 118 at this point and she is freshly 18, but yeah pop off I guess. No weird power dynamic going on here. Definitely no reason to be worried about this relationship at all.
Our next movie is Eclipse. I would like to note that in the Eclipse talk page on Wikipedia, it is listed as a horror as is Breaking Dawn part 1… I’m gonna say that is a point in my favor too.
This movie is really just a way to exploit the love triangle of the series, but I think it illuminates the weird tension and power dynamic that Edward and Bella have together. Now that Edward and Bella have been reunited after Edward tries to (with an Italian accent and the hands 🤌🏻) kill himself, he proposes. Bella doesn’t want to get married at 18. Like thank god she has 2 brain cells in this movie. I have to note that when Edward proposes, they have been back together for 3 months, and together for a total of 10 months at the most. She is really uncertain about the whole thing, partially because she is so young and partially because her parents didn’t stick together.
Something I think is interesting in this movie is the fact that Bella legally has to be turned into a vampire to fulfill her agreement with the Volturi. If she doesn’t get turned, she will be killed by them. Edward refuses to turn Bella into a vampire unless she marries him. In a way, he is forcing Bella to chose between two options she doesn’t want: get married or get murdered by scary Dakota Fanning. She no longer has any agency in her life or her decision to become a vampire - she literally has to pick getting married. Now, because she has been tricked into falling in love with an 118 year old murderer, she thinks it will work out just fine. I just wanted to bring up that plot point because it really is so gross of Edward??
Next in Eclipse, Jacob kisses Bella, and she breaks her hand trying to punch him. At the same time, we get some training montages to prepare for the battle with Victoria, the lover of James, remember James who almost killed Bella. Yeah, well she’s a coming, and she’s bringing some fresh vampires. During the training, Jasper tells Bella about how he hated his life until he met Alice, and that is enough to convince her to marry Edward. I love when a heart to heart with a canonical confederate soldier fixes my relationship problems.
Because of Victoria and the need to force the love triangle, Jacob, Bella, and Edward go on a camping trip. While Bella tries not to die of hypothermia, Jacob gets mad about them being engaged and runs off. Bella then kisses Jacob to keep him from running away because thats how you shut people up in romance movies but also because apparently now she loves him?? Edward is like ¯\(ツ)/¯ because “he knows that she doesn’t love Jacob as much as him” and maybe also because if she chooses Jacob she will literally be murdered by the Italian vampire squad??
There is a fight and like its fine and then the Volturi remind Bella of their deal, so she chooses Edward. Again, it is great to choose your partner under duress, especially when it is entirely your partner’s fault that you are under duress. Wikipedia describes the end of this movie as follows: “Bella and Edward go to their meadow, where she tells him she has decided to do things his way: get married, have sex, then be transformed into a vampire, and that she feels complete in his world. They decide to tell Charlie about their engagement.” I always forget how important Edward’s “old fashioned views” on sex and relationships are in these movies until I rewatch. Nothing reminds me more about this 100 year age gap than Edward not wanting to take her flower before God intended. Ugh, anyway.
On to Breaking Dawn Part 1!! I hate this movie, but boy does it have a lot to discuss.
This movie opens on the wedding. Our sweet lil girl is finally marrying her 118 year old spooky boyfriend so she doesn’t get murdered! How beautiful. But before that, we get Edward admitting to Bella that he used to murder people for sport after he got turned even though Carlisle told him not to. Very cool Ed!! Bella says that its ok because he probably was saving more lives by killing these weirdos, which is another good example of siding with her captor. Side note, but Bella is all in on getting married and never seeing her friends and family again as Edward reaches peak hottie status in the series… Coincidence?
In the scenes leading up to the wedding, we see two Bellas: the one around Edward who is so sure about getting married BECAUSE she is so sure about becoming a vampire and the one around her friends and family who looks nervous and unsure about the wedding. She looks like she’s having a panic attack, especially as Charlie walks her down the aisle. That could just be because she’s shy Bella but I think maybe there is something more going on here.
At the wedding, we hear from some of the speeches from Bella’s friends and family. Emmett gives a horny ass toast. Jessica gives a crazy speech about how she is hotter than Bella. Charlie says “Edward will be a good husband. I know this because I am a cop.” which devolves into him just threatening Edward. Bella’s mom sings a lullaby that goes on for a criminal amount of time. Alice bashes Bella’s fashion sense. Esme gives a harrowing speech about protecting Bella forever.
In one of my favorite scenes of the series, we watch Jacob and Bella reconnect. I am going to include the best part after I talk about this evidence, but here Jacob says “I should be used to saying goodbye to you.” Remember how, since vampires don’t age, Bella is going to have to leave literally every single person she knows and loves to live exclusively with Edward, a man who invites endless danger and also is a creep? Woof it is hard to watch. Then, Jacob gets mad at Bella, rightfully!, for planning on getting dicked down by her vampire husband before she turns vampire.
Before she goes on her honeymoon, Bella has a tearful goodbye with her parents, who she knows she will never see again. It’s really sad?? She can hear the wolves howling and is even more sad. From here on out, Bella will only have the Cullens. She has committed herself forever to this group of people who constantly endanger her, partially because if she didn’t Michael Sheen would kill her.
Now, the rest of this movie is Bella’s pregnancy. Fun fact, she is aware of her pregnancy for less than 14 days before she gives birth. According to the book and a tiktok Twilight historian I follow, they have sex on August 14th. From August 15th to 20th, Bella is having weird dreams and eating raw chicken. On August 21st, they have sex again and 10 days later, she realizes she missed her period. When Jacob sees Bella all gross and pregnant, 7 days have gone by. Renesmee is born on 9/11. It’s WILD.
So now, this poor girl has had sex exactly twice like shes Lane from Gilmore Girls, and she’s pregnant. And guess what? Edward is like fucking EW get rid of that thing rn. This man, who was all about proper godly values, is like abort that creature. She’s like no I wanna keep this baby, and he won’t even try to be understanding. So now, Bella doesn’t even really have her husband as a support system or any of her family to get her through this. She just has the Cullen girlies until Edward can read the baby’s thoughts and he’s like oh sweet the baby means no harm on my wife who I’ve abandoned many times and also forced to leave her entire support system.
Bella dies in the most gruesome childbirth scene of all time, and Edward turns her into a vampire.
FINAL MOVIE!!! BREAKING DAWN PART 2
Most of this movie is irrelevant. However, in the beginning, we get my actual favorite scene in all of twilight [you imprinted on my daughter??]. Edward is SO HOT, peak hot one could argue, in this movie. Now that Bella is fully indoctrinated into the Cullen family, Edward becomes as hot as possible. His total mind takeover is complete.
Anyway, this movie really reminds us of the impact the Cullens have had on isolating Bella. Charlie is desperate to know anything about Bella’s health and where she is, btu the Cullens are like yo - we gotta move and never talk to him again. We gotta pack our bags and move away. Jacob is like thats absolute bullshit so he snitches to Charlie. He doesn’t tell him everything so it seems to be ok? They say that Renesme is adopted and Bella is no longer sick, so its gucci.
The rest of the movie is just about the Volturi bullshit and Alice girlbossing until Bella, Edward, and Renesme get to be a happy family, totally cut off from the outside world.
To recap, people who have Stockholm syndrome have:
Positive feelings toward the captors or abusers aka the Cullens
Sympathy for their captors’ beliefs and behaviors aka Edward being a stalker and a murderer and a pedophile
Negative feelings toward police or other authority figures aka Charlie and the werewolf pack when they warn against being with the Cullens
Other symptoms are similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and include:
Flashbacks like all of the ones she had in Twilight and the force ghost projections in New Moon
Feeling distrustful, irritated, jittery or anxious which only gets worse in Bella as she spends more time with the Cullens.
Can’t relax or enjoy things that you previously enjoyed - this bitch is on edge all the time and everything in her life has become life or death at 18.
Trouble concentrating - you know it, especially in New Moon.
Over time, we watch Edward get hotter as Bella feels more and more tied with the Cullens. When she has no other way of surviving, she marries Edward and then is removed from her community forever. She can’t even share the miracle of her becoming a mother with anyone. It is upsetting to watch, and that’s why I believe this franchise is actually a horror story warning us about Stockholm Syndrome.
Closing Statement
Honorable members of the jury, I am sorry that I put you through this today. I can’t say what compelled me to do this other than grad school procrastination and a recent hyperfixation on Twilight. I hope you can all look at this movie with a clinical eye, as doctors recognized by the court today, and see that yes, Edward put Bella in danger many times and yes, she thought he was hotter every time he revealed something fucking heinous about himself. We should all watch these films not as romances, but as warnings. Don’t fall in love with weird loners who are 117 years old. Don’t join a family with a confederate soldier. It will only cause you irreperable psychological damage and physical pain and also give you a weird baby that your ex-lover imprints on. Please don’t find me guilty of bad taste for believing Twilight is a Stockholm Syndrome horror film.
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Songs for Early Autumn
Look, LOOK, I know that it is literally still August, but the weather this summer has been so bad that I am ready for all the leaves to fall off the trees and to go to a pumpkin patch again. I am writing this as a storm starts and the rain falls heavily over the garden beneath the balcony. The thunder begins to rage louder and that starts to scare me because I hate hearing loud noises that I am waiting for. I put my noise cancelling headphones on to drown out the noise. At first, I started to listen to a Podcast. It was Emma Chamberlain's Anything Goes series where she's discussing the concept of living in Los Angeles. The thing is I hear all the time about how good Podcasts are when you need background noise while you focus on something else, but I found it unbearable to listen to. It made my brain fog up, as if hearing someone else speak meant I needed to focus all my attention on what they're talking about, even if they are essentially saying nothing. So I swapped back to listening to music and I already feel so much clearer ??? I feel like I want to listen to Podcasts if only they weren't so distracting for me.
Anyway kinda back to my point. This selection of songs that I wanted to feature is very much directed for the girlies who watch Gilmore Girls (or maybe not I have actually never watched the show), adore the aesthetic of the Autumn and perhaps enjoy a pumpkin spice latte. I promise this list will not simply contain Sweater Weather by The Nbd; but let me just create a visual representation for the type of vibe I'm trying to go for here.
I took all these pictures from Pinterest btw, even made a whole new account just so I didn't have to Google search stuff like 'autumn aesthetic we heart it'
Without any further ado, here are the songs:
Reaper - AS YOU SOW (2018)*
The Cardigans - My Favourite Game (1998)
Francis Lai - Un Homme Et Une Femme (1966)
Miley Cyrus x Stevie Nicks - Edge of Midnight (2020)
Kate Bush - The Wedding List (1980)
MOTHXR - Touch (2016)
Mareux - The Perfect Girl (2021)
Rendez Vous - Sentimental Animal (2018)
High Sunn - Ramen Waitress (2017)
Nicolas Jaar - No One Is Looking At U (2015)
Shygirl x Bjork - Woe (I See It From Your Side) (2023)
Still Corners - Midnight Drive (2013)
Jeff Buckley - So Real (1994)
Eleven Pond - Watching Trees Bedroom Mix (2012)
Gang Of Youths - What Do I Do If The Fire Goes Out? (2017)
Weyes Blood - Andromeda (2019)
Boa - Twilight (2001)
Twin Peaks - Making Breakfast (2014)
BLOXX - Novocain (2016)
Anika - He Hit Me (2010)
Bat For Lashes - What's A Girl To Do? (2006)
King Krule - Dum Surfer (2017)
Wolf Alice - Sadboy (2017)
Moses Gunn Collective - Dream Girls (2016)
Le Tigre - Phanta (1999)
Chargaux x Soft Glas - Lullaby (2014)*
BLAISE MOORE - Yyz (2016)
Crystal Castles - Year of Silence (2010)
*A couple of these songs mentioned in the list are no longer available on streaming platforms and upon further search, it seems the two artists whose music is not online anymore is due to removal of all of their music. However, I have found some Soundcloud links to the tracks and they are also still available on YouTube.
Happy listening to my playlist for the season and hopefully I will remember to do things like this more frequently.
#SoundCloud#misc#music#autumn#reaper#the cardigans#francis lai#miley cyrus#stevie nicks#kate bush#mothxr#mareux#rendez vous#high sunn#nicolas jaar#shygirl#bjork#still corners#jeff buckley#eleven pond#gang of youths#weyes blood#boa#twin peaks#bloxx#anika#bat for lashes#king krule#wolf alice#moses gunn collective
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Anime only watchers and people who aren't caught up with the Manga, BEWARE... Cuz I'm about to discuss Spy X Family Mission 75... You have been warned...! 👌
[SPOILERS AHEAD FROM THIS POINT ON]
[Breathes in............. 😤]
(This gif perfectly describes how I feel after reading this chapter... So let's talk about it...!)
The chapter begins with Anya, Becky, Bill, and Damian each getting a Stella Star (as they should...! 😤):
And at first, I was like: "Is Endo really just gonna skip the direct aftermath of the hijacking...?" 🤔 But then, a few pages later, we get exactly that!! 😄
One by one, everyone's parents came to pick them up (we even got a small glimpse at Ewen's mom and Emile's dad...! 😁) And then, it was just Damian and Anya...
Which honestly hurt my heart a little seeing Anya looking into the distance like that... 😢
Then, we get one of (in my opinion) the most sweetest / wholesome moments between Anya and Damian...!! 💗😊💗
DAMIAN EVEN CALLED ANYA HIS FRIEND...!!! 💗😆💗😆💗(Which he retracted soon after...!! 😁)
But then, Damian says this...:
💔MY FREAKING HEART...!!!💔
WHY DO YOU THIS TO HIM ENDO!!? 😫
(I swear...!! If the Forgers don't take Damian in, me and rest of the fandom will gladly adopt this boy...!!! 😤)
After that, Yor finally showed up to get Anya, which led to THIS:
💔MY BABY GIRL!!!💔
She really tried to play it off like she wasn't scared... 😢 Oh, Anya...! 💔😭💔
Then, we got the first big surprise of the chapter...:
TWILIGHT ACTUALLY SHOWED UP...!!! 😲 (And I'm happy about it!! 😊)
But that wasn't the only surprise...:
Melinda Desmond actually showed up!! 👀
And because of Anya, we finally got to see her inner thoughts...:
OH MY GOD!! 😱 WHAT AN ENDING...!!! AND WHAT IS HER DEAL?!!
And that was Mission 75, and it blew me out of the water...!!! 😵 I've said it a bunch before, and I'll say it again... Endo can always find a way to surprise me and keep me guessing...!! 😊 AND I LOVE THAT!!! 😁👍
As for where things will go from hear, I couldn't tell ya...! 😅 But what I do know is that Anya knows something's not right with Melinda now, and I wonder what she's gonna do with that information...? 🤔 Only time will tell...!! (Also, I wonder if Twilight was informed about the situation or if he heard about it a different way... 🤔)
Anyway, I had a great time with chapter, and I hope that y'all did too...!! 😊 So until next time, I see you all in the next Mission...!! Take care everyone...!! 👋😁
#spy x family#sxf#spyxfamily#spy x family manga#sxf manga#spyxfamily manga#anya forger#damian desmond#becky blackbell#bill watkins#yor forger#loid forger#melinda desmond#Mission 75#THAT CHAPTER WAS AMAZING!!#I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE ELSE SAYS...!!#PROTECT DAMIAN AT ALL COST!! 😫#SOMEONE PLEASE ADOPT HIM FROM HIS HORRIBLE FAMILY!! 😔#I hate the way Donovan and Melinda treat Damian sooo much...! 😡
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hey, feel free to delete this if you are uncomfortable answering, but i have seen a post circulating lately claiming all tealbloods are jewish coded and i could not find any other jewish people say that in any other place so i wondered if you have a take on the subject? i dont want to dismiss anything said on that post or anything, but the lack of discussion everywhere else just felt kind of weird since tealbloods are well loved and talked about a lot
oh! big big big subject right there, this isn't the first time i've talked abut this and tl;dr i think it's a giant reach
now longer version:
iirc this all started with stelsa having the bullet point "troll jewish" on her original troll call, which referred to how she doesn't believe in the sufferer. this was eventually removed as it was pointed out that having it there made her an example of the jewish american princess trope which is harmful to jewish women. this is true and to be clear it is a good thing that the bullet point was removed, even though it doesn't change much about the trope she represents in the long run. at least the writers tried to correct themselves a bit.
i think this controversy made people look at homestuck and specifically tealbloods with a newfound critical lens, but i'll be honest... i can only speak as a single jewish person, but i don't think "terezi is a lawyer and eats the color red" is quite enough to go screaming blood libel. because if we're talking about the same post, then that post SPECIFICALLY claims tealbloods to be antisemitic stereotypes and i just don't agree with that. the only one who actually is that is stelsa, everything else is inference based on hypercritical thinking that doesn't actually help anyone imo.
and now i'm gonna go off on antisemitism in homestuck and a much more direct critique of that post:
if you wanna talk antisemitism in homestuck, look at rose: she's literally just a jewish american princess trope at first. as the story progresses she stops being that, but the fandom often forces her into it again because they don't realize that's what they're doing. like, hey, she's canonically a hardcore gamer! but people shove her into the "prim and proper rich therapist girl" box, and jewish fans have been telling people to stop doing that for a while but nobody listens.
the original post i saw on the subject of tealblood being jewish-coded felt disingenuous to me, because i don't see people worrying about any of the actual antisemitism in homestuck. it treated the subject as a puzzle to be solved to prove the secret prejudice of the text, when the antisemitism is right there but it's not as fun so people don't actually care.
kanaya drinks blood, she rejected her strict (christian coded) upbringing and married a jewish woman in a jewish wedding. if i wanted to rile people up i could easily point to that as a much more direct example of blood libel, but i DON'T because that's not what's happening there and we all know it. it's a mary/christ allegory and a "what if twilight but lesbian" joke that just happens to line up with conspiracy theories if you read into it with the intention to find it there. the fact is, antisemitism is much more direct and frankly boring than people think.
now i'm not saying the original post was definitely disingenuous, i'm not a mind reader, but i really do want to urge everyone here to examine the idea being presented: that there are subtextual clues that will help you find the secret jews who hide everywhere jewish coding of a character. that's freakishly close to actual conspiracy thinking and it will not lead you down a good path.
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History, Characters, and Just a Little Bit of Magic
I discovered Juliet Marillier when I was in high school and was looking for literally *ANY* alternative to Twilight, because while I have nothing against vampires, I was not a Twilight girl. No shade to anyone who loved those books, they just weren't my cup of tea. I first found Wildwood Dancing with it's night people, frog prince, and dancing princesses (and we'll talk about that book someday), but today I want to talk about one of Marillier's adult trilogies. This trilogy follows Blackthorn and Grim as they work through life-changing trauma and find their way back to humanity--their own and others'.
First thing's first: This is an adult trilogy, and a few tirgger warnings appy. First and foremost, there is discussion of and recovery from sexual assault across all three books. I'm not going to get into it here, but take care of yourselves when choosing books to read and maybe steer clear from this trilogy if that topic is not a healthy thing for you to engage in just now. There is also some sacking-of-monastery-level graphic violence, and some absolutely screwey medieval dictatorial power dynamics that lead to gendered violence.
I loved these books, but I include trigger warnings because I would like y'all to be safe and healthy in choosing what to add to your TBR lists. The world is *a lot* right now, so anything that we can do to add some softness and gentleness and joy is important, and trigger warnings facilitate that.
With that bit of business out of the way, let me tell you about Blackthorn and Grimm.
Blackthorn reads a lot older than she actually is; by the time we catch up with her at the beginning of Dreamer's Pool, she's roughly early thirties, but we don't get that temporal marker until quite a ways in, and I'm not going to lie, I was FULLY a decade off in where I initially estimated her age. Blackthorne had her start as a healer who's abilities are greased with, perhaps, just a bit of magic. However, when we meet Blackthorn, she is in the deepest bowels of a men's prison and is, entirely reasonably, extremely cranky about it. Blackthorn has sharp, wounded edges, and watching those edges heal and lose some of their sharpness--although not all, never all, part of what you grow to love about her is the grouchiness that covers a startlingly soft heart--is one of the most compelling parts of the trilogy. Blackthorn is a protagonist who is allowed to be cranky, allowed to be nontraditional in so many ways, and has a certain je ne sais quoi that brought her and her story close to my heart.
If I were to describe Grim in one word...I wouldn't. I just quite simply wouldn't, because reductive, nuance-less pop descriptions do not and will never be appropriate for this trilogy. Grim is a man who is terrified of himself, and deeply ashamed of his past for reasons that do not become clear until the second book. Grim's emotional journey and his dealing with his own PTSD was incredibly compelling to watch, and even in the first book when we don't have the information to understand Grim's self-assessment, all you want to do is hug this man. In a world that is hard, unforgiving, and often unspeakably cruel, Grim is soft and kind in the best ways. Watching these characters interact and influence each other is a masterclass in recovery and rediscovering humanity.
For fully 95% of this trilogy, Blackthorn insists that there is no word for what she and Grim are to each other, and not going to lie, I fully spent 90% of the trilogy (and if you read the books you'll understand why that number should have been 65% absolutely maximum) thinking "Oh this is going to be an emotionally intimate but completely platonic relationship and I love this so much!" Reader, I was wrong. In hindsight, I would call this the slowest of slow-burn romances, but that feels like a woefully inadequate description of the relationship journey these characters go on. Literally, the first book starts with a fae-assisted jailbreak and the final book ends with a corruption trial. The trail from point A to point B is wild, wonderful, and a joy to read.
I picked up this trilogy during my recovery after grad school (the PhD killed my love of reading guys, and rekindling that was a JOURNEY) and publication, and I am so, so glad I did. It was a better fit than I could have ever imagined, and going and finding the rest of Marillier's back catalog really helped jumpstart my love of fun reading again.
#juliet marillier#blackthorn and grim#blackthorn#grim#dreamer's pool#tower of thorns#den of wolves#books & libraries#books and reading#books and novels#medieval fantasy#fantasy#slow burn#reading recommendations#historical fantasy#irish mythology#irish folklore#book recommendations#books#booksbooksbooks#fae
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