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melatovnik · 3 years

Note

ok ur top faves wangxian fics go

hey yati! 🥰️

alright, so first things first, here’s a big wangxian fic rec list i made a while ago, if you wanna check that one out too! consider the list below part 2. these are all my faves so far since my last rec list (as you'll quickly see, i have a LOT of faves).

and just a fyi/psa/disclaimer for anyone reading this: some of these fics have disturbing themes and/or kinky/freaky sex! make sure to check the authors’ tags and notes before reading. also, much like my first rec list, there’s going to be a mix of mdzs and cql canon, characterizations, dynamics, etc., so bear that in mind.

....ok GO

live from new york by varnes | rated E | 87K words | THE snl au fic!!!! yes, by snl i mean saturday night live. this is perhaps the best and funniest story i've ever read, period. varnes is a fucking genius. read this fic.

Wei Ying lets out a long, ugly groan. “I am fine, Lan Zhan. Everybody is overreacting, it’s so embarrassing for all of you.”

“You had undiagnosed pneumonia, which you walked around with for weeks until you passed out during dress,” Lan Wangji corrects him. “It got a big laugh, until everyone thought you were dead.”

He keeps his voice even and does not tell Wei Ying that it had been Lan Wangji who caught him, who called the ambulance, and who rode with him to the hospital, where he was yelled at by nurses who wanted to know why he hadn’t noticed that Wei Ying couldn’t stop shivering or string proper sentences together.

“Rumors of my demise have been vastly overstated,” Wei Ying says. “Anyway, I’m already feeling much better. Basically fine. Really almost completely back to normal, so stop babying me and tell me why the fuck you let your stupid brother hire the worst man in the world to host our show.”

OR: the one where they all work at SNL, Yanli's ex-boyfriend is hosting, and that's just the beginning of everybody's problems.

swiss cheese theory by varnes | rated M | 19K words | sequel to snl au fic!!!!!! another must-read.

The Swiss Cheese model of accident causation likens human system defences to a series of slices of randomly-holed Swiss Cheese arranged vertically and parallel to each other with gaps in-between each slice. Defences against failure are modelled as a series of barriers, represented as slices of the cheese. The holes in the cheese slices represent individual weaknesses in individual parts of the system. The system as a whole produces failures when holes in all of the slices momentarily align, permitting "a trajectory of accident opportunity," so that a hazard passes through holes in all of the defences, leading to an accident.

OR: Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian go to the courthouse.

OR: “Sweethearts,” the city clerk had said, very gently, “you’re already married.”

best friends forever by varnes | rated T | 17K words | alright, so like, strictly speaking, wangxian isn't the focus of this fic, BUT. this fic is so good!! it is seriously so good, and it made me fall in love with jin ling/lan jingyi. also, it's varnes, so read it!

It happened like this: Jin Ling was a sect leader now, which was, and Jingyi really meant this, fucking hilarious. There were few things funnier, in his honest opinion.

Because he was young, and inexperienced, and also — it had to be said — a real shithead, there was apparently some belief amongst his advisors that the best way forward, to promote the picture of a stable, mature sect leader who absolutely did not cry at the drop of a hat, was for Jin Ling to get married.

OR: Jin Ling and Jingyi get engaged.

Things spiral from there.

For a Good Time, Call by ScarlettStorm | rated E | 171K words

The picture is of Wei Ying, that much is clear. It’s of a lot more of Wei Ying than Lan Zhan is used to seeing. He supposes that, technically, Wei Ying is dressed. It’s a bare technicality, since one of Wei Ying’s hands has rucked up his black tank top practically to his collarbone, showing a long expanse of abdomen and one nipple. Sweat beads on his sternum, catching the light like jewels. His other hand is--Lan Zhan feels his eyes widen, as though unable to look away from a train wreck--on his hip, one thumb tugging down the waistband of a pair of red briefs. Wei Ying is biting his lower lip and looking directly into the camera, sultry, his eyes dark and inviting. His erection is obvious, outlined against the red of the briefs and framed carefully with the hand on his hip. Lan Zhan’s brain goes wildly, screamingly blank.

Or: Lan Zhan accidentally finds his best friend's OnlyFans account and has an ongoing emotional crisis.

love, in fire and blood by cicer | rated E | 360K words | i actually haven't finished this one since i was reading it when it was a WIP, i need to reread it and catch up fjdskl;fjsd, but i love it very much!!!!!! oh my god he wanted to look nice for his husband..... 🙃 [screams with mouth closed]

"You want Wen Ruohan dead," the Patriarch continued idly. "You want his corpse puppets eliminated. You want his halls burned to the ground and his soldiers disemboweled and begging for mercy. Have I about covered it?"

He gave another knife-edged smile.

"But what will you give me in return?"

"We would be willing to offer quite a bit in return for Wen Ruohan's defeat," Lan Xichen admitted. "But I'm afraid we don't know what an immortal such as yourself desires. Please advise us."

The Patriarch waved at hand at the front of the tent. "I want Second Young Master Lan."

(In which the Sunshot Campaign ends through an arranged marriage to the Yiling Patriarch, and Lan Wangji suffers the mortifying ordeal of falling in love with his own husband.)

how to fall in love with a catfish: a guide by wei wuxian (disaster rat) by bwyn & Yuisaki | rated T | 55K words

A new plan hatches in Wei Wuxian’s head. If this nocturnal, bottom-feeding, slimy, invasive mudcat posing as a beautiful actor thinks he can sway Wei Wuxian with animal pictures and a sob story and an unbelievably stilted way of texting with still no dick pictures in the first five minutes of conversation, he has another thing coming. Wei Wuxian’s got it, alright, he has this in the fucking bag.

Wei Wuxian plots to expose a catfish using strategic memes and turtle pictures while wiggling his way out of family dinner. Lan Wangji just wants companions.

there’s no promised goodbye here by Yuisaki | rated T | 54K words

Jiang Cheng stares at him. “Didn’t you say you broke up five months ago?”

“Yeah.”

“So why do you have a picture of you two kissing taped to your fridge?”

“Because we’re too broke for magnets,” Wei Wuxian explains, then considers that statement. “Well, I’m too broke for magnets. Lan Zhan probably refuses to buy them because he’s trying to have lofty ideas about the moral failings of materialism.”

Wei Wuxian navigates the trials of living with his ex-boyfriend in apartment 1301.

paint smears on sunny days by SnowshadowAO3 | rated E | 54K words

To say that he runs to his car would be incorrect, as he is a Lan, and running is both undignified and unnecessary unless in immediate danger. Nor does he slam his key into the ignition, or aggressively swerve around the cars on the freeway, or have a mild panic attack at the fact he is picking A-Yuan up late from school for the first time ever.

He comes close, though.

By the time he arrives, it’s 4:35PM, and he has imagined about fifty different worse-case scenarios. The door is partly open when he gets to it, a messy label of 104B—Art Room scrawled with chalk on a placard next to the faded wood. As he opens it fully, he expects to see a wailing, terrified child, or perhaps a scene of utter misery and betrayal.

What he finds is his son, hands covered in paint, being sung to by a beautiful, dark-haired stranger.

“Ducks live in the pond, yellow ducks, happy ducks!”

Lan Wangji stops in his tracks.

(Or: Falling in love with your son’s art teacher, in five parts)

a paper friend by sunzu | rated G | 5K words

Lan Wangji finds a paperman far from its body and helps get it home.

-Or-

Lan Wangji unknowingly meets Wei Wuxian for the first time.

All Caught Up by brooklinegirl | rated E | 37K words

"Betrothed," Wei Ying says indignantly.

Lan Wangji can't stop his gaze from darting up to him. Wei Ying understands. Wei Ying is looking at him, wide-eyed and upset on his behalf.

"And you don't even like her," Wei Ying says.

"I don't even know her," Lan Wangji says quietly.

"But even if you did—" Wei Ying starts.

"I wouldn't want this," Lan Wangji finishes.

Lead Me On Through by mrsronweasley | rated E | 55K words | oh look another canon-era practice kissing fic fjdskfl;ds

"Who do you think your betrothed is?" Wei Wuxian asks, sprawling out in front of Lan Zhan and enjoying the prim thinning of his lips at the question. He shouldn't be sprawling—they're in the library, for one, and Lan Zhan is studying, for another—but he can't help himself. Wei Wuxian is a sprawler.

"I do not believe this to be of importance," Lan Zhan responds, without turning his gaze away from his book.

"What!" Wei Wuxian sits up. "How can you say that? Of course it's important! This is the person you'll be with for the rest of your life, Lan Zhan."

I Started From the Bottom/And Now I'm Rich by x_los | rated E | 58K words | ok so i know that in my spiel above i said to mind the tags, etc., but actually pay no mind to the first two relationship tags for this fic. i PROMISE that this isn't that sort of dead dove fic fjdksl;fjs;lifkj. i. it. it's wangxian. don't sweat it. don't even trip. just—this fic fucking rules. it's completely insane and it slaps. wei ying is a girlboss and a bitch and i like her So Much

“First, you get the money. Then you get the power, respect - hos come last.”

Wen Qing traps Wei Wuxian in the Demon Slaughtering Cave, but Wei Wuxian isn’t interested in being the beneficiary of the Wen Remnants’ noble sacrifice. His efforts to free himself accidentally send him back to the beginning of the Sunshot Campaign. Coreless but armed with demonic cultivation, knowledge of the future and his wits, Wei Wuxian takes advantage of this opportunity to come out on top of both the war and its aftermath—before either has a chance to happen—by marrying and swiftly burying the cultivation world’s worst men.

Lan Wangji is confused, hurt, and uncomfortably aroused by Wei Wuxian’s improbably elaborate series of Sect-themed bridal negligees.

rather cruelly used and rather reserved by x_los | rated M | 14K words

In the month between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian leaving Yi City and their attending the cultivation conference in Lanling, Wei Wuxian discovers a locked room in the Jingshi. It is a mystery that clever and curious Wei Wuxian is doing everything in his power to avoid solving.

But the rose was awake all night for your sake/Knowing your promise to me by x_los | rated E | 8K words | resentment tenties~

The resentful energy occupying Wei Wuxian's body like an enemy army is very interested in giving him Lan Wangji, tied up with a bow.

Wei Wuxian is hoping that Lan Wangji (who is far too noble and very keen to save Wei Wuxian's misguided soul) doesn't find out about any aspect of that.

Mo Money, Mo Problems by x_los | rated M | 3K words

After the Mo family perishes in distressing and mysterious circumstances, Wei Wuxian, still reeling from his reincarnation, tries to dip back into their manor for a little travelling money. (Forward planning! What a concept!) Lan Wangji catches him immediately, and is highly unimpressed (read: furious) with Wei Wuxian’s decision to run away from him in the first place.

Standing Engagement by x_los | rated M | 18K words

Lan Wangji believes he and Wei Wuxian are essentially engaged. While they search for his missing betrothed, he accidentally reveals as much to Jiang Wanyin. Now everyone in the cultivation world knows about the imminent marriage, except for Wei Wuxian himself.

Coming Back to Yourself by acernor | rated E | 22K words | genital swapping for fun and nonprofit!

Lan Wangji gets cursed with a ~woman's body~ and has to orgasm to go back. Since he's 1) a virgin 2) super repressed and 3) SUPER gay, he has no idea what to do.

If only he had a super nosy friend who's read lots of erotic novels who could help him figure out what to do... hm...

Save a Sword by etymologyplayground | rated E | 5K words | a fic inspired by the above fic!

Lan WangJi presses a kiss into his throat, which draws a shivering whine from him. "Like this," he agrees, his voice so low. Then he slides one warm elegant hand down Wei WuXian's chest to his belly, and then to his — to his —

fan ending for acernor's fabulous masterpiece "coming back to yourself" because i'm a huge goofball and that fic fucks

Our Eyes on the Road by etymologyplayground | rated E | 23K words | brought to you by lore (the author) and Orville Peck's hit song Drive Me, Crazy

Lan Zhan is silent for a long moment, and the van's speakers quietly pipe the second song on the album into the empty space between them. Then Lan Zhan shifts his hand a little on Wei Ying's leg, presses his fingers once into the meat of his thigh. "Alright," he says.

"Alright," Wei Ying echoes in a wheeze.

"Is that better?" Lan Zhan checks, because he is a good boy. Then he spreads his fingers out a little wider, because he is evil and must be stopped.

Lan Zhan is driving to Chicago. Wei Ying tags along.

Worship you till morning comes by feyburner | rated E | 7K words

A meet-cute, a first date, a sleepover.

Let's take a ride round the curves of desire by feyburner | rated E | 6K words | yeah........... uhh, yeah.

Wei Ying was sprawled on the floor in front of the oscillating fan when Lan Zhan got home from work.

The Roots Grow Riotous by hansbekhart | rated E | 105K words | a beautifully crafted, emotionally harrowing fic. i should warn you (since it's not quite tagged as such) that while wangxian is endgame, the overall story doesn't have the sort of happily-ever-after ending you might expect. i’ve seen it described as open-ended but hopeful and cathartic, which i find to be a pretty accurate assessment

Sometimes Lan Zhan doesn’t work through lunch. Sometimes he makes conversation with coworkers in the halls. Sometimes he goes home instead of spending the last hour trawling through Grindr. But mostly, that’s exactly what he does. The sameness is comforting. His life spools out in easily measured increments: capsule collections, yards of hand dyed textiles, ninety day lead times, sell through figures, cost of goods sold.

Every date in manufacturing can be calculated backwards and forward from a single horizon point: the date that the goods must arrive into the country where they'll be sold. Other than that, nothing else really matters.

总有一天; a place to hide (can’t find one near) by yiqie | rated E | 76K words | i can't recall a fic ever affecting me as much as this one did. one of the best stories i've ever read. so, so, so crushingly beautiful. it's viscerally distressing/upsetting at times, especially at the start, so please heed the tags and author's note (they provide a way to skip the beginning scene if needed)!

That’s just the thing, isn’t it? Wei Ying feels nothing. He doesn’t feel anything, and this emptiness should scare him. He knows he should be scared. He wants to be scared. He isn’t. Fear itself is never scary; fear is just a response. It means that your body wants you alive. It’s the absence of terror that scares him.

请兔子吃晚饭; treating a bunny to dinner by yiqie | rated T | 3K words | read this one to recover from the above fic

It’s not really about the food. Being able to share it in the same space is its own kind of magic.

爱不释手; never let me go by yiqie | rated E | 69K words | and then read this one to feel harrowed again, this time in canon-verse!

Wei Wuxian has certainly hoped so ardently in his two lifetimes, for so many different things, in so many different ways, that he could have summoned the demon to his front door with his bare hands. His eyes wander to Lan Zhan, settle on the back of his head, the blue-black curtain of his hair. Oh, how he has hoped.

在此恭迎夷陵老祖; to yiling laozu, the great and venerable by yiqie | rated M | 7K words | read this one to recover from the above fic (this time in canon-verse)

“You don’t know? In Yiling, there’s a tree at the edge of town, one that stands at the fringes of where the city ends and the Burial Mounds begin, called the Lover’s Tree. They say if you write a letter and nail it to its branches, Yiling Laozu will receive it, and he’ll reply.”

你的阳光下; wanna hide in your light by yiqie | rated T | 2K words | :')

Lan Zhan shuts off the water before it can start getting cold, because Wei Ying still needs to take one. Any other day, Wei Ying would have slunk in, pretending to be annoyed that Lan Zhan started without him, and neither of them would have want for hot water, but Wei Ying is still asleep.

From my heart's ground. by orange_crushed | rated E | 38K words | get (orange) CRUSHED!!!!!!!

After a while he can feel a palm against his face, gentle fingers soft and soothing. It’s not real, not exactly: he can tell the difference between a ghost’s touch and a living person’s, between a spirit-vision and an overactive imagination. His education has been thorough. But the beating has also been thorough, so for now he forgets what he knows and leans into it, into the hand cupping his cheek. It’s soft and dry as those forgotten petals, as the touch of a pillow. He can smell wildflowers, can taste blood and dirt. My baby, his mother says, and he closes his eyes. My treasure. He barely remembers the sound of her voice, but the feeling of it is just the same. Just the same as ever.

[In which Lan Wangji loses almost everything, plants a garden, and grows a second chance.]

Pentimento. by orange_crushed | rated E | 73K words | this fic briefly gave me a serious case of career envy :/ ......but seriously, this is an absolute must-read!!!

When Wangji was eighteen he’d walked into the first class of his fall semester painting module and there’d been a boy in a hilariously ugly floppy knit hat sitting cross-legged on the floor at the front of the room. He’d had a sheet of canvas paper taped to his board and his board clamped between his legs and a tackle box of brushes and tubes—a real fishing tackle box, with a fish-shaped logo on it that said BASS, not one of the nice art supply storage boxes they sold in the campus bookstore, like the one Wangji was carrying—open beside him. Everyone else had settled into the rows of stools and easels, but that boy had stayed on the floor for the whole two hour and thirty minute studio. Wangji had looked at him and thought, that idiot’s back is going to hurt.

[Former best friends Lan Wangji, paintings conservator, and Wei Wuxian, art handler, meet again and realize... neither of them were actually in unrequited love.]

Many happy returns. by orange_crushed | rated E | 25K words

His fingers are still clasped between Wangji's. In the mirror Wangji watches him tuck his coat between his thighs so that he can fuss with the tucked-in hem of his shirt, tousle up the side of his hair, all one-handed. "I hope what I'm wearing is okay."

"It's good," Wangji says. "You look good."

"I guess I must," Wei Ying says, and then he smiles and bites his teeth into his bottom lip for a second, devastatingly, and before Wangji can drop dead the doors to the elevator slide open, and the hostess station appears.

[In which lonely businessman Lan Wangji meets the right wrong person and changes the course of his life.]

The dreamers. by orange_crushed | rated E | 17K words

“Stop mothering me,” Wei Ying protests. “Why don’t you ever listen?” He scowls at Wangji, but then the lure of the clean water is too much; he sits grumbling and strips off his vambraces and loosens the collar of his robes and wipes himself down in the steam. Wangji sits on a stool and watches him, and after a while Wei Ying slaps the rag into the bowl and glares back. “Are you going to sit and stare the whole time?” he demands. “You want to see me strip naked and give my filthy evil self a good scrubbing, huh?”

Yes, Wangji thinks.

[This is a story about a horrible war and a beautiful dream; about grabbing happiness where you can find it, and not letting go.]

mercy, tear it down. by orange_crushed | rated E | 31K words

“You want me to call you good?” Wangji says. “To make you feel good?” Wei Ying makes a wretched, soft, surprised sound in the back of his throat. “Then will you be good?”

“Uh,” Wei Ying says. His lashes flick down again, nervously. “Good how?”

Wangji hasn’t quite thought that far ahead.

Kingfisher Feathers by Anonymous | rated E | 83K words | WIP (7/10 chapters, last updated 4/13/21) | omg omegaverse!!!! @/ this anon author... keep up the great work! also i have feelings for u

With an almost trance-like detachment, Wei Wuxian touched his own neck, his fingers skimming over the fresh mark. The bite wound had stopped bleeding, although he had no doubts it would open again if agitated.

Bonded.

He was bonded for life.

"Shit," he whispered. He looked over at the sleeping form of Lan Wangji—the Second Prince of Gusu and, until his brother was found, the sole heir to the throne. "Oh, shit. Lan Qiren is going to kill me."

----------

Lan Wangji goes into a fevered rut and accidentally bonds with Wei Wuxian. When they next meet, he remembers none of it, and Wei Wuxian is determined to keep the bond a secret—even when he's sent to the Cloud Recesses to be a consort in Lan Wangji's harem.

(tl;dr concubine!wwx is already married to emperor!lwj, who has no idea. drama ensues.)

Pull out game weak by 74243 | rated E | 23K words | featuring the hottest meanest dom top lesbian lwj of your wildest dreams. i hope ao3 user 74243 is having an amazing day

Wei Ying swipes right.

Extra Time by Anonymous | rated E | 28K words | fic inspired by the above fic! seriously good

How Wei Ying learned to stop worrying and love the strap (an AU of 74243's Pull out game weak)

Superfan by 74243 | rated E | 19K words | ao3 user 74243 writing banger after banger as per usual

“I’m not going to apologize for my job,” Wei Ying said, “so if you want to give me some kind of lecture--”

“No,” Lan Zhan said. “You misunderstood. I am...” she paused, as if considering the best way to put it. “I’m a fan.”

Spit in my mouth, look in my eyes by 74243 | rated E | 7K works | i'm just going to list all of ao3 user 74243's fics, ok? that's what's gonna happen here

Wei Wuxian was a little surprised herself, although she felt bad for being surprised. Of course it didn’t really mean anything about you, how you presented, Wei Wuxian knew that better than anyone, but all the same it was hard to reconcile Lan Zhan as an omega.

(wwx makes an error of judgment)

If the shoe fits by 74243 | rated E | 8K words

Wei Ying loses a bet.

the And they were roommates series by 74243 | rated E | 19K words total

That was the other thing, when Wei Ying had moved in. She’d scented Lan Zhan immediately, the sandalwood and smoke rising off her, almost before she’d taken in Lan Zhan’s straight posture, her narrowed eyes. She’d known that Lan Zhan could tell, too. At the end, when they’d talked about the rent and Lan Zhan’s nearly finished PhD and Wei Ying’s working hours, Wei Ying had said, casual and effortless, “And you don’t mind that I’m an omega.”

“No,” Lan Zhan said.

Chef's kiss by 74243 | rated E | 7K words

Wei Ying said, “You know, in some ways I’m kind of depressed. I took your biggest dick on my first try. Now I don’t have anything to build up to.”

“There are bigger ones available,” Lan Zhan said lazily. “I can pay for express shipping.”

(Lan Zhan works the late shift.)

Gold-palmed Warrior Quest! by 74243 | rated E | 13K words

When Lan Wangji suggested that they camp along the way to the Unclean Realm, rather than staying at inns, Wei Wuxian had been sceptical.

Dway! by 74243 | rated E | 6K words

“Hm,” Wei Ying said. “You like it rough, though, right? You seem like that kind of alpha.” When she saw Lan Zhan’s expression she raised an eyebrow. “What? Was I wrong? Are you tender and sweet? Do you cry?”

“You were not wrong,” Lan Zhan said. “I do not cry. Do you?”

tgif by 74243 | rated E | 17K words

Today Lan Zhan says that if Wei Ying cannot control her mouth then she will have to tape it shut.

On the ground by 74243 | rated E | 5K words

“I think you will like it,” Lan Zhan said.

Does your mother know by 74243 | rated E | 5K words | editing this rec list on a monday morning to add this brand new fic fresh off the presses. thank u ao3 user 74243 for feeding us so well 🙏

“Lan Zhan is such a well-behaved girl,” Madam Yu said.

all that and more by Euphorion | rated E | 20K words

Wei Wuxian locks his phone and puts it down, blinks at his ceiling, and picks it up again. The pictures are still there.

His first thought is that Lan Zhan meant them for someone else. That he just woke up at—he checks the timestamp—6:30 am on a Sunday and decided to go absolute full nuclear seduction option on some poor boy he met on Grindr, who would now be missing out on the best thing to ever happen to him because Wei Wuxian had a bad habit of distracting—of—oh.

Pieces of last night start to resurface and paste themselves together in his head. He winces.

The Golden Cutsleeve by syrus_jones | rated E | 77K words | of my faves, this is one of my favorite... faves. top faves. incredibly fun and silly and hot. just... oh my GOD, wei YING!

“I know! Why don’t you try it? Let me go and I’ll lend it to you!” Wei Wuxian bribed hysterically, desperate to escape from this encounter by any means necessary. And then, his eyes blew wide, realizing what he just said. ‘Wait— just what am I offering Lan Zhan?!’ he thought. How was he so stupid, how did he just offer that without thinking—

“You want me...to use it… after you?” Lan Zhan asked, his voice unusually faint.

~*~

Wei Wuxian's test of mysterious, literally magical sex toy goes awry when Lan Wangji finds him in the woods 'experimenting' with it and it ends up in Lan Wangji's possession.

Unfortunately, neither of them is aware that the toy is anchored to Wei Wuxian's body. Too bad Wei Wuxian invited him to try it.

Boy Trouble, We've Got Double by saltyfeathers | rated E | 60K words | !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is a really good fic

Lan Zhan stands there in his immaculate, cloud-patterned Lan robes, watching him calmly, one fist tucked up against his back. “I am betrothed.”

Wei Wuxian blinks. “Are you…” He tries to laugh. Again, it sounds inhuman. “Is this about last night? Are you mad at me? I only remember some of it, Lan Zhan. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I’m sure whatever I did I was just—” He gestures uselessly. He remembers being warm in Lan Zhan’s lap. He remembers fitting snugly in Lan Zhan’s lap. Wrapping his arms around Lan Zhan’s neck. Nosing at his jaw. “…playing around.”

“This has nothing to do with you, Wei Wuxian.”

none in the forest so bright as these by saltyfeathers | rated E | 6K words

Wei Wuxian puts a hand to his head, brain lost in fog. “Lan Zhan,” he pants. “Why are we here? Are we on a hunt?”

As Lan Zhan tries to remember, his brow furrows. He shakes his head slightly. “I don’t know.”

“This is bad,” Wei Wuxian says. When Lan Zhan cups his cheek again, sparks burst behind Wei Wuxian’s eyes. “Or maybe it’s not,” he says unthinkingly. Sighs, almost. Lan Zhan looks at his own arm like it's betrayed him. Wei Wuxian closes his eyes and presses his face into Lan Zhan’s palm. “Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan,” he murmurs. “What’s happening to us?”

out in the garden, there’s things you hid away by saltyfeathers | rated E | 121K words | oww oww oww 😣😣😣💘

There is a man with empty eye sockets and tears of fire in Wei Wuxian’s dreams. Tendrils of smoke curl around him in sleep, pressing at his most vulnerable spots, seeking entrance, slipping between his ribs.

When he ignores Lan Zhan's offers of help, he declines rapidly. He will die. Or, he should. Anyone else would.

Instead, he flees. And transforms.

crawling through your door by saltyfeathers | rated E | 12K words

Lan Wangji kisses him. When he pulls away, he speaks into the silence between them, because when he is with Wei Ying, he so rarely considers. “Why don’t you touch me anymore?”

Lan Zhan Works for the Historical Society by saltyfeathers | rated E | 7K words | some real real good lesbian action up in here

Pretty Lan Zhan. Beautiful Lan Zhan. Ice queen Lan Zhan. So intimidating and femme and coldly polite in public, yet meaner than a man in the bedroom. Wei Ying has slept with men before and none of them were mean-nice to her like Lan Zhan.

threadfic by saltyfeathers | not rated (each chapter rated/tagged individually) | 34K+ words | WIP (11/? chapters, last updated 3/15/21), but it’s a collection of stand-alone oneshots

semi cleaned-up wangxian twitter threadfic.

【已經打動我的心】So Sing To Me All Night by aroceu | rated T | 10K words | arrow writes wei ying so exquisitely well. i was weepy the whole time read this fic. for the best experience, i recommend following along with the accompanying spotify playlist.

No one listens to the radio in this day and age, but somehow from a bunch of left clicking and right clicking, through Facebook and Twitter and Youtube, Wei Ying finds himself on the WQHS homepage—the UPenn student radio station, promising eclectic tastes from a variety of hosts. Wei Ying can't remember giving a shit about his old college's student radio before he dropped out, but it's eleven at night and he has nothing else better to do. He clicks on the button that says Listen Here! and waits to be impressed.

get wild by aroceu | rated E | 24K words | 🔥🏀🔥 BASKETBALL FIC 🔥🏀🔥

He was looking for a specific reaction—to get Lan Zhan to lash out. All hard edges and demanding, the same way during the first scrim, Lan Zhan's dark voice had made him loose and obedient, itching to both rebel and obey at the same time.

It's them, whatever it is, but it doesn't belong on the basketball court.

Wei Ying didn't expect to enter a weird... something-with-benefits-plus-power-play with the captain of the Gusu basketball team. He's not sure if it's worth it.

without a warning by aroceu | rated T | 10K words | 🥺️🥺️🥺️

“Blegh,” Wei Ying says. “I hate being sick, Lan Zhan… my throat is so sore… why do I talk so much?”

“Stop talking then,” Lan Zhan says.

“You don’t mean that,” Wei Ying says, in his half-asleep daze. “I know you’ll never admit it, Lan Zhan, but you like it when I talk.”

your honor i’m a freak bitch by aroceu | rated E | 6K words

Wei Ying gestures to his outfit. His hands are buried deep within the hoodie; he’s mostly gesturing with the sleeves. “Well, it works with the whole get up, you see?”

“The…” Lan Zhan looks down at where his fingers are toying with the top of Wei Ying’s thigh highs. Wei Ying pretends he is not shivering. “…skirt. And these stockings.”

“Thigh highs, Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying says, batting at him with the end of a sleeve.

Play It By Ear by aroceu | rated T | 7K words | MY HEART !!!

In the virtual airplane flying over the island, appropriately called Yiling, Lan Zhan watches as bits and pieces of the island load in. There are many Statues of David, a gothic teacup ride, and, from what Lan Zhan can see, an entire field of spoiled turnips.

hanguang-jun @/hanguangjun Do you need turnips to sell?

timmy and tommy in a trenchcoat @/yilinglaozu oh! no haha! 😅 those are from a while ago but my brother insists i keep them there

for the ~aesthetic~

the key that our souls were singing by aroceu | rated M | 5K words

“I haven’t seen you since—Gusu, was it?” Wei Ying says. “Oh my god, it’s been so long. I didn’t even know you were LGBT! Unless you’re here as an ally, which is also totally cool—”

“No, I.” Lan Zhan coughs. Her throat feels dry. “I am a lesbian.”

abort retry fail by aroceu | rated E | 21K words

Lan Wangji must miss his husband over this amnesiac of a man Wei Wuxian has turned into. Well, Wei Wuxian will show him! He'll be even better—or at least, try to be just as good of a husband as he would be, without his memory loss.

Blackout If You Were Mine by aroceu | rated E | 9K words

Wei Ying likes to wear chokers a lot. So Lan Zhan buys some for him. Then, testing their limits, collars.

Wei Ying wears those, too.

Or, the one where Wei Ying and Lan Zhan accidentally stumble into a BDSM relationship.

eleven thousand meters & airborne by aroceu | rated E | 5K words | 😎✈️😎

Lan Zhan and Wei Ying join the mile high club.

many fox given by defractum | rated E | 24K words | can't go wrong with foxxian and dragonji content 🦊🐉

Lan Zhan is glaring at him. That's probably fair.

The last time they'd seen each other, Wei Ying had been digging through Lan Zhan's garbage. They'd made eye contact over the shredded bags, the week's trash scattered around him like stinky, oversized Lego.

Lan Zhan's eyes had been wide with horror, and Wei Ying's had been equally wide with feigned innocence. He'd reached out slowly, maintaining the eye contact, and then flipped over the food waste bin full of onion peel and carrot skin as a distraction and slunk off into the night. Probably not his finest moment.

Modern AU dragon!LWJ meets fox!WWX.

the tamed by defractum | rated E | 12K words

If the Second Jade of Lan insists on bringing the Yiling Patriarch as his guest to the next Cultivation Conference, he must first demonstrate a control over the Yiling Patriarch and his unnatural abilities.

The letter lies on their desk for days.

Post-canon, Wei Ying is invited, sort of, to a Discussion Conference.

us in a king-size, keep it a secret (say i'm your queen, i don't wanna leave this) by matcha_ado | rated E | 3K words

People always said Wei Ying was a royal pain in the ass. They were absolutely right, of course, just not in the way they thought.

it is wednesday my dudes by jelenedra | rated M | 4K words

Wednesday nights at Cloud Recesses strip club are always a little weird, but usually they're not this horny. Whatever Wei Ying and Lan Zhan get up to, Mianmian is not going to be the one to clean it up.

i'm the one for your fire by occultings | rated E | 43K words | cherry magic au! love it

Wei Ying, virgin and noted heterosexual, gets hit with a curse of an unusual nature on his 30th birthday — through physical contact, he can read the minds of others around him.

Enter Lan Zhan, hot former rival and current coworker, whose true thoughts about Wei Ying are nothing like he expects. (A loose Cherry Magic AU)

a thousand teeth, yours among them by darkredloveknot | rated E | 11K words

A one night stand in the time of zombies.

hoe to housewife pipeline by lanzhancore | rated E | 5K words

“You type fast,” Wei Ying murmurs, making a futile attempt at conversation while he waits for him to be done with… whatever. “Not to be pushy, but do you plan on fucking my ass anytime soon?”

or: wei ying has been thirsting after lan zhan for three slutty slutty years

can you feel it by lanzhancore | rated E | an instant classic

“What’s wrong?” Wei Ying asks finally, eyebrows drawn together. “Is everything okay?”

Thumbs stroking circles into his skin as if to comfort him, Lan Zhan says, “Don’t panic.”

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying says, sitting up on his elbows. “What did you do to my ass?”

“Nothing,” Lan Zhan says, convincing nobody. “But we need to go to the hospital.”

or: wei ying really should have sprung for the model with the flared base. he learns this lesson the hard way.

because you're mine (i walk the line) by lanzhancore | rated E | 8K words

Wei Ying is freshly cream-pied and still trying to remember where his legs are when Lan Zhan outlaws masturbation.

or: wei ying fucks around and finds out

payload by lanzhancore | rated M | 3K words | babysitter wwx + dilfji, what more could you need

Wei Ying has a whole five hours and thirty-six minutes to calm down but when he hears Lan Zhan’s key turning in the front door lock later that evening he has to cling to the couch cushions to keep from marching into the laundry room to retrieve the briefs so he can wave them in Lan Zhan’s face and demand to know who owns them.

or: lan zhan's self-restraint is not limitless

the to the brim series by verseau | rated E | 14K words total

Wei Ying wants to rob him, but it wouldn’t even be satisfying, since this guy is just—giving away money. With his nice fingers. Maybe Wei Ying will just bite his fingers, and that will give the same endorphin rush as robbing him. / a day told across five parts.

get that message home by verseau | rated G | 2K words | ohhhhhhhhh myyyyy godddddd 😭

Sizhui's father cannot haggle. It is a shame on Sizhui’s honor to have such an honest father.

Author's note [i'm including it here because it's golden]:

there is a scene in arrested development where lucille, who is on the opposite spectrum of humanity as lan zhan, asks, "it's a banana, michael. how much could one cost? ten dollars?" there are no bananas in this story.

dreaming and getting a glimmer by verseau | rated E | 27K words | a particular favorite of mine 🔥🍆💦🕳🔥

Wei Ying discovers himself.

trust your fingertips by plonk | not rated (but really rated E) | 15K word | 🥵️🥵️🥵️🥵️🥵️ plonk you’ve done it again!

Lan Wangji must suppress a shiver at every brush and press of Wei Wuxian’s fingers.

Under different circumstances - less public ones - he would welcome touch, given that his body is in such an aroused state.

Alas, his circumstances are these: sitting quietly while Wei Wuxian, the famous (infamous) Doctor of Yunmeng, digs his fingertips into Lan Wangji’s shoulders and chest and sides and hums thoughtfully.

Doctor, Doctor by YunmengLotus | rated E | 4K words | mmmmhmm!

Wei Ying needs to get a prostate exam. How ever will he deal when the world's hottest doctor walks through the exam room door and tells him to bend over?

TAKOYAKI by ariskamalt | rated E | 3K words | lan zhan gets jealous of his own damn appendages. meanwhile, wei ying is just having a good time.

Lan Zhan…cannot always feel or tell what his tentacles will do.

His free hand curls into a fist. Underneath his skin, the tentacles give a little squirm, as if aware of the challenge he has just issued them. No touching Wei Ying unless he says so, because he wants to touch Wei Ying first. They squirm again, as if to say, Tentacles: 1, Lan Zhan: 0.

That will just have to be remedied.

Or, as phnelt first described: Tentacle-ji with the semi autonomous tentacles getting jealous of his tenties for touching Wei Ying in places he hasn't yet

Outage by SugarMilkTea | rated E | 3K words | [cough] 😳😳😳

The power goes out in Lan Zhan and Wei Ying's rural home in the countryside. Lan Zhan takes advantage of the darkness to give in to one of his baser urges, and Wei Ying's first rural power outage experience is about to get a lot more interesting.

big hands (i know you’re the one) by martyrsdaughter | rated E | 8K words | NICE. 🔥🔥🔥

“Not a big talker, hm?” Wei Ying tilts his head to one side. “That’s okay, I’ve been told I’m a good enough conversationalist for three. My tongue is multi-talented and—”

He has just enough time to feel her palm on the back of his neck and think, oh, her hands are so big, before his words are being stolen into her mouth.

darling, am i a chore? by martyrsdaughter | rated E | 7K words

“Are you done playing around?”

Knowing that’s not what either of them actually wants, Wei Wuxian reaches up to tickle under Lan Wangji’s chin. Soft little scritches, coaxing motions—Lan Wangji is weak to all of them.

“You know what I want,” Wei Wuxian purrs, reaching up on his tiptoes to throw his arms over Lan Wangji’s shoulders. “Call me gege, won’t you? Call me and I’ll stop.”

(or: five times Lan Wangji paid special attention to Wei Wuxian’s interest in being his gege.)

put him on his knees, give him something to believe in by dustyloves | rated E | 2K words | if the title is quoting WAP, then you should know by now it’s gonna be some of that good filth

The next time Wei Ying kisses him, Lan Zhan is careful again. Wei Ying seems determined to make it very difficult.

the hard way by dustyloves | rated E | 9K words

"Anyway, you make it sound like something lewd is going on," Wei Ying complains. "It's all totally above board. She's just being a nice person. It's just one kind alpha grad student offering one room of her huge house to one beta undergrad in need, what could be more appropriate than that?"

// Wei Ying makes a mistake and finds out the hard way.

Exhibition by sevenless | rated E | 5K words

“Oh?” Wei Wuxian raises an eyebrow. “The forbidden section, Lan Zhan?”

“Mn.”

“You’re not afraid of being heard?” Wei Wuxian thinks aloud. A smirk creeps onto his face, eyes glinting. “Or could it be that Lan-er-gongzi actually wants to be heard? Seen? Caught?” He skips in front of him, blocking his way. "Disciplined?”

Lan Wangji’s ears, as always, betray him.

a history of the body by northofallmusic | rated E | 14K words

Wei Ying's body hurts sometimes; she lets Lan Zhan help her.

A fic about the complicated nature of having a body, and also the versatility of sex toys.

(our friendship) up against the ropes by daltoneering | rated E | 36K words

The reboot completes, and Wei Ying’s brain smashes this information together into two mind-shattering thoughts. Number one, he knew very well already, and is now further seared by defined muscles and a mouth-watering tattoo into his every waking moment: Lan Zhan is the hottest fucking person on the planet.

Number two: that guy wasn’t visiting Lan Zhan’s neighbour, he was visiting Lan Zhan, which means:

Lan Zhan fucks. Lan Zhan fucks. Lan Zhan fucks.

;

Lan Zhan has been Wei Ying's best friend for years. Literally, years. How did he not already know? How has he missed this most important of facts? And more importantly, how is he ever going to get over it?

watching my heart go round by typefortydeductions | rated E | 38K+ words | WIP (2/4 chapters, last updated 5/2/21) | lan zhan i love you baby 💞

Lan Zhan falls apart. As it turns out, that's not the end.

oh man this list is so long sd;jfkdsjfhhh

yati, i hope you find some stuff in this pile here that you’ll enjoy! it's not an exhaustive list, so check out the authors’ other works and bookmarks for more goods, if you feel so inclined 😙💕

#darlingbenny #mdzs #fic rec #nsfw!

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morwensteelsheen · 3 years

Note

farawyn and borodred for the ship ask game thing?

thank you so much!! :)

okay i’ll start with borodred because for some unfathomable reason i actually got there first —

1. What made you ship it?

One of my favourite Types of ships is the Elder Statesmen Of War-type set-ups, where it’s less about people brought together through theatrical romantic gestures and more about the steadiness of people who are going through similar (immensely difficult) circumstances, who know that in their hearts they’re always going to put their duty to that cause first, but still seek out human comfort in other people who will understand what their priorities are and why.

I think there’s also a lot of similarities about the kind of helplessness they both face despite having this tremendous innate strength. Both of them still have to deal with family dynamics that are complex (made more complex by the war) and that can’t be fixed just by their own sheer will power; both of them die these utterly unnecessary deaths (not that death makes a ship but I think in this instance it actually points to the constant tragedy these guys face); and both of them are meant to be the principal figures of their families and people and are ultimately sidelined by the cruel mechanisations of war and the forward march of history or whatever wanky term there is for it — my apologies to ep thompson's ghost, dont haunt me bro.

Plus there’s obviously the interesting thread raised when Faramir starts bitching about Gondor and likens Gondor (and by very explicit extension, Boromir) to Rohan. That always made me go ‘Hmmmmmm, wonder what else Boromir liked about Rohan,’ lmao.

Anyways for me the ship is the equivalent of Star Wars’ Kanan and Hera or (my OTP to end all others) Luke and Wedge, just people getting by on love and duty and without big ol fancy romance.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

The fanon, I think, really makes it, as with so many other LOTR ships. battlefield manners, by themightypen is essentially the definitive take for me on them — these two guys who are just so fucking exhausted, man, but still overcome by defensive love for their families, even if their (foster-)siblings are naïve fools. That I just love, love, love. Plus I think they’re unique for their ability to pretty comfortable explore the relationship between Gondor & Rohan in advance of the Ring War without having to stray too far into AU, which I always appreciate.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Not really, tbh, except in that I don’t think Boromir is necessarily as laddy as people like to portray him. I’m happy to play into it in, say, my modern AUs because I think that’s a fun and sweet niche for him, but I am a bit 🤪 about Boromir as this kind of reckless, drunken playboy (not least because I think that’s a much funnier niche for Faramir to fill, at least when he’s younger). Chapter Four of Swaddledog’s Hearts and Minds gets my preferred Boromir characterisation absolutely spot on, I think.

And now, sigh, the ultimate OTP, Farawyn —

1. What made you ship it?

For starters, I think I am obsessed with Éowyn in a way I’ve never quite been obsessed with any other fictional character. I came to reading LOTR at this moment in my life where I was intensely frustrated about everything — trapped inside permanently (helplessly!) because of the pandemic, just starting a new political organisation that I truly believed in but that was still making me feel like shit, facing down an untenable about of work, and, fundamentally, really, really hating being a woman and what that means. And along comes Éowyn, who is bitter, who is cold, who is ANGRY, and who doesn’t perform joy or softness or gentleness just because people expect her to. She’s this seminal Woman Of War in so many ways, I think the kind of person a lot of us wish we could be. She’s got her emotional taps cut off at the source, she holds her head high and faces down unimaginable personal and political terrors, and at the end of it all still has this abiding love for her family that, I would argue, is almost unparalleled by anyone else in the book.

After all that, she gets this incredible moment of emotional catharsis (or what we expect to be emotional catharsis): “no living man am I!” She undertakes THE greatest martial act of the Ring War, and in that moment there’s this unbelievably sophisticated dialogue happening about gender (“Éowyn it was, and Dernhelm also”), and leadership (Merry finding his courage not because of the immediate scenario of the Witch-king, but because he’s spurred into it by Éowyn’s presence), and love and care.

And then we learn that no, actually, this glorious act of violence wasn’t the emotional catharsis we thought it would be. She gets to ride to war, she gets to throw herself headlong at death, and in the end that hopeless act of individualism isn’t really what does it for her. She’s still left desolate and despairing, and actually all of her problems haven’t gone away.

And then we need to rewind a bit, because along comes Faramir, who is gentle, and is kind, and does seem to believe in joy, but not because people expect it — actually it's made abundantly clear nobody expects it — but because it’s something quite innate to how he figures the world. And he’s a huge fucking nerd too. I have a lot of thoughts on Faramir’s flaws and why I find them endearing, which I won’t put here, but almost immediately you get this sense of a guy who’s quite melodramatic, good humoured, and very much not made to live in a time of war.

But he’s also clear-headed about war and what it requires (tactically, if not strategically, though that’s a post for another day), but who is kind of cynical and weary of it in his own unique way. And it’s a unique cynicism given his personal circumstances because he’s the second son of The great family of Gondor, he’s apparently — though with some big ol’ question marks hanging about the extent — very able to command some of the elite units in the realm, and what’s more than that, he’s got all these fantastical powers (the light mind reading to start, to say nothing of this apparently magical ability to command animals too. bruh.). By all accounts he should be this brazen hot mess, but he’s not. He’s desperate to claw his way out of this war-torn cage of expectation his people have for how a man should comport himself in time of war. Is it a little naïve? Sure. A little fussy? Absolutely. But does it point to that same desperation that Éowyn has? Yes! But also the practicality, like, neither of them are really enjoying the circumstances they live under, but good fucking god are they both able to Make It Work.

So finally we get to the Houses of Healing and what is the finest and most aggressively romantic writing of LOTR. Seriously, it’s so fucking much. It’s breathtaking. It reminds me quite viscerally of this fabulous quote from Les Mis:

The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in. Few people dare now to say that two beings have fallen in love because they have looked at each other. Yet it is in this way that love begins, and in this way only.

At some point I will devote more time to talking about the two reasons line, and the blissful Queen of Gondor speech, but I think to me that big, important line is: “And then her heart changed, or at least she understood it; and the winter passed, and the sun shone upon her.”

It’s not about Éowyn changing herself entirely (though, I think, it really does bear mentioning that she does change, and that’s every bit as important to understanding that scene as it is romantic), it’s about Éowyn coming to terms with how to live with herself as herself, and how to live in communion with someone else. She can’t just cut people out anymore, and she can’t just treat them as objects of infatuation as she did with Aragorn, she has to reckon with people as they are. And that’s sort of the moment where I knew I was about to plunge fully off the deep end with these two and never know a moments’ peace again, lmao.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

Someone on here once called Farawyn a love letter to women and, by god, yes, exactly that. I love the capacity for emotional intimacy, that is beautiful in ways I can’t express. To me, though, my favourite thing is the promise of life they speak of. Not as in oh they shag loads and have babies (though not opposed to that, obviously), but in the sense that unlike Aragorn and Arwen, who are always going to be buried under/burdened with the crushing weight of history and tradition, Éowyn and Faramir are going out yonder those hills and they’re going to do some real cottagecore farming shit. Obviously with all the trappings of rank and nobility and whatnot, but they, unique to anybody else in the books, get to sow this new idea of what life should be. They are, outside of Aragorn, the single most powerful people in Gondor. Éowyn’s got the ear of a king, a steward (which is essentially a prime-ministerial deal here), and functionally her own prince (if the hobbits are to be believed when they refer to it as essentially hers). I suspect that, in life, there were remarkably few arguments she wasn’t winning, and that Ithilien probably trended towards the jumped up noble hippie camp Tolkien so desperately wanted Oxford to be (or, in other words — Cambridge, lol).

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Yeah, man, everybody stop treating Faramir like he’s a big fucking crybaby and Éowyn like she’s some kind of shrieking 2010-era tumblr girl.

One of the single most important lines defining Faramir’s character is when Denethor roasts his ass for always trying to appear noble and lordly, if you ignore every other piece of textual evidence we have about him, what part of that line makes you think Faramir’s some simpering daisy? And why would you want to link tremendous emotional intelligence and care with being too limp-wristed to function, lol??? Like I struggle loads with writing Faramir, because I have never once in my life tried to be noble or self-restrained, so find it hard to get into that mindset, but better, I think, to imagine him too closed off than to do this wilting flower song and dance lmao.

And stop making Éowyn out to be this over-emotional angst machine. She’s got problems, yes, and she’s sure as shit got a lot of angst, but at almost every point in the book where we’re overtly dealing with her emotions, she’s sublimating them into something else. One of the most serious times we see her cry is when she’s fighting with Aragorn about riding out, and after that moment she literally tries to kill herself. Those tears aren’t standard, man, that’s a real watershed (lol) moment for her. You have to read around what the text is saying to get a better feel why everybody’s constantly calling her cold and distant.

#god this is probably obnoxiously long because i can't do cuts on my phone #but refuse to open the tumblr website on my laptop lmao #faramir #éowyn #boromir #théodred #farawyn #borodred #god sorry for these fucking tags man im just trying to make my blog slightly more organised #i just have a lot of thoughts #i should really write more metas it would probably help my writing out quite a bit #asks #meta

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claudia1829things · 4 years

Text

"MEN IN BLACK 3" (2012) Review

"MEN IN BLACK 3" (2012) Review After 2002's "MEN IN BLACK II", I never thought I would ever see another movie from the franchise based upon Lowell Cunningham's The Men in Black comic book series. Never. After all, it was not exactly a critical success and was barely a commercial hit. And yet . . . the team from the first two movies went ahead and created a third one for the franchise.

"MEN IN BLACK 3" picks up ten years after the last movie, “MEN IN BLACK II”. Boris the Animal, the last surviving member of the Boglodite species, escapes from the LunarMax prison on Earth's moon with the intention of seeking revenge against the MIB agent responsible for his arrest and loss of arm - Agent K. The latter discovers during a skirmish he and Agent J experience at a local Chinese restaurant that Boris has escaped. Unfortunately for Agent K, Boris arrives in Manhattan and seeks Jeffrey Price, the son of a fellow prisoner who had possession of a few time-jump mechanisms. Not much time passes before Agent K disappears from existence and Agent J is the only one who remembers his partner. Agent O, who is MIB's new Chief following Zed's passing, deduces from Agent J's statements that a fracture has occurred in the space-time continuum. The two realize Boris must have time-jumped to 1969 and killed K. And now an imminent Boglodite invasion threatens Earth, due to the absence of the protective ArcNet that K had installed in 1969. J acquires a similar time-jump mechanism from Price, jumps off the Chrysler Building in order to reach time-travel velocity, and arrives in July 1969, a day before Boris kills K. When I learned that Steven Spielberg, director Barry Sonnenfeld, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones planned to do a third MEN IN BLACK movie; I could only shake my head in disbelief. Mind you, I did not dislike the second film. But it seemed a disappointment in compare to the quality of 1997 original movie. But in the end, I could not say no to a MEN IN BLACK movie. And thank God I did go see it. Now, "MEN IN BLACK 3" was not perfect. There were a few aspects about Etan Cohen's screenplay that left me scratching my head. If Boris the Animal (oops! I mean Boris) had been imprisoned in the LunarMax prison for over 40 years, how on earth did Boris' girlfriend Lily, who helped him escape, learn about his existence in the first place? I am also a little confused about Agent J and Agent K's ages. According to 1997's "MEN IN BLACK", Agent k was a teenager in New Jersey when he experienced his first alien encounter before becoming a member of the Men in Black agency in 1961 or 1962. Yet, according to Cohen's script, Agent K was a Texas native born in 1940. As for Agent J, he was at least four years old in July 1969. Which makes him at least 46 or 47 years old in this story. I could have sworn he was at least three or four years younger. Oh well. However, by the time I became deeply engrossed in the story, I managed to forget these questionable aspects of "MEN IN BLACK 3". I believe that "MEN IN BLACK" is the funnier movie. I cannot deny this. However, I feel that "MEN IN BLACK 3" had the best plot of the three films. Time travel tends to be a hit-or-miss topic when it comes to the science-fiction genre. Aside from the questionable aspects of Agents K and J's ages, I feel that "MEN IN BLACK 3" provided a first-rate time travel story. One, Agent J proved to be the right character chosen for a time travel mission. Being over twenty years younger than his partner, he was the right person to see New York City and Cape Canaveral in 1969. Boris' reasons for time travel proved to be a heady mixture of personal vengeance and the successful completion of his original mission to kill a refugee alien named Griffin, who possessed the ArcNet, a satellite device that would prevent Boris' species, the Boglodites, from invading Earth and destroying mankind. Agent J's time travel adventures gave audiences two peaks into what it must have been like for an African-American in the 1960s New York - something that the TV series "MAD MEN" more or less failed to do after five seasons. Kudos to director Barry Sonnenfeld for keeping this fascinating tale hilarious, poignant and on track. Not only did "MEN IN BLACK 3" provided a first-rate time travel story, it also possessed some memorable scenes that I will never forget. My favorite scenes include the brief, yet bizarre memorial service for the recently dead Agent Zed; Agents K and J's skirmish with some truly bizarre agents at a Chinese restaurant that I would not recommend to humans; Agent J's initial time jump to 1969; J's hilarious elevator encounter with a bigot fearful of being in close proximity with a black man; Agent J and young Agent K's very funny and surprising meeting with "Andy Warhol" at the latter's factory; the two agents' meeting with Griffin at Shea Stadium; the meeting between old and young Boris in 1969; and Agent J's discovery at Cape Canaveral of the true reason behind K's strange behavior at the beginning of the story. But my favorite moment featured Agent J's discovery that Agent K's habit of ordering pie was even frustrating in the past. The production for "MEN IN BLACK 3" was also first-rate. Danny Elfman continued his outstanding work in providing a score similar to the franchise's signature theme. I found Bill Pope's photography to be rather sharp and colorful - especially the 1969 segments. Don Zimmerman did outstanding work as the film's editor. I was especially impressed by his work in the time jump sequence and the showdown between the MIB agents and Boris at Cape Canaveral. And both Mary E. Vogt's costume designs and Bo Welch's production designs perfectly recaptured the end of the 1960s. As for the performances . . . what can I say? The cast gave some truly outstanding performances in this film. Will Smith was absolutely marvelous as the time traveling Agent J. I thought he gave one of his best performances in a role that required him to be funny and poignant at the same time. I suspect that he more or less carried the movie on his shoulders. But he had fine support from a wonderful Tommy Lee Jones, who allowed audiences another peek into a personality who hid his emotions behind a stoic mask. I just never thought his emotions would be directed at Smith's Agent J. And I never thought Spielberg and Sonnenfeld would find someone who not only could perfectly portray a younger Agent K, but create a similar screen dynamic with Smith. And Josh Brolin proved to be the man who did the job. He was fantastic. Emma Thompson portrayed Agent O, the new leader of the Men in Black agency. And I adored her performance, especially the scene that required her to give a eulogy for Zed at his memorial . . . in an alien language. Alice Eve was charming as the younger Agent O. She and Brolin had a nice chemistry going as two MIB agents attracted to one another. What can I say about Michael Stuhlbarg's performance as the precognitive alien, Griffin? Oh God, he was so wonderful. He portrayed Griffin with a delicious mixture of wisdom and naivety. I wanted to gather him in my arms and squeeze him like a teddy bear. Someone once commented (or complained) that New Zealand comic Jemaine Clement as the movie's main villain, Boris the Animal, was not funny. Frankly, Clement was a lot more scary than funny. But he did have one scene that left me rolling in the aisles with laughter - namely Boris' encounter with his younger self in 1969. Even more important, Clement portrayed Boris as one scary and resourceful villain. What else can I say about "MEN IN BLACK 3"? Sure, it had a few glitches regarding the plot and the two main characters' ages. But thanks to Etan Cohen's script that featured an outstanding time travel story, outstanding performances from a cast led by Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin; the movie turned out to be a first-rate addition to the franchise and one of my favorite movies from the summer of 2012. Thank you Barry Sonnenfeld! You had not lost your touch.

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anchored-in-high-tide · 5 years

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Evermore

Rating: General Audience

Fandom/Pairing: Sherlock (TV)/Johnlock

Chapters: 1/1

Words: 2068

Tags: Fluff, Post-Canon, Sherlock x Disney, Beauty and the Beast (2017), Oblivious John, Pining Sherlock, Parentlock, Rosie wants to be a princess, Sherlock sings, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers

Inspired by the song: Evermore from Beauty and the Beast (2017)

He will tell him today, John decides as he carries the groceries back to their flat. Rosie will start school in a couple of weeks. It’s high time she gets her own room, to invite friends, to do homework, to have a place she doesn’t have to share with her father. Sherlock will surely understand that, won’t he? Yes, John will tell him today that he and Rosie will move out.

Maybe Sherlock already figured it out by himself. He has been a little quieter lately, has even declined some of Lestrade’s—according to Sherlock, absolutely boring—cases to spend more time with Rosie. Maybe he already knows and is just waiting for my final verdict.

That this arrangement had even worked for the past five years was a miracle, after all; Working on murder cases with a toddler on one’s arm was—a challenge, to say the least. In all those years following John and Rosie’s rather rash return to 221B Baker Street, neither John nor Sherlock have dared to talk about its implications for the future. They have simply enjoyed each other’s company, watched Rosie grow into a brilliant, funny girl, lived in the moment—because both know that those bits of happiness vanish faster than you can blink. You need to hold on to them as long as you can. The future will arrive soon enough and spoil all your plans.

And things have been fine, great really. Sherlock adores Rosie and the little girl, in return, is obsessed with her “Sher” that lets her ride on his shoulders and teaches her about bees and stars and disembowelment (if John doesn’t watch him very carefully).

John’s lips hurt a little as he smiles melancholically. Yes, they have had five good years. But even good things have to end sooner or later. Probably, Sherlock will even be glad to finally have his flat back, to experiment in the kitchen again and play the violin at all times of the night.

John just has to get it over with. It won’t be that bad. It’s not like they won’t spend time together anymore. He’ll make sure to find a place as close by as possible so that Sherlock can see Rosie whenever he pleases. He can’t separate them, not after everything Sherlock has done for them.

It has taken John longer than he cares to admit adjusting to his life as a widower, to cope with all the traumas and terror he has lived through. He couldn’t have done it without Sherlock—his help with Rosie, his friendship, his companionship. By now, he is factually Rosie’s second parent. John doesn’t want to break their bond. It would devastate all three of them.

But they can’t keep on living in denial about the lack of space for a rapidly growing child. They have to find a new place, to move on. They can make that work. They always have.

As he unlocks the front door and steps into the familiar hall, John can already hear the music floating down the staircase from their flat. He tries to remember the last time it has been quiet when he came home. Will there still be music in their new flat? Will the songs still sound the same without Sherlock?

John shakes his head determinedly, hoping that his painful thoughts would just fall off. He isn’t prone to sentimentality but having to leave Sherlock for a second time is bound to be an emotional train wreck, at least for him. Who knows what’s going on in that funny head of Sherlock’s? He wouldn't care, now, would he?

Following the soaring melody, John climbs up the stairs, trying to identify the tune. It’s either something from Frozen or Beauty and the Beast, probably.

Rosie is in the middle of her princess phase, ever since she has seen her first Disney movie. For the past weeks and months, she has barely talked about anything else than her favourites—Belle, Elsa, Moana, Cinderella, … She insists on watching the same films over and over again whenever John and Sherlock allow her some telly-time. The rest of her days, she spends reenacting her favourite scenes, soundtrack included. John can (more or less proudly) claim to know the lyrics to Let It Go even in his sleep by now.

At first, John was utterly horrified when his daughter for the first time expressed interest for something as far removed from science as possible, especially fearing that Sherlock might make some snarky comments about romantized and outdated gender roles, but, to John’s surprise and amusement, he has supported Rosie in her royal extravaganza with as much enthusiasm and diligence as he usually displays on a crime scene. He even convinced Mycroft to buy her a yellow gown—“Just like Belle’s! Thank you, Uncle Myc”—for her birthday. John has never seen anything funnier than Mycroft Holmes, the personification of the British Government, bowing to her majesty Rosie the First and graciously accepting her invitation to tea.

As he is half-way up the stairs, the music ebbs away and he hears Rosie’s high, demanding voice: “Now sing your song, Sher!” Her talent for bossing people around would do a real princess honour.

“As you wish, your majesty,” responds Sherlock’s silky baritone. He has never been one for strict parenting, John thinks as another melody begins. He would spoil Rosie rotten if John didn’t interfere, his heart being simply unable to deny her anything.

The lump in his throat grows with every step, the grocery bag weighing him down as if it were filled with lead instead of apples, toast, and beans. He will miss all of this. But what other choice is there really?

In the sitting room, only a few meters away now, Sherlock’s voice begins to sing a song John recognizes from Beauty and the Beast, the live-action version which Rosie has been only allowed to watch a couple of nights ago. She was a little scared of the howling wolves but the Beast won a special place in her heart right away. John must admit that he, too, enjoyed that particular film. Well, they can still have movie nights at their new place.

He mounts the last few steps, stopping on the landing to listen to Sherlock, the words now easily distinguishable:

“I was the one who had it all, I was the master of my fate. I never needed anybody in my life. I learned the truth too late.”

The fervency he lays into the lyrics makes John’s insides tingle. He has heard Sherlock sing to Rosie before but nothing has come close to this level of… honesty? The words drip from his tongue as fresh and true as spring water and make John hold his breath almost devoutly, a clandestine listener to a secret symphony.

With utmost caution as to not disturb them, John opens the door to the sitting room and peaks inside. The scene before his eyes is one to thaw even the coldest of hearts: Rosie, a head full of golden locks and mischief, is standing on the couch, her light blue dress playing around her bare feet as she bounces up and down in excitement. Sherlock’s slender figure is towering over her, the blanket the three of them cuddle under on cold nights draped around his shoulders as a makeshift cape. With melodramatic gestures and skillful vibrato in his honey-like voice, he entertains the little girl:

“I'll never shake away the pain. I close my eyes but he's still there. I let him steal into my melancholy heart; It's more than I can bear.”

John stops short in the doorway. He? Him? That can’t be right. As far as he remembers, the Beast sings this song about Belle. Why would he use male pronouns? Or has he misheard?

He eyes Sherlock carefully but the singing detective doesn’t show any signs of flustering, nor does Rosie correct him. Surely, John has misheard then. When it comes to reciting Disney songs, Rosie is more than unforgiving when someone makes a mistake. Unfortunately, she has picked up Sherlock’s habit to correct everyone on everything, although not with the same air of smugness as her godfather.

“Now I know he'll never leave me. Even as he runs away. He will still torment me, Calm me, hurt me, Move me, come what may.”

There it is again. He! John is sure he has heard it right this time. The syllable rings in his ears, echoes in his chest, lets every sinew in his body vibrate with alarming anticipation. He can’t move. Glued to the spot, he just keeps watching the two most important people in his life, both completely immersed in their little show. Rosie giggles satisfied as Sherlock kneels down in front of the sofa in an overly dramatic fashion, clutching his heart with one hand.

“Wasting in my lonely tower, Waiting by an open door, I'll fool myself, he'll walk right in And be with me for evermore.”

The deep note makes goosebumps spread all over John’s body. Deep inside his bones, something is shifting, falling into place, but he can’t quite put his finger on it. Why does this performance move him so much? It is heartwarming to watch, sure, but there’s something more, something significant going on. His breathing speeds up a notch without him being able to do anything about it. His whole body has become oddly rigid, no longer accepting orders from his mind. The bag full of groceries slips from his hand and lands on the floor with a thunk that makes Sherlock, at last, aware of his existence.

For a split second, their eyes meet and the hint of a coy smile tugs at Sherlock’s mouth but it vanishes so quickly that John is not quite sure if he has seen it at all. Rosie wins back his attention at once. Sherlock rises and swoops her off the sofa in one smooth movement, whirling her around in a pirouette that makes her squeal with laughter.

“I rage against the trials of love. I curse the fading of the light. Though he's already flown so far beyond my reach he's never out of sight.”

Rosie wraps her legs and arms around his body like a little spider monkey, Sherlock securing her with strong arms as he keeps spinning them around. He lets his head fall back and sings at full volume as they twirl on the worn-out carpet, his voice saturating the air with its enchanting timbre. Every single word hits John like a wrecking ball.

“Now I know he'll never leave me, Even as he fades from view. He will still inspire me, Be a part of everything I do. Wasting in my lonely tower Waiting by an open door—”

Sherlock’s eager eyes fix on John and a hint of sadness and something apologetic flit across his face as he halts in the middle of the sitting room, the few steps between them, the safe distance they had kept all these years, this unsurmountable abyss finally being bridged by a delicate construct of wavering words.

John burns up under his gaze and is yet unable to divert his own eyes from the face of the man he shares his life with. Why would he ever give this up? Why would he ever let anything as mundane as a missing bedroom rip Sherlock from his side again? He can’t leave him, he doesn’t want to, he has never wanted to, since the first day they met. The realization crushes him like an avalanche, breaking bones and convictions like brittle twigs.

“I'll fool myself, he'll walk right in. And as the long, long nights begin, I'll think of all that might have been—”

Sherlock knows. How could he not? Sherlock knows how John feels about him. And if the pleading look he gives John and the confession he has woven into the song are any indicators, he feels the same. It couldn’t be clearer. John lets out a disbelieving puff of air—half laughter, half sigh. Why has it taken him so long to see it?

“Waiting here for evermore.”

The last note of the song hangs unfinished under the ceiling of their home as John crosses the sitting room with three swift steps, takes Sherlock’s face in his hands, and shuts him up with a long overdue kiss.

@itsalwaysyou-jw @drunk-rambles @barbsiebabe @blueeyesbitch @bugzy-boiz

#johnlock #fanfic #one shot #sherlock x disney #johnlock fluff #beauty and the beast (disney)#song fic #my first one-shot #baker street boys

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stevenuniversallyreviews · 5 years

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Episode 122: Tiger Philanthropist

“It’s like the sequel no one asked for.”

Adventure Time is technically a serial, but rather than one continuous story it’s a hodgepodge of multiple meandering plots that get checked up on at random over the course of its 283-episode run. For instance, minor character Maja the Sky Witch was introduced in Episode 133 (Sky Witch), yelling at the end that she’s planning “something big,” and we got that follow-up a full year later in Episode 166 (Something Big; let it not be said that these episodes aren’t named well). Virtually no mention of Maja was made between these episodes, but Something Big served as a direct sequel, beginning in the middle of a huge battle as if we knew it was coming, and we just went with it. That, for better and worse, is the spirit of Adventure Time's long-term structure. Episodes can be about any character in its vast world, and we jump around so much that it feels like anything could happen.

Steven Universe takes a different approach, aided by a singular focus on Steven's point of view. It also has distant sequel episodes, but it’s easier to keep track of these connected stories because of a more unified through-line. I mentioned in The New Crystal Gems that I’d like to see more character interactions that are restricted by this focus (give us an episode about Peridot making avant-garde metal-powered multi-instrumental music with Sour Cream, you cowards), but it’s still generally a positive from a plotting standpoint to keep things Steven-centric.

For the most part, I’m a huge fan of distant sequel episodes in both Adventure Time and Steven Universe despite them being such different beasts. But while the random “hey remember this storyline?” in media res variant works well in a zany show that bounces from plot to plot, Tiger Philanthropist is proof that this type of sequel doesn’t work quite as well on a show with a more traditional structure.

The premise of Tiger Philanthropist hinges on the idea that Steven and Amethyst have been wrestling this whole time. But, as we might see in an Adventure Time sequel episode, we’ve gotten zero references to this subplot between the first and second episode of the story. We never see Steven and Amethyst coming back from a gig. We never hear them talking about it in passing. We never see the tiger mask lying around to indicate recent use. The Brothers Construction and Good-Looking Gang even feel like Adventure Time one-off characters, as they’re for some reason never seen outside of a wrestling context despite Steven Universe otherwise doing pretty well at building a sense of reliable locals and background characters.

Bear in mind that we just had a whole arc about Amethyst’s inferiority complex in terms of physical ability, and at no point did the coping mechanism that she’s apparently been using this whole time come up. The thrust of Tiger Philanthropist is that she’s moved on from the need to use wrestling as an outlet for her issues, but when we haven’t even thought about Tiger Millionaire outside of a few Purple Puma cameos and maybe a poster or two early in our first season, it strains credibility to be told that she still was using wrestling as an outlet for her issues. I’m too focused on the hamfisted retconning to get invested in this story. It’s as if we got an episode about Garnet deciding to stop going to the arcade and Steven is bummed because oh by the way we forgot to mention it but she and Steven have been playing co-op Meat Beat Mania every Thursday since Arcade Mania and it’s a major part of their relationship.

Steven Universe is at its weakest when the crew seemingly forgets key plot points: episodes like House Guest forget a character’s established personality, episodes like Sadie’s Song forget Steven’s development from bratty to empathetic, and both Malachite and Bismuth go unmentioned for huge swaths of the show during times when they would’ve been relevant to discuss or feature. Underground wrestling might be less pivotal than the long-term bubbling of an old friend, it’s just as frustrating for the thread to be completely ignored until it becomes relevant again. Because it’s not like the show always does this: look at Connie’s training, which has focus episodes here and there but is also background noise in other episodes to let it feel like a consistent part of her life. Mindful Education would’ve been a disaster if Connie started training in Sworn to the Sword and then we didn’t mention it at all until she accidentally tossed a classmate.

And really, imagine if at least one of the episodes in Amethyst’s big Act II arc was in the ring. We easily could’ve had Tiger Millionaire accidentally eclipsing Purple Puma as a catalyst for her self-doubt (among many other possibilities that this crew could conceive better than I) and it would’ve made Tiger Philanthropist feel so much better. But I can’t write about that, because that’s not what happened.

What sucks is that I love Tiger Millionaire and am all for more wrestling. Despite my snotty header quote choice about unwanted sequels, I was super excited for Tiger Philanthropist, and that glorious music brought me right back into the zone as the episode began. But the wind went right out of my sails when it became clear that we’re to believe Tiger Millionaire and Purple Puma are fixtures of the wrestling scene, and that it’s an activity that’s super important to Steven as a way of bonding with Amethyst.

And there are plot elements here that, in an episode with better context, would get a chance to shine. In a world where we knew Amethyst and Steven were wrestling for around two years, this would’ve been a pretty emotional conclusion to a relationship that began in the show’s early days (not that Steven and Amethyst would stop hanging out, but it’s always bittersweet when an important phase of your life is over). It would’ve served as a great acknowledgment of how Amethyst has moved on with her life if we saw the part of her life she was moving on from. We could’ve felt Steven’s sense of loss, and the surge of relief when Purple Puma returns for one last ride. If you transported this exact episode into a series that built up to it in any way, it would be a classic. But we aren’t watching that series.

It’s a little fun that I’m unsatisfied with a follow-up where an entertainer reacts to a fan being unsatisfied with a follow-up. Much like Season 2′s Mombo Combo, two thematically linked episodes about moms separating the Week of Sardonyx from Peridemption, we get two episodes in a row about fan interaction to buffer Steven’s long day in space from the continuation of his mother issues culminating in another trip to space. Unfortunately I can’t think of as good a name for Rocknaldo and Tiger Philanthropist as a unit as “Mombo Combo” (the Fandom Menace?) but nobody’s perfect.

Lars plays a fascinating role here, because the easy option would be making him an entitled fan a la Ronaldo who wants things to go just the way he likes. And to be clear, Lars does want things to go a certain way. But he’s not dictating the terms or saying he needs Tiger Millionaire to act exactly how he wants, he’s just frustrated by a new development that seems out of step with his favorite wrestler. Even when asked directly about what he'd like to happen, Lars doesn’t know, because he hasn’t confused his fandom with the notion that he gets to dictate the specifics about the thing he likes.

(I try to be the same way, but I also definitely wrote a spiel about how Tiger Millionaire and Purple Puma should’ve been present during Amethyst’s latest arc like five paragraphs ago. Again, nobody’s perfect.)

It helps that Lars doesn’t understand that Steven is Tiger Millionaire (a repeat gag that I’d probably find funnier if I felt more charitable about the episode), so he’s unaware that he’s speaking with the creator of the content he enjoys; perhaps he’d be singing a different tune if he knew the truth. But as it is, we get a surprisingly generous interpretation of a demanding fan, allowing us to see the ethos behind Lars’s disappointment instead of writing him off as an entitled fanboy with impossible expectations. The timing of Tiger Philanthropist fits perfectly with Lars’s imminent moment in the sun, as he’s still prickly but has enough layers by now that I don’t roll my eyes too hard when he up and calls himself complex.

I don’t talk about the visuals of this show as much as I should, considering how creative the settings and weird alien vehicles and structures can get. But it bears mentioning that, aside from some weird conspicuous computer graphics for falling money, Tiger Philanthropist looks great. The stylized snapshots provide moments of goofy flair to the mix, and the heightened drama of the ring leads to some excellent lighting that shadows Steven’s face as a hooded stranger and makes Purple Puma look like an honest-to-goodness superhero. We get fun choreography and costumes befitting a wrestling episode, and some premium character expressions throughout.

And it’s funny! Colton Dunn remains a worthy successor to Sinbad, giving us not one but two great gags of Mr. Smiley joyfully defining a word to the audience (both in the ring and at home); explaining “philanthropist” is funny enough on its own for how cheesy it is, but I’m really tickled that he gives the same weight to “sea wasp.” Really, this episode has so much going for it if the central idea wasn’t such a misfire.

As you may have guessed by this review, I obviously think it’s valid to criticize aspects of art that you don’t like. So in theory, it sounds awesome to have artists respond to such criticism to make a product that you as a fan enjoy more. But we now live in an age where absolute garbage like CinemaSins allows people to pretend that productive criticism is just nitpicks, an inability or refusal to understand basic nuance, and frankly bigoted ideas about what certain people are capable of doing (if you have half an hour to spare, Everything Wrong About Everything Wrong About Civil War delightfully gets into all three!). It’s a double-edged sword, because creators listening to fans perhaps isn’t inherently bad, but a desperation to fill in “plot holes” at the expense of good storytelling is detrimental to modern storytelling (if you have another half an hour to spare, watch Lindsay Ellis’s take on Beauty and the Beast for more on this; this is a review with homework!). And this is on top of the potential of harassment covered in Rocknaldo, which not even the lousiest content creator deserves.

Tiger Philanthropist isn’t about bad faith criticism, as Lars’s views are from a sincere place, but its message of not treating fans like bosses is a valid response to fandoms who want more and more influence over the direction of an artist’s work. Which could’ve veered towards self-importance or hackneyed nods to the camera, so I appreciate that I never feel pulled out of this element of the story. We never shift from a regular episode of the show to a screed from the animators, and again, Lars isn’t villainized for not enjoying Tiger Millionaire’s face turn. Combined with Rocknaldo, we can see how important good boundaries between fans and creators can be, both for the well-being of the people involved and the quality of the art being created. Shirt Club gave us a tribute to making art, and the Fandom Menace (it’s growing on me) sees a more experienced team of animators commenting on a specific issue when creating popular art, all while not coming across as bitter or self-congratulatory. If only they’d done it in an episode with more buildup!

Obviously the creation of a big letdown wasn’t the intent of the crew, despite how neat it’d be to demonstrate fan disappointment through a purposefully disappointing episode. Rarely do I feel like effort isn’t made to produce a good episode of Steven Universe, and as seen in its strengths, Tiger Philanthropist isn’t lazy. Which makes it a little more frustrating than if they phoned it in, because we’ve got jokes and visuals and a great message but none of it matters when the conflict they wrote requires a backstory they didn’t have. If you’re gonna make an episode about the end of a continuity, it’s critical for literally any amount of that continuity to be established beyond one wayward story over a hundred episodes ago. As it is, I couldn’t wait for this episode to retire.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

Tiger Philanthropist was a huge disappointment, but I wouldn’t consider it bad enough to go on my No Thanks! list. With a different leadup of episodes it would be great, or at least fine; it just suffers from a plot that comes out of nowhere. Context can’t salvage my bottom list, which are episodes I just don’t like period. Still, if I was doing more thorough ranking, it’s probably in my bottom ten.

Top Twenty

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Last One Out of Beach City

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Mindful Education

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

Steven’s Dream

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

When It Rains

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Buddy’s Book

Gem Harvest

Three Gems and a Baby

That Will Be All

The New Crystal Gems

Storm in the Room

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Adventures in Light Distortion

Gem Heist

The Zoo

Rocknaldo

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

Know Your Fusion

Future Boy Zoltron

Tiger Philanthropist

No Thanks!

6. Horror Club 5. Fusion Cuisine 4. House Guest 3. Onion Gang 2. Sadie’s Song 1. Island Adventure

#tiger philanthropist #steven universe #su #steven universally #review

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skarletterambles · 5 years

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Mummy re-(re-re-re-)watch blog

Because sometimes self-care is rewatching your favorite movie for the first time in many years, I’m currently enjoying The Mummy (1999) on a nice big flat screen TV and eating pizza. Life is good.

Random thoughts typed while watching (so expect typos) below...

[Disclaimers: Obviously, this post contains massive spoilers for a 20-year-old movie, if anyone actually needs to be told that. There are spoilers for The Mummy Returns, as well. Also, I’m an unapologetic Imhotep fangirl so don’t expect me to talk about him like he’s some kind of villain. That’s just silly! Ahem. I have the hots for Rick and Ardeth, too, though, so the drool will be spread out a bit.]

..............................

Imhotep’s priests really got the raw end of the deal. They were just there to watch the door and make sure nobody interrupted their boss’ booty call, and they ended up witnessing regicide and then getting mummified alive. Dang.

I bet the noise of the battle with all those horses and guns above him irritated Imhotep. No wonder he sent sand jets up to scare away Rick and the others. Damn kids, get off my lawn--er, necropolis!

Honestly, the havoc Evy wreaked on her library only made it look slightly worse than my workplace this summer. :p At least she didn’t have to worry about DVD shelving... [Only I get this reference, but trust me, to me it’s hilarious, in a “if I don’t laugh I’ll cry” kind of way.]

Rick is damn good-looking when he’s all bedraggled and beat up, and even better looking when he cleans up. The look on Evy’s face when she sees him after a haircut and a change of clothes, well... Same, girl. Same.

Beni is one of my favorite comic relief characters of all time.

The Med-Jai wouldn’t have threatened Evy on the boat if they knew she was the reincarnation of their long-dead boss’ daughter. I’m picturing Seti in the afterlife facepalming...

I had forgotten how hostile and scary the Med-Jai were at first.

It’s amazing how much of the dialogue comes back to me, though. Even throwaway background lines like Jonathan complaining about the price of the camels.

Evy’s sheer joy over everything camel-related is so freaking adorable.

That first chitter of scarab beetles...my least favorite part of the movie. Heh.

I can just imagine Imhotep in his sarcophagus, feeling the first hint of movement around him in over 3,000 years, and then freaking out as his sarcophagus falls through the ceiling and goes THUMP on the ground. And then there’s screaming and everyone leaves. He’d be like, WTF?

“He must have been someone of great importance...or someone who did something very naughty.” Both correct, Evy...

It’s so not fair that Ardeth can be that drop-dead sexy-looking and have such a sexy voice.

And here’s that “I...AM A LIBRARIAN!” line that everyone in my line of work loves so much. Heehee...

Mummy: *bursts out of sarcophagus* Evy: “Gah, I hate it when these things do that!” LMAO

Of course Imhotep scratched “Death is only the beginning” into the inside of his sarcophagus lid like a bored emo kid in study hall.

“If you dry that fella out you might be able to sell ‘im for firewood!” As I’m sure the writers knew, they actually did burn mummies to fuel trains back in less enlightened times. And grind them up for medicine and paint and all kinds of stupid, disrespectful things.

I love how they refer to Imhotep as “our friend” and “our guy” when they’re discussing how horrible his curse was. That sympathy fades quickly enough once they meet him, though.

“Probably got a little too frisky with the Pharaoh’s daughter.” No, Rick, that’s you. Bwahahahaha!

“No harm ever came from reading a book.” Evy, you’re a librarian. You should know better.

Poor Imhotep must have been so stiff after not moving for a few thousand years. I bet he had to do some stretches before he went looking for people to drain life force from.

Forecast for today: mostly sunny with a 90% chance of locust plague.

Gotta love Imhotep’s one-track mind. Woke up for the first time in 3k years, just regained sight and speech, and the first freaking thing he does is assume the first woman he sees is Anck-su-Namun. Because of course he does.

I wonder if Ardeth got any backlash from the rest of the Med-Jai for giving the interlopers a chance to leave Hamunaptra. If he had just slaughtered them all the previous night, none of this mess would have happened.

“He will never eat. He will never sleep. He will never stop.” Awwwwwyeah.

Because he looks so rotted, Imhotep looks threatening as he slowly advances on Beni, but if he was fully regenerated I bet his expression would have been confused and even slightly amused at Beni’s religious roulette, something along the lines of “WTF is this idiot doing?”

Imhotep, did you really need to wear a mask to meet a blind guy? (I know, I know, he needed the disguise to get through the hotel, but it’s still funny.)

He was even polite enough to thank Evy for saving him from undeath. What a nice mummy!

Med-Jai discussing Imhotep and Anck-su-Nam: “Even after 3,000 years, he’s still in love with her.” Evy: “Well, that’s all very romantic, but...” Me: “Yes. Yes it is. Shut up.”

“You came back from the desert with a new friend, didn’t you, Beni?” One of my all-time favorite lines, and one I randomly quoted to my late goldfish, Benny, many times over the years. LOL

Couldn’t Beni have found some better clothes for Imhotep to wear? Those ragged robes make him look like a beggar. Although considering he was running around in nothing but a few wisps of rotten bandages before, they couldn’t afford to be choosy.

The casual way Imhotep chews that scarab beetle that crawled into his mouth is such a power move. LMAO

The longing in his voice as he whispers Anck-su-Namun’s name almost makes up for the fact that he kissed Evy right afterward. I know you’re impatient to get your girlfriend back, man, but control yourself. :p

Another classic bit: Evy, trying to translate hieroglyphics: “Patience is a virtue!” Rick, looking at incoming torch-bearing mob: “Not right now it isn’t!”

The crowds chanting “Im-ho-tep” are so iconic, and the way they part to let him pass gives me shivers.

“It’s the creature!” Thanks for the reminder, as he’s now fully regenerated and looking damn fine.

OMG that little smirk Imhotep gives to Rick as he turns to walk away with Evy... Imhotep isn’t stupid. He can see Rick’s in love with her.

Ardeth wearing that flight cap and goggles, grinning as he rides on the plane’s wing, is the funniest damn thing in the movie. It’s such a departure from his usual demeanor, which is what makes it work so well from a comedic perspective.

Why did Imhotep stop the sand vortex so far from Hamunaptra? He could have deposited himself, Beni, and Evy on the doorstep, but instead he stopped on the other end of the valley. I mean, sure, it gives plenty of room for the famous sand wall attack scene, but it was still weird.

Evy: “Stop it! You’ll kill them!” Beni: “That’s the idea.” Well...YEAH!

Beni to Imhotep: “I loved the, uh, sand wall trick, it was beautiful. Bastard.” That’s funny enough, and then you remember that Imhotep doesn’t understand English, and it’s even funnier. Stop trying to brown-nose a man who doesn’t speak your language, Beni!

The whole Winston subplot always seemed so pointless. Just deus ex machina to get the airplane in there. Honestly, that’s my only complaint about the movie.

Yeah, Imhotep, you had better bow back when your newly-risen priests bow to you. You owe them big time after the shitstorm you dragged them into.

OMG Ardeth is even more gorgeous in the glow of gold artifacts. Heehee...

And then some of Imhotep’s priests barely rise from the ground before being mowed down by machine gun fire. Damn, they get the short end of the stick every time, don’t they?

One second I’m like, “Oh hai Anck. You need to moisturize better, lawl,” and then the next Imhotep strokes her face with such tenderness and whispers her name and I’m like, “Awwwww!” That’s what’s so much fun about these movies. There’s the silly, campy fun intertwined with actually poignant, emotional moments, in perfect balance.

I just noticed that Anck-Su-Namun’s reaction to being resurrected both in the prologue and later as a mummy was the same gasp and fluttering of her hands over her collarbone. Neat detail.

There’s this little glimmer of “Whoa, cool, I did that!” sometimes when Imhotep uses his powers. It’s adorable. (Yes, I just called an undead plague-bringer summoning mummified soldiers to kill his enemies “adorable.” I warned you in the disclaimer.)

I love how Anck-su-Namun’s first response when waking up was to try to beat the crap out of Evelyn/Nefertiri. Old habits die hard, y’know. She was probably disappointed that her opponent didn’t remember the old ways of combat...yet.

I hate that poor Imhotep had to watch the love of his life be killed in silhouette twice.

And again he promises, “Death is only the beginning.”

Then it’s time for one last moment of Ardeth being hot beyond all reason, some Rick and Evy kisses, Jonathan getting a face full of camel breath, and a happy ending for at least those four characters. ;)

The end...for now!

#the mummy

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schmergo · 5 years

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Okay, here is my full review of Richard III at the Shakespeare Theatre Company! As you proooobably know, Richard III is one of my favorite plays. I’ve seen five professional productions and directed one community production and one staged reading, as well as writing an entire novel-length story based on it. For seven years, I’ve checked my email when the STC season announcement came out, hoping to see Richard III, and when it finally happened this year, I actually began to cry.

So needless to say, my love for this material may make me both unreliably lenient AND overly critical of any production I see. On one hand, I’m always thrilled to see Richard III and my love of the text mitigates many issues I may have with the director’s and actors’ choices. On the other hand, I’m so familiar with the script— of a play so long that it’s almost impossible to perform uncut— that I have really strong ideas about which moments *I* think are crucial and which themes should stand out. They’re never gonna do a version that keeps in ALL of my favorite lines.

Would I recommend STC’s production? Yes, I would, especially to people who are less than familiar with the play. It keeps the story and characters as clear as possible and moves at a quick, crisp pace full of action and intrigue. There’s never a dull moment. But would I say I loved the production? I can’t quite go that far.

If you’re not familiar with this play, Richard III takes place in the aftermath of a massive civil war. A veteran of the wars whose ruthlessness was handy in battle, Richard is the youngest brother of the king and is restless during peacetime. So he hatches a plan to climb to the throne- no matter how many family members he must kill and friends he must betray to get there.

David Muse’s stark aesthetic for the play may seem weird at first, but it definitely kept things interesting. The stained, off-white, instutitional-looking box of a set was inspired by an abandoned morgue- a concept they took very literally with body lockers, gurneys, and creepy machines full of fluids and tubes. The blank expanse at the top of the set was handily used to project text- whether backstory at the beginning of the play or the names of each major character as they enter the scene- accompanied by bursts of hard rock music. I’ve never seen a play as devoted to making sure the audience keeps names and relationships straight.

Costumes are modern and generally in shades of greys (with brilliant white for the royal York family- I particularly loved Queen Elizabeth’s white gown), but with some gorgeously surreal twists. Richard wears armorlike bracing to support his body, with heavy corsetry, neck brace, leg and arm brace, and a matching cane. This exoskeleton operates as an extension of himself- his strength and physicality never seems very limited when fully clad, and he does cut a strong, powerful figure. Once he becomes king, the bracing doubles as a fashion statement as he dons a glittering gold corset to match his crown while other members of court wear stylish corsets and neck bracing that call to mind Elizabethan fashions popular at the time Shakespeare wrote the play.

In a notable scene near the end, though, Richard’s servant removes his bracing so he can sleep before the battle of Bosworth Field, and we see this indefatigable bulldozer of a man helpless and in pain for the first time in the play. It’s powerfully done and makes the audience realize this is how Richard always sees himself.

I was sitting near the very back of the house, which may color my impressions of the show (I plan to see it again in two weeks from the front row to see if I change my mind), but my overall assessment is that this is a show that paid so much directorial attention to staging, aesthetic, theme, and visual excitement that it left a lot of individual performances underdeveloped or emotionally unconvincing. Maybe it’s the sheer size of Sidney Harman Hall, which I almost think is TOO big to effectively communicate the subtleties of Shakespeare’s dramas.

The death scenes, for example, were incredible. Wow. Most of them took place offstage in the original play, but in this production, every single one is depicted with graphic originality, including onstage drowning, lethal injections, decapitations, and more. It’s brutal but thrilling. Richard’s nightmare sequence, in which the ghosts of everyone he’s killed come back to haunt him, is the best and spookiest I’ve EVER seen it done.

For the most part, though, individual performances seemed to lack a certain spark of life. Though most performers had memorable specific moments, none truly stood out to me as really exceptional performances. Across the board, the delivery style seemed slightly stilted, formal, shouty, and “Shakespeare-y,” which I not only felt didn’t fit the raw text but clashed even more weirdly with the modern rock-and-roll visual aesthetic.

Even Matthew Rauch as Richard seemed to be holding back in the first half of the play- he seemed almost cautious, formal. Richard in the first half of the play is written to be so charming and charismatic that he even brings the audience along for the ride until his terrible deeds reach a point of no return. Rauch’s Richard was the most serious I’ve seen in the first half- even his humor felt strained- and paradoxically, I found him less scary and less dangerous than other Richards because of that. When you have such brutal onstage deaths, juxtaposing them against Richard’s devilish glee in ordering said deaths really drives home how little conscience he has. Rauch has the bearing of a soldier and clearly understands Shakespeare well, but he almost faded into the background of many of his early scenes. Maybe some of this was intentional- the directors’ notes in the script emphasized the importance of the supporting roles, which overbearing Richards so often overshadow— but given that Matthew Rauch’s face is splashed all over posters for the show around town, you’d think they’d give him more opportunities for the ol’ Razzle Dazzle.

Rauch hits his stride in the second half, when Richard begins to become slightly unhinged and paranoid. With a manic energy and unpredictable temper, Richard felt fully realized and truly threatening- with moments of keen vulnerability. His confrontation scene with Queen Elizabeth (portrayed rather blandly though elegantly up to that point) felt electrifying even if I didn’t necessarily love the cut of the text. And this production dispensed with the portrayal of Richard as sexually perverted or predatory that you often see these days. Rauch’s Richard is a misogynist who sees women as disposable objects or tools to aid his rise, but he doesn’t lust after them.

Some directorial choices looked cool but were confusing or distracting, like repetitive chanting from an ensemble or the rhythmic sharpening of scalpels and snapping of leather straps every time Richard prepares to kill someone. It sets the tone but obscured the language... and not that it matters, but why DOES Richard have a large army of mad scientists in the first place?

I did appreciate the diversity of the cast, filled with performers of different ethnicities, ages, genders, and sizes. Richmond, the valiant and pious hero who ultimately defeats Richard, was a woman of color and was well cast in the role, commanding yet gentle. But the business about marrying Elizabeth’s daughter to Richmond was both mentioned once and failed to come up again at the end of the play, maybe to keep from drawing attention to the fact that there would be no Tudor dynasty with two queens on the throne? I felt they should have really leaned alll the way in and ended with Princess Elizabeth by Richmond’s side or else avoided the marriage subplot all together.

Richard’s end was also quick and anticlimactic after all of the exciting battle that had preceded it, but maybe they wanted to avoid portraying Richmond as being as brutal or ruthless as Richard. Still, they had blood-covered ghosts of Richard’s slain foes adding to the numbers of Richmond’s army. Maybe they could have taken that a step further by having the ghosts assist in finishing off Richard- after all, the historical King Richard’s body was hacked by a mob.

All in all, I felt it was definitely a play worth seeing but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed by some of the elements. In particular, a lot of the funnier lines and scenes were removed from the script, as if the director wanted to keep things “Dark Knight style grim dark,” while to me, the black humor is one of the best things about the script. But the audience still laughed and reacted to the more humorous- or shocking- moments nonetheless— in fact, hearing gasps of disbelief or excitement or disgust from the audience at crucial moments was one of my favorite things about this production. Clearly, many people were seeing Richard III for the first time. And, like me, they felt it in their bones.

Richard III plays through March 10 at Sidney Harman Hall, the Shakespeare Theatre Company.

#stc #shakespeare theatre company #richard iii #shakespeare #washington dc #dc

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swans-anime-ramblings · 6 years

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An examination of LuNa in Strong World

*note: I’ve had quite a few new followers in the past 10 days or so, hooray! But because of that, I just thought I’d give a quick FYI. I occasionally post about LuNa on my blog, so if that isn’t your jam, no worries! Just block the lunami tag so you don’t have to be subjugated to my ramblings on this specific topic 😊. I always tag accordingly, so you don’t have to worry. I hope we can still be friends!*

Let me start off by saying that I don’t consider myself a multi-fandom hardcore shipper. I definitely enjoy certain ships, but on the whole I’d say I don’t particularly care who ends up with who for most of the anime/manga I’m into. However, LuNa is a whole different story. It really is my OTP.

I’ll admit, I resisted becoming attached to LuNa. I wanted to keep an open mind, and honestly, shipping complicates things. It sets you up for monumental disappointment because there’s a chance your ship will not become canon. And if this happens (and it happens a lot), it taints your experience. I’ve never believed you should invest in a story solely for shipping, but the disappointment remains all the same.

For me, Strong World was a big factor in shipping these two. I remember smiling and thinking, “yeah...I want these two to find romance.” And so, I think it’s high time for me to go through their biggest moments in the movie and why I think they have meaning. Be warned, this gets lengthy!

1. Luffy is Nami’s emotional anchor/ support

This is one of LuNa shippers’ biggest arguments in favor of them finding romance, so I won’t explain why this is a thing, but I think there’s two major instances in the movie.

When Shiki first abducts Nami in the beginning of the movie, Luffy yells for her and his attention is focused on her while everything else is in chaos. She immediately responds by yelling his name back, but it’s too late and he’s knocked away. I think this exchange sets up the movie being about their relationship, and reinforces that their bond is strong.

The second, and perhaps more potent time, is when Nami hears of Shiki’s plan to wreck the East Blue. She’s napping inside the house when Xaio comes in excitedly because her friend’s dad came home. Shiki is leaving and he’s going to destroy the East Blue. After Nami hears this horrible news, she immediately says, “Luffy” as she gets up and goes to find him. She’s dazed, scared, and there’s a terrifying situation about to happen. Saying his name is completely reactionary because he is her rock.

2. Luffy and Nami find each other

Unlike the other Strawhats who were separated into groups, Luffy is completely on his own. It’s a convenient, purposeful way to give them some time alone when they happen to meet-up. Nami sees the Sunny and she exclaims, “Sunny-go!” And then moments later Luffy runs out of the forest, sees Sunny and also exclaims, “Sunny-go!” Luffy sees Nami and starts running towards her. Some hilarity ensues, but luckily Billy is there to save the day.

3. Luffy’s tenderness toward Nami

Normally, I wouldn’t peg Luffy as a “tender” guy. He’s usually getting into all sorts of trouble, is brutally honest, yells a lot and has a monstrous appetite. In this movie there’s a couple instances where Luffy’s boisterous nature is calmed, and here we can find Luffy focused on taking care of Nami.

After they are reunited, Luffy is cooking up some food and turns toward Nami giving her a tender smile while he tells her to eat. She refuses since it’s scorpion, but I love his moment. That smile is so irresistible.

Another good tender moment is after they’ve reunited with some of the other crew. Everyone is exhausted and Xaio’s mom invites them to come in and rest. As far as I can tell, it was an open offer, and before anyone has a chance to respond, Luffy says,“Nami. Why don’t you go and do that?” He knows she’s been through a lot, and gives her an opportunity to rest without any other interference. When the crew sleeps outside, Luffy is the one closest to do the door.

This type of quiet caring is the right type of caring. It’s natural, non-intrusive, and has such a lovely feel. Nami is an independent woman, so smothering is annoying to her. I think Luffy cares for her instinctively like this since he’s not the type to do things that are unwanted. For Nami, I feel this works best for her.

4. They’re comfortable with each other

One of things I love about the scene where Luffy and Nami are reunited is how relaxed they are talking to one another. I feel like there’s this common misconception that Nami is yelling at Luffy every waking moment of the day, but that’s simply not true. I bet they talk like this often. While Nami is changing, she’s asking Luffy where everyone is and he responds while cooking his scorpion. Honestly, this feels to me like a couple who has come home from a long day at work. After they’ve been reunited, someone starts cooking while the other gets out of their work clothes. “How was your day?” “oh just fine. It’s been busy at the office since everyone is off for vacation.”

Their comfortability with one another is shown again just a short time later when Nami is riding on Luffy’s shoulders with her hands gently sitting on top of his head. While flying, they’re casually discussing where the rest of the crew might be. I feel like if Nami were in this situation with anyone else, she’d be furious, or at least we would’ve seen her temper flare before accepting her fate.

Luffy is angry at Nami

This right here is the big one. After Luffy and the others are pulled out of Shiki’s trap, Luffy is somber because he’s lost. Ussop says, “she went with Shiki to save our hometowns” and everyone, including Luffy, heard Ussop say this. Luffy doesn’t react beyond continuing to look defeated.

When they start playing the message Nami left them, Luffy hears Nami’s words about how they (i.e him) isn’t strong enough to face Shiki. And Luffy is furious. His hands start shaking and he starts screaming. It makes him so angry that he goes and punches a rock out of frustration.

This isn’t like Luffy at all. And interestingly enough, we have something to compare it to. Robin’s departure from the Strawhat’s is over the same circumstance. Robin leaves so that the crew will not die because she believes they aren’t strong enough to face the World Government. After the failed attempt to rescue Robin, the crew explains what happened to Luffy. His response is seen below (also shutout to Luffy+Nami yelling at each other over it hahaha).

Now, he’s definitely angry but there’s one key difference. Luffy is angry at Robin for not worrying about her own safety, not because Robin doesn’t believe Luffy is strong enough. He isn’t taking her leaving personally.

But he does take it personally with Nami.

This idea of Nami “not believing Luffy is strong enough” fits in the category of things that you absolutely DO NOT say to a man you’re in a relationship with, in real life. This is a thing, and even an implication of “you’re not strong enough” can be hurtful. I’ve seen this firsthand. But for confirmation I googled “things a woman shouldn’t say to a man they’re in a relationship with” and got a bunch of listicles (some of which were weird, I grant you). However, in the ones written by men, this was close to top. Here’s a random one I found.

From Glamour Magazine:

4. “He’d kick your ass.”

Telling us that anyone--even a grizzly bear or some sort of terminator from the future--- can beat us up is equivalent to us flipping through a magazine and physically pointing out the women we think are betting looking than you. It’s ridiculous, I know, but we like to think we’re tough (true story: an ex told me her friend, a mixed martial artist,could kick my ass--- my response: “not at Jeopardy”).

And absolutely, a couple of men don’t speak for the whole of masculinity, but I think it’s safe to say a lot of men would feel this way. Luffy’s reaction tells me Nami’s words cut. He was expecting the trust he places in her to be reciprocated (to quote Warlordgab). The idea that she didn’t was too much for him and he reacted. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this angry at one of his crew members.

Luffy protects Nami’s honor

Despite Luffy being furious with Nami, he will not allow her to appear weak in front of Shiki, who makes fun of her sacrifice. “You’re an idiot,” Luffy scowls. “Nami didn’t sacrifice herself, she just came to fight as our vanguard, is all!” before the Strawhats begin shooting up the palace. What’s funny about Luffy’s statement is it’s truer than he thinks. But she was gone and could not defend herself, so he did instead.

Luffy holds a grudge

Luffy’s anger toward Nami isn’t just a gut reaction. He stays angry at her, and when I watched this movie for the first time I was surprised. You can feel his anger when he’s about to beat the crap out of Shiki. “Nami. I’m gonna beat this guy up and then we’re going home.” He can’t talk with her about his anger until later, so he doesn’t even mention it, but it’s written all over his face. Even though he’s angry, he reaffirms to Chopper and Ussop to take care of Nami. Again, I feel like this is an accurate response to how a real man would act if they were in a similar situation.

Luffy scowling while fishing would probably be funnier if the circumstances hadn’t been so serious, but it’s evident he’s been by himself stewing for a while. When Nami is better, Luffy lets Nami know EXACTLY what he thinks. “You said some really mean things! I can’t believe you didn’t have faith in me after all this time!” And it’s then, the truth is revealed.

Nami is embarrassed at her message

At the very end of Nami’s message, she quietly asks to come be saved and doesn’t want Luffy to hear it now that the situation has been resolved. Sanji says it was “a message of love,” and Nami doesn’t even deny it. She just moves on to the next thing which is..something.

I think the reason Nami is embarrassed by the message, is that it does show her care for Luffy. Nami says that she directed the message to him because “you’re denser than anyone else”. So Nami, in the middle of Shiki breathing down her neck, is worried that Luffy will be angry by the message she’s being forced to give, and tries to say something so he understands. That she DOES believe in him, and she wants him to come get her. Nami understands Luffy.

What does all of this mean?

Well, that’s a good question. Because at this point in the game, are we really seeing “romantic love” from these two? I don’t think so, despite some of their reactions normally stemming from romantic love. So what is it then?

Recently, a good friend of mine has been going through One Piece. He is extremely analytical to the detriment of him enjoying shows at times. He told me admittedly that he doesn’t care about shipping nor does he pick up on shipping cues. As he’s watched One Piece, shipping isn’t a thing I’ve ever asked him about.

He watched Strong World right after finishing Thriller Bark, and this is what he had to say while giving me his thoughts on the movie.

"Luffy and Nami have a cool relationship. It’s an unstated love that’s purely platonic but incredibly strong. It’s not brought up much but I have sensed it.”

Honestly, I was wowed by his statement. He was able to put into words something I was having a hard time categorizing. The movie makes them feel like more, but at the same time it’s not romantic. This bond, which at the time of Strong World is platonic but strong nonetheless. They care for each other deeply and they have a special relationship.

So how does it progress?

Have you ever fallen in love with your best friend? I have, and I can tell you there was a single moment when everything became crystal clear to me. Afterward, I spent hours trying to sift through my feelings. When, exactly, did my caring for him transition to love? Did I always love him and was incredibly dense? Or was it gradual, and like a flower, it had been growing for some time beneath the surface and had just sprouted?

Yes…I think that was it. The seed; our friendship. The water; our caring for one another. The earth; the time we spent together. The sun; our shared laughter.

I think this analogy best describes Luffy and Nami, too. As my friend picked up, there’s something beneath the surface, something strong and lovely. Will Oda give it a chance to bloom? I don’t know, but I hope so.

I really hope so 😊

#LuNa #lunami #luffyxnami #luffy #nami

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negativehysteria · 6 years

Note

Can you write a timeless prompt where Lyatt is a thing and Lucy is pregnant and they time travel but accidentally get left behind in the past?

Here you go, anon! It’s also posted here on my fanfic account. Enjoy!

Lucy knew she would look back at these past few weeks as one of her bigger lapses of judgment in her life; if not the biggest. Staring at the ceiling all night and all morning seemed like the simplest solution to this issue. That was, until the routine morning sickness forced her out of bed to the creepy and rusted bathroom. It had become a daily challenge for Lucy to throw up as covertly as possible, never forgetting to place a chair in front of the metal door. She did all of this in secret, for as long as things stayed the same, no harm could be done. And all Lucy wanted was for things to stay the same.

That morning was no different than the rest. She glanced at the blinking red numbers of the alarm clock, reading the time as 0700. 7 AM and she’d already been awake for three hours. She sighed as she adjusted her body ever so slightly, just barely brushing up against the hand at her waist. She heard a low grunt as she stopped in her tracks, careful not to wake the sleeping soldier next to her. She resettled again only to be disturbed by a flipping feeling in her stomach. No, she groaned to herself, Is it too much to ask for a single reprieve? One day?

She complained to herself as she rose from the bed. Carefully shedding the blanket, she shrugged on the white t-shirt that had been strewn along the bedroom floor. She took two steps forward before a hand caught her wrist. The sudden lurch of movement shocked Lucy enough to make her stumble back, inhaling a sharp gasp,

“Jesus, Wyatt,” She breathed, drinking in the smirking face before her, “You gave me a heart attack,”

“Hmm that’s uncommon for a woman your age,” Wyatt grumbled, his voice muffled by the pillow below him, “You should see a cardiologist. I can refer you to a guy.”

Lucy scoffed, batting his hand away from her wrist,

“Your sarcasm is not so funny at 7 in the morning,” Lucy said, turning to leave,

“Would it be funnier at 4 AM?” He called after her, his voice suddenly more clear, “Or would you be equally as unreceptive?” Lucy stopped in her tracks, caught off guard by what she could only fathom was an accusation,

“What do you mean?” She turned around, mustering up the most convincing confused face she could make. Wyatt sighed, running his fingers through his hair,

“I’ve been giving you space, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t noticed how you’re barely sleeping at night,” He maintained eye contact with her, trapping her stare in his own, “I’m not dumb, I know something is bothering you. I just hope you will talk to me about it when you’re ready.”

Lucy held his stare, biting the inside of her cheek. She knew the best response to his words would be to thank him for his concern, or to assure him that she was completely fine (though that would be a lie). But some part of her just couldn’t let the words escape her mouth; or any words for that matter.

She smiled shyly, nodding her head as she fled the room. She just barely made it to the bathroom before she released the contents of her stomach into the toilet for the second week in a row. She hated doing this alone, but that was the only way she could fathom doing it. At least for now.

The blaring alarm of the computer system snapped Lucy out of her thousand yard stare. It wasn’t until the signal sounded that Lucy realized Rufus had been talking to her. The last words she remembered hearing were ‘Tatooine’ and ‘Vader’, so she had confidence in knowing her mind wasn’t 100% into the conversation to begin with.

“What do you got, Rufus?” Wyatt appeared behind the engineer, placing a hand on the back of Lucy’s chair,

“Looks like the mothership is in New Orleans, January of 1918,” Rufus read the coordinates. All eyes instantaneously turned to Lucy, who had been only half listening to the conversation. As the lull of voices hit her, she shot a puzzled look at the faces around her,

“Huh? Oh, well January of 1918 is the beginning of the first Influenza epidemic. It’s said to have wiped out anywhere from 50 to 100 million people worldwide,” She finished, hoping the team would be satisfied enough with that answer to not question her momentary disorientation.

“Well, alright then,” Wyatt smiled, placing his hands on his hips, “Guess we’re headed to Bourbon Street!”

Lucy swore that this was the happiest she had ever seen Wyatt. His eyes were bright as they stalked through the center of the town, listening to the blaring of saxophones harmonizing in the distance. The houses were vibrant, along with the joyful people passing in front of them. Lucy smiled at the scene, only to remember that, very soon, most of these people will be overtaken with illness. Lucy always viewed this as the most painful aspect of the job: seeing people, caught up in their lives and in their hopes for tomorrow, only to bear the burden of knowing that tomorrow is rarely worth hoping for.

“This is everything I imagined it to be!” Wyatt practically hopped from store to store, lifting his head to the sky,

“Yeah, well I hope you both have your flu shot. In a few days from now, these streets will be a lot less lively,” Lucy lowered her voice, “Literally.”

Rufus looked at Lucy with concern, glancing at Wyatt for a moment before continuing to walk,

“Right…well, we should look for Emma and find out what their endgame is here. Any thoughts?” He asked, drawing the trio into the corner of an intersection,

“I’m thinking maybe they’re pulling another Nicholas situation. Saving someone from dying from a catastrophe to bring them back to the present? Or they could be pulling a Flynn, just saving someone from dying period. Why else would they go here, at this time?” Wyatt finished as Rufus nodded in agreement. The two men looked to Lucy, who had been staring across the street to a very pregnant woman walking from the store. Her lime green dress cascaded around her ankles, her belly seemingly painfully protruding from her body. Lucy winced at the idea that this could be her soon. Though the thought of having children made her more excited than she could articulate, for the moment, the small ball of terror in the back of her mind overcame her joy. How could she possibly do this?

“Earth to Lucy!” Rufus waved his hand in front of her face. She shook her head, clearing her voice,

“Yeah, sorry. I agree with Wyatt. It’s either that or they’re trying to wipe out the entire city, which would be stupid and unnecessary,” She sighed when she finished speaking, confronted with worried glances from both Rufus and Wyatt. Before she could address them, a gunshot rang through the streets, echoing off the buildings and making it impossible to determine the origin.

“Get Down!” Wyatt yelled, grabbing Lucy and pulling her into a divet in the stone building behind them. Before she could call to him, Lucy spotted Rufus running away, back to where they had come from,

“Rufus, no!” Lucy called, moving to chase after him as Wyatt reached for her hand, pulling her back into him,

“It’s safer here,” He whispered into her ear. She was breathing heavily, so worried for her friend that she hadn’t realized that the gunfire had grown distant. Distant in the direction of Rufus. One glance at Wyatt told her that he was thinking the same thing,

“We have to-” Lucy started,

“I know,” He cut her off, grabbing her arm once again and practically dragging her along the streets, “Just stay behind me,”

Lucy sped up to run next to him, punching Wyatt in the shoulder,

“I’m not letting you be a human shield for me. Not now,” She said through labored breaths. He glanced at her with a puzzled look,

“What do you mean ‘not now’?”

Before she could evade the question, the two caught up to the action, spotting Emma running towards the Lifeboat.

“Oh, Shit,” Wyatt whispered. Peering around a tree, Wyatt saw Rufus sitting in the lifeboat, hesitant to close the door to leave Lucy and Wyatt behind. But they had a rule: if Rittenhouse finds the lifeboat, take it home before they can apprehend it. No matter what. Knowing this, Wyatt waited until Rufus spotted him. Wyatt gave a small nod as Rufus hesitantly nodded back. Seconds later, Lucy and Wyatt heard the familiar pop of the time machine, leaving them behind in 1918.

“So we just wait here?” Lucy asked when they settled into their room at a bed and breakfast. Wyatt nodded, shrugging off his gun holster,

“Yup, we wait for the date that he comes back to get us. Could be a few days though, remember we’re stretching apart these visits as much as possible so we don’t run into ourselves-”

“Yeah, yeah, time machine rules,” Lucy muttered, playing with a loose string on her skirt. Wyatt sat down next to her, reaching for her hand. On impulse, she flinched back, feeling guilty about lying to him for these past few weeks.

“Lucy, what is going on with you?” Wyatt asked, brushing stray hairs away from her face. She inhaled deeply, standing to make her way to the balcony. She had to do it. She had to tell him.

“You can tell me anything,” Wyatt continued, following her until she felt his heavy presence behind her on the balcony. Lucy took another deep breath,

“I never used to trust people much,” Lucy closed her eyes, leaning her hands against the railing, “Even before all of this, trusting people never came easily to me. That’s why I was so sure of my mother all this time; because she was the one person in the world who I thought had earned it,” She opened her eyes to look at Wyatt, “And now I’ve learned to trust you and I was just… I was so afraid that telling you might scare you away. And I couldn’t stand to lose you, too.” A tear trailed down her cheek until she tasted the saltiness on her lips. Wyatt shook his head,

“Tell me what?” He whispered. It took all of her courage to look him in the eyes and she was afraid she would have none left to tell him. However, the words came out as easily as the tears streamed down her face,

“I’m pregnant,” she said. Saying the words out loud felt like a release of the longest breath she’d ever held.

Wyatt’s face could only be described as someone who simultaneously heard the best and most inconvenient news of his life. Lucy held her breath as his mouth crept into a smile. A burly laugh escaped his lips as he scooped her into his arms and twirled her around the room. She laughed like she hadn’t laughed in months.

“So you’re…you’re okay with this?” Lucy asked once he had calmed from his initial celebrations,

“Okay? Okay!? I’m great! This is amazing, Lucy,” He reached up and took her shoulders in his hands, “Don’t you dare think for one second otherwise,”

“But we’re a few days away from the deadliest pandemic in histo-”

“Shhhh,” Wyatt cut her off, “Let’s just pretend for a second that we are a normal couple in 1918, who are in love and just found out are having a baby?” He smiled.

“I don’t know,” Lucy sighed, “Normal is a little far-fetched.” They laughed and hugged once more, forgetting their past, present, and future,

“Just one question,” Wyatt asked. Lucy looked up at him, nodding for him to continue, “What the hell are we gonna do now?”

#timeless #nbc timeless #timeless nbc #lyatt #lucy preston #wyatt logan #Lucy x Wyatt #wyatt x lucy #wucy #Rufus Carlin

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babybatcatandco · 6 years

Text

Gotham Season 4B Trailer Breakdown

So I was going through the trailer frame by frame, as you do, and I have some thoughts/theories:

So Bruce is breaking the suit out again. I think it’s going to take place post-vision where he sees his Darkness™ personified. I’m really hoping he gets over this angsty stage and spends like three months apologizing to Alfred.

Further evidence of some kind of mind-whammy changing Bruce’s perspective. The speaking over this is Bruce explaining to Jim that he thinks he’s seen who he really is. I’ve been saying for a bit now that S4 is really laying the groundwork for who Bruce and Co. become later on, and I think this is a big moment. Also, it looks like they’ve got David in the same outfit as the earlier screenshot, so I’m willing to bet that this all takes place post-Bruce’s vision.

We’ve got Jim and Barbara in what I think is her club. There are some people dancing in the right of the next frame. The decor here looks similar to what I can remember the Artemis as looking, but I think we’ve seen enough of Barbara’s penchant for old-timey, almost art-deco furniture and fashion to assume that this is her club. Her outfit has a very similar vibe, very 1920′s flapper aesthetic. I’m willing to bet Jim is asking for her help with something he can’t get on his own, whether he’s outfoxed or he just needs her to do something illegal for him.

Jim and who looks to be Harper are at a crime scene here. We can’t tell much about the victim, but Jim’s holding an evidence bag and their face looks pretty torn up. I don’t want to go out on a limb and say Jerome yet, because from what I can tell he’s still in Arkham. I’m thinking this is the mystery Jim goes to Barbara about.

Jim’s threatening Sofia, and I have a feeling a good portion of 4b is going to be him trying to get her off his back. I see no immediate change in Sofia’s goals at the moment; I think she’ll be trying to consolidate her power in Gotham, which is what makes Jim going to Barbara so curious. I wonder if they’ll have a moment where he plays on her pride and asks if she’ll let someone lord over her or something in that vein.

We’ve got an enraged Lee on our hands here. The ‘Heavy Hitters’ poster on the wall, as well as just the set in general and the fact that Sofia’s walking into a room while Lee waits, tells me we’re in Lee’s territory in the Narrows. Sofia’s also got her gloating face on, and Lee’s very visibly upset and threatening her. I think the bad blood here is tied to Sofia gaining complete control over Gotham. I don’t know if she’s refusing to have other gangs around acting as viziers like we’ve seen before, so she wants Lee gone, or if Lee’s people love her too much, or Lee’s just being stubborn about something, but I think Sofia’s done something horrible. Knowing Lee and her weaknesses, Sofia’s probably done something cruel to the poor people in the Narrows and now Lee’s being a protective mama bear.

Jim and Lucius are exiting a store, you can’t quite tell here but it has a clown and the name KRANK on the window, so I’m thinking something Jerome-related. Jim’s obviously distressed though, as he’s reaching for his gun.

My baby girl is peering into a window here. The stairs look a little wooden to be a fire escape, but you tell by the window frame and that the curtain is closer to the camera that she’s on the outside. Very similar lighting/colour palette to the apartment we see her and Ivy in later, but then Gotham does love its shadowy grays.

A burning mask. Looks practically identical to Bruce’s but it’s white. I don’t know why but it’s giving me some Court of Owls vibes, but I doubt the two are related at all. White tends to be coded as the colour of innocence and purity, so it might be tied to Bruce’s vision/representative of him embracing his darkness.

The second screenshot is from a bit earlier, but they have very similar gold set design/GCPD officers running around, which you see a lot in this trailer. Some catastrophe is happening, no clue if it’s Ivy or Jerome related or someone else wreaking havoc. Bruce has a very ‘oh shit’ expression (props again to David Mazouz, he and Camren Bicondova are so talented at such a young age), so I wonder if he’s going to break out some vigilante justice and we’ll get to see proto-Batman and Jim interact.

THE KIDS ARE BACK TOGETHER AND MY HEART IS FILLED WITH JOY. Ahem, so, Selina’s asking Bruce for his help, and he’s looking pretty receptive. I really think whatever vision he goes through takes place very early in the season, if not the first episode. If he was still in Billionaire-Brat mode I don’t think he’d be as willing to hear Selina out (plus the tail end of 4A wasn’t very focused on him and his development, so I think to make up for it we’re going to get a lot from him right out of the gate. @the Gotham writers please have Selina be like ‘what the actual fuck’ when Bruce tells her Alfred’s gone.) Their posture is halfway between open and closed off; they’ve got their arms extended between them with ‘let’s make a deal’ fists, but they’re both leaning forward towards each other. Also, it sounds like they’re making up?

So this scene literally reduced me to incoherency (please tell me the first two shots are them giving each other the side-eye like ‘we’re gonna fuck shit up?’, ‘yeah we’re gonna fuck shit up’, boom, action scene) and I had to go back and rewatch it like a million times over, but the children are officially back to kicking ass and taking names together. I’m willing to bet this is what Selina needs help with, and the set makes me think that this is a fence, what with all the antiquated knick-knacks kicking around. Maybe Selina lost an important item, or someone stole from her, or this is related to an overarching plot we can’t see yet? Either way, my soul is healed. And if that ‘cup your jaw, hand dragging down your chest as I walk away’ move wasn’t the most BATCAT thing I have yet to see on this show. AND THEY’RE SMILING. Well Selina definitely is, Bruce looks a little more wistful, or kind of like ‘oh shit she’s getting under my skin again’.

We’re getting our first good look at Jerome and Oswald! It looks like Jerome’s built up his own little gang at Arkham, and he’s demanding Oswald make him laugh. The lighting/set looks pretty different in the last two screenshots, so I think it’s at a later date, but I could be wrong. Jerome’s costume is a bit altered though, his shirt is on and buttoned before. It looks like Jerome has got some kind of gladiatorial ring on the go here, and during their fight he’s got a hammer while Oswald is fighting bare-fisted. It looks as though Oswald wins, and the set-up makes me think it’s some kind of fight for respect or power. I’m excited to see what Jerome’s got going on this season, as he’s being played to perfection by Cameron Monaghan as per usual.

And we get to see Ivy! They’ve recast Maggie Geha, and I will miss her until the day I die. (Peyton List is a great actress though.) She’s looking pretty badass, the sweater seems like a callback to Clare Foley’s Ivy. It looks like she’s got her full-on powers nowadays, and the man it looks like she was feeding off of is wearing what seems to me like a GCPD uniform, might explain why Jim’s got an APB (basically a modern wanted poster) out for her. That bottle on the shelf to her left shows up later in the trailer, interestingly enough.

The decor of the apartment she’s breaking into gives me Barbara vibes, and it seems to have similar lighting as the earlier shot of Selina looking through that window, as well as when we see her and Ivy talk later. I have a feeling she’s looking for Selina/wants Selina to leave Tabby and Barbara to join her. And Ivy’s cracked at this point, the trailer description says she’s looking to make Gotham her green paradise, so I think Selina will have a ‘wtf no’ moment.

And here we find Selina’s ‘wtf no’ moment. I think she’ll go along with Ivy in the beginning out of fondness/nostalgia, but I think Ivy’s going to be on the kind of crazy kick Selina can’t condone. I think we’re really going to start seeing Selina’s moral greyness, and possibly the more altruistic, ‘good guy’ side of her. Knowing Ivy this is a part of her ‘kill all people who harm the ecosystem’ schtick.

Ed! He still looks decidedly un-Riddlerish. He’s delivering one of the funnier lines, “oh that is so Gotham.” I think that this is about whatever crime he came to Babs about, and now he’s there to talk to either Ed or Lee. Either that or he’s looking for their help to boot Sofia out of the criminal underworld.

Ivy and the girls at what looks like the nightclub. Babs is still wearing the same dress as when she was talking to Jim. These are two very differently placed shots though, the first isn’t a reaction, Selina’s standing in different places. Same dress, however, so the same night/thread of scenes. Ivy’s probably there either to ask for their help with her grand plan, or to retrieve Selina.

Bruce is again, sadly, wearing a turtleneck and a blazer. Tragic. He looks like he’s giving a press conference or something though, and this shot flashes as Ivy says “you have no idea what’s really going on at your company, do you?” So there’s some business intrigue going on with Wayne Enterprises, and this is probably Bruce making a ballsy move or trying to assess what’s on the go.

Speaking of, here’s that discussion. I think whatever hidden motive Ivy’s got going on is tied to whatever what’s on the go with Wayne Enterprises. I also think that Ivy’s got some kind of weird superpower going on, and this is where Bruce gets mind-whammied with his vision. I can’t see another reason for her to kiss him, (which I lowkey feel kind of weird about as a sixteen-year-old? Like art is art, and I’m sure everyone consented and jazz, but I don’t know it gives me the creepy crawlies) unless she’s compelling him to do something for her/give her something/tell her information.

So these look pretty different from the other shots of Bruce’s vision, and I think they might be separate. I think at least one of them is Ivy-related, and I’d put my money on this one. We see Ra’s with his dagger, dressed pretty strangely. I think the second shot is Bruce being tugged into the vision, and Ra’s is doing the tugging because you can see that he’s wearing the same pair of black leather gloves in both shots, and they have a similar red, wispy outline. I think Bruce’s vision is going to have him confront killing Ra’s, and openly face his darker parts. I think Jim and Selina are going to play a big role there, as they’re two very morally gray characters and Jim reminds Bruce in the beginning of the trailer that he isn’t alone.

So Bruce’s vision is kind of divided into three, the first one with Ra’s, now this part where he’s standing in an alley and is pounced upon by the same dark, masked figure we see later. The lighting is similar enough between the second and last portions of the vision that I can see them being the same scene, with the transition probably happening as we see the figure jump on Bruce.

So here we have the bulk of Bruce’s vision, with the dark figure informing him that he is “the one you cannot escape, the one you cannot kill.” I don’t know if this is related to Ra’s (snide ‘you can’t kill me’ remark) or if it’s the metaphysical embodiment of the darker side of Bruce, or if it’s similar to the creepy old monk guy (whose name I headcanon as Dante, bc A) that’s just a cool name for a monk, and B) the actor plays President Dante on The 100) where Bruce is getting his mind manipulated again. Time will tell.

We’ve got Ivy and Lucius! She’s got a bottle of some green, glowy thing. Might’ve compelled Lucius to make it for her, might be stealing it, who knows. It looks very similar to a bottle back in her apartment:

They’re not entirely the same, the shape is a little different and the second one has naturally green glass, but I can’t see it being a throwaway detail. Maybe she’s run out of whatever the bottle contains so she needs Lucius to make her more.

It starts to devolve into a montage here, so we’ve got Oswald in a suit and top hat in what looks to be a party setting, and the wavey effect could either be for the montage or to show that it’s a hallucination, and I’m betting on the latter. I think Arkham is going to push him to the limits of his ‘sanity’ all over again. Arkham has always been Oswald’s lowest point, his ‘rock-bottom’.

We’ve got Ed here in his Riddler gear, and the decor/henchman in the back makes me think that this is Sofia’s place. Probably later on in the season, and it looks as though he’s been tortured maybe, what with the blood? It being all over his mouth like that makes me think of Jerome, so it might be connected to him and Oswald somehow.

Jim’s flat on his back in what looks to be a hospital or kitchen setting. Could be a chase, but the intensity/length of the shot makes me feel like he’s in a dire situation. The lighting and set look very similar to this shot of Sofia, as she says “you!” all menacingly. She could be talking to either Jim or someone else who’s attacking them both.

I think this is Lee either in a fight at her place, or just beating the shit out of someone there. The stairs/rest of the set tell us this is her club/fight ring, and she looks pissed as hell. I think it’s related to the earlier situation with Sofia, I can’t see her flying off the handle unless it’s a situation like that.

Harvey’s got his gun back, so I think he returns to the GCPD at some point in 4B. Can’t see it happening off the bat, but it looks like he’s infiltrating Arkham. I think it’ll be either midway through or at the finale of 4B when things with Jerome and Oswald start coming to a head.

So Barbara is spotting Ra’s in the crowd at her club. (Also this is how you can tell Gotham reuses extras bc that girl in the silver, sparkly dress walked in front of Babs and crew earlier in the trailer, but she’s dressed entirely differently so it has to be a new thread of scenes, despite Barbara’s penchant for dramatic costume changes.) Since Ra’s is very, very dead this has to be a hallucination, and I think it’s because Ra’s passed whatever he had been attempting to pass on to Bruce, on to Barbara at Blackgate. I don’t know how Gotham is going to play the Heir to the Demon’s Head thing here, but I’m excited to see what they come up with.

Oswald is out of Arkham, wearing a very warm coat that looks a little frosted over, and pointing a gun. Could have had a run-in with Victor, but you can tell this isn’t a hallucination because he’s wearing his prisoner uniform underneath the coat. Probably later on in 4B.

Ed is looking very unstable, and this is probably the moment where he transitions from Ed back to the Riddler. I’m thinking it’ll be somewhere around mid-way through 4B.

Ivy’s telling Selina here, “let’s make Gotham our bitch,” and the set/lighting looks very similar to when Ivy kicked that door in. I think this is where Selina lives with Tabitha/Barbara, and this is where Ivy tries to rope Selina in on her scheme, and Selina eventually watches her kill that man.

We’ve got Jim talking to who looks like Alfred, right as an explosion occurs. There are too many subplots being thrown around to pinpoint which one might have caused the explosion, but I’m more interested in Alfred and Jim’s conversation. Nine times out of ten if they’re communicating it’s about Bruce, so I think it might be about whatever shady shit is going down at Wayne Enterprises.

Jerome and Oswald again. I’d like to point out while we’re here that Jerome has really started taking on the physical aspects of the Joker, the smile, the gloves, the shoes. He’s asking Oswald to help him find the “crème de la crazy”, and it looks like it’s after their fight since they’re both a little bloodied up.

I really wish the lighting wasn’t like this?? Who is Ivy feeding on? The hair kind of looks like Alfred’s ngl, and I swear if she hurts my son I will pop through the screen and fight her. I’m really curious as to how they’re framing Ivy’s powers here though, it looks like she has full control over plants.

So that was my ridiculously long analysis of the 4B trailer, it’s looking really great and I can’t wait to see where they take it all. I’ll probably elaborate on specific points in the future, especially when the season starts to pick up, or if I have any sudden epiphanies.

#wrote this when i should have been studying for my bio midterm tomorrow morning at 9 am #it's currently midnight and i have no regrets #but i had to do it up twice #bc the page timed out #i was so pissed #this is shaping up to be such a great season #just going through the frames the cinematography was mindblowing #this show just continually impresses me #i lowkey hope the lee/ed thing doesn't go anywhere?#i just want lee to have an arc that doesn't involve her having a love interest #and she can just be a freaking badass who dismantles sofia's throne through sheer spite and determination alone #but i still want sofia to be an amazing gangster queen???#i have too many badass female faves on this show that keep butting heads #it needs to stop #when babs and tabby were fighting i was so sad #anyway that's why i didn't mention lee/ed #also the nygmobblepot fandom would have crucified me #y'all are some scary ass people #i stay the hell in my lane there #same thing with the people who really hardcore stan jerome #i'll just be over here with baby batcat #sobbing #wishing alfred pennyworth was my cool uncle #cursing bruce out for treating him like shit #i was so ready to throw hands with bruce at the end of 4a you have no idea #i'm like five foot with the strength of a newborn kitten but i would have whooped him out of sheer 'fuck you'#gotham #gotham fox #gotham season 4 #gotham season 4b

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sheikah · 7 years

Note

What are your views regarding Melisandre, Val, Varys, Illyrio, and Littlefinger? And why?

Wow this is a lot in one ask anon haha. I will condense it to a few comments per person.

Melisandre–Honestly one of the most interesting characters to me. I believe she does what she thinks is right. It doesn’t excuse the awful things she’s done, particularly Shireen. But Melisandre actually has power.

There is a lot of religious discussion in GoT/ASOIAF, but we don’t get a lot of solid confirmation of the existence or power of the respective deities. We hear a lot about the Olds Gods and the Seven, but when it comes to the Lord of Light, we’ve actually seen Melisandre’s and Thoros’s power in action on more than one occasion.

So I try to put myself in her shoes. In real life there are radical religious fundamentalists who commit horrific atrocities in the name of their god(s). Yet there is not verifiable proof of a higher power in our world. So imagine living in this universe and being a priestess like Melisandre who has actually seen people resurrected from the dead by your god, who has actually given birth to a monster, who can somehow fabricate eternal youth. All of this leads her to believe that she is on the correct path, that she is doing what she is supposed to be doing and is being rewarded and validated by her god.

So in light of all of that I find it really hard to think negatively of Melisandre. I also think that season 6 showed us her humanity and confirmed that even if she does a lot of what she does out of blind faith with seemingly no remorse, she still harbors emotions and weakness. It made it easier to sympathize with her.

Val–I was so intrigued by Val in the books and thought for sure she was going to be Jon’s next big love story. She is one of the characters that remains a bit of an enigma to me.

I had an anon awhile back present a theory that Val was Dany and Jon’s child who somehow traveled through time in the Land of Always Winter haha. I don’t really subscribe to the theory but the anon brought up that part of why people believe it is that Val’s got the mannerisms of someone of higher birth and standing than one of the Free Folk. And that’s true. So, why? I don’t really have a good answer for it.

Anyway, I think she’s interesting, another badass woman to cross Jon Snow’s path, and I really resented how at The Wall Stannis and Selyse presumptuously kept trying to marry her off to various men as political collateral.

It’s interesting that you bring her up after Melisandre, because one of the moments I had distaste for Val was when she told Jon Shireen should be killed. Something those two women have in common I guess.

The “lonely and lovely and lethal” line is one of my favorites and one of the few effective uses of alliteration in my opinion haha. I am bummed she didn’t end up in the show but I understand why she was cut. When we met Karsi in 5.08 I half expected her to be a Val stand-in. I was sorely disappointed.

Varys–I looooove Varys! And if you had told me in 2010 when I started reading ASOIAF that I would love Varys, I would have laughed at you. At first I thought Varys was as slimy as LF and I did not like him. His descriptions in the books especially repulsed me, the powdered skin and simpering. Ew.

Show!Varys is pleasantly much funnier than I ever expected and his friendship with Tyrion is one of my favorite aspects of the series currently.

Just as a character, I hope I’m not wrong, but as of right now I trust him and believe his intentions are good. What’s so fascinating about Varys is that looking at him he seems very unassuming and he doesn’t present as a major player of the Game. But he’s (obviously) one of the most important players there is.

One of my favorite moments is the one when he says that LF is the second most dangerous man in the realm (implying he himself is the first.) I love that, and I 100% agree. At Con of Thrones there was a panel on Varys vs Littlefinger and it completely filled up, had people sitting in the aisles and standing outside the door trying to listen. Because people are fascinated by this character!

Anyway, I think that Varys is smart, wily, hilarious, and a survivor. I think he will live until the end and that whatever ending we get is one that he wanted, planned, and played some part in bringing about. And for better or for worse, one of the reasons I am sure of that is that Varys seems to be the only person in the series who isn’t tempted by anything that could throw him off course.

He is supposedly asexual and aromantic, saying that desire is dangerous. I haven’t seen anything to indicate that he cares much about money. And since he’s a realist I think he knows that he would never be accepted as king of the 7k, so I don’t believe he desires power.

He genuinely wants to make the realm better, which is so? Crazy to me? He almost seems too good to be true. But then we can remind ourselves that he will let seemingly anyone die on the path to bettering the realm, and that’s where he becomes a problematic fave.

Illyrio–The least interesting to me of all the characters on this list. Illyrio is transparent while the others seem (to me, anyway) to have layers of complexity. the scene where Arya overhears him plotting with Varys hints at Illyrio being a player on par with Varys and LF, but he just isn’t.

Illyrio doesn’t support the Targaryens out of loyality or principle, he does it out of greed. And while his behind-the-scenes work with Varys has been extremely influential and important to the plot (marrying Dany to Drogo, housing Tyrion in Pentos after is escape from KL, etc) I am not nearly as interested in his actions as I am in those of LF or Varys.

Because while Varys’s motives are still interesting to me and his actions are harder to predict, and while LF is a villain we all love/hate, Illyrio is just a typical greedy man. If I’m remembering right, he even tells Tyrion his ambition is to be Master of Coin to a Targaryen monarch. So bearing this in mind, Illyrio’s greed doesn’t even really make sense?

Because as Master of Coin, LF had (from what we could tell) a good life and a cozy living with immediate influence on the king in small council. But he wanted more. He wanted more because Master of Coin does not guarantee extravagant living. So to me it would make more sense for Illyrio to stay in Pentos in his mansion, where he clearly has a vast amount of resources and connections. Sure, accept the job of Master of Coin if it’s offered to you. But I don’t see why he’s going to so much trouble to establish a Targ monarch just to have that position as a reward. I just don’t understand it.

Littlefinger–I hate him. He’s creepy and treacherous. But he’s losing control of his schemes now. I think (hope?) that Sansa sees straight through him by now and so all his scheming has been in vain.

Look, I am impressed with what he has accomplished. I love the revelation of him being behind not only Joffrey’s death, but Jon Arryn’s as well. He truly has shaped the trajectory of almost every single character with his actions.

So I don’t underestimate his cunning or his capabilities. But he made all of these things happen and still doesn’t really have anything to show for it. The only person truly under his sway is Robin/Robert Arryn. And is that really such a big deal? The knights of the Vale are excellent fighters and being the de facto Lord of the Vale is great. But that’s not what LF was after from the beginning, and I honestly don’t think he is going up from here.

So what has it all been for? So many people died because of him who simply didn’t have to, and all of it so that he can take the Iron Throne. And let’s face it–he won’t.

Unlike Varys, LF’s motives are pretty clear and pretty predictable. He wants power and he wants a woman. One of the things I find interesting about LF, though, is that he is a reversal of the “nice guy” trope. Ordinarily in fiction and especially in romance, the LF’s of the world are the underdog we all root for. The weak guy who can’t fight the Brandon Stark but whose mind reigns supreme always has the audience on his side and the girl on his arm. But LF doesn’t. Because he is the weakling with the powerful brain who isn’t the nice guy.

In the panel I mentioned above the crowd booed about LF and cheered about Varys. The people running the panel hated LF too and pointed out how problematic he is, and one person compared him to Severus Snape. As much as I like Snape, as I’ve grown older I’ve come to realize how genuinely awful it is that this man bullied a child for years after holding onto love for his dead mother, love that was never reciprocated anyway. So it was super romantic in the moment when Snape died, that fateful tear rolling down his cheek and into Harry’s vial. But now I’m kind of freaked out about it. And LF is like Snape’s creep level times a thousand.

So not only are his motives predictable, they are also not respectable. And if LF’s attachment to Catelyn wasn’t bad enough, his attachment to Sansa is absolutely disgusting. Because in a way I think he sees Sansa is this daughter that could have been with Catelyn. But at the same time he has a sexual attraction to her. All the while, he’s been ruining her life to serve his own ends, especially in the show.

He needs to go. He needs to die. I can’t wait.

Anyway, I hope these answers are interesting to you anon because this took me a seriously long time to write haha. Thanks for the ask :)

#melisandre #val #varys #illyrio mopatis #littlefinger #answered

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glorykrp · 7 years

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SHOWING RESULTS FOR: RUNE.

✩ Runerudi Chaichue ✩ December 30th, 1995 ✩ Bangkok, Thailand ✩ anti

RELATED SEARCHES.

» Nebula Black » Rêverie Album » Rune Chinese Drama

PERSONAL LIFE.

Bizarrely enough, she gets her start in horror movies, at seven years old. Everyone knows the Thai are the best at horror films - right up there with the Japanese - and it is this environment into which a young Rune steps, all wide dark eyes and long hair and an intent direction not to smile. Nothing ruins the intensity of her features like the toothy, cheshire grin of pure sunshine that she possesses even at a young age. Its weird, but she’s always been so expressive, so enthusiastic, so eager to be on the center of the stage that her mother takes advantage of it - has her in dance classes the minute she can stand up right on legs that skew skinny even then, limbs always longer and ganglier than the rest of her peers, something she put to good use. Dancing, modeling, acting, her mother had her pushed into it all - but unlike the general story of stage moms and reluctant children, Rune didn’t mind.

Or at least, she didn’t think she did.

It got weird, later, when the bright, superstitious, slightly tomboyish child began to blossom into someone…objectively pretty. Now, her limbs seem to be an asset rather than an attribute that has her picked on by her peers, deemed skeletor or other unique and cutting nicknames. Her height, her features, she grows into both, grace and charm a little easier when she’s not tripping over herself. She’s out shopping when he comes up to her - at eleven years old she thinks its a giant scam, but he invites her to an audition.

She’s never thought about being a pop musician before. She’s never thought about moving to South Korea - sure she loves kpop, who doesn’t. Sure, she watches Boys over Flowers, everyone loved that drama. But packing up her life and moving? For a recently blossomed duckling with a penchant for horror movies, superstitions and skateboards, it feels like a strange decision. But something in Rune calls out for change, urges her forward.

The years fly by after that, in a whirl of language learning and relentless training. She’s lonely and terrified and she feels isolated at first. But gradually, she learns that the same charms and oddities that had her appeal to Thai audiences seem to work on new Korean friends, learns that dance is the same in any language, and she begins to press onwards.

Debuting is a dream- to stand on stage, to perform, she feels like she’s won the lottery. Genetically gifted, a personality that illuminates and delights (as the meaning of her name, runerudi, suggests in her native tongue), and the passable skills required to be a pop star (because lets face it, depending on the genre you can get away with a lot) has her feeling both blessed and burdened. Does she deserve this? How much is because she is skinny and pretty and tall? How much is because she was in the right place, at the right time? Does she want this enough? She does, craves it until her heart might burst, but at that age, she might be infatuated with anything, or anyone.

There’s arts high school and online comments, a stream of media attention that zeroes in on any flaw they can pick out, that points out every inch of strangeness to her just as much as they praise her. She’s too odd, too skinny, her nose is strange, her smile is forced, her smile is beautiful, she seems insincere, she talks too much on shows, she talks too little, her accent is cute, her accent is atrocious, she looks exotic, she looks plain. By seventeen she learns no one will ever be happy with what they see from her. She makes herself good luck charms she knows won’t do much, but it reminds her of her mother, her grandmother.

She watches horror movies from her homeland on her phone in the van between schedules, she falls asleep in the waiting room getting her makeup done. She becomes the queen of ever changing hairstyles, she trains her vocals until her throat is raw and rough, practices Korean with a language trainer relentlessly because there are fans now, that she wants desperately to be able to communicate fluently with.

And then its all fading, all these dreams that she’s come to desire, these bright lights and hard fought battles, maybe for nothing? How far would she get on her own? Would she need to return now, to a home she left for longer than she lived there? She feels disconnected from the world around her, from the girl she sees in the mirror, like she’s staring at someone who no longer exists, like she can’t recognize the girl who used to be on magazine covers and television screens. She hides from cameras as a result, and from mirrors, and from screens. She tucks herself away into dance studios and practice rooms, tries to pretend that the music is enough to get her through this, is enough to hold onto - but is it really? If something were to happen, she doesn’t have the vocalist he recognition or, lets face it, the nationality to go solo in South Korea, and returning home? To Thailand, where she objectively spent less of her short life? She’s caught in limbo - a girl between countries, between roles. A jack of all trades and a master of none like her doesn’t have much of a chance outside of a group. And without all this, Rune isn’t sure if she’s anyone, or anything.

The first second chance comes with a drama offer, the next comes with the revival of the group’s efforts - maybe. Hopefully. Its been years since the last album now, and Rune wonders if they really have a chance - if the life she’s poured her soul into ended at eighteen and she’s just been a ghost ever since, living in the shadow of what she had once been.

Eighteen is awfully young to die, so she vows not to go down without a fight.

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES.

While she has a basic level of skill to round out the idol package, it truly is her performance and dance that give her an edge. She’s been on a stage in one way or another since she was seven years old, and this shows - she’s polished and peculiar and charismatic and in turn draws audiences in. Her command of dance is formidable, as one would hope given the time she has invested in it, and her stage presence rounds out that skillset- without it, she likely would not have debuted. When considering her notable traits, this is the most prominent, particularly in her strong and sharp style, only accented by long limbs.

Her voice is pleasant enough; when performing alone she is careful to choose songs and parts that suit her range, it being lower than the high soprano South Korean pop standard, and her rapping skills are “mildly passable” at best. While both are passable for supporting roles, neither are going to get her massive notoriety any time soon. Upon debut, however, she was near tragic, and there are videos of her MR removed parts still circulating that exist seemingly solely to motivate her tireless efforts at improvement and leave her up at nights with cringe inducing embarrassment. Progress, however, is a long road. Her rap skills (as with many dance specialists) are passable by girl group standards but she’s not about to release a mix tape, and she certainly doesn’t pen her own lyrics. Any rap lines she does get are generally in English to play to her greater fluency in the language and cover any potential Korean mispronunciations.

Her hosting skills have been (kindly?) described as “wooden” and “un-funny” but recent acting efforts received generally pleasant feedback. She’s far from brave enough to take on the Korean acting scene, however, as the thought of bearing up under that immense set of expectations is enough to terrify.

Her variety persona, historically, relied on the sensationalizing of her “exoticness” - her background, her features, her accent, her dance, her appearance. Being constantly set apart in this way made for easy variety material: language play, saying things in Thai, misunderstanding hosts, playing this up here or there. But even as she became more proficient in Korean, this image proved difficult to slough off. Four dimensional traits were funnier when she was a silly foreign girl - now that she’s a more familiar face, who speaks a little more easily, her role isn’t so clear, and the public isn’t sure how to re-negotiate their perceptions. The stale image has her making attempts to overcome it, met with the uniquely divisive opinions of Korean netizens: sometimes hilarious, sometimes unique, sometimes obnoxious, sometimes strange.

2017 INTERVIEW.

The line between Rune as an idol and Rune as a girl is nearly nonexistent. She’s been involved in the business for so long she has little concept of who she is outside of that. Nothing frightens her, shakes her more than being wholly herself, removed from the lights and expectations. She’s spent so long bearing up under this pressure that without it, she feels untethered, as if she might float away, detach from the earth’s surface, escape gravity, escape into space. Her personality on screen is one hundred percent authentic because Rune only feels as though she exists on screen, on stage. Without eyes on her, a camera, an audience, she feels as though she ceases even to exist. If asked, Rune would state her relationship with fame is positive- she thrives on the attention. And this is true - but it ignores the fact that she was raised with this need, this ache for validation. She loves what she does, but fears the fact that she doesn’t know who she is without it. Fame is tenuous at best, so what happens when her moment in the lights runs out? What becomes of Rune, then?

She’s grown up on stage, in front of spotlights, in front of an audience. Without them, she has no direction, no idea who she is - she’s begun to suffer from anxiety and episodes of dissociation as a result. This leads to health problems, inconsistencies. She’s been groomed so relentlessly and for so long that it seems like the only person she is, is Rune on camera, and that off stage she ceases to matter. It leads to an insatiability and obsession with perfection that is cut into her bones, have her shaving off pounds on the scale, counting hours of practice, calories consumed, hours at the gym, minutes of screen time. The time spent in the bizarre industry limbo anti experienced set her off-kilter immensely and rumors of her instability and uncertainty are now a given, cutting into her once bubbly and four dimensional image.

#glr: profile #glr: black #glr: anti

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elizabethrobertajones · 7 years

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Hello Lizzy. Is it true that Sera Gamble had intended to kill Castiel off from the beginning of season 6? I heard that his death in season 7 was meant to be permanent, but I didn't know that Gamble had planned it from the beginning of her tenure as showrunner. Is that true? (P.S. Nice to meet you.)

Heya :D

Yeah, it seems like they were planning to kill him at least for a while, although who knows how long for exactly, and if fan reaction has any actual bearing on it :P It could be stuff people were saying about season 6 or things they decided there that changed their minds as much as the reaction to the Cas-less first half of season 7 - they work about 6 months behind whatever’s airing.

https://justanotheridijiton.tumblr.com/post/127690482979/pr-is-not-showrunning-cas-and-season-7

There’s another post in Mel’s Sera Gamble tag I scrolled past on the way to finding that which has her saying some pretty gloomily negative things about writing Cas, about how he has “no subtext” - she has a fair amount of compliments for how he was brought back committed to PR chatter, but idk how thrilled she was about it especially as she probably knew she was the outgoing showrunner by the time she was doing PR for the end of season 7. She sounds like she really didn’t like writing him and tbh when I had a look at her Cas episodes, well…

4.02 Are You There, God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester

Cas pops up for a 1 minute chat at the end

4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer

Cas bursts in the door at the last minute in an antagonistic role

4.21 When the Levee Breaks

Cas is currently reprogrammed by heaven and antagonistic; pops up for a chat with Dean, a scene with Anna, and frees Sam

5.02 Good God, Y'All

Pops in for 5 minutes at the start and leaves

5.13 The Song Remains the Same

Shows up at the start, does the spell & time travel, off-screen & unconscious the rest of the episode

5.21 Two Minutes to Midnight

“I caught a bus” crowning moment of awesome, good conversation with Dean at the start, fades out to just follow Sam on their “act of domestic terrorism” as a supporting friend

6.21 Let It Bleed

Pops in to chat a few times in a firmly antagonistic role though at least very emotional and heart-broken; mostly off-screen, ends the episode as the most antagonistic and cold we’ve seen Cas aside from actually breaking Sam’s wall next episode

7.01 Meet the New Boss

Obviously the spill-over problem of Godstiel; spends a lot of time away from the Winchesters being God, highly antagonistic conversation with Death, Sam brings Cas back, brief but miserable emotional reconciliation for a short time; suddenly Leviathans and Cas is the vessel for the antagonists

7.17 The Born-Again Identity

Cas spends most of the episode as Emmanuel & with a Meg buffer between him and Dean; good moment with the trenchcoat and remembering him, and Dean’s reactions in general, saves Sam and is left behind with Meg

7.23 Survival of the Fittest

Pops in at random at the start, hangs around at the background, at great and exhausted length Dean goes and reconciles with Cas and off they go to get Dick and go to Purgatory

Of all those episodes, even the ones that centre on Cas aren’t, like, CAS episodes in the way Edlund was churning them out in the same time if you actually look at how much he has to do. He’s either around in the background, a messenger or device to move the plot around, or he’s antagonistic or unhelpful and there’s a pretty even balance of big moments with him and Sam as there are to Dean. 7x17 is pretty much the only one I’d call a Big Destiel Episode, and even that has a ton of terms and conditions and just some amazing moments; Dean and Cas interact as Dean and Cas for like 2 conversations at the end and one of them is all about what to do about Sam. It’s even funnier to think the seasons pretty much sum that up: in season 6 Cas is around in the background and then turns out to be the antagonist, like one half of her episodes, in season 7 he pops up in the beginning, dies, and then shows up at the end again for a bit like the others. :P

I genuinely feel like she disliked writing Cas, didn’t understand him very well or want to delve into his character to get to know him better, and tbh as a writer since season 1, she probably was right along with Kripke on the no angels thing back in the early days. Since she wrote Faith and Houses of the Holy I think she had a pretty big stake in no angels, or once they were there, using them at arms length, while other writers fell in love with Cas’s characterisation and wanted to develop it more and more and turned him into the sort of character who could hold his own through an episode.

I mean I don’t think she’s awful and I really like her writing and think she gets a pretty bum rap around fandom for the Cas thing. Just, that clearly wasn’t her preference and if she had no interest in Cas and saw him as disposable or whatever and had no interest in keeping him around just because… I can understand it, even if I obviously disagree and think he became the heart of the show as soon as he showed up :P

#Asks #sera gamble #Caaas

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sleepymarmot · 7 years

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I still have about 200 queued posts (bear with me... and sorry followers on mobile), but I want to quickly publish some of my post-binging thoughts before the new episode comes out. (Because I get overwhelmed by other people’s opinions and can’t remember what my own were unless I write them down. It’s easy to recall which parts I simply loved for what they are because other people did too and I can reblog their posts; it’s harder to not forget my own perspective outside of that.)

I didn’t actually expect to post these opinions because I don’t feel comfortable criticizing TAZ the way I tear apart big franchises like ME. But I did write it down, so what the hell. Let’s start with the biggest piece of negativity then. I can't name a favourite arc but I think the last place is Petals to the Metal. The racing sequence was spectacular enough that I didn't mind the pacing that much, but the final episode was really disappointing. A combination of not actually explicitly confirming the pairing in canon (I seriously expected that would be the culmination of the arc) AND Bury Your Gays (yes, I know Griffin dealt with the feedback gracefully, that doesn't fix the actual story though) AND some extreme railroading AND deus ex machina/Power of Love (at least the latter was retconnet as in not retroactive continuity but retroactive context). That actually put me off the show for some time. I think this moment encapsulates my problems with Hurley's writing pretty well. She really comes off as a Mary Sue written by a self-aware male writer who feels the need to put female characters on a pedestal -- certainly not the most objectionable phenomenon, but still makes my eyes roll. I feel the same about Carey and Killian in The Crystal Kingdom and the recurring remarks about "competent women". (I mean, I understand the gameplay reason for that, it's not that I'm asking for super detailed fights between NPCs, but I didn't like the way it sounded in the story.) Thankfully Carey got some development with Magnus, Killian had a good introduction before that glorification thing started cropping up, and their relationship's good obviously; plus, thankfully, Lucretia is completely free from this (she actually might be my fave NPC in terms of writing).

I think my least favourite part of The Suffering Game is the final past bosses battle? It's not just repetitive -- this repetition, needless in this case, devalues the other instances of our heroes facing the past. The first big one was Noelle (great: surprising, touching, important for the overall plot as we now know), then we had the three robots (I was pretty delighted to see Jenkins and Magic Brian again) even it was more about combat than meaningful facing of past mistakes, then the destruction of Phandolin was seen again in The Eleventh Hour, and only a bit later the setting of the first arc will be revisited once more. So even not counting this scene, it was starting to get a bit navel-gazey, and the complete lack of story relevance of that battle diluted things even more. It kind of sounded like running out of ideas -- I'd prefer any other challenge or just a repeat of the random monster generation. (Btw I totally expected to see the crab from Rockport Limited in that lineup. It's kind of special to me because back I went "Ah a floating crab, yeah feel you boys, I hate fighting Praetorians too, at least this thing doesn't shoot lase--" and then it started shooting fire, lol.)

Back to what I wanted to talk about: I have lots of thoughts/feelings about consequences re: the last episodes. The spoilers I've seen gave me so much anxiety! Like I've read that Magnus loses memory so I completely expected him to lose everything. So I spent a lot of time in complete dread, and when I read "Magnus forgets" in the summary my heart dropped, and then it wasn't that bad at all so I thought "that's it?" and felt relieved until the fucking clone tank. At which point I thought "No, this is it" especially because all of the players interpreted it that way. So I was very surprised and relieved that he kept everything, and that Griffin was so kind to him. But that kinda brought me to another problem -- that the new body undid Magnus's sacrifices. He didn't lose a finger or 10 years of life; the only loss was the identity of his nemesis which a) is a sad thing and he might be happier without it -- I would; and b) the boys promised to take care of that. Meanwhile, Taako and especially Merle have to live with their sacrifices. That's unfair. I was pretty thrilled when I realized the sacrifices were For Real, and was feeling real dread and anxiety about them (can't say if in a wholly good way) and I don't like devaluing that. Though of course I'm pretty jazzed that the character who is at the moment my favourite got treated so well. That scene was cathartic as hell! But back to the sacrifices: I'm intrigued by the problem of balance of hurting the character in a way that's good for narrative and/or game balance (yeah the intent of "let's nerf them a bit" was easy to see) but not compromising them as a piece of writing. I didn't give a shit about max health or dexterity penalties, but the story significant things about losing body parts and especially memories sounded brutal and cruel to me. I actually laughed when during one of the commercial breaks Griffin said something like "I hope this isn't causing you too much anxiety" because I was rushing through this arc because of that anxiety! But in the end, as it often happens, the half-misinterpreted spoilers made everything sound worse than it actually was. And I was very glad and relieved to hear Griffin specifically clarify that he's not going to take away important parts of a character.

But despite what I just said, when I started The Suffering Game arc I was actually amazed because it was second arc in a row built around my personal favorite tropes! I really appreciate Doctor Who-ish journey through genres (that doesn't take itself seriously but also has an epic underlying plot. All my fandoms are the same...) Murder on the Rockport Limited also counts in that category. So if I had to pick a favorite, they'd probably be among the candidates? Well I don't know how to count Reunion Tour for that. I really liked The Eleventh Hour, time travel/time loop stories are like my #1 fave. And it's a closed room mystery too (like Rockport Limited). That was the point where I started listening much faster because I needed to learn the truth. (Also, the Lunar Interlude before that arc, with the three separate stories, was freaking revolutionary and started a new level of character development for the show in general.) But I was kind of disappointed by the lack of a Holmes speech-type explanation of everything in the end. Because a big part of enjoyment was the expectation that it'll all click together beautifully in the end -- and some pieces still didn't fit. I'm still not sure if I missed something or that wasn't explained. Why was Isaak, like our heroes and unlike everyone else in the town, aware of the temporal loops and free to act? What was the interaction between Taako's spell and the code word -- did the spell have any effect other than almost drowning everyone, would "Junebug" have worked by itself? I had some more questions I thing, but right when I was going to pause/think/rest, everything was swept away by the freaking Red Robe Magnus cliffhanger, so I continued to run forward internally screaming "Explain! Explain!" like a Dalek, and then that was joined by the aforementioned Suffering Game anxiety. And that's the story how I marathoned the last part of the show three or more times faster than I planned to.

I really loved listening to TTAZZ, both of them, it was really good meta! I think I started to appreciate the show more after the first one. I can see where the fan criticism re: representation is coming from, but I myself also belong to the category of people who can never visualise their own (or anyone's, really) characters and therefore really love the freedom of interpretation. I'm also a bit sad about the commentary on racism in the new one, which, in addition to the comments about the Taco Quest in the first one, made me pretty sure that storyline/running joke is not coming back. I found it really funny back then in the beginning of the show -- more so because I, myself, have no freaking idea what tacos are actually like. I mean, we might have some mexican food places over here, but I've never been to one. And I intentionally didn't look it up after starting the show because it was funnier and kind of immersive this way lol. But they sound pretty committed to non-committance about the enthnicities, and raising the topic in canon again would force the issue, so I think they're just quietly abandoning it. Story-wise, I'd love to hear something like "Taako had invented a dish and named it after himself, but the voidfish baby ate the recipe so he couldn't recreate it until now" because I'm a sucker for justifying jokes and tying them into the main plot/emotional storyline. But in general I'd prefer any option that offends people the least. I was kind of surprised when Justin talked about abandoning Taako's early "dumb" characterisation, because I hadn't actually thought it was "officially" thrown away. I assumed Taako was just really bad at paying attention, and got better at managing that as a part of organic character development. I actually found that kind of relatable, plus "absent-minded professor/wizard" is a classic trope. Also TTAZZ made me wish even harder for the lost awesome adventure of Magnus and Kravitz in the astral plane. And it was already slightly souring my excitement about the totally awesome & touching scene we got instead.

I didn't really get the exposition about the planes in The Crystal Kingdom, and the long explanation in the latest two episodes require more attention than I gave them. Hope today's episode will make things clearer. Some things I hope to hear explained soon:

Why has Merle died more times than Magnus or Taako?

Also, looking forward to the promised explanation of how Gundren can be Merle's blood relative lol

Why was the Chalice so much more self-aware and civil than the other Relics? Is it related to the fact that its creator has some special connection to the (a?) voidfish?

Was Magnus a wizard before? Being a lich, creating a Grand Relic... If so, why doesn't he have magic now?

If Magnus is a lich, can he one day die and stay in the astral plane with Julia like an ordinary human, like he wanted? If not, that's a pretty big and tragic turn of events for him. (Granted, this might be more of a D&D mechanics question...)

(I actually just found a Reddit thread starting with the same question, discussing whether all 7 are really liches or not, so these two points might not be even valid haha)

(I also saw someone theorize that Lup invented the taco recipe -- and damn I really do want to see that now. Imagine trying to figure out something and later realize that it was created by your dead sister who named that thing after you.)

(I was confused about LichBarry’s reveal because I thought at the end of PTTM he was mind-controlling Captain Captain Bane to poison THB. Someone had the same question and another person answered that Barry’s spell was only to make Captain drink the poison, and the murder attempt was on him. I totally didn’t get that. Between this and my question about “Junebug”, either mind-control spells are not very clearly explained in this show, I suck at understanding them, or both.)

(Shit, this list has transformed from future episodes wishlist into reactions to Reddit lol)

Since I was talking about Taako and Lup, here’s another passing thought: remember how Taako immediately wanted to be Like Them when he saw the lich duo? You know, the elven brother and sister?!

Not related to anything, but I just realized I can wear jeans as a stealth fandom reference and it's delightful :D

#the adventure zone #blah blah blah

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Goes Back to the Past

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The world is running out of ‘60s clothing.

The Umbrella Academy costume designer Christopher Haragon shares this news as he walks through a warehouse containing capri pants, floral-print dresses, and a large muscle suit costume with the $29.99 price tag still attached. It turns out that no textile lasts forever.

“I know some people have started tearing up upholstery just to get the designs,” Haragon says.

The 1960s have never really felt that far away for pop culture. Countless movies, TV shows, and comic books have returned to the dramatically fertile ground of the turbulent decade so often that it still feels inexorably tied to the present. But time marches on—buttons fall off of shirts, tie-dye patterns fade, and moths feast on fabric. Soon enough, all the tangible sartorial ties to the ‘60s will be gone. Before they are, however, Netflix’s premier superhero series is set on putting them to good use.

The Umbrella Academy finished its charmingly weird first season with a temporal cliffhanger. As super-powered (adopted) siblings Luther (Tom Hopper), Diego (David Castañeda), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Klaus (Robert Sheehan), Five (Aiden Gallagher), Ben (Justin Min), and Vanya (Ellen Page) Hargreeves prepared to teleport away from the moon-based apocalypse they wrought, it was unclear where… or when their jump would take them. As the costume department at Cinespace Film Studios in Toronto makes clear: the show had a very specific timeframe in mind for the Hargreeves.

“I really loved the time period of the early ’60s,” showrunner Steve Blackman says. “There were incredible things going on in the country. And the assassination of Kennedy is just rife with conspiracy theories. So that’s why I decided to narrow it down to that window.”

Yes, you read that right. The Kennedy assassination, Dealey Plaza, and the grassy knoll are all prominently involved in the second season of a major Netflix superhero property. As Blackman describes, the Hargreeves arrive in Dallas this season in the early ‘60s but each is dumped out of the time stream in a different year. Klaus and Ben arrive as early as February 11, 1960, Five in November of 1963, and the rest fall in-between. That’s how The Umbrella Academy must brave both time and Dallas itself to find one another before a certain motorcade in the winter of 1963 brings on…another apocalypse.

The Umbrella Academy season 2 is loosely based on “Dallas,” the second volume of the original comic book series from Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá. Just like “Dallas,” the second season of the show is funnier, bolder, and stranger than the first. Each member of the titular team, One through Seven, is happy to explain why.

Number One – Luther is No Longer a Spaceboy

As Luther was fond of telling just about anyone willing (or unwilling) to listen in The Umbrella Academy season 1: “Dad sent me to the moon!” In ‘60s Dallas, he finds himself the same distance from the moon but metaphorically lightyears away from where he used to be. The hirsute, superpowered lug gets a job as a driver for a powerful Texan and puts those ape-arms to good use as an underground bare-knuckle brawler. Despite the violence (or perhaps because of it), Number One may never have been happier.

“I think it’s quite interesting because Luther’s on his own path to begin with. I don’t think he’s as bothered about the Academy and having to be a leader anymore. He just has to learn to live in the real world,” Hopper says.

Of course, traveling to the ‘60s means that the dead man who metaphorically haunted Luther and his siblings for all of season 1 is not currently dead.

“He’s still dealing with the daddy issues he had from season 1,” Hopper says. “And bear in mind that his dad is around somewhere in the sixties. So there’s an element of him wanting to connect with his dad to have words with him.”

Given that the death of Reginald Hargreeves was the inciting moment for much of the action in The Umbrella Academy season 1, “Reggie” (Colm Feore) appeared sparingly. In season 2, however, the enigmatic industrialist is in the prime of his life and is 26 years away from learning about the mysterious, simultaneous birth of 43 super-powered children.

Reginald continues to loom large over the Hargreeves kids, and according to Hopper, that dysfunctional family tissue is what makes the show work.

“What I love about The Umbrella Academy, and the reason why I signed on to the project in the first place, is that I read these scripts thinking, ‘I’m not reading a superhero script, I’m reading a family drama.’ That’s at the core of this show. And that’s why I find it so much more interesting than actually than a lot of other superhero TV shows.”

Number Two – Diego and Lila

Of all The Umbrella Academy members, perhaps no one gets a more fantastic ‘60s glow-up than the sullen knife-thrower Diego. While season 1 found Reginald’s Number Two with a crew-cut vibe, Diego of season 2 gets to let his hair down a bit… literally.

“Well, he’s never really felt like he fit in, so it’s not so much out of his comfort zone to be in a different era,” Castañeda says. “In the first one, he’s kind of trying to stay away from the Umbrella Academy. In the second one, he’s almost trying to bring them all together.”

Joining Diego in that mission to reunite his brothers and sisters is one of the season’s several new characters. Ritu Arya portrays Lila, a young woman who Diego meets in a mental hospital and then can never quite seem to shake afterwards. Diego and Lila frequently interact in the way that Diego seems to prefer to interact with everyone: through fighting.

“Oh, man. She’s a badass,” Castañeda says of both Lila and the actress playing her.

Aryu’s character has no analog from the comic series but she quickly proves to be an invaluable part of the show’s universe and potentially an important piece of its lore. If nothing else, she certainly helps contribute to season 2’s increased investment in physicality. This batch of episodes ups the ante in terms of action. Castañeda even took some time in-between seasons to travel to Thailand and pick up a little Muay Thai so that he could be a more active participant in the season’s many fight scenes.

Still, despite the intensified focus on fistfights, Castañeda has an unusual comparison to make for season 2.

“I binged 10 seasons of Friends in five months this year. You can look at each character in Friends and they’re so relatable to the characters in any successful TV show. You can write it, but can you put the pieces together with the right people and actors to come in and bring those relationships? Based on the first season and what we’re doing now in season two, that formula of ‘there’s love underneath all of this chaos’, I think it sells.”

Number Three – Allison and the Civil Rights Struggle

The Umbrella Academy season 1 came with a refreshing commitment to diversity. Though the comic book team is all-white (which is almost a statistical impossibility given the premise that 43 babies were spontaneously and randomly born around the world), the Umbrella children in the show come from many different backgrounds.

The Hargreeves’ racial and cultural identities play a major role in season 2. For one thing, it means that the family’s sole Black member, Allison, now finds herself separated from her siblings in Texas at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. This presents an opportunity for Allison that actress Emmy Raver-Lampman doesn’t take lightly.

“We find Allison in kind of a tricky pickle,” Raver-Lampman says. “She arrives alone and in an era and in a place that’s really dangerous for a woman that looks the way that she does. I think she’s having to quite literally fight for her life in many ways.”

Allison Hargreeves has arguably the most potent power of all her siblings. The things she says tend to come true. By simply opening a sentence with “I heard a rumor,” Allison can manipulate reality to a stunning degree. Her brother Five has described her powers as God-like on more than one occasion. Still, Allison is famously reticent to use the full extent of that power. And the intense social situation she finds herself in may make that reticence a little more frustrating for viewers. Still, Raver-Lampman sees the logic behind Allison’s fear.

“(Her power) has always backfired maybe not immediately, but in the long game. She sees them as more of a curse than a blessing. How she’s using them or if she’s using them or when she wants to use them is a part of her process this season is. Am I going to try to just be Allison or am I going to be this superhero version of Allison?”

Number Four – The Cult of Klaus

There is some absurdist humor inherent to The Umbrella Academy. One of the main characters is essentially a gorilla-person after all. But while the show premiered on the same day as its spiritual cousin Doom Patrol last year, it’s hard to argue that Doom Patrol didn’t defeat it in the “outright madness” column.

That dynamic may change in season 2. As for why, look no further than Klaus’s arc. Yes, as the promotional material has suggested, Klaus is indeed a cult leader in this show’s version of the ‘60s. It’s undoubtedly a joy to see Number Four in flowing robes and Manson-esque hair. For actor Robert Sheehan, however, there’s a logic to Klaus’s journey beyond mere novelty.

“We were like, ‘how do we make him keep changing?’ He’s this kind of amorphous creature,” Sheehan says. “We did talk about the idea of starting a cult because so often you have a suspicion that at the top of a cult is somebody who’s letting on like they have answers, wisdom, knowledge, and they can see beyond the veil, but in fact they’re playing a role just like the worshipers are.”

Klaus is in an unusual position among his family as, apart from Five, he is the only one to have time traveled back to the ‘60s previously. That sort of thing (along with a lifetime of drug abuse) can make a guy pretty confident… confident enough to start a cult.

Number Five

One interesting development of The Umbrella Academy’s trip back through time is that Number Five is now not the only seasoned time traveler in his family. In fact, Five spends the least amount of time in the early ‘60s as any of his siblings, with the timestream booting him out in late 1963. Still, it’s not like he doesn’t have enough experience with the decade already given that season 1 reveals he was the time-travelling assassin originally charged with killing Kennedy, something he opted not to do.

“I don’t really think there’s too much of an adjustment on Five’s part in terms of being in the sixties,” Aiden Gallagher says. “Everyone’s been here for a long time, so they’ve had time to evolve, but for Five, it’s just been like a few weeks. He’s still in the schoolboy shorts.”

Even in those schoolboy threads, however, Five remains a threat to any of his family’s potential enemies. The Umbrella Academy comes up against Commission interference this season, this time led by a crew of silent pale-haired killers known as The Swedes. As such, Gallagher once again gets to paint Five’s cherubic visage with blood from time to time.

“There are a lot more fight scenes this season… a lot cooler fight scenes. I think the best summary for what season two is and how that affects all the actors is that it’s the same show, but a lot bigger.”

Number Six – Ben, The Deathly Time-Traveler

The Umbrella Academy is the kind of show that leads to some truly unique questions. A necessary question for season 2 is “wait… can ghosts travel through time?” It’s a tricky metaphysical concept that even Ben actor Justin Min can’t quite wrap his head around.

“Very good question. I’m confused most of the time I’m here,” Min says.

Rest assured, Ben makes the trip back to 1960 with Klaus and the pair get to continue their living and the dead buddy comedy routine.

Ben was undoubtedly a breakout character from The Umbrella Academy season 1, which was unexpected given that his character doesn’t appear in the flesh (or the ectoplasm) in the original comic series. Blackman and the writers decided to put Klaus’s ability to commune with the dead to good narrative use and include the Hargreeves’s fallen brother as a more consistent character.

Though Ben remains in his black “ghost hoodie” and doesn’t get to partake in the same colorful ‘60s stylings as his siblings, he nevertheless gets an expanded role this season. And for that, Min credits The Umbrella Academy fandom.

“My role last season was quite secondary and to see the fans rally behind the character was more than I could have ever hoped and imagined. I think it’s one of the main reasons why I was able to be propelled into this season with a little more agency because I think they felt like that’s what the fans wanted.”

As a gift to those same fans, Min also offers up one hell of an endorsement of this season’s finale.

“I screamed for a very long time after I read the final scene. It was nothing like I ever expected or imagined. And I say that in the best possible way. It tops what happened at the end of season one, because I don’t think anyone will expect what happens at the end of the season.”

Number Seven – Vanya Finds Herself

Speaking of endings: What’s in store for The Umbrella Academy’s resident world-ender this year?

Vanya (with an unhelpful assist from Luther) was the source of the apocalypse in season 1, so thankfully the only way to go from there is up. Vanya loses her memories on arrival in Dallas (it’s not as lame as it sounds) and is taken in by Sissy (Marin Ireland) and her son Harlan.

“I think she finds a nice sense of peace and solace,” Page says of her character “Because we ended a season where so much came to the surface for her, Vanya is definitely much more comfortable in her skin. She’s more confident. It’s freed her in so many ways.”

Page occupies an interesting position on The Umbrella Academy. Though Number Seven in Reginald Hargreeves’s heart, the well-known actress is number one on the callsheet. And in the second season of this endearingly goofy comic book adaptation, she seems more assured within the world, successfully lobbying the costume department for Vanya to dress “more masc,” and staying positive during a particularly tough scene. “You’ve been tortured before clearly,” someone on set notes as they adjust the restraints on a chair holding Vanya down. Page is also more comfortable shouldering the responsibilities of the show’s most explosive character.

“The power is fun and exciting, especially in terms of how it manifests and some stunts and stuff this year. Playing someone whose power is connected to their emotions, and what happens if we aren’t being mindful of them, I think that’s what’s so exciting. Also: being able to fuck people up. That’s fun.”

“Fun” is the operative world for The Umbrella Academy season 2. The hard work of world and character-building is mostly out of the way. And while the Hargreeves family and the actors who play them find themselves in a new environment, at least they have each other this time… eventually.

Per Umbrella Academy lore, on October 1, 1989, 43 women around the world suddenly gave birth to extraordinary individuals. Reginald Hargreeves found seven of them and through sheer force of his odious will made them into a team. On October 1, 2019, The Umbrella Academy team took a moment after a hard day’s work of filming to commemorate their “birthday” with a cake.

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on the nineteenth hour of the first day of october, 2019, we all wished the hargreeves siblings a very super birthday 🖤☂️🔪🐙

A post shared by The Umbrella Academy (@umbrellaacad) on Oct 1, 2019 at 4:00pm PDT

Of course, being a member of The Umbrella Academy comes with its own occupational hazards. As Emmy Raver-Lampman explains, sometimes even a special occasion is preceded by an explosive incident involving fruit all over your priceless ‘60s clothes.

“We all got covered in pineapple and then it was our birthday.”

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