#this is short since there isn't a lot to unpack here... | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

zegrasdrysdale · 5 months

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Hey bae I have another request for Jamie. Reader goes home for thanksgiving and Jamie wasn’t able to go with her. Long story short he ends up surprising her at her family home, and proposes

[ your last name ] j. drysdale

paring : Jamie Drysdale x fem!reader

summary : Jamie surprises (Y/N) for Thanksgiving, in more ways than one

warning(s) : none :)

author’s note : happy thanksgiving my loves ! grateful for every single one of you ! don't forget to fill out this form if you want to be added to the taglist !

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Thanksgiving this year feels different because Jamie isn’t coming with her to dinner at her parents’ house.

Jamie said that his family wanted to see him so he flew home to see them two days ago. He didn’t know if he would be back in time to go to Philly with her for dinner. They've been together for four year now and this is the first Thanksgiving since they started dating that he won't be with her for dinner.

He told her to go without him because it's one of the only times during the year that she gets to see her parents, her siblings, her in-laws, and her nieces and nephews. She wishes that Jamie could've come with her but she understands that he can't be with her this year.

(Y/N) loves her family, but every year they ask her when Jamie is going to marry her. Especially after the second year she brought him with her. This year, she gets to face those questions all by herself.

She Ubers from Philadelphia International to the Fishtown section of Philadelphia when she flies in the morning of Thanksgiving. She's staying only one night so she has a duffel bag with her.

Traffic on 95 is insane, which is understandable considering people are traveling. It takes her nearly an hour to get from the airport to her parents' house. She's texting back and forth with Jamie the entire time to make the ride go faster.

jd ♡ - 10:23 am i know. i wish i could've come with you too. tell everyone i say hi and that i wish i could've been there. i'll see you when we both get back to anaheim, okay?

i love you

She writes back an "I love you too" as the Uber pulls up to the house.

There are already a bunch of cars parked in the driveway and up the street. Some she recognizes and some she doesn't.

(Y/N) thanks the driver as she gets out with her bag. He drives off to pick up another person and she stands outside of the house with her bag over her shoulder. She sighs and walks up to the front door.

Footsteps sound on the other side of the door after she knocks. Her mother stands in front of her when the door swings open.

"(Y/N)!" she exclaims as she throws her hands around her daughter. "My youngest baby. Come on in. Everyone is already here. They're all very excited to see you."

Almost on cue, her oldest niece comes running to the door. "Aunt (Y/N)!" she yells as she wraps herself around (Y/N)'s waist. She looks around her body. "Where's Uncle Jamie? Is he coming?"

She frowns and shakes her head. "Not this year," she tells her niece. "He went to go see his family up in Canada this year. He sends all his love though and wishes he was here. He misses everyone."

"Okay," her niece sighs. "Can we call him later though? So we can say hi to him?"

"Of course we can," (Y/N) tells her. "Wanna help me unpack my things? You can get your cousins too and we can all go upstairs to my room to unpack."

Her eight-year-old niece happily nods and goes running back inside. She yells the names of all her cousins that are in the house. (Y/N)'s mom still stands beside her. "It's going to be weird without him here," she comments. "Will you see him tomorrow before his game?"

"I don't know," she admits. "I hope so. It feels like he's been gone for a while when it hasn't even been a week. It sucks when he isn't around but it's his job and he never gets to see his family so I get it, I guess."

"It sounds like it's starting to get to you," her mom tells her. "Him not being around a lot, I mean. Especially during the season."

"It doesn't matter if he isn't around a lot," (Y/N) sighs. "I love him and he loves hockey. Jamie and hockey come as a package deal, and I knew that going in. Sometimes I just miss him, especially around the holidays."

(Y/N)'s mom rubs her arm. "It'll be okay," she says. "Go get settled. I'm going to start making the cake soon and I know you like helping with that."

Her heart falls into her stomach. She and Jamie always make and bake the cake when they get to her parents' house. It's the reason they fly in extra early on Thanksgiving.

Without another word, (Y/N) heads upstairs to her bedroom.

Over the years as she's grown up, her parents have updated the furniture in her room but have kept the same decorations. The bed got bigger right before she moved to California for college. They got her a bigger vanity while she was in high school because she decided to wear makeup starting in her junior year.

She adds a few pictures to her wall collection every time she comes home. Mostly of her and Jamie, but her and her California friends and her and her friends from home are all over the board too.

This year she adds two pictures of her and Jamie on their four year anniversary. They went on a little vacation together to celebrate since it was during the offseason. She took a lot of pictures but the selfie she took of Jamie kissing her cheek and the selfie of Jamie kissing her make it onto the wall. She smiles a sad smile and wishes he was here to watch her put the pictures up.

As she's unpacking the toiletries she brough with her, a child's voice downstairs yells, "Uncle Jamie!"

His name immediately catches her attention.

(Y/N) drops her hairbrush after the shock wears off and runs out of the room. She nearly slips down the wooden stairs to get to Jamie.

When she turns into the hallway that leads to the foyer and front door, she sees Jamie in a black Ducks hoodie and grey sweatpants. A suitcase sits at his side and he's bent down as he hugs the children that went to the door to greet him.

He has the biggest smile on his faces as he says hello. She can't help but smile behind her hands, which she brought up when she saw that he was here. Her eyes burn with tears that threaten to fall at any given moment.

"You're here!" (Y/N)'s oldest niece says. "Aunt (Y/N) said you weren't going to be here."

Jamie glances up at her and replies, "I wanted to surprise her. Can I go say hi to Aunt (Y/N)?"

Her niece nods and all of the kids back away. Jamie stands up and walks over to (Y/N).

The tears fall when Jamie wraps his arms around her neck. She buries his face into his chest and lets out a quiet sob. (Y/N) wraps her arms around his torso. "I didn't think you were going to be here," she tells him. "I thought you were still in Canada with your family and I wouldn't see you until tomorrow when I got back into Anaheim."

"I'm here, baby," Jamie says into her hair. "I'm always here."

She looks up at her boyfriend and smiles. Jamie uses his thumbs to wipe away her tears and dry her cheeks. "Sorry I'm such a mess," she says. "It's been a few days since I've seen you and I've really missed you."

Jamie presses a long kiss to her forehead. "I've missed you too," he mumbles. "Let's go make that cake, yeah? You think I'd miss out on doing that with you?"

She laughs and walks into the kitchen with Jamie. Their fingers are laced together when they walk into the room. Her mom is standing with her back to them with all the ingredients on the island counter and says, "(Y/N), did you want to make vanilla or choco- Jamie! I didn't know you were coming."

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Jamie says as he wraps an arm around (Y/N)'s shoulders. "We can take over baking the cake, if you don't mind."

Her mom smiles at the two of them before nodding. "Not at all," she says. "I know this is the thing the two of you like to do together so I'll keep the kids busy so you can bake away."

Without another word, (Y/N)'s mother leaves the room with a smile on her face. "Let's give Aunt (Y/N) and Uncle Jamie some time alone since it's been a while since they've seen each other," she says to probably the kids.

(Y/N) goes over to the counter where the cake ingredients are lined up and looks over them to make sure everything they need is ready to go. She's making a note of everything they have when Jamie comes up behind her and wraps his arms around her waist.

"Missed you," Jamie mumbles against the swell of her ear. "My family asked about you the entire time I was with them. I told them that you send your love and that we'd visit them over the All Star break in a few weeks."

She smiles when he begins to press soft kisses to her jaw. "I do miss mama Drysdale," she tells him as she leans back against him. "I can't wait to go see your family."

Jamie lets out a light laugh. "Let's get this cake done so I can go get a shower and get ready for dinner," he says. "I don't think your family would be very happy if I sat down at the dining room table for dinner tonight smelling like airport and dressed in a hoodie and sweatpants."

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The (L/N) family sits down at the dinner table a little before six that night. (Y/N) sits between her older brother and Jamie, who has since changed into a button-up shirt and one of his suit bottoms that he'd wear as part of his arrival suits. She's wearing a short black wrap dress with a pair of matching heels.

The thing about (Y/N)'s family is that there are a lot of them.

(Y/N)'s parents had four kids, and she is the youngest at 22. Between her three older siblings, they have eight kids and three spouses together so there are nearly 20 people at the table.

There is also a lot of food because of how people there are. The cake that she and Jamie baked is sitting in the kitchen and even that is big because of how many people there are in the house at the moment.

They say grace before they start passing bowls and plates around the table so everyone can grab a serving.

The kids all sit at one end of the table while the adults sit at the other end. (Y/N)'s mom sits at the head of the table since she was the one that mostly cooked. She helped a bit when Jamie was showering and changing.

Jamie takes a bite of the turkey and groans. "Mrs. (L/N), the turkey is amazing like always," he tells her when he swallows his bite. "Thank you for cooking."

"You say the same thing every year, Jamie," her mom laughs. "But thank you."

She looks over at Jamie as she chews her bite of stuffing, who shoots her mom a smile. "I mean it every year," he replies. "It's really good."

(Y/N)'s siblings and their partners nod in agreement. She just smiles and takes a bite of her turkey then a sip of her wine.

Small conversations break out as the food begins to disappear from the plates and bowls. (Y/N) treats herself to several servings of the stuffing and mashed potatoes. The kids eat up all the mac and cheese that was made specifically for them. A couple of them even dabble in the turkey.

Jamie is laughing at something (Y/N) said when her mother decides to ask the looming question that is always asked at Thanksgiving.

"So, Jamie," she begins to say. "Have you put any thoughts into putting a ring on my daughter's finger?"

Her eyes widen and she scolds, "Mom! If Jamie is going to propose to me, he'll do it on his own time. I'm 22, he's 21. There is still so much time for us to get married."

Mrs. (L/N) blinks at the two of them and says, "You've been together for over four years, (Y/N). You live together and travel together when you can. He traveled probably overnight to surprise you at your family home for Thanksgiving. If you're going to spend the rest of your lives together then you should know by now, shouldn't you?"

(Y/N) opens her mouth to say something when Jamie puts a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, (Y/N)," he tells her before turning his attention to her mom. "You'll be the first one to know when I do put a ring on your daughter's finger, Mrs. (L/N). We promise."

She seems content with that answer so she goes back to eating what is on her plate. (Y/N) lets out a soft sigh before she takes a bite of her mashed potatoes.

"Actually, I do have something for you, (Y/N)," Jamie says after a quiet moment. It gets the attention of everyone at the table. "I mean, as long as you don't mind if I gave it to you right now."

A surprised (Y/N) swallows her bite and nods. "Depends on what it is," she tells him.

He smiles and says, "It's actually why I was a little late today. I wanted to be here before you got here but I had to go pick it up so ..." He digs in his pocket for the gift he has for her.

Her jaw drops when she sees a little velvet black box in the palm of his hand. There are several gasps from around the table and the smile on Jamie's lips grows when he sees what must be shock on (Y/N)'s face.

"Jamie, what are you doing?"

He slides down off his chair onto one knee beside her. "Putting a ring on your finger," he tells her. "(Y/N), you have accepted every part of me and my chaotic life, including me being on the road for over half the year because of hockey. I know it's rough but you have loved me through every single second. Nothing. including distance, can get in our way. I want that for the rest of my life, and I hope you want too. I want to love you every single day until I die. So, (Y/N) (L/N), will you do me the biggest honor and marry me?"

The box is pulled open and a beautiful diamond ring sits in the center of it. A hand flies to her mouth and tears prick her eyes. Her eyes don't leave a kneeling Jamie Drysdale.

She can't believe this is happening. She thought she was years away from a proposal, yet here she is. Jamie is on one knee in front of her entire family with a ring in his hand.

It is rough loving Jamie when he's so far away, but knowing she is the one he comes home to makes it a little easier. She loves that he has included her in his hockey life, and even gets her to a handful of away games every year. He doesn't try to separate her and hockey like she know a bunch of players try to do.

With tears rolling down her face, she moves her hand and says, "Yes. I will marry you, Jamie."

The entire room breaks out in celebration. Jamie takes the ring out of the box and slides it onto her left ring finger. She looks at it for a second before she cups his jaw and presses a long kiss to his lips. He breaks it and wraps his arms around her waist.

(Y/N) looks at her mother, who is holding her father's hand and crying. There are smiles all around the table as she pulls back from the hug.

"I was very worried you were going to say no," Jamie admits. "I know I'm away a lot and I hate that I'm away from you all the time but coming home to my fiancée after a roadie sounded really nice."

She smiles and runs her fingers through his hair. "Wearing my fiancé's last name on my back while he's on the ice sounds really nice," she tells him.

"It's going to eventually be your last name," he replies. "That's kind of hot."

She laughs and kisses him one more time before everyone begins to hug the two of them and congratulate them on their engagement.

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#hockey imagines #hockey imagine #hockey fanfiction #hockey fic #hockey oneshot #hockey fluff #nhl imagines #nhl imagine #nhl fanfiction #nhl fic #nhl oneshot #nhl fluff #jamie drysdale #jamie drysdale fluff #jamie drysdale x reader #jamie drysdale fic #zegrasdrysdale request

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tree-obsession · 1 month

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Aventurine, the Waste Land, the black hole, and luck- analysis on aventurine's possible fate

possible spoilers for 2.1 trailblaze mission

possible tws for suicide/suicidal idealization, mentions of slavery, and a massacre

ok there is. a lot to unpack for this mission but I would like to focus on the references to The Waste Land (by T.S. Elliot, fucking amazing poem btw) that were in Aventurine's parts?

First of all the achievements- the "Sibyl, what do you wish for?" and "She answers, I wish to die" or something like that. That is the very first thing in the poem we see- to put a long story short, it's a reference to how there was this oracle named Sibyl in Greek Mythology, blessed to live forever by Apollo. Apollo got angry after she refused to have sex with him and cursed her so that while she would live forever, her body would slowly waste away, eventually becoming dust kept in a jar. A couple of boys one day come up to this prison jar and ask her "Sibyl, what do you wish for?" and then she answers that she wants to die. This could be a reference to Aventurine, who is always so lucky but at that moment truly didn't wish to be lucky, and really did want to die. Yet he was stuck, unable to live- considering he is something of a "chosen" of Gaiathra Triclops, she could be the one who cursed him, in disguise of a "blessing" of good luck.

second, the maze scene. there were two references here, both from the fifth(fourth? it's been a hot minute since I read this poem, the details aren't all clear) part of the poem. it talks about a deserted waste land, where rain never falls, there is only lightning and rocks/sand. this matches up with descriptions of sigonia, as a desert planet that's referred to as "the unclaimed desolation", and also some of those lines are directly said in the white text that floated around the maze(which i'll be referring to as floating text from now on). the second reference was also in the floating text, which talks about how "there is another presence/person beside us", or something very similar. I don't have the direct quotation, but this is also a direct reference- within the poem, there are two travelers in this "waste land", and the narrator mentions feeling a presence that wasn't truly there. According to Elliot himself, his inspiration for this part of the poem was from an account of an Antarctic journey, where the person who wrote the account said he and his men were so out of it due to exhaustion they had begun to hallucinate another presence who wasn't actually there. this is probably referencing how mini-aventurine and present-aventurine both exist, and have existed, but the future-aventurine technically does not exist yet and literally is just popping up, clearly not "real" in the physical sense but definitely there. within the poem, there are a lot of speculations between scholars about why Eliiot decided to add this hallucinated dude in but one popular theory is that it's Christ, in disguise, which is really interesting considering The Family's Christian imagery. something to watch out for when Aventurine returns to the story (he def isn't dead, but as to when he's returning... :( i can't get my hopes up) or if anyone else analyzes this more deeply.

now, why the waste land? it's universally considered a pretty depressing poem, about how the world after World War I was torn apart and collapsing in on itself, and portrays a lot of characters who aren't living life to their fullest at all. it references many famous texts and literary works, pointing at literature as an amalgamation of all other literature and also acting as a metaphor for how everything builds off each other, so one thing collapsing could result in everything collapsing. there are a lot of references to different religions as well. perhaps the best way to put it is that Elliot was portraying a world under threat of total collapse, and asks the reader if there is anything humanity can do to save it, or if we must simply salvage what we can. the ending also implies peace is a far-off, perhaps unreachable thing since everything is so discordant. but you get the idea at this point- the poem is about decay and rotting over time. I don't have the greatest grasp on either this poem or aventurine's psyche, but the 2.1 quest revealed a lot- he is an incredibly lucky person who is in a lot of bad situations but gets out every time, and has never lost a bet (despite his life otherwise being absolutely terrible). the waste land itself could simply be sigonia, and then perhaps aventurine himself is a representation of the characters within the poem. practically all scholars agree that in this poem, all the female characters coalesce into one character, and the male characters do so too, and then there is one uniting character between the "male" and "female"- tiresias, who according to Elliot has "foreseen and foresuffered all". he is described as the most important figure in the poem by Elliot himself. Tiresias is an androgynous figure, but is referred to with he/his. he also is the only one to say "I" in the poem, and despite the fact he is blind he can see all, even the future- in mythology, he was a prophet like the Sibyl. "what Tiresias sees is, in fact, the substance of the poem", as Elliot says- in other words, what he sees seems to be the closest thing to the truth you will get.

now obviously that's pretty valuable, considering literally everyone is lying in penacony (in the livestream they said the entire guest list is filled with question marks in place of names, implying everyone's identities there were fake- other than Sparkle's, but she's a Masked Fool and will trick people just for the hell of it, so not exactly the best ally). however (this is where speculation starts) I think this could be possibly very subtle foreshadowing for Aven's return! and I know this may sound delusional but. it's established he's not dead. his stone is out, but that's quite possibly because he's next to a fricking black hole and also Acheron possibly had "freed" him, in some sense? that conversation he had with her obviously changed a lot of things for him as a character, and she said she could break the harmony's bonds on him... also, clearly if he wasn't dead while waking up next to a black hole, that's certainly a surefire way to tell his luck hasn't run out yet. the entire mission was spent establishing his luck is perfect, given by the goddess of his planet, and will never fail him. this is like near emanator-level shit- obviously not quite in terms of any special power, but he was specifically chosen by this goddess, was born on a special day, and due to sheer luck is the last one standing of his clan (apparently). literally everything was set up against him and he's only still alive due to a literal goddess-given power, which is absolutely nuts and almost overpowered if it weren't for the fact that he also seems to be in many scenarios where luck and gambling is the only way to get out at all. the massacre, the enslavement, killing his old master, the weird warlord thing that got brought up, penacony... his luck is purely for getting out of bad situations, it seems.

that was kind of a tangent. anyway! the whole mission was establishing how good his luck was. he got into this situation where the only solution is to walk into a black hole and see the other side of penacony- that is a classic example of "there is an extremely, extremely narrow chance of getting out alive". acheron did it, or something similar, so clearly it's possible- but luck and chance would be the only way. this is the cycle of his life- he's in an absolutely shitty situation, but he will get out due to luck. imo it's a terrible idea writing-wise to keep him explicitly alive up to the very end and going into a situation- alive- which he can survive in due to his luck, right after giving him fulfilling conversation with both acheron and his past self and seeing the uplifting note from Ratio... just to offscreen him, or kill him for some reason related to this "other side of penacony". it wouldn't line up with all that we know about him now. granted, I can't imagine it'll be pleasant and his mental state will be even worse at the end of it... but he'll be alive, and he's made it through a lot of hellish situations. he might not like his luck all the time, and it can be either a blessing or a curse given the scenario, but he's kind of stuck with it- until he withers away, just like Sibyl. Death does seem to be inevitable, but as of right now it's not knocking on his door.

tldr: for now, our boy isn't dead and his luck might be a curse to him but it's clearly going to keep him alive for quite a bit longer :)

tysm for reading and have a nice day!

#honkai star rail #hsr #aventurine #hsr spoilers #my fav poem and my fav character #whoo!!!#acheron #(mentioned)#hsr theory #honkai star rail theory #kakavasha #my beloved <<<333 #i wanted to squish mini-aventurine's cheeks SO BADLY whenever he came onscreen

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steve-harringtons-ass · 1 year

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“Do you love me?” Eddie x Fem!Reader SMUT

Cw: Intercourse, swearing, head (both recieving)

YOU MUST BE 18+ TO READ YOU WEIRDO

˚✧₊⁎⁺˳✧༚˚✧⁎⁺˳✧༚˚✧⁎˚✧₊⁎⁺˳✧༚⁎⁺˳✧༚˚✧₊⁎⁺˳✧༚˚✧₊⁎⁺˳✧

The way you and your lifelong friend, Eddie, became 'friends with benefits' was... To put it bluntly, interesting. In fact, it wasn't some kind of contract or mutual agreement. It just sorta happened.

You and him were cleaning up the school's basement together after a D&D meet. Tension between you two had been especially high that week. He couldn't make eye contact with you in the game, he'd brush up against you every time you bent down to pick up something...

And you.

You couldn't explain this sudden attraction to him. You were like a cat in heat around Eddie, and it was embarassing. He'd smile at you and you'd feel heat pool between your legs. You'd take a break cleaning the basement just to get a glance at him doing his thing. When he brushed against you for a third and final time, you had subconciously let out the smallest of noises just to get his attention.

You two had a lot more to clean up after that.

Originally, you thought it was a 'one and done' thing, but one time in the school basement turned into another time in his van, a third time in your room, a fourth, fifth, sixth time...

Now, the two of you are home for the summer after your first year at college, and nothing changed. Anytime you could visit him or vice versa, you did.

But lately, you noticed things were getting more personal. He'd throw in more pet names, kiss you for longer, hang around longer.

You don't mind it at all. It's cliché, sure, but you'd give anything to just word-vomit all your feelings to this man and go from fuck buddies to something more. But it doesn't work like that.

You had just finished moving back in when you hear the phone ringing.

"Hello?" You answer.

"You officially back home?" Eddie asks, eagerness prickling his voice.

"Yup, you?"

"Obviously, where else would I be callin' from?"

You can hear the smile in his voice. "Right, sorry... Hey, wanna do something? I'm done unpacking and I'm bored as all hell."

"That's why I called. A/C's broken here, and I've got nothing better to do..." He pauses. "Not that I would want something better to do-fuck, that came out wrong."

You smile at him getting flustered. "Come over, we can walk around the town and get shakes or something?"

"Sounds fantastic, I'll be there in ten." You heard him hang up before you could say anything.

Sure enough after 10 minutes, his van is in your driveway.

You open the door to greet him, and suddenly it's just like that evening in the basement again. He's wearing a cut up Iron Maiden shirt, jean shorts, and his frizzy hair is pulled into a ponytail. It's enough to make you lose it right then and there.

You close the door behind you, sunlight already far too hot.

"So..." Eddie turns to you as you both start walking down your driveway. "Rate your freshman year out of 10."

"Hmm... Solid 9. What about you?"

"10 all the way, especially since I wasn't too far away to see you." You can't tell if it's just the heat, but Eddie's face turns pink when he says that. He looks away as if he'd said something wrong.

"Ohoho, really? That's all that made it good?" You're studying him while he isn't looking at you. The way he fidgets with the frayed ends on his shorts, the way his happy trail peaks from underneath his shirt... All you want to do is rip it all off of him.

"Well yeah dude," His eyes still won't meet yours. "You're like, my best friend." He says the last few words in an overly excited, high pitched voice to make you laugh.

"Right right, I forgot." You smile when he flips you off as a response.

You and Eddie come back an hour later; sweaty, tired, and hot, to a note on the refrigerator.

It's from your mother. Your sister needed summer clothes and the mall is having a sale, so the house is empty for the afternoon.

The two of you are in your room now, fan blasting as you try and cool down.

All Eddie can focus on as he leans agains your dresser (besides the blistering heat) is you. You're rambling on about some drama between your two roommates, and though he is listening, he has to admit he's getting distracted. He's drinking you up like he's dying of thirst. He's watching you run your hands through your hair, watching your smile beam when you talk about your favorite roommate, studying how the sunlight from your window highlights your eyes, your lips, the frizzy parts of your hair.

He's taking this little secret to the grave, but he's madly in love with you. So in love it scares him, and everytime he sees you it gets more and more difficult not to say anything.

"Yeah, so that was my entire life second semester." You pause and look at him.

"Hm? What?" He stiffens, hoping you knew he was listening.

He looks absolutely gorgeous. His lower back's pressed against your dresser, hands in his pockets. You sit there and he takes his ponytail out, tossing his hair around and running his fingers through it before putting it up again.

"Are you alright?" You ask.

He looks down at you and smiles. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

You get up from your bed, your eyes never leaving his. "What are you thinking about?"

He swallows, and hesitates before answering. He's been acting off all day but you can't figure out why just yet.

"You, sweetheart. Who else would I think about?" He looks as if he had no control over saying any of that, but he doesn't try and take it back either.

"Hm. Sweetheart... That's a new one." You move closer to him.

Sweetheart. The name rolls off his tongue like he's called you that for years. "What else are you thinking about?"

"Do you want my honest answer?" He brushes a stray piece of hair from your face.

"Why else would I ask?"

He leans down to whisper in your ear. "I wanna fuck you until your damn bed breaks."

You lift his chin up with your finger to look at him. He's got a look in his eyes that screams desire, but something's different this time. Before you can figure it out, he kisses you. Suddenly, you're in this alternate universe where you and him have been the love of each other's lives for years. A universe where the two of you aren't one random date away from losing each other.

Rarely do you two ever kiss like this outside of hooking up. Eddie would remain celibate for the rest of his life if it meant still being able to kiss you, but that's something he'll take to his grave. You wish things were different between the two of you. Lord knows just how much you're keeping from him, and you wonder if it's the same on his end.

After a while, you pull away. He looks lost without your lips on his.

"Lemme taste you, please?" You whisper in his ear.

His eyes widen at your bluntness, but it's nothing he isn't used to.

"Shit- you can do whatever you fucking want to me." He starts undoing the buttons on his shorts but you stop him.

"I'll take care of that."

You let him stand and watch as you slide his boxers off. His heart nearly jumps out of his chest as soon as you give him that innocent look, gazing up into his eyes.

"Fucking take it, please." He nearly can't get the words out as you lick up the shaft.

You're bobbing your head as you make an attempt to fit all of him in. All composure he had is lost now as his vocabulary becomes a string of curses, moans, and Y/n's- and you can't help but admire how hot he looks when he's like this. His hand clamps over his mouth as he sinks into your dresser, his other hand buried in your hair.

"Fuck, your mouth always feels so good angel." He huffs, his raspy voice broken up by his moans.

You switch your mouth for your hand, sliding it up and down just slow enough to make him suffer for his orgasm. Minutes pass as you watch him struggle to catch his breath, struggle to stand without his legs trembling. Your mouth is back on him, dragging your tongue across his tip.

"Y/n- God, please please keep going- fuck."

"Mm," You feel his cock twitch, and you remove your mouth with a popping noise. Soon after you watch him cum, and you do nothing to stop it from spilling out onto the floor. Eddie takes a moment to collect himself. You look up at him and take this view in as he's gripping your dresser, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he tries to catch his breath. His arousal drips down his shaft before you lick it off of him, earning a shiver from him.

"You're fucking evil." He groans.

You give him a mischievous look. "Then you're fucking evil."

"Yeah? Can evil get back on her bed then?"

Something about the way he asked has you far too excited. It's the raspiness in his voice, the quiet muttering.

"Hmm..." You pause. "I think so."

"C'mon hun, lay down for me."

His voice sends shivers down your spine, and you obey him. Every minute he isn't touching you is a minute wasted- it's torture.

He takes off your shorts, sliding them off you and tossing them aside like they're nothing. Before he continues, he leans down and kisses you. As his one hand holds your leg down, his other trails up your thigh. He's taking his time, like he's afraid he might wake up and you'd have disappeared.

He starts by rubbing circles on your clit through your panties, getting quite the reaction from you already.

"Take it off please." You whimper. His hands always work like fucking magic on your skin, but you're impatient.

"Of course, angel." He smiles when he notices the blush creep across your face and takes off your panties.

Eddie wraps his arms around your thighs, making sure to spread your legs as wide apart as he can. He's got you locked in, as he always did when he ate you out.

"Don't make me wait, Eds..." You pout as you look at him.

"I've just got such a pretty view, I can't help it." He makes eye contact with you, making sure to maintain it as he kisses the insides of your thighs. His eyes refuse to leave yours even while you're shivering, even while you're gasping and squirming under his grip as his tongue swirls around your clit.

He's excited, his ego inflates every time you moan his name and, quite franky, it's his favorite sound. You're trying so hard not to buck your hips against it his mouth while he latches onto your clit, sucking and kissing the over-stimulated nerves.

He looks up at you, watching the way your back arches and you cover your face with your hands.

"So shy all of a sudden, angel. You know you taste so fuckin' good, I could do this to you for hours..." And he has before. You can't even tell him you're about to come you're so caught up in his fingers digging into your thighs, his tongue, his words... the way he has to look at you every so often.

Your chest is heaving you're panting so heavily. Eddie listens to your whimpering moans while his one hand leaves your thigh.

"God, you sound so pretty." His hand drags across your skin and you nearly jump.

He scissors two fingers in you, his mouth and fingers creating a rhythm that drives you wild. The feeling of his fingers in you makes you flinch, little moans and yelling his name spilling out of you.

A tightening feeling makes itself known in your stomach and you start to tremble while he laps up every drop that floods out of you. All you could muster up to say was a string of curses.

You sit up after a few seconds of staring at the ceiling.

Eddie looks proud of himself. You're absolutely destroyed, but he doesn't want to be done yet- and he's hoping you're thinking the same.

"Do you... Wanna stop here?" He asks.

"God, no." You pause for a moment. "Get on the bed, I wanna be on top this time."

He looks excited, and you definitely don't have to ask twice before he's switched places with you.

You waste no time crawling on top of him. The look in his eyes is screaming infatuation for you. You're avoiding his cock completely, and the frustration on his face is priceless.

"Be patient, hun." You lean down and kiss him, feeling him abdolutely melt beneath you. He's desperate to touch you, his hands slide up your back. He's gently dragging his hands along your back and you shiver, gasping into the kiss.

Eddie nearly loses it.

You pull away, pecking his lips, then his neck. You're fucking dripping for him, but you just want to tease him first.

Until...

"Please." Eddie huffs. "I need to feel you on top of me."

You smile. "Ohh, alright. You've waited enough."

He looks relieved as you sit back up, guiding yourself to slowly sink onto his cock. You whimper in response, and it's a sound he loves.

"C'mon, princess." His hands are on your waist as he guides you to move up and down.

You're huffing and moaning as you bounce on his cock, his hips bucking so much it's shaking the bed. You both are looking in each others eyes, and there's something so voyueristic about it. Neither of you can control yourselves. He's moving you on him like you're a goddamn fleshlight- and he's touching you everywhere he can. Your hips, your waist, your tits- anything.

Eddie's soft moans and whimpers are driving you crazy. He's looking at you on top of him like you're the 8th wonder of the world, you've never seen him so infatuated with you.

"I love when you look at me like that." You catch him in the act, and his face turns red as he looks away. "Hm? You don't enjoy watching me use your cock for my own pleasure?"

"'Course I do..." He says. "My favorite view."

"That's what I thought."

You pick up the pace just a little bit, and his grip on your hips tightens.

It's all too much. The room is hot, and you both are sweating. He's groaning out from under you, squirming and bucking his hips from overstimulation. You're listening to his heavy sighs and his deep, raspy groans like it's a song- one you never want to end. Your back is aching, your stomach is in knots, but you haven't finished yet.

"Shit." Eddie huffs. "You're so fuckin' hot on top of me, doin' such a good job, hun."

His hands are rubbing both of your nipples, and he can't get enough of seeing your tits bounce. He moves his hands to your waist, then your hips.

“C-Can’t get enough of your hands, hun.” You say. It comes out shakey.

He's yelling and telling you to keep going just as he reaches his climax, but you keep going to reach your own. You give him no time to collect himself, and it drives him up the wall. His mouth is open as curses and groans flood out of him.

"I fuckin' love the way you move, angel.” He mumbles. “Fuck- I love you."

"Ohh fuck." Your back arches, and a shiver runs through your body. He watches you clamp a hand over your mouth, muffling a long, whimpering moan as you orgasm.

You both pause.

You heard it- clear as day.

"What did you just say?"

Time freezes.

He looks at you as if he'd just said something horribly wrong.

"Shit. I didn't mean to say that."

"It sounded like you did." You're panting still. "Eddie. Do you… Do you love me?"

He looks terrified of what will happen if he tells you the truth.

"I need you to be honest." You break the silence yet again.

"Why?"

"Can you just fucking tell me?" You're not breaking eye contact.

"Yes-Fuck! Yes I did! And I'm sorry I said it." He looks humiliated.

"Sorry?" You slowly get off of him to put your clothes back on, wincing as you do so. "Why would you be sorry?"

"'Cause like, this isn't a... Y'know." He's getting up now too, grabbing his boxers.

You've got your shorts and shirt back on, and you stand and look at him.

"Do you want it to be?"

"I can't answer that, Y/n." He's nervous, he can't even begin to predict how you'd react. He's running his hands through his hair and picking at his nails.

"Answer or I'll just keep pestering you about it." And he knows you will, you're quite good at the whole pestering game.

He draws in a breath before letting out a deep sigh.

"I mean, yeah. I do. But if you don't and I just ruined things, I want you to tell me."

"You didn't ruin anything, Eds." You look at him, making sure he knows you're serious. "Have you ever considered that I might've felt the same?"

He looks shocked for a moment before saying, "No. Why would you?"

"Do you not see where I'm going with this?" You pause, and he doesn't seem to suddenly understand. "I'm fucking in love with you. All I've wanted is a relationship out of this."

"Well why didn't you say anything?"

"Same reason you didn't."

He comes up to you, taking your hands in his. "I'm sorry, Y/n. I've wanted nothing more than to be your boyfriend since we became friends."

"It's okay, really. I could have said something, too."

"So then... Do you ya wanna be…?" He looks at the floor, and for someone who’s literally fucked you in a bathroom stall once, he’s incredibly awkward now.

"Hmm. I'll have to get back to you on that." You snicker. "God, this is so cheesy. Of course I will."

He smiles and kisses your forehead.

"Alright, can we do something about this fuckin' heat?"

#eddie munson smut #eddie munson #eddie stranger things #stranger things smut #stramger things #stranger things #smut #80s

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spopsalt · 1 month

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I found all of these on Pinterest TODAY. And I’m only gonna be able to unpack SOME of them.

“Better than the rest of the female population”? Jfc, did whoever make that one hate women or something? Because Catra is the lowest bar for a person. Not even a bar, that chick is the fucking floor.

I don’t even understand what the Jesus one is trying to say. But I don’t think I want to. Im pretty sure whoever made that is susceptible to falling into a cult. Which is fair, since this fandom essentially is one.

“We wants S4 Catra.” First off, I feel like they’re specifically saying S4 bc thats the season most people agree she’s legal. Second, that’s literally Catra ar her worse. Look, I understand liking villains. Im a simp for villain characters. But something tells me the type of person who made that meme doesn’t understand liking a villain and acknowledging they’re a villain. They probably think S4 is the best because she’s ‘Mommy’ or whatever, and would probably defend everything she did in that season and pretend she wasn’t a villain, without realizing S4 Catra (Every Catra really) would literally let someone die for being an inconvenience, try to murder suicide someone to prove a point, send someone to a death prison for saying no, and would essentially rip out someone’s pacemaker for a laugh. Yes, the perfect partner. 😒

“Why can’t Catra be real?” Well… Catra specifically doesn’t. But people like her do. Most of them are war criminals, dictators, politicians, mass murderers, abusers, ableists, rapists, people in positions of power, in jail, the type of person to hit someone for talking back, single for a reason, you get the idea. So, in short whoever is out here simping for Catra hopefully realizes the difference between reality and fiction when having a crush. And if they don’t, they need help. I’m not even getting into the fact about half of these are her as a minor (if not all of them.)

Btw, I’m not saying anyone who relates to Catra is a bad person like what I listed. You can relate to her and not actually be like her. But I think most if the toxic stans who ‘want someone like Catra’ are in it for the wrong reasons. I. E. ‘Mommy-dom Cat-girl UWU Catra’ which is literally just an abuser who has probably murdered a lot of people.

Exactly thank you! There's a disturbing amount of Catra simps and as a pansexual I can confirm I never simped for Catra (Or any fictional character if I'm honest) I mean I guess I could see why someone would due to some people simping for villain characters (For example I know a LARGE amount of the Rick and Morty Fandom want to smash Rick, there's literally an account dedicated to it) but I still don't get it. Whatever.

Also they should be happy that Catra isn't real because Catra would be in prison. Also who wants to be the Catra to my Adora...you mean who wants to be the abuser to my victim? I'm so incredibly distributed by Catra fans

#spop critical #spop salt #anti spop #spop crit #anti catra #spop discourse #spop criticism #anti catradora #antic//a #anti c//a

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ghostflowerhotpotch · 10 months

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I feel like no one talks about the whole mumbattan sequence can you do a deep dive on that one

Oh Mumbattan, there is so much to unpack.

What I mean like that is that we have a lot of stuff going on not just on screen, but Miles and Gwen as well, which a lot of changes thanks to the circumstances and characters of screen. If it took me two posts to talk just about a portion of the Clock Tower scene, I am sure Mumbattan is going to be multiple.

They will probably be short since I think there are a lot of moments not necessarily connected to the ones before, that I think that deserve their own post, etc.

So let's start Mumbattan with the actual beginning, or at least the beginning of Gwen's and Miles interactions in Mumbattan.

As per custom, we start a little earlier since set up is important.

(Side note, I just lost half of the original post because Tumblr is a nightmare to use for post and I will probably fist fight whoever coded this if given the chance. So the writing and the screenshots may be a bit rough because I am pissed.)

Something that caught my attention while rewinding this scene, was Gwen's exchange and behaviour towards the spot here.

I think is good time to remember that Gwen is probably an internal mess right now.

She knew she blew up with The Spot, she got cocky, thought the guy was going to be easy, and focused on Miles more than in her mission.

Gwen is in a tough position right now, she is basically homeless, she needed to abandon her old life, her home and the people in her life; none of those things are easy, let alone when you are forced to and being a teen.

The Spidersociety seems kind of a like a dream come true at first, and she is happy to be in it; but we can see how she is still missing certain things the society just cannot give her. A company is not a replacement for family and friends. I honestly believe part of the reason she is hyped about it is because she wants to focus on the positives to avoid the negatives.

Seeing Miles was a gamble, one where she risked too much by refusing to leave his side, and she may pay the price for this; she earlier was looking extremely shaken at the idea of being sent home.

While she is having all of this, it didn't escape me the longing and the defeat in her face when she say goodbye to Miles without knowing he was there. That is also weighting on her.

Not gonna lie, is funny that a character that feels so entitled to people react the way he wants (like he asking the guy he was robbing to not make this a bad experience for him,) accidentally say something that for him is just a comment, but DAMN I can imagine how much it had to sting for Gwen.

The reason I brought up the other screenshots and this close up of Gwen, is to pay attention to her masks.

I had mentioned in other post, the masks are extremely expressive for what they are, which is a handy way to show expressions when you are character's face is hidden.

In multiple shots, Gwen looks angry; this isn't like the battle with Vulture when even after almost getting her face sliced she was just back to cracking jokes and not taking stuff too seriously, just the regular amount of a spidey.

This isn't a joke to her, this is important, and she isn't in a good mood already. So her doing a joke that feels tired isn't shocking.

But while The Spot was just talking about the joke, after letting down her mentor, underestimating what Lila determined as a canon killer for MULTIPLE universes, and having trouble getting a hold of the guy; hearing "That's the best you can do?" Had to suck.

(While going for Miles's frame, I realized Gwen just looks angrier before she hears him; which is to say. DAMN Miles you really picked a bad time.)

You know? Something I like to do in my writing, is bring scenarios that are different in context but the basics of it repeat as to carry a meaning behind it, reinforcing an idea either for the characters who are seeing the pattern (or think to see a pattern,) or the audience.

Some of it can be wishful thinking but this movie has much going on that I bet a lot of what I am picking up was meant to be that way.

This particular moment is interesting because Gwen is just dealing with a mess that happened because she was prioritizing Miles over her mission, and what happens shortly after?

Miles distracts her from the villain, which also gets him an opening to kick her and escape.

Damn.

You may be wondering why bring those frames of Gwen falling and Miles finally getting her, this is important for two things.

One, this will go to show something later about the importance of team and the tragedy of the spider people (that would be their own post because I had a lot to say, and a scene in particular during this sequence scared the living shit out of me, 3 times.)

But another factor is this is all quietly reinforcing in Gwen's mind, how she shouldn't had gotten to see Miles.

Not only did she lost her shot to capturing The Spot as his most vulnerable (because let's face it, if Gwen went to him without his ability to make holes it would had been done in less than 2 minutes,) she also lost track of him again thanks to Miles. And now she is having trouble with her footing.

Miles is lucky the circumstances kind of support his stance, and that he is cute.

In most movies I will see a guy following the girl he likes I say that's a red flag of the size of a house. But considering everything I can't really blame him.

He doesn't know how much is at stake, or how much can get worse; but he knows that The Spot is doing this partially thanks to him, and he may be filling guilty for assuming he was already done for when he wasn't. And now the girl he likes is in deep shit because of this, and he has more information than the rest.

(Or he should, Miguel seems to have eyes everywhere, no idea how much he knows about the Spot.)

It was still stupid? For sure, he really has no way home, has never done dimension hoping, and certainly didn't think about glitching before this.

But his heart is in a good place.

Yeah Gwen is still pissed regardless.

I think even if Miles has the best intentions she doesn't appreciate being followed, doesn't appreciate having him as is another thing she needs to be juggling in this situation, which is a lot already.

We will talk about the falling scene better, because that deserves it's own post, and also that scene made me suffer in theatres so I will get my compensation by rambling later about it.

This is something I will come back later, probably more than once. Not gonna lie the first time I saw this movie this hurt (And that was before getting as obsessed with this ship as I am now, mind you,) and it only got worse seeing it a second time when you know what will happen.

Regardless, is ties nicely to the rest of this post. Gwen is stress out, conflicted about her role as a spiderwoman and just being a teen, and in the heat of the moment, she does think that seeing him and trying to get that connection with the circumstances at hand is a bad idea.

Once again, heat of the moment, I think she would had probably continue being mad if the things that happened didn't happen; but I think this will come back later on by her realizing that she wasn't getting blindsided by Miles, but the organization.

#ghostflower #gwiles #gwen stacy #miles morales #the spot #atsv spoilers #across the spiderverse spoilers #atsv #across the spiderverse #ghostflower files #ask #how I manage to make this so long these moments last SUCH few seconds

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outsideratheart · 1 year

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What are you doing?” - “Making a snow angel.” For Lisa evens if you write for her

You laughed at the irony as ‘driving home for Christmas’ played on the radio as you drove up to Scotland to spend the weekend with Lisa’s family. The drive is long, 7 1/2 hours to be specific, but with your girlfriend in the passenger seat it is entertaining to say the least.

When you first starting dating it became obviously very quickly that you were the driver out of the two of you and Lisa took her responsibilities as passenger very seriously. She is is charge of the music which given the time of year mainly consists Christmas songs and it it also her job to make sure you are well fed and highly caffeinated.

“I’ve missed this. We don’t get to spend much time together anymore” Lisa says as she looks out the window in attempt to avoid eye contact.

“I know baby but with the league, extra training sessions and the champions league I haven’t much time off but I will try to be better in the new year” you reach across the centre console for her hand, placing a kiss on the back of it for reassurance.

“It’s not your fault. We knew that things would be harder when I moved, I guess we have to find a new normal” Lisa says.

It had been over a year since Lisa left Arsenal yet you were still struggling with the change. You naively thought nothing would change but with your schedule getting busier and busier having quality time with your girlfriend became a luxury more than a neccessity.

“We will find a way, we always do. Now let’s focus on this weekend. There is no football, no training, no work of any kind. It’s just me and you, well you’ll have to share me with your mum because we both know i’m the favourite.

“Shut up” Lisa playfully slaps away your hand which had found its way to her thigh.

When you pull up to her parents the sun is just beginning to set and you noticed on your drive, the further north you drove the more snow had fallen.

Much to your surprise you are met with the entire Evans clan, something that by the look on your girlfriend face she didn’t expect either. Lisa’s parents welcome you as if you are family which given the amount of time you have been dating isn't too far fetched. After unpacking and getting changed you are called back to the kitchen where a lovely home cooked meal is waiting for you.

Small talk is made at the dining room table, your season at Arsenal and Lisa’s at West Ham are a popular topic given that the Evans’ are a football family. A couple of hours pass and the table has long been cleared yet no one has moved. You had lost count the amount of hours you has spent in the exact spot you are currently sitting over the years.

“Y/N” Lisa niece tugs at your sleeve “Can we go play in the snow?”

You look at the little girl’s parents to see if they are ok with it and you get permission in the form of a nod.

“Let’s go” you excuse yourself from the table.

After tucking the chair in you feel someone else pull your arm. There Lisa sits with a disaproving look on her face whilst she looks you up and down.

“Like what you see”

“No. Go put a coat on, I’m not spending my time here looking after you when you get a cold”

“Y/N runs around in shorts and a t-shirt all the time. She will be fine Auntie Lisa”

You childishly stick your tongue out before heading to the garden.

Lisa watches as you run around the garden getting attacked with snowballs making it clear it is you vs the nieces and nephews who joined you once they finished their dinners.

“They love her” Lisa’s mum tells her as they watch you through the kitchen window.

“There a lot to love” your girlfriend had the definition of heart eyes as she sees you get taken down by the children before you start rolling around in the snow, this been the thing that puts Lisa’s protective insticts in action.

All of the children scatter when they see their aunt coming towards them, her march letting them know you are in trouble and they want no part of it.

“What are you doing?” Lisa stands over you with either leg beside you.

“Making a snow angel. Duh?” You can tell she is mad so you try to lighten to mood “Join me. We can make love snow angels”

“I’m good” Lisa says as she hold her arms out to help you up.

Your girlfriend should have known by the look on your face that you were up to no good and when she sees you look behind her and nod your head she doesn’t have time to to react when the small group of children tackle her the ground. Within a matter of second you are on top of her.

“I wasn’t asking” you quickly kiss her lips.

#christmas ficlet #woso x reader #Lisa evans x reader #Scotland wnt x reader

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akiizayoi4869 · 2 years

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Azula and Ursa: A Complicated Mother-Daughter Relationship

I've been meaning to do this one for a while now but kept on forgetting to do so. The relationship between these two is one that has always interested me because there is so much to it. Unfortunately though the writers have no interest in diving deeper into it because Azula isn't Zuko. It's a shame that they don't explore it further because this right here?

That is a whole lot to unpack. I really hope that these two can reconcile one day (seriously writers just do it already!) because Azula deserves to have a relationship with her mother. Ursa needs to own up to the fact that she wasn't a very good mother to Azula and make up for that. In this meta I will be explaining why Ursa wasn't a good mother to Azula.

Ursa failed to realize why Azula would act out

We all know that little kids do stupid stuff, right? It's a part of growing up. All of us were kids at one point, we all did stuff that we can look back on and think "Wow, that was pretty dumb. Why did I do that?" Sometimes we may have acted out in a way because we wanted attention from our parents or whoever our guardians were because we weren't getting enough attention. These actions could sometimes lead to a negative response from our parents, but that was fine because at least we had their attention.

In that scene in The Search where Azula burns that flower in the garden when she was walking behind Ursa and Zuko, that is exactly why she did it.

In the first panel we see Azula trailing behind Ursa and Zuko as they seem to be enjoying the conversation that they were having. Ursa was giving her full attention to Zuko and wasn't paying Azula any mind at all. So what does Azula do? She burns the first thing that she sees, which is a flower. Now going by what she did to Zuko, she didn't want him to say anything and most likely wanted Ursa to notice it on her own. Either way she got the desired result: Ursa was now taking notice of her. Yes, it was negative attention but it didn't matter. What did matter was that Azula was finally being seen by her mother. Even if it was only for a few short minutes. Ursa then shouts at Azula and tells her to go to her room, and then immediately her focus is back on Zuko.

Now, I don't necessarily blame Ursa for this, not at all. She was making sure that Zuko was ok since Azula just gave him a little burn. However, she failed to realize why Azula acted out that way. And no, Azula burning that flower doesn't mean that she is a sociopath. Keep in mind that this is the FIRE NATION, where people have magical fire powers. Azula was 8 or 9 years old here. What do you expect a kid who is that age with fire powers to do? What would you have done at that age with fire powers?

Ursa only scolded Azula but did not explain why what she was doing was wrong

Now this was something that I honestly found to be odd about Ursa's approach to parenting when I noticed it. If a child does something wrong, it's the parents job to tell them to stop and to explain why whatever it was that they did was wrong, and to not do it again. Now, Ursa does do this. But only with Zuko.

In this scene, Zuko throws a loaf of bread at the turtle ducks. Ursa is shocked at this and gently scolds him. However, she also explained to him why it was wrong. He more than likely did not do it again after this incident.

When Azula burns the flower and then gives Zuko a little burn, all she does is shout at Azula and tells her to go to her room and think about what she did. I really shouldn't need to explain why this is bad parenting right here. And this is what I find to be odd about Ursa's approach to discipline. In my experience as the youngest child, whenever I did something wrong, my parents would scold me obviously, and depending on how bad whatever I did was, I would get hit. However, they never failed to explain why what I did was wrong. By explaining it to me it ensured that I wouldn't do it again. It's assumed that the youngest child often needs things explained to them more than the oldest child since they are younger and don't understand things like the oldest child does. Not to say that the eldest one shouldn't get things explained to them, because they absolutely should. My parents did the same thing with my sister. Seeing as Azula is the youngest child, it's baffling that Ursa never seemed to do that with her.

I have no doubts that this looked a certain type of way to Azula and made her think that something was wrong with her. "Why is she only like that with Zuko? Why is it that whenever he gets into trouble, she's always gentle with him and explains why whatever he did was wrong? What makes him so special? What's so different about me that she can't do the same thing?" These were the thoughts that no doubt ran through her mind, and she most likely felt disconnected from her mother.

Ursa did not try hard enough to connect with Azula

Now before anyone goes "Azula was always with Ozai! He wouldn't let her be around her mother at all because he wanted Azula to train constantly!" I just want to say this: that's a load of shit. That man was not around her 24/7. He was a prince, I'm pretty sure that he had plenty of responsibilities to fulfill, none of which included his children. Azula also wasn't constantly training, there is literally proof in canon that says otherwise. Ursa could have spent time with Azula. And yet we don't get the sense that she did. She was always with Zuko. Which, to a certain point, is perfectly understandable. Ozai did not give Zuko the time of day and treated him like dirt because his firebending didn't reach his expectations. So Ursa wanted to make sure that Zuko knew that he was loved by one of his parents. Which is completely fine. What isn't fine though is how she pretty much neglected Azula. And I get that her situation was hard because she was in a abusive marriage with a man who was also abusive to his kids. But she still could have put in the extra effort for her daughter. She sure did for Zuko. It's obvious that she saw Azula as a difficult child, and thus leaned more towards Zuko, who was easier for her to deal with. I'm sure that she could have found something to bond with Azula. Asking your kids what their interests are can go a long way.

So in conclusion, I don't think that Ursa was a good mom to Azula. Her situation made it difficult, but she could have done more. This doesn't mean that Ursa can't do anything to make up for this though. Azula is only, what, 15? 16? She's still a kid. Ursa has all the time in the world to make up for her mistakes with her daughter. She just needs to put in the effort and realize where she fucked up at with Azula. Of course this all comes down to whether or not the writers ever actually let these two reconcile at some point. I really hope that they do, because I refuse to accept this as an end to they're relationship:

#atla #azula #ursa #complicated mother daughter relationship #akiizayoi4869 meta

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doiesfav · 9 months

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♡₊˚.Moving Day - Jungwoo ||

Pairing: father! Jungwoo x mother! Reader

Plot: The day was coming, Jungwoo and you always wanted to move to a pretty and cozy apartment but the real problem is dealing with a 5 month born kid at the same time.

Genre: fluff, parenthood, short story, fiction

A/n: And this is the last one for this series! I hope you enjoyed reading those and thanks a lot for all the support in this series (＾ν＾) also would appreciate reblogging or following if you don’t mind <3 (sorry if its too short😭)

wc-> 1k

From PARENTHOOD SERIES

MASTERLIST

banners and dividers are self made

Finally, it was the day Jungwoo and you have been desiring so much, moving into your dream apartment. It was on the 7th floor of a new and modern apartment complex, and since the first time, you saw the advertisement you convinced your husband to move in there. You two were mature enough because of how many years you have been together, 4 years dating and 3 years married, that’s actually enough to progress the relationship and improve yourselves.

Last year you two made the big decision to try out for a baby, it may sound funny but it was new so also very complicated at the same time. Your parents have been nagging about having a baby all the time, the same goes for Jungwoo’s parents. And without having any complications you got pregnant, the baby was a boy and he grew healthy those 9 months in your stomach but discussing a name for the boy was kinda difficult and you two wanted it to be a perfect name. Just 2 weeks before giving birth the name was finally decided, Siwoo. It was quite a common name but you were satisfied with it, same with Jungwoo.

Back to the apartment discussion, the contract was done, and the redesign was also done, you just had to move the furniture from your old home to the new one. The problem was that Siwoo was born a few weeks expected so he needed a lot of attention since he was just a newborn. The first month with him was absolutely chaos due to being your first time as parents, it was quite difficult to adjust to a new schedule for the baby, waking up at 3am because of cries wasn't the best thing at all, and neither having to calm down your son every hour. But after all, you loved him a lot, endured all the trouble loved him, and gave your best to it.

That's just turned 5 months old, he's never been more active since he was born. It was extremely exhausting considering at the same time you and Jungwoo were dealing with other stuff.

It was gonna take 3 days to move things, so you and your husband planned out a schedule to take care of Siwoo.

1st day,

9AM - Everything was sorted out to directly move to the truck that was coming this morning, you and Jungwoo were already up, he was moving the boxes and you were breastfeeding Siwoo in the car. Jungwoo finished his job and you also finished changing diapers after breastfeeding.

11AM - You know it was late but Jungwoo and you haven’t eaten anything yet, but it was already planned. There was this bakery place near that was open right now and Jungwoo could grab some breakfast for you two, you were breastfeeding Siwoo and waited for him as he went there as fast as possible. After eating breakfast, Siwoo started crying like there was no tomorrow, both of you expected it so all the noise and cries disappeared smoothly.

3PM - Siwoo was sleeping and all the boxes have been moved successfully to the new apartment. It was time to leave, your now old apartment held so many memories but sooner or later you had to move out. Jungwoo and you said your last goodbye to it and headed to your new home. Now that all the boxes are here you guys only had to unpack them one by one, starting with the toiletries, it was easy, I mean it was small stuff so you two didn't panic.

9PM - It was getting late and the bathroom and bedroom stuff has been completed. And since the kitchen stuff isn't ready you decided to get delivery, the day ended with a shower for both of you, and got to sleep. Not until Siwoo got up in the middle of the night and cried.

2nd day,

4AM - Your son woke up and cried which meant he was probably hungry or needed to change diapers. He wasn't hungry and you were very tired so tried to wake up your husband to do it, both of you weren't feeling it but had to. ''Honey can you do it please?'' You said half asleep, he finally gave up and did it while you immediately fell asleep.

2PM - It was time for you and Jungwoo to eat something because you two haven't eaten breakfast yet and it was already lunchtime. Fortunately, the kitchen furniture and stuff were already placed and you could cook something, the problem was that you still haven't bought food so there was absolutely nothing. Again Jungwoo went to the nearest restaurant and bought some take out while you were feeding Siwoo.

10PM - The day felt like it was going on forever until the sky got dark, you and Jungwoo were unboxing things all day, and you swear when you finished unpacking, the next time you see a box it was gonna make you sick. The good news is that there were no boxes left, which made your shoulders feel lighter. Eating takeout again was getting kinda tired since you weren't a fan of it but there was no option left, you knew that tomorrow was grocery shopping time.

3rd day (bonus day),

8AM - You woke up due to Siwoo's cries as always, after taking care of him you told Jungwoo to get ready to go out, he didn't know what you meant but still did. On the way to the supermarket, you made him write all the things you needed for the kitchen. You arrived there and bought all the things you needed, but at the babycare section you felt like needing everything for Siwoo, unfortunately, is impossible to buy everything and just stick to one thing.

1PM - Finally you had some time to cook something with the new kitchen and utensils, to be honest, you were very excited. You put your son asleep so you and Jungwoo could have some time together, you two have done a great job and deserved a great rest. You were feeling good and made some sushi for both of you, it was yours and Jungwoo's favorite food, ''we deserve this, don't we?'' he hugged you from behind while you were making the rolls, he then started to kiss you which you of course allowed. Then some cries can be heard, and both of you sighed and looked at each other, it was funny how you two understood yourselves perfectly.

This is a bit different style of writing but thanks for all the support guys!! I have some fics in my drafts that will be posted soon so stay tuned <3.

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kamenstranger · 5 months

Text

Before I dive into this review proper I want to give a heads-up that I am about to get into book spoilers and will be approaching this review with the assumption you've read the source material, which the show also expects. Likewise, I cannot talk about the show without getting into spoilers, due to the very nature of it. If you want my one piece of spoiler-free advice; think of it as a spin-off. Cause it kinda is. You'll have a much better time in that "What If?/Elseworlds" mindset.

If spoilers are cool with you, let's jump into it.

So, I was pretty much obsessed with the series in 2010. I was about 17/18 when I first got into the series. The 6th book wasn't out yet, and I can't even remember how I got into the series to begin with. But I believe I ordered volume 1 followed by 2-5 as soon as I finished, or maybe I went all in. I know for a fact I preordered vol. 6 when I finished vol 5. Still have the receipt for it; July 18th, 2010. 10.58 total.

I followed the various video updates on the movie, fan art, fell in love with the game, bought a Smashing Pumkins shirt, and the Anamanaguchi soundtrack was even the first digital album I bought for myself. I was basically just at the right age and state of mind for the series to grab me and have a profound effect with its themes. I think it's something I needed at the time.

But as much as the series meant to me, it's something I mostly moved on from. After all, the book ended in 2010, and until recently I probably hadn't reread it since 2013 or so. My books are in remarkable condition, actually. I mostly kept up with O'Malley's other works, and preordered Seconds when that was announced. Sadly haven't been keeping up with Snotgirl as much as I'd like, but I digress.

So when the show got announced… well, honestly my first reaction was "That thing they should've done after the Adult Swim short" Because, yeah, animation is a better medium for it. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the 2010 movie- one of the best theater experiences because the like 5 other people in the audience were massive fan girls loving all the bits. And there is a lot to love about the movie: its visual gags; the performances; the music selection; the overall direction- seriously, Edgar Wright doesn't get enough credit for how good he is at keying in on visuals. Dude knows how to translate comic panels and mimic the vibe of the source.

But it lacked the depth of the books. There's no major character arc for Scott and Ramona addressing their flaws. Hell, the books weren't even finished yet. There are a ton of great translations from comic to screen, but mostly the superficial. Moments like Scott's meeting with Knives in the alley showing that he's becoming more empathetic and confronting his mistakes are either absent or glossed over. Likewise, Knives' own journey of maturity isn't there. This isn't a complaint mind you, it's not like those cuts are unreasonable. I can hardly blame them for not cramming 6 (and incomplete) books into a two hour film. That just ain't gonna happen.

The biggest advantage in a series as opposed to a movie is the opportunity to properly explore the characters beyond a surface level. I'm not saying anything particularly revolutionary by stating the most universally agreed-upon element from the books is that Scott is a bit of a shit.

However, I think that statement is overly simplifying the situation and the character, one far too often invoked by hack frauds who don't truly engage with the work, because clickbait engagement is more valued than a nuanced analytical one. I won't sit here unpacking the full 6 volumes, you can check out someone like Popculturebuffet for that. But part of what works so well with Scott is that we don't initially know the extent of his baggage- and rightfully so. His worst aspect early on is ignorantly getting involved with Knives in the first place, stringing her along even after becoming enamored with Ramona, and being a bit of a slacker. This is something which is pointed out by literally everyone (sans Stephen) as being shitty. But otherwise, he seems fairly average and even endearing in a way. Scott's an affable character that's easy to like in spite of his very major flaws, and that's a statement that remains true throughout. The reader doesn't even get to simmer much on the scenario with Knives until later- and to some degree, this even applies to Scott himself. He's slightly oblivious to his actions, past and present. A prime example would be that we're initially under the impression that Scott doesn't like to drink, which is mostly true. Mostly.

It's not until volume 6 that it becomes clear he got into a drunken fight with Envy on New Year's, suddenly re-contextualizing that and other events. It doesn't negate how Envy was very much a bitch who treated Scott like complete garbage, cheated on him, and screwed his head up something fierce. She is unequivocally the worse person there. But it adds nuance that wasn't present before. I focus on the event with Envy because it's sort of a perfect microcosm of Scott as a character. Scott "doesn't" drink because of what happened, except on the 3-4 social occasions over the course of the 6 volumes, showing how he has a habit of just flat-out lying in various ways, including to himself. He's aware on some level, but simultaneously suppresses that awareness from memory and even re-imagines scenarios outright (Sometimes with a little help, unbeknownst to him) acting like everything was always fine on his end. This is even more true in his prior relationship with Kim.

Scott's solutions are half measures where he can pretend that he was always the victim in a breakup, or at least innocent and free of blame, thus never growing in a meaningful manner. Hell, that's the reason he ended up with Knives in the first place; he was trying to get over Envy, but not in a healthy manner. Change is seen as scary to Scott, and yet it's inevitable. That is, at least due in part to Envy changing into a hateful person. As such, Scott wants something simple where he doesn't have to put in effort. Knives is naive and doesn't see Scott for the dick that he is, she doesn't ask him to be better because he's already perfect to her naive mind. It's shallow, and a tad messed up, and everyone knows it, including Scott- hence his continued dreams about being alone. He knows it's not, cannot, and never will be serious. He's stupid, but not a monster- but stupidity can be a form of malice if one doesn't change their heart. It's not exactly like the story is even subtle about this. The entire existence of Nega Scott is that you can't fight the past, you can't run from it even if you hate that part of you. You have to confront it and accept it to move on, hopefully changing for the better. To say nothing of how Gideon is what Scott could become if he never owned up to it. That angle is why I felt Scott and Ramona worked. Quite frankly, Ramona is just as flawed of an individual running from her past. She's constantly trying to change herself, but always on a surface level. She's afraid of normalcy, of being stuck in a routine, of being happy. She makes out (Not that much) with her ex, Roxie, in anger because she sees Scott hanging with Lisa Miller and suspects the worst. She (rightfully) gets enraged at how Scott was still with Knives when he and her first went out, thus cheating- yet she did the same with the Katayanagi twins, and possibly Lucas. And, ya know, she never formally handed off the breakup letter to Gideon, so she's kinda doing the same thing Scott did with Knives and her. Ramona's past is just as checkered as Scott's. She's just as jealous, hypocritical, and nuanced. It just takes longer to realize that because she puts up emotional barriers and isn't the titular character/main focus. Neither one is evil, but they've wronged people. Often they've been wronged, and sometimes it's not a clean-cut scenario of easily blaming anyone. For all the great supporting cast, gags, fun references, and so forth, our two main protagonists being flawed yet likable is what makes the series compelling. The heart is two people gradually learning to get over their selves and their mistakes. To stop running away, and accept their faults and one another. Over the 6 books, we see them (albeit mainly Scott) put in the effort to be better, to build and maintain something special, and not just go with what's simple and easy. It's not about fighting the exes, it's about fighting for each other.

That type of character arc requires time for development. So, when it comes to this Netflix series, my biggest hope was simply that they would capture that element found within the books. In the lead-up to the show, there were some rumors about the exes having more to do, and I can see that working. As much as I do think the book does a fine job, Todd and Roxie are the only ones with a decent amount of depth. Matthew works perfectly because his simple backstory is a gag in itself. Lee is a fun character with a tiny bit of backstory, but it's barely there. Gideon I can forgive due to his mysterious final boss nature and his schtick is being the extreme opposite of Scott. But the Twins? They're shafted pretty hard. They're there to fill out a roster. Honestly, though, even Roxie would've benefited greatly from the smallest of backstories ala Lucas Lee. She's perhaps the most interesting because she and Ramona are on good enough terms to have coffee together. Hell, Rox genuinely cares for Ramona, and unlike Lucas Lee, she's prominent enough in the story that a simple flashback could have been the cherry on top of all that.

The other part is streamlining story elements. No surprise there. From the get-go, O'Malley said it was not a 1-1 adaptation, and honestly, it shouldn't be. Some parts should be changed for the sake of convenience, and frankly, the book has some superfluous parts. Does anyone even remember Jason Kim? He shows up like twice as "dude with car" and apparently dating Kim Pine until dorking her housemate. That gives the impression of each character having their own life and drama that we're not privy to, which is nice. But it's also not important to include outside the books. Kim (Pine) becoming self-conscious when Envy is brought up, smiling when Scott stays over, or her dead-eyed expression as she lies during the fight with the Twins. All of that says far more about her, her feelings, her love life etc.

Then there's Knives' dad. Fun in the book, wouldn't take him out. But completely unneeded for emotional and narrative development. Sometimes you gotta look at the source material and realize that even if you like something, tacking on an extra hour for the most obvious whodunit would kill the pacing in an adaptation. (That was a LOTR reference for those playing at home)

However, the above scenarios are a trepidatious path. How does one decide what needs reworking, cutting, or expanding? They're necessary for an adaption, but they're not always obvious. If you're not careful, you can completely undermine or mishandle key elements that made the original so beloved. You risk removing seemingly innocuous moments that add a lot to a character's growth. Above, I mentioned that the Twins got shafted in the book, but there isn't really a good place to expand upon them in the original story. They're not as important as Ramona's growing discontent. It's why Scott's fight with robot 01 is relegated to background gags while we focus on Ramona and Kim. You could put a flashback during the final confrontation with the Twins, but that would muck up the pacing and take away from Kim's far more important character moment in lying to Scott to bolster him. The Twins are just narrative scaffolding holding a spotlight on what we should be focusing on. That's what all the exes are to some extent. Shallow, sure, but only so the other characters get depth.

It's not an easy line to walk. If you push too hard on telling a more original story or focus too much on "correcting" various details, you can negate what were otherwise successful plot points. Do too little and the pacing falls apart because the medium is completely different. Would the changes made still contain a similar level of depth and satisfying character arcs, or would it merely be a shallow reworking of the broadest of strokes? The only way to not lose is not to play. These are the concerns I had in the lead up to the show, which is fairly routine. We also weren't getting a lot of information storywise, aside from that it would be mostly doing its own thing (This is something that should have been emphasized more in marketing) The trailers showed familiar set pieces; that Ramona delivers DVDs for Netflix now, which is a great and absurd change; You saw some of the streamlining by having Scott rent Lucas Lee films, thus inadvertently getting a head start on that and cutting out the No Account Video segment; there's a brief original bit where Ramona talks to Julie about how well the date with Scott went. Most of the setting also looked like it was from the first and sixth volumes, which was a tad odd. But other than that, they were tight lipped about the narrative. Most of the promotional focus was on music, the returning cast, and the animation. All great things unique to this medium that we will get into in due time. Speaking of, let's finally discuss

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

So you know how Final Fantasy 7 Remake emphasized the "Remake" part? Well, we kinda have that here with the "Take Off" part.

I'll just cut right to the chase. Scott seemingly dies in the fight with Patel in the first episode. Episode two is his absolutely absurd funeral. Almost the rest of the episode is centered around Patel wanting to take over the league for himself, and succeeding in doing so, gaining all of Gideon's assets, while the league dissolves once they realize Patel didn't even get Ramona back after winning.

This is uh, certainly a direction to go.

Let's put aside not following the source material and this being an original story. Why should I care about this story? I'll concede that he and Gideon have a great fight. The animation from Science Saru is great, and the voice performances are great: Shoutouts to Satya Bhabha, his delivery is impeccable, hilarious, and a major highlight of the show. But why should I care about these events, this retake? What's the hook? Thus far, the primary purpose of the show feels like a fake out, gags, and fights. I spent the opening of this review going over the emotional weight of the books, that's the anchor. So far, I'm getting moments without substance. Am I supposed to care because I have a prior connection to these characters? This is something I wouldn't figure out a proper description and answer for until the finale. My issues also felt exacerbated by both the advertisements not making the original story angle clear, and also how good the first episode starts off. Because Cera as Scott is truly perfect. Cera was a voice actor before transitioning to the screen, and his performance is top-notch in addition to being a great vocal fit to begin with. So it's kinda disappointing to not have him around for quite a bit. Anyway, the second episode ends with Ramona dreaming and hearing Scott's voice, meaning that Scott isn't dead, he's in Subspace or somewhere.

Episode 3: Ramona Rents a Video.

As if answering one of my questions immediately, the third episode finally gives a hook as Ramona starts playing detective, like Pikachu Columbo. That's the selling point, that this is primarily Ramona's story.

She checks out footage of the Patel fight, showing that someone pulled Scott through a portal (Hence the title of the show, wink-wink.) Ramona then heads to First Cup to get a person of interest list from Julie- which is a pretty damn funny sequence, actually. I'm starting to enjoy the show at this point, and it's kinda wild how much more enjoyable Julie is in both the movie and show compared to the comics. Sure, she's a bitch, but she's a fun bitch due in no small part to Aubrey Plaza's wonderfully riled vocals. After getting the necessary info, Ramona is led to Kim since she knew Scott the longest. We even get a cute story about the poorly drawn Sheep Scott did, which looks hilariously WAY worse in the show.

There's also a key comment from Kim that I think is to make a point for dorks like me. Kim mentions that she was once kidnapped by a guy named Simon and rescued by Scott. That was a false memory of Scott's in the books. In vol. 6, Kim pointed out to Scott that Simon was just a dude she went out with like twice, probably hugged, and Scott beat up. This is one of a number of clues that seem to be here to firmly establish this isn't the same continuity as the books being messed with, and should not be thought of as a sequel if that was a concern.

Anyways, their conversation is cut short when Roxie arrives in the hope of rekindling her former flame. But things go south pretty quickly and Roxie's hotheadedness takes over.

What follows is one of the best fights in the show, equal parts funny and clever. Hell, it starts with Rox drawing her sword and accidentally cutting the sprinkler line. It adds a dramatic pseudo rain that's completely negated by Kim's wonderfully deadpan expression as all the damn tapes in the store become soaked.

During the scuffle with Ramona, a shelf of movies falls on the two which… somehow transports them into various movies? I dunno, we're working off video game logic, I guess Gex counts. It's a sequence that I'm sure was done purely for looking interesting. To its credit, the visual styling is on point. From Japanese historical drama to a post-Matrix early 2000s green filter era, to a scratchy film-grain-heavy WW2 film. The backing track also flows into each film genre. I also love a quick gag where Kim watches the fight on a CRT and fucks around with the rewind and pause feature, allowing Ramona to counter an earlier attack. Roxie gets knocked back into the store, smashes the remote, and gets dragged back into the movies by Ramona. That's great.

As the fight continues, Ramona and Rox begin arguing about their relationship, and we get that flashback sequence! It's a small thing, but they show that Ramona left without a word and how that tore Roxie up. Good lord, someone hug that poor girl, she looks like a sad puppy. In a legit great moment, Ramona has to confront how she treated Roxie, sincerely apologizing for it, which Roxie tearfully accepts it. I gotta say, Mae Whitman really gets to shine in the role more than ever. She's one of those I point to when talking about just how perfect everyone sounds exactly how I'd expect.

After the fight, she hangs out with Ramona and Kim for a bit, being very flirty with both. Kim even smooches her for the hell of it, although both admit there wasn't anything there. But hey, they managed to still get a Bi-curious Kim in here, and in a way that was better than in the books.

Elsewhere, a beat-to-hell Gideon arrives in town, meeting with Julie, an old schoolmate.

I legitimately liked this, there's actual emotional weight going on, there's interesting shit being done, and I'm settling into the show's intent. I like the idea of giving Ramona her own story with a slight focus on how she feels about her past. I think her going out of the way as much as she does for Scott, a dude she just met, is a little flimsy. Again, it's really expecting the audience to care because we, in theory, care about them getting together.

Ep. 4: Whatever.

Things get really fucking meta in this one. Ruling Roxie out as the kidnapper, who didn't even know Scott was alive, Ramona turns her attention to Lucas Lee, who is starting a new picture in Toronto.

Turns out the movie is from Young Neil's screenplay, which "he" wrote back in ep 3, or rather a mysterious "sleep paralysis demon" he saw did. The movie is about Scott's life if he won the fight with Patel.

This toying with the universe thing is getting a little unsettling.

Most of this episode is one big meta gag about making a Scott Pilgrim movie with Director Edgar Wrong. I'm not even mad at this, I'm just completely flabbergasted at what the hell I'm seeing. And this will become a reoccurring bit throughout.

Also hope you like gags about Knives' age cause holy shit they reference this a lot throughout the show.

It's at this point in my viewing process I have developed a headache.

To give some credit, Lucas is fun in this episode. He's more in line with the film version, and Evans actually sounds better than ever, likely thanks to age and simply having more to say. And like with Roxie, Lee has a Flashback. There isn't much more than what was in the book, but I think the presentation is better. Seeing Ramona patch him up after a bad fall, and Lucas arranging his Locker (which is filled with photos of Ramona) as she and Todd walk behind him. Man, that stings.

Needless to say, Lee isn't responsible for Scott's disappearance and with the whole "controversy" regarding him dating a 31 year old actress playing a highschooler, he's hounded off the lot and has to be replaced by Todd, which seems to be a reoccurring thing for him.

Ep. 5: Lights. Camera. Sparks?!

I'm now starting to believe this entire show may have been an elaborate troll towards people obsessed with adaptation accuracy to a fault. I almost want to applaud the sheer audacity of it. Suffice it to say, 95% of this episode is done in a documentary style, and there are a lotta hijinks on set. Ramona is working as Envy's stunt double just so she can have easier access to the set and hopefully get a lead from Todd. Wallace also bones Todd. A LOT. Oh yes, Wallace shacks up with Todd, and Todd is really into it. Wallace, on the other hand, just wanted to hook up with a hot dude, leading to a whole excursion and depressive vegan breaking episode for Todd. Brandon Routh really gets to go full ham here, and it's wonderful.

Some damn funny parts aside, Todd wasn't behind the portal, but it was certainly vegan in nature. Ramona is otherwise back to Square one until Patel, by happenstance, arrives on the lot to fire everyone. Afterward, Patel has a brief confluence with Stephen Stills and Knives, who manage to get an in with him. Since Scott's apparent death, Knives has taken his place in Sex-Bob-omb on Bass (and keyboard) making decent music with Stephen Stills. The importance of that will come into play next episode.

Patel then turns his attention to Ramona. Obviously, Patel wouldn't have any reason to keep Scott around, but it's entirely plausible Gideon, or rather his real identity, Gordon Goose, would as part of a revenge scheme.

Ep. 6: WHODIDIT. This episode starts with probably the best opening gag that I kinda don't wanna ruin despite spoiling everything else. I'm probably gonna be adding "I was gone for 90 %#&! minutes" to my quotes, though.

In any case, this is a fairly straightforward episode. Ramona interviews Julie once again, but it becomes clear that Gideon, Goose, has neither the mental state nor resources to pull something like that off. As an aside, we get a flashback with him as well, showing that he was the school nerd. He supposedly had no fear (No pain) until he aimed well above his status in asking a girl out, leading to him being laughed out of school, which Julie remembers all too well.

It seems like another dead-end, but when Ramona accompanies Julie back to her house, they both see a familiar Robot, the Twins' 01 Robot, which has been making very unsubtle appearances in every episode up to this point; Lee's place; outside the video store; the studio lot, etc. We also have a B-plot with Stephen Stills and Knives making music for a stage adaption of Neil's Screenplay so it doesn't go to waste.

Cute.

It's here where it becomes known that Neil didn't write the script, and upon checking the original file, realize something is off and that Ramona should be informed. All parties gather in Ramona's apartment as she goes over the pertinent information in whodidit (dunit?) fashion, including treating us to another flashback, this time with the twins. It's probably the least engaging of the flashbacks, honestly. Even in this, they get shafted. Regardless, the who and how are solved. But Not the why or where. Where Scott is remains a mystery, but it's likely the Twins know, which is where Ramona intends to check out.

Oh, and the information the gang has about Neil's Script? The metadata says it was written 14 years from now. But just as more questions are raised, another winds up on Ramona's doorstep; Scott, safe and mostly sound. The Twins were in fact behind it, and the robot, and… himself.

Ep. 7: 2 Scott 2 Pilgrim.

Yes, the one who pulled Scott out of Time was himself, from the future; a 37 year old Scott. The how is rather simple and already answered; the Katayanagi twins. Older Scott and them became friends in the future, even starting a band; Pop'n TwinBee (RIP Shatterband.) By the way, if you ever wanted to hear Will Forte sing a hilariously bad cover of Konya Wa Hurricane from Bubblegum Crisis as an older Scott Pilgrim, this is the show for you. I was laughing my ass off at this.

Anyway, the robot was disconnected from a fixed time stream, and being a vegan cause, ya know, robot, is able to create portals. Therefore Time portals. As to the why, Scott showed his past self using a virtual reality machine on the Virtual Guuy[sic], complete with red and black pixel art mimicking the style of the game. Past Scott sees memories on the not Virtual Boy; Defeating the Evil Exes, future marriage to Ramona, their honey moon at Universal… and divorce. Well, technically they're just separated after 13 odd years of marriage. Older Scott has since been living with Wallace and his husband.

Exactly what happened is never stated, just that the pain was so much Scott decided to follow through on a sarcastic comment from Wallace and prevent falling for Ramona in the first place. Old Wallace sums up the mental state of Old Scott to regular Scott, describing it as "Like after Envy, times ten." Which uh, yeah, no wonder Older Scott's a tad kooky.

It's at this point I have to bring up personal stuff, and it's something that I thought I might have to. So, when Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour dropped in 2010, I distinctly remember reading an interview with O'Malley about the ending. In the lead-up to the final book there was a lot of speculation from fans that maybe Scott and Ramona wouldn't end up together (there was a strong case to be made for Kim) maybe it would end badly since both Scott and Ramona have their struggles. Some people even thought he would end up with Knives, which is missing the entire point of her character arc, and also fuck no.

Ultimately we got the ending we did because, at the time, O'Malley was happy, so he thought Scott should be happy. But O'Malley divorced in 2014.

I dislike bringing that up, but that was leading me to speculate (and brace myself) if that would have an impact here. I mean, how could it not? And look, there is a good argument that Scott and Ramona needn't stay together for their journey together to be satisfying. It would fit right in line with the theme that things don't always stay the same. People can grow apart, even the important ones that change your life. I don't like that outcome, but it's not as if it's wrong to consider. Particularly for a story like this.

But I also think there's an element of overt cynicism to that. What's interesting is that the show doesn't go in that direction. In fact, it's actually insistent that Ramona and Scott can't help but be drawn to one another, there's a spark there. We even get a scene of Scott hooking up the 01 robot to the VR, and since 01 is connected across time, he can see into the past versions. The robot seen throughout the show was Scott seeing that Ramona was constantly looking for him, and that's genuinely sweet.

Still, the situation is bad, as Scott is trapped in the future and can't use the Robot to travel for reason.

On Young Scott's insistence, he and Older Wallace meet up with Older Ramona, discovering she was the one who went back in time and wrote Young Neil's Screenplay in a failed attempt to preserve their story and hopefully thwart Older Scott. (Let's not go crossed-eyed thinking too hard about paradoxes)

He's a misguided idiot, but Ramona still loves the moron, even if she has her doubts after her failed plan. But Scott's words of encouragement about his Ramona never giving up on him gives her hope. Importantly, she can time travel with her DeLorean roller blades, which is how Scott can and did get back to the past.

But even after Scott's return and reunion, their problems aren't over, as a force field prevents Ramona and Scott from kissing. Someone is still interfering, and the list of who might as well just be the entire list of exes. Thankfully, Stephen Stills and Knives have a convenient plan: The stage musical is going to have all the exes in attendance, so they've got one big gathering spot to get to the bottom of this.

This is one of my favorite episodes of the show. It's cool seeing older versions of the characters, and frankly, the presentation is just great. I do think that too much of that emotional weight is relying on events from the books for your investment. I know, I know. Can't enjoy a good thing without a critique. Still, this is a great episode, one of my favorites along with ep. 3, and our next and final episode.

Oh, and the end credits has a proper rendition of Konya Wa Hurricane, so that's fucking cool.

Ep. 8: The World Vs Scott Pilgrim.

So here we are at the big finale at the premiere of the Scott Pilgrim Musical.

The thing is, none of the exes seem to be suspect. Gideon is the only one with ulterior motives, but they're not towards Scott and Ramona, he just wants to blow up the stage and Matthew Patel.

But not long after everyone is seated something goes awry. A portal appears and transports all the exes and Scott's friend group (And also Julie and the robot) to a barren land.

The one behind this, and the force field, was an Even Older and very buff Scott (47) He slipped past Scott nano machines as a backup to prevent him from ever getting close to Ramona, but even that wasn't enough. So for 10 years he trained to take everyone out, as it's the only way to be sure. And so our final battle begins: The World vs. Scott Pilgrim. If you listen closely to the track during this scene "Big Bad" incorporates elements of "The Dark One" Nega Scott's theme from the game. That's a nice touch.

Even Older Scott is no pushover, he breaks Ramona's Hammer, and despite a fairly good comeback from regular Scott, he beats him pretty bad. The others come to his aid, Knives attacking with daggers, but Even Older Scott punches Knives so hard he knocks the highlights our of her hair.

Ramona begins handing out items from her bag, cyber broccoli for Todd, a cyber skateboard for Lucas, and a cyber sword for Roxie, just as the sub boss music from the game kicks in. Along with Matthew's mystic arts, they mange to actually lay into Even Older Scott, but that only causes him… to go… even further beyond, and One hit KO the four.

The Twins Robot is ineffectual and even Gideon's not quite the glow-douken has no effect. Even Older Scott just grabs it and turns it against Stephen, Knives, Kim, and Neil. This. This is actually fucking awesome. It's going full Shonen ham.

We're down to just Ramona and Scott, who team up and hit him together, followed by Scott and Even Older Scott literally butting heads. We get our obligatory speech between a younger Scott just wanting to live his life, and Even Older Scott saying he'll just end up where he's at if he does.

And it finally clicked into place what the hell Scott Pilgrim Takes Off actually is. This is like a Shonen spin off story. Your Broly Trilogy, Hunter X Hunter The Last Mission, Naruto Blood Mission. But with an X-men time travel plot slapped on. It's an excuse to play around and do different (mostly cool) shit with a set of familiar characters. Like a movie or OVA, the characterization isn't as deep as the main source material. It banks on you giving a damn because of the familiarity so they can mostly get right to the cool bits and not try as hard or waste time on the re-interpretative parts. Don't think too hard about the misgivings, think about Akuma Scott beating the shit out of everyone while the familiar music you're nostalgic for plays.

And goddamn that's frustrating because that's what they should've led with. All the damn trailers were dancing around the new material and making it seem like an adaptation. To keep on the Anime brand, if people are expecting a "Brotherhood" or "Ultimate" version with a Cast they like, and then they don't get that… well yeah that's not gonna go over well. I can't fault anyone for being mad about that. That's having the rug pulled out from under you. But once you realize what this is, and what it's doing, it's a lot easier to enjoy and be its own thing. It branches off a similar story to the books, but it's not like this is a canonical revision or sequel to them.

That said, just because it's "less developed" doesn't mean this is without heartfelt moments I enjoy. When it seems like Even Older Scott has the upper hand, an even older Ramona shows up to chew old Scott out for not even texting in 10 years, fighting people in the past rather than fighting for them, all because of one rough patch. It's funny, but it also confirms the biggest divergence. This is a world where Scott was never kicked out during the Roxie chapter, a world without Gideon's "Glow" mental manipulation, and presumably Scott never faced his inner demons because of it. This also means Ramona didn't run off after the twins' defeat because the glow wasn't affecting her mentality, and thus she faced her own. That one line snowballs into a lot of stuff not happening for their character growth. That- that is an interesting concept.

This all leads to a poignant scene where Ramona questions her older self if she should even bother. What's the point if it ends up like this? Maybe it's best to just keep moving. But, that's also Ramona's thing, isn't it? Running away from what she loves, which is presumably (along with his own stupidity) what set Older Scott down a spiral in the first place. In a scene that parallels Scott's own understanding within the books, Ramona comes to realize she's ran all her life.

In the end, Ramona chooses to stop running and embrace herself, quite literally. Both Ramona's combining into, as Scott puts it "Super Ramona" Able to see the situation for what it is, one Scott still in many ways a dumb kid, the other Scott just a sad mess. She simply sends Older Scott back to his time with the hope he'll straighten out. Meanwhile, the nano machines are still a problem with current Scott. But that's nothing a super form can't overload with a determined kiss. Daww.

Before things go back to normal and because she'll have trouble saying it later, she tells Scott she loves him, and that she tends to run away from what she loves. But who she was in the past isn't who she is now. She just needs help remembering that.

Everyone returns to the theater to enjoy the rest of the musical, and Patel's demon girls subvert Gideon's plans. After the show, he and Julie are apprehended, but Matthew instead begs Gideon to take all his crap back. He has no idea how to run a company, is stressed out, and has lost billions. All Matthew wants is to continue the stage show.

We then get an epilogue. Lucas Lee takes up a job at Second First Cup; Todd has returned to being a Vegan with coaching from Roxie; The rental store Kim worked at closes down; Wallace takes a vacation to Paris where he meets Mobile; Knives continues performing with Sex-Bob-Omb as their keyboardist; Ramona gives up delivery work and instead returns to being a stunt double.

We end on Ramona coloring her hair once again, before heading out and meeting with Scott and the others, as Plumtree's Scott Pilgrim plays us off.

Only for a mid-credits scene to show Gideon and Julie plotting revenge. Oooo.

And that is Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

s'allright, innit? Okay, joking aside- I think I'm gonna have a hard time conveying my feelings on this one. But I still have three more things to talk about before we get to my final thoughts.

First off, the voice acting is great, shockingly great. I'm a person who is very much of the mindset that you should hire voice actors for voice roles BUT, in this instance, I can understand why. It's incredible they got everyone back and how well they work. I've already given my praise to Cera, Bhabha, Plaza, Whitman, Routh, and Evans in the story portion of this review. But I'm drastically overdue to talk about Winstead's performance. I think this was the one people were most curious about because in the movie there was this aura of Ramona feeling more "cold" in her personality. This was due to the original direction they wanted to take that version, and sadly it meant we didn't quite get a more angles. Here? Yeah, this is pretty great. We hear Ramona full of regret, angry, annoyed, sentimental. It's a much more well-rounded version. My one nitpick is Winstead needs to work on her battle cries, it really stands out in the Roxie fight opposite a veteran VA like Whitman. But otherwise, this is how I imagine Ramona sounding. And I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up how anytime Ramona has a vulnerable moment talking about Scott, she genuinely sounds smitten. The Future Ramona (the first one) in particular stands out to me. That's a version of the character that's older, clearly hurt, and weary, but still very much in love. I can't help imagining that being applied to scenes from the book. In Vol. 5 the part after The Twins are defeated and Scott returns. That scene always tears me apart when I read it. I'm fairly certain if I heard Cera and Winstead's performance of that it would rip my soul out. So maybe it's best we only have this original story. So yeah, I'm happy to see that she fits right into the role better than ever.

Another performance I've yet to mention is Ellen Wong, who is just as perfectly energetic as she was in the film. It's a shame we don't get to hear her do a somber Knives in this setting, but it's hard to complain with how pleasant it is hearing her chipper over the top excitement. Alison Pill's Kim Pine is as sardonic as always, and much like Routh and Evans, I think she's even better now. Johnny Simmon sounds exactly the same, no complaints, 10/10. Jason Schwartzman is an experienced VA, so no surprise he sounds fine. He doesn't get to stretch out much since Gideon isn't super prominent here. Although episode 6 did show a lot of range and potential for what you could do with him. Maybe next season? Similarly Brie Larson's Envy doesn't have a whole lot of screen time, but she's equal parts charming and manipulative. Honestly, for a small as the role is, it made me realize just how much Larson is good at the role and how that level of emotion is often subdued in roles elsewhere. Honestly, I hate to say it, but Mark Webber's Stephen Stills is probably one of the weaker performances on the show. It's not even that it's bad, it's fine and works- except for the animation. That's the one caveat. There are a couple of moments where Stephen Stills is pantomiming, and the voice doesn't match that energy. Truth be told, I even sorta have a similar issue with Kieran Culkin's Wallace, which I swear looks like the syncing was off in the earlier episodes. The saving grace is that Wallace has more scenes than Stephen Stills and therefore Culkin got more opportunities. This is sorta the area I mean when I think it's best to get trained VA. It's a completely different medium and hard to jump into immediately.

I don't wanna end this segment on a downer, so I'll once again mention Will Forte sings Like a Hurricane. OH, Segue.

Soundtrack

So I did not know what to expect going into this. I mean, I was a fan of Anamanaguchi, but I hadn't kept up since Endless Fantasy, sans the Miku single- which is really good by the way. And Joseph Trapanese I was most familiar with from his collaboration with Daft Punk on Tron Legacy, so no worries there. But I did wonder how well a chiptune heavy sound would work. As much as I dig it, it's a very upbeat vibe. Even some of Anamanaguchi's more dramatic tracks have a charming bubbliness to them. How would that work within a series? Well, the short answer is they don't have as much chiptune going on as you would assume. There are a few that incorporate chiptunes to a limited degree, others a bit more, but most not at all. The vast majority of the OST is more traditional fair and Synthwave, and in a way, it sorta mimics my own evolving tastes. I still listen to Chiptune stuff, but I'm also really big into synth music nowadays. It feels like a proper bookend to my late-teens early twenties listening to Anamanaguchi, and later Dance with the Dead and Midnight Danger, and now Anamanaguchi's synth offerings. One of the tracks, Yet Another Winter Again (Calling back to the first stage in The Game) has a Redbook audio sound with a hint of Chiptune, but not the NES/GB Anamanaguchi is known for. It sounds like a SNES. In fact, I would compare the track to something you'd hear in VA-11 Hall-A. So even when there are chiptunes, we're branching out quite a bit in both sound fonts and style. Of course, there are a couple of vocal tracks as well. Like the movie, there are universe songs for Sex-Bob-Omb. They have a unrefined roughness to them, which is perfect for a small unprofessional indie band. As for some of my favorite tracks, the aforementioned Yet Another Winter Again; He's You; And They were Roommates; Blame it on the Goose; Big Bad; Bad Guys; Knives & Kim; and God Only Knows. I'm sure that'll change as time goes on. I'm really digging Lucas' flashback music, and Fond Memories, nice parallel between those two. In fact there's quite a few pieces that, in tandem with the animation, do a lot to sell those heartwarming (or wrenching) moments.

Animation.

Oh right, the animation. So, if you read my Castlevania Nocturne review, you know I went on a slight tangent about how I think it's silly that they labeled it an anime despite it being produced and partly animated in goddamn Texas. It was just a label because they're embarrassed to call their super serious animation what it is because they think anime sounds more mature. I swear some people still think it's 1985 and Vampire Hunter D is the wildest shit cause blood.

Funny thing about Scott Pilgrim though, it's just straight-up animated by Science Saru. I'm not here to get into semantics, because then we'll be asking if Batman TAS counts because Sunrise. I just find it funny. At the very least Takes Off certainly fits the bill more than Nocturne does. But back on topic, it's fucking good. I mean, I don't think that comes as any surprise. Science Saru has made a name for doing really impressive work from Devilman Crybaby, to Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, and the shorts Akakiri and T0-B1 for Star Wars Visions. Not to mention supplemental work for the Garo anime, OK-KO, and Adventure Time. So Scott Pilgrim is perfectly in their wheelhouse, and they do an incredible job capturing O'Malley's illustrations while adding their own unique flare to the styling.

Sadly Tumblr's gif size limit means I can't easily showcase some of the fights as much as I'd like, but suffice it to say the level of fluidity and cinematography is astonishing. Again, episode 3 is an amazing showcase in itself.

To say nothing of how expressive everyone is in the show.

Also this is a weird one, but I think with the exception to episodes 5 & 7, each episode has Ramona going through a bleaching and dye routine. It is bizarrely satisfying to watch, like the tea making in Samurai Jack.

Final Thoughts.

Takes Off was both a confusing shock and a pleasant surprise upon first viewing. It's impressive in its existence, and has moments that I fucking love. Like the Shonen it emulates, it does also come off as a tad superfluous or melodramatic in many respects. But it is fun to bust out old toys and play with them again. The fact that in 2023 I'm seeing a new work related to Scott Pilgrim is fucking incredible. I'm happy that this exists, I'm happy to hear the cast together again, and happy to hear some great music tracks. And I do love the characters of Scott Pilgrim, I love the performances in this show, I love numerous parts of this show. But, I also think it's fair to say what I love most aren't these characters. And that's okay. Those characters should remain in the series that ended in 2010, while these are easily malleable versions for an animated series to have fun with. Maybe you could never capture or replicate the exact magic of the books again, so it's better to just do your own thing. Takes Off was, in the end, a fun time that I think works best when you know what you're getting into. Once you're armed with that knowledge, I think you'll find a show much easier to appreciate.

All that said, as backhanded as this is going to seem, I still think the nicest thing that Takes Off did was get me to re-read the book series for this review. I got to re-examine a profound series from the perspective of a 31 year old, but still find all that I originally loved as a 17 year old. When it comes to adaptive works, no matter what, the nice thing is you'll always have the originals to go back to. You change, maybe your tastes change, and certain things hit differently or don't hold up when you go back. But it's nice to revisit. I think nostalgia can be a poison. Too many people get caught up in wanting to relive the exact moment, to be trapped. But I think it's more fun to see something you love still remain a love even after so much time has passed. I'm happy with how I felt as a teenager reading a story about emotional growth. Some personally, some apart, and others closer. In my 30s, I still appreciate that, and it still affects me and resonates. But just because I cherish that above all else doesn't mean I wouldn't be interested in more Scott Pilgrim. And if O'Malley and Grabinski wanna make more people sing 80s anime songs badly, I'll be on board for that alone.

Or Roxie flirting with every woman. Seriously, she's so much fun.

As always, thanks for reading. Reblogs are appreciated and you can find me elsewhere on the worldwideweb at: Bsky Ko-Fi

So does Gideon still have his exes frozen somewhere, or is that another difference?

Oh, and now that we have a Netflix Series, can we get a Nendoroid Ramona? There's been like no high end merch since Mondo in 2017.

#scott pilgrim #scott pilgrim takes off #netflix #bryan lee o'malley #edgar wright #bendavid grabinski #science saru #anime #animated

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itsclydebitches · 1 year

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I'm ngl I feel kinda afraid to mention any positive aspects abt the show bc it feels abit nowadays like you just, can't enjoy it anymore. Like no matter what RWBY does you won't be happy and any positive aspects mentioned you'd find a way to turn into something bad or Not Good Enough and idk I love most of your essays but that kinda throws me off. I just wish you were able to watch it a bit less... Against It. Hating it is fine, I hate it, it's a horribly written horribly paced mess with awful characters, awful humour and the worst voice acting in the industry, but I can unapologetically appreciate when a good scene happens and it feels like you can't, or at least can't without adding 50 asterisks and conditionals and ways it could be better. IDK it makes me a bit sad sometimes, since you dedicate so much time to this.

I feel you, anon, though we've known this was coming for years. Unlike a collection of short stories or other, separated media, the longer RWBY makes mistakes the more future content is going to suffer. Four years past where I personally think the show started having serious issues, yeah, there's more to criticize than praise (imo, obviously) and I'm not inclined to pretend otherwise. You say yourself, "I hate it, it's a horribly written, horribly paced mess with awful characters, awful humor, and the worst voice acting in the industry" so honestly I'm a little confused as to where you think these good scenes are that I'm missing. If the plot, tone, characters, humor, and acting all suck, what are we left with? And if you "hate" the show, why would you expect others to find more to praise?

Personally, I feel like I do appreciate the good scenes when we see them, but yeah, they're going to come with those 50 asterisks because, as said, everything is interconnected. If the show does a good job depicting Ruby's grief over Penny, I'm still going to question why we didn't get that when she first died. If the show nails an awesome "I'm still just small" line from Little, that unfortunately makes all the terrible humor surrounding it that much more apparent. My recaps strive to unpack all the aspects that I see, which means that after years of missteps the good stuff is coming with a huge load of baggage. For me, it would be a serious misrepresentation of the text to go, "Wow, Weiss hitting herself in the head with a rock sure was funny! Good on RWBY for writing such a comedic scene" and just ignore the context of that interrupting Ruby's grief because I don't want my recaps to be too mean. These recaps aren't going to RT. They're not written with the intention coaxing a writer towards improvement without breaking their spirit. There's absolutely no reason why I should pull punches - say less than everything I'm thinking - especially in a fandom that already works so hard to paint RWBY as better than I personally think it is.

I'm not going to insult you by assuming your intentions, but frankly I really dislike this whole 'It's so sad you can't enjoy the show anymore, you've dedicated so much to this, what's the point if you're not praising it?' perspective. I've heard it a lot over the years and 99% of the time it's sanctimonious nonsense. Again, I'm not accusing you of that, anon, just acknowledging that a lot of people have tried to "help" me over the years not because they care, but because they don't want anyone criticizing RWBY and have realized that outright attacks haven't worked. But the reality is that you don't know me, or what I get out of RWBY, or what's an enjoyable way for me to spend my time. It's totally fine - and understandable - if you're upset that my recaps have grown more and more critical over the years, but the answer to that discomfort is to stop reading them. There's no constructive criticism to offer here, just an implied request for me to lie and say that I think the show is better written than it actually is... which isn't going to happen. You shouldn't be "afraid" to mention a positive take - the fandom is 99% positive takes - and if you don't like the idea of sending in an ask and me potentially disagreeing, there are thousands of other RWBY content creators who will give you an enthusiastic response. Yeah, it sucks that you can't read recaps overflowing with praise and it sucks that I can't write them, but that's due to RWBY making those major mistakes and allowing them to snowball for half a decade. As said, you claim to "hate" the show and provided a long list of its broad and far-reaching problems, anon. You should thus understand that the problem here is in RWBY being really badly written, not me acknowledging that it's really badly written.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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ajcgames · 13 days

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A little output

I spent my lunch programming rather than eating, which is very typical of me when I get deeply involved in a project. I must make sure I don't fall into that obsession trap again, which has caused many burnouts in the past! 😅

My current task was to get the new generation machine to spit items out onto a connected belt. This was mostly straightforward, though it was a little tricky getting my head around supporting rotation.

Ultimately it came down to making things simple. Machines can either have an input or an output, or both. Since the side with which the machine accepts either inputs and outputs is defined at the prefab level (i.e. it's fixed based on what I set the model to), I just had to write some code to shift those input/output 'sides' depending on which of the 4 possible directions the model was placed in.

As far as handling exactly where the machine should look for an input / output belt, I kinda cheated a bit on this one.

The reason this was a little more complex is because machines can have a footprint of more than just 1x1, they can be 2x2 as well. A 2x2 machine will have a inputs / outputs on specific grid positions around its outside perimeter. How do I allow for this whilst enabling rotation of the placed object?

This. This is my cheat.

The little blob in the above image is an object that represents which grid position I want the machine to look for a belt (specifically an output belt). Because this blob is a child object of the machine, when the machine rotates - so the blob does too. At runtime, when I configure the machine, I can simply read the real-world position of the blob to get its grid coordinates. Neat!

It's easier to see top-down here:

The machine lives at grid position [6,4] and the blob lives inside the machine object at position [1,0]. Translated to absolute world position the blob lives at [7,4] - exactly where I need to be checking for belts!

I'm sure there are much better ways of doing this, but this was a pretty straightforward solution that only requires a tiny amount of preprocessing when the object is first placed, after which no additional calculation is needed.

With the positioning and belt-lookup code added, it was just a case of writing up a short Machine class, from which I derived a special 'InputMachine' class that only spits out items of a specific type.

The result you can see below!

Where is this all leading?

I suppose it's a good a time as any to review my future plans for these developments. What good are little prototypes without some larger goal in mind?

In one of my earliest posts I details the kind of game I'm hoping to make. Mechanically it's not super complicated, but it required figuring out some of the technical stuff I've been showing in recent posts - namely conveyor belts and moving items around.

I'm hoping to create a game that fits in the automation / factory genre. You'll be playing the role of someone setting up an automated factory that has been deposited and unpacked on a remote asteroid. You place down drills (inputs) that dig and spit out raw materials into your factory, and you move these around and process them in various machines in the name of science!

As I said this isn't the most complex of concepts. From a programming complexity point of view some of the legwork has already done (problem solving belts, specifically). There are areas that still need consideration, but looking over what's left to come I'm quietly confident it falls within my skill set to execute.

A cut down the middle

I expect anybody familiar with game development is aware of the term 'vertical slice'. It refers to the practice of developing a small segment of a product, but to a very polished state that could be considered represetative of its final form.

You see this a lot in game development. Particularly at conferences and exhibitions where publishers want to whip up excitement about games that could be years away from release. But there should be some delineation between a vertical slice for a trailer, and a playable vertical slice. I'm aiming for the latter.

In order to decide how to put something like that together, I need a broader understanding of the scope of the game. A vertical slice should demonstrate all the key concepts in the game, but leaving room to expand those ideas later without changing the core experience too much. It doesn't have to look like the final game either, though I would like to put some effort in there where possible.

I'll probably end this post here for now, but I'll probably detail out the main efforts I'm likely to be aiming for in order to reach this vertical slice. I will, of course, continue posting updates when I can with more details about the game's development.

And if you read this far and found some small measure of interest in here, thanks for your time and have yourself a great day! 😊

#indie games #game development #game dev blog #gamedev

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wheeler-things · 1 year

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Mike Wheeler, the Hand and Eye of Vecna, and D&D as Foreshadowing

I'm about to say something unhinged.

It's going to take a fair amount of words to unpack (sorry about that) because I need to give context before I just come out and say it. And I'm fully aware that it's just one of hundreds of possible options for s5, so I'm really not trying to convince anybody of anything just... I was thinking about foreshadowing and analogies again, and something occurred to me and then it snowballed and.... hm.

Okay, so, I talked about it a lot more in this post, but the key point for what I'm talking about here is my belief that the Party's first D&D game in s1 actually foreshadows all of the main Upside Down antagonists from seasons 1-4, with the D&D Demogorgon actually representing Henry. Essentially, my breakdown came down to this:

"Something is coming. Something hungry for blood." -> s1 -> the Demogorgon. "A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness." -> s2 -> the shadow monster. "An army of troglodytes charge into the chamber!" -> s3 -> the Mind Flayer and the Flayed. "The Demogorgon!" -> s4 -> Henry Creel.

So, the remaining unaccounted for villains (assuming that the way the characters use D&D enemies as analogies is not necessarily representative of/accurate to what they actually foreshadow within the narrative) are:

Mike's Thessalhydra

Will's Juju hoard

Eddie's Vecna

I have some speculation on the first two, but it's the third that I'm going to do a deep dive into my thoughts on.

Since this is pretty long and it takes a bit of time to get through the contextualizing, let me clarify up front that this ties into the "Mike has a connection to the Upside Down" theories which I love, but which I know are not to everyone's tastes.

Who IS Vecna (in Stranger Things)?

From the campaign in s4e1, we learn:

Vecna is hiding in plain sight among his own cultists

"His skin is shrivelled. Desiccated. And [...] he is not only missing his left arm, but his left eye"

Vecna was believed to be dead/killed by Kas

An 11 isn't enough to defeat him, but a 20 is (notably, we don't actually hear what Dustin and Erica were trying to roll to do-- based on the context of the scene, we assume that it was combat-based, but it is not explicitly laid out)

Later, in s4e2, Vecna is described (in terms that the characters start to tie to the entity we later learn is Henry, in an effort to theorize about what's going on) as:

An undead creature of great power

A spellcaster

A dark wizard

Note: In the context of Eddie's description of what happened to Chrissy, the term "Vecna's curse" is brought up. This leads into the description of Vecna's characteristics listed above, but no further details (as far as I can find or remember) are given about what Vecna's curse is like in Eddie's game. Which leads me to...

Who IS Vecna (in D&D)?

Alright, I have to admit-- I've played D&D before, but my friends have a tendency to prefer MotW/PbtA-based games, and even when we HAVE done D&D, the storylines and characters have been entirely from the DM's mind/not from anything official. As a result, everything I'm about to say here is based on what Google can tell me (I'm aware others have talked about this before, but I think it gives some useful context for where I'm going to go in this analysis, if I make sure we’re all on the same page about the background D&D lore).

The main websites that I used to get information for this part can be found here, here, and here.

So! The long and short of it seems to be that in life, Vecna was a wizard who built a "terrible empire". In order to avoid death, he turned himself into a lich, and in undeath, he continued to grow his empire. He had a lieutenant named Kas, who Vecna gifted a sword to. For unknown (though the speculation does not paint him in a positive light) reasons, Kas murdered Vecna, leaving behind only Vecna's eye and left hand along with a pile of ash. However, his spirit survived the attack and he spent "eons" regaining his former power. In the meantime, his artifacts, cults, and "dark secrets" continued corrupting others/pushing them towards evil.

It may also be notable that Vecna was known to have a "formidable and hideous" temper.

And... that's the short version of everything that I could find about Vecna in D&D.

Henry Creel as Vecna

So, this is the obvious conclusion, because the characters call Henry "Vecna", which seems to have largely lead to the audience assumption that the Vecna in Eddie's campaign definitely foreshadows Henry. And I want to start out by acknowledging that I do think this is absolutely a possibility! I could 100% be wrong about the Demogorgon in Mike's campaign representing Henry, and even if I'm not, there's nothing that says there can't be two moments of foreshadowing for the same antagonist.

If Henry is Vecna, I know there are a lot of theories about who Kas is, and I'm not interested in getting too deep into the weeds on that particular debate. With that being said, I will say that when I first watched s4 I personally thought it was obvious that, if Henry was actually the person foreshadowed by Eddie's Vecna, then El was clearly Kas and had already fulfilled her part in that role?

I mean, Henry didn't have any real power in the lab so obviously El wasn't his lieutenant. But she was clearly his favourite (or, depending on how you read his character, he at least did a good job of pretending that she was his favourite). He gave her a weapon (in that he taught her to use her anger to weaponize her powers). At first she helped him with things (ie. getting Soteria out of his neck), but later she turned against him and used the "weapon" he "gave" her in order to, as far as she understood at the time, kill him (literally turned him to ash, and he appears when we see him next in the Upside Down). But, of course, he wasn't actually dead, and in line with Eddie's campaign, he came back. El tried to face him alone, but it failed/missed just like the eleven roll.

You may or may not agree with me on that, but I personally think it's the most likely scenario. I just... can't see them recreating everyone thinking Henry has been killed for a THIRD time only to bring him back AGAIN. And in my opinion, El-as-Kas (but she's already fulfilled the role) does fit very well with what we know about Vecna from Eddie's campaign/with a number of the details from D&D.

I will also concede that you could make the case that Henry was hiding in plain sight among his cultists during the time when he was interacting with baby!El (as in, he was disguised as a lab assistant, and obviously the whole Lab is dedicated to, essentially, recreating Henry's powers so that's sort of like a cult to him, I suppose), and that he is certainly, as of the present timeline in s4, something like an undead creature as well was being very powerful and functionally a dark wizard. His flesh is even shrivelled and desiccated after his time in the Upside Down.

All of which is to say, without speculating heavily about the potential events of s5, Henry does look incredibly appealing as the thing foreshadowed by Eddie's campaign.

But…

The Case for Someone Else as Vecna

There are a few main reasons why I think that Henry is a red herring as the thing Vecna was foreshadowing.

Firstly, and least compellingly (I have to mention it, but it's not evidence that stands on its own), if Mike's Demogorgon foreshadows Henry, but the Party mis-used its name for the UD's Demogorgon because it was the monster they happened to be fighting at the time, then it stands to reason that it's possible that they may have mis-used Vecna's name to apply it to Henry for the same reason-- it was the most recent/most superficially relevant enemy the Party had fought in D&D and, as such, made for a decent enough analogy to the current situation.

Secondly, just on a narrative scale, if El has already played the Kas role in the s4 flashbacks and then has also already made her failed roll in present day s4... then literally all that's left is to roll a 20 and win? It's too smooth/too easy to take up a whole season. Obviously, the writers can throw in extra drama and struggle and tension, but if we're already past the failed 11 roll, then... it can't be too intense or else the foreshadowing loses its tight 1:1 dynamic with what's happening in the plot. And “not too intense” is very rarely what people are going for when they write a finale season.

Thirdly... despite how well Henry aligns with almost all of the descriptions of Eddie's Vecna, he does not align with what I would argue are the two most emphasized descriptors (the two that Eddie puts the most passion and physicality into describing, and the two which seem to actually make it clear to the Club that the unknown cultist is Vecna). Namely: Henry very much is not missing an eye or an arm. His left arm is odd looking, but that's not because he ever lost it and had to replace it. It appears to just be part of whatever the Upside down is doing to him/turning him into (God, I hope he's turning into a Demogorgon-- I saw someone suggest that at one point and I wish I could find the post to link it here, because I think it would be the funniest and most fitting option). And Henry's eyes both look kind of odd/cloudy now, but not only does he have both of them, but the flashback to him wandering the Upside Down after El threw him in there make it explicitly clear that his injured/initially damaged eye was his right eye. It would have been just as easy, and changed nothing about the overall narrative, if they had made Henry’s left eye blind instead/to subtly align with the Vecna analogy, so the fact that they so pointedly didn’t suggests to me that, in terms of foreshadowing, Henry may not actually be Vecna at all. In fact, there is nothing at all that I can remember connecting Henry to the idea of left eyes, except that the characters call him Vecna, and Eddie's Vecna is described as being devoid of one.

Also (and this is just a small point), I do think that it's interesting that in D&D, Vecna's backstory includes him creating a dark empire, and there are a lot of theories abounding about the idea that someone in the main cast created or significantly altered the Upside Down (I've mostly seen them about Will and Mike, but I imagine there are other similar theories for other characters). Because what we know for sure is that Henry absolutely did not create it, and likely did not significantly alter it either (at least not until he met the shadow monster), I do think that it's worth noting that this is another way in which Henry's character diverges from at least the D&D version of Vecna.

Detour: How do Superpowers Work in Stranger Things?

I may or may not have driven myself mad trying to figure this out. And I also may or may not have spent a long time resigned to the idea that Kali had been retconned by s4 showing that all the other numbers seem to have basically the same powers as Henry and El (with the possible exception of El's ability to open portals into the UD-- unless Henry had this ability as well before the Mind Flayer took a chunk out of El in s3... we simply don't know yet).

I feel like I maybe heard something, at one point, that suggested that all of the kids in the lab had telekinesis and then also at least one other power. However, I can't find a source on that? Also, I don't believe there's any direct evidence of this shown in s4 (and Kali's powers outright contradict it), given that the only non-telekinetic power that we were shown by anybody but Henry and El was 010 who was able to see what others were doing in his mind (which seemed to be very similar to El's mind void abilities, if maybe a little stronger or more well-practised).

Either way, I think the evidence given in the show suggests that there are three possible ways to develop or obtain supernatural abilities in the Stranger Things universe.

Via experimentation. This was the case for El, and very likely also most of the other kids in the Lab. It also seems to have been the case for El's mother, who we see being able to flicker the lights and change the channels on her television with her mind.

Through infiltration by and/or extended exposure to the Upside Down. I'm a little more tentative on this one, because my main example of this is Will, and we all know that there are a LOT of theories about Will's abilities. And I want to stress that I cannot definitively say they're wrong. All I can say is that, as the show exists right now, one of many possible readings is that Will's abilities, such as sensing the Mind Flayer, seem to be a result of his experiences with the Upside Down. If this is accurate, then it represents a method of obtaining powers that is distinct from how El got hers. I’m not at all trying to discount the possibility that Will could have other powers that he was born with or developed due to experimentation (I love a good Will-born-with-powers theory!), I just want to consider the possibility that Will’s powers could be a result of his experiences with the Upside Down.

Being born with them/developing them spontaneously. Henry is the obvious example of this, but I also believe that Kali is another example. Her powers are completely different than those of the other numbers. Moreover, Kali was abducted when she was five, unlike El who was abducted as an infant. To me, this suggests that Kali was likely not the result of Brenner's experimentation, but rather, more similar to Henry in that she spontaneously developed powers, and Brenner took advantage of that fact. If this is the case, it would explain why Kali's powers are so different from those of everybody else that we've seen-- because it is likely that Brenner used Henry Creel as the basis upon which his experiments were developed, explaining why they largely seem to have powers very similar to Henry.

If this assessment is correct (and I cannot stress enough how speculative I am being here because this is still a huge mystery in the show itself), then I do think it's interesting that Henry (who is almost certainly going to be the main/active antagonist for the vast majority of s4, even if he doesn't turn out to be "Vecna" from Eddie's campaign in the end) represents 3/3 of these points (he was experimented on by Brenner, he has been changed by the Upside Down, and he developed his powers spontaneously), and yet, out of our protagonists, only 2/3 of those points are currently represented (El who developed her powers via experimentation, and Will who likely/possibly-- I know everyone has their own strong opinions on this developed them via exposure to the Upside Down)?

In reality, I think that if my interpretation of how getting superpowers works in this universe is accurate, then it seems to me that we will very likely have a character with powers that developed naturally to complement El and Will.

However, both for narrative reasons (it would feel too shoehorned in/too Deus ex Machina) and for fitting in with the other established characters who seem to have spontaneously developed powers reasons, it would not make sense for any of our protagonists to all of a sudden start moving things with their minds. Narratively, it would just seem like it was being added in at the last minute and, anyway, it seems like Kali developed her powers/showed clear signs of them before the age of five, and Henry developed his around the age of twelve, so it’s likely that if any of our characters were going to develop powers, it would start before their teenage years.

So, assuming we're not getting Erica (God, I wish) or Holly (...I mean, I wouldn't complain) suddenly developing powers of their own, it seems likely that if any of our characters are going to have spontaneous powers, they likely already have them/are already using them. However, I don't think any of our beloved ensemble cast would know they have powers and not share that with the class. They all want to beat the Upside Down, and El and Will have already more than shown how useful superpowers are in that effort.

And... on a narrative level, let's be real. If this is the direction things are going, the reveal of these powers/abilities cannot be a joyous occasion. It has to hurt. Because if it doesn't hurt, we're back to the Deus ex Machina issue. But if it hurts-- if the reveal causes severe conflict for the character in question and with the people around them, if it breaks them down and reveals new things about them, if the reveal feels like a loss, in the moment when it comes about, rather than a win for the cast... then it might work.

For that to happen, the repressed/extant but unknown powers have to connect to the Upside Down. They have to have had a significant hand in all the pain that our characters have gone through. Possibly via either creating the Upside Down or the shadow monster, or else through some other connection. But the connection has to be there, because the reveal needs to cause fear, pain, and conflict for the characters.

Detour Cont'd: So... Who Is It?

So... if my wild speculation above is in any way accurate, I think it's worth taking a look at our established characters to see who could have done it.

So, Henry was wandering the Upside Down from 1979 onwards, El opened her first gate in that same year, so I suspect that if any of our characters did accidentally create/influence the Upside Down it likely happened starting around this time. In '79 (dangerously assuming my math is correct), Nancy (also Jonathan and Robin) would have been 11-12, and the Party would have been 7-8, making them the primary possibilities. - I think it's fair to assume that if they're doing this, it would be a major character that we've known since s1, so that discounts Robin and Max. - Additionally, given the composition of the final shot of s4, I think it's reasonable to assume that this character would be in that final shot, because they would have a significant role to play in s5. That cuts out Lucas and Dustin as well. - I'll also say that we can cut out El and Will, since their powers are (under this specific interpretation) already accounted for. - That leaves the remaining options as: Nancy, Jonathan, and Mike. - And, I mean... Mike's the one who's in the middle of that final shot, just as much as Will is. Mike's the one who always knows weird random stuff about the Upside Down and about El's powers. Mike's the one whose plans always work out. Mike's the only one who has never managed to land a punch/at least not managed to land a punch in the A plot of a season climax. Mike's the one whose emotions are a total mystery to the audience (outside of those who engage in intense rewatching and analysis to pick it apart lol). And… Mike’s the one who’s always depicted in a trio with El and Will (I know this is love triangle imagery, but it could potentially have a double meaning). - My point being-- if all of my previous reasoning/interpreting is accurate, then Mike is the only character who makes any sense in this role.

Also, just talking about logistics here-- in order to be comprehensible to audience members who are not about to sit down and rewatch the show a million times in order to pick up on subtle clues and hints, there are a few issues that are going to require a decent amount of screen time in order to explain/develop in s5. To my mind, (outside of ship dynamics) those are:

Where is Max? Why can't El find her?

What is Will's connection to the Upside Down? Did the Demogorgon really take Will in s1? Why is Henry/the Mind Flayer so focused on him?

Why is the Upside Down stuck in time/why and how did it start looking like Hawkins?

What the hell is going on in Mike Wheeler's head?

How will everybody react to the Upside Down and its monsters now that they're bound to start becoming common knowledge around Hawkins?

How are they going to deal with the military? What is going to happen to El if her location is compromised? How will this impact the fight against Henry/the Upside Down?

What is the relationship between Henry and the shadow monster/Mind Flayer? Is it possible for the gang to kill/destroy/incapacitate both? How will they do that?

My point is, there's one question on this list that doesn't seem to be connected into the Upside Down plot in any way-- and that's point 4. The question about Mike. Because realistically speaking, Stranger Things has a Mike Wheeler-shaped problem. He's a protagonist every season, and he's literally equally sharing the centre of the screen with Will in the final shot of s4, so if we're getting a Will Byers protagonist moment in s5, I think it's safe to suggest that we're also getting a Mike Wheeler protagonist moment.

But generally speaking, people don't want a Mike Wheeler protagonist moment, because people don't like him. And obviously that's because the underlying issues that he's going through have been hidden from plain view, but, like... you don't do that for no reason. Narratively speaking, you only do that if you're amping up for a big reveal.

And, yes. Mike and Will getting together would absolutely be a massive reveal and I can fully understand why they wouldn't want to spoil it... but. To get people to care about Mike again, and to believe that he "deserves" Will, they need to devote time and narrative space to explaining Mike's emotional state, both regarding his sexuality, and regarding whatever mental health issues he's struggling with. And they could have put more of this in s4! Mike and Will had FOUR heart to hearts, discounting the van scene. They very much could have had Mike express some of his (likely) experiences with depression and/or PTSD, without having to show their hand about his sexuality/feelings for Will. Doing so would have helped the audience have more sympathy for/understanding of Mike, AND would have significantly cut down on the ground they have to cover with his character in s5.

Because... they're going to need to take up a fair amount of time in s5 to show all of the stuff they need to cover with Mike if they actually are intending to follow through with him being queer and also, like, not beloathed by a large swath of the audience, they're going to need to connect his emotional issues to the Upside Down/A plot somehow. Which they can absolutely do! Henry's whole thing is perfect for that. And it worked with Max-- but there's a difference.

Because, with Max, her experiences with Henry/Vecna's curse were used to give the audience new information to help solve the mystery of the season. But we don't need that again. And... sure, Mike could get cursed/attacked and learn something useful in the fight against Henry, in addition to showcasing all the stuff that's going on inside his head, but given that Will's back in town and is already psychically linked with Henry/the Mind Flayer... I mean, it seems more natural to have that dynamic fall to Will?

This is a lot of talking, but my POINT is... they did not have to hold Mike's emotional state so close to their chests. Let's be real-- they could have at least started to outline the idea that Mike might be struggling with mental health issues, and nobody who isn't already reading the writing on the wall for Mike/Will would be jumping to assume it meant he was struggling with any gay feelings. Like, let's be absolutely real here: they could have had Mike outright say "I don't know, it's like you left and all of a sudden I didn't have the energy to do anything all I could do was sit around and miss you" to Will and people would have understood it as "ohhhh he was depressed because he missed El/has trauma about El disappearing on him/leaving him".

So, if we're reading Mike correctly-- if he's struggling with mental health issues and they're putting in all the little clues and hints to it that we're picking up on/that will be obvious on a rewatch after some huge reveal... then whatever he's going through has to tie into the supernatural plot in a big way. And, more than that, it needs to be linked to it in a way that is surprising enough/enough of a twist to warrant all this secrecy about it.

AND (and this is a hill I am prepared to die on)... Will and El are both main characters, but so is Mike. The plot would not have started without Will. The plot would not have started without El. But also... the plot would not have started without Mike. Without Mike things are totally different, because whoever found El instead would not have been the exact combination of nurturing and feral that made s1 Mike hide her in his basement/believe her the instant she implied she even maybe knew how to find Will. And that's just the first thing that he did which unquestionably pushed the plot in the direction it's going. There's a reason he shares centre screen with Will at the end of s4 (after El had her extended closeup because I'm sure she's going to continue having her protagonist moment in s5, AS SHE SHOULD). Mike isn't just a love interest. He's a protagonist in his own right-- this is his coming of age story, just as much as it is Will's and El's. And, while it's entirely possible that they might have a plan that includes him being the only one of the trio without any particular personal connection to the supernatural plot, I do think it's worth considering that, just as is the case for Will and El, it's at least possible that Mike might have a plotline outside of his romantic relationships, and that, as the third protagonist/third leg of the protagonist trio... it's at least possible that said plotline might have direct ties to the supernatural A plot.

(Also, yes, the ending shot does also suggest that Hop, Joyce, Nancy, and Jonathan are also protagonists for s5-- I feel like this tracks with their roles in s1, and I fully expect them to play major roles in s5, but if this is actually a coming of age story, then it's the Party who are, really, the ones spending this whole time coming of age. That's why I'm making the distinction.)

I bring all of this up, because I believe that it lends context to why I think it is possible that Eddie's Vecna actually references/foreshadows Mike, in particular's, s5 role.

Mike as Vecna

So, here's the thing. If Mike did create the Upside Down, or at least the shadow monster, then he (or at least his repressed emotions and/or dark thoughts) is an antagonistic force in the show. That doesn't mean he's bad or evil (Will was an antagonistic force in s2, and he's sort of the exact opposite of bad or evil). Meaning that it would make sense to foreshadow him as an antagonist, even if ultimately he is a protagonist/on the side of the rest of the gang.

Returning to what we know about Vecna from the show, I'd like to combine it with some of the common theories/ideas that I've seen floating around regarding Mike's potential plot/future in s5.

First of all, Eddie's Vecna is shown hiding among the cultists. Mike obviously doesn't have a cult, although, if he is (unintentionally) the cause of all the Upside Down business, he is hiding in plain sight, both to the other characters and to the audience.

^ Bringing back this screenshot for absolutely no reason at all

I would also point out that Mike is the only character, of the viable list (even expanded back out to include Will and El) of those who could even maybe have played the role in creating/influencing the Upside Down, who is also a member of the Hellfire Club. By which I mean, Mike might not actually be in a cult, but Hawkins at large sure thinks he is.

Now, obviously, Mike isn't dead/hasn't been killed by anybody. But everybody is always talking about all of he death flags around Mike coming into s5, and I, at least, am of the opinion that he can't die permanently (for the same reason that Will and El can't perma-die-- all of them are way too self-sacrificial and willing to throw their lives away for everyone else, so killing them would literally just be them... doing what they always do, which is not ideal for a death scene, especially in a show where the death of major characters is used as infrequently as it is in Stranger Things). If he dies and then comes back to life, or at least seems to have died, this might fulfill the "undead" requirement.

Obviously, how the issue of Kas would come up in this storyline, would be much more questionable than in Henry's. If I'm on the right track here, though, I wouldn't really expect us to know at this point, because it would likely come up in s5 anyway. What I will say is that, if I were to speculate about s5... since Mike is the leader of the Party, and Kas was Vecna's lieutenant, if this is the direction they're going, then I would expect one of the Party members (probably not Will or El because I have some... thoughts about them in the context of the Vecna analogy) to play the role. However, I really can't see any of them intentionally killing/betraying Mike, so my best guess is that if this is happening, it's going to be more a thing of Mike self-sacrificing/endangering himself in order to protect one of the Party members, rather than them intentionally/personally striking the blow. That's SUPER speculative, though, and not founded in very much except... Mike's character as a whole. Also, in D&D's lore, all that was left of Vecna after Kas had killed him, besides the Hand and the Eye, was a pile of ashes-- which fits really seamlessly into Mike's narration of his D&D character dying a fiery, self-sacrificial death at the end of Will's campaign.

Eddie's Vecna is a spellcaster/dark wizard, which are terms that would fit anyone, Mike included, in the scenario where they created/significantly influenced the Upside Down/shadow monster.

In terms of Mike's appearance, obviously he does not appear shrivelled and desiccated (though we'll have to see what s5 brings on that front), but I will note that there are a LOT of theories about Mike losing an arm and possibly an eye as well. Additionally, Mike's left eye, in particular, is often shrouded in shadow. I've already written a different post about that, so I won't go too into detail, but you can look at it here.

^ A sample of some of the left eye shadows

If the theories about Mike creating the Upside Down or at least the shadow monster are accurate, then that fulfills the D&D Vecna's backstory of having built a dark empire before his undeath.

In the context of Mike, I also think it's interesting that one of the things D&D's Vecna is known for is his "dark secrets". Like... I mean, we all know Mike is full of secrets. And it's very likely that they're "dark"-- not necessarily in the way that D&D Vecna's secrets are dark, but more so in the way of, like, mental health issues can be very dark when you're living through them. I mean... Max had "dark secrets" this season, too (though, obviously, totally different in nature and context than Mike's), but the narrative difference (outside of all the cool character stuff they were doing with Max-- this is not a Max post so I won't get too into it, but I just want to make it super clear that Max has a LOT of interesting stuff going on in s4 in her own right) is that those came to light, while Mike's stayed hidden.

Also... okay let me just put this here:

(Link to the site I got that from is in the Vecna in D&D section)

"The godlike supremacy they crave". Does that... not sound like Henry? I mentioned Henry turning into a Demogorgon back in the Henry as Vecna section of this post, but... I think I'm just saying that it could legitimately be happening? I don't know. Maybe I'm just being overly enticed by the idea of Henry's hubris making him believe that he's the one in control of the Upside Down/the shadow monster/Mind Flayer when, in reality, the truth is that he's simply blinded to what's happening to him by his own arrogance and ambition.

Anyway... finally, I'll point out that D&D's Vecna is also known for his "formidable temper". And, like... I just... okay, so a lot of characters in Stranger Things have tempers and anger issues. But the thing with Mike's is that it's portrayed... kind of differently? Like, if you push Jonathan or Steve hard enough on the right pressure points, they'll snap and physically fight you (we've seen it), and El's basically the same except that she generally has the psychic force to skip the fight and simply toss you aside like a ragdoll. If you push Will or Nancy or Hopper hard enough on the right pressure points, they'll get sarcastic and frustrated and snippy (and depending on who you are, Hopper and maybe also Nancy might also punch you lbr-- here's hoping for Nancy punching someone out in s5). But Mike?

a) Mike's kind of constantly on the verge of getting mad (except, typically, when he's alone with Will and usually also El pre-s4). He's annoyed by everything, prickly towards basically everyone unless he knows them very well, and easily upset if he doesn't get his way/doesn't feel consulted about what's happening. None of which erases his positive qualities, and all of which are explainable, but it's undeniable that there's an angry element to his character.

b) When Mike does actually get properly mad, he shoots to kill. "What is WRONG with you?" "It's not MY fault you don't like girls!" "She didn't LOOK fine...", like. Every season, he says something so harsh it leaves the other person/people speechless. And that's NOT to say that Mike's a bad kid. He's a child who has suffered a lot of trauma, and who was already prone to fits of annoyance before all the bad stuff started happening. Of course he lashes out. AND it does seem like he's making an attempt to improve especially as of s4 (probably because the rain fight really scared him tbh). I'm not saying he's bad, I'm just saying that one of his flaws, which he does seem to be working on, is that he has a tendency to get angry and say things that he might mean in the moment, but which are more hurtful than he wants them to be.

c) I find the scene where Mike breaks down in Hopper's arms in s2 incredibly telling. Obviously, this was Mike under extreme circumstances. I'm not suggesting that level of rage and pain is Mike's typical baseline level. But what I am saying is... that breakdown did not develop overnight. That was something Mike was building towards since s1e1. And then he lets it out with fists and screams and sobs. And then he boxes it away and gets back to plotting how to stop the Mind Flayer and save Will like nothing happened. And nobody brings it up ever again (I mean... let's be honest... the only person who WOULD 100% have brought it up later was passed out in a drug-induced nap at the time, so it's very likely that Will doesn't know about that breakdown... just like he probably doesn't know about the quarry). And just like every other character, Mike keeps getting traumatized on top of all the pain that caused that original breakdown. And...

I don't know. I guess I'm just saying that it's undeniable that Mike has a temper, though he's not the only character who does. And that Mike's inevitable s5 breakdown will probably involve rage as well as tears. Does Mike have a "formidable and hideous temper"? I don't know. I think that sort of depends on who is judging. I am pretty sure that Mike thinks he does, though.

And... lastly... this is just a parallel that I thought was interesting, which probably doesn't mean anything, probably it's just a coincidence, but I'm already deep enough into this analysis that I've lost my mind so...

^ s1 Mike covers his left eye while indicating/faking a headache

^ s4 Eddie covers his left eye with an upside down hand to mimic being Vecna

The Eye and Hand of Vecna in This Context

Something that has been bothering me is this:

Mike, Will, and El are obviously paralleled to two trios from other franchises, with Will and El, respectively, as the "head"/primary character in the trio.

They're paralleled to Harry/Ron/Hermione (no, I don't like talking about HP parallels very much because //gestures at everything about JKR with my very trans hands, but I don't think that discomfort on my end negates the obvious parallels), with Will generally functioning as Harry (although I'm aware that Will and Mike get the Ron/Hermione treatment in the airport), with everything to do with his connection with Henry.

They're also paralleled to Luke/Leia/Han, with El generally functioning as Luke.

So, the thing that has been bothering me is: if Mike is just as much a protagonist as Will and El are, and not just a romantic interest for the two of them, why isn't there also a trio in which Mike gets to play the leading role? And, uh... so... I have a thought about that, but it requires me to dig a bit deeper into the lore behind the artifacts left after Kas (nominally) killed Vecna in D&D lore: the Hand and the Eye.

The Hand of Vecna:

The Eye of Vecna:

(link to the site where I took these screenshots from is included in the section about Vecna in D&D)

So... if (and I'm very aware that it's a big if) Mike is going to turn out to have been foreshadowed by Eddie's Vecna, then I believe that this is the trio he's at the head of. Vecna/Eye of Vecna/Hand of Vecna, with El as the Hand and Will as the Eye.

I mean, the Hand's thing is strength (El's telekinesis lends strength to her/anybody she is helping use it for-- ie. flipping the car in s3, where flipping it back over requires multiple people and Mike's lever system). It improves attacks during combat (again... El's telekinesis sort of makes her the gang's heavy hitter). It can apparently also freeze creatures (we see El do this at least twice in s1-- she freezes Troy in place after he tries to attack Mike, and freezes the Demogorgon in place when it's trying to attack the Party). And it can be used to cast a number of different spells including Teleport (El can't exactly teleport, but she can use the mind void to travel anywhere a given person is in her mind) and some necromantic spells.

Interestingly, although they're not spells the Hand can provide according to screenshot above, bringing back the dead, like El does to Max at the end of s4, can be done using a necromantic spell in D&D.

And the Eye... I mean. Truesight is right there. But in general, it's a lot about being able to see through just about everything (including time, which is pretty interesting), with fits pretty well with Will as the spy/Will as the sensor of all things Upside Down. The spells it can cast are pretty interesting as well, and do make me wonder if the fact that Will was (or possibly still ever so slightly is?) part of the hivemind might give him some ability to control what the hivemind does? I don't know, but it's a thought.

Also, the effect of using the Eye is really interesting, given the fact that Will was infected by the shadow monster/Mind Flayer right at the moment when he tried to order it to "go away" (failed Dominate Monster?), and then the whole possession got worse/his soul was almost consumed leaving him essentially a puppet under the control of the shadow monster/Mind Flayer after he attempted to spy back (possibly failed Clairvoyance?). Also, fun fact: Disintegrate causes a "thin green ray" to "spring from your finger" in order to turn a target to dust. I can't help but think about Will the Wise's green fireballs.

I don't know… I just think the parallels are worth thinking about.

To be 100% clear, I'm not saying that Will and El's powers/abilities come from Mike (just like in the HP parallel, Will paralleling Harry/the Chosen One doesn't take away from El or Mike's positions as co-protagonists with him, or in the SW parallel, El paralleling Luke doesn't mean that she's the only protagonist/Chosen One in ST). Nor am I suggesting that Mike in any way owns Will or El. I'm only pointing out that there are some striking similarities between their powers/experiences and the effects of Hand and Eye in D&D, so if the theories about Mike creating the Upside Down/shadow monster are correct, then... those similarities are interesting.

(But, hey, I mean, fun fact-- if this is actually the intended read, then all three are paralleling powerful wizards in popular culture, which is fun.)

Also also... something I've always found super weird is that Will's eyes go brown when he's possessed, never black. Which... is odd, because black is traditional for possessions, and it would look more unnatural, it would align more with the shadow monster's colours, and it would be a really clear signal to the audience that there's something wrong with the colour of his eyes because as it stands, unless you already know that Will has hazel eyes, nothing seems off (especially because the characters never mention the change either). I mean, the shadow monster is black/dark grey. Henry's eyes are blue and never go darker than that. But Mike's eyes are just about that same shade of brown that Will's were when they were at their darkest...

I mean, if nothing else, Mike as Vecna and Will and El as the Eye and Hand would explain why Mike keeps losing (being cut off from) both of them.

And, I mean... we all know Will tends to hang out on Mike's left, but so does El (it's just less obvious with El, because she also has a motif of facing Mike head on). Largely (though not always-- if there's a true pattern, I can't tell what it is), when they're not in this alignment is when they're disagreeing/not on the same page/not pretending to be on the same page with Mike. I mean... you know. Something something, Vecna's left hand and left eye?

No, Seriously, Will and El are So Often on Mike's Left

^ Just a sample of the relevant shots

The Good News

Now that I've gotten through all of this, I do want to say that, even if Eddie's Vecna is foreshadowing something about Mike's role in the supernatural plot of s5, I don't believe they're setting him up to be a true villain. Like... if Mike did actually create the Upside Down/the shadow monster/in some way impact them, I very much do not believe that he is aware of it as of s4, nor do I believe that he would ever intentionally hurt any of the people that the Upside Down has tormented all these years. Well, except himself [gunshot]

Obviously he would be absolutely ripped open if he learned any of what happened was in any way his fault. He'd be absolutely gutted. If you're a "Mike needs to have a sobbing, screaming breakdown in s5" kind of person, man would you get your wish and then some.

My point is, even if they're setting up a twist where Mike('s repressed emotions) have been an antagonistic force all along, I very much do not believe that Mike is being set up as an antagonist, in his own right.

This is where I'm going to bring it back to the fact that we don't actually know what Dustin or Erica were rolling to do. Most likely, in the game itself, they were rolling for various attacks. But we don't hear that. And we don't actually hear Eddie ever say that Vecna was killed, it's just implied from the context of the scene. Which to me means that the ending is not set in even analogous stone. If Vecna does foreshadow Mike's role in the supernatural plot, then all we know is that an Eleven alone can't defeat/solve whatever's going wrong with him, but a twenty (whatever is defined as a twenty) can.

By which I mean, I don't think Mike has to die in the end in order to fit with the analogy.

Also! I think it's really important that Eddie's D&D session is the only one that we see Mike participating in, where he doesn't do any active narrating. Obviously he narrates for the Demogorgon and Thessalhydra campaigns. However, he also takes over narrating for Will's campaign, when he decides to light a fire and sacrifice himself to destroy the Juju hoard.

In Eddie's campaign, though, he follows along. His PC 0's out (which could reference a future physical injury, or an inability on his part to keep fighting for some other reason), and they call a time out to discuss. During that conversation, Dustin specifically asks Mike for his opinion on what they should do (which I have some Thoughts about in the broader context of Dustin's characterization in s4, but those are so wildly outside the bounds of this post-- I'll make a different post later), and Mike really does act like a good leader. He asks Dustin and Erica for context on their HP, and assesses that if they keep fighting it will be difficult, but in the end he tells them that the call is up to them, because their characters are the only ones left on the battle field. That's all he says about the game. And I think the fact that all he says is that the fight will be "difficult" is really good news, because it means that the ending is more open.

Finally, it's possible that if Mike is actually the person being foreshadowed by the use of Vecna in Eddie's campaign, and if Will and El are intentionally paralleled to the Eye and the Hand respectively, then Mike's lost hand/eye signals may not necessarily literally mean that he's going to lose his body parts, but rather that he's going to lose or feel like he's lost both Will and El one more time before everything is over.

The Bad News

IF any of this is correct-- specifically, IF Mike did create the shadow monster or the Upside Down or even just influenced it in some way... even if Henry was somehow exercising power over it to make it more dangerous than necessary... I'm just not convinced that everybody would be able to forgive him.

I mean... Will, obviously would. That's kind of a foregone conclusion, especially since at least in the scenario I'm speculating about, none of what happened would be anything Mike knew he was in any way complicit in until after the fact.

I also think El would probably be able to understand pretty quickly given that she knows what it's like to do something without knowing you can do it, and to have to come to terms with the fact that others have suffered as a result. That being said, if we DO get Mike in the scenario I've been outlining, and then we DON'T get a parallel to the s1 "I'm the monster" "no you're not the monster-- you saved me" scene, except with Mike saying that he's the monster, and El assuring him that he's not because there's no such thing as being a monster or a superhero, but he was her first ever friend so she could never consider him a monster? I'll sue.

A lot of the others I'm way more up in the air about, because I really think it would come down to a lot of context in how it was portrayed, whether the others could manage to get into a somewhat normal groove with him ever again (though I highly doubt they'd have the Party end the show broken up, so I suspect they, at least, would find a way to come to terms with what happened).

But really... it's Nancy that concerns me? In literally any scenario where Mike might have had ANYTHING to do with the Upside Down in any capacity outside of what we've explicitly seen in the show. Whether he knew what he was doing or not. Whether Henry was the one orchestrating things in s1-s4/presumably at least early s5 or not. I just...

I can see a path where she could forgive him, right? Though I'm really worried that's a path where she would forgive him and take all that blame and put it onto herself because he was he little brother and she didn't notice.

But I just... I don't know.

I just know how horribly she's raked herself over the coals over Barb's death ever since s1, and I just worry about whether she would be able to accept that, in the scenario I've been outlining, Mike didn't actually mean to do anything/couldn't actually have stopped it because he didn't know it was happening. Because I suspect that in order for Nancy to get to that place, she'd have to confront the fact that SHE isn't at fault for what happened to Barb, either. That she did not do anything wrong (at least, not wrong enough that she deserves to be still agonizing over it four years later) by telling Barb to go home that night. That there was no way Nancy could have known that something bad was happening to Barb, and that the fact that she didn't stop what was happening BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T KNOW THERE WAS ANYTHING FOR HER TO STOP, doesn't mean she's in any way at fault.

And... I REALLY hope we're going to get to see Nancy confronting that head on in s5. But it just.... concerns me in the context of these theories about Mike's potential supernatural role.

#mike wheeler #byler #my analysis #I feel like there HAS to be a tag for all this Mike-and-the-Upside-Down stuff?#but I legitimately don't know what it is #long post #<- as always //sigh #I don't know what brevity is I guess #also #if Mike DOES have literally any sort of supernatural abilities #I fully believe that Karen knows/suspects somehow #100% because of that super coded “I never want you to feel like you have to hide anything from me” conversation #which YEAH does read like she's encouraging him that he can tell her if he's queer #but like #I've always thought she picked a SUPER weird time to have that conversation??#“oh your best friend who I suspect you might have feelings for is missing? Okay well just so you know it's okay if you're gay”#like #just a really weird time when Mike isn't even a little volunteering that info #but if she knew somehow that Mike had supernatural abilities + knew somehow that something supernaturally fishy had gone down with Will #I feel like yeah no that would be the exact RIGHT time to try and assure him he could tell her “anything” lol #which now I'm thinking about this the context of Troy's “killed by some other queer” comment #idk idk idk I'm just thinking thoughts at this point

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