#when your 2 faves feed you all season long
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This whole Viktor thing. Well, it's a pretty big deal, right? Should we say something? I mean, make a formal gesture? Welcome him as brothers?
LUTHER & VIKTOR
━ in season 3 of The Umbrella Academy
#luther hargreeves#viktor hargreeves#tuaedit#the umbrella academy#tua#viktorhargreevesedit#lutherhargreevesedit#theumbrellacademyedit#brellygifs#dailynetflix#luther x viktor#userbecca#fiveviktorklaus#number5theboy#userzaynab#userraven#tom hopper#elliot page#when your 2 faves feed you all season long#i'm confused by the amount of people in my activity acting like their good relationship is new#bc it's not!! luther was team viktor all through s2. he was so supportive and going out of his way to advocate for him#and make sure his voice was heard by the rest of the family#he hates himself for letting him down in s1 like viktor has BEEN his guy#so this was all v satisfying to me#tua spoilers#tua s3 spoilers#tuas3#tuaparallel#*
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Belated welcome to the fandom, I am making my way through Rough Night and I am obsessed. Was curious: how would you rank the gg seasons and why? Fave character and the one you hate the most? Thoughts on 2.13 - a terrible narrative decision or a way to jump start many more episodes of delicious angst?
Aw, hi anon! Thank you for the welcome. I’m excited to be here. 😁 And thank you for your kind words about Rough Night! That’s so sweet. 🥹
I really love all the seasons in their own ways. There’s something so special about each one. Ranking them is hard for me. If I HAD to, I’d say 2,1, 4, 3 – strictly for quantity and quality of Brio interactions.
Season 1 is just so full of moxy. It’s endearing and why I kept watching the show. Everyone looks so cute in it and their excitement to be working on this set really came through. I love their wigs and I love their outfits and I love their conspiratorial energy about this naughty thing they’re doing. I even love dumb Dean and his ridiculous schemes to keep his unhappy wife.
Season 2 deepened every character. It gave us glimpses into just how unhappy Beth and Dean’s marriage had been and for how long. She never looked at him the way Ruby looks at Stan. It gave us a better view into the disproportionate friendship Beth and Ruby have had for years. How Beth would choose her above everyone else every time, and how she expected Ruby to do the same. Foreshadowing for season 4. Of course, the ✨Brio energy✨ in this season is unmatched. It’s magic. The way they were so many things to each other here and how poorly they handled it all. 2.13, in my opinion, was an excellent narrative decision. Everything Brio had been to each other in this season led up to it and made perfect sense. It showed Rio for who he is – deeply emotional, imperfect, lonely, easily hurt and petty when he is. It was our first glimpse into his humanization. He wasn’t a smirky, all-knowing, impervious figure anymore. He was made into a man who feels compassion and confusion and attraction and wants validation just like the rest of us. Season two showed us just how much he NEEDS validation and how hurt he gets when he doesn’t receive it.
Idk why people don’t like season 3. Everyone loves angst in fic and this whole season was Brio angst. The way this man suffered feeds my soul. This is a much more emotionally complicated season and I love that for all of us. 😆 The indecision, the duality, the denial, the deep deep hurt. The way he made her watch while he killed someone. “My girl.” He said it to Beth, not Lucy. He held her eyes and brought a lamb to slaughter to show Beth she wasn’t above causing someone’s death. She wasn’t better than he is. And in turn, the way we got small glimpses into how Beth thinks about him when he isn’t there. Her scene teaching Lucy’s bf to shoot and what her holding that knowledge implied. How closely she was coached and guided. She was remembering as she took her aim and fired. Remembering all he’s taught her and remembering the last time she fired a weapon. The depth of her denial is so frustrating to watch because we see the care and nostalgia there for her. She just refuses to acknowledge it.
Season 4 was unmatched Rio personal development. If anything, I think THAT was probably the most out of character and out of previous scope thing to happen. The catalyst of Nick made sense but also was kind of barely believable as a plot line. It recast Rio as much less in control than we all assumed him to be, and made him much more subservient to his lonely predicament. Ultimately though, I buy it because it’s what leads Brio back to each other. And that’s all we’ve ever wanted. Rio, who’s held on to so much anger to try and maintain control, just gave it all up. Let it drift and wash away. “We can do whatever we want.” Sir! Pleeeaaaseeee! 😭😭😭 The way he did all the gestures. The way he self-sacrificed for her. Set aside all shreds of ego for her. I will tolerate all the trash boyfriends and all the bicycle bullies for the way Rio showed Beth all his softness. I wiiiiish we would have gotten to see her soften to him too. Our white whale.
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I really really hafta change my phone lol (it’s phased out iirc and stuck with an iOS v.12 🤔) also i miss my soccer bois 🥺🥺🥺 I haven’t consumed any bllk content up until a while ago, while scrolling through my Pinterest feed—i came back to my fave volleyball idiots and binge-watched s2 through s4 in Tagalog dub (skipped the first season coz criiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinge af)
Also dw, you’re not alone in feeling tired ughhhhhhhh _(:3 」∠)_ that’s why i took another month-long break away from tumblr coz we’re getting a lot busier this December 🙂💔🤦🏻♀️ (i wanna throw away that whiteboard full of orders /hj)
Ellaaaaaaaaa, I've plans to watch hq with my sister too. Ofc we always Start with season 2.
Babe take you time while buying a new phone. I could buy a new one but i didn't because I'm very fond of it. And when I noticed that my phone is slowly like yk having hiccups, I like shifted all my writing stuff to pc.
What I'm trying to say phones are precious i love my phn and pls pick a model that you find your liking despite its downsides.
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violet, snowdrop, lilac, primrose, orchid, daisy, lotus, bluebell, tulip, marigold, poppy, tigerlily, sunflower, lavender, freesia<33
Hi anon! Oooh boy okay, I'll try to hit them all briefly:
violet— do you like to cook or bake? if so, what is it that you like to make?
I WISH I did, in my mind I totally romanticize cooking and baking but I actually just don't enjoy doing it. I want to so bad, I love the idea of myself doing it, but I just don't lol
snowdrop— would you say that you have been in love before?
I have!
lilac— is there anyone you currently miss right now? if so, who?
So many people, like actually most of the people I care about currently live 2+ hours away, which!! Sucks!! And at the top of that list is someone particularly special 💕
primrose— how long does it take for you to get ready for the day what does your routine usually consist of?
AhAAAA recently I have been snoozing my alarm so much that I can get ready and out the door in 10-15 minutes? But IDEALLY I get up at 5:45 and out the door around 6:30. Recently? .......up at 6:25, leaving at 6:40 lmao.
But my morning routine on a work day is to do my skincare and brush my teeth, put on my makeup and decide whether my curls are able to be tamed or if I need to put them in a scrunchie, feed my cats (who have been meowing and weaving in and out of my legs for every step of the process so far), take my meds and eat my yogurt and possibly something else, and then hopefully: leave for work on time lol.
orchid— when you're being extremely quiet, what are you typically thinking of?
Honestly it's usually work lol. I am very often thinking about work. I've been thinking a lot recently about how like,,,my job doesn't need to be my life, but it's something so integral to who I am right now that it's hard to separate what I do from anything else. I can't decide whether it's good or bad-—to feel like my identity is so tied to that. It's something I love and something I'm good at. But i also have to have a life outside of it, and I have to feel okay about myself on the days I don't do my job particularly well. Anyway—that's a long way of answering the question. But yeah, when I'm thinking, it's often work lol
daisy— what is your idea of the perfect date?
Laughter and long talks and my favorite person
lotus— what is your favorite color and in what shade? e.g. sage green, navy blue, ect.
Honestly I don't think I have a favorite color? Because I like them all in different moments! But the other day a coworker told me she noticed I wear a lot of dark green, and that somehow made me like it more?
bluebell— do you have any pets? if so, what are their names?
I do! Two kitties named Melody and Harmony
tulip— do you wear makeup? if so, how do you like to wear/style it?
My makeup is fairly simple, mostly because I never learned how to do anything more than that. But I just do some foundation, mascara and lipgloss most days!
marigold— do you wear any kind of jewelry on a regular basis? if so, what kind?
For work I do—I usually wear the same heart necklace most days, and I switch out my earrings all the time cause I have a couple I like.
poppy— out of the four seasons, which season of the year is your favorite and why?
I normally answer autumn, because I love the leaves and the weather, but also it's a time of getting colder and darker which—right now, just doesn't sound good to me so this time I'll say spring! For warmer days and longer days and things coming back to life.
tigerlily— do you have any favorite quotes from any movies, tv shows, books, or poetry? (or from people in real life)
SO many, but I'll give you whichever one pops up first when I scroll through my faves:
An excerpt from Good Bones by Maggie Smith:
Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.
sunflower— in your opinion, what is the best photo on your phone of? (serious or non-serious answers)
Oh man I have no idea,,,,maybe the one where my cats look like they're kissing lol
lavender— what is currently on your mind (aside from this ask game)?
I have to solidify my thesis topic and do some work but I have had the headache to end all headaches today and I don't want to do itttttt
Also—saw my grandfather today and he's not doing great, so just distantly worrying about him.
freesia— what do you want people to remember you for? (serious or non-serious answers)
I can't think of anything specific other than kindness and laughter <3
(from an ask game I can't find the link to now!)
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Dabihawks Fanfic Recs
I was recently asked what my favorite dabihawks fic is, and I'm really terrible at picking favorites, so I scrolled through my bookmarks and picked out some of my all-time favorites. This list is certainly not comprehensive and also skips anything in the variety of <5k rated E (if you know what I mean ;) ) and also skips the fact that I generally go "I have this author in my bookmarks so if I want more of their work I can just go there" (stupid, short cited.) Anyway, preamble done, these are (a few) of my personal faves in order of when I opened the tab while scrolling through bookmarks.
(Part 2)
By Any Other Name by SatelliteBlue
200k, Ongoing, Series
Through some freak accident of the universe, Dabi has been invited to compete on The Bachelorette. Have they actually seen his face? Surprisingly yes, and they still want him. For this season they apparently need a ‘bad boy’ to both balance out the hero contestant (why in hell is Hawks involved?) and to trash talk the show in interviews to appeal to audiences who don’t like the scripting. Getting sent on a vacation away from his annoying bandmates to complain and eat as much free food as he wants? Sold.
This fic is still ongoing and long but so so worth it. It's hilarious. The story follows Dabi and Hawks on the show, but also ends each week on the show by switching to everyone watching the show back at home. The plot is so much more than the Bachelorette, too, but to explain how so would spoil some of the fun. Everyone is not only perfectly in character, but the conflicts are also just amazingly executed. I can't recommend this fic enough and I am soooo excited to see how it comes together. The twists have been incredible so far and I'm curious to see how it all comes together.
The bird and the bees by Vridelian (@vriddy)
1k, Completed
Hawks may be a garden-stealing gnomehead, but that doesn't mean Dabi will just let him get kidnapped, right under Dabi's nose.
A rescue mission told in 100 words drabbles.
What it says on the tin--this fic is short and cute. Vri has a lot of amazing works, but this is the one I read when I'm sick or sleepy. It's like watching your favorite kid's movie when you're down. Also, she's probably going to laugh at me for picking this fic of all her fics to rec or kill me <3
steal your heart by darlingest (@darlingestwrites)
60k, Completed
When infamous thief Hawks announces that he is going to steal the heart of Endeavor's son, everyone expects him to prey on Shoto Todoroki - nobody suspects Touya to be the actual target.
This was one of those fics that even when I dropped off reading dabihawks for a few months, I still consumed every chapter like my life depended on it. They are a delightful mix of flirty and slightly unhealthy in the way good enemies to lovers should be. Also, the end of some of these chapters really left me sweating, and the fic is a nice length, too for long but not too long a read
we could be antiheroes by caandlelit (@caandlelit)
6k, Completed
‘Well. There was this study on intimacy,’ he begins, and Dabi interrupts him, ‘I’m gonna call security if you don’t shut up with that gay shit.’
or; exes sit in a jail cell and tackle 36 questions in order to stop the war
This fic is both hilarious and thoughtful, a favorite mix of mine. Short and excellently paced, I think about this one a good deal.
There and Back Again - A Villain's Tale by Todoroki Touya by RavenHawk
187k, Completed
Quirk History was a mandatory subject in every junior, middle and high school in the world, and Todoroki Touya didn't sleep through his whole education - he'll have you know he almost finished it, too.
So he shouldn't be quite so dumbfounded by the news, if, say, he was so fucking stupid as to let the Number 2 Pro Hero in Japan hit it raw in an alleyway in Hiroshima.
Really, he should be mature and take responsibility for his own mistakes.
Alternatively, he's going to roast a pigeon and feed it to the Hero Commission.
And then, have a completely new kind of mental breakdown because he's not ready to be a single parent.
I don't really read mpreg, but man I read RavenHawk's work. They are a phenomenal writer and so so prolific, I could recommend everything they've written. This fic is a beautiful love story and a really wonderful arc for Touya <3
Bamboo arrows and mourning hearts by TheyCallMeBol (@theycallmebol)
5k, Completed
Guard Captain Keigo has been visiting First Prince Touya's grave every single night for almost 7 years now.
And no hooded sad excuse of a grave robber is going to stop him now.
Or: a not slowburn at all of Guard Captain Keigo and the creepy but oddly charming grave-robber.
Short and beautiful, this fantasy AU is just what the heart needs. Not sure what to say about it other than that you could read it in half an hour, so you should just read it now.
my heart goes vroom vroom boom by crimsonseekers (@crimsonseekers)
5k, Completed, Series
“Right!” Hawks said, perking up. “I gotta be a good brother-in-law, I need to become the favorite Todoroki.”
“Well, focus on the end of the season, then you can focus on overtaking my spot as the clear and unsurpassable favorite.”
Hawks clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, slouching back in his chair. He opened his mouth to respond just as the waiter came over. “The season’s basically over anyway. ‘S like you said, it’s not as if there’s a big chance of some massive upheaval this late, y’know?”
or,
Dabi and Hawks are Formula One drivers. Crashes aren't anything too out of the usual in their profession, nothing too life-threatening, except when they suddenly are.
This is beat for beat an adaptation of a real event, so I suggest reading the fic, adoring it, and then looking up the video + the driver's interview about it afterward. Crim did an a m a z i n g adaptation of what he went through, and it makes for a perfect oneshot.
This feels like a nice number of fics, but I have another seven open in my other tabs still, so I will stop here and make a second post. Let me know if this is something people would want more of from me! Remember to leaves kudos + comments if you read these <3
#i'm still yet to read the last chapter of steal your heart because I've been in a funk but#i trust darlingest because she is phenomenal#yes i put my friends on my rec list!!#if i make another one i will add even more friends because i love them!!#maybe i will make a list for those oneshot rated E types heheh#dabihawks#dabihawks fic rec#bnha fic rec#bnha fic recs#dabihawks fanfic#dabi#hawks#todoroki touya#touya todoroki#takami keigo#keigo takami#oh i also have not read the series crim's work is part of#its on my to-read list haha#also most of these authors have other work#i totally recommend their other work as well!!#these are personal faves for biased reasons#they might have work that is different or appeals to you more so check out their pages#i linked those as well!!#crimsonseekers#darlingest#satelliteblue#theycallmebol#vridellian#ravenhawk
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Remember when you posted about Roger from Rent? God I love me a washed up rockstar going soft. I just. Been thinking about that Yknow
AHAHAHA I DO, ANON and i am sending incredibly toxic vibes to spotify for removing the rent obcr and therefore making it impossible to add "christmas bells" to my holiday playlist, therefore making it impossible for me to celebrate the season by listening to roger davis talk about how getting fat is the one vice he has left, therefore rendering my entire holiday season INFERIOR
ok first of all anon this message is superbly timed bc i finally got my shit together and collected all of MY soft washed-up rock star tidbits into a cohesive masterpost, so if you haven't already gotten to know my OCs Hunter and Kate, now's your chance!
but uhhhh YEAH SOFT WASHED-UP ROCK STARS!! my favorite kind 😎 (though soft rock stars in their prime are a very close second.) rock stars who've accumulated a huge collection of leftover tour t-shirts that don't cover their bellies anymore. squeezing into tight jeans only to find that they don't button anymore ... or zip ... or fit over their hips.
this trope is so good from so many angles but i think my faves are, in no particular order:
1. ANGSTY: soft washed-up rock stars who fell out into obscurity and don't know what to do with themselves now, and are using food to cope with that aimlessness and lack of purpose. living on takeout and frozen meals bc they never learned to cook out on the road and sleeping too much bc what else do they have to do? staying out of the spotlight bc they're self-conscious about the weight they've gained and how different they look and how nothing fits the way it used to and they're afraid of what the tabloids might say. maybe they're in denial and keep squeezing into those old clothes to keep up appearances, or maybe they retreat into oversized hoodies and sweats to hide their new figure. lots of comfort-eating, lots of angstily learning how to reposition their instrument against their plump belly or learning how to move in time with it now that they're bigger and softer. soothing their ills with fast food and sweets and maybe going home to visit family for a while to lick their wounds while their waistline continues to expand ...
2. OWNING IT: soft washed-up rock stars who've just decided fuck it, it's punk to be fat, no one cares what they're doing or what they look like now anyway, so what if they lEt ThEmSeLvEs gO. they're finally going to enjoy actual good food instead of convenience store meals on the road or late-night instant noodles in the studio. doing livestreams for fans on their social media that are sometimes music but more often are cooking videos about the fun new recipes they're getting into on the side. (josh ramsay of marianas trench is not soft OR washed-up but he does sometimes do really fun cooking videos on his instagram!) doing road trips to visit friends and other band members and looking softer and softer in each picture they post. reveling in their new size and indulgence and posting cheeky pics of shirts that are starting to ride up or tattoos that are stretching as they soften up.
3. FUCKING FINALLY: soft washed-up rock stars whose partners have just been WAITING for the day they settle down bc they have an agreement to start playing with some kinky stuff once they do, and while they relax and figure out what comes next for their career, they let their partner feed them up and they put on plenty of well-deserved weight and get a lot of mileage out of all their old skinny jeans and tight t-shirts that are now a few sizes too small 😏 AND THEN when the band reunites after a hiatus or for an anniversary tour or something, they go back fat and happy and get to have some long-distance fun with their partner via video calls of junk food at rest stops and long phone calls to tell them about all the parts of performing and touring that have changed with their new bigger body. OR their partner is ALSO in the band, so before the hiatus/break/whatever they got to tease each other with kinky stuff but it wasn't feasible or sustainable while their career was still active, so they get to indulge all those fantasies in their downtime and then when they go BACK on the road or get the band back together or whatever, they have an established routine they get to adapt to their tour life and explore in that environment instead. sleeping in tiny bus bunks except one of them is much bigger now and oh no, what if you have to lie on top of me ..... and you're 300 pounds ......
4. AND THEY WERE BANDMATES: OR, OR, a combination of these where bandmate A is crushing super hard on bandmate B while they're an active band, but also bandmate A keeps thinking about how much they want to feed bandmate B and how fucking hot bandmate B would be if they were chubby instead of rail-thin/if the little belly they hide under t-shirts were a bigger belly. but their crush is unrequited/they never make a move but then shit goes down and the band breaks up and they don't see each other for a couple years bc of what broke them up. but then they all start talking again gradually and decide to try again ... except that, due to either scenarios #1 or #2 from this list, bandmate B has gotten pretty chubby since they last saw each other, and bandmate A is DYING at how their soft, plump belly pushes at their t-shirts and how their thick hips and thighs fill out their tight jeans and how their round, full cheeks make them even more adorable than they did the last time they were together. the reunion brings them closer together until they start to fall for each other, and bandmate B is self-conscious about how bandmate A will see them now that they're heavier, but bandmate A is SUPER INTO IT and it is not a problem AT ALL.
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Okay I’m gonna ramble in your ask box lol.
Lots of people who are in Liz’s favor seem to place complete blame on Reddington for her death. What do you think of this? I personally don’t want to blame him completely because, while not coming into her life could’ve prevented all the tragedy and chaos that defined Liz’s life from happening, we also wouldn’t have a show if he hadn’t come into her life.
The people on Team Liz say that Red asking her to kill him is incredibly selfish. While I can see the logic in that argument, I don’t think that Red’s intentions were selfish.
What I think is that he basically gaslit himself for three decades. He said as much in his monologue to Dembe. But I do think it’s fucked up, nonetheless. Asking your pseudo-daughter to kill you and your pseudo-son to help is not right, even if you ARE dying.
(Why didn’t Dembe and Liz fight against this? Like really fight against it? I would have!)
To be completely honest, the episode really fucked me up. I don’t know what to think. Red is my fave, so how could I blame him? On the other hand, the Liz fans also have a very good point. Aaaaaaagh!
This show, man. 🤦🏻♀️
Never in my life has a TV show fucked me up so badly.
You know what’s REALLY hilarious? I actually have a WIP where both Liz and Tom have died at the hands of Ian Garvey and Red swoops in to raise Agnes himself. Never did I think that Agnes would actually become an orphan in canon.
Speaking of which, that poor girl. Agnes is gonna have to go to therapy when she’s older, mark my words. Red would pay for the therapy himself.
Omgggg I will take any opportunity to rant about the blacklist! Thaaaaanks
I think Red is definitely to blame for setting it all in motion by reintroducing himself into her life.
But also at some point we have to acknowledge that she played a big part in her own death. She continously ignored Red's warnings and was told time and time again how dangerous it was to look into her past. Yet she did it anyways. She started opening all these doors that put her (and all the people she loved) in danger.
In my opinion the characters are BOTH extremely selfish and stubborn. Which is a bad combo for one character to have let alone the 2 main characters lmao. Makes for a good show tho.
*****
I can totally see how people view Red's proposition as selfish. I get it.
But I also understand why he did it. Like you said Red is 100% a spy first, person second. AND THIS IS SOMETHING IVE WANTED TO TALK ABOUT FOR SO LONG. I HAVE EXAMPLES.
He views life as one big mission. He has fully committed himself to that mindset of "the mission comes first". When Madeleine Pratt gave information up to spare Red from being tortured. He said during his talk with Cooper after something along the lines of "in a moment of weakness, she gave me the coordinates." Most normal people wouldn't see concern for another person's well-being as weakness. But he does!!!
Same with that conversation he has with Tom when they're being hunted by Ian Garvey. He calls Tom unreliable. Tom says "I fell in love" and he responds "that's no excuse".
Reddington was fine with asking Liz to kill him and asking Dembe to help bc if he was in either of their shoes HE WOULD HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT A SECOND THOUGHT!!!
Its fucked up but like.... he's a fucked up guy. I don't know if redarina is true or not, but either way its obvious that his past is full of darkness and tragedy.
And to an extent (this is me going off script btw bc maybe I'm just feeding into my own headcannons) I think Dembe was more willing to go through with the plan because he's been in Red's world longer. He's bound to be at least a little fucked up and mission oriented because of how much time he's spent around Red ever since he was an impressionable youth.
As much as Dembe has influenced Reddington's life by helping him see the good in the world, it works the other way around too. Sorry but I could talk about Red and Dembe's relationship ALL DAY LONG BRO.
This show has me really messed up and honestly I'm still obsessed with it. I cant wait for s9!!
PLEASE YOUR FIC 💀💀💀 Atleast you might have some actual material to inspire you next season lmao. Cant wait to read it, if you post it!!
ALSO DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON AGNES THAT POOR CHILD I WILL CRY. DONT TEST ME. SHE'S GOING TO BE MESSED UP FOR LIFE.
#thanks for the ask this was so much fun#please my ask box is open for anyone to dump their blacklist thoughts ANYTIME#also i will be ranting about red and dembe's relationship even more now that the season is over#asks#the blacklist
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you can be my ride or die: a staggeringly long essay about a deceptively short appearance
(aka, pan’s personal depository of notes about prince william of ealdor.)
now that my fic is long since done and posted, i can finally transfer this monster piece of meta out of my google docs and onto my blog, where it can serve as an unasked-for, absurdly detailed, beginning-to-end analysis of my obscure fave.
(whose line ‘yeah, and i’m prince william, of ealdor’ is still the funniest damn shit i’ve ever heard and also the most shocking burn arthur has ever received; i hope he thinks of it sometimes and remembers that humility is a virtue)
(the BRISTLING DISRESPECT! the ZERO FUCKS GIVEN! i love him! please can someone else talk to arthur like this! he needs it!)
disclaimer before we begin: i wrote this over a year ago, as a character check for myself during the very early stages of working on my fic. i kept messily adding bits to it over the course of a couple weeks as i explored what i knew about this character and who i understood him to be, but at the time, i didn’t intend on posting it; it was just prep work for my own story-making. it’s still essentially just a record of my train of thought as i pieced this character together - i’ve cleaned it up a bit now and added some recent links to make it more coherent, but it was never meant to be a posted essay, just a collection of notes for myself.
be forewarned, it is more comprehensive than the things i’ve written about this character since, and it goes on for years. if you are not interested in many, many pages of super heavy in-depth musings about a character who appeared in one episode, now is the time to scroll on by. i promise i won’t mind in the slightest; i wrote this for my own purposes and don’t really expect people to read it - i’m posting it just to have it archived with the rest of my merlin stuff.
if you are interested in that sort of thing, however - hit the jump, and off we go!
i really love the episode where we meet will, though i’ve started to love it for new reasons since the first time i watched it.
the first time i watched season 1, 'the moment of truth’ was my favorite S1 episode overall, because it was the first time the Fab Four went off on an adventure together, and that was very exciting; and i also loved it because all the character stuff in that episode was so good; and i also loved it because look, all of us are suckers for that classic seven samurai plot, you know - i loved it in TCW, i loved it in the mandalorian, i loved it in merlin. not gonna get bored of ‘simple farmers defend their homes with pitchforks’ anytime soon. it is overall just a solid, self-contained plot with clear emotional arcs, and it sticks its landing well. it’s a simple, strong story.
nowadays, though, i also love it because of will.
i. will whomst?
prince william of ealdor, that’s who!
will straddles a kind of weird place in canon, because he feels like a minor character to the audience but is very much not a minor character for merlin, who has known will much longer than the brief hour we get to spend with him and who has spent his entire life with will as his sole friend.
but, because will only appears once - let’s start with a round-up. what do we actually know about him?
he’s a peasant farmer from ealdor, like merlin
his father was killed fighting for king cenred (as a foot soldier - these people are not wealthy enough or high-status enough to afford or be accepted into the knighthood)
his mother is either dead or absent
he’s painfully class conscious and doesn’t trust the nobility
he’s a “troublemaker” (the interpretation of which is...well, it’s left to the viewer’s discretion. fandom seems to jump to ‘fun mischief and pranks,’ though i personally don’t get that vibe from this episode. “troublemaker” in will’s case seems to mean more “doesn’t know how to keep his head down/can’t go along to get along to save his life.” it means when he sees something that he thinks is Wrong, he absolutely will not shut up about it even when all his neighbors are sick of him and want him to just let it go. it means he can’t stop rocking the boat even when rocking the boat makes everybody want to strangle him.)
he supplements his agricultural pursuits with carpentry. you can see in his house big piles of hewn timber along one wall, as well as a grindstone and a shaving horse, and when he comes out of his house on two separate occasions he’s holding woodworking tools (mallet, chisel, etc)
he knows about merlin’s magic - for how long this has been the case, we’re not told. it doesn’t feel like a new thing to me, but ultimately that’s guesswork.
he appears to have just one friend
that one friend is merlin
will loves merlin enough to die lying for him
merlin left will behind.
ii. it wasn’t what i wanted
so let’s talk about that.
merlin is asked “why did you leave?” twice in this episode, first by arthur and then by will. he gives completely contradictory answers to the two of them, and it’s worth remembering, before examining both responses, that one answer is inherently more honest than the other, because merlin is only able to tell the whole truth to one of these people.
so when merlin talks to arthur, it goes like this:
“why did you leave?”
“things just...changed.”
“how?”
*silence*
“come on, stop pretending to be interesting and tell me.”
“i just didn’t fit in anymore. i wanted to find somewhere I did.”
arthur has to drag this answer out of merlin, and it’s not because merlin doesn’t feel like sharing (i mean, come on, we know merlin; merlin wants to be in everybody’s business and he feeds off human connection like a starving man; he’d be thrilled that arthur was interested in his life) - the problem isn’t that he’s shy; it’s that he’s not exactly telling the truth and he’s trying to figure out how to do it in the least deceptive way possible.
i just didn’t fit in anymore. i wanted to find somewhere i did.
that’s nice.
it’s also a lie.
it’s not a total lie, of course - there’s an element of it that becomes true, after merlin gets to camelot and realizes that working for arthur is “not totally horrible all the time” - that he sort of likes the excitement, and the newness, and being somewhere where nobody knows him and nobody will judge him - but that’s the reason he stays in camelot, not the reason he leaves ealdor.
by contrast, when will asks the question, merlin gives a completely different answer:
“why did you leave?”
“it wasn’t what I wanted. mother was worried. when she found out you knew - she was so angry.”
it wasn’t what I wanted.
can we digest that for a moment?
merlin didn’t want to leave home.
not that he isn’t enjoying himself in camelot now, of course - which he conveniently doesn’t mention in this conversation, because will is upset with him and merlin feels guilty that he’s been off enjoying his new life while will has been struggling at home alone - but at the point of departure, merlin didn’t want to go.
his answer to arthur about finding a place where he belonged is certain-point-of-view bunk. he didn’t just up and decide that he wanted to run off and find a place where he fit in better. he didn’t leave because he wanted to escape a place he didn’t belong. he didn’t set off in search of adventure and a new life. it’s true that he didn’t feel like he fit in in ealdor, but that’s not what sent him packing. he left because his mother found out that will knew about his magic, and she panicked and sent him away.
iii. why did you leave
most fannish things i’ve encountered tend to interpret merlin’s departure in a much more generous light than i do, with merlin explaining to will that he’s leaving and will being unhappy about it but eventually understanding and kind of like...giving his blessing before merlin goes. this is fine, of course, but it did surprise me, when i started dipping my toes into fandom, because i never interpreted events in this episode like that, and i don’t think it’s even a plausible read, not from the conversations we’re actually given. the antipathy that accompanies merlin’s return doesn’t make sense under those circumstances, and moreover, from the way things actually unfold in this episode, we’re told, in order, the following three things:
1) the fact that will asks “why did you leave” tells us that he and merlin did not discuss it prior to the point of departure. there’s no other reason for will to ask this question. everything about will’s tone and body language in this scene indicates that he’s been stewing over this for a long time, that he doesn’t understand, that this is something profoundly difficult for him to address. and while it might be nicer to think that merlin sat down and discussed things with will before leaving for camelot, that’s not the inference we’re being asked to make here.
2) there is absolutely no way they wouldn’t have discussed it, if will had known that merlin was going to leave. like - if your only friend in the world told you they were moving to another country tomorrow, there’s no way “why?” wouldn’t be the first question you asked. there’s no way you wouldn’t have that discussion, at the most basic level, before separating. it just wouldn’t happen.
3) so, given that information, the unfortunate, inescapable conclusion is this: will didn’t know merlin was going to leave. merlin left without telling him.
everyone is free to continue to headcanon this in their own ways, of course. but this is what we’re actually being told.
iv. we don’t want your kind round here
the fact that merlin vanishes without so much as a word to his best friend goes a long way towards explaining why merlin is so uncomfortable when he first sees will in the street.
when they first encounter each other, merlin looks so apprehensive and wary, and the writers are playing it like ‘uh-oh, someone saw him use magic and now he’s nervous about it!!!’ but two seconds later, you realize that this can’t possibly be what’s causing merlin’s concern, because it’s made immediately clear that will already knows about merlin’s magic and isn’t going to say anything about it.
merlin isn’t afraid of being outed, in this scene. but he might, however, be afraid of the reception he’s going to get, given what we just discussed.
merlin just up and disappeared from home, and not so much as a letter since - we know will’s had a secondhand update, probably from hunith (“how’ve you been?! i hear you’re skivvying for some prince”) but he very clearly hasn’t had any direct contact with merlin since before merlin left.
merlin knows this was a big fuck-up. he feels guilty.
(and to be clear - i think there is a lot to be said about just how merlin’s departure unfolded, and what stopped him from getting in touch. it’s a complicated enough topic for its own piece, and it’s not quite within the scope of this essay, but suffice it to say for now that i don’t believe it stemmed from deliberate thoughtlessness or callousness on merlin’s part; it’s...deeper and more complicated than that. honestly, i think merlin looks back on this as like...the first major mistake he ever made in his life, his...original sin, sort of. and i don’t think he’s ever forgiven himself for it, either, but again, that’s a story for another day.) the point here is that merlin didn’t necessarily want to cause harm, but he knew that’s what he was doing regardless - he knew that leaving without a word was the wrong thing to do. and in this moment he feels rightfully guilty about all of it, and he’s afraid that his friend won’t welcome him home.
merlin’s moment of uncertainty is real, when will pretends to greet him with hostility. merlin is afraid that will is angry with him for leaving him behind.
(and let’s not kid ourselves, will definitely is)
it’s a festering thing that keeps boiling to the surface as we progress through the episode. it shows in the way will finally asks why did you leave, avoiding merlin’s eyes, the question laden with vulnerability. it’s in the exchange “are you going to abandon them?”/“what, like you did?” there’s real pain there, and confusion, lots of hurt feelings.
but.
despite all of that, will doesn’t freeze merlin out, when merlin comes riding back into town. merlin is rightfully afraid that will might not want to see him, afraid that “we don’t want your kind round here” might be less of a joke than it ought to be. and while all of the troubles that merlin is worried about are absolutely real and poised to cause friction later, the truth is that at that exact moment, when merlin comes walking up the road - none of it matters. will has been nursing a collection of hurt feelings for months now, yeah, but in the immediate moment, when it comes down to it - he puts them aside.
they both do. nerves, guilty thoughts, bruised feelings - they temporarily abandon all of that in favor of a momentary joy. you can see how excited they are when they reunite. how they start smiling at the same time. how they laugh their way into that hug. they’re so happy to see each other.
people get pretty worked up about ***That Time Arthur Finally Hugged Merlin!!!***, but i don’t know. i think it matters to remember that merlin had people who knew how to hold him long before arthur was even a flicker of a shadow in merlin’s mind.
v. why are you being like this
so they reunite!
and then they fight. D:
but what really matters is how they fight, because even when they’re having an argument, they never let things escalate quite to the level of interpersonal nastiness, certainly never to the level of cruelty for cruelty’s sake - just a few hard truths and a pile of hurt feelings:
“i trust arthur with my life.”
“is that so? so he knows your secret, then?”
...
“face it, merlin, you’re living a lie, just like you were here. you’re arthur’s servant, nothing more. otherwise you’d tell him the truth.”
the delivery in this scene is essential for understanding how these two interact with each other. it’s so telling. merlin and will are having an argument, and will is angry about everything we’ve already discussed, and on top of that, some prince is trying to round up a bunch of will’s neighbors for a fight that’s going to get a lot of people killed, and will sounds so sharp when he’s talking, up to and including the challenging “is that so?”
but then when he sees that he’s touched a nerve there and merlin knows he’s right, his voice drops those edges and goes gentler, regretful, like - he and merlin aren’t all hunky-dory right now, but he’s not out to rub merlin’s face in it, either. he’s not trying to “get back” at merlin for leaving him. he’s not like...happy that merlin’s situation is shitty.
vi. if i broke it (would you quit?)
we mostly only see these two in a tense season. they’re arguing with each other for almost the entire episode, and yet even in this at-odds state, there are little things that remind us of what they’re usually like - that they don’t want to be arguing, that this isn’t a natural at-rest state for them, that this isn’t what they’re used to. they butt heads, but they keep swinging around back to each other, and trying again, and trying again, and trying again. they never write each other off. they keep trying to make it work.
examples: merlin asking “why are you being like this?,” the implication being that will isn’t usually like this, that this isn’t how they usually act around each other. the two of them together in the background of arthur’s pitiful training session, coming right off the tail-end of another argument and busying themselves with their own work, but still reflexively hanging in each other’s orbit. merlin, even in the middle of a strained conversation, helping clean up the mess that the bandits made of will’s house, without asking or being asked, like it’s just the automatic, reflexive, natural thing to do. merlin using will’s proper name when discussing him with other people, but always the diminutive when they’re talking to each other. merlin following will every time will walks away; will doing the same when merlin’s the one who’s leaving. that moment up in the hedgerow, with will’s embittered “you know why,” which sets them to arguing again, except instead of it pushing them apart, it pulls them closer together - will climbs right up into the hedge where merlin is standing so they can sit next to each other and talk.
like. he’s angry! but the instinct isn’t to storm away, it’s to get closer.
i love that so much. i love how they’re starting to have another argument and merlin stands there and says “why are you being like this,” to which will, already upset, responds “you know why,” BUT -
but
will stalks up into that hedge and plops himself down right next to merlin, and merlin, without a moment’s hesitation, sits down beside him.
i love that. they’re angry with each other, but their first instinct is still to close the distance.
i wonder, sometimes, how much of that is a function of them only having each other. when you’re on the outs with someone, usually you can lean on your other friends, but what can they do? it’s different when the person you usually seek out for comfort is the same person who’s pissing you off. you don’t have anyone else to run to, so you can’t ever really storm off. you have to learn how to hash things out. you have to learn how to make it work. you have to learn not to give up on each other.
vii. she was so angry
the implied backstory for how merlin actually ended up in camelot is so painfully fascinating and, quite frankly, wrenching to think about, given how this episode eventually ends.
when will asks merlin why he left, merlin tells him, “it wasn’t what i wanted. my mother was worried. when she found out you knew - she was so angry.” this is telling us that merlin’s departure for camelot was directly preceded by his mother discovering that will knew about merlin’s magic. that is what ultimately prompted her to send merlin off to camelot. of course there would have been other contributing factors - it’s evident that merlin’s situation in ealdor has always been precarious - but her immediate reason for sending him away was the fact that she found out that will knew about merlin’s magic, and she was angry and afraid to learn that merlin had been lying to her about something that put him at risk.
“i wouldn’t have told anyone.”
“i know you wouldn’t.”
but merlin’s mother didn’t believe that, or she wouldn’t listen to him when he tried to tell her, and she shipped him off to camelot anyway, despite the fact that camelot is arguably more dangerous for merlin than ealdor ever was.
the web of how this played out is such a tangled mess. is it my fault, thinks will, before the episode even starts, desperately trying to figure out why merlin would abandon him like that. it’s my fault, thinks merlin, at the end, knowing that if he had used his magic sooner, or come back alone, events would have unfolded differently. it’s my fault, thinks hunith, realizing that the particular fear upon which she based merlin’s entire departure was utterly unfounded.
merlin doesn’t blame her for it, even though he has reason enough to be angry about it, by the end of this episode. he understands that she was just trying to protect him. but the truth of the matter is that she did make a mistake. she was afraid for him, and she saw danger everywhere, and so she made a misjudgment.
it’s the miniest of mini-arcs, but it’s there. at the end of this episode, right after will drops the Big Damn Lie, merlin looks desperately around for the only other person in the room who understands, and the camera rests on hunith’s face for one lingering moment, as she realizes what’s happening. when she’s exiting the house, there’s a shot where she pauses for a minute on her way out the door, staring back at her son's dying friend, who just offered himself up as a willing sacrifice to keep merlin’s secret safe.
she and merlin are the only people in the room who understand the real import of that moment, the real meaning of that gesture. they’re the only ones who know what’s happening, what it really means for will to say “i did it.”
hunith knows she misjudged that kid big-time.
viii. you can be my ride or die
so. will.
why am i even interested in him? what is it about this character that makes me want to write about him?
number one: i love him because he’s the only person we ever meet who cares exclusively about merlin.
everyone else merlin has met up until this point is either a) as beholden to camelot and arthur as merlin is himself, or b) aware of merlin’s “destiny,” which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but does change the way people talk to him and treat him.
it’s not that merlin doesn’t have people who care about him, but those relationships are not the same as the one he has with will. merlin is obviously #1 in his mom’s life, of course - but, importantly, even hunith’s immediate reaction to merlin’s uncertainty at the end of 1.10 is to tell him that he has to go back to camelot, that arthur needs him, that he’s “the other side of a coin.” this despite the fact that hunith has known arthur for all of five minutes and that merlin, in the moment where she talks to him, is in a lot of pain, and maybe it isn’t the most appropriate moment say, ‘hey, you absolutely must devote yourself to that guy i literally just watched lecture you about the evils of magic while attending your (supposedly magical) dead best friend’s funeral.’
and when it comes to merlin’s camelot network, well - he’s #1 in gaius’s life, too, but gaius also is deeply concerned with the greater good, with the future emergence of albion, with what merlin is meant to become and do. morgana and arthur - well, they don’t know merlin, first of all (really know him, all of him, the important bits) - they definitely like him well enough, and care about him in their way, but ultimately they’re royalty or pseudo-royalty and they have priorities that go beyond merlin, who, at the end of the day, is still a servant. gwen comes the closest to being on merlin’s level, but she doesn’t know him-know him either, and as time goes on she gets more involved with the Crown, with arthur, and with the responsibilities all of that brings. even merlin’s later friends all go on to have other missions - they absolutely all love him, but they all become knights, and they are as concerned about the well-being of the realm and the king as merlin is.�� even merlin HIMSELF puts arthur’s life ahead of his own - he defines his worth by how well he can protect his prince.
but will is the only person we ever meet who just cares about merlin - merlin the regular person, not the servant he pretends to be, or the legend he’s supposed to become. not the fake, non-magical merlin facade (which is what almost everyone else needs merlin to be before they can condescend to be his friend) and not some destiny-laden figure out of prophecy, either. will doesn’t know anything about destiny or prophecies. he’s never needed to know about any of that stuff to care. he’s always liked merlin. just merlin. just as he is.
that matters. all merlin ever does in this show is deny himself or be denied of the things every regular human being needs to thrive - love, acceptance, truth, safety. he constantly puts or is forced to put other priorities ahead of his own interests, to a point where now, by season five, he’s spent years defending a regime that oppresses him, protecting kings who would execute him.
will, in a display of true-to-character contrariness, upsets that entire narrative, because he does not care one whit about any of the things for which merlin is supposed to sacrifice his life. will gives less than zero (count them: negative zero) fucks about arthur pendragon, and he doesn’t care about camelot, and he wouldn’t know what “albion” meant if he heard the word. and it is refreshing - a blessed, beautiful, heartbreaking relief - to see one person in the world who only cares about merlin, for whom arthur pendragon, in comparison with merlin, isn’t the slightest bit important. arthur isn’t even on the map. he’s a non-entity. he doesn’t exist.
it’s a complete inversion of the way things are supposed to go, in this story. you know how it goes - arthur is the once and future king, and merlin’s job is to usher in his reign. "maybe that is its purpose,” gaius says, about merlin’s magic being meant to protect arthur, about merlin being born this way for that particular reason. it’s merlin’s job to save arthur’s life. it’s merlin’s job to teach arthur to be a better person, at his own expense. it’s all for arthur. i give my life for arthur’s. his life is worth a hundred of mine. what is the life of a servant compared with that of a prince?
will delivers the biggest fuck-you to that entire framework, because he doesn’t assess merlin’s worth based on what merlin can do for some random prince on the other side of the border. merlin’s magic wasn’t purposed for anything, as far as will is concerned. it doesn’t need to justify itself. it just is. it’s just who merlin is.
and who merlin is has always been just fine.
ix. am i the only one wondering who the hell this is
for will, it’s people like arthur who need to justify themselves. arthur with all of his power, arthur riding into little villages with his sword drawn, arthur and his bossing around and his “now, merlin!” conversation-interrupting. will makes no allowances for wealth and couldn’t be less interested in royalty - his frame of reference isn’t you’re the once and future king and merlin exists to prop you up; it’s who the hell are you? what gives you the right to be here? what did you do to earn what you have?
will, like gwaine after him, is acutely aware of the injustice of the reigning social system, and he’s not afraid to throw it in arthur’s face. he knows that people like himself and merlin and all of their neighbors are unjustly disadvantaged from birth until death, and he knows they’re disadvantaged solely because the people at the top of the social chain are greedy lords who sow no seed but reap all the grain, who do no work but enjoy the greatest rewards, who steal from the people with impunity and call it divine entitlement. will knows that he and merlin and all of their neighbors are considered no better than plow-beasts or war-fodder, and he knows that there is absolutely nothing they can do to stop the nobility from either taxing them into starvation or sending them off to die in a ditch - which makes him impossibly angry, and, unlike everybody else in his village, he’s not shy about saying so.
will is, at this point, literally the first non-villain to look at arthur and not immediately see some messianic pinnacle of human greatness - which is refreshing, to be honest, and fair enough besides! he’s evaluating arthur from merlin’s side of things, after all, which nobody - including merlin - ever does, and while i love arthur as much as anybody - for the people’s hero that he could be, and for what he is, sometimes, if not frequently enough - the truth is that he’s not good for all of his people, not yet, and he’s not good for merlin, not the way things stand right now.
will knows that. he looks at arthur and sees a guy with a lot of power, who also happens to rule over the the least magic-friendly place in the five kingdoms, to whom merlin needs to lie in order to avoid the executioner’s block, and he sees merlin deluding himself into thinking that this supremely unequal, extremely unsafe situation counts as friendship.
now, is will’s assessment of the situation a snap judgment based on personal encounters with an unjust social system and very limited knowledge of arthur as a person? yes, definitely. are there nuances to merlin and arthur’s relationship that he’s missing? absolutely.
is he wrong?
not really. and merlin knows it.
x. friends don’t lord it over one another!
i think about that line every damn episode.
over and over again, it comes back to me. i hear it every time arthur gets On His Shit and invokes power he pretends not to have, every time i see more evidence of how this supposed “friendship” between him and merlin is inherently imbalanced. it’s my favorite thing will says in all of 1.10, because it is so true and yet, most of the time, so unacknowledged as a dynamic.
we’re meant to love arthur and merlin together, and we do - i do; i do; when i see those moments that approach true mutual respect and care between them i am as swept up by the potential beauty of this friendship as anyone - but i still think about this line all the time. it’s not right, the power dynamic between the two of them. it’s not just about servants vs. royalty, though of course that’s a structural part of how it plays out. it’s about the fact that, in a real friendship, one person can’t just whip out “you ever say anything like that again, and i swear you’ll join her in exile forever” to shut down a conversation and cow you into silence. one person can’t just throw you in jail to spend a night “cooling off,” and they definitely can’t arrest you whenever someone levels a random accusation at you. in a real friendship, it’s not one person who has all the power.
but when it comes to arthur and merlin, that’s exactly what happens. arthur gets to decide when he and merlin are and aren’t friends. arthur gets to call merlin in or send him away. arthur gets to make all the decisions about when to listen, when to ignore, when to trust, when to believe. merlin can nudge, encourage, suggest, even defy, but ultimately, when you get right down to it, arthur is the king, and merlin is his servant, a dynamic which is compounded by the deadly particulars of merlin’s situation. the relationship isn’t unequal solely because of a difference in social class, it’s unequal because arthur literally has the power of life and death over merlin. arthur could (and would, as far as merlin knows) have merlin executed any day of the week, if he found out who merlin really was.
that’s why when merlin tries to tell will that arthur is his friend, will snaps, “friends don’t lord it over one another!” it’s not that you can’t care about someone who has more power than you, and it’s not that you can’t have some kind of relationship with them, but it is not real friendship if you think your “friend” will kill you when they find out who you really are. it is not a real friendship if you have to pretend to be someone you’re not in order to preserve the relationship. real friends don’t leverage impossible amounts of power to shut you up when you say something they don’t want to hear. real friends don’t say things like “you’ll be a friend for life if you do [x thing]” to convince you to lie to their dad while they go out with a girl and thus get you clapped in the stocks three times in a row, and then turn around and show their appreciation by letting people raid and ransack your house multiple times, throwing you in jail at least twice, accusing (and once nearly executing!) your loyal long-serving mentor more than once - among innumerable other issues. real friends aren’t “you’re my friend when i need you to be, but not when it’s inconvenient.” they don’t have the kind of power to turn things on and off whenever they want.
i love that will is the only person who ever acknowledges this, across five seasons of this show. i love that he spits it out immediately, without hesitation, the minute merlin tries to makes things sound better than they are. i love that he says it unapologetically, to merlin’s face, because he says it for merlin’s sake, after all - the point of saying ‘friends don’t lord it over one another’ is to say ‘that guy doesn’t appreciate you the way you appreciate him/this isn’t reciprocal and he’s taking advantage of you/this isn’t the friendship you want it to be and i don’t like seeing you settle for this.’ will is that friend who watches you interact with someone and then later gets in your business like ‘EXCUSE ME! I DO NOT LIKE HOW HE TALKS TO YOU! I DON’T LIKE HOW HE TREATS YOU!'
will knows that merlin deserves better than arthur pendragon, even when merlin himself won’t concede that point. merlin won’t advocate for himself, so will tries to do it for him. merlin can try to convince himself that arthur is a real friend all he wants, but will knows what’s up. he knows. he knows where this is going, if merlin’s relationship with arthur is allowed to continue on exactly as-is. will knows, from the very beginning, that this is a recipe for disaster.
[addendum 2020: speaking from a post season-5 perspective...will understood where merlin and arthur were headed long before even we the audience did.]
xi. friends don’t lord it over one another [reprise]
you know what real friends do do for each other, though?
a) listen - even when they don’t like what the other person is saying
b) care - even when they’re angry
that’s it. that’s what matters.
we don’t need more than an hour of watching will and merlin onscreen together to see that this is how they interact with each other. they’re arguing for most of this episode, and they’re both right, in different ways, but by the time they’ve had it out with one another, they both understand where their own arguments were wrong, too. they listen to each other despite the fact that they’re angry, and despite the fact that they both have very strong feelings about their respective positions. they care enough about each other to look past their personal injuries and accept where the other person is coming from.
merlin starts off this episode absolutely dead-set against using his magic to help ealdor, if there’s any chance arthur could find out about it. but later, before he and will have even officially reconciled onscreen, we can already see that he’s been listening to what will’s been saying, that he’s come around to will’s way of thinking, because he tells his mother “if it comes down to a choice between revealing who i truly am and saving lives - that’s no choice at all,” hearkening back to will’s “are you telling me you’d rather keep your magic a secret for arthur’s sake than use it to protect your friends and family?” and: “if arthur doesn’t accept me for who i am...well...then he’s not the friend i hoped he was” (you’re arthur’s servant, nothing more. otherwise you’d tell him the truth.)
merlin has been listening the whole time, even if he didn’t like what will was saying.
and the same goes for will, too. he’s (understandably!) bitter about merlin’s situation, about the way merlin left, about the new life merlin built for himself while will was suffering in a confused limbo of abandonment at home - and will also obviously thinks the Farmers’ Resistance is a total disaster, a noble-spun farce that’s going to get good people killed - but even though he doesn’t trust the camelot contingent and couldn’t give fewer shits about prince arthur pendragon specifically, he trusts merlin. he listens to merlin, even though they’ve been fighting. he comes back because merlin keeps telling him it’s the right thing to do.
they both listen, even when it seems like they’re just arguing with each other. and they both acknowledge where the other person was right, even when it means making themselves vulnerable. will comes back to help his neighbors fight a battle against hopeless odds. merlin exposes his magic to save people’s lives.
they teach each other how to do the right thing. they make each other brave.
xii. you just saved my life
let’s talk about being brave, then.
this kid jumps in front of a crossbow for a guy he doesn’t even like.
can we be clear about that? will doesn’t even LIKE arthur. he doesn’t particularly care about him. he doesn’t accept him as the noble savior of all mankind. he isn’t interested in defending the nobility, and he certainly hasn’t jumped on the camelot bandwagon. just because he’s seen that arthur wasn’t planning on sending them all to their deaths without risking his own neck doesn’t mean will is suddenly going to start flying the pendragon crest from atop his house.
but he isn’t going to step back and let a coward shoot another man in the back, either.
arthur’s still a prince, yeah. arthur’s still sitting at the tip-top of an unjust social system, benefitting from all kinds of privileges he didn’t earn. arthur’s still a crappy friend to merlin. heck, two seconds before that crossbow gets fired, arthur’s gone full-on inquisition-mode, interrogating merlin about sorcery, which, given that arthur can just go ahead and have merlin executed with a snap of his fingers, isn’t a great way to earn will’s respect or trust.
but you know what? when it comes down to it, will’s automatic, reflexive reaction upon seeing someone in immediate danger is to Get In The Way.
it doesn’t matter that will doesn’t like arthur. it doesn’t even matter that he actively dislikes arthur. will doesn’t even think about it, he just moves. instinctively. automatically. he isn’t going to let anyone standing right in front of him get murdered with their back turned, no matter how much he can’t stand them.
let’s all take a second to remember and acknowledge something in arthur’s stead, since i’m not sure arthur will do it himself - arthur pendragon would have been dead right there if it weren’t for a dirt-poor peasant farmer from cenred’s kingdom who never had anything nice to say to a prince but still stepped between a pendragon and a crossbow in the name of doing the right thing. without will, the story would have ended in season 1, episode 10. albion itself owes its future existence to a young man with no surname who will never be acknowledged or recognized for anything he did, not for teaching the future king a lesson in humility, not for saving the prince’s life, and certainly not for the greatest and most noble move he ever made, because that gesture’s success is predicated upon its remaining a secret.
this kid saves the entire World That Will Be. the show would have ended before it ever really began, if not for our man prince william of ealdor.
merlin knows that, and merlin never forgets it. but i’m not so sure about everyone else.
xiii. yeah, don’t know what i was thinking
let’s talk about defiance.
this kid is dying, and he’s still full of piss and vinegar. when arthur says, wide-eyed, “you’re a sorcerer,” will responds, “yeah. what are you going to do, kill me?”
what a power move. what a thing to say.
that’s not a question. that is a no-fucks-given, shame-and-blame challenge.
what are you going to do, kill me?
merlin uses those exact same words during his confrontation with morgana in 3.02. when he’s trapped - when he’s cornered and betrayed and angry - he reaches for the kind of defiance he once saw exercised on his own behalf, for a shameless bravery that burned itself into his brain. for the kind of strength he wants to channel himself.
when it comes to holding your ground in front of the pendragon dynasty, merlin learned from the best.
xiv. and i’m prince william, of ealdor
let’s talk about names.
william: from wil (will or determination) and helm (protection, a helm)
hence the common translation of resolute protector.
which, given the events of 1.10, seems very fitting.
xv. i did it
let’s talk about lies.
because resolute protector rings even more powerfully true when it comes to merlin than it does for arthur.
at the time of this writing, i have four more episodes to watch before i’m done with season 5. at this point, at the end of the show, merlin’s magic is still a secret. merlin’s gotten involved in a lot of dangerous situations, risking his life in other ways, but the one danger he’s never had to really confront is the executioner’s block, because none of the pendragons know his secret.
and the reason none of the pendragons know his secret is thanks to our boy prince william of ealdor, who turns his own untimely death into a last-second rescue operation by telling the Biggest Damn Lie of his life and then doubling down on it when merlin tries to tell him no.
will is the one who secures merlin’s next five years of relative safety. not from all of life’s dangers, of course; no one can do that - but when it comes to merlin’s greatest fear, the worst outcome, the prospect of being dragged out of his home in chains and murdered in front of an ogling crowd for just existing - will buys merlin’s escape from that fate with his life. merlin remains hidden and unexposed to this very day because will died protecting his secret, because will lied to the prince of magic-hunting and invited upon himself all of the risk and scorn and danger and condemnation that a false confession like that entailed.
i honestly don’t know how to express clearly enough the enormity of that moment. the momentousness of that gesture. i called it a bold and tremendous lie in some other post somewhere, and i don’t know how else to capture what it was. the thought of what it would mean, to be merlin, and to see someone throw themselves on the block for your sake, for your safety and your future and your freedom, when the rest of the world and every message you’ve ever absorbed says you don’t deserve to be safe, you don’t deserve to be free, you don’t deserve to exist.
it is impossible to overstate how much that matters. merlin carries that with him for the rest of his life.
xvi: i can’t fight you anymore (it’s you i’m fighting for)
let’s talk about love, okay?
this ep is called the moment of truth, right?
so here are some truths about will. in the time that we spend with him, we come to understand that he is the following:
a poor peasant kid with nothing to his name
a kid whose father is dead
a kid whose mother is either dead or absent
a kid who “people are used to ignoring”
a kid who’s been making his own way through this backbreaking subsistence-farmer’s life with no grown-ups to hold him or help him or listen to him when he comes home at night
a kid who isn’t trusted to protect merlin’s secret, even by merlin’s own mother, whom will has known for his entire life
a kid whose only friend in the world fucked off to the country next door without a hint of warning or any indication that it was something that should matter to either one of them, making will think he misread the only meaningful relationship he’s ever had, because if merlin can just vanish to nowhere and not even bother to send a note, then either merlin wasn’t actually his friend to begin with or merlin was his friend at one time but doesn’t want to be anymore, both of which options are soul-crushing
a closed-off, heavily-armored, hurting kid who’s been unspeakably lonely for the past few months but also angry and ashamed at himself for feeling that way, because how stupid did he have to be, to think that he mattered to someone, that someone would ever want him or love him or need him or miss him, to think that this time would be different, that this time somebody wouldn’t leave him -
and even in this state - even in the midst of all this -
at the moment of truth, he still puts himself on the chopping block. he still says, “you’ll have to go through me.”
he comes through for merlin. of course he does. the irony is bitter and beautiful - hunith sent merlin away precisely because she didn’t trust that merlin would be safe with will knowing about his magic, but in the end it’s will who gives up everything to keep merlin’s secret concealed.
not just to keep it concealed, even - to reverse merlin being outed. merlin had already been exposed. the deed was done! the magic was seen! it was all over - and then, miraculously, it wasn’t. what will did was the only way merlin could ever have slipped safely back under the cover of secrecy.
will didn’t have to do that. he didn’t have to lie about performing magic, and he didn’t have to save arthur, either. it would have been better for will to let arthur die, in fact, and it would have been better for him to let merlin get caught, too, because ‘maybe then merlin would have to stay here with me’ - but will is so much better than petty revenge. he’s so much better than anybody ever gives him credit for, merlin excepted.
the fight will has with merlin doesn’t matter to him, in the end. it was a complicated situation for both of them; will knows this. if he weren’t dying now, he and merlin would have talked it out and made up - will knows that, too. things could have gone a little smoother between them, maybe, and will still thinks going back to camelot is less than what merlin deserves, but it’s what merlin wants, and the mark of truly loving someone is when you want the best for them, even if it means you don’t get what you want for yourself. so ultimately, when it comes down to it, the truth for will is this: he wants merlin to have a good life. he wants merlin to be safe. he wants merlin to be happy. he wants merlin to be with him, too, but if he can’t have that, it’s no reason to withhold any of the other gifts he can bestow. if one of those gifts is freedom, if one of those gifts is safety - it’s no choice at all.
merlin is will’s one good thing. merlin deserves everything will can give him, as far as will is concerned.
xvii. the only place worth being
this place has been boring without you.
what a thing to tell someone.
what a powerful thing to say to someone whose entire life up to this point has been a litany of ‘there’s something wrong with you,’ ‘you don’t belong here,’ ‘you’re cursed/broken/wrong/unnatural.’ what a dauntlessly loving thing to tell someone whose entire life has been the message ‘people like you deserve to die,’ over and over and over again.
what a singularly beautiful thing it is, for someone like merlin to hear ‘you are what makes this place worth living in.’
xviii: the only one worth seeing
likewise it’s good to see you again.
because it’s not just “it’s good to see you again;” it’s an acknowledgement that merlin is the last person will is ever going to see.
and will is like, okay.
he’d rather be alive, yeah, but if he had choose - it’s good that it’s you.
xix: the only bed worth sleeping in (is the one right next to you)
the most devastating moment in this sequence, for me, is at the very end, when will confesses fear.
it doesn’t happen until everything else has been taken care of. arthur’s been fooled, merlin’s been safely shuffled back under the cover of secrecy, everybody’s been taken in by the ruse and sent away, none the wiser - all the necessary and important business has been dealt with.
only at the very, very end does will’s own predicament rear its ugly head. only after everything else is done does he even allow himself to feel it. he’s spent the rest of this sequence making jokes and roasting arthur and keeping it all together, but at the last second, when he falters, he comes undone for the only person he trusts, the only person who understands him, the only person in the world who gives a damn about him. his defenses come down, in that last moment, for merlin - and it could ONLY be for merlin - when will says, “merlin, i’m scared.”
we don’t need anything else, to understand their relationship. we’ve seen enough of will by now to recognize that he keeps the world at arm’s length, that even his walls have walls, that this is just not the sort of thing he would ever admit to. confessions of pain? acknowledging vulnerability? never. he’s not that kind of character. we know he has a big heart - look at what he’s doing - but we also know he’s had a hard life. he’s wrapped himself in layers upon layers of protection - snark and anger and deflection and sarcasm and still making jokes at the prince’s expense after being shot in the chest - nobody is allowed to see him open and undefended, never.
except merlin.
will is dying. he is so young. he has been so alone, for so much of his life, and he’s so young, and he’s dying. he clutches for this lifeline like it’s the only thing he has, because it is the only thing he has - merlin is his only friend. merlin is the person will loves best in the whole world.
merlin, i’m scared.
that is so unbelievably vulnerable. that is so utterly naked. that is totally defenseless, exposed, belly-up and barethroated under someone else’s burning gaze.
that is absolute trust. will would never have said that in front of anyone else. he would never have allowed anyone else to see him like that.
his confession is, like pretty much everything else he ever does, for merlin alone.
xx. your heart is on my sleeve
merlin, will keeps repeating. merlin.
how much do you have to love someone, to make their name your last words? how much do you have to care about someone, for that to be the only thing you can think to say, again and again, in your last terrified moments on this earth?
that’s a rhetorical question.
i know how much.
xxi: i missed you too
i think, sometimes, about will, when i watch the later seasons of merlin, and about how he would feel if he could see what merlin’s life has turned into.
i sometimes wonder how he would feel, if he could see how merlin allows himself to be passed over, disbelieved, disrespected. if he could see how merlin has started to define his worth in terms of how well he is able to protect Some Dude who doesn’t even know who merlin is, who keeps people like merlin trapped in the shadows of subjugation, hidden citizens in their own kingdom. if will could see how merlin has laid his entire life down for other people’s enrichment, if he could see how little hope merlin now holds for his own happiness, if he could see the way merlin in S5 has given up on his own liberation -
i don’t have to guess what will would say about it. i know how he would feel. if will could see merlin in season 5, his raging little heart would break.
i wish he were here to tell merlin exactly what he thought about it. merlin does all this self-sacrificing for the sake of his “destiny”; whereas will would think that any destiny making merlin this miserable was a steaming pile of trash. will would tell kilgharrah to get lost, and to take his questionable advice with him. will would tell arthur to fuck off - he’s done it already, in slightly less explicit terms.
does that mean i truly think merlin is supposed to abandon his mission and ditch camelot and run off to live his own life? no. merlin cares too much about making the world a better place to be truly happy with that kind of existence; he wants to change things for the common good; he wants to help the people he cares about. but merlin, as he tries to fulfill his mission, is desperately missing will’s kind of support in his life. merlin needs someone who is only here for him. he needs someone who is going to get up in his face and remind him, “you matter.” he needs someone to tell him, “you deserve better than this.” he needs someone who isn’t afraid to tell destiny to fuck off, when telling destiny to fuck off is in merlin’s best interests.
merlin needs someone who is on his side.
not camelot’s side. not albion’s side. not arthur’s side.
HIS side. merlin’s side.
xxii: he still is
the thing about will, then, for me, is this: i can’t minimize him.
i can’t do it. i can’t diminish that part of merlin’s life.
i don’t think it’s possible to overestimate his importance, frankly. merlin, when we meet him, has only ever had two people in his life. that is such an...unfathomable experience, for many of us. just two people. just two people to know you. just two people to love you. just two people, for your whole life.
will wasn’t just some friend. will was half of merlin’s world.
fannish pursuits that i have seen...the things where will appears are already so limited, and of course that’s completely understandable - it’s not like he’s a main character, or even a side character, by any means; i totally get that. but - so much of what i see is him serving solely as a set-up for merlin/arthur, or otherwise being shoved out of the way as soon as arthur shows up on the scene, or showing up only to be a receptacle for discussion about arthur and merlin’s developing relationship - even will and merlin’s own ship tag is 90% merlin/arthur fics.
and there’s nothing wrong with this, ultimately; everybody should continue to write exactly what they want and enjoy exactly what they want; that’s the fun of fandom. i mention these things here only because for me, personally, the whole point of will’s character is that merlin’s life is bigger than just arthur. the most important relationship merlin had for most of his life had zip-zero-nothing to do with arthur pendragon, and it still has zip-zero-nothing to do with arthur pendragon, after will is dead.
you remember will’s funeral at the end of 1.10? arthur has an entire conversation (a horrible one, fyi) with merlin, and merlin doesn’t look at him once. he answers arthur’s questions because he has to, but his eyes never once leave the pyre in front of him - not while he’s listening, not while he’s talking, not once. not ever. arthur comes, arthur chastises, and arthur goes, all without being granted so much as a glance, because this isn’t about him. this is none of his business.
the whole point of will is that it is possible for someone to love merlin and not give a tinker’s cuss about arthur pendragon. the whole point of will is that having someone love merlin without caring about arthur pendragon is, in fact, a good thing. merlin needs somebody like that in his life. he struggles when he doesn’t have someone like this around to advocate for him. just look at where he is in season 5 - look at what his life has become, when it’s been years since he had an in-the-know friend.
merlin suffers when he loses this kind of support. it’s easy to say that will is never mentioned again after 1.10, but there are real reasons why merlin wouldn’t be willing to explicitly mention him, and the lack of explicit references doesn’t mean we can’t still see him, if we pay attention. we see the immediate impact of his death in merlin’s attitude shift in 1.11. we see him in 2.02, when merlin names his fake tournament knight sir william and spends the rest of the episode roasting arthur to within an inch of his life. we see him in the season 3 opener, when morgana levels her sword at merlin and the first thing that pops out of merlin’s mouth is “what are you going to do, kill me?” we see him in gwaine’s intro episode, when merlin immediately cleaves to this class-conscious ‘people get sick of me too quickly’ stranger whose father was killed fighting one of the king’s wars. and his absence is felt, more generally (as is lancelot’s) in how quickly merlin’s life starts to spiral out of control once the only two honest friends he ever had are gone. their loss doesn’t have to be explicitly referenced for us to understand that merlin, without that kind of support system, is faltering. we see it happening with our own eyes.
[edit, post-viewing-of-S5-finale: and we see where it eventually leads, too.]
so, once again, as i said - i can’t minimize this character. i can’t overstate the positive impact of merlin having somebody who was here for him and only him, who affirmed merlin’s value independently of arthur pendragon’s fate, who knew and loved merlin without caring about a “destiny” that ultimately, in the end, turned out to be a cruel joke made at merlin’s expense.
if will had lived, i’m not sure we would have ended up in quite so dark a place. we might have landed in some other tight spot, sure, but i can tell you one thing for certain - will would not have sat quietly by and allowed merlin to throw his life away, not for camelot, not for arthur, and certainly not for a parade of empty promises.
xxiii: where you are, there i’ll be
the bottom line is this.
merlin spent the first two decades of his life with one friend.
one.
loved by one friend.
one.
merlin had his mother, who was there for him from the beginning, whose love was unconditional, who was an “of course.”
and he had will, who chose merlin, who kept choosing merlin even after merlin told him the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Secret. will’s presence in merlin’s life is the only reason merlin grows up believing himself to be deserving of love from people who aren’t his own mother. his presence in merlin’s life is the only reason merlin knows how to have and be a friend. his presence in merlin’s life is the only reason merlin is who he is - a merlin who’d spent his entire life without a single friend would not have been the same confident, optimistic, gregarious person who later walked into camelot and told arthur pendragon, “i’d never have a friend who could be such an ass.”
will mattered. we don’t talk about him much, because he only appeared in one episode, but it wasn’t “one episode” for merlin; it was closer to twenty years of companionship, of elbows in ribcages and smirks exchanged across the room and someone to natter on at, a person to sit next to and walk beside, in every season and all sorts of weather.
will chose merlin, and he kept right on choosing him, until he breathed his very last breath. that is enough for me to love him, to feel grateful that he existed. i don’t care how rough he is around the edges. i don’t care that he hates arthur pendragon’s guts, that he has a big mouth, that he speaks out of turn, that he has no tact, that he can’t suffer fools, that he has a chip on his shoulder the size of a minor planetoid and wings it at people’s heads when the mood is on him.
he loved merlin. actual, magical merlin; merlin as he truly is, merlin in all his gifted, unnatural, beautiful imperfection.
that is a desperately rare thing. that is worth celebrating.
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The Masked Singer Season 5 Episode 1 Recap: The “Game Changing” Premiere, Let’s Meet Group A (Commentary & Guesses)
Hello my fellow Masked Singer friends! Welcome (or welcome back) to Ana’s Masked Singer recap, where I, Ana, recap every episode of the Masked Singer! Woohoo, the first one of Season 5 and I am so excited wow! Season 5 was off to an amazing start, with Group A performing for the first time. I really enjoyed this one, so let’s get into the recap:
Ok, so to start, we have a new host aka Neicy Nash, and I really liked her, she was like the female version of Nick Cannon. I enjoyed her banter with Ken too so it was great I liked it a lot.
Also, let’s talk about the infamous cluedadoo or how I am gonna call him the freaking “Rooster” 🐓🐔 who is not really an actual contestant competing but he is feeding us the clues (hehe see what I did there?) ...
He was kind of mysterious and I am intrigued honestly, but I still have so many questions, will he have clues? He did say that we have to guess who he is as well so how will this work? Anyways having said that, let’s get into the main 5 of Group A which are Snail 🐌, Seashell 🐚, Russian Dolls 🪆, Raccoon 🦝, and Robopine 🦔.
Let’s start with the eliminated contestant who was
*DRUMROLL PLEASE*
The Snail 🐌
Commentary: He sang You Make My Dreams by Hall & Oats and it was good, nothing amazing or mind blowing (we’ll get to those performances later), but I didn’t expect him to go home first (I’ll explain who I expected later too). I really enjoyed it personally, the song is well known and catchy, I was bopping my head. It was a solid performance. I would give it a rating of a 7/10. I kind of felt the same way about Baby Alien last season that I felt about Snail going home.
Anyways, having said that, he was revealed to be (to my surprise)...
*DRUMROLL PLEASE*
Kermit the Frog 🐸
Omg ok, I didn’t expect that, when I tell you my jaw dropped, I am not kidding. My first impression guess was Ted Danson for God’s sake.... like I didn’t get this and I am so mad I didn’t because when I rewatched it, I totally heard the Kermit in there, and I saw people say it on Twitter, but I was like nah they wouldn’t do that, these people are trolling... and wow yeah I was wrong, I felt like a 🤡. BUT OMG IT WAS KERMIT, WHAT AN ICON. The most famous contestant on the show ever... how dope! Now, we need Miss Piggy on the show, because she’s another icon lol. I wonder what she said about this hehe 😜
Anyways, now that that’s done with, let’s go over the remaining 4 and give you my subpar guesses, the first ones of season 5:
1. Raccoon 🦝
Commentary: Ok like yikes my eardrums... this one’s one of the worst performances I have seen on the show, like it was so screechy oml. He honestly should have gone home instead of Snail, Snail was done dirty. I really don’t understand how he is still in the competition... Sorry I wish I had something nicer to say but he was just yikes, I’m sorry it kinda seems like he isn’t singing on purpose, it seems like a joke.
My guess for Raccoon is (I am 💯 on this):
Danny Trejo
Reasoning/Clues: So like this sounds stupid, but when the guy sang, Danny Trejo’s face popped into my head for some reason... idk my logic sometimes isn’t logical... but anyways the clues align:
Been in Prison for a long time= he was in prison in California when he was young because he got into a lot of trouble with drugs
Read Hunchback of Notre Dame= he said that during his time in prison acting kind of helped him survive and he would recite Wizard of Oz and... you guessed it... the Hunchback of Notre Dame
2. Russian Dolls 🪆
Commentary: ok, so I already knew how they were gonna sound but I am still super impressed. I feel like there are more than 2 people, maybe 3, I feel like I heard 3 voices in there. They sang Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson and it was impeccable, their harmonies are really great, and their voices blend together amazingly.
They are (again I am positive about this one):
Hanson
Reasoning/Clues: I know like everybody on the internet says this, but when I did the voice matching, it really does sound like them (even tho idk much about them personally)... but anyways here are clues that match:
Used to be the world’s hottest toy but then got replaced by shiner toys= they were popping off with their song MMMBOP in the 90s until they were replaced by other boy bands like *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys
Bus Stop= reference to a lyric from their song Man From Milwaukee
Sign that says Mitzfitz Toyz Store= Abbreviation of the guys’ first names, which are Issac, Taylor, and Zac aka ITZ
3. Seashell 🐚
Commentary: I am so happy that her voice is just as good as her costume, costume wise she is my favorite, and I am happy to report that her voice is also one of my faves. She sang Listen to Your Heart by Roxette and honestly she reminds me so much of Jellyfish, someone who is amazing vocally but has a bit of nerves at first. She does ease into it as it goes on and I really enjoyed it, she was great! However, at first, I thought she was someone else but then I heard her voice a second time and it sounded familiar....
My guess is (I feel good about this one):
Tamera Mowry
Reasoning/Clues: Besides her voice that made me think it was one of the twins, but the clues made me specifically think Tamera:
Hot Dog= the twins were born in Germany and Hot Dogs are German
Witch Broom= References to the Disney movie her and Tia Mowry did, Twitches, which btw is the reason I know them (that and Sister, Sister), that movie was my childhood I loved it
Chameleon= in an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Tia gets bitten by a chameleon and turns into the evil twin aka Tamera
Rooster clue: “No 2 Shells are the same”= she’s a twin lol, and she isn’t the same as her sister kinda thing
4. Robopine 🦔
Commentary: BRO I WAS SHOOK WHEN I HEARD THIS ONE SING. If you saw my costume rating, I was like meh I am not a huge fan of this costume, it’s kinda scary looking, and I just wrote it off, but BOY I WAS WRONG. My jaw was on the floor when I heard this man’s voice on the TV for the first time. He is absolutely my favorite of the night with his rendition of Never Too Much by Luther Vandross. His voice is BUTTER 🧈, so freaking smooth and wonderful. I just want him to sing me to sleep or for my birthday, like man I love him so much.
This one is so hard omg but I am gonna guess for now (it’s not a good guess, subject to change):
Eddie Murphy?
Reasoning/Clues: Ok, so I am not even gonna give reasoning, bc I don’t really know who he could be, I just threw Eddie Murphy because the man can sing and he is the age that was told... what really tripped me up was that he said he was in his 60s and has GRANDCHILDREN.... like he could be lying but it was so nonchalant that it was too good to be a lie, I was so confident at first thinking Chris Jackson but that what he said to the judges about grandchildren tripped me up, but also the judges thought he was lying but I am gonna act like he wasn’t and the only person I thought who could fit that profile is Eddie Murphy (or someone else said Terry Crews but idk I don’t think the man can sing like that)... however a lot of people say that it is Tyrese Gibson but that’s if the whole age thing is a lie but it is a good guess. Here are the clues tho:
Can of Soda Men in Black Drinking from
Spaceship Flying into Strands of DNA 🧬
He “used 411 day and night just to make a connection... until a certain angel said hello and a random call changed everything”
George Washington Figure
Now on his next mission
Anyway, that is it! I hope you guys enjoyed this recap! Don’t forget to follow, like, comment, and do all the social media-y things people do. Tell me whose your favorite performance/do you agree with my guesses? Lemme know! See you in the next recap! Bye guys 👋🏼😄
#the masked singer#themaskedsinger#celebrities#the masked singer season 5#hollywood#music#kermit the frog#snail mask
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Hi! I’d like a match up for Kuro please!~ I’m bisexual, non-binary (leaning a little more towards the masculine side most of the time), and my height is 5’9. My zodiac sign is leo and I’m INTP if I remember correctly. I love to write, draw, and read more than anything, though I’m also trying to make my own video game in my spare time, and I absolutely love anything horror related or really dark/gothic. Outside of that, my interests and tastes tend to vary so I’m pretty flexible. (1/2)
My fashion sense is sort of all over the place too, but I usually dress really edgy, mostly just in black or other dark colors. I’m not bilingual (yet~) but I’m trying to learn languages like French, Latin, and German. I have no self control when it comes to desserts or any sort of candy. I also own five dogs! I’d prefer a romantic match, but platonic is okay too if that’s easier. ^^ (2/2)
♡︎ matchup for @blank-envy
hello! i assume you meant Kuroshitsuji? if not, please correct me. thank you for waiting so long, i've finished your match!
and five dOgS?! god i wish that were me
|| kuroshitsuji: i match you with . . .
joker
• Joker is an aries (one of the best matches for leo) and an entp (one of the best e's for intp, imo)
• you two are a quite a pair! you're both easy-going but have a flame of passion in your hearts that strives to make a change. this dynamic immediately makes you click with each other.
• your views on the world are quite similar too, and your conversations can take a lot of interesting turns, seeing as both of you prefer meaningful discussions over small-talk.
• Joker is more extroverted than you though, but no need to worry about that. he cares for you deeply and respects your boundaries. at the same time, he's an effective communicator and knows how to minimise any misunderstandings you two might have.
• you guys met a high-class costume party (let's say for Halloween, it's spooky season). the moment you spotted Joker in the crowd you were amazed by his skeleton arm (oﾟ▽ﾟ)o
• of course, you first assumed it as a part of his outfit, and it was a bit embarrassing when you went to compliment him on it and he just laughed . . .
• after giving you a quick explanation, Joker expected you to be weirded out, but knowing he actually had a prosthetic arm made it all the more facinating in your eyes. it was creepy but in a cool way!
• not only was Joker thrilled and amused but also entranced. he knew right there and then he wanted to learn more about you.
• he was drawn to your creative side from the very beginning. he too is an artist, and an entertainer, so it was thrilling to meet someone who understood him so well.
• soon he came to trust you enough to introduce you to his family. everyone was so happy for you! Beast was kinda jelly at first but even she saw how well you fit together, like two puzzle pieces.
• your fashion senses are on the opposite side of the scale, but that's what makes it exciting! he jokes that you could use some colour in your wardrobe.
• shopping with you two is a real rollercoaster. you search for clothes representing your tastes but have a blast having the other try out the clothes of your choice.
• pssst Joker is slowly converting you into the same style as him so you can wear matching items🤡
• thankfully your interests are flexible because Joker will want to try out new hobbies with you. anything that looks mildly fascinating draws his attention. you'll have a fun learning about so many new things.
• he's especially into anything he can make a show out of in the circus, so next time you're meeting up with friends you'll have a few party tricks up your sleeve. Joker proudly grinning in the background
• but honestly? he loves the feeling of you braiding his hair before a show. he insists you do it for him because it's his good luck charm ♡︎
• after another successful performance he treats everybody to a big dinner. for you there will be a row of desserts. the twinkle in your eye when you see all thise sweets is irreplaceable to him.
• the only condition is that you have to feed him some as well, tehe
• now, when it comes to romance, Joker is a natural, hands down.
• acts of service, physical touch, words of affirmation—he has so many love languages you'll feel loved 24/7
• he's a huge tease though. can and will pull the cheesiest of lines and actions in public and still wear that innocent grin. personally, he sees them as fun more than anything. if you get embarrassed, that's just more in it for him.
• his favourite tricks are making flowers pop out from his hand and gifting them to you, as well as the "coin behind your ear" trick because he loves leaning in close to you and making you flushed.
• "oh, what's this? the coin was here all along!"
• "you know, you've done this same trick a hundred times already."
• "and i'll do a hundred more for you, my sugar cube."
• he's so smooth it should be illegal, but as i said, he lives for your reactions.
• coming up with all those sickly sweet petnames for you is also right up his alley. he takes inspiration from desserts and languages because those are some things that remind him of you.
• a few of his personal favorites to call you by: honeybee, sugar plum, ma fraise (my strawberry), and honigkusse, (honey kiss) + a classic when all else fails: my love
• compliments, compliments, compliments! expect them from Joker every other sentence. he never runs out of them, as he always sees the good in you ♡︎
• you two are seriously such a fun couple! the type to appear chaotic at first but also the one that share the deepest bonds. Joker loves you (and your five dogs) very much.
runner up: Grell Sutcliff
i had fun with this one since he's one of my faves! i hope you enjoyed it too, have a great day (◍>ᴗ<)ﾉｼ
if anyone hasn't noticed i make the matchup a bit longer if you only request one fandom ♡︎
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I saw you call yourself a teen wolf slut so with that in mind who is your favorite/least favorite teen wolf character and why👀😏
Gasp!
You...ooh this is so hard!!
Teen Wolf is actually my favorite show of all time so...I can't help myself I'm doing top 3 favorites and top 3 least IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER i can't choose between my 3 loves-
Okay, here we go! Hope this is to your liking anon!
Favorites:
Stiles Stillinski(but especially Void):
Ohhh Stiles. Dylan O'Brien is still my favorite actor of all time to this day for this role. The one actor I follow and watch every movie he's in. What a genius. I'm serious.
His body language? Spot on. Expressions? Memorable as heck. Line delivery? Amazing. Acting ability? Astronomical.
Normal Stiles already had such a fucking RANGE; from sarcastic and funny to depressed to excitable to hateful. Ugh. Brilliant. And then Void came in and it was like something in him literally snapped. I've still never seen anything like it. He looks so...so at home in his role as Void. Part of what makes him unnerving as shit in my opinion.
Truly masterful.
...and yet another one to owe my fear kink to after Scream and Billy Loomis. Blame him for Void being in Tainting Purity. Important to note that although his name is Void and he uses Dylan O'Brien as a face claim he actually isn't the one from the show. He's still his own character. I just...had to use Dylan because he was so perfect. 😅
Allison Argent:
I made the tough decision to replace Aidens spot on this list with my girl. She's...so me it hurts. Her monologue about not wanting to weak is still something I'll go watch when I feel lost. All the female characters of this show helped shape a lil piece of who I am but she had the biggest relatability at first and damn did it stick. Right to the very end. 😭
Issac Lahey:
So...Issac was a BIG self comfort for me. Nearly every character in this show can and is that for me but him especially shhh. Isaac's story deeply touched me with his father. I went through some stuff as you guys may have seen earlier today although not physical or half as intense as Issacs. It still served as this reminder that I wasn't alone.
And seeing him develop connections, slowly open up, fight through his trauma to create HIS family?
Damn. That shit got me.
Also; I may have been desperate to be ler'd and/or absolutely reamed by him and Aiden since that one scene in the track field. Curse my love of Bully/Bullied but sign me tf up- give me a protective, friend Issac which Aiden picks up on and then wants her for himself. Competition endues until eventual threesome at Readers behest.
Least Favorite(This kinda turned into a second fave list whoops-)
Little note that I find something to like in nearly every character so even the people here have good in some regard!
Gerard:
Ah Gerard. There from the beginning there to the end. What a crafty son of a gun...lucky for us Scott was craftier and had his friends to back him up hn?
His first use with the Kanima was probably my favorite but he was just...so evil ugh. And not in the good way. It was between him and Monroe and he won out since he was around so much longer.
Peter:
...Peter is that guy everyone hates to love but does anyway XD. His dry sarcasm and banter with Stiles are iconic- BUT his morals are grey as shitttttt. And he's selfish as Hell. Which I mean, fair. But still.
Theo:
Okay I needed to get my evil sadist baby on the list somehow okay-!? I fear him and I love that he makes me scared and feeds my filthy fear kink gonna be honest. Was in love from the very first twist scene with his "parents". Need to be wrecked by him and Void yesterday!
...maybe I have a lil bit of a villain threesome need with this show whoops 🤷♀️
Honorable mention to Ducalion because Gideon Emery is another fave of mine(him, Cody(Theo) and Tyler(Derek) actually just worked together on FF7 remake fun fact. I screamed and was so proud they all killed it!) And his ark was AMAZING. That ending with Scott? PLEASE.
Same to Ethan, and more begrudgingly Jackson. Didn't really earn it thanks to the lack of screen time but I'll give it to 'im cause of Ethan and that iconic scene from the last season as well as their chemistry.
Let's see...oh Derek and Lydia of course. Scott as well as Melissa. Gods, Chris too...too many good characters like I said 🤣.
...Also Danny. My baby boy deserved better. Much as I loved my 2nd gay baby Corey Danny was the OG and we never got any explanation for why he knew about supes. I headcanon that he's a Seer personally!
Okay this got super long! Hope you like it dear anon like I said it's my fave show so fee free to ask anything you like! I have tons of fandoms guys so chat me up about Miraculous Ladybug, Undertale, Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2(haven't finished 1 yet but have 2), Scream(horror in general), and Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Zelda games! Oh and The World Ends With You of course!
Okay have a great day y'all gonna doze but I'll answer everything when I'm back up at 7!
I'm looking forward to lots of asks hopefully~
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Just Saw you like getting questions, so here goes. A followup on the travel favorites. You mentioned it was difficult to narrow down. Would a top ten be easier? I always look for new inspiration LOTR being your first fandom but have you ever been into something no one else understood? 😊
HIIII! 💕 This totally made my night. I am honestly so surprised anyone would care enough to send me an ask, this is so sweet 🥰 Anyone wanting to talk or ask anything should absolutely feel free, I’d love it!
I’m gonna start with the last question since the travel one will definitely be longer 😊
I’ve been into a lot of things no one in real life understood haha. Like Supernatural back during seasons 1-3 ish when I was obsessed and my friends would get tired of me talking about it all the time (thank god for LiveJournal), or cycling (road and track) that I got super into watching one summer and ended up going all over the country to see races and do some photography for, for a few years.
Now traveling. Oh man, you’re really making me miss the days where travel was allowed and where I could afford it lol. Thanks for this question though, it’s really put me in a good mood to remember some of my trips, I hope these don’t disappoint. In case anyone hasn’t seen 3 of my fave travel memories, they’re over here. And now I’m going to spam you all with 10 more of my fave memories from trips. I had to try to go with ones I could find my pics from and I mostly managed, apart from Norway, so here we go:
1. Flying an airplane in Wanaka, New Zealand 🛩
I got to actually fly a plane! It only fit 2 people (and a cat) and I feel like I was allowed to do waaay too much, likely because it was my instructor’s first time taking someone inexperienced up so he let me do most of take off and also fly most of the trip, and then he even offered to talk me through landing it but I’m not insane so he ended up doing that part on his own. It was super freaking cool, and the view was absolutely breathtaking.
2. Seeing the Northern Lights, Tromsø, Norway
My best friend did her master’s in Tromsø so I went to visit her for a week in November 2018. I was a bit worried it was too early in the season to see the Northern Lights but one night the whole sky was full of dancing green light! We went up the top of a mountain and stayed there until we couldn’t stand the cold any longer, and it was just an incredible night. I didn’t manage to get any good photos with my phone so I just stole this off Google but it’s pretty accurate
3. Meeting Rachel Bloom in NYC last year
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is one of my favourite shows, and it’s really meant a lot to me. Yes, it’s a comedy with musical numbers but it also portrays struggles with mental health more realistically than any other show I’ve seen and that’s something I’ve really both needed and appreciated. Rachel is a comedic genius, and her show has helped me through a few tough times, so being able to not only see CXG live at Radio City Music Hall but also get to talk to Rachel after the show made it an incredible night.
4. Watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat, Cambodia
The history of the Angkor temples is so fascinating, and I managed to get myself up early enough to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat several times. For anyone who may want to go, my advice would be to not elbow your way to the front of the lake, but stand a bit further back while the majority of the tourists scramble to get a good spot. About 90% of them will disappear into the temple once the sun has offically risen and it’s gotten light out, but you want to stay by the lake. The sun takes longer than you think to actually rise above the temple, and by the time it gets there, most people will have left and the area will be much quieter and more peaceful and will give you a chance to really take in the sunrise. Each time I kept thinking maybe the sun wasn’t super bright or the clouds would cover it some because it seemingly took so long, but staying is absolutely worth it.
5. Early morning Alms Giving in Luang Prabang, Laos
This almost felt like a moment I wasn’t supposed to see but the owner of the guest house I was staying at assured me I was fine to watch. I wasn’t staying in the center of the city, and I was the only tourist out to watch the long procession in this neighbourhood which made the experience feel extra special and authentic as opposed to how crowded I’ve heard it can sometimes be in the city center.
6. Going to Lawrence, Kansas in 2009
Seeing as I mentioned being very into SPN above, I’ll include my trip to Lawrence, Kansas on this list. I went solely because my friend and I thought it’d be funny to do so because of its connection to Supernatural. We got invited to lunch by the owner of a souvenir shop who was delighted to hear I was from Denmark because her husband had a friend whose dad had once been. We stayed in Kansas City, and I got lost on my way back from the post office one day. An older lady in a car stopped by the streetlight I was at and offered me a ride back to my hotel which I gratefully accepted, only I started to rethink that decision once I realized that the footwell of her car was so full of bibles, I had to step on them, and the passenger door could not be opened from the inside. Obviously I realized this after I was in the car but while I was somewhat freaked out, I still agreed with her that us going past the McDonalds Drive Thru before my hotel was a good idea so her and I could get to know each other a bit... I was way too trusting back then but hey, I didn’t die so yay?
7. Driving a moped for the first time on Phu Quoc, Vietnam
I don’t have a license for any kind of vehicle and I have never driven any either (apart from a car twice on completely deserted, straight roads) but the owners of the hostel I was staying at insisted it was the best way to get around the island. Once of them tried to show me how it worked on her own moped, then let me try for a couple of minutes and then declared that she’d rent me one for the next day even though she was too afraid to sit on the back while I was practising because my accelerating and breaking were super abrupt. So the next day off I went. I drove into a tree and a sign in the street, got a lot of concerned looks, and I probably broke any and all traffic laws but I had such a fun time and I got to see some incredibly beautiful beaches that I don’t know how I could’ve gotten to without the moped. Important note for anyone doing this: remember sun cream! I sadly don’t have any photos of the moped, but I did take this photo of one of the beaches I visited:
8. Going to Obama’s first inauguration in January 2009 in Washington DC
I’ve always been into American politics and that interest peaked around 2008, so just in time to watch Obama get elected, and I knew I had to try to go to DC when I started planning my first ever US trip for 2009. I didn’t manage to get onto The Mall as I only made my way downtown around 6 am but I got a spot on Pennsylvania Avenue for the parade. I have never been so cold in my entire life but I’ve also never experienced the kind of euphoria and excitement from a crowd that I did that day. There truly was a feeling of hope for a real change, and I talked to the absolutely friendliest, kindest people while we waited. Plus I got to see Barack and Michelle Obama wave at me (in my direction anyway) as they were walking down Penn Ave which I’ll forever remember.
9. Going to Kangaroo Island, Australia
I love kangaroos. So much. I will never get over how cool they are. And I got to bottle feed joeys (baby kangaroos) on this island, as well as pet a bunch of tame adult ones, and see sooo many wild ones. Plus I got to see lots of koalas and other wildlife, as well as the beauty of the island. My friend did technically hit a kangaroo (or wallaby) when we were driving after dark but she’s Australian and didn’t take it quite as hard as I did.
10. Seeing the Colosseum in Rome, Italy
I’ve just always loved this building. And seeing it in real life did not disappoint.
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Your last asks have made me curious, and I wanted to ask you... What are your main fandoms? Like, in terms of tv shows and books, if you are into them.
guys follow me on @rosyumie you’ll get to know everything i’m interested in atm!
i’m not very active in fandoms i’d say, i watch things and sometimes make threads on twitter on my thoughts and that’s that haha more under the cut! it’s a long list
shows i love:
reply 1988 - i will die for this show. please watch this. it’s absolutely amazing. everytime i watch this i come out of it with new perspectives on life and family and always cry. i love it so much. must rewatch every year
parks and recreation - i’m on my 893929394th rewatch of this show. absolute fave
the crown - i love royals. i love claire foy. i love this show
the marvelous mrs maisel
this is us
how to get away with murder
big little lies
titans - omg i miss DICK GRAYSON
outlander
the good place
killing eve
skam france / a bit of the italian remake / a bif of the wtfock remake
game of thrones
goblin
brooklyn 99
the umbrella academy
élite
the witcher - i need to rewatch this I LOVE this show
his dark materials
sense8
queer eye
i’m not the biggest movie/book fan anymore, especially movies. i much prefer to watch a tv show and get to know characters through a long period of time than have a 2 hour movie and then it’s done.
but, books i love:
the night circus - favorite book of all time, i need to reread it.
harry potter
shadow and bone - i started this and then never picked up the second book but i really want to!
the hunger games series
i have read more but i don’t love them now as an adult like i did when i was a teenager.
movies i love:
from up on poppy hill - yes i’m a basic bitch this is my favorite ghibli movie. don’t @ me
tangled
ratatouille
get out - i watched this movie and it has never left my mind since.
knives out
the shape of water
the hunger games series
the dark knight rises
emma - recent watch, i loved it!
rise of the guardians
the cardcaptor sakura movies - this is very random but i love sakura so much, she’s my absolute favorite ever my baby girl. i loved these movies as a child
harry potter HOWEVER. i feel like i get mad watching them now because it misses so many details and moments between characters that it just pisses me off. also? what HAPPENED in that writing room to make ginny like that? appalling. no offense to bonnie but my girl deserved much better
you know... i’m a k- 🤢 kpop 🤢 fan so i watch a lot of k-shows
my faves are:
NEW JOURNEY TO THE WEST - I LOVE THIS SHOOW SO MUCH EVERYONE PLEASE WATCH IT’S SO FUNNY!!!! i get on another level with this show. it feeds my soul. my crops thrive, my skin glows. it’s amazing. go watch it i am begging. thank me later!
heart signal - oh my god if you like those trashy romance shows this is for you. filmed super high quality, most likely very scripted but i eat it up! season 3 just started and i’m living!
love catcher - similar to heart signal but you choose to be in the game for either money or love. the contestants need to figure out if the person they like is either money or love because in the end, if a money pairs up with a love, the money person gets 50,000$.
handsome tigers - i believe this just recently ended. i loved it so much! i didn’t expect to like watching basketball but it was so much fun.
knowing bros - i don’t watch this often at all anymore but, if there’s a guest i enjoy, i’ll usually watch it.
youn’s kitchen 2 - if you like more a chill out, long episodes type of show, this is amazing for that. it’s so relaxing, so fun to watch. it’s about an old korean actress that opens a restaurant in spain with other 3 actors. they serve korean food. it’s very wholesome. i just rewatched it recently, i absolutely love it. the first season i can’t seem to find subbed so :(
kang’s kitchen - it’s made by the same producer that does youn’s kitchen and it brings the cast of new journey to the west to open a pop-up restaurant. opposite of relaxing but it’s so funny. if you need a laugh give this a go cause it’s hillarious! there’s 3 seasons now of this cast, so the order i’d recommend is njttw 1, 2, 3, 4, kangs kitchen 1, njttw 5, 6, 7, kang’s kitchen 2/3
favorite k-dramas:
strong woman do bong soon
w: two worlds
reply 1988 (obviously)
goblin
age of youth 1 & 2 - please watch this oh my god. it’s about a group of girls and their lives and it talks about so many “taboo-ish” subjects in korea that you really don’t see in other dramas. so well done.
hotel del luna
i have watched many many more but these are the ones at the top of my head. the ones that i actually rewatch and still love.
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Phantasy Star Online 2
Review by Hanabi
_________________________________________________________
PSO2 features revolutionary gameplay features, such as endless adventures, Hybrid Custom Action, and unprecedented character customization. Become an ARKS Operative today! Adventure awaits!
This game has been out for probably 8 years at this point, however it only recently released on steam and that’s why we are reviewing it!
This is a Sega Game. Sadly it does not have the iconic voice saying Sega which makes me sad.It is an MMO so no matter how big or small your polycule is, you will all be able to play. This game is beautiful! Despite its age it still holds up! The game is pretty big to download but once it has, it runs smoothly even on using the bare minimum of requirements.
Character Creation: As with most games, there are only two genders to chose from. However, the customization is amazing and you can change litterally any small detail of your character into anything! Honestly the customization alone makes this game worth getting. There are only 4 races: Human, Newman (basically elves), Cast (robots/androids) and Deumans (demons). Each has their own specialization that shows which class they would be the best at. You are able to change some things such as hair and clothes in game.
Classes are Hunter (close combat), Rangers (AR’s and Launchers), Force, Braver (Switches between close and ranged combat), Bouncers, Fighters (close combat), Gunner, Techter, and the one I played, Summoner. Be aware that you can multiclass or switch classes completely in game!
If you love collecting cute pets/animals in MMO’s, Summoner is the Class for you! Sure you can use other weapons but why when you can have an endless supply of cute pets following you around that attack your enemies at long range? The game claims they can evolve, but after a quick google search that is a lie. Apparently “evolve” is really just improving their rarity which I as of yet have no idea what that even does as feeding them the same named eggs is what gives them better stats. Sure the downside is you can only have one pet at a time out, but who cares?! All the adorableness! I mean just look at these beauties!
Pets shown: Mellon, Trim, Sally, Wanda and Maron
On to the game itself!
The tutorial is quick and easy but also doesn’t teach you everything. This is definitely a learn as you go kind of game. I personally do not like the key bindings as the movement keys (AWSD) are right next to the weapon change key (F) and my fat little fingers keep slipping especially during a huge boss fight! Man that’s annoying! Also, there is NO WAY in game to change from windowed mode to full screen. Let me save you a google trip and post this link which tells you how to get full screen. Another google trip I will save you is looking for personal quarters. You need to go to the block change elevator, scroll all the way up and there will be your personal quarters. Free players get a small one room. There is a chance to get a 3-day pass or something that will unlock two more rooms that you can have fun putting stuff in. Once the pass wears off you will be unable to enter those rooms but the stuff you put in there will stay exactly how you left it.
As a Summoner attacks are pretty easy and really your pet tends to attack on its own which can be super helpful when you don’t realize an enemy has Snuck up behind you. Each pet has different abilities/ways of attacking, for instance “Sally” does long range bubble like attacks but also has a special attack thats like a black hole and sucks enemies to it to be able to hit multiple targets at once, and “Wanda” basically just jumps and bites at their ankles. You have the option of changing the names of your pet. The pets I mentioned are their default names.
Beside’s the main game play, there is also the Casino and the cafe. The casino is very glitzy with playboy bunnies walking around to help you learn to play the games. My fave is the shooting game while Dr. Flesh’s is Black Nyak. You need Casino Pass’s to redeem them for coins to play in the casino. The cafe is...ok? You need to collect your own ingredients (meat, fish, seasonings, etc) and take them to the chef. You then have to PAY an exorbitant amount of Maestra (the in game free currency) for them to make a dish for you. I honestly do not think it is worth the space in your inventory. The meals give you bonuses but in my opinion not enough to warrant having to collect the right ingredients AND pay upwards of 20K for food.
Now to my issues with this game:
Unlike most games where after you complete a mission they either just automatically give you the rewards, or tell you who to go see to collect it, PSO2 gives you bubkis. Let me save you some time. You need to go into your menu and find where it says Ark Missions. That’s how you get your rewards by clicking”Collect rewards”. However if you have more than one reward to collect, this button will not collect ALL rewards at once, rather you need to hit it multiple times. On top of this, to level your class, you need to constantly return to the lobby and find the class master/instructor dude to add points to your tree.
Storage is a pain in the ass! Again, unlike other games where you can click multiple things to send to storage, you have to click on each individual item to do so. This is very tedious and time consuming, especially when your in the middle of a mission and need to make room in your inventory.
Obviously the entire tutorial. Yeah it shows you how to move and attack but that’s it. Later on after you have been playing a while it suddenly yells at you that you forgot to play your practice missions and then tells you how to do that even though at this point you’ve been on multiple missions!
Overall I recommend this game if you do not mind these small quirks. It is fun, graphics are beautiful and the missions are challenging without being frustrating.
#PSO2#phantasy star online 2#Polypals#Polypalsofsteam#Freetoplay#Free to play#Summoner best class#Tutorial needs work#reccommended
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Extremely detailed asks for Atlaki please!
@salamanderapocalypse also asked about Atlaki so I’ll tag you here if that’s alright!
Thank you!! 💗
Sorry for no cut, I’m on mobile
The basics
1. Age, birthday, star sign
He’s 8 years old and /whispers/ I don’t know his birthday, shame, shame on me
2. Gender Identity
Masc-aligned nonbinary (he sees himself as ’male’ but how he relates to gender is from a non-human perspective that would be considered nonbinary)
3. Orientation and Relationship status (single, taken (by who?), crush (on who?)
Bisexual, taken by Cassien
4. Race and Ethnicity
Sylvari
5. Height and Body type
6”0, fairly lean body type.
6. Headcanon VA
I forget the actor’s name, but Hazel from the 2018 Watership Down remake.
7. Occupation
Commander and griffon trainer.
8. Weapon of Choice(?)
Axe and torch with a heavy touch of firebrand magic thrown in.
9. Hometown and current residence
The Grove; currently lives aboard a large airship.
10. Do they have any markings, piercings or scars?
Aurene-branded scar from where Bangar shot him, just over where a human heart would be. Ears are a bit torn here and there. Scar on his stomach from Balthazar.
11. Do they have any notable features, like horns, tails, or so on?
His canines are very pointed, and his nails tend to grow into claws, but he keeps them cut short.
12. Own any pets?
Two griffons, Buttercup and Orion!
13. Have any kids?
Nope. Unless you count Aurene.
14. Can they cook? Can they bake?
Don't let him in a kitchen unsupervised.
15. Can they sing? Can they dance?
Not fantastic, but he does, and yes, he enjoys dancing in private.
16. Can they drive?
Nope
17. Can they fight?
Yes, very well
18. Have any special keepsakes?
Caladbolg, although he doesn't use it. A magically preserved pressed flower from the Grove, to remind him of his roots (pun intended)
Interests
19. Hobbies
Griffon riding! He also enjoys sparring, and likes to paint in his (limited) free time.
21. Clothing/Aesthetic
Usually formal / armour, to present a strong appearance as commander. In casual settings he prefers to wear soft fabrics, as he struggles to grow his own armour nowadays.
23. Fave food(s) and drink(s)
Soups, potato dishes, bacon, chocolate, and for drinks he enjoys hot cocoa and just water. Isn’t too keen on alcohol.
25. Fave Color
Gold.
27. Fave Genre
Romance
29. Fave Season
Winter
31. City or Country?
Country
33. Guilty Pleasure
Eating way too much candy whenever he gets the chance.
Storytime
27. What’s their family like? Who’s in it? What’s their relationship with them?
Cassien is his partner, and Aurene he considers a daughter. The rest of Dragon’s Watch is like a family to him. The Pale Tree he feels conflicted towards - he is loyal to her, but also has some resentment towards her.
29. Are they literate? Did they go to school? How long? What level?
Yes, he learned to read during the war on Zhaitan. No school, being a sylvari.
31. What was childhood like?
N/A
33. What was adolescence like?
N/A
35. What’s their current main conflict?
Stopping Bangar and figuring out what Jormag’s deal is.
37. What steps have they taken to overcome this conflict?
Aside from canon story stuff: he’s started deeply researching Jormag, from old spoken legends to written accounts, in order to try to determine whether they are trustworthy or not.
39. How have they changed over time?
He went from an idealistic and naive sapling to someone desperate to make the world a kinder place even if it costs him his own life.
For Fun
34. What’s their room look like right now?
He lives on an airship and his room is pretty small. It’s kept neat and tidy, save for a few clothes on the bed. There’s one of Aurene’s glittering scales on his bedside table, and a vase of blue, night-blooming flowers
36. What are they like as a friend?
He’s loyal, attentive and sometimes overbearing. Always there if you need him, but needs encouragement to learn to have fun.
38. What are they like as a partner?
Supportive to the max, to the point he can be suffocating if he doesn’t get a hold of himself. Very loving and considerate, and again, extremely loyal.
40. Do they have any phobias?
Mind-control.
42. Did/do they go anywhere special for vacations?
He enjoys going the Labyrinthine Cliffs for the Festival of the Four Winds!
44. Your character walks into a cafe. What do they order?
Hot cocoa with whipped cream and marshmallows, and a chocolate chip cookie.
46. What time do they go to bed, usually?
11 pm - 3 am
48. What’s their morning routine like?
Get dressed, wash face, feed griffons and let them out to fly, have breakfast, contact Dragon’s Watch.
50. What’s the dumbest thing your character’s done?
Attempted a nosedive on his first griffon. Immediately passed out from the G force and fell off. Luckily the griffon caught him in midair and set him down on the ground. It isn’t a story he likes to tell.
52. What pokemon would your character be (if they’re already a pokemon/gijinka tell us what they are, and how that’s affected them)?
I know like 5 Pokemon, rip
54. What’s their pokemon team? Try to pick all 6.
Again, my Pokemon knowledge is sadly limited.
56. Theme song (and a playlist if you’ve got it!)
Perseus - the Unknown Brain
58. If this character was in a musical, what would their motif be (what kind of instruments do you hear, what’s the tempo, ect).
Strong but sad violin, slow tempo.
The Deep Lore™
47. What was this character’s biggest turning point in their life, something that changed them almost completely?
Trahearne’s death. The entirety of HoT marked his turn from “everything will work out in the end, good always wins, etc” to “maybe I can’t do this, but I have to try, even if it kills me.”
49. What was their lowest point? What was their highest point?
Lowest point was again, Trahearne’s death. It shook him to his core. His highest point wasn’t really one specific thing, but when Cas began to recover from the Nightmare. Every victory felt like a step towards healing for the both of them.
51. What are some themes tied to your character’s story?
Doing what’s right no matter the cost, found family, recovery from trauma.
53. What are some motifs associated with your character?
Deep blue, birds of prey, ancient ruins, stars, fire, pine trees.
55. What were some inspirations for your character (people, movies, games)?
Katara was a big one! I can’t recall any others by name right now but I really like how Katara’s anger and her kindness are so intertwined and I wanted to incorporate that into a character of my own.
57. How are you and your character the same? How are you different?
We both have a strong sense of morality and get angry when people cause unnecessary harm. We’re also both pretty stubborn, and shy. The main difference is Atlaki is a lot better with words than I am, I think xD
59. Expectations vs Reality: what did you expect and what did you get with this character?
I made him just wanting a sylvari character, and I ended up with my main commander.
61. What does your character want, and what do they need?
He wants to save Tyria.
He needs to learn he doesn’t have to carry that burden on his shoulders alone, and it’s okay to not do all things all the time.
63. What’s your character’s core trait? What’s their best trait? What’s their worst trait? When happens when these all interact with each other?
His core trait is determination.
His best trait is kindness.
His worst trait is how he can have a single-minded focus on things to the detriment of other issues.
Put together, he can be very determined to help someone in what he thinks is the right way, but in reality he could be missing the underlying cause of their problems.
65. What’s your overall goal with this character? Will they get a happy ending or will they succumb to their faults?
My goal is to get him to a point where he can balance his own life and desires with his job as Commander, and move on from his trauma to a happier future. He will absolutely get that happy ending!
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The Best Holiday Presents For Dogs To Consume!
We've invested the last couple months screening and also curating the most effective vacation gifts for dogs (and their people)-- as well as today's suggestions are all gifts for your dog to EAT! If I had to think, I think today's most likely our dogs' preferred day of the present guide!
When it concerns screening edibles, I don't rely upon the dogs. They do not have one of the most discerning palates. My initial step is to examine ingredients to see if it's something I really feel comfy giving them. Now, I'm not a person who's "all health and wellness, at all times." I such as to balance a little of junk food once in a while. These winners, however, all ranking really highly for being nutritious-- and I included our favorite supplements to balance out a lot of Christmas cookies. I had a bumpy ride narrowing it down, so right here are our preferred seven best vacation gifts for dogs that they can EAT!
DGP
Let's kick this off with our supplement fave. I've covered this before, as well as if you have a dog with joint problems or you just want preventative care, this is the one for you. DGP is everything about sustaining flexibility and flexibility, and also if your dog is already on a glucosamine-type supplement, it can be added to provide extra assistance. Lucas has bad hips, and also he's starting to obtain a bit older-- though he appears not aware of that fact-- and likes to dip into doggy day care one day a week. It was taking its toll on his joints, however with the DGP, he now appears to be rather strong. I'm SUPER delighted with this supplement, and my huge young boy is mosting likely to stay on it for sure!
Indigo Triple Chews
Oral wellness is critical, yet we aren't excellent regarding cleaning these people' teeth. We look for dental products that keep their teeth clean as well as their mouths healthy and balanced. The Indigo Triple Chews are by FAR our faves. They're digestible and grain-free. They integrate benefits by consisting of anti-oxidants as well as probiotics with the dental care. But why we enjoy them: They actually are lasting. We've attempted every sort of oral eat, and they complete them SO quickly. As well fast for exactly how costly they are. These seriously last longer than any other we tried. I desired a statistics, so I provided one to Lucas before I took a seat to compose today. It took him from 3:24 till 3:51. In my residence, that's a Christmas wonder.
Fruitables Holiday Edition: Vanilla Snowflake Flavor
So, these treats have by FAR the most effective story to them. They are made with actual snows! Seriously! You can see a video clip of them collecting the snow. These are little, crunchy treats that are made with 300 snowflakes in every bag. Just how amusing and also adorable is that?! The ingredients are rather allergy-friendly, too. The treats do not contain any wheat, corn, soy, man-made shades, or chemicals. While the young boys do not care way too much about those variables, they did swallow them up! I definitely like the tale as well as believe these would certainly make a very wonderful equipping stuffer for any kind of lucky puppy!
Zuke's.
Complete disclosure: If you have a dog who is as food sensitive as Cooper is, Zuke's have not been the most effective deals with for him. For some reason, they really worsen his sensitive stomach. The huge boys, on the other hand, couldn't. get. enough. We love Zuke's for training because they have a solid odor and also are quickly gotten into little bits. These jerky ones, however, have a lamb that we're trying with Coop, and so much, so good! The other tastes are wonderful for the other dogs. There are a couple various beef options and turkey, too. These jerky deals with-- made from absolutely risk-free meat sourced in the US and also New Zealand, rather than China-- include actual meat, carrots, blueberries, apples, and also antioxidant-rich herbs. We break them right into little items to use when we're working with the dogs outside due to the fact that the strong odor keeps them involved. These are treats we NEVER want to lack!
Train-Me Treats.
We do a great deal of training around right here, and also we use deals with for nearly everything from normal walks around the block to educating new techniques to servicing whatever Cooper's new fear-of-the-moment is. To maintain them interested, we need to blend the benefits. These training deals with from Crazy Dog were new to me, and they've been functioning so well. They're soft-- so much far better than crunchy when training-- and all list meat as the first component. They can be found in bacon, chicken, as well as beef tastes as well as either 4-ounce or 6-ounce bags.
Animal Naturals of Vermont supplements.
Several years back, we drove from DC to Indiana. Then, later, from Indiana to Louisiana. After that, once again later on, from Louisiana to Indiana. Sigh. All those miles with the dogs is pretty demanding, so we had been acquiring Pet Naturals of Vermont soothing treats. They have a HUGE variety of supplements past the prominent relaxing deals with, though, and we've been using the Daily Best for Emmett (although, I think possibly he requires the elderly formula) and the Skin + Coat. They're well-formulated and also absolutely have a great flavor-- the young boys gobble them up. Benefit for anyone with an allergy-prone dog: The Skin + Coat version is seasoned with duck, making it extra commonly endured!
PetSafe 2-Meal Automatic Pet Feeder.
If you stay in a multi-pet household, this may not be the Christmas gift for you (unless you have a feline who has different accessibility from your dog or something). My herd demands being fed at a particular time. Every. Solitary. Day. Morning meal goes to 7. Supper is at 5. I know not every person has pet dogs so diligent about their feeding times, but these guys urge. For a while, Coop was additionally consuming lunch. And also, really, Newt gets a problem toy mid-day. Anyway, this item would certainly be a dream if you had to do a mid-day feeding or if you had a late conference or supper plans and also wanted to feed your family pet in a timely manner. For a dog like Emmett-- who takes, roughly, 15 tablets a day some of which need to be timed with meals-- this would be a lifesaver if you needed to leave early/come home late. All you do is fill up the feeder, established a timer, and also TA DA! Your animal is fed the correct amount at the right time, even if you have to head out or are running late! $34.95 for the 2-Meal (1.5 cups per side) version (HINT: The 5 cup version is coming later on in the week!).
Barker Kitsen treat assortment-- No longer readily available.
You individuals, I'm in love. Can you be in love with a pet seller? I sure am! This online shop is devoted to "under-the-radar items," which indicates you're mosting likely to uncover something NEW in their shop. I seriously enjoyed poking around, and also I check out pet dog products all-the-live-long day! From their objective: "The business's mission is to assist quality-minded pet dog owners make remarkable product choices to maintain their pet dogs healthy and also happy, while giving arising as well as unidentified brands nationwide direct exposure as a distribution source for their items." As I said, I'm in love! They sent us a number of treats to attempt: Raw Bistro free-range bison liver and flaxseed treats, organic pleasant potato treats from 2 Dogs Treats, Bixbi's Skin as well as Coat poultry breast jerky, and Scrappy Moo treats. Not one of those deals with was a flop. We enjoyed them ALL. (Cooper can also consume the bison! Yippee!) And the product packaging is incredibly charming. Combined with the great goal, I'm head over heels!
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