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canonicallyobserving911 · 2 months

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Buck & Eddie: “You don’t know me!” - 7x5

In 2x8, Buck told a woman, “You don’t even know me!” and according to the script for episode 5 in season 7, the title of it will be almost an exact match since it's "You don’t know me!” and it appears to be a callback to his comment.

Since it's possible some may not have watched 2x8 Buck Actually in a while, here’s a quick reminder of the conversation Buck had with Bobby. They were discussing TK and how Buck hooked up with her in a bar restroom but Buck told him that since he had finally let go of AC, he thought she had changed him 🙄. Then he proceeded to say he had only been single for like a day and he was back to basically being Buck 1.0. When they entered the gas station, Buck kept talking to Bobby about how he was thinking about calling TK but he didn’t want her to think he was only after one thing. While Hen was treating the woman robber victim, she overheard Buck talking and commented, “You are only after one thing. Jerk!”. Buck responded, “You don’t even know me!” and she replied, “You’re a man, I know enough!”

Why is this important?

It’s important because the theme of “You don’t know me” has been applied to Buck with regards to every hookup or so-called “relationship” he’s had with different women on the show. Let’s be real for a minute because the truth is none of them AC, AM, TK, ND, Dr. Wells nor the two women he hooked up with in season 1 knew him either. Also, the woman who made the comment was a random victim who overheard Buck talking for less than a minute and she thought she knew Buck just because he’s a man. It was implied that all men want to do is hookup and leave like he did with TK but Buck has been and continues to search for the love of his life. The conversation he had with her connects to the one he had with Eddie in 6x15 while they were standing in the cemetery.

Buck said, “I feel like I have to try and be the same old Buck… mostly for the sake of everyone else” and Eddie responded, “You don’t have to be anything for anybody”.

IMO, their comments were being made directly to the audience and they were for the people who, after six seasons still want to keep seeing Buck do the same thing over and over again (I know it’s hard to believe but trust and believe there are people in the GA and in the 9-1-1 fandom who want to keep Buck on the hamster wheel and I think it’s because they DON’T WANT HIM TO BE WITH EDDIE). These are the viewers who would rather he keep randomly hooking up with people (it could be anybody and it doesn’t matter if it’s irrational, nonsensical, illogical, random or whatever/whomever just as long as they can see him hookup with another guy or another random love interest) instead of him finally accepting the love that him and Eddie effortlessly share with one another. I’ve said this many times, Buck and Eddie are in love with each other, they’re soulmates (post linked here) and they share a once in a lifetime love of their lives type of love that transcends space and time. They have a deep, emotional and intimate connection that’s not superficial and it’s not based on a hookup. They have an EPIC love story that deserves to be told without any more distractions or the addition of one-dimensional love interests. It’s not platonic, it’s romantic and if they do go CANON, it will make for groundbreaking television.

Back to our regularly scheduled program…

After the title for 7x5 was released a few weeks ago, I completed a post about how Connor really doesn’t know Buck the way he said he does in 6x4 (linked here) and I stand by everything I included in it. However, this post is in addition to that one and it includes the details about how all the women Buck dated didn’t know him either.

In 1x1, the first woman Buck was shown hooking up with in the firetruck told him to his face that she didn’t want to get to know him. He asked her for her number and she replied, “You’re cute and you’re very good at whatever it is we just did but let’s not ruin it by getting to know each other.” She didn't want to get to know him and the look on his face showed he wanted more but she didn't so he moved on to the next one.

Dr. Wells was the LAFD’s trauma therapist and SHE TRIED TO BEFRIEND Buck on Facebook before he ever entered her office. She knew the day would come when he would need therapy and when he asked her if she sent him a friend request, she told him he should delete it but then they ended up having sex. It was played off like a joke but that’s not what it was because she was in a position of power and as a licensed therapist, she should have been charged because it’s against the law for that to happen. IMO, since Buck didn't know any better, as his captain, Bobby should have reported her. She wasn't mentioned again until 3x9 when Buck, Bobby, Chimney and Eddie were sitting in the loft at the firehouse and all Bobby said was "She's no longer with the department". That wasn't enough and she took advantage of him. Trust and believe the situation would have ended differently if the roles had been reversed.

AC wasn’t any different because after Buck stood by her and helped her after her mom died, he was being catfished by a man and several women were after him because of that guy's lies. After a woman threw a drink in his face, he said to her, “You know me right? Come on” and she replied, “I don’t even know who I am right now. But I definitely don’t feel like I know who you are right now.” She ended up ghosting him and abandoning him while he waited for her for months.

When she returned two years later, she didn't even apologize to him.

AM didn’t know Buck either and don’t get sidetracked by the fact that she called him Evan sometimes. It was proven she didn’t know who he is when she said, “I know it’s who you are” after he said, “You want me to quit my job”. Well, being a firefighter is NOT who Buck is, it’s what he does but she clearly saw him as a hot firefighter just like AC did and was looking for a good time. Please remember she didn't have a problem leaving him because of it.

TK didn’t know Buck at all and for everyone who thinks just because they were having sex and living together, that doesn’t mean anything because after meeting four years earlier, TK still had no idea who Buck was before it was over and she didn’t care. If she had known him then she wouldn’t have betrayed his trust. Also, he did cheat on her which made the situation worse but neither of them wanted to admit they weren’t supposed to be together and they clung instead of just ending it. When he got ready to break up with her, she didn't try to see his side of it, she just stuck to her immoral ideals and wanted him to be ok with her running with the Jonah story. Instead of saying, “I understand and I apologize” she said, “You knew who I was when we started dating” and he replied, “I guess I thought I could learn to live with it”. She made it all about her the same way Buck makes everything about himself. They were two self-centered people with tragic childhoods in a trainwreck relationship and it shouldn’t have ever happened. It's still interesting that Buck ended up in a relationship with her after everything she did to Bobby and the 118 four years earlier (related post linked here and here).

ND fangirled over Buck and was so enthralled by his death but when she found out he had a full life, she did judge him. He said, “I know this is something that’s easy to judge” but even though she said that him being a sperm donor was a kind gesture or whatever, she left because she couldn't handle his full life. Granted she was a death doula but her actions weren't professional and it would have been better if she would have helped him deal with his death. Her return should have ended with Buck saying "No thanks" and sending her on her way but of course he was shoved into another lackluster one dimensional relationship. Also, them telling each other, “I like you” was very high school like🙄.

Please understand, I don't like TK but in 4x8 she said, "You just can't stand the idea of someone not liking you" and she was right. Buck works hard to make people like him and it's very reminiscent of the way he's been trying to get his parents to love him anyway. He needs therapy.

It seems like he's still doing it and the words Bobby spoke in 6x11 during his coma dream had no effect since he still cares about how people see him. He hasn't learned anything yet but hopefully he will in season 7.

Eddie Diaz is the ONLY person on the show who KNOWS and SEES Buck and the video above includes several snippets from different episodes to prove it.

Eddie knows him at his core. He knows when to call him on his BS, he recognizes when Buck makes things about himself and he knows when he's trying to fix things instead of understanding it's not always his job to fix them.

Maddie is Buck's sister but she still sees Evan (post linked here) her little brother but Eddie knows Buck and after they become a CANON couple, he’ll know Buck even more.

While I’m not sure who’s going to say, “You don’t know me” in 7x5 or if it will be said at all, I do believe Buck might say it again and if he does, it will be a callback to 2x8. Also, 6x15 could be included in it since Buck might not be trying to be the "same old Buck" anymore and hopefully it will be enough for the naysayers to understand he's not the same person. IMO, I still think it’s something he will say to Connor especially since the sperm donor arc is supposed to return and OS said in an interview it won’t be revisited before the first 5 episodes. Hopefully, Buck will finally realize the people he thought knew him really don’t including Connor.

Is it possible Eddie could say it to M, maybe but I don’t know because IMO that doesn’t sound like something he would say to anyone. But he is all therapized now and he’s supposed to be joking or whatever this season so who knows.

The point of this post is to illustrate how Buck said, “You don’t even know me” in 2x8 and apparently, it’s going to be a callback in 7x5 but the question is, if he does say it, who’s he going to say it to? 👀

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your-name-is-jim · 9 months

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What a Kirk/Spock shipper sees in a Kirk/Female-Love-Interest story [PART 2/2]

Part 1 <- Please read Part 1 first. Part 2 won't make sense otherwise!

This panel is absolutely AMAZING and you all deserved to see it :D

So, what were we talking about? Oh, yeah, Laura just proposed.

As you can see, Jim is panicking not sure what to answer, so the first thing he does is calling his two best friends. There are so many things going on here; I'll try to mention everything I care about!

"Starfleet is getting a lot better at partners of equal rank working together."

This is an important part of this comic: apparently, in this story Starfleet isn't encouraging relationships between officers with a different rank. I know it's sort of implied in canon too, but it's not always clear if it's actually against regulations or if it's fine when the ranks are close.

As a K/S shipper, this detail just gives me an in-universe reason why Jim and Spock aren't considering dating each other in this story: a commander can't probably have a relationship with a captain. I mean, we already know from canon TOS that Jim avoids relationships with the members of his crew, so this just adds a layer to a potential forbidden love story between them. Yeah, I know this isn't what this comic is trying to do, but what can I say? Fans don't stop shipping something just because they learn it's not allowed in-universe… if anything, they can find it more exciting! :D

"We could teach at the Academy. Mind you, she laughed at that idea."

Oh, wait. Jim actually talked to Laura about their possible future together! It looks like he's thinking about them as teachers at Starfleet Academy. Hmm… this sounds familiar:

2277 — Accepts appointment to Academy faculty, moves into San Francisco apartment

This is from Kirk's biography in Star Trek official website. Between The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan, Jim accepts a job at the Academy. We see it at the start of the second movie, after Saavik takes the Kobayashi Maru test.

Wait, who's the other teacher here? :D

Okay, okay, in that era Jim is an admiral and Spock is a captain, so their ranks are still different, but except for that… They both teach at the Academy. And it's literally what Jim proposed to his love interest Laura in the comic! With my Kirk/Spock goggles on, what I read in that panel is "If Laura and I got married, we could both do this thing that I'm totally going to do with Spock in the future." LOL

Did the comic creators notice the parallel? Probably not. However, we K/S shippers have special skills for finding accidental implications about our ship everywhere, so here it is :)

"Your thoughts, please, Mr. Spock."

I said I had a lot to say about that single panel, so of course I can't skip the last line! A human woman has just proposed to Jim, and what does Jim do? He asks for Spock's opinion. This says a lot about Jim and Spock's friendship, and it's very sweet on Jim's part, but it also makes me think about Jim's love life. What about Jim and Laura's romantic feelings for each other? Does Jim want to spend the rest of his life with her? Perhaps the reason they don't talk about it (not even with Bones!) is that it's implied that Jim loves her and she loves him, even if they never say it. However, I still think it's interesting that Jim's discussion on the matter is mostly "logical".

Anyway, I swear I won't post every single panel of this comic, but Spock's reply is an absolute gem you all must see:

"I AM SOMETHING OF AN EXPERT ON THE SUBJECT OF JAMES T. KIRK."

(dkjflsdjlkdjglk brb losing my mind again)

Ahem. Okay, Spock. Noted. Also, wow, nice make up. Did I say that the art in this comic is great? Good.

"I believe someone of equal status would offer you the best possible chance of happiness."

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I find interesting his use of "equal status" instead of the more specific "equal rank". Status makes me think less of their official position in Starfleet, and more of how two people actually see each other. It's not just about Laura and Jim being both captains; it's about them seeing each other as equals.

Anyway, Jim jokes about Bones and Spock finally agreeing about something, and the conversation continues.

Jim's best friends are both encouraging him to marry Laura. In this panel, I zoomed in on Bones because his words are especially interesting. Based on everything we've seen so far, it looks like having a romantic partner when you're in Starfleet is a pain in the ass in general in this comic; however, Bones is pointing out that for the first time, Jim has someone who really understands. Of course, that's because she's a Starfleet captain too.

About Spock, I won't share the entire conversation, but I just want to say that as a K/S shipper who likes to think Spock is secretly in love with Jim in this era, I find his dialogue where he's supporting Jim's relationship with Laura totally reasonable. It's important to remember that this comic takes place close to the end of the five-year mission. We know that Spock is going to run away after that, trying to erase all his emotions in Gol. So, in this specific part of his story, I find pretty in character that he'd tell Jim to find happiness with someone else. That's what he'd do, regardless of his own feelings.

So, Jim knows his two best friends think he should say "yes" to Laura. What happens next?

During a mission, Jim meets his ex Carol Marcus. She is surprised to find out that Jim is considering settling down. This is not completely related to this analysis, so I won't post it, but I found interesting that Carol knows about every single woman Jim dated before he became captain (the only one she doesn't name is Ruth), and she even says "And that woman in 1930, what was her name?" Just… how the hell does she know? LMAO

At least Jim hasn't told her about Miramanee and Rayna (well, technically he doesn't even remember the latter), but seriously, Carol does know a lot about Jim's private life, even if it's clear she doesn't want her or their son to be part of it. (Not really related to this plot, but in case you're confused about the timeline: David is a child in this era; however, he doesn't appear in this story.)

Anyway, this is what she eventually tells him:

So, I like to think that Carol is genuinely trying to help Jim here, because the spiteful ex girlfriend is another thing I don't really want to see in 2020. I want to think that the creators meant well; however, what happens in the story is that, despite Jim not seeing himself outside the captain's chair, and despite his best friends telling him to marry the captain that is just like him… Jim keeps thinking about Carol's words.

He knows from Starfleet that he's going to be promoted to admiral the moment he reaches Earth. What is interesting here is that Jim could refuse the promotion and be a captain with Laura. This is definitely a different situation from everything else I've seen before. It's obvious to anyone who has watched TOS movies that Jim is not happy as an admiral. He didn't really want to be one. He doesn't want to be one in this comic series either (you can see it explored in Star Trek: Year Five main story). However, thanks to The Motion Picture, we also know that he will accept promotion at the end of his five-year mission. This isn't a canon divergence story: the writers can't really change any major event, so they have to work with what canon offers.

What I find interesting is that in this 2020 comic, Jim finds himself in the opposite situation he is in Gene Roddenberry's The Motion Picture novelization from 1979. In Roddenberry's novel, it's mentioned briefly that Jim starts a relationship on Earth with a vice-admiral, a woman that was basically asked to use her charm to keep Jim grounded. Jim could refuse promotion, but he finds himself lost, without his ship, without Spock, and eventually without Bones. So he tries to convince himself that a life as an admiral with a perfect woman by his side will be good for him (it will not; Jim himself will realize a year later that his lover was an "Enterprise-surrogate").

Now, I understand trying to write something fresher and more modern in this Valentine's Day special, but I confess that I find a little hard to believe that Jim would accept a promotion as admiral if the alternative was keeping both a starship AND a wife. Also, let's not forget that Spock and Bones are both telling him to choose the married captain life. So, while I totally get from a writer's point of view that if you can't change canon, you have to work with what you have, I'm also not sure that Carol reminding Jim that he's always wanted to challenge himself is enough to make him doubt everything.

I guess I can sort of see that as part of a bigger problem: Jim knows he can't be a captain for life; during his first date with Laura, as we saw in Part 1 of my analysis, he talks about it.

"I've been thinking lately about whether I could ever stop being a Starfleet captain. Whether I could ever want to. A friend of mine talks about 'infinite diversity'. That applies to the Federation, too. But here I am, only built for one thing."

So, Jim knows he has probably avoided the subject for too long. Carol is forcing him to think about it. And, more implicitly, we could say Spock and his IDIC philosophy are also making him think, even if it's not what Spock would have expected. After all, Spock told Jim to marry Laura (in the comic), and he'll tell him that being a starship captain is his "first, best destiny" (in The Wrath of Khan).

Anyway, Jim eventually decides to meet Laura and talk to her about his personal concerns. First of all, we find out that the two of them haven't called each other for six weeks. Laura is still waiting for Jim's answer, and she didn't want to call him. If you ask me, their lack of communication is yet another a big clue that perhaps getting married is not a great idea.

Well, now Jim is at least trying to talk to her.

Aaand that's how she breaks up with him.

I'm not sure how to feel about this. I mean, in a sense, Jim doesn't say "I decided to be an admiral instead of marrying you", but Laura definitely sees it that way. I think he was genuinely looking for help, but that just proves that Laura isn't the right person for him. Why marrying someone you can't communicate with? They are such a great team as captains, but it looks like that doesn't apply to their relationship. I pointed out other clues in the previous parts, and now we got this. It's interesting to see that Jim in this comic can have a normal conversation about his future with Spock, Bones, and even Carol Marcus, but not with the person he's supposed to build a future with. Unless something changes between them, it can't work out.

Anyway, this isn't the end.

A year later, when Jim is an admiral on Earth, there's a sudden emergency. A miniature black hole appears out of the deep structure of the universe (don't blame me for the science, I'm literally quoting the comic LOL) and it's attracted to Earth gravity. Short story: they're all going to die, but fortunately the Drake (Laura's ship) can cause an anti-matter implosion that will shunt the black hole outside their reality. Unfortunately, that also means the Drake will have to go inside the black hole. Laura evacuates her crew and asks Admiral Kirk to give her the order to proceed. Reluctantly, Jim tells her that he knows she'll do it, and he gives the order.

Now, please appreciate The Motion Picture aesthetic:

Okay, I know I could have chosen a panel with Jim and Laura, since this is literally their love story, but I did say this analysis was going to be biased, so here is Laura with her two closest friends instead; they would never let her risk her life alone! <3 They are very obviously meant to be a parallel to what Spock and Bones are to Jim, which is very cute to see. Now, Laura, listen to me: I know the three of you have different ranks, but you may die in a few seconds… And I just think that the few times your friends appear in this comic, you have a lot of chemistry with them, sooo maybe you should forget about Jim and just smooch one of them, or both… just saying :)

Ahem. Anyway, after Laura and her girlfriends disappear into the void, there's another timeskip. This time it's 15 years.

Oh, damn.

I said in the premise of this analysis that one of the reasons I decided to read this comic despite shipping Kirk/Spock is that, in my headcanon, Kirk and Spock get together after The Motion Picture. Until this point, this comic hasn't really gone against my headcanon. I can genuinely believe that Jim had another girlfriend during his five-year mission; it's not a big deal. Unfortunately for me, this comic has its last part taking place around The Final Frontier era. Dammit.

Well, it's just one comic. I read until this point; it'd be illogical not to read until the end, right? Nah, it's not logic. It's human curiosity. I know I won't like it, but I still want to see it.

Also, if there's something that I really don't want to see in modern media anymore, is female characters dying just to make male characters suffer. I can accept that in TOS show because it was made in the 1960s, but even TOS movies got better about it! Characters like Saavik and Gillian can have their own lives without having to die for a man's pain. It's not a coincidence that the writers had to kill Spock to make Jim suffer. Without digressing too much, I just wanted to say that K/S bias aside, I went into this comic hoping to read something different from another dead woman for Jim. I'm very glad that, at least about this, the comic creators didn't disappoint me!

So, in this story, it's been 15 years since Laura's disappearance (actually, it should be more, but I'll try not to nitpick, despite being the trekkies' favorite hobby :D). Anyway, the one with the whales The Voyage Home happened, and Jim is not an admiral anymore. He's happy to have a starship again, but he hasn't stopped questioning his life decisions.

We can also see that, 15 years later, he's reading the book Laura liked.

HOLD IT! WAIT WAIT WAIT! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??? WHAT THE--

*inhales deeply*

(Friendly reminder to myself that what is obvious to me may not be obvious to everyone else, so I need to explain. Fine. I'll try.)

The screenshots I posted are from The Wrath of Khan, right after Spock's funeral. What Jim is doing there is reading the end of the book that Spock gave him for his birthday. He's mourning Spock.

In the comic panel, Jim has a new pair of glasses, because it takes place a little later in the timeline. But, except for that…

It's the same scene.

The same fucking scene.

I mean, come on! I can't even post the "they're the same picture" meme, because it's not funny if they're literally the same picture! Even the bookmark is the same!

The comic creators literally took a canon scene about Jim reading Spock's book after Spock is gone, and they redrew it with Jim reading Laura's book after Laura is gone. In a Valentine's Day special. Where Laura is Jim's love interest. They made a romantic scene with Jim and a woman that was originally about Jim and Spock.

(Brb, I'm going to chew a pillow until I calm down.)

So. Well. If you wondered why I thought there was something about Kirk/Spock in this comic… you have your answer. Perhaps the artist didn't think anything about it. I certainly do.

And I guess someone could say, "But Jim is still reading Laura's book 15 years later! That's true love!" Why yes, he's not reading Spock's book 15 years later, because he didn't stay without Spock for 15 years; he risked everything and lost all the most important things in his life to save Spock's soul.

Anyway, back to the comic. Starfleet receives a signal from the edge of Federation space. It's the Drake. Laura and her friends are alive.

Jim and Laura have a reunion after a long separation. Since they're both captains now, Jim thinks they are given a second chance.

Oh, whoops.

It's her turn now. It looks like being away for 15 years has changed her (as you can expect, honestly), and she's now glad to become an admiral. In this comic, that means Jim can't marry her. So, this is how the story ends:

So. Um.

This isn't a bad ending, but I also wouldn't exactly call it a happy ending. It's certainly not a happily ever after story. I'd call it open, maybe hopeful? Honestly, pretty much what I'd expect from a love story between an original character and Jim, so I can't say the writing is disappointing about that.

On the other hand, I can't personally imagine middle-aged Jim being so eager to start a romance again with someone he hasn't seen in 15 years who broke up with him 16 years ago. Perhaps he felt guilty about Laura's disappearance because if he had married her, they would have been part of a colonization fleet somewhere else and the incident wouldn't have happened the same way? Maybe. Personally, I would have found more believable an ending where Jim asks her to have dinner together or go for a walk, and then something romantic happening as they get to know each other again. But I can see why the creators wanted to bring up the marriage proposal again, just to close the circle. The comic is just 32 pages, so they did what they could.

"Unless there's someone else." "Not so much. I've been really busy."

Busy with what? Oh, right: Spock's death, Spock's body on Genesis, Spock's rebirth on Vulcan, the time travel (okay, that one wasn't 100% Spock-related), Spock's brother… Honestly, just say there's been a lot of Spock in your life, Jim, because that's the truth :)

On a more serious note, I guess that dialogue could mean that Jim has someone, but "he's been too busy" to do anything serious with them. However, as a K/S monoshipper I don't really like the idea of Jim being in an open relationship with Spock, so Jim's character in the entire scene in the end is just a big NOPE for me. Sorry.

That said, I found very interesting that in a few panels they show very clearly the "captain" rank on Jim and Laura's shoulders, to point out that it's the same. They can't be together forever, but they can have fun for a few days as captains. Because of that, I went back to the start of the last timeskip, just to check out something:

Fascinating.

This is a pretty detailed panel, where you can see the ranks on the shoulders of Jim's friends; the colors of their pins are also pretty good, close to the ones in the movies… except for Spock's.

Oh, please. Did you really expect me not to pay attention to this? :)

Captain Kirk and Captain Spock.

And unlike Laura, this is what they are until the end! The end of a very long life! Generations? What's Generations? Spock will eventually become an ambassador, but that's just a different job. How did Spock himself put it earlier in this comic?

"I am something of an expert on the subject of James T. Kirk. And I believe someone of equal status would offer you the best possible chance of happiness."

Did the comic creators just play themselves? I don't know, I'm quoting their own story here! LOL

And what about Jim's words from the same scene? :D

"Starfleet is getting a lot better at partners of equal rank working together."

Partners. Of equal rank. Working together.

That's literally what Kirk and Spock are since the end of The Voyage Home! Without an expiration date!

The comic creators made a big deal in their universe about relationships being better between two captains, and how good Jim and Laura may have been for each other if they had married as captains; and now they can't have their happily ever after because Laura is going to be an admiral… But even if the comic tries to hide it, we know there is a captain in Jim's life. And to make things better, Jim lost his admiral rank to bring him back. Listen, I'm a huge Old Married Kirk/Spock fan, so there's no way anything can make me forget that in the last TOS movies they're both captains. And there's no way I can forget that Jim risked his entire career (and everything else!) for Spock, and that's literally why he's not an admiral anymore.

This is almost ironic in this Valentine's Day comic. If it hadn't been for Spock, Jim would have still been an admiral, and he could have married Laura. Whoops. Too bad.

Speaking of admirals, I didn't notice it at first, but there's also something about this line Laura says in the last panel I posted…

"And don't you dare 'Admiral' me."

Ah, yes, a typical thing you tell someone you're planning to have sex with. Right, Laura? Agreed :)

Honestly, at this point I should just stop checking this comic, because I wonder if I'd just end up finding a Kirk/Spock version of every Kirk/Laura Rhone line LOL

By the way, I have other thoughts to share now that the story is over, but there's one more thing first. Do you remember the last panels of the comic? Middle-aged Jim and Laura kiss; END.

Okay. After that, the comic has a picture of the cover, with Jim and Laura kissing when they're younger.

And then it has this:

dklsfjlskjflskjlksjlkdlkgjdlfgsnfjekniuwanf LISTEN, HOW--

Just how am I even supposed to say anything that makes sense about this…??? I'm just… I can't…

Okay. So. We're talking about a Valentine's Day comic. It makes sense for it to include a cute Valentine card. I also get that Spock's iconic line has become so mainstream that it can be quoted out of context. And you can make parodies.

But… But… A Star Trek TOS fan can't really forget the original context of "I have been and always shall be your friend"? Someone could just not think about it, I guess… But, well, I know that at least I can't forget that this is literally Spock's line to Jim rewritten in a romantic Valentine's Day version. I can't possibly NOT think about it!

And I know it's very possible that the people who worked on the comic story weren't even aware of this extra, but the fact that I'm seeing this after reading about Jim Kirk's romance without happily ever after… Jim kisses a woman he can't stay with forever, and then there's Spock's "I have been and always shall be your Valentine". It's just so fucking funny. I can't. If I was feeling a little down after seeing middle-aged Jim wanting to marry Laura, now I'm laughing again. Thanks, Spock's silly Valentine card. I needed it! :D

Anyway, what did I say about this comic taking things originally created for Kirk and Spock's relationship and making them romantic when they're not about them? I can believe that sometimes it's a coincidence, but this card? Please… In a sense, this is the perfect ending.

---

Conclusions.

I started this comic with a question: in 2020, how do you write a story about TOS Kirk falling in love? I wanted to see this attempt. Overall, I think the creators did what they could. Laura is different from every other woman in Jim's life; they didn't kill her off, and they also didn't force a happy ending. I think they did a good job with the canon limitations they had, especially in 32 pages.

Do I believe that Laura could have been a good match for Jim in different circumstances?

As a temporary girlfriend? Yes.

As a lifelong partner? No.

Of course, I'm aware my answer is biased, but I can try to be a little more "logical" about it.

First of all, I think that the comic itself supports my interpretation: of course, like in every story, different people are going to see different things; however, as I already pointed out, Jim and Laura never say that they love each other, and before the marriage proposal their relationship is pretty casual.

In The Original Series, Jim isn't lucky when it comes to romance because the women he falls in love with can't really understand his nature as a space explorer. Sometimes they can, like in Carol's case, and that's why they break up with him. Laura is the opposite, because she's just like Jim. But here is the thing: I think Laura is too much like him.

What would have happened if Jim had accepted to marry her at the end of the five-year mission? They would have been both captains. On different ships, though. Sure, they could have been part of the same colonization fleet, as Jim says in the comic, and maybe it would have worked for a while. However, would they really have seen each other as much as Jim needs?

I don't know about Laura, but we see multiple times in canon that behind his mask as a starship captain, Jim is definitely more lonely than what someone may think.

First of all, don't get me wrong: in these screenshots from The Naked Time, Jim is single, so of course his attraction to Janice Rand is related to that. It's not the same situation he'd be in if he were married to Laura. Early in the series, he has thoughts about his yeoman exactly because he doesn't have anyone else. Contrary to his fame as a womanizer, TOS Jim in canon always has one woman at a time in his mind, never more.

So, why am I sharing those lines? To show that when Jim is always inside the Enterprise, he does feel lonely. He needs a romantic partner's physical touch. However, we also know that Jim does not want a relationship with one of his subordinates, so Janice Rand and the rest of his crew are off limits.

Laura is good for him because she's part of Starfleet, and not a subordinate. But is that really enough? From what I've seen in the comic, no. At the end of the day, it looks to me that Jim and Laura don't really know how to plan a future together. Perhaps it's because they're so similar, but they don't really think of themselves as a couple, especially Laura. There's Captain James T. Kirk and Captain Laura Rhone; they both love their ships, so they should get married? That's not how it works.

Their relationship is casual. Jim doesn't want to define it. Are they friends with benefits? Are they in an open relationship? Either way, when Laura decides to marry him, she asks around if Jim has someone else, and only after that she asks him. Jim, on the other hand, doesn't talk to her for six weeks after her proposal. He talks to Spock and Bones immediately, but not to her. He even talks to Carol first.

Then, when Jim finally tries to talk to her about his problems, she doesn't listen. Their lack of communication is the cause of their break up.

16 years later, what we see is even worse. It's obvious that Laura has just different priorities. Maybe it's because of what happened to her lost in space, but I'm not sure. If they had married at the end of the five-year mission, would have Laura always refused a promotion to admiral? Would she have tried to get a promotion with Jim? Based on what we see in this comic, it doesn't look likely to me.

Now, as I said, different people are going to see different things, so I'm sure that someone really invested in this romance can imagine that Jim and Laura are really meant to be, and they can get their happy ending after their retirement, or in other ways. However, I admit that Jim and Laura's huge communication issues make hard to me to picture a long happy relationship between them. They should both try to get better, but in those 32 pages there was no hint towards that direction.

There's another thing that makes really hard to find any love interest for Jim as a plausible "happily ever after" option: the stakes. I know that it's just a single comic, so the creators had to focus on a few things; however, I couldn't help but notice that Jim and Laura never really save each other from dangerous situations. They work together as a team, and Jim watches Laura disappearing into the void, but does he do anything about it? Does he try to reach her inside her ship before she disappears into the black hole? Does he try to bring her back from the void? No, he doesn't.

In TOS show and movies, Jim Kirk risks so much for his crew and his ship that a Star Trek fan can't believe that a new woman is the love of his life, unless Jim is willing to do for her everything he does for his friends. And honestly, after The Search for Spock… how can he even come close to do that?

And it's not just about Jim's actions. There's his language too. At the start of the third movie, Jim refers to Spock as "the noblest part of myself". What could he say about a love interest that is as deep as this?

Let's be honest here: the reason it's so hard to write a story about Jim Kirk's true love is that the real love story for him has already been written. You may not see it romantically, but Kirk and Spock's story is absolutely a love story. And when a character has someone he loves so deeply, it's not easy to convince the audience that he could have someone new to love as deeply. In Jim's case, the combination of his personality and his canon life makes it almost impossible.

Anyway, before I end up not so accidentally turning this analysis into a complete Kirk/Spock ship manifesto, I'm just going to mention one silly thing about the Valentine's Day comic. Please, don't take it too seriously, I'm half-joking :)

So, there are two kiss scenes in the story: one when Jim and Laura start to spend a lot of free time together, and one in the last panel. Well, I can't believe Jim isn't holding Laura's shoulders when he kisses her! That's just the basis of the way Jim kisses women! D:

Different Star Trek characters kiss in different ways; it fits their personalities. And because the rest of my TOS posts are probably too gay for these gifs, I'm dropping them as references here:

Sorry, but if Jim Kirk doesn't grab someone's shoulders before a kiss, it just kills my immersion! :P

Okay, a little more seriously: Jim doesn't always kiss women the same way; however, his "shoulder grab" is common enough that you definitely notice it if you pay attention. Because of that, I think it would have been nice to include it in the Valentine's Day comic.

After reading this comic, what kind of person would I consider perfect for Jim?

Well, my answer is obvious. However, I'll try to elaborate.

First of all, this story definitely convinced me even more that Jim can only be really happy with another Starfleet officer (or at least someone who's been deeply involved with Starfleet). He also needs someone who understands him as a space explorer, without trying to keep him grounded. And someone very smart, of course. These are all traits Laura has. But they're just the basis.

I don't think Jim needs someone in command of their own ship as a lifelong partner. As I said before, I can't really imagine it working out. Another starship captain would have their own goals and their own ambitions; that doesn't mean Jim shouldn't marry someone with specific plans for their own career, but I think these plans should keep the two of them close, not on different ships. Jim needs his partner physically at his side; if he could be happy in a long-distance relationship, I believe we would have seen at least one working out in canon. But it's never the case. Working on different starships from the same fleet would be a little better, but in my opinion not enough, unless it's for a short period of time.

And there's also the matter of his partner's personality. Jim is a natural leader; that's why he's so good at his job. I don't think he needs a similar kind of leader as romantic partner. This is just my personal opinion, but I believe they would just fight about everything they disagree about. I think he needs someone calmer in his life, not someone who'd encourage emotional outbursts.

More importantly, he absolutely needs someone he can communicate with. If he can't talk to his partner about everything important, they're not the right person for him. That doesn't mean they can't have disagreements or miscommunication issues, of course, but they shouldn't happen all the time, and Jim and his partner should be able to talk about them and make up.

In conclusion: someone at his side on his ship, smart, calm, trustworthy :)

Now, I know what some of you are thinking about: what about the "no relationships with subordinates" personal rule Jim has? How can Jim be in a relationship with Spock (or anyone else on the Enterprise) if he's everyone's superior officer? Well, first of all, I already said that after The Voyage Home, Jim and Spock are both captains. And before that… I think that Spock in the comic phrased it the right way. Jim can find his happiness with someone of "equal status". I think it's pretty clear, in my opinion, that Janice Rand and Spock aren't the same kind of subordinates to Jim. Just think about it: which members of the Enterprise call their captain "Jim"? Bones, Spock and (occasionally) Scotty. These are the three people I believe are "equals" in private to Jim, no matter their ranks when they're on duty. Because of that, a relationship between Jim and Spock could work pretty well.

By the way, another thing the Valentine's Day comic made me think about is that in TOS movies, Jim sort of does with Spock pretty much everything he does with Laura in this story. Not the same way, of course, but does it matter? Spock is his own person, he's not Jim's copy. That doesn't mean he can't indulge Jim, have fun himself… and try to stop Jim from doing dangerous things "for fun", as an old spouse would :)

Okay, perhaps throwing each other into the water doesn't count as dancing, but it's so much better :D

In conclusion, this is the way I can read the Valentine's Day comic as a Kirk/Spock shipper:

Jim mentions Spock on his first date with a woman.

Jim questions his life choices as he thinks about Spock and IDIC philosophy.

Jim does with Laura everything we see him doing in TOS show, except for playing chess (just the thing he does with Spock).

Jim says Laura and him are a good team in Starfleet because they had a lot of sex (is that true about other people he works well with??)

There haven't been many ladies or gentlemen in Jim's life because he's busy (not because he's not into men, apparently).

"Starfleet is getting a lot better at partners of equal rank working together." Good for your future with Spock, Jim!

If Jim and Laura got married, they could both teach at Starfleet Academy, something Jim is totally going to do with Spock someday.

Mister "I am something of an expert on the subject of James T. Kirk" Spock.

Also, Mister "I believe someone of equal status would offer you the best possible chance of happiness" Spock, which is actual foreshadowing of his own future status with Jim.

Hey, look at Jim reading a book that reminds him of his lost love! I wonder where I've seen LITERALLY THE SAME PICTURE???

"Don't 'Admiral' me". This is totally not similar to what Jim tells Spock in The Voyage Home, of course.

Hey, we're both captains now! Just for a few days, but isn't that great? I wonder if anyone else is a captain now, and forever? :D

"I have been and always shall be your Valentine". Totally not a Kirk/Spock line, I don't know what you're talking about! :)

Okay, okay, that's all.

As a Kirk/Spock shipper, I won't deny that I'm a little jealous of this Valentine's Day special comic, because I wish we could get something with amazing art like this where Jim is in love with Spock. On the other hand, Star Trek: Year Five comic series has a few scenes about Jim & Spock's friendship that I really liked. Platonic, sure, but good enough for my K/S goggles!

Thank you so much for reading this post until the end! I hope you enjoyed my analysis! Live long and prosper!

#star trek analysis #star trek: year five #star trek: year five valentine's day special #star trek comics #james t. kirk #laura rhone #spirk #star trek tos #star trek the original series #k/s #kirk x spock #space husbands #my gifs

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philosophika · 5 months

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Writeblr Positivity Tag

Hi @inkovert! Thank you, as always, for the tag. Just a quick shout-out; if you don't know Inkovert yet, please please please go check out their WIP, My Dearest Enemy. Also, do you like having in-depth discussions about writing with other up-and-coming authors? Participate in @inkovert's Spilled Ink Saturdays. The first session (on book-to-screen adaptations) was a lot of fun!

✦ What motivates you to write?

I agree with @inkovert. It's not that I'm motivated to write, exactly... It's more that I feel I... have to? There's a sort of internal inertia that keeps pulling me back to fiction. Maybe it's obsession? Maybe it's Maybelline? 💃😉 No, but seriously, I think it may be connected to this weird instinct I have to document things? To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, when I was in my mid-twenties, I went through a terrifying break-in. I kid you not; there was a literal man with a balaclava crouched in my shower in the middle of the night. How did I respond? By screaming, obviously. But after the screaming? I called up my boyfriend and narrated every single detail of what I saw and heard while trying to escape the house with my family. In my mind, I felt it was critical to tell him what was going on, not because I thought it would help catch the culprit(s) (we didn't know if there were more), save us from whatever bitter fate awaited, etc., but kind of in the same way people carve "I was here" into walls? If I was going to die (which was a possibility; a friend's father died in similar circumstances at around the same time), I needed someone to know what I'd seen, to know that I'd seen... So, do I write because I'd die if I didn't? No. I write because I'm going to die anyway. Because I know I'm going to die.

✦ A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud of/happy with. If not, maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them):

I can do you one better! Because @inkovert kindly tagged me, I'd like to return the favour by referring you to their Wattpad page, where you can read their current WIP, My Dearest Enemy

✦ Which OC makes you smile every time you think/talk about them, and what are they like?

Haha, I don't know if any of the OCs in The Sorcerer's Apprentice make me smile. They all worry me a lot. By accepting an apprenticeship with the sorcerer Valeriano, Altaluna is heading straight into a nest of venomous vipers, and they are going to maim her; they are going to maim her for life. Every time she feels optimistic or wow-ed by the glitz and the glam of her new environment, I cringe internally. My poor, sweet summer child! Valeriano, on the other hand, is a monster, so it's hard to smile when thinking of him. Hmm... maybe the only character I genuinely smile around is Cucufate, the talking monkey. He's the only character whose behaviour and snide comments can be underplayed as just 'animal antics,' which means he's the only character who can get away with giving people a little of what they truly deserve. It's hard not to love him for it.

✦ What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

Again, I have to agree with @inkovert. The editing process means no blank page, and no blank page means (rejoice!) no existential suffering. My first drafts are always shit and a disappointment. But my second drafts? Dost thou want to live deliciously? With the second draft, I know where I'm going, what's happening, where to trim the fat and everything I need to make the story what I wanted it to be in the first place. Usually, I downright discard the first draft and write the entire story from scratch, but better, so much better. And editing the second (or sometimes, third) draft? Pure, unadulterated bliss. Goodbye, low self-esteem, goodbye doubts; cue me some Nina Simone, why don't you?

✦ What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

Editing, re-drafting. I'm good at figuring out what's wrong and have no trouble whatsoever massacring my darlings.

✦ What is something in the writeblr community that is most enjoyable?

The community! I love participating in tag & ask games, reading people's work, celebrating my mutual's triumphs, and sharing my progress. I don't have any writer friends outside of Tumblr (apart from academic writer friends, though they're a very different kettle of fish), so I really appreciate being able to log on and be met with all this creativity.

✦ A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

Okay, so first thing first: I have ADHD. Any thought I have is an explosion that simultaneously sends spin-off thoughts in every imaginable direction, which, in turn, send spin-off thoughts in every imaginable direction, and so on and so forth, and on and on, until some of the spin-offs reach a dead end and their line withers, and/or I reach the limits of my capacity to hold all these thoughts in my mind and spontaneously combust. Instead of trying to fight this multi-generative tendency (this leads to a state of paralysis where I can't do anything), I've found a way to let the 'explosions' take the lead without overloading my systems, so to speak. Basically, I figured that if I stored every direction my mind went in somewhere other than my mind, I could let it do its thing without risking burnout. For that, I use MindNode, a visual brainstorming software. And let me tell you, it's been a life-saver. Now, when considering a scene, I document every possible route available to the characters and/or the setting, assign each ramification a score (for example, +1 Worldbuilding, +1 Foreshadowing, +1 Symbolism, +1 Character Development, -1 Cliché, -1 Undermines Tension, -1 Repetitive, etc.), and then choose the one with the highest score to write out. This method is obviously quite time-consuming, but it does have some unique strengths beyond helping me deal with my ADHD: (1) it ensures that there are no superfluous scenes in the grand design, (2) it ensures that all scenes are layered and fulfil multiple story functions at once, (3) it discourages going with the first option that presents itself (usually cliché, in my case), (4) it encourages out-of-the-box creative thinking, (5) and, finally, it's likely to lead to scenes that surprise you, the writer (for example, I was shocked by how many routes led to my character's death, lol). So, yeah, MindNode has been very helpful to me.

✦ A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law, etc)

I love the magic system, but I'm not sure I'll reveal anything more about it before publication than I already have in this post. You're just going to have to wait and see ;)

✦ Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters:

I follow TONS of talented writers on this site, among them: @inkovert, @that-chibi-writer, @tate-lin, @kingkendrick7, @ettawritesnstudies, @blind-the-winds, @aquadestinyswriting, @avrablake, @alinacapellabooks, @lordfenric-writes, @moonscribbler, @cee-grice, @sender-paulson, @sarah-sandwich, @liv-is, @athenswrites, @junypr-camus, @rubywrite, @winterandwords, @salmonandfox, @merlina87, @songsofsomnia, @words-after-midnight, @lucianinsanity, @talesofsorrowandofruin, @nanashi23, @sam-glade, @at-thezenith, @kestalsblog, @kaatiba, @theunboundwriter, and so many more!

#thank you for the tag!#Loved this #Also a quick apology to anyone who has answered an ask I haven't reblogged yet!#I'm working my way down the list and will get to you asap :)

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benevxllain · 2 months

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Who are your favorite Diabolik Lovers couples? I'm a little curious about :D

Ayyyyy!! Wb! I hope you've been doing great in this crazy world of ours! Thanks for the message! Now, allow me to discuss these cuties that live on in my memories. Once upon a time, I was a member of a bustling discord where I was blessed to be in the company of creative people, whose ships and ocs kept me enthralled for months on end. They lived rent-free in my head; I was a cookie monster for every new crumb and detail, and, so, now, let's see how accurately I can describe them for you.

Shitzu (Shu x Mitsuha @crowtunezz) - Mitsuha feels like the modern tomboy we all relate to in our awkward, authentic, and endearingly goofy way. She reminds me of Chizuru Yoshida from Kimi ni Todoke! The way she goes blank when Shu is near, like Mitsuha.exe just crashes is so SWEET and real, while, internally, she isn't confident and assumes she hasn't the slightest chance that he'll ever be interested her in a million years, which ngl makes me root for her OVER and OVER because their dynamic is actually so precious?? He's chill and tired; she's energy personified, without being obnoxious and I can see his face lighting up with grins and laughter he hasn't had since he was a small boy. She brings him to life and he draws her back to her earth with a casual touch - that may or not result in her faceplanting and burning bright red from head to toe with steam pouring out of her flustered ears.

Yita (Yuma x Rita @margherita-dascenzo - Rita is PRECIOUS, built perfectly, and I don't care who disagrees because the way she was written speaks to me on a spiritual level. What girl out there doesn't have aspirations to live comfortably and hold some amount of power in the world? On the surface, she's sunshine and springtime, but behind this social butterfly is a woman in mourning for all she's lost to time - centuries of faces she'll never see again. She and Yuma have this natural chemistry about them that can range from relaxed and lighthearted to chaotic shenanigans to ALL KINDS OF SPICY???? His ears might eventually fall off from the amount of stories she tells him and, honestly, even though that part of her annoys him at times, I love that, over time, he accepts that part of her personality and doesn't try to change her because it is a part of her charm - he's important to her, and she just wants to tell him every single thing she can. On a surprisingly sad note, as I write this out, I realize a huge part of the reason she overshares is that she wants to tell him all she can tell him and solidify what they have because one day she just might not have him around anymore, and like so many, many others long gone, he, their memories, and their future family will remain forever woven into the depths of her heart.

Kalice (Kanato x Alice @eyelessdoll-y) - I tell no lies: I HAD NO TIME FOR THIS DOOD until I met this girl. I couldn't see what Kanato stans see in him, but this is the one that opened my eyes with her masterful insight, as if she'd designed him from scratch herself. From her very first, very detailed post, I was hooked on why he's so critical, so mistrustful, so changeable - and how Alice initially suffered horribly, but also how she redefines his very biased, very harsh preference of the perfect 'doll' girl. It angered and pained me to read how she accommodated him, empathized with him, understood him, and in his recklessness, his arrogance, he's not prepared to accept what's developing in his heart. As the already distraught Alice's mind is further manipulated and wounded by Laito and another Sakamaki who's looked on in envy, coveting the affection she showered onto his brother so dotingly, I feared the worst, and couldn't help but wonder whether or not the pair would ever reconcile. But, when they do, it's honestly the most touching thing - his flustered face, unprepared for how she wears her heart on her sleeve, but also how he dotes on her and wants her to have the most high-quality gowns, shoes, and accessories, to be suitable only for him, happy only with him - my heart weeps???

Kinklett (Kino x Scarlett @kindan-no-rp) - Where do I start? Dare I say the Kinkening? The step on me that started it all? These two have banter for days in the most electrifying ways. I needed popcorn one moment, and all the refreshments in the refrigerator the next. On one hand, Kino is hellbent on proving himself and not being outdone, but the depth in which he likes/loves Scarlett gets to me every single time. I live for his internal panic when they clash or confusion arises, and he faults himself -GASP ACCOUNTABILITY?? IN DL?? Someone pinch me- if/when he's wrong/witnessing her teary-eyed or upset because, despite his jokey, chaotic nature, he's actually very, very aware of how alone he is both in his ambitions and in his social circle - yes, there's Yuuri, but no one actually wants him until now, and he doesn't want to lose her, this woman he's pestered and played with, teased and charmed, and fallen hopelessly in love with, and can't go for too long without messaging her or popping by to spend time in her company, even if only to listen to her at the piano, practicing and perfecting her skill. Commitment is a nightmare to Scarlett, who's known unspeakable torture and enslavement, never again wanting to be tied down, controlled, or vulnerable to anyone - but when the red string of fate combines their lives, sparks fly, there is friction, and, underneath, a fierce, unbreakable loyalty and passion that both can't believe is actually, finally theirs and theirs alone.

#midnight-glasses #midnightglasses #//I hope some of this made sense. Honestly I feel so rusty xD I should sit down and write more often so I can be confident again #but dis them!#diabolik lovers #ship shippity ship ship ships #Shitzu #Kalice #Yita #Kinklett #my art

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elendsessor · 6 months

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i normally don’t talk about fanfics vs canon but ngl fanfics are so good at filling in gaps or giving new context or heck even improving on elements. i mean yeah duh but there’s occasionally one fic that i come across that just makes me actually think about where canon fumbles.

while i love seeing the og gang again, they don’t really add much outside of beat and neku. and while i also really love how beat gets a lot more time to shine and his relationship with neku (as a longtime beatneku enjoyer i appreciated the food), the fact that nothing is brought into question about neku’s clear character shift puzzles me.

of course we don’t know everything about what life was like before neku got killed again or what being in an erased shinjuku does to a guy but what we do know is that 1. coco was the only person who could interact with him and 2. neku seems to have come out a bit scarred, to say the least. yes, at the end of twewy, neku is a lot more open and understanding. yes, people do change overtime. however, his character shift was actually pretty drastic. at least he kept some of his snark and angsty 2000s teen aura in a new day. in neo, though, he mellowed out a lot. he’s more soft spoken and talks like a war vet. i’d argue he even shows a bit of trauma as, when scanning every single person in shibuya during neo’s climax, he does seem incredibly pained. yeah i get scanning literally everyone would be painful but it definitely has some added depth considering where he’d been for three goddamn years plus just the sequence in general seeming to be really draining.

there isn’t much we know about shinjuku, but in the connections thing, there is this one npc who is heavily implied to be what remains of some girl, be it just her soul or simply thoughts. it’s an incredibly minor detail but my best guess is that all that does exist of shinjuku are the thoughts of the erased trapped in some sort of purgatory. a purgatory neku was in. and i imagine that’s part of what made him so fucked up mentally.

yet aside from members of the og gang going “oh hey neku’s back we missed you” and some extra stuff with beat, everything else is sorta just glossed over. neku’s kinda just some mentor for the wicked twisters which is cool but doesn’t highlight nearly enough of who he is as a character and how his experiences affected him.

that’s why i really liked running across a post canon fic that explores that aftermath and acknowledges the change??? the fic in question is called flowers for the dead (please hear me out) by nagiru on ao3 (content warning it does have some implied/referenced suicide) and god i recommend it to hell and back please give it a read. would love to see more discussion or interpretations of neku’s character shift :D

#idk these are kinda messy put together thoughts #work’s been killing me and i’m so tired :”)#i’ve had this fic in mind for awhile just about neku’s potential ptsd and this fic made me want to finally start making it aaa #twewy #ntwewy #shantien rambles

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septembersghost · 7 months

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“i love her, i don't need to see her in every news app, and i don't think it's healthy.” this is EXACTLY how i feel right now. i’m not the same anon, but i think the circus around the TK stuff has really made me understand exactly how popular she is right now in a way i didn’t before. i’m overwhelmed and i’m literally the type of fan that has a blog dedicated to her! i hear about her when i turn on the radio, i see articles about her when i open my news app, and i see posts about her on other platforms i don’t even follow her on when i go online. it’s not her fault and i don’t blame her, and i can’t imagine how it must affect her, but it’s just so much.

i totally understand where both you and the previous anon are coming from, when it's inescapable like this it just becomes overwhelming. i also personally dislike the frenzy when it's about her dating life, this story of her going to a single game has people (fans included) marrying her off already and invasively joking about her intimate details, and it's revealing some ugly societal standards (if i have to see the phrase "real man" one more time...), and none of this has anything to do with her art or talent. eras being discussed is really fun because it's a triumph. album releases are magical because the music is why we're here. but this stuff right now feels like a circus. it's hard too because even if we don't want to see it, it's everywhere. even if it's not how we personally choose to engage as fans, it's unavoidable.

i'm not blaming her either, it's not her fault that it's part of being famous, and that she can't entirely avoid it due to the staggering level of success and visibility she's reached right now, but it's a lot. when it's a lot and not enjoyable for us, i also can't imagine how it feels to her, although hopefully she's able to block out the headlines more consistently than we can, and of course she does have agency in and self-awareness of the situation at hand here. this part has always been my least favorite aspect of the fandom, loving taylor doesn't have to equate to all this (for me). it worries me a bit for her honestly, i don't want us to hit that tipping point of oversaturation, and i also wish people (fans and the media) would simply let her live. hopefully in the coming weeks it will quiet down a bit and we can all refocus.

#i appreciate you sharing your feelings with me because sometimes it's a bit isolating!#anonymous #letterbox #thrown out speeches

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rosedhall · 7 months

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can you go on a rant about how much you love Rose and debunk every single argument made against her in excruciating detail? Please? 🥺🥺🥺

Ohhh yes yes I can do this, because I am very normal about Rose Hall (lying)! I think I've probably seen the entire range of arguments of people who don't like Rose. Which, I feel the need to clarify, you're welcome to not like a character. I know Rose has a slightly derisive personality, she can be biting or aloof towards the player, she's stubborn and defensive, purposefully ignorant at times (girl why do you have beef with that 10 y/o) - which is probably not everyone's thing.

But I usually do have gripes with people who lie, misconstrue, blame, invent reasons not to like her or to paint her as irrational or 'bad' (or god forbid, abusive, cough I see you dead discord) because it all basically boils down to thinly veiled, "fandom misogyny" if you know the ilk. Which is twice as bad as normal, because her situation involves a lot of abuse that she gets criticised for not preventing or leaving correctly. Random aside, I feel strongly that if Rose was a male character, she would be viewed much more favourably, people love cold but protective paternal figures, with a soft spot for their child - this doesn't seem to extend to mothers.

OK, my screed / semi structural rambling under the cut:

Hugo & his abuse.

I don't see a ton of criticism in regards to Rose and Hugo's relationship on her part, at least in comparison to situations revolving around Jimmy. I assume because it's probably a bit too close to obvious victim blaming to do that. But I did occasionally come across the sentiment that she should've left earlier or when he first began abusing her, a thought that I assume arises from people who don't know much about how abusive relationships develop or are maintained et cetera.

Initial point: Hugo is Rose's boss! They meet after he hires her to be an assistant, and so from the very beginning she is his subordinate. He's famous - he has his own television show! He has enough money to afford a hotel! He controls her income by virtue of being the one who pays her.

After their relationship develops, and she presumably moves into the hotel, he explicitly begins to control her money ("Do not buy anything without my permission, I will not allow you to ruin my life"), therefore limiting what she can do while increasing his control over her. When stuck in the same property as your abuser, who is also your only source of income because he's your boss, it's very hard to make an escape without a strong support network, which we don't know if Rose had.

Additionally, abuse is incremental, Rose herself notes that prior to them being married that he was not abusive, or at least considerably less so. Which suggests that Hugo, plus the spirit-demon-whatever possessing him, managed to be covert enough early into their relationship.. before she finally was legally entrapped. And once in, as written above, it's pretty difficult to get out.

Divorce laws in the 1970s were also fairly shit still, the '69 reform act didn't go into effect until '71 and even then that required a couple to be separated 5 years (if only one wants the divorce) before they were legally separated. Meaning Hugo would still have easy access to Jim or Rose regardless of if she physically left or filed for divorce before then. Hugo having dual income, working with kids, owning property, being famous and so forth would absolutely put him at a legal advantage. Plus he's not above physically or verbally intimidating Rose (implied through the 301 sighting) to keep her from acting, the abuse whittles you down.

Having Jimmy.

During discussion with Maya, Rose states that "there was only one thing I could give [Hugo]", which suggests a sense of obligation and little in the way of eagerness in regards to giving birth to Jimmy. This seems to suggest that she's having Hugo's baby because he (or whatever possessing him) wants that and it's safer to keep him happy, rather than because she's keen to do so.

Hence why she seemed to have hoped that a baby would 'fix' things, a sentiment that current day Rose is acutely aware was a daft idea "I thought", etc. Oh wow character with shifting perspective, scandal.

Being too slow in killing Hugo.

Rose killing Hugo only after 2 years of Jimmy's life also gets her some shit, which I don't think is honestly warranted because she ammended it relatively quickly. In the game she does actually blame herself, which I suppose is why people go 'yeah exactly' in response to her "I should've done it sooner. I let him abuse Jimmy for too long".

I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say that maybe it's normal and human for someone to be hesitant to commit a murder, especially murdering someone they once loved. Tim Follin does tend to write his characters as relatively grounded, at least in terms of their personalities, it's not as though murder is treated flippantly within the game, in fact the conceit of the story is based on the deaths of the hotel ghosts, who are granted a lot of weight or emotion. (Hugo will not be missed though).

Mayhaps, the murder was an act of desperation by an abuse victim, who had to do it as a last resort to prevent the death of her toddler. And less so a girlboss moment.

Not listening to Harvey or Bose.

I like this one (I'm being smarmy), because in order for it to make sense as a detrimental action on Rose's behalf, you have to completely disregard any or all mistakes that either Bose or Harvey make. Which .. idk. seems hypocritical, if you're holding everyone to these standards I reckon that the fellows are just as much at fault.

Bose and Harvey both believe that Jimmy is a very volatile, mentally ill boy which.. I mean they're not wrong, can't judge their perception. How do they go about remedying this, making their case? Bose gets off to a strong start until he falls victim to a horrific prank on Jimmy's part, upon which all procedure goes out the window (understandable on a character level, makes for better writing for a character to make a mistake funnily) and he chases Jimmy throughout his home without telling Rose nor Harvey (Rose knows in retrospect and laments wishing she could have stopped it and Harvey has no knowledge of it at all) with a 'prescription only medication' used to treat ALCOHOL WITHDRAWAL OR SEIZURES. This is just actual medical malpractice.

Then after Jimmy's successive accusations (one of which Rose sides with Bose on) he continues to behave impulsively and strangely (216), until he spite-hangs himself in the basement. Frankly, I don't blame Rose for taking what he says with a grain of salt, and not listening to the advice of a man who she believes molested her son.

Harvey. Harvey is Harvey idk if anyone actually needs me to make a bullet point list of all the actions he does that are stupid. But shorthand, he wrecks all of Jimmy's belongings, he locks him in a basement presumably without food for the night, then blames him for a fire that isn't actually confirmed to be Jim's fault (bc if you ask Rose you get some variation in response, since all the ghosts are different people with different perspectives, and she believes the fire was caused by faulty wiring - which it absolutely could have been because I doubt that the spirit possessing Jimmy would WANT to kill its host as a teenager before the opportunity to be passed down even arose). And Harvey wraps this stunt up nicely by chasing Jim with a loaded handgun.

Yeah man, I can see why she didn't listen to him, he's a berk - violent and aggressive. She absolutely should have seen some of what Jim did in retaliation as bad, but she has blind spots for a reason and Harvey doesn't help himself. She trusted Harvey to parent Jimmy and he became erratic and dangerous, as a victim of spousal abuse, who witnessed prior child abuse I can't blame Rose for having more distrust of the adult man with a gun than her previously abused son.

Additionally! The whole thing is futile! Jimmy's problem isn't his mental illness, it's that he's possessed! Neither Harvey nor Bose ever so much as consider this avenue and Rose only works it out after they're both dead - nothing she (or they) could have done in this era would have fixed the problem. Listening to the psychiatrist would not have helped the fact that Jimmy has a demon inside of him, in fact letting this man continually get his way in poorly planned medical malpractice would probably have exacerbated the issue. Speaking of..

Reporting Bose.

Boo, hiss, going to the appropriate authorities this time? Not killing instead? How dare you, monstrous woman! I also feel that people often gloss over the fact that Rose was the one to contact Bose in the first place, she's not ignorant to Jimmy's mental problems, as she's sometimes presented to be.

Anyway, I don't entirely understand what people expected of Rose here, her son was claiming to have been physically assaulted, then sexually assaulted after she chose to believe Bose the first time. She literally sided with Bose initially, after Jim claimed Boee beat him. She listened to him, she chose his narrative over her son's. Then Bose went rogue and did the weird shit in 216 alone.. with Jimmy, instead of asking absolutely anyone to sit in with him. I like Bose, he has a nice demeanour and seems gormlessly authentic, but sometimes he behaves in incredibly suspicious ways, that man does himself no favours.

Her son, after she trusted Bose over him, comes back after being with Bose alone, claiming to have been molested. Of course she reports it to the authorities, what did you want her to do? Ignore her child when he cried rape? If your child, who's psychiatrist had already committed medical malpractice, been accused of assault and acted thoroughly bizarre, claimed they were being sexually assaulted would you just ignore them? Obviously not, it's daft! (If she had, and Jimmy was a genuine victim, she absolutely would've got shit for NOT believing him, it's lose-lose for her.)

She went to the correct authorities to let them do their job, it is not on her to investigate all aspects of the claim personally, it's the police's.

Harvey hadn't found the scrapbook at this point and it's implied..if you actually ask Rose about these things, that she doesn't even remember being shown it, just that Harvey claimed Jimmy had made a scrapbook.

All Harvey does in way of convincing Rose (that we explicitly see) is call her son a liar, says he lies about everything, before demeaning and stropping after her - Harvey, if you pay attention to the actions he actually does rather than the retrospective stuff he tells Maya, is a stubborn, reactive git, god love him. Even Bose, who has similar thoughts on Jimmy - though much milder, is aware that Harvey has anger issues and straight up calls much of his behaviour following his own death wrong. ("Violence doesn't solve anything", he's a real philosopher).

Believing Jimmy when he said killing Harvey was self defence.

Keeping this one short because it's obvious. Harvey was an adult man, who had been spiralling for a while, armed with a loaded gun, chasing a teenage boy around the hotel. Most people, including the police in the story, would assume the child armed with a letter opener was not the aggressor in the situation.

Regardless of Harvey's comment on just threatening Jimmy to scare him out of the hotel, he evidently hadn't informed anyone of this genius play of his, including Rose.. who believed he went mad. For obvious reasons. He was being mental. Even he admits he was seeing red and not thinking right.

Not getting Jimmy mental help as an adult.

Jimmy is an adult, he can advocate and get mental health help for himself, frankly. He's possessed so lord knows how effective it would have been but you get my drift. I don't know, of the top of my head, how GPs worked in the 90s and 00s, but I'm going to assume they have similar rules to now - wherein if you're over 16, you're responsible for your own appointments and medical care.

Also... perhaps there's understandable reasons for the two people, who's last psychiatrist committed medical malpractice and (according to Jimmy himself) molestation, to have some reservations about employing another.

Additional!

Rosemary Dolores Hall nee Jones is a fictional character, her mistakes or missteps are necessary to her being interesting to learn about and talk to, because if she had metatextual vision strong enough to evade any actions that seemed right to her but were actually detrimental she would not be interesting and the story wouldn't have progressed. It's unfair and pretty telling that, for most of her detractors, Bose, Harvey and Jimmy are all allowed to make similar mistakes and they're treated as intriguing character beats (they are!) but Rose does it and gets shit for the fact.

Conclusion - GB I hate fandom. I love you Rose. explodes, night

#this is 2k words so i can't flesh out the loving rose attribute as much im very sorry i hope the entire blog suffices #txt #asks #rose #rant #hey next time someone send me an adon question that's phrased like it came out of a gc se or alevel literature paper #in at dead of night how does tim follin convey the themes of tragedy through use of the ghosts and their interactions with jimmy.#how is individual perspective established between characters. you understand my drift #hey im never having the argument again now here's my masterpost #addendum shes not an enabler either she aims to get him help with bose. let's harvey parent the way he wants. stops jim and recognises when #he deteriorates as an adult. so on

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hatosaur · 8 months

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How exactly did you come to love TLOU? I have my own special interests that just happened upon me, so I want to know about how it was for others. also, any other games that you like?

you've asked the golden question so strap in because this is gonna be LONG:

i first got into tlou through part 2! admittedly i didn't play the og first. i did own it at the time because it seemed like one of those games you just gotta play (and i was right) and yknow ellie's gay and i dug that, but at that point i hadn't played it but knew the plot through a cinematic compilation video.

i was intrigued by part 2, specifically because of the teaser at e3 where ellie and dina dance and kiss. though i didn't have a BURNING desire to have the game, me being down for anything gay pretty much what sealed my fate. so i bought the game and played it on my older brother's ps4.

and MAN, was i obsessed pretty much immediately. looking back, it was a fever dream, just me playing the game from the moment i woke up to the moment i went to bed, nonstop...until i reached the point where ellie leaves and i stopped playing, completely distraught, and ended up watching the ending on youtube.

i was pissed, conflicted, legit fell into a deep depression after knowing how the game ends. after that point, because as we all know the shitstorm over the game was not pretty, i lingered on both sides of the fanbase for a while. because as someone who went in for the gay and had to witness the gay be destroyed, i was hurt -- but i realized after seeing anti-tlou2 people talk about their (weird and irrational) reasons for hating the game that i didn't hate the game, i was just that. hurt.

but the game is meant to hurt. there's a reason for the hurt.

and once i looked past the hurt that i felt, i analyzed hardcore, discussed with people (this is the nicest environment to do so), ate up every single detail discovered, replayed, and then i was making art, obsessively so, writing fanfiction, and now it's been 3 years and those fictional fuckers still live in my brain to this day.

and of course, i dove into the og! i remember playing the game while my online lectures (because covid lol) played in the background.

tlou is fully my biggest hyperfixation/special interest to date. i went into how but here's more of the reasons behind it:

i've talked about this a ton before but i love that though tlou has a reputation of being a dark game and people tend to read it as being about "the darkness of humanity", it's really not about that, but love and what people will do for it, as well as seeking and obtaining a purpose, even in the world's darkest conditions.

i love that it's about found family, that joel can't help but love ellie, because at the end of the day, he's not really supposed to be the heartless person he wants to pretend he is, but he's supposed to be a DAD. i love that ellie, despite never knowing the feeling of a parent, loves joel right back. i love that despite disliking him at first, she warms to him so quickly and she wears him down with her stupid jokes and her endearing weirdness.

i love that the themes of love persist through the second game even as it drags the franchise to darker places. that these are the lengths that ellie will go to not to get abby, but for joel. i love that part 2 says, "hey these bitches unhealthy" and that despite love being their motivation (abby for her dad, ellie & tommy for joel, dina for ellie, lev for his mother), it shouldn't be driving them to those ends!!!!

.....anyway for your second question, i'm picky about games but some recurring favs are apex legends, minecraft, breath of the wild, stardew valley, life is strange (watched the playthru only but loved the story sm), tell me why, and i just started horizon zero dawn! the way things are going, i think i'll like it a lot :)

#asks #talkies #not as long as i thought lol i've learned how to not go on and on about tlou unlike in 2020

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kuramirocket · 2 months

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I came across posts you wrote a long time ago about Piper Halliwell and had to reach out to thank you. It seems like literally everyone LOVES Piper Halliwell, praising her as not just their favorite Charmed one but one of the best TV characters ever, and finding someone else who dislikes her was honestly the most validating experience I've had on this site! I recently rewatched a bunch of episodes and couldn't get over just how awful Piper is past the very first season. Fans are like 'all hail our sass queen!' like it's somehow a good thing that she goes out of her way to be ridiculously mean and bitter. She never, ever, ever stops complaining about everyone and everything, and it's not just that she's always in a terrible mood---it's that she directly takes that mood out on Leo and her sisters constantly, insulting and criticizing them nonstop. (Can you believe some people here think Piper was "too good" for Leo?! The man is a saint for patiently putting up with that shrew!) And she's always praised for her heart, but while the other three actually care about innocents, Piper is always the one whining about just wanting a "normal life" and throwing literal tantrums over things like wanting a better wedding or which of two great guys she should choose while there are literal LIVES at stake lol. Speaking of which, on a show about women destined to be witches, who thought it was a good idea to have one of the three main characters whine about how much she hates being a witch in Every. Single. Episode?! She's just such a completely unpleasant character with literally the worst attitude I've ever seen, and I can honestly say she ruins the show for me. (Disliking the turn they took with Phoebe's character didn't help either!) She was unapologetically terrible even before Prue's death, and it blows my mind that fans hate Prue for being too "harsh" when Piper is like a million times worse! Thank you for bravely speaking out so that all three of us who dislike her know we're not alone!!

Hello :)

Wow, I cannot believe it's been 5 years since I watched Charmed when I made those posts. And I never did finish watching the rest of the series 😭 So, naturally it's on my to rewatch and actually finish it this time around watch list. Lol

And I'm glad I could make you feel validated. When you, unfortunately, hate or dislike a character for whatever reason, especially one a majority of fans like, it's always nice to find like minded people. It's why I'm not quiet in my opinions. I want people to have a fun and safe space in fandoms even if that's just to discuss dislike for a fan favorite! Which is why if I am anti a specific character I try to tag properly so fans who do like the character can avoid my personal thoughts. And ofc, this means also never directing said dislike towards the fans who like specific characters. I just let people enjoy what they enjoy even if I do not.

Anyways, I'm surprised people view Piper as sassy. From what I remember, I never saw her as sassy, just annoying her complaints and plotline. And yeah! Prue maybe was 'harsh,' but she's the eldest and had that responsibility of caring for her younger sisters. She had a lot of weight on her shoulders. It's why she was serious a lot of the times and seemed to be hit the hardest by their mother's death from what I recall.

I wish I could comment more, but since it's been years don't remember a lot of details.

This ask made me smile, tbh. Again, glad you were happy to find my rants validating xD

#asks #charmed #anti piper halliwell

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wyrd-syster · 2 years

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Story Breaking Halbrand in Rings of Power

As promised, I have written down all of my ideas about Halbrand's narrative arc for all five seasons of Rings of Power, and oooh baby have I spiraled out of control!

Have I read any of the books? Sort of…like over a decade ago. But I have watched the original trilogy more times than any other movie in my life and love to microdose Wikipedia (i.e. being the ADHD partner to a man with ADD).

At the same time, I have been doing a deep-dive into story-breaking podcasts, shows and articles to prep for NaNoWriMo. This has been wildly fun, but has also cursed me to look at every story from a 30,000 foot view and examine it for narrative structure, character arc and thematic elements.

(I am literally begging my brain to enjoy things normally).

Yesterday, my partner and I rewatched Fellowship of the Ring. In the evening, we began discussing Rings of Power and theorizing the directions it could take – not only for the last two episodes in the season, but for the following four seasons (given that this will be a five season story) and how it would align with the prologue in Fellowship. And honestly, I think we cracked it.

But, so much of it hinges on the ongoing Halbrand debate – is he Sauron? Is he a Nazgûl? Is he the Dead King who betrays Isildur and ultimately fulfills the oath to Gondor for Aragorn? Is he the progenitor of Rohan? What’s this guy’s fucking deal?? – that it feels impossible to separate the two.

With every new episode, I find the argument that Halbrand is Sauron to grow weaker. I admittedly have no knowledge of the wider Book!Lore so my entrypoint here is limited, and I’ve read some good theories on it, so I wouldn’t be disappointed if it happened…I just think it doesn’t narratively make sense.

Tldr; Halbrand is not the rightful king of the Southlands, but he killed the rightful king under the enemy’s orders. We will learn at least part of this during the final two episodes of season one and he will spend a majority of season two seeking atonement for his actions and lies. He will ultimately assume some form of responsibility/leadership over the people he’s betrayed before falling sway to the rings of power and becoming a Nazgûl.

Halbrand is Not Sauron

The Man With the (non-existent) Plan

Halbrand and Galadriel meeting on a shipwrecked raft in the middle of the Sundering Sea is not a plan, it is an accident at best. It seems to me that Sauron the Deceiver is never without a plan, so this setting of being both literally and figuratively adrift and left up to the hands of fate just feels…off.

Not to mention, when the survivors chance upon Galadriel, Halbrand defers to the group about her fate. Had that sea worm not surprised them and given him the chance to flee and make his own decisions, Galadriel may very well have been cast back into the ocean whether he liked it or not.

Adar claims to have killed Sauron, but…why should we believe him? Celebrimbor is already starting construction on the tower which we know will ultimately forge the rings of power for the Elves, Dwarves and Men of Middle-earth. And again, limited book knowledge here, but doesn’t he begin this endeavor purely under the influence of Sauron?

Not to mention, when Galadriel realizes the mark of Sauron is actually a map of the Southlands, she notes it also contains all the details of the plan to turn it into Mordor. Adar helps enact this plan at the end of episode six by erupting Mount Doom. Suspicious that he would still be following Sauron’s plans if he, in fact, killed him…no?

Adar is there to throw off the scent for both the characters and the audience alike.

Peace? Piece of Cake

At every single turn, Halbrand begs Galadriel to let him keep his peace.

“I have been searching for my peace for far longer than you know. Please, for both our sakes, let me keep it.”

“You used me. After I all but begged you to let me be.”

“Find another head to crown.”

“I think I’ve helped you quite enough.”

Even when Galadriel is not present, Halbrand is desperate to avoid outright violence. When he runs afoul of those Númenórean guildsmen in the alley, he first attempts to flee them and, once caught, pleads with them not to start a fight.

“Please. Don’t do this.”

The fight spurs him into a wild frenzy, which to me seems more like a trauma response than the Very Great and Super Cool Sauron losing his chill and beating up a bunch of Shakespeare actors pretending to be guildsmen.

All of this is a lot of work for Sauron to put into coming across as a simple “Peace Guy.” Not to mention, what does it gain him? If his goal is to have Galadriel bring him back to the Southlands to enact his evil plan…why put up such a big stink? Also…why have him on the raft…sailing away from the Southlands?

Rings of Power LOVES a Misdirect

ROP loves a misdirect, which they used especially skillfully during episode six to great effect. Consider:

The mark of Sauron turned out to be a map of the Southlands.

The orcs that attacked the Southlanders were revealed to be primarily their own neighbors, a horrifying realization highlighted by the (disgusting) black blood dripping on Arondir’s face as he fought the attacker by the well contrasted with the shocking red blood he draws from the corpse on the ground.

We were led to believe that the tunnels being built throughout the Southlands was to allow the orcs travel during the day, but we learned that their primary purpose was to channel the water of the dam into Mount Doom.

Speaking of which, did anyone else think the breaking of the dam was to drown the village? I sure did, I did not even consider it having a purpose beyond destroying the Southlanders until the shot of the water entering the mountain.

It can’t go without noting that some of the highest fan engagement for this show centers around the ongoing debate of “Who Is Sauron?” I think this fan debate is a misdirect within itself, a way to suggest one narrative structure to the audience before drawing back the curtains and revealing the plot twist. (Remembering, of course, that good plot twists should have breadcrumbs throughout the story that seem obvious in 20/20 hindsight. This isn’t Game of Thrones, pure shock and awe does not a plot twist make.)

I think this is only bolstered by the little “clues” that potentially read as Halbrand being Sauron – the blacksmithing, “looks can be deceiving,” etc. It’s all part of the misdirect.

Sauron is not Halbrand, not Adar, not the Stranger with the Harfoots…he’s someone entirely new. And he’s been here the whole time, hiding under our noses with Celebrimbor, inspiring the creation of the rings of power.

Halbrand is Not the Rightful King of the Southlands

Long Live the King?

@laboratorioautoral wrote an excellent line in their post that I absolutely cannot get out of my head…“Everything we ‘know’ about [Halbrand] is basically Galadriel's fanfiction.”

Look at his lines from episode three when Galadriel confronts him about the sigil:

“That’s funny. I found this on a dead man. [I] Thought the pattern suited me.”

“The heir to this mark is heir to more than just nobility. For it was his ancestors that swore a blood oath to Morgoth.”

“I am not the hero you seek. For it was my family that lost the war.”

Not only does Halbrand not confirm anything Galadriel says, he evades in third-person, referring to the heir of the Southlands as somebody outside of himself. All of his “I statements,” any time he puts himself in the narrative of the kingship, it’s so say 1) he found the sigil on a dead man, 2) he is not the hero she seeks and 3) his family lost the war.

Why shouldn’t we believe Halbrand when he says he took the sigil off of a corpse? Why do we assume losing the war is linked to the blood oath with Morgoth – it could go deeper than that.

This is one of the first of only a handful of instances of Halbrand offering bits of his past to Galadriel…and I am inclined to believe him.

And let’s look at one of the penultimate scenes of episode five. Halbrand is sitting alone in the forge, contemplating the sigil when he is summoned by Tar-Míriel. He tosses the sigil down with finality and only returns to pick it back up at the very last second.

Why would Sauron need to go through these motions for no audience? There is no one around here for him to put on a show for – this is all Halbrand.

Halbrand is not Sauron, but neither is he the rightful king. However, he – or at least, his family – are responsible for the king’s absence.

DILF

I am deeply obsessed with this post that @ichabodjane recently published that theorizes Halbrand lost a child. This was something that really stood out to me during episode six – Adar’s taunts to Halbrand seemed narratively significant.

“Did I cause someone you loved pain? A woman? Perhaps…a child?”

“A woman” could be read as a dig at Galadriel and her (unbearably obvious) connection with Halbrand. I was shocked by this being followed up with “a child” because my little writer’s brain jumped immediately to, “A woman? Perhaps…your father/mother?” Because nothing so far about Halbrand reads as parental and it would fit with the rest of the show’s examination of parenthood and legacy…unless this is a clue.

@ichabodjane cleverly points out Halbrand’s face when seeing children playing in Númenor. And when you compare that to his face as Adar taunts him – the absolute sorrow and pain – then suddenly this becomes loss, not vengeance.

Trauma Momma

Consider Halbrand and Galadriel’s argument in episode five:

H: “Not so long ago, men like me were fighting alongside [the enemy].”

G: “Men like you, not you yourself.”

H: “You're wrong. You don't know what I did before I ended up on that raft. You don't know how I survived.”

This is the first instance of Halbrand directly contradicting Galadriel’s assertions about his actions. Again, we have so few instances of him speaking openly about his past, I am inclined to believe him when he appears truthful.

Halbrand is not innocent. He obviously did something terrible, horrifying even, to be put in a position where he needed to flee the Southlands, where he is terrified of everyone learning the truth.

What’s worse than killing the one hope his people have left? Killing the heir of the Southlands would very much fit that narrative, it’s definitely bad. But bad enough to fear exile from Galadriel and his new allies?

Adar: “Did I cause someone you loved pain? A woman? Perhaps…a child?”

I have two branching theories here.

1. Adar, acting a commander for Sauron, threatens Halbrand’s family and child, holding them hostage unless Halbrand agrees to kill the rightful heir to the Southlands. Halbrand complies, but the enemy slays his family anyways.

Not my favorite of the two, seems a little weak compared to…

2. Halbrand is compelled by Adar to slay the rightful heir to the Southlands…who happens to have a child, who must then also be killed.

This would be fucking brutal, but hits all the beats!

Halbrand slaughters his people’s hope and doubles down on the horror by giving that hope the possibility of living on through a child…and snuffing that out, too.

His feelings of guilt, shame and loss centered around a child and directed at Adar. (And why would Adar remember one mortal man he compelled to do a terrible act? What is one mortal compared to an Uruk?)

Habrand is not the rightful king, and in fact, took the sigil off of a dead man.

Halbrand is no hero, he is the cause of suffering and pain and the reason why their enemy gains strength.

To Find the Light, We Must First Touch the Darkness

This is the theme of Galadriel’s storyline, and I would argue Halbrand’s as well.

We Touched the Dark…Now What?

So, let’s say all this is true; Halbrand killed the rightful heir to the Southlands. Now, Galadriel has used his false claim to convince Númenor to go to war to free the Southlands, which ended in the creation of Mordor.

It would make sense, then, for Halbrand’s secret to come out in the final two episodes of season one. Then, Tar-Míriel could point to this deception and blame Galadriel for the defeat and the loss of her soldiers – Galadriel was too focused on vengeance to not see the liar in front of her, Galadriel led innocent men to their death under a false flag, never trust an Elf, etc.

Galadriel’s subsequent anger at Halbrand’s betrayal would force them further apart, a necessary obstacle for them to overcome as episode six had them coming too close together (to be sustainable for five seasons, that is). It could also underscore Gil-Galad’s warnings to Galadriel that her search for vengeance would just bring about more darkness. This betrayal will force her to reexamine her priorities, her trust, and force her to find some way to repent for all that she’s seemingly caused.

(Obviously, Mount Doom erupting would’ve happened whether Númenor appeared or not, but what’s the fun in characters acting logically?)

Halbrand too would then be on a road of repentance. Season two could see him and Galadriel on parallel paths searching for ways to atone for all that they’ve done wrong, while also stepping into leadership roles that fate kind of forced upon them.

From the prologue of Fellowship of the Ring, the rings of power had already been handed out to the Elves, Dwarves and Men before Sauron revealed the One Ring, and that the free lands of Middle-earth fell “one by one.” We also know that the Second Age ends with Isildur cutting the ring from Sauron’s finger at the battle on the slopes of Mount Doom.

Given these big points that need to be hit, it would make sense for Celebrimbor to complete his creation of the rings in season three and for there to be a sense of “ah yes, now the enemy is really gone.”

In this case, season four would be the falling of Middle-earth “one by one.” If Halbrand is indeed destined to become a Nazgûl, which I think is highly possible, then his and Galadriel’s storyline this season could be their quest to stop the effects of his ring from taking hold – ending tragically, obviously. You could even take this time to introduce Celeborn (for those who care…lol) and start developing a friendship between him and Galadriel so that when Halbrand inevitably falls, she has someone to turn to for solace.

Season five then would be the final battle against Sauron, now fully empowered with the One Ring and his Nazgûl, including Halbrand.

Heartbreak Highway

Throughout the show, I’ve been asking myself; how does the Galadriel we see in ROP – fiery, angry, brash, intelligent but not wise – become the Galadriel from LOTR – otherworldly, intelligent and wise, sad, restrained?

Answer: heartbreak.

Here’s the crux of why I truly can’t believe Halbrand is Sauron: it’s not as narratively gratifying. Halbrand being Sauron suggests choice – he chooses to fall, chooses to walk a path of darkness, chooses to lie and cheat and betray.

Halbrand becoming a Nazgûl would deny him the freedom to make a choice about his future. If he suffers through all of this – compelled to commit acts of atrocity, confesses his crimes, puts in the work to atone and become a better man, assumes the mantle of leadership – then him becoming a Nazgûl is a goddamned tragedy. This is the gut-punch, brokenhearted, tragic and nonsensical ending for a man on a hero’s journey of self-discovery, repentance and acceptance during an age of darkness and war.

This is also the pinnacle character arc tragedy for Galadriel – all actions she takes to defeat the darkness end in her losing those she loves. Because then, if all this ends up being true, Halbrand would’ve never returned to Middle-earth on his own. She forced him to, and thus, forced him to his downfall.

Tldr;

Halbrand is not the rightful king of the Southlands, but he killed the rightful king under the enemy’s orders.

Season two will see him on a journey parallel to Galadriel’s to atone for all the sorrow he’s caused.

Season three will feel like a final victory over the enemy and the distribution of the rings of power to the Elves, Dwarves and Men.

Season four will see the free lands of Middle-earth fall “one by one” and end with Halbrand falling by becoming a Nazgûl.

Season five will be the final lead up to the war that ends the Second Age with Isildur cutting the One Ring from Sauron’s hand.

I can’t wait to be completely wrong about literally all of this and look like a fool on the internet lol.

#the rings of power #lord of the rings #ROP #rings of power #lindsey posts #fan theories #Halbrand #galadriel #haladriel #halbrand x galadriel #Adar ROP #Galadriel ROP #Halbrand ROP #Sauron ROP #personal

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crmsnmth · 5 days

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September Sky Chapter Seven, Part 8

"I ran over her trying to catch a bus. We talked. We hung out. We hang out. We talk. And her name is Addison. What else do you want to know?" I downed the rest of my beer. Alcohol is a wonderful confidence boost, at least for awhile.

The place was suddenly hit by the very loud DJ starting his turntables. Star Fucking Hipsters "Two Cups Of Tea" started it's intro. A group of hipster looking people cheered. My guess is they were friends of this punk DJ.

"I'm not going to get anything out of you, am I?" Alana said.

"Nope. You'll need a lot more beer." I grinned at her.

"That's a pretty manageable request." Chad said out of nowhere.

"I don't need any chatter from the fucking Peanut Gallery." I snapped.

"I think I know an Addison from my anatomy class." Emma squeaked out. My first thought was why does a Film Studies student have an anatomy class. But I guess there's been weirder combinations. Alana snapped her attention to Emma pretty quickly.

"Oh, do tell," she said, crossing her legs and sitting all prim and proper. "Chris? Is this the secret Addison?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know what classes she's in." I was pretty sure she would be in an anatomy class for the whole funeral sciences thing. But I wasn't going to say shit. Not only was it uncomfortable, it felt weird for being a topic of discussion. I know they were just being my friends, but it still seemed odd that my surprising romantic interests are such a loved topic with my friends.

"She's really pretty, if it's the same girl." Sure, Emma is silent until she can add to this friendly ridicule. I was positive it was one and the same. I doubted there are that many girl's named Addison wandering around the UW.

"How do you not know what classes she's in?" Alana questioned, filling her cup. A new loud punk song I didn't know was playing. Someone laughed loudly over by the bar. The clack of pool balls rang around the room. An orchestra of the drunk.

I looked at her and shrugged.

"Does she have a big tattoo on her arm?" Chad asked. The fucker knew what she looked like. I was being attacked now from all sides. I poured the last of the pitcher into my cup, and downed most of that in one long swallow. I scowled at him. He grinned. Fucker.

"Yeah, a really detailed one of vines and flowers and skulls." Emma said. Both Alana and Chad looked at me expectantly. I gave Chad the finger. He knew the answer.

"That's her." I said, defeated. This wasn't a fair fight. "Why is my love life so fucking entertaining to you guys?"

"Because we watched you turn away from every single chance you had for years. I mean, you had Katt basically in love with you and you walked away. That girl would've done anything for you. Fucking anything. And you liked her! You told both me and Chad you liked her." Alana said. Chad grinned that shit-eating grin and grabbed the plastic pitcher. Next one was on him.

"So?"

"We've watched you spend the last, what, three years? Four years? It doesn't matter. We watched you actively stay out of any real attached relationship because of the risk. Now you're here in Milwaukee and some how, a girl asked you out..."

"I asked her out." I said. I still felt a little bit of pride about that.

"That just adds to my point why this is so downright interesting. You, the guy who wouldn't even let himself form a crush, asked a girl out. She's got to be something special." Fuck Alana and her logic. I couldn't say anything. She was right. I just didn't see it that way. Me actively pursuing a relationship was an ultra rarity.

"Yeah." It's all I could think to say. Not you're right. Not she is. Just yeah. Excuse me while I forget how to make a coherent thought.

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the-little-ewok · 1 year

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A more permanent hiatus from writing

So I have made the difficult decision to stop writing, at least for Tumblr etc, on a more permanent basis. I appreciate and love every single one of you who have taken the time to read, comment, reblog, send requests and prompts. Writing saved me from a very dark place and helped me come to terms with some things.

I've had an absolute blast interacting with everyone and I won't be removing my masterlist so that will stay for people to re-read if they want.

The fact is after some big life changes and the way things are here on Tumblr right now (more on both of these points below for those who want more personal details), I just don't have the time or energy to continue writing and it has become no longer a temporary hiatus. I'm afraid this may be permanent for now.

I will remain on Tumblr just no longer as a writer.

For those who want to read no further I bid you farewell, and thanks for all the fish 💜

Tw for the below : Miscarriage, pregnancy, mental health, general complaintyness, probably too much personal details 😂

For those of you who want a better explanation on why im leaving writing..

I came to writing fanfic again after the loss of my daughter. We spent a long time trying to get pregnant, only to loose her to a premature birth (second trimester miscarriage) and then told there was no guarantee I could ever carry a child to full term. Tumblr saved me from being in a very dark place with knowing this information. The people I met here are some of the best. I loved writing, and I loved that my writing brought joy to people. It brought a light back into my life and helped me do something to distract myself. I'm greatful for every single person who interacted with my fics. You have no idea how much your support, comments, reblogs and GIFs helped me. It helped me slowly come back to myself again.

Recently we have been incredibly blessed with a rainbow baby after an extremely stressful high risk pregnancy which absolutely took it out of me both physically and mentally, and caused me to take an initial step back from writing.

I sort of underestimated how much having a child would take out of my time and I honestly just do not have the time to write now. When I do have time im probably found catching up on sleep 😂

I really thought eventually I would come back to writing and don't get me wrong, I have 10000 ideas pinging around my brain and about 15 half finished WIP but the thing is, right now I got to prioritise family time. I am adjusting to life as a mom and just a general different pace of life. I feel it would be rude of my to continue to string people along thinking I will finish your requests or that WIP I've promised may eventually appear. And I guess maybe one day they will. But I can't make that promise and I feel guilty for continuing to pretend I'll get to them eventually. So please, accept my apologies if you were waiting on something. I know a bunch of amazing writers if anyone would like their request passed onto them to be fulfilled!

Second big reason for me leaving writing is .. interaction. The absolute lack of comments, reblog, messages, anything, is unreal. Anyone can click the like button but what writers need is something that makes them feel like you actually read their work, that you enjoyed it, that you want more. Please for those writers you follow, drop them a message about their fics, ask them questions, discuss headcannons, reblog their work, tell them what your favourite line was. Anything! Blind reblog with no comments and likes make writers feel like they put in all the effort for no reward. Interact with your writers people!

So that's what it is. Maybe one day I'll post my writings again, maybe I won't. For now I'll leave you in the capable hands of the incredible Tumblr writers that remain, and again, thank you so much for every comment and reblog. I love you guys!!

#personal things #not a full goodbye #just a goodbye to writing #probably too much info #over sharing is caring #tw pregnancy #tw miscarriage #tw mental health

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ludonarrativeconsonance · 10 months

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A secret trait that can make or break cool characters, Ft. Across The Spider-Verse. An effortpost.

Intro

Until recently, I did not have strong opinion on Issa Rae’s Jessica Drew, since she was a side-character with barely any screentime - I youtubed “across the spiderverse but it's only jess” to get a number and people didn’t care about her enough to make that video.

Most of the discourse surrounding her was either racism/sexism (why the fuck are those people even watching spider-verse) or people wanting her to do the mommy who keeps the angry man in check cliché.

Personally, I liked how they averted that with a minor character well enough, so I didn’t bother engaging. Spider-verse does the cliché-baiting-aversion thing a lot, for example with Hobie and cheap love triangles, and it's great every time.

BUT, apparently the art book says that she was designed to be cool and they “knew she’d be a fan-favourite”. Now, “cool” is subjective, but “cool fan-favourite” is not and, even compared to someone who was barely in the most recent movie - Peni Parker - Jess is embarrassingly less popular.

And the thing is, a lot of the complaints I've seen about her coolness (which are not from racists) talk about stuff like how she's a minor side character, are pregnancy discourse, or are like "how is she expected to be cool when she's in the same movie as hobie".

I wrote a whole thing talking about all those things and more in tremendous detail, but it was way too long for a single text post - plus, it was very specifically about Jess rather than the concept of a cool character.

TL;DPost: Pavitr exists for like a very short amount of time sharing scenes with Hobie and he's still more popular than Jess except for resource-rich countries Sweden and Venezuela.

So, I thought that out the many traits that make a character cool (competence, agency, confidence...) I'd very specifically talk about the most overlooked one, which Jess lacks, and to avoid falling for sacrificial trash bait I’ll only use women or POC as examples (except when discussing two historical examples).

Luckily, Spiderverse itself provides us with plenty of examples, such as Gwen (Irish girl), Pavitr (Indian guy), and Hobie (British).

Transgressiveness

The concept of cool itself, in the modern day, is tied to things like punk subculture; to quote Robert Christgau,

Hippies were rainbow extremists; punks are romantics of black-and-white. Hippies forced warmth; punks cultivate cool.

Fundamentally, one of the if not the meaning of the word cool, is something that infringes rules, norms or expectations in a way that pleases us.

This is true for every medium:

Samus is cool because she’s a girl wearing power armor in an 80s game.

Hollow Knight’s Hornet (black female spider-person) is at her coolest when she saves the Knight from the Cast-Off shell and webslings away.

Millennium’s Lisbeth Salander is cool because she’s a psychologically tortured woman who lives on the edge of the law but never truly hurts those who don’t deserve it.

Since I write 1984 fanfic: Julia is cool because she habitually avoids the rules set by the Party, fully knowing that it’s not going to end well and choosing not to dwell on it.

Obviously, it’s even true outside of fiction: gender, as an adjective, is often used in progressive circles to mean “blurs gender lines in a visually appealing way”; and it’s actually true in real life, though I can probably not make any noncontroversial examples.

If you look at the movies themselves, Gwen primarily has a trans(heh)gressive aesthetic: her haircut was not yet overdone in 2018, she’s in a punk rock band, and she’s Gwen Stacy but alive.

Pavitr is transgressive because he’s Spider-man and his life isn’t shit yet, and he rubs that in your face with confidence (the exaggerated swagger of an Indian teen), while getting distracted with menial stuff and still keeping up with his responsibilities fine.

Note that this “kid who doesn’t really try and aces all their tests anyway” energy is important, because if he got distracted shipping Gwiles and actually lost track of the Spot, then that wouldn't be transgressive in a pleasing way, that’d be transgressive in a frustrating way - the "kid who slacks off on the group project" way.

Hobie, which is widely agreed upon to be the coolest character, has - obviously - punk aesthetics and his dramatic entrance breaking down an energy barrier with his anarchy-powers. His intro monologue is a break from norm - “I was bitten by a – wouldn’t you like to know?”, he’s british, and doesn’t believe in consistency. Or comedy, but that’s just a joke.

And most importantly, his actions are transgressive. Every step of the way, he sets Miles up to beat Miguel, or he’s working toward making sure Gwen still has a watch after she’s exiled from the spider-society. This also, incidentally, makes him likeable - which isn’t a necessary part of being cool, but sure as hell does help.

To bring up the historical examples I mentioned before: The Punisher breaks the rules in a way that appeals to his, uh, target audience. He kills dozens of people because that’s darker and edgier and I swear comic books are not for children mom.

Darth Vader is constantly abusing his officers and blowing up planets; until The Emperor shows up he’s generally the one setting the rules.

And no, Doomguy is not a character, he’s a player insert. I love killing demons as much as anyone, but don’t bullshit me with “oh but he’s cool”.

Generally, I think, we can put character actions on a political compass of “follows the rules vs makes their own rules” and “in a likeable vs unlikeable way”. “Makes their own rules in a likeable way” is the coolest quadrant, while “follows the rules in an unlikeable way” is the least cool.

By the way, this is why cool characters are often funny - comedy is built on the unexpected. A lot of Hobie’s lines aren’t laugh-out-loud funny, but they’re “Heh. That’s kinda funny” funny, such as “Hobie you’re not helping” “Good”.

Jessica Drew first intervenes not out of her own free will - like Gwen, Miguel, Pavitr, Hobie, Peter B., et cetera but because she’s called in. Her aesthetics are like… She looks like my aunt if she put on dumb fucking glasses.

She proceeds to do nothing except for ask if Miguel could pretty please let Gwen on board. Do note that she 100% defers the decision to the man. In every other interaction, she’s just sorta there, acting as a second-tier antagonist unquestionably following Miguel’s orders or conceding Gwen enough time to speedrun Super Mario Odissey.

This is even when she knows better - she knows Miles is much less dangerous than Spot, because she participated in a conversation where Gwen tried to brush him off as a villain of the week but didn’t fall for it.

This is terrible for coolness, because it's also stripping her of agency - forcing her to rely on confidence and competence that don't have much space to shine.

She is actively following bad norms, even though she knows them to be bad, and consistently opposing the main characters when doing so to obey the actually interesting antagonist, Miguel.

And yes, a lot of these criticisms can be levelled at Peter B - who could probably have done more to back up Gwen in the go-home-machine room, for instance - but Peter wasn’t specifically designed to be cool. Peter is written to be a dad who doesn’t want huge status quo shakeups, and that’s who he is.

If Jess had been designed specifically to be cool, and had been well-designed, she'd be transgressive or make up for her lack of transgressiveness somehow. But she wasn't designed to be cool, she was designed to explain Miguel taking Gwen in and the coolness was added on to make her a less obvious plot device.

That said, BWEE MOTORCYCLE WHEEL ON FACE

#spiderverse #spider punk #cool stuff #writing #spider woman #jess drew #spider man: across the spider verse

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