#wow! I just made my first big meta!
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The Owl House Pilot Leak!!!
Oh my titan.
The Owl House’s original pilot episode (basically a bunch of voiced-over storyboards) just got leaked and OMT. Watching it felt like experiencing the original magic of the show all over again… Reminding me what it was like to fall in love the first time!!! The hype and rush, the excitement to type down my thoughts after a new episode, analyzing and gushing over both big and small moments, the details!!! The pilot has reiterated all over to me again why I love these characters, from Luz's powerful earnestness, to Eda's chaotic demeanor! It’s like having the whole show open ahead of me, the possibilities endless when knowing this is just the beginning and we could go anywhere from here!
What’s interesting is that Luz’s conflict with Camila doesn’t really exist here; In fact Camila isn’t present or mentioned at all! What brings Luz to the isles is Amity, who’s been learning in the human world, under the guise of being a human by disguising her ears! It’s alluded to that Odalia and Alador made her do it, though we don’t know why…
But WOW that must’ve been so meta, doing S3 with Amity stuck in the human world with Luz, hiding her ears! It must’ve been a fun way to bring back the older concepts in new form! And indeed, we see a couple of stuff we’ve already gotten glimpses of, such as the storyboards of Luz offering her friendship art to Amity! I love that we get to see the actual scenario of how Amity accidentally defended Luz in the first place, since we heard that but didn’t get to see how it turned out.
It’s interesting that Lumity is basically the inciting incident of the story, though I can see why the final version opted instead to emphasize Luz’s conflict with her mother. Especially with how she chooses to stay in the isles in the final draft, which leads to guilt over lying to her mom, having her ‘coming out’ moment that eventually occurs in Yesterday’s Lie, etc. So more agency when it comes to Luz losing her access to the human world. Plus in the pilot, there isn't the same emphasis on Luz trying to live out her dreams of being a witch, and her obsession with stories that ties back to Manny and forms the basis for a lot of other themes and arcs.
That said, I also appreciate what this alternate take offers, and how Lumity helps tie everything together, it really is the queerness that is such a foundational part of the ‘weirdness’ theme that the show is about, and it’s intertwined with the pilot! God Luz being heartbroken when Amity dismisses the drawing… And then crying when Eda compliments it without realizing who it’s about! Or maybe she did, she could’ve recognized Luz there and figured out a way to stealthily make Luz feel better…!
I love Luz routinely lock-picking her locker because she presumably forgot the combination! And it’s interesting that we have a setup of there being multiple dimensions that the Boiling Isles has access to, and not just the human world and Demon Realm. That plays a role in the climax, more on that later. Given we have what is basically an airport for different dimensions, I wonder if we would’ve seen Luz find her way back home much earlier on, under much less intense circumstances, in a S1A episode?
The ‘Emperor’ is also alluded to in the pilot, which we didn’t get actual mention of until the fifth episode in the final show. He apparently dislikes humans and wants Luz brought over to him, is this still operating off of the ‘Pupa’ version of the character who claimed to speak on behalf of the true ruler, trapped in their metamorphosis by him? So maybe he wasn’t always human, or maybe this is Belos’ hypocritical way of ‘protecting’ humans by keeping them away and in blissful ignorance of the demon realm.
We also establish Hexside much earlier! IIRC Hexside was always part of the show, but executives pushed for it to have more emphasis, which the crew continued to follow through on in S2 onwards because that had already been set up. Lilith is the principal, and I recognize the storyboards of her, including her bat transformation! We get a Tinella Nosa cameo, we see Amity, and there’s also a brief cameo of Willow too! Nice way to set her up before her proper debut.
The ‘barrier’ containing King’s crown turns out to just be a regular human locker, which makes me wonder if the writers updated the final draft to make it a force field that only allows humans through, because of the whole Belos twist. Which makes me wonder if in this draft, Belos is Pupa, who never was human, or maybe they realized the opportunity to insert foreshadowing into a big twist regarding the main villain. Makes me wonder if the house we see Amity enter in the pilot, which is on sale, would've had any significance like in the final show. Love how Tinella Nosa is a student at Hexside, and also Dana having to occasionally insert lines for Wendie Malick and others was great.
Lilith is a lot more openly adversarial, which is different compared to how her actual debut provides a softer side to her; I imagine this would’ve been apparent in a later episode of the ‘Pilot AU’, and her transformation has me curious; Was she originally the one with the curse, but then the writers changed it to Eda? Or did they both have a curse? Eda also has an owl form she can summon and control at Will, maybe all Clawthornes have a beast mode that’s less of a curse and more of a talent. Lilith ends up trapped in another dimension, which makes me wonder if she’d have a temporary replacement –possibly Pilot Bump- or if she’d return offscreen. We see the portal key get destroyed under much more casual circumstances, though it’s less as big of a deal for this and the established ‘dimension port’ we saw before.
(Also, Amity recognizing Luz in the hallway… Everything to me!!!)
Warden Wrath doesn’t exist and neither does the Conformatorium, it’s Lilith and Hexside. With her as principal and Amity as student, I wonder if we would’ve gotten more of their relationship in the pilot AU, if Covention was a way of carrying over that former connection since Amity would be a teacher’s pet in either version of the story. And speaking of ties to Covention, it’s interesting is that Eda’s chest gem seems to be linked to the Emperor’s Coven, as ‘Pilot Kikimora’ uses it to control her. Curiously, we have a scene at the end mirroring what we got with Lilith in the final draft of the show!
I feel it implies that Eda DID join the Emperor’s Coven with Lilith, if only for a brief moment, but then defected; But the chest gem is basically the pilot version of the Emperor’s sigil, except with the explicit function of being a shock collar. I find it interesting that Eda still has the mirror to contact the EC with, instead of just getting rid of the thing. Is she a rogue agent who hasn’t totally cut ties, because she can’t? Won’t?
And the fact that Pilot Kikimora can just shock Eda at will makes me wonder if the Emperor is low-key just letting Eda roam around, which makes me wonder if he’s aware of the familial connection, is using Eda to find Luz, already knows about her doing that because of the time loop, etc. We’d of course have gotten an episode where Luz finds out about Eda’s connection and helps her deal with the gem… I realize now that Luz learning Eda also wanted to join the EC with Lilith is a carryover of this idea.
I can see the ups and downs between both versions; The final draft sets up Luz’s conflict with Camila and the reality camp, which is foundational to her character arc throughout the whole show. Her pain over being ‘sent away’ is just so vital that I appreciate its inclusion in the first episode. But I also like the inclusion of Lumity and the earnest desire to be friends with someone who showed her, unwittingly, any kindness at all! We get explicit bullying from Luz’s peers in the pilot, but in the final draft we also get her thoughtlessness that plays a big part in her S1 arc. And Luz’s arrival in the isles is more intertwined with Eda and King in the final version, which also feels right; The show is about these three in particular!
All in all, this was wonderful to watch! The magic was experienced all over again, not just in watching an episode, but also commentating on one that was just ‘released’ as well? I thought the last time I’d do anything like this was with the series finale Watching and Dreaming… But as Luz said, it really comes full circle with watching the first episode all over again! So maybe we have other stuff to still look forward to after all… At the very least, we have an eternal anticipation with an unexplored universe ahead of us, that will never reach completion; So it's like our ever-lasting final gift from TOH, and a good last one. So until next time: BBBBBYYYYYEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
#the owl house#luz noceda#amity blight#lumity#eda clawthorne#edalyn clawthorne#lilith clawthorne#analysis
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Just to throw my two cents on the Rat Grinder discourse: They weren't worth the Intrepid Heroes' time. We didn't get the full picture of what's going on with the Grinders until the last quarter of the season. Before that they were just this other clique that hate the main characters, so in-character why would the Bad Kids bother giving them so much attention when they've got so much of their own crap going on. Kristens quest to get Cassandra back and her presidential campaign, Gorgugs courseload, Riz's million and one plates that he's been spinning all season, Adaines financial problems, Figs curse and her doubts about what she wants to do with her life. Fabian's the only one who might have had the time, but he had to be Maximum Legend. There genuinely was no time or even an incentive on the IH's side to develop the Rat Grinders characters.
I still think it's fucked up that these teenagers got taken advantage of by adults they trusted, but we didn't learn any of that until we only had two roleplay episodes left. Too little too late to even try anything diplomatic even if they didn't spend all their time after the Last Stand in hiding.
And a thing about Ivy that no one is roasting her about and really should: An elven archer? Really? Wow, never seen that before.
Yeah totally. Like, from a meta level, I see where the players themselves could have been more curious about the Rat Grinders. There are obvious plot threads that could have been teased out there (though, in fairness to the cast, the adult manipulation aspect didn't become clear until way later in the season--the rivalry and foil aspects were more obvious). This final confrontation could look really different if they'd played that all the way out all season.
But in character? The Bad Kids really didn't have a good reason to waste time on the Rat Grinders. They came into this school year already burnt out from their Night Yorb quest and wanting a break. But they don't get that because they immediately are beset by problems they have to deal with--Kristen's god is on death's door from neglect and she's on the brink of expulsion, Riz is running himself ragged trying to boost his resume for college, Fig is having a whole ass existential crisis, Adaine is struggling with money issues she doesn't want to talk about, Gorgug is taking FOUR YEARS of school at the same time, and Fabian is multiclassing and dealing with his empty house/not having parental support (or Cathilda's support) for the first time. They are dealing with SO MUCH high stakes, personal stuff before the plot even kicks in. And, mechanics-wise, this is represented with the downtime system that means that any time they spend on the RG's is time they can't spend on something that matters more to them. IMO, not prioritizing your haters is actually pretty mature. Like, they weren't proactively using their free time to bully them or anything (except for arguably Fig). They were snippy with them when they crossed their paths and that was it. As opposed to the Rat Grinders who literally had to be told by Jace to stop antagonizing the Bad Kids (though they must have been pretty ineffectual at it because the Bad Kids hardly noticed, which I bet stung considering they were so obsessed).
And also, it's not like they didn't try at all with the Rat Grinders. Early Insight checks on Kipperlilly just got, "This is a polished steel orb of a personality" which doesn't sound very worth interacting with in a sympathetic way if at all and then the next big thing they learn is that she had hated Riz since Freshman Year and that she wants Riz and Kristen dead. And that's AFTER we saw her smile and kill her party cleric. In their position I'm not spending further time trying to empathize with this person, I have made my judgement and it's up to the Jawbones of the world to find if there's something in there to be rehabilitated.
And that's not the only case. Adaine straight up saved Ruben from disintegration during the Frosty Folk battle when she easily could have saved the spell slot, but that didn't soften him towards the Bad Kids any. Adaine also was really keen to Scry on the Rat Grinders to find out what was happening at their meetings. But, in scene at least, she was never able to do that so we never got a scene of them, huddled together, clearly unsure about the path they're on but not feeling like they can walk it back or say no to the authority figures in their lives. She didn't get anything humanizing that would cause her to rethink their position on them the way that she did with Aelwyn for instance. So why would they think they're anything but gleeful co-conspirators?
Hell, the one RG Adaine was even slightly curious about was Oisin and now we know that he was feigning interest in her which, man, can you imagine how much worse that would have felt if she'd actually taken the bait and pursued him beyond just thinking he was cute? Of course, it's possible that her interacting with him more along with some good charm rolls could have changed the narrative in some way but we can only go off of what we know to be true in canon and those facts are (1) He tried to get closer to Adaine while actively planning the downfall of her and her friends, (2) he (along with Ivy) was mean to Buddy behind his back while tricking him into a plan that would force him to go against his religious beliefs, and (3) he called his KVX related dragon ancestors to try to kill the Bad Kids and endanger the entire student body population. Three strikes, you're out. If I'm a Bad Kid I'm not super interested in whatever else is going on with him. And again, literally all of Adaine's friends (except Riz) gave her help to do an Insight check on him during their confrontation in the hallway so she was looking for something there worth engaging with, but she didn't get much.
Fig was fully doing CIA, MKUltra, Fantasy Geneva Convention violations on Ruben to try see if she could get information or flip him. I think she did it in an objectively insane way so I'm not entirely shocked that it didn't yield the exact results she was looking for. But she never found the smoking gun (or whatever the opposite of that is) in his head that would absolve him/show the Rat Grinders were being controlled and her messing with his dreams never flared his conscience enough to make him try to break free (as far as we know) which is what I assume she was going for. If I was Ruben looking for a way out but scared of the repercussions, I might go to Adaine who saved me from certain death earlier the same year and has helped saved the world 3 times with her party and their friends in high (and low) places. Maybe that's what Fig thought might happen but it didn't so from Fig's POV? Gave him a chance. Time to start blasting. And again, at that age, if I walked in to the first day of class and the first thing this random boy does is sneer at me and flaunt his musical success, I'm popping up on his Nemesis Alert at that moment. Doubly so after he tries to trick me and my friends into doing drugs so we get expelled. I'm surprised she tried at all with him.
Fabian absolutely tried to interact with Ivy--in large part for self interested reasons of course, but that doesn't change that he did it. And she came across as callous and unkind from the jump. Their final conversation before the latest episode is the one where she talks about wearing Mazey like a sweater and then says that Fabian missed his chance with her before stalking off. That's a pretty open and shut interaction. No way 17 year old me is like, "Hmm, but why is she acting so mean? Perhaps I should examine that more closely to further understand her." Nah, I've decided she sucks.
And Kristen has tried with Buddy literally up until the last moment. She rolled an Insight check on him right before the fight started and she got a 1. She got nothing from him.
Mary Ann is actually the only Rat Grinder who hasn't done anything to make a bad impression on the Bad Kids--the only thing she did was have a really good Bloodrush tryout. So no reason to hate her specifically (and, in fact, she is also the only Rat Grinder that at least half of them are positively obsessed with), but no reason to explore her further. And Kristen still tried giving her a stuffed animal and her response was that she already had that one and that she was going to give it away. What are they supposed to do with that?
Even when they tried, they didn't get information that was worth chasing when they were so busy and had to manage their free time. Gorgug didn't even slot in downtime to talk to his bio parents when they visited. Why would he spend any time on Mary Ann to figure out her deal? Maybe if they were given more explicit opportunities to interact with them in passing. If Mary Ann was shown at Bloodrush Games. If during class time Oisin tried to interact with Adaine. If Kristen ran into Buddy and Bucky talking. If any of their forays into talking to them or looking into them yielded anything actionable or that piqued their interest--they opened the door for Brennan to give them something more than once. But they never got anything that was worth investing more of their limited time into.
(And also, they didn't learn that Porter was involved until WAY into the last quarter of the episodes. Which absolutely could have changed things since, as far as they knew the RG's were working alone to raise this god which isn't crazy for them to think because Kristen literally did that last year and it was of her own free will. If they knew early that the RG's were smaller players in Porter's plot then maybe they would have been in more of a rescue mindset--especially since Fig has always mistrusted him--but that's not information they had and by the time they got it, the RG's were in deep hiding, like you said.)
And so, coming into the last few episodes, that's who the Rat Grinders are to the Bad Kids. A group of kids who they first heard about in the context of, "they famously hate you," even though they'd never interacted before. A group of kids who they already thought sucked even before they tried to kill the entire study body an hour ago. A group of kids who are trying to doom all of Elmville to eternal rage and who are willing and ready to kill them to do it.
With that context, yeah I think their actions are pretty understandable.
(Also, lmao. Yeah, I think calling Ivy basic would probably hurt her more than most things you could say to her.)
#asks#farmer-10#dimension 20#fantasy high#d20#spoilers#d20 spoilers#dimension 20 spoilers#dimension 20 fhjy#fhjy#and they knew the rage crystals existed for a while#but they had no reason to believe that the rage crystals are a thing that happened *to* the RG's#rather than being a thing that they're doing to others#so like yeah I totally get it wishing that they players had delved deeper into their whole situations#that's the fun of narrative foils after all#but I don't think the bad kids themselves handled this situation unreasonably#when ppl rub me the wrong way/are rude to me irl I avoid them#if they have hidden struggles that's between them and their loved ones and their therapist#and if I was a bad kid after such a stressful year even if I heard their tragic backstories at this point I'd be like#cool motive still murder
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LET'S TALK HSR PENACONY 2.1 (or rather, have my impressions and thoughts on the main quest and some other stuff)
First of all, I went out of it with so many thoughts and emotions. This is not gonna be spoiler free (duh).
ACHERON IS SO FUN TO PLAY. Like, really really fun. Finally Simulated Universe is not an annoying pain anymore, and much quicker too. Thanks to a good friend of mine her relics aren't too bad either. She's already so fun to play with Black Swan, can't wait for a Kafka rerun now 💀
Aa for the story now: I FUCKING KNEW MIKHAIL WAS THE WATCHMAKER. I KNEW IT. Now to wait for them to confirm that Misha is connected to him, either as a ghost of his past self or a child or some sort. It's the only way.
It's also really refreshing to see that HSR is giving 4star characters significant roles in the story. First it was Tingyun, now it's Gallagher (and maybe Misha? I'll die on this hill).
Loved the pacing. Story was quite long and lots of gameplay but didn't feel overwhelming at all, probably because we didn't just stick to the MC the whole time. The characters split up and we didn't just follow the express crew but also Aventurine, I really loved that. It felt so dynamic and immersive.
WELT AND ACHERON INTERACTION. BRO. The way I gasped the whole time. We still don't have a canon confirmation of how Raiden Mei and Acheron or just generally HI3rd and HSR are connected but it's sp clear that Acheron is by far the closest connection yet. So sp excited to find out more about this. Raiden Mei, I'll love you in every universe.
Aventurine and Ratio are also very interesting to me. What does Ratio gain by involving himself in all of this? What does he get out of it? Anyway, their little journey through the mansion was nice. GIGANTIC RATIO. The kinda stuff my dreams are made of tbh.
Generally the whole Aventurine story got me right from the beginning. He's generally one of the most interesting characters to me (although this game has plenty of them). I gotta admit of course I was suspicious of him (as one should be of all Penacony characters) but I liked him nevertheless. This patch supported my feelings, my GOD HE xkdjjdjdjd. The way I cried. Since I played the story so late ofc I saw some spoilers/screenshots of his backstory but I never expected it to hit me this hard. Just wow. His ending, too. It's so bitter. Kinda hope we get to see him again, since he'a mot really dead, right? Just in some limbo.
His boss fight was really something. Not a lot of different patterns, but I still had to try a bunch of different teams, since you're kinda fucked even with just a single single target character in your party. Had to unbench Clara, and I gotta say, she came through for me. I might not have used the most meta team, but it worked soooo...
And just as I was glad I had managed the fight they hit you with that big cut scene, woah. AND THEN WITH THE FIREFLY SCENE? AND SUNDAY????
First of all, apparently it was common knowledge among the community since last patch that Sam was Firefly. Yeah, I gwt it bc of the leaks and stuff. But I'm just so confused as to HOW. Like HOW and WHY and just generally HUH. I can't wait for them to explain this connection (if you're reading this and you wanna spoil me with non-confirmed stuff then leave it, please, I might as well wait another 3 weeks).
And then Gallagher and Sunday... Just as I was admiring Sunday's beauty because he might legit just be one of the most gorgeous male character designs... THEY KILL HIM. When I tell ypu I was SHOOK. Mouth agape and all. Didn't know what to do. What a cliffhanger.
Now I don't have a real theory as to what I think will happen. If I remember correctly they said the main story will stretch until 2.3, right? I really wonder what else will happen, the story already seemed so huge this patch and I really wonder how it'll conclude. There's still so many questions and stories. Might add on to this post later when I have more thoughts.
Also Aventurine's banner just dropped but as of writing this I haven't pulled yet. Might add a little post later about it.
For now, have some screenshots I took during the story:
ALSO I GOT AVENTURINE. SECOND 50/50 WIN IN A ROW IN THIS GAME HAVE I FINALLY BROKEN THE CURSE. Now for the long and treacherous road of farming his trace mats and relics ... Since I never really prefarm 🥲
A pic I took in my excitement. Forgot the screenshot button exists.
#may's gaming#hsr#honkai star rail#star rail#penacony#acheron#hsr acheron#raiden mei#hi3rd#welt#welt yang#hsr welt#aventurine#hsr aventurine#dr ratio#veritas ratio#hsr veritas#gallagher#hsr gallagher#sunday#hsr sunday
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A small sample of the DC x DP fic I'm working on. It's a Damian/Danny (Dead Serious) fic
Danny wonders why these things always happen to him. This was just supposed to be an end-of-year trip to Gotham. One week he didn't have to fight ghouls or deal with Vlad's fruitloopiness. The universe hated him. At least that's the only conclusion that makes sense.
It started at one of Gotham's museums. Everything was great. They were looking at old stuff and he was joking around with Tucker and Sam. Then his ghost sense went off because of course.
It wasn't a surprise to see a few ghosts come in and start wreaking havoc. How did they know where to find him? He quickly got his answer when he saw Vlad. Vlad grabbed a random kid and fled. Sam and Tucker reassured him they got the other ghost to go after Vlad.
Damian was ready to body slam this vampire-looking man. Who the hell was he and where did he come from? The man turned them both intangible, going through several walls before ending up in a mostly empty room. The man tied up his wrist and ankles but left him otherwise unrestrained. Damian was able to press the call button on his watch.
"Hey vampire, you're a long ways away from Transylvania." Damian snarked.
"I'm not a vampire you insolent brat."
Damian rolled his eyes, "Then maybe you shouldn't dress like one."
Vlad went to retort but was tackled by Danny flying through the wall. Damian would have been surprised if weird shit didn't happen to him on the daily but still he had to put on a performance.
Damian looked at the fighting pair deadpan, "oh wow gee looks like I'm in quite a jam."
By the time Vlad was sucked into the phantom thermos Damian had already freed himself. Danny looked at the kid bewildered.
"You know staring is rude."
Danny scoffed, "I wasn't staring. Who the hell are you? What did Vlad want with you?"
"I have no clue. You came in before his villainous monologue," Damian paused before snickering, "is his name really Vlad? Like Vlad the Impaler, the original Dracula."
Danny can't believe he hadn't made that connection himself. He couldn't help but laugh. Damian raised a brow.
When Danny calmed he looked at the kid, "So kid are you hurt?"
"I would think that's the first thing you would have checked for. I could have bled to death while you went hysterical."
"Since when did twelve-year-olds get so snarky."
"I'm not twelve! I'm sixteen!"
"But you're so small."
"You are only a few inches taller than me. I'm also still tall enough to kick your ass. Who are you anyway? Batman doesn't like metas in his city."
"A what now?"
"A meta," a big man stepped out from the darkness, "You okay Damian?"
"Yeah, hood. Is it just you?"
"For now, yes," Red Hood looked at Danny, "who are you kid and why are you in Gotham."
"I'm Phantom and I'm supposed to be on a school trip but one of my arch nemesis found me but I stopped him so I should get going."
"I should go back to Hood. I'm fine and I'm sure the ghost boy would be willing to bring me back."
"Uh yeah sure let's go." Danny flew off.
Red Hood lowered himself and whispered, "keep an eye on him. If you have a tracker, use it."
"I'm not an idiot. I was already planning on it."
Danny flew back into the room, "you coming?"
"Are you gonna walk 'cause I certainly can't fly or phase through walls."
"Oh yeah. Let me just, " Danny scooped Damian up in a bridal style, "there we go. You ready now?"
Red Hood snickered as Damian turned red, squawking at the poor kid holding him.
"Put me down! Don't manhandle me!"
"Sorry but this is the quickest way."
Danny rushed off. Damian scowled like an angry cat. Danny chuckled, causing the other to start another rant full of foul language. Finally, Danny landed. Sam and Tucker were there waiting.
Sam gave him a confused expression, "Why are you carrying the youngest Wayne."
"Who?"
"Me dumbass! Put me down!" Damian squirmed.
Danny set him down. Damian adjusted his expensive uniform muttering. Sam grabbed Danny by the ear and pulled him aside.
She whispered," What are you doing carrying the Wayne kid."
"Vlad had him. Plus I still don't know who Wayne is."
"Wayne as in Bruce Wayne, " Sam pinched the bridge of her nose as Danny stared at her blankly, "Wayne as in Wayne Tech Industries."
"Oh… ohhhh. So maybe Vlad had him for some rich guy reason."
"We should keep an eye on him. He is just some pampered rich kid."
Danny nodded and went back over. He was surprised to see the kid was still there. He shuffled uncomfortably, unsure what to do from here. What he didn't see coming was the quick peck to his cheek followed by a growled thank you. Moments later the kid was gone.
Tucker grinned, "look at you, Danny. You just get all the rich babes don't you?"
"It was just a hero kiss," Sam waved her hand in front of Danny's face, "you still there."
"Yeah yeah just wasn't expecting that."
"Go change and catch up with the class."
"Good idea."
That night Danny patrolled the city. Gotham was a whole different beast at night. It was still busy, the lights were bright and the people were completely unfazed. He decided to take a break in the park. Not even five minutes he was being dragged by a vine. Now he was upside down face to face with a pretty green skin lady.
"Whatcha got there?" The blonde lady next to her asked.
"I think this is the mystery meta that Red Hood was talking about."
"He's a cutie ain't he? What do you think we should do with him?"
"Interrogate. Why are you flying around our city?"
Danny gulped, "just making sure none of the ghosts from the attack earlier weren't causing more chaos."
"Responsible young man aren't ya."
"Look I don't want no trouble I have enough of that —"
"Ivy put him down," A boy came down from the tree tops dressed in a costume, "he hasn't done anything wrong yet."
Ivy hesitated but she dropped him. Danny landed with an oof.
"You spooky kid come here."
Danny hesitated but went over. The kid narrowed his eyes and clicked his tongue.
"Of course it's you. I heard about you," Damian walked over to Ivy, "I will deal with this," he gestures to Danny before putting his hands on his hips, "Isn't tonight date night?"
Harley smiles, "it sure is. Let's go Ives I think we can still make our dinner reservations."
Ivy grabbed Harley's hand, " be careful kiddo." She and Harley left the two vigilantes.
Damian went back over to Danny who just looked confused. So much happened in the past few minutes and he wasn't able to process it.
"You kid, what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Uh patrolling."
"Gotham already has its team of heroes. We don't need you stirring the pot."
"I'm trying to help. I don't think Gotham's heroes know how to deal with ghosts."
"You don't know anything about Gotham."
"You know you're right. How do I know you're not a villain?"
"Because you would be in big trouble already. You're lucky those two are reformed."
"I guess you're part of Batman's crew although you're pretty short. I'm surprised the big bad Batman lets you out past curfew." Danny smirked.
Damian growled, "you better watch it, ghost boy."
"Oo did I strike a nerve."
Damian scowled and swung. Danny faked a yawn and went intangible. Damian ended up stumbling. He was quickly getting irritated. Damian tries to land a few more hits.
Danny laughed and pinched Damian's cheek, "so cute."
"I'm not cute. I'm gonna figure out what exactly you are and then I'm gonna kick your ass."
Before he could get another word in his ghost sense went off. It was the box ghost being annoying as fuck. Danny rolled his eyes before swiftly kicking his ass. Damian watched amused. Once the box ghost was away Danny was again at Damian's side.
"I didn't recognize that villain but you did adequately I guess."
"That's 'cause he is one of mine. He's a ghost."
"So you're both ghosts. Did you," Damian paused, "did you die?"
"Yeah, kinda I guess. I never thought about it that way."
"That is never easy."
"You say that like you have experienced dying."
Damian stayed quiet. Danny looked at him and was shocked. This boy had experienced death; his silence was answer enough. A million questions ran through his head but he shook his thoughts away and just hugged Damian.
"I don't know how that is possible but I'm not gonna question it."
Damian tense. It was weird the ghost boy felt so cold but it was comforting. Danny pulled away leaving a confused and blushing Damian. Damian was still standing there when Nightwing arrived.
#dp x dc#batfam shenanigans#danny fenton#batboys#dead serious#danny x damian#damian x danny#fiction#crossover#damian wayne#danny phantom#danny phandom
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DAROACH HEAD CANNON RAMBLING???
More likely than you would think my friends.
Ok so I worked on the drawing above for maybe 10 hours and I'm very proud of it! And I felt like this post would be a good transition into elaborating MY VERY LONG LIST OF HEAD CANNONS for this rat.... Since he has very little backstory canonically similarly to most Kirby characters who have like a sentence of backstory. And unlike Meta knight or King DDD who have a general concept or idea. We know nothing about the silly rodents!! Nothing!!
( NOTICE THIS IS ONLY FOR MY GIJINKA VERSION OF HIM!! )
So I'm here to basically write a whole damn book for these guys. But specifically daroach because... I'm biased. Lmao. SO I decided to give him something! The life of a poor child from 1920!! ....woohoo?
I believe I've said this before, and I don't think it's that crazy- but I enjoy playing with the fact these characters are for the most part from different planets and have different cultures and experiences because of this. And I love to write little things about it. And just like many others. We have no idea where daroach is even from in the first place.
I like to think the original species of squeaks/squeakers originated from the forgotten land. But at some point they all moved to different planets and locations. You can find them on different planets, and they have a unique culture to each other. The only thing they all share is the bells! Which I shared on my post all about the bells!!
Anyway I figured I would have two bulletin lists about the fun head cannons of mine! But put both of them here for simplicity. And I hope this is coherent and doesn't come off too ... Wow! Tragedy! Daroach is really a chill, happy guy despite some of the things that happened to him in my personal canon...
Despite the events I list here, Daroach actually has a very positive attitude and outlook on life! Despite how his homworld has shitty living conditions and child labor.
Daroach lived with his father until he was ten, when his father was drunk and shot by an officer for being openly against the current mayor.
Daroach never met his mother. But he worries about it little. He cared about it more when he was younger. He also has no known extended family.
Daroach had to live in the streets for a while because of this. Working as a newspaper boy.
He met Storo during this time. The two quickly became good friends. As Daroach was fast and Storo was ... Big. Even as the two were only 10-12 year olds.
The boys became familiar with a lot of the adults in town. Knowing the baker or the locals well. Storo liked to speak to a specific man named doc, quite often.
One harsh winter. Daroach gets sick. And Storo starts to feel under the weather as well. Storo, worried for their well being. Begs doc for help one morning. Doc, after seeing the full conditions of the two boys. Let's them stay with him.
While this was originally temporary, doc ended up enjoying their company. And the three live together like a family. But none of them want to call it a family.
Daroach starts working at a factory and so does Storo. Doc trying to revive his career as a scientist. ( and failing.. miserably. ) around this time doc also takes in spinni. Who's only 7.
Daroach starts to become a more intense thief. While he was always good at it, he did live on the streets for two years after all. But he gets... Very good at theft. For he learns how to float and teleport.
As they all get older. They form a early version of the squeak squad. But it's more like a group formed against the current situations and political climate. As a civil war is occuring in the country and the city is very divided.
Daroach gets himself into a lot of fights. But is both loved and hated by the press. For his hatred to the government but attractive looks by squeak standard.
After daroach is wounded in a fight. They get money, and leave on their newly made airship. Never to return to this planet. As it's just miserable there.
Ok that was a basic outline of his story on my end! Time for more basic head cannons that can be applied much easier !!
Daroach has been smoking since he was like 13. This was normal for his planet. But nowadays he mostly understands his mistakes. But he still smokes, even if he's polite about it and smokes outside it matters little. Meta knight likes to absolutely mock him for this...
Daroach hates being hatless for an extended period of time. It's just ...weird...
Daroach is the only squeak/squeaker to stand on his tiptoes constantly.
Won the triple star in a bet with a certain wizard who plays star stacker.
Used to have a alcohol problem, as his father originally did. But he did actually recover from this.
Dated meta knight for a couple months before they broke up with no explanation.
Nobody but them and galaxia know why.
At the age of 11 he developed a limp and still to this day he doesn't even understand how he got this mysterious limp.
Owns like three of the same outfit and does his laundry often. Pure comfort
Hates not being formal. You won't find this man in public wearing slides and a T-shirt. Must be a poet shirt. Or something alike that.
Totally not weird that he dated meta knights reflection. When he broke up with the real thing.
Okay this better post correctly 🙂
#kirby#kirby gijinka#hoshi no kirby#hoshi no kaabii#daroach#implied metaroach#implied darkroach#cw alcohol
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like wow I can't believe they let Lana Wachowski make the matrix 4
the first 30 minutes of the movie is literally just her standing in front of a blank screen saying "Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you." for like 30 solid minutes
just looking at every redpillcel chud proudboy who appropriated her metaphors and going "fuck you" looking at everyone who took away nothing but bullet time going "fuck you" looking at the world for getting so fucking bad and going "fuck you" talking directly to warner bros and saying "fuck you" for making her make a new one, i can't list everything because my woman went on for 30 solid minutes and did not even repeat a single fuck you it was 30 minutes of solid fuck yous
and then the rest of the movie is a matrix movie in the barest fucking sense at all it is medieval allegory level of a matrix movie okay i'm talking we got characters named Do-Goode and Righte-Living and they're on a quest to find the fabled city Submission-To-My-Lord-In-Adversity medieval allegory level of a movie ok
every FUCKING line every character says is on 3 levels of medieval allegory level no one has a throwaway line that isn't metareferential to the movie itself, the act of watching and judging the movie, the effects the movie had on society vs the effects they had hoped it would have,
characters appearing just to talk to the wachowskis and keanu and the original staff literally saying shit like "i grew up on stories about you, neo, even if you think you didn't change the world how you wanted, it still meant something to us, look at the life we built because of what you made"
like there's literally a new city where machines and humans live together and neo's like "i wanted to end the war entirely :c" and the characters are like "yes, but look at what our side has become at least c: " and like the metalayer is so fucking paper thin this isn't a movie about "what happens 60 years after the last matrix movie" this is "what happens 20 years after we released the last matrix movie in real life no for real"
the villain is LITERALLY and METAFICTIONALLY using neo and trinity to his own perverted ends twisting what their story was meant to be about and forcing them to be together even when they were supposed to be dead and the sequel is them going "well if you're forcing our story to not be over we're going to rebel and make it about what we want it to be about"
the movie literally ends with lana wachowski walking onto screen and dragging david zaslav out of his chair in the WB headquarters and going "hey fuck you for making me make a new matrix movie, fuck you, but thanks for giving me a chance to try to make another big impact again, but still fuck you"
i don't think i've seen a single criticism of the movie that the movie didn't already predict and have an answer for in the movie itself
like there are people who are like "eehh but where was the humanity it was so meta" it's like my dude this is Piers Fucking Ploughman, you aren't watching this to see the continuing adventures of the story, we are well past where the story ended and now we're in full blown allegory town and if the first 30 minutes didn't prepare you for that then honestly buddy you need to go back to 9th grade english
"oooh but neo just uses force push every fight scene" yes it's making fun of you for wanting to be distracted by 20 minute long fight scenes and having neo be so fed up with this shit he just turns on wallhacks and cheats his way through every combat encounter
"uuooo it was so boring" my dude you walked into Synechode, New York and expected a popcorn thriller fuck you
"it felt very unnecessary" i'm sorry did you miss the central thesis of the movie which was "this is unnecessary, why are we being forced to make this, fuck you" ??
look at this revieww
"The Matrix Resurrections" carries on as if it has something important to impart to folks looking to see cats in mirrors and bullets in slow-motion. There is action, but it seems remarkably old-fashioned.
i went to the car wash, and it was just a bunch of nozzles spraying water on my car, what the fuck?
The film also stuffs itself with footage from the earlier films just to remind us – because the public is stupid, right? – that this is the same series but only serving to remind us that this is just the same old, same old but nothing like as good.
imagine going into a movie and missing the point of something so perfectly, it's like
honestly, i don't have a metaphor for how completely fucking DIRELY this idiot missed the entire point of the movie this is incredible, media literacy is fucking dead my dudes, which is also something the matrix 4 spends like 10 minutes of lana wachowski standing on screen on a white background just making eye contact with you going "fuck you. fuck you."
The plot is absurd and largely impenetrable, the visuals just a rehash of a visual style we’ve seen before and any superficial pleasure we might get from seeing Reeves as Neo and Carrie-Anne Moss return as Trinity (and a slightly larger-than-life turn from Neil Patrick Harris as The Analyst, creator of the new iteration of the Matrix) are quickly snuffed out as the film smothers us in a tidal wave of its own smug self-satisfaction and the mistaken belief that we’ll welcome this stuff back into our lives like some long-lost old friend. The Matrix Resurrections doesn’t even try to be metaphysical or pseudo-intellectual, it’s just content to regurgitate a concept quite happily and adequately explored 22 years ago but with absolutely nothing new to offer either narratively or visually. Frustrating, futile, and foolish, The Matrix Resurrections is largely utter guff.
imagine walking into a movie called "I am going to insult you if you fuck this up" and fucking it up and the movie spending 2 and a half hours going "Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you." and going "yeah i dunno it didn't feel very welcoming or friendly for some reason, i don't know if it had anything to say"
the movie literally has executives bring neo and trinity back from the dead and they spend the entire movie justifying their reunion because they weren't supposed to survive or be together again and people out here really be like "but you just gave us neo and trinity again, why did you think it would just work like that?" and meanwhile they're hallucinating because all that's on the screen is keanu and carrie-anne going "fuck you. fuck you. fuck you."
The rehashed story is convoluted, existing under the guise that if you can't follow along, it's because you aren't smart enough to understand.
so you weren't smart enough to follow along, huh? that's okay, art movies aren't for everyone. let's see the rest of your review let's see,
Some of the scenes (and even lines of dialogue) are almost identical to the movie’s predecessors. It’s the same movie with slight changes, much like “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” or “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” and it relies too much on nostalgia and the goodwill of sci-fi fans.
yeah buddy it's maybe not that the movie is too convoluted, it's that maybe you have 0 media literacy and you shouldn't be a film critic. holy fuck is this all it takes to be a film critic? you don't have to be media literate at all?
you guys walked into an art movie that was just keanu reeves, carrie-anne moss, and lana wachowksi standing on a blank screen saying "Fuck you" for two and a half hours, and you half-hallucinated an action movie and somehow came away disatissfied the action movie you were hallucinating wasn't as cool and hip as you had hoped it would be
fuck you
matrix 4 unironically one of my favorite movies absolute fucking masterclass of 300 cuil metalayer infiniteoroborous commentary 1000 years artistic triumph
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yknow what i have nothing to do and need to distract myself from *gestures vaguely* and i mentioned it a few times in the last few days so i may as well talk abt that one theory i like
first of all let me say. it's not my own original theory lol i can't remember where i saw it first but it's p common so it'd be a bit hard to trace who was the first to bring it up
second. i know it contradicts some themes or at least some messages bsd is going for. which is why i don't think it's too likely (on the other hand some elements in the story can def allow a plot point of that sort to happen without being contradictory asdfhg matter of perspective ig)
ANYWAY the actual theory:
dazai knows he's in a story and aware that he is a character
backup for that theory:
honestly not much. a minor fourth wall break for laughs (the "wow~" scene. you know the one) isn't really proof, but if it was true it'd add some depth to that scene i think!
the main thing i think is cool abt this theory is how it recontextualizes a lot of things about him;
the thing that made me think abt making this post is that collection of dazai saying "you can't kill me" at various points of the story. most of them have context for each scene (atsushi can't kill him bc nlh will nullify the tiger, fyodor can't kill him bc he has the power of friendship, etc), but the fact the same line repeats multiple times makes it stand out to me
so consider this: dazai is confident that he won't die because he knows he can't die before the story is over, bc that's what the narrative decided. that's why none of his suicide attempts ever work (tho you already know my opinion on why that is, in the context of the story itself). he keeps trying tho bc man. it's tiring to be aware
that being said! well. we know he's been suicidal from a very young age. he sees no meaning in the act of living. and, being a character in a story, knowing that your life is all fake, can certainly make one's life feel meaningless, huh.
and ofc, alienation from those around him, since he seems to be the only one aware of the story. he is quite literally separate from the human experience bc of this
also some more angst :) i do firmly believe dazai feels a lot of guilt, more for meta reasons than him really showing it. guilt is a very big repeating element in no longer human and its protag yozo, whom i think dazai is obviously very inspired by. soooooo now consider this :) guilt over odasaku's death. in the context of the story, there is no reason for him to feel that, more or less. maybe nothing beyond "if only i called ango out earlier" "if only i got there in time and got him help", he didn't actually cause oda's death, not more than mori did for example, and he did the best he could too.
buuuuuuut what if he's a character in a story. he doesn't know if the story is about him yet, but given how other people around him don't seem to notice they're characters, it must be, right? the narrative depends on him. and, in that narrative, odasaku ends up dying. if he didn't exist, odasaku could live (really interesting to think abt that in the context of beast, too)
actually since i brought it up. beastzai definitely seems to know he's a character. he knows his existence doesn't mean much, i mean his whole universe is just an offshoot of the main one, literally an au of canon. that's even more meaninglessness on top of canonzai's meaninglessness, and he experienced both of them at once. no wonder he ended up killing himself damn 😩 (sorry this is a joke. ik he killed himself for some noble reason. but also i bet this made it easier)
an awareness of this level can explain some things like how dazai knows things are gonna play out in certain ways - he knows he's in a story, so he knows the narrative has to end in some satisfying way. the main characters have to win, so the doa have to lose. fyodor can't kill him. and we're back to the start
problem with this theory:
that thing i mentioned abt themes and messages in bsd. a lot of the story seems to tell us dazai is HUMAN. having him aware of everything on a meta level, imo, may cheapen that message, bc that quite literally makes him More than others in the universe.
then again the story (and asagiri in interviews lol) also seems to show again and again that he is exceptional and knows best so eh. like i said, matter of perspective
how i think it might work:
no longer human lmao
yknow how it was said The Book was created by an ability (and that's probably why it caused a singularity when beastzai touched it). well. what if the whole narrative we're following, in a way, in the universe of bsd, can count as an ability too. like a combination of The Book and poe's ability, kinda. (i've seen some theories in the past abt how asagiri is gonna be the final boss of bsd lol and that he would indeed have an ability that's just. *gestures at everything* this)
sooooo while nlh can't take him out of the story physically, it nullifies his ignorance to the situation. in a way, he's out of the story because he sort of watches it from an angle others can't
ok i officially ran out of brain power. i might add more in a reblog at some other point but for now these are the only thoughts i have. if you subscribe to that theory as well, or even just thing it's cool, i would love to hear some of your ideas - what other parts of dazai and his story do you think this changes? what does it mean about his relationships with other characters? please share if you have any thoughts on the matter!!! :)
#also as usual if you disagree that's fine just be nice about it hehe#dan rambles#maybe in that future addition i will brainstorm what that means abt his relationships etc.#but feel free to do it for me :P i'm too sleepy to think now
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Philosophies of Justice and Narrative Catharsis in Young Royals
Do you ever just have… conversations with yourself at 2 am?
Me: Wow. August did some bad shit. I want him to get therapy and help, but I also want him to face some kinda legal punishment.
Also me: Oh, self. You don’t trust cops or judges or prisons. The legal system would be way harsher on Simon about the drugs. Doesn’t that give you anxiety?
A third me, thousands of words in and possessed by a hyperfocus demon: Well fuck. We might be doing a meta about it. It’s okay, this can just be building blocks for our graduate school thesis on YA literature. Ahaha it’s fine.
The following meta looks at philosophies of justice, both retributive and restorative, as they appear in the worldbuilding Young Royals. This is a monster of a meta, like ~6500 words long, so be aware of that going in. Content note for discussion of all the usual crime topics in YR, as well as the injustices present in real world legal systems.
Intro: Shifting the Focus
Fandom loves discussing—and disagreeing about—the redemption arc. Who can blame us? As human beings, we’re wired to notice novelty, and redemption arcs involve a character experiencing some sort of dramatic transformation. This transformation could be gradually built up to for a series of chapters or seasons, or it could be sudden and jarring. It could involve one big dramatic gesture or a series of small changes. Whatever happens, fans end up debating what they see onscreen.
Now, I love a good discussion. I also love stories that poke beyond simple notions of good and evil, where characters are capable of change in multiple directions, And yet, as someone who has spent years in fandom, I increasingly find the discussion of redemption arcs unsatisfying and even boring. Everyone seems to have their own definition of what constitutes “enough” good deeds for a character’s redemption, and even their own opinions of who is worthy of redemption in the first place. It seems we can’t entirely agree on what the term means, and everyone gets bogged down in discourse.
At first, my dissatisfaction prompted me to ask what I considered a well-written redemption arc. Well, no, that’s not accurate. There was a little arrogant voice inside me telling me that I, the great bluedalahorse, who has devoted many hours of academic study to various literary texts and even made complicated spreadsheets to track ideas in my favorite books, could use my genius analytical skills to find out what a perfect redemption arc is supposed to look like and develop a formula for it. And then I stepped back and laughed at myself. Since when did good writing ever follow a formula? All the best writers know how and when to break the rules. Also, I am not as much of a genius as I think I am. I’m literally just hanging out here and overthinking my fictional faves like the rest of fandom.
A lightbulb moment switched on when I attended a workshop focused on restorative justice in schools, back in the summer of 2022. As I listened and processed the things I was learning, my storyteller brain kept poking me. Hey, it was saying to me. Heyyyy can we use restorative justice principles to write better character arcs? Particularly redemption arcs? I talked to my MFA adviser about this as we began to workshop ideas for a critical thesis in Young Adult literature. We started to explore the ways that restorative justice principles showed up in books like Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay and All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. I got a little further along in my theories, identifying techniques authors used to show characters confronting their privilege, unlearning old behaviors, and making amends for harm that they caused others. Still, something was missing. I just wasn’t getting where I wanted to with my analysis.
A few weeks ago I had a second lightbulb: what if we stop looking at justice in relationship to character arcs alone, and start looking at worldbuilding?
That clicked. Oh, boy, did it click! You really can’t talk about characters without understanding their world. Once I attended a panel on writing villains, and one of the panelists asserted that you can’t develop your villain as a character until you’ve developed your world. (Whether villains are outcasts hellbent on revenge, or oppressive tyrants at the top of their society, their world plays a role in shaping them.) Since what we call redemption arcs so often involves taking a character out of a villainous space and into a more heroic one, naturally worldbuilding has to be a factor in that kind of story. I also realized that the framing of the “redemption arc” frustrates me because on some level, it’s still tied to the Western Christian idea of individual salvation. I didn’t want to necessarily focus on what what one character does or doesn’t do individually without also focusing on that character’s relationship to other characters and their communities.
So I decided to experiment with shifting the focus of my thesis research. There were only two things left to do: come up with a framework for exploring my ideas, and test those questions out on Young Royals. Because it’s my favorite show, and it has a lot to say about justice. That said, a lot of what I say here and the methods I use could be applied to other shows as well. I’m curious to hear what it might have to say about your other favorite works of fiction!
The Framework
After some drafting during early morning bus commutes, I came up with three questions I wanted to explore when looking at Young Royals and other texts. These questions are:
What is the authorial philosophy of justice? What principles of justice are at play in how the author constructs the characters, world, and storylines?
How is justice enacted (or not) through the legal system(s) in this story’s setting? To what extent do the ideals of that legal system match up with its reality? To what extent should they?
What are the individual characters’ experiences of justice in their day to day life? What social norms do they end up creating in their smaller communities to enforce their ideas of justice?
What I like about this series of questions is that it allows a text to speak in multiple voices. There has been a lot of fandom discourse over the last ten years (and even longer, honestly, this shit goes back at least to Plato’s dialogues) about authorial intent and whether depiction equals endorsement and so on. I don’t think I’m going to end those debates today. Still, I do think it’s worth pointing out that a TV show or a book or a movie is able to tell a story and make a point in a different way than an essay or campaign speech does. You can have different characters own different parts of the truth. A particular setting can be positive for one character and negative for another. Fiction is really good at exploring paradoxes, contradictions, and tensions. I created these questions because they force me to tease out the tensions in a narrative and where there might be meaning in them.
Come on, Blue! you say. We know Young Royals has a lot of tension in it. When are you gonna start talking about your fandom? Okay. Fine. I’ll get to the sad teenagers now. Put on your school uniforms, everyone. We’re going to Hillerska!
No Good or Bad People, Only Good or Bad Actions
The title for this section comes from me paraphrasing Omar paraphrasing Lisa in an interview.
Two questions you may have about this section are: 1. What makes authorial philosophy (a term I am pretty sure I just made up for the purposes of this meta) different than authorial intent? 2. What’s the relationship between the author’s philosophy and their worldbuilding?
To answer question 1, I am defining authorial philosophy for the purposes of this meta as what the author intends + how effectively they convey that through their storytelling and craft. So like, authorial intent, but we’re also holding the author somewhat accountable for how their message comes across. Generally I read Lisa and the rest of the team as pretty intentional in how they craft their stories, and I can see how their ideas play out in practice, so I am more likely to give credence to authorial intent. I might not do that for other authors. As someone who reads heavily in the YA novel field, I’ve seen plenty of books with surface progressivism that end up being kinda reactionary when you scrape beneath that surface. Usually it’s a craft issue or the author not being intentional enogh. Young Royals, so far, has not been that kind of text.
As for question 2, authors can use their worldbuilding to reinforce their authorial philosophy, whether that’s through having characters in the story espouse said philosophy, or by using the story’s plot and character arcs to test their story, or by some combination of the two. Lisa is a writer who affords her characters a lot of grace, but I also see her as willing to test that grace and our her personal philosophy on trial. She’s very aware that ideals don’t always match up with reality, and those tensions are part of what she explores so well in her writing.
Now that we’ve addressed those questions, let’s address the authorial philosophy of Young Royal.
Young Royals stands out from other school dramas because it handles nuance so well. But how do Lisa and her team achieve that nuance? Part of it is the way their approach to characters resonates with the philosophy of restorative justice.
Restorative justice can be defined as “a system of criminal justice which focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large.” This website has some additional information about what restorative justice looks like in theory and practice. (Plenty of other websites do as well.) Restorative justice is really hard to pull of IRL, but philosophically it does ask us to think about the ways in which more retributive and punitive justice systems are failing people.
Now, before I get too far into my explanation, I don’t know if Lisa chose a restorative justice approach to her writing on purpose, or how much she’s read about the subject. But a lot of what she prioritizes as a writer lines up with certain RJ principles anyway. For example, RJ practitioners believe that every human being has worth and dignity, and that leaning too far into a retributive justice model (more on that in the next section) can be dehumanizing for both victims and offenders. In Lisa’s writing, each character is humanized, there are no characters who are caricatures. Everyone in Young Royals has their own reasons for behaving why they behave—even when they make choices that harm others. There aren’t excuses, but there are explanations.
Two other important ideas in RJ are accountability and dialogue. Season 2 of YR deals a lot with the question of accountability. Wilhelm’s positive growth is signaled by his willingness to be accountable for his actions; August’s more tragic arc is characterized by his baby steps toward accountability followed by his dramatic backflip away from it.
Regarding dialogue, Wilhelm’s growth is fostered by important and vulnerable conversations with others. Sometimes these conversations are with the people he harmed or impacted in a negative way. He and Felice have to talk their way through the weirdness of that kiss, while he and Simon have to talk about… well, everything. TBH they’re not done talking yet. But they’ve started, and that’s where the progress and catharsis is happening. Other times, Wilhelm’s conversations with other members of the Hillerska community—Nils and Boris come to mind—help him to see things in a new light and clarify his ideals. When we cheer on Wilhelm as he comes to better understand his privilege in the world and the weight that his actions have, we’ve been enlisted by Lisa to support restorative justice philosophy.
No one character represents Lisa’s philosophy entirely, because she’s so committed to all characters being fallible in their own ways, but I would say that of the main cast, the Eriksson siblings and Felice are the most likely to express different parts of restorative justice philosophy. All of them strive to look for people’s human side instead of relying on stereotypes. They want the people close to them to be accountable for their actions. They talk things through. They recognize the needs of multiple people in a situation. This doesn’t happen all the time, with every person, in every instance. They get distracted and led astray. There may be times where it would benefit them to get outside help and they don’t. Sometimes their efforts blow up in their face. But they’re trying, and I think Wilhelm has definitely joined them by the end of season 2.
So sure, all the characters in Young Royals might brush up against the principles of restorative justice, but they still “live in a society” as we may or may not still say on the internet. In order to understand more, let’s talk about the legal system as it’s presented in the show.
Call Your Lawyer Stepdad
As a writer, Lisa may believe in restorative justice principles, and this likely guides how she depicts the characters in her story. The legal systems she depicts in her work, however, are not restorative. What’s more, they are applied unequally based on the identity of the person who breaks laws or rules. Young Royals is very clear about the distinction between the ideals of the law and how the law actually gets enforced.
Obligatory disclaimer: I’m not a law student or someone who’s studied much comparative politics, so I can’t say for sure whether Sweden’s legal system leans more retributive or more rehabilitative. I also can’t say whether the ideals of its legal system match its reality, but I am making a safe guess that they don’t entirely. (Sweden, my ancestral homeland, I love kanelbullar and ABBA, but your current right wing government and your response to the COVID pandemic and your history of colonization, among other things, shows that you are just as capable of bullshit as any other nation. Forgive me if I approach your legal system with caution. If anyone from Sweden or another Nordic country has more info and can weigh in, feel free to weigh in.) It’s also worth mentioning my own preconceived notions here. I live in a country with a massive mass incarceration problem and a legal system that was specifically created to reinforce white supremacy, so my trust in law enforcement and courts and the like is… not high.
What I can say about the legal system in Young Royals is this: the writing of the show primarily focuses on the retributive aspects of the legal system. In a retributive justice system, those who break the law are criminals, and they are punished for their crimes. Punishment is seen as a way of deterring crime and keeping it from happening in the future.
We see the impact of a system like that when legal consequences motivate characters and the choices they make. Simon is afraid of getting caught and prosecuted for bringing drugs into school, while August fears being put on trial and imprisoned for leaking the video. What’s interesting to me, though, is that it isn’t just that both characters fear punishment. They also fear the stigma that comes with being publicly convicted of a crime. Simon doesn’t want to be stereotyped as the poor kid who comes into school and pushes drugs on the rich kids. He knows how dangerous drug addiction can be from witnessing his dad, and he brings the drugs into school out of financial desperation. August, meanwhile, wants to think of himself as an untouchable elite who is discreet about secrets, and probably (more sympathetically) also wants to think of himself as a relatively helpful guy who showed Wilhelm around school and took care of him the way Erik would have wanted. I think it’s very clever how Lisa had Simon and August each break the law in ways that betray their respective core values, because it brings this issue with a retributive justice system to light. Once someone has committed a crime, how do they move past that stigma and make themself into the sort of person who doesn’t do a crime again?
This leads to another issue with retributive justice. We often equate legality with morality subconsciously, but these two ideas are not the same thing. In August’s case, leaking the video is easy enough for us to label—it is both illegal because it is against the law and immoral because it violates Simon and Wilhelm’s right to sexual privacy. Simon bringing in his dad’s drugs—that’s against the law, sure. But is it immoral? Simon is up against a corrupt teacher who rewards students who can pay more with better grades. He needs to pay for tutoring if he want to succeed. He’s at a disadvantage because of his socioeconomic status, and he also probably hasn’t had time to process trauma around his dad’s addiction. From the point of view of a Hillerska parent, however, they’re just going to see Simon as a threat to their kid’s well-being.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Simon’s reasons for breaking the law are absolutely more sympathetic than August’s reasons. I cannot stress this enough. We see the way the system screws Simon over, and how it drives him to do what he does. Simon gets drugs to students who consent to take them, but when August films him and Wilhelm it’s without their consent. Moreover, August is complicit in Simon’s lawbreaking because he ends up being the guy who sells drugs on Simon’s behalf. (Jesus, August, sell a painting or something.) But who is the legal system in the YR universe more likely to give grace to? August. Who is it more likely to come down hard on? Simon. Simon does not have the wealth to afford a trial. He doesn’t have a lawyer stepdad on speed dial. He doesn’t have an in with the media like the royal family does, so he can’t control the public narrative of his life the same way that they can.
On a purely literal level, August dangling the threat of the pill bottle in front of everyone is the most textbook example of August being a little shit. On the thematic, level, however, this reminds us who the justice system really serves. It’s a caution against relying on the justice system—or at least relying on the justice system alone—for narrative catharsis in this story. Instead, we should be looking for narrative catharsis elsewhere. And, we should definitely be looking at more than one character arc if that is the case.
The Only Person You Can Truly Control Is Yourself
While season 2 includes the retributive justice of the legal system as part of its worldbuilding, we also see Wilhelm embody the philosophy of retributive justice through his actions. Wilhelm starts his arc in a place where he wants to punish August for what he’s done by taking away everything he cares about. He justifies this by pointing out the problems with the legal system—rich kids never actually face the consequences of their actions. While Wilhelm is correct to call that out, he ends up transforming himself into a more extreme agent of the retributive philosophy in order to pursue what he sees as justice.
Now, this is a writing gambit that could have failed spectacularly. We’ve all seen versions of the “if we are awful to our enemies, we’re just as bad as them” story that end up reinforcing an icky status quo. But that’s not exactly what happens in Young Royals. The first thing to notice is that Wilhelm’s approach works… initially. August has lost a lot at the beginning of season 2, part of it due to Wilhelm’s efforts, and that’s made him more willing to reflect and be vulnerable and listen to Sara when she tells him he can preserve his self-respect by turning himself in. I actually don’t think Sara’s being entirely naive when she points out that January August would have turned himself over. The problem is that as January August becomes February And March August and starts to gain new things to protect (an in with the palace, a new relationship with Sara) he becomes afraid of losing everything again, and starts to go back to his old ways.
The other thing to notice is that Wilhelm mostly acts alone. Felice is his confidant, but she’s not working alongside Wilhelm, suggesting they swap out August’s hair products with toothpaste. (I kinda wish she would have, though.) In spite of the fact that the video probably hurt Simon even more than it did Wilhelm (reminder: Wilhelm has access to a press team and hired security that let him walk away at first) Wilhelm doesn’t center Simon in the process of doling out punishment. He does it with the best of intentions—he doesn’t want Simon getting hurt—but that moment where Simon’s like “You did ALL THIS TO HIM when we could have reported him together???” Yeah. That’s extremely valid. And it hints at one of the central ideas of s2—yes, dealing with August is important, but priority number one for Wilhelm is Wilhelm taking accountability for his own actions (denying that it was him in the video) and making things right with Simon in that way. With that relationship restored (see what I did there? restorative justice?) they can lean on one another as they slay their next monster. At the end of the day, the person who Wilhelm has the most control over is himself. That’s why we end season 2 on him making the speech and publicly acknowledging his relationship with Simon, not with the arrival of cop cars at Hillerska.
Speaking of the choices Wilhelm decided to make, I invite Young Royals fans to consider how Wilhelm’s role as crown prince give his actions symbolic weight. The royal family may not have real lawmaking power, but they’re still supposed to represent Swedish values and traditions to the general public. If Wilhelm starts pursuing a kind of justice, then he’s making a statement about what justice looks like in Sweden whether he wants to or not. If he had shot August in the field, that would have been more than a murder—symbolically that would have been an execution, in a country that banned capital punishment in the 1970s. (Then again, Stella and Fredrika would probably be okay with that.)
I want to make one more point here as I transition into the next section. I don’t think Lisa is necessarily saying that August shouldn’t be punished or face consequences for his crime. But I do think she’s being very clear that a retributive justice philosophy is going to hit marginalized people without the resources to defend themselves—people like Simon—a lot harder. And that opens up the question of where we’re supposed to find catharsis. Can we really exhale at the image of jail cell doors clanging shut, knowing that this same legal system can come for Simon using the same tools? If Simon somehow manages to evade prosecution, can he ever really find relief? How long will that last? What’s to say the system won’t screw him over in other ways, and what’s to say that other rich kids won’t get away with what August did, or worse?
It would be one thing if a crime only harmed the individuals involved, but restorative justice philosophy reminds us that this harm also impacts communities and involves communities. So, without further ado, it’s time to zoom in and examine how justice plays out (or fails to) in the Hillerska community.
Snitches, Stitches, and Scapegoats
In the microcosm of Hillerska, students have organized their own justice system in miniature. Conformity gets rewarded, while open nonconformity gets ostracized. While there is some understanding among the students that individuals will deviate from heterosexual, traditionalist, rich kid norms, this deviation is generally only tolerated when students do it in secret. In this climate, Hillerska students do a lot of self-policing. Stella and Nils cover up their sexualities in ways that may not work for them long term. Felice frets about her physical appearance and how people will perceive her if she pursues boys a certain way. You get the picture.
Because of the pressure to maintain a pristine image of the school (gotta make those admissions brochures look sparkly clean!) the student body as a whole sweeps crime and “deviant” behavior under the rug by closing ranks and agreeing not to snitch on one another. The elite status of Hillerska students allows them to get away with a lot their public school peers would not. While gossip flourishes within Hillerska’s walls, woe betide anyone who lets it escape into the outer world.
On occasion, there are crimes that can’t be covered up, and it may be that more than one student is involved. We’ve seen what happens in this case. Hillerska students do not collectively assume responsibility, but instead agree upon a narrative about what happened and choose a scapegoat to pin the problem on. We see this most clearly in episode 1.5, when Alexander is found with the drugs that the Society used for their party. August suggests they pin the drugs on Simon, while Wilhelm breaks with tradition and says Alexander should take the fall, because Alexander can easily bounce back from an accusation like this. Sure enough, Alexander is back at Hillerska next season, far less innocent than before and far more likely to engage in political intrigue. Wilhelm’s considerations about how Alexander can more easily absorb the blame for the drugs are well thought out and in some ways compassionate—and we’re happy to cheer him on for defending Simon and to some extent we should. However, Wilhelm’s willingness to participate in the scapegoating system backfires on him nonetheless, and also entrenches him in one of the most toxic parts of Hillerska culture. He’s cut off one hydra head and two new ones have sprung up to take it’s place.
One obvious danger of scapegoating is that innocent people are often blamed for things they have nothing to do with. We’ve seen this negatively impact Simon on the rowing team and elsewhere. Vincent makes Simon the scapegoat for the rowing team’s loss in episode 2.3 and uses it as an excuse to bully him. Simon doesn’t get to sing his solo because people will recognize him from the video and that will affect the school’s image and the royal family’s image. Simon is innocent in these areas, but he’s being made to take on blame for situations that are a lot bigger than him. Of all the individual students at Hillerska, Simon’s probably getting the shortest end of the stick, and that’s directly related to the fact that he lacks privilege.
Feeding the Myths
There’s other ways to make people symbols of crime or deviance, however, that can damage the fabric of social groups in other ways. Since scapegoat isn’t quite the right term here, because it tends to presume innocence rather than superlative guilt, I’m going to borrow some season 2 language and refer to this as the Worst Person in the World Phenomenon. Now, this is where I’m going to go out on a limb a bit and ask a question the show might not engage with in season 3. They might do it. They might not. It may be beyond the scope of the story Lisa feels she is able to tell. I’m going to ask this question all the same:
If August faces public consequences and punishment for leaking the video, what impact will that actually have on the culture of Hillerska students? Will it prevent such a thing from ever happening again? Will it at least encourage self-reflection?
You could argue that a high profile case like August’s could deter his classmates from engaging in harmful behaviors. He may affect some students that way. I mean, what he did is Very Bad on the Bad scale. You might even call him… the Worst Person In The World. Who would want to be like the Worst Person In The World?
The flip side of the Worst Person In The World phenomenon is that can actually discourage people from taking responsibility and holding themselves accountable. Because gosh, what I did isn’t that bad. It’s not serial killer bad, or Vladimir Putin bad. Do we realistically believe that other students at Hillerska aren’t doing problematic things? That the rowing team has zero boys who will show a topless photo of their girlfriend (without her consent) to some of his bros while they chuckle over it? That some of the girl groups aren’t spreading wildly inappropriate and homophobic rumors about classmates that seriously damage reputations? That kids aren’t paying one another for test answers or putting pressure on one another to unsafely experiment with alcohol and drugs, even when students express boundaries and don’t want to? That kids don’t collectively work to bully teachers at times? And generally the kids aren’t getting in trouble because they’re the children of rich, elite parents, who will grow to be the rich people who run the systems and structures in society for the next generation.
Now, none of the Hillerska kids (that we know of) are doing bad things on the scale that August did when he leaked the video. This is important to stress. But it’s also important to stress that this “getting away with bad behavior” culture of Hillerska and rich people in general is part of what made August who he is. Are the other participants in that culture willing to reflect on that and actively work to change the culture in question?
Again, this does not mean that August shouldn’t face consequences or punishment, or that he shouldn’t go to prison and undergo some sort of rehabilitation. There are excellent reasons for him to face consequences. He did revenge porn FFS. But I think it’s worth acknowledging that the punishment of a very obvious, high profile offender can feed the myth that the legal system is finally working toward justice when in fact the system is continuing to perpetuate injustice. We can see how this works when only a few select predator men were convicted to placate the #MeToo movement, we can see how this works with corrupt cops when only a few who kill are ever convicted but most get away with it, and we can see how this works with political parties taking advantage of the fact that other political parties are, well, worse.
And yes, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, no ethical consumption under capitalism, etc etc. I think we can keep that in mind while also keeping in mind that we still bear a responsibility to Do The Work in whatever way we are able. This is wandering off of Young Royals a bit. But I’ve given a lot of thought to the way we point at glaringly bad examples of human behavior and say “at least I’m not that guy” while not really doing the reflective work about what we can do to be better and how we can change our culture and systems. This kind of rhetoric is what allows people, especially people like the Hillerska kids who are at the top of society and the peak of privilege, to sleep at night. And maybe they shouldn’t be sleeping so well.
I think a lot about how the scene with Sara warning August that Simon is going to call the police (which is about Sara giving August one more chance to embrace accountability) is followed by a scene of Henry showing up to his group project meeting with no work done. Henry might not have done his work on a literal level, but as a symbol, he’s doing a lot of work. Not only is Henry foreshadowing that August isn’t going to do the right thing and turn himself in, he’s also lampshading the broader culture of Hillerska itself. For all the fancy plaques about responsibility, the students use their privilege and power to avoid doing what’s right and keep the status quo going. This is who they are. This is what they are going to have to overcome to be ethical humans who make their world better.
Working for Catharsis and Healing (A personal opinion section)
I don’t make predictions. The idea of making predictions for season 3 is in fact pretty stressful for me. But what this intellectual exercise has opened up for me is a question of where I would find catharsis and healing in the narrative. It’s not in the sound of police sirens. Maybe that’s different for you. That’s okay. I think we can learn a lot from the discussion in question.
Let’s start with the obvious jerkface himself and the question of him facing punishment. I think it’s worth separating August from other people for a time, to prevent him from doing additional harm to others. If we’re going to call that prison, then sure, let’s call it that. But let’s unpack what that separation looks like. In order for Wilhelm and Simon (and Sara and Felice for that matter) to heal, they’re going to need to be away from him. They should not be the ones responsible for his rehabilitation. As a restorative justice nerd deep down (at least, mostly, but fictional teenagers are well within the broad spectrum of people I’ll offer grace to) I still think he deserves a chance to heal from at least his drug addiction and his eating disorder and his trauma over his dad’s suicide. I also think he needs to understand accountability and the impact his actions have on others, and needs to learn to act in ways that repair the harm he’s done and prevent future harm. This is what he owes the world. There’s not time enough for us to see that whole journey, but I feel like the writers could show us the first few steps.
I’ve seen some people try to argue that August can’t change because he didn’t respond enough to Sara treating him like a person. I can see their point, and I can see the show using the Sara subplot as a shorthand for the idea that August can’t change. Writers often have to use that kind of shorthand to make a point about a character. (The relationship between redemption arcs and romantic love is one of my ongoing problems with redemption arcs in fiction, just for the record.) The way I see it, though, Sara is just one neurodivergent girl with a family history of abuse experiencing her first romantic love. She’s not a team of trained mental health professionals and social workers and other help-minded adults who’ve studied up on how to de-program systemic nonsense. After all, we can accept that although Simon loves Wilhelm very much, Simon’s efforts alone weren’t enough to fully dislodge Wilhelm from his place of privilege. Wilhelm needed Boris and therapy, and a mom who made him go to therapy (Kristina often does more harm than good, but her making Wilhelm go to therapy is the broken clock being right twice a day), and Felice as a friend and confidant, and Nils as a different sort of confidant, and a literature teacher like Fröken Ramirez who’s assigning him books with queer representation. Wilhelm’s journey is still ongoing. Romantic love may be transformative, but individuals in love don’t change people on their own. Communities change people. I am an aromantic relationship anarchist and I will die on this hill.
Speaking of the Eriksson siblings, I want Sara and Simon to have a chance to repair their relationship and build it anew. This would be another point of catharsis for me. I’ve seen a lot of people saying “Sara needs to do xyz tasks…” like we’re in a confession booth and a certain number of Hail Marys will save the day, but step one is that Sara and Simon just need to start communicating again, and communicating honestly. I think it’s easy to point to August as being the root of their relationship struggles, but there were a lot of unspoken tensions between the Eriksson siblings long before he entered the chat. They would have had some other falling out even without Hillerska. Simon’s been led to believe he should parent his sister, and Sara’s been convinced she’s a burden to her brother forever. They both are still reeling from trauma related to their dad, and it may need that they need different things to heal from that. Even without all that, they’re both maturing and defining their values and exploring romance for the first time, and Sara’s getting friendships of her own without always tagging along with Simon and Rosh and Ayub. Simon and Sara are getting to the age where they may not always be the most important people in each other’s lives, and they need to learn to grow up without growing apart. That doesn’t always happen automatically; it takes self-reflection and commitment and listening. I don’t think we’ll ever be back to the innocent days of Sara teasing Simon about his fairy tale prince. But I do think they can move their relationship forward in a new direction, and bounce back stronger.
I also think both Eriksson siblings need to come to terms with the fact that they violated their own values. Sara didn’t do anything illegal, but she did do something that violated her own morals, and you can tell that she feels pretty awful about that when she’s alone on the bus and driving away from school in 2.6. As for Simon, I don’t know if he’s fully gotten a chance to sit with the fact that he violated his own values when he brought his dad’s drugs to school. Again, I don’t want Simon to have to go through legal trouble, or deal with the prison system. The legal system is stacked against Simon in ways that are not fair. But Simon values accountability, and Wilhelm basically rescued him from being held accountable in season 1. I imagine that’s caused cognitive dissonance for Simon he’s still sorting through. I wonder what that’s going to be like for him.
On Wilhelm’s end, I’d like him to continue growing in the ways he’s grown in season 2. He’s learned not to be a symbol of extreme retributive justice. What would it look like for him to model restorative justice practices instead? (Note: this doesn’t mean that he personally has to forgive August. That’s entirely up to Wilhelm.) How can he encourage his community to act differently?
For Felice—well, one of my few issues with season 2 was how they handled Felice, and how they made her ancillary to others’ arcs instead of having her own, but that’s a post for another time. All the same, I think Felice is learning to trust her instincts, push past her biases, and take a unique point of view on things. She’s able to look at the video and see the broken pixels rather than the scandalous gossip scene everyone’s talking about. She can sense Sara’s hiding a secret from her and knows Sara needs to talk. Even if the conversation they end up having is deeply upsetting for her, it brings truths to light that need to be shared. Felice doesn’t have every tool in the toolbox yet, but what she observes and how she interacts with people can be helpful in delivering justice.
I don’t have meta space to consider every parent and adult on the show and things they can do differently. But I expect in season 3 we’ll start to see some adults (I don’t think it’s likely that we’ll see all of them) consider the roles they play in perpetuating systems and cycles. At least, I hope so. It shouldn’t be all on the young people to achieve change in society.
As for the Hillerska culture, it needs to change too. It’s worth asking if a place like Hillerska should even exist. Every secondary Hillerska student is going to act a little bit differently in response to the events of the plot, and I don’t know if I’d buy it if the show tried to tell us the Hillerska culture changed overnight in a magical ripple of self-consciousness. We might see individual students taking baby steps toward responsibility and liberation here or there. We might just see status quo as usual. I think of all the threads in this story, this is the one I would be okay with seeing Lisa Ambjörn leave things unresolved or in a place of tension, as long as that tension feels intentionally placed. Because changing the world is hard, and not everything changes all at once.
Young Royals doesn’t have to tie up every loose end by the last episode of season 3, but I do think it’s already raised a lot of questions about the relationship between justice and storytelling and where we find catharsis in fiction and our own lives. These questions are worth us considering, even if the answers point toward all the work that still needs to be done for the future.
#young royals#young royals meta#my meta#simon eriksson#wilhelm young royals#august young royals#sara eriksson#felice ehrencrona#long post#holy crap this is long thank you if you read it
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Rogue thoughts and reactions--->
not taking many notes this time cause i wanted to Savour this one tbh and what a blast so far
rogue and doctor so far is like. rtd striking gold potentially here (i kno he didnt write this one i mean more like. in the long run. i could see fans going crazy over this Type of ship and spending sweet $$$$ on it lol).
ruby looking at this "scene" like it's a tv show………. live…….. honey u best believe in ghost stories hyper post-modern genre tv show seasons cause u are in one
cushy… wordsmiths-ing count…
"ruby: you know how i forget about a man?" with a woman? (shot)
the parallel of these guys "dishonoring" these ppl while the doc and ruby do kind of the same all the time sdkflj
mmm second time i see a triangle logo (it was there last ep on the door to the MEP area that lindsey and rickey ran into. camera held on suspiciously long on it…) (triangles…. three…. susan TRIAD???)
doctor this says you're single and available. oh another word. "very" available.
COME ON ACE WE HAVE WORK TO DO
"wow" boner dialogue
mention of gallifrey.... "i might take you one day" oh man. oh man………..
"random barren dimension" yes this is not an equivalent to a silent confinement analogue at all don't think about it too hard guys
"i lost everyone"
they're leaning on……………. oh yaz just broke a coffee mug somewhere
maybe the real enemy was fandom all along
THOSE TV SIGNALS BEAM OUT ACROSS THE STARS. TV SIGNALS. TV SIGNALS. TV ISNGALS TV
SIGNASLKDJASLKDJASKLJ1!!SKLFDJDSLKJFSDLK JF
SHUT UPTJSDLFKSDJ (i die)
ok im enjoying The Concept a lot, as expected…….. but gotta say rogue does feel a bit two dimensional so far :/ (maybe even a bit cliche?) i feel jack in his first ep had more depth at first for example (bounty hunter but also lost his memory. doing amoral things but being swayed by the doctor at the end. etc). but there's time THERE'S TIME. DONT LE TME DOWN EPISODE PLEA SE. there's always a twist-
you people and your bridgetons. in my time this would all be a big ass downtown abbey reference
sad thing is this is def one episode i wont be able to watch with my homophobic parents at all oof lmao
this dialogue.... kinda thoschei acadamy years coded ngl
"tell me what your heart wants or i shall turn my back on your forever" defining 15 character dialogue……….
(commitment phobe doctor moment. my girl hastn changed at ALL)
(btw intrigued by rogue's "i lost them" bc it could mean a lot right. it's the most delibarely ambiguous of pronouns dklfjsd like it could be a nonbinary character but could also be a couple characters? or maybe im reading it wrong sdlkjf)
play our games on a magnificent scale…………… games motif……….
"i thought i was interesting- but you??" exactly!!! doctor who>>>>>>>> bridgerton/all other tv shows. case made.
god i feel so stupid. i dint catch that twist at all TOT
wedding season finale. chuldur's know where it's at.
oh finally there's the scene from the trailers!!!!!!!!!
"how long do they live for?" oh he's gonna says A Thing "thats a long time to suffer" I WASN'T WRONG /GOES FERAL ( i knew the family of blood coding was leading somewhere…)
the doctor beatiing these cosplayers with his "i object" tv tropyness……….. the meta of it……… theory gang we're gonna make it yet i swear
ok yes this is sad poor ruby but like. but literally last month 14 killed/sacrificed donna w/o sm hesitation so sdklfjdsklfjsdklfj (yes im still like. HEY THAT WAS A SIGNIFICANT THING THAT HAPPENED. WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT IT.)
oh is rogue a chuldur as well? he feels too invested in the trolley problem of it all sdlkfj
im gonna say it.... i thought that resolution was kinda........ as the kids say..... weak sauce sfkdj
like oh nooo he got teleported oh noooo. like he's gonna be fine slkdfjsd didn't really hit that hard :/ should have had a proper death sacrifice thing.
"im sorry....." "....AAAANYWAY , it is what it is!!!! " my man is so broken holy shit. holy shit.
it's ok to be sad. !!!!! TOT
CONCLUSIONS!!
sdlkjf ya'll i really wanted this to harder but idk i didnt feel the depth or sensibility this called for was there tbh. but it was a blast!!! but … it missed a bit of that x factor thing. like some kind of universality to the romance w/ the rogue. i feel he was too sketched-in.... i was also a bit disappointed that ruby's friend was not her friend bc it meant her whole thing this ep of connecting to that woman was for nothing (and up until that point it was feeling very Important specially after the marti thing) (and speaking of, the chuldur's were kinda very sketched-in / surface-level as villains as well) … yeah. idk. kinda disappointing ngl (diodati > this i think). pretty fucking gay tho so that was nice.
#dw spoilers#rogue#sdklfjsd a bit disappointing also bc i was expecting a FRESH NEW VOICE!!! (confetti) and instead we get something that felt....#very generic overall. dare i say it....... a bit cw tv (gasps) (shock) (glasses dropped)#but maybe i need to rewatch it and read some metas dklfjds#maybe i missed something#15#i did have a blast dont get me wrong it just didnt hit me at my core like the last eps have done
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My Reaction to the First Six Episodes of Wolf 359 (Because my mutuals have enticed me)
@sophieswundergarten @oflightningandstars @acollectionofcuriousreblogs
My curiosity got the better of me. Will I do these for every episode? Will I listen to the full podcast? Who knows, but I hope you like this💕
My Live Reaction to Episode 1:
At first, an ad played for a way more upbeat story podcast involving Greek gods, rainbow magic, and teenagers, and I was very confused because none of this was mentioned in any of your posts.
Yes, yes, Eiffel. Hera forgets what's necessary to sustain human life and accidently made the cabin too cold, hahahaha...foreshadowing.
"Whatever you're up to Dr. Hilbert, best of luck!" Dude is your whole job ominous foreshadowing? Sorry guys, I get half the characters from your posts confused, I just know that Hera is the AI, but Eiffel dude, there's no way Hilbert's not up to something.
"It's not like if she let me have a cigarette, I'd light it and set the station's air supply on fire" Bro, stop.
"The people on the station have serious trust issues." I mean, fair. You knocked over acid, you're lighting cigarette willy-nilly, I still don't know what your job is man.
"Let's see if we can actually get some work done." -Well I know I'm not.
Ooohh... they're looking for intelligent life! 👀 This sounds like a good plot.
Dude I don't think coffee will solve your problem. I'd focus on getting rid of the ominous piano music.
Oh good at least he got his coffee. Oh ew never mind.
Oh no more on the Doctor. I don't trust him.
Wow Eiffel is a terrible employee and now I gotta listen to his training.
1,001 survival tips? That's actually a pretty low amount for space. These tips are also some wonderful foreshadowing though, and very cheerful too. "Failing to remain calm could result in your ✨😍 grisly 🌈💖gruesome🍭 🦋death🥰!" I love that.
Hilbert. Dude.
"A man's life is at risk". Are we sure it's just one man's life?
Okay Douglas. That's his first name.
Wait...is that....the Entertainer? Is the alien transmitting the Entertainer? Something about old timey music...I think that's also the song they play in Westfield after a massacre in the old west (I stopped watching after a while).
Well that was a musical transition. Oh wow the same guy did Douglas and Hilbert? Good voice acting. Yes it was the Entertainer! Alright not sure if the episodes have post credit scenes, but I might just skip to the next episode.
My thoughts on Episodes 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 (semi-live reaction because I'm listening to these while I'm working now, but it's really good. Let me know if you want me to split up by episodes or include time stamps in the future):
Okay. They can't shut Hera off. That seems ominous. I'm not sure if it's ominous because the time will come when they want to shut her off, or ominous because the time will come when a bad guy finally figures out how to shut her off. Either way not good.
This also seems like a lot of effort for toothpaste. How did Douglas get hired? He seems like a huge liability. Also, why are they running out of supplies? Shouldn't they have a ship coming to restock them at some point or a return date? They mention "Earth", but so far I don't think anyone has mention loved ones they left behind, a return date, or anything like that.
I like the captain though (I can't spell her name, I'm so sorry).
Why does Douglas (and apparently everyone) hate physical examinations? They're in space. It's not like they can force them to run a mile...right?
I love Hera. "The report was a fabrication! 🥰". "You place too much judgement on the concept of lies... it's only sticks and stones that can break a human's feeble delicate flesh." I love how everyone just accepts this is how she talks.
Big plant? Roots? What is this Little Shop of Horrors now?
Um... what on earth is this physical examination? Why is there so much pain? Why can't it be stopped once it starts? Is this a meta thing where this is the physical examination?
Nah, the one thing I agree with Douglas on is that Hilbert is up to stuff.
Okay. Don't like it. Don't like the plant. It's either a crisis or a lie that's going to eventually be a very appropriate metaphor.
Oh my gosh why does Hilbert want their spinal fluid? Like...why do they need to do this? I get that they're in space but normalize providing reasons for serious medical examinations.
Kill it? What if it's not hostile? But then again what if it is? How does it have an eye? Teeth? Oh never mind it is hostile.
Oh it's still on the loose...Douglas what the heck. A good day? A plant wants to kill you. Have you seen the musical?
...wait. Is that a theme? First the Entertainer plays, now we got Little Shop of Horrors references...is this a theme of season 1? Space musicals?
And...now Douglas is in space. What happened to the plant? Why is that not a priority?
I do love the commander's "No Tomfoolery" clause.
Hey! More music! 🎶It sounds faster and more urgent now. You can probably use music to send coded information. A shame there seems to be no codebreaker on board.
I wonder if Hera understands what it means.
Oh dear. Here goes Douglas. Well, he was a nice character while he lasted. 🫡 And by nice, I mean he was entertaining, but very underqualified for his position. Scarily underqualified in fact, in terms of his ability to cooperate and work with a team. How did he even get this job?
He was blinded by the flare? So is he blind the rest of the show or can they fix it?
Oh dear...Hera...drown in space? Of all the ways to go. And still nothing about that killer plant. Did I listen out of order or something? I feel like I might have.
I like the Commander. Hilbert on the other hand? The worst.
I'm also wondering when/if other characters show up. Are there really just four characters? I swear I saw people posting about more.
I still want to know why they are in space. If this is a research mission, then why isn't anyone giving them supplies? Why don't they have a return date? If it's a survival mission, why aren't they acting more urgent?
Also does...does Douglas or another character nearly die at the end of every episode?
Hera: "Because I missed you."
Also Hera: "I lie 🥰"
And...more ominously cheerful piano music🎶🎹🎵🎹🎶. Which honestly fits Hera's aesthetic pretty well.
Okay Douglas has a clear nicotine problem.
Also. While he deals with his illness, I just gotta add something I noticed: the AI on the ship is called Hera. The ship is called Hephaestus. Isn't... isn't there a Greek Myth about Hephaestus being the son of Hera that she rejects and throws off Mount Olympus? Don't like how that sounds...
Hilbert. Hilbert. Why have you tied him to the bed and left him with nothing but his nicotine? That sounds like a major consent and health code violation. He's not violent or at risk of hurting anyone! Well, I mean, at least not any more than he normally is.
Huh. Hera's not here. And yet she said she couldn't be shut off "even if they wanted to". Weird.
Well at least Hilbert is feeding him. Oh my gosh Douglas is fake taking the pills? I'm not saying taking them is a good idea, but not taking them isn't great either. Why do they have this one guy doing all science stuff? Like he's the medical doctor, but he's also the guy running all the technology and experiments. They couldn't have a different guy to be their medical doctor? Maybe someone slightly less crazy?
Hilbert. Once again, he might trust you more if you didn't tie him to a bed, drug him in his sleep, and say things like "some people need to be dragged kicking and screaming towards improvement".
Yeah what on earth does "Big Day Tomorrow" mean? I'm not sure, but once again does Douglas nearly die during most episodes?
Also tying someone to a bed with a killer plant on the loose seems like a pretty bad idea.
WHY DO THEY HAVE TROPICAL FLU ON BOARD?
What sort of ship is this? And why do I feel like Hilbert might be a supervillain?
500th day around Wolf395 you say Douglas? Okay, so they've been in space for about a year and a half. Still not sure what they're doing up there. Also Hera's "I don't know what I want, but I know how to get it" quote. Very ominous coming from an AI.
I don't like the way Hilbert talks to Hera. Apparently Hera doesn't either...oh dear.
Hilbert you foolish liability, what did you do?
PFFT- Douglas imitating the captain.😂
Ooohhh...mysterious audio recordings!
Uh. Why can only Douglas hear the mysterious sounds? I don't like that.
Ah yes heading down to Engineering. Does the ship have an engineer?
Ugh I wish I could make out what the audio is saying. And I wish it would get louder Douglas. Then maybe I could hear it.
Oh now this is interesting! Wonder what the voices mean?
Have these voyages or experiments happened before?
I suppose we'll find out. Oh that is not a solid explanation from Hera. And again, why are Douglas, Minkowski and Hilbert the only people on the ship? Don't they need anyone else? And what happened to the killer plant? Did I skip an episode? Are we suppose to just pretend that never happened? Is it gonna come back later? Find out I guess.
Anyway, great podcast, thank you for recommending, I had fun listening. I might do more of these later if you enjoyed this.
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We'll meet again~
Izuku and Bakugo don't meet until years after the incident.
To the point where they have both been well established in their own areas of expertise.
Bakugo became one of the top heros in the world, while Izuku grew his own power and influence in the underworld. Even being the final cause of Overhaul's fall, takeing his place seamlessly.
When Katsuki and Izuku do finally meet again. It's when Bakugo tries to infiltrate the Meta Liberation army.
He went undercover with Hawks, havwing Tokoyami and Mirio as a backup.
And there, on stage with the rest of the generals, was Izuku Midoriya. Who had an air of calm calculation about him.
When he saw Katsuki in the crowd, all he could do, was smile. Showing off what that "hero" turned in into, he made a speech about how power shall rule, weather or not you have a quirk. That they shall become better than who they were yesterday, and destroy whatever comes in their way of that.
The crowd cheered.
This, wasn't the sweet Izuku Katsuki knew... this... was something... he had created... after breaking the old one..
Katsuki couldn't stand to be jn that audience anymore. So he left, running into a little girl? She had to be around what he calculated Eris age would be by now. It also seemed like her, a much more healthier her at that, witch was good... right?
"You are the one who hurt my big brother, right."
"I don't know what ya mean kid-"
Eri glared at Bakugo before leaveing.
That's when, Izuku came back, with the girl by his side "thank you Eri, you didn't have to" he smiled sweetly at the girl, just like the Deku he knew... then the girl ran off
"Let's have a drink together. Shall we. Bakugo."
Katsuki kind of froze. There was Venom in Izukus words. And he didn't adress him by his nickname, so, things were still most definitely bad... but he still went with Izuku.
Izukus office was small and simple. But it did have some things strewn about it, Izuku and Todoroki, Izuku with some of the other leaders, Izuku and the girl and a guy with arrows on his hair.
While the man himself pulled out two glasses and some fireball whiskey along with some wine. They still knew eachothers preferences after all these years...
Bakugo took his seat across from Izuku and looked into his drink
:its not poisoned, that would be too boring and simple of a death someone like you deserves if that's what you're thinking"
"I- Izuku... im sorry... for everything-"
"Wow- a genuine apology- sorry to say, but you're far, FAR too late for that" Izuku took a sip of his wine in apathy
"I toight it should be out there-"
"And why would i accept it? You have done nothing to try to save me over the years- didn't even look for me when you could. Just relied on the same useless people who failed me in the first place"
Katsuki didn't have any retort to that, so he just drank the fireball, God he wished it was poisoned. But sadly, it wasn't.
"Hoestly, you wouldn't belive what I've had to do to get here. You have it so easy still, after all these years"
"I've missed you... I've missed our friendship..."
"You call the abuse you put me trough FRIENDSHIP" Izuku couldn't help but laugh "I can't imagine what you put your poor husband trough if that was friendship to you"
"I would never-"
"Hurt Ejiro?- right? I managed to learn about that little crush you had on me- so now I'm wondering when you're going to slip, and hurt him too? Or maybe you'll kill him with your presious quirk!" he couldn't help but giggle at that
"I don't have to take this-" Bakgo got up pissed off
"Also-" izuku sipped his wine "If I see you or Hawks here again, neither of you will exist anymore. Got it?♡"
Bakugo just nodded before leaveing, takeing Hawks with him.
Izuku would have to deal with the pissed off Dabi later, but that's fine. Dabis bird stepped out of line with that. So they can't be here anymore. Simple as that.
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The new images made me even more hyped as before uh. I can’t wait to see all the rayllum
I wanted to ask something, in which scenario you think they may confess their love for each other again?
Callum couldn’t say it out loud in 1x04 and it seems like it will be a very big deal. Maybe Rayla will be the one to say it first this time? I don’t know how it may go and maybe it’s too soon to guess but just wanted to know your opinion, your rayllum metas calm my days
I think Callum will say it first, unless it's in a life-or-death scenario and Rayla thinks it's her last words to him kind of scenario. One of the big components for Callum in S4 is his 'newfound' unwillingness to open up and express how he's feeling. Twice, the show gives us a 'sike' moment where we think he's talking about, or going to talk about, Rayla and he is more preoccupied with the immediate trauma with Aaravos (which is also a layer of everything with Rayla, but that's maybe a meta for another day).
C: I can't get it out of my head. Whenever I close my eyes, I'm back in that moment. It was... awful.
E: Wow. I know you're hurting, but... I'm sure Rayla doesn't mean to make you feel like that.
C: What? Rayla? I'm talking about Aaravos.
R: Whatever it is you have to say to me, everything will be fine.
C: Whew, okay. Rayla. I need you... to kill me.
And again, I could talk about S4 continually highlighting Rayla and Aaravos' mirrored (pun intended) positions in Callum's life more than I already have, but that's another post for another day.
But the heart of the matter is that Rayla's feelings haven't taken a hit. She's just as in love with him, if not more so, after her leaving in TTM. She expressed it many times in her letter; she's more openly affectionate and the one wanting to work on their relationship specifically in S4. She's the one asking to stay, lovingly watching him sleep, emboldened and over the moon when he does reach out to her over the final few episodes in particular.
Callum is the one who's unsure and stumbling, unable or unwilling to express himself. He's been quite shut down in S4 and we see it's not just a reservation to talk about Rayla; as previously stated, he's worried about Aaravos as well, but he doesn't want to talk about that either. He interrogates, not confides in, Soren in 4x01 as well.
This is actually all in line how Callum has processed his feelings about Rayla before. Rayla is the one babbling and awkwardly stumbling over herself in 2x09 / 3x02. Callum is clearly also falling as well, but mostly keeping it to himself as he draws in his sketchbook (2x07) or is caught staring (3x03). And it is also reflective in how Rayla's big speeches / expressions of feelings tend to be over how much she loves/needs him, and Callum's tend to be how much he loves/admires her. Rayla has both asked him to stay and for her to be allowed to stay; Callum has done neither.
Callum's expression(s) of love has been his unwavering support and his consistent "Let me go with you". But him expressing that he does need her, that he wants her to stay, for him to ask her to stay... That feels more and more like a natural next step. He couldn't admit that he loved her in 4x01 (not that Ez needed him to). And I don't know if Rayla would say it first, else it feel (to herself) like she's pushing or putting expectations on it/him. I think she would if she thought he needed the reassurance, or as a final plea on behalf on of one of their lives (a goodbye from her, perhaps out of desperation to a brainwashed Callum to try and break him out of it) but I think otherwise it'll be him.
TLDR; leaning more towards Callum for arc reasons, could easily be Rayla for dramatic reasons.
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@consistentsquash, professionally. Squash, casually. Squish-Squash, affectionately. Overall wonderful human.
My first introduction to Squash was a mention of her 22 Slash Fics for 22 Years (though it was 21, at the time) rec list. Then I had to look for more and was suitably impressed! Very thoughtful, detailed rec lists; but best of all, such good taste! Squash's recs were right up my alley! Even now, I don't even blink when Squash recs things, I just blindly open links and Mark For Later. (Or, for non-AO3 links, I save them to my Pocket app.)
Then one day, Squash recced Teardrop In Your Palm on her New HP Slash Fics Published in 2021 rec list!! Which made me feel quite famous, let me tell you. And insanely flattered. "This person who recs such good fics!!! Recced!!!! MY???? FIC??????" (Am I super casually sneaking extra recs into the Introduction section? Well spotted! Yes. Yes I am.)
Of course, Squash is more than just a gourd with good taste in fics. She is a very intelligent, enthusiastic, supportive fan. Big love for fandom, the community, the history, the culture, and more! She is openminded and openhearted. A rockstar cheerleader. She leaves such sweet comments! She has read a lot, and somehow finds the time to do all of this stuff, even with life being hecka weird and rough!
Best of all, Squash is a good friend. I can fearlessly barge into her DMs and blather about my woes, various dramas, and worst of all: really humiliating fangirl shenanigans. If I can shamelessly fangirl in front of anyone, it's Squash! She is a great listener. Very compassionate and supportive and understanding. She is an absolutely fantastic HUMAN above all else, and I just adore her!
And with that in mind...check out just a few of the hecka awesome stuff Squash has done!
Meta
House of the Dragon Fanfic Character Analysis - Daemon from eldritcher's "Ossuarium"
Fanfic Relationship Analysis - Daemyra from eldritcher's "Ossuarium"
Fanfic Relationship Analysis - Rhaelicent from eldritcher's "Ossuarium"
Pretty sure these are some of the coolest things I've ever seen?? Very loving, ecstatic, detailed essays on eldritcher's work!!!! Too cool, even if I am woefully behind on Ossarium!
Recs
5 Meta Recs
Very cool concept for a rec list! I do love a good meta post. Though don't read that Making of Contempt haha oh no. I see a lot of fic recs. I've even seen some art recs. I'm not sure I'd seen meta recs before this, and I'd sure love to see more of them! I inhale good meta when I see it!
10 Albus Dumbledore Slash Recs
I do need some good Dumbledore slash fics in my life, and Squash provides. Such good fics on this list! Especially In Infinite Remorse of Soul, which I'm obsessed with.
10 Intro Slash Fics With 2nd person POV
I love this! Second person POV can be such a difficult one to pull off writing, or to properly get into reading, but when it is done well, it is done very well! And we can all thank Squash for putting together a list of goodies for us!
10 Snarry Recs with Sexposition
What a great list, wow. Snarry, for one thing, our shared OTP! But also...sexposition! Nice. Also: so many great fics. Wow wow wow. 10/10 rec list. (Haha. 10/10 for the 10 Snarry Recs. Look at me go.)
Some Snarry fics are seriously brilliant about using smut for plot exposition - they are indeed!
Comments Are Love / 5 Comment Recs
A very unique and special rec list idea! As a writer, I can assure you, comments ARE love. They are big love. And I love my commenters. It's also a reminder that comments are soul food not only for the creators, but can be so meaningful and impactful to other readers, as well! And an excellent reminder that this is a community. A community built on love.
for an explanation about Mutuals March, or to figure out why i wrote you a thing, please check out this post.
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another thing is that like. s1 wasn't the most brilliant thing in the whole universe but it did have a slowly progressing community plot. in the first episode, the crew's plotting to kill stede off, in episode 3 jim says he's the worst captain ever, but by episode 9 they've all grown to like him at least a bit, and so they confirm that he absolutely is a real pirate, eligible to use the act of grace, and they even do the talk it through as a crew thing. very cute!
and then s2 just... kindasorta... does... nothing... with that? sure, the crews get separated, they earned some trauma, but it's a comedy series and surely they can get over it and be one crew together again, right? look, half of the crew stays with stede even though they could have just left him -- he has nothing to offer them, after all -- the other half misses the life on the old revenge, then everyone's working with stede to take the revenge back, they're coming back home! they unionize (lol) against stede in ep4 to banish ed because he makes them feel unsafe, then in ep5 to make stede get rid of that awful cursed suit! in ep6, they have a big fun party!
eeeeexcept the swede just leaves without a second thought, and after he's gone no one misses him. buttons gets roach going "did he really turn into a bird or did you kill him", but that's it, no one misses him either and no one really notices they've lost two crew members in a couple of days. when a character is absent because their actor is absent, no one really goes "hey, where's X?", no one really notices that, so we have not one but two annoying examples of "wow, i was doing X and i missed all this stuff!" (lucius+pete and fang). olu, jim and archie are totally up for leaving stede's crew to join zheng yi sao for... no reason whatsoever. i've seen meta that it's because they don't feel comfortable on the ship or don't trust ed anymore, or have enough of stede's 15 minutes of fame, but like, is it text that this is the reason why they're leaving, or just something you as a fan figured out because you actively tried to find an explanation? sure, the crew wasn't a big fan of ed's apology, but did anyone protest very much, aside from lucius? not really. no one tried to get him to leave, no one avoided him during the party, the animosity, if it was there, just wasn't shown.
and now, in episode 8, well. everyone knows what happened in episode 8.
i'm kinda laughing bitterly here, because i made a post about how what izzy's done to the crew wasn't that much worse than what the crew do to each other, and does it mean they're not a good crew and don't care about each other?, no!, it means we're in a workplace comedy and everyone's a bit of an asshole! except. except i was kind of right, because the crew just goes and falls apart and it's barely noticeable, like they weren't a crew in the first place. it's not even sad, it doesn't have a reason, they just scatter around -- whether it's an actor wanting out, or scheduling conflicts, or money issues, i don't know, or the writers needing something that would piss stede off enough to challenge zheng yi sao to a stupid duel. the reviews and reactions to ep 6 were all wow, so moving, so euphoric, a love letter to the queer community, and it's like, a what to what. where. i don't see anything.
i've no idea, maybe djenks really looked at this episode and thought oh yeah, this is a good save point before s3, if we get renewed we can work from here, if we don't it's still a nice ending, but it's literally not in both cases. if it's an ending, it sucks. if it's a middle point, i don't actually want a s3 because the community is not a thing, my favourite little guy was killed off in the stupidest way possible, and the mains got the ending that i thought would never happen since s1, because it's too easy, too utopian, and besides it was obvious that the inn thing was only ed's escapist fantasy and he needs to find himself and what he really wants just like stede. ha. haha. ha.
i don't really care about this show anymore in the form it is now is the thing.
#shrimp thoughts#ofmd spoilers#and they started off so nicely! ah well. another proof you can't expect nice things from life lmao#ps if anyone doesn't disagree w/ me here they can counter it in their own separate post because for obvious reasons#i don't really feel like arguing now! sorry
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Since you‘ve been into the fandom space due to hxh and jjk…
Which is very valid btw, sometimes it’s takes a while to jump into a community, especially since fandoms are such a mixed bag.
…Have you made some friends/mutuals that you never expected to be friends/mutuals with?
When I joined the HxH fandom was quite insular. There were some very visible big name fans who just engaged with one another. And when you look at fic recs here for HxH you still get the echos of that. You will see certain names repeated over and over again. Actually having someone rec my fics recently made me cry because if my friend Subdee wasn't on a given day on tumblr often when I posted my writing here no one would even leave like on it. I had mutuals literally scroll past my writing and reblog from me fics or ao3 links authored by the popular HxH and not even leave a courtesy like on my fic that was posted around the same time as the reblog.
And this was the situation several years after I joined. For a long time I felt I won't make any friends in the fandom. I actually made my first friends in the fandom when I participated in 2018 HxH big bang. After that event I befriended some people, and I even became acquaintances with some of the popular HxH blogs, even mutuals with some. So yeah, all the friends I made in the fandom were unexpected.
And honestly the HxH fandom here on tumblr is really cool and that's mostly thanks to @shalnarkonice who's the true hero of the fandom. Shal runs the hxhbbs, reverse bb, several other events and a thriving discord server, we made a zine together as in I pitched the idea to Shal and she just fucking put a team together. I had never expected that I would do a huge year long project with Shal. But generally Shal probably brings at least half the fans here together, facilitates so many friendships. HxH fandom really lucked out that it has Shal.
In the JJK fandom on the other hand I hadn't expected to make any friends because the JJK fandom is a fucking dumpster fire, generally, and here in particular, though from what I've heart twitter is worse. Compared to HxH which is a fandom in hibernation, JJK is alive and vibrant. But unlike the HxH fandom, it's full of people who hate read the manga, people who are in the fandom to shit on it, to post their bad faith takes. Or people who just want to write that they don't understand what's going on, lol. Or sometimes just write takes to prove that they really didn't pay attention to anything in the manga. Or just post thirst, and like.. I like some thirst, like this nice dessert to the fandom experience. In JJK it's the main course and it's just too much for me. And there is some art, but mostly of characters I care little about. And it's completely disorganised, there is not Shal who gives the fandom structure so that you can engage with others at this low emotional stakes level by just doing stuff next to each other in an event and get closer if you notice that you vibe together.
No, you have to do direct engagement and that's scary. But I found amazing people in it too. There's cursedvibes and his meta is so good, actually he's my subdee in the JJK fandom. They are both meta royalty plus they are just super neat to talk to in private about anything and everything. I also befriended the wonderful yuujispinkhair, and this is very much wow.
#answering asks#this post somehow turned into a shal appreciation post#that's ok#it's long overdue#i had other friends in the hxh fandom but with many of them my relationship just weakened overtime#some of them moved on to other things
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Whew, WOW, OKAY. OOOHHHHKAY. THAT was a HELL of a ride. Double Savage, episodes 3 and 4 (but mostly 4). Long post coming. (Dang it. I did NOT KNOW THIS SHOW was gonna do me like this, meta-wise!)
[The alternate title of this episode should be, “SEE DAD? SEE WHAT FUCKING HAPPENS WHEN YOU ABUSE US?” (Just like that, in all caps, ha.)]
The reason why I say “us” in my proposed alternate title is because I realize that I haven’t addressed something in my previous write-ups about Double Savage -- namely, the psychological abuse that Korn and Win’s dad is committing towards the rest of his family, besides Korn.
We start episode 4 with a two-year jump, and dad Beng is as happy as a clam... with only one of his three children. He tells Win, “you’re the only child that I’m proud of.” Big sister Li stands next to her mother, clearly gritting her teeth, while Mom and Li clearly also think of Korn, who’s now been lost to them for a while.
And we get the looped conclusion of the first episode, when the three siblings meet in the abandoned warehouse, with Li revealing to Win where Korn has been hiding. So we know that Li has been visiting Korn since the first time she broke into the warehouse.
Meaning: the sibling unit still exists, for now. But, the father has revealed something by what he says to Win. He DEMANDS of his family that they buy into his vision for a Korn-less existence, regardless of what it means to ANYONE around him. AND, he ALSO demands that they believe in his OTHER fallacies -- such as Win being the only child worth investing in. We can also acknowledge now that this family has been living without Korn for two years already -- and that’s certainly had to have tremendous psychological impacts on Li and the mom, and especially on Win, as he continues to grow into adulthood. Finally, we don’t know why Li is still living with her folks, if she’s dating, if she’ll get married, etc.
...or maybe we DO know why she’s still around.
What is this vision that dad Beng has created for his family? That Korn shouldn’t exist, that he shouldn’t be around. That THE FATHER IS the patriarch.* That their unit will ALWAYS be led with his leadership. (We haven’t seen the mother confront the father, either yet or at all.) We see Li helping with the store, usually by her mother’s side.
In other words, this family is led by fear first. It’s highly likely that Li has been raised with enough fear to feel very uncomfortable about even leaving the household, let alone seeking out her own independent life. AND, also highly likely -- her father has likely “let her know,” that as a woman, she probably can’t step out and achieve anything on her own.
Just a guess there, but I think we can take educated guesses with such an unbelievably harsh and abusive patriarch.
(My *star up above indicates that there may be underlying commentary about Thai-Chinese patriarchal references that I may not be catching. We can hear “Hia” being thrown about all over the place, so, like Moonlight Chicken, we know that we’re dealing with a majority Thai-Chinese cultural background and read on the script. I wish I knew more about this slice of Thai culture. My own read on this patriarchal structure is coming from a more generalist Asian perspective.)
Anyway -- I haven’t even gotten to the meat of the episode yet, which is that we continue to see the disastrous and tremendous fall-out of the society and world around Korn, and the impacts of the choices he’s made since leaving his family house.
First off, quickly: we see promises being broken. (Promises had already been broken all along, right? Shouldn’t parents love their children?) Win is going to break his promise to Korn because Win wants to be with Rung. Win gives Korn the heads-up -- and Korn accepts it. And Korn lifts Win on his back. Even though it’s LOVE THAT KORN HAS FOR HIS BROTHER -- that’s a weight on Korn’s back. Win will get the love that Korn has in Rung.
Win, then -- surprisingly to me -- asks Rung’s *parents* for *permission* to date Rung. In front of both families. My man, Win -- where’s the ring? Ha. I mean. Again, I may be missing something by way of a Thai-Chinese cultural read. But homey might have well asked for the horoscopes to set a wedding date. You really don’t do that until you’re ready to chat marriage. We see arranged marriages being a COMMON topic in Thai shows. And maybe -- that’s what Win wanted to get out of it? I’m not sure there.
Which is why, I think, we see Rung so pissed. Rung represents breaks from tradition. Remember what she said in episode 2, about her family not believing in superstitions around families and children? That they hold people back? Rung is a rebel. To be asked for her hand in dating, in front of her folks, without Win checking in with her in advance? She’s pissed. She knows exactly what this means. Someone else is doing her love work for her, and that is NOT going to fly with her.
Now, on the other hand, I DO WISH, dear Rung, I DO WISH you’d think a little before making rash decisions, ha. But. I can also understand why you hopped into Korn’s truck. You’re in love with Korn, and you haven’t seen him for two years.
You haven’t seen him for two years because his father drove him out of the family house. He had to leave school, leave you, and leave his beloved younger brother. Rung, therefore, has also experienced the trauma that Korn’s dad leveled to everyone around him.
And now we get the coalescence of how this show becomes not just family trauma-driven, but community trauma-driven. When Rung opens the door of that truck and enters the world that Korn lives in now, she becomes a part of Korn’s continued traumatic life. And gets caught by the narcs, and gets blamed for the drug smuggling.
And we know that Hia Ah orchestrated her arrest. Because -- he’s the guy who ultimately knows how the world really works. He values his business and his money. Sure, he gives money to people around him. But he’s always needing a convenient fall person, and realizes that Rung is a good obstacle to use to avoid trouble. So he convinces the police -- somehow, someway, we don’t know yet the hows and whys -- to only catch Rung, and not arrest Korn.
And the next thing we see in the preview is that Rung will now also become a runaway fugitive.
LITERALLY NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF KORN’S DAD LOVED AND PROTECTED KORN. LITERALLY.
I mean. What a resounding commentary on family and community trauma and abuse. And for Ah to have orchestrated Korn’s escape from arrest from within police ranks. It has King of New York written all over it, right? Shouldn’t the police also protect us? Instead, the police narced on THE WRONG SUSPECT, KNOWINGLY.
This show is now holding a TREMENDOUS amount of commentary on society and abuse, maybe a little messily, kind of like the early episodes of (omg, I can’t believe I’m writing this in a Double Savage review) Bed Friend. There’s a hell of a lot of trauma going on. We want Rung to please make wiser decisions. But, BUT: I have to remember that she’s now also suffered trauma vis à vis Korn’s dad, too, so she’s not entirely to be blamed for her decisions.
And unfortunately, we’ll likely see the cookie continue to crumble next week, when Win confronts Korn. Remember: it’s not Korn’s fault that he escaped arrest. But, Win and Rung will need a fall guy. Korn’s dad needed a fall guy. Korn has always been that fall guy. And he damn well knows it. He knows that’s been his role in his life so far, so why would it not continue?
Ah -- wildly, Ah -- is actually changing that paradigm for Korn to an extent, by having Korn avoid arrest. I want to see where that goes. I LOVE the messing up of this paradigm. Because while Ah is the true criminal -- he’s also the biggest truth-holder here, and I want to know how that gets unwound as more truths come out. How did it end up in Korn’s life that Ah is protecting him, while Korn’s dad is not? HOW? How could that possibly happen in a human’s life?
It happens all the time in trauma-impacted families and communities.
WOW. UM! Kinda wish someone told me that this shit was gonna get THIS DEEP! (Reminds me of how Bed Friend punked us with those early previews. Did I bring up Bed Friend again? Oh good lord.) Just like in 10 Years Ticket, Ohm is carrying a trauma-filled storyline and Ohm/Perth/Film are destroying it together. This is a great show so far. Maybe because of Bed Friend, I have more trust in these shows holding all this trauma and making a success out of it. Fingers crossed.
#double savage#double savage meta#korn x rung#rung x korn#ohmperth#ohm pawat#film rachanun#perth tanapon
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