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mothellie · 1 month

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I think the Duffer Brothers' history with racism in their show goes a lot deeper than a lot of people realize.

Lucas as a character has three distinct B plot stories that get assigned to him: being a minor antagonist to Eleven in season one, being a good friend to the rest of the Party, and being in love with his girlfriend. While Mike's plot is directly centered around two of the most pivotal characters of the show, Dustin is given two different role model characters that shape his arc and is overall the genius that helps the rest of the cast get out of several difficult situations, Will still being connected to the Upside Down after his disappearance in 1983 and that playing into several major plots, Max having a multitude of centric storylines especially in season four and Eleven literally being THE main character- Lucas is only ever given plots that help serve and uplift the other (white) characters. Unless you count him... playing basketball and being friends with Jason. I guess?

Erica is similar to Lucas, but to a much larger degree. I'd like you reading this to think of any single Erica standalone plot in the show that has nothing to do with/does not predominantly or solely benefit the white characters around her. I'll wait.

The Sinclair parents are only touched on in brief sections for the sake of filling the episodes, only ever playing a more major role in Season Four. If you could call it that. I'm sure most of you couldn't even tell me their names off of the top of your heads. (It's Charles and Sue, by the way.)

Argyle was the first somewhat major character of color to be introduced to the show after Erica played her part in season three. I could say similar things about his role in the season overall that I can about Lucas and Erica. Except they set him up to play a bigger role in the next season at the end of season four, going as far as to show him in Hawkins and have Jancy verbally allude to him sticking around, only for the show heads to ghost Eduardo Franco and let him find out he wasn't being brought back through an official social media cast photo.

Kali was a former subject from the same lab El came from, having escaped and subsequently began to lead a vigilante life of enacting revenge on those who played a hand in her suffering. She was the first subject El ever met after leaving the lab, shown to be incredibly powerful and strong-willed. Her and El had an immediate connection, calling themselves sisters right after meeting. But after El was finished with her self-discovery period on the S.S. Kali Gang for one (1) often-forgotten and poorly-written episode, Kali was quite literally abandoned both in spirit and on screen, never to be seen or even mentioned again.

All other characters of color are either killed violently (Patrick), have like ten minutes of screentime total (Jeff and Calvin Powell), or are just straight up background only and may not even have names.

They can dedicate an entire section of season four's plot to Suzie's family, but not to genuine character development for Erica or for Kali to return. They can make room for a whole pointless predatory plot between Billy and Karen, but not to give a more important role to the Sinclair parents. They have room to include a whole plot about El getting bullied in school, but not for Lucas to have a more meaningful story outside of his white friends and girlfriend. They can platform three known white zionists while Palestine currently undergoes a gruesome genocide even as I type this, but they don't have room for Argyle in season five (or even the decency to give Eduardo a fucking phone call).

Not only do the Duffers constantly write themselves into holes because they keep adding unnecessary fodder to the plot, and refuse to kill ANY of their main characters in favor of just creating new characters for the sake of killing them off in mediocre ways despite the fact that they're trying to fit 20+ B plots into 8-9 40-50 minute episodes per season and wondering why half their show doesn't make sense- The time they DO dedicate to character-specific B plots and character arc progression visibly favor the white characters.

If I watch S5, and that's a huge if, I will be sailing the high seas. Between all of this, the fact that they filmed part of season four in an old Nazi prison and tried to turn it into a fucking AirBNB, and the fact that at least four people who play major roles in the show actively support the current genocide of Palestine- I won't be giving them (or Netflix for that matter) another cent of my money.

While you're here, please do your completely free daily click to send aid to Palestine, and here's a list of other resources for how to help more directly.

#♡ · 𝘀𝗵𝘂𝘁 𝘂𝗽 𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 #stranger things #free palestine #lucas sinclair #erica sinclair #charles sinclair #sue sinclair #argyle stranger things #kali prasad #patrick mckinney #jeff stranger things #calvin powell #anyway excuse me im gonna go put these characters in an ungodly amount of fics #it's what they deserve

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giveamadeuschohisownmovie · 1 year

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I think I figured out my biggest problem with “The Mandalorian” season 3. I mentioned in a previous post that I have issue with this season’s lack of focus and constant subplots that are muddying up the main narrative. Now that I think about it, I think the bigger problem is that the show feels too safe and wants to remain safe.

What I mean is that it feels like Favreau and Filoni don’t want to shake things up in the show. They’re still doing these one-off episodes where Din and Grogu get involved in some conflict that gets resolved by the end of the episode. It feels like the show could be something more, it’s just the showrunners don’t want to stray away from the formula. Because of that, it feels like there’s a lot of potential not being explored here.

For example, I didn’t mind that Grogu decided to return to Din after being taken away by Luke Skywalker…at first. Now it feels like we missed the chance to really develop Din as a character. Imagine a whole season where Din is forced to be on his own, trying to figure out how to move forward without Grogu by his side. Sure, the Mando fanbase would be sad, but imagine how much character development and growth there’d be for Din. And another reason why I have a problem now with Grogu returning to Din after only two episodes apart is that season 3 really should’ve just been about Din and Bo-Katan.

(EDIT: Also, it’s not like Grogu can’t just come back by the end of season 3)

Since this season is centered on uniting the Mandalorians, Din and Bo-Katan should’ve just been the main leads. Grogu doesn’t even feel central to the plot here, they really could’ve written this season without him. Who knows, maybe that was the original intention, but Disney or Lucasfilm stepped in and said, “Hey, don’t separate Pedro Pascal from the green alien that makes us money”.

But with that said, I can’t give Favreau and Filoni a pass either. They’re also at fault since they packed this entire season with weird one-off side stories (the giant bird episode) and subplots that are clearly meant to build up a different show (episode 3). Then, every time it feels like the show is picking up momentum, like when Din, Grogu, and Bo go to Mandalore, they immediately undercut it by having the next episode be about something else. I’m like, this is not how you build a story, you have to keep the momentum going, especially since there’s only eight episodes this season.

It’s really hard to say that Mando S3 is a bad season because it’s technically not. I do like the Din and Bo partnership storyline. The story makes sense and is easily the most compelling plot thread of the season. My issue is that it feels like the writers are holding themselves back. They don’t want to stray too far from what’s familiar (Din being dad to Grogu, the goofy side stories), so every time the show feels like it’s taking a big step forward, they immediately backtrack. It’s like the storyline wants to be “Andor”, but the writers are afraid of going full “Andor”, if that makes sense.

Maybe Disney is scared they’ll lose viewers if the show takes too many big steps away from what’s familiar and that they’ll experience another “Last Jedi” backlash. Which is ironic since viewership went down this season anyways. And no, I’m not one of those people blaming Bo-Katan for the drop. I’m putting the blame squarely on the writing because of the reasons above.

#the mandalorian season 3 #the mandalorian s3 #star wars the mandalorian #mandalorian season 3 #mandalorian #the mandalorian #Star Wars #din djarin #bo katan kryze #grogu #Andor #the last jedi #star wars thoughts #the book of boba fett #pedro pascal #luke skywalker #tbobf

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ltwharfy · 8 months

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Long Post of Random Thoughts on Finishing "Gravity Falls"

Are you interested in reading a really long post where a middle-aged guy talks about a children’s cartoon that ended seven years ago? If so, you are in luck! I just finished watching “Gravity Falls” y’all! And here are a bunch of totally random thoughts about it:

-“I’ll have you know Duck-tective has a big mystery element! And a lot of humor that goes over kids’ heads!”- it was nice that the kids show that I became obsessed with over the past two months or so acknowledged the reasons adults might get obsessed with it. Also, Duck-tective has to be one of my favorite show-within-a-show premises. I’d definitely check it out!

-While I do love the humor of the show so much, it is really the mystery element- the ongoing story arc- that took me by surprise and eventually led to me bingeing the last eight episodes or so in one day. I just don’t remember animated kids comedies- or really, many kids shows of any type-when I was growing up that had ongoing story arcs like that. Kids shows where the episodes could be watched in any order and everything was always “back to normal” at the beginning of the next episode was the norm.

-I’ve been a fan of Kristen Schaal since she was on The Daily Show and eventually end up watching everything she’s in. So, the main thing I knew about Gravity Falls going into it was “Kristen Schaal does the voice of that girl”. As Louise Belcher is one of my favorite TV characters, I was worried- would I be able to forget about Louise while hearing Mabel? Yes, quite easily. Their personalities are so different! It was basically never an issue. I actually tried to listen for Mabel lines that sounded like Louise might say them and really only ended up with two that stuck out to me (“I high-five hard.” and “I AM THE GOD OF DESTRUCTION!”)

-Oh, but Louise would also want a grappling hook. And, honestly, she’d get as much or more use of it than Mabel did. Like I can think of a few episodes (and the movie…) where it could’ve been helpful. But I digress.

-One final Bob’s Burgers related point, there were a few things in season two that I just couldn’t help but wonder if they were references to Bob’s Burgers. First, the Jersey Shore hometown of Stan and Ford definitely made me think of Seymour’s Bay. And the Pines briefly have a burger phone in “The Stan-Churian Candidate”! On the other hand, both Jersey Shore towns and burger phones are real things that existed well before Bob’s Burgers and not every appearance of them is a reference to it. (But when you’ve also got Kristen Schaal involved…)

-And speaking of cast members who I remembered from other things, both Dipper and Wendy were voiced by actors from short-lived early 00s shows that I loved: Joan of Arcadia’s Jason Ritter and Freaks and Geeks’s Linda Cardellini. The fact that I will associate them with those shows is another indication that I am not in the target demographic of Gravity Falls! But, honestly, if I had known Linda Cardellini was also in this show, I might have checked it out sooner.

-And speaking of Dipper and Wendy, I really loved how they handled Dipper’s crush on her in season two. Their scene together at the end of “Into the Bunker” is so sweet, it just made me feel so much affection for both the characters and the folks who make the show. It would’ve been so easy to never really make any effort to resolve that plotline and instead just always have Dipper pathetically crushing on her for the whole show. Or make it a nerdy boy wish-fulfillment thing and have her actually return his feelings (which just wouldn’t’ve been realistic given their ages). Instead, I feel like they addressed it in a realistic and sensitive way, which was nice.

-Another thing I really appreciated was how they developed some of the supporting characters in season 2, particularly Old Man McGucket and Pacifica Northwest. I enjoyed those characters in season one, but pretty much assumed they would always stay in their stock character roles- crazy old man and mean rich girl, respectively. Instead, McGucket gets what I found to be some of the most moving scenes in the show- when he gets his memories back and when he reunites with Ford.

-And Pacifica! She’s honestly the character I find myself wondering the most about what happens to them after the show. She’s realized her family has been pretty horrible for generations. She stood up to her parents. Her family lost some of their money and had to sell their mansion (her dad pledging allegiance to Bill and investing in weirdness bonds is probably one of my favorite details from the finale). She’s becoming a teenager. And she lives in Gravity Falls full time. I just think her post-series finale life is gonna be pretty fascinating!

-And maybe that life will involve her getting romantically involved with Dipper? Yeah, I started shipping that after “Northwest Mansion Mystery”, and even though the show really didn’t give them any scenes together (which is understandable, there was a lot of other stuff going on) I still like it. I checked to see if there was fic about it on AO3 and immediately got freaked out because there is so dang much of it! Seriously, the number of Dipper/Pacifica fics on there is literally ten times the number of fics for my favorite Bob’s Burgers ship! What am I supposed to do with that?!

-So if the statement, “I’m looking for the ‘Be My Thrill’/’heaven help the fool who falls in love’ of Dipper/Pacifica fics” means something to you, and you have a recommendation, let me know.

-One supporting character I wish had been introduced earlier: Tad Strange, the most normal person in town. The name, the character design, the voice, all just amused me. It would’ve been fun if there was more of him.

-Speaking of supporting character designs that I loved: Toby Determined and his hat, with the press card that says “hat” instead of “press”. That literally always made me smile. I love it so much. It is one of my favorite cartoon character design details ever.

-Possibly the most random of observations: I can now think of four fictional characters named Mabel off the top of my head, but don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with that name in real life.

-I don’t have any kids of my own, but I do have a nephew, and now I am pretty excited about the possibility that I could be a Grunkle a few decades down the road. Hopefully, I’ll have my own Mystery Shack by then.

-Even though I know how the storyline ends now, I feel like this show has a high level of rewatchability for some point in the future. I’m sure there will be tons of details that I didn’t notice the first time around, and there are definitely more layers of it to peel back (I never paid attention to the codes/puzzles in the credits. Although, had I been watching this show when I was 10 I probably would’ve obsessed about them.)

-I can probably think of more things to say about this show and probably will, but this seems like enough for now. Thanks to Alex Hirsch and everyone involved in making the show for creating such wonderfully weird, hilarious, entertaining world! And thanks to you, person who actually read to the end of this post!

#gravity falls #long post #mabel pines #dipper pines #stan pines #pacifica northwest #old man mcgucket #tad strange #toby determined #louise belcher #kristen schaal #jason ritter #alex hirsch #wendy corduroy #linda cardellini

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belmottetower · 11 months

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ur post about jamie’s loan has me thinking soooo many thoughts but the main thing im confused about is this: how was jamie able to get on the starting line-up so quickly after returning from his loan to richmond? city obviously hadn’t originally intended to recall jamie for a while as of 106 — jamie’s loan being pulled and him actually being sent back is presented like a surprising piece of information for everyone in the team, and i just can’t interpret that as “his contract was expiring soon, he just went back a week earlier than normal”. it felt like ted (at the very least) was setting up jamie to stay for a while after that, both strategically and socially. so, if he had spent much less time in richmond than intended (and thus probably developed a lot less than intended), how did he manage to start in richmond’s relegation match? it could have been city trying to give him more minutes against a lower ranked team, but then why would they start him AND let him play the whole game even after it was tied 1-1 if he’s not a consistent part of the starting line up? im a silly little american who knows nothing about european football, but it just doesn’t make sense how jamie could go from “we’re going to give you so few minutes that we basically have to loan u out or else you’re just wasting time” to “you’re going to be on the starting line up/close to it” so quickly once returning to city? was it just him learning to be a team player or is the show just getting fuzzy w the details? (also that was so long im sorry this is just a Very Specific Question and im trying to get it across properly)

This is referring to things from my earlier loan ask, so linking that here.

First of all, I am sure that Jamie's loan was meant to go until the end of the season. However, a loan can be terminated at any point during the season if both parties agree to it. So in this case, City saw he wasn't playing every possible minute with Richmond and they said to Richmond, "if you aren't going to play him, we want him back. We'd rather be the ones training and not using him if YOU'RE not going to use him." They were the ones that instigated the recall of Jamie, Rebecca just simply had to agree to it on behalf of Richmond and Jamie goes home. (Let's not worry about the fact that his agent would have been involved in this process because 2 seconds of digging in that direction makes the plot fall apart.)

But Jamie had been playing for Richmond for almost a full season at this point, from the summer of 2019 to what has to be around the February of 2020. He was there for over nine months of the season, and he went back to City when they only had a couple of months left.

In 1.08, when he visits Keeley, it's late March and he tells her that City were in town playing West Ham. He says "I had ten touches, I had two completed dribbles, and in the 89th minute they let me take a free kick." This implies to me that he was being brought on as a substitute at that point. Because ten touches, for a forward, is not very many during a full 90 minutes. And then the "They let me" in terms of taking a free kick sounds to me like he's still very much not a major power player, more like he's been given a chance, like "give the kid a turn, see how he handles it."

But it still feels to me like City valued Jamie as a player, and when they got him back after around nine months of a loan, they decided to give him a few more chances and see what he could do. And if he's succeeding for them in games as a sub, it's more likely that he will start the next match.

And the thing about the Richmond relegation match is that it's implied City had already secured the Premier League title, weeks before. They are not awarded the trophy at the end of the match. They're not celebrating having won the League. There's no commentary from Arlo and Chris about how City need this to secure the title, unlike they way they explain it in 3.11 and 3.12. So Ted's dressing room speech about giving the champs 90 minutes of hell implies to me that City were ALREADY the league champions, that they'd won it a little earlier in the season. Hopefully it's clear to everyone by now that with a league table, this is pretty common, if someone gets enough points that it is mathematically impossible for other teams to catch up.

In real life, this year City won the league with three matches left to play. And in this circumstance, once the thing is already won, Pep will shake up the starting line ups quite dramatically and give different players the chance to play. For example, Cole Palmer, who I mentioned in the other post? He started for City in their matches against Chelsea and Brentford at the end of the season, AFTER City had already secured the title, when there were no consequences to City winning or losing. They won against Chelsea and Palmer got an assist on the winning goal, and they actually lost to Brentford in the final match of the season but it didn't matter. Pep uses a high rotation anyway - City does not have a fixed starting eleven, it changes all the time, Palmer has started a handful of other matches in various competitions - but this is very likely what happened to Jamie in terms of the Richmond match. It's the only match we know for an absolute fact that he started in for City, and it's probably because it was a game where the line-up could be changed around and experimented with to give different players opportunities, because they weren't "playing for anything."

Basically, in summary - Jamie played for Richmond for 9-10 months (depending on how early he came in preseason.) By the end of that stay he had played a lot more minutes by then than he ever had before even if he didn't get to stay the whole length of the season. City knew he'd improved and recalled him, deciding that if Richmond weren't going to utilise him, they'd prefer he be with them in Manchester to use when they want. They start using him as a sub in the last couple of months of the season, and he proves himself to be a valuable player for them. So he gets to play more minutes, maybe gets subbed on earlier each game, and eventually he gets to start a few matches, especially ones after City has already won the title and Jamie gets to play the match just for the experience.

In terms of being a team player, I fairly strongly believe that at City, this would have been a given for Jamie no matter what. Jamie got full of himself playing as a 1-up-front striker at Richmond, maybe in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but that's not how he would have ever played at City. Pep's favourite formation during that era of City is 4-3-3 and that's what Jamie was playing in for the Richmond match, he was part of a line of three (the formations are on the Arlo White cheat sheet) against Richmond's 4-4-2. City in this shape favours high possession and passing, so Jamie would have to have been succeeding within the style Pep wanted, i.e., being a team player and passing a lot and not acting as an individual star taking control of the match.

Jamie at Richmond was a selfish player largely because he didn't see the other players as good enough. He saw himself as a cut above them and their only value was to facilitate him in taking control of the match. He's not actually wrong about the skill level objectively, and even Roy admits it in 1.04 - that he knows he should be passing to Jamie but he can't stand Jamie's attitude about it. Because shaping the team to facilitate a star striker like that is not inherently bad football, not if the player isn't a cunt about it - it's a bit like what we saw with Zava, which looked ridiculous to us as viewers but was not actually a situation that anyone other than Jamie resented because Zava made the others feel valued, even if it felt fake to us. But look. Footballers do understand that some players are just better than others, and if your star striker is a nice person who makes everyone feel valued and treats people as proper teammates, there's nothing wrong with the tactic being "get the ball to that person and let them take charge."

Richmond was Jamie's first taste of being that heroic superstar, where he was the one with all the glory, and because he didn't see the rest of them as on his level, he became a bad "team player" due to not recognising the part the rest of the team played in his success, or helping them improve (playing with people better than you should make you better, generally!) or believing that any of the others could achieve anything. He felt he was doing it all by himself. And George Cartrick clearly also had no interest in training the team in any other way. Very much "just get the ball to Tartt, he's the only one who's any good, and try not to fuck up in the process" as opposed to using Jamie's prowess to elevate EVERYONE.

At City, where Jamie probably wasn't the best player on the team, where the standards were more equally at his level or better, this factor is not an issue. That's not how Pep trains them, it's not how Pep thinks. Jamie knows that he's not the solo star there. He knows that all the other great players will be contributing to making things happen, that everyone is smart and talented and aren't going to fuck up. Whether he liked it or not, he would have had trust in the way that playing style works, knowing that it's what's being asked of him from Pep and what the situation calls for. But Jamie didn't trust the Richmond players to be good enough to contribute. We see this Sam a lot - his attacks on Sam are often because Sam has failed to put a pass where Jamie wanted it, or missed a shot in training, or whatever. This is not an excuse for his behaviour but it is clear evidence that Jamie is frustrated because the rest of the team isn't at his level. And unlike season 3, he has no interest in working with them on improving, or showing them how best to play with him. Being a good team player isn't always about sharing the ball equally or whatever, it's about working as a team to feed each other's strengths - that's how season 3 Jamie can be both a team player and a total star player at the same time.

Honestly, to me, Jamie making that extra pass in 1.10 wasn't anything to do with Ted, aside from narratively for us as viewers. That's just how City plays football. That's Pep's influence, not Ted's. Ted sees it happen and thinks he's done something to change Jamie's attitude but in my opinion, Jamie is just playing the way Pep wants him to, because he actually values Pep's opinion about tactics in a way he didn't value Ted's.

There is no way in hell Jamie went from age 13, or whenever he was scouted, to age 23, being a consistently selfish ball hog style player at Man City. Lots of players want to be stars, but I believe that the level we see in season 1 is just how he thought he needed to play at Richmond, because he felt like he was the only one who knew what he was doing and making anything happen on the pitch, and then of course he liked how it felt to have all that attention on him. But the way Jamie was playing at Richmond is simply not how City play football, and season 3 makes that canon to the Ted version of City too, not just an unfounded real life football comparison. City in the show are coached by Real Pep and play Pep's version of total football. That's what Jamie was doing when he made the extra pass, and it's his experience with Pep's total football that allows Jamie to help Richmond so much in season 3.

#jamie tartt #ted lasso meta

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juneviews · 7 months

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a ranking & summary of my thoughts on gmmtv 2024 part 1

pluto: this is my everything already. A GL??? with two of my fave actresses film & namtan??? AND a complex, interesting plot??? I'm obsessed already!!! this looks so good I'm so happy it's happening & it will become my whole personality once it airs!!!

the trainee: I genuinely believed, even with the rumors that off, gun, view, kapook & sea would be in a show together, that we wouldn't get an offgun show this year. AND I WAS WRONG!!! is this what it's like to always fucking win??? like genuinely, my ship is THAT ship, I'm so lucky & happy and I love them so much <3

peaceful property on sale: duuuude, this looks so fun??? I was already hooked when I saw new's over the top character, but a ghost haunting show with taynew, jan & mook??? absolutely incredible! this looks ridiculous & I know I'm gonna love every second of it!

my golden blood: bruh, thank goodness I was warned about jossgawin in advance or I might have had a heart attack, but honestly????? THEY ATE THAT! and mond playing the villain????? babe, that casting is incredible & perfect, I'm obsessed!!! I usually don't like supernatural stuff but I was also a teen wolf fan bruh so atp I'm gonna EAT that shit UP!!!

wandee goodday: you might not know it, but I have a super power. every time I start being a fan of someone who hasn't done bl, they do bl the following year. this year it was nonkul, and next year it's gonna be great sapol. AND I LOVE THAT FOR ME!!! this looks really good & fun, the characters are interesting and the story not too crazy or too basic. I can feel that it's gonna be good!

ploy's yearbook: a female-led show & the return of mond as a main??? BLESS!!! I love most of this cast, this looks fun as hell, I adore my gmmtv girlies... gotta watch this for sure! love seeing earth in more roles outside of his ship too!

enigma 2: I still haven't watched season one, am planning on watching it very soon, but I've heard great things so I'll be sure to catch season two as well! especially since I really liked toey jarinporn in the recent lakorn to the moon and back so I'm excited to see how she does!

my precious the series: as you know I've watched the movie in theaters, but I'm excited for it to be out as a series too, especially since there's extra scenes! seems like it might be even more lovable, and also if it's on gmmtv's youtube channel I'll finally be able to gif the iconic scenes :')

high school frenemy: this looks interesting & I like sky, but I feel like the plot doesn't make sense if it's not a love story... idk I feel like since this is adapted from a kdrama it's just gonna be a frustrating story that should be a romance but is reduced to bromance instead... I might still watch though :')

only boo: this looks kinda cute though basic. I don't know both main leads but might watch it.

we are: this has all ships I like, especially marcpawin & aouboom who deserve more spotlight, so I will be watching, but the plot seems really basic so I'm not expecting anything out of this world...

kidnap: this plot seems interesting but the cast isn't so... yeah.

summer night: I was so confused by who is supposed to be with who in the show lol, honestly I was down for dunkphuwin lmao, but this looks too messy for me :')

my love mix-up: I absolutely despise remakes even though I enjoyed kieta hatsukoi & like geminifourth, and although I'm certain this version will fix the chemistry issues of the original, I'm not gonna be watching it.

ossan's love thailand: same thing as for the previous show but even more so bc ossan's love is such a product of its time & shouldn't be remade in 2024 imo...

#axelle rants #gmmtv 2024 #pluto the series #the trainee #the trainee the series #peaceful property on sale the series #my golden blood #wandee goodday #ploy's yearbook #enigma 2 #my precious the series #high school frenemy #only boo #we are the series #kidnap the series #summer night the series #my love mix up #ossan's love thailand

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felixcosm · 2 days

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Tried to listen to woe.begone but the premise is giving too much sword art online for me to take it seriously.

Please would you sell me on it?

Happily! I never got around to watching/reading Sword Art Online so I took a quick look at the plot and I think I know what you mean.

WOE.BEGONE the game is just the first step into the world of WOE.BEGONE the podcast. While it will always play a role of introducing Mikey to the world of time travel, it will not always be in the forefront of the podcast.

Dylan, the creator, is extremely good in shaking up the status quo from season to season. Season 2 is different than Season 1 and by the time you reach Season 5 and beyond, it's like you're in a whole other story (but it makes sense how the characters ended up where they did).

Although WOE.BEGONE the game does return to the story from time to time, Season 4, 7 and 10 have major callbacks to Season 1.

What sold me on the first season was Mikey, to be honest. I'm not big on life or death games, but having a protagonist who is such a fucked up little guy who schemes and lies and kills (while whining and simultaneously bragging about it) really charmed me.

I don't think WOE.BEGONE would've worked the same way if Mikey were a good person who had morals and standards or tried to be a hero in the story.

If you want to know what you have to look forward to in the podcast, here's a list of some of my favorite things about WOE.BEGONE

it becomes more and more about cowboys. It goes from random cowboy mention to "was this show ever NOT about cowboys??"

it's a show about power. Which Mikey goes on and on about in Season 1 yeah but it really becomes more prominent as the show progresses. Characters who seem reasonable and sensible are driven to make extreme choices for their own benefits and it inevitabley affects Mike in different ways

there's this villain (not the antagonist of season 1) who ends up becoming the Main Villain of the series. He's a complex character who can both be silly and terrifying, happily make puns mid-torture and risking the timeline to save someone in the next. He's extremely gay. And British. I hate him, he's caused me so much grief <3

There will be other Mikes. It's a time travel podcast, of course you will meet other Mike Walters who are not Mikey. While at times these lead to silly and chaotic shenanigans, the relationship the main Mikes have to each other is my favorite thing in any podcast ever. Found family, but it's you, your older self, your older cowboy self, yourself at the same age but he's also a cowboy, yourself at the same age but he's chill, your older cowboy self but he's got a Giant Horse and your mysterious younger self who gets bullied by everyone else.

Plus with time travel duplicates of Mike, the topic of what it means to be yourself comes up a lot. Are you still you when you are in a different body from your own? It's fascinating and I don't think time travel stories talk about it enough.

The world of WOE.BEGONE is so much bigger than the characters in Season 1. It expands outwards until you have this crazy story about time travelers, assassins, fucked up twinks, government weapons, unethical science, bears, cowboys, and in the middle of it all is Mike Walters, a guy who found an ARG on Reddit and decided to play it on a whim.

#woe.begone #asks #woe.begone is my all time favorite story about time travel i dont think any other story REMOTELY compares to the world its build up #plus the soundtrack is a banger #there's already a vocal album out with 40+ vocal songs and the second one is on its way #aside from that dylan writes new music for the show every week #its got a very dedicated fanbase with the nicest people youll ever meet #i could go on and on but my bottom line is that woe.begone is 100% worth getting into

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ladyandherbooks · 8 months

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So Castlevania Nocturne is amazing, I think they've done a really good job at establishing this new time period, characters and the themes for the show as well as introducing some really cool concepts for upcoming seasons.

First up we're finally going to see what a newly turned vampire is like and with Tera being a powerful sorceress I can only imagine how powerful and formidable she'll be. And unfortunately I think that in the future Maria will be the one who has to finally kill her when the time comes.

Next I think it's really interesting to see this Castlevania being a coming of age story for our new main trio. They're so much younger as whole than Trevor, Sypha and Alucard and it really shows. It will be very interesting and exciting to see how they grow, change and become stronger.

I also really like that this show has a good chance of covering a longer period of time than the original show, especially since Richter and Maria showed up in 2 different games set 5 years apart. And with the show focusing on the French Revolution, which still has a few years to go, including the Terror in 1793 I'm definitely excited to see everyone grow and change over a 5 or so year period.

I also really liked that Maria doesn't really know much about her powers and that she hasn't summoned her dragon yet. I've never played the games but I do know that there are some variations to her beasts and that may mean that her beasts might get bigger and more powerful as she gets older. Plus the dragon is something you want to hold off until the right moment because you can make that first summoning and battle really epic. I also suspect that Alucard will be the one who will teach her about her magic, it's origin and what she could one day do and be.

I also really love Maria and Richter's relationship, it was peak sibling behaviour every time they interacted. And of course Maria swears like that, it's the Belmont effect, the same thing happened to Sypha and she'd only known Trevor for a few months. She's lived with him for almost a decade, so of course she speaks like that.

I also really loved Annette, her powers and everything about her backstory. She's descended from not one but 2 gods and she's harnessed that power in such an amazing and imaginative way. Plus she has so much potential to grow and expand those powers, especially once she manages to master those healing spells.

And Edouard, such a beautiful voice that can help his fellow night creatures remember their past and reclaim their humanity. I can't wait until he breaks himself and every other night creature from the Abbot's control with his incredible voice.

Richter is also great, a little sassy and cocky, you can tell how young he is. And I'm glad that he wasn't so traumatised by his mother's death that he couldn't smile, have fun or enjoy his life. I'm glad that he has so much joy, love and light inside of him. And his blue fire is so cool.

And Alucard, his return right at the end of the season was the best moment so far. And I love how absolutely terrified every vampire was when he revealed his identity. They serve an ancient vampire who they believe to be their messiah but the moment he turns up they run away with their tails between their legs. I do wonder what Countess Bathory knows about him and if she'll see him as a threat (probably not but that's her mistake) and just how much of a problem he's going to become for her, especially since he just killed Drolta without breaking a sweat.

And finally (at least for this post) Olrox and Mizrak. So much sexual tension from the moment that they met and so many complicated thoughts feelings and emotions that they have, especially for one another. Mizrak hates vampires and yet he couldn't stay away from Olrox from the moment that he invited him to his bed. And Olrox, so composed controlled, really fell for Mizrak so quickly. It's not love just yet but he was and is still falling for him. I just wonder how they're going to be next time they meet and what they'll become to one another. They both need to change and grow in some very big and significant ways of they're every going to truly find their way back to one another.

#castlevania nocturne #castlevania nocturne spoilers

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alargehunkofdebris · 9 months

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S3 Won't Be Like S2, and That's Not a Bad Thing

So after the absolute cheese and crackers of this second season (plus that whollup of angst at the end) many Good Omens fans will be waiting for that next level of fluff and angst come S3. Don’t blame you at all.

However.

I think, should we be fortunate and get a new season at all, we must all be prepared for the reality that S3 is not going to be like S2, and remember too that this is not a bad thing.

Middle seasons/movies/books are notoriously tough to get right. Though they function as their own story, they’re also the middle part of an overarching plot. They are, in the plotting world (if you use Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat plotting structure terminology) the “fun and games” part of the plot. You get neither the interesting introduction of all character/plot/main conflicts, nor the highest stakes/climax/resolution of the end. So it’s really hard to keep that level of interest in a season that has no solid beginning or solid end of the main plot.

However, in this particular instance, Neil Gaiman and Co. have the absolutely wonderful benefit of having two main characters that most fans are content to watch paint dry with. The characters and their dynamics are the jewels of this story. So, this second season had another function. It was a “treat” season, in a way, because it slowed everything down and really let us indulge in the little, joyful things – aka, the developing relationship of Crowley and Aziraphale. Season One gave us a lot of that, too – but a great deal of that development was added for the show. With just the book as reference, it was a very plottish story. That’s why it required a season to pull off and not just a movie. On the other hand, if you took the events of S2 and converted it to a book of the same style (aka, focused mostly on the plot and the overall cast of characters, not as much on the main two) it would be significantly shorter.

Now, back to the subject of S3. This future season will be going back to the roots of Good Omens, because a big chunk of that plotting was done back when the original book was created. The major beats have been in place since 1990. So, it would probably be a fair bet to say that there will be a lot more plot-heavy beats, with less laser-focus on the relationship. Where S1 had several plots with one major one involving Adam as the antichrist, S2 was literally a romance story with a mystery element. S3, on the other hand, will likely be a return to form, and this isn’t a bad thing whatsoever. Many will be happy about this, because while it would be lovely to have an infinite amount of time just seeing the domestic side of an angel/demon relationship, we absolutely need some gritty, high-stakes plot points to round off this massively ambitious story.

It doesn’t mean we won’t get a lot of relationship things. We need it too, considering the build up we got S2. It is the heart of the whole story. I just think that S3 will be a perfect balance of what we liked of both S1 and S2. Where some would find S2 a little lacking in speed and stakes, S3 will be faster paced with bigger conflict. Where some find S1 to spend too much time away from the main relationship, S3 will absolutely focus on this as one of the two major plots of the story (S1/the book, on the other hand, had at least 4 plotlines that we switched between somewhat equally.)

So, when we think of S3 and theorize on its plot, we must think of it more in the context of S1/book rather than S2. We have to imagine that the major beats were figured out in the 90s, and focus on those unresolved setups we got in S2. So, we have the Book of Life, the Memory Wiping, and the Second Coming. I may also suggest the 25 Lazareth Miracle Concept, though I’d probably guess that it’s a modern Gaiman addition/enhancement with its focus on Crowley and Aziraphale’s “stronger together” theme (this theme enhancement was mostly a Gaiman addition in S1, remember, with the Ep 3 cold open and The Switch at the end). I’m still not positive whether this is going to end up being that an angel and demon working together makes the most powerful miracle (which would probably be more in-line with the original 90s plot) or if it’s specifically Crowley and Aziraphale; there would be very different plot possibilities with either. With the first, we could potentially have a return of Beelzebub and Gabrial as an Act 3 saving grace, and with the second they could literally have a “true loves kiss that saves the world” kind of thing, which I don’t think will happen (but Lord, can you imagine?)

All I know is that when a large chunk of S3’s original plot was conceived, the authors had no idea just how popular the angel and demon duo would be. It was written without that influence in mind. And I think this is a Good Thing. Because as much as we all want infinite content of Crowley and Aziraphale, there is always that danger of “too much of a good thing.” In getting only what we want, we would lose all those other parts that makes this story beloved.

Neil Gaiman said it himself, so many times. S2 is the “gentle and romantic” season. It is, in other words, the one that focussed on Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship. He said also that he can’t guarantee the fans will even like season 3, and I don’t think that is because he’s going to do anything awful to our beloved characters. I think he’s simply being wary of fans who might take for granted that S3 will have that same level of fluff (affectionate) as S2, and this just won’t be the case. And I very much guarantee that even if we have a perfect level of relationship focus in S3, the sheer glut of it in S2 will create some disappointment and bitterness indeed.

In short: we are absolutely, without a doubt, NOT going to get that same level of sweet, domestic relationship stuff in Season 3 as we did in S2, and we all should try to avoid throwing undue expectation (and potential bitterness) at Neil Gaiman if there’s that distinct change of pace/tone. Because it doesn’t mean we won’t get a huge amount of relationship stuff in general (we could even get more); it just means it won’t be the sole focus, and it won’t be “gentle and romantic.” There won’t be plots about trying to put on a Jane Austin ball, or trying to play matchmaker for a local couple. There are going to be much higher stakes, with a lot more stuff happening. And this isn’t a bad thing. It’s what’s needed to make a well-rounded trifecta of seasons. So be prepared, set expectations, gird your loins, have a ton of fun in the meantime, and—most importantly—pray that S3 will be renewed at all.

#a lot of words to say please be nice to future Neil Gaiman #I do go on don't I #good omens #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens 2 #go2 spoilers #gos2 spoilers #good omens s2 spoilers #good omens meta #good omens 2 meta #good omens 3 #neil gaiman

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coraniaid · 6 months

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A couple of months ago, at the start of my S2 rewatch, I talked a little bit about how Willow was slowly becoming an increasingly more key member of the Scooby Gang, at the expense of Giles and Xander. Now that I've reached The Zeppo, it feels like a good time to return to that discussion.

Let's try to quantify things a little bit.

Obviously, speaking time data alone doesn't tell you everything about how important a character is, and Julian Freedland's audio time stamp data doesn't always perfectly reflect which character is really speaking (in particular, it has some trouble with body swap episodes like Witch and Who Are You? and -- most relevantly for us -- The Killer In Me). But those caveats aisde, I think looking at some hard numbers can still be illuminating here.

The chart below shows both Willow and Xander's average speaking time over the course of the show (based on a rolling average of the last dozen episodes, but always ignoring the largest and smallest values in that 12 episode run).

[I picked a 12 week rolling average partly just because it was decent length of time to smooth out random noise and partly because it means starting the time series at the end of Season 1; I removed outliers the way I did to avoid overstating the importance of episodes like The Zeppo and Doppelgangland. If you're interesed in what the chart would look like without either of these smoothing efforts, click on the readmore below.]

Thus presented, I think the trend seems pretty clear. Up to the end of Season 2, Xander clearly has more average speaking time than Willow. Then, early in Season 3, that reverses: Willow starts to get a bit more speaking time and Xander gets quite a lot less. In fact Xander won't have as much average speaking time again until Season 7, whereas in both Season 4 and Season 6 Willow will have average speaking times much higher than Xander ever managed during Season 2.

And the data fits with how I'd summarize the state of things on a more subjective/qualitative level too. In Season 1 and up to perhaps the mid-point of Season 2, Xander really was treated as a more important character than Willow by the writers. He was presented as a possible love interest for the main character (however unserious that seems in hindsight), he was arguably the focus of several episodes (Teacher's Pet, The Pack, Inca Mummy Girl) where Willow was only the focus of one (I Robot You Jane). In fact, in the first sseason, Willow's main character trait -- otherthan being good with computers -- was that she was hopelessly pining over Xander. But as Season 2 progressed Willow became more assertive, moved beyond her crush on Xander and got a boyfriend and then, around the end of the season, she started to get more and more involved in magic, something that will come to define her character both this season and for the rest of the show. Willow grew and progressed as a character: the writers found more and more things for her to do. On the other hand, Xander .. didn't really get that sort of character growth. In a lot of ways, the Xander of mid-Season 3 really hasn't changed much from the Xander of The Harvest.

So in some ways The Zeppo is Xander's swan song. Even as it begins to suggest a new, more sympathetic version of the character -- one not defined so heavily by his unrequited feelings for Buffy or his (honestly not very compelling or plausible) relationship with Cordelia -- the show as a whole is quickly losing interest in him. Willow will continue to grow in status and narrative importance -- she'll come out as a lesbian next season, continue to grow in power as a witch and arguably even temporarily assume co-protagonist status in the show's sixth season. But Xander, as now reimagined, won't get to do that. He'll always be the Zeppo of the group.

On the other hand, perhaps I've got it backwards.

Perhaps the reason I remember the Xander Harris of the final two thirds of the show more fondly than I do the Xander Harris of the first third is simpler than I'd liked to admit. Maybe he's just easier to like because he isn't allowed to speak as much.

For completeness, this is what the chart above would look like if we didn't remove outliers:

And this is what it would look like if we looked at speaking time in individual episodes rather than taking a rolling average (note, in particular, the big spikes for The Zeppo, Doppelgangland and The Replacement):

Note also a common trend visible in all three versions of the chart: neither Willow nor Xander really get to say much at all in the second half of Season 7.

#btvs #buffy rewatch 2023 #charts

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bohemian-nights · 7 months

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The Daemyra beach sex scene is one of the worst sex scenes I've seen. It's so stiff and frigid and it looks like they're afraid of touching each other. There's no melting, no revealing in each other, no basking in the ambiance, no true passion in it. Let's not even talk about Rhaenyra's face at the end because if that's the face of a woman who had fulfilling sex with the man of her dreams then I don't wanna know what she looks like when she's having boring sex LOL.

And Daemyra stans had the nerve to claim that we have porn-rotted brains and need to get our heads out of the gutter and stop wanting gratuitous porn-like sex scenes. First of all: you can go online (Twitter and Tumblr specifically) and see how many of them constantly bitch and moan about how they were robbed of 20000000 Daemyra sex scenes 🤢, and how they hope next season they get more sex scenes and how they wanna see Daemyra have angry sex and sex on the painted table. They're the ones who want them to have a sex scene equivalent to the sex scenes from 365 days. They're the ones who sexualize Daemon choking Rhaenyra calling it a kink, but we're the ones whose brains have been rotted from porn. Second of all: all we asked for (which we didn't) was a decent sex scene. A sex scene that they claimed was "passionate, sensual, and loving" when it wasn't. That sex scene was purely transactional and Rhaenyra trying to secure the political bag. You know who had a passionate, sensual, love scene Stefan and Elena from TVD. That scene is everything the Daemyra idiots think the beach scene was when it wasn't. Lastly: Daemyra stans were the main ones bitching and moaning about how bad the sex scene when the episode aired I remember 🤣🤣. They were the main ones saying that they had no chemistry and that it was flat, but when everybody else (team Green, team neutral, casual viewers alike) started to say the same thing these idiots backtracked and started claiming that it was the greatest love scene in the world. Overcompensation at its best. Bullshit at its worst.

Aside from Rhaenyra's face at the end of that sex scene, it was so pitiful and sad to watch her chase after him at the funeral, to throw away her dignity and self respect and follow after like a lost puppy dog after everything he's done to her. Then she goes on to tell him her whole 10 yr life story when he doesn't do the same in return, and spills her secrets to him (poorly hidden secrets that everyone knows about) when again he doesn't return the favor. It's like this man nearly got you disinherited, left you alone in a brothel, abandoned you to get trampled on at the wedding and you just welcome him back with open arms!! Grooming 101 at it's finest! This is what Ryan Condal meant when he said that Daemon's grooming of Rhaenyra is not only abuse, but that it traumatized her and shaped her into the person that she is

Yep, they were the first ones crying about the show doing Dumbnyra and that dry a** “love scene” wrong(just like with chokegate).

Then they realized that by saying that it was dry they couldn't say that the show portrayed Dumbnyra as an epic romance so they started backpedaling and saying that the scene showed how much “mature chemistry” they had together and that there was some ten-minute cut of the scene that HBO is going to release… at some point…..

Not to mention they lied about how there was some scene of them doing it on a table that got cut(which I see they've now moved onto saying it will be in season 2 🤣).

Or how they are hoping Alys uses some potion to make herself appear like Rhaenyra and then proceed to rape Daemon so that they can get a sex scene in season two(the fact that they try to accuse others of being demented sex-crazed perverts is straight-up hilarious when they peddle this cow dung).

It is really funny to see the mental gymnastics these people will do to claim that show!Dumbnyra is the ship to end all ships and that beach sex was the culmination of their love while at the same time claiming that this show isn’t canon(the same way they try to say that Rhaenyra died a dragonriders death when that doesn’t even exist in the book. That's 100% Sara Hess’s sh*tty writing to make Rhaenyra’s death look less pathetic). Which they by and large didn’t claim until the finale then they finally realized this wasn’t the Dumbnyra show.

This show has made it clear from at least episode four(it’s actually been clear since the premiere but they don’t consider a underage girl having her uncle make passes at her to be grooming) that Dumbnyra wasn’t an epic romance, but they ignored this because incest is hot or whatever.

It’s actually cause they were the only two youngish white people in a relationship, but I’m not getting into that today since they always start crying when you point that out too. Dumbnyra wouldn’t be this popular if they had more competition. I’m really hoping they get overtaken by at least the Alysmond fandom because they truly are an insufferable bunch of delusional weirdos.

This 👆🏽was a preclude to beach sex(where Rhaenyra looked like she wasn’t having the time of her life) and to this👇🏽

No one was duped. These people know what a good or even okay sex scene is (there are so many shows and movies that have decent sex scenes, HOTD should be ashamed of themselves). They know how an actual romantic relationship would be portrayed. Hell, they know that Dumbnyra in the books(see their stealing and re-wording of the text) isn’t an epic romance.

It’s a relationship built on grooming/lust for political power/ to be closer to brother dearest that culminates with Rhaenyra’s abandonment(which the show is setting up since Daemon keeps abandoning her every chance he gets).

Her being used by Daemon is the reason why I have 0.001 of an ounce of sympathy for her🎻(She’s still incredibly sh*try character and her going on a racist tangent about Nettles is 100% on her).

The only reason why these continue to lie and act oblivious(and hope no one calls them out on their bullcrap) is because they don’t want to admit they were wrong(that or they really are delusional).

#lol Dumbnyra is worse than 5O shades of grey #it’s utterly atrocious #they can’t even touch 365 d@ys #anti daemyra

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muninnhuginn · 10 months

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So, going to link a couple of things before I start with this.

Firstly, the new MV for the Vortex/Overthink/Tides medley which is going to form the basis of my observations.

Secondly, this post, which makes a strong argument that Link Click is deliberately drawing from other time travel media. In this case, the 2002 version of The Time Machine. Also, a fun fact not mentioned in the linked post, but that I recently discovered is that the name of the girlfriend the time traveller is constantly trying to save is *Emma*.

Now that I've linked these two, I just want to say that this rest of this post is me having fun and I would love for these to be deliberate references, but let's be real, a lot of time travel media understandably shares a lot of visual language. Hourglasses, butterflies, and clocks are all fairly recurrent themes.

Click the read more for a mix of potential references to other time travel media and screenshots of specific details of the new MV I found interesting:

Left: Link Click (note the photo reel design). Right: Doctor Who (specifically one of the intros for the Twelfth Doctor)

And to add to the photography aesthetic present throughout, the photo reel clock resolves itself into a camera lens:

Next, we have a main character centred within a clock. In both cases, the character casts multiple shadows that resemble clock hands.

Left: Link Click. Right: Steins;Gate

The shot where Qiao Ling is stood still amongst a moving crowd is neat for two reasons. First, the people she's surrounded by seem to be those related to the cases CXS/LG have taken on. You can see Emma just behind in the above screenshot. And the other thing is that the first time this sequence plays the moving characters are too blurry to easily make out. When the sequence reverses however, and the lyrics speak of "pausing" the scene actually freezes with all the characters clear for a tiny bit. (I didn't screenshot purely because it was a pain to get the exact moment but you can check this if you want)

Upper left: Link Click. Upper right: Higurashi Gou/Sotsu. Bottom: Steins;Gate 0.

Next up: fragments! This one is honestly a real stretch, but hey, there are at least two other time travel adjacent shows that use them as visuals in their openings. I would really like the use to be similar to in Higurashi (the example screenshot is from the anime sequel Gou/Sotsu but the sea of fragments is present in the og too). In Higurashi, each time "loop" is actually an alternate timeline (wherein events would differ slightly even without intervention) and so each fragment represents another timeline. For Steins;Gate, it's more a visual that exists purely in the opening sequence to play into the whole shattered clocks aesthetic.

Left: Link Click. Right: Steins;Gate.

This one is inspired by me watching the opening only to go "Okabe Rintaro????" when Qian Jin showed up. But also. We can clearly see some of Qian Jin's scars in this shot. There appears to be one on the back of his neck and two over his left shoulder. These have to be relevant and obviously his eye colour has me side-eyeing but I don't think we have all the pieces for this character yet. (Him being a former cop with a connection to both of our focus cop characters though makes me think)

And a final one with generic anime trope no 58382929:

Left: Link Click. Right: Steins;Gate

I know, I know. This is typical anime/donghua. But! It's deliberately a shot in Steins;Gate that returns again and again throughout the series. It's also very associated with the character of Mayuri so take that as you will.

Bonus whatever this is:

Multiple Cheng Xiaoshis in different states of doing badly. I wonder if the centremost one is the one Lu Guang appeared to be thinking of in episode 1? Possibly another "fragments" situation or if not then it may be various things Cheng Xiaoshi will go through in this season

Anyway, the Steins;Gate opening visually has a lot of similarities and of course a lot of it is natural overlap because they're both time travel series. And they both draw inspiration from The Time Machine (especially Steins;Gate's sequel, Steins;Gate 0). But I find it pretty neat how all these series from different times and places do have these recurring themes.

#link click #link click spoilers #this is mainly just spamming thoughts and references on a specific part of the mv.#I do have thoughts tm about the hourglass bit but mostly it's interesting how everything is all set up for damsel lu guang #and the recurring multiples of different characters. Plus ofc ofc people have already pointed out two hoodies which this mv agrees with #shiguang daili ren spoilers #shiguang daili ren #steins;gate #Not featured in this: madoka rebellion op. it has some clock cog shots but the op is too focused on being misleading to go full on #both madoka rebellion and s;g have the entire 'reaching out your hand for someone and they vanish' thing though which is a classic trope #but it's also a fave okay. and ptutu has chara in clock cog but isn't time travel in the same way for me to count it #edit: also tumblr mobile destroyed my left/right images smh

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sophiasmommy23-blog · 7 months

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How I fell in love

with The Walking Dead, Bethyl and Team Delusional. No one asked. Lol but I wanted to share! Back in 2014 I had heard of TWD but had never seen an episode, had no idea of the plot or who the characters were, all I assumed that it was a "scary" TV show and that was it. So in July I was flipping through the channels and ran across the dead, white and blue marathon. I was working but yea I could do my job and watch TV with no interruptions from my then 1 yo. The very first episode I laid my eyes on was Still. Can you believe that? The first random episode I found was my now favorite Still!! I had no idea of any background stories, I didn't even know their names at the time. All I seen was 2 young people running around an apocalypse with zombies who had major chemistry. It felt like a normal date night in the country. Finding an old abandoned house in the woods, drinking moonshine, someone getting too drunk and wanting to fight or argue, sitting on the porch and the crickets in the back ground. Sounds like a normal night in the south especially for a young couple. Hell, the first time my husband told me he loved me was when he was drunk on homemade moonshine and I live in NC but that's a different story. I kept watching these two characters and thinking they are going to at least make out! Really thinking they were going to go back into that cabin and (insert smut) however we all know they didn't. They did burn it down which again is a typical thing to do in the south burn something or have a big bon fire. I never once felt that there was some crazy age difference. I had no idea of their ages. After watching that episode I watched the next few and quickly realized that TWD was not all about scary zombies. I was in love and obsessed. I went and bought every season which was 4 at the time. By October I was completely caught up and so excited to find out what happened to beth and wanted the Bethyl reunion! I had not shipped a tv couple so hard since Spike and Buffy in high school!! Then Coda happened and I was so effected. I felt like I was actually mouring someone real not just a fictional character on a TV show. I cried myself to sleep. Now mind you at the time I was a 20 something year old women with a family and for days I was actually overcome with grief! Then it hit me. The whole thing did not feel right. The way she was shot and the angle of the gun. The way the music played at the end. I began to search on the internet because in my mind I really thought this has to be a fake out death and maybe someone else thought so or there was a spoiler of some sort to prove she was alive. That's when I found tumblr. I didn't know what that was before either. I found team delusional. Some of the people I followed are gone now but what everyone was saying and fact there were missing scenes that they filmed all made sense to me. I continued to watch the TWD until around season 7 or 8 then I lost interest. I never stopped following TD to see what they had to say, hoping eventually TWD would bring beth back. I never stopped reading all the bethyl ff. I did start back the main show to finish the last 2 seasons. Then of course the DD spin off. I notice the parallels on the DD show because the earlier seasons are my favorite and I have rewatched so many times. The parallels i see are of the end of season 4 and the beginning of season 5. All of the big beth episodes. I do believe that we are closer now than we have been to seeing her again! I think currently the writers want the GA to believe that Daryls happy ending will be with either Isabelle or Carol, however I think they are writing the story to seem like that, so it will be an even bigger surprise when Beth returns. ❤️

#beth greene #team delusional #team defiance #beth is alive #beth greene lives #beth is coming #td theories

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motherofplatypus · 9 months

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What to expect in S6?

Let's be real, there's nothing that we can expect, especially if you look at how they deal with the plots and message in each episode, especially with how S5 ended. And with Lila, who's the epitome of plot device, being the main villain, you understand why the expectation for season 6 is 6 feet under.

Ironic.

However, i miss the old days where the fandom would theorize things that might happen with joy and curiosity, and i wanna bring that back. So let's ignore That Guy and co's incompetency for the last 3 seasons and the disappointments that came along with it and see what to expect and could possibly happen in the next season.

1. Lila as the new Hawkmoth.

It's the first thing that came to mind, since she'll be the main villain. From what we've known about her so far, unlike Gabe, she take things into her own hands even though it relies mostly on dumbing down everyone else.

So we can expect that she'll use her skill to manipulate people to be vulnerable enough to be akumatized into a villain that she needs. (Goodbye Gigantitan and Mr. Pigeon, y'all gonna be missed. Unless the writers pulled all her brain cells like they did with everyone else, we'll see you soon.)

2. Emilie's sudden appearance.

This one needs to be explained. She's been declared missing, or dead, for at least a whole year, so her appearance needs an explanation.

As an extension to that, we might learn about what Gabriel wish was, and to a lesser extent, we might learn how the peacock got broken in the first place.

(Yes, I know TA already explained that miraculous being indestructible was an error. But the rule of every show is that what was shown to the audience is canon. But of course we can't expect him to own up to his mistake like an adult and try to do something with what has been established.)

3. Power ups, including Chat's (possible) power upgrade.

This one pissed me off the most, because power ups were first introduced in S2, and from 8 potions that's available, we've only seen three. Come on, 4 seasons and only 3 of them? And one of them isn't exactly a power up (You can't possibly say the ice one is a power up).

So yeah, they better introduce all the other power ups this season. Of maybe a fusion power up.

4. Luka and Alix.

It is now clear that everyone knows that Luka knows who LB and CN are, and that Alix very possibly knows too from the time travel. This opens up a lot of possible scenes, and one that everyone had been dying to have is Marinette and Adrien talk to Luka about their hero life (and maybe how they're scared that their hero life might affect their relationship with each other, and Luka has to hold the urge to tell them that they're actually dating each other).

5. Su Han's role.

Now that the new team is formed, Su Han, as the grandmaster guardian of the miraculous, have the responsibility to teach these younglings how to fight properly and learn more about their miraculous. We can expect a sparring session or team battle, and if we're lucky, how to counter each other's miraculous.

Heck, maybe we get to meet more of the monks and learn more about the temple of the guardian.

6. Rose's sickness.

This one i don't really like to talk about, but since it kinda depressing, I wanna talk about it. What would happen to Rose and her sickness? Like, I would imagine an episode where she fell ill and her power is needed to fight an akuma, and she decided to go. When the battle is over, she succumbed into her illness (not dead, mind you).

The angst is strong in this one, and im all for it despite not wanting it.

7. Chloe's return

Rumor has it that she won't be in this season, and honestly that's for the best, seeing last season we got 7 episodes dedicated to put emphasis on how bad she is without giving a single flying shit how much it retcon and ruined the show itself.

But, possibility is possibility, and it's interesting to think about what she'll bring if she's coming back, since she no longer has power and must do things herself. Will she be more of a threat? Who knows.

~~~

I'm purposefully not putting Adrien learning the truth here. Aside from the writers are infamous for doing absolutely jackshit for an entire season and compress everything into 3 episodes near the finale, it's logical from writing standpoint that they'll hold this important part of the story for the real final season. So yeah, I don't think we'll gave him learning the truth in the next season.

So, that's all from me. Sure, there's more to say, but my fingers are tired if i have to write more. So, share your thoughts what you think might or want to happen.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #mlb #miraculous ladybug and chat noir #miraculous spoilers #ml spoilers #ml speculation #mlb spoilers #miraculous season 6 #miraculous fandom #ml fandom #mlb fandom #thomas astruc #thomas astruc salt #miraculous season five #miraculous season 5 #mlb season 5 spoilers #mlb season five

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twoheartsoneclara · 2 years

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my main boy five. oh my boy.

i’ll admit, i think they dropped the ball with his writing this season. aidan’s still turning out an incredible performance, and added a lot of nuance to his characterization despite quite frankly working with pretty much nothing. go off, king.

i don’t know what to make of him being the founder of the commission. granted, the commission is literally so fucking nonsense at this point, but it feels like it erases a. LOT. of the tragedy of five’s character. it could possibly be tragic in a different way, but with the writers not doing fucking anything with it this season, it’s difficult to tell.

a big part of his conflicts over the past two seasons have had to do with the fact that he fucking despises the handler, that the handler is just the one who was next in line after reginald, who saw him as a tool and used him to carry out her dirty work. the whole “i don’t belong anywhere thanks to you. you made me a killer.” “you were always a killer. i just pointed you in a direction.” and “i saved you from a lifetime of being alone. you owe me.” and his “i do owe a debt. but it’s not to you.” is a key scene. if the handler is right, that he was always a killer, then a huge part of his moral complexity is wiped away.

a huge part of what makes five compelling as a character is the conflict that he has with not enjoying being a killer and being made into one and being good at it anyways. one of his biggest themes as a character and his driving force that’s been consistent behind his motives is what would you do, how far would you go, to save the people that you love. and another key part of that is that he is a weapon and a killer, yes, but he was made that way. that’s a theme across the whole series and the whole hargreeves family. the same thing with viktor - their stories clearly parallel each others’, especially in season 1 with leonard and reginald.

the downright horror that we felt at the commission having left him in the apocalypse specifically so they could use his desperation against him and so that they could manipulate him into doing what they wanted becomes so moot when we learn that. what? he’s the one who created the commission actually?

and logically, it doesn’t make any sense from what we know about five as a character for him to just lie down and give up, not five as he is now or old old five. they had to nerf him to make the plot work. if there had been a bigger timeskip, it might have made sense but he’s still fresh off of the end of season 2. this is the same man who literally while actively dying managed to turn back time to save his family from dying. the same one who murdered a boardroom of people to try and get his family home. the whole storyline about him accepting destiny makes no fucking sense. the commission said “the apocalypse has to happen” and he said “fuck this fuck you” and utterly refuses to accept the idea of destiny.

they definitely attempted to somewhat justify it with the whole “no life spent going mad” and being just tired by the whole thing which like justified my man. it’s definitely kind of the fallout of trying to run himself ragged for the past month. and you can tell that aidan was trying so hard to make it work with the acting choices that he brought to the table, so again, go off, king.

but at the same time again it’s been a month. sure, it’s the month from hell, and he so deserves to go apeshit about it, but that’s fucking nothing compared to the 45 years stuck in the apocalypse. like yeah he’d probably have a breakdown about it (as is his right) but it’s another core trait of five’s is that he doesn’t give up. literally all of the plot of the entire show hinges on the fact that he doesn’t give up. stopping the 2019 apocalypse? five’s the only one who has knowledge about it from the beginning and shows up to stop it, and that’s only possible because he spent 45 years surviving the apocalypse and taking the deal with the commission so he could return home to stop it and save his family. ending up in the 60s? only possible because five took him and his siblings back so that they could escape the currently impending apocalypse. them not fucking dying in that barn and making it possible for them to get back to 2019? only possible because he rewound time while dying himself and managed to save them.

i understand them making allison the large driving plot force this season and tbh i’m glad they did!! homegirl completely deserved her chance to shine and emmy fucking gave it her all. (caveat: they definitely also fucked up that deeply on some points but by and large yes, allison did deserve to go apeshit). and i also understand somewhat understand making the conflict between her and viktor - their dynamic has been pretty important for viktor’s story (as the second-most important character to the plot overall), and they managed to do something...half-interesting with that. but they completely had to nerf five’s character to make all of that possible, which is just lazy writing.

on a petty note, give five mr. pennycrumb for fucking real, you cowards.

#claire.txt #claire's tua thoughts #tua spoilers #five hargreeves #tua

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joeb91 · 1 year

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Does anyone feel really burnt out by everything needing to be part of a “Cinematic Universe“ now?

Mainly talking Star Wars and Marvel, but it does feel like everything new HAS to be part of one. I saw someone on twitter after the Mario movie came out who wanted that to have them also make movies for Metroid, Zelda, Kirby, etc, and have that lead up to a Smash Bros crossover movie. And like, why can’t they just make the Zelda or Metroid movie and have them be their own thing instead of being REQUIRED to tie into something else?

But with Star Wars, it is something that made me feel less interested in keeping up with Mando. I was enjoying season 2 as it was happening, but then the deepfake Luke Skywalker showing up at the end to remove all possible tension from that scene with the Dark Troopers, and all of the new show announcements they did afterwards made half of the season feel like an extended pilot for other shows. Book of Boba Fett ended up taking 2 episodes in the middle of the show to just forget about the main character of the show and cut away to what Din was doing instead.

I know a lot of people get into the crossovers and everything, but it feels like the hype for those shows can start to only be about which character from the cartoons or the novels will show up next. That these are just commercials for whatever product will come out in a couple months (definitely something that has made me lose interest in the MCU after Endgame).

I really enjoyed the Clone Wars and Rebels cartoons, I wish Star Wars would do more with animation. But I don’t really enjoy feeling like I have to watch all of these different things just to understand one thing. If I am watching an Ant-Man movie, I just want it to be about Ant-Man and the characters related to him instead of being some massive thing for the whole MCU multiverse thing with Kang they have going on.

And going back to Rebels, I also wish the Ahsoka show could’ve been done in animation instead of having to recast the entire returning crew from Rebels for live action.

It all just feels so constricting towards creating interesting and new stories too. Instead of being free to create whatever you want, you have to put in an episode to one of the D+ shows that ties into one of the other new D+ shows that will be out in a few months or one of the movies. Makes it feel like more of a chore keeping up with them too.

Its a big part of why the thing with Wars I have enjoyed the most outside of the new trilogy since Disney took over was the Visions anime shorts. They didn’t have to worry about being tied down by the canon, they didn’t have to connect to each other. It was just creative people playing around with the Star Wars universe and telling standalone stories that were interesting to them.

Done rambling now, don’t know how many people feel the same way as me. But I hope we get more standalone stories.

#fandom #star wars #marvel #disney #mcu #the mandalorian #ahsoka #star wars rebels #the clone wars #my posts

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