#i need book 3 this is insane they have so much potential | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

snogards · 2 months

Text

I think it's insane that after the final Agni Kai, Zuko was able to tank a hyper-powered lightning bolt (I mean, tank in the way he was still moving after getting hit, even if it was just groans of pain and slight twitching). He just got healed by Katara for about 5 seconds and was A-OK afterward.

When Aang got struck by lightning, he was in a coma for like what? Almost a month? And you're telling me Zuko gets struck by lightning, and 5 minutes later, is walking around like it never happened? Sorry, I can't believe that.

But Sno, you say, Aang was in his most fragile state. Of course, he was in a month long coma after he basically died. Okay, and I think that Zuko being hit by a lightning bolt 100x more powerful than the one Aang got hit by would also put Zuko in a coma; especially because Katara doesn't have the spirit water to bring him back to life. Unlike Aang, Zuko only gets regular water, not magic water, to heal him.

"But, but Zuko redirected it," you say. Uh no, Zuko wasn't grounded, so that shit still hit him like a damn truck. He redirected some of it, but not all of it. I would probably say that it burnt him from the inside out. It's a miracle that in LOK, that man is still kicking it and being a badass in his early 90s. He should have serious heart issues, if not have died in his 70s at the absolute latest. The man should not be kicking ass in the poles. He should be on bed rest.

In conclusion, Zuko should have been in a coma for like at least a year (realistically he should be dead, but this is a kids show where the main characters aren't allowed to die, so I'll let it slide) and I will stand by that.

If you wanna read how the creators could have worked with comatose Zuko, read under the cut. If not, then I hope you enjoyed my little rant. This post got longer than I thought.

Here's how the creators could have dealt with comatose Zuko and the potential storylines our other favorites could have had at the end of book 3 and a majority of the potential and nonexistent book 4:

Aang is having to deal with the consequences of Ozai being left alive, as I'm sure the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes would not like that fact. As well as their newest Fire Lord currently being in a comatose state. They barely trusted Zuko. Are you telling me they're gonna trust The Dragon of the West? (More on this at the end) And maybe Aang would actually get some character development, unlike in season 3.

I don't think Sokka, Suki, and Toph would have storylines that center Zuko all that much, but they would also definitely be mourning the semi-loss of Zuko along with whatever storyline they get. Maybe Sokka and Suki can have conflict in their relationship now that the war is over and they might physically have to go their own ways. Toph can probably wonder where she can go from here. Will she try and reconcile with her parents again? Will she travel with Aang once Zuko wakes up? Will she stay in the Fire Nation and help Zuko sniff out traitors with her seismic sense? Needless to say, the 3 of them have endless opportunities.

Katara is now dealing with the guilt of not only having put Zuko in that position in the first place, but also not being able to fully heal him (even though he would have done that for anyone, not just her). And if you're a Zutara shipper, like myself, even realizing potential feelings and the conflict that comes with that. Or if we still wanna go through with the canon ending of Kataang, have her navigate her feelings about Aang properly and not whatever that original canon ending was. And if we wanna go the "Katara doesn't need a man" route (my personal favorite despite my shipping tendencies), she could try and navigate where she goes from here, like Toph. Obviously, she'll go back to the Southern Water Tribe and help out there, but what comes after they've recovered? She's not the type to stand by and settle when there are other people who need her help. Will she go to the Earth Kingdom and help rebuild there? Go to the Fire Nation and help out there? Become an ambassador of the Southern Water Tribe to help better relations with the other nations? (My personal favorite) The possibilities are endless for her.

But you know who would be affected the most? Iroh. Not only did he (kinda) lose his nephew, who was his second son, but he now has to deal with the diplomatic repercussions of his past as a general of the Fire Nation. Like I said before, the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes barely trusted Zuko; no way in hell are they gonna trust the man that laid seige to Ba Sing Se for nearly 2 whole years, regardless if he's the reason the city was freed from Fire Nation control. The pressure Iroh would feel from advisors regarding the fact that his only heir is comatose would increasingly get worse as the months go by. We know that Zuko will wake up, but Iroh and the rest of the cast don't. Iroh is dealing with the fracturing Fire Nation and pressure from the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes, all while his son is in a coma. He could see what he was going to have Zuko face by himself with no support around him. What would he do with Ozai? Would be a major question throughout the season.

Of course, in the end, Zuko wakes up because we want a happy ending for them all. But the turmoil we could have gotten in the end would have been *chefs kiss*

59 notes · View notes

multishipperofgaydeadwizards · 3 months

Note

Thinking about James/Remus and seriously questioning why it's not a thing cause

1) the whole sun/moon lore I was talking about earlier

2) their shipname would be somn like "moonchaser" or "sunreader" or somn

3) it fits right into the running gag that James has a thing for people being mean to him

4) imagine all the possible angst mhmm mhmm Remus pining over James, finding out he likes his best friend, finding out she likes him back, losing him again and again ooooohhhhh just

5) but they're also perfect cause all Remus ever needs is to be loved and all James knows is to love someone else

6) ok but leave the angst, focus on the fluff. The possibilities omg friends to lovers just this time (minus all the usual angst that comes in wolfstar) and they're both just dumb oblivious idiots in love and it's so cute

7) thinking about all of this now I think what you said is right, people don't ship Remus with anyone other than Sirius but I think that's cause Sirius actually doesn't have many ships left then? Cause think about it like this: Sunreader, Bartylus, Marylily, Evan and Emmeline, Panda and Xeno, where does that leave Sirius? Sure Pete is there but...

8) ooooh ok going down this pipeline, for your consideration: Peter and Sirius. Omg it would make the "Sirius put in trial instead of Peter" thing sooooo much more ansgty ohhoo my brain is reeling rn

9) ok focusing back on moonchaser. They would make such a cute couple honestly. James would read all the books Remus reads and leaves lil doodles for him to find later. He would go to all the quidditch practices he can to support his bf. And he would right poetry and stuff about how hot James is.

10) ohhh They would share glasses omggg poor Remus grows up thinking everyone has shit vision then one day he wears James's as a joke and voila the world in HD

I'm so ngl, your influence on my brain has become on the best influences it has ever had cause omg all this potential all this angst and fluff I love this new me mhmm mhmm

hsirbdij omggggg I love this sm!!! thank you for sharing your brain with me.

sunreader sounds so gorgeous. I'm going insane. I love love LOVE the name!

1) yeah are literally the sun and the moon! they are perfect!

3) lmao. so true. I love the idea of remus being super sarcastic towards james and james swoons at every mean comment and tries very hard not to (he fails miserably)

4) urghhhhh not the unrequited feelings while having to be a supportive bestie trope (my beloved). I can imagine how mad it drives remus to watch them like each other, but being to scared to admit it. imagine the heartbreak when remus sees harry alias the combination of his parents

5) yesss. remus needs someone to love him even through all of his flaws, someone who isn't his parents and james who is literally the embodiment of love

6) "everyone can see it, but them" trope fr. it's them idfk

7) you make a fair point, but there are sooooooo many characters living in the marauders characters that no one ever uses. you could ship sirius with so many characters that no one ever talks abt (I'm currently working on a post with all the characters that I could find so that they're all in one place)

8) peter and sirius my loves <3 no one talks about them (me included whoops-). they have such a big angst potential that people just seem to be ignoring (once again bc most people refuse to leave the wolfstar bubble and just refuse to ship peter with anyone in general)

9) they would be the definition of tooth rotting fluff. they would make everyone sick with how sweet they are. couple goals fr

10) remus is me fr. the day I got my glasses was eye-opening lmao

glad to see that I have this kind of effect on people. I said it to you before but I'll say it again: welcome to the way more funnier side of being a multishipper hehehehe

also: I think I'm in love with you. marry pls, I'm begging 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 (/j... unless)

#also if anyone heared me scream when I saw this ask #no you fucking didn't #marauders #marauders era #marauders fandom #remus lupin #james potter #moonchaser #sunreader #urgh love that ship name #remus x james #sirius x peter #mentioned at least #loves #the lover with the great ideas #wow... you're bad at parking

59 notes · View notes

stagefoureddiediaz · 1 year

Text

Costume meta 6x12

Thank you wardrobe team - for giving me half a chance with the costumes this week 😂 After the insane costume levels last week, it was nice to have fewer costumes to talk about this week! Have to admit I did go off on a bit of a side quest while writing this - shout out to fridge and beer theory 😳😂🤓

I'm not going to go character by character this week because they did something really interesting with the colour palette this episode. So I'm going to break things down colour by colour and it means I'll be talking about Wendell, Tamara and Connor as well!

Firstly there were 3 main colour in use in 6x12 - red blue and grey, with a couple of secondary colours also in play - the army drab green, white and pink. There were also some very interesting parallels at play in the costuming as well - not only in relation to the text, but specifically to the shooting - we see a lot of costume references to that arc as a whole and I'll go into those as we get to them.

as always the rest is below the cut to save your dash!

Red

So in 6x12 we see red/maroon used 4 times and on all 4 occasions its being worn by someone in the role of advisor and or parent/carer.

First up we have Athena (her in a rare denim wearing occurrence!!) in a wine red turtle neck - she is filling the role of advisor for Bobby here - providing him with information pertaining to the investigation into Wendell's death. she is displaying her care for Bobby and his wellbeing - pursuing a seemingly impossible task to help him get answers - she fully understands Bobbys need to pursue the case - the potential for it to impact on Bobbys sobriety if he's unable to get answers. I've spoken before about red being an energetic and powerful colour, we see both those aspects at play in this costume - Athena has powerful information that reenergises the case for Bobby. This is Athena in supportive spouse mode.

Next up we have Maddie - very intentionally in her dispatcher uniform and this putting her in maroon/burgundy. The use of her uniform is an indicator of Maddie managing things - putting up a sort of boundary. She is managing Buck in the same way she would manage one of her calls at dispatch. I need to mention the fact that Buck is in navy blue here - that he is wearing a tee that matches his own uniform and we barely see the grey joggers because he is standing behind the kitchen island. It is important to recognise that both of them are hiding behind being 'in uniform' and we see that fact effectively erecting barriers between them - it is only when the are both out of those colours that they are able to talk and understand (I'll talk more on that later on!).

Wendell's costume here is such a choice!!! Even if we hadn't been told in the previous flashback that Wendell was ex military, we would have been able to reach that conclusion ourselves because of this costume. does it remind you o the way they've styled anyone else on the show? perhaps a certain someone with their own military background?? thats right - this costume is straight out of the Eddie Diaz costume book! long sleeve maroon henley, olive drab combat style trousers and smartish leather boots. they've given Wendell his own twist - with the metal watch and the necklaces, but the look is deliberately meant to look similar to Eddie. The general audience will subconsciously draw the association.

For me this costume and its use in this particular scene is super fascinating - a conversation about 'getting back out there' and dating around a bit and the concept of impulsivity compared with Bobby knowing that Athena makes him feel like he's on solid ground. the costume is very much helping to foreshadow Eddies story here - he's going to take the road that Wendell suggests here - date around a bit - before figuring out what Bobby already has - that he wants and already has someone who makes him feel like he's on solid ground. the show has been paralleling Bathena and Buddie for a long time now, this is just another example of them doing this, especially because Bobby and Buck have been costume paralleled a lot, as have Athena and Eddie. The fact that the show has chosen to use this scene as part of this episode where those costume parallels are especially loud is really telling, clever and shows they're having fun with the build up of this slow burn!

Eddie - Like I've said above this is some very intentional costume paralleling going on in terms of foreshadowing for Eddie in the rest of season 6. But there is also the parallel to Athena and Maddie (we can pull Maddie into the paralleling because they chose to put Chimney in blue when Maddie get's home from work). the maroon is in the red part of the colour wheel and shares many of the same attributes - mostly relating to power, passion and confidence, but also its brown undertones hint at stability and comfort as well as protection.

These are all things we see from Eddie in the two scenes - the comfort and protection Eddie offers Buck in the first scene that allows Buck to fall asleep on the couch, with those same traits combining with stability, power and confidence in the kitchen scene. Eddie is the epitome of stability from bucks perspective - the Diaz house is a stable and supportive place and Eddie is at the centre of that for Buck. The power and confidence come from Eddies knowledge of Buck, giving him the space he needs and knowing when to push, but also from Eddie himself knowing where the line is - know ing that Buck won't benefit from Eddies full honesty at this point in time.

All of that is not the only thing that shirt is hinting at. I've spoken a lot about the use of maroon on male characters specifically as a symbol of fatherhood and parental responsibility and here is no different - Eddie making Christophers lunch in the kitchen scene (is this kitchen scene .3 or .4 ?) was a very deliberate choice for the simple reason that it connects to the shooting visually - right down to the choice of putting Eddie in dark trousers - mirroring Buck when he tells Christopher about his dad being shot. The Christopher of the equation remains relevant even now - as they actually talk about the shooting for the first time - he is not directly a part of the conversation, but he is still there in the background (in much the way the will still lingers in the background).

Blue

So fun overarching fact about the use of blue in this episode - it gets progressively lighter as the episode progresses! This is something the show has been playing with a bit this season - especially in connection with Buck. It's so informative as to the journeys of Bobby and Buck in this episode.

We do also see Chimney and Tamara in blue in this episode, but only once. Chimneys is in balance to the Red of Maddie - its playing into the colour trope of couples that we've seen the show use over and over to both draw parallels between the actual couples on the show as well as draw parallels with those couples and Buddie.

Here we Have Chimney in a shade of blue he wears a lot, I think this jumper is the same on we see him in when Maddie's kitchen floods, but the lighting is very different in the two scenes and that makes it hard to be sure. it is important to note that this blue doesn't sit in the same colour spectrum of the other blues in this episode - its much more of a green blue - having peacock or turquoise undertones. this is a deliberate choice - it still allows chimney to sit in the colour blocking of blue and red that we see in this episode and in the show more widely, but it also others him - he doesn't fit into the journey towards healing that we see the others go on.

Bobby goes through a spectrum of blue like I said. this first polo is really hard to define - its under a heavy filter which gives everything a greyish yellow tone - which the show uses in most of its flashback scenes. we can see its blue, but as to the specifics of shade, its hard to tell - it is definitely towards a navy colour, but not as dark.

This is a moment when Bobby is vulnerable, but is accepting of help - a darker navy wouldn't be the right choice here - bobby is in the darkness that navy hints at, but he is also accepting the help he asked for and this lighter slightly greener tone the filter gives the shirt shows us that - the greener tone suggesting growth.

Then we move on to the shirt we see Bobby in for most of the episode. The lighter navy with a bluish grey check pattern. The Check foreshadows (as always) the problems Bobby is going to face in his hunt for the truth of what happened to Wendell.

I loved the fact that they put Bobby and Tamara in similar shades of blue for this scene. its a brighter blue - much more of an azure or ultramarine blue - much more hopeful supportive and accepting. its meant to show us that they are in the same place emotionally, but also it ties the help they received from Wendell to the two of them - pointing out that because of him they are both on the right path .

Bobby then wears full dark navy blue when the Walshes are arrested (the picture of this is down in the other colours section of this post) with the same green jacket as the one he wears when he meets up with Tamara

Then we get this grey blue shirt when we see Bobby in full sponsor mode.

As you can see the blue gets progressively lighter as Bobby progresses through the episode and we end up with him a colour that matches the check from the first shirt. I think this is intentional - that we're supposed to read it as Bobby breaking out of things that have been holding him back up to now. The other thing about this blue/grey shirt is that it's almost the same colour as the knit polo that Buck is wearing . This is telling me two things - we are supposed to make the connection between where Bobby is at and where Buck is at respectively - that they are at similar points in their respective healing journeys - something made more obvious by the two costumes being worn at the same time in their respective scenes. The other thing it's doing is reinforcing the father son aspect of Bobby and Bucks relationship - visually connecting the two of them at the same time as the script.

Buck in navy - like I said above - this is very much about reflecting Bucks LAFD uniform - especially in relation to Maddie, Josh and to a point Hen. we get to see the grey sweatpants much more when it comes to Hen, because this is the person Buck has been most honest with up to this point and then Connor - once Buck establishes he's not part of Maddies schedule!

The navy is also an outward manifestation of Bucks internal struggles with the whole dying part of his reality post lightning strike. navy is often associated with depression and with avoiding confrontation (one of the reasons its used as a uniform colour so often) and attention. Here we have a Buck who is trying to do both - avoid causing confrontation and trying to deflect attention away from himself (the script also shows us this by is his leaving a note and running to Eddies) ad well as making it obvious that Buck is struggling with his mental health and over facing up to the reality that he died.

The final costume we see Buck in is this very light blue knit polo - which has grey undertones and connects in with crash and learn and the locker room conversation Buck has with Hen - about the secret to happiness. Having seen Buck in blue or grey for all of the episode, this bluish grey merges the two colours together and implies that the two different versions of Buck - the closed off navy blue one and the honest vulnerable grey ones have merged - erring more towards the grey version of Buck than the navy one. this is a clear choice - it shows Buck accepting and embracing that more vulnerable version of himself and we see that in action when he talks to Maddie about her over the top schedule.

The other thing with this pale blue is that it ties into a series of moments we've seen from Buck since 5x18. The blue suit of Hen and Karens wedding - representing the freeing himself of Taylor, the blue shirt from the locker room conversation with Hen when we see Buck really start to think about what it is that he wants/needs to be happy and when we find out that Kameron is pregnant, and now this one. All of these are moments when Buck is making progress in figuring out what he wants and how he can find his happiness - in some ways they are like the use of Bucks white shoes - where as those are a more general representation of his journey - the smaller steps as it were, these blue outfits are bigger strides forward.

Grey

I have so many thoughts about the grey of it all in this episode!! We only see Buck and Athena in grey.

Athena wears this grey turtleneck and waterfall front cardigan combo. Grey is a neutral colour, but it is also a colour of compromise and here we see Athena essentially compromising with bobby and giving him the information he needs to get in contact with Tamara.

The ribbed grey jumper that Buck wears to Eddies house along with the lighter grey sweats is such a choice. First thing to point out- this jumper has been put on over the navy blue tee - we can see a slither of the tee in the picture below - between the jumper and the sweats (costume department for the win on little details like these!)

Grey is like I said above a neutral colour, but it is also somewhat ambiguous - because of its place between black and white on the colour chart. it is also associated with wisdom and maturity. here we have a Buck who is being mature in his recovery - being wise

The fact that the ribbing gives the jumper an air of chainmail is also an interesting thing, it hints at the idea of protection - its not the full on protection of plate armour, but it is non the less a protective layer - in this instance it is Buck both protecting himself from Maddie's overbearing (but well meant) schedule, but it also serves as a barrier for the kitchen conversation - that in between stage we've spoken of, where Buck and Eddie aren't fully ready to talk about the full implications of the shooting. Eddie reads it and doesn't go into the full truth of what he remembers - the grey jumper is the visual representation of the fact Buck is still not fully ready to talk about it (even if Eddie is).

The use of ribbing also means this jumper fits into a theory i've been keeping an eye on since 6x01 with regards to Buck and vertical stripes - you can read it at the end of the 6x01 meta if you haven't already read it. Essentially though - Buck seems to wear vertical stripes when he is emotionally imprisoned or trapped in some way. this jumper is maybe stretching the metaphor a bit, but the theory works for this scenario - Buck is struggling - reckoning with death and the emotional trauma that has brought him. Its going to be interesting to see if this continues to play out in the rest of 6b!

The final thing to point out about this jumper is the long sleeves - and this ties into the costumes of all the other characters as well - when around Buck. If Buck is wearing short sleeves everyone else is wearing long sleeves and if Buck is wearing long sleeves, then the characters he interacts with (only Eddie) are wearing short sleeves. This is significant - Buck is his most open and honest about where he is at with his recovery etc when he's wearing long sleeves and his opposite is wearing short. Eddie wearing short sleeves appears to be concealing things from Buck - much like Buck has been doing with everyone else in this episode - not being completely honest with them. its a play on the idea of Buck being good at hiding his true feelings from others - in physical form and only making himself vulnerable when he has protections in place and he's with one of the few people who can understand his trauma (Chimney is the other one but we don't see them interact in this episode!).

Other colours

Hens costume is very much carrying on her costume theme from 6x11 - which is perfect - the orange brown and green place her in the same context as we saw her last week - its a form of continuity - she is still the representation of emotional strength and optimism through the orange, the brown is still the representation of stability and the green (which has gotten brighter) is still a reference to growth and security and health. The green being more obvious this epsiode is showing us the improvement in Bucks health - Hen is the most skilled medic on the show - her being in green is a show of that in connection with other characters when the scene is not about her directly - in this case - Buck and his health post death and resurrection.

Connor is an interesting one this week, the tan/beige jacket combined with the baby pink and blue pinstripe shirt is telling me a lot of things! Firstly the beige - beige is considered a 'boring' colour and as such it is often used to mask other things - its a colour that 'blends in with the crowd' and it being worn as an outer here is very much playing into that as a concept - outwardly Connor is deflecting attention away from himself - from his own internal struggles

The pink and blue pinstripe shirt however is saying a whole lot, firstly the use of pale pink and blue - colours that often have 'baby' placed in front of them as a denotation or the specific shades - baby pink and baby blue. This automatically and subconsciously encourages the brain to think about babies - the central theme of Connors arc on the show - pregnancy, babies/children and fatherhood or pending fatherhood.

Pink has lots of meanings attached to it, but pale or baby pinks are generally considered to represent immaturity and or naivety and I think that is what its use is trying to suggest here - it is foreshadowing and hinting at Connors actual feelings around Kameron's pregnancy.Its telling us that Connor hasn't actually thought through (not necessarily intentionally) the full reality of being/becoming a father when the child is not genetically his - its hinting that that is his journey (and Bucks) for the remainder of the season and pregnancy.

Again there are lots of meanings that can be attached to blue and it comes in a myriad of shades (probably the most wide range of shades of any colour to be honest) which also impacts its meaning. The blue pinstripes here are very much of the baby blue variety there are a couple of things that I think the use of blue here is trying to tell us - firstly blue at the lighter end of the spectrum tends to be positive, it also tends to be responsible and reliable. the fact that the blue stripes 'run through' the pink - the implication being that it runs through that naivety that I spoke about a moment ago - thats essentially a good thing - its telling us that the outcomes of this arc will be positive - I'm guessing that Connor will get his head around being a dad - learning and understanding that genetics don't necessarily make a father.

The other thing we need to talk about with regards to Connor - that I spotted and I think hints at things to come is his wedding band. in the above picture he is wearing it on his right hand rather than his left - as he has done all the way up to this point. THis can only be an intentional choice - in America the most common finger to wear a wedding band on is the left ring finger (its not something that would get missed or that would be put on the wrong hand by accident). Connors wedding band changing hands is pretty telling.

Interestingly there are a few things about wearing a wedding band on the right hand instead of the left - it is common in many countries - including Peru (👀) but it is also symbolic - before gay marriage was legal, it was (and still is) common for same sex couples to wear rings on their right hands as a show of commitment. The other (and possibly more relevant reason here) is that it is a fairly common thing for people cheating on their partner to do - it can be a signal of availability. Now I'm not saying Connor is out and out cheating on Kameron, what I am saying is that his wedding ring changing hands may be a visual signal that he is struggling with his relationship and is emotionally not al in it at the moment - that he is perhaps not feeling connected to his marriage because of his struggles with the baby and not being able to emotionally invest in that aspect of his relationship at this moment.

Its going to be very interesting and telling the next time we see Connor and Kameron on screen together if the ring changes back - and if we see it on the right hand again!

Maddie in black and pink when Buck and her have an honest conversation about their individual trauma and the way its interconnected is an interesting choice the black and pink has similar vibes to the maroon and black of Maddie's uniform, except its dressed down, its more flow-y and as a result more inviting of Bucks honesty and Maddie's own admissions. The pink is representing Maddie's nurturing tendencies, but also her unconditional love for her brother. I've said before that black is a colour of power and sophistication - here those traits are showing the power of growth and sophistication is both Maddie and Buck developing and understanding the complexities of their traumas and developing better ways of dealingwih them.

I've included the picture of the shooting below at this point because I want to highlight a couple of things. I've used this picture because its the only time we can see all of what Buck is wearing - White high-tops, black socks, grey trousers and the infamous white shirt with grey pinstripes.

Tamara is the first costume hint at the shooting arc we get in the episode. the white pinstripe shirt and the white high-tops are very much a direct reference to Bucks outfit. If we look at the bigger picture here and look at both the arc and the characters as a whole then we can see clear similarities between this arc and the shooting arc.

We have an 'overdose' as the catalyst in both arcs. Charlie both being dosed by his mother and his act of overdosing her, which leads to Eddie being shot as he tries to help. Then we have Tamara - in the same position as Charlie - she's being controlled in a similar way by the Walshes through her previous drug use etc. Wendell fills the role of Eddie in this arc - he is the one that goes in to help Tamara and ends up 'shot' (read shooting up as a metaphor for being shot!) as he tries to help. Only unlike Eddie, Wendell does actually die. Tamara also fits into the same roll as Buck - she is there when Wendell dies - in the same way Buck is there when Eddie gets shot.

Bobby and Athena placed in essentially the same roles (more on Athena in a moment) as in the shooting - a bit more of a lean into Bobby solving things where as Athena was more filling that role in the shooting arc, but the outcome is the same.

The arrest of the Walshes shows Athena back in her usual colour ways of black olive drab and white, which is an important touchstone for us as viewers (especially after we spent so much time in a coma world last week), but it also plays into the shooting arc throwbacks with her costume - the leather jacket is not identical, but its almost the same as the one she wears for most of the investigation into the shooter in the season 4 arc.

Finally we get Athena in this amazing purple jacket - dark purple being a colour of magic, spirituality enlightenment and wisdom. this jacket is in its own way connected to the shooting arc - the fact that Bobby didn't let Athena in that time - when he was trying to sponsor the drunk driver from blindsided (4x09). It shows us just how far they have both come since that moment.

Finally I have to talk about Bucks white high-tops because they were very prominent in this episode. I've had the theory for a while that they represent his journey towards happiness (there is a post on my pinned post all about it if you haven't read it or want a refresher!).

He wears them all the time he's not at the loft in this episode - their most prominent appearance is on Eddies Coffee table (buck I love you but you're a heathen!!) - literally the only time you should put your feet up on the coffee table is when you are at home - never at someone elses house - this plays into the whole 'this is Eddies house, I'm not really a guest' of it all. the fact that he does so in his white high-tops is actually really important - we've never seen those shoes anywhere except the floor up to now - Buck putting his feet up while wearing them is a symbol of both him being at home/ coming home, as well as a symbol - its foreshadowing that Buck's journey to find happiness ends here - at home in the Diaz house and as a part of the Diaz family!

we also see him wearing them at the park when he is contemplating the fire that lead to him being hit by lightnin after his appointment with Dr Salazar - again this is Buck very much on his journey - he is contemplative and making progress!

And there we have it 6x12 costume meta done!! Thank you as always for reading - it really does mean the world to me that you're interested in the costuming of our wee woo show!!

As always tagged people below - if anyone wants to be added to (or removed from) the list please let me know in the comments and I'll add you to the next one! Same goes if your url has changed and the tag is no longer working 😎

Until the next episode! 💜💜💜

@mistmarauder @theladyyavilee @loveyourownsmiilee @leothil @girldadbuddie @kitkatpancakestack @buckscurls @lemotmo @trashendence @elishareads @clipboardsandstethoscopes @comfortbuddie @fiona-fififi @callanee @calyssmarviss @pbandjeremiah @batgrldes @spotsandsocks @livingwherethesidewalkends @idontshitpostbuttheolympicpark @diazboysbuckley @sweettsubaki @shortsighted-owl @sherlocking-out-loud @dickley-buddie @favouritealias @hearteyesdiaz @ktinastrikesback @princesschez75 @bucksbuddie @oneawkwardcookie @leatherat @moniquekatie @wanderingwomanwondering @trickster-archangel @outrunningthedark @asharadaine @ajunerose @talespinner230 @pop-kam @swiftiebuckleys @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @butchjerry @mandzuking17 @yelenascowboys @copyninjabuckley @name-code-black-widow @rogerzsteven @bi-moonlight @wandiinha

#kym costume meta #911 costume meta #6x12 costume meta #911 costumes #911 on fox #911 fox #911onfox #evan buckley #bobby nash #athena grant #maddie buckley #eddie diaz #hen wilson #chimney han #911 meta #911 season 6

220 notes · View notes

isaactheterrible · 1 year

Text

TF2 Mercs Yandere Version

Trigger Warning: Violence, Abusive Behavior, Stalking

(Disclaimer: This is based on the TF2 comics and the personalities of the mercs in them, this is what I kind yandere I personally think the mercs would be. Gender neutral reader)

1.Medic

-Obssessive medical yandere

-100% will kidnap you

-Will probably spend years studying you

-Vivisecting you, dismembering you, pulling you apart and putting you back together, learning everything about you

-You're his special interest he loves spending hours studying and memorizing everything there is to know about you

-Probably the most awful and dangerous out of all them, has no regard for your feelings or safety after all if you die he can just put you back together

2.Scout

-Delusional yandere

-He knows the two of you are meant to be and hey! You are probably already together, you're just taking things slow that's all he's sure of it

-Buys little items that remind him of you such as the same shampoo as you

-Obsessed with chivalry, keeps insisting that he pay for you despite him not always having the funds to do so, insists you wear his jacket even if he's freezing his balls off ect

-Gets jealous easily due to how insecure he is

-He keeps acting like the two of you are dating but won't cross your physical boundaries

-Would never hurt you physically but he will completely break down if you get with someone else

-Takes him days to get out of his depression room, he has convinced himself you'll choose him eventually

-Not that dangerous, at most he'll get into a fistfight with your S/O in a Wendy's parking lot

3.Demoman

-Two-faced yandere

-He fell for you the moment he saw you, he just knew you were the one

-Tries to befriend you at first but almost immediately introduces you to his mother, the two of you need to get along otherwise it's a deal breaker

-If you passed the test he's already planning your wedding and future

-He does his best to clean up his act and be the ideal image of the perfect man and future husband to you

-He doesn't steal from you or violate your boundaries but he will solve any "problems" that might get between you too

-He will kill anyone that threatens your perfect life, serial killer on the side

-He trust you because he loves you but it's best that you never betray that trust

-Not that dangerous for you but extremely dangerous to everyone around you

4.Heavy

-Overly protective yandere

-He will kidnap you and force you to live in a cold cabin in Siberia in the middle of nowhere

-For your own good of course, he has tons of enemies and he needs to keep you safe, the world can't know of your existence

-You could try to run but there's nowhere to go, nothing but cold and snow for kilometers around

-You are stuck there essentially forever cause he doesn't believe you can actually protect yourself without him

-Incredibly boring, all that exists is cold and books and we'll him

-You are slowly going insane in the place

-Very dangerous yandere, he won't kill you but you'll end up chained for years potentially if you try to leave, why can't you just understand he wants to protect you?

5.Pyro

-Codepended Nightmare

-You will never be alone again, clingiest MF

-Good thing is that they don't need that much attention, just being around you and maybe napping on your shoulder is enough

-You're one of the only things that bring them joy

-Will draw you a lot and give you lots of little trinkets and gifts

-If you force them to go in a different room they'll sit outside the door waiting for you

-Not that jealous or possessive will be happy to have other people around

-Might hurt you out of pain and anger if you try to leave

-Pretty dangerous to both you and your safety

6.Engineer

-Possessive Yandere

-He has strong abandonment uses and is convinced you'll leave him for someone else if you ever get that chance

-Will isolate you and sabotage your relationships, at first from anyone he sees as competition and then everyone else as well

-He doesn't do it from a place of wanting to own you but from a place of insecurity

-Might kidnap you if you try to leave but only as a last resort, he really doesn't want to hurt you but he'd rather do it than be alone again

-Very dangerous mostly cause he prioritizes his desire for companionship over your right to freedom

7.Soldier

-Absolute nutcase and menace to society

-He fell in love with you, congratulations you're technically married now!

-You are pretty much stuck with him, you two are joined at the hip with him ranting about whatever to you

-Would do ANYTHING for you, except leave you alone of course

-Not at all jealous and pretty chill about your obvious discomfort and escape attempts

-He can't and won't listen to reason, he's too far gone

-Not particularly pushy but very volatile

-That being said he's still incredibly dangerous

8.Spy

-Controlling ass mf

-On the positive side you will be showered in gifts and luxuries

-On the negative side you get to choose pretty much nothing about your life

-You have an image to maintain so your friends, your clothing, your food, the places you go to are all completely out of your control

-You will probably quickly lose your sanity and if you do you will be shipped off to the highest quality glorified re-education mental hospital

-The doctors aren't here to help you their here to make you more obedient

-Run away as far as you can but he'll always find you, he's a danger to you and all your loved ones, willing to destroy you if it means controlling you

9.Sniper

-Stalker

-Has entire folders and USB sticks dedicated to you

-Knows your social security number by heart, your current location, your address, your friends, any dangerous people in your area, EVERYTHING

-Watches from afar helping here and there like a guardian angel

-Has put cameras and voice recording devices in your house

-He doesn't collect memorabilia such as t-shirts or other forgotten items

-He does take a lot of pictures and his room is a bit of a messy shrine to you

-Absolutely shook if you approach him first, it's just too much for him he's experiencing too much emotion and might hide away out of embarrassment

-Not that dangerous as he has no interest in intervening with your life unless it's about your safety

139 notes · View notes

deimosbreakfrost · 3 months

Text

Total Drama Island (2023) S2 "Rewrited" au

A possibly cringe Fan Fic that I'll hate on the future

So, this is a fan fic of an Rewrited au of mine... """""Rewrited""""" because I'll change alot of things and I am just making this fan fic for fun while showing you guys what I would change.

Okay, let I start this modern tragedy already.

First part:

Episode 01, The kids will (not) be okay:

-The episode starts with Chris, Chef and the entire cast from the Total Drama island (2023) on a plane, going to a new season in a "new" place. Chris was talking to someone by a Walkie Talkie.

*Biiz*

???: Mr. McLean, seriously that you're lying to them saying that they're going to some kind of "total drama: World Tour" 2?

Chris: umm... Maybe--?

???: McLean! That's pratically clickbai-

Chris: Hey! Don't you dare use this "modern generation" language on me! Anyways, be ready because we're almost getting to there.

???: ah, ok-

- Chris ends the transmission

Chris: wow! That boy still annoying...

Chef: Chris, we're recording!

Chris: Ah, don't worry! After this introduction we will be finally free! ... I mean, just me, not you!

Chef: grr...

Chris: ah, calm down! Anyways, it's been a year 'total drama fans'! Since we don't see Each other THAT long, I'll give y'all a quick recap.

Last season on Total Drama Island:

16 new contestants showed up with the dream of taking that 1 million dollars price.

And the eliminations we're surprising!

Caleb was just there. until he even had the chance of doing something, Bowie made everyone eliminate him! Poor boy...

Nichelle humiliated herself Infront of everyone.

Emma HAD a chance of showing to everyone on live tv that Chase is (or was) a horrible person, but Chase was luckier than her.

Julia was boring, the way she talked, the "spiritual, love and peace" things that she normally talks about was annoying enough to her team.

Wayne would do anything and everything for his best friend Raj, and he was more than happy when he found out about his buddy's secret!

Scary Girl was Creepy, but not for Axel and Ripper! They we're her Unic friends that she had in a while, and the Unic ones that think that her actions are more annoying than scary.

Priya was pathetic! Seriously that she think her parents are so great that she easily go insane when someone criticizes them? Pff, surely the most well deserved elimination of that season.

Mk was smart, a little too much. And because of that, she went from being Bowie's Allie, to be a traitor! Well, it was that, that Bowie made everyone believe.

Raj has a secret, he loves Bowie! And because of that, he made our fandom go wild for them! The fandom loves them! Especially that people from that one Social Media that has "Tum" on the start...

And Chase knowed About that! The fact that Bowie and Raj we're dating, of course. Not the fact that the fandom is crazy for them. So, as a indirect revenge for MK, he was double eliminated with Raj!

Ripper and Damien have a... Interesting friendship. A "nerd hater" and a nerd!

Ripper was... Adorable? Yeah, he went from being a pathetic alpha male wannabe, from being a even nicer version of Owen, and because of that "adorable" personality that he gained he made Damien, Zee and especially Chase be his best friends! (Axel and scary girl too) Good for him, I guess.

Damien screamed a lot until His friends convinced him that being public humiliated in live television isn't that bad!

And Millie was nice, she tried to write a book about how much this generation is potentially bad, but after Priya's elimination, she learned that it was just a exception! There IS good people from this generation, you just need to find the right ones! (Priya not included)

And let's go to the final 3...

Axel, she had everything to win! The strength, the power, the personality... But, Ripper and Scary Girl missed her, so they finded a way to make her go back to them! That's what you gain when you are friends with a fake emo and ex-bad boy.

Zee, how did he got in there?! He could easily be eliminated until the merge but no one wanted to! And if wasn't for the "milk" part of the last challenge, he would have won! But he didn't.

And Bowie won! He used and eliminated half of the cast not counting with Wayne and Raj, of course.

Chris: So yeah, EVERYONE that I mentioned is back!

-Then it cuts to Chris in the passagers cabin with the 16 participants.

All the 16 participants are in here

The one that went out first:

Caleb: I'll make YOU guys regret voting me off...

-Caleb said in anger, while pointing at Bowie

Bowie: geez...

Ripper: you got a bit 'edgy' after 1 year, huh?

Caleb: what?

The most misunderstood one:

Ripper: huh?

Chase: wait, since when Ripper is misunderstood?

And the worse one:

Chase: excuse me?!

Emma: pff...

And of course, the winner:

Bowie: yeah, exactly, me!

Chris: well, I don't know if you guys noticed but Bowie was the Unic villain after a long time that won a season, the Unic one that did that was heather.

Bowie: wait, reall-

Chris: okay, this is slowly getting boring! So let's make the things end quickly!

-the ground below all the participants opened up, making all the participants fall into The water.

Chris: Ahaha... I'll miss that, and Chef already leaved without even saying "bye"!!

-Chris quickly ran to the drivers cabin, grabbing the plane's volant and taking control of it.

Chris: arg! Okay, I'll be quick! This surely the last time you all will see me hosting this program! Yeah, this is Sooo sad! But listen up! The future is bullet proof and the aftermath WILL be secundary! And time to them do it now and do it loud! I am Chris McLean, and I'll never, EVER see y'all again! Bye, losers!!

-after Chris leaved everyone behind, the scene cuts to the brand new hosts

...

Topher: Yeah, we're finally hosting our favorite reality show ever!

Sierra: But it's just so sad that Chris is gone for like... Forever?

Topher: nah, judging by the way he is he'll surely randomly appear when we Least expect it or something. But anyways, yeah, Chris finally gave his role as host for someone else!

Sierra: two to be exact.

Topher: yeah, right! Anyways, I am Topher! I was a participant of Pahkitew island!

Sierra: and I'm Sierra--!! I was a participant of World Tour!

Topher: and if you haven't noticed yet...

*Both Sierra and Topher say together*

We are the brand new hosts of total drama island

...

Topher: season 2.

Sierra: you don't need to explain it to the Audience-

Topher: okay, now pull the opening already.

17 notes · View notes

moroser · 1 year

Text

[incoming long and personal and dark post]

it dawned on me that it’s april and that means it’s been 6 years since i stopped doing drugs. big achievement. i did weed the whole time, thinking i needed it to keep away from the worse stuff, but i stopped that too, almost 2 months ago now. everything i’m about to talk about i did without anyone in my life (offline) noticing and all by myself.

my entire life has been unstable and so difficult. and i mean difficult and sad. i used to drink pretty heavily, but i stopped when i found pills. i was taking pretty much any opioid i could find, i even stole them. i was text book addict with pills. i had every excuse to keep going with it, it made sense to me at the time. i was in so much pain mentally, emotionally, and eventually, physically. taking them was reprieve.

eventually, i was taking so many a day, quite honestly i should have died. my brain was blank, i lost my creativity and i stopped drawing, which is the one thing i love the most to do. create. even though i did not stop, the fact i felt nothing in that realm anymore was heartbreaking. i’d spent several nights staring at the ceiling practically waiting to die. i had one dream that i can remember while on drugs and it was of me staring at myself opened-eyed and dead on my bed. it shook me.

the drugs affected my ability to think, cry and feel, then one day on my way to work, after taking so many, i got so sick on the side of the road on the freeway several times. eventually i pulled off into a town i didn’t know and passed out in the parking lot of a gas station for who knows how long. i woke up dazed with the taste of puke in my mouth, and totally dehydrated. i missed work, i was embarrassed with myself. i have no idea how long i sat there for before getting out of the car to walk around. eventually i made it home but i felt like i wasn’t the same after that.

decided to detox (after trying before, and failing), which was the worst events i’ve been through in my life. took days, nearly a week to get over the worst of the symptoms. i don’t think i slept at all. i was so sick, shakes and chills, vomiting, etc. i let spongebob play for the entire time, that sponge grounded me lol. i’d made it through that time. and i stuck too it, using my desire to feel my creativity again and wanting to be better to my body to stay away from relapse.

2017 i cleared my system of alcohol, pills, energy drinks, pop, and the only thing i’d let myself use was weed because i felt it would stop me from everything else. and technically, it did. it aided me for a long time. but the passed ~3 years i’ve been so ill with stomach issues and nausea and throwing up that i decided to stop that too.

so now i’ve been completely sober for 1 month and 21 days. for the first time since high school i have nothing in my system that is altering me the way substance abuse has. it’s been a major adjustment. my focus is shit, my sleeping is difficult and my dreams are insanity. it literally feels like i’m sleeping just to wake up somewhere else because my dreams are so vivid and clear. i wake up every four hours having to adjust and remember i actually live here, not in dreamland. i didn’t dream at all while on drugs or weed, so in a way, i welcome the vibrancy of them.

looking back, none of those things helped me. they only broke and shrouded my spirit with a darkness i don’t want to feel ever again. i want to be healthy and i want to give my body the chances that it deserves. i want to heal properly. i want to live so much. i want to find someone to be with that will understand me and accept me even with my flaws and history. i feel better already, but i know there’s still a long journey ahead and i can only hope it gets better. i deserve better. i know i’m a good person. i know i have so much creative potential in me and it’s what i want to give my energy and soul to.

thanks for listening, if you read this. i am proud of myself for getting as far as i have but the support from my friends and strangers online has been a colossal sense of communal help i’ve never had offline. sharing my art has been a big help and just people enjoying it means so much to me. thank you.

#tw drugs #tw death #journaling again cause its what i do #dont do drugs please. take it from me #tw addiction

80 notes · View notes

prismaticpichu · 9 months

Text

Nibelheim Roadblock #1 ~ “Flip-Phone”

Sent by @altocat!! Tysm!! <3

“I want to be alone.”

Zack had been told that a total of three times—a total of three times, to match the three times he had tried to visit Sephiroth in that godforsaken library. One visit for the first three days he had been holed up there. And the thing was that each time it got gradually more aggressive, too, morphing and sharpening from an aching, quiet request to a jagged snarl. The last one had been a snarl, anyway. The guy simply whipped around the second he crossed the threshold and told him to get away.

So… going back wasn’t exactly an option.

It then occurred to him, a staggering three days later, that he didn’t need to go back.

Sephiroth had his PHS with him. His PHS.

Conveniently, ShinRa also made sure he had the best of the best too—y’know, the ones with insanely long battery life that could survive perhaps a week without being touched? Yeah. Sephiroth had that in his pocket the whole damn time.

Thus, the plan was simple: call Sephiroth, as opposed to potentially losing a finger trying to go back. The worst he could do was not answer, right? And then he could just keep calling until he did. Sephiroth would have to tell him to shut up eventually.

So, sitting on an old bench in the heart of town, Zack punched in his friend’s number and brought the phone to his ear

———

Little did anyone know that Her grasp was near complete. Sephiroth sat completely still in that desk, a book open, yet having long stopped digesting any of the words written. It was futile; he already had absorbed everything that he needed to know—everything to give Her life, to nourish Her, to finally give Her a voice that could breathe hexing calls into his ears.

And now, with his mind a barren field, She was ready. At last. Ready to sew the final, culminating thought that would end it all.

Leave this place.

Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed, listening.

Unleash that rage. That hatred. Let those humans suffer for what they did to you.

Sephiroth reached into his pocket, fingers grazing the spherical contours of a Firaga.

Burn the—

BRIIIIINNGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!

The obnoxious sound cut through the silence—RENDED IT—exploding across the hollow noiselessness that had fallen over the past seventy two hours. And as most explosions do, it sent the hapless individual who happened to be in its radius flying backwards.

Sephiroth jolted up from his chair in a sudden, whipping stand—and coupled with the lack of hydration or nourishment in a dangerously long amount of time, the abrupt movement was not something his body was willing to handle. The headache came on fast—BLITZED HIM—his hands flying to his head in a viselike clutch as he stumbled backwards and into the nearest bookshelf. Countless records cascaded down, each and every one managing to crash against the startled warrior’s skull, one after another, bringing Sephiroth to his knees as he proceeded to crumble against the now-skeletal bookshelf.

Needless to say that a goddamn eruption was not was Zack was expecting to hear when the line clicked. He dropped everything then, tearing through the town and into the manor and down the stairs and towards the library where he prayed with everything he had that all limbs were still in their respective sockets.

They were.

What he found upon arriving was Sephiroth, still very much intact, but slumped bonelessly against an empty bookshelf, a lonesome Firaga having rolled under the desk like a runaway meatball.

“Oh my god, Seph!” Zack bolted to his side and melted to his knees, sweeping books off his body like fallen debris. “Hey, can you hear me? Are you okay?”

Thankfully, it was only a few beats that passed before Sephiroth struggled his eyes open.

“Mnhm… My head….” he moaned feebly.

Relief crashed over the boy, relaxing back on his knees. “Yeah….” he said with an assuaged sigh. “That looked like a pretty nasty spill.”

“…Is clear….”

Zack blinked. “Huh?”

“The buzzing….” Sephiroth elaborated. “N’it’s…. gone.”

“….’Buzzing?’” Zack parroted, not any less confused than a few seconds ago.

“She told me…. to listen… but I didn’t want to, at first….” Sephiroth coughed. “Then the buzzing started….”

Oh man. He hit his head so hard that he was delirious.

Zack’s eyes softened into concerned sympathy, and he promptly slipped under his friend’s arm then, using his own body as a makeshift crutch as he carefully arched his spine and aided Sephiroth to a stand.

“Let’s get you out of here, buddy. A nice long nap will cure that headache of yours in no time.”

And your brain.

Sephiroth didn’t protest as Zack began guiding him towards the door, one step at a time, didn’t struggle or balk or question as he was gingerly led up the stairs and back into the foyer, back into the dank upstairs level that he hadn’t graced since nearly a week prior.

But it was there at the door, before they stepped into the liberating Nibelheim air, that Sephiroth let a single, slurred word roll viscously from his tongue. He was hardly aware of it, was hardly aware of its weight. He just knew it meant something.

“Mon… ster….”

It didn’t take much thought to realize what he was insinuating. It didn’t take much time to think of a response, either. Not when we had been thinking it non stop for the past seven days.

“You’re not.” Zack gave his friend a reassuring squeeze, keeping his voice soft yet vehement. “Genesis was wrong, you hear me? You are you, buddy. No matter what funky alien DNA you got. You can’t forget that too… okay?”

They stepped out into the wintry, amber dusk, a funny smile crossing Zack’s lips.

“Y’know, was actually gonna tell you all that on the phone. Thought maybe it’d get through to your ears better.”

….Phone?

Even with consciousness sloshing around in his head, fading in and out in its wavering dance, Sephiroth still caught that single, strange word. And it did something, inside him… sparked something—a memory, and that memory had someone in it…. a shape he recognized… a name he remembered… And that memory, through all the questions still swimming around in his head, through the aches and open wounds, managed to break through to the surface.

“….Zack….” Sephiroth mumbled.

Zack’s face came alight with a smile, another surf of relief crashing. “Yeah, buddy. I’m right here.”

“….This is…. the second time… you caused me physical pain with a phone call.”

#sephiroth #ffvii #zack fair #crisis core #fangirl #nibelheim #pichu writing #weenie hut jrs #nibelheim fix-it #ff7 #stupidity #randomness #floof

38 notes · View notes

weekend-whip · 8 months

Note

I've been wondering this for quite some time now, is book 3/s2 of Legacyverse like a mixture of the actual movie and season 2? Because like their vibes kinda fit well, with the whole "Garmadon consistently scheming to do evil and take over" and "Lloyd uses love to purify his father"

Yes, 100%! And as a matter of fact, the two fitting together sooooo well is what inspired the entirety of Legacyverse in the first place! Book 3/S2 is the "actual" story I've been wanting to tell for ages, but of course building on it and building on it let to the need of rewriting the pilots and S1, and pushing a few movie events back into the plots of those first ;P

Like, the movie's general plot adds so much structure to all the otherwise mish-mashed events of Season 2, while S2 gives waaaay better reasons for character motivations (that aren't just chalked off as a quick joke or not even remotely probed at until toward the end). I've always seen them as two halves of a whole from a story standpoint.

For example, Lloyd's not just hated for simply being Garmadon's son, but people are rightfully upset that he had a hand in the unleashing of the Serpentine (and subsequently the Great Devourer). And having the constant M!Garmadon attacks blend with S!Garmadon's constantly scheming against the Ninja gives both a reason and a short-term goal for each attack (rather than it being just at random or a scheme-of-the-day thing), while the group being in high school makes it easier to better explain/incorporate some of the extra dicking around the Ninja do in early S2 (the Darkley's visit, that race, the museum visit(s), the untapped insanity of the Bizarros having to pretend to be students for a day, etc).

And that's not even touching on the second half of the movie + the Dark Island stuff! (Which I am very very excited for. Like, literally, both have forests to explore, army camps to navigate through, an ancient temple with FSM family secrets to reach at the top of a mountain...it's like a matching game!)

And, of course, Lloyd saving his father with the power of love parallels and pairs very nicely with his forgiving speech towards the end of the movie, so yes that is another thing I am incredibly hyped to write about.

The movie and S2 have SO much potential to bring out the best in each other, and that's been my driving force this whole time! *-*)9

#this was a very long way to say 'yes' but...YES :D #ninjago #the lego ninjago movie #tlnm #legacyverse #the ninja legacy whip #asks from nice people

28 notes · View notes

cats-mayhem · 9 months

Text

My top 5 favorite twst characters and why I like them.

Erm. It's in the title. So let's get into it.

Everything is undercut in case you don't wanna see or somethn.

5. Jamil Viper

Jamil! I honestly think he's one of the most relatable characters. At least in my opinion. He's been told to hold back all his life, and because he does hold back, he thinks he's better than everyone else and thinks that if only he could show his true potential, then everyone will see him as better. BUT He isn't better than everyone. Book 6 really sold me on Jamil since his interactions with Leona felt so real. He isn't better than Leona. He isn't holding back anymore and yet he's still falling behind. And that hits him! He honestly has some of the best development in the series. Also Book 4 is just really good! I like how it delves into Jamil's backstory and his motivations for why he needs an elaborate plan to get Kalim dethroned as Housewarden. He wants to have some level of superiority that doesn't just exist in his head and he deserves it! Give him a break he's been through so much. He's also one of the funniest people in the cast I only say facts.

4. Rook Hunt

First things first. He is French and I'm not defending him from that. ANYWAYS He is also so fucking fun. He's so out of pocket for this game it's insane. He will say something very long-winded and poetic about leadership or beauty. And then the next sentence he's fantasizing about ripping a mans throat out. THAT MOMENT IN THE HALLOWEEN EVENT? Where Sebek is freaking out and Rook places Sebeks hand on his rapidly-beating heart and tells him that despite his calm demenour, he is also panicked but understands that being calm and logical is the best way to go about this. And that calms Sebek down. And then Trey is like "Don't tell me you can also control your heartbeat." and Rook is like "I'll let you decide on that!" LIKE?? HELLO?? He's so funny. On another note, I do like how he is the most mature student in this damn school. He's honest and upfront in his own way. He hardly lies, only really sugarcoats with his unique way of speaking. Vil literally points out that Rook didn't think their performance at the VDC was all that good since he didn't call it "beautiful" and Rook admits to it. He wanted to keep everyones high spirits but also didn't want to lie so he said something along the lines of "It was the best performance we could've given." or something like that. He's just so poetic and FRENCH that he just appeals to me.

3. Leona Kingscholar

Leona!!! Book 2 did my man so dirty and I'll never get the compensation I deserve. There's just something so fascinating about him. He's born as the second prince, gossiped about by the staff of the castle for his signature spell, is told that he'll NEVER get a chance at the crown no matter how talented he is. All while he was a CHILD. So he doesn't try. He's lazy and sleeps around a lot. The only times where he actively TRIES is when it's needed OR if it's for the betterment of the dorm. Malleus is a constant reminder of his failings and has what he'll never have. Despite all of his talent in the school, being one of the strongest mages in it, being one of the smartest not just academically but also socially. And yet, he's still only second best. I think he wanted Savannaclaw to beat Malleus in spelldrive because the spelldrive Savannaclaw team will have a better future. The reason he got held back twice was because of attendance. He doesn't want to leave and go home only to live the rest of his days in his brother's shadow. He doesn't want to live in a future where he knows what's going to happen. Leona's relationship to his future life is SO interesting to me and I wish more people went into it. Leona can fill a two hour analysis video I'm being so for real. He has such depth that wasn't explored enough in the book that was supposed to be about him. Justice for my man! And maybe some anti-depressants.

2. Ruggie Bucchi

POOR BITCHES UNITE!!! I love Ruggie so much he's just a guy. He's just like me fr. Out of all the top 5 this is the one where I don't have a lot to say. I just really like him. I suppose I could go on about how his background made him into one of the most hardworking characters in the whole game. I love how his schemes foil Jack's honesty. I like how much of a little scamp he is! He deserves all the money he gets. I love you Ruggie. THIS IS A PRETTY BAD EXPLANATION ON WHY I LIKE HIM. I JUST DO. I think it's because I relate to him on being poor and having to deal with not having certain luxuries and being a bit salty when seeing other people with those luxuries having a better life than you. And having to suck it up since at the end of the day, those people decide how much your work is worth. What a guy. Maybe I'll make a post about him later detailing how he relates to the socioeconomic themes of twst as a whole.

1. Jack Howl

Literally the most obvious #1 in the whole world. I can sit here for hours and talk about this man it isn't even funny anymore. When you first see him he gives off a big, mean but quite aura to him. But when you actually meet him he's a tsundere. But there is SO much more to him than that. First thing I wanna clear up: He is NOT a himbo, stop characterizing him as such. He's smart in his academics since he constantly studies. He's smart about fitness since it's very important to him. He IS however, socially inept. He always wants to be alone and do things alone mostly due to his big initiative. He always wants to do things the correct way though. He likes following rules and gets very upset when those rules are broken since he views rules as guidelines to better himself.

HOWEVER through book 2 he sees that those rules aren't helping everyone since Leona broke the rules in order to better Savannaclaw as a whole. Despite him being very disappointed in Leona and Ruggie, he still holds a great deal of respect for them. He holds a great deal of respect for all of his upperclassmen, and idolizes them in a way. He wants to be better than Leona. He wants to help Ruggie since Ruggie is basically second in command at Savannaclaw and he doesn't get the same amount of assistance as Leona gets from him. Despite his respect and idolization, he can still point out the wrongdoings of them and can actively criticize them for their actions. He doesn't glorify them. And I think what book 2 was trying to convey with Jack is his realization that sometimes the system is kinda fucked and it's OK to break the rules for the greater good. Unfortunately, it doesn't come across that way due to how badly book 2 was written. But it makes sense to me since in book 3 he actively sacrifices his class time to fight against Azul.

Azul isn't breaking any rules, but what he is doing is pretty fucked up and Jack can see that and wants to help. Of course, he frames it as him being upset that everyone else basically cheated with the exams and didn't take the exams with their own work and studying. He wants to measure his abilities in a fair environment. And honestly I think that IS his main reasoning for helping, but he can also have multiple reasons for doing a lot of things. He is a multi-dimensional character after all.

I know I didn't get into it when I mentioned it earlier but him being bad at socializing is a flaw with him. He can be rather rash and inconsiderate at times, but at other times he can be careful and caring. He just doesn't show that other side of him because he values how other people see him. He wants to be seen as someone big, strong and intimidating just like Leona. He wants to assert himself like that. He wants control over how his image comes across to others and this means suppressing certain parts of himself. Like I said before, a big part of Savannaclaw is the stunt emotional growth of all of the characters. Each one has their own problems that prevent them from going on with their life in a better mindset. Jack is apart of that! We don't know why he's like this, but I'm sure we'll find out eventually! Twst is weird with its lore sometimes. Only time will tell.

And to clarify, this is me being brief about his character. I could go SO MUCH MORE IN DEPTH if I wanted to. But I just wanted to point out some of the things I like about him.

If you made it this far, congrats! Here's a cookie and some fun facts. The cards I used for each character here is actually my favorite card of theirs! Number 6 & 7 were Azul and Jade. Originally wanted to make this a top 10 to include them but I thought top 5 was good enough. I like those two. they're silly. Will I make my top 5 least favorite characters list? Probably not! I don't wanna be attacked for disliking someones favorite.

Anyways bye!!!

#twisted wonderland #jamil viper #rook hunt #leona kingscholar #ruggie bucchi #jack howl

43 notes · View notes

little-cereal-draws · 1 year

Text

ok sab season 3 theory time!

It's really more of an au; I'm calling it a theory because it's based off how they left season two and what they have potential to do with the story but I don't think it'll happen

David is going to be on parem

ok I know it's a long shot but hear me out. It's based off four points they ended season two with.

We didn't see his body so by film rules he's still alive. And no one ever says he's dead either. All Genya says is, "I can't feel his heartbeat," and they leave it at that. That doesn't 100% mean he's dead, it could just mean he's not nearby; especially because she wasn't amplified like she was the first time she found his heartbeat

They introduced Saint Neyar, the Durast. Of course, this was for Jesper's character arc but it showed the audience how powerful and deadly Fabricators can be even though they're the Grisha order used in the war the least

They introduced parem and how it affects Grisha. In that one coronation scene, it showed the physical toll it has on Grisha and addictive it is, how it amplifies their abilities to insane levels, and how Fjerda has access to it and is using it on Grisha

They're only loosely basing their plots off the books and they changed how David dies so why not change the rest of his story too

Now back to the theory/au. David isn't stupid. Even though he stayed to protect Genya, he knows there's nothing he can do against a being made of shadow. He pretty much just doomed himself. He's got too much to live for -he was going to propose for Saint's sake!- so there's no way he's going to stand there and die or try to futilely fight it. He was never a fighter anyway, so he runs. Maybe out a window, maybe out the door, idk but he makes it out. He does get seriously injured though; hence the giant blood splatter Genya saw later.

He doesn't have time to check the elevator for Genya; he's being chased, the fold is expanding, he's bleeding, he needs to get out of there and hope she did the same. He'll come back and find her later he decides. He runs through the woods for a while until he can't take another step and collapses. Eventually he gets found by a Fjerdan scout. They take him back to their camp where a few other Grisha they found fleeing are also being held.

Flashforward a little while: Nikolai is the king, Alina is struggling with her new powers and public backlash, and the newest threat to the barely stable country is parem attacks. They've only increased since the first one at the coronation and everyone's afraid. Grisha are going missing left and right only to return fatally hooked to the drug and Otkazat'sya are calling upon their king to end the new bloodshed by Grisha against them. Tensions between Grisha and Otkazat'sya are running high again and there have been many fights have broken out from it.

Nikolia, Alina, and probably The Crows too get roped into trying to stop the murder of civilians while figuring out a cure for the drug. Along the way, they hear whispers of the most fearsome parem warrior of all. Not the inferni who can destroy ten houses with one shot, not the tidemaker who can pull people's blood out straight through their skin, not even the heartrender who can kill fifty people with one flick of their wrist. No, it's a fabricator. He can level whole buildings with one look and is untouchable by any weapons. He'll strangle you with your own clothes and even the out-of-the-box thinkers who tried to take him on naked got horribly mutilated. It turns out bones are just calcium and blood is just iron.

Our team of protagonists get ready to stop them but when they get there, they see something that stops them in their tracks. It's David. He's the one all the whispered rumors are about. He's alive but looks only just, like a moving corpse. This wasn't something they planned for and are completely thrown off. While they try to regroup and come up with a new plan, Genya steps out. They lock eyes and for a second Genya thinks he recognizes her until she feels her necklace digging into her throat. She's choking and gagging but doesn't stop looking in his eyes as she scratches at the metal. Just as her vision begins to fade to black around the edges, his eyes grow wide. That ruby... he knows that ruby. He was going to use it for... something, he doesn't remember what, but it was important. And if this woman has it than she must be... David holds his hands up placatingly and Genya falls to her knees coughing and gasping for air.

David doesn’t do anything for the rest of the battle which gives our protagonists a slight advantage. It’s still a strenuous fight and Alina has to use her new shadow powers to win, which she was very conflicted abt, but they beat them. Some of the grisha get killed, they can’t help it, but Nikolai made it very clear when these attacks started that they’re going to try and take everyone alive and see if they can help them first. There's a bit here about Alina being harassed by the public for her shadow powers even though she was saving them. Right as another fight is about to break out, Nikolai decides it's time to leave.

Genya’s mind is racing the whole trip back to the palace. She wants to talk to David so bad and kiss and hug him, but she doesn’t know how much he remembers. He stopped just short of killing her before and she doesn’t want to push it. David’s thoughts are racing too. He knows that woman, he loves that woman, but his brain is too foggy to recall where he met her or what her name is. As the drug slowly wears off, he can piece together more and more until he finally remembers the last time he saw her. Genya.

By the time they make it to the Palace, all the remaining Grisha have come off their high and are begging for another hit. Their eyes are even more sunken than before and they’re shaking so bad they need help getting out of the wagon. When it comes to David’s turn, he looks at Genya and whispers her name. She instantly bursts into tears because he remembers. Shaking like a leaf in the wind, he reaches out as best as the restraints they put on his hands will let him and puts his hand on the side of her face. Everyone else is standing at the ready, weapons drawn, in case he attacks but Genya stands there and lets him do it. She bites her lip to stifle a sob and squeezes her eyes shut, hot tears spilling down her cheeks. He remembered. He still loved her. He was alive. And yes, they were a long way from ok but in this moment, but she has hope that they could get there some day.

The rest of the season goes on to deal with Alina's shadow powers and Nikolia sends The Crows to the Ice Court to see if they can find out where the Fjerdans are getting the parem or how they're making it. The captured Grisha are being kept in cells until they are over their addictions and it's a painful sight to see. Even though they're being fed, they're morbidly skinny. Even though they're warm, they tremble with each breath. Even though they moved beds into the cells, the bags around their eyes look like they haven't slept in years. They cry and beg and curse and yell; trying anything to get even the smallest amount of parem.

David offers to help in the effort to find an anecdote and tell them everything he knows, which Nikolai agrees to but refuses to let him experiment with any actual parem. Genya has never seen David react like that to anything before. The way he was pressed up against the bars innocently, politely offering his help to the king, listing his years of experience and qualifications then suddenly having the mask drop off his face revealing what he truly felt, rage. He paced his cell and threw a chair into the wall, yelling that they would never figure it out without him, they needed his help, and he only needed a little bit of parem, just a little bit. He scared her.

The cells are not fabricator proof, especially for one that has been affected by parem, and every night he bends the bars and goes out looking for where Nikolai is keeping his tiny experimenting stash. The whole palace can hear him tripping over things in the dark, opening and closing doors, emptying drawers onto the ground. It gets brought up in a meeting one morning. Alina wants to station more guards around the palace to stop him, but Genya argues that David hasn't hurt anyone, taken anything, and always returns to his cell in the morning so adding more guards is unnecessary. Nikolai says that his parem isn't in the Palace at all, it's in a secret outside workshop he's commissioning exactly in case something like this happened. Genya continues to press her point off of that saying that maybe this is something that David needs to do to recover. If he searches the whole Palace and sees that there is no parem there, he might be more inclined to cooperate when they say that they're not giving him any. Much to Alina's outrage, Nikolai takes Genya's side. Alina's powers start acting up and she has to step out and deal with that and the main plot.

That night is the last night David searches. In the very early hours of the morning, he ends up in Genya's room, hovering at the foot of her bed like a phantom. She could feel him coming down the hallway and is wide awake, but she still has her eyes closed and is forcing her pounding heart to slow. "Genya?" he whispers. "Genya? I know you have it. Please, Genya, I just want a little bit, just a little bit." She doesn't respond, trying to keep her face as neutral as possible and not respond to how desperate he sounds. The silence is so long she wonders if he fell asleep standing up. Suddenly he speaks again, voice cracking with emotion, "Saints, Genya... you're killing me." It takes everything in her not to sit up and tell him everything right then. Tell him where the workshop is, how to get in, and to please forgive her, she's only doing this because she loves him. He shuffles down the hallway and Genya cries. He doesn't leave his cell at night after that.

The season ends with all the addicted Grisha either receiving an anecdote, The Crows probably find something at the Ice Court, or getting over it from going cold turkey. Except now the problem is all these people's powers have drastically changed (think like Nina's powers after she recovered from parem). So now they've got this population of Grisha who have all new powers that have never been seen before and that sets up season four. David proposes to Genya for real and they finally get their happy ending and nothing bad ever happens to them ever again.

#whoops didn't mean to write a fic lol #can u tell i'm in denial abt david being dead but still craving that angst lol #shadow and bone #shadow and bone au #shadow and bone theory #david kostyk #genya safin #david x genya #genya x david #alina starkov #nikolai lantsov #genyadavid #davidgenya

59 notes · View notes

shipwreckedwithcaptainmarrow · 3 months

Text

Apologies for the absence over here on Tumblr, I've just been so insanely busy since the release of my book. It's odd how the writing process sees you cooped up and lackadaisical, and you have time for things, and book's progress just goes on and on. But after it comes out, things change. Since the book's launch in late September I've - - Setup Author booth at Cedar Key Pirate Invasion (Florida) - Setup Author booth for Launch Party in Goose Creek (South Carolina) - Setup Author booth at Old City Pirate Day in St. Augustine (Florida) - Setup Author booth at Colonial Faire and Muster at Wormsloe (Georgia) Now I've got my upcoming confirmed plans over the next 3 months: - Pirate Educational Display at Fort Dorchester (South Carolina) - Pirate Educational Display and Author booth at Wilmington (North Carolina) - Pirate Educational Display at Fort King George (Georgia) - Pirate Educational Display and Author booth at Powder Magazine (South Carolina) - Author booth at Penumbra renfair in St. Augustine (Florida) - Pirate Lecture and Book Signing at Museum of Coastal Carolinas (North Carolina) And my unconfirmed plans over the next three: - Author table at The Pirate Store, St. Augustine (Florida) - Author table at Starbucks, Mt. Pleasant (South Carolina) - Educational Display or Author booth at Ponce DeLeon Inlet Lighthouse (Florida) - Pirate Lecture at Wormsloe Plantation (Georgia) - Educational Display at McLarty Treasure Museum (Florida) Events confirmed for later in the year: - Author booth at Panama City Pirate Invasion (Florida) - Pirate Educational Display and Author table at Feast of the Pirates (North Carolina) ... So I've been busy, and all of this above is still yet to happen soon. My calendar is filling up. I still have more contacts to follow up on, and other events for the reenactment crew, like potentially Huntington Beach (South Carolina). Can't believe I'm a "professional pirate," and have made such a name for myself, but I'm definitely thankful for all the friends and notable contacts amid the educational fields I've made along the way that's making this possible with my book release. I know its already been a long post, but I just wanted to say that I wish I still had the time and umph to keep up with all of my various social medias. Both Instagram and Tumblr have fallen a bit to the wayside while Facebook has remained my primary - its just historic sites and museums all have Facebook pages, but not tumblrs for example. So I've had to prioritize what I've needed to do to get to this point. Still, I'll try and toss up a few more posts and not neglect the site here so much. Hope you guys understand.

#pirate history #pirates #shipwrecked with captain marrow #folklore #haunted #pgabt

10 notes · View notes

onehundredandeleventropicalfish · 1 year

Note

Hello, I'm quite a big fan of your blog and your sandman posts. I had a little question for you. According to the comics, more than half of Dream's relationships never work out because of communication on Dream's part, right. So well do you think it's because he does not realise that some things need to be said out loud like because of dream logic where things go straight from A to B, so it would make sense he follows the same logic? Sorry if I am not making much sense.

hello, and thank you!

well, for starters, i have a feeling you're here from the adhd post, but in case you're not or other people are reading this who haven't seen it, i talked about one aspect of this already

but do you have a specific source on the communication line? i am entirely willing to believe it, but i don't have a perfect memory of every single comic and i don't remember that in particular, so i'm curious if there's further analysis to this that i missed

that said, i can absolutely analyse just dream's communication problems in general, because there's a lot in there

1) pride/ego/defensiveness. as much as dream cares about everyone, he is an extremely prideful being, and therefore easy to offend. if something strikes a nerve, he's not really the type to talk it out, his reactions tend to be more... dramatic. our extremes are cases like nada, or calliope (who he essentially locked out of the dreaming for several millenia after she blamed him for what happened with orpheus), but like. we saw how the 1889 hob scene went down. and as much as he's quick to advise anyone else that revenge is a poison, he's a big fan of taking it himself (or on behalf of others, see: not letting the madoc thing go). dream, just in general, never lets shit go, he doesn't know how to. which is gonna be A Problem in a relationship if you have to avoid stepping on his ego for the sake of your own wellbeing

2) he knows everyone. like, i think a lot about the library of dreams. the show just describes it as every book ever written (including books yet unwritten), but it's more than that. nightmare country in particular goes into this, it's a repository of every story ever told in anyone's subconscious. so yes, those are the books and compositions and other artworks that were planned but never finished - but it's also that daydream you had in the car home, something you thought idly in the shower, the book you planned in your head before falling asleep that you never intended to turn into anything real. a couple people in the fandom have already used this as a fic concept of hob writing unsent letters to dream, which will end up in the library. and sure, dream isn't thinking of all of that all the time, that would drive you insane, it's why he has the library, to organise it. but he is the dreaming, the entire place is just an extension of his mind, if it's in the library it's in his head and accessible

and like, he may not mean anything by it, he may even attempt not to look at that stuff with a partner out of respect for them (i've seen a couple fics take that path), but so much of how humans communicate is based on the fact that we can't mind read, we choose the information we give to one another, and most of those subconscious stories are private. not to dream. as soon as you think it, it's in his head. and no matter how good his intentions, that's gonna fuck with the usual rules of communication

2.5) this does feed into what you were saying - when the rules are all fucked up and dream has access to so much information about any potential partner, it's probably easy to forget they can't do the same. and yeah, his thoughts do skip around a lot, he is a dream, he may not realise how many vital communication steps he's skipping over until it's pointed out to him

3) he overthinks everything. this may seem like it's contradicting the previous points, but no they just compound into a huge bad communication bubble

there's one i think it's a tom interview, i don't know if it was about ep 11, i just remember someone posting a quote from it on a gifset with calliope, where he talks about the purposeful way dream talks, there's no ums or similar, because he's the prince of stories, he has every word and phrase ever thought or spoken or written down in his head all of the time, there's no hesitation in his phrasing. i think the phrase used was "etched in stone". while dream may not always realise certain things need saying, when it comes to the things he does choose to say, he is extremely deliberate in his word choice. there's no mistakes, he means what he says (even if he may later regret saying it)

and i think that's another piece of this, because for most people conversation is just a game of improv they've gotten really good at, they may mangle words or say things they didn't mean. and if dream takes them at their word, then we're back to problem 1 of him taking things extremely personally and never being able to let it go

(and then there's all the other reasons his relationships rarely work out, like him being extremely committed to his work, he can't be what a lot of his partners might want him to be, because he considers himself dream of the endless first and foremost and a person second)

(and his relationships are kinda the biggest representation of that inner struggle, because like. he keeps dating people despite the fact that it never works out because he doesn't want to do this alone, to the point that his mother, who didn't even know their brother had left, called him out for it. but then at the same time he literally says to destiny that the word 'life' does not describe the existence of the endless, they exist to fulfil their purpose, not to want anything for themselves. which, is wrong, but it's an extremely strong belief of his)

(so it is just a constant snowball of trying but self sabotaging)

#sorry it took me so long to get back to this it took a bit to actually collate my thoughts #dream is - as issue 21 literally states out loud - a conundrum #dream of the endless #ask #mine #meta #the sandman

101 notes · View notes

its-miichan · 1 year

Text

Tension in TGCF (or lack thereof)

TGCF has a problem with establishing tension. Of course people are going to disagree with this statement, but TGCF sucks ass when it comes to tension and how it is shown (at least in my opinion). Now, TGCF is a high fantasy epic adventure including thousand year old gods and demons that can destroy cities and countries for funsies, so the entirety of the novel is very high-stakes from a technical standpoint.

But it definitely didn’t feel that way while reading. The majority of book 3 I found myself struggling to get through because there really was no reason to care about what was happening in the story. And I thought about this for a while, and finally came up with reasons to why I think this is the case:

1) the story REFUSES to leave Xie Lian, an overpowered 800 year old god who cannot die and is so used to suffering and terrible things happening that whatever terrible things happen don’t matter to him

2) The vast majority of characters we are supposed to be attached to are nigh immortal beings who are extremely hard to kill (and are basically never killed)

3) the main characters are so insanely overpowered and devoted to each other that any internal or external tension is immediately murdered in its crib

For the first point, I suppose it’s quite self explanatory. When writing a high fantasy epic while having your singular POV character be Xie Lian introduces some problems. Xie Lian is so detached from most things happening around him and so chill with dying, watching people die, getting grievously injured, and pretty much every bad thing under the sun that his reaction to anything that could potentially introduce stakes and tension is brushed over by Xie Lian with a ‘meh.’ This can be used to great effect in goofy comedy scenes or slice of life chapters, but when the story tries to become super ‘intense’ and make you ‘sit on the edge of your seat’, it just really… falls off.

And you could say that Xie Lian cares about those close to him and potential danger to those close to him can offer tension to the story, but that just… doesn’t happen.

As much as I love Xianle trio or the Xie Lian-Shi Qingxuan besties dynamic, it would be lying to say that any of those dynamics are particularly close in the present timeline, and Xie Lian is so incredibly zen and immune to forming attachments (because omg look my baby hes so traumatized he doesnt make friends) that those shallow friendships really don’t affect him, and those friends getting hurt is also just a “oh that sucks” moment for him.

And the one ‘genuine’ relationship he does have, the one with Hua Cheng offers no tension to the story because Hua Cheng is so overpowered Xie Lian doesn’t even need to worry about him getting hurt (but more on that in a minute).

Basically, what I’m saying in this point is that if Xie Lian, the main character who we are reading the thoughts of doesn’t give a fuck about what’s happening around him, why should we?

Point two is also quite self explanatory (actually now that I think about it all of the points are) but I will elaborate anyways.

The main characters in TGCF are gods and ghosts. Gods cannot die from old age and can only be killed through fatal injuries. But given how ridiculously overpowered they are, any external force trying to kill said gods feels like less of a threat and more like a “wow so annoying” kind of thing. The same applies to ghosts.

First of all, in order for MXTX to write the super mega romantic ashes ring scene, she had to completely break the worldbuilding of ghosts. They are incredibly hard to deal with (even weaker ones like Cuo Cuo) and the only way to truly get rid of them is to a) let their resentment dissipate which is hilariously hard to do for stronger ghosts or b) to scatter their ashes. They can’t really even be killed in the same way gods can through fatal injuries, and because MXTX wanted to make it soooooo romantic that Hua Cheng gave Xie Lian his ashes, those ashes are the only weakness ghosts have.

But that was a bit of a tangent and the main point is that ghosts, just like gods, are also ridiculously hard to kill. My point is that with the main cast of characters we care about being very overpowered, very immortal gods and ghosts, it’s extremely difficult for the story to provide any tension about the characters we care about getting hurt, ESPECIALLY with Xie Lian and Hua Cheng who basically physically are incapable of dying.

In fact, the only major character who dies (permanently) on screen is Shi Wudu. And I’m not going to go around and be super salty and say ‘oh but even then that death sucked!!!!!’ because it really didn’t. It was good! I liked it! In fact, I loved the whole black water arc in general! It really upped the stakes in that moment and it’s like “oh shit! This guy is ruthless! I really need to see what happens next and if our main characters will be okay!”

But that arc was an exception to the rule. I spent the next couple of chapters in suspense and waiting for information on Shi Qingxuan’s aftermath because I was invested. Because there was tension. But nope! MXTX dropped the ball and gave us more Hualian flirting and onto the next adventure!

No character deaths or–hell– even character ‘serious injuries’ happen following that point.

And for the rest of book 3, nothing that hits the same way as the black water arc came up again. Some moments managed to shake me out of my boredom-induced coma (the mysterious crown prince of Wuyong murals were interesting. BWX chasing down Hualian in the cave of ten-thousand gods was mildly alright), but for the most part, the slowly dawning knowledge that the black water arcs treatment of its characters is an exception to the rule and that the book is too afraid of killing off any other characters made it really, really boring to read.

Now am I saying that you need to have character deaths to make a story interesting? Not exactly. You can have stories where the main conflict and source of tension is something like workplace drama or high school crushes. But I am saying that with a setting such as TGCF with conflicts that are presented in the same way TGCF’s are (big bad monster/villain! Oh no!) having a nigh invulnerable cast is incredibly uninteresting.

The third and last point is probably the most damning of them all.

Xie Lian and Hua Cheng are ridiculously overpowered. And not overpowered in the same way that other MXTX main pairs are overpowered. Unlike someone like WWX who is indeed absurdly strong but can be defeated by other characters, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng are given such a wide array of powers, abilities, and strengths, that they feel like they are on an entirely different level compared to the side characters and minor villains.

The first few arcs (before Hua Cheng was revealed) were actually quite enjoyable for this reason not being present. We weren’t shown the full array of Xie Lian’s powers and Hua Cheng was pretty much a non-factor so the arcs felt tense. Dangerous, even. It felt that maybe Xie Lian could fail, or someone could get hurt and die, or maybe even Xie Lian could die. It was cool seeing how Xie Lian would use his limited amount of spiritual powers to complete tasks that normally required spiritual energy.

But once Hua Cheng is introduced and the bulk of the rest of the story is underway, that coolness gets thrown out the window. First of all, it’s revealed that Xie Lian is a mega martial arts geek who is basically adept in all sorts of fighting and incredibly physically strong and resilient which… makes sense, but makes some struggles quite boring. However, his lack of spiritual powers still gave him a substantial disadvantage in many situations, which made me willing to see where this went.

Hua Cheng, on the other hand… what a headache.

Let’s start off with the obvious. He is undoubtedly among the top three strongest characters in the book and for the vast majority of the plot is the singular strongest character present (Xie Lian is shackled and thus weakened by a long shot and Jun Wu is basically nonexistent for the bulk of the book). And as he is the singular strongest character present, a whole lot of the issues that come up feel… trivial, at best.

There’s this whole arc about Xie Lian dealing with Cuo Cuo but by that point I was languidly scrolling through the chapters and wondering when Hua Cheng would show up and deal with the whole situation. And no surprise, a few chapters in there’s a dubcon kiss and then Hua Cheng seals Cuo Cuo in a jar and all is resolved within a few minutes!

So exciting!

It’s a similar case with the entire Tong’lu arc. At the beginning, Hua Cheng is out of commission, giving the side characters a chance to breathe and shine. But the second any semblance of tension appears in the story, MXTX decides that that’s enough and brings Hua Cheng back to basically full power so his vast array of powers pulled from his ass (a flying umbrella that can protect against giant boulders! Butterfly listening devices! Red string of fate that serves no reason in the story other than to be romantic!) can save the day once more. Xie Lian is in danger? Hua Cheng swoops in and princess carries him away.

And we don’t have to worry about the side characters because 1) who the fuck cares about them? Our leads certainly don’t. And 2) they can’t die anyways guys it’s gonna be fine.

So in essence, Hua Cheng’s mere existence causes huge structural issues for the plot and tension because he is so monstrously powerful and given new powers because MXTX wants to and is completely devoted to Xie Lian so even if the adventures start out potentially interesting, the second anything that could add some tension to the story is introduced, Hua Cheng swoops in and rescues Xie Lian.

Does it make sense from a technical point of view that Hua Cheng is incredibly powerful because his entire personality is protecting Xie Lian? …Yes.

Does that make it fun to read? No!

And about internal tension, since Hualian are so insanely devoted and caring and perfect and kind and disliking them is SUCH a character flaw, there is a complete lack of internal tension.

Would Xie Lian ever call out Hua Cheng for being a dick and treating Xie Lian’s so-called friends like shit? No! Because Xie Lian is so zen that he doesn’t care about what happens to anyone! Will Hua Cheng and Xie Lian ever fight? No! Because Hua Cheng is so incredibly devoted to Xie Lian that anything that could potentially cause a disagreement between them will be whisked away by Hua Cheng changing half his personality to appease Xie Lian.

The only thing that could potentially add tension to this romance outside of the constant will they won't they blue balling is Xie Lian’s self doubt which Hua Cheng constantly reassures him that he’s perfect and great and oh so beautiful so even that is quickly erased from the story, only coming up again when MXTX decides it’s time to remind you of how much of a woobie Xie Lian is. (Also, I find it necessary to note that Xie Lian’s healing arc really isn’t shown. He’s starting to heal in the main plot and then we jump to the extras and he’s fine and he’s just suddenly come to terms with his trauma).

I find it necessary to say that books 2 and 4 obviously don’t apply to this post because Xie Lian is allowed to face the consequences of his actions there, and we are less tethered to a group of immortal beings as our central characters.

Book 5 also doesn’t really apply for the most part, but it’s still not tense due to the hilariously shoddy buildup and payoff of the entire battle.

Anyways, that concludes my rant for today, if you want to scream at me for being a terrible person due to disliking this piece of fictional media, go ahead, and if you read this entire 2k word essay/rant mad props to you.

#tian guan ci fu #tgcf #tgcf hua cheng #mxtx #heaven official's blessing #mxtx critical #mdzs #xie lian #hua chang #hualian #tgcf manhua #tgcf headcanon #tgcf critics

52 notes · View notes