Tumgik
#i'm having a neurodivergent 'i need to talk about this or i will die' episode
thepringlesofblood · 3 months
Text
An Attempt at Explaining Bulbian Church Theology
so I watched ACOC a year or two ago, and I watched TRW as it came out, and now I’m going back and re-watching ACOC with that context in mind, and I have many questions.
a few disclaimers
this shit rules. it’s wild how much thought and effort Brennan & Matt put into Bulbian theology and the history and inner workings of the church. at no point am I implying anything to the contrary. this is “tf, guys? (affectionate)” not “tf, guys? (derogatory)”
the order of things is fucked up bc prequel, and bc Matt necessarily did a bunch of it w/out Brennan bc he was a PC. some things have the simple Doylist explanation of “Brennan didn’t think they were ever coming back to that bit” or “it’s a metric fuckload of lore written several years before Matt came onto the project, of course some things are going to contradict.” I know and agree with these reasons. I am coming at this from as Watsonian a perspective as I can - trying to find in-world reasons for things rather than real-life reasons - because I think it’s a fun thought exercise.
at no point am I talking shit about either Brennan or Matt. ik people have a lot of feelings about Matt’s DMing in TRW, but I think he did great, and he added some fascinating new lore about the theology of Calorum which I am eager to sink my teeth into. he seems like a cool dude, he and Brennan wrote some extremely cool lore, and that’s all I’ll say about that.
so. let’s get crack-a-lackin’
Let’s define our terms.
we got our two Big Terms from ACOC - the Prophidian Heresy and the Ramsian Doctrine. The Prophidian Heresy is the only one to re-appear in TRW, as the Prophidian Theodicy. this is bc it was not declared to be heresy (aka fake/against the church’s beliefs) yet, so it was just another theory within the church
we’ve got about four big factions, very unequal in power:
Belizabeth Brassica (& the church under her rule)
the Sanctis Putris
the Archbishop Camille Colliflour (aka the Avatar of Deus Pa’Zuul)
The Few Good Individuals in The Church*
we’re mostly talking about Brassica and Sanctis Putris.
*Saint Citrina, local churches in Candia, certain Bulbians in the Dairy Islands, individual churches here and there across the continent that are mentioned as rejecting the Ramsian Doctrine in ACOC.
The Prophidian Heresy/Theodicy
What it says:
The Hungry One is just as powerful as The Bulb
Reasoning:
this is an attempt to explain the questions of “if the Bulb is good and all-powerful, why are there bad things in the world? If the Bulb is more powerful than the Hungry One, why hasn’t it beat the shit out of him yet, if it is truly a force for good?”
What it means in the world:
this is a part of Brassica’s plot to start the apocalypse, but is not the most important thing for her.
It is however important for the beliefs of the Sanctis Putris, who fight to keep the Hungry One at bay.
Questions/observations:
In ACOC Ep.13, when Brennan first mentions the Sanctis Putris, he describes them as “an order of the Church that did not subscribe to the Prophidian Heresy at all. It looks like they are not about the Ramsian Doctrine and causing the apocalypse.”
I think this is a mixing up of words, and that he meant to say “the Ramsian Doctrine” both times, since the Sanctis Putris is against the Ramsian Doctrine. at this point in the campaign the two beliefs have gotten kind of conflated bc they’re both part of the big Brassica Apocalypse Plot.
the in-world explanation could be that after the war the Sanctis Putris pivoted to a different belief - perhaps that the Hungry One is more powerful than the Bulb. very interesting...
in TRW ep 3 Colliflour says “We know the clarity of the Prophidian Theodicy and the terrible shadow that grows outside of the Bulb's light”
so we do know that before the war at least the Sanctis Putris were into it.
The Ramsian Doctrine
What it says:
The Hungry One cannot be destroyed and the final salvation of all souls cannot occur until the Hungry One devours the world
Some souls are healthy and delicious, but some are unhealthy and garbage - Junk Food (Candians)
The Junk Food souls prevent the Hungry One from devouring the world because it wants a “healthy meal” 
Reasoning:
in order to work towards this prized final salvation of all souls and destruction of the Hungry One, one must first work towards the apocalypse. Junk Food must be eradicated from the world for that to happen - whether by conversion to the Bulbian faith* or by death.
*it’s at least implied by Calroy’s letter to Brassica in ep. 13 that since he “renounced his pagan ways” and wants to be re-baptized in the Bulbian faith, he gets to live. whether this is true or not we do not find out.
What it means in the world:
This is the excuse Brassica needs to invade and destroy Candia and its magic. Fun fact: she was actually planning to launch a crusade on the Meatlands too before she got got.
Meat isn’t junk food (i don’t think??), so it’s clear that what she’s really after is destroying the rest of Calorum’s ability to access magic - making it so they have to go through the church to get “miracles” rather than using the magic of the deities in their homelands. that’s not Ramsian, it’s just Brassica being power-hungry and mean.
In regards to the Sanctis Putris, they believe they are preventing the apocalypse by bringing rot and mold into the world. they don’t want the Hungry One to devour the world, and since they believe the Hungry One is as powerful as the Bulb, they want to work to bring mold and rot into the world themselves, to give the Bulb a leg up on the opposition, so to speak.
so, the idea that the Hungry One could devour the world, and that that would be a sort of apocalypse, is shared between Brassica and the Sanctis Putris. the difference is, Brassica wants that to happen so the Bulb can finally defeat the Hungry One, and the Sanctis Putris does not want that to happen, so they bring mold and rot into the world so the Hungry One can’t devour it.
Questions/observations:
So while it sounds kind of like the Sanctis Putris are buying into the last tenant of the Ramsian Doctrine - that the Hungry One will only eat a “healthy meal” - they’re not buying into the rest of it, because their definition of “healthy” is different from the one outlined in the rest of the Ramsian Doctrine. The Sanctis Putris don’t seem to care about “Junk Food”, just rot & mold.
TRW ep. 3 Colliflour: “Through prosperity and peace, Calorum becomes ripe and pliable. It becomes the perfect meal to forever roil and burn within its belly. The hidden scripture, the Festered Tome, it holds the truth that will save us all. The Hungry One will not eat that which is spoiled...Only through death can the lands be stained and unclean. Only through rot can the world be saved and endure under the Great Bulb's light”
the Sanctis Putris depend on conflict vs peace and rot vs growth across the whole of Calorum, while the Ramsian Doctrine depends upon specific people (Candians) being eradicated
in ACOC ep. 13 Brennan says this “The correspondence between the Archbishop Oliver Onionpatch and the Sanctus Putris saying the Sanctus Putris has located the home and high temple of the Sugar-Plum Fairy, and have found the Ice Cream Temple. The date they give, they say that their expedition should arrive there the morning of Harvest Dawn the seventh”
onion boy is a Brassica lackey - a Ramsian. swapping letters with the Sanctis Putris, famously anti-Ramsian. ???
my question is this - why are the Sanctis Putris running errands for Brassica if they have fundamentally opposing beliefs? why are they sending out an expedition on the orders of someone trying to start an apocalypse that they’re trying to prevent?
3 potential reasons
blackmail - Brassica says “I am the head of the Church, this is what’s happening, put up or shut up. Do what I want or I eradicate you”
quid pro quo - a favor for a favor, Brassica is giving them something in exchange for them doing this for her
common enemy
it serves the Sanctis Putris to have the Church be more powerful since a lot of their people are in the Church, and of course it serves Brassica to empower the Church. Killing the Sugar Plum Fairy is one way to do that.
im uncertain though, as the Sanctis Putris has people from all over the place, and potentially at least one Candian who is against it.
although, if the Sanctis Putris intend to split with Brassica, if may also not serve them to have the Church be more powerful.
Compare/contrasting Brassica v Sanctis Putris
Both beliefs are Prophidian, since for the Hungry One to eat everything it would need to be at least equal in power to the Bulb (both groups believe in the Bulb’s inherent goodness, and that if it had the power it would stop the Hungry One from doing this).
Both see themselves as helping the Bulb overpower the Hungry One, Brassica by causing the Apocalypse and the Sanctis Putris by preventing it.
Both identify an aspect of the world that is preventing the Hungry One from devouring it. Brassica points to “junk food”, while the Sanctis Putris points to mold and rot.
I saw a post a while back that positioned the two terms as Belizabeth Brassica’s beliefs vs the beliefs of the Sanctis Putris. This is not the case. 
The Ramsian Doctrine [in its totality] is exclusive to Brassica, yes, but the Prophidian Heresy does not encompass the totality of the beliefs of the Sanctis Putris. It just says that the Hungry One is as powerful as the Bulb. the rest of their shit is their own. 
the Sanctis Putris do subscribe the last tenant of the Ramsian Doctrine (that the Hungry One wants a healthy meal), but interpret “healthy” as meaning something else, so I wouldn’t say their beliefs are Ramsian overall, even if one idea overlaps. 
plus, Brassica also needs the Prophidian Heresy to exist, since it offers a reason for why the Bulb doesn’t just come down and make everything better - it can’t, since it and the Hungry One are equal in power.
now where the fuck does Deus Pa’Zuul fall into this?
Brennan described the feeling of discovering Deus Pa’Zuul as “eldritch horror” and frankly I agree. A lot of the genre of eldritch horror revolves around the unknown, and specifically the unknowable, so as a result we the audience know very little about it.
What we do know
it’s a garbage disposal, and all the implications that carries, included but not limited to
the place you dispose of rotten food
the physical description - blades, tearing, ripping, whirring
it is a force of pure destruction. the things it destroys are erased from existence. there is no eternity in the Hungry One’s stomach, no salvation in the light of the Bulb, you just end.
it can interact with the world of Calorum through visions and impart magic like the Bulb and the Hungry One do, but does so very, very rarely.
The only two Calorans we know of that it ever contacted directly were Colliflour and Raphaniel.
the rest of the Sanctis Putris had no clue that this was where their leader was taking them - Gemelli straight up fights it.
Speculations
while Colliflour certainly seems to think it fits into the main cosmology of the universe, it feels very clear, to me at least, that it does not.
the Hungry One and the Bulb have next to no physical manifestations in the world of Calorum the way Deus Pa’Zuul does.
sure, a spell might sound like a stomach rumble or emit holy light, but no one ever turns into a lightbulb.
The closest thing is that the Bulb is the Sun, but it remains untouchable and unknowable (until some crazy ass pepper shaker makes a spaceship or something).
the physicality of it makes me feel like it’s a smaller, though no less deadly, force than the Bulb and Hungry One.
there’s also the specificity - we’ve seen the magic of Bulb and Hungry One alike do a million different things. Deus Pa’Zuul’s magic seems less flexible - we only really hear it described or emphasized when Raphaniel casts a more destructive spell, like Shatter, and of course in the finale when it took over Colliflour’s body and the room around them.
(this is also probably bc TRW was a way shorter campaign and thus had much less opportunity to show off new fun ways for it to wreck shop)
The Bulb and the Hungry One are balanced - creation and destruction, light and dark. Deus Pa’Zuul feels like an extraplanar monster. I’d say “demon” but that implies that it’s working for the Hungry One, as he’s the Caloran equivalent of the Devil.
but then again, is that incorrect? in-world, it certainly feels separate from Bulb and Hungry One alike. but if we think about the implications of real-life garbage disposals...people are the ones that operate and control them. if the Hungry One is a person, he would be the one controlling what (and who) the disposal grinds up.
Finally, we have the Few Good Individuals in the Church. 
Saint Citrina, in the limited scenes we have from her, 
encourages Amethar to follow his heart and not divorce Catherine Ghee if he loves her.
creates a holy relic that forces you to tell the truth
has an argument with Archmage Lazuli about the goings-on with the Order of the Spinning Star
Queen Pamelia says in TRW ep. 1 - “Citrina and myself and many others have taken quite lovingly to the Book of Leaves. We just are careful with which sects of the church wish to impose disparate law and rule upon how we worship.”
later we see her sort of disagreeing with her mom as she is steered away from Raphaniel though, and we don’t really know what’s in the Book of Leaves, except that Saint Citrina enchanted it to force truth-telling at some point before her death.
is “useful” to Calroy and his conspirators until Brassica orders her killed. So, one can assume she was anti-Ramsian in some way.
We know that Primsy and most Dairy Islanders are Bulbian, but don’t get much of their specific beliefs. 
There is the scene in the Abbey of the Shimmering Cream with Saccharina, where we basically just learn that that abbey (and potentially area in general) is extremely anti-magic and terrible. We don’t get anything about their feelings vis-a-vis the Ramsian Doctrine though.
Primsy opposes the Ramsian Doctrine & Brassica in general once she hears about it though, so one can assume that she and the people around her don’t prioritize or agree with that in their worship.
We know Caramelinda is Bulbian, and she married Archmage Lazuli, so presumably she does not have the same issues with her use of “pagan” magic as Saint Citrina may have. 
Other than that we don’t have a lot on her religious beliefs, except that she wasn’t super stoked about Saccharina as Queen, but I think that was less because of her magic and more because of how violently anti-Bulbian and generally chaotic Saccharina is.
When Brassica’s whole Ramsian Doctrine plan gets set into motion, she gets a whole bunch of letters from churches across the continent that are like “um no??? please don’t cause the apocalypse??”, mostly from Candians (who we can assume are generally anti-Ramsian because they don’t want to die) but also from all the other countries.
So. There we go. Lmk if there’s any inconsistencies or anything ^v^
25 notes · View notes
Text
My thoughts on Yellowjackets Season 1
Major spoilers for season one under the cut. Also, long
Okay I'm going to break this up into parts because I'm mentally ill and neurodivergent, need I say more?
Stuff I predicted.
First and foremost, I fucking called it that Coach Ben was gay. I was watching it with my cousins and I announced to the room: "The coach guy is gay, you can quote me on that!" Just for the record, my gaydar is very good.
Jackie's death was extremely sad, but I knew the second hallucination!Shauna let her inside. There's no way she would forgive her or be forgiven that fast, teenage girls are terrifying.
Predictions for the future:
They are 100% going to eat Jackie. Nuff Said.
Javi is dead. If not now, then soon.
There is a 0% chance that Shauna's baby is going to survive. Giving birth is dangerous enough on its own. But a teenager giving birth, in the woods, with no medication, no food, no doctors, under absolutely horrifying mental circumstances. There's no way in hell.
For this prediction, it must be known that I know absolutely nothing about lighters. But during the scene where Jackie was trying to light the fire before she died, I noticed that she was having trouble with the lighter. This could have been because she was shivering, or to further drive home the fact that she isn't good at "outdoorsy" stuff, but lighters do run on a small amount of fuel. And if that runs you can no longer use the lighter, it is also unlikely the lighters were full when they got them (I'm assuming they got them from the cabin, as it would be weird for a teenager to bring a lighter to a soccer game) So if the lighters run out or stop working, will they run out of fuel?
And, we have to talk about my least favourite arc of all time, Misty and the Coach. I hated this so fucking much. Adult Misty slays but '96 Misty makes me want to die. Anyway... I think he gon be outed. Misty fucking assaulted and terrorized this guy for so long, and then he told her that he was gay. She isn't going to sit on this, she's going to tell everyone. I don't think anyone's going to be homophobic, because they were all fine with Taivan, but I do think that this is going to really alienate her from Nat, who is Ben's best friend and #1 supporter.
In terms of whos, the head-honcho with the scary mask is, at this point, I'm almost certain that it's got to be Lottie. At first, I was betting on Taissa because of the whole "Became a leader in her adult life" thing, but now I'm shying against it, and I'm not quite sure why. Lottie is my first choice, not from a character standpoint, but purely from a literary one. She is the only character that has not yet appeared as an adult (next to Van) who has gotten any real characterization. And Van just kind of seems like a prop to be Tai's girlfriend and someone to get injured a shit ton. (I love Taivan, don't get me wrong)
Flight 571
If you don't know, flight 571 was a real flight, carrying a Urgarian rugby team, that crashed in the Andes. It is often known as "The Miracle of the Andes." Of the 45 people on the flight, 16 survived, and they did so by eating each other. It was a big hyper-fixation of mine for a while.
One of the biggest differences between the Yellowjackets vs 571, is the setting. As 571 crashed in the Anes, where there was absolutely no life, and their flight obviously crashed in the forest, where they can hunt. But as winter approaches, the two climates become more and more similar, which will probably lead to more parallels.
There are already a shit ton of parallels, starting way back in episode 2, with none other than Van. Her Flight 571 parallel is, arguably the most famous of the group, Nando Parrado. And although your parallels aren't glaring, there is no questioning that they're there. Nando had a fractured skull and was in a Coma for three days after the crash. At first, he was to be counted among the dead, but at the last minute, he was pulled back into the plane, where he survived and became one of the most important people on the flight and one of the survivors. This is a parallel to the way that Van almost died in the fire, but survived and became a very important figure.
In relation to the whole "eating Jackie" thing. In the real-life flight 571 They didn't eat the already dead, they only ate the people that had consented to be eaten when they were alive. This will most likely not play into it at all here, but I want to see how they handle the morality of the situation
Another thing that came up a lot in the crash of 571, was whether or not they could physically;y stomach the meat. Many passengers, even when dying of starvation, could not stomach the meat of their fellow passengers. Again, I doubt this will come up, but It would be dope if it did.
Rationing horror. I want it. I know I'm a jerk, but there is one instance in 571 that has always stuck with me, and this is the fact that one of the 571 passengers (I believe it was my man Nando) ate one chocolate-covered almond over the course of three days. First the outer layer of the chocolate, and then the two slivers of almond, one at a time. I don't have a reason for it, but I really want this to play a part.
I'm very confused about how the cannibalism wasn't immediately found out when they were rescued. In the real-life Andes flight, people figured it out almost immediately. They were immediately rushed to the hospital, and when the doctors puzzled out that they had to be eating something, it was all out in the open pretty fast. I'm curious how the Yellowjackets managed to cover it up.
Things I Loved
Pretty much the whole show. Even the things I hated (see below) are either so small or made sense narratively that it allowed for a really enjoyable watching experience. It was beautiful to look at. Amazingly acted. Amazingly scripted. And just an all-around excellent show.
Things I hated
The Misty/Ben arc. I hated this so fucking much. Ben is my favourite character, and he was straight-up getting harassed by Misty. She also only stopped when she forced him out. And even then she didn't stop being bitter about it. ("[Ben] tricked me into falling in love with him") She also TRIED TO RAPE HIM??? Even after he said no multiple times during episode nine. It also made me cringe, super hard, which isn't as important but still makes me hate it. This is why I have '96 Misty. I understand that it made literary sense, but still...
The fact that 571 is canon in the Yellowjackets universe. It is mentioned in a throwaway line said by that reporter. I believe in episode eight, It feels like a mistake, like when Hot Tub Time Machine was referenced in Endgame. I have already said that it is clear that Yellowjackets is loosely based on flight 571, which makes me feel weird...
The way that schizophrenia was presented. I'm not Schitzo Spec, nor a medical professional so I'm not speaking from experience, but from the research I've done, it can be pretty harmful to use hallucinations to convey evil things or to present it as a gift. Both of which are done in the show
Character Thoughts:
I am completely separating the '96 characters from the present day. In my mind thus far they are different people. This is in literally no order
Reporter: Literally no strong feelings about her what-so-ever, don't even know her name
Those three random girls: You know who I'm talking about. I don't even know their names so I don't care.
Jeff: I hate him. He makes me want to murder him. He cheated on his girlfriend with her best friend. Then blackmailed her friends for money because people didn't want his furniture. 0/10 do not recommend
'96 Misty: I really hate her, even more than Jeff. She's the only character who I like the present-day version of her more than the teen version. Again, the whole Misty/Ben act made me really deeply resent her
Present-day Misty: I love her. So much. She and House should team up and create the malpractice hospital of the century. I was on the fence about her until the very end when she poisoned the reporters cigarettes. And now I love her.
'96 Lottie: I think that she needs a bit more development, and I can see her becoming one of my favourites. Apart from my thoughts on her schizophrenia, I think that with a bit more characterization she can become almost perfect
'96 Vanessa: I love her. Again, I feel like she is mostly being portrayed as someone to do gruesome stuff too, and as a prop for Tai., but the crumbs of Characterization we get for her are awesome. I love the way that she took Lotties weird bone/good luck charm with her. Is shows that she's really sweet and a good person.
'96 Nat: Yes. Her. Yes. Also, she's definitely queer and no I do not take criticism. I think that, even though she's so broken, her and Travis have a really unique and great bond, even at their worst. I also LOVE her relationship with Wen (Don't worry, we're getting to him) She's probably my favourite of the girls.
Present day Nat: Unpopular opinion, but just eh. She's a very tragic character, and that's important for the story. I think that her grief, and her relapse, are very realistic. I can empathize with her, but she isn't very interesting and one of my favourites.
'96 Jackie: I hate her too. I think she's whiny, and doesn't pull her weight. And her insane amount of pouting is what got her killed. I understand that there was a whole arc about her not pulling her weight, but I don't think that ever got really resolved. She did the seance, but that definitely did more bad than good. I wish she wasn't dead, but she irritates me.
'96 Travis: I definitely think he had some of the best development out of all the kids. During the first couple of episodes, I was team eat Travis first and now I'm team eat him second or third. Still not my favourite, but I don't hate him.
'96 Shauna: I think that she's a bi-disaster and in love with Jackie, but honestly to me she seems a bit one-sided. I don't really have super strong thoughts on her
Present-day Shauna: The worst of the adults. Even if it turns out her husband is blackmailing her, she shouldn't have cheated, especially if she didn't know. She pretty much neglects her daughter and kept those journals even though it meant putting her team in jeopardy.
'96 Javi: I think that at the beginning, he had the potential to be interesting. Especially with the whole, dead dad/gum thing. But we haven't really heard from him in a while, so there isn't much to say.
'96 Tai: I like her a lot, I think that she is the one whose characterization as a child comes through the most as an adult. You can see her leadership come through and strengthen as the season go on, which obviously morphs into her becoming senator as an adult.
Present day Tai: Fine. Just fine. I think that her arc as an adult is quite interesting because most of her reach characterization came through in her marriage/parenting/politics stuff, and not in the mystery. But she's fine.
Ben: Oh my precious. Oh, my baby. This man can do no wrong. he could eat literally everyone else, including Nat and Van, and I would continue to give him cuddles and words of affirmation. My favourite character of all time, the reason I hate '96 Misty. If anyone does anything to him they are dead to me forever. That one scene where he's high on shrooms and screaming at the sky that he's gay. Goosebumps.
TL;DR
I'm a really fucked up person who just spent almost hours writing an essay on a show she isn't even done watching yet.
7 notes · View notes
vinxwatches · 7 months
Text
the bad batch season 2
really liked season one, trough probably too much because i headcanon Omega as trans.
Omega is badass now? cool.
Cid is damn manipulative... by having a valid point.
the call for adventure of the season: help people. they are good people, helping when the opportunity arises, seems like they'll be making the step to looking for places to help.
i just realized something i really like in this over clone wars: people can't die. don't get me wrong, it was neat, but it also meant you wouldn't get to know the cast. in this the cast is an actual cast.
oh, that's one fucking cliffhanger, strong opening.
stop being stupid, you can't run on a broken leg... i mean you can, but you shouldn't.
they were hunted by Wilco... the name sound familiar, but my memory for names is ass. also he's dead now, so not that it really matters. i literally caught it on his death grunt.
i do like the message, but i wonder where they'll be going with it.
Crosshair episode? also cody again, probably about to die too.
there's always something neat about a sniper just sniping overly well.
maybe not, maybe cody is able to leave and live. more likely not. the only reasonable way to achieve that is by linking up with Rex or task force 99. and i don't recall him being with Rex in rebels.
well damn, he went awol. hope we'll see him again.
i love a good race, especially layed out well, and it was. good episode
ok i'll admit it my gay hart is losing it over phee, worried she'll turn out to be the villain, or at least not trustworthy.
pre jedi stuff. how will not force users make it trough here. also they're going big with the music.
i was sure it would be a kibar cristal (lightsabre core). oh, it's big.
so i really did recognise him... HOW?!
the message of the show seems to me "people need their people". now this isn't a bad message, but is easily malformed.
ah, so wookies are argonians.
"don't stand where i'm flamethrowing"
i really like where she moved. how she seems to have grown... it's probably going to get her killed isn't it? ep 7 btw.
i love the leitmotifs.
damnit two parter? i need to prepare, not need to watch part two... oh well.
Echo's role is always the most questionable to me, but here they really found a role for him.
fuck he's such a politician. (yes that is obviously an insult)
feels fitting for Echo, the old squad reuniting... yet also we know this isn't where he ends up. after all i watched rebels.
hello purple hair, should i know you already?
and it's given proper weight, nice.
tech is autistic isn't he? because my god can he be almost stereotypically oblivious. damn growth for tech. also yea you'll always lose against water.
oh, this really just is the neurodivergent episode... and i think it's handled pretty well. episode 9. Techs and Omega's conversation around 22 minutes is very good.
nope purple hair is not someone we know, and definitely doesn't have cool feather hair.
ugly and disabled means evil... not a fan.
the workers suffer while and to increase the profit of the company? what a new story, good thing such things never happen in the real world /s. if only the solutions were ever more realistic. revealing the truth never changed anything. but obviously disney doesn't want to tell that.
a broken space dropping out of hyperdrive?
oh shit, they're continuing with what i thought was a dropped plotpoint. but why though? what do they plan to do with this plot now?
Rex? doesn't look like him, but certain talks like him. and i don't just mean same voice. i mean how and what he says. ep 12
oh, is this the deserting episode? they have been building it up.
in case it wasn't obvious enough the empire was evil and a bunch of dicks.
welcome to cold, the cruellest, slowest killer. the cruellest part may be the hope. there's nothing you'll survive better then cold, because while it kills you it also preserves you. you can hope to make it, until the moment you die. and the people who find your body will feel that same hope until your corpse is warmed up. it's a blessing too, for you'll survive it more often then drowning, but the hope is cruel.
damn that ending though.
are they planning to split to group up further? i mean probably the right decision, but not healthy for the series i think. they are making this play too idyllic, like 80% sure it'll either be destroyed or secretly evil. the only reason i'd say maybe not is because they seemed to have put too much afford into the assets to throw it all away. of all the enemies to throw at the it, this is one of the most mundane and with that cool. especially in it's accuracy.
also did they hint at this ship before? i didn't notice it but i'm notoriously bind to this type of ship. or did they introduce it in this episode.
that ship sure looks like the ghost.
"i suggest i you proceed before i come to my senses"
two things i still really like: Wrecker is allowed to be afraid of heights and it's not a flaw. a hinderance and a weakness, sure. but everyone has those. it's not something that's wrong with him that must be changed. Omega is trusted with important tasks and is competent. she's not just a tag along kid, she's an actual member of the team with useful skills like any of them.
there's going to be more then one team working here, that'll be a problem. called it, and called it... fuck. this season won't end in a successful rescue. they better be getting a season 3.
on no. i see the solution, Tech does too. please don't. yet you must. fuck. come on, it's too early in the episode for a mayor character death. right? unless the rest of the episode it to come to terms with the loss. i'm wrong... right? i mean... the start of the episode did set it up, but, like.. no?
this feels like an episode where they all die... but that can't be. they have an unresolved plot. whatsit fuck face needs omege, she needs to be captured and then rescued. that's how those plots go. everyone can't die, not yet at least, the plot demands it... right?
ok... they "salvaged" him. that has to mean he's alive... right? fuck i already know a friend of mine would call out my hopium.
another female clone? the fuck? also how can you be here? do what you do? that just doesn't make sense? trying to improve the system from the inside? that won't work with the empire, and if you were a mole you'd be a shit one. they're really hoping they'll get another season.
3 notes · View notes
xyloophones · 2 years
Note
Hey Cher, seen you posting abt dimension 20 a bit, and yeah I could Google it but it looks very cool and I'd rather hear it from you if it's that cool 💜
helloooo my beloved pal <333 yes yes lemme talk about dimension 20 !!
dimension 20 is an actual play dnd show (theres also an audio only version if you prefer podcasts !) !! there are several campaigns, some with wildly different settings & different players, most of them DM'd by brennan lee mulligan who is an INCREDIBLE storyteller. d20 has a diverse cast & really memorable characters and i've kind of passively watched for a while but i recently finished watching one of their campaigns and Fell In Love
i'm just gonna list the campaigns ive seen so far in order of my favorites:
fantasy high. 6 teens go to a high school that like. specializes in adventuring parties, found family and shenanigans ensue. everyone is gay and neurodivergent. i'm very attached to the characters and their dynamics with each other AND the npcs <33 season one is on youtube for free, however season 2 is my favorite bc it contains probably my fav dnd npc to ever exist (i am an ayda aguefort stan until i DIE). i'm making my way through The Seven right now, which is a spin-off of another adventuring party that are friends with the original 6 in seasons 1 & 2.
a starstruck odyssey. fun campy space romp feat. more found family. this one is has the same players and dm as fantasy high! it has a sci-fi spacey setting and the party is the crew of a spaceship that looks like a giant hotdog. the fights in this one are absolutely wild.
the unsleeping city. an urban magic setting in new york city! another one with the main player cast and dm and once again the party dynamics and character relationships are just !!! so good !!! you will cry over a rat man !!!!! i think these two seasons definitely made me the most emotional. i aspire to get to this level of world building in my own writing.
a court of fey & flowers. ok this one is still ongoing but !!!!!! the only reason it's not number one on this list is because it's not done yet but hsajkf holy shit it's so good?? it's dm'd by aabria iyengar and it's basically using dnd in a regency fey setting to play around with high society gossip and court expectations and AAAAA i have never been so invested in wanting someone to roll well when sending shady letters to other members in the court. it's so good.
there are a ton more campaigns + one shots but i'm still making my way through them! unfortunately, most of it is only available with a dropout subscription so i'd recommend watching the first season of fantasy high on youtube to see if you like it before diving in!
if anyone else has any questions about dimension 20 feel free to send me an ask!! i could probably talk for hours about my favorite characters and details but i'll leave it here <33
real quick edit: if anyone needs trigger/content warnings for things please send me an ask !! every episode has content warnings in the description, but some campaigns in general have darker themes so let me know if you need warnings !)
14 notes · View notes
Thoughts on Separate Tides and Allergen Representation; an Essay
Tumblr media
“No appleblood. I spent the money on gryphon eggs for Luz. There’s not a lot she can digest here, so I make sure I have her favorites around.”
“Because you stuck with me, you lost your magic! You almost got turned to stone, and now you can’t even afford your appleblood because you’re worried about what I need to eat!”
This episode had a very surprising, and very sweet display of allergen representation. I really appreciate Luz’s issues and anxieties in this episode. While it’s presented in a fantasy way, when she explains how upset she is about her food restrictions, it speaks to a real issue affecting people with allergies and digestive problems. As someone with a food allergy growing up, the moments really spoke to me. I have Celiac Disease, which means that my body can’t digest gluten, a protein in wheat. I can eat the stuff physically, and the symptoms aren’t obvious like a peanut allergy. This makes it difficult to detect. The way it manifests is that my stomach can’t digest the protein. It will go through my small intestine, and tear up the lining of the organ that absorbs food, and what remains of the lining has a hard time absorbing other nutrients, causing me to essentially starve. These symptoms don’t appear immediately, taking days, weeks, or even months to register, making it even more difficult to detect. While gluten is something health nuts are obsessed with lately, it is a very real threat to people with my condition. My food can’t share the same plate, can’t share the same space; if they even so much as come into contact I have to scrap the whole meal just for safety’s sake. When I was younger, before I was diagnosed, I didn’t grow an inch for two years because my body had gone into maintaining the bare minimum needed for survival. My bones think they’re younger than they actually are. When I was diagnosed and I recovered, I grew a lot. What spoke to me in this episode was Luz’s discomfort and distress at Eda’s money troubles when it comes to food. It wasn’t a joke, it wasn’t mean, it was really meaningful, it’s a fact of life. It’s much like how Eda’s condition was treated in the first episode she appeared, just a part of life. Gluten free food is expensive, finding places that won’t actively poison me is exhausting, and I’m constantly worried about cross contamination. Even a few crumbs can be a problem. Frequently I will feel like a burden, like I’m being pedantic even though this is vital to my health. I cannot live off food with gluten, I will die. Yet it still feels as if I’m a burden. I’m right there with Luz; hearing people having to talk about our food sensitivities, and having to accommodate us, even if it's in a loving way like Eda said, is upsetting. I’m also going to guess that like me, Luz is also a picky eater even amongst stuff she can eat. On school trips, I always needed special treatment; it tended to be something that I don’t care for even if it was gluten free, or dry sandwiches I brought from home while my peers chowed down on pizza. I remember the looks everyone gave me. I have to explain to every single restaurant I find my condition. Even if they’re understanding, it’s a pain. Luz has been confirmed to be neurodivergent, and I am right there with her as well. It takes an immense amount of mental energy to find restaurants, to find the right menus, find the ones with the right accommodations. Food can’t even be cooked in the same fryer if I want to avoid cross-contamination. It’s terrifying and upsetting to constantly have to go to the front of the line and ask for what feels like conspicuous special treatment. As a neurodivergent person, social anxiety makes this so much worse. I constantly fear the cooks are cursing me under their breath for inconveniencing them, I fear that people behind me are whispering and that any moment a hand will land on my shoulder and demand I get to the back of the line with everyone else. Sometimes I will get food that I simply don’t like, or hasn’t been cooked right. Asking to have it fixed is terrifying, and I fear the people around me even more. Luz may not be super poor on Earth, but she voiced a lot of anxieties and frustration that people like me have. I'm from a well off family that could afford the additional expense of gluten free food, but I can’t imagine what a nightmare it is for real families who can’t afford gluten free food, or who can’t even
afford a diagnosis. To add insult to injury, many people will mock or dismiss us as being liars, pedantic, or just picky. It is a common thing to mock people with gluten free preferences; the Angry Birds movie made fun of it. I hear people complain about how expensive the food is even if they don’t have to eat it. People will offer me bread even after I explain to them what it will do to me. Dennys seems to have adopted a chain-wide proclamation to refuse to accommodate gluten free people. I have not eaten there in three years, because we experienced serious food problems in restaurants in Virginia and Vermont. Virtually every time I entered a Dennys three years ago, I would ask for a plate of plain and simple chicken that normally comes with toast, and I ask them to remove that; somehow, they would always screw up the order by putting glutinous bread right on top and ruining the whole meal. Yes, we are that sensitive to contamination. If it even touches the food the meal is ruined. Once, it was understandable because the waiter had been awake for eighteen hours. The other times were not. I saw the waiters argue with the other staff, I had a manager once come out to explain my own disease to me, even as two pieces of toast just sat there stewing on my chicken. That feeling of being a burden, of hearing people argue about trying to help you, stings very much. Some people will assume that we just don’t like wheat; I’ve heard horror stories of people trying to “prove” someone didn’t have Celiac Disease by secretly putting it in their food. The fact that we don’t go into anaphylactic shock when we consume it makes this a common problem as it leads them to assume it’s not an issue. It being a fad diet has also made my life worse; I have to constantly specify that I am not just gluten free, that I have an actual medical condition. I have to carry cards in my wallet to explain the situation. It feels like the world around me conspires to keep me from being healthy. And it feels like the world hates people like me for it. The best representation I’ve ever gotten for Celiac Disease was a CollegeHumor sketch. Most of the time, allergen representation is a joke, even if it’s informative and not meant to be mean. The Owl House breaks that trend with these two little exchanges. “No appleblood. I spent the money on gryphon eggs for Luz. There’s not a lot she can digest here, so I make sure I have her favorites around.” “Because you stuck with me, you lost your magic! You almost got turned to stone, and now you can’t even afford your appleblood because you’re worried about what I need to eat!” Luz’s snap at Eda about her food sensitivities is something I feel. I don’t often get allergen representation like this, especially any as loving and kind as this. Even to family, who love and support me, I can feel like a burden, as if there’s something wrong with me that is somehow my fault, and not the fault of a genetic disease dating back thousands of years. It’s deeply upsetting and frustrating to experience this. No matter who it comes from, it hurts a lot. I’m glad The Owl House captured this feeling perfectly. It’s good to know I’m not alone here. I’m glad to see representation where facts of my life aren’t seen as a joke.
181 notes · View notes
queersturbate · 3 years
Note
why do you hate squid game? i'm not being judgy or anything i'm just genuinely curious
hello anon! this might get long and i will make a lot of comparisons to aib because they are similar plot wise and they're both from SE asia (korea and japan) so i feel better about comparing those two than, say, an american show. also AiB is the best show i've ever seen period but also the best show to use this plot of competing in deadly games.
thank you for not being rude about it or anything i know people like it and i dont want to be rude about it, but personally i just dont see the appeal.
i'll put my thoughts under the cut because i know some neurodivergent people are hyperfixating on it rn and ik how it feels to read hate or criticism on a hyperfixation, so i want everyone to not be bothered.
warning i do get very critical of it so if you like squid game please dont read if you'd be bothered! these are just my opinions!
to start off, I am four episodes in. I will watch the rest, but from what I've heard, the ending is disappointing. Which idk how tf that's possible because the entire show is disappointing. But anyway, i will give it a fair chance of course but so far i hate it and im not sure if it could redeem itself. @olympiansally and I (i also talked about it with @uppertwist) are watching it and I think, collectively, we've said 7 okay things about it. 5 of those things are from me. And im the most negative person ever especially when im watching a show with a similar plot to my favorite show and it gets more popular despite it being incredibly inferior. My main approvals are, they made Korea look very peaceful (even tho the color correcting is shit :( srry) and that scene where that one guy catches our main character in the red light green light game. i really liked the reveal of that.
speaking of characters that I cant name, it's because the characters are incredibly annoying and boring. I cannot pay attention to them long enough to even learn their name. I can recognize our main character's daughters name and that's only because its said a bazillion times but i can't remember what her actual name is by myself. I think there's also a character called Sang-woo ? and i only remember that, if im correct at all, because of killing stalking. but anyway. the characters are very stereotypical. Bad dad, divorced, needs money, in trouble with a loan shark. I've seen it a million times i get it. Pretty girl is a badass, doesn't smile, has a small knife (lol), has a kid brother she's protective of. Again, a million times. Blahblah the other characters are forgettable even more so. Also people comparing sang-woo (?) to light yagami? idk what he did yet but dont insult me OR light like that again omg. also the actors are a little bad i wont lie. the main characters faces sometimes are exaggerated and i find that funny lol but idk.
as far as everyone saying "it's a great commentary on capitalism" every time im like okay...how? because i have seen zero people actually giving it an analysis they just SAY its a great commentary on capitalism. and here's the thing: i've seen it yeah? it's not. it's just "poor people need money. are willing to die for it." like woooow congratulations you broke barriers! no one has done it like that before! /s literally all im getting from this is "look at these POOR people! POVERTY!" tbh i wanted to see some rich people in the game. I wanted to see some millionaires that are so greedy and confident in their ability that they'd participate in the games just to get more money that they didn't need. and are competing against people who genuinely need the money but dont care BECAUSE they're so fucking greedy. to me, that would make the capitalism commentary a little better than just ".....POOR PEOPLE need... *assistant whispers something to me* MONEY"
another problem i have with it is how they frame food. I dont trust shows that frame food as this disgusting thing and make it look and sound so grotesque. maybe it's just my ED talking but I hate it. They frequently had food shown and it was an awful experience for Lu, twist, and me. And im not even talking about him licking the cookie, which was so fucking gross and went on TOO LONG, but EVERY TIME they showed food it looked disgusting. The characters were chewing with their mouths open, they amplified the chewing noises, they framed it with this uneasy feeling. Similar to how they framed the dinner in coraline in her own world. it looked disgusting. and im not just being ignorant and saying "korean food looks so disgusting" although i've never had korean food i've seen k-dramas where they frame food to look appetizing or just ?? fucking NORMAL. to compare to alice in borderland, they only had a few instances where they showed food because they didn't have to use it to give you an uneasy feeling. The first time it's shown, is when Arisu gets into a car and sees rotten vegetables, but it was important to the plot and world building to show you that in this alternate reality, time moves different so the vegetables have rotted. The food was rotten and looking disgusting yes, but it was never meant to be eaten, arisu was never going to eat it. it was for world building. the second time is when ari, chota, karube, and shibuki are all eating dinner together. they showed canned food because that's what wouldn't have rotted by now. they werent being gross about it they were just eating and talking about their theories. just people eating. and i love it. the third and last one ill mention is when Usagi cooked arisu some food because they hadn't eaten for days and needed to. you didnt even see them eat on screen but usagi had a whole thing of "your body is telling you that you're hungry, your body wants you to live." also the food that she cooked looked good! it looked comforting! idk maybe my ED makes me very cynical about how shows and movies frame food because i dont like it when they frame it as disgusting.
anyway this is getting long! the visual aspects of it are stupid, the game sets look stupid, the color correcting is bad, the camera angles are boring and lu's film degree has bestowed upon me the knowledge of "it has no point of view and every shot is the most obvious one", next! the blood looks boring and the physics of it are inconsistent. blood can be inaccurate and i'll still love it, but they were boring with it and it looked bad. next- the fact that apparently the pretty girl pickpocketed main character in .2 seconds when she didnt even see him coming so she wasnt prepared enrages me, next- episode two is so fucking boring i couldn't even tell you what happened in it. next- the way they revealed the money in the piggybank was boring. next- the black and white scene in the beginning explaining the squid game was stupid and annoying. next- the plot of deadly games is my favorite plot of all time and yet i dislike this show. they fucked up. and finally, the stairs they had that is an art reference is stupid lol there wasn't any need for that and they should've done it in black and white like the original art so the teal color and the people would stand out but it's too fucking busy with the multiple bright colors. not everything has to be bright and saturated, netflix calm down.
oh also, this feels very much like a typical netflix original. i call it netflix original-y. very basic and boring.
14 notes · View notes
permian-tropos · 6 years
Note
Ok, my issue with TLJ is the cynical-ness of it. It's written in a way that pokes fun of SW. Like, "all of this is so silly, isn't it. Wink, wink." I don't like how it took the focus off Rey. Ahch-To was filmed from Luke's POV most of the time. I'm not saying TLJ is a bad movie bc it's not! I just felt like I'd been slapped in the face w the fanboy-ness (the ego-ness) of it all. I know you'll break my whole argument down, but maybe I need that.
Can’t help but feel like I’m some kind of TLJ s&m dominatrix now like “this movie made you feel bad and you should be grateful” lmao 
TL;DR: As I experienced it, the movie is actually super sappy and in love with the sincerity of Star Wars just like TFA but taking its own route to convey it. instead of TFA, it’s framed to first appeal to and then sway the minds of an imagined cynical audience, and that audience might actually be 12 year olds and if so, that’s as it should be.
A point about the cynical-ness – it’s interesting you’re talking about the poking fun at SW, since the other way people have called it cynical would be in its depiction of failures and loss. To that, I would argue that it only seems especially dark because the end of the story hasn’t come yet. Which… the movie actually addresses in its story, the “hope is like the sun” line is kind of nudging the audience like “hey the heroes are in a bad spot but they’ll win in the end, don’t forget that”. 
It would be patronizing but… this movie is meant to be seen by 12 year olds as well as adults so maybe it’s okay that it’s kinda blunt about some things? Star Wars actually draws in a much younger audience than I think other PG-13 level movies do. Hiding all the messages in subtext isn’t fair to them so I think people get tripped up with TLJ thinking that it’s not saying exactly what it seems to be saying, and just communicating that message on a myriad of levels.
Like as someone who has written so many metas about TLJ – a lot of my analysis boils down to “I don’t think the movie is hiding its message very much, it’s kind of all right there, but there’s also a lot of extra layers enhancing it”. 
When the movie goes, “this is so silly, isn’t it?” (and also it doesn’t do that nearly as much as I’ve seen in some franchises) I sort of imagine what a 12 year old, having grown up in this cynical age of deconstruction of sincerity, and also being right at that age where you might look at your younger childhood loves and think “so silly”, would take from it. I don’t see them being so hurt or offended. They aren’t nostalgic for the OT yet. Their nostalgia fodder is being formed as these movies are coming out. Actually I remember being 12 and being oversensitive to people bashing sincerity – because all my peers were 100% in love with cynicism and I was well uhhh neurodivergent and at a different stage of emotional development.
Older people have a very different relationship to their childhood, often longing for the simplicity of it, or cherishing the joys. But you have to have some distance to really see that. Many movies for a pre-teen or young teen audience are about reminding them not to be too cynical, while showing an understanding of their sense of cynicism. They’re about telling kids “hey I get it but don’t rush into adulthood too fast”.
The Last Jedi concludes on sincerity, really bluntly. Rose saving Finn is about rejecting the nihilism of “the only way to prove you care about a cause is to die for it” – this isn’t true, and it’s why Holdo’s sacrifice isn’t the same. Holdo is deliberately trying to save the fleet, but the First Order, when you think about it, has cornered the Resistance on Crait whether they blast open the doors right away or besiege them for days. Finn’s sacrifice would actually just delay the inevitable and that’s not worth dying for. And “saving what we love” is this deeply sincere message.
Poe getting to save the Resistance by noticing the vulptices are leading them towards the exit is super sincere, that’s so freaking corny, it’s unreal. Cute animal friends save the day. 
Rey and Finn’s reunion is CORN HEAVEN it’s literally every run-into-your-beloved’s-arms scene (actually my first association with it is how the movie Madagascar parodies that trope with the zebra and the lion whose names I am not going to bother to remember). Rey lifting all those rocks is sincere, Luke mocks her earlier for claiming the Force is about that but guess what? It is about that! And it looks awesome and it saves everyone’s lives. Leia telling Rey “we have everything we need” is optimistic. It’s saying they’re not going to wallow in their losses. They will keep moving forward, they will take strength from failure, not despair.
Luke starts off the film thinking heroism is meaningless. He ends the film doing exactly what he said would be absurd – walking out with a laser sword and facing down the First Order. He starts off filmed with this shroud of overcast shadow around him, and ends with his face illuminated by nostalgic callback to the twin suns of Tatooine. Yoda even encourages him to remember his youthful dreams and desire for adventure – stop being such a cynic, Young Skywalker, I know you’re still that boy who stares at the horizon. 
And of course, the entire last scene with the slave kids is painfully adoring of Star Wars and its importance to kids. It’s wretchedly corny. I’ve said it elsewhere but the slope of the floor, leading up to a field of stars, actually parallels the slope of the opening crawl. That’s how meta the cinematography went. It went there, it poked that fourth wall. The movie ends with a promise that any little child who loves Star Wars is as special as the saga’s heroes, and that’s actually the most sappy thing in the Whole Entire Saga. 
So the movie basically argues with a hypothetically cynical audience. And if it feels weird, like it’s assuming you’re cynical (which is insulting because no, you unironically adore Star Wars, thank u v much)… I suppose maybe give the movie a fair shake and remember its most important audience is 12 year olds, who have all their little quirks and emotional hangups. No matter what this movie means to you, it will never ever compare to the place it will hold in the hearts of its preteen audience. That’s how Star Wars is supposed to be.
I have no idea the consensus on this film from 12 year olds but I really hope they don’t get overwhelmed by 20-somethings pressuring them to hate it.
Side note on “Ahch-To was filmed from Luke’s POV” – I’m pretty sure it’s the opposite?? people ran into this before where they thought the movie was siding with Kylo and showing his POV when he’s never the POV. Do people just have it backwards? Please okay I feel weird breaking something so simple down but…. the character that is being stared at a lot by the camera is the Object. The character who you presume to be doing the staring is the Subject and POV. Rey is the subject and Luke is the object. Rey is the subject and Kylo is the object.
The fact that the two leading white men of the movie are almost always Object is, I think, actually a point of confusion, because that’s not how it ever is, but it’s how it is in TLJ. They’re not being favored over Rey, we’re seeing her perception of them, so she’s even closer to the audience than they are. Except for the Luke and Yoda scene, nearly everything from Ahch-To is from Rey’s perspective. She seems invisible because she’s actually omnipresent. It is highly unfamiliar to have a woman seem invisible for that reason, but this is a thing I’m super confident about. 
Rey is POV, as she should be of course, and actually she is more POV than in The Force Awakens because Finn gets that role a lot more and he gets that role when he’s with her. We’re probably actually used to Rey-as-Object despite thinking of her as the protagonist because she’s framed like that in TFA. I’m extremely pleased that Episode 9 will have Finn and Rey in an adventure together, but it wasn’t even that bad to have them apart for one movie because it let us get to know Rey on her own terms. 
I could honestly go through the whole sequel trilogy and break down who is POV in what scene and make some kind of infographic lmao would I actually be that extra TM??? who knows
62 notes · View notes