#reveals SOMETHING about the exact kind of character that i Really Like

[nelyoslegalteam]

#WOULD KILL DRACULA AND SURVIVE#listen maedhros feanorion and jonathan harker are fundamentally the same genre of person. no im not elaborating just trust me. #actually that’s a lie i made a long unhinged post elaborating but like #‘​‘his spirit burned like a white fire within’’ / ‘‘in fact he is like a living flame’’

PLEASE elaborate on Maedhros and Jonathan being the same kind of person! Is Jonathan the living flame quote?

YES LISTEN OKAY YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND. first of all i have been unhinged already here but. look i just really love a character who makes decisions they know are putting them in danger because they’re bound to some duty beyond themself. love a character who was trapped and imprisoned and makes for a juicy study of what the power structure of that entrapment was like (and for maedhros i have to shout out @outofangband for just utterly sinking their TEETH into this in the BEST way). love a character who SHOULD’VE died, who DIDN’T, except they did go through some kind of metaphorical death. and now they’re back. and they’re not as soft and measured as they used to be. and now they’re spurred on by rage and trauma - and also the desire to protect their people (maedhros has his little brothers and also All Of The Noldor, jonathan has mina) from the horrors that they faced. and they WILL face those horrors. violently. with a knife. no matter how much it opens their own trauma, they’re taking the blow. and fuck do i LOVE a character who’s willing to meet the worst version of themself along the way, who’s willing to Become The Thing They Fear for the people they love. (maedhros, who refused to burn the ships, doesn’t want to be the kind of person who slaughters refugees. but he will be that, for his family. jonathan doesn’t want to be dracula. but for mina, he’ll turn to vampirism without second thought.)

also listen. a character who is physically changed by what they went through, as a metaphor for the way their trauma has altered who they are. maedhros losing his right hand. jonathan’s hair turning white. you see. you get me.

AND YEAH. YEAH THAT’S A DIRECT QUOTE ABOUT JONATHAN!!!!!!! it’s from the october 3rd entry, where jack describes jonathan as such:

The poor fellow is overwhelmed in a misery that is appalling to see. Last night he was a frank, happy-looking man, with strong, youthful face, full of energy, and with dark brown hair. Today he is a drawn, haggard old man, whose white hair matches well with the hollow burning eyes and grief-written lines of his face. His energy is still intact; in fact, he is like a living flame. This may yet be his salvation, for, if all go well, it will tide him over the despairing period; he will then, in a kind of way, wake again to the realities of life.

(emphasis mine but!!!!!! TELL ME THAT ISN’T THE MOST MAEDHROS-CODED OUTSIDER POV ON JONATHAN HARKER EVER)

anyhow. i love them both dearly. and the living flame quote is one of my favorite lines of all time <3

#listen. there exists #some sort of center #in a venn diagram where the circles are maedhros feanorian. jonathan harker. and astarion ancunín. that just #reveals SOMETHING about the exact kind of character that i Really Like #whatever the overlap between those three is. and it’s THERE. that’s where i go stupid feral. #astarion gets left out of this analysis because a.) nobody asked and b.) there are Several Things here that he doesn’t quite share but like #whatever that common thread IS - and IT EXISTS - that’s the Blorbo Recipie to me and i think about it lots #silm #re: dracula #nelyo askbox

[annabelle--cane]

does the tma tumblr fandom know about the madness that seized the tma tiktok fandom (specifically the cosplay side) in the ~month after the finale released? I can't remember the exact order of events, but it went something like

week leading up to the finale: lots of oliver banks cosplays. makes sense, with The End and all that.

the day of the finale: people must have been sitting there already in costume with their cameras and lighting set up to listen to mag 200 when it dropped cause there were some really quite spectacular videos set to dialogue from it within about fifteen minutes.

the next week: cursed cosplays. I think it started with another resurgence of catboy elias (always a favorite), then something Happened to everyone because it immediately moved on to things like the calliope, ex altiora, the daedalus space station, jon's rib, the billboard from mag 74, the metal pipe, jane prentiss's ashes, the blanket (of "never did anything" fame), the homophobic vase, the bag of teeth, the beetle wife, and, my personal favorite, the man upon the stair who wasn't there. most of these were extremely detailed and high quality.

for maybe 18 hours: in-universe in-character avatar discourse. arguments about whether people should reveal that they were avatars in the apocalypse on the first date. it immediately got out of hand, people started satirizing certain kinds of prejudices that it was Not their place to, and almost everyone deleted their videos about it by the following morning so it vanished like a collective fever dream.

three weeks post-finale: the magnus carchives au. they work at a car dealership now.

#tma #marina marvels at life

[bixels]

If it's not too much trouble would you mind sharing more on your thoughts about AJ? Esp the line she shouted at Rarity and her "struggle with sexual identity" I'm kind of new so I would like to hear more! Does Rarity also struggle with sexual identity and fearing AJ would leave? I love the family oriented person A and the business inclined and impressed by shiny new things person B trope

Ok, this is gonna get into head canons and personal opinions.

The writing in Rollercoaster of Friendship (and EQG as a whole) is much simpler and more stripped down in comparison to FiM (most likely to appeal to a younger audience; don't want to seem like I'm dissing the writers), but that one confrontation made me sit up in my seat because it carries the entire special.

More under the cut cuz I don't want MLP analyses clogging up my blog.

For one, we've seen AJ get frustrated and angry about the same exact conflict over a girl in FiM (Rara), establishing a pattern. And even though she's right (her friend really is being manipulated), I read both cases as her acting out in jealousy too. Here's this girl who she's felt a unique attachment to being "taken away" and changed by someone new. This is most apparent in RoF; the moment Vignette introduces herself, kisses Rarity on both cheeks, and establishes herself as Rarity's "new best friend," AJ immediately reacts with shock, betrayal, and boldfaced jealousy (made even worse when Rarity forgets her during introductions). Although AJ acts independent, she's actually very emotionally dependent on certain people in her life.

If we come into this with the assumption that AJ has romantic feelings for Rarity –– which is a normal assumption given the director/writer confirmed the special was written as a romantic drama between the two –– AJ's line is all the more heartbreaking. If I may slip into fictional speculation: your crush is no longer listening or paying attention to you, even though you know something is wrong and that she's getting hurt. Your frustration at her lack of awareness is really your anger at her lack of care –– she doesn't care about you anymore. So in a fit of rage, in your big, dramatic confrontation, just to make her look at you, react at you, feel how she's been making you feel all day –– unwanted and unspecial –– you hurt her back. AJ yells, "You're not special!" and Rarity cries.

And what really gets me is that AJ lies. In this moment, she lies that Rarity's not special when (again, assumption of romance) she's the most special person in the world to her. So special that she's placed all her feelings of self-assurance and security on their relationship. So special that the moment their relationship is shaken and she doesn't know to recover it –– recover herself –– she lashes out, acts against her character, and says something dishonest just to hurt the girl she loves.

(Honestly, rewatching this special, AJ is so insecure and attention-needy. The way she pouts and slouches and lags behind the group and says, "Never mind. It's nothing," when asked what's wrong is textbook "please pay attention to me and ask me what's wrong because i need a reason to be honest about feelings i know i should be ashamed of" behavior.)

I think AJ's insecurities (which could be tied to her lack of experience with romantic relationships) reveal how she has a tendency to misattribute and redirect anger onto the person she cares most about (see Simple Ways as well, where she's caught on the opposite end of a jealousy spat). This could easily become a very toxic trait, but AJ grows past it. Near the end of RoF, the two come together and apologize. AJ recognizes her entitlement and confesses her insecurities about their relationship. She felt hurt and attacked when her status as Rarity's best friend/girlfriend was threatened because it's a role she uses to self-identify –– if Rarity isn't hers, she loses part of her identity. And she admits that she thought her motivation was to protect Rarity, but really she was just being selfish and protecting herself. Rarity was busy and stressed and needed someone to lean on just as much AJ needed her. She isn't AJ's emotional support girlfriend, and it wasn't right to expect her to be one.

(Which is why Rarijack is peak because throughout both series, they repeatedly show just how important honesty, open communication, and trust is in maintaining, supporting, and growing a romantic relationship.)

#i got a tag on my post yesterday speculating that i'm an english major #i'm not but i do write a lot of papers on art history and analysis for school so you're not too far off! #i just finished a short 6-pager analyzing a single page from a 1940 superman comic #ask me #anon #not including analysis on rarity cuz this post is way too long. another time.

[tossawary]

The new "Scott Pilgrim" animated television show is going to reignite my burning desire to write a Scott Pilgrim AU for SVSSS, I know it. I don't have time, but I still WANT to write a Modern AU about these losers fucking around Toronto, and "getting out of the city to clear my head" only to reveal that they went to fucking Mississauga or something, and, idk, getting stuck on the 401 for some reason.

I don't like matching characters up perfectly to other characters in AUs, or forcing them along the exact plots of the media being used as an AU, because I like letting Fusion AUs unfold as naturally as possible. It makes things more surprising and it keeps the characterization strong.

But Shen Yuan is Scott, obviously, who desperately needs to level up his emotional maturity. Luo Binghe is probably a combo of Knives and Ramona, and it's HIS "exes" of some kind that Shen Yuan needs to fight (the final "ex" is revealed to be Shen Jiu or something, probably). Airplane Bro is Shen Yuan's roommate (it's Shen Yuan's apartment) and it STUNS Shen Yuan to realize that his stallion-novel-writing older roommate is gay. I don't really know what Mobei-Jun is doing in this AU, but his most important "superpower" is probably that he's the only one who actually owns a car AND has his full G license.

The truly exciting thing would be bringing in Shen Yuan's sister (the one who apparently reads gay non-con bondage erotica and accidentally scared Shen Yuan with it) in as Stacey Pilgrim. It would be fun to explore Shen Yuan's family dynamics for once.

Also, you can totally keep demons and the System and potentially even transmigration in as background elements, because that's just what "Scott Pilgrim" is like. Yeah, yeah, the Secret P.A.T.H. on Spadina Avenue that you can take to the Cultivation Realm so that you can level up your fighting skills over the summer break, we've all heard about it. You can also get there on a Go Train from Union Station, but it's only running at like 7 AM for some reason.

"Once upon a time, in the far off land of Toronto, Canada... Shen Yuan is dating a high-schooler..."

"HE'S IN UNIVERSITY! AND WE'RE NOT DATING! I'M JUST TUTORING HIM."

"Lol, okay, bro."

#svsss scott pilgrim au #shen yuan #luo binghe #bingqiu #bingyuan #shang qinghua #mobei jun #shen yuan's sister #tossawary svsss #fic ideas

[meanbossart]

I just noticed DU Drow has the mouth scars used to link the 7000 lesser vampire spawns to the 7 greater ones. Is that a certain significance for that scars or do you just think they look cool? I had the same scars for both my tav and durge but after the reveal it must be confusing to Astarion lol. What is his reaction after meeting Sebastian?

Hahah well obviously I had no idea the scars would be of any plot significance when I picked them, but based on how the game treats that scene, I don't think they're MEANT to be the same ones. Sebastian is the only one in the cells that has them too, if you look closely.

My assumption is that the developers gave him the same cosmetic that's available in character creation as a temporary solution, possibly with plans to replace them with something more unique later on - and then that just fell in the list of priorities. Either that, or Sebastian's chin scars aren't actually what the insight check is referring to (the narrator only says the scars are carved into their flesh, not specifically on the face)

For me, personally, I choose to believe that Sebastian's scars are the result of something else, likely self inflicted throughout his 200 years in captivity and not the EXACT same design that DU drow has.

That said, I do like to take note of the resemblance in my "personal canon". In A Novel Experience, the similar scar placement Is not lost to DU drow or Astarion (they also have the same hair model, funny enough), and that leads to some uncomfortable - albeit entirely concidental - parallels that they don't really speak about but are definitely implied.

Sebastian kind of lives in both of their brains in a subconscious level 24/7.

Regarding his reaction upon meeting, between the slight resemblance mentioned above and the context of the situation, DU drow was definitely made very uncomfortable. His "canonical" response is the "lets get the fuck out of here now" option that gives Astarion the curse of the sire debuff - so, thanks for that asshole LOL

I think something about the exchange made him feel threatened, but not necessarily because of jealously or anything like that - he just recognized that Sebastian held a kind of symbolic power over Astarion (aka - guilt) that makes him resent him. He doesn't feel this way about the rest of the spawn, but Sebastian is different.

#DU drow lore #a novel experience #ask #bg3 spoilers

[moghedien]

ok so i was genuinely unsure about how I felt about the way Lanfear was revealed in the moment, but there are three main things that are really selling it for me:

1: It immediately sets up the threat of going up against a Forsaken:

So far we haven't really gotten much of an indication from the show about what the Forsaken really are, who they are, and why they're any different that a regular darkfriend. Obviously there's still a ways to go in explaining it, but Lanfear provided an immediate visual explanation

Because for example, we've already seen one darkfriend innkeeper who had a thing for Rand (or pretended to) take a knife through the throat

We've even seen Rand stick around and linger by her body and its very clear that absolutely nothing happens.

We get a lingering shot on her bleeding out and she is very clearly actually dead in this moment. Its not even really a question.

But with Lanfear we kinda get the exact opposite of this moment. We see her take a knife to the throat and clearly go down, then there is no lingering by the characters.

The camera goes back to her and we see the saa very clearly moving in her eye, then she blinks and breaths in.

And by this being the opposite of Dana, I mean that with Dana there was no question that she was actually dead. With Lanfear, there is absolutely no question that she's still alive.

Dana was also a darkfriend, but this is very clearly showing non readers that Lanfear is something DIFFERENT. We're told she's a darkfriend of some kind, then we're seen that she actually apparently cannot die by normal means. This coming AFTER the reveal that she is definitely a channler of some kind, and if we now know she's a Forsaken, then we know that Moiraine clearly said the Forsaken are the most powerful channlers ever, more powerful than any Aes Sedai.

And now apparently they can't die.

2. Its foreshadowing.

Moiraine was able to take out Lanfear (if only temporarily) with a physical attack because Lanfear was so fixated on Rand.

The above is also a spoiler for the climax of a certain book.

I'm not gonna get into it, but its clearly like showing that there's a course of action and there is a playbook that works here.

3. NOW we have Lanfear

Before we had Selene. I'd argue there were even moments where we had Mierin, but the only time Lanfear has really come out before this was when she went into Rand's dream and threatened him in episode 3.

By this I mean that while Selene was always obviously an act Lanfear was putting on, it stopped us from really seeing how manipulative and obsessive Lanfear could be and was currently being. If we didn't know she was Lanfear (and non readers shouldn't) then there's no reason to realize the lengths to her manipulation. We still don't know that the man she was telling Rand about was Lews Therin. We still don't know that Lanfear even knew Lews Therin much less would want to rekindle any kind of lost romance with his reincarnation. Because even when Lanfear was being honest as Selene, she was keeping herself back. She wasn't latching onto Rand and telling him that he was hers. She was very clearly holding onto the memory of Lews Therin, but there has yet to be any clear indication that she 100% buys that Rand and Lews Therin are the same person rather than Rand just being his reincarnation.

So while Lanfear was definitely getting some joy out of sleeping with Lews Therin reborn, there is no real indication that that is what she wanted. She said she wants Lews Therin. She tells Rand she's more or less settling for him. Let's assume that was 100% honest for the moment (because I believe it mostly is to a point), I don't think that's the case after this episode. Because Mierin Eronaile suddenly got the one thing she'd always wanted:

If you watch the moments immediately before this scene and immediately after, there is a shift in how Lanfear is acting here.

Before she was very clearly putting on an act. She was playing up being afraid of Rand and didn't seem at all concerned about keeping him here. The most she does is ask him where he's going to go, and even that is said in a weird tone unless you know that she's probably going to use this information to keep tabs on him and report it/follow him herself.

But Rand does the one thing he absolutely shouldn't have done with Lanfear and told her that he loves her.

So now I think is the moment where Lanfear is willing to accept that Rand is Lews Therin. Because if Rand is Lews Therin, then Lews Therin just said that he loves her.

And her entire tone shifts here. You can see she's visibly shocked in the moment, and then smiles and flips the scene to her being afraid of him, to her reassuring him and telling him that he should have told her and telling him that he didn't do anything wrong and he was just acting in his nature. Before she was bringing up the inn and was clearly trying to make him feel bad. Now she's clearly trying to reassure him and keep him around. Absolutely manipulation but I think she didn't really need him to stay until he indicated that he loved her.

So what this means is that we now have Lanfear, who is established as being unkillable and one of the most powerful and oldest being in existence, NOW becoming obsessed with Rand al'Thor and thinking of him entirely as Lews Therin. And not only that, but now she's PISSED because he just left her and was taken away from her by Moiraine exactly when she finally had him back after thousands of years.

She finally got everything she's wanted and it was immediately taken away, and I think that's frankly terrifying, so yeah, I think I do like this reveal now actually.

#also like #the books make it prettty obvious who she is #like if you don't suspect Selene is who's being talked about in that creepy poem from the moment she talks then idk #I think it was best to withhold that info until it needed to be revealed #there's few Forsaken reveals that I find like actually surprising or satisfying in the books #and surprise surprise the only one I can think of that I genuinely like is Moghedien's reveal to Liandrin's black ajah group #mostly because it scared the Black Ajah shitless when they realized the maid girl they'd been abusing was a Chosen #wheel of time #wot on prime #wot book spoilers #wot show spoilers #lanfear #long post

[ganondoodle]

not sure if i have talked about this before but i also really hate how gorons are treated in totk

they are one of my fav and i know they are unpopular and were always kinda slot into the "big fat stupid rock people" role, but i do think totk is one of or the worst case yet; all regions get some life threatening event (ignoring how stupid it is to put the issues you need to solve in the exact same spots as in botw with most changes being also reversible so the actual changes to the environment of the map are largely some small rocks sprinkled about) and they get .. drugs (haha)

like i dont wanna downplay anything but their problem being that they are obsessed with eating (>_>) some drugged rock that makes them mean and lazy (even if the reason is fine ... if i remember right and didnt make up that they had to dig elsewhere for food bc of death mountain losing its lava flow, the execution is my problem -like the vast majority of this game is a ok to great idea with passable to horrible execution of it) and arent even a danger to you (which i thought at first when you approach goronia the normal path and two gorons start to walk towards you if you come near saying creepy shit- i thought they are gonna attack me or lure me into a trap but again .. only to find them wanting me to pay to be let through (i think??) and all other drugged ones are largely just ... eating or lying around ........

like it would have been cool if that drugged rock stuff made them actually agressive, like the friendly easy going rock people being turned into something akin to a starved animal after eating poison bc they were at risk of starving sounds alot more .. impactful and scary (even if it would still be about food, which idk about you but the only kind of fatter npcs, even if non human, being made all about food is .. hm, aside from other possibly bad implications from this, but im trying to roll with the idea of it)

and then poor yuno being put in a stupid (stereotypical?) wrestler outfit and hes LITERALLY being mindcontrolled is so ...... ugh (again, idea is ok but- you get it) and then him being told by two CHILDREN that that obviously not zelda might not be zelda and it not only being the only time that idea is openly said until its "revealed" that hhhwhat?? it was a fake one?? in the mid battle of the "story" and he doesnt even believe it (both bc haha hes stupid and cant understand such a thing and also link not being able to tell anyone ... even his friends ....... ) is just so disrespectful, its ok not to be the smartest guy in the room (tho in totk pretty much anyone is made so much dumber for no reason...) but it being so clearly the gorons that get treated like this just annoys me so much, you know no one of the other races would be treated like that

(not to reach a little but it also plays into how koga is portrayed, like i love him to death and there are things that largely the gameplay only implies of him not being that incompetent, but hes clearly meant to be laughing material, the boss of the band of 'evil' assassins being lazy, incompetent and 'childish' is funny right?? and although i hc that the either super thin or super beefed up appearance of yiga members are just an appearance like their disguises of normal people to seem more unified and less indentifyable- that is still only a hc and then koga being the only character that is visibly fatter (aside from ... the gorons and .. king dorephan??) it puts a pebble more onto the pile of pebbles of little annoyances)

also yuno saying, post mid "story" battle, that no one actually knows anything about ganondorf aside from him being evil and it going complete ingored and never mentioned again feels like the type of thing a games does when they are critized for soemthing and instead of changing it they put a line in the game essentially saying "yeah we know but we are not gonna do aynthing about it lol" (like thinking of the line ashe from league of legends, whos design has been critized alot bc shes running around in a stupid tiny dress in the snow lands of their world, got when her dialog was updated that made her say sth like "yes im wearing a little dress in the forever winter land, deal with it lol" which perhaps was supposed to be a joke but it just feels like a "lol we know, fuck you")

#ganondoodles talks #zelda #totk #ganondoodles rants #also may i say that i dont like that they made yuno be the boss of a company now?? #idk i already didnt like how weirldy overtaking dumsda (hudson) thing got #and him suddendly beign the boss instead of landa (...the dance guy that you buy the house from in botw idk his engl name) #whos now chilling in angelstedt (lurelin?) like hes a shunned king in exile #idk feels off #and no im not saying everything about everything is bad #again I LOVE KOGA AND YUNO #and i dont mean they both have to be the coolest smartest guy around #i find the trend of only their types of design to be the ones made to look stupid and lazy troublesome #THAT is my problem #and yes theres lots to read into koga especially but still #at least it felt like to me that the game realyl wanted you to think of koga being a modern tingle

[total-drama-brainrot]

How firmly do you believe in Noah's ability to copy voices?

I have seen people make him be able to copy other contestants voices and mimicking them to a point it feels uncanny to the other contestants.

My point? P! Noah would definitely use that to his advantage. I just think that was a cool concept so here. :)

Anon I need you to understand that I've already used that exact concept in one of my fics. Like, it was an integral part of the first chapter of said fic. (And one that I regret not using more, since it's such a fun concept to play with. My drafts are full of different scenarios using this exact premise.)

I believe whole-heartedly in giving Noah weird party trick abilities and other "obscure" talents like vocal mimicry - but only when he uses them in the most unhelpful ways possible.

Mostly because he's kind of lacking when it comes to his viability as a contestant in the show; most of his competitors are either physically gifted to make up for their mental/emotional shortcomings (i.e. Eva, Izzy, Courtney, Sierra, ect.), intentionally or unintentionally adept at playing the social aspect of the game (Alejandro, Justin kind of, Owen, Lindsay, ect), or have some sort of character gimmick that benefits them in the competition (Harold's... Harold-ness, Izzy's wildcard energy). Noah doesn't have that. It's actually kind of impressive just how useless Noah is in terms of the competition, since he's supposed to be one of the smartest characters in the show but his slothful nature prevents him from actually utilizing this.

My answer? Have Noah use that big brain of his to develop and cultivate weird talents that end up being somewhat useful. Like the ability to mimic voices. And his canonical hacking abilities that he never uses in the main series.

In terms of p!Noah, I'm actually on the fence on giving him the same ability. Mostly because he's already got both canon Noah's smarts and the physical prowess to make him a competitive threat, even if he still maintains the same apathy towards the competition itself. He isn't really focused on winning the competition itself, but his innate skillset makes him a pretty big threat regardless, especially if he ever decides to shift his focus from self entertainment to trying to win. Giving him extra abilities on top of his established skillset just seems like overkill.

But. One of the core aspects of p!Noah's character is his prankster-type nature, which is mostly a result of him trying to stave off his perpetual boredom by pulling pranks and jokes on his competitors. In very much the same vein that canon Noah throws jabs and barbed comments at his castmates, p!Noah instead plots and schemes different ways to make them suffer for his entertainment (whilst also throwing out jabs an barbed comments). It wouldn't exactly be out of character for him to commit himself to learning how to copy voices just for the sake of tormenting people.

Especially if he's using said talent before the "reveal".

Could you imagine the kind of shit p!Noah could stir just by using someone else's voice? He's got the same unnoteworthy background character benefits as canon Noah for the first season- barring Izzy's immediate attention as a fellow person of flimsy sanity- so he'd be able to blend seamlessly into the background and gather information on the more vocal campers, stuff he'd easily be able to twist and recontextualise in the earshot of others; for his own benefit, sure, but p!Noah wouldn't care about using this for his own standing in the game so much as his own amusement.

It'd be more in character for him to use Gwen's voice to make an off-handed comment about how he thinks guys who play guitar are "trying too hard" or something, coincidentally when Trent himself is near enough to overhear, just to watch their will-they-won't-they song and dance crumble under the strain of Trent's insecurity. (Which could either help or hinder Heather's later stunt, which takes advantage of that same insecurity.)

There's a nearly endless well of opportunity when it comes to fucking around with vocal mimicry and p!Noah would cherish that fact.

Or maybe he'd wait for Heather and Leshawna to get into another argument during one of the Gopher's challenges, more specifically for them to end an argument and walk away from each other in a huff, only to chime in with Heather's voice,

"Ugh, what a bitch."

Just loud enough for the two of them to hear and consequently react to; Leshawna, of course, with reignited outrage and Heather with gobsmacked confusion. Leshawna would immediately confront Heather about the comment, and only get more mad when Heather denies saying it- despite it being in her voice. Meanwhile, Noah watches the two of them taunt each other into a bigger confrontation with the added benefit of the rest of their team scrambling to diffuse the situation (and get back on task for whatever challenge they're supposed to be doing).

#really tempted to give him this ability jut for the hijinks #total drama #td noah #psycho!noah au #others' ideas #silly ideas #replies #kinda drafty in here (posts from the drafts)

[oliveroctavius]

Doesn't the decision to get involved with Sam Bullit prove Gwen was a bad person?

Hey, I've been looking for an excuse to post about this. The Sam Bullit arc isn't really about Gwen (though it certainly reveals some things about her character). The Sam Bullit arc is about racist dogwhistles and why they work.

ASM #92 pg 19: "I will bring law and order to the people of this great city! I will show no mercy to the anarchists and all others who would destroy our way of life!"

Bullit's platform is not openly white supremacist in the sense that it doesn't overtly mention race. He talks about laws and safety in a way meant to appeal to rich white voters. The true meaning should be clear to anyone with any political awareness (who are those others and what is our way of life?), so why does this rhetoric attract "otherwise rational" people?

ASM #91 pg 6: "I want to volunteer to help you--in your campaign for DA. Because--I want you to bring Spider-Man to justice!" "We need strength--strength to punish those who mock the law! I will use such strength to bring Spider-Man and others like him to justice! I will not betray your trust."

Gwen makes her decision to back Bullit on the way home from her father's funeral. There's a very real phenomenon of tough-on-crime bills named after (white) murder victims. The grief of families who feel like justice hasn't been served is a powerful tool to push harsh laws while smothering any criticism as "disrespectful" to the victims. What’s in a Name? An Empirical Analysis of Apostrophe Laws, 2020.

Bullit showed up at George Stacy's funeral with this exact goal in mind, and when Spider-Man "kidnaps" Gwen later, he leverages the media obsession with white girls in danger for his cause. Gwen is a pawn, but she did offer her help first. Her desire for closure is very human and her short-sighted reactionary faith in "the law" is very white.

Oddly absent from your "proven bad person" takeaway is J. Jonah Jameson. The Bugle lends Bullit a platform to make Gwen's personal tragedy a political talking point. JJJ has the ~Black best friend~ excuse and everything, and he still blows past red flags like crazy.

ASM #91 pg 7: "Maybe they were better days than now! At least we had law and order then." "Yeah--and lynch mobs, and bread lines, and Uncle Toms..." "Come off it, Robbie! What's wrong with a man standing for law and order, anyway?" "Maybe it just depends on whose law--and what kind of order you're talkin' about, man!"

(Another point of this arc: marginalized groups learn to recognize dogwhistles pretty quickly for survival reasons. If they tell you something is a dogwhistle and you don't see it yet, look closer.)

ASM #92 pg 9: "Parker's story just served to open Jameson's eyes--but I've kept a dossier on you. I haven't been city editor all these years for nothing! I know where your support comes from. I know about the lunatic hate groups who are backing you. I know what you really mean by law and order!"

Late in the campaign, the Bugle switches sides. This scene tends to be described as JJJ giving the racists what-for, but the moment is truly Robbie's. (Note that it took Peter getting roughed up for Jameson to take this seriously!) JJJ can yell at Bullit all he likes without consequences, but Robbie is kidnapped and threatened by white supremacists in retaliation. It's Robbie's determination to speak up that eventually puts Bullit out of the running for good.

The Bullit arc isn't there to sort characters by Bad Person and Good Person. Neither Gwen nor JJJ have to personally hate black people for their self-centered sense of safety to be weaponized by a racist agenda. This is a Stan Lee PSA about masked bigotry and how it might appeal to you even if you consider yourself a Good Person.

But for some ~mysterious~ reason, Gwen's brief agreement and Jameson's brief rejection are the only parts of these two issues I ever see brought up, with Robbie's major role not mentioned at all. Some ideas fit more neatly than others into smug ship-war quote tweets and anon asks, it seems.

#olivertxt #comics #reductionist takes from people who clearly do not care about this arc have been getting under my skin for ages #gwen stacy #robbie robertson #jjj #/ racism

[storm-and-starlight]

Rodimus and ADHD

I'm gonna start this out by saying that Rodimus having ADHD is something that's been pretty fundamental to my understanding of the character since I first read MTMTE/Lost Light (seriously, I can point you to the exact panel when I went "oh okay this is Canon to me now") but also that I've almost never seen a portrayal that really vibes with how I interpret it? A lot of the fics and fanon I've come across tend to take a fairly... typical view on and portrayal of ADHD where the things that are focused on are hyperactivity and task/responsibility/boredom avoidance, and to me that's not... it's not the, like, the fundamentals of how I read Rodimus and ADHD? It's not the main issues that affect who he is and how he interacts with the world -- those would instead be the impulsivity and the... idk how to phrase it, the "ADHD trauma"? It's really distinct and I'll get to it later.

The impulsivity is fairly easy to get to, and fairly obvious -- the best representation of how it manifests in Rodimus specifically is in the initial description of the Rodpod, where someone (I can't quite tell who from the panel) says "you know what he's like: he obsesses over something, then gets bored" and then it's revealed that Rodimus presumably commissioned an entire ship built in the shape of his own head. That's really what I see as the main ADHD symptom -- the mix of obsession and impulsivity. We see it when he gets everyone to go on the quest, we see it when he tries to chop off his own arm because he thinks it might stop the future from happening, we see it in his plan to stop the sparkeater -- it's basically how he responds to every problem he's presented with, and often significantly more than that, and that kind of impulsivity is very much a noted feature of ADHD. (Being briefly but intensely obsessed with something before losing interest and dropping it is also a really big ADHD thing -- just look at the cycle of hyperfixations that's so common in fandom).

(Also, when combined with his ego, recklessness, and carelessness, you get basically the entire negative side of his personality out of this, which is why I consider it so fundamental to his character -- significantly more so than, say, task avoidance.) (though recklessness, and carelessness are also fairly common with ADHD -- it's related to impulsivity in general.)

The "ADHD trauma" thing is a little trickier to explain: it's basically how I describe the constant awareness that you have screwed the hell up in the past when it's important and you are going to screw the hell up in the future when it's important and hating the fact that it happens and yet also being completely and fundamentally aware that it's something you can never, ever change about yourself no matter how hard you try (because you have tried, in the past, and it has never worked even a little bit). Like, hello, that basically describes my entire childhood and also the lives of most of my friends who also have ADHD. The panel that convinced me that he does have ADHD is the one that basically explicitly describes this, in Lost Light where he and Drift are talking after they return from the Functionist Universe and Rodimus says "Oh, I know what I'm like. That's the trouble. I know exactly what I'm like -- I just can't stop myself," because, like. that's it. that's the experience in a nutshell.

And like, I'm not saying that this is super severe -- he definitely has more self-confidence than is often warranted, but he also does have a lot of self-esteem issues, and I think this is really the root of them: failing, over and over, until you reach the point where you start thinking that it's bound to happen someday and that everyone will hate you for it forever. That's a super common experience with the kind of disability that ADHD is, especially if you don't know you have it in the first place, and that combined with all the smaller traits (the impulsivity, the hyperfixation, and yes even the task/responsibility/boredom avoidance) is what really convinced me that he is an ADHD character.

#transformers #transformers meta #maccadam #rodimus #rodimus prime #rodimus and ADHD #obligatory internet disclaimer that this is my own personal interpretation of canon and you are allowed to disagree with it etc. etc.

[monstersandgirls-webtoons]

What is your biggest inspiration for your work outside of the art? I know most of your work is comedy based, but you do also create a lot of pathos for your characters, is there a specific goal you are wanting to accomplish like 'I wish to see more work that represents me' or do you just want to create an interesting emotional narratives for your characters? Sorry if this a loaded question.

I'm a big fan of Dorohedoro and I love its balance of comedy and incredibly dark tones and tragedy. Hence why I really enjoy making every character, even the villains, feel very fleshed out and more nuanced. Luvart is more of the "saturday morning cartoon" villain type but there's a lot more variations on my "bad demons" that i love to explore.

But also, it's just a personal thing that the series has an underlying feeling of sadness to it, that you know something terrible happened to these characters but don't know the extent of it. I try to be careful with this because I have seen writers fall into the habit of giving characters the exact same trauma or treating their trauma as a reason to care about them, hence why i typically hold off on revealing a character's past trauma until an audience member feels more attached to them. The trauma needs to feel connected to that character. The trauma doesn't define them, but it did shape them.

Canon wise, it just makes sense to me that characters from Heaven and Hell would have a deep sadness to them. Heaven encourages kindness and civility, but is strict, demanding and at times cruel. Hell allows freedom to do what you want, but that freedom also includes freedom of consequences, freedom from morality. I feel like anyone who lives in those types of extreme environments would experience some level of sadness.

But also, for me personally, it just feels nice writing about characters who are mentally ill and traumatized, and are still moving forward. that they're not "broken" for experiencing pain and that they can do whatever they want if they're willing to push myself. It's why i emphasize so much about treating Heaven as flawed but not "evil", a lot of Christians find comfort and warmth knowing that there is a God out there who loves them, and wants them to be happy.

#ask

[starbylers]

Can we talk about how Mike ‘not being able to say he loves El because he’s scared she won’t need him one day’ makes no sense when you consider that for Mike this conflict spans two whole seasons, and there needs to be a consistent character motivation throughout.

Mike struggling to tell El he loves her has been, on the surface, his main conflict since s3.

In season 3, after blurting out he loves El, Mike brings it up again at the store. He tries desperately to get his point across, to make El understand ('I've never felt like this before', 'blank makes you crazy, like the word'). But no-one can deny that in this scene Mike is doing everything he can to avoid actually saying love. Now, what is the Mlvn excuse for this again? 'He's not good at expressing his emotions’. That's their running narrative post s3. (Let's ignore how that's not even canonically true of Mike's character and continue).

We come to season 4, and Mike is still chronically unable to use the word love, even when speaking about El and not to her. (Like this is clearly a deeply ingrained thing but I digress). Pre vol. 2, the Mlvn excuses are still related to Mike basically being emotionally unintelligent (his parents, his age, blah blah). But when Mike himself finally reveals the big reason, it's...'I didn't want to tell you I loved you because I was scared you won't need me one day'? Okay. Theoretically, out of context, that could make sense. So this becomes the new Mlvn narrative.

Here's the problem: both of these things cannot be the root cause of the same issue. It's one or the other: either he can’t say he loves her because he’s bad at expressing feelings, or he’s scared El one day not needing him would hurt more. This two-season dilemma is part of one series-long character arc for Mike. Mike in s4 is the same person with the same struggles as Mike in s3. Whatever his motivation for avoiding it in s3 (which was never addressed, it’s not like we got closure for that and then they just came up with a new reason he can’t say it) must logically be consistent continuing into s4.

Can anyone seriously tell me that Mike, here in this scene, was struggling to say the word 'love' because he was 'scared one day El wouldn't need him':

No. Of course not. He was specifically avoiding the word, and the most plausible explanation for his aversion (if we're ignoring Byler) is that Mike's just a kid and love is a big scary word. Bad at emotions etc. Which is why Mlvns and GA subscribed to that narrative, it seems obvious. But it cannot be right because Mike reveals the 'true reason' in 4x09. This is the canon explanation, finally—he's been scared she eventually won't need him. Except, that cannot be right either, because that reasoning does not align with his obvious (again, ignoring Byler) s3 motivation (love being daunting for a young teen) for the exact same behaviour. Like he literally uses the exact same pattern of avoidant wording from s3 in s4 (‘I care for you so much') and like I’ve said this is all meant to be one singular, overarching conflict.

If the initial 'bad at feelings' reading of Mike was correct, you'd expect the monologue to be more along the lines of 'I find it really difficult to express myself but I do truly love you, so this is me being vulnerable and brave'. Personally, I would've somewhat bought that. As a Byler I would've been like okay, it's kind of boring cliché storytelling but I'll admit defeat. But that’s not what happens. Basically what I’m getting at is:

Neither of these explanations can account for Mike’s inability to tell El he loves her in both seasons, so then by the logic of Mike having consistent motivations, neither can be true.

Which leads to the conclusion that there must be a different, all-encompassing, underlying cause for his heavy avoidance. Something that connects all the dots. I wonder what that could possibly be.

#byler #anti mileven #also I do believe that Mike is scared of El not needing him #but his reason for this fear is rooted in unhealthy codependency and his insecurities not because he’s just so in love

[utilitycaster]

I don't know how you feel about it, but I was extremely frustrated last night when I found out that break was called after around 3 hours. I just felt that at that point they should have just made it a Crown Keepers episode instead of promising that BH would be back and then them barely being in the episode. I don't know, I'm usually really go with the flow with CRs creative choices, but this was just a real big swing and a miss for me. I wish this had all just been its own episode

So here's my feelings:

My thoughts on EXU Prime, and later Kymal, were that I love the player characters and their relationships and much of the worldbuilding (notably all of Niirdal-Poc and the Qoniira Tetrarchy) and I liked many of Aabria's NPCs but there were some pretty big gaps left in "what the fuck is going on" that left me feeling as though I wouldn't mind seeing the characters again but I didn't feel strongly about continuing the story in-world, if that makes sense. The Aevilux reveal, for example, was sort of what the main plot of EXU Prime hinged upon (ie, that was Myr'atta Niselor's motivation; that was what the deal with Ted was) and so the fact that didn't come out for over 2.5 years irl after it ended meant I'd just kind of said "well, some weirdo from Syngorn really wanted to do shit to Opal for some reason related to her sister, who is also her patron, and we don't know why either of these things is the case, and I guess that's what happened" and made my peace with it. Similarly, I don't know what the Nameless Ones want, and never have (other than, at one point, the circlet of barbed vision, and I don't know why they want it). I made a joke that Myr'atta, Poska, and Otohan are all kind of the same and honestly that is the thing: if you don't know why a villain is doing something - even if the reason is "because I love to be evil and terrible!" it's hard to care, and if those are only villains, it's hard to be invested in the story about the heroes either, even if you like the heroes as characters.

When I say I like how this ended, I mean it - I think it could have gone only a few ways, but I like that Morrighan and Opal have both become divine champions, Morrighan willingly and Opal less so (this is yet another case of "the gods don't do take-backsies on oaths", but also, I do feel for Opal despite it all because of Aimee's excellent work throughout). I mentioned how I felt about the exact details of Cyrus's death but I don't mind that he's dead. Fy'ra was a highlight throughout, as she frequently is, and I think she was faced with two extremely unpleasant choices and made a fascinating decision. But I'd have preferred to see this as a flashback (see next paragraph) or like. Just decide what happened. If I'm being extremely honest a lot of my issues with the Crown Keepers portion is that it felt like there was a very specific desired ending (Opal's complete corruption and Cyrus's death); I also said at some point well before that you can only do so much with the Crown Keepers while Dariax is there because Matt does, even if he's turning his brain off to play our Charisma-only kinda short king, know all the cheat codes for the main campaign. It's kind of like why how, even if the DM will control an absent player during RP, they usually have another player control in combat.

I don't mind that the Bells Hells portion was short. I think the choice to break where they did makes sense given everything else that went on. But I think that, criticism of the actual Crown Keepers portion aside, while you might have lost some of your audience for a Crown Keepers-only episode on the main feed, you would have preserved the drama of FCG's death better and gotten people more excited for the Crown Keepers if you had essentially run things exactly as done here but then just cut the two episodes together, which, as a pre-taped medium, they can now do! Hindsight is again 20-20 but: Run the first half of 92 as is. Break and tape a full Crown Keepers episode. Return to Bells Hells and narrate the message back from Dorian saying he'll be there, play out the rest of Bells Hells in the camp dealing with FCG's death, and then have Dorian arrive at the very end of that episode and end the episode when the party asks him what's been going on with him, then reveal there will be a Crown Keepers episode. Air your full Crown Keepers episode as episode 93, and then return to the main campaign with 94. It would have been better balanced in terms of time, people who wanted the Crown Keepers to return would have gotten hyped up, and people who dislike them or are neutral would have at least known what to expect and frankly if they skip the episode that's their choice to make. Hell, since there were 2 weeks? Could have even been like "hey, we'll do a Crown Keepers Marathon on Twitch and Youtube on some random weekday" to build up some hype!

So overall my answer is that I agree this wasn't a great creative choice. I don't think this means they shouldn't take big swings! But some will be misses and this was, while not an entire miss for me, at best a walk.

#answered #minxie-the-sabertooth-kitty #cr spoilers

[jgroffdaily]

Excerpts from an interview with Jonathan and Maria Friedman at the Los Angeles Times by Charles McNulty, with photos by Justin Jun Lee:

Hopefulness and regret are calibrated to perfection in a revival that ought to be filmed before it closes July 7. I’ve seen the New York production twice, and the psychology only deepens on subsequent viewing.

The key to making this work — which is to say making us care — is the performance of Groff, who humanizes Frank’s choices without sentimentalizing his arc. Frank can come off as a narcissist, a guy who can’t resist whatever shiny object happens to be in front of him. But Groff, who received Tony nominations for his performances in “Spring Awakening” and “Hamilton” and deserves to win for his beautifully layered work in “Merrily,” reveals what Mary and Charley see in him and don’t want to give up on: an answer to their dreams of fulfillment — romantic in Mary’s case, artistic in Charley’s.

Groff was fresh from filming HBO’s “Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known,” a reunion concert with the show’s original cast and creative team, when casting director Jim Carnahan asked him about his interest in “Merrily.” He immediately watched the London production on YouTube and was struck by an image from the opening number that matched something he had just re-created for the “Spring Awakening” doc.

“Frank walks out with a red folder, and Mary and Charley come out and stand in the exact positions that John Gallagher Jr. and Lea Michele stood in at the end of ‘Spring Awakening,’ with the girl over the left shoulder, the guy over the right,” he said, speaking from his dressing room at the Hudson Theatre. “That is the final bit of ‘Spring Awakening’ and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s so weird. I just lived that.’”

But it was one of Frank’s lines that really clinched the deal for Groff: “I’ve made only one mistake in my life. But I made it over and over and over. That was saying ‘yes’ when I meant ‘no.’” “When I heard that,” Groff said, “I went, ‘Oh, my God. I have to play this. I have done that. I’m just learning how to not do that. Yeah, I get him.’”

“I cast Jonathan for many reasons,” Friedman said. “One, because he’s absolutely brilliant. But I cast a big heart, a beating heart.”

“The amusement and bafflement of having a go at life and everyone wanting a piece of you — that is the place that Jonathan works from,” Friedman said. “Everyone wants a piece of Frank. That’s what happens with brilliant people. Jonathan is not just brilliant and beautiful but also one of the kindest men. And kindness is central to this production.”

Groff, who was exceptional in the short-lived HBO series “Looking” about a group of young gay men living in San Francisco, said that, from “a queer perspective,” he could identify with the way Frank represses parts of himself to please others.

“Growing up closeted, I became an expert at dodging questions and shining a light on other people,” he said. “This can create a relationship dynamic where you’re in a constant state of service to others — like the perfect son who’s hiding something. That stereotype feels connected to the way Frank supports everybody’s dreams, talents, neuroses and needs. He’s able to do it because he’s full of passion and genuine love for those people.”

So how exactly did Friedman, Groff & Co. finally solve the riddle of “Merrily”? By approaching it the way they might a play by Shakespeare or Chekhov, sifting through the lyrics as though they were lines in “Hamlet” and digging into the psychology of the characters as though mining subtext in “Uncle Vanya.”

This revival, fittingly, has been a team effort. And the ensemble’s collaborative joy only reinforces our sense that, however much Frank, Charley and Mary may bitterly disappoint one another, their bond will always be the best thing that ever happened to them.

#jonathan groff #merrily we roll along #maria friedman #merrily promo #interview #spring awakening #spring awakening those you’ve known

[i-guess-im-into-this-now]

The Apothecary Diaries

S1E20 First Watch

Here's where I watch The Apothecary Diaries for the first time and give my thoughts, analysis, predictions, and occasionally I stumble into a joke.

To start at the beginning:

Episode 1

My character/locations cheat sheet

Suiren - Jinshi's attendant

Lakan - strategist. Maomao's biological father.

Lihaku - the military officer who took Maomao out of the Rear Palace

Basan - an officer who is related to Gaoshun

Sir Kounen - Jinshi's older acquaintance who died

Suirei: court lady who doesn't like Maomao

Concubine Loulan - the new Pure Consort

Maomao wakes up. In Jinshi's bed. It's better than recovering in the infirmary.

Suiren helps Maomao prepare to see the others who are all eager for answers. The others also includes Basan, who can fuck all the way off. Why is this guy in a perpetual state of pissed off?

Jinshi hasn't pieced together what happened and asked Maomao to explain. She explains the parts of the conspiracy that she's noticed. That Sir Kounen's death was part of this shocks Jinshi. We get a glimpse of someone ordering replacements of the ceremonial items that were stolen. That person is the exact same guy who was around at the deaths of Sir Kounen and the official who ate poisoned seaweed. Still whoever is the mastermind, must have been aware of the metalworker's technique for this conspiracy to work.

Maomao takes a moment to consider Jinshi's status:

Maomao: Who is this man really?

Oh my god is it finally happening?

Maomao: Knowing would only land me in more trouble. It's got nothing to do with me.

You have got to be kidding me. I suppose I should be happy that she accepts the truth, even if she refuses to look at it.

Suirei and her coconspirators went to a lot of trouble to try to kill Jinshi. What is the connection between Suirei and Jinshi?

Oh Suirei is dead. She took poison. Made from her morning glories perhaps? And she was the sole mastermind behind the incident. Right.

Lihaku is here. He's starting to grow on me. Or maybe he just seems preferrable after having to tolerate Basan. What is with all the men in this palace anyway?

Lihaku: Well anyway the mystery's been solved. I'll see you.

That should not have made me laugh the way it did. The way he just drops this very much not solved case and walks away. Lihaku proves he is not the man for Maomao at every turn.

Maomao wonders if Suirei is the type to commit suicide. She thinks maybe, because Suirei was so apathetic, but their last conversation was so strange. She talked about resurrection medicine, which is impossible, but if Suirei took a poison that only made her appear dead... and Maomao can figure out the antidote, then maybe she can "resurrect" Suirei and maybe get some answers? Or is there something else going on here?

Maomao is on to something, and she is so excited. She asks Jinshi for a favor to speak with the doctor who examined Suirei's body. Her enthusiasm for solving mysteries is on full psychotic display, and even having seen it before, Jinshi is a little taken aback.

Gaoshun doesn't want Jinshi in the morgue.

But:

Jinshi: Where the apothecary goes, so will I. Gaoshun: *sigh* Naturally.

Gaoshun, sweety, if you already knew, then why did you bother?

It seems Suirei was depending on this doctor who is in love with her to perform her autopsy, because he never cut her open to find out what kind of poison she ingested. Maomao reveals that the woman in Suirei's casket is not in fact Suirei. She then taunts the doctor into revealing the truth, that he didn't perform the post-mortem.

Gaoshun is quick to get between the angry man and Maomao.

Maomao's theory is that Suirei concocted a strong poison, containing thornapple, that made her appear dead, but later when the affects wore off, she had help from her coconspirators to replace her body with someone else's and escape. We get another glimpse of our mysterious man. To be able to get in and out they disguised Suirei as a vendor.

Jinshi thinks it's crazy to risk taking such a dangerous poison. Maomao is quick to admit she would do it. And Jinshi knows her all too well, because he says she would do it simply for the pleasure of it.

Maomao has some professional respect for Suirei and all the skills, planning, and daring it took to pull this off. Maomao seems a bit unhinged here; she laughs maniacally as she considers how to get the elixir recipe from Suirei.

Then she quickly switches affect to sweetly ask if she may have her leg restitched. And for as much as he likes Maomao, sometimes Jinshi really doesn't know what the hell he's suppose to do with this girl, because he's completely exasperated that she would wait so long to mention that her leg is bleeding. But of course she waited. She will always put her own well being behind everything else.

Oh. Concubine Loulan. We haven't seen her in quite awhile. She has one of her attendants whisper in her ear and we see her eye narrow for just a moment. Was she receiving word about Suirei? Is Lady Loulan involved in this scheme somehow? Why come at Jinshi?

Jinshi is sitting up alone at night thinking. We've seen him do this before and find something to smile about. This time, he's pensive, troubled. Thinking about the mystery that is Suirei; how she came into the palace and what her motives were.

Then we have the greatest conversation ever between Jinshi and Gaoshun with so many wonderful twists and turns.

Gaoshun comes in to share a drink with Jinshi after tending to Maomao. Jinshi has been thinking a lot about Maomao, and particularly about what to do about Lakan.

Gaoshun drinks first, testing for poison or an aphrodisiac? Just what does Jinshi have to drink here that tastes so bad? Gaoshun claims that Jinshi need not drink it, but Jinshi claims it is his duty as a eunuch??? Okay man...

Gaoshun teases Jinshi for acting like a child by holding his nose. I wish Gaoshun would get off that already. It's so fucking patronizing. And I know Jinshi has responsibilities and expectations and all that shit, so he has to behave a certain way in public, but does Gaoshun really have to enforce all of that when it's just the two of them relaxing at home?

Jinshi tells us here that "Jinshi" the eunuch is 24 years old, and that "Jinshi" is a persona he uses to operate in the Rear Palace.

Alright, okay, so Jinshi takes this... concoction to suppress his manhood. I'm trying to figure out mechanically exactly what that means, and I think I know, but wow. What a thing to do to yourself. Gaoshun threatens that this stuff will one day make Jinshi impotent. Maybe, quit taking it then? Like why is Jinshi risking it? Is this really expected of him? Like, what if something happened to the current emperor while he doesn't have an heir? Wouldn't the empire need to Jinshi as their back up? Why would he even be permitted to risk impotency before the line of succession is secure? It's really fricking odd to me.

What is wrong inside Jinshi's head or life that this is something he does?

We learn that Gaoshun is a GILF grandfather. And that anger-management nightmare Basan is about to wreck some lady's life with marriage. He's only 19, like Jinshi.

Jinshi is only fucking 19? He's, like, just barely an adult. Still a teenager. What a horrible world he lives in, that it would crush this young man with so much responsibility before he has even lived two decades. I want cry, and wrap him up safe and warm and make him some soup. Is it okay that I just want to mother this young man? Can we get Ah-Duo back?

Gaoshun wants to retire, but he can't do it until he sees Jinshi settled. Jinshi says he'll do his best. But at this pace, it's going to take him 10 more years to marry Maomao, so hopefully Gaoshun's grandkids won't be completely grown by the time he gets to meet them.

Oh Lady Loulan can speak! I've never heard her use words before. And Jinshi is sparkling. I feel sick when I see it now. Loulan is constantly changing her look to the point that the emperor cannot recognize her, and I'm sorry what? That's weird enough to be important.

We learn that at least the current emperor isn't a fucking pedophile like his own father was.

Oh Jinshi.... doesn't know about the baby switch? What the hell? I was convinced he did know. So how did Lady Ah-Duo treat him? I mean he went over to her palace to drink with her alone. The emperor really thinks Jinshi is his little brother huh? Who does know about Jinshi's true identity then? Just me? Do I even know? Have I gotten something mixed up here?

Jinshi wonders why the emperor hasn't fathered a new crown prince already. Yeah like what the hell? He didn't even have another wife after Lady Ah-Duo lost her uterus, until he inherited the throne and the Rear Palace. He's got at least 4 main wives, 2 that he doesn't touch, and 2 that he definitely does. And also, like, all the other lesser ranked ladies of the harem. What is this guy doing? Or rather not doing?

Jinshi sounds like he would like a prince to come along so he could gtfo of the line of succession and do his own thing.

Speaking of babies. Lady Gyokuyou is looking exhausted and... pregnant? Yup she's preggo. And Maomao gets to go be a midwife! Yay!

It seems every time Maomao puts down roots she is ripped away to go some place else. This time she literally put down roots when she planted her herb garden. She's come to enjoy this life here, and the people in her orbit. And being near Jinshi. But now, who knows when she will be able to come back.

So why send Maomao away? Is Jinshi concerned after the assassination attempt that it's too dangerous to keep Maomao close? Does he see sending Maomao to the Rear Palace as a way to keep her out of Lakan's grasp? Is this because of Jinshi's conversation with Gaoshun? Does he intend to get serious about finding a wife, one who isn't Maomao?

Maomao is comforted by the thought that she will be away from Lakan, and wonders if this is Jinshi's way of looking out for her. For sure it is. As much as Jinshi would like to keep Maomao around , he will always let her go if he thinks it is better for her. He did it before when he fired her from the Rear Palace the first time.

I am a little excited for Maomao to reunite with the ladies of the Jade Pavilion, even if it means more space between her and Jinshi.

Wow, Lady Gyokuyou's baby has gotten big. How much time has passed? I was thinking a year, but maybe it's closer to two or three? Maomao sees the emperor enjoying some family time and thinks there may be more to him than she thought. I can't read that guy at all. Maomao spares a thought for how difficult the emperor's position is politically with his concubines.

Lihaku is at Verdigris House and he over hears the news that one of the princesses is about to be bought out and he's terrified that it's the one he's in love with. I may care about Lihaku's personal problems some day, but it's not today.

To start at the beginning:

Episode 1

Next Episode:

Episode 21

#the apothecary diaries #apothecary diaries #jinshi x maomao #jinmao #jinshi #maomao

[choco-mooooose]

SXF MANGA SPOILERS + speculation!

I wonder if this chapter and the one before it are setting things up for the future. The series has gone on long enough that there should be some kind of big shift happening, but nothing too big, since this series still has a lot of life left in it. (No twilight/thorn princess mutual reveals yet!). I now believe that Yuri and Damian are gonna be the ones to know the Forger family secrets first.

At this point, I think Damian is suspicious of Anya, and Yuri is obviously trying to find a way to arrest Loid, so he might figure out Loid’s secret along the way. That might set the stage for some twiyor, where Yor and Loid finally prove they are really “married” to Yuri. (After all, Yuri’s only seen failed attempts at kissing and spoon feeding, nothing of their real domestic life together). I don’t think it’d be Twiyor in the sense that they’d kiss or show physical affection, b/c I don’t think they’re there yet, but if Yor puts into words what she feels about Loid to Yuri, then Yuri would call off the arrest, like how Loid refused to finish Yuri off in the sewers. Or, Yuri bugs the apartment and overhears how happy Yor is with Loid, and calls off the arrest. Either way, parallels!!

On Damian and Anya’s side, I think Damian is smart enough to know something’s up with Anya. In the last chapter, when he thought about the implications of why Anya wanted to talk to him, Anya very obviously reacts to what he realized in his mind. He could justify it as Anya realizing the exact same thing that he did at the exact same time, but it seems to be a common thing that Endo does where one character comes to a huge realization, the narrative then jumps away to another character in the next chapter, and then jumps back to that character in the next as they’re milling over that huge realization. That may be happening with Damian, and in a future chapter, he’ll start thinking about all the times Anya has seemingly read his mind.

From there, I have no idea if Damian will ask Anya if she reads minds, or if Anya willingly tells him, or none of that happens. This just may be me wanting this to happen, but maybe Damian will enlist Anya’s help in figuring out his mom? And Anya tells him about how weird and contradictory her mind is? I think it’d be cool to see them figure out the mystery that is Melinda. She is so weird! I secretly hope she’ll be the “real” final boss, not Donovan Desmond. Like, wouldn’t it be cool if she’s the real mastermind behind the Desmond name?

Anyways, all this is speculation and none of this could happen, I’m sure. I do feel like there’s gonna be some big change coming, or another backstory (Yor’s hopefully!)

#spy x family #sxf #spy family #sxf manga #spy x family manga #sxf manga spoilers #twiyor #sxf loid #sxf anya #sxf yor #damian desmond #yuri briar #twilight #manga speculation!