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#simultaneously (I don't think this is the intended purpose of it I think it's more just to show what's currently airing)

beyond-crusading · 1 month

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Thinking about the scene where Paul enlists the Southern Fremen in Dune part 2. I really love this scene, and, let's not kid ourselves, there's an element of power fantasy to it.

But there's something much sinister going on there. Paul specifically screams "I am Paul Muad'Dib Atreides, Duke of Arrakis". The mere fact of calling the planet Arrakis instead of its original Fremen name Dune, and the fact that he claims to be the legitimate Duke of the planet because he's the heir of House Atreides is an insult to Fremen independence. What he was allegedly fighting for this all time...

There's a consistent theme in this scene of Paul refusing to follow Fremen customs, like when he refuses to kill Stilgar and speaks anyway. Paul is doing that on purpose. He asserts his dominance by showing Fremen rules don't apply to him. He can dismiss anything he dislikes about their culture and remake it according to his will.

This scene shows simultaneously the crowning of Paul as a Fremen Messiah and the death of traditional Fremen culture. Paul is pursuing by other means what the Harkonens started.

What Paul is asking of (or rather demanding of) the Fremen, is that they join him in a revolution. But not a revolution towards more freedom, justice and equity. A revolution meant to create a society based around the supreme power of a tyrannical leader. And that's a central component of fascism.

Which can make us question the ethics of Villeneuve's film. This scene shows the birth of a fascist movement in a very epic and heroic light. The intended message of the film is clearly anti-authoritarian, but cinematography leaves much room for misinterpretation.

#i know this blog was originally about the crusades #but if i'm so interested in the crusades you won't find it surprising that i'm very much into dune

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n3xii · 6 months

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this week's reading is an energic analysis of your current aura with some advice and guidance on how to overcome any blockages. Keep in mind that this is a reading and intended for entertainment purposes only!

Deck I used for this reading: Craft cards tarot deck

(this is an affiliate link so if you do buy it would be supporting me as well!! very pretty pink deck and it's perfect for people who want an aesthetic, minimalistic tarot deck to add to their collection, with gold edges too!!)

PILE ONE

your current energy: king of pentacles reversed + ace of wands reversed+ six of pentacles

I think you guys are in a bit of a rut, you may feel drained and unmotivated, uninspired. There could be feelings of self-doubt, insecurity about your goals partially when it comes to career or money. And those feelings end up in a spiral where you don't feel like putting in the effort or the work, and simultaneously that makes you feel even more unmotivated. The card you got for advice was the six of pentacles: first things first. Don't give more of your energy than you can give, stop pouring your life force into shitty people, arguments, self-doubt. and secondly, know that it's ok to ask for help and assistance. this doesn't just mean from people around you, but from the universe too. i cannot tell you how many times my angels told me to ask for help in a reading and when i did, i actually saw movement in my life.

PILE TWO

your current energy: seven of pentacles reversed, 5 of wands and the ace of pentacles reversed

I think you guys are feeling impatient, frustrated and the energetic blockage that I actually see is competitiveness. I think you guys honestly just need to know that what you're basing yourself worth on right now is impractical and baseless, being competive with others and comparing yourself is making you feel frustrated, impatient with your own progress. The advice card for you was the ace of pentacles reversed, your guides are coming through to tell you that you need to establish firm grounds in self esteem, dont base in how well or how bad you are doing in comparison to others.

PILE THREE

your current energy: the fool, the two of wands and the ace of pentacles

The people who chose this pile are on the verge of something new, bright whitish colors or teel green colors may be in your aura right now. I think the people who chose this have something in mind that they want to start doing, but the blockage is originating from the fact that you are stuck in the planning stage. You're still in the process of actually taking action, trying to decide ''how'' you want to do this and you're delaying this new beginning by trying to decide if you're going to go forward or not. The advice isnt to be rash and impulsive, but to start taking small steps of aciton towards this desire. the ace of pentacles upright is always the advice to plant the seed. set your intentions and nurture them through taking action everyday. as always, cards in the pentacles suit are always slow motion types of cards, understand that what you want to start will require longterm action and effort, be patient with the process and dont let potential rot because of inaction.

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dungeonmalcontent · 6 months

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I want to demonstrate one of my favorites about 5e d&d. The part of it that is unclear, RAW, is the best part. The things you could do in this game by abusing vague wording and badly thought out mechanics is fantastic.

To talk about this, I want to bring up everyone's favorite problem child of an item. The essential item every party tries to get their hands on for ease of game play. The hecking bag of holding.

See. Here's the thing. They're waaaaay volatile. Most of the item description is ways that it can go badly. But people still love it and every group tries to grab one so that they can plausibly carry a lot more things of have a slightly more secure storage system.

But the written out ways that a bag of holding don't even compare to the number of ways that you can make it waaaaay more dangerous and simultaneously more useful. So here's some bag of holding ideas.

1) the least likely to work, but it also makes sense when you think about it. Cast arcane lock on your bag of holding. Barring casting it on the bag itself, fit it with a mechanical lock that must be removed for the bag to be opened, cast the spell on that. This makes the bag password protected and significantly harder to steal from.

2) trap the bag, option 1: magic mouth alarm. Cast magic mouth on a rock, stick it in the bag. Set the magic mouth spell to go off with a bloodcurdling scream if it sees a hand other than yours. Other triggers are also available.

3) trap the bag, option 2: wait, you can do that? Cast glyph of warding at 7th level for the spell storing glyph property. The trigger for the glyph if is a hand other than yours enters the bag of holding (which you must cast the spell inside of). The stored spell for glyph of warding is contingency. The contingent spell is misty step. The trigger for the contingent spell is the application of the contingent spell. When triggered in this way, the misty step has a set destination within the bag of holding. In practice, the combo looks like this: thief sticks hand in bag -> triggers glyph of warding, which applies contingency to the thief -> the contingency spell puts misty step contingency on the thief and it is triggered immediately -> the thief misty steps into the bag of holding where they suffocate to death. Could potentially swap misty step for dimension door or another appropriate teleportation spell.

4) trap the bag, option 3: cheap and dirty middle finger Baja blast you into the astral sea. Glyph of warding at base level, spell storing, stored spell is rope trick. Pretty self explanatory. Thief reaches their hand in, triggers the glyph in the bag, rope trick gets cast in the bag. Rope trick opens an extra dimensional hole, triggering the self destructive "gate to the astral plane" clause of the bag of holding. Thief gets sucked into another dimension immediately, destroying the bag in the process.

3-4 and so on) other simple spell traps for glyph of warding that work to deter thieves reaching into a bag of holding: any damaging spell, as per the glyph of warding's intended purpose; polymorph, to turn the thief into a snail or something, ideally alongside the magic mouth option so that you know to deal with the snail; any spell which destroys the bag outright and causes it's contents to be cast into the astral plane; glyph of warding and levitate on a pouch of dust of sneezing and choking, so the dust gets levitated out of the bag and spreads over the thief. (Share your other creative ideas).

5) bear with me on this one (because I'm growing further into "creative ways to send thieves to the shadow realm" Territory) and this one is... A rune Goldberg machine. You must cast drawmij's instant summons on a bag of holding. You then cast magic mouth on the sapphire used to cast instant summons, and have it speak the words "my bag of holding". Then cast 6th level glyph of warding to store telekinesis. Thief reaches in -> magic mouth calls for the bag of holding -> glyph gets the trigger (name of bag of holding spoken in your voice) and casts telekinesis to crush the sapphire -> the initial bag of holding is conjured into the bag of holding the thief is reaching into -> gate to the astral plane. Alternatively... You potentially conjure the bag of holding into itself creating an extra-dimensional paradox and end reality. If your GM rules that telekinesis must be cast on a creature in order to crush the sapphire, hire an artificer to lend you a homunculus servant that lives in the bag to be the target that gets telekinesis and crushes the sapphire (hell, you might even make the servant out of the sapphire).

6) decoy bag. Carry a bag of holding around with you explicitly as a decoy. Fill the bag with something incredibly dangerous like baking flour and an ignition mechanism or just... A lot of sovereign glue. Position the bag so it is the most easy thing to be stolen from you. Whoever identifies the bag will learn that they can turn it inside out to empty it's contents. They do so. To horrible effect.

#d&d #dnd #dungeons and dragons #5e #ttrpg #fantasy #dumb uses for bag of holding #bag of holding

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fizzingwizard · 2 months

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my curse: "Gee I wonder what my old buddy Nightcrawler's up to in 2024? hmm let's check around and see -"

"... why did i look why did i look why"

Seriously why does Marvel do this? I won't deny that Nightcrawler fans like to joke about the tail thing. For the kinkier ones, it's maybe not as much of a joke too. (But - it still is. Y'all know that right. Real people don't have tails. Anyway, you're welcome to make fun of this, as long as I eventually see some dudebro extra show up and ICly ask Colossus about his giant metal wang.)

Women hitting on Nightcrawler and being overtly sexual towards him in a way that would be pretty creepy IRL isn't a new thing in the comics. It's weird, but even though it reads as creepy, it's intended to show that despite looking like a gargoyle, Nightcrawler is hot and can attract girls and is totally an authentic superhero. It's complimentary creepiness 9_9 I don't take issue with that because that is superhero comics, everyone is horny all the time, and attraction is inexplicable. Basically it boils down to "I've got lips/ And I've got lips/ Let's get together and use those lips"

However. In the Draco, we got Jubilee, who was like 18 at the time, complimenting a naked and extremely distressed Nightcrawler on his, uh, junk. His reaction amounted to "..." Then a couple years ago, we got a... demonically possessed?? Illyana - whose age is a fucking mystery, she's not a teen anymore, probably Kitty's age, but anyway she's young - hitting on Nightcrawler as well. Once again he's brilliantly "..." about it. And now we've got this girl. I don't know how old she's meant to be, but she's written to sound like a young chatterbox - while being blonde and buxom and dressed like a Hooters waitress. "OH EM GEE" she spells out vocally??? Then exoticizes him, then asks him sexual questions???

There's definitely a way to comment on the invasiveness of fans who feel entitled to any detail no matter how personal about someone famous. But must it be through teenage girls you purposely drew to be hot and stupid? And I'm being generous by even suggesting that's what the intent here is. I think it's way more likely this is just another version of the "complimentary creepiness" shtick, only made more awful by the like twenty year age gap (I guess Crawler was aged down with everyone else but come on do any of us feel that's real in any sense). You get to lust after this girl while hating her simultaneously for being everything wrong with young women. Who is this for? They can't imagine it's for Nightcrawler's female fans. They can't be that obtuse. It's obviously for the boys.

So then the question is, what is there for the female fans? Because having female fans is kind of something Nightcrawler's known for. And any time something happens to a character - or a story - that the bros don't like, they blame the change on pandering to female fans. On feminism. On reverse sexism. But please someone sit down and explain to me how it's pandering to us female fans to write our favorite character like a tongue-tied himbo ("uh... um... uh..." wow crawler you smooth criminal! it's really obvious you've been a grown ass man since the 70s) while simultaneously insulting our entire gender as vapid nymphos?? Several times???

gosh. next time please just let crawler react by saying "sister you've got boundary issues and should be hitting on someone your own age goodbye." honestly this shit wasn't even cute when Claremont did it and he gets a pass on everything

#xmen #nightcrawler

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tinyozlion · 5 months

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The Char Aznable Problem

Here’s a take for the MS Gundam fans in the audience: Using the Zechs-as-Char analogy will actually hinder you in understanding the finale of Gundam Wing.

I know there are unavoidable reasons for the comparison! Zechs is a deliberate homage, that's not in question. But I’d like to argue that taking Zechs’s actions on their own terms is the only reasonable way to evaluate them. Understanding Char’s Counterattack will certainly make Zechs’s performance more nuanced and recognizable, but expecting him to be the same person with the same copy-pasted goals is to miss the purpose of his character.

Neither of their goals make sense outside of their respective settings and character arcs, in the same way that MS Gundam and Gundam Wing are related thematically but are both telling very different kinds of stories in different ways.

Zechs doesn’t do a heel-turn and become a Char just because the hand of the franchise swooped in and forced him to; he does a heel turn and puts on a Char Costume (…mask?) because he is playing the villain, and the villain he is playing is Char.

Why? Because Char from Char’s Counterattack has no place in the universe of Gundam Wing. Standing up and saying Char Stuff™ in After Colony 195 makes you sound like you got the space madness.

White Fang Milliardo shows up out of nowhere with this new kind of racism he just invented and delivers a treatise about how humans from Space have become biologically superior to humans from Earth within a couple generations... in a setting where Newtypes aren’t a thing. There is no established precedent in AC 195 for declaring that space colonists are a super-evolved utopian master race OTHER than to blatantly manufacture conflict.

And like... ding ding ding, that’s the point.

Char from Char’s Counterattack is a complex, disillusioned, flawed man who is trying to make the earth uninhabitable for complex, flawed reasons that he genuinely plans on carrying out.

Milliardo is a complex, disillusioned, flawed man pretending very hard to want to make the earth uninhabitable because it’s an Ozymandias Gambit intended to galvanize all remaining forces to take part in a war that will ultimately burn through all of their military resources.

Char from Char’s Counterattack exists in a timeline where the earth is a polluted wasteland, and the space colonies are pristine, self-sustaining eutopias with ten billion people living in them.

Gundam Wing is a timeline where the earth is pristine, and the space colonies are oppressed dystopian slums with marginal populations still largely dependent on earth’s resources. Staging the KPG 2.0 in this context would be a death sentence for the colonies as well as the people on earth.

Char believes it’s his destiny to punish the people of earth for their selfishness and their inability to change or allow future generations to evolve. Milliardo believes the only thing he’s good for is to rid the world of people like himself, SO that the future generation has a chance to change for the better.

I’ve found that the more I know about MS Gundam, the deeper an appreciation I have for what Wing chose to adapt and where it diverged; I think that some of Wing’s greatest achievements are born from the moments it purposefully broke from its predecessor, and some of its greatest flaws come from when it chose to adapt things that just don't make sense outside of their original context-- I don't necessarily think that Milliardo pretending to be Char is one of those moments.

On the whole, what Wing feels like to me is a poignant echo of the Universal Century, as if we are seeing the reflections, the shared rhythms, of people and struggles across time and reality. Zechs is like a variation of the Char leitmotif transposed into a new composition.

…And anyway, Zechs isn’t even the Char Clone of Gundam Wing. Zechs AND Treize are the Char Clone of Gundam Wing.

The Red Comet is an ace pilot simultaneously admired and hated for his abilities and the respect he commands as a soldier. He has the luxury of being chivalrous on the battlefield because no one can compete with him, and because his ultimate goals differ from those of the ruthless organization that holds his reigns. He has the burden of a spotless reputation hiding a dark, secret purpose. He eventually turns coat and becomes Quattro, a mentor figure to the talented pilots who idolize him and walk the same path he does. The complexities of war erode his confidence and understanding of what is right, of what is actually worth fighting for in a world where the grind of battle never stops, and the same points have to be made over, and over, and over again, paid for in the blood of young people– people just like him, who he encouraged to fight, who had bright futures ahead of them– each and every time.

The glorious Neo Zeon leader is a wheeling and dealing homme-fatale who can play the game of politics, who knows how to put on an inspiring show for the adoring masses, all while getting what he wants through deceit, charm, treachery, abuse of his charisma, even his sensuality. He is willing to do anything for what he views as the best future for humanity– particularly for the humans he thinks are worthy of that better future, all while knowing he is not one of the chosen ones. He will always carry a seed of self-loathing and insecurity with him. He knows that the version of him that people idolize is only a mirage, but he is willing to use that mirage to steer the future where he believes it should go, sacrificing whoever he needs to for an end that justifies any means.

Zechs is the ace pilot. Treize is the glorious leader. They’re both variations on theme of Char.

Char’s story takes place over the course of his lifetime, spanning multiple series-- Zechs/Milliardo simply doesn’t have time to be everything Char was in the time frame of Wing. Instead his influence is played by two people, representing different eras of his life, existing simultaneously and in coordinated opposition to each other.

Nobody can really be Char except Char, and Char can't really be substituted for Zechs or Treize within their own universe. Even clones grow up differently when they're raised in different environments.

#gundam wing #milliardo peacecraft #zechs merquise #char aznable #treize khushrenada #gundam wing meta #gundam meta #parsing post #tinyozlion pgw

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aroacettorney · 3 months

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Love(?) languages: Ludgercasey Edition

1. Physical touch threats

(c203) Ludger pushed Casey against the wall. "Tsk!" Ludger's strong right arm grabbed Casey's wrist. A dagger hidden in the palm of his left arm's prosthetic sprung out, aiming at Casey's neck. However, Casey, a veteran mage who had faced many real battles while solving numerous incidents, was not one to be trifled with. From the moment her wand flew away, she summoned water from the underground canal, creating countless spears. The moment Ludger aimed the blade at her neck and the water spears surrounded him happened simultaneously. Their gazes intertwined in the air. Casey smirked, "Impressive man. A mage hiding such skills?" "Stay still. Any nonsense and you'll have a hole in your throat." "Try me. I wonder, will you be faster, or will I be faster at killing you?" "You're just bluffing." Ludger and Casey glared at each other, not averting their gazes. Sharp swords and water spears crackled with murderous intent.

2. Un-quality time

(c257) "Casey Selmore. I recommend that you not pursue me any longer." "Ha. You provoked me and now you want me to stop? Do you think I will?" "Are you bluffing? I admire that spirit." "Let's see if you can remain so condescending when I catch you." "Do you not value your life?" "If I cared about something like that, I wouldn’t have done this job in the first place." "Then try hard to chase after me. This is a game." "What?" "You chase me, I run away from you. Of course, in the meantime, I plan to finish the events that have unfolded beyond this city and throughout the kingdom." "……Do you think I’ll let that happen?" "The beauty of the game is not knowing who will win. But I think I'll have an advantage if it continues like this, so I'll give you a hint." "Who are you to decide that!" "I will move to the next major city, Dartanx. If you want to catch me, come there." "Why should I believe what you say? You could escape to somewhere else for all I know." "If you’re scared, you don’t have to come. Of course, it would be your regret later after someone dies there." "Fine. I'll go. Wash your neck there and wait." "I look forward to it."

3. Receiving gifts Incurring debt

(c490) "I knew it would be like this. Are you sure you did that on purpose?" "But isn’t it fortunate that we now have separate rooms?" "That’s right. That's really fortunate. I could have been completely helpless against a wolf-like man." "That’s not something someone who is more foxy than anyone else in the world would say. And let me tell you, you owe me twice." "Ah. Is that so? I would not have reacted if it weren’t for you? Debt is 1." "But I saved you. Surely you don't underestimate your own value that much? Debt is 2." "It doesn’t matter because I’m the troublemaker that the family is so willing to give away. Debt is 1." "If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have been assigned a new room because of this incident. Debt is 2." [...] "Fine. I’ll give in and make it 1.5." "Wait a moment. What even is the concept of 1.5 in debt? Just clear it cleanly.” "Then round it up to 2." "I'll give in and make it 1.5." "Ha. Since I am the one who erased the debt, I guess I can be generous and let it go.” "How annoying." "You’d better pay off your debt to me quickly. Otherwise, I don’t know what I’ll ask for." "Ha! You're bluffing. Do you think I’d be scared of that?" "……" "……You’re bluffing, right?"

4. Acts of service sabotage

(c237) "So, how did you two meet? What's the relationship between you?" Attempting to force a joint gathering, Casey immediately directed her questions at Selina. Selina, initially intending to protest against this intrusion, unexpectedly found herself entangled in a barrage of questions and responded almost involuntarily. "Uh, well, Professor Ludger and I are both teachers at Ceoren." "Oh! Really? Could I ask what major you teach?" "Uh, Spiritology." "Wow! That's impressive! Dealing with spirits is considered challenging unless you have a natural affinity, right?" "I guess?" Normally, Selina should have been furious, but due to her weak demeanour, she was naturally swayed by Casey's words. Ludger looked at Casey's behaviour with disapproval, but Casey ignored his gaze and continued the conversation naturally. "As for that human, I mean, Professor Ludger, how did you end up here together? This is really a date, right?" "Oh, no! A date? No way! It's not like that!" Reacting vehemently as if pricked by a needle, Selina's intense response made Casey catch on. Selina seemed to have a liking for Ludger. Casey felt a twinge of pity. 'How could a girl who is so beautiful and genuine fall for such a bad guy?' If you look at Ludger's behaviour, it was nothing more or less than his attitude towards his co-workers. To think that she would harbour an unrequited love. Moreover, Ludger's true identity was not as innocent as he seemed. 'This won't do. I need to save her from him.' Casey was passionately planning to sabotage Ludger's date(?) as if saving someone's life.

5. Words of affirmation provocation

(c237) At that moment, Selina couldn't resist her curiosity and asked, "Um, how did you two become acquainted? What's the relationship between you?" Selina had a hunch that there was something between Ludger and Casey. Not only did Casey's behaviour of recognizing Ludger and casually engaging in conversation indicate it, but Ludger, who usually kept his emotions hidden, was overtly displaying his displeasure. 'If Ludger reacts like that, it's not an ordinary relationship.' Although Ludger's response seemed just as irritable as usual, Selina felt it resembled the interactions between close friends. 'It must be a misunderstanding. It has to be.' As Selina was praying silently for this to be true, Casey replied, "Ah, this jerk... I mean, this person, right? We just happened to meet. Of course, we're not that close. Well, that much?" "You don't need to bother too much about this useless person who only causes trouble for me," Ludger added. "What? Hold on a second. Aren't your words a bit too much? Calling me useless!" "I simply stated the obvious." "Well, I can relate to that sentiment." Listening quietly, Betty chimed in at Ludger's words. "It's hilarious. When it comes to measuring nuisances, you're worse, you know?" "Hmph. That's just your personal opinion." Seeing the banter between the two, Selina's expression darkened, "Oh, so you two are really close." Selina's gaze shifted towards the fork she held in her hand.

#academy's undercover professor #academy's undercover professor spoilers #aro ludgercasey propaganda #selmore's undercover husband #usually im indifferent / not a fan of enemies to ??? tropes but its so damn well executed. they are so silly.#the sentence 'Casey was passionately planning to sabotage Ludger's date(?) as if saving someone's life.' kills me every time.#peak aro behaviors

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pinchinschlimbah · 1 year

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Gerard’s “Are they costumes?” has been rotating in my brain for the past 24 hours and I need to yell about it.

As many have noted, while at the surface level this comment was directed towards the audience, it does feel like it echoes the larger question of the outfits Gerard has been wearing throughout this tour. Are they costumes? Are they drag? Are they just clothes?

Thinking about “We’re all born naked and the rest is drag”- anything you intentionally choose to visually present yourself in a certain way, especially in the context of knowing you’ll be on stage in front of tens of thousands of people, is on some level a performance, a playing of a character to convey a specific vibe. Even if that character is “some guy in a t shirt and jeans”, that outfit was still an intentional choice and still evokes a particular response that a different outfit would not.

Thinking about “give a man a mask and he’ll tell you the truth”- often people feel more free to express their truest selves when it can be under the guise of a “costume”, something supposedly inauthentic and performative, because it gives them the safety of plausible deniability or the freedom finding power from the character they’re playing that they couldn’t find access to as their everyday selves. This is especially true in regard to queer people, where queerness in the form of performance and entertainment is much more widely accepted/tolerated than when those people continue to be outwardly queer off stage or screen in their day to day lives.

I think both of these sentiments exist simultaneously.

Without getting into too much detail for anonymity’s sake, my full time job centers around creating custom clothing for queer and gnc people- many of which are intended for performance/entertainment purposes and are undeniably “costumes”. And yet when I do fittings, I consistently feel and hear from these people that these pieces aren’t just costumes to them, but that they’re helping them to manifest some version of themself that up until now has only existed inside their own brain. I’ve seen quite a few people cry when they first looked into the mirror in their custom outfit and saw their fantasy version of themself existing in real life for the first time. Fantasy and authenticity can go hand in hand. Just because it’s a costume doesn’t mean it isn’t also real, and just because it’s dressing up in a performative way doesn’t mean it’s purely a “costume” in the sense of pretending to be something you’re not.

Thinking of my 16 year old self, just starting to come into my queerness and gender nonconformity without yet having the words to identify what I was feeling. Going to school on a daily basis in what was basically my best attempt at Revenge-era Gerard cosplay (suit jackets, striped or red necktie, red eyeshadow, heavy black eyeliner, skeleton gloves, etc) because emulating someone who owned that performative flamboyant androgyny in such a captivating way was what made me feel most confident and safe to do so during a time where I was feeling very lost and insecure about who I was and where I fit into the world, and as a result I was able to learn more about myself than I would have otherwise.

Are they costumes? I see you. Don't worry, I see you.

#gay yelling #mcr #my chemical romance #gerard way #shouts into void

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respectthepetty · 10 months

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Reading the (Visual) Rainbow 101

Lesson 7 - It Could All Mean Nothing

Because I get so many asks about colors, I decided the best way to celebrate Pride is to educate anyone who is interested in how to better Read the (Visual) Rainbow and simultaneously allow myself to appreciate queer media.

We've ventured through six lessons on how to read visuals in order to understand a piece of media's overall message. We journeyed through colors, barriers, symbolism, and cultural significance, but what if the image is just an image? What if it doesn't have a deeper meaning? What if it means absolutely nothing?¹

¹ It doesn't. An image always tells us something.

Those Darn Blue Curtains

If you've been around the internet in the past decade, you might have heard about some blue curtains.

The joke about the blue curtains demonstrates that sometimes the creator does not intend for an image or an object to be meaningful. Sometimes the curtains are just curtains that happen to be blue.

But that doesn't mean they're meaningless.

Literary Criticism

Literary theories are ways in which we can approach and examine a piece of text. Several literary theories exist. One theory tells us to only look at the work regardless of who wrote it or who the intended audience is (Practical). Another theory demands that we include the culture in our examination of the text (Cultural). And another theory requests we solely look at the formal elements of the text (Formalism) while another theory requires we include ourselves and our perspectives in the analysis (Reader-Response). Many more literary theories exist, and all have also been applied to media. Visual media is different than written text, so these theories have shifted into Critical Media Studies, but much like Literary Criticism, it helps viewers examine and analyze media using different theories.

Critical Media Studies

If we were watching a series that featured blue curtains, depending on which theory we use, we could interpret the message differently.

If the blue curtains don't mean the character is sad (Psychoanalytic Criticism), are the blue curtains making a statement about masculinity (Feminist Criticism or Queer Theory)? Are they being filmed up-close or off-centered to reflect the character's situation (New Criticism)? Or do the blue curtains quickly remind us this isn't a Dutch house (Cultural) because most Dutch houses don't have curtains?

Now, you might be thinking that if the blue curtains could mean any of those ideas, then nothing really matters, but we have to remember that we aren't placing value on these items because their purpose isn't TO BE the story but to merely reinforce it.

Since the blue curtains are there to support the narrative, we have to evaluate if they matter WITHIN THAT SPECIFIC NARRATIVE. Have the curtains usually been open and now they are closed? Did a character spend an unnecessary amount of time talking about them or use them for an odd purpose? Has the color blue been significant to the narrative before we saw these curtains?

If so, it matters to that narrative.

Video Examples

If you watched the two suggested videos from the previous lesson, the first video is Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande's "Rain on Me" and the second is a parody from Japanese comedians Naomi Watanabe and Yuriyan Retriever which means it has comedic elements. Although the parody is well done, we can see the comedy aspect in several scenes such as the singer being showered with dango (sweet rice dumplings) instead of daggers like Lady Gaga was in the original.

The original song is about overcoming tragedy and being grateful to emerge from such an ordeal even though the damage is apparent, something both Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande had to do in very public ways. The original video reinforces the song's meaning by showing Lady Gaga standing up with a dagger in her thigh (the obvious injury) and proceeding to dance in the rain which is symbolic of grief and absolution.

We can analyze the use of feminine colors (pink and purple). We can consider the post-apocalyptic setting. We can analyze the clothing with all of its chains and spikes. We can ponder why at the end, Lady Gaga styles her hair like Ariana Grande's while Ariana Granda leaves behind her signature high ponytail to wear Lady Gaga's hairstyle. We can wonder why the women are in opposite 'worlds' for most of the video, only to merge at the end.

And we can compare the parody to it and see it does an incredible job of parroting these elements. Then, we notice that unlike the original, the comedians don't fully come together because there is a barrier between them.

We must remember that this is a parody, so not every component, if any, is serious. But for the parody to include all the other important pieces mentioned above, why would it exclude the two women's worlds merging when it was very important in the original?

We could reach for a deeper meaning that maybe the parody is commenting on how the two women are still divided by society. We see there are more masks in the parody as well, so perhaps it's making a statement about women's voices being silenced because we notice the masks in the original as well.

But then we have to remember some of the lessons we have learned: lesson one taught us to think about the creator and the context, while lesson six told us to think about the culture and the context.

These videos were filmed in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. Precautions such as masks had to be worn to limit the spread of the virus, and different countries had different regulations. Therefore, in the Japanese parody, where both the leads are without masks, a barrier had to be placed between them.

The barrier and the masks aren't pointless though. They tell us about the time period and the circumstances in which the videos were made, but they don't have any effect on the videos' narrative. So although they are meaningless to the plot, they aren't meaningless to our understanding of what we are seeing and why.

So What's Your Point?

Don't look for meaning that isn't there, but don't assume meaning isn't there because you don't want to look for it. When we look for evidence that only confirms what we already believe or find new evidence and interpret it in such a way to support our already existing beliefs, this is considered confirmation bias. We want to avoid being biased, but we also want to avoid being dismissive.

Sometimes, all it takes is a few words into a search engine, and we can find the information we seek directly from the artists themselves. Depending on the medium, maybe the artist spoke about the symbolism during an interview. Possibly the director or cinematographer mentioned a detail during some behind-the-scene footage. Or by chance, someone was brave enough to ask the creators on their social media platforms or during a Q & A session.

For example, if Ayan's hip and thigh tattoos in The Eclipse drove you so crazy that you begged your mutuals to help you figure out what they were only to find a video of the actor stating they are his actual tattoos, you might be upset to learn what the tattoos say had no bearing on the plot BUT you will also learn that the director wanted an actor with tattoos because it visually showed the bad boy persona the character had which is important to the plot.

Nothing is truly pointless, but you don't have to make everything the focal point. Once again, the visuals strengthen the narrative's message; they shouldn't distract from it.

Activity

Using your knowledge from the previous lessons, watch Lil Nas X's "Industry Baby" music video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTHLKHL_whs

Think about how the colors, visuals, barriers, group outfits, and cultural elements support the video's overall message.

We will briefly review it in the final lesson on Friday.

#Reading the (Visual) Rainbow #lesson seven - it could all mean nothing

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wordhobbyist · 7 days

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This blog is dedicated to my WIP conlang, Plamanetan. (That name is temporary and will probably change throughout the project. I will update this post whenever I change it.) The main purpose of this blog is to get feedback via polls as I work on the project. Any detail about Plamanetan that I post on this blog is subject to change until I finalize the project.

If you are interested in the details of Plamanetan, I will go into detail below the cut. Thoughts and feedback are appreciated but not required :)

A couple notes:

I currently only have 23 words in the vocabulary and am just starting the process of applying new formation guidelines to them so they might all change. For that reason I am not including any specific vocab in this post.

The grammar is VERY loosely defined at the moment because I am still trying to nail down the best approach to it.

Goals & Inspiration

Plamanetan is intended to be an International Auxiliary Language. I started it because 1) I have wanted to make a conlang for a while now, and 2) While watching Conlang Critic I heard him say that he doesn't think an Auxlang can be good (or something to that effect) and I took that as a challenge.

Is that the best motivation? Probably not. But it has gotten me to stick to this project longer than I have stuck to any previous conlang project.

To be more specific about my goals here is a bulleted list of specific targets I have made for myself:

Keep the phonology simple and use sounds that are common across languages.

Avoid loaning words directly from existing languages (to keep cultural neutrality and to avoid bias toward any particular language or language family). (Exceptions may be made for things that are well known by a specific term, if that seems like the best thing to do in that scenario. Probably would only apply for very modern technology or concepts whose terms have been coined recently in a specific language and then adopted around the world.)

Make words sound representative of the thing they refer to by using things like Onomatopoeia and the Kiki/Bouba effect whenever possible (This is the most challenging goal so far)

Be minimalistic with the grammar that is required, but keep in easy workarounds to communicate information that would be lost by omitting a particular feature (For example, making adjectives for male and female for speakers who are used to denoting the sex of living things with grammatical gender.)

Use nouns as a base and derive all words of other types from them using suffixes. (To decrease the amount of vocabulary that has to be memorized without limiting what can be concisely expressed.)

I also intend to eventually create a corresponding sign language with the following goals:

Can be signed with a single hand (To make it more practical to use even if you are holding something.)

Be a 1-to-1 match of the spoken language (so that spoken and signed versions can be used simultaneously without much effort, and so that the signs can be a visual tool for deciphering spoken words you don't recognize.)

The only reason that I haven't started on the signed part yet is because I don't know exactly how to approach it, considering I do not speak any sign languages. I think it would benefit the project though, so I am keeping it in my goals list. I'll learn some ASL before I try to tackle that part.

Phonology & Orthography

So currently what I have is this:

(Ignore the pink "a," that's just because it was added later.)

IPA symbol on the left, Latin alphabet in the brackets. I chose to use the Latin alphabet because it is the most common writing system and also because its the only one I can type.

I came to these sounds by:

Using a very messy not-really-criteria criteria to pick 15 source languages across various language families. (Lithuanian, Russian, English, German, Hindi, Bengali, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Swahili, Yoruba, Arabic, Hausa, Somali, Indonesian, Malay)

Going through the wikipedia page for each language's phonology and writing down all the sounds on the chart.

Making a list of all the sounds that showed up in at least 2/3 of those phonologies.

Picking sounds from that list while avoiding voicing distinctions and any sounds that seemed a little too similar too another sound.

As for punctuation, its pretty much just English. Period (.) to end a sentence, comma (,) to separate clauses, quotation marks ("") for quotes and dialogue, exclamation point (!) for exclamations, and a question mark (?) for questions (though I plan to add a question particle so that may be redundant). I'll edit later as I get a clearer structure for the grammar.

Phonotactics

I decided that syllables in Plamanetan will have a ccvc structure. The only restrictions on what can go where are in regards to consonant clusters in the onset.

I allowed for consonant clusters at the start of syllables to give myself a little more flexibility in word formation. I chose the permitted clusters based purely on what I personally think are relatively simple sound combinations because I cannot for the life of me find documentation on this topic for any of the source languages. Its pure guesswork which really isn't good for my goals but its the best I got. Anyway, here's my list of permitted consonant clusters:

I originally had a list of diphthongs with this but decided to remove them so that I can write vowels next to each other without confusion. They weren't that necessary and I think its easier without them.

Also, not sure if it belongs in this category but Plamanetan words have an alternating stress pattern starting with the first syllable. so like Plamanetan.

Grammar

As I mentioned before, the grammar is the least developed part of this language so far. Or at least, its the part that feels most incomplete to me because I'm not very satisfied with it yet. And also my personal notes on it are very messy.

First thing I decided on was word order. I chose SVO as the primary word order because it was the most common among the source languages. Originally I wrote that the SVO order would be very strict, but I think the fact that different word types have different endings may allow for some flexibility. I also decided that words that modify a noun or verb should come after the thing they modify (like in Spanish) rather than before (like in English). I don't remember if I had a reason for that choice.

As stated in the goals, I have chosen to base the entire vocabulary on nouns. Every non-noun word must correspond to a noun of an equivalent or at least related concept. These words are formed by adding suffixes.

I'll probably make some exceptions to this rule for conjunctions and adpositions unless I can come up with a creative way to implement them. Because I don't think that the "add suffix, now you're done" method works very well for these words. Maybe adpositions could be treated as adjectives? I'll figure it out later.

(You may also notice that this is very regular. No exceptions to grammar rules. This is on purpose because it makes the language easier and I have no intention of making this naturalistic.)

I decided to omit verb conjugations and instead have time information be communicated by adding words like "yesterday," "tomorrow," and "5 minutes ago." If time is necessary it can be added to the sentence. My logic here is that its easier to not require a grammatical distinction by making the information optional than it is for someone whose language doesn't have this grammatical distinction to be required to learn it. But if I find a good reason why it would be easier or more intuitive to add tense then I will do so.

^Same concept applies to other grammatical features such as gender, plurality, possession, mood, and evidentiality. Its easier not to require speakers to figure it out if their language doesn't have it. My only concern is that this will over inflate the sentence size and make it hard to follow what is being said. If you're interested enough to have read this far, I would love to hear your thoughts on this because I am truly torn on whether or not this is a good idea.

Word formation

And finally, the most recent thing I have added is a rough outline of how I intend to make words sound like what they mean. I may make edits to this process in the future but for now this is the system I am running my vocabulary decisions through. Most of this is based on what I intuitively think sounds best for these concepts so it may be English-speaker biased. But there's not really a lot of actual information out there on this topic for me to pull from so this is the best I've got.

As you may be able to tell if you squint, this is the part that I tried to derive from the Kiki/Bouba phenomenon. I'm not sure if I fully understand how it works (I mean, no one fully does. But as far as whats known I am unsure,) and I also made up some of my own things. But hopefully this system has the desired effect. I'll test with polls as I go to see if people can accurately guess what a word is supposed to mean based on its sound.

----------

If you read this far, thank you! I'm glad someone found this interesting! If you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions I would love to hear them.

I hope you stick around!

#Conlang #WIP #language creation #conlang critic #jan misali #universal language #grammar #linguistics #language #conlanger #conlanging #personal project #work in progress

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loveroflokiforpoeticjustice · 1 year

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My Loki Series Review

I have finally watched the Loki Series...and I regret it tremendously. And since I am in pain I thought it would only be fair for me to subject those who also share my opinion to the pain I am feeling as well! 😁

SO👏

Here...We...Go!

(The Green is dialogue)

(For this to make more sense, it would probably be best to watch the show along side reading this post.)

Loki Series Episode 1 "Glorious Purpose"

I already hate the title.

So I saw someone make a post about how Loki did what he did in order to immediately establish dominance since he was no longer in Thor's shadow. I completely disagree. As Loki said in the first Thor movie, (a line everyone forgets for whatever reason) Loki never wanted the throne. I also think that in a situation like this Loki would lay there and assess the situation before immediately getting up to "Establish dominance". I find it interesting how everyone thinks Loki is opposed to help. He might be skeptical at first, but I'm sure that after a while, once he realizes it's genuine, he'd calm down and except it. Now, lets talk about this, "I am Loki, and I am burdened with a glorious purpose" line. Let's take a look at the origin of this line.

Later followed by...

Loki is ill and hurt in the clips above. He's not saying this because he wants to. He doesn't have a choice. So...not a catchphrase.

After that...everything Loki says and does is just completely OOC and makes no sense. But can we talk about the TVA summary scene? If the TVA is as fragile as they claim then I really hope they have good excuse for Avengers: Endgame, Spiderman: No Way Home, and Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness because...most of us know what went down during those movies.😳

The trial scene IMO was the most in character. Loki made a valid point. The Avengers did a lot of damage in Endgame and Loki being punished for escaping seems unfair to me. Also I'm going to need a lot more than, "What they did was suppose to happen. You escaping was not." for me to automatically believe that Loki should be arrested just like that. (Side note: Can we also talk about how this scene clearly highlights how detailed and perceptive Loki is as a character? He knew that the Avengers from Endgame had traveled back in time and were messing with the time-line not because he saw it, or someone told him but because, while being serious injured, he took in his surroundings and was able to identify Tony's cologne in two different places and make the connection! That's insane!)

Sighs deeply The elevator scene...You have no idea how many times I have skipped this scene when it popped up as an ad.🙄

Both Loki and Mobius are wrong in this scene. No. No Loki does not like to talk. This is not the face of a person who never shuts up.

The amount that Loki talks in this scene also does not make any sense either. His behavior is completely OOC.

The following scene literally almost killed me.

M:"Well let's start with a little cooperation...Really? Even when you're wooing someone you intend to betray?" The only people Loki has betrayed are Laufey, Malekith, and Thanos. With both Laufey and Malekith, I wouldn't exactly call it cooperation. They went along with Loki's terms and conditions. Not the other way around. And with Thanos...extreme torture and death were on the line. And is it really cooperation when the person you're supposed to be "cooperating with" you beat for year and not only that, but you're mind controlling the person so they do what you want? Don't think so.

These Black Order lines are killing me! I honestly can't tell if Loki is trying to save face or if the directors just felt like this is something that Loki would say because they watched the Avengers movie, and these lines sound similar to the ones in that movie where Loki was the villain, while simultaneously throwing the fact that Loki was being mind controlled in that movie completely out the window.

M:"Why does someone with so much range just want to rule?" Can we all just take a second to process how dumb this line sounds?! Honestly, this is stupid. This is something that a parent would say to their child who has the potential to go to Harvard but is instead choosing to be a busboy. Can you imagine someone saying, "You have so much potential I don't see why you would want to be the CEO of a massive company". Do you hear how that sounds?!! Not only that, but Loki has already proven the fact (while having a mental breakdown might I add) that he could absolutely do it. The very beginning of Thor: Ragnarok proves that. Also, it's what he was taught to do his whole life? I know he still has almost 4000 years of his life left, but he spent 1000+ years just prepping to be in a position of authority so... it's not like it's going to be easy for him to just throw all that away.

M:"Big metaphor guy! Makes you sound super smart!" L: "I am smart." M:"Okay." Completely Unnecessary dialog. I honestly feel like Loki from 2011 wouldn't have even said anything. He just would have given Mobius the sassiest look. 🤣

So, now we're at the part where Mobius shows Loki footage of his life, and it goes on for a while too, but allow me to just say...this guilt tripping/gaslighting/"Do you enjoy hurting people?" scene literally blows my mind! The directors have just totally forgotten Thanos' existence at this point. I just don't see how there would be any other explanation. Why and how would showing Loki the moments where he lost, which took place not even an hour ago, literally do anything, like at all?! I mean, this guy spent Three Hundred and Sixty Five Days with these people...

Loki at this point has seen the darkest side of the universe! What are a couple of tapes honestly supposed to do?! (If this doesn't explain Loki's behavior in Thor: Dark World IDK what does)

M:"It's funny, for someone born to rule, you sure do lose a lot. You might even say it's in your nature." Allow me to explain why this is inaccurate. A list of Loki's goals and accomplishments.

Loki wanted to delay Thor's coronation. This was successfully executed.

Loki wanted to stop the war Thor started between the Frost Giants and Asgard. This was successfully executed. Not only that, but he had literally ZERO HELP FROM ANYONE, people were also CONSPIRING AGAINST HIM, and he was having a MENTAL BREAKDOWN/IDENTITY CRISIS!

Loki wanted to get away from Thanos alive and hurt as few people as possible. This was successfully executed. You cannot argue with me on this. If Loki REALLY wanted to win like he's claiming in the show, he won't have designed, nor given Selvig the knowledge that the scepter could penetrate the portal and shut it down! Loki's too smart for that even if it's not displayed in the series.

Stopping Malekith and Kurse from plunging the Nine Realms into darkness. Successfully executed. I do not care what anyone says. It is not possible to negate the fact that without Loki, Thor would have died. Same thing goes for Ragnarok.

So...what were you talking about Mobius?

M:"Of eyeballs maybe. Look at that smile. You are enjoying that." If you go back to this scene, it's clear that the person it unharmed because the eye is still moving when it is being projected as a hologram. If the eye had been damaged it obviously would not have worked. Loki is causing a scene, and he's doing it for two reasons. The first and main one being so that he can get the Avengers attention in order to distract and ambush them later. The second reason is that Loki does crave attention. But can you blame him? I just listed all of his accomplishments above and he didn't get recognition for a single one of them! We don't even know what else he did in his previous 1000+ years! Just going off the franchise, I'm sure things probably looked similar to what we've seen so far though. People on Asgard are always so ready to lift Thor up and shove Loki as deep as possible into any dirty gutter they find and are more than happy to leave him there until he claws his way out so that he can yet again try to prove his worth. They don't help him out of the gutter even when they need him, and you can completely forget saying thank you! As a matter of fact, they manage to find excuse to blame him instead! They do it here in this scene in Thor 1!

M:"You're really good at doing awful things, and then just getting away." Um...didn't...didn't you just show him getting caught by the Avengers? And he gets caught in Thor 1...and at the beginning of Thor: Dark World...and at the beginning of Ragnarok, and he didn't even do anything bad! These people put no thought into this script.🤦‍♀️

I have nothing to say about the "lost bet to Thor" scene other than it being the dumbest thing Marvel has ever wasted their money on. It's almost worse than the Ragnarok snake story and that made even less sense. Loki from 2011 does not look like a person who would be stupid enough to make a bet with Thor. It's more likely that he was forced into it if anything.

L:"I was just standing up to make a point." M:"I'm sorry, go ahead." L:"It won't be as meaningful now!" More unnecessary dialog, and Loki's literally whining in this scene. 🙄

M:"All I seek is a deeper understanding of the fearsome God of Mischief." We'll...we'll come back to this later.

L:"How, you all parade about as if you're the divine arbiters of power in the universe." M:"We are." I'll get to what's wrong with this line later.

Why is he being so cartoonishly expressive? Put your arms down!

L:"I'll kill you!" M:"What like you did your mother?" LOKI 👏DID 👏NOT 👏KILL 👏HIS 👏MOTHER! WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP SAYING HE DID?! All he did was show Kurse how to get out of the cells! Frigga was miles away in the castle you can watch the scene! Kurse only killed her because Malekith knew that she knew where Jane/the Aether was and Frigga didn't give it too him or tell him! Stop blaming Loki for things he was miles away from and had literally NOTHING to do with!!

M:"You weren't born to be king, Loki. You were born to cause pain, and suffering, and death. That's how it is, that's how it was, that's how it will be." This sounds VERY familiar! I already talked about this scene here. But to give you a short summary, Odin basically said the literal exact same thing to Loki at the beginning of Thor: Dark World when Loki was being sentenced. All the fans wanna slam Odin but make fan art of Mobius even if they equally toxic to Loki.🙄

I really do not understand how Loki could take his hand after he just spit all of that in his face. I really don't.

Okay...let's talk about this Infinity Stones joke/situation. This is not funny. At all. Everyone here is a fan of at least one Avenger or Guardian of the Galaxy or someone in the MCU including/beside Loki. Every single person in the MCU fought tooth and nail for those Infinity Stones. EVEN THANOS! We had to sit and watch every single hero we love either die or have them be emotionally destroyed for 5 years because they lost a loved one. There are characters that we'll NEVER see again because of the fight for these 6 stones! I have ZERO idea what the directors were thinking when they put that scene in the show but it was NOT funny in the slightest. It honestly really hurt my feelings. The thought of them going through all of that for almost nothing! Even Loki looks heart broken to discover this information. And what made it worse was the fact that in the last episode (which we'll get to later) and the MoM they basically make it clear that they put that scene in for literally no reason. It was only to cast a temporary illusion in order to get both Loki and the viewers to believe that there were some beings and some place that were more powerful than the Infinity Stones. Even though if you go back and watch the scene in Infinity War where Wong explains the Stones, it completely negates that being possible since the Stones existed before the TVA! ("At the dawn of the Universe, there was nothing. Then, boom. Big Bang sent six elemental crystals hurtling across the virgin Universe. These infinity Stones each controlled and essential aspect of existence...") In famous the words of Tony Stark, "I'm sorry, what were you lying?"

OG Loki would have never given up that easily after getting out. Loki is someone who does not let his emotions drive him. He let's them guide him and be the spearhead of his plans not cause him to quit and give up! If that was the case, Asgard would have fallen back in Thor 1!

Loki watching these scenes...*Sighs deeply* Just...just refer to what I said above. Not only that but I stated my biggest problem with this scene here already. In short, this is not the full picture. You could almost argue that these clips were hand picked so that Loki looked bad to the audience, and Loki would feel bad.

What I am also trying to figure out is why Loki seems surprised that Thanos lied. My headcanon is that in Avengers 1 Loki honestly lost on purpose. He had every chance to kill the Avengers and just never took it. Also, why are they trying so hard to make it look like Loki joined Thanos' side willingly? In the gifs above and throughout the whole movie (and the Thor 1 end credit scene) Loki looks like he is in severe pain. At the start of the movie he's clearly hanging by a thread. So like I said, not sure why they're pushing this whole "alliance with Thanos" thing.

Again with this "Glorious Purpose" line! Please stop!🤦‍♀️

L:"I can't go back, can I? Back to my timeline." This is something I have questions about that they just totally fail at clearing up. What exactly does "resetting the timeline" consist of? They tell you what happens if they don't do it but they never entirely explain what happens when they do. Clearly Loki does not get replaced since at the beginning of the episode we hear Thor calling for Loki. Which means that everyone notices that Loki is gone. So...if Loki, who is vital for that timeline's survival based on other movies, is gone wouldn't that mean the timeline totally just falls apart? Asgard doesn't even survive the next movie without Loki. They can call Loki a mistake all they want but that means Thor dies in The Dark World and the Nine Realms are plunged into darkness. Asgard in the very first Thor movie wouldn't have even made it! Thor would've become king without someone to postpone the coronation, and we all know that the Thor in that movie would have made a terrible king! This is what I call "Marvel having hours to include important details but choosing not too". And in this case thy chose to fill it with completely unnecessary dialogue. 🙄

My assumption is that they mean erasing the memory of anyone who saw them I guess? I don't know. Leave a comment if you understand. 🤷‍♀️

"L: I don't enjoy hurting people...I do it because I have to, because I've had to." "M: Okay, explain that to me." "L: Because it's part of the illusion. It's the cruel, elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear." " M: A desperate play for control." Let me start by saying, I know OG Loki would have dropped dead before admitting this to a stranger he's barely know for a few hours. Most importantly though Marvel almost had it! They messed up at the illusion part. It's not an illusion. Loki does it in order to survive. He's spent 1000+ years in a world of kill or be killed. If Loki didn't hurt/kill Laufey or Malekith Asgard wouldn't exist. If he didn't hurt the Avengers that axe place over his head by The Other would have come down in the most antagonizing slow and painful way possible. Loki doesn't have a choice. It's not control he's after, its freedom.

M:"You do know yourself." Y'all I think I found Frigga's brother.🤣🙄

L:"A villain." M:" That's not how I see it." Okay, sure Mobius. Watch this change in like 2 minutes.

"Even and Infinity Stine is useless here." Refer to above please.

M:"Listen, I can't offer you salvation, but maybe I can offer you something better." Yeah, because why would anyone want to be freed from all their sins (That can easily be argued against and are too questionable to even be label as "sins" IMO) when they can be put in an ugly uniform and work for a group of people who give less of a crap about you than your family, and literally just kidnapped, gaslit, and abused you because they are too dumb to catch another version you. Sounds like a dream. 🙃

Loki Series Episode 2 "The Variant"

When I first saw this episode I thought they had gotten the date wrong!🤣

In the first episode the music was okay. But after this episode...it makes me want to tear out my eardrums.🤦‍♀️🤮

I hate Miss Minutes voice with a burning passion. Just though you should know.

B-15, honey... DO NOT CALL MY BABY A COSMIC MISTAKE!!😡😡

Loki explaining his powers is the best part of this episode. The only problem is how it's presented. They make him look like a know-it-all. Everyone in the scene looks annoyed and like they want him to shut up. And so if that's how everyone in the scene looks and feels guess who also is going to feel that way. The Audience.

L:"Well, I'll have my magic back. Is no one concerned about that?" B-15: "Of what?" L:"Me betraying you?" *Sighs deeply* Yes, this line is absolutely in character because Loki would of course let them know his plans to ditch them before even getting out of the TVA. 🙄🙃

L:"Reset charges prune the affected radius of a branched timeline, allowing time to heal all its wounds. Which by the way sounds like a nice way of saying disintegrate everything in its vicinity." This AGAIN does not explain what happens after you take a person from a timeline! Or even what happens to the people in the timeline!

Loki getting cut off for the 95246783th time.

Loki's explanation as to what the "Variant" is planning could have worked if he for starters didn't insult them, and second DIDN'T TELL THEM BEFORE HE GOT THERE THAT HE WAS PLANNING ON RUNNING WAY!!

R:"This Variant is...Insubordinate, stubborn, unpredictable." Let me start by saying that none of these traits are being shown at all in the series. People also only use these words when they don't know Loki as a character/person, so none of this is surprising. Also IMO these words more so describe Thor if you ask me. I personally would not call someone who stops a war for the better sake of their continent, insubordinate. I would not call someone who is willing to follow a literal idiot into war, stubborn. And I would not call someone who has literally just told you their plan two times now, unpredictable. But...okay.

R:"But Loki is an evil, lying scourge." Ravonna, I let you slide during the "trial"...BUT I WILL SMACK THAT SORRY EXCUSE OF A PONYTAIL OUT OF YOUR HEAD IF YOU CALL MY BABY THAT AGAIN!

M:"Is that possible? He can change?" Mobius, you don't even believe that line, and I'm going to prove it in the next few minutes.

M:"Luckily, he believes in himself enough for the both of us. And, hey, if it doesn't work, I'll delete him myself. He's really arrogant." Just...why? Literally all of this is wrong. They clearly don't know that the guy they're talking about has such low self-esteem that he literally tried to kill himself a YEAR AGO!

*sighs deeply* Why is he moving so much? WHY!

M:"What happened to the guy I met on the elevator? Who didn't like to talk. Remember him? Now I'm stuck with this guy who won't stop yacking away about what makes a Loki tick!" L:"What? Isn't that precisely why I'm here?" M:"No. I don't care what makes you tick. You're here to help me catch the superior version of yourself. That's it!" I am literally so mad right now. I told you I would prove the fact that Mobius doesn't think Loki can change. He doesn't even care! Someone tell me this is not the guy who in the last episode said these words, "All I seek is a deeper understanding of the fearsome God of Mischief." AND THEN HE GOES AND SPITS WHAT'S ABOVE IN HIS FACE! ARE YOU KIDDING!? It gets worse though. This line "You're here to help me catch the superior version of yourself. That's it!" let's you know that they didn't even have a REAL REASON to even bring Loki to the TVA! They're just as bad as the Asgardians, if not worse! Loki is only there for them to use and abuse that's it! They can't do THEIR jobs properly so of course they have to go and get Loki because he, while not knowing the TVA even exist, is the only person who can help them. Classic! This is literally just a repeat of Thor: Dark World. Gaslight Loki while he's at his worse so that, even though he AGAIN has nothing to do with the situation WHAT SO EVER, he can help us. I AM SO DONE! WHY CAN'T THEY JUST LEAVE MY BABY ALONE!

M:"I believed, stupidly, that insecure need for validation would motivate you to find the killer. Not 'cause you care about the TVA mission or bein' a hero, but because you know this Variant is better than you and can't take it." I am beyond ready to burn the TVA to the ground myself at this point. I don't see how Loki's insecure need for validation would be fulfilled by and occupation that you just told him he basically has nothing to do with what so ever. The only thing that can fill it is Odin, we know along with Loki at this point that that's not happening. Also Loki as already proven to be the hero multiple times. Finally, given the fact that we all already know who the Variant is, she is NO WHERE close to Loki's level of superiority! At all!

L:"I mean it is adorable that you think you could possibly manipulate me." Unbeknownst me, somehow he already has. 🤦‍♀️

L:"I'm ten steps ahead of you. I've been playing a game of my own all along." M:"What, charm your way in front of the Time-Keepers, hustle them, and seize control of the TVA? Am I getting warm? A double cross by history's most reliable liar." I am face palming so hard it's not even funny. The start of the line is the worst part. If we look back at how Loki has always handled his enemy, nothing even remotely close to this comes out of his mouth, ever. Ever! And how his face drops, OMG help me please. OG Loki could be in excruciating pain, and you wouldn't even know it!

M:"A, because I see a scared little boy, shivering in the cold. And you kinda feel bad for that ice runt. Or B, I just wanna catch this guy, and I'll tell you whatever I need to tell you." L: "I don't need your sympathy." "Good, 'cause I'm running out of it." This line causes me to be confused as to why people think Mobius is a "good friend to Loki". Really why they think Mobius is good just in general. If the people who say that have friends I truly feel sorry for them. Everything I just quoted let's you know that Mobius does not care about Loki AT ALL. And Mobius never had any sympathy. It was all a lie.

The amount of expression is killing me...I'm dying.

Here's a few things. First, if Loki starts crying over this nightmare continent of people who never cared about him, abused him, AND tried to kill him, I'm gonna lose it. Second, the file says, "Total planetary destruction". Why is this a problem? You can go back and look at every Thor movie in the MCU and Asgard is clearly not a planet. I just said above that it's a continent. They got this wrong in Thor: Ragnarok too. And lastly...Asgard's population is only 9,719 people? That's it? Japan's population in 2012 was 127.6 million people and its not even a continent! Human beings don't live nearly as long as gods. You would think that this would be a main point towards why Asgard should be more populated. Maybe there are laws in place to prevent baby booms? Although given how much they go to war a baby boom might honestly be helpful. 🤷‍♀️

I don't...why is he moving his hands so much. Loki is not a hand talker. I have really nothing to say about the "Salad scene" other than I hated it of course. And that there is a mistake in the script. Loki says, "I could, let's say, push the Hulk off of the Rainbow Bridge." If you go back and watch the scene (don't worry, I completed the painful duty of doing it for you, you're welcome) where Loki looks at his future, we never actually see Hulk in the shot where he, Thor, and Valkyrie are preparing to fight Hela on the Rainbow Bridge. So...how exactly does Loki know that the Hulk was even there? 😳

L:"I'd never stab anyone in the back. That's such a boring form of betrayal." M: "Loki, I've studied almost every moment of your entire life. You've literally stabbed people in the back, like, 50 times." L: "Well, I'd never do it again, because it got old." M:"Okay." I have already gone over this. Check out these links (How Loki Was Poorly Parented {@nikkoliferousand and @youlackconviction did and excellent job with this post} No Loki Has Not Stabbed People in the Back Like 50 Times) because I'm too lazy to retype it, lol. But basically none of this is true and all of this is wrong. Also, if Mobius really studied Loki's life like he claims, he just made himself look like and terrible person for multiple reasons listed in the links above.😁 But just to list a few, I guess Mobius must of missed the fact that everyone around Loki treats him like garbage for literally no reason, and that he attempted suicide, and that he was tortured by Thanos. He really does mean "almost" huh?

L:"Okay, look, you don't trust me, you can trust one thing. I love to be right." Oh boy. Please refer to the image of 2011 Loki above. Loki is not the kind of person who pride themself on being right. Or really on anything for that matter. In conclusion, the directors don't know Loki's character. But we already knew that!

I really don't understand why Loki is getting so excited by this. Especially given the fact that Loki doesn't seen to enjoy violence that much if at all. I also don't understand why he is being so loud. This is suppose to be the guy who would appear from behind a pilar and then as silent as possible, walk into a room.

I hate this Pompeii scene so much.

I wish someone could convince me of the fact that Loki, who has had to be on guard his whole life because he never knew when he would be attacked or by who, even his so called "friends", would fall asleep in a foreign territory and in front of someone who just verbally abused him. I really wish someone could. 🙃

OMG it's the scene that gave birth to countless fanart...MOBIUS AND HIS JET SKI!!🥰🥰😍😍

🤮🤮🤮😒😒😒

"Odin, God of the Heavens." They👏 keep👏 getting👏 this 👏wrong👏. Asgard👏 is👏 not👏 heaven👏. Valhalla👏 is👏. They literally say it in the first movie! I have to say, I love how they just completely throw both evolution and religion out the window. 🙃🙄 (No offence to anyone who doesn't believe in either. I'm just making a point.) Them and this "glorious purpose" line! 😡😡

M:"Why is it that the people you can't trust are always saying, 'Trust me'?" You know, Loki's lines in this shot were actually good...and then Mobius ruined it.

L:"Me, I presume." S:"Please. If anyone's anyone, you're me." Their smiles in this scene are almost cringer than the dialogue . 🙄

L:"Enchantment is a clever trick. Cowardly, a bit amateur-ish, but clever." Spoilers: If you've already seen the show you know what's wrong with this. Later it's mentioned that Loki doesn't know how to enchant people but if that's true then how does he know what Sylvie is doing? If he's never done it before how does he know what it looks like? Proof that Loki didn't even need the scepter to mind control people in Avengers! As much as this show tries to prove other wise Loki is in fact very powerful and skilled.

L:"God. Now I understand why Thor found this so annoying." Two thing wrong with this scene. First, Loki's lack of patience. The second thing is the scene I believe they are refencing.

This is again, another memory that was not shown when Loki was looking at the future events of his life. We the audience know that this happened, but Loki does not. Unless they are trying to say that Loki has done this before to Thor. But IMO, please refer to the two pictures of Loki from 2011 above and tell me that that is someone who would choose to annoy Thor. Knowing how short his temper is.

How Tom says "schedule" in this scene! I'm dying! 🤣

S:"You really do love to hear yourself talk." L:"You're the first person to tell me that." No, no she's not. Is the air in the TVA giving Loki brain damage or did Waldron forget this whole scene, M:"I'm taking you somewhere to talk...Because we both know you love to talk. Talkie-talkie." do I need to say anything else.

I...am having a very hard time believing how easily Loki is being manhandled in this scene. I really am. For one, Loki is 525 pounds. He's HEAVY! And for two...

(I did not make this so all credit goes to the author...who ever they are)

So, how the creators of this show expect me to believe that Loki is able to be tossed around like a ragdoll by someone who looks like they eat McDonalds everyday and has never been to a gym in their life, I have no idea. AND we're talking about an average human (Some might even say below average😒). Not a super soldier. Logically, this shouldn't even be possible.

L:"I would never treat me like this." Honey, not even a year ago you tried to kill yourself, let's not go there.

Back to the manhandling Loki paragraph above...it guess worse. Can we talk about Loki wrestling with this basically below average human. Apparently the directors didn't know that this, "Superhuman Strength: Loki, without the aid of anything, through his own biology, possesses superhuman strength that is substantially superior to that of an average Asgardian female or male. He possesses sufficient physical strength to lift up to 50 tons." (Fandom is my source) HE CAN LIFT 100,000 POUNDS! WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THIS SCENE??!!!

Now the argument could be made that the enchantment that Sylvie placed on them could enhance their strength. My only problem with that would be that there is zero indication of that happening. And enhanced strength is not an added effect of mind control. Clearly, the directors just wanted to make Loki look bad. Jokes on them since all of Loki's background information is all over the internet.

His hair is killing me in this scene.

S:"This isn't about you." First, EW IT'S SYLVIE! Second, um the title of the show is literally called "Loki" so...it kind of is.

Loki Series Episode 3 "Lamentis"

Right off the bat, of course Sylvie's fighting skills look amazing compared to Loki's! What a shocker! 🙃🙄

S:"Have you really got nothing else better to do?" This is some of the dumbest dialogue I have ever heard in my life. NO SYLVIE HE DOESN'T! HE WAS JUST KIDDNAPPED AND FORCE TO WORK FOR A BUNCH OF PEOPLE WHO DON'T CARE ANYTHING ABOUT HIM WITH NO WAY TO GET BACK TO HIS TIMELINE! WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THIS?! A dumb one clearly. Is this chic that self-involved?!

S:"You're in my way." L:"You are my way." *Aggressively Sighs deeply* Please refer to what was just stated above. 🤦‍♀️

Two things, I wish he would stop with this hair flip thing. It's not sexy and at this point it's honestly super annoying. Again, refer to what was stated above in episode 2 regarding Loki's fighting skills in this show.

L:"By the way, I thought you wanted me dead." S:"I don't know where you hid that TemPad, but if you blow up, it blows up, and then I end up blown up." ??? Did he seriously just ask that?! Obliviously! What? Did he just suddenly think that because they were in danger she cared. She literally was just trying to kill him!

L:"So we're a team now?" S:"Oh, God, no!" Two things wrong with this. Why is Loki so insistent on teaming up with her? Loki doesn't form "teams" with people. Especially not ones he's just met! He keeps to himself because he knows that the only person he can truly rely on is himself. (If someone tries to logic me that Sylvie is himself in the comments I will block them.) And what part of what she said sounded like she wanted to team up with him?! Also, the literally are gods so where is this "Oh, God, no!" line coming from? I've read fanfics with better and more well thought out dialogue! 🤦‍♀️

S:"Didn't need your help!" L:"You're so weird!" Please refer to the paragraph above. Also, no dialogue is needed here. They should be focused on running not filling every scene with commentary. It's not even necessary in this scene!

They had to have a scene in this show where Loki is completely naked so we know how in shape he is. I also put in how physically advanced Loki is in the previous paragraphs so...why are they, or more specifically he, breathing so hard? We don't even see this in other movies where he fights for who knows how long. He's severely hurt in Avengers, and we don't even see him this out of breath!!

Sylvie's attempt at enchanting Loki looks so awkward. Like, why do some many people view this as romantic? Honestly, this scene is weird.

L:"Listen, neither of us is getting off this rock if we can't get that TemPad on." S:"Where do you have it hidden?" L:"In my heart." S:"Well, then, I'll cut it out." In my heart...is he...being serious right now? This dialogue is going to be the death of me.

S:"You're full of it because you need me to get that recharged. That's the only reason you saved me out there." L:"Mabye. Yeah. I mean, sure. That too." Either Sylvie is not paying attention or she thinks he's been lying about teaming up and forming a truce for the last 10 minutes now. This line is so OOC for Loki's character it honestly hurts so much.

L:"So, what's the plan?" S:"There's a town near here. And can you shut up? Just because I have to work with you doesn't mean I wanna hear your voice." First of all, that was actually a good question if you disregard the fact that Loki asking it was completely OOC given the fact that his quick planning abilities is one of the main skills that define Loki as a character. And compared to every other scene so far in this show, he's really not talking that much in this scene. IDK why the writers and directors are trying to make it look like Loki is a character who never shuts up. You can look at every other movie he's been in and determine that isn't true.

L:"All right, well...Slow down, Variant." Please reference Loki's physical capabilities, capacities and traits above and allow me to add the fact that Loki is supposedly 6 foot 4 so...keeping up with her shouldn't be this hard.

S:"Yeah? What exactly makes a Loki a Loki?" L:"Independance, authority, style." Oh yeah, well as much as this may apply to OG Loki, you and your potato sack of an outfit are not representing any of those things right now, so you might wanna rethink your answer Larry!

S: "So, naturally you went to work for the boring, oppressive time police." L:"I don't work for them. I'm a consultant." Loki never joined the TVA willingly that's worth pointing out. But yes, for the first couple of episodes, mostly episode 2, he was working for them. And, how is he supposed to be a consultant when no one is even interested in hearing anything he has to say? How many times has this guy been told to shut up in the past 2 going on 3 episodes? I've honestly lost count.

L:"It's looks like everyone already fled." No! Really? How did you figure that out? Maybe it has something to do with the abandon looking buildings you're literally surrounded by and the fact that there's no one in sight. What is this now, Dora the Explorer?🙄

L:"How long do we have?" S:"Twelve hours or so. Things down here are only going to get worse." I love how Sylvie just knows this off the top of her head. And no duh hun! You literally said that a moon was about to crash into the planet and that every location on the TemPad is an apocalypse! Did they expect for thing to just randomly get better for literally no reason?!

Did he just point to a neon sign and ask if it was a potential power source? I'm so done.

Loki's first line when they come to the house, if you'll so call it, in the middle of nowhere was actually in character. But it was ruined when he decided to pose as the husband of the owner of the house. This was dumb for two reasons. The first being that if you look at the photo, they don't look highly affectionate towards each other. Heck, they don't even look happy, affectionate is a real step. The second reason, is that Loki doesn't know this man so behaving like him is not an option. This isn't like that Thor: Dark World scene where Loki changes his appearance repeatedly. Note that he knows the behaviors and personalities of all of those people so posing as them would be easy. This is not the case in this scene.

The thing I find most interesting about this Lamentis place is how everyone here is human even though this clearly is not Earth. I guess they were too lazy to consider the fact that not every planet has humans on it, and they only went as far as to change the fashion slightly.

Why are all of Loki's plans so bad. He disguises himself as a guard while having no idea how the process works, and, for whatever reason, he's changed is voice to sound robotic even if the other guards are clearly talking normal and it's completely unnecessary.

I hate this supposed-to-be heart-to-heart scene. They just go though such in depth and emotionally deep topics like it's surface level stuff and it really bothers me. They're talking about stuff that was the literal main plot of two movies and what pretty much shaped phase 2 of the MCU like it's nothing! They also look so constipated it's not even funny.

L:"She was the kind of person you'd want to believe in you." S:"Sounds like she does." Actually, I'm pretty sure Frigga gave up on Loki when he found out he was adopted. @nikkoliferous and @youlackconviction do a great job of explaining why here.

L:"So, where'd you learn to do the...You know, the...Whatever this is?" S:"I taught myself." L: "You taught yourself that magic?" S:"Yeah, I did." Enchantment. He's talking about enchanting people. How did he forget what it's called? He literally called her out on it when she was trying to do it to him earlier in the episode. I also find it hard to believe that Loki just had everything taught to him. OG Loki is a huge book worm and has an insatiable lust for knowledge. His magical talents are also no secret. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find out that the majority of he can do came from self-teaching.

Not a soul on this planet can convince me that Loki would become intoxicated in a life or death situation. (Also, how did Loki even become intoxicated? They're drinking champagne, and he's a god. It should have almost no effect on his system.) And again with this place being so similar to Earth, it's weird. Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok proves that every planet has its differences. What's going on with this place?

Maybe love is hate? It's like Waldron was trying to be poetic and failed miserably. The definition of love is an intense feeling of deep affection. The definition of hate is intense or passionate dislike. The two are antonyms of each other so this makes absolutely no sense.

S:"Must of been would-be-princesses or perhaps, another prince." L:"A bit of both." I've already addressed my opinion regarding Loki's sexuality on my blog here (and other places if you look). In short, I don't think Loki is bisexual for a multitude of reasons, the main one being the fact that Asgard is basically stuck in Medieval times. And I know someone is going to make the argument that Valkyrie is gay, but I refuse to except any Thor related Marvel content after Thor: Dark World as canon. And if they really wanted Valkyrie to be and LGBTQ+ character, they would have scripted her better like they did with Phastos in Eternals.

How hard Loki is struggling to come up with his personal meaning of is baffling to me. He's known for his sharp tongue and quick wit this shouldn't be taking so long!

I have a relatively similar opinion about seeing Loki naked as I do him singing on the train. It's something I want to see and hear, really I do. They just didn't go about it the right way at all. He shouldn't have his close force off of him, and he shouldn't be singing in a situation where letting his guard down could possibly get him killed. Tom is an amazing singer but...wrong place, wrong time.

Sylvie's face! 🤣

The Loki version of the "Another!" scene from Thor 1 I don't think needs to be discussed. It's OOC. That's it.

The "Love is Like A Dagger" metaphor actually makes sense to me given the understanding I have of his character. Love is something that in Loki's life has been used against him and nearly gotten him killed multiple now. I lost track of how much he's done for his abusers and gotten nothing but pain and scorn in return. No matter how much Loki wants to believe that his family loves him, after everything they've done to him, it's no surprise that he can't even try to except the words that are being spoken to him as genuine. (Example)

And because the objective of the show is to make Loki look stupid, of course to Sylvie this makes no sense, and she completely ruins it. Also the amount of metaphors Loki uses in this show is truly hysterical. You can not expect me to believe that anyone on Asgard, with their minuscule brains, would have the patience to listen to Loki drag on and on with countless metaphors. They lose their patience with him the second he steps into a room! Don't get me started on how they react when he talks! They're beyond done with him at that point!

You know...this train fight scene would have not been that bad if A. I wasn't expected to believe that Loki could throw a dagger that badly and B. I wasn't expected to believe that a couple of ordinary humans could pick up someone who was a quarter of a ton and let themselves be thrown out of a train.

I'm struggling to understand where Sylvie shippers stand because the only thing Sylvie cares about is herself, and her end goal. Loki just got chucked out of a train and the only reason she goes after him is for the TemPad. How romantic.🙄

Again with the hair flip!😡

I struggle to believe that Loki would be as careless as to destroy their only chance of surviving an apocalypse. Really, I do, and by this point in this post you should already know why.

Yes, sit directly next to someone who now has absolutely no reason to keep you alive. This is also the part of the show where Loki's presences serves no purpose what so ever and if Sylvie killed him it wouldn't matter at all.

L:"You know, I don't think I've ever walked this much in my life." Given how many adventures he's gone on with Thor, how much fighting Loki has done over the course of a millennium, and how large Asgard's palace is alone this statement I find incredibly hard to believe.

I'm so done this character, because he's not my Loki, it's not even funny. Am I really expected to believe that Loki doesn't know how enchantment works? He has the ability to preform astral projection and telepathy. HOW WOULD HE NOT KNOW HOW ENCHANTMENT WORKS IT'S BASICALLY JUST A COMBINATION OF THE TWO?!

S:"Do we trust each other?" L:"We do and you can." Another deep and genuinely emotional conversation summed up in a couple of lines. *Sighs deeply* As a bookworm this is literal torture.

I love how they know they only have 5 minutes yet proceed to stand there. 🙃🙄🤦‍♀️

Two things, the music that plays after the arc is blown up is so out-of-context it's dumb and how Sylvie just walks away and leave Loki there is just selfish. They ran through all of that and she's not even fazed by the fact that he could still be attacked or hit by something. Nope, she just walks away.

Loki Series Episode 4 "The Nexus Event"

My biggest problem with this show, and many other people who share my opinion think this as well, is how much it focuses on Sylvie and not Loki. This show is poorly written in general as you all have already seen above. But just go back and look at any Marvel movies from phase 1 or Spiderman: Homecoming. Any OG character movie really (except Thor 1 we all know that movie was really about Loki) and see if there are any side characters that have a full back story scene. I'll save you the trouble. THEY DON'T! THERE ARE NO SCENES! Why? BECAUSE IT'S NOT ABOUT THE SIDE CHARACTER! The show is literally called Loki, and we take up the first few minutes of the episode with a back story about Sylvie and her childhood when it should be Loki's childhood we're seeing! And yes, I am focusing on the fact that the writing is poor given that it is not about the title character vs the TVA kidnapping Sylvie as a poor innocent child, sue me.🙄

Yay! Another scene of pure emotional constipation!

S:"...the TVA showed up, erased my reality, and took me prisoner." What I think is dumb is how we are on episode 4 out 6 and NOW we learn what happens when the TVA show up and "resets" a timeline. "Rest" isn't even the right word, they completely erase the timeline from all existence. So if the person even wanted to go back to their timeline they couldn't. I really don't understand why it took them so long to explain that. 🙄 What I also have an issue with is how in this scene, again, we waste time learning about Sylvie's backstory, even though she's a side character, instead of Loki and the show is supposed to be about him not her.

B-15: "Leaping across time, planning their next massacre." I love how B-15 says this line like it's just a hobby that everyone named Loki enjoys participating in. Not because it's necessary to protect the people they care about but because it's fun. That's the only reason.

S:"Do you think that what makes a Loki a Loki is the fact that we're destined to lose?" I've already talked about how when Loki plans literally anything in the MCU he's always executed it successfully. Even if from a different perspective he looks like he's lost but in all actuality he's won.

L:"You were just a child when the TVA took you, but you nearly took down the organization that claims to govern the order of time. You did it on your own. You had rings around them. You're amazing!" Interesting how we're suppose to praise Sylvie after this line. but my biggest problem is how he says "nearly" which means she didn't do it, and her 1000+ years of effort put towards trying to do it has ultimately amounted to nothing. Compared to Loki on the other hand who, by this point, successfully stopped war and prevented the king of Asgard from being murdered while defenseless, and while having everyone conspire against him, and be going through a mental breakdown/identity crisis and outsmarted the most power crazy being in the galaxy, while giving the people who are going to fight said power crazy being, a 101 course on the power of the Infinity Stones and their existence. This is not including the fact that in the future Loki saves Asgard not once, but two more times! I frankly am not impressed with Sylvie in the slightest.

I don't know why they're holding hands. I don't care that its the end of the world it's still weird. They barely even know each other.

@youlackconviction did a comparison post regarding Loki being taken prisoner in this scene vs other ones and it never occurred to me that him struggling is OOC until she pointed it out so here's this. The difference is painful.

Hate this dialogue soooooooooo much.

L:"By the way, I should have an equal amount of security. This is insulting!" Interesting how that is his biggest concern in this scene, but he does have a point. If you clicked on the link where Loki is shown being taken captive in both Avengers and Thor: Dark World, the amount of security he has is impressive. But it's necessary. Loki is dangerous and no one is skipping over that fact. In Thor: Dark World, he's being escorted by Asgardian guards and he's in chains. The fact that the guards are escorting is already enough since they are closer in matching in him strength. But they have him in chains, on basically every part of his body, as well. Loki is not someone to be messed with. I'm only gonna say this one more time I promise, but they cannot convince me that Loki could be dragged literally anywhere but a couple of humans. That's it. I'm done. Last time.

Now, if someone would have said what Mobius had just said to Loki, my morals and values would have flown out the window. I would have just let his butt choke and die on the lies he's being feed. End of story. I have and issue when people don't show any appreciation towards me and the things I do for them, let alone spit garbage like that in my face! No thank you!🤣

All I have to say about Loki being thrown in a time loop is that...I've hated Sif since the first movie. This only makes my hate for her character increase in ten fold.

I'm done with the hair flipping. This is my last comment about it.

L:"I remember exactly what I did after that. I went and had a nice, hot bath and a glass of wine, and I never thought about it again, because it was just a bit of fun." I would like to join Loki in that bath, just saying. Loki not Larry to be clear. First of all, getting kneed in the groin hurts severely if you are a man. It can hurt too as a female in the right spot but as a guy...I'm impressed with how quickly he got up. Second, I've read fanfics about Loki being a trickster and enjoying playing pranks on people but Thor 1, Thor: Dark World, and this scene just prove how little patience anyone (royal staff included) had on Asgard when it came to Loki. It was basically none. They have zero tolerance when it comes to him so I'm sure pranks were completely off the table. OG Loki also kept more to himself and I highly doubt that he would even be interested in playing pranks on people anyway. Lastly, my headcanon is that it was actually Thor and the Warriors 3 who played the prank on Sif and just blamed it on Loki. I'm not saying this because I don't like Thor, I'm saying it because the past movies can support my theory. Thor screws up, and Loki takes the fall for it. We've seen it multiple times now.

It's killing me how he's not even attempting to fight back, and he's just letting it happen. Also, given the amount of times Sif keeps kneeing him, I hope he wasn't planning on having kids because that's not going to be an option by the time she's done. 😬

Here's a little treat regarding this scene...

I'm not even going to go into detail about this conversation between Ravonna and Mobius. All I have to say is that they need to stop belittling Loki and acting like he's nothing but a pushover. Countless movies have already proved that he's not, so this needs to stop.

B-15:"Aren't you suppose to be interrogating your Variant pet?" DO NOT CALL MY BEAUTIFUL BABY A PET YOU GULLIBLE PIECE OF TRASH!!

L:" I'm a horrible person. I get it. I really am. I cut off your hair because I thought it'd be funny. And it's not. I crave attention...because I'm...I'm a narcissist. And I suppose it's...It's because I'm scared of being alone." Sif:" You are alone and you always will be." *Sighs deeply* I don't...I don't understand what exactly these directors are trying to do. My theory is that, besides this being poorly written, they're trying to play mind games with the audience. They know that there are enough viewers who are not like the people I follow, or the ones taking out the time to read this ridiculously long post. This show isn't for the people who are willing to spend years breaking apart every single detail of Loki's character. It's not for the people who are doing what the TVA claim to be doing. Analyzing and reanalyzing and re-reanalyzing every piece of dialoged, every facial expression, every action, every decision Loki makes. Tirelessly. Enjoyably. This show is for the people who know Loki is a fictional character in the MCU and he's Thor's brother, and he's the bad guy/anti-hero. That's it. That's as far as it goes. Nothing more nothing less. What they do in this scene is they give you both negative and positive pieces. The negative pieces, "I'm a horrible person." "I cut off your hair because I thought it'd be funny." "I'm a narcissist." They know that it is these pieces of dialogue that "fans" are going to focus on. As humans when we don't think things through, and even if we do sometimes, we still focus on the bad. It's just human nature. And they're counting on it in this clip! But, if you're like me (and if you're reading this post you probably are), if you're like the people I follow, you focus on the "positive" ("positive" being the details that actually make sense and fit Loki's character based on previous evidence), "I crave attention." "It's because I'm scared of being alone." These lines are the unspoken thoughts, feelings, and emotions of OG Loki. As a real fan, everything besides these lines is hogwash. It's complete nonsense. That, and the fact that he's confiding in Sif, a woman who couldn't care less if he was alive or dead. What makes this scene worse is that we're seeing this happen to TVA Loki (Larry), and for whatever reason, Tom just looks ridiculously old in this series, and for literally no reason too, but originally this scene happened to 2011 Loki. This Loki...

I had a problem with this scene already but when it's put into context that this (gif above) is who she was originally talking to...it just...it just hits different. 😭

I love how Loki just walks out and doesn't immediately try to choke the life out of Mobius because I would. He is beyond deserving of it at this point. You could argue that Loki probably didn't do it so he would be put back in the time loop, but if he killed Mobius fast enough he wouldn't have time to put him back I don't care he still deserves it.

M:" Or is that just a cockroach's survival mechanism kicking in?" L:" Let me out of this place, stop beating me up, and I'll tell you." M:"Cockraoch. Got it." First of all, don't call him a cockroach. Second of all, I love how Loki makes a valid request/argument and Mobius is just like, no. Nope because that would be the right thing to do but that's not what the TVA stands for or does so...no.

L:" She's difficult and irritating, and she tries to hit me all the time. No. Not partners, no." M:" Yeah, I guess you don't do partners. Unless, of course, it benefits you, and you intend to betray them at some point." I am mind blown right now. Loki is making VALID arguments against Sylvie! He is calling out her abuse raw with no sugar coding and Mobius is just...totally not listening. AT ALL! I am so confused as to what people see in both Lokius and Syliki because...you CANNOT tell me this is love. If this is your definition of love I beg you on behalf of the people you have either already messed up, and the people who you might mess up in the future to please seek help. Everything that Loki is describing is abuse in ever sense of the word, and no one can tell me otherwise. I'm also trying to figure out Mobius and this whole "You betray everyone" thing. What exactly does he expect to come from a person who he just insulted the heck out of over the course of 2 or 3 episodes? Really?

L:" It was a means to an end, Mobius. Welcome to the real world. Down there, we're awful to one another to get what we want." M:" Now I gotta have a prince tell me how the real world works? Why don't you just tell me what caused the nexus event on Lamentis?" L:" Let me say this again. I'm not going to tell you just so you can turn around immediately afterwards and prune me." This is the most OG Loki scene in this entire show. That's my baby! He knows how to fight back, you go honey! Side note, I don't know why they're trying to make Loki look like a spoiled prince. Every Thor movie proves how hard living on Asgard was for Loki even in Ragnarok. He had to disguise himself as Odin, and the second the glamor was taken down instantly everyone turned against him. He's a prince and never once could he let is guard falter. It was too much of a risk. Weakness on Asgard means death. No exceptions. Especially if you're Loki.

I love how this show only gives you scraps of OG Loki before it goes straight back to Larry. I know the time loop was bad I'm not belittling men's pain, honestly, but...he spent a year with Thanos, that's all I have to say.

How Loki's face changes is totally OOC he's being way too emotional. If you look at the scene in Thor: Dark World where the guard tells Loki Frigga is dead we don't even see Loki's face visibly change. The only indication that he's even sad is his eyes.

Mobius' rant about Loki "being in love" with Sylvie is so childish it hurts. I will never understand why in society we must always pair a man and a woman together even if they have no chemistry what so ever.🤦‍♀️

This is my last comment about Loki being easily broken into persuasion and he is a much better person than me for telling Mobius this.

M:"Unbelievable. Wherever you go, it's just death, destruction, the literal ends of worlds." This is wrong in this context. But in the context of it being a necessary evil in order to, IDK, save Asgard, this is true. What's unfortunate is the fact that whenever Loki does it though it's always met with harsh consequences or judgement. EVEN IF IT BENEFITS THE PEOPLE BEING SAVED!

I'm skipping Sylvie and B-15 + Mobius and Ravonna scene because I've concluded that the plot for this show is terrible and pointless, so I don't care.

L:"How about the word of a friend?" I am so over Larry, and his desperate need for people to befriend him. OG Loki would have been like, "screw all of you cause I'm done" just like in TDW! I think Sif is causing him to have brain damage because did he just forget that this is the same guy who locked him in a time loop where he gets kicked in the groin repeatedly.

M:"You were right, about the TVA. You were right from the beginning. And if you want to save her, you need to trust me." When people don't put faith in Loki, I immediately think they're stupid. The Warriors 3 and Lady Sif are idiots but even they subconsciously put faith in Loki to stop two wars! Also, no Mobius I don't trust you after you put me in a time loop so that I could repeatedly get kicked in the balls. This dialogue is so poor I can't.

M:"You can be whoever, whatever you wanna be, even someone good. I mean, just in case anyone ever told you different." Is this...is this suppose to be encouragement? In case you forgot hon, you were one of the main people who told him that he was useless, and annoying, and a cockroach, and to shut up, and a universal mistake, and a narcissist, etc. so if anyone doesn't have the right to say this to him it you Mobius!!!

I'm so done with how much Loki is crying in this show. Not because it hurts me (because him crying in this show does not compare to this is the slightest...👇)

but because it's honestly super annoying.

As if this chic cares whether or not he's okay. 🙄

More time being wasted on Sylvie's backstory...

L:"I've lost track of the number of times I've been killed, so go ahead." From a this show is garbage stand point, what does that even mean? From a analyst of Loki's character stand point, are they referring to all of Loki's emotional abuse? His time with Thanos? All the times in his life where people have walked all over him? How he's constantly in pain? His suicide attempt? His time in the void?

L:"A little help here?" You cannot convince me that OG Loki need help in a fight. It's not possible. I also hate how he starts out with his arms in front of him. What happened to this guy god?

Y'all notice how the cameras focuses on Sylvie fighting more than Loki right? It's not just me?

You cannot convince me that there is a moment in time where Loki doesn't know what to say. Seriously. you can't. And him trying to confess his love for Sylvie honestly makes me want to throw up.

How emotionless Sylvie's face is in this scene kills me. If she really cared about him her reaction would have been totally different and help much much more emotion. Her face is like, oh well.

Loki Series Episode 5 "Journey Into Mystery"

I would have to say that this beginning scenes is one of the better parts of the show but only because it gives us a glimpse of what would of happened in 2012 if Tony hadn't of caught the missile.

Sylvie reminds me so much of Thor in this scene it is honestly painful.

S:"And how will saving him get us closer to who's really behind the TVA?" I love how she says this line immediately after asking how Loki is still alive. Shows you where her priorities are and how much she cares about Loki. She doesn't. Sylvie is completely self absorbed, and her face doesn't even change when Loki is mentioned. I really do not understand where this Syliki ship is coming from.

OG Loki would never lose his temper this quickly, just saying.

I'm going to just skip around with this...multiple variants of Loki nonsense going on in this episode because...there is just so much wrong with it I can't even put it all in this post. It too long as it is but in summary, none of this makes sense.🤦‍♀️

Also, with the kid Loki variant, I would have thought they would have cast someone who looked more like the child version of Loki from Thor 1. You know this one 👇

I know they're different ages but still. I personally think that Timothee Chalamet would have been great for this role, and he's a great actor so he probably would have done a bit better. IDK why but Timothee and Tom look slightly similar to me. Feel free to disagree but...

Yeah...because...of course Kid Loki killed Thor. That's 100% believable. 🙄

I don't know how this "Thanos" helicopter would have gotten there. Like seriously, why is it there? That thing is totally random even for the end of the world.

A space craft designed to get through the void at the end of time. That makes total sense. How did Sylvie fall for that even if it is only for a split second? Ravonna said it was impossible for one, and for two, if everyone thought the Time Keepers were real and every "cosmic mistake" was there why would anyone be concerned about what was at the end of time? Wouldn't they just assume it was ultimately nothing?

S: "Just one, really." I love how so many fake Loki fans think she's talking about Loki in this scene. I question if we watched the same series because they literally have zero good memories together. The one time they even got somewhat emotional was when they thought they were going to die on Lamentis.

I honestly have to say, out of every Loki variant presented in this show I like Classic Loki the most. He's the only one out of all of them who's story lines up with Loki's character. And if Classic Loki endured what OG Loki had at the hands of Thanos, I cannot blame him for running. It worked out in the end anyway. It's implied that the Avengers won without him so good for him. Hey, at least he was happy for a while. That's a lot more than what we can say for OG Loki. Maybe instead of trying to find Sylvie in season 2 they can have Loki take a page out of Classic Loki's book. As unlikely as that is, the thought still makes me happy.

L:"And she needs me." Honey, she's been trying to get rid of you since the second episode, what are you talking about? You're the one that's codependent, not her. Also she basically hates you so...where is this coming from? And she's doing fine without you as well.

This whole...Loki variants thing is honestly the worst thing about the show. Not the costumes, the poor dialogue, not even the plot and that's saying something. Nope, it's this scene right here. And out of all of the Loki variants there are I hate President Loki the most. He doesn't even serve a purpose to the plot other than to make Loki look bad as a character. He's not funny, I don't know what Tom is doing to his voice in this scene, he's overly dramatic, and the screaming, just...just...why? HE'S NOT EVEN IN THE REST OF THE SCENE!!

Again with the "Glorious Purpose". 🙄

CL:"We lie and we cheat, we cut the throat of every person who trusts us, and for what? Power. Glorious power. Glorious purpose! We cannot change." The only thing I agree with is how Classic Loki makes this statement in pain and irritation. Given the fact that I'm on episode 5 now, I think it's safe to say that the reasons as to why I disagree with the overall statement have already been conveyed.

L:"She's the only one I do trust." WHY?!! She doesn't even care about him! My gosh this guy is such a simp for this abusive, lousy, sorry excuse for a woman, and I am so over it!

S:"When I pruned myself, I though I might be able to find Loki. That storm, that thing, it's likely already got him." M:"You really believe that?" S:"It doesn't matter." I will never ever ever ever ever understand Syliki shippers. EVER! This dialogue literally proves what I was saying above! She doesn't even look or sound sad at the thought of him being gone! Mobius asking if she even believe it almost makes it worse. She says "It doesn't matter." This woman is worse than Thor. Loki didn't even do anything, and she's already giving up. Unbelievable.

S:"We thought you could do with some backup." What?! Tell me this is not the same woman who two seconds ago had come to accept that he was dead!

M:"She's pretty confident." I think arrogant is a better word but okay Mobius.

*Skips the conversation that's about Sylvie even though the show is titled Loki*

I have no comment about Mobius trying to figure out if Alligator Loki is a Loki. I get that it's a joke, but it's not funny, just like the rest of the show.

S:"Mobius isn't so bad." L:"Or so good. I think that's why we get along." S:"He cares about you." What?! I don't understand these people, and I've given up on trying. Everything in this post negates that statement.

L:"It's cold." S:"Mmm-hmm." Someone please explain to me the logic behind how two JOTUNS are cold?! Please. I'm begging you. This is like a polar bear saying it's cold! That makes zero sense! Evolution has designed them to with stand below freezing temperatures! This show as literally evaded all logic! This is the dumbest excuse for a poor attempt at a romantic scene I have ever witness in my life.🤦‍♀️

S:"You could conjure me a new outfit. You have no idea how uncomfortable something like this is." …You see, if they had of left Loki's OG armor on in the show for more than 2 seconds this line probably wouldn't have made it into the script. It still shouldn't of if you ask me because yes he does. He wears Asgardian leather, same as her, in every...single...movie. Every single one. I don't....

Ah, more emotional constipation. *Gags* Yay.

S:"I don't know how to do this." L:"I don't even know what we're doing." First of all, Sylvie, we as the audience by this point have already figured that out. Second, I bet you my life savings this is the only line out of the whole show that Tom actually enjoyed saying. Because I'm pretty sure that he doesn't know what he's doing either. And as the audience, we also don't know what you're doing. 😁

S:"Is it a tablecloth?" More poor jokes woohoo. It honestly looks like one, but I don't understand why it would be a table cloth.

S:"How do I know that, in the final moments, you won't betray me?" Nope. No. I'm done. It's the fifth episode, and she's still asking this? I'm still struggling to remember the first time. It drives me insane when people ask this. He's nearly died how many time for people who couldn't care less about him or his well being. The people who should spend the rest of their live worshiping him instead spend it spitting on him, and I can't take it anymore.

L:"I betrayed everyone who ever loved me." Please reference this post as to why this line makes no sense and is not even true. We're going to ignore the fact that he keeps going because I...I can't do it with this show.

L:"And that's not who I am anymore." You've made it clear that there is a HUGE difference between you, Larry, and OG Loki, believe me. It 99% of the reason why this show is so bad.

S:"...there might be a timeline for you to rule." L:"Ah. And then I'd finally be happy." Yeah, that's my response because...how many times do we have to go over this? Tom looks like he's ready to throw up, and he's really holding it in here. 🤣This scene makes his acting look bad, and he's a professional! If you don't believe me by all means, please, go watch The Night Manager (This is one of my favorites). You really could watch any movie that he's in before 2020 and understand why, as a fan, I am genuinely embarrassed for him. He looks terrible, there I said it.

I love how Sylvie's face just says "no" in the most blunt way possible.

S:"We don't know who created it or where they are, but that thing out there does. When it hit me earlier, I linked to it. It was brief, but I caught a glimpse of something, and I think if I can get close enough to it, I can enchant it and it's gonna take me to whoever's behind all of this." I'm sorry but the lack of sureness in this statement is disturbing. You can look at any other marvel movie and the main characters always have a full proof plan. Even if it is dangerous. There is no "might", "something", "I don't know". The main character in Marvel movies knows what they're doing. OG Loki wouldn't execute a plan based on a seeing a glimpse of something. He can come up with full proof plans while being mentally unstable. This chic is at full mental capacity and this is the best she can do?! That's embarrassing.

Currently trying to figure out why handing Loki the tempad is such a milestone.

S:"Loki, I don't know if this is gonna work." Yeah...you made that pretty clear.

L:"You go, I go." *Violently rolls eyes*🙄

I don't understand why they are trying so hard for this scene to be emotional. Let's go already!

M:"Looks like you got away in the end." L:"I always do." *Reminisces about the time Loki's "escape" resulted in him being imprisoned by Thanos, then Odin, and then killed by Thanos* The heck are they talking about.

*Vomits in mouth watching Loki and Mobius hug* 🤮

L:"What if we don't have time to wait for a branch?" He's asks this question now?!

I have no idea what this head nodding is supposed to mean. My interpretation is that Sylvie is thinking why the heck are you touching me, and Larry's just like just roll with it like a total pervert. 🤣

S:"How is he doing that?" L:"I think we're stronger than we realize." First of all, we all know Loki can cast illusions. We've seen him do it in literally every Thor movie. Sylvie not knowing how to do it just further proves why OG Loki is better than her. I really do not understand why they are trying do hard to dull down Loki's powers especially since he's already proved how powerful , intelligent, sexy, and skilled he really is.

L:"What are you doing?" S:"We're gonna enchant it." L:"I don't know how." First of all, SYLVIE IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR DISCUSTING, SELFISH, APATHETIC HANDS OFF MY MAN You would have to pay me some serious money to get me to believe that Loki, a master of magic, doesn't know how to enchant people. Please refer to above.

S:"You do. Because we're the same." I wish this was the last episode because I am too through with this dialogue.

RIP Classic Loki. To bad, out of all of the Loki's he was my favorite.

Loki Series Episode 6 "For All Time. Always."

Small disclaimer: If you made it all the way down here may you be blessed by Loki's beauty because you are wonderful! 🥰🥰🥰

IT'S TIME FOR THE FINAL EPISODE!!

S:"Well, if you think it's a bad idea, I prefer you to speak your mind." Oh, NOW she cares about his opinion. I see. 🙄

L:"No. Nothing to say." S:"That'll be a first." I cannot express how happy I am that Tom actually sounds like Loki in this scene. Also, it's the last episode, so I'm not going to go on a rant about how Sylvie is wrong here.

I love how Loki's whole demeanor in this scene is exactly what the audience is thinking which is, IF YOU DON'T HURRY UP SO WE CAN GET THIS OVER WITH!

Hate Sylvie for telling him to shut up, and I hate the directors for making the final episode about her when the show is called Loki. That is the last time I'm saying this.

MM:"You know how you got into this mess." L:"What?" The Battle of New York, silly. You versus those self-righteous Avengers. How would you like to win? But not just there. You can kill Thanos. You want the Infinity Gauntlet? Yours. Throne of Asgard? No problem." Why is Miss Minutes purring after saying Avengers. Horny Clock?😳 I love how the only thing that even sounds remotely satisfying would be killing Thanos. But now I have a billion more questions regarding Loki's poor treatment because now we know for sure that the TVA is aware he was tortured. Yet they still treated him like dirt. Some heroes.

One thing I learned from this series is that Miss Minutes is a horrible liar.

I'm just going say it now because we know it only goes down hill from here. Kang is the most boring MCU villain in existence.

Look at that, B-15 is alive.

K:"You're a flea on the back of a dragon. In for one hell of a ride. But you did manage to hang on. I guess that counts for something." I'm not even going to go there because if you've made it this far you already know what I'm going to say.

Mobius has what I like to call NCD. Non-existent Character Development or Thor Character Development. Where the main character leaves their home but instead of going on a journey to write their wrongs or learn something, they go on vacation and come back but ultimately didn't learn anything. Mobius is a hypocrite because now since what the TVA does doesn't suit his needs he wants to bring it down.

S:"Or you're a liar." Sylvie being the dumbest version of Loki. He just explained, with details that actually make sense, why it's important he stays alive and this is the best response she can come up with. Okay, we're doomed.

L:"Why would you give up being in control?" I think this is the most OOC line out of the entire show. This has gone on for so long I don't even want to explain why. All I have to say is *cough* Thor 1 *cough*.

I would die before I would live under the rule of Larry and Sylvie. Loki on the other hand has proven he could do so by all means. But Larry and Sylvie, absolutely not.

K:"Murderer! Hypocrite!" Finally somebody says it! Thank you!

Skipping to Loki and Sylvie's conversation...Sylvie is selfish as all get out. So blinded by her pain that she can't even see the bigger picture. 🤦‍♀️

S:"You want the throne." Sometimes I genuinely wonder what people hear when Loki talks. I'm so glad this is the last episode because I cannot take anymore of this stupidity.

Part... I don't even know... of Loki providing valid reasoning and introducing smart decisions to dumb people who don't care and aren't listening.

I'm done with Loki crying. Seriously.

S:"Why aren't we seeing this the same way?" Because Loki is a super genius with ruling experience, and you, Sylvie, are stupid, foolish, tactless, and selfish. This is the most In character Loki had been. Also you've never seen anything the same way this whole show so...why start now during the last episode. I also love how this destroys all and any meaning behind their poorly scripted, severely constipated heart to heart earlier.

L:"I've been where you are. I've felt what you feel." Not really but sure hun. Honestly though I have no idea what they're talking about in this scene. All of Loki's pain comes from his self-loathing caused by his abusive family and so-called friends. Sylvie is mad because her life was ultimately taken from her, and she had to live on the run, that's totally different.

This whole post explains everything wrong with the kiss, besides her pushing Loki into a portal literally 5 seconds later. Scratch that, go back 3 minutes that explains it too.

OH MY GOODNESS IT'S OVER!!! FINALLY!

If you made it to the end of this post thank you so much, I really appreciate it! 🥰��🥰

If you're wondering if I am going to be reviewing season 2...don't bother asking because this was pain enough.

#loki series negativity #loki season one #into the larryverse #the larry show #in defense of loki

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loonfromq · 11 months

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Genloss was amazing. I already made a post about it when it happened, but I have so much more to say. Like I think this is going to be my longest post yet kind of more to say.

So, first of all, Ranboo's character design. I'm going to call the Ranboo before the urn broke and he awakened(?) before!boo, or just b!boo. b!boo is very interesting. For starters, the moment he woke up and noticed that he was wearing the mask, he tried to pry it off. which i found strange, though i don't know why. the mask itself, also, wasn't all glowy before he awakened(?). The glowy level of the mask, I think, is measuring how aware he is of his situation and, frankly, the strangeness of it. Maybe it's just Ranboo being Ranboo, but it is a bit strange that he just went along with whatever was going on and adapted to his surroundings. b!boo was just trying to leave. back to the glowy mask. It was off for b!boo and on for Ranboo and was flashing during the TV bits. And when the urn was knocked over, the button we pushed was "haunt." like there was some kind of spirit turning off Ranboo's awareness. And the hand that actually pushed it over had something green on it, that I see after rewatching some segments (now available on the ranboovods channel!). Like slimecicle or his ghouls. In addition, when the urn fell, b!boo didn't seem to notice it at first, even though it did make a sound he should have heard right away. The showfall media logo on the back of the mask I found interesting too. this may just be a little easter egg or marketing, but it may also be implying that showfall media is in some way canon to the genloss universe. plus the little glowy lines on the mask are kind of reminiscent of cat whiskers, which was probably not intentional or at least not important but i find adorable. The mask, also, probably serves a purpose other than being a mask and possibly more than measuring his level of awareness as previously theorized. his voice is muffled under it and it frankly doesn't look very comfortable, making it inconvenient as a mask. also it seems somewhat odd to me that the aforementioned measuring device and the mask are the same object.

when b!boo touched the ashes that were in the urn, he panicked and shouted "no" repeatedly and awakening(?). when he saw the ashes at first though, he merely remarked that "that wasn't supposed to happen." almost like he realized that touching the ashes was going to awaken(?) him and he didn't want that to happen, he didn't want to lose his awareness. and when the newly awakened(?) ranboo was looking around, he gestured to the camer and referred to it as a "weird painting." and when he looked behind the curtain for the keys, a demon figure was visible. this might have been slime, but the horns seemed bigger and the whole thing odd of slime to do. although ranboo seemed surprised by the demon (or perhaps the thunder and lightning that showed simultaneously) he didn't seem to think it was odd at all. the tape of doctor jekyll and mister hyde was of course suspicious, and i don't think I need to tell you why.

I found it odd that the house seemed to be arranged in one long line. likely just for ease of filming, but the arrangement seems to be canon thanks to camera moving through the wall during the period where ranboo was. sleeping. this in addition to the "basement" being at one end and the "attic" at the other. and then there was the dollhouse in the basement. some people were saying things about jerma? i don't know that much about him, honestly, or that stream he did (no offense intended i am new to the internet) but it's intersting how the lock was it the bed and the cabin is arranged like a dollhouse too. I also find it a matter of interst that RAnboo desdribed the basement as "well-lit."

the boss fights were weird. like i know they could have made the fighting more realistic and all, but with the layout of the house and the INCREDIBLY strange cooking show and the finidng the keys to open the door in the first room, it just looks like a video game. and just the way everyone acts and everything.

but one last things (i will almost definitely make additions to this)

during the cooking show, when ranboo was bieng threatened with pocket dimentiosn, he mentiosdf that hed been to the forest bvefore. a forest oly b!boo went too. so i dont know what to make of that, frankly. bye.

#ranboo #generation loss #genloss #genloss spoilers #loons toons

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lifesliced · 4 months

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like i used to do with light, i'm going to (occasionally) pull some manga panels and discuss them, or surmise what we know to give us more context about kurama throughout the series.

chapter 22

we know he is a yoko, and is considered a demon*, though technically he seems to have been born a regular fox (by the lore chosen and the given translations). the dub refers to him as a "spirit fox"** that gained the powers of a demon.

*a lot of english translations simply surmise the "demons" of yu yu hakusho to be just that: demons. in reality, they're actually yokai (spirits), which would make sense to calling kurama a "spirit fox", depending on how you look at the lore / what you take from it. there's a lot of leniency in yyh, but also a lot of irl references. read more about the distinction specifically in yyh here. so, technically speaking, kurama is a yokai, but i'll likely refer to him as a demon here and there.

**they don't start quite making human, demon, and spirit world distinctions in the anime until later on, referring only to the spirit and human worlds, as well as spirit (and sometimes the use of life) energy. only later around the dark tournament time referring to demon energy separately (at least in the anime's dub, the sub does make these distinctions to what i've seen, as does the manga immediately)

in the anime, and in the above image of the fox itself, he's seen to have 4 tails.

there's varying lore around kitsune and their tails (see these posts here and here), and a lot that goes into making "yoko kurama". we initially see him as just as a kitsune, but we see later that he has a more "humanoid" form as yoko. we also know that there is. alot of speculation on just how old kurama is, to which i'll try and be as specific as i can.

we know his actual human form (shuichi) starts at 15 in the series when he meets yusuke, and that he is in high school (attending the private academy meiō). the posts linked about kurama's tails also delve into the possibilities of his age, using his tails and other context clues / series indicators / direct quotes to find a reasonable answer.

it's likely that he's around 5,000 years old (as yoko).

there's been a lot of changes to both hiei and kurama throughout their time in yyh, especially from the beginning. specifically, i'd say more to hiei, with a bit of retcon to kurama, but not a lot. this is due to kurama being foreseen as a returning character, but hiei only returning due to being a fan favorite, not meant to be a main character at first.

his motivations are primarily the same, but i doubt he was ever intended to originally have a yoko form the way we later see him. we're never given a clear answer to if both of these forms can exist simultaneously (the fox/kitsune and the yoko kurama humanoid).

we can assume that kurama started as either a traditional or "spirit" fox of sorts, became a kitsune, and earned his silver coloring (if he wasn't silver already? but by lore, it would make sense to "become" silver, as that can happen in replacement of a tail), along with his tails.

i want to say that the yoko form came later, as he was hunted and almost killed in his kitsune form. i am thinking this is almost like a sesshoumaru thing — there is a true form (the animal) and a humanoid form. at least, that's what i'll be going with.

so ... for lore purposes, he was later gifted (or learned himself) the ability to shift into this humanoid form, while still retaining his kitsune or "fox" form.

shifting gears, we see that this chapter is not about showing kurama's fighting abilities, as he wants to make a deal with yusuke to return the stolen artifact from the spirit world. there is mention later that animal spirits use plant-based weapons, which i touch on here.

i don't have much to highlight, as i think the narrative speaks for itself, but this entire scene is left out of the anime. it's very important to kurama's backstory and his connection with his mother, which is harped on so heavily in the anime, so to remove such a small (but powerful) detail seems to cheat the audience of a further early connection with kurama.

i will say, it's important to note that he seems to think that his mother cares less for him than he does for her. she's done nothing to display this, but he seems to think she'll be fine without him, more than he would be without her.

in the anime, he likens himself to a "mother-devouring creature" and speaks of his guilt. in the manga, he tells yusuke he wanted someone to listen to his regrets.

"the chapter ends with kurama's life being spared, naturally, so that he might join later to become part of team urameshi. "the chapter ends with kurama's life being spared, naturally, so that he might join later to become part of team urameshi.

#kurama tbt #headcanon tbt #ill also go over kurama's hair color and my choices on the aesthetics today haha

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chibigaia-art · 2 years

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I agree with some of the points you made about genshins story, especially paimon doing most the talking for us story wise. It makes the traveller we choose almost kinda flavorless as a character? Maybe that was the intended purpose or smth but how is it we've had Aether/Lumine for almost 2 years now and we still know nothing about them as people. Definitely get where you're coming from.

YOU UNLOCKED THE ""SILENT"" PROTAGONIST RANT LET'S GO (I'M SO SORRY ITS LONG AGAIN??? SORRY)

100% agreeing with what you're saying anon, and I'm going the extra mile to explain why I think they did this and also why it makes the main quest feel shallow at times

Okay so, first thing first, traveler isn't strictly a "silent protagonist" because they do have dialogue, they do have some kind of personality buried underneath, but the main problem in my opinion is that traveler has to act both as a blank vessel for the player while also being somewhat of an interesting character to get the player invested in the story, and at the start, it works, for a bit! Because you're given a character that has lost their sibling, and their objective is to find them, you get interested in what's happening - but then you hit the dialogue wall. The dreaded Paimon wall. You have to read long conversations and when you get to interject, there's the fo4 wheel of choice with the normal and sarcastic option and that's it, it has no effect whatsoever; the only time your answer actually matters is in some daily quests and hangout events, which... yeah, they don't really influence the main story, so it's kinda eh.

And sure, a big game like this, it would require a lot of time to have different outcomes for every dialogue tree, but it doesn't have to be like that, it can be something more akin to Zero Dawn than a Fallout, have the dialogue choices only matter in a few quests without having repercussions to the whole world! But even without that, it would still be nice to have some little changes every now and then in the dialogues, like in Persona - not huge ones that change the story, it's perfectly fine if you want to tell ONE story and not have it branch out, it can still be enjoyable, but have the characters react differently* (it'd still require the option of a skip dialogue button)

Bringing back the gacha mechanic into this, because you can't talk about genshin without taking into consideration that it IS a gacha first: genshin is pretty much a character collector simulator. Characters get introduced, most of them get tossed aside, but they're there, and they have to be interested in the traveler somehow, even if they feel like a cardboard cutout -> traveler has to be blank enough to allow being a self insert while simultaneously being... a main character. And as you said, we pretty much know nothing about them as people. I couldn't for the life of me tell you one thing about Lumine or Aether that isn't the emergency food gag with paimon or the rock paper scissor thing they mentioned in one of their voiceovers

I think it would have helped a bit to have some more info about their siblings? Even just some memories or experiences they shared together every now and then?? Stuff like "I miss my brother/sister" every now and then, make the loss feel more present, I guess, while simultaneously giving us tidbits about the traveler that might get us invested. There's also the fact that they are from another world and... no one asks anything about that? Same goes for Paimon, no one knows what it is but they never start investigating on it and I know it is because they don't wanna reveal she's the final boss but eh

I'm gonna bring P5 protag in this for a sec: he's a silent protagonist, he has the "normal" and the "sarcasm" options for dialogue, and he has to work like a blank slate both for making the player feel immersed and also for the romantic part of the game because let's face it, that's also one of the reasons the protag is silent lmao; that said, we do have his backstory, we are invested in seeing his name get cleared up, it's not too hard to care about him as his own character rather than just a vessel for the player (at least for me) and the little things we can get about him from the game aren't a lot, but they're enough to get invested and build on it

I think traveler is kinda weak as a "silent" MC because it has to serve this dual purpose of self insert/actual character with their personal objective while giving us absolutely nothing about who they are - which works in favor of one of their purpose while kind of undermining the second one

Possible fixes: since traveler has a set of responses to every dialogue that A) do nothing B) are the same for both twins, I think it would have at least been fair to either have the answers voice acted, to make them feel more involved in the conversation with other npcs (or even just to hear their voices, the VAs are solid) OR you know!!! Take away the fake choices, give them voice lines, make the dialogues cutscenes, and have the traveler be a fleshed out character who actively joins the conversation and doesn't have Paimon take 80% of their possible dialogue

#chibiblabbing #genshin rant /

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spottedenchants · 2 years

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You have successfully peaked my curiosity about the difference between the different types of light in the Dynasty: “sunlight” vs “moonlight” vs “starlight”. Can you elaborate 👀👀

ohohoho gladly gladly >:3

Select Endearments in Touching Sentiments: The Kryn Dynasty and Light

This got kinda long, so see below!

Preface- how these words are made

For my fic intents and purposes, I imagine Undercommon (and by extension Kryn Undercommon) to be very layered, such that nuance and doublespeak are pretty much built-in, word-by-word. Alongside this, I imagine its formal writing system to be logographic (with ruby characters for pronunciation because OOF it gets complicated- informal writing doesn't bother so much with logograms I don't think), so if you were to read it, many words are quite literally constructed from other concepts.

(And for reference, I base a fair chunk of Touching Sentiment's Undercommon vocabulary on the Eilistraee Drow Dictionary, picking and choosing bits and pieces as I go.)

As an example of what I mean, 'Rosohna' is built from rosin [born] and 'sohna [again], and is translated into Common as 'Rebirth'.

Another example is 'Umavi' and its Common translation, 'perfect soul'. There's no easy equivalence as there is for Rosohna ('perfect' is llieh and 'soul' is quortek), and as such, I have constructed my own: zexen’uma [stay] + menvis [path]. Meaning, an Umavi is someone who has found/made the path their soul is perfectly intended for (i.e. they are ready to greet the Luxon), and they stay to it.

(There's also a fun deconstruction of Umavi (respectful) vs. umavi (disrespectful) but I digress xD)

So what does this have to do with light?

We know 'light' is a very special concept within the Dynasty, what with their god of preference being based upon it, the difference between the Luxon's liberating light of the surface and the Spider Queen's entrapping dark underground, and how the Kryn worship with periodic displays of sunlight.

As such, it makes sense to me that they would construct compliments and endearments around different sources of natural surface light.

In the Eilistraee dictionary, only 'starlight' has a literal translation: slyan'ssun. Still, terms like 'sunlight' and 'moonlight' have very poetic looking translations, and I figured I'd fill them out myself, so here they are :3

Starlight

Literal: slyan'ssun

slyan [star] + ssussun [light]

Figurative: elemmiire

elendar [continue/endure] + belearn [treasure (v.)] + mrimm [inspiration] + mir [hold]

Stars generally have lifespans far longer than even the Bright Queen- they create a lasting, distant light, one that does not hurt the eyes no matter how long one looks. They are not as stationary as short-lived races may think, and though untouchable, they are held valuable as they are and will be, and many aspire to (metaphorically) reach them. The inclusion of 'treasure' as a verb is indicative of present effort and engagement. This is a common term of endearment from guardian to child, mentor to mentee, or, phrased more generally, is typically used for one who is anticipated to remain and excel beyond the speaker's present lifetime/occupation/circumstance/etc.

Moonlight

Literal: drathi’ssun

drathir* [moon] + ssussun [light]

*the word for 'moon' used to be synonymous with Catha alone, but now it encompasses both Catha and Ruidus. Catha's moonlight is 'cathi'ssun' and Ruidus' moonlight is 'ruidi'ssun'

Figurative: isilme

iiyola [treasure (o.)] + isintol [interest] + iqualment [simultaneous]

Specifically used in reference to Catha's moonlight, while this light is a little troublesome to the eyes at its brightest times, it does not harm the skin- one can rest under it without pain, and it can be present with both the sun and the stars. Given the right nighttime conditions, it can even bring a little color to the world. A little old-fashioned (though by no means out of fashion) based on context, this term can carry more of an air of detachment or unfamiliarity, as 'treasure' is an object of intent rather than a verb. Most often used between fond peers and acquaintances, it's also used by admirers to their target/s of affection and is common between bonded individuals of equal standing as a display of tempered deference.

Sunlight

Literal: ssik’ssun

ssik [sun] + ssussun [light]

Figurative: ta’ecelle

xta'rl [touch] + sel [new] + seil [solace]

The sun's light is notably tactile; one can feel exactly where it touches. Like anything beyond inherently mortal comprehension and perception, basking too long or staring too deep can cause damage, and both are best done in moderation. Despite its dangers, sunlight offers opportunities of renewal, freedom, and safety, as well as a flood of color—a richer view of the world—that neither the Underdark nor perpetual night can afford. A deeply intimate term when directed as an address, this one is rarely used in public. Typically only shared within a bonded pair/group, it can convey everything from humble reverence to devotional pride to deep gratitude.

Bonus: Firelight vs. Flamebright**

Firelight (literal): chath'ssun

chath [fire] + ssussun [light]

Flamebright: chath'ssune

charnag [deep] + olath [dark] + ssussun [light] + sune [warm]

Even in the darkest depths of the world, well below the open air of the surface, one can still create warmth from a single spark. Firelight is a useful tool, and flamebright is an archaic notion (as much as one can be in a culture with individuals older than the banishment of the gods). Flamebright is a term often reserved for representations of hope within extremely bleak circumstances, and it is not necessarily an address for people but instead a descriptor for ideals, or the Luxon and its beacons.

**all terms in this list with ssussun as a component can be used as adjectives, as both 'light' and 'bright' are ssussun

So, if you ever see TS!Essek (or other native Kryn Undercommon speakers) thinking/saying any of these terms outside of a literal context, this is what they mean :3

#kryn dynasty #essek thelyss #because this Does pertain to him #critical role #thank you for indulging me xD #surprise! there's an extra one for ya :3 #words are fun ^w^#chanse writing #touchsent lore #batwayneman #chanswers

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communistchilchuck · 7 months

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obviously i don't have the proper context but this seems like the kind of thing that'd be a physical metaphor for jp's (subconscious?) intention of relinquishing control to/mantling "azrael" - the act of putting on the suit is synonymous/often simultaneous with him lowering a mental block

oh yeah, definitely. regardless of how much context you have and what reading one applies to jean-paul and azrael’s relationship (i like to consider a couple different angles, regardless of if i’ve talked about them publicly) you hit on something that i’m sure o’neil intended in his writing that also goes along very well with how the batman comics around the time often discussed the symbolic significance of “the mask.”

and i’d say it’s both conscious and subconscious — sometimes he’s in a situation that requires The System’s abilities and he’ll purposefully try to surrender control, which often emphasizes the role of the costume, and sometimes it happens without his meaning for it to in a dangerous or needed situation, which can happen with or without the costume. so i’d say the metaphor lies partially in his intention. choosing restraint vs. choosing uncontrolled action, but even then there are abilities within The System he can access through dissociative states and meditation-through-prayer, or just that he knows on the spot. i imagine a lot of it has to do with repression and trauma, as well, causing those continued mental blocks. not wanting to fully face what he is or what he’s been through or what he’s done. there’ve been moments where he can’t, no matter how hard he tries, “become” azrael because he tells himself over and over that he is not azrael, which required going through the motions that first made him aware of The System in the first place. Re-removing that (this time, self-imposed) mental block. and giving him back the costume.

i dislike the costume stuff from an in-universe perspective because i feel it does the character no favors in his narrative — regardless of whether you see azrael as a character or azrael as a part of jp he compartmentalizes away from himself and personifies. it’s frustrating to watch it further drive a wedge between jp and azrael when the gap needs to be bridged for positive development rather than divided further, but as a metaphor it definitely serves a purpose, and i do think it was intentionally supposed to be a negative thing to put so much emphasis on, fed into by those around jp who had good intentions but lacked understanding.

i’d love to talk more about this or do another read with this reading more in mind sometime, or at least go back through moments of interest and see what there is to read into them. here’s some old panels i saved from the first mini that kind of touch on it a bit more i got reminded of: