having your sister’s husband, the father of her child, saved in your phone as “sugar’s boyfriend (pete?)” is honestly one of the most diabolical things i’ve seen from carmen thus far i’ll be real
finally watching the “1 year later” episode of game changer and so far I am loving Vic Michaelis’s approach because it appears their goal isn’t so much to win the maximum number of points as it is to put Sam through the maximum amount of psychological torture
stranger things au where will and el are biological twins but el was taken by brenner at birth bc she was obviously stronger than will and most doctors figured will wouldn't survive long anyways bc he was so tiny. But he does and for years after that joyce swears she had two babies and everyone thinks she's absolutely insane.
but will talks to the empty space all the time. he and el can communicate through the void as easily as they breathe.
once will is taken by vecna, he's back on brenners radar and it turns out that el has the power to open gates to other worlds, and will can shape them.
also in this au, hopper isn't imprisoned by the Russians, but by the US government instead. the Russian plot line is a one season thing.
My first and rather obvious pick would have been Hook & Charming. But then I remembered that Once Upon a Time in Wonderland does exist. And how much I love Alice and the Knave running around together. Both being so extremely in love - with other people. I know she's not a dude, but well, friendship - sibling vibes - totally fit for a bromance. Let them beat people up, pour their hearts out, call the other out on their bullshit with a kick on the shin and be closer like actual family.
They meet at gunpoint... I mean with her blade on his throat, which is always a good start for any kind of relationship.
"Hi, yes, I am here to kill you."
- "I think not, you're in my trap."
"True, but I can't stop, because I gave my heart away and am ordered to."
- "Wow, you're a dumbass. Let me steal it back for you."
FRIENDS! And then Will is ready to follow Alice through all the realms and do whatever is needed. Like only a real bro can.
I honestly need to watch OUaTiW again, it's been super long. Which is stupid, because I enjoyed it very much and I like Will as a character in it (unlike on the main show, he didn't fit and the writers realized how they didn't have anything of substance to do for him; a common theme).
Ouatiw has as sort of its basis the idea that wishes (and to some extent magic in general) are a way of cheating the way that things are supposed to be, a shortcut. Wishes used poorly are about being willing to do whatever to get what you want. And then the villains are trying to go even one step farther, to break what few rules those wishes have to get their way. The genie's curse is framed in this way-- 'you have let your desires overrule the fates'. The big flaw is putting your desires before everything else.
But also the three laws of magic that Jafar and the Red Queen want to overthrow are each met in some way by the heroes. It's not that what the villains want is bad it is that they are willing to do anything to get it, and that most of the time, its not that their desires are totally out of reach otherwise, just that the path to them is harder.
Jafar and Alice want the same thing-- they want the love of an unjust father who withholds it. Jafar wants to use magic to force that. Alice ultimately gets that love from her father, through her steadfastness and patience and commitment to what she knows to be right (and it's acknowledged that she shouldn't have had to. Her father is wrong for making her prove herself when the love should have been given freely.) By contrast Jafar twists himself further and further to force that love and the Sultan hardens himself even more and dies remorseless.
The Red Queen wants to change the past and eventually as she returns to being Anastasia she does that, but not through magic. She doesn't wish away her mistakes, but she fixes them through repentance. And Will as the flip side of that-- also wanting to regain that past, and having to do so by just facing the pain, accepting his heart back. And once he has his heart back the way that they regain that lost past is not by undoing the past but by redeeming it through his act of forgiveness and grace to Ana.
And then Cyrus, who is not a villain but who jumpstarted everything by bringing back his dying mother at any cost (especially by risking his brothers to do so) is of course not ultimately able to bring back the dead, but has to actually face and accept her death, accept that sometimes his desires are not right and there is no way for him to have them. (This part is a little muddled by both Ana and Cyrus being brought back from the dead but you can kind of squint your eyes and go 'well there was something unjust and unnatural about their deaths because they died as a part of Jafar's upending of the natural order')
This same idea of it being wrong to pursue your desires at all costs, even when what you want is a good thing, is explored in smaller ways in multiple other episodes. Alice's test of being pure of heart where she chooses not to kill the queen, Will refusing to give the Caterpillar the Forget-me-Knot, Alice's temptation to stay in the Boro Grove, Will's choice to give up his heart (which is what ends up killing Lizard), the deal Will makes to bring the staff to Jafar. Over and over again probing the idea of what you would do to get what you want.
And notably, the wishes that don't go bad are all wishes made for other people-- Alice wishes to protect the knave, then her father, and then Will wishes to protect Alice.
Love Will Scarlet who's like "I'm so cynical and jaded. Never trust anyone, love is a lie, and only look out for yourself." Then the minute someone starts to listen him and give up hope he goes "NO! What are you doing? Love is the most important thing?! And life is beautiful and I'd literally die to help you find your happy ending and I'd give up everything in my life to help the people I care about and don't even get me started on what I'd do for my true love" and all of that's BEFORE he gets his heart back.
There were indications that the fourth season was going to be a crossover of sorts with spinoff series Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, the biggest being Will Scarlet, who was just wandering around until he went to the Enchanted Forest with the surviving Camelot residents. Plus, there was the genie bottle and I know that it was supposed to be Jafar in there. So even though I have made fun of the writing in the past (they made it so easy not to), I’m going to dive straight into Fanfiction Land and make a fourth season. So anyone who reads this can make fun of me ;-)
The whole season will be 22 episodes, with a two part finale. It would be the typical structure of an OUAT episode- the main setting being Storybrooke; Flashbacks set in the Enchanted Forest or Wonderland; I think Agrabah would make a guest appearance for at least one episode.
The season will begin immediately after the S03 finale. Emma and Jones are now official and have to navigate that, since the last time either of them were in a serious relationship, her fake fiance was turned into a flying monkey and Milah’s death drove Jones into a centuries long revenge quest.
Meanwhile, Snow White and David are now dealing with being new-ish parents to newborn Neal and how it does change things with their relationships with the rest of the family. It would be about how they’re excited to get experience all the things they missed out the first time, they’re also sad that they didn’t get to do that with Emma and it is bringing up past trauma; Actually, since a lot of people were on board with Regina’s messy redemption, would be a good opportunity for Regina to give some baby care tips to Snow and David.
As for Regina, and Robin- they are now in an awkward situation because Marion has been resurrected; and Regina is continuing to understand that she may not have regretted her past because she was able to be a mother to Henry, it still meant a lot of people got hurt because of her actions. She will learn that being good can suck but it also means that your actions won’t come back to bite you later on.
Gold and Belle are off on their honeymoon and while they would love to move on with their lives, Gold knows his own past will come back to haunt him and put his own family in danger.
And it comes in the form of an opened bottle that releases a genie named Jafar.
Jafar is looking for revenge and having ultimate power. First he will get power, which is keeping his near cosmic magic but be released from the restrictions of being a genie. Then, he will be going after the heroes of OUATIW. And Rumplestiltskin, because honestly, he definitely at one point dealt with Jafar, which is why Rumplestiltskin had the bottle all those years ago.
But our heroes don’t know any of this because they’re occupied with a new resident, or rather a former resident who has a warrant for his arrest. Emma and David have found out that a prolific thief had been stealing left and right, with a bunch of stolen goods in his home and more in a storage facility. His name? Will Scarlett.
Will though has returned to Storybrooke because he is on a mission from Anatasia the White Queen aka his wife. But it's Will, so he gets arrested.
During this time, a few things are happening- magic is bursting from Storybrooke, with Emma and Regina getting odd episodes by magic, rules are being broken, and people are oddly getting their wishes granted in the most horrible way.
Anyway, Ana eventually comes to Storybrooke, looking for Will and is not surprised that her husband has gotten himself arrested. She tries to negotiate a deal with Emma and Regina, but learns about the problems Storybrooke has been having and she has a hunch on what may have been the cause- her.
It turns out that the spell she and Jafar cast had repercussions, mostly the laws of magic are being broken down. And since it happened in Wonderland aka the place where anything can happen, it not only had these side effects but it also affected the other realms. If they don’t do something soon, all the realms, including Storybrooke/Real World, will be destroyed. Because all magic has a price.
So the first half of the season is the heroes cleaning up the mess made, putting the magic laws right again and avoiding the end times. That would be the theme of the first half of the season: cleaning up your mess, if possible. The characters all have to deal with the fallout of the what happened in the past seasons and dealing with it as best as they can- especially with Anastasia, the once Red Queen trying to repair the damage caused by the spell her and Jafar had cast in OUATIW, as well as dealing with Jafar himself.
They do go to Wonderland- Emma turns out to know how to navigate Wonderland, because she not only read the books, she was a fan of Wonderland as a kid. She was especially a fan of American Mcgee’s video game series.
And they do get to visit Alice and Cyrus. Alice and Cyrus are currently living in fictional Victorian England; Alice is writing about her adventures and Cyrus and her also go into the antique business, which doubles as a magical detection service.
Anyway, they are able to repair the major damage done and the realms are safe from destruction but they do have to contend with Jafar for the second half of the season.
Part II:
As stated before, Jafar is determined to go after his enemies. He has found a way around the restrictions of being a genie- not only can he manipulate people for wishing things that help his agenda but every wish he can grant will make him stronger, even free him. His main victims are people who he gives wishes to- Be careful what you wish for indeed.
Emma, along with Ana, Will Scarlet and the rest have to fight him, a being of cosmic power and a nasty streak a mile wide.
Flashback episodes will be/could be concerning the following:
How Rumplestiltskin got Jafar’s genie bottle.
What Will had been up to before Rabbit recruited him to free Alice.
Marion’s side of the story of when she got arrested by Regina.
Information that can be revealed throughout the season:
We learn that Ana is the one who ultimately helped Cora to return to the Enchanted Forest.
We learn from Nix the guardian of the Well of Wonders that the way to destroy Jafar is to destroy his lamp.
This can lead to a two part episode. I’m thinking they set this in Agrabah, where they also meet a version of Aladdin.
This version (my fanfiction version of him) is the secret son of Amara and Jafar. Jafar never knew of him because Amarah had him in seclusion away from him and then gave him to another couple, Cassim and Zena, to adopt him.
Aladdin is a young teenager, with other kids under his wing. He is trying to return to the territory where he's originally from and bring the other kids with him; Jafar tries to manipulate him by starting a new civil war in Agrabah that would destroy it. This is bad because Agrabah had recently recovered from a years long war after the former sultan and his heir (Jafar's father and half-brother) were killed by Jafar. There is a new sultan on the throne after resolving the conflict and repairing things.
Aladdin is able to stop Jafar, with the help from his half brother Cyrus. He also destroys the proof that he is of the previous sultan’s line. He is able to join a caravan to the place where he wanted with a kind leader and his daughter Yasmin.
So how will they defeat Jafar? Just like in the film, The Return of Jafar, they have to destroy the lamp. Since this is OUAT, the way to do it is with a special weapon- which they got from Agrabah- a bec de corbin. This is a type of hammer from France, but I figured that this is a Rule Of Cool situation.
one of my fav things to do is to pick two random once upon a time characters (usually using a wheel i found online) and try my damn best to connect them in a family tree. i have a few pages in a notebook where i wrote it down with color arrows to explain how they are connected.
turnnoffyourmind
areudirty
origamiaround
prguitarman
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
gummygunk
