Alright, I think I’ve sorted out my thoughts on this and it’s time. Zootopia 3 concept thoughts:
Birds. Duh
Time skip. Not huge, but enough. Year-ish? Maybe more maybe less, but we’ve GOTTA move away from this tight timeline and let the kids reestablish themselves
Nick and Judy have settled into a VERY comfortable routine as partners in every way. They’re not TECHNICALLY dating though, but like. They’re so domestic it’s not even funny
Judy is on this bird kick and has been since the reptile case. Everyone’s like “girl chill”
I don’t think the birds are banned like the reptiles, I think there’s some other reason they’re not around. And I don’t think it’s necessarily an infrastructure only issue, but there’s gotta be a different reason
I’ve seen a lot of people speculating about Nick and Judy having to take care of an egg or at least a baby chick and it honestly makes a lot of sense. I’m not NOT buying into that concept
Also someone said something about Nick carrying the egg in a baby björn and honestly that’s SO funny to me
Long story short, if we subscribe to that parenting belief, I think they need to take the egg home, possibly venturing outside of Zootopia to do so
I think it becomes a Nick-centric plot, he might have some history with birds or something, but I think we go to where he’s from because it’s the “only way” and I think we may meet someone from his past (mother seems the most reasonable but could be anyone)
This could also be an opportunity to bring Finnick up which would be nice
We all know Nick is a beautifully complex character but I think he may have even more layers than we realize that show up here. Let’s all explore that traumatic childhood together, babe
I think it hits Judy like a TRUCK that she’s in love with him right around here
I think once they use Nick’s past in whatever way to help bring them to their next step, they get the bird home
Except, bird is not accepted back home
Something something bird acts as a parallel to Nick’s own upbringing and bro relates maybe too hard
Judy’s like “you gotta take your baby back” and the birds are like “yeah no, we don’t like you and we don’t like the baby please leave”
That’s the twist this time, no villain, just traditional values leaving trauma on young impressionable babies
Maybe an allegory for queerness, maybe disability, who knows
Regardless, Nick and Judy are like “welp. Only one thing to do”
They take the baby home
It also shows Judy’s growth because she doesn’t need to chase them down, she now knows that some people just suck and all she can do is be good to the people in her world and hope others can find it within themselves to change some day
But the change starts at home, so this is her baby now
Somewhere in here they’re like “oh we’re just straight up parenting this child now, sick”
“Guess we might as well be in love then”
(Which they both already are)
Honestly I can see them avoiding another big love confession entirely, it’s more just like
“So what, we’re just gonna be this bird’s parents now?”
“I mean…yeah, doesn’t it feel right?”
“But like…together?”
“…I mean…doesn’t that feel right too?”
“…Yeah, it really does”
ACTUALLY WAIT THAT IS EXACTLY HOW I THINK IT’LL GO NOW THAT I’VE WRITTEN IT OUT
Because I think they already know deep down what they are and they do not need to makeout on screen and have some big romcom plotline to acknowledge that this is it, this is their family
It’s been made CLEAR
(Also don’t ask me who’s saying which lines because we all know Nick wants to be a dad so badly he just doesn’t want to say it out loud until now so you can interpret it however you want but I KNOW THE TRUTH)
Anyway I think something about Nick’s past will come back at the very end and attempt to resolve itself in a mediocre way that says “I’m trying to be better because you’ve proven you can change and maybe others can too so I wanna try” and Nick is like “eh, it’s a start”
And we stick the landing with the weirdest family of all time, a rabbit, a fox, and their baby bird
Bonus points if it’s a freaking penguin or something extra out of place as opposed to like a blue bird, a robin, or a duck
And honestly, as much as I love this world, I’d be happy with just a solid trilogy if they play this right
ALSO, I do think the Hopps family pops in at some point to be the foil to Nick’s past because they are always willing to change and always so accepting and while Nick has canonically already met them (peep final scene in the sequel), I think he deserves to really see the parallels right in front of his face
ALSO ALSO double bonus points if post-credits stinger is Nick quitting the ZPD to be a stay at home dad. He deserves it so much
ANYWAY THAT’S MY PLOT TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK THANKS
My theory is that she was locked up somewhere for a few years. Either to a mental institution or a prison bc she attacked someone. We can see in the trailer that she has some anger issues and she says to the other girl that her first love/crush was Rob and at the age of 30 which the other girl finds it weird. That could explain why so late and why she wasn't with anyone before. Also, Rob and the other girl mentioned something about mental health at some point in the trailer.
A true psycho! Would love it 😄 It does seem that Emma is pretty lonely before meeting Charlie, doesn't have friends or anything. Just her books and her peculiar fixations 👀
So, I haven’t written meta in a bit. But I finally got around to watching Good Omens Season 2. Of course I had to sob a bit first, before getting around to pondering over things. I know everyone is, understandably, hooked on the FF. But there’s already a lot of awesome meta out there about it, and I’m not even sure which theory to believe right now. More pondering required.
However, Metatron’s insistence that Aziraphale take the Archangel position really struck me. Because, yes, Aziraphale and Crowley joined together to try and stop Apocalypse 1.0. But, the truth is, they only played a small part in Armegedon’t. It was one of my favorite things about season one, actually. That it wasn’t “The Main Characters save the World.” They played a part, but so many other characters and random incidents were involved in how it turned out the way it did.
And while I can believe the bureaucracy of Heaven and Hell dismisses the human contribution, and lays all the blame on their doorstep, Metatron seems smarter than that. Evil AF, but smarter.
I agree that the 25 Lazarii miracle ties into why Metatron felt it necessary to get personally involved. But I actually don’t think it's the reason. I think it’s a Clue to the reason. As much as I love a good “Love Saves the World” trope - wasn't his love for his friends the very reason Adam was able to fight back against his destiny? - Crowley and Aziraphale have worked too much together for this to have never come up before. If swapping bodies didn’t set off an alarm, why did a miracle they were trying to make discreet create such a big signal? Something else is going on. Something has to have changed since the last time they used their powers together.
Why is Metatron insisting that Aziraphale take the position of Supreme Archangel? You’re asking the angel that helped stop Armageddon to help start the Apocalypse? Isn’t that rather like shooting yourself in the foot?
Unless it wasn’t up to Metatron. Because somebody else had already made Aziraphale Supreme Archangel.
Gabriel.
Okay, so, let me explain my reasoning. This isn’t going in chronological order, because I feel like I have to line the facts up a certain way to make the most sense.
Let’s start with what Uriel and Michael say while discussing Gabriel’s disappearance, and with the subtext being about how Michael wants to take over. We’re treated to this set of lines between them:
Uriel:
Right now, as of this moment, Heaven does not have a Supreme Archangel.
Michael:
There is always a Supreme Archangel.
If there is always a Supreme Archangel, who at the time is the Supreme Archangel? Because Gabriel does not seem to have his usual level of power anymore. When Crowley and Aziraphale push him to remember, it causes him pain. He even tells them:
Gabriel:
I can’t remember those things. My, my head isn’t big enough. Not anymore.
If this is a simple case of removed memories, shouldn’t his powers be intact? While the punishment was demoting him to a low level angel, which I assume would come with a deduction in his power, the actual punishment was never enacted. Gabriel superseded it. We know when he removed his memories and where he put them, but what about his power?
Gabriel tells Beezlebub he was coming to her. So the stop at Azirahrale’s bookshop was clearly not meant to be a permanent stay. Gabriel even tells him why he came there.
Gabriel:
That so long as I came here something terrible might not happen to me.
We could assume the terrible thing is being found by the other angels. But the rest of the conversation doesn’t quite align.
Aziraphale:
Please tell me about The Something Terrible
Gabriel:
I just know it’s incredibly awful and that’s why I had to come here and give you the thing.
Aziraphale can’t help him regain his memories. Even if Gabriel still had the matchbox, and the fly was still in it, giving it to Aziraphale wouldn't accomplish anything. Only Beezlebub can control the fly, and the fly itself spends the whole time following Gabriel around anyway - it's never once given to anyone else. Plus, regaining his memories isn't going to stop Something Terrible from happening. Heaven will still be after him, and the Second Coming will still be on the plate.
Once we get all the information, we learn that Gabriel’s and Beezlebub’s relationship all started by planning to avoid Apocalypse 2.0. His refusal is what led to his trial, and proposed punishment. So it’s understandable that the two things are intertwined in the bits of information we glean from Jim. Consider the exchange with Crowely after the rainstorm fiasco:
Gabriel:
There will come a tempest, and darkness, and great storms. And the dead will leave their graves and walk the earth once more. And there will be great lamentations.
Crowley:
Go On
Gabriel
Every day it’s getting closer
The first set of lines is a quote about Judgement Day. The song lyric is a reference to his and Beezlebub’s romance - though in this eerie context could be attributed to both.
And let’s not forget Metatron’s words to Aziraphale:
Metatron:
You’re a leader, you’re honest, you don’t just tell people what they want to hear. It’s why Gabriel came to you in the first place, I imagine.
But Gabriel wanted to stop the Apocalypse. And Metatron knows this. If Gabriel sought out Aziraphale in regards to the Second Coming, it was with the intention of preventing it. If his powers and position are handed off to one of the other Archangels, it will do nothing in regards to that goal. But giving them to the angel he knows will do anything to protect the world and stop the Second Coming? That would throw quite a wrench in Heaven’s plans.
But this theory isn’t based just on conversation. So let’s consider two specific times Aziraphale uses his powers, after Gabriel shows up.
The first instance is, of course, hiding Gabriel. Before they do the miracle, they say that by working together it should balance things out so it’s untraceable. To quote:
Aziraphale:
If we each did half a miracle. I could hide him from your former people, and you could hide him from mine. It would barely move the dials.
Of course, that isn’t what happens. Instead we get the 25 Lazarii plume of miraculous activity. If Aziraphale had recently been given a power boost by receiving a large chunk of Gabriel’s powers without his knowledge, possibly when he opened The Box, he would have no idea how far he now needed to scale down his miracles.
And the spell they cast is powerful. It doesn’t just exist inside the bookshop. It exists outside of it. Shax and the other demons can’t see Gabriel is Gabriel, even when he steps outside. The Archangels not only fail to realize who he is while inside the bookshop, when they start to discuss the disconnect of Aziraphale having an assistant while in Heaven, the miracle prevents them from realizing something is wrong even there. That is far beyond the original intent.
And there is one other time where Aziraphale’s powers seem to be doing things above and beyond the original intent.
The Ball.
There are a handful of previous times our Ineffable Duo controlled people in small ways. Consider the bus at the end of Season One. Crowley says it will drive them to London, the driver just won't know why. There's also Sister Mary, and Aziraphale telling her she just dreamt about whatever she likes best. Crowley said at The Globe that they have both done blessings and temptations for the Arrangement. But what is happening at The Ball is so far beyond all of that. Aziraphale seems to be controlling a whole room full of people. What they think; how they talk. Nina even admits it’s affecting her very ability to feel the emotions she knows she is feeling:
Nina:
I know I’m really upset, why don’t I feel upset?
Something she says to Aziraphale the moment she enters the bookshop, even though he couldn’t have known she was upset yet. So why would he have been using his powers on her at that moment? And let's not forget that he was sharing Madame Tracy’s body and still wasn't able to fully control her. But now he can control multiple people at once?
And there’s one final note on why his powers shouldn’t be working this way. While he informs that Archangels that he performed a miracle for Nina and Maggie to fall in love, he admits to Crowlety it isn’t possible:
Crowley:
Great. Do a little miracle, wiggle your fingers about. Nina falls for Maggie, problem solved.
Aziraphale:
Ah, miracles don’t work like that.
If making people fall in love isn’t even in Aziraphale’s usual wheelhouse, then how is anything happening at The Ball? Unless most of what’s happening isn’t being done consciously, but rather subconsciously, using powers he didn’t originally have. But that Gabriel may have had. Y'know, “Be Not Afraid” Gabriel?
I suppose it could be argued Gabriel is the one who is subconsciously using his powers, both during the 25 Lazarii miracle, and The Ball. He is present both times. But he has no concept of what they're doing when they cast the protection, and what's happening at The Ball is meant to be based off of Jane Austen’s novels - which Gabriel has never read.
And it still doesn't explain Gabriel’s claim that he has to give Aziraphale something to prevent Something Terrible.
Or Metatron’s bulldozing Aziraphale into taking the position of Supreme Archangel. The dude came prepared with counters for every objection Aziraphale makes. Down to having Muriel stick around to give the bookshop to. Something he tells them to do before even talking to Aziraphale. This was not someone who had any intention of accepting the answer No.
But if he was just afraid of Aziraphale and Crowley interfering with the Second Coming, if that's the reason, why not just erase them from the Book of Life like Michael suggested? Problem solved. He didn't step in to stop Aziraphale's original execution in Season One. So what's changed?
But, given Michael's insistence that there is always a Supreme Archangel, erasing the current said Supreme Archangel sounds like it could be a big issue for Heaven. After all, if that had always been an option, why bother to look for Gabriel at all? Why not just get rid of him the easy way? Nobody would think Heaven had an institutional problem if nobody remembered Gabriel period. But if they couldn't afford to lose Gabriel’s powers, that would explain why that wasn't an option. And if Gabriel had given them away to Aziraphale, that would explain why Metatron stepped in to prevent anything from happening to him.
Having a loose cannon running around with the powers of a Supreme Archangel? Doesn't sound like something that works well with The Great Plan Metatron and the Archangels are so determined to still follow.
But let's be real. If Metatron thinks being up in Heaven is going to prevent Aziraphale from being a loose cannon and running around to prevent Apocalypse 2.0, he really needs to reread the files from Apocalypse 1.0. Being forced up to Heaven didn't stop Aziraphale last time, there's no way it's stopping him this time.
Calling it now. The expertly crafted angst between Erin and James will carry on until in the final episode where we see Michelle’s growth and maturity and she will tell them it’s okay. And then they’ll confess they already got together anyway, but thanks.
Now, I know that people aren't as excited about pixar as they used to be, but for myself, I genuinely enjoyed Elemental and am looking forward to Elio next year. And I think there's gonna be a fair amount of symbolism in the upcoming movie, and I am a major sucker for symbolism.
As the synopsis says, the titular character, Elio, is going to be a kid that has trouble fitting in. As shown in the teaser, Elio is a quiet, kind of nervous kid, polite to a fault when the worst thing he can say while being abducted is "no thank you."
Now, taking a look at the concept art:
We can see in the portal behind Elio are tents and a flagpole, and judging by his clothes (minus the cape), he was sent to a summer camp, possibly as a way to help him connect with other kids and form friendships. (Also, a few of these alien designs survived to the teaser lol)
But in the teaser trailer, we see that Elio is alone outside, next to some body of water, which could suggest that he ran out there to be alone or he was chased through the woods by bullies (which could come about as a combination of his quiet nature and his eyepatch. I assumed it was a bandage after he got bit by mosquitos and his eye swelled up, but people have speculated that it's a lazy eye correction. Either way, it furthers the illusion that he's a leader of a world, like he lost an eye in a battle or something). So he calls his mom to tell her the situation, but unfortunately, that was The Worst Possible Time, and is promptly abducted. And, as we all know, is mistaken for Earth's ambassador and has to keep up the facade to avoid brutal memory wipe and possible destruction of Earth.
This will force Elio to interact with not only other people, but people of a vast range of species, and cause him to develop the proper skills in communication and socialization. (There are better ways to develop those skills, but aliens work too). That doesn't even cover how the trial of Earth will appear-- could be a battle royale, could be Elio answering questions beauty pageant style.
Not only that, but I've seen talk of Elio being a metaphor for neurodivergent kids navigating social interaction and/or having to mask while in neurotypical areas. I find that to be a fantastic metaphor and hope that it's true, because it does feel like that. Elio could see himself as the only "normal" one and has to learn how to understand these people and how to talk to them. By the end of the teaser, you see an example of this when Ambassador Grigon tells Elio that he ate his mom at birth. Elio is understandably taken aback but further engages by asking if that's normal for Grigon's species. (It's not, Grigon just did that for some reason, but hey, knowing is half the battle).
(I hope that Grigon remains a friend. A scary friend, yes, but friend nonetheless.)
My major fear for this movie, however, is that the plot is in danger of becoming a "liar revealed" thing, which few people like. I'm hoping that Elio will continue the facade of him being Earth's leader throughout the entire movie and end with him returning to Earth, forever recognized as Earth's ambassador. Which is really funny to think about like if he's a teenager about to go to prom and is abducted again for some emergency counsel haha. But, who knows, maybe the movie will be able to pull off the liar revealed plot. We'll have to see.
However the wind blows, I'll be seeing this in theaters if Disney allows it and doesn't send it straight to streaming ugh.
So something that I don't think I've seen people really talk about in Spy x Family theories is how Anya will inevitably be forced to tell Yor and Loid about her powers. There are lot of ways that it could be done, but I think one of the most appropriate would be in relation to Operation Strix... but perhaps not in the usual scenarios some might imagine that to happen (fessing up to Damian she can read minds, Loid desperately needing intel that only Anya is able to glean, etc.). There are a lot of parallels between characters in Spy x Family, and I'm aware that there's very little evidence for it at this time, but I'd like to direct people's attention to character art choices by Endo. Please note that while I haven't read the manga yet, I have looked at the wiki and absorbed things through Tumblr, so apologies if something is off or I'm not fully informed on something.
It's rather difficult to find a good picture of Desmond showcasing this, but something that greatly interests me is the fact that he has two scars on either side of his head in direct parallel to one another. Similarly, Anya's hair was styled in a similar way in the past, as are her horn hair pins/clips that she has in the present. It's entirely possible I'm reading far too deeply into this and especially so for a character we know almost nothing about but I suspect that this is purposeful.
Let's explore that a bit, shall we?
The introduction of Bond isn't just to complete the image of the near picture perfect nuclear family (seriously, we're only missing the other 1.5 children bit and it's likely that a baby will be born or adopted by the series' end to round it out, I feel); instead, I think he performs a much more important function: it showcases that in this world there are a lot of powers related to the mind that exist and it obviously isn't something unique to Anya herself. Ostania's human experiments were something that were even mentioned during wartime but have very clearly continued either in the not too distant past or are still ongoing. Anya's designated number, 007, while a cheeky nod to James Bond also indicates that the scientists had previous subjects - some of whom might very well still be alive.
I suspect that Desmond is one of them or at least I could see him having been an esper all this time.
One of the few character beats we know for certain about him is that he apparently finds it impossible that human beings can truly relate to one another. On one level, there could be numerous reasons for that; he would certainly be old enough to have fought in the Westalis-Ostania war (a parallel to Twilight's life) and he could very well have lost those important to him while away on the front lines, echoing Yor's personal history (it's quite interesting to me that we haven't had a mother mentioned at all for Demetrius or Damian and their age gap suggests a possible second marriage). The other thing is that, to me, raising the stakes in the narrative itself would be for Anya to finally get her wish to go to Damian's house... and she proceeds to find out Papa's target is just like her, perhaps immediately giving everything about Operation Strix away if he can actively dig around in someone's memories rather than just reading thoughts like they're on a teleprompter. Suddenly, Agent Twilight/Loid is in immediate danger and even possibly Yor if the Garden aren't on the Ostanian state's side. Even if none of what I suggested about his life is true, then his seeming distrust of others could very well be framed that for him there's no filter for other people and who they really are, and if not that, then I could see him feeling smugly superior to those he sees as beneath him. The National Unity Party is reactionary; such ideas are baked into it.
Spy x Family likes having layers to its characters even though it's primarily a comedy manga/anime. Our heroes have been given shades of gray, sometimes quite dark, and I suspect that Endo will do much the same for its villain. That isn't to say that Desmond's beliefs or person ultimately turn out to be good but that there is almost certainly a reason for why he thinks the way he does, perhaps one that's more than a little sad. Never being able to truly see the good in anyone when you can see all of their misdeeds would be an excellent way to showcase that IMHO.
We were sort of talking about this on Discord last night but why do I feel like the TV fandom is gonna have a lot of hot takes that the book fandom doesn't agree with cause they won't have the context for everything yet.
Idk I just feel like there's gonna be a lot of TV fans that are gonna be upset at Rand/Egwene's breakup when as book fans we saw it coming and weren't too upset about it.
