#stargazer rambles

[silver-stargazing]

I made myself sad thinking about how in all of the major character moments for these characters (13x10, 15x08, and 17x07, respectively), the framing of the scene is of someone who is alone yet not alone.

Mac is alone against a storm but he has God and the approval from a father figure and a room full of strangers.

Charlie is alone on a Irish mountain but he still has his duty to his deceased father and the (eventual) support of his friends.

Dennis is alone under a spotight, his every words and movements judged. His friends fade into the background and the camera slowly pushes them out of the frame, highlighting his solitude. But when all is said and done, his friends do stay through the whole monologue and show their love for him after he gets a failing grade.

[stargazeraldroth]

So, my phone STILL keeps crashing whenever I try to play my most beloved Cookie Run: Kingdom (even after I deleted precious photos and videos [that I saved from TikTok] from my phone), so I'm pretty bummed about that. I've been so hyped ever since they revealed Mystic Flour Cookie, too.

So to cheer myself up, I wanted to reflect on the whole debate around what Burning Spice Cookie's gender is. Many say they'll be a man, many say they'll be a woman. Personally, I am on Team Man. I believe they're doing a flip of the Ancient Heroes. The Ancient Heroes have 2 guys and 3 ladies, so I believe the Beast Cookies will have 2 ladies and 3 guys.

All I know is that, come the official reveal of Burning Spice's design and voice, it's gonna be funny as fuck either way. Whether it be people who insisted they're a woman sobbing as they're slapped with facts, or whether it be people who insisted they're a man having their logic thrown in the trash can. Personally, I won't care either way. Hell, for all I know, Burning Spice might be neither. They might be nonbinary. Though, I'd like if Silent Salt was the nonbinary one. Silent Salt just gives me that feeling, if that makes any sense whatsoever.

[silver-stargazing]

I got to The Gang Gets Romantic in my Sunny scripts read and came across this sadly cut gem.

[silver-stargazing]

I've been going through the Sunny scripts in random order and got to a deleted scene from PTSDee and just...seriously there is a lot to unpack about Mac having dreams about seeing his best friends (whom he knows experienced previous trauma from csa) breakdown over further trauma only for them to shoot him in the face.

Is he dreaming about it because Dennis and Charlie were talking about their stripper incident and he just picked it up in his sleep?

Or is this a subject that's been rattling around in the back of his mind and all the recent stress brought it to the forefront?

Does he feel unconsciously guilty because, despite being the team's "protector", he was completely unaware of the trauma his best friends experienced until they were all grown adults? I mean, that's got to weigh heavy on him.

All this to say, I get why they cut this scene but also: why did they have to cut this scene? I love this episode a lot but in a better world, this episode would've been a 45-minute special for all the stuff cut out.

[silver-stargazing]

Got to say, I'm genuinely grateful that season 17 (the season that really rewarded continuity and being way too into something) was the first season I watched live.

[silver-stargazing]

Still can't get over that the Valentines Day episode on Sunny is genuinely one of their best episodes.

I usually don't like Valentines episode but there's just something about the structure of the episode and how it gives so many little moments throughout to explore all the characters' relationships with each other, not just the framed-within-the-narrative-as-romantic pairings but the platonic, familial, communal, and other kinds of relationships that exist.

There's:

Charlie and Mac taking a moment to reassure the other on their relationship issues

Dee and Frank having a brief family bonding moment of trying to understand what's going on with Dennis before things go off-the-rails

The failed relationships that Dennis is trying to cultivate between himself and the bar's customers to keep himself distracted on an otherwise miserable day

The fact that the Gang had apparently been giving each other Valentines Day cards years prior to this episode because they're friends and they love each other (until someone breaks out the anthrax obviously <3)

IDK it just seems like romance is always the sole focus of every Valentines Day episode. So for Sunny to devote so much time within a pretty explicitly romantic episode to non-romantic relationships is really special.

[silver-stargazing]

There is something so cool about the fact that on the first episode of the longest running sitcom in US history (The Simpsons), they highlighted the plight of abandoned racing dogs which helped raise awareness and kick start a societal move away from dog racing.

And now, nearly 36 years later, the longest running live-action sitcom in US history (It's Always Sunny) gave dog tracks a final kick out the door for good measure as they're finally going away for good.

Keep dreaming big, kids! Society can and will change, sometimes even within your lifetime!

[silver-stargazing]

I would love to hear your aro headcanons!!!!

Thank you for this ask! 💚💚💚💚💚

I'm focusing on It's Always Sunny but basically anything that I get invested in, I will always have at least one aro headcanon for.

IASIP can be remarkably aro-friendly. None of the main characters are in long-term romantic relationships (or, in Mac & Dennis' case, a traditional and easily labeled relationship). Their most important relationships are with each other and whether you see those relationships as platonic, familial, or romantic in some way, there is still a lot of relationship anarchy inherent to the show.

In terms of specific arospec headcanons for characters, arospec Charlie was my very first intro to the show as I saw an aro mutual post about it almost a decade ago.

I made a whole post about it back in June (specifically for a reading of lithromantic Charlie) but there is something so distinctly aro about how Charlie interacts with romance that you could tell me any arospec headcanon for this dude and I would probably agree.

I also love the reading of Dee as aromantic and allosexual. She frequently prioritizes sex over more traditional romantic activities (like in FvR where she'd rather have sex than go on a second date). She's also the rare female character on TV whose story doesn't revolve around romance and as she gets older and romance continues to not factor into her story, I just think that's really cool.

There's also this great quote from Kaitlin Olson on Dee's character from the Relationships BTS Sunny S5 promo:

Here's the thing about Dee and romance. If you're waiting for that to happen, I don't think you're watching the right show.

Finally, while I personally think this man will go unlabeled forever, I think it's really cool to view Dennis though an arospec lens. He hates Valentine's Day and people think he doesn't have feelings because he doesn't express or experience love in a traditional way. That's aro relatable as hell.

Also, he invokes the Split Attraction Model when describing his relationship with Mac to Mandy, that "he sleeps with women but is emotionally involved with Mac". While the SAM is not limited to the aspec community, it is still a very popular model within that community to distinguish between one's romantic and sexual orientation. I also find it notable that he specifically says "Mac" rather than "men" in general, which is interesting evidence for a demiromantic Dennis reading.

Also, as the gang is usually ignorant of these kind of things, I'd like to think that the only person who's heard of any of these terms is probably just Mac when he was making an effort to learn more about the queer community.