This Strange Place

I HAVE WAITED FOREVER TO BE ABLE TO YELL ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVE GROG STRONGJAW, GOLIATH OF MY HEART

Do you love/hate/don’t feel strongly about this character?

I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. Grog may actually be one of my favorite C1 characters. In part because I feel like he’s underappreciated in some ways.

What’s your favorite trait of this character?

How fucking gentle he is. Gentle Giant is a perfect and beautiful trope, and even though Grog definitely also qualifies as “dangerous,” at his core he is sweet and kind. He likes fighting and killing, but–perhaps paradoxically–he doesn’t actually like hurting people. He likes killing things that probably deserve it, but he doesn’t want to hurt people who are “small,” or “weak.” He gets kicked out of his herd because refused to kill, and protected a man he knew nothing about. He loves his gnomes and he gets into prank wars with his friend, and for a while his biggest dream was growing a beard. He got a pointy hat so he could look distinguished. He becomes the official Tour Guide of Whitestone. (All hail the Grand Poobah!) He learns that his greatest strength is his friend and calls on them to defeat the only person who has ever scared them. (Vox Machina. Fuck! Shit! Up! oops now i’m crying)

What’s your favorite moment/event involving this character?

Every single time anyone (including Travis Willingham!) tries to claim that Grog was not vulnerable or emotionally complex I just hear Grog angrily spelling “cat” to Scanlan before stomping off. The episode Scanlan comes back is in fact my favorite Grog episode. “I’m a big guy, but you made me feel small.” Grog may usually wear his heart on his sleeve, and he may not have a many internal conflicts as other VM members, but he was full of so much pathos and empathy. He was simple in that he didn’t need much to make him happy–just the love of his friends, and a good fight–but he was never only his low intelligence or his rage.

Runner up for favorite moment is his conversation with Keyleth about how he is able to control and channel his rage. They became an unexpected favorite friendship of mine.

If you could have one power/attribute/etc. of this character, what would it be?

Speaking of rage…using my anger to be able to hit real hard and also be nigh invulnerable? The dream. 

Have you ever pictured this character naked?

…yes

When did you fall in love/hate with this character? If you don’t have any strong feelings toward them, why not?

Prooooobably the first time he and Pike interacted on screen. Potentially the first time he called Pike a “monstah.” But I don’t actually remember a specific moment. I was a huge fan of his early prank wars with Vax, too.

Who’s your OTP for this character?

I headcanon Grog as aromantic, but no one on this earth (including Travis Willingham) can convince me that Grog was not even a little bit attracted to men, because he clearly had unresolved sexual tension with one broody, stabby Rogue. What I’m saying is I ship vaxgrog which is an underappreciated C1 ship and it’s a crime there’s not more vaxgrog content in this world. I’ve also read a really delightful post-campaign Grogleth fic which is not a ship I would have considered on my own but also make a weird amount of sense for them.

in spanglish you don’t switch by word, you switch by phrase.

it’s not:

“[first part of the sentence in english], [second part of the sentence in english], mi amor.”

“[full english sentence], querida.”

it’s:

“[first part of the sentence in english], [segunda parte de la frase en español], mi amor.”

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also miles is boricua, miguel is mexican. they have two different accents and use different vocabulary for certain words.

also miles is “nyourican” - a puerto rican native to new york - while his mom is directly from the island, so there are differences there, too, because his spanish is more influence by new york english. 

here’s some good references that aren’t google translate (which usually pulls from spain, a country that speaks vastly differently from latin america)

SpanishDict

WordReference

here have some random videos on different slang/spanish accents:

Puerto Rico

Mexico (1) (2)

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in spanish most words are gendered, so most feminine words end in a and masculine/gender neutral words end in o. adding ito/ita makes something cuter, smaller and more affectionate.

spanish nicknames that aren’t “mi amor”

“querido/a” - darling

“cariño” - dear (always masculine regardless, of who its being said to)

“mi princesa/príncipe” - my prince/princess

“mi rey/reina” - my king/queen

“papí/mamí” - can be used in any way; romantic, sexual, familial for one’s parent or child, or just platonically

“tesoro” - treasure

also spanish is a language that uses adjectives as terms of affection both cute ones and ones that might sound insensitive in english

gordo (fat), flaco (skinny), negro (black), blanco (white), linda (pretty), bella (beautiful), morena (brown skin), etc.

and like most languages that are not english, spanish has multiple ways of saying i love you.

“te amo” - romantic

“te quiero” - familial, platonic (although there’s nothing wrong with using it romantically)

see also:

te adoro - i adore you

te deseo - i want you

te necesito - i need you

 and, of course, they can vary regionally too.

please use this because i have read a lot of really well written things that take me out of it because the use of spanglish is terrible. don’t just go on your presumptions that spanish/spanglish works in the same way that english does.

buena suerte, gringos.

- signed your friendly neighborhood afro-latina

I do not understand what the story would have even been without him. He channeled Derek, but brought a maturity, allowed viewers to see a new side of him, added nuance to his scenes, made his bond with Eli feel real, and just made the movie feel like Teen Wolf. Between him and Peter (underused) I really felt flashes of what used to be.

You’re not imagining things - they had Derek’s eyes transition from a blue glow to a red glow

Alpha Derek is confirmed

S4 death = evolved to full wolf shift Movie death = evolved back to an alpha

Or were the alpha eyes always there, just dimmer and hidden by the bright blue?

Regardless, he didn’t stay dead in S4 so why should he now. The question is, WHERE is he? We don’t actually see him when he’s dead. There’s no body and no ash left behind, he just vanishes in that ball of fire like he was teleported.

————-

There were tons of hints about death not being the end and characters being able to come back so they’re clearly leaving that possibility open.

Allison died and was cremated (fire) then resurrected 15 years later, appearing naked in the woods. Derek sacrificed himself to get rid of the nogitsune and went up in a ball of flames (fire), is he going to appear naked in the woods next?

Peter calling Stiles: “So my nephew went and died, again… want to help me bring him back?” Stiles: “I was wondering why he showed up naked outside my house. Did you know he’s an alpha again?” Peter: “Oh, well that makes things easier”

Did I mention that Derek sacrificed himself in a spirit realm thing ON THE FUCKING NEMETON. HELLO BIG MAGIC TREE STUMP. BARDO AND JACOB’S LADDER ARE VERY MUCH PRESENT. Not to mention Jennifer used it to revive herself…

A line from before about people who are supposed to be dead not being dead (cough Allison, Peter, etc)

Sheriff Stilinski telling Eli that Derek was like the jeep, beaten up more than anyone and still surviving. Stiles had left his jeep because it died then Derek brought it back to life for sentimental reasons because STEREK. He ends the metaphor with until one day Derek couldn’t or something like that but the jeep is still there and Eli should keep it running. EXCEPT by his own metaphor, Derek is like the apparently dead jeep and can still be brought back to life.

Oh, and Lydia broke up with Stiles a while back in order to stop her banshee screams from predicting Stiles’s death. Also no mention of Eli’s mother so both Stiles and Derek are confirmed to be single.

Did I miss anything? I’m not sure.

TLDR

Derek ends up being THE big hero of the movie, easily a thousand times more of a hero than Scott could ever be, they’re making it very clear that characters don’t stay dead in Beacon Hills, Derek would be an alpha if he comes back, Stiles and Derek are single, and Derek is still showing his feelings for Stiles by keeping the jeep running.

It’s a super easy setup for if there’s another movie and if they can get Hoechlin and/or Dylan in.

Just have Derek mention his husband a couple of times, have his son ask if dad could help with the monster and to have Derek sigh and say "we can't call him he's working".

Then it just gets worse with the monster and Allison and for Derek and his son to be in danger and for Derek to just look at his son and say " do not tell your dad!"