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libellule-saphique · 10 months

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Miraculous Season 5: Luka & Kagami's Wasted Potential

If this show wasn't already bad enough.........

Like everything else, it disappoints me that the writers of this show are lazy when it comes to additional character development essentially in the love rivals

but who am I kidding? I knew what to expect when Thomas quite literally said Gabriel was redeemable after torturing all of Paris for years simply because he wants his wife back actively neglecting & abusing his son in the process while in the same breath saying Chloe is beyond redemption and she's a teenage girl who's dad couldn't give a rat's ass about her and spoils her crazy to get her off his back 24/7 and her mom who wants nothing to do with her verbally & mentally abuses her with the only real people who like her to the slightest and tolerate her are Sabrina and Armand who's practically her butler. The double comparison and double standard is wild but nonetheless not surprising seeing how the show's narrative is already bias when it comes down to Adrien & Marinette's character treatment. (the misogyny and racism is loud as hell)

Season 4 of Miraculous was already beginning to go downhill and season 5 simply added icing on the cake. To be honest I was partly excited to see the relationship dynamic within the love rival relationships, Lukanette & Adrigami at the start of season 4 because it was different from the repetitive love square and we got to see our two main leads interact with other characters in a romantic light other than themselves only to end before they could really start. It was a slap in the face and a huge cut from some possible major character development and love square progress. But the writers are so afraid of change and cant manage to make a good progressive storyline and felt that Luka & Kagami were too much of a threat to their Love Square that could've heavily improved because of them in the first place. Some episodes could've been focused on friendships between the love rivals and Marinette & Adrien. But ofc we get the same monotonous plotline mid season 3 to the beginning of season 4 Adrien & Kagami spend more time together, Marinette is conflicted and overwhelmed with feelings, Luka is there for emotional support (which felt like his sole purpose in earlier episodes even until now) Kagami is constantly frustrated by Adrien's indecisiveness, passiveness, and hesitance, etc, etc whatever and it continues all until they break up.

Then out of the wood works, we get Adrien realizing he has feelings for Marinette despite her being quote on quote "just a friend" 3-4 seasons straight. Despite. Marinette putting a hold on relationships ever since Lukanette's breakup and the fact that Monarch is still on the prowl and her responsibilities as a hero, because lets be honest if Ladybug/Marinette doesn't tend to Paris & Monarch no one else will, (Chat Noir definitely won't) the writers still say "hey lets tend to and coddle Adrien's feelings bc now he likes her more than "just a friend" and it doesn't matter how Marinette feels, doesn't matter if she's not ready for a relationship even though she's made that clear on multiple occasions after her and Luka's breakup bc at the end of day what we learn is what we already know "Adrien's feelings are more important than Marinette's overall treatment as the female protagonist and discomfort."

And what do you ask happens to the love rivals? Of course! the writers have to find a way to string them away from the complicated love square

Instead we get Luka shipped off with his dad on a world tour and Kagami paired with Felix (which........also doesn't feel right and for what reason did this have to happen?) Felix is the same guy who quite literally SH Ladybug, but ok? the writers feel like it makes sense to pair Kagami with this guy? She seems to like him for the same reasons her and Adrien's relationship took so long to work out in the first place. I don't even know what she saw in him, he's so bland, so passive, and everyone characterizes him as a "perfect cinnamon catboy who's abused and needs emotional support leaning on our main female lead who's not responsible for his baggage at all but hey! Everything is Marinette's responsibility after all right? They decide to give Felix more purpose in the show as Felix's a more assertive, serious, proactive version of Adrien and that's exactly what Kagami's looking for but I honestly think that it's a cop out for the possible unresolved feelings she had/has for Adrien (though he doesn't deserve her anyway) . It's like the show's message when it comes to romance and love is the only way to be genuinely happy is in a relationship which is so beyond fucked up, and its a overall bad message to kids and teens, no one in the show learns to love themselves and learn themselves first, Kagami would be simply fine without any relationship I can say the same for many other characters especially Marinette & Adrien. Why are romantic relationships needed to began with?

Season 5 is a prime example of the garbage dump Miraculous has become over the years and the poor writing decisions the writers have made.

#kagami tsurugi #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #adrien salt #luka couffaine #mlb #miraculous ladybug #miraculous season 5 #love square #adrienette #adrigami #lukanette #chloe bourgeois #gabriel agreste #hawkmoth #tomoe tsurugi

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lowkeyclueless5137 · 1 month

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Remember that Sonic AU with Idia and Ortho as main protagonists. Well uhh Please do the ‘Knuckles’ show equivalent in it please? 😀💧

WHEN I TELL U THAT I DID THINK ABT IT AFTER THE FIRST SONIC ASK-

Here's also the ask in question for ref.

Well imma leave you with a short intro, bcs there's so much to unpack. This thing was in my mind basement for a while :'3

We start off with a smol timeskip! :D

And during that timeskip, things do happen around: Mainly school activities. For Ortho, school was a bit more difficult when you and your buddies are known around as the supernatural powered dudes who fought the corrupted mad scientist and a fraction of the government. This made some things like sports events or extra activities to be more complicated than intended.

The most shocking thing tho was *gasp* Idia managed to pull a date?!?!

Our group was absolutely baffled when Idia revealed that he ended up hitting around dating 2 dudes: 1 silly library guy and one who owns a small restaurant in their little town. And they were decent people too!

The only problem was that, like most people who were not involved in the said adventure (either directly involved, related or witnesses) Azul and Malleus, Idia's boyfriends, don't know that the firehead was much more than just some silly alien guy. And Idia insisted at our first years group to keep it that way, because it was 1 talk that the latter found it pretty hard to address.

Now our new adventure starts by the end of the school year. There was the school prom! And being such a small town(almost a village if you will), the school prom was a pretty popular event around. Kinda a spice to the, otherwise boring, days around.

But before that, there was the academic scores settling. And everything. A lot of tests coming up and a lot of grades filling in. Ortho would say that he was a top student and he shouldn't fear when his grade situation gets mailed out, yet still, he was on literal edge for mail day, which Idia took it as odd. Doesn't help that Ortho inheritantly was super fast, thus he always grabbed the mail before his brother and went through it at lightning speed.

One day, Ortho comes back from school, to find that the mail came later today, while he was in class and it wasn't a skip day, and Idia took it before him. Of course, the dread was very real and the rest of the first years, who knew exactly what was up, tried to reassure their buddy that 'hey, we all got the same fate in there'.

Idia, naturally, wasn't that happy with a particular class Ortho had: Socials. While he had a nearly perfect score everywhere else, socials was a mediocre one, bearly passing. Idia couldn't complain about Literature or Arts, he knew those old ass teachers still were petty and poured their hate on the kids, still Ortho had pretty good grades at them. The socials was where Idia found it wierd. And naturally, he asks the group about it, when Sebek blurts out that all of them have the same grade.

Turns out that, since the incident, the school implemented an obligatory class: Socials. And for this, they got a teacher from a bigger city, who happens to also have a much more 'different' approach to things. Our group doubts any class in this school has an actual great grade at that particular class, so please, Idia, excuse them, maybe buy them consolatory ice-cream while at it? :'3

Idia does excuse them, but insists that, if socials are mandatory next year too, the group will try to do better in there. Now they only had a few school days left, so he couldn't really hope the grades will 'magically fix themselves'.

Hey, at least they are passing! :'D

Still, that day, Epel points out that Idia was much more fidgety, hence his very messy reaction to the grades. He was all over the place and, clearly, he was a few secs away from causing an earthquake. The latter just shows up his hand, which had an engagement ring on it.

Long story short, Malleus proposed today and, of course, Idia and Azul accepted with no 2nd thoughts. The librarian really was rushing into things whenever he saw green light apparently. :'3

So all summer, Idia was preparing mentally and physically for the marriage. For him, it was a more important task to see how he could break the news to his fiancés about the fact that he is literally the god of this planet. Ortho did try to reassure that the best case scenario: nobody has a heart attack or faints! What a good option! :D

By the end of the summer, the plans were made: an early autumn wedding, with the venue on a more retreated beach. Very little touches had to be done until the big day itself and Idia was getting restless as it approached.

Ortho really saw it as both a very beautiful thing and as a problem. On one hand, he liked Idia's fiancés and he would be very happy with the resulting marriage, especially if it made his big brother happy, but on the other hand, everything was moving very fast and, clearly, Idia had a harder time keeping the pace than Ortho. The rest of the first years are also trying to help Idia with his Woes, but it's pretty hard to calm him down. On more than one occasion, Idia was back to his big form, hid behind trees and mountains and simply processing the situation while our group talked to him, mostly to keep him grounded from making all kinds of imaginary scenarios and worrying himself more.

It was time tho, for Ortho's 2nd year of high-school. He was pretty excited about it, until he heard that socials were, yet again, a mandatory class. Doesn't help that Idia's wedding was in the first school weekend. The good part, Alex, Ace's big brother, was helping Idia when our group was at classes. (they became proper friends at the end of their adventure)

So with around 5 days until the big day, things were slowly looking out to be better. Things were settled, programs were fine and everything was coming together very nicely.

Except that things couldn't be very nice all the time.

Our lil group was out through town one evening, when they stumble across another alien, this one set on hunting the Shrouds. Of course, upon noticing Ortho, it escalated into a fight.

And now, this guy was freakishly agile. It didn't help that the red marks on his body, along the bright red hair, indicated that his origins were, definitely, from the same planet Idia and Ortho came from. Still, he reffers to Ortho as a 'threat' and thus has to handle it upon the rules of his homeland: by killing the boy.

Of course, things get much more clear when Crowley returns, saying that this is his new little ally. Thankfully, before shit can actually hit the fan, our group is saved by a misterious blonde guy, who can apparently shapeshift into any person.

That guy is Vil Schonenheit, upon his introduction. The other one was Riddle, an esteemed guard of temple of the core, from their home planet. He does make a short history of why Riddle was so set on killing Ortho.

Many years ago, a Shroud actually achieved a tie with their planet core, thus absolving immortality and immense power. The chaos emeralds were expelled to earth, while the said Shroud was locked in the temple of the core, as to prevent any wish of destroying their home. Riddle came from a line of guards who trained all their life to guarding the said temple. If anything went wrong, the guards were trained so that they could kill anything except a Shroud that was already tied to a core.

Vil also adds that he was not a guard, but an entertainer. He was, initially, given as a sacrifice by his, now deceased, mother, to please the 'diety', but he was spared, even so, the Shroud protected him from his prison, until he was old enough to venture back to his worried father. Thus he was forever indebted to that man. His wife was killed by the guards and he was unable to do anything but watch, believing that his children suffered the same fate too. So when Crowley came forth, his presence angered the Shroud. Crowley preached about 2 more of that kind here, on Earth. Riddle was chosen to accompany Crowley and get rid of the said threats, while Vil was told to go and stop this, to protect the Shroud's 2 sons.

Ortho is, rightfully, very shook by this revelation, but our group insist that already Idia tied in with Earth's core. Vil now is genuinely worried about this, because it's either Idia accepts to be locked away forever or he gets forcefully put to sleep by the guardians, once they find out what happened. Crowley didn't say anything about one of the brothers actually achieving this oh so feared form, so they didn't think too much on how deep this thing is.

For now, Riddle was on their trail, so as to not worry Idia, Ortho played the 'I'm having a sleepover at Ace so u could smooch with your fiancés before the wedding' card. It worked! Idia was too flustered to fully question why the sudden decision. :P

Alex is also very taken aback by this new trouble our group got into. Like being chased by the government wasn't enough, huh?! Still, he complies on trying to divert Idia's attention off this mess while the rest try to get Riddle to realise that Crowley is using him for the emeralds.

Cue a lot of running around. Riddle was 1 relentless mf. :'3

But, on their now daily chases, our group gets in mingling with the secret services. Again. :'D

Long story short, they caused a lot of trouble. Crowley was still on the loose, with his new little puppet being a force to reckon with. So the course of action taken by the said secret services was to take Idia in custody until Riddle gets wind of it and walks right into the trap.

It was a horrible plan, really. Especially with the upcoming wedding. :'3

We get introduced to Jade and Floyd, 2 secret service agents in the new branch of 'dealing with alien threats'. They actually prove to be a thorn in Riddle's sides, especially Floyd who is relentlessly taunting the redhead, thus allowing for Riddle to be distracted mid altercation.

And oh, is Riddle fuming! He became so enraged that the second he spots even the tiniest hair of Floyd, he goes tunnel vision and hunts that guy for the life of him. This put breaks in Crowley's plans enough so our group could actually devise a proper plan. The wedding was actually tomorrow and they were running out of time. Idia had to find out one way or another. Preferably after the wedding itself, ya know. :'3

But, first, the wedding! It was a very pretty location, still warm due to the early autumn, and it was small, pretty retreated.

Except that crow man cannot help but bust that shit too. Imagine Riddle's surprise when he sees 2 Shrouds, one who shows the signs of his bind to the planet's core.

BUT! Before anyone could do anything against it, it turns out a good chunk of the guests and the catering team were secret government agents. Azul also was one, pretty obvious after he pulled a mf gun on Riddle.

Turns out Azul was dispatched on a discreet operation of supervising Idia, which he really wasn't supposed to end up marrying him. So there's that. :P

Everything is messed up and so overwhelming that Idia actually snaps under the pressure and shows the full extent of his power: a gigantic being of magma and fire, raising walls and waves to separate people from each other.

Poor Malleus, he's the only guy who literally has no idea what is happening. Please, let him get married in peace. :'3

Naturally, Riddle's approach is to confront Crowley about lying to him, that none of the 2 is actually tied to the planet's core. This complicates things. Idia cannot be killed, because if he dies, so will the planet slowly, due to how young Idia was. Crowley was aware of this effect and still pushed the redhead to hunt the Shrouds.

Truth was, Crowley still wanted the chaos emeralds. And Idia, along with our group, had them. By having Riddle hunt them, Crowley was sure he could back them up and get the emeralds one by one.

Cue Idia losing his shit at that revelation. Like, it's a lot to take in today. His wedding was crashed, Crowley is back, apparently more aliens from his original birthplace came here, his father is alive, Ortho was hunted, and one of his almost husband was a secret agent, initially tasked with supervising him.

Cue grabbing crow man and chucking him through the ocean. Like if he dies, Idia doesn't fricking care. He's done and over and now he's staying criss-crossed, sulking as a petty kid, except that he's basically an all powerful diety of this earth. :'3

Still, Ortho tries to reach out to him, with the help of the rest of the group, Ortho manages to climb on Idia's shoulder and try to talk to him, firstly apologising for hiding the whole hunting thing from him. Idia accepts the apology, adding that he was worried sick when this whole thing got to light. Then Ortho urges to forgive Azul too, because he genuinely seems to love him and Malleus. And the 2 most likely are trying to see how to approach this whole thing. Idia is a bit hesitant, but he does allow Ortho to hug his cheek, before putting him gently down and grabbing Azul with Malleus. After they had a short talk, it was pretty obvious the small 2 kisses on the cheek and Idia seemed pretty happy as he finally rested back to his human form.

The wedding is still on tho! Except that most of the fancy dressing is torn or dirty from the fight around. :v

Idia gets properly introduced to Vil and Riddle. Being in an actual good mood, Idia does forgive Riddle, mostly since Crowley did manipulate him into this shit. The redhead does insist that if word goes back to the council of guardians, Idia will have to be locked away. That's how they kept his father too, in fear of destroying their planet. Buuuuuttttt if Riddle and Vil were here to, let's say, take care of this, then technically they could report that Idia was 'settled down' and it was safe. :3

The nice part, Vil and Riddle did settle in with new thing in their little town. Riddle as a teacher, while Vil as a theatre manager(upon promotions) so it was pretty chill and not anymore fear of other aliens possibly coming down to hunt the Shroud brothers.

The not so nice part: our group is still almost failing at socials :'3

A thing tho, was that our bros did ask Vil and Riddle if it's possible to see their father. The 2 said that for Ortho, it could be easier, but for Idia, due to still being fresh, him leaving the planet now, even for a bit, it could result in natural disasters left and right. Their best shot is having the father coming here, but that was, upon their words, impossible to achieve with the current guardian situation. Being tied to the core for much longer, Mr Shroud could leave it to be independent for a while, but, again, the guardians won't allow such thing.

So for now, they have no option but to leave it as that. U-Ub

#twisted wonderland #asks :3 #sonic au #Damn... It is long :'3 #But I think it's nice... I had to include that wedding scene somehow :'3

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safyresky · 6 months

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So I've only watched this last week's (this has been in my drafts for WAY too long) episode once (I usually do it twice but have yet to do a second watch and feel a rewatch will be in order at some point) but I have been rotating it around in my head since tscs mutuals first started posting their thoughts and I have SO MANY thoughts because this episode ONCE AGAIN packed soo many things in one go. Why don't they understand how PACING works? My GOD.

Anyway~

My initial thoughts before even watching the episode were "this is whack". Here's why.

This is episode 3.

Of 6.

We are halfway through. And our antagonist (Mad Santa) and Protagonist (Santa Scott) have yet to cross paths. And post watching S2E3, Mad Santa only JUST got his hands on some North Pole magic.

THREE EPISODES IN. HALFWAY THROUGH.

Do you know how much stuff is going to be packed into the next THREE EPISODES? Let me make a list (bc I LOVE lists)

Mad Santa getting back to the Pole

The obligatory "I've failed ):" from Santa Scott when Mad Santa gets to the Pole

Mad Santa GETTING to the Pole

The Council giving Scott 3 months to get Cal shipshape, and episode 3 starting with Olga saying IT'S BEEN THREE MONTHS.

(ALREADY????)

So we still have THAT to look forward to, assuming they even LISTEN to their own boundary, since we know this show's track record with continuity is. Bad.

PLUS we still have a Sandman cameo coming! And a big old snowball to be thrown in Scott's face! (I have my clown shoes on)

Carol is STILL trying to find the missing nutcracker. She has gotten no closer; her trail is so cold she's looking at JACK as a suspect (yes I saw the cameo too, absolutely delightful for us Jack stans on main)

(pun absolutely intended)

Cal and Sandy are only JUST talking to one another about how their magic training is going, and are only JUST like. Diving into the drawbacks of being raised up North AND NEVER GOING ANYWHERE as well as the trauma that must be there from experiencing life in the real world, ENJOYING IT, and being yanked back to the Pole for the "family business"

Befana and Sandy. So THAT is a thing that was lovely then fell apart for no good reason--it was ONE MISTAKE and could've been handled better Befana, come ON girlie!

Easter Bunny being turned back into his EB form (tho tbh we should keep him as a bunny. Sorry not sorry, I have always been an EB hater on main)

Cal dealing with A) first heartbreak over Riley (which was stupid, more on that later) B) not wanting to be/do the Santa thing BECAUSE of a MULTITUDE of reasons he has NOT shared with Scott and C) the fallout when he realizes the vest is gone. He is NOT going to tell his parents at ALL. His whole existence practically rides on "I gotta make Dad proud!" and this deffs won't do it, but HEY! Maybe the writers will surprise me and he'll be OPEN and HONEST with his Dad!

Bc let's be real, ALL OF THEIR PROBLEMS COULD BE SOLVED WITH OPEN COMMUNICATION

I am off topic. Deep breaths. Whew. SO. We have all THAT to focus on.

PLUS Sandy's powers! She's apparently more powerful than Befana thought? Sandy now has to deal with that SANS her mentor and I DOUBT Carol will be helpful with that. She WOULD'VE BEEN in the MOVIES. But SERIES CAROL? APPARENTLY NOT FUCKING LIKELY SINCE ALL OF HER CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT HAS GONE OUT THE DOOR FOR TOKEN FEMINISM THAT IS IMMEDIATELY CHECKED OFF A LIST AND MADE IRRELEVANT WITH THE PLOT OF "One woman is jealous of another woman"

Oh my god off topic again. SORRY. RIGHT. So, we have Sandra's magic to deal with still. Her mentor/mentee relationship with Befana. Cal's own magical struggles and his relationship with his Dad in terms of Mentor/Mentee. These kids need THERAPY, SOMEONE CALL NEIL

SO ALL OF THAT. IS GOING TO BE JAM PACKED INTO THESE LAST THREE EPISODES. AND I JUST KNOW (based on last season) THE RESOLUTIONS WILL NOT PAY OFF.

So yeah, thems the opening thoughts (with some watch thoughts leaking in, admittedly).

AS FOR THE EPISODE ITSELF.

OH BOY.

It's still very mid. It gives a lot of good bits but either A) contradicts them or B) gives them not enough time to flourish (see: Carol and Befana for A, and Cal and Sandra for B). It is also STILL ignoring its own continuity, and not just from the movies, but from literally the first two episodes of the season!

Did Cupid not say. One to two episodes ago. "Hey Santa, we, the Council, aren't really sure about this Cal thing? So uh. You've got three months. and if it's not working out. We're calling it."

And did Olga not say. At the start of this episode. "It's been THREE MONTHS since we escaped and we are NO CLOSER" yadda yadda yadda.

So THREE MONTHS have passed between THIS EPISODE, AND THE LAST ONE?

SO WHERE THE HELL IS THE COUNCIL? HELLO???

I actually thought that that would be like, the big crunch time thing for the series, you know? THE plot motivator. Or at least, one of many. Like I was expecting a montage and for each episode to have a month packed in and for the final episode to involve resetting everything to Scott's ideal status quo and defeating Mad Santa and Olga. Needless to say, I was SHOOK when they opened with THAT.

Olga and Magnus are fucking hilarious, full stop. I kinda want Olga to do a stab ngl!! Their whole dynamic has been interesting lol.

The Judy cameo was a fun Easter egg, but it's a shame they didn't give it a bit more hype, you know? That would've been fun. The Jack cameo (if we can even call it that) was ALSO a fun Easter Egg, tho I am much too mad at Carol's writers rn to be like WOO JACK. But you bet your ASS I saw that lil easter egg, lol. It's kinda frustrating? They keep throwing these lil cameos/easter eggs at us like it's an attempt to placate us or smth. Idk, I am tired and JADED and Don't Trust Like That.

Right so what else. Going in for round two. Wish me luck:

Agree with ALL OF YOU about the poor elves being used as reindeer stand ins 🙄🙄 AWFUL. SOMEONE KNOCK THIS GUY OFF A ROOF FOR GOOD! DAMN! (Santa not Cal)

Sandra and Carol. GOD. So much cringe! SO MUCH! BECAUSE OF BAD PARENTING. HOW DO THEY SUCK SO MUCH AT BEING PARENTS? WE ALREADY HAD 3 MOVIES OF THIS AND CAROL WAS NEVER A W F U L

(RIP spider on Carol's shoulder)

Carol and Scott talking about the kids was just. They are SO OUT OF TOUCH. AND SCOTT HAS A SISTER??? I DO NOT BELIEVE THIS PERIODT. He has only child energy, and wow did he EVER suck at reassuring Carol. Anyone else sick of Old White Men? Anyone?

Sandra reading the transformation spell and then accidentally doing it is deffs foreshadowing. She's gonna transform the SHIT out of Magnus, calling it NOW

EB HAS APPEARED! KIDNAPPED BY OLGA! ICONIC! And they were PALS??? Magnus I am so intrigued. Who Are You

And obligatory "BLERG BLAH CONTINUITY" re: EB being there all the way back then

NTS: There is an Easter Gopher too. I am taking notes.

Scott being an undignified, pathetic name: GET HIS ASS (count: 9)

EB is so wrong about Peeps. He is falling lower and lower on my list of Legendary Figures. Him laying the egg. Cool EB magic, disgusting execution. I am 99% sure bunnies don't even LAY EGGS

Where tf do they get the eggs from???

OKAY CAL AND SANDRA

Love that they're having sibling bonding. "doing it for everyone but yourself" GET HIS ASS, SANDY. (GHA Count for Cal: 1). Hate how short the scene was and how it boiled down to a sort of silly joke (being a crossguard instead of Santa). Like. They could;ve axed the dinner with Noel scene, cut tight to Santa training Buddy (Cal), and after that debacle moved on to sibling scene and having them bond. Like. There is substance and it is there but it is not being well executed. LET THE KIDS HAVE ROOM FOR GROWTH! (but dani! we have 3 more episodes to go! SEE MY FIRST LIST! THEY DON'T HAVE THE TIME!)

Santa asking for a jetpack and Carol being like "don't force your son up there to get over the heights thing" and then telling him to just say "I love you and I'm proud", GET HIS ASS (GHA Count Scott Edition: 10. And we're not even halfway through the episode). GOD. I wish Carol would take her own advice re: Santa and Cal and apply it to Sandra and Herself, come the fuck ON guys. DO BETTER.

DINNER WITH BEFANA (Scott: can't make it Carol: Gonna kill him. GET HIS ASS)

Cool idea, HORRIBLE execution. I am not a fan of how Carol was like "woo! ladies being ladies!" and them immediately we get a plotline of her being jealous of another woman. It's very. Token/preformative feminism. It's like they are checking items off of a list. I dislike how SHALLOW most of these subjects are in the series. Like, if you don't know how to handle something like that, THEN DON'T WRITE IT. GOD.

Like. When Sandy lifts the salt with magic, SUPPORT IT. Don't be like I NEED TO ONE UP IT. Also, interesting that Mrs. Claus. Despite being Legendary by marriage. Doesn't have magic?? I think she should. GIVE CAROL MAGIC 2k23. Carol overreacted and then so did Sandy and I just think that this whole La Befana/Mrs. Claus plotline could've been done better!

Especially Befana inviting Carol over and then Carol promptly asking if she should bring a broom, something something, witch stereotypes being a thinly veiled allusion to magical racism something something

I BET IF BUDDY HAD GONE WITH CHARLIE TO THE "CLUB" HE WOULD'VE GOT IN JUST FINE

"Are you talking to the float or me" I am SO angry for Cal/Buddy. The poor kid thinks his Dad is super not proud of him, his whole existence seems to hinge on his dad's approval and I am so upset about all the implications of this I'm gonna explode things with my MIND

"Hare to the throne" Cal you are so stupid. And my GOD the Hare vs Heir argument being the reason Sandy explodes things like I just. That could've been done better.

This whole SCENE could've been done better! Befana didn't need to be so mean! It was an ACCIDENT. She explains it loud and clear and what do you MEAN something else entirely I'm SCREAMING. Befana being like we're stepping back? Like. UGH. And then the jealousy thing? Oh wow! More pitting ladies against ladies! GOD. I'm so upset about this whole thing it's unreal ):<

OKAY. SO THE SLEIGH STEALING SCENE AND WHERE THAT GOES.

WE LOVE TO SEE BUDDY AND SANDRA BONDING! STEALING THE SLEIGH! (not to get all OCs on main but JACQUELINE APPROVES). I love to see them working together to be delinquents, but my GOD the Riley thing

UGH

Like. I know we're supposed to feel bad for Buddy but like, the whole romance between him and Riley has been so ick and the way their breakup went. It was like. You KNOW. It was written to be poignant with lines like "you're always busy with your dad" and "I want you to dust me so that you never met me" which would have worked if. You know. They weren't FIVE. (16-18). It just didn't work :\. I haven't had time to like, enjoy them and they made Riley very, very. Unlikable tbh.

ALSO. Cal from CALGARY? As a Canadian, THERE ARE A BUNCH OF OTHER PLACES YOU COULD'VE PICKED! VANCOUVER? TORONTO? YOU WENT WITH CAL FROM CALGARY? I can't with y'all. ALSO. THEY DID SCHOOL TOGETHER FOR A YEAR. I FEEL AS THOUGH THE KIDS SHOULD KNOW WHO HE IS. OH YEAH THAT WEIRD EXCHANGE STUDENT WE HAD FOR A YEAR. Y'ALL ARE DOING LONG DISTANCE? SUPER! LIKE. HELLO???

Kudos to Sandra for being the funniest bitch alive with the creeping in the corner like "That was rough af bud." It's giving

ehehehe.

And FINALLY Mad Santa has his magic back. Here's how I'm guessing the next episode is going to work:

Mad Santa practises using his magic to make Santaopolis all fancy smancy

Manages to make it up north by the end of the episode

Cal has a fallout with his Dad over the Santa vest thing

It becomes a bigger deal than expected

Sandy cameo probably bc EB is missing and he was last seen THERE (Man Santa, you're really getting on the Council's radar in all the bad ways, huh? Putting Jack to shame! 273 counts of attempted upstaging of Santa vs how many billion counts of magical exposure? And an EB kidnapping? Bc I bet that'll be a thing posited next episode)

As if La Befana can't undo a spell (I AM ROLLING MY EYES)

They will make ZERO progress on figuring out who Mad Santa is and they will be very confused when he makes it to the North Pole next episode

I also tho wouldn't be surprised if they stretch Mad Santa getting to the Pole to episode 6. That seems on brand for how they treat pacing (as if it does not exist).

tl;dr: too much preformative stuff. very mid. Cal and Sandy are fun but I wish they were given more time to shine! Pour one out for our boy Noel who is having a rough go of it tbh and Kris too who's gonna get back from Costco very, very confused

#other thoughts: noel having the claus's over for food was fun. wish it had had a point aside from a scene transition #'YOUR SHAME IS SAFE WITH US' followed by olga liking marshmallows lmao that was silly #THEN THEY TRIED TO RIDESHARE WITH A GOAT??? amazing.#the santa clauses #tscs #dani watches tscs #long post #tscs wank #bc this isn't very positive and if y'all see this and are enjoying the series? i strongly suggest scrolling past it!#dani speaks

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bluest-planet · 9 months

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Gonna go on a ramble about fics and KH and being aroace for a sec, nothing bad nothing good just good ol' talking.

Listen I'm well aware kh has extensive fic out there, more on ff.net than anything else, and I'm no stranger to using more archaic fic sites n stuff in the pursuit of good fic, I mean. I'm a nier and persona/smt girlie y'know? They're about as old if not older than KH is with just as many or less games.

I just think it's funny how apparently (smth I keep seeing being claimed) dead/dormant kh is? Like, damn, ik it's been a while since anything got announced (and I'm on a high as a newbie) but maybe it's the persona fan in me but I'm long since used to making more fun and art in-between games or long silences. Even if something doesn't get another game/update that doesn't the party has got to stop.

Esp in our current era. No offense but I'm not exactly fond of all old fandom/fic tropes and stories. Obviously everyone's taste is different and they're ARE some definite bangers and fics with themes you just don't get anymore, more a product of the era and the kind of attitude of fandom at the time. Plus fic is made for fun and for free! Even if we don't like it that doesn't devalue what it means to someone else or the work out into by the writer, I'm glad it exists as something to look back on and even learn from.

But I just think it would be neat to see whatever cool takes or new interpretation of the games and characters. But maybe I'm just being a lil' dumb dumb and there are some cool fics being made (again, it's not even completely dead compared to other fandoms since it's still so big) that I just haven't seen yet.

Gotta say though, from an aromantic and asexual position- KH is particularly fond for me, seeings it's heavy emphasis on friendships. Like, y'all know I'm a queerplatonic heart hotel truther. Even if it isn't all that prevalent in canon like I wished.

And although I definitely see where everyone is coming from about soriku, hell I'm a passive enjoyer of it even, they've also got some immaculate queerplatonic life partner energy I just adore, and would never be upset if it never got confirmed (bc it probably will never be but hey you never know) but personally I hope sokai never becomes real. Sorry Sora is my aroace sibling now. Glad y'all can enjoy it tho if u do ship it, but honestly it would be a big win for us as an aroace person to see Sora, a main protagonist, not end up with anyone and live with his friends/life partners all together in peace y'know?

That's all to say; I'm sorry, if a fic looks great and cool but has either of these ships in their tags I'm more than likely to pass on it even if it does interest me story wise lol. Like, I'm already bombarded by the idea that romance is expected and everything, so if I'm indulging in fic which is wish fulfillment, I'm not even gonna slog through background shipping if I can help it.

Which kinda... Sucks? Lol I'm not blaming anyone, it's just a product of how the world works and shipping is just a big part of fandom. Again rounding back to that; "I don't like most older fics bc fandom was way more romance centric in those days" and the way romance and ships used to written in the past isn't to my personal tastes, since I noticed it's mostly labels as yaoi or shounen ai. Which again, no judgement, it was a different time period pre everything we've done to get more queer representation and stories now. And those genres as a whole aren't any lesser than others. Nor does any one fic represent the whole genre. If someone likes it go wild! I'll do my own thing.

But with KH I kinda would be happier to see more fics by aromantic and ace writers. Which honestly could still be ship fics, as aromanticism/asexuality is of a spectrum and we're not a homogeny in our creative efforts. But for personal preference some of the best KH fics I've seen have been from those perspectives.

Mm also more of a fan of introspection, character drama, canon divergence, that kinda thing? With the rare exception of a cute mermaid fic or neat crossover lol. I don't find coffee/flower/tattoo shops, no powers, modern au etc very interesting. As usual when I'm into a story, a game or show, I wanna be in that same world- to really get the chance to explore more than it can offer with small HCs about a character's quirks n home life n stuff. It's why I like thinking Sora and Riku have piercings, or that Sora wears pearl earrings and has a jewelry set from birth he carries.

I like to imagine what the culture they came from must've been like, and how to relate bits of my own into it. So its a bit sad when I don't see more of that into fics but I think I'm just not looking hard enough, but here's my encouragement for anyone else to do the same! That's how you keep things fresh or add more to a story to get attached to.

This was just some rambles tossed together though, not targeted and not cohesive. Could come back and sperate these pieces into their own essays basically, but I'm too lazy. But yeah, said my peace.

#blue speaks

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daughterofluthien · 3 years

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“decisions were respected” Sorry but didn’t Scott violently throw Isaac against a wall more than once just because Isaac liked his ex girlfriend in canon? That’s the literal opposite of healthy...

Hey, anon!

This is in reference to this post about Scallison for the shipping meme, where I said that one of my favorite things about Scallison is that the show lets them have a healthy breakup, and even date other people while still remaining friends. The scenes you are referring to are a pair of scenes in 3x13 Anchors.

So lets’s take a look.

(under a cut bc it turns out that when you try to be comprehensive, things get v long v quickly 😅)

The Scenes

I’m actually gonna copy/paste the dialogue of both scenes (along with minimal action/inflection notation for context) so that we can really make sure we know what we’re talking about here, so bear with me:

The first of these scenes occurs as Scott and Isaac are getting ready to head to school in the morning. After some initial ‘hey, what’re you doing, are you heading to school’ dialogue—during which both boys seem a bit awkward—we get the following:

ISAAC: [anxiously] Can I ask you a question? SCOTT: Okay... ISAAC: Are you angry with me? SCOTT: No! ISAAC: Are you sure? SCOTT: ...No. ISAAC: [awkwardly] What's that mean? SCOTT: I guess I'm not really sure how I'm feeling... ISAAC: [nodding] Okay. ...Do you hate me? SCOTT: [sighing] No, of course not. ISAAC: Do you want to hit me? SCOTT: [taken aback] No. ISAAC: I think you should hit me. SCOTT: I don't want to hit you. ISAAC: Are you sure? SCOTT: Why would I want to hit you? You didn't do anything, did you? ISAAC: [stammering] No. I mean, um... What do you mean? SCOTT: I mean, like, you didn't kiss her or anything, right? ISAAC: No! Absolutely not. No. SCOTT: ...Did you want to? ISAAC: Oh, yeah. Totally. [scene cuts to hallway outside the room. Isaac flies through the doorway and hits the wall] MELISSA: Hey! You two teenage boys? Don't test my entirely un-supernatural level of patience! ISAAC: ...Feel better?

The scene then ends, and we cut to subsequent scenes of Stiles and then Allison also getting ready for school.

The second scene is much shorter and happens later in the episode, after Isaac saves Lydia from an arrow that Allison fired while hallucinating. He and Scott are in Scott’s room again, and he’s telling him about the incident:

SCOTT: Right at her head? ISAAC: Almost right through it. And she keeps saying the same thing-- that she keeps seeing her aunt. Whatever's happening to you guys is getting worse. If I hadn't been there, then Lydia would be dead. SCOTT: ...What were you doing there? ISAAC: Uh... [scene cuts to hallway outside the room. Isaac flies through the doorway and hits the wall] MELISSA: [groaning] Oh, you guys, come on! This house does not have a supernatural ability to heal! So, stop it!

But of course just the text of the scene isn’t enough to accurately convey everything in even a tiny portion of a larger narrative, because nothing happens in a vacuum. With that in mind, let’s look at...

The Context

The first of these scenes occurs immediately after the opening credits, and is the first time we see either Scott or Isaac this season. (Assuming you consider 3B a separate season, of course, which is a whole ‘nother can of worms. This tv show we all choose to enjoy sure is Something.)

Often, the opening of a season is used to reintroduce the audience to the main characters—letting us know where their characters arcs are starting, and what they’ll be struggling with this season. Teen Wolf did this previously (and did it well, imo) in 3x01 Tattoo. Act 2 of that episode begins with a series of four scenes showing our main characters getting ready for school in the morning, highlighting where everyone currently is, and setting up where their arcs are going to go.

Scene order taken by itself would seem to indicate that they were trying to do something similar in this episode. It starts off with the hook of Stiles’ extended nightmare sequence. He can’t tell dreams apart from reality anymore, and wakes up screaming. Cut to black, cue opening credit sequence.

Immediately after the first ad break, we get a sequence of three scenes. The first is the longer of the two Scott and Isaac scenes (which, as previously mentioned, occurs as they’re getting ready to head out to school). The second is of Stiles. He’s packing for school, and the audience learns that he’s been struggling to read when he’s awake as well. Finally, we see Allison leaving her and her dad’s apartment. She seems like she’s doing fine, if a little over-focused. But then she gets into the elevator, and has an extended hallucination/flashback of Kate.

We learn soon after this that all three of them (Scott, Stiles, and Allison) are suffering from the aftereffects of their sacrifice in the previous season. According to the explanations we get both from Kira and, later, from Deaton, they’re slipping into bardo, or the space between life and death, and there’s a door open in their minds.

Okay, problem established.

It stands to reason, then, that all three of those opening scenes are supposed to serve to set up this problem. We’re shown, in three successive scenes, that all three of our sacrificees are, as the kids say, Not Doing So Hot.

(yes I know the kids don’t say that, let me be an increasingly out-of-touch millennial in peace)

This is all well and good, and honestly makes sense! Under this paradigm, the Scott and Isaac scene should be highlighting that Scott is Losing Control. Bardo is affecting him, and it’s causing him to be more aggressive. Giving in to violence in a way that he generally holds himself back from. Heck, the scene even starts with Scott flexing his fingers, and we (and Scott) see the shadow of a clawed hand against the door.

In the context of the narrative, it makes sense.

Except.

eXCEPT—

The Framing

The thing about the medium of television is that, when we’re talking about a scene, we can’t just look at the narrative structure. We also have to look at the scene itself: how it’s shot and directed, how it’s edited, even what music is paired with the scenes.

In the Stiles and Allison sequences, the scenes are very clearly shot for tension and horror. Long lingering shots on the things that Just Aren’t Right. Music that heightens the tension. Stiles gets some nice lil scare chords over the shot of the book that he can’t read, and there’s a very quiet droning in the background of the Allison nightmare sequence that slowly grows into some classic horror soundtrack music.

Okay. So far that tracks with the narrative thesis.

Now let’s take look at the Scott and Isaac scene.

We start out with some of those lingering shots I was talking about, as Scott is halted in his tracks when he notices the shadow of the clawed hand. We see his own hand is human and unshifted. There’s quiet, percussion heavy music over this portion of the scene that increases in tension at this point. Shaken, Scott closes his hand into a fist, and when he opens it, both the shadow and his own hand are smooth and human. The tense music fades out to silence, and he breathes a sigh of relief.

Scott opens the door to reveal Isaac, which startles him. There’s a short musical sting to underline this moment, and then the background music cuts out completely, leaving us (and them) in the awkwardness of this moment.

And OH BOY. IS IT AWKWARD. 😬

You can kinda see the Awkwardness Inherent in the System in the dialogue that I pasted up at the top—it’s a lot of back-and-forth, short statements, trailing off... And both Posey and Sharman are playing up the awkwardness as well. Neither boy looks like they really want to be there, and that includes Isaac, who initiated this entire conversation.

But here’s the thing.

The thing that really frustrates me about this scene.

It’s not the sort of awkwardness that exists to increase the tension. The sort that builds and builds until it reaches a fever pitch and you know something just has to give. You know, the sort of tension that you would want to build if you were showing how the protagonist of your show is no longer fully in control, and is on a knife’s edge of lashing out at his friend and beta.

Instead, it’s played for comedy.

And once again, a lot of this is down to the music.

Before the dialogue that I quoted at the top even begins, the music starts back up, and this time the tense percussion has been replaced by light, pizzicato strings. (That may not be the exact right term, fyi, I only really know enough about music theory to be dangerous.) But you know, the playful, plucked strings that often accompanies comedic or otherwise not-serious scenes.

Background music tells the viewer how they’re supposed to feel about the events in a particular scene, and the music here is saying that we’re not supposed to find this whole confrontation that dramatic. In fact, we’re supposed to find it funny.

But it’s not just the music that that frames this scene as comedic. It’s also the fact that we don’t actually see Scott shoving Isaac. Instead, the scene cuts to the hallway, and all we see is Isaac flying through the doorway.

Now, obviously I don’t have a direct line to the director and editors’ minds here. But I would bet money that those particular shots were chosen 1). because it’s so much easier to do a wire pull stunt when you don’t have to show what it’s in reaction to, and 2). because it’s kinda difficult to show your main character directly doing a violence and make it funny.

But show someone yeeted into frame, and that’s funny. Right?

(Spoiler alert: not in this context, it isn’t)

Now, I know I’ve been focusing on the first scene a lot—partially because it’s longer and partially because it’s really the only reason that the second scene exists—but I do want to take a look at the second scene really quickly as well. It’s much shorter and generally adopts a more serious tone than the first one, mostly due to fact that we’re smack dab in the middle of the action at this point. The weird visions that the sacrificees have been having all episode have started endangering lives, and they can’t just wait for it to resolve on its own.

But then the focused, intent exposition is broken by Scott’s question of “why were you there.” Then smash cut to a near identical shot of the hallway,and Isaac yeeting into frame.

The thing is, this scene is entirely dependent on the previous one. It only “works”—and I use this term loosely—as a call back to the scene at the beginning of the ep. Heck, both even have the stinger of a frustrated Melissa at the end of both scenes, frustrated at all the boys-will-be-boys roughhousing going on in her house.

Much like the first scene, this one is also set up and framed for Comedy.

Which is um. A Choice.

But What Does It All Mean

What frustrates me about these scenes, at the end of the day, is that the narrative intention and the directing/editing seem to be fundamentally at odds.

On the one hand, it makes narrative sense to say that the purpose of the scenes is to show that Scott is losing control. That he’s being affected by bardo and the open door in his mind, and it’s putting the people close to him in danger. But then on the other, the way the scenes are actually used are as comic relief. As a way to release tension between very tense, dramatic scenes.

I don’t think it works, as I don’t personally find it funny at all. But that really does seem to be the intention.

Once again, absolutely wILD choices were made on the part of tptb, and I really wish anyone had thought for two seconds about the implications of all of this, but nO

Ahem.

So now (literally 2K words later I’m so sorry 😅) what does this tell us about the characters? Certainly no one here is arguing that shoving someone is a good or defensible choice, whether it’s due to forces outside the character’s control or not. But even taking the influence of bardo in mind, is it even in character for Scott in the first place?

Because canon can also be written inconsistently/out of character, especially when we’re talking about a long-running show like tw.

One’s an Incident, Two is Coincidence...

Well, we all know the end of that saying.

So let’s end by looking at a few patterns.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this, once again, eXCEEDINGLY long post, this is reference to a post I made about scallison. I said the following in that post:

And I also really like that they [Scott and Allison] didn’t get back together. That they were allowed to be friends. That even though sometimes it hurt to watch someone you love loved love become romantically close to another person, decisions were respected, and no friendships were broken over it.

The first pattern we need to look at, then, is this:

What’s Scott’s pattern of behavior toward Allison and Isaac’s relationship?

And does Scott’s behavior toward Isaac in these two scenes match the pattern, or is it an outlier?

3x11 Alpha Pact: Sacrifice Prep The revelation that Allison and Isaac have grown close enough for him to act as emotional tether for her is very visibly a blow to Scott. He looks like the rug has been pulled out from under him, but he doesn’t look angry or upset, just.... sad. In fact, it looks like he’s swallowing back tears. But he nods towards the two of them and just says, “It’s okay.”

3x12 Lunar Ellipse: “I look for my friends” This is the epilogue of the season. Scott walks into the hallway at all of his friends in turn. Satisfied. Happy. First at Lydia and Aiden, then at Danny and Ethan. Then he turns and watches as Isaac and Allison walk down the stairs, and they’re laughing, and so obviously happy, and Scott’s small smile grows. He isn’t jealous here—he’s happy for them.

3x14 Illuminated: Mutual Recognition Scott and Allison are both at Danny’s halloween party, but they’re not here together. He sees her from across a crowded room, just like he did at the winter formal, so many months ago. But so much has happened, and they’re different people now. Allison’s with Isaac, and he’s starting to having feelings for Kira, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt, and that he doesn’t miss the relationship he and Allison had. For a moment, his fingers slip away from Kira’s, and he and Allison share a sad smile.

Believe it or not, these are actually the only other examples I could find of Scott reacting to Isaac and Allison’s relationship. And uniformly across them, he’s sad, yes—after all, he loved her, and that relationship is very definitively over now. But he never seems jealous, and he isn’t angry.

So, if the Scott and Isaac scenes in Anchors don’t fit the pattern of Scott’s behavior towards the new couple, what pattern do they fit?

“Hit me.”

The teen wolf writers have a... really upsetting habit, honestly, of “resolving” interpersonal conflict between two characters by having the “wronged” party hit the other. Afterwards, the tension is almost completely broken between them, as if letting the person act aggressively in a way consensual to both parties has somehow solved the problem.

2x11 Battlefield: Derek and Peter After Peter comes back from the dead, he confronts the now pack-less Derek and offers to help him. Derek, likely remembering that Peter killed Laura and was responsible for most of the events of S1, attacks him instead. After taking a beating, Peter says the following:

PETER: Okay, go ahead! Come on, do it! Hit me. Hit me. I can see that it's cathartic for you! You're letting go of all the anger, self-loathing, and hatred that comes with total and complete failure. I may be the one taking the beating, Derek, but you've already been beaten. So, go ahead. Hit me if that will make you feel better. After all, I did say that I wanted to help.

3x13 Anchors: Scott and Isaac We’ve already discussed this scene in uh. Detail. So I don’t think we need to go into the specifics again. But just a reminder that this dialogue exists:

ISAAC: Do you want to hit me? SCOTT: No. ISAAC: I think you should hit me.

5x15 Amplification: Scott and Liam During the previous supermoon, Liam—swayed by grief, the full moon, and Theo’s manipulations—tried to kill Scott and take his power. They’ve since rediscovered an equilibrium in their relationship, and Liam’s back in Scott’s pack, but they’re both still dealing with the implications of that event. In this episode, they’re attempting to break Lydia out of Eichen, but they’re not as strong as they should be, due to the mountain ash laced through the building, and are having difficulty breaking down a door. Then, the following exchange occurs:

LIAM: Hit me. SCOTT: What? LIAM: Hit me! I'll get angry, then I'll get stronger. STILES: Hit him. Hit him! LIAM: I tried to take your powers. I tried to kill you. Hit me! STILES: He also left you for dead. LIAM: I wanted you dead!

6x16 Triggers: Liam and Theo No one actually directly says “hit me” in this one, due to the circumstances, but the sentiment’s there. In this sequence, Liam and Theo are trying to convince Gerard and the hunters that the whole pack is hiding out in the zoo, so Theo goads Liam into hitting him, in order to stage a very audible fight.

THEO: Okay... Then they have to believe us.[shouts] Isn't that right? LIAM: [whispers] Why are you yelling? THEO: [shouts] You got a problem? Oh, that's right, you always have a problem! LIAM: [whispers] What the hell are you doing? THEO: [shouts] Shut up! [punches Liam] Yeah, you see that, Scott? Your little Beta can't even take a punch. And what do you think, Malia?

While there’s a variety of primary textual reasons here, all of them deal with personal issues between the pair, and all of them involve some level of catharsis for the person doing the punching. Taken all together, it’s honestly a pretty troubling pattern, especially given the inclusion of an actual canonical abuse victim initiating and receiving the violence.

TL;DR

This is a writer issue, not a character issue. The serious narrative context conflicts with the comedic framing in a way that is honestly baffling to me, and it doesn’t fit the established pattern of Scott’s character and actions. Moreover, it’s an example of the writers’ apparent belief that interpersonal conflict can and should be solved through consensual violence.

The pattern we do see, is that the Scott is saddened by the knowledge that Allison has moved on, but he’s glad that she and Isaac are happy. Similarly, Allison is saddened that Scott is moving on as well, because she does still care for him deeply. Despite their conflicted feelings, neither tries to disrupt the other’s new relationship.

On other shows, that would be a season-long, drama-filled plotline. Here, nothing.

And I legitimately love that so much.

#asks #anonymous #scott mccall #teen wolf #als;dkjlfkjf i'm so sorry that this turned out so long y'all #but it turns out that I have Thoughts #my meta

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tsunflowers · 3 years

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nebula awards showcase 2019 edited by silvia moreno-garcia had some great stories in it as well

a series of steaks, vina jie-min prasad. a woman runs a shady business using a 3d printer designed to print organs to instead make counterfeit steaks that appear to have come from real cows. already a funny concept and her relationship with the new coworker she picks up is hilarious and full of lesbienergy

fandom for robots, also vina jie-min prasad. a robot that lives in a museum and spends its days wowing guests by answering questions and solving equations is introduced to an anime called hyperdimension warp record and becomes obsessed. and starts writing ship fanfic about the robot character who is also just a big metal box and the human protagonist. which is the main ship in this fandom. it was so funny. this is literally how I talked about ultroid zero in z

all systems red, martha wells. this is the first murderbot book. murderbot is fun, it's a tactical security cyborg who hacked its own governor module mostly to watch tv whenever it wanted and who becomes slightly more interested in hanging out with humans over the course of the series

wind will rove, sarah pinsker. a woman onboard a generation ship struggles with explaining to the new generation why the earth and their past are still relevant, using folk music and the search to identify the lineage of old songs as metaphors

dirty old town, richard bowes. two boys with magic powers have a strained relationship as kids and things change when they meet as adults. a little bit gritty. I felt like it packed a lot into a short story. but also two guys have sex and it's only after that that one discloses to the other that they're first cousins and he knew all along so that was weird

the last novelist (or a dead lizard in the yard) matthew kressel. I wanted to not like this one but it made me tear up. a man travels to another planet to finish his last novel, which is a dying art form in this world where everyone is on their damn wifi implants and can't appreciate the art of reading. we get it. but he develops a very sweet relationship with a young girl and teaches her what's so great about doing things by hand

small changes over long periods of time, km szpara. gay trans vampire story. a guy gets bit by a vampire and the vampire is like hey. im sorry I did that. I know in our society where vampires are a thing you have to apply and pass scrutiny to turn into one but do you want me to turn you on the down low bc you'll die otherwise. and the guy is like ok my life can't get worse. but being a vampire really fucks with his body and hormones so he has to get that sorted out after he stops having wild gay vampire sex with the guy that turned him. being a vampire is kind of a metaphor for being trans but the main guy is also just trans. the ending was really sweet

a human stain, kelly robson. sometime in the 1900s probably a woman with too much debt to keep living the high life in paris comes to her gay friend's ancestral home to be a governess for his nephew and it takes her a long time to figure out what evils lurk beneath the castle bc she is desperately trying to fuck the kid's maid. spooky grotesque creepypasta stuff with a main character thats a horny lesbian

#my book review corner

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aresrl · 3 years

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I hihi I am!!! A little nervous w/ doing this bc I've never done this b4 so please bear🐻 w// me💦 May I request a match up? A vision, a romantic partner and maybe a friend and/or enemy? If that's too much feel free to just assign me a vision + partner, ehe/// Preferably male for a romantic match-up, but either gender is fine with a friend and enemy match-up^^ I tried to be as detailed as possible but I think I ended up just ranting, so im v v sorry if it's long! I sort of fluctuate when it comes to being an introvert/extroverted. W// strangers and irl, I'm very introverted and shy!! Rarely speak and if I do it's just the usual "Hi how are you? That's good. I'm good too, thank you for asking:)" yeayea I'm not too. Keen on social interaction irl. But I always do my best to be very nice!! I never wanna come off as mean bc wow what a bad first impression that would be. But with friends / ppl ik online?? Whew I am very very friendly n chatty ^^ Either very high energy or very chill, there's rarely any inbetween. Sometimes I like to jokingly tease my friends but I'd never go too far / make them uncomfortable!! And if I do I always apologize right away!! I like to say that I'm affectionate?? My strongest love language is def physical affection, if not quality time. Idk man there's just something about vibing with someone or hugging them that just aaaaa/// Although I usually display affection w// words of affection bc. Literally most of my friends are online friends so I can't actually hug them, sad times. Idk if this is needed/important info but I just remembered: I'm 5'6 around??? Need glasses bc. Whew i am blind (near sighted), I'm poc (specifically black) anndd, hm. Actually I think thats it for this section, aha. As you can see I'm, not really all that organized. Also I don't have the best attention span - while writing this I'm circling between 4 different apps - and I'm a bit of a mess. And also a little stupid. Just a smidge dumb. But I have my moments - I solved like. 2 puzzles in Inazuma by myself so I think that counts for something. I also find that I tend to talk a whole lot when I have an idea or smthn to say abt a thing I'm super interested in!! That's info-dumping. I info dump. Yes. I also really like to listen to other people talk abt things they like!!!! Its so nice :) I'm protective over people I care about!! I've never done it but 100% would bark at someone who messed with someone close to be. Arf arf yaknow. I tend to he impulsive. I'll do something, and be all "YEAH>:D" and then regret it later. And then I'll do it all over again in a fun little cycle :) I consider myself an optimist, but quickly turn into a pessimist whenever it concerns myself. Fun funfun. Should probably mention that I am. A very insecure person w/ dangerously low self esteem, which is super fun esp when you mix that with the fact that I'm rarely ever motivated to improve. Yayayay Also sort of a pushover?? Like most often than not I'll be convinced to do something, even if I'm not too keen on doing it. Also afraid of confrontation when it comes to my friends and strangers (that is, if it's concerning me!! I'll order smthn for my friend but if I need to order for myself?? uhh stutter time aha). I'm also a mega simp ahah! Srsly though if I fall for someone/get infatuated with someone I. Will be so obvious abt it even though I try very hard not to be. Would gush over that person probably. I don't really like mean people tbh. Like yes I'll be nice and civil with them but!!! I cannot stand!!! Rude people!!! Esp when they're mean for no reason like sir??? maam??? homie??? chill pls ty<3 People who aren't necessarily mean, but moreso have bastard energy and are just really "hehe>:D" but playfully are p poggers tho!!! I think I get along with kids!! I have a little sister,, around like. Nine? And we get along really well!! I also try and match a kid's energy whenever I'm tasked with looking after them. I take pride in the fact that kids like me >:].... even if they sometimes scare me-- Ok, interest time!!

I like art!! Quite a bit!! Less of a realistic artist and more of a cartoonist!! Idk there's just something fun abt drawing cartoons, hehe. I also like self ships - I have quite a bit of them, actually ! Idk its comforting drawings your fictional crushes loving you idkidk. I like writing too! Both original stories, and one-shots or personal fics that are associated with already created media!! Writing character backstories and personalities and stuff is also fun too! I've even made my own fictional world with a full fledged backstory n everything! It's very fun to think about. I'm a day dreamer!!! Yea remember when I said I write stories? I day dream abt potential stories even more. Mmm daydream world so nice so warm so fun I read aswell!! Mostly fantasy books, or stories where animals are the protagonists. Think Warrior Cats. But my favorite book series has got to be Guardians of Ga'Hoole. Fantasy owl books, anyway! X Readers are also things I enjoy reading :) Again, s I m p Also gaming!!! Is something fun I do sometimes!!! Although it's usually Genshin Impact, or Wii Sports/Resort w// my little sister. Oh, also pokemon! I rlly like Primarina, Vaporeon, Sylveon and Vulpix/Ninetails! I absolutely adore sweet foods, and baking is smthn I'm def interested in! Don't like foods w// weird textures though, like beans or mashed potatoes. Also I. Love spice so much. Mmm love it when my mouth burns so bad. Don't have a favorite animal but I've had three cats in my lifetime (btw not important but my current cat is named Sylvester and. He's my baby boy) so I am. A very big cat fan. Probably not needed but I really like sword and claymore characters. Literally all of the characters I main are either sword or claymore users. Although I did get Diona, so I miiight start forcing myself to learn how to aimmm. I see that I tend to like people/characters that are a little more extroverted than me. Upbeat, happy type beat!!! Nice sunshine babies, :) I think thats it! I hope this was good enough? Again, first time doing this (at 2am nonetheless) so forgive me if I got too rambly or did anything wrong ^^ Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this! And I hope your day is good / you had a good day, depending on when you read this, ehe!

Hey! Sorry if the wait has been long! I also love Warrior Cats (I promise myself, one day I'll finish it.)

You received... A Pyro vision! Optimistic, enthusiastic, impulsive, reckless, and a lot of energy are the general characteristics held by the Pyro vision. • I hesitated between the Pyro and Hydro vision, but your energy distinguishes you from the Hydro vision. • You said you were impulsive, always doing something you might regret later but still doing it. • You react quickly: as you said, if somebody hurt someone you love, you won't think twice before barking. Your partner would be... Xingqiu! “This feeling was unexpected.” • At first, you were just friends, and Xingqiu really loved to tease you. Actually, you both teased each other. But eventually, a feeling of love towards you grew into Xingqiu. And that was reciprocated. • Your relationship is filled with teases, jokes, and good/funny moments where you mostly share what you commonly appreciate. • He also knows when to get serious: for example, he does everything to support you during your moments of struggle concerning your self-esteem. Your friend would be... Childe! “Luckily, I'm here!” • You two also share funny moments, especially during situations where your “stupidity” is overtaken by his insight. • Sometimes, he finds you cute. • He likes the fact that you get along well with kids. It leads you to great moments with him and his siblings. • You're quite the opposite in terms of self-esteem. I think it's a good thing because it makes you complementary. Your enemy would be... Albedo! A misunderstanding. • You wouldn't hate each other, but I think Albedo wouldn't like the way you use your energy, and when you're more in a chill mood (meaning you're more available for him to talk), he could get pissed at how much times he'd have to repeat himself for you to understand something. • He's very patient, but he understood quickly that his interests would maybe not be within your reach. • You would just be too different. Worth to mention • You and Venti are like drama queens in Mondstadt. You are good friends. But you both know that you can't be more, as it would eventually both drag you down (because of similar problems). • Klee is also your best friend: both of you share decisions that you definitely will regret later. Or maybe not. • Hu tao and you are kinds of silently competing over who's the best tease, and she beats you. My goal is definitely not achieved. I hope I can catch up tomorrow. And don't worry, it was surprisingly good for a first description!

#genshin request #genshin matchups #genshin #genshin impact

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sevensav--d-archived · 3 years

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@oceansofrp sent 🔥 🔥 🔥

Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion.

🔥 Ty you’re the perfect person for me to go off about this first one with- lets talk about ocs.

OCs are often treated badly in this RPC.

As ya’ll know, I write ocs. I write a lot of them, I write a grand total of.... Eleven, with varying degrees of activity. So obviously, this is an issue that I not only care about, but it effects me GREATLY. I don’t write any canon characters (anymore) bc I can’t take the pressure of being ic and true to canon bc I’m a stickler for canon. Anyway.

OCs. We’ve all probably had them at some point. IF you’ve been around long enough there was even a server dedicated to them that I was a part of. And in being in that server and writing ocs, I have made some observations.

-OC Popularity is often directly linked to either the popularity of the writer. Chances are, if you’re a popular blog that writes canons.... If you offer an OC, people will like them. Blogs are popular because the writing is good and the writer is friendly, so obviously, your OC will be appealing. This?? Isn’t a bad thing. It’s just something that I have noticed. I’ll never really get all that mad at an oc for being popular lol. I might get jealous but like. I won’t do jack about it.

-OCs are often better than canon characters. I said it. Lets face it, Horikoshi has so many characters that he can’t make all of them as fleshed out and well cooked like the protagonists and the main antagonists. OCs offer fresh new blood to the story we all know and love, and they might just end up spicing up what your blog canon is. Seriously, I’d fuckin kill to see some of the OC’s ive met in the actual publicization. And we can all agree, any OC is better than Mineta. /lh Anyway, holding canon characters i nthe highest regard of who’s worth writing and who’s worth writing with, you’re only holding yourself back,

-People are often stinky about family of canon character OCs and I think people shouldn’t brush them off so readily. Like. Bro, *holds up Hideki Kirishima* this boy is canon idc what you say. IT’s fun to make the world a little bigger. Indulge a bit, see how it feels to give your canon muse a sibling. Just. JUST DO IT.

-People avoid oc muses with bitchin powers As if our main characters aren’t OP as hell. Like. Come one. We’re having fun don;t make us feel bad. Communicate and talk about things. Just bc my OC has a quirk that COULD kill yours immediately, doesn’t mean I’m gonna make it happen without your permission. People are quick to assume that OCs godmod. Stop that.

-SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE OCS BUT ARE SCARED TO WRITE THEM. Y’all. It’s okay. Please, write your ocs. People will come to them, I swear. Some of my favorite ocs pretty much had to be coaxed out of people, and now i can’t imagine these ocs not running around. We should be confident in our creations. It takes a huge amount of skill to create a new character from scratch.

🔥 That actually kinda brings me into my next thing, which is what I like to call the Just Make And OC moment. I’ve seen this in a lot of fandoms, and I’ve started to see it more and more in this community. What is this moment?

Say you’re writing a canon character. You think, hey, I like this character, but what if.... X. So, you roll with it, you do X. You like it, you keep it. And then, you’re like... What if.... Y. And you do that too. Great, you’re having fun. But then, you’re like... Z... I REALLY want Z. And these can be small things, but more often than not, they’re BIG things. Big, CHARACTER CHANGING things.

We all have the freedom to interpret canon how we want, and write our muses how we want.... But... What if you just... Took everything you just did.... And just... Made an OC. Like, you’ve changed core elements of the character so much that they’re barely recognizable. just give them a new name, maybe change the hair color and BOOM. You have a GREAT OC to start with. I used to be in the Undertale RPC and Fandom and if you’re familiar you know that Undertale is just... AU City. And it’s fun, I’m glad people have fun- but if you’re changing literally everything about a character, even their NAME... It’s just?? Why bother, just make an OC. It’s fine. BC if you think about it, you’re not really an alternate universe, it’s the MHA universe and its character that you’re altering. And there’s a point where... You’ve just made your own character, and that’s sick as hell.

I’m not talking like... Those things where “Oh yeah it’s all the same except instead of dying, Magne lives and has a beautiful husband and lives to be one hundred” or “This is a verse where a villain character gets rehabbed into heroic society” because those are things that wont take away or add too much to the character. It’s more like you’re opening a door for new things without adding or taking away too much. It’s when you diverge so far from the character... THAT’S when the Just Make An OC Moment kicks in.

PART of the reason I think people don’t just do this is they like being connected to the canon character, bc it means that they can still garner interest but chances are, if you already have people interested in writing with you, they will happily take your oc.

All that to say, if you write a canon divergent canon character, don’t stop, if it makes you happy. Like, seriously this is just something I see and feel. But also dont? Be surprised? If people aren’t super on board? I don’t really like to write with straight up moral flipped characters bc i feel like... If Deku was a sadistic villain brought up by AFO instead of his mom, he ain’t Deku anymore. THATS JUST ME, but I’m not the only person who feels that way. People might just want that classic vanilla canon, and you shouldn’t make people feel guilty for it, in my opinion. Keep doing what makes you happy, and let other folks to the same.

Also, it’s not your place to tell someone what they should or shouldn’t do. If someone writes a canon divergent and you don’t like the divergences, move on. It’s not your business. That’s not what I’m doing, I’m just saying that sometimes I am bothered by this, because to me it seems like a lot of these canon divergent canons are in essence, OCs, but since they still have the canon’s name and face strapped to it, it gets more love and attention. And that bugs me, and I will point it out! I’m not sorry for it.

I know this one will make me lose some of you so I’m sorry.

🔥 I’m running out of juice but uh can we talk about how blogs about minor characters are the fucking tits bc like i said earlier Horikoshi has so many characters he left a lot of side characters with next to no bones and the people who take those bones and stuff them full of flesh??? Chefs kiss. That’s kind of my exception to the Just Make An OC Moment. At some point, that character just BELONGS to that person, like Spinner belongs to Eros, or how Meow created a Hawks’ dad that is so much better than what we got, and Flowers literally created Wash.

#long post #**salty bones

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petersthree · 4 years

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Don’t get me started on people who disrespect Dan Espinoza...

Oh man, actually don’t get me started. There’s so much disrespect for him and I hate it!

Look, Dan has made some seriously messed up choices, we know this. However, there are some things that I hate that fandom does, the main one being erasing his role as Trixie’s father (who, by the way, is Trixie Espinoza, I’m tired of seeing folks tag her as Trixie Decker I’m ngl, it’s yet another erasure of Dan from her life). There are so, so many fics that portray Dan as a douche and - hey, as much as I love Dan, I know that’s not completely far off, but those fics then go on to portray him as a deadbeat dad who seemingly can’t care less about Trixie, and that’s simply not true.

Dan has stated multiple times that he loves Trixie, she’s the reason he doesn’t become completely morally corrupt, like we see in the bonus episode!!! He knows her interests, she clearly loves him, as he explained to Charlotte, he cares about the quality of time he gets with Trixie even though he knows with his job and the divorce that the quantity of time isn’t going to be there as much. And to see people erase that (and Maze!!!! Fics also seem to completely forget that she exists and is Trixie’s best friend!!) to make it be that Trixie’s True Good Dad is Lucifer? I love Lucifer and I love him being a step satan but Trixie can have more than one parent and we don’t need to bash the MOC’s relationship with his daughter to make it so that her “real, good, responsible” parents who know how to actually love her are the white ones, m’kay?

And also the douche part (I’m COMPLETELY pivoting away from the fandom point now) - look, yes, Dan is a douche. Personally, as much as I love him, I also want his redemption to be him going to jail and/or resigning as a cop (I’ll take resigning, bc ik shows with cop characters probably aren’t gonna do that first one, unfortunately), because he is a bad cop to a T and he needs to face consequences for his actions. But gosh, the hate he gets compared to say...Lucifer? Both characters clash a lot and we also see so many backslides from both of them. They take one step forward and three steps back. In both of them, we see characters who are struggling with the thought of being good - Lucifer in that he doesn’t think he can be, and Dan trying to desperately to cling to the thought that he is. And I think both are very cool stories.

Or, if we look at Dan vs Ella. Ella is pretty universally loved, and she shows us that - no it’s not easy to be a good person, but it’s possible, even through the bad times. She holds up a mirror to the good part of humanity, the kind that trucks on no matter what, who takes the opportunity to make the right decision, even if it’s hard. Dan shows us another mirror, but this time, of the struggle to do good things in the face of hard situations, of having that choice and failing while still wanting and attempting to be a good person. I’m not saying one is more realistic than the other, but Dan’s reactions are realistic for a lot of us and I think sometimes people don’t want to admit that they may fall into the Dan camp more than they do the Ella camp. It isn’t easy for Ella to be who she is, but it’s easy for us to love her because ultimately, she always makes the right choice. We can be frustrated by Lucifer, but he’s our protagonist and we have an insight into him more than other characters. It’s easier to root for them, to forgive them when they have pitfalls.

Dan doesn’t have that, he’s a character who started off being well, a douche. And you know what? Dan also has that knowledge and that struggle and we see that there is potential there. In the first season he takes accountability for his actions (it’s the department that doesn’t punish him, and I still think he should face consequences and I haaaate that he probably won’t, but he was willing), he fights against Azrael’s blade and admits fault for his actions - something Lucifer said was surprising for a human - he is Amenadiel’s only human friend, he was the Goddess’s favorite human. Dan is struggling, and god he is frustrating, but he’s also shown real, genuine potential and real self-awareness for his actions even when he backslides, and I think to just write him off as a douche while not necessarily inaccurate also just barely scratches the surface of what his character could represent and how beautiful a true, genuine quest to be good is.

send me “don’t get me started on” + a random topic and i‘ll answer with a rant about it

#dan espinoza #janie gets asks #long post for ts #ginnxtonic

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sugarandspice-games · 3 years

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I guess this is becoming a trend... I’m popping in before the actual intro to clarify-- if the text is in italic, it is me (Sugar) talking and regular is Spice. Alright? Cool. And so--

So, one night I’m going through youtube and I come upon this one shitposty video about some random anime that I’ve never even heard of. After doing some research, I discover that it’s actually based on a dating sim that I’ve also never heard of. As a joke I was like “Hey Sugar wanna watch this as a joke, it might be funny” and so we did. And uhm. Well.

Today we’re gonna be reviewing Brothers Conflict, aka Sweet Home Alabama 2: Electric Anime Boogaloo aka the anime that ruined our lives. [Again, disclaimer: neither Sugar nor I condone incest and/or pedophilia, two themes which are uh, very rampant in this anime which is why I cannot recommend it in good faith. It’s not good, don’t get me wrong. I can’t really say that I liked it even if watching it and ragging on it was kind of enjoyable, and I did get attached to some of the characters because that’s the kind of idiot I am. Also, we’re not shirking our duties to write I swear please don’t kill me--] Anyway, an obligatory SPOILER WARNING though this probably isn’t going in the main tag bc I do not want the fans to publicly stone me. Why are we reviewing this? Bc we need to talk about it somewhere. Though I say review lightly bc this... is really more of a critique.

ALSO we only watched the anime, idk if things are different in the game. There is no full english translation for the games and most of the LP channels have been copyright striked, so please don’t come at us for not knowing anything. I also know that otome games and dating sims don’t tend to translate well to anime, and I will be addressing this later.

So, dear god, where do I begin.

Where do we begin indeed? How about the fact that her name is Ema and I had to google to remember the heroine’s name? Also, she is seventeen.

Our plot, or well... what you COULD call a plot, I guess, if you REALLY wanted to give this anime that much credit, focuses on the aforementioned seventeen year old Hinata Ema, who has an absent father who apparently FOUND THE TIME TO FALL IN LOVE AND GET MARRIED BUT NEVER HAS A SECOND TO SPARE FOR HIS ONLY CHILD, RINTARO I SWEAR TO GOD I AM TAKING CUSTODY OF YOUR CHILD. HAND HER OVER-- Anyway. He’s getting married to a woman who has 13 sons (jesus christ ma’am have you ever heard of a condom?) and he decides to move her in with them because... I guess he has less braincells than I have balls, which is to say, zero. Hi, I’m trans.

So, Ema moves in with them... along with her talking grey squirrel, Juli. Juli is... interesting and by interesting, I mean-- ABSOLUTELY PUZZLING. He, apparently, has seen the majority of Ema’s life from babyhood to teenagerhood and can talk but is only understood by Ema (who he calls Chii) and Louis, the eighth son in the Asahina family. It is never explained why, or how Chii came across him or how in an episode, a single episode, he becomes human because why the hell not, I guess??? (Also, he is pretty. YES. I said it. Fight me.) [Quick Spice intervention, this squirrel can talk to people, transform into a human, enter dreams, and live way longer than a squirrel should since the average lifespan of a squirrel is like 6 years in the wild. Juli is apparently a god as none of this is EVER explained.]

And when she meets the Asahina family, it’s pretty much immediately chaos because these heterosexual (I guess? They look like a bunch of twinks to me but there goes anime trying to convince me that straight people are real and not a lie made up by Trump) men have NEVER and I mean NEVER known a woman in their entire lives, since they seem to want to bang their stepsister immediately. And most of them are GROWN ASS ADULTS. Only three of them are actually minors (though Iori is 18 and only one year older so I guess??? It’s okay??? But still weird) and one of them is a 13 year old who looks and acts like he’s 8.

Oh, and did I mention that out of these boys, only the adult triplets and the abusive asshole 16 year old get any kind of characterization AND character development? I mean, Subaru gets an “arc” if you can call it that, but really, they don’t give him much... personality. You could replace him with a cardboard cutout and it’d be the same. I feel bad for him (but not really because dude you are 20 and she is your sister, what the fuck--)

But if there’s anything good about this anime, it is the characters themselves. Several of the boys have redeeming qualities and interesting personalities and quirks, as well as interesting relationships and dynamics with each other. Yes, some of them are lacking in the plotline department while others may have decent plotlines and lack personality, and then some of them are just given absolutely nothing (COUGH Masaomi COUGH Ukyo COUGHCOUGHCOUGH Iori, and by the way, what the fuck is that game plotline bc I read the wiki since I wanted to know more about him. We don’t have time to unpack the mento illness luv. But you’re telling me they had all this meat to work with and they threw it in the trash and gave him nothing? What the hell?) And if anything, I feel as if the characters themselves are crippled by the plotline. If given a different story, perhaps, they may have room to shine, because a lot of them are compelling if not lovable (though some may not be... lovable. COUGHFuuto, at least not for me.) If you want to see our review on the characters, we’ll put out another post.

Iori... Iori has a hell of a plot in the game, according to the Wiki but I can’t blame the writers for not exploring all of it because whoa. It is dark and not in a good way. But back to the subject at hand... I agree with Spice. I do/did like quite a lot of the characters... provided the entire romantic plot is taken away but we will go into more of why the plot is problematic below. All I can really add is: There is a baby in this dumpster and canon has been taken out back to be shot like a lame horse.

This brings me to a point in which I would like to pause the character discussion and bring up a glaring flaw with this anime in general (aside from the... plot. Look, I’m not a huge fan of weird stepsibling stuff but I think that if you want to do something like that, there are ways to do it and ways not to do it. This was the way not to do it, which I’m getting to). The biggest thing that made this anime so uncomfortable was the imbalance of power dynamics. Why is the protagonist 17 when most of the love interests are 18 and older, and I mean much, much older? And she’s not any 17 year old... she’s a lonely, neglected girl who is starved for the love of a family. This makes her easily manipulated by the brothers, who clearly desire her for less than wholesome reasons, and that makes it skeevy. I’m not sure why there’s such a fetishization of nonconsent in media, as if it’s fine for as many men to lust after female protagonists as the writer desires BUT the woman can’t want a single one of them in return. It’s creepy, and quite frankly, I am very much over it. I also get that the age thing is probably a product of the protagonist of a teenager oriented dating sim not translating well to an anime (because really, all otome game MCs are meant to be a neat little pair of shoes for the player to imagine themselves in), but why are we fetishizing a teenager being groomed by adults anyway? Especially adults who have this much power over her to begin with? The power dynamics bring this plot from “Oh, this might be kinda trashy but it could be entertaining” to “This is extremely creepy and rapey and kind of a dumpster fire.”

This is also true. If we were to take age into consideration, Fuuto, Yusuke, and Iori would be the three candidates left for Chii. This is taking out the youngest as well, who is... thirteen, I think? But anyway, (I know I am probably going to get some hate for this but go for it), I am into stories that explore the stepsibling thing and it can make a good narrative-- but before everyone gets uppity: There is a line between FICTION and REALITY and I do not condone real life incest but a story is a story and there are ways to frame it that make it clear that it is not a romantic thing, or acceptable. This anime does not do that in it’s dynamics because some of the brothers do start off in that very firm caregiving, family role and it is a sharp turn into romance that makes you go, “?” or in Fuuto case, a blending that does lean into fetishization.

All in all I think the plot maybe could have been okay? I’m not saying it isn’t problematic, because we all know it is, who are we kidding? But I don’t think it’s wrong per se to explore family dynamics with romance and to understand where the line should be drawn, and maybe exploring the definition of family itself. I have seen fanfictions with similar tropes ask those questions and explore the concept beautifully without romanticizing or fetishizing incest and unhealthy power dynamics. It could have been good, and I get that perhaps I’m barking up the wrong tree by expecting mature themes in an anime based on an otome game, but it also could have been a lot less... creepy (I have used that word so much that it looks wrong now) even if it wasn’t the greatest thing ever. But again, what was I expecting? I watched this whole thing as a joke and ended up attached to the characters like a fool... That tends to be a trend here, and this is why we are so salty all the time. So anyway, stay tuned for our review of the characters! We may not cover all of them since some of them don’t really get anything, but we’ll cover what we found interesting.

#spice talks #sugar speaks #anime and game reviews #sweet home alabama: the anime #not putting this in main tag

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ivanaskye · 4 years

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WoT Reactions: Book 7, A Crown of Swords

Almost halfway through the series, and a lot is happening. Well, except for the parts where it takes forever for something to happen... while a bunch of other things happen. I think this is starting to hit the part of the series that many fans say is poorly-paced, and I can kind of see why...

That’s not why it took a while for me to finish this one tho, that’s mostly because I was visiting family for the holidays.

One of the main themes of this book is the many, many ways in which the Aes Sedai have horribly mismanaged basically everything due to being too strict (read: abusive) as well as too distrustful of each other. Which means that it turns out that there’s ALMOST TWO THOUSAND women trained by them who they’ve kicked out, which is literally more than the people they haven’t. Also some of them are older than they thought any Aes Sedai could get. Also the complete lack of sharing information between Ajahs or even sometimes between individuals within the same Ajah means no one knows anything EXCEPT the evil ones. Amazing.

Anyway, that’s all set to change now that the world is ending, so uh, that’s a plus? Lmao.

Character-by-character thoughts under the cut.

Rand

One of Rand’s most notable developments this book is having sex with Min, then completely losing his mind over it

It’s like. Min: rips off his clothing. Rand, for the next several days: I’m such a monster.

This is also why he flings Perrin against a wall

Bc obviously having SEX proves he’s a MONSTER

Thankfully this gets resolved in less than a week, but still

Also! He and Min VERBALLY confessed their feelings to each other! That’s the best progress this harem has seen yet!

God what else did Rand do this book. Oh right, teleport around a lot and get stabbed by Padan Fain and then let Sammael lure him into Shadar Logoth

Where Sammael “””dies”””

(I will not believe ANYONE in this series is dead until I have SEEN THE BODY)

Meanwhile he does a mercy killing of Leah, which hopefully has broken down his block against killing women, because there’s like, what, five female forsaken who are totally willing to kill him?

Perrin

Gets flung against a wall, leaves to do some other mission

Honestly I don’t have much to say about Perrin this book?

He and Faile still aren’t really communicating, for still-really-stupid reasons?

Sigh

Egwene

Still THE GODDAMN AMYRLIN SEAT

Finds out about Lan, sends him to Nynaeve

Not rly the most important character this book but I love her

Min

As mentioned above, has sex with Rand

Is also absolute MVP for actually communicating with him. And having something that resembles a brain.

Tells Cadsuane etc enough to prevent them from totally triggering his PTSD while trying to save his life

LITERALLY possesses half the braincells in this whole book

Also, total confirmation that Moiraine isn’t dead, Min thinking about how Moiraine being essential to Rand’s success is her ‘one viewing that hasn’t come true’

Birgitte

The other MVP, the only person on the planet capable of breaking down the communication barriers between Mat and Nynaeve + Elyane

This is because she is the only person on the planet who is from a time period (well, several time periods) with actual gender equality, including men and women not all automatically distrusting each other

Mat is shocked to discover he can think of a woman as a person

Nynaeve is shocked that Birgitte can think of a man as a person

A+, good work

Mat

Speaking of,

Maybe actually learns a thing or two regarding his sexism. Part of that is via a FRIENDSHIP WITH BIRGITTE, which I did not expect to become one of my favorite friendships in the series, but here we are

The other part is uh, the getting raped

And like, otherwise assaulted

A lot

By Tylin, queen of Ebou Dar

It’s a real bad time and I feel sorry for him

We leave the book with him being the last of our protagonists out of the city, not quite leaving before a war erupts there, I’m sure he’ll have a GREAT time next book,

Nynaeve

Despite Aviendha making her apologize to Mat, I don’t think she ACTUALLY admits she’s wrong any time in this book? So she’s still only done so once in the entire series lmao

A Mess TM!

Her block is broken now, thanks to a near-death experience WHICH WAS DUE TO MOGHEDIAN, meaning Moghedian is accidentally responsible for Nynaeve becoming more powerful, good job

Ok weirdly her relationship with Lan is actually... super cute in this book, where it WASN’T before, and I think the difference is the part where Lan longs for death even more than usual

You would think that wouldn’t suddenly make a ship cute

But you would be wrong

He’s HOLLOW and HALF DEAD INSIDE and somehow. It works? I don’t know man

Lan

See above

Elayne

More braincells than Nynaeve or Mat, which is to say, she has one (1)

Spends significantly too many pages flailing around looking for the Bowl, but hey, she+Nynaeve+Mat have finally found it, so at least THAT subplot comes to an end

Still needs to actually go be queen

Cadsuane

She’s no Moiraine, but I like her

Badass old lady who fears zero (0) things

Morgase

Still alive, BARELY

Has now been tortured, but OFF-page, which is a rarity in the Torture Porn Series

Also she had very, very coerced sex

Then the Seanchan show up in Amadicia and she’s introduced to something even more terrifying, the concept of slavery, and manages to escape with one of the suddenly-less-bad-seeming religious zealots

Moghedien, Galina

SPEAKING OF the concept of slavery,

Both of these are very evil people we don’t like, who this book now makes us feel sorry for by watching their torture and degradation

Which is very classic WoT

So that’s most of the characters I have specific thoughts on, but there’s something else I wanna say here at the end, which is predictions for the next book!

While I’m quite sure that Moiraine and Lanfear aren’t dead, I don’t think they’re coming back quite yet. For that matter, I’m not sure if Sammael’s probably-not-dead nature will be revealed yet

Instead, I think the main enemy next book is going to be the Seanchan, now that they’ve invaded two further countries

Maybe we’ll get to see Egeanin again???? Pls????

#wot reactions #wot #wheel of time

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burnededens · 4 years

Text

( avan jogia, trans male, he/him, assassin’s creed: syndicate ) * &. i know it must be scary for you, jacob frye, after not surviving the takeover. to turn into someone like jacob "jake” fowles, a twenty-five year-old bartender at dragon’s breath brewery & fighter at the ring, right here in castle town. just remember that you are as charming as you are reckless, and to be wary, be safe, be true to who you are : neutral through and through. ( hylia gets assassin’s creed on main )

SO FUN FACT - I have been wanting to write this character in this group for months and it is absolutely a crime that it took me this long to pick him up but here we FINALLY are ! I’m genuinely shocked he’s the first Assassin’s Creed character here because I personally think all of the characters are phenomenal and it was either gonna be this character or the protagonist from two games before ( Edward Kenway of Black Flag ) but I have a slightly greater preference towards Jacob so !! Behold the living embodiment of chaotic good !! Obvious tws for death , violence , and murder under the cut because this is a series about assassins , but also gang stuff ( and a very small bullying mention in the post-snap portion ) too. I hope this is easy to understand !!

BEFORE THE SNAP / J A C O B F R Y E .

S’OKAY again I will always try and explain the games’ history and Syndicate’s specific plotline in the simplest of ways - and especially because AC can get very confusing very fast. Thankfully Syndicate is one of the more straightforward entries , but before I get into that , I have to give a basic rundown of the lore since... it will not make sense if you haven’t played any of the games.

A long long long time ago , there were these people called the Isu , and the Isu crafted something that the AC franchise refers to as Pieces of Eden. The Pieces of Eden ultimately has access to control other living beings , and they were extremely powerful.

Flash forward a little bit where you have two forces - the Knights’ Templar and the Assassin Order/Brotherhood - that struggled for these Pieces of Eden for two very different reasons.

The Templars valued order and wanted to use them to control others to achieve a utopia - believing that human corruption & essentially free will were what caused most evils of the world.

The Assassins valued freedom & wanted to preserve the free will of the world , believing that control would do them no good and a mutual understanding under this freedom would be what created a utopia.

So basically , Templars wanted peace via control and Assassins wanted peace via freedom.

Templars wanted the Pieces of Eden to control , and the Assassins knew this was Not Good and often sought to keep the Pieces the fuck away from the Templars ( at least , that’s always how I saw it. )

Of course , because we’re now on like ten main games and seventeen spin-off games it’s OBVIOUSLY way more complicated than that , just that’s the most nutshell way to explain everything. That being said , let’s jump more into Jacob & Syndicate.

SO JACOB. Jacob is one of the two protagonists of Syndicate , the younger twin to the other protagonist , his sister Evie. They were born in Crawley , raised by their Assassin father , but while Evie was always more . . . into the Brotherhood and assassin ideals , Jacob always was more of a rebel & a free spirit. But nevertheless , he grew up an Assassin like she.

Flash forward years later where the main plot of Syndicate starts , during the Industrial Revolution in 1868 , where the twins are set on heading to London , which is pretty much entirely under control of the Templars ( namely Crawford Starrick and his network ) & their syndicates ( ha ha hA ).

This . . . is sort of where Jacob & Evie separate in terms of goals - Evie’s well-aware of the Pieces of Eden and aims to collect them before the Templars do. However , Jacob’s more so intent on taking down Templars & liberating London from their control. He goes as far as to even starting a gang with his sister - known as the Rooks - to combat the Templar-controlled gang that has London’s boroughs in its grasp known as the Blighters.

Evie’s basically like “okay we’re going to collect the Pieces of Eden so the templars don’t have them bc Starrick will be more powerful if he has them” but Jacob says to her “fUCK YOU I’M A MAN WHO’S GONNA FREE THE PEOPLE” and. Yeah.

Throughout the game , Jacob’s the twin that exhibits a more impulsive , reckless , yet well-meaning approach to problems - and that sorta kinda . . . means that when he solves problems , he also accidentally makes other problems , and his sister has to clean them up because hey , you killed this Templar leader and angered a bunch of Blighters and we are fucked and Jacob can’t really. Grasp that because he’s too focused on freeing London NOW and taking out Templars NOW and [ Sleeping With Sirens vc ] do it NOW and remember deal with it LATER.

There’s a few cases where Jacob has even so ( both unintentionally and intentionally ) teamed up with Templars because he thought they could help him accomplish his goals in taking London back from them.

He teamed up with Pearl Attaway ( a businesswoman who controlled most of London’s transport and wanted basically a monopoly ) and didn’t find out until later that she was a Templar and had to assassinate her since she was the exact type of controller he wanted to rid London of

But also he struck a deal with Maxwell Roth ( basically a Blighter gang leader who had a shitton of power ) to work with him - but Maxwell saw this as let’s cause as much chaos as possible and fuck the consequences where Jacob saw it as more let’s fix problems by any means necessary and he had to shut down the deal when he saw Roth really just . . . didn’t give a fuck about anyone , including innocents. Jacob’s whole goal was to free and protect the innocents , he just didn’t care how as long as nobody got hurt.

AND THAT’S HONESTLY WHAT I LOVE SM ABOUT JACOB LIKE ... Jacob. Is the epitome of chaotic good like he cares so much about people and protecting the innocents & saving them from control that yeah he doesn’t really . . . consider the consequences of his actions especially when his actions are so chaotic but his primary goal is to free the people of London by taking down Templars and he doesn’t give a fuck how he’s going to do it , he just operates on his code of making sure none of the good people get hurt and the bad guys go down.

Eventually in the game he did come to realize the errors in his own work and way of thinking - he didn’t think much of the consequences , and therefore caused more of a wreckage than he aimed for. He loved the idea of freedom , but drew the line at absolute careless anarchy like Roth.

Basically be a REBEL not an ASSHOLE.

I love this kid tho like he’s so witty and rebellious and chaotic but also good-hearted and will still help even tho he might complain a lot about it ( looks at Abberline and Darwin ) and he !! He honestly acts before he thinks but I find those characters so refreshing esp bc he’s very emotional and adamant about acting on how he feels and his ideals and it’s honestly so. Idk I really like that about him.

He’s also canonically bisexual and that is something I will never shut up about but if you fucking even tHINK ABOUT ROMANTICIZING ROTH & JACOB’S RELATIONSHIP ( like it’s p much confirmed Roth had a thing 4 Jacob but it’s not. That’s not a Good Thing ) I will personally throw some hands with you.

...Jacob and Ned however-

SPARE NED?? SPARE NED MA’AM???

But honestly anyway TLDR; Jacob is a Victorian chaos-bringer who doesn’t really think much about the shit he does but has a heart of gold he’s just. He’s A Lot. He’s a lil bitch but a good kind of lil bitch.

ALSO ALSO ALSO I AM,,,, not exactly entirely sure where I’m pulling Jacob yet like I could pull him from the end of Syndicate’s main story but also there’s the Jack the Ripper DLC which makes me... feel things, but Jacob’s also significantly older than and a good bit of that DLC’s a bit triggering - long story short, we love and will protect Jacob Frye with our entire lives.

AFTER THE SNAP / J A K E F O W L E S .

So PERSONALITY WISE - Jake isn’t much different from his past self ; the only thing is he never grew up with his twin sister , raised an only child , and because Jacob & Evie are meant to balance each other out , he essentially grew up without an entire part of him he isn’t even aware of.

He was adopted - adopted by a working-class family from London that moved to Castle Town , and that was where Jake was raised.

Now , he was always a bit of a rebel. Always a problem child from the start. There were hundreds and hundreds of cases where he was reported either talking back to teachers , misbehaving in class , sometimes even getting into fights with other kids whether it be they were picking on him or someone else.

And he always liked the thrill of being that rebel - being that miscreant that earned a reputation ; never a mean person , never a bad dude , just somebody who . . . acted out. Acted out for whatever reason - mainly because he never liked the idea of obeying or because he taught the rules were stupid or because the rules meant some people were gonna get inconvenienced. Like , if you see someone getting bullied , why just tell an adult where you can solve the problem right then and there and sock the bully in the jaw ??

That was it. That was Jake’s philosophy.

His parents sent him to multiple hobby & art & educational camps & stuff to try and see if he could find some sort of hobby that would sorta get him out of this ‘problem child’ thing - but it never really worked. He always either got sent home earlier or was asked to never come back because hey , you can’t start a rebellion in the boys’ cabin because you didn’t like the way one of the counselors instructed you about knot tying.

Never worked out , his parents thought he was smart and would make a brilliant lawyer or doctor or something - but nope , he graduated high school , attempted college but dropped out after two years , and when his parents kicked him out , he crashed with a few friends and made a living on odd jobs before he scored working as a bartender at Dragon’s Breath.

And also . . . both fighting at The Ring and also underground matches for some coin.

Yeah.

It’s sorta-kinda through this he ALSO became aware of the other people who had to resort to means like this to survive - eventually starting his own gang of people who operated on sorta-kinda Robin Hood like terms - protect the less fortunate , combat the gangs who caused way more problems than he’d like , and also to basically uhhh flip the bird to the rich.

You guessed it - they’re called The Rooks and they’re not really . . . big , they’re just kind of. There. And nobody knows Jake’s the leader but it’s not like he’s really pressed if anyone finds out.

It’s overall not entirely different from his pre-CT life other than obvious modern differences and LACK OF EVIE sooo. Yeah !!

I’ll hopefully work on a WC page for him soon but as of rn I just kinda want to get some threads going - hope y’all enjoy my dumbass kid xoxoooo

#castletown.intro #death tw #violence tw #murder tw #gang tw #bullying mention #abt tag tbd #took me long enough 2 pick him up my god #also maxwell roth has no rights.

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dillydedalus · 5 years

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october reading

books. i read ‘em.

the bird king, g. willow wilson ugh i’m disappointed with this - i expected it to be more about the fall of granada, rather than just taking that as a jumping-off point for a very slow story of how fatima (concubine to the last andalusian sultan) and her bff hassan (magical mapmaker) escape from lady inquisitor luz to a magical/legendary island. that’s more of an expectation mismatch, but i also found this just a bit boring and confused, didn’t like the characters or the emotional moments. 2.5/5

lanark: a life in four books, alasdair gray y’all... this is a weirdo pomo mess which gray himself describes as ‘a portrait of the artist as a frustrated young glaswegian’ (instant love), it’s about duncan thaw growing up in post-war glasgow (not a good place) and lanark, sans memories, finding himself in the city of unthank (probably The Bad Place), where the sun hardly ever shines and people grow dragonskin, but really it’s about art & cities & politics & scotland & hell. it’s completely nuts & has a chapter where the protagonist meets the author in the process of writing and there’s a chapter-long sidebar detailing all instances of plagiarism in the book (incl. the lack of influence from robert burns, more sinister than all plagiarism). it’s a bit flabby in places & could stand to be a 100-200 pages shorter, but damn. 4/5

the memory police, yoko ogawa (tr. from japanese by stephen snyder) very atmospheric, quietly disturbing magical realist(ish) book about an island on which sometimes certain things (birds, roses, ribbons, fruit) just disappear, with the inhabitants losing their memories and emotional connection to the thing. the disappearances seem to occur randomly and on their own, but the memory police makes sure that no disappeared items remain and that those who can still remember also... disappear. really liked the quiet slow dread building here, the mysterious workings of the disappearances, and the interplay between the main story and the novel the narrator is writing while worrying whether words too will soon disappear. 4/5

trick mirror: reflections on self-delusion, jia tolentino collection of nine essays about roughly, life & self-image & politics in the social media age (and its predecessor, the reality tv age), gender politics and uh scams and self-delusions. many of these essays felt vaguely like things i’d read before online (& i might have) & didn’t offer anything completely new but i liked the examinations of big wedding culture, and her take on the ‘difficult woman’ archetype of millenial feminism. tolentino in general is an engaging, sharp writer, and even when she’s writing about familiar topics, she often puts an interesting spin on things. 3.5/5

here in berlin, cristina garcía and the anglophone-berlin-books saga continues. a cuban-american woman with a mild personal crisis goes to berlin (as people w/ personal crises so often do) and there collects a variety of snapshot stories from berliners (by birth or choice or accident), mostly about world war 2 and the latin american diaspora in berlin. some of the snapshots are p interesting or bizarrely funny but mostly they retread the same ground (history, trauma, collective & personal responsibility, commemoration etc) without really saying anything new (except the connection garcía makes between the nazis and south american dictatorships). there’s also a pretty annoying attempt to create authenticity by peppering in german words and phrases which sometimes aren’t even appropriate or spelled correctly* (get a german proofreader you cowards i’ll do it for free... like wtf is ‘volkenbrot’). 2/5 *i ordered it used and got an ARC, so maybe some of these issues were fixed for the final version but lmao. volkenbrot.

wilder girls, rory power this is annihilation as YA, set on an island called raxter where a mysterious illness called the tox has taken over, transforming the wilderness, the animals (deers grow canines y’all), and most of all the girls at raxter boarding school. the narrator’s eye has fused shut & something is growing under it, her friend has grown an extra spine, other girls have gills or claws. less fortunate girls (and most of the teachers) just die. there was a lot i liked about this, especially the tox and the ambivalent relationships the girls have to their changed bodies, but the last third just... eh. also, like, i like tumblr monster-girl poetics as much as the next person, but this is really overdoing it. 2.5/5

nach mitternacht (after midnight), irmgard keun KEUN HYPE TRAIN!!! this one’s super interesting because it’s the first novel keun wrote in exile, published 1937 and set at around the same time. the protagonist, sanne, is a naive and politically uneducated 19-year-old who is repeatedly & very dramatically confronted with the political reality she lives in, first when her aunt denounces her to the gestapo and later when her boyfriend franz is arrested. for most of the (very short) novel, sanne is observing and not quite understanding the increasing legal discrimination against jews, culture of paranoia and denouncement, and glorification of fascist ideology, which makes for a very disturbing reading experience, especially with the reader’s retrospective knowledge, but the climax is truly nightmarish & devastating. 4/5

children of god, mary doria russell the sequel to the sparrow, which i read & loved earlier this year. in this one, emilio sandoz, still in recovery from the trauma of his first trip to the planet rakhat, is forced to return there (bc the pope thinks it’s god’s will lol) and finds the planet changed after decades (space travel makes time weird) of revolution and civil war. i liked this but it’s not as good as the sparrow, the characters (except my man emilio) aren’t as interesting & well-developed and the dual timeline structure isn’t as well-executed but hey. there’s some closure for emilio & that made me hella emosh. 3.5/5

the wilful princess & the piebald prince, robin hobb a novella telling the true (?) story of charger farseer, the piebald prince, a historical figure that has great influence on the six duchies of fitz’s time, especially regarding the treatment of the witted (people who can magically bond with aninmals) and how fitz is framed & reviled as the ‘witted bastard’. this was cool & i enjoyed how it twists the story, but it’s not worth reading if you haven’t read the main series. 3/5

the inheritance, robin hobb/megan lindholm collection of short stories by hobb under her two pseudonyms - i mostly skipped the lindholm ones (sorry), but the three hobb ones were really really good. the first is about the first expeditions into the rain wilds (i love the cursed shores so much & wish there was a full trilogy about the first settlers there), the second is about bingtown & wizardwood, the third is about how sometimes you gotta kill your abusive ex & if you’re lucky, your cat will help you do it. it’s great & the cat is called marmelade. 4/5 for the hobb stories only

unholy land, lavie tidhar alternate history + multiple realities + high-concept pulp - lior tirosh, a pulp author (it’s meta) returns to his homeland, the jewish state palestina, established in east africa in the early 20th century, and there becomes involved in... rival plots to destroy/stabilise the borders between the worlds, not only between this alternate one and our real one, which tirosh seems to occasionally slip into, but all the million others, including one where the moon broke. love the concept, but this is so vague & confusing on so many points and the ending so abrupt that i was left kinda frustrated & unsatisfied (also bc we never find out much more about the world where the moon broke). 3.5/5

tigermilch (tiger milk), stefanie de velasco german ya book about two teen girls growing up in a poor neighbourhood in berlin. nini’s father is absent, her mother depressed, while jameelah’s father died in iraq and her mother is worried that they might be deported, and their bosnian friend amir’s sister is dating a serb. it’s some pretty harrowing stuff & it’s good to see Issues (TM) addressed in german ya in a way that doesn’t feel super didactic & preachy, but ultimately i’m really not the target audience here. 3/5

sea monsters, chloe aridjis

weirdo brainy dreamy novella about a girl in 80s mexico running away from mexico city to the beach because she’s looking for ukrainian circus dwarfs (???). i liked a lot about this (atmosphere, poetic & mythical allusions, a lot of the writing, the depictions of mexico city and the weird beach culture are both really cool) but a lot of the time this was so dreamy that i just kinda zoned out. 3/5

i am currently reading emma by jane austen bc i forgot about my monthly austen project until the last few days of the month lol & one of the hugo long list anthologies. the one with the cool fox on it.

#the books i read #long post

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cerealmonster15 · 5 years

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How about Leo for that character thing?

ffffuck yes i have to put this one in a readmore bc i got carried away listing like 800 leo quotes

How I feel about this characterhes one of my favorite royal sibs!!!!! probs tied with elise and takumi? or possibly my most fave?????? i was sad the whole time birthright bc i missed him and elise the whole time,,,, now that im playing conquest im sad bc i miss takumi lol. i love my tomato brother ;w; but he (and xander) is like the funniest fuckin character, oh my god. i love him so much. he makes me cry with laughter half the time he opens his mouth. hes this snarky little snob and he can’t dress himself for shit bc his clothes are always inside out or backwards (me too actually. every time i realize my shirt’s on wrong im instantly like Wow Leo Vibes). i love how in birthiright near the end theres this important emotional scene and hes gotten rid of iago and corrins like “hhhhey leo,,,? ur shirts inside out” and he just goes “DAMN IT.” his shop voice lines sound like a really sarcastic customer service voice. “Welcome. Goodbye~!”. so do xander’s??? i fucking die every time one of them is manning a shop oh my god i love themhis alts in feh make me s c r e a m hes so damn funny and dramatic.summer leo:“[grumbly voice] TANLINES… what, torture.”“If you are disappointed by these results then give me clothes”“Hot… beaches?hHHRRNNNNNN[aHEM], hate them.”“Tropical islands? Forget it! And this swimsuit? [snobby laughing tone] DONT even get me STARTED!”“Hey, if you like tropical islands, that’s fine. Maybe it’s not as bad as[randomly starts laughing???] I say.” like is he trying to be chill about it but just cant hold it together because the very idea of a tropical idea is so absurd to him ?? hes so fuckign weird i love himGOD my ultimate favorite leo quote ever of all time tho is: “I actually like walking a beach at night. But… swim? In the ocean? [laughter, maybe nervous laughter i cant fucking tell] With my body?!?!???” WITH MY BODY?? i love him what the helland then he does that thing in the lvl40 five star convo where hes like “id be as red as a tomato if i got a sunburn???? fuck, how could i hate the sun if thats the case??? maybe ill go right now-” god hes so weird. i love that line regular leo does thats like “you’d never guess what vegetable really catches MY fancy! ………tomatoes…….”and then picnic leo omg. i probably screamed when i saw he was a free unit this spring i was SO HAPPY [as much as i love summer leo i dont actually have him and i cry that his banner hasnt returned this summer yet ;c]he grumbles when u poke him. he goes MMMMMM when you pick him up to take his turn. he complains about the sun, AGAIN.“i’m not used to this much sunlight! it’s…. nnggggg,,, blINDing..”“[offended voice] why are you being so SNEAKY? THIS is a PICNIC!” HhhhhhHHHHHH god lmao“[very proud voice] How does it taste? It must delicious, given I made it mySELF!” “What about this? I had my retainers prepare it for us.“ ik a lot of people say this contradicts his first line and one of them is a fucking lie, but i like to think this just means he made lunch with odin and niles and they did different parts and it’s soooooooooooooooooo cute to think about him cooking with his boys ;w; also he sounds so proud here too. hes so proud of his retainers and hes like “heh, mine are the best, they made this great food arent they wonderful i love them so much”“You want…to try some of my cooking? [gasp sigh huffy noise??] If you insist…” hes so excited someone wants to eat his cooking but he cant let anyone Know he has emotions lollies down… maybe leo really is my top fave LOL i just love his lines so much. i want to high five his voice actor for the delivery on these lines. that’s not even going into some of his supports in warriors that ive watcheed on youtube [plz everyone needs to see the one with frederick and leo. it always has me in tears. theyre SO FUNNY together ldjsfgbgf]chapter leo of birthright is probs one of my favorite chapters in fates. it was HARD AND ANNOYING but the dialogue made me weepy

All the people I ship romantically with this characterodin and niles are fave….. they make a cute ot3!! i love how much he appreciates and cares for them and theyre all so good for each other… mr uptight leo and his chaos incarnate retainers to bring out his very secret dorky side… my BOYS!!! i could go on and on about them for many paragraphs but this is already way too long lmfao oopsi also like leo and takumi of course lol. i havent played revelations yet but ive seen bits of their supports and also i just love the bickering enemies to lovers trope lol. this is my favorite panel from the 4koma comics

My non-romantic OTP for this characteri love the familial bonds between all the nohrian siblings but so far leo and elise is my fave sibling duo,,, but im biased bc so far ive only gotten theirs and camilla/xander’s lol. but even in hoshido i like the younger sibs plus older sibs duos. the idea of closeness in age forming a special bond is cute to me. i also like corrin and leo as having a close sib bond since they seem close in age! i know theres [remembers graveyard chapter of birthright again and starts sobbing] some underlying angst of him envying all the doting on corrin his siblings do and he feels ALONE AND I CRY, but he also was very fond of corrin, and i remember the end of birthright where camilla totally calls him out saying how he was saying how nice it was to get to see corrin again ;w; i’d like to think they were close!and of course i like leo and camilla’s relationship…. thinks about end of birthright and sobs… at least they have each other ;o;i need to get more leo supports actually… i want to see every support convo but theres only so much time CRIES

My unpopular opinion about this characterIDK if this counts bc i feel like it’s half and half but i am not a fan of shipping corrin specifically with him or any of the other nohrian/hoshidan royals. like i totes get wanting to marry him as a character, buuuuuuut like i personally was not about to do that when our protagonist was his adopted sibling??????????? no thank you?!?!?!?!????? my friends and i read through the s-support convos for all of them on the wiki once and just…died the whole time bc theyre SO AWKWARD AND WEIRD “i was hiding my FORBIDDEN FEELINGS for you, PERSON I THOUGHT WAS MY SIBLING, my WHOLE LIFE, but now that ur NOT MY BLOOD RELATED FAMILY we can GET MARRIED, even tho weve still been calling you sister/brother casually this whole game” i CRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY IT’S WEIRDDDDDDDand like i dont think thats really an unpopular opinion but i see enough corrin/royals art to think it’s unpopular enough i guesstho i imagine there are some people that chose to marry the royal sibs and also think it’s weird but they just love the character and sat there like “ew stop dont talk about that” loltho some people are like “it’s not technically inc/est-” like,,,, it kinda still is tho HHHH GROSSANYWAY

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.I mean with all video games i wish bein gay was more legal. i want to s-support all the royals to their counterparts. let leo hold takumi’s hand, which would probs turn into a competition of who can squeeze the hardest until they break each other’s bones bc theyre stupid, but plz. i want this. let hoshido and nohr form ultimate peace bc all their royal fams married.also i dont know the full situation with forrest bc i havent unlocked him but from what ive heard i wish leo was nicer about CERTAIN THINGS in their…. i guess recruitment chapter ? supports? i hear in some of japan’s dlc or a drama cd or something he comes around and is more accepting but still, if that’s not the case in US game i wish it WAS!!!ALSO i wish the sibs could have support convos with each others kids. like even if it was just the main royals kids getting to talk to their aunts and uncles i think that’d be CUTE !!!!!WAIT ALSO on the wiki, leo, niles, and odin all have unused quotes from the endgame. it seems like theyre in the part of the game where you got knocked the fuck out and hung out in the afterlife for a bit with ur dead friends and family and then everyone in the real world is shouting at u to get up off ur ass and come finish the fight. im wondering if that means leo and his retainers were originally supposed to join you in your final battle, even tho you were siding with hoshido? i wouldve loved that and cried twice as hard.....

[x]

#HELP this was the first thing i did this morning #awoken by my insane amount of love for leo #unapologeticbisexual #asks

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aqours-remade · 5 years

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asheternal replied to your post “debating if i should give my own two centso n it tbh”

who the fucc is that

ok sorta long post bc now i’m just gonna talk about my opinions with some pics so under the readmore (i’m bored)

this is about 7 months old and as we can see yeah ANet did not just collapse and is still doing healthy but the tl;dr is that Jessica Price was a dev who was fired for her conflict with a partner of ANet which spakred some debate about sexism but i honestly. really think she was just kind of an asshole and got fired for it although it did bring up some good points about the industry and the whoel thing is, no matter where you stand on it, a very messy and complicated situation

although no matter what i think firing the other guy was uncalled for as ill talk about here below

so Jessica Price was a GW2 dev that to my knowledge did work for Living World and writing for GW2 in general. she’s an industry veteran with a dozen years. she had a twitter thread about the complications of writing an MMO main protagonist, in that you have to write them in a way without too much emotion or personality or it won’t feel like “your” character, which lead to this alteration with a streamer

Deroir is a paid affiliate of ANet: he is a streamer, but he also is paid to i think bug test GW2 and i think has an NPC named named after him in the game: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Deroir

maybe its mansplaining, maybe its not... it really doesn’t feel like it??? i really have the benefit of the doubt the dude was just giving his own opinion on this one as a (paid) content creator for the game with an opinion

then things really began to escalate as price made several more tweets and things got really out of control really fast

now I don’t watch Deroir’s streams so i don’t know much about the man himself, his attitude, or his personality, but this does seem to be the only conflict he ever had with her (so it wasn’t a series of little things blowing up). another dev publicly defended Price and things escalated, prompting ANet to fire them, announced by Mike O’Brien, CEO of ANet:

i don’t think it was particularly wrong of ANet to fire her at this point, as she was publicly an employed part of this company that acted extremely unprofessionally to a situation she could have completely ignored or civilly disagreed with. if Deroir had been a full-blown “sweetie, I don’t think you fully understand the writing of this game you work on :)” as far as i’m concerned this situation would be changed entirely and i’d be 100% on her side but i don’t think its hard to describe it as an appropriate reaction. the above is from the GW2 official forums on a thread concerning the incident.

i do think its worth really keeping in mind this wasn’t a conversation about gender as opposed to the writing of believable MMO characters, i really genuinely feel it was a genuine opinion that quickly devolved into something else. and everyone who knows me knows i’m usually completely on this side which is... why its. feels really weird of me to even type this because i don’t want to be against this side

i do however believe it was a bit too hasty to just fire them...? i think giving Price a chance to make up for it wouldn’t have been out of the question? it was definitely a tense situation that absolutely warranted being called into the boss’ office to say “hey. you uh. fucked up and made problems for us. you gotta fix this.” although considering Price’s attitudes i think she just would have used this against ANet later. it was a PR nightmare no matter how things would have gone down. i think Price would have blown any chance to make up for it, but I am surprised the guy was fired just for standing up for her. i would understand ANet saying “hey. you represent us publicly on twitter. do not support behavior that antagonizes our fanbase again.” but to fire him definitely seemed like jumping the gun, and that one i definitely don’t agree with. i think he (Fries) deserved a stern reprimand without consequences at most as long as it didn’t happen again, while Price should have at least been given a chance to make up for that incident

Price then reached out to basically any journalistic source that would reach out to her and decried the firing as based in sexism and harassment and basically bowing down to make gamergaters happy, and claiming that ANet’s public statement was directly harassing her by basically sicing a mob on her. it is true that the behavior she faced afterwards was unforgivable: i don’t have screenshots but you can probably imagine how it was with men like this. and Price has repeatedly blamed ANet as basically selling her out to make dudebro neckbeards happy and for not protecting her knowing what happens to a disgraced female dev in this modern day. however, to say ANet was “actively soliciting harassment” is an incredible stretch, and i don’t believe that was really the case. this was a very messy situation that ANet absolutely should have handled much better, but it still ultimately boils down to an employee acting in a way that’s unacceptable and being fired for it that... really doesn’t seem to have its roots based in sexism. she’s also gone on the record saying she’s being contacted by people who will “never work with ANet again” and milking that for what its worth. fast forward now to 7 months later and ANet clearly is still in a good place financially so... i really doubt there’s any permanent fallback as a result.

this is a video from one of the few ppl whose opinions i really like on video games so this is a good??? video to kinda help recap the events:

youtube

i just think she’s just an extremely white lady. the kind of person who demands to see the manager kind of white. i don’t have a good opinion of her nor do i think she’s “one of us” worth looking out for. i really doubt people are going to avoid working with ANet if given a valuable deal with it.

she should have been reprimanded and asked to apologize and given a chance to make up for it; although i think with the full story and conversation in mind its hard to really sympathize with her. white women are gonna white and this whole thing escalated out of control as a result and i absolutely wouldn’t want this woman on my development team for anything at the end of the day.

#asheternal #ok to rb if you want #jessica price

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