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bonefall · 3 months

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What roles are Willow Tail, Quick Water, and Fern Leaf going to be like in your rewrite? I hate most of DOTC but I do enjoy a lot of the side characters, especially them

Willow Tail I know what I'm doing with, Quick Water and Fern Leaf I'm less sure of.

BB!Willow Tail -> Willow Flayed Bare

Willow is a young molly from the Wind Coalition who fought at the First Battle. Her first name was Tabby, and she earned her title for presenting a large, weaved willowbark basket to the Wind Runner. She's an artisan with a useful talent.

Since I completely overhauled Moth Flight's Vision into Moth Flight's Vow, which has a NEW origin for how the Cleric's Vow occured, I'm still reworking the Bunny Bones plot that I'm fond of.

I'm unsure if it's going to be a novella or a catalyst for the conflict of another book. It might be a good way to create an opportunity for Quick Water to run her rebellion

Willow has a petty dispute with one of Clear Sky's kittens; Tiger Sky. It's a TINY bananas squabble. She doesn't like seeing her rude ass sunbathing on the moor, so she starts leaving bunny bones on the border and accusing her of stealing to get her banned from the area.

Skystar, being the man that he is, takes the accusation that one of HIS warriors, his oldest (remaining) DAUGHTER no less, VERY personally. What started as a mean girl moment quickly exploded into total war.

I LIKE the way that the original plot was so unjustified and avoidable it's painful. I just wish it was framed as the miserable, violent moment it should have been. I'm planning on keeping Willow's blinding, but it's the final straw for Tiger who can't stomach this any longer.

Willow is likely going to end up in the River Kingdom, exiled for starting the conflict. She might still get retooled; in a later draft she may become a ShadowClan Mountain Cat.

Quick Water

Aside from a brief moment in Sun Trail where they give her the trait of being 'vain' and being woman 34 that Clear Sky smacks around to relieve stress in Forest Divided, she's suuuuper neglected in the main arc imo.

I haven't read past the part where they unceremoniously kill Sun Shadow in Shadowstar's Life, so I hope to revisit it before retooling Quick Water more. I hate how DOTC takes every opportunity to shit on Tall Shadow when she doesn't fucking do anything.

(Side note: it's kinda why i cant see Shadowstar as the girlboss ppl want her to be. Wind Runner is the girlboss. Canon!Tall Shadow is absolute girlfail. In BB, Tall Shadow is less girlfail but she still has the pervasive energy of... this isnt going to make sense to anyone but me BUT BB!Tall Shadow is SO girl obama to me. Well-spoken high road liberal who gets steamrolled by dirty fighters.)

So BB!Quick Water,

For one she's going to be part of a full family. It's either going to become the Water Family OR her name will change and she'll become Quick Tail.

I think she's going to become good friends with Shatter Frost, as Shadow's Clan early "conservative" types who think Clear Sky has a point.

They might end up with kittens, because DOTC is supposed to be about. Like. Ancestors. It's bizarre that they gave the Quiet Rainkin like 20 surviving descendants while everyone else dies off. Not cool actually.

In any case, I want to boost Quick's role significantly. Let her be one of Tall's key cats, either a hunter or a fighter. Something that isn't surprising when she eventually tries to toss Shadowstar out of power

Shadowstar actually survives this coup. She's one of the longer-lived founders in BB!DOTC, unlike canon where she was the first to go. Quick, meanwhile, is one of the VERY FIRST Dark Forest demons, which I can hopefully have a lot of fun with.

Fern Leaf

(CW: Canon!Slash and the racist trope he's written as that includes physical and sexual violence)

She is VERY up in the air currently, because I'm rejecting Slash as a villain completely. It was SUPER fucked up of them to make TWO stinky, born-evil native villains and then write one of them the way they did. Not only is it thematically RANCID, but it's also LAZY writing.

They have to make Slash a lustful creep so that Clear Sky looks better, because they DIDN'T WRITE A REAL REDEMPTION WHERE HE FACES ACTUAL CONSEQUENCES.

Like... I'm sorry, we understand that the way they wrote Slash is a really old trope, right?? "The natives will kidnap our women and hurt our children if we don't unite, and that's why the colonization of this land was totally cool" Warrior Cats is no stranger to xenophobia, but this time it went so far it invoked an outright racist trope.

(And then they just... totally gloss over that Star Flower is "young" compared to Clear Sky, who was less than 3 at the time, meaning she must be around the same age as the son he is actively abusing and EURGH Forest Divided makes me want to throw up)

SO.

Now that I have screamed about how ROTTEN this part is to stress WHY I need to gouge it out with a rusty spoon;

First of all, Slash has an updated name to help separate him from canon a bit. The Mountain cats call him Dashes for his leg markings, the Park cats call him The Silver Pelt for the color of his fur, his real name is Star-shine. Just "Star" in a casual context, his birth name. "Shine" is a leader suffix.

In-canon, Fern Leaf's purpose is to be abused by Slash enough that she reveals information to Gray Wing, and to contrast Beautiful Boy Clear Sky who beats the shit out of women and kids for good reasons so his abused underlings still wuv him.

So... no. Not keeping that. Lol, lmao even.

While I'm not totally against allowing Star to remain some type of harsh or even abusive towards his cats, IF that remains, I need to stress how much it is influenced by the constant stress and violence the Forest Cats are surrounded by. Harsh times don't cause abuse, but they do contribute, and even important, protective people can still abuse a victim.

Doesn't make it okay. Doesn't even make it easier to heal from. It robs you of the simplicity of it all-- being hurt by someone you desperately want to remember fondly.

Still, it's a very fine line to walk when I already have a big problem to fix here. I'm dealing with an egregiously racist trope, even if I HAVE already removed the MOST awful parts related to Canon!Slash's behavior (it's not appropriate for the tone I'm setting or something im comfortable writing).

But the physical abuse is a huge part of Fern Leaf. So, do you see my conundrum? I am confident handling the nuances of abuse, but this part of the story could use bleach.

I have a few ideas, one I'm leaning towards, but I'm still open to suggestions

Idea 1: Fern Leaf is one of Misty's kits

This was an earlier thought I'm moving away from, but it's worth mentioning. I already have Birch and Alder I'm doing this with, with Alder Claw eventually defecting from SkyClan, so adding Fern Leaf to the litter might be redundant.

In any case, Milkweed was mates with Misty. If this idea stays, Fern could be the one kitten she managed to escape with, forced to leave the other two behind. But then I wouldn't keep Fern's abuse, y'know?

(Plus Milkweed has so many kittens to pick from that I already need to shave some down. She's got like 6 in canon; I've gone over it before but a massive reason why WC's family trees are so tangled is because of "superqueens" like this. They tend to give one parent a lot of kits instead of giving a lot of parents a few kits.)

Idea 2: Fern Leaf is Star's daughter

Either with or without abuse, this is the one I'm leaning towards. It would mean she can show up a lot through the story as his ""lackey"" until Thunder and Bright learn that her and her dad are just like them.

If I nix the abuse (which seems wisest at the moment, honestly) then Fern can still be covered in her iconic scars, just from tangling with Park and Mountain cats constantly. Naturally she's at the forefront of battle patrols, she's fighting alongside her dad.

Plus, there's lots of opportunities for overhauling the dynamics from canon. Her mom didn't "abandon" them, she was probably attacked by the settlers. Star can be a good parent or just one with more complexity, instead of whatever canon was trying to do with Slash and this unrelated kid he hits.

(Re: very strange they refused to acknowledge that sometimes biodads are not worth forgiving or coddling. Interesting that Tom the Wifebeater and One Eye are sympathized with by the narrative for having kids. Curious they decided Canon!Slash of all characters would NOT be a father.)

Idea 3: Shuffle Fern into a Mountain or Park group.

AKA: prioritize the portrayal of intense physical abuse and her recovery, while avoiding tying it to the Forest cats entirely.

I feel like this one is the least interesting, but I'm keeping it on hand just in case. Like it says on the tin, she'd get any association with Slash/Star removed. I'd try to keep her developing a bond with Bright Storm though, since one of Gray Wing's... okayish moments was his interactions with Fern in trying to encourage her to leave.

(Even then, i really cant stand how the narrative concludes through Gray Wing that Slash is super evil because he doesnt feel love. And that he just decides to not tell Tall Shadow there's an evil group of cats spying on her and planning to invade because... Wisdom idk.)

If I do this, I will probably put her into WindCo. Their "homestead" system where individual families own mini-territories is a ripe situation for abuse to occur in, and the very structure of WindCo means that there's no one around to stop it or seek out for help.

Plus, maybe I could find some way for her to help out Thunder's crew as a WindCo insider. It's not a total wash, I just find Idea 2 more interesting.

#better bones au #BB!DOTC #Cw Slash dotc #Tw abuse #Cw abuse #BB!Quick Water #BB!Willow Tail #BB!Fern Leaf

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souriadraws · 10 months

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Thanks for sending me the text. So, it's the last time I am talking about Dokidokistart / Lia Marin on here or anywhere. For my own health they’ve been out of my existence and memory for + 1 year now. She makes me ill and depressed, and I am not saying that lightly I've been hospitalized two times in 2022, because I unjustifiably thought I was a horrible/ fake person and my body didn't react well. I will say "their" for the different art accounts they have but apologies in advance if specific pronouns were needed :/

So:

This is the meanest, ugliest and filed with hate message so far - and of course I'll reply to it. And I am the obsessed one? SURE. I've been sick for a year after their emails and I won't let it slide. Art is not a competition nor should it be a 'fight' imo.

I admire a looot of artists, including theirs from the get go, and I still do - I am in a constant struggle to not let any interference or inspo (colors, shapes, style, composition etc!) drive the way I draw or imagine drawings, but like anyone out there, I do get automatically inspired by many artists I come across. I am not sorry for that, I feed myself with different artworks because I just love art and love to be inspired. I've said to them sorry if my art tends to lean toward their style since I've seen it, I've liked many comics/ anime artists and it's just not from theirs only (I mainly love Dan Mora and that’s been the main inspo from the beginning not theirs so, it’s funny really), it's a multitude of inspo I am proud of to build my style or artworks. All my drawings or sketches are my OWN, and I've been drawing F1 stuff since 2018 (and I didn't even know Lia at all back then?) What is this mascarade, if only I knew?? Will not waste my time with the lies - or the way they seem to take everything the wrong way somehow (and see evil in everything). When I am just trying to be the best version of myself as person and artist, and it comes with its struggles for sure, but know I am doing my best, always. For the art style inspo, isn't everything inspiration from our own empiric feelings to make our own stuff afterwards? The dokidokistart artstyle itself is inspired from Evangelion art and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto lines of work, and that's very cool, nothing wrong with that imo. So why can't I love artists and draw my very own stuff?? In the end, My style is unique and it’s me.

About the other arguments - I am not fake kind, this is just the real me, the education I am proud of and I am a work in progress, leave it or take it, it's ok but don't put ill attempts on my person, when there's none. For the stamps (I won't put our WhatsApp convo in there, I've shown you the stamps to try them and I've asked if it's ok to use it just on some letters (so its non commercial), with a 2 days delay bc yes I forget things; your reply was that it was ok for me to use it- why not come forward if it wasn't ok back then? The incomprehension is total when it comes to them and the way they're just not straight forward. I am not in everybody's head, I do not have ill intentions, if there's an issue, just let me know.

About the post and Lewis flag itself-- I've seen what misplaced jealousy can make you say or do but this is way too much. I've just made a flag because my dear father asked me to do one for the past 6 months, so I've made one with Big Cartel dropshipping option. This is my artwork, I drew it from scratch, what does it have to do with any of their work?? A Lewis pic I've like popped off and I've drawn it with a flag, nothing fancy , a very generic drawing - a simple Lewis portrait for a race flag - why make it wrong or big deal? Why ruin this moment, I didn't do anything harmful and this is MY DRAWING and composition. This is just sick. Didn't know they'd invented race flags or notebooks (cf all cool artists I follow do awesome products similar to them. I should be gatekeeping Keychains too because when I started doing them, Lia did some too, you think?) Well no. I let everyone strive and do their thing, as long as they’re happy and it's their drawings.

I will keep bettering myself as an artist, I will keep drawing on my terms and live my life surrounded by caring people who know that I am not just an @ you can punch whenever. Please Lia do the same and forget about me forever.

#a reply #and then this subject is out of my brain forever #for my mental health #thanks for reading #and for the genuine support #souriadraws #liked my profile pic because I’m forgiving but it’s going to the bin again #thanks for understanding #i am not silent to injustice so yeah #f1 #my dad loved the flag and was super happy #and you know what #it’s all that matters #I KNOW

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gunsatthaphan · 5 months

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🏆 Top 10 of 2023 💫

a few anons have requested this and I was also kind of indirectly tagged by @blneobin, @elizabethsebestianhedgehog and @khaotungsfirst for slightly different posts but I decided to just combine them all into one 😄 hope that's fine with everyone ✌🏻

My watchlist wasn't very extensive this year due to time reasons but here are my personal highlights:

Don't think I have to explain much about this one lol (she says as she proceeds to write a whole paragraph) After the masterpiece that was The Warp Effect and the disaster that was Never Let Me Go, I was nervous about what Jojo was gonna cook up with this one lmao but luckily my fears were unjustified. The watching experience was absolutely insane and it turned me into a different person in the time between August and October lmao. It wasn't perfect, I got annoyed at times but overall it's undoubtedly my number 1 this year. SandRay my loves, my babes, my roman empire lmao. I loved their story so much, they were the main characters for me lol but it was such a good ensemble in general and each cast member was the perfect fit for their respective characters, including Mond as Boeing who was the cherry on top of all the madness and also my boy Mix as the first Only Friends Stay guest, leaving room for imagination lmao. It was raw, real and unapologetically chaotic aka my favorite kind of plot. pure perfection. Jojo outdid himself once again. 10/10.

No words just vibes. It went by SUPER fast and I'm still mad that they chose to air an 8 episode show twice a week like whose idea was that?? To air a treasure like this in the course of 4 weeks is more homophobic than Jim's family lmao. But anyway. Doesn't change the fact that it was an incredible production, so visually stunning, so carefully written and so well executed down to the tiniest detail. It deserves every single award it won because what a masterpiece. It made me extremely emotional but in the best way. I'm still in awe. amazing. life changing.

I kinda hate to admit this bc it was SO full of crack lmao but it was SO much fun?? I had low expectations but I had the best time from start to finish. It made me laugh so hard I frequently dislocated my lungs lmao, the overall watching experience was just incredible. Story-wise it was sprinkled with the typical Domundi nonsense, the surreal cartoonish vibes were dominating and it was overall another show where I couldn't tell you what the plot was afterwards lmao - but everyone who lived through the Cutie Pie experience wouldn't expect anything less from these people lol. I loved it.

We're only halfway through but I'm so obsessed with it that I'm including it lmao. It's SO adorable and pure, offgun are back with the puppy honey vibes in all of their fully evolved glory lol, the writing is excellent imo and it's the perfect balance between silly, cheesy and honest emotions, good communication and the notorious offgun magic lol. Whenever I say I want a good romcom, this is what I mean. I was so annoyed when it was announced as I was convinced it was gonna be a downgrade from Not Me but it's really not. It's just another show where OG can showcase their dynamic in a completely different setting. I love it.

I'm still having mixed feelings about this one due to obvious reasons but looking at it from the outside I have to include it because objectively speaking this was an excellent production. The narrative was intelligent and worked so well, my boy Gawin was shining so much as Pisaeng, I still can't believe he wasn't the first choice because he's literally the perfect fit for this. I loved the symbolism, the blossoming romance and just Pear. that's it. just. Her. she was incredible. G&K had good chemistry, I was struggling with K.'s presence but the show was just so good that it overshadowed the rest. Loved it.

This show got a lot of hate which I sort of understand as it was low budget, cheesy and with heavy lakorn vibes but on god it really hit the spot for me lmao. JaFirst are my runner-up babes lol, I love their dynamic so much and seeing them make their comeback in this with completely reversed roles had me squealing lol Punn was the most adorable cookie, others cringed, I blushed lmao I loved the setup so much and him and Achi were everything. period.

Another show that's still airing but I'm really liking it so I'm including it as well lol. It's surprisingly well written and Pavel is doing fantastic in his comeback, I had lowkey written him off after the disaster that was Coffee Melody but he's back stronger than ever. Love that for him. The rest of the cast is very solid too, a lot of familiar faces who all stepped up their acting game since I last saw them with a special shoutout to Thanapon who is doing amazing. The story is super interesting and goes so far beyond just the racing stuff which was my apprehension when starting it. And even the omegaverse stuff is not as bad as I thought (so far.. don't wanna jinx it lmao). It's overall doing very well. Love it.

This one also got a lot of backlash lol but I loved it!! JoongDunk are my second FirstKhao lmao they're very dear to me, their on-screen dynamic is good actor carries weak actor and I'm aware of that lmao but to me they just work so well. Idk what it is. Even though Dunk's acting leaves room for improvement, they have a ton of chemistry and they're mastering the secret crush plot. This was fun and light, not too serious and I found it very enjoyable. the only thing that irritated me was the butchering of AouBoom like what in the world was that. Tee probably added them because he had to and disregarded them in the process but their story was abysmal. But putting that aside, it was a very nice show.

This was very brief for Mame standards lol and I was considering dropping it after episode 2 but then it surprisingly picked up, I started to really get into the story and SunnyPak worked very well for me. I was surprised that they just disappeared afterwards as I was expecting MMY to milk them like the rest of their couples but oh well. Mame made her GL debut in this which I appreciated but I wish they had casted someone else as Marine because sorry sweetie but she was terrible lmao rip. Yiwa was a very sweet and likable character and she deserved a better partner. That plus the special episode being stupid as hell, It's getting raking #9 lol.

This whole season was... a very wild rollercoaster ride lmao. I would say it was a 50/50 for me, half of the episodes were fun and the other half were horrendous lol. My personal highlight were The Eclipse episodes, they were pure fluff and adorableness, paired with some minor dumb fights but overall this was exactly what I was craving after the ordeal AkkAye went through in The Eclipse lmao but also I could easily sit through 10 episodes of Akk and Aye just being cute and cuddly and doing absolutely nothing else because duh. They're my comfort couple 🥺 I also quite enjoyed the ATOTSxBBS crossover and also surprisingly the ABAAB and NLMG episodes were a lot of fun!

thank you 2023 for - once again - giving us good gay food lmao. here's to an even better 2024 🧡

#top 10 #bl dramas #bl drama #top 10 bls #top 10 of 2023 #🧡

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zhansww · 2 months

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spoilers up until episode 14

Let me try and analyze this for a moment... I think Tunan already made it clear in episode 8 that he trusts Wei Ruolai, even saying he'd take responsibility himself if Ruolai should turn out to be a communist. And yet, he still allowed that police captain to arrest him. It makes no sense imo. Especially not after Ruolai even admitted to stealing the gun and Tunan could figure out for himself why he stole it. Like, why does it take Ruolai, getting imprisoned and tortured close to death but still being loyal to his xiansheng for Tunan to finally trust Ruolai.... he already trusted him before that. Or he should have. The only actual reason I see as to why the writers tortured Ruolai is to show how evil the non-communists are, basically. That's all that those torture sequences are supposed to serve. Which tbh, doesn't make all the angst that came with it less effective but it still annoys me. They knew, we, as viewers, may not feel much for any random guy, getting tortured but seeing our sweet protagonist get whipped, electrocuted, branded and drugged is bound to have an effect. As in, make us hate the non-communists more. Mind you, Tunan’s “betrayal” may only be a slight divergence from his previously established character but it’s still egregious enough to annoy me. Especially when they coulda so easily fixed it by having him not allow that police captain to arrest Ruolai but have them do it anyway. Heck if anything, that woulda served their purpose of making the non-communist side look evil even more, and without making Tunan’s character be a dick for no discernible reason. Literally, Ruolai has given him no reason to earn his distrust, even including the fact that he hid the robbery from him.

I def have no complaints when it comes to Ruolai’s character... he’s been way too humble and self-sacrificing from the very beginning and especially when it comes to his xiansheng. He repeatedly said that he’s willing to die for him and with this, he basically got to prove it. His last words to Tunan at the end of the episode sounded like a goodbye even which was... painful. As unjustified as this was, I’m kinda relieved we got it behind us now, tho. I’m sure there’s still a lot of angst ahead but at least the worst is past. And even better, given the previews for tomorrow’s episodes, Tunan seems to be willing to risk it all to get his boy out of prison. And when he comes back, he’ll get ganged up on by all the workers at the bank cuz they want him to leave but we’ve already seen what happens in that scene in the trailers; Tunan will ask Ruolai to be his student. In a way, he’ll maybe hopefully finally get his loyalty and devotion to that man somewhat reciprocated/rewarded.

#war of faith #spoilers #text #can you tell I'm invested lol

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jennifersminds · 10 months

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19 20 and 21

you’re mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like…

Bamon. I hate that man and Bonnie deserves so much better but I think, in a vacuum, they're interesting and have great chemistry. It's the only relationship Damon has that has any real potential for value and growth in my opinion. Ironically and unfortunately I think that's because of jplecs blatant racism. Because she refused to acknowledge Bonnie as a romantic prospect for anyone of importance to the fandom she accidentally built a relationship between Bonnie and Damon that existed outside of Damon's usual pattern of pinning all his insecurities on a relationship and using his romantic interest as some kind of moral obligation.

that being said fuck him. fuck his soul. wish she burnt him alive but the fics slap and they're hot together.

part of canon you found tedious or boring

the season five doppelganger development. Katherine, Elena, and Tatia are SO FUCKING FASCINATING. The endless cycle of being sacrificed for a male character's growth (Tatia to Elijah, Katherine to Klaus and the Salvatores, and Elena to all of them) and the way the memory of each of them influences and affects the way the future doppelganger is treated and viewed,,,, miraculous and underappreciated.

They're a tragedy that's already been written, specifically for Elena and Katherine, their fates are sealed the second they're born, and the way each of them chooses to fight it. (Elena's technique being determined by Katherines before her). It's so cool. And also something I think a lot of fanon refuses to acknowledge. Not just stelenas (refusing to acknowledge that Katherine was his main motivator for pursuing Elena) or delenas (refusing to acknowledge the effect Katherine and Damon's relationship had on his mistreatment of Elena) but I think Elejah's don't address it enough either. Elijah (imo) has a lot of unjustified anger towards Katherine and (while I understand why we don't always get into it because it's a lot) I think it's something it would be really fun to discuss how that affects his treatment of Elena and how she'd feel about it in a self-aware post-Salvatore world.

so yeah long way of saying the doppelgangers were interesting enough and I found the whole Silas/Stefen thing to be a really cheap uncreative way of derailing that when there was so much to explore already.

part of canon you think is overhyped

The love triangle. Damon and Stefan in general. I don't care about them or their pain. I think Damon's dad should have hit him more.

give me Bonnie's backstory, where the fuck is her dad? has she ever had a pet? what's her favourite movie? forty minutes of her painting a wall, idc. anything.

thank you so much for the ask @sevensistersofsussex

choose violence ask game

#the vampire diaries #elena gilbert #elejah #elijah mikaelson #tvd #asks <3 #bonnie bennet #somehow both pro and anti bamon #katherine pierce #tatia #kelena

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bohemian-nights · 5 months

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Hello, I was wondering why do you think TB attracts so many aggressive people with poor reading comprehension/media literacy? Like I have never seen a word of fiction glean a fanbase this wilfully obtuse and seemingly HELLBENT on offering the most intellectually dishonest takes! And sometimes even educated people with common sense prefer TB knowing Demon and Ramona are so wicked and selfish. :( my best friend thinks the Greens are usurpers and I don't get it cuz she's not a dumb person.

PS do you like Elia Martell?

If I had to guess why I’d say it has a lot to do with power fantasies and the ability to self-insert into certain characters(the greens aren’t written the best but they are much more fleshed out/complex imo).

With Rhaenyra people like her mainly because of the show turning her into a girl boss.

Before the show, she wasn’t well-liked (she descends into being a straight-up psycho), but they softened her out(her worst moments have so far been cut out), and tried to turn her into a Dany-type figure struggling to gain power against the patriarchy.

She’s poorly written and bland as hell, but they like the image curated around her. She’s dressed up as a revolutionary without being revolutionary. She’s the perfect mascot for their own wants.

With Daemon, he is a hot male “villain”/ anti-hero/bad boy. Characters like him are always going to attract a fanbase(especially a large female fanbase). It’s a tale as old as time.

People view him as either someone they can fix or their self-insert (Rhaenyra’s) man who will do anything for her. Aka her attack dog who’d die for even though the actual person he’d die for is Nettles, but they won’t admit to this because of their own biases.

I reject Daemon being completely wicked(at least book! Daemon; show!Daemon is on trial until the series ends). He does have some redeemable qualities. In the end, he chose love over power, the crown, and his own life. It doesn’t excuse away all his bad, but he’s not evil and totally self-serving.

Honestly, if I were to simplify things, based on how these fans express themselves, I think a lot of people who like Team Black(which is basically just the cult of Dumbnyra) are low-key racists with eugenic views or at the very least subscribe to white feminism(which is severely problematic).

Even the Black and POC fans seem like they have self-hate issues(sorry not sorry, but anytime you are befriending and making excuses for racists you aren’t right in the head).

Not saying your friend is a racist(or a self-hater), but this is just something I’ve noticed.

The show's influence really can't be discounted either. If someone is only familiar with the show I think it’s very easy to just take things at face value and see Rhaenyra as someone who is a victim and who we should root for because of framing(that could be why your friend likes her which isn’t her fault and is no knock to her intellect).

The book does a better job of showing that neither side is the victim or the villain. Both sides have casualties and innocent people(Nettles, Helaena, and the children) who are hurt by their side's greed.

I do like Elia. She was handed a really bad hand in life. She(and her children) deserved more than they got. The hate she gets from a certain part of the fandom is unjustifiable. She does nothing, but exist and she’s not any less relevant than her fellow dead lady Lyanna. (Seriously they are both dead and only live on in the characters memories. They both aren’t really relevant in that way).

#bnasks #bnask #anti team black #anti hotd fandom

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destinyc1020 · 6 months

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I think a lot of the Austin hate now stems from Jacob fans, bt i find many of Jacobs "fans" to b very fleeting. i think the voice comments will always b there bt a lot of ppl got over the unjustified rumors of him cheating on Vanessa and ppl do think he/Kaia gerbers age gap is weird (ik i do 🥴) bt Austin just got famous from Elvis last yr n I dnt really think Kaia is that relevant in pop culture so some ppl will point it out bt I think their kinda overlooked as a couple. I think over time he will b fine though his fanbase seems to b strong

Yea, the Elvis/Jacob/Austin comparisons were bound to happen, so that was a given. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I still don't really get the voice thing tbh. Yea, his voice might be slightly different, but if you compare it to 7 years ago, his voice/accent basically sounds the same. He just has an older voice now, and maaaybe a less hard enunciation of certain words probably due to the Elvis vocal training all those years. But other than that?? People drove that voice thing into the ground imo.

Look, even Tom has an older voice now. That's what normally happens when you age. Your voice (yes, even women's voices) change a little, and usually get deeper with age.

But yea, I'm sure eventually people will get over it with him just like they got over the Anne Hathaway hate...

I'll address the Kaustin and Vanessa stuff below 👇:

RE: Kaustin....

I've already talked about what I think about them as a couple on my blog several times before... 🤐 Honestly? They as a couple have always seemed a bit OFF to me (and I'm not just talking about the age gap thing ; which is cringe in itself) and idk why. Look, I've tried to like them as a couple, and her, but I just can't get over the nepobaby-ism, and the weirdness of that family. I actually used to think they were real (and maybe they are?🤷🏾‍♀️) but this year, certain things about their relationship have seemed a bit contrived and pap-heavy??

Not only that, but they barely even look like they're close friends w/each other half the time ROTFL. 😅🤣 Their vibe is so off to me lol. I'm sorry. But the gut doesn't lie. They look so bored and dead w/each other sometimes. I keep saying that Vanessa is the one who got away... 👀 Want proof? Just do a simple Google search photo comparison of his "couple" pics with V and his "couple" pics with K. That's all I'll say lol... 🤭

But hey, if they're happy, then I'm happy for them!? 🤷🏾‍♀️ Idc who he dates honestly, just as long as she's a kind person, is genuine, down to earth, and is dating him for the right reasons.

Here's some tea☕for you.... There's been some in the fandom who spilled that supposedly, Kaia went after HIM. 👀 That wouldn't surprise me lol.

RE: Vanessa...

Yea, I never fully believed the cheating rumors tbh, cuz things just didn't make sense. And no woman I know would be hanging out with the girl who her bf of 9 years cheated on her with. Add to the fact that their families (esp her sister?) still follow each other?🤔

Also add to the fact that Ash Tisdale is still SUPER close to Austin, and I know she is/was a close friend of V's as well, so I doubt she'd be hanging tight with him if he cheated on her friend like that. 🥴 So things just never made sense?

More tea ☕ for you....Take this with a HUGE FAT GRAIN of salt (because who knows if any of this stuff is true?), but word on the street is that supposedly, Vanessa was the one who broke up with Austin. 👀

IF that is true, then that would explain a LOT. Supposedly, it had to do with Elvis filming. 🤐 Supposedly, they had already broken up before the film even started filming. It's a long story.

Anyway, they seemed really happy together all those years, so it's kinda sad they weren't able to try to work things out again. But oh well! It's too late now! V is about to be a married woman (if she isn't already!). 😅

Honestly?? I don't blame her if she really wanted marriage and a family, and she didn't want to continue to spend more time waiting for him (and his career, etc) to catch up.

#sorry for the dissertation

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napo-leo-art · 1 year

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Hi! ^^ 7,9 and 24 (Edgy/misc OC ask meme), if it's still a thing, for Levi pretty please!

It is! Thanks for the questions! Let me put it under the cut because it's LOOONG tw: answer #9 briefly talks about suicide ideation

7. What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

I'll focus on design/idea instead of character development for this one! The biggest thing that's changed is that (prior to playing Retribution) I went back to Rebirth to replay things, mostly to jog my memory. Iirc, my first playthrough of Levi had his vendetta against his past self (because of the provided 'I was an idiot'/I hate looking back at myself reason). I still think he has a really strong hatred for 'Sidestep', who he has a complicated idea of (as in: he knows Sidestep is a part of him, but it's easier to think of him as a different person because he was a legitimate hero back then); now though, his hatred is against Herald. It was kind of a choice motivated by seeing how/if that would change the way the romance played out, and ngl I don't really know if it did (played a ton of Retribution, but I don't remember that part). I think it gives better "reason" for him being so unreasonably cruel to Herald, who he barely knows. Ortega and Chen he has history with, and Argent is a very serious threat, so all of those are well-justified imo. Herald being the target of some (extremely unjustified) violent behavior makes the most sense to me if Levi hates him*. *Which in Levi's case is just jealousy and regret gone overboard 9. Do you have a specific lyric or quote which you associate with your OC?

Oh god, not prior to right now?

Maybe (from the poem "Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas, which is by FAR one of my favorite poems)

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night.

.... Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

I don't think that the poem as a whole is representative of Levi, but that strong emotion that it sparks in me personally reminds me very deeply of Levi, and of many Sidesteps that choose that one 'I'll tear my skin if I have to' option. Along with the meaning of the entire poem, I think it inspires this passionate emotion counter to the inevitability of death, which is how I view Levi's feeling about dying. He's a tactician, but he doesn't look for any long term plans as a villain because he sees death as the end point of this fight. The point of this thing isn't really what happens to him at the end of it, because he sees it as just the (hopefully powerful) last thrashes of his life. Even surviving a full year as a villain was a big fucking deal to him: it's not like this is really a suicide-by-cop/suicide-by-hero situation, but he doesn't care if he dies and in a way, it's not a negative if he does. It's just expected.

24. What is an alternative life path your OC might have gone down? How different would their life be if they'd made those decisions?

A life path that I think about pretty often for most Sidesteps is the idea of one where they decided to trust the Rangers with the re-gene secret. I think (in retrospect) it's way, WAY easier than admitting to being a villain. I'm hoping that the Rangers would have supported Levi through it, and I know that Sidestep has a lot of pretty reasonable fears about the Farm tracking him back down, so it might've been messy.

But let's say he does mention the re-gene secret and the Farm. I imagine that the Rangers (or at least Ortega, maybe Chen?) would have believed him after a little convincing, and then tried to do what they could to obscure his identity as much as possible. Considering he hid his face most of the time, maybe they'd be confident enough about it.

With the tactician and tech-savvy traits he has, I can see him becoming someone they keep hidden away as much as possible- no more public hero duty (which would suit Levi just fine), and he can get all of the praise and fulfillment he needs out of working on Rangers tech and science on the back end.

In this AU, I wonder if he would've confessed to Ortega eventually, or if Ortega would've tried to make a move- it's possible that would've become a relationship, but only after years and years of Levi being coaxed into actually trusting Ortega. I like to think that Argent and Herald do join eventually, and that they're shocked to figure out that Sidestep (the one-time hero) has become hero tech support LMAO.

I do think he'd be happy. Especially with Ortega and Chen supporting and protecting him.

#fhr spoilers #Levi Song #oc asks #thanks again!!

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dimiclaudeblaigan · 1 year

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How is path of Radiance? Like the characters, writing, the plot.. I heard really good things about Elincia and getting good writing for female characters is so rare in FE games I want to try it now

I'm gonna take a wild guess and ask if it's @randomnameless you heard the Elincia stuff from LOL.

What I will say first about the females before getting into the other stuff is that the females are handled perfectly. They get the same amount and kind of development as the males and aren't there just to be male gaze eye candy. Petrine is the closest thing I could say is like that by appearance, but her personality doesn't match what they do a lot more often nowadays, and she's not a bad character (she's a good villain if nothing else). The females are treated very equally to the males.

PoR also kinda has a "no character left behind" deal where you can continue getting bits and pieces from everyone you recruit, either via base conversations or boss conversations (outside of just supports). Usually in FE after you get a character to join you, that's it and all you get is supports for development, but PoR continues to reuse those characters in various base conversations (including ones that phase out in story importance, like how the Greil Mercenaries are story important but most of them lose importance midgame).

One other good thing though about characters losing importance is that they all do. Aside from the very very main handful, you get sections where different characters get spotlight. For instance, the GMs are the first section of the game, but later on you start seeing more of Begnion's cast, and then you start seeing the bird tribes for a while and so on. Importance is split between a wide range of characters and it gives a whole bunch of them actual story relevance even if they're not in the immediate main handful.

The characters are all stellar because they're all very different and not single-trope based. These days we get one or two tropes and/or aspects about a character (like Boucheron in Engage gets lost all the time and he cries a lot from reading books/generally cries often, and that's... pretty much his whole personality. Citrinne is rich and doesn't know how to give gifts that aren't expensive and wants to protect her people and that's it) and just have to accept that it's their entire character.

There's also a lot of reading between the lines to understand all the characters and not just taking things at surface level. For instance, most people HATE Makalov because he uses people's money and gambles it all away, but he consistently tries to better himself. He ultimately fails in both games to lose that bad habit, but he does regularly bring the idea up of trying to lose that addition and tries to be a better brother for his sister. Just because he fails at actually breaking his bad habits doesn't mean that's it, clean cut, that's all there is to him. He's not my favorite personally, but imo he gets a lot of unjustified hate. He has a gambling addiction but he does have a lot of self awareness and knows when he's being a scoundrel. He doesn't like it, but he knows it's part of him.

For the story and plot, both are fantastic. Everything is connected, even between both games, giving the sense that the game was made with a sequel planned before it was even released. The game literally ends on a cliffhanger ffs lmao. The story starts as just the GMs doing their job, then they get hired to guard Elincia and have to take a journey to do so to gain enough army strength, but once you get about halfway into the game, it starts getting a lot more serious and kind of grows with Ike in a way. Like, he grows more into being a leader and understanding how to manage his mercenaries, but the story progresses with his maturity and becomes in a sense a more mature story.

There's also the way racism is done that's really well handled, in which a good chunk of the cast, including very main characters in both games, start out extremely racist (Tibarn and Reyson are among the most racist, human hating characters in the first game for a good half or more of the game, because the halfway point is chapter fifteen (there are thirty chapters total including the prologue, IF you don't count that chapter 17 is four parts long). Over time they all change and grow at their own pace. Naesala is even a tricky one because he seems like he's still not quite a villain but not really an ally by the end, but he actively drops the term "human" in favor of "beorc" once Reyson informs him he's in service to the Crimean army to repay their deeds in protecting his sister. Even more minor characters like Jill and Lethe take it at their own pace and Jill in particular you get base conversations with repeatedly, where she grows as a person in every single one. She joins you in chapter 12 and is still relevant in her own way through chapter 20, i.e. through base conversations.

Also, I really love that all the characters come together by the end and piece the plot together together, as a group. It's not just the main character and another one or two people who are suddenly like OH I UNDERSTAND. They literally have group conversations to work things out and add their own insight to bring the plot together. For example, there's a conversation with Caineghis, Tibarn, Ike, Soren, Titania, Elincia, and Ranulf where they're all discussing Ashnard and his motivations. They all use pieces of what they've learned individually throughout the war to tell everyone else what they know, and they piece it all together.

It's honestly kind of fascinating to see even now, at least for me, considering FE games don't do that anymore. Usually you get a few characters total who are main characters (like Awakening, how you get a handful of characters who have any plot relevance whatsoever and nobody else gives their two cents about what's going on, despite being part of a large army). It really gives each character individuality and purpose, where it doesn't feel like they're just a number in your army. It feels like another person in your army. Even if not all of them are directly in your army/playable, they still integrate with the story.

Supports are pretty great too because you can glean a lot from just small supports. If you've been following me long enough you knew he was going to come up sooner or later: HURRAY, SHINON, WHOOOO. 🥳🎉🎉🎉 Shinon has a pretty rocky B support with Janaff, but it's so valuable for both of their characters. Both of them think the other is stupid for not knowing "something totally obvious lelzies", but they end up having a good discussion about it and learning from each other, despite Shinon being grumbly grumble bag because he's talking to a yeehaw half-breed who was rood to him last support when he was minding his own business (Janaff had never seen him before but Shinon didn't like the way he was talking to him, so being the idiots they truly are had a ten second verbal battle of "if i wanted to i could kill u, just so u r aware lel"). It ends with Shinon like ugh ugh why am I doing this tho, and he skedaddles and Janaff is all huffy puffy because he wanted to ask more questions about beorc (humans). Their A support is a fountain of goodness for both of them/their characters because you learn a lot about Janaff that I think you otherwise would never even consider. This time it's Janaff who just happily opts out of the conversation after realizing Shinon isn't so bad and he enjoyed learning from him, and Shinon is the one who is like hey wait come back... except last time Janaff was aggravated when Shinon peaced out. This time Shinon is actually interested and intrigued and wants Janaff to come back because Janaff has seen more of the world than him and he wants to hear more, but he's nice about it (there's more development than that, but I'm summarizing to give an example of how supports go in this game).

Can you tell I adore them by the way I make fun of them so intensely? Thank you.

Imo the writing is good enough that I can reread the whole game even despite playing it over 20 times. Sometimes I do just play it for gameplay and skip dialogue, but there are plenty of times I read the whole script over again. The characters are very full of personality with depth and growth. Very few are kind of left in the dust, like extremely late game randoms like Calill and Largo who have no reason to exist except to give you a sage in case for some wild ass reason you did not train any of your three mages by that point, and Largo being the only Berserker class character in the entire Tellius franchise, which is a wah wah when you realize he's not even playable in RD. Probably Tellius' biggest wah wah what's the point, honestly.

Have you seen my posts about Ashnard that get littered around my blog regularly? When I complained about Houses' failures for making an intriguing villain? To put it simply, Tellius has characters like him, who are Happy and They Know It, aka A Villain and They Know It, and then you have villains who have actually unfortunate backstories (yeehaw spoiler for RD just in case you don't know who it is, but it's actually set up in PoR very, VERY sneakily, and you realize it's all there after you've beaten both/beaten RD at least twice because unfortunately there is a chunk of story/plot locked behind a second or higher playthrough in RD, some of which also requires very specific gameplay to have happened). No, I'm not talking about the Black Knight... though he is probably the worst written case of a villain in RD, when he was perfectly handled in PoR. Granted, he also has second or higher run locked story. In fact... so does Soren's entire identity lol. RD really just said replayability or bust.

As much as PoR is my second favorite game, I actually still think that in general it's the absolutely best written story/plot with the most diverse and detailed characters. Tbh I'd go so far as to say it's the actual best, because most FE games lack either in story, plot or characters, or even just lack in tolerable females/female designs. PoR doesn't miss a beat with any of those, and tbph I actively despise PoR Lethe but don't at all mind or dislike her in RD because there's actual growth there and her personality toward the main cast is basically a 180.

RD doesn't handle the group discussions, and adding in as many characters to the story as possible all the way throughout, as well as PoR, but it does try and it does give you various armies to work with to learn about a good chunk of them. It's definitely behind PoR in terms of the three things I've brought up that you asked about (the females aren't sexualized or treated poorly, but I'd argue that Micaiah was a point of contention when the game first came out. Think, Three Houses discourse except it was Ike fans versus Micaiah fans on a significantly tinier scale. Other than her (and Lyre being very annoying imo and having no redeeming traits lol), there wasn't really anything distasteful and the females as a whole weren't mishandled.

Really the worst part about people wanting to try the game is that it's approximately ~300 USD to buy a used copy of the original game, and RD isn't particularly cheap either. You'd be best off playing it on an emulator, but you also unfortunately need at least somewhat decent specs or a gaming computer for RD for it to run well, and POR can run okay on a bland computer but it might look/sound laggy. From my experience when using an emulator for it (since sometimes I like to fuck around with cheats because the debug stuff is so fun in that game), the sound is the worst in laggyness and it's just otherwise a bit slow. It might be doable, but at least much more so than RD. Just might not be a seamless experience, sadly.

If you can play it smoothly either via emulator or have the extra money to dish out (or if you find it up for a cheap enough bid online, or someone does an oopsie and puts it up for a steal), I'd definitely say try to grab one and play it for yourself. It's still awesome to watch a playthrough of if you have no decent access to it, but it's also very fun to play.

Also, it's a super good game for newer FE fans because it's not that difficult. I know lots of newer fans who only know casual and classic as options are a bit deterred from playing older games with no casual mode (FE12 and up have Casual, so anything from Shadow Dragon and backwards doesn't have that option, though SD has the benefit of having save points, like two per map, and RD lets you save at literally any time on any map as long as it's your turn). This game is at least a tolerable difficulty even on normal mode, so if you're really unsure, you can play your first run on easy mode and it should definitely not be too difficult.

There's also an added bonus of a way to tell if you might do well or ill in battle with any character at any given time and that's through the biorhythm, which you can see on the character's menu screen when you shift through their screens. It's a feature only in the Tellius games, but it adds the bonus of determining battle outcomes for every single unit and changes every turn throughout the battle. It's not an absolute, but it's helpful if you're looking at a unit who has a fifty chance of hitting, because if they have a poor biorhythm they're almost definitely not going to hit. If they have a perfect biorhythm, they have an even better chance of getting that hit.

So honestly, if you're struggling to pick a game to play that's older and doesn't have the safety net of Casual mode to help you see the story while not being worried about gameplay messing up getting to watch your favorite characters' development, I'd say pick up PoR and play on easy mode on your first go to make it much more comfortable. It's literally great for newcomers and/or fans who have never experienced classic mode not being a choice, and it has story/plot/characters to match the enjoyment.

Just because it's my second favorite and not my number one doesn't mean I won't advocate for it the most heavily! My favorite is still lacking in a fair bit of things PoR has and has wonderfully done.

Tbh, looking back on it too, even now my opinions on things are still growing and changing. I looked back on my recent ongoing run and went wow, I wonder how I felt about Naesala before chapter 16/17 on my first ever playthroughs, because I actually understand his point of view a lot better even without needing to consider the spoilers I'm now aware of. Just seeing what's in front of me, I actually think Naesala comes across as more likeable of a character than Tibarn and Reyson start out as, then it shifts the other way where they're more likable and he's not, and then it evens out lategame/by the end. After that RD is a rollercoaster with a resolution for a lot of characters, Naesala especially (especially especially if you bring him with you into the last portion of the game, which is a multi chaptered endgame with a set army/characters of your choice from throughout the entire game) that makes playing PoR again even better, because there's a lot of hindsight that was planned in PoR and dropped throughout.

Even if I wouldn't say RD is definitely as fascinating as PoR, it does answer a whole load of questions and makes replaying PoR much more reasonable if you otherwise saw little to no reason to replay it. Since I talked about PoR here it's kind of impossible not to include RD in terms of PoR's story since they are wholly connected, but even just by itself PoR is a perfect experience for story/plot/character balance.

Also, Ranulf is a cat. A blue cat. And he's funny. And he's kind. And he's sweet. Why hasn't he won CYL yet? Why does he not have even a single alt in Heroes yet? There will never be true justice in this world.

#DCB Ask #thank u nonnie for enabling me to word vomit about por i vomited about many characters and various story factors #scrolls back up. oh. oh das long. didn't realize it was dat long. oh. oh!#anyway shinon and janaff are in love and will always never admit it to anyone or even themselves #slides my shinaff agenda in here gently and waves happily to u and all other readers #nibbles on my chocolate and watches u all happily like a lil mouse

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patricedumonde · 4 months

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this is kind of random but it is very sad to me how cruel people who watch ballet are to ballet dancers. i've been uploading ballet videos (mostly of the vaganova, mariinsky and bolshoi) and people are just so strangely mean to everyone, even if the girls are still teenagers. at one point i uploaded a video of koshkaryova and valiullina debuting in a role together and the comment section was just full of relentless comparisons. bashing on sofya's weight (imo she looks the same as she did when she graduated...she has always had this build and it's never seemed to hold her back), calling masha robotic or boring (imo unjustified considering the video itself)...it's just so unnecessary for people to take sides and yet there's like 50 comments just fighting over who's better. both sofya and masha have found my channel at different points and it grosses me out to think there's a chance that they've seen comments like that. I know it's only worse on telegram so I assume they've got thicker skin than that, but it still sucks and makes me wonder if i should be deleting comments, but it's rough when every other comment I get is negative. I can't keep track of that.

i am not joking when i say i can count on my fingers the number of "regulars" I have who are kind to everyone and i can rely on them to say nice things about the dancers. i remember their names. that's how sparse they are.

surprisingly the only recent video I've uploaded where there was zero hate was a random short which went viral to 1M views (ie youtube recommended it to a much wider audience, outside of the usual ballet channel subscribers) and the audience was mostly people who don't know about ballet. they were so impressed and so kind. and that makes me sadder because that means the general public has more compassion and love for dancers than those who claim to be ballet fans, balletomanes etc. you like ballet but you can't even refrain from insulting the dancers? :(

I am so sorry to hear this, this was one of my biggest apprehensions when I started this blog. I was scared that it would have a lot of negative criticisms towards dancers, and they are people who have access to this content. I can't imagine how it is in your place, with everything you're describing!

It is true that they did enter the industry knowing that they will be in the public eye. I don't think that is a valid reason to be mean towards them though. Yes, critics are involved in the profession, but there is a kind way to give corrections. We also have to acknowledge the experience level of these dancers, I don't think a lot of people realize just how young they are (Masha and Sofya, in this case).

All I ask is, for any readers of this blog, if you do visit this blog regularly, you know how engaging our conversations are. Spread it elsewhere. Whether these videos are on youtube or instagram, feel free to compliment the dancers, and avoid unnecessary negative comments.

And for the asker, DM me your channel, I wanna be one of the regulars!! Or if you're comfortable, I can post it here too, I'm sure I have readers who would want to do the same thing :)

#russian ballet #patrice answers #sofia valiullina #maria koshkaryova

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f1-birb · 1 year

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I know we talk about Jon's dad defending Lando on social media a lot, but seeing Oscar's own relatives needing to defend him already when he hasn't even participated in an actual F1 race yet just makes me sad. NOT because he doesn't deserve the support and defense (he absolutely does), but just the differences in the things they have to defend them against. Basically every "Jon's dad" comment I have personally seen has been him debunking some "Lando sucks! He has no race craft and will never win a race" comment or some weird conspiracy theory claiming McLaren favors him and sabotages Dan. Very rarely was it ever actually attacking who Lando is as a person. Most of the comments I've seen Oscar's relatives respond to are personally attacking him and his morals - calling him a punk, a thief, talking about how he and Webber are schemers who betrayed Daniel, talking about how he betrayed his entire country, etc. I don't know, I honestly just feel sympathy for Oscar in how his welcome (or lack thereof) to F1 has been. He has had several influential people slandering him and who he is as a person since summer break, and now a toxic portion of a fan base slandering him and who he is as a person (and mostly just parroting the things those Alpine higher-ups said), and the way Oscar has carried himself through it all takes, imo, a lot of character and morals. I'm NOT going to get my hopes up because the universe has a weird way of crushing my hopes and dreams as a McLaren fan ( 💀😭 ), but I honestly hope 2023 is full of good things for both Oscar and Lando, and gives both opportunities to prove their doubters wrong. I have a feeling, even if it takes a while for him to adjust to F1, Oscar will prove himself to be a great talent as well, and I hate that both of these drivers have received so much frankly, unjustified and unwarranted hatred and vitriol, sent their way.

I've said it before and I'll continue to, this is why I don't look at comment sections and why I don't have twitter. The level of unnecessary venom aimed at drivers and teams is just upsetting and 96% of the time unwarranted (leaving that 4% for when it's validly calling them out on shit they should be called out for)

The way Oscar has conducted himself through this whole thing, literally since the Alpine tweet announcing him, has been extremely professional and he's 21. He's 21 and he's been more mature about it than some other people involved (looking at a particular OS in Alpine....) and I've been really impressed by it. I'm also glad his family is so supportive and looking out for him

Unfortunately he's replacing a fan favourite who brings with him a fan base that's half chill and understanding, and half willing to burn the entirety of the sport to the ground for slighting "their" driver - he was always going to get the nasty comments. Obviously that doesn't make it right or acceptable, but it isn't surprising to me at all and I'm glad that he seems to have a support system in place to help him manage it until it calms down. I'm hoping that with a certain other Aussie not leaving the sport entirely and seeming to get exactly what he wanted out of his RB deal, the hatred will relax a little next season

I can't get my hopes up too high, 21 into 22 has taught me NOT to do that lol, but I'm really looking forward to seeing Oscar at McLaren and seeing how him and Lando work together, and I'm hoping more for Lando's sake than the team's really that he doesn't have to carry McLaren basically alone again

#oscar piastri #lando norris #mclaren f1 #birb speaks

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oodlyenough · 1 year

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What did you think of TLOU ep5 and the changes to the game? I honestly thought they did things better in the show.

Honestly same, I really liked it. This segment of the game is fun to play but much of the story would be lacking on screen without that gameplay, and the action would've felt/looked too unrealistic on tv I think... like, Joel and co escaping a gazillion-strong army and infinite infected lol.

This got really long so it's under a cut. At the end I talk a bit about tlou2 spoilers although it's marked:

I thought Sam and Henry were great and I liked the changes that were made there, although I have to admit I'd actually forgotten the finer details of their story, eg I had forgotten there was more tension between Henry and Sam in the game. I don't mind them replacing it. I also thought Sam being Deaf and the use of ASL brought an interesting element to their story that wasn't in the game. I thought Sam and Ellie's bonding was adorable. Also... henry... 👀

In my ep 4 post I was worried maybe they'd make Henry somehow "deserving" of his fate, vs game Henry being an innocent. And I suppose they kind of did make him guilty... but it was an extremely sympathetic reason VS Kathleen being utterly unreasonable (more on that below) so I was fine with it in the end.

I gotta say even though I knew it was likely Sam and Henry would have the same fate as their game counterparts, Ellie's "my blood is medicine" got me fhklghldfkg I was like well that makes no sense but I'll allow it" bc I wanted poor Sam to be ok :( Ellie sis I feel u.

My #unpopular opinion, I think, is that I don't really like the angle the show is taking of "the infected are still themselves inside". I guess it's meant to be part of the body horror and stuff. Maybe I'm just being a game purist. It just seems a bit goofy to me and I can't really embrace it lol. Reminds me of the James portions of TWDG s4 which I fucking hated.

The action sequence at the end was incredible imo, felt simultaneously very game-like (Leo pointing meme @ the sniper) while improving adapting the source material well. The infected surging out of the ground, the Bloater, etc, were all really well done I thought. Also the child clicker omg hats off to the baby gymnast bc her movements were creepy as shit.

Joel nailing every shot made me laugh a bit because I fucking suck as the sniper LOL I always get everyone killed sooo many times.

Probably the most contentious bit of the episode is Kathleen. I think she served her purpose well enough -- I've seen plenty of complaints that she wasn't compelling, or that she was too cartoonishly evil, and then I think about how in the game, Philly is just run by an-entirely-men-only military armed force who hunts down Joel+Ellie and every other "tourist" with completely unjustified determination because... uh.... because ? (I get they kill tourists for resources. Surely Joel, Ellie, Henry and Sam are not worth the resources expended to track them down across the fuckin' city lmao. It only works because video game.) So obviously the show had to do SOMETHING else

Anyway, I think Kathleen mostly worked. I don't think she was sympathetic at all but I don't think she needed to be -- whatever sympathy you might briefly feel about her brother is pretty quickly extinguished by her saying she knows he'd want forgiveness but she doesn't give a shit, and then again later by her being like "lmao fuck them kids". I also thought casting Melanie Lynskey to use her softest soccer mom voice while saying heinous shit was great... I feel like the "well she's not threatening" stuff is totally off base lmao I don't know how anyone could draw that conclusion tbh. Are entitled """""nice"""" white women leading a lynch mob not terrifying...??

TLOU2 discussion/spoilers:

Obviously the natural comparison here is Kathleen and Ellie and/or Abby. I think her story hits a lot of those similar notes -- she's blinded by her revenge to her own destruction and the destruction of those around her, etc. So I understand where people are drawing those connections. I don't think it's really, like, fair/accurate to Ellie or Abby to say that Kathleen is exactly the same. I don't even think it's a case of "well if we spent time in Kathleen's shoes we'd understand", a la what TLOU2 did/wanted to do with Abby. Neither Abby nor Ellie mobilize and jeopardize their entire community to exact their revenge -- the former Fireflies come by choice, and so do Dina/Tommy/Jesse. Clearly the collateral damage of their revenge is a huge part of the game, but Ellie and Abby also don't have any "Fuck them kids" scenes where they expressly want to murder children as a punishment for their guardian's sins, lmao. The closest you get is Ellie threatening Lev, which is the bottom of the barrel low point for her character and then she turns it around in the end.

So... I don't know. I mean yes obviously Kathleen serves as a bit of foreshadowing or a "parallel" or whatever, but I do think it's inaccurate to pretend it's hypocritical to judge Kathleen but like Abby or Ellie lol.

My final general thought/slight criticism is that the show isn't especially subtle. I've become a bit more sympathetic to television's lack of subtlety over the years as it has uhhh become clearer to me how much an audience will just straight up miss stuff, lmao, and I think part of the stuff that feels un-subtle feels that way to me as someone who already knows the story intimately and perhaps doesn't read that way to a first time viewer.

#anon #you've got questions we've got answers #the last of us hbo

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