#lack of engagement has killed this writer

[alabamasweettea]

a love letter to you, my inspiration

( for @negans-lucille-tblr )

i remember the moment i first became embroiled in this (affectionately) fic writing crap. it was your blog; as i scrolled through random Dean/reader/Sam fics because i have an awful mind XD

i clicked on one of your wincest/reader fics and i gotta say i was hooked. the writing style, delicious angst, scrumptious smut, just everything i was looking for was right there in one piece of writing. i don't think i've ever felt so satisfied by a fic before.

that fic is what inspired me to write; i just want you to know.

i want to make other people feel that way. it's why i continue to plod along and make fics.

it's super sad that you're going away; the community is losing a tremendous writer and i wish i would have given more support instead of watching from the shadows all the time.

oh well. we'll miss you.

❤️❤️❤️

#i hope this isn't offensive but it's from the heart #writers on tumblr #lack of engagement has killed this writer #love letters

[negans-lucille-tblr]

Hiya! I don't want to sound offensive, but happened to your first time Dean/Sam/John x sister/daughter!reader fic? I think it goes like the guys don't trust anyone else to take care of the reader properly, so they take it upon themselves to teach her? I looked on the masterlist but I can't find it anymore :(

Hey that was one of the fics that was deleted in the first phase of me leaving so that’s why you can’t find it!

#bee answers #anon #lack of engagement has killed this writer

[fratboykate]

I'm totally in support of the writers in theory but I'm trying to understand more of what you're fighting for because I've seen some people on twitter claim writers make more money a week than most of us make in a month so I'm trying to understand what the issue is. Also if that info is accurate. This is a genuine question. Not trying to have a "gotcha moment". I really want to hear from a writer.

people have always had wild misconceptions about how much a writer earns because of their lack of understanding of how the industry actually works. there's so many posts about how "you guys make 5k a week. what more do you want?!" yeah...let's do some math on that.

5k a week for 14 weeks (and that's a long room. a lot of rooms these days are 8-10 weeks. those are the dreaded mini-rooms we're trying to kill) is $70,000. for roughly three months of work. you'd think we're cooking with gas...BUT HOLD UP. that's gross! let's see everything that has to come out of that check:

10% to our agent

10% to our manager

5% to our entertainment attorney

5% to our business manager (not everyone has one but a lot of us do. i do, so that's literally 30% immediately off the top of every check)

most of these breakdowns ive seen downplay taxes severely. someone made one that says writers pay 5% in taxes and i would like to ask them "in what universe?". that doesn't even cover state taxes. the way taxes work in the industry is really complicated, but the short of it is most of us have companies for tax reasons so we aren't taxed like people on w2s/1099. if we did we'd be even more fucked. basically every production hires a writer's company instead of the writer as an individual. so they engage our companies for our services and then at the end of the year we (the company) pay taxes as corporations or llcs (depending on what the writer chose to go with). my company is registered as a "corporation" so let's go with those rates. california's corporate rate is 9% and the federal corporate tax rate is 21%. there's other expenses with running a business like fees and other shit so my business managers/accountants/bookkeepers have recommended i save between 35-40% of everything i make for when tax season comes.

you see where the math is at already??? 25-30% in commissions and then 35-40% in taxes. on the lower end you're at THE VERY LEAST looking at 60% of that check gone. 70% worst case scenario. suddenly those $70,000 people claim we make are actually down to $28,000 as the take home pay. and that's if you're only losing 60%. it goes down to $21,000 if it's 70%.

lets pretend you worked a long 14 week room (that's the longest room ive ever worked btw) and let's also be generous and say you only have 60% in expenses so the take home is $28,000. average rent in los angeles is around $2,800-$3,000. if you're paying $2,800 in rent that means you need AT LEAST $4,000 a month to have a semi decent life since you need to also cover groceries, gas, medical expenses, toiletries, phone, internet, utilities, rental and car insurances, car payments, student loan payments, etc etc etc. and again, this is los angeles. everything is more expensive so you're living BARE BONES on 4k. and these are numbers as a single person. im not even taking having children into account. so those $28,000 you take home might cover your life for 6-7 months. 3 of which you're in the room working. the reality is that once that room ends, you might not work in a room again for 6-9-12 months (i have friends whose last jobs were over 18 months ago) and you now only have about 3 months left of savings to hold you over. we have to make that money stretch while we do all the endless free development we do for studios and until we get our next paying job. so...3 months left of enough money to cover your expenses -> possible 9 months of not having a job. this is how writers end up on food stamps or applying to work at target.

this is why we're fighting for better rates and better residuals. residuals were a thing writers used to rely on to get them through the unemployment periods. residual checks have gone down from 20k to $0.03 cents. im not joking.

they've decimated our regular pay and then destroyed residuals. we have nothing left. so don't believe it when they tell you writers are being greedy. writers are simply fighting to be able to make a middle class living. we're not asking them to become poor for our sake. we're asking for raises that amount to 2% of their profit. TWO PERCENT. this is a fight for writing even being a career in five years instead of something you do on the side while you work retail to pay your bills. if you think shows are bad now imagine when your writer has to do it as a hobby because they need a real job to pay their bills and support a family. (which none of us can currently afford to have btw)

support writers. stop being bootlickers for billion dollar corporations. stop caring about fictional people more than you care about the real people that write them. if we don't win this fight it truly is game over. the industry as you know it is gone.

#wga strike #writer's strike #hollywood #anonymous #answers #myposts

[nobodyfamousposts]

Do you really think all of ML's problems would be fixed if Adrien never existed?

Good heavens, no.

Adrien isn't the problem. He's just a symptom of a much larger issue. That issue being laziness and poor writing that comes in the form of "tell, don't show", plot threads that go nowhere, and lack of character development or plot progression that leads to a setup of "Status Quo Is God". Removing Adrien wouldn't fix all of that. Heck, it wouldn't fix any of that.

I can't fault the writers for replacing Felix with Adrien. Even if I and others could write out a plot with Felix, that's not to say everyone could or that the writers could. It could very well be that Felix as he was in the PV simply didn't work for the setup they had in mind.

...the issue here is that the setup they had in mind seems to require stagnancy. Where Hawk Moth attacks without winning and the heroes fight off the akumas without really trying to track him as the source and the two leads chase each other around in circles without anyone making any headway in either of these battles. Marinette wants to date Adrien. Chat wants to date Ladybug. It's why all her plans to ask him out fail while his attempts to express his feelings aren't taken seriously. And there is no forward movement, whether in their arc or in the fight against Hawk Moth. There wasn't even build or lead up to the two falling in love. They just started out episode one with crushes on each other and remained having crushes on each other until arguably season 5.

But no good story is stagnant. In this setup, characters need to do things and there needs to be a feeling of forward momentum.

Break it down this way: What is Adrien's problem? What is his goal? What is the obstacle to his goal?

Yes, we could say Adrien's dad being a supervillain and a neglectful jerk is Adrien's main problem, but it's not the problem Adrien is actually focused on in the show. Instead, if we could say Adrien has a problem, it would be that he wants to date Ladybug. And his goal is to date Ladybug. And the source of the problem and obstacle to his goal is...Ladybug.

So his problem, his goal, and the obstacle are all the same thing. This ultimately seems to make his problems Ladybug’s fault then because the problem would be solved if she gives in to his wants rather than by any real effort on his part.

Adrien as he is in the show doesn't do anything. And he doesn't need to do anything because he is at his base a character that things are done for. He doesn't have a goal or direction or drive. He just comes out to deal with akumas as needed, flirt with Ladybug when he can, and then be sad because his life is so hard when he doesn't get what he wants. We don't see him doing anything else. We don't see him making friends. We don't see him engaging in school. We don't even really see how he interacts with the classmates he only recently met. Things happen around him, but he is not a driving force in anything in the show.

But Felix in the PV is a very driving character. He had a problem: he's cursed. What does he need to break the curse? A kiss from Ladybug. What are the obstacles to his goal: Ladybug refusing to kiss him and Hawk Moth trying to kill her. How does he get that kiss? By flirting with her and trying to earn her affections while protecting her and making sure she doesn't DIE against an akuma before he gets that special curse-breaking kiss.

It's the start of Felix's journey. His goal and the various obstacles to that goal that make his story interesting and his growth possible. As such, I see him as a character who would progress in his attempts to obtain his goal as well as one who would progress the storyline...which is also accurate of 3D Felix since that's kind of what he's done more in his relatively few appearances than the series has in 5 seasons.

Adrien didn't have to have Felix's personality. He didn't have to have the same goals or level of drive. But he could still have had things where he grows and helps to push the plot forward.

Adrien...

...just started school. He has no friends, knows no one, and is trying to learn the ins and outs of public education. How is he doing in the different setting with teachers instead of tutors? How is he trying to get along with his classmates? Does he experience bullying? Does anyone NOT like him? What is he going through as a new student who had been homeschooled all his life?

...is friends with Chloe. What's it like learning his "only friend" is a bully? How do people respond to this? Does anyone (besides Marinette) fear him or avoid him because if he's friends with Chloe, he must be just like her?

...is a superhero. He could have been spending time learning the history of the ring and trying to develop his powers. Trying to get stronger? Trying to get to know Plagg? What is he experiencing as a highly known model who is also a superhero and having to juggle those dual identities?

...has a dead mom who died of a "mysterious illness". Given that this loss supposedly occurred about a year prior, he could still be mourning her. Maybe trying to learn what happened to her.

...has a neglectful father. How is he trying to interact with his dad? How does he feel about his dad not being around? What is he doing to try to resolve this?

...has a supervillain father. Like, I cannot stress this enough! His dad is a SUPERVILLAIN! His dad is THE SUPERVILLAIN THEY ARE FIGHTING! People were predicting him finding out and joining Gabriel to try and revive his mom! People were living for the eventual heartbreak of when Adrien finds out the truth! Entire AUs, fan arts, and fanfics were born of this very idea! Going into the drama and struggle Adrien would be experiencing being caught between the "right thing" and the girl he loves and his duty vs his father and his mother and his family. HOW CAN THEY JUST IGNORE THIS?!

But we don't get any of that. Instead, we get Adrien...

...just acclimated with no issues in school and automatically friends with everyone. Good for him, I guess. Wish it was that easy for the rest of us.

...doing little besides occasional comments to Chloe as she is completely horrible for five seasons including Chloe stealing from classmates, getting the entire school punished for something she did, stealing a Miraculous, trying to crash a train, and betraying the city to Hawk Moth. But it takes him learning about something she did to Marinette a year ago for him to finally decide enough is enough and drop her as a friend.

...only goes out to deal with akumas as they come but does nothing to try and figure out his powers and history, get stronger, or try to track Hawk Moth.

...just moves on from dead mom. No relevance here aside from wanting to see a movie she was in or making a passing comment about how she got sick. No attempt to find out what happened to her. No questioning what she may have wanted for him.

...is just sad about his neglectful father neglecting him but seems to get over it rather quickly.

...never learns his father is a supervillain. Okay, I take it back. He learns twice and those timelines are erased with no real repercussions other than trauma for Marinette, so it really doesn't feel like they count. The pieces are all there, though! He knows his dad has the grimoire but never questions him about it! Never asks his dad what the deal was with Tibet! No question about how mom died or what is going on with Nathalie or what he's doing with a hidden mechanism in mom's portrait.

Adrien has potential. He has plot threads and aspects that could be used and goals he could have. But the writing does nothing with him, so while he has a number of things he COULD do to move forward and progress as a character or for the plot, nothing comes of it.

And that all boils down to a problem with the writing.

Adrien was chosen over Felix as an "easier" option to keep the story at a standstill so they could drag it out for as long as needed. That doesn't mean it should have been. There were so many paths that could have been taken, but Adrien was given the personality of a wet noodle, so he acts on none of them because that was what the writers wanted out of his character.

#ml salt #adrien salt #ml writers salt #ml spoilers #ml analysis

[mysterycitrus]

I keep hearing people say to ignore Devin Grayson’s Nightwing but I also see people reference it. I feel like I’m getting mixed signals. Should I avoid it or read it? Are there specific issue I should avoid or read? is the avoiding advice only for people who are new to the comics? Or should I really just avoid the whole thing?

short answer — u do not have to read devin graysons nightwing run. i wouldn’t recommend it to new readers, and there isn’t anything significantly important that happens so like. it’s an easy pass. i do encourage people to at least read what she wrote about, though, because devin accidentally kickstarted the next twenty or so years of bad writing in nightwing books.

the long answer — devin grayson was a writer for nightwing volume 2 from like….. issue #70ish to #115ish. she did a lot of weird things during her run — her takes on dick’s relationships with bruce and slade and helena come to mind — but the most popular talking points wrt her writing are issue 93 and maaaaybe the renegade arc but that is literally the tip of shit mountain.

it’s funny u say that people are telling u not to read it cause based on my experience in fandom it is very, very clear that very few people have read any of the run at all, or even #93 and it’s preceding issues. which is fine, because it’s bad. but it’s important to understand why it’s bad, and how it’s affected dicks characterisation in both canon and fanon.

nightwing #93 is the issue people say to avoid because it features dick’s assault at the hands of a former ally that devin refused to acknowledge was rape until like… 2014. it’s bad. the build up to this point — haleys is set on fire, dicks apartment is destroyed killing everyone inside, dick watches this ally kill a man on his behalf while he is helpless to stop her — is rarely discussed in the context of the scene. it’s a lot, but because people haven’t read it they misunderstand the dynamics that devin had created.

the worst parts about nightwing in the present — his lack of conviction and competence, his sexualisation and dehumanisation, the fundamental lack of empathy for his retconned bg as a poc — all started with devin. literal ground zero. i cannot emphasise how her i incapability to understand that she’d written an assault arc with her self insert as the instigator has played into dick’s status as a character in the 2020s. many people accidentally engage with the same tired, racist tropes that devin herself contributed to, because people simply do not know (or care to know) what she’d written. think about much fanon content revolves around dick being an accessory to his own assault, or being literally unable to advocate for himself, or relying on jason fucking todd to kill his rapist. it’s like im rereading nightwing vol 2 all over again, and that’s not a good thing.

however what people also tend to forget about is the racism. devin grayson introduced dick having rromani heritage into canon, sure, but she did it because she thought it was sexy. we see this with her writing for roy’s navajo heritage too — a lack of research and care, though dick’s was clearly egregiously fetishistic. she retconned the character that assaulted dick into a latina character, and retconned her into being an aggressively sexual and violent person that was at significant odds with her og characterisation. that seems to be a trend with nightwing writers — wolfman did the exact same thing like fifteen years earlier with about the same degree of nuance and empathy.

ig my answer is that nightwing vol 2 is very much a pick and choose run, make ur own adventure type experience. bizarrely, u can get better nightwing characterisation in the titans 1999 run, or batman plus arsenal, which were both also written by devin (heartbreaking, the worst person u kno just made a good point). id be wary of people telling u to avoid it entirely, because i think ignoring its existence just exacerbates the problems devin created. just be discerning, ig. but also read nightwing vol 2 #118-#124 (just after devin leaves) because it is gd hilarious

#sorry for the essay i just. have SO many opinions about nightwing 93 and how no one gd understands it like i do #dick grayson #nightwing #rape tw #dc comics #the ask and the answer

[vampire-exgirlfriend]

I'll be so for real right now, I am absolutely talking about the hotd fandom (via this meme that @emilykaldwen made and I had a giggle fit over).

It's not burnout that's driving people away from this fandom (and fandom in general). It's not even strictly the lack of engagement. Recently, the people most vocal about the lack of engagement are the ones who go out of their way to alienate other writers, who dm authors who don't reblog their fics and harass them in their private messages while never engaging with anyone's work. People have actually come into my dm's demanding I reblog their fic/asking why I haven't, and they had never engaged with me past a few "hi how are you" dms. In what universe is this acceptable? In what universe if this community building?

You wanna know why I don't reblog a lot of fic on tumblr? Why I'm mostly just on ao3 and commenting over there? Because tumblr fic, especially in the hotd fandom, has become a circle jerk. The care for the craft is mostly gone, there's little desire to write something well, only something that performs well. It's becoming just ooc porn with a character name slapped on so that people can imagine fucking certain actors without saying they write/read rpf. So many people bought into the tiktok driven need to reduce ourselves to content farms instead of making actual friendships and building a community and taking pride in our art/trying to improve on our craft.

I will be so for real right now, I have come to a point where I mostly just engage with my friends and their work on tumblr. And this is because some of the utter insanity I've seen since I waded into this fandom. The anons I've received in the last two years in this fandom rival even those I got when I was running an active Reylo sideblog that has since been deleted because of the "go kill yourself" messages I got (no, I don't care about your opinion on Reylo). Aside from the mine field of psychological warfare that fandom and fic is becoming, it also seems like there are so few people who want to craft actual stories. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the porn - x reader smut is where I got my start, and I have read some x reader fic that was incredible, that reduced me to tears. And yet, those fics, those authors, were never allowed to flourish because the author didn't live up the ass of a select few people on this site. This is why I've stopped promoting my work on this site. This is why I stay in my little corner.

y'all, i am exhausted. we have to do better than this.

#house of the dragon fic #hotd fic #hotd fanfic

[dorianwolfforest]

I really want to hear all your points regarding hating Sabine I’m super curious.

I don't really hate her as a character, I hate how she is written.

I could start off with the fact that she's an incredibly aggressive, "beastly" character who is also non-white, with native american features, which is a harmful stereotype against native americans (See: the violent savage stereotype, not only something apparent in media (Twilight, for example), but real, tangible racism and propaganda in the united states that is still rampant) and even if she's not native american, she's still an aggressive, beastly non-white character, but I don't know if I am the person to make those claims.

Moving on, she's just poorly managed by the company. She's an evil murderer, a person lacking empathy, someone who seeks to destroy Jorvik and all it holds dear because she is promised power... and she's upset that she doesn't get to play with the other kids on the playground. She doesn't like how the riding clubs are mean to each other. She releases balloons because people are having fun. She's either the darkest, most twisted person on the island or she gets her feefees hurt because other people are having fun without her.

The way they write her, she becomes an extreme hypocrite. The other riders are bad and mean for not letting her participate in the games? She imprisoned someone in a world that would slowly and horrifically kill them. Think exposing someone to severe radiation damage knowingly and with malintent. Yet Loretta is a meanie because she thinks Ginny's outfits suck.

The other part of it is the community response. She is sexualized only and merely for her body, with her audience completely ignoring her character, her traits, her personality and her arc, only really acknowledging her "dark" side if they can sexualize it. "but they did it to ydris too", you might claim, ignoring that ydris knowingly, consensually flirted with the main character and took on the persona of someone who enjoyed and wanted the attention. Sabine would hate sabine stans, and the stans ignore that and push her personality aside because she's hot. It's incredibly demeaning to boil her down only to her body and then act as though she is something she's not, namely a person capable of loving anything other than herself and her quest for power, something that is well established in the lore of her character.

The social media team, in response to the fan admiration, has played up Sabine's character and her appearances on their social media sites, and the fandom has gone so far as to influencing the writers into making her more easy to enjoy. The writers (there are no writers at SSE, but that's besides the point) have gone back on what Sabine is meant to be and represent so that the fans will engage with their story more, and the socmed team has pushed her to the forefront of their existence, making several tweets and tiktoks about her and how hot she is. I personally believe that this goes against what any self-appointed feminist company should be doing, and that SSE has a wonderful cast that deserves the spotlight far more. Jill Goldspur, for example, is a queen and she deserves recognition.

All in all, I don't hate Sabine, I hate everything that surrounds her and, as such, I wish she would simply disappear from the story so I don't have to fucking deal with it anymore.

#sso #ssoblr #thank you for the ask this was very cathartic #sabine stans arent wholly bad. sabine isnt wholly bad. the company isnt wholly bad. together they're a fucking nightmare #in fact sabine stans are the most fine of this bunch! it's the writers and socmed team that need to just Stop

[sinner-as-saint]

This might seem completely odd [which if it made you uncomfortable, please don't respond and I'm so sorry 🩵] but as one of my favourite writers here that I engage frequently, I am seeking your opinion or motivation, too: what piece of advice you'd give to someone who struggles to take an action for weight loss? Like I am not overwhelmingly overweight, yet definitely on the chubbier side which if I lose kinda 17 lbs (around 8-10 kg to be exact) I'd be much more comfortable in my own skin, but literally been free for a week (Hence I took break from everything that consumes my time) but never could do any shite and it's so annoying :/ I have the opportunity to do exercises or have long strolls but laziness and lack of enthusiasm are killing me.

I struggled with the same thing a few years ago. Here's what helped ME (I'm not saying this is gonna work for everyone, but this is just what worked for me to get motivated to become 'healthier')

1. Make playlists (believe me, music helps a lot to get you moving)

2. Make to do lists for small workouts, you don't have to get a gym membership right away but start small (maybe at home workouts etc but be safe and don't hurt yourself)

3. Make vision boards (pinterest worked for me because I have to romanticise the shit out of everything at all times, plus you can find lots about at home work outs, how to make healthy snacks etc)

4. Set small goals for yourself (ex: get a 20 min mini work out in the morning instead of hardcore stuff, go on short walks instead of a full hike etc)

5. Whatever you do, make sure you're comfortable. If you have a dog, take it for walks frequently. You don't want to go through a sweaty workout, do some yoga instead.

6. Stop comparing yourself to others bc healthy looks different on everyone

7. Be outside more. I find that being outside makes me want to be more active.

If anyone has anything else to add, we would appreciate it <3

[messrsbyler]

Hello!! what do you think about the tag those days? do you have a fav blog? who do you think is saving the tag from dying with posts and theories?

i think the tag is slowly dying tbh and it's sad to see? the reality is that for the past year or so the tag has been kept alive (from what i've seen and my personal experience here) because of art/fic creators and analysis blogs. however, it's been a year since s4 dropped and as i've seen some people around the tag say, everything that could've been analysed or said about byler in the last season or all seasons has already been said. now, i personally LOVE doing analysis even to this day, doesn't matter if i'm probably repeating something someone else spotted and blogged about two months ago. it's fun to make those posts, but we can't ignore that they are becoming repetitive and that side of the tag is burning out. because of that, things like fics/art/headcanons/ficlets/aus are so important now.

we don't have to run out of content to enjoy in our tag, but people should be willing to step outside their comfort zone and accept that canon is limited to what can he done and said about byler. aus however open new doors that this tag hasn't really explored yet, and for some reason there's a bit of resistance? and that leads us to a dead end because then there's no new not repetitive content and the tag starts dying even with its huge following.

another issue is definitely the lack of rb in the tag. i can jump on any post in the byler tag and check the notes and i know the ratio between likes and rbs will be ridiculous. ofc i can't force anyone to rb if they don't want to, but liking a post and not rb kills a post bc it stops reaching new people who will then engage with said post and then it will reach even more blogs. liking does nothing, it's a dummy button.

rb not only allows a post to stay alive, it's also a great opportunity to create conversations in the tags and engage with other people on this side of the internet. and well if you aren't into that or don't like to add tags to every rb, a simple rb still does much more than a like.

i have many fav blogs and i'll probably forget some, but from the top of my head i have @andiwriteordie (writer and au lover) @foodiewithdahoodie (amazing takes and headcanons) @astrobei (writer and artist) @wiseatom (amazing writer) @doriandrifting (analysis and amazing takes) @emblazons (amazing takes and gifs) @mayahawkins (one of the best gif creators in the tag) @perexcri (amazing writer) @likegoldintheair (amazing writer and amazing headcanons/ficlets) @elekinetic (amazing writer and amazing scripts) @kidovna (beautiful art and aus and comics) @noodles-and-tea (art art art i am obsessed) @nnilkyway (again beautiful art) @strangeswift (writer and a fun blog to check out) and many more that i'm probably forgetting right this moment.

if you (anyone who is reading this) have a blog rec pls lmk!!! i'm always looking for new byler content!!

(if you have stonathan blogs recs uh also lmk i need more stonathans on my dashboard thanks)

#asks #byler #byler tumblr

[nono-bunny]

You think the ATLA fandom would have done a better job writing the show?

Thanks for the ask!

Honestly? Absolutely not. Treating the ATLA fandom as one entity here is a bit of a misnomer here imo. When talking to @phoebester, I mentioned that I kinda feel like I'm more a part of the Zutara fandom rather than the general ATLA fandom- !nd that's for good reason! Zutara fans are inherently more critical because we like something that deviates from canon, and I find that the ATLA fandom are large much more closely matches the disposition of casual watchers, who maybe watch the show once and never think on it further- which is also a valid way to interact with media, it's just not my way, especially with media I find lacking in some way. ATLA is great overall, but it has some glaring flaws -some of which are more controversial than others- and I feel that only fans would really bother to ruminate on those in the way I find a lot of Zutarians do. I'm certain some Kataangers or fans of other ships also have issues with canon, but I feel that no one moreso than Zutara has such beef with it.

So if the question is simply about the fandom at large? No, that's unfeasible, a whole fandom can't write a cohesive story when it already has such huge disagreements about where canon ended up... But I gather that's not what you really meant, anyway. I have read fanfics that feel like they genuinely fixed a lot of the bad writing decisions of the show, but there are also many that made it very clear to me that not everyone necessarily understands/are capable of recognizing the core issues behind them, which makes it difficult to fix them. I've read fics retelling the whole story of the show that change one core thing, but fail to recognize that it would then mean that events don't happen in exactly the same way (Zuko joins early and Aang not being the Avatar are frequent offenders here). So like? At the end of the day, it once again comes to individual writers and their ability to write this story in a competent and engaging way- ATLA had good writers on board, which is why it succeeded despite Bryke being shit ones. I definitely believe that there are writers in the fandom that could've done a better job than Bryke, but like... At its core, the issue with them is about control and entitlement- they don't care about being the ones to put forth solid writing, and it shows. Quite frankly, under Bryke's supervision, no one could've made a better show than what we got, and as tragic as it is... Without them there would be no show, so this is all kind of a moot point in the end, unfortunately.

Also, to me "a better show" would've meant Aang getting completely rehauled, removed, or changed to a villain, and that's a bit of an extreme position because I know that plenty of people do enjoy at the very least season 1 and 2 Aang, but like... Yeah that's just not something I can vibe with anymore unfortunately, even if I tolerable him lol. I also believe in Azula redemption and that Aang should've killed Ozai, both of which are yet again controversial issues, so like.. What to me would be the perfect, most sensible version of show would really not jive with others, which is why a lot of different fics exist!

Adding this in immediately after posting: Also endgame Zutara but that's like. Literally my whole bread and butter so I forgot to add that because of how obvious it seemed to me

#avatar the last airbender #atla #anti kataang #anti aang #anti bryke #atla critical #zutara

[homielander]

while i really liked rhaenyra in 1.10, she was also very inconsistent with the way she’s been written in prior episodes (4-9 mostly), and i don’t know what we’re supposed to take away from her characterization this season.

the last time rhaenyra showed any resistance to violence was all the way back in episode 2, when she flew to dragonstone to peacefully resolve a conflict with daemon that could have turned messy. merely paralleling that moment in the finale, however, does not erase the fact that since the first dragonstone encounter, she has walked off when a suitor propositioning her hand was killed, plotted with daemon to kill an innocent man to facilitate laenor’s escape (and resolved that the people should fear her as their scheme unfolded), and watched vaemond beheaded and expressed no feelings on the matter beyond mild shock. now, i’m not saying she has to jump into battle, but in the book she was outraged that the throne that rightfully belonged to her had been usurped, and offered very blunt terms to the greens -- to cede the throne immediately or die. i would have liked to see some of this resolve in the finale.

rhaenyra has also been neither cognizant nor considerate of the fact that, as a targaryen, the customs of the realm over which she hopes to rule are different than hers. apart from the fact that she passed off her bastards as trueborn, she also complained that the valyrian tapestries in the red keep had been replaced with banners of the faith of the seven, and she stated that the wants of the smallfolk were of no consequence to her as early as episode 4. none of these things are criminal, but they do provide us deeper insight about her mindset. (oh, also: she slept with criston, who was essentially a servant to her, despite his repeated refusal and his esteem for the position of kingsguard, which she knew involved an oath of celibacy.) in this episode though, she gave luke a speech about how targaryens were still accountable to the realm and had to follow their traditions and values accordingly. while this is undoubtedly a nice sentiment, it also defies the core of rhaenyra’s character, given that her lack of awareness on this issue is what results in her eventual downfall.

she also spoke of duty to the realm and earning the throne this episode, which are ideas she has never even alluded to prior to this point. i never got the sense that rhaenyra had much of an understanding of what the responsibility of rule truly means. we’re shown how she fled to dragonstone the moment circumstances at court grew difficult for her and we never see her engage in any sort of preparation for her future duties as monarch. she was outraged about the hightowers ruling in viserys’s stead and giving him milk of the poppy to ameliorate his pain, though she was not present for any of the six years he was left incapacitated by his health while they were. i really can’t fathom how we are expected to believe that this is a character who has understood duty all along.

rhaenyra is impulsive, indifferent to violence, ignorant or uncaring of the wants of the people, and generally uninterested in preparing for her ascension to queen. this doesn’t make her irredeemable by any means, but it is the picture of rhaenyra that’s been painted for us all season. the writers seem to want to have their cake and eat it too; yes, rhaenyra has these flaws which make her an interesting character to watch, but when the crisis they’ve been building to this entire season finally arrives, these flaws are nowhere in sight. rhaenyra can’t be allowed to be anything other than wise, mature, desperate for peace, and as luke puts it, “perfect,” at this critical juncture, even though the character they have established says otherwise.

this mirrors very closely what happened to alicent. up to and including episode 7, we were shown that she had impressed upon her kids that aegon would one day be king, and we were exposed to all of the very understandable reasons that she was aiming for this. she didn’t trust rhaenyra, she knew rhaenyra being a woman posed a threat to her children’s lives (which was only compounded by rhaenyra putting bastards next in line and then marrying daemon), she knew rhaenyra’s faction had no issue executing anyone who obstructed their goals, and it was proven to her that the wellbeing of her family was not important (not to viserys, not to rhaenyra, not to anyone) when aemond lost his eye. perhaps rhaenyra never would have harmed her children, but what matters is that alicent wanted the security of power. this may not a morally unimpeachable position, but i think it’s a very sympathetic one to anyone watching without fan goggles on. but actually, scratch all of that -- what alicent really wanted was to fulfill viserys’s half-baked dying wishes. otherwise, she never would have plotted to seize the throne for aegon! her real flaw is toiling in the service of men, don’t you see? (never mind that viserys named rhaenyra his heir before that, so whether she supported aegon or rhaenyra, she’d still be deferring to her husband.) anyway, what was all that other stuff even for, then?

i understand that rhaenyra and alicent will embrace their darker vices as the war progresses (starting with lucerys’s death and likely blood and cheese, respectively). but *alicent voice* where is coherence? where is consistency? the writers seem to be peddling the idea that these women are blameless, and their future misdeeds are a result of men and the patriarchy, but i disagree. i don’t think either of them are blameless. while the misogyny of this setting and time period plays an undeniable role in this story, it’s also stupid to ignore that alicent and rhaenyra are more powerful than nearly all men because of their positions as queen and heir, and thus had their own agency. they, too, were selfish and reckless and ambitious, qualities which we see amplified in their later, more terrible actions, and i think that would have been a far more compelling story to follow.

#i dont completely agree w this anymore so rbs off lol #a lot of people saw the rhaenyra stuff especially coming a mile away since her ill deeds have never held the same weight as everyone else's #but still i was holding out hope. foolishly :( #the only flaw they're really keeping consistent is her lack of political acumen #rhaenyra targaryen #alicent hightower #anti rhaenyra #house of the dragon #hotd spoilers #anti hotd #it's the way i'm not even comparing to the book here..... the show can't even handle its own canon properly lol #internal consistency is all i want atp😭😭😭😭

[dian-mian]

⚠️ Spoiler for Earthspark ⚠️

I just finished watching the newest episodes and I can't wait for the rest of them! The show continues to exceed my expectations with how well written all the main characters are shown, especially the Malto family, as well as the plot of each episode that are so engaging to watch, the fight scenes, all it was just MUAH 🥰🥰 (My comments don't go in an order of episodes lmfao)

They've tackled a number of topics normally I wouldn't see it being addressed like racism, xenophobia, generation related trauma (Thrash being upset that the new generation of Terrans are "facing problems caused by the previous generation and the expectations to clean up their messes"), gender identity (how alt modes are very tied to their identity) and omfg they include some other messed up shit like bots fighting in the arena to get energon (Sounds very familiar hmmm) and hint hint of Mandroid becoming more mechanical??? ALSO GHOST IS GROWING EVEN MORE SUS ESPECIALLY WITH AGENT CROFT I HATE HER ALR I WANNA KILL HER

I fucking love Megatron in this show, my god he just usurp Optimus' role as the father here (Or grandpa in this case). I mean, HE TOOK THE MALTOBOTS TO THE WAR MEMORIAL TO TELL EM OLD STORIES ABOUT THE WAR TO TEACH THEM TO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES AS THE PREVIOUS GENERATION AND I 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 (THE FLOWERS BEING A REFERENCE TO IDW WHERE EACH PETAL OF THE FLOWERS REPRESENT A LIFE LOST JUST KILLED ME RIGHT THERE)

AND NIGHTSHADE AND TARANTULAS,,, bunch of science nerds can relate ifhkdnksj,, I would die happy if Tarantulas can make a comeback to see Nightshade again and be his second papa like how Wheeljack is second papa to Twitch 🥺🥺❣️💕

My boy Jawbreaker,, I really love how he wasn't forced to choose an altmode so soon and it just going to get a lot more impactful when he finally scans an altmode that he feels is right for him! He so autistic coded and I luv it when Megatron and Elita explained to him how they got their alt modes and what it meant for them (ELITA SOFTIE MOMENT IS JUST 😭😭💞💕💞💕💞)

God, the dynamic of the Malto bots is just so super wholesome and so tightly knitted, but Twitch grew up too fast,, They all need fucking therapy, especially Hashtag my poor girl 😭

I fucking hate Mandroid with a passion, he's so hateable and punchable and killable

I wont be talking about that mutatued horror of a bear also is that fucking allowed in a kids show???

I dont know how, but Bumblebee dangling and restrained while his energon is drained is... Making me feel something. Also, he and Breakdown...

I cried and eyed so hard at that slowed down scene where Breakdown through Bumblebee and they both starin at each other like... 👁👁🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈?

ALSO, FIRST MEGATRON GOT RESTRAINED AND ALMOST GOT HIS ARM CUT OFF, NEXT BUMBLEBEE IS RESTRAINED WHILE BEING DRAINED OF ENERGON TO FUEL THE MACHINES, WHO THE FUCK IS NEXT???

Now....

I am a huge Optimus stan, so I have a bit of bitterness at the fact that throughout 11-18, he was barely involved. Like

WHERE DID YOU GO???

WHERE WERE YOU???

DID YOU SUDDENLY RUN OFF TO FIND MILK???

God, I love Optimus as a whole, even in this show but he seems so... Distant? I mean, I'm not hating the writers and animators for the lack of Optimus screentime, it's just me being a bit salty (Though I am a Megatron simp too at this point so my thirst has been at least quenched by him). I really hope there's more screentime of him (Especially him and Megatron becuz first few episodes the both were lowkey 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈) and we get a bigger picture of his role in the show in the future episodes. He barely talks to the Maltos and the Terrans, he's barely seen anywhere in the recent episodes, hell where the hell was he when the jailbreak happened???

Tldr; Love the show so much, but where's fucking Optimus

#dian mianing #transformers #earthspark #megatron #optimus prime #malto family #bumblebee #other characters i didnt tag

[randomnameless]

I know it hasn’t been mentioned in a long while, but Koei Tecmos work was pretty good in Samurai Remnant. The twist about the Protagonist was also really well done too. I know this doesn’t reveal much as it’s the same writers who worked on Houses/Hopes, but the main protagonist definitely makes a lot more consistency I feel since all two routes and endings are about Miyamoto Iori, with the last one being about his true nature. Still annoying waifu bait with a fox girl but Iori has zero interest.

I haven't played it, but I have no doubts KT can produce/make good games!

The thing with Nopes (and Fodlan in general) is how FE has traditional themes, and unification/imperialism isn't one of them, ditto with the "earl grey for everyone!" which means you can pick your leader and the games panders so hard to said leader that it forgets its plot.

Izuka is Izuka, Feral Ones aren't forgotten come FE10 because we follow Miccy and Miccy wants to liberate her country - Miccy says fuck to Izuka and his Feral Ones, period. End of the story (until Tibarn/Elincia/Ranulf gets to kill the guy).

Are those changes on KT's door? Given how IS, through Heroes, spinned a retconned Narrative to sell Vero - complete with "sad'n'lonely" and "surprise!brainwash" by a "sad'n'lonely" goddess, I... frankly, don't know.

Engage is a thing, where people take responsibility for the things they did when they were "brainwashed" no matter how "sad'n'lonely" they were (or are roasted for it) - and yet FEH gave us the monstruosity that was the last book, where a time-travelling sexy lady destroys the world because "reasons" compel her to do so, but she loves the player so much : that's the twist. FFS, at the end of the book, we don't even know what were those "reasons" that compelled her to destroy the world, or the snakes who pushed her to do it, the suppsoed "mastermind" was killed off-screen, and the most important thing at the end is how past present and future are merged to simp together after the avatar.

yay.

And yet, given how Fodlan plays and how Nintendo actually sent surveys to people who played FE16 something they never did (not for Engage!) before for the FE series (afaik) - I wonder who is to "blame" for Fodlan's writing, IS, KT, a mix of the two?

The lack of care (which becomes obvious when you compare FE16 to the precedent and following entry) isn't something IS has usually shown (I mean, Nopes' dev said he forgot parts of FE16 when he played the game ffs! No continuity guy in FE16?!?) - KT and IS's precendent collaboration was the first Warrior game, so why Nopes came out so... well, like it did?

If there is one definite thing I can complain and lay at KT's door though, it's the models (they're fucking ugly) and whoever decided to swap Rhea/Seiros's unique moveset (I mean have you seen her animations in FE16 when she's in her Saint class??) for a swordmaster on steroids.

#anon #replies #3 nopes #i'm not that interested in Musous games #but Nopes' plot was something to behold #the way it treated characters from FE16 and even new ones is really something to behold #also the BGM sucks #granted with the gacha game's writing I wonder if Fodlan's trash plot isn't something IS came up with alone #as much as I tried to deny it once #Engage isn't as popular could it mean we're back to uwu red empewow uwu nonsense of a plot? #if a jugdral remake is really released will Saias be erased because arvis will be uwued #'he had no tru luf bar deedee and would never sire a bastard and leave him and his mom fend for themselves while he lives a cosy life' #'no he didn't kill Siggy'n'Alec it was Manfroy who brainwashed him to do it' #granted Arvis has a peepee so I wonder how this will play out #Gustadolph was allowed to be a jerkass with a kickass theme and we love him for this

[streetqueenofmars]

So, I need to talk about why Worf and Jadzia Dax are one of the best couples in all of pop culture but to do that I need to lay the groundwork of explaining some trends that the writers of Deep Space 9 completely avoid.

I don't know if anyone else feels this way but for me I find that popular culture has a crippling inability to write couples in stable relationships. It's a problem not just in genre fiction but even into the broader culture. Whether it's rom-coms, fantasy novels, sci-fi TV or superheroes movies you have writers who are very interested in a couple falling in love and trying to win each other but then seem to lose interest after think.

Think about this way, we've all seen plenty of movies where a couple spend the whole movie trying to get together and it ends with them together. But how many films have you seen where the main love interests are in an established steady relationship? Married? Engaged? Hell, have even been dating long term?? It's rare, I can't tell whether most writers are just more interested in couples getting together than staying together or if writers don't think that audiences would be as interested in a stable couple navigating their relationship.

This is what leads to writers breaking up couples in shows or in movie sequels. They set up a couple, spend a lot of time getting them together, but then once they get them together they don't know what to do with them so they either break them up through contrived means or they kill one of them.

As someone who's been in a happy steady relationship for some time and is also a writer I can tell you first hand that this stems entirely from a lack of imagination. There are so many stories you can tell with couples in long term relationships that you can't tell with couple trying to get together. Shrek 2, The Mummy Returns, the Thin Man films and a few other examples demonstrate all the narrative potential that it feels like most writers waste.

The relationship between Worf and Jadzia Dax feels like the best proof I've seen in a long long time. The writers of Deep Space 9 use the format of episodic television to truly flesh put their relationship. We see them start as friends, see them realize how much they have in common, see it get more serious, see them commit to getting married, get married and for half a glorious season we see them live as a married couple. We see them fight but navigate it, we see them balance professional responsibilities with their devotion to each other, we see them figure out what a future together looks like and we see their love never waver, but mature.

The best example of this is the season six episode 'Change of Heart'. It's not only one of the most romantic episodes of anything I've ever seen but it's one of the most romantic things I've seen period. So much of the episode is just us spending time with the couple and letting their natural chemistry sparkle. So that when the plot stuff does happen you are INVESTED. And Worf's whole bedside monologue where he talks about how he realized that if Jadzia was ever in danger he would put the Galaxy at risk to save her? I was IN TEARS!!!

It's the kind of mature storytelling that I WISH we could see more of. Instead of contriving ways to break up your romantic couples to start them all over again it's so much interesting to try and figure out what their lives together look like and what kinds of conflicts or stories are unique to couples that you can't tell otherwise.

#Worf x Jadzia #star trek #deep space 9 #deep space nine #ds9 #necessary binging #startrekds9 #star trek deep space nine #star trek deep space 9 #star trek worf #jadzia dax #romance #romantic #amwriting #writer #writer problems #Shrek 2 #the mummy returns #the thin man

[balefulbasal]

Why I Feel Miguel O’Hara (Spiderman 2099) Is Modeled After A Jumping Spider

NOTE: I’m broke, so I have not actually seen the movie. I read spoiler articles, watched the limited clips available on the internet, and engaged in discourse online from casual fans all the way up to storyboard writers for Miguel O’Hara. Therefore, I understand that my perception of this has the potential to be incomplete and limited.

CW: Points are numbered 1 - 8, with 8 being the longest and most opinionated, and set up from mild fun facts at the beginning to increasing in sad observations as the points carry on toward the end.

LET US COMMENCE!

1. Jumping spiders are known to jump & pounce on their prey, not graceful like most other spiders. Miguel jumps & pounces, not gracefully. Just force.

2. Phintella vittata jumping spiders detect ultraviolet light from UVB & have specialized surfaces on their bodies to reflect it. The digital/holographic suit could be a nod to this.

3. Jumping spiders are venomous like most other spiders, & their venom paralyzes rather than kills. This is what Miguels fangs do.

4. Jumping spiders make silk, but they don’t rely on it to make webs to catch prey. Many jumping spider species actively hunt their prey & use their webbing abilities mainly as an anchor when they get to jumping. Miguel is seen running on all fours, using his arms and upper body to get from one area to the next, using his webs as anchors instead of primary mobility.

5. Spider “paws” are very complex, as is the rest of their leg structures. But many have two “claws” that appear to be growing out from under the paw. (In Miguel’s case, one claw per finger pad) and they use these to grip onto certain surfaces. 

6. Miguel’s top half is huge, muscular, & those arms are a masterpiece. Jumping spiders are known to have large front legs that are used to hold down prey while injecting paralytic venom. I saw an article call jumping spiders larger front legs “Popeye arms” and I think that’s cute.

7. Jumping spiders are often demonized because they “look scary”. Many people are afraid of them because of how fast they move, & how they seem to stare into your soul if you get its attention. Miguel has the same effect on people. His appearance and demeanor come across as intimidating.

8. All spiders are beneficial to ecosystems as pest control. Often found in gardens, jumping spiders are great at keeping the peace within that environment. A sign of a healthy garden is the presence of jumping spiders. Miles was a disturbance in the ecosystem that big boy jumping spider Miguel had to handle. Like in a garden in real life, if the jumping spiders are gone, harmful bug species move in. Stopping/handling anomalies is how Miguel kept the peace in the Spiderverse. It’s noted in the movie that Miguel has no spidey sense. Jumping spiders rely heavily on their exceptional eyesight to detect motion, rather than their sensor “hairs.” Instead of primarily “feeling” the danger approaching, they have a better grasp on seeing/assessing what the threat is, & then making a decision. With a character like Miguel, this could be another nod to how his “overthinking” or “critical demeanor” is seen as a negative. He must see the situation/circumstance before acting. But since no other spider persons have this setback, he is seen as volatile, critical, & intimidating because of HAVING to do things differently. (I personally think he’s got the ‘Tism for many reasons, but ESPECIALLY because of lacking a necessary skill that all spider persons have, YET HE IS spider person. Sounds a lil neurodivergent. I WILL be doing another post building on that idea, and it WILL be painfully specific).

In Conclusion: In my opinion, Spiderman 2099 is the main Spider Person who has exact characteristics of a spider, instead of being spider-like adjacent, like most Spider Persons.

Thank you for reading!

#miguel o'hara #spiderman 2099 #atsv #across the spider verse #critical analysis #spiders #arachnids #jumping spider

[hpowellsmith]

Books of January

I've really enjoyed reading more this month! I always read a lot over the holidays and then fall out of the habit but ended up doing more this time around.

Wild: from Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail - Cheryl Strayed (reread)

I liked this when I first read it, and liked it even more this time. The sense of the outdoors and the personal journeys within feel incredibly real to me. It inspired me to get out and about more: I always feel better when I take some time outdoors. I didn't really get on with her other books, but this one remains a favourite.

Dancing on Eggshells: Kitchen, Ballroom, & The Messy Inbetween - John Whaite

Every so often I read a celebrity memoir and usually it falls a little flat - often too obviously ghostwritten/over-edited or glib or twee. This one is less over-polished which is to its benefit, includes a bunch of lovely recipes, and explores growing up gay in England during Section 28 (at the same time I was growing up). Whaite comes across as very sincere in this, and since publication has said he's quitting TV which is probably a good thing. It was interesting reading the Strictly parts having read Craig Revel Horwood's memoir last year - Revel Horwood is very blithe about how lovely it all is whereas Whaite gives a more complicated perspective.

Maw - Jude Ellison S. Doyle

This horror graphic novel is gripping in places but it didn't pull me in as much as I'd hoped having read Doyle's discussions about the writing process and inspirations. It was over a little fast, characters appeared and were killed off a little too speedily for it to have much impact, and the ending felt a little abrupt. I liked the characters and the general idea but would have liked more breathing room to get to know them. I've got The Neighbors on pre-order and hope to get into that one more.

The Easternmost Sky - Juliet Blaxland

I could write an essay about what was frustrating about this book - the lack of class-consciousness from someone who casually mentions going to visit cousins for Christmas at the local manor, the (wilfully?) ignorant comments about rewilding, the unexamined pro-hunting commentary - but parts of it are quite good and evocative. Having grown up in rural England where neither I nor my peers were involved with the hunting-and-shooting manor-house culture, it's irritating to read a book which cheerfully conflates "country life" with being someone who loves running to hounds and thinks hunting is great, but some of the descriptions were lovely. Still, I'd recommend other nature writers like Robert MacFarlane or Helen Macdonald (who engages with falconry, but in a much more thoughtful way) over this one.

The Lives of Christopher Chant - Diana Wynne Jones (reread)

This was a beloved book from my teenage years and I shared it with my child after there was a lot of enjoyment of Howl's Moving Castle and Charmed Life last year. This one was a harder sell, it turned out: it's slower-paced than I remember, and bleaker, and there's very DWJ-esque penultimate chapter where a lot of stuff suddenly happens and is revealed and resolved very fast. I do love Christopher and his friends, though, and as with many of DWJ's books, it does betrayal and sudden self-awareness heartbreakingly well.

Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I. Loved. This. I loved it! I'd read a couple of Moreno-Garcia's books before and enjoyed them reasonably but this was the first one where it really grabbed me and wouldn't let go. A post-colonial Mexican gothic horror in which the heroine probes into an English family's business when her cousin, who's married into this family, sends a disturbed message begging for help... it's so good. I don't want to say anything more about it but I enjoyed it immensely and it solidified Moreno-Garcia as a favourite author.

Toto the Ninja Cat and the Legend of the Wildcat - Dermot O'Leary

This was really cute. My child and I ended up losing track of some of the plot, which became slightly complex, but it was generally adorable. There's not a ton else to say other than it's a nice story with a few jokes for adults that are good sensible-chuckle material.

Untamed Shore - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

This was so good. It's a noir thriller without the supernatural elements I'd encountered in the author's other work, but it gripped me excellently. I really enjoyed the unfolding dangerousness of all the characters, including the protagonist, and I was genuinely uncertain about what would happen towards the end - it had me really tense! I enjoyed it greatly.

#books