bradwottakes

[bradwottakes]

The world is my oyster. So I'm gonna ignore it and find something easier to eat.

#oyster

[bradwottakes]

If I’m gonna have to see and then report over a dozen porn bots every day can they at least give me like a daily grinding quest for it like it’s an MMO. Can I get some gold and a mediocre loot drop

[bradwottakes]

Likely unpopular opinion: I like that the Seanchan hadn’t given up slavery by the end of the books.

Before you come at me with pitchforks, obviously they should give up slavery. It’s horrific. But this is a deeply ingrained part of their society they have spent a thousand years beliving. They haven’t exactly encouraged free and independent thought (how many did or offered to commit suicide for often minor issues?). Plus, it is deeply embeded in their cultural mindset that women who can channel are dangerous, to the point that many of the collared women from this society believe it too, and voluntarily submit to it. This system isn’t going to go away overnight just because the Dragon (who hasn’t even been to their home country in any meaningful fashion) said so.

It’s messy and complicated, and that’s what I love about the end of the books. The Last Battle is won, and that’s the end of the books, but the story goes on. The Fourth Age is just starting, and so many of our characters have exciting opportunities ahead of them. Tuon is definately one of those characters.

The Seanchan came over expecting to impose themselves on the ignorant foreigners. Tuon had no expectations of changing herself, but she gets swept up in ta’veren and makes a lot of adaptations that surprise her. She married Mat, and comes to appreciate his unique skills and unconventional approach. She (forceably) adopts Min, and is willing to make adjustments to her approach to her people. She has been in the same room as people who channel, and her preconceptions about them have been challenged.

Most importantly, after Rand fails to make a dent in the slavery issue, Egwene gains some ground. She gets concessions—they won’t collar women outside their territory, and all women currently collared are to be offered the option to remove it. We already know a lot of women from their culture many refuse it, but it’s a start. Most importantly though, Tuon is legitimately shaken to learn Egwene had been collared and did not, in fact, love it:

That really seemed to shake some of her certainty about the whole thing. Why wouldn’t these dangerous women appreciate being restrained? And of course there is the fact that she has the ability to learn to channel, meaning she herself could be collared. The secret is out, and while it will take a long time to accept, there’s no putting that back in the box.

And the thing is you wouldn’t expect it to go away overnight, just like the Dragon’s Peace isn’t going to solve every problem in the world either. But really important seeds have been planted, and the top person in charge, who really can make change, knows things now that really upset the whole thing. She can’t just write an edict ending it—that would probably start a civil war. But she has Mat and Min, neither of whom are going to just sit on their hands forever. It’s going to happen—more slowly than we would like, but it’ll happen.

We don’t get to see it (although if there are any fanfics out there about it I’d love to check them out), and that’s part of the story too. It’s messy and complicated and real like that.

[bradwottakes]

Ok I'm liking this app because while I've seen some WILD discourse on here there's actually room for context. I don't just have to invent it to preserve my sanity, I can follow someone's reasoning rather than see 280 characters of compressed garbled rage that probably made sense at some point before being shoveled through 5 people's telephone-esque interpretations of whatever the OP meant

#i don't know what to tag this with #thoughts #better than twitter

[bradwottakes]

would you guys like to see the most unique rare and blessed picture i’ve ever taken?

[bradwottakes]

RAND + curly hair | Requested by @warriorfaeriequeen

[bradwottakes]

[bradwottakes]

Warmer of the Laps, the Flame of Tar Talon, the A-Meow-lin seat

Skuggi Sedai, Watcher of the Seals, the Flame of Tar Valon, the Amyrlin Seat ✨

#wheel of time #the wheel of time #Amyrlin #siuan sanche #black cat #Skuggi #cat puns #wheel of time puns

[bradwottakes]

My absolute queen!

#andor #maarva carassi andor #bricks

[bradwottakes]

To Margaret:

Things are BAD. I don't know who you are or if you'll see this. But I was told to pass this message to you.

[bradwottakes]

I don't care about Gallifrey being destroyed because the more directly any Showrunner interacts with it, the less interesting I've found it. 9&10 were great as they had this combination of nostalgia and deep-seated dislike rooted in guilt.

I like 11, but his absolute worst moment is growing old in the siege of Trenzalore in a Christmas special that's exceedingly shoehorned - oh it's a Christmas special cause the town is called Christmas and... That's it. No explanation, moffatt just wanted gallifrey to return outside the normal season so it would be significant.

As soon as it's actually back and the doctor goes home, he just... Kicks off the president and fucks around. I love his arc about letting go of Clara, I hate that the writers gave into their worst impulses to make the doctor just SO DAMN COOL that he can upset whole regimes with a brief little dialogue.

The Doctor returning home would be a crazy emotional moment NO MATTER WHAT. He would still struggle to get his way & have to flee in disgrace again after tricking the Time Lords into resurrecting Clara. He didn't have to also be their hero they all love and worship to do so - there's a great story about a struggle between him and Rassilon where he has a bunch of support and rallies an anti-Rassilon faction that almost succeeds in overthrowing him, only to be foiled by the Doctor being single mindedly focused on saving Clara.

Then what? He realizes that he ALMOST reformed the time lords, his own people that he both has affection for and is keenly aware of how callous and dangerous they can be. He has an object lesson in how his obsession can get in the way of accomplishing his goals.

Instead we get a "wow the doctor is so powerful and cool that he can just exile Rassilon on a whim".

Like I'm no fan of Chibnall who, but at least this way the Doctor can go back to being sad about Gallifrey, which gave us some of the best episodes/material.

#doctor who #thirteenth doctor #twelfth doctor #moffat hate #gallifrey

[bradwottakes]

“Come with me, papa.” “Lass…. I’d no more do that than a fish could touch the moon.”

Wheel of Time (2021 - )

[bradwottakes]

Bussy shakes for the Ogier

#ogier #loial #bussy shakes #wheel of time

[bradwottakes]

No one:

The Doctor has always been too empathetic towards these aliens, and I've always wanted her to point out that after a universal crisis, earth will be overrun with refugees looking to invade and seize control of it after their homes were destroyed.

Chibnall:

I'm on it!

Me:

Thanks, Chris, I fucking hate it.

#thirteenth doctor #flux #fluxspoilers #chris chibnall #chibnall salt #chibnall era #anti chibnall #learn to write a god damn story CHRIS

[bradwottakes]

So what do people think of the Chibnall era on here?

Heard a lot of negative stuff, and now that I'm finally on to it, ummm I think I agree.

Like 13 just said "things get smaller, faster, cheaper. That's progress"

And I recall 12 saying "Human progress isn't measured by industry" what the hell. Where did this complete 180 come from? Not against changes in the doctor, loved the growth from 9 to 10, but this is just... HUH?!

And why did they kill off the one character who's both interesting AND useful - Grace - in ep. 1 and replace her with 3 Exposition Querying Machines?

Seriously, prior stories usually had a Big Important Plot that takes up the doctor's attention. But characters would hold it up, and there was great tension between the plot-driving threat and the fact that these are... Well... People who do and want things that aren't always aligned or don't understand what's happening. It's a push and pull, and the Doctor synthesizes them: reminds the characters obsessed with The Threat that there's a human/personal element to the story, and keep the characters obsessing over their issues in line with what needs to be done RIGHT NOW so that they live long enough to figure out their problems later.

But now, the characters stop doing anything involving themselves as people any time The Threat is brought up, or even something new happens and the Audience needs it "explained".

Four main characters SHOULD be a great opportunity to have sub-dynamics and conflicts beyond just Companion-Doctor tension, or tension between the doctor-companion group and the episode's disposable characters.

Instead, so far, it's... "I want More, my family is annoying" "I'm sad my wife is dead, and my step-grandson is emotionally distant" "I'm sad my grandma died and my dad isn't around"

Will there be tension between Yaz and Ryan, cause he resents his father, but she's pushing her family away?

Tsuranga Conundrum did something cool, put the doctor in an unusual position: being a bit selfish, and not in charge because there's someone else who understands the situation and priorities better. It's literally Doctor vs doctor. But 5 mins later, Astros is dead and we're back to the Doctor being in charge. Mabli has serious self-esteem issues, so the doctor uses her as exposition and she gets to... Maybe be in charge later, once she works through her issues off-screen?

Previous writers were never great with race (Bill calls our victorian racism only to find out the past wasn't as racist as she thought, and the doctor white knights for her against the only racist they meet. A few episodes later, it turns out SHE'S the prejudiced one for not knowing how to talk to an alien) but Chibnall is... Just bland. In the Rosa Parks episode they all agree on exactly what to do the whole time: save Rosa Parks from the time traveling neo-nazi. Don't get me wrong, I don't want them on his side - but it's such a boring premise and execution. It's just "we have to keep history the same" and it only works because they all like the outcome this time. Usually there's a question of "what do we change?", And though the resolution is usually "we can't interfere", the story isn't actually about changing/not changing history, it's about WHY changing history is generally a problem. They're rarely my favorite stories, but at least there's SUBSTANCE. There's a (still cliche) but more tense story available even in that premise: MLK. He's gonna get assassinated, why not have the story center on the question of "do we prevent this?".

Then there's some serious tension: you have two people of color who can call out the doctor's privilege of not interfering. This doesn't affect her AT ALL meanwhile Yaz and Ryan can point out that sure, things are better by 2018, but it's pretty fucked up that keeping history on it's current course is based on the assumption that things "went correctly" the first time around. That chattel slavery, segregation and mass incarceration are necessary from the doctor's POV. That she's projecting her understanding of history as some universal, objective law: things happened this way, we have to let them play out like that.

The show's logic often condones this, because the universe breaks when history changes. But also, the doctor changes stuff all the time.

Hell, there's all these episodes about characters getting pulled out of time before they die, learning they'll die, and then accepting it. You're telling me you can't write just a nice, dignified story where MLK gets that same opportunity? It wouldn't be amazing, but it would be better than "stop the time Nazi cause he's prejudiced".

Or just a story where Yaz and Ryan are the ones who actually have agency in deciding how to change or not change something big about BIPOC struggles on earth. Not where the doctor tells them everything and they just follow orders and remember facts from primary school.

Also, it's such an insultingly basic portrayal of racism. This is something that affects every writer: racism is always bad things a couple people do or say, and it's never explained or broken down. 12 can punch the racist before it actually becomes important to ask: if this is such a fucked up thing, why does it endure?

FFS 12 is explicitly critical of capitalism, and racism is often sustained by it. Why is there no episode of him being taught that "hey, this system of exploitation you don't like? It gets racialized sometimes. You don't know what race is/don't care about it? That's nice, but I'M HUMAN AND LOTS OF HUMANS DO CARE. This affects me almost constantly, and it would be nice if you showed some basic decency and empathy by at least listening instead of saying 'so it is' or 'what would they do that for?' "

#doctor who #thirteenth doctor #twelfth doctor #chris chibnall #rosa parks #whyyyy #godawful nincompoop of a writer #can we get some CHARACTERS? #rant

[bradwottakes]

The Damned destroying the dam is damn great.

#wot meme #hinderstap #the last battle #a memory of light #wheel of time #spoiler

[bradwottakes]