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busyxfangirling · 6 months

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The second season is honestly becoming increasingly harder to watch because what are they trying to do?

The show is titled Loki but he feels like a side character is his own show, I know many MANY things are happening but literally Loki is not the central figure driving the story.

My expectations were low but I did not know Disney could do this much worse!!!!

What the FUCK was episode 3 with the Miss Minutes thing and weird little Ravonna/Victor attempt???

Marvel is just getting worse and worse with what they're putting out, I want the character or even narrative driven stories back where people were well fleshed out, had consistency and their actions made sense to who there were!!! This feels like just trying to sell shock value because you know you have a base of consumers who will stay to see what happens to their favourite character.

They are absolutely ignoring all the material they have available to them to work with! This Loki has only experienced things till the Avengers movie, there is so much character deep dive they could do! What is the point of giving them their own show and then not talking about them at all??

I'll come to the queer things later cause boy do I have a list for that, but first of all, Loki is not a new character in any capacity??? He has been loved and is arguably the biggest fan favourite since his introduction, the amount of theories about him and what people would like to see is very well known!! Right in front of them is his still unclear feelings in his adoption, about being a Jotun, loosing his family and the complicated relationships with them. I can see they are acknowledging his God of Mischief status a little bit but!! Trickster!! Let us see him be a wild card properly!! Not in the sense of betraying his new TVA family - that's what it is and you can fight me on that- but being chaotic!! Yes, using his magic like with Brad!! SHOW ME HE IS A GOD!!!

The worst thing is how lost everyone feels, like I'm not talking about the whole free will conundrum everyone is going through, that is spectacular! Unfortunately it is not coming across, we literally don't get to hear any of the characters talk about what they think of it. There was the key lime pie moment but no follow up to what that is for Loki? It's just one crisis after another, maybe rehash some of what has already happened, bring back the seriousness of this!! The entire multiverse is at stake but we'll make it look like whimsical wishy-washy stuff??!??!!!

Don't get me wrong, I am LOVING the time travel aspect of it, where it looks like Loki/Mobius are on cute dates. But then make it real, the fucking queerbaiting is ridiculous. The throw-away comment in season one about looking being bi was just that and nothing else. And I'm not saying this cause aww they look cute together! But also cause the development of their relationship has been as such!! They have been very dependent on each other and that's not being addressed at all.

I know there are multiple posts about a possible betrayal and my fear is that they're going to try to use that to basically change everything about the characters again, a lot of OOC based on the fact that oh yeah they're going through an existential crises so it makes sense.

Sylkie made barely any sense to me even apart from the whole selfcest issue- they just imposed a the structure of what a straight relationship should be where there was barely any chemistry. S1 E3 had them as really good chaotic siblings/twins and then adding the romantic tones to that really ruined it. Trying to bring it back, possibly, is just weird cause so far they want very different things. These people just don't align together, stop forcing them to? The fact that they refuse to even talk about that kiss shows that they are keeping it open and not just acknowledging that "hey, we don't want the same things in life and I'm happy for you, you matter a lot to me but a romantic relationship is not happening. Also cause you know, we're the same person, lol."

Sylvie as a character is also very confusing rn, there is honestly no need for her to keep coming back in this way??? I'm going to reserve further opinions because half the season is left but I dont expect anything to really get better.

#loki #marvel #lokius #loki season 2 #loki spoilers #mobius #kang #loki tv series #sylvie #rant

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stargazer-sims · 19 days

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pointless rambling below the cut...

I accidentally deleted my post from yesterday where I mentioned wanting to retcon timelines to remove child characters because it almost never fails that when I make my OCs have a child, I stop being interested in them. But anyway, maybe having to start over with a new post is good, because it gives me a chance to elaborate and to be in less of a mood about it. I'm still not happy with my writing lately, but that's not entirely connected to the child character issue. That's more of a me problem.

So, first off, let me just say that I'm not opposed to child characters in general, either in my work or in another writer's work. I have no problem "going back in time" and writing my established OCs as children, and I also see the utility of having a child character if their purpose is to advance the plot.

My problem is that when i give my established characters a child or children, it almost invariably feels awkward, burdensome or just plain forced and wrong, either from my perspective as the writer or from the perspective of the character(s) themselves.

That having been said, it's not normal or realistic for people (and characters in a realistic setting) to not have children. At least some characters must have them, because that's what many normal adults do, and it wouldn't be a credible setting if literally no one had kids. Enter the child characters, whether I want them or not.

It's not just the fact of the child characters being children that bothers me either, because even time-skipping to a point where they're teenagers doesn't fix it. Logically, they had to be babies and children at some point, and well-developed parent characters can't reasonably be expected to have no memories or feelings about that.

And it occurred to me that I can't actually retcon anyone's timeline and be comfortable with it. I mean... I could, but that would fundamentally change what I feel is canon (for better or worse) and would completely negate entire stories such as Au Ciel Étoilé and Caroline & Co.

So, I guess what i really get to do is explore the parent characters' feelings of regret, resentment, fear, frustration, loss of individual identity and loss of freedom in the cases where I probably should not have added child characters to the mix. It's not that these characters hate their kids - the majority of them love their kids - but that doesn't take away from the thought that their lives would be vastly different (and in some cases happier and better) without children.

Yuri, for example, should never have been a parent. He doesn't like children and doesn't like being a parent, and even though he's learned to live as a parent and be a good one, there'll always be an undercurrent of resentment there whether he's fully aware of it or not. He and Caroline love each other, but they don't necessarily like each other, and Caroline knows just as well as Yuri does that Victor is the glue holding the two of them together.

I actually feel bad for forcing Yuri into that corner. The experience has made him grow, but it also ruined the image of the future he wanted and pushed a wedge (tiny, but still...) between him and Victor that he's constantly trying to pretend does not exist.

Fox and Takahiro, my "super parents", completely lost their individual identities when they became parents. They absolutely love their kids and find immense joy in parenthood, and definitely should be parents, but for me as their author, they are no longer of much interest to me as characters themselves.

With Au Ciel Étoilé, I feel like almost every character, with the exception of Félix and Davian, are there for the sole purpose of having a child. Even though the premise of the story is weird and kind of science fiction-y, I think the real reason I lost interest in it was because it was basically "have kid, end of story".

I think Caroline is the character I regret the most, honestly. On her own, she's very interesting to me as a character, but I think she would've been equally interesting with different parents. I went back and forth on whether or not to even add her to the same universe as Yuri and Victor, to say nothing of how much I wavered on whether or not to make her their foster child. While I can't deny the bond between Caroline and Victor, I also can't reconcile the idea that it came at a cost to Yuri, who never wanted to be a parent.

It's perfectly in-character for Yuri to agree to foster Caroline even though he wasn't one hundred percent comfortable with it, though. That's kind of his M.O., doing stuff that Victor wants, even if he doesn't necessarily want it himself. It was a difficult adjustment for Yuri to have a kid around, and although he can't imagine his life without Caroline in it at this point, he often wonders what it would've been like if he'd said no in the first place. Of course, this isn't something he feels he could ever say out loud. Like a lot of things, he's just learned to accept and live with it.

Ironically enough, the child character I'm the least put off by is Belle Blanchet, even though she's not all that interesting. Maybe it's because Félix and Davian don't really think of themselves as "parents" in the traditional sense, and have always treated Belle almost like another adult. Belle isn't a psychological or literal burden to them and almost nothing has changed about their lifestyle. They're still the globe-trotting, thrill-seeking party animals they always were, and Belle is more or less along for the ride.

I don't know... There are probably a dozen story ideas in all of this, now that I see it all written out. Ugh...

#sapphire notes

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mean-scarlet-deceiver · 4 months

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also, not quite related to Great Hate but is related to some stuff said therein; I don't think any of the Skarloey/Arlesdale/Culdee Fell books are bad (honestly i rate them all very highly) buuuuuut if there was ever another attempt to adapt the books for television or television-adjacent-media, I would probably just opt to cut the non-North Western Railway stories out entirely. (the railways wouldn't be straight up Not Canon, there just wouldn't be episodes based on the stories about them.) They're a bit of a narrative cul-de-sac in terms of the overarching story of The Books, and while they are all excellent I feel like the opportunity cost of adapting those instead of expanding on the existing North Western stuff would be too high... Insult to injury is that by doing this, you don't really impact the North Western stories at all besides a little bit of Oliver the Western Engine's content and that can be adapted around (as has been done before...)

Ooh. You make a compelling point about how you could have a very good adaptation by cutting out the smaller-railway stuff.

At minimum, if one did not want to take their literary axe that far, the writers should very much take the opportunity to come up with a better way to manage the narrative of the multiple railways. I agree it's a big weakness that the RWS flips back and forth after introducing other railways — it doesn't always feel like all these books are in the same series and the going back and forth can be jarring. It's understandable, since Awdry was constrained by writing them in the order than he created them. But with distance there is a chance to reconceive things in a better way.

TVS Series 4, I think, made a vast improvement by grouping all the narrow-gauge stuff together — showing the Duke rescue before Peter Sam's and Sir Handel's S.R. breaking-in is awkward, of course, but having a whole half-season devoted to the narrow-gauge railways helps the narrative flow immensely. Sadly I think for the rest of the TVS they fall into the same choppy waters Awdry did. Obviously plenty of people do like the narrow-gauge episodes despite all, but they are definitely not set to best advantage when a handful of them feel kinda randomly sprinkled within the other stories. The improvement TVS continues to make however is finding ways for "the big engines" and "the little engines" to interact, as in creating more and more locations with mixed gauges.

Anyway your idea of a fresh television adaptation of the RWS is so enticing. My ideal series would be 30-minute adult-TV-esque episode dramas (hey, we're dreaming). You could have a significant number of episodes that take a birds'-eye view of Sodor rail and, instead of being organized around One Character Gets Put in a Situation, are organized by some new development (a new service, coal shortage, dieselisation, key person retires, labour strike, etc.), then you can have an A and a B plot on two different railways and see the fallout.

(Usually the North Western would be one of the two railways in focus, just coz a lion's share of industrial activity and travel on the island is going through them. But can you imagine how cool and special an episode it would be to have a Depression-era episode where we see the Skarloey and Mid Sodor Railways trying to pluckily adapt and eke out their survival? And we could see the Skarloey, who seemed to be in the more precarious position at the beginning, still squeaking through at the end with one engine, one engineer, etc., and downer ending! at the very end we see the Mid Sodor is ruined. Cue silent montage of putting up "Closed" signs and boarding up windows and selling off Falcon and Stuart over sad music.)

It would, indeed, necessitate coming up with original plots, especially for the smaller railways (even if, again, the North Western probably will get a big share of screen time), but the fandom has shown that there's plenty to be done there. However, the goal is to cover all the classic RWS stories — just putting them into a larger context and thinking about the island's arc over the course of a season. Fleshing out the dramatic bits of lore.

The openers for most of the episodes would be, like, a little slice-of-life showing miners or dockers or farmers or housewives going about their life for a minute or two until the Pressing Need is shown and a hint of what the railways are gonna do about it appears; a bunch of men in top hats and tails shaking hands over some new venture; new track is being laid; or some piece of news reaches Sodor and then! opening theme song and then we cut to our engines <3

#so sorry jamie's ask just sent me on a 20 minute daydream and i was typing all the while #if this makes no sense kindly just ignore it... i'm having a great time watching my new favorite imaginary television show #chatter #the railway series

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piglet26 · 5 months

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Star Wars Rewatch: TROS

Oh, God.

Palpatine come back and ruining Anakin Skywalker's redemption. Why? How? Cloning, okay, so this Palpatine isn't the real Palpatine?!

We get to see Supreme Leader Kylo Ren for about 4 minutes before he's immediately benched by Palpatine as co-pilot. Why? I get they didn't want Kylo Ren as the big bad, but this is just lazy writing.

Green goblin, I remember you don't last long.

R2D2, they never wash him or nothing?

Maybe the First Order should win. They take hits and keep on knocking. They take losses and recovered, quickly and well. They always seem to have intelligence from somewhere. In short, they are competent.

Poe and Finn, have a great dynamic.

Rey is finally training for everyone who had a boner for two movies about her having a rocky fight montage.

They moment where Ren is praying over Darth Vader's mask and his mind bridges with Rey is a great reminder that these two are connected.

This film did something most franchise should never, it responded to criticism in real time.

Poe, you fucked up Han's ship. Stop attacking like she doesn't have a reason to be annoyed. Also, Rey is currently the sole Jedi in the galaxy, she should be training, not running off on every errand you have to do.

Colin Travano (whatever his name is) I wouldn't have wanted his script. Like at all. Poe and Rey do have chemistry though and you can tell they enjoy needling one another. It's just not endgame.

That Finnrey hug was awkward. It's a church hug with their butts sticking out. I'm Reylo to the core, but I have place for FinnRey in my heart. They're soulmates in a different way than Reylo is. Also, Daisy Ridley and John B are adorable and you can tell they enjoy working together.

In a flawed film, Rose Tico being sidelined was a wise decision.

Rey, Poe, Finn, Chewie and 3PO are cute. JJ Adams did seem to love friendships developing and for the third film we needed to see all these characters together on an adventure.

Kylo Ren is forging this dumb ass mask again. Look it worked initially, character wise and so forth, but at this point?! He smashed it and moved past the need for it. The audience liked that he smashed it. We have to see his face for emotional scenes. Why is it back? Oh I know! Because JJ Adams good juvenile friend was sad his mask wasn't in the film anymore. General Hux and Kylo are magically little bottle of goodness. We got so little.

We leave one planet for another planet but I keep forgetting what planet we're on. Title cards too much to ask?

Ren is actually pursuing Rey or The Scavenger because yes he wants her for himself. but he also wants to protect her from Palpatine. Their first force bond......... yeah. I've read the novelization so I understand it's been a minute since they've seen one another, but if I just watched the movie would I have known that? No. There is much they saying yet it's stiff and doesn't make much sense without context.

General Pryde. Why did we need him when we have General Hux?

I think Billie D Williams filmed all his scenes sitting down. He looks happy to be there but tired as hell.

Race through the desert of Pasaana. I like it. This crew does work and it feels like a fun adventure. There are cute, whitty moments between all of them and it works.

She heals a snake - Two halves of the dyad should only have been able to heal one another, but here we are.

The Trio and Co find the evil sith ship or whatever. The Knights of Ren gotta walk while Ren is flying. Ren tries to run down Rey, again this make sense in the novelization and not at all in real life. After Rey injures his planes, he crashes and the majestic prince emerges out of the flames. Seriously?! Why the hell are you covering this guy up?!

In a rip off of The Last Jedi we get a tug-o-war scene between the ship Chewie is on. It's not as great, but it's a good scene and we see how Rey's powers have grown. We know it's a waste of time though. They're evenly matched. It's a nice surprise when the lighting shoots out. Okay, I don't mind her being a Palpatine. I mind the retconning. I mind Palpatine magically coming back.

Rey confesses to Finn about her dream of her and Kylo Ren on the Sith Throne. Where? We would have liked to have seen this.

This is a nice FinnRey scene. Despite her display of "dark power", her killing Chewie presumably, Finn doesn't look at her any different. She's still Rey to him. He's patient and present and she describes her challenges. We still don't acknowledge Finn is force sensitive. Why isn't he training with Rey?

We are blazing through this movie. That's part of the problem we're just pushing plot points at this point. The movie needs to be more selective about slowing down and concentrating on character development. Something painfully lacking in this film. Even the Reylo scenes are about pushing the plot forward rather than pushing the characters forward.

3PO actually has a storyline this movie. Good for him. Look secondary characters in a trilogy, you get your moments and it ain't gonna be every film.

Zorri and Babu are nice additions. I like Zorri and the fact that Ren kicking her ass actually made her like her. Women supporting women. Were Zorri and Poe a thing. What's a spice runner? A space drug dealer?

Rey's social skills lack a bit. but she's great with Droids.

Wait, Chewie and Ren were both on Ren's Destroyer and they didn't even have a scene together?! Chewie's like an uncle to Ren.

Ren, show up in your boss ass destroyer to get your girl.

Standout lines -

Poe: 3PO! Move your metal ass.

3PO: How dare you we just met.

Finn, Poe and Chewie cowboying through the destroyer. Nice scene, doomed for failure I'm afraid.

Second Reylo forceskype is exposition. First real Reylo scene is exposition. Hey, movies gotta get it done haha but Ren literally is like here's the plot of the movie and everything you've been confused on up until this point. I will say watching the progression of the force bond that their spaces are now physically bleeding into one another. Nice touch. It's also nice to see what they each see when looking at one another through the force bond.

General Hux is the spy. Could've gone farther with this. RIP Dawg

Another FinnRey scene where you begin to understand Rey is pissed off and darker than possibly Finn thought.

Palpatine and Ren scene. I'm so annoyed Palpatine is in this movie.

We meet a ragtime band on horses surprise their former stormtroopers. All of them. From the same company. Sure Jan.

Seeing the death star again, so odd and doesn't look a thing like the original. We see scavenger Rey again.

Reylo fights again because Rey is the denial queen and she's free to take out her aggression on Ren. He likes feral Rey. In another less PG film, they've fought and then boned, but Leia died. Also, Dark Rey.... I'm here for it. Mostly cause it looks cool.

The film makers did the best they could with Carrie's Fisher passing. I thought they handled it with class and dignity while incorporating it into the film.

After Leia's passing and Rey healing it. Ren in his ever presented conflict nature overlooks the water when his father appears. It's poignant and character driven scene. It's beautiful scene about the enduring love of a parent. A flawed parent but a loving one nonetheless. Ben had two of those and he seems to finally understand that now.

Poe has a good scene with Leia's body about being a leader. Something that, despite all the bravado, he finally admits he doesn't know how to do. This would've been a great scene with her alive. Part of the issue people have the sequel trilogy of the lack of respect paid for previous generations. As if they are flawed and bigoted. On screen and off screen. A scene where Finn, Poe or Rey paid respect for the accomplishments of previous generations. Their courage and their bravery. Billie D. feels like just a stand-in.

Palpatine army blows up yet another planet. yawn.

Finn is a general bestow as such by Poe. Good choice. Sanitation worker aside no one knows more about The First Order than someone who was a stormtrooper. Finn reveals Palpatine wanted Rey alive...... then why tell Ren to kill her? Because if Rey didn't go dark then Ren was the fall back or vice versa?

So far it's not a bad film, just a disappointing film. The stuff that made my blood boil is about to come.

Rey isolates herself on Acht-to, burns the ship and we see ghost Luke. Why? She saw herself on the dark throne and she's afraid of herself. This might have meant something. At one point. It just feels like a retcon at this point. She's a Palpatine but Leia and Luke didn't care? Then what the hell were you worried about Ben for? If blood and legacy means nothing.

I'm not one of those people that need everything in a movie to make sense. It's also a space fantasy film, but damn.

Rey leads the Resistance to Exegol, she just doesn't know it. That was handy. No, really the way the movie sliced that together worked very well. Poe and Finn make a great speech about the resistance. Not as rousing as I'd like.

Exegol being the basis for the Sith religion is actually really cool. Wish we could've learned more. Empress Palpatine sounds like a boss ass name.

I hate everything about the ending of this film.

Rey once again goes into the enemy territory without a plan. The resistance doesn't really have one either except gumption.

Ben Solo is back! He's great. He's a hero. He's got great hair. He's likeable. We haven't seen him for 20 minutes, he doesn't say a word except "Ow" We have a beautiful Reylo moment where we Rey and Ben see each other through the Force Bond and she looks at Ben with such relief, joy and love that he's there with her. Ben fight like hell to get to her. This is it! Bendemption. We've waited three films for this. Then they tossed him off a cliff.

While it's a great scene of Rey listening to the previous Jedi's and rising up. I'm so confused how the dyad coming together empowers the devil. Ben has been made completely irrelevant.

I mean, we got a Reylo Kiss! It was epic and then it was over. We were lucky to get that considering Disney started to shy away from Reylo due to all the "controversy" I just hate this so we'll move on.

The hug was nice!

Rey Skywalker?

And that's that

#reylo #ben solo #star wars #finnrey #rey skywalker #rey star wars #kylo ren #kylo x rey #ben solo deserved better #rey nobody

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verydistractedveryconfused · 8 months

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I don't say this to attack anyone or any fanfic, but I have started to notice a pattern in some of the TMNT crossover fics

More specifically Rise and 2012 but it could apply to others

That being, that whenever they make the fanfic take place during season 2 of 2012 version, is usually to make them look less friendly, like they don't get along or work together well as a team, making them seem like they are being cruel and mean to each other

While at the same time, putting the Rise characters take place after their final season or the movie, to make them look like they have more experiences, have been through more traumatic moments, work better as a team and have a "healthy" family dynamic

In other words

They put the Rise characters after they have had their developement as characters, team, family and individuals, while putting the 2012 characters RIGHT BEFORE they're own character developement and growth, so that they can make the Rise turtles looke better

They often tag it with "No Bashing to 2012" but that's all they do

And it's because they know, that just like with the Rise version (heck, like any freaking show) the character developement is there, during the final seasons/movie, they just pick and choose who gets to keep it

And this is not to say that all of those fanfics are bad, or Bashing, or that the author is doing something wrong

That's not what I'm saying

I'm saying that, if you don't like one version, or you like another one better, or you haven't watched one, that's okay

But please

Stop ruining the show for those that do like it and appreciate

You don't need to trash good show to make another good show look better, they're both good and loved by different fans and people

As a person who likes and has watched nearly TMNT iterations, I would like it if the fandom just stopped trying to drag other versions down just because it's not to your taste

(Also would like to add

Please, stop trying to sabotage Mutant Mayhem by commenting about Rise on every single post Nickelodeon or Paramount make about TMNT )

Edited to add:

This is not an attack on the author or the readers of such works, nor an invitation to attack said authors and readers

This is also to clarify that not all authors who write the fanfic taking place during season 2 of 2012 is attacking the show, they are just taking a creative point of view

This post is about the ones that write it to bash the 2012 turtles or the other versions

Just wanted to make that clear

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #tmnt 2012 #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt mutant mayhem #2012 tmnt #rise of the tmnt

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dilscft · 8 months

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There's so many toxic stans that give so much hate to Jeremiah and Jelly I know Jenny sees this and sometimes she likes the anti jelly posts on tik tok like no she didn't makes me dislike her if I'm being real I guess she likes both sides of the fandom but seriously she better not make the conrad belly ship endgame yet again when there is nothing there even in the books I didn't get it the only love I saw was between Jeremiah and Belly. I heard some people say they have insides after the episode where Jenny and some of the cast talk about the ep and Jenny was saying she felt bad for Conrad then Lola calls her out saying she's the one who wrote it lmao I love her. Actually Conrad's reaction didn't seem hurt or anything he was just there interrupting them during that kiss which was hot surprised they weren't in the car like in the books. I wonder if she'll surprise us and make Jelly endgame I really want that to be the case it's just hard for me to trust her I don't want this relationship to be ruined I love them together so much. When I think about the third book as a whole it was terrible nothing good happened for them Belly was ruined too her character development that I loved in book 2 was gone actually I didn't recognize her at all I just thought she has the same name but is a much different person.

I really hope that her saying that she might change the ending is true and not just for views. Considering all those stupid signs people post ok tiktok, I kinda loosing my hope. If jelly isn't endgame, then what's the point? Jelly has development, while bonrad doesn't. They are just stuck and that's all. Jenny han doesn't devellop them as the couple. They never talk, it just weird signals. Belly is the only who vocalize her feelings, but then imo she realizes that she doesn't even know this man and doesn't love him. So she lets him go.

I love how Lola protects Jelly. Like she doesn't say it, but she kinda explains it differently without saying that she's team jelly. Like, the way she said why would she fight for love that doesn't even feel like the love. Why would she fight for a man who doesn't even lift his finger for her? Or pay attention, talk? She clearly states that she's team jeremiah. Like even Chris doesn't like bonrad. The way he always jokes that he's team bonrad because it's written in his contract🤭😭😭. I wish it wasn't in his contract, so he could scream at those bonrad fans that they're delusional and love toxic relationships 😭😭😭😭

#the summer i turned pretty #tsitp #team jeremiah #jeremiah fisher #jeremiah and belly #belly conklin #belly x jeremiah #team jelly #tsitp s2 #jenny han #jeremiah x belly #jellyfish #bellyjere #lola tung #gavin casalegno #chris briney

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summercreolefanfictioner · 11 months

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People talk a lot about chemistry or dynamic between characters. This character has best chemistry with that character. It leads to assumptions that good chemistry is the highest rank in character's relationship, the most qualified one even if they're platonic or not romanticized. How do you think the importance of this 'chemistry'?

is this about jigokuraku?? idk but let's just say this is jigokuraku hehe (since the only fandom I've talked abt this topic on is jigokuraku cause there will always be an endless battle between gabiyui vs gabisagi out there)

for me, chemistry plays a lot in a character's relationship, may it be romance, friendship, battle partnership (like when they duel the same enemy together), work, etc etc. but for me, even if two characters have an insane amount of chemistry together, it doesn't mean they're going to be good romantic partners or what not bcos that's not how romantic relationships work (even in real life)

remember, chemistry is just one thing. however, having your own character development while being invested in that romantic development is another thing. plus, many factors can ruin a character's romantic chemistry with another character (e.g. social status, difference in goals, beliefs, romantic interests)

you might think gabimaru and sagiri can easily be together but there are so many reasons the ship ain't happening aside from the fact that they don't have feelings for one another. remember, gabimaru's end goal after the island does not align with sagiri's ultimate goal in life.

and if gabimaru was uhhh let's say to marry sagiri, he would have to give up everything he had before and be a part of the asaemon and that involves killing again and like what the manga and anime emphasize, gabimaru doesn't want to kill for a living anymore. and our girl sagiri is a samurai and she kills people for a living. ya think that kind of marriage will work? no. besides marrying sagiri would mean gabimaru abandoning yui and there is no freaking way gabimaru will abandon his wife for a girl he just met for a few days the same way sagiri will not marry a man just bcos that is what she is supposed to do as a woman during their time period.

so yeah, gabimaru and sagiri both have tons of chemistry as friends and as executioner-criminal duo. but other than that, their romantic chemistry is like little to none.

(tbh people who kept on saying sagiri should be gabimaru's wife are disregarding her goal to become a samurai just like how the other characters looked down on her. sagiri doesn't want to become anyone's wife; she wants to become a samurai worthy of her clan and soon become the clan head)

#jigokuraku #hell's paradise #yamada asaemon sagiri #sagiri #gabimaru #gabimaru the hollow #yui jigokuraku #yui hell's paradise #gabiyui #gabiyui for life #gabimaru x yui #gabimaru and yui #gabimaru's wife

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mikuni14 · 8 months

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Only Friends Ep 5

Sand and Ray This time the episode focused largely on them, their relationship went through a whole stage during this time, from the tentative hope for Something, to the devastating feeling that their relationship is falling apart before their eyes even though they both don't want it to. This ep shed some light on Sand, on being the child of a single parent, a mother who certainly struggled to provide for both of them. The way Sand works all the time and money is an issue in his life. The way he is cynical and disillusioned and has his feet firmly on the ground, while still having his dreams. And how Ray shakes up his life, how Sand gives himself a chance at love, and how it makes him upset that he may be the only one who feels it. Sand is such a good boy, as seen when he stops pouring alcohol into Ray's glass when he tells him about his mother. Ray is a good boy too, just a victim of circumstances. They really have a chance for a good relationship, for me they are the only ones in this series that can actually make it. I was really sad to see the despair in Ray's eyes when he told Sand that he could talk to him if he had any questions about him and their relationship. And when Sand turns his back on him. Sand is a bit unfair I think, because Ray has proven many times that he is invested in their relationship, he even went with him to fight debt collectors! 😭 Sand should talk to him and give him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps things would have turned out differently if, to Boston's question: if you don't feel anything about Mew, why are you so upset, Ray would have replied: because what you say will threaten my relationship with Sand. Because maybe I'm wrong, but I think that for Ray the worst thing was that Sand witnessed this argument. I have the impression that Ray is trying and sincerely likes Sand and hopes for a relationship with him. But Ray, the unluckiest boy in the world, once again becomes a victim of circumstances and his feelings and Boston he's probably just his collateral damage.

Mew and Top Top, to me, was sort of detached throughout this episode, and his time with Mew made it seem like he was doing his chores in order to gain bed privileges. I don't know if there's anything less romantic than checking things off someone's list and proving your worth. Mew is still one of the funniest characters for me. Like the fact that he constantly emphasizes that sex is only penetration never fails to make me laugh (when he called Boston to say he wanted to do IT with Top, I wanted to shake him and say, you already did THAT with him ffs!). Mew has an entire ideology built around sex and his virginity, which is very funny because he's obviously just been waiting for the right guy and when he finds him, he wants to do it with him so badly that he ignores potential red flags (Top's reputation and how people constantly hit on him even when they're together, which Mew sees, also the drugs) and even finds excuses to do it with him. For example: because it keeps Top from taking drugs, or, wait for it, it's gonna be good (and also ruins Mew's entire carefully developed ideology and reputation), otherwise Top will get bored with him. 😄 My opinion about Mew remains the same, he's a pathetic, morally questionable, fake character. There's really nothing wrong with waiting for someone you just want to do it with, it's NORMAL. Why make a list, requirements, a trial period, when in the end he chooses, let's be honest, with his heart and 🍆? How is he different, morally better? from the other characters, how is he different from Boston, whom he looks down upon and would like him to change, since Boston also chooses whomever he wants in bed?🤷‍♀️

Nick and Boston Despite their flaws, I must admit that I like them the most. Nick with his determination, ruthlessness in reaching his goal, obsession, even though he is fully aware of what Ton is like, the things he is able to do for him, how far he is able to go for him… I don't know, but as a character Nick is very real and I understand him. The corruption of this toxic love on his otherwise good soul is so realistic. Same with Boston, who is a great character, I love him. Whatever he does, whatever he says, somehow it's always true, which is amazing. He manipulates people with the truth, not lies, confronts them with their own ideas about themselves and others, which understandably always ends in an interesting way, because people are attached to their ideas and do not want the truth about them to come to light. Boston in the final scene when he watches Sand and Ray like a hawk being lovey-dovey was my favorite Boston, it was like watching a loaded shotgun knowing it was about to fire 🤩

I'm curious about Boston in the trailer for the next episode. He looks genuinely upset that Ray probably knows about him and Top in the car (which Ray knows from Sand, which means maybe they finally talked to each other.. I hope). Did Ton want to keep it for himself because he feels something for Top and wants to have this moment for himself, or does he want to keep it because he wants to use it at a convenient moment?🤔

#only friends the series #only friends #bl drama #thai bl

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lovekindled · 8 months

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just me rambling about kevin day, trying to make sense of his character and what i'm going to focus on writing post canon <3

ok so :) kevin day. his whole thing with the ravens and riko is sooo complicated because kevin's main obsession has always been being the best at exy. and that was something that he and riko could do together. and since they needed each other, there were certain limits that riko would not cross and that made it easier for him to stay. he was arrogant with it, because even if he was number two that put him in front of most of the team. he knew the way riko treated other people (jean!!!) but it never bothered him enough to do something about it, even when he found out about his father. it took riko breaking his hand for him to decide it wasn't worth it and leave. throughout his life, the one thing that he's been consistently putting as his number one priority has been exy, even before friendship or loyalty. he does again when he escapes, even puts jean at risk knowing what will happen to him. i feel like that by running away, he's once again choosing exy because he knows riko will do anything to stop him from becoming the best. if he was scared of him before, now he's terrified of how far he'll go. i think he tries to make himself feel better about the decision by thinking that the ravens wouldn't want him anymore now that he's ruined. but he still chose to train his right hand and continue playing exy, because without it there's no point in living.

he tries to make sense of his selfishness and cowardice by convincing himself that riko won't stop at a broken hand, and if he truly wanted to erase every opportunity kevin had at exy, he could. they could ruin his reputation and make sure he never played again. he's constantly thinking about consequences and trying to stay out of riko's way even when he also wants to win and become the best. it's not until neil calls him out for it that kevin starts to realize that he's been making excuses for himself. but realizing that also means realizing all the damage he's done. i think after they win against the ravens and riko dies, it's going to take him a while to come to terms with that. to realize that he was also cruel in his own ways. i don't think he could ever have a different priority that wasn't exy, but since i want to give him the character development he deserves, he'll want to try and amend some of his past mistakes.

also another topic i want to touch on is his alcoholism. i think riko's death is going to make him struggle with it, probably out of shame because i don't think anyone would understand his process of grieving such an awful human being. but they were both raised together, were promised to succeed together, and i don't think he ever took the time to grieve that until riko's gone. there's a lot of feelings that he's been constantly pushing down and they're probably going to resurface now that he's not constantly thinking about winning or surviving. once his alcoholism threatens to mess with his play, that's when he's going to decide to do something about it. hopefully before he makes us court tbh.

#tw: death #tw: alcholism #im serious someone tell me to shut up!!!#kevin day: headcanons.#are they really headcanons if it's just me interpreting canon? i guess we'll never know

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maya-matlin · 2 months

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Out of the degrassi movies (don’t look back, Hollywood, Manhattan) which one do you think is the most ridiculous and why? And how would you rank the plots in each movie?

(I did not include Schools Out cause while a lot of things that happened in the movie pissed me off it was nowhere near as ridiculous or far fetched as the others)

Oh god. This will be fun, because the story lines during those movies were all over the place. It was very clear the writers weren't aiming to do anything remotely realistic and just wanted to have fun.

I'm inclined to say that Don't Look Back, even though it's widely despised, is probably less ridiculous than the other two movies. At least they stayed in Canada? Tristan was trying to run a successful YouTube channel, but I don't think it worked out. For some reason, I can't remember the details of the kidnapping story line, but it's not totally unbelievable that a girl would do something drastic like fake her own kidnapping because her older, abusive boyfriend was manipulating her into thinking it's the only way they could be together. We already know Maya to be someone overly concerned with keeping people safe and that she can't stop herself from getting involved. So that's not totally off to me.

Degrassi Goes Hollywood and Degrassi Takes Manhattan speak for themselves. Multiple characters ran off to either LA or New York and managed to find fame in a short period of time. In defense of Manny and Paige being cast in Jason Mewes' movie, there was at least a previous connection because both worked on the set of the season 4 movie. In Manhattan, Jane just randomly met a guy in a band that was about to take off and ends up performing with them on live TV. Since we're led to believe Holly J got the internship on her own merits rather than Declan pulling the strings, that's kind of hard to believe. Meanwhile, Spinner and Emma drunkenly elope and decide to remain married, declaring themselves in love after less than a week. Ellie's plot was somewhat more grounded. The Crellie stuff was ridiculous, but Ellie was intentionally running from the reality of her father's condition. Not only that, but Craig and Ellie had both been ruined for years by this point. So sadly, it wasn't too shocking to see Craig's cheating ways mixed with Ellie's desperation and codependency come into play once again.

I guess this means my answer is Degrassi Takes Manhattan? Honestly, they're all ridiculous. None of them hold up compared to the regular episodes, but oh well.

Degrassi Goes Hollywood:

1.) Manny (If not for Craig's involvement in Ellie's story line and the heavy emphasis on their non-romance, that one would rank first. I'm not afraid to say that this one places first because Manny is my favorite and I like seeing her dreams come true. Also, Janny got back together. Cassie Steele's voice was at least good enough to justify Manny landing that role even if Manny hadn't been established as a good singer prior to this. I just wish Peter and his stupid fucking band didn't have to be involved. The writers never let her be free of that man)

2.) Ellie (As I said before, this one had a solid basis. After Ellie's family problems were placed on the backburner for four seasons, finally we were given an update. We'd already known Ellie to self harm. Season 7 hinted at Ellie eventually developing a drinking problem. The elements were there for Ellie to have a really compelling story with her spiraling and relapsing to cope with her dad's condition. Unfortunately, the crux of this story line involved Ellie reconnecting with Craig, and I can only overlook that so much)

3.) Paige (This is easily the worst part of the movie. It was hard to understand why Paige was suddenly after fame or why she was even living in LA in the first place. The Paige of seasons 5-7 had different goals in mind. It felt like they wanted to resume the Paige vs Manny feud, only not even that got much screen time. For some reason, the writers really wanted to punish Paige and imply that she and Marco would never be friends again. Also, Perez Hilton showed up during all of this. We need to give the writers so much shit for that. They legitimately gave that creep a paycheck. Unforgivable)

Degrassi Takes Manhattan:

1.) Holly J vs Fiona (Arguably, this was the best plot in any of the movies. It was literally just Fiona and Holly J feuding while attempting to stake a claim on Declan. Holly J got most of the focus, but Fiona's character and the hints of her alcoholism and mental health problems were the most interesting aspect of it. I mean, Declan wasn't worth all that for numerous reasons, but he and Fiona had an extremely codependent sibling relationship. Declan wasn't beyond redemption at this point, so even his role was somewhat sympathetic with his loyalty being divided between his girlfriend and his twin sister)

2.) Spinner/Emma (Like I said before, the fact we were supposed to think their impulsive marriage was a sufficient happy ending with so little build up was unbelievable. But at the same time, the actors gave it their all and made it almost charming if you didn't think too much about it. Spinner and Emma together isn't the problem. It's the way it was done and the fact it was blatantly a rebound for Spinner and Emma being so desperate to figure out her future that she jumped right into a marriage with someone she was barely friends with. Had more time been devoted to their relationship set up or even if they'd simply become a couple, the fact they were endgame wouldn't feel so random and forced)

3.) Jane (Jane's five seconds of fame was ridiculous. I can't even talk about it because there's literally nothing to say. She randomly met a guy who was played by someone more than twice Jane's age (37), and suddenly she's in the band and ready to blow off college to be famous even though Jane was never into anything like that. Then, she finds out Spinner's getting married and stops just short of talking him out of it. Somehow, we're supposed to feel good about her ending. It felt like a series of totally random, bizarre events that have no basis in any sort of logic)

Don't Look Back:

1.) Zoe/Grace (I'm not going to pretend as if I'm not biased. Their story line was literally a lesbian romcom. I loved everything about it. I don't give a fuck that Zoe had three different love interests in one season or that the writers could never keep straight how academically smart she was. All that mattered is that she ended the season with Grace and finally met her match. We saw Grace more vulnerable with Zoe than we had with anyone else up to that point. Zoe finally realized what sort of love she wanted to experience and the kind of partner she needed. Had the writers just fucking let it happen and not been all, "Well, actually, it's problematic to assume that just because you dress vaguely alternative, color your hair, and have piercings, you must be gay. We're just going to ignore the times we implied Grace was into girls because the girl crushing on her BFF's boyfriend trope has never been done before and we need it for our tone deaf plot twist," everything would have been great. I even thought Miles's role in the story line was pretty fun)

2.) Maya/Zig (This isn't Maya's best story line and pales in comparison to all of her other season 14 plots, but it's like Gracevas's story line to me. I got to watch Zig and Maya be adorable together, kissing in every other scene and taking care of kids together after waiting for them to be canon for years. So I took what I could get and just had fun with it. Other than that, Maya's continued anxiety and need to involve herself so that she's never "responsible" for someone else's misery tracks for me. I thought Maya and Gloria coming together towards the end was interesting. And obviously, Zaya's first technical endgame since TNG could have been the end of the show)

3.) Frankie (To be honest, I just didn't care about this story line. Frankie's relationship with Gloria's abusive boyfriend wasn't well developed or given enough depth for me to believe Frankie seriously fell for him that quickly and easily. I know Winston was boring and had literally just kissed one of her best friends, but mostly I blame it on the fact that Frankie has the worst taste in men. I know the writers wanted to get everyone involved in Gloria's disappearance, but I wish anyone else had gotten the spotlight)

4.) Tristan (I don't know if this counts as a plot, but Tristan's constant interruptions take me out of the movie. I know it's supposed to be intentionally overdramatic, but this wasn't the best use of the character. Sometimes I wonder if the writers were trying to make everyone hate him)

#Anonymous #Long post

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pensbridgrton · 10 months

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Thoughts of the S3 Polin? I love them and I'm so excited

i'm clearing out this inbox of mine... and i haven't properly ranted about this in a while, so... yeah. So if you're excited about S3 and don't want to hear anything negative, this may not be the post for you. (I'd classify it as bittersweet, maybe.)

I still HATE the idea of Polin being S3. I hated it when it was rumored, I hated it when it was announced, and even if I've now accepted that it's happening, I still think it was a TERRIBLE decision and actively ruins some of the elements of Polin I love the most (Namely: two characters growing up individually until they're in the right time and space to fall in love and grow together; the spinster and the bachelor; Penelope being successful for a DECADE at LW before being ready to move on; Colin enjoying his travels but being ready to settle down.)

But here we are.

Ignoring the past two weeks, I've been pretty pessimistic about S3. For me, in order to LOVE a romance I need to LOVE both individual characters. I can still like and enjoy a romance if that isn't the case, but with Polin - a book ship that is one of my all time favorites - I had high expectations in S1. My expectations post-S2 were pretty much on the floor because Show!Pen and Show!Colin - while not terrible characters in any way - are not MY characters, or at least not the ones I would die on a hill defending. In addition, while I do not care about plot in the slightest (and therefore do not care about the - frankly, sparse - RMB plot being done away with) I DO care about vibes and keeping characters in character. I love fic, obviously, but I love IN CHARACTER fic... and the show is wildly OOC fic right now. Not my cup of tea. So... really, in the end, I'm just here to support Nicola and Newts. I have always believed that S3 would be wildly popular, eaten up by the casual audience, and generally well-loved... I just felt that S3 wouldn't be my all time favorite season with my all time favorite couple as Show!Polin had the potential to be (especially if it had been S4 and had gone through with the actual slowburn, individual character development route).

Now, ever since TUDUM and some of the interviews that have come out... I wouldn't say I'm cautiously optimistic, but I am choosing to have more of an open mind and be open to the possibility that I might enjoy the main romance without having to turn my brain off. I know there are probably going to be things I dislike/despise (jealous/possessive Colin, Pen not apologizing to Marina, Marina dying, an overemphasis on the sex and not enough on the friendship, Colin's costuming, etc. who knows what else) but I know I will enjoy watching Nicola and Newts play these characters on my screen (the stills had me giddy!)

More importantly, while I try not to read TOO much into interviews, everything Nicola and Newts have said about the season so far does give me hope about Penelope and Colin as individuals. Again, I don't care about the plot. The quotes? Are fun! I'm definitely really happy about "you're my mess" and any other book quotes/scenes were get. But hearing Nicola talk about how Penelope needs to grow up, how she's terrible with men, how she's made mistakes.... hearing Newts talk about how S3 is basically a different Colin... THAT is what gives me hope. Because for me, I am always drawn to character-driven romances but it's hard to be invested in that romance if you're not invested in the characters. And again while Show!Pen and Show!Colin are fine, I really miss their book characters and hearing that they both might be GROWING into their book selves (especially Colin, imo, bc Show!Pen just needs to grow in general and I'll be happy whereas I really didn't like the writing for S2 Colin) does, actually, get me a little excited.

But yeah, I'm still here. I'll watch. I'll keep an open mind because Nicola and Newts clearly care about these characters and the romance and I do appreciate that and at the end of the day, it's an adaptation of the show and if I hate it (wouldn't be the first time!), I'll always have the book.

#polin #penelope featherington #colin bridgerton #bridgerton for ts #bridgerton thoughts #idk if nic and newts wrote this season i would probably be safer having hope but sdjfhskfjhkljafd who knows!#and i know it's pretty unpopular in polin spaces actually to prefer book colin....#matchmaking little shit chaotic laid-back charming colin who everyone gravitates to is MY MAN and i miss him so much #s1 had that correct energy even with the marina storyline but s2 fumbled the bag so hard until 2x08 #but even those 2x08 moments were overshadowed by ONE SCENE told from PENS POV but thats a different post #asks #anonymous

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woodswolf · 2 years

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really really long thoughts on aini and how it could've been made WAY better if they just changed a few little things with regards to its "background canon" i.e. from ai 1. full spoilers for ai 1 and aini, minor (ending) spoilers for the zero escape series.

the worst part of aini is really just that uchikoshi really wrote the most compelling emotional found family drama plotline EVER that's as close to perfectly executed as it's possible for anything to be and SO much better than everything else around it and then said "actually that was an offshoot timeline and didn't technically happen! this much more underwhelming series of events (but where the characters figure out Exactly What Went Down) is what Really happened."

its like... yes in Any Other Case with Any Other Series this would be pretty obviously the only option. zero escape for instance couldn't continue from anything but the true ending for each game because that series presents itself as brute-forcing meta progress in order to unlock the full truth. like, if you take any "ending" in zero escape, you're still not getting the full story? e.g. dio end in vlr still isn't THE END in bold font with a period at the end bc they still have to actually figure out how to get everyone out with their lives, which can't happen without forcing all of the progress in the morphogenetic field by getting all the endings. even if they WANTED to it wouldn't make sense to make a sequel to dio end - most of the cast would be dead or dying and they're Still trapped so its just. yeah. it just wouldn't really work. the only exceptions of endings they could make sequels to are like, the safe ending in 999 (bc SOME of the cast survives to theoretically escape - there's a really cool fic series that explores this (part 1 / part 2) by spacedaydreamer on ao3), ztd's true end, and ztd's pre-vlr end (which they kinda literally did make a "sequel" to lmao). nothing else would really work due to the setup constraints.

but aitsf as a series is fundamentally Built Different and in that sense it's very very smart. the fact that it's built up like a serial with each game focused around a single case unrelated to any others means that it's very modular - you could reasonably make a sequel to ai 1 that's set after ANY of the endings (minus like, annihilation, where basically the entire cast is dead, and iris ending bc thats the only other end where a (likeable) character from the first game explicitly dies) because there aren't any pressing constraints on chronology that couldn't be overlooked or brushed aside for the sake of keeping it modular. like, saito is DEFINITELY still alive and running around killing people after ota's ending, which would naturally lead to it becoming annihilation... 2!!! if we got to see that actually play out - but that happens off-screen, so we could just Ignore It Tm and have the gang move on to the next case after the new cyclops killer "mysteriously disappeared" or whatever. same thing for iris - she could just eventually wake up as her normal self because we're never explicitly told that so sejima is in iris's body after ota's ending. just ignore it in favor of preserving a good character! aitsf isn't like zero escape where a potential plot hole like this could ruin the whole series - capitalize on that to carefully pick and choose the best elements of each game to make permanent "background canon". it doesn't HAVE to make COMPLETE sense or fit together EXACTLY - just cherrypick the best and most memorable moments that you want to keep as core canon.

which is the biggest problem with aini being set after ai 1's resolution route - nothing of what happens in it is really built on. and yeah, it makes sense - everyone who got the most development in ai 1's resolution route (i.e. date, iris, hitomi) is reduced to more side character status here - but i don't care about things making sense as much as them being good. and ai 1's resolution route is... fine. it's fine! but the writing quality on the right half of ai 1's flowchart is Not As Good compared to the left half and it really shows on repeat playthroughs. (the feels-like-it's-two-hours-long recap of falco's entire backstory is really shit to have to sit through when you already know all of it - and that's only ONE of the problems with the resolution ending, there are WAY MORE.) there are only like three things that are explicitly carried over from the resolution ending:

iris being Definitely Alive and Still Herself (which like, yeah, this is the only ending where that happens, but ota's and mizuki's endings still have her body being alive, and with the "just make it a plot hole" scheme that i outlined earlier they could literally just Ignore That and have her still be alive. AND they could give her a cool AIball that she could be soooooo normal about on her twitch streams like this is literally perfect ok)

so sejima being Definitely Alive and Still Himself (for all of the TWO scenes he's relevant for like wow good job. DEFINITELY couldn't have filled his role with a new sleazy politician character instead no sir )

datomi real (which like, Yes resolution is the only ending where this is Really set up, but it honestly could've happened after any ending (except annihilation bc hitomi's obviously dead RIP). those two took one (1) look at each other, shot the Autism Beams into each other's eyes, and then fell in love (as you do). it was just kinda Bound To Happen Anyway, the only difference would be how much they know about how date was falco yadda yadda and honestly imo i liked the idea of datomi better before i knew date was falco but this post isn't about that)

that's... really not a lot? and considering that all of this has to do with characters that are reduced to like, background status at best if even that (iirc hitomi LITERALLY only shows up for three scenes, one of which is over in like 30 seconds; iris's appearance count is in the very low double digits at best; and date is still important but only when NEITHER of those characters are in the room) it just. aini being set after ai 1's resolution ending doesn't really Add anything, and i would further argue that it's actually actively bad compared to the other and most obvious option!

let's stop kidding ourselves; you all knew when you clicked in here that i was going to talk about this, the only reason i started writing this is because i wanted to talk about this, and everyone is tired of ignoring the elephant in the room. so let's stop beating around the bush: aini is made actively worse by not being set after ai 1's mizuki ending, and almost everything about the game comes off like the whole development team knew this and still chose not to go through with it.

where to START with how fucked this is, honestly - though i guess the best place is probably the beginning for multiple reasons. if you didn't know about this already (because you're an epic gamer who managed to avoid all of the evil Ryukis during the parts of the first psync where they're chasing you - i only got hit by the last set on my first playthrough), now's a good time for you to go replay the first psync in aini and see what happens when you hit all of the ryukis instead of avoiding them.

through ryuki's repeated reverse psyncs, we get to see that, on some level, mizuki still remembers the events of her ending from ai 1. the "do you know the culprit" room is straight-up the setup from PSYNCIN' IN THE CAPTaiN, down to the bowl of soup and adorabbit cursing mizuki forever, with various memorable imagery from PSYNCIN' IN THE PaiN scattered about the room. and from there, getting caught by the Ryuki chases gives us four "scenes":

the merry go round column's door

the left birdcage from PSYNCIN' IN THE PaiN with the picture taped back together

adorabbit dangling from balloons

the setup from the end of PSYNCIN' IN THE CAPTaiN with date vs shoko and renju, with the models replaced by the neon "anonymous person" figures

this is obviously the events that happened during mizuki's ending in chronological order - mizuki hides in the column, date and aiba help her in the psync, mizuki thinks about all that date's done for her (shown abstractly through adorabbit), and finally the ending of PSYNCIN' IN THE CAPTaiN.

this is like, really good. it's exactly the kind of throwback reference that works with or without knowledge of the first game and still has an effect. for players that haven't played ai 1 it's "damn, what does all of THIS mean and why is one of the main characters thinking about it? i wonder if there's a bit of background material where i could learn more!", and for players that have played ai 1 it's like "aww, mizuki remembers all that happened in her ending on some level, that's sweet <3".

but it's like. do you see the problem with this. i SHOULD just be able to say something like, "oh, that's a convenient throwback/recap!" or "it must've affected her real bad for it to be the first thing that her somnium calls up even after literal years :(" but i don't get to say any of that. instead, we as the audience are left to wonder how she even remembers any of this FOR it to be in her somnium because none of it even happened in this timeline!

and like, yeah, aini's whole point is all the meta shit, or at least it is significantly more so than it was in ai 1. theoretically it could make sense that mizuki remembers everything she was present for in ai 1 whether it technically happened in this timeline or not because we're the "frayer" and she's one of the "frayer characters" (though ryuki fulfills his role as a "frayer character" slightly better than mizuki does because he's so fucked up with the meta levels) and therefore knows a bit more than she realistically should, the same way date did a few times in ai 1. but something being "theoretically possible due to meta shit" is nowhere near as compelling as "this actually happened to you over half a decade ago, and you're still not really normal about it because you CAN'T be normal about it because it kinda-sorta-maybe messed with your mental state just a little bit because it was a really important part of your development as a person that ultimately ended in tragedy (i.e. date's "death" in the cathedral) despite your own best efforts (i.e. PSYNCIN' IN THE CAPTaiN)". one of these explanations is not like the other in that it positions mizuki's character on much stronger footing that could be further built up on her side.

now we go from the part where this changes from passively bad to actively bad, which is basically right at the end of the game. mizuki day 5: they all find the corpse in the freezer, and then mizuki sees date and gets to talk to him for the first time in 6 years... and this is what happens:

i hate this SO MUCH because it was SO CLOSE to being good. and literally ALL it needs to be good is to be set after the mizuki ending (with minor rewrites to match).

now maybe this doesn't FEEL that bad. but think about This version instead (changes in green):

Date: What? Do you have more insults to hurl at me after missing six years of your life? Mizuki: No, it's not that... Bibi: Maybe she just wanted to hear you say... Bibi: "Mizuki, you've grown so much," or something emotional like that... Mizuki: No, not that either... Date: Ah, right. For you, it's been six years. Date: For me, it's different. Date: I've been back for four days, dressed like this. I've been watching you guys the whole time. Date: So I don't really have anything sappy to say... Mizuki: I told you, it's not that! Mizuki: You already know what I want. Date: ... Date: All right, okay. Date: Let me try this again. Date: Mizuki... Date: ... Date: I'm home... Mizuki: ... Mizuki: Welcome back, Date... Mizuki: But I had something else I wanted to say, too. Date: ...? Mizuki: I threw away all your porno mags. Date: Nooooooo!!!

just LOOK at how this already reads so much stronger. it gives mizuki so much more emotional strength - exactly the kind of emotional strength that she had in the mizuki ending, because she's already had all of this development before. the last change is rather subtle and hard to convey through text alone, as it'd be much more through the facial expression and voice direction, but that line would be much better if it was read as "shit-eating-grin-but-also-trying-not-to-cry" emotion instead of kinda timid and almost tense like how it actually is in the game.

this conversation just plainly and succinctly reveals everything fundamentally wrong with setting aini after ai 1's resolution route instead of mizuki's ending. the way that mizuki just doesn't have the words for what she wants from date, the way that aiba has to call her out on what she wants and then mizuki is just... shocked?

which really just brings everything around to the core reason that aini is made so much worse by not being set after the mizuki ending: mizuki doesn't have the character development that she got during her ending and it makes her character a lot weaker overall. and, because of the way things have been set up, she can never get that development again unless it's off-screen.

which is really sad! like, SO much of what everyone liked about her in ai 1 was specifically the development she and date got during her ending, and she's the protagonist of this game so you'd think that they'd let her keep that good development! but mizuki gets shafted for the entirety of ai 1's resolution route, and as a result she and date never really had those moments where they CHOOSE to be family. which just... really flattens her character. and it affects WAY more than just this scene.

now's about the time where i say how i would rewrite aini to fix all of this, and honestly, very little would have to actually change in a meta sense - it's just the smallest tweaks and rewrites of single lines in a few places. the way id have it play out would be like this:

on mizuki's side, on the days where we're playing as mizuki instead of bibi, mizuki would be more openly Not Happy that date "died" six years ago in the cathedral and coping pretty poorly. like she's not weeping over him in every conversation, just every so often when he gets brought up she just kinda Stops Talking or gets teary. the general impression should be that this was a really deep wound (which like, after everything that happened in the mizuki ending and then date ACTUALLY DIES? YEAH NO FUCKING KIDDING) and that she'd only just started to heal only for it to be violently ripped open again with the return of the HB case. aiba should be acting as mizuki's crutch and parent figure - and it should clearly help, because mizuki and aiba actually know each other and are family in the mizuki end instead of never even being introduced in the resolution route.

meanwhile, on the days we're playing as bibi: bibi obviously isn't torn up about date's "death", both because it hasn't happened yet and also because bibi and date barely even know each other - so of course bibi doesn't want nor need aiba's comfort about this. aiba and bibi will seem slightly more distant as a result, because they barely know each other, either. until the reveal of the chronology twist, the player will think that this is just one of the days where mizuki is coping better with what happened and trying to focus on the investigation - and it can simultaneously be another hint toward that chronology twist, and make the "mandela effect in real time" that happens on mizuki day 4 stand out even more as "wait, there's obviously something wrong here".

barely anything else would have to actually change. and what do we get out of this? well - a lot.

for one, the "spoiler toggle" is no longer necessary at all, or is barely necessary. the characters barely know anything of the truth in the mizuki ending. date is still in saito's body and he doesn't even know saito's name, he doesn't remember anything about falco, he didn't discover the body-swapping secret. and considering that absolutely zero of that matters in aini anyway and it more often causes problems (like with date's "mask" - like, yes, the implicit confirmation that date experienced MEGA dysmorphia after ai 1's resolution route was good because i'd called that back in 2019, but it's not ever brought up nor touched on again and could be written out without anything changing), setting aini after the mizuki ending just removes a lot of the clumsiness around this and makes everything... smoother.

the only thing that's slightly off about this would be that, obviously, iris is technically already dead in the mizuki ending in ai 1. but, as i said earlier, this is such an obvious and acceptable handwave that i would be mad if that was the reason they chose to set aini after the resolution route. aini already does other handwaves like this, such as everything around mizuki being adopted by shoko and renju, and this would be a handwave for a worthy cause! iris is such a good character, and because they never figure out the body swapping twist in the mizuki end, it's very easy to handwave that she's Still Definitely Herself Tm and keep a really good character. worst case scenario you can stick something in the appendix like "technically iris would already be dead in the mizuki ending but SHUT UP!!! this is an offshoot timeline where the mizuki ending happened but she's still alive just enjoy the story <3".

(and like. iris having an AIball after she loses her eye in the mizuki ending would be SO funny. she wouldn't even be a psyncer she'd just beg pewter for one and pewter would be like "Fine. Ok Fine." it'd be pink with a rainbow segment and its eyeball form would look like a TBH and it'd play multiplayer shovelforge and/or kusemon and/or towerday (fortnite) doubles with her. LITERAL comedy gold potential here.)

i could write a lot more about how this would specifically improve things, but i think this just about sums up most of my thoughts in general. tl;dr aini's main plot could be so much better if they set it after ai 1's mizuki ending, though it still wouldn't be a perfect game bc the side routes minus shoma and komeji's have Other problems that this wouldn't fix. aini is also still overall better than ai 1 imo because it just builds and earns its climax better than ai 1 does. in ai 1 you can get the best ending in the first 8 hours and have everything else be all downhill from there, but aini just always gets bigger and better and its resolution route actually earns everything it does. both games still have problems though, and i think 999 is still overall a better game than either of them even if i like ai's characters a lot more. so yea!

(also someone PLEASE draw iris being soooooooooooooo normal with her AIball this needs to exist so bad)

#aitsf #aini #nirvanai #aitsf spoilers #aini spoilers #zero escape spoilers #i started writing immediately after i reblogged that mizuki end post yesterday RIP #my posts #date mizuki #mizuki date #okiura mizuki #mizuki okiura #this is ok to reblog btw #also fixed some of the formatting on pc

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perfectarmony · 1 year

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I am actually frustrated with TCL this season cuz where is the armony magic??? Like they are hell bent on showing us Nadia/Arman and thony always fixing luca and going loco loco in the process. I seriously though that this Western drama would make me stick to it but nope...

I mean who are we kidding here! The showrunners of this are the same devils who ruined the 100

What a waste of time

Hello anon, and sorry for the delay!

Okay, I could literally feel the awkwardness and frustration here on tumblr given how quiet the tag is 👀

Warning as usual: this is just my opinion - but it's also completely understandable for people to get frustrated when they're passionate about something 😉

I hear you anon, and I understand the frustration with the teasing and anticipation each week if you focus and wait for some Armony content - but really, the show is so much more, and I don't think the showrunners have failed us so far.

~ A while back, an anon told me it might be best to not expect anything from Armony, and take crumbs if there were any - and it's pretty much the voice of wisdom in this case. If you look at the characters' development - how the different relationships affects them, and how they evolve, the quality of the show hasn't diminished at all.

When you think about it, Thony started selling drugs because she needed the medicine for Luca, and wanted to help those who didn't have access to medical care. Then, she turned away from that, to become as Gabriel called her, a drug dealer - to help Arman. It wasn't so much about Luca anymore - it became about getting him out and then quickly about themselves getting out - it was about her/their survival. Arman is now kinda free of Kamdar - yeah, he's not free at all when at least 3 men want him dead, add Tarik to the mix and it makes 4 - but still, he doesn't have to work for him anymore. So now, Thony proved her worth and we're back to the show's core - keeping Luca alive any way she can.

Wait for it, I'm about to use that quote again. It's not about doing things the right way or the wrong way - but any way you can. That's what it has always been about - and Anna-Mae telling Thony that she ''always knows the right thing to do'' was also a nod to that quote, and to Garrett telling her in 1.09 that what she's doing [helping Arman] is wrong, and to Fiona telling her she's someone who always things she knows better than everyone else, and to 2.04 - how we do it isn't always the way we want/Bahala Na. And there are more!

Again it's just my opinion, but it all makes sense, and they are still doing an amazing job putting this story together.

And again, I completely understand that the fandom expects so much more when Armony has been so vivid in S1 - but the spark is still there. Plus, they barely had time to sleep since the season started. I'm not going to list everything they all had to go through - but I mean, Arman has been arrested on October 15th, and if TCL's timeline is now synced up with real life, so much has happened in just ~6 weeks from 1x10 to 2x09!

That being said, I would be lying if I'd say I wasn't also frustrated at times and didn't sometimes wish for more for the entire show - but mostly because I'd like to slow down a bit, and spend a bit more time on some scenes.

~ I haven't watched the 100, so I don't know much more about that other than what I saw amongst the vidding community when reading video descriptions and comments on Bellarke fanvids - but I'm kinda aware of the anger many fans felt in the fandom. I guess that's what you're refering too? Or are you talking about character development in general? Miranda was indeed working on the show for a while - and I can completely understand your reaction, but unfortunately can't go any further than that when I haven't watched it, sorry 👀

But where I can compare is with Queen of The South. If you haven't watched it, I 100% recommend it - and even more as a show you can binge-watch! I won't go into too much details to not spoil the series for those who haven't seen it - but it has always been about Teresa Mendoza and her journey to becoming the drug queenpin in white. A ship - Jeresa - quickly emerged, and long story short, James wasn't in s4 and came back for s5, which was announced as the final season. And of course, with the clock ticking and each week getting us closer to the end, everyone - me included - had big hopes for their reunion and wanted them to be together. There was a lot of heat, anger and frustration amongst the fandom - that I watched from a distance, but also saw in comments on mine and other fanvids.

To sum it up without giving too much away, their ''relationship'' was..stopped/paused?..in the second episode, and with everything she had gone through, it made sense too. She was scared, had lost many people, was getting deeper and deeper to desperately make it to the top to finally become legit and be untouchable / and feel safe - and was also protecting James by pushing him away.

All of this rambling to get to the point that Armony and Jeresa are the magnificent cherries on top of a magnificent story. No matter how powerful a ship is, I won't be sticking around if the rest makes me want to fast forward. I was drawn to QotS by Teresa, then also fell in love with James, Camila, Branda, Pote, Kelly-Ann,...Thony's story made me want to watch TCL, and then I fell in love with her little human, Fiona, the kids, Arman, Mateo (who was supposed to be my parallel to Pote 🤧 rip), Nadia,...

If you really aren't enjoying the show as a whole anymore, I feel like it might be a good idea to take a step back once the season is over, and binge-watch S1-S2 once your frustration has hopefully eased off 😉

I hope I could somewhat help anon? And I'm sure we'll have 3 amazing last episodes with Armony content - don't give up on it just yet ��️

#the cleaning lady #Asks

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mermaidsirennikita · 7 months

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ARC Review: The Duke Starts a Scandal by Sophie Jordan

3.5/5. Releases 10/24/2023.

Vibes: boss/employee, hero and heroines with a past, Two Weeks Notice but make it historical, low angst

After finally claiming his rightful position as the Duke of Penning, Lucian is determined to get his shit together, find a proper wife, and arrange good matches for his sisters--all while ensuring the upper classes don't find out about his past. The problem is, he's quite attracted to his housekeeper, the acerbic Susanna. Lucian doesn't want to overstep--or start a scandal--but is forced to work more closely with Susanna when his valet is put out of commission. As the two plan an important even together, the growing tension between them--and Susanna's own secrets--threatens to ruin everything they're working for.

This was a pleasant, easy read with the light sense of humor you'll find in most Sophie Jordan books. I liked it. However, I feel that for a few different reasons, it didn't quite go as far as it could have. Which will definitely make it appealing to those who prefer a lighter historical romance, but gave me some troubles.

Quick Takes:

--First off, I do want to make it clear that the chemistry in this book isn't lacking. Lucian and Susanna spark from the start, and I absolutely loved their meet cute. He's desperately trying to fit into a role that he didn't expect and wasn't raised for (per the rest of The Duke Hunt series, multiple other people took the Duke of Penning role... without being the Duke of Penning) and sees as a major stroke of luck. She's practical, jaded, and highly skeptical of his suitability as duke. Lucian begins the book seeing Susanna as a problem on multiple levels, but comes to develop a sense of kinship with her--and a reliance on her--that I found really lovely.

And there's great sexual tension here. It's a slow burn of a book, and the buildup of "oops, we overstepped" moments is really fun. These are two people who are trying to stay professional and really failing throughout the novel, and I enjoy that quite a bit.

--The flipside of this is that because I liked Lucian and Susanna's dynamic so much, I was kind of frustrated by how much of this fast-paced, relatively short book didn't feature Lucian and Susanna interacting together. There's a whole chapter (admittedly a brief one) focused on the secondary romance. A cute secondary romance, yes, but there was really no other time devoted to those characters' points of view. So I wasn't sure why they needed to get a whole chapter, when we could've used Lucian and Susanna bonding together.

What this does create is a sense that like... I was happy that Lucian and Susanna got together. But I felt a bit cheated of the time they could have spent together. Even them becoming friendly with each other is kind of a slow burn. You spend a lot of time in their heads, when I would have just preferred to have more time with them talking, or hanging out, or kissing.

--One thing I do think Sophie may have struggled with was the issues surrounding boss/employee romances. Obviously, the majority of dukes in real life probably didn't care too much about the ethical problems with banging an employee. But this is romance, so I'm totally down for romance heroes being more sensitive about these concerns.

However, let's be real--boss/employee romance is very much a thing, a trope people flock to despite the problematic questions surrounding it. And I don't necessarily think that romance readers should be made to feel guilty about liking it, and I feel the same about writers. Sophie is very sensitive about the topic, and I appreciate that. I just feel like she wanted to write boss/employee, but was ultimately reined in by anxieties surrounding reader reactions.

Personally, I really liked how KJ Charles handles this in The Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel. The boss recognizes the issue and feels guilty about it; he's nonetheless tempted; the employee enthusiastically wants to be with him; and they have a couple of discussions about it, making it clear that the boss in no way expects sexual favors from the employee, and the employee will not be punished if he decides to end their sexual relationship. I think something like that could've been done here, and would have enabled Sophie to move the relationship development up a bit in the story. As it is, a lot of stuff happens in the last 25% of the book, which isn't uncommon in a Sophie Jordan novel, but did feel quite rushed here.

--One thing I did really like here was Lucian's backstory. It's something I've seen in historical romance before, but not very often. Like I said before, Susanna has her own backstory, and I respect it, but it is something you're probably a bit familiar with in historical romance. Personally, I think that Lucian and Susanna could have bonded more over their shared anxieties surrounding their pasts. Additionally, I feel that more of the overarching tension of the story, the threat as it were, could have been centered around Lucian's past... which is honestly much more high stakes and scandalous than anything Susanna has to worry about.

The Sex:

Sophie Jordan writes a good, hot sex scene. That said, I have noticed less sex in her last couple of books. Like, maybe one or two scenes, inserted towards the very end of the book. Not sure how I feel about this. Again, the boss/employee aspect really held Lucian and Susanna back, and I think we really could've benefited from the physical aspect of their relationship beginning early in the story. Nonetheless, the inciting event that caused them to get physical is quite cute, and I liked it.

For a lot of readers, I think this low angst, fun historical will be a nice, quick read. For me, I just could've stood to see a bit more drama, and higher stakes. Still, I like Sophie Jordan's books, and there are definitely people I would recommend this to.

Thanks to Avon and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

#romance novel blogging #arc reviews #netgalley #books #book reviews

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