#I find her characters bland but my god can she write

[cherries-in-wine]

My thoughts on Colleen Hoover:

okay hear me out: colleen hoover is for the people who skipped their fan fiction phase.

Hi just a warning this contains spoilers for colleen hoover books and English isn't my first language so I apologise for any mistakes. These are just me sharing my thoughts feel free to disagree just please don't be mean about it.

So I read a few of her books because I love torturing myself and just wanted to feel something (also my cousin was obsessed with her) and honestly I don't regret it because now I have valid reason shit on it. 

Just fyi I'm a teenage girl in high school so I'm definitely in her target audience, and here's what I've gathered:

None of her main characters really have a personality. they feel more like shells that the reader can self insert themselves into. The books aren't really about two people getting to know each other and falling in love it feels more as a bunch of tropes and generic scenarios thrown together. I think this is one of the reason booktok girlies act with Colleen Hoover the way I did when I found out fanfics exists. 

It also just reads like fanfiction? like because there's not much to dwell on and they're so easy to digest you can finish them in just a few hours. plus the main characters just feels like y/n: a shell to self insert yourself into, dead/abusive father, just normal girl who finds herself in these situations etc.

Here's the thing about fan fiction though: the reason why it's so fun to read is because you already know the people/characters in it so you can get right into the scenarios and imagines because they don't really need any background or development. 

But the difference is when you write these books you have to develop these characters and introduce them to the readers otherwise I'm just like "I don't even know these people so why the fuck would I care?"

Comparing her to fanfic is honestly an insult to fanfic writers because at least they have the decency to tag their posts properly (calling the abuse, abuse dark themes, dark themes etc) plus they're just so much better.

Colleen Hoover fans will say that she brings up difficult topics in her books in order to defend her but here's the thing: writing about difficult topics doesn't exactly exempt you from criticism + she doesn't even write about them?? they just feel like lazy add ons to spice up the story and add some drama. if you're gonna write about difficult topics you need to discuss and write them properly not just use them to further the plot.

I don't like any of the love interests either. 99% of them are just abusive, piece of shit bland boiled chicken ass people with the unsexiest names I've ever heard of.

Also a lot of these have very much women hating women undertones? I feel like it's the author's misogyny being reflected in her books (extra heart breaking coming from a woman herself). It's very much "you're not like the other girls you're different" kinda themes.

I thought maybe people just enjoyed it because of the smut but the smut is SO BAD oh my god I wanted to kms.

My thoughts are a little all over the place right now (they always are) but maybe i'll update if I remember any more points

thank you so much for reading mwah <33

#colleen hoover #bookstagram #books and reading #booktok #bookblr #anti coho #anti colleen hoover #aditi rants

[showtoonzfan]

Oh god this is Salt-bug, I deleted my account cause I didn’t want anything to do with Vivziepop at all cause it’s been keeping me down but man I can’t help it when there’s a new Helluva…from what I’m hearing about it, I can tell Viv was the writer. Doesn’t sound as awful as Adam’s episodes but still bland, with out of place moments and fanfic drama that probs won’t be addressed til another year or two…I just have a few things I wanna say.

1. Bet that Stolas is gonna be all better the next time we see him with no physical injuries, bringing the status quo back immediately. Or if anything, he’ll just have an arm sling and acting the same woe is me horny rich man.

2. I have a feeling the texts about Ozzie’s was a last minute add-in just so critics and fans will shut up about it not being addressed in Seeing Stars, but it just made it worse cause it was blink and you’ll miss it but what did we expect from writers that think addressing plot points and details through Twitter or Patreon only Q&As will solve all their writing problems…

3. Why is MOXXIE the one stabbing and actively fighting those guys, wasn’t the point of M&M’s dynamic that Moxxie was ranged combat while Millie’s close range? I even complimented the parallel of Moxxie’s lack of scars and clothing tears and Millie’s abundance of them in their designs cause of that, if they wanna give Millie moments outside of being a badass assassin then make it in character. I can’t imagine how their character notes or lack there of read…

4. I didn’t think I’d hate Andrealphus as much I did before but he sounds too…no when it comes to Stella. Judging by fanart Viv liked of Andrealphus insulting Stella, she’s most likely to become the fifth character in this show with familial abuse, will she be humanized thanks to it? Doubt it cause she hates Viv’s golden child Stolas.

Hey Salt-Bug! Glad to here from you. Yeah, you’re pretty much right about the episode, it’s nowhere near as bad as the previous two, it’s clear that both Viv and Adam can’t write for shit, but I honestly have to admit that Adam is worse than Viv if you compare them. Adam’s episodes are the ones that piss me off, where as Vivzie’s are so underwhelming, feel like no effort was put into them, and more importantly feel empty, cause whenever Viv is the lead on an episode, I always feel like I sat through nothing, because most of her writing isn’t satisfying or leads to something big for how much she hypes her stuff up. Like…when I first saw Ozzie’s, I felt the same way I felt when I saw Western Energy, because shit barely happens. Western Energy’s core focus was Stolas being tortured for a bit, and everything else around it was pointless fluff and filler, and Ozzie’s core focus was the House of Asmodeous song, everything else also being pointless filler or fluff. Like..it’s so obvious that Viv comes up with core episode ideas, but has to find a way to write AROUND it and that’s where she’s not good at it.

I agree with your thoughts here, my prediction is that as much as I hate to say it, the Barbie episode will probably be next, with the show taking a break from Stolas and the drama, to go to Blitz. While Stolas is in the hospital, judging by the trailer it seems it’ll be a Moxxie focused episode, until he comes across across Barbie, and it turns into a Blitz episode I guess. I have the heavy feeling it’ll be exactly like Spring Broken where Barbie and Blitz just throw insults at each other until we realize that she was genuinely hurt by him and then tease her for a future episode, especially if you’ve seen the episode leak where that ghost dude is taunting Blitz for how he treated her. No doubt the show will go back to the status quo, wether Stolas is in the hospital or not.

As for Stella? I don’t think we need to be worried about her and Andre, for now at least. If you’ve seen the finale leak, they seemed to be just fine, laughing together on the couch. I guess their goal is just to make Stolas poor? Like..strip his power away I guess. I have no idea. I also have no idea wether they want to make Stella sympathetic or not, but again, judging by the leak, I don’t think they’re going to do much with her this season, which is a bummer. Other than that, hope you’re doing well Salt-Bug!

#reply #ask #vivziepop critical #spindlehorse critical #helluva boss critical #helluva boss critique #helluva boss criticism #helluva critical

[spidersmiceandeverythingnice]

Ya know what tbqh I'm having a lot more fun interacting with SJM since deciding to hash tag stan tamlin but also what grinds my gears!?!? What butters my fucking croissants!?!?!

Tamlin has HOBBIES.

No no. Seriously. I have a point. Listen:

We know the following pieces of information about the Spring Court/Tamlin in ACOTAR: Most of the government falls squarely on Tamlin's shoulders because most of the old guard and the former sentries are dead, because they left the Spring Court to search for a "cure." He and Lucien actively patrol their borders and hunt for monsters that threaten humans and faeries alike. Taxes are collected once a year via the Tithe, but Tamlim absolishes the Tithe during Amarantha's rule. There are no cities. There is almost no distinction in the Court between High Fae and "lesser fae." He was a victim of abuse via his father and two much older brothers. Human slaves used to be common, but Tamlin finds his family history abhorrent and considers himself a protector type. He personally took Lucien to another Court for healing after Amarantha damaged his eye in a way that Tamlin himself could not fix. A faerie dies in his living room and Tamlin personally buries him. Tamlin takes refugees from other courts. The most important holiday is Calanmai, wherein Tamlin sacrifices his bodily autonomy and gets possessed by a god (?) in order to generate magic during the changing of seasons. He can be grouchy but he has a sense of humor; he writes silly poems for fun and plays music well enough that Feyre thinks he could make an actual career of it.

A lot of this gets re-conned, re-framed as "conservative" and sometimes actively ignored in order to attribute more positive qualities to Rhys - who in ACOTAR, is shown to be a manipulative liar who commits murder for fun and drugs/assaults Feyre. Tamlin clearly suffers from PTSD in ACOMAF but his symptoms are not "noble" or cute like Feyre. The narrative postulates that while Feyre needs to learn that she's worthy of love and freedom and that her dark past doesnt define her, Tamlin needs to be "redeemed" because his trauma is not as important or as valid as hers, and he can't be worthy of help until he repents for his "crime" of acting in ways that are - from his perspective- completely logical, and based in genuinely good/loving intentions.

In ACOWAR, Feyre states that she begins implanting/altering the memories of Tamlin in other people's heads to make them abandon him. She also steals a gift (presumably, a gift from Rhys to Tamlin) because she doesn't feel he deserves it, and contemplates burning down the rose garden which is pretty much all Tamlin has left of his mother.

This... does not make me hate Tamlin in the slightest. I read these books and actively struggle to hate him the way the narrative wants because everything about him is legitimately just tragic and pitiable.

While all this goes on the narrative goes on to reposition Rhysand - the guy who caused a lot of the main heroine trauma - as the best guy who ever lived. He's cruel to be kind, deeply misunderstood and hurting in silence. A martyr whose pain is just like the heroine's, who is an immortal ancient warrior king more powerful than any other person in the world but still somehow the narrative equal of a barely literate 20 year old woman. That sure is a choice and ya know what fine, whatever, I accept that this is the story I'm reading. But back to my earlier point:

What hobby does Rhysand have other than sex and fighting?

Answer me. Quickly.

The retcons with Tamlins character are annoying on their own because SJM clearly thinks her audience is too stupid to remember book one of her own series. But it's especially annoying for me given that Rhysand is a boring mouthpiece for the author to moralize her faerie books. As a character he's incredibly bland. There's nothing about him that's compelling because everything "bad" that he does is justified and righteous, and he can't be challenged or hurt because that would make Feyre (the other author mouthpiece) very sad. :(

Anyway remember to stan tamlin, send tweet.

#anti sjm #tamlin #anti rhysand #im so bored of feysand they are the most boring insufferable fucking couple

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

I know this doesn't tie into the tournament, but I've noticed how a lot of women-based media will have the fandom favorite be a side male character. Turning Red and Tyler, The Owl House and Hunter, Pretty Cure and Tsubasa, Barbie (2023) and Beach Ken.

So, I can't speak to most of those series specifically, so I'm going to have to speak with my experiences in the more abstract, just heads up there in case my opinions do not apply. Also, I'm long-winded, so let's go under the cut.

I think misogyny in the audience is always a factor because fandom loves its dudes, but you also always have to account for what I call Protagonist Syndrome, which is when a character is a little too defined by being The Protagonist, to the point that it overshadows what character they do have (and they often have at least some!). A lot of series suffer from this, and I think it's part of why the break out character is so rarely the protagonist. Break out characters, in my experience, tend to fall into three categories: 1.) just the coolest 2.) fits perfectly into the preferences of a specific, large group of fans and 3.) absolutely goddamn hilarious. If a character falls into one or more of those, even better. As Cracked After Hours pointed out years ago (if memory serves), the protagonist rarely gets the good, memorable, quotable lines. And this can get aggravated when a series also heavily defines a character by their being A Woman (and god help you if she's The Woman). Now, these ladies generally do have personalities, but they aren't allowed to shine as just characters, and that is a problem. To try and be more brief, it's often a mixing of general writing failures, "it's supposed to be feminist but I fucked up" failures, "this story is actually multiple stories superglued together so the protagonist might be less consistently designed" failures (more of a movie problem than anything else, to be fair), and writer misogyny failures. And then when you bring in fandom... well, fandom loves it's dudes.

And on the note of fandom loving its dudes, there is of course, on top of what I've said above, people just valuing men over women, but also some fans will always find a way to find a m/m ship (bonus points if it's Any Two White Dudes) to obsess over, and other fans looking for a het ship will be like "this man is such a Wife Guy, a thing that a female audience desires, and we love him for it" and find a way to make the female character bland regardless of her canon personality (tbf, the dude also becomes blander here often but continues to be more favored because of desirability). And sometimes fans are just horny and it's no more complicated than that. Not that we should ignore the misogyny in the room, but there are often multiple factors at play here, but then that's true for everything ever.

idk if I've covered All Of My Thoughts here, but that's it for this morning, at least.

#asks #not polls #you can always rely on me to say 'well there are multiple factors at play here...'

[forlorn-crows]

You can't just ask me this crow, I'm so bitchy bestie-

So I'm gonna give you two I'm most bitchy about :)!

Ghoul characterized wrong? It's Rain. Oh my god. It's rain all the way, people either make him a shy little thing uwu boy or he's a massive bitch. Not even a fun bitch, like genuinely I've seen some people write him as being so snarky and nasty for literally no reason and it drives me up the walls!!!!! Like yes he can be bitchy, he's a little sharp tongued at times, but he's not? Malicious? Or cold-hearted? Honestly it's more recent I've noticed the shift towards bitchy Rain than anything else, like end of last tour coming into this one but this one especially. It frustrates me to nooo end because like, stop it, I'm putting him up on a shelf you can have him back when you learn to be nice to my babygirl.

Ghoulette? Cumulus but especially Lus when she's shipped with other ghouls. By herself she's seemingly always the mom casted character (I'm pretty sure you've heard my feelings on this already so I won't bore you with that rant today) and just sooooo bland, but when she's shipped with any of the boys (90% of the time it's Mountain specifically) it feels like she literally doesn't care about them? Feels like she's written as just tolerating their affections, its rarely ever her being actively in love with someone else.....?? I think thats why I'm so fond of the way you write her and Mountain tbh, because it actually feels like she, yknow, likes him.

Anyways

I have opinions man.

- Void

we're here to biiitch lets goooo (though i said it already, when it boils down to it, there is very little i seriously have a problem with when it comes to how we as a community write ghouls that technically dont even have fucking names lmao. its just interesting to see what irks people, and how true some of the patterns can be amongst fellow creatives)

malicious is def the word i was trying to find when speaking about dew being written as mean. look, i love mean rain as much as the next person. bc mean rain is hooot. but hes not 'mean for the sake of being mean' like i said. as a person. obviously kink and scenes are very different, i'll try to stick to speaking about character as a whole. but, i get what you mean, its like, im pretty sure he exists somewhere in the middle there?

and some others have some thoughts about the 'uwu boys' as well. and yeah, honestly? i want my ghouls to read as old as fuck hellbeasts. i dont want them reading like innocent children. and i dont want to get in a debate about agre either, bc thats a different boat, but thats part of the reason i dont read or write agre. rain is not a dainty shy innocent uwu little creature. he is strange and offputting and confident and reserved when he needs to be etc etc.

again, ive got specific stuff to go over about lus. but, i do think you bring up a good point about writing the ghoulettes in relation to the ghouls. which, as a bi woman, why dont we write different gender pairings moree????? hello????? again, different topic, not the task at hand. but i think it has to do with what you're saying here. its like there's a piece missing in their interactions. and sometimes it can get into objectification territory bc they arent fleshed out properly.

if were saying the ghouls are poly....then the GHOULS. ARE. POLY. you know what im saying?? its not just the group of 'boys' and the group of 'girls'. i want the in between too. and i'll always make a point to write more of it. thank you for being fond of my mountlus, bc i am very fond of them and their relationship.

@divine-misfortune

#ask #void

[ceo-of-kimona]

What to do with Scott…

A question that many many Kimona enjoyers face in our time is thus: “where the hell do we put Scott Pilgrim?”

The guy is a weird case. He’s the main character, the damn series was named after him, he’s integral to the life and stories of both of these women. Although; he is also a massive cockblock (or vag block?? Idk) and must be obliterated in order for the two to be happy. So, to prevent Kimona fic writers (also known as the greatest and most noble heroes of our time) from needing to contend with this great query again, I shall compile a list of potential things you could do with Scott to get him the hell out of the way. In no particular order.

1. Break Scott and Ramona up

Probably the most direct and simple answer, especially if you’re going for a more cannon compliant, post cannon universe. Though it does kinda invalidate all of the shit they got through to get together if they just split up like that. So I suggest that if you do break them up, make it on good terms. Make it so that it’s mutual and mutually beneficial and mature. Less of a “I hate you and I never want to see you again” and more of a “it was fun, you helped me a lot, but now we gotta go our separate ways in life.” Their development shouldn’t be rendered moot by the breakup, instead make the breakup part of their development.

2. Create an AU where Scott does not exist

A fairly easy one, if Scott doesn’t exist, you can just go along your merry way with your shipping. Fics where Kim finds Ramona before Scott or fics where Scott doesn’t ever fall in love with Ramona for whatever reason also fall under this category. These are good, but a bit bland. There isn’t a great lot you can tell here cause Scott’s douchery kinda holds together the plot pretty much. It is only by him being a rat-ass fuckboy that anyone ever meets anyone in the comics. Also, without having her relationship with Scott, Ramona just doesn’t have her vital character arc that the relationship brings. She’s always gonna be the same ol Flowers when she comes to Kim.

So unless you plan on retelling the entire story of the… everything with Kim instead of Scott, you’ve gotta very flighty and traumatized Ramona Flowers on your hands for the entire fic. Now, this is perfect for angst fics, as using pre-arc flaws to create a tragedy has been a a tool for angst fics since god damn Shakespeare. Also fluff doesn’t really need the “primest character development” in order to be good, so if you’re planning to either make angst or simple fluff then AU is your best bet. If you wanna make something more cannon compliant or lighthearted yet complicated, you’re out of luck.

3. Polycule

Self explanatory. Why not have both? Keep Scott and Ramona’s cute dynamic; and just bring Kim into the mix. While this can be very fun (I’m actually writing a fic where this happens at the moment) it isn’t great for every fic. Cause let’s face it: if you’re here and queer for Kimona, so maybe you do not want to write for the feelings of the dude who got here first so he’s also tagging along. Some people just don’t wanna write Scott, which is perfectly valid. Also, polycules are messy and complicated, both in real life and in fic writing. While complications can create some good drama, it’s also a lot of moving parts to manage. You aren’t getting a Kimona + Pilgrim fic down to 2k words without sacrificing a lot. This one is not built for oneshots or general Pilgrim-haters.

4. Send him off to be with Wallace

Probably one of my favorite options to use. It’s kinda an extension of the “breakup” idea, but it gives a happier ending for Scott, as it lets the breakup make sense. Scott falls in love with Wallace and can’t bear the pining so he communicates with Ramona about it, and they mutually agree that it’s for the better for them to split so he can be with Wells. It also will keep the Scollace shippers at bay, may their apocalyptic wrath be kept at bay /s.

If you don’t really have much stuff outside of Kimona in your fic and don’t know how to get Scott out of the picture, try this one. Just throw in a sentence about Scott being with Wallace and everything will make sense and be chill. Truly an option for us lazy bitches out there who just want yuri. It can also potentially set up some Scollace content later down in the fic if it comes to be of a larger scale, but if you just want your yuri you can throw out a “Scott is with Wallace” line and not need to elaborate further, we get it. All around a flexible, powerful, potent, and fun option. Though if you have any Wallace pairings already set up in your fic and you can’t fit Scollace in, this option obviously won’t be that useful to you.

So…

That’s all of the “bye bye Scott pilgrim” tropes for Kimona fics that I could think of. Now for which one is the best… prepare yourself, the answer is disappointing.

None of them!

No one of these is always gonna work for everything. These tropes are all just tools in your toolbox at the end of the day, and which one you use is up to what you’re writing and how you’re feeling. So don’t be afraid to try multiple of these for your fics, throw shit against the wall like spaghetti. Maybe you’ll find something new that you’ll like.

But that’s enough yapping from me. Now go forth and WRITE!

#also you can hit her with the transgenderification beam but I don’t know how that would help things #it would make them more funny though! so worth concideration #kim pine #ramona flowers #scott pilgrim #pineflowers #kimona #ramkim #scott pilgrim vs the world #rant post #fic writing

[thevindicativevordan]

What is your opinion about the "supertwins" otho-ra and osul-ra?

They've got more potential to be good than Jon currently does, but the odds of them ever actualizing said potential is slim to none.

Two orphans raised in Space Hell, taught to hate themselves and their culture, forced to kill and fight in gladiator pits, whom ultimately find a new father figure in Superman, who reconnects them with the culture their enslavers tried to stamp out, is a hell of a concept. They have more going on in their backstory than Chris Kent had, and more freedom to tell stories with than kid Jon had. Despite my wishes, most writers chose to write Jon as a mini version of his father. Osul and Otho have such an utterly different backstory from Kal, that there's simply no way to feasibly hollow them out into being the "yes sir" dutiful son that Jon was. Physical and emotional trauma that they carry is the sort that you carry to the grave, and marks them in a way only Kara could potentially understand.

Of the two I'm on record as preferring Otho, the daughter, more than Osul the son. In her I see a fascinating similarity to Kara. Kara was meant to raise Kal in an environment that could have been hostile towards them both. Otho-Ra actually had to do that, protecting her brother alongside herself. We know Otho has killed, she has the chains to prove it. I want to see some writer expand on that - what was it like to kill someone? Does she still agonize over the lives she took? Does she regret killing? Did it get easier over time for her? Does some part of her resent having to protect her brother on Warworld? How much does she really buy into Superman's morality? That scene in PKJ's Action run where Metallo empathizes with her excited me, I want more stories with her like that which touch on how she has all the markings of someone who could break bad. I'd like to see someone really unpack her history, relationship with her brother, and her place within the Superfamily.

Osul meanwhile is the weaker of the two character wise. PKJ seems to have made him deliberately as a replacement for kid Jon, and because of that, Osul is likewise fairly bland. His empathetic nature is a plus, he picked up on Jon's uncomfortableness towards his new siblings. But it's mostly the nature of his "New God" status that appeals to me. How he is connected to Olgrun, the other Aspects, and the Gods of New Genesis and Apokolips is a story I want to see told. Otherwise? PKJ wanted to kill Otho and keep Osul originally before deciding to keep both. Personally I'd either kill him off or "ascend" Osul out of the Superfamily and keep Otho.

Now I say all this while knowing that the Twins are not likely to stick around. The Superfamily has more members than it can feasibly support, and the Twins are the easiest ones to ship off somewhere. Making them the "brown" rep within the Superfamily would have mitigated this somewhat. I wish PKJ had stuck with his original conception of them not being white, that would've helped increase their chances of sticking around, instead they're easy pickings. Osul ending up having to go to New Genesis because of his transformation while Otho tags along to watch over her brother, both of them joining the Phaelosians on their new home planet, either of those would be a believable way to shoo them off-stage. Was hoping PKJ would get JL, and thus could exert some pull over the Superbooks even after he left Action, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards in the short term.

Right now? Let's see if anyone else takes an interest in and uses them. Otherwise I fear they may end up sharing the fate of Chris Kent, another example of how adopted kids outside the Batfamily don't fare well in the long run.

#super-twins #osul ra #otho ra #superman

[anittam]

Ranking ToT boy on how slutty they are

And once again I let intrusive thoughts win, and since I don't want to suffer alone i will share it with the world... because everybody need to hear this 🙂👍

So before the I start I would like to say this is a joke, I will try to use only official parts of story to create the ranking, and also spoilers, i guess, with that said lets find out which ToT boy is the biggest thot.

4. Luke Pearce

And in last place we have Luke, you may be wondering "why is he in such low position? There is some horny stuff about him" and yes there is some cards from the game which are very suggestive, but most of thoses are Rosa taking the "Initiative", like in the cards "Overflowing Thoughts" or "How I Remember You", and had moments where he was the one taking initiative like in he's card from the Bakerlon Street event or the card from 2nd anniversary of game, but still, compared to the others characters he is kinda bland, he is a very sweet, cuddly boy, and we still love him anyway

3. Marius Von Hagen

I went back and forth a lot about who should be in this position, and I end up choosing Marius. Marius is a thirst trap guy, like in "Dream of Thebes" or "Eternal Flame", he also have the fuckboy personality, but not in a bad way, he overflows charm, so why is he only in 3th place, and the reason is simple, Marius is a boy with lots of potencial of becoming the biggest whore, but he is yet to blossom, he is an investment, you can see he trying to keep up the playboy persona, and we can appreciate that, because suit him well

2. Artem Wing

Some of you may not agree with me in this one, but this is my list I do what I want.

So why is Artem in 2nd place? Let me put in this way, if Marius is thirst trap guy, is because he is trying to be sexy, and Artem, my friends, he doesnt need to try, he just is that sexy. God, the moment we first see him in the game is a thirst trap, and the game do this so much with him, where he is put in the most sluttiest poses, and just make him so unaware of it, I mean, at least until this man discovers what sex is, because after this man lost his virginity, he started actively being a whore. I just keep think about that one card (idk the name, sorry) where he is says he has been practicing making a cool poses for Rosa, this man was practicing how to be a seducer, not that he need it, but he accepted that side of him, which is nice, and lets not forget the unholy amount of butt we see in his card, like in "Wings of Exhilaration", this man deserves the 2nd place.

1. Vyn Ritcher

Honestly, I wanted to pretend this choice was hard, but it wasn't, there was no way any other character could be first, when competing with a horny bastard like Vyn. Unlike Artem who is oblivious to how sexy he is, Vyn is very well aware of it, not only that he knows how to light up the desire in others for him, this man has an ungodly amount of rizz, and we can see that in the main story, and his solo story, not only with Rosa, but with literally anyone, he is constantly using his charm to get what he wants, and he does is beautifully, differently of other characters that tend to be in suggestive situations to be slutty, he doesnt. And when it come to the more smutty stuff, we can see a kinda of different side of him, like I keep thinking this one card, if im not mistaken is his 3rd birthday card, where Rosa tied his hands behind his back with tie while he is on his knees and she is undressing him, and Vyn relentlessly tease her, even a submissive position, he still in control of the situation. That ladies and gentleman is top tier slut behavior, and dont get me started in the tot 2nd anniversary card, so yeah, this is why he is first place.

This is all, it was kinda funny writing it, maybe i will do some other raking thing, who knows. And please dont kill me it this was just a joke.

#tears of themis #xia yan #tot luke #luke pearce #zuo ran #tot artem #artem wing #lu jinghe #tot marius #marius von hagen #mo yi #tot vyn #vyn richter #rosa tot #tot mo yi

[ame-exe]

Thinking about Phoenix and Trucy’s dynamic in aa5 and aa6 because of a post I reblogged recently (idk if I should link it or not) and man it really is something that majorly pisses me off. Warning this is gonna get pretty anti aa5/aa6. And rambly I am too lazy to properly format and structure this

TLDR Phoenix would be a good father based on his character and how his fatherhood is shown in aa4 but aa5 and aa6 write it incredibly badly

First there’s the kidnapping in 5-5. You could feel they were trying to recreate 2-4 with this case by having someone close to Phoenix get kidnapped to force him to be at a trial and the killer being an assassin. It’s just… not nearly as good. For many reasons but this is about Phoenix and Trucy. One of the reasons farewell my turnabout works so well is that the tension and suspense around Maya’s kidnapping is written incredibly well. The whole cast is constantly worried, especially Phoenix. He’s in an instant panic when he hears Maya’s been kidnapped, and it’s constantly at the forefront of his mind. It’s one of the reasons the case works so well at being anxiety-inducing, you can really feel Phoenix’s fear and anxiety through the entirety of it. He always has thoughts related to Maya and how worried he is, he finds different sources of help (Gumshoe, Edgeworth) to ensure her safety, the entire REASON he goes along with being Engarde’s lawyer at all is because he can’t fathom the idea of Maya getting hurt. When they reunite at the end of the case, he screams her name and cries and the game actually portrays his damn relief

With Trucy ? He has some dialogue when it happens that is basically just “oh no”, then does the trial without even thinking on it again. No blue dialogue nothing. There’s that one moment where Aura threatens to kill her and he does the most empty fucking “nooo don’t hurt her” I’ve ever seen a father do, and that’s kind of it. Then the trial continues like nothing happened and he once again forgets about it, pretty much. And when she comes back at the end of the case, there’s no crying or yelling or anything, just a bland “Trucy are you okay”. The contrast between the two kidnappings is insane

Then there’s the magical turnabout in aa6 and ohh boy it doesn’t get better. I actually like the magical turnabout, idk if that’s unpopular or not, because I found the gameplay and the case fun and I liked what it did for Apollo and Trucy’s relationship. But oh my god do I hate what it does for Phoenix and Trucy’s relationship. Again.

There are some brief frantic phone calls with Apollo at the start and end of the trial and that’s literally it ? I know why they couldn’t have Phoenix just fly back to Japanifornia because of the Khura’in gameplay and all that, but then make the magical turnabout a case in a different game where Phoenix isn’t in another country. The reasoning for him not flying back is that he wouldn’t make it to the first trial day, but it’s not like that’s a problem for Phoenix ? I know “taking a plane the second you hear someone’s in danger” is Edgeworth’s thing but let’s be real Phoenix definitely would be that guy too if he was out of the country regularly and had money. There’s no way he would hear his daughter is getting accused of murder and he would go “well plane tickets are expensive. I can phone her when the trial’s over”. Plus at that point Trucy is 17 ? It really shocked me while I was playing that he only learned about her arrest from the news or something, because I was thinking shouldn’t he have been immediately contacted by the police, seeing as he’s her legal guardian and she’s a minor ? The ace attorney universe doesn’t seem to have laws like minors being tried differently (looking at you Machi Tobaye), but still Jesus Christ.

And this isn’t me arguing Phoenix is a bad father who doesn’t care for Trucy, this is me arguing the writing of aa5 and aa6 is abysmal. How he treats Trucy in those games is completely different than how he treats her in aa4. In aa4, he’s definitely not a perfect father, but you can tell he cares so, so much about her. She’s literally “his light”. One can argue one of the reasons he was willing to forge the ace was because he couldn’t afford to go to prison when he had Trucy to take care of. He states that “he’s the only one who knows how she really feels”, showing how attentive he is to her emotional state (because god knows Trucy isn’t open about her real feelings) and that Trucy trusts him. In short, you can tell he’s a caring and loving father.

I think the problem with how his fatherhood is written in aa5/aa6 is that they didn’t really have time to flesh it out because of how much is always happening in those games (which is a whole other problem of its own), so they elected to give him stereotypical father things. So he shows basic (really basic) worry when she’s in a bad situation, then the game goes “alright we showed he gives a bit of a shit back to the game”. There are also some lines, like the one where Athena makes a joke about Trucy’s diary talking about crushes and Apollo saying if that were the case Phoenix would burst into tears, that kinda just feel like “haha yeah that’s what dads do right ?”. To me it felt like those games didn’t want to focus on them at all but couldn’t ignore that yknow. they’re father and daughter. and so tacked on some lines without really focusing on if it’s in character or not, without making changes to the plot itself to make it less ooc.

#ace attorney #phoenix wright #trucy wright #anti aa5 #anti aa6 #are those tags ? #i don’t want this to show up on the dash of people who like the games #i don’t intend to make people feel like they shouldn’t like them I’m just complaining

[sparkysparklightning]

Okay listen

Yes this is the “longass post” I mentioned in my previous Tratie HoO post hgjkfsh I decided to publish it and see what y’alls think!

Anyway, I saw this post, like...a week ago?? And all of a sudden, everything related to the HoO series that I’ve held back just came charging full-force. So I’m here to grace y’alls with my ideas and thoughts about HoO.

Honestly, if I talked abt everything that went off-kilter in that series, we’d be here all day, so I’ll just stick to the mere basic point that was also the basis of my HoO conceptual rewrite idea, and that point is...

Percabeth shouldn’t have been a part of the Seven.

Yeah yeah, half of you guys must be throwing stones at me, the other half is probably nodding in agreement. But seriously, Percabeth already had their time to shine--they had an entire five hecking books, they ( and their characterizations ) definitely do not need another five more, yeesh! I love Percy and all, but pls, five more books in which his and Annabeth’s and their relationship’s character were diminished? Yeah, no thanks. 

I love Percabeth, but in HoO, they became so...bland??? Idk how to properly explain it, but I didn’t like what happened to their character arcs at all lmaoo

But then, I got an idea: what if, instead of Percabeth, it was TRATIE who was a part of the Seven, instead? 

Now this idea was inspired both from the post mentioned above plus another post that talked abt Tratie as a part of the Seven in a bit more detail, which I cannot find no matter how many times I scoured the rr-crit tag ( smh, if anyone else knows of this post, pls lmk and link it, I’m sorry 😭 )

And yeah, I know a lot of ppl have been hopping on the ‘Nico & Reyna as part of the Seven’ train when it comes to making HoO rewrites, but see, hear me out, just think about the potential of Travis Stoll and Katie Gardner--two children of minor gods--getting their spotlight in a series of their own ( plus more indirect spotlight on the minor gods in question ) plus a slowburn ( kinda ) relationship?? Heck, I already have some ideas for this, that I’ll jot down below the cut along with some conceptual ideas about the rewrite. If any of y’alls end up reading this whole post, can you...just, idk, lmk whether it’s a solid plan and if I should actually take it forward and plan on writing it? Bc I’m being rlly indecisive rn ahaha 😅

So. Tratie instead of Percabeth. Let’s take a closer look at the potential:

Honestly, I hate to admit it, but Percabeth didn’t do much to the plot as a whole, so it wouldn’t make much of a difference if they’re taken out. Though there are some things they did to move the plot forward, although little, and that’s what I’ll touch on before I discuss Tratie in general:

( oh yeah, disclaimer: I read the HoO series about five years ago?? I’m trying ( key word: trying lmao ) to reread the series currently, but it’s just not sticking lmfao. Probably the main reason why I wanna rewrite it so badly, other than the two posts that boosted my inspo )

--> THE ATHENA PARTHENOS: Annabeth went on a solo quest in MoA to track down the Athena Parthenos bc it was crucial to sealing the rift between Greek and Roman. BUT, any other demigod could go on that same quest instead of her. Like Piper, whose mother had told her that she was essential to sealing the rift but never ended up doing anything for it bc RR just...flopped idk; or someone like Leo who has similar abilities as Annabeth and would be able to outsmart Arachne in a similar fashion as well; or even Reyna could come earlier than she did in the series and work with the Seven or some of them to track down the statue? Idk, there are lots of options, tbh, there’s honestly not that much relevance to Annabeth being the daughter of Athena so she has to track down the Athena Parthenos. I mean, sure there was the Arachne ordeal, but other than that, nothing major rlly happens

Percy, himself, didn’t rlly...do much for the entire series, other than fight. I mean, there were some minor aspects of HoO where his powers or relations to other characters vibed well, so we’ll check those out:

--> KANSAS: In MoA, Jason and Percy fought each other bc they were forced to. That could easily happen even without Percy. Instead, of Percy, it could be Hazel and Jason fighting each other due to their connections as the Big Three children being taken advantage of. It could be sort of like a mirage of Thalia and Percy’s fight back in TTC. Plus, again, it gives way for more bonding and discussion after between two other characters that never got much interaction time together in canon

--> KYM AND POLYBOTES: okay this is the scene that takes place in BoO where Percy and Jason face off against Kym and Polybotes. But, Percy...does literally nothing here other than get poisoned lmao. It was Jason who did the heavy-lifting bc Percy got a t a d bit arrogant, thinking he was invincible underwater. So honestly, you could take out Percy and replace him with another member of the Seven (who would seem reasonable, in the context, so no Piper or Annabeth or Leo, etc bc none of them can survive even a minute under the water and doesn’t have a way like Jason to breathe). Tbvh, I can see Frank and Jason go together to face Kym and Polybotes. Frank can shapeshift into a sea-creature while Jason can use his ventus vacuum thingie, so it all works out, and nothing too drastic is changed! 

There’s probably a couple more of little scenes where Percabeth was mostly significant in some way to the series, but let’s be very honest...there weren’t a lot of them. So long story short: if you want to, you can easily take out Percy and Annabeth from the series and replace them with another pair and it wouldn’t be the end of the world, lmao.

Now onto Tratie ideas in relation to if they were a part of the Seven instead. Here are some bullet-points of some ideas that I thought of:

It could be a lovely parallel, where when Jason woke up, all he could remember was Thalia, so when Travis wakes up, all he remembers is Connor, his younger brother. I think it would be nice bc it shows that not everything has to be romantically coded like how Percy only remembered Annabeth in canon. It would emphasize Travis and Connor’s sibling bond more so, and I can just imagine Connor giving Travis reuniting noogies and trying not to burst into tears in MoA, and Travis whispers something like “you’re here” and the floodgates open, and it’s just crying and hugging and the like 😭😭

Katie is a daughter of Demeter, so she would have a somewhat connection with the Earth aka Gaea, hence there is now a plausible reason why Gaea would want to spill her blood to rise. Also, when the time comes to defeat her, instead of charm-speaking her to sleep or whatnot, Katie could be a significant crux to the primordial’s defeat bc her powers tie in with the land/earth, so she could use her powers to forcibly push Gaea back into the earth.

 Instead of them going to Tartarus, they end up going to Cupid (so some other pair will fall into Tartarus instead), and instead of a stupid forced outing, Cupid takes one look at them, senses their underlying emotional tension and goes “oh boy, yeah, you two have a lot to talk about” and actually (tries to) help guide the two into confessing the feelings they’d hidden, instead of being a little shit like in canon. Plus I just adore the idea of Travis calling Katie “flower” after they get together, and Katie calling him “key” not just bc he steals stuff but also bc he’s like the key to her heart and all that sappy bs, I literally love them sm 🥺 literally such wonderful nickname opportunities that have a deeper meaning

Travis and Jason might have a subtle rivalry, but unlike Percy and Jason’s weird ‘I’m stronger than you’ thing, it could be bc Jason felt a bit jealous of how everyone was looking for Travis, including his sister, while no one pulled much of an effort to look for him? It’d give an opportunity for them to talk things out and end up growing closer after talking

Juno/Hera saw Travis’s need, his desire, to redeem the Hermes name and as a result, used that fire to kickstart her plan by plopping him in Camp Jupiter while Jason got switched to CHB. Hence there is now a reasonable concept as to why the switch happened, because honestly, the whole Percy-Jason switch didn’t make all that sense bc Jason, yes I can sort of understand why he got switched, but Percy?? There was literally no solid reason that was explained as to why he was chosen to be switched lmao. But with Travis, Juno/Hera takes pity on him and uses this as an opportunity for him to bring glory to the Hermes name after the Titan War

I have a ton more ideas for the rewrite as a whole tbvh. Stuff relating to ways Gaea could actually be defeated, more on Octavian’s backstory and why he hates the Greeks so much, and other tiny scenes between the demigods that could bring about more characterization and details to their arcs.

The only problem is...with the way this is going in my head, I think things might end up diverging more or less from canon as the series progresses? Like there will obv be the canon scenes, but there might also be non-canon scenes that might change the series plot a little bit?? And idk how many of y’alls will appreciate that lmao ghjksfgh but I have started writing it. It’s a super long process lmfao, so idk when I’ll publish it (probably on Ao3, if I do), but I just wanted to let y’alls know bc a lot of you guys liked my first post abt this and I saw your lovely tags and it made me super happy and honestly, those tags are the reason why I even started writing this in the first place! So thank you guys so so much for the positive feedback!

#also I need to figure out how Katie's powers will relate to Gaea's defeat bc I totally want that to happen #anyways #lots of stuff to think abt #lmaooo #rr crit #anti rr #tratie #travis stoll #katie gardner #jason grace #piper mclean #heroes of olympus #hoo #anti percabeth #again sorta but not really lmao #kit speaks #sparkysparklightning #frank zhang #hazel levesque #kit writes #Kit stuff #the demidudes #hoo rewrite #wow this post did turn out to be as long as I intended #w o w #anyways if y'alls are interested I can try to make like a post abt various things that might be canon divergent in the rewrite??? #but only if y'alls want ahaha #or maybe I might just do it just bc #idk lmfaoo we'll see

[forcedhesitation]

I finally got to recruit minthy....and wow. in just mere minutes, she's already infinitely more interesting to me than both halsin and SH. her dialogue is so beautifully written, and it's so interesting to learn about the cult's activities from someone who was forced to act under their control! I am genuinely eager to keep playing the game with her in my party, just to hear everything she has to say.

and I haven't gone very far with her yet, but god, wow, it's really shocking to see the contrast between my first impression of her, and how halsin is handled as a companion throughout the whole game. to be clear, I do like halsin, but that's because I spent a whole campaign trying to learn about him and grew attached to the version of him I rewrote in my head as I played. I find his actual, in-game character to be terribly inconsistent, disappointing, and incredibly bland. I mean, when you first recruit him, you learn things about him that do genuinely sound fascinating. when he tells you that it seems to him that most people do not think his feelings can be hurt, that he feels he was a poor leader, that he was unhappy and felt trapped in the grove...that had my attention! I was hoping the game would expand upon that and we'd learn about how this position of well-respected leadership and near reverence led halsin to feel dehumanised. instead...most of his in-game material is, well, just about sex, to be blunt about it.

after you finish any quest material in which he could have remained a full NPC, there's just...nothing, really. his position in the story is demoted to "eye candy" for the player, and the only scenes he gets are about sex. while I did not have my tav sleep with the drow twins, I know of the information about halsin you learn after this happens. it is WILD to me that the only other way you can even get a HINT about halsin's traumatic experiences in the underdark seems to be by taking him to the house of hope and having him interact with the portal to menzoberranzan, which will prompt him to make a comment about his "misspent youth." why you would lock information like this behind something many players would not want to do, when this character already has SUCH limited material, is completely beyond me. not only this, but it is utter madness to me that the only instances in which halsin can acknowledge the player's relationship to astarion seem to exclusively exist in discussions relating to sex/the act of sex itself. you know, astarion, the guy who wants to be seen as more than just a pretty face? whose story is about reclaiming his bodily autonomy after being abused in every way imaginable for 200 years?? whose romance explicitly requires you, as the player, to respect that he doesn't want to be expected to have sex? like, wow! it is completely bananas to me, that halsin, as he is in game, just. exists alongside a character like astarion. I know they are written by different people, but I have to ask if halsin's writer even thought some of his writing through.... did he think that this wouldn't look bad? because it does look bad!

again, I like the halsin I envision in my head, the story that I would have written for him...but the way he is in game...the weakness of his entire character in comparison to just minutes of minthara's....he just would have been so much better as an NPC because he clearly wasn't added as a companion for the purpose of story. or, I don't know, he should have been written by someone other than the person who wrote the most bland origin, because the writer being the common denominator between the two least interesting companions suggests to me that it's partially an issue on his part. they also could have chosen a different NPC, that would have better suited the role of extra companion, instead of using halsin. like, if there was any NPC that should have been made a possible extra companion, like how minthara is, it's barcus. barcus has a clear, consistent, and well-written story that spans all three acts of the game. he has an important tie to the central narrative of the game by virtue of his association with the ironhand gnomes. just as minthy can be recruited after rescuing her from moonrise, barcus could have been recruited after you rescue wulbren from the moonrise towers' prison and wulbren is a huge asshole bastard to barcus when you get back to the last light. it would have made so, so much more sense than last minute shoehorning halsin into the companion role, just because EA players wanted to fuck him.

#bg3 #thoughts about media #please do not take this as character hate. #it's criticism of larian's priorities and writing choices. #anyway. minthy is very cool so far. I can't wait to learn more about her!

[paellegere]

final thoughts: hannibal season 3

this was so overdue but finally. finallyyyy i finished hannibal. that's so exciting. and i liked it! the first two seasons especially were awesome, really well done and so expertly committed to itself. the third season, i think i'll have to say it underwhelmed me a bit.

it's not really that i didn't like it, but i think a lot of the developments just weren't given proper setup to actually mean anything. not even just with the three-year time skip, which is where most of my problems stem from, but even like... alana's relationship with margot? there was no buildup to that before suddenly they were fucking. and without that foundation i'm not really sure how to feel about that. to me that just came off as "well both of alana's love interests are unavailable, so let's pair the spares" and the spare happened to be margot, since she has her whole pregnancy subplot. there was no on-screen chemistry, no attention to their relationship outside of a bland confirmation and some nods to it in passing, nothing to sell the relationship. and i kind of expect a relationship like that to be sold pretty well, since it ties in with margot's character arc and alana is a major character who deserves time spent on her own arc.

also in general the whole "surprise, everyone lived (except abigail)" thing made me roll my eyes a bit... i like the characters but the total absence of consequences for that massive confrontation feels pretty cheap. and they were all fine! hannibal is the only one who walked away from the season 2 finale with any lasting (visible) disfigurement or scarring. alana fell two stories directly onto her back but she walked around with a cane for a bit and now she's fine. jack made a full recovery we didn't even see the process of. will has a little scar on his belly. i found that whole thing pretty disappointing, like the showrunners were trying to undo their own writing. some of the disappointment definitely comes from my excitement that they had alana in a wheelchair for a short period; i let myself hope that she'd been paralyzed from the waist down, based on the way they showed her skeleton as she hit the ground. maybe i'm just a guy who wants consequences and thinks those are more important than aesthetic. who can say, really.

my biggest issue with the season, though, was the time skip. i recognize its importance for the plot, but molly and walter absolutely got the short end of the stick as a result of it. this could have been avoided if will had met them before the skip, yknow give them some time to marinate and show some kind of chemistry (there's a trend here...) instead of just plopping them into the story with no warning and announcing that they're married. will and molly are a perfect parallel to alana and margot, in that they lack any emotional significance to the audience due to poor setup and execution. which is a shame, because the sparse few scenes molly and walter were in made an impression on me—it was just sorely underdeveloped. and it's kind of a shame that they drop off the face of the earth as soon as molly wakes up in the hospital, like their well-being doesn't really matter to the show and it's evident in the writing. i'm not saying like "they deserved better" or anything, god no, but it is difficult to find the relationship believable and enjoyable when the show itself treats molly as some kind of cockblock to hannigram. which is a bizarre thing to type out actually.

i think my last real gripe was that will and hannibal should have kissed. i don't even necessarily find their relationship overly compelling, at least not in a "i ship them" way, but the situation they were in and the fact that will hurled them into the ocean called for a little bit more passion, i believe. calmly resting his head on hannibal's shoulder i think does something of a disservice to the feelings that have been building inside of will since the first season, especially as everything spirals out of control around him and he comes to terms with his need and disgust for hannibal. will has strong emotions for him, and so it makes sense that he would react strongly in this scene where tensions are at their highest and will has finally made a world-ending decision regarding his relationship with hannibal. will just saved hannibal's life; he chose him. they killed a guy brutally together. there really was only one option going forward with the release of the scene, and the show failed to follow through. i read somewhere that they were supposed to kiss at the end, originally. i'm interested in why this decision was changed, because at the moment i fully disagree with that 🤔 passion begets passion, not fucking. whatever that was lmao.

i do love the decision to hurl them into the ocean though, especially with the context that this is where hannibal took miriam and abigail. it firmly paints will as yet another victim of hannibal, and yet this image is distorted because of who will is and who he's become (and the theme of "Becoming" in the second half of the season was really well-placed imo, and continued a nice strong theme reminiscent of the transformations in season 2) under hannibal's influence. with the push and pull will experiences with hannibal, there's no other option for him. he can't live with him, he can't live without him. and so he chooses to die together—i wonder if hannibal thought of dazai as they fell off the cliff.

i actually quite liked the red dragon plot. i mean, i'm not entirely sure how i feel about francis himself, i would have liked more exploration of his psyche maybe i don't know i guess??? but his relationship with reba was extremely compelling in such a refreshing way for this season. the other relationships were bland in comparison, to put it lightly, so i was all in with francis and reba. i like how they ended up too, and i like what they both obtained from each other. the self-loathing francis struggles with and the pity from others reba struggles with meshed really well and created a great emotional arc. i love how francis tried to save her in the end, in his own way, and how she influenced him for the better. like will said, she saved lives just by showing him love. i appreciate how receptive francis was to that affection, and how gentle he was with her to contrast the brutality of his murders. it was really well done.

god i think there's probably more i want to say, particularly about bedelia because damn her ending was something, but i'm so tired and this is so long already. so i'm gonna go to bed instead 💗 and tomorrow i will, at long last, start season 10 of supernatural lol. overall i liked hannibal, it was well made (at least for the first two seasons, i think the third has a lot of glaring issues...) so i'm really happy i finally got to watch it. insane show for insane people, my favorite :)

#liveblogging: hannibal #it is done wahoo wahoo :) #.txt

[niahq]

WEDNESDAY

Don’t get me wrong. I love Wednesday, I love Jenna Ortega and her performance as Wednesday was brilliant.

#spoilers

However, ultimately the show felt bland in the end to me, because the whole plot ended up revolving around the romance drama: of course, one of the romantic interests was going to be the villain and break her black heart. It was so painfully cliche. To me, as someone who writes and reads a lot, it was obvious from the start where the plot was heading, since the first scene with Thornhill in the dorms and Tyler at the coffee shop. Thornhill was actually better written though.

It was the love interests that just ugh, fell so flat and soured the experience for me. Both Xavier and Tyler were both written in JUST to add romantic drama because Wednesday’s a teen and as such she “should experience typical teen problems and boy problems”.

Which is absolute fucking bullshit in my opinion, not every teenage girl protagonist has to experience love triangles and romantic drama just because she’s a teenager, that is just a cliche trope that has been perpetuated by movies and series, but doesn’t portray the real life of a teenage girl. Besides, why would Wednesday ever need romantic drama? She’s a great character by herself, being how she has always being, she never needed other characters to make her “evolve” or seem more relatable or teen-like.

The cool thing about Wednesday has always been how unapologetic she is, she will be herself without giving a fuck about what others think of her, she will speak her mind always, specially when something that she perceives as “not right” (like the bullying, misogyny, white-washing retelling of history, etc) is happening in front of her; she’s different of course, but that’s what makes her so special, she’s not willing to change herself or bow down to society.

Wednesday has never needed love interests to seem more teen-like, or be more relatable. She’s great just like she is. The weak attempts at writing romance with Wednesday… holy gods they were so bland. Xavier and Tyler were added in with only that purpose, barely have any personality, not to mention having absolutely zero chemistry with Wednesday, at least romantically.

Tyler, if you ignore him being one of the antagonists, reads as a puppy-eyed white male who finds her intriguing because she’s so different from all the other girls he has met before, and since she pays a modicum of attention to him because she needs his help, he thinks she’s interested. Xavier reads as the boy who literally just broke up with a girl he liked, but could never trust, and his mind immediately grabs onto Wednesday as a new love interest because she’s someone who he has met before, and he knows how she is; she’d never lie to him or manipulate his feelings knowingly, he knows she doesn’t have the power to do that, so of course, in his mind she’s trustworthy and because she’s so different from Bianca, she’s perfect as a new crush.

Wednesday never gave them signals of being interested. And yet of course, typical, just because she seems to tolerate them, they automatically assume she likes them. Even though it’s clear from the start she’s just using them for her own means and ends, not actually bonding with them. Tyler is the normie who’d help her with the investigation and help her escape Nevermore because he has a car, and is conveniently the sheriff’s son, so she can keep an eye on his father through him. They had no conversations outside the ones related to the investigation, yet somehow they kissed…..

She barely talked to Xavier outside of the scenes where she snuck into his studio, those scenes being; the infirmary, the classroom, the burnt yard, the jail.

In none of those does Wednesday show any signs of being interested in him in any way, she tolerates him because they’re sort of childhood acquaintances, and he’s her suspect. And in those scenes, the lines they exchange-with the exception of the infirmary (because it’s the moment Xavier’s character is introduced)-are painfully brief and to the point. In fact, I don’t even think they talked in the classroom; Wednesday just looked at him and smashed the spider. She didn’t even say anything. The yard scene was after their fight in the studio and it’s only like 4 lines because they’re not on good terms, which again, were they ever really? And the jail scene is just full of tension and friendship heartbreak because Xavier perceived her differently than she is, and Wednesday is hurt by his words, even though she doesn’t seem to (but Ortega really is brilliant at expressing what Wednesday is feeling just with little face muscle movements. If you pay attention to her face, it is really easy to read how Wednesday is feeling in every scene).

In their efforts to add romantic interests for Wednesday, they ended up coming up with two extremely bland characters. Not to mention Ajax, who is not as bland, but still feels like kind of an unncessary addition. Honestly, the way they’re written, it’s painfully obvious that the purpose of the 3 boys is just to merely act as romantic interests and a stopper to the shipping between Wednesday and Enid, being like “oh but see? They both have boyfriends! Male interests! They’re not queer! They’re just really good friends and roommates!”

….. god that’s just terrible writing. Both read as heavily queer coded, and Enid is the only character Wednesday actually cares about and bonds with out of her free will, unconsciously (with the exception of Eugene, but he’s like a sibling to her). By the second episode, Wednesday is already showing signs that she’s starting to care for Enid, without being prompted to by anything else, circumstancial or otherwise. When they argue, Wednesday is hurt by it, saddened because she’s now alone; she keeps looking back at Enid’s side of the room and hopes to solve everything asap so it can all go back to normal. She’s again, hurt and disappointed when Thornhill shows up to tell her that Enid has requested to room with Yoko for the rest of the year, but tries to play it off. Wednesday is a character who perceives emotion as weakness, because it’s how people commit mistakes and get hurt, it’s what people use to manipulate each other, so she convinces herself that she doesn’t need emotion, including affection and caring about people.

Yet by episode 5, not only does she clearly care about Eugene, completely willingly and with no ulterior motive, she also cares about Enid’s feelings and talks with her easily, standing close to one another. She tries to tell Dr. Kinbott that she’s still as cold hearted as she was the first day, but it’s clear she’s trying to convince herself of it too, because although she has tried, she cannot help but care about them. She could have thrown away the snood when Enid was not looking, but she kept it, tried to avoid hurting her feelings by telling her she didn’t like it, and even wore it when they were investigating.

Enid literally turned into a werewolf in her hurry to get to Wednesday and help her. She fought for her and got scarred, and the first thing she says when she’s in her human form again is “where is wednesday?” And she’s worried, scared for her. She could have hugged Ajax when she saw him, but she just leaned into him for comfort, because she literally just turned into a huge beast, fought for her life, and is really shaken by it. In contrast, when she sees Wednesday she literally runs to her and hugs her tightly. And Wednesday actually reciprocates, hugging her tightly and hiding her face in her neck while Enid clutches her uniform in her hands. Wednesday didn’t hug Tyler even when they were kissing, she only let herself be held, but made no move with her own arms.

I could continue, but this is getting really fucking long. Point is: there is no fucking way Wednesday and Enid are not queer in some way, regardless what netflix may say (when one writes a story, the characters always evolve and develop beyond one’s imagination and thoughts, because they are characters, and ultimately, they are people). And Xavier and Tyler made no goddamn sense as love interests, yet sadly it’s already obvious that Xavier is gonna be endgame, unless they decide to actually make Wednesday x Enid canon. The show just felt like compulsive heteronormativity to me.

#wednesday spoilers #wednesday (2022) #wednesday is also queer #wednesday netflix #wednesday 2022 #wednesday addams #wednesday #enid/wednesday #enid is queer #enid sinclair #wednesday x enid #enid is a lesbian

[iriswestallenn]

The final season of Ted Lasso wasn't good

Long Post Warning

In my opinion of course, it was just wasn't very good and the finale was bad.

They didn't know what to do with Keeley. Her friend, Shandy, didn't add anything. Her relationship with Jack was stupid. Jack fucking with Keeley's business didn't matter because it was resolved in one episode thanks to Rebecca. Then they decided to make the love triangle a thing again. We'll come back to that later.

Nate lmao you can forgive people. They don't need to bend the knee or buy you flowers for you to forgive them or to prove they are worthy of forgiveness. All they need to do is show they've changed, grown, and learned from their mistakes. The problem with Nate is not that they ALL forgave his slimy ass. The problem is we never see the change. He cries to his dad, he gets a gf, he realizes Rupert is an asshole. We spend no time with Nate being worthy of forgiveness to THE RICHMOND TEAM. He gets the girl and he's cured of his asshole-ness. The girl in question btw? Bland. No personality, we don't know why they like each other. The end.

Sam and Zava. Nonsense. Colin's storyline was cool. I like that he didn't want to be an out player because he didn't want to be the spokesperson for that or for that to be his main identity. A good amount of time was spent on that story and I liked it (see I can like things) but the same can't be said for Sam and Zava. They gave Sam a racism storyline which resulted in his restaurant getting vandalized and the end. No, wait, I'm sorry! Sam is gonna keep shattered glass in the restaurant as a reminder of the criminal act because... believe??? Never mind that could injure the guests, we're an inspirational show people we gotta keep inspiring! All Zava did was get Jamie to want to be better. That's it. So much of Zava should have been cut, oh my god.

Ted. Who? Barely in the final season. Apparently has had panic attacks since his father passed away and his mom knew and just ignored them? Episode 3 (I think) Ted reached for alcohol and we just skated past that. I have no idea how Ted is doing lmao if he's "obviously" doing well, I couldn't tell you how he got there. We got so many fucking shots of his therapist during the finale. More than we did the entirety of season 3. Oh well I guess hope he's happier back home

Maybe I'm being dramatic but Beard and his gfs relationship came off super toxic but they're married now so who cares I guess

Rebecca spent the whole show obsessed with Rupert and when we finally got away from that, surprise! She wants kids. Okay... sure. It's not easy to get over a man you loved who treated you like shit and who you felt robbed you of so many years. I'm not saying she should have gotten over it quicker. I just feel disappointed this was her whole story. There could have been so much more for Rebecca but instead all we got was her getting back at her ex and finding a new man on a boat and kids and blah blah blah

Roy and Jamie. My favorite part of the season. Jamie's arc was excellent and the actor did a fantastic job. Brett Goldstein is also great and has been at this acting/writing thing since 2005! I am so happy he finally got this huge show. Roy is such a cool fucking character. Too bad they went to shit in ONE EPISODE. Okay, I'm being a bit dramatic, I'm glad Roy went to therapy in the end there but that bar scene irritated me. - Actually we fucked last month. - Well that video was sent to me! What the fuck??? Gross gross gross. They put Keeley back in the love triangle and then gave no real resolution? She chose herself? Okay. Can we get a scene of her realizing both these dudes need to work on themselves and she doesn't want either of them ever again or? No? We're just gonna shut the door? Oh okay.

Overall, I'm just disappointed. I know no one will read this but Ted Lasso was a comfort show for me at one point. It premiered in 2020 when we all needed something wholesome and funny. Shame it couldn't stick the landing for me.

#ted lasso tv #ted lasso season 3 #ted lasso #long post #ted lasso spoilers

[sly-s-n0nfusion]

13, 10, and 4 for the Salt Shaker list?

Thank you viri! In today’s episode of sly is brutally honest (I will answer for both ot1 and 2)

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

If we count traveler stories as “arcs”, I will now be very predictable and say it’s Tressa’s story from OT1 and Agnea’s from OT2. Yes I’m not a big enjoyer of the lighthearted story/coming of age arcs and I know it’s probably a me problem lmao but I got bored to death playing both. At least Tressa is a bit of a hot headed character so that kinda saves the day in her story a few times, Agnea is just meh both as a character and as a story. I literally do not care about her lmao, believe me when I say I still have to finish OT2 because I need to play her chapter 4 and my god I cannot bring myself to turn on the Nintendo switch and play it because I know it’s gonna be a whole playing session of me just not caring at all but good to all the people who can enjoy this type of stories!

4. Do you have a notp in your fandom? Are they a popular otp?

Wowieeeeee The Question y’all were waiting for lmao

Yes I do dislike Olberic x Erhardt quite a lot because of. Literally too many reasons to write here but it mainly has to do with the fact that I tend to like wholesome ships more than angsty ones and also the fact that their dynamic awakens in me the memory of so many relationship red flags I have encountered in my life (not necessarily romantically speaking lol) so yeah they’re just a huge no for me!

Yes they’re pretty popular in the western fandom, unsurprisingly I’d say since many love the charm of toxic doomed yaoi, though not so much within the jp fandom

As for OT2, I don’t really have strong opinions on ships as much as I do for ot1… I guess I can’t really see Osvald with anyone after what happened to Rita. I haven’t seen many Osvald ships out there that can be considered popular tho lol

13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

I want to end this ask post with a positive note talking about Ophilia! I’ve seen many people describing her as bland and uninteresting but if you think about her character and her late story and her relationship with her sister and the archbishop Josef for a bit you’ll actually find out she has many interesting points. Her relationship with love, family, faith are not that bland actually :)

#thank you! #sly ask game #this was fun #octopath traveler #don’t make me talk about Ophilia because I will never stop

[rebelsofshield]

Star Wars The Mandalorian: “Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore” - Review

A slow to start episode of The Mandalorian, eventually finds its footing with strong visuals and a solid performance by Katee Sackhoff

Din Djarin sets out on his plan to cleanse himself in the subterranean waters of Mandalore, but first must make a pit stop to pick up a droid that can sense if the atmosphere is safe for himself and his young companion.

Look, I love Amy Sederis. She’s maybe one of the most charming actresses in Hollywood. But I’m losing my enthusiasm for Pelli Motto. As fun as our goofy little mechanic has been, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni have been writing pretty much the same material for her for four seasons now if you count The Book of Boba Fett. If we are going to have the same comedic character play a recurring role in our show, then at least give them some new jokes or gags.

Anyways, point being, my investment in the first act of “The Mines of Mandalore” was pretty minimal. Din bartering with Pelli over a droid that cameo’d in A New Hope so he can test the toxicity levels of a planet that he needs to go to for a quest is pretty much the exact encapsulation of everything that Favreau’s storytelling has struggled with over the last few years. It’s not offensively bad, but it’s aggressively uninteresting.

Luckily, once Din arrives on Mandalore things start to take a turn for the better. It’s hard to overstate just how great this season looks. While The Mandalorian rarely struggled with the sort of bland or ugly production that plagued shows like The Book of Boba Fett or Obi-Wan Kenobi, this season marks a clear uptick in its cinematic scope and scale. Characters feel much more a part of their environments and these alien landscapes and the various creatures and droids that inhabit them are rendered with fantastic detail and effects. As soon as Din and Grogu descend into the mines only to fend off subterranean goblins and a truly creepy cybernetic, vampiric spider (?), “The Mines of Mandalore” start to feel like the sort of enjoyable pulp that I turn to this series for. It also helps that Rachel Morrison certainly directs the hell out of this episode. She gives the environment an aesthetic that feels not unlike a dark 80s fantasy adventure epic mixed with unnerving creature designs that feel not that far removed from Phil Tippet’s claymation horror masterpiece, Mad God.

It’s also a fun twist that Grogu has to escape on his own and drag Bo-Katan Kryze along to rescue his capture adopted father. As much as I would have liked to see Bo-Katan positioned as more of a seasonal antagonist, it is nice to see her, Grogu, and Din unite as their own group. Katee Sackhoff is a great actress and she brings a level of lived in familiarity to this cynical former Mandalorian ruler that really shines through. Whether it’s her surprising comfort with Grogu and his attachment to the Force (as she puts it she’s fought alongside Jedi for good in the past) or her subtle jabs and frustrations with Din’s differing perspective on Mandalorian culture or history, Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan is one of the more interesting characters that The Mandalorian is playing with right now and Favreau would be smart to keep her around as much as possible. And this is all before she slices up the formerly mentioned cybernetic vampire spider with the Darksaber.

It’s also appreciated that we don’t spend too much more time spinning our wheels on Din’s mission to cleanse himself of his transgressions. By episode’s end he has been submerged (maybe more so than he bargained for) in the waters of Mandalore’s mines, but in the process has discovered something even more intriguing. There’s a living Mythosaur in the planets murky depths. The sacred beast of Mandalorian culture lives and with it hope for the planet;s (and maybe the show’s) future.

Score: B

#Star Wars #The Mandalorian #Star Wars The Mandalorian #review #reviews