#I know its not the damn book but its a good story imo!

[inkerii]

y'know I really wish people would start tagging negativity with the proper tags in the djats side of tumblr. people are complaining about how the show did this and that but they never add tags to be blocked or filtered. I've seen 5 different posts about negativity about a ship (mostly in regards to the show adaptation but some about the book) thats tagged just with the ship tag and without any sort of anti- something.

Y'know what, I watched the show and I bought the book, but the way people are going about criticizing the show without the proper tags is making me VERY annoyed. I dont really feel like picking up the book now, if it means I'm gonna end up like that :/

#djats #daisy jones and the six #I'm gonna put this in the #daisybilly #tag JUST this once bc its easily the worst offender #but it happens the same in the #camilabilly #tag as well #listen dude I liked! the show! I'm planning on reading the book! #but i cant even enjoy browsing through the tags bc every few posts there's criticism and negativity #use djats prime crit or anti djats amazon or something! #use anti show daisybilly alongside the daisybilly tag! #just lemme filter the stuff I dont want to see!! #I know its not the damn book but its a good story imo! #i'm sorry if YOU were expecting something else while reading the book but /I/ felt all three sides of the love triangle!! #they were well done imo and i feel like people should have the space to appreciate the show #AND the people who dislike it SHOULD feel safe to complain as well!! its valid!!! its FINE!! #I feel like its the second fandom in 6 months I have to make a post for something like this and it makes me sad #inke rants #tumblr etiquette #I swear I'm not mad at anyone in particular its just EXTREMELY disheartening #its killing my interest and I'm mad about it bc its been AGES since I found a book I was interested in reading #and now I'm gonna have to shove it down my locker for a couple of months until I'm in the mood to read it again

[look-how-they-massacred-them]

Preliminary Poll

Jughead

Submission reason:

They put them in Riverdale. Ok but seriously they way they were portrayed in Riverdale was so against character, so edgy on comparison to the happy go lucky personality that is the staple of his character, and the fact that they entirely erased his asexual/aromantic identity.

They took away the fact that he was aromantic!! Im pissed because he was great rep!! Seriously, reading jughead 2015 was such a personal and relatable experience that i havent found often in media because aro people are overlooked all the time and the rep is ignored for shipping purposes and its even worse that it happened here!! Not only did they erase him being ace, which was STATED IN THE TEXT, but they also took away the way that he was intentionally written to be romance and relationship averse and its just infuriating because he did not deserve this!!! Aro people did not deserve this!!! Im still so annoyed!!!

I will be honest. I have not watched riverdale and I never will. But in the comics. ESPECIALLY THE JUGHEAD(2015) COMICS. HE IS CANONICALLY AROACE. ACTUAL DIALOGUE FROM THE COMIC, OF KEVIN KELLER SPEAKING TO JUGHEAD -> "my romantic options cant take that kind of hit! you just dont get it cause youre asexual..." ACTUAL DIALOGUE FROM JUGHEAD -> "I DONT GET CRUSHES. I just--found her interesting! Its a FRIENDSHIP crush, IF anything." "...And yet, IM the crazy one for not wanting to kiss people. RIGHT." AND NO IF YOURE WONDERING HE DOES NOT END UP TOGETHER WITH THE PERSON HES TALKING ABOUT THERE. HERES HIM TELLING HER -> "I dont GO on dates, Sabrina. I dont like people that way, you know? And when you asked me out, i didnt realize it WAS a date until too late. I shouldve explained the situation, but instead I went along with it, and just kept... you know, trying to escape. And that wasnt fair to you, and im sorry. My judgement was clouded by the fact that, on some primal and fundamental level, all I really want to do is hang out with a giant talking burger. I know that about myself now, and I accept it gladly." <- i will not be giving context for that last part go read the fucking Jughead(2015) comics right now i will GLADLY send ANYBODY who asks a link. Again. I havent seen riverdale. I HAVE however watched a VIDEO ESSAY on it by someone who never read the comics. And the only positive thing they had to say about that damn show was that they thought bughead was cute. Honestly you could put ANY character from riverdale in this bracket because the original comics ARE A FUCKING SITCOM!!!! well the special stories (like Jughead(2015)) arent as sitcommy and are no stranger to Things Getting Fucking Weird but they never had shit like DARK FUCKING BETTY! No. Instead they had MORE WHOLESOME storylines, like ARCHIE GETTING SHOT AND DYING. dude unrelated one of my comic books had an ad for that with the cover that had archie lying there drenched in a pretty minimal amount of blood actually and i was sooooo scared of it as a kid. i was flipping throuhg the book the first time and dropped it and RAN CRYING AWAY it was the most graphic thing i had seen in my entire 7 years of life. sorry these comics mean a lot to me. i have over 300 of them <3

Propaganda:

a vote for jughead is a vote for aroaces. like ME <3

Aro/Ace rights.

#look how they massacred my boy #archie comics #jughead #jughead jones #riverdale #ĺook how they massacred them poll

[poorlittleyaoyao]

I actually laughed reading about how novel!wwx judges others but he is a little mean. Novel!wwx is actually an asshole! And I too am surprised that jl didn't even spare a thought for his auntie! There's a whole paragraph about how he wants to forgive jgy and wwx (very beautiful) but what about qs? I put in the 'wtf' box, where there's also lxc's treatment at the end of the novel where lwj 'leaves him be' because 'he can't do nothing to help him'. I know that lwj isn't the best at comforting people but his brother is in seclusion! In a similar situation he was 13 years ago!

I mean... at the end of the day, the reason Jin Ling never thinks about Qin Su is that this canon itself doesn't especially care about its handful of women. It's why Jin Ling thinks about his father but not his mother, it's why Wen Ning doesn't mention his sister outside of a story about how poor Wei Wuxian has suffered ever so much, and it's why Wei Wuxian doesn't think about either of the above people. And unfortunately, since every Doylist answer has Watsonian repercussions, it means that these guys come off as jerks who don't give a shit about their mothers and sisters and friends who cared so deeply for them. The drama makes an effort, but even it stumbles in the end, IMO.

(Having typed that all out, I wonder if that's a factor in my Jiggy brainworms: in a story full of guys who regularly forget their female family members, we've got this little guy whose driving motivation is honoring his mother. And yet, because we can't have nice things, he is simultaneously responsible for a good chunk of the chronicled violence against women in the series.)

LXC's treatment is part of the novel problem of it being Wangxian: The Book. Which honestly isn't even a problem, because that is exactly what the novel is supposed to be! It's not a gen fantasy epic that happens to contain romance; it is specifically a romance so people expect it to be Wangxian: The Book.

I was complaining awhile ago about Novelxian's blithe attitude towards his traumatic experiences (both those he experienced and those he inflicted), and one of the anons who messaged me posited that this was better for the story, because it meant Wangxian could have their romance unimpeded by baggage. I boggled for a bit because it was so diametrically opposed to my own preferences that it was completely alien to me. It was eye-opening, too, because once I thought about it, that anon's perspective is probably much closer to the average audience member's than mine is, and that's fine. Because this is, after all, the romance novel Wangxian: The Book!

Going to back to LXC, the problem is more that the surrounding plot and characters are actually really damn interesting in a way that doesn't always mesh with the desired romance tropes. Acknowledging the love interest's permanently traumatized elder brother or the ramifications of the power vacuum that just opened up following JGY's death and the adjacent scandals would REALLY bring down the vibe when it's time for Wangxian: The Book to send its couple off to their cottagecore happy-ever-after. So instead, our heroes just go "well, best not to mention it!" and look like assholes because, as with the deaths mentioned in the first paragraph, the story itself doesn't want to dwell on it.

[burst-of-iridescent]

Oh, thank you, my day is good, but after your message it got even better! I really found solace on Tumblr, which I could not find either in these terrible comics or in LOTR. To be honest, I hardly mastered the latter at all, literally forcing myself to watch series after series, searching in vain for the former depth of characters and conflict. In my opinion, LOTR is a complete failure on all fronts, with the exception of high-quality drawing. If it's about comics, it's an illogical development of events, which, unfortunately, is laid down in the last series. I wanted to ask you -how do you feel about Ursa's line? I was offended by her decision to leave the children (of course, it happened against her will, but still -to change her face and personality, forget about her beloved son and lead a happy life with an old lover?! Don't get it wrong, a woman should suffer for the rest of her days because of a failed marriage, she should not give up happiness if fate sends. But in the context of this story, in your opinion, does it not look like a betrayal, first of all of herself (Ursa?), and of course her children. She couldn't help but understand what kind of hell they got into, first of all the son, after her disappearance. And if you also disagree with this "canon", what would you see the fate of Zuko and Azula's mother? (sorry for such a long letter!)

hi again! thank you, you're so sweet!

i 100% feel you on both LOK (i'm guessing LOTR is a typo?) and the comics. it's so disappointing because both the show and the comics have some great conceptual ideas, and in the hands of competent writers, could've been excellent continuations of ATLA and worthwhile successors... but instead we got a flaming pile of garbage that deserves to be at the bottom of the sea.

the search isn't the worst atla comic imo (that honour goes to the promise) but it's definitely doing its damn best to earn that spot. i hate so many things about that comic: the outdated, insulting depictions of mental illness and mental healthcare in azula's story, zuko getting a "replacement sister" in kiyi as a fix-it bandaid, the fact that it becomes a whole gaang adventure when the correct narrative choice would've been for zuko and katara (and maybe azula at most) to take this trip together as a full circle from the southern raiders, katara and sokka's only role in the story being to foil zuko and azula and nothing else, and of course... the complete annihilation of everything ursa's character was set up to be in atla.

i agree with you that it is very much a betrayal of ursa's character for her to willingly lose her memories. she knows she's leaving her children in the hands of a dangerous abuser, one who's already molding her daughter into a lethal weapon and was fully ready to murder her son, who has proven his willingness to sacrifice his children without hesitation if it benefits him. but despite this, despite the fact that she committed murder, accepted exile and even risked her life (for she had no way of knowing if ozai would simply let her leave peacefully) to protect her child... suddenly she's willing to throw all of that away and fuck off with her childhood lover at the first opportunity?

it baffles me why bryke didn't at least make ursa's memory loss an accident, which would've both explained her absence and why she never went to look for her children without committing character assassination in the process - but that's probably expecting too much logical writing from those two.

i'm actually planning a post-canon book 4 zutara fic that would include a rewrite of the search, where ursa didn't just fuck off to do nothing, but actually had a redemption arc very similar to zuko's after secretly fleeing to live in the earth kingdom and seeing the damage the war had done. she takes it upon herself to right the fire nation's wrongs, and grows particularly invested in air nomad culture, seeing it as her duty to try and bring back some of what the genocide had destroyed. shortly before zuko's banishment she sets out to find the remnants of a people long believed to be gone - and finds that maybe they're not entirely gone after all.

i won't spoil the rest, but i think it'll both explain why ursa never went back for zuko and azula while still giving her a meaningful story that didn't involve just swapping one family for another. if only we'd gotten something similar in the comics but alas... bryke gonna bryke.

thanks for the ask! no worries about it being long, i thoroughly enjoy reading your thoughts <3

#anti atla comics #anti the search #anti bryke #zutara #asks

[qrowscant-art]

What artists/books/movies/music/etc would you say have been most formative to your style/subject matter? What inspires you most?

oh maaaannnn there’s a lot. what inspires me most is the fact that if i don’t draw or create regularly i turn evil <3 (thats mostly a joke, but i do get very irritable if i dont have some kind of creative outlet haha)

but here’s a too-long list of things that have rewritten my brain chemistry 🥰 dont take this as a list of reccs because some of these are 100% not for everyone LOL

for movies,

the alien franchise (except three fuck 3), the thing, 2001: ASO, colossus: the forbin project, videodrome, and mad god have all done irreparable psychic damage to me. if you can handle it, pleaaaaseeeeee watch mad god. absolutely gorgeous movie. i wish i looked like the assassin (shoutout 2 data for showing me it)

electric dreams is also good but it feels weird sliding it between those other reccs 😭 the tonal whiplash

for books,

house of leaves, obviously. absolutely disorienting narrative that was very fun to pick through and jump around. johnny’s sections are some of my favorite pieces of character writing, and i adore how the text and formatting turns the book into a labyrinth. my only complaint is figuring out similar things in css is HARD.

things have gotten worse since we last spoke is a disgusting novella (said with the utmost affection). its not something i can recommend to most people because it deals with some sickening topics, but it def shaped my love of horror

ihnmaims and tuf voyaging are two short story collections i read when i was far too young, and still enjoy today. also colossus the forbin project (the book). good 👍

the locked tomb series! what else is there to say but Jod Damn! alecto please

for games,

marathon trilogy! me when the ai have issues disorder🥰🫶 it can be difficult to play (use walkthroughs or mods to make things a little easier if you arent in the mood to be frustrated), but its worth it imo. shotgun and mousetrap if you even care btw

cecile richard and kitty horrorshow have been integralllll to my artistic development. cycles and gutless by cecile is the reason I started writing in twine, actually. still some of my favorite works :^)

disco elysium is amazing but everyone knows that. i think making readers feel uncomfortable and kind of pathetic is good, actually.

scorn is like. absolutely gorgeous. the game plays awful imo but its worth it for the eyecandy of lovingly crafted biomechanical horror. i got the art book as a gift and now it permanently resides on my desk.

signalis is a recent one but i watched my friend play through some of it and am itching to try it because AUGH. the vibes are immaculate (even if some of the combat is annoying hehe). @ that one anon who sent me a signalis recc, YOU WERE RIGHT. IT IS 100% MY KIND OF THING

there’s a LOTTT more, many of my inspirations i often forget about because i have an awful memory. i approach a lot of media consumption with the intent of “what can i learn from this?” (both narratively and mechanically) and fucking loooooveeee deconstructing things i enjoy. my toys 🥰

#mrdraws #inquiries #this kept me busy at work HAHA. sorry for the word salad

[persiesposts]

My thoughts on Iron Flame!

***MAJOR SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THIS YET***

What I liked:

*I really respected Violet for sticking to her convictions with Xaden, she knew what she needed for her to have a successful relationship with him and she wasn’t willing to compromise on that.

*I KNEW DAIN WASN’T GOING TO BE AN ANTAGONIST FOREVER. I’m very glad of this because I’m so tired of the guy best-friend turned antagonist trope. I’m glad to see aspects of Violet and Dain’s friendship returning/ reforging into something that can grow healthier with time.

*All the secondary characters have my heart and soul. Rhiannon especially, justice for my girl because she was so patient and such a good friend when she had every right to be upset with Violet for shutting her out.

*I really liked Sloane! I wish we had more time with her and I’m hopeful to see more of her in the next books.

*Tairn just makes this series for me. I adore that dragon. The sass was as strong as ever. My favorite exasperated dragon dad. This only reaffirms my statement that he’s just dragon Kratos

*ANDARNA!! What a sweet baby, she just wants to be like Tairn. He may not have sired her but that’s her dad right there. I saw it coming but I thought it was so cool that she’s the 7th dragon breed. I can’t wait to see the signet that manifests.

*I loved learning more about the lands outside of Navarre, the culture behind Tyrrendor was especially fascinating.

*The main characters are young adults and they FEEL like young adults!! (I know this will contradict with a critique kinda but hear me out). They have to grow up quicker than most and make decisions no one should ever have to make but there are the moments that remind you just how young they are that just smack you in the face and I love it.

*The spice in this was much stronger than the first which I was a big fan of. Overall much more descriptive which made for a more pleasant read IMO.

What I didn’t like:

*The pacing in this book felt really rushed when compared to the first. I understand the need to convey some urgency but it made the story feel hastily put together.

*Tying into the above point, for how rushed the story was there was a lot of information crammed in. It felt like I was reading two books put into one. I wish there had been a bit more time spent on certain parts, especially with establishing the connections between characters.

*I love Violet but damn that girl cannot make up her mind! I love angst as much as the next reader but I do wish some of her lamenting over communication issues with all the other characters could’ve been cut down. It began to feel really frustrating after a while and like the time could’ve been spent re-establishing the bonds of the characters.

*I’ll be honest, I hate the miscommunication trope. In all its forms (this counts since they’re keeping secrets from one another). It can be a really handy literary tool but sometimes (including this time) it feels overused and like an easy way to create tension. There’s a way to handle the trope effectively, the first half of the book proved that but after that it just felt like a placeholder for not exposing important info right away. They’re in the middle of a revolution! There will be things that won’t be communicated right away, that’s more than enough of a reason!

Final Thoughts:

Overall I really enjoyed this book! The characters still feel true to their established characterization from the first book but you can see their growth and where they could wind up in the future. This book felt a lot less self contained than the first which was a smart move that helped it stay away from the dreaded “second book syndrome”. There was solid movement and change that felt like it mattered. I definitely have my qualms with the writing but it didn’t break my immersion and I still felt very invested in the story Rebecca Yarros was telling. It felt both like an ending and a beginning in the best way possible and I’m really looking forward to where the story will take us next!

#iron flame #iron flame spoilers #fourth wing #fourth wing spoilers #violet sorrengail #xaden riorson #book fandom #booklr #book review #tairn #andarna #Persie reads

[pythiaswine]

nothing makes my heart twist in knots more than Fear Street 1666. fantastic. it's the historical, fictional sapphic movie i needed. camp as fuck. like fuck netflix okay but this is one thing i actually really love. this and Ratched of COURSE.

[spoilers]

the absolute TRUTH in the story of a woman demonized by the covert actions of a man who plays the good guy even to the woman he's damning, the "deviancy" of teens even in 1660s colonial america, the queer love story that's pursued despite the whole "this is wrong" shebang, the offered "cure," the overshadowing horror, the trilogy altogether being about these serial killers and the absolutely sickening backstory where you're led on for the first two movies to believe it's the work of a witch who cursed the land and then really it's the fact that she was a scapegoat who was in the wrong place at the wrong time!!! fuck! it kills me. the men allcoming together and straight up lying out of their asses just to implicate sarah and hannah in the crime of witchcraft. the assault as they "search" hannah for marks. fucking vile. witch hunt unraveling in its purest. the way sarah trusts solomon. the way he kills her off not because she's a witch but because she's the only one who knows he's the real villain.

FUCK. and don't get me wrong i love Midnight Mass and even though the degeneration of peaceful small-town christianity into a cult is chilling and incredibly well-done, and it got my heart racing, something about the way Fear Street unfolds itself, something about how it tricks you into believing it's the same old teen slasher story about a curse on a town from centuries ago, or leads you to believe the witch is really a witch. it's something about the way two teenage girls are trying to just exist and love in a world that paints them as witches and whores and sinners, a world where the "holy" men of the town would control them, assault them, rape them, hang them if they so choose. they were at a disadvantage BEFORE solomon made a deal with the devil. it's personal to me as a young lesbian who has never seen such a great portrayal of the scrutiny and lesbaphobia, the intersectionality of misogyny, homophobia, and the purity culture of christianity. i went into the trilogy with a feeling of disappointment like oh good, another evil witch, another good cop... AND THEY 360 THAT SHIT!! and i love it!

and then the horror aspects?? all of the gore was awesome imo but i was never quite so uncomfortable (and that's how gore should make you feel in a horror movie, i think) as when the children and pastor had their eyes gouged out. the hand scene was gnarly too but badass as fuck. kate and simon's deaths were gross and pretty awesome, i genuinely didn't expect either of them to go despite this being the slasher genre. the whole 1978 movie was great and it's totally a modern Friday the 13th with some totally rad heroines who are well written.

the happy ending we deserved!!!?? the tragedy of Sarah ultimately being hanged despite her best fighting efforts because even though she escaped him, nobody was going to believe her anyway, then we finally have victory. Sunnyvale/the Goodes get what they fucking deserve.

and don't get me started on how we learn the story of what happened in 1666 through our current characters, it's so warming and familiar. it makes the audience keep focus. fuck i loved this trilogy. i loved RL Stine's books as a kid and the world-building in this was so colorfully reminiscent. the music was also awesomeeee ughh

amanda ford's costuming??? love her so much

and to top off the happy ending, Deena and Sam get a date over Sarah Fier's grave in honor of her memory and the history it's romantic and sapphic as fuck i love it

then of course some classic horror nonsense when ee see the book in the credits. so much to adore here.

#fear street #fear street 1666 #fear street 1994 #fear street 1978 #sarah fier #hannah miller #nick goode #sam fraser #deena x sam #deena johnson #josh johnson #kate schmidt #martin franklin #kiana madeira #ziggy berman #sadie sink #simon kalivoda #cindy berman #amanda ford costuming

[wretcheddthing]

7 Comfort Movies

i was tagged by @cuteallo and i’m Watching you.

1) The Mummy (1999): We Know. If you know me you know this. Hold on I’m going to go take a picture of my bumper sticker (you know the one)

I have a poster hanging up in my room. It’s my all time most favorite movie Ever. Plus it just feels like a love letter to classic Universal monsters which I didn’t really Get until my good buddy Jamie got me interested in the history of it while I was doing research for my old radio show. Some of the creative choices and definitely the horror elements were so precisely implemented to mimic classic horror set tropes, like how the moon is always huge and bright and a little too big. And it’s SO quotable. RIDDLED with problems, but Roger Ebert said it best, “There is hardly a thing I can say in its favor, except that I was cheered by nearly every minute of it. I cannot argue for the script, the direction, the acting or even the mummy, but I can say that I was not bored and sometimes I was unreasonably pleased.“

2) Howl’s Moving Castle: I don’t think I need to explain this one. It’s a movie that Radiates comfort. I watched it at least a couple times back to back the last time i got sick.

3) Atlantis: The Lost Empire: This movie is directly responsible (in conjunction with The Mummy and Uncharted) for a full cast of OCs. This movie is part of the reason I’ve taken so many archaeology courses and helped out at a dig site last summer. also in conjunction with the mummy and uncharted

4) Mamma Mia: it reminds me of my mom ;-; i grew up with ABBA because of her, she took me to see this in theaters when it came out. she lives a couple states away now and is currently utilizing her retirement to spend a month abroad and i miss her very much. will probably watch this later

5) Brave: I made myself sad bc i miss my mom. This is one I took her to see in theaters, and let me tell you were there not other people in the theater i would have been openly sobbing. Also it’s just a damn fine movie. It came out around the time I was deeply interested in archery and i am partially Scottish so on the surface it seemed right up my alley. but then the story got me and i cannot watch it without crying

6) Zombieland: Stealing this one from Teagan because hard same. Found family, zombies, reminiscent of Left 4 Dead. Good memories with that game playing it with my older sibling on their XBox 360 whenever they came up to visit :) Also it’s SO HARD to find decent zombie shit now!!! no one gets it! nobody gets it anymore they’re all like “the people are the real monsters” NO. THAT’S NOTHING. THAT’S NOT INTERESTING. USE ZOMBIES AS THE METAPHORICAL TOOL THEY ARE TO ELEVATE HUMAN STORIES. COWARDS.

7) The Martian: It’s my favorite book of all time and as far as movie adaptations go I really don’t think it’s that bad. Mark Watney’s gotta be one of the characters ever made. I read this book every single year now because I related to it at a time I really needed to (see: high school) and the movie is pretty faithful imo. Look I have a drawing for it

anyways i think i made this post too long and i would say it’s bc i’m a film minor but i didn’t say anything really insightful about any of these movies i just like to talk i’m tagging @gilarroyo @olliesaurus-rex @prioriincantatemx @elliewilliams @adairable-dirks @jamiechanga​ and whosoever wishes to participate

#personal #tag games #tagged as me #friends #long post #also i see your tags teagan you are absolutely correct i would GET YOU for including before sunrise #*pointing* linklater stan

[gaming-thoughts-by-an-idiot]

Draugen (part 2)

"I fucking knew it, the moment I looked down through that hole, something came at me"

"Run??? What???"

"Oh jesus oh fuck, cave in aa"

"BETTY?????"

"RUN MAN, GO FIND HER"

"These pants cant be good to run in"

"... oh"

"Oh damn this is hard"

"Betty died apparently as a baby"

"Wow, this game just fucked me over"

"Lissie is back"

"Day 6"

"Okay so we're here to tell the story about the fam and the curse... good cuz I was more curious about that"

"Oh wait ew I forgot about draugen, ew am I gonna see it?"

"Okay... okay... so i think the kid, Ruth, was killed cuz of what she found"

"Ooo our boat came back yay"

"Wait how"

"Okay, we can leave now"

"Hes just vibing, drawing some"

"Okay I'm not gonna lie... I'm expecting something to scare me"

"Is graavik a real place?"

"Asks the Norwegian"

"Okay so I took the cursed brooch with me, why????? I dont think that's good oh no"

"Oh god am I bringing the curse with me???"

"Aaa"

"Can I bring the stuff upstairs? Imma see"

"I cannot"

"Gonna play the draugen waltz one last time"

"I'm so sure something is gonna attack me"

"This game went from !!! To 'ah yes the game is over' bitch I do not believe you"

"Okay, so its ok, game ended, that's end credits"

"Hes still in the boat, rowing"

"Oh it's going dark"

"I wanna know if bringing the brooch was bad"

"Cant skip the credits, which imo is good"

"I didnt know we had a film institute"

"Omg???"

"Edward and Alice will return"

"Wtf?? Game?? Is there a second game????"

"Oh! Theres a comic book!"

"A story before the game, about Edward as a kid"

"Lissie!"

"Okay it was just to show when she showed up"

"This is interesting"

"Its right before the game starts"

"Okay flash back to him as a kid again... dad is drunk"

"Okay this is just weird and back and forth"

"Oh my god! The dad shot himself in front of Edward wtffff"

"Yooo, this weeping angel is horrible"

"Shes like 'everybody leaves u, u dont need anyone' like bitch, gaslighting"

"So someone hung themselves, no idea who"

"Oooh, the weeping angel doesnt like Lissie"

"Okay so they're not a team, ok that's good"

"Okay that's creepy"

"The weeping angel is like the demon and Lissie an angel"

#gaming #funny #relatable gaming thoughts #draugen #draugen game #norwegian #norge #norway #Norwegian game

[internetgremlin-writes]

FLAT SPIN CHAP 5 SPOILERS!!

OH MY GOD IGGY THAT CHAPTER WAS ABSOLYTELY PERFECT!!!!

The way he asked her to come to Barcelona… SO carlos of him I wanted to cry… AND THE WAY HE METICULOUSLY PLANNED EVERYTHING? I am sorry if you dont like / dont care about zodiacs BUT THE VIRGO ENERGY IN HIM JUMPED OUT, and I respect it soooo much. Everything he planned was so /him/, but also so so perfect for MC — the little gestures? Ordering for her? Translating everything for her? POSTING HER ON HIS STORY? God i literally melted

AND DONT GET ME STARTED ON HIM COOKING FOR HER… because god damn you Know how Weak I am and it was so beautiful, also the British breakfast once again just shows how much he cares for her and understands her🥹 i am just about to combust actually

AND THEN RACE WEEKEND? And everything with the green tractor and also MC and Sebs relationship? Once again nailed it sm god i love these teammates… and how she didnt want to fight Seb / come across like that because he just means so much to her????? Girl you got me on the floor rn…

What I cannot stop thinking about is how shes in for the championship, and as of rn so is Carlos… Will they be fighting each other further down the line or… 👀 Make up sex as an apology for aggressive overtaking again? Or podium celebration sex because BOTH of them ended up on the podium (Silverstone? 👀) So many possibilities omfg dont mind me

AND THEN LAST BUT NOT LEAST (thiugh i still have so much to say but my slow ass brain needs a bit of time i guess) the ending was just perfect… like am I the only one thinking Carlos didnt want to sleep with her pre race weekend bc he wanted to fully focus on her but couldnt with all the GO expectations around him? But now that it was done he could let himself fully focus on her and give her all the attention he thinks she deserves? God I love them sm… And the way you let all those emotions show through during the smut was just CHEFS KISS, the way they understand each other is just so 🥹🥹🥹 i have no words lol other than i’m SO obsessed..,

God i hope this all is legible its 4:14am now and i am prone to word vomit already when my brain is working so this may just sound like incoherent crap but i hope you know this chapter was SO GOOD, also the way you captured Barcelona imo was spot on like I wouldnt have noticed that it was all based on research and not personal experiences (though i guess i must confess i havent been to barcelona since i was 4 either… JSJDKFKF BUT YOU MANAGED TO CAPTURE THE SPANISH VIBES PERFECTLY THAT I CAN TELL YOU BC I JUST VACATIONED IN SPAIN LAST MONTH)

okay oh my god i am back from festival and i am finally going to reply to this without crying halfway through...

firstly OH MY GOD. you... you wrote all this... about my work?? I'm touched, I'm shook, I'm honoured, this is honestly the best feeling and probably as close to a "real" author with people analysing my work as I'll ever get and I am ABSOLUTELY here for it (especially as a literature nerd who loves to pick apart all of my books for fun)

haha I don't *dislike* zodiacs, I don't really follow them to that much detail but I vaguely have an idea of them. To be honest, the way I write Carlos is purely based on the guy we see as a Formula One driver and personality (but now you say that I totally see the virgo energy). ALSO I'M SO GLAD YOU NOTICED THOSE I am entirely convinced Carlos is a very detail-oriented person and especially when he is first seeing someone he would be really careful to go out of the way to do really subtle but meaningful things yanno?

As for the championship fight... well I don't want to give anything away but oh I *definitely* have a plan for MC and Carlos and the WDC ;)

Haha don't worry it all made sense! And thank you so much for the comment about Barcelona... it's a little embarrassing how long I spent on google for things to do in and around the city because I've never been to mainland Spain, so even if it's not 100% accurate I'm just happy the vibes were right!!

honestly just thank you so much for this, it means the absolute world <3 <3 <3

#iggytalks #im actually unwell #this was so so kind #and im so touched #carlos sainz #formula one #flat spin

[tailsrevane]

[book review] the amber spyglass by philip pullman (2000)

now this is more like it.

this story is bigger. the world feels massive and complicated. you don’t know what everyone’s going to do before they do it. i think what impresses me the most, and what is the most welcome change from its predecessor, is that it fucking takes its time. the book manages to convey the breathless pace of a final, desperate fight for survival & freedom without feeling like it’s in a hurry. it feels very in control, very measured, and like it gives everything that happens a real chance to breathe despite the fact that so much shit is happening.

i do think lord asriel & mrs. coulter’s redemption arcs are a little too easy. and i am giving serious side-eye to the fact that the book (justifiably) harshes on mrs. coulter quite a bit while basically never really grappling whatsoever with the fact that lord asriel killed a fucking child. like, it just literally never comes up. so that’s… awkward.

i think it’s fucking wild that catholics get so up in arms about these books considering how fucking nothing the allegorizing in them is. like, yeah, this one does specifically mention “the swiss guard” which is the most overt reference to the fact that the church in lyra’s world is clearly a vastly more powerful version of the catholic church that maintained the overt political authority they had in the middle ages rather than having to get by with being wealthy landowners like they are today. but just. idk man, it’s still so possible to imagine someone reading this without even noticing that it’s anti-church. so getting all upset about it & demanding boycotts just comes off as the most fragile shit ever imo.

on that note, the cosmology of this world is a bit lacking for my tastes. like, i ended up agreeing with what my partner said about the second book that just having the entire conflict be between spicy atheists & spicy christians, where even seemingly powerful outsiders like the witches ultimately end up deriving all their shit from the same boring source is just a bit disappointing.

i also completely agree with him that it’s pretty annoying that pullman just had to go with a downer ending. like, i admittedly did actually get pretty genuinely emotional when lyra & will realized they were going to have to be separated. it was very well-written, and in a limited amount of time (considering the sheer amount of other shit the book had to get through, seriously this thing was massive) the book did manage to make me care quite a bit about their relationship even though i knew where things were going from the vague memories of previous reading.

what really puts this book over the top for me, though, is mary’s story in the chapter “marzipan.”

you know when a story has That Scene? the one where you could pull it out of the larger story and, standing completely on its own, it would still be just absolutely stunningly good? and if you did pull it out of the larger body it was from, that larger body would just suddenly be drastically less special? i’m thinking of, like, valerie page’s diary in v for vendetta. this is that scene for me.

the way mary told her story just made me smile so much. it’s just… it’s so intimate, and it’s so tender. it really emphasizes the literal sweetness, the playfulness that comes along with love. it’s just some truly incredible writing, i’m really not sure what else to say.

and i guess that’s kind of what it comes down to with these books. like, there are plenty of things about them i don’t like. but they’re just so damn well-written. i think i’ve reached a point in my life where i’m comfortable saying that i’d rather spend my time reading things that more directly appeal to me, but i’m still glad i revisited these to see if they held up at all, and discovered that they mostly do.

a-rank

#his dark materials #hdm #the amber spyglass #book review #books #reviews

[topoillogical]

I'm not going to play the Harry Potter game mostly because I'm not interested, secondly because its deeply antisemitic, and thirdly because I don't want to support JKR. But I do think we kind of made the "wrong call" on Harry Potter.

One of the best things about media is its ability to create a culture-wide commonality. It's helpful for people to think of things in relation to story. Harry Potter was this huge mythos and is perfect for such a thing. Hogwarts houses, patronuses, comparing people to various characters, etc. This is a communication aid, just like a lot of idioms develop from literature (tilting at windmills, etc). Also, if you are/were a large Harry Potter fan, and this mythos is well-integrated into your way of perceiving and communicating with the world, it is DAMN HARD to untwine it. And just unpleasant!

In my perfect world people would draw trans harry potter characters and when JKR says shit like "if you like my books you support me" you just are like, "no", and continue engaging creatively in this world that does not belong to her in any way other than legally. We CHOSE to let her get away with making supporting Harry Potter mean that you are anti-trans. WE did that.

I just. Idk. Maybe you think Harry Potter is bad, but I think it's plain old good. It IS super racist though, in your fic you should explore things like:

alternate endgame where Harry didn't become an auror (aka wizard cop)

deep-delving into the ethics of House Elves (what were their origins? were they manipulated into "liking" their work through eugenics (the wizarding ruling class only allowing the most submissive elves to breed)? do they actually not like their work and pretend to like it because of cultural reasons? and just like. if they DO like being slaves it is interesting to explore the implications of that in a fantasy world! I don't know how I would solve that problem! If they DON'T like being slaves, it is VERY interesting to explore how the world would have developed to a point where everyone is comfortable mistreating this oppressed class, with no resistance from the class itself -- OR IS THERE RESISTANCE? Maybe house elves like Dobby are more common than we are lead to believe, and they are just killed

a story where the goblins are the good guys and fighting against the status quo of wizard racism is seen as THE GOOD THING THAT IT IS

transgender magical health care

etc.

This is just... I dunno. I mourn the world that could have been if we just modernized and incorporated kinder ideology into the Harry Potter mythos. JKR would, IMO, have less of a platform if we didn't make her name and ideas the first thing you think of when you think Harry Potter.

#personally i will probably just continue doing what i do which is engaging in harry potter content privately and shamefully #ive been reading philosophers stone in spanish to practice #and i have to tilt the cover down when im on the subway out of embarrasment #even tho logically i know most normies on the subway dont give a shit #i wish we wouldnt do this kind of thing . its essentially a banned book among this subculture #and im never for that. we should continue discussing it. just critically #something something giving it power by defining ourselves in direct opposition to it

[amchara]

I have finished House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City 1) by Sarah J Maas and it was both the most engaging and enraging book I have read in a long time.

Spoiler-free verdict: If you enjoy gritty, urban fantasy setting with a decent murder mystery and larger conspiracy plot, with some great melding of usual tropes and fantastic plot twists- this is a book rec.

Character-wise and 'ship-wise... ehhh, okay. Sarah J Maas is an interesting author for me - I almost always enjoy her plots, when there is one that isn't being superceded by relationship angst.

I can take or leave most of her romantic ships arcs but I actually usually adore the platonic (sibling, friends, mentors etc) relationships. This book followed that same path - Danika and Bryce's friendship was EVERYTHING, honestly- sooo good, alongside Bryce's relationships with her parents, Ruhn and his friends, and her interactions with Jesibah, Tharion, the Viper Queen, etc. And even her friendship with Hunt, as it was developing into something more.

But somewhere along the way, SJM always seems to fall into the trap of... all male/female romantic relationships must kind of follow A/B/O dynamics or just borderline abusive Dom/sub kink dynamics.

It was less evident in this book than in ACOTAR series but there's still that gender essentialism that creeps in where, once it turns romantic, the man (sorry- in SJM parlance, the male 🙄) must turn into a possessive asshole who only thinks with his cock. And while I can accept that might happen with some of her characters as it seems to be coded into some of the fantasy races societies (ie. Fae), it also tends to rear its head in other characters where imo, it really doesn't make sense.

And it then bleeds into other characterisation and becomes a problem.

Spoilers:

I wanted to like Hunt more than I did. An angel who fell for love and a desire to change things for the better? Who has had 200 years of slavery to consider how he could take his revenge and what he'd do differently? Why then... was he so bland? *cries* Okay, I get traumatic woobieness (and I appreciated that was addressed and I did adore Bryce taking care of him in that one scene and all that...) but I still feel like there should be a ruthlessness and zealotry running through his core. He's a fallen angel so I want to see that grey morality!

Especially... when it was revealed that he had decided to lie to Bryce about the synth. I was so happy to see that twist and I was like YES, GIVE ME THAT RUTHLESSNESS AND GIVE NO FUCKS... and then, it all just fell a bit flat? Argh, I don't know how to entirely describe it except that he felt quite generic love interest™️ and limited personal development in his own character arc.

But that might be because SJM reverts to a lot of tropes (scents her arousal, purrs/snarls, gets overly angry protective over love interest) when she starts her romance arcs.

Maybe I'll enjoy Hunt a bit more now with his slave halo off- and as it seems like maybe the next book we'll actually deal more with the arc-angels.

Bryce suffered a bit from super specialness by the end too but honestly, I thought the reveals about her being another Starborn heir was earned - and intertwined enough with her trauma and history with Danika and foreshadowed enough throughout the book that it felt natural for her to save the city and close the gates with that power.

(that being said- SJM, stop cribbing from the Black Jewels Trilogy lol- the Drop being pretty much the same as when witches descend from their birthright jewel to their adult one)

Last things to mention... it was a kind of slow start but damn- those last two hundred/one hundred pages of the story? Whew- when the city was actually saved it was such a cathartic moment and I actually shed a tear and I did not expect that.

Anyway, overall- solid effort and I'm looking forward to the next book- I guess I'll just suffer through the tropey bs that seems to be SJM's jam.

Tagging @belle-keys because your rec was enough for me to decide to take a look at it.

#reader of books #sarah j maas #house of earth and blood #crescent city #hunt athalar #bryce quinlan

[kamreadsandrecs]

This was the most recent book I finished: The Sacrifice by Rin Chupeco. Perfect for spooky season (I read this over the long Undas weekend!), it features a Hollywood film crew going to a tropical island to film a documentary about the island’s curse. Nothing could possibly go wrong, they think - except then everything goes spectacularly, horrifically wrong. Spoiler-free review: Overall a very fun read, quite spooky in lots of places - I will never look at makahiya the same way again, and this just upped the balete spook factor significantly. Would make an amazing movie imo, given the visuals. Twists were pretty good for the most part, sometimes predictable but mostly not, and that ending was not a bad way to cap the entire story. Most importantly though, every single jerk in this story got their comeuppance, and I am so happy they did. Rating: Four Mumu and One Duwende (4 1/2) Buy here: https://read.sourcebooks.com/young-adult/9781728255910-the-sacrifice-tp.html More comprehensive rambling take under the Read More for spoilers and language.

From the moment this book started I knew whose side I was on: the mumu’s (or the Diwata’s, to give it its proper name). It’s so clear that the white people are disrespectful, and are someplace where they really shouldn’t be, that they’ve paved their way by paying bribes and by just outright ignoring what other people have told them. This is a running theme throughout the book that’s established very early on, and every time it happens I find myself wanting the Diwata to kill every single puting dayuhan that disrespects them. Eventually it’s clear that they don’t all deserve to die, but it takes a while to figure out which ones don’t and which ones do, and generally speaking the ones who do really deserve to get killed. Actually this whole book is a send-up of all the stupid things white people do when they’re abroad: disrespecting local traditions and people, taking things that don’t belong to them, and looking down on things they think are “primitive” or “beneath them” just because it’s unfamiliar or they don’t understand how something works. Also utterly unsurprised that most of the shit is perpetrated by a Hollywood film crew: a microcosm of all the things that are terrible about Americans abroad (and even in their own country, as the novel will show). I don’t want to get into specifics because spoilers, but honestly, read this book and you will be cheering the Diwata on just like I was, especially if you’re from a country that’s a former colony or, y’know, are intimately familiar with a certain type of tourist (who are not always white, it must be noted, but have privilege regardless). Speaking of the Diwata: for all that I was cheering them on, they are legitimately terrifying. There were moments throughout this novel that had me thinking that this would make for a very good movie, because damn me if I didn’t visualize certain parts in my head the same way I would a scene in a show or a movie, and spook myself out something fierce. The use of balete and makahiya as key visual components just ups the spooky factor incredibly. Now, I know balete are spooky enough on their own, but the use of makahiya was new and interesting and very very spooky. (I was also watching Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities in between reading this, so my imagination was working very well indeed - especially after Episode 6.) On a more serious note, and going back to white people and colonialism: some of my friends, who read the ARC version of this novel, mentioned they weren’t quite sold on the inclusion of Cortes, a fictional Spanish soldier who traveled to the Philippines with Magellan and who’s involved in the history of the island and the Diwata. While I can see how that character can feel extraneous to everything that’s going on, I tend to think of them as a reflection of the Hemslock character in the present of the novel - something which I think works, given how Hemslock is obsessed with Cortes’ journal and the information within it, which supposedly tells him how to control the Diwata on the island. There were also some concerns about how Lapulapu was made out to be the villain in Cortes’ journal for supposedly participating in sacrifices that allowed him to “control” the Diwata and therefore helped him win against the Spanish. To my mind, though, I don’t think that’s the case, since that information comes solely from Cortes, who I consider unreliable as fuck because he’s an invader and a white man looking down his nose at anyone who doesn’t Look Like Him, so of course he would attribute Lapulapu’s success and prowess at holding onto power to a god, and not to his own capabilities as a leader and warrior. Because surely, surely this brown savage needs the help of a higher power in order to succeed against white men with guns. This ties in with what Hemslock himself thinks and does towards the latter end of the novel, where he claims that these “brown bastards” don’t deserve the power of the Diwata, and that he does, because as a white American man with a shitton of guns, he’s “better” - which is of course utter horseshit. Things do not go as he planned, obviously - much like things did not go as planned for Cortes. (What all of this reminds me of that bullshit “ancient aliens” idea: how brown people couldn’t have created things like the Pyramids and the Nazca Lines because they were “primitive” so they had help from aliens. The surface might be different, but the thought is more or less the same: racist and paternalistic all the way down.) Now, while all of the above is anger-inducing (as it should be imo), there’s also parts that are a bit softer and more heartwarming. One of the bigger underlying themes has to do with filial love and piety. It’s not obvious at first, and is only really made clear towards almost the end of the story, but I think the way it was handled was beautiful and bittersweet. There’s also the romance between Alon, the nonbinary protagonist, and Chase, the son of one of the members of the Hollywood crew. I can see where some reviewers are coming from when they say the romance was superfluous, but I thought it was rather lovely and appropriate. I appreciate that didn’t go any further than it had to, and that while it was there as a kind of sweet undertone to all horrific things that were going on, it didn’t get in the way of the horror at all. i do admit that it was a bit jarring in some places, but that was something I was able to let slide fairly easily. One thing though that I didn’t quite agree with: the use of Tagalog in the narrative. While there’s nothing wrong with Tagalog itself, it’s just weird that this island is located in Leyte, in the Visayas, and Alon, the Diwata, and some of the other minor characters are all using Tagalog. Hell, if I’m not mistaken the term “diwata” itself is Tagalog. The thing is, Tagalog isn’t much used in Leyte: they use Waray, or a form of Bisaya. So why are these very likely Bisaya characters talking in Tagalog, of all things? Likely because that’s what Chupeco’s familiar with, but surely they could’ve, Idk, talked to someone from the region to help them with this? Surely there would’ve been a lot of Waray and/or Bisaya speakers out there who would’ve been glad to give them a hand.

#books #book review #the sacrifice #rin chupeco #filipino author #filipino literature #horror

[merrysithmas]

@obiwanobi hi!! I saw your tags and wanted to type you out a response! It was gonna be short LOL.

So - why I dislike the Mandalorian culture (and thus shows and arcs focusing on them/Mando characters). I dislike them for the exact reasons you've pointed out in your tags!

Note: this isn't hate! i'm really happy people like what they like and I think it's awesome! Mandalorians just are not my personal favs.

1) I find all of their endless wars and fighting and little bad-blood clan fights very boring and borish. I don't like any media that has that as the backbone - it's dull and unfulfilling to me. Game of Thrones, Viking shows, Medieval shit... no. It's the competitiveness that I find very distasteful and dull. Vying for territory and honor stuff? Puts me to sleep. I think find the characters to be like... simple and unlikeable. It's why I greatly prefer stories about the Jedi, the monks like Chirrut, characters like Kanan, or conflicted characters like Anakin who struggle to do good but have a heavy conscience (despite evil deeds). When Vader does smth bad you know Anakin is inside paying for it - that's part of why it's so gleeful to watch him do bad stuff. He never really gets away with it. The Mandalorians on the other hand glorify violence and death and I think it's ugly and frankly I hate watching it. Not my cup of tea.

2) I find weapons repulsive and agree with Obi-wan "how uncivilized". The Jedi saber & how long it takes to properly master is much more my area. Or say, Han who uses a blaster as a failsafe. The Mandos: A culture that glamorizes, or worse, diefies weapons ("Weapons are my religion") I truly find disgusting. It reminds me very much of modern-day conservative USA and I am not at all surprised the show is...very popular for this reason. Again? Not my cup of tea.

3) I LOVE SATINE KRYZE! I think she was the only decent Mandalorian, a true hero, one of the coolest & bravest characters in Star Wars, and the perfect never-would-have-worked-between-us for Obi-wan! Can you see Obi-wan, man of righteous morals and service living alongside warsome Mandalorians, even if he abandoned his life's calling for Satine? HELL no. He loved Satine because she had a voice and literally unheard of bravery in the face of her culture's toxic traits. Obi-wan would've keeled over from boredom and his eyes would've rolled so far back in his head he would've lost them every time Whoever The Fuck from Clan Scalpthem threw another brick through their window or challenged someone to the zillionth duel that week (can't he just read a chapter in his book???) He and Satine were FAR TOO alike and made a great We Respect Each Other Too Much To Do This dynamic while staying true to themselves so hard they had to genuinely walk away & and prioritize themselves. Damn. That's cool.

4) I feel the IRL obsession/phenomenon with the Mandalorian comes down to two things imo - ppl who like Baby Yoda/Dad Mando (valid), and otherwise its fans who are weapons-obsessed toxic dudebros who stomp and cry about everything else and then piss themselves with joy whenever ppl are getting mindlessly gutted on screen. It's why I feel Mando is so popular and other media such as TBOBF (he's a good man, sworn off senseless violence), OWK (introspective show based on emotional and psychological connection btw Obi and Ani), TLJ & Rey in general (a woman with feelings & power) gets shit on by dudebro Star Wars fans and they salivate over Mando.

Don't get me wrong! I think Din is a good character! I like watching him & the show! I find his religious arc that competes with something he discovers is just as important to him (Grogu) very compelling and sweet honestly! I enjoy his timidness and chivalry compared to the other Mandos who are not at all as noble as he is. I enjoy the tragedy of obviously him eventually dying for Grogu/Grogu outliving him by hundreds of years - it's great! But Mandalorians in general? No.

Do I think the show is the best written or filmed? No. I don't like Mandalore or their culture. I find them extremely unlikeable, and I don't like the really transparent worship of the show by the cismen gatekeeping fans whose senselessly and grossly loudly complain about literally everything else for NO reason.

Like sure - you don't have to like stuff! But stop screaming over everyone else, and stop ruining things for others.

I see sooo many SW articles about non-Mando shows like "this show is pointless" "this arc is pointless" "exploring this period is pointless" "why can't this be more like the Mandalorian" "this isn't good" like..... ok.... TO YOU?? but there are a TON of other people who are actual FANS of Star Wars and want to see their favs from the movies do ANYTHING.

That IS the point of the other shows.

So yeah, lol, my mix of reasons for finding Mandalorians and their culture extremely annoying. Legit though: No hate if you like them! It's all cool. Everyone likes diff stuff for diff reasons and I completely respect that.

#not tagging w anytbing #bc this is just my person opinion and likes and dislikes #**personal #sorry this was so long!!

[bigskydreaming]

Spoilery thoughts on the Wheel of Time Season 2 premiere:

The casting remains the show's biggest strength. Nynaeve is still pitch perfect and my absolute fave. She is everything Book Nynaeve always had the potential to be if gently (forcibly) removed from Robert Jordan and his complete inability to write female characters. That scene where she drank the water just to get out of that lesson without technically losing ground......lmao this woman absolutely will cut off her nose to spite her face and say you're damn right I meant to do that, who needs a nose anyway?

Ishmael is also perfectly cast....I'm not familiar with his actor but he conveys the character's emblematic charismatic menace PERFECTLY. His scene gave me chills. Rosamund Pike continues to be great as Moiraine, what more is there to say about Lan other than Best Warder Is Best, I would kill people for Perrin as long as they were completely hypothetical people who don't count stop looking at me like that its a figure of speech you KNOW what I MEAN gosh, and Egwene's character isn't even close to getting to the real meat of her character arc but her actress has already displayed more than enough range to convince me she's going to nail it. Liandrin is perfectly awful, A+ depiction, and of the new characters, Verin is everything I hoped that character would be. Too early to say if I'm sold on this Sheriam though. Same with Elyas though he seems promising, and we only got a glimpse of Lanfear in the 'this season on Wheel of Time' preview, but what little we saw has me excited. (Lanfear is my ultimate fave baddy, I have such high hopes for her character though, you don't even know).

In terms of characters who don't have rave reviews from me, its mostly just a lack of content so far, leaving me undecided as of yet. I still don't know why they recast Mat before last season even ended up airing, and I liked the original actor for Mat quite a lot, but I THINK I'll be just as happy with this one. He didn't have much to do this episode so its hard to gauge, but he seems likable enough, and its not like Mat's currently in a position to be his usual devil-may-care self at this point in the story.

Honestly, Rand remains the weakest link in the show so far, to the point where even though he's nominally the most central character, the fact that he was barely in this episode didn't bother me even a little bit. I think it was a good choice, pacing wise - I'm just not sure what it suggests about the production's view of the character/actor that they were confident they could sideline THE 'main' character of the series for almost the entire first episode of a ten episode season and nobody would mind. And the fact that I didn't really miss him this episode has a lot to do with him easily being the least compelling of the cast in the first season.

That said.....over the course of the books, Rand's character undergoes the most dramatic evolution out of all the major characters, and we're still at a very early part of the narrative where he's just....at most mere hints of the character he ultimately becomes. His character hasn't yet been given a ton to do, relatively speaking.....like in terms of screentime, he's certainly been front and center, but as of right now he's SUPPOSED to be hesitant, mild-mannered, unsure of himself and all that....which is exactly what his actor is delivering. Its just.....not as interesting as what other characters are already undergoing, and especially when you have his book character arc to compare it to, knowing what kinds of things are coming for his character makes what we've seen so far feel a bit like treading water.

Which brings me to my next point, which is that I am pretty impressed with the show's pacing so far. In hindsight, the books start out pretty slow compared to how the story flows once it fully gets going, probably around the fifth book or so, IMO.....and those first books were still just as long as the later ones. So I do think the show's done a good job of condensing an enormously long narrative into something that can viably be told in ten seasons or so, & in such a way as to 'get to the good stuff plotwise' without actually cutting out too many of the early events necessary to build a foundation for the more complicated later storylines.

I do not envy the writers trying to figure out what to keep, what to streamline, what to alter and what to cut out entirely, so it is pretty impressive that as of this episode we very much FEEL like we're in familiar territory, like I recognize whereabouts in the narrative we're supposed to be, but most of the storylines' specific events have been so heavily altered as to make it feel unpredictable and I'm not sure what entirely to expect, in terms of how the show will get from where it is to certain major beats that I'm expecting to happen. Rand's storyline in particular has been pretty dramatically deviated from how the events after the Eye of the World stuff played out in the books....but he's still positioned to be right where he needs to be for all the Lanfear stuff. On the flip side of things, Mat's storyline technically doesn't have him too far removed in the show from where he was in the books at this point, but they've changed just enough that it FEELS completely different and has a much more ominous tone to it than the way that part of his storyline in the books felt like just kinda.....him sitting around until the Seanchan were in place and his storyline could really get going.

And speaking of Mat's storyline, ugh Liandrian is just the worst. I mean. She's supposed to be. So....good job, I guess.

Elayne and Aviendha should be showing up soon, and definitely impatient for that. Aviendha's a fave. I don't dislike Elayne by any means, but Elayne showing up soon also means that Elaida, Galad and Gawyn are all about to show up and I literally hate all three of them. Gawyn hasn't even appeared onscreen yet and I'm already ready for him to shut the fuck up. LMAO. He.....irritates me. Like Galad's full of himself and self-righteous as fuck but at least he KNOWS that and is like yeah, I get why other characters don't like me. Book Gawyn spends several volumes absolutely convinced he's in the right about certain key things he absolutely is NOT in the right about, and he never is actually made to own that or face it, once its made undeniably clear the narrative just kinda....moves on from anyone ever being in a position to point out hey dude, you just spent five books being an absolute dick about this thing that never even actually happened, maybe you should reflect on that. And like. Change. As a person.

Book Gawyn: Nah. Even though I wasn't right I didn't KNOW I wasn't right so I was basically right to do all the stuff that I now know was completely wrong.

Me: Ugh, shut the fuck up Gawyn.

Ohhhh just realized, Faile should be showing up soon too. I love Faile, so that is also something to look forward to. I'm STILL pissed about their totally unnecessary decision to introduce a whole extra helping of backstory trauma upon Perrin when like....nobody fucking asked, and Im very curious who's idea that was exactly and what their precise reasoning for it was, like what the fuck did they think it added to Perrin's arc that he needed, how does it benefit his storyline at all, you didn't need to fucking do that lmfaaaaao, but oh well. Course, its inevitable that its going to alter the shape of his storyline with Faile, particularly their earliest interactions, and I guess I'll wait and see if that's for the better or not, I just....don't see the point of those specific changes. Whatever. I'll die mad about it I guess. Its fine.

Other than all of the above, my biggest remaining thoughts are I want them to hurry up and clarify just which of the Forsaken made the cut and will be appearing in the show and which five got left on the editing floor. I hope they don't drag it out, they better at LEAST get named this season so we know who we're working with and don't have to wait a whole additional year to like, find out whether Sammael will be in the show or if he got scrapped for someone like Belial for some random reason.....mostly I just want to know if Demandred the Dull is going to be taking up one of the slots simply because the books like to pretend he's important even though he literally only appeared in one book and a chapter and there's nothing he does that can't be done just as well by far more developed characters like Aginor. Who unfortunately probably WON'T make the cut. Even though he's fantastically terrible. As a person. Not a character. He's the worst. But in that 'I can't wait to see him get murdered' kinda way. You get it.

Also I hope Asmodean's passive aggressive ass is in this season because the only thing better than Lanfear is Lanfear vs Asmodean: The Passive Aggressive Olympics.